How are scientific studies used to fact-check wellness claims?

There are many kinds of studies used in academic research. They involve different designs and types of data collection. The data and what the study investigates determines the kind of analysis method.

What studies can (and can't) show

Studies can be used for different purposes.

Cell and animal studies, for example, can help to identify potential harms before interventions are tested in people. They can illustrate proofs of concept or help inform researchers when they hypothesize and design studies for human clinical trials.

Basically, they're useful for making educated guesses about what might happen in people.

But cell and animal studies can't tell us what will happen if or when a human consumes the same food, medication, or supplement. They tell us nothing definitive about what you can expect if you eat or take the substance that was researched in a test tube or an animal.

The purpose of fact-checking research claims

Factual Wellness is focused on how therapies and interventions work in people. When products are fact-checked, we do not consider cell or animal research to be evidence of proof or to support any claims made about human health. This, for the obvious reason that people aren't animals, and we're far more complex than simplified cell models.

If a supplement, for example, claims to support bone density, but the research was only done in animals, the Factual Wellness fact check will describe this as an unsupported claim. It's unsupported because we don't know what it will do when people take it. Only a well-designed human clinical trial will be able to come closer to answering that question.

Human studies still have limitations, but they come much closer to revealing potential or likely results than cells or animals do.

Most dietary supplements haven't been tested in humans. This means that many supplements will have unsupported claims. This doesn't mean that they will cause harm or that the company's claim is false.

But when you are looking for information on what is often an expensive wellness product or therapy, you deserve to know what level of confidence you can have that your money, time, and resources are well spent. This is especially true if your resources are limited, and taking a risk on something that might not work could cause financial stress or deplete limited resources.

Ethics aren't optional

Fact-checking can be done in many ways. The goal here is to help people use resources in a way that serves them, not sales goals. Companies aren't bad for trying to make money. But there isn't an ethics committee that holds wellness companies to a set standard for what can or shouldn't be said or implied.

Well, actually, there is, but the Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration are understaffed and don't take a proactive approach, often acting only after egregious violations and several warnings or fines are issued.

Unfortunately, many people believe that if a product is for sale, we at least know it's backed by some level of evidence or proof of safety. That isn't how the wellness market works. Only FDA approved drugs and medical devices are put through rigorous safety testing. And it's important to note that not all therapeutic, wearable, or wellness devices are considered "medical," even if they collect health-related data.

So, while wellness companies have the freedom of speech to market their products, consumers have an even greater right to be protected from misleading claims, false statements, or possibly harmful implications. This is because wellness products, by their nature, are often meant to be ingested or used to support health or address specific issues. This carries a far greater ethical burden than, say, a claim about how comfortable a shoe might be or how well a cleaning product might work.