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1. Why are there misleading health information? Who spreads them ?
This is a very subjective question. There are misleading health information because there
are people who care less about the welfare of others and care only about their own. Some
of the ads and marketing strategies in print and radio can sometimes be very misleading
because it aims to sell the product to augment health resulting them to exaggerate. On the
other hand, misleading health information is caused by lack of education and knowledge
about the topic because maybe in the first place, your personal interpretation may have
caused the information to change. These misleading health information are spread by
people who are uneducated and has less sense of sensitivity.
Sources of Health
Information
BY SUSANNAH FOX AND MAEVE DUGGAN
Clinicians are a central resource, but friends, families, and peers
play important roles, too
People living with chronic conditions are more likely than other adults to tap into every
health information resource available to them, online and offline. When asked to think
about the last time they had a serious health issue and to whom they turned for help:
 81% of all adults living with one or more chronic conditions got information, care, or support from
a doctor or other health care professional.
 65% of all adults living with one or more chronic conditions got information or support from
friends and family.
 27% of all adults living with one or more chronic conditions got information or support from
others who have the same health condition.
By comparison, people who report having no chronic conditions are significantly less
likely to turn to each of these sources:

2.  62% of all adults who report no chronic conditions got information, care, or support from a
doctor or other health care professional.
 56% of all adults who report no chronic conditions got information or support from friends and
family.
 23% of all adults who report no chronic conditions got information or support from others who
have the same health condition.
When controlling for other demographic characteristics, such as age, education,
ethnicity, and overall health rating, having a chronic condition significantly increases
the likelihood someone got information or support from each of the three sources.
People who report having twoor more conditions are more likely than those who report
one condition to have called on a clinician or peer patient, as shown in the following
table:

3. Once online, people living with chronic conditions are likely to
access health information of all kinds
Seven in ten internet users, no matter their diagnosis, say they have looked online for
health information in the past year. Internet users living with multiple chronic
conditions are significantly more likely than other internet users to have looked online
for information about a specific disease or medical problem, a certain medical
treatment, and drugs, as shown in the table below:
Eight in ten U.S. adults who have sought health information online say they began their
last inquiry at a general search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. This has been a
bedrock finding of the Pew Research Center, dating back to our first health survey in
2000, underlining the centrality of search in Americans’ online lives.

4. Internet users living with two or more chronic conditions are somewhat less likely than
those who report no conditions to say this however: 68%, compared with 80%. Internet
users who report two or more chronic conditions are more likely than other people to
say they started their most recent health search at a site that specializes in health
information, like WebMD: 20% say that, compared with 12% of internet users who
report no conditions.
In order to get a better idea of how people are navigating health online, we asked
respondents to tell us in their own words which sites or services they use. Federal
government health websites were popular among those living with chronic conditions,
such as PubMed, CDC.gov, Medline, HHS.gov, and Medicare.gov. Health insurance
websites, clinicians’ websites, as well as some specific services like iTriage were also
frequently mentioned by people living with chronic conditions.
Even search itself turns out to be a social activity. Half of all health searches online are
performed on behalf of someone else, including among people living with chronic
conditions who probably have quite a few of their own concerns. This is another bedrock
finding of the Pew Research Center, dating to the year 2000, when we first began
measuring Americans’ use of the internet to gather health information. Fifty-three
percent of online health information seekers living with one or more chronic conditions
report that the last time they went online for health information it was related, at least
in part, to someone else’s medical situation. Forty-threepercent of health information
seekers living with chronic conditions say their last inquiry was about their own
concerns, compared with 36% of those who report no conditions.
Few pay for online content
Thirty percent of online health information seekers living with chronic conditions say
they have been asked to pay for access to something they wanted to see online. Eighty
percent of those who encountered a pay wall say they tried tofind the information
somewhere else; 17% gave up; and 2% paid the fee.
By comparison, 23% of online health information seekers who report no chronic
conditions say they have been asked to pay for access to information they wanted to see
– a significant difference compared with those living with chronic conditions. Again, the

5. vast majority (86%) say they did not pay, but rather tried to find the same information
somewhere else. Ten percent gave up and 3% paid.
Sharing stories, finding other people who share the same health
concerns
The internet enables people to not only gather health information, but to share it and
even create it. We find that, in general, internet users living with chronic conditions are
about as likely as those who report no health issues to say they have taken part in social
activities related to health, as shown in the table below.
Internet users living with chronic conditions stand out from their peers in noteworthy
ways: sharing questions online and reading or watching other people’s health stories
online. Of those who have posted health questions online, eight in ten say they were
hoping to reach a general audience of friends and other internet users, compared with
just one in ten who say they hoped to get feedback from a health professional. Peer

