Frontline Health

#118 - Health Headline Highlights: IBS, Microplastics, And Vaccines

• Troy Duell

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Headlines change fast; your body doesn’t come with a press release. We break down the latest health stories with a clear goal: help you make confident decisions rooted in evidence, not noise. From gut health myths to environmental exposures and vaccine debates, we translate complex research into simple, practical steps you can use today.

We start by reframing “gluten sensitivity.” A major review suggests most non‑celiac cases look more like IBS, which explains why targeted dietary strategies outperform gluten avoidance for many people. We walk through what actually works: structured diet changes, smart use of probiotics, psyllium, and peppermint oil, and when medication still has a role. You’ll hear real numbers on improvement rates and how to build a plan that lasts beyond the first few weeks.

Microplastics are next, and the takeaway is both sobering and empowering. Heat and wear drive shedding from plastics in kitchens, closets, and bathrooms. We share easy wins—stop microwaving plastic, switch to glass or ceramic for hot foods, reduce polymer‑based personal care products—and show how to phase upgrades in without breaking your budget. Small, consistent changes compound into lower exposure over time.

We then step carefully through vaccine evidence and autism, focusing on how to think, not what to think. You’ll learn where uncertainties come from, what different studies do and don’t show, and how to separate correlation from causation while still honoring parental responsibility and informed consent. Finally, we look at food allergies and the encouraging data on early peanut introduction, a reminder that science evolves and good guidance evolves with it.

If you value clear thinking and practical health moves, you’re in the right place. Follow, share with a friend who needs this clarity, and leave a review so we can reach more people ready to take ownership of their health.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Frontline Health by Centurion. Remember, you are your best health advocate.

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SPEAKER_00:

Today on the Frontline Health Podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

