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FACT BRIEF

Does a magnetic bracelet increase metabolism and promote fat breakdown?

By Alexis Tereszcuk
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NO

A social media post making the claim contains a video that identifies components in the bracelet as "Far Infrared, Negative Ion Magents, Germanium," with the word magnets misspelled as "magents."

Zhaoping Li, a professor of medicine and chief of the division of clinical nutrition at UCLA, told Lead Stories that the theory of magnetic resonance came from certain types of Eastern medicine that assert special points on the body can be stimulated for various health reasons.

However, there is no evidence that the bracelets promote weight loss, she said:

"There is no scientific evidence that has proven that it is really helpful other than you may have a placebo effect. If you believe it works then it may work for you."

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
UCLA Health Zhaoping Li, MD
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.