Maintenance Phase

Panic! At the endocrinologist.

Thanks to Jules Gill-Peterson (jgillpeterson.com) and Julia Serano (patreon.com/juliaserano) for help researching this episode and Evan Urquhart and Parker Molloy for fact-checking!

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• Origins of "Social Contagion" and "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria"
• What does the scholarly research say about the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being?
• Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care
• Fresh trans myths of 2017: “rapid onset gender dysphoria”
• Rapid Onset of Gender Dysphoria in Adolescents and Young Adults: a Descriptive Study
• The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren't
• How the idea of a “transgender contagion” went viral—and caused untold harm
• Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care
• 'Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria' Is Biased Junk Science
• A careful step into a field of landmines
• Detransition, Desistance, and Disinformation: A Guide for Understanding Transgender Children Debates
• Recognizing and responding to misleading trans health research

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

Support the Show.

In the 2000s, Jamie Oliver made a big splash with his work reforming kids’ meals in the UK and US. Was his work wicked slammin’, or just proper rustic?

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Links!

• BBC Profile - Jamie Oliver
• Jamie Oliver Puts America's Diet on a Diet
• All The Times Jamie Oliver Made Everyone Angry
• Unpacking School Lunch: Understanding the Hidden Politics of School Food
• A brief history of school meals in the UK
• Turkey Twizzlers: A Complete History
• Marcus Rashford Is Fighting the Government on Free School Meals. He’s Also Fighting Jamie Oliver’s Legacy
• Has Jamie Bitten off More Than He Can Chew?
• Jamie Oliver, you haven’t tasted real poverty
• Jamie Oliver’s campaign against childhood obesity has classist undertones
• Jamie’s jerk rice is a recipe for disaster

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

What was missing from America's pandemic response? According to the internet, a sunshine vitamin, a malaria treatment and a whole lot of horse paste.

Thanks to Health Nerd (Substack) for helping us fact-check this episode! And thanks to Abby Mahler (Twitter, Tiktok) for help with the research on hydroxychloroquine!

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Links:

• How Musk Sold MAGA on HCQ
• Prominent Anti-Vaxxer’s Snake Oil Store Has a Propaganda Outlet
• Nine COVID-19 Myths That Just Won’t Go Away
• Disinformation and coronavirus
• COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Discussion on Twitter
• Pain in the Nation
• Are patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus at increased risk for COVID-19 infection?
• Conspiracy theories as barriers to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.
• Vaccines vs. vitamins: COVID misinformation roils the worlds of wellness and nutrition
• A Decisive Verdict on Vitamin D Supplementation
• Why were Twitter Users Obsessed with Vitamin D during the first year of the pandemic?
• Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Behind It
• The Truth about Vitamin D and COVID-19
• The Strange and Twisted Tale of Hydroxychloroquine
• Is Ivermectin for Covid-19 Based on Fraudulent Research?

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

Ozempic is being hailed as “the end of the Obesity Epidemic.” This week, Mike and Aubrey dig through the sensational claims. But will they make it past the caveats?

Links:

• How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic
• The Discovery and Development of Liraglutide and Semaglutide
• Ozempic and Wegovy maker courts prominent Black leaders to get Medicare's favor
• Insurers clamping down on doctors who prescribe Ozempic for weight loss
• Ozempic prescriptions can be easy to get online. Its popularity for weight loss is hurting those who need it most
• Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in patients with type 2 diabetes: real-world evidence from a Mediterranean area
• Semaglutide in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction and Obesity
• Real-world weight change, adherence, and discontinuation among patients with type 2 diabetes initiating glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in the UK
• Safety of Semaglutide
• Semaglutide for the treatment of overweight and obesity: A review
• Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adolescents with Obesity
• Semaglutide 2.4 mg for the Treatment of Obesity: Key Elements of the STEP Trials 1 to 5
• Association of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Use With Risk of Gallbladder and Biliary Diseases
• Real-World Adherence and Discontinuation of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists Therapy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in the United States
• Medications and conditions associated with weight loss in patients prescribed semaglutide based on real-world data

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

How a plant-based pejorative went from an alt-right burn to a core concern of mainstream Republicans.

