Food shapes our health. Eating beans, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can lower the risk of diabetes and other chronic conditions. Yet food does not replace medicine. Clearly, diets high in ultra-processed foods make diabetes worse. And yes, eating better is the most empowering thing anyone can do.

Still, some claim that modern food is the only reason we have chronic diseases like diabetes. They argue that if people only ate “real food,” there would be no need for medicine. History proves otherwise.

In the early 1920s, Dr. Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin in Toronto. At the time, children with type 1 diabetes had no future. Families were told to put their kids on starvation diets, hoping to add a few months to their lives. Death was certain.

Then came insulin. Doctors injected it into children already in comas. One by one, they woke up. They sat up, asked for food, and hugged their parents. What had been a hospital ward of silence turned into a place of joy.

Insulin was the fastest-adopted drug in history. Banting became the youngest Nobel Prize winner at the time. That discovery did not come from food. It came from science and medicine.

There are two main types of diabetes.

• Type 1 diabetes happens when the pancreas loses all ability to make insulin. Without insulin, sugar cannot move into cells, and life cannot continue. That is why every person with type 1 diabetes needs insulin from the first day of diagnosis.
• Type 2 diabetes is different. In this case, the body still makes insulin, but the cells resist it. Over time, the pancreas wears out. That is why many people with type 2 eventually need insulin too. It is not failure. It is simply how the disease progresses.

Food can help manage both types, but food alone is never enough.

Beans are one of the best foods for blood sugar. They are full of soluble fiber, which slows down glucose absorption. They also provide plant protein and have a low glycemic index. That means they don’t spike blood sugar the way soda or white bread does.

Research shows that eating beans regularly can lower hemoglobin A1c — the measure of long-term blood sugar — by about 0.3 to 0.5 percent. That is a real effect from food.

Beans are also practical. They are inexpensive, found almost everywhere, and have been eaten by humans longer than almost any other protein source.

Now let’s compare beans to metformin.

Metformin is the first-line drug for type 2 diabetes. It lowers A1c by 1 to 2 percent. That’s two to four times more than beans. Metformin also lowers the risk of heart disease and has decades of safety data behind it.

So while beans help, they are not metformin. If blood sugar is high, no amount of hummus or chili will bring it back to safe levels. Medicine is needed. Food lays the foundation, but medicine does the heavy lifting.

When it comes to diet, the evidence is clear. The Mediterranean diet is the best overall eating plan for diabetes.

This diet includes:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Olive oil
• Nuts
• Legumes (yes, beans!)
• Whole grains

Now, some people push back against whole grains. That may be because they grew up in the low-carb era, when grains were unfairly blamed for every health problem. But whole grains are healthy, especially for people with diabetes. They are far better for the body than bacon or butter.

The Mediterranean diet does more than control blood sugar. It lowers cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, decreases inflammation, and protects the heart. And unlike fad diets, it is sustainable.

Adding beans to meals is easy. Here are a few examples:

• Swap ground beef for black beans in chili
• Add lentils to soups or stews
• Roast chickpeas for a crunchy snack
• Use hummus instead of cheese spread
• Toss peas into pasta, rice, or grain bowls

These small swaps improve blood sugar, lower cholesterol, and keep you full. Combined with the Mediterranean diet, the benefits are even stronger.

Unfortunately, scams are everywhere. Keto and carnivore diets claim to cure diabetes. While they may lower blood sugar in the short term, they raise saturated fat intake. That increases the risk of heart disease, which is the biggest threat to people with diabetes.

And cinnamon? It makes oatmeal taste great, but cinnamon pills do not cure diabetes. The science simply doesn’t support it.

Food matters. Food lowers risk. Food empowers people to take control. But food is not medicine.

Food is food. Medicine is medicine. Together, they save lives.

• Banting F, Best C. Discovery of insulin, 1921–1922.
• American Diabetes Association. Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes.
• Jenkins DJA, Kendall CWC, et al. “Effect of legumes on glycemic control and cardiovascular risk factors.” Arch Intern Med. 2012.
• Estruch R, Ros E, et al. “Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet.” N Engl J Med. 2013.

For more, see my newsletter on Substack where I dig into the science behind food and health.

Heart disease was four times more deadly than it is today. In those days, we had no statins, no stents, and no bypass surgery. Food was the only weapon doctors had.

Pharmacies in Rome and Greece even stocked extra virgin olive oil for patients with “hardening of the arteries.” Doctors sent people to pick up bottles, almost like prescriptions. Olive oil wasn’t curing clogged arteries, but it showed an early recognition that diet mattered.

Then scientists noticed something bigger. In certain Mediterranean villages, people lived longer with far less heart disease. It wasn’t genetic. Relatives who moved to cities and switched to Western diets developed heart disease much earlier.

Researchers didn’t stop there. They followed men in villages across Europe and the Mediterranean for decades. Some communities ate diets heavy in saturated fats. They developed clogged arteries and heart disease quickly. Other communities ate diets rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, nuts, and olive oil. They had much lower rates of heart disease. This pattern became the foundation of what we now call the Mediterranean Diet.

At that time, diet gave us hope. But today, we know that food alone is not enough.

