Heart disease was four times more deadly than it is today. In those days, we had no statins, no stents, and no bypass surgery. Food was the only weapon doctors had.

Pharmacies in Rome and Greece even stocked extra virgin olive oil for patients with “hardening of the arteries.” Doctors sent people to pick up bottles, almost like prescriptions. Olive oil wasn’t curing clogged arteries, but it showed an early recognition that diet mattered.

Then scientists noticed something bigger. In certain Mediterranean villages, people lived longer with far less heart disease. It wasn’t genetic. Relatives who moved to cities and switched to Western diets developed heart disease much earlier.

Researchers didn’t stop there. They followed men in villages across Europe and the Mediterranean for decades. Some communities ate diets heavy in saturated fats. They developed clogged arteries and heart disease quickly. Other communities ate diets rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, nuts, and olive oil. They had much lower rates of heart disease. This pattern became the foundation of what we now call the Mediterranean Diet.

At that time, diet gave us hope. But today, we know that food alone is not enough.

The Lyon Diet Heart Study proved how powerful diet could be. Conducted just as statins came onto the market, it showed that patients with heart attacks who switched to a Mediterranean-style diet had a 70% lower risk of another cardiac event. That meant fewer heart attacks and fewer deaths.

Later, the PREDIMED trial confirmed these results. In high-risk adults, the Mediterranean Diet reduced major cardiovascular events by about 30%. That’s impressive, but it also raises a question: can people sustain it? Adherence usually means sticking with the diet about 70 percent of the time. That’s not perfect.

Here’s a personal example. I have hypercholesterolemia and a strong family history of heart disease. I follow the Mediterranean Diet carefully. But even with strong adherence, my LDL cholesterol never dropped below 180. With two drugs — Zetia and Crestor — my LDL is now in the 40s. Food helps. Medicine saves.

The PESA Heart Study showed why this matters. Researchers in Spain followed adults who felt perfectly healthy. Using advanced imaging, they found more than 60 percent already had plaque in their arteries. Atherosclerosis begins silently, and often decades before symptoms appear.

The JUPITER trial with rosuvastatin (Crestor) proved what medicine can do. Statins reduced cardiovascular events by 44 percent, and the study had to stop early because the benefit was so strong.

And then there’s Dean Ornish. His program is often called the “diet that reverses heart disease.” But it was never just a diet. His patients quit smoking, took statins, took blood pressure medications, and practiced yoga. Ornish proved that lifestyle matters — but it was food and medicine together that made the difference.

Meanwhile, scammers still sell false hope. Barbara O’Neill, banned from giving health advice in Australia, charges thousands for seminars where she claims cayenne pepper “opens arteries.” That’s pure fiction. Cayenne is a spice, not a stent. She also claims cholesterol guidelines only exist to enrich drug companies. Yet my three-month supply of Crestor costs $2.36, while she profits thousands. The real con is clear.

So here’s the truth: salmon is healthy, but it isn’t a stent. Olive oil helps, but it isn’t a statin. Food prevents disease. Medicine treats it. Together, food and medicine are...

People love to believe that food can replace medicine. We talked about this in Episode One, where I explained that Hippocrates never said “let food be thy medicine.” Still, the myth endures.

Food does matter. The right eating pattern can lower blood pressure. One of the best-studied is the DASH Diet—short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It is often called America’s version of the Mediterranean Diet. While the Mediterranean Diet was being mapped out for overall health, the DASH researchers asked a sharper question: what foods can lower blood pressure directly?

Unlike most nutrition studies, the original DASH trial provided all the food to participants. That meant researchers knew exactly what people ate, meal after meal. This is rare and expensive, but it gave them confidence in the results.

The DASH diet emphasizes:

• Fruits and vegetables, especially potassium-rich foods like bananas, beans, and leafy greens
• Whole grains
• Lean proteins, like fish and poultry
• Low-fat dairy
• Less red meat, sweets, and sodium

Because it combined several food groups, DASH worked quickly. Within two weeks, blood pressure dropped.

The results were consistent. People following DASH lowered their systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 8–11 mmHg and their diastolic pressure by 5–6 mmHg. That is about the same as one standard blood pressure pill.

Even more important, DASH showed that sodium reduction matters. Those who cut sodium intake to 1,500–2,300 milligrams per day saw the greatest improvements. This shattered the myth that unlimited salt is safe. Too much sodium raises blood pressure, increases heart disease risk, and fuels strokes.

