Frontline Health
Troy Duell with Centurion is providing you with health information and guests to elevate your health and help make your life better. Centurion is a pharmaceutical company that chooses to put people over profits and allow science to dictate what products we bring to market. Our goal is to provide products that you can both afford and are beneficial to your health. It doesn't matter how good a product is if you can't afford it. This podcast will provide you with the best health information possible through sharing studies and current data. We will also interview the leading health experts across the country. We will share sides of the story you may not have heard. Our promise to you is to source all of the information we share with you and speak the truth. We hope this truth is used by you and your loved ones to elevate your health and life.
Frontline Health
#097 - Health Headline Highlights: COVID, Contraceptives, & Underarm Detoxes
Health headlines can be alarming, confusing, and sometimes misleading. Our latest episode cuts through the noise to provide clarity on five major health stories making waves right now.
The newly nicknamed "Razor Throat" COVID variant sounds frightening, but what does the science actually tell us? Despite spreading to 15 US states and accounting for 37% of new cases, experts emphasize there's no evidence this strain causes more severe illness than previous variants. We explore why certain variants get more attention than others and how to maintain perspective when new strains emerge.
We tackle the ongoing debate about Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in some vaccines, as CDC advisors prepare to vote on its removal from influenza vaccines. Though already eliminated from most other immunizations, this decision reflects the evolving balance between manufacturing practicality and patient safety.
Our conversation takes a serious turn examining recent findings that birth control pills may triple stroke risk in young women. While the absolute risk remains relatively small, we break down how estrogen affects blood clotting and blood pressure, and discuss alternative contraceptive options for those with existing risk factors.
The surprising difference between how glucose and fructose affect your body reveals why a can of soda impacts your health differently than a slice of bread, even when blood sugar readings might appear similar. This metabolic distinction reinforces why processed foods create unique challenges for our bodies.
Finally, we explore the growing trend of natural deodorant alternatives, examining whether concerns about aluminum compounds justify the switch and what realistic expectations you should have when considering these products.
Take control of your wellbeing by understanding these health headlines with clarity and context. What health choices will you reconsider after hearing the full story?
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Today on the Frontline Health Podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it all kind of wraps around those hormonal changes that you mentioned, specifically estrogen, because we know that estrogen is kind of that key component in most birth control pills and we know that it's going to increase the chance of clotting. It's also going to increase blood pressure pressure, typically in some individuals, which can increase that stroke factor. So if you have both of those things going on, plus you have other lifestyle factors that we already talked about, like smoking or being obese, then that's going to increase your stroke factor overall. So, um, certainly beware of those things and try to avoid the lifestyle choices that would increase your risk. But there are also things you can do outside of the birth control piece, especially if you're in one of those risky categories that you may want to look at to go. You know, do I need to take these birth control pills? How long do I need to take it? Are there other alternatives for me to go with?
Speaker 1:Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Frontline Health Podcast by Centurion, where we share health news, tips and insights to help you take ownership of your health. My name is Evan Patrick. With me is our founder and CEO here at Centurion Health, troy Duell. Troy, you ready for another exciting conversation today?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:All right, glad to hear it. Today we're bringing you guys another round of health headline highlights. So these are just some of the highlights that we have seen in the news lately related to health news that we think are relevant to our listeners today. So, troy, you want to go ahead and kick us off with that first health headline.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. The first headline we had was COVID razor throat variant now found in 15 US states. Here's what we know. Obviously, that headline jumped out. When you see a headline that says razor throat always kind of grabs my attention. But apparently it's just a new COVID-19 variant that they are calling NB181, which was nicknamed the razor throat strain because it seems to have sharp throat fever and GI issues and it seems to be spreading pretty rapidly. It's in 15 states but there's no evidence that it causes more severe illness than previous variants, which is a good sign.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I noticed here in this headline it says as of mid-June, or in this article it says as of mid-June. This accounted for 37% of new cases in the US, but it is trailing another variant, lp81. So why is this variant gaining so much attention right now?
Speaker 2:I think it's because of A. They're seeing that case surge in China and kind of Southeast Asia. They're seeing a lot of those cases currently and they're really monitoring it more with the WHO because it is spreading outside of the US more than it seems to be in the States itself. The other thing is I think it's got a cool name. So anytime you've got a name called Razor Throat, it's going to make people pay attention to it and, I think, certainly track it a little bit more.
