most actors aren’t real doctors, they justplay one on tv. so should you listen to their medical advice or get a second opinion? what up my peeps, julian here for dnews. welove famous people, even when we hate them. we love looking at them, gossiping about them,and listening to their advice. usually that advice is harmless. maybe they’re givingyou tips on how to succeed, or for a killer kale salad or something. but when that adviceaffects public health, should you listen? well, as with most things in life, that’sa gray area. it can go either way. like in the case of angelina jolie. in 2013 the actressannounced she had had a double mastectomy in a preventative measure against breast cancer.genetic testing revealed she had a mutation
of the brca1 gene that, according to jolie,gave her an 87% chance of developing the disease. some critics panned her decision, either forbeing too extreme or lamenting that she would alter her figure. i would like to remind thosepeople that it is in fact her figure and she can do whatever she likes with it. and it looks like jolie’s decision has hada positive impact on public awareness about breast cancer. serendipitously the medicaluniversity of graz in austria had just surveyed 1000 women about breast cancer treatment optionsright before jolie’s announcement. once the news broke, they decided to survey 1000women again to see if their knowledge on the topic had changed. and indeed it had. thefirst survey showed 88.9% of women knew mastectomies
were an option. that number got a little bump,up to 92.6% on the second survey. but the real change was seen in awareness of treatmentoptions. the first poll showed 57.6% of women knew they could have reconstructive surgeryusing their own fatty tissue instead of synthetic breast implants. that number jumped to 68.9%in the second poll. and at first only 40.5% knew reconstruction could be done at the sametime as the mastectomy. that number shot up 19% to 59.5% in the second survey. a separate2014 study in the uk found that demand for genetic testing for breast cancer risk almostdoubled after jolie’s announcement. the fact that it was angelina jolie probablyhelped in another way. as it turns out, people are quite attached to their body parts, andhaving them surgically removed can be a traumatizing
thing. but if angelina jolie, a woman of famousbeauty, valued her health more and had the operation, maybe it’s not so scary afterall. celebrity advice isn’t always so helpfulthough. i knew as soon as i brought this topic up, many of you were screaming the name “jennymccarthy.†i could hear you through your computer screen. for those that don’t know,jenny mccarthy is a model and actress who has become the de facto face of the anti-vaccinationmovement. her son was diagnosed with autism shortly after receiving vaccinations, shecorrelated the two, and has been on a crusade to keep parents from vaccinating their childrensince. the thing is, it’s pretty definitive thatvaccines and autism are unrelated. thimerosal,
the mercury containing compound that anti-vaxxersdemonize hasn’t been used in childhood vaccines since 2001, yet autism rates continue to climb.but you know what vaccines do cause? a severe deficiency in measles and mumps. and you knowwhat measles and mumps do? they kill children, that’s what. it looks like the celebrity backed anti-vaxmovement has had an impact though. one study found that when a family has a child on theautism spectrum, they vaccinate their subsequent children by age two 73% of the time. familieswith no autistic children vaccinated by that age 84% of the time. the gap had narrowedby age 5, but following the vaccine schedule is vital to preventing outbreaks. in the end,this particular celebrity and her message
are hurting public health. of course these are just two examples. thislist of celebrity backed campaigns that affect public health are endless. celebrities endorsepet causes that are all over the map, from gun control to parkinson's research to hivprevention to cancer awareness. but even if they support a good cause, the informationthey dole out isn’t always accurate. still, according to a 2011 university of michigansurvey, 24% of people place some value on a celebrity’s opinion. so, what’s theanswer to our first question? should you trust an unqualified but convincing stranger thatyou feel you know and trust? to be brutally honest, no. i know that you have the internet.you can always dig deeper on a topic and have
no excuse to be ignorant. always search fornew information, avoid the human tendency for confirmation bias, seek out expert opinions,and be willing to accept that what you thought was unshakably right was wrong. it’s noteasy, but for your health and the public’s health, it’s the smart thing to do. public health misconceptions and crazy dietfads often go together and both of them drive me insane. worse, it looks like health foodcan make you fat because the world is a tragically ironic place. matt lieberman explains here. do you take advice from celebrities or not?how’s that working out for you? let us know in the comments, subscribe for more, and iwill see you next time on dnews.
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