In this episode, our guest is a dermatologist who wants us to consider sunlight’s health benefits. That is a minority opinion among dermatologists. Dr. Richard Weller tells us why vitamin D is overrated and not the most important aspect of sun exposure.

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on Sept. 1, 2025.

Dermatologists generally advise us to stay out of the sun as much as possible. After all, excessive sun exposure causes skin aging and skin cancer, conditions for which people frequently consult them. However, even if we could all live inside, wear protective clothing and high SPF sunscreen whenever we ventured out, would that be wise?

According to our guest, Dr. Richard Weller, and his colleagues, “insufficient sun exposure has become a real public health problem” (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, July 13, 2020). While this problem is more acute in Europe than the US, they still estimate that more than 300,000 Americans die each year due to inadequate sun on their skin. What is going on?

For decades, we have heard that the principal effect of sunlight on skin is the production of vitamin D. Therefore, the dermatologists have concluded, rather than take the risk of exposing skin to sunshine, why not just swallow vitamin D supplements?

The problem with that proposal is that it hasn’t worked very well. Many studies show that people with low levels of circulating vitamin D are more vulnerable to high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, heart disease, diabetes and infections, among other problems.

However, people who take vitamin D supplements don’t always get the expected benefits.  Perhaps vitamin D is a marker for sun exposure rather than the most important outcome.

Humans evolved in Africa, where dark skin is an advantage, offering protection from the most harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. By about 60,000 years ago, people were migrating to other parts of the world. Yet analyses suggest that although they arrived in Europe by about 40,000 years ago, genes for pale skin didn’t become common until less than 10,000 years ago.

Anthropologists have hypothesized that pale skin is an adaptation to inadequate sunlight in northern regions. Because vitamin D is a well-recognized consequence of sunlight on skin, they have assumed that was the driver. Dr. Weller suggests that nitric oxide was (and still is) more important. He notes that the evolution of pale skin happens around the same time that people begin to cluster together in farming communities, where they are more likely to be exposed to infectious diseases.

In 1996, Dr. Weller was the first scientist to find that human skin creates a compound called nitric oxide (NO) under sunlight. This compound is then absorbed into the skin, where it helps relax blood vessels and lower blood pressure. Here is a link to his TED talk on the topic.

This is where Dr. Weller’s approach differs from that of more conventional dermatologists. With proper caveats that the US is at much lower latitudes, in general, than most of Europe, he proposes that more sunlight, not less, could lower mortality rates. (Lower latitudes get more sunshine.) His analysis was just published in the prestigious Journal of Investigative Dermatology (August 2024).

The data underpinning this claim are from an analysis of the UK Biobank, a remarkable treasure trove of information. Dr. Weller and his colleagues have found that in the UK, people who get more sunlight are less likely to die within a specified time frame. We call that lower all-cause mortality.

You can read the research report here (Health & Place, Sept. 2024).  It was discussed in this article in The Economist (Aug. 12, 2024).

Richard Weller, MD, FRCP(Ed), is Professor of Medical Dermatology at the University of Edinburgh. He holds the Personal Chair of Medical Dermatology in the Deanery of Clinical Sciences.  He is also Honorary Consultant Dermatologist at NHS Lothian and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Inflammation Research.

Dr. Weller serves as Programme Director for the M Med Sci at the University of Edinburgh and is President of the Scottish Dermatology Society. He is the Clinical Lead for the Dermatology Speciality Group at NHS Research Scotland, the Global Health Academy and Edinburgh Imaging.

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, after broadcast on Aug. 30. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free.

Dr. Weller kindly shared links to some research by his colleagues that he mentioned during the show.

Here is an article by Joel Gelfland showing the benefits of home phototherapy for psoriasis.

This article by Adewole Adamson presents evidence that dark skin is not susceptible to UV-induced melanoma.

Download the mp3 of the show, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

A randomized controlled trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed what some cancer specialists have long hoped: physical activity can prolong cancer patients’ lives. Last week, we heard from the senior author of that study, medical oncologist Christopher Booth. In this episode, we hear from an exercise physiologist who has been helping cancer patients with exercise prescriptions. The goal was for them to feel better. Many also lived longer.

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on Aug. 25, 2025

We start our conversation with exercise physiologist Claudio Battaglini, PhD, by asking about his career trajectory. How did he go from playing soccer in Brazil to studying how to coach Olympic-level athletes to providing exercise prescriptions tailored to cancer patients’ unique needs? You will want to hear his story.

Dr. Battaglini describes how he initially resisted working with young cancer patients. How did that experience affect him? He eventually ended up setting up the cancer gym at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehabilitation Institute at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC for those in Greeley). After earning his doctoral degree there, he began teaching and research at a different UNC (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). He established the Get REAL & HEEL Breast Cancer Rehabilitation Program and credits the breast cancer patients for pointing out the benefits of group exercise training. In addition to positive physiological effects, participants experience emotional support. This also helps motivate patients to continue their physical activity consistently.

Let’s face it: most of us could benefit from exercise prescriptions. But would we follow through? It turns out that personal relationships are hugely important in helping to motivate people to show up. That could be with their personal trainer who is expecting them for their appointment. It could also be one or more friends counting on them to participate in the activity. If others are holding you accountable, you are far more likely to get with the program.

