In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Peter Liang discuss the rise in colorectal cancer among younger people, those below the age of 50. While colorectal cancer is a slow-growing cancer, it is still the third most common cancer for both men and women, and the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Due to the trend of decreasing age in colorectal cancer patients, screening guidelines have been lowered to 45, but can be done earlier as needed, based on risk factors. Dr. Liang emphasizes the importance of screening, diet, exercise, and awareness of family history in preventing and detecting colorectal cancer early.

Key Takeaways:

• Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer in both men and women. It is the second leading cause of cancer death behind lung cancer.

• Early-onset colorectal cancer is traditionally defined as occurring in people under age 50. However, there is a rise in people in their 40s, though some (though they are a minority) are in their 20s or 30s.

• Colorectal cancer is unique due to the number of different tests available for screening for prevention.

• Colorectal cancer is a slow-growing cancer. A single polyp can sometimes take 10-20 years to develop into cancer.

• There is no evidence correlating constipation with colorectal cancer. If people want to do juices or fasts or colonics, that is fine, but there is no medical need to do it.

• If you have symptoms that are concerning, tell your doctor. Sometimes you do need to advocate for yourself to get additional testing.

"Any test that is not a colonoscopy and is abnormal does need to be followed by a colonoscopy. How we prevent Colorectal cancer is by going in with the colonoscopy, removing polyps (which can turn into cancer), or by finding the cancer early, so that your prognosis is much better." — Dr. Peter Liang

Connect with Dr. Peter Liang:

Professional Bio: https://med.nyu.edu/faculty/peter-s-liang

Website: https://med.nyu.edu/research/liang-lab/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Joshua Woolley discuss his transition from neurology to psychiatry and his current focus on psychedelic drug therapies. He explains the mechanisms and effects of psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD, highlighting their potential to treat depression and other mental health conditions. Dr. Woolley describes controlled clinical trials at the University of California, San Francisco, where patients undergo psychedelic experiences with therapeutic support. He notes the challenges and benefits of these treatments, including long-term positive effects in alleviating depression. He also addresses the regulatory hurdles and the potential for future FDA approval of psychedelic therapies.

Key Takeaways:

• While SSRIs can and have saved a lot of people, they don’t work fully or at all for some people.

• Some diagnoses don’t have any effective pharmacotherapies, such as anorexia, methamphetamine use disorder, and even PTSD.

• Over the years, a lot of people have said that psychedelics have allowed them to have real, transformative experiences. It is a common description.

• To conduct psychedelic research, you have to get permission from multiple organizations, including the FDA and the DEA.

• People do sometimes have frightening experiences when they take psychedelics. This is not likely to happen in a clinical setting with support.

"Almost every psychiatric illness can be thought of as an inability to change something about emotions, thoughts, or behavior. If psychedelics really do reopen these critical periods, or allow people a period of a window of changeability, that would be a real game changer." — Dr. Joshua Woolley

Connect with Dr. Joshua Woolley:

Professional Bio: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/joshua.woolley

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-d-woolley-md-phd-076018110/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow interviews Dr. Shaina Stacy about her studies on cancer risks in children depending upon the body mass index (BMI) of their mothers before and during pregnancy. Dr. Stacy explains how she obtained a sample of nearly 2 million mother-child pairs in the state of Pennsylvania, the largest sample size ever for such a study. They discuss how children of women with a BMI of over 30 when pregnant had a significantly higher risk of cancers compared to children of lean mothers. This was notable for leukemia in children under 5, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The mechanism underlying the increased risk is not yet known.

Key Takeaways:

• Maternal obesity before and during pregnancy increases the risk of cancers in children under 5 years of age.

• The risk of leukemia, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL, is the greatest.

• Children of white, educated women, if obese during pregnancy, have the highest risk.

• Transgenerational effects of obesity are becoming more apparent.

"We found that children born to mothers in our highest BMI category had over 30% higher risk of developing any type of childhood cancer." — Dr. Shaina Stacy

Connect with Dr. Shaina Stacy:

Scientific American Blog Post: Cancer Prevention Should Start before Birth - https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/cancer-prevention-should-start-before-birth/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaina-stacy-0664962b/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.