551 Health claim verifications avg. score 5.1/10 219 rated (mostly) true 266 rated (mostly) false
“Transgender people are more likely to die by suicide after medically transitioning than before transitioning.”
Available evidence does not show suicide death becomes more likely after medical transition than before it. The studies most often cited for that claim compare transitioned people with the general population or other groups, not with their own pre-transition risk. Longitudinal research more often finds reduced suicidal ideation or attempts after gender-affirming care, while direct pre/post evidence on suicide deaths remains limited.
“In an 8-year-old child, inherited genetic liability to externalizing or conduct problems increases the probability of repeated rule-breaking behavior (including theft), but the magnitude of the genetic contribution to that individual child's stealing cannot be calculated from family history or population heritability estimates.”
The evidence strongly supports the claim. Genetic liability is associated with a higher probability of childhood externalizing and conduct problems, including recurrent rule-breaking behaviors. But neither family history nor population heritability estimates can calculate how much of one specific child’s stealing is genetically caused, because those measures describe group-level risk and variance, not individual causal fractions.
“Drinking strawberry milk increases women's breast size.”
The evidence does not support strawberry milk as a way to increase women’s breast size. No reliable clinical research shows this effect in adult women, and the oft-cited dairy study involved pubertal girls, mixed dairy drinks, and breast tissue measures rather than adult breast enlargement. At most, some sources note possible overall weight gain, not targeted breast growth.
“Documents describe experiments in which pregnant women were given radioactive "vitamin drinks" to measure how quickly radioisotopes crossed the placenta into fetuses.”
Records and court documents support that pregnant women were given radioactive iron drinks presented as vitamin cocktails, and that fetal uptake across the placenta was measured. The overstatement is the phrase “to measure how quickly”: the strongest sources describe a broader nutrition and iron-absorption study, with placental transfer to fetuses assessed as part of it rather than clearly as the sole or explicit primary aim.
“Kinesiology tape improves patient recovery outcomes in some cases more than a placebo.”
Evidence supports a narrow version of the claim: kinesiology tape sometimes beats sham/placebo for specific conditions and usually short-term outcomes such as pain or function. But benefits are inconsistent across conditions, often modest, and not clearly established as broad improvements in overall recovery. The claim is therefore accurate in essence, with important limits.
“Excessive dietary salt intake lowers estrogen levels in women.”
The evidence does not support the claim that excessive dietary salt intake lowers estrogen levels in women. The only direct human study cited found that changing sodium intake did not alter estrone or estradiol in postmenopausal women. Studies in this evidence set mainly show the opposite relationship: estrogen influences salt sensitivity and fluid balance, while animal findings suggesting hormonal changes with high salt do not establish the same effect in women.
“Smoking in women can cause aromatase deficiency.”
The evidence does not support the claim as stated. Smoking and nicotine can inhibit aromatase activity and lower estrogen in women, but that is not the same as causing aromatase deficiency, which is a rare genetic disorder caused by CYP19A1 mutations. The claim conflates temporary enzyme inhibition with a distinct inherited medical condition.
“Processed meat is classified in the same International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) carcinogenicity category as tobacco smoking (cigarettes).”
IARC and WHO sources explicitly place processed meat consumption and tobacco smoking in the same IARC Group 1 category, meaning there is sufficient evidence they can cause cancer in humans. The claim is accurate as stated. The main caveat is that sharing a category does not mean they pose the same level of risk.
“Obesity in women causes excessive levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT).”
The evidence does not show that obesity in women causes excessive DHT levels. Studies commonly find that obese women may have higher DHT production or altered adipose androgen metabolism, but faster clearance offsets this, leaving circulating DHT similar or even lower than in lean women. The claim also blurs local tissue findings with whole-body hormone levels.
“Male obesity causes excess estriol levels in men.”
