A sore throat. Tummy ache. Poor sleep. Brain fog. Aching joints. Weight gain. Not so long ago, most of us would have booked an appointment with our GP or called into our local pharmacy looking for advice.
Today, many of us instinctively reach for something else first, our phone.
There are three muscle memory routes to self-diagnosis or cure-all therapies and treatments. A quick Google search will match symptoms with numerous health sources to reveal possible explanations and treatment suggestions.
AI tools will probe a little deeper with follow up questions to provide a somewhat informed opinion as the best way to deal with your health concerns. While social media hashtags will serve up hundreds of videos offering explanations, and personal testimonies from people who appear to have all the answers. Some have millions of followers. Others wear white coats. Almost all speak with complete conviction and confidence.
The problem?
Confidence and credibility are not the same thing, and this is what the new Irish Pharmacy Podcast by Vital Pharmacies is seeking to disseminate.
‘We’re living in a social media, clickbait era,’ said scientist and author Dr David Robert Grimes, who is a guest on episode two. ‘Most misinformation is designed to trigger fear or disgust because those emotions make us far more likely to share information before we’ve had time to stop and think,’ he said.
It’s a phenomenon pharmacists like me are witnessing every day. Although we are usually the patient’s last port of call rather than the first.
I see people walking into the pharmacy with genuine concerns after seeing something online. Often, they’re frightened, confused or simply unsure who to believe.
They are also unsure as to whether something claiming to be a natural supplement could interfere with their other prescribed medication.
I see every one of these instances as an opportunity for a meaningful conversation with my patient. There is a perception that the pharmacist is unapproachable, too busy to talk, or wouldn’t be interested. As just one member of the independent group of Vital Pharmacies, I know that this simply isn’t true. Your local community pharmacist cares. They are just as interested as you in figuring out if some of the health claims out there are based on scientific facts, and if they’ll stand up to scrutiny.
Why smart people still fall for bad health advice
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding misinformation is that only gullible people believe it. The reality is far more uncomfortable, says Dr Grimes who, while on the podcast, shone a light on how our brains are actually wired to prioritise information that feels threatening.
‘We react before we reflect,’ he explains. ‘We emote before we reason.’
From an evolutionary perspective, that makes perfect sense to me. Paying attention to danger helped keep our ancestors alive. Unfortunately, the same instinct now makes alarming health claims spread far faster than reassuring, evidence-based information.
It’s why a dramatic headline claiming a common food is ‘toxic’ or that a supplement will ‘transform your life’ often travels much further online than a careful explanation from a healthcare professional. Fear captures attention. Evidence requires patience. And diligent reading into the ‘research’, is a time measured luxury that many of us cannot afford to do.
Even then, very often it requires a certain level of knowledge and understanding to be able to make sense of it all. And this is where so many consumers rely on ‘health influencers’ and ‘real life testimonials’ to judge whether a wellness or health product is right for them.
Maybe today’s consumer is too embarrassed to ask their pharmacist if a certain collagen boosting skin supplement is going to make a difference; or to get their opinion as to whether a blue and red light mask will work for their acne, wrinkles, pigmentation or rosacea.
Yet, they will quietly request a private consultation on haemorrhoid cream or the best treatment for diarrhoea. It doesn’t make logical sense. As a community pharmacists, I can say with certainity that we are here to help. No question is too big or too small.
When medical credentials become marketing tools
Perhaps the most difficult challenge facing today’s consumer is knowing who deserves their trust. Social media has blurred the lines between education, entertainment and advertising, while AI has thrown out the rule book when it comes to discerning whether ‘real’ photographic and video evidence is legitimate.
Many people who built trusted reputations in healthcare have since moved into the commercial wellness space, recommending products ranging from supplements and skincare devices to lifestyle programmes.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with building a business or sharing health information online. In fact, social media can be an excellent way to educate the public. I use it all the time to share family health and medical advice, relevant news, and government health policy updates.
