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Are SGLT2 inhibitors safe for type 1 diabetes?

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:00:39 +0000

SGLT2 inhibitors have transformed care for people with type 2 diabetes. They not only lower blood sugar but also reduce cardiovascular events and slow the progression of kidney disease. Given these successes, many have asked whether the same benefits extend to people with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The answer is not straightforward. In T1D, SGLT2

Are SGLT2 inhibitors safe for type 1 diabetes? originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Your Adam’s Apple — What It Is, What It Does, and Who Has One

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If you’ve ever noticed that bump in the middle of your throat and wondered what it’s doing there, you’re not alone. That’s your Adam’s apple, and despite all the mystery around it, it’s just a piece of cartilage on your voice box — a part of the structure that helps you talk, sing, or even laugh.

Some people have an Adam’s apple that sticks out, while others barely see theirs, making them wonder if they have one at all. But the truth is that everyone’s got one — it just looks different from person to person. The appearance of your Adam’s apple has more to do with hormones, body shape, and genetics.

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What Is an Adam’s Apple, Exactly?

An Adam’s apple is the ridge you see — or feel — on the front of your throat where two identical plates of thyroid cartilage, called the laminae, meet.¹ It sits just above your thyroid gland and in front of your vocal cords, which are inside your voice box, or larynx. Think of it as a piece of structural scaffolding that keeps one of your body’s most delicate instruments — the vocal cords — safe.²

• The Adam’s apple is not made up of bone or muscle — It’s a type of cartilage called hyaline cartilage. This gives it a firm but flexible and resilient structure.³

• What does the Adam’s apple look like? On the outside, the Adam’s apple appears as a small bump at the front of your throat. Beneath the surface, it’s formed by the two thyroid cartilage plates that meet at the front in a V-shaped angle, creating the ridge that you see or feel.

• Where is the Adam’s apple located? If you want to find your Adam’s apple, place two fingers on the middle of your neck just below your chin. Swallow gently. You’ll feel your larynx rise and fall, and the firm ridge at the front is your Adam’s apple.

• The angle at which the two cartilage plates meet determines how visible your Adam’s apple looks from the outside — A sharper angle creates a more noticeable bump, while a wider angle makes the ridge less obvious. As described by Kenhub, a learning platform that focuses on human anatomy:⁴

"In females, the laminae meet at an angle of approximately 120 degrees while in males, the angle is more acute at around 90 degrees. This smaller thyroid angle explains the more pronounced laryngeal prominence seen in males (the ‘Adam's apple’), longer vocal cords, and lower-pitched voice in males."

Your body fat also affects visibility, which is why some people have a clear protrusion while others don’t.

Why Is It Called ‘Adam’s Apple’?

The medical term for an Adam’s apple is laryngeal prominence, although some simply call it thyroid cartilage. But if you’re wondering how this body part earned its moniker, one of the more common explanations is quite interesting.⁵

• The name is believed to have biblical origins — The term "Adam’s apple" is tied to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, in the book of Genesis. According to tradition, when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, a piece was said to have lodged in his throat, leaving a visible lump. While this is more legend than fact, the name stuck, and over time the throat bump became associated with that story.⁶

• However, some say it was derived from "centuries of linguistic evolution and a bit of mistranslation" — The name was believed to have roots in early European and Arabic medical texts. In the 1600s, some Latin writings used fruit terms — like pomegranate — to describe the throat’s protrusion.

• Arabic medical sources also compared this body part to a pomegranate — When these descriptions were translated into English, the imagery shifted, and over time the phrase "Adam’s apple" became the common term.⁷

So What Does the Adam’s Apple Do?

Your Adam’s apple isn’t what makes sound, but it’s a key part of the system that allows you to speak, sing, shout, or whisper. To give you a better idea, it’s important to know how your body produces sounds.

• Sound begins when air from your lungs passes through the larynx — This causes your vocal cords to vibrate, like strings on an instrument. As the Cleveland Clinic explains:⁸

"When you breathe in (inhale) and breathe out (exhale), your vocal cords open so air can flow freely. When you speak, your vocal cords close by meeting in the middle of your exhaled airstream and vibrate. The vibration creates the sound of your voice."

• Your Adam’s apple isn’t just about voice — Its placement at the front of your throat gives it a second, equally important job: protection. The thyroid cartilage works like a protective frame, keeping your vocal cords safe from outside pressure and giving the muscles and ligaments inside a stable surface to pull against when adjusting pitch and tone. Without it, the delicate vocal cords and airway would be far more exposed to trauma.

• Movement is another overlooked function — If you gently touch your throat while swallowing, you’ll feel the Adam’s apple rise and fall. This is your larynx lifting upward, a motion that helps close off the airway so food or drink goes down the esophagus instead of into your lungs. It’s a simple action, but it shows how the Adam’s apple participates in more than just sound — it’s part of the mechanical system that protects you every time you eat or drink.

In summary, the Adam’s apple serves three main roles — it frames and protects your vocal cords, it helps shape the depth and tone of your voice, and it contributes to airway safety during swallowing. Far from being just a cosmetic bump, it’s a small but important feature that makes both communication and safe breathing possible.

Does Everyone Have an Adam’s Apple (Including Women)?

Despite misconceptions, everyone has thyroid cartilage and, therefore, an Adam’s apple. The only difference is how prominent it appears. While most women have barely any protrusion on their neck, there are some with noticeable Adam’s apples — and this is perfectly normal.⁹

• In men, puberty changes the thyroid cartilage — During puberty, a boy’s testosterone levels spike, which stimulates the growth of the cartilage. It causes the larynx to enlarge and thicken significantly. This enlargement not only results in a more visible Adam’s apple. And because the vocal cords also lengthen and thicken, they produce a lower pitch and deeper resonance. This is why boys often experience their voice "cracking" before it finally settles into a deeper register.

• So why is the Adam’s apple in women not as prominent? Females also go through laryngeal changes, though these are usually less pronounced due to them having lower testosterone levels. This is why their Adam’s apple is less visible and their voices stay higher-pitched.¹⁰

• Even if yours isn’t visible, it plays the same role in protecting your voice box — In fact, this spot is very sensitive, which is why pressing down on your Adam’s apple is uncomfortable and shouldn’t be done casually.¹¹

Adam’s Apple vs. Thyroid Gland — What’s the Difference?

It’s common to mix up the Adam’s apple and the thyroid gland since they’re both located in the front of the neck. But one is structural cartilage, and the other is a hormone-producing gland.

• Difference in location — While the Adam’s apple is the ridge of thyroid cartilage at the top of the larynx, the thyroid gland sits lower, closer to the collarbone.¹² It’s a butterfly-shaped organ wrapped around the trachea, and helps regulate metabolism, growth, and energy.

• One way to think about it is this — the Adam’s apple is like a shield, while the thyroid gland is like a regulator. The Adam’s apple has no hormonal role — it won’t affect your weight, metabolism, or energy. The thyroid gland, on the other hand, has no structural role in your voice — it won’t change how your voice sounds, but its health is essential for how your whole body functions. Here’s a side-by-side look:

Feature	Adam’s apple	Thyroid gland
What it is	Ridge of thyroid cartilage	Hormone-producing endocrine gland
Location	Front of upper larynx (voice box)	Lower neck, wrapped around the trachea
What it feels like	Firm, hard cartilage; fixed in size after puberty	Softer glandular tissue; not usually distinct unless enlarged
Main role	Shields and supports vocal cords; influences voice resonance	Produces thyroid hormones (T3, T4) that regulate metabolism, growth, and energy
Changes over time	Size stabilizes after puberty; only changes if injured	Can enlarge (goiter) or develop nodules with thyroid disease
Common issues	Tenderness from strain, irritation, or trauma	Hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroiditis, nodules, or goiter
Who has it	Everyone (men, women, and children)	Everyone (men, women, and children)

This table makes it easy to see why the Adam’s apple and thyroid gland shouldn’t be confused. One gives structure and protection to your voice, the other controls key hormones that affect nearly every system in your body.

Is Adam’s Apple Pain Normal (and When Should I Worry)?

Pain or discomfort around the Adam’s apple can feel alarming because this area houses so many important structures, such as your larynx, thyroid gland, and several muscles that support neck movement and swallowing. Since the Adam’s apple itself is cartilage, it’s rarely the direct source of pain; however, soreness in this region often comes from nearby tissues.

Understanding the possible causes will help you figure out whether it’s a minor issue or something that requires medical care. The Hearty Soul lists some possible triggers for Adam’s apple pain:¹³

• Muscle tension or tightness — The muscles in your neck help support posture and head movement, and several lie close to the thyroid cartilage. Hours spent working at a desk, repetitive head movements, or even jaw problems cause these muscles to tighten. When that happens, it may feel like the soreness is centered on your Adam’s apple.

Gentle stretches — like tilting your head up, turning side to side, or rolling your shoulders — will help ease tension. Regular breaks from sitting help too. For persistent stiffness, therapies such as massage, osteopathy, or acupuncture may provide relief.

• Throat tension — Some people describe throat tension as a lump in the throat or a sense of tightness around the Adam’s apple. This can come with frequent swallowing, soreness, or tenderness in the neck. Triggers include stress, anxiety, allergies, postnasal drip, or overusing your voice, a condition known as muscle tension dysphonia.

Managing stress, avoiding irritants, or working with a speech therapist can help reduce throat tension. In some cases, medications or allergy treatments may be recommended by your healthcare provider.

• Viral and bacterial infections — Conditions like the common cold, flu, strep throat, or even COVID-19 can inflame the tissues in your throat and voice box, leading to pain, swelling, and difficulty swallowing. Rest, hydration, and soothing remedies such as Manuka honey, bone broth, or throat lozenges often help mild infections resolve. Seek medical care if symptoms worsen, if you have a high fever, or if you struggle to swallow or breathe.

• Thyroid disorders — Disorders like hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, or an enlarged thyroid (goiter) cause swelling, pressure, and soreness in the front of the neck. A large goiter can even affect swallowing or breathing.

If you suspect thyroid trouble, consult a healthcare provider. Blood tests such as TSH, free T4, and free T3 help reveal whether your thyroid is underactive, overactive, or inflamed. Treatment will depend on the specific condition.

• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) — Acid reflux, when stomach contents flow back into the esophagus, can irritate tissues near the larynx. This sometimes causes soreness near the Adam’s apple, along with a burning sensation, cough, or difficulty swallowing.

Avoid common triggers like caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, and fatty meals. Eat smaller portions and remain upright after meals. If lifestyle changes aren’t enough, a doctor may prescribe medications such as proton pump inhibitors.

• Laryngeal cancer — Though far less common, persistent Adam’s apple pain may be an early sign of laryngeal cancer, especially in people who smoke or consume heavy alcohol. This cancer develops in the voice box, which sits just behind the Adam’s apple, and may present with hoarseness, swallowing difficulties, or a lump in the neck.

Seek medical attention immediately if you have ongoing pain, unexplained voice changes, or a lump that doesn’t go away. Early diagnosis leads to better treatment outcomes.

Safety Checklist — When to Get Medical Help

Occasional mild soreness is often harmless, but persistent or severe symptoms should never be ignored. If you experience any of these telltale signs, consult a healthcare provider who can help pinpoint the cause so you can seek the right medical attention.¹⁴

Pain that persists or worsens over time
Sore throat
Difficulty swallowing
Shortness of breath
Wheezing and coughing
Fatigue
Excessive sweating

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the Adam’s Apple

Q: Can women have an Adam’s apple?

A: Yes. Everyone has thyroid cartilage, which forms the Adam’s apple. The difference is how prominent it looks. Genetics, body fat, and hormone levels affect visibility. In men, higher testosterone during puberty usually makes the cartilage grow more, while in women, the changes are subtler — but the structure is always there.

Q: Is a big Adam’s apple normal?

A: Variation in size is completely normal. Some people have a more prominent bump, while others barely notice theirs. Size alone isn’t a concern unless it changes over time, becomes painful, or is associated with other symptoms like difficulty swallowing.

Q: Why does my Adam’s apple click when I swallow?

A: The larynx naturally moves up and down during swallowing. As it shifts, the thyroid cartilage can make contact with nearby structures, producing a clicking sound. This is usually harmless. If the click is painful or comes with trouble swallowing, it’s worth seeing a clinician.

Q: Is the Adam’s apple part of the thyroid?

A: No. The Adam’s apple is the ridge of thyroid cartilage at the top of your larynx, while the thyroid gland is an endocrine organ that sits lower in the neck and regulates metabolism through hormone production. They sit close together but have completely different roles.

Q: Does everyone’s Adam’s apple move when swallowing?

A: Yes. The Adam’s apple moves because the larynx rises during a swallow, helping close off the airway so food and liquids go into the esophagus instead of the lungs.

Egg Yolk Compound Shows Promise in Osteoporosis Management

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Bone loss is silent until it isn’t. You wake up shorter, your back aches after simple chores, or a small misstep leads to a crack you didn’t see coming. Osteoporosis means bones lose strength and structure, which raises the odds of hip, spine, and wrist fractures and chips away at independence. Left unchecked, it reshapes daily life in ways that touch how you move, sleep, and even breathe.

Standard care leans on drugs that slow breakdown. That approach helps some people, yet it often leaves you stuck between trade-offs and side effects you didn’t sign up for. You want a path that supports everyday strength without significant risks or complexity. Your bones are living tissue that respond to the signals you send through food, sunlight, movement, and habits.

Your plan needs to restore balance — reducing excess breakdown while encouraging steady rebuilding. Food isn’t just fuel here. It’s information. Certain nutrients and proteins tell bone-building cells to get to work, and the right daily choices stack those messages in your favor.

Your job is straightforward: support your body’s natural repair systems and remove roadblocks that keep bones fragile. Eggs, long regarded as a dietary staple, are emerging as an unexpected ally in this fight. In the next section, you’ll see how this specific food source sends clear “build” signals to your skeleton and why that matters for real-world resilience.

Egg Yolk Proteins Help Guard Your Bones from Breaking Down

In a study published in Food Science of Animal Products, researchers tested whether proteins from egg yolks — broken down into smaller pieces called peptides — could affect osteoclasts, which are the cells that wear away bone. The big question was whether these natural compounds could slow or stop the bone loss that leads to osteoporosis.¹

• Egg compound leads to less bone breakdown — The researchers discovered that certain water-soluble peptides in egg yolk cut down the number of bone-destroying cells. When they looked at the smallest peptides, the effect was even stronger. These tiny protein fragments not only reduced the number of cells that erode bone but also caused older ones to die off. In plain terms, that means less bone being eaten away and a better chance of keeping your skeleton strong.

• Egg compounds shut off harmful “switches” — Inside bone-destroying cells are pathways, like on/off switches, that tell them when to start breaking down bone. The smallest egg yolk peptides shut these switches off, stopping the damage at the root. If those switches stay on, bones get weaker and fractures become more likely.

• Multiple signals were stopped at once — These peptides didn’t just block one message — they cut off several signals that normally keep bone-eating cells alive and aggressive. That makes them more powerful than many drugs, which usually only work on one pathway at a time.

• The domino effect was interrupted — Normally, once those destructive messages start, they spread like falling dominoes until bone-eating enzymes get activated. With egg yolk peptides in play, that cascade was blocked before it could do damage. The end result: stronger, more resilient bones.

• Egg yolk isn’t just a food — It contains natural compounds that fight one of the biggest drivers of bone loss. Adding eggs to your diet gives your body another tool to help protect bone density and lower your risk of fractures, without relying only on risky medications.

Egg Yolk Proteins Build Stronger Bones from the Inside Out

A study published in the Journal of Functional Foods similarly looked at how natural proteins from egg yolks affect the cells in your body that create new bone.² While earlier research showed that egg yolk proteins slow down bone breakdown, this one highlighted their role in helping bones grow stronger.

• Results showed stronger bone growth — The researchers found that egg yolk proteins helped bone-forming cells grow faster and deposit more calcium and minerals. The bones became denser and tougher, which lowers your risk of fractures.

• Small protein pieces worked best — The strongest effects came from the tiniest pieces of egg yolk protein. Because they’re so small, they easily get inside cells and kick-start the changes needed to build stronger bone tissue.

• Bone-building signals were switched on — The egg yolk proteins acted like a switch inside bone cells, telling them to grow, mature, and lay down more minerals. That signal made the cells work harder at reinforcing the skeleton, creating an ongoing cycle of bone building.

• A more balanced bone cycle — What makes this important is how it fits with the earlier findings. Some egg yolk compounds slowed bone breakdown, while these proteins boosted bone growth. Working together, they give your body both defense and rebuilding power, leaving your bones stronger than before.

Eggs contain special proteins that help your bones both resist damage and rebuild themselves. Adding eggs to your diet gives you a natural way to support bone strength, keep your mobility, and protect your independence as you age.

Egg Yolk Protein D2 Sparks Real Bone Repair

In a study published in Regenerative Therapy, researchers identified a protein fragment from egg yolk, known as D2, that works after being swallowed and digested.³ Scientists tested it in animals with broken bones, age-related bone loss similar to menopause, and a genetic brittle-bone condition. In each case, D2 made bones stronger and tougher — exactly what you want if you need bones that hold up in daily life.

• Broken bones healed faster and stronger — Animals given the egg yolk protein daily after a fracture grew a thicker healing bridge over the break during the first month. These repairs also had denser bone in key areas, and strength tests showed they withstood more force within two weeks compared to untreated fractures. That translates into repairs that hold up better in daily movement.

• Age-related bone loss improved — In animals mimicking postmenopausal bone loss, the egg yolk protein restored some of the bone that had been lost and made the spine stronger after just a few weeks of use. Fractures in these animals also healed more steadily when the egg yolk protein was given, meaning faster recovery and fewer setbacks.

• Fragile bone disease improved — In animals bred to mimic brittle-bone disease, treatment with the egg yolk protein boosted bone volume and restored strength that had been lost. Even bone-forming cells in the lab began producing more of the key structural proteins after only a short exposure to the compound, pointing to a direct effect at the level of bone repair.

• The egg yolk protein survived digestion and spread through the body — Tests confirmed that the egg yolk protein remained active after being swallowed and entered the bloodstream, reaching organs where it could be used. That makes it practical for use outside of a lab or hospital setting.

Animals given the egg yolk protein for two weeks showed no weight changes or unusual behavior. Routine blood tests revealed no toxicity, and some measures even improved, such as lower triglycerides. This supports its role as a safe option for ongoing use.

• Bone-building cells multiplied — In both mouse and human cells, the egg yolk protein encouraged bone-forming cells to grow and mature while depositing more minerals. Even at very tiny amounts, the effect was strong, showing how powerful this protein fragment is at guiding cells to build bone.

Unlike treatments that only reduce bone breakdown, the egg yolk protein actively built new bone and improved its quality. The result was thicker healing tissue, tougher repaired fractures, and stronger bones overall — evidence of regeneration, not just protection.

How to Strengthen Your Bones Naturally with Food-Based Solutions

If your bones are thinning or you’re worried about osteoporosis, the real problem isn’t just low calcium — it’s the imbalance between bone breakdown and bone building. What the research on egg yolk proteins shows is that food has the power to help correct that imbalance at the cellular level. Your goal isn’t only to stop bone loss but also to encourage new bone growth so your skeleton stays strong. Here’s how to put this knowledge into action in your daily life.

1. Choose the right kind of eggs — Not all eggs are created equal. Factory-farmed eggs from corn- and soy-fed hens are loaded with linoleic acid (LA), a polyunsaturated fat that stirs up inflammation and damages your mitochondria — the tiny power plants inside your cells.

If you eat more than four of these eggs daily, you’re likely blowing past the recommended limit of 5 grams of LA. Switch to pasture-raised eggs, or better yet, eggs from hens that forage on grass and bugs. Some farms even use custom feed that produces eggs with far lower LA levels. These are the eggs that give you bone-strengthening compounds without the hidden damage.

2. Get collagen into your diet — About one-third of your bone structure is made of collagen, so you need a steady supply. Aim for protein to make up about 15% of your daily calories, with one-third of that coming from collagen.

The simplest way is to drink homemade bone broth from organic, grass fed bones. You can also slow-cook or pressure-cook cuts of meat rich in gelatin, or add high-quality collagen or gelatin supplements. Giving your body collagen means giving your bones the building blocks they rely on to stay tough and flexible.

3. Cover your nutrient bases — Calcium is important, but it only works well when paired with vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin K2. Together, this combination makes sure calcium ends up in your bones and teeth — not stuck in your arteries, where it drives heart disease.

Egg yolks are especially valuable here because they are one of nature’s richest sources of vitamin K2 in the form of MK-4, the most bioactive and fast-acting subtype found in foods. This form of K2 is rare in the modern diet, yet it plays a central role in shuttling calcium into bones and away from soft tissues. Including pasture-raised egg yolks in your diet means you aren’t just getting bone-supporting proteins, you’re also giving your body one of the planet’s most potent natural sources of MK-4.

Get calcium from real foods like raw grass fed dairy, pasture-raised egg yolks, and even powdered eggshells. Add fermented foods, get daily sunlight exposure and consider a high-quality magnesium supplement — since it’s difficult to get enough from food alone — to keep your vitamin and mineral intake balanced so your bones use calcium efficiently.

4. Use movement and recovery as bone signals — Your bones respond to pressure. Walking, lifting weights, or even active gardening tells your body to “make this skeleton stronger.” But don’t forget rest — your body needs downtime to put nutrients like collagen, calcium, and egg-derived proteins to work. The cycle of stress and recovery is what drives bones to rebuild, just like it does with muscles.

5. Cut back on foods that weaken bones — Highly processed foods, sugary drinks, and packaged snacks all drive inflammation that speeds up bone loss. Every time you swap soda for water or trade fast food for whole food, you shift the balance in favor of bone building.

If you struggle with making big changes, start small. Add one more pasture-raised egg meal each week or cook up a pot of bone broth. Over time, these small changes add up, making your bones stronger and your daily life more stable.

FAQs About Egg Yolk Compounds for Osteoporosis

Q: How do eggs help protect against osteoporosis?

A: Egg yolks contain special proteins that influence bone cells directly. Some of these proteins slow down the cells that break down bone, while others stimulate the cells that build new bone. Together, they help restore balance in your skeleton, reducing bone loss and encouraging steady rebuilding.

Q: What kind of eggs should I eat for bone health?

A: Not all eggs are equal. Factory-farmed eggs from corn- and soy-fed hens are high in LA, a fat that damages your mitochondria and weakens your health. To get the bone benefits without the downsides, choose pasture-raised eggs or eggs from hens that forage naturally. These have far lower LA levels and more beneficial nutrients.

Q: Besides eggs, what other foods support stronger bones?

A: Your bones are one-third collagen and nearly all of your body’s calcium is stored in them. That means you need collagen-rich foods like bone broth, gelatin, and slow-cooked cuts of meat, along with calcium from raw grass fed dairy, egg yolks, and powdered eggshells. Pair these with vitamin D from sunlight exposure, magnesium, and vitamin K2 to make sure calcium gets delivered to your bones instead of your arteries.

Q: Can egg yolk compounds actually repair broken bones?

A: Yes, animal studies showed that a protein fragment from egg yolk not only improved bone strength but also sped up fracture healing. In models of postmenopausal bone loss and brittle-bone disease, this compound restored bone volume and durability. The research suggests egg yolk compounds don’t just protect bone — they actively rebuild it.

Q: What lifestyle habits make the biggest difference for bone health?

A: Bones respond to both movement and rest. Weight-bearing exercise like walking or resistance training tells your body to strengthen bones, while rest allows nutrients like collagen and calcium to do their repair work. Cutting out processed foods and sugary drinks reduces inflammation, and making small, steady changes — like swapping soda for water or adding an extra pasture-raised egg meal — keeps your bones stronger over time.

Test Your Knowledge with Today's Quiz!

Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from yesterday’s Mercola.com article.

Why does walking briskly, even for a short time, protect your heart more than slow walking?

It improves digestion, helping the body absorb nutrients more efficiently after meals
It strengthens the heart by improving oxygen delivery and blood flow, reducing cardiovascular risk
A brisk pace boosts oxygen flow, strengthens the heart, and improves circulation, lowering the risk of heart disease and early death. Learn more.
It keeps muscles tense longer, helping increase metabolism without affecting circulation or heart rate
It raises body temperature, which helps clear out toxins that slow down heart and lung function

Study Reveals This Vegetable Lowers Your Colon Cancer Risk by 17%

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Colon cancer develops quietly, often without clear warning until it's advanced. By the time symptoms such as changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, or unexplained weight loss appear, the disease has already gained ground. This is why prevention matters so much — your daily choices influence whether your colon stays resilient or becomes vulnerable.

Diet is one of the strongest levers you have. Unlike fixed factors such as age or family history, what you eat shapes your gut environment and determines how well your body neutralizes harmful compounds. Certain foods work like medicine, fortifying your defenses against mutations that lead to tumors.

Among the most powerful options are cruciferous vegetables — broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. They provide compounds that interact with your cells at a deep level, supporting detoxification, protecting DNA, and strengthening your colon lining.

Including them regularly isn't complicated or expensive, but it gives you a measurable edge against one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. This foundation sets the stage for the latest research, which offers new insight into how these vegetables deliver their protection and what amount is most effective.

Research Shows Cruciferous Vegetables Cut Colon Cancer Risk

In a paper published in BMC Gastroenterology, researchers combined data from 17 studies involving 639,539 people.¹ Out of these, 97,595 had colon cancer. The analysis showed that those who ate more cruciferous vegetables had significantly lower odds of developing colon cancer. The overall reduction in risk was 17%, which is meaningful when you think about preventing a disease that kills over 900,000 people each year.

• The "sweet spot" was surprisingly modest — The strongest protection occurred when people ate about 40 to 60 grams of cruciferous vegetables daily, roughly half a cup of cooked broccoli.

Eating more than 60 grams didn't appear to provide much additional benefit, which suggests that your body reaches a point of saturation — where the cancer-fighting compounds do their job and more isn't necessarily better. Importantly, this threshold makes prevention achievable because it doesn't require extreme dietary changes.

• Specific chemicals in the vegetables drive the effect — Cruciferous vegetables contain glucosinolates, which break down into compounds such as sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol when the vegetables are chopped or chewed. These compounds support your body in several ways:

◦ Detoxification — They activate enzymes that help your liver process and eliminate carcinogens.

◦ Apoptosis — They trigger programmed death in damaged or pre-cancerous cells.

◦ Cell cycle regulation — They slow down cell division, reducing the chance of runaway growth that leads to tumors.

• The findings held up even under strict testing — Researchers checked for errors or overestimates by running multiple sensitivity analyses, which are tests that remove one study at a time or look for outliers.

The reduction in colon cancer risk held steady regardless of which studies were included or excluded. Even when accounting for possible publication bias — where smaller studies with positive results are more likely to be published — the protective link between cruciferous vegetables and colon cancer risk stayed strong.

• How cruciferous vegetables protect your colon at the cellular level — Sulforaphane tells your body to make more detox enzymes. These enzymes act like janitors, sweeping out harmful substances before they damage your cells. At the same time, sulforaphane also shuts down signals that cancer cells use to stay alive and keep multiplying.

Another compound, indole-3-carbinol, helps control which genes are active, slowing down the growth of abnormal cells. When these natural defenses work together, your colon cells are better protected from harmful changes and shielded against ongoing inflammation.

• Gut health ties into the protective effect — Cruciferous vegetables also help tighten the junctions between cells lining your colon. This is important because when those junctions loosen, toxins and bacteria seep through, fueling inflammation and cancer risk. By strengthening these barriers, the compounds from cruciferous vegetables reduce harmful bacterial activity and give your beneficial gut microbes the upper hand.

That shift in your microbiome supports overall colon health and lowers cancer risk even further. You don't need massive amounts of these vegetables to experience benefits. Just a moderate serving of cruciferous vegetables most days of the week is enough to activate detoxification pathways, improve gut barrier strength, and reduce your colon cancer risk by double digits. By making this a consistent habit, you build a daily shield inside your body.