This is where things get messy. Electrolytes, especially sodium, are necessary during prolonged exercise—typically more than 1–2 hours, in hot weather, or when sweating heavily. Under those conditions, sodium helps prevent hyponatremia, a dangerous drop in blood sodium levels.

However, for most people exercising less than an hour, water is enough. Regular meals will replace lost sodium. Salty drinks or powders aren’t required. In fact, most commercial sports drinks don’t even contain enough sodium to match sweat losses in extreme events.

Here is where the grift appears. Shirtless salesmen on social media love to sell high-priced mango-flavored salt packets as “essential” electrolytes. They promise performance and recovery, but they may actually raise your blood pressure and put you at risk.

Science says otherwise. Electrolyte supplementation should be individualized and used with caution. People at highest risk from unnecessary sodium loading include:

• Those with hypertension, heart failure, or kidney disease
• Women, who are more prone to overhydration and hyponatremia due to smaller body size and lower sweat rates
• Older athletes or those with low body mass
• Recreational athletes who follow outdated advice to “drink as much as possible”

Even ultra-endurance athletes cannot rely on sodium supplements alone. If they drink more than they lose, sodium will not prevent hyponatremia and may make things worse. The best strategy is to drink to thirst and use salty foods or fluids only when truly needed.

How can you follow DASH in real life? Here’s one...

People love to say “food is medicine.” Some even claim Hippocrates himself said it. But here’s the thing: he didn’t. The phrase does not appear in any of his surviving writings. In fact, historians believe the line was created centuries later and then falsely attached to Hippocrates to give it weight.

Still, the idea persists. Even the current head of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has repeated the myth. And when RFK Jr. is your fact-checker, you know you’re in trouble.

Now, as someone certified in Culinary Medicine, I believe food is incredibly powerful. Eating the right foods can prevent disease, improve health, and help you live longer. However, food alone rarely works as well as actual medicine. That is especially true when it comes to cholesterol.

In the early 2000s, Dr. David Jenkins and his team introduced what they called the Portfolio Diet. Instead of focusing on one “superfood,” the diet combines several cholesterol-lowering foods:

• Soy protein
• Nuts, like almonds
• Viscous fibers from oats, barley, or psyllium
• Plant sterols from fortified foods

Each one has a small effect. But when you put them together, the benefits add up.

Why does it work? Cholesterol gets secreted by your liver into bile, then travels into your gut. Normally, most of that cholesterol is reabsorbed into your bloodstream. But fiber and plant sterols bind to cholesterol and drag it out of your body. That’s why bowel movements are brown—bile is brown, and fiber helps carry it out. More fiber means you feed your gut bacteria and flush away cholesterol. It really is a win-win.

The Portfolio Diet has been tested in multiple clinical trials. In one JAMA study, people who followed the diet lowered their LDL cholesterol by about 13 to 14 percent over six months. That translated to a drop of about 24–26 mg/dL.

Other studies show that people who stick with it can lower their LDL by 17 percent on average. Some who were especially diligent saw drops of more than 20 percent at one year. The Portfolio Diet also improves non-HDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and long-term risk for heart disease.

So yes—it works. In fact, the effect is similar to what you get from early statins like lovastatin.

The science sounds great. But how do you actually eat this way? Here’s one example day:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal made with soy milk
• Snack: A handful of almonds (about 25–30 grams)
• Lunch: Lentil soup with whole-grain bread
• Dinner: Tofu stir-fry with vegetables and barley
• Extra: Two grams of plant sterols, often from fortified margarine spreads

That daily pattern gives you soy protein, fiber, nuts, and plant sterols. But here’s the challenge: it takes careful planning to hit the right doses every day. It’s not impossible—but it is hard to sustain.

Many people confuse the Portfolio Diet with the Mediterranean Diet. Both are plant-forward, emphasize nuts, legumes, whole grains, and lower cardiovascular risk. However, the Mediterranean Diet is broader and easier to follow. It includes olive oil, fish, fruits, vegetables, and even moderate wine.

The Portfolio Diet, on the other hand, is very prescriptive. You must hit specific amounts of soy protein, fiber, and sterols daily. Think of the Mediterranean Diet as the entire restaurant, while the Portfolio Diet is just one corner of the menu—focused...

Milk has always been central to survival. When mothers died in childbirth—and this happened often before modern medicine—infants survived only if they had access to another nursing mother or wet nurse. When that wasn’t possible, families sometimes turned to the milk of other mammals.

That discovery helped keep our species alive. However, milk’s role in human survival carried a hidden danger. While milk nourished infants, it also became a deadly carrier of disease.

