By: Stephanie Di Vito
Neuroscience Graduate Student
We are always hearing about a new study finding a chemical to be causing harm, or that new diet that’s supposed to prevent disease. How do we keep track of all this information and what information should we trust? It has become more common for people to look for alternative advice from other sources, such as news headlines and celebrities. In 2008, Gwyneth Paltrow started her company Goop which has grown into a large lifestyle brand complete with health blogs, and clothing and skin-care lines.
Goop has been questioned previously concerning articles about vaginal steaming, jade eggs, a blog post claiming underwire in bras could be linked to cancer, and recently; a candle that supposedly smells like Paltrow’s undercarriage. Concerns have been related to the lack of evidence-based medicine behind claims being made. On January 24th, “The Goop Lab” a six-episode series was released on Netflix. It focuses on alternative therapies that Paltrow and other Goop staff take on including covering microdosing psychedelics, cold exposure therapy, and psychic mediums.
One episode introduces us to chiropractor and “body worker” John Amaral who discusses his healing work done by manipulating energy fields. He says the human energy field can be measured four to six feet away from the body and that he manipulates this energy field at the subatomic particle level. This manipulation changes the frequencies of the vibrations of the particles, altering how they function in the body. This supposedly affects how cells regrow and how our sensory system processes information. The episode shows Amaral barely touching his clients and them having extreme responses; moving their bodies as if waves of energy are going through them. It certainly looks incredible but what’s the science behind it?
In a cutaway, on-screen text is presented referring to the “Double-Slit Experiment”; used in physics to observe the behaviour of subatomic particles. The text claims “...the experiment reveals that the act of observation, in itself, influences how the particles behave. This implies that our consciousness can change our physical reality”. Now, this is a huge step away from what the experiment actually says about the behaviour of particles. In this case, observation is used incorrectly by the Goop team. They seem to be using it as a term for simply paying attention to something or being aware of it instead of scientific observation of particles by measuring their behaviour with a variety of tools. This was the only evidence provided to viewers about this therapy, and not many people are going to research a complicated quantum physics experiment.
This is just an example of using supposed scientific evidence to make health related claims that are not accurate based on the scientific evidence available. What is worrying, is the fact that this is presented to audiences as fact and is easily trusted because it “sounds right”. In reality, the support for the treatments is not within the scientific scope of their references provided. It is increasingly important to attempt and stop the cycle of misinformation and misconceptions regarding scientific information. This could be done by making research more accessible for the general public if they ever need to fact check Gwyneth Paltrow or other celebrities handing out miracle cures.
So what can be done to prevent misinformation from the media and all the buzz-worthy headlines? First, ask yourself “Does this sound too good to be true?” If yes, it might be smart to do some extra research yourself before buying into a claim. If you decide to do this, look for good sources. By this, I mean trustworthy sources, not just a blog written by a celebrity. Usually news outlets will release a small article describing the catchy headline you just read. They also tend to have links to information about the study that was done and some more in depth information about the study. Third, look for more than one credible source saying the same thing. Many people don’t realize this, but the algorithms on Facebook and even Google will tend to reinforce beliefs and information you’ve already searched up. This can lead to confirmation bias, which is the tendency to be more likely to believe information that aligns with your own beliefs. Lastly, in all cases you should check with your doctor before starting a new revolutionary treatment meant to save your health.
This is not to say all news headlines are incorrect, or that new treatments shouldn’t be trusted. Hopefully this will allow us to think critically whenever we can and possibly prevent hype around a product or treatment that may not be safe or healthy for us and prevent the spread of harmful science fiction.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51312438
Paltrow,G, Loehnen, E, Fried, A, Mioprio, S, Lillegard, D. (2020). The Goop Lab. [Television Series]. Los Gatos, CA: Netflix.