477 Health claim verifications avg. score 5.0/10 172 rated true or mostly true 305 rated false or misleading
“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 healthy vitamin C levels.”
Topical vitamin C is reasonably supported as improving some skin outcomes through local skin effects, even though direct trials in people with confirmed healthy vitamin C blood levels are limited. The strongest evidence is for photoaging and hyperpigmentation-related outcomes, not every possible skin concern. The claim is directionally accurate but slightly broader than the direct human evidence.
“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 such as the gambler's fallacy, the illusion of control in games of chance, and optimism bias.”
Adolescents aged 16–18 are still maturing in brain systems involved in deliberation, but the stronger claim goes beyond what the evidence supports. Research does not consistently show that they are disproportionately susceptible to gambler’s fallacy, illusion of control, and optimism bias as a general developmental trait. Susceptibility appears highly context-dependent and is also influenced by experience, environment, and task structure.
“In 2004, Ladouceur and co-authors used interactive classroom activities with secondary school students to correct erroneous gambling cognitions, including the gambler's fallacy and the illusion of control.”
The evidence does not clearly support the specific 2004 study description. The interactive classroom activities aimed at misconceptions such as the gambler’s fallacy and illusion of control are documented under Ladouceur et al. in 2003, while the closely related 2004 Ladouceur-linked program appears to have been video-based. The claim blends details from nearby but distinct studies into one account.
“The Hungarian National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition (OGYÉI) estimated in 2023 that roughly 12% of Hungarian secondary school students engage in some form of online betting monthly.”
The 12% figure appears to be real, but the claim assigns it to the wrong institution. Available evidence ties the estimate to 2023 ESPAD data reported by Hungary’s National Focal Point and cited by the EUDA, not to a published OGYÉI estimate. It also refers specifically to 15-16-year-olds, not secondary school students as a whole.
“In 2021, the International Labour Organization stated that fishing has high rates of occupational accidents and work-related mortality compared with other productive activities, especially in artisanal fishing where informality predominates and labor protection systems are very limited.”
The core statement is well supported: ILO and independent evidence show fishing has very high occupational injury and mortality risks, with artisanal and informal fisheries often facing weaker protections. The limitation is that the provided evidence does not verify this exact wording in a specific 2021 ILO statement. Regional and fleet-level risk also varies, so the comparison should not be read as uniform everywhere.
“People need to drink extra water to compensate for dehydration caused by drinking coffee.”
The evidence does not support the idea that coffee generally dehydrates people enough to require extra water. In typical amounts, coffee contributes to daily fluid intake and does not cause meaningful net dehydration in most adults. A mild diuretic effect can occur at high caffeine doses, but that does not justify a blanket rule that people must compensate with extra water after drinking coffee.
“In Mexico, cancer accounts for approximately 14% of annual deaths.”
Available official mortality data for Mexico do not support a 14% share. Recent INEGI registered-deaths statistics consistently put malignant tumors at about 11–12% of all deaths, not around 14%. Some other sources report cancer death counts or modeled estimates, but without a matched same-year total-deaths denominator they cannot substantiate the claim.
“Warburg-effect-related metabolic changes in cancer generate measurable biomarkers, including glucose and lactate, that can be used in cancer diagnostic strategies.”
The claim is broadly supported by the biomedical literature. Cancer-associated Warburg metabolism does produce measurable signals tied to increased glucose uptake and lactate production, and these can inform diagnostic strategies, especially FDG-PET. The main caveats are that FDG-PET tracks a glucose-analog tracer rather than direct glucose levels, lactate is less uniformly established in routine practice, and not all cancers show the same metabolic pattern.
“Most existing interventions or approaches aimed at reducing academic procrastination focus primarily on either improving study environments or developing individual self-regulation skills, rather than combining both approaches.”
The evidence supports that procrastination interventions usually emphasize individual self-regulation, and that integrated approaches are not the norm. But it does not support the stronger claim that most interventions mainly split between two dominant camps: environment-focused and self-regulation-focused. Environmental interventions appear relatively uncommon, so the claim overstates their place in the field.
“Environmental factors such as lighting, air quality, physical comfort, and distractions can influence concentration and academic performance.”
The evidence strongly supports the claim. Multiple peer-reviewed reviews and institutional sources show that lighting, air quality and ventilation, thermal comfort, and noise or distractions can affect concentration, cognitive functioning, and academic performance. Results vary by setting and exposure level, but the statement is appropriately cautious because it says these factors can influence outcomes.
“Academic procrastination is common among university students.”
Available evidence strongly supports the claim. Multiple peer-reviewed studies find academic procrastination affects a large share of university students, with estimates varying by definition but consistently high enough to qualify as common. The main caveat is that some studies measure occasional procrastination while others measure frequent or chronic forms.