Kerry Bone, a herbalist who has spent 40 years working in the field, joins the podcast to discuss just what the evidence is that certain herbs and spices might benefit our health.

Today we are bombarded with so much confusing information telling us what to eat, when to eat, and often how particular medicinal plants are particularly beneficial to our health.

So, today I hope our conversation gives the opportunity to find out what the latest data suggests.

One area Kerry discusses is pain managment. He explains that research now indicates that the painkiller paracetamol has a poor safety profile (something also discussed in my podcast with NHS pain consultant Dr Deepak Ravindran) and is not very effective, so reveals we thinks we should also be looking more at herbal alternatives such as curcumin and Boswellia.

And Kerry reveals the herbs and spices that he takes every day.

Kerry Bone is the Principal of the Australian College of Phytotherapy. He also founded the Masters of Health Science (Herbal Medicine) course at the University of New England in 2004, and served there as Associate Professor from 2004 to 2012. He is co-author of more than 40 scientific papers on herbal research, and currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Phytomedicine. In addition, he has written a number of textbooks on herbal medicine and is also a co-founder of the company Mediherb.

The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director. You can follow Liz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at https://liztucker.substack.com

If you would like to support this podcast you can do so via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/WhatYourGPDoesntTellYou or via PayPal at https://www.whatyourgpdoesnttellyou.com/support/

What Your GP Doesn’t Tell You has been selected by Feedspot as one of the top 15 UK Medical Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_medical_podcasts/

Obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr Adam Urato, explains why he is concerned about the huge increase in medications now taken by pregnant women. A figure that has surged in the last few decades. Across the world, women are taking more drugs than ever before while pregnant. In the US, around 90% of women expecting a baby will now take some kind of medication during pregnancy

Adam argues the notion a drug is safe until proved otherwise goes completely against the precautionary principle and common sense.

He was one of the first doctors to highlight the risks of a synthetic hormone called Makena, which was supposed to reduce the risk of preterm birth. It was on the market for two decades, even when the evidence showed it didn’t work, it took a further four years to get it withdrawn.

Today Adam is particularly concerned about the number of women taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - or SSRIs for short - in pregnancy and doesn’t believe they are usually fully informed about the risk.

Yet studies have shown that the medications can increase the likelihood of miscarriage, birth defects, an early birth, a low birth weight and postpartum haemorrhage. In some cases, there also appears to be a potential impact on the baby after birth.

Dr Adam Urato is a board certified obstetrician and gynaecologist, who trained at Harvard Medical School and who practices in Massachusetts in the US. He has a particular interest in the risks and benefits of medications during pregnancy and has written a number of peer-reviewed papers on the topic.

The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director. You can follow Liz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at https://liztucker.substack.com

If you would like to support this podcast you can do so via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/WhatYourGPDoesntTellYou or via PayPal at https://www.whatyourgpdoesnttellyou.com/support/

What Your GP Doesn’t Tell You has been selected by Feedspot as one of the top 15 UK Medical Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_medical_podcasts/

NHS consultant neurologist Dr Suzanne O’Sullivan argues that a range of medical conditions from autism to ADHD are now overdiagnosed, which is completely redefining how we think about sickness and disease. In a new book The Age of Diagnosis; Sickness, Health and Why Medicine Has Gone Too Far, she explains why she believes that creating large numbers of new diagnoses, carries risks for both our mental and physical wellbeing and can turn healthy people into patients.

Suzanne is convinced that we should be cautious about having unnecessary medical tests and investigations that may cause more harm than good.

And she reveals, perhaps surprisingly, that apart from a small benefit for large bowel cancer, cancer screening has not been shown to have an impact on all cause mortality. Suggesting that although we may be finding cancer earlier, we are not necessarily saving lives.

The Age of Diagnosis; Sickness, Health and Why Medicine Has Gone Too Far by Suzanne O'Sullivan is published by Hodder.

The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director. You can follow Liz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at https://liztucker.substack.com

If you would like to support this podcast you can do so via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/WhatYourGPDoesntTellYou or via PayPal at https://www.whatyourgpdoesnttellyou.com/support/

What Your GP Doesn’t Tell You has been selected by Feedspot as one of the top 15 UK Medical Podcasts https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_medical_podcasts/