Health
California doctor reveals the 10 big ‘lies’ the medical community is telling patients
A California doctor wants people to know that, in his view and experience, the medical community doesn’t always tell patients the truth.
Dr. Robert Lufkin, a physician and father of two young children, has been diagnosed with four chronic diseases — the same ones that claimed his father’s life.
Inspired by his own medical struggles, Lufkin decided to write a book exposing what he calls “medical lies” that contribute to the risk of chronic disease in the U.S. – some of which he says he himself once taught as a professor at UCLA and USC.
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While Lufkin is critical of the medical establishment, he pointed out that he is also still part of it himself.
“I’ve written hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and 10 textbooks, and also have the honor and privilege of teaching doctors and other health care professionals, as well as seeing patients,” Lufkin told Fox News Digital during an interview.
Dr. Robert Lufkin, pictured at left, was diagnosed with four chronic diseases, which inspired him to write a book, “Lies I Taught in Medical School.” (Dr. Robert Lufkin/iStock)
His own diagnoses, Lufkin said, “woke him up” to the flaws in the medical system.
First, he developed a type of arthritis called gout.
“Next, I developed hypertension, which practically half of adults have,” he said.
“Unless we address the metabolic cause … the diseases will only continue to get worse and worse.”
Then came pre-diabetes, followed by dyslipidemia — “which is sort of abnormal blood lipids.”
The doctor noted that he’s actually a “big fan” of Western medicine in general — “I think it’s transformed our lives and made the world a better place,” he said — but that in the 21st century, a “new class of diseases” has posed a challenge.
Dr. Robert Lufkin, a physician and father of two children, said Western medicine has “made the world a better place,” though he warns of widespread misinformation. (Dr. Robert Lufkin)
“The diseases were present before, but now they’re exploding,” he said.
These include obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and even mental illness, Lufkin said.
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“Up to 80% of our resources are now spent on these chronic diseases.”
The problem, according to the doctor, is that the tools that were so effective in the 20th century — “the pills and surgeries” — might save lives in the moment.
But they only address the symptoms of these chronic diseases — not their root causes.
In his book, “Lies I Taught in Medical School,” Lufkin claims that medical professionals tend to propagate 10 major misconceptions. (Dr. Robert Lufkin)
“There’s a common metabolic cause that underlies most of these diseases,” Lufkin said.
“And unless we address the metabolic cause, the pills and surgeries will not. The diseases will only continue to get worse and worse.”
‘The 10 lies’
In his book, “Lies I Taught in Medical School,” Lufkin claims that medical professionals tend to propagate 10 falsehoods.
He listed these situations and includes separate chapters on them in his book, labeled this way:
1. The Metabolic Lie: “Metabolism Is Just the Body’s Way of Digesting Food”
2. The Obesity Lie: “To Lose Weight, Just Exercise More and Eat Less”
3. The Diabetes Lie: “Sugar is Harmless, Other Than Causing Weight Gain and Tooth Decay”
4. The Fatty Liver Lie: “There Is No Treatment for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease”
5. The Hypertension Lie: “High Blood Pressure Is Best Treated with Drugs”
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6. The Cardiovascular Disease Lie: “Statins Are a Good Choice to Prevent Heart Disease”
7. The Cancer Lie: “Most Cancer Is Caused by Accumulated DNA Damage”
8. The Alzheimer’s Lie: “Alzheimer’s Disease Is a Progressive, Untreatable Disease Caused by Beta-Amyloid Accumulation”
9. The Mental Health Lie: “Metabolism Has Little Effect on Mental Health”
10. The Longevity Lie: “Aging Is the Inevitable Result of Accumulated Wear and Tear”
“In each chapter,” said Lufkin, “we go through each of those chronic diseases that determine our life span — and we talk about what the lies are and what the truth is.”
The doctor then presents a plan for making healthier lifestyle choices.
In his book, Dr. Lufkin also shares recommendations for healthy lifestyle choices to help prevent disease. (iStock)
“We talk about the nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress and how we can craft our own lifestyles to reverse those diseases,” he said.
In the excerpt below, Lufkin explains the first two of these “lies.”
Read an excerpt from ‘Lies I Taught in Medical School’
The Obesity Lie: ‘A Calorie Is Just a Calorie’
Dr. Robert Lufkin: We are now experiencing the worst global epidemic of obesity in history. Statistics show that 42.5% of adults age 20 and over are obese, and 73.6% are at least overweight.
Almost half of Americans are now obese, and most are overweight. Obesity is unhealthy and a marker for metabolic dysfunction, which manifests as hypertension, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, cancer and other chronic diseases.
“We are now experiencing the worst global epidemic of obesity in history.”
