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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2026 Jun 5.
Published before final editing as: Nutr Health. 2026 Feb 6:2601060261418143. doi: 10.1177/02601060261418143

Which over-the-counter herbal supplements are searched online? A review of internet trends, interest, and lithogenic potential of herbal health ingredients

Sapna Thaker 1, Jo Huang 2, Karan N Thaker 1, Kien Tran 1, Parris Diaz 3, Tamara Keenum 4, John Knight 4, Kristina Penniston 5, Kymora B Scotland 2
PMCID: PMC13235307  NIHMSID: NIHMS2176541  PMID: 41649930

Abstract

Background:

With the rise in availability of herbal supplements, there has been a similarly expanding landscape of online information about these supplements.

Aims/Objectives:

This study identifies commonly used herbal supplements, their ingredients, oxalate content, and the reliability of their online information.

Methods/Methodology:

A survey was administered to members of a nephrolithiasis Facebook group on their use of herbal supplements. The top 10 bestselling herbal supplements on Amazon and their common ingredients were identified. Consumer interest and online engagement with these ingredients were analyzed using Google Trends and BuzzSumo. The reliability of the top 10 articles for each ingredient was rated using the DISCERN questionnaire. Oxalate content was quantified by ion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.

Results/Findings:

The most common ingredients in supplements were black pepper, ginger, apple cider vinegar, and turmeric. Google Trends identified apple cider vinegar, ginger, and turmeric as search terms of high interest. BuzzSumo revealed the highest article engagement and video views for apple cider vinegar. For all ingredients, average DISCERN scores for the most popular articles were in the “poor reliability” category. Turmeric-containing and standalone turmeric formulations were found to have the highest oxalate levels, with ranges of 2.69–54.8 mg/g and 15–19.5 mg/g, respectively.

Conclusions:

High consumer interest in herbal supplements combined with unreliable online information highlights the need for high-quality, evidence-based information. With popular herbal supplements containing varying amounts of oxalate, it may be useful for those providing care for kidney stone formers to familiarize themselves with popular herbal products and their lithogenic potential.

Keywords: DISCERN, herbal, kidney stones, misinformation, nephrolithiasis, social media

Introduction

In recent years, the general population has shown increased interest in health-related supplements, with an ever-growing number choosing to use daily supplements (Mishra et al., 2021). According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, approximately one-third of Americans have been reported to take dietary supplements for their health in 2023 (Council for Responsible Nutrition, 2023). Herbal supplements, defined as plant-derived supplements with a purported health benefit, have particularly increased in popularity over the past few years, representing $3 billion of the consumer market in the United States (Muth et al., 1999). Because they are generally viewed as safe, herbal supplements are not required to undergo the same regulatory scrutiny as drugs. Their formulations can therefore at times be inconsistent and even contain harmful substances (Denham, 2011). Moreover, claims of benefit are often not scientifically proven. However, some kidney stone formers choose to augment, or even replace, recommended medications such as potassium citrate with popular supplements purported to reduce stone formation rates (Astin, 1998; Stern et al., 2020).

Many individuals use information from online and social media platforms to educate themselves on health-related issues including herbal and nonherbal treatments (Baumgartner and Hartmann, 2011; Fox and Duggan, 2013). While increased accessibility to health-related information may seem beneficial, several studies have shown that this information may be unreliable (Augustyn et al., 2025; Li and Wang, 2018; Sillence et al., 2007).

With many individuals choosing to use herbal supplements and online information regarding their diseases, healthcare providers may benefit from familiarizing themselves with the supplement market and the information that is available to the public and its reliability. Specifically, for those engaged in managing kidney stone formers, knowledge of the potential lithogenic effects of popular supplements may be useful (Messina, 2006).

The majority of kidney stones are composed of calcium oxalate with the urinary excretion of oxalate constituting a critical determinant of calcium oxalate stone formation (Curhan and Taylor, 2008; Prochaska et al., 2018; Singh et al., 2015; Spradling et al., 2016; Tasian et al., 2016). Higher urinary oxalate excretion may also be a risk factor for chronic kidney disease progression (Waikar et al., 2019). While variable between individuals, dietary oxalate intake can be a major determinant of urinary oxalate excretion (Holmes et al., 2001). Oxalate-rich foods are often critical components of heart-healthy and other recommended dietary patterns. Moreover, they provide many stone inhibitors, such as phytate, magnesium, potassium, antioxidants, and prebiotics. Therefore, their restriction should be approached cautiously. Conversely, oxalate from less healthy sources, such as certain over-the-counter supplements, should be scrutinized and potentially limited. However, there are limited published data on the oxalate content of popular supplements.