Another important factor is matching the right kind of exercise to each patient. Most people are motivated to do what they enjoy. Do you love pickleball or swimming? Dancing or hikes in the woods? If the recommendation is right, staying motivated is far less of a problem.

Decades ago, physical education classes were mandatory in public schools. In recent years, some school boards have been tempted to drop them as too expensive. (North Carolina and some other states have statewide policies requiring all students in grades K-8 to have the opportunity of 30 minutes of exercise daily.) How important is it to encourage youngsters to be physically active? Do they need exercise prescriptions?

For those of us writing our own exercise prescriptions, we discussed the pros and cons of counting steps. Where can you find exercise programs suited to you? The YMCA might be one place to start. Dr. Battaglini also mentioned online resources and qualities to look for in a personal trainer. Above all, whatever you choose to do should feel like fun.

Claudio L. Battaglini, PhD, FACSM, is a Professor of Exercise Physiology and the Director of the Graduate Exercise Physiology Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is Co-Director of the Exercise Oncology Laboratory in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Battaglini is also a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, August 25, 2025, after broadcast on August 23. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free, or you can find it on your favorite platform. In the podcast for this episode, you’ll find information about walking speed and how much it matters. We also discuss swimming or cycling as ways to protect your joints if walking is difficult. Does cross-training become more important as you grow older? What kinds of activities can slow osteoporosis? Be sure to tune in if you are interested in the importance of family and friends supporting our exercise goals.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Physical activity, aka “exercise,” is a cornerstone of good health, just like adequate sleep and a balanced diet. No one questions the benefits for people who are already healthy. But doctors may assume that cancer patients are too debilitated and demoralized to exercise. They may think physical activity wouldn’t be much help to patients who have just suffered through radiation or chemotherapy. Such assumptions are wrong and could be harmful, as a recent study shows. In actuality, structured exercise can help cancer patients survive and even thrive.

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link  so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on Aug. 18, 2025.

An exciting study published in The New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that a personalized exercise program can be an important component of the treatment for colorectal cancer (New England Journal of Medicine, July 3, 2025).  We spoke with the senior author, Dr. Christopher Booth, who explained that originally he and his colleagues wondered if exercise can help cancer patients feel less fatigued while undergoing chemo. Then they decided to design a trial that would go much further. They intended to answer two questions: can cancer patients exercise during treatment? And does that improve their likelihood of survival?

The study, known as the CHALLENGE trial, hit a home run. The investigators recruited 889 people who had just had surgery and chemotherapy for their colorectal cancer. They randomly assigned half of them to get a health education booklet urging them to eat right and stay active. The other half got the booklet (usual care) PLUS a personalized exercise prescription designed to increase the amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity people did over the week.

The exercise prescriptions were devised by personal trainers who met with the “intervention” patients every two weeks for a year. Half of the meeting was devoted to motivational coaching and the other half to moving. Patients loved it. Increasing their fitness also improved their quality of life.

In addition, patients in the exercise intervention group had better immune function and lower inflammation and less insulin-like growth factor, which can contribute to tumor expansion. Both men and women participated in this trial. During the follow-up period, women who were active were less likely to develop breast cancer than those in the control group. Similarly, men in the intervention group had a lower chance of a prostate cancer diagnosis. The most exciting part of the story, however, is about their colorectal cancer treatment.

Not only did patients in the physically active group have longer overall survival, they also had longer disease-free survival. Remember, these two groups have the same type of cancer and got the same kind of treatment, except for the exercise prescription. The overall 8-year survival was 90.3% in the exercise group and 83.2% in the health education control group. That means the exercisers lowered their chance of dying during those eight years by 37%. The Number Needed to Treat (NNT) was 14 exercisers to prevent one death. That is a remarkable statistic.

If you’ve ever started an exercise program only to drop it a few weeks later, you are not alone. Keeping ourselves motivated to stay active isn’t always easy unless you really love what you are doing. (Joe needs no extra motivation to show up for tennis.) Consequently, it is impressive that a very high proportion of the cancer patients in the CHALLENGE trial kept exercising. Part of that perseverance might be due to the motivational coaching.

No doubt another big part was the relationship with the personal trainer. Meeting with a person every two weeks for a year can help build friendships and creates a relationship in which accountability is a factor. After the first year, patients and trainers met every month for the next two years. Being able to increase physical activity was empowering for patients, giving them a sense of control that can otherwise be missing in a cancer patient’s life.

The exercise prescriptions were personalized, so people undertook a wide range of activities. Jogging and walking were popular, but some people swam, and others kayaked. There were patients who bicycled, and possibly some who rode horses. (Dr. Booth does not mention that.) The point was to find an activity you love and stick with it religiously, which they did. The most popular activity by far was also the simplest: walking. The idea was to walk at a pace so you looked like you were late for a meeting.

One of the most exciting aspects of the CHALLENGE trial was to see that people responded to coaching. Personalized exercise prescriptions with accountability could be instituted into many cancer treatment programs. After all, if insurance pays for cardiac rehab, why shouldn’t it pay for cancer rehab? The cost of a personal trainer is about $3,000 to $5,000 over three years. That is a lot less than the next-level chemotherapy drug is likely to cost, and unlike chemo, the side effect is that the patient feels better. Not only is it feasible to help cancer patients survive through targeted exercise, it should be a part of most cancer treatment protocols,

“Exercise is inducing physiologic, hormonal, inflammatory, immunologic changes in the body that are helping the body eradicate a proportion of these cancer cells. ‘

Dr. Booth is a medical oncologist. To complete this trial, he called on the expertise of a lot of colleagues, including exercise physiologists. Next week, we will speak with Claudio Battaglini, PhD, to get the exercise physiologist’s perspective on this important approach.