I think the takeaway is, and we talk about it all the time, taking ownership of your health health really means doing a deep dive. And when you become a parent, you're not just taking ownership of your health, you have to take ownership of your child's health as well. So the deeper dive you can go in, do the research, find out what you're comfortable with, what you're comfortable with your kids having, and look at both sides because there is no such thing as consensus in science. That's the whole point of science. Science looks at both sides, and you can see both sides of this argument and look at it and go, okay, I want to have all the information of those people who are for it and all the information of those people who are against it, and then make a wise decision. And I think if you do that and you take out everything from what you said, the political stance, and you just look at it from a health standpoint, then you can hold your head up high 15, 20 years down the road with your kids and say, hey, I did everything I could to protect you. I did the research, I put in the time, and because of that, I can sleep at night knowing that um I've done everything I can. I think what we want to get away from is just this blind faith of, hey, they're telling me that I need to take this. I'm just gonna take it without doing any research. And that's what I'm hoping we get to is we get to a point where we just publish the information. We don't hide anything, we push it out there, and we let people make an educated decision about their health or their children's health.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Frontline Health Podcast by Centurion Health, where we share news, tips, and insights to help you take ownership of your health. I'm Evan Patrick here with me, Troy Duell, founder and CEO of Centurion Health, coming at you with another round of health headline highlights from the past month. Troy, how are we today? Good, man. How are you? I'm doing fantastic. A lot of exciting things to dig into today. Uh, why don't you get us started with the first headline?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, this first one was kind of interesting. It says there's a good chance your gluten sensitivity isn't gluten. A review of years of research suggests non-ciliac gluten sensitivity could be a form of irritable bowel syndrome. That one's interesting to me because I think everybody is starting to touch on this gluten sensitivity. It seems to be the buzz that's going around right now. And they found that most gluten, quote-unquote, gluten sensitivity wasn't actually caused by the gluten itself. And there was a review done in the Lancet magazine, which is one of the uh best or most renowned medical magazines in Europe, and they found that true non-ciliac gluten sensitivity is rare, and it was typically indistinguishable from reactions to wheat, to placebo, or even to other foods, and that many people who think they meet that criteria or who think they're reacting to gluten actually meet the criteria for irritable bowel syndrome. Um, we also find through this article that the diagnosis seems to be unreliable and it really overlaps with IBS a great deal. So they're really uh suspecting that up to 80% of suspected cases of gluten actually fit the IBS patterns and symptoms, and they actually improve if they're given a specific diet rather than removing gluten alone. Um so pretty interesting as you get into it. It seems like something we should be more in tune with, that it's not just the gluten that's affecting a lot of people, but it's part of what's inside uh those other foods that we're eating that have gluten in them that seems to be reacting to a lot of things and maybe something for some of our listeners to at least pay attention to if they feel like they have a gluten sensitivity, but haven't really been uh fully diagnosed or looked down the the IBS uh pattern.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me because you really think about how much of human history wheat has been such a staple in people's diets. It's really weird to me that now so many people are having sensitivities to gluten that's obviously in these type of grains. And so, you know, I it really doesn't make a lot of sense to me that it would just be connected to gluten when people have eaten foods with gluten in them for thousands of years and at least have no really recorded issues with this type of thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I think where a lot of people or some studies have suggested, and some of the readings that I've read or gone through is talking about how we've genetically modified some of the wheat, and that could be part of the reason that more people are having the gluten sensitivities, but that could also be part of the reason you'd have uh symptoms of IBS and other things. But yeah, I I I'm the same way you are. I mean, we're we remember in scripture it says man doesn't live by bread alone, uh, but by every word from the mouth of God. So I I I think for thousands of years, food has been there, wheat has been there, and uh it's it it is very interesting that gluten has been so bad or so sensitive of late, and there has to be something that is triggering it. And I don't know, don't know what it is. I know that some have said it's the modified food, but some have said it's vaccines, some have said it's any number of things that are going on that have just made our uh bodies a little bit more sensitive to um gluten and other allergens out there that we haven't in the past.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, there are certainly plenty of people who, as you mentioned, it's it's very you know similar and overlaps heavily with IBS. Um, there's certainly plenty of people who are struggling with eardal bowel syndrome as well, having issues with that, with gut health, very popular topic of today. Um, we see another headline that we that we found for this week. Uh it says diet outperforms medication in managing IBS symptoms. A study found that between 60% and 68% of the participants in this study continued to benefit from dietary changes six months later. So the key takeaways here dietary changes outperformed IB IBS medications alone. Um, this was from a 2024 study, and there were really some simple diet adjustments that people made, such as um low-carb plans, reduced, and they found that this reduced symptoms more effectively than medication, with 71 to 76 percent of diet participants improving compared to 58% on meds. Um, diet and medication both help, but diet helps more. So all the treatment groups reported a better quality of life, reduced physical symptoms, less anxiety and depression, whether they were on just the medication or on the diet as well. However, dietary approaches produced the strongest improvements, confirming that food-driven strategies play a central role in IBS management. And we know that not everyone responds to diet alone, and that there all are alternatives that exist in medications that could have their proper place in treating someone with irritable bowel syndrome. Troy, what's your takeaway from this when we hear that, you know, we talk all the time about how we are kind of a medication-first society and we want a quick fix, we want a pill that's going to cure or solve uh anything that we come across with that's an issue with our bodies. What's your reaction to this when we learn that changing our diet can actually help with this issue, IBS, more so than just medication?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, I think it's further confirmation of the fact that as a culture, our desire is to have that quick fix. But there are things, if we take a disciplined approach and we're looking at health alternatives first and looking to change our behaviors, change our diet, change our exercise routine, all those things really can help uh push off any need for medications or at least minimize the need for medications. And, you know, there are other things that we know that maybe diet by itself won't work and drugs by themselves won't work, but we do know there are other non-drug options that you can throw in there too, like probiotics or psyllium or peppermint oil. There are different things that we can do that will help we alleviate some of those IBS symptoms, that you don't just have to go to some of those harsher medications that may have some ill uh ill-wanted side effects. So none of us want any side effects from medications. And certainly if we can have a mindset of what can I change first in my diet and lifestyle versus what's the medication I need to take to change things, I think we would be much better off as a culture and much healthier as a whole.

SPEAKER_00:

