Science Based Medicine
Why is the Mayo Clinic promoting pseudoscience — ‘energy healing’ Reiki?
The Mayo Clinic is a prestigious medical institution with a deserved international reputation. It also promotes rank pseudoscience ...
What drives Environmental Working Group to falsely claim that Quaker Oats cereals contain dangerous levels of pesticides? To ‘create another round of fearmongering about toxins in our food and shill for the organic food industry’
You know the rule about headlines – if there is a question in a headline the answer is almost always “no”. This ...
Viewpoint: Science or scare-mongering? How many pieces of misinformation can you find in this disgraceful American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) attack on GMO crops and glyphosate?
On Dec 11, 2023, a clinical report titled, “Use of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) – Containing Food Products in Children” ...
Viewpoint: ‘Activists are tireless’ — 30 years of global genetically modified crop use has proven they are safe and sustainable, but GMOs remain under assault
Literally trillions of animals have been fed with GMO feed without any detectable negative health effect ...
Viewpoint: ‘Acupuncture pseudoscience’ — Washington Post propagates alternative medicine
Pseudoscience, how to exploit the vulnerabilities in evidence-based medicine, and how effective propaganda can be, even against professionals ...
Viewpoint: Braying false concerns of critics — 30 years along, still no evidence that GMOs pose any health or safety issues
The first GMO food was approved in 1994 (a GMO tomato that is no longer on the market), so we ...
Viewpoint: Should we stop immunizing children? ‘The idea that vaccine-preventable diseases are healthy for children is an old anti-vax trope’
The same doctors who scold us for potentially minimizing “slightest bit of inflammation in the heart” when the vaccine is ...
Viewpoint: COVID vaccine-doubting doctors call for impossibly large clinical trials. These logistical hurdles putt kids at risk
Since that severe COVID is mercifully rare in young children, it would take an expensive, time-consuming trial of hundreds of ...
Viewpoint: DNA diets—Can knowing your genes help you nutritionally optimize your meal choices?
Recently several companies have been offering to examine your genome and figure out what you should eat based on your ...
Viewpoint: How organic proponents hijacked the term ‘organic’ and why confused consumers are the victims
I recently learned that Costco is selling “organic protein.” My first reaction was to laugh, because all protein is organic ...
Is ‘natural immunity’ superior to vaccine-induced protection?
What began as a viral TikTok hashtag has infected every social media platform: Many of the proudly unvaccinated now identify ...
Viewpoint: One year ago, the UK moved from treating transgender adolescents with psychological counseling to drug-based interventions
Around a year ago, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) announced that Dr. Hilary Cass, former President of the Royal ...
Pseudoscience takes hold with athletes at the Olympics
In London in 2012 I noticed the almost ubiquitous multi-colored tape snaking in unusual patterns along the bodies of athletes ...
Viewpoint: Neuriva Plus nonsense — The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik doubles down on ‘snake oil’ brain supplements
I wrote about the brain supplement Neuriva over a year ago. I thought their claim to have proof from clinical ...
From Mike Adams to Alex Jones to Joe Mercola, here are the most notorious COVID hucksters
[H]ere is my growing list of COVID-19 snake oil promoters. You may not know more of Alex Jones than his ...
Probiotics can’t help with most gastrointestinal issues, new guidelines say
If the gastrointestinal tract is a rainforest, then can oral doses of “good” bacteria provide meaningful health benefits? … The ...
Have we done enough to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 infections?
As we are seeing the beginning of the end of the first wave of COVID-19, the burning question is – ...
‘Nothingburger of a paper’ and why we still don’t know if anti-malarial drugs work against the coronavirus
Last week, I wrote about an experimental treatment for COVID-19 that repurposes old drugs. One version of the treatment uses ...
Vaccines, glyphosate weedkiller cause obesity? Dr. David Gorski debunks new round of ‘bogus’ health claims
Those of us who have been following the antivaccine movement and the sorts of claims that its members [make] are ...
Viewpoint: Coronavirus fears spark claims of ‘bogus remedies’ from alternative medicine peddlers
The news is full of alarming reports about the new coronavirus that originated in China and is spreading throughout the ...
Aging as a preventable disease: Why living to 100 should be easy
Science is investigating some intriguing clues suggesting that aging and death may not be as inevitable as we thought. David ...
Viewpoint: ‘Denouncing’ HBO, Bill Maher for helping Dr. Jay Gordon spread vaccine misinformation
Dr. Jay Gordon (who usually likes to be called “Dr. Jay”) and I go back a long time, ever since I ...
Alternative treatments for opioid addiction? Florida doctors forced to endorse chiropractic, acupuncture, massage
Billed as an effort to combat the opioid crisis, a new Florida law requires physicians and other healthcare practitioners to endorse ...
Should your dog eat ‘paleo’ kibble? How misleading pet food labels fool consumers
Zealotry about pet food is every bit as self-satisfied as a Food Babe mantra. Since food is the new religion, ...
Viewpoint: Evidence for CBD oil as a miracle cure-all ‘isn’t impressive at all’
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil is everywhere and seemingly in everything these days. It’s touted as a panacea for a massive range ...
Neurologist Steven Novella: Here’s what latest science says about glyphosate-cancer link
Glyphosate has been in the news recently because of the recent court case in which a jury awarded DeWayne Johnson ...
A breakthrough cure for cancer? Beware the hype
There is a good rule of thumb – whenever a headline asks a question, especially a provocative question, the answer ...
Is there any evidence to support ‘leaky brain’ theories?
Three years ago Mark Crislip wrote about leaky gut syndrome for SBM. He said, “because of an almost complete lack of supporting basic ...