Christopher Booth, MD, is a medical oncologist and health services researcher at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Christopher Booth, MD, Queen’s University

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, August 18, 2025, after broadcast on August 16. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free, or you can find it on your favorite platform.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

We may not often stop to think about it, but our water, food, furniture and other ordinary items are frequently contaminated with toxic chemicals. In this episode, Dr. Aly Cohen describes these threats to our health. You may have heard of compounds that can disrupt hormonal balance (endocrine disruptors). Everyday toxins like these can also interfere with the ability of the immune system to function properly. What can you do to reduce your exposure?

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025, at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on Aug. 11, 2025.

As a rheumatologist, Dr. Cohen frequently treats patients whose immune systems have turned on them to produce conditions like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. As an integrative medicine practitioner, she has learned to look at the patient’s environment for clues about the toxic compounds that may be causing the problem. The first environmental assessment she conducted was actually for her beloved family dog, Truxtan. When he developed autoimmune liver disease, she tried to figure out why.

Dr. Cohen wasn’t able to save her dog, but the experience made her realize just how many potentially toxic chemicals we are exposed to in the course of our daily lives. If you look around your kitchen, you may discover that most of your food containers might be suspect. Plastic is incredibly convenient, since it is lightweight, break-resistant and cheap. But it often contains plasticizers such as bisphenols or phthalates that are endocrine disruptors. Some can disrupt the immune system as well. After all, immune system cells interact with the endocrine system on a regular basis. The two are tightly linked.

Other food packaging can also contribute undesirable compounds such as PFAS. Exposure to these may lead to chronic inflammation. Dr. Cohen tells about a patient, Massimo, who ran a pizza shop. A young man, he had troubling fatigue. Changing his routine so that he wore nitrile gloves while handling pizza boxes helped a lot. So did bicycling to work.

How safe is your water? One of Dr. Cohen’s patients had moved to New York from a Latin American country. Although she had filtered her water in her home country, she believed the tap water in New York was safe. It turned out the old plumbing in her building was contaminated with lead. In addition, she was relying on rice as a food staple, and it was contaminated with arsenic. Lead and arsenic are well-recognized as toxic chemicals. Filtering her water and washing her rice helped her feel much better.

How do you make sure your water is free of everyday toxins? Dr. Cohen says several types of filtration devices can be useful, if they are used according to instructions. That means changing the filter medium on the recommended schedule. Any filter is better than no filter, but by far the best approach is known as reverse osmosis. This results in clean water you can trust to be free of toxins.

The topic of water is almost inextricably linked to the question of plastic. Much of the water sold for consumption away from home is bottled in plastic. In addition to environmental considerations, this can expose us to plasticizers such as phthalates or even to tiny bits of plastic known as microplastics. These are accumulating in our bodies and may be harming our immune system.

Bottles are not the only source of plastic in our food supply. Most cans are lined with a resin to prevent corrosion. This frequently contains BPA, bisphenol A, as a plasticizer. Some manufacturers have switched to another bisphenol instead. Thus, they can claim that the can is BPA-free, but it isn’t necessarily safer.

One simple rule that can cut down on a lot of exposure to immune-disrupting plasticizers is don’t microwave food in plastic containers. Heat tends to speed leaching of plasticizers from the containers into the contents. Yes, we know a lot of frozen meals come in plastic containers that are supposedly microwave-safe. Don’t believe them. Instead, transfer the food to a glass or ceramic dish or bowl and heat it in that. That way you know you’re not getting any extra plasticizer in your snack.

Dr. Cohen points out that to get the best results from efforts to avoid everyday toxins, we need to figure out where the exposure is greatest. That’s why she usually likes to start with cleaning up the water supply, since for most of us that is our top exposure. Analyzing your diet and focusing on foods you eat often is another way to prioritize. Those are the foods that should be free of toxins if at all possible. She recommends using the EWG (Environmental Working Group) lists of the “Dirty Dozen” foods that often contain pesticides and the “Clean Fifteen” foods that are generally safe.  For the Dirty Dozen, it makes sense to purchase USDA Organic produce whenever possible.

Dr. Cohen offers some simple, inexpensive ways to wash your produce and get the pesticide off. Add 1 part vinegar to 3 parts filtered water and let the fruit or vegetables soak in that for several minutes. Then rinse it off well with filtered water.

To make it easier for people to implement the changes and avoid everyday toxins, Dr. Cohen offers a 21-day plan. It offers steps to avoid lots of harmful chemicals including obesogens (chemicals that make us fat). One simple way to take the first steps, after filtering the water you drink, is to carry a metal spoon and fork. That way you won’t have to resort to using plastic utensils to eat hot food, especially soup.

Another step is to be cautious with skin care products. Using the online EWG guide SkinDeep can help you find sunscreen or moisturizer that is mostly free of undesirable agents. When shopping, make it a habit to seek out USDA Organic certified products for those items you eat most.

