Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. In this episode, did you know sparkling
Speaker 1: water will help you lose weight? Do not do not
Speaker 1: eat that red dye. Also, your alcohol is about to
Speaker 1: get a new warning label possibly. Did you know beer
Speaker 1: will help you get a nice tan? There's now plastic
Speaker 1: in your tea. Coffee with lemon helps you lose weight too.
Speaker 1: The food you're gonna eat tonight has probably been recalled.
Speaker 1: And oh yeah, there's a quademic you need to worry about.
Speaker 1: We have no shortage of medical headlines. Thank god, we
Speaker 1: got a doctor in studio with us today. And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. The beer.
Speaker 1: The only one on this list I would immediately debunk
Speaker 1: is the tanning with a beer. You know people had.
Speaker 1: There was a thing going around people say, you throw
Speaker 1: beer all over yourself, it helps you get a tan.
Speaker 2: That's hilarious. So does baby oil, sodas, tann accelerator. Anything
Speaker 2: that's reflective to the sun probably helps you get darker
Speaker 2: or burn faster.
Speaker 1: I didn't think about it that way actually, since yes.
Speaker 2: Who has spent part of their lives trying to be tan? Yes?
Speaker 1: I spent my whole life being tan. So it's we
Speaker 1: had different championships.
Speaker 2: You're fascinated by, like the tanning products and even Ava,
Speaker 2: my oldest going to a place where she paid to
Speaker 2: have bronzer sprayed on her.
Speaker 1: Didn't get it.
Speaker 2: You were confused.
Speaker 1: And there is a base tan we'll get into this,
Speaker 1: but there's a thing that white women do that's called
Speaker 1: base tanning before they go on vacation. Did you know this, Andy,
Speaker 1: I didn't know.
Speaker 2: You're not explaining this to any white woman listening. Oh,
Speaker 2: we all know.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sorry, Yes, I don't have to explain it
Speaker 1: to y'all. My bad. This isn't one of the medical headlines.
Speaker 1: This is just something that trips me out recently in
Speaker 1: discovering that you go tan before you go to the beach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: didn't know.
Speaker 2: You got to have a base hand so you don't burn.
Speaker 1: Okay. So I guess this is why we have a
Speaker 1: doctor in the house to answer our questions and so
Speaker 1: many others and robes we have done. The medical headlines
Speaker 1: that have been I guess scariest to a certain degree.
Speaker 1: We've had deadly food outbreaks. We've had some deadly ones
Speaker 1: in the past. He seemed like six to eight months
Speaker 1: it seemed like every week we were doing a new
Speaker 1: and major recall.
Speaker 2: That was It felt like that was much of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four, hoping that twenty twenty five isn't a repeat.
Speaker 2: But again, we talked to my father who's a microbiologist,
Speaker 2: who pointed out that maybe we're just getting better at detecting.
Speaker 2: We're just getting better at connecting the dots and being
Speaker 2: able to warn people. It was always there, the food
Speaker 2: born illnesses and the bacteria all previously existed and was
Speaker 2: infecting people. We just didn't hear about it as much.
Speaker 1: So, you know, he made that's one headline. He said,
Speaker 1: you should rest easy. We're catching it and catching it earlier,
Speaker 1: so that is a good thing. But I didn't several
Speaker 1: of these I mentioned off the top, the beer tan
Speaker 1: thing I kind of laughed about. But you do have
Speaker 1: people out there now looking at studies talking about coffee
Speaker 1: with lemon helps you lose weight, and sparkling water helps
Speaker 1: you lose weight.
Speaker 2: You know what. Also eating less and exercising helps you
Speaker 2: lose weight too.
Speaker 1: Who wants to do that? If you can just have
Speaker 1: coffee with limon in.
Speaker 2: The morning to eat your French fries and your pizza yeah,
Speaker 2: that's the point.
Speaker 1: But we do have with us. Again, both a lot
Speaker 1: of these are getting our attention. I know you've been
Speaker 1: buzzing about him. You might be trying a bunch of
Speaker 1: things out there these days. So we have someone here
Speaker 1: in studio with this is going to help us confirm
Speaker 1: or in some cases maybe debunked, but debunk some of
Speaker 1: these things, but just help us answer some of our
Speaker 1: questions about the headlines we have been seeing. We do
Speaker 1: have a medical contributor at NBC News. She is also
Speaker 1: a clinical associate professor at NYU. Lang Gone, doctor Natalie
Speaker 1: Azar is in the building with us. How'd you like
Speaker 1: that intro? What did you hear in our intro there
Speaker 1: that made your ears kind of perk up?
Speaker 3: That you identified me correctly. This is amazing and I
Speaker 3: always I always find it interesting because I'm affiliated with
Speaker 3: the two ends, NBC and NYU, and I'm super loyal.
Speaker 3: I've been at NYU since nineteen ninety six and we
Speaker 3: just talked about starting my eleventh year at ABC.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you are super loyal.
Speaker 2: I am loyal.
Speaker 3: I like to find a place and stay.
Speaker 1: Isn't that cool? We'rebes We've done we obviously We've been
Speaker 1: doing this for good decades in the business, but getting
Speaker 1: someone's name and title right is so important and it
Speaker 1: sets you on a good path that you get off
Speaker 1: to a good strong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because so often that doesn't happen, and so we're
Speaker 2: just grateful that at least we started off right. Let's
Speaker 2: hope we can continue that now as we get into
Speaker 2: the actual podcast. But we are so happy to have
Speaker 2: you here, doctor Azar. There there are so many headlines
Speaker 2: out there, as TJ just listed several of them, and
Speaker 2: there were probably even more circulating. Is there one out
Speaker 2: there that concerns you the most that people here read
Speaker 2: and then say, oh, my goodness, I'm going to do that.
