Yes, exactly this. I am an anxious, detail-focused person. I could call or message for every health-related question that comes to mind, but that would not be a good use of anyone’s time. My doctor is great, but she does not care about the minutiae of my health like I do, nor do I expect her to.

I think "ask your doctor" is for prescription meds since only said doctor can write prescriptions.

And "your doctor" is actually "any doctor that is willing to write you a prescription for our medicine".

"ask your doctor" is more widespread than tthat. if you look up any diet or exercise advice, there's always an "ask your doctor before starting any new exercise program".

i'm not going to call my doctor to ask "is it okay if I try doing kettlebell squats?"

Yes, I totally got out of context and said something a bit senseless.

But also, maybe calling your doctor would be wise (eg if you have back problems) before you start doing kettlebell squats.

I'd say that the audience for a lot of health related content skews towards people who should probably be seeing a doctor anyway.

The cynic in me also thinks some of the "ask your doctor" statements are just slapped on to artificially give credence to whatever the article is talking about (eg "this is serious exercise/diet/etc).

Edit: I guess what I meant is: I don't think it's just "liability", but genuine advice/best practice/wisdom for a sizable chunk of audiences.

I am constantly terrified by the American healthcare system.

That's exactly what I (and most people I know) routinely do both in Italy and France. Like, "when in doubt, call the doc". I wouldn't know where to start if I had to handle this kind of stuff exclusively by myself.