Simple Strategies to Strengthen Your Gut and Cut Colon Cancer Risk

If your goal is to lower your risk of colon cancer, you need to start with the root cause: the health of your gut and how your body produces energy. When your gut microbes are balanced and your colon lining is strong, you're in a far better position to stop abnormal cells before they take hold. On the other hand, when your diet and environment disrupt that balance, your risk climbs fast. These steps give you clear, practical actions that help you rebuild resilience and protection — starting with your plate.

1. Cut out vegetable oils and packaged junk — When you eat restaurant food, fried snacks, or packaged meals, you load your body with linoleic acid (LA) from vegetable oils. This fat poisons your mitochondria — the engines inside your cells — and creates a gut environment that favors harmful bacteria. Swap these foods for fresh, unprocessed choices you cook yourself.

Use stable fats like ghee, tallow, or grass fed butter, and keep LA below 5 grams per day — closer to 2 grams is even better. Using an app like Food Buddy in my Health Coach, which is coming out this year, is an easy way to track where hidden vegetable oils are sneaking into your diet.

2. Fuel your cells with the right carbs — Your gut and mitochondria work best when they get a steady flow of glucose. For most adults, that means 250 grams of healthy carbohydrates daily, with higher amounts if you're very active. Start simple with white rice and fruit, especially if your gut is unhealthy. This approach gives your cells the energy they need while allowing your gut bacteria to stabilize before you add more complex foods.

3. Introduce more fiber step by step — Fiber feeds the good microbes in your gut, helping them produce butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid that acts like fuel for your colon lining. But too much fiber too soon backfires if your gut is inflamed. Once you've done well with fruits and white rice, add in root vegetables, then branch out to cruciferous and other vegetables, beans, legumes, and whole grains.

Cooked and cooled potatoes or rice are especially useful because the resistant starch they form is perfect food for butyrate-producing bacteria. By pacing your fiber intake, you allow your gut to heal and build strength without triggering irritation.

4. Bring in cruciferous vegetables for extra defense — Once your gut tolerates carbs well, make cruciferous vegetables part of your regular diet. Whether you prefer roasted Brussels sprouts, lightly steamed broccoli, or sauerkraut, your choices matter and directly influence whether cancer takes hold in your colon. These foods contain compounds that help your liver clear carcinogens, repair damaged DNA, and strengthen your colon lining.

Aim for 40 to 60 grams a day — roughly half a cup of cooked broccoli — to get the best protection. Rotate different crucifers through your meals to diversify the compounds your gut microbes have to work with. This variety keeps your microbiome healthier and gives your colon more layers of defense.

5. Limit toxins, prioritize daily movement and restore your microbiome — Environmental toxins — from plastics, pesticides, and synthetic estrogens to constant exposure to electromagnetic fields — undermine your gut health, allowing the wrong microbes to take over. Switch to glass containers, avoid heating food in plastic, and cut down on wireless signals at home where possible.

Movement is another tool that lowers your risk of colon cancer. Research shows that exercising in the morning around 8 a.m. and again in the evening around 6 p.m. reduces colorectal cancer risk by 11%, with this two-peak pattern outperforming other exercise schedules.²

Antibiotics are another disruptor, wiping out beneficial species. Use them only when truly necessary, and then rebuild your microbiome with fermented foods. Once your gut is healthy, supporting beneficial microbes like Akkermansia, which help maintain your gut lining, keeps your colon protected from cancer-triggering toxins.

FAQs About Cruciferous Vegetables and Colon Cancer

Q: How much cruciferous vegetables do I need to eat to lower my colon cancer risk?

A: Research shows the strongest protection comes from eating about 40 to 60 grams a day — roughly half a cup of cooked broccoli. Eating more than this doesn't seem to add much benefit, but keeping this amount in your daily diet reduces your colon cancer risk by about 17%.

Q: What makes cruciferous vegetables protective against colon cancer?

A: These vegetables contain compounds such as sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol. Once you chew or chop the vegetables, these compounds activate processes in your body that detoxify carcinogens, trigger cancer cell death, slow down abnormal growth, and strengthen the lining of your colon.

Q: Do cruciferous vegetables also help with gut health?

A: Yes. They help tighten the junctions between cells in your colon lining, reducing the chance of toxins and bacteria leaking through. This shift gives your beneficial microbes the advantage, lowers inflammation, and supports a healthier gut microbiome overall.

Q: Besides eating cruciferous vegetables, what other steps protect against colon cancer?

A: Practical steps include cutting out vegetable oils and packaged junk foods, eating enough healthy carbs, introducing fiber gradually, and reducing exposure to toxins like plastics and pesticides. Daily movement also helps — research shows exercising around 8 a.m. and again at 6 p.m. lowers colorectal cancer risk by 11%.³

Q: Why is prevention so important with colon cancer?

A: Colon cancer often develops silently until it's advanced, when treatment is harder and survival rates are lower. Prevention gives you control: the foods you eat, your activity level, and your environment directly influence whether harmful changes take hold in your colon.

ChatGPT in medicine: risks, benefits, and safer documentation strategies [PODCAST]

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 23:00:13 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Family nurse practitioner Erica Dorn discusses her article “ChatGPT in health care: Risks, benefits, and safer options.” In this episode, Erica explains how clinicians are experimenting with ChatGPT to help with HPI prompts, procedure documentation, and discharge instructions, while also cautioning

My experiences as an Air Force pediatrician

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 21:00:58 +0000

In Minot, I practiced a kind of pediatrics no flowchart could predict: improvised, airborne, and often surgical. Minot didn’t always follow the flowchart. One night, a toddler arrived in the emergency room, inebriated. Her father had given her vodka for teething pain, never imagining she’d swallow it. She did. She stopped breathing. I called a

My experiences as an Air Force pediatrician originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Re-examining the lipid hypothesis and statin use

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 21:00:45 +0000

A brilliant, like-minded cardiologist recently shared with me “A Reappraisal of the Lipid Hypothesis” by Dr. Robert DuBroff, published in The American Journal of Medicine. It should be required reading for every physician who has ever written “continue statin” without a second thought. DuBroff’s analysis reviewed 29 randomized controlled trials of cholesterol-lowering therapy conducted after

How the internship shortage harms Black students

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 19:00:59 +0000

An excerpt from How I Know White People Are Crazy and Other Stories. Copyright © 2025 Dr. Jonathan Lassiter. Published by Legacy Lit, a Hachette Book Group company. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved. According to Dr. James M. Stedman, a white male clinical psychologist from the University of Texas Health Science

How diverse nations tackle health care equity

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 17:00:45 +0000

Racial diversity impacts health care delivery. North American nations like Canada and the U.S. are multi-racial. The U.S. addresses equity via programmatic and regulatory levers layered on a fragmented financing system: Medicaid, the Office of Minority Health’s National CLAS Standards for culturally appropriate services, and targeted maternal and community health initiatives. Nonetheless, persistent racial gaps

How diverse nations tackle health care equity originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

What is practical wisdom in medicine?

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 16:00:17 +0000

Mrs. C is 80, frail, with heart failure and early dementia. The team has begun discussing an ICD. Her daughter wants “everything done.” The resident knows the evidence cold; he can recite the trial data, the ACC recommendations, and the mortality benefit. But he’s frozen at the bedside. The gap we don’t talk about Modern

What is practical wisdom in medicine? originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Aligning psychiatric care and hospital costs

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:00:24 +0000

In inpatient psychiatry, teams often face a familiar problem: The clinicians at the bedside see ongoing risk that warrants hospital-level care, while the payer’s reviewer concludes the stay is no longer “medically necessary.” The result can be frustration, rushed discharges, or days spent on the phone. Behind the scenes, costs mount; measured not just in

Aligning psychiatric care and hospital costs originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

The dangerous racial bias in dermatology AI

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 13:00:54 +0000

The Bay Area has become the epicenter of artificial intelligence, home to renowned startups and labs racing to prove AI’s power to transform our daily lives. Just three months ago, California released its own Frontier AI Policy Report, commissioned by Governor Gavin Newsom, which warned that without stronger oversight and transparency, AI models threaten equity

The dangerous racial bias in dermatology AI originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

How pediatricians can address infant mortality in underserved communities

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 11:00:38 +0000

Is your baby’s safe sleep a privilege? In my Bronx clinic, I often sit across from new families who are well-versed in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) safe sleep guidelines. Babies should sleep alone, on their backs, in a crib free of soft bedding and toys. Yet despite this knowledge, many parents, especially those

Big Pharma Is Paying Doctors to Prescribe Drugs for Multiple Sclerosis

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease wherein the protective sheath surrounding your nerves is attacked. When flare-ups occur, numbness, tingling, weakness, vision problems, fatigue, and balance issues appear.¹

Drugs are often the first line of treatment for treating MS, and these include interferon beta medicines, teriflunomide, fingolimod, and corticosteroids.² But while prescribing pharmaceuticals is the norm nowadays, investigations show that Big Pharma is paying doctors to prescribe MS-specific drugs, causing natural treatments to fall on the wayside.

MS Drug Prescribers Were Paid and Prescribed

In a study published in BMJ Open, researchers linked Medicare Part D prescribing data with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments database to examine how money flowing from drug companies to neurologists lined up with prescribing MS drugs.³ The sample size covered 7,401 neurologists who had written at least 11 prescriptions for MS drugs in a given year, adding up to over 3.1 million prescriptions during 2015 to 2019.

• Big Pharma bribed doctors — The analysis showed that 5,809 doctors, 78.5% of the study population received at least one payment from a drug company during the five-year study window, adding up to $163.6 million in total.

This means that neurologists likely have some level of financial interaction with the companies that make MS drugs instead of being offered alternatives. Moreover, those interactions were not evenly distributed. 95% of all the money went to just the top 10% of recipients, which shows how heavily drug companies focus on a smaller group of high-volume MS drug prescribers.

• Money influences prescriptions — When the researchers analyzed prescription volume, they found a consistent link. Doctors who received any kind of payment wrote more prescriptions overall than those who did not.

The steepest rises were seen among those who received consulting fees, speaking honoraria, or travel and lodging covered by the drugmakers, signaling a more formal relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.

• A dose-dependent relationship was observed — Even small payments were associated with changes in prescribing drugs- $50 slightly shifted the odds, but $5,000 nearly doubled the likelihood that the doctor's prescribing would favor that company's drugs.

The study also found that payments sustained over time and those received most recently were linked with the highest levels of brand prescribing. In other words, the closer in time and the more frequent the payment, the stronger the influence toward prescribing that particular drug.

• A breakdown of payment types — Non-consulting fees like speaker engagements and educational presentations made up two-thirds of the total money distributed, with a median of more than $54,000 per recipient. As a consumer and patient, this is an important detail because it shows that the voices leading medical conferences that eventually shape peer opinions are often financially linked to the companies whose drugs are being featured.

The researchers also examined cases where neurologists received payments from multiple companies at once. Those who were paid by two or more drugmakers had the highest overall prescription volumes and were most likely to receive ongoing year-after-year payments.

• The payments function as a feedback loop — Money creates brand familiarity and goodwill, which encourages prescribing. In turn, it keeps the doctor on the company's radar for future engagement. Speaking engagements and advisory boards create repeated points of contact, strengthening that relationship over time.

For anyone deciding between MS drugs, the findings here will help you become a more discerning patient, ultimately making you take control of your own health. If your neurologist recommends a particular brand, it would be wise to ask whether they have financial ties to the company making that drug. Remember, it's not about distrust it's about making sure your decision is grounded in what is best for your health, not simply what is most familiar to your doctor because of industry influence.

Industry Payments Have Been Going on for Years

Digging deeper into the issue, an earlier study published in Neurology analyzed the CMS Open Payments database (from a different timeframe) to examine how often neurologists received money or other transfers of value from drug and device manufacturers.⁴

The goal of the researchers was to measure not just how many neurologists were involved but also how much was paid, for what purposes, and by which companies. They investigated 13,479 neurologists practicing in the United States and found that 51% received at least one non-research payment that year, with a total of $6.2 million distributed.

• There is a select group of preferred doctors prescribing industry drugs — The median payment was just $81 per physician, but the money was not spread evenly. Similar to the BMJ Open study, the top 10% of neurologists in this study collected much of the money 84.5%, to be exact totaling over $5.2 million.

Looking at payment types, 86.5% of the total number of payments were for food and beverages. While this category seems like a minor issue that can be overlooked, frequent, repeated contact between drug company representatives and physicians eventually creates ongoing brand familiarity.

• The biggest money category — Non-continuing medical education (non-CME), speaking roles, faculty positions or talks that drug companies pay for accounted for 58% of the total money paid.

When broken down by region, neurologists from the Southern states were the ones most likely to receive payments, with about 60.7% participating, compared to 45% to 46.9% from other regions. The median payment size was roughly similar across the country, ranging from $79 to $89.

• Research payments were also captured — These totaled $2,921,611 million across 412 neurologists, with a median of $1,132. MS specialists received the largest share- $285,537 or 9.7% of all research dollars suggesting that this area is a major focus of company-funded clinical research. Daiichi Sankyo was the top research sponsor, providing $826,029 (28% of all research payments).

• How transparency efforts still face challenges — The Open Payments database (OPD) program was created to disclose payments received from the pharmaceutical industry, but there are still loopholes.

For example, payments under $10 do not have to be reported unless the total yearly value from a single company exceeds $100. This means that some very small interactions are never captured, but when added up across a year, they might still represent frequent exposure, which eventually influences prescriptions.

• Doctors are deliberately omitting data — The researchers warn that some data are misclassified or attributed to the wrong physicians, which could make the totals look slightly higher or lower than they really are. Here's an example:⁵

"Of 1,113 presenters at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons annual meeting in 2014, 11% who self-reported disclosures were not included in the OPD, and 23% were either not reported or were incorrectly classified, resulting in a 35% inconsistency between physician self-disclosures and OPD information."

Vitamin D Offers a Natural Way to Manage MS

In a previous article, I shared how vitamin D deficiency increases your risk of developing MS. In fact, this valuable nutrient has significant roles in maintaining optimal health, including managing blood sugar levels and improved insulin resistance. Thus, boosting it is a sensible way of boosting your overall well-being.

But while direct sun exposure is the best way for your body to produce vitamin D, I don't recommend you bask in the sun indiscriminately. There are certain caveats you need to be aware of:

• Practice smart and safe sun exposure — The best way to raise vitamin D is still through natural sun exposure, but you need to approach it carefully. People who live closer to the equator, where sunlight is stronger year-round, have a much lower risk of developing MS, which highlights how powerful regular sun exposure is for immune balance.

• If you've been eating a diet high in vegetable oils, it would be wise to implement a dietary change first — Seed oils are loaded with linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 polyunsaturated fat (PUF) that metabolizes when ultraviolet (UV) light hits your skin. That reaction creates toxic byproducts that inflame tissues and damage cell structures, even affecting DNA.

• To start the path to safe sun exposure, minimize your intake of LA for four to six months before increasing sun exposure — During this transition, stick to morning or late afternoon exposure, staying out of the peak sunlight hours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If you have higher body fat, expect LA to take longer to exit your tissues because it's stored in fat and releases slowly.

For best results, limit your LA intake to less than 5 grams per day. But if you can get it to below 2 grams per day, that's better.

In addition, you can push out the LA embedded in your skin even faster by incorporating C15:0 fat into your diet. For more information on this topic, read "The Fast-Track Path to Clearing Vegetable Oils from Your Skin."

Now, people with darker skin will need longer exposure periods to produce the same amount of vitamin D as someone with lighter skin, so plan your time outside accordingly. Watch yourself closely the goal is to stay just below the point where any redness starts. That's the marker that will keep you on the safe side while still letting your body make vitamin D efficiently.

• Choose a quality vitamin D3 when needed — If you live far from the equator or if you have a job that keeps you indoors a lot, sunlight alone will likely not boost your vitamin D levels. In that case, taking a high-quality vitamin D3 supplement is the next best solution. Your skin naturally produces D3 when exposed to UVB rays from the sun, but if you can't get that exposure, supplementing bridges the gap.

Why vitamin D3? That's because vitamin D2 is the plant-based form from UV-treated yeast or mushrooms but studies show it's not nearly as effective at raising blood vitamin D levels as D3. Before you take a supplement, testing your vitamin D levels is key so you know exactly how much you need. This helps you avoid taking too little or overshooting and going too high.

• Track your vitamin D status regularly — Getting your levels right requires testing. Ideally, do it twice a year so you can adjust your sunlight exposure and supplement as necessary. I generally recommend an optimal range between 60 and 80 ng/mL (150 to 200 nmol/L).

• Balance vitamin D with other nutrients — Vitamin D does its job best when it works alongside other key nutrients. Magnesium, calcium, and vitamin K2 all play important roles in helping your body absorb, transport, and properly use vitamin D.

Your Gut Microbiota Also Influence Risk of MS

In addition to optimizing your vitamin D levels, research shows that optimizing your gut health will also help manage MS without having to resort to drugs. That said, I recommend the following tips:

• Pick the right carbs for steady energy — Carbohydrates are your body's preferred energy source. For most adults, a daily target of around 250 grams will keep your metabolism running smoothly and support gut health. But if you're an athlete or exercise regularly, you'll need even more.

Start with simple, gut-friendly options like white rice and ripe fruit to avoid overwhelming your digestive system. If your gut is already sensitive, loading up on high-fiber foods right away will feed harmful bacteria instead, causing bloating, discomfort, or flare-ups. Once digestion feels better, add cooked vegetables, whole grains, and starches.

• Gradually increase dietary fiber — When your digestion is back on track, increasing fiber becomes an advantage. That's because it's the main food source for the beneficial bacteria in your gut and produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate. This SCFA is helpful because it strengthens the intestinal barrier, reducing inflammation and improving nutrient absorption.

• Minimize LA intake and ultraprocessed foods — LA is not only harmful to your skin when exposed to UV light it also affects your gut health. With this in mind, minimize your LA intake to help optimize cellular function.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Big Pharma Payments to Neurologists

Q: What is multiple sclerosis and why does it matter?

A: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune condition where your immune system attacks the myelin sheath the protective coating around your nerves. This damage leads to symptoms such as numbness, tingling, weakness, vision issues, fatigue, and poor balance. Without treatment, MS can eventually affects your overall quality of life.

Q: How common are industry payments to neurologists who prescribe MS drugs?

A: Research published in BMJ Open found that 78.5% of MS-prescribing neurologists received at least one payment from drugmakers between 2015 and 2019, totaling $163.6 million. Even more striking, 95% of that money went to the top 10% of recipients meaning a small group of doctors received most of the payments.

Q: Do these payments influence prescribing patterns?

A: Yes. The study showed that doctors who received money from a company were more likely to prescribe that company's drugs. Even a $50 payment made a difference, while $5,000 nearly doubled the chance that a doctor would favor that company's product. Payments given repeatedly or recently had the strongest influence, showing a clear pattern of behavior change linked to financial ties.

Q: What kinds of payments are most common?

A: The biggest share of money, about two-thirds, went to non-consulting activities like speaking engagements and educational events. These roles often put doctors in front of other clinicians, where they promote specific drugs. Smaller payments, like meals, were the most frequent by number and kept company representatives in regular contact with prescribers.

Q: How can patients use this information to make better decisions?

A: Knowing about these financial ties empowers you to ask essential questions that will affect your health. If your neurologist recommends a specific MS drug, ask whether they have financial relationships with the manufacturer. This helps ensure you are making decisions based on what is best for yourself rather than what is most familiar to your doctor through repeated company contact.

The Dangerous Relationship Between Salmonella and Yeast in Your Gut

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Around one in six Americans suffer from a foodborne illness each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Salmonella is one of the most notorious causes of these illnesses.¹ This type of bacteria alone is estimated to cause more than 1.35 million infections annually in the United States, leading to over 26,000 hospitalizations and about 420 deaths.²

Salmonella infection, also known as salmonellosis, is characterized by fever, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. When it spreads beyond the gut, it can become life-threatening.

But what many people never consider is that salmonella does not always work alone — it often partners with other microbes inside your digestive system in ways that make it harder to treat. One surprising culprit, as noted by a recent study, is the Candida albicans yeast.

Candida Stealthily Helps Salmonella Spread in Your Body

A recent study published in Nature journal examined how the common gut yeast Candida changes the way Salmonella Typhimurium behaves inside the body. Conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago, the goal of the study was to determine whether this yeast, which usually lives quietly in your digestive system, could give Salmonella an advantage during infection.³

To test their theory, the researchers conducted experiments in both mouse and human colon cell models, measuring how fast and how deeply the bacteria spread when yeast was present.⁴

• Candida colonization is actually common — This yeast is found in the guts of more than 60% of healthy people. Alone, Candida does not usually trigger disease, but under the right conditions, it becomes pathogenic. In people with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease, Candida levels are often higher and tied to flare-ups.

• The researchers used two main groups of mice — In one group, the mice were first given antibiotics to change their gut environment. In the other group, the mice were colonized with Candida albicans without antibiotics. Both groups were then infected with Salmonella, using a setup where there were 10 Salmonella cells for every one Candida cell.

The scientists checked the mice at 24, 48, and 72 hours to measure how much Salmonella was in the gut, whether it spread to the liver and spleen, and how much weight the mice lost.

• The scientists also worked with human colon cells — These cells were exposed to Salmonella alone or with Candida, again using a 10:1 ratio. To make sure results were accurate, they also ran controls using dead Candida or other compounds.

• To measure the results, the scientists looked at many different markers — They ran sequencing to see which genes were turned on, measured amino acid levels in the gut, checked inflammation signals in the blood, and examined tissue samples to see how the body responded.

• The findings clearly show that Candida tips the balance in Salmonella’s favor — When Candida was present, Salmonella grew more in the large intestine, spread more often to the liver and spleen, and caused more weight loss in the mice. In human cell tests, Candida made it easier for Salmonella to invade. Gene studies showed that Salmonella’s invasion systems switched on whenever Candida was nearby.

• One of the most striking details uncovered was the role of a Salmonella protein called SopB — This protein essentially acts like a signal flare, prompting Candida to start releasing the amino acid arginine. Arginine is usually harmless, but here it plays a dangerous role. Once released, it flips on Salmonella’s invasion machinery while at the same time reducing your body’s inflammation signals. Simply put, it suppresses your immune system, while allowing the bacteria to proliferate.

On the other hand, adding lysine, another amino acid, partially reversed the changes. This suggests that the balance of nutrients in your gut directly shapes how aggressive an infection becomes.

• This Candida-Salmonella relationship can be dangerous for vulnerable groups — These include people who are undergoing antibiotic treatment. Antibiotics lead to the proliferation of fungi, including Candida, in the gut. As a result, these drugs make Salmonella infections much worse. Ironically, antibiotics are sometimes prescribed for severe Salmonella cases, such as when bacteria have already spread to the bloodstream or if the patient is immunocompromised.⁵

These findings highlight a troubling reality — A seemingly simple stomach illness often signals a more complex microbial alliance. Once you understand that Candida and Salmonella can form this pathological partnership, it becomes clear why infections are sometimes so stubborn and recurrent. This recognition sets the stage for looking at how to interrupt this relationship and restore balance to the gut.

For more information on how your gut health affects your risk of food poisoning, I recommend reading “Why Do Some People Get Food Poisoning (and Others Don't)?”

Salmonella Can Also Work Against Candida

While the featured study showed how Candida helps Salmonella spread, there are previous studies that reveal an entirely different side of the relationship — Salmonella does not always benefit from Candida’s presence. In fact, a 2009 animal study published in Eukaryotic Cell revealed that, under certain conditions, Salmonella actively fights against Candida, weakening its ability to grow and invade tissues.⁶

• The team used several models, including the tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a living host — They also used lab cultures of fungi and bacteria grown together. What they discovered was surprising — instead of helping each other, Salmonella actually worked against Candida, weakening its ability to grow and survive.

• When worms were infected with both Candida and Salmonella, Candida lost filamentation, one of its strongest weapons — Filamentation is when Candida shifts from a round yeast form into long, branching filaments that help it stick to tissues and invade. Without this ability, the yeast is less able to cause damage.

The study showed that Salmonella released a secret substance that stopped Candida from making these filaments, suppressing some of its harmful traits and reducing its invasive power.

• The researchers also tested what happened in liquid culture at two different temperatures — At 86 degrees F (30 degrees C), Candida survived longer, but at 98.6 degrees F (37 degrees C), which is the normal temperature of the human body, Salmonella eliminated Candida much more quickly. By 48 hours at body temperature, Candida levels had dropped dramatically.

• Further tests explored whether Candida’s shape made a difference — They used special Candida strains — one that stayed mostly in yeast form and another that grew almost entirely as filaments. Salmonella was able to kill both, but it killed the filament-forming strain faster. Since filamentous Candida is usually the more dangerous form, this finding suggests that Salmonella targets the form of Candida that poses the greatest risk to your health.

• Salmonella also altered Candida biofilms — These are thick layers of microbes that stick together and protect themselves with a slimy coating. Candida is well-known for forming strong biofilms on medical devices and tissues, making infections very hard to treat.

When researchers placed Candida on silicone pads to grow biofilms, adding Salmonella sharply reduced the thickness and strength of these films. What’s even more interesting is that the culture fluid taken from Salmonella, without live bacteria present, was enough to weaken the biofilms.

• The antifungal activity depended on the growth stage of Salmonella — Culture fluid taken from Salmonella that had been growing for 16 to 24 hours had the strongest effect on killing Candida. This suggests that as Salmonella grows and matures, it begins releasing chemical signals or waste products that specifically harm Candida.

Scientists suspect this involves a type of “quorum sensing,” where bacteria release and detect chemical signals as their population grows, but the exact substance Salmonella uses has not yet been identified.

This research proves that the gut is not simply a place where harmful microbes quietly build alliances — it is also a battlefield. While Salmonella cannot be classified as a “good” organism — as it still causes food poisoning — its ability to directly suppress Candida’s dangerous traits shows that the microbes inside you interact in complex ways that shape your health.

Practical Steps to Break the Salmonella-Candida Connection

The real issue is not just Salmonella on its own, but how it teams up with Candida in your gut to make infections worse. The key is to stop that partnership before it takes hold. That means focusing on strengthening your gut environment so Candida doesn’t get the chance to help Salmonella spread. Here are the steps I recommend you take right now to protect your health.

1. Cook your food properly to stop Salmonella at the source — Salmonella often hides in undercooked meat, eggs, or poultry, especially those from confined animal feeding operations (CAFO). Heat destroys Salmonella before it ever reaches your gut, removing the chance for it to team up with Candida.

Take the extra time to make sure your food is safely cooked — it’s one of the most powerful tools you have to block this dangerous partnership before it begins. Salmonella can also lurk in some raw fruits and vegetables, so always make sure to wash your fresh produce thoroughly.

2. Reduce your use of antibiotics unless absolutely needed — Antibiotics wipe out healthy gut bacteria, leaving empty space that Candida quickly fills. If you are someone who has needed repeated antibiotic courses, your gut balance is already tilted toward fungal overgrowth.

I recommend focusing on foods and habits that rebuild your microbiome after any necessary treatment — such as eating fresh fruits with pulp instead of packaged fiber or using dextrose water in small sips if your gut is sensitive. Restoring the right bacteria is the first step in keeping Candida from giving Salmonella an advantage.

3. Limit gut fuel that feeds harmful yeast — Candida thrives on certain gut environments, especially when diets are heavy in seed oils and processed foods that damage the gut lining. If your meals regularly include ultraprocessed foods, restaurant foods, and seed oils, swap them out for safer fats like grass fed butter, ghee, or tallow. This reduces the conditions that allow Candida to expand.