During the 1800s, raw milk was anything but safe. In New York City, dairies kept cows next to distilleries, feeding them whiskey mash. The resulting milk was bluish and watery. To disguise it, producers added chalk and plaster. Parents unknowingly gave this milk to children. According to estimates, 8,000 infants die a year from contaminated milk in New York alone.

Milk also spreads tuberculosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid. A simple glass of raw milk could kill.

The turning point came with Louis Pasteur, a French chemist who proved microbes spoiled wine and beer. He developed the process of pasteurization: heating a liquid enough to kill pathogens without ruining flavor.

His discovery revolutionized public health. Pasteur’s germ theory of disease proved that invisible microbes caused illness. Applied to milk, this meant heating could save lives. Pasteur’s work inspired sterilization in surgery, the discovery of TB bacteria, and eventually vaccines.

In the U.S., pediatrician Abraham Jacobi urged families to boil milk by the 1870s. Philanthropist Nathan Straus built pasteurized milk stations across New York. Mortality rates for children who drank Straus’s milk dropped by nearly 50%.

Pasteurization was not flashy, but transformative. Alongside clean water and vaccines, it became one of the greatest advances in human health.

Indigenous children in Canada’s residential schools were forced to drink raw milk from cows raised on pasture. The cows looked healthy, but many carried bovine tuberculosis. Children sickened and died. In some schools, mortality reached 30–60% in just five years. Hundreds of unmarked graves discovered in recent decades reveal the human toll.

Even the cleanest farm or happiest cow can carry pathogens. You cannot see tuberculosis or E. coli in a glass of milk. Pasteurization is the only safeguard.

Despite history, raw milk has returned as a “wellness” trend. Politicians like RFK Jr. have promoted it, even doing raw milk “shots” with influencer Paul Saladino in the White House.

But nostalgia doesn’t erase microbiology. Just weeks later, Florida saw 21 people sickened—including six children—by E. coli and Campylobacter from raw milk. Seven were hospitalized. Two developed life-threatening complications.

If someone claims to support children, selling raw milk undermines that promise.

Myth: Raw milk has more nutrients.

Fact: Pasteurization causes <10% vitamin loss. Proteins, calcium, and fats remain intact.

Myth: Raw milk prevents asthma.

Fact: Studies show lower allergy rates in farm kids, but due to the farm environment, not the milk.

Myth: A clean farm means safe milk.

Fact: Even pristine dairies can harbor invisible pathogens like TB, Salmonella, or Listeria.

Myth: Pasteurization “ruins” milk.

Fact: Pasteurized milk is...

Protein powders are everywhere. Walk into a gym, scroll through social media, or visit a health food store, and you’ll see tubs of whey, egg, pea, and soy protein. Add buzzwords like “isolate,” “hydrolysate,” and “grass-fed,” and suddenly these powders sound like liquid gold. But how much of this is science—and how much is hype?

Surgeons were among the first to use modular proteins. In the ICU, when patients couldn’t eat, we relied on early protein formulas. These weren’t the big plastic tubs you see at Costco. They were custom-made, extremely expensive, and delivered directly into the gut through a feeding tube. Proteins like albumin cost thousands of dollars and were carefully monitored.

Over time, science moved forward. Modern protein powders have become more affordable and accessible. What once cost hospitals a fortune is now sold in shiny containers at gyms and supplement shops. That’s progress—although it also opened the door for plenty of marketing nonsense.

The very first protein powders sold to the public in the 1950s were made from eggs. Hollywood stars promoted them as the secret to beauty and muscle. Soon, the “beautiful people” diet drifted into gyms, where bodybuilders grabbed onto the promise of sculpted muscles. Eventually, protein shakes became a middle-America trend.

Today, gyms often make more profit selling supplements than memberships or training. That’s not nutrition—it’s salesmanship.

Remember the nursery rhyme about “curds and whey”? That wasn’t just poetry. Cheese making separates milk into two parts: the solid curds and the liquid whey. For centuries, whey was a waste product. Farmers dumped it or fed it to pigs. Then researchers discovered that whey contained high-quality protein, packed with amino acids.

Now, whey protein is the biggest player in the supplement industry. Isolates and hydrolysates are simply forms of whey with more processing. They’re not magic—they’re filtered versions of what used to be discarded.

Cows aren’t the only animals providing milk protein. Goats produce protein powders, too, often marketed as “easier to digest.” Then there’s pea protein, soy protein, and rice protein, sold to vegans and those with dairy allergies. These plant-based versions can be useful, but they aren’t inherently superior.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are another popular product. They sound impressive, but in reality, if you’re eating enough protein in your diet, you already have plenty of BCAAs. Extra scoops don’t turn into extra muscle.

