Latest news with #UltimateHuman
Sky News AU
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Joe Rogan reveals why he finally decided to interview Donald Trump
UFC Commentator Joe Rogan has revealed why he finally interviewed Donald Trump only days before the 2024 presidential election. The recent election was dubbed the 'podcast election', with many believing Trump's appearance on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' secured his victory. Trump's appearance on Rogan's podcast was believed to have swayed the election in his favour, as many young men voted for the Republican candidate. The 47th president's podcast appearance has currently reached 59 million views, with it only being released last October. Rogan's recent appearance on the 'Ultimate Human' podcast allowed the commentator to explain why he eventually decided to interview Trump.
Atlantic
07-07-2025
- Health
- Atlantic
The Missing Piece of RFK Jr.'s Agenda
The MAHA diet is full of fussy advice: swap the seed oils for beef tallow, cut out the ultra-processed snacks and synthetic food dyes, slap on a continuous glucose monitor to track how your blood sugar fluctuates with each bite. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his 'Make America healthy again' followers have such strong feelings about food because bad eating habits are making people sick. Many MAHA acolytes are equally particular about the need for a good night's sleep. In their best-selling book, Good Energy, Casey and Calley Means, siblings who are both close Kennedy confidants, warn that even the best eating habits cannot make up for bad sleep: 'You could eat a perfect 'Good Energy' diet, but if you don't sleep, your cells will spew out excess free radicals.' (Casey is Donald Trump's surgeon-general nominee, and Calley is a special White House adviser.) Should the family dog be a nuisance at night, it may necessitate 'intensive pet training or finding a new home,' they say. Other MAHA figures have similarly suggested making hard choices in the name of prioritizing sleep; Gary Brecka, a self-described biohacker who recently hosted Kennedy on his podcast, Ultimate Human, has recommended a $3,000 smart mattress cover. In typical MAHA fashion, some tips veer into the unscientific and even absurd. Mark Hyman, a longtime friend of Kennedy's who runs a wellness empire, has outlined a 'simple sleep routine' that includes throwing away plug-in air fresheners, staying away from plastic food containers, and even building a Faraday cage over your bed to keep away electromagnetic waves. Americans have been told over and over again to sleep more, with limited success. Nearly 40 percent of adults aren't getting enough rest, according to the CDC. The MAHA movement has good reasons to keep hounding the message. Poor sleep exacerbates many of the chronic conditions that the movement is focused on remedying. People who don't get enough shut-eye are at higher risk of heart disease and obesity. Even a week of sleep troubles can lead to glucose-processing issues similar to those experienced by people with type 2 diabetes. In May, the Trump administration's MAHA Commission published a long-awaited report on the causes of chronic disease among children; sleep is mentioned more than 20 times. (Calley Means apparently spearheaded the report.) When it comes to actual interventions and policies, however, sleep has been notably absent from the administration's planning. As health secretary, Kennedy has had some success cracking down on food dyes and enacting anti-vaccine policies, but he hasn't laid out anything close to a plan for addressing the country's sleep problem. The same can be said of state legislators who have been eager to implement MAHA policies. As a cause, sleep is a great illustration of MAHA's challenges: It's easy to make the point that Americans are unhealthy. It's much harder to actually fix it. Kennedy seems less focused on sleep than other MAHA leaders are—something that goes back to before he was health secretary. He hasn't mentioned sleep in any speeches since being confirmed for his job. When asked about Kennedy's views on sleep, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told me that 'Secretary Kennedy supports a science-driven approach to health promotion, with an emphasis on raising awareness of lifestyle factors that contribute to long-term wellness.' There is good reason to think that RFK Jr. believes that sleep is an important part of improving America's health: He has suffered health scares in the past, partially due to sleep deprivation, and in response has prioritized getting more sleep, The New York Times reported last year. His silence on sleep might have to do with the fact that a good night's rest is especially difficult to legislate. Sure, the government cannot take a cheeseburger out of someone's mouth, but it can do a lot to change food habits: tweaking what items can be purchased with food stamps, rewriting the rules for what is served in schools, putting warning labels on unhealthy foods, even banning certain ingredients. There isn't a similar playbook for sleep. That's not to say there are no policies that could help. Take teens: Three-fourths of high schoolers do not get the recommended eight hours of sleep per night, according to the CDC. One of the key reasons is that