Negative controls & interpreting epidemiology studies
I would be really interested to hear a deep dive on negative controls in epidemiology studies: what they are, their significance, & lots of examples. It seems like building up a solid intuition for them could help a lot with interpreting epidemiological studies. (See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3053408/).
Red Meat, Processed Meat & Cancer risk
There seems to be a commonly held belief that red meat, processed meat and smoked meat (or anything smoked?) significantly raises your risk of cancer. I'm into my early 40s now and thinking more about reducing risk through my food. I've heard you say you eat ham, jerky, etc, so I presume you think it's not a high risk factor. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. As an aside, part of what got my thinking about this was that I listened to your colonoscopy episode and I looked into starting private screening, but I'm in the UK and it's very hard to get one privately. The NHS only starts doing screening at 50. Thanks for all the great content!
Deliberately Gaining Weight & muscle in middle age (for a skinny guy)
I'm 43, and I've weighed 63kg +/- about 1kg since I was a teenager. I've always been relatively fit (cycling & running), but quite skinny, not muscled at all. I started weight training about 3 years ago - starting out with crossfit, and nowadays mixing barbell training with cycling. I deliberately started eating more as I wanted to gain weight, gain muscle, so I could increase my lifts. I managed to gain about 3kg to 4kg with a LOT of eating, but every time I take a break, even just a week or two, it just drops off, and even if I don't, i just can't get past about 66 or 67kg. Perhaps I could eat more. Perhaps I could train differently. Can you give some recommendations on how an eternally skinny guy in his early 40s can put on some decent weight with the goal of increasing strength, health and longevity (and perhaps look good too, if I'm honest.)
Pediatric Nutrition - TR/DR/CR?
Hi Team, Thank you for taking the time to field this inquiry: my family and I love the podcast and are grateful for the content/information. If it’s not on the radar, I would be very interested in hearing perspectives on pediatric nutrition or nutrition related to youth under the age of 18. Less concerned about the first two years and more concerned with professional thoughts on navigating TR/DR/CR with respect to children. My wife and I are both in our mid-late 30’s (37) and have three kids; 15 year old boy, 10 year old boy and a 7 year old daughter. All three are very active with youth sports/activities. My boys are very lean and muscular, my daughter on the other hand seems to have a slower metabolism, and although she is just as active, and we are also very cognizant of what type of food and when feed them, she seems to hold her weight differently. I could go in forever, but it would be interesting to hear thoughts from experts on navigating the pediatric/youth nutritional landscape. Thank you!
Should people supplement with iron?
I am a 72-year-old, female in excellent health (I still compete in triathlons). I started seeing a new functional medicine doctor recently who recommends I supplement with iron due to low blood levels and low ferritin. However, I sometimes also listen to the Joesph Mercola podcast, and he insists that we all have too much iron and we are all "rusting." In fact, he drains 2 oz. of his blood each week in order to reduce the iron in his body. What is your perspective on the use of iron supplements?