SHR

Prilosec is one of most popular drugs sold in America. It’s a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) used to treat periodic and chronic Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease or what we commonly call heartburn. Its stablemate is Nexium. These two PPI’s are owned by AstraZeneca which garners over $1.5 billion in sales of these two popular drugs each year. PPI’s reduce the amount of hydrochloric acid produced in the stomach – which emerging science is now showing in and of itself is a bad idea. And if you want to understand what really causes GERD you can read this article. It’s estimated that 60% of the American population suffer periodic bouts of GERD over the course of a year and some 30% have regular weekly bouts. This lead to close to 300 million PPI prescription being written between 2006 and 2010. It’s a $14 billion a year class of drugs. Wow that’s a lot...

A listener of Super Human Radio called the studio to ask about a supplement we talked about on an older show. I learned during the conversation that he lost his sight as a young boy. I thought to ask him a question that has occupied my mind lately. Every time I see the commercial for the pharmaceutical drug called Hetlioz made by Vanda Pharmaceutical. I asked him “have you ever used the drug for non-24?”. He said no but a gal he knows has and she didn’t like it. It made her feel ill and didn’t improve her sleep one bit. I have no idea what it’s like to be blind so I asked him “why not just use melatonin?” He began to laugh and said that’s what he does. Non-24 is a bull$#!t diagnosis. Not because it doesn't exists. Because it doesn't require a pharmaceutical drug to treat it! A...

All too often a visit to the doctors comes away with a new prescription to address some attained disorder. The conversation goes something like this: Physician: “Your blood sugar is higher than I’d like to see it. It’s continued to rise over the past several months and it’s now in a range that I think we need to get it under control using (insert drug of choice here).” Patient: “Wow that’s surprising! I’ve cut out a LOT of bad foods from my diet and I’m eating “healthier” like you told me to.” Physician: "Yes, well it doesn’t seem to be working. Here’s a prescription. Get it filled and start taking it.” Patient: “Ok…” This dialogue implies that the patient will be on this drug for the rest of his/her life. That’s where the part of the conversation that’s missing should pick up. Physicians should be explaining that drugs in general are...

As I was about one-third of my way through writing about this study, I realized that I was biased. My understanding of the literature surrounding fructose has led me to conclude that most studies showing detrimental effects are not applicable to the general population (let alone a healthy population) because of methodical limitations such as using fructose in isolation, using doses well above reasonable consumption levels, and using rodents that have known differences from humans in fructose metabolism (e.g., the fact that de novo lipogenesis under conditions of long-term, high-carbohydrate feeding accounts for 60% to 70% of fatty acids in rodents but less than 5% in humans). I therefore deleted everything I had and replaced it with what you are now reading. My goal this time around is to be more objective. As such, I apologize in advance to those of you who find my focus on the nitty-gritty annoying, but...

Among clinical trials investigating long-term weight loss, exercise as the only intervention is virtually useless. When total daily energy expenditure among industrialized societies is compared to contemporary hunter-gatherer tribesmen, they are similar despite the hunter-gatherers performing markedly more physical activity. The risk of dying is reduced dramatically as time spent being active each day increases towards 1 hour, after which it somewhat flat-lines (no additional benefit). Why? Shouldn’t being more active increase energy expenditure? According to the additive energy expenditure model, it certainly should (figure 1). However, as Pontzer et al show in their latest publication, the relationship between physical activity and energy expenditure is far more complex. They provide support for the constrained total energy expenditure model in which energy allocation among physiological tasks responds dynamically to long-term shifts in physical activity. As such, daily energy expenditure is maintained within a relatively narrow range. Five populations hold the answer In...