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Surprising Science

The Lies Behind Medical Science

“Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong.” The Atlantic investigates the veracity of medical science.
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“[Dr. John Ioannidis] is what’s known as a meta-researcher, and he’s become one of the world’s foremost experts on the credibility of medical research. He and his team have shown, again and again, and in many different ways, that much of what biomedical researchers conclude in published studies—conclusions that doctors keep in mind when they prescribe antibiotics or blood-pressure medication, or when they advise us to consume more fiber or less meat, or when they recommend surgery for heart disease or back pain—is misleading, exaggerated, and often flat-out wrong. He charges that as much as 90 percent of the published medical information that doctors rely on is flawed.”

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