The Lyon Diet Heart Study proved how powerful diet could be. Conducted just as statins came onto the market, it showed that patients with heart attacks who switched to a Mediterranean-style diet had a 70% lower risk of another cardiac event. That meant fewer heart attacks and fewer deaths.

Later, the PREDIMED trial confirmed these results. In high-risk adults, the Mediterranean Diet reduced major cardiovascular events by about 30%. That’s impressive, but it also raises a question: can people sustain it? Adherence usually means sticking with the diet about 70 percent of the time. That’s not perfect.

Here’s a personal example. I have hypercholesterolemia and a strong family history of heart disease. I follow the Mediterranean Diet carefully. But even with strong adherence, my LDL cholesterol never dropped below 180. With two drugs — Zetia and Crestor — my LDL is now in the 40s. Food helps. Medicine saves.

The PESA Heart Study showed why this matters. Researchers in Spain followed adults who felt perfectly healthy. Using advanced imaging, they found more than 60 percent already had plaque in their arteries. Atherosclerosis begins silently, and often decades before symptoms appear.

The JUPITER trial with rosuvastatin (Crestor) proved what medicine can do. Statins reduced cardiovascular events by 44 percent, and the study had to stop early because the benefit was so strong.

And then there’s Dean Ornish. His program is often called the “diet that reverses heart disease.” But it was never just a diet. His patients quit smoking, took statins, took blood pressure medications, and practiced yoga. Ornish proved that lifestyle matters — but it was food and medicine together that made the difference.

Meanwhile, scammers still sell false hope. Barbara O’Neill, banned from giving health advice in Australia, charges thousands for seminars where she claims cayenne pepper “opens arteries.” That’s pure fiction. Cayenne is a spice, not a stent. She also claims cholesterol guidelines only exist to enrich drug companies. Yet my three-month supply of Crestor costs $2.36, while she profits thousands. The real con is clear.

So here’s the truth: salmon is healthy, but it isn’t a stent. Olive oil helps, but it isn’t a statin. Food prevents disease. Medicine treats it. Together, food and medicine are unbeatable.

1. de Lorgeril M, et al. Mediterranean diet, traditional risk factors, and the rate of cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction: final report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study. Circulation. 1999;99(6):779–785. (click here)
2. Estruch R, Ros E, Salas-Salvadó J, Covas MI, Corella D, Arós F, Gómez-Gracia E, Ruiz-Gutiérrez V, Fiol M, Lapetra J, Lamuela-Raventos RM, Serra-Majem L, Pintó X, Basora J, Muñoz MA, Sorlí JV, Martínez JA, Fitó M, Gea A, Hernán MA, Martínez-González MA; PREDIMED Study Investigators. Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet Supplemented with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Nuts. N Engl J Med. 2018 Jun 21;378(25):e34. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1800389. Epub 2018 Jun 13. PMID: 29897866.
3. Fernández-Friera L, et al. Prevalence, vascular distribution, and multiterritorial extent of subclinical atherosclerosis in a middle-aged cohort: the PESA study. Circulation. 2015;131:2104–2115. (click here)
4. Ridker PM, et al. Rosuvastatin to prevent vascular events in men and women with elevated C-reactive protein. N Engl J Med. 2008;359:2195–2207. (click here)
5. Ornish D, et al. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA. 1998;280(23):2001–2007. (click here)
6. Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia. Prohibition order under section 42DV against Barbara O’Neill. 2019. (click here)

People love to believe that food can replace medicine. We talked about this in Episode One, where I explained that Hippocrates never said “let food be thy medicine.” Still, the myth endures.

Food does matter. The right eating pattern can lower blood pressure. One of the best-studied is the DASH Diet—short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It is often called America’s version of the Mediterranean Diet. While the Mediterranean Diet was being mapped out for overall health, the DASH researchers asked a sharper question: what foods can lower blood pressure directly?

Unlike most nutrition studies, the original DASH trial provided all the food to participants. That meant researchers knew exactly what people ate, meal after meal. This is rare and expensive, but it gave them confidence in the results.

The DASH diet emphasizes:

• Fruits and vegetables, especially potassium-rich foods like bananas, beans, and leafy greens
• Whole grains
• Lean proteins, like fish and poultry
• Low-fat dairy
• Less red meat, sweets, and sodium

Because it combined several food groups, DASH worked quickly. Within two weeks, blood pressure dropped.

The results were consistent. People following DASH lowered their systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 8–11 mmHg and their diastolic pressure by 5–6 mmHg. That is about the same as one standard blood pressure pill.

Even more important, DASH showed that sodium reduction matters. Those who cut sodium intake to 1,500–2,300 milligrams per day saw the greatest improvements. This shattered the myth that unlimited salt is safe. Too much sodium raises blood pressure, increases heart disease risk, and fuels strokes.

This is where things get messy. Electrolytes, especially sodium, are necessary during prolonged exercise—typically more than 1–2 hours, in hot weather, or when sweating heavily. Under those conditions, sodium helps prevent hyponatremia, a dangerous drop in blood sodium levels.

However, for most people exercising less than an hour, water is enough. Regular meals will replace lost sodium. Salty drinks or powders aren’t required. In fact, most commercial sports drinks don’t even contain enough sodium to match sweat losses in extreme events.