Speaker 3: Well. It's interesting that you mentioned the carbonated water and
Speaker 3: the coffee with lemon. It's like, I think it kind
Speaker 3: of speaks to where we are right now, with everybody
Speaker 3: kind of a on a search for wellness number one
Speaker 3: and on a search for weight loss, which kind of
Speaker 3: opens up a little bit of Pandora's box, a little
Speaker 3: bit about how we talk about obesity in this country.
Speaker 3: You know, I still will often say to people, you know,
Speaker 3: my generation of training Gus remember fen Fen back in
Speaker 3: the nineties, right, it was. It was this medication that
Speaker 3: a lot of people took for weight loss, and it
Speaker 3: ended up resulting in a really serious condition called pulmonary hypertension,
Speaker 3: which you know even now has a high mortality, but
Speaker 3: even even back then, and I remember sort of the feeling.
Speaker 3: Back then, the way we thought about obesity and overweight
Speaker 3: and weight loss was calories and versus calories out, and
Speaker 3: that if you were overweight it was a behavioral failure.
Speaker 3: And now fast forward to where we are today, where
Speaker 3: we're talking about obesity as a disease, and in addition
Speaker 3: to calories in and calories out, there's a lot about
Speaker 3: genetics and metabolism and all this kind of stuff that
Speaker 3: contributes to people's struggle with weight. That said, you know,
Speaker 3: we still we still are hearing about all of these
Speaker 3: sort of like quick fixes and everything, and so it
Speaker 3: worries me on that level sometimes that people might be
Speaker 3: doing things that could potentially be harmful to their health
Speaker 3: that they see on TikTok or on social media and
Speaker 3: just try But I think it also again sort of
Speaker 3: highlights where people are right now that if they you know,
Speaker 3: don't have access to GLP ones or they've been on them,
Speaker 3: and they've been taken away that they're willing to do
Speaker 3: just about anything, you know, to lose weight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that is scary because I know my daughters
Speaker 2: who are in college get their information from TikTok yes,
Speaker 2: from social media. Yep. They don't have televisions, they aren't
Speaker 2: watching or consuming traditional news, right, and so they're there
Speaker 2: to believe everything or every headline. Some influencer says this
Speaker 2: worked for me, and then they try it. Although I
Speaker 2: will say, is there a risk in drinking too much
Speaker 2: sparkling water? Is there a risk and putting lemon in
Speaker 2: your coffee?
Speaker 3: You know, probably not, you know, sar let You know,
Speaker 3: if it's if it's naturally flavored, it's probably okay. But
Speaker 3: carbonation in general, I think too much of it isn't
Speaker 3: supposed to be that good.
Speaker 2: For me to get the bloat.
Speaker 3: You can get a bloat, absolutely, and certainly coffee with
Speaker 3: uh with lemon, you know, four hundred milligrams max a day,
Speaker 3: So if you're drinking a lot of caffeine, that's also
Speaker 3: not not the right way to go.
Speaker 1: Okay. But again, these generally, it seems like another study
Speaker 1: comes out every week saying coffee is great for you,
Speaker 1: coffee is terrible for you. Drink this much coffee and
Speaker 1: you'll live forever. But don't drink this much or you'll
Speaker 1: die soon. I mean, so what do you tell people
Speaker 1: to do with these studies that we go back and forth. Oh,
Speaker 1: this is great for you, this is terrible for you.
Speaker 3: So it's funny because my dad was a physician. My
Speaker 3: mom wasn't, but she thinks that she kind of earned
Speaker 3: two medical degrees, having been married to one and raising
Speaker 3: a daughter who became one. And she was always, you know,
Speaker 3: a little bit skeptical, you know, of medical advice, not
Speaker 3: in a conspiracy theory way, but just sort of you know,
Speaker 3: that kind of stuck with me a little bit. You
Speaker 3: know that one week we say something and then the
Speaker 3: other week we say something else. But if you will
Speaker 3: recall during the pandemic, there was criticism too of saying
Speaker 3: something and then a week later saying something else. And
Speaker 3: I think that just also just speaks to the fact
Speaker 3: that our knowledge is constantly evolving, right, And so if
Speaker 3: there's a new study that maybe comes to a different
Speaker 3: conclusion than a study before that we have to report
Speaker 3: on it. But I think we're always waiting in medicine
Speaker 3: for kind of the grand tie breaker. And I know
Speaker 3: we'll probably get to this later, but is alcohol good
Speaker 3: for you or not good for you? I think is
Speaker 3: probably the most representative of where we are right now
Speaker 3: in that classic debate of well, last week we said this,
Speaker 3: and this week we're saying that.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we can take there are people out there
Speaker 1: drinking coffee with lemon, and there are people out there
Speaker 1: drinking sparkling water thinking it's helping them lose weight.
Speaker 3: So those folks, you say, to those folks, I say
Speaker 3: that any effect is probably modest at best, and I
Speaker 3: would I wouldn't spend too much time or money on that.
Speaker 2: And given all that we've learned since the days of
Speaker 2: fen fen and I mean I remember, especially after I
Speaker 2: had had both of my daughters, having to lose weight
Speaker 2: and literally writing down my calories and going with the
Speaker 2: calories in calories out formulation, like I made it a
Speaker 2: mathematic equation, trying to get back to my pre baby weight.
Speaker 2: What do you say, now, with all the information we have,
Speaker 2: what is the best truest way to lose weight?
Speaker 3: So they're they're for a good percentage of the population,
Speaker 3: it's still that it's still I think we say about
Speaker 3: eighty percent what you eat and about twenty percent of
Speaker 3: physical activity.
Speaker 1: Hey cannot you said a good percentage of the population.
Speaker 1: Is that the formula for most folks, like how many.
Speaker 2: You know what the majority?
