Wellness, Actually with Emily Oster & Perry Wilson, MD

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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