4. Balance your gut nutrients — The featured study highlighted that arginine released by Candida is what flips Salmonella into attack mode, while lysine helps counteract that shift. If you’re prone to gut problems, consider optimizing your nutrient sources. Whole food sources of lysine — such as eggs, raw dairy, or pasture-raised, organic meats — help you restore that balance. By tilting your diet toward foods rich in lysine, you make it harder for Candida to give Salmonella the upper hand.

5. Support your gut’s natural defenses — Your body already has defenses built in — like stomach acid and bile — that keep pathogens in check. If you often struggle with bloating, reflux, or digestive sluggishness, those defenses are probably weaker than they should be.

Simple steps like eating enough high-quality protein, avoiding alcohol, and getting daily movement all help restore stomach acid and bile flow. When those systems are strong, Salmonella and Candida both struggle to gain ground inside you.

6. Strengthen your gut environment with sun and rhythm — Your gut microbes work in harmony with your circadian rhythm. Spending most of your day indoors or staying up late under artificial light keeps your body from setting that natural rhythm.

I recommend getting daily morning sun exposure and following a regular sleep schedule to optimize your circadian rhythm and improve your gut immunity, so you can resist Candida overgrowth and prevent Salmonella from spreading deeper into your body.

By following these steps, you address the actual root cause — a weakened gut environment that lets Candida and Salmonella form a destructive alliance. When your gut terrain is strong, this partnership loses its power over your health.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Salmonella and Candida

Q: What makes Salmonella infections so dangerous?

A: Salmonella causes over 1.35 million infections each year in the U.S. It triggers fever, diarrhea, cramps, nausea, and vomiting, and in severe cases spreads to the liver, spleen, or bloodstream, which can become life-threatening.

Q: How does Candida yeast affect Salmonella in the gut?

A: Candida albicans, a common yeast found in the guts of over 60% of healthy people, releases arginine when triggered by Salmonella. This amino acid activates Salmonella’s invasion machinery while lowering your immune defenses, making infections worse.

Q: Why do antibiotics increase the risk of this partnership?

A: Antibiotics kill good bacteria that normally keep Candida in check. With fewer defenders, Candida thrives, which strengthens Salmonella and helps it spread more deeply in your body.

Q: Can Salmonella ever work against Candida?

A: Yes. Research shows Salmonella sometimes suppresses Candida by blocking filament growth and weakening its biofilms, which are protective layers of yeast. This reveals the gut is a battlefield where microbes compete, not just cooperate.

Q: What steps can I take to protect myself?

A: You can lower risk by avoiding unnecessary antibiotics, cutting out seed oils, eating lysine-rich foods, cooking food thoroughly, supporting natural digestion, and aligning your gut health with sun exposure and regular sleep.

Walking Pace, Not Just Time Spent Walking, Tied to Longevity Benefits

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Walking is one of the most accessible ways to care for your health. You don’t need special gear, a gym membership, or a carefully planned routine — simply do it on your way to the store, around your neighborhood, or during a short break in your day. With every step, you’re engaging your body in a movement that has supported human health for generations.

Much of the conversation around walking has centered on how many minutes you log or whether you hit familiar targets like 10,000 steps a day. These measures are useful for keeping track, yet they overlook an equally important aspect of walking that influences how much you actually gain from it — the speed of your stride.

That simple but often ignored factor was the subject of a study recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Nearly 80,000 adults from different backgrounds were followed for close to two decades, as researchers looked beyond step counts to ask a deeper question — could the pace of your walk reveal more about its impact on your health and longevity than time alone?

New Study Shows Pace Changes the Payoff of Walking

To explore whether speed matters as much as time on your feet, researchers asked participants to report how long they walked each day and whether it was at a slow or brisk pace. This simple distinction allowed them to capture everyday walking habits in a way that reflected real life, rather than a laboratory setting. Over years of follow-up, they compared walking patterns with health outcomes to see which approach offered greater protection.¹

• The study followed long-term outcomes — Researchers tracked deaths over nearly two decades and compared them with participants’ reported walking patterns. This extended follow-up made it possible to see how daily pace translated into survival, while also accounting for other lifestyle factors such as diet, smoking, and different forms of exercise.

• Brisk walking lowered the risk of early death — Participants who reported including brisk, deliberate walking in their daily routine showed a clear survival advantage compared to those who walked only at slower paces.

What stood out most was that the benefit did not require an extreme level of effort. According to the authors, “Fast walking as little as 15 minutes a day was associated with a nearly 20% reduction in total mortality.”²

• Cardiovascular disease was most affected — The protective effect of brisk walking was strongest against deaths caused by cardiovascular conditions, particularly ischemic heart disease and heart failure. These diseases remain the leading causes of death worldwide, and the study showed that even a modest daily practice of brisk walking provided meaningful protection against them.

• Slow walking still offered benefits — Participants who reported more than three hours of slow walking per day had only a small, statistically borderline reduction in overall mortality, and the results were not as consistent as those for brisk walking.

However, in a secondary analysis, longer durations of slow walking were associated with reduced risk of ischemic heart disease, echoing prior studies that suggest light-intensity walking still supports cardiometabolic health.

• Brisk walking acted as an aerobic workout — A faster pace was described in the study as a form of aerobic exercise that improves cardiac output, increases oxygen delivery to muscles, and makes the heart pump more efficiently. These changes strengthen cardiovascular health, help regulate weight and blood pressure, and reduce the risks tied to obesity and poor metabolic function.

• The benefits held regardless of other exercise — Brisk walking reduced mortality risk regardless of how much other leisure-time physical activity participants engaged in, including activities such as bowling, dancing, golfing, softball, jogging, aerobics, bicycling, tennis, swimming, weightlifting, or basketball. This means walking briskly adds another layer of protection for those who already lead active lives.

• People with health conditions gained the most — The improvements from brisk walking were particularly pronounced in participants who entered the study with chronic health issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity. For these individuals, walking faster helped restore lost ground, improving circulation, metabolism, and cardiac function in ways that offered outsized benefits compared to healthier participants.

But how fast exactly is brisk walking? In the study, brisk walking was defined by the participants’ own sense of moving at a faster, deliberate pace — enough that your heart works harder and your breathing deepens compared to casual strolling. Public health guidelines describe this as the level of effort where you’re able to talk but not sing comfortably, which typically falls in the range of 2.5 to 3 miles per hour.^3,4

Other Ways Walking Benefits Your Overall Health

While the study highlights that brisk walking delivers the greatest protection, it’s important to remember that walking in any form remains one of the most valuable habits to build into your life. Beyond its effect on longevity, walking is a low-impact activity that supports nearly every system. Here are some of the key ways walking strengthens and protects your health:

• Improves blood sugar control and metabolic health — Regular walking helps your muscles absorb glucose more efficiently, which lowers blood sugar levels and improves insulin sensitivity. This makes walking particularly important for preventing or managing Type 2 diabetes. Studies also show that daily walking lowers the risk of developing metabolic syndrome and helps regulate weight by increasing energy expenditure.^5,6

• Strengthens bones and muscles — Walking strengthens your bones and muscles by providing weight-bearing stimulation each time your feet strike the ground. That impact signals bone cells to build and maintain density, lowering your risk of osteoporosis.⁷

At the same time, the repeated contraction of your leg and core muscles keeps them active, improving protein turnover and preserving muscle fibers. This ongoing engagement helps prevent sarcopenia, the gradual loss of strength and muscle mass that accelerates with age.⁸

• Enhances mitochondrial function and slows aging — Walking stimulates the creation of new mitochondria and enhances the function of existing ones, improving how efficiently your cells produce energy. This boost in mitochondrial health increases resilience against age-related decline, with research showing that regular walking activates genes linked to slowing the aging process.⁹

• Supports mental health and cognitive function — Walking supports brain function by increasing blood and oxygen flow, encouraging the growth of new neurons, and enhancing connections between brain regions. It also nurtures your emotional health, reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, sharpens memory, and improves overall mood.¹⁰

• Boosts immune resilience — Walking stimulates the production and circulation of key immune cells such as natural killer cells and lymphocytes, which strengthen your body’s ability to fight infections and reduce inflammation.¹¹

• Promotes better sleep — Walking, especially when done outdoors with natural light exposure, helps regulate your circadian rhythm and melatonin production, resulting in deeper, more restorative sleep.¹²

Whether taken as short daily outings or incorporated into routines with greater intensity, walking builds resilience step by step. For a deeper look at how walking benefits your well-being, read “Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Good Walk.”

7 Additional Strategies to Maximize the Benefits of Walking

Aside from picking up your pace, there are other ways to make walking an even more powerful practice. How you vary your routine, the environment you choose, and the way you use your walking time all add meaningful benefits. Here are strategies I recommend to make each step work harder for your health:

1. Incorporate interval walking — Research shows that alternating slower and faster paces, a method known as interval walking training (IWT), improves fitness more than keeping the same speed. The routine typically involves three minutes of relaxed walking followed by three minutes of brisk walking, repeated for about 30 minutes.

When practiced regularly, IWT lowers blood pressure, eases symptoms of depression, strengthens the hamstrings, improves aerobic endurance, and even reduces stroke risk.¹³

2. Use a weighted vest or backpack for added resistance — Walking with extra weight engages more muscles, increases oxygen use, and raises the intensity of the workout. Research shows that women aged 65 to 74 who wore weighted vests improved leg power by 10% to 11%, and younger adults also experienced greater training effects without changes to their natural stride.¹⁴

To do this safely, begin with a light load, make sure the weight is distributed evenly, and add more gradually as your body becomes stronger. Learn more about this approach in “Pros and Cons of Wearing a Weighted Vest During Walks.”

3. Try Nordic walking to involve your upper body — Nordic walking is done with fixed-length poles similar to ski poles, which you plant into the ground as you walk. This technique turns walking into a full-body activity by engaging your arms, shoulders, and core along with your legs.

Because it uses about 90% of your muscles, it raises oxygen use by 18% to 25% compared to regular walking at the same pace. The added involvement of the upper body improves posture, balance, and calorie burn, giving you more benefit from the same distance without making the effort feel dramatically harder.¹⁵

4. Walk outdoors for mental and physical renewal — Walking outdoors offers benefits that go well beyond what you get on a treadmill. Natural settings help ease tension, anxiety, and fatigue while lifting your mood, and the added sunlight supports vitamin D production and healthy circadian rhythms.¹⁶

You’ll get the greatest effect if you spend at least part of your walk outside during midday, when sunlight exposure is strongest. Just remember to follow safe sun exposure guidelines, especially if your diet has been high in vegetable oils. I explained this further in “Having Optimal Vitamin D Levels Helps Lower Your Risk of Melanoma.”

5. Use walking time for creativity and reflection — A 2023 study found that even short bouts of walking boosted creative performance on problem-solving tasks.¹⁷ Use your walks as a chance to brainstorm, reflect, or listen to educational audio, making the time productive for both your body and your mind.

6. Bring a social element to your walks — Walking with a friend, family member, or pet makes the habit easier to maintain and more enjoyable. Social interaction during physical activity has been described as a “longevity goldmine” because it combines movement with connection, both of which are linked to longer life and better well-being. Regular companionship during walks also provides accountability, helping you stay consistent over time.¹⁸

7. Track your steps and progress — Monitoring your daily walking helps you stay consistent and motivated. It also makes it easier to set personal goals and celebrate steady progress. One of the tools you can use to do this is the Mercola Health Coach app, which will be officially released this year.

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

Walking becomes far more than a routine when you treat it as a practice to refine. Each adjustment builds on the foundation of this simple movement and turns it into a lasting support for your health.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Walking

Q: How fast should I walk to improve my health?

A: You should walk at a pace where you are breathing harder than usual but still able to hold a conversation. This is typically 2.5 to 3 miles per hour for most adults. At this pace, your heart and lungs are working harder, which is what produces the cardiovascular and longevity benefits.

Q: How many minutes of brisk walking do I need daily?

A: You don’t need long sessions to benefit. Just 15 to 30 minutes of brisk walking each day is linked to meaningful improvements in longevity and heart health. If you can do more, that’s even better, but the key is to keep your pace purposeful.

Q: Do I still get benefits from brisk walking if I already exercise?

A: Yes, you do. The study found that brisk walking lowered mortality risk regardless of other physical activities like jogging, biking, or swimming. Adding brisk walking gives you an extra layer of protection, even if you are already active.

Q: Does walking fast help my heart?

A: Yes, brisk walking strengthens your cardiovascular system by improving circulation, lowering blood pressure, and making your heart pump more efficiently. This directly lowers your risk of heart disease and heart failure, the leading causes of death worldwide.

Q: What are other ways to make walking more effective?

A: You can maximize the benefits by mixing brisk intervals with slower recovery periods, using a weighted vest for added resistance, trying Nordic walking poles, spending time outdoors, walking with others, and using your walks as time for reflection or creativity.

Test Your Knowledge with Today's Quiz!

Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from yesterday’s Mercola.com article.

What recent finding helped overturn the myth that eggs raise bad cholesterol?

Two eggs daily lowered LDL cholesterol when eaten with little saturated fat
A five-week study found that people who ate two eggs daily lowered LDL cholesterol when saturated fat intake stayed low. Learn more.
Eating pastured eggs and bacon together raised good cholesterol and improved energy
High-sugar diets increased LDL cholesterol more than egg-based meals did
Replacing eggs with cereal or toast always lowers LDL cholesterol levels over time

How early intervention and team-based care can change kidney disease outcomes [PODCAST]

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 23:00:30 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Kidney transplant recipient Charlie Cloninger and nephrologist Nauman Shahid discuss their article “How early care saved my life from silent kidney disease.” Charlie shares his personal story of being diagnosed with kidney disease while feeling healthy, making lifestyle changes with the

Why our health system fails chronic disease patients

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 19:00:16 +0000

John, a man in his early sixties, waited nine months to see me about memory problems. When he finally arrived, I had twenty minutes. Eighteen went to detective work, extracting fragments of history from conflicting accounts, piecing together months of decline from unreliable memories, and completing a paper-based subjective memory test. What should have been

AI moderation of online health communities

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 17:00:59 +0000

This summer, my Facebook account was permanently “disabled.” I had been helping another mother navigate a medical decision for her child, a young adult who is living with a degenerative condition. It wasn’t medical advice. It was empathy, drawn from my own lived experience as a medical mother, a certified coach, and years of teaching

AI moderation of online health communities originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why physicians need a personal CFO and how tax mitigation fits in

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:00:28 +0000

As a physician, you are no stranger to complexity. From the first days of medical school to the years of long shifts in residency, you make high-stakes decisions every day. Yet many doctors tell us they feel too busy, or under-resourced, to give their money the same level of care. That is where a Personal

Why doctors must fight misinformation online

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 13:00:06 +0000

Not long ago, a patient came to my busy clinic holding her phone. She had recently watched one of my short educational videos on heart attack warning signs, in Bengali. She told me, “Doctor, I did not know women can have different symptoms than men. That is why I came in today.” That heartfelt conversation

Why doctors must fight misinformation online originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

A urologist’s perspective on presidential health transparency

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 11:00:13 +0000

As a urologist, I consider myself an expert on the subject of prostate cancer. Here is a urologist’s view of a hypothetical announcement from a former U.S. president, five months after leaving office, of widespread high-grade metastatic prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males. It begins as a cancer in the

Weekly Health Quiz: Childhood Chronic Disease, Cancer Risk from Seed Oils, and Health Testing

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

1 Which new agency did the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) plan propose to lead chronic disease response?

National Council on Food and Family Health
Administration for a Healthy America (AHA)
The AHA, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will coordinate prevention. Learn more.
Healthy Futures Coordination Council
Center for Preventive Health and Education

2 What dietary change helps cut oxidative stress by 20% in only 12 weeks?

Eliminating all refined carbohydrates from daily meals
Increasing daily protein and supplement intake
Reducing linoleic acid to about 2% to 3% of calories
Lowering linoleic acid intake from 7% to 3% reduces oxidative stress markers and helps cells recover balance. Learn more.
Avoiding every type of dietary fat and oil

3 Why is drug-induced sleep different from natural deep sleep?

It sedates you without restoring brain function or memory, leaving toxic waste to accumulate over time
Drug-induced sleep causes sedation but blocks restorative slow-wave activity, preventing deep repair and toxin removal. Learn more.
It produces stronger brain waves that store memories faster and enhance alertness after you wake up
It increases blood oxygen to help brain cells recover faster
It provides full restoration equal to natural deep sleep

4 What did independent monitoring reveal about ticagrelor’s trial results across multiple nations?

Equal results were seen across all global research sites
Improved safety profiles reported in regions where AstraZeneca directly handled all clinical data
Better outcomes occurred in countries with stricter drug laws
Worse outcomes where independent oversight was enforced
Ticagrelor underperformed where oversight was independent, suggesting the sponsor’s monitoring may have biased reported data. Learn more.

5 What extraordinary case highlighted the link between transplants and transferred memories?

A teen developed musical talent identical to her donor’s abilities after a kidney transplant surgery recovery
An adult artist began painting abstract art similar to his donor’s unfinished works from earlier exhibitions
A patient began craving foods similar to their donor’s preferences but without any personality changes
An 8-year-old with a murdered child’s heart described details that later helped police convict the killer
The 8-year-old’s memories of her donor’s murder matched reality, confirming evidence of possible memory transfer in organs. Learn more.

6 Which theory explains how laughter strengthens emotional balance and mental resilience?

The Coping Theory highlights laughter’s role in transforming perceived threats into manageable emotional challenges
Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build Theory shows laughter expands perception and improves flexibility under stress
Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build Theory shows laughter widens perspective, strengthens coping skills, and builds mental resilience. Learn more.
Gross’s Emotion Regulation Theory defines laughter as a reactive process rather than an intentional healing mechanism
The Subjective Well-being Theory links consistent laughter with durable happiness and improved emotional control

7 Why does your body make less vitamin D from sunlight during fall and winter?

Cold temperatures thicken skin layers, which block sunlight from reaching the cells that make vitamin D
Shorter daylight hours prevent the skin from storing enough sunlight to keep vitamin D levels stable
The sun sits lower in the sky, so ultraviolet B rays are too weak to trigger vitamin D formation
Shorter days and weaker ultraviolet B sunlight limit vitamin D production. Eating fish or taking vitamin D3 helps fill this seasonal gap. Learn more.
Wind and dry air limit skin exposure, reducing how much vitamin D your body can naturally produce

Test Your Knowledge with

The Master Level Quiz

1 How does the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission plan to improve trust in research?

Expanding government oversight for new drug trials
Publicly disclosing all financial conflicts of interest
The plan requires full transparency between researchers and industries to prevent biased findings. Learn more.
Shortening review times for nutrition research grants
Allowing audits of health organization sponsors

2 Which method directly relieves pressure on the median nerve in carpal tunnel syndrome?

Myofascial release and trigger point massage
Massage loosens tight tissue, boosts blood flow, and reduces swelling that compresses the nerve. Learn more.
Ice therapy combined with wrist immobilization
Ultrasound treatments performed once a week
Gentle stretching routines with mild heat application

3 How will schools participate in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) strategy for children’s wellness?

Encouraging weekend exercise reporting from families
Reviving fitness tests and healthy meal campaigns
The plan reintroduces fitness tests and promotes real food to improve activity and nutrition. Learn more.
Partnering with biodynamic farms to create healthy meals
Launching new classes on medical technology use

4 What describes the main danger of excessive linoleic acid consumption in modern diets?

It lowers energy by destroying mitochondrial health
It triggers toxic byproducts, inflammation, and cell damage
High linoleic acid from seed oils forms toxic oxidized fats that inflame cells and damage mitochondria. Learn more.
It strengthens gut lining and improves absorption
It supports balanced metabolism when combined with higher omega-3 intake

5 Which indoor measure most directly reduced blood pressure linked to PM2.5, fine particles entering the bloodstream?

Improving ventilation by opening windows when outdoor pollution levels appear visually low or moderate
Adding activated charcoal purifiers improved indoor odor quality but showed no measurable heart-related benefits
Using portable fans redistributed air but failed to reduce fine particle concentration or heart strain
Running HEPA air filters, which lowered PM2.5 levels and eased cardiovascular strain in clinical studies
HEPA filtration cut PM2.5 exposure and blood pressure, confirming a clear link between cleaner air and heart protection. Learn more.

6 What strategy most effectively supports muscle recovery within two hours after high-intensity training?

30 g plant protein meal restores muscle equally when timed before training rather than after
Consuming 0.2 g protein/kg within three hours maintains equal recovery to higher-dose animal protein intake
Taking 60 g of healthy carbohydrates alone restores glycogen faster than combined protein and carbohydrate meals
Eating 0.3 to 0.4 g animal protein/kg within two hours improves recovery and glycogen refueling efficiency
Around 0.3 to 0.4 g/kg animal protein post-workout supplies about 2 to 3 g leucine, activating muscle repair and glycogen recovery. Learn more.

7 What did long-term research find about frequent sleep drug users in older adults?

They nearly doubled their dementia risk compared to those who rarely or never used these medications
Older adults who used sleep drugs several times weekly nearly doubled their dementia risk over 15 years. Learn more.
They showed stronger memory and brain rhythms after years of using sleep medications regularly
Frequent users showed no cognitive decline compared with nonusers
They lived longer and showed better immune function due to improved nighttime brain recovery

8 Which beverage combination best supports nerve health by reducing inflammation and aiding tissue repair?

Tart cherry juice, green tea, and golden milk ease pain and protect nerves through antioxidant compounds
Tart cherry juice, green tea, and golden milk work together to calm inflammation, improve blood flow, and protect nerve cells from oxidative stress. Learn more.
Herbal sodas enriched with caffeine strengthen immunity and reduce oxidative stress in nerve cells
Carbonated water with citrus boosts hydration and increases metabolic rate during inflammation recovery phases
Electrolyte blends lower fatigue but lack antioxidants needed for nerve and vascular protection

9 What best explains why dry eye symptoms often go untreated despite being common and disruptive?

Most adults address eye dryness immediately through improved humidity and eye-rest techniques
Many people assume irritation is normal aging and avoid treatment until symptoms become severe
Many dismiss dry eye as part of aging, ignoring early irritation that can lead to chronic inflammation and vision changes. Learn more.
People often misread burning or blurriness as fatigue rather than a sign of chronic tear instability
The condition resolves completely with short-term over-the-counter drops and home eye-rinse solutions

10 What integrity issue most undermined trust in ticagrelor’s Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes trial?

Limited global diversity among participants reduced trial reliability and weakened clinical data applicability
Transparent data reporting ensured confidence in published cardiovascular outcomes and adverse event results
Altered death records and missing data distorted ticagrelor’s benefits and masked potential patient harm
Death records were changed and missing data favored ticagrelor, deeply weakening trust in its published trial outcomes. Learn more.
Inaccurate documentation affected event tracking across major cardiac and overall mortality endpoints

11 What daily habit most effectively supports emotional balance through steady potassium and sodium levels?

Taking mineral supplements to replace salt intake without adjusting whole food consumption patterns
Avoiding all salt sources disrupts mineral ratios, heightening stress and fatigue instead of improving mood
Increasing protein and caffeine to improve focus while lowering dependence on plant-based mineral foods
Eating potassium-rich foods and using natural salts to restore nerve balance and stabilize mood
Potassium supports brain signaling and neurotransmitter stability. Whole foods and natural salts promote better mood control. Learn more.

12 What best explains how your brain interprets aromas as part of what you experience as taste?

Retronasal smell only activates after swallowing, sending delayed aroma signals to your brain’s memory center
Retronasal odor molecules stimulate the insula, letting the brain read aroma as sweetness or savoriness
Retronasal smell activates the insula, the brain’s taste cortex, merging smell and taste into one unified flavor experience. Learn more.
The tongue alone identifies flavor intensity, while retronasal flow only affects smell sensitivity, not taste
Odor molecules pass to the stomach, where nerve receptors misread them as taste sensations

13 Which group most often reports emotional experiences believed to come from their organ donors?

Highly creative, body-aware, and psychically sensitive individuals
About 10% of recipients feel donor-linked emotions, mostly those who are creative, body-aware, and highly sensitive to energy. Learn more.
Middle-aged patients reporting emotional stability and no sensitivity to external or spiritual influences
Patients who underwent multiple surgeries and long-term immune therapy
Elderly recipients who lacked memory of the transplant recovery period

14 Which approach best supports your body’s natural defense when fighting the flu with herbal remedies?

Taking any herbal blend after symptoms peak ensures faster recovery and prevents recurring viral infections
Using echinacea or elderberry early strengthens immune response and shortens flu duration naturally
Starting echinacea or elderberry early boosts white blood cells, curbs viral growth, and helps the body recover faster. Learn more.
Combining turmeric and garlic offers soothing

Cracking the Myth — How Eating Eggs Helps Lower Bad Cholesterol

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

For decades, eggs carried an unfair reputation — they were labeled “cholesterol bombs,” and that eating them regularly would clog arteries, drive up “bad” cholesterol levels, and inevitably raise your risk of heart disease. Health authorities recommended limiting or even avoiding eggs, leaving many people confused and hesitant to enjoy one of nature’s most nutrient-rich foods.

But science has now evolved and so has our understanding of cholesterol. Mounting research now shows that dietary cholesterol from eggs has little impact on blood cholesterol for most people. In fact, under the right conditions, eating eggs may actually help lower unhealthy cholesterol levels and support heart health.

Eating Eggs Lowered Cholesterol in Just 5 Weeks, According to a New Study

A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition investigated how eggs, cholesterol, and saturated fat interact to influence low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol that contributes to artery blockage and heart disease.¹

"Eggs have long been unfairly cracked by outdated dietary advice. They're unique — high in cholesterol, yes, but low in saturated fat. Yet it's their cholesterol level that has often caused people to question their place in a healthy diet." Jonathan Buckley, an exercise scientist from the University of South Australia and the study’s lead researcher, said.²

The researchers designed the study to answer a simple question — Does eating eggs actually raise LDL cholesterol, or is something else at play? To find out, they tested three different diets, each with a unique balance of cholesterol and saturated fat.

• The participants were 61 adults with the same baseline cholesterol levels at the start of the trial — Over a five-week period, they followed one of three meal plans. The first was high in saturated fat and cholesterol, the second was high in saturated fat but low in cholesterol, and the third was high in cholesterol but low in saturated fat.³

• What made the third diet stand out is that it included two eggs per day — Surprisingly, the group eating more eggs ended up lowering their LDL cholesterol compared to the other groups, who actually saw their LDL levels climb. According to a report from Science Alert:

“The results showed that diets high in saturated fat correlated with a rise in LDL cholesterol levels. However, the high-cholesterol, low-saturated fat diet produced a reduction in LDL cholesterol levels — suggesting that eggs are not responsible for bad cholesterol.”⁴

• The researchers also compared variables head-to-head — When cholesterol came from eggs without much saturated fat, LDL went down. When cholesterol came alongside saturated fat, LDL went up. This shows the importance of food context — cholesterol doesn’t act alone. It interacts with the rest of your diet, and this interaction determines whether your blood chemistry shifts toward health or risk.

• Saturated fat influences how your liver processes cholesterol — From a biological perspective, the explanation is straightforward. When saturated fat is high, the liver struggles to clear LDL cholesterol efficiently, leaving more of it circulating in your bloodstream. Eggs, however, supply cholesterol without overloading the system with saturated fat. This allows your body to manage cholesterol properly, preventing the buildup that causes arteries to narrow.

This study supports the notion that eggs are not the enemy; the real issue is the excessive saturated fat, particularly polyunsaturated fats (PUFs), in the other foods you eat. By choosing eggs over foods loaded with these unhealthy fats, you encourage your body to handle cholesterol in a healthier way.

"You could say we've delivered hard-boiled evidence in defense of the humble egg. So, when it comes to a cooked breakfast, it's not the eggs you need to worry about — it's the extra serve of bacon or the side of sausage that's more likely to impact your heart health," Buckley said.⁵

Debunking the Cholesterol Myth

Given the findings of this study, Buckley comments that it’s about time for the public to change their perception of eggs, saying that this highly nutritious food has “long been unfairly cracked by outdated dietary advice.” And what he’s referring to is the cholesterol myth — the notion that dietary cholesterol harms your heart and long-term health.