their routine doesn't match with their biology. During puberty, adolescents naturally fall asleep and wake up later. This phenomenon, known as sleep-phase delay, is why first period is so tortuous for many high schoolers. Several sleep experts I spoke with suggested that school shouldn't start so early, which the Means siblings also endorse in their book. When Seattle's school district pushed its start time back by roughly an hour, students reported about 30 extra minutes of sleep per night. But Kennedy has little power to influence the education system. And even if he were to convince the Department of Education to endorse such a policy, states and localities would likely be the ones to implement such a change. Coming up with policies to address sleep is all the more challenging because different groups are falling short on rest for different reasons. Some people are deprived of sleep because they live in loud or dangerous areas. Many people are staying up working —or late-night scrolling. (We know of one president doing so, at least.) The policy challenges might not stop RFK Jr. from lamenting America's sleep woes. After all, no health problem is straightforward, and Kennedy has advocated for several food changes that he doesn't have the power to implement as the head of HHS. Like Hyman, perhaps he could give a speech outlining his own sleep hacks. Maybe he could go the way of Brecka and promote gadgets that promise to improve sleep. (Last week, Kennedy declared that 'wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda' and that he envisions every American wearing one within four years.) Or perhaps he, like the Means siblings, will just give Americans some hard truths about the importance of rest. The HHS secretary has shown himself to be an expert at riling crowds by channeling nostalgia for a bygone era, and America's sleep habits have gotten worse over the years. In 1942, 84 percent of adults were getting at least seven hours of sleep each night, according to a Gallup poll. By 2023, that number had dropped to 52 percent. But sleep doesn't lend itself to a rallying cry in the way that other aspects of the MAHA agenda do. The movement's critiques of our poor diets have been so galvanizing because there is a clear enemy to organize around: the food industry. The same can be said of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine activism: Pharmaceutical companies make for an easy scapegoat, even though they aren't making products that cause autism. This process of determining the source of a problem and assigning blame is an essential part of any social movement, sociologists have suggested, and it is often what motivates action. If everyone was spending their nights tossing and turning on barbed-coil springs, perhaps a campaign could be waged against Big Mattress. But sleep is such a multifaceted problem that it's difficult to generate a single, unifying enemy. That doesn't mean sleep is a losing issue for the MAHA universe. The fact that there's a market for $3,000 mattress pads demonstrates just how desperate people are for a solution to their sleep woes. But without articulating a clear theory for why Americans' sleep has suffered, anything Kennedy says about sleep will make him look less like a reformer and more like a self-help guru eager to sell another cure.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. will ‘end the war' against alternative medicine at the FDA, from stem cell therapy to chelation. Here's what to know
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. doubled down on his support for non-pharmaceutical health treatments during a recent podcast appearance, saying, 'We're going to end the war at the FDA against alternative medicine.' Speaking on the Ultimate Human podcast with host Gary Brecka, a 'renowned Human Biologist, biohacker, and longevity expert,' according to the website, Kennedy said he would fix the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's bias against the following: stem cell treatments, chelating drugs, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, peptides, and hyperbaric chambers. 'Our position is that the FDA has a job: Just do the science on these kinds of issues and then tell the public what they've learned from the science … but don't tell physicians what they can and cannot prescribe,' he said. And as far as the patients go, he said, 'If you want to take an experimental drug … you ought to be able to do that.' RFK Jr. added, 'We don't want to have the Wild West. We want to make sure that information is out there. But we also want to respect the intelligence of the American people' to decide what treatments will benefit them the most. He acknowledged that, with this approach, there will be 'charlatans' as well as 'people who have bad results' from various alternative treatments. 