6. advice trumps professional advice in certain situations, as previous research has
shown.9
When we control other demographic factors, such as age, income, education, race, and
overall health rating, we find that having a chronic condition significantly increases the
likelihood that someone will take part in any of the following activities: downloading
forms, posting comments, reading or watching someone else’s commentary or
experience about health, and signing up for email updates.
People living with chronic conditions are more likely than others to
fact check what they find online with a medical professional
Thirty-one percent of U.S. adults living with one or more chronic conditions say they
have gone online specifically to try tofigure out what medical condition they or someone
else might have. By comparison, 38% of U.S. adults who report no chronic conditions
say they have done so. This difference is related to the fact that people living with
chronic conditions are less likely than other adults to have internet access. When we
look only at internet users, the twogroups are equally likely to say they have gone online
for a diagnostic check.
Among online diagnosers, people living with one or more chronic conditions are more
likely than others to say that the information they found online lead them to think that it
needed the attention of a doctor or other medical professional: 53%, compared with 41%
of those living with no chronic conditions.
Among online diagnosers, people living with chronic conditions are also more likely to
say they talked with a medical professional about the information they found online:
60% of online diagnosers with one or more chronic conditions did so, compared with
48% of those who report no conditions. And 48% of online diagnosers with one or more
chronic conditions say that a medical professional confirmed their suspicions, either
completely or in part. Twenty-one percent of online diagnosers with one or more
conditions say a medical professional offered a different opinion, in contrast to the
information found online. Twenty-seven percent of online diagnosers with one or more
conditions say they did not visit a medical professional in order to get their opinion.

7. Again, the diagnosis difference likely plays a role: People with serious health concerns
are likely to take their online research seriously.
Health care reviews are not a mainstream information source
People who consult online health care reviews are in the minority—and the numbers
shrink even more when we ask if people have contributed to such reviews. Expressed as
a percentage of the total population, for example, just 11% of U.S. adults living with one
or more chronic conditions have consulted online rankings or reviews of hospitals or
other medical facilities. This is the same percentage of U.S. adults who report no
conditions who have looked online at hospital rankings and reviews.
The table below shows the percentages of internet users in each group who have
consulted or contributed to online rankings or reviews of health services or treatments.
1. If you want bedbugs to leave your house, place some on a piece of paper and leave
them in someone else’s house. The other bedbugs will transfer there.
2. If you want to get rid of unwanted visitors, secretly sprinkle salt around your home
and they will soon leave.
3. Guests should not open the door while the family is eating because that family’s good
fortune will fly out the door.
4. All windows inside a house should be opened on New Year’s Day to let good fortune
come in.
5. It is good luck to the family if there are bees found inside the house.

8. Get rid of unwanted visitors by secretly sprinkling saltaround your home.Photo via
www.hollywoodstoragecenter.com
6. When doves and pigeons leave a house, it means the occupants are always
quarrelling.
7. If you have to leave on a trip before finishing your meal, turn the plates on the table
so that your trip will be safe.
8. Do not place money on the table while eating.
9. Leave a few grains of rice inside a sack and tie it tightly so that your guests will not
consume your entire preparation for them
10. Leaving some rice in the cooking pot will ensure that you will always have food
inside the house.
11. If a fishbone gets stuck in your throat, don’t tell anyone. Instead, spin your plate
three times to make it disappear.
12. Serving plates to your guests ensures that blessings and good graces will be left on
those plates.
13. To get good news from a distant relative or stranger visiting your house, serve
him/her water first.
14. Always eat food from the center of the plate when dining in the home of strangers.
15. When three people pose for a picture, the one in the middle will be the first to die.

9. 16. A person with two cowlicks in his hair is said to be mischievous.
17. The sound of a single rumble of thunder heralds the death of a prominent person.
18. Gamblers will lose when they see the number seven.
19. Breaking a glass on Friday will bring the person bad luck for seven years.
20. 3, 5, and 9 are unlucky numbers.
21. If the number of letters in the husband and wife’s name adds up to 30 or more, then
that means good luck.
22. A person who dreams of numbers will win the lottery.
23. Red-colored cars are predisposed to accidents.
24. A person whose gums are black is a jealous type.
25. You can tell a person’s personality by knowing his/her color preference: jealous
people prefer yellow, the energetic prefer red, the peaceful prefer white, the optimistic
prefer green, and the lonely prefer blue.
26. When you dream about a friend wearing white, it means he/she is getting married.
27. When a person breaks an egg and sees two egg yolks, he/she will become wealthy.
28. Seeing a white butterfly will mean riches are in store for the person.
29. Putting your purse or handbag on the floor will not make you prosperous.
30. One who pays his debts at night will become poor.