But despite conflicting reports and warnings from conventional sources, eggs are not responsible for heart disease — the featured study provides solid evidence on this. In fact, dietary cholesterol is not the villain it’s made out to be.

• Your body needs cholesterol — It’s actually found in nearly every cell of your body and is vital for optimal functioning. This waxy substance serves as a fundamental building block for cell membranes, providing structural integrity and fluidity.

• Cholesterol acts as a precursor for various essential hormones — It is vital in the production of vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight, contributing to bone health and immune function. In your digestive system, it helps in the formation of bile acids, which are necessary for the absorption of fats and fat-soluble vitamins.

• If you have too little, your risk of health problems increases, including all-cause mortality — There are studies supporting this notion. For example, research published in Frontiers in Endocrinology found a revealing link between low total cholesterol (TC) levels and increased mortality risk in those aged 85 and above. This is because having low TC levels compromises cell function and increases your vulnerability to infections and other health problems.⁶

• Additionally, cholesterol helps regulate inflammatory markers in your body — With lower TC levels, you might experience enhanced inflammation, which is associated with numerous age-related diseases. I recommend reading “Why Is Low Blood Cholesterol Associated with Increased Late Life Mortality?” for a more in-depth discussion into this topic.

Eggs Protect Your Heart Health

Contrary to what many believe, eggs actually offer protective benefits for your heart. One recent study demonstrates this, showing how egg consumption, especially among the elderly helped reduce the risk of dying from heart disease or other causes.⁷

• The study involved 8,756 individuals aged 70 and older — They were grouped based on how frequently they ate eggs — never or infrequently, weekly (one to six times per week), and daily (seven or more times per week).

• Eggs are good, but the amount matters, too — The study found that those who ate eggs weekly had a 29% lower risk of dying from heart disease and a 17% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who rarely or never ate eggs. Interestingly, individuals who ate eggs every day did not experience the same protective benefits, showing that moderation is key.⁸

• Following a healthy lifestyle is also crucial — The study also revealed that the most significant benefits occurred among individuals who ate a balanced diet, stayed physically active, and avoided excessive alcohol intake and smoking. In this group, the reduction in cardiovascular mortality was especially pronounced, further reinforcing the idea that eggs can be part of a health-oriented regimen.

• So how many eggs per week can you eat before the benefits taper off? According to the study authors, up to six eggs a week may be beneficial in reducing the risk of death from all causes and heart disease causes among those in their senior years. Study co-author Holly Wild said, “These findings may be beneficial in the development of evidence-based dietary guidelines for older adults.”⁹

Eggs Are a Nutrition Powerhouse

Eggs are among the most nutritious foods in your kitchen. They’re loaded with healthy vitamins, protein, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and selenium.

• Eggs support your eye health — Lutein and zeaxanthin, two important antioxidants that build up in the retinas of your eyes, are abundant in eggs. These nutrients effectively protect your vision and help reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration.

• Choline is one of the most important nutrients in eggs — Discovered in 1862,¹⁰ this compound abundantly in egg yolks offers a long list of benefits, such as supporting brain function, nervous system health, DNA synthesis, healthy fetal development, liver health, and more.¹¹

• Choline protects your cardiovascular health — Choline prevents homocysteine buildup, which is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, as it contributes to arterial damage and increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Studies provide evidence that consuming a choline-rich diet helps regulate homocysteine levels, minimizing the strain on your cardiovascular system.¹²

• Choline also supports liver health — Your body uses choline to prevent fat accumulation in your liver. Without sufficient choline, excess fat and cholesterol will buildup in your liver, increasing your risk of liver dysfunction.

Since your body is not able to create enough choline on its own to meet your needs, getting this nutrient from your diet is essential. While there are other sources of choline available, like liver and beef, eggs remain the most convenient and widely available option.

PUFs Are the Real Culprits in Your Diet

The featured study highlights another important factor — the role of saturated fats in increasing your LDL cholesterol. However, the devil’s in the details, and in this case, the saturated fat in question refers to PUFs, particularly the omega-6 fat linoleic acid (LA).

• You need LA but only in trace amounts — Your biological need for LA is very low, ideally 1% to 2% of your daily calories. However, today it now makes up more than 15% to 25% of the typical American's caloric intake. This is because LA is found in excessive amounts in processed vegetable oils like soybean, corn and canola — ingredients you'll find in nearly every packaged food and restaurant meal.

• LA transforms into dangerous byproducts known as oxidized linoleic acid metabolites — OXLAMs damage DNA, disrupt energy production, and drive chronic inflammation throughout your body. They also attack mitochondria, the energy factories inside your cells, and impair how your body produces energy. This is why LA has been associated with almost every chronic disease in today’s modern world, like obesity, Type 2 diabetes, neurodegeneration, and heart disease.

I recently published a paper in the journal Nutrients about the long-term biological effects of LA. I encourage you to read it, as it provides a comprehensive explanation on how LA wreaks havoc in your body — and what you can do to reverse the damage.

>>>>> Click Here <<<<<

• LA is ubiquitous in the food supply today — In fact, most people don’t realize that the foods they’ve been told are heart-healthy, like certain oils, nuts, and packaged snacks, are actually loading their cells with something they weren’t designed to handle in such high amounts. What’s worse, LA has a biological half-life of nearly two years — meaning if you stop eating it today, you'll still be metabolizing it years from now.

• However, most conventional eggs contain high amounts of PUFs — This is due to the chickens’ poor-quality feed, which counteracts the health benefits of eggs. If you eat more than four eggs a day, you’ll likely surpass my recommended limit for linoleic acid (LA), which is 5 grams per day.

But as I said, the devil’s in the details — There’s a way to reap the benefits of eggs while sidestepping the LA found in conventional varieties.

Where (and How) to Get the Best Eggs

The key to make sure you’re choosing the healthiest eggs is to pick pastured eggs whenever possible. Look for organically raised, free-range pastured eggs — This means the chickens have a large space to roam and forage naturally rather than being fed pesticide-laced feed.

• Buy from trusted producers to ensure the chickens are less likely given grains high in omega-6 linoleic acid — This results in eggs with lower PUF content and improved nutritional quality. Ashley Armstrong’s farm, Angel Acres Egg Co., produces some of the highest-quality eggs I’ve encountered, and the secret is in the feed she gives to her chickens. As a result, their eggs contain 75% lower LA than conventional eggs.

• Yolks provide the most nutrition — This is where most of the nutrients are. Angel Acres Egg Co. supplies me with freeze-dried egg yolks, and because of their eggs’ impressive nutrition profile, I can safely eat three raw egg yolks twice a day — a total of six.

• However, consider moderating your consumption of egg whites — The reason for this is that egg whites are high in tryptophan, which is a precursor to serotonin — a hormone that you want to limit because of its damaging effects on your health. I also recommend increasing your intake of glycine, as it helps reduce the effects of too much tryptophan in your system. Homemade bone broth and shanks are good glycine sources.

• Pair eggs with other healthy foods — What you eat with your eggs makes a big difference in their overall health effects. Instead of pairing them with processed meats like bacon or sausage, go for nutrient-dense, whole foods like fresh fruit, root vegetables or grass fed dairy.

• Avoid cooking eggs in vegetable oils — These unhealthy fats are loaded with LA. Instead, use grass fed butter, ghee or coconut oil. Better yet, consider other ways to cook eggs, like hardboiled, soft-boiled, or even poached.

• Space out your egg consumption — While it can be tempting to eat eggs daily, research shows one to six times per week is the sweet spot for heart and overall health. While consuming eggs daily doesn’t necessarily increase your risk of illness, the benefits do decline with higher intake. Consider alternating with other choline-rich foods like liver, beef, or grass fed dairy to diversify your nutrient intake.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Eggs and Cholesterol

Q: Do eggs raise bad cholesterol?

A: No. Research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that eating two eggs daily actually lowered LDL (“bad”) cholesterol when paired with a low-saturated-fat diet.

Q: What’s the real dietary problem if it’s not eggs?

A: The real driver of high LDL is saturated fat, especially from processed meats like bacon and sausage, and excessive omega-6 fats from seed oils.

Q: How many eggs are safe to eat each week?

A: Studies suggest one to six eggs per week is the sweet spot for heart and overall health. Daily consumption doesn’t increase risk but offers fewer added benefits.

Q: Are all eggs equally healthy?

A: No. Pastured, free-range eggs have a better nutrient profile and lower levels of harmful fats like linoleic acid compared to conventional eggs from grain-fed chickens.

Q: What are the main health benefits of eating eggs?

A: Eggs support heart health, eye health, brain function, and liver protection thanks to nutrients like choline, lutein, and zeaxanthin, while also helping regulate cholesterol efficiently.

Test Your Knowledge with Today's Quiz!

Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from yesterday’s Mercola.com article.

What’s one safe and effective way to improve vitamin D absorption when taking supplements?

Take vitamin D on an empty stomach to help it absorb faster into your bloodstream
Take vitamin D at night because your body absorbs it best while you sleep
Avoid unhealthy fats, since they slow down how fast your body uses vitamin D
Take vitamin D3 with foods rich in healthy fats such as egg yolks, butter, or tallow
Vitamin D3 is fat-soluble. Eating it with healthy fats like butter, tallow, or egg yolks helps your body absorb and use it effectively. Learn more.

Global Death Rates from Chronic Disease Decline While US Progress Stalls

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Americans are losing ground on health, with life expectancy slipping even as other nations continue to extend theirs. Around the world, chronic illnesses that once cut lives short are now being managed more effectively, giving people a better chance at living into old age.

These conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and lung disease, are not contagious but develop slowly and often last for years. They damage quality of life through symptoms like chest pain, fatigue, memory loss, or breathing difficulties, and when left unchecked, they lead to early death or long-term disability. The reality is stark: while many countries have made measurable progress in reducing early deaths from chronic disease, the U.S. has not kept pace.

Despite enormous spending on health care, Americans continue to face some of the weakest improvements among wealthy nations. The question is why. Looking at the latest research helps uncover what's driving progress globally, why the U.S. is falling behind, and what you can do to reduce your own risk.

Global Trends Reveal Uneven Progress in Chronic Disease Deaths

In a study published in The Lancet, researchers examined death rates from chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) across 185 countries between 2001 and 2019.¹ Their goal was to measure how much progress countries made in reducing early deaths from diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory illness. The study calculated the probability of dying before age 80 from these conditions, which provides a clear picture of whether people are living longer, healthier lives.

• Most countries saw progress, but not all — The study found that between 2010 and 2019, NCD death rates fell in about 80% of countries. That means roughly four out of five nations managed to extend lives and improve health outcomes during that time. These countries represented over 70% of the world's population, so the progress affected billions of people.

• U.S. performance lagged behind its peers — While most high-income western countries made noticeable progress, the U.S. experienced the smallest improvement of them all. In contrast, Denmark recorded the steepest declines in NCD deaths, showing what's possible with more effective prevention and treatment programs. For Americans, this means more years of lost life compared to neighbors in other wealthy countries, even though the U.S. spends far more on health care.

• Circulatory diseases drove the biggest improvements — Heart disease and stroke, grouped under circulatory diseases, were the top contributors to declining NCD deaths worldwide. Better treatments, earlier detection, and improved emergency care all played a role in reducing fatalities. Certain cancers also saw meaningful improvements — stomach, colorectal, cervical, breast, lung, and prostate cancers accounted for large shares of the progress.

• Other conditions offset gains — Not every disease trend moved in the right direction. The study showed that deaths from neuropsychiatric conditions, including severe mental health disorders, as well as pancreatic and liver cancers, actually increased in many places. These conditions acted like weights, pulling down the overall gains achieved through heart and cancer improvements.

Decade-to-Decade Comparisons Show Progress Is Slowing

One of the most concerning findings is that the rate of improvement from 2010 to 2019 was weaker than from 2001 to 2010. In fact, 60% of countries saw a slowdown or even reversal of earlier progress. That means while the world moved forward in reducing NCD deaths, the pace of progress is no longer keeping up with what was achieved in the previous decade.

• Geographic differences tell different stories — Countries in central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa experienced the greatest reductions in female deaths from NCDs. For men, the largest declines were in central and eastern Europe. On the other hand, Pacific Island nations had almost no progress, with death rates barely moving downward despite already having some of the highest NCD burdens worldwide.

• Age-related differences shaped outcomes — In some nations, both working-age adults and older adults over 65 saw reductions in deaths, producing strong overall declines. In other countries, progress in one age group was offset by worsening outcomes in another, which canceled out broader national progress. This age divide shows how important it is to target health interventions at multiple stages of life rather than focusing only on one group.

• Chronic disease trends reveal missed opportunities — The rising burden of liver and pancreatic cancers points to lifestyle and environmental factors — like alcohol use, poor diet, obesity, and exposure to toxins — that remain unresolved. Neuropsychiatric disease increases suggest mental health care has not advanced at the same pace as physical health care, leaving a key gap.

• Early death from chronic diseases is not inevitable — Where countries invested in prevention, treatment, and healthier environments, lives were extended. But progress is fragile — when momentum slows, the burden of disease rises again.

How to Take Control of Chronic Disease Risk

You have far more power over your long-term health than most people realize. Chronic diseases are not random — they're fueled by predictable causes such as poor diet, toxic exposures, lack of movement, and unchecked stress.

By addressing the root problems, you give your cells the tools to produce steady energy, repair damage, and keep inflammation under control. Think of this section as a personal roadmap: the lessons learned from countries that successfully reduced death rates can also guide you in protecting your own long-term health.

1. Cut out vegetable oils and hidden hormone disruptors — Your mitochondria — the energy factories inside your cells — are poisoned by linoleic acid (LA), a polyunsaturated fat found in seed oils like soybean, safflower, sunflower, and canola. Even if the label says organic, these oils still drive cellular stress and accelerate disease. Replace them with stable fats like ghee, grass fed butter, or beef tallow.

At the same time, remove plastics and synthetic chemicals that disrupt your hormones. That means avoiding microwaving or storing food in plastic, and swapping personal care products that contain phthalates or BPA. When you lower these daily stressors, your body stops running on overload and begins to heal.

2. Rebuild your gut barrier with healthy food choices — Your gut is the frontline shield against toxins and inflammation. If your digestion is already fragile, loading up on raw vegetables or fiber-heavy foods will only make you feel worse. Start with carbs that are easy to digest, like whole fruits and white rice.

As your gut recovers, add root vegetables before gradually introducing additional vegetables, legumes, and well-tolerated whole grains. Fermented foods like kefir or sauerkraut also help support balance once you tolerate them. Think of this as a gradual training program for your microbiome, not a sprint.

3. Limit your electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure where it matters most — Your body heals and recharges while you sleep, but that repair process is disrupted if you're surrounded by constant wireless signals. Turn off your Wi-Fi at night, keep your phone on airplane mode when you aren't using it, and avoid placing electronics near your bed. These simple changes give your nervous system the downtime it needs, reducing stress and restoring balance.

4. Clear out daily toxins in your food, water, and home — The chemicals you eat, drink, and breathe build up in your body every day. Filter your water to remove heavy metals, fluoride, and industrial pollutants. Choose foods that are minimally packaged and avoid heating anything in plastic. In your home, ditch conventional cleaning sprays and artificial fragrances for simple, natural alternatives. When you lower this toxic load, your body's detox systems free up energy for healing and disease prevention.

5. Support your energy system with sun, movement, sleep, and niacinamide — Your cells need a steady rhythm of light, activity, and rest to stay strong. Get sunlight daily — but to protect your skin, avoid midday exposure until you've eliminated vegetable oils for at least six months. This not only boosts vitamin D but also helps your mitochondria create energy. Walk often, add some resistance training, and move your body every day — you don't need to be an athlete, just consistent.

Protect your sleep as much as you protect your diet. And consider niacinamide, a simple B vitamin, at 50 milligrams three times a day. It helps your mitochondria clear out the backlog of unused fuel, restoring clean energy production. This step is inexpensive, safe, and one of the fastest ways to get your system running smoothly again.

FAQs About Chronic Disease

Q: Why are global death rates from chronic diseases declining while the U.S. is falling behind?

A: Most countries made strong progress between 2010 and 2019, especially by reducing deaths from heart disease and certain cancers. The U.S., however, saw the smallest improvement of all high-income nations, meaning Americans are losing more years of life despite record health care spending.

Q: Which diseases are driving the biggest improvements worldwide?

A: Circulatory diseases like heart disease and stroke were the largest contributors to progress, thanks to better treatments, early detection, and improved emergency care. Some cancers, including stomach, colorectal, breast, cervical, prostate, and lung cancer, also showed meaningful declines.

Q: What conditions are getting worse instead of better?

A: Deaths from pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and neuropsychiatric conditions such as severe mental health disorders increased in many countries, offsetting some of the gains made against heart disease and other cancers.

Q: What everyday factors raise my risk for chronic disease?

A: Hidden toxins like seed oils, plastics, and hormone disruptors push your cells into constant stress. Poor gut health, excessive exposure to wireless radiation (EMFs), lack of movement, chronic stress, and poor sleep all contribute to inflammation and early death.

Q: What steps can I take right now to protect my health?

A: Cut seed oils and endocrine disruptors from your diet and home, rebuild your gut barrier with foods that match your digestive health, reduce EMF exposure, filter your water and remove toxic household products, and support your energy system with sun exposure, daily movement, quality sleep, and low-dose niacinamide. These actions directly strengthen your body's defenses against chronic disease.

Why physician wellness must be treated as a core business strategy [PODCAST]

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 23:00:31 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Psychiatrist, internist, and addiction medicine specialist Muhamad Aly Rifai discusses his article “It’s time to operationalize physician wellness.” Muhamad explains why wellness cannot remain a slogan or a poster in the breakroom but must be embedded into the structure of health care systems.

The science of hydration: milk vs. sports drinks

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 19:00:16 +0000

I thought of this while watching the Cincinnati Open tennis today. Between games, a sports drink ad flashed on screen claiming it “hydrates better than water.” The players kept chugging neon bottles, and the announcer repeated the tagline like gospel. That is when it hit me: For recovery, I would still reach for milk. Hydration

Why caring for a parent is hard for doctors

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 17:00:51 +0000

I can sit with patients and families and talk about hospice, dementia, or end-of-life care without hesitation. Years of training as a physician and geriatric psychiatrist have prepared me for those conversations. But when my own parent needed care, all that training suddenly felt useless. Medical knowledge didn’t shield me from fear or guilt. It

Why caring for a parent is hard for doctors originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

A pediatrician’s role in national research

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 15:00:13 +0000

I was not just a contributor. I was the pediatrician in the room, the one who translated clinical reality into research clarity, even when the system preferred abstraction. From 1997 to 2003, I lived a six-year burst of energy: equal parts clinical invention, research precision, and institutional resistance. It was my Trinity Site: a catalytic

A pediatrician’s role in national research originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

How older adults became YouTube’s steadiest viewers and what it means for Alphabet

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 13:00:33 +0000

A demographic shift in viewership With the rise of streaming, one platform is surging to prominence. According to Nielsen’s March 2025 report, YouTube now commands the highest total TV usage share of any media company at 11.6 percent. This marks a 53 percent increase in viewership compared to two years ago. But it is not

The danger of calling medicine a “calling”

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 11:00:50 +0000

The idea that medicine is a “calling” has been entwined deeply within our profession. From white coat ceremonies to recruitment posters featuring smiling doctors holding stethoscopes, we are told that to enter medicine is to answer a higher purpose. This framing is powerful. It inspires loyalty, fuels commitment, and builds identity. That is how the

The danger of calling medicine a “calling” originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

A Surprising Reason Why You May Need More Carbs in Your Diet

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published May 21, 2023.

In this interview, Georgi Dinkov and I continue our discussion about diet, diving into some of the finer details that can make or break your health. Dinkov is a student of Ray Peat, who passed away around Thanksgiving 2022, leaving behind a legacy of iconoclastic wisdom on how to optimize biological health.

For example, a ketogenic diet can be very useful initially when transitioning people who are metabolically inflexible, which is about 95% of the population of the United States. So, in the short term, the vast majority of people can benefit from going keto. However, if you continue in ketosis long term, you're going to run into problems.

Elevated Cortisol Leads to Central Obesity

As just one example, while weight loss is a typical response when going on a ketogenic diet, months later, maintaining that weight loss often becomes a struggle again. Dinkov experienced this firsthand. Once he started following Ray Peat's recommendations, he lost the weight again and kept it off.

"My take is it's an endocrine problem," Dinkov says. "So if you're struggling with weight you cannot lose, I think it's a good idea to do a blood work [panel] for the steroids … Every single person that has been struggling with excessive weight that has emailed [me] their blood results, without exception, their cortisol is either high-normal or above the range, both the AM and the PM value.

Their thyroid is less than optimal, in fact, pretty bad for most people … They're at the upper limit of normal. A very large number of people are basically hypothyroid … I think we are eating foods that are lowering our metabolic rate. We're living an excessively stressful lifestyle.

That's probably not a surprise for anybody. Many people think, well, stress is good for you. It's good as a hormetic response in an acute situation, but not when you have chronically elevated cortisol. Every doctor will tell you if you have a chronic elevated cortisol, you will develop the so-called spectrum of Cushing syndrome …

One of the defining features of elevated cortisol is that you have central obesity. So that, to me, is really the problem. We have higher than desirable levels of stress, suboptimal diet, and we're surrounded by a number of different endocrine disrupters which are now proven to reliably cause obesity in animal models, even in very small amounts. Most of those are found in plastics."

Why I Changed My Mind About Low-Carb Diets

One of the foundational concepts of health that I’ve had to radically revise my thinking on, based on the work of the late Ray Pete and his student Georgi Dinkov, is the idea that eating a low-carb diet long-term is the best way to optimize your metabolic and mitochondrial health.

I now realize that this was misguided, and the reason for that has to do with the fact that your body requires glucose and if you aren’t eating it you will go into a hypoglycemic coma and die. Obviously, your body has safeguards to prevent that and the major one is the hormone cortisol.

In medical school, we learned that cortisol is a glucocorticoid. Gluco means glucose (sugar) and cortico means it comes from the adrenal cortex. It’s also another word for steroid. We were told that cortisol is responsible for maintaining glucose homeostasis but led to believe its primary purpose was for inflammation.

Well, that's just not true. While cortisol certainly contributes to glucose balance, its primary purpose is to raise your blood sugar when it is too low and you don’t have enough glycogen reserves in your liver.

How Does Cortisol Work?

But just how does cortisol increase your blood sugar? It does it by breaking down your muscles, bones, and brain. It sacrifices your lean muscle mass to release amino acids that your liver converts to glucose in a process called gluconeogenesis.

So, ultimately, cortisol also is going to cause inflammation and impair your immune function. And it increases food cravings. So, you do not want your cortisol to be elevated. For a long time, I was a proponent of a low-carb diet, but now I realize that chronic low-carb is not a good idea.

As a fuel, glucose is vastly superior to fat, and this was something I simply got wrong. The same thing goes for fasting. Both low-carb and fasting are great interventions in the short-term for those who are overweight and metabolically inflexible.

However, once you’ve regained your metabolic flexibility, it is important to revise your strategy and add healthy carbs back in, or else these strategies will backfire and lead to decreased metabolic health, compromised mitochondrial function, and impaired metabolism.

Cortisol happens to be the primary aging hormone. If it is chronically elevated, you simply will die prematurely as it is highly catabolic, meaning it will break down your body tissues. To stay healthy as you age you need to be anabolic and build healthy tissues like muscle and mitochondria. Elevated cortisol will seriously impair those efforts.

Important Cautions Before You Increase Carbs

So, it is clear that you need to be doing everything you can to keep your cortisol levels and chronic inflammation low. But it would also be a major mistake to increase your carb intake if you are still on a high fat diet. I did this experiment in the mid-80s after I read the book by the Diamonds called Fit for Life.

They suggested having fruit only for breakfast which I tried. Then I did my lab work and found my fasting triglycerides and lipoprotein profiles had exploded for the worse. I prematurely concluded that a high fruit diet was nonsense and remained relatively low carb for nearly four decades.

This was until I encountered Ray Peat’s work and reevaluated my initial impression. I now understand that I was missing important parts of the strategy. And now I eat 3 to 4 pounds of watermelon (without the rind) virtually every morning at 5:30 as my first meal, followed by three eggs and eight ounces of white rice and two ounces of maple syrup 1 to 2 hours later.

That sounds like a lot of carbs, and it is. I have additional fruits later in the day and now my carb intake is about 475 grams a day and comprises about 60% of my daily calories. You might wonder what has happened to my weight and blood sugar with all these extra carbs.

Well, I thought my weight was good at 192 as I increased my muscle mass, but it has decreased by ten pounds to 182 with no change in muscle mass. My fasting blood sugar has dropped ten points. So far it seems to be working for me.

The Vital Metabolic Switch You Need to Understand

This is one of the most important principles in food science that I never learned or understood until later. My strong guess is that this is also true for most natural medicine clinicians. Low carb diets have helped at least tens of millions of people improve their health for a very good reason and that is there is a stealth switch that controls what fuel your mitochondria can burn as they can only burn one fuel at a time, either fat or glucose.

The switch has been given the name the Randle Cycle, but it is more helpful to visualize it as a railroad switch that changes the tracks of the train, and the train can only travel down one track not both. This is because only one type of fuel can be burned at a time.

The best-case scenario is you metabolize, or burn, glucose in your mitochondria without any reductive stress (a term I will explain in my upcoming interview with Georgi Dinkov). When you do this, you will only generate 0.1% reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Not only does this route generate less ROS but is also incredibly efficient at energy production by creating 36 to 38 ATP for every molecule of glucose that is metabolized. It will also generate metabolic water and carbon dioxide which are also important for your health.

For this to occur you will need to consume less than 30% of your calories as fat. When you consume significantly more than that amount the switch changes to burn fat in your mitochondria and you will not be able to burn glucose until your fat decreases to less than 30% of calories.

Since glucose is unable to be shuttled into the mitochondria to burn it winds up backing up into your blood stream raising your blood sugar. This is a major contributor to diabetes. What little glucose is burned for fuel is done by using glycolysis which is a primitive pathway that bacteria and cancer cells use.

It is great we have this pathway as you absolutely need it for quick fuel when you are activating your type II muscle fibers. But if this is the primary way you burn glucose you are in a catastrophic metabolic state as you are creating loads of lactic acid as a waste product instead of healthy CO2, and you are only generating 2 ATP for every molecule of glucose, which is 95% less energy.

Lactic acid increases reductive stress, which causes reverse electron flow in the mitochondria and causes reductive stress which increase the ROS to 3% to 4% which is 30X to 40X more than when glucose is burned efficiently in the mitochondria. You likely don’t yet understand reductive stress, the opposite of oxidative stress, but will have done an interview with Georgi on this and will be posting it later this month.

How High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Disease

One factor that makes a big difference in your metabolic rate is the type of sugar you consume. Contrary to popular belief, there's a dramatic difference between high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar. They're really two different foods. If the high fructose corn syrup is properly processed to remove all starch, then it's very similar to cane sugar because it's about 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

However, studies have shown beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup contain a tremendous amount of starch, which isn't accounted for in the calories listed on the label. Once the starch is factored in, the caloric content of many sodas can easily quadruple that on the label, so you're getting FAR more calories than you think.

Additionally, because the starch is made up of such tiny particles, they can enter your blood circulation unprocessed via your digestive system, causing an allergic reaction.

They can also trigger a low-grade inflammatory reaction, which will trigger the release of histamine, nitric oxide, and serotonin. As noted by Dinkov, if you're sneezing and have itchy eyes even though it's not allergy season, you may well be having a reaction to something you ate or drank, and high fructose corn syrup may be the culprit.

