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Curcumin Targets Colon Cancer at Its Source Without Harming Healthy Cells

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If you're like most people, you probably think of turmeric as just a flavorful spice. But behind its golden color is curcumin — a powerful compound that’s drawing serious attention from cancer researchers. What’s becoming clear is that curcumin isn’t just helpful for managing symptoms. It appears to work at a much deeper level, changing how cells behave before disease fully takes hold.

Colorectal cancer remains one of the most aggressive and common forms of cancer worldwide. The real danger lies in how early it starts and how silently it progresses. While many treatments target tumors after they appear, the real opportunity lies in disrupting the cancer process before it begins — when certain abnormal cells are quietly laying the groundwork for tumor formation, resistance, and relapse.

Emerging evidence shows that curcumin does more than reduce inflammation or act as an antioxidant. It reaches the root of the problem, influencing gene activity and signaling pathways that determine whether a cell becomes dangerous or stays harmless.

Researchers are now mapping out exactly how it works, and the results are promising. One of the most striking findings involves how curcumin interacts with cells that act as the engine of cancer development. Understanding this connection is key if you want to interrupt disease before it ever shows up on a scan.

Curcumin Helps Shut Down Colon Cancer at Its Earliest Stage

A study published in Cancer Letters looked at how curcumin affects a specific type of dangerous cell found in colon cancer.¹ These rare cells act like the engine behind cancer growth, making tumors harder to treat and more likely to come back. Researchers tested whether curcumin could change how these cells behave, especially their ability to multiply and resist treatment.

• Curcumin wiped out most of the cancer stem-like cells — In both human and mouse models, curcumin reduced the number of these aggressive cells by over 80%. These cells were marked by specific proteins (ALDH and NANOG) that make them especially dangerous. Even small amounts of curcumin — similar to what you'd get from taking a supplement — were enough to shut them down.

• Instead of killing all cells, curcumin guided the dangerous ones back to normal — Curcumin didn’t just destroy cancer cells. It pushed them to behave more like regular cells by triggering a natural process called differentiation. This means the stem-like cells lost their power to multiply endlessly and form new tumors. Unlike chemotherapy, which kills healthy and unhealthy cells alike, curcumin left the normal ones alone.

• Mice treated with curcumin had slower tumor growth and lived longer — When curcumin was used early in the disease process, tumors took longer to form, and in some cases, disappeared entirely. Mice lived longer and stayed healthier. This shows that curcumin isn’t just helpful after cancer appears; it could be a powerful tool for stopping it before it gets serious.

• People with less aggressive tumors had the best results — In lab tests using tissue from real patients, those with a lower number of fast-growing cancer stem cells responded best to curcumin. These individuals also had better outcomes and longer periods without cancer progression, suggesting curcumin works best when the disease is caught early or hasn’t turned aggressive.

• Curcumin blocks the main protein that fuels cancer growth — Scientists found that curcumin directly attaches to a protein called NANOG, which acts like a master switch that tells cancer stem cells to keep growing. By binding to NANOG, curcumin turned off its tumor-promoting messages and stopped it from activating other cancer-related genes.

When curcumin silenced NANOG, it allowed normal healing pathways to restart. This helped healthy cells recover and made it harder for cancer to take control again. In simple terms, curcumin didn’t just block cancer — it helped the body repair itself at the source.

Curcumin Compounds Fight Cancer Without Harming Healthy Cells

A 2024 study published in Frontiers in Nutrition examined how curcuminoids — the active compounds in turmeric — affect cancer, inflammation, aging, and brain health.² Researchers focused on curcumin, demethoxycurcumin (DMC), and bisdemethoxycurcumin (BDMC), analyzing how they influence disease-related processes at the molecular level. They also reviewed innovative delivery methods designed to improve how well your body absorbs and uses these healing compounds.

• Curcuminoids shut off the survival switches cancer relies on — Tumors thrive by turning on certain genetic signals that allow them to multiply and resist treatment. Curcuminoids interrupt those signals by blocking inflammatory triggers and suppressing enzymes that fuel inflammation and tumor growth. These actions make it much harder for cancer cells to survive and spread.

• Curcuminoids block blood supply to tumors and slow cancer’s spread — Cancer can’t grow without its own blood supply. Curcuminoids interfere with this process by lowering levels of a protein that tells your body to build new blood vessels and by blocking enzymes that help tumors invade nearby tissue. By disrupting these mechanisms, curcuminoids help starve tumors of oxygen and nutrients, while also reducing the risk of metastasis.

• They protect your healthy cells during radiation and make cancer cells more vulnerable — The study also highlighted how curcuminoids offer rare dual benefits in radiation therapy. In healthy tissue, they reduce oxidative damage and improve antioxidant defenses, helping shield you from the side effects of treatment. In cancer cells, curcumin makes tumors more sensitive to radiation by weakening their ability to repair DNA damage.

• Curcuminoids lower inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain — While the review focused on cancer, curcumin also offers strong brain benefits. Curcuminoids reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain — two major drivers of cognitive decline. They lower harmful compounds like reactive oxygen species and calm inflammatory signals that damage neurons.

• They help prevent and manage chronic, age-related diseases — Curcuminoids don’t just focus on one pathway — they influence dozens of systems at the same time. That makes them especially powerful for preventing and treating conditions like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and metabolic disorders. Their wide-ranging effects include improving mitochondrial function, calming overactive immune responses, and reducing chronic inflammation tied to aging, often called "inflammaging."

How to Interrupt Cancer at the Root Before It Starts

To lower your risk of colorectal cancer — or stop it from coming back — the most powerful strategy is to act early. You don’t want to just kill off rogue cells after they turn into tumors. You want to stop the signals that let those cells multiply and spread in the first place. That’s where curcumin shines.

The research shows it works best when used preventively and consistently — especially when your gut and immune system are working with it, not against it. Whether you’ve had a suspicious polyp removed, carry a family history, or simply want to avoid ever being in that position, here’s where to start:

1. Start a therapeutic curcumin supplement that actually gets absorbed — Most turmeric capsules on the shelf won’t move the needle — your body simply doesn’t absorb them. You’d need to swallow spoonfuls a day to see results, and even then, most of it gets broken down in your liver. Choose a curcumin supplement with enhanced bioavailability, like one paired with piperine (black pepper extract) or one in a liposomal form.

These delivery methods get the curcumin into your bloodstream, where it actually binds to harmful proteins and reprograms cancer-prone cells.

2. Take it with healthy fat and your largest meal — Curcumin is fat-soluble, so it works best when you take it with a source of good saturated fat. Think grass fed butter, ghee, or tallow — not vegetable oils. You don’t need to eat a heavy meal, just make sure some high-quality fat is present. One of the simplest ways to boost absorption is to take your curcumin supplement with your largest meal of the day.

3. Fix your gut terrain — If you’re dealing with bloating, loose stools, food intolerances, or other signs of gut imbalance, start there. A disrupted gut barrier and harmful bacteria create the perfect environment for colorectal cancer to take hold. Curcumin supports gut healing, but only if you also remove the roadblocks. Eliminate vegetable oils, which are rich in linoleic acid (LA), and ultraprocessed foods, which poison your mitochondria and fuel chronic inflammation.

4. Build meals that support cellular repair, not disease — Center your meals around whole foods: grass fed meats, wild-caught fish, pastured eggs, organic produce, and saturated fats from clean sources. These foods nourish your mitochondria, balance your blood sugar, and create an environment that cancer stem-like cells can’t thrive in. They also support your microbiome’s anticancer functions — key for keeping inflammation low and immune surveillance high.

5. Layer in habits that help curcumin work even better — Curcumin doesn’t do everything on its own — it amplifies what your body is already trying to do. So, help it out. Get outside in the morning for sunlight. Move your body throughout the day. Sleep deeply at night. These are the habits that lower oxidative stress, boost energy production, and activate your body’s natural repair systems. When your terrain is right, curcumin has a much better chance of stopping cancer before it starts.

FAQs About Curcumin and Cancer

Q: What makes curcumin different from other natural compounds in cancer prevention?

A: Curcumin stands out because it doesn’t just reduce inflammation or act as an antioxidant — it directly interferes with cancer’s root mechanisms. It binds to and blocks NANOG, a master regulator protein that fuels cancer stem cells, helping reprogram these cells so they lose their ability to spread or resist treatment.

Q: How does curcumin affect colorectal cancer specifically?

A: Studies show that curcumin reduces colorectal cancer stem-like cells by over 80%, slows tumor growth, and improves survival in animal models. In human tissue samples, it worked best when cancer cells were caught early and hadn’t become aggressive, showing curcumin is most powerful as a preventive measure.

Q: What makes curcumin different from conventional cancer therapies?

A: Curcumin works with your body instead of against it. Unlike conventional treatments that kill both healthy and cancerous cells, curcumin supports your body’s natural repair systems and targets only abnormal cells, helping maintain long-term cellular balance without harsh side effects.

Q: What’s the best way to take curcumin?

A: To be effective, curcumin needs to be absorbed well. Look for supplements that include piperine (from black pepper) or use liposomal delivery systems. Always take curcumin with a source of healthy fat, like grass fed butter or ghee, and time it with your largest meal for better absorption.

Q: How does your diet and lifestyle impact curcumin’s effectiveness?

A: Curcumin works best in a healthy internal environment. Eliminate processed foods and vegetable oils rich in LA, which damage your gut and mitochondria. Build meals with anti-inflammatory whole foods and adopt daily habits like morning sunlight, movement, and sleep to support your body’s natural repair systems and help curcumin do its job.

Adenomyosis Is a Hidden, Estrogen-Driven Cause of Severe Period Pain

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If your period pain feels unbearable — like a deep, throbbing ache or stabbing cramps that knock the wind out of you — it's not something to brush off. Pain that severe isn’t normal. For millions of women, it’s the body’s warning signal for something deeper that’s often misunderstood or completely missed.

You’ve likely been told that heavy bleeding, pelvic pressure, and fatigue are just part of being a woman. But what if those symptoms point to a disease that's quietly hijacking your uterus and flooding your body with inflammation? That’s the reality for countless women who are dismissed, misdiagnosed, or left in the dark for years, sometimes decades. This condition, known as adenomyosis, doesn’t always show up clearly on a scan.

It’s not taught well in medical school. And it’s rarely mentioned in mainstream conversations about women’s health. But it’s there, silently reshaping lives, month after month. I want to walk you through what the research now shows — why it happens, who’s at risk, and what your options actually are. The science is evolving fast, and the data is clear: you don’t have to live like this. Let’s take a look at the overlooked patterns and newest discoveries about this underdiagnosed disease.

Most Women Are Told Their Pain Is Normal — It Isn’t

From the women suffering through debilitating cramps to the doctors mislabeling it as "just a bad period," an article in The Hearty Soul pulls back the curtain on how widespread yet invisible adenomyosis is.¹ It presents differently from endometriosis and takes a devastating toll on a woman’s social life, mental well-being, and ability to function day to day.

• Symptoms often mimic other conditions, which causes many women to go undiagnosed — Unlike endometriosis, adenomyosis causes the uterine wall itself to thicken and expand, sometimes doubling or tripling in size. Women describe the pain as knife-like cramping that strikes during menstruation, along with painful sex, bloating, pelvic pressure, and severe bleeding that disrupts quality of life.

There’s a cultural normalization of these symptoms, but just because menstrual pain is common doesn’t mean it’s normal.

• Doctors often dismiss or misinterpret these symptoms, further delaying diagnosis — Gynecologist Dr. Shamitha Kathurusinghe, who points out that many doctors are themselves misinformed: “There’s a lot of misinformation because there’s a lot of misunderstanding that comes from messaging that doctors are getting.” That means women aren’t just being ignored — they’re being actively misled into thinking their symptoms don’t warrant investigation.

• The lack of awareness creates a cycle of isolation and suffering — Many women miss work, cancel plans, and lose relationships because of the unpredictability and severity of their symptoms. Yet they often remain silent out of embarrassment or fear of being labeled “dramatic.”

• Adenomyosis doesn’t always come with symptoms, making it harder to catch early — The condition is often silent for years, only showing up after other reproductive complications arise. But when it does cause symptoms, it mimics endometriosis or fibroids, which complicates diagnosis and treatment decisions.

Younger Women Are Now at Risk — and Doctors Aren’t Catching It

A review published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine revealed just how often adenomyosis is missed or misunderstood in clinical settings.² The paper compiled data from dozens of high-quality studies to explore how adenomyosis affects everything from fertility to miscarriage risk. The review focused on women of reproductive age and made clear that current diagnostic and treatment approaches are still not consistent, even among specialists.

• Adenomyosis is now being found in much younger women than previously thought — The conventional view has been that this condition primarily affects women in their 40s or 50s, especially those who’ve already had children.

But the paper highlighted that focal forms of adenomyosis — where lesions are isolated rather than spread throughout the uterine muscle — are now increasingly being diagnosed in women in their 30s and even younger. These women often present with fertility problems or abnormal bleeding, but their symptoms are dismissed or misattributed to something else.

• There’s a strong link between adenomyosis and pregnancy complications — Women with adenomyosis have a much higher risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, preeclampsia (dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy), and delivering babies that are smaller than normal for their gestational age.

These risks are especially pronounced when the adenomyosis is diffuse, meaning it spreads across a wider area of the uterus rather than being confined to one spot. This type of tissue growth interferes with the placenta’s ability to attach and develop normally.

• Even though diagnostic tools exist, global guidelines are still not aligned — so your doctor’s advice may depend on where you live — While some countries are adopting advanced classification systems based on imaging criteria, others still lack a formal system to define or grade adenomyosis severity. That means two women with the exact same symptoms often get completely different diagnoses and treatments depending on which clinic or country they visit.

• The biological explanation lies in how the tissue invades the uterine muscle and disrupts its structure — Researchers believe that tissue from the uterine lining becomes embedded in the muscle wall either through mechanical injury — such as from surgery — or through a faulty junction between the endometrium and the myometrium — the inner and outer layers of the uterus.

Once this tissue is inside the muscle, it thickens and swells with each menstrual cycle, causing inflammation, scarring, and impaired uterine function.

• Several theories explain how adenomyosis starts, but most point to a breakdown in your uterine architecture — One theory, called tissue injury and repair, suggests that repeated damage to the uterine lining causes abnormal healing responses, leading to invasion of the muscle by uterine lining cells.

Another theory proposes that stem cells in the uterus misfire and turn into the wrong kind of tissue, embedding themselves where they don’t belong. In either case, the result is the same: a uterus that’s constantly inflamed, structurally compromised, and metabolically inefficient.

Adenomyosis Isn’t Just Painful — It Leads to Emergency Room Visits

An overview from Johns Hopkins Medicine highlights how adenomyosis becomes medically dangerous, not just inconvenient or uncomfortable.³ While the condition is often brushed off as a heavy period, the article makes clear that some women bleed so much they end up severely anemic, requiring blood transfusions just to restore basic function.

Gynecologic oncologist Dr. Mildred Chernofsky explains that adenomyosis involves tissue that grows into the muscular wall of the uterus and bleeds every month like normal uterine lining. But because it’s trapped in the muscle, it causes inflammation, swelling, and massive blood loss.

• The most severe cases involve hemoglobin levels dropping to life-threatening lows — According to Chernofsky, “I may see patients that bleed until they have a hemoglobin level of 7 grams per deciliter and are extremely anemic.” Normal hemoglobin levels for women range from 12 to 16 g/dL. When blood levels drop this low, women often experience fatigue, dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, and lightheadedness.

• Most women don’t even realize their uterus has enlarged until the symptoms are advanced — The uterus becomes spongy, heavy, and balloon-like. This bloating feels like constant pressure in your lower abdomen or a sense of fullness that doesn’t go away. Yet during physical exams, doctors often don’t recognize the warning signs unless they specifically palpate the uterus and check for size, shape, and density irregularities.

• Diagnosing adenomyosis still depends heavily on imaging, and MRI remains the most accurate tool — While an ultrasound is usually the first step, it’s not always sensitive enough to pick up on deeper tissue invasion. “MRI provides incredibly high-resolution images and shows us the thickness of the endometrial-myometrial junction,” says Chernofsky. That junction — the boundary where the uterine lining meets the muscle — is usually where the disease starts.

• Adenomyosis often gets confused with two other conditions: endometriosis and fibroids, but the treatments are different — While all three cause pelvic pain and heavy bleeding, they originate in different tissues and require different approaches. Endometriosis involves tissue outside the uterus. Fibroids are benign tumors. Adenomyosis, on the other hand, is diffuse tissue growth inside the uterine wall, and can’t simply be “cut out” the way fibroids sometimes are.

• Surgery is often used as a last resort — Unlike fibroids, adenomyosis tissue spreads throughout the uterus and often has fingerlike projections that invade the muscle. That makes it difficult to remove piece by piece. This means that for women with severe, unrelenting symptoms, removing the uterus becomes conventional medicine’s go-to permanent solution.

How to Stop Feeding the Root Cause of Adenomyosis

If you’ve been dealing with symptoms like heavy bleeding, intense cramping, or a constantly bloated abdomen — and you suspect or know you have adenomyosis — then it’s time to focus on the root of the issue: excess estrogen. Estrogen dominance fuels this disease.⁴ That includes both the estrogen your body produces and the synthetic or food-based estrogens you’re exposed to without realizing it.

You’re not powerless here. You can start taking control today. The goal is to block what’s driving this disease while rebuilding your energy and restoring balance. If you’re looking to avoid hormonal treatments like birth control pills or you’re looking for alternatives to surgery, these five steps will help you move forward.

1. Cut off the estrogen at the source — If you’re on birth control or hormone replacement therapy, and you're dealing with adenomyosis symptoms, those drugs are likely making things worse. Synthetic estrogens increase tissue growth inside your uterus.⁵

You’ll also want to stay far away from plastics, conventional cleaning products, and chemical-laden beauty products — these all contain xenoestrogens, which mimic estrogen in your body. Switch to glass containers, and use natural or homemade personal care and cleaning options.

2. Use natural progesterone to block the damage — Natural progesterone is your anti-estrogen. It doesn’t just relieve symptoms — it actually blocks the effects of both estrogen and cortisol. That’s a powerful combination. But don’t rush into it. If your diet is still holding you back from making energy at the cellular level, progesterone won’t have its full effect. First, rebuild your metabolic foundation.

Once your diet supports mitochondrial energy production, introducing a natural progesterone, as described below, makes a noticeable difference.

3. Fix your metabolism with the right carbs — not fewer — If you’ve been doing keto or low-carb, stop. Shift toward 250 grams of carbs per day, and more if you’re very active. This is what your cells need to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fuel that powers everything from brain function to hormone balance.

Start with white rice and whole fruit. Add well-cooked root vegetables next. Hold off on raw greens, whole grains and beans until your gut is healthy, meaning your bowel habits, bloating, and overall comfort are under control.

4. Filter your toxins, especially vegetable oils — Linoleic acid (LA), the dominant fat in vegetable oils, mimics estrogen, contributing to estrogen dominance. As a result, LA disrupts hormonal balance along with mitochondrial function. Cut out all forms of vegetable oils, including from processed foods, restaurant meals, and even nuts and seeds. Replace them with tallow, grass fed butter, or ghee.

5. Know your prolactin level — Many people believe they're low in estrogen due to bloodwork, when they actually have high levels in their organs. This is because serum estrogen levels are not representative of estrogen that's stored in tissues. Estrogen is often low in plasma but high in tissues. Prolactin levels serve as a reliable indicator of estrogen activity, as estrogen directly stimulates your pituitary gland to produce prolactin.

When prolactin levels are elevated, it signals increased estrogen receptor activation, whether from your body's own estrogen production or environmental exposures to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in microplastics and other pollutants. This relationship is particularly significant when combined with low thyroid function, making prolactin an important marker for identifying hormonal imbalance.

FAQs About Adenomyosis

Q: What is adenomyosis and how is it different from other conditions like endometriosis or fibroids?

A: Adenomyosis is a condition where the tissue that normally lines your uterus grows into the muscular wall of the uterus itself. This causes the uterus to swell and leads to intense cramps, heavy bleeding, and chronic pelvic pain. Unlike endometriosis (where tissue grows outside the uterus) or fibroids (benign tumors), adenomyosis spreads through the uterine muscle and can’t be removed surgically in the same way.

Q: Why do so many women go undiagnosed with adenomyosis?

A: Doctors often misinterpret adenomyosis symptoms or attribute them to other conditions. Symptoms like painful periods, bloating, and fatigue are frequently dismissed as “normal,” especially in younger women. Additionally, imaging tools like ultrasound don’t always catch the disease. MRI is more accurate but less commonly used, so many women are left undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years.

Q: What are the long-term risks of untreated adenomyosis?

A: Left untreated, adenomyosis often leads to severe anemia from chronic blood loss, requiring emergency care or blood transfusions. It also increases the risk of pregnancy complications, including miscarriage, preeclampsia, and preterm birth. Over time, the ongoing inflammation and uterine damage leads to reduced fertility and significant declines in quality of life.

Q: What is the root cause of adenomyosis and how do I address it?

A: The underlying driver of adenomyosis is excess estrogen, including both natural estrogen and environmental estrogens from plastics, chemicals, and synthetic hormones. To lower your estrogen load, cut out vegetable oils and processed foods, reduce chemical exposures and birth control pills, use natural progesterone and support your metabolism through strategic dietary shifts and mitochondrial repair.

Q: What steps can I take today to start feeling better?

A: Start by eliminating hormone disruptors like synthetic birth control and chemical-laden products. Shift to a higher-carb, whole-food diet to rebuild your mitochondrial function. Add natural progesterone and monitor prolactin levels to get a more accurate picture of your true estrogen burden and hormonal balance.

Hydrogen-Rich Water Linked to Reduced Muscle Damage from Exercise

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Resistance training helps preserve muscle and support metabolic health, but it also produces microscopic damage to muscle fibers. When you're younger, this damage acts as a signal for adaptation and growth. As you get older, though, your body becomes less efficient at managing the physiological stress that comes with physical activity.

If you're over 50 and using exercise to maintain health and vitality, recovery becomes just as important as the workout itself. The need for strategies that support healing, reduce inflammation, and build resilience is growing, especially among those who want to avoid pharmaceutical solutions. One approach gaining attention is hydrogen-rich water, a simple tool with growing scientific backing.

Researchers at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, recently examined whether drinking hydrogen-rich water could help untrained older adults adapt more effectively to a structured resistance training program. Their results suggest this approach offers a low-risk way to support exercise recovery and strengthen physiological resilience as you age.¹

What Is Hydrogen-Rich Water?

Hydrogen-rich water is water infused with molecular hydrogen gas (H₂). This form of hydrogen consists of two atoms bonded together and dissolved into water under controlled conditions. Unlike hydrogen bound in food or tissues, molecular hydrogen exists as a free gas with distinct biological effects. Once dissolved, it enters your bloodstream and reaches cells and tissues directly.^2,3

• It acts as a selective antioxidant — Instead of suppressing all oxidative activity, hydrogen specifically targets harmful free radicals like hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite. These compounds are known to damage muscle tissue during and after exertion. By neutralizing them selectively, hydrogen supports healing without disrupting your body’s natural signaling systems.

• It supports the body’s own antioxidant defenses — Alongside its direct antioxidant action, hydrogen triggers a mild cellular stress response known as molecular hormesis. This adaptive signal strengthens internal defense mechanisms by increasing production of protective enzymes like glutathione, catalase, and superoxide dismutase.

This response is largely driven by NRF2, a master regulator of your antioxidant pathways. By enhancing your body’s internal control systems rather than masking symptoms, hydrogen helps restore redox balance and manage inflammation during times of physical or metabolic stress.

• It reaches the mitochondria, where protection is most needed — Because hydrogen is the smallest molecule in the universe, it passes easily through cell membranes and enters sensitive areas like the mitochondria. This is especially relevant during periods of oxidative stress or aging, when mitochondrial function is most vulnerable to damage and least able to self-repair.

• You can drink hydrogen-rich water, soak in it, or use it in cold plunges — Hydrogen is rapidly absorbed whether you ingest it or apply it to the skin. If you’re dealing with joint pain, hydrogen baths have helped some people experience uninterrupted, pain-free sleep after years of discomfort. Cold plunges with hydrogen tablets increase absorption even further, especially since cooler water holds more gas and penetrates more deeply during recovery.

To learn more about the benefits of hydrogen-rich water, read “How Molecular Hydrogen Helps Reduce Inflammation and Support Cellular Repair.”

Hydrogen Water Supports Muscular Resilience in Adults Over 50

The featured randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, published in Research in Sports Medicine,⁴ involved 27 healthy participants between the ages of 50 and 65, all of whom were untrained at the outset and consented to take part in a structured exercise intervention. They consumed either hydrogen-rich water (12 milligram molecular hydrogen per serving) or placebo water (less than 0.1 parts per million hydrogen) twice daily for six weeks, alongside supervised resistance training.

• The most notable benefits involved markers of muscle damage — Both the hydrogen and placebo groups demonstrated improvements in muscle strength compared to their own baselines. However, when comparing outcomes between groups, the hydrogen-rich water produced more favorable shifts in several physiological markers, specifically lower levels of creatine kinase and myoglobin, suggesting that the intervention helped protect against acute muscular injury related to training.

• Hormone and lipid profiles also improved — Hormonal analysis showed that participants in the hydrogen group experienced modest but statistically significant increases in hormones such as free testosterone, which signal enhanced endocrine support for physical adaptation. Improvements were also seen in lipid profiles, with reductions in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels following the six-week intervention.

• In addition to physical markers, researchers assessed sleep quality — The hydrogen group reported positive changes in five out of seven measured domains of sleep. These improvements were absent in the placebo group. Although the study was not primarily designed to measure sleep, the observed changes suggest a broader systemic benefit that may extend beyond the musculoskeletal system.

• Researchers call for larger trials to confirm hydrogen’s exercise benefits — With an established safety profile and no reported adverse effects, the authors concluded that hydrogen-rich water offers a low-risk hydration strategy. Sergej Ostojic, one of the study’s authors, told NutraIngredients:⁵

“While further studies are needed in broader populations, hydrogen-rich water appears to be a promising and accessible option for supporting exercise adaptation in adults over the age of 50 who are just starting a fitness program …

Future studies should focus on large, well-controlled trials involving different populations and types of physical activity. It’s important to standardize how much hydrogen is used and to measure its actual concentration at the time of intake.

Long-term safety, individual responses, and how HRW (hydrogen-rich water) compares to other health strategies need to be studied. Real-world trials will help assess how practical and effective HRW is in daily life.”⁶

What Are the Broader Benefits of Molecular Hydrogen?

The benefits of molecular hydrogen go beyond muscle recovery. Because it acts directly on cellular defense and repair systems, hydrogen influences biological pathways that support resilience across multiple organs and tissues. Research has shown that molecular hydrogen contributes to:

• Improved metabolic regulation and insulin sensitivity — In models of metabolic syndrome and diet-induced fatty liver, hydrogen helped preserve liver function and improve insulin signaling. Researchers observed stimulation of GLUT4 translocation, a process normally triggered by insulin, suggesting that hydrogen may enhance glucose uptake and metabolic recovery even in insulin-resistant states.^7,8

• Enhanced circulation and vascular function — Hydrogen supports microvascular health by promoting better blood flow. This improves tissue oxygenation and nutrient delivery, which are critical for healing and physical recovery. These benefits may be especially important in individuals with impaired circulation or chronic joint stiffness.⁹

• Neurological support and stress resilience — Hydrogen crosses the blood-brain barrier and supports mitochondrial energy production in neurons. Studies and user reports link hydrogen use with improvements in mental clarity, reduced fatigue, better stress regulation, and more restorative sleep.^10,11,12

• Reduced joint pain and inflammation — Hydrogen’s anti-inflammatory action extends to joints and connective tissues. Individuals with chronic pain or stiffness, whether from age, injury, or overuse, have reported meaningful relief after using hydrogen-rich water or hydrogen baths. In some cases, this translated into more comfortable, uninterrupted sleep for the first time in years.^13,14

To explore its full range of systemic benefits, read “Molecular Hydrogen — The Powerful Antioxidant You've Never Heard Of.”

How to Incorporate Hydrogen-Rich Water Into Your Routine

With all the benefits of hydrogen-rich water, it’s worth making it part of your daily routine. Drinking hydrogen-rich water offers a practical way to activate your body’s cellular repair mechanisms. The key is to follow a method that ensures effective concentration, timing, and consistency. If you're ready to get started, follow these steps to use it effectively:

1. Use high-concentration molecular hydrogen tablets — Quality tablets generate about 8 to 10 ppm of dissolved hydrogen gas when properly dissolved in water. Some products contain contaminants, so choose high-quality tablets from trusted sources — learn more in “The Science Behind Molecular Hydrogen Tablets.”

2. Consume 1 liter promptly for a strong therapeutic pulse — Dissolve two tablets in 1 liter of room-temperature water and drink the entire amount in one sitting. Keep in mind that once the tablets are fully dissolved and the water has turned white, which takes anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, depending on the temperature of the water, you'll want to drink it as fast as possible.

Room temperature water is best, allowing the tablets to dissolve in about 90 seconds. Between 45 and 90 seconds, the water will have a stable concentration of hydrogen at or above 10 ppm. Between one and six minutes, it will drop from 10 ppm to 1.6 ppm. So, the faster you drink it, the better.

3. Split dosing is possible, but single pulses are more effective — If drinking a full liter feels difficult, you can divide it into two 500 mL servings with one tablet each. One dose in the morning and one in the afternoon still delivers benefits, though the most robust effects tend to come from taking the full pulse at once, particularly on an empty stomach.

4. Cycle your intake to maintain effectiveness — Taking periodic breaks helps preserve your body’s responsiveness to hydrogen. A few days to a few weeks off can reset cellular sensitivity. Many users adjust frequency based on physical stress, illness, or recovery demands, using more during intense periods and less during calm or baseline states.

5. Pair with foundational lifestyle habits — Hydrogen-rich water works best when combined with health-supportive practices like whole-food nutrition, movement, and good sleep. It enhances the body’s response to those inputs.

