Dr. Aseem Malhotra
Appearances
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
But Hugh, the horror West Palm.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Hi, Megan. Lovely to be here.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
One of the medications that Tony was on that he believed caused him quite significant side effects, such as muscle fatigue, erectile dysfunction, brain fog, really limited his quality of life for many, many months, was a statin drug.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, Megan, so really interesting you started with that because, you know, my journey as a practicing cardiologist, as a qualified doctor for well over 20 years, actually started towards the end of sort of 2009, 2010, when I really started to investigate why heart disease hadn't really come down in the way it was predicted to come down.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
You know, by the end of the 20th century, it was predicted that heart disease would essentially be eradicated because of statins that come on the scene. And a lot of what happened around changes in guidelines on diet was based upon this, what we now know is a very flawed hypothesis about lowering cholesterol. So that's where I begun my journey because I was seeing my patients come in
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
You know, more stress on the system, the National Health Service, more people are suffering from chronic disease. But patients also reporting a lot of side effects from statins, which where there was a discrepancy between what I was observing in terms of the frequency of these side effects and diagnosing it and what was in the published literature.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
So when I went on that journey, Megan, basically I came to the conclusion that this fear around cholesterol is grossly exaggerated to the extent where one could argue, and there's published evidence for this, that high cholesterol, so-called LDL, bad cholesterol, isn't really a significant risk factor for heart disease.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
But of course, that's where statins came in, because the thinking was if we lower LDL cholesterol, so-called bad cholesterol with these statin drugs, which are, by the way, prescribed, estimated to be prescribed, Megan, to one billion people globally, certainly at least 200 million. And we think at least 30 million Americans are taking statins. it doesn't really have that much of an effect.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
So when you start looking at the actual data on statins, and there's a huge caveat here, by the way, because almost all of the data on statins comes from industry-sponsored drug trials that have never really been independently evaluated.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And that's something, of course, that comes out in the film where myself and John Abramson from Harvard are trying to get access to the raw data so it gets investigated. Even if you look at that data from the drug companies and break it down,
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
the actual benefit of a statin for an individual over a five-year period, but low risk of heart disease, or certainly if someone who hasn't had a heart attack is about 1%, one in a hundred chance of it preventing a non-fatal heart attack and non-disabling stroke without prolonging one's life.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Now, Tony's case is really interesting and he was quite unusual patient because as you already alluded to, you know, he was, um, somebody that had a heart attack. He was a Virgin Atlantic airline pilot. He was fit and active. He was following the dietary guidelines, low fat guidelines, thought he was doing everything, you know, healthy in a healthy way.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And his early fifties basically suffered a heart attack, couldn't fly anymore, went back to his previous job, which was a maths and physics teacher. So he's very good with numbers. And then he started to get debilitating side effects, you know, about a year after, you know, taking all these medications as described, or he suddenly felt unwell anyway, initially.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
started looking at the drugs and the details and the benefits, et cetera, thought there were side effects from the drugs, stopped his statin, felt a lot better, and at the same time changed his lifestyle. And, you know, Tony now is in a situation, this is quite unusual for a heart patient who's had a heart stent and a heart attack,
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
He's now training for World Ironman, and he's 60 plus now, and he's off all his pills, Megan.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
So I'm not saying this is for everybody, but it's a great example of what can be achieved in healthcare if we actually give patients the right information, if we empower them on the benefits and harms of drugs in a way that is not through coercion, not through manipulation of drug industry who are there to basically make money.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And the reality is this, most people in the world, Megan, taking statins, are going to get no benefit whatsoever and they don't even know it.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, great question. Before I answer that specifically, I said something interesting that I found myself and a number of international scientists in 2016 and BMJ. We actually looked at whether LDL cholesterol had a risk for heart disease in over 60s, partly because the original studies where cholesterol was exposed as a potential risk factor or as a major risk factor for heart disease.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
What wasn't publicized, Megan, in those original studies from Framingham, Massachusetts, that started in 1948 and went on for decades, is that once people hit 50, as their cholesterol dropped, their death rates increased. And we thought, this is a bit unusual. Why is no one really talking about this? So we went back and looked at up-to-date data.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And what we found, one, was there was no association with LDL cholesterol in heart disease in over 60s. But the most interesting finding was the higher one's LDL in older populations, of death statistically, right? So the question is, how is that possible?