Here is where the grift appears. Shirtless salesmen on social media love to sell high-priced mango-flavored salt packets as “essential” electrolytes. They promise performance and recovery, but they may actually raise your blood pressure and put you at risk.

Science says otherwise. Electrolyte supplementation should be individualized and used with caution. People at highest risk from unnecessary sodium loading include:

• Those with hypertension, heart failure, or kidney disease
• Women, who are more prone to overhydration and hyponatremia due to smaller body size and lower sweat rates
• Older athletes or those with low body mass
• Recreational athletes who follow outdated advice to “drink as much as possible”

Even ultra-endurance athletes cannot rely on sodium supplements alone. If they drink more than they lose, sodium will not prevent hyponatremia and may make things worse. The best strategy is to drink to thirst and use salty foods or fluids only when truly needed.

How can you follow DASH in real life? Here’s one sample day:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal with berries and a banana
• Snack: A handful of unsalted nuts
• Lunch: Black bean and vegetable salad with vinaigrette
• Dinner: Grilled salmon with leafy greens and brown rice
• Extra: Low-fat yogurt or skim milk

This pattern supplies potassium, magnesium, calcium, and fiber—nutrients that relax blood vessels and lower pressure naturally. Notice what’s missing: salty snacks, processed food, and canned soups.

So what does it all mean? The DASH Diet lowers blood pressure and improves overall health. But it does not replace medication. Blood pressure medicines—ACE inhibitors, ARBs, calcium channel blockers, diuretics—reduce systolic pressure by 20–40 mmHg. That is two or three times more than DASH.

Food helps. Medicine saves. Together, they work best.

Bananas, beans, and leafy greens are wonderful. Electrolyte supplements are rarely needed. Expensive salt powders sold by social media influencers are scams. And the DASH Diet? It’s real, it works, and it shows that food has power—just not enough to replace your beta blocker.

People love to say “food is medicine.” Some even claim Hippocrates himself said it. But here’s the thing: he didn’t. The phrase does not appear in any of his surviving writings. In fact, historians believe the line was created centuries later and then falsely attached to Hippocrates to give it weight.

Still, the idea persists. Even the current head of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has repeated the myth. And when RFK Jr. is your fact-checker, you know you’re in trouble.

Now, as someone certified in Culinary Medicine, I believe food is incredibly powerful. Eating the right foods can prevent disease, improve health, and help you live longer. However, food alone rarely works as well as actual medicine. That is especially true when it comes to cholesterol.

In the early 2000s, Dr. David Jenkins and his team introduced what they called the Portfolio Diet. Instead of focusing on one “superfood,” the diet combines several cholesterol-lowering foods:

• Soy protein
• Nuts, like almonds
• Viscous fibers from oats, barley, or psyllium
• Plant sterols from fortified foods

Each one has a small effect. But when you put them together, the benefits add up.

Why does it work? Cholesterol gets secreted by your liver into bile, then travels into your gut. Normally, most of that cholesterol is reabsorbed into your bloodstream. But fiber and plant sterols bind to cholesterol and drag it out of your body. That’s why bowel movements are brown—bile is brown, and fiber helps carry it out. More fiber means you feed your gut bacteria and flush away cholesterol. It really is a win-win.

The Portfolio Diet has been tested in multiple clinical trials. In one JAMA study, people who followed the diet lowered their LDL cholesterol by about 13 to 14 percent over six months. That translated to a drop of about 24–26 mg/dL.

Other studies show that people who stick with it can lower their LDL by 17 percent on average. Some who were especially diligent saw drops of more than 20 percent at one year. The Portfolio Diet also improves non-HDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and long-term risk for heart disease.

So yes—it works. In fact, the effect is similar to what you get from early statins like lovastatin.

The science sounds great. But how do you actually eat this way? Here’s one example day:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal made with soy milk
• Snack: A handful of almonds (about 25–30 grams)
• Lunch: Lentil soup with whole-grain bread
• Dinner: Tofu stir-fry with vegetables and barley
• Extra: Two grams of plant sterols, often from fortified margarine spreads

That daily pattern gives you soy protein, fiber, nuts, and plant sterols. But here’s the challenge: it takes careful planning to hit the right doses every day. It’s not impossible—but it is hard to sustain.

Many people confuse the Portfolio Diet with the Mediterranean Diet. Both are plant-forward, emphasize nuts, legumes, whole grains, and lower cardiovascular risk. However, the Mediterranean Diet is broader and easier to follow. It includes olive oil, fish, fruits, vegetables, and even moderate wine.

The Portfolio Diet, on the other hand, is very prescriptive. You must hit specific amounts of soy protein, fiber, and sterols daily. Think of the Mediterranean Diet as the entire restaurant, while the Portfolio Diet is just one corner of the menu—focused squarely on cholesterol.

Statins are still the gold standard. Modern statins like atorvastatin or rosuvastatin lower LDL cholesterol by 30 to 50 percent, far more than diet alone. More importantly, they reduce heart attacks and strokes by 25 to 40 percent.

