The evidence review process is misleading. Many of the references come from PubMed Central, which they note as a highly reputable source. However, it’s not the database they should be noting as reputable evidence. That database just stores the individual articles, it is not the original reference/source. Although they link to the reference, to be considered credible evidence, the reference itself and the study methods described in the article must be reviewed for bias and found to be low risk of bias. Many of the articles linked as sources are narrative review articles on the topic and not original research. Those types of review articles don’t qualify as real evidence according to the principles of evidence-based medicine. Evidence comes from original studies and systematic reviews/meta-analyses of multiple studies. The level/strength of evidence varies by study design and quality, but Healthline does not appear to evaluate the evidence in detail (ie, perform critical appraisal) to determine its validity. I have 15 years of experience in evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal and would not recommend Healthline as a strong source for evidence-based content, although the articles are fairly well written and provide general overviews on topics that might prompt readers to do more research on their own.