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Well, one of the things that's been forgotten because of all this focus on heart disease and this forward hypothesis is that cholesterol has a really important role in the immune system. Older people are more vulnerable to dying from infections.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And there's also an association, I must express, and we don't know if it's causal, but there is an association with low cholesterol and cancer, which again is likely related to the immune system. So that just to muddy the waters a bit further, that just lowering cholesterol for the sake of it may actually be harmful. It's not that it has no
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
detrimental effect now what is the risk factor major risk factor for heart disease it's a process in the body called insulin resistance so it's essentially over time your body becoming resistant to the hormone insulin and that is driven essentially by food you know diets that are high in starch and sugar ultra processed foods being sedentary and also to some degree chronic stress
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And insulin itself, when it's, you know, raised chronically for a long period of time, or if you're eating a lot of junk food, it directly is toxic to the inner lining of the heart artery. So that's how it causes heart disease. And that's accepted in the literature. Why is it not well known or publicized?
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Because not never been really an effective drug to tackle insulin resistance has then been proven in a trials to prevent heart attacks. And of course, you know, there is no market for a healthy lifestyle, really, for just eating real food, you know, not being sedentary. No one gets rich off that. Absolutely. So that's really the missing link.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And when I institute this plan with my patients, Megan, you know, the lifestyle plan based upon the best evidence. And I don't say to my patients, don't take statins. I say, listen, this is the absolute benefit, you know, without even talking about harms.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I mean, harms come in as well in terms of quality of life limiting side effects in particular, like muscle fatigue, like what's only role experience. Most patients, when given that 1% figure, Megan, don't want to take the pill. And I actually write my letter back to their general practitioner and say, listen, the patient has decided they don't want to take the statin.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I've given them the information and their decision should be supported in keeping with the principles of ethical evidence-based medical practice. So actually what the statin issue highlights is that if we were practicing true ethical evidence-based medicine in healthcare, Megan, we'd sort out the health crisis very, very quickly.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, so on the red meat issue, first of all, just for full disclosure here, Megan, in 2013, I caused global controversy when I wrote in the BMJ, but formerly the British Medical Journal, that the saturated fat does not cause heart disease. And the evidence for that is now pretty much conclusive. So that means that eating foods like red meat does not contribute to heart disease at all.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
In fact, I tell my patients, I'm not worried about how much red meat you consume, as long as you're following the principles of what I call a low refined carbohydrate Mediterranean diet. So that is definitely not something that I recommend patients to not do, right? Eating red meat is not an issue when it comes to heart disease.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And, you know, even on the issues of, say, colon cancer, the evidence is only really there for processed meat, not really for red meat, for real food.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And the dietary guidelines, unfortunately, in the US and in the UK have really put at the base to tell people to eat, you know, six to 11 servings, I think, in the US guidelines of starchy foods, which is the complete opposite of the foods that you want to eat. Oh, it is absolutely insane because these are the foods that are going to drive all these conditions. It's not just about heart disease.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
It's high blood pressure, which is the single biggest risk factor for death globally. It's type 2 diabetes. They all contribute to also, you know, it's not about longevity. It's about quality of life as well. If you've got type 2 diabetes, you're massively increased risk of depression, chronic pain, for example.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And then, of course, then you've got the pills to take, which aren't that effective, by the way, but give you side effects. So a whole management really of people's health in health care is upside down. What I do tell patients to do, though, is to adhere to a healthy lifestyle. I use calcium scores sometimes in patients because they're a very good way. It's an imaging.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
For people that don't know this, it's a form of imaging which looks at coronary calcium, nothing to do with diet. which is a marker of inflammation and buildup of plaque or fatty deposits, if you like, within the arteries. And it correlates also, it gives a very accurate representation, Megan, of your risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next decade.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
But what's interesting is, and certainly with my patients and what the literature tells us, if you look at it properly, is that this is potentially reversible. And of course, in the film, First Uno Farm, without giving too much away,
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
You know, we end up going to India to meet a cardiologist who for well over 20 years and has published on this has been actually reversing the blockages within the arteries, which most doctors and I can tell you almost every cardiologist will not even think is possible. So he's done that for a combination of lifestyle. But the most important factor from his research that actually doesn't.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
cause the reduction in the blockages which i think is fascinating is actually through meditation and and this can be explained and this is it's really interesting so chronic stress is established as a risk factor for heart disease the same as being a smoker or having high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes okay but most of us are not really dealing with it properly and the process involved is a
