{"id":411936,"date":"2026-04-22T15:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/411936\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:23:10","slug":"most-people-worldwide-believe-at-least-one-of-6-common-medical-myths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/411936\/","title":{"rendered":"Most people worldwide believe at least one of 6 common medical myths"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, the working theory about health misinformation was reassuringly simple: it was a fringe problem, confined to a narrow slice of the population \u2014 the deeply partisan, the undereducated, the chronically online. A sweeping new global survey blows that theory apart.<\/p>\n

The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report on Trust and Health<\/a>, based on responses from more than 16,000 people across 16 countries, found that seven in 10 people worldwide believe at least one of six widely debunked health claims to be true.<\/p>\n

False claims that survey respondents answered \u201cI believe this is true\u201d include:<\/p>\n

Animal protein is healthier (32%)<\/p>\n

Fluoride in water is harmful or unhelpful to health (32%)<\/p>\n

Risk of childhood vaccinations outweighs benefits (31%)<\/p>\n

Raw milk is healthier than pasteurized (28%)<\/p>\n

Acetaminophen\/paracetamol use during pregnancy causes autism (25%)<\/p>\n

Vaccines are used for population control (25%)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite a stunning set of facts,\u201d Richard Edelman<\/a>, CEO of the global communications firm behind the five-year-old survey, told Fortune. The common assumption, he said, was that skeptics of mainstream health science \u201care the ones who really have questions about health truths \u2026 and it\u2019s not true. It\u2019s everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not a fringe problem<\/p>\n

The data systematically dismantles every demographic explanation for why people believe what they do. Among people with a university degree, 69% hold at least one of these beliefs \u2014 nearly identical to the 70% of those without one. The beliefs cut across the political spectrum: 78% of right-leaning respondents hold at least one, but so do 64% of those on the left. The pattern holds across age groups and, strikingly, is more pronounced in developing countries than developed ones. The United States, long assumed to be the epicenter of health misinformation, doesn\u2019t even rank in the top half of countries surveyed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

courtesy of Edelman<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that there are many divides in how people think about health, both in developed and developing countries and across levels of education,\u201d the report states. \u201cRather than pushing for uniformity of belief, it\u2019s more effective to invest in health outcomes and impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman researchers, who have tracked the data since the health-specific report launched in 2021, described a years-long process of social erosion that feeds the trend. \u201cYou have fears \u2014 the fears are chronically under or unaddressed,\u201d said Dave Bersoff<\/a>, EVP and Head of Research\u00a0at the\u2028 Edelman Trust Institute. \u201cThat starts leading to some of the erosion of the social fabric. You get polarization, polarization leads to paralysis, paralysis leads to grievance, grievance leads to insularity.\u201d The result, he said, is a growing \u201chardness\u201d in how people relate to anyone outside their own group \u2014 a hardening of tribalism that makes trust across belief lines feel increasingly impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of what we\u2019re seeing today is this sort of hardening of our tribalism,\u201d Bersoff added, \u201cthis idea that I can\u2019t trust anybody who isn\u2019t like me, and so anybody who isn\u2019t like me when it comes to beliefs or values or cultural background is immediately distrusted by me because I think they\u2019re out to get what I deserve or anything they get comes at my expense. It\u2019s a very negative, mean-spirited way of sort of interacting with the world, and a lot of what we\u2019re seeing today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The confidence collapse<\/p>\n

The misinformation crisis is compounding a separate but related emergency: a dramatic loss of confidence in people\u2019s own ability to navigate health decisions. Public confidence in finding reliable health answers and making informed decisions has fallen 10 percentage points in a single year, to just 51% \u2014 with statistically significant declines in 14 of the 16 countries surveyed. Meanwhile, trust in the media to accurately cover health topics remains 11 points below its pre-COVID level, at just 46% globally.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

courtesy of Edelman<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are overwhelmed with info, and I\u2019m not sure they can differentiate between this source and that source,\u201d Edelman said. \u201cThere\u2019s sort of an equality somehow of the sources.\u201d The problem, he and his colleagues are careful to stress, is not a deficit of information \u2014 it\u2019s the opposite. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we thought coming in that the divisive issues would be a result of the deficit of information,\u201d said Jennifer Hauser<\/a>, Global Health Chair at Edelman. \u201cBut in actuality, it\u2019s the information abundance. I\u2019m getting so much information I don\u2019t know who to trust, how to wade through this and make my final call.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI rushes into the vacuum<\/p>\n