Speaker 3: I'm giving a full disclosure. I don't know if I
Speaker 3: have a percentage for you on that, which I think
Speaker 3: is interesting because certainly there we all know, you know,
Speaker 3: someone don't take my husband, for example, who needed to
Speaker 3: lose a little bit of weight and it wasn't overweight,
Speaker 3: but you needed to lose about ten or fifteen pounds
Speaker 3: and really got strict with his carbs and did a
Speaker 3: fantastic job. And he's always were around that. He's fifty four.
Speaker 3: I think I'm fifty four, Yes I am, and I
Speaker 3: couldn't remember for a second time.
Speaker 2: I totally thirty five.
Speaker 3: Same, so, you know, and that worked. That worked for him,
Speaker 3: you know, but it took like six months and he's
Speaker 3: been great. So But to your point, I don't know
Speaker 3: the exact percentage, but for a good percent of the population,
Speaker 3: it still works that way. And then there's everyone else,
Speaker 3: and I see them in the office. I have patients
Speaker 3: who are overweight or OBEs, and they say, I barely eat.
Speaker 3: Not that that's the right thing to do, right. We
Speaker 3: know that your metabolism can slow down if you restrict
Speaker 3: too much. But I think that our our understanding scientifically
Speaker 3: of what is sort of what the roadblock is with
Speaker 3: insulin resistance, with metabolism, with the way the body utilizes energy,
Speaker 3: the way it stores fat, the really important relationship between
Speaker 3: hormones of hunger and satiety and you know, and gastric emptying.
Speaker 3: We talk about that motility. I think there's just a
Speaker 3: very complex biological interplay there that people cannot overcome if
Speaker 3: they just start running harder on the treadmill or if
Speaker 3: they reduce their carbs. And I think, and that's what
Speaker 3: we've seen with the with the introduction of the GLP ones,
Speaker 3: that they are flipping the switch on those patients. And
Speaker 3: it's dramatic and it's really amazing. We have this conversation
Speaker 3: and in parallel, yes, we all acknowledge that we need
Speaker 3: to understand why we got to the place where we
Speaker 3: are where we're having more rates of obesity and overweight,
Speaker 3: but I think we can do that at the same
Speaker 3: time that we can still acknowledge that the GLP ones
Speaker 3: have made such an amazing impasse on this obesity epidemic,
Speaker 3: but still understanding why we got here. And it's not
Speaker 3: just all ultra process foods. It's probably a lot of
Speaker 3: things in our environment that have gotten us here.
Speaker 2: Oh and so when you say GLP ones, O, Zimbig,
Speaker 2: there are some other brand names that are out there
Speaker 2: as well. Yeah, what are the risks and who is
Speaker 2: who do you recommend that to for your patients?
Speaker 3: So what's interesting? So risk wise? You know, first of all,
Speaker 3: the glp ones have been around for a couple of decades.
Speaker 3: It's just that with ozempic, Wagovi, Manjaro, and zep bound,
Speaker 3: the four that are always in the news, more recent
Speaker 3: approvals and more dramatic weight loss than some of their predecessors.
Speaker 3: In terms of long term side effects, I don't know
Speaker 3: that we necessarily know if someone's on them for five,
Speaker 3: ten or fifteen years, if there are going to be
Speaker 3: significant side effects. I don't think that the people who
Speaker 3: study these drugs and are truly expert in them think
Speaker 3: that there's any concern about duration or cumulative dose leading
Speaker 3: to X, Y and Z. But there are some people
Speaker 3: who shouldn't be on them, people who have a personal
Speaker 3: history of certain types of thyroid cancer, who have family
Speaker 3: histories of certain type endocrine issues where there could be
Speaker 3: an increased risk of thyroid cancer, just to name a few.
Speaker 3: And then there are side effects. People can have gi
Speaker 3: side effects that are very limiting. I've had a lot
Speaker 3: of patients, you know, with either diarrhea, nausea, bloating, they
Speaker 3: just can't tolerate them. And then more serious kidney issues,
Speaker 3: pancreatitis like you know, real medical issues. And then of
Speaker 3: course the one that makes the headline when someone has
Speaker 3: a bowel obstruction where their bowel slows down so much
Speaker 3: to the point that it can become a surgical emergency.
Speaker 3: That's not common, but it can definitely happen. I think
Speaker 3: the biggest issue with them is the fact that people
Speaker 3: probably do need to stay on them indefinitely question mark.
Speaker 3: You know, I work one of my colleagues at NYU
Speaker 3: has been involved in a lot of these clinical trials
Speaker 3: and the number really stands at about you know, patients
Speaker 3: will probably regain about two thirds of the weight when
Speaker 3: they stop the medications because again that switch that was
Speaker 3: flipped gets switched back off again. And you know, some
Speaker 3: patients I have who maintained the weight loss because they're like,
Speaker 3: I really learned how to eat differently, and this is
Speaker 3: maintaining it and that's great. So not everyone is going
Speaker 3: to gain all the weight, but they don't really know
Speaker 3: yet how to identify the people who definitely will and
Speaker 3: definitely won't.
Speaker 1: Another big headline. You mentioned a moment ago alcohol. The
Speaker 1: Surgeon General yes, as he wants it to have a
Speaker 1: warning label about a cancer risk. I guess I'll ask first,
Speaker 1: is there anything new we've learned recently that would have
Speaker 1: prompted him to have this change in thinking or thinking
Speaker 1: that the government should have a changing thinking or is
Speaker 1: this just one guy decided this is what he believes.
Speaker 3: We should do, so no to you know, a new
Speaker 3: groundbreaking study that suddenly showed that alcohol was a carcinogen.
