Causes or Cures

Send us a textWhat if cancer could be detected years before symptoms ever appear? In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks sits down with Dr. Yuxuan Wang, cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, to discuss her team’s promising work on multicancer early detection (MCED) blood tests.These ultra-sensitive sequencing tests can spot tiny fragments of tumor DNA circulating in the blood. In their recent study, the MCED test flagged early cancer signs in 8 out of 26 participants who were later diagnosed — half of them more than three years before their cancer was picked up clinically. While still experimental and not FDA-approved, this research points to a future where cancer screening might extend well beyond mammograms and colonoscopies.In this episode, we cover:Dr. Wang’s journey into cancer research and what inspired her focus.What multicancer early detection (MCED) blood tests are and how they work.How the Johns Hopkins study was designed and what the key results showed.Which cancer types were detected and what limitations still exist.Challenges such as false positives, incidental findings, and overtreatment risks.The ethical and practical questions of telling patients they may have cancer years before symptoms.Cost and accessibility concerns: how to make such tests affordable if approved.Next steps toward larger trials, FDA approval, and clinical use.How MCED could change the landscape of cancer screening and prevention in the future.Balancing public enthusiasm, media attention, and scientific caution.This is a fascinating and nuanced conversation about the possibilities, and challenges, of catching cancer earlier than ever before.You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Katie Stewart, Holistic Nutritionist and founder of The Clear Skin Solution, about the emotional and physical toll of breakouts and unhealthy skin, and why lasting healing requires more than just spot treatment.Katie shares how her own struggles with acne led her to ditch conventional prescriptions and create a protocol focused on addressing root causes like hormonal imbalances, gut health, stress, and diet. She explains her approach to identifying internal imbalances, common food triggers and additions, and what people can do today to start improving their skin.They also dive into the skincare content overload on social media, topical trends, and how Katie handles pushback from the mainstream dermatology world. With a compassionate tone and science-backed perspective, Katie emphasizes that acne is not just skin deep, and there is real hope for those struggling.You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textPsychedelics are in the spotlight. Some call them dangerous, others call them life-saving, and many believe they could reshape the future of mental health care. In this episode, Dr. Eeks talks with Martín Polanco MD, founder of The Mission Within Foundation and considered the most experienced ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT physician in North America. Over the past 25 years, he has treated more than 5,000 people — including over 1,300 veterans and special operators — giving him unmatched clinical credibility in a field often clouded by hype, controversy, and hope.Dr. Polanco shares his perspective on why veterans and frontline workers struggling with overlapping mental health challenges — PTSD, addiction, depression, traumatic brain injury — are increasingly turning to these psychedelic medicines when conventional options fall short.This episode covers:What ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT are, how they work in the brain, and what sets them apart from other psychedelics.Why mental health conditions rarely show up one at a time, and how these medicines may help with complex, co-occurring issues.How Dr. Polanco’s center guides people through treatment, integration, and long-term support — and why integration is just as important as the medicine itself.Results in veterans and first responders: what’s been seen, how long benefits last, and the factors that sustain recovery.The real risks, especially cardiac risks, and the safety protocols in place to minimize them.Misconceptions about psychedelic therapy and where skepticism is justified.The launch of the Mission Within Foundation, which has already raised over $2 million to provide psychedelic therapy scholarships for veterans and first responders.Why partnerships with institutions like UT Austin Dell Medical School are critical for building a scientific evidence base and wider acceptance.And finally: whether ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT are ready for mainstream mental health care, or if the science still needs to catch up.This is a candid conversation about possibility, risk, and the urgent need for new tools in mental health.You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textWhat if your biological age could be younger than the candles on your birthday cake? On this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Chris Mirabile who says he did just that. After surviving a brain tumor at just 16 years old, Chris committed himself to mastering his health. That