In the study, the famed Dr. Dean Ornish (who is best known for a 1990 study that used a similar intervention to reduce heart attack risk) at the University of California San Francisco took patients with early-stage dementia and divided them into a control group (who didn’t do anything in particular) and a study group who received an intensive lifestyle intervention that consisted of:
A low-fat vegan diet
Regular meditation and yoga for stress reduction
Daily “cardio” type exercise
Prioritizing good quality sleep
The results after 40 weeks were that the people in the control group got worse (as expected), whereas in the people receiving the intervention, 46% improved and 37% stabilized on a series of cognitive tests. Put another way, 83% of people doing the lifestyle program did a lot better than the people not doing the lifestyle program.
This is yet another example of what I have termed the “Academic-Media Complex,” in which bad studies are given hyped up reviews by the media, leading to more funding for research universities and more sales/clicks for news organizations, but poor information for the public.
If you read the original study (which you can by clicking here) the results are – shocking, I know – hardly what they are hyped to be.
I haven’t written yet about the new weight loss medications that are sweeping through society (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, etc) but that’s not for lack of experience with them. Patients frequently ask me about these medications and yes – I do sometimes prescribe them. Given that interest in these medications is only growing, I thought it was about time to create a blog post on the topic.
There is already a severe shortage of primary care doctors in the state
A third of the primary care doctors who are currently practicing in MA are approaching retirement in the next few years
Very few young doctors are entering the field to replace those retiring doctors
Hence, the shortage of doctors is going to get much, much, worse over the next few years.
The article discusses a proposal called “Primary Care For You” that would attempt to rectify the problem. Unfortunately, while it’s certainly a good thing that somebody is paying attention and at least trying to remedy the crisis, I’m not very optimistic from the reporting in the article that this plan will make much of a difference.
Recently, a patient asked me what I think of the tap water here in Marion, noting that many of her friends refuse to drink it, and choose instead to drink only bottled water.
In fact, I had the water at my house tested by a private company a few years ago, and the report came out quite favorably. (I don’t recall the name of the company that did it, and have no endorsement of a particular company in this regard). I think getting the water in your home tested periodically is not a bad idea for anybody to do. It’s also possible to get a good quality water filter for your home if you want to ensure the purest water possible. Again, I have no particular brand to endorse in this regard, so if this interests you, do your own research.
What I do wish to specifically comment on today is how awful bottled water is for you.