Starch particles also serve as fuel for pathogenic bacteria in your gut, and the endotoxins from these bacteria contribute to inflammatory conditions. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is one example of what can happen, especially if you're on a proton pump inhibitor, as these drugs decrease the amount of stomach acid you're producing. Stomach acid is there not only to help with digestion but also to keep bacteria in check.

"If you're not producing a sufficient amount of acid, you're going to get bacteria colonizing your small intestine, either from food or creeping up from the large intestine. And that's not a good thing. Basically … the portion of the intestine that is supposed to be clean and just focused on absorbing food is now harboring a microbiome.

And then, if you give it any kind of a food that the bacteria can process, you're increasing the turnover [which] result in the endotoxemia that is now accepted to cause a large number of diseases, especially cardiovascular disease, obesity, and neurological disease.

Alzheimer's has been conclusively tied to chronic low-grade endotoxemia. They're still claiming there's a genetic component to it, but they're now admitting that endotoxin is a causative factor in Alzheimer's disease," Dinkov says.

Can Cane Sugar Be Part of a Healthy Diet?

Most people who embrace natural health believe sugar is a pernicious evil, but Peat's and Dinkov's position is that the negative effects are primarily caused by high fructose corns syrup, and that pure cane sugar can actually be a useful strategy to counteract some of the challenges that people can get into when on a strict low-carb diet. Dinkov explains:

"Cane sugar, if it's pure, has a very different overall systemic health effect than high fructose corn syrup … I think most of the sugar sold in the crystal form, especially organic ones, is pretty safe. Heavy metal contamination used to be a problem in sugar distillation but it looks like most of the western countries have sorted this out …

Now, some people that have an issue with sugar are saying, 'Well, it's just empty calories and whatnot.' Multiple studies demonstrated that honey, which is very similar in composition to plain white sugar, does not trigger the normal hyperglycemic response that most of the other simple carbohydrates do. In fact, it improves the hyperglycemia in Type 2 diabetic patients despite being pure sugar.

I think that's the greatest confirmation that we have that sugar is not evil. It depends how you're getting it and in what form. One animal study demonstrated that rats, when given free access to [Mexican] Coke sweetened with cane sugar, they were eating the equivalent of 8,000 calories daily … without gaining an ounce of fat.

So sugar is not dangerous. It's perhaps the only nutrient that we evolved to metabolize for fuel. But the other two micronutrients, even though we can metabolize them as fuel, come with a lot of strings attached …

If you're oxidizing PUFA, then all hell breaks loose. If you're oxidizing saturated fats, it's far less dangerous. But in the long run it still puts you, due to the Randle cycle, into the semi-diabetic state because it decreases your insulin sensitivity.

So pure sugar is what we are meant to oxidize for fuel. If you get it from ripe fruit, great. If you can get it from [raw unadulterated] honey, probably just as good if not even better. But if not, then the pure white variety, preferably organic, that you get from the store, I think is a very good source of most of the carb calories that you intend to eat throughout the day."

The Glucose-Cortisol Link

In my book "Fat for Fuel," I argued that healthy saturated fats generate fewer free radical species in the electron transport chain than sugar. However, I'm starting to revise my views on this, based on Peat's work.

The problem is that if your glucose level is low because you're on a low-carb diet, your body is going to compensate by self-generating glucose, and that stimulus to make glucose is part of the obesity puzzle, because one of the ways in which your body produces glucose is by secreting cortisol.

And, as explained by Dinkov, if your cortisol is chronically elevated, you end up with central obesity and chronic inflammation, which clearly isn't good. So, you've got to have a certain amount of glucose, and it's best to get it from your diet rather than forcing your liver to make it, as cortisol is then also being churned out. Dinkov explains:

"If glucose is oxidized properly going through the Krebs Cycle and electron transport chain, it generates more carbon dioxide per molecule of glucose oxidized than do fats.

Now, carbon dioxide has this kind of controversial role in medicine. It used to be considered a metabolic byproduct that could be dangerous. People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide in the blood.

But then, medicine started to look into this more closely, I think, over the last 10 years, outside of Dr. Pete's research, and said, 'Hm. Carbon dioxide seems to have a lot of positive effects in the body.' One of them is vasodilation.

So basically, if your metabolism is not working properly, if you're not oxidizing glucose properly, you're not going to produce sufficient amounts of carbon dioxide. What happens then? Vasoconstriction. And since that is actually a problem, it raises blood pressure and all kinds of other things; all hell breaks loose. The body then releases an emergency vasodilator, known as nitric oxide. And that is now acquiring a bad reputation.

Even in mainstream medical circles, they've started seeing that people who are taking the drug nitroglycerin, which used to be the mainstream drug for angina — chest pain — for cardiovascular disease and blood pressure.

With nitroglycerin, you'll quickly lower blood pressure. But over time, the inflammatory nature of nitric oxide ensures that these people actually get worse. And, in fact, most people who take nitroglycerin on a long-term basis die from a heart attack or ischemic stroke.

So, if you're not eating enough glucose, your body will make it. And, in fact, the primary evolutionary role of cortisol, the acute role, is actually preventing blood glucose from dropping too low, because that will put you into a hypoglycemic coma.

In the longer run its secondary role is to dampen down inflammation. So really, the acute, the lifesaving role of cortisol on a daily basis, is to prevent you from dropping into a coma because your blood glucose went too low.

But we don't want that process because it's going to get the glucose from the tissues. So, we need glucose [in our diet]. I think even the ketogenic proponents are now getting to the point of saying, 'We cannot be always in ketosis.' In the long term, it's not good."

Will Sugar Feed Cancer?

Ketogenic diets have also been hailed for their ability to prevent and treat cancer, but even this may turn out to be a misunderstanding in the end.

"I think some of the ideas around glucose feeding cancer stem from two basic misunderstandings," Dinkov says. "One is that cancer is an evil cell, genetically mutated, and that your only chance is to kill all of those cells because they're not going away by themselves.

First of all, that's not true. Spontaneous remissions of cancer are known, and they vary depending on the cancer. Prostate cancer has a pretty high rate of spontaneous remission … A paper that came about five years ago … from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas … said it's always been the position of medicine that cancerous mutations [happen] and after that, the cell becomes metabolically deranged.

But it looks like we've had it backwards. It's the metabolic derangement that happens first, and, over time, this triggers the genetic mutations, because the cell, being in an energetic deficiency, cannot properly maintain its structure. That was a huge admission …

So what we need to be doing here is not trying to kill the cancer cell, because it is not a cancer cell. It is actually a normal cell that is metabolically deranged.

If we could compare it to anything, it'd be a diabetic cell [and] diabetes is now known to be caused by hyperlipidemia — too much fat in the body, too much fat in the blood. Basically, the cells are getting stuck in oxidizing fats, due to the Randle cycle.

And then, the glucose that's floating around in diabetes, a good portion of it — because it cannot be metabolized — is being peed out … or you're converting it into lactic acid. This [MD Anderson] paper said the exact same thing is happening in cancer.

We are seeing an abnormal rate of fatty acid oxidation, because the cell is stuck in the cycle due to oversupply of fat.

The glucose, the 'cancer cell' cannot actually metabolize it, but because the cell needs its glucose for a variety of purposes — not just synthesizing energy, but also synthesizing DNA and RNA, and those two … can only be synthesized from glucose, not from fats — the cancer cell says, 'Oh, I'm in a state of extreme deficiency of glucose. Give me more.'

So, it increases the synthesis of these glucose transporters known as GLUT1 through GLUT4. Basically, that's why when you give a

Changing the Food System from the Bottom Up

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published February 11, 2024.

The video above features an interview with return guest Ashley Armstrong, a certified personal trainer with a Ph.D., MS, and BS in engineering, and cofounder of Angel Acres Egg Co., which specializes in low-PUFA (polyunsaturated fat) eggs. On average, her eggs contain 17 to 20 milligrams of linoleic acid (LA), which is about one-quarter of the LA found in conventional eggs.

She’s also started a new private member food system that offers milk, cheese, low-PUFA pork, and low-PUFA chicken, called Nourish Cooperative. Both ship farm-fresh food right to your door.

“One of my favorite topics is essentially just returning back to how food used to be made,” Armstrong says. “One-hundred fifty years ago, the dietary linoleic acid (LA) was naturally low, so people would just go to the grocery store and their food options didn't have a bunch of linoleic acid.

It was, in my opinion, probably easier to source food back then. And now we're inundated with not just PUFAs from vegetable oils, but also from animal products as well, because some animals are just vehicles for vegetable oils. The statement that ‘You are what you eat’ has never been more true because of how much the agriculture industry has changed over the last 100 years.”

Modern Diet Is Loaded with Harmful LA

Around the advent of the American Civil War, in the 1870s or so, is when they developed the technology to extract oils from seeds. Before then, the average LA intake was less than 5 grams a day, and likely closer to 2 or 3 grams.

Today, most people exceed that by the time they’re done with breakfast. As noted by Armstrong, eggs and bacon are two sources that, today, have very high LA levels, thanks to being fed an unnatural and PUFA-rich diet.

Eggs and bacon are typically perceived as healthy food options, especially among carnivores, but what most are missing is that LA is a metabolic poison that impairs, if not destroys, mitochondrial function and, as such, conventional eggs and bacon are a recipe for ill health. The good news is there are ways to raise eggs and pork that aren’t loaded with LA, which is what Armstrong specializes in.

“I think the best thing someone can do for their health is track their food on chronometer for five days and just pay attention to the amount of PUFAs in their diet. If you can push that as low as possible, I think you're going to see improvements in your health pretty quickly,” Armstrong says.

“And you can't achieve that going out to eat at restaurants. You can't achieve that eating a ton of nuts and seeds. You can't achieve that eating conventional bacon, conventional egg yolks, conventional drumsticks and things like that.

You have to really pay attention to the types of fat you're eating. It's kind of eye-opening that food sourcing really does matter in today's day and age, because the abundance we have in these high-PUFA, high-LA options is kind of alarming and frightening.”

Fortunately, the word is starting to get out. There’s now an app called Seed Oil Scout that identifies which restaurants cook their food in seed oils and which do not. Unless you go to a seed oil-free restaurant, you can be virtually guaranteed they’re cooking in seed oil, because it’s far cheaper than cooking in butter.

Why Healthy Eggs Are So Important

Chicken eggs are an enormously important part of our diet because they contain nutrients that are really difficult to get from other foods, choline in particular. Choline, found in ample amounts in organic, pastured egg yolks, was first discovered in 1862.¹

It was officially recognized as an essential nutrient for human health by the Institute of Medicine in 1998.² Since then, we’ve learned that choline has a long list of health benefits. For example, it’s required for:

• Healthy fetal development³

• Optimal brain function, memory and cognition

• Nervous system health — Choline is necessary for making acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in healthy muscle, heart, and memory performance

• Cell structure — Choline is needed for the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine, better known as lecithin, which is required for the composition of cell membranes

• Mitochondrial function⁴

• Metabolism (energy production)

• DNA synthesis

• Methylation reactions⁵

• Cardiovascular health

• Liver health, as choline is needed to carry cholesterol from your liver; a choline deficiency could result in excess fat and cholesterol buildup⁶

Research⁷ published in 2020 also concluded that choline has anti-inflammatory activity and can be particularly useful in those with insulin resistance and/or metabolic syndrome. And, while a choline supplement was good in this regard, eggs were far better.

Choline Is Required for Energy Production

Armstrong comments:

“In terms of maximal nutrients in square footage, I don't know if you can beat egg yolk. Mother nature designed the egg to protect the yolk because the yolk is the most precious part of the egg. The shell acts as a physical barrier to protect the yolk, and the egg white is very antimicrobial, antibacterial in nature to protect the integrity of the yolk.

So the egg yolk is a nutrient powerhouse. It has all of the nutrients needed to grow a chicken. From this little yolk, an entire chicken is grown. How beautiful is that? It's incredible. It contains a large amount of B vitamins, and all of the B vitamins are necessary cofactors in the steps to produce energy in your body.

If you don't have enough of the micronutrients, if you're micronutrient deficient, your metabolism won't be as robust, because you don't have the necessary cofactors to generate ATP. Choline, I think, is one of the most important nutrients that a lot of people are deficient in. In carbohydrate metabolism, carbohydrate oxidation, choline is a necessary step in energy production.”

Assuming you’re not getting choline from other sources, you need to eat at least two, probably three and more, egg yolks per day. I eat six yolks a day, but only one egg white, because I work out and walk at least five to six miles a day. The more active you are, the more choline you need to support a higher metabolic rate.

Armstrong recommends trying honey cured egg yolk. Simply place the egg yolk in a glass container and pour enough honey over the yolk to cover it. Let it cure overnight. This will firm up the yolk a bit, making it less runny. You can just scoop it out of the honey, eat it raw, and then reuse the honey to cure more yolk.

Mad Science — Transforming the Fatty Acid Profiles of Animals

As explained by Armstrong, livestock are classified into two types — ruminant animals, which includes cows, lamb, goats, and deer, and monogastric animals such as chickens and swine (and humans).

Ruminant animals have a complex digestive system consisting of, typically, four stomachs. Their digestion involves a variety of microbes that help break down the food they eat. These digestive microbes also convert dietary PUFAs into saturated fats through a process called biohydrogenation. As a result, ruminant animal products tend to be lower in PUFA, even if they’re fed a high-PUFA diet.

Monogastric animals have just one stomach, and whatever fats they eat is translated into their tissues. This is why conventionally raised chicken meat and pork are so high in PUFAs.

Unfortunately, the mainstream is so convinced that saturated fat is bad and PUFAs are good that they’re creating technologies to manipulate the fatty acid composition in ruminant animals. In other words, they’re using technology to turn the saturated fats in ruminant animals into PUFAs, which is nothing short of a disaster.

“That's why I think conversations like this are so important, to spread awareness and empower those who are in food production,” Armstrong says. “Our farmers need to be educated on why we need to go back to traditional farming styles, traditional feed programs, so we can return the natural fatty acid profiles that mother nature created.”

While monogastric feed diets are already very high in PUFAs, conventional farmers are also using dried distillers grains (DDGs), made from the waste products of the ethanol industry, which is driving the PUFA content in monogastric livestock even higher.

“There are studies showing that for pigs fed DDGs, their fat composition has the same amount of PUFAs as canola oil. So we're literally transforming the fatty acid profile in our agriculture system for the worst,” Armstrong says.

This wouldn’t be quite as bad if it was given to ruminant animals, as they have the capacity to convert the PUFAs into saturated fat. Alas, they’re giving it to monogastric animals like chickens and pigs, turning those foods into something that can only harm your health in the long run. Unfortunately, there are no regulations around the use of DDGs, so we don’t know how much is being used, or who’s using it.

Barriers to Healthier Foods

Equally unfortunate is that farmers like Armstrong, who understands nutrition and wants to raise animals right, are held back in more ways than one. She can’t take advantage of government subsidized feed, for example. She also doesn’t have the benefit of scale. She explains:

“The biggest obstacle is the feed, because the big feed mills are so efficient in what they do that they can bring in massive quantities of the feed ingredients at the same time. They have that economy of scale that is really hard to have at a single farm level.

We're not bringing in truckloads of feed ingredients at a time. And the more trucking that you have in creating your feed automatically raises the prices. Anyone involved in trucking knows how expensive trucking is right now. So if there's this system set in place where massive quantities of corn and soy are trucked in at the same time, and a bunch of feed is made at the same time, that's where you can cut a lot of costs.

That's good thing, that's advantageous. But right now, I don't have enough volume to push those types of economies of scale. It's just going to be more expensive as we're starting to grow and grow.

But the more farmers that we bring into our partnership ... if we develop hubs in our area and we can create those economies of scale a little bit better ... bringing feed to a general hub, that's where we can start to lower costs over time and can get more and more competitive with the prices at the grocery store.

If anyone were to log onto my website right now and see what the price per egg box is, they'd probably be a little bit alarmed, but I'm not making a ton of money on the eggs. It is my goal to lower the costs significantly over time. We are actively making steps towards that.

One thing, for example, is we're optimizing box dimensions so that we can get better shipping rates. Another thing is our feed, hopefully in the next couple months, will be delivered in semi-trucks with an auger arm. We've been doing feed bags for years now, and that's so expensive.

The fact that now we have the option of a semi-truck, that's going to save significant costs on delivery of the feed. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I think one of the coolest things that can happen is connecting feed crop farmers with livestock farmers.

We need people to grow our feed. I don't have enough land to grow the crops for our livestock. We're not going to have feed that's sprayed with pesticides. That's unacceptable on our end. So how can we have a network of row crop farmers working with livestock farmers to produce low-PUFA, low linoleic acid food grown as nature intended?

We’re currently working on those steps behind the scenes, as well as to directly connect with the people growing the feed as well, because that's a very integral part of this ... We're just trying to replicate what mother nature did 100, 200 years ago.

It doesn't matter if the eggs are [labeled] ‘organic;’ if the chickens are still fed organic soy, it's still going to have high linoleic acid. Organic soybeans don't have low linoleic acid. A conventional and organic soybean is the same.”

Livestock Guardians

If you want to raise your own chickens for eggs, you not only need to ensure you’re feeding them correctly, but you also need to protect them from predators. I’ve had at least 50 chickens killed by predators. Armstrong has now hooked me up with a livestock guard dog, a Great Pyrenees puppy named Joy. We discuss the reason for using this breed in the interview. Of course, once you have a guard dog or two, you also need to make sure you’re feeding them correctly as well.

“Feeding them what they are biologically designed to eat is very important so that they can function at their best and protect the chickens,” Armstrong says. “So, an integral part of what we do here, and this is just something that I started way back in the beginning when costs were so high.

How do I reduce costs in a way that doesn't sacrifice quality? And I was like, well, for some reason the butcher shop by me has a bunch of extra organ scraps because humans don't like organs and they've got meat scraps. So for the last two and a half years, I've gone every week to a local butcher shop, picked up beef meat scraps and beef organs ... that I feed to our chickens.

And the nice thing is that the livestock guardian dogs just munch right along the chickens. So, they get bones, they get calcium, they get all the connective tissue around the bones, they get the muscle meat, they get the organs.

And so that's an integral part of something that I'll try to set up for all of the farmers in our network — connecting to a local butcher because there is so much food waste. It allows the chickens to get a protein boost. It allows the chickens to get a nutrient intake boost, and it really helps the livestock guardian dogs as well.

I just go weekly to pick it up. I tip him and I also bring trash bags, and it's a great relationship because it costs the butcher money for garbage trucks to come take these scraps to landfill.”

Why Ashley Was Able to Make Such Brave and Courageous Choices

Ashley had been on a quest for health and wellness her whole life. She dabbled with various fad diets, but never was able to identify what truly resonated with her. While attending graduate school for her Ph.D., she chased a path in prosthetics, 3D printing and control engineering, believing it to be her passion.

Yet, deep down, she felt a disconnect, realizing she was more influenced by others' expectations than her own desires. Despite her initial excitement, a grand sense of fulfillment completely eluded her.

Her true calling came unexpectedly through her fascination with regenerative agriculture. Volunteering at local farms opened her eyes to a world where food production not only nourishes humans, but also revitalizes the soil and respects livestock. This newfound passion consumed her free time, igniting a Joy within her that academic pursuits never could.

Her story also illustrates the consequences of making similar choices. Not only did she radically improve the quality of her own life, but her choice allowed her to create a business that provides the finest commercially produced eggs in the United States. Her brand is Golden Nuggets because that is what they are.

They literally are golden nuggets of nutrition that are rarely available outside of growing your own chickens. Her eggs help people avoid one of the most potent metabolic toxins in their diet. So not only can you improve your own life by making brave and courageous choices, but you can also improve the lives of many others.

It is highly probable that her story will resonate very powerfully with you and offer both insight and inspiration as she describes her journey to reclaim her Joy.

By setting aside the advice of others to unearth her own truths, she embodies the essence of bravery and courage. Choosing to walk away from years of hard work influenced by the expectations of others, she exemplifies a profound example of someone rediscovering her Joy. It's difficult to envision a more fitting example of a return to Joy.
Very similar to Ashley, I also made a courageous and brave decision a few days after our interview that will have profound implications on the future exciting trajectory of this site. I suspect it will radically increase your ability to experience Joy.

In the video segment above, Ashley reflects on the timeline of her decision, considering how just a few years ago, her health was far from ideal. She struggled with mitochondrial energy production, and her body was in a low thyroid state. Your body prioritizes energy for essential tasks, and decision-making requires significant energy.

Your brain consumes about 20% of your body's energy despite being only 2% of its weight. Ashley simply would not have had enough cellular energy to supply her brain to make a decision like she did unless she improved her health. Factors like excess linoleic acid, estrogen and endotoxins were depleting her cellular energy, which is crucial for making energy-intensive decisions.

Her transformation underscores the power of nurturing your health to gain the energy necessary for making significant life changes. Avoiding dietary pitfalls like seed oils played a key role in this journey, enabling her to tap into a newfound capacity for brave decisions — a testament to the profound impact of regaining cellular energy on her ability to navigate life's choices.

It is my sincere desire and hope that you consider her journey to inspire and empower you to make similar choices in your own life and reclaim the Joy that you deserve. Imagine experiencing the nearly limitless Joy that Ashley has with her 1,000 chickens and four Livestock Guard Dogs below.

