Where to find reliable medical information on the internet

Senior couple with pills and laptop in living room

‘It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that ain’t so’. – Mark Twain.

When I was growing up, decades before the internet, all the kids on our block told one another that chewing gum should not be swallowed. If you did, it would stay in your stomach for seven years. We all believed this was true because everyone said so! You couldn’t even look up an answer to the gum question in the encyclopedia, and making an appointment to see the doctor to ask the question seemed unreasonable. But now, with the power of reputable online sources, we can dispel such myths and make more informed health decisions.

For fun, I asked Google ‘what happens if you swallow your gum?’ The top two answers were from the Mayo Clinic and Nemours Children’s Health, two reliable sources. Both said chewing gum passes right through the gastrointestinal tract and does not remain there for any time, much less seven years.

I told this story because, in 2024, it is trivially easy to look up medical information and even to find out if that rumor you heard about chewing gum was true. The problem is that most of the medical information on the internet is either partially untrue, unproven, or entirely false. How does a twenty-first-century child go to find out what will happen when they swallow their chewing gum?

One site claims 5% of all Google searches are about health-related issues. That’s an astonishingly large proportion, given the total amount of data indexed on Google. The problem is that many of those searches return answers that may be true, partially true, or false based on the consensus of medical opinion. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the institution overseeing the safety and efficacy of medications (among other things), notes that many sources on the internet claim that certain drugs and medical devices carry FDA approval when they do not. For example, the multi-level marketing company Monat Global claims that the ingredients of their hair-care products are FDA-approved. The company also claimed that the FDA approved some of their products for hair regrowth treatment. None of these claims were true.

Truths, half-truths, and falsehoods on the internet

The internet is a double-edged sword when it comes to factual claims. The truth (as the X-files famously pronounced) is out there. However, finding the truth about medical claims is more complex than a Google search. It requires critical thinking, skepticism, and a willingness to do the work necessary to separate medical fact from science fiction. This is the key to navigating the vast sea of medical information online.

Critical thinking

Suppose you want to know whether it is safe to color your hair while you are pregnant. I asked Google this question. Google appeared to understand what I was asking and helpfully completed the question before I was done typing. The AI-generated first answer quoted the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to the effect that hair coloration is usually safe during pregnancy.

Here is where critical thinking becomes essential. One must ask, ‘Did ACOG say this?’ The first page of my Google search contained no citations from ACOG, so I applied some critical thinking and Googled ‘ACOG hair pregnancy.’ The first hit was a page on ACOG’s website. Bingo! I found my answer.

ACOG’s answer did a few essential things. It answered the question simply and clearly and provided the date the page was updated (October 2020). This information is critical for establishing that the information is reasonably up to date. They also offered a link to a disclaimer, in which they state that the information provided at their site does not constitute medical advice and should not substitute for the opinion of a competent, licensed medical professional. For me, this would have been the end of my search; I would call my Ob-Gyn and ask if it were ok for me to get my hair colored. I would base my decision on her response, yes or no.

Skepticism: Trust, but verify

Other women might choose to do more research. A woman concerned about the healthy growth and development of her unborn child would want to know what, exactly, these so-called experts said about hair coloration and pregnancy. ACOG did not cite them. Even if my obstetrician said I could dye my hair, my next move might be to search the medical database PubMed. Because I am a medical professional and a Ph.D.-level experimental biologist, I am familiar with the medical-scientific literature and competent at determining the difference between good and bad science. If you are neither of these things, it would be good to ask your physician to search for you. After all, their professional responsibility is to provide science-based advice when that information is available.

At this point, it is essential to mention that many medical questions do not have definitive answers. An honest physician must admit that she does not know the answers without scientific consensus.

‘Do your research’ means do some hard work

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone say they ‘did research’ on a particular topic, I could buy myself an expensive pair of binoculars. Doing research requires hard work. A single Google search does not constitute research. When I was in graduate school, a joke went around that you had to repeat experiments many times because the exercise was called ‘re-search’, not ‘search’.

Finally, when searching for medical advice on the internet, prepare for the possibility that the truth is not, in fact, ‘out there’. Uncertainty is uncomfortably familiar in medicine. Your best approach is to rely on the advice of a medical professional who knows you and your medical history. But a thorough internet search would not hurt!

Also, don’t swallow your gum. Wrap it in paper and throw it away in an appropriate receptacle.

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