The claim is not supported by the evidence. Research on obesity in men consistently shows increased conversion of androgens into estradiol, and sometimes estrone, in adipose tissue; it does not show that obesity causes excess estriol. Because estriol is a distinct estrogen and the cited studies do not document elevated estriol in obese men, the claim is false as written.
“Being underweight in men causes a deficiency of dihydrotestosterone (DHT).”
Available evidence does not show that being underweight in men causes DHT deficiency. Research more commonly associates lower DHT with higher body fat or obesity, while underweight-related studies focus on hypogonadism or testosterone and do not directly demonstrate low DHT. The claim makes a specific causal statement that the cited evidence does not substantiate.
“Insulin therapy causes weight gain in people with diabetes.”
Clinical evidence consistently identifies insulin therapy as a common cause of weight gain in diabetes. Major guidelines and reviews describe several mechanisms, including reduced calorie loss in urine, anabolic effects, and compensatory eating to avoid hypoglycemia. The effect is not inevitable, and its size varies by regimen and lifestyle, but those caveats do not change the main conclusion.
“In ducks with egg binding, inability to lay an egg and inability to pass feces can occur simultaneously and the duck’s condition can rapidly worsen.”
The evidence supports this as an emergency pattern seen in egg-bound ducks. Veterinary references indicate a retained egg can prevent laying and also reduce or stop fecal passage, and they warn that affected birds may deteriorate rapidly without treatment. The exact timeline and severity vary, but the core claim is well supported.
“Copper surfaces kill bacteria through contact (without additional disinfectants).”
The evidence strongly supports that copper surfaces can kill bacteria through intrinsic contact-mediated antimicrobial action, without needing added disinfectants. EPA registrations and multiple mechanistic studies show the effect is built into the copper surface itself. The main caveat is that performance depends on conditions such as cleanliness, alloy type, and sufficient contact time.
“The amount of sleep loss caused by high temperatures that is attributable to climate change has at least doubled since the early 1970s.”
Available evidence supports the claim: modeled climate-attributable heat-related sleep loss rose from roughly 2 hours per person per year in the early 1970s to about 5 hours in 2020-2025, which is more than a doubling. The main caveat is that this exact doubling estimate comes primarily from one attribution analysis rather than multiple independent replications.
“Some people who are classified as overweight can be metabolically healthy.”
The evidence shows that a subset of people in the overweight BMI range meet standard clinical criteria for metabolic health. Multiple reviews and cohort studies explicitly recognize this phenotype. Ongoing debate about whether these individuals still face higher long-term cardiovascular risk does not negate the narrower claim that they can be metabolically healthy at a given time.
“Body-mass index (BMI) can misclassify fit, muscular people as overweight or obese because muscle is denser than fat.”
The claim matches the medical literature. BMI relies on height and weight alone, so people with unusually high muscle mass can be placed in overweight or obese BMI ranges even when their body fat is low. The “muscle is denser than fat” explanation is a valid shorthand for why this happens, though BMI category alone is not a full diagnosis of obesity.
“In women, lower estrogen levels are associated with increased fingernail hardness.”
Available evidence does not support this association. Sources consistently describe lower estrogen as contributing to reduced nail hydration and keratin support, leading to brittle, weaker, thinner, softer, and more breakable nails rather than harder ones. The claim relies on conflating fragility or rigidity from dryness with true hardness.
“Low testosterone levels can cause obesity in men.”
Low testosterone can contribute to fat gain and, in some men, to obesity. Mechanistic, longitudinal, and clinical evidence indicates that testosterone deficiency promotes adiposity and visceral fat accumulation, especially in more severe hypogonadal states. However, the relationship is bidirectional, and obesity is more often a cause of low testosterone than the primary result of it.
“Low testosterone levels can be a cause of underweight in people of any sex.”
The evidence does not support low testosterone as a cause of underweight. Across the cited medical literature, low testosterone is associated mainly with increased adiposity, reduced lean mass, and weight gain or impaired weight loss, not low body weight. The claim also confuses loss of muscle with being underweight and overgeneralizes across sexes without support.