In this study, we surveyed a cohort of adult kidney stone formers on their use of supplements, identified common ingredients in herbal supplements purchased on Amazon, determined their oxalate content, and evaluated consumer engagement and reliability of online information related to these ingredients.

Methods

Survey on use of supplements among kidney stone patients

An anonymous investigator-initiated exploratory Qualtrics survey about herbal supplement use was administered over one week to a Facebook group, “Kidney Stone Warriors— Worst Pain Ever.” This group was chosen as it was the largest nephrolithiasis-specific group on Facebook. Participant demographics were not queried to preserve anonymity and encourage participation; however, demographics of the group range from participants ages 18 and above, with people from various racial, gender, and sexual orientations participating. Facebook was chosen as it has been shown to be the social media platform most popularly used for discussion of medical conditions (Diaz et al., 2022), and the “Kidney Stone Warriors—Worst Pain Ever” group was chosen as it is the largest group discussing kidney stones.

Identification of popular herbal supplements and online consumer engagement with their popular ingredients

A product search on Amazon (https://amazon.com) was conducted in January 2022 using the search term “health supplements.” Amazon was selected for analysis, as it is the highest grossing online consumer website (Capital One Shopping, 2025). Results were ranked using a combination of Amazon’s Bestseller Rank, review count, and consumer rating. The top 10 most popular health supplements were identified, all of which were herbal supplements derived from plant sources, not nutrients, such as vitamins or minerals. These supplements were believed to be representative, as there were no time restraints on our searches, indicating these were the most popular supplements over an extended time period. Ingredient lists of these supplements were compiled to identify the four most common ingredients. The relative search volumes between January 2021 and January 2022 of these most common ingredients on Google were obtained using Google Trends (https://trends.google.com) with search terms formatted as “[ingredient name] health” (Google Trends, n.d.) The results were recorded as search volume index (SVI), a scaled score of 0–100, with higher scores indicating relatively higher volumes of consumer searches (Rogers, 2021).

Social media engagement with these ingredients on social media platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube, was analyzed using BuzzSumo (https://buzzsumo.com), a social media analytics platform (BuzzSumo, n.d.; Diaz et al., 2022; Lucas et al., 2022). Social media articles and videos about these ingredients were quantified on BuzzSumo using search terms “[ingredient name] health OR [ingredient name] supplement OR [ingredient name] benefits.” Resulting articles and videos were then limited to health-related content in English published from 2017 to 2022. Social media engagement for each ingredient was measured on BuzzSumo as the average view counts of related YouTube videos and average engagement with related articles. Engagement with an article was a value provided by BuzzSumo as the total number of likes, comments, and shares of an article on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Reddit. All online searches were completing using an “incognito” tab opened on the Google Chrome search engine.

Evaluation of reliability of popular online content on herbal supplement ingredients

To evaluate the reliability of online content about common herbal supplements, the top 10 most engaged articles for each ingredient were analyzed using DISCERN, an instrument that quantifies the reliability of health-related articles for patient education on a scale of 0–5, with a score of 0 indicating little to no reliability and a score of 5 indicating high reliability (Charnock et al., 1978). Some examples of DISCERN items that may lower the score include lack of publication in a peer-reviewed journal, lack of clear sources of information used when creating the publication, or lack of referral to gaps in knowledge. Three independent evaluators, who were experienced staff of our endourology research team, scored each article using the DISCERN instrument. Evaluators were chosen based on experience using the DISCERN instrument in scoring reliability of articles. The final DISCERN score for each article was calculated as the average score from the three evaluators. Inter-rater reliability was calculated using Fleiss’ kappa (κ).