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• Joe Explains the Term "Soy Boy" to Donnell Rawlings
• Alex Jones Gay Bomb Rant
• Soyboys and Sensitivity: Mocking Meat Avoidance from Punch to Twitter
• How the alt-right uses milk to promote white supremacy
• Men's Health 2009 piece
• Neither soy nor isoflavone intake affects male reproductive hormones
• A Brief History of Conservatives Using Tofu-Eating as an Insult
• The Soy Conspiracy
• Alex Jones’ Protegé, Paul Joseph Watson, Is About to Steal His Crackpot Crown
• Why Men Think Plant-Based Meat Will Turn Them Into Women
• Stangle: Impossible burgers are made of what?
• Plant-based meat and the knock-down, drag-out fight for the American diet
• Why Republicans Can’t Stop Talking About Masculinity
• Real American men and the liberal war on meat
• “The Great Replacement:” An Explainer

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

Join us for a 75 minute answer to a 5 word question: Is there mercury in vaccines?

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• Paul Offit’s “Autism's False Prophets”
• Peter Hotez’s “The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science”
• Seth Mnookin’s “The Panic Virus”
• Jonathan M. Berman’s “Anti-vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement”
• Steve Silberman’s “Neurotribes”
• Transcript of the Simpsonwood meeting
• A Kennedy’s Crusade Against Covid Vaccines Anguishes Family and Friends
• Immunizations and Autism: A Review of the Literature
• CDC Studies on Thimerosal in Vaccines
• RFK Jr’s 2005 article on mercury and vaccines
• RFK Jr.’s Inside Job
• Vast Majority of Americans Say Benefits of Childhood Vaccines Outweigh Risks
• Correcting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• When Vaccine Injury Claims Go to Court
• Vaccine Compensation Hearing Decision

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

A political candidate has some questions and we have some extremely obvious answers.

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Links!

• Eric Garcia’s “We’re Not Broken”
• Mike and Sarah’s episode on autism and the anti-vaxx movement
• Seth Mnookin’s “The Panic Virus”
• Jonathan M. Berman’s “Anti-vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement”
• Brian Deer’s “The Doctor Who Fooled the World”
• Paul Offit’s “Autism's False Prophets”
• Steve Silberman’s “Neurotribes”
• Peter Hotez’s “The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science”
• Behind The Bastards episode on smallpox anti-vaxxers
• RFK Jr.’s Inside Job
  The Conspiracy Candidate
• David Pitts's "Jack and Lem”
• RFK Jr.’s autobiography
• Immunizations and Autism: A Review of the Literature
• Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent
• Correcting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine ‘facts’

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

Somehow an episode about an old-timey fitness influencer ended up being one of our most wholesome ever. We're as surprised as you are.

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• Pilates and the “powerhouse"
• Sick Architecture - Ibiayi Briggs - Body Culture and Contrology
• World War One: Internment centre 'will unlock' family tales
• The Acrobatic Immigrant Who Invented Pilates in a Prisoner of War Camp
• The exercise phenomenon born in a prisoner-of-war camp
• History of Pilates
• An Introduction to Clinical Pilates
• The Fight for the Soul of Pilates
• Did you know Pilates was born in prison and inspired by cats?
• Inside The Shocking (Black) History Of Pilates

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

How a fitness influencer went from small-time scammer to one of the Internet’s leading villains.

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• THIS IS DISTURBING
• goodbye for now…
• How Dallas-area influencer Brittany Dawn found herself at the mercy of social media's double-edged sword
• Conversations with the Inspiring Brittany Dawn
• Influencer Asks Customers to Sign NDA Before Refund
• Brittany Dawn's archived apology video
• Influencer Called 'Scammer' for Not Providing Coaching
• ‘You can’t cancel me’: embattled TikTok star reinvents herself as a warrior for Jesus
• Here’s what to know about the lawsuit against Texas influencer Brittany Dawn
• Followers Of Christian Influencer Brittany Dawn Said They Are Angry That She Pivoted To Religion To Avoid Scrutiny
• Fitness gurus and 'muscular Christianity': how Victorian Britain anticipated today's keep fit craze
• The Fitness-Driven Church | Christianity Today
• Christian influencer Brittany Dawn defends her foster parent journey amid criticism of her past, monetized baby posts
• Police Brutality Against Black Kansas City Man Caught on Video
• Brittany Dawn Fitness LLC

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

We're taking a much-needed break this week so to tide you over here is one of our bonus episodes!

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Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

The closing argument of our two-part Oprahsode starts in a Texas courtroom, wanders through some British slaughterhouses and ends with an emu.

