Health.

“Red-light therapy causes dark spots on the skin.”

Dark spots are a possible but conditional adverse effect of red-light therapy. The risk appears greater in darker skin tones and with higher exposures, while controlled treatment may instead improve melasma or other pigmentation. Presenting discoloration as a general outcome materially overstates the evidence.

“The American Academy of Dermatology warns that red-light therapy may cause hyperpigmentation in people with darker skin tones.”

Official AAD guidance supports the stated risk. It says darker skin tones can be more sensitive to visible light, including red light, and that this sensitivity can lead to hyperpigmentation. The effect is possible rather than inevitable and depends on exposure conditions.

“A carnivore diet is healthy in the long term.”

Available evidence does not establish the carnivore diet as healthy over the long term. Direct reviews report inadequate long-term research and identify plausible cardiovascular and nutrient-related risks, while major health guidance favors fiber-rich plant foods and limits saturated fat. Favorable findings come mainly from uncontrolled self-reports or theoretical nutrient models, neither of which demonstrates long-term safety or health.

“Taking cold showers provides health benefits.”

Evidence supports limited benefits from cold showers, but not broad health improvement. A randomized trial found reduced self-reported sickness absence, while reviews report possible benefits for sleep, stress, and quality of life. Many findings come from cold-water immersion rather than showers, and evidence for immune, mood, and cardiovascular benefits remains inconclusive.

“Zoey, a character in the film KPop Demon Hunters, has diabetes.”

No canonical source identifies Zoey as having diabetes. Official character materials and mainstream reference pages do not mention it, while the sources asserting or implying it are fan discussions, theory videos, and a fanon wiki. Visual speculation about an accessory or device is not enough to establish a confirmed diagnosis for the character.

“Eating smoked foods increases the risk of cancer in humans.”

The evidence supports a real increase in cancer risk, especially for processed and heavily smoked meats. High-quality sources, including IARC/WHO and major cancer agencies, link smoke-derived carcinogens such as PAHs and certain smoked/processed meats to higher cancer risk in humans. The claim is somewhat overbroad because risk is not equally established for every smoked food, and it depends on dose and preparation.

“A Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score of 10 or higher indicates that clinical depression is present.”

A PHQ-9 score of 10 or higher is best understood as a positive depression screen, not a confirmed diagnosis. Research supports it as a common cutoff that suggests possible major depression and warrants clinical evaluation, but authoritative guidance says depression should not be diagnosed solely from that score. The claim overstates what the number alone can establish.

“Symptoms assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) can overlap with symptoms caused by other health conditions.”

The claim is well supported. Multiple high-quality clinical and research sources show that some PHQ-9 symptoms, particularly somatic ones such as fatigue, sleep problems, and appetite change, can also be caused by other medical conditions. That is why PHQ-9 results are typically interpreted alongside clinical assessment rather than in isolation.

“Low vitamin B levels, low vitamin D levels, and low iron levels can contribute to symptoms that may be mistaken for depression.”

The evidence supports the claim’s core point. Low iron, low vitamin B levels—especially B12 and folate—and low vitamin D can be associated with fatigue, cognitive slowing, low mood, and related symptoms that overlap with depression. The main caveat is that this does not prove these deficiencies directly cause depressive disorder in every case.

“Numerous medical conditions and polypharmacy (use of multiple medications) combinations, many of which are common, can contribute to Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores of 10 or higher.”

The evidence strongly supports the claim. Multiple high-quality studies and clinical guidelines show that common medical conditions, multimorbidity, and medication burden can raise PHQ-9 scores to 10 or higher because the questionnaire captures symptoms that are not unique to major depression. A PHQ-9 score at or above 10 is therefore a screening signal, not proof of depressive disorder.

“Anthony Fauci received $1,000,000 in compensation during the period when 1,000,000 people in the United States died from COVID-19.”

The evidence does not support the claim as stated. Fauci did not earn $1 million in federal salary, and the closest documented figure was a nominal $1 million prize awarded in February 2021, before the United States reached 1 million COVID-19 deaths in May 2022; his personal receipt was reportedly about $900,000 after a scholarship set-aside. Reaching $1 million requires mixing different income categories or broader time periods.

“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.