Our understanding of the causes of this epidemic and the approaches to treating it is based on a simple lie: that “a calorie is a calorie,” implying that obesity is caused by eating too many calories.
“Obesity is unhealthy and a marker for metabolic dysfunction, which manifests as hypertension, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s, cancer and other chronic diseases,” a doctor writes in his book. (iStock)
As a physician, I know from personal experience that I can make anyone gain weight or fat just by giving them extra insulin. This is seen in both type 1 and type 2 diabetics as soon as they begin taking extra insulin as a medication.
To put it another way, calories are necessary, but not sufficient to drive obesity. Insulin is required. Obesity is not just a calorie problem; it’s an insulin problem.
If all foods stimulated insulin equally, then a calorie would just be a calorie. That’s not a lie. But all foods don’t trigger insulin the same way.
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The truth here is that in order to lose (or gain) weight, the most important thing is not the number of calories consumed, but rather the types of calories that affect insulin levels and direct our bodies to store energy as fat.
As every rancher knows, to fatten livestock, simply feed them large amounts of refined carbohydrates that will turn on insulin and drive energy storage into fat.
Feeding livestock fatty foods will not have the same effect.
The Diabetes Lie: ‘Sugar is Harmless, Other Than Causing Weight Gain and Tooth Decay’
We are currently at the beginning of the worst diabetes epidemic the world has ever known. Ten percent of American adults have type 2 diabetes, and about 38% have prediabetes. This means that for the first time in history, 48% — or nearly half the population — have the same metabolic disease!
“We are currently at the beginning of the worst diabetes epidemic the world has ever known,” Dr. Robert Lufkin writes in his new book. (iStock)
The diabetes lie declares that the best way to treat type 2 diabetes is with insulin.
Giving insulin will help control the immediate effects of too much glucose in the blood by telling our cells to remove that blood glucose and store it as fat.
However, it will also raise the body’s overall insulin levels, worsening insulin resistance, the underlying cause of type 2 diabetes. Additionally, elevated insulin levels drive other chronic diseases.
“Many people would rather take a pill or a shot instead of changing their lifestyles.”
Our health care system is sadly much more optimized to deliver prescriptions for insulin and other drugs for managing type 2 diabetes than giving instructions on how to reverse it by changing our nutrition to avoid the causes.
To be fair, many people would rather take a pill or a shot instead of changing their lifestyles. But most people don’t know how powerful and effective lifestyle choices can be.
Plus, there is some evidence to show that merely improving glucose control with drugs, such as insulin or pills, might not prevent some of the long-term complications these patients all face.
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There are also financial incentives. In 2013, sales of insulin and other diabetes drugs reached $23 billion, according to data from IMS Health, a drug market research firm.
That was more than the combined revenue of the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.
Excerpted with permission from the new book, “Lies I Told in Medical School” (BenBella Books, Inc.), by Dr. Robert Lufkin, copyright © 2024 by Dr. Robert Lufkin. All rights reserved.
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Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. New research shows one group getting hit the hardest – those without a college degree.
A recent study from the American Cancer Society analyzed data from over 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023.
While death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed.
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For young adults with a high school education or less, the mortality rate rose from 4.0 to 5.2 per 100,000 people, while the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree stayed flat, at approximately 2.7 per 100,000.
This does not mean that a degree offers some kind of biological protection, researchers cautioned.
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. (iStock)
The difference is likely driven by the conditions in which people live and work, which often correlate with education levels, the researchers noted.
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The study suggests that the higher death rates are likely driven by differences in the prevalence of risk factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and diet, which are “known to be elevated among children and young adults with lower [socioeconomic status].”
Because the study relied on death certificates, researchers couldn’t say exactly why college graduates had better outcomes.
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes. (iStock)
Certificates typically list the cause of death, age, race and education level, but they do not include a person’s full medical history.
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Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes.
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Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group, according to recent statistics.
While colorectal cancer death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed. (iStock)
Because the disease is highly treatable when caught early, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45 in 2021.
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Common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days, according to the American Cancer Society.
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Other signs that warrant seeing a doctor include blood in the stool or a persistent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom but being unable to go.
The research was published in JAMA Oncology.
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A young woman who started vaping at the age of 15 has been given just 18 months to live — after being diagnosed with lung cancer in her early 20s.
Kayley Boda, 22, of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, was engaging in heavy vaping on a regular basis when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025, news agency SWNS reported.
The retail assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection — until she began coughing up blood.
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After seven biopsies, Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy — and in February 2026, got the all-clear, the same source reported.
Two months later, though, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining. Now she’s been given 18 months to live.
Kayley Boda, 22, is shown in the hospital. She started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in January 2025, she said. She had been vaping since the age of 15. (SWNS)
The young woman has now issued a warning to others to be aware of the dangers of vaping.