Dr. Cohen is not the only doctor concerned about toxic exposures. A summary of research into the “exposome” was published in JAMA last spring. Here’s a link.

Dr. Aly Cohen is a board-certified rheumatologist and integrative medicine physician. A member of the faculty of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, Southern California University of Health Sciences, and the University of California, Irvine, she is a leading medical and legal expert in environmental health. Dr. Cohen is creator of TheSmartHuman.com social media platform, and the co-author of the bestselling consumer guidebook Non-Toxic: Guide to Living Healthy in a Chemical World. Her latest book is Detoxify: The Everyday Toxins Harming Your Immune System and How to Defend Against Them. Her website is https://alycohenmd.com/

Aly Cohen, MD, author of Detoxify

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The podcast of this program will be available Monday, August 11, 2025, after broadcast on August 9. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free, or you can find it on your favorite platform.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In this episode, our guest, Dr. Andrew Armstrong of Duke University, discusses recent advances that men should know to overcome prostate cancer. We ask about former President Joe Biden’s diagnosis. What does it mean to have Stage IV prostate cancer and a Gleason score of 9?

News outlets have reported that Mr. Biden’s previous prostate screening test was in 2014. How often should men be tested for this common cancer? What does the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test really tell us?

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org).  Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on Aug. 4, 2025.

Prostate cancer affects one man out of every eight in the course of a lifetime. Fortunately, if it is caught early and treated appropriately, most men do not die of this disease. They die of something else, even if they may still have prostate cancer cells.

For years, the mainstay of prostate cancer screening has been the level of PSA, prostate specific antigen. Although it is specific to prostate, it is not really specific to prostate cancer. All prostate cells make it, so doctors watch for unusual increases in PSA. That suggests a rapid growth of the prostate, which could be caused by prostate cancer. Not every prostate cancer produces large amounts of PSA, though. That’s why urologists watch for changes rather than using a threshold number.

Men with a family history of prostate cancer are at higher risk for developing it themselves. Ideally, they would start screening at a younger age and possibly have it done more frequently. In men who have a limited life expectancy, doctors may not recommend prostate screening. PSA alone is just the first step. If PSA is elevated or if it is rising, men will need further workup.

Often the next step is imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging of the prostate can be very informative. If there is a suspicious area on the MRI, the doctor will schedule a biopsy. Current practice is to use the MRI and ultrasound to guide the biopsy, so that the tissue examined is from the area thought to harbor the tumor.

The tissue removed during the biopsy will be examined by a pathologist. That expert will use the characteristics of the cells in the tissue to assign it a Gleason score. These range from 6 (not very worrisome) to 10 (the most aggressive). Former President Biden’s cancer had a Gleason score of 9, which is serious.

Doctors also want to know if the tumor has spread beyond the prostate gland itself. To find out, they may conduct a PSMA PET scan. This picks up prostate-specific membrane antigen (hence PSMA) wherever it may be in the body. Stage IV, like former President Joe Biden’s cancer, has spread outside the prostate to other parts of the body. In his case, the cancer has metastasized to his bones.

In some cases, prostate tissue will be sent for genetic testing. BRCA2 is associated with breast and ovarian cancers, but men who carry this gene are more vulnerable to prostate cancer as well.

The risk of prostate cancer appears to be roughly half hereditary and half environmental. That means there are things that men can do to reduce their risk. Avoiding environmental toxins is crucial. Plastics and plasticizers don’t belong in our food or our bodies.

Diet matters, of course. Not everyone loves broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower, but getting plenty of these cruciferous vegetables can help reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

Another important step is to focus on exercise. Not only can regular vigorous physical activity reduce the chance of developing prostate cancer, it also is very useful in counteracting the side effects of the powerful drugs used to overcome prostate cancer.

Often the doctor prescribes leuprolide (Lupron) to shut down testosterone production. That part of the protocol is referred to as “androgen deprivation therapy” or ADT for short.

An even more powerful androgen blocker such as abiraterone (Zytiga), apalutamide (Erleada), darolutamide (Nubeqa) and enzalutamide (Xtandi) may be added. These drugs can help men overcome prostate cancer, which seems to thrive on testosterone. Blocking the androgen receptors with one of these medicines has made treatment for prostate cancer more effective.

Androgen blockers stop testosterone formation even further and thus discourage the growth of the cancer. That’s the benefit. The downside is that men suffer the effects of “low T.” Here is where exercise stars, helping men feel better even when their testosterone levels are nonexistent.

There are nonhormonal approaches to treating prostate cancer that may be used in conjunction with androgen blocking or in some cases independently. One is surgery, in which the prostate is removed. That used to be the standard treatment. With new approaches available, it is one option among many. Another is radiation. Dr. Armstrong describes some of the different types of radiation, which can be very effective when used together with androgen blocking medication. There are also immune therapies. One exciting new therapy, called Pluvicto uses radioligands that seek out and attach to PSMA. Because it can find prostate cancer cells wherever they are in the body, it is being considered for treating metastatic prostate cancer when ADT may no longer be working well.

Dr. Armstrong wants men to know that prostate cancer can be detected early; when it is, it is often curable. Even in the case of advanced disease, there is hope. He urges men to ask for second opinions on treatment and take advantage of a multidisciplinary team when possible.

