Health.

“Anemia is one of the most prevalent public health problems in Peru, especially among children under 5 years old.”

The evidence strongly supports the claim’s core message. Official Peruvian data, WHO/PAHO materials, UNICEF, and peer-reviewed studies consistently show anemia is a major public health problem in Peru, with especially high prevalence among young children, often around one-third to over two-fifths in key under-5 age groups. The wording is broad rather than precisely ranked, but not misleading.

“For learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a well-structured educational environment characterized by predictability and smooth transitions is the strongest predictor of both short-term and long-term academic success.”

The evidence supports structured, predictable environments as beneficial for many autistic learners, but not as the strongest predictor of academic success. More rigorous studies point instead to cognitive and developmental factors such as executive functioning, IQ, language, and processing speed, with other influences varying by age and setting. No strong evidence establishes classroom structure and transitions as the top predictor across both short- and long-term outcomes.

“Suggestopedia is an effective teaching method for improving learning outcomes.”

Suggestopedia may help in some language-learning settings, but the evidence does not support a broad claim of effectiveness for improving learning outcomes generally. The main positive meta-analysis is decades old and based on studies with methodological weaknesses. More recent summaries note inconsistent replication, disputed strong claims, and major limits on where the method works well.

“Vitamin K helps vitamin D absorption for bone health.”

The evidence does not show that vitamin K helps the body absorb vitamin D. What reliable sources do support is that vitamins D and K can work together in bone health through different roles: vitamin D helps regulate calcium and induces certain proteins, while vitamin K activates some of those proteins. That makes the claim directionally related to a real interaction, but wrong in its stated mechanism.

“Boron helps with magnesium metabolism in humans.”

Evidence supports a modest effect of boron on how the body handles magnesium, but the evidence base is limited and does not show a broad clinical benefit for everyone. Human studies and NIH-reviewed literature report changes such as higher serum magnesium or lower urinary magnesium loss with boron supplementation. However, these findings come mainly from small, context-specific studies.

“Hantavirus infection can be transmitted from an infected person to other people during the incubation period.”

The claim is not supported by the evidence. Public-health authorities state that person-to-person transmission is mainly associated with Andes virus, not hantaviruses generally, and available evidence points to transmission primarily at or after early symptom onset. At most, a very limited pre-symptomatic window near symptom onset has been discussed, which is not the same as saying transmission occurs during the incubation period broadly.

“A person infected with hantavirus transmits the virus to an average of three other people.”

The evidence does not support an average of three secondary infections per hantavirus case. Public-health agencies state that hantaviruses are usually acquired from rodents, not other people, and documented person-to-person spread is limited to Andes virus and is rare. Reports of 3-4 onward infections describe unusual cluster maxima, not the average infected person.

“Hantavirus is less infectious than SARS-CoV-2 was during the 2019–2020 COVID-19 outbreak.”

The evidence strongly supports the comparison in ordinary public-health terms. SARS-CoV-2 spread efficiently between humans during the 2019-2020 outbreak, while hantavirus infections are usually rodent-to-human and rarely spread person-to-person. Limited Andes virus exceptions do not overturn the broader conclusion.

“Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids.”

The statement gets the main idea right but overstates the scope. HIV is transmitted through certain infectious body fluids—especially blood, semen, vaginal and rectal fluids, and breast milk—not through all bodily fluids. Transmission also requires the fluid to reach mucous membranes, damaged tissue, or the bloodstream, so the broad wording needs an important qualifier.

“Human immunodeficiency virus attacks the human immune system.”

HIV is correctly described as attacking the human immune system. Major health authorities and peer-reviewed literature show that it primarily infects and damages CD4+ T cells and other immune components, impairing immune defense. Variation in severity, treatment response, or rare nonprogression does not change that core fact.

“The acronym "AIDS" stands for "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome".”

The standard and formally recognized expansion of AIDS is “Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.” Major public-health and medical authorities, including CDC, WHO, NIH, and NCI, use that exact wording. A few informal educational sources use a paraphrased variant, but that does not change the accepted definition.

“Hepatitis C is a liver infection.”

The statement is accurate. Authoritative medical sources explicitly describe hepatitis C as a viral infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus. While the disease can also have effects outside the liver and may become chronic, those facts do not make the core description incorrect.

“The abbreviation "HIV" stands for "Human Immunodeficiency Virus".”

Authoritative medical and public-health sources consistently define HIV as “Human Immunodeficiency Virus.” There is no credible evidence for an alternative accepted expansion. Any differing online formulations are simply mistakes, not legitimate medical usage.

“Technostress is psychological stress caused by the use of information and communication technologies.”

The claim matches the dominant academic definition. Across peer-reviewed and authoritative sources, technostress is generally described as psychological stress or strain that arises from interacting with ICTs. Some authors add physiological symptoms or emphasize difficulty coping with ICT demands, but those are refinements, not contradictions.

“Daily coffee consumption, when the coffee is consumed at least 8 hours before bedtime, is bad for health.”

The evidence does not support the claim. High-quality reviews generally find moderate daily coffee consumption is associated with neutral or favorable health outcomes, not broad harm. The main bedtime-caffeine studies examined 0, 3, and 6 hours before sleep, so they do not establish that coffee consumed at least 8 hours before bed is harmful overall.

“Sharks do not get cancer.”

Sharks are not cancer-proof. Authoritative medical sources and peer-reviewed studies document both benign and malignant tumors in sharks and explicitly identify the claim as a myth. Research on low mutation rates or distinctive immune genes may suggest biological differences, but it does not show that sharks never develop cancer.

“Topical vitamin C application improves skin outcomes even in people who already have adequate vitamin C levels.”

The evidence does not support a broad claim that topical vitamin C improves skin outcomes in people who already have adequate vitamin C levels. Reviews most directly addressing that subgroup report little or no added uptake or effect once vitamin C status is already sufficient. Topical vitamin C may help some skin conditions in general, but the key subgroup named in the claim has not been convincingly shown to benefit.

“Consuming vitamins or other micronutrients (for example, vitamin C) at doses above healthy or recommended levels provides additional measurable health benefits.”

The evidence does not support a general health benefit from consuming vitamins or micronutrients above recommended levels. Authoritative reviews and guidelines find that extra intake usually does not improve major health outcomes in people who are not deficient, while some high-dose regimens show no benefit or possible harm. Limited signals in special clinical settings do not justify the broad claim.

“In adolescent health promotion, the use of student-produced public artifacts as a learning and dissemination mechanism draws on the PhotoVoice tradition described by Caroline Wang and Mary Ann Burris (1997) and the peer education tradition described by Graham Turner and Jonathan Shepherd (1999).”

The claim is largely supported, but the connection is partly inferential. The literature clearly ties PhotoVoice to Wang and Burris (1997) and peer education to Turner and Shepherd (1999), and student-created public artifacts in adolescent health promotion reasonably draw from both ideas. However, no strong source explicitly presents this as a formal two-tradition framework.

“Adolescents aged 16–18 are still developing the capacity for systematic deliberative reasoning, which makes them disproportionately susceptible to cognitive heuristics and biases including the gambler's fallacy, the illusion of control in games of chance, and optimism bias.”

The evidence supports a narrower, context-specific claim rather than the broad one presented. Adolescents aged 16–18 often have adult-like basic reasoning ability, but their psychosocial maturity and self-control are still developing, especially in emotionally charged or reward-driven situations. Research does support gambling-related distortions such as the gambler’s fallacy and illusion of control in adolescents, but the claim overstates the cause, the breadth, and the support for optimism bias.