Speaker 3: In fact, alcohol has been labeled a carcinogen for a very,
Speaker 3: very long time. The Surgeon General's report came on the
Speaker 3: heels of one of two government commissions and studies. One
Speaker 3: was in December from the National Academy of Science Engineering
Speaker 3: in Medicine that actually said that drinking moderately, which is
Speaker 3: two drinks a day for men and one drink a
Speaker 3: day for women, lowered the risk of heart disease death
Speaker 3: as well as all cause mortality, but increased the risk
Speaker 3: of breast cancer. And then in January, another report from
Speaker 3: HHS basically said the sort of the same but the
Speaker 3: opposite and said, Nope, if you drink in moderation you
Speaker 3: are more likely to die overall. And yes, you're going
Speaker 3: to increase the risk of breast cancer in addition to
Speaker 3: six other cancers. So that leaves us with, oh my god,
Speaker 3: here we go again. Right, we have one report saying this,
Speaker 3: of one report saying that the Surgeon General basically said,
Speaker 3: I want to have a label on alcohol that states
Speaker 3: that it can increase the risk of cancer, on the
Speaker 3: heels of the tobacco Surgeon General's warning from the nineteen sixties,
Speaker 3: which reduced the rate of smoking by from forty two
Speaker 3: percent of the population to eighteen percent of the population.
Speaker 3: So labels can work. They're not a panacea, but they
Speaker 3: definitely can work. And I think the Surgeon General's point
Speaker 3: was alcohol is a what's called a modifiable risk factor
Speaker 3: for cancer behind obesity and smoking, the third most common
Speaker 3: preventable cause. Does that mean that if you want to
Speaker 3: guarantee you're not going to get cancer. You shouldn't drink. No,
Speaker 3: of course not, because what you eat matters, how much
Speaker 3: you exercise matters, whether you smoke matters, your family history matters.
Speaker 3: But he wants the public to be aware of that
Speaker 3: so that they can make an informed decision about their
Speaker 3: own alcohol intake. But the cancer story, to me, is
Speaker 3: very different than does a glass of red wine reduce
Speaker 3: your risk for heart disease? Because that's where you start
Speaker 3: to get into the weeds of all of these reports.
Speaker 3: And you ask me, is there a new study?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: Is there are meta analyzes? Right, that's like a review
Speaker 3: of dozens and dozens and dozens of studies, and these
Speaker 3: two government commissioned groups came to two different conclusions. So
Speaker 3: what is an individual to do. My best advice is
Speaker 3: don't start drinking to reduce your cardiovascular help. Okay, And
Speaker 3: you know red wine. The flavonoids, right, they're so good.
Speaker 3: They're antioxidants, they're anti inflammatory. But they're also in blueberries
Speaker 3: and strawberries and tea and other things that are a
Speaker 3: have more of them and be are healthier for you
Speaker 3: than alcohol. I could go on and on. Well, this
Speaker 3: is such a dicey topic.
Speaker 2: The truth is, I don't I don't know anybody who
Speaker 2: pours a glass of wine and says, wow, this is
Speaker 2: like medicine. I'm drinking this for my health. I think
Speaker 2: we're looking for an excuse to justify wanting the glass
Speaker 2: of wine. Yes, to relax and to chill and to
Speaker 2: have a mental Yeah, just to physically and mentally relax.
Speaker 3: But that's okay. Like, I don't know about you guys,
Speaker 3: but I reporting on this is devastating to me personally
Speaker 3: because I absolutely enjoy my wine. But I do think
Speaker 3: that it forced me and I'm like full disclosure here,
Speaker 3: I had to rethink my relationship also with alcohol because
Speaker 3: I really started to feel like when I get home
Speaker 3: from my crazy busy days that I really like earned
Speaker 3: that glass of wine, you know, and I wanted to.
Speaker 3: And it's forced me to have a little bit of
Speaker 3: a different relationship with it, just because like I have
Speaker 3: that nagging Am I increasing the risk? You know, I'm
Speaker 3: at a higher risk for breast cancer and things like that?
Speaker 3: But you know, Amy to your point about just sort
Speaker 3: of thinking about wine, and a lot of people have
Speaker 3: written about this now. I think there's so much out
Speaker 3: there that's really good for people to read about this.
Speaker 3: You've heard about the French paradox, right, So this was
Speaker 3: I think a sixty minutes episode Morally Safer from nineteen
Speaker 3: ninety one, right, who reported on this and said, the
Speaker 3: French who drink wine every day and have lower rates
Speaker 3: of heart disease and this, this, this than Americans. Why
Speaker 3: is that happening? And the takeaway from the episode was
Speaker 3: that it must be the wine. Drink more wine, and
Speaker 3: wine sales just skyrocketed after that, when in fact, you know, yes,
Speaker 3: they have a lot of butter and cheese and all
Speaker 3: of those things, but the French diet is also kind
Speaker 3: of a Mediterranean diet, and there's so many confounding variables.
Speaker 3: People who drink a glass of wine a day are
Speaker 3: probably also more likely to have healthy foods and things
Speaker 3: like that that you can't account for in these studies.
Speaker 2: That was my question, because actually I think it was
Speaker 2: similar to that. I was reading an article about that saying,
Speaker 2: for if you think about it like this, every drink
Speaker 2: you drink, you're potentially losing five minutes of your life.
Speaker 2: Is that the same article?
Speaker 3: Because I atlantic, yes, yes, my best friends send it
Speaker 3: to me because we're trying to figure out what we're
Speaker 3: going to do with our lives.