Speaker 1:Kind of sounds like a Marvel or DC villain there.
Speaker 2:It does. Or it could be one of the old James Bond flicks. Yeah, james Bond, razor Throat, yeah. So yeah, I think you could have some of that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so something else that sounds a little bit unique about this strain is the GI issues. Have we seen that in previous strains or is that sort of a new thing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, some of the later strains not the first two certainly had some GI issues associated with it and I think it depended on was very dependent on the individual itself. So you did have some vomiting, you had some diarrhea and other things with the earlier ones, but most of them started later on and I don't know if that's something that happens with different strains as they progress and they get weaker and weaker, Maybe it starts to affect the GI issues a little bit more than some of the earlier ones. I don't really know why that's the case.
Speaker 1:Well, the good news is the World Health Organization has not designated it as a major threat at this point. It's currently a variant under monitoring, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2:That's right so, and hopefully that's all we do. But if it's not really causing any health issues other than just feeling bad, I would think that most people would not be too concerned with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know it's. It's funny there's still sort of that stigma around a coronavirus or COVID-19.
Speaker 1:People think of it as something other than just a normal illness like a cold or flu. But really it seems like we should be getting to the point where it's out there and we look at it kind of the same and it's just one of those things you treat like a cold or flu virus. You know. Once you know you're sick, you kind of isolate yourself, you drink your fluids, you take your vitamins, you get your rest and recover.
Speaker 2:That's right, and you take the same precautions Anytime you go out to eat. Make sure you're washing your hands, make sure it's well-cooked food that you're eating, and stay away from people who are sick, and that's really the key to keeping away from the flu, the cold or corona, really the key to keeping away from the flu, the cold or corona.
Speaker 1:Our next headline for today activists hopeful as CDC advisors vote on thimerosal removal. A CDC advisory committee is preparing to vote on whether to recommend removing Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, from influenza vaccines, reigniting a decades-old debate over its safety and potential health risks, particularly in children and pregnant women. Tariq, could you break down for us a little bit about this Thimerosal, this mercury-based preservative? Why has it been put in these vaccines?
Speaker 2:Yeah, originally, from what I understand about it, it was all for the preservative effect that it brings. Now what they used to do is they used to have a big vial and that would be put in there, the thimerosal, and they would put that in there in order to keep that vial from going bad. Now they've done more single dose units and it's used less often than it once was. So it's not in a lot of the vaccines anymore, but it is still in some and there are many people who feel like that has been one of the causes, because of the high levels of mercury, of a link to autism and other issues that people have been getting. So in my case, if there are other ways to preserve those ingredients without using it, I say we go ahead and try it and see what we can get from that.
Speaker 1:And with there being so much backlash or attention on just vaccines in general right now, taking something out like this that is mercury-based, that we know we probably don't want to be getting in our systems, seems like it could be sort of a simple step for making sure that, in this case specifically, influenza vaccines are just a little bit safer. But my question for you, I guess, is what will be the implications of removing thimerosal from influenza vaccines? Would that mean? Would that you? Would that seriously deteriorate the shelf life? Would it make it to where it's more difficult to distribute influenza vaccines? What would happen?
Speaker 2:I think the biggest thing is it would cause a shelf life and longevity lessening. So you're obviously, if you don't have that preservative in there, it's not going to be able to last as long. But if they're doing single-use vials anyway currently, then there's less likelihood that this stuff's going to go bad. And I think one of those things that probably comes into play expiration dating, all that type stuff it will cost the company more but it's better for the patient. So I think in scenarios like that we should always be leaning towards what's better for the patient as opposed to what's going to cost the company more.
Speaker 1:And I know we're talking about influenza vaccines. But is this thimerosal? Is it in other vaccines out there that we might look at and want to potentially remove it from as well? They?
Speaker 2:have tried to take it out of most of the other vaccines I that we might look at and want to potentially remove it from as well. They have tried to take it out of most of the other vaccines. I think there are a few antifungals and antibacterial products that have it, but for the most part it's not in vaccines anymore, with the exception of these flu vaccines that they're looking at currently. So it's not really that big of an issue not being used very often. So I don't really see why there's much pushback in saying, hey, we just don't need this in our products anymore. If they found that there was even a hint of something that thimerosal could be causing in individuals, I would lean towards the safety side and just stop using it altogether.
