Tag: health

Neanderthal ancestry may lower defenses against common DNA viruses in people today

Researchers have found surprising links that show that Neanderthal ancestry influences our immune system today in ways more nuanced than previously recognized. Their work is published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.

Viruses account for an estimated 10–20% of the global disease burden. Many DNA viruses can persist in the body for a lifetime, and virus load varies greatly even among people without symptoms. Throughout human history, they have posed persistent and rapidly evolving threats, placing strong adaptive pressure on our immune system.

Previous research has shown that many genetic variants involved in immunity bear the marks of these evolutionary battles—including signatures of natural selection and contributions from interbreeding with archaic humans.

While Neanderthal ancestry has previously been associated with beneficial effects in RNA virus defense, the new study highlights a contrasting trend for DNA viruses.

Because of past admixture with archaic humans, around 2% of the genome of present-day non-Africans is composed of Neanderthal DNA and an additional 2–4% of people in Oceania of Denisovan ancestry. These introgressed sequences have shaped many biological traits, including immunity. But their role in defenses against DNA viruses has remained largely unexplored.

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Toxic Plastics Causing ‘Silent Epidemic Of Kids With Lower IQs,’ Pediatrician Tells RFK Jr.

Dr. Leo Trasande, one of the nation’s leading experts on environmental health and toxic exposures, warned this week that plastics pose “a multidimensional and urgent threat to human health,” with children facing some of the greatest risks.

Speaking on “The Secretary Kennedy Podcast,” Trasande — a pediatrician, professor at New York University and director of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Division of Environmental Pediatrics — described mounting evidence linking chemicals in plastics to developmental, hormonal, metabolic, reproductive and neurological harm.

“The impacts run from cradle to grave and womb to tomb,” he said.

The discussion comes as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launches STOMP — Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics. The $144 million initiative aims to measure, study and eventually remove microplastics and nanoplastics from the human body.

The program will develop standardized testing methods, map how plastics accumulate in organs, rank plastics by biological harm and pursue future removal technologies.

Trasande said the growing concern extends beyond visible plastic waste to microscopic and chemical exposures embedded throughout modern life.

“We know that there are 16,000 chemicals — synthetic chemicals — that are in plastic,” Trasande said. “We don’t know anything about 10,000 of them.”

Among the chemicals with the strongest evidence of harm are bisphenols used in plastics, phthalates found in food packaging and personal care products, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — also known as “forever chemicals” — used in nonstick and stain-resistant products.

Trasande said the evidence is “extremely strong” that many of these chemicals disrupt hormones, which in turn regulate metabolism, reproduction, growth and brain development.

‘A silent epidemic of kids with lower IQs in the U.S.’

As a pediatrician, Trasande repeatedly emphasized that children are uniquely vulnerable.

“Pound for pound, they eat more food, drink more water, breathe more air, so they’re uniquely susceptible,” he said. “Their organ systems are also just being primed. And so if you disrupt that, there are lifelong and permanent consequences.”

He pointed to evidence linking phthalate exposure during pregnancy to roughly 50,000 premature births in the U.S. each year, along with impaired brain development and poorer educational outcomes.

Trasande warned that some of the most damaging effects may be subtle and population-wide, rather than immediately obvious in individual children. Even small disruptions to thyroid hormones during pregnancy are associated with cognitive deficits, autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), he said.

“What you see is a silent epidemic of kids with lower IQs in the U.S.,” Trasande said. “Just to put this in context for the audience, a kid loses an IQ point, mom doesn’t notice, pediatrician doesn’t notice.”

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compared the issue to the impact of lead exposure on the national average IQ before leaded gasoline was phased out in the 1980s.

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Father of ‘Missing’ GOP Congressman Says He Is Under Doctor’s Care, Remains Vague About His Return

Further details are emerging about the disappearance of New Jersey Rep. Tom Kean Jr. from Congress for over two months.

In an interview with CNN, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean Sr. said his son is receiving medical treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.

“He’s hopefully coming back soon, and he’s under the care of a doctor,” Kean Sr. said, adding that his son had been evaluated by multiple physicians.

“They all agree he’s going to be fine. He’s under a doctor’s care.”

“It took a real illness to knock him out,” he added.

“This won’t linger. It’s not some kind of disease that’s going to incapacitate him in the future. The consensus is that he will be 100% OK.”

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Ozempic Face? Try Ozempic Pancreatitis: Inside the GLP-1 Profit Model

If you thought “Ozempic face” was bad, wait till you hear what it’s doing inside the body.

A massive study involving 16 million people found GLP-1 users had a 9.09 times greater risk of pancreatitis, 4.22 times greater risk of bowel obstruction, and a 3.67 times greater risk of stomach paralysis.

And if you’ve ever had pancreatitis, it is “quite a painful experience.”

What you’re hearing on the news about Ozempic is still too little, too late.

Here’s the story you’re not getting about Ozempic, the business model behind it, and why a growing number of researchers believe another pharmaceutical disaster is already unfolding in real time.

In early 2023, JP Morgan hosted its annual healthcare conference—a private, invitation-only event it describes as “the industry’s biggest gathering.”