Speaker 2: Yes, because yes, you're talking to people who love, yes
Speaker 2: to have a glass or two, and we take it
Speaker 2: very easy. In January. TJ's dry in January. I went
Speaker 2: damp this January. But if I think about every drink, okay,
Speaker 2: am I willing to give up five minutes of my
Speaker 2: life for this drink? That it forces you to look
Speaker 2: at it differently. But my question is with h S.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the website right now. Yeah, it says
Speaker 2: seven hundred and forty one thousand, three hundred cancer cases
Speaker 2: worldwide were you attributed to alcohol consumption in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: With all of the other factors, how you eat, how
Speaker 2: much you exercise, how much you sleep, how can they
Speaker 2: possibly How can doctors? How can researchers say it's a
Speaker 2: link to alcohol. I'm curious with all the other.
Speaker 3: Factors, you can't right, the only way I mean, you
Speaker 3: can say member correlation is not causation. These are all
Speaker 3: observational studies. The study that can't be done or hasn't
Speaker 3: been done, I guess it can be done. You take
Speaker 3: two groups and you run a clinical trial, randomized placebo control.
Speaker 3: No one is drinking, one isn't drinking, and everything else
Speaker 3: is corrected for, and then you can say that it
Speaker 3: was the alcohol that caused it. Yeah, that data point
Speaker 3: is global. The Surgeon General cited one hundred thousand new
Speaker 3: cancer cases a year attributable to alcohol and twenty thousand
Speaker 3: deaths a year attributable to alcohol. But everyone will say that, like,
Speaker 3: if you compare two groups, the people who are drinking
Speaker 3: moderately versus the non drinkers, why are the non drinkers
Speaker 3: not drinking? Are they Maybe they can't afford alcohol, And
Speaker 3: so that that socioeconomic group may also not have good
Speaker 3: health literacy, they may not have good access to healthcare.
Speaker 3: They you know, they may be recovering alcoholics.
Speaker 2: And so the.
Speaker 3: Moderate drinker's benefit is kind of inflated because the comparison
Speaker 3: group isn't really that accurate. And that same article, Amy,
Speaker 3: I loved that Atlantic. It makes you feel good about
Speaker 3: your glass of wine. Right, we want to read the
Speaker 3: things that make us feel good. But yes, every drink
Speaker 3: reduces your life by five minutes, and every minute of
Speaker 3: exercise gives you five minutes back.
Speaker 2: Right, So can the two you know cancel each other out.
Speaker 3: That's what I always want to know. I want to
Speaker 3: know if I have my anti inflammatory plant based diet
Speaker 3: and my exercise, am I you know, am I canceling
Speaker 3: out my alcohol risk? And the answer is you have
Speaker 3: to I think it. Of course you are at some point,
Speaker 3: but I don't know that it like gets you to zero.
Speaker 3: But it has to.
Speaker 2: Help, right, Yeah, I like that answer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I knew that you would. You oll definitely should
Speaker 1: not go out drinking together. But a couple of headlines
Speaker 1: just red dye number three. Who even knew? But for
Speaker 1: general in general out there was this a whole lot
Speaker 1: we needed to be worried about. Red dye number three
Speaker 1: has now been banned banned.
Speaker 3: Okay, this is where I sigh, because like, why did
Speaker 3: it take the FDA so long? Right? I mean? Red
Speaker 3: dye number three has been around since nineteen oh seven
Speaker 3: when it was first used in foods, and then it
Speaker 3: was banned in cosmetics in nineteen ninety and there have
Speaker 3: been petitions to get it banned in food for a
Speaker 3: very long.
Speaker 1: Time, banned in Europe in some places exactly exactly behind.
Speaker 3: So the only data we have is rat data. We
Speaker 3: don't like animal data in science right, we want to
Speaker 3: see that it's doing something bad in humans before we
Speaker 3: get all crazy. But we've had we've had data that
Speaker 3: it causes cancer and rats since the eighties. In humans
Speaker 3: as as recently as twenty twenty one, there was a
Speaker 3: really important study that showed that it could increase the
Speaker 3: risk of hyperactivity in kits. And you know, sort of
Speaker 3: the takeaway from that is, well, is it the sugar
Speaker 3: or is it the red dye? And is it all
Speaker 3: children or is it kids who might be predisposed to hyperactivity?
Speaker 3: And I think we don't really know the answer to
Speaker 3: that yet fully, but I think at the end of
Speaker 3: the day, if you can have something like beats or
Speaker 3: other natural things that can give color, then use that
Speaker 3: instead of a chemical. And for parents out there, I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, are you going to have your children not
Speaker 3: have any cakes and candies and this and this, and
Speaker 3: you're not going to give them a seat of minaphin
Speaker 3: when they have a fever?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: But like in moderation, right, if your children's diet is
Speaker 3: filled with processed foods anyway, I know, right, Well, it's
Speaker 3: kind of in everything that's the problem. Like it's in
Speaker 3: cosmetics and in food and redepressants.
Speaker 1: Number forty they've been using exactly and.
Speaker 3: Same thing, same thing. It's like it could also increase hyperactivity,
Speaker 3: and it's linked to all these other things. But the
Speaker 3: quality of the data is poor. I think it's just
Speaker 3: another reminder that you can't rid yourself of every toxin
Speaker 3: in your life unless you live on an island somewhere.
Speaker 3: But to be aware of it and like, let your
Speaker 3: kids have it on special occasions. But I wouldn't keep
Speaker 3: it in the cupboard for them to just grab. They
Speaker 3: should grab a you know, some cherries instead of the.
Speaker 2: Red doll cake cupcakes. Yeah, or you know, oh twizzlers.
Speaker 2: Oh you just had a nerve, mean.
Speaker 3: Right, but at the movies, you're gonna have Twizzlers, like
Speaker 3: you can't.
Speaker 2: I don't like that explore every night at your teaching
Speaker 2: at homes when he especially when he's in dry January mode,
Speaker 2: he is in full Twizzlers mode.
Speaker 1: Doctor, I am the this is the unhealthiest month for me.
