A shameless Chris removes his belt at an all-you-can-eat buffet, which leads Jonathan to talk about the keto diet. How does it compare to other diets and will it do anything to your diabetes, cancer, or epilepsy? Learn about the mysterious food stuff known was "tufo"; hear someone say "carby" a lot; and watch in horror as Jonathan drinks a whole bottle of nail polish remover. Also: how does hormone replacement therapy compare to…

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My article from the Montreal Gazette looking at whether coffee really does need a warning label. http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-california-ruling-on-cancer-c... **************************************************************************************************** Recently a California judge ruled that coffee increases the risk of cancer and must carry a warning label. The decision came as a result of a lawsuit filed against companies like Starbucks claiming they violated the state's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act(popularly known as Prop 65) that requires warning labels for any food that contains a chemical that…

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  When a self-proclaimed naturopath believes HIV and the Ebola virus can be permanently destroyed by ingesting silver, we may ask ourselves: who taught her these notions? Jonathan delves into Quebec's IFN, a naturopathy school built on a shaky foundation but hey! It's got a nice roof to protect you from the rain. This story involves antivaccination views, naturopathic surgeons, and a fraud investigation. This is Jonathan's latest video for the McGill Office for Science…

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  Jonathan interviews public health and consumer advocate Ryan Armstrong, in whom the College of Chiropractors of Ontario is now taking a special interest. They discuss the internal split between "straights" and "mixers"; the Canadian origin of the chiropractic discipline; the College's monitoring of Ryan's public criticism; the divine claims of some practitioners; the safety of fast thrusts; the chiropractor-antivaxx link; and more. Ryan weighs in on two important questions: can chiropractors self-regulate and can…

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  There is more to vision loss than meets the eye. Take vitamins, for example. Certain vitamin combinations do slow down the progression of a particular type of eye disease, but can genetics tell us which patients will benefit... and which will be harmed? Jonathan's latest video for the McGill Office for Science and Society.    

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  "If anyone ever tried to convince you that cellphones cause brain cancer, they probably referred to the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP). In 2016, the NTP published preliminary results suggesting that cellphones increased the risk of brain and heart cancer. ... A few things to mention before we begin. The positive finding occurred in rats, but not mice. The positive finding occurred in male rats, but not female rats. There were no humans in…

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  The podcast's third-year anniversary celebration turns out to be the perfect time to discuss coffee. Does it prevent disease... or cause disease? Why are pregnant women told to avoid excessive caffeine consumption if it's a wonder drug? And, if it's a drug, is it addictive? We discuss its purported links to miscarriages, birth defects, fertility, cardiac risk, blood pressure, cancer, migraine, and Parkinson's disease. Plus: why complications are not the same as medical error,…

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  How can we fight back against the tsunami of quackery? There is one trick that has worked again and again and to learn it, we must turn to Georgian College. What happened to its homeopathy program is a lesson in small victories. My latest video for the McGill Office for Science and Society!  

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In the conversation about weight loss, there's one technique we almost never mention even though it's very effective and is one of the few things that can actually prevent disease. That is bariatric surgery and it's the focus of my latest article for the Montreal Gazette. http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-weight-loss-and-the-case-for-... *********************************************************** When you start talking about weight loss, most people think about diet and exercise. But a recent survey in the United States found that people generally overestimate…

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For you #insomniacs out there, here is some science based advice on what does and does not work for #sleep. SPOILER ALERT: most of it does not work, because ... well... it is me after all. http://www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/slaying-sleep-myths-what-does-and-doesn-...

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