Digital Social Hour: Dr. Danielle Belardo Uses TikTok to Fight Heart Disease Misinformation
Episode #1695 | December 21, 2025
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Dr. Danielle Belardo

Episode Overview

In this episode of Digital Social Hour, Sean Kelly sits down with Dr. Danielle Belardo, a preventive cardiologist renowned for her evidence-based approach to nutrition and her active debunking of medical misinformation—especially on platforms like TikTok. Known for debating popular figures in the biohacking and alternative health scenes, Dr. Belardo offers a counter-narrative to sensationalized wellness fads and lays out why evidence-based medicine and prevention are vital in fighting heart disease. This candid conversation covers common myths, the dangers of anecdotal advice, flaws within the healthcare system, and the critical importance of scientific literacy in the digital era.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Embracing Patient Curiosity and Fighting Misinformation

• Dr. Belardo values patients bringing in information from the internet. She believes it’s essential to distinguish fact from fiction collaboratively rather than dismissing online health research.

  • "I love when patients come to me with information that they found on TikTok... it's important to be able to sit down with people and explain what is kind of fact versus fiction." (00:00-01:45)

• The persistence of heart disease as the leading cause of death is often overshadowed, especially among younger people and women, due to its slow onset.

• Cardiovascular disease prevention is a complex field—a mix of diagnostics, lifestyle interventions, and medication compliance. Many tools are available but underused due to lack of awareness or follow-through.

  • "We have a lot of the tools for heart disease prevention... but whether or not we're actually getting people to do it is kind of the tricky part." (04:54)

Debunking Nutrition and Diet Myths

• Carnivore and animal-based diets:

  • Dr. Belardo explains that while some people may feel better on restrictive diets (like carnivore) due to eliminating problematic foods, this does not mean such diets are inherently healthy or evidence-supported for long-term outcomes.
  • She references robust, decades-long studies showing that high levels of LDL cholesterol—driven by saturated fat (common in animal-based diets)—directly cause atherosclerosis and heart disease.
    • "The only thing that's required to develop heart disease is elevated level of cholesterol, LDL cholesterol... that's just science, that's just pure science." (06:41)

• The Mediterranean Diet has the strongest evidence for cardiovascular and even cancer prevention, with notable studies (e.g., the Lyon Diet Heart Study) showing massive reductions in heart attacks.

  • "They had to stop it early because there was a 50–70% reduction in further heart attacks..." (09:19)

• Eggs & Dietary Cholesterol: Individual foods (e.g., eggs) matter less than the overall dietary pattern. Focusing on minimizing saturated fat and maximizing fiber is more important than targeting dietary cholesterol specifically.

  • "It's the totality of the dietary pattern that matters... Focus on lowering saturated fat first." (12:10)

The Evidence Hierarchy and Clinical Research

• Animal Studies vs. Human Evidence: Dr. Belardo clarifies that animal studies rarely translate into human outcomes. Only well-powered human randomized controlled trials (RCTs) should guide clinical practice.

  • "In the evidentiary hierarchy, right, you have at the bottom, animal models...for something to be clinically meaningful, it needs to be studied in humans." (15:11)

• Anecdotes vs. Evidence: Anecdotes are not reliable evidence. They can inspire studies but should never stand in for clinical research.

  • Memorable analogy: "I have a patient...tells me when he puts his left shoe on first, he gets no chest pain...what kind of doctor would I be if I told all my patients to put their left shoe on first?" (18:25)

Intermittent Fasting & Health Trends

• Dr. Belardo was once agnostic about intermittent fasting but changed her view after RCTs showed no benefit in weight loss or biomarkers, and even found increased muscle loss in fasting groups.
  • "In the fasting group, they lost more muscle mass...Muscle mass is worth its weight in gold." (16:36)

Supplements and the Wellness Industry

• Supplements are widely unnecessary and often risky:
  • "99% of supplements are either expensive urine, at best, or end organ damage...or worse." (26:05)
  • Only a few supplements are beneficial for clear deficiencies (B12, vitamin D in certain populations, etc).
  • Fish oil is often useless or even harmful (raises atrial fibrillation risk), except in a niche, prescription-only formulation for select patients.
    • "If there is no benefit in all of these trials...then why take the risk of getting an arrhythmia that causes stroke?" (32:01)

Statins, Pharma Criticism & Misinformation Consequences

• Statins are among the most evidence-backed, affordable meds for cardiovascular prevention, but are demonized because no one profits from them (they're generic).
  • The downside of misinformation: Dr. Belardo shared a patient who, misled by anti-statin rhetoric, avoided treatment and now faces severe, life-threatening coronary artery disease.
    • "Those are the patients that sit in front of me in my office...the purveyors of misinformation are never held accountable..." (34:20)

Health System Flaws & Why People Seek Alternatives

• Many people avoid conventional medicine due to valid frustrations with cost, accessibility, and feeling unheard; this sometimes drives them toward alternative therapies or wellness influencers.

  • Dr. Belardo encourages patients to seek multiple opinions rather than give up on mainstream care:
    • "It's like dating...If you find a doctor that's not listening to you...find a second opinion." (24:18)

• Insurance and healthcare system constraints: Prevention is undervalued by insurance, limiting doctors’ ability to spend time on nutrition and lifestyle counseling.