Speaker 1: I cut out meat and I cut out alcohol. But
Speaker 1: because I do that, I end up grabbing a chip
Speaker 1: so I would normally grab I end up eating in.
Speaker 2: An ertos and twizzlers.
Speaker 1: Never eat that stuff. So really to be healthy, I
Speaker 1: cut stuff out, but.
Speaker 3: I could you have a craving for that or you
Speaker 3: just feel like you deserve it.
Speaker 1: But no, I get rid of all these other things
Speaker 1: my body's used to having. So I start craving sugar,
Speaker 1: I start craving carbs, and I'm interesting looking at all
Speaker 1: these places.
Speaker 2: You have more candy in January than you do all
Speaker 2: all year round. No alcohol, not drinking alcohol.
Speaker 3: But we'll see for a month. Nothing bad is going
Speaker 3: to happen to you. And your DNA is like it
Speaker 3: is done already.
Speaker 2: You like tiger blood. Agree, and you know what, you
Speaker 2: haven't been sick, but apparently the whole country's sick with what. Yes,
Speaker 2: we're hearing a quademic is happening. And then I say that, right, quademic.
Speaker 2: There are four problems out there. It's RSV, flu, COVID nineteen,
Speaker 2: and neurovirus, and they're all happening at the same time. Yes,
Speaker 2: what's going on is this tip of it? It's a
Speaker 2: medical mystery.
Speaker 3: We love, we love a demic in medical journalism.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, so a couple of months ago we got
Speaker 3: a little bit on alert because the UK was having
Speaker 3: a lot of the RSV covid, flu and neurovirus at
Speaker 3: the same time, and we're like, well, what happens there
Speaker 3: ends up happening here, and so we kind of braced ourselves. Well,
Speaker 3: the good news is that COVID rates are really down,
Speaker 3: but flu is really up. We think because we had
Speaker 3: such a horrible COVID summer, Sarge, that that kind of
Speaker 3: has sort of there's a little hangover benefit from that,
Speaker 3: and that COVID, you know, all the new descendants that
Speaker 3: are coming, the strains are not becoming more and more
Speaker 3: deadly or vere your land as we call it, and
Speaker 3: causing milder disease.
Speaker 2: And that's what you want to happen.
Speaker 3: We want that to happen, right, Like I read, there's
Speaker 3: so many headlines all the time. I didn't read it,
Speaker 3: but it caught my eye. Is COVID the common cold?
Speaker 3: Like not people still are from COVID, So it's not
Speaker 3: fair to say that it's the common cold, But for
Speaker 3: a lot of us, yes, it's a very mild upper
Speaker 3: respiratory tract infection never becomes you never even go to
Speaker 3: the doctor from it. But flu rates are really high
Speaker 3: right now for a number of reasons. One because COVID
Speaker 3: is taking a vac seat. So, you know, respiratory viruses
Speaker 3: are opportunists, right, It's like it's going to flourish if
Speaker 3: COVID get out of their buddy. It's my turn now.
Speaker 3: And flu vaccination rates are just at an all time
Speaker 3: low because.
Speaker 2: People are sick of getting vaccinated.
Speaker 3: People are getting sick of getting vaccinated and being told
Speaker 3: to get vaccinated. If I had like a parody of
Speaker 3: myself of all the times in the last four or
Speaker 3: five years I said get your flu shot or get
Speaker 3: your COVID shot, I would probably be shocked with myself,
Speaker 3: you know. And then neurovirus just because like it's so
Speaker 3: disgusting and highly contagious and the most common cause of
Speaker 3: gas er intestinal illness. Where is this happening everywhere everywhere,
Speaker 3: right outside this studio?
Speaker 1: Okay, And what's our biggest problem of the four right now?
Speaker 2: Flu?
Speaker 3: Who is on flu? Covid is kind of in the
Speaker 3: backseat right now. RSV cases are kind of going down,
Speaker 3: which is good in a very I think predictable way.
Speaker 3: COVID hasn't settled into a totally predictable pattern yet, you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of the experts are very reluctant to say
Speaker 3: that we can anticipate uh two surges every year because
Speaker 3: we don't know. There could be a new strain anytime,
Speaker 3: and that could pop up in May and we just
Speaker 3: don't know. But for right now, settling, what's that?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 1: The grim Reaper, she says with a smile, Right, I know.
Speaker 3: It's like, why is doctor Natalie here? Again? RSV is
Speaker 3: respiratory sensicial virus, and it's something that I think we
Speaker 3: all appropriately associate with little kish just because they are
Speaker 3: really really vulnerable to getting sick with RSV, but so
Speaker 3: are older folks, and we have we have a vaccine
Speaker 3: now for older people as well as pregnant women, and
Speaker 3: we have something called the ont A clonal and a
Speaker 3: body to treat little kids if they get sick with
Speaker 3: the RSV. So a lot more protection than we did
Speaker 3: even five years ago, which is great.
Speaker 1: Okay, virus again.
Speaker 3: Virus GI. It is the most common cause of GI
Speaker 3: illness and food born illness in the country.
Speaker 2: Cruise ship breaks, cruise ship out.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, I asked, can you have all of these?
Speaker 1: You said? If flu, if covid gets out of the way,
Speaker 1: flu has an opportunity, can you have and which of
Speaker 1: these can you have at the same time you.
Speaker 3: Can have all four of them?
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, Technically that would be horrible. Technically that's
Speaker 2: a fate almost worse than death if you never had
Speaker 2: a virus and oh my god, those two.
Speaker 3: Together, I know, I mean, that is just super super
Speaker 3: bad luck.
Speaker 2: I can't even imagine. All Right, I know as a
Speaker 2: practicing medical physician and a TV doctor as well, that
Speaker 2: you clearly like to steer clear from politics. How I
Speaker 2: have to ask. With RFK Junior about to be potentially
Speaker 2: confirmed as the head of AHHS, is there talk among doctors,
Speaker 2: among physicians, any concerns about changing guidelines, changing vaccination protocol?
