Wellness, Actually with Emily Oster & Perry Wilson, MD

This week, just in time for spooky season, Emily and Perry take on the one certainty in this life: death. How have human beings historically (and unsuccessfully) tried to cheat it? How are the tech bros in the longevity space trying to today? What's the point? And what actually happens to your body, and curiously overactive brain, when you die?

Plus: the curse of Wellness, Actually comes for Calley Means, whether the Dengue Fever break-out worth a freak-out, and TB in strip clubs.

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This week, Emily and Perry are going classy with a close look at eating organic. We all know it's more expensive, but is it worth the sticker (shock)? Do organic foods actually taste better, are they healthier, and, most importantly, are they safer? Safer for you, better for the environment? The answer, like your grocery bill, might surprise you.

Plus: what doctors really think about you, according to your chart, testosterone in the military (again), and gentlemen, don't worry about, erm, holding off before trying to impregnate someone.

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Previous episodes referenced:

• What's the deal with declining sperm counts?
• What's the deal with Botox?

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This week, Emily and Perry discuss the highly disciplined world of intermittent fasting: all the different ways you can not eat and all of their purported health effects. Will it make you lose weight, reset your metabolism, live longer? Only if you're a mouse, alas. And they've got problems of their own.

Plus: RFK Jr. institutes billing codes for vaccine injuries, an experimental new medicine will kill your fat cells dead, and do not - we repeat, DO NOT - get your herpes treatment from Amazon.

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This week, Emily and Perry explore Botox, literally the most toxic substance in the universe, so why not inject it into our faces? From its discovery to its biomechanics to its myriad uses, it might just turn out that smooth foreheads are the least interesting part of this cunning little spore.

Plus: it's Nobel Prize week! Also, the plague is back, baby, and GLP-1s might make your fingernails fall off.

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This week, we're rebroadcasting our episode on GLP-1s, those blockbuster weight-loss drugs that have taken the world by storm -- and not just what you already know about them. From the origins in Gila monster venom to the surprisingly long history of their use, they explore their effectiveness, side effects, lingering questions about long-term usage, and the weird knock-on effects in both the brain (libido?) and our society (protein water?). These drugs are here to stay, so let's understand them from every angle.

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This week, Emily and Perry are joined by Producer Tamar to answer series of short health and wellness suggestions - by you, the listeners! - that don't merit a full deep dive but are still fun to dissect. From vampire facials to vibrating plates to salt lamps to toxic salmon, we're here for you.

Plus: U.S. officials failed to detect flaws in the covid vaccine, President Trump wants to split other vaccines up, science be damned, and Montana eschews the FDA.

Past episodes referenced:

• What's the deal with seed oils?
• What's the deal with poop?

The Vagina Whisperer

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This week, Emily and Perry dive into the sweet, calorie-free world of artificial sweeteners. What poor lab hygiene brought them into existence? Do they actually make us fatter and/or cause cancer? What regulatory shenanigans got us so scared of aspertame? And, most importantly, why is Diet Coke seriously so good?

Plus: an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in New York, hot beverages and esophageal cancer, and a frightening new opioid has entered the chat.

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Submit a ridiculous wellness trend for next week's grab bag episode here!

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This week, Emily and Perry dive into the slippery world of seed oils. Canola, vegetable, safflower, yes, even avocado: why have these plant-based oils gotten such a bad rep compared to their animal-based counterparts? How does processing and frying play in? Is it beef tallow's world and we're just living in it? Note: this episode is best enjoyed with a big plate of fries.

Plus: a disappointing heart drug, the military is no longer testing testosterone (thanks to us??), and exciting news in the pig kidney community.

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This week, Emily and Perry are bravely tackling one of our most beloved bodily functions, polite company be damned: poop! Is it, as Emily asks, truly the window to our souls? How much about our health and wellness can be ascertained by studying the texture, transit time, and frequency of our poop? What's the optimal way to poop? Should we be fibermaxxing? How special are our gut biomes? It's not a gross episode if you learned something.

Plus: the deadly duo of rabies and measles, and how to get ahead of both.

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This week, we're rebroadcasting our episode on peptides, the purported panacea for all health ailments. Can an injection of these tiny bits of protein actually boost your metabolism, plump up your skin, heal your injuries, and overall prolong your life? And what could possibly go wrong when you inject a peptide stack of dubious origin anyway?

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This week, Emily and Perry explore the creepiest, crawliest topic yet: ticks! What's the deal with these little bloodsucking jerks? How do they infect us? What are the differences between tick-borne illnesses, and which ones do you really need to watch out for? Is Lyme disease a bioweapon? And how much should you worry about becoming allergic to meat? Tuck your pants into your socks and join us.

