Health
Doctors express concern about Biden’s apparent cognitive issues during debate: 'Troubling indicators'
The first presidential debate of 2024 left many Americans and even some traditional Democratic allies wondering about President Biden’s mental fitness for office based on what appeared to be his unclear train of thought at times and his raspy voice on Thursday night.
The White House responded to these concerns, claiming that the president, who is 81, was fighting a cold, but some doctors said they perceive the health issues go beyond the sniffles — with one noting that “it is an issue of fitness, not of age.”
Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurosurgeon who specializes in cognitive function, told Fox News Digital on Friday about his concerns.
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“President Biden’s performance in [Thursday] night’s debate reignited longstanding discussions about his cognitive abilities and his overall leadership capacity,” Osborn told Fox News Digital.
“Throughout the evening, Biden struggled to maintain a coherent narrative, often losing his train of thought mid-sentence, and providing vague, rambling and undecipherable answers to highly critical questions,” said Osborn, expressing his professional opinion.
Joe Biden is shown on Friday, June 28, the day after the debate, at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. Dr. Marc Siegel, inset left, and Dr. Brett Osborn, inset right, weighed in on President Biden’s performance during the Thursday night presidential debate, sharing concerns about his health from their point of view. (Fox News; Getty Images; Dr. Brett Osborn)
“His frequent pauses, stumbling over words and reliance on notes underscored concerns about his mental acuity,” Osborn added.
“Biden struggled to maintain a coherent narrative, often losing his train of thought mid-sentence.”
These seeming signs of cognitive decline highlight a “growing inability” to manage the complexities required by the job of the presidency, according to the neurosurgeon.
“His difficulty in articulating clear, concise responses and his apparent disorientation during the debate were seen by many – including his own constituents – as very troubling indicators of his overall health and an obvious decline in his cognitive function,” Osborn said.
Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are shown during the first presidential debate of the 2024 election at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
“President Biden lacks the mental sharpness required for the highest office in the land … especially amid [today’s] current national and international crises.”
The neurosurgeon, who has not treated Biden personally, also mentioned the 46th president has undergone multiple surgeries for brain aneurysms.
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There is a famous saying in neurosurgery, Osborn noted: “When the air hits your brain, you’re never the same.”
The surgeon surmised, “The odds have been stacked against him for years, long before his presidency.”
Joe Biden reacts as supporters greet him at his debate watch party at Hyatt Regency Atlanta on June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Derek White/Getty Images for DNC)
Dr. Marc Siegel, physician, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, also spoke with Fox News Digital about concerns from his end.
“The debate is, in a way, a psychiatric or cognitive stress test,” he told Fox News Digital.
Although Biden was able to respond to questions and seemed to be spatially aware, according to Siegel, the president did display “frequent disorientation” and had “problems with spontaneity or redirecting,” the doctor said.
He has not personally examined Biden.
Dr. Marc Siegel, at right, joined “Fox & Friends” on Friday, June 28, to discuss the presidential debate on Thursday evening. (Kevin D. Liles for The Washington Post via Getty Images; Fox News)
Siegel described Biden’s speech as “meandering,” noting that he ended sentences in different places than intended, and “often mixed up ‘trillions’ and ‘billions’ and ‘millions.’”
Siegel confirmed that a physical illness, even with a cold, can bring out cognitive issues “even more.”
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“Even so, it’s hard to believe this is all from a cold,” Siegel told Fox News Digital. “Either way, we need someone who is sharp despite a cold.”
The NYU Langone physician noted that cognitive issues “wax and wane,” so they won’t always present the same way.
President Joe Biden looks over at former President Donald Trump during the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season on June 27, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
While the age of both candidates has been raised as a concern, Siegel countered that what’s important is a president’s physical and mental fitness.
“It is an issue of fitness, not of age,” he said. “It is an issue of mental acuity, which is especially important if there is a crisis.”
While Biden is 81 (he turns 82 in November), Trump is 78 years old.
During an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning, Siegel also spoke about the possibility of cold medications impacting Biden’s performance.
“It is an issue of fitness, not of age. It is an issue of mental acuity.”
“None of the medications that he would be taking for a cold, except something that might make him drowsy, would be relevant here,” he said.
“And I don’t think they would give him something that would make him drowsy before a debate,” he said.
He added, “We’ve been watching this a long time. This is something progressive.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign and to the White House press office for comment.
Earlier this year, concerns emerged about Biden’s age and memory after the release of a special counsel’s report. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Earlier this year, concerns emerged about Biden’s age and memory after the release of a special counsel’s report. The report described the Democrat’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations,” the Associated Press noted at the time.
The report indicated that Biden could not recall certain milestones in his own life, such as the date his own son Beau died of brain cancer, as Fox News Digital reported at the time. (Beau Biden passed away on May 30, 2015.)
“My memory is fine,” Biden responded afterward from the White House.
“A person with growing problems of memory and judgment is frequently the last to acknowledge it.”
The New York Times editorial board and others have called on Biden to step out of the race after his debate performance.
Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that Biden had a “slow start” to the debate, but she defended his performance overall and his record during his time in the White House.
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Said Dr. Siegel in a New York Post opinion piece that ran in the publication on Saturday morning, “This isn’t a question of age. Cognition varies widely with age, and it isn’t fair to say that executive function is automatically impaired at a certain point in life. But it’s a sad medical fact that a person with growing problems of memory and judgment is frequently the last to acknowledge it.”
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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