Here’s the irony. While influencers push powders as miracle muscle builders, surgeons actually prescribe them for medical reasons. After weight-loss surgery, patients can’t eat large amounts of food, so modular proteins help meet nutritional needs. In ICU patients with short gut syndrome or severe illness, protein powders save lives.

Doctors used them first—long before gyms turned them into cash cows. The difference? We used them based on data, not marketing hype.

Protein powders are tools, not miracles. They’re convenient, portable, and sometimes necessary. But they’re not a shortcut to health. If you eat enough protein from whole foods, you probably don’t need that expensive tub with the shiny label.

The supplement industry thrives on hype. Science thrives on evidence. And if history has shown us anything, it’s that evidence always wins—eventually.

1. Boirie Y, Dangin M, Gachon P, Vasson M-P,...

Mark Hyman loves a soundbite. One of his favorites is:

It sounds inspiring. Unfortunately, it isn’t true.

I’m certified in culinary medicine, and I live the Mediterranean diet. Good nutrition matters. It lowers risk. It supports treatment. However, it cannot replace medicine for people with established disease.

The DASH trial (Sacks et al., NEJM 2001) proved that eating more fruits and vegetables while cutting sodium lowers blood pressure by the same amount as one blood pressure pill. That’s great news for prevention. But for those with heart disease, diabetes, or kidney problems, nutrition alone can’t cure the condition.

Before the year 1800, even if you survived childhood, your life expectancy was still in your 30s or 40s (Roser et al., Our World in Data). People then ate “organically,” free from dyes and microplastics. They also died young. Modern life expectancy came from clean water, vaccines, and medicine, not kale.

Samoa in 2019 had a diet Instagram influencers dream about — fresh fish, fruit, and root vegetables. Then measles hit.

Two infants had died in 2017 because nurses mixed the MMR vaccine incorrectly. The government suspended vaccinations for nearly a year, and coverage dropped to about 31%. Into that trust gap stepped anti-vaccine activists, including RFK Jr., spreading misinformation.

By late 2019, Samoa had over 5,700 cases and 83 deaths — most in children under five — in a population of just 200,000. Schools closed. Public gatherings stopped. Unvaccinated homes had to hang red flags so mobile teams could find them. Only when vaccination resumed did the outbreak end (WHO, 2019).

Tahiti’s story was similar. Beautiful diet. Fresh food. Yet measles still spread. The only thing that stopped it was vaccination, not nutrition.

Mark Hyman is trained in family medicine. He co-directed Canyon Ranch’s health program, then founded the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine — a role he no longer holds.

His version of “functional medicine” isn’t recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Chiropractors, dentists, and nurses can buy a certification and call themselves “doctor.” In California, only MDs and DOs can legally use the title “physician,” but in many states, the public gets fooled.

Hyman now uses his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign to give his brand of pseudoscience legitimacy. My Crestor costs $2.36 for three months, and my doctor gets nothing for prescribing it. His supplements? Around $100 for the same time, straight into his pocket.

The Lyon Diet Heart Study (de Lorgeril et al., Circulation 1999) found that a Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of another heart attack by 72% in people who already had heart disease. But those patients were still taking statins, aspirin, and blood pressure meds. Diet complemented medicine; it didn’t replace it.

The JUPITER trial (Ridker et al., NEJM 2008) showed that statins cut cardiovascular events by 44% in people with normal LDL but high CRP. No supplement stack or smoothie matches that.

My dad had a heart attack at 55. Doctors told him not to expect another 20 years.

Five years later, statins came out. He took them faithfully, along with his blood pressure medicine. He...

For more than a century, people have searched for quick fixes to “cleanse” the liver. From old‑time laxatives to today’s wellness shots and hangover probiotics, the promise is the same: remove toxins, feel better, live longer. However, as science catches up with marketing claims, we learn a hard truth — most of these cleanses never did what they promised.

Back in the 1800s, doctors blamed nearly every health problem on a “sluggish liver.” Headaches, fatigue, irritability — even bad moods — were supposedly signs that the liver wasn’t “lively” enough.

Enter Carter’s Little Liver Pills. These small tablets promised to fix “biliousness,” an old term for feeling miserable and out of sorts. The secret ingredient? Cascara sagrada, a plant‑based laxative. In short, the pills made people poop, and that temporary relief was sold as detoxification.

Carter’s advertising strategy worked brilliantly. Their message was simple: if you feel bad, it’s your liver’s fault — and their pills were the cure. The campaign was so successful that the phrase “more than Carter’s got pills” became American slang for “an absurd amount of something.”