With no taste or toxicity, hydrogen-rich water fits seamlessly into your daily life. Taken as recommended above, it becomes a powerful tool for supporting your body’s repair systems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Hydrogen-Rich Water

Q: What is hydrogen-rich water, and what are its benefits?

A: Hydrogen-rich water is water infused with molecular hydrogen gas (H₂), a biologically active molecule that’s absorbed into the bloodstream. It acts as a selective antioxidant, neutralizing harmful free radicals, and supports the body’s natural defense systems through mechanisms like molecular hormesis and NRF2 activation. Many people use it to support recovery, reduce inflammation, and enhance resilience after physical stress.

Q: How does hydrogen-rich water support my exercise recovery?

A: Hydrogen-rich water helps modulate inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which increase during and after resistance training. It protects muscle tissue by reducing markers of muscle damage like creatine kinase and myoglobin. It also activates endogenous antioxidant pathways that support faster recovery and better adaptation, especially in older adults or those new to exercise.

Q: Why are hydrogen tablets better than other methods?

A: Molecular hydrogen tablets provide higher concentrations of dissolved hydrogen than water ionizers or bottled hydrogen water. They’re portable, easy to use, and reliably deliver bioactive hydrogen when dissolved in water. When consumed immediately after the reaction, they create a strong therapeutic pulse that is more effective than continuous low-level exposure.

Q: Should I cycle the use of hydrogen water or take it continuously?

A: Hydrogen is most effective when used in pulses. Continuous intake throughout the day can blunt the response, whereas strategic cycling (taking periodic breaks) helps preserve sensitivity and maximize long-term effects. Many users adjust intake based on recovery demands, stress levels, or training cycles.

Q: What’s the best time of day for me to drink hydrogen water?

A: Hydrogen water is best consumed in the morning on an empty stomach, or immediately before or after exercise. This timing supports higher absorption, better mitochondrial activity, and a more effective cellular response during recovery.

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Why is the covert bill provision in Congress dangerous to your health rights?

It shields pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits
The provision would make it nearly impossible for people harmed by pesticides to seek legal recourse, even if companies knew the products were toxic. Learn more.
It eliminates research on pesticide safety concerns
It limits pesticide use on farms
It requires comprehensive chemical labeling of pesticides

Love, birds, and fries: a story of innocence and connection

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 15:00:24 +0000

I like quails. They resemble sparrows but are slightly larger. Quails are relatively quiet and easy to keep since they cannot fly much, unlike sparrows. They have a good lifespan as well. Since childhood, I have raised many quails, and I currently have two that I bought in 2023. The quails have aged significantly, and

Why the future of cancer prevention starts from within

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:00:33 +0000

An excerpt from Crave: The Hidden Biology of Addiction and Cancer. Prevention, as commonly understood, has struggled to match the evolving reality of cancer. The traditional model rests on two main ideas: Reducing exposure to known carcinogens and detecting abnormalities as early as possible. Avoid tobacco, wear sunscreen, and get screened. These recommendations remain useful,

Hand Tremors Could Signal Low Levels of Vitamin B12, Magnesium, or Vitamin D

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Hand tremors often get dismissed as nothing serious — just a little too much caffeine or a side effect of stress. But ongoing shaking in your hands could be your body’s warning signal that something deeper is going wrong. Essential tremor, one of the most common movement disorders, affects up to 10 million Americans.¹

It's a progressive neurological condition characterized by rhythmic, involuntary shaking — usually in your hands — that gets worse with motion and age. But not all tremors are neurological. A persistent tremor that shows up without a clear pattern or diagnosis could be a symptom of a hidden nutrient deficiency that’s damaging your nerves from the inside out.

Vitamin B12, magnesium, and vitamin D play key roles in keeping your nervous system stable. A lack of B12 affects your spinal cord and nerves at the same time, leading to tingling, loss of coordination, and even gait disturbances. Magnesium is what allows nerves and muscles to communicate.

Without it, you’re more likely to experience spasms, twitching, or irritability. And low vitamin D weakens neuromuscular function, increasing your risk of falls and chronic pain. Each of these deficiencies is common — and you won’t always feel it right away, but the signs build up: numbness, clumsiness, shaky hands, and cognitive shifts.

That’s why catching the root cause early matters. Let’s take a closer look at how these three vitamins influence your nerves and muscles — and why that tremor in your hand could be the clue your body’s been giving you all along.

Hand Tremors Linked to Overlooked Nutrient Shortfalls

According to an article from Only My Health, Dr. Ajay Shah, managing director of Neuberg Ajay Shah Laboratory in Mumbai, highlights that hand tremors — whether they happen occasionally or persistently — often indicate something deeper than stress or fatigue.² These nutrients are responsible for keeping your neuromuscular system stable, and if you’re lacking in any of them, your nerves misfire, triggering symptoms like tremors, spasms, or coordination problems.

• The pattern of symptoms often goes overlooked — The symptoms tied to these deficiencies are often brushed off or misdiagnosed. For example, vitamin B12 deficiency often shows up as fatigue, brain fog, memory issues, or tingling in your hands and feet. Low magnesium levels are known to cause cramping, irritability, twitching, and irregular heartbeat.

A lack of vitamin D, which most people associate with bone health, also affects muscles — contributing to weakness, balance problems, and even depressive symptoms. These signs may appear one at a time or all together, confusing the diagnosis unless someone is looking specifically at nutrient status.

• Magnesium and vitamin D interact with your nervous system in specific ways — Magnesium regulates how your nerves fire and how your muscles contract. If you run low, the result is miscommunication between nerves and muscles, leading to twitching or tremors.

Meanwhile, vitamin D supports neuromuscular control, and deficiency weakens the muscle signaling pathways that help you maintain balance, strength, and coordination. These are central to how your body maintains control over fine motor movements.

• Vitamin B12 protects your nerves from structural damage — Shah explains that B12 plays a direct role in nerve insulation and regeneration. When your body doesn’t have enough, the protective coating around your nerves begins to break down, a process called demyelination. That damage causes electric-like sensations in your hands and feet — and if left unchecked, it can progress into full-blown neuropathy.

This is a warning light that your nerves are beginning to fail at their most basic job: delivering signals smoothly and accurately.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency Triggers Nerve Damage in Both Your Spinal Cord and Extremities

Published in Continuum: Lifelong Learning in Neurology, a clinical review examines how vitamin deficiencies — especially B12 — directly damage the peripheral nervous system and spinal cord.³ The paper compiles evidence from years of clinical observation and outlines how doctors often overlook these deficiencies because the symptoms resemble conditions like multiple sclerosis or Guillain-Barré syndrome.

According to the authors, these types of neuropathies are often "treatable and preventable," but only if the root cause is correctly identified early.

• Vitamin B12 deficiency doesn’t just affect your nerves — it also damages your spinal cord — The researchers describe a specific condition tied to low B12 called subacute combined degeneration, which causes nerve loss in both your spinal cord and the long nerves reaching your arms and legs.

This pattern leads to a dual impact: problems with movement and coordination, and sensory issues like numbness or tingling. Unlike minor vitamin shortfalls that just make you feel tired, this type of deficiency physically breaks down nerve insulation — and the damage is often permanent if not caught quickly.

• Symptoms usually appear in both hands and feet at the same time — That’s a key red flag. Most neurological disorders start on one side or affect one area first. But B12-related damage often hits both ends of the body at once. This "length-dependent" symptom pattern means the farthest nerves — your hands and feet — suffer first, even while the spinal cord is already being affected.

According to the paper, patients may notice difficulty with fine motor tasks, balance problems, or burning and numbness in multiple areas — and these changes may seem unrelated until the full picture is seen.

• You won’t always catch this problem with a basic B12 blood test — One of the biggest takeaways is that many cases are missed because standard tests aren’t enough. The authors recommend testing for methylmalonic acid — a marker that shows whether your cells are actually using B12 effectively. Even if your B12 level looks normal, this additional test helps reveal hidden deficiencies that haven’t shown up in your blood yet but are already affecting your nerves.

• Treating the problem can mean using injections, not just food or pills — The paper emphasizes that oral B12 often doesn’t work, especially if your digestive system isn’t absorbing nutrients properly. Conditions like Crohn’s disease, gastric bypass, or even chronic use of acid-reducing medications all block B12 absorption. That’s why the authors recommend B12 injections, which bypass your gut and ensure your body actually gets what it needs to stop the progression of nerve damage.

• The spinal cord also suffers structural changes when B12 runs low — Specifically, the paper notes damage to the corticospinal tracts and posterior columns — areas involved in movement and sensory processing. That’s why people with subacute combined degeneration often experience both motor and sensory loss. It’s not just one function being affected — it’s multiple systems unraveling at the same time.

Essential Tremor Is Frequently Misdiagnosed and Often Overlooked

According to UC Health, essential tremor (ET) causes involuntary, rhythmic shaking that usually starts in your hands and can spread to your head, voice, or other parts of your body over time.⁴ Unlike conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, ET doesn’t show up when your body is at rest. Instead, it tends to worsen when you’re active or stressed.

• This condition affects millions but is often confused with other causes of hand tremors — Many people — and even doctors — confuse ET with Parkinson’s because both involve tremors. However, UC Health stresses a key distinction: Parkinson’s-related tremors tend to appear at rest, while essential tremor kicks in during motion, like when you’re writing, eating, or using tools. That’s why paying attention to when the tremor shows up — and which side of your body it starts on — is so important.

• Doctors use a process of elimination to diagnose ET, not a definitive test — There’s no single lab test for essential tremor. Diagnosis relies on ruling out other conditions such as thyroid problems, side effects from medications, or neurological diseases like Parkinson’s. Neurologists usually rely on your symptom history, family history, and a physical exam to narrow it down.

• Stress, fatigue, caffeine, and certain drugs make the tremors worse — While ET is believed to have a genetic link in roughly 50% of cases, outside triggers play a big role in how intense the tremors feel day to day. UC Health points to several well-known triggers that make symptoms worse, including anxiety, lack of sleep, stimulant medications, alcohol withdrawal, and even temperature changes.

This makes ET a condition you can manage more effectively if you understand and avoid your personal triggers.

• Vitamins like B1, B6, and B12 can help if your nerves are already compromised — While vitamin deficiencies don’t cause essential tremor, they produce similar symptoms. In particular, low levels of B1, B6, and B12 make your hands feel weak, shaky, or numb — which can be mistaken for ET or make existing tremors worse. UC Health recommends working with your doctor to test for vitamin status if you’ve ruled out neurological causes and still experience symptoms.

• Early awareness and lifestyle changes make a big difference in quality of life — While ET doesn’t typically lead to disability, it often becomes a serious quality-of-life issue. Small actions — like switching to heavier utensils, avoiding stimulants, and learning how to modify movements — help you regain a sense of control. You’re not powerless in this process. A better understanding of what drives your tremors, and what doesn’t, gives you a real path forward.

How to Stop the Tremors by Fixing What’s Really Causing Them

If your hands are trembling and you're not sure why, the first step is to stop assuming it’s just stress or aging. Tremors that keep coming back — especially if they get worse when you’re moving or concentrating — could be your body’s signal that something deeper is off. And in many cases, that "something" is a missing nutrient that your nervous system needs to function properly.

Instead of masking the symptoms, it’s smarter to address the actual problem: restoring what your body is lacking. Whether you’re low in B12, magnesium, or vitamin D — or all three — the fix is often straightforward and totally in your control. Here’s where to start to get your hands steady again:

1. Start with the right blood tests — Don’t guess — measure. You’ll want to check your serum B12, serum magnesium, and vitamin D. However, keep in mind that while there are blood tests to check serum magnesium levels, they're not always reliable because most magnesium is stored in your tissues, not your blood.

If you’re dealing with tingling, numbness, or unexplained tremors, additional biomarkers like homocysteine and methylmalonic acid provide more sensitive indicators for early detection of vitamin B12 deficiency.

Elevated homocysteine and methylmalonic acid levels are particularly useful for identifying functional vitamin B12 deficiency, even when serum B12 levels appear borderline. This extra step matters, especially if you eat a plant-based diet or take acid blockers, which interfere with B12 absorption. Get your vitamin D levels tested at least twice a year and aim for a level between 60 and 80 ng/mL (150 to 200 nmol/L).

2. Fix your magnesium levels the right way — Most people don’t come close to getting enough magnesium for healthy nerve signaling. Even if you eat well, soil depletion and food processing strip magnesium from your diet. I recommend using magnesium citrate first — increase slowly until you get loose stools, then back off a little. Once you know your threshold, switch to magnesium glycinate, malate, or threonate for better absorption without digestive issues.

3. Build your vitamin D the natural way — Your skin was designed to make vitamin D from sun exposure — not pills. If you're in a warm climate or it’s summer, expose your bare skin to the sun daily. Skip sunscreen during short exposures and avoid the harshest sun if you're still loaded with linoleic acid (LA) from vegetable oils. LA is a polyunsaturated fat that oxidizes easily, builds up in your skin and increases your risk of skin damage if you get sun exposure during peak hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

Cut these oils from your diet for at least six months before getting peak sun exposure. If you’re indoors often or live far from the equator, then yes — supplementing with vitamin D3 makes sense. But always test your vitamin D levels to ensure you’re getting the right amount — and combine it with magnesium and K2. Without those co-factors, your body needs 244% more D just to reach the same blood level.⁵

4. Bring back B12 with food and, if needed, injections — If you're a vegan, over 60, or on acid-reducing meds like proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), odds are high you're deficient in B12. The best food sources are grass fed beef, pastured eggs, and dairy. But if your gut can’t absorb B12 well, food alone won’t cut it.

Sublingual B12 is a decent backup, but if your levels are very low, injections work faster and bypass gut absorption altogether. Tremors might be the first thing you notice — but they’re rarely the only thing going wrong. Fix the foundation, and your nervous system will often reset on its own.

FAQs About Hand Tremors

Q: What do hand tremors mean if they aren’t caused by essential tremor or Parkinson’s disease?

A: Hand tremors that don’t fit the typical pattern of essential tremor or Parkinson’s are often caused by nutrient deficiencies — especially vitamin B12, magnesium, or vitamin D. These nutrients are vital for healthy nerve function, and a shortfall triggers shaking, numbness, and poor coordination.

Q: Which vitamin deficiency causes both nerve and spinal cord damage?

A: Vitamin B12 deficiency is especially dangerous because it damages both your peripheral nerves and spinal cord. This leads to a condition called subacute combined degeneration, which causes tingling, balance problems, and permanent motor and sensory loss if not caught early.

Q: How do I know if my hand tremor is related to a deficiency instead of a neurological disorder?

A: Unlike neurological diseases, deficiency-related tremors often appear alongside symptoms like fatigue, irritability, brain fog, or numbness in both hands and feet. The tremors also don’t follow typical one-sided progression. Blood testing for B12, magnesium, vitamin D, methylmalonic acid, and homocysteine helps confirm if nutrient loss is the root cause.

Q: What’s the best way to fix a vitamin B12 deficiency?

A: If you’re unable to absorb B12 through your digestive system — which is common if you take acid blockers or have digestive disorders — injections are the most effective option. They deliver the vitamin directly into your bloodstream, helping stop nerve damage faster than food or oral supplements.

Q: How do I naturally raise my vitamin D levels without risking skin damage?

A: Sun exposure is the best source of vitamin D, but you should first remove vegetable oils like canola, soybean, and sunflower from your diet. These oils are high in LA that raises your risk of sunburn. After six months off vegetable oils, regular midday sun exposure without sunscreen helps your body safely rebuild vitamin D stores. If sun exposure isn’t an option, a vitamin D3 supplement may be necessary, but get your vitamin D levels tested to ensure you’re within the optimal range.

The Deadly Campaign to Shield All Pesticides from Legal Liability

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

To neutralize corruption and abuses of power, the United States utilizes a brilliant set of checks and balances to constrain bad actors from going too far. It provides avenues through which the public can be mobilized if things become too egregious.

Overcoming this framework hence, requires bad actors to take a multi-pronged approach and co-opt anything that can constrain their misdeeds. For example, COVID-19 was only possible because virtually every institution that should have prevented unconstitutional lockdowns, suppression of treatments, and vaccine mandates failed, instead working in concert to advance the COVID cartel.

Yet even here, due to independent media, liberty-minded politicians, and egregious policies, a check eventually formed and neutralized the COVID cartel. Furthermore, this newfound public awareness shattered the trust used to market medicine, and COVID is now costing the medical industry more than was made from the pandemic — illustrating our system has robust checks once things get too out of line.

Video Link

Exempting Liability

Since the pharmaceutical industry has co-opted most of our institutions, those that still protect us are critical to protect. As the courts often fulfill that role, a holy grail of predatory industries has been to neutralize the court by passing laws that shield corporations from liability.

For example, the DTwP vaccine was long recognized as particularly dangerous, frequently causing brain damage and death, yet for decades the medical community and government covered it up, and industry refused to bring the safer acellular DPT vaccine to market.

As grassroots awareness spread (aided by a 1982 NBC program), more lawsuits were filed against vaccine manufacturers, mostly for DTwP injuries.¹

“Information provided by the three commercial manufacturers indicates a striking increase in lawsuits alleging vaccine damage.² Only one case was filed in 1978, whereas 73 were filed in 1984. The average amount claimed per suit rose from $10 million to $46.5 million.”

DTwP manufacturers rapidly left the market (due to rising liability costs)³ and by 1984, only one remained.⁴ This led to a deal being brokered between advocates for vaccine injured children and pharmaceutical lobbyists.

However, while that law accomplished some positive things (e.g., safer DTaP vaccine and VAERS being created), since many provisions were at the H.H. Secretary's discretion and the government paid for compensation, it created a massive incentive to deny that injuries could occur.

As such, many were never implemented. That’s why there's still little reliable vaccine injury data (as VAERS was systematically undermined), required science linking vaccines to injuries never got done, and it's nearly impossible for "unsupported" vaccine injuries to be compensated. Worse still, a 2011 Supreme Court ruling further gutted the act,⁵ by making it impossible to directly sue vaccine manufacturers.

This birthed a massive industry, as removing the primary check (injury lawsuits) incentivized the production of new vaccines and removed safety incentives. An apparatus was developed, ensuring investors could expect successful returns by guaranteeing approvals and mandates, with countless dubious vaccines flooding the market (eventually culminating in the COVID catastrophe).

Fortunately, the unrestrained proliferation ultimately went so far that a new check emerged — public loss of trust, MAHA's political ascendency, and RFK becoming H.H.S. (Health and Human Services). The Secretary is implementing key safety provisions that every Secretary before refused to do.

Note: RFK's tenure has crippled the vaccine industry’s ability to obtain investor funding for new vaccines (which is creating an existential threat to the industry).

Monsanto's Legacy

Monsanto (founded 1901) has long been one of my least favorite corporations, conducting extremely damaging and cruel business practices:

1. Agent Orange — Monsanto invested heavily in dioxins they knew were toxic but claimed were "safe." The most notorious was Agent Orange, mass-sprayed on 12% of South Vietnam.⁶ This caused at least 400,000 deaths and 500,000 birth defects, with victims left with no recourse.⁷ It also severely harmed Vietnam veterans, eventually resulting in a 180 million dollar settlement⁸ (although in numerous cases, veterans who died from it, including close friends of mine, never received a settlement).

Agent Orange’s primary issue was TCDD, a toxic dioxin produced during manufacturing that contaminated the product.⁹ Dow had warned Monsanto¹⁰ about TCDD contamination, but Monsanto used a high temperature "dirty" process.¹¹ Ultimately, a roughly 1,000-fold variation was found in Agent Orange’s TCDD content.¹²

Note: I recently learned from an excellent vaccine safety book that the same US agencies and scientists (e.g., the CDC and the IOM) who covered up vaccine injuries also spent decades claiming there was "no evidence" for much of Agent Orange's toxicity.

For context, a classic symptom of dioxin poisoning frequently seen at these companies was chloracne.¹³

2. PCBs — Polychlorinated Biphenyls persist for centuries and are highly toxic (causing cancer, immune suppression, reproductive issues, neurological impairments). Monsanto produced over 99% of America's PCBs. Despite knowing toxicity as early as the 1930s, Monsanto claimed safety until stopping sales in 1977.¹⁴

Eventually, successful PCB lawsuits awarded billions against Monsanto, including 600 million in 2003,¹⁵ 698 million in 2022,¹⁶ and 160 million in 2024 for destroying the environments of communities.¹⁷

3. rBGH — In 1993, Monsanto released synthetic growth hormone ending up in milk.¹⁸ Health concerns suggested cancer,^19,20,21 allergy²² and obesity²³ risks. So Monsanto began an infamous PR campaign that legally intimidated news stations²⁴ into pulling critical stories and firing journalists who refused to echo (unproven) "safe and effective" claims.

4. GMO monopolization — Monsanto created divisions to sue small farmers²⁵ replanting GMO seeds, maintained FDA revolving doors,²⁶ and locked farmers into poverty cycles,²⁷ notably causing mass Indian farmer suicides.

Hawaii became popular for GMO cultivation,²⁸ comprising 92% of agricultural revenue.²⁹ This required heavy restricted (toxic) pesticide use,³⁰ causing health effects and community resistance. Eventually Kauai banned spraying within 500 feet of schools,³¹ Hawai'i banned GMO cultivation,³² and Maui’s voters paused GMO cultivation (despite being outspent 87-1).³³ Tragically, Monsanto immediately secured a court ruling that overturned all three of these.³⁴

Note: Monsanto also received a $10 million fine³⁵ for using banned pesticides on Maui and Molokai and a $12 million fine³⁶ for improperly using restricted pesticides.

Since Monsanto's cutthroat lawyers repeatedly find ways to escape culpability for their misdeeds, this suggests giving them additional legal leverage is quite dangerous.

Bayer, Monsanto, and Glyphosate

Bayer rose to prominence by developing aspirin, selling heroin as a cold remedy, and producing chemical weapons. Following this:³⁷

“In 1925, Bayer merged with five companies forming IG Farben ... Following WWII, the Allied Control Council seized IG Farben's assets due to its Nazi war effort role and Holocaust involvement, including slave labour and human medical testing, and Zyklon B production. In 1951, IG Farben split, Bayer was reincorporated. After the war, Bayer re-hired several former Nazis, including convicted war criminals.”

Note: Bayer has engaged in other controversial actions such as producing contaminated blood products³⁸ for hemophiliacs and promoting Yaz birth control causing clots and strokes (resulting in thousands of lawsuits).³⁹

In 2018, Bayer acquired Monsanto for $66 billion. When glyphosate was discovered, it was revolutionary because it was significantly less toxic than alternatives. After its introduction in 1974,⁴⁰ it occupied a small market portion, but once Monsanto introduced Roundup-resistant crops (Roundup Ready Soybeans in 1995), it rapidly took off.⁴¹

This excellent business model allowed Monsanto to corner the herbicide market, incentivized farmers to use more Roundup, and generated revenue from GMO seeds — particularly since overuse created resistant weeds requiring even more glyphosate.

Before long, concerns grew about the chemical (e.g., glyphosate likely underlies our widespread magnesium deficiency and hypermobility, while others have linked it to the autism epidemic).⁴² Yet, Monsanto continued claiming safety.

RFK Jr. hence spearheaded many more Roundup cancer lawsuits. There, they obtained industry documents proof Monsanto had doctored science to conceal known risks while selling "safe and effective" Roundup.

This “failure to warn” resulted in massive payouts and many successful lawsuits: 25 million in 2019,⁴³ $86.7 million in 2019,⁴⁴ 175 million in 2023,⁴⁵ 611 million in 2023,⁴⁶ 400 million in 2024,⁴⁷ 78 million in 2025,⁴⁸ and 2.1 billion pending appeal.⁴⁹ In turn, as of May 2025,⁵⁰ Monsanto settled nearly 100,000 lawsuits paying approximately $11 billion, with roughly 61,000 active lawsuits pending.

This dropped Bayer's value from 100 billion to 33 billion,⁵¹ making this one of history's worst merger decisions.

Bayer's Counterattack

In 2023 Bayer hired CEO⁵² Bill Anderson, taking aggressive approaches including:

• Phasing out glyphosate from consumer Roundup, replacing it with formulations more toxic than glyphosate.⁵³

• Amassing $16 billion to settle lawsuits (over $10 billion spent).⁵⁴

• Aggressively lobbying⁵⁵ for liability shields and funding industry-friendly politicians.⁵⁶

• Petitioning the Supreme Court. After unsuccessful 2022 attempts,⁵⁷ this April⁵⁸ Bayer again asked the Court to overturn a Roundup case (and is presently awaiting a response from the Supreme Court).

• Passing state liability shield laws, which passed in Georgia⁵⁹ and North Dakota,⁶⁰ failed in Idaho,⁶¹ Wyoming,⁶² Montana⁶³ and Mississippi,⁶⁴ are working through Tennessee,⁶⁵ Florida,⁶⁶ Oklahoma,⁶⁷ and passed one chamber in Missouri,⁶⁸ North Carolina⁶⁹ and Iowa.⁷⁰

• Conducting a vast PR and marketing operation to turn public opinion against these laws:

The New York Times – March 30, 2025

Failure to Warn and FIFRA

Roundup litigation succeeded by focusing on Monsanto's failure to warn users of glyphosate cancer risks despite having internal evidence it caused cancer. Bayer's counter-strategy has been arguing:⁷¹

• EPA can deem pesticides "safe" and then not require warnings on their label.

• The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) makes EPA requirements trump state requirements.⁷²

• So, if the EPA didn't require specific warnings, companies can't be liable regardless of state laws or individual injuries. FIFRA suffers major problems:

◦EPA safety determination relies on industry data — if false/misleading, little recourse exists.

◦While FIFRA prohibits withholding/falsifying data, violations are rarely detected or enforced.

◦EPA rarely updates warning labels despite independent findings of pesticide dangers.

◦EPA only is required to re-evaluates pesticides every 15 years,⁷³ taking decades to remove toxic pesticides.^74,75,76

As such, almost 100 pesticides banned in Europe remain legal in America.⁷⁷

Note: Remarkably, the EPA recently reinstated toxic pesticides that courts had ordered removed.⁷⁸

Federal Exemptions

Since billions are at stake, considerable effort has gone into developing legal strategies. One involves sneaking last minute provisions into unrelated bills — in this case, Mike Simpson's annual funding bill for the Department of the Interior.⁷⁹ The rider states:⁸⁰

“Sec. 453. None of the funds made available by this or any other

The Benefits of Interval Walking Training

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Being sedentary is one of the worst things you can do for your health. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 25.3% of American adults don’t engage in physical activities after clocking out from work.¹

Now, one way to combat this problem is simply going for a walk. However, it needs to be more than that — a structured regimen designed to marginally challenge your body is needed to boost your fitness, and one effective solution is interval walking training (IWT).

IWT is a Japanese exercise developed by university professor Nose Hiroshi. Unlike conventional continuous walking, IWT alternates between periods of fast-paced walking and slower recovery periods.

IWT Found to Enhance Various Health Markers

In a meta-analysis published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, researchers reviewed the health benefits of IWT. By examining multiple studies since IWT’s inception (2009), the team quantified how impactful IWT is, and whether the benefits were consistent across different groups of people. Participants in the selected studies consisted of middle-aged and older adults, including many who were managing chronic conditions.²

• Improved aerobic fitness — One striking finding was that aerobic fitness, measured as VO2 max, increased by about 10% after five months of IWT. For context, VO2 max refers to your body’s ability to absorb and utilize oxygen.

To put it simply, your body becomes more efficient at supplying oxygen to your muscles, helping you stay energized and less likely to be fatigued during strenuous activities. Even a 10% increase is substantial, considering that as you age, maintaining or improving aerobic fitness becomes challenging yet crucial for longevity and better quality of life.

• Blood pressure readings showed better numbers — The studies showed reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Specifically, participants saw drops of about 9 mm Hg in systolic (upper number) blood pressure and 5 mm Hg in diastolic (lower number) blood pressure, on average, over a five-month period.

Such changes represent a meaningful decrease in the risk for heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular issues. In practical terms, IWT provides benefits comparable to some blood pressure medications, but without the side effects commonly associated with taking them.

• Timing and adherence significantly influenced the outcomes — Researchers found that IWT provided robust health benefits when participants followed the program consistently. However, outside of controlled research settings, maintaining consistency proved challenging for many people. Average weekly walking time dropped dramatically, indicating that participants often struggled to stick to the recommended routine without additional support.

• Specific groups reaped the largest health gains — Older adults and those already facing metabolic challenges, like insulin resistance or prediabetes, demonstrated particularly noticeable improvements in glucose management.

Going deeper into the analysis, IWT was highly effective at enhancing glucose effectiveness, which is the muscles' ability to absorb sugar directly from the bloodstream without additional insulin. This result is a game-changer if you’re at risk for diabetes, as it offers an immediate method to control blood sugar levels with minimal lifestyle changes.

• The cycling of intensities is the source of the benefits — Mechanistically, researchers attribute IWT’s benefits to its unique approach of cycling between periods of higher and lower intensity. These alternating intensities stimulate muscles in a manner similar to resistance training but without the associated joint stress and muscle fatigue that heavier exercise routines often cause.

• IWT is convenient — The review emphasizes that IWT is especially advantageous because it does not require any special equipment or costly gym memberships, making it accessible and practical for nearly everyone. However, it also points out that overcoming barriers like motivation and adherence remains a challenge.

Study Confirms Benefits of IWT for Diabetics

A study published in PLoS One explored how IWT can work to help manage diabetes. Instead of a controlled laboratory setting, researchers aimed to evaluate how effectively participants could follow an IWT at home using a specially designed device to track their VO2 max.³

Fifty-one adult participants were asked to complete 60 minutes of IWT each week for a total of 20 weeks. The monitoring device helped them maintain the proper intervals of faster-paced walking, ensuring the sessions provided consistent intensity. Despite challenges commonly seen in home-based exercise routines, all participants completed the study, showing the routine was manageable enough for everyday use. However, only about 39% of participants fully reached the intended weekly walking goal.

• Short-term IWT still produces noticeable improvements — Even when the participants didn’t fully meet the recommended time, health improvements still transpired. One notable outcome was the substantial rise in participants' HDL cholesterol, often labeled as “good" cholesterol because it helps remove excess cholesterol from your bloodstream. This eventually leads to meaningful health benefits, especially for diabetics who typically struggle with maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.

