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Korea Herald
21-05-2025
- Health
- Korea Herald
[Lisa Jarvis] MAHA pushes unneeded glucose tracking
Casey Means, a Stanford-trained physician and wellness influencer nominated by US President Donald Trump for surgeon general, is convinced the US is experiencing an epidemic of metabolic dysfunction — a crisis silently unfolding inside the cells of millions of Americans. One solution, she says, is giving people a close-up view of that crisis. Coincidentally, Levels, a company she co-founded, sells a system that allows people to continuously track their blood glucose levels in real time. She claims this information can help people home in on food and lifestyle choices that will improve their metabolic health. It's a philosophy that other "Make America Healthy Again" movement members have pushed. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. extolled glucose monitoring devices as only costing '$80 a month, and they've been shown to be extraordinarily effective in helping people lose weight and avoid diabetes.' Meanwhile, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary told senators at his confirmation hearing that glucose monitors should not require a prescription. He similarly talked up their promise to address obesity and prevent diabetes. There's just one problem: These claims aren't backed by science. They promise to lead Americans down a path to wellness but, without more evidence, could amount to a waste of our health care dollars. 'What is the utility there? The answer is zero,' says David Nathan, a Harvard Medical School professor who has led some of the most important studies on diabetes prevention. 'This, to me, is a scam.' In an information-rich age where our smartwatches can tell us the quality of our sleep, the number of steps we've taken, oxygen levels in our blood, heart rate and more, you might ask: Why not track blood sugar? More data is not always better. It doesn't always tell us something meaningful and, worse, could even cause harm by creating unnecessary anxiety or leading us to draw the wrong conclusions about our health. Continuous glucose monitoring, or CGM, has allowed people with Type 1 diabetes to better manage their blood sugar, which, in turn, can lead to fewer serious health complications like blindness, kidney failure and even death. People with Type 2 diabetes have also used CGM to prevent dangerous fluctuations in blood sugar, but the data is mixed on the long-term benefits. And then there's CGM in people who don't have diabetes. Levels is one of several companies that charge anywhere from $199 to more than $400 per month for CGM, which is often paired with diet coaching. 'I believe CGM is the most powerful technology for generating the data and awareness to rectify our Bad Energy crisis in the Western world,' Means wrote in a blog post on her company's website. Tracking glucose can 'alert us to early dysfunction, coach us on how to eat and live in a way that promotes Good Energy in our unique bodies, and promote accountability.' In reality, the data supporting constantly monitoring blood sugar in people who don't have diabetes, and even in those with prediabetes, is virtually nonexistent, Nathan says. One 2024 review of the literature on CGM in healthy people found scant evidence of its utility. The authors found the research gaps so significant that they concluded any commercial products claiming to offer a benefit 'be labeled as misleading.' Means, meanwhile, has argued that CGM offers important information about our metabolic health. 'An extra-large spike after a meal is a clear sign that the meal had too much refined grain or refined sugar and is creating a big stress of food energy for your cells to deal with,' she wrote on the company's website. But blood glucose is influenced by so much more than the last thing you ate, says Nicola Guess, a dietician and diabetes researcher at the University of Oxford. That includes whether you just finished a vigorous workout, slept poorly the night before, your stress levels, what other foods you ate recently or alongside a particular fruit or vegetable — even a woman's menstrual cycle. Moreover, doctors don't even have enough data to tell patients what a 'healthy' glucose fluctuation looks like in people without diabetes. We don't know, for example, if a spike after a meal is harmless if it comes back down soon after, or even what 'soon' would mean, says Nicole Spartano, a diabetes researcher at Boston University. 'I do worry that people have this technology and are making changes to their diet that do not truly improve their health,' Spartano says. 'For example, you could eat hot dogs (with no bun) for every meal, and your glucose data would look perfect. Very few people would suggest that is a good diet.' Similarly, there's little evidence that blood sugar tracking can prompt people to make long-term changes in their habits, which is the foundational tenet of companies like Levels. Studies of evidence-backed lifestyle interventions show that many can elicit short-term benefits. It's the long haul that people struggle with. The influx of companies pushing CGM has prompted a more intense study of its value in healthy or prediabetic people. But we're still years away from definitive answers. The MAHA movement likes to say it's about following 'gold-standard science.' For people with diabetes, blood sugar tracking is part of gold-standard care. But for everyone else? So far, there's nothing to suggest this would be a wise way to spend our money.