“The good news is that treatment can extend life often dramatically, and that many men, most men in fact with prostate cancer, don’t die of prostate cancer. They die of other stuff.”

Andrew J Armstrong, MD, ScM, FACP, is Professor of Medicine, Surgery, Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University. He is Director of Research at the Duke Cancer Institute Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers. His appointments are in the Division of Medical Oncology in the Departments of Medicine and Urology at Duke University. Dr. Armstrong is one of the country’s leading prostate cancer researchers.

Andrew Armstrong, MD, Professor of Medicine, Surgery, Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University.

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, August 4, 2025, after broadcast on August 2. In this week’s podcast, Dr. Armstrong describes how to find trustworthy information online. We discuss diet, exercise and natural approaches that can be helpful in preventing and recovering from prostate cancer treatment. When will medical centers recognize the value of personalized, structured exercise for cancer rehab, as they already do for cardiac rehab? You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free, or you can find it on your favorite platform.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In this episode, two experts draw on the latest research about avoiding Lyme disease and other infections that may be transmitted through tick bites. Why are these conditions so difficult to diagnose? Most importantly, how can people with lingering symptoms from Lyme get help and start to feel better? We consider both conventional and alternative approaches.

You may want to listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on July 26, 2025.

We begin with a quick review of the history of Lyme disease, which was first identified in Old Lyme, Connecticut, in the 1970s. Researchers eventually identified the pathogen causing the symptoms as Borrelia burgdorferi and means of transmission as bites from a black-legged tick (aka deer tick). Even though it was originally thought to be limited to New England, epidemiologists now recognize that Lyme disease is widespread across the country. Half a million people will come down with Lyme disease this year. Many others will suffer symptoms from other pathogens transmitted through tick bites.

For much too long, doctors thought that any symptoms persisting after a course of antibiotics were psychosomatic. Patients were understandably distressed by this dismissal of their suffering. Many people report fatigue, body aches and brain fog. Some have difficulties with balance or feeling weak or faint when they stand and have been diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). Headaches, rashes, heart palpitations and joint pain may also be part of the picture. If you think some of these symptoms ring a bell, you are right. Many people with long COVID or even chronic fatigue suffer with similar problems.

One of our expert guests, Dr. John Aucott, does research on Lyme disease and directs the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center. His study utilizing functional MRI was very revealing. When regular imaging studies are done on people with persistent Lyme disease symptoms, the results are not particularly striking. But functional MRI results, when people are asked to do cognitive tasks while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging, show a different picture. These people’s brains are not functioning normally. No wonder they are upset about brain fog or struggling to concentrate!

There are several possible explanations for why Lyme disease symptoms may persist. The spirochete responsible for these symptoms does not require oxygen and is very good at “hiding out” within tissues. When reactivated, it could cause symptoms. On the other hand, the immune system may become hyper-activated and have a hard time calming down. That too could contribute to symptoms. Non-governmental organizations have funded the Study of Lyme Immunology and Clinical Events (SLICE). In this trial, researchers have identified some risk factors associated with post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD, aka long Lyme). They are also enrolling patients in a treatment trial.

Naturopathic doctor Alexis Chesney points out that there are different standards of care for Lyme disease. The CDC has published guidelines for treating “four important manifestations of Lyme disease.” Those are erythema migrans (the classic “bulls-eye” rash), neurologic Lyme disease, Lyme carditis and Lyme arthritis. The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) offers its own treatment guidelines.

Both experts agree that early treatment is preferable to late treatment. Dr. Chesney describes the ability of the Borrelia spirochete to protect itself by changing to a “round form” as well as by forming a biofilm that wards off antibacterial medicines. One way to combat this is by utilizing herbs that can counteract biofilm formation, such as cats’ claw or Japanese knotweed. She also pays attention to supporting patients experiencing a Herxheimer reaction, in which dying spirochetes release toxins. This can make a person feel very ill indeed. Natural ways to mitigate this response include milk thistle, burdock or Epsom salt baths.

Even better than early treatment is prevention. The best prevention is to avoid tick bites. Wear shoes and socks that have been treated with permethrin. (Do not apply permethrin directly to the skin.) Using an effective insect repellent also helps, and a thorough tick check upon coming in from outdoors is indispensable. It takes ticks some time to transmit Borrelia, so prompt tick removal can help prevent illness.

Dr. John Aucott is the Barbara Townsend Cromwell Professor in Lyme Disease and Tick-borne Illness at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. An infectious diseases specialist and Lyme disease expert in the Division of Rheumatology, he is the director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Clinical Research Center. https://www.hopkinslyme.org/

John Aucott, MD, Johns Hopkins University

Alexis Chesney, MS, ND, Lac, is a naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, author and educator. Since 2010, Dr. Chesney has worked with people of all ages on chronic disease, general wellness, nutrition and lifestyle counseling. She has dedicated herself to working with clients who have complex chronic illness, and who often have diagnoses such as Lyme and vector-borne diseases, mold toxicity, mast cell activation syndrome, among other conditions. Dr. Chesney is the author of Preventing Lyme & Other Tick-Borne Diseases: Control Ticks in the Home Landscape; Prevent Infection Using Herbal Protocols; Treat Tick Bites with Natural Remedies. Dr. Chesney offers an online course, Preventing Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease: Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases, Prevention, and Acute Lyme & TBD Treatment. Here is the link: https://health-transformations.teachable.com/p/preventing-lyme-and-other-tick-borne-diseases.