boost immune function</a>, <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/07/30/vitamin-d-deficiency-and-diabetes.aspx" target="_blank">manage blood sugar levels</a>, and <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/06/26/vitamin-d-helps-lower-risk-of-colorectal-cancer.aspx" target="_blank">lower your risk of cancer</a>. The best way to produce vitamin D is through sensible sun exposure. However, with autumn now in full swing, the days are getting shorter. Thus, people who live in areas who don’t get enough sunlight won’t be able to produce the appropriate amount of vitamin D to support their health. To spread awareness of this issue, I recently appeared on NTD News, offering viewers practical strategies to optimize their vitamin D levels during fall, as well as the upcoming winter. These points are also explored below. <h2>Why Fall Makes Vitamin D Trickier to Optimize</h2> Fall is a beloved season in the U.S., drawing many nature lovers to northern states and basking in the changing picturesque foliage.1 However, this presents certain health problems down the line: <div class="indent"> • Changes in the Earth’s angle against the sun — Earth follows an elliptical orbit, which means that its distance between the sun varies throughout the year.2 Following this logic, the Earth’s axis and distance from sun during fall cause shorter days, a lower sunlight angle, and cooler temperatures. The result? Lower vitamin D levels. • Factors affecting vitamin D production — Ultraviolet B (UVB), the type of sunlight that triggers vitamin D production on your skin, is affected by season, time of day, latitude, clouds, and your skin’s melanin concentration. In many places during summer, incidental sun is enough to produce vitamin D, but not in late fall and winter. So, shifting your diet and taking supplements (as needed) are essential to maintaining optimal levels.3 </div> <h2>How Much Sun Exposure Helps in Autumn?</h2> There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when optimizing your vitamin D in fall. Here are some guidelines, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):4 <div class="indent"> • Check the daily UV Index (UVI) — This is a forecast provided by the National Weather Service, providing information on the current UV radiation readings throughout the day. Here’s a tip — the highest numbers occur during solar noon.5 • Consider your Fitzpatrick phototype — It’s a guide that describes how certain skin colors react when exposed to sunlight. Thus, it can be used to help you determine how much time you need to be exposed during the day. Here’s a chart from DermNet to help you:6 <table class="generic-table compare-table"> <thead> <tr> <th>Skin Type</th> <th>Typical Features</th> <th>Tanning Ability</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Skin Type">I</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Typical Features">Pale white skin, blue/green eyes, blonde/red hair</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Tanning Ability">Always burns, does not tan</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Skin Type">II</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Typical Features">Fair skin, blue eyes</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Tanning Ability">Burns easily, tans poorly</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Skin Type">III</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Typical Features">Darker white skin</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Tanning Ability">Tans after initial burn</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Skin Type">IV</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Typical Features">Light brown skin</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Tanning Ability">Burns minimally, tans easily</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Skin Type">V</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Typical Features">Brown skin</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Tanning Ability">Rarely burns, tans darkly easily</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Skin Type">VI</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Typical Features">Dark brown or black skin</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Tanning Ability">Never burns, always tans darkly</td> </tr></tbody> </table> </div> Framing the information above within the context of my NTD News segment, if you live in higher latitudes and/or have deeper skin tones, you’ll generally synthesize less D from the sun, especially during fall. What’s a good sign your body has produced enough for the day? <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/07/24/vitamin-d-hospital-patient-outcomes.aspx" target="_blank">In a previous article</a>, I noted that the limit is when your skin begins to turn slightly pink. If that doesn’t even happen to you during fall, then you’ll need to compensate the remaining through your diet. <h2>The Best Foods for Vitamin D in Fall</h2> Continuing the point above, vitamin D is also found in various foods. The table below shows you well-known sources and how much you’ll get, depending on serving size:7 <table class="generic-table compare-table"> <thead> <tr> <th>Food</th> <th>Serving Size</th> <th>Vitamin D Amount (IU)</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Rainbow trout, freshwater</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">3 ounces</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">645</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Salmon</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">3 ounces</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">383 to 570</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Herring</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">3 ounces</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">182</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Tilapia</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">3 ounces</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">127</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Yogurt, plain</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">8 ounces</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">116</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Kefir, plain</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">1 cup</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">100</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Cheese, American</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">1.5 ounces</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">85</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" data-title="Food">Mushrooms, raw</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Serving Size">1 cup</td> <td valign="top" data-title="Vitamin D Amount (IU)">Between 0 to 1,110</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h2>Should You Take Vitamin D2 or D3, and How Much?</h2> Aside from food, you can optimize your vitamin D levels through supplementation. However, there is some confusion between what is generally available to consumers — vitamin D2 and D3: <div class="indent"> • Have yourself tested first — No matter which strategy you employ — sunlight exposure, food, and supplements — it’s always a good idea to have your vitamin D levels tested to know your baseline. When visiting a lab, ask for a 25-hydroxy vitamin D test. This measures the current vitamin D levels circulating within your body. In America, most guidelines set the sufficiency cutoff at 40 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL), or 100 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) in Europe. However, I believe that isn’t enough — the real protective benefits of vitamin D occur when you reach a range between 60 and 80 ng/mL. • Vitamin D2 versus D3 — As noted in my interview with NTD News, vitamin D2 comes from plants, while vitamin D3 comes from animals. If you’re going to pick one, I recommend vitamin D3, as it’s significantly more effective at raising blood vitamin D levels. One more thing about vitamin D3 — it’s a fat-soluble nutrient. This means that in order to be fully absorbed, you need to take it with meals that include healthy fat, such as pasture-raised egg yolks, tallow, or grass fed butter. • Supplement interactions — When taking vitamin D3 supplements, remember to increase your intake of magnesium and vitamin K2. These nutrients improve how your body processes vitamin D. For every 5,000 international units (IUs) of vitamin D you ingest, take around 180 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin K2 in MK-7 form, as well as 400 milligrams (mg) of magnesium. • Medications affecting vitamin D function — Check with your doctor if you’re taking medications such as statins and steroids. According to the Office of Dietary Supplements, corticosteroid medications such as prednisone can impair vitamin D metabolism.8 • Rechecking interval — <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/07/24/vitamin-d-hospital-patient-outcomes.aspx" target="_blank">Have your blood tested every three to six months</a>. This gives you enough time to see the effectiveness of your regimen at boosting vitamin D levels, and whether or not adjustments are needed. </div> <h2>Does Using Sunscreen in Fall Block Vitamin D Production?</h2> Public messaging of sunlight exposure can be confusing. For example, dermatology organizations advise not seeking UV exposure for vitamin D because UV is a proven skin-cancer risk and even advise wearing sunscreen while outside.9 In short, they’re advocating that you avoid and fear sunlight. <div class="indent"> • The link between sunlight and skin cancer — The fear of increased cancer risk perpetuated by dermatologists has some merit, but it’s important to understand the nuances. As I mentioned in the interview, making vitamin D through sunlight can increase your risk of squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma. But the good thing is that these are caught early and can be treated right away, making mortality risk very low. Meanwhile, safe sun exposure lowers the risk of melanoma, which is the dangerous type of skin cancer you don’t want to get. Much of the reasons why melanoma risk increases is because many of us eat a diet high in <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/07/17/linoleic-acid.aspx" target="_blank">linoleic acid (LA),</a> which is perishable and becomes toxic when exposed to sunlight. It’s only that when you eliminate LA from your system that you can truly reap the benefits of sunlight safely — this process is explained below. • Avoid excessive use of sunscreens — These products block vitamin D synthesis and even interfere with your endocrine health. In fact, a sunscreen with an SPF of just 30 blocks about 97.5% of UVB radiation, effectively shutting down your body's ability to make vitamin D. Rather, use sunscreen strategically, such as only applying it when you’re going to be out in the sun for prolonged periods of time. I recommend reading “<a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/03/30/sensible-sun-exposure-supports-overall-health.aspx" target="_blank">Beyond Vitamin D Production — How Sensible Sun Exposure Supports Overall Health</a>” for more information. • Ditch vitamin D lamps — On a related note, devices that generate UV light, such as nail driers, can damage your DNA. <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/02/08/uv-nail-polish-dryers-dna-damage.aspx" target="_blank">In a previous article</a>, I discussed published research showing how regular use of these products actually increase your risk of skin cancer. </div> <h2>A Simple Fall Checklist</h2> Based on all the information I outlined above, monitoring and increasing your vitamin D levels can be burdensome. To help, here’s a handy checklist you can keep for reference. I recommend printing it out and hanging it somewhere visible: <div class="indent"> • Daily base intake — The Office of Dietary Supplements recommends you aim for a daily intake of 600 to 800 IUs from all sources.10 However, this is a far too low a number. As noted in my interview with NTD News, you can safely take 10,000 IUs a day without harming your health. That said, it’s important to check your levels, too. <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/04/06/understanding-effects-of-vitamin-d-toxicity.aspx" target="_blank">Vitamin D toxicity</a>, while rare, is a real side effect. • Shop smart — Keep fish such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon in your rotation. These are the safest choices as they’re generally low in mercury compared to farmed fish. Similarly, look for grass fed varieties of dairy products. • Mind your medications — Consult with your doctor to rule out interactions on vitamin D synthesis if you’re currently taking medications for a disease. • Develop your sun sense — Regularly review the UVI reports and be mindful of your Fitzpatrick phototype to make sure you don’t get sunburned. • Test and retest — Take a 25-hydroxy vitamin D test and aim for a range between 60 to 80 ng/mL. </div> <h2>The Issue of Sunlight Exposure Without Fixing Your Diet</h2> One important aspect I emphasized in my interview is linoleic acid (LA) becoming embedded in your skin. Purging it is crucial when it comes to optimizing vitamin D levels because sunlight exposure causes toxic metabolites to form, which will damage your cellular health. That said, it is paramount that you reduce your LA intake right away. At the same time, I recommend increasing your intake of pentadecanoic acid, also known as C15:0. It is a rare, odd-chain saturated fat that displaces LA in your skin, allowing you to reap the benefits of regular sun exposure. For an in-depth explanation of how this process occurs, read “<a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/06/23/clearing-vegetable-oils-from-your-skin.aspx" target="_blank">The Fast-Track Path to Clearing Vegetable Oils from Your Skin</a>.” Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the benefits of C15:0, follow the protocol below: <div class="indent"> 1. Keep LA intake below 2% of your total daily calories — Remove all industrial vegetable oils from your diet, including soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, canola, and grapeseed oils from your diet. LA is common in ultraprocessed foods, condiments, restaurant meals, and packaged snacks. LA also accumulates in the fat of grain-fed livestock, especially chicken and pork, often reaching concentrations similar to those found in vegetable oils sold in groceries. To minimize exposure, choose pasture-raised or grass fed meat whenever possible. 2. Take 2 grams of C15:0 daily, split between meals — Use a high-quality pentadecanoic acid powder or a certified butter or ghee concentrate rich in C15:0. Divide the total dose across meals to promote consistent uptake into your tissues. 3. Check your progress every three months — Use a red blood cell test or dried blood spot test to confirm that your C15:0 levels are at least 0.4% and that LA remains under 5% of your total fat levels. These benchmarks indicate successful cellular remodeling. If your results stop improving, look for unrecognized sources of LA or review your dosing for possible inconsistencies. 4. Encourage fat turnover through healthy lifestyle changes — Boost the clearance of stored LA with <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/06/26/intermittent-fasting-hair-loss.aspx" target="_blank">intermittent fasting</a>, high-intensity training, and regular heat exposure via sauna sessions or hot baths. Limit vigorous exercise to 75 minutes or less per week, as longer bouts <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/05/12/nailing-the-sweet-spots-for-exercise-volume.aspx" target="_blank">can hinder recovery and longevity</a>. When fasting, avoid chronic or extreme restriction, which can suppress thyroid function and metabolism. Sporadic, short fasts are safer and more sustainable. 5. Build up sun tolerance gradually, especially in your first two summers — While LA remains high in your body fat, the skin is more prone to UV-induced oxidative stress. During this period, avoid midday sunlight (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and go out during early morning or late afternoon instead. Once LA levels decline and cell membranes stabilize, your skin’s resilience improves, allowing you to increase midday exposure slowly without burning. </div> <h2>Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Optimizing Vitamin D Levels in Fall</h2> <div class="faq"> <div> Q: How much sun do I need for vitamin D in the fall? A: There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, since your vitamin D production depends on factors like your skin tone, latitude, and the daily UV Index. As a rule of thumb, check your local UVI forecast each day. If you have pale or fair skin, you’ll only need a short time of direct sunlight exposure. Those with deeper skin tones may need to take longer for similar vitamin D output. However, during late fall or for those living in northern regions, UVB levels often drop too low to make enough vitamin D, meaning sunlight alone may not be sufficient. </div> <div> Q: What’s the best time of day to make vitamin D in autumn? A: The best window is around solar noon — roughly between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. — when the sun’s rays hit the Earth most directly. This is when UVB exposure is strongest, allowing your body to produce vitamin D more efficiently in less time. In fall, the sun’s lower angle means UVB rays are weaker, so early morning or late afternoon exposure won’t trigger much vitamin D production. If you live in northern states, your skin may not generate any vitamin D during the later months of fall. In those cases, food and supplementation become helpful. </div> <div> Q: Which foods are highest in vitamin D for fall meal planning? A: When sunlight isn’t enough, you can boost your vitamin D by adding certain foods to your meals. Natural sources include fatty fish like wild-caught Alaskan salmon, rainbow trout, herring, and tilapia. Grass fed dairy products such as yogurt, kefir, and cheese also provide smaller amounts. For plant-based options, mushrooms exposed to sunlight or UV light are viable.</div> <div> Q: Should I take vitamin D3 or D2 in fall? A: If you’re planning to take a supplement, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the superior choice. D3 is the form your body naturally makes from sunlight and is far more effective than D2 (ergocalciferol), which comes from plants. Since it’s a fat-soluble vitamin, take D3 with a meal that includes healthy fats, such as grass fed butter, pasture-raised egg yolks, or tallow, so it can be absorbed properly. For every 5,000 IUs of vitamin D3, pair it with about 180 mcg of vitamin K2 (MK-7 form) and 400 mg of magnesium to enhance absorption and balance calcium m </article> <article> <h1>How retraining the physician mindset can boost resilience and joy in medicine [PODCAST]</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 23:00:12 +0000 Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Licensed counselor and coach Mary Remón discusses her article “A mindset shift for physicians: Retrain your brain to see what’s going well.” Mary explains how physicians are trained to scan constantly for risks, but that habit can carry over into daily <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/how-retraining-the-physician-mindset-can-boost-resilience-and-joy-in-medicine-podcast.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/how-retraining-the-physician-mindset-can-boost-resilience-and-joy-in-medicine-podcast.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">How retraining the physician mindset can boost resilience and joy in medicine [PODCAST]</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>How AI on social media fuels body dysmorphia</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 19:00:07 +0000 The alarming relationship between artificial intelligence and adolescent body dysmorphia That is what the American Health Law Association called the global increase in social media usage: an epidemic. Indeed, social media usage and reliance, especially by youth, is becoming a mental health phenomenon quickly escalating out of control. Nearly 25 percent of youth report spending <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/how-ai-on-social-media-fuels-body-dysmorphia.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/how-ai-on-social-media-fuels-body-dysmorphia.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">How AI on social media fuels body dysmorphia</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Physician work-life balance and family</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 17:00:05 +0000 As a parent and a doctor of nearly four decades, I’ve often found myself navigating the rugged terrain of a dual existence: the life of a devoted physician, and the life of a dedicated parent. I have not always succeeded in both arenas. My wife and I both bear the weight of our professions, drawn <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/physician-work-life-balance-and-family.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/physician-work-life-balance-and-family.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Physician work-life balance and family</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Why hesitation over the HPV vaccine threatens public health and equity</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 15:00:28 +0000 In the quiet that follows a routine pediatric check-up, a single word, “vaccines,” can suddenly change the air. Where vaccines were once a simple part of childhood, they have become something parents scrutinize, debate, and sometimes outright resist. The shift is palpable, and it is increasingly showing up in clinic rooms every day. As a <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/why-hesitation-over-the-hpv-vaccine-threatens-public-health-and-equity.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/why-hesitation-over-the-hpv-vaccine-threatens-public-health-and-equity.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Why hesitation over the HPV vaccine threatens public health and equity</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>What psychiatry teaches us about professionalism, loss, and becoming human</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 11:00:45 +0000 There is an old parable about a farmer whose horse runs away. The neighbors cry, “Such bad luck!” The farmer only replies, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see.” The next day, the horse returns with two wild horses. “Such good fortune!” they cheer. Again, the farmer answers, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see.” <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/what-psychiatry-teaches-us-about-professionalism-loss-and-becoming-human.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/what-psychiatry-teaches-us-about-professionalism-loss-and-becoming-human.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">What psychiatry teaches us about professionalism, loss, and becoming human</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Is Laughter a Form of Therapeutic Medicine?</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Laughter has always been seen as a source of joy, but it’s also a powerful force for health. Unlike casual humor, laughter therapy is a structured practice that uses guided exercises to trigger laughter and, with it, measurable shifts in your body. This approach treats laughter as more than a reaction — it becomes an intentional tool to calm your nervous system, ease tension, and strengthen emotional balance. Anxiety is one of the most common conditions people face today, marked by racing thoughts, pounding heartbeat, muscle tightness, poor sleep, and a lingering sense of dread. When it’s ignored, anxiety spirals into depression, substance abuse, or long-term illness. Finding simple, safe ways to break that cycle is essential, and laughter offers one of the most direct paths to relief. Stress physiology explains why this works. Cortisol, your body’s primary stress hormone, surges under pressure and fuels problems like weight gain, weakened immunity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. By disrupting that stress response, laughter helps restore equilibrium and protects your long-term health. Seen in this light, laughter stops being “just fun” and instead stands out as a no-cost, side effect — free intervention that influences both mental and physical well-being. With this foundation in mind, the next step is to look at what researchers discovered when they put laughter therapy to the test. <div class="video-rwd has-figcaption"> <figure class="op-interactive aspect-ratio"> <figcaption class="op-large op-center"><a href="https://odysee.com/@DoctorMercola:2/OD-10.18-Lead-Is-Laughter-a-Form-of-Therapeutic-Medicine-:6?r=FXdo3so3cnGbbuiDf1K4hZHVUcCmgmVi" target="_blank">Video Link</a></figcaption> </figure> </div> <h2>Laughter Therapy Reshapes Anxiety and Life Satisfaction</h2> In a paper published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, scientists reviewed 33 randomized controlled trials involving 2,159 adults to examine whether structured <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/10/23/laughter-therapy.aspx" target="_blank">laughter therapy</a> could reduce anxiety and improve life satisfaction.1 The review applied strict bias controls, and the findings showed consistent positive outcomes, even when the type of laughter intervention differed. <div class="indent"> • Laughter therapy significantly reduced anxiety levels and boosted overall life satisfaction — For example, adults who took part in laughter yoga sessions experienced measurable improvements compared to those who received no intervention or usual medical care. The meta-analysis also reported that laughter therapy decreased anxiety. This means that adults receiving laughter interventions experienced substantial relief from racing thoughts, tension, and worry compared to control groups. • Life satisfaction increased across multiple settings — Beyond easing anxiety, laughter therapy improved satisfaction with life itself. This outcome matters because life satisfaction reflects how people judge the quality and meaning of their lives. Higher life satisfaction is linked to longer life expectancy and stronger resilience to illness. • Laughter yoga outperformed other techniques — When broken down by type, laughter yoga consistently showed the strongest benefits in reducing anxiety and increasing life satisfaction. Other methods, such as watching humorous videos or listening to comedy tapes, also worked but produced smaller effects. </div> <h2>Laughter Therapy Broadens Thought Patterns and Social Bonding</h2> The study explained that laughter therapy works through multiple psychological theories. Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory suggests that positive emotions like laughter expand mental flexibility, helping people see challenges in new ways.2 This lowers perceived threat and reduces anxiety. At the same time, laughter strengthens social connections, providing emotional support that promotes life satisfaction. <div class="indent"> • Coping strategies are rewired through humor — Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman’s Coping Theory supports the idea that laughter reframes stressful situations, making them feel less overwhelming. By laughing in the <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/05/29/stress-cycle.aspx" target="_blank">face of stress</a>, people shift their mindset from defeat to resilience, which increases their sense of control and self-efficacy — the belief that they can handle difficult situations. • Biological changes support emotional stability — James Gross’s Emotion Regulation Theory shows how laughter reduces stress through physiological mechanisms, lowering activation in the autonomic nervous system and balancing hormone output. This dampens negative emotions while encouraging positive ones. Over time, repeated laughter therapy sessions stabilize mood and reduce the likelihood of chronic anxiety symptoms. • Laughter shifts overall life evaluation — Edward Diener’s Subjective Well-being Theory ties these outcomes together by explaining that frequent positive emotions combined with fewer negative ones improve how people judge their lives. This means that laughter therapy does not just provide temporary relief — it enhances the broader perception of living a fulfilling life. </div> <h2>Laughter Directly Lowers Stress Hormone Levels</h2> In a study published in PLoS One, scientists conducted a systematic review of eight interventional studies involving 315 participants to determine whether laughter reduces cortisol.3 Often labeled merely as a stress hormone, cortisol fulfills many other functions within your body. Its main role is to act as a vital defense mechanism, ensuring that your blood glucose levels don’t plummet to hazardous lows. By maintaining these levels, cortisol safeguards you against the severe danger of a hypoglycemic coma.4 Cortisol is released when you feel stressed or threatened, and while it’s useful in short bursts, chronic high levels damage your health. The analysis revealed that laughter significantly decreased cortisol compared to control groups, showing that it works as more than just a mood booster. <div class="indent"> • Participants were adults exposed to laughter interventions — The studies included men and women who were guided through different forms of laughter, such as spontaneous laughing sessions, humor therapy, and structured exercises. Across these groups, the research found a consistent pattern: people who laughed had lower cortisol after the intervention compared to those who did not. • Cortisol dropped by nearly one-third overall — The pooled data showed that laughter <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/01/09/blocking-cortisol.aspx" target="_blank">reduced cortisol</a> by 31.9%. This is an unusually strong effect for a nondrug intervention and highlights laughter as a powerful natural stress reliever. • Single laughter sessions had immediate impact — Just one session of laughter reduced cortisol by 36.7%. This means you don’t have to commit to weeks or months of therapy to feel results — your body responds to laughter right away. • Cortisol reduction worked across different laughter methods — Whether people laughed in groups, watched comedy, or joined structured sessions, the outcome was consistent: cortisol went down. This suggests you have flexibility in how you apply laughter as a stress therapy. The method matters less than the act of engaging fully in laughter. </div> <h2>Laughter Therapy Reduced Stress During Global Crisis</h2> As noted in a paper published in Current Research in Physiology, prolonged use of medications for anxiety and depression leads to drug tolerance, resistance, and harmful side effects.5 During the COVID-19 pandemic, when stress, anxiety, and depression surged across populations, researchers emphasized the urgent need for safe, nondrug strategies. Laughter therapy was identified as a universal, low-cost, and effective intervention to reduce stress and anxiety without the risks tied to long-term drug use. Surveys showed a threefold rise in depression among U.S. adults during the early months of COVID-19, with about 39% reporting psychological distress, 42% experiencing anxiety, and 39% suffering from depression. Vulnerable groups — including women, the elderly, and low-income communities — were hit hardest. Researchers warned that untreated stress could progress to serious mental illness, cardiovascular problems, obesity, and diabetes. Laughter therapy was proposed as a simple way to buffer these effects. <div class="indent"> • Laughter linked to lower risk of disability in the elderly — Data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study, which followed 14,233 older adults, showed that those who laughed less frequently had a 1.42 times higher risk of developing functional disability. This means that laughing regularly helps preserve independence and mobility in aging adults. Laughter was not only a coping tool during the pandemic but also a predictor of long-term health outcomes. • Biological effects include lowering stress hormones and boosting feel-good brain chemicals — The paper explained that laughter suppresses stress-related chemicals such as epinephrine, cortisol, and dopamine breakdown products, while enhancing serotonin and dopamine activity. These neurotransmitters regulate mood and motivation. By tipping the balance toward “anti-stress” factors, laughter reduces anxiety and depression and improves overall emotional stability. • Clinical trials confirmed immune and hormonal benefits — One trial in patients with <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/07/17/osteoarthritis-vs-rheumatoid-arthritis.aspx" target="_blank">rheumatoid arthritis</a> found that laughter therapy lowered growth hormone and inflammatory cytokines, both of which are linked to pain and disease progression. Another study in schizophrenia patients found laughter therapy increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that supports brain function, although levels dropped once the therapy stopped. These results show laughter therapy triggers measurable physiological improvements across different conditions. • Laughter improves sleep and mood in older adults — Meta-analyses and trials in elderly populations demonstrated that laughter programs reduced anxiety, depression, and insomnia, leading to better general health. Community-dwelling seniors in Japan and South Korea who laughed daily reported improved well-being, while those with <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/05/07/poor-oral-health-and-body-pain-in-women.aspx" target="_blank">poor oral health</a> and fewer teeth were less likely to laugh and, as a result, reported worse overall health. These findings tie something as simple as laughter to broader health outcomes, including resilience in older age. • Five categories of laughter show multiple paths to healing — The paper categorized laughter into spontaneous (natural), simulated (self-induced), stimulated (tickling), induced (drug-related), and pathological (caused by brain damage). Among these, simulated and spontaneous laughter are most useful in therapeutic settings. By practicing these types, people intentionally activate the body’s <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/05/08/relaxation-methods-help-lower-blood-pressure.aspx" target="_blank">relaxation response</a> and reduce the weight of daily stress.6 </div> <h2>How to Use Laughter as Real Medicine in Your Life</h2> Laughter is not just entertainment — it is a practical tool that lowers stress hormones, eases anxiety, and improves how you feel about your life.7 If you think about it, that’s exactly what you want from any therapy: something that works quickly, is easy to do, and gives lasting benefits. The science shows that your body responds within minutes, which means you don’t have to wait months to feel the difference. Here are five steps to start using laughter as medicine in your daily life. <div class="indent"> 1. Schedule daily laughter sessions — Treat laughter like exercise. Just as you plan your workouts, block out 10 to 15 minutes a day for intentional laughter. You could join a local laughter yoga class, watch a comedy you enjoy, or even practice forced laughter, which often turns into real laughter. The key is making it a regular habit so your nervous system learns to relax consistently. 2. Use laughter before stressful events — If you’re facing a job interview, medical procedure, or tense conversation, prime your body by laughing first. The research showed even one session dropped cortisol by more than a third, which puts you in a calmer state of mind and helps you think clearly instead of being hijacked by stress hormones. 3. Share laughter with others — Your results get stronger when laughter happens in groups. Invite friends, family, or coworkers into the practice. If you’re a caregiver or a nursing student under stress, creating shared laughter routines gives you both relief and stronger social bonds. This not only lifts your mood but also makes tough situations easier to handle. 4. Reframe challenges with humor — When problems feel overwhelming, use laughter to shift perspective. If you’re dealing with ongoing stress, consciously seek humor in the situation — even if it feels forced at first. By laughing, you rewire your brain’s coping strategy and tell your body that you’re in control. This makes you less likely to get stuck in fear or anxiety. 5. Mix structured and spontaneous laughter — Different styles work, and each has its place. Use structured options like laughter yoga when you want a guaranteed session that targets both mind and body. Balance that with spontaneous laughter from funny videos or playful interactions. Your body responds to both, so give yourself permission to mix them depending on your mood and schedule. </div> <h2>FAQs About Laughter Therapy</h2> <div class="faq"> <div> Q: How does laughter therapy improve mental health? A: Laughter therapy lowers anxiety by easing racing thoughts, tension, and worry while boosting life satisfaction. Structured practices such as laughter yoga and guided humor sessions help reframe stress, regulate emotions, and strengthen social bonds in ways that improve overall well-being.</div> <div> Q: What effect does laughter have on stress hormones? A: Research shows that laughter reduces cortisol — your body’s main stress hormone — by about 32%, with a single session dropping it by nearly 37%. Lower cortisol means less strain on your heart, immune system, and metabolism, helping protect against chronic diseases linked to stress.</div> <div> Q: Is laughter therapy just about feeling happier, or does it change my body? A: It changes your body. Studies confirm measurable effects, including reductions in inflammatory markers, improved hormone balance, better sleep, and even higher levels of brain-supporting proteins like BDNF. These biological shifts explain why laughter therapy works as more than simple entertainment.</div> <div> Q: Who benefits most from laughter therapy? A: Everyone benefits, but the effects are especially strong in vulnerable groups such as the elderly, patients facing surgery, those with chronic illness, and people under high stress. Older adults who laugh regularly are less likely to develop disability, depression, or insomnia.</div> <div> Q: How can I start using laughter as medicine in daily life? A: Treat laughter like exercise: schedule daily sessions, laugh before stressful events, share humor with others, reframe problems with humor, and mix structured approaches like laughter yoga with spontaneous laughter from comedy or playful interactions. These steps give your body and mind lasting resilience.