Hi everybody!

This week at NBT we’ve been discussing ways to think about who we can trust to provide us with useful information in the world of health. Though I certainly have my own favourites, many of whom have appeared in a highlights email at some point, it’s more important that we all try to think individually about how we can filter information for ourselves.

The charlatans are usually easiest to spot. They write articles on the amazing and improbable benefits of things you haven’t heard of, and provide “evidence” by extravagantly extrapolating information from test tube or rodent studies. But they also know that most people aren’t going to check the references, so on balance this strategy works out pretty well for them. They’ve also managed to convince themselves that they know a lot more about the body than anybody else does, and as a result use an incredible array of supplements and technology to “optimise” their health, despite having no idea how they really work or interact with each other. Just reading the list of supplements they recommend to improve mental clarity will give you brain fog.

The other end of the spectrum is harder to spot, and they tend to be what Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls the Intellectual Yet Idiot (IYI). I highly recommend you read this article by him before continuing. The article makes uncomfortable reading for me, because I am exactly the kind of person poised to be an IYI - somebody with an Oxbridge CV and few societal hurdles to overcome in order to achieve “success”. I certainly don’t feel bad about my education because I’ve worked hard and benefitted from it immensely. But Taleb’s articles frequently make for uncomfortable reading because they challenge almost all of your assumptions, and overall I think that’s a good thing.

For me, one of the easiest ways to spot an IYI is knowledge in the absence of wisdom. In the health world, we become enamoured with IYIs because they can spend hours wowing us with pathways and biochemistry. But afterwards, if you really think about it, you have no idea what they said or how to act upon that information. They might show you complex diagrams and use those to tell you exactly what supplement or nutrient to take based on your genetics. Or tell you what you should do to lose weight without having any direct experience of working with people struggling with that process.

Often I hear people say that they love certain health “experts” despite most of the information going over their head. This is a phenomenon that I find particularly interesting. Rather than assuming that failing to understand somebody who seems smart is a fault on your part, it’s worth thinking about the fact that perhaps they’re just snowing you with endless information that a) makes them feel superior but has the opposite effect on the listener or reader, b) they’re unable to coherently summarise in a meaningful way, or c) is mostly useless anyway.

In the IYI article Taleb suggests that one surefire way to spot an IYI is that “he doesn’t even deadlift”. Unfortunately, this technique does not always work because the health IYI has figured out that deadlifting is one of the best tools to use in the pursuit of health and longevity. But in the absence of that identifier, this follow up article by Taleb has a lot of additional advice for those trying to assess where the best expertise might be found, including in the field of health.

With all that said, I must admit that I sometimes find the allure of the IYI hard to resist. It’s difficult to not be impressed or even jealous of the knowledge of certain IYIs, despite knowing the downsides of their approach. I’m also certain I occasionally act like an IYI myself even Taleb is guilty of the things he rails against in others. However, I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by people whom I trust to tell me when that’s the case. This includes anybody that’s reading this email! I also won’t (and can’t) ever pretend to have all the answers, though we do strive to boil our collective knowledge and experience down into useful advice that’s very likely to benefit your health and performance.

If you want help sorting through the mass of health information out there, you should definitely consider joining our forum. Once there you can also help out others by sharing your own knowledge and experiences!

And finally, if you’ve just quickly scrolled through this email, the TL;DR version is this:

“True intellect should not appear to be intellectual.” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Thanks for reading, and have a great week! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Tommy Wood, MD, PhD