What the Media Won’t Tell You About Health Trends

By Jerome Puryear August 7, 2025

Hey, my friend,

Have you ever felt like your head's spinning from all the mixed messages in the wellness world? One minute a cereal is supposed to be good for your brain. The next, it’s being called out for its sugar content. One influencer swears the carnivore diet changed their life. Another says veganism is the only way to heal your body.
It’s a lot. And honestly? It’s no wonder so many of us feel stuck and unsure.

In this newsletter, we’re going to talk about what the media often leaves out when it comes to health trends and how to navigate it all with a little more clarity, curiosity, and confidence.

Health Trends Sell... But What Are They Selling?

Let’s be honest, a lot of wellness trends are less about your health and more about their profits. Marketing enjoys putting a fancy way of speaking about it. Consider words such as natural, detox, clinically proven, or immune-boosting. This all sounds good, but what does it really mean?

In reality, these words tend to be ambiguous, unregulated, or out of context. “Clinically proven” could translate to it being shown to work in a very small or poorly designed study. “Natural” might as well be anything from organic kale to snake venom.

Remember the famous Red Bull slogan, which says, “gives you wings”. Catchy, right? However, it brought the company into a 13 million dollar suit that accused it of false advertising. As it turns out, the product was no more beneficial than the standard dose of caffeine and, certainly, did not provide any wings.

And the Frosted Mini-Wheats commercials claiming their products enhance concentration in children. The research that they were premised on was so weak that the Federal Trade Commission had to interfere. Whole grains can be beneficial, certainly, but sugar-coated claims? Not so much.

One Diet Doesn’t Fit All

Social media can be a double-edged sword as far as health advice is concerned. On one hand, it is good that people are discussing their wellness journeys. On the other, it has generated a mixed-up world of conflicting trends.

Here is the reality that the media does not like to point out:

Bodies are not the same. What is right to one individual is completely wrong to another. Your gut health, hormone balance, lifestyle, genetics, and even stress load all play a role in how your body responds to food and habits.

Harvard researchers have observed that the long-term dangers of restrictive diets such as carnivore are nutrient deficiency and cardiovascular strain. On the other hand, plant-based diets, although healthy in many ways, are deficient in B12, iron, and omega-3s unless well-planned.

So there’s no magic formula that works for everyone, and honestly, that’s totally okay.

Media Narratives vs. Meaningful Science

When a new study hits the headlines, it is usually cherry-picked for drama, not accuracy. A 2023 review in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine concluded that almost 70% of nutrition news lacks adequate context. That means what you’re seeing may be more sizzle than substance.

A good example is plant-based meat alternatives. Their environmental advantages are often emphasized in the media or they are discussed as being healthier than meat.

And sometimes they are. However, a lot of these products are highly processed, contain a lot of sodium, and are not whole-food nutrition. The idea is not to disregard them but to ensure that you are getting not only the headline but also the full picture.

Build Your Health BS Detector

Here are four ways to build your critical-thinking muscle:

Ask what the words really mean. If something is “clinically proven” or “doctor-recommended”, dig deeper. Who says so? Where’s the research?
Look for peer-reviewed studies, not headlines. Reliable sources include PubMed and medical journals. Skip the hype and check if the research applies to people like you.
Consider the motivation. If someone’s promoting a diet and selling their own product, like a supplement or detox tea, pause and ask, “Is this really about my health, or their sales?”

Watch out for extremes. If someone claims “this is the only way to be healthy”, be skeptical. Real wellness is usually flexible, not rigid.

One last note: beware of supplements that promise too much. Remember Hydroxycut? It was aggressively marketed as a fat-burner that was clinically proven, but several pre-2009 formulations were linked to liver damage and pulled from the market by the FDA. The brand has since reformulated, but it’s a reminder that marketing can get ahead of safety. A simple product label should never replace genuine science.

Final Thought

You do not have to be a nutritionist or a doctor to make the right choices. All you require is curiosity, self-trust, and the boldness to ask, Does this work for me? and let that answer shape your next step. Do that consistently, and you’ll build a healthy practice rooted in evidence and authenticity, stronger than any trend and perfectly tailored to you.

Dr. Jerome Puryear