Sadly, that formula still works today. Many modern health products use the same playbook: invent a vague condition, blame it for everything, then sell the cure.

Fast‑forward to today and you’ll see similar claims everywhere. Dose for Your Liver, a wellness shot with milk thistle and turmeric, promises to “cleanse” the liver and support “500 daily functions.” While it cites studies showing reduced liver enzymes, those studies involved people who already had liver problems — not the average healthy person grabbing a detox shot after brunch.

ZBiotics Pre‑Alcohol markets itself as a probiotic that breaks down acetaldehyde, a compound linked to hangovers. The truth is more complicated. Your liver clears almost all acetaldehyde on its own, while your gut bacteria handle less than five percent. Most hangover symptoms actually come from alcohol itself, dehydration, and inflammation — not a single molecule.

Perhaps the most dramatic claim is the “liver flush” made from olive oil and lemon juice. Supporters insist that the green balls they pass in the toilet are gallstones. However, chemical tests show these “stones” are actually soap‑like clumps created when oil mixes with digestive fluids. Real gallstones are hard and form in the gallbladder; they do not dissolve overnight or pass easily. Even people without gallbladders “flush stones,” which proves the myth.

The good news? You don’t need a cleanse. Your liver already detoxes naturally — 24 hours a day. Instead of chasing fads, focus on habits proven to protect it:

• Drink coffee (up to three cups daily): Linked to lower risk of fatty liver and cirrhosis.
• Eat polyphenol-rich foods like blueberries: These support liver health through antioxidants.
• Get fiber from beans, greens, and whole grains: Good for the gut‑liver connection.
• Exercise regularly: Even 150 minutes a week can reduce liver fat.
• Limit alcohol: No supplement erases binge drinking.
• Stay up to date on vaccines: Hepatitis A and B vaccines prevent major liver diseases.

By the 1950s, science caught up to marketing. Constipation wasn’t liver...

(How Edinburgh dragged American medicine out of the Wild West)

When we think about modern surgery, it’s easy to imagine it has always been clean, safe, and scientific. However, that could not be further from the truth. Surgery was more like a horror show just over 150 years ago. Patients faced unbearable pain, filthy instruments, and shocking guesswork.

Today, we’ll explore how the Scottish city of Edinburgh transformed surgery — and how America, for far too long, ignored the science in favor of quick fixes and fast profits. Along the way, we’ll meet heroes like James Young Simpson and Joseph Lister, as well as villains like John R. Brinkley and Willard Bliss. We’ll also see why modern “wellness influencers” aren’t so different from the quacks of the past.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Edinburgh was the world’s medical capital. Students from across Europe and the American colonies traveled there to study anatomy, surgery, and the latest medical theories.

Because of this, early American physicians like Benjamin Rush and John Morgan brought Edinburgh’s teachings home, helping to found the first U.S. medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. Harvard soon followed with a similar model.

However, while a few elite schools adopted Scottish standards, most of America remained a medical free-for-all. Outside major cities, anyone could call themselves a doctor, and “miracle cures” were everywhere. This was the true “Wild West” of medicine — long before the cowboy era we usually imagine.

Next, let’s fast-forward to the mid-1800s. At this time, one of the greatest problems in surgery was pain. Without anesthesia, operations had to be done quickly, often in less than a minute, and the suffering was unbearable.

That changed in 1846, when ether anesthesia was first used in Boston. News of ether’s success quickly crossed the Atlantic. By the time the next ship arrived in Edinburgh, surgeons were already experimenting with it — and looking for something even better.

Enter James Young Simpson, an obstetrician and, yes, one of my relatives. In 1847, Simpson discovered that chloroform worked better than ether and was easier to use. His famous breakthrough happened during a dinner party experiment, where he and his friends inhaled chloroform, passed out, and woke up amazed. Surgery would never be the same again.

Solving pain was one thing, but there was another huge problem: infection. After surgery, most patients didn’t die from the knife — they died from the germs they couldn’t see.

This is where Joseph Lister changed history. Influenced by Louis Pasteur’s germ theory, Lister realized that microorganisms caused infection. He began using carbolic acid to clean wounds and sterilize instruments. While some of his colleagues mocked him, the results spoke for themselves: surgical death rates plummeted.

Lister’s work eventually led to asepsis, the sterile environments we now take for granted in operating rooms.

Unfortunately, the United States was slow to adopt these life-saving ideas. A tragic example is the death of President James Garfield in 1881. After being shot, Garfield’s wound was not fatal....