Into that vacuum, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding its footprint. Thirty-five percent of respondents globally now use AI to manage their health in some form \u2014 and 64% believe a person fluent in AI can perform at least one medical task as well as, or better than, a trained doctor, including determining proper treatment or medication (21%) and diagnosing illness (17%).<\/p>\n

The turn toward AI and self-directed health management doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum \u2014 it is, in large part, a rational response to a system that millions of Americans feel has failed them. Public trust in the U.S. healthcare system fell from 71.5% in 2020 to 40.1% in 2024, according to research<\/a> from Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

courtesy of Edelman<\/p>\n

That erosion of confidence is compounded by the sheer difficulty of getting care in the first place. A 2025 West Health-Gallup study found that 35% of Americans reported being unable to access quality, affordable healthcare \u2014 the highest level recorded since 2021 \u2014 with the burden falling hardest on Black, Hispanic, and lower-income adults.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a January 2026 KFF Health Tracking Poll<\/a> found that healthcare is the household expense Americans worry about most \u2014 more than rent, food, or utilities \u2014 with two-thirds saying they are concerned about affording care for themselves and their families.<\/p>\n

The 2025 Edelman report found that in 9 of the 16 countries surveyed, a majority of respondents believe institutions are actively undermining access to quality care \u2014 a perception that, whether entirely accurate or not, is shaping where people turn for answers.<\/p>\n

Hauser said the data points to something more telling: people feel judged by their doctors and are seeking refuge in algorithms. \u201cAI can be less judgmental than physicians,\u201d she said. \u201cAI can be more empathetic than perhaps what they\u2019re finding with their physician.\u201d Among the 35% who already use AI for health management, 84% use it to get immediate answers to health questions, and 74% use it to get a second opinion on a diagnosis.<\/p>\n

The doctor as guide, not guru<\/p>\n

Despite the upheaval, the survey offers a through line of hope \u2014 and not just because personal physicians remain the most trusted voice in health across all 16 markets. Justin Blake<\/a>, Executive Director of the Edelman Trust Institute, argued that the report\u2019s most important contribution may be to correct a fundamental misreading of who, exactly, is driving the misinformation surge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some ways, we\u2019ve misunderstood who the audience agreeing with these divisive beliefs are,\u201d Blake said. Now that the data has redrawn the map, he argued, there\u2019s an opening, because that headline 70% misinformation finding means that, as he put it, \u201cthey are us.\u201d Now that we know this, he added, \u201cwe can actually go about this in a way less divided, polarized way and realize, like, \u2018Hey, the entire information ecosystem has changed. How people like to be related to has evolved.\u2019 And now that we kind of know what the playing field actually is, we can go ahead and make some progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

courtesy of Edelman<\/p>\n

Richard Edelman echoed that measured optimism, but insisted the path forward requires abandoning old habits. \u201cScience for years has just been about the what,\u201d he said. \u201cI think in the next phase, they\u2019re going to have to, as scientists, talk about the why and the how \u2014 because it\u2019s not enough anymore to just say, \u2018Here\u2019s the solve, just go.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The prescription, the Edelman team agreed, is less broadcast and more conversation \u2014 less authority, more partnership. \u201cWe have to listen. We\u2019ve got to meet people where they are,\u201d Edelman said. \u201cThe to-do is go from the bottom up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Hauser put the sharpest point on it. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want their doctor to be their guru,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want their doctor to be their guide.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this story,\u00a0Fortune\u00a0journalists used generative AI as a research tool. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, the working theory about health misinformation was reassuringly simple: it was a fringe problem, confined to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60,413],"class_list":{"0":"post-411936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-psychology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}