Social Media, Medical Misinformation, and Critical Appraisal

• Social media enables health myths to spread rapidly—bad information often travels faster than good science.
• Critical scientific appraisal is a lifelong skill—it’s not enough to just “do your own research” by reading abstracts or scrolling TikTok.
  • "You can find on PubMed a study that will support absolutely anything in the abstract...the most important part of a research study is the methods." (43:47)
• Guidelines are built on teams of experts scrutinizing research quality, not single studies or trending claims.
• Role of AI (ChatGPT): AI can be helpful for those with expertise, but as of now, it often “hallucinates” and makes up sources or errors; unqualified users should not rely on it for medical decisions.
  • "ChatGPT is constantly getting things wrong. I can only now use ChatGPT for things that are within my expertise..." (45:18)

Selling Wellness: Supplements, Detoxes, and Guru Culture

• Wellness personalities profit on supplement sales, often using unverifiable or pseudoscientific claims.
• "No such thing as a detox...Our livers and kidneys detox themselves. If you need something more, you need dialysis." (47:14)
• Parasite cleanses are a scam; supposed “evidence” is manufactured by ingredients that change bowel appearance, not actually removing parasites.
  • "A lot of them have like, inulin fiber in them...makes the individual's bowel movement look stringy...It's such a scam." (51:07)

Public Figures and Popular Misinformation

• Figures like Mark Hyman, Paul Saladino, and others are cited as major spreaders of misleading or fabricated diagnoses (e.g., “adrenal fatigue”) for profit.
• Andrew Huberman: Sometimes gets the science right, but also promotes unproven supplements or refuted claims.
  • "A broken clock is right twice a day, and he is right sometimes, and he's wrong quite a lot." (52:22)

The Value of Prevention and Science Literacy

• Coronary artery disease is largely preventable with known risk factor management; the same strategies work for several chronic diseases—and even erectile dysfunction can be a sign of underlying vascular disease.
• "Heart disease should not exist...We know the risk factors, and preventing just one, you can prevent a plethora of things..." (54:09)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On critical scientific appraisal:
  • "You can find on PubMed a study that will support absolutely anything in the abstract. The most important part of a research study is the methods." [43:47]
• On anecdotes in medicine:
  • "What kind of doctor would I be if I told all my patients...to put their left shoe on first every day?" [18:25]
• On statin misinformation:
  • "I wish one of the biohackers would actually just start spreading the rumor that statins are like the ultimate longevity drug..." [32:09]
• On the supplement industry:
  • "99% of supplements are either expensive urine at best or end organ damage, so kidney liver damage or worse." [26:09]
• On AI and ChatGPT in health:
  • "I realized I can only now use ChatGPT for things that are within my expertise because I can immediately tell when it's hallucinating, it's making up citations, it is literally making up facts." [45:18]
• On popular health influencers:
  • "A broken clock is right twice a day, and [Andrew Huberman] is right sometimes, and he's wrong quite a lot." [52:22]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–03:47 — Internet health info: patients bringing online research; approach to misinformation
• 05:10–10:57 — Myths: cholesterol, carnivore diets; evidence for Mediterranean diet; key studies
• 12:10–14:31 — Dietary cholesterol, eggs, and saturated fat explained
• 14:31–17:38 — Fasting: evidence, muscle mass loss, and critique of health trends
• 18:25–20:43 — The problem with anecdotal evidence
• 21:00–23:08 — Medical distrust, why alternative medicine appeals
• 24:18–26:05 — Insurance structure, barriers to preventive care
• 26:09–34:20 — Supplements: risks, efficacy, and why industry is unregulated
• 34:20–36:59 — Statins, pharma skepticism, deadly consequences of misinformation
• 39:38–41:44 — Guideline creation, conflicts of interest, and transparency
• 43:47–45:14 — Science literacy, critical appraisal, and how to evaluate studies
• 45:18–48:14 — Dangers and limitations of AI & ChatGPT in medicine
• 50:49–52:16 — Scam cleanses, “parasite cleanses,” and supplement hoaxes
• 52:22–54:09 — Health podcasters, influencers, and sifting fact from fiction
• 54:09–57:59 — Prevention, risk factors, importance of evidence-based science
• 58:04–58:19 — Where to find Dr. Belardo; episode wrap-up

Tone & Language

Dr. Belardo is accessible, authoritative, and passionate about science literacy—eschewing condescension for empathy, even in the face of widespread misinformation. Sean Kelly acts as an open-minded, curious interviewer, pushing Dr. Belardo for clarifications on topics popular within the biohacking and influencer space. Their exchanges are lively, evidence-focused, and often laced with memorable analogies and real-world implications.

Where to Find Dr. Danielle Belardo

• Instagram: @daniellebelardomd
• X/Twitter: @DBelardoMD

Summary Prepared For:
Listeners seeking a nuanced, evidence-based take on heart disease prevention, dietary truths, supplement skepticism, and the crucial importance of critical thinking in the age of social media wellness trends.