Things you do or are exposed to early in life, including during fetal development, can actually affect your health later in adulthood. Normally, we're unaware of it, and it's difficult to make the connection. Today, Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld dives into some of the research regarding placentas and their key implications in every life.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld discuss how prenatal exposures can alter placental function, fetal brain development, and later-life health, with varying effects based on fetal sex. They expose the dangers of BPA and substitutes such as BPS, the importance of the neurotransmitters created by the placenta to the developing fetal brain, and the surprising results Dr. Rosenfeld has found in her research into maternal probiotic supplementation.

Key Takeaways:

• The placenta is an endocrine organ. There are sex differences in the placenta between male and female fetuses.

• The placenta provides neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, to the brain. If there's not enough serotonin, that could compromise early brain development and make a child unfortunately vulnerable to diseases later in life.

• While many people try to avoid BPA, we are all impacted by it or by one of its substitutes. In a side-by-side study shot with BPA and BPS (a common substitute), it was found that both of them have equally harmful effects on the placenta.

"Essentially, all the fetal organs depend on that placenta. So if you affect the function of the placenta, it will affect the vital processing of all the other fetal organs." — Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld

Connect with Dr. Cheryl Rosenfeld:

Professional Bio: https://cvm.missouri.edu/pathobiology-and-integrative-biomedical-sciences/faculty/cheryl-s-rosenfeld-dvm-phd/

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cheryl-Rosenfeld

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qluXCCYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Rosenfeld+Cheryl+S&sort=date

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

CTE isn't just an NFL story, and a diagnosed concussion isn't the only warning sign. Dr. Jonathan Cherry explains how years of repetitive impacts may quietly change the brain, and why researchers are racing to find a way to detect it during life.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Jonathan Cherry discuss his research into understanding how repetitive head injuries cause progressive brain changes and their work to learn how to detect the disease during life. They break down the difference between CTE and concussions, explain who is more likely to get CTE, and explain the links between CTE and other cognitive diseases.

Key Takeaways:

• While it's only been talked about for the last 20 years or so, the first research on CTE was done in the 1920s on boxers.

• There is currently no way to diagnose CTE in life. TES is being used as a way to diagnose people in life with symptoms of CTE, but at this time, CTE can only be diagnosed after death.

• While contact sports are one of the biggest contributors to CTE, it is not the only way to get it. CTE has also been seen in the brains of those afflicted by domestic violence and those in the military.

"CTE is from a history of repetitive head injury, and a concussion is essentially the damage as a result of one injury." — Dr. Jonathan Cherry

Connect with Dr. Jonathan Cherry:

Professional Bio: https://www.bumc.bu.edu/camed/profile/jonathan-cherry/

Website: https://cherrylab.science/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-cherry-phd-80117695/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g3ztmrwAAAAJ&hl=en

PubMed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/10iEdlxiameAD/bibliography/public/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Daniel Aaron discuss the inadequate oversight of food additives by the FDA, particularly the agency's GRAS or "Generally Recognized as Safe" process, which allows unsafe additives to reach the market without proper scrutiny. Dr. Aaron highlights industry conflicts of interest, the lack of reporting requirements, the need for stricter regulation to protect public health, and discusses what is needed for the FDA to be better able to make impactful changes.

Key Takeaways:

• The majority of food additives in the US are not vetted by the FDA. Since 1958, food additives have been presumed safe until proven otherwise.

• The Clean Eating movement in the US is indicative of the skepticism of the American food supply.

• While the FDA used to maintain a list of GRAS substances, today, reporting to the FDA is not required.

• Europe uses a more precautionary approach to food additives. The EFSA must approve all chemical substances prior to their use in foods.

• Food additives are known to cause synergistic harm. However, the FDA poorly regulates single additives, so it is not surprising that its consideration of interacting chemicals is insufficient.

"The FDA is the most accountable to corporate power. The largest impediment, in my view, to food regulation is funding. FDA's Food Center has been underfunded for decades. Further funding from Congress is needed, but our legislators often are supported by industry that doesn't necessarily want a more robust review of food additives." — Daniel Aaron, M.D., J.D.

Episode References:

• Bystanders to a Public Health Crisis: The Failures of the U.S. Multi-Agency Regulatory Approach to Food Safety in the Face of Persistent Organic Pollutants by Katya S. Cronin: https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/faculty_publications/1725/

• EFSA: https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en

• FDA Food Center: https://www.fda.gov/food

Connect with Daniel Aaron, M.D., J.D.:

Professional Bio: https://faculty.utah.edu/u6052921-DANIEL_G_AARON/hm/index.hml

Email: Daniel.Aaron@law.utah.edu

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.