Evidence Based Medicine
Canada regulates health-product claims. But what does ‘science-backed’ actually mean?
“Science-backed.” “Clinically proven.” “Clinically studied.” I see phrases like these constantly in advertising for supplements and other consumer health products. They are meant to sound reassuring because they seem to answer an important question before we even ask it: Does this product actually work?
Canada can win the race for clinical trials – if we keep up our momentum
A recent Healthy Debate article sounded an important alarm about the state of Canada’s clinical trials competitiveness and highlighted key barriers holding us back in the global race for industry investment. As someone who has spent much of my career working to strengthen Canada’s life sciences and innovation sector, I am deeply troubled by the data shared in that article signaling a decline in industry investment in clinical trials in Canada. But I am equally encouraged by the progress now underway, and by what it tells us about Canada’s ability to compete.
Substance use health: A different starting point
For decades, Canada gradually shifted its thinking, and its language, from mental illness to mental health. That evolution was about much more than terminology. It broadened the conversation beyond diagnosis and treatment to include prevention, wellbeing, resilience and the conditions that help people thrive.
We know how to prevent one of the deadliest cancers affecting women. Why aren’t we doing more of it?
When it comes to cancer prevention, we often imagine breakthrough drugs, expensive technology or years of scientific discovery. But one of the most promising ways to prevent ovarian cancer is already here. It's simple, safe, takes just a few extra minutes in the operating room, and has the potential to save thousands of lives. So why aren't we doing more of it?
RSV protection has changed. Our conversations need to change, too
Few things are more frightening for a parent than watching a baby struggle to breathe. A child who seemed well suddenly has difficulty feeding, becomes exhausted or needs hospital care. For families, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, can mean anxious hours in an emergency department and days at a hospital bedside.
Canada is losing the race for clinical trials – and patients are paying the price
Canada has long punched above its weight in clinical trial activity: the rigorous, multi-stage research studies that give Canadians early access to breakthrough treatments. For years, we’ve led the G7 in clinical trials per capita – a point of national pride – but that advantage is slipping away, and fast.
Could we vaccinate against colorectal cancer? Lynch Syndrome may show us how
Imagine being told that you carry a genetic mutation that significantly increases your risk of developing cancer. For many people with Lynch syndrome, that is their reality. They may spend decades undergoing regular colonoscopies and other forms of surveillance, knowing that cancer could still develop. But what if a vaccine could change that?
Most wellness trends aren’t wrong. They’re just not always worth it
A new health trend rarely arrives quietly. It usually comes with a promise: better sleep, more energy, less inflammation, sharper focus, improved metabolism or a more “optimized” life. It sounds scientific. It feels personal. It may come with a wearable score, a testimonial, a supplement, a tracking app or one simple rule that seems easy to follow.
Canada must reclaim its reputation as a leader in diabetes innovation
Despite a history steeped in diabetes-related breakthroughs (the discovery of insulin and a track record of performing more insulin-producing cell transplants than any other country), Canada is at risk of losing ground to global peers who are rapidly advancing clinical trials and commercialization at the national level.
Overcoming the insulin taboo
The insulin pen had been sitting on his kitchen table for months. The 46‑year‑old man, a retired Sri Lanka born chef living in the Toronto area, had survived oral cancer, pancreatitis and a lifetime of hard work. But nothing frightened him more than the small plastic pen meant to save his life. On a June morning, during a routine check after his jaw surgery, he finally confessed his fears.
When health advice becomes political identity
For years, we talked about health misinformation as if it were mainly a knowledge problem: patients encountering false claims online, doctors correcting them and the better information winning.
Canada must take the lead on hepatitis C vaccine research
Hepatitis C kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide each year; in Canada it results in more lost years of life than any other infectious disease. An effective treatment exists, but it is unavailable to many because of cost and other access obstacles. And there is no vaccine. Canada has the researchers, the policy framework and the capacity to help change that.
Lifestyle medicine vs. wellness culture: Evidence-based preventative care should not be a luxury product
Evidence-based preventative care should not become a luxury product or a marketplace trend. It should remain a core part of accessible public health care.
Shamed to death: How stigma, not science, is killing Canadians with lung cancer
Lung cancer screening should be available to everyone at risk, regardless of where they live or the source of their illness.
It’s time to act: Canada needs standardized genetic testing for breast cancer care
Every patient deserves to know if their breast cancer is hereditary, if their treatment could be more precise and if their loved ones are at risk.
Is industry shaping Canada’s research ethics ecosystem?
Canada’s research governance framework must be strong enough to ensure that research ethics oversight remains independent – and that protecting research participants is its first obligation.
To improve primary care, ‘think globally, act locally’
Primary care is the foundation not only for individual but also for collective health, and we must mobilize more family physicians to improve it.
Too frail but not yet palliative: Ontario’s opportunity to lead in home care for older adults
If Ontario wants to help more people age at home, it should apply lessons from home palliative care to frailty right now. It needs to stop treating frailty as an administrative afterthought, and act on what it already knows works.
Transparency is not risk free. But neither is restricted access
Patients should not have to file formal requests to understand their own care. They should not have to wait months to read information that already exists. And they should not be excluded from conversations that shape their health and lives.
The hidden cost of dismissal: How we amplify chronic pain in clinical settings
Chronic pain affects more than one in five Canadians. But not all pain is shaped by our bones, muscles and systems. It also is shaped by context.