And there’s more. When you combine a statin with Zetia (ezetimibe), which blocks cholesterol absorption in the gut, you can see another 20 percent reduction in LDL. That’s essentially the pharmaceutical version of the Portfolio Diet. Together, statins plus Zetia can lower LDL cholesterol by 65 to 70 percent.

The Portfolio Diet lowers cholesterol. The Mediterranean Diet improves heart health. Both are excellent for prevention and long-term wellness. But when your cholesterol is high or your risk is significant, medicine is usually necessary.

The best approach is not “food or medicine.” It’s food and medicine. Eat Mediterranean, fold in Portfolio Diet elements, and—if your doctor recommends it—add a statin or Zetia.

Because food lays the foundation. Medicine builds the house. And together, they keep the roof from caving in.

REFS

1. Portfolio Dietary Pattern and Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Trials.

Chiavaroli L, Nishi SK, Khan TA, et al.

Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. 2018 May - Jun;61(1):43-53. doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2018.05.004.

2. Effect of a Dietary Portfolio of Cholesterol-Lowering Foods Given at 2 Levels of Intensity of Dietary Advice on Serum Lipids in Hyperlipidemia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Jenkins DJ, Jones PJ, Lamarche B, et al.

JAMA. 2011;306(8):831-9. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1202.

3. Relationship Between a Plant-Based Dietary Portfolio and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Findings From the Women's Health Initiative Prospective Cohort Study.

Glenn AJ, Lo K, Jenkins DJA, et al.Journal of the American Heart Association. 2021;10(16):e021515. doi:10.1161/JAHA.121.021515.

4. Portfolio Diet Score and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Findings From 3 Prospective Cohort Studies.

Glenn AJ, Guasch-Ferré M, Malik VS, et al.Circulation. 2023;148(22):1750-1763. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.065551.

5. The Portfolio Dietary Pattern and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Mortality During 1988-2019 in US Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Kavanagh ME, Zurbau A, Glenn AJ, et al.

BMC Medicine. 2025;23(1):287. doi:10.1186/s12916-025-04067-1.

Milk has always been central to survival. When mothers died in childbirth—and this happened often before modern medicine—infants survived only if they had access to another nursing mother or wet nurse. When that wasn’t possible, families sometimes turned to the milk of other mammals.

That discovery helped keep our species alive. However, milk’s role in human survival carried a hidden danger. While milk nourished infants, it also became a deadly carrier of disease.

During the 1800s, raw milk was anything but safe. In New York City, dairies kept cows next to distilleries, feeding them whiskey mash. The resulting milk was bluish and watery. To disguise it, producers added chalk and plaster. Parents unknowingly gave this milk to children. According to estimates, 8,000 infants die a year from contaminated milk in New York alone.

Milk also spreads tuberculosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid. A simple glass of raw milk could kill.

The turning point came with Louis Pasteur, a French chemist who proved microbes spoiled wine and beer. He developed the process of pasteurization: heating a liquid enough to kill pathogens without ruining flavor.

His discovery revolutionized public health. Pasteur’s germ theory of disease proved that invisible microbes caused illness. Applied to milk, this meant heating could save lives. Pasteur’s work inspired sterilization in surgery, the discovery of TB bacteria, and eventually vaccines.

In the U.S., pediatrician Abraham Jacobi urged families to boil milk by the 1870s. Philanthropist Nathan Straus built pasteurized milk stations across New York. Mortality rates for children who drank Straus’s milk dropped by nearly 50%.

Pasteurization was not flashy, but transformative. Alongside clean water and vaccines, it became one of the greatest advances in human health.

Indigenous children in Canada’s residential schools were forced to drink raw milk from cows raised on pasture. The cows looked healthy, but many carried bovine tuberculosis. Children sickened and died. In some schools, mortality reached 30–60% in just five years. Hundreds of unmarked graves discovered in recent decades reveal the human toll.

Even the cleanest farm or happiest cow can carry pathogens. You cannot see tuberculosis or E. coli in a glass of milk. Pasteurization is the only safeguard.

Despite history, raw milk has returned as a “wellness” trend. Politicians like RFK Jr. have promoted it, even doing raw milk “shots” with influencer Paul Saladino in the White House.

But nostalgia doesn’t erase microbiology. Just weeks later, Florida saw 21 people sickened—including six children—by E. coli and Campylobacter from raw milk. Seven were hospitalized. Two developed life-threatening complications.

If someone claims to support children, selling raw milk undermines that promise.

Myth: Raw milk has more nutrients.

Fact: Pasteurization causes <10% vitamin loss. Proteins, calcium, and fats remain intact.

Myth: Raw milk prevents asthma.

Fact: Studies show lower allergy rates in farm kids, but due to the farm environment, not the milk.

Myth: A clean farm means safe milk.

Fact: Even pristine dairies can harbor invisible pathogens like TB, Salmonella, or Listeria.

Myth: Pasteurization “ruins” milk.

Fact: Pasteurized milk is nutritionally the same, only safer.

Pasteurization doesn’t stop with milk. Unpasteurized cheeses can carry Listeria, posing risks especially for pregnant women. Apple cider was once a source of E. coli outbreaks. After the FDA required pasteurization in the 1990s, those outbreaks plummeted.

