Growing up WEIRD Podcast

If you like to listen - hit play. If you prefer to read, click the transcript button top right on the web version. In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how children’s willingness to take risks during play affects how they take risks when crossing the road. We talk about air pollution and about the recently renamed ‘PCOS’ (now Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome). We talk...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how environmental exposures in early childhood affect adulthood health, and on the link between low socioeconomic status in childhood and worse physical health in adulthood. We talk about muscular strength and how it influences cognitive and psychological health. We then discuss last week’s article on laundry and health. Finally, we discus...

If you like to listen - hit play. If you prefer to read, click the transcript button top right on the web version. In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how hanging and swinging from the arms affects the length and strength of our upper body muscles. We discuss how SSRI antidepressants alter gut function, and how new drug targets may better help new mothers. We then talk about...

If you like to listen - hit play. If you prefer to read, click the ‘transcript’ button top right. In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on risk factors for food allergies in babies and children and on the cost of raising children in the US. We then talk about bellies - what they are, how they shape our health, and why we need to avoid sucking them in. Finally, we talk about sunsc...

In this microbiome-heavy episode, recorded on the bike, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how fathers shape children’s long-term health, on how early-life stress affects the development of the gut-brain axis, and on how fecal microbiome transplants affect Autism Spectrum Disorders in children. We then talk about microbes - why they are important, why children need to look after them, and w...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how melatonin supplements affect children’s sleep and development , and why putting all drugs in gummies is a bad idea. We talk about early childhood caries , why it’s linked to prolonged breastfeeding, and why this may have a more negative effect in today’s society. We then talk mattresses - what they are, why they are used, and why we mi...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how antibiotics during labour affect a child’s long-term health, on how our brains continue to develop into our early thirties, on how astringent flavours help us learn, and on how adverse childhood experiences affect fitness in adulthood. We then talk about football - why it’s great for children, why industrialised football poses some ver...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how the artificial sweetener sorbitol affects liver health, and how gut microbes influence this. We discuss how early-life adversity affects cardiovascular health, and why it’s so challenging to really understand this. We then talk about salt - why it’s important, why it can be harmful, and how we should limit salt consumption in babies. F...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how young chimpanzees take risks, on how certain types of dishwasher detergents may affect the gut, and on how gaming affects university students. We then talk about the first hundred hours of life - why it’s more important than the second, what baby bodies expect, and how we can set ourselves and others up for a better postnatal period. F...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how overstimulating babies with lots of toys can affect their learning, and on how vegetarian and vegan diets affect children’s health. We then talk about tummy time - what it is, why it was developed, why it’s problematic, and how babies can get similar benefits in other ways. We finish by talking about why different women have different...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss how a baby’s experience of labour shapes their stress responses in childhood, and why that matters. We talk about how a few minutes of movement affect how children perform in school. We then talk about treats - what they are, what they could be, and how we can set them up differently. Finally, we answer a listener question about how we respond to researc...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss a set of recent papers summarising the evidence on ultra-processed food. We talk about the effect of childhood stress in rats, and how their gut microbes influence this. We then explore the problems that arise when women are transported during labour, and how this disrupts the normal hormonal processes of birth. We finish by talking about why drinking a...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I are joined by biomedical scientist and international touch rugby player Anna Wilson. We discuss recent papers on early induction of labour, on artificial sweeteners and early puberty, on learning and hearing loss in rats, on dog ownership and teen microbiomes, and on repurposing drugs for previously fatal conditions. We then talk about the effects of early movem...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent papers on high blood pressure in children. We talk about recent evidence untangling the strength of the link between acetaminophen exposure in pregnancy and autism and ADHD. We talk about how disposable diapers affect how a child behaves when urinating. We then talk about why getting children outside is a really efficient way of giving their bodie...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss a recent paper on the effects of recent guidelines about early introduction of food allergy. We discuss how much activity is needed to set children up for longer telomeres and better health. We then talk about sugar - how it affects metabolic health and how we can set children up for healthier lives. Greg talks about his experience with sugar addiction....

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss a recent paper on the effects of different parenting practises on a child’s brain volume… when they are seventy. We discuss a study investigating whether induction of labour reduces the risk of stillbirth in migrant women. We then discuss shoes - why we should care about the shoes that we put our children in, and what we can do with their shoes to set th...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent papers on crooked teeth in the Amazon rainforest and on how plastics affect children’s health in adulthood. We then explore open-mouth posture in children - what it is, why it’s a problem, and what we can do to help them keep their mouth closed. Finally, Greg gives his perspective on how he models assessing and mitigating risk for his children. Fo...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I are joined by Kirsten Karchmer, a health-tech pioneer and women’s health expert, and the founder and CEO of Conceivable Technologies. After helping more than 10,000 women in her clinic, she built one of the first AI-driven fertility platforms to tackle the hidden factors that keep women from getting and staying pregnant. Named one of the most innovative health s...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how breast milk varies during the day, how breastfeeding affects the milk microbiome, and how the age at which a child gets their first smartphone influences their later mental health. We then discuss disgust - what it is, why it’s good, and when it can be bad. We talk about how we can help children set up healthy levels of disgust. Finall...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how underwear affects testicular function and how aluminium-based vaccines affect a child’s risk of chronic disease. We then dive into the subject of parental burnout - what it is, why it’s so common in Western cultures, and how we can set up our environment to reduce our own risk. Finally, we discuss whether soap affects underarm odour. D...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how second-hand smoke affects eye development and on how child health affects later risk of many different diseases. We then talk about why our Western hamstrings (the muscles on the backs of our legs) are typically shorter and stiffer, and how we can set children up for better functioning hamstrings to help their back and knee health in a...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I talk about how heat affects children’s development and how the effects depend on what they are eating. We discuss mineral intake during pregnancy, why baby microbiomes don’t have much overlap with their mother’s microbiomes, and we discuss what affects a boy’s testosterone health as he develops. And finally, we explore how we can tell whether dirt is likely to m...

To doctors, a normal death is a natural one , and a normal birth is not. To veterinary surgeons, a normal birth is a natural one , and a normal death is not. When my father was dying, I was terrified. I’d never seen animals die without assistance, or without a lot of medical intervention trying to avoid it. I couldn’t understand how things could happen differently. My medical friends talked with m...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on cultural susceptibility to optical illusions, on how a boy’s metabolic health influences his offspring’s health, and the effects of prenatal cannabis exposure. We then talk about the recent UK National Diet and Nutrition survey and how snacking affects the findings. We then talk about why typical Western snacking patterns are bad for child...

In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how parental screen time affects children, on how sugar consumption influences the risk of Type 2 diabetes, and, in celebration of Fathers’ Day, some of the many ways that fathers positively influence their children. We then talk about why so many children in WEIRD cultures have flattened heads, how we can reduce the risk, and what we can...