What we were told
has a changelog.

Every entry here traces one piece of official or expert guidance from what it used to say, to what it says now — with the date it changed, who changed it, and how confident we are it'll hold.

24tracked reversals
6categories
1970–2022date range
live example
About

Why this exists

People keep running into guidance that contradicts what they were told years earlier — eggs, coffee, aspirin, how babies should sleep — with no single place to check what changed, when, and on whose authority. Reversed is that place: a public, sourced log of official and expert guidance that changed, presented the way a changelog presents a software update — old version, new version, and the date it shipped.

What counts as an entry

Every entry traces one specific, previously-stated piece of guidance to its current version. We include the verdict as a spectrum, not a binary, because not every change is a clean reversal:

REVERSED

The original guidance is now considered wrong and has been formally retracted or replaced.

REVISED

The core guidance shifted meaningfully, but with more nuance than a flat flip.

CONTESTED

Experts still disagree — we show both positions rather than pick a winner.

RECONFIRMED

The original guidance was questioned, then held up under further review.

How entries are sourced

Each entry links to the body or study that changed the guidance — a guideline committee, a regulator, a peer-reviewed paper — so you can check the primary source yourself rather than take our summary on faith. The "confidence it holds" indicator is our own read on how settled the current position is, not a guarantee.

Editorial standards

Every entry is checked against its primary source before publishing — see the sourcing standard in the "Submit a reversal" section below, which applies equally to entries we add ourselves. Nothing is published on the strength of a secondary summary alone. Corrections and disputes are welcome at the contact below and will be reflected here, not quietly edited away.

Who runs this

Reversed is written and maintained by Jean Koffi. See the Privacy Policy below for operator details and contact.

What this is not

Reversed is not medical, legal, or financial advice, and it's not a diagnosis of anyone's situation. It's a reference for how public guidance has moved over time. Always check the primary source and, for anything that affects your health, finances, or a child in your care, talk to a qualified professional.

Contribute

Submit a reversal

See a piece of guidance that changed and isn't listed here? Send the old claim, the new claim, the date it changed, and a source we can verify — a guideline body, regulator, or peer-reviewed publication, not a blog post summarizing one. We check the source before anything goes live.

Email submissions to submissions@whatreversed.com.

Legal

Privacy Policy

Data controller

Reversed is operated by Jean Koffi, trading as a sole trader. For any privacy question or request, contact privacy@whatreversed.com.

What we collect

Reversed does not require an account and does not collect personal information to use the core site. If you email us a submission, we keep the contents of that email (including your address, if you include one) only to evaluate and respond to it.

Legal basis for processing (GDPR / UK GDPR)

Cookie choices

On your first visit you're asked to accept or decline personalized advertising — non-personalized ads show either way, and cookieless analytics runs regardless since it doesn't require consent. You can change your choice at any time using .

Cookies and analytics

This site uses Vercel Web Analytics for aggregate, cookieless page-view counts — it doesn't use cookies or track individuals, so it runs for every visitor regardless of your cookie choice below. Separately, this site serves advertising through Google AdSense. By default, ads are requested in non-personalized mode, which does not rely on cross-site tracking cookies. If you accept personalized ads, Google sets additional cookies to personalize based on your activity. You can decline this and still see (non-personalized) ads. We do not control Google's own cookies directly.

You can review or opt out of personalized advertising through Google's Ad Settings, and generally through the Digital Advertising Alliance's opt-out page.

Data retention

Submission emails are kept only as long as needed to evaluate and respond to them, then deleted or archived at our discretion. Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe. Aggregate analytics data is kept in a form that does not identify individuals.

International data transfers

Some third-party services we use (such as email delivery, analytics, or advertising providers) may process data outside the UK/EEA. Where this happens, we rely on the provider's own safeguards, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent adequacy mechanism.

Newsletter

If you subscribe to email updates, we use your email address only to send those updates and any related administrative messages. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every email.

Your rights under GDPR / UK GDPR

If you're in the UK or EEA, you have the right to:

To exercise any of these, contact privacy@whatreversed.com. If you're not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority — for example, the ICO in the UK, or your national authority elsewhere in the EEA.

Children's privacy

This site is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

We'll update this page if our practices change and note the date below.

Last updated: July 2026