'But ultimately,' he said, 'you can't prevent that either way, and leaving the whole thing in the hands of pharma is not working for us.' Brecka called Kennedy's pronouncements 'music to my ears.' Below, what you need to know about the alternative therapies RFK Jr. is advocating for. What is it: It's a way to repair diseased or injured tissue in the body using stem cells—cells that can self-renew or become other types of tissues—typically grown in a lab, manipulated, and then be implanted into the patient. What it does: Though it's considered to be largely experimental, the FDA does permit stem cell therapies for blood and immune disorders. Leukemia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and multiple myeloma, for example, are also often treated this way, with bone marrow treatments, which are backed by decades of science. Other types of the treatment are still in clinical trials, while more and more wellness centers are offering the treatment for unapproved reasons, using cells drawn from the patient's body and injected back in without manipulation for everything from autism and ALS to Parkinson's and better skin, according to the New York Times. Kennedy told Brecka that he received the treatment for his voice disorder, spasmodic dysphonia, and that it helped him 'enormously,' but that he had to go to Antigua to access it. Risks: For starters, wellness clinic treatments cannot guarantee they are using actual stem cell, reported the Times. And improper injections can lead to a host of terrible consequences—clots, infections, blindness, and even the formation of tumors, which the FDA warned of in 2021. What it is: Chelation involves the use of certain chemicals to remove toxic heavy metals, such as mercury and lead, from the body; all FDA-approved chelation therapy products require a prescription and can only be used safely under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner. What it does: Some alternative medicine practitioners offer chelation therapy, through pill or injection, as a way to treat Alzheimer's, autism, diabetes, high blood pressure, or Parkinson's disease, all of which are unapproved and risky. Children's Health Defense, founded by Kennedy, has written about chelation as a way to treat autism, which compares 'autism with mercury poisoning' due to childhood vaccines that contained the preservative thimerosal (largely mercury) before it was removed in 2001. Some flu shots still contain the preservative, but, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 'There is no evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines.' Risks: The FDA warns specifically about using chelation therapy for autism, and notes, 'Chelating important minerals needed by the body can lead to serious and life-threatening outcomes.' While minor risks may include fever, headache, muscle pain, and nausea or vomiting, severe reactions range from heart failure and kidney damage to respiratory failure and seizures, according to the Cleveland Clinic. What they are: Dietary supplements in almost every letter of the alphabet, from A to zinc, are over-the-counter pills or liquids that contain nutritional boosts of vitamins and minerals. What they aim to help: Vitamin and mineral supplements aim to fill in with necessary nutrients that a person is not getting through food—though nutritionists believe that healthy food is the best source of such vitamins and minerals. Studies have found supplements may help with practically any issue under the sun—energy, heart issues, cognitive function, gut health, sleep, and more. Risks: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates supplements, but doesn't approve them for safety or effectiveness before they are sold to the public. Some may cause liver damage and toxicity, while others may just be a waste of money. What it is: Amino acids are often referred to as the 'building blocks of proteins,' needed for building proteins, hormones, and neurotransmitters. are compounds that play many critical roles in your body. You need them for vital processes such as building proteins, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Amino acids are concentrated in protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, and soybeans, and foods that contain all nine essential amino acids are called complete proteins. Peptides are short proteins, and come in the form of hormones such as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and creatine and collagen. What they aim to help: Amino acid supplements may help with various issues—such as L-arginine for blood flow and inflammation; tryptophan for mood and sleep; and valine, leucine, and isoleucine to help with energy and athletic performance. Taking collagen supplements may help strengthen nails and bones, while people take creatine for boosting workouts and building muscle growth. Risks: Side effects of taking either can range from toxicity and gastrointestinal issues to effects on brain function muscle protein balance. Creatine may cause muscle cramps and digestive problems (and may not have many benefits), while tryptophan may cause dizziness, headache, or nausea. And again, as with all supplements, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates them, but doesn't approve them for safety or effectiveness before they are sold to the public. What it is: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a medical-grade, FDA-approved chamber lets you breathe pure oxygen—as opposed to everyday air, which is just 21% oxygen mixed with nitrogen. Hyperbaric oxygen is also highly pressurized, thereby allowing the lungs to take more in. Home chambers (used by folks including Lebron James, LeAnn Rimes, and Mayim Bialik), as well as those offered in many wellness clinics, do not deliver 100% oxygen. Instead, they use regular