The Body of Evidence Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry

What does the body of evidence say on the topic of MSG? Plus: we dig into a new study that alleges that artificial sweeteners are associated with a higher risk of cancer (but But BUT!), and will we keep boosting people against COVID every four months?
 
Block 1:
(2:05) MSG: what it is, where it comes from, and where it is used
 
Block 2:
(8:41) MSG: what it tastes like, the story of how it was maligned, and whether or not it causes harm
 
Block 3:
(27:26) New study on artificial sweeteners and cancer, and its pitfalls
 
Block 4:
(39:11) Forever boosters for COVID-19
 
 
* Jingle by Jillian Correia of Roctavio Canada
* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.
* Assistant researcher: Nicholas Koziris
 
To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.
 
To make a one-time donation to our show, you can now use PayPal! https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=9QZET78JZWCZE
 
Patrons get a bonus show on Patreon called “Digressions”! Check it out!
 
 
References:
 
1) The original paper on “Chinese-restaurant syndrome:” https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm196804042781419
 
2) The Colgate University article on Dr. Howard Steel: https://news.colgate.edu/magazine/2019/02/06/the-strange-case-of-dr-ho-man-kwok/
 
3) This American Life’s episode on Dr. Steel and Dr. Kwok: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/668/the-long-fuse
 
4) The only other scientific paper penned by Dr. Kwok: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-3476(67)80272-5
 
5) Study on intravenous administration of MSG: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.163.3869.826
 
6) Study #1 on MSG and flushing: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0190-9622(86)70161-8
 
7) Study #2 on MSG and flushing: https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/130.4.1058s
 
8) Study on MSG and headaches: https://doi.org/10.1186/s10194-016-0639-4
 
9) The FDA’s findings on MSG: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/questions-and-answers-monosodium-glutamate-msg
 
10) Adam Ragusea’s video on MSG: https://youtu.be/E-POAKKH5IM
 
11) New study on artificial sweeteners and cancer risk: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003950
 
12) Second COVID booster has ‘marginal benefits’ in small study: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/972198
 
13) Jonathan’s article on a pan-coronavirus vaccine: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19/future-proof-coronavirus-vaccine
 
 
Music Credits:
 
Shine Of Happiness by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7537-shine-of-happiness
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 

Chris and Jonathan welcome back to the show Paul Ingraham, the founder of PainScience.com. He charts his early days as a woo believer, his transformation into a skeptic, and the thing that got him in trouble with his massage therapy regulatory body: tone. Do healthcare regulators care for snark? Is it their role to tone-police their members? The Internet took many regulators by surprise and some overreacted. How do you kick the foxes out of the henhouse of massage therapy if the rule is that foxes should be treated as hens?
 
No time stamps for this one. It’s a story that goes from “crack” addiction to growing out of the adolescent phase of skepticism to the difference between evidence-based medicine and science-based medicine. And for the first time ever, our podcast has been turned all the way up to 11.
 
 
* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.
 
To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.
 
Patrons get a bonus show on Patreon called “Digressions”! Check it out!
 
 
Links:
1) Paul Ingraham’s website: https://www.painscience.com/
2) Paul Ingraham’s Science-Based Medicine post on why he quit being a massage therapist: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/why-i-quit-my-massage-therapy-career/

Fingers on buzzers! It’s the first (and possibly last) episode of What’s in a Name: Medical Edition! Join host Jonathan and his three contestants in figuring out the origin of common words used in biology and medicine! It’s fun, we swear!
 
In the hot seat: social media manager Melissa, medical resident Niko, and cardiologist Chris!
 
Who will win? Who will lose? Will their egos recover? Do points even matter? What are the rules again? You’ll hear about biceps, botulism, and that disease that got its name from a really old poem!
 
It’s What’s in a Name: Medical Edition!
 
Recorded in late December, 2021.
 
To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.
 
To make a one-time donation to our show, you can now use PayPal! https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=9QZET78JZWCZE
 
Patrons get a bonus show on Patreon called “Digressions”! Check it out!
 
Music Credits:
Dark Secrets (DECISION) by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/246-dark-secrets-decision-
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 

Jonathan and Chris talk to Dr. Barbara Hofer and Dr. Gale Sinatra, the authors of the book Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It. It’s a course in skepticism 101 as they discuss decision-making, doing your own research, and the post-truth era.
 
1:46 Why write a book about science denial now?
4:50 Irrational decision-making
6:17 Politicizing science and manufacturing doubt
16:30 Just asking questions and doing your own research
22:51 How to refute misconceptions and a note on the backfire effect
30:43 Patience and empathy in the time of the pandemic
32:38 Algorithmic literacy
33:55 Are the deniers aware of the true reasons for their science denial?
36:00 The post-truth era
39:32 Solutions for harm reduction
 
 
* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.
 
