Thread by @DBelardoMD

The wellness space is filled with endless anecdotes, hypothesis & “mechanistic based medicine” driven by pseudoscience gurus who are often physicians, scientists & RDs. After the ep of our podcast w/ @DrJenGunter I’ve received many messages from women abt our debunks⬇️
a thread🧵

During our episode of Wellness: Fact vs. Fiction, @DrJenGunter debunked many common Women’s health myths that are pervasive in the wellness space podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wel…

One “hot” myth right now in Women’s health and wellness that @DrJenGunter debunked, is called “Seed Cycling”. Seed cycling is a growing trend claimed to balance hormones, boost fertility, and ease symptoms of menopause.

It involves eating flax, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds at different times of the month to balance certain hormones. However, there is no significant scientific evidence backing these claims.

Is eating more seeds bad for you? Of course not. Eating seeds can be a healthful source of plant protein. But “seed cycling” will not impact your hormones, and is not based in science.

Many women since our podcast episode have messaged/emailed & DMed me about how they feel so betrayed by the promises functional medicine physicians & RDs have made them, that seed cycling would improve their fertility, symptoms, etc. Heart breaking.

These women cite anecdotes which have been shared profusely in the wellness space, about how seed cycling has helped with x,y,z, medical issue, and “how could it not be true, it’s an (insert qualification) MD/PhD/RD, etc claiming it”

It breaks my heart to see the wellness space take advantage of patients who are desperate for answers. It’s unfair. The victims here - are the patients. Hypothesis and “mechanistic based medicine” survives and thrives off of patients who are hurting, desperate for answers.

And then there is the criticism: “why are you and @DrJenGunter debunking something “harmless” like seed cycling, isn’t eating more seeds healthy anyway? It’s not doing any harm?”

Actually - even the most “benign” pseudoscience may be doing substantial harm: and here’s how.

For this particular scenario- women who are promised seed cycling will help them with fertility, or menopause symptoms, or x,y,z- are not only given painful false hope, but they may be delaying actual diagnosis & subsequent treatment of an underlying medical issue.

As a cardiologist in Southern California -where the wellness woo is a 12/10…I see this in my practice daily. Patients w/ coronary artery disease see functional medicine MDs who scare them away from guideline directed medical therapy like statins& instead push stem cell therapy😡

This happens in nutrition regularly. Vegan patients come to see me who have been lead to believe they can “reverse their coronary artery disease” with a plant based diet (this has never been proven with *any* diet) & they avoid life saving statins/aspirin & put themselves at risk

Is eating a healthful plant based or plant predominant diet beneficial for cardiovascular disease prevention? Absolutely. Does it replace guideline directed medical therapy in patients with CAD? Absolutely *not*. This binary belief of lifestyle vs medicine is harmful.

Is eating more seeds as a source of plant based protein beneficial? Sure, flax, chia, and various seeds can be a great source of fiber, healthy fats, and plant protein. But does “seed cycling” cure a variety of Women’s health issues? Absolutely not.

Anecdotes are hypothesis generating. Mechanisms are hypothesis generating. But we don’t base patients medical care and treatment on either. Outcomes >>> mechanisms, all day, every day. The wellness space thrives mechanistic based medicine and false promises.