Patanjali has courted controversy by releasing their “Corona Kit” consisting of Ashwagandha, Tulsi, Giloy, Shwasari Juice and Anu Tel. They claim to have done a clinical trial and found it 100% effective. But there's still no sign of the study and its results. Rationable examines their claims more closely.

Links

RCTs: https://www.berationable.com/rationable-blog/2019/6/11/what-is-evidence-part-1-randomised-controlled-trials

English Jagran: https://english.jagran.com/lifestyle/coronavirus-treatment-this-ayurvedic-medicine-can-cure-covid19-patients-in-514-days-claims-patanjali-heres-everything-you-need-to-know-10012921

Boosting Immunity: https://www.berationable.com/rationable-blog/can-you-boost-your-immune-system

RBD: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3630917/

ACE2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/angiotensin-converting-enzyme-2/pdf

The Body of Evidence - The Gauntlet: https://youtu.be/6ug9ZTewcrE

Withanone and CAPE for SARS-CoV-2: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07391102.2020.1772108

Press on IIT and AIST Study on Ashwagandha: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/diagnostics/ashwagandha-can-be-effective-covid-19-preventive-drug-finds-research-by-iit-delhi-and-japans-aist/75820118

Withaferin A on Herpes Simplex virus: https://bmcbioinformatics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2105-12-S13-S22

Ayurveda on Sinusitis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22557218/

Divya Shwasari Ras: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332220302547

Anant Bhan Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/AnantBhan/status/1275407524368248832?s=20

Patanjali’s clinical trial registration: http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/showallp.php?mid1=43900&EncHid=&userName=patanjali

Dr Sumaiya Shaikh: http://sumaiyashaikh.com/about/

Dr Sumaiya Shaikh’s tweet to Patanjali: https://twitter.com/Neurophysik/status/1275558711428354050?s=20

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

Can you boost your immune system? In a way, yes, but not in the way the promoters of alternative medicine want you to think. But there are ways to keep your immune system healthy and functioning optimally. Let’s dig a little deeper into how the immune system works, how to keep it healthy and whether or not it can protect you from infections like COVID-19.

Home workouts

Paid: ATHLEAN-X | Six Pack Abs and Building Athletic Muscle

Free: Fitness Blender

Digging Deeper

How to boost your immune system - Harvard Health

SGU: https://youtu.be/0Ah2p1q2qLU

Seeker Human: https://youtu.be/ZTz4qA1gX3k

Medsimplified: https://youtu.be/k9QAyP3bYmc

https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_bryce_how_does_the_immune_system_work?language=en#t-37095

The Gut: Where Bacteria and Immune System Meet

The role of gut microbiota in immune homeostasis and autoimmunity

Covid-19: Can 'boosting' your immune system protect you?

Demystifying the manipulation of host immunity, metabolism, and extraintestinal tumors by the gut microbiome

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

Welcome to the first interview of The Rationable Podcast! I’m calling it Rationable Interviews, for what it’s worth. This episode features an interview with Dr Shantanu Abhyankar, a gynaecologist by profession and a sceptic activist based in Wai, Maharashtra.

I met the good doctor and his wonderful family during the CSICON 2018 in Las Vegas where he presented a white paper on the accomplishments of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) or Maharashtra Blind Faith Eradication Committee and their hard work to implement legislation against superstitious practices and harmful rituals.

We speak about his journey from homoeopathy to mainstream medicine, which gives us a very interesting insight into the relationship between alternative medicine and mainstream medicine in India.

We explore the relationship between Ayurveda and homoeopathy, their parallels and convergences along with the potential of Ayurveda if it is properly researched. Links:

Dr Shantanu Abhyankar on TEDx PICT: https://youtu.be/zXKcRklWkcA

Dr Abhyankar’s blog: https://shantanuabhyankar.blogspot.com/

Dr Abhyankar on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Shantanu-Abhyankar-223318794895179

Dr Abhyankar on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShantanuWai

The Magic of Reality (Marathi) by Richard Dawkins translated by Dr Shantanu Abhyankar: https://amzn.to/3aGNUE9

Why is Sex Fun (Marathi) by Jared Diamond translated by Dr Shantanu Abhyankar: https://amzn.to/2S7X3zo

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) or Maharashtra Blind Faith Eradication Committee: http://antisuperstition.org/

The Guru Busters: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2D6C82AA61986624

Does Homeopathy work?: https://www.berationable.com/rationable-blog/2019/03/20/does-homeopathy-work?rq=homeopathy

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

Another episode of fact-checking coronavirus forwards on social media. Today, we find out why COVID-19 cannot be prevented by homoeopathy, raw onions, vitamin C, vitamin Bs and blowdryers through science and critical thinking.