The keynote speakers included the chairman of JPMorgan Chase, the CEO of Eli Lilly, and several managing directors of major healthcare venture capital firms.

The fourth keynote was Dr. Robert Califf.

His day job at the time: Commissioner of Food and Drugs for the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Hmm…

This wasn’t a public health symposium. It wasn’t an academic conference.

It was specifically designed for large investors, and its explicit purpose was to set the pharmaceutical industry’s financial priorities for the year ahead.

A pharmaceutical safety advocate named Kim Witczak obtained what she could from the conference’s public-facing website.

But what was being said behind closed doors?

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Widely Used ‘Chemical Cocktails’ Tied to Gut Damage, Inflammation

Herbicide mixtures widely used on industrial farms may damage the gut, disrupt healthy bacteria and trigger inflammation at exposure levels regulators currently consider safe, according to a new peer-reviewed study.

The research, published in April in Archives of Toxicology, examined glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller — alongside two other common herbicides, dicamba and 2,4-D. Rats exposed to the chemical combinations developed intestinal inflammation, tissue damage, oxidative stress and signs of “leaky gut.”

The findings raise concerns about how the safety of agrochemicals is typically evaluated — because regulators generally assess chemicals one at a time rather than in the combinations people and wildlife are actually exposed to in the environment.

“This study comprises the most comprehensive investigation of the impact of glyphosate on gut structure and function,” the authors wrote. The study is also the first to examine the combined effects of glyphosate with dicamba and 2,4-D at “regulatory relevant” doses deemed to be safe, the authors said.

“The findings show that the levels of these herbicides, when ingested as a mixture, have adverse effects and are not safe at all – and that regulatory assurances of safety are false,” according to GMWatch, which reported on the study.

The study, led by glyphosate expert Michael Antoniou, Ph.D., comes amid escalating concerns about chronic exposure to agricultural chemicals, particularly in communities near large-scale farming operations.

Glyphosate, the key active ingredient in Roundup, has long been controversial because it may cause cancer.

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Two House Members Remain MIA with Unexplained Health Issues, Missing Dozens of Votes

Concern is mounting in Congress about the status of two lawmakers absent from Washington because of mysterious health issues as both a Democrat and Republican have missed weeks of votes.

Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL) have been missing in action — and not voted — in more than a month.

Kean, 57, has not cast a vote since March 5 because of what his campaign called a “personal medical issue” without further elaboration, the Hill reported.

Wilson, 83, has not voted since April 17, though she is expected to return to the Capitol next week.

“The absences come as leaders in both parties are encouraging full participation from their members, given the razor-thin margins in the House,” according to the outlet.

Kean’s absence could impact his reelection campaign, which, if unsuccessful, could alter the balance of power in Congress next year. He represents a swing district.

A statement issued April 27 said the New Jersey lawmaker is expected to “return to a full schedule and be at 100 percent” in the “near future,” but Kean was still absent as the House returned this week.

Meanwhile, his website has been highlighting various community projects, including  announcing on May 11 the winners from his district of a Congressional art competition.

Wilson’s four-week absence went unnoticed until reporter Jamie Dupree noted it in a post on X this week, leading reporters to question House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about it.

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The Absurdity of Public Health

The United States medical system, combined with the industrial food complex, kill and maim people on a colossal scale every single year.

Heart disease kills over 683,000 Americans annually. Cancer kills another 620,000. Stroke, diabetes, chronic lung disease, sepsis, obesity-related metabolic disease, opioid overdoses, and preventable medical errors collectively account for millions of deaths, disabilities, and shattered families.

And yet, if you browse the front page of the CDC website on any given week, there is a decent chance you will find public health officials issuing urgent alerts about backyard chickens, raw milk, pet turtles, or someone hugging a duck too enthusiastically.

Seriously.

At the very moment when roughly 1,870 Americans are dying every day from heart disease and another 1,700 from cancer, federal public health agencies are sounding alarms about salmonella from backyard poultry.

The contrast has become almost surreal.

One recent CDC warning involved 34 reported salmonella cases linked to backyard poultry across 13 states. Thirteen hospitalizations were reported. No deaths. Another CDC investigation from 2024 linked backyard poultry exposure to 470 salmonella cases and one death nationwide.

To be clear, salmonella infections are unpleasant. Severe cases can absolutely happen, particularly in small children or immunocompromised individuals. Basic hygiene around animals and food handling matters. But the sheer disproportion between the magnitude of America’s actual health catastrophes and the obsessive messaging priorities of modern public health is impossible to ignore.

Americans are drowning in chronic disease.

Over 40 percent of U.S. adults are now obese. Diabetes continues to explode. Cardiovascular disease remains the nation’s leading killer. Cancer rates in younger adults continue to rise. Meanwhile, researchers from Johns Hopkins estimated that medical errors themselves may contribute to more than 250,000 deaths per year, potentially making preventable medical harm the third leading cause of death in America.

Yet somehow the institutional energy of public health repeatedly gravitates toward regulating raw milk farmers, warning people not to kiss chickens, and issuing carefully branded panic messaging campaigns over statistically tiny risks.

