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<\/a><\/p>\nThe developers say that true or false models often fail to capture contextual and cumulative ways, and misleading health information can influence decision-making and behaviors. This is especially important for vulnerable groups such as adolescents.<\/p>\n
Nutrition misinformation<\/p>\n
Health misinformation spread online creates a major public health threat, according to the WHO. These can have disastrous, and sometimes fatal, outcomes.<\/p>\n
The research team points to restrictive diets and fasting, and also consuming dietary supplements without medical advice, which are significant contributors to drug-induced liver injuries in the US.<\/p>\n
The new paper<\/a> has been published in Scientific Reports. The Diet-MisRAT is a rule-based content analysis model using the WHO\u2019s approach to assessing hazardous exposures from digital environments.<\/p>\n The tool looks at four different dimensions: Inaccuracy \u2014 if the facts are wrong, Incompleteness \u2014 if important information is missing, Deceptiveness \u2014 if the content is framed in a misleading way, and Health Harm \u2014 if the information could lead to dangerous behavior.<\/p>\n It starts by analyzing online content from sources such as social media and news articles, before prompting structured questions such as whether the content poses a risk, is exaggerated, or contradicts science.<\/p>\n The answers given provide a score, and the higher it is, the higher the risk that the content is harmful. These scores can then rank the content based on risk classification.<\/p>\n The researchers say the Diet-MisRAT offers a scalable, graded alternative to binary detection and that domain-calibrated risk stratification could guide proportionate interventions in content oversight, regulation, education, misinformation inoculation, and infodemic mitigation.<\/p>\n Verified results<\/p>\n The results from the tool were tested and calibrated through five verification rounds and included judgment from over 60 specialists in public health, dietetics, and nutrition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is essential to include specialist expertise when assessing misinformation risk. Our tool was calibrated and validated with feedback from nearly 60 subject-matter experts. This helps ensure that assessments of potential harm reflect appropriate professional judgment,\u201d says co-author and professor Anastasia Kalea at UCL\u2019s Division of Medicine.<\/p>\n If further exemplifies: \u201cEmerging clinical reports add to the evidence of misinformation\u2019s dangers. One involved a man with alarming cholesterol-induced skin lesions from a carnivore diet<\/a>, a trend amplified among manosphere subcultures.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnother described hazardous metallic layering in a man\u2019s colon from ingesting colloidal silver drops touted in some naturopathic circles. A recent fatality involved an adolescent girl who died after adhering to a water-only fasting regime she reportedly discovered online.\u201d<\/p>\n The study taps into an ongoing debate about online misinformation and how public authorities and policymakers should address this problem. The tool\u2019s risk assessment criteria can be taught and applied for educational and professional training, say the authors.<\/p>\n \u201cIn public health, we assess exposure to risk factors. We believe misleading health information should be treated in the same way. Some misinformation can lead to serious harm, so mitigation strategies should be proportionate to the level of risk. The more severe the potential harm, the stronger the response should be,\u201d says Ruani.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen AI chatbots speak confidently, users may assume their advice is safe. If we can properly measure how misleading a piece of advice is and how much harm it may pose, we can build stronger safeguards into models and AI agents<\/a> before deployment rather than reacting after harm occurs.\u201d<\/p>\nHealth misinformation spread online creates a major public health threat, according to the WHO.A previous national survey has found that nearly half of US citizens rely on unaccredited sources<\/a>, social media, and AI-generated recommendations for nutrition advice rather than trained professionals. It flagged that consumers struggle to differentiate reliable data from misinformation.<\/p>\n
The study stresses that misinformation has been implicated in decisions to abandon life-saving treatments.The study stresses that misinformation has also been implicated in decisions to abandon life-saving treatments, such as patients with curable cancers opting for unproven dietary alternatives, an approach linked to two-fold higher mortality rates.<\/p>\n