Social media is a powerful platform to quickly get your message to hundreds of thousands of people and generate a community of people interested in what you have to say. Just look at how effective it was in persuading the government to act and make HRT medication free for women. I never tired of beating that drum along with all of my colleagues in the independent Vital Pharmacy community.
Problems arise however, when commercial interests begin to outpace the public interest or sufficient robust scientific evidence.
Consumers naturally place enormous trust in someone with healthcare credentials. A recommendation from a doctor, pharmacist or scientist carries weight because we associate those professions with rigorous training, ethics and evidence-based practice.
But it’s important to remember that once someone is promoting a commercial product, they are no longer simply acting as an independent healthcare professional. They’re also operating as a business. That doesn’t automatically make their advice wrong.
It does mean it’s worth asking an important question: Is this recommendation supported by high-quality evidence, or is it supported by marketing?
As Dr Grimes points out, healthcare professionals occupy a privileged position of trust. Protecting that trust matters—not just for individual practitioners, but for the profession as a whole.
‘When healthcare professionals promote products that aren’t backed by good evidence, it doesn’t just affect them,’ he says. ‘It risks eroding trust in the entire profession.’
The wellness boom: Big business built on big promises
The global wellness industry is now worth trillions of dollars.
From powdered greens and collagen drinks to hormone-balancing supplements and biohacking gadgets, consumers are spending unprecedented amounts in pursuit of better health. Many products promise improved energy, healthier skin, sharper concentration, better sleep, enhanced immunity and even relief from menopause symptoms.
Some may have evidence supporting specific uses. Many do not.
That’s why pharmacists encourage people to ask not just ‘Does it work?’ but ‘How do we know it works?’
Scientific evidence isn’t about one person’s positive experience. It’s about asking whether carefully designed studies consistently show meaningful benefit, whether those findings have been independently replicated and whether any potential risks have been properly evaluated.
Without that process, distinguishing genuine innovation from clever marketing becomes almost impossible.
When ‘natural’ isn’t automatically safer
One of the most persistent myths in healthcare is that if something is natural, it must be safer than conventional medicine.
It’s an understandable assumption. We instinctively associate nature with health and pharmaceuticals with chemicals. But the reality is far more nuanced.
I think Dr Grimes says it best: ‘Everything that has a biological effect has the potential for a side effect. There’s always a trade-off.’
That’s why pharmacists spend years studying not just medicines themselves, but how they interact with each other, and with underlying medical conditions and even with certain foods.
For example, a herbal supplement may be completely appropriate for one person and entirely unsuitable for another.
A vitamin that is beneficial for someone with a diagnosed deficiency may offer no benefit at all for someone whose levels are already normal. And a supplement purchased online could interfere with prescription medicines in ways many people would never consider or even think possible.
For the most part, all any of us are trying to do is to improve our health, our day to day life, and sometimes our appearance too. But the worrying part is, when a patient tells us they saw a product health claim online and are now concerned that they have either wasted their money or interfered with their prescribed medication.
Or worse still, they stop taking their prescription without medical advice in favour of a natural alternative. Of course, this can have serious consequences.
That is where local community pharmacists become invaluable.
Unlike an influencer recommending the same product to hundreds of thousands of followers, a pharmacist’s advice begins with questions:
- What medicines are you already taking?
- What medical conditions do you have?
- Are you pregnant?
- Have you had recent blood tests?
- What outcome are you hoping to achieve?
Only then can they advise whether a product is appropriate—or whether there may be a better alternative.
The problem with miracle cures
If there’s one thing social media loves, it’s a shortcut. In fairness, we all do.
The promise is always the same: one product that solves a problem with very little effort. Dr Grimes says the reality is rarely so straightforward.
‘We’re obsessed with quick fixes because we’re all time poor,’ he explains.
‘I’d love a quick fix too. But most good healthcare advice is actually quite boring. Eat a balanced diet. Sleep well. Manage stress. Stay active. That’s never going to go viral.’
It may not be glamorous, but decades of research consistently point to those fundamentals as the biggest contributors to long-term health. That doesn’t mean supplements, devices or newer therapies never have a place. Far from it.