• Liver fat was lowered — Even small increases in weekly IWT minutes led to visible reductions in triglycerides, which is another biomarker linked to heart disease, and decreased liver fat as measured by MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans. Lowering liver fat is especially beneficial because fatty liver disease is a common complication in Type 2 diabetes.

• Consistency creates noticeable health improvements — Participants who consistently met the target of at least 60 minutes per week experienced notably greater gains in aerobic fitness, which is measured by improvements in VO2 max.

Specifically, those meeting the exercise goal achieved an impressive 10% improvement in their aerobic capacity. This aligns closely with the earlier study I cited, reinforcing IWT as an effective form of cardiovascular exercise, even when performed in a more unpredictable environment, such as your home.

• IWT stimulates muscles without causing excess fatigue — The brief periods of fast walking boost muscle function enough to improve fitness without overwhelming your body. Researchers emphasized how IWT mimics certain resistance-training benefits by repeatedly contracting and relaxing muscle fibers.

These actions improve muscle metabolism and overall muscle health, significantly enhancing your body's ability to handle sugar efficiently, which is crucial if you're currently managing Type 2 diabetes.

How to Do IWT Properly

This video can only be viewed on YouTube. Click HERE to watch.

Now that you know the health benefits of IWT, how do you do it? In the video above, Medical Frontiers host Erica Angyal tracks down Hiroshi to explain how IWT is done:⁴

1. Start by properly stretching your muscles.

2. Walk with a small stride. You’ll know you’re at the right intensity when you’re able to enjoy a conversation with a walking partner.

3. Up the intensity by walking with bigger strides. Your heels are supposed to touch the ground first, then your toe.

4. Bend your arms at a right angle and swing them back and forth widely to help you walk with big strides naturally. Aim for a speed that slightly tightens your calf muscles.

5. Alternate between three minutes of slow walking and three minutes of fast walking.

6. Aim for a total of 60 minutes of fast walking weekly, spreading your IWT sessions in several days.

• IWT can be done by everyone — It began in Shinshu University in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. Hiroshi initially created IWT for athletes, but he retooled it to fit all age groups and fitness levels. From there, he noticed that it was an effective form of exercise that helped combat inactivity among aging adults.

• Real-world results of IWT — To test the effectiveness of IWT, Hiroshi’s team created three groups — one that didn’t walk, one that walked 10,000 steps every day, and one that did 30 minutes of IWT every day.

Once the study was completed, the team noticed that systolic blood pressure in the IWT group lowered four times more than the group who walked 10,000 steps. Furthermore, diastolic blood pressure decreased by 2.5 times. Based on these findings, the team believes that participants who practice IWT for five years will be able to reduce their risk of stroke by 40%.

• IWT improves your fitness — The findings showed that participants had better hamstring strength. Specifically, the IWT group had stronger hamstrings (by 12%) compared to the group that did 10,000 steps. Aerobic endurance was better as well.

• Other benefits of IWT — The team noticed that fitness wasn’t the only improvement among the participants. Symptoms of depression were reduced by 50%, and sleep efficiency increased by 12%, too. Participants noted that their immune system was better thanks to IWT. "I used to get sick often, but now, I rarely catch colds. It’s a major change," one participant says.⁵

Additional Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Walking Sessions

Barring any serious condition or disability, most people will benefit from going for a walk every day. But before you put your walking shoes on, here are some things that can help you maximize your IWT sessions further:

1. Aim for 10,000 steps — There is no doubt in my mind that exercise is good for you, but too much of it eventually harms your health. In my interview with cardiologist Dr. James O’Keefe, he noted that excessive vigorous (high-intensity) exercise eventually backfires on your health.

Here’s where walking comes in because it’s a medium-intensity exercise. O’Keefe’s research shows that you get significant health benefits when you aim for 10,000 steps daily (with a maximum of 12,000 steps). Once you get to the maximum rate, the benefits plunge down as if you were sedentary in the first place.

2. Wear a weighted vest — If you’ve been exercising for quite a while now, try mixing up your routine via a weighted vest. The extra load engages your muscles more, helping build strength and endurance while keeping your routine in familiar territory.

When trying this method, pay attention to your posture to avoid injuries. Uneven weight distribution will cause your body to compensate by changing posture, leading to injuries such as lower back pain. So, start with something light and then increase your weight as you get better.

3. Try Nordic walking — This exercise requires the use of fixed-length ski poles while walking on land, which essentially mimics the movement of skiing. The great thing about it is that it uses 90% of your muscles, which provides both your upper and lower body with a complete workout. Your aerobic fitness will also benefit, as it requires 18% to 25% more oxygen compared to walking without poles at the same speed.⁶

4. Go for a walk with a friend — If you find that going for walks becomes monotonous, add a social element to keep things fresh. O’Keefe says:

“Exercising and making social connections at the same time, that is an absolute goldmine of a longevity activity. That means that even walking with your dog or your friend … is huge … The whole thing is to move your body in a fun, playful manner and make it social.”

5. Get creative while walking — I recommend you take advantage of your outdoor walks to improve your craft or engage in other hobbies that enrich your life, such as listening to audiobooks or podcasts. You can also use the time to brainstorm ideas for personal projects.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About IWT

Q: What exactly is interval walking training (IWT)?

A: Interval walking training involves alternating three minutes of brisk walking with three minutes of slower walking, creating a structured and effective workout that boosts aerobic fitness, reduces blood pressure, and helps manage blood sugar.

Q: Why is interval walking better than regular continuous walking?

A: Interval walking delivers greater health benefits, including significant reductions in blood pressure and improved muscle glucose absorption, compared to regular continuous walking. Alternating intensities stimulate muscles more effectively without excessive fatigue or joint strain.

Q: Who benefits the most from interval walking training?

A: Older adults, diabetics, and those with metabolic challenges experience the greatest improvements from interval walking. These groups see notable enhancements in heart health, cholesterol levels, and reductions in liver fat.

Q: Do I need special equipment or a gym membership to do interval walking?

A: No special equipment or gym memberships are required. Interval walking can easily fit into your daily routine, and simple wearable devices are sufficient to help you maintain the right pace and track your progress (while also minimizing your exposure to electromagnetic fields).

Q: How much IWT is recommended weekly to see health improvements?

A: For optimal results, aim for at least 60 minutes of brisk interval walking per week, spread across several sessions. Even moderate adherence leads to meaningful health improvements, but consistency greatly amplifies the benefits.

A new approach to South Asian heart health [PODCAST]

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 23:00:49 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Cardiologist Monzur Morshed discusses the article, “Why South Asians in the U.S. face a silent heart disease crisis.” Drawing from his direct experience treating the Bangladeshi-American community in New York City, Monzur explains why people from South Asia are disproportionately at

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A new approach to South Asian heart health [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Private practice employment agreements: What happens if private equity swoops in?

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 21:00:53 +0000

Physicians joining private practices have a relatively new issue they should be aware of. As more practices are taken over by private equity, the traditional concerns of a physician joining a practice as an employee with the hope of becoming an owner are heightened. Traditionally, the physician would join the practice as an employee, work

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Private practice employment agreements: What happens if private equity swoops in? originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Inside the final hours of a failed lung transplant

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 19:00:47 +0000

This story has been fictionalized. Dorothy Klein. MRN 508291987. DOB 12/22/1962. Patient A-. Unit A-. Unit number W038306745014-K. OK. Next. Dorothy Klein. MRN 508291987. DOB 12/22/1962. Patient A-. Unit A-. Unit number W038306928906-K. We finish checking the emergency release blood and wait. We know that whatever was coming up isn’t going to be pretty. A

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Inside the final hours of a failed lung transplant originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why South Asians in the U.S. face a silent heart disease crisis

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 17:00:59 +0000

Although cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s largest cause of mortality, its burden varies by ethnicity. People from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, and Pakistan, are among the groups most at risk for developing coronary artery disease too soon. However, this population frequently receives standard risk assessments in clinical practice across the

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Why South Asians in the U.S. face a silent heart disease crisis originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why chronic pain patients and doctors are both under attack

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:00:48 +0000

At age 81, I am one of “the old guys” who writes in online chronic pain support groups. I get a lot of emails from people in pain. One recent inquiry was from a lady named Marisa, who asked questions that are combined in the title of this article. The following is my response to

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Why chronic pain patients and doctors are both under attack originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

The overlooked power of billing in primary care

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 13:00:20 +0000

When most of us as providers think about success in primary care, we focus on patient volume, quality of care, or time management. But in my opinion, there is a less glamorous (yet absolutely vital) area that can determine both our income and our liability: billing accuracy. Billing is not just about codes and claims.

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The overlooked power of billing in primary care originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

The quiet work of dying: a hospice nurse’s reflection

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 11:00:36 +0000

The first thing I remember is the sound of oxygen at night. It was my second week as a hospice nurse. I had just pulled up to a modest home on a cul-de-sac, the kind of place where wind chimes echo off empty sidewalks. Inside, a man in his seventies was dying of end-stage pulmonary

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The quiet work of dying: a hospice nurse’s reflection originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Appendix Cancer Is on the Rise Among Younger Generations

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Appendix cancer is rising at an alarming rate among younger adults, with new research indicating it's now one of the fastest-growing gastrointestinal cancers in this age group.¹

As the name implies, this cancer affects the appendix — a small, finger-shaped pouch attached to your large intestine. It's characterized by symptoms like persistent bloating, unexplained weight loss, changes in bowel habits, and sudden abdominal pain — often leading to emergency surgeries when discovered late. The question is, how does it happen?

Investigating the Root Issues of Appendix Cancer

In a report by The Conversation, Justin Stebbing, a professor of biomedical sciences at Anglia Ruskin University, analyzed a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Here, researchers shed light on appendix cancer, revealing a striking rise in cases among younger adults born after the 1970s. Until recently, statistics indicate that this cancer was rare — in fact, the report noted that "the incidence has tripled or even quadrupled in younger generations compared with those born in the 1940s."^2,³

• Experts are noticing the increase of cases — While the overall cases remain small — 1.6 per 100,000 people⁴ — the significant jump in younger adults is highly concerning. Compared to the 1945 cohort, rates tripled in the 1980 cohort and quadrupled in the 1985 cohort.

• Theories on what’s causing appendix cancers — The Conversation noted that lifestyle changes since the 1970s are fueling the increase. People are becoming heavier, and obesity is known to heighten the risk of digestive cancer.⁵ Younger generations have drastically different eating habits compared to their parents or grandparents, consuming more ultraprocessed foods, beverages high in refined sugar, and junk food, all of which are known to increase cancer risk.

Alongside diet changes, physical activity levels have dropped dramatically. The shift toward sedentary lifestyles, with people spending extended periods sitting at desks or looking at screens, has emerged as another crucial factor.

• New environmental factors impact your health — Today's food industry heavily relies on industrialized processes involving plastics, chemicals, and deteriorating water quality, which are factors largely unknown to previous generations. While the evidence linking these environmental elements to appendix cancer is still developing, their potential role is strongly suspected by researchers.

The Conversation also pointed out other underlying factors like gut microbiome changes. The widespread use of antibiotics in recent decades, especially in medicine and agriculture, eventually disrupts the balance of beneficial bacteria in your gut. In turn, compromised gut function affects your overall health.

• Diagnosing appendix cancer is difficult — An additional challenge highlighted by The Conversation is the difficulty in diagnosing appendix cancer early. Unlike colon cancer, which is sometimes identified through colonoscopies, appendix cancer often remains hidden because its symptoms are subtle and commonly mistaken for less serious problems.

Symptoms like mild abdominal pain, bloating, or changes in bowel habits are frequently dismissed as minor or temporary issues. As a result, appendix cancer is often only discovered when a patient undergoes surgery for suspected appendicitis.

• Listening to your body will help you identify this disease early — Because routine screening for appendix cancer is currently impractical due to its rarity and difficulty in detection, proactiveness when symptoms appear becomes critically important. If you're under 50 and notice persistent abdominal symptoms, seeking medical attention promptly can dramatically increase your chances of better outcomes.

• Suggestions to lower risk — To fight back against this alarming trend, The Conversation advocates precautionary measures like maintaining a healthy weight and adopting a balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Additionally, steering clear of tobacco and moderating alcohol intake substantially decrease cancer risks.

Early Exposure to This Bacteria Is Linked to Digestive System Cancers

As mentioned earlier, appendix cancer and other gut-related cancers are believed to be caused by shared risk factors, such as changes in the gut microbiome.⁶ Now, a different study followed that angle.

In a study published in Nature, researchers sought to analyze why colorectal cancer rates among younger people are rapidly rising worldwide. By examining 981 colorectal cancer cases from 11 different countries, they aimed to identify whether specific genetic changes (known as mutations) varied based on age and geography, explaining why younger adults are becoming more vulnerable to this disease. After analysis, they noted that early exposure to bacteria is a strong risk factor.^7,⁸

• The prominent role of colibactin — This is a harmful substance produced by certain types of E. coli strains found in the human gut. Researchers identified two clear genetic "fingerprints," or mutational signatures, SBS88 and ID18, which indicate colibactin exposure. These two signatures were much more common in countries with higher colorectal cancer rates.

Even more notably, these signatures were three times more frequent in people diagnosed with colorectal cancer before age 40 compared to those diagnosed after age 70. In short, this indicates a clear link between colibactin-producing bacteria exposure early in life and the alarming rise in early-onset colorectal cancer.

• Exposure timing sets the stage for cancer — When researchers looked closer, they found colibactin exposure had left its mark very early, long before cancer was detectable. Specifically, genetic changes related to colibactin were consistently among the earliest mutations identified. These alterations can set the stage for cancer to develop at a younger age.

• The mechanisms behind the damage caused by colibactin — Research shows that colibactin often triggers harmful changes in a key gene called adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) — a crucial player that normally helps prevent cancer by controlling cell growth in the colon.

In cases with colibactin exposure, about 25% of harmful mutations in the APC gene directly resulted from it. Such mutations essentially remove APC’s protective effects, allowing cells to grow uncontrollably and dramatically raise your cancer risk.

• Colibactin exposure affects everyone — The results were consistent across multiple countries and ethnicities, underscoring the significant global impact of early-life colibactin exposure. The study also found these colibactin-related mutations occurred predominantly in the distal colon and rectum, which are areas increasingly affected by early-onset colorectal cancers.

• There are certain nuances between populations — Interestingly, the study highlighted significant geographical differences in other cancer-causing mutation signatures as well.

For example, mutations labeled SBS89 and ID_J appeared predominantly in Argentina, while SBS94 and another novel signature, SBS_F, were especially common in Colombia. Although the researchers are still unsure exactly what environmental or lifestyle factors underlie these country-specific mutations, the discoveries can open new paths for targeted prevention from future researchers.

• The age and extent of colibactin exposure is critical — Colibactin appears to cause lasting genetic damage during early life when the gut microbiome first takes shape. After initial exposure, these genetic scars remain dormant for decades before leading to cancer. Surprisingly, the current presence of colibactin-producing bacteria wasn't necessarily associated with active cancers, suggesting these early-life exposures can affect health outcomes many years later.

• Prevention is still a better approach — The researchers strongly suggest that preventing exposure to harmful colibactin-producing bacteria early in life could be a crucial strategy for reversing rising colorectal cancer rates among younger people. Identifying the sources of these harmful bacteria and learning how to limit exposure could help significantly lower early-onset colorectal cancer risk globally.

Practical Steps to Protect Your Gut and Reduce Cancer Risk

If you're worried about appendix cancer or gastrointestinal cancer, it's essential to understand that your lifestyle largely influences your risk. That said, here are my recommendations to help you protect your digestive function:

1. Minimize your linoleic acid (LA) intake — LA is a harmful polyunsaturated fat (PUF) commonly found in vegetable oils like soybean, sunflower, safflower, canola, and corn oil. It's also abundant in ultraprocessed foods, restaurant dishes, and even products marketed as "healthy" snacks.

Start by carefully checking labels, and avoid these oils completely. Instead, cook your meals at home with natural fats like grass fed butter, ghee, or tallow. Reducing LA intake is one of the most powerful things you can do to lower inflammation and protect your gut lining from damage.

What’s problematic about LA is its pervasiveness. Even the meat you eat was likely raised with high-LA feed. To protect your health, I recommend keeping your intake below 5 grams per day. But if you can keep it below 2 grams per day, that’s even better. For accurate tracking, download the upcoming Mercola Health Coach app, which contains the Seed Oil Sleuth feature — it measures your intake to a tenth of a gram.

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2. Heal your gut lining — Your gut lining is your first defense against harmful bacteria and toxins. If you've been eating ultraprocessed foods high in LA, there's a good chance your gut barrier is compromised. To repair this, eat gut-supportive foods like bone broth, and foods rich in gelatin. These foods actively help rebuild the mucus lining of your gut, creating a stronger barrier against harmful toxins.

Once your gut barrier begins to improve, then it’s time to increase your intake of dietary fiber. For a deeper understanding of this topic, read "Understanding Butyrate — The Key to Optimal Health and Well-Being." There, I explain how you can slowly reintroduce dietary fiber to help your gut produce butyrate, which is an important short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) that further strengthens your gut barrier.

3. Add more fermented foods to your diet — Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and natural yogurt contain beneficial bacteria that actively combat harmful bacteria in your gut. By adding these foods daily, you’ll encourage a healthy microbiome balance, reduce inflammation, and dramatically lower your cancer risk. Make sure these foods are homemade and free from added sugars and preservatives, as these reverse their beneficial effects.

4. Replace processed foods with whole foods — All the healthy food you’ve been eating will be for nothing if you continue to eat ultraprocessed food. They’re high in refined sugars, unhealthy fats, and other additives, which directly feed harmful gut bacteria and inflammation, increasing your risk of cancer.

As mentioned in a previous article, these foods worsen your mood and emotional health, creating a cycle of addiction. To break free, go cold turkey for five days to restructure your dopamine system.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Rising Appendix Cancer Rates

Q: Why is appendix cancer becoming more common among younger adults?

A: Research shows appendix cancer rates are rapidly rising among adults under 50 due to significant lifestyle changes since the 1970s. Increased consumption of processed foods, sugary drinks, and processed meats, along with rising obesity and sedentary lifestyles, are major contributors. Environmental factors such as widespread antibiotic use and industrial chemicals also play a suspected role.

Q: What are the early signs of appendix cancer, and why is it often diagnosed late?

A: Early signs of appendix cancer include persistent bloating, unexplained weight loss, changes in bowel habits, and sudden abdominal pain. However, these symptoms are frequently mistaken for less serious conditions, causing delays in diagnosis. Since appendix cancer doesn't have specific screening tests, it often remains undetected.

Q: How is the bacteria colibactin linked to colorectal and appendix cancers in younger people?

A: Colibactin is a harmful toxin produced by certain strains of E. coli in the human gut. Studies found colibactin exposure leaves genetic "fingerprints" called SBS88 and ID18, strongly associated with colorectal cancers diagnosed at younger ages. These genetic changes occur early in life and remain hidden for decades, eventually causing cells to become cancerous. Colibactin specifically damages the APC gene, a crucial defender against uncontrolled cell growth.

Q: Can lifestyle changes prevent appendix and colorectal cancers?

A: Yes. Lifestyle changes significantly reduce cancer risks. Maintaining a healthy weight, increasing physical activity, and eating a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fermented foods can decrease inflammation and protect gut health. Avoiding tobacco, reducing alcohol intake, and eliminating processed foods, especially those high in LA, further reduces your risk.

Q: What practical steps can you take immediately to protect your gut and lower cancer risk?

A: To lower your gastrointestinal cancer risk, start by:

• Reducing harmful fats — Eliminate vegetable oils like soybean, sunflower, canola, and corn oil from your diet.

• Healing your gut lining — Eat gut-supportive foods like bone broth to strengthen your gut barrier against toxins.

• Adding fermented foods — Regularly consume naturally fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir to repopulate healthy gut bacteria.

• Replacing processed foods with whole foods — Choose fresh, unprocessed meals instead of packaged and ultraprocessed items to decrease inflammation.

Fatty Liver Disease Is Common in People with Type 2 Diabetes and Often Missed

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Many Americans are living with silent liver damage — and most have no idea. This isn't just a minor health glitch. It's a slow-moving disaster that's deeply entwined with insulin resistance, belly fat, and rising rates of Type 2 diabetes. What's more alarming is that the standard screening tools used in primary care often miss it entirely, allowing the condition to worsen unchecked.

I'm currently in the process of publishing a scientific paper that takes a deep dive into liver health, and one thing has become clear: the real problem isn't liver fat itself — it's the scarring that follows. By the time symptoms like fatigue, abdominal swelling, or elevated liver enzymes show up, the damage is already well underway. This scarring, known as fibrosis, impacts your entire metabolic system, increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and even cancer.

The liver isn't just a passive filter for toxins — it's a dynamic organ that governs how your body processes sugar, stores energy, and regulates inflammation. When it's under constant assault from poor diet, excess fat, or environmental toxins, its ability to perform these functions starts to unravel. And because it's a silent process, the warning signs are easy to miss until it's too late.

If you've been struggling with weight around your midsection, unstable blood sugar, or chronic fatigue, your liver could already be in trouble, even if your doctor hasn't flagged it yet. What follows is a closer look at newly published research that uncovers just how widespread liver damage really is, and what that means for your long-term health.

Advanced Liver Scarring Is Hiding in Plain Sight Among People with Diabetes

A study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine evaluated how common fatty liver disease is in adults with Type 2 diabetes receiving standard care.¹ Researchers used MRI scans and liver stiffness measurements — noninvasive tools that detect fat deposits and signs of scarring — to assess 308 patients recruited through primary care.

The goal was to see how many of these patients had undiagnosed metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD) and whether they were at risk for more serious forms of liver damage like fibrosis.

• More than half had fatty liver, and nearly 1 in 10 showed signs of advanced liver damage — Of the total participants, 59% were found to have MASLD. Even more concerning, 7% already had signs of advanced fibrosis — scar tissue that forms after repeated liver injury that often progresses to cirrhosis. The majority of these individuals had no outward symptoms, and standard screening tools missed many of the cases that imaging tests picked up.

• Obesity significantly raised the odds of fibrosis in people with diabetes — The researchers found that individuals with obesity were eight times more likely to have advanced fibrosis than those without obesity. Even patients who were merely overweight, not obese, were at elevated risk for developing fatty liver, though the fibrosis risk wasn't as high. This points to body weight as a powerful driver of hidden liver damage in the diabetic population.

• The damage doesn't stop at the liver; heart function is also compromised — Using detailed heart scans, researchers discovered that patients with MASLD had subtle changes in heart structure and function, even without any history of heart disease.

These individuals showed signs of smaller left atrial volume and reduced cardiac output. In simple terms, their hearts were pumping less effectively, which suggests that fatty liver quietly impairs cardiovascular health before obvious symptoms appear.

• Insulin resistance and fat buildup create a feedback loop that worsens liver health — The researchers explained that excess fat in the liver increases insulin resistance, and that resistance then promotes more fat storage in the liver. This back-and-forth cycle leads to chronic inflammation and scarring. It's a dangerous loop that's often set in motion long before patients are diagnosed with fatty liver disease.

• Fat inside your liver disrupts normal blood flow and oxygen delivery — As triglycerides accumulate in liver cells, the organ becomes congested. This limits oxygen delivery and promotes the release of inflammatory proteins, which damage nearby tissue. Over time, your body responds by forming scar tissue, which hardens the liver and makes it less able to perform vital tasks like filtering toxins or regulating blood sugar.

Fatty Liver Alters Key Blood Markers in Half of People with Type 2 Diabetes

A related study published in the Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences evaluated how common liver fat buildup is in adults with Type 2 diabetes using ultrasound screening tools.² Researchers examined 100 patients to determine the presence of fatty liver and whether common lab results could help predict who was affected.

• Half the participants had fatty liver visible on ultrasound, along with key lab changes — Out of 100 patients, 50 were diagnosed with fatty liver using ultrasound imaging. Those with fatty liver had higher levels of liver enzymes, specifically alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), indicating liver stress or injury. Additionally, their fasting blood sugar and body mass index (BMI) were significantly higher, linking poor metabolic health with liver dysfunction.

• Patients with fatty liver had lower AST/ALT ratios, which signals worsening liver health — The AST/ALT ratio is a blood test comparison used to gauge the type and severity of liver stress. In this study, the average AST/ALT ratio was less than 1 in people with fatty liver, while those without liver fat had a ratio above 1. A low ratio is often linked to more advanced liver fat accumulation, and this finding supports using enzyme ratios as a red flag in diabetic patients.

• LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were also higher in people with fatty liver — Researchers found that patients with liver fat had elevated total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, as well as significantly higher triglyceride levels. These markers point to dysfunctional fat metabolism and mirror the kind of metabolic breakdown seen in people with both diabetes and heart disease.

• The research confirms that standard diabetes labs alone aren't enough — Even though liver enzymes were elevated, they weren't high enough to automatically trigger alarm in many cases. This again suggests that fatty liver is likely being missed in everyday checkups unless imaging is used. The authors concluded that combining ultrasound with common blood tests offers a better way to screen for liver involvement in Type 2 diabetes.

• Fatty liver amplifies existing metabolic stress in diabetes — The paper emphasized how liver fat worsens the already fragile balance of blood sugar, cholesterol, and insulin regulation in people with diabetes. As your liver becomes overloaded, its ability to process fats and manage glucose declines, setting off a chain reaction of worsening metabolic disease.

Fatty Liver Feeds Insulin Resistance and Makes Diabetes Harder to Control

A review article published in Hepatobiliary Surgery and Nutrition outlined the two-way relationship between liver fat accumulation and insulin resistance in people with metabolic dysfunction.³ Instead of treating fatty liver as a side effect of diabetes, the authors described it as a key player that actively makes the condition worse.

• Insulin resistance floods your liver with fat, and your liver starts to store it — When your body becomes resistant to insulin, your fat cells release more free fatty acids into your bloodstream. Your liver pulls these fatty acids in and converts them into triglycerides. Over time, your liver becomes a dumping ground for excess fat, especially if you eat diet high in processed foods. This buildup overwhelms liver function and triggers inflammation.

• Liver fat further damages insulin signaling, creating a vicious cycle — Once your liver is full of fat, it doesn't just sit quietly. It begins to produce inflammatory compounds and resists the effects of insulin itself. That means it continues pumping glucose into your bloodstream, even when insulin is trying to shut it down. Your blood sugar goes up, your pancreas works harder, and your insulin levels spike, all because your liver isn't listening.

• This cycle worsens your overall metabolic health — Liver fat plays a direct role in raising triglycerides, lowering HDL (the "good" cholesterol), and increasing small, dense LDL particles — those most closely linked to heart disease. It also contributes to a condition called metabolic syndrome, which includes high blood pressure, poor glucose control, and belly fat, all of which raise your risk of stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure.

• Even thin people with fatty liver face serious risk — Fatty liver isn't limited to those who are overweight. Lean individuals with insulin resistance and fatty liver experience the same or worse metabolic consequences, including higher cardiovascular risk. In these cases, the disease often flies under the radar because doctors don't expect liver fat in thinner patients.

• Fat buildup in your liver slows detoxification and hormone balance — Your liver helps regulate more than blood sugar. It filters toxins, processes estrogen, and converts thyroid hormones into their active form. When liver cells are clogged with fat, these detox and hormone-balancing functions slow down. That leaves you feeling sluggish, foggy, or inflamed without knowing why.

Under normal conditions, the liver breaks down fat using a process called beta-oxidation. But in insulin-resistant states, this process becomes impaired. Your liver starts accumulating toxic fat intermediates like diacylglycerols, which activate damaging enzyme systems that make insulin resistance even worse. It's a biochemical spiral that becomes harder to reverse the longer it's allowed to progress.

Fatty Liver Disease Makes Diabetes Harder to Treat and Easier to Miss

A report from the University of Florida's Diabetes Institute explained how fat buildup in your liver worsens insulin resistance and makes diabetes more difficult to manage.⁴ The overview focused on the growing overlap between Type 2 diabetes and MAFLD and highlighted the lack of awareness among both patients and health professionals.

• Most patients with fatty liver don't know they have it — until it causes serious problems — According to the Institute, fatty liver is present in up to 80% of people with Type 2 diabetes, but it often goes undetected until irreversible damage has occurred. Because liver fat rarely causes pain or immediate symptoms, it's missed during routine checkups.

• Ignoring liver health leaves you more vulnerable to heart disease and kidney failure — The Institute emphasized that fatty liver isn't just a liver problem — it's a full-body threat. Liver fat drives inflammation that damages blood vessels and worsens high blood pressure, two key risk factors for heart attack and stroke. It also interferes with kidney function and raises your risk for chronic kidney disease, another common complication in long-term diabetes.

• Doctors are missing opportunities to screen for liver disease early — Most diabetes care plans don't include liver imaging or advanced diagnostics unless liver enzymes are elevated, which misses many early cases. The Institute encouraged providers to use more accurate screening tools, like MRI, in people with diabetes, especially if they also have obesity or high triglycerides.

How to Stop Liver Damage from Progressing and Regain Metabolic Control

If you're dealing with insulin resistance, high triglycerides, or stubborn belly fat, your liver is likely already under strain, even if your labs still look "normal." To stop the damage from getting worse and start reversing course, you need to take pressure off your liver and restore its ability to clear fat, manage glucose, and protect your body from inflammation.

These five steps focus on what's driving liver dysfunction at the root, so you're not just managing symptoms but actually healing what's underneath it all.

1. Cut out vegetable oils and alcohol immediately — If you're eating packaged foods made with soybean oil, canola, corn oil, sunflower oil, or anything labeled "vegetable oil," your liver is under constant assault. These oils are loaded with linoleic acid (LA), a harmful fat that promotes fat buildup in your liver and generates oxidative stress. Your body turns them into OXLAMs — highly reactive molecules that damage mitochondria and disrupt energy production.

Alcohol is just as damaging. It's broken down into acetaldehyde, another reactive aldehyde that injures your liver at the cellular level. If you already have signs of fatty liver or insulin resistance, removing both vegetable oils and alcohol gives your liver the best shot at recovery. Use grass fed butter, tallow, ghee, or coconut oil for cooking instead.