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
If you look from an evolutionary perspective, acute stress obviously can be life-saving. But from an evolutionary perspective, if we were in a jungle and we're running away from a tiger, for example, when you're under a state of acute stress, the body releases clotting factors and inflammatory factors.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
So that if we were attacked by that tiger, we are not going to bleed to death or it's going to reduce our risk of bleeding to death. Let's put it that way. Now, this is chronically going on in the body at a low grade when people are stressed, you know, chronically stressed. And that's how it damages the heart arteries.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And heart disease itself, again, for many years was thought to be a fixed issue. You develop a blockage and like a clog pipe, it gradually gets worse over time. And at some point, you're going to have a heart attack. But this is not true. We know now that it's a dynamic process. So it can be reversed, Megan.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And I think that's really one of the most interesting, fascinating aspects of the new paradigm in actually reversing, not just preventing people having heart attacks, but actually reversing the blockages. And that's where we need to do more research and invest more of our resources.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah. So it's on a website. Um, the, the website's no farm film.com. So that's no N O P H A R M film.com. So they can download it for about $10. I mean, it was independently funded, very low budget. Um, you know, and, uh, yeah.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah. So, um, so, so the, I think the If we understand heart disease to be a chronically inflammatory process, which is exacerbated by insulin resistance, then the solution to prevention and managing heart disease is to deal with the chronic inflammation and the insulin resistance. So there are certain components of the Mediterranean diet that have been shown in studies.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
You know, there's not a lot of, unfortunately, nutrition science is quite flawed. But, you know, the studies have shown that they are There are certain components of the Mediterranean diet that are anti-inflammatory. So these anti-inflammatory components come from extra virgin olive oil, oily fish, nuts and seeds, whole fruit and vegetables.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
So as long as the base of the diet is really composed of those foods and you eliminate the sugars and too much of the refined carbs, that means not too much bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, for example, then you are basically following the best possible diet when it comes to heart disease.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I call it a low-carb Mediterranean diet is the way to describe it.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
No, Megan, actually, that's a great part of the, there's a lot of hope here.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
The, you know, there's evidence that, good evidence that shows, and I've seen this with my patients, that you can actually start to reverse the risk factors for heart disease and many other, insulin resistance, by the way, isn't just about heart disease, Megan, it's probably after smoking the most important risk for cancer as well.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And certainly linked to Alzheimer's as a, you know, as a prominent risk factor. So if you sort the insulin resistance out, you're probably going to solve a lot of the chronic disease problems in the whole of America. And this is the good news. Within three weeks, there's 21 days, 28 days, you can actually start to reverse those risk factors.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I've had patients that sent their type 2 diabetes that they've had for 15 years into remission just by cutting out the carbs.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Listen, it takes more to reverse disease than it does to prevent it. So it depends from patient to patient. But unless you try it, you won't see. But there'll definitely be an improvement. Now, to what degree, we don't know until you try doing this. But certainly with my patients, I say, listen, do this for three to six weeks. Certainly, I think the maximum improvement you will see in terms of
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
blood markers, you know, linked to high blood pressure or type two diabetes, for example, will happen, you know, about three months, but it can it can go on for longer than that.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Well, I've actually written three books myself. And the first book I wrote has a lot of recipes and it's called The P.O.P. Diet, P-I-O-P-P-I, which is based upon the original village, which was behind the Mediterranean diet. But my more recent book, which probably is more up to date and more concise and relevant to our conversation today, is called A Statin-Free Life.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And in that book, there are recipes and a diet plan and everything else. And it explains the whole cholesterol issue and heart disease reversing as well.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
BMJ.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, absolutely, Megan. So medical knowledge is under commercial control, but most doctors don't know that. And just to give you how bad the situation is, 20 to 50% of all healthcare activity in the United States, and you spend almost more than $4 trillion in healthcare, actually brings no benefit to the patient is wasteful or harmful.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And the reason for this is that most doctors and policymakers are unaware of the poor quality research that drives overuse in terms of overmedicated people, underuse of simpler, safer lifestyle options, avoidable adverse events, waste, and missed opportunities to give the right patient the right treatment at the right time. So that's really the major issue here.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And the way to overcome this or to solve this problem is to make sure that drug trials are independently evaluated or take things further. I mean, if you look at the history of the drug industry over the last few decades, most drugs they produce are copies of old ones.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