Heat treatment is one of the most powerful—and overlooked—public health tools.

In 1900, infant mortality in Montreal was 27%. New York saw similar rates. Today, it’s less than 1%. That dramatic drop came from sanitation, vaccines, and pasteurization—not from supplements or nostalgic diets.

So when someone says, “My grandfather drank raw milk his whole life and lived to 90,” the answer is simple. Visit the family graveyard. See how many of his siblings never made it out of childhood. That’s survival bias. Influencers profit from it. And in Saladino’s case, you wonder if he slept through microbiology class in the medical school where I once taught.

Milk is life-giving, but unpasteurized milk has been deadly. Pasteur’s germ theory, Jacobi’s advocacy, Straus’s milk stations, and modern safety laws turned milk into a food we can trust.

Pasteurization doesn’t diminish milk. It preserves life.

• CDC – Raw Milk Outbreaks
• CIDRAP – Florida Outbreak, 2024
• ScienceDirect – Pasteurization & Infant Mortality
• Time Magazine – Raw Milk Safety
• Our World in Data – Child Mortality

Protein powders are everywhere. Walk into a gym, scroll through social media, or visit a health food store, and you’ll see tubs of whey, egg, pea, and soy protein. Add buzzwords like “isolate,” “hydrolysate,” and “grass-fed,” and suddenly these powders sound like liquid gold. But how much of this is science—and how much is hype?

Surgeons were among the first to use modular proteins. In the ICU, when patients couldn’t eat, we relied on early protein formulas. These weren’t the big plastic tubs you see at Costco. They were custom-made, extremely expensive, and delivered directly into the gut through a feeding tube. Proteins like albumin cost thousands of dollars and were carefully monitored.

Over time, science moved forward. Modern protein powders have become more affordable and accessible. What once cost hospitals a fortune is now sold in shiny containers at gyms and supplement shops. That’s progress—although it also opened the door for plenty of marketing nonsense.

The very first protein powders sold to the public in the 1950s were made from eggs. Hollywood stars promoted them as the secret to beauty and muscle. Soon, the “beautiful people” diet drifted into gyms, where bodybuilders grabbed onto the promise of sculpted muscles. Eventually, protein shakes became a middle-America trend.

Today, gyms often make more profit selling supplements than memberships or training. That’s not nutrition—it’s salesmanship.

Remember the nursery rhyme about “curds and whey”? That wasn’t just poetry. Cheese making separates milk into two parts: the solid curds and the liquid whey. For centuries, whey was a waste product. Farmers dumped it or fed it to pigs. Then researchers discovered that whey contained high-quality protein, packed with amino acids.

Now, whey protein is the biggest player in the supplement industry. Isolates and hydrolysates are simply forms of whey with more processing. They’re not magic—they’re filtered versions of what used to be discarded.

Cows aren’t the only animals providing milk protein. Goats produce protein powders, too, often marketed as “easier to digest.” Then there’s pea protein, soy protein, and rice protein, sold to vegans and those with dairy allergies. These plant-based versions can be useful, but they aren’t inherently superior.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are another popular product. They sound impressive, but in reality, if you’re eating enough protein in your diet, you already have plenty of BCAAs. Extra scoops don’t turn into extra muscle.

Here’s the irony. While influencers push powders as miracle muscle builders, surgeons actually prescribe them for medical reasons. After weight-loss surgery, patients can’t eat large amounts of food, so modular proteins help meet nutritional needs. In ICU patients with short gut syndrome or severe illness, protein powders save lives.

Doctors used them first—long before gyms turned them into cash cows. The difference? We used them based on data, not marketing hype.

Protein powders are tools, not miracles. They’re convenient, portable, and sometimes necessary. But they’re not a shortcut to health. If you eat enough protein from whole foods, you probably don’t need that expensive tub with the shiny label.

The supplement industry thrives on hype. Science thrives on evidence. And if history has shown us anything, it’s that evidence always wins—eventually.

1. Boirie Y, Dangin M, Gachon P, Vasson M-P, Maubois J-L, Beaufrère B. Slow and fast dietary proteins differently modulate postprandial protein accretion. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1997;94(26):14930–14935.
2. Phillips SM, van Loon LJC. Dietary protein for athletes: From requirements to optimum adaptation. J Sports Sci. 2011;29(S1):S29–S38.
3. Hoffman JR, Falvo MJ. Protein – which is best? J Sports Sci Med. 2004;3(3):118–130.
4. Wolfe RR. Branched-chain amino acids and muscle protein synthesis in humans: myth or reality? J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:30.
5. Klek S. Modular enteral nutrition in critically ill patients. Nutrients. 2011;3(2):183–199.

Mark Hyman loves a soundbite. One of his favorites is:

It sounds inspiring. Unfortunately, it isn’t true.

I’m certified in culinary medicine, and I live the Mediterranean diet. Good nutrition matters. It lowers risk. It supports treatment. However, it cannot replace medicine for people with established disease.

The DASH trial (Sacks et al., NEJM 2001) proved that eating more fruits and vegetables while cutting sodium lowers blood pressure by the same amount as one blood pressure pill. That’s great news for prevention. But for those with heart disease, diabetes, or kidney problems, nutrition alone can’t cure the condition.