journey led him to found NOVOS, the first health company to develop science-based solutions targeting the 12 biological causes of aging.Chris states he has reduced his biological age by 13.6 years and slowed his pace of aging by 37%. In this episode, he explains what biological age actually means, how it’s measured, why it matters (and what it doesn’t tell you), and what it means to age more slowly than the calendar says you should.We cover:Chris’ fascinating personal story of surviving a brain tumor at 16 and how that led him down the path of slowing down aging.What aging means to him personally, and his ultimate goal — with a little philosophy sprinkled in.How he slowed his pace of aging by 37%, reducing his biological age by 13.6 years The 12 causes of aging and why they matter.The spiritual and emotional dimension of health — and how our inner life ties into the aging process.The story behind his supplement, NOVOS Core — what’s in it, the evidence so far (lab and human studies), and what future research is on the horizon.👉 Quick disclaimer: Dr. Eeks does not endorse or recommend any specific supplements, including the ones discussed in this episode. But Chris brings a wealth of knowledge, real data, and genuine passion to this conversation, and I think you’ll find his story fascinating.If you’ve ever wondered: Should I claim my chronological age or my biological age when someone asks? …this episode’s for you.You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Irene Papanicolas, Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown University, about her recent New England Journal of Medicine paper examining the links between wealth and mortality across the United States and Europe.There’s a lot of focus on longevity today, from biohackers chasing longer lives to new medical innovations. But how much does the money in your bank account matter when it comes to lifespan? And why do those relationships between wealth and health look different across countries?The study analyzed data from over 73,000 adults, exploring how wealth impacts lifespan within and across countries, including comparisons between the wealthiest and poorest quartiles, the concept of a “survivor effect,” and why even wealthy Americans may be dying earlier than poorer Europeans.We discuss:How “wealth” was defined in the study.The differences in life expectancy between the U.S. and Europe.What factors might explain why U.S. outcomes lag (diet, food environment, culture, lack of universal healthcare).Which European countries stood out for protecting longevity.Policy implications, and what interventions could have the biggest impact if implemented tomorrow. Read the full paper here: NEJM: Wealth, Mortality, and the U.S.–Europe GapIf you’re curious about the intersections of wealth, health, and longevity, and want to understand what money can (and can’t) buy when it comes to living longer, this episode is for you. Dr. Irene Papanicolas is a Professor of Health Services Policy and Practice at Brown University. A health economist and researcher, her work focuses on assessing how health systems perform and using international comparisons to inform policy. She leads the International Collaborative on Costs, Outcomes and Needs in Care (ICCONIC), a 16-country partnership studying care patterns and outcomes for high-need, high-cost patients. Dr. Papanicolas has published widely on health system performance and cross-country comparisons. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textDisclaimer: Causes or Cures is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, and no medical claims are being made. Always talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your personal health. 🎙️ In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks talks with Dane Johnson, CEO and founder of Crohn’s Colitis Lifestyle.Dane shares his story of going from modeling and acting in Los Angeles to a life upended by severe ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. At the height of his career he looked like the picture of health, yet behind the scenes he faced extreme weight loss, pain, anemia, exhaustion, sleepless nights, and a long stretch of treatments that did not bring relief.After a near-death hospitalization in 2014, Dane decided to become the "CEO" of his day-to-day health. He reassessed options, leaned into nutrition and lifestyle strategies, and rebuilt routines from the ground up. A decade later he describes full recovery and now works with others through Crohn’s Colitis Lifestyle.We discuss:Early warning signs and the spiral into severe IBDWhat it felt like when standard options did not helpThe turning-point moment in the hospitalHow he rebuilt daily habits around food, stress, sleep, and supportWhy he launched Crohn’s Colitis Lifestyle and how his team operates with cliniciansWhat “healing journey” means in real life when you live with a chronic conditionThis is a raw, personal episode for anyone navigating Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, or long-haul chronic illness, and for listeners curious about functional and holistic approaches from a patient’s perspective. It is also for people in that restless middle when tests are inconclusive, symptoms persist, and you are mapping your own next steps. We talk about what that search can look like in real life: asking better questions, trying thoughtful lifestyle changes, building a support team, and thinking outside the box while staying grounded and safe with your clinician. 