2. Add choline-rich foods to help your liver move fat out — Choline is required for your liver to package up fat and send it out of your body. Without it, fat just piles up inside liver cells. If you're not eating foods like pastured egg yolks or grass fed beef liver regularly, you're likely not getting enough choline to keep things moving. Think of choline as traffic control for your liver — without it, everything jams up, and damage begins.

3. Consider a choline supplement if your diet falls short — If you avoid eggs or meat, it's nearly impossible to meet your choline needs through food alone. In that case, a supplement isn't optional — it's required. One effective form is citicoline.

At doses between 500 milligrams (mg) and 2,500 mg per day, citicoline not only helps your liver export fats but also supports brain function by boosting acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter linked to memory and focus. If you're dealing with brain fog, fatigue, or signs of liver dysfunction, this is a smart addition.

4. Get your body moving and shrink your waistline — You don't need to hit the gym or train for a marathon. Just take a 10- to 20-minute brisk walk after meals, stretch daily, and add in strength training or bodyweight workouts a couple times a week.

These simple movements help lower insulin and keep your liver flushed with oxygen-rich blood. If your waist measures more than 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women, it's a red flag — visceral fat at that level is strongly linked to liver scarring. Focus on dropping inches, not just pounds.

5. Prioritize restorative sleep to lower inflammation — If you're constantly exhausted or sleeping poorly, your liver doesn't get the downtime it needs to regenerate. Aim for quality sleep in a cool, dark room. Avoid eating within three hours of bedtime to prevent late-night blood sugar spikes. Even small improvements in your sleep help reduce liver inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity over time.

FAQs About Fatty Liver and Type 2 Diabetes

Q: How common is fatty liver disease in people with Type 2 diabetes?

A: Fatty liver disease is extremely common in people with Type 2 diabetes. Research shows that up to 59% of diabetes patients have MASLD, even when no symptoms are present. Alarmingly, 7% already have advanced liver scarring — and most don't know it.⁵

Q: Why do vegetable oils and alcohol harm your liver so much?

A: Vegetable oils like soybean, corn, and canola are high in LA, a fat that turns into toxic byproducts called OXLAMs in your body. These damage your liver's mitochondria and fuel inflammation.

Alcohol is broken down into acetaldehyde, another toxic aldehyde. Both overwhelm your liver's ability to detoxify and repair itself, leading to scarring and poor metabolic health. Cutting both out is one of the most effective ways to stop further damage.

Q: What signs should I watch for if I think my liver is in trouble?

A: Fatty liver disease is called "silent" for a reason — you often don't feel anything until serious damage is done. However, warning signs include persistent fatigue, belly weight gain, high triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, or mildly raised liver enzymes. Waist size is also a clue: more than 40 inches in men or 35 in women suggests visceral fat buildup, which is closely tied to liver scarring.

Q: What foods help clear fat from my liver?

A: Choline-rich foods like pastured egg yolks and grass fed beef liver help your liver export excess fat. Without enough choline, fat builds up inside liver cells, leading to inflammation and fibrosis. If your diet lacks these foods, a choline supplement like citicoline — at doses of 500 to 2,500 mg daily — supports liver detox and brain function.

Q: How is fatty liver connected to other health problems like heart disease or brain fog?

A: Liver fat doesn't just stay in your liver. It drives insulin resistance, disrupts blood sugar control, and promotes inflammation throughout your body. This ripple effect raises your risk for heart disease, cognitive decline, and kidney dysfunction — even if you don't have obvious liver symptoms.

Niacinamide Accelerates Recovery in COVID-19 Patients, Clinical Trial Shows

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If you've had COVID-19 or know someone who has, you've likely seen how the illness lingers. Unresolved fatigue, reduced physical capacity, and cognitive fog are common weeks or even months after the infection clears. In more severe cases, the virus left behind lasting damage to the kidneys, lungs, or vascular system. These outcomes are now recognized as long COVID.

As attention shifts from short-term containment to long-term recovery, more researchers are focusing on the cellular pathways that support resilience after viral illness. One area drawing renewed attention is the use of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺), a molecule your cells use to produce energy, repair DNA, regulate inflammation, and maintain mitochondrial function.

One of the most straightforward ways to raise NAD⁺ safely and effectively is through niacinamide, a common and inexpensive form of vitamin B3. Case in point, a new placebo-controlled trial published in Nature Metabolism has highlighted niacinamide as a meaningful tool in restoring health after COVID.¹

Video Link

How Niacinamide Restores Your NAD⁺ Levels

NAD⁺ is a molecule found in all living cells, essential for various biological processes. It plays a foundational role in mitochondrial function, particularly in the electron transport chain, where it helps convert nutrients into ATP, your cells' energy currency. Without sufficient NAD⁺, energy production slows and cells begin to lose functional integrity.

• NAD⁺ supports DNA repair and cellular stress responses — Certain enzymes in your body, like poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARPs) and sirtuins, rely on NAD⁺ to repair damaged DNA and regulate cell survival under stress. These enzymes consume NAD⁺ as they work. This is why during periods of inflammation, infection, or injury, NAD⁺ levels fall sharply. As levels drop, your body's ability to maintain homeostasis weakens.

• Niacinamide replenishes NAD⁺ directly and efficiently — As you can see in the illustration below, when NAD is used up, it gets broken down into niacinamide. The body then recycles niacinamide through a salvage pathway, converting it into nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and then back into NAD⁺. This makes niacinamide not just a precursor, but also the natural product of NAD⁺ turnover.

• Activating NAMPT is key to effective NAD⁺ restoration — The enzyme NAMPT controls how much NAD⁺ is produced from niacinamide. While NMN supplements have become popular, NMNAT (the enzyme that converts NMN to NAD⁺) does not regulate the overall pace.

Because NAMPT determines the flow through the entire pathway, supporting its activity is more essential for restoring NAD⁺. So, flooding your body with NMN is not going to be as useful as using small amounts of niacinamide and activating NAMPT.

To learn more about how this process translates into whole-body resilience, read "The Wide-Ranging Health Benefits of Niacinamide."

Niacinamide Accelerates Recovery and Reduces Long COVID Symptoms

The featured study, called the COVit-2 trial, was designed to assess whether oral nicotinamide supplementation could influence recovery in newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients. Conducted across multiple centers in Germany, the study enrolled a total of 900 individuals who had recently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. They were randomly assigned to take either nicotinamide or a placebo for four weeks, and their symptoms and progress were tracked for six months.²

• Patients received a dual-form nicotinamide regimen — Those in the treatment group were given 1,000 milligrams of nicotinamide per day, delivered in two tablet forms. One was a conventional oral tablet, while the other was formulated to release in the colon, where most of the gut microbiome resides. This approach was designed to support microbiome-targeted recovery.

• Early improvements were seen by week two — Participants receiving nicotinamide were more likely to report restored physical performance and an improved ability to handle everyday tasks. These gains were especially notable in individuals with risk factors for more severe illness, and they appeared during the active four-week supplementation period.

• Long-term benefits emerged at six months — Patients who had taken nicotinamide during the initial infection were less likely to report persistent long COVID symptoms, such as fatigue or difficulty concentrating. The effect was most pronounced in those who showed early recovery, suggesting that timely support influences long-term outcomes.

• Nicotinamide appeared to protect the gut microbiome — Microbiome analysis revealed signs of metabolic stress and gene-level disruption in placebo participants two weeks after infection. In contrast, those who received nicotinamide had a more stable microbial profile. Their gut bacteria maintained more balanced gene expression patterns, suggesting better systemic regulation. According to Professor Philip Rosenstiel, who led the microbiome studies:

"The microbiome of COVID-19 patients still shows a kind of emergency metabolism around two weeks after the onset of the disease, in which the body obviously tries to compensate for the known deficits in important metabolic factors by upregulating other metabolic processes.

We did not observe these changes in the nicotinamide study group — probably because the deficiency could be compensated by administering nicotinamide. At the same time, we observed a faster physical recovery in these cases. The positive influence on the microbiome is apparently related to the faster recovery.

This is the first time we have shown that influencing the microbiome, in this case through supplementation of a nutrient, can have a positive effect on a viral infection. This is an important milestone in clinical research."³

While most COVID recovery strategies focus on immune repair, this trial is the first to demonstrate that a vitamin-based therapy could improve both physical recovery and gut microbial balance after a viral infection.

Niacinamide Also Helps with COVID-Related Kidney Injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most serious complications in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. To explore whether NAD⁺ restoration helps, researchers at two Boston hospitals studied the effects of niacinamide supplementation in COVID patients with persistent AKI. This study, published in 2020, was one of the first to suggest that NAD⁺ depletion plays a central role in COVID-related organ failure.⁴

• Niacinamide reduced death in severe AKI cases — A total of 201 hospitalized COVID patients with confirmed AKI were enrolled. Ninety patients at one hospital received 1 gram of niacinamide daily, while 111 patients at a second hospital received the same care protocol without niacinamide.

Among patients with advanced (stage 2 or 3) AKI, those who received niacinamide had an 80% lower risk of death compared to controls. Kidney function also stabilized, with creatinine levels remaining steady in the niacinamide group over 10 days, while steadily worsening in the control group.

• NAD⁺ loss is central to COVID-related kidney dysfunction — COVID-related AKI appears to deplete NAD⁺ through both increased breakdown and impaired production. Without sufficient NAD⁺, these cells no longer sustain energy-intensive filtration and transport functions, increasing the risk of dysfunction and death. Niacinamide, as a direct precursor, restores NAD⁺ levels and helps the kidney maintain its energy demands under stress.

• The benefit was specific to more advanced kidney injury — The benefits were not seen in milder cases of AKI, which suggests that the severity of NAD⁺ depletion determines the extent of benefit. Individuals with early-stage AKI likely retain enough NAD⁺ to recover naturally, while those with more advanced injury require supplementation to prevent further decline.

These findings support NAD⁺ restoration as a therapeutic target. Although this was not a randomized trial, the results align with broader evidence that NAD⁺ is essential for organ protection during systemic stress.

What Are the Other Health Benefits of Niacinamide?

In addition to its central role in cellular energy production, niacinamide contributes to several other physiological processes that support your overall health. These include:

• Improves body composition and physical energy — In animal models of obesity, niacinamide supplementation led to a 47% reduction in body fat after just three weeks. Treated mice also showed gains in lean mass and increased physical activity, even across different dietary conditions. This shift is driven by enhanced mitochondrial biogenesis and increased fat oxidation, both of which convert stored fat into usable energy more efficiently.^5,⁶

• Limits damage from lipid peroxidation — Stored polyunsaturated fats (PUFs), especially linoleic acid (LA), convert into harmful inflammatory compounds, with one of the most toxic byproducts being 4-HNE, an aldehyde that plays a causative role in heart failure.⁷ Fortunately, the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) deactivates 4-HNE, and the best way to increase the activity of this enzyme system is to make sure you have sufficient NAD⁺.

• Protects brain cells and slows neurodegeneration — Niacinamide helps reduce the risk of cognitive decline by supporting neuronal energy supply and inhibiting overactive enzymes like PARP-1 and SIRT1. These enzymes, when unchecked, drain NAD⁺ and accelerate brain cell stress.⁸

• Strengthens the gut barrier — The intestinal lining requires high levels of ATP to stay intact. When energy runs low, the gut becomes permeable, allowing bacterial endotoxins like LPS to enter the bloodstream. This contributes to widespread inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. In models of alcohol-induced gut injury, niacinamide restored NAD⁺ and ATP levels in intestinal cells and tightened the barrier.⁹

• Supports kidney function beyond acute illness — Beyond its acute protective role in COVID-related kidney injury, niacinamide may offer broader support for kidney function. NAD⁺ depletion contributes to chronic kidney disease (CKD) by impairing glucose oxidation and promoting inefficient fat metabolism.

Niacinamide helps restore the NAD/NADH ratio, preserve mitochondrial function, and reduce stress signaling in kidney cells. It also tempers the activity of NAD-consuming enzymes that accelerate damage.¹⁰

• Helps maintain healthy heart muscle and prevent fibrosis — Heart failure is closely tied to declining NAD⁺ in cardiomyocytes, the muscle cells responsible for contraction. When energy levels fall, these cells begin releasing pro-fibrotic signals, leading to tissue stiffening and loss of function.

Niacinamide helps sustain ATP production and prevent this transition, offering early protection in models of cardiac stress. Though human trials are still emerging, current findings point to its potential in preserving long-term cardiac resilience.^11,¹²

To explore further benefits of niacinamide beyond those discussed here, check out "Even More Health Benefits of Niacinamide" and "Vitamin B3 Boosts Muscle Mass, Improves Glucose Control."

General Niacinamide Recommendations

Supporting NAD⁺ production through niacinamide calls for precision and balance. While high doses have shown benefit in clinical contexts, lower, consistent doses are better suited for daily use to achieve mitochondrial and metabolic support without overwhelming your system, as excessive intake interferes with methylation or increases the risk of adverse effects over time.

• A practical daily approach involves small, evenly spaced doses — For optimal health, I recommend taking 50 milligrams of niacinamide three times per day. This dosage has been shown to optimize energy metabolism and boost NAD⁺ levels, which are foundational for everything else to work. It can be taken four times a day if you space them out. Take a dose as soon as you get up, another before going to bed, and two more evenly spaced between those times.

• Higher doses of B3 cause adverse effects — The problem with taking too much vitamin B3, whether in the form of niacin or niacinamide, is that it might backfire and contribute to cardiovascular disease, as documented by the Cleveland Clinic.¹³

Also, please note that although niacinamide and niacin are both forms of vitamin B3, niacin will not activate NAMPT like niacinamide, so it is best to use niacinamide. Additionally, niacinamide, unlike niacin, will not cause flushing, which is due to a large release of histamine.

• Make sure you're getting all the other B vitamins — Other B vitamins are important for good health, including optimal mitochondrial function — especially regular niacin, riboflavin, and folate. Decreased mitochondrial function is often due to a deficiency in B vitamins, and that's easy to fix with a low-dose, high-quality B complex.

As for food sources, vitamin B3 is found in grass fed beef and mushrooms.¹⁴ Vitamin B6 is plentiful in grass fed beef, potatoes, and bananas.¹⁵ You'll find folate, or vitamin B9, in spinach, broccoli, and asparagus.¹⁶ Vitamin B12-rich foods include grass fed beef liver, wild rainbow trout, and wild sockeye salmon.

By keeping doses modest and consistent, and supporting the broader B vitamin family, it becomes possible to nourish your body's natural NAD⁺ recycling capacity safely and effectively. This makes niacinamide a practical and sustainable approach for supporting mitochondrial function and metabolic recovery in the aftermath of COVID-19.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Niacinamide and COVID-19 Recovery

Q: What is niacinamide, and how does it support COVID-19 recovery?

A: Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3 that helps raise NAD⁺, a molecule required for cellular energy production, DNA repair, and inflammation control. In COVID-19 recovery, NAD⁺ levels often drop due to infection-related stress, impairing mitochondrial function and slowing healing. Niacinamide supports recovery by replenishing NAD⁺, helping the body restore physical strength, protect organs, and rebalance the immune response.

Q: Can niacinamide help with long COVID symptoms like fatigue and brain fog?

A: Yes. The COVit-2 trial found that daily supplementation with nicotinamide (a form of niacinamide) led to faster physical recovery and fewer long COVID symptoms at a six-month follow-up. Participants reported reduced fatigue and better performance in daily activities, suggesting that niacinamide may help address energy loss and neurological stress seen in long COVID.

Q: How does niacinamide affect the gut microbiome after COVID-19?

A: COVID-19 disrupts the gut microbiome, triggering metabolic stress in intestinal bacteria. In the COVit-2 trial, participants who received nicotinamide maintained a more balanced microbiome with healthier gene activity, while those on placebo showed signs of microbial stress. This is the first study to show that a nutrient like niacinamide influences microbiome recovery after a viral infection.

Q: What is the recommended daily dose of niacinamide for general NAD⁺ support?

A: For ongoing support, 50 mg of niacinamide taken three times per day is a balanced approach. This dose is low enough to avoid side effects while still fueling NAD⁺ production through the salvage pathway. Doses can be spaced evenly throughout the day, including one in the morning, one at night, and one or two in between.

Q: Can I take too much niacinamide?

A: Yes. Excessively high doses of niacinamide interfere with methylation or contribute to cardiovascular stress. Clinical trials often use higher doses for short durations, but for daily use, smaller doses are safer. It's also important to support your intake of other B vitamins for optimal mitochondrial and metabolic function.

Test Your Knowledge with Today's Quiz!

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

How do microplastics disrupt liver cell health?

By interfering with oxygen absorption into the bloodstream

By damaging mitochondria, the cell’s energy producers
Microplastics harm mitochondria, impairing energy production and triggering further cell dysfunction. Learn more.

By increasing calcium storage in cells

By replacing healthy fats with synthetic oils

A systemic plan for health worker well-being [PODCAST]

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:00:50 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation co-founder Corey Feist and physician advocate Kim Downey discuss their article, “Health workers deserve care too: How to protect their mental health.” They highlight the ongoing mental health crisis facing the health care workforce, where CDC

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A systemic plan for health worker well-being [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:00:16 +0000

Pain management physicians, who often prescribe controlled substances like opioids, face intense scrutiny. Critics argue that investigations are overly aggressive, resembling fishing expeditions where investigators search broadly for any evidence of wrongdoing, often beyond the original complaint. A 2023 Los Angeles Times report noted that nearly 10,000 investigations were conducted in 2021–2022, with pain physicians

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Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why physicians need a place to fall apart

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:00:03 +0000

Physicians are masters at holding it together. You walk into a patient’s room, and no matter how little sleep you have gotten, how chaotic the last shift was, or how much is weighing on you personally, you put on the calm, capable, competent face that patients and colleagues expect. That ability to compartmentalize (to suppress

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Why physicians need a place to fall apart originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

The joy of teaching medicine through life’s toughest challenges

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:00:26 +0000

Sepsis, multi-organ failure, near death I fought back to the work I loved. Life shifted; teaching’s call opened another door. Not time yet. The student clinic, a rebirth at the bedside, Watching timid M1s bloom into confident, caring M3s: pure joy. Being a doctor, teaching, healing, helping those in need. Not time yet. The pure

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The joy of teaching medicine through life’s toughest challenges originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why health care can’t survive on no-fail missions alone

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 11:00:56 +0000

We don’t send SEAL teams into the field without backup, but we routinely send health care workers into no-win situations and tell them: don’t fail. I celebrated friendship and teamwork during a Change of Command ceremony this week—full of honor, tradition, and those stirring reminders of what it means to lead. But one repeated phrase

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Why health care can’t survive on no-fail missions alone originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Titanium Dioxide in Processed Foods Disrupts Gut Hormones and Blood Sugar

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

You eat it without knowing. Titanium dioxide is added to thousands of processed foods to make them look brighter, smoother, and more appealing. It’s what gives sandwich cookies their crisp white filling and powdered donuts their snowy coating. You’ll find it in breath mints, gum, coffee creamers, and even children’s chewable vitamins. It serves no nutritional purpose — and yet it’s everywhere.

The problem isn’t just that it’s unnecessary. The smallest form of this additive — titanium dioxide nanoparticles — is now being linked to serious metabolic disruption. We're talking about measurable shifts in blood sugar control, gut hormone activity, and even the way your intestines absorb nutrients.¹ And this isn't rare contamination or occasional exposure.

If you eat processed food regularly, you're likely swallowing trillions of these particles every day. What makes it more dangerous is how quietly it works. Unlike toxic chemicals that inflame or destroy tissue outright, titanium dioxide interferes with how your gut functions at the cellular level, long before you feel anything is wrong. The latest findings are forcing a deeper look at what these particles do once they enter your body — and why their impact goes far beyond what most food safety regulations account for.

Titanium Dioxide Hijacks Your Gut’s Hormone Signals

A study published in Food and Chemical Toxicology tested how titanium dioxide — the whitening additive found in many processed foods — affects your body at the cellular level.² Researchers used both intestinal cells grown in the lab and live mice to find out if these tiny particles mess with how your gut talks to your brain and pancreas. Their goal? To see how titanium dioxide affects hunger cues, digestion, and blood sugar regulation.

• Mice given food containing titanium dioxide had trouble controlling their blood sugar — The mice were fed chow mixed with 1% food-grade titanium dioxide, which matches how much people, especially children, get from their diets. Over time, their blood sugar went up, and their ability to handle glucose after eating got worse. In simple terms, their metabolism started looking like the early stages of diabetes.

• Even though their gut tissue looked normal, the hormone system inside was disrupted — The intestines weren’t visibly damaged. But inside, key hormone-producing cells weren’t working properly. These cells normally release hormones like glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY), and cholecystokinin (CCK), which help control appetite, signal fullness, manage insulin, and regulate how fast your stomach empties. Titanium dioxide interfered with these cells’ development and function.

• The gut hormones that regulate appetite and insulin were nearly shut off — Hormones that are supposed to be released after meals dropped significantly in the exposed mice. Without these hormones, the body doesn’t know when to stop eating, how much insulin to release, or how to properly manage blood sugar. The problem isn’t just what you eat — it’s how your body responds to it.

• The disruption came from how gut stem cells matured, not from visible damage or inflammation — Stem cells in the gut are supposed to develop into different cell types, including those that make hormones. But titanium dioxide exposure changed that process. Instead of maturing into functional hormone-producing cells, the stem cells were redirected, leading to a breakdown in gut signaling. There was no tissue destruction, just a silent failure in communication.

• This breakdown in signaling makes it harder to feel full or maintain stable energy — When GLP-1 and PYY levels drop, your brain doesn’t register fullness, and your pancreas doesn’t get the right message to release insulin. Your digestion speeds up or slows down unpredictably. That means more hunger, energy crashes, and blood sugar swings, all of which raise your risk for chronic disease.

Titanium Dioxide Is Widespread in Processed Foods Despite Risks

A report from U.S. Right to Know highlighted findings from the Food and Chemical Toxicology study and emphasized how everyday food exposure adds up, especially for children.³ According to the article, many common snack foods, from sandwich cookies to colorful candies, contain titanium dioxide in nanoparticle form.

• Children are more vulnerable to harm — This is because of their lower body weight and, often, higher consumption of processed foods. U.S. Right to Know pointed out that food-grade titanium dioxide is banned in the European Union due to safety concerns, but remains widely used in the U.S. without any warning label.

• Hormone disruption occurred without obvious physical damage — Unlike toxins that inflame or destroy tissue, titanium dioxide nanoparticles work in a more insidious way. The news piece explained that the damage occurs at the molecular level — blocking your body’s ability to sense food and regulate insulin.

• Titanium dioxide has been linked to cancer, gut inflammation, and brain health concerns — Research in animal and cell studies has connected titanium dioxide exposure to DNA damage, which raises cancer risk, intestinal inflammation, metabolic disorders tied to obesity, and even brain diseases like Alzheimer’s.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” and in 2021 the European Food Safety Authority declared it unsafe for food use.⁴

• Despite bans overseas, titanium dioxide is still allowed in U.S. food, with limited oversight — France banned titanium dioxide in 2020, followed by the European Union in 2022. But in the U.S., it’s still legal and often hides on labels under vague terms like “artificial color.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it “generally recognized as safe” as long as it makes up less than 1% of the food’s weight — but doesn’t require labeling of particle size or full disclosure. New York lawmakers are now pushing legislation to ban it and require transparency in food chemicals.

Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Shrink Nutrient Absorption and Damage Gut Structure

Published in NanoImpact, a related study investigated how chronic exposure to titanium dioxide nanoparticles impacts human intestinal cells using a lab-grown cell model that mimics the small intestine.⁵ Unlike previous studies that focused on immune or hormonal effects, this one focused specifically on the digestive lining — how nutrients are absorbed and what happens to the gut’s protective barrier after repeated exposure.

• Researchers found serious disruptions to nutrient uptake and gut cell structure — The study showed that exposure to titanium dioxide nanoparticles reduced the absorption of key nutrients, including iron, zinc, and essential fatty acids.

It also caused the loss of microvilli, the microscopic fingerlike projections that line your intestine and help your body absorb food efficiently. These structural changes appeared after just a few days of exposure, with more damage accumulating over time.

• The gut’s “filter system” started to break down, making it more vulnerable to toxins and bacteria — One of the most important findings was the disruption of tight junction proteins — cellular “gatekeepers” that keep harmful substances from leaking through your gut wall.

When these are weakened, your gut barrier becomes permeable, allowing partially digested food particles, toxins, and bacteria to escape into your bloodstream. This condition, often referred to as “leaky gut,” has been linked to systemic inflammation, autoimmune problems, and chronic disease.

• Key nutrient transporters were downregulated, reducing how much your gut could absorb from food — The study found a significant decrease in the expression of key nutrient transporters. That means even if you’re eating a nutrient-rich diet, your gut isn’t able to pull those nutrients into your bloodstream effectively. It’s not a deficiency of food — it’s a breakdown in the machinery that makes food useful.

• The changes occurred without inflammation, making them harder to detect, but just as damaging — There was no cell death, bleeding, or overt toxicity. Instead, the titanium dioxide triggered subtle dysfunctions like changes in cell behavior, suppressed nutrient uptake, and weakened structural integrity. This kind of silent disruption is especially dangerous because it’s easy to overlook until larger problems emerge.

• Oxidative stress was a major driver of the structural damage — Titanium dioxide nanoparticles increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), unstable molecules that damage DNA, proteins, and cell membranes. The study confirmed that oxidative stress was one of the main biological mechanisms driving the breakdown of microvilli and weakening of tight junctions.

When left unchecked, this stress leads to long-term degradation of gut function and makes recovery more difficult. The researchers emphasized that repeated exposure to titanium dioxide, especially from daily processed food consumption, amplifies the negative effects. The more often your gut lining is exposed to these particles, the more structural damage accumulates, and the more likely nutrient malabsorption becomes.

How to Avoid Titanium Dioxide in Your Food

If your goal is to protect your gut, balance your blood sugar, and avoid harmful hormone disruption, your first step is removing the source of the problem. Titanium dioxide is legal but not safe — and avoiding it takes strategy, not guesswork. Most food labels won’t warn you clearly, and many processed items marketed to children are among the worst offenders. Here’s how to avoid it in your food:

1. Cut out processed snacks, gums, and candies — Titanium dioxide is most common in white or brightly colored sweets like mints, marshmallows, powdered donuts, frosting, and chewing gum. It’s also used in some dairy substitutes and protein bars. If you’re regularly eating foods with shiny, smooth coatings or pure-white fillings, it’s time to check the label — or better yet, avoid those products altogether.

2. Look for short ingredient lists with real foods only — The more processed an item is, the more likely it is to contain titanium dioxide. Aim for whole-food ingredients you recognize. If the label mentions “artificial color,” “color added,” “colored with titanium dioxide,” or “E171” (its label in some international products), steer clear. But beware — not all products have to list it, especially if it's part of a blend. When in doubt, skip it.

3. Avoid ultraprocessed items, especially those marketed to children — Foods aimed at children, like colorful cereals, gummies, and snack packs, are some of the biggest sources of titanium dioxide. If you’re a parent, I strongly recommend avoiding these items. Even small amounts eaten daily could trigger long-term metabolic effects based on the research.

4. Choose supplements carefully — Many chewable vitamins, probiotics, and over-the-counter pills use titanium dioxide to make tablets look smooth and white. Always check supplement labels, especially if the pill is bright white or has a glossy coating. Opt for capsules, powders, or brands that clearly state “titanium dioxide free.”

5. Buy from brands and stores that ban titanium dioxide — Some natural food brands and grocery chains have banned titanium dioxide from their products altogether. Look for stores with published “no artificial additives” policies, and stick to brands that commit to clean ingredients. It’s one of the easiest ways to shop smarter without needing to decode every label.

FAQs About Titanium Dioxide

Q: What is titanium dioxide and why is it added to food?

A: Titanium dioxide is a whitening agent used in thousands of processed foods to enhance color and visual appeal. It’s commonly found in white or brightly colored candies, frostings, powdered donuts, breath mints, coffee creamers, and even supplements. It has no nutritional benefit and is used purely for appearance.

Q: How does titanium dioxide affect my gut and metabolism?

A: Research shows that titanium dioxide nanoparticles interfere with hormone-producing cells in your gut.⁶ These hormones control appetite, blood sugar, and digestion. Disrupting them causes blood sugar spikes, poor insulin signaling, increased hunger, and higher risk for conditions like insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

Q: Does titanium dioxide damage my gut without causing symptoms?

A: Yes. Titanium dioxide doesn’t visibly inflame or destroy gut tissue. Instead, it silently alters how gut stem cells mature and how nutrients are absorbed. It reduces microvilli, which absorb food, weakens your gut barrier — leading to leaky gut — and triggers oxidative stress that erodes intestinal function over time.⁷

Q: Is titanium dioxide banned in other countries?

A: Yes. France banned it in 2020, and the European Union followed in 2022. The European Food Safety Authority declared it unsafe in 2021. In contrast, the U.S. FDA still allows its use and classifies it as “generally recognized as safe,” with no requirement to list particle size or include it on all labels.⁸

Q: How do I avoid titanium dioxide in my diet?

A: Start by cutting out highly processed foods, especially those with shiny coatings or white fillings. Read ingredient lists and avoid products that mention “titanium dioxide,” “artificial color,” or “E171.” Check supplements, personal care items, and toothpaste as well. Opt for brands and retailers that prohibit titanium dioxide use entirely.

Microplastics Trigger Mitochondrial Stress in Human Liver Cells

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Plastic pollution isn’t just an environmental issue — it’s become a biological one. You’re eating it, drinking it, and breathing it in. And while those particles are too small to see, they’re not too small to affect your health. Your liver is one of the first places these microscopic plastics land, and that’s a problem.

This organ is responsible for breaking down toxins, regulating blood sugar, producing vital proteins, and helping your body process fats. When it's under constant assault, everything downstream, from your digestion to your hormones, starts to suffer. You might not feel it yet. Microplastic exposure doesn’t trigger obvious symptoms right away.

But behind the scenes, it’s damaging the very structures your body relies on for energy and repair. That damage starts at the cellular level, inside your mitochondria — the microscopic engines that keep you alive and functioning. When they go offline, everything else follows.

