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2 weeks ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
When I was a child, we were always warned about the dangers of junk food. While there was no specific definition of what “junk” meant, we all knew the general idea — high fat, salt, and sugar foods that you were only meant to eat at birthday parties or steal very occasionally from dad’s stash. That the stash moved regularly was a sign of how inventive my brother and I became at accessing hidden places that we could not easily reach or open.
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3 weeks ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
The dose makes the poison, and you really don’t eat much toothpasteThere have been a swathe of media stories talking about toothpaste recently. Usually, we only hear about toothpaste in the context of doing a bit more brushing, or the odd advertisement on TV that sells the dream of minty-fresh breath and perfect teeth, but the headlines right now are telling a different story.
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1 month ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
Why you don’t have to worry about arsenic and brown riceThere are two stories that we love to hear. The first is that a food we previously thought was terrible for our health is really beneficial. It’s the “chocolate can prevent anal fistula” sort of story, and we love it because we can finally justify the five bars of Hershey’s stacked in our pantry. Similarly, we are big fans of the story that a healthful food is secretly killing us.
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1 month ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
Why the Texas outbreak is likely to grow. Measles is in the news a lot at the moment, because for the first time in decades people are dying of the disease in the United States. There have now been three confirmed measles deaths in the U.S. — two children and one adult — which brings the running toll from the current measles outbreak equal to the total of the preceding 25 years. And more deaths are likely to come. Why do I say that?
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1 month ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
Member-only storyWhy my kid has all of her vaccine doses. Gideon M-K; Health Nerd·Follow5 min read·--Pictured: A very sad bear. Photo by Kristine Wook on UnsplashIn recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about measles. Mostly, this is due to the long-disproven myth that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism.
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1 month ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
Member-only storyThe complexity of chronic diseaseGideon M-K; Health Nerd·Follow7 min read·--Pictured: Diabetes stuff. Photo by Diabetesmagazijn.nl on UnsplashIf you look at the current pseudoscientific movement that has taken over the United States, you’ll notice a few oddities. They tend to really like ivermectin, which is a very useful drug when used for certain parasitic diseases, but also not a miracle cure of all ill health.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz |Gideon M-K
It has finally happened. After a decade of avoiding the show, my wife and I decided that we would try out the new season of Married at First Sight. We consume quite a bit of reality TV, so it’s not that we avoided it precisely, but something about the idea of watching people struggle to build a healthy relationship amid a storm of cameras and manufactured drama just never drew us in. At least until we watched Love at First Sight and realised it was actually kind of fun.
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2 months ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
Despite the common claims, the answer is probably not. Gideon M-K; Health Nerd·Follow6 min read·--Pictured: A fork with a tape measure wrapped around it. Metaphorical or just weird? Photo by Diana Polekhina on UnsplashThere are a million people recommending diets online. You can find people telling you to eat almost any food grouping imaginable with a simple search, from the raw food vegans to the butter munching carnivores.
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2 months ago | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
The truth behind a new preprint from a team at YaleGideon M-K; Health Nerd·Follow7 min read·--Pictured: Safe and effective. Photo by CDC on UnsplashThis piece was written with the wonderful Dr. Andrea Love, who has an article out on the same problematic study from an immunological perspective. Check it out!A new preprint study on COVID-19 vaccines has set the world afire.
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Feb 3, 2025 | 
gidmk.medium.com | Gideon M-K
A hilarious tale of bad science reporting. Gideon M-K; Health Nerd·Follow4 min read·--Is the breakfast food somewhere in this picture? Read on to find out! Photo by Rachel Park on UnsplashIn over a decade of writing, I’ve covered an abundance of bad science in the media. When you’re looking at scientific reporting, there are just so many ways that media organizations can mess up even the most basic of science.
