The (digital) wellness trap

When it comes to our health, we're more educated than ever. So why do so many smart women fall for wellness misinformation we're served online and what can we do about it?

- WORDS by HANNAH VANDERHEIDE

From all-natural evangelicals claiming watermelon juice is as good as sunscreen, to celebrities endorsing flat-tummy tea, our digital lives are awash with questionable wellness claims. But what about that menopause supplement with supposed clinical trials, or the anti-cellulite cream your sister swears by? In a sea of miracle cures and disguised sales pitches, how can intelligent women separate fact from fad?

In 2004, the voice of 16-year-old Casey Donovan filled living rooms across Australia, as she was catapulted into the public eye as the winner of Australian Idol season two. With the country transfixed by her talent, the media soon began to scrutinise her body. “I think at one point I answered a question about what I’d had for breakfast. And I said, ‘A can of Coke and Snickers!’ and that just ran like wildfire,” she recalls.

You might think someone as successful and intelligent as ARIA-award winner Casey would be immune to wellness misinformation, yet, she admits, “I’ve tried almost everything when it comes to health and weight loss.” Casey once even found herself on the other side of a weight-loss scam when her face was used – without her knowledge - to sell a weight-loss gummy she’d never even heard of.

Casey has since found a balanced approach to health, but she’s candid about what it took to get there. “There are a lot of vulnerable people who will try almost anything. And I’ve been one of those people.”

The smart woman paradox

Indeed, intelligence is often no match for the wellness misinformation machine, with high-achieving, health-conscious women proving surprisingly vulnerable to false health claims.

Professor Susan Davis, a specialist endocrinologist and head of the Women’s Health Research Program at Monash University, has long been fascinated by this phenomenon.