Let’s explore new research that reveals how common microplastics interfere with your cellular energy, damage your liver’s internal balance, and trigger a stress response your body can’t keep up with.¹ Most importantly, I’ll show you what you can do to start protecting yourself right now.

How Microplastics Disrupt Your Liver and Drain Your Cellular Energy

In a study published in Particle and Fiber Toxicology, researchers looked at how two types of common microplastics — polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) — affect human liver cells over three days.² These weren’t lab-made beads. They were actual particles extracted from everyday plastic items like water bottles, ground into tiny pieces small enough to slip into cells. The goal was to simulate the kind of plastic exposure you get in real life and see what it does to your body at the cellular level.

• Instead of dying, liver cells started multiplying too fast — When liver cells came into contact with the plastic particles, they didn’t shut down. They actually started growing faster. That sounds harmless or even good, but it's not. Uncontrolled cell growth is a red flag.

It’s a sign that the cells are under stress and not functioning normally. This kind of response leads to problems like abnormal tissue growth or even cancer if it continues long term. And this happened at very low doses — levels of microplastic that could easily show up in your daily water or food.

• The cells showed signs of high oxidative stress — Once the plastic particles got inside the cells, they triggered a spike in reactive oxygen species (ROS). Think of ROS like sparks flying inside your body. Too many sparks damage important parts of your cells, including membranes and DNA. In this study, the liver cells exposed to plastic lit up with warning signs — clear proof that they were in a state of internal inflammation and stress.

• Their energy production system broke down — Your mitochondria are the tiny power plants in every cell. They create the energy you need to think, move, and function. But in the cells exposed to microplastics, that power system started to fail. The researchers used a dye that shows how strong the mitochondria’s energy output is. The result? A major drop. These cells were struggling to keep the lights on while also trying to handle plastic damage.

• Even the mitochondria’s DNA got damaged — Mitochondria have their own unique DNA, which helps them run efficiently. In the plastic-exposed liver cells, that DNA started to break down. This was a clear sign that the cell’s most important machinery was falling apart. Without intact mitochondrial DNA, your cells can’t produce energy, repair themselves, or carry out basic functions. It's like trying to run a factory with no power and a broken instruction manual.

The Cleanup Crew Fails Under Pressure

Normally, when your cells detect damage, they kick into a process called autophagy. That’s your body’s internal cleanup crew. It finds and breaks down damaged parts so new ones can be made. But in this case, the system jammed. While the cleanup signals turned on, the final step of breaking down the waste didn’t happen. That means the cells filled up with more and more damaged material, making it harder to recover.

• Blocking the cleanup system made things worse — To test whether the broken cleanup process was helping or hurting, scientists blocked it completely. What happened next was telling: damage markers shot up even higher. That confirmed that autophagy had been activated but wasn’t finishing the job. It’s like starting a dishwasher cycle that never drains. The dirty water just builds up.

• Microscope images revealed a visual mess inside the cells — Using fluorescent markers, the researchers were able to literally see the damage piling up. Plastic-treated cells glowed more brightly than healthy ones — proof that the cleanup vesicles were building up and not going anywhere. Over time, this internal mess leads to even more stress, malfunction, and loss of control inside the cell.

• Plastic from real-world sources caused more harm than synthetic beads — Unlike other studies that used perfectly round plastic particles made in labs, this one used irregular fragments from used PET bottles. These pieces were more jagged, oxidized, and chemically reactive, just like the plastic you’re exposed to in bottled water, household dust, and food packaging. That made them even more disruptive once inside the body.

• Multiple problems hit the cells all at once — The research showed a chain reaction of damage: oxidative stress triggered mitochondrial breakdown, which then led to damaged DNA, energy failure, and a jammed cleanup process. The cell was under attack from every angle, with no time to recover or repair. For an organ like your liver, which is constantly working to detox your body, this kind of stress isn’t sustainable.

• Everyday plastic exposure has real biological consequences — These weren’t high-dose exposures or exotic chemicals. The plastics used in this study are already in your water, food, and environment. That means your liver is likely dealing with this kind of damage on a regular basis. And as this study shows, even small, repeated exposures are enough to push your cells into dysfunction, inflammation, and long-term breakdown.

Natural Strategies to Eliminate Microplastics Are Being Explored

Studies are now looking at strategies to help the human body filter, trap, and eliminate microplastics before they can spread throughout your other systems. These methods offer a multi-angle approach to help reduce your internal plastic load and support overall health. I’ve recently written a paper discussing these methods in detail, and while it is still under peer-review, I’ve provided the key findings below.

• Cross-linked psyllium could help eliminate microplastics — One key system that plays a role in removing microplastics from your body is your gut. A 2024 study showed that acrylamide cross-linked psyllium (PLP-AM) removed over 92% of common plastic types like polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from water.

Because of its high swelling ability and sticky, gel-like texture, cross-linked psyllium could be adapted to work inside the gut, where it may trap plastic particles before they’re absorbed into the body. While the study was conducted in a water treatment setting, the results are also promising for human health.³

• Chitosan, a natural fiber derived from shellfish, also shows promise for clearing microplastics from your body — A recent animal study published in Scientific Reports found that rats given a chitosan-enriched diet were able to eliminate about 115% of the polyethylene microplastics they were fed, compared to just 84% in the control group.

This suggests that chitosan not only helps bind and eliminate new plastic particles but might even help pull out some that were already absorbed. However, while it's generally considered safe and already used in supplements, people with shellfish allergies are advised to steer clear of it.⁴

Psyllium and chitosan work through physical adsorption, where hydrophobic (water-repelling) and electrostatic forces stick microplastic particles to the fiber, keeping them from being absorbed. However, one drawback with these binders is that they can also soak up nutrients if not timed carefully. Hence, they need to be used strategically to provide the most benefit, such as ingesting them with processed or packaged foods, which are more likely to contain plastics.

• Certain beneficial bacteria strains can help clear microplastics from the gut — A 2025 animal study found that two specific strains, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei DT66 and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum DT88, were able to bind to and eliminate tiny polystyrene particles in lab tests.

These probiotics work by forming protective biofilms that trap plastic particles, making them easier to flush out.⁵ When combined with dietary fibers like psyllium and chitosan, the result could be a more effective and natural way to sweep microplastics out of the gut before they’re absorbed.

• The liver also plays an essential role in clearing microplastics from the bloodstream — Specialized immune cells in the liver, known as Kupffer cells, help trap these foreign particles and route them into bile for elimination via the intestines. However, while this method may work on smaller plastics, larger ones can linger and build up, especially if your liver function is compromised.

To support this natural detox pathway, researchers are studying the use of compounds like ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and its variant tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), which stimulate bile production and improve particle flow out of the liver.

• Researchers are also looking at strategies to enhance autophagy to eliminate microplastics — Autophagy is your body's natural cellular recycling system. Researchers are looking at compounds that can help promote this system, mainly rapamycin and spermidine.

Rapamycin works by inhibiting the mTOR pathway, a nutrient-sensing mechanism that normally suppresses autophagy. When mTOR is turned off, cells ramp up their cleanup efforts, forming membranes that can collect and isolate plastic particles for breakdown or removal.

Meanwhile, spermidine is a naturally occurring polyamine found in foods that enhances cellular resilience and supports the clearance of toxic substances. In lab and animal studies, the combination of spermidine and rapamycin helped reverse mitochondrial dysfunction and reduce oxidative stress caused by microplastics.

The table below summarizes these novel strategies to eliminate microplastics, including their mechanisms of action, how much testing has been done, and important safety considerations. It shows that although several different approaches may be needed, clearing plastics from your body naturally is possible. Of course, reducing your exposure is still the ideal preliminary course of action.

How to Protect Your Liver and Mitochondria from Microplastic Damage

If microplastics are already damaging your liver cells at the cellular level, then waiting for regulators to fix the environment isn’t enough. You need to start removing the source of exposure and strengthening your body’s defenses today. These steps aren’t about detox gimmicks — they’re about restoring the internal energy systems your health depends on. Think of your liver like your body’s daily janitor. If it’s overworked, nothing else stays clean.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to make smart choices consistently. If you drink bottled water daily or cook with plastics, this is especially urgent. These steps are designed to reduce your exposure and restore your mitochondrial function so your cells start working the way they were designed to. Here’s what I recommend you start doing right now:

1. Stop ingesting microplastics at home by changing how you store, heat, and consume food — Heating plastic, including when microwaving leftovers or leaving bottled water in a hot car, causes microplastics to leach into your food and drink. Toss the plastic storage containers and water bottles.

Switch to glass, stainless steel, or ceramic for everything you heat, drink from or store food in. If you use a plastic coffee maker, consider upgrading to a glass or stainless steel French press or percolator. This one shift will significantly cut your daily exposure.

2. Filter your water with a system that removes microplastics and chemical contaminants — Tap water, bottled water, and even many “purified” sources are already testing positive for microplastic particles. Use a high-quality water filtration system that removes particles down to the micron level. Look for a system that also filters out PFAS “forever chemicals” and heavy metals, both of which worsen mitochondrial stress.

For those renting or traveling, a high-quality countertop filter is still far better than doing nothing. If your water is hard, boiling it before use dramatically reduces microplastics.⁶

3. Strengthen your mitochondria by getting rid of vegetable oils — If you want your mitochondria to recover from microplastic damage, stop feeding them toxins. The worst offenders are vegetable oils like canola, soy, corn, sunflower, safflower, and all “vegetable oil” blends.

These oils are high in linoleic acid (LA), a polyunsaturated fat that breaks your mitochondria and makes your cells more vulnerable to stress. Replace them with tallow, ghee, or grass fed butter. If you’re cooking at home, this one swap alone could cut your LA intake significantly.

4. Stop wearing and cooking with plastic to lower your exposure across the board — If you’re still using plastic cutting boards, cooking utensils, or wearing synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon, or acrylic, you’re adding to your microplastic load every day. Those cutting boards shed plastic into your food, and synthetic clothes release fibers into your home and washing machine. Swap plastic boards for wood or glass, and choose stainless steel utensils.

When it comes to clothes, opt for organic cotton, linen, or wool. For the synthetic pieces you already own, wash them less frequently, line dry when possible, and use a microfiber-catching laundry bag to trap loose fibers. These small steps keep plastic out of your meals, your bloodstream, and the water supply.

5. Consider natural progesterone to counter the hormonal effects of plastic exposure — Many plastics act like estrogen in your body, disrupting your hormonal balance and making it harder for your cells to function normally. If you’re dealing with symptoms like mood swings, weight gain, or chronic fatigue, you could be dealing with estrogen dominance.

Natural progesterone helps restore balance. It works as a direct counter to the estrogenic effect of plastics and helps your body regain a healthier hormonal rhythm.

FAQs About Microplastics and Mitochondria

Q: What did the new study reveal about microplastics and liver health?

A: The study published in Particle and Fiber Toxicology found that two common microplastics triggered stress responses in human liver cells. These plastics caused oxidative stress, mitochondrial breakdown, DNA damage, and a failed cellular cleanup process called autophagy, even at low doses that mimic real-world exposure.

Q: Why are mitochondria so important, and how do plastics affect them?

A: Mitochondria are your cells' power plants. They create the energy needed for your body to function. The study showed that microplastics disrupted mitochondrial energy production and damaged their DNA. This leaves your cells low on energy and unable to repair themselves properly, increasing long-term risk of disease and degeneration.

Q: Are real-world plastics more dangerous than synthetic lab-made ones?

A: Yes. The researchers used plastic fragments extracted from used PET water bottles, which are more irregular and chemically reactive than clean lab-made beads. These real-world plastics caused more severe damage, suggesting that the types of plastic you’re actually exposed to in daily life are even more harmful to your cells.

Q: How does microplastic exposure interfere with my body’s natural detox system?

A: Your liver relies on a process called autophagy to clear out damaged cell parts. The study found that microplastics triggered this cleanup response but blocked it from completing. Damaged material piled up inside the cells, leading to even more stress and dysfunction over time.

Q: What are the most effective ways to lower my microplastic exposure?

A: Start by eliminating heated plastic food containers, using a water filter that removes microplastics, and removing vegetable oils from your diet to protect mitochondria. Wear natural fibers like cotton and wool, and avoid plastic cutting boards and utensils. These daily actions reduce your body burden and support long-term liver and cellular health.

Test Your Knowledge with Today's Quiz!

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What role does excess iron in the brain play in Alzheimer’s disease?

Sleep Is Essential for Protecting Heart Health in Postmenopausal Women, Study Shows

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Menopause marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years and the beginning of a new physiological chapter. This transition, which typically unfolds between the ages of 45 and 56, is defined by a gradual shift in hormonal patterns that affect nearly every system in the body. Alongside these changes, the risk of chronic conditions, including heart disease, begins to climb.¹

During this period, women are more likely to be counseled on diet, exercise, or cholesterol than on the daily rhythms that restore cardiovascular stability, while sleep is often overlooked. However, as hormones fluctuate, sleep quality tends to decline, with many women struggling to fall asleep, stay asleep, or wake feeling rested.

These changes are commonly viewed as side effects of shifting hormones, but their impact reaches beyond nightly discomfort. Research is beginning to show that sleep quality during menopause plays a measurable role in cardiovascular outcomes. One large study of midlife women has now brought that link into sharper view, positioning sleep as a key factor in shaping long-term heart health.²

Sleep Joins the Ranks of Top Predictors in Menopausal Heart Health

In the featured study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Baylor University examined how lifestyle factors affect heart health in women going through menopause. Drawing on data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN), the team followed 2,924 women over time, beginning at an average age of 46, to see how daily behaviors shaped risk for cardiovascular events and death.³

• Participants were evaluated using the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Essential 8 — This system evaluates eight core areas of cardiovascular health, namely diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep, body mass index (BMI), blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure.

Each category is scored from 0 to 100, with a combined total score that reflects overall heart health. Researchers calculated scores at the start and again years later to track how changes in these areas influenced long-term outcomes.

• Researchers tracked outcomes over time to link habits to risk — Over the course of the study, 213 women had a cardiovascular event and 161 died. Researchers compared these outcomes with each woman’s health scores to see which habits were protective and which increased risk. By looking at both the starting scores and how they changed over time, the study identified patterns that revealed how cardiovascular health progressed through and after menopause.

• Only a small fraction of women reached ideal scores — Just 21% of the women consistently achieved ideal overall scores on the LE8 scale. Most fell short in one or more areas, and those who started with low scores or whose scores declined over time were found to be more likely to develop heart disease or die. This pattern held across the entire study population, underscoring the importance of midlife as a window for preventive action.

• Some health factors had stronger protective effects — Women with higher scores in blood pressure regulation, glucose control, and avoidance of nicotine had consistently better cardiovascular results. These areas have long been recognized as important to heart health, and the study reaffirmed their importance during the menopausal transition. However, the data also pointed to another area that had not been given equal weight in most preventive strategies — sleep.

• Sleep quality is a significant predictor of long-term heart health — Women who entered midlife with higher sleep scores or who improved their sleep during the study period were less likely to experience major heart-related events or die from any cause.

This association held even when adjusted for other risk factors, and its impact was strongest in the context of long-term outcomes rather than early-stage vascular changes. In particular, sleep was not strongly tied to carotid artery thickening, a subclinical marker of vascular aging, but showed a clearer relationship to more advanced events.

• Midlife sleep targets are specific and actionable — The sleep component of LE8 is based on a target of seven to nine hours of sleep per night, averaged across time. Ziyuan Wang, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pittsburgh and first author of the study, noted that the link between sleep and heart health, as well as longevity, should be explored further in clinical trials.

Senior author Samar R. El Khoudary, Ph.D., M.P.H., professor of epidemiology at Pitt's School of Public Health, also added, "With heart disease being the leading cause of death in women, these findings point to the need for lifestyle and medical interventions to improve heart health during and after menopause among midlife women."⁴

Sleep is a core determinant of future health. While familiar metrics like blood pressure remain central to cardiovascular care, this study highlights the need to treat sleep as equally vital, particularly for women navigating the hormonal and physiological shifts of menopause.

Earlier Studies Show Sleep Problems in Menopause Predict Future Heart Disease

Even before the 2025 study, researchers had already uncovered strong links between sleep and cardiovascular health in midlife women using the same SWAN cohort. These earlier studies helped establish sleep as more than just a symptom of hormonal change, pointing instead to its role as a long-range determinant of heart outcomes across the menopausal transition.

• Menopause often brings chronic sleep disruption — A 2017 review published in Current Sleep Medicine Reports compiled findings from multiple SWAN publications to document how sleep changes across the menopausal timeline. Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking too early were common, and these disturbances often persisted into postmenopause.⁵

The review also detailed how sleep disturbances often track with vasomotor symptoms such as night sweats and hot flashes. Women with frequent vasomotor symptoms were more likely to report poor sleep, and those sleep problems tended to become more persistent as menopause progressed.⁶

• Sleep trajectories predict future heart risk — Another study, this time published in Circulation in January 2024, tracked women’s sleep over time and found that persistent insomnia symptoms significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular events. Women with long-standing sleep trouble were 71% more likely to develop heart disease than those with consistently low symptoms.

Those who also had short sleep duration (averaging five hours per night) faced even greater risk. Women with both persistent insomnia and short sleep had a 75% higher risk of heart problems than those who slept longer and had fewer symptoms. These findings held even after accounting for hot flashes, snoring, and depression.⁷

The consistency across timelines, study methods, and outcome measures reinforces that sleep during midlife plays an active role in shaping a woman’s cardiovascular health well beyond the menopausal transition.

Not Just Sleep Quantity — Quality and Timing Matter for Your Heart

Additional evidence supporting the role of sleep in cardiovascular health during menopause comes from a detailed analysis of 291 women in the AHA Research Goes Red Weight Study. Participants ranged from pre- to postmenopausal and were scored using the LE8. However, this study broadened the lens to examine how other dimensions of sleep, like quality, insomnia symptoms, apnea risk, and chronotype, relate to cardiovascular outcomes.

• Poor sleep was widespread across multiple dimensions — Half the participants reported sleeping fewer than seven hours per night. Nearly 80% had poor sleep quality, one-third were at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea, more than half reported symptoms of insomnia, and 12% were classified as having an evening chronotype (night owl). Peri- and postmenopausal women were more likely than premenopausal peers to report poor sleep quality across the board.

• Poor sleep quality tripled the odds of poor cardiovascular health — Women with poor sleep quality had three times the odds of scoring low on overall LE8 cardiovascular health metrics compared to women with better sleep, even after adjusting for age, race, education, and menopause status. High-risk sleep apnea and evening chronotype also raised the odds of low cardiovascular scores nearly threefold.

• Specific sleep problems linked to specific LE8 categories — Poor sleep quality increased the likelihood of low scores on the diet component of LE8. Insomnia symptoms were associated with lower BMI scores. Women at high risk for sleep apnea were significantly more likely to show poor results in the blood pressure, blood glucose, and BMI categories. Most strikingly, women suspected of having sleep apnea had more than 11 times the odds of a poor BMI score.

These results demonstrate that limiting sleep assessments to nightly duration misses much of the cardiovascular burden linked to sleep dysfunction. Problems with quality, regularity, breathing, and circadian preference carry their own distinct and measurable risks.

How Hormonal Imbalance Disrupts Sleep and Strains the Heart

The sleep difficulties that emerge during menopause reflect a deeper internal imbalance, one driven by the loss of progesterone alongside persistent or excessive estrogen activity. This hormonal environment destabilizes sleep, heightens stress sensitivity, and increases cardiovascular strain.

• Menopause may reflect estrogen excess, not deficiency — Although estrogen levels decline in blood during menopause, tissue levels often remain stable or even increase due to local production via aromatase. This creates a state of functional estrogen dominance, especially in women who experience chronic symptoms like poor sleep, weight gain, or inflammation.⁸

• Estrogen disrupts mitochondrial energy production — Rather than promoting balance, unopposed estrogen impairs mitochondrial function and shifts cells toward aerobic glycolysis. This weakens energy production and raises oxidative stress, which interferes with metabolic and neurological processes that support sleep integrity.⁹

• Thermoregulatory dysfunction fragments sleep — Hot flashes and night sweats are tied to hypothalamic instability, which is worsened by low progesterone and excess estrogen. Even minor temperature fluctuations trigger sympathetic nervous system activity, raising heart rate and shattering sleep continuity.¹⁰

• Progesterone loss removes a key neural stabilizer — Progesterone supports deep, restorative sleep by activating GABA receptors that calm brain activity. As progesterone falls during perimenopause, women often experience delayed sleep onset, increased nighttime awakenings, and heightened emotional reactivity at night. Unlike estrogen, progesterone has a direct sedative effect that helps initiate and maintain sleep.¹¹

Understanding the hormonal roots of sleep loss during menopause reframes the issue from one of aging or "poor habits" to one of shifting internal control. To learn more about this, read "Menopause and the Influence of Estrogen Dominance" and "Out of Touch on Menopause."

How to Improve Your Sleep During the Menopausal Transition

Hormonal changes during menopause impair the brain’s ability to regulate temperature, reduce serotonin production, disrupt melatonin release at night, and cause cortisol to remain elevated later into the evening. These shifts make it harder for you to fall asleep, reach deep rest, and stay there through the night. The strategies below support the signals your body relies on to stabilize rest, recover overnight, and protect long-term heart health.

1. Get bright sunlight within 15 minutes of waking up — Morning light is your body’s primary cue that the day has started. It anchors your circadian rhythm, boosts serotonin, and helps regulate cortisol so it doesn’t stay elevated into the night.

Go outside without sunglasses or windows between you and the light; even five minutes makes a difference. If you wake up before sunrise, consider using a dawn simulator or bright light lamp to mimic the effect.

2. Avoid blue light completely after sunset — Melatonin levels are already lower in menopause due to hormonal changes.¹² Exposure to blue light from screens suppresses it even further, keeping your brain alert and delaying the natural transition into sleep. Shut off all screens at least an hour before bed.

If that’s not possible, wear amber-tinted glasses or adjust device displays to emit the warmest, dimmest light. This helps your system recognize nightfall and begin slowing down. At night, use blackout curtains, cover LEDs, and avoid night lights. The room should be fully dark — enough that you can’t see your hand in front of your face.

3. Keep your sleeping environment cool — During menopause, the body’s internal temperature regulation becomes more sensitive and unstable. Your core temperature needs to drop to initiate and maintain deep sleep, and a warm room makes that harder.

Set your bedroom to 60 to 68 degrees F (15 to 20 degrees C). Choose breathable, moisture-wicking bedding that doesn’t trap heat. Supporting this thermoregulation helps your body move into slow-wave sleep, which is essential for metabolic and cardiovascular recovery.

4. Eliminate sources of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from your room — Unplug devices near your bed, turn off your Wi-Fi router, and put your phone in another room or on airplane mode. If you’re willing to go further, consider turning off the bedroom circuit breaker at night. Less background stimulation means fewer signals pulling your nervous system back into alert mode.

5. Consider taking progesterone — I take three hormones that I believe most adults can benefit from — progesterone, DHEA, and pregnenolone. For perimenopausal and menopausal women, progesterone may be especially useful. In one study, progesterone supplementation significantly improved night sweats and sleep quality among perimenopausal women.¹³ If you’re considering this option, I explain how to use progesterone safely and effectively in the section below.

For additional strategies to get high-quality sleep at night, read "Sleep — Why You Need It and 50 Ways to Improve It."

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Sleep and Cardiovascular Health in Menopause

Q: How is my heart health affected by poor sleep in menopause?

A: Poor sleep during menopause increases your long-term risk of heart disease, stroke, and other serious cardiovascular events. Large studies show that women with poor sleep quality or declining sleep patterns during midlife are significantly more likely to experience these outcomes later in life, even when other health factors are accounted for.

Q: What kinds of sleep problems are most common during menopause?

A: Studies show that midlife women frequently experience short sleep duration, poor sleep quality, symptoms of insomnia, and increased risk for sleep apnea. These issues become more common during the menopausal transition and are especially prevalent among peri- and postmenopausal women.

Q: Can improving my sleep during menopause actually lower my risk of heart disease?

A: Yes. Women in midlife who improved their sleep over time had lower rates of cardiovascular events and death compared to those with persistent or worsening sleep problems. Researchers emphasize that midlife sleep is a modifiable factor with long-term impact.

Q: How do specific sleep issues during menopause affect my cardiovascular health?

A: Research shows that different sleep disturbances are linked to specific areas of cardiovascular health. For instance, poor sleep quality is associated with worse diet scores, insomnia with higher BMI, and sleep apnea with elevated blood pressure and glucose levels.

Q: What steps can I take to sleep better during menopause?

A: Getting morning sunlight, eliminating blue light after dark, keeping your bedroom cool and dark, reducing EMF exposure, and supporting progesterone levels are all strategies that help restore natural sleep signals. These approaches target the root disruptions that occur during menopause.

An addiction physician’s warning about America’s next public health crisis [PODCAST]

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 23:00:20 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Addiction medicine physician Safina Adatia discusses her article, “Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis.” She warns that following the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling to overturn sports gambling bans, the U.S. is facing a potential epidemic with tens of millions

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An addiction physician’s warning about America’s next public health crisis [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Gen Z’s DIY approach to health care

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 19:00:04 +0000

There is a generation change happening in how health information and care is accessed, understood, and delivered, driven by Gen Z. They are the first generation of digital natives and the first to fully benefit from the Affordable Care Act, which has cut uninsured rates in half for 19- to 25-year-olds, improving access to preventive

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Gen Z’s DIY approach to health care originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

What street medicine taught me about healing

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:00:28 +0000

In a little area outside our free clinic in Miami, ten of us sit together in a group. The air is thick and unmoving. Some wear torn shirts while others arrive in stylish outfits. A few have not had the chance to shower in weeks, but all show up, bringing their full selves to the

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What street medicine taught me about healing originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Smart asset protection strategies every doctor needs

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 15:00:47 +0000

Don’t let a lawsuit undo decades of hard work. Here’s how to keep your wealth safe! According to the American Medical Association, approximately one-third of all physicians will face a malpractice lawsuit, and just under 2 percent of physicians will face a lawsuit each year. While the volume of lawsuits seems high, roughly half of

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Smart asset protection strategies every doctor needs originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

The silent cost of choosing personalization over privacy in health care

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 11:00:00 +0000

I still remember the first time a physician told me they felt they had become a “data clerk with a stethoscope.” And to my surprise, it wasn’t about too many clicks; it was about trust. As a product manager building EHRs, RCM systems, practice management tools, remote monitoring, and AI scribes for over 12,000 health

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The silent cost of choosing personalization over privacy in health care originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

More Evidence That High Iron in the Brain Promotes Alzheimer's

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Alzheimer’s doesn’t start with forgetfulness — it starts with damage. Long before memory loss appears, your brain begins breaking down at the cellular level. And one of the hidden drivers behind that destruction is something many people don’t think about: iron.

When iron builds up in your brain tissue and reacts with fats and proteins, it causes oxidative stress that destroys neurons from the inside out. This iron-driven process doesn’t just accompany Alzheimer’s — it could be what kicks it into gear. A study from the University of Southern California and the University of California, Irvine uncovered a key clue: people with Down syndrome who develop Alzheimer’s show far more brain iron than those with Alzheimer’s alone.¹

That excess iron is tied to brain cell death, inflammation, and early buildup of harmful plaques. If your body can’t safely store and regulate iron, the damage spreads fast — especially in areas tied to memory and executive function. And once your antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed, there’s little left to stop the cascade. Understanding how and why this happens opens the door to new strategies — not just for slowing Alzheimer’s, but for preventing it before it takes hold.

Too Much Iron in Your Brain Speeds Up Alzheimer’s Damage

The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, looked at how too much iron in your brain drives Alzheimer’s disease, especially in people with both Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s.² Researchers studied brain tissue from three groups: healthy adults, adults with Alzheimer’s, and adults with Alzheimer’s related to Down syndrome. Their goal was to understand how iron buildup harms brain cells and leads to sticky protein clumps called amyloid plaques, which are tied to Alzheimer’s.

• Iron levels were much higher in people with both Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s — Compared to healthy adults and those with Alzheimer’s alone, people who had both conditions had about twice as much iron in a key brain region responsible for memory and decision-making.

This group had much higher levels of damage from iron reacting with the fats in brain cells and breaking them down. Making matters worse, the natural defenses that protect brain cells from this type of damage were weakened or missing.

• The brain’s protective enzymes were missing where they were needed most — The study found enzymes that normally repair damage to brain cell membranes were reduced by as much as 70% in the affected areas. These enzymes are important because they help prevent brain cell death triggered by iron overload.

Another protective compound, glutathione, also wasn’t being made properly. That’s because the enzyme needed to make it was also reduced by up to 60%. Without enough glutathione, brain cells lose a major line of defense against stress and oxidation.

• Iron harmed key parts of brain cells that act like control centers — The study found that iron was attacking small areas on the cell’s surface where important proteins are handled and messages are sent. In brains affected by Alzheimer’s — especially in people with Down syndrome — these areas were badly damaged. This damage changed how certain proteins were made, increasing the toxic forms that clump together in the brain and destroy nerve cells.

Are Tiny Brain Bleeds the Source of All That Extra Iron?

One major clue came from the discovery of iron deposits in areas linked to microscopic bleeding. These “microbleeds” are tiny leaks from brain blood vessels that often go unnoticed. When blood escapes into brain tissue, it breaks down and releases iron.

Over time, this creates pockets of stored iron that cause more damage. The study found that a cleanup enzyme, which helps process iron from blood, was three times higher in the brains of people with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s, suggesting chronic bleeding was driving iron overload.

• The brain’s protein-cutting process turned more destructive under stress — Normally, certain brain proteins can be cut in ways that are either safe or harmful. In the damaged brains, the harmful cutting process became more active — not because there was more of the cutting enzyme, but because it was working faster, likely due to iron-related stress. At the same time, the safer cutting process slowed down. This shift caused the brain to make more toxic proteins instead of removing them.