They take an old generic drug, they change the molecules here and there, they patent it, make lots of money, which is, of course, a huge waste. The American taxpayer, American public are paying lots of money for something that could be a lot cheaper with an old generic drug.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And then, of course, there's the harm issue, because what they do is the results of their trials that they design, they control, they analyze, they publish in medical journals, who, by the way, take a lot of money from industry as well, which comes out in the film, will grossly exaggerate the safety and benefits of those drugs. So no informed consent is truly happening.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if a doctor is making clinical decisions on corrupted and biased information making. At best, it's going to lead to suboptimal outcomes for patients, and at worst, it's going to do harm. And even pre-pandemic, the third most common cause of death, and this is still, when I talk about this at lectures, people gasp, even doctors.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
The third most common cause of death globally after heart disease and cancer is prescribed medications, according to one, you know, analysis. So it's really a massive problem. It's a major public health issue. And what the main focus, and of course, you know, part of this Maha movement and what Robert Kennedy Jr.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
and like, so Jay Bhattacharya and Marty Makary want to do is one of the most important things is to get the American population, you know, reducing the medications they're taking and then trying to empower them and create environments so they can flourish from a health perspective through lifestyle.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
What I would say first and foremost is that when it comes to medical journal articles, you know, remember, there's industry sponsored trials. So if it comes from the drug industry, just don't believe any of it. And that is my view. That's the view of Catherine De Angelis, one of the earliest editors of JAMA.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
With Ozempic, one of the issues with Ozempic is it basically stops you, it controls, you know, it reduces appetite massively. But the issue with the Zempik, which is a great concern, is that when you lose weight, you want to lose body fat. You don't lose muscle. And you basically end up losing 50% muscle, 50% body fat.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
There are all these other side effects that, again, are underreported in the trials that we're now seeing in the real world, including stomach paralysis, nausea, vomiting. I think it probably has a role, Megan, in a very, very small minority of people who have tried everything and are morbidly obese and are really struggling. But I think 99% of people who are taking Ozempic shouldn't be on it.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I think it's going to do more harm than good. I think it has to be through a lifestyle change.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Well, it's just basically, this means that the stomach stops working. The peristalsis, usually what passes food through our body basically just becomes, just stops essentially, and then probably hardens up. Yeah.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think, well, those people get admitted to the hospital and probably get put on drips and everything else and, you know, they wait till things start to improve. So, you know, it won't necessarily kill you, but it's not very good. It's not ideal.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, it's extraordinary. I think, you know, what this highlights again, Megan, and, you know, when we had a screening in London, the Alessa Square Odeon, there were a lot of doctors that came and they were absolutely shocked with what they heard.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Because Fiona Godley, the former editor of the BMJ, who's been a giant medical publishing, she basically says, you know, that medical journals are essentially businesses.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Now, as a doctor that, you know, has been conventionally trained, you know, we were taught that if it's published in the medical journal, the Lancet or, you know, JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, Megan, that it was like gospel truth, gospel scientific truth.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And nothing could be further from the truth, partly because there's a lack of acknowledgement and realization that one medicine isn't an exact science and it's an applied science, which means it's constantly evolving, but it also means it can be manipulated. And the other side of it is, of course, the medical journals.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And again, most doctors don't know this are reliant on funding from Big Pharma, and often can get millions of dollars for publishing one article on a particular drug. And the way that works is the drug companies will, you know, you know, do a drug trial, publish it in a medical journal,
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And then it's not just about advertising, they pay the medical journal for reprints of the article that then gets used as marketing material where they can take it to doctors or give it to them at conferences. And one of the most, I think, horrific examples of how this happens or how this works in terms of that whole system was what happened with Vioxx.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
You know, John Abramson talks about this in the film from Harvard. And this was a blockbuster drug in the late 90s that was initially marketed under being better than ibuprofen as an anti-inflammatory drug because it gave less stomach side effects. The drug company was Merck. The original trials were published in New England Medicine.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And ultimately, it was found that Merck had withheld data showing, even from the beginning, that it increased the risk of cardiovascular events, heart attack, stroke, death, by at least two to fourfold. and ultimately probably killed at least 60,000 Americans. Merck refined almost a billion dollars in 2011.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
But when John Abramson was involved in the litigation process, what he found was that, you know, not only did Merck obviously know about this through internal emails, their chief scientist basically saying, it's unfortunate that these cardiovascular effects are there, but the drug will do well and we will do well.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