Oxalate analysis

Oxalate content of the top 10 most popular supplements from Amazon was quantified using ion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (ICMS) after homogenization in 2 M hydrochloric acid, as previously described (Fargue et al., 2023). Briefly, one serving size of product was homogenized at room temperature for 5 min at a ratio of 1 weight product to 4 volumes 2 M hydrochloric acid. Following homogenization and centrifugation to pellet insoluble material, the supernatant of the sample extract was diluted in C2-oxalate (Tasian et al., 2016) internal standard at least 50-fold prior to ICMS, and 10 μL injected for oxalate quantification. Only one batch of each mixed ingredient supplement product was purchased and two technical replicated assayed to determine the mean and standard deviation oxalate content. However, oxalate levels of two different batches of single-ingredient formulation products (A and B) from Amazon were also measured to analyze individual impacts of ingredients, as most supplements were composed of a mixture of ingredients. Oxalate levels were reported as milligrams (mg) per gram of ingredient as well as milligrams per recommended dose. A food oxalate quality control sample (spinach acid extract) was run with each ICMS sequence and the mean ± standard deviation was 7 ± 0.4 mg oxalate/gram spinach (between ICMS batch coefficient of variability of 6%).

Results

Survey on use of supplements among kidney stone patients

The Qualtrics survey was completed by 64 members of the Facebook group “Kidney Stone Warriors—Worst Pain Ever.” Fifty percent (n= 32) of participants indicated that they were taking supplements at the time that they completed the survey. Of these participants, almost half (n= 15) reported purchasing their supplements from Amazon.

Identification of popular herbal supplements and online consumer engagement with their popular ingredients

The top 10 most popular herbal supplements purchased on Amazon and their ingredients were identified (Table 1). The four most common active ingredients across these supplements were: black pepper, ginger, apple cider vinegar, and turmeric which we hereafter term “the most common ingredients.” Other recurring, nonactive ingredients such as cellulose were identified as filler or binding materials and as such were excluded from analysis.

Table 1.

Top 10 health supplements list identified by Amazon’s Best-Sellers rank, review count, and consumer ratings out of 5.

Name Ingredients Reviews Rating
Nature’s Way Sambucus Black Elderberry Black Elder (Sambucus nigra L.) Extract (berry); Organic Tapioca Syrup; Cane Sugar; Pectin; Sodium Citrate; Natural Flavors; Citric Acid; Vegetable Oil (Palm and Coconut); Beeswax 70,353 5.0/5.0
BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin with Black Pepper Turmeric Curcumin; Turmeric (Curcuma longa) (Root); Turmeric Extract (95% standardized Curcuminoids), Bioperine (Black Pepper) 54,197 4.5/5.0
Nature’s Nutrition Turmeric Curcumin with Bioperine Turmeric Curcumin (Curcuma longa) (Root), Turmeric Curcumin 95% Curcuminoids, Bioperine (Black Pepper Extract), Cellulose (Vegetable Capsule), Microcrystalline Cellulose, Silicon Dioxide 39,928 4.5/5.0
Vital Vitamins Brain Booster Vitamin B12, Bacopa Monnieri Extract, Phosphatidylserine, Ginkgo Biloba, Rhodiola Rosea Extract, Dmae (Dimethylaminoethanol) Bitrartrate, Gelatin, Rice Flour, Vegetable Magnesium Stearate, Silica 29,563 4.0/5.0
AZO Cranberry Microcrystalline cellulose, stearic acid, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, povidone, colors (FD&C Red #40 lake, titanium dioxide, FD&C Blue #2 lake), magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide, polyethylene glycol, triacetin, Dietary Fiber, Sugar, Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid, Calcium (dicalcium phosphate), Cranberry Vaccinium macrocarpon Whole Fruit Powder, Bacillus coagulase 24,180 4.5/5.0
Nature’s Nutrition Turmeric and Ginger with Bioperine Turmeric Curcumin (Curcuma longa) (Root), Ginger Extract, Turmeric Curcumin 95% Curcuminoids, Bioperine (Black Pepper Extract), Cellulose (Veggie Cap), Microcrystalline Cellulose, Silicon Dioxide 20,297 4.5/5.0
Nature’s Base Turmeric and Ginger with Apple Cider Vinegar and Bioperine Turmeric Root Powder, Apple Cider Vinegar Powder, Turmeric Root Extract, Ginger Root Powder, Bioperine Black Pepper Extract, Hawthorn Berry Powder, Cellulose Capsule, Magnesium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide 14,841 4.5/5.0
Humann SuperBeets Heart Chews Beetroot Powder, Enovite Grape Seed extract, Tapioca Syrup, Raw Cane Sugar, Rice Bran, Natural Flavors, sunflower Lecithin, Sunflower oil, Malic Acid, Glycerin, Citric Acid, Rebaudioside A (Stevia rebaudiana leaf) 14,444 4.5/5.0
BioSchwartz 7-in-1 Immunity Boost Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) fruit extract, Echinacea Extract herb (Echinacea purpurea), Turmeric Root Powder (Curcuma longa), Ginger Root Powder (Zingiber officinale), Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, Zinc 14,251 4.5/5.0
NatureWise Turmeric Curcumin with Ginger and Bioperine Organic curcumin complex; organic turmeric root; organic turmeric extract standardized to 95% curcuminoids; organic ginger (Zingiber officinale) (Root); Bioperine black pepper extract (Piper nigrum) (fruit) (standardized to contain 95% piperine); Vegetable cellulose (capsule); rice flour; organic rice bran extract 13,793 4.5/5.0
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Relative Google search volumes of the most common ingredients from January 2021 to January 2022 were obtained on Google Trends (Figure 1). Among the most common ingredients, the use of ginger for health reasons maintained the highest level of interest throughout the year evaluated, with SVI for the search term “ginger health” reaching 100 at least once. Search volumes for turmeric and apple cider vinegar were also high, with SVIs exceeding 50 for most of the year. Search volumes for black pepper were the lowest among the most common ingredients, with SVI consistently below 25.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Google trends results displaying search volume index (SVI) of the most common ingredients from January 2021 to January 2022 on Google. The average SVI values of ginger, turmeric, apple cider vinegar and black pepper were 50, 46, 37, and 9, respectively.