🎧 Listen in, and share with someone who might need this story today.Dane Johnson is a board-certified nutritionist who specializes in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. He is the CEO and founder of Crohn’s Colitis Lifestyle, where he and a team that includes licensed physicians support clients with practical nutrition and lifestyle strategies. After a near-fatal IBD crisis in 2014, he rebuilt his health and now focuses on helping others navigate day to day life with IBD.Our Sponsor:  Today’s episode is brought to you by my favorite coffee, Lifeboost Coffee! It is low acid for an easier sip, organic and non-GMO, and third-party tested for 450 plus contaminants. Shade-grown, bird-friendly, and fairly traded. Coffee without the junk!  Get 58% off Your First Order HERE!   (Use code DrEeks for 10% off all additional orders!) *Affiliate link,I may earn a small commission.You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring inSupport the show

Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Jerry Avorn, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, drug safety watchdog, and author of Rethinking Medications: Truth, Power, and the Drugs You Take. If you’ve ever felt uneasy about the rising cost of prescription drugs, the process or speed by which new meds are approved, or why the side effects list is longer than your grocery receipt, this episode is for you.Dr. Avorn pulls no punches. We talk about:How our current system rewards speed over evidence, and why “accelerated approval” may sound good but can lead to disaster.The rise of drugs approved with weak or surrogate endpoints, yet priced like gold (yep, you still pay full price for half-baked science).Shocking case studies, like the Vioxx heart attack debacle and the controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm.The FDA’s evolution from watchdog to lapdog (in some cases).Conflicts of interest.Public funding, private profits: how taxpayer money fuels breakthroughs that we can’t afford. (WTF!)And, yes, we talk about the “Do Your Own Research” crowd.Dr. Avorn’s mission? Help patients and doctors actually understand what they’re taking or prescribing, and what forces are shaping those decisions.Why listen?Because behind every pill is a story, and it’s not always the one you’re told in the ad with the beach scene and happy jazz flute.Links:Grab the book: Rethinking Medications: Truth, Power, and the Drugs You Take (Simon & Schuster, 2025)Jerry Avorn, MD, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a senior internist in the Mass General Brigham health-care system. He built a leading research center at Harvard to study medication use, outcomes, costs, and policies and developed the educational approach of “academic detailing” to provide evidence-based information about medications to prescribers. One of the nation’s most highly cited researchers, Dr. Avorn is the author of Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs, and he has written or cowritten over six hundred papers in the medical literature as well as commentaries in the New York Times, The Washington Post, JAMA, and The New England Journal of Medicine.You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textDisclaimer: Causes or Cures is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, and no medical claims are being made. Always talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your personal health. Can a Daily Supplement Really Reverse Biological Age? A 12-Month Study, ExplainedWhat actually happens when real people take a daily “healthy aging” supplement for an entire year?In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks sits down with Dr. Varun Dwaraka of TruDiagnostic to unpack the results of a 12-month clinical study of the Cel System, a supplement regimen tested in adults aged 54 to 84.We dive into:Why this supplement was developed in the first placeHow the study was designed, including regular checkpointsWhat biological or “epigenetic” age tests really measure (in plain language)Why different biological clocks sometimes disagreeWhat it means to analyze the apparent age of specific body systemsWhat results the team saw after a yearWhat those findings do—and don’t—mean for slowing agingBig caveats and what smarter, next-gen studies could look likeIf you’re curious about “reversing” biological age or just want the hype filtered before you spend money on a supplement, this one’s for you.