</div> </div> <h2>Test Your Knowledge with Today's Quiz!</h2> Take today’s quiz to see how much you’ve learned from <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/10/17/transplanted-consciousness-organ-donor-memory-transfer.aspx" target="_blank">yesterday’s Mercola.com article</a>. <div class="quiz-panel"> <div class="quiz-item"> What percentage of heart transplant recipients reported emotions they believed came from their organ donors? <ul class="options"> <li class="option-item">About 2% experienced brief mood swings unrelated to the transplant recovery or donor memory connection</li> <li class="option-item correct">Roughly 10% felt emotional experiences that matched their donor’s memories and personality Around 10% of heart recipients sensed donor-linked emotions, showing a measurable pattern of personality or memory transfer. <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/10/17/transplanted-consciousness-organ-donor-memory-transfer.aspx" target="_blank">Learn more</a>.</li> <li class="option-item">Fewer than 5% reported subtle emotional patterns but lacked strong evidence of donor memory transfer</li> <li class="option-item">Close to 25% reported stronger heart function but no emotional or behavioral similarities to their donors</li> </ul> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Strong Calves Are Linked to Better Brain Health</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Your legs are more than just a way to get from one place to another — they’re a powerful driver of how your brain ages. The strength and size of your calves reflect not only your physical stability but also your ability to keep your memory sharp and your mind resilient. Muscles in your lower legs are uniquely active, working every time you walk, climb stairs, or rise from a chair. That constant effort means they influence how well you balance, how quickly you move, and whether you stay steady enough to avoid dangerous falls. Falls aren’t just physical setbacks — they’re strongly tied to higher odds of dementia later in life, making lower body strength a direct investment in your long-term brain health. Researchers have also shown that calf and leg strength are tied to how your brain stays supplied with oxygen and nutrients, how flexible your thinking remains as you age, and even how long you maintain your independence. These connections highlight a simple truth: training your legs is training your brain. This relationship between strong calves and brain health sets the stage for examining new research on circulation, cognition, and how everyday exercises protect both body and mind. <div class="video-rwd"> <figure class="op-interactive aspect-ratio"> </figure> </div> <h2>Calves Work Like a Second Heart to Protect Your Brain</h2> An article published in The Telegraph explained how stronger calf muscles — especially the soleus, the smaller muscle underneath the main calf muscle — act like a "second heart" by pumping blood back up toward your chest and brain.1 When your calves contract, they squeeze blood vessels and act as a pump to move blood upward against gravity. This pumping increases blood flow, improves oxygen delivery, and reduces stagnation in your lower body. Over time, this simple physiological effect has a profound influence on heart function, brain oxygenation, and overall energy levels. This means every step you take with stronger calves supports circulation that keeps oxygen moving where it’s needed most. <div class="indent"> • Larger calves are linked with better cardiovascular outcomes — Stronger calf muscles are tied to healthier circulation, lower blood pressure, and even a reduced risk of heart failure after a heart attack.2 The same circulation that helps your heart also feeds your brain with the oxygen it needs to function properly. • Bigger calves are strongly tied to sharper thinking in older adults — A study of 12,102 Chinese seniors showed that having calves under about 31 centimeters (cm) in size was linked to weaker cognition, while increasing size up to that point improved brain function.3 Above 31 cm, the benefit leveled off, with women showing a stronger connection — especially those over 85 or who didn’t exercise often. • Stronger calves protect you from falls and broken bones — Beyond brain benefits, strong calves keep you steady on your feet and in proper alignment. That means <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/03/08/benefit-of-plyometric-exercises-for-adults.aspx" target="_blank">fewer falls</a>, less pressure on your knees and hips, and a much lower chance of suffering the fractures that often steal independence in older age. • Specific exercises help target these muscles effectively — Simple strategies like calf lifts, split squat jumps, and single-leg hops strengthen not just your calves but also your <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/09/13/12-minute-workout-keep-feet-strong.aspx" target="_blank">feet</a> and shin muscles, giving you a solid base for balance and long-term mobility. </div> <h2>Small Calves Signal Bigger Risks for Your Brain</h2> An article published in the New York Post explored how calf circumference — the distance around the widest part of your lower leg — is emerging as a practical marker for cognitive health.4 Researchers explained that smaller calf sizes are connected with poorer memory and thinking skills, while even modest increases in calf size are tied to stronger brain performance. <div class="indent"> • The soleus muscle plays a central role in blood pressure and brain health — Human physiology researcher Kenneth McLeod explained that these deep muscles in the back of your legs are specialized pumps that drive blood back up to your heart. He noted that "raising resting diastolic blood pressure through daily soleus muscle stimulation, over a period of several months, can reverse the cognitive impairment associated with aging."5 In plain terms, activating these muscles improves circulation in a way that restores brain function that aging often steals. • Sarcopenia connected to cognitive decline — <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/09/12/sarcopenia-muscle-loss-aging-exercise.aspx" target="_blank">Sarcopenia</a> is the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, and calf circumference is a useful way to detect it. Research shows that sarcopenia is strongly associated with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.6 This means that watching the size of your calves is more than a cosmetic concern — it’s a way to track whether your brain is at higher risk. </div> <h2>Leg Strength Sparks Brain Growth and Flexibility</h2> Beyond your calves, an article published by Blueberry Therapy explains that training large leg muscles like your thighs and glutes stimulates blood flow, hormone release, and even the birth of new brain cells in your hippocampus, the part of your brain that handles memory and learning.7 This means every <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/05/19/forgotten-benefits-of-deep-squats.aspx" target="_blank">squat</a> or lunge you perform has a ripple effect that strengthens your brain as well as your body. <div class="indent"> • Stronger legs predict better memory and thinking — A study that tracked 324 female twins for a decade revealed that the sisters with stronger legs at the start of the study had sharper cognition later in life.8 • Immobilized legs reduce neural stem cell production — Experiments with mice showed that keeping hind legs inactive for 28 days led to a sharp drop in neural stem cells, the building blocks needed to repair and regenerate brain tissue.9 In other words, when your legs don’t move, your brain loses its ability to renew itself. • Leg strength is directly tied to living longer — A meta-analysis of 38 studies involving more than 1.9 million people found that adults with stronger muscles — including leg strength measured by knee extension — had a 14% lower risk of death from any cause, showing that building lower-body power is not just about mobility but also about extending your lifespan.10 • Why your legs and brain are intertwined — Large leg muscles demand more oxygen and nutrients during exercise, which increases blood flow throughout your body, including your brain. That surge stimulates growth factors — natural chemicals that encourage brain cell repair and new connections. This cycle helps keep your memory sharp, your mood stable, and your risk of neurological disease lower. </div> <h2>How to Strengthen Your Calves and Protect Your Brain</h2> If you want to protect your memory and independence as you age, a smart step you can take is to strengthen your legs — especially your calves. Weak lower limbs reduce circulation, speed up muscle loss, and raise your risk of falls that are tied to dementia. The good news is that you can reverse this trend by making a few simple changes to your daily routine. Think of this as building a safety net for your brain with every rep, step, and jump you take. <div class="indent"> 1. Measure and track your calf size — Start by wrapping a soft tape measure around the widest part of your calf while sitting or standing. If you’re a man, aim for at least 34 centimeters, and if you’re a woman, aim for at least 33 centimeters.11 Tracking your progress gives you a clear goal and makes it easier to see the payoff from your efforts. 2. Do daily calf raises — Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, rise up on your toes, and lower your heels slowly. Begin with three sets of 20 raises every other day. Once this feels easy, add weight in your hands or progress to single-leg raises. This exercise directly targets the soleus, your "second heart," which boosts circulation and feeds oxygen to your brain. 3. Add balance and stability drills — Practice standing on one leg while circling the raised leg or lightly hopping in place. These movements strengthen not only your calves but also your feet and shin muscles. If you’ve struggled with ankle sprains or <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/09/05/hip-knee-strength-exercises-fall-prevention.aspx" target="_blank">poor balance</a>, this step is especially important for staying steady and reducing fall risk. 4. Incorporate larger leg movements — Squats, lunges, and split squat jumps activate your thighs and glutes while giving your calves extra workload. If you’re a beginner, start with bodyweight only. As your strength builds, you can add weights or increase intensity with variations like jumping lunges. These moves improve blood flow and trigger the release of growth factors that support memory and learning. 5. Spend time barefoot on natural surfaces — Modern shoes often limit foot strength and calf activation. Spend time <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/09/07/postural-restoration.aspx" target="_blank">barefoot on natural surfaces</a> like grass or sand. This <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/09/07/postural-restoration.aspx" target="_blank">strengthens your foundation</a>, improves posture, and ensures that your calves work at their full potential to keep your circulation strong and your brain sharp. </div> <h2>FAQs About Strong Calves and Brain Health</h2> <div class="faq"> <div> Q: Why are strong calves important for brain health? A: Strong calves improve circulation by acting like a pump that pushes blood back to your heart and brain. Better circulation means more oxygen and nutrients reach your brain, which supports sharper memory and reduces your risk of cognitive decline. </div> <div> Q: How does calf size relate to dementia risk? A: Studies show that smaller calves are linked with weaker cognition and higher risk of dementia. Increasing calf circumference to at least 33 centimeters for women and 34 centimeters for men is recommended for optimal health. </div> <div> Q: What happens if I ignore calf strength as I age? A: Weak calves raise your risk of falls, which are tied to a higher chance of a dementia diagnosis. They also accelerate frailty and muscle loss, which undermine both mobility and independence. </div> <div> Q: What kinds of exercises strengthen calves and improve brain health? A: Daily calf raises, heel drops, squats, lunges, single-leg balance drills, and even jump rope build calf size and strength. These movements also activate larger leg muscles, which release growth factors that encourage brain cell repair and growth. </div> <div> Q: Do I need equipment to get these benefits? A: No. You can strengthen your calves and protect your brain with bodyweight exercises done at home. Simple habits — like standing on one leg, hopping lightly, or walking barefoot on natural surfaces — are enough to trigger the brain-boosting benefits of stronger calves. </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Biotin Is More Than Just a Beauty Vitamin</h1> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Biotin, also known as vitamin B7, is a water-soluble B-vitamin that plays a vital role in the body's metabolic processes.1 Naturally found in certain foods such as eggs, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, whole grains, and salmon, it helps convert nutrients into energy, making it essential for overall health. Its reputation as the "beauty vitamin" stems from its benefits for hair, skin, and nails. Research into its effects on hair dates back to 1965,2 and from there, interest in biotin grew steadily. Today, biotin supplements and personal care products are sold almost everywhere. However, biotin's role goes beyond aesthetics. Emerging research hints at deeper health implications, including its roles in neurological function, gene regulation, pregnancy, and chronic diseases. While beauty might be the hook, its real value lies in how it benefits your body from the inside. <div class="video-rwd"> <figure class="op-interactive aspect-ratio"> </figure> </div> <h2>Biotin Offers a Balance of Beauty and Wellness</h2> Biotin's reputation in beauty circles is backed by scientific evidence. Case reports and smaller studies suggest that having adequate levels of this nutrient leads to visible improvements for problems like brittle nails or thinning hair. Here are some of the well-known benefits associated with biotin:3 <div class="indent"> • Regrows and renews stronger hair follicles — <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/10/08/biotin-deficiency.aspx" target="_blank">Having adequate biotin levels promotes hair follicle health and growth</a> by supporting the function of keratin, the protein that makes hair strong. Without enough biotin hair becomes brittle, thin, and prone to shedding.4 • Improves nail thickness and strength — In one study published in the journal Cutis, participants who took a daily biotin supplement for six months experienced a 25% increase in nail plate thickness, highlighting its role in strengthening nails and reducing splitting.5 • Supports healthy skin — Biotin contributes to fatty acid metabolism, which is essential for keeping skin hydrated. Deficiency can lead to dry, scaly, red rashes around the eyes, nose, mouth, and perineum.6 </div> <h2>Biotin's Bigger Role in Energy Metabolism</h2> Biotin is also widely recognized for its role in energy metabolism. It supports the function of five enzymes that are essential for breaking down fats, carbohydrates, and amino acids — processes that are fundamental to cellular energy production.7 <div class="indent"> • Biotin's influence goes far beyond its enzymatic role — According to a 2024 review published in Nutrients, biotin is "crucial to glucose and lipid utilization in cellular energy production because it modulates the expression of metabolic enzymes via various signaling pathways and transcription factors."8 • Biotin influences immune signaling pathways — It helps regulate how the body responds to inflammation through certain messenger systems. As noted by the researchers, "Biotin modulates the production of proinflammatory cytokines ..."9 • It shows promise in chronic disease management — Animal studies link biotin to reduced inflammation and improved metabolic function. <blockquote>"It reduced markers of inflammation and modulated immune responses, suggesting potential applications in conditions such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease."10</blockquote> </div> <h2>Biotin Promotes Gene Regulation and Supports Nerve Function</h2> Healthy nerve function depends on precise gene regulation and effective cell signaling — two processes influenced by key nutrients. Among these, biotin contributes to gene regulation, shaping how genes are expressed and plays a role in neural communication.11 <div class="indent"> • Biotin interacts with genetic material to influence the way cells function — According to a 2025 study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, biotin directly attaches to histones, which are proteins that wrap around DNA. By doing so, it acts like a dimmer switch that adjusts how strongly certain genes are turned on or off. The research showed that genes linked to DNA repair and protection were more active when biotin was present in sufficient amounts.12 • Histone biotinylation plays a role in gene silencing — This is the deliberate silencing of harmful or unnecessary genes. For example, turning off repetitive DNA sequences, which if left unchecked, can cause instability in the genome. Biotin acts as a safeguard, making sure the body's genetic library stays organized and free of clutter. • Biotin also supports neurological function — It helps power up pyruvate carboxylase, an enzyme that fuels nearly one-third of the brain's main energy cycle, giving neurons and support cells the steady energy they need to function. When biotin is lacking, neurological symptoms like seizures and cognitive problems can appear. • Biotin also helps regulate signaling messengers — This is vital to ensure clear communication between brain cells.13 </div> <h2>Biotin's Role in Pregnancy and Fetal Development</h2> Biotin needs increase during pregnancy, yet mild deficiency is common among expectant mothers. This is concerning because biotin is essential for embryonic development, and the fetus is entirely dependent on maternal supply.14 <div class="indent"> • A study investigating fetal biotin status measured plasma biotin levels in 15 pregnant women and their fetuses during mid-gestation — The results showed that fetal biotin levels were significantly higher than maternal levels, suggesting that the placenta actively transports biotin to the fetus, even when maternal levels are low.15 • Sufficient biotin during pregnancy may reduce the risk of preterm labor — A retrospective case-control study published in The Journal of Medical Investigation analyzed serum biotin levels in pregnant women with normal deliveries, preterm births, and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants. The researchers found that maternal biotin levels remained low throughout pregnancy, and those in the SGA group had significantly lower biotin concentrations during the second and third trimesters compared to the normal delivery group. <blockquote>"This study suggests that maternal biotin deficiency during pregnancy might be the risk of preterm labor or fetal growth restriction. Further studies are required to clarify the roles of biotin in perinatal medicine," the researchers concluded.16</blockquote> • A landmark animal study also found that pregnant mice develop marginal biotin deficiency without showing symptoms — Using urinary biomarkers, the researchers concluded that biotin intake during pregnancy may need to be two to three times higher than current recommendations.17 </div> <h2>Biotin Is an Alternative for Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Patients</h2> One of the most promising areas of biotin research involves its role in treating progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Several studies have demonstrated the therapeutic impact of biotin in patients with this challenging form of the disease. <div class="indent"> • High-dose biotin proved helpful in MS patients — In a promising French pilot study published in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 23 patients with primary and secondary MS were treated with high doses of biotin (100 to 300 mg a day) over an average of 9.2 months. The results were encouraging and suggest that biotin can impact the disability brought about by MS.18 • High-dose pharmaceutical-grade biotin has shown encouraging results in clinical trials — In a randomized controlled study, 13.2% of patients with progressive MS reported improvement after nine months of taking MD1003 — "a pharmaceutical formulation of high-dose biotin" — compared to the placebo group. According to the website Multiple Sclerosis News Today: <blockquote>"Full results of the MS-SPI study are especially remarkable. This is the first time that a drug has reversed the progression of the disease in a statistically significant proportion of patients.</blockquote> <blockquote>In addition, if we look at the mean Expanded Disability Scale (EDSS) change, the data compare very favorably with all previous trials that looked at the same endpoint. Almost no progression was observed in patients treated with MD1003 for 24 months, and this has never been observed before ...</blockquote> <blockquote>Results ... point to the fact that targeting neuron and oligodendrocyte metabolism represents a promising and novel disease modifying therapy approach in progressive MS, particularly in patients with a not-active progressive disease."19</blockquote> </div> This suggests that biotin can support myelin repair and enhance cellular energy production, which may help slow disease progression. Researchers highlight that targeting neuron and oligodendrocyte metabolism through biotin supplementation represents a novel therapeutic approach for patients with MS.20 <h2>Biotin Impacts Blood Sugar Regulation in Both Types of Diabetes</h2> Biotin has also been studied for its impact on metabolic health. Research suggests it may help regulate blood sugar levels and improve glucose tolerance. <div class="indent"> • Biotin supplementation improves blood sugar control in Type 1 diabetes patients — A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted with 70 participants aimed to determine whether biotin supplementation could improve glycemic control and plasma lipid levels in patients with poorly controlled Type 1 diabetes. The findings were promising: <blockquote>"Biotin administered as an adjuvant in addition to insulin therapy can improve glycemic control, as well as serum lipids concentrations in Type 1 diabetic patients without any side effects."21</blockquote> • Biotin also shows promise in controlling Type 2 diabetes — A 2022 meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Nutrition reviewed five randomized controlled trials, and found that biotin supplementation significantly reduces fasting blood glucose levels. The researchers note that supplementation "could be economical and potentially beneficial to T2DM patients."22 • Biotin also impacts cholesterol profile — The analysis also reported notable reductions in total cholesterol and triglyceride levels among the participants after 28 to 90 days of use. These findings suggest biotin's potential as a supportive intervention in metabolic health. </div> <h2>Getting More Biotin in Your Diet</h2> Most of the biotin in your body is found in your liver.23 However, because this nutrient is water-soluble, the body does not retain large amounts of it. Excess amounts of biotin are excreted through your urine, making consistent dietary intake essential. <div class="indent"> • So, how much dietary biotin is recommended? The National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s adequate intakes (AIs) for this nutrient depend on your age and gender. For example, babies up to 6 months old are recommended to get 5 micrograms (mcg) per day; for adults above 19 years old, the AI is 30 mcg. Lactating mothers have slightly higher levels, at 35 mcg.24 • Biotin is found in a wide variety of foods — This is why deficiency is rare for people who eat a balanced diet. In food, biotin exists in two forms — free biotin and protein-bound biotin.25 • Free biotin is mostly found in plant sources — This is the active, unbound form of the vitamin that can be directly absorbed in the intestine and used by the body. Some of the top sources include:26,27 <div class="indent"> ◦ Green peas and lentils (40 mcg per 100 grams) ◦ Sweet potatoes (2.4 mcg per ½ cup, cooked) ◦ Spinach (0.5 mcg per half-cup, boiled) ◦ Broccoli (0.4 mcg per half-cup, fresh) ◦ Bananas (0.2 mcg per ½ cup) ◦ Whole grains (0.2 mcg per cup) </div> • Protein-bound biotin comes from animal foods — This type of biotin is covalently attached to a protein or peptide and needs to first be broken down by enzymes into free biotin before it can be absorbed and used by your body. Below are some of the best sources:28 <div class="indent"> ◦ Eggs — Pastured and organic eggs <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/10/08/biotin-deficiency.aspx" target="_blank">are one of the richest sources of this vitamin</a>, with one whole egg having 10 mcg. While raw egg whites contain avidin, a glycoprotein that binds to biotin and inhibits absorption, cooking deactivates it. Remember to avoid discarding the yolk as it contains essential fats, cholesterol, and protein. ◦ Grass fed beef liver — Beef liver is among the most concentrated sources of biotin, with 30.8 mcg per 3-ounce serving — over 100% of the daily value (DV). ◦ Raw, organic dairy — Yogurt and milk contain small amounts of biotin (0.2 to 0.3 mcg per cup), while cheddar cheese offers 0.4 mcg per ounce. ◦ Wild-caught Alaskan salmon — It provides 5 mcg per 3-ounce serving. Make sure to get salmon from trustworthy sources, and avoid farmed salmon as much as possible. </div> </div> <h2>Practical Approaches to Support Your Biotin Levels</h2> Supporting your biotin levels doesn't have to rely on a cabinet full of supplements — There are other simple ways to do this. I've already shared plenty of biotin foods you can enjoy, and that's just the beginning. Here are other ways to keep your biotin levels consistent: <div class="indent"> • Know the signs of biotin deficiency — While biotin insufficiency is less common than other nutrient deficiencies, it can still happen. Remember to keep your intake consistent by eating healthy and knowing it's more available than you think it is. Some signs of deficiency include depression, loss of appetite, nausea, paresthesia, and muscle pain. • Prioritize your gut health — A healthy gut microbiome contributes to biotin production and absorption. Chronic digestive issues, imbalances in gut bacteria, and excessive antibiotic use can interfere with this. Consuming foods rich in probiotics supports a healthy gut and by extension, more efficient biotin absorption.29 • Take complementary nutrients like zinc and collagen — Biotin doesn't work in isolation — nutrients like <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/08/12/zinc-deficiency-symptoms-signs.aspx" target="_blank">zinc</a> play a key role in supporting hair, skin, and nail health. When combined with a biotin-rich diet, their collective effect can contribute more to comprehensive and lasting health benefits. </div> Biotin is often celebrated for its role in enhancing hair and nail health. But its benefits go far beyond beauty — it's a vital nutrient that unlocks energy, helps regulate sugar and lipids, and supports overall wellness. Before adding biotin supplements to your routine, take a moment to assess your current diet. Prioritize getting this nutrient from whole foods — there are many options that can offer you natural sources of biotin. Supplements complement your effort, but it's ideal that they're not your primary source of this nutrient. <h2>Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Biotin</h2> <div class="faq"> <div>Q: What is biotin and why is it important? A: Biotin, also known as vitamin B7, is a water-soluble B-vitamin that helps your body convert food into energy. It supports essential functions such as metabolism, healthy hair, skin, nails, and nervous system health. </div> <div>Q: How much biotin do I need each day? A: The recommended daily intake for adults is 30 micrograms (mcg), while infants need about 5 mcg. Most people can easily meet these needs through a balanced diet without taking supplements. </div> <div>Q: How do eggs affect biotin intake? A: Eggs are among the best sources of biotin. Cooking slightly reduces their biotin content but also deactivates avidin, a protein in raw egg whites that blocks biotin absorption. This makes cooked eggs a safer and more effective way to get biotin, even with minimal nutrient loss. </div> <div>Q: How is biotin related to multiple sclerosis (MS)? A: High-dose biotin is being studied as a therapy for progressive multiple sclerosis. Early research suggests that it may help with myelin repair and improve nerve function, which could slow disease progression. These doses are far higher than what's found in food or standard supplements and should only be taken under strict medical supervision. </div> <div>Q: Is it possible to take too much biotin? A: Since biotin is water-soluble, excess amounts are usually excreted in urine. However, very high doses can interfere with certain lab test results, such as </article> <article> <h1>How Gen Z is reshaping health care through DIY approaches and digital tools [PODCAST]</h1> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 23:00:31 +0000 Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Amanda Heidemann, family physician and senior clinical content consultant for clinical effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer Health, discusses her article, “Gen Z’s DIY approach to health care.” Amanda explains how digital natives are turning to TikTok, friends, and online research as their <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/how-gen-z-is-reshaping-health-care-through-diy-approaches-and-digital-tools-podcast.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/how-gen-z-is-reshaping-health-care-through-diy-approaches-and-digital-tools-podcast.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">How Gen Z is reshaping health care through DIY approaches and digital tools [PODCAST]</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Love and loss in the oncology ward</h1> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 19:00:01 +0000 In the quiet moments of illness, I witness love and loss unfold. I usually place the beds of relatively sick patients closest to my workstation. While I can monitor all the patients, except for a few female beds behind curtains, this arrangement helps me keep a closer eye on those who are more ill, particularly <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/love-and-loss-in-the-oncology-ward.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/love-and-loss-in-the-oncology-ward.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Love and loss in the oncology ward</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>The weight of genetic testing in a family</h1> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 13:00:12 +0000 An excerpt from Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love. Scott and I held hands as the last few minutes of waiting expanded to rival the anticipation of the days that had already passed. Two weeks ago at this same medical center, our perinatologist had performed a chorionic villus sampling, the <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/the-weight-of-genetic-testing-in-a-family.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/the-weight-of-genetic-testing-in-a-family.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">The weight of genetic testing in a family</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>A surgeon’s view on RVUs and moral injury</h1> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 11:00:42 +0000 For over forty years, I worked as a general and vascular surgeon. For the last ten of those years, I was employed under an RVU-based compensation model. That period is when my dissatisfaction with medicine truly began. Complex, life-saving operations were reduced to “productivity units.” The pressure was relentless, the system unforgiving. And unlike primary <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/a-surgeons-view-on-rvus-and-moral-injury.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/a-surgeons-view-on-rvus-and-moral-injury.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">A surgeon’s view on RVUs and moral injury</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Natural Herbs That Support Your Immune System Against the Flu</h1> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 For generations, seasonal illness has disrupted lives with fever, coughing, body aches, and days lost to recovery. Cultures across the world passed down natural remedies to ease the burden, long before modern medicine existed. What they lacked in scientific explanation, they made up for in observation: certain plants consistently helped people heal faster and feel stronger. Influenza, better known as the flu, remains one of the most common and disruptive infections worldwide. While most recover, complications sometimes turn serious in children, older adults, and those with chronic health conditions. This has sparked growing interest in safe, natural options that work with your body to fight this infection. Today, modern science is catching up to traditional wisdom, confirming that specific herbs contain compounds with real antiviral and immune-supporting effects. These discoveries give you practical, accessible tools to strengthen your defenses when flu season strikes. <div class="video-rwd has-figcaption"> <figure class="op-interactive aspect-ratio"> <figcaption class="op-large op-center"><a href="https://odysee.com/@DoctorMercola:2/OD-10.17-Non-Lead-1-Natural-Herbs-That-Support-Your-Immune-System-Against-the-Flu:3?r=FXdo3so3cnGbbuiDf1K4hZHVUcCmgmVi" target="_blank">Video Link</a></figcaption> </figure> </div> <h2>Herbs Offer Relief from the Flu Beyond Just Symptom Control</h2> An article published by The Hearty Soul reviewed several herbs and their ability to ease flu symptoms, shorten illness duration, and even rival pharmaceutical drugs.1 Instead of treating flu with drugs alone, the focus was on natural remedies that strengthen your body’s response. <div class="indent"> • Echinacea and elderberry support immune function — The research highlighted clinical trials where echinacea reduced respiratory infections by 10% to 30% and cut infection rates in children by 32.5%.2 Elderberry stood out for reducing flu symptoms by four days in adults.3 These outcomes suggest herbs aren’t just supportive — they’re active agents in recovery. • Clinical trials showed measurable improvements — In one study with 473 patients, an echinacea-based drink worked as effectively as flu drug oseltamivir (<a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/03/16/quercetin-for-flu.aspx" target="_blank">Tamiflu</a>) but without side effects such as nausea and vomiting.4 Patients who started treatment within 48 hours of symptoms experienced faster relief from fever, cough, and body aches. That means you could return to daily life sooner without drug-related downsides. • Timing mattered for the best results — Both echinacea and elderberry were most effective when used early in infection. Starting within the first two days of symptoms increased the chance of avoiding a prolonged illness. Acting fast is key if you want herbs to give you the upper hand. • Why herbs like echinacea and ginger are effective — Echinacea activated white blood cells that engulf viruses and boosted signaling molecules that coordinate immune attacks. Elderberry’s anthocyanins interfered with viral replication and reduced oxidative stress. Gingerols from <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/04/21/ginger-inflammatory-bowel-disease.aspx" target="_blank">ginger</a> blocked proinflammatory proteins while stimulating a protein that launches your body’s first antiviral response. • Thyme, eucalyptus, and lemon balm offer respiratory relief — Thyme’s thymol suppressed viral replication while calming inflamed airways. Eucalyptus oils killed flu viruses in vapor form, reducing airborne spread and easing congestion. Lemon balm interfered with viral reproduction by nearly 99.9% in lab tests, while licorice root’s glycyrrhizin blocked viral entry into cells.5 Oregano oil added additional defense through compounds like carvacrol, which reduced viral counts in cell cultures. </div> <h2>Ancient Remedies Paired with Modern Science for Flu Defense</h2> An article published by Bibo Health outlined natural remedies traditionally used for seasonal illness and explained how each one strengthens immunity or relieves symptoms.6 This piece emphasized practical herbs you can use daily, whether in tea, capsules, or cooking. <div class="indent"> • Garlic stood out as a powerful immune booster — The key compound, allicin, has both antiviral and antibacterial properties. By eating <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/05/23/garlic-anticancer-properties.aspx" target="_blank">garlic</a> in soups, salads, or other dishes, you add natural protection against respiratory infections. • Turmeric added another layer of defense — Its bright yellow pigment comes from <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/08/23/curcumin-colon-cancer.aspx" target="_blank">curcumin</a>, which reduces inflammation and improves immune responses. This means your body is better prepared to fight flu symptoms like fever, sore throat, and fatigue. <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/08/01/golden-milk-benefits.aspx" target="_blank">Golden milk</a>, a warm drink made with turmeric and spices, is a soothing way to incorporate this herb into daily life. • Astragalus offered long-term immune support — Used for centuries in Chinese medicine, astragalus encourages your body to produce more white blood cells, which are essential for fighting infections. Adding it to soups or taking it in supplement form provides ongoing defense, making it especially useful before flu season starts. • Peppermint provided symptom relief — The menthol in peppermint relaxes airways, reduces coughing, and clears congestion. Drinking peppermint tea or inhaling peppermint vapors offers quick comfort when you’re struggling to breathe during illness. It also provides a mild immune lift, making it a dual-purpose remedy. • Each herb targets different angles of flu defense — Garlic’s allicin disrupts viral structures and prevents them from multiplying. Turmeric’s curcumin blocks inflammatory pathways, reducing the stress on your body during infection. Astragalus primes your immune system by enhancing white blood cell activity. Peppermint’s menthol interacts with receptors in your airways to relax muscles and ease breathing. </div> <h2>Powerful Herbs Reduce Flu Severity and Speed Recovery</h2> An article published by Atune highlighted several different plants — some not commonly mentioned in mainstream flu remedies — and explained how they reduce severity, shorten recovery time, and improve breathing.7 The focus was on herbs with both antiviral and immune-modulating effects that give your body faster relief. <div class="indent"> • Andrographis proved effective for flu complications — Known as “King of the Bitters,” this traditional Chinese herb reduced flu-related complications when combined with Siberian ginseng. People who took it recovered quicker and had fewer sick days.8 That makes it especially valuable if you want to bounce back faster without missing work or school. • Berberine lowered flu death rates in animal studies — Found in plants like goldenseal and coptis, <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/10/23/berberine-and-neurological-health.aspx" target="_blank">berberine</a> reduced flu-related deaths in mice from 90% to 55%.9 It worked by blocking viral enzymes and lowering inflammatory substances that damage tissues. While this research was not in humans, it demonstrates how powerful certain plant compounds are at targeting the flu virus. • Thyme acted as a natural lung support — This herb helped loosen mucus, reduce coughing, and soothe bronchial irritation. Adding thyme tea or extracts could support your breathing when congestion sets in. • Elecampane offered extra support for chronic lung irritation — Traditionally used for bronchitis, asthma, and hay fever, elecampane works as an expectorant — helping you expel mucus more easily. This gives you a way to clear your chest and restore easier breathing. • Pelargonium showed antiviral action and was safe for children — Traditionally used in Africa, this herb improved cold and flu symptoms in children and supported their immune systems.10 Parents looking for child-friendly options benefit from knowing pelargonium is both pleasant tasting and effective. </div> <h2>Practical Steps to Strengthen Your Defenses During Flu Season</h2> When flu season strikes, the best approach is to strengthen your body’s defenses before you get sick. Herbs give you natural tools, but they work best when you combine them with foundational strategies that target the root cause — your immune system’s ability to fight off viral invaders. Think of this like building a shield around yourself. Each step you take adds another layer of protection, making it harder for illness to knock you down. <div class="indent"> 1. Use herbs at the first sign of illness — Timing matters. Echinacea, elderberry, ginger, thyme, and peppermint are most effective when you start them within the first 48 hours of symptoms. Keep tinctures, teas, or capsules at home so you don’t lose precious time. This early action reduces fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches while speeding up recovery. 