• Even though the body made more antioxidants, they weren’t in the right place — The brain as a whole seemed to increase antioxidant enzyme levels in response to damage, but those enzymes weren’t where they were most needed. This mismatch meant that cells remained vulnerable to damage, even though the body was trying to defend itself. It showed that Alzheimer’s damage isn’t just about overall inflammation or oxidation — it’s about damage happening in precise, high-risk zones.

• Your genes influence how much iron builds up in your brain — In people with rare forms of Down syndrome who didn’t have an extra copy of a certain protein-making gene, there was far less brain iron, fewer harmful protein clumps, and they lived up to 20 years longer than those with the extra gene. This shows that making too much of that protein leads to more iron buildup, more brain damage, and a shorter life — helping explain why some people’s brains decline faster than others.

How to Protect Your Brain from Iron-Driven Damage

High iron is an under-recognized health threat, and there’s a general lack of awareness in the medical community regarding the health risks associated with high iron levels. If you’re concerned about memory loss or have a family history of Alzheimer’s, it’s time to start thinking about iron — not just in your blood, but in your brain.

The study I’ve shared shows that too much brain iron doesn’t just sit there quietly. It ignites a chain reaction of oxidative stress and cell damage that accelerates cognitive decline. Your first move should be reducing the root cause: excess iron accumulation combined with poor antioxidant defenses. Here’s what I recommend to take control of the iron-oxidation cycle and give your brain the support it needs to stay sharp, focused, and protected.

1. Test your ferritin and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) to assess iron burden and oxidative stress — If you don’t know your ferritin level, that’s where you start. Ferritin is the storage form of iron, and the ideal range is between 60 and 75 ng/mL. High ferritin levels indicate your body is holding onto too much iron, which leaks into your brain and triggers damage.

I also recommend asking for a GGT test. GGT is a key marker of oxidative stress and helps identify if free iron is causing damage inside your body. When both ferritin and GGT are elevated, it’s a strong sign your iron is doing harm.

2. Donate blood or request phlebotomy if your iron is too high — If your body is holding onto more iron than it can safely manage, it increases your risk for heart disease, insulin resistance, and oxidative damage to your organs — including your brain. One of the most effective solutions?

Donate blood two to four times a year. This simple act pulls iron out of storage and lowers your levels gradually. If donation isn’t an option due to your health history, ask for therapeutic phlebotomy to achieve the same result.

3. Balance your copper intake to support healthy iron metabolism — Iron reduction is only one piece of the puzzle. If your copper status is low, which is common, your body can’t regulate iron properly. Copper and iron work together. When copper is deficient, iron builds up in places it doesn’t belong. Consider supplementing with 3 to 4 milligrams of copper bisglycinate daily if your intake is low.

You can also focus on copper-rich foods like bee pollen, grass fed beef liver, and acerola cherries — acerola cherry is very high in vitamin C, which contains copper-rich tyrosinase enzyme. Don’t overlook retinol either — this nutrient, found in beef liver and organ meats, helps your body absorb and use copper effectively.

4. Get calcium from food to help keep iron in check — Proper calcium intake reduces your risk of iron overload naturally. When calcium is low, your body produces more parathyroid hormone, which increases iron storage. That creates a feedback loop that worsens brain inflammation over time.

Focus on getting calcium from whole food sources like raw grass fed dairy, pasture-raised egg yolks, and powdered eggshells. Skip the synthetic calcium supplements unless medically necessary, as they don’t offer the same co-factors for absorption.

5. Remove vegetable oils and increase antioxidant-rich foods — Iron is especially dangerous when it reacts with unstable fats, like polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oils. I recommend eliminating canola, soy, corn, sunflower, safflower, and other vegetable oils from your kitchen. These oils break down in your body and feed oxidative stress.

Replace them with stable fats like grass fed butter, ghee, coconut oil, and tallow. At the same time, boost your antioxidant defenses by eating garlic, onions, and pasture-raised eggs. These foods give your body the building blocks to produce glutathione, your brain’s main defense system against iron-triggered damage.

You can also add molecular hydrogen to your daily routine. Hydrogen activates your body’s own healing system by switching on glutathione — especially important when chronic illness and oxidative stress have shut those systems down. Whether through hydrogen-rich water or tablets, this approach helps reactivate your brain’s defense systems where they’re needed most.

By actively lowering excess iron, restoring mineral balance, and strengthening your antioxidant defenses, you protect your brain from the inside out. These steps are simple, actionable, and backed by clear biological mechanisms. Start with testing, make the dietary swaps, and stay consistent — your future brain will thank you.

FAQs About Iron and Alzheimer’s Disease

Q: What does iron have to do with Alzheimer’s disease?

A: Excess iron in your brain causes oxidative damage by reacting with fats and proteins in brain cells. This process leads to neuron death and helps trigger the development of Alzheimer’s. The damage is especially severe in areas responsible for memory and decision-making.

Q: What did the new study find about brain iron and Alzheimer’s?

A: The study found that individuals with both Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s had double the brain iron compared to those with Alzheimer’s alone. The extra iron was linked to faster and more severe buildup of brain plaques, greater cell damage from stress, and weaker natural protections in the brain.

Q: Where does all this excess iron come from?

A: Tiny, undetected brain bleeds (microbleeds) appear to be a key source. When blood leaks into brain tissue, iron from hemoglobin is released and stored locally, causing long-term oxidative stress. People with Down syndrome-related Alzheimer’s had a threefold increase in the enzyme that processes blood-derived iron, suggesting chronic internal bleeding contributes to iron buildup.

Q: How can I find out if I have high iron levels?

A: Start by testing your ferritin, the storage form of iron. Ideal levels fall between 60 and 75 ng/mL. You should also request a GGT test to measure oxidative stress. High ferritin and GGT together suggest your body is not safely managing iron, which impacts brain health.

Q: What steps can I take to reduce the risk of iron-driven brain damage?

A: Donate blood regularly or ask for therapeutic phlebotomy if your ferritin is high. Balance iron with copper-rich foods or supplements, increase calcium from whole food sources, eliminate vegetable oils, and boost antioxidants like glutathione. You can also use molecular hydrogen to reactivate antioxidant enzymes and help your brain neutralize oxidative stress.

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 is one early sign of mitochondrial breakdown that can occur even if your blood tests look normal?

Low iron levels

Low vitamin D

High blood pressure

Reductive stress
Reductive stress is an early, hidden breakdown in mitochondrial function that can lead to chronic fatigue, brain fog, and metabolic disease, even when standard lab results appear normal. Learn more.

Eating Late in the Day Disrupts Your Blood Sugar Control and Metabolic Health

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It’s not just what you put in your body that’s vital for optimal health — according to recent studies, when you eat is just as important. Based on these new findings, getting most of your calories late in the day damages your blood sugar control — even if your weight and total calories stay the same.

Late eating interferes with glucose handling (how your body processes sugar) and raises your risk for insulin resistance, worsening your metabolic health over time. So, if you’ve noticed brain fog, low energy after meals, or stubborn belly fat, poor glucose handling could be the reason — and something as simple as eating your dinner earlier could be a simple but powerful solution.

Why Eating Late in the Day Is Not a Good Idea

A recent study published in eBioMedicine looked into a question that affects nearly every one of us — Does the timing of your meals — relative to your body’s internal clock — change how well you process sugar? As discovered by scientists at the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), the answer is yes.¹

The research didn’t just link late eating to higher blood sugar. It also found that how far your meals are from your natural sleep rhythm directly impacts your insulin sensitivity, which is your body’s ability to respond to and manage glucose effectively.

• The researchers used data from the NUtriGenomic Analysis in Twins (NUGAT) study from 2009 to 2010 — The research involved 92 adult twin pairs, both identical and fraternal. By using twins, the study authors controlled for genetic background, which allowed them to focus on the effects of lifestyle and internal rhythms.

• The participants underwent detailed metabolic phenotyping — Data was collected through physical examinations and evaluation of their medical history. They were also given a glucose tolerance test, a standard lab procedure that measures how well your body manages a high-sugar load.

• Participants’ food intake and chronotypes were also evaluated — Every participant kept a handwritten food log for five consecutive days, noting not only what they ate, but exactly when they ate it. Using a questionnaire, their internal "chronotype" was also calculated — meaning whether they were naturally an early riser or night owl. This helped determine the actual biological impact of late eating, rather than just looking at clock time.

• What they discovered is significant — Participants who ate later in their biological day — closer to their personal sleep midpoint — had lower insulin sensitivity, making it harder for their body to maintain stable blood sugar levels. This effect showed up even when the total calories and food types were similar across participants.

"Later eating timing in relation to an individual internal clock is associated with lower insulin sensitivity. Shifting the main calorie intake to earlier circadian times may improve glucose metabolism, but genetic factors could influence the feasibility and effectiveness of eating-timing based interventions," the researchers concluded.²

Your Internal Clock Determines How Your Body Handles Food

Insulin sensitivity is central to your ability to manage blood sugar. When it drops, glucose stays in your bloodstream longer, triggering inflammation and oxidative stress. Over time, this leads to prediabetes, weight gain around the midsection, and eventually, full-blown Type 2 diabetes.

This research adds another layer — it's not just what and how much you eat that matters — it’s also when you eat it. And that "when" isn't based on a universal clock, but rather on your internal one.

• The human body operates on a 24-hour circadian rhythm — When you hear the words circadian rhythm, you would think about sleep — however, sleep isn’t the only area of your health involved. The circadian rhythm is a master control system that manages when your organs perform best. Your pancreas, which releases insulin, is more active and responsive in the earlier part of the day. Your liver, which helps clear glucose, works more efficiently in the morning.

However, when you eat late, your body’s glucose-clearing machinery is winding down — even if you feel awake and alert. That mismatch throws off everything from blood sugar to fat storage to energy levels.

• When you eat your meals doesn’t just affect glucose — it also sends signals to your internal clocks — Food intake acts as what the researchers call a "zeitgeber," or time cue.³ Just like sunlight helps reset your brain’s master clock, your meals help sync the clocks in your organs.

• Eating too late, and inconsistently, desynchronize those clocks — As Medical Xpress puts it, "Decoupling meal times from the natural light-dark rhythm, e.g., when working at night, can lead to an internal clock disorder and negative metabolic changes."⁴ It leads to what’s called circadian misalignment, which throws off hormone release, digestion, and metabolism all at once. The result — sluggish energy, disrupted sleep, and elevated glucose levels, even if you eat healthy, balanced meals.

This study shows that if you’re trying to improve your energy, digestion, weight, or blood sugar, don’t overlook when you eat. Even if you don’t change your total calories, aligning your meals with your body’s rhythm could dramatically improve how your body handles food. And that makes it easier to reach your health goals without added stress or extreme diets.

Eating Late Changes How Your Body Stores and Uses Food

An earlier research published in Nutrition and Diabetes provided similar results. Conducted by researchers from the Diabetes Research Center at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia, the study zeroed in on how meal timing — not just food quality or quantity — directly alters your body’s metabolic performance. However, what sets this paper apart is that it provides a specific time of the day considered late eating — by which, when you consume high amounts of calories, it affects your insulin sensitivity.⁵

• The participants were mainly diabetics and obese individuals — The study followed 26 diabetics between ages 50 and 75, all of whom were living with obesity and either diet- or metformin-managed prediabetes or early-stage Type 2 diabetes. The participants ate similar daily calories, and their weight and body fat levels were closely matched.

• What separated them was the clock — One group was classified as "late eaters" who consumed 45% or more of their calories after 5 p.m. The other group was composed of "early eaters," who ate their meals earlier.

• The late eaters consumed more calories after 5 p.m. — According to the authors, "Late eating is associated with greater consumption of calories mostly from carbohydrates and fats and may lead to prolonged evening postprandial glucose excursions contributing to worse glucose tolerance."⁶

• They also consistently showed higher glucose levels — These were measured through an oral glucose tolerance test. The results were consistent even after controlling for calorie intake, macronutrient balance, weight, and fat percentage. That means your dinner timing, not just your food choices, plays a serious role in how efficiently your body clears sugar from the bloodstream.

• Interestingly, both groups had similar fasting glucose, insulin, and C-peptide levels — This means that at first glance, you wouldn’t necessarily spot a problem. But when their bodies were challenged with a glucose load, the late eaters failed that test, and their blood sugar stayed higher, longer — a mark of diminished insulin sensitivity.

• These findings are particularly relevant for shift workers — Those who work the nightshift often have irregular sleep and eating schedules — making them more likely to experience metabolic problems. According to Dr. Blandine Laferrère, an endocrinologist in the Diabetes Research Center at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia and the study’s senior author:

"Late eating is associated with poorer glucose tolerance and is not explained by a higher BMI or body fat, nor by greater caloric intake or worse diet composition. The data are pretty clear."⁷

So What’s Actually Happening in Your Body When You Eat Late?

According to the researchers, meal timing influences more than just digestion. It affects hormonal rhythms, fat metabolism, and your body’s energy expenditure.⁸ So if you’re dealing with low energy, stubborn belly fat, or worsening blood sugar — even if your calorie intake is on point — your evening meal pattern could be working against you.

• A 2022 study highlights the effects of late eating on your hormones and fat metabolism — A randomized controlled clinical trial from Spain found that when two groups of people were given the same amount of calories at different times of day, those who consumed their meals at a later time had increased hunger and changes to their appetite-regulating hormones. They also burn less calories when they are awake and had altered fat metabolism that leads to higher fat storage.⁹

• Today’s modern lifestyle triggers you to consume more calories at night — One major finding is that late eaters consume significantly more carbs and fats late in the day. This suggests that their bodies have become naturally wired to crave more energy-dense foods at night.

• Humans were adapted to be active during the day and rest at night — This goes back to the caveman lifestyle, where early men gathered their food during the daytime, then rested at night. But because of modern lifestyles saturated with artificial light and late-night snacking, you override those natural instincts. This leads to a mismatch between your food intake and your metabolic rhythm that sets the stage for long-term health problems.

• The authors emphasize that meal timing needs to be a standard part of metabolic care — Laferrère said, "I would urge physicians to assess the dietary behaviors of patients with obesity and prediabetes or diabetes ... At the very least, ask your patients about what they eat and what time they eat, and suggest they eat most of their calories earlier in the day. It’s not just about the calories they consume, but also when they consume them."¹⁰

Implementing Healthier, Well-Timed Eating Strategies Is Key to Better Blood Sugar Control

These studies make it clear that the timing of your meals — from breakfast to late-night cravings — has a significant impact on not just your blood sugar levels, but your risk of diseases like diabetes as well. If you want to improve your eating habits, I recommend these strategies:

• Make breakfast a priority — This meal gets things going and sets the tone for your blood sugar control. However, skip the sugary cereals or pastries — they lead to a quick spike and then a crash in your blood sugar.

Instead, I recommend healthy choices like whole wheat toast with an organic pastured egg or a bowl of yogurt (ideally homemade using raw, grass fed milk) with ripe fruit and a sprinkle of cinnamon — also valued for its benefits for diabetics.

• Skip the late-night snacks — Your body isn't as efficient at processing food late in the day, so you're more likely to have excess sugar in your bloodstream. To avoid late-night eating, set a regular dinner time to help regulate your hunger cues. Schedule your dinner time a few hours before bedtime so your body will have time to digest. I recommend eating without distractions as well — When you eat while watching TV or using your phone, it's easy to overeat.

• Establish a relaxing bedtime routine — Reading, meditating, or taking a warm bath helps curb your urge to snack. If you still feel hungry, try sipping a glass of water or herbal tea. Check out my article "Top 33 Tips to Optimize Your Sleep Routine" for more useful bedtime tips.

• Distribute your carbs wisely — Carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy, but some carbs are digested faster than others. To do this, make sure to:

◦ Choose whole grains — Whole grains have more fiber, which helps regulate blood sugar.

◦ Eat plenty of ripe fruits and well-cooked vegetables — These are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which help slow down the absorption of their natural sugars.

◦ Watch your portions — Even healthy carbs raise blood sugar if you eat too much at once.

◦ Balance your meals with protein and healthy fats — Include at least 0.8 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass, and ensure one-third of your protein intake is collagen-based. For healthy fats, choose grass fed beef tallow, ghee and coconut oil. Eliminate vegetable oils, processed foods, and restaurant foods that are loaded with linoleic acid (LA).

• Small changes make a big impact — Remember, consistency is key. It’s challenging to make significant changes to your diet, so I recommend starting small and making small steps instead of big leaps. For example, focus on improving one meal first, then gradually work on other meals.

• Track your progress — A food journal or app will help you stay motivated and see how far you've come. My Mercola Health Coach App, which will be released soon, has a Food Buddy feature to help guide your food choices and keep track of your health goals, so stay tuned.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Your Meal Timing

Q: Why is eating late in the day harmful for blood sugar control?

A: Eating late disrupts your body’s ability to process glucose efficiently. Studies show that consuming a large portion of your calories after 5 p.m. leads to higher post-meal blood sugar levels and lower insulin sensitivity — even if your calorie intake and body weight stay the same.

Q: Does it matter what time I eat if I'm eating healthy foods?

A: Yes, timing matters just as much as food quality. Even if you’re eating clean meals, having them late in your biological day — especially close to your natural sleep cycle — impairs your glucose metabolism and increases fat storage.

Q: How does my body’s internal clock affect how I handle food?

A: Your body runs on a circadian rhythm that controls when organs like your pancreas and liver function best. Eating during peak activity hours (earlier in the day) improves glucose clearance and insulin response. Late eating misaligns your internal clocks, leading to sluggish energy and poor metabolic outcomes.

Q: What are some signs that poor glucose timing is affecting my health?

A: Common signs include brain fog, low energy after meals, difficulty losing belly fat, and frequent sugar cravings. These symptoms could indicate reduced insulin sensitivity and poor blood sugar control — especially if your largest meals are late in the day.

Q: What’s the simplest change I can make to improve my blood sugar?

A: Start by shifting your main calorie intake earlier — aim to eat most of your carbs, fats, and proteins before late afternoon. Prioritize a protein-rich breakfast, eat dinner earlier, and avoid late-night snacking. This one change will dramatically improve how your body stores and uses energy.

Heart Scan Study Finds Low-Fiber Diets Raise Risk of Dangerous Artery Plaque

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

You won't always feel heart disease coming. In fact, many people don't know there's a problem until it's too late. That's because the real danger often lies in the type of plaque building silently in your arteries, not just how much of it is there.

Soft, unstable plaques, especially the kind that don't contain calcium, are the most dangerous. They're more likely to rupture, triggering sudden clots that block blood flow to your heart. These aren't just rare medical anomalies. They're increasingly common in people who appear otherwise healthy on the surface.

What drives the formation of these high-risk plaques isn't random. Diet plays a central role in shaping both the structure and behavior of what accumulates in your arteries. The foods you eat influence inflammation, gut health, metabolic balance, and the stability of the plaque itself. The wrong combination — like low fiber intake, frequent processed meat, and blood sugar instability — creates a perfect storm.

If you've been told your blood pressure is "a little high," your triglycerides are "something to watch," or you're just getting older, don't dismiss those signs. They're often the red flags of underlying arterial inflammation and metabolic dysfunction that starts in your gut, spreads through your bloodstream, and quietly raises your cardiac risk.

What's inside your arteries has more to do with what's on your plate than you might think. Let's break down what the newest heart scan data reveals, and why the absence of symptoms doesn't mean the absence of risk.

Low-Fiber Diets Silently Load Your Arteries with Dangerous Plaque

Research published in Cardiovascular Research analyzed coronary artery scans from 24,079 middle-aged Swedish adults with no known cardiovascular disease to find out how dietary habits affect heart plaque.¹ Using imaging, researchers were able to not only see the presence of plaque but also assess how dangerous it looked based on its size, structure, and whether it was calcified or soft.

The study focused specifically on how low-fiber diets, marked by high intake of processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages, compared to fiber-rich, plant-heavy diets in relation to plaque risk.

• Those with the worst diets had the most dangerous plaque features — Researchers divided participants into dietary score groups based on their intake of anti-inflammatory foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. The lowest-scoring group (those with the poorest diet) had more plaque, more blocked arteries, and higher calcium levels in the arteries compared to those with the best diets.

Even more concerning, this group was also much more likely to have high-risk plaques — soft, unstable deposits that block blood flow and are more likely to rupture. These individuals didn't just have more buildup; they had the kind of buildup most likely to trigger heart attacks.

• Heart plaque risks rose as diet quality declined — The odds of having dangerous coronary plaque jumped dramatically in those with the lowest diet quality scores. Compared to the healthiest eaters, those in the lowest tier had:

◦ 23% higher odds of having soft, non-calcified plaques

◦ 37% higher odds of having calcified plaques with mild artery narrowing

◦ 67% higher odds of having non-calcified plaques causing major blockage

◦ Up to 97% higher odds of having the most dangerous high-risk plaques in unadjusted models

This means you're significantly more likely to develop the worst kind of plaque just by following a low-fiber, highly processed diet.

• Diet influenced how many segments of the heart had plaque — Researchers also tracked how many segments of the coronary arteries were affected. The worst diets were linked to more widespread plaque, meaning more branches of the heart's vascular system were impacted. The scan data showed more advanced blockages and greater overall burden among those eating the least fiber-rich foods. The problem wasn't limited to a single artery. It was systemic.

• Specific arteries were more vulnerable to poor diet — Plaques showed up most often in the right coronary artery and left anterior descending artery — two key areas that supply large portions of the heart. These are the arteries you don't want compromised. The diet's impact wasn't evenly spread across the heart, suggesting some regions are especially vulnerable to poor dietary patterns.

Diet-Driven Plaques Showed Up in People with No Known Heart Problems

One of the most important parts of the study is that all participants were considered "healthy" with no diagnosed heart disease. This means people are walking around with ticking time bombs in their arteries without any clue. They likely feel fine. Their doctor might say everything looks good. But the damage is already underway.²

• Inflammation and diet were directly linked — People with the lowest dietary scores also had the highest levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a common marker of systemic inflammation. This confirms that inflammatory foods don't just affect your gut or blood sugar — they light a fire in your cardiovascular system that alters how plaques form in your arteries.

• Biggest plaque risks tracked with waist size, blood pressure, and triglycerides — Waist circumference, high blood pressure, and high triglycerides were the strongest links between bad diets and dangerous plaques.

In fact, waist size alone explained up to 56.7% of the increased risk for high-risk plaque types in low-quality diets. Triglycerides explained up to 39.8%, and high blood pressure up to 32.1%. These three markers acted like biological bridges, translating your food choices directly into plaque formation.

• The damage is likely cumulative and starts long before symptoms appear — The findings support the idea that dietary damage builds up slowly and silently. Even small changes in diet quality showed noticeable differences in plaque type and location. And while this was a cross-sectional study, meaning it only took a snapshot in time, the associations were strong enough to suggest that poor diet is a key driver of dangerous, symptomless atherosclerosis.

How to Repair the Damage and Protect Your Heart with Fiber

You don't have to guess whether your diet is putting your heart at risk. The damage shows up in your arteries long before you ever feel a symptom. If you've been eating a highly processed, low-fiber diet — or struggling with bloating, constipation, or blood sugar swings — it's time to step back and rebuild your gut and heart health from the ground up.

I'm not going to tell you to just "eat more fiber" and hope for the best. That kind of advice ignores one of the most common problems I see: a damaged gut microbiome that can't handle fermentable fiber in the first place. You've got to fix the root before layering more fiber on top of dysfunction. Here's where to begin.

1. Start by checking your gut's current condition — If you regularly feel bloated after meals, struggle with gas, go days without a bowel movement, or swing between constipation and loose stools, your gut is telling you something. These are signs your microbiome is imbalanced, your gut lining is inflamed, or both. Adding a bunch of fiber at this stage is like pouring fuel on a fire.

2. Avoid fermentable fibers until your digestion calms down — You've probably heard that fiber "feeds good bacteria," but that only works if your microbiome is balanced to begin with. When it's not, fiber feeds the overgrowth, especially oxygen-tolerant bacteria that thrive in a leaky, inflamed gut. That's the fiber paradox — and it leads to more endotoxin, more inflammation, and even more plaque-promoting damage.

For now, skip the leafy greens, raw vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Focus on easy-to-digest carbs like fruit and white rice. These provide clean fuel that doesn't ferment too fast or feed the wrong bacteria.

3. Reintroduce the right types of fiber slowly and strategically — Once your bloating has subsided and your digestion becomes more regular, you've likely turned a corner. This is your green light to start feeding your fiber-fermenting bacteria again, but only with specific foods, in small doses.

Start with resistant starches like cooked-and-cooled white potatoes, green bananas, or white rice that's been chilled. These feed butyrate-producing bacteria — the kind that nourish your colon cells, lower inflammation, and promote metabolic health. Then add small amounts of garlic, leeks, and onions, which are rich in prebiotic compounds.

4. Support the bacteria that make butyrate, your gut's anti-inflammatory fuel — Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) made when fiber is fermented by the right kind of bacteria. It fuels colonocytes (cells that line your colon), tightens your gut barrier, and reduces systemic inflammation — the exact mechanisms that protect your arteries from plaque buildup.

Once you tolerate fermentable fiber, emphasize foods that increase butyrate naturally. That means adding in prebiotic foods slowly, staying consistent, and avoiding things that kill off good microbes like alcohol, vegetable oils high in linoleic acid (LA), and processed junk.

5. Build your tolerance and personalize your fiber intake — Not everyone needs the same amount or type of fiber. If you're healing from gut damage, your tolerance will change over time. This is where personalization matters. You'll need to listen to your symptoms and track how you respond to new foods.

Increase variety slowly, one ingredient at a time. Keep portions small at first. If you tolerate cooled potatoes, try a spoonful of lentils. If leeks go down well, try adding cooked organic oats. Give your microbiome time to adjust and rebuild the bacterial species that protect your heart and gut.

Fiber isn't the enemy, but it's not always your friend either, especially if your gut is compromised. Get your digestion back on track first, then add in healthy, fiber-rich foods. You'll not only avoid the kind of plaque that triggers heart attacks — you'll also feel stronger, lighter, and more stable in the process.

FAQs About Low-Fiber Diets and Heart Health

Q: What did the heart scan study reveal about low-fiber diets?

A: A large Swedish study using advanced heart scans found that people who ate the least amount of fiber and the most processed meat had significantly more dangerous types of plaque in their arteries. These soft, non-calcified plaques are more likely to rupture and trigger heart attacks, even in people without any known heart disease.

Q: Can heart disease develop even if I feel fine and have no symptoms?

A: Yes. The study involved over 24,000 adults who appeared healthy but still had high-risk plaque silently building in their arteries. These individuals had no diagnosed heart conditions, showing that dangerous plaque buildup occurs long before any symptoms appear.

Q: What are the biggest risk factors that made the plaque worse?

A: The worst plaque risks were seen in people with larger waistlines, higher blood pressure, and elevated triglycerides. These markers, especially when combined with a low-fiber, inflammatory diet, acted like biological messengers that translated poor food choices directly into dangerous plaque formation.

Q: Should I just eat more fiber to fix the problem?

A: Not necessarily. If your gut is already damaged, jumping into a high-fiber diet will backfire. You need to check for signs of poor digestion, like bloating, constipation, or loose stools, before adding fermentable fibers. The first step is restoring gut balance with easier-to-digest foods before reintroducing specific fibers in small amounts.

Q: What are the best steps to protect my heart and repair my gut?

A: Start by cutting out inflammatory foods and focusing on simple carbs like fruit and white rice if your digestion is impaired. Once symptoms improve, introduce resistant starches and prebiotic-rich foods slowly. Support the bacteria that produce butyrate — an anti-inflammatory compound that protects your colon and your arteries — by personalizing your fiber intake and staying consistent.

How IMGs can find purpose in clinical research [PODCAST]

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 23:00:17 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Clinical research physician Khutaija Noor discusses her article, “Why clinical research is a powerful path for unmatched IMGs.” She addresses the intense pressure and profound disappointment international medical graduates (IMGs) face when they go unmatched for a residency spot in the

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How IMGs can find purpose in clinical research [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is essential to saving lives

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 19:00:45 +0000

You may have noticed the Supreme Court announced several crucial rulings on controversial topics. Buried in most coverage was a note that the Court upheld the legality of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Most folks have no clue what the USPSTF is or does. To people like me, it is crucial to advancing

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Why the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is essential to saving lives originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Medicaid lags behind on Alzheimer’s blood test coverage

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 15:00:06 +0000

I remember a patient in her early sixties who came to our clinic with subtle memory problems. She lived alone in a rural county, relied on Medicaid, and had been passed between social services and different primary care providers for more than a year. No one had ordered imaging, and there were no neurologists nearby.

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Medicaid lags behind on Alzheimer’s blood test coverage originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

The unspoken contract between doctors and patients explained

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 11:00:03 +0000

We often sign extensive contracts when entering long-term commitments — think of the fine print in a mortgage, a car loan, or a new job offer. While there are privacy forms and acknowledgments of office policies, the expectations of the physician-patient relationship are often assumed rather than explicitly stated. Some providers do outline expectations, and

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The unspoken contract between doctors and patients explained originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Weekly Health Quiz: Pesticides in Produce, Probiotics for Heart Health, and Thyroid Health Test

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

1 Why is washing produce often not enough to protect you from pesticide exposure?

Most pesticide residues are water-based

Washing eliminates bacteria, not chemical residues

Some chemicals are absorbed into the plant itself
Many pesticide residues remain even after washing because some chemicals penetrate deep into the produce. Learn more.

Washing can spread toxins to other foods

2 Which type of food supports the production of gut-healing short-chain fatty acids?

Whole grains and natural sugars

Complex carbs and dietary fiber
Complex carbs and fiber fuel good bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids which is essential for reducing inflammation and protecting the gut. Learn more.

Saturated fats and animal protein

Artificial sweeteners

3 Why did the U.S. reject the WHO’s 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR)?

To avoid financial support from WHO pandemic programs

To strengthen vaccine mandates

Due to the WHO's failure to engage the CDC in consultations

To protect national sovereignty and constitutional rights
The U.S. cited threats to national sovereignty, free speech, and constitutional protections as reasons for rejecting the amendments. Learn more.

4 What makes Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis especially effective for cardiovascular support?

They slow down your heart rate

They stimulate glucose appetite to support metabolic demands

They help restore gut balance and reduce inflammation
These strains seal the gut barrier and restore microbial balance, helping to lower inflammation, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Learn more.

