Science and health

Science and health claims, checked against the paper

The phrase a study says is doing an enormous amount of unearned work.

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Sample size and selection decide what a health finding can support, and both are usually the first details removed when a study becomes a story. A result from a few dozen participants in a controlled setting is not a population-level claim, however confidently it is repeated.

Replication is scored separately because in several fields a single unreplicated result is weak evidence, and the popular version rarely mentions that no one has reproduced it.

Nothing here is medical advice. It is a reading of what the evidence establishes and where its public use has gone past that.

How every claim is scored

Source quality0 to 20
Peer reviewed, preprint, self-published report, vendor material, or press release.
Sample and method0 to 20
Sample size, how subjects were selected, and whether the underlying data is available.
Independence0 to 20
Does the publisher sell the solution its own finding recommends.
Replication0 to 20
Has anyone independently reproduced it with a comparable method.
Drift0 to 20
How far the popular use of the claim sits from what the source actually says.

Full method at /method/. Every scored claim stays on the record.

Questions

Is this medical advice?

No. It scores the strength and use of public claims. Decisions about your health belong with a qualified clinician.

Why does replication matter so much here?

Because an unreplicated single result is a starting point, not a conclusion, and the distinction almost never survives into the headline.

Do you cover nutrition and fitness claims?

When they reach the scale where people are making decisions on them, yes.

Get every verdict

Two editions a week. One scored claim each.

Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00 PM Central. Every call is dated and graded in public, including the ones we get wrong.

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