Average engagement of articles and views of YouTube videos related to the most common ingredients from 2017 to 2022 were obtained using BuzzSumo (Figure 2). Among the most common ingredients, articles related to apple cider vinegar had the highest engagement (1274916) and videos related to apple cider vinegar were the most frequently viewed on YouTube (1084096).

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

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BuzzSumo results displaying (a) article engagement and (b) YouTube data for the most common ingredients. Articles related to apple cider vinegar had the highest engagement on social media and highest view counts on YouTube.

Evaluation of reliability of popular online content on herbal supplement ingredients

The top 10 online articles with the highest consumer engagement for each of the most common ingredients were identified using BuzzSumo. Average DISCERN scores for the identified articles on black pepper, ginger, apple cider vinegar, and turmeric were 2.4 (95% CI, 2.2–2.6), 2.3 (95% CI, 2.1–2.5), 2.1 (95% CI, 1.9–2.3), and 2.0 (95% CI, 1.8–2.2), respectively (κ= 0.72), (Figure 3), indicating low to moderate reliability.

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

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DISCERN reliability data for most common ingredients. Articles related to turmeric had the lowest reliability scores (2.0), indicating poor reliability. Error bars represent one standard deviation of the average reliability scores.

Oxalate analysis

The oxalate content of the top 10 ingredients was quantified by ion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (Table 2a). Among the most popular supplements sold on Amazon, supplements with both black pepper and turmeric had the highest oxalate content, such as BioSchwartz Turmeric with Black Pepper (54.8 mg/g), Nature’s Nutrition Turmeric with Bioperine (25.34 mg/g), and Nature’s Nutrition Turmeric and Ginger with Bioperine supplements (25.56 mg/g). Supplements with apple cider vinegar had lower oxalate content (2.69 mg/g). Supplements with ginger included in their primary active ingredients similarly had low oxalate content, including Nature’s Base (2.69 mg/g), BioSchwartz 7-in-1 (1.03 mg/g), and NatureWise (4.10 mg/g). Other supplements without the most common ingredients had low oxalate contents, including Nature’s Way (0.05 mg/g), Vital Vitamins (4.82 mg/g), AZO Cranberry (0.08 mg/g), and Humann (0.43 mg/g).

Table 2.

Oxalate content in (a) most popular supplements and (b) single-ingredient supplement formulations, determined by ion chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. See methods for further details.