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• "How the Cows Turned Mad" by Maxime Schwartz
• “Deadly Feasts” by Richard Rhodes
• "Mad Cow USA"
• UK Parliamentary inquiry
• How The West Was Won Over
• Texas Cattle Feeders v. Oprah Winfrey: The First Major Test of the “Veggie Libel Law”
• Having a Cow: Reactions To "Veggie Libel" Laws and the Oprah Trials
• The Unconstitutionality Of Iowa's Proposed Agricultural Food Products Act And Similar Veggie Libel Laws
• Appeal
• Original Lawsuit
• Food Safety Vs. Promotion Of Industry: Can The USDA Protect Americans From Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy?
• Apocalypse Cow
• Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
• Mad Cow congressional hearing
• GAO report
• The Harvard Risk Assessment

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

On April 16, 1996, Oprah Winfrey did a show about mad cow disease. Six weeks later, a couple of Texas cattlemen had a cow (sorry).

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Links!

• Original Lawsuit
• Appeal
• How Oprah Got Sued for Dissing a Burger
• Two Degrees of Speech Protection
• Texas Cattle Feeders v. Oprah Winfrey: The First Major Test of the “Veggie Libel Law”
• Having a Cow: Reactions To "Veggie Libel" Laws and the Oprah Trials
• Howard Lyman talk
• The Unconstitutionality Of Iowa's Proposed Agricultural Food Products Act And Similar Veggie Libel Laws
• How the Cows Turned Mad
• Food Safety Vs. Promotion Of Industry: Can The USDA Protect Americans From Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy?
• Apocalypse Cow
• GAO report
• A is for Apple, Alar, and ... Alarmist?
• Alar Five Years Later
• Auvil v. CBS 60 Minutes
• Alar and Apples: Newspaper Coverage of a Major Risk Issue.

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

This week we're digging into the weird history of an omnipresent fitness goal. Episode comes free with a happy meal.

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• 10,000 Steps: A Brief History
• Do We Really Need to Take 10,000 Steps a Day for Our Health?
• A Japanese first-mover in the fitness wearables race
• Counting Every Step You Take
• When does wearing a fitness tracker do more harm than good?
• McDonald's Enlists Trainer To Help Sell Its New Meal
• Get happy with McDonald's Go Active Happy Meal for adults
• McDonald's Stepometer
• McDonald's pushing salads and pedometers
• The fight for healthier McDonald's Happy Meals
• Step-It Canadian TV ad
• McDonald's serves up Happy Meals for grow-ups
• McDonald's removes fitness tracker from Happy Meals
• A Very Serious Review of McDonald’s Flesh-Burning Fitness Tracker
• McDonald’s quietly ended controversial program that was making parents and teachers uncomfortable
• Watch your step: why the 10,000 daily goal is built on bad science
• When does wearing a fitness tracker do more harm than good?
• Why Counting Your Steps Could Make You Unhappier
• How many steps are enough?

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

This week we're tackling three big ideas about sugar: It causes hyperactivity in kids, it's as addictive as cocaine and it raises blood sugar in universal, predictably spiky ways.

Thanks to David Johnston for helping us with sources for this week’s episode!

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Links!

• Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole Smith
• Sugar Rush: Science, Politics and the Demonisation of Fatness by Karen Throsby
• Is sugar really as addictive as cocaine? Scientists row over effect on body and brain
• Sugar Is Not the Enemy
• Dr. Benjamin F. Feingold, Controversial Pediatrician
• Is There Such a Thing as a ‘Sugar High’?
• Effects of Diets High in Sucrose or Aspartame on The Behavior and Cognitive Performance of Children
• Sugar and the Hyperactive Child
• Some popular diets are based on this carb-rating scale. Here’s why it could be misleading.
• Glycemic Index: History and Clinical Application
• Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load
• Low glycaemic index or low glycaemic load diets for overweight and obesity
• What is the glycaemic index
• Don't Play a Numbers Game, Experts Say, Just Eat Your Vegetables
• Sugar addiction: the state of the science

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

A viral documentary says a "whole foods plant-based diet" will prevent heart disease and cure cancer. But once we look into the MEAT of the matter will we find factual CREAM of the crop or will we cry FOWL? (we're so sorry)

Thanks to Katherine Flegal for helping Mike with this episode!

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Links!