air that is 30% more pressurized than normal for what's known as 'mild hyperbarics.' What it aims to help: The FDA has been regulating HBOT chambers since 1976, and has officially cleared 13 medical conditions—such as decompression sickness, burns, radiation injury, and certain wounds—for such treatment. But it's used off-label for many other reasons, including concussions, traumatic brain injury, long COVID, age reversal, stroke recovery, fibromyalgia, and improved brain function, many of which are being looked at in ongoing clinical trials. Risks: For medical-grade chambers, risks include ear and sinus pain, middle ear injuries, temporary vision changes, and lung collapse, which is rare, according to the FDA. For mild hyperbarics, risks include potential exposure to toxic oils from some compressors, carbon dioxide buildup that brings a risk of hypoxia inside the chamber—or, according to some experts and a body of inconclusive evidence, that the treatment may simply be ineffective. This story was originally featured on
The Herald Scotland
30-05-2025
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
RFK Jr.'s vaccine comments and inside his controversial week
It's been a busy week for the "Make America Healthy Again" leader - from updating the COVID vaccine guidelines, to threatening to bar government scientists from publishing in leading medical journals. Kennedy's COVID vaccine rollbacks and comments on scientific research are concerning, and it might be difficult for people to absorb all the medical news and recommendations they're hearing about, says Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC. Similar to how Kennedy wooed supporters with his commitment to cracking down on ultraprocessed foods and artificial food dyes, his comments against scientific journals contain a nugget of truth - companies can fund research, and people need to be able to trust the scientific studies used to inform health decisions. "It's a tricky situation when you have someone who is sharing valuable information about the impact of ultraprocessed food and the influence that the large companies can have on policy, and how we have to change that, while at the same time he is spreading falsehoods about the value of vaccination on people's health," Besser says. RFK Jr., vaccine recommendations and what changed On May 15, Kennedy told people not to take "medical advice" from him after being asked about the measles vaccine by Wisconsin Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan. "What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant," he said. But on May 27, Kennedy announced in a video clip shared to X that the COVID-19 vaccine would no longer be included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women, in a move that breaks with previous expert guidance. Traditionally, the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices would meet and vote on changes to the immunization schedule or recommendations on who should get vaccines before the director of the CDC makes a final call. The committee has not voted on the changes Kennedy announced, and a CDC representative was not included in Kennedy's video. Kennedy also spoke on the "Ultimate Human" podcast, calling the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet, three of the most influential medical journals in the world, "corrupt." "Unless those journals change dramatically, we are going to stop NIH scientists from publishing in them and we're going to create our own journals in-house," he said, referring to the National Institutes of Health, an HHS agency and the world's largest funder of health research. He added that these journals publish studies funded and approved by pharmaceutical companies. And there is some merit to Kennedy's statements - major food and drug companies have funded scientific research. According to a 2015 article published in The Lancet, Coca-Cola disclosed spending $118.6 million over five years on scientific research and health and wellbeing partnerships; several influential medical organizations, including the American Cancer Society, received funding from the company. RFK Jr.'s changes raise 'grave concerns' from scientific community Kennedy's move to change COVID vaccine guidelines contradicts his previous claims that he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines." However, the changes to the guidelines may affect what is covered by insurance and who has access to the shot if they still wish to receive it. Federal vaccine recommendations affect what private insurances will cover, and Medicaid only covers the full cost of recommended vaccines. Besser says Kennedy's updated guidelines "raise grave concerns about the stability of our vaccine recommendations." "There was no opportunity for people to explore the data that may be behind this decision or to ask questions," he explains, "which makes me feel that there could be other decisions coming with the same lack of transparency." To lead their healthiest possible life, Besser recommends that people, especially parents, consult their trusted health provider to "sort through the massive amounts of information being thrown at them." Contributing: Sudiksha Kochi
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Many said RFK Jr. would launch a war on vaccines, medicine. Is it here?