Before the year 1800, even if you survived childhood, your life expectancy was still in your 30s or 40s (Roser et al., Our World in Data). People then ate “organically,” free from dyes and microplastics. They also died young. Modern life expectancy came from clean water, vaccines, and medicine, not kale.

Samoa in 2019 had a diet Instagram influencers dream about — fresh fish, fruit, and root vegetables. Then measles hit.

Two infants had died in 2017 because nurses mixed the MMR vaccine incorrectly. The government suspended vaccinations for nearly a year, and coverage dropped to about 31%. Into that trust gap stepped anti-vaccine activists, including RFK Jr., spreading misinformation.

By late 2019, Samoa had over 5,700 cases and 83 deaths — most in children under five — in a population of just 200,000. Schools closed. Public gatherings stopped. Unvaccinated homes had to hang red flags so mobile teams could find them. Only when vaccination resumed did the outbreak end (WHO, 2019).

Tahiti’s story was similar. Beautiful diet. Fresh food. Yet measles still spread. The only thing that stopped it was vaccination, not nutrition.

 Mark Hyman is trained in family medicine. He co-directed Canyon Ranch’s health program, then founded the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine — a role he no longer holds.

His version of “functional medicine” isn’t recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Chiropractors, dentists, and nurses can buy a certification and call themselves “doctor.” In California, only MDs and DOs can legally use the title “physician,” but in many states, the public gets fooled.

Hyman now uses his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign to give his brand of pseudoscience legitimacy. My Crestor costs $2.36 for three months, and my doctor gets nothing for prescribing it. His supplements? Around $100 for the same time, straight into his pocket.

The Lyon Diet Heart Study (de Lorgeril et al., Circulation 1999) found that a Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of another heart attack by 72% in people who already had heart disease. But those patients were still taking statins, aspirin, and blood pressure meds. Diet complemented medicine; it didn’t replace it.

The JUPITER trial (Ridker et al., NEJM 2008) showed that statins cut cardiovascular events by 44% in people with normal LDL but high CRP. No supplement stack or smoothie matches that.

My dad had a heart attack at 55. Doctors told him not to expect another 20 years.

Five years later, statins came out. He took them faithfully, along with his blood pressure medicine. He lived to 98 — independent, writing a memoir, and outliving his doctors. He ate reasonably well, but he always had a candy bowl nearby and drank plenty of coffee. Science kept him alive, not “perfect” eating.

Nutrition is essential. Medicine is essential. The best results come when we combine them — evidence-based and free from supplement hype.

When you hear Hyman claim that doctors just need nutrition training to prevent 90% of disease, remember Samoa. Remember Tahiti. And remember my dad.

References

1. Sacks FM et al. Effects on Blood Pressure of Reduced Dietary Sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet. N Engl J Med. 2001;344:3–10.
2. de Lorgeril M et al. Mediterranean Diet, Traditional Risk Factors, and the Rate of Cardiovascular Complications After Myocardial Infarction. Circulation. 1999;99(6):779–785.
3. Ridker PM et al. Rosuvastatin to Prevent Vascular Events in Men and Women with Elevated C-Reactive Protein. N Engl J Med. 2008;359:2195–2207.
4. Roser M et al. Life Expectancy. Our World in Data. Accessed August 2025.
5. World Health Organization. WHO and UNICEF join Samoa vaccination campaign. December 6, 2019.

For more than a century, people have searched for quick fixes to “cleanse” the liver. From old‑time laxatives to today’s wellness shots and hangover probiotics, the promise is the same: remove toxins, feel better, live longer. However, as science catches up with marketing claims, we learn a hard truth — most of these cleanses never did what they promised.

Back in the 1800s, doctors blamed nearly every health problem on a “sluggish liver.” Headaches, fatigue, irritability — even bad moods — were supposedly signs that the liver wasn’t “lively” enough.

Enter Carter’s Little Liver Pills. These small tablets promised to fix “biliousness,” an old term for feeling miserable and out of sorts. The secret ingredient? Cascara sagrada, a plant‑based laxative. In short, the pills made people poop, and that temporary relief was sold as detoxification.

Carter’s advertising strategy worked brilliantly. Their message was simple: if you feel bad, it’s your liver’s fault — and their pills were the cure. The campaign was so successful that the phrase “more than Carter’s got pills” became American slang for “an absurd amount of something.”

Sadly, that formula still works today. Many modern health products use the same playbook: invent a vague condition, blame it for everything, then sell the cure.

Fast‑forward to today and you’ll see similar claims everywhere. Dose for Your Liver, a wellness shot with milk thistle and turmeric, promises to “cleanse” the liver and support “500 daily functions.” While it cites studies showing reduced liver enzymes, those studies involved people who already had liver problems — not the average healthy person grabbing a detox shot after brunch.

ZBiotics Pre‑Alcohol markets itself as a probiotic that breaks down acetaldehyde, a compound linked to hangovers. The truth is more complicated. Your liver clears almost all acetaldehyde on its own, while your gut bacteria handle less than five percent. Most hangover symptoms actually come from alcohol itself, dehydration, and inflammation — not a single molecule.