But when the FDA wrote to Merck to say, and they realized there was a problem, these heart attacks, for example, and said, you need to put a black box warning on the packaging of Vioxx. What did Merck do? They doubled down on their marketing. And they gave, you know, they paid the New England Journal of Medicine
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
know hundreds of thousands of dollars more to get more of those reprints so they could market it to doctors it's just absolutely shocking now horrifying what's the diagnosis here though you see i'm a root cause analysis person i don't want to say this to be inflammatory megan it's actually accurate you know in the book the corporation and the documentary from well over 20 years ago there's a new one called the new corporation um made by law professor joel buchan
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
The preeminent expert in forensic psychology behind psychopathy, Robert Hare, actually diagnoses the corporation as an entity, not individuals, but the entity, the corporation as being psychopathic in its pursuit for profit. So callous and concerned for the safety of others, incapacity to experience guilt, repeat applying, conning others for profit.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And that hasn't changed and that hasn't been challenged or rebutted. So this is the big problem we have is that we've created, we almost as a society in a way, we've allowed the creation of these big corporations to almost through legal means be psychopathic in the way they make money and the rest of society suffers. So until we sort that out at the root, this problem is only going to continue.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And what they also do in the way that they exist. Yeah.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Purdue Pharma.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
It's a massive spaceship for the listening audience from Independence Day.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, 100%, Megan. I mean, I've known Robert Kennedy Jr. for a few years. We've spoken at events together. We've spoken a lot with each other. I'm very, very impressed with him in terms of his deep knowledge of the issues, his integrity, his ability to communicate. He is very unique, and he is absolutely the right person, in my view, to be leading HHS to sort these problems out.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yes, it's a really good question, Megan. Hard one to answer. That's why we need to transform the system. But I think at least what they should do is keep an open mind. And I think what's been really powerful in the last few years has been the growth of the alternative media so we can have these conversations. People are realizing that there's a discrepancy between
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
you know, what they're being told, like safe and effective, you know, on the COVID vaccines, for example, CNN, the BBC, Marty Macri said publicly that one of the biggest purveyors of misinformation during the pandemic was the US government. But really, they, in my view, they are just puppets of these big corporations.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
So I think, you know, people just have to just think outside the box a little bit, look at alternative media, make up their own mind. But Ideally, in the long term, Megan, we need to restore trust in these institutions because society can't function cohesively unless you have a strong government that's ethical and medical institutions that are ethical.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And, you know, there will be a bit of disruption going on before we get to that stage. But, you know, we're in this mess with health care because we've allowed these corporate psychopathic entities to have so much power that they become tyrannical. And, you know, and that level of tyranny is so strong is that the way they exert their powers, even, you know, people like RFK Jr.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
or myself or others who have been speaking out, you know, they will dedicate resources and even use the media to smear us because that's how they, you know, keep their keep spreading their misinformation to people. So it's going to take time.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I mean, one of the I tell you, just, you know, if there's one website people can go to, which is an independently, you know, an independent of commercial influence website done by very rigorous scientists who want to, you know, people to be fully informed about drugs. It's called the NNT.com website. So the NNT, yes, numbers needed to treat, nnt.com. And actually, there's a really good website.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And a lot of their, whatever's published on the website actually is published in one of the American family physician journals. And what they do is they break down the data. For example, statins, they will say, if you've had a heart attack, your benefits say one in 40 over five years.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
preventing another heart attack etc and they give a traffic light system about whether overall the drug is beneficial or overall the drug is harmful it talks about things like heart stents which again are massively overused in the united states and other parts of the world that's what i trained in doing so that's quite a useful resource for people for sure they're not sure about the drug they're taking and it goes through many many medications as well and looking at all the evidence combined
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Yeah, Megan. So, you know, I've thought about this in a lot of depth because, you know, I'm somebody that's been a very outspoken advocate of evidence-based medicine. I mean, I've published extensively. I've worked in advisory government roles over the years. And everything I usually advocate for comes through medical journal articles that I've published that have been peer reviewed.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Usually nothing to do with the drug industry in terms of those articles. They're usually analysis, independent analyses. And just to give people, you know, people can get confused here, but essentially when you look at the evidence right now in terms of the COVID vaccine, specifically I, you know, emphasize and look to mRNA vaccines, so Pfizer, Moderna. People know that the serious harm is there.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
The question is, how frequent is it? And the data comes from what we call randomized controlled trial, reanalysis of Pfizer and Moderna's trials, pharmacovigilance data, what people are reporting on the yellow card system, autopsy data we know now, certainly more than 70% of people that died within a couple of weeks of having the vaccine or were certainly caused by the vaccine, that's been proven.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