Modern medicine continues to evolve at an extraordinary pace, bringing genuinely life-changing treatments to patients every year. The key is distinguishing between innovations supported by robust scientific evidence and products whose marketing has simply outpaced the science.
The danger of replacing medicine with marketing
Perhaps the greatest concern for healthcare professionals isn’t that people occasionally waste money on products that don’t work. It’s when those products begin replacing treatments that do.
This is why I have dedicated an entire episode of The Irish Pharmacy Podcast to misinformation, in every form. I want to get the message out there on behalf of all of my pharmacy colleagues, that patients should never feel embarrassed about asking questions or discussing alternative therapies with their community pharmacist.
What worries the medical professionals working in the community, is when people make significant decisions about their health in isolation.
A patient may quietly stop taking medication because they’ve read that a particular supplement offers a “natural” alternative. Or worse still, they are purchasing these products online with no idea if they have passed Irish regulatory standards and are actually safe to use.
Just because something is available to buy without a prescription, does not mean that it carries no risks.
Community pharmacists routinely identify potential interactions between prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines and supplements—interactions that patients often have no reason to suspect.
This is where a simple in-store chat with your local pharmacist can help. Often times the advice is reassuring.
Sometimes it’s simply a matter of adjusting when medicines are taken. Occasionally, however, it prevents something potentially dangerous from happening.
This is why you should always tell your pharmacist everything you’re taking—even if you bought it online or from a health food shop. We are not here to judge. We are here to keep you safe and well.
Every day pharmacists have conversations with people who are anxious, sceptical or simply overwhelmed by conflicting advice.
This health professional role in the community is vital. In an era of too much information, what people really need is to be able to easily access qualified advice from people they trust so that they can make good decisions for their wellbeing.
Very few healthcare professionals have relationships with patients quite like community pharmacists. The one healthcare professional you don’t need an appointment to see. For many families, the local pharmacy is far more than somewhere to collect prescriptions. It’s where parents seek reassurance about a sick child. Where someone worried about a new symptom asks whether they should see their GP.
Where an older person receives help managing multiple medicines. Where carers ask the questions they forgot to ask during a hospital appointment.
Unlike a social media algorithm, a pharmacist knows that no two patients are the same. They understand that advice has to be tailored to the individual standing in front of them. And if they don’t immediately know the answer? They’ll find it.
They’ll consult trusted clinical resources, review the latest evidence, discuss complex cases with professional colleagues and, where appropriate, refer patients to the right healthcare professional.
That willingness to keep asking questions – to continue searching until the patient has the right answer – is one of community pharmacy’s greatest strengths.
For members of the Vital Pharmacy Group, that commitment is strengthened further.
Each pharmacy remains independently owned and deeply rooted within its own community, but every pharmacist also benefits from the shared knowledge, experience and support of a nationwide network of independent colleagues.
It combines something increasingly rare in healthcare: the personal relationship of a local pharmacist with the collective expertise of a much larger professional community.
Trust is earned, not followed
Perhaps that’s the biggest lesson from our conversation. We’re living in an age where almost anyone can look like an expert online. Professional-quality videos. Confident delivery. Impressive testimonials. Thousands and sometimes millions of followers.
But none of those things are substitutes for evidence. Nor are they substitutes for accountability.
Healthcare professionals don’t have the luxury of making sweeping promises or guaranteeing miracle results.
Their advice must withstand scientific scrutiny, professional regulation and, most importantly, the responsibility they owe to every patient they serve.
So the next time a product appears in your social media feed promising to transform your health, pause for a moment before clicking ‘buy’.
Ask yourself:
- What’s the evidence?
- Who benefits financially if I purchase this?
- Has this advice been independently verified?
- Have I spoken to my pharmacist?
Because while the internet can give you information, your community pharmacist gives you something far more valuable: context, experience, professional judgement and genuinely independent advice tailored to you.
In a world overflowing with opinions, that may be the most powerful prescription of all.
Find ‘The Irish Pharmacy Podcast’ on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