They lower blood pressure levels to improve heart health

5 How does DMSO improve the effectiveness of natural remedies?

It transports them deep into tissues and cells through the skin
DMSO enhances delivery by carrying substances through the skin and into the bloodstream, allowing them to work more deeply and efficiently. Learn more.

It prolongs the absorption phase in the digestive tract

It diminishes their pronounced flavor intensity

It replaces the need for natural remedies altogether

6 If you want a complete picture of your thyroid health, what should you ask your provider to test?

Only your TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone)

A full thyroid panel, not just TSH
A full thyroid panel provides a clearer view of thyroid function and can reveal hidden imbalances. Learn more.

Just iodine levels

Your temperature and pulse rate

7 What is the goal of the Minamata Convention on Mercury’s next meeting in November 2025?

To reduce mercury exposure in seafood

To implement comprehensive safety labeling requirements on mercury products

To mandate a worldwide phase-out of dental amalgam
The 2025 convention aims to push for a global ban on dental amalgam, reflecting the growing international movement against mercury use in dentistry. Learn more.

To limit mercury use to dental settings only

Test Your Knowledge with

The Master Level Quiz

1 What’s a major improvement in how the EWG ranks produce in 2025?

They've added actual pesticides detected during testing

They list pesticide-free brands for each item

They removed items that are typically peeled

They evaluate the toxicity of pesticide combinations
For the first time, EWG considers the combined toxicity of multiple residues, not just the quantity, giving a more accurate view of health risks. Learn more.

2 What serious health conditions might be linked to the oral bacteria triggered by GLP-1 injections?

Digestive dysfunction and increased inflammation

Only localized gum disease with no broader impact

Metabolic dysregulation and weight plateau

Heart disease, pneumonia, and Alzheimer’s
Oral bacteria like P. gingivalis, triggered by GLP-1 injections, are linked to serious conditions such as heart disease, pneumonia, and Alzheimer’s. Learn more.

3 Why are children and unborn babies at higher risk from pesticide exposure?

Their bodies can’t break down chemicals efficiently
Because of their size and developmental stage, children and unborn babies are less able to detox harmful chemicals, making them more vulnerable. Learn more.

Their bodies don't absorb sufficient nutrients from food

They tend to eat more fresh produce

They’re more likely to eat dirty or unwashed foods

4 To help restore gut health, how much of your daily calorie intake should ideally come from fat?

50% or more

Around 40%

Below 30%
Keeping fat intake under 30% of daily calories, while choosing whole foods and avoiding processed oils, supports gut healing. Learn more.

Less than 10%

5 Which of the following is a possible early sign of zinc deficiency?

Feeling too energetic

Frequent colds or loss of taste and smell
Low zinc levels often lead to poor immune response, hair loss, and changes in taste or smell — symptoms that are easy to overlook or misdiagnose. Learn more.

Gaining excessive muscle

Persistent burn from sun exposure

6 How much brisk walking does it take each week to eliminate the extra breast cancer risk from prolonged sitting?

10 minutes per week
Just 10 minutes of brisk walking per week was enough to remove the increased risk from prolonged sitting — proving small steps matter. Learn more.

1 hour per day

30 minutes after every meal

15 minutes per day

7 What would the WHO have been able to do under the 2024 IHR amendments if not rejected?

Mandate global health policies

Control public health responses like lockdowns and vaccine rules
The amendments would have enabled the WHO to influence lockdowns, vaccine certification, and pandemic declarations without approval from national governments. Learn more.

Establish national health policy and administration agencies

Impose permanent travel restrictions across international borders

8 What triggers the most serious damage in diabetic retinopathy?

Fragile blood vessels bleeding
Diabetes can cause new, weak blood vessels to form in the eye. When they rupture, they create scar tissue that may tear the retina and lead to blindness. Learn more.

Retinal dryness

Pressure from blinking

Exposure to bright light

9 What dangerous effect does erythritol have on your blood after consumption?

It reduces your red blood cell count

It downregulates immune cell activation

It causes rapid platelet clumping
Erythritol consumption causes rapid platelet clumping and accelerated blood clot formation, dramatically increasing stroke and heart attack risks. Learn more.

It makes the blood too thin

10 If you're trying to reduce your risk of heart disease, how can probiotics help with cholesterol?

They increase LDL (bad cholesterol) for better absorption

They shut down cholesterol production in the body

They help lower LDL and balance cholesterol naturally
Certain probiotic strains help reduce LDL and promote healthier cholesterol levels by supporting metabolic function through the gut. Learn more.

They decrease your appetite for cholesterol-rich foods

11 How can you reduce your exposure to glyphosate and protect your liver health?

Increase consumption of processed restaurant meals

Increase fermented foods to nourish good gut bacteria

Live closer to agricultural fields using glyphosate

Choose organic foods and use water filtration
Choosing organic foods and using water filtration significantly reduce glyphosate exposure, helping protect your liver from fat accumulation and dysfunction. Learn more.

12 What was gabapentin originally developed to treat?

Arthritis

Seizures
Gabapentin was initially approved to control seizures but is now widely used off-label for pain despite limited safety data. Learn more.

Migraines

Depression

13 What kind of natural ingredients are commonly combined with DMSO for healing purposes?

Natural colors and fragrances

Petroleum-based gels

Baking soda and aloe vera

Essential oils and herbal extracts
Natural botanicals such as essential oils and plant extracts enhance DMSO’s healing power and are commonly used in skin and pain therapies. Learn more.

14 Which of the following best describes what happens to your body during Zone 2 training?

Your body uses muscle for fuel to last longer during exercise

You stop breathing heavily and raise cortisol levels

You burn fat efficiently without overloading your system
Zone 2 helps your body burn fat for fuel while protecting muscles, mitochondria, and brain health — all without draining your energy. Learn more.

You flood your body with adrenaline for motivation

15 What did the Penn State study find about women who ate 4 to 6 prunes daily for a year?

They preserved bone strength and density
Postmenopausal women who ate prunes maintained bone structure, especially in load-bearing areas like the shinbone, compared to those who didn’t. Learn more.

They lost weight and increased bone density

They needed more calcium supplements

Their bones weakened in the hip and spine

16 What does a HOMA-IR score help you understand about your health?

How your body manages sugar and insulin
HOMA-IR evaluates your insulin resistance, a key factor in metabolic health and an early warning sign for diabetes and heart disease. Learn more.

Your arterial oxygen saturation levels

Your fluid retention capacity

Your resting energy expenditure (REE)

17 How long does it typically take for fat deposits in your liver to clear after quitting alcohol?

1 day

2 to 3 weeks
Within 2 to 3 weeks, fat begins to clear from the liver, supporting enzyme balance and improving overall liver function. Learn more.

6 months

A month

18 When temperatures rise above 85 degrees F (30 degrees C), what’s the most effective way to keep your plants hydrated?

Mist leaves daily in full sun

Light watering three times a day

Deep watering and shade planning
Deep watering reaches plant roots and shade planning reduces stress which are far more effective than frequent light watering. Learn more.

Add rocks on top of soil to retain hydration longer
<

Reductive Stress and Mitochondrial Dysfunction — The Hidden Link in Chronic Disease

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Most people think chronic fatigue, brain fog, or sluggish recovery from stress, illness, or everyday exertion is just part of aging. But underneath those symptoms, there’s often a deeper breakdown happening — one that starts in your mitochondria, the tiny power plants inside your cells.

When your cells are overloaded with fuel and lack the ability to process it efficiently, the system backs up. Instead of producing steady energy, your mitochondria start leaking electrons, generating internal stress that damages your DNA, proteins, and cell membranes.

This isn’t just about oxidation. It’s about something called reductive stress — an electron traffic jam that quietly sets the stage for bigger problems. Reductive stress is the earliest warning sign that your metabolism is stuck. Long before diseases like Type 2 diabetes or fatty liver show up on lab tests, your mitochondria are already overwhelmed.

What looks like clean eating or a disciplined low-carb plan from the outside could actually be fueling the problem from within. My paper, published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, pulls back the curtain on how this hidden overload unfolds — and why it’s time to rethink the root causes of metabolic breakdown.¹

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

You can also download a simplified version of this paper, rewritten in layman-friendly terms for easier understanding of the science.

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

Video Link

Too Much Fuel, Not Enough Flow — How Reductive Stress Stalls Your Cellular Engine

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

My paper highlights a lesser-known cause of chronic disease: something called reductive stress.² This happens when your cells are flooded with electron-rich molecules like NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (reduced form)) and NADPH (the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate).

These compounds are supposed to help make energy, but when there's too much of them, they clog up your mitochondria — the part of your cells responsible for energy production. The result? Your cells can’t make energy properly, and that dysfunction plays a central role in problems like Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and memory loss.

The figure above shows how your mitochondria make energy by moving electrons through a series of steps, which also creates a flow of protons that powers adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. Under normal conditions, electrons enter at specific points and move along a chain of protein complexes, eventually helping turn oxygen into water.

At the same time, this process builds up a pressure (proton gradient) that drives the cell’s energy-making engine, called ATP synthase. The balance of this system is crucial — if it’s disrupted, it leads to either too much oxidative stress (from damaging free radicals) or too much reductive stress (from electron buildup).

• When fuel builds up, it creates a traffic jam in your energy system — My paper looked at decades of research and found that eating too much — including carbs and fats — causes your mitochondria to get overwhelmed. Instead of running smoothly, the energy system gets blocked. This backup forces electrons to leak out, which produces unstable oxygen molecules that damage your cells. Even if oxidative stress wasn’t the problem at first, this kind of overload ends up triggering it anyway.

• Too much of a good thing brings your metabolism to a halt — Normally, your mitochondria use a steady flow of electrons to create energy. But when the flow is too strong, pressure builds up and the whole system starts to fail. Your body then makes less energy — and at the same time, more damage builds up inside your cells. This is a serious disruption in how your body uses food to stay alive.

• You won’t feel reductive stress right away, but it’s already doing damage — One of the most alarming things about reductive stress is that it starts silently. You might feel tired, unfocused, or just "off," but your blood tests won’t catch anything unusual.

Deep inside your cells, though, important ratios like NADH to NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) are way off. This slows down nearly every process your body relies on to burn fat, regulate blood sugar, and repair damage. If you don’t fix the imbalance, chronic diseases will eventually follow.

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

• The table above explains where certain key molecules work in your cells and what they do to keep things running smoothly — These molecules — like NADH, FADH2 (flavin adenine dinucleotide (reduced form)), and glutathione — help your cells manage energy and protect against damage. But if there’s too much of the “reduced” forms (the ones carrying extra electrons), it overwhelms your mitochondria.

This slows down energy production, creates harmful byproducts called reactive oxygen species (ROS), and leads to cellular stress or damage.

Fuel Starts to Flow Backward, Damaging Your Energy System

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

A major warning sign is something called reverse electron transport. That means electrons start flowing in the wrong direction through your mitochondria. It happens when your diet pushes out too much NADH or FADH2, including with high-fat or high-carb meals. Instead of helping, the overload causes electrons to backtrack, creating a burst of superoxide — a destructive oxygen molecule that wrecks your mitochondria from the inside.

• A vicious cycle of reductive stress — The figure above shows how having too many electron-carrying molecules (like NADH) overloads your mitochondria and triggers a harmful chain reaction. When the system gets backed up, electrons start leaking from the energy-making machinery. This “leak” produces damaging byproducts called free radicals — like superoxide and hydrogen peroxide.

Although your cells have defenses to neutralize them, those defenses get overwhelmed. The result is damage to your mitochondria, including their DNA, proteins, and membranes, making it harder for them to produce energy. As the damage builds, it creates even more backup, locking your cells into a vicious cycle of stress and breakdown. But this cycle doesn’t just happen randomly — it unfolds in a predictable pattern that builds in two phases.

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

• It’s not just sugar — fat triggers this too — This isn’t just an unhealthy carb problem. Fatty acids from high-fat diets also drive reductive stress by overloading your mitochondria with FADH2 and NADH. When that happens, the system clogs up just like it does with sugar. This “metabolic bottleneck” gets even worse if you already have insulin resistance or fatty liver. Your mitochondria just can’t keep up.

The table above compares how both sugar and fat overwhelm your mitochondria in different ways. Eating too many carbs floods your cells with glucose, while eating too much fat sends in free fatty acids. Both of these fuel sources end up producing large amounts of NADH and FADH2. This backup creates harmful byproducts and stresses your cells.

Too much sugar is often linked to insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. Too much fat, especially when stored in your liver, is tied to fatty liver disease. Either way, the result is the same: your cells get overwhelmed, energy production breaks down, and long-term damage builds up.

How This Unfolds in 2 Harmful Phases

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

The figure above shows how long-term high blood sugar and excess nutrients damage your cells in two phases. In Phase 1, too much fuel leads to a buildup of electron-carrying molecules like NADH inside your mitochondria. This overload slows energy flow and causes electrons to leak backward — producing harmful free radicals like superoxide.

In Phase 2, these free radicals multiply and trigger even more damage, harming your cell membranes, proteins, and DNA. Over time, this ongoing stress leads to inflammation and serious problems like heart disease, nerve damage, and complications from diabetes.

• High levels of these molecules shut down energy production — The more NADH and FADH2 you have, the harder it is for your mitochondria to work. These molecules are meant to support energy creation, but too many of them stall key enzymes in your body’s energy cycle.

That means your cells struggle to turn food into fuel. On top of that, the backflow of electrons makes things worse by shifting energy away from making ATP — the energy your body runs on — and toward generating damaging byproducts.

• Your natural defenses break down when the system is overloaded — Your body relies on antioxidants like glutathione to stay healthy, but they need NADPH to work properly. Reductive stress messes this up by causing NADPH to feed the wrong enzymes — ones that actually promote damage.

At the same time, the enzymes that recycle your antioxidants get left behind. This means you’re making more harmful molecules and losing the ability to clean them up. The result is even more stress and injury to your cells.

How Reductive Stress Drives Type 2 Diabetes

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

The figure above shows how excess sugar and fat overload your cells and trigger mitochondrial breakdown — especially in people with insulin resistance. When blood sugar stays high over time, your cells pull in too much fuel and funnel it into your mitochondria. That creates a surge in energy molecules like NADH and FADH2, which then flood your energy-producing system (the electron transport chain).

• When energy overload turns into diabetes — Under normal conditions, your mitochondria use these molecules to make ATP, the fuel your body runs on. But when there's too much input, the system backs up. This causes electrons to leak and creates damaging free radicals. Over time, this hidden overload helps explain how insulin resistance turns into full-blown metabolic dysfunction, including Type 2 diabetes.

• You need the right tests to know if this is happening — Most doctors won’t spot reductive stress with regular bloodwork, but there are better tools out there. The table below shows a few key lab ratios that help detect whether your cells are stuck in a state of energy overload — even if your regular bloodwork looks normal.

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

These ratios compare pairs of molecules involved in breaking down sugar, fat, and protein for energy. When one side of the pair gets too high, it’s often a sign that your mitochondria are backed up with too much NADH or aren’t burning fuel efficiently. Tracking these markers uncovers hidden signs of reductive stress.

How Modern Life Pushes Your Mitochondria Into Overload

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

The figure above shows how everyday habits and exposures quietly overwhelm your mitochondria. Eating too much — especially fatty foods — floods your cells with fuel, while a lack of movement reduces your body’s need for energy. At the same time, chemicals in plastics and personal care products (like BPA and phthalates) worsen insulin resistance, causing your fat cells to release even more fuel into your system.

All of this leads to a buildup of energy molecules like NADH inside your mitochondria. When the energy demand is low and your cells can’t keep up, the system backs up. Over time, this overload leads to reductive stress and the risk of chronic diseases begins to rise.

How to Fix Energy Overload in Your Cells and Get Your Mitochondria Working Again

If you’re constantly tired, foggy, or taking forever to bounce back — even though you eat right and lead a healthy lifestyle — you could be dealing with a hidden issue called reductive stress. You can read more details in my simplified paper, above. It’s not about missing antioxidants. It’s about your cells getting jammed with too much fuel and not being able to process it fast enough.

Instead of making energy, your system gets stuck. The solution isn’t to take more — it’s to clear the buildup and get your energy flowing again. If you were sitting across from me describing these symptoms, here’s what I’d suggest you do:

1. Cut out vegetable oils and endocrine disruptors — Vegetable oils are a major source of hidden stress. They’re loaded with linoleic acid (LA), a polyunsaturated fat that pushes your mitochondria into overdrive and causes even more buildup. Get rid of vegetable oils like soybean, canola, safflower, and sunflower, even if they’re organic. Replace them with healthier fats like ghee, grass fed butter, or beef tallow. These are easier for your cells to handle and less likely to jam your system.

But the problem doesn’t stop with food. Everyday exposures to endocrine disruptors —

Roundup Weedkiller Linked to Multiple Cancers

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Glyphosate is everywhere — from wheat in cereal to water flowing from your tap. Originally designed to kill weeds, this herbicide has become a mainstay in modern agriculture, sprayed on millions of acres each year. It's used not just on genetically modified (GM) crops like corn and soy, but also on conventional oats, wheat, and legumes just before harvest, meaning even non-GMO eaters are exposed. If you eat processed or packaged foods, glyphosate is almost certainly in your daily diet.

For years, the chemical has been surrounded by controversy. Lawsuits and independent reports have linked glyphosate to Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other serious conditions, but regulators have continued to stand by its safety. Industry-funded studies argued there was no credible evidence it caused cancer. Meanwhile, everyday exposure levels kept rising, with no meaningful push to re-evaluate the risks.

But the conversation is changing. A new study, designed to mimic lifelong, real-world exposure, is shining a harsh spotlight on just how dangerous this herbicide really is.¹ It’s not just about the presence of tumors — it’s about when they appear, how they spread, and the organs they strike. The research points to something far more alarming than we’ve been told. What it uncovered forces us to reconsider what “safe” exposure actually means.

Video Link

Glyphosate Caused Rare, Aggressive Cancers at Legal Doses

An international study published in Environmental Health set out to answer a key question: Does lifetime exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, cause cancer, even at doses considered safe by regulators?²

Scientists from the Ramazzini Institute in Italy, along with toxicology experts from multiple countries, exposed rats to glyphosate and two glyphosate-based herbicides from the moment of conception through 2 years of age. Their goal was to simulate real-world, chronic exposure across an entire lifespan, using low, mid, and high doses that mirrored what humans could encounter through diet, water, or residential use.

• The study found tumors across multiple organs, some rarely seen in rats — The animals were divided into groups exposed to glyphosate alone, Roundup Bioflow, RangerPro, or no treatment at all. What the researchers discovered was both alarming and unprecedented: malignant tumors appeared in organs not typically prone to cancer in rats, such as the adrenal glands, ovaries, and nervous system.

Tumors also developed in the thyroid, liver, and blood-forming organs, with some animals developing multiple cancers at once. The study found that even the lowest dose group — matching the U.S. legal limit for glyphosate in drinking water — showed a marked increase in tumor incidence compared to untreated controls.³

• Leukemia deaths occurred earlier and were more common in exposed rats — Among the most striking findings was the early onset and frequency of leukemia in glyphosate-treated animals. Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, and in this study, nearly half of all leukemia deaths happened before the rats reached 1 year of age, a period equivalent to early childhood in humans.

Control rats had no cases of leukemia, while treated animals developed not only leukemia but also other aggressive malignancies like malignant schwannomas (nerve sheath tumors), liver carcinomas, and adrenal gland tumors.

Glyphosate Interferes with DNA and Hormone Signaling

According to the study authors, glyphosate likely triggers cancer through multiple biological mechanisms. One major pathway is oxidative stress, meaning glyphosate causes an overproduction of damaging molecules called free radicals, which harm DNA and cellular components.⁴

The herbicide also disrupted endocrine function, interfering with hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, and reproductive health. These hormonal shifts fuel the growth of hormone-sensitive cancers, such as those in the thyroid and reproductive organs.

• DNA damage is a key mechanism behind glyphosate-linked cancers — The research team documented DNA strand breaks in multiple tissues, indicating that glyphosate damages the body’s genetic code.

This kind of damage, if not properly repaired, sets the stage for mutations that lead to uncontrolled cell growth — i.e., tumors. The DNA damage wasn’t isolated to one organ or system; it was systemic. When DNA repair processes are overwhelmed or faulty, cancer becomes much more likely.

• Commercial formulations caused more cancers than glyphosate alone — The glyphosate-only groups developed tumors, but animals exposed to Roundup Bioflow and RangerPro developed more tumors — and at higher rates. This suggests that so-called “inert” ingredients in commercial herbicides aren’t inert at all.

These additives, known as surfactants, help glyphosate penetrate plant leaves, but they likely also increase its ability to cross cell membranes in animals and humans. The researchers found that co-formulants amplified glyphosate’s toxicity, making these products more dangerous than glyphosate on its own.

• Dose mattered: higher glyphosate intake meant more cancer — The study showed a clear dose-response pattern. In plain terms, the more glyphosate the rats received, the more likely they were to develop cancer. Mid and high-dose groups had significantly more malignant tumors than low-dose groups or untreated controls. Tumors also appeared earlier in higher-dose animals, shortening lifespan and increasing suffering.

How to Protect Yourself from Glyphosate and Lower Your Cancer Risk

You’re not powerless against glyphosate — far from it. Once you understand how and where this chemical shows up in your life, you can take direct action to limit your exposure and help your body recover from its effects. If you're already dealing with fatigue, hormonal imbalance, or chronic inflammation, this becomes even more important. The earlier you act, the more control you have over your long-term health outcomes.

If you’re a parent, you’ll want to pay special attention, as glyphosate harms developing organisms most severely. But even if you're just trying to protect your gut, brain, or immune system, removing this chemical from your life makes a measurable difference. Here are five ways to take action now:

1. Eat organic, and cut out conventional wheat, oats, and legumes — These are some of the most contaminated foods in the U.S. supply because glyphosate is used as a desiccant — a drying agent — right before harvest. If you eat a lot of pasta, cereal, or baked goods, you're likely getting a steady dose of this chemical.

Switch to organic alternatives whenever possible, or at minimum, choose non-GMO and glyphosate-tested brands. Look for third-party verified labels that test for glyphosate residue — not just “natural” claims, which often mean nothing.

2. Stop using Roundup or similar products around your home — If you're spraying your driveway, fence line, or garden with weedkiller, you're bringing glyphosate into your immediate environment. Pets and children are especially vulnerable. Ditch the Roundup and use alternatives like vinegar-based herbicides or mulching instead. You don’t need to expose your lungs and skin to a carcinogen just to keep dandelions down.

3. Support your detox pathways with glycine — To eliminate glyphosate from your body, you need to flood your system with glycine, an amino acid that competes with glyphosate for uptake and helps push it out through your urine.

Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt recommends starting with 1 teaspoon (4 grams) of glycine powder twice a day for a few weeks, then tapering down to 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) twice daily. Glycine is inexpensive, naturally sweet-tasting, and easy to mix into water or food. For best results, take it around the time you're eating meals that contain glyphosate residue.

4. Rebuild your gut and lower inflammation — Glyphosate damages beneficial gut bacteria and increases intestinal permeability — what many call “leaky gut” — which weakens your immune system and sets the stage for autoimmune conditions.

Cut out inflammatory vegetable oils like canola and soy, which contain linoleic acid (LA) that harms your mitochondria. Swap vegetable oils for tallow, ghee, or grass fed butter, and focus on consuming gentle carbs, like white rice and fruit, to support the cellular energy necessary to heal your gut.

5. Use a water filter that removes glyphosate — If you live in an agricultural area or drink municipal tap water, there’s a good chance glyphosate is in your drinking supply. Look for filters that specifically state they remove glyphosate — not all filters do. A whole-house filtration system is best, but if you're renting or on a budget, a high-quality countertop filter is still better than nothing. Clean water is one of the easiest and most impactful places to start.

Taking these steps isn't about fear — it's about control. Making smart choices every day reduces your risk and improves how your body functions. When you reduce your toxic burden, everything works better — from your hormones to your immune system to your energy levels.

FAQs About Glyphosate and Cancer

Q: What did the new study reveal about glyphosate and cancer risk?

A: A large international study published in Environmental Health found that lifetime exposure to glyphosate, even at doses considered legal and “safe,” caused multiple types of aggressive cancers in rats.

Tumors developed in organs rarely affected by cancer in animals, including the adrenal glands, ovaries, and nervous system. Some cancers appeared early in life, and animals exposed to commercial glyphosate formulations developed more tumors than those exposed to glyphosate alone.

Q: How does glyphosate cause cancer?

A: The study found that glyphosate triggers cancer through multiple mechanisms, including DNA damage, oxidative stress (a buildup of harmful free radicals), and interfering with hormone function. These effects set the stage for mutations, tumor growth, and systemic inflammation, all of which raise your risk of developing cancer.

Q: Where is glyphosate most commonly found in food and water?

A: Glyphosate is commonly sprayed on GM crops like corn and soy, but also on non-GMO crops like wheat, oats, and legumes just before harvest. This means it's often present in everyday foods like cereal, pasta, baked goods, and hummus. It’s also been detected in drinking water, particularly in agricultural regions.

Q: What types of cancers were linked to glyphosate in the study?

A: The exposed rats developed several types of cancers, including leukemia, liver tumors, thyroid cancer, malignant nerve sheath tumors, and adrenal gland cancers. Many of these tumors appeared earlier in life and in higher numbers compared to unexposed animals. Some of the cancers occurred in multiple organs simultaneously.

Q: How do I reduce my glyphosate exposure?

A: You can take immediate steps to lower your glyphosate exposure and protect your health. Start by choosing organic wheat, oats, and legumes, as these crops are some of the most heavily contaminated. Eliminate Roundup and similar herbicides from your home and garden to avoid direct contact and airborne drift. Support your body’s detoxification process with glycine.

Rebuild and strengthen your gut by cutting out inflammatory vegetable oils. Finally, install a water filtration system that’s proven to remove glyphosate. These steps not only reduce your toxic burden but also enhance your body’s ability to heal and defend itself over time.

AI isn’t hallucinating, it’s fabricating—and that’s a problem [PODCAST]

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 23:00:24 +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, “In medicine and law, professions that society relies upon for accuracy.” He argues that labeling AI errors as “hallucinations” is a dangerous euphemism that trivializes real psychiatric conditions and

Read more…

AI isn’t hallucinating, it’s fabricating—and that’s a problem [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Brooklyn hepatitis C cluster reveals hidden dangers in outpatient clinics

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 19:00:16 +0000

An excerpt from Disease Detectives: True Stories of NYC Outbreaks. Dr. Westyn Branch-Elliman contributed to this chapter. There exist within NYC, communities that feel more like a small town than a perspiring slab of metropolis. People know and speak to their neighbors, greet each other warmly on the street, and watch over each other’s children.

Read more…

Brooklyn hepatitis C cluster reveals hidden dangers in outpatient clinics originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

The truth in medicine: Why connection matters most

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 17:00:19 +0000

Being a doctor is about more than diagnosing illnesses or prescribing medications. It is about more than knowing the latest research, the right drug dose, or the most effective treatment plan. Those things matter (of course they do), but they are just part of the job description. The reality is more human, more vulnerable, and

Read more…

The truth in medicine: Why connection matters most originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

New student loan caps could shut low-income students out of medicine

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 15:00:07 +0000

I got into the car outside the bus station in Lowell, Massachusetts, where my father was waiting to pick me up. He looked nervous when he handed me an envelope. Inside was my medical school decision letter. I was accepted. We let out a cheer. Along with the acceptance letter was the projected cost of

Read more…

New student loan caps could shut low-income students out of medicine originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

Why trust and simplicity matter more than buzzwords in hospital AI

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 11:00:14 +0000

Everyone wants the best model. The flashiest algorithm. The one with the highest AUC and the sexiest machine learning buzzword attached. But here’s the problem: In hospital care, especially at midsize institutions, the “best” model on paper might be the worst fit for your people, your patients, and your workflow. As a hospitalist and data-minded

Read more…

Why trust and simplicity matter more than buzzwords in hospital AI originally appeared in KevinMD.com.

How to Conquer Inguinal Hernias and Reclaim Your Vitality

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published February 2, 2025.

You might think you’d notice right away if you had a hernia, but I can tell you from personal experience that it sometimes sneaks up on you. Not too long ago, I noticed a lump in my groin that just didn’t feel right. It started small, and at first, I paid little attention. Over time, though, it got bigger and would pop out more often, especially when I stood up or lifted something.

In my case, I believe the hernia was the result of not eating enough connective tissues, or collagen, which is necessary to build connective tissue strength. That, combined with heavy resistance training for over two decades, is likely why I developed one. You might be in a similar position — you see a bump, or you feel a dull ache in that area. If you do, know that you are not alone.

When I realized I likely had an inguinal hernia, I started researching my options. Even with my medical training, the amount of conflicting information out there surprised me. You hear stories about people who tried "watchful waiting," but there’s also a possibility of strangulation — when part of your intestine loses its blood supply because it gets trapped in your inguinal canal.

I want you to know that having a hernia doesn’t mean you’re doomed, but you should know what you’re dealing with to make informed choices.

1 in 4 Men Develop Inguinal Hernias

About 1 million inguinal hernia repairs happen every year in the U.S.¹ This means there’s a lot of surgical experience, but it also means you need to be selective. As I went through the process of choosing a surgeon, I saw how tough it is, especially if you don’t have medical training. It’s important to avoid just accepting the first referral you get without asking key questions about the best repair method or the follow-up care you deserve.

I don’t want you to feel stuck in a confusing maze, which is why I invited Dr. Eric Pinnar — who performed my hernia surgery — to talk with me about hernias. He’s a general surgeon located in Florida who has chosen to focus on hernia repairs. As he told me, "About one in four men will develop an inguinal hernia in their lifetime, so you’re certainly not alone."

If you find yourself dealing with a lump in your groin, be sure to watch the whole interview, as the information it contains will help you choose the best way to address it.

Where That Lump Really Comes From

You might be wondering: how does a hernia happen in the first place? If you’ve pictured a tear in your abdominal wall, you’re on the right track. Think of your belly as a sealed container holding everything in place — organs, tissue, and fat. When there’s a weak point, the material inside pushes through and creates a bump.