Alexis Chesney, MS, ND, Lac, author of Preventing Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, July 28, 2025, after broadcast on July 26. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

This week, we welcome dermatologist Dr. Chris Adigun to our studio to answer your questions about summer skin problems. You can call in your stories and questions about bites, burns and blisters between 7 and 8 am EDT on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at 888-472-3366. Or you can send us your question or story ahead of time by email: [email protected].

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org).  Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on July 21, 2025.

Intense summer sunshine can cause sunburn and skin damage. The most worrisome consequences are skin cancers that may show up on cheeks, ears, noses, lips or other unexpected places. How can you recognize a potential skin cancer? What will the dermatologist do about it? Even more important, can you reduce your risk for basal or squamous cell carcinoma? (Those are technical terms to describe skin cancers that are not melanoma.)

What are the best ways to avoid harming your skin while you are enjoying the great outdoors, whether you are at the beach or on the hiking trail? Are there criteria you can use to choose the best sunscreen without spending a fortune? How often do you need to apply it? Can you get enough vitamin D compounds if you wear a high SPF sunscreen?

Are there skin conditions that might actually benefit from a bit of sun and salt water?

The relationship between sun exposure and melanoma is less clear than that between sun and basal or squamous cell cancers. Find out what might make a spot suspicious. Where should you be checking your skin? What can a dermatologist do to help?

In addition to sun, heat and humidity can challenge our skin. Fungal infections may proliferate under those conditions, resulting in athlete’s foot, jock itch or under-breast rash. Can we make our sweaty skin less hospitable to fungi?

Have you been troubled with heat rash? We’ll find out what it is and what to do to get rid of it.

Long summer hikes can result in more trouble than sunburn or sore muscles. Unless you are very careful with your shoes, sweaty feet can develop blisters. Are there good preventive strategies? If you get a blister anyway, what can you do to ease the pain–and keep it from getting worse?

Bug bites may also be the bane of your existence. Chiggers hang out in grass or brush waiting to take a bite of a tasty mammal walking by. Can you avoid or discourage them? And if you do get chigger bites, how can you manage the dreadful itch?

We also want to avoid bites from ticks and mosquitoes. They may have different niches and behaviors, so avoiding them may require different tactics. What works best? How can you choose a good insect repellent for outdoor activities, and will it interact with your sunscreen?

Poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac all contain the resin urushiol, which can be extremely irritating to sensitive skin. Do you know how to identify these plants so you can avoid them? If you find yourself in the middle of a poison ivy thicket, can you take quick action and reduce the chance of a rash? If you end up with a rash–it happens–we’ll find out how you can ease the suffering.

Dr. Chris Adigun will be in our studio to answer your questions about bug bites, blisters, burns and other summer skin problems from 7 to 8 am EDT on July 19, 2025. Give us a call to ask a question or share a story: 888-472-3366 or email us ahead of time: [email protected]

Chris G. Adigun, MD, FAAD, is a board-certified dermatologist who practices both general dermatology and cosmetic dermatology at the Dermatology and Laser Center of Chapel Hill, NC. Dr. Adigun is devoted to increasing public awareness of skin cancer and the harmful effects of UV rays—both medical and cosmetic. She specializes in both nail disorders and laser treatments.

Dr. Chris Adigun, dermatologist, with People’s Pharmacy hosts Joe & Terry Graedon

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, July 21, 2025, after broadcast on July 19. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In this episode, we acknowledge the many reasons that people may be feeling anxious or depressed. It often seems that current conditions are designed to break our brains. Perhaps that’s why 60 million Americans suffer from depression or anxiety. Not everyone who might be feeling nervous or down in the dumps deserves a diagnosis. However, they can benefit from the practices we discuss in this hour.

Pharmaceutical approaches such as antidepressants can be helpful for people with depression, especially in the short term. Over the long haul, though, we might want to consider whether changing our habits could help us develop the resilience we need. After all, antidepressants frequently result in side effects. Moreover, many people find it difficult to discontinue an antidepressant. Anti-anxiety agents carry similar risks.

Scientific research has shown us the importance of neuroplasticity. Can we tweak our neurochemistry by embracing some simple tenets for living? We don’t really have broken brains, but we might be lacking the skills we need to pursue robust mental fitness. Where will we learn them?

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org).  Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on July 14, 2025.

Good nutrition, adequate sleep and regular exercise are all pillars of mental as well as physical health. Our guest, integrative psychiatrist Drew Ramsey, says staying connected with others is equally important. Cultivating a variety of connections is crucial for our mental health, including friends, family and even casual acquaintances. We should keep in mind that building community is different from building friendships; we need both for mental fitness.

Social isolation can be damaging both for teenagers and for older individuals. Can we use social media to bolster our support systems rather than allowing them to wither? What skills can we help our teens acquire? Dr. Ramsey described a study, the AMEND trial, that combined social connection through social media with learning to cook. The young men in the study posted their cooking experiments on Instagram and bonded with each other over the experience. Adopting a more healthful diet also reduced the youths’ risk for depression.