Boda said she smoked a bit as a young teenager. She took up vaping after that.
Then, “a few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus,” as SWNS reported.
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“Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. … Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an X-ray and found a shadow on my lung,” she added.
“They told me they were 99% sure, [since I was] so young, that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back, and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.”
Boda said she was “very naive” before her diagnosis and thought that “something like this would never happen to me.”
She said that she had surgery to remove half of her right lung.
“After the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up. I was throwing up blood. I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
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She said that when she got the “all clear [in Feb. 2026], it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.”
She added, “I’m 22. This isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.”
“Stay off the vapes because they will catch up with you.”
She blames her cancer on vaping, she said.
“My symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family,” she said. “I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mom stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes,” she continued, “because they will catch up with you.”
When doctors did an X-ray, they found a shadow on Boda’s right lung. She was later diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
She said she’d been using reusable vapes since the age of 15 and began using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.
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In November 2024, when she developed a rash all over her body, doctors said it could have been due to shingles, chicken pox or scabies, she told SWNS.
‘Nothing worked’
“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” Boda said. “It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”
A few months after that, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with “grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it,” she said. When the coughing continued, she visited the doctor’s office, but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection, she also said.
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It wasn’t until March 2025 that she began coughing up bright red blood. At that point, doctors gave her a chest X-ray and told her they’d found a shadow on her lower right lung.
Over the next four months, she had seven biopsies as doctors took samples from the “shadow.” In August, when she went to get the results, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.
Boda is shown in the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
In September 2025, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes. During the surgery, doctors upstaged her cancer from stage one to stage three after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes, she said.
Following the surgery, Boda was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk all over again.
“The oncologist said this is so rare.”
After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was given the all clear, leaving her feeling elated.
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However, just a month after that, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion — a build-up of fluid in the lungs. She had the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.
“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said, as SWNS reported.
Increasingly, vacation hot spots are enforcing strict bans on the use of e-cigarettes in public venues. (iStock)
Boda claimed that doctors were unable to pin her cancer to a specific cause — but told her that smoking and vaping definitely didn’t help.
Since her diagnosis, she has stopped and is urging others to stop, too.
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She’s hoping to raise the thousands of dollars needed for treatment to try to prolong her life, she said.
Last year, Fox News Digital reported on the case of a Pennsylvania woman, 26, who said she vaped for just one year before her lungs collapsed. She was 22 when she took up the habit, she said in an interview.
“Everybody warned me about it, but I didn’t listen — I wish that I did,” she said.
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Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and program director at Recover Together Bend in Oregon, told Fox News Digital at that time that signs of collapsed lungs include sharp chest or shoulder pain, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
Lung issues are just one of the many health issues linked to vaping, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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The key to feeling better in a fast, overstimulated world might be surprisingly simple: Live a little more like your grandparents.
A growing social media trend, dubbed “nonnamaxxing,” draws inspiration from the slower, more intentional rhythms associated with an Italian grandmother.
The lifestyle is often linked to activities like preparing home-cooked meals, spending time outdoors and making meaningful connections.
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“Nonnamaxxing is a 2026 trend that embraces the slower, more intentional lifestyle of an Italian grandmother (a Nonna). Think cooking from scratch, long family meals, daily walks, gardening and less screen time,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
Stepping away from screens and toward real-world interaction can have measurable benefits, according to California-based psychotherapist Laurie Singer.
“We know that interacting with others in person, rather than spending time on screens, significantly improves mental health,” she told Fox News Digital, adding that social media often fuels comparison and lowers self-esteem.
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Living more like previous generations isn’t purely driven by nostalgia. Cooking meals from scratch, for example, has been linked to better nutrition and more mindful eating patterns.
Adopting traditional mealtime habits can improve diet quality and support both physical and mental health, especially when meals are shared regularly with others, Palinski-Wade noted.
One longevity expert stresses that staying healthy isn’t just about food — it’s also about joy and community. (iStock)
There’s also a psychological benefit to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time. Anxiety often stems from unfinished or avoided tasks, Singer noted, and engaging in hands-on activities can counteract that.
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“Nonnamaxxing encourages us to be present around a task, like gardening, baking or knitting, or just taking a mindful walk, that delivers something ‘real,’” she said.
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Palinski-Wade cautions against turning the trend into another source of pressure, noting that a traditional “nonna” lifestyle often assumes a different pace of life.
The key, she said, is adapting the mindset, not replicating it perfectly.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
The goal is to reintroduce small, intentional moments that make you feel better.
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That might mean prioritizing a few shared meals each week, taking a walk without your phone or setting aside time for a simple hobby, the expert recommended.
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Singer added, “Having a positive place to escape to, through whatever activities speak to us and make us happy, isn’t generational – it’s human.”
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