(a)
Supplement Ox (mg/g) M±SD Ox (mg) per recommended dose
M Serving Size
BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin with Black Pepper 54.80±0.18 92.70 3 capsules
Nature’s Nutrition Turmeric and Ginger with Bioperine 25.56 ± 2.09 53.80 3 capsules
Nature’s Nutrition Turmeric with Bioperine 25.34 ± 1.42 48.09 3 capsules
Vital Vitamins Brain Booster  4.82 ± 0.08  3.73 1 capsule
NatureWise Turmeric Curcumin with Ginger and Bioperine  4.10±0.05  9.73 3 capsules
Nature’s Base Turmeric and Ginger with Apple Cider Vinegar and Bioperine  2.69 ± 0.07  5.78 3 capsules
BioSchwartz 7-in-1 Immunity Boost  1.03 ± 0.01  1.94 2 capsules
Humann SuperBeets Heart Chews  0.43 ± 0.01  4.52 2 chews
AZO Cranberry  0.08 ± 0.02  0.13 2 capsules
Nature’s Way Sambucus Black Elderberry  0.05 ± 0.00  0.26 2 chews
(b)
Supplement Ox (mg/g) Ox (mg) per recommended dose
Puritan’s Pride Turmeric B 19.5 9.8
Puritan’s Pride Turmeric A 18.7 9.3
NatureMade Turmeric B 15.5 7.8
Puritan’s Pride Ginger Root B 15.1 8.3
NatureMade Turmeric A 15.0 7.5
Puritan’s Pride Ginger Root A 14.4 7.9
Horbaach Ginger Root B  2.1 3.1
Horbaach Ginger Root A  1.9 2.9
Carlyle Bioperine (Black pepper extract) A  0.072 0.00072
Carlyle Bioperine (Black pepper extract) B  0.072 0.00072
Horbaach Apple Cider Vinegar A  0.02 0.05
Horbaach Apple Cider Vinegar B  0.02 0.04
Nature’s Bounty Apple Cider Vinegar A  0.01 0.01
Nature’s Bounty Apple Cider Vinegar B  0.01 0.01
Source Naturals Bioperine (Black Pepper extract) A  0.004 0.00004
Source Naturals Bioperine (Black Pepper extract) B  0.002 0.00002
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Oxalate content of two different batches of singleingredient formulations (A and B) for each of the four common ingredients were similar (Table 2b). Of these single-ingredient formulations, Puritan’s Pride turmeric had the highest overall value of 19.5 mg/g. Puritan’s Pride ginger also had a considerable oxalate content, with a mean value of 15.1 mg/g. The Source Naturals bioperine (black pepper extract) and Nature’s Bounty apple cider vinegar had the lowest oxalate content, with respective values of 0.002 and 0.006 mg/g.

Discussion

As the online market for herbal supplements continues to grow, the number of individuals who use them for their perceived health benefits is also likely to increase. Although their “natural” sources lead many patients to consider them safe, ingredients within some herbal supplements can have negative effects. The objectives of this study were: (i) to survey kidney stone formers on their use of supplements, (ii) identify common ingredients in popular herbal supplements and determine their oxalate content, and (iii) evaluate consumer engagement and reliability of online information related to those ingredients. Regarding the four most common ingredients identified across all the herbal supplements we evaluated, articles about them were uniformly unreliable with low average DISCERN scores (Figure 3). While apple cider vinegar had the highest overall engagement, online information regarding its use for health-related purposes was poor. This is indicative of the lack of regulation and scrutiny on online health information, causing a disconnect between popularity and quality of information consumers may be interacting with. Although studies have shown that consumers of online health information seem to acknowledge low quality (Li and Wang, 2018; Sillence et al., 2007; White and Horvitz, 2009), the high exposure this information receives on social media is potentially concerning. The existence of unreliable online information, as well as high patient engagement of it, is likely explained by multiple factors. The insurance barriers, limitations of prescription treatments such as potassium citrate, and high costs associated with stone disease are significant barriers that can complicate treatment (Stern et al., 2020). The combination of these barriers with the pain and intense symptoms associated with kidney stone disease may increase patient desperation and willingness to search for alternative treatments. Furthermore, a lack of evidencebased online information from health agencies and institutions can heighten the effects of misinformation from unreliable content. Attractive labels and aggressive marketing by supplement and wellness manufacturers represent another factor that likely influences patient behavior, both on its own and in combination with the other factors described in this section.

