Tuesday, October 3, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News World News

Waste of tears — fake ‘onion water’ flu cure exposes disparities

AFPbyAFP
December 22, 2022, 9:58 am
in World News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

If it tastes this bad, it must be good for you?

Homemade, tear-inducingly strong onion “cures” for flu are the latest medical misinformation spreading on TikTok — a sign, analysts say, that affordable, evidence-based health care is beyond the reach of many Americans.

Videos extolling the pungent concoction –- made by soaking chopped raw onions in water –- as a miracle cure have garnered tens of millions of views on the influential app despite no scientific proof to support the claim.

The videos have gained traction as the United States faces a so-called “tripledemic” of influenza, Covid-19 and RSV that has put a strain on health services.

Onions in reasonable quantities are not considered harmful –- except for the foul breath –- but health experts warn that such videos promoted a blind belief in simple home remedies that could compromise public health.

“Onions aren’t going to hurt anybody, but if somebody is sick, they should seek actual medical attention,” Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, told AFP.

“I am afraid that people will just drink onions and not seek medical care (and) they could spread Covid or the flu in the community.”

The pseudoscience has found many takers, with comments under the videos filled with declarations like “this worked for me!”

That, Wallace said, suggested the so-called “placebo effect,” with the dubious onion treatment getting the credit after the virus naturally ran its course.

– Miracle cure? No – 

The trend illustrates how TikTok is flooded with unqualified influencers who peddle misinformation, from vaccine and abortion-related falsehoods to health myths –- often to boost engagement and views — in what experts say can have a serious impact on medical decisions.

In one of the most popular TikTok videos, which garnered over 2.5 million views, one woman — whose profile did not mention her qualifications and described her only as a “child of mother nature” — zealously promoted onion water.

For greater healing effects, she implored her viewers to ferment the concoction for hours to make it more “potent.”

“We love a miracle cure and for some reason we seem to think that the more painful a remedy is to consume, the more magic it will work,” Abbie Richards, a disinformation researcher and fellow with the Accelerationism Research Consortium, told AFP.

“Simple solutions for complex problems frequently perform well in engagement-driven algorithms like TikTok’s. Particularly when those solutions are cheap and accessible in areas where evidence-based healthcare is not.”

A TikTok spokesman told AFP the platform removes content that qualifies as medical misinformation that is “likely to cause significant harm.”

The onion water videos, he added, did not cross that threshold of “significant harm” and were therefore left untouched.

– Millions without medical insurance –

That approach, many experts say, underscores the challenge facing social media platforms of finding ways to eliminate misinformation without giving users the impression that they were trampling on free speech.

Richards cautioned that “excessive moderation” in the case of onion water videos could backfire and “encourage narratives that the truth of affordable medicine is being intentionally hidden.”

A more effective approach, she said, would be for TikTok to ensure accurate health information is “available, accessible, and engaging.”

“Whether TikTok should take down videos about benign but useless remedies, that’s not for me to say,” Valerie Pavilonis, an analyst at the misinformation watchdog NewsGuard, told AFP.

“Still, even if a supposed remedy like drinking onion water to solve sinus problems doesn’t directly hurt you, it could make you wrongly think that you are treating the problem.”

The popularity of the videos reflected what Richards called “systemic failures” in health care.

In a country with expensive medical care, data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows roughly 30 million Americans, or nine percent of the population, have no health insurance.

Millions of other Americans are “underinsured”, with their coverage not providing them affordable healthcare, according to the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund.

“It’s very easy for us to say: ‘Remember to talk to your doctor about medical treatments,'” Richards said.

“But I would expect that a society with limited access to health care, an overburdened health care system, and a generally confused approach to the newest wave in illness, might start drinking onion water or putting garlic in their ears.”

Tags: flu cureonion waterTikTok
ADVERTISEMENT
AFP

AFP

Related Posts

Trump empire ‘scared’ as New York trial opens

byAFP
October 2, 2023, 9:30 pm
0
8
At least 38 injured in police HQ dawn fire in Egypt’s Ismailia city – health ministry

NEW YORK—Former US president Donald Trump will appear in a New York court on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) as a...

Read more

At least 38 injured in police HQ dawn fire in Egypt’s Ismailia city – health ministry

byAFP
October 2, 2023, 9:25 pm
0
8
At least 38 injured in police HQ dawn fire in Egypt’s Ismailia city – health ministry

ISMAILIA,  Egypt—A  huge fire broke out at a police headquarters in the Egyptian city of Ismailia on Monday, injuring at...

Read more

Ukraine left out in cold by US shutdown deal

byAFP
October 2, 2023, 9:20 pm
0
8
Biden says age has brought him ‘wisdom’, ‘honor’ 

WASHINGTON, DC—The future of US aid for Ukraine hangs in the balance after a last-gasp deal to avoid a government...

Read more

10 killed in Mexico church roof collapse

byAFP
October 2, 2023, 9:15 pm
0
8
Southwoods nails Seniors’ Fil golf crown

MEXICO CITY—At least 10 people, including three children, were killed and 60 more injured when the roof of a church...

Read more

Bangladesh dengue deaths top 1,000 in worst outbreak on record

byAFP
October 2, 2023, 3:55 pm
0
8
PH dengue fatalities highest in Asia

Dhaka, Bangladesh - More than 1,000 people in Bangladesh have died of dengue fever since the start of the year,...

Read more

France to vaccinate millions of ducks against bird flu

byAFP
October 2, 2023, 3:00 pm
0
8
Southwoods nails Seniors’ Fil golf crown

Paris, France - France on Monday began Europe's only vaccination campaign against bird flu in ducks, hoping to avoid mass...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • PH, US, allies kick off 11-day naval drills
  • President, VP’s approval ratings see steep drop in third quarter
  • Senate, House performing well, Pinoys say in Pulse Asia survey
  • ‘Jenny’ seen reaching peak intensity today
  • Napoles dodges plunder rap, but guilty of 9 counts of direct bribery
  • 6 Navotas cops facing charges for teen’s slay
  • Gas prices rolled back P2, kerosene down, diesel up
  • Pair wins Nobel Medicine prize

Advertisement

Latest News

6 Navotas cops facing charges for teen’s slay

byManila Standard
October 3, 2023, 12:45 am
0
8
Soriano named comms adviser

State prosecutors have filed criminal charges against six Navotas police officers implicated in the death of 17-year-old Jerhode “Jemboy” Baltazar....

Read more

Gas prices rolled back P2, kerosene down, diesel up

byAlena Mae S. Flores
October 3, 2023, 12:40 am
0
8
Petron price cut whopper: P4.50/liter

Oil firms are implementing a mixed price movement effective 6 a.m. today (Tuesday) with a price rollback of P2 per...

Read more

Pair wins Nobel Medicine prize

byAFP
October 3, 2023, 12:35 am
0
8
Pair wins Nobel Medicine prize

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Katalin Kariko of Hungary and Drew Weissman of the United States won the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for...

Read more

Socorro members could lose homes

byMacon Ramos-Araneta
October 3, 2023, 12:30 am
0
8
Southwoods nails Seniors’ Fil golf crown

THE suspension of an agreement that allowed the suspected cult Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. (SBSI) to use 353 hectares of...

Read more

DMW probing death of OFW in Saudi Arabia

byVito Barcelo
October 3, 2023, 12:25 am
0
8
Palace awaits DMW report on US island labor dispute

The Philippine government is investigating the death of a Filipino domestic worker who was found dead with stab wounds in...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Pets
  • Tech
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Cravings
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Agriculture
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App