Why switching to a plant-based diet could pose a risk for your heart

Now, you may think another vegan crab cake or vegan chicken figure might be a healthy option, but new research says that might not be the case. And for more, Doctor Iris Gorfinkel joins us now as we run down some of the latest health headlines. Doctor Gorfinkel, good morning. Plant based diets, I think generally we kind of accept that they're supposed to be healthier for us, that they've got a lot of health benefits. But tell us more about this new research. And so it's so interesting, out of the UKA 130,000 individuals and what did they find? Those who ate a lot of ultra processed foods, plant based, they were 12% more likely to die early than those who ate just naked plants. And I think that's the take home message. And on top of it, there was a carrot for those who ate properly. So I'm talking about naked plants eating lots of those. For every 10% more naked plants they ate, they lived 11% longer. So it's like, it's crazy. I see what you did there with the carrot, by the way. And that's an important distinction that you're making here. We're not talking about, you know, plants, you know, vegetables that come out of the ground here. We're talking about things that have been processed, processed veggie. Absolutely. And there's this whole, there's this whole problem with, you know, what is a plant based food, right? So here's the secret. The more weird ingredients it has, the more ingredients you don't recognize, the worse it is for you, you know? And what we're looking for when I say Naked plants is just that we don't want it coated in all kinds of breads and sugars and salts and fats. What we want to have is it's just a pure plant, a plant that our grandmothers would have recognized as opposed to anything labeled nugget. Yep, Yep. OK, let's move to another headline that's in the news. And we talked about this for a long time when who's going to be the first to put a vaccine that is that covers influenza and COVID-19? And it looks like Moderna says they got one. I'm telling you, it looks like they may go. They're going after that golden goose. And what did their studies show? They took 8000 people, and they found that those who were given the combo pack of COVID with flu actually had higher immune responses than those who had the vaccine separately. So think about the implications of that. One shot gives 2 covered for two diseases, right? And that takes fewer healthcare workers to deliver. And for people who hate getting shots, hey, it's just one vaccine instead of two. And their side effects were minor redness and soreness at the injection site, headache, muscle aches. So that sounds great. But what's missing from the picture? We don't know about hospitalization and death. And of course, those are big things when it comes to vaccines that we take in the fall. OK. But so this is still in the approval process. This hasn't been approved yet, and it's not going to be out at the earliest. We're talking about next fall 2025. All right, so still a little while away. Next up, we want to ask you about a new study regarding antidepressants. One in six people who stop using them experience headache, nausea, insomnia, according to this study. But evidence suggests discontinuing their use is still advised. Well, this is the thing. It becomes part of the conversation we have when we initially prescribe them. Ask yourself how many people are told it may be difficult for you to come off. But what we need to do is always put those things on the proverbial scales of justice. What does that mean? If I do not treat severe depression, that person commit suicide, right? They may, they may be having trouble just getting out of bed to face the day. So what we're trying to do is weigh out the pros and the cons. But that should be part of the conversation of stopping the drug, too. You know, a warning that, hey, there's a good chance you're going to get side effects when you stop. And irritability is also on that list. It's not just headache and insomnia. It's irritability. And people need to understand that that could be coming from stopping the drug and not from their depression or anxiety that they'd had to begin with. OK, finally, there's a recall you wanted to talk about. Yeah, let's talk about that. This is this tobacco products that you stick between your gum. Have you heard of these Zin nicotine pouches? Yeah, these products, Zin Zyne, Zed YN. Who knows what it's pronounced, but you put it between there and it's like the there's only one approval in Canada and it's for smoking cessation. But do you think it's being used for that? Oh, no, no, no, no. Right away the kids are getting their hands on it in corner stores, in gas stations, buying the stuff, and it's actually illegal. So Health Canada's coming down on it. And of course, it's flavored with all kinds of things, like black cherry, talking directly to the young buyer and hooking them into nicotine early. It sounds kind of almost like tobacco that you would put in. Yeah. You're kind of where the idea came from. And we've got nicotine receptors in the brain, and it makes our heart go a little faster, makes the blood pressure go up. It raises blood sugar. So we have to be careful with these products and how they're marketed to kids. All right. Something to be aware of for sure. Doctor Iris Gorfinkel, great to see you, as always, on a Friday and have a great weekend. Thanks so much for having me.