If X had been proven good for your health with little room for doubt, it would have reached the ears of me or my peers, because I can’t imagine something being definitely good for everyone and not being adopted into standard health practices.
You might be interested in Inadequate Equilibria, which is a book-length treatment of this sort of reasoning and when it is or isn’t effective. While I think it does rule out, say, that Cheerios grant you immortality, I don’t think it rules out things like “SAD can be effectively treated by more light” or “many people can get an extra hour a day by increasing their sleep quality with melatonin” or “you should sleep with a window open to have lower CO2 exposure.”
I imagine that there are things that doctors know about, but don’t actually try; The Last Psychiatrist’s experience with Ramachandran’s Mirror seems relevant here. The Epley Maneuver is taught in medical schools and the Reddit Tinnitus Cure isn’t (as far as I know), and so even presented with a patient with tinnitus after having seen that video a doctor might not think of suggesting it. [Of course, people also comment that the Reddit Tinnitus Cure doesn’t work for them, so who knows what the actual effect size is, or what other parts of the technique are essential and not adequately explained; one comment claims that you need your palms to actually have a tight seal with your ears, for example.]
I imagine there are even more things that doctors haven’t heard of yet, either because they haven’t been discovered or haven’t been applied to that problem yet. (Like, even of currently approved drugs, do we have all the sensible off-label uses mapped out?)
You might be interested in Inadequate Equilibria, which is a book-length treatment of this sort of reasoning and when it is or isn’t effective. While I think it does rule out, say, that Cheerios grant you immortality, I don’t think it rules out things like “SAD can be effectively treated by more light” or “many people can get an extra hour a day by increasing their sleep quality with melatonin” or “you should sleep with a window open to have lower CO2 exposure.”
I imagine that there are things that doctors know about, but don’t actually try; The Last Psychiatrist’s experience with Ramachandran’s Mirror seems relevant here. The Epley Maneuver is taught in medical schools and the Reddit Tinnitus Cure isn’t (as far as I know), and so even presented with a patient with tinnitus after having seen that video a doctor might not think of suggesting it. [Of course, people also comment that the Reddit Tinnitus Cure doesn’t work for them, so who knows what the actual effect size is, or what other parts of the technique are essential and not adequately explained; one comment claims that you need your palms to actually have a tight seal with your ears, for example.]
I imagine there are even more things that doctors haven’t heard of yet, either because they haven’t been discovered or haven’t been applied to that problem yet. (Like, even of currently approved drugs, do we have all the sensible off-label uses mapped out?)