10. An egg with two egg yolks is a sign of good luck.Photo via somecontrast.com
31. After you see a shooting star, wrap some money in a corner of your handkerchief
and play a game of chance. You will win.
32. When you wear clothes and discover that they are inside-out, it means you will
receive money shortly.
33. Always keep coins or bills inside your bag or suitcase. If you don’t spend it, you will
have lots of money for that year.
34. Put a coin you find on the road inside your purse or pocket and never use it. You will
never be short of money.
35. Give a generous discount to your first customer of the day so your sales will
increase for that day.

11. 1. Sleeping with Wet Hair Causes Blindness
Do our hairs give off toxic fumes when we sleep to cause us to go blind? At least that’s
how I used to picture it as a kid.
Of course, from the medical viewpoint, there is absolutely no plausible reason for you to
go blind if you sleep with wet hair, as an American Ophthalmologist will tell you. The
only bad thing probably about sleeping with wet hair is how stringy your hair is going to
be in the morning. [Image source: www.glbrain.com]

12. 2. Paglilihi
Could paglilihi be a ploy to get husbands to be more submissive to their wives? Maybe.
But there is still no evidence to support the claim that a mother’s fascination with eating
crabs during pregnancy will give the fetus a deformity akin to that of the crustacean. Or
that eating a twin banana during pregnancy will cause you to have twins.
Although still widely believed today, paglilihi is still just a myth with no verifiable medical
evidence. [Image source: www.anmum.com.ph]

13. 3. Hilot to Get Pregnant
For Filipino women having trouble conceiving, getting a hilot or an abdominal massage
to “position” the “lowered” uterus by “raising” it to prime it for conception is encouraged,
if not urged.
While some attribute their pregnancy success to the old woman with the expert hands,
some are still unable to get pregnant. There’s just no scientific evidence to support the
claim that abdominal massages can increase chances of getting pregnant. [Image
source: www.reuters.com]
4. Eating Geckos (“Tuko”) to Cure Asthma
First off, asthma is a long-term disease and has no known cure. So that alone should
bust this myth.
Lizards or geckos are often dried, grilled or fried and then consumed by the sufferer,
supposedly to cure asthma and other diseases. To debunk this myth, our government
even felt the need to issue a warning against using these poor creatures as a cure.
[Image source: lifestyle.inquirer.net]

14. 5. Geckos (“Tuko”) Sticking to Human Skin
While geckos do have the superhero-like quality of adhesion to almost any surface,
getting stuck permanently to human skin is something we have yet to see. In fact,
there’s no mention anywhere of geckos sticking to any surface without possibility of
removal.
As children growing up in Western Visayas though, we were told to stay away from
geckos lest they get stuck to your skin. And the only remedy, we were told, was to have
an Aetabend over in front of you, and only then will the gecko let go.

15. 6. Pasma
We’ve heard it once too often. After a long hard day of labor or a few hours of ironing
clothes, you shouldn’t touch cold water lest you get pasma. But the problem
is, pasmadoes not exist – Medically that is.
Brushed off as folk illness by medical anthropologists, a lot of Pinoys still believe in its
occurrence despite of its non-existence.
7. Getting Warts from Frog Urine
This notion must have stemmed from frogs being warty and all – but there’s no scientific
evidence linking frog urine to the growth of warts. Warts grow when the HPV (Human

16. Papillomavirus) invades the skin through a tiny scratch usually, and not from frog pee.
I’m sure frogs will agree.
8. Eating Ants for a Great Singing Voice
We Pinoys love to sing, and probably out of that love, came all sorts of myths about
achieving that Regine Velasquez voice we’re hoping for. But the thing is, ants can’t help
you sing better.
Although ants produce formic acid which kills off bacteria and could help clear up throat
infections, it is highly doubtful that you’re going to acquire Regine’s range and pitch
even if you gobble up the whole anthill.
9. Suhi and Fish Bones Stuck in Throat
Fish bone stuck down your throat? No problem. If you have a family member that was
breech born (suhi), have him/her massage your throat for a bit and the fish bone will
dislodge itself. Works like magic, right? But apparently, this defies logical and scientific
reasoning. It’s a very popular folk belief though, and my lola still insists it works. [Image
source: english.chosun.com]

17. 10. Usog
Usog is when you unknowingly hex a child by greeting (binati) or just by being new to
that place. The child may suffer from gas pain, fever, convulsions and headache.
Apparently, the only cure is by wetting your fingertips with your saliva and rubbing this
on the child’s forehead, tummy or feet while repeating the words “pwera usog”.
While there’s no scientific basis for usog, there’s a more logical theory about child
distress in meeting strangers. [Image source: stuffpoint.com]