One aspect of nutrition that is important to consider is how our food affects our microbiota. Our gut microbiome has a powerful influence on inflammation in our bodies. After all, the immune system is in part anchored in the gut, especially in the gut microbiome. When the microbiome gets disrupted and inflammation rises, our mood and mental health can suffer. What should we be eating to feed our microbes and keep them happy? Dr. Ramsey offers a little rhyme as a mnemonic: “Seafood, greens, nuts & beans…and a little dark chocolate.” We admit the last line breaks the rhyme, but it isn’t too hard to remember! When we asked what foods to focus on for healthy gut microbes, he suggested lentils. Although they are not technically beans, as in the rhyme, they are legumes and contain lots of fiber that helps gut microbes flourish. Dr. Ramsey also extolls the benefits of microgreens, another food that gut microbes love. The microbiome acts as a master dial on our immune system and inflammation levels.

Dr. Ramsey provides nine tenets for reclaiming robust mental health, even when we may feel like our situation breaks our brains. In addition to thoughtful nutrition, adequate sleep and reliable physical activity, he also stresses the importance of unburdening yourself of past trauma. This need not have been anything as major as a traffic accident or losing a parent, though such experiences are certainly traumatic and deserve attention. Even minor traumas like being picked on as a child can affect our sense of well-being.

Unburdening is the process of acknowledging those and trying to understand where our past is tripping us and blocking our efforts to be mentally healthy in our present. Unburdening yourself can leave you feeling freer to pursue your goals. It helps ground you so that you can pursue your purpose. Journaling, therapy or creative pursuits could all help with unburdening.

Finding your purpose might not sound like a step towards better mental fitness, but it is. How do you know when you have found your purpose? Focusing on a sense of identity and of fulfillment will help you with this. Finding a sense of purpose is important at every stage of life, but it may be especially important for older individuals. A job is not synonymous with purpose, although at times they may overlap. Sometimes, people who have relied on work to provide their sense of purpose find themselves at loose ends when they retire.

Drew Ramsey, MD, is a leading board-certified integrative psychiatrist, best-selling author and leading proponent of Nutritional Psychiatry and Mental Fitness. He served as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons for twenty years. Dr. Ramsey is founder of the Brain Food Clinic in New York City and Spruce Mental Health in Jackson, WY. He is the author of several books, including his latest book, Healing the Modern Brain: Nine Tenets to Build Mental Fitness and Revitalize Your Mind.

The People’s Pharmacy is reader supported. When you buy through links in this post, we may earn a small affiliate commission (at no cost to you).

Drew Ramsey, MD, author of Healing the Modern Brain

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, July 14, 2025, after broadcast on July 12. In this week’s podcast, Dr. Ramsey offers further discussion of the idea of finding your purpose and how to do that even after retirement. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free, or you can find it on your favorite platform.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In this week’s episode, our guest explains why treating hypothyroidism isn’t always as simple as it seems. He is a leading researcher on questions relating to thyroid hormones.

Hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn’t make enough thyroid hormone, is one of the most common hormonal disorders. It was first identified near the end of the 19th century but is far more widely recognized now. More than 20 million Americans produce too little thyroid hormone for their needs, either because their thyroid glands have been removed or because they are under attack from the immune system. Inadequate thyroid hormone has an impact on every cell in the body. As a result, the symptoms are wide-ranging, from lethargy and cognitive troubles to hair loss and constipation.

Most medical students learn that this is a simple straightforward condition to diagnose and treat. For decades, doctors used a single test–the TSH, or thyroid-stimulating hormone–for diagnosis. In addition, they learn that a single medication, the hormone called levothyroxine, is the sole treatment. People may know levothyroxine by its brand names, such as Synthroid or Levoxyl. Doctors often refer to it as T4, because the molecule contains four atoms of iodine.

Not everyone knows that T4 itself is not biologically active. Enzymes within the cells must remove one of those iodine atoms to create the active hormone, T3. You might recognize it by its generic name, liothyronine, or by the brand name Cytomel.

Back in 1970, researchers discovered the enzymes that convert T4 to T3. That’s when doctors decided that patients would do well on a simple synthetic form of T4. In fact, 80 to 85 percent of patients with hypothyroidism have no great difficulties with this treatment.

However, about 15 to 20 percent continue to suffer despite treatment. Some feel infuriated when the doctor tells them that their normal TSH levels mean they are fine. They don’t feel fine. They still feel exhausted, confused and miserable. Researchers, including our guest, have begun to recognize that people who do not convert T4 to T3 efficiently may suffer from residual symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Lingering symptoms of hypothyroidism, such as fatigue or brain fog, are not very specific. As a result, doctors may need to utilize more sophisticated testing techniques. Moreover, rethinking hypothyroidism means considering different forms of treatment. A person who has residual symptoms despite a normal TSH level might need a trial of combination therapy. This might be in the form of desiccated thyroid extract such as Armour or Westhroid. An alternative would be a prescription for both T4 (levothyroxine) and T3 (liothyronine) as combination therapy.

Doctors making such a change to their prescription need to adjust the dose carefully so that the patient does not end up with too much thyroid hormone. They also need to make sure during the diagnostic workup that the problem truly is hypothyroidism. Symptoms such as low energy don’t go away with thyroid hormone treatment unless that is the underlying problem.