Totally agree. And uh it's kind of funny to me we we talk about all of these sensitivities that we have now, whether it's gluten or whether it's IBS, these things that we don't necessarily know that people have had uh in the past nearly as much as we do now. Uh, it kind of reminds me of like my dog. I give her a hard time because she descended from wolves, and now if I change up the type of food that she eats, she gets sick. Um, but we're kind of the same way a little bit, aren't we?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh we very much so. Very much so. And you know, some of those things that we're talking about with environmental exposures uh is part of our next highlight or headline, and it's one that we actually talked about some time ago about uh microplastics and that being inside of our brain. And this headline uh was pretty striking. It said, You're surrounded by microplastics. These habits can help reduce exposure. Microplastics enter our homes and bodies in surprising ways, but small changes in how we cook, clean, and store our belongings can help lower our exposure. The article went on to talk about how microplastics are pretty much everywhere, especially when you're talking about indoors and avoidance is almost impossible because we know that they're coming off of uh synthetic fabrics, which are found in carpet, they're found in couches, they're found in household dust, uh, we know that it's found in food packaging and just about anything that we breathe, and even the water we drink seems to have some microplastics in it. The biggest piece that they talk about in this article is that heat and wear increases that microplastic shedding. So whenever you're heating up or reheating food and you've got it inside of a plastic container, that's when you're shedding more of those plastics, or when you're cutting into something that is plastic and you have nonstick pans. Um, we know that all those things tend to shed more plastic. So you want to be looking for glass or ceramic or anything else that is uh microwave microwave safe that is not plastic that you're gonna put into a microwave. Um, the other thing you can do is lower your exposure across whatever you're wearing in your food and your personal care. So you just made a big change in your hair gel. That uh seems to be one of the pieces that they talk about. So find uh hair gels, find uh skin products, whatever it is that are outside of plastic and also don't contain any plastic polymers that are inside it. So um some of the things that we've already talked about, but it's a great reminder when you see a headline like this that it is everywhere, and there are certain things that we can do to help minimize that exposure to microplastics.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, like many others, I've been on a bit of a microplastic journey, as you kind of uh alluded to it. I used to be the guy who would heat up the plastic container in the microwave. I would do that every single day for lunch. Then I became aware of that, made a change there, switched to the glass containers. Uh, since then, switched my soap, my shampoo, and now even my hair styling product. Uh, it's all natural, no, no microplastics in it. Um, which I think just tells you, you know, like you said, there are there are things that we can do that can make a big difference in our exposure. It gets really overwhelming when we start talking about this product and just can kind of feel uh not this product, but this issue of microplastics just being in everything because it feels like inescapable, like there's no way for us to get away from it. But there are the small things that we can do to control it, um, like simply heating up your food in a different type of container.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I think it really starts with awareness. And the more aware we are of something and understand that there are little steps that you can take, like changing what you're eating out of, what you're drinking out of. That's a simple thing, but you can do that over time. You don't have to do them all at once if it's a financial burden. So go out and just buy one or two plates or um things that you can reheat as opposed to buying a whole set. So uh certainly make those little changes, but understand it doesn't have to be done all at once, and every little bit is going to help.

SPEAKER_00:

And on a practical note, you mentioned the financial burden. I have found that things that are not made of plastic do last a good bit longer. So, for example, the those plastic meal prep containers they tend to wear out very, very quickly. Those glass containers last longer, so there's that to consider. And then I've even found that my higher quality soap and shampoo goes a little bit further than uh than the cheap stuff that I was getting before.

SPEAKER_01:

So um Yeah, the the only downside to the glass containers is they do break if you uh drop them. And they can shatter and they can cause a mess. So other than that, I am right there with you. That's the one con that I can see of those glass containers. Um, but they do a great job of of holding all the food and keeping it fresh, and uh it's good because you can eat right out of it as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Moving along, our next health headline, we're starting to get into some very hotly debated topics of today. Uh our next headline, CDC says vaccines may cause autism. The claim vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence blank, evidence-based claim, the public health agency said on November 19th. Now, Troy, before we get into some of the specifics of this and what's really going on, I just kind of want to ask you why the sudden change of heart. You know, you and I have have both heard from healthcare providers, from experts in um in the healthcare space that there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism. We also have to be careful saying something causes autism when it's there, obviously it's it's multifaceted, many contributing things uh that pour into it. What are your what are your thoughts on this? Why the sudden change of heart?

SPEAKER_01:

I think a lot of it was driven by what we just went through as a nation, as a world with the vaccines that came out during COVID. I think people became more aware of how are these vaccines tested, what goes into it. And the understanding that no vaccine that is on the market today ever had a placebo trial, placebo-controlled trial. It only compared, once you got one vaccine on the market, the way that they typically do it now is they will compare one vaccine to another vaccine and say that there was no increase in autism. Therefore, vaccines can't cause autism between those two vaccines themselves. And we've not been able to, because of the medical standards and some of the science that's there, they don't allow vaccines to be tested in placebo-controlled trials anymore because they see a disease like measles or mumps or rubella, something along those lines. And the the medical um, I guess, philosophy is if you have something that can treat people, you cannot withhold that from them. Otherwise, it's considered medical malpractice. In this case, because vaccines were already on the market, you can't do a placebo-controlled trial because you have to give them some sort of treatment. And there really hasn't ever been done. Um, they haven't ever been done. And because of that, you can't truly say that it is a totally evidence-based claim. You can look at anecdotal evidence, you can look at what happens over time, but you can't go back and say, hey, we know for sure that this vaccine versus nothing causes no autism, just like taking nothing does. Um, we don't do that with any other medication, but for some reason we feel like uh vaccines are one that that we do that with.

