Who Can You Trust?
My sister was visiting the other day and we got to talking about the state of medicine. She is an ob/gyn doctor from Orlando who is nearing the end of her practice. I mention that to confirm her long experience in the profession. 
She knows I have a divergent view of the state of medicine which maintains that Big Pharma controls all the advertising, controls all the major journals, controls all the major medical organizations etc. My sister believes that it’s not a good idea to trust in any one researcher and instead to rely on consensus as that’s safer and less likely to be unduly influenced by one person’s perspective or experience.
My sister opines that all major professions are influenced by big players but I countered that no other profession has been as corrupted as medicine. Ten billion dollars is the amount big pharma spent in 2024 to advertise. What other profession deals with money like that? Maybe lawyers. Nobody else.
I pointed out the comments of Dr. Marcia Angell who was the first woman editor of the most prestigious medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine. After retiring she wrote “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.” That’s pretty damning. From across the pond we get the remarks by Dr. Richard Horton who was the editor in chief of the Lancet who stated that “journals have devolved into information laundering operations for the pharmaceutical industry.“ Finally, Dr. Richard Smith of the British Medical Journal famously editorialized, “Medical Journals are an extension of the marketing arm of the pharmaceutical companies.“
So no, I don’t trust the AMA, the CDC, the FDA etc. Just look at the long list of books written about these organizations. Nothing changes despite these known problems and unfortunately, I don’t know how to fix it.
I have found researchers I trust. None of them are perfect but I trust their motives. Most of them have dedicated their careers to their work and came to their approaches to medicine often after a personal health crisis. I like and trust Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Steven Gundry, Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, Dr. Nadir Ali, Dr. Paul Mason, Dr. Rhonda Patrick, Dr. Chris Knobbe, Dr. Ben Bikman, Dr. William Harris, Dr. Dale Bredesen, Dr. Dayan Goodenowe etc. No one has it all right but each of them makes a major contribution at looking at root causes instead of just treating symptoms.
My sister’s point is that any one person, no matter how well intentioned or educated could be mistaken and therefore consensus is safer. My counter is that consensus IS probably safer but also anathema to real science. My sister’s point is emphasized by the case of Dr. Mercola.
Dr. Mercola, like Dr. Gundry, changed my practice. Don’t just treat high blood pressure…find the cause. Don’t just treat headaches…find the cause. Measure insulin and omega levels to determine inflammation in the body etc. I read Dr. Mercola’s emails regularly and enjoyed his approach. He has been on the scene advocating for patients and their rights for a long time. You can imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered that something had happened to Dr. Mercola and now I must take his writings with a much bigger grain of salt. Since roughly 2024 Dr. Mercola has been under the influence of a guy known as Kia Clay who is “channeling“ an entity called “Bahlon” who is now advising him about business etc. Sorry, but entities from another plane make me very nervous. Just because he has been influenced by this guy doesn’t mean his prior work is worthless but I must be very skeptical of whatever comes from him going forward.
So, frankly, you must be very careful of whom you trust. You must do your own research which has never been easier than now via A.I. Sure it has biases and can hallucinate but it’s a great place to start asking questions. Until next month…get well and stay well.
JT BARRY MD