Plus: a new study advocating for more screen time is just as bad as all the others, updates on good cholesterol levels, and be sure to take extra vehicular precautions the next time Tay Tay drops an album.

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This week, Emily and Perry take on fluoride, a mineral with proven benefits for your teeth and an army of skeptical influencers ready to fight their municipal water supplies, (weakened) tooth and nail. What is fluoride? When did we start putting it into the water? Do we still need to? Is there any truth to the skeptics' concerns? And can we all agree that the best hope for our kids' IQs is Dolly Parton?

Plus: the shady backroom dealings of flavored vapes, the specious reasoning behind vaccine "choice," and a padded bra scandal in the Tour de France Femmes (avec Zwift!).

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This week, Emily and Perry explore gluten, the protein responsible for everything that makes bread, bagels, pasta, and all of their other favorite foods chewy and delicious. Why has gluten gotten such a bad rap lately? Is it really responsible for all the ailments it's blamed for? When is an allergy an allergy, and how do we have compassion for any number of very real sensitivities without throwing the baby out with the sourdough discard?

Plus: the inevitable protein backlash has arrived, Viagra is unfortunately not a cure for cancer, and though it's out of the news cycle, the Ebola outbreak in the DRC is still raging.

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This week, Emily and Perry discuss the Sun. Sure, it’s necessary for life on earth and occupies over 99% of our solar system’s mass, but seriously, what’s its deal? Specifically, with respect to vitamin D and sunscreen, two oddly controversial topics in the wellness space. How much sun should we safely be exposed to? What’s the value of sunlight for our mood, health, and overall well-being? And…should we be tanning our buttholes?

Plus: coffee is good for you, actually, the United States is a “cool mom” when it comes to peptide production, and yet another infuriating record set with measles cases.

Past episodes referenced:

What's the deal with peptides?

What's the deal with red light therapy?

Submit a question for our weekly mailbag at wellnessactually.fm.

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This week, Emily and Perry raise a glass to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. How does it actually affect our brains? How much should we, or should we not, safely be drinking? Why are studies about responsible consumption such hot, noisy garbage? And does everything always have to be good for us to be enjoyable?

Plus: the latest on cyclospora, a sad upper bound on the human lifespan, and some overcompensating in the military.

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This week, Emily and Perry are joined by actress Allison Williams to discuss all things pregnancy brain. Are the fog and forgetfulness due to actual brain shrinkage? Does it replenish itself postpartum? Do women ever actually "bounce back"? What's all this change in the service of, exactly? And, most importantly, how do we support the women in our lives going through this?

Plus: lactate gels at the Tour de France, Bryan Johnson's pesky autoimmune disease, and hail and farewell to the last American Polio survivor.

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This week, Emily and Perry take on cortisol, the much-maligned stress hormone blamed for heart attacks and stubborn belly fat. But how much heat should cortisol really be getting? How do you know when yours is too high? Too low? Is it ever really worth measuring? And you guys, what did Mendelian randomization ever do to Emily?!

Plus: the FDA signs off on ZYN pouches, explosive diarrhea in the Midwest, and apparently GLP-1s are really, really easy to get.

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This week, Emily and Perry explore RNA, a tiny molecule of extraordinary potential. What is it? How is it different from DNA? How have vaccines and an incredible array of potential medical treatments managed to unlock its magic? And what are the conspiracy theories that have been standing in the way? Prepare for medical science to shake hands with technological wonder.

Plus: the FDA vs. Whoop, unpacking botulism outbreaks in baby formula, and a mystery “compassionate use” patient for retatrutide.

Previous episodes referenced:

What's the deal with protein?

Submit a question for our weekly mailbag at wellnessactually.fm.

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This week, Emily and Perry debate full body scans: MRIs that scan your entire body like a giant humming hammer in search of nails. Will it find something wrong with you? (Yes.) Will it be something you should be worried about? (Almost always no.) But what if that one time it's the one thing that ends up saving your life? (Yeah, this is actually kind of complicated.)

Plus: a totally not shocking flu outbreak amongst our troops, fantastic news about the HPV vaccine and cervical cancer, and RIP blue and brown M&Ms.

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This week, Emily and Perry tackle the weirdest, most wonderful thing all living things do: sleep. If evolution has forced us to be completely vulnerable for eight hours at a stretch, there must be a darn good reason. So what is actually happening to our brains when we sleep? What disrupts it, and how do we optimize for quality and quantity? And what are the risks of getting too little sleep...and enlisting chemical help to get more?

Plus: screwworm is (appropriately) nightmare fuel, a cure for Ozempic butt, and hard seltzer vs. your kidneys.

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ParentData episode on the placenta.

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