Speaker 2: Like what are what is the medical community talking about
Speaker 2: in preparation for his potential confirmation?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that hearing is this is this week. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: hope I have time to actually listen in on it.
Speaker 3: I don't even know where to start, Like between OURFK
Speaker 3: Junior and then we're pulling out of the World Health Organization,
Speaker 3: Now we might reconsider pulling out of the World Health Organization.
Speaker 3: I can say I'm not going to speak for the
Speaker 3: entire medical community, but I think for most of us
Speaker 3: we are very highly expectant about what's going to happen. Vaccines,
Speaker 3: hands down, in addition to antibiotics and the discovery of penicillin,
Speaker 3: is probably one of the if not the most important
Speaker 3: public health achievement ever in terms of the number of
Speaker 3: deaths it has prevented and the number of you know,
Speaker 3: just chronically ill sick folks from common illnesses once what
Speaker 3: were once common illnesses. So that's terrifying because we don't
Speaker 3: need anything else to pepper the vaccine skepticism that already
Speaker 3: exists in this country, which is a leftover from the pandemic,
Speaker 3: which was sewed by the right and conspiracy theorists period,
Speaker 3: And so that is extraordinarily unfortunate. And when he says
Speaker 3: things like we're going to reinvestigate the MMR vaccine and
Speaker 3: it's linked to autism, It's been done. And I'm not
Speaker 3: saying that you shouldn't have a critical mind. I have
Speaker 3: been doing TV medical journalism and practicing medicine long enough
Speaker 3: to know that sometimes dogma is wrong and you have
Speaker 3: to think outside the box and be open minded because
Speaker 3: the way you're taught things sometimes actually either wasn't right
Speaker 3: or has changed so much that where you are in
Speaker 3: your thinking is no longer correct. I give that, but
Speaker 3: it really worries me when you start talking about polio
Speaker 3: vaccines and things like that's that's done. That's done science.
Speaker 3: The only place where I would say, yeah, let's see
Speaker 3: what you got is make America. Make America healthier again.
Speaker 3: Another great article a week or two ago was what
Speaker 3: period of time were you talking about? Because one hundred
Speaker 3: years ago, no, we were dying from smallpox whatever, the
Speaker 3: fifties definitely not when people were smoking, and like the
Speaker 3: meat and Potatoes era, people were really unhealthy at different
Speaker 3: parts of our American history. So I don't know exactly
Speaker 3: what they're talking about about that little catchphrase. But what
Speaker 3: I am interested in is great, look at our food supply,
Speaker 3: look at the I don't want to put all ultra
Speaker 3: processed food in the same category, because not all of
Speaker 3: it is terrible at all. But if you want to
Speaker 3: look into what is maybe making us a sicker than
Speaker 3: we need to be by all means, but don't romanticize
Speaker 3: the past. Don't do that. That is just scientifically not
Speaker 3: the right place to be. And the who thing is like,
Speaker 3: that's just a no, that's just an absolute no.
Speaker 1: We need to stay in for you. I know it's
Speaker 1: a double edged sword here, but is it the opportunity
Speaker 1: as well to have health at the forefront. You all
Speaker 1: have a microphone like never before. Yeah, I know he
Speaker 1: has a bigger microphone at HHSY. But there's an opportunity
Speaker 1: now if we're all going to be talking about health,
Speaker 1: that some of it could be a posible.
Speaker 3: I mean, I hope. So, you know, like I always
Speaker 3: think about like the Maria Medical Association, Like you know,
Speaker 3: we have big, powerful medical organizations who will put out
Speaker 3: statements in support or in protest of certain things. But
Speaker 3: I just how powerful are they, you know, compared to Washington.
Speaker 3: That's that's always the that's always the thing for me.
Speaker 1: Well, if we can get you out of here, we
Speaker 1: have a couple of TikTok claims.
Speaker 3: Oh Mike, we're going to kind of okay.
Speaker 1: Rapid fire these. We'll kind of do these quickly, but
Speaker 1: some might deserve more than a one or two word answer.
Speaker 1: So a few things here. I didn't know about this
Speaker 1: first one, did you No?
Speaker 2: I did not know this.
Speaker 1: Okay, Touching printed sales receipts can interfere with the hormone system.
Speaker 3: That is, technically true, so there, yes, if you wow,
Speaker 3: But but how much do you need to touch to
Speaker 3: have it be a problem?
Speaker 2: Wait?
Speaker 1: Why can't it interfere?
Speaker 3: Well, the chemical the actual chemicals on the ink of
Speaker 3: a receipt can can contain some chemicals that are technically
Speaker 3: what we call hormone disrupt So if you're really again,
Speaker 3: this is like, if you want to get to zero
Speaker 3: exposure in your life, ask for a digital person.
Speaker 2: You'd like it email instead it printed.
Speaker 1: I would like to know how many receipts I've been
Speaker 1: touching receipts my whole life? Doctor the problem?
Speaker 3: Read right, the receipt explains or fold it up of
Speaker 3: of like the laundry list of things that should be
Speaker 3: you know, front of mind for people. I would not
Speaker 3: put receipts at.
Speaker 1: The top of the lip.
Speaker 2: That's crazy.
Speaker 3: But there's some Yeah, there's some truth true or false.
Speaker 2: Everyone needs to supplement with vitamin D.
Speaker 3: Oh god, I love this one. Okay, here is the answer.
Speaker 3: Everybody every day needs calcium and vitamin D. Okay, period.