Perhaps the most dramatic claim is the “liver flush” made from olive oil and lemon juice. Supporters insist that the green balls they pass in the toilet are gallstones. However, chemical tests show these “stones” are actually soap‑like clumps created when oil mixes with digestive fluids. Real gallstones are hard and form in the gallbladder; they do not dissolve overnight or pass easily. Even people without gallbladders “flush stones,” which proves the myth.

The good news? You don’t need a cleanse. Your liver already detoxes naturally — 24 hours a day. Instead of chasing fads, focus on habits proven to protect it:

• Drink coffee (up to three cups daily): Linked to lower risk of fatty liver and cirrhosis.
• Eat polyphenol-rich foods like blueberries: These support liver health through antioxidants.
• Get fiber from beans, greens, and whole grains: Good for the gut‑liver connection.
• Exercise regularly: Even 150 minutes a week can reduce liver fat.
• Limit alcohol: No supplement erases binge drinking.
• Stay up to date on vaccines: Hepatitis A and B vaccines prevent major liver diseases.

By the 1950s, science caught up to marketing. Constipation wasn’t liver failure, and the liver didn’t need “lively” pills. In 1959, the Federal Trade Commission forced Carter’s to drop the word “liver” from its name. Without that claim, sales collapsed.

Despite Carter’s disappearance, the marketing tactics remain. Whether it’s a probiotic, a turmeric shot, or a trendy flush, the pitch is the same: you’re toxic, we have the cure. The reality? The cure was never needed.

Health trends may change, but the hustle stays the same. Instead of falling for the next detox craze, choose evidence‑based habits — and remember that if something promises instant cleansing, it’s probably selling you something you don’t need.

• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – Coffee and Liver Health (click here) 
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases – Gallstones
• American Liver Foundation – Myths and Facts About Liver Health
• National Library of Medicine – Milk Thistle in Liver Disease
• Federal Trade Commission Archives – Carter’s Little Liver Pills Case (1959)

(How Edinburgh dragged American medicine out of the Wild West)

 When we think about modern surgery, it’s easy to imagine it has always been clean, safe, and scientific. However, that could not be further from the truth. Surgery was more like a horror show just over 150 years ago. Patients faced unbearable pain, filthy instruments, and shocking guesswork.

Today, we’ll explore how the Scottish city of Edinburgh transformed surgery — and how America, for far too long, ignored the science in favor of quick fixes and fast profits. Along the way, we’ll meet heroes like James Young Simpson and Joseph Lister, as well as villains like John R. Brinkley and Willard Bliss. We’ll also see why modern “wellness influencers” aren’t so different from the quacks of the past.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Edinburgh was the world’s medical capital. Students from across Europe and the American colonies traveled there to study anatomy, surgery, and the latest medical theories.

Because of this, early American physicians like Benjamin Rush and John Morgan brought Edinburgh’s teachings home, helping to found the first U.S. medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. Harvard soon followed with a similar model.

However, while a few elite schools adopted Scottish standards, most of America remained a medical free-for-all. Outside major cities, anyone could call themselves a doctor, and “miracle cures” were everywhere. This was the true “Wild West” of medicine — long before the cowboy era we usually imagine.

Next, let’s fast-forward to the mid-1800s. At this time, one of the greatest problems in surgery was pain. Without anesthesia, operations had to be done quickly, often in less than a minute, and the suffering was unbearable.

That changed in 1846, when ether anesthesia was first used in Boston. News of ether’s success quickly crossed the Atlantic. By the time the next ship arrived in Edinburgh, surgeons were already experimenting with it — and looking for something even better.

Enter James Young Simpson, an obstetrician and, yes, one of my relatives. In 1847, Simpson discovered that chloroform worked better than ether and was easier to use. His famous breakthrough happened during a dinner party experiment, where he and his friends inhaled chloroform, passed out, and woke up amazed. Surgery would never be the same again.

Solving pain was one thing, but there was another huge problem: infection. After surgery, most patients didn’t die from the knife — they died from the germs they couldn’t see.

This is where Joseph Lister changed history. Influenced by Louis Pasteur’s germ theory, Lister realized that microorganisms caused infection. He began using carbolic acid to clean wounds and sterilize instruments. While some of his colleagues mocked him, the results spoke for themselves: surgical death rates plummeted.

Lister’s work eventually led to asepsis, the sterile environments we now take for granted in operating rooms.

Unfortunately, the United States was slow to adopt these life-saving ideas. A tragic example is the death of President James Garfield in 1881. After being shot, Garfield’s wound was not fatal. He should have survived.

However, his doctor, Willard Bliss, refused to believe in germ theory or antiseptic techniques. Bliss and several others repeatedly probed Garfield’s wound with unwashed hands and unsterilized instruments. For seventy-nine days, the president suffered — not from the bullet, but from a massive infection. Bliss then billed the government $25,000 for his “services,” which would be roughly $750,000 today.

Even after American medicine improved — especially after the 1910 Flexner Report, which shut down low-quality medical schools — quackery never fully disappeared. It simply evolved.

In the 1920s and ’30s, John R. Brinkley became famous for implanting goat testicles into men as a cure for impotence. He used radio to market his “miracle” to millions, proving that loud marketing could still beat good science.