Many said RFK Jr. would launch a war on vaccines, medicine. Is it here? Show Caption Hide Caption RFK Jr. says COVID-19 vaccine no longer recommended for some The COVID-19 vaccine is no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was announced as President Donald Trump's U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary nominee, there were media outlets and commentators who suggested RFK Jr. would "wage a war" on vaccines. Concerns about his views were so widespread that vaccines and research-backed science were both a focus during his confirmation hearing. So is the moment his opponents cautioned about now upon us? It's been a busy week for the 'Make America Healthy Again' leader – from updating the COVID vaccine guidelines, to threatening to bar government scientists from publishing in leading medical journals. Kennedy's COVID vaccine rollbacks and comments on scientific research are concerning, and it might be difficult for people to absorb all the medical news and recommendations they're hearing about, says Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC. Similar to how Kennedy wooed supporters with his commitment to cracking down on ultraprocessed foods and artificial food dyes, his comments against scientific journals contain a nugget of truth – companies can fund research, and people need to be able to trust the scientific studies used to inform health decisions. 'It's a tricky situation when you have someone who is sharing valuable information about the impact of ultraprocessed food and the influence that the large companies can have on policy, and how we have to change that, while at the same time he is spreading falsehoods about the value of vaccination on people's health,' Besser says. RFK Jr., vaccine recommendations and what changed On May 15, Kennedy told people not to take 'medical advice' from him after being asked about the measles vaccine by Wisconsin Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan. 'What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant,' he said. But on May 27, Kennedy announced in a video clip shared to X that the COVID-19 vaccine would no longer be included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women, in a move that breaks with previous expert guidance. Traditionally, the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices would meet and vote on changes to the immunization schedule or recommendations on who should get vaccines before the director of the CDC makes a final call. The committee has not voted on the changes Kennedy announced, and a CDC representative was not included in Kennedy's video. Kennedy also spoke on the 'Ultimate Human' podcast, calling the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet, three of the most influential medical journals in the world, 'corrupt.' 'Unless those journals change dramatically, we are going to stop NIH scientists from publishing in them and we're going to create our own journals in-house,' he said, referring to the National Institutes of Health, an HHS agency and the world's largest funder of health research. He added that these journals publish studies funded and approved by pharmaceutical companies. And there is some merit to Kennedy's statements – major food and drug companies have funded scientific research. According to a 2015 article published in The Lancet, Coca-Cola disclosed spending $118.6 million over five years on scientific research and health and wellbeing partnerships; several influential medical organizations, including the American Cancer Society, received funding from the company. RFK Jr.'s changes raise 'grave concerns' from scientific community Kennedy's move to change COVID vaccine guidelines contradicts his previous claims that he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines." However, the changes to the guidelines may affect what is covered by insurance and who has access to the shot if they still wish to receive it. Federal vaccine recommendations affect what private insurances will cover, and Medicaid only covers the full cost of recommended vaccines. Besser says Kennedy's updated guidelines 'raise grave concerns about the stability of our vaccine recommendations.' 'There was no opportunity for people to explore the data that may be behind this decision or to ask questions,' he explains, 'which makes me feel that there could be other decisions coming with the same lack of transparency.' To lead their healthiest possible life, Besser recommends that people, especially parents, consult their trusted health provider to 'sort through the massive amounts of information being thrown at them." Contributing: Sudiksha Kochi
