/oss/taxonomy/term/3410/all en /oss/article/videos/mercola-know-risks <p></p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-1"> <iframe class="media-youtube-player" id="media-youtube-y3n9lpiibu4" width="640" height="390" title="Mercola: Know the Risks" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/y3N9LpiibU4?wmode=opaque&controls=&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&playerapiid=media-youtube-y3n9lpiibu4&origin=https%3A//www.mcgill.ca&rel=0" name="Mercola: Know the Risks" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="">Video of Mercola: Know the Risks</iframe> </div> Mon, 07 Oct 2024 21:34:44 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10103 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/sleeping-floor-not-getting-eight-hour-massage <p>Sure, a mattress is nice, but have you ever considered sleeping on the floor?</p> Fri, 24 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9956 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/whats-trending-world-pseudoscience <p>Our office’s mission is to separate sense from nonsense, which may well be a Sisyphean task. There is a lot of pseudoscience—meaning ideas and interventions that look scientific but that are not—especially around health. Having a mental map of what is trending right now can help us better understand the landscape so that we can intervene more effectively. I have been interested in health-related pseudoscience for over a decade now. Here is what I see being popular at the moment and who is pushing (and often profiting from) these narratives.</p> Fri, 15 Sep 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9645 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/sour-hype-about-apple-cider-vinegar <p>It was a bestseller in 1615! “The English Huswife,” by Gervase Markham, was one of the first compilations of culinary and medical recipes ever published. Wildly popular despite the fact that at the time only about ten percent of women were literate, it offered medical advice for conditions such as “red saucy face,” “griefs in the stomach” and “pissing in bed.” The sketchy recommendations ranged from “curatives” such as simple parsley to the more exotic dried stag’s pizzle. If you are wondering, that was the Middle English word for the male appendage.</p> Thu, 24 Aug 2023 19:46:15 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9607 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/you-dont-need-binder-your-detox-kit-and-you-dont-need-detox-kit <p>“You don’t even know what a binder is when you’re doing a parasite cleanse. I came from Western medicine and I didn’t know what a binder was! We didn’t use those!” So says Kim Rogers, who proclaims herself a “worm queen,” to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mrsrogershood/video/7170453152649465131">her nearly half a million followers on TikTok</a>.</p> Fri, 13 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9358 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/why-gospel-wellness-sells <p>Running on a treadmill is an appealing analogy for both the search for wellness and the investigation of its claims. A lot of effort goes into it, yet we never seem to get anywhere. At least with running, there are clear health benefits.</p> Fri, 30 Dec 2022 16:23:08 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9345 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/resetting-hype-around-vagus-nerve <p>Murkiness and wishful thinking about an emerging scientific subject can be spun into certainty. Where researchers are exploring the tenebrous depths of our nervous system with the equivalent of a very narrow headlamp, wellness influencers claim 20/20 vision, bordering on clairvoyance. An unearthed bone is spun into a mythical beast, doubt into do-it-yourself instructional videos.</p> Thu, 12 May 2022 15:47:46 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc 9111 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/liver-king-wants-you-dominate-your-health-caveman <p>Blowing up a bed using a tank is certainly a choice. The bed explodes in slow motion. First, we see the dirt raised from the ground behind the bed. Then, a ball of fire erupts, tossing pillows in the air and leaving behind a wooden carcass. It’s not an episode of <i>Mythbusters</i>; rather, it’s<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CW_PKekDD6b/"> </a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CW_PKekDD6b/">an Instagram video from the Liver King</a>, who encourages his one million followers to do away with modern bedding because of the chemicals it contains.</p> Sat, 29 Jan 2022 09:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9012 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/emerald-chlorophyll-oz-0 <p>Just like the omnipotence of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a mere illusion, so is the almightiness of chlorophyll water. From a distance, the emerald drink looks like an all-natural cure-all to clear up the skin, prevent cancer, and neutralize foul odours, but behind the curtain, we find a plant pigment whose might has grown in the telling. And while the wellness concoction does, appropriately enough, have<a href="https://www.recapo.com/dr-oz/dr-oz-advice/dr-oz-vitamin-d-chlorophyll-cocktail-super-energy-smoothie-recipe/"> ties to Dr.</a></p> Sat, 31 Jul 2021 01:21:05 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8794 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking-pseudoscience/clown-prince-wellness <p>There is a man on the Internet known for satirizing wellness trends who was recently censored on YouTube for spreading unfounded conspiracy theories. JP Sears made a name for himself by gently mocking essential oils and the unbearable demands made on friends by rule-abiding diet enthusiasts. You may remember him from his purple T-shirts, long red hair, and earnest sarcasm.</p> Fri, 20 Nov 2020 20:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8491 at /oss /oss/article/health-pseudoscience/frustrating-rorschach-test-netflixs-unwell <p>Much like the title’s parentheses which tease a bleaker angle without committing to it, Netflix’s latest health docuseries, <i>(Un)Well</i>, behaves like the infamous Rorschach ink blot test. I imagine that the viewer will get out of it what they bring to it because the show itself is so respectful of the culture of the wellness industry. It observes but never judges, and this impartial approach causes it to commit the sin of false balance.</p> Thu, 20 Aug 2020 18:42:53 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8369 at /oss /oss/article/health-pseudoscience/holistic-dentistry-full-ofwholes <p>Definition of <strong>Holistic</strong></p> <p><b>UK</b> /həˈlɪs.tɪk/ <b>US</b> /hoʊlˈɪs.tɪk/</p> <p><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dealing"><b>dealing</b></a><b> with or </b><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/treat"><b>treating</b></a><b> the </b><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/whole"><b>whole</b></a><b> of something or someone and not just a </b><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/part"><b>part</b></a><b>.</b></p> Fri, 31 Jan 2020 15:00:00 +0000 Mark Grossman BSc, DDS, Contributor 8082 at /oss /oss/article/pseudoscience/popular-health-guru-sayer-ji-curates-scientific-literature-his-bachelors-degree-philosophy <p>There is a tool on Sayer Ji’s website<a href="http://greenmedinfo.com"> GreenMedInfo.com</a> that I wish I could recommend. I am sometimes asked by members of the public for a place to go to find scientific papers in order to figure out what is “science” and what isn’t, and the<a href="https://www.greenmedinfo.com/research-dashboard"> Research Dashboard</a> on Ji’s website appears to be up to that task.</p> Fri, 12 Jul 2019 00:35:33 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 7828 at /oss /oss/article/quackery/goop-men-putting-soul-patch-well-woo-brand <p>Gwyneth Paltrow’s commonwealth of aspirational feel-goodery is now reaching across the gender aisle with Goop Men. There’s the good, there’s the bad, and there’s the snugly, like this $28,900<a href="https://www.superiorfloattanks.com/shop-tanks"> flotation pod</a> Goop tells us is<a href="https://goop.com/men/best-new-tech-gadgets/"> “tech you need right now”</a>.</p> Thu, 06 Jun 2019 19:38:38 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 7792 at /oss /oss/article/videos/cracked-science-22-malearkey-mens-wellness-0 <p></p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-2"> <iframe class="media-youtube-player" id="media-youtube-aijlc2z-d-c" width="640" height="390" title=""Malearkey" for Men's Wellness (CS22)" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AIJLc2z_d-c?wmode=opaque&controls=&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&playerapiid=media-youtube-aijlc2z-d-c&origin=https%3A//www.mcgill.ca&rel=0" name=""Malearkey" for Men's Wellness (CS22)" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="">Video of "Malearkey" for Men's Wellness (CS22)</iframe></div> Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:06:37 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 7471 at /oss