Health Newsfeed – Johns Hopkins Medicine Podcasts

Johns Hopkins Medicine

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Health Newsfeed – Johns Hopkins Medicine Podcasts Podcast

4 DAYS AGO

How have diet trends over the last couple of decades impacted health? Elizabeth Tracey reports

The medical establishment took on fats as problematic in the 1960s, with the result that food manufacturers switched to sugars and refined carbs instead, and the obesity epidemic ensued. Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary says obesity is just one result, in his new book called ‘Blind Spots.’ Makary: In order to get the fat out you have to pump food with refined carbohydrates and added sugar. That drives inflammation. We now recognize it's the refined carbohydrates, added sugar, the ultra processed foods, pesticides perhaps and maybe even the micro plastics that we consume now, not only do they perhaps alter the microbiome in our gut, microplastics have estrogen binding like properties. We've seen the age of puberty go down every year in the United States. We have the earliest age of puberty than in any other country in the world. :34 Makary says it’s incumbent on the medical world to advocate for changes in our food supply, in the name of health. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
4 DAYS AGO

Our obesity epidemic is rooted in medicine’s inability to take a broader view, Elizabeth Tracey reports

The food pyramid was supposed to visually demonstrate how best to nourish our bodies, but instead it vilified many fats and precipitated a wholesale shift to carbohydrates, many of them refined. And then the obesity epidemic began. That’s the reconstruction of Marty Makary, a surgeon and public health researcher at Johns Hopkins, who holds organized medicine responsible. Makary: We don't do a good job in medicine of showing humility, recognizing when we were wrong, like the food pyramid and the demonization of natural fats. Turns out that recommendation was so wrong it actually contributed to the obesity and diabetes epidemic because it moved the food industry to refine carbohydrates and added sugar, but you didn't hear the establishment come out and apologize or correct the record with the same vigor by which we put out that recommendation to avoid fat. :30 Makary says such embrace of dogma by medicine needs to change, in his new book called ‘Blind Spots.’ At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
4 DAYS AGO

What is the role for a new medicine in managing menopause? Elizabeth Tracey reports

There’s a new medicine to manage hot flashes, which many women identify as the most troubling aspect of menopause, a recent study reports. Yet Marty Makary, a surgeon and public health researcher at Johns Hopkins, says for many, effective treatment already exists. Makary: Every woman needs to understand that there is probably no medication in modern medicine that has improved the outcomes of a population more than hormone replacement in postmenopausal women, arguably with the exception of antibiotics. Women who are on hormone replacement therapy after menopause live 3 1/2 years longer, their rate of heart attack goes down in half, they have 50 to 60% less cognitive decline and the brain fog of menopause and their bones are stronger. :30 Makary notes that data from the Women’s Health Initiative that raised red flags about hormone therapy have since been disproven, so women should talk with their providers about the proven benefits. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
4 DAYS AGO

What does a wholistic approach have to do with health? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Diabetes is out of control, along with obesity, mental health disorders, and rising rates of many cancers. Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and author of a book called ‘Blind Spots,” argues that it is the impaired vision of traditional medicine that has enabled and promotes this public health crisis. Makary: We have a chronic disease epidemic that modern medicine has only addressed by playing whack a mole on the back end with medications. Now there's important roles for medications but we have a reflex that's been triggered by every condition, including in some cases the medicalization of ordinary life. So we’ve got to zoom out and say yes, we do a good job stamping out disease in our many specialties in medicine but at some point we have to look at the entire person. :28 Makary say such a strategy requires starting from a position of health maintenance early in life, with exercise, healthy diet and immunizations, and then continuing that throughout the lifespan, with prevention playing the foundational role. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
4 DAYS AGO

It’s time for medicine at large to look at whole people instead of diseases and conditions, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Where are the blind spots when it comes to the practice of medicine? Johns Hopkins surgeon Marty Makary, author of a new book entitled ‘Blind Spots,” says they are too numerous to identify individually. Makary: We have massive blind spots in medicine. Maybe we we need to be talking more about school lunch programs instead of just putting every six year old on Ozempic. Maybe we need to talk about treating high blood pressure by addressing sleep quality and stress not just putting everybody on meds. Maybe we need to talk about the environmental exposures that cause cancer not just the chemotherapy to treat it. We have the most medicated generation in human history. :27 Makary advocates for a whole-life, integrative approach to instilling health rather than treating diseases and conditions as they arise, since the majority of them are the result of the many choices we make, including what we eat and what we don’t, and how much preventive health we engage with. He opines that traditional medicine has been complicit and now must choose an inclusive approach. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
SEP 3

