Digital Health Literacy is the skill of reading health claims clearly online. Most supplements do not do what their labels promise. Many pills and powders are mislabeled. Social media makes the wrong things look right. Direct-to-consumer labs send you data without medicine. Boutique scans manufacture findings. This section helps you tell what works from what is sold.
You picked up a supplement after a TikTok. You paid for a full-body scan that found "something." You ordered an at-home lab panel and now you have 60 results and no plan. You are taking a peptide a friend swears by. You are trying to figure out if the longevity doctor your sister-in-law sees is worth your trust.
We can help. Here is how to read the claims, the labels, the scans, the lab dashboards, and the wellness pitches that come through your phone every day.
Supplements, wearables, screening - we are glad to help you use them well.
We are anti-guessing.
3 questions to ask before you buy anything
When something new shows up, a supplement, a scan, a peptide, a longevity doctor, we ask the same 3 questions. You can ask them too:
- What problem is this trying to fix? If the answer is a vague feeling (energy, focus, "wellness"), the placebo response is probably doing most of the work.
- Can we put a number on that problem? ApoB, HbA1c, 25-OH vitamin D, fasting insulin, Omega-3 Index, hs-CRP. These numbers do not respond to marketing. They are the only honest way to see if a supplement, drug, or therapy is doing what its label claims.
- Is the product pure and dosed in a way that has been studied? Look for third-party seals (USP, NSF, ConsumerLab, IFOS). Skip proprietary blends. Be careful with anything sold only through social media.
If something fails any of those questions, the relief you feel is most likely placebo plus variable pharmacology. That does not make the relief fake. It does mean the product is probably not the thing doing the work you are paying for.
You bought a supplement. Does it do anything?
The placebo effect is powerful, and the bottle is often lying. Start here:
- Why Most Supplements Don't Work (And Why You Still Feel Better) - the quick read. The mechanism, made simple.
- The Placebo Effect, Social Media, and Why Supplements Feel Like They Work - the deeper read on why expectation alone can make you feel better.
- Quality and Contamination: What's in Your Supplement - the buyer-beware data. 57% Amazon mislabeling, 74% CBD label deviation, botanical adulteration 17% to 57%. How to vet a product.
- Counterfeit Skincare and Supplements: Why the Source Matters - third-party online marketplaces are full of fake, diverted, expired product. Why buying from the brand or an authorized retailer matters more than the price.
- NSF, cGMP, and How to Spot Professional-Grade Supplements - the third-party programs that mean something.
- The Greens Powder Dilemma - the exact pattern in the greens-powder category, by name.
- The Prenatal Supplement Trap - the same pattern, applied to pregnancy.
Someone is selling you longevity. What holds up, and what is marketing?
If a product feels new and exciting, the marketing budget is probably bigger than the research budget.
- NAD+ vs AG1: Separating the Science from the Hype - how a category becomes a story before it becomes medicine.
- IV Vitamin Therapy: Expensive Urine or Clinical Tool? - when bioavailability matters, and when it is theater.
- Biological Age Testing: Truth vs Marketing - telomere tests vs epigenetic clocks. Which numbers hold up, and which are screenshots dressed up as medicine.
You are picking a doctor. What is a hormone mill, and how do you spot one?
The structure of a clinic often tells you the medicine you will get there.
- Choosing a Longevity Physician in Philadelphia - red flags for med spas, hormone mills, and one-size protocols, vs the markers of Medicine 3.0 done well.
- Executive Physicals in Philadelphia: Strategy vs Checkboxes - the binder problem. When a $5,000 one-day workup hands you a printout but no relationship.
- The Advocare Stoll Medical Group Alternative - the structural costs of fragmented primary care, and what to ask about a practice before you sign up.
- Concierge vs Direct Primary Care: Which Fits You? - practice models compared. The questions to ask before you write the check.
You ran a test. Now what?
Data is not the same as medicine. A dashboard is not a clinical interpretation.
- Function Health: You Have the Data. Now What? - direct-to-consumer labs reviewed. What 60 results gets you, and what it does not.
- Boutique Scans & Whole-Body MRI: A Clinical Review - the "incidentaloma" problem. When a high-resolution scan creates more anxiety than answers.
- Precision Prevention: The Role of Genetic Testing - at-home DNA tests (23andMe, Ancestry) vs clinical genetic testing. Genealogy-grade vs actionable.
- Should You Upload Your Labs to AI? - what ChatGPT gets right and wrong on your blood work, and how to protect your data before you upload.
A friend mentioned a peptide. Is it safe? Is it legal?
The peptide world has FDA-approved medicines, gray-market research peptides, and outright counterfeit. The lines matter.
- Peptides: Approved, Gray Market, and Dangerous - FDA-approved GLP-1s vs gray-market BPC-157, TB-500, CJC-1295, MK-677. What we prescribe and what we do not.
- FDA-Approved Peptide Medications: What We Prescribe and Why - the in-clinic side of the same picture.
- How I Decide to Prescribe: The Lens Before a Single Rx - the questions we ask before writing any prescription, peptide or otherwise.
You want to think about this the way we do
The meta-frame. How we choose, dose, evaluate, and stop the things that come through the office.
- How We Choose Supplements: Safety, Effectiveness, Cost - the 3-gate filter, in order.
- Stop Guessing: Why Your Supplements Must Be Personalized to Your Data - podcast strategy vs data-driven supplementation.
- Supplement Exit Strategies: Why You Shouldn't Be on a Pill Forever - bridges vs foundations. How to tell when something has earned its place.
- What Is Medicine 3.0? - the deeper framing. Why "normal labs" is often the marketing line and not the medicine.
How to read this section
If you read one piece, start with Why Most Supplements Don't Work. It is the short version of the whole section.
If you are a physician using this for a patient conversation, the deeper pieces have the citations you need.
If you are a family member trying to talk to someone you love about a supplement they swear by, start with the placebo piece. It explains the mechanism without dismissing the experience.
What we have not written yet
We add to this section when a wellness trend, supplement category, scan, peptide, or marketing pattern shows up in the office often enough that a written answer saves us time and helps you think clearly. Things you ask about that we have not yet written:
- Telehealth quality and AI-generated medical advice. ChatGPT-grade health claims, the limits of a 15-minute virtual visit, and the difference between a synchronous physician and a chatbot.
- The GLP-1 hype cycle. Compounded versions, "for vanity" use, and the structural risks of sourcing through cosmetic-style clinics.
- Insurance transparency. How to read what your plan covers, why "off-label" can be free or impossible, and how the pharmacy middleman works.
- The wearables layer. CGM, Oura, Whoop, Apple Watch. Which ones change behavior, and where the signal-to-noise is honest.
- The credential question. How wellness brands use "Dr." titles, and how to read the credential before you trust the brand.
If there is a topic you want us to take on, tell us. We hear every trend in the exam room first, but we wait until enough of you have asked before we write about it.
Ready when you are
Dr. Ash reads every intake himself, and answers questions personally - usually within a few hours.
