If you’re already skeptical, you may proceed to Step 2: Is there a study?. Otherwise, here are a few reasons for why it pays to be skeptical.
It’s your health and peace of mind that may be at stake.
Scientists do not belong to some infallible higher order of life. Scientists are just regular people — some good, some bad and yes, some evil. Sometimes they mistakes that are honest and sometimes they engage in deliberate scientific misconduct.
The fact that a study has been peer-reviewed and published in the most prestigious medical or scientific journal is no guarantee that it isn’t junk science. Even prestigious journals may be deceived by researchers who commit scientific misconduct. Also, journals are subject to the phenomenon of publication bias.
Under the scientific method, a scientist who advances a hypothesis has the burden of proof.