5 Healthyish Things I like/don't this week, including good old fashioned sunscreen

I loved this excellent, no bullshit piece from buddy Justin Mares (subscribe to his amazing health newsletter, The Next) on how our country’s health crisis is rooted in our food system. He breaks down this “Great American Poisoning,” explaining all the infuriating policies and incentives that keep our grocery stores chock-full of cheap, ultra-processed foods. 

Read it, then please come up with some way to fix it. 🙏

So ChatGPT is now outperforming experts at identifying cancer from 500+ patient colonoscopies. Since this research happened in early 2023, AI has obviously advanced tremendously and it’s hard to imagine how much of a difference it can make in imaging reviews across essentially every speciality.

Friend Akash Goel, MD pointed out on LinkedIn that technically ChatGPT just adhered to the guidelines 10% better than the practitioners here–and it’s likely those practitioners were actually using experience and judgment to go “off script.” This really hits at the heart (or is it colon?) of the trade-offs and challenges healthcare is experiencing right now in applying AI. But it seems very promising to me.

Everyone’s into GLP-1s (think Ozempic, Wegovy, & others) right now. But is it possible they’re a true miracle pill and everyone isn’t freaking out enough? 

Yes, it’s fairly obvious that losing weight can lead to things like high blood pressure improving. But more and more research is showing (and more and more doctors are saying) that GLP-1s are causing chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes to “vanish” with even more promising downstream effects (like reducing kidney disease). Obviously it’s early in some ways… we have a lot more to learn from quantitative clinical trials to come and, frankly, qualitative massive adoption.

But also what if we’re all on this in a few years the same way so many are on statins?

It turns out misinformation about sun protection is rampant among young adults now. Ugh. And it sounds like we have TikTok to thank. One out of seven people under the age of 35 think sunscreen is actually worse for them than direct sun exposure. 😠

What we know is this–consistent sunscreen use reduces the incidence of melanoma (skin cancer) by 50-73% and can slow skin aging by 24%. And let’s not even get into sunburns. If chemical sunscreen makes you nervous for some reason, go with mineral sunscreen. But everyone should be applying sunscreen every day. Ignore TikTok (except on the toilet, who are we kidding?).

By the way, I’m no skincare expert (though I have gotten into it, a story for another time) but I’ve used EltaMD’s Facial Broad-Spectrum SPF 30+ as a (mineral-based) moisturizer every morning for many years.

As someone mosquitos love to mosquit-ow (sorry), I’m thrilled to share I’ve discovered a way to ruin their lives and destroy their population… in an easy, fun, and memorable way! Four words for you: Mosquito Buckets of Doom. 

Basically you get a bucket, add leaves, pour water, and throw in a “mosquito dunk” (which includes a bacteria that’s toxic only to mosquito larvae). I got these and set up a couple weeks ago… and they simply work. Plus everyone I’ve shared it with has made some, too. And if you make some, maybe the mosquitos will get the message… just in time for National Mosquito Control Awareness Week (which is, fun fact, this week).