To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.
 
Patrons get a bonus show on Patreon called “Digressions”! Check it out!
 
 
Links:
1) The book Science Denial: https://www.sciencedenialbook.com/
2) The Debunking Handbook: https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DebunkingHandbook2020.pdf
 

What does the body of evidence say on the topic of asthma? Plus: how much time children spend in front of screens, and how to nudge people to go to the gym.
 
Block 1:
(3:15) Asthma: wheezing, similar diseases, how asthma is diagnosed
 
Block 2:
(10:53) Asthma: exercise-induced “asthma,” what is asthma, cold and thunderstorms as triggers, allergies, infections, treatments
 
Block 3:
(29:31) Screen time in children
 
Block 4:
(40:06) Nudging people to go to the gym
 
 
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1) Click here: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-body-of-evidence/id980972442
2) Click on “Listen on Apple Podcasts” toward the top, under “Health & Fitness”
3) It will prompt you to open iTunes. Allow the pop-up and switch to iTunes
4) In iTunes, click on “Rating and Reviews”
 
If you already listen on an Apple device, you should be able to leave a review by accessing the show on that device’s native podcasting app.
 
 
* Jingle by Joseph Hackl
* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.
* Assistant researcher: Nicholas Koziris
 
To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.
 
To make a one-time donation to our show, you can now use PayPal! https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=9QZET78JZWCZE
 
Patrons get a bonus show on Patreon called “Digressions”! Check it out!
 
 
References:
 
1) Episode 43 on allergies: https://bodyofevidence.ca/043-allergies-and-organic-food
 
2) The 2019 Global Initiative for Asthma report: https://ginasthma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Whats-new-in-GINA-2021_final_V2.pdf
 
3) How will new recommendations from the GINA report affect practice in Canada: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/17/E456?ijkey=00df329033338403c174cbb90af80401afad6136&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
 
4) GINA FAQ on asthma: https://ginasthma.org/about-us/faqs/
 
5) Trial on combined budenoside-formoterol as needed in mild asthma: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1715274
 
6) Systematic review and meta-analysis on screen time in children 5 years and younger: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2789091
 
7) American Academy of Paediatrics’ guidelines on screen time: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Where-We-Stand-TV-Viewing-Time.aspx
 
8) Canadian Paediatrics Society’s guidelines on screen time: https://caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/behavior-and-development/screen-time-and-young-children
 
9) Megastudy on nudging people to go to the gym: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04128-4
 
 
Music Credits:
 
Lofi Chill Hip-Hop by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6347-lofi-chill-hip-hop
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Tutorial 2 by Frank Schröter
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/8965-tutorial-2
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Ambient Relaxing Background by MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/9007-ambient-relaxing-background
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Over The Rainbow by Sascha Ende®
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/319-over-the-rainbow
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 

Chris and Jonathan welcome back to the show journalist Brooke Binkowski from Truth or Fiction to discuss the Joe Rogan/Spotify controversy and how we got here. The discussion includes what makes someone a journalist in 2022 and how reactionaries and extremists were early adopters of the Internet.
 
2:10 Addressing common accusations
3:44 The saga
5:26 The mainstreaming of falsehoods
8:21 Lack of responsibility and JAQing off
10:06 The aesthetics of masculine rationality and The X-Files
15:15 From harmless folklore to antisemitism
18:35 What makes someone a journalist
26:31 Moderating audio content
29:20 The 1988 Internet and surf Nazis
36:14 Monster Island, Galt’s Gulch, and Ram Ranch
42:13 The Spotify seal of approval and YouTube’s feeble moderation
46:08 The next five years of reactionary populism
 
 
* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.
 
To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.
 
Patrons get a bonus show on Patreon called “Digressions”! Check it out!
And patrons will get a bonus segment from this interview in a week!
 
 
Links:
1) The Daily podcast on the Joe Rogan saga: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/podcasts/the-daily/joe-rogan-spotify.html
2) Jonathan’s article on Joe Rogan: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/science-vs-joe-rogan
3) The open letter to Spotify: https://spotifyopenletter.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/an-open-letter-to-spotify/
4) Aaron Rabinowitz’s article on Monster Island: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2020/10/monster-island-free-speech-experiment/
5) God Awful Movies’ review of Atlas Shrugged, Part 1: https://www.stitcher.com/show/god-awful-movies/episode/337-atlas-shrugged-part-one-90134592
6) Truth or Fiction: https://www.truthorfiction.com/
7) Brooke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/brooklynmarie