Consumer Health Digest Archive (and Links to Related Health Fraud Information Sites)

Enhancing Freedom of Choice through Reliable Health Information Subscribe to Consumer Health Digest

From the archive http://www.ncahf.org/digest12/index.html

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Stephen Barrett, M.D., with help from William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H.. It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digest currently has 11,082 subscribers. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available.

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Issue #12-35, October 11, 2012

• Pediatricians warn against home trampoline use
• High-quality fluoride information posted
• “Life coach” loses suit against nutrition licensing board
• FTC halts dubious insurance plan

Issue #12-34, October 4, 2012

• Romney campaign embraces Lyme quackery
• Vitamin D supplementation fails to prevent colds
• Quantum quackery criticized

Issue #12-33, September 27, 2012

• Stem cell scammers plead guilty
• Prominent psychiatric critic dies
• Medifast subsidiary settles FTC charges

Issue #12-32, September 20, 2012

• Portland City Council votes to fluoridate.
• Physicist details why homeopathy is impossible
• Massachusetts will post more about disciplinary actions

Issue #12-31, September 6, 2012

• IOM publishes health-care system critique
• Ginkgo flunks another big Alzheimer’s prevention trial
• AMA specialty journals will be renamed in 2

 

Related Resources

• Don’t be fooled by health fraud scams (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Evaluating Health Information on the Internet (US National Cancer Institute)
  This fact sheet contains information to help people decide whether the health information they find on the Internet or receive via e-mail from a Web site is likely to be reliable.
• Quackwatch (a private corporation operated by Stephen Barrett, MD)
• Consumer’s Guide to Taking Charge of Health Information (Harvard Center for Risk Analysis)
• The Penn State Medical Center Library has a great guide to evaluate health information on the Internet.
  • The tips include
    • Remember, anyone can publish information on the internet
    • If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
    • If the Web site is primarily about selling a product, the information may be worth checking from another source.
    • Look for who is publishing the information and their education, credentials, and if they are connected with a trusted coporation, university or agency.
    • Check to see how current the information is.
    • Check for accuracy. Does the Web site refer to specific studies or organizations?
• The Family Caregiver Alliance has a Web page entitled Evaluating Medical Research Findings and Clinical Trials
  Topics include
  • General Guidelines for Evaluating Medical Research
  • Getting Information from the Web
  • Talking with your Health Care Provider
• …And a Rumor Control site of Note (in addition to Quackwatch)

   

  National Council Against Health Fraud

  National Council Against Health Fraud is a nonprofit health agency fousing on health misinformation, fruad, and quackery as public health problems. Links to publications, position papers and more.

Related articles

• Regulation of alternative medicine: why it doesn’t work, and never can (dcscience.net)
• GlaxoSmithKline Plea – Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• “What Doctors Don’t Tell You” magazine – reviewed in BMJ and Quackometer (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Health care fraud infographic (pathologyblawg.com)
• Dr. Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch Fame Still Needs Help (lizditz.typepad.com)

 

HealthNewsReview.org – Independent Expert Reviews of News Stories

HealthNewsReview.org – Independent Expert Reviews of News Stories

Health News Review includes reviews of health articles in the news.Their objective criteria includes these factors…

• What’s the total cost?
• How often do benefits occur?
• How often do harms occur?
• How strong is the evidence?
• Is this condition exaggerated?

• Are there alternative options?
• Is this really a new approach?
• Is it available to me?
• Who’s promoting this?
• Do they have a conflict of interest?

The Web site also includes a toolkit – “a number of tipsheets, primers, links and other resources to help journalists and consumers do a better job of evaluating claims about health care interventions”

• A list of tips for understanding studies.

• A collection of other resources for evaluating claims & analyzing news coverage

• A list of just some of the websites and blogs we like

• For journalists, we’ve posted a list of independent experts who can help them with their stories

• A HealthNewsReview.org widget – that you can display on your website – that posts headlines of the latest things published on our site

From their About Page

HealthNewsReview.org is a website dedicated to:

• Improving the accuracy of news stories about medical treatments, tests, products and procedures.
• Helping consumers evaluate the evidence for and against new ideas in health care.

We support and encourage the ABCs of health journalism.

• Accuracy
• Balance
• Completeness

Related Resources

How to Read a Research Paper (and also Understand Health News Research Items) (jflahiff.wordpress.com)

patientInform
 “The goal of patientINFORM is to allow patients, their family members and anyone interested in learning more about a specific disease or its treatment to access the most important new research articles through the web sites ofparticipating health organizations or publishers. Participating health organizations provide interpretation of research articles, in the form of summaries or news items written to be understood by nonphysician, nonscientist readers..

Understanding medical research (MedlinePlus) – links to overviews, related issues, and information from organizations

Related articles

• Misleading information on health social sites (and tips on how to evaluate health/medical information) (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Are Health Apps the Cure for Anything That Ails You? (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Health Literacy Month Is Back – Tell a Friend (engagingthepatient.com)
• Three common mistakes in medical journalism (boingboing.net)
• Looking for free, online, trustworthy health information that requires paid subscriptions? Check your local library’s home page!(jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• It is a rare medical story that gets high marks (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Don’t Be Fooled By Health Fraud Scams (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• How the News Media May Hurt – Not Help – Health Literacy Efforts (engagingthepatient.com)
• Essential tips for medical journalists (kevinmd.com)
• PubMed Health – A Growing Resource for Clinical Effectiveness Information (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Misleading information on health social sites (and tips on how to evaluate health/medical information) (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Are Health Apps the Cure for Anything That Ails You? (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Health Literacy Month Is Back – Tell a Friend (engagingthepatient.com)
• Three common mistakes in medical journalism (boingboing.net)

 

Connecting Youth to Quality Health Information

From a December 10th US Public Health Partners listserv item

Connecting Youth to Quality Health Information is an interactive lesson plan for school health personnel, educators, and librarians that aims to increase high school students’ capabilities to access and evaluate quality health information on the Internet.