You've got observational data and, of course, my own clinical experience. So the serious adverse event rate on the best evidence we have, and this has not been rebutted, to be honest, in any, you know, serious platform, Megan, comes from reanalysis of Pfizer and Moderna's trials by independent scientists. Joseph Freeman is a lead scientist who works very closely with Jay Bhattacharya, by the way.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
You've got Peter Doshi, associate editor of the BMJ. And what they found was that the serious adverse event rate was at least one in 800 at two months. And that means disability, life-changing rate, hospitalization.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And from the original trials that got approved around the world, Megan, you're more likely to suffer serious harm from the vaccine than you were to be hospitalized with COVID, which suggests from the beginning it was going to do more harm than good.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
But actually, where we are now, and this is, I think the UK government's probably the only government in the world that's published this, been transparent in publishing this information.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And I think they're publishing it, although it's not been well publicised, but I'm going to publicise it for you now, because there are a lot of good scientists and good people out there whose conscience would not be clear unless they got that information out in some way, shape or form. If you're in the highest risk group in 2024 of COVID, which is basically people over 90, Megan,
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
you have to vaccinate 7,000 people over 90 to prevent one of them being hospitalized with severe COVID versus a serious adverse event rate, harm rate of at least 1 in 800, because it's only at two months that they found that figure. And we know there are long-term effects.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
So that suggests that right now, it's at least eight times more harmful to have the COVID vaccine in the highest risk group than to have benefit. I mean, this is absolutely extraordinary. So the question is, why is that not getting fully acknowledged? I honestly genuinely believe most people are well-intentioned.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Of course, we're talking about all these commercial determinants of health that began for a long time that captured institutions. But the main barrier to the truth, Megan, and I see a lot of very bright scientists out there, people who have a track record of doing things for the genuine good who completely have a blind spot on this issue, it's psychological.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And the two psychological barriers I've written about are ones of fear and willful blindness. So fear essentially, which happened, you know, from the early on in the pandemic, we had this exaggerated risk of COVID, but also there's probably fear of maybe stepping outside the echo chamber that they're in as well. Fear inhibits your ability to engage in critical thinking.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
But I think the more important psychological barrier that a lot of people can relate to is something called willful blindness. And that's when human beings, and we're all vulnerable to this all the time in some ways, right? It's when human beings turn a blind eye to the truth in order to feel safe, avoid conflict, reduce anxiety, or to protect pristine and fragile egos.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Now, in personal lives, this can happen, for example, when a spouse turns a blind eye to the affair of their partner. But institutional examples of willful blindness historically, Megan, that you will know about are situations like, for example, Hollywood and Harvey Weinstein or the Catholic Church and child molestation. These are examples of institutional willful blindness.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I think we're seeing exactly the same thing here because it's faced between the choice of accepting an uncomfortable truth Um, most people will, you know, choose to bury their heads in the sand, but the reality is we have to face it head on because it's not going away. And it's not that everyone's been vaccinated now and it's done.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Unfortunately, there is good evidence emerging suggesting that, and I've seen this as well, that, um, it can certainly accelerate heart disease, which means many people who had the vaccine even two or three years ago are suddenly going to prematurely have heart attacks or sudden cardiac death. And we're still seeing that.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
We've got one of the world's top oncologists in this area who's also been involved in vaccine development called Professor Angus Dalglish in London. And we've got Robert Clancy, one of the world's eminent immunologists, 83 years old now, Emirates Professor of Immunology, top immunologist of Australia, used to work, by the way, many years ago with Anthony Fauci.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
They're both massively concerned with this COVID mRNA vaccine increasing cancer through several mechanisms of immunosuppression. So it's unfortunately not something that's going away.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
Listen, I'm in the same boat. Again, I've had two doses. I've had some issues as well. The first and foremost, the best thing people could do here during this is absolutely optimize their metabolic health. So really optimize your lifestyle as much as you can, because this is a chronic inflammatory problem with the vaccine.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And if you can, you can probably mitigate it to a large degree through that process. and really everything you can do to make sure your immune system's enhanced, whether that's taking high doses of vitamin C, you know, concentrating on your stress levels, eating real food, all these things are really important. But again, we need an acknowledgement by the establishment.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
And to be honest, I'm hopeful, Megan, because I think the new administration that comes in are going to want to tackle this head on. So we're not that far off that.
The Megyn Kelly Show
Mysterious "Drones" Spread, Media Malpractice, and How Medical Journals Became Captured, with Hugh Hewitt and Dr. Aseem Malhotra | Ep. 964
I'd be delighted, Megan. Hopefully next time actually in studio as well so I can actually meet you properly.