SPEAKER_00:

So this update from the CDC uh cites studies that are showing correlations between autism rates and vaccine exposure. Troy, I think some people would say correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation. It's it's just an observation. Um, but it references research on aluminum adjuvants, surveys of parents, and statistical associations, while noting other studies have found no increased autism risk from certain vaccines like MMR. And we know that this change sparked all kinds of debate among officials, experts, and advocacy groups. Um, some group groups welcomed the update as long overdue, while multiple scientists criticize it as contradicting long-standing research and warned it may cause parents to delay or avoid childhood vaccinations. Troy, is there nuance here? What is what's the takeaway for people who want to be responsible with their health? They want to do the right thing. They're not trying to get caught up in the politics of all of this. They just want to make the best decision for their health and for that of their kids. What's what's really the the takeaways here?

SPEAKER_01:

I think the takeaway is, and we talk about it all the time, taking ownership of your health health really means doing a deep dive. And when you become a parent, you're not just taking ownership of your health. You have to take ownership of your child's health as well. So the deeper dive you can go in, do the research, find out what you're comfortable with, what you're comfortable with your kids having, and look at both sides because there is no such thing as consensus in science. That's the whole point of science. Science looks at both sides and you can see both sides of this argument and look at it and go, okay, I want to have all the information of those people who are for it and all the information of those people who are against it, and then make a wise decision. And I think if you do that and you take out everything from what you said, the political stance, and you just look at it from a health standpoint, then you can hold your head up high 15, 20 years down the road with your kids and say, hey, I did everything I could to protect you. I did the research, I put in the time, and because of that, I can sleep at night knowing that um I've done everything I can. I think what we want to get away from is just this blind faith of, hey, they're telling me that I need to take this. I'm just gonna take it without doing any research. And that's what I'm hoping we get to is we get to a point where we just publish the information. We don't hide anything, we push it out there, and we let people make an educated decision about their health or their children's health.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And we know another thing that the CDC uh or our government, our health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is focusing his attention on is the cause behind food allergies that we see. Um, so he's made some some promises lately that he says the government's going to figure out what's causing food allergies. One cause may be aluminum in vaccines, according to the health secretary. Um, you want to kind of break this down for us?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, basically he was saying that he wants to have the Health and Human Services to begin identifying any causes that might be causing the rise in food allergies. I know for me, it was very, very rare growing up to have somebody in my class who was allergic to any foods. And now, if in my kids' classes, it is rare not to have four or five, six people in a class that have some kind of food allergies. So it is super, super common for people to have food allergies these days. And what is it that happened in the past 30 to 40 years that cause have caused these potential food allergies? The article actually goes on to talk about that aluminum exposure and vaccination or uh allergies that come from that. So there was a 2022 study that linked uh aluminum to asthma in a 2017 survey-based study that reported higher allergy rates in vaccinated homeschool kids. So there are some studies that point to the fact that, hey, these vaccines and the aluminum specifically in the vaccine seems to increase these allergy risks and rates amongst people. So they're really trying to figure out what is it that we can look at within these vaccines, the ingredients themselves, and other things to try to prevent these allergies, which I think is a great thing. That's the whole purpose and role of government, really, is to uh come in and look at these things and assess it and say, is this safe? And if it's not, why is our whole culture and society seeing this increase and what can we do to change it? Um, which is interesting. Uh and kind of leads into our final health headline, which I thought was uh pretty intriguing based on what we just heard. It says peanut allergies in children have dropped significantly, according to a study. Doctors said for years that infants should avoid peanuts, but we found that peanut allergies in young children actually dropped after new early introduction introduction feeding guidelines were adopted. So basically, doctors used to tell us that you should avoid peanuts before the age of two. Then they came in, changed the guidelines, and said we should really start to introduce these kids earlier, and the rates have actually dropped, which to me goes back to this whole point of we need to be really looking at all facets of health, whether that's our vaccine program, whether that's what's in our foods, what's in the vaccines, because this is a perfect example of a scenario in a case where for years it was common practice to say don't give kids peanuts before the age of two. Then they came out, they did more research, and they started giving peanuts to kids before age two. And lo and behold, allergies have started to fall, which I think is a a great sign that we're not just resting on our laurels, we've got to look at the whole uh picture and be open to new ways of uh dealing with allergies and other things as new data comes um comes to light, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's a great point. And something that really many people don't understand, it's kind of been a theme throughout this whole episode. Science is not necessarily always settled. There's room for nuance, there's room for debate, there's room for new research and new findings to come to light. And ultimately, if our goal is to help take owner help other people take ownership of their health and for us as individuals to take ownership of our health, we want to share the most accurate, up-to-date findings that we possibly can so that people can make those decisions for themselves and for their families.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And uh hopefully little things like this, little headlines that we share, it's one thing that can help um push people in that direction of taking ownership of their health.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, thank you so much for sharing your insights, Troy, and thank you all for listening to this episode of the Frontline Health Podcast Bicenturian Health. As always, go out and take ownership of your health 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 www.centurion.health. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.