Time Magazine
20-05-2025
- Business
- Time Magazine
Cecilia Conrad
In 2023, when Yield Giving founder MacKenzie Scott wanted to give $250 million to 250 charities serving low-income households and people facing discrimination, she turned to Cecilia Conrad for help choosing which groups most deserved the grants. Conrad runs Lever for Change, a nonprofit that connects donors with organizations through 'open calls,' or competitions for funding, then brings in experts to evaluate applicants for financial soundness, impact, and effectiveness. It's a reversal of the typical invitation-only system most foundations use for grants, and gave, on the one hand, little-known nonprofits a shot at significant funding and, on the other, donors a chance to discover compelling new groups to support. The upshot for Scott? Lever for Change identified so many promising organizations that last year she ended up more than doubling her initial pledge, giving away $640 million to 361 groups, chosen from more than 6,000 applicants. Such is the transformative power of Conrad, a Stanford-trained economics professor-turned philanthropy executive who previously led the MacArthur Foundation's Fellows program, aka its 'Genius' grants. She founded Lever for Change in 2019 to dismantle barriers in philanthropy. 'There are donors who want to fund creative, effective organizations and creative, effective organizations who need funding but they have trouble finding each other,' Conrad says. To date, Lever for Change, which has also advised LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, has influenced $2.5 billion in donations to more than 500 charities. And more is coming: The organization is now vetting hundreds more charities to help Melinda French Gates decide how to allocate $250 million to improve women's health. 'We exist to help donors discover new ideas, new potential," Conrad says.
Atlantic
08-05-2025
- Health
- Atlantic
The MAHA Takeover Is Complete
The surgeon general, America's doctor, is the public face of medicine in the United States. The job is more educational than it is technical. Vivek Murthy, who was appointed as surgeon general during both the Obama and Biden administrations, went on Sesame Street to stress the importance of vaccinations and put out a guidebook to hosting dinner parties as a cure for loneliness. In many ways, Casey Means is the perfect person for that job. Donald Trump's new nominee for surgeon general, announced yesterday, is a Stanford-trained doctor who is well-spoken and telegenic. Most important, she clearly knows how to draw attention to health issues. Good Energy, the book she published last year with her brother, Calley (who, by the way, is a special adviser in the Trump administration), is Amazon's No. 1 best seller in its 'nutrition' and 'aging' categories. She regularly posts on Instagram, where she has more than 700,000 followers. In many other ways, however, Means is far from perfect. A leading voice in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' movement, she has a habit of trafficking in pseudoscience and at times can be hyperbolic, to put it lightly. Means has said that America's diet-related health issues could lead to a 'genocidal-level health collapse' and that 'all of us are a little bit dead while we are alive' because of what she calls 'metabolic dysfunction.' She has also written about taking part in full-moon ceremonies and about how talking to trees helped her find love—though she admitted that the rituals were 'out there.' And Means (who didn't respond to a request for comment) has used her platform to promote 'mitochondrial health' gummies, algae-laden 'energy bits,' and vitamins she described as her 'immunity stack.' Means was not Trump's top choice for surgeon general. His first nominee, Janette Nesheiwat, was pulled out of contention yesterday amid allegations that she had misrepresented her medical training. Presuming the Senate confirms Means as the next surgeon general, she will be another one of RFK Jr.'s ideological compatriots who have joined him in the Trump administration. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary are both also skeptics of the public-health establishment. Earlier this week, Vinay Prasad, another prominent medical contrarian, assumed a top job at the FDA. Now the 'MAHA' takeover of the federal health agencies is all but complete. Earlier today, Trump told reporters that he tapped Means 'because Bobby thought she was fantastic.' Means fits right in with the Trump administration's approach to health. She dropped out of her medical residency, citing her frustrations with the myopic focus of modern medicine. By her telling in Good Energy, she left her program in ear, nose, and throat surgery because 'not once' was she taught what caused the inflammation in her patients' sinuses. In the third chapter of her book, titled 'Trust Yourself, Not Your Doctor,' Means writes that you should not trust physicians, because the medical establishment makes more money when you are sick and does not understand how to treat the root causes of chronic disease. Alleviating chronic disease is also a passion of Kennedy's, and the similarities between them run deep. Like the health secretary, Means believes that you should avoid seed oils and ultraprocessed foods. She is prone to musings about the crisis of American health care that leans more Goop than C. Everett Koop. She has proclaimed that Americans have 'totally lost respect for the miraculousness of life.' She has said that the birth-control pill disrespects life because it is 'shutting down the hormones in the female body that create this cyclical life-giving nature of women.' One of the latest editions of her weekly email newsletter was dedicated to the children's movie Moana, which she called 'a forgotten blueprint for how we lead, heal, and regenerate.' (For the record, Koop, America's surgeon general during Ronald Reagan's presidency, never implied that he's done mushrooms to find love.) Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Andrew Huberman have all hosted Means on their podcasts. Means's rise is, in many ways, emblematic of modern internet wellness culture writ large: If you're articulate and confident and can convincingly recite what seems like academic evidence, you can become famous—and perhaps even be named surgeon general. Her most dangerous inclination is to toe the line of her new boss, Kennedy, on the issue of vaccines. On Rogan's show in October, she questioned whether the barrage of shots kids receive as infants might cause autism. And on Carlson's podcast, she argued that perhaps certain shots given to infants should be given later in life to avoid overexposure to neurotoxins. There is no scientific evidence to back up those claims. But at the same time, much of Means's philosophy toward health doesn't seem that objectionable. Whereas the books that RFK Jr. has written are crammed full of conspiracy theories, hers focuses on how America's ills can be treated with whole foods, exercise, and good sleep. It even includes a recipe guide. (Her fennel-and-apple salad with lemon-dijon dressing and smoked salmon is delicious, I must admit.) If her book is any indication, her first move as surgeon general will be to urge parents to cut down on their kids' sugar consumption. 'If the surgeon general, the dean of Stanford Medical School, and the head of the NIH gave a press conference on the steps of Congress tomorrow saying we should have an urgent national effort to cut sugar consumption among children, I believe sugar consumption would go down,' she wrote. If Means sticks to these issues—encouraging Americans to eat organic, go on a walk, and get some shut-eye—she could be a force for positive change in American health care. If she urges women to forgo birth control, plugs unproven supplements, or uses her bully pulpit to question the safety of childhood vaccines, she will go down as one of the most dangerous surgeon generals in modern history. In this way, she is much like Kennedy and the rest of the MAHA universe. Their big-picture concerns sound reasonable and are resonating with lots of people. America does have a chronic-disease problem; food companies are selling junk that makes us sick; the public-health establishment hasn't gotten everything right. But for every reasonable idea they proffer, there is a pseudoscientific belief that strains their credibility.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Meet Casey Means, Trump's surgeon general nominee and a major player in the MAHA movement
Dr. Casey Means and her brother Calley are helping shape RFK Jr's new approach to America's health. She left conventional healthcare to advocate for people to take more direct control of their health. In a best-selling book "Good Energy," she makes a case that modern diseases are rooted in metabolic health. President Trump has chosen Dr. Casey Means, a major player in the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, as his pick for US surgeon general. Means is a Stanford-trained physician who studied surgery. She later pivoted to become the CEO and cofounder of Levels, a wearable tech company that offers users real-time updates on their blood sugar levels and raised millions of dollars in funding from big-name investors like Marc Andreessen. Trump made the decision after withdrawing his initial pick, Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat. Means became associated with the MAHA movement in recent years. She co-authored the best-selling book "Good Energy" with her brother, Calley Means, a former food and pharmaceutical consultant who interned for John McCain's presidential campaign. Calley Means later helped coordinate the first chats between President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Together, the Means siblings have built a major following on wellness-related topics. They've appeared on high-profile platforms like "The Tucker Carlson Show" and Joe Rogan's podcast, calling for a shift from what they believe is the current model of doctors playing the role of middlemen between patients and their health. "There's a really unfortunate landscape in our country where individuals are essentially at the mercy of the information that their doctor chooses to give them and how deeply it's explained," Casey Means told Business Insider in May in an interview about Levels. Means' overarching philosophy is that metabolism is the foundation of good health and the key to addressing Americans' overwhelming rates of chronic disease. Here's what we know about Casey Means' priorities. Means' book