95% of the people on the USDA Food Guidelines had a conflict with the food industry

Dr. Casey Means: "I didn't learn at Stanford Medical School that 95% of the people on the USDA Food Guidelines for America committee had a conflict with the food industry. I didn't learn that there were 8,000 conflicts of interest at the NIH. I didn't learn that there are 8 billion tons of plastic on planet Earth that are degrading into estrogen analogs.

I did not learn that there are 6 billion pounds of pesticides sprayed on our global food supply every single year, most from China and Germany and that these are literally tied very strongly to Alzheimer's dementia cancer obesity mitochondrial dysfunction infertility ADHD liver dysfunction I didn't learn that You know Simply taking seven thousand steps per day can slash your risk of obesity type 2 diabetes Alzheimer's dementia Even gastric reflux by 40 to 60 percent and the average American's walking 3,500 steps per day. Like we're literally just not moving as a country. And if you just walk a little bit, 7,000 steps, which takes like 45 minutes, you slash your risk of every major, you know, chronic disease.

I didn't learn that we need to be getting sunlight because circadian biology dictates our cellular health. Like we are diurnal animals that have biologic processes that happen during the day and other biologic processes that happen at night. And the way your body knows whether it's day or night is if you get photons hitting your retina and your skin cells. Pretty basic, pretty foundational for human health. Didn't learn anything about it.

Didn't learn anything about sunlight. Didn't learn anything about photons. Didn't learn anything about sleep. We're sleeping 20% less on average than we were 100 years ago. And sleep is a huge risk factor. You can, in an experimental setting, take a young, healthy person and subject them to sleep deprivation for five nights and they become pre-diabetic.

Well, 50% of Americans are pre-diabetic and type 2 diabetic, and we're not sleeping well. And I didn't learn not one minute on sleep. So all the things and so many more, and of course, nothing about nutrition. And Marty Makary talks about this. I certainly didn't learn that medical error and medication is the third leading cause of death in the United States. I learned that patient comes in, and I need to label their diagnosis and give them a pill."