The evidence briefing
What would make a treatment claim convincing?
Ask for the claim in a sentence you can understand. Then ask what supports that sentence, for the product and the use being proposed.
An advert is an invitation to check
A health advert reaches the public without advance government approval, the Federal Trade Commission explains.
It also says health claims need scientific support, while dishonest adverts may still make them.
- What exactly is being claimed?
- Where can I read the supporting evidence?
- Does it concern this product and this use?
What does registration establish?
The letters FDA refer here to the US agency called the Food and Drug Administration. Registration records a medicine-making business with FDA. Listing records a drug product. The September 26, 2026 rules do not treat either entry as approval of a business or medicine.
A drug may have a number called a National Drug Code in FDA’s directory. This does not mean FDA has checked the supplied information or approved the drug, as of September 26, 2026.
- Is the document an approval, a listing or something else?
- Which part supports the claim I have been given?
- Can the doctor explain the difference without a sales phrase?
What can a report of harm tell me?
FDA takes reports about unwanted events during medicine use. An entry alone cannot show that the medicine was responsible.
FDA also says these reports cannot show how often a problem happens.
- What is known about this product’s harms?
- What remains uncertain?
- What follow-up would address that uncertainty?
Bring the evidence back to your concern
You do not need to turn the visit into a research debate. Ask the doctor to explain why the evidence matters to the decision in front of you.
- What change would we hope to see?
- How would we assess whether the plan is helping?
- What would lead us to reconsider it?