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Is this documentary the truth or propaganda? You decide. Just don’t ignore this issue, which could lead to WW3. Most of the mainstream media coverage in the U.S. slants it in Israel’s favor. This is the other side.

Fruits and veggies are good for us, right. We should eat more more of them, right?

UK’s Daily Mail published a worrisome article about pesticide residues (PFAS) on many fruits and veggies: strawberries, grapes, cherries, spinach, tomatoes, peaches/nectarines, etc. The tested foods were from UK supermarkets but I bet the numbers are just as bad or worse in the U.S. PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These man-made and long-lasting chemicals are implicated in causation of cancer, immunity impairment, infertility, impaired kidney function, thyroid disease, and low birth weight.

Thrice in the last six months I’ve heard that compared to the European Union, U.S. regulators allow many more chemical contaminants in food. That sounds like a deep and circuitous rabbit hole that I’m not ready to explore. Please mention in the comments an authoritative book or website on the subject.

I’ve been trying to grow food here in the Sonoran Desert for the last three years. I’m about ready to give up. My primary pests have been mealy bugs, caterpillars, mice, pack rats, and squirrels.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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I tried to find the origin of “livin’ the dream” once. No luck. I hear someone say it every couple months.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Around New Year’s Day annually, you see articles or news reports on Word of the Year as chosen by various organizations. E.g., Merriam-Webster’s WOTY for 2023 was “authentic.” Runners up included “rizz” and “deadname.” WOTY for 2022 was one I’ve enjoyed for several years: “gaslighting.”

I read “stochastic” at a blog w/in the last few days. I had heard or read it before but had to look up its meaning. It’s rarely if ever used by the crowd I run with. I thought it had something to do with science, maybe chemistry. The definition from Merriam-Webster:

• 1) RANDOM. Specifically, involving a random variable
• 2) PROBABLISTIC; involving chance or probablility

When I read “stochastic” the other day, it was in the term “stochastic terrorism.” I thought the writer was just using a highfalutin substitute for “random.” But no, stochastic terrorism is a thing. William M. Briggs (Statistician to the Stars!) recently wrote about it:

Academics at universities, which are the best kind of academics, invented the idea of stochastic terrorism. According to academic James Angove (who with the others cited below may appreciate emails of congratulation on their prescience), in the peer-reviewed paper “Stochastic terrorism: critical reflections on an emerging concept“, stochastic terrorism is… 

…broadly, the idea that influential individuals may demonise target groups or individuals, inspiring unknown actors to take up terroristic violence against them…I understand the phenomenon to be specifically authoritarian in nature, which not only demonises but dehumanises its targets. 

Does that remind you of something that happened in the U.S. July 13, 2024?

Steve Parker, M.D.

DiabetesDaily informed me of a new drug available for treatment of a liver disease that affects “up to 20% of people with diabetes. But by no means is the disease limited to diabetics (er, “people with diabetes”). The disease is MASH: metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, something else I’d never heard of. (Shouldn’t the acronym be MDASH?) The drug is resmetirom, sold in the U.S. as Rezdiffra. Click for the FDA announcement. MASH can lead to liver scarring (fibrosis), which then qualifies the patient for resmetirom. The DiabetesDaily article is well-written and includes alternatives to this new drug.

I’ve long been aware of NASH: non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. THIS is the liver disease target according to the FDA announcement, which states “Rezdiffra is a partial activator of a thyroid hormone receptor; activation of this receptor by Rezdiffra in the liver reduces liver fat accumulation.” Furthermore:

The most common side effects of Rezdiffra included diarrhea and nausea. Rezdiffra comes with certain warnings and precautions, such as drug-induced liver toxicity and gallbladder-related side effects. 

There may be potential significant interaction of this new drug with others, particularly statin cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Color me skeptical. If only because the drug was on the “accelerated approval pathway.” But I’ll keep an open mind.

I’m not sure, but it appears that candidates for the drug will need a liver biopsy showing fibrosis (scarring).

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Not quite what you were expecting, was it?

Wishing a glorious Father’s Day to all you dads!

John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Red meat consumption — whether processed or not — was linked to onset of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. according to a 2023 article in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The research was a long-term observational study by mostly Harvard-based scientists. Among the authors that might be familiar to you are Walter Willett, Frank Hu, and Frank Sacks. Click the link for the deets.

This doesn’t prove that red meat consumption causes diabetes. But if you enjoy a fair or high amount of red meat, you might benefit by cutting back, especially if diabetes runs in your family. I’d also suggest regular exercise and avoiding overweight and obesity to reduce your risks of type 2 diabetes. The author suggest red meat alternatives: nuts, legumes, dairy foods.

In the same journal issue is a commentary by Daan Kremer. Some snippets:

The current observational study is unlikely to end the discussion on whether red meat intake increases risk of type 2 diabetes and even less likely to end the epistemological debates on how to grade quality of observational evidence when many efforts are made to reduce bias and confounding.

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All in all, the study by Gu et al. may arguably be the best evidence to date on the relation between red meat intake and type 2 diabetes. Yet somehow, I feel that the books have not been closed.

  Steve Parker, M.D.

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