Speaker 1:Want to move on to our next health headline, absolutely so.
Speaker 2:our next one is birth control pills triple stroke risk in young women. Study shows there was actually. This study came out of Europe where they studied 500 women. They found that combined oral contraceptives or birth control pills may triple the risk of cryptogenic ischemic stroke in young women, though the absolute risk remains low.
Speaker 2:The findings emphasize the need for personalized contraceptive choices based on individual health factors, and I mean obviously that headline jumps out at you when you have women age 18 to 49 that had three times the odds of experiencing a stroke compared to non-users of that birth control pill. But they did emphasize in this article that it's still a fairly low risk overall. Only about six in a hundred thousand women end up getting a stroke of some sort, and they also believe they throw through this in there. And you and I talked about this before, where they said that lifestyle factors like smoking and obesity pose a greater overall risk than birth control pills alone, which was kind of one of those no duh lessons in an article when you know that smoking and obesity are not good for you anyway and they're definitely stroke risk. But apparently if you throw in those two things with the birth control pills you're in a pretty bad situation and potential risk of having a stroke. So make sure you're not doing those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you'd have to imagine. Everyone knows that birth control pills have a very serious impact on women's hormones. Impact on women's hormones. Could you explain kind of exactly how that works and how the hormonal changes that will be impacted in a woman's health through birth control pills? How does that tie into the increase in stroke risk?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it all kind of wraps around those hormonal changes that you mentioned, specifically estrogen, because we know that estrogen is kind of that key component in most birth control pills and we know that it's going to increase the chance of clotting. It's also going to increase blood pressure, typically in some individuals, which can increase that stroke factor. So if you have both of those things going on, plus you have other lifestyle factors that we already talked about, like smoking or being obese, then that's going to increase your stroke factor overall. So certainly beware of those things and try to avoid the lifestyle choices that would increase your risk.
Speaker 2:But there are also things you can do outside of the birth control piece, especially if you're in one of those risky categories that you may want to look at to go. You know, do I need to take these birth control pills? How long do I need to take it? Are there other alternatives for me to go with? Because I think that's where you're really going to get the best results. Best way to take ownership of your health is by looking at all the options that are out there and not just going with the simple thing like a birth control bill.
Speaker 1:What might some of those safer alternatives be?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, there there are all kinds of family planning methods, but you can, um, you can look at anything from uh, timing your cycle. You can look at, um, timing your cycle. You can look at, obviously, not having sex at all. That's one way to do it. They have IUDs that you can look at, so there are other devices that you can look at to try to minimize the pressure that a birth control pill could have on your body.
Speaker 1:Shifting gears to another topic, our next health headline Bread vs Coke. How Different Sugars Impact your Body, Diabetes and obesity expert Dr Jason Fung explains that not all sugars are equal in how they affect the body. While they may seem similar in taste or blood sugar impact, their metabolic pathways differ significantly, influencing risks for obesity, fatty liver and type 2 diabetes. So I know, Troy, kind of. At the heart of this is the difference between fructose and glucose, so can you kind of break that down for us? How do these two forms of sugars work differently in your body?
Speaker 2:much of that or you get too much of that. It's typically synthetic when it's in Cokes or sodas or other things like that, and that is where you have an issue, because you don't have any of the fiber, you don't have any of the vitamins or nutrients coming with it. So you're basically just getting dead sugar coming into your body and that's when it becomes too taxing on your liver. It becomes too taxing on your liver, it becomes too taxing on your body as a whole and you get that increased inflammation. Glucose, we know, is kind of where the body uses that source of energy specifically, so that comes from a lot of our carbohydrates. Now we also know that that can raise blood sugar and insulin, but you don't have to worry about it near as much as you do in a fructose scenario. That is just raw sugar. So the two there can certainly make a big difference.