For too long, patients have heard that their residual symptoms are psychological in nature. A doctor might have insisted that a normalized TSH on treatment means nothing is wrong with the thyroid gland. People who still feel bad despite such treatment may need to hunt for a clinician willing to explore ways to address those residual symptoms.

Antonio C. Bianco, MD, PhD, was professor of medicine and a member of the Committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition at the University of Chicago at the time this episode first aired. He ran a laboratory funded by the National Institutes of Health to study thyroid hormones. Dr. Bianco is a former president of the American Thyroid Association and author of Rethinking Hypothyroidism: Why Treatment Must Change and What Patients Can Do.

The People’s Pharmacy is reader supported. When you buy through links in this post, we may earn a small affiliate commission (at no cost to you).

Antonio Bianco, MD, PhD, is now The Nelda C and H.J Lutcher Stark Professor in internal medicine. VP, Vice-Provost for research and Chief research officer university of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.

Antonio Bianco, MD, PhD, University of Chicago

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, July 7, 2025, after re-broadcast on July 5. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In this episode, Joe & Terry speak with two scientists studying mosquito preferences. Why are some people mosquito magnets while others barely get bitten? A range of factors influences mosquito behavior and may explain why mosquitoes bite you and leave your neighbor alone. Learn how to outsmart them.

You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org).  Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. If you can’t listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on June 30, 2025.

You may think of mosquitoes as annoying insects with itchy bites. That’s certainly a reasonable summary in many places and times. But there are large swaths of the globe where mosquitoes carry deadly diseases. Malaria, for instance, kills an estimated 600,000 people a year. The majority of these victims are children under 5 years old living in sub-Saharan Africa. Even in the US, where malaria was eradicated in the mid-20th century, mosquitoes transmit some dangerous diseases, including dengue in some southern regions, West Nile virus, and in the northeast and the Gulf Coast, eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). The best prevention for these serious infections is to outsmart mosquitoes and avoid getting bitten.

One problem is that a few species of mosquito have evolved to live in close proximity to humans. They have adapted to breeding in standing water, but it doesn’t take much. An upturned bottle cap, a saucer under a potted plant or leaves lying on the ground can all offer mosquito breeding opportunities. Emptying those saucers and raking away the leaves should be a priority to reduce the risk of mosquito bites.

Both our guests have been studying what makes some people more appealing than others. To that end, Dr. Conor McMeniman and his team have set up the world’s largest multiple-choice smell test for mosquitoes in Zambia. They constructed a mesh greenhouse the size of two tennis courts that could be surrounded by eight single-person tents. A person sleeps in each tent and that person’s scent is wafted into the enclosure where mosquitoes are given a chance to congregate where the preferred scent appears.

This scent buffet for mosquitoes demonstrated that microbial metabolites from our skin microbiome have a significant impact on insect behavior. Mosquitoes seem to home in on short chain carboxylic acids as well as acetoin.

One simple and obvious step to avoid mosquito bites is to use window screens on our homes. That helps protect us inside. Air conditioning and ceiling fans also help.

We asked Dr. McMeniman how he protects himself when he is outside and what we should do. He recommends repellents. DEET is the gold standard, but some people find it unpleasant. An effective alternative repellent is derived from plants. Whether you use oil of lemon eucalyptus or DEET, it is important to read the instructions for applying the product properly.

In addition to smell, mosquitoes also use vision and temperature sensing to find humans to bite. (Did you know mosquitoes sing to each other? It is part of their courtship behavior.) Dr. Clément Vinauger studies how mosquito brains react during different activities. They also pay attention to people who swat them and seem to avoid those individuals who come close to killing them.

Mosquitoes can also change their behavior to adapt to human behavior. For example, a species of Anopheles mosquito that was nocturnal shifted to early morning biting over a period of a few years. That happened after the human population started using effective bed nets that protected them during sleep.

Dr. Vinauger made a casual observation that some soaps seemed to attract mosquitoes while others repel them. In a study, he found that most of the soaps his team examined appealed to mosquitoes. On the other hand, coconut scented soap (Native brand tested) kept them away.

We asked him about Listerine. He has not studied it, nor has he studied some remedies that our listeners like such as eating garlic. However, he suggested consulting the local gardening center or nursery in selecting plantings around the home that are not attractive to mosquitoes.

Conor McMeniman, PhD, is Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. Dr. McMeniman studies the molecular and cellular basis of mosquito attraction to humans.

Conor McMeniman, PhD, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute

Clément Vinauger, PhD, is Associate Professor at Virginia Tech in the Department of Biochemistry. His research area is the molecular genetics of host-seeking behavior in insects. His website is:  https://www.vinaugerlab.com/

Clément Vinauger, PhD, Virginia Tech

The podcast of this program will be available Monday, June 30, 2025, after broadcast on June 28.

This week’s episode features bonus material, including exclusive content we couldn’t fit into the radio broadcast. In this week’s podcast bonus material, Dr. McMeniman explains why it would be really difficult to conduct a scientific study on whether taking vitamin B1 reduces your attractiveness to mosquitoes. We also discuss how climate change is likely to put Americans at greater risk for mosquito-borne diseases. Could malaria become a problem in the US once again? And we talk about “skeeter syndrome” in people who get nasty allergic reactions to mosquito bites. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free, or you can find it on your favorite platform.

Download the mp3, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.