Navigating Health Hype: Uncover the Truth in a Sea of Bias with Victoria LaFont

Blasphemous Nutrition

Episode Summary: Do you feel confused and mislead by all the information out there that claims to be backed by research but falls flat? In this episode, our irreverent host Aimee interviews Victoria LaFont to discuss the challenges of navigating biased content in the health and wellness industry. Victoria shares her journey of becoming more aware of her own biases and offers tips for listeners to become more discerning consumers of health advice. They emphasize the importance of looking for evidence that matches the claims made, questioning key aspects that are hidden in the literature, and seeking out diverse perspectives. By becoming more critical thinkers, listeners can make better-informed decisions about their health.
About the Guest(s):

Victoria LaFont is an opera singer turned nutritionist turned marketing expert. She is the founder of The LaFont Agency, a marketing agency that helps clinicians with medically-focused marketing copy, strategy, and clinical research support. Victoria is also involved in teaching and curriculum design for the Nutritional Therapy Association and the University of Western States. With her background in nutrition and marketing, Victoria is passionate about promoting evidence-based information and helping clinicians produce effective content that accounts for bias and seeks to counter it.

Key Takeaways:

• Recognize your own biases and be open to challenging them in order to seek accurate information.
• Be cautious of business-driven marketing in the health and wellness industry and look for evidence-based content.
• Understand the difference between relative risk and absolute risk when evaluating research findings.
• Engage with primary literature and reach out to authors for clarification or additional information.
• Strive for balance and avoid extreme positions when it comes to health and wellness recommendations.

Notable Quotes:

• "The more we can stay open to what we don't know or try to understand things more deeply, the better we're going to be at understanding what's actually happening." - Victoria LaFont
• "Accuracy is the ticket. Pretending something is happening when it's not actually happening is useful for our ego, and that's it." - Victoria LaFont

Resources:

• Photography by: Dai Ross Photography
  Podcast Cover Art: Lilly Kate Creative
  Blasphemous Nutrition on Substack
  Work with Aimee
• The LaFont Agency - Website
• The Statin Study Victoria references - Byrne P, Demasi M, Jones M, Smith SM, O’Brien KK, DuBroff R. Evaluating the Association Between Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Reduction and Relative and Absolute Effects of Statin Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. 2022;182(

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