Luna Scott

Using AI to stay on top of the evidence behind natural therapies

I'm a naturopath and the evidence base in my field moves fast. New research comes out. Previous recommendations get updated or overturned. It's impossible to read everything. I use Perplexity to stay current on specific areas. When I want to understand the current evidence on, say, magnesium supplementation for sleep, I'll ask for a summary of the current research including any recent meta-analyses. What I get is a good landscape view with references I can then follow up in the primary literature. I never treat an AI summary as the final word — but it helps me know where to look. I also use it when a client comes in with an unusual case or presentation I haven't seen before. I'll ask about what the research says on that specific combination of symptoms or conditions. Again, starting point not endpoint. One thing I've noticed: Perplexity is much better than general ChatGPT for this because it actually cites sources I can check. Uncited health information is worthless to me. I still read primary research. But AI helps me triage what to read first.