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

Podcast outro

Thank you so much for listening to The Rationable Podcast with me, Abhijit. For the show notes, transcript, references and further reading, visit www.berationable.com. Let’s continue the conversation on the Rationable Conversations group on Facebook and @berationable on Twitter. You can also write to me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode consider subscribing to the podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. Until next time, be rationable.

Today, we dive into one of the longest standing claims about losing weight. No matter which new fad diet pops up, you’ll always have someone say, “Just start having several small meals a day. Trust me, it works!” And it does sound plausible. The “logic” people usually put behind it is that it’s easier for your body to digest small portions, plus it boosts your metabolism every time you eat. In this episode, we discuss what metabolism is and how to boost it. I also explain terms like caloric restriction, deficit and surplus; TDEE; BMI and BMR, and the roles that have to play in our bodies and fat loss.

Further reading and references:

Online BMR Calculator: https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm

http://www.livestrong.com/article/394573-does-fasting-speed-up-metabolism/

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56254&page=1

http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/6_meals_a_day#1

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26024494

http://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/eating-frequency-and-weight-loss

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mohr16.htmhttp://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/how-can-I-speed-up-my-metabolism.aspx

http://www.livestrong.com/article/394573-does-fasting-speed-up-metabolism/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable ConversationsFacebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

A forward has been appearing on WhatsApp and Facebook claiming you can self-check for COVID-19 infection and drinking water and keeping garlic in your mouth can offer coronavirus protection.

Of course, all this information is completely false. No evidence has been found to confirm any of these claims. Let’s fact-check each claim one by one and see why these claims are wrong. In the end, I’ll also tell you why I think these forwards are so compelling.

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

Meet Doh Driver. She grew up believing in a whole slew of pseudoscience, including the idea that vaccines were harmful. Through her journey, she began to think more critically of her beliefs until she finally shed them. Now, she talks to anti-vaxxers online to change their minds. This is her story.

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

I had the pleasure of meeting Doh on Facebook after I posted my last article about how I became a sceptic. When she shared her story, I was immediately intrigued and amazed at the journey she had gone through. I asked her to flesh it out and send it over so I could have the pleasure of sharing it with you. So here it is.

It takes a lot of courage and insight to break out of belief systems we have had since we were children. Especially in the case of vaccines, nutrition and medicine, these beliefs can be a matter of life and death – for ourselves and our loved ones.

If there’s one thing you take away from her story (other than the importance of falsifying your beliefs) it’s this: when you engage with someone on social media who believes that vaccines are harmful, GMOs are poison or that alternative medicine works, remember they may be on a similar journey. Speak to them with compassion, reason and rationality and you could crack their echo chamber just enough for them to see the light.

In this episode, I set the way back machine to stun and remember the times I had serious smh moments. My beliefs about the ketogenic diet, evolution, aliens and fitness were all thrown into the fire, and rising from those ashes rose a more skeptical me. Here’s the story.

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

To me, this is one of the scariest questions we could possibly ask. We know the answer too, and we don’t have to go back 20 or 30 years to find it. It’s happening right now. I’m sure you’ve heard of the horrifying measles outbreak in Samoa that still rages on. That’s what happens when antivax wishes come true.

So how did this happen? And how can we stop it from happening again?

Donate to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/samoa-measles-outbreak

Further Reading & References

- An introduction to the anti-vaccine movement

- Seven worst sources of vaccine information

- http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/12/samoa-measles-deaths-rise-70-drc-outbreak-ramps

- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/07/samoa-measles-crisis-100-new-cases-as-anti-vaccination-activist-charged

- Thread from @drfixus on Twitter: Find the whole thread here: https://twitter.com/drfixus/status/1203478558804529153?s=20

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.

Another day, another Whatsapp forward. I recently got one from several people since the pollution in Delhi has been making headlines across the world. It describes the foods and nutrients you should eat to fight the effects of the pollution shrouding Delhi and North India. It’s immediately appealing because we are all so scared of what all the smog is doing to our lungs and our overall health. People on the streets are wearing masks. I have air purifiers installed all over the house. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could make ourselves immune to pollution with a few simple additions to our diet? To be honest, I’m not optimistic. But I’ll reserve my judgement till all the evidence is presented.

Intro and outro music: Don't Stop performed by Nothing More, from their album, The Stories We Tell Ourselves. The sound clips have been used with their permission.

For the full transcript along with links to citations and further reading, please visit www.berationable.com.

Questions, suggestions or just want to get in touch? Find me on Instagram and Twitter @berationable and on Facebook @Rationable. Join the conversation on the Rationable Conversations Facebook group and email me at [email protected]. For more content like this, visit www.berationable.com.