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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Scientists and physicians agree that there’s been a general decline in male fertility — but they aren’t sure why.
Social media buzz has pointed to a few environmental exposures as potential factors, including cellphones and electric vehicles.
But the reality is “more complicated” than that, according to experts who recently spoke to National Geographic.
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Although it’s not clear whether the decline is at a stage where it should be considered a crisis, numbers show that overall fertility — demographically measured by the number of babies born compared to women of child-bearing age — has decreased.
Scientists and physicians agree that there’s been a general decline in male fertility. (iStock)
Dr. Alex Robles of the Columbia University Fertility Center in New York confirmed that clinical practitioners are “certainly seeing more couples where the male factor contributes to infertility.”
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“At least one-third of couples we evaluate have some male component,” he told Fox News Digital.
A 2017 meta-analysis published in Oxford Journals: Human Reproduction Update found that sperm counts in Western countries have declined by almost 60% globally since 1973. The 2023 update confirmed these same results.
Urologists can track declining fertility in sperm quality, while demographic data uses the number of babies born compared to women of child-bearing age as a benchmark, according to National Geographic. (iStock)
Lead study author and epidemiologist Hagai Levine warned that this trend could lead to human extinction if it isn’t addressed.
“This is the canary in the coal mine,” Levine, public health physician at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health, told National Geographic. “It signifies that something is very wrong with our current environment, as lower sperm counts predict morbidity and mortality.”
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These findings have been contradicted by other studies, however. A 2025 Cleveland Clinic analysis of studies from the last 53 years found sperm counts to be steady.
“There is no evidence to suggest that this decline is the cause of a precipitous decline in the ability to cause pregnancies,” primary study author Scott Lundy, a reproductive urologist at Cleveland Clinic, told National Geographic. “Most men, even with a modest decline in sperm counts, will still have no issues conceiving.”
Potential factors of decline
Multiple lifestyle factors can lead to a decline in male fertility, Robles noted, including obesity, smoking and diet, as well as environmental exposures and delayed parenthood.
National Geographic also reported that heavy drinking and marijuana use directly contribute to declining fertility and that quitting these habits, while also exercising and losing weight, can help.
Smoking of any kind can contribute to a decline in fertility, according to experts. (iStock)
Systemic inflammation, infection and disease can also have a “big, profound effect on the current status of fertility,” Lundy told National Geographic.
Those who are getting over a fever from an infection, like the flu or COVID, will have a “drastically lower” sperm count for three months, he said.
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Male infertility can also be a marker of overall health, according to Robles. “Poor semen parameters are associated with other medical conditions and may signal underlying metabolic, hormonal or environmental issues,” he told Fox News Digital.
Experts recommend seeing a doctor to discuss fertility concerns instead of relying on the internet. (iStock)
Allan Pacey, deputy dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at the University of Manchester, told National Geographic that the decline could be caused by increased use of contraception, as well as men waiting longer to have children or choosing not to have them at all.
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Microplastics have also been raised on social media as a potential culprit, but the effects are unclear, according to experts.
There is some evidence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals — which are substances found in reusable plastics and some disposable products — altering male fertility, Lundy revealed to National Geographic.
Myths busted
Concerns have circulated on social media that keeping a cellphone in a front pocket could harm male fertility. While Lundy said such an effect is biologically possible, there is currently no scientific evidence supporting the claim.
Another common myth is that infertility is mostly a women’s issue, Robles noted, but male factors contribute to about one-third to one-half of all cases.
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The claim that taking supplements can boost sperm counts is another common myth, he said, adding that it’s not backed by strong scientific evidence.
“Men should focus on factors that we know matter: maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol and managing chronic health conditions,” Robles advised.
One common myth is that infertility is mostly a women’s issue, but male factors contribute to about one-third to one-half of all cases. (iStock)
Experts recommend seeing a urologist to address fertility concerns. Robles said his approach begins with an evaluation, semen analysis, hormonal testing and medical history, while also exploring lifestyle factors.
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In addition to traditional treatment options, Robles said his fertility center also uses advanced tools that incorporate AI and robotics.
“Technologies like this are expanding options for patients who previously had very limited paths to biological parenthood,” he said.
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Study finds link between obesity and vascular dementia
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A new blood test could determine a woman’s dementia risk as early as 25 years before symptoms emerge.
That’s according to new research from the University of California San Diego, which found that a specific biomarker protein associated with early pathological processes of Alzheimer’s disease was “strongly linked” to future dementia risk.
The researchers analyzed blood samples from 2,766 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study in the late 1990s, according to the study’s press release.
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The women ranged from 65 to 79 years of age and showed no signs of cognitive decline at the start of the study.
After tracking the participants for up to 25 years, the researchers concluded that the biomarker phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) was “strongly associated” with future mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
A new blood test could determine a woman’s dementia risk as early as 25 years before symptoms emerge. (iStock)
Women who had higher levels of p-tau217 at the beginning of the study were “much more likely” to develop the disease. The findings were published today in JAMA Network Open.
“The key takeaway is that our study suggests it may be possible to detect risk of dementia two decades in advance using a simple blood test in older women,” first author Aladdin H. Shadyab, a UC San Diego associate professor of public health and medicine, told Fox News Digital.
“These biomarkers may help us identify who is at greatest risk and develop strategies to delay or prevent dementia.”
“Our findings show that the blood biomarker p-tau217 could help identify individuals at higher risk for dementia long before symptoms begin,” he added.
This long lead time could open the door to earlier prevention strategies and more targeted monitoring, rather than waiting until memory problems are already affecting daily life, according to Shadyab.
A specific biomarker protein associated with early pathological processes of Alzheimer’s disease was “strongly linked” to future dementia risk. (iStock)
“As the research advances, these biomarkers may help us identify who is at greatest risk and develop strategies to delay or prevent dementia,” he said.
This risk relationship wasn’t the same across the board, however. Women over 70 with higher p-tau217 levels had “poorer cognitive outcomes” compared to those under 70, as did those with the APOE ε4 gene, which is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
The study also found that p-tau217 was a stronger predictor of dementia in women who were randomly assigned to receive estrogen and progestin hormone therapy compared to those who received a placebo.
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“Blood-based biomarkers like p-tau217 are especially promising because they are far less invasive and potentially more accessible than brain imaging or spinal fluid tests,” said senior author Linda K. McEvoy, senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute and professor emeritus at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, in the release.
“Blood-based biomarkers like p-tau217 are especially promising because they are far less invasive and potentially more accessible than brain imaging or spinal fluid tests,” a researcher said. (iStock)
“This is important for accelerating research into the factors that affect the risk of dementia and for evaluating strategies that may reduce risk.”
Blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease are still being studied and are not recommended for routine screening in people without symptoms, Shadyab noted.
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More research is needed before this approach can be considered for clinical use prior to cognitive symptoms.
Future studies should investigate how other factors — like genetics, hormone therapy and age-related medical conditions — might interact with plasma p-tau217, the researchers added.
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“The study examined only older women, so the findings may not necessarily apply to men or younger populations,” Shadyab noted. “We also examined overall dementia outcomes rather than specific subtypes such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
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