🧪 Read the peer-reviewed study published in Aging: https://www.aging-us.com/article/206221/textYou can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textModern medicine rests on a centuries‑old decision to split mind from body. That fault line still runs through every clinic and classroom, raising an uncomfortable question: if the foundation ignores half of human experience, how scientific are we really? In this episode, Dr Eeks talks with physician‑author Dr Robert Smith about why his new book Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? argues it is time to reunite what never should have been divided. What We CoverThe Great Split: A medieval Church decree let scientists dissect bodies but barred them from the head, setting up the mental‑vs‑physical divide that still guides clinical practice.Primary‑Care Patchwork: Family doctors now manage roughly 75 percent of U.S. mental‑health care despite minimal formal training in mental health.Medicalizing Real‑Life Messes: Trauma, chronic stress, and tough social conditions often get reframed as diseases because the system lacks better options.The “Complex” Patient Label: How “complex” often translates to “we’re overwhelmed and don’t know what’s really wrong.”Culture on Autopilot: Rituals, hierarchy, and resistance to change can block genuine healing even when evidence points elsewhere.A Way Forward: The biopsychosocial model that addresses lab values and life stories—and what it would take for mainstream medicine to embrace it.If you have ever felt that your doctor’s office visit left half of you outside the exam room, press play and join the conversation about what real, whole‑person healthcare could look like. Dr. Robert C. Smith is a nationally acclaimed authority on evidence‑based mental health care and doctor–patient communication. A University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Michigan State University, he pioneered the first patient‑centered training approach that teaches clinicians how to forge strong, collaborative relationships with their patients. His contributions have earned him numerous honors, including Master status from the American College of Physicians and the prestigious George Engel Award for Outstanding Research. Dr. Smith has authored more than 150 peer‑reviewed articles and continues to garner hundreds of academic citations each year. His expertise has been featured in outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Today Show, and he writes regularly for Psychology Today. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On Youtube.Or TikTok.SUBSCRIBE to her monthly newsletter here! (Now featuring interviews with top experts on health you care about!)Support the show

Send us a textDisclaimer: Causes or Cures is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, and no medical claims are being made. Always talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your personal health. In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with immunology expert Dr. Maziar “Maz” Divangahi about his research on how fiber found in mushrooms may help us beat the flu, and he introduces us to the concept of disease tolerance. What We’ll CoverBeta-Glucan 101What it is: a natural fiber in the outer wall of fungi (think mushrooms).Why it matters: growing evidence says it may help fight off the flu by improving something called disease tolerance. More research is needed to confirm. Two Immune PlaybooksHost Resistance: the classic “seek and destroy” tactic.Disease Tolerance: a quieter, damage-control strategy our bodies use to stay functional even when a pathogen sticks around.Dr. Maz will unpack how beta-glucan may tilt the balance toward disease tolerance.From TB Labs to Flu ResearchInsights from Dr. Maz’s tuberculosis studies that set the stage for his beta-glucan–flu work.Early data on how this fungal fiber might boost flu-specific disease tolerance.Should We Eat More Mushrooms or Supplement?Practical tips and caveats on dietary vs. supplemental beta-glucan.What the current evidence actually supports.Beyond Infections: Beta-Glucan in Cancer TrialsSnapshot of ongoing studies in breast and bladder cancer.Why disease tolerance is a hot oncology frontier.Future Directions & Take-Home PointsWhere Dr. Maz’s research is headed next.Simple, science-backed actions listeners can try today.Listen If You’ve Ever Wondered…Why some people sail through the flu while others end up in the ER.Whether “disease tolerance” might rewrite how we tackle pandemics.If tossing extra shiitakes into your stir-fry can really make a difference.Dr. Maziar (Maz) Divangahi is a Professor of Medicine at McGill University. He is the Associate Director of the Meakins-Christie Laboratories and the Associate Director of the McGill Interna onal TB Centre. He is an internationally recognized pulmonary immunologist and the overarching focus of his research program is to inves gate the regulatory mechanisms involved in host resistance and disease tolerance against major pulmonary bacterial (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and viral (influenza virus and SARS-CoV2) pathogens. He is currently inves ga ng how to harness the power of innate memory response (Trained Immunity) in vaccine development. Throughout his career, he has been a prolifera ve inves gator publishing in outstanding journals and received numerous awards, including a CIHR New Inves gator Award, FRQS Award, and the CIHR Founda on grant. His scholarly work has been recognized by elec on to the Royal Society of Canada. He is currently holding the Strauss Chair in Respiratory Diseases. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or X.On YoutubeSupport the show