Sound familiar? Today’s hucksters may not use goat glands, but they use similar tactics. Some sell expensive stool tests and invent conditions like “leaky gut” to push costly supplements. Others, like the carnivore diet influencers, ignore decades of data on the Mediterranean diet and claim you should eat nothing but steak. They dismiss the science on cholesterol, flaunt their abs, offer life coaching, and sell overpriced “special salt” — even though salt is salt, and plain Pedialyte has been used safely in millions of rehydrations.

People sometimes wonder: If these charismatic figures turned their energy toward research, could they make real progress? The answer is no.

First, most lack the deep scientific training needed to do real work. Second, those who do have training have deliberately left the hard road of science — the years of study, failed experiments, and peer review — for the fast money of “miracle cures.” Their goal isn’t discovery; it’s sales.

Walking through Edinburgh’s Surgeons’ Hall Museum, you see both sides of medical history: the breakthroughs and the blunders, the heroes and the hucksters. It reminds us that progress is fragile and must be defended against those who prefer profit over evidence.

Edinburgh gave the world anesthesia and antisepsis. It gave us the model of evidence-based medicine. And while America eventually followed, the fight against quackery continues — from goat glands to $70 detox supplements.

And in some cases… it actually helped. Well, if you consider madness what happens if you get a stroke from too much pressure in your brain from trauma

That’s the wild part.

While visiting the Surgeons’ Hall Museum in Edinburgh, I saw ancient skulls with round holes cut into them—evidence of trepanation, one of the world’s oldest surgeries. Even more shocking? Many of those patients survived. Some healed so well that they lived for years.

But let’s back up.

It’s the act of scraping or drilling a hole in your skull. Ancient people did it across continents—from South America to Europe.

We don’t know exactly why. Some may have used it to relieve pressure after a head injury. Others might have believed it released evil spirits.

Here’s the thing: it sometimes worked.

Today, we know that pressure in the brain—from a bleed, swelling, or injury—can be deadly. Modern medicine sometimes calls for drilling a hole or even removing part of the skull to save a patient’s life.

The ancients may have stumbled onto something real. Or they may have been guessing.

That’s the danger when we mix luck with ritual. If one patient improves, people assume the treatment works—even if there’s no science behind it.

Jump ahead to the 1900s.

Dr. Henry Cotton believed mental illness came from hidden infections in the body. So what did he do? He had his surgeons remove teeth, tonsils, stomachs, and colons—even when patients showed no symptoms.

Many died. Most didn’t improve.

Still, Cotton was praised in journals and trusted by major institutions. His confidence overshadowed the lack of results.

It’s a painful reminder that being sure of yourself doesn’t make you right. Sounds like modern-day influencers - confidence beyond erudition.

Right now, people are terrified of dementia. That fear fuels a massive market for brain supplements. One of the biggest sellers? Lion’s Mane mushrooms.

They’re in powders, coffees, and pricey pills. Some lab research suggests benefits, but actual human studies? Weak at best.

Meanwhile, studies show that eating a Mediterranean or MIND-style diet can reduce your risk of dementia by up to 50%. But those diets don’t come in fancy bottles.

Instead of focusing on real food, we chase the next shiny pill.

PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma. Some orthopedic surgeons spin down your blood, pull out platelets, and inject it back into sore joints. They claim it speeds healing.

The truth? There’s little evidence that PRP works for most uses. But it’s expensive. And because it sounds high-tech, people trust it.

The orthopedic surgeon gets the thousands of dollars for it because insurance won't cover it. They won't cover it because it isn't a researched treatment. But if your surgeon says here take this and you will recover faster - what to do?

I should know—I co-authored one of the first papers on PRP for diabetic wounds, where it actually showed benefit.

But that’s a far cry from injecting it into tennis elbows for cash.

We’ve upgraded the tools. Not always the thinking.

When I look around this museum, the lesson is clear:

We’ve always wanted to help. But good intentions without good science can hurt people.

Real medical progress comes from questioning our own assumptions. It comes from saying, “Let’s study this,” instead of, “Let’s just try it.” Whether it’s trepanning or turmeric, we need to ask:

Does this really work—or are we just hoping it does?

• Barnes LL, Dhana K, Liu X, Carey VJ, Ventrelle J, Johnson K, Hollings CS, Bishop L, Laranjo N, Stubbs BJ, Reilly X, Agarwal P, Zhang S, Grodstein F, Tangney CC, Holland TM, Aggarwal NT, Arfanakis K, Morris MC, Sacks FM. Trial of the MIND Diet for Prevention of Cognitive Decline in Older Persons. N Engl J Med. 2023 Aug 17;389(7):602-611. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2302368. Epub 2023 Jul 18. PMID: 37466280; PMCID: PMC10513737. (click here for reference)
• Seitz, D. et al. (2022). “MIND Diet and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease.” Nutritional Neuroscience.
• Simpson, T. (1991). “Platelet-derived Growth Factor and Wound Healing.” Journal of Diabetic Complications.

Want to avoid brain fads? Start with whole foods, good sleep, and honest science. The hole in your head should stay in your museum tour, not in your health plan.