2. Layer herbs for stronger results — Each herb has unique strengths, and using them together makes your defense more complete. Garlic and astragalus build long-term immunity, peppermint and thyme clear your lungs, turmeric calms inflammation, and elderflower lowers fever. Think of this like assembling a team — each herb brings its own skill, and together they cover more ground. 3. Optimize your vitamin D and consider quercetin — <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/12/09/vitamin-d-better-than-flu-vaccine.aspx" target="_blank">Vitamin D</a> is one of the most important nutrients for flu protection. Research shows it helps regulate your immune response, lowering your risk of respiratory infections and improving your body’s ability to fight off viruses.11 Your skin is designed to make vitamin D from sunlight, but many people fall short — especially if you live far from the equator, spend most of your time indoors, or cover up when outside. That’s why it’s important to get your levels tested at least twice a year and aim for 60 to 80 ng/mL. Supplementation may be needed if sun exposure is limited. For best results, combine vitamin D with <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/02/21/magnesium-vitamin-d-supplementation.aspx" target="_blank">magnesium</a> and <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/03/23/role-of-vitamin-k2-on-human-health.aspx" target="_blank">vitamin K2</a>; this trio boosts absorption and prevents calcium buildup in your arteries. Another option worth considering is quercetin, a plant compound found in apples, onions, and green tea. <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/03/16/quercetin-for-flu.aspx" target="_blank">Quercetin</a> has antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and helps block viral entry into cells while calming the immune overreactions that worsen flu symptoms. Together, optimizing vitamin D and adding quercetin-rich foods or supplements give your body stronger frontline defenses against seasonal infections. 4. Support your body daily with food and rest — Your immune system depends on energy, and that means you need nourishing food and real sleep. Choose fresh fruits, cooked root vegetables, and grass fed meat and dairy instead of processed foods that drain your reserves. Sleep restores immune balance and allows herbs to work more effectively. Skipping rest makes it easier for the flu to take hold. 5. Create a personal flu-fighting routine — You’ll stick with habits when they feel personal and rewarding. If you’re a parent, try elderflower tea for your children when they start sniffling. If you’re active, add turmeric to your post-workout drink to calm inflammation. If you work long hours indoors, schedule a daily break outside for sun exposure. These small, consistent choices empower you to stay in control of your health and reduce the chance of being sidelined during flu season. </div> <h2>FAQs About Herbs That Work Against the Flu</h2> <div class="faq"> <div> Q: What herbs are most effective for fighting the flu? A: Echinacea, elderberry, ginger, thyme, eucalyptus, lemon balm, licorice root, and oregano have been shown to support immune defenses and reduce flu severity. Additional herbs like garlic, turmeric, astragalus, peppermint, andrographis, berberine, elecampane, elderflower, and pelargonium provide further symptom relief and long-term immune support.</div> <div> Q: How do these herbs actually work against the flu? A: Different herbs work in different ways. Some, like echinacea, activate white blood cells to fight infections faster, while elderberry blocks the flu virus from multiplying. Ginger and turmeric calm inflammation, thyme loosens mucus, peppermint clears congestion, and eucalyptus vapor kills airborne flu particles. Together, they give your body stronger defenses on multiple fronts.</div> <div> Q: When should I take herbs for the best results? A: The earlier you start, the better. Many herbs are most effective when taken within the first 48 hours of symptoms. Acting quickly helps shorten illness duration, lessen fever and body aches, and reduce the chance of the flu dragging on for days.</div> <div> Q: Can herbs replace flu medications? A: Some herbs, like echinacea, performed as effectively as antiviral drugs in clinical trials but with fewer side effects. However, herbs work best as part of a broader approach — using them alongside proper rest, good nutrition, and vitamin D optimization helps you recover faster and feel better.</div> <div> Q: What other steps should I take during flu season? A: Optimize your vitamin D levels, use herbs at the first signs of illness, combine different herbs for stronger results, focus on restorative sleep and nourishing foods, and build a personal flu-fighting routine. These steps target the root cause — your immune system — and give you the best chance to stay healthy all season.</div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>The Mystery of Transplanted Consciousness — When Organs Transfer More Than Function</h1> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 When organ transplantation first became possible, doctors celebrated it as one of medicine's greatest achievements — literally giving someone the gift of life through another's ultimate sacrifice. But what nobody anticipated was that along with functional organs, something far more mysterious might also transfer: aspects of the donor's consciousness, personality, memories, and even skills. The evidence for this phenomenon has been accumulating for decades, yet mainstream medicine largely ignores it because it challenges fundamental assumptions about where consciousness comes from. If memories and personality traits can be stored in organs rather than just the brain, this would completely revolutionize our understanding of human consciousness. <div class="video-rwd has-figcaption"> <figure class="op-interactive aspect-ratio"> <figcaption class="op-large op-center"><a href="https://odysee.com/@DoctorMercola:2/OD-10.3-Lead-The-Mystery-of-Transplanted-Consciousness-%E2%80%94-When-Organs-Transfer-More-Than-Function:8" target="_blank">Video Link</a></figcaption> </figure> </div> <h2>The Reality of Living with Transplants</h2> While transplants are called "medical miracles," they're far from perfect. The failure rates tell a sobering story: <div class="indent"> • Lung — 10.4% within a year,1 72% within 10 years2 • Heart — 7.8% within a year,3 46% within 10 years4 • Kidney — 5% within a year, 46.4% within 10 years5,6 • Liver — 7.6% within a year, 32.5% within 10 years7,8 </div> Given these risks, patients must follow incredibly strict regimens: taking immune-suppressing medications costing $10,000 to $30,000 annually, permanently avoiding alcohol and drugs, constant bloodwork monitoring, and doing everything possible to avoid infections. The immune-suppressing medications have side effects ranging from mild tremors and headaches to serious infections, kidney damage, and metabolic disturbances. Corticosteroids used in transplant management have even <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/steroid-dangers-and-safe-autoimmune" target="_blank">more extensive side effects</a>. The vaccination requirements became controversial during COVID-19 when people were denied transplants for refusing COVID vaccines (and in some cases were severely injured when they finally submitted to vaccination). What frustrated me most was that nobody mentioned the COVID vaccine could actually increase transplant rejection risk by provoking autoimmunity or that <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-unseen-cost-of-organ-transplants" target="_blank">numerous publications have now corroborated this link</a>. Note: <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/dmso-revolutionizes-skin-care-and" target="_blank">DMSO has been shown to prevent rejection of certain grafts</a> like skin grafts9 and insulin-producing cells,10 and likely would help transplanted organs, but this hasn't been tested. One reader shared: "I took care of a patient who had a kidney transplant 9 years ago then got his COVID shot and had spontaneous organ rejection and needed the kidney removed. From what other nurses told me, it is happening more and more often."11 But beyond these medical challenges, transplant patients face something even stranger — significant psychiatric changes that suggest something profound is being transferred along with the organs. <h2>The Heart's Secret Code</h2> Dr. Benjamin Bunzel at the University Hospital in Vienna studied 47 heart transplant patients and found that while 79% claimed their personality hadn't changed (though showed signs otherwise), 6% reported distinct personality changes they attributed directly to their new hearts. These individuals felt compelled to accommodate what they sensed as their donor's memories.12 When studied more extensively, approximately 10% of heart transplant recipients reported experiencing emotions they believed came from their donor.13 <h2>Claire Sylvia's Transformation</h2> The most documented case comes from Claire Sylvia's memoir “A Change of Heart.”14 At 47, she received a heart and lung transplant and immediately started craving beer and chicken nuggets — foods she'd never liked.15 <blockquote>“Five months later, she dreamed about a young man named Tim whose surname began with L. In the dream, ‘we kiss, and as we do I inhale him into me ... I woke up knowing that Tim L was my donor and that some parts of his spirit and personality were now in me.’”</blockquote> She described feeling like "a second soul was sharing my body" — one that was stereotypically masculine, making her more aggressive and confident. Friends noticed she walked differently, and she found herself attracted to blonde women "as if some male energy in me was responding to them." When she finally traced her donor's identity through an obituary, his name was indeed Tim L., and his family confirmed he'd been energetic with a love of chicken nuggets and beer — exactly the preferences she'd developed. Note: Another woman who received a young man's heart reported: "When we dance now, my husband says I always try to lead. I think it's the macho male heart in me making me do that."16 <h2>Paul Pearsall's Groundbreaking Research</h2> The most comprehensive study was done by neuropsychologist Paul Pearsall, who underwent bone marrow transplantation himself.17 For “The Heart's Code,” he interviewed 73 heart transplant recipients, 67 other organ recipients, and families of 18 deceased donors.18 As Pearsall reflected: "When I listen to the tapes of my interviews with heart and heart-lung transplant recipients and the donor families, I am still taken aback by what they've shared with me." He identified consistent patterns: <div class="indent"> • Traumatic memory transfer — Recipients repeatedly recalled their donor's death through dreams or physical sensations, despite knowing nothing about the donor. • Preference changes — Dramatic shifts in food and music tastes matching the donor — vegetarians becoming carnivores and vice versa. • Sexual orientation changes — Including a lifelong lesbian becoming attracted to men and marrying one. Note: One of my colleagues has a male patient who received a female heart, then became compelled to transition to becoming a woman — something never considered before the transplant. Likewise, a reader shared that after a man received a pig's heart valve, "his wife found her husband had shifted from a normal sex life to wanting sex several times a day every day."19 • Overwhelming emotions — A Yale surgeon documented one recipient saying: "I can be sitting here feeling fine and all of a sudden something clicks and I get nervous ... Something in my body changes, as if somebody pushed a button."20 </div> <h2>The Most Extraordinary Cases</h2> Pearsall documented several cases so remarkable they seem almost impossible. Given his meticulous citations and published academic paper with independent verification,21 these deserve serious consideration: <div class="indent"> • The Murder Conviction — An eight-year-old who received a murdered ten-year-old's heart began having nightmares about the killer. Using the child's descriptions, police found and convicted the murderer based on completely accurate details about timing, weapon, location, and the victim's final words. • The Artist's Heart — The Daily Mail documented William Sheridan, whose drawing skills were "stuck at nursery level" until his heart transplant. Suddenly, he could produce beautiful drawings of wildlife and landscapes. His donor had been a keen artist.22 • The Copacetic Connection — A physician whose husband David died in a car crash later met a transplant recipient. She whispered to him, "I love you David. Everything is copacetic." The recipient's mother revealed: "My son uses that word 'copacetic' all the time now. He never used it before he got his new heart." This had been the couple's special signal. • The Violin Case — A 47-year-old foundry worker received a 17-year-old Black student's heart and developed a fascination with classical music. Initially dismissing any connection (thinking his donor would prefer rap), he later learned the donor had died clutching his violin case on the way to violin lessons. • Complete Transformation — One recipient experienced multiple changes — feeling the donor's fatal car accident in her chest, becoming vegetarian after being "McDonald's biggest money-maker," and changing from gay to straight: "After my transplant, I'm not ... I have absolutely no desire to be with a woman. I think I got a gender transplant." </div> In rare cases, heart transplant recipients are able to meet their donors, due to a phenomenon known as “domino transplants” where a patient with failing lungs receives both a heart and lungs simultaneously and then donates their heart to someone else. When Pearsall interviewed a heart transplant recipient (Fred) and his donor (Jim), both of their wives noted the husband had taken on personality traits of their heart donor (e.g., the depression and romanticism of Jim’s now deceased donor), and that Fred periodically subconsciously mistook his wife for Jim’s wife. A longer list of some of the most compelling cases Pearsall came across can be found in the article he published.23 Many of the themes mentioned above are echoed within the article’s stories (e.g., the donor communicating to their family through the recipient, and the donor’s talents, fears or memories being transferred to the recipient). Additionally, a brief documentary compiled on Pearsall’s work shows live testimonials of transplant recipients affirming these inexplicable transferences of consciousness do in fact happen. <div class="video-rwd"> <figure class="op-interactive aspect-ratio"> </figure> </div> Note: Numerous readers have also shared with me that while they had not had a transplant, they had received significant blood transfusions (e.g., to save them from otherwise fatal traumatic blood loss) and had noticed they had experienced some of the personality changes described throughout this article, although not to the same degree as those seen in Pearsall’s cases. This could argue that part of your personality is information within the blood — something congruent with ideas put forward by long forgotten Russian research on <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/how-the-heart-controls-exactly-where" target="_blank">the full capacities of the heart</a>. <h2>The Sensitive Recipients</h2> Since most heart recipients don't report dramatic changes, Pearsall studied what made some sensitive to personality transfer. He identified eighteen traits commonly shared by sensitive individuals: <div class="indent"> 1. Feminine perspective (all but two were women) 2. Open-minded ("accommodators" vs. "assimilators") 3. Body aware (high kinesthetic intelligence) 4. Music lovers (especially classical) 5. Highly creative (vivid fantasy lives) 6. Environmentally sensitive (hyperalert to surroundings) 7. Good visualization (accurate donor descriptions) 8. Psychically sensitive (described as sensitive before transplant) 9. Dependent (trusting, therapy experience) 10. Compulsive (self-critical, hard workers) 11. Unresolved grief (prior emotional breaks) 12. Animal loving (believed animals were sentient) 13. Climate sensitive (loved nature, talked to plants) 14. Highly involved (lost track of time in activities) 15. Extensive dreaming (dreamed about donors post-transplant) 16. Highly sensual (enjoyed physical affection) 17. Ectomorphic (slender, narrow faces) 18. "Flow" vs. "fight" (went with flow vs. controlling) </div> Note: Many traits match what I observe in (<a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-hidden-link-between-hypermobility" target="_blank">frequently hypermobile</a>) individuals who are more susceptible to pharmaceutical reactions — <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-hidden-link-between-hypermobility" target="_blank">the "sensitive patients."</a> <h2>Other Organs and Chinese Medicine</h2> Pearsall observed personality changes in liver and kidney recipients too, though less dramatically. Within Chinese Medicine, emotions are believed to originate from specific organs: liver with anger, lung with grief, heart with joy, spleen with pensiveness, and kidneys with fear. My colleagues working with transplant recipients find that emotional changes typically match the pathological emotions associated with the transplanted organ according to Chinese medicine. Note: The development of crowd psychology24 was partly based on observing that emotions could be contagious, rapidly spreading through groups — almost as though something jumps from person to person. <h2>Where Are Memories Really Stored?</h2> This raises fundamental questions about memory. In my medical practice, I frequently see patients with <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-profound-consequences-of-trauma" target="_blank">traumatic memories stored in their tissues</a> that resurface in daily life and often disappear once addressed. For example, a veteran with PTSD from an IED blast recovered after <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/regenerative-medicine-and-the-cell" target="_blank">neural therapy</a> on his blast scars — again raising profound questions about where many memories reside. Memory research, in turn, suggests memories exist in distributed brain networks as destroying specific parts of the brain not being able to eliminate memory, with theories proposing the brain functions like a hologram or encodes pathways for accessing memories stored elsewhere — such as those from the previous donor.25 Since academic success revolves around memorization, I’ve extensively explored this subject, in the process discovering both critical pitfalls to avoid (e.g., <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-cholesterol-scam-and-the" target="_blank">statins</a>, <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/we-now-have-proof-the-covid-vaccines" target="_blank">COVID vaccinations</a>, and <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/what-they-dont-tell-you-about-anxiety" target="_blank">benzodiazepines</a>) and in turn attribute my academic success to learning how memories entered the mind and discovering <a href="https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-art-of-memorization" target="_blank">a simple but highly effective memorization technique</a> which for some reason is never taught in schools. In turn, exploring my own mind has led me to suspect some memories aren't stored within the body, potentially providing a mechanism for organs to "transfer" complex memories. <h2>The Psychology of New Hearts</h2> Heart recipients often struggle psychologically, primarily from unwillingness to accept that a foreign being has entered them and may influence their personality. Recipients often worry more about their donor's character than health.26 A Yale surgeon noted one patient's wife sharing: "[He] occasionally seems to go into a trance ... his mind is really trying to escape those thoughts about whose heart he is carrying." Pearsall found recipients typically followed five stages of grief: fighting (anxiety, anger), flow (euphoria, advocacy), anguish (depression, guilt), and finally a crossroads where most returned to stronger denial, while one in ten became intensely interested in their donor.27 Since psychiatric disorders are frequently observed in heart recipients, psychological and physiological rejection may be interrelated.28 An academic cited by Pearsall concluded: "Transplant professionals generally agree that psychological rejection of the heart is sometimes associated with physiological rejection."29 Those who psychologically resist refer to "the heart" while those embracing it say "my heart." The New York Times covered a Valentine's Day party for heart recipients where almost everyone reported "spiritual memories." The author described: "All the people spoke in reverent tones about the angel in their chests, about this gift, this responsibility they now bear, and the little prayer they say to the other person inside them."30 <h2>Addressing Trapped Emotions</h2> Throughout my life, I've found that permanent resolution of difficult emotions typically requires treating them as tangible entities trapped within the body, then using mind-body approaches to release them. Note: Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy sometimes permanently addresses these issues, while EMDR (often insurance-covered) or psychotherapy with hypnosis can help. Many approaches rely on Chinese medicine frameworks linking organs to emotions. In Sylvia's story, she suggested that like trapped emotions, donor spirits can ge </article> <article> <h1>Health Benefits of Topical Magnesium Lotions and Sprays</h1> Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Magnesium quietly powers your body’s most important functions, from steady nerve signaling to smooth muscle movement and clear thinking. When levels drop too low, the effects show up as fatigue, poor sleep, cramps, or that stubborn brain fog that doesn’t seem to lift. Unlike many other nutrients, this mineral is notoriously difficult to replenish through food alone, leaving most adults at a deficit that chips away at their energy day after day. Interest in topical magnesium has exploded because it offers a direct way to restore balance without relying on digestion. Sprays and lotions promise fast relief, and people are turning to them for everything from easing sore muscles to calming restless nights. But with the hype also comes the need for clarity: which benefits are backed by science, and which are still more promise than proof? What follows is a closer look at how topical magnesium works, why it’s generating so much attention, and what researchers are beginning to uncover about its impact on your health. <div class="video-rwd"> <figure class="op-interactive aspect-ratio"> </figure> </div> <h2>Why More People Are Turning to Magnesium Sprays for Better Health</h2> An article published by Everyday Health looked at how magnesium oil sprays are marketed for muscle pain, better sleep, migraine relief, restless legs, and skin health.1 The focus was on whether topical magnesium is truly effective at raising your magnesium levels or easing symptoms in a way that matches the claims on product labels. <div class="indent"> • Magnesium influences nearly every part of your body — Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietitian-nutritionist, noted, "I can’t think of a body part that magnesium doesn’t affect," pointing out that most people fall short of the recommended daily allowance. Dr. Joaquin Villegas added that <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/09/18/magnesium-vitamin-d-mental-health-benefits.aspx" target="_blank">magnesium</a> blocks pain pathways in your nervous system. When these pathways are quieted, nerve signals carrying pain are reduced. • Studies suggest benefits for fibromyalgia and restless legs — One study with 24 participants applied magnesium chloride to arms and legs and saw symptom improvement in fibromyalgia, though without a placebo group for comparison.2 Another investigation linked oral magnesium to reduced nighttime leg movements and better sleep in <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/06/20/restless-legs-syndrome.aspx" target="_blank">restless legs syndrome</a>, though it’s unclear if topical sprays would have the same effect.3 • How magnesium spray helps with nerve and muscle relaxation — Magnesium not only calms pain pathways but also blocks calcium from flooding into muscle cells, which allows muscles to relax. This is why people dealing with spasms, twitching, or tightness often notice relief after applying sprays to their legs, shoulders, or back. • Topical magnesium and headache relief — Villegas explained that low magnesium is linked to blood vessel narrowing in the brain, a known <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/04/22/migraine-triggers-treatments.aspx" target="_blank">migraine trigger</a>. While oral magnesium helps and the effectiveness of magnesium spray for headache relief is plausible, no topical research exists for this condition. </div> <h2>The Surprising Benefits of Magnesium Lotion</h2> An article from Stork Helpers explored unexpected ways magnesium lotion supports everyday health, particularly for women dealing with pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and hormonal shifts.4 By applying lotion to your skin, you give your body a direct route to the mineral while also gaining the soothing effects of massage and moisture. <div class="indent"> • Magnesium lotion helps improve sleep without grogginess — Magnesium plays a role in regulating melatonin, the hormone that sets your sleep cycle. By calming your nervous system, lotion use before bed promotes deeper rest and fewer night wakings. • Magnesium lotion eases leg cramps, back tightness, and shoulder pain — When magnesium levels are low, muscles contract too easily, leading to tension. Applying magnesium directly to sore areas helps relax muscles faster and restore comfort, whether from pregnancy strain or daily overuse. • Stress reduction and hormonal balance are additional benefits — Magnesium lotion was tied to lowering cortisol, your main stress hormone. Consistently <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/09/02/simple-ways-to-flush-cortisol.aspx" target="_blank">high cortisol</a> drains energy and keeps you on edge. By applying lotion in calming moments — such as before bed or during stressful days — you actively help your body reset. Beyond stress, magnesium supports hormones like estrogen and progesterone, which affect mood, sleep, and energy stability.5 • Skin hydration and joint support were highlighted as additional effects — Magnesium strengthens your skin barrier, making it more resilient against dryness, irritation, or acne. This matters if you’re dealing with postpartum skin changes or conditions like <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/12/07/eczema-and-psoriasis.aspx" target="_blank">eczema</a>. Magnesium is also linked to bone and joint health — since it’s necessary for proper calcium absorption — helping to reduce stiffness and protect long-term mobility. • Energy production is another unique advantage — Instead of relying on caffeine or sugar highs, magnesium lotion supports natural energy at the cellular level. If you’re struggling with fatigue, adding magnesium lotion to your daily routine gives your cells support to produce steady energy. </div> <h2>Pilot Study Shows Magnesium Cream Raises Blood Levels</h2> Whether or not topical magnesium effectively raises your internal magnesium levels is a topic of debate. A study published in PLOS One tested whether magnesium cream absorbs through your skin. The investigators recruited 25 adults and randomly assigned them to apply either a magnesium-containing cream or a placebo for two weeks.6 Each daily application delivered 56 milligrams (mg) of magnesium, which is lower than the doses in most commercial creams or oils. The purpose was to see if this small amount could still move the needle on blood or urine magnesium levels. <div class="indent"> • The participants included both athletes and non-athletes, with results differing between these groups — Overall, the magnesium group showed an 8.5% rise in serum magnesium and a 9% rise in urinary magnesium compared to smaller changes in the placebo group. However, these differences were not statistically significant when athletes were included, since intense training alters magnesium needs and excretion. In non-athletes, the picture shifted — blood magnesium increased significantly by nearly 23%, while the placebo group only rose by about 4%. • Even small improvements in magnesium status matter — For example, the researchers pointed out that a 0.2 mmol/L rise in blood magnesium was linked in past studies to a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular disease. This suggests that even subtle changes in blood levels from topical use could translate into meaningful heart protection over time. • The effects took place within just two weeks — The fact that transdermal use produced results in such a short window suggests that skin absorption is a valid way to raise magnesium status, at least in those who are not exercising heavily. This means a faster track to restoring magnesium balance without relying solely on pills. • Topical magnesium changed how the body managed its mineral balance — While urinary magnesium rose slightly in the treatment group, it dropped by 32% in the placebo group. This suggests that the body was actively conserving magnesium in the placebo group, while those using cream had enough coming in through the skin that they didn’t need to hold on to as much. It’s another sign that topical delivery contributes to real physiological changes, even if not dramatic across all populations. </div> <h2>How to Fix Low Magnesium the Right Way</h2> If you’re dealing with fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, or blood sugar swings, there’s a strong chance <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/12/09/women-magnesium-deficiency.aspx" target="_blank">magnesium deficiency</a> is at the root. Even if you try to eat healthy magnesium-rich foods, soil depletion and food processing strip away the very minerals your body needs most. You end up running on empty at the cellular level. The fastest way to turn this around is not to throw random supplements at the problem but to use a strategy that restores balance step by step. <div class="indent"> 1. Stop relying on food alone — Even if you eat organic vegetables, the soil today contains far less magnesium than it did decades ago. And while nuts and seeds are often labeled as high-magnesium foods, they’re loaded with <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/07/17/linoleic-acid.aspx" target="_blank">linoleic acid</a> (LA), which blocks energy production and fuels inflammation. That’s why I don’t recommend them as a reliable source. Think of food as supportive, but not typically enough to meet your needs on its own. 2. Find your true magnesium threshold — Your body needs an individualized approach, not a generic dose. Start with magnesium citrate, which is absorbed well but will cause loose stools if you take too much. Gradually increase your dose until that happens, then back off slightly. That’s your personal threshold. Once you know it, switch to forms like magnesium glycinate, malate, or threonate, which deliver the benefits without upsetting your digestion. 3. Add topical magnesium for direct absorption — Magnesium lotion or sprays give you another way in. You absorb magnesium through your skin, which bypasses your digestive system and gives fast relief for sore muscles, stress, and sleep problems. If you struggle with restless legs at night or joint stiffness in the morning, applying magnesium lotion directly to those areas helps calm nerves and relax muscles quickly. 4. Time your magnesium for maximum effect — When you take it matters just as much as how much you take. A dose before bed supports deeper sleep by calming your nervous system and balancing melatonin. A morning application of magnesium lotion gives your cells an energy boost without caffeine. Think of magnesium like fuel — spread it through your day where your body needs it most. 5. Make magnesium part of your self-care routine — Your body responds better when magnesium use feels enjoyable instead of like another chore. Turn your nightly application of magnesium lotion into a calming ritual — rub it into sore muscles, breathe deeply, and let it signal your brain that it’s time to wind down. If you struggle with stress or racing thoughts at bedtime, this simple routine not only delivers the mineral but also trains your nervous system to relax. Over time, your body starts to associate the lotion with comfort, making it easier to stay consistent and reap the long-term benefits. </div> <h2>FAQs About Topical Magnesium</h2> <div class="faq"> <div> Q: Why is magnesium so important for my health? A: Magnesium is involved in over 600 processes in your body,7 from muscle relaxation and nerve signaling to blood sugar control and energy production. Without enough of it, you’re more likely to deal with fatigue, brain fog, sleep problems, and even higher risk of heart disease. </div> <div> Q: Can I really absorb magnesium through my skin? A: Yes. Research in PLOS One showed that using a magnesium cream daily raised blood magnesium levels in non-athletes within just two weeks.8 This means your skin serves as an effective entry point, bypassing digestion and giving your cells direct access to this mineral. </div> <div> Q: How is magnesium lotion or spray different from oral supplements? A: Magnesium lotions and sprays bypass the digestive system, delivering the mineral directly into your bloodstream. They also let you target sore muscles, stiff joints, or restless legs more directly. </div> <div> Q: What benefits will I notice if I start using magnesium lotion? A: You may experience deeper sleep, fewer nighttime leg cramps, less muscle soreness, calmer stress responses, and more steady energy during the day. Some people also report improvements in skin hydration, joint comfort, and hormonal balance. </div> <div> Q: What’s the best way to restore healthy magnesium levels? A: Food alone is not enough, since soil depletion has lowered the magnesium content of vegetables, and nuts and seeds are too high in harmful fats like LA. The best strategy is to find your personal magnesium threshold using citrate supplements, then switch to gentler forms like glycinate or threonate. Adding topical magnesium as a daily ritual gives your body another reliable source. </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Meeting transgender patients with compassion and equity in health care [PODCAST]</h1> Thu, 16 Oct 2025 23:00:26 +0000 Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Infectious disease physician Tyler B. Evans discusses his article “Meeting transgender patients where they are: a health care imperative.” Tyler, an infectious disease specialist and author of Pandemics, Poverty, and Politics: Decoding the Social and Political Drivers of Pandemics from Plague <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/meeting-transgender-patients-with-compassion-and-equity-in-health-care-podcast.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Read more…</a> <a href="https://kevinmd.com/2025/10/meeting-transgender-patients-with-compassion-and-equity-in-health-care-podcast.html" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">Meeting transgender patients with compassion and equity in health care [PODCAST]</a> originally appeared in <a href="https://kevinmd.com" data-wpel-link="internal" target="_self" rel="follow noopener">KevinMD.com</a>. </article> </main></body></html>