Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

  The US Preventative Task Force updated their recent recommendations about vitamins and supplements in The Journal of the American Medical Association - reference here . Their conclusion was: " Conclusions and Relevance Vitamin and mineral supplementation was associated with little or no benefit in preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, and death, with the exception of a small benefit fo...

It turns out that the juice from beets may lower blood pressure in a sustained and lovely manner. Beets, you see, besides being a colorful vegetable, contain a high level of Nitrate (NO3-). And this is absorbed by the body and converted into nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is that amazing molecule that relaxes blood vessels and improves blood flow. How Your Body Gets Nitric Oxide The conversion of nitr...

Common Collagen Claims (taken from actual websites selling collagen supplements): “improves skin elasticity,” “support bone and joint health,” “strengthen hair, skin, and nails,”  “may benefit the bodies cellular structure,” “support healthy skin, bone, and joints.” “will feed your skin health” “will improve nail appearance and strength” “lead to a noticeable hair thickness” Collagen as a sup...

Diets. They work for some, but not for others. "You're just not on the right diet," purveyors of the latest trend will tell you. "You're just not on the right diet for your blood type, ethnicity, age, hair color," says another set of true believers. So what's right and what's wrong? Today on Fork U, a conversation between Dr. Terry Simpson, weight loss physician, and Dr. Bill Lagakos , nutritional...

In science, we don’t look to confirm what we know; we want to find out something that we don’t know. We love it when science proves us wrong. If your doctor told you that you have heart disease, were pre-diabetic, or said you should eat healthier, they likely will tell you to follow the Mediterranean Diet. When I introduce the Mediterranean Diet to my patients I get a response like this: “Sounds g...

In Vino, Veritas – or In Wine, Truth – by Pliny the Elder When the Holy Roman Empire was forming Charlemagne gave lands to the monks in order for them to plant vineyards to make wine for the Eucharist. Those first vineyards, planted by Benedictine monks, make some of the classic wines of all time.  Wine was in France centuries prior to Charlemagne, but it was those monks that we have a proven...

This episode originally aired for the holidays in 2018. But it's solid advice, so we're playing it again, Sam! Diet season is soon upon us, but what happens if we have a system where you can lose weight during the times when you are most vulnerable: holidays, vacations, new relationships. Not a “lifestyle” or “long term” diet - but a simple ten-day plan to lose weight during the times when you nee...

The term "microplastics" was originally described in 2004 for plastic particles that are less than 5 millimeters in diameter, originally being seen on beaches. But everywhere scientists have looked on planet earth, they have been found. From fruit, vegetables, nuts, beer, baby bottles, in the air, in our water. Some have estimated that we ingest 100,000 microplastic particles per day or the equiva...

Ever since the YouTube video of Dr. Lustig and the evils of fructose went viral in 2010, many have advocated that fructose is the single most common cause of obesity in the United States. The video had metabolic pathways that had the hypothesis that most fructose either becomes fat in the liver, or that it might go down a pathway to cause joint issues, leaky gut, and inflammation causing obesity....

On my tiktok channel (@drterrysimpson or terrysimpson309) putting up a review of red meat the comments are reflective of the polarization that makes politics look like gentle disagreements. Nutrition is nuanced - meaning, it is rare that something is good or bad for us, except for Death Cap Mushrooms, they will kill you, although I hear they are delicious. The same is true for red meat. What we ha...

The Carnivore diet is the most extreme of the low-carbohydrate diets, with its expressed point that humans did great on a diet of flesh and evolved to eat a diet high in fats. While we cannot make up what people ate in the past, we can see about the diet of the Yupik’s of Alaska.  These people have been studied extensively by the Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) at the Univer...

Fish oil is the bomb - Greenland Yupik and the rise of fish oil Fish oil first became a "hot topic" when a 1980 publication showed that Yupik in Greenland had a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease. Their paper concluded,  "The rarity of ischemic heart disease in Greenland Eskimos may partly be explained by the antithrombotic effect of the long-chained polyunsaturated fatty acids, e...

Welcome to Fork U, the latest podcast from Dr. Terry Simpson. If you enjoyed the previous episodes of Culinary Medicine and Your Doctors Orders , you'll love these quick, impactful bits of information that are easily digestible. (See what I did there?) No need to adjust your podcast or subscribe to anything new, you are already here! With that, here is the first episode of the new podcast, Fork U,...