Why?

Because modern public health increasingly behaves less like a system designed to improve population health and more like a managerial communications apparatus. The goal is no longer primarily to build a healthier citizenry. The goal is to demonstrate vigilance, maintain bureaucratic relevance, manage narratives, and continuously remind the public that experts are monitoring every conceivable risk, no matter how trivial.

And triviality matters here.

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HEALTHY Life Expectancy in the UK Declined by 2 Years in Past Decade

A study from the UK has revealed that people may be living longer on paper, but they’re more likely to spend their final years in poor health. Healthy life expectancy plummeted to roughly 60–61 years despite overall life expectancy hovering around 81. In practical terms, this means that a large portion of the population is now living a decade or more in declining health before even reaching retirement.

This decline in quality of life is being driven by a combination of factors that governments continue to treat as separate problems rather than part of a single systemic breakdown. Obesity alone has reached levels where roughly two-thirds of adults in the UK are now overweight or obese, with about 30% classified as obese, a figure that has steadily risen over decades. This is not just about weight, because obesity directly increases the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and even mental health disorders, creating a compounding effect where individuals become progressively sicker over time rather than recovering.

“The UK has the highest levels of obesity in western Europe and there has been a surge in mental ill health, especially among young people,” a data analyst told the BBC, creating “a significant economic cost, with poor health driving people out of the workforce and locking young people out of education, employment and training.”

Mental health is following the same trajectory, particularly among younger generations where roughly one in five adults suffer from common mental health conditions. Rates among those aged 16–24 have climbed sharply over the past decade. The data shows this is not stabilizing but accelerating, with younger people entering adulthood already burdened with anxiety, depression, and other conditions that historically emerged later in life. When you combine this with rising physical health problems, you are looking at a population that is both physically and psychologically weaker than previous generations.

The economic consequences are already becoming evident, as poor health is increasingly removing people from the workforce while preventing younger individuals from entering it in the first place. Reports show growing economic inactivity tied directly to long-term illness, alongside rising numbers of young people not in education, employment, or training. This creates a feedback loop in which a shrinking productive base must support an expanding population that is dealing with chronic health issues, placing further strain on public finances and economic growth.

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Cannabis compounds could reverse disease affecting one-third of adults

Compounds found in cannabis could provide a new roadmap for treating the world’s most common chronic liver disorder, according to a study released by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The research, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, found that cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG) significantly reduced liver fat and improved metabolic health in experimental models.

CBD is the more widely studied non-intoxicating cannabinoid, while CBG is a less common “precursor” cannabinoid from which CBD is formed.

Unlike THC, the primary psychoactive component in cannabis, these compounds do not produce a “high,” making them viable candidates for long-term medical treatment, the study suggests.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) currently affects approximately one-third of the global adult population, according to health data.

The condition, which is closely linked to obesity and insulin resistance, has few approved pharmaceutical treatments, the researchers said, leaving patients to rely largely on lifestyle changes that can be difficult to maintain. 

“Our findings identify a new mechanism by which CBD and CBG enhance hepatic energy and lysosomal function,” said lead study author Joseph Tam, director of the Multidisciplinary Center for Cannabinoid Research at Hebrew University, in a press release.

The study highlights a process called “metabolic remodeling,” in which the cannabis compounds created a “backup battery” for the liver by increasing levels of phosphocreatine, a high-energy molecule stored in muscle cells.

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FDA Commissioner CONFIRMS Agency Lied About DIETARY FAT for Decades to Benefit Big Pharma Interests — Says Low-Fat Advice Drove Americans to Eat More SUGAR and Suffer Higher HEART ATTACK Rates

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary admitted that for nearly 20 years, the agency’s dietary guidance on fat was not just wrong, it was misleading, triggering a cascade of unhealthy eating habits that have devastated American health.

Speaking at a White House briefing on Wednesday alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Makary unleashed a scathing indictment of the “medical dogma” that has governed American kitchens since the 1980s.

The Commissioner revealed that the government’s crusade against saturated fats, meat, butter, and eggs, was not only scientifically hollow but directly responsible for the explosion of the chronic disease epidemic.

“For decades, we’ve been fed a corrupt food pyramid that has had a myopic focus on demonizing natural healthy saturated fats, telling you not to eat eggs and steak, and ignoring a giant blind spot: refined carbohydrates, added sugars, ultra-processed food,” said Makary.

“Ironically, they took out the healthy, saturated fat and added sugar, and that was supposed to be healthier. We now have a chronic disease epidemic. The focus on fat has paralleled and ushered in an entire generation of kids with high insulin resistance and levels of inflammation never seen before in the human race.”

On Thursday, Makary doubled down on this new finding, criticizing the long-standing “low-fat” dogma that had led Americans to load up on sugar while avoiding healthy fats.

He suggested the narrative was kept alive, at least in part, to shield powerful corporate interests—including Big Pharma.

Most damning, Makary cited data showing that people who followed low-fat diets actually suffered higher rates of heart attacks than those who consumed healthy fats, directly contradicting decades of so-called “expert” federal nutrition advice.

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