Pinnar compares it to a tube of toothpaste: if you squeeze the tube, pressure is evenly distributed unless there’s a hole — then all the pressure goes to that one weak spot. This is especially true in men because you have a spot called the inguinal canal, where your testicles descended before birth. That canal should be closed up tight around the structures that pass through, but sometimes it leaves a gap.

Over time, lifting heavy objects or coughing pushes more tissue or fat through that gap, and you see or feel a bulge in your groin. The bulge might get bigger if you bend or strain and might go away when you lie down. If it stays out all the time, you could have even more pressure or pinching on that tissue.

In many cases, an inguinal hernia isn’t painful in the early stages. You might just see a bump when you step out of the shower or notice it while putting on clothes. But when the gap gets larger, or if a piece of intestine slips into that hole and can’t get back out, it becomes a real emergency. That’s when you risk strangulation — where the blood supply is blocked and tissue dies. If that’s happening, you’ll usually feel pain.

Because of this risk, Pinnar recommends fixing a hernia as soon as you’ve discovered it. "It’s going to get worse over time," he says. "The longer you wait, the bigger it gets, the harder it is to fix." In other words, waiting might sound harmless, but that small gap doesn’t heal itself — and the watchful-waiting approach typically leads to bigger problems down the line. If you’ve already had a hernia for a while, recognizing this allows you to take the best next step.

Two Main Hernia Repair Options

If you do decide to fix a hernia, you’ll find there are two main approaches: open repair or minimally invasive repair. Open repair is the conventional method where your surgeon makes an incision in your groin and closes the gap there causing the hernia.

Minimally invasive repair, also called laparoscopic or robotic surgery, is done through a few small incisions in your abdominal wall, letting your surgeon patch the hernia from the inside. I want you to be aware that both methods work well depending on the circumstances.

The right choice depends on your overall health, the size of your hernia, and your surgeon’s experience. During my journey, I learned that hernia repair causes more tension on your tissues if you choose a non-mesh approach. Pinnar explains that when you pull those muscle layers together, you’re putting the tissue under tension.

That causes more pain and a higher chance of hernia recurrence. "It violates one of the cardinal rules of surgery, one of the principles of surgery, which is don't put anything together under tension," he says.

Still, some people prefer a non-mesh approach because they worry about having a foreign material in their body. If you’re thinking about that, you should discuss your concerns with your surgeon and ask about the pros and cons for you. Minimally invasive procedures, on the other hand, usually involve placing a small piece of mesh behind the hole from inside your belly. Your surgeon uses instruments guided by a tiny camera or a robotic console.

You typically recover faster with the closed laparoscopic repair, because you won’t have a larger incision in your groin, and many patients feel less post-operative pain. Speaking from experience, I was surprised by how small the incisions were — typically 5 millimeters (mm) to 8 mm. But, even laparoscopic incisions need time to recover, so you still have to be cautious in the days and weeks afterward.

Keep in mind that surgeons differ in which approach they prefer, so it’s best to find someone who has done a lot of the repair style that fits your situation. Ask how many hernia repairs they do in a year and why they recommend a certain technique for you. That’s exactly what I did with Pinnar. Hearing his rationale and experience helped me realize that there isn’t a single right answer for everyone.

You need to look at your medical background, the hernia’s size and your personal comfort with each procedure.

What Is Surgical Mesh and Why Do Surgeons Use It for Hernia Repair?

Synthetic surgical mesh is typically made of a lightweight plastic material known as polypropylene, which many surgeons have used for years in hernia repairs. The idea is to cover the gap so you don’t rely solely on stitching the muscle layers together under tension. When mesh is placed in the right spot, your body’s cells grow into it, creating a stronger patch that holds up over time.

If someone simply stitches the gap under tension, there’s a bigger risk those stitches will rip through the tissue.

Pinnar explains that people who choose a non-mesh repair often do so because they don’t want a foreign body. I felt this way too, initially, but the data show a higher chance of recurrence when you don’t use mesh. In fact, Pinnar states that adding mesh reduces the likelihood of the hernia coming back by around 50%. Mesh materials have also improved significantly, making them lighter and more flexible.

You might wonder if mesh is safe to leave in your body. In most cases, surgeons see very few complications directly linked to the mesh itself. Yes, infection is possible with any foreign material, but Pinnar mentioned he hasn’t had a single case where a mesh patient needed it removed for an infection. While rare problems do occur, you keep the risk low by choosing an experienced surgical team.

If you’re worried about putting plastics in your body, a rightful concern, keep in mind that the average person eats about 5 grams of plastic per week — about the amount found in one credit card.² Pinnar says the amount of plastic mesh used in hernia repair is "not even close" to one credit card — so it’s unlikely to be a significant risk for most people.

However, there is some evidence that a permanent foreign body can cause persistent abdominal pain that never resolves in some individuals due to an inflammatory reaction.

This is one of the reasons why I opted for a biocompatible non-plastic mesh that is absorbed in the body within a year. These are all biocompatible or absorbable meshes. When you’re deciding on a surgeon, ask about which mesh option they use and why they recommend them.

My personal preference is a biocompatible, absorbable mesh rather than a permanent plastic one. However, this study suggests that with the latest mesh technology, there may be no significant difference between the two.

Your Roadmap to a Stronger Future

I want you to feel as prepared as possible if you face an inguinal hernia repair. Having recently navigating this challenging process, I learned that a bit of planning goes a long way. First, talk openly with your surgeon about what happens before, during, and after the operation. Ask how much rest you’ll need, when to safely return to everyday activities and what signs might suggest a problem.

I discovered you shouldn’t push your limits early on — give your body time to rest and adequately heal. I would suggest doing as little as possible for the first two weeks following surgery. Limit your walking to roughly 2,000 steps per day so that the energy you would normally expend on exercise can instead be channeled into recovering from the surgical trauma. It may not be obvious at first, but your body requires a great deal of energy to repair, regenerate, and heal. This is not the time for vigorous walks or workouts.

If you or someone you know is preparing for this surgery, be aware that a minimum two-week recovery period is common, and many individuals need more than four weeks of largely bed-bound rest. You will likely be able to do only brief walks around the house for the first couple of weeks, and that is completely normal. It gives your body the chance to focus its resources on healing.

I also recommend taking full advantage of narcotic analgesics — within reason — so as not to repeat my mistake of under-managing pain. The discomfort can become intense enough to cause nausea and suppress your appetite. Keeping these medications at the lowest effective dose usually helps significantly with recovery but remember that narcotics can lead to constipation. To prevent straining, it is important to keep your stools soft, by taking extra magnesium.

Another important point is that your energy level after surgery may be lower than expected. Your body is directing resources to the repaired area, so daily tasks or errands that once felt effortless can become exhausting. Rather than pushing through the fatigue, it is better to rest and allow your tissues to rebuild. I noticed firsthand that when I attempted longer walks too early, I ended up more sore and slowed my progress.

Every person’s situation varies, but a closed laparoscopic procedure often leads to the best overall experience — particularly when performed with the da Vinci robotic system. However, only a small percentage of hernia surgeons are fully trained in this method. Ideally, you should look for a surgeon who has completed at least 500 such cases and, preferably, has thousands of procedures under their belt, ensuring both skill and expertise with the technique.

Pinnar also noted that each person’s healing journey is unique. While some people bounce back quickly, especially if their hernia was small and their overall health is good, others take much longer, and that’s OK. You’ll want to watch for any unusual swelling, redness or persistent pain that gets worse instead of better. In most cases, though, you should see steady progress as your incision heals and the repaired spot gains strength.

By staying informed, you bypass a lot of confusion around hernia repairs. You won’t have to rely on luck or random searches on the internet. You’ll know why you’re choosing one method over another, why mesh is often a smart move and how to pace your recovery so you avoid setbacks. This knowledge will spare you a world of worry.

And if you ever feel stuck or uncertain, continue asking questions until you get the clarity you need. If you’d like to learn more about Pinnar’s practice in particular, find him online at Advanced Hernia Specialists.

Longevity Expert Shares Clues About Drivers of Chronic Disease

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published June 30, 2024.

I interviewed Dr. Ahvie Herskowitz, former clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and founder of Anatara Medicine, a multidisciplinary integrative center in San Francisco.¹ Herskowitz, an internist, has a deep foundational knowledge and science background that’s ideal for treating complicated health care cases.

We may be collaborating on a project in the future, but in the meantime at his center, they’re using advanced techniques to help people restore their health, including strategies for longevity and treatments for very ill patients, including those with autoimmunity, gut problems, cancer and more.

Microbiome Issues, Leaky Gut Causing Failure to Thrive

Herskowitz treats illness by looking at the foundational causes of disease. We discussed that a leading cause of death is, in my view, endotoxemia resulting in septic shock. This occurs when you secrete endotoxin from facultative anaerobes, otherwise called oxygen-tolerant bacteria, which shouldn't be in your gut.

These pathogenic bacteria secrete a very virulent form of endotoxin, also known as lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which cause inflammation if they translocate across the compromised gut barrier into the systemic circulation. Leaky gut, or a disturbed microbiome, is therefore one of the foundational causes of all disease.

Herskowitz explains, “I think that everyone that's doing poorly and failing to thrive has a biome issue and a leaky gut issue, almost 100% … And in the standard allopathic intensive care units, it's not considered a foundational issue.” When Herskowitz treats cancer patients, he says, they’re often in a state of failure to thrive.

“They've gotten so burdened by so many different layers of toxicity, that their system cannot keep up anymore enough,” he says. “And … that's eventually due to mitochondrial failure throughout the body.”

Patients Overwhelmed by Toxicity and Nutritionally Depleted

Chronic diseases often result due to a buildup of toxicities and a lack nutrition and healing in the body to compensate for them. “All these toxicities affect every cell of the body simultaneously,” Herskowitz says.

“So, we all have relative strengths and weaknesses. And that comes up as to what organ is going to be the most involved. But we all have to almost decide whether we're going to release these toxins on a day-to-day basis, otherwise our concept of longevity is going to be badly estimated.”

Herskowitz estimates that 80% to 90% of the U.S. population has metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. Obesity is another epidemic. Both are due to several factors, including toxicity that started more than 50 years ago as the food supply became increasingly processed. Herskowitz explains:

“This is where you get to the concept of an infinite number of toxicities, feeding a system that only has a finite way of cellular responses … it's the seed oils [containing] linoleic acid, it's the ultraprocessed foods and snacks. So, when you go to a general store today …

The overwhelming majority of the food that's sold there is not to be for human consumption … and then the concept of our farming system has evolved toward efficiency … listen, industry is not our friend. It's not our partner … their job is to sell more stuff, and to do so in an efficient way.

… I watched it over 45 years, I mean, ‘70s, ‘80s, 90s, this stuff is getting worse. Now the most difficult group to get an appointment with in the hospital is not the cardiology department, because it's usually the largest department, but it's endocrine and rheumatology, neurology.”

In other words, exposure to ultraprocessed foods and other toxicities is wreaking havoc in the body, leading to widespread chronic disease. “It causes havoc within the communications network, so that hormones go awry, inflammation goes awry and the detoxification system is overwhelmed,” Herskowitz explains.

“This leads to all the different disorders … it's a straightforward thing … you have this nutrient depletion, which obviously … you're more susceptible to everything. And then each of us is reaching our limit, so to speak.”

Why You Should Pay Attention to ‘Nuisance Symptoms’

Herskowitz often sees patients when they’re very ill — but they don’t start out this way. He often looks back into their medical records over 25 years to see their past medical history. People who end up with serious diseases like Alzheimer’s disease often have far more “nuisance symptoms” over the years. This includes symptoms such as toenail fungus, indigestion, occasional diarrhea, hyperactivity or even high blood pressure.

In Herskowitz’s experience, his Alzheimer’s patients had 2.5 times more nuisance symptoms compared to a control group that didn’t have Alzheimer’s. “It's consistent with this toxicity type of concept,” he says. “When you're toxic, you have all these little things going on, and you don't pay attention to them, because they're not severe.”

However, they’re clues that something is off balance in your body, which can likely be addressed in the early stages. Unfortunately, most physicians aren’t looking for these types of systemic problems.

Tests to Measure How Old You Really Are

One of the challenges facing longevity medicine is figuring out what to measure in order to get an idea of how old you really are — meaning your biological age, which is how well your body is functioning compared to your chronological age, the actual number of years you've been alive. Biological age can be younger or older than your chronological age depending on your lifestyle, environmental factors and genetics.

Herskowitz believes oxidative stress is one useful measure to show where you are in a given moment in time over time. At his center, they use a urine test called 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) as a biomarker for oxidative damage and they use the lipid peroxides as a marker. He also uses tests to measure chronic immune function, mitochondrial function and senescent cells.

Senescent cells are cells that have stopped dividing and entered a state of permanent growth arrest without undergoing cell death. These cells can no longer replicate, but they remain metabolically active.

Senescence is a natural part of the cellular lifecycle and serves as a mechanism to prevent the proliferation of damaged cells, which leads to cancer. However, the accumulation of senescent cells over time contributes to aging and various age-related diseases. According to Herskowitz:

“[We look for] concepts of the subtlety of how the immune system is being suppressed. And it's not the current CBC [complete blood count]. It's more on the chronic side. So how does it deal with biological toxins? And that's more a journey into the complement immune cascade, which deals with chronic infection, chronic biological toxins and how to deal with it.

So, measures of complement cascades for autoimmunity as well. And then probably the biggest one, other than mitochondrial function and oxidative stress, to me is if we can measure the number of senescent cells we have in our body at any time. The higher it is, the worse you're doing.”

Herskowitz also uses markers of metabolic pathways that measure glucose metabolism. “It's not as simple as glucose,” he says. “It's more inflammatory/metabolic/hormonal,” or the fact that patients are so nutrient deficient that their system isn’t generating sufficient energy. Further, on a day-to-day basis, Herskowitz uses serum ferritin level as an important marker of health.

I have also long stated that serum ferritin, which measures stored iron, is one of the most important tests that everyone should have done on a regular basis as part of a preventive, proactive health screen.

Innovative Test for Cancer Treatment

Meanwhile, Herskowitz described an innovative test for tumors that helps improve treatment decisions. Many people with cancer capitulate to taking chemotherapy, either because of fear, their own choice or direction from loved ones or their oncologist.

Many alternative practitioners treating cancer patients say their biggest challenge is the fact that virtually no one comes to see them before they take chemotherapy, which often destroys their body’s healing abilities.

Herskowitz, who uses antioxidants, nutrition, photobiomodulation, intravenous therapies and other strategies for cancer, details a test he believes may change the way chemotherapy is given in the U.S.:

“There's a new innovation you should be aware of. And that's taking a slice of the tumor itself on the biopsy side, articulating the various genomic mutations, and looking for the same genomic mutations in the peripheral blood. Now, it's not a new generation of circulating tumor cell counts, and this is all different generation. So, the goal here is, say, I'm on chemo.

I don't want to be on it, unless it's working. Whether it's high dose chemo, or even low dose chemo, I want it to be working on my behalf. And unless these markers are going down, I'm going to switch. I can tell my oncologist to switch because the genomic data are universally accepted by any oncologist in any university setting.

And I think that's going to change the way chemotherapy is given in the United States over time. These are approved tests for advanced cancers, and now they're moving to get approvals for all cancers of any kind.”

Cellular Function Is Becoming Less Efficient

In his decades of clinical experience, Herskowitz says he’s seen our overall capacity for cellular function becoming less efficient. “Practicing now is just different,” he says. For instance, less than 2% of the population used to have autoimmunity, but now he believes it’s somewhere between 10% and 20% — and we could be reaching a tipping point.

“I don't know where we're going to be in 10 years … people are still functioning, which is remarkable … [but] I think that we've lost most of our reserves. Our reserve function is relatively gone. So, maybe more than 50% of our reserve function has now gone over the last four decades,” he says, referring to not only biological resiliency but also metabolic and mitochondrial function. Fortunately, there’s still hope to turn health around.

“Mitochondrial biogenesis is possible, at some point, so I think we still have a lot of hope that right now we can reverse by going clean. And the cleaner you go, the better you'll feel anyway,” Herskowitz explains. The fact is, your body has unbelievable resiliency provided you identify what’s causing your problems and address it, including by eliminating ultraprocessed foods from your diet and reducing your exposure to other toxicities.

You can find out more about Herskowitz’s strategies for longevity and chronic disease at his website Anataramedicine.com. As mentioned, we're going to be working together in the future so Herskowitz can further direct his knowledge and insights into correcting the faults in the system. He adds:

“I can tell you one thing. I'll end it like this. There's a lot of secrets going on, there's a lot of mystery. There's a lot of things we don't know very much about. And the worst thing a doctor can do is have an arrogant attitude. They understand everything. And I think that as long as we remain open and honest now, and remain lifelong learners, we will all be in better shape.”

End This System of Choice for the Rich and Mercury for the Poor — Support Mercury-Free Dentistry!

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Consumers for Dental Choice has engineered a tectonic shift in dentistry — modern dentists no longer place mercury-based fillings (dental amalgam) — and aware consumers shun them. Unlike a decade ago, neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nor the World Health Organization (WHO) defends amalgam — and the major dental products companies stopped making amalgam.

Consumers for Dental Choice and I are in our 15th year of partnership. I have watched my friend Charlie Brown build a powerhouse national and international force, changing dentistry 180 degrees from mercury-based to mercury-free.

But the government bureaucracies (federal and state) and the insurance behemoths have not changed. Amalgam continues for the powerless — our servicewomen and servicemen, the institutionalized, low-income families, and Native Americans.

To end this morally unacceptable system of choice for the rich and mercury for the poor, once again, I put my money where my mouth is. Until midnight on August 23, 2025, I will match your gift to Consumers for Dental Choice — dollar for dollar. I’m in this cause full bore — and ask you to join me.

Those Gray-Colored Dental Fillings Are 50% Mercury

In an audacious move of brazen deception, the American Dental Association (ADA) — an amalgam patentholder — promoted dental amalgam as “silver fillings” and doubled down on the cover-up by adopting a rule of conduct forbidding dentists from discussing the (obvious) toxicity of mercury.

• The truth behind silver fillings — Well, I’m here to tell you that “silver” filling is actually a mercury filling. Mercury is not only toxic, but the most vaporous of heavy metals. So, that means mercury can reach the brain, the kidneys, the placenta, and the breast milk.

• The status quo is enforced — The ADA’s callous and irresponsible promotion of mercury-based dentistry — when the alternatives are technically better now and much more tooth friendly — continues to have severe health, workplace, and environmental consequences.

• Vote with your wallet — Modern dentists never use dental amalgam. If your dentist still places amalgam in any dental patient, it’s time to take your business elsewhere.

Consumers for Dental Choice Brought a Revolution to American Dentistry

When Charlie and I started working together, the federal government and the states sat firmly on dentistry matters, in the pocket of the ADA — similarly, international agencies are in the pocket of the pro-mercury Fédération Dentaire Internationale (FDI) World Dental Federation.

• Major victories have been won — With tenacity, Charlie built a worldwide nonprofit powerhouse — and with strategic brilliance, found the path to dismantle the pro-amalgam machine. Amalgam is now banned across Europe, and in several African and Asian nations.

Both the FDA and the WHO switched from amalgam advocates to amalgam opponents. Readers, convincing either the FDA or WHO to switch from support to opposition of a product is extremely rare; changing both of these impenetrable colossi is, well, unprecedented in my experience.

• Countless lives were saved from mercury — Millions and millions of American consumers — and billions worldwide — were spared from the health risk of mercury-based fillings. Three decades ago, the late mercury-free dental pioneer Dr. Hal Huggins asked Charlie to help a billion people — it now appears he has done so.

• There are still battles to be fought — But as I explain below, we do not have mercury-free dentistry for all. We need to keep the momentum going to banish use of this primitive, pre-Civil War pollutant from our planet.

So, for the 15th consecutive year, I am stepping up to match every dollar donated to Consumers for Dental Choice from now until midnight your time on August 23, 2025 (up to $150,000 total). Let’s give Consumers for Dental Choice the resources it needs and merits. You may click this button below to donate online:

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

Or you may mail a check to:

Consumers for Dental Choice
727 15th St. NW, Suite 701
Washington, DC 20005

Consumers for Dental Choice Stands Up for Powerless Dental Consumers

Testifying before Congress a few years ago, the witness for esteemed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said American dentistry is “choice for the rich and mercury for the poor.” Consumers for Dental Choice was created with the vision that if consumers have a choice — an informed choice — they’ll reject the mercury filling in favor of the nontoxic one.

• The choice still isn’t given to all — Many consumers are powerless to choose. Soldiers and sailors, institutionalized individuals, people stuck in government programs like the Indian Health Service (IHS), and people saddled with cut-rate insurance plans that favor mercury.

• Victims of fraudulent campaigning — The mentioned consumers and their children are commonly victims of pro-mercury dentists who falsely tell patients amalgam is “silver.” These are victims of callous government chief dental officers who couldn’t care less that the FDA warns against amalgam use in children and other high-risk populations, victims of dental insurance companies that squeeze every dollar from consumers without regard to safety.

Here’s some highlights from the agenda of Consumers for Dental Choice to end amalgam for all:

Consumers for Dental Choice’s Initiative to Make Federal Government Programs Mercury-Free

Despite the FDA safety communication warning against amalgam use in children and other high-risk populations, the single biggest purchaser of amalgam in the U.S. is our own government. Its dental programs continue to implant dental mercury into American Indians, into our soldiers and sailors, into institutionalized persons, and into families on Medicaid.

• Authorities finally gathered and listened — After years of pounding on doors, Consumers for Dental Choice finally got the government to the table for an entire day last year in Washington, DC to talk about ending amalgam.

Assembled were government officials representing the FDA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the State Department, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the IHS who met with a broad range of environmental, medical, dental, science, and consumer leaders.

• New programs have been created — Now, we see results. Consumers for Dental Choice convinced the IHS to publish its “Plan to Phase Down the Use of Dental Amalgam among American Indians/Alaska Natives 2010 – 2030 (or until dental amalgam is phased out in the U.S.).”

It includes such effective measures as “Provide guidance to IHS, tribal, and urban dental programs to cease the use of dental amalgam on deciduous (primary) teeth,” “Conduct a national webinar for IHS dental providers regarding the 2020 FDA Safety Communication and this phase-down plan,” and “Develop policies that reduce the amount of dental amalgam purchased by IHS service units.”

• The final push is on the horizon — Now, Consumers for Dental Choice calls on Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to go further. Indeed, Charlie wrote a guest column in the Tampa Bay Times urging Secretary Kennedy to end amalgam use in federal programs with the “stroke of a pen” — that is, ban purchases of mercury-based dental fillings by federal health agencies.

Then, 150 dental professionals signed onto a letter calling on Secretary Kennedy to end dental amalgam in government programs.

Your contributions make a difference as Consumers for Dental Choice tackles the barriers to mercury-free dentistry for people with no choice from every angle.

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

Consumers for Dental Choice’s Initiative to Make State Government Programs Mercury-Free

To effect change in our federal constitutional system, it takes initiatives both in Washington and in state capitals. So, Consumers for Dental Choice has launched three state projects to serve as models for the rest of the country:

• Florida — Assembling four national organizations, Consumers for Dental Choice filed a petition to Tallahassee to end amalgam use in Florida Medicaid. They had a Zoom meeting with my friend, renowned Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. More than a dozen Florida dentists signed a letter asking for action.

• Rhode Island — Consumers for Dental Choice is building a grassroots movement in the Ocean State, finding real interest among environmental groups, racial justice advocates, and dental professionals.

• California — Consumers for Dental Choice is working with the Alameda County (Oakland) Consumer Affairs Commission to empower consumer choice.

Cleaning Up the Dental Industry

It’s not enough to work with government authorities in phasing out dental amalgam. It’s important to target and transform the amalgam market, too. In that regard, Consumers for Dental Choice has scored major victories:

• Cutting off amalgam supply — Consumers for Dental Choice already pushed major U.S. dental products makers Dentsply and Envista (Kerr) out of the amalgam business. Today, the major American companies make only mercury-free fillings.

• Cutting off amalgam demand — As Consumers for Dental Choice wins bans and restrictions on amalgam, the demand for this mercury product continues to drop. Countries banning amalgam sweep across Asia, notably the Philippines and Indonesia. In Africa, Tanzania and Gabon have also banned amalgam, as well as in the Caribbean (St. Kitts and Nevis).

• Cutting off the amalgam trade — The recent European Union (EU) law not only bans amalgam use, but also bans amalgam imports and exports, cutting off dental mercury peddlers — both in the EU and abroad — from many markets.

Winning Amalgam Bans

When Charlie went to Brussels in 2011 to launch the campaign that led to victory, things were bad — only two countries in the EU were interested in mercury-free dentistry.

• Europe was the largest user of amalgam in the world — Governmental officials read from talking points supplied by the pro-mercury Council of European Dentists (CED). Charlie assembled a team from the 27 member nations. His team returned repeatedly to the federal capital, Brussels, went to the national capitals, and organized a response to a European Commission poll demonstrating that 88% of Europeans want mercury-free dentistry.

• Hard work and perseverance pay off — To run the campaign in Europe, Charlie appointed Florian Schulze, leader of an exciting new non-governmental organization (NGO) in Berlin, the European Network for Environmental Medicine. Florian and his NGO engineered the breakthrough our cause needed — a law in 2017 banning amalgam for children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers.

The goal, then, upshifted to mercury-free dentistry for all — a path requiring a Biblical seven more years of grueling challenges. The result in 2024 — a vote to ban amalgam was 27 nations for, zero nations against. What started with two countries in support in 2011 morphed into unanimity in 2024. The European Parliament supported the ban 98% to 2% — imagine such a near-unanimity from a legislative body!

• Governments around the world are following — In addition to the growing number of countries banning all amalgam, many countries — from Vietnam to Mauritius to Tunisia — have banned amalgam use for high-risk populations like children.

Now, another major country, China, has joined them. China issued a new regulation in 2024 that in translation says, “Dental amalgam is prohibited for use in dental treatment of deciduous teeth, patients under 15 years of age, and pregnant and lactating women, unless the dentist deems it necessary based on the needs of the patient.”

Showdown in November

The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, the international coalition Charlie chairs, has convinced the governments to shift the focus of the Minamata Convention on Mercury from “phase down amalgam” to “phase out amalgam.”

• Preparing for the faceoff — In 2022, the Parties adopted the Children’s Amendment addressing an end date for amalgam for children and for pregnant and breastfeeding women. In 2023 the Parties adopted a phase out of dental amalgam as a worldwide goal.

In November 2025, the Minamata Convention on Mercury reconvenes — at the top of the agenda is whether to shift treaty language from phase out amalgam as a goal to phase out of amalgam as a legal mandate. Both the Africa continent, by unanimity, and the European Union have already called for support of this amendment — and support is growing across the globe.

• The fight to ban amalgam comes to a head — Charlie will lead a civil society delegation from 13 nations at the upcoming conference of the parties, coming 3 to 7 November in Geneva. The voice of mercury-free dentistry will be well-represented.

Your Help Makes a Big Difference

Consumers for Dental Choice is an amazing nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advocating mercury-free dentistry. Its talented team of consumer advocates, environmentalists, and health professionals work tirelessly — and effectively — to continue the fight against dental mercury around the world.

Consider donating to this worthwhile cause to help eliminate mercury fillings, and I’ll match your gift. Click the button below to donate online:

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

Or you may mail a check to:

Consumers for Dental Choice
727 15th St. NW, Suite 701
Washington, DC 20005

With your help, Consumers for Dental Choice’s campaign will ensure mercury-free dentistry for all.

Resources to Help You Choose a Mercury-Free Dentist

Insist on mercury-free dental fillings. These fine organizations can help you find a mercury-free dentist:

Consumers for Dental Choice

Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions (DAMS)

Holistic Dental Association

International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine (IABDM)

International Association of Mercury Safe Dentists

International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT)

Talk International

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Dental Amalgams

Q: What is dental amalgam, and why is it controversial?

A: Dental amalgam, often misleadingly called “silver fillings,” is actually 50% mercury — a toxic heavy metal that can vaporize and travel to the brain, kidneys, placenta, and breast milk. Despite safer alternatives, the American Dental Association (ADA) historically promoted amalgam while discouraging dentists from discussing its health risks.

Q: What progress has been made toward eliminating dental amalgam worldwide?

A: Consumers for Dental Choice, led by Charlie Brown, has secured major victories, including Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and World Health Organization (WHO) opposition to amalgam, complete bans across the European Union (EU), and restrictions in numerous countries across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. In the United States, major manufacturers like Dentsply and Envista have stopped producing amalgam entirely.

Q: Who is still most affected by mercury-based dentistry?

A: Vulnerable populations — including soldiers, Native Americans, institutionalized individuals, and low-income families with restrictive insurance — often still receive amalgam fillings due to government policies, limited access to alternatives, and misleading information from pro-mercury dentists.

Q: What is being done to end amalgam use in government programs?

A: Consumers for Dental Choice has successfully pushed the Indian Health Service (IHS) to adopt a phase-down plan and continues to urge Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), to ban amalgam purchases in all federal dental programs. They are also leading initiatives in states like Florida, Rhode Island, and California to eliminate amalgam from Medicaid and other public services.

Q: What’s next in the fight against dental mercury?

A: The global campaign now aims to make a full phase-out of amalgam a legal requirement under the Minamata Convention on Mercury. This will be debated at the November 2025 conference in Geneva, where Consumers for Dental Choice will lead an international delegation to advocate for a worldwide ban.

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 should you consider testing for iron overload and not just iron deficiency?

To have all your bases covered

Insufficient iron levels are more hazardous than iron overload

Iron overload doesn’t affect your health unless you’re anemic

Iron overload is more common and harmful than most realize
Excess iron can cause oxidative stress and organ damage, making it essential to monitor levels through serum ferritin and GGT.

Putting food allergy safety on the menu [PODCAST]

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 23:00:08 +0000

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Leading food allergy advocate Lianne Mandelbaum discusses her article, “What one diagnosis can change: the movement to make dining safer.” She explains how for millions of people living with food allergies, dining out is often an exercise in survival rather than

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Putting food allergy safety on the menu [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com.