• Health effects associated with consumption of unprocessed red meat: a Burden of Proof study
• Unprocessed Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption: Dietary Guideline Recommendations From the Nutritional Recommendations (NutriRECS) Consortium
• Present status of the aflatoxin situation in the Philippines
• The role of natural consequences in the changing death patterns
• Dietary Protein and Amino Acids in Vegetarian Diets—A Review
• Quality of Plant-Based Diet and Risk of Total, Ischemic, and Hemorrhagic Stroke
• Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial
• Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?
• Observational evidence does not necessarily imply causation
• The Problem with Observational Studies (Epidemiology)
• Vegetarian Diet Patterns and Chronic Disease Risk: What We Know and What We Don’t
• The rise, the fall and the renaissance of vitamin E

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

Aubrey tells Mike about the diet that took over New York City (and its bathrooms).

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Links!

• F-Factor drama timeline
• What Is the F-Factor Diet, and Is it Safe?
• Tanya Zuckerbrot Sets a Weight-Loss Example
• What Is the F-Factor Diet? Here’s What You Need to Know
• F-Factor Under Fire After TONS Of Women Come Forward
• Tanya Zuckerbrot and an Instagram Crusade Against the F-Factor Diet
• Dietary fiber and health outcomes: an umbrella review
• Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap
• F-Factor has sent legal threats and deleted Instagram comments
• F-Factor Diet Allegations: What Dietitians Want You To Know
• Correcting the Record
• Unpacking the F-Factor Diet Drama
• Insider rundown of symptoms
• Tanya Zuckerbrot addresses health concerns
• Insider rundown of workplace issues
• Tanya Zuckerbrot Files Lawsuit Over F-Factor Diet Criticism on Instagram
• Tanya Zuckerbrot sues Emily Gellis in new defamation suit
• In a Lawsuit, Eight Women Claim the F-Factor Diet Made Them Sick
• Submit concerns to F-Factor

Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!

Last month the American Academy of Pediatrics released a new set of guidelines for "childhood obesity." We have some comments.

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• The 2023 American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines
• The 2007 guidelines
• Pros and cons of bariatric surgery in adolescents
• Serious Issues With the American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines For Higher-Weight Children and Adolescents
• Semaglutide treatment for obesity in teenagers: a plain language summary of the STEP TEENS research study
• Patients’ views of long-term results of bariatric surgery for super-obesity: sustained effects, but continuing struggles
• Long-Term Outcomes After Bariatric Surgery
• Suicidal thoughts and behaviors in adolescents who underwent bariatric surgery

History should make you feel weird and so, apparently, should diet books.

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Links!

• Elizabeth Takes Off
• Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor
• Elizabeth Taylor: Diet Tips on How to Become a Size 6
• Just Look at Her Now
• Elizabeth Taylor: Born to the Purple
• Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Interview
• Elizabeth Taylor’s Glorious Excess
• Elizabeth Taylor’s Astonishing Health History
• Elizabeth Taylor’s Cook Not To Blame

This week, we're talking about Aubrey's new book, "'You Just Need To Lose Weight' and 19 Other Myths About Fat People." And we're yelling about Piers Morgan as a little treat.

Support us:

• Hear bonus episodes on Patreon
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• Buy Aubrey's new book
• Listen to Mike's new podcast

Preorder Aubrey's book at your favorite bookstore or here:

• Bookshop.org
• Powell's Books
• Blackstone Books
• Black Pearl Books
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Book Depository
• Audible (audiobook)
• Libro.fm (audiobook)

Charging disabled people more for health care is illegal. But what about ... charging non-disabled people less?

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Links!

• A Review of the U.S. Workplace Wellness Market
• "Wellness" Based Healthcare is a Scam
• 2013 Rand Report
• Workplace Wellness Produces No Savings\
• Workplace Wellbeing Is a Scam
• Employers should disband employee weight control programs
• Using Incentives in Workplace Wellness Programs
• Coerced into Health
• Current Trends in Reducing Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the US
• The effectiveness of worksite nutrition and physical activity interventions for controlling employee overweight
• Managing Manifest Diseases, But Not Health Risks, Saved PepsiCo Money Over Seven Years
• The Dubious Empirical and Legal Foundations of Workplace Wellness Programs
• Toward A Critical Theory of Corporate Wellness
• The development and growth of employer-provided health insurance
• The Ideological Construction Of Risk
• Wellness Incentives In The Workplace
• A Fatter Butt Equals a Skinnier Wallet
• The Outcomes, Economics, and Ethics of the Workplace Wellness Industry
• What’s Bad about Wellness?