Speaker 3: If you don't consume or ingest calcium in the form
Speaker 3: of food or supplement, your bones are going to be
Speaker 3: like oh man, or your body. I should is going
Speaker 3: to say I need calcium. Where am I going to
Speaker 3: get at? Your largest reservoir of calcium is in your bone,
Speaker 3: so they'll start to leach out. You need vitamin D
Speaker 3: in order to absorb calcium. The issue is that, and
Speaker 3: all the studies that have been done people who are
Speaker 3: vitamin D sufficient, meaning you have enough, taking extra isn't going.
Speaker 2: To help you.
Speaker 3: In fact, it can almost hurt you. There's a study
Speaker 3: that actually shows that it can hurt you, especially if
Speaker 3: you're living in a nursing home. It can actually increase
Speaker 3: the risk of falls. So the answer amy is that
Speaker 3: you need vitamin D every day. The most natural source
Speaker 3: is the sun, but we are all very cautious about
Speaker 3: the sun for vanity and for skin cancer for obvious reasons.
Speaker 3: And so if you don't have enough vitamin D, you
Speaker 3: can check it with a blood test, then you need
Speaker 3: to supplement.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, this is fascinating. Now we should have
Speaker 1: led with this stuff.
Speaker 2: Microwaving food reduces the nutrients.
Speaker 3: No, yes, meanwhile, I haven't vetted any of these.
Speaker 2: But hey, you know more than anyone else in this room.
Speaker 3: I don't see why that would be the case.
Speaker 1: I swear I've heard that, Yeah, I have too, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: dairy is the most inflammatory food.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, that was a sigh for some people.
Speaker 3: For some people, it absolutely is. For some people, they
Speaker 3: truly cannot tolerate the caseine, the protein that's in milk,
Speaker 3: and certainly for people who are lactose intolerant that that's
Speaker 3: another issue. But if you don't have a problem with dairy,
Speaker 3: and you know if you do or if you don't,
Speaker 3: by yes, consuming it, then by all means, please consume it.
Speaker 3: It's the most amazing source of calcium and protein and vitamins.
Speaker 2: Great that you shouldn't Oh, that's an old wives tale.
Speaker 2: You shouldn't have dairy if you're sick because it affects
Speaker 2: your mucus or your congestion or.
Speaker 3: No, I just think it. No, But I don't you
Speaker 3: feel like remembering when you're sick you don't want feels
Speaker 3: gross because like you feel mucasine, it's like harder to
Speaker 3: swallow it. I don't think it like it doesn't call
Speaker 3: your mucus to be more like dangerous for birth.
Speaker 2: Okay, what about this one? Drinking apple cider vinegar before
Speaker 2: a meal can reduce the glucose spike. Of that meal.
Speaker 3: Oh you know what, I need Joy Bouer here with me.
Speaker 3: She's obviously you guys.
Speaker 2: All love Joy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like she would she would know the
Speaker 3: answer to this. I wouldn't be surprised if that's true.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised if that's true. But I'm not
Speaker 3: one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 1: Okay, we'll investigate that. Yeah, further, warm lemon water in
Speaker 1: the morning detox is your body.
Speaker 3: I think I know that people like warm lemon water,
Speaker 3: and I think it does have some benefits. I think
Speaker 3: the lemon actually does have some benefits in terms of
Speaker 3: like being kind of anti inflammatory antioxidant, But I don't
Speaker 3: know that it's like a detox and that you know,
Speaker 3: suddenly you have no evil humors and.
Speaker 2: Do we even need to detach our body? That's the
Speaker 2: thing that's like that is such.
Speaker 3: A misdomer, right, and even sort of that label like
Speaker 3: already sends a message that there's something wrong with your body.
Speaker 3: And it's like your liver detox is your body, you know,
Speaker 3: so if anything, like you know, be kind to your
Speaker 3: liver dot dot dot.
Speaker 2: All right, Taking ibuprofen every day can ruin your stomach,
Speaker 2: lining and lead to kidney damage. Is that true or false?
Speaker 3: So, ibuprofen is a non steroidal anti inflammatory and end
Speaker 3: said and yeah, if you take like a dose of
Speaker 3: ibuprofen and they do an endoscopy on you, you can
Speaker 3: already see that it is damaging the lining of your stomach.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: And chronic use of n sets one hundred percent can
Speaker 3: lead to kidney problems. So they are not benign even
Speaker 3: though they are over the counter. And it's like a
Speaker 3: message that I really try to make sure my viewers
Speaker 3: and my patients understand.
Speaker 2: This has been fascinating. And I mean, doctor Asar, we
Speaker 2: are so happy you're here. We loved having you. We
Speaker 2: hope you'll come back because I feel like there's never
Speaker 2: we always have questions. I mean, my brother's a doctor,
Speaker 2: so I try not to annoy him and text him
Speaker 2: all the time. But that's pretty much when I text
Speaker 2: him is when I have a medical question. Yeah, So
Speaker 2: it's wonderful to right. That's why he doesn't text me
Speaker 2: really that often at all, because he knows it's just
Speaker 2: going to end up with a medical question at the
Speaker 2: end of it. Yeah. Yeah, but we appreciate it. I
Speaker 2: loved happing you here. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I loved being here you guys, and.
Speaker 1: We certainly hope you will come back because there's always
Speaker 1: some medical headline that we'd like somebody to walk us through.
Speaker 1: Even if it's fifty to fifty, it's better than nothing.
Speaker 1: I'll try to improve my batting overage really, doctor, thank
Speaker 1: you so much, and folks, thanks welcome, and thank you
Speaker 1: all for listening. We appreciate as always you can catch
Speaker 1: us here. Also catch us every Monday through Friday on
Speaker 1: our morning run our daily news podcast as well. But
Speaker 1: for now, I'm TJ.
Speaker 2: Holmes and I'm Amy Roebock. Have a great day, everyone,