When unreliable information is coupled with the high oxalate content of several popular supplements, efforts to enhance information and awareness of the herbal supplements that stone formers consume are warranted. Providers treating stone disease may consider counteracting online misinformation by creating high quality, evidence-based educational material about supplements and sharing it on social media and on websites of verified health agencies and academic institutions. In clinic, providers may also consider routinely asking about supplement usage among patients, particularly turmeric-containing supplements, and offering educational printed handouts on their oxalate content and potential side effects to combat any misinformation.

In the United Kingdom, dietary and herbal supplements are regulated as foods rather than medicines under the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003, which implement the EU Directive 2002/46/EC (European Parliament and Council, 2002). As such, these products do not require pre-market authorization and rely on manufacturers to ensure compliance with composition, labelling, and safety standards (Directive 2002/46/EC). This limited regulatory oversight may contribute to variability in supplement formulations and unverified health claims, underscoring the importance for healthcare providers to counsel patients on supplement usage.

The sources of urinary oxalate are dietary oxalate intake and endogenous oxalate synthesis (Coe, 2017; Robijn et al., 2011). Depending on other urinary parameters (e.g. volume, citrate, and calcium), urine oxalate excretion above 25 mg/ day can significantly increase risk of calcium oxalate kidney stone formation (Curhan and Taylor, 2008). Stone prevention diets consider foods with more than 10 mg oxalate per serving as high oxalate foods (Hollingsworth and Wolf, 2014). Furthermore, daily oxalate consumption should be kept below 50 mg for stone formers (Hollingsworth and Wolf, 2014). Our data showed that the turmeric-containing supplements have a high oxalate content. A high percentage (91%) of the oxalate in turmeric is reported to be soluble, thus primed for gastrointestinal oxalate absorption, resulting in augmented urinary oxalate excretion (Tang et al., 2008).

Furthermore, three of the 10 most popular Amazon health supplements contained oxalate levels ≥48 mg per recommended dose (Table 2a). If 50% of the oxalate per dose was absorbed and excreted into urine, urinary oxalate excretion could increase significantly. The recommended doses of single-ingredient turmeric and some ginger supplements were also significant (Table 2b). However, batch-to-batch variability in supplement formulation may further influence oxalate content, representing a potential limitation when interpreting these findings and considering generalizability.

Considering dietary oxalate intake is a major determinant of urinary oxalate excretion, kidney stone patients taking turmeric-containing supplements could inadvertently increase their risk for calcium oxalate stone growth and recurrence (Massey et al., 1993). Future studies are warranted to determine the total amount of soluble versus insoluble oxalate in these supplements to determine their true lithogenic potential.

The primary limitation to this study is that BuzzSumo does not extrapolate data from all current social media platforms, excluding some popular visual-centric platforms from analysis. For instance, the popular social media platforms TikTok and Snapchat are not searchable on BuzzSumo. However, given the high popularity of Facebook as a platform for health-related information and its popularity within the average age demographic for stone formers, it was considered representative of the general kidney stone population (Diaz et al., 2022). Another limitation regarding our BuzzSumo analysis was the exclusion of non-English sources, limiting generalizability. There was potential for bias associated with our Facebook survey, including self-selection of the Facebook kidney stones group, lack of demographic data collection of participants, and possible recall bias. Finally, while we focused on Amazon as the sole platform for identifying popular supplements due to its dominance in this space, there was potential for differing results had we included other online retailers.

Conclusions

Online information regarding the most commonly used ingredients in popular health supplements is unreliable. Oxalate levels of popular supplements and their common ingredients suggest possible lithogenic activity, especially turmeric-containing products. Future studies should investigate the lithogenic effects of a broader range of herbal supplements specifically popular among kidney stone patients, which would help healthcare providers in counseling patients on their use. Healthcare providers may also consider establishing an increased online presence through popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, to combat misinformation.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dean George Assimos and Dr Jonathan Modai for their insightful contributions in the review of our paper.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Footnotes

Ethical considerations

None.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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