This article is general information-literacy guidance. It is not medical advice, and it does not diagnose, treat or recommend anything. For decisions about your own health, speak to a qualified professional.
The internet has made health information abundant and quality uneven. A carefully reviewed public-health page and a persuasive sales page can look equally polished. The skill worth building is not memorising facts; it is learning how to judge a source before you trust what it says.
Public bodies that publish on this subject, including the US National Library of Medicine through MedlinePlus and the US Food and Drug Administration, consistently emphasise the same kinds of questions: who runs the site, where the information comes from, how current it is and what the site wants from you. The checklist below adapts those themes into a routine you can run in a couple of minutes.
1. Who is behind this?
Look for a clear "about" page. Is the publisher a government agency, a university, a hospital, a professional body, a commercial company or an individual? None of these is automatically bad or good, but you should know which one you are dealing with.
- Can you find a named organisation and a way to contact it?
- Are authors or reviewers identified, with relevant qualifications?
- Is funding or sponsorship disclosed?
2. What is the purpose?
Ask whether the page exists to inform or to sell. Content can do both, but the balance matters. If every paragraph ends at a purchase button, read the rest as marketing.
3. Where does the information come from?
Good pages tell you their evidence: they point to studies, guidelines or named expert bodies, and they distinguish between what is well established and what is early or uncertain. Be cautious of vague phrases such as "studies show" with nothing to follow.
4. How recent is it?
Look for a published or reviewed date. Health guidance changes. An undated page, or one last updated years ago, may be out of step with current recommendations.
5. Is the tone proportionate?
Real evidence tends to arrive with caveats. Warning signs include:
- Promises of a quick, effortless or universal cure.
- Claims that authorities are hiding the truth.
- Heavy reliance on personal testimonials in place of evidence.
- Fear or urgency used to push a decision.
The FDA's consumer guidance on health information and buying medicines online reflects this caution: a polished website is not proof of legitimacy.
6. Does it respect your privacy?
Be thoughtful about forms that ask for health details. Check whether there is a privacy policy, what the site says it does with your data and whether you really need to provide the information to get what you came for.
7. Can you cross-check it?
Before acting on anything important, find the same point in two or three independent, reputable places. If only one source says it, and that source profits from you believing it, pause.
Applying the checklist to a publication
Health publishing comes in many forms, from public-health pages to industry commentary. Take a publication such as Spin Pharma, a WordPress publication on the future of medicine. A reasonable reader would use the questions above: Who writes it? What are its sources? Is a given article explaining a development, offering an opinion or promoting something? The directory describes the publication's focus only. It does not endorse products, treatments or claims made on any site it lists, and you should read it the way you would read any journalism or commentary: as a starting point for your own checking.
The network's health sector is deliberately small at launch. Many other health and pharmacy-related names are held back for review so that licensing, consent and accuracy can be confirmed before anything appears publicly. That caution is the same instinct this checklist is trying to build in you.
A one-minute version
When you are short on time, ask four things:
- Do I know who published this?
- Does it show its evidence and its date?
- Is it trying to sell me something, and is that clear?
- Would an independent, reputable source agree?
If any answer is "no", slow down.
What to do next
- Visit the health sector hub to see what the directory currently lists and how it is described.
- Use the Digital Presence Inventory Workbook approach on your own bookmarks: list the sources you rely on and note who runs each.
- If you run a site yourself, make your "about" page, dates and sources obvious. Our Digital Gravitas readiness checklist can help you review that.
- See a health-related listing that looks wrong or overstated? Request a correction.