Could early life antibiotic use be associated with chronic disease? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Early in life antibiotic use may disrupt the microbiome in children and lead to long term health consequences, and this is one of medicine’s blind spots. That’s according to Johns Hopkins surgeon and public health researcher Marty Makary, in his new book called Blind Spots. A recent study found that when a child takes an antibiotic in their first few years of life they have massively higher rates of obesity, learning disabilities, asthma and celiac. Now all of those chronic diseases have been going up and we scratch our heads in medicine to say why. Well it may be that some of the food and toxic exposures and the ways in which we alter the microbiome from antibiotics and C sections may be playing a role in the rise of all these chronic diseases. :30 Rising rates of C-sections are implicated because newborns aren’t colonized with their mom’s bacteria as they are in vaginal deliveries, Makary says, and notes more research is needed to understand the role of the microbiome in health. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
SEP 3

Where are the blind spots in medicine? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Blind Spots is the name of a new book by Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and public health researcher, illustrating how medicine sometimes gets it wrong and then seems unable to reverse the tide of established treatments and practices. One such example he notes is the medical establishment’s longstanding ignorance of the microbiome. Makary: We've got areas like the microbiome, that is the bacteria that line the gut, those bacteria live in a balance. It's important for digestion and the immune system, it's related to mood and mental health and it's involved in regulation of hormones but we've been ignoring this because it doesn't fit one of our specialties in medicine but it turns out it's central to health. :25 Makary says that willful disruption of the gut microbiome with antibiotic use can have long ranging consequences for the person who takes the drugs, especially if they’re very young, as well as society at large in promoting development of resistant organisms. He hopes that current research efforts on the microbiome point the way to protecting it. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
SEP 3

Does the argument that limiting smartphone use works hold water? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Burgeoning research demonstrates that smartphone use in schools is detrimental to individual students and corrosive for the learning environment. Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and public health researcher, says attempts to simply limit their use are not enough. Makary: There's a mindset that all things are good in moderation. That's not true of cocaine, it's not true of highly addictive substances and so it's not necessarily true here either. If I told you oh cocaine in moderation is OK you'd say no. There's a risk of significant addiction that could ruin that individual's life. The same is true of some of these social media apps that are designed to steal their attention and keep it as long as possible. :27 Recent studies clearly point to the addictive nature of many social media apps, in ways reminiscent of gambling addiction for example. Makary says data also points to development of depression and anxiety, which are spiking among teenagers in the US, as related to smartphone use. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
SEP 3

Some schools have already banned smartphones in students’ interest, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Should we allow a technology that’s at best disruptive and at worst addictive into our schools? No, states Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon and public health researcher, citing smartphones as a scourge that has no place in educational facilities, and urging a ban. Makary: Some school districts have already done this, some states now have already taken action, like Virginia. It appears to be a bipartisan issue. Here's something we can do to help with the addiction that our children are suffering from. 2/3 of kids say that they are distracted during class by their smartphones, there's a second hand smoke effect. Half of students say they're distracted by other students who are using their smartphones. I don't think the child should have a smartphone before high school. There's a mindset that we have to give our child a smartphone that's not true. :32 Makary applauds educators who insist that smartphones must be left home or checked at the door of schools. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
SEP 3

Should smartphones even be allowed in schools? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Smartphones are ubiquitous, with over half of US children owning one by the time they are 11 years of age. Much research is emerging demonstrating just how harmful this can be, especially when phones remain in the hands of kids while they’re in school. Martin Makary, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins and public health researcher, says it’s time to just say no. Makary: The average kid has 273 smartphone notifications in a day and there's no way you can have your attention on your phone and on the teacher in class. Teachers are leaving the classroom arguing that these smartphones are ruining the culture of learning and so one thing we can do to address the mental health crisis of kids and the learning loss from all the distraction and the teacher retention problem is to ban smartphones in the classroom. :28 Makary says apps that run on smartphones are specifically designed to be addictive, and that’s a danger to those whose brains are still developing. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.

10 Episodes

4.4

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24 Ratings

Creator

Johns Hopkins Medicine
Years Active

2014 - 2024
Episodes

10
Rating

Clean
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Health Newsfeed – Johns Hopkins Medicine Podcasts