promotes the pursuit of Good Energy, which she defined as great metabolic health. "It governs the very essence of what (quite literally) makes you tick," she said in the book, "whether your cells have the energy to do their jobs of keeping you nourished, clear-minded, hormonally balanced, immune protected, heart-healthy, structurally sound — and so much more." According to Means, roughly 93% of US adults have "Bad Energy," or poor metabolic health. She attributes conditions like depression, infertility, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, erectile dysfunction, cancer, and Alzheimer's to habits like eating ultra-processed foods and sleep deprivation. Means argues that inflammation and oxidative stress, unstable molecules that cause cell damage, underpin these modern diseases. In the scientific community, there's consensus with Means about the importance of maintaining a healthy metabolism, which is often associated with weight loss and can also reduce the risk factors of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Studies also show some links between metabolic health and depression. However, Means has also been criticized for exaggerating health risks, such as stating in her book that "each additional serving of ultra-processed food we eat" increases early mortality by 18%, referencing a 2019 study conducted in Spain. "I've easily had 1000 bags of chips in my life," Brad Stulberg, an adjunct professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan posted on X. "If this is true, it means my mortality risk has increased by 18,000 percent." Too much emphasis on metabolism also risks oversimplifying health, according to Christy Harrison, a registered dietitian and nutrition writer behind the Substack "Rethinking Wellness." "I'm automatically suspicious of anyone who claims they've identified the 'one true cause' of all diseases. That's typically just a way of selling you something," she told Business Insider. "The human body and disease processes are far too complex to pin on one single 'root cause,' even though I know from experience that that idea can be so appealing." In the book, Means criticizes the healthcare system, drawing from her experience in medical school and years of study as surgeon (although she did not complete her residency). Calley Means similarly criticizes the pharmaceutical industry after working as a lobbyist. "Every institution that impacts your health makes more money when you are sick and less when you are healthy — from hospitals to pharma to medical schools, and even insurance companies," she said. Means, who runs a wearable glucose monitor business, promotes a more individualized approach to health in her book. She recommends wearing a fitness tracker, using continuous glucose monitors, and reading your own lab results rather than depending on a doctor to interpret them for you. The book has a section outlining how to analyze your bloodwork results to make sure you have Good Energy. While she still says you should see doctors for acute, life-threatening problems and emergencies, she advises against trusting doctors for chronic issues like high cholesterol and PCOS. Throughout the book, Means promotes widely agreed-upon health advice. She recommends a diet rich in fiber and antioxidant-packed fruits and vegetables while cutting ultra-processed foods. She also encourages eating foods with nutrients like vitamin C, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids, hydrating throughout the day, and avoiding plastic packaging. Additionally, she emphasizes following a consistent sleep schedule (at least seven hours of sleep a night) and reducing screen time before bed. She also suggests getting regular exercise such as walking at least 7,000 steps per day and strength-training a few times a week. Means also shared common mental health tips, such as seeing a therapist, maintaining a sense of community, and practicing mindfulness via meditation and yoga. Many of Means' suggestions for healthy habits are based in developing research on lifestyle strategies that have the potential to help us live longer or better, but are still being studied to work out what the effects might be in larger-scale, real-world scenarios. She advocates for intermittent fasting, a massively popular nutrition plan that involves limiting meals and snacks to a set window of time, in this case, 14-hours a day. Fasting has emerged as a promising area of study for improving weight loss, managing blood sugar, and potentially even extending lifespan or fighting diseases like cancer. She also recommends reducing plastic use, filtering water, and eating organic produce and grass-fed meat and dairy to avoid exposure to chemicals ranging from PFAs to pesticides. Along with routines like cold plunging, these recommendations align with those from popular science podcasters like Andrew Huberman and Dr. Peter Attia. Together they're part of a trend toward optimization, fine-tuning the details of our behaviors based on what we can glean from the latest research studies. Many of the strategies are experimental, often based on small-scale studies or animal models, and the proposed benefits can sometimes go beyond what current data has shown. Harrison previously wrote that the trend often highlights "early-stage research