Because Good Medicine Deserves Better Explanations
Author’s note (2025 update) This article was originally published in 2017 and revised in 2021. It has now been updated and expanded for 2025 to include new clinical insights, refined explanations, and additional causes of chest pain. Chest pain is one of the most common—and most alarming—symptoms in medicine.In the United States, millions of people … Read more
At first, they were diabetes drugs.
GLP-1 receptor agonists—liraglutide, semaglutide, and later tirzepatide—were developed to help patients with type 2 diabetes regulate blood sugar. They mimicked a gut hormone, GLP-1, that modulates insulin, glucagon, and gastric emptying. They also acted on the brain.
Appetite went down.
Weight came off.
And people noticed.
We’ve become a society defined by distraction, acceleration, and mental erosion. The fog isn’t a glitch. It’s the weather report.
Not long ago, I saw a 58-year-old man who had done “everything right.” His LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) was well controlled on a statin, his blood pressure stable, and he exercised regularly. But he carried extra weight around his waist, his triglycerides were persistently high, and a CT scan revealed clear signs of atherosclerosis in his … Read more
Just days ago, something remarkable happened.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary stood at a podium and said what would’ve once been unthinkable.
That dogma still lives large,” he declared, referring to America’s decades-long war on saturated fat. “You see remnants of it in the food guidelines that we are now revising.”
It wasn’t just a revision. It was a rebuke.
Makary didn’t mince words. He called the foundational science behind decades of dietary advice—especially…