Talking about health responsibly

The Federal Trade Commission expects any claim about a health benefit to be backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence, which for most health claims means good human clinical studies. That applies to the overall impression a post leaves, not only the exact words. A photo, a caption, an emoji and a hashtag can make a claim together that no single sentence makes.

A testimonial is a claim. If you say something worked for you, readers take it as a sign it will work for them, so the same rule applies to your story as to an advertisement. The safest ground is what you did and how you feel, said as your experience, without a promise that anyone else will see the same.

Disease words change everything. Treat, cure, prevent, heal, reverse and diagnose, or the name of a condition next to a product, turn a wellness post into a medical claim. Keep them out.

A blood panel gives information, and a clinician interprets it. Do not tell anyone what their results mean for their health, do not diagnose yourself or anyone else from a number, and do not say a product, a habit or an app will raise, lower or fix a marker.

Your own results are yours to share, but think about what a screenshot tells the world before you post it. Never post someone else’s results, even with their name cropped out, unless they have told you that you can.

Some of the easiest things to post well are about the process, not the numbers: taking the at-home test, sending the kit back, setting up the app, or the questions you took to your own clinician afterward.

Describe what an app actually does: it organizes your results, explains markers in plain language, and helps you follow your progress over time. Do not say it diagnoses, treats or predicts disease, or that it replaces a doctor. Under the FDA’s general wellness policy, low-risk tools that support healthy habits are treated differently from software that claims to diagnose or treat, and the words used to describe an app are part of what decides which one it is.

Be careful with claims about AI itself. The FTC has brought cases against companies that exaggerated what their AI could do. Say what it does, not what it might do.

Health data is protected well beyond HIPAA. Washington’s My Health My Data Act and similar laws in other states cover health information collected by apps and websites, and the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule covers many health apps. If you build or recommend tools, treat health data as sensitive by default.

Reverse aging, turn back your biological age, add years to your life, slow aging at the cellular level: each of these is a health claim that needs strong evidence, and most products cannot support it. The same goes for measurable promises about energy, focus, sleep or libido.

Talk about longevity as a set of habits you keep and why they matter to you, not as something a product does to your lifespan.

Valdura does not sell treatments. Posts about prescription treatments have rules of their own, starting with the fact that a licensed clinician decides every prescription, so leave doses, schedules and results out of them.

Avellum Health’s guide covers them: avellumhealth.com/compliance.

The FTC’s Endorsement Guides, updated in 2023, require you to disclose any connection to a company that a reader would not expect and that could affect how they weigh what you say: payment, free products, a discount, a job, a family tie, or a business relationship, including being part of a direct selling business. Put the disclosure in the post itself, where it cannot be missed, not only in your bio or behind “more”. In a video, say it out loud and put it on screen. Plain words work best: “I’m a Valdura member”, “I work with this company”, “#ad”.

Clinicians are no exception. When a doctor, nurse or other clinician who works with or is paid by a company talks about its products, the relationship belongs in the post, and a clinician speaking on a company’s behalf is held to the company’s claim rules, not only their own medical judgment.

Reviews have their own rule. Since October 21, 2024 the FTC’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials bans fake reviews, reviews from people who never used the product, paying for reviews with a required sentiment, insider reviews without disclosure, and buying followers or views.

Keep each company’s products in their own posts. A post about a lab panel or a health app is not the place for a supplement from another company, and the reverse is true too.

Make no income or earnings claims anywhere near health content, and follow your own company’s rules of conduct, which are often stricter than the law. Never suggest that a lab test or an app is part of a business opportunity or that anyone earns from it.

Clips from podcasts, shows, news segments and other creators’ videos belong to someone else. Posting them, even with credit and even in short pieces, is usually infringement, and fair use is narrower than most people think. The same goes for music: business and creator accounts often cannot use popular tracks, and the platform’s licensed library is the safe choice.

Do not use a celebrity’s, public official’s or doctor’s name or image in a way that suggests they endorse a product. That is a right of publicity problem as well as a misleading claim.

Reach out one to one to people who asked to hear from you, about what they asked for. Do not add anyone to a group text, an email list or an automated sequence without their consent: federal law limits marketing texts and calls without consent, and marketing email needs a working way to opt out. When someone says stop, stop.