Speaker 2:The other thing is, if you think about the amounts that you're getting. So a can of Coke has about 39 grams of sugar in that can of Coke. So when you get that 39 grams rushed into your body without having any of the other added nutrients or fiber that goes along with it, that's when your body really starts to kick back and doesn't do well. With it. Most glucose. You're going to have some other things along with it, so if you're getting it in bread, you will have some nutrient value. You'll have other things that and fiber that your body can then use to break it down and it doesn't flood the body near as fast as, say, fructose does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting because it seems like with another topic we've talked about seed oils before in the imbalance in those omega-3s and omega-6s that we kind of get when we eat more processed foods, this kind of sounds like a similar type issue. When we're eating those highly processed foods we're getting more of that fructose without the other ingredients and nutrients that kind of help our bodies process and break that down. So it seems like a good recommendation would just be to opt more for the whole foods that have the fiber and the other nutrients. That kind of balance out our bodies and help us absorb what we need to absorb and get rid of what we need to get rid of.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and not take in what we don't need to take in. Absolutely, and that's why we always recommend going against the processed food realm, because if it's a processed food, more than likely they've taken fructose, they've taken seed oils, they're doing everything they can, from a simple standpoint and from an ease standpoint, to get it made and to make it last longer. And whole foods, whole fruits, vegetables, those obviously just come from nature and you're getting everything that you need all in one.
Speaker 1:So we have one final health headline for us today. You want to get that one for us, Troy?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. This one was a fun headline as we looked at it, especially during summer, because we're always thinking about maybe we're sweating under the pits a little too much. It says why some people are ditching deodorants for natural alternatives. A growing number of people, especially Gen Z and health-conscious millennials, are moving away from conventional deodorants and antiperspirants in favor of natural alternatives that avoid harsh chemicals, support the body's natural sweating process and align with eco-conscious values.
Speaker 1:Drew, I can tell you, whoever is practicing this does not live in Texas in the summer and if they do. They probably don't have very many friends because if I was not wearing antiperspirant right now, I don't know how I would be able to make very many friends.
Speaker 2:That is very true. Now I think there are a lot who are moving away from some of the aluminum compounds or the deodorants that have aluminum in it, because they have linked aluminum to so many things that are not real good for our bodies and not real good for our health, from Alzheimer's to really anything. But outside of that, I don't know that. I could see other areas or have heard of other areas where the natural deodorants have done a great job and maybe it's just your body has to get used to it. I think it mentioned in this where they were doing underarm detoxes on TikTok, which is rather interesting. So they would do clay masks, they do vinegar rinses and all those things seem to be gaining traction out there, which maybe we're around more people who aren't using deodorant than we think and they're using these natural forms and seem to be going well. I have no idea.
Speaker 1:You know, some things were just meant to be private. I think if I was doing an underarm detox, I wouldn't want anyone else to know.
Speaker 2:Well, and we hope that nobody else would know. That's the point of it. When everybody else knows that you're doing a detox without you having to say anything, that's a bad sign for sure.
Speaker 1:The problem is most people. That is what they were going to. Let you know about it if they're doing a detox of any kind. But the overall detox especially. I don't know if I can get behind it.
Speaker 2:I'm in full agreement with you.
Speaker 1:But I have noticed even more mainstream brands Like I didn't even notice this until my wife pointed out old spice red zone, I mean the deodorant I've been using for years they now advertise aluminum free and I think one of the interesting things out this like trying to determine is this a fad or is this something that is there's actually merit to um is I would be curious to know how much aluminum we actually would absorb in our through our skin with something like deodorant versus. You know, obviously we don't want to consume it orally or anything like that right um, but I'd be interested to know is is it actually using deodorant?
Speaker 1:Is that a way that's harmful to be exposed to aluminum?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I know that there are studies out there. I can't tell you the exact amount that you're taking in, but I do know, kind of like when you have food that's touching plastic and they found that it kind of leaches in to the food itself. The same thing's happening with our bodies and typically where you're putting deodorant is a very, very thin skinned area and that's why there's a concern that it actually gets through that barrier, the skin barrier, into your bloodstream and can cause issues. So that's where a lot of that is coming from. And you know there are some studies that show it. I can't cite them now, but there's certainly some studies out there and I don't know how much. But if you can avoid it and you can go aluminum free and still not blow everybody out of the room when you walk in, and I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to. You got to weigh the pros and the cons there.
Speaker 2:Yes, you do, definitely, Definitely.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, I think that's a good note to end on here on today's episode of the Frontline Health podcast. Thank you so much for listening. As always, go out and take ownership of your health today, because you are your best health advocate. We'll see you next time. If you enjoyed what you heard today on the podcast, please consider leaving us a review. We would love to hear your feedback and connect with you further. You can also follow us on Instagram X, tiktok and YouTube, and for safe, effective and affordable health and wellness products made in the USA, visit wwwcenturionhealth. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.