that isn't ready for prime time" and is meant to provide a path for further research, not actionable advice for lifestyle changes. "In terms of potential benefits, I suppose some people might find it helpful to follow small, early-stage studies and try out their recommendations to see if anything works. But again, most of those theories won't be borne out in future scientific research," Harrison told BI. "In my mind, when it comes to scientific research, anything touted as 'cutting edge' is worth an extra dose of skepticism," she said. Some of Means' advice is in contrast to what mainstream medical experts frequently recommend. She advises cutting out seed oils like canola oil, a common ingredient in processed foods and restaurant meals. In some online wellness circles, seed oils have been blamed for everything from the obesity epidemic to sunburn, despite a general consensus among dietitians that the oils are safe and even healthy in moderation. Means also encourages direct-to-consumer medical testing such as a $500 lab panel on metrics like cholesterol levels, hormones, and immune system functions. The concept builds on her work with Levels in giving people the ability to see how their daily choices might be affecting their health by looking at the data for themselves instead of waiting months or longer for doctors' visits. The shift is appealing because, despite ballooning healthcare costs, life expectancy is stagnating. Frustration with medical providers is on the rise as patients navigate complex bureaucracy and sometimes outright gaslighting in the doctor's office, and wariness about the influence of pharmaceutical companies is spiking, too. An individualized approach to health with daily routines offers a way to feel in control, but research suggests factors on a much broader societal scale have a much bigger impact, accounting for up to 70% of health outcomes on a population level. "Metabolic health certainly is important to overall well-being, but so are many other factors, including economic stability, social and community environment, access to and quality of care, and other social determinants of health," Harrison said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Express Tribune
08-05-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Dr Casey Means nominated as US surgeon general: MAHA influencer impressed Donald Trump
President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Casey Means — a Stanford-trained surgeon turned wellness influencer — as the next U.S. Surgeon General, replacing former Fox News contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, whose nomination was abruptly withdrawn ahead of her confirmation hearing. Means has co-founded the health tech startup Levels and has built a large online following promoting lifestyle-based interventions to combat chronic illness. She will be tasked with championing Trump's 'Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)' agenda. The initiative is being led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with whom Means has close ties. Trump called Means 'an extraordinary leader with impeccable MAHA credentials,' adding that she 'has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in U.S. history.' The president also praised her 'outstanding' academic background and dedication to eradicating chronic disease. Means, 38, has no prior government experience and left her surgical residency disillusioned with traditional medicine. Since then, she has become a vocal critic of the healthcare system, linking modern chronic diseases to poor diet and environmental toxins. Alongside her brother, Calley Means — now a White House adviser — she has advocated for sweeping changes in food policy, pharmaceutical oversight, and nutritional education. Their work helped broker Kennedy's 2024 endorsement of Trump, and the siblings have since gained support from conservative figures like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan. Calley is also known for promoting policies like cutting SNAP food benefits and removing fluoride from drinking water. While Casey Means steers clear of Robert Kennedy Jr.'s debunked vaccine theories, she has called for increased scrutiny into vaccine safety and easing legal barriers for patients to sue pharmaceutical companies — positions that could draw scrutiny during Senate confirmation. Her nomination follows the withdrawal of Janette Nesheiwat, who was scheduled to appear before the Senate Health Committee this week. Nesheiwat's credentials were questioned after reports revealed she earned her degree from a Caribbean medical school, not the University of Arkansas as previously claimed. If confirmed, Means would oversee the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and serve as a national voice on major health issues — including nutrition, chronic illness, and health equity. Her appointment would also further align Trump's health policy with Kennedy's controversial but increasingly influential MAHA platform, which includes proposals to ban food additives and overhaul school lunch standards. As the 2024 campaign season accelerates, Trump's latest pick for the nation's top medical post signals a sharp pivot toward wellness populism and a continued challenge to traditional public health leadership.
