3 Times Medicine Got It Wrong & What We Know Now, From An MD

Have you ever read a book that completely shifted your worldview? That's exactly how I felt after reading Blind Spots by Marty Makary, M.D., a Johns Hopkins surgeon, public health researcher, and one of the leading voices in healthcare today.

I was so inspired that I invited Makary to join me on the mindbodygreen podcast, and our conversation was just as enlightening. We dove into all the big topics—from seed oils and microbiome research to hormone replacement therapy, and much more.

Makary kicks off his debunking of cholesterol myths with a story about his 92-year-old uncle, who was a dedicated egg-eater until his doctor advised him to give them up for the sake of his cholesterol levels—and he did, for 30 years. “Turns out, that’s total misinformation,” Makary says.

He explains how, for 60 years, natural fats were vilified in the health industry, and the food industry followed suit by promoting egg white-only products and low-fat everything. “It turns out the worst thing you can do to milk is take out the natural fat and add sugar,” he says.

Here’s the kicker: “Cholesterol that you consume is not even absorbed by your body1. That's one of the great ironies.”

Medication saves lives—that’s undeniable. But as Makary explains, it shouldn't always be the first line of defense for preventing or treating certain health issues.

“We have got the most over-medicalized generation in the history of the world,” he says. Yet, despite this, chronic diseases are still on the rise. “Maybe it's time to take a step back and ask different questions,” he suggests.

For instance, “Can we treat more diabetes with cooking classes instead of just throwing insulin at people?” or, “Can we treat high blood pressure by talking about the quality of one's sleep and the stress in their life?”

The same goes for the overprescription of antibiotics and the widespread use of medications like Tylenol. Instead of focusing on masking symptoms, we need to dig deeper into what’s causing them in the first place.

There’s room for both: to continue researching new, life-saving medications, and to investigate the root causes of many chronic diseases today—much of which can be traced back to modifiable lifestyle factors.

Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, has been heavily demonized in the health space for years, but Makary doesn’t believe it should be. In fact, he boldly claims, “There's probably never been a medical intervention that has improved the health outcomes of a population more than hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women (arguably with the exception of antibiotics).”

He continues, “But tragically, women have been denied this therapy because of a dogma from an announcement 22 years ago by an NIH scientist claiming that it caused breast cancer, when in that study, the data never showed a statistically significant increase in the risk of breast cancer—one of the greatest misrepresentations of data in the modern era.”

Sadly, even with modern data showing the benefits of HRT, many doctors still refuse to prescribe it due to lingering misinformation. 

With more open discussion in the medical community and beyond, we can hopefully adopt a more informed approach to this treatment, especially for those who stand to benefit most.

Medical research isn’t always right, and it definitely doesn’t always stand the test of time. Makary’s argument here is that the medical and health industries need to pose more questions—questions faulty studies, question overprescription patterns, and question how we can pave a way to a healthier life for future generations.