Transcript of Dr Casey Means Testimony at Senate Roundtable

Dr Means begins with this:

You can watch the replay here. I start speaking at 1:38:28, but I encourage you to watch the whole thing.

The speakers at the Senate Hearing included:

Dr. Marty Makary (IG: @martymakary, X: @martymakary) Dr. Chris Palmer (IG: @chrispalmermd, X: @chrispalmermd) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (IG: @robertfkennedyjr, X: @RobertKennedyJr) Jillian Michaels (IG: @jillianmichaels, X: @JillianMichaels) Max Lugavere (IG: @maxlugavere, X: @maxlugavere) Dr. Jordan B. Peterson (IG: @jordan.b.peterson, X: @jordanbpeterson) Van Hari (IG: @thefoodbabe, X: @thefoodbabe) Calley Means (IG: @calleymeans, X: @calleymeans) Alex Clark (IG: @realalexclark, X: @yoalexrapz) Jason Karp (IG: @humankarp, X: @humankarp) Brigham Buhler (IG: @ways2well) Grace Price (IG: @travelingenes1, X: @travelingenes) Courtney Swan (IG: @realfoodology, X: @realfoodology) Mikhaila Fuller (IG: @mikhailapeterson, X: @mikhailafuller) And her testimony, enjoy: As a physician, the message that I am here to share is this: American health is getting destroyed due to preventable chronic disease. If current trends continue, we could be facing profound societal instability and decreased American competitiveness at best, and a genocidal level health collapse at worst.  Over the last 50 years in the United States, we have seen rapidly rising rates of chronic diseases throughout the whole body: infertility, obesity, type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia, cancer, heart disease, stroke, autoimmune diseases, mental illness, chronic pain, fatigue, congenital abnormalities, osteoarthritis, chronic liver disease, autism, and infant and maternal mortality. For many of these diseases, the increased rates are accelerating.  Americans live 8 fewer years compared to people in Japan or Switzerland… and life expectancy is going DOWN. I took an oath to do no harm - but listen to these stats: we are doing harm and allowing harm.  While it sounds grim, there is GOOD news: We know why all of these diseases are increasing and we know how to fix it.  Every disease I mentioned is caused by metabolic dysfunction. Metabolic dysfunction is a fundamental distortion of our cellular biology that stops our cells from making energy appropriately. According to Journal of the American College of Cardiology, metabolic dysfunction now affects 93.2% of American adults. Metabolic dysfunction is the cellular draining of our life force. It is the result of three processes - chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress (which is like a wildfire in our cells). Metabolic dysfunction is largely NOT a genetic issue. It is caused by the toxic American ultra-processed industrial food system, toxic American chemicals, toxic excess of American medications, and toxic American sedentary indoor lifestyles.  You would think our healthcare system and government agencies would be CLAMORING to fix metabolic health and reduce American suffering and costs. But they are not. They are deafeningly silent about metabolic dysfunction and its known causes. The science is being ignored. It is not an overstatement to say that I learned virtually nothing at Stanford Medical School about the tens of thousands of scientific papers that elucidate the root causes of why American health is plummeting and how environmental factors are causing this. For instance: In medical school, I didn’t learn that research shows that for each additional serving of ultra processed foods we eat per day, early mortality increases by 18%. 67% of our kids' calories come from these foods. I didn’t take a single nutrition class in medical school. I didn’t learn that the NIH was found to have 8,000 major conflicts of interests with industry even though we know conflicts of interest SKEW data. For instance, research has shown that 82 percent of independently funded studies show harm from sugar sweetened beverages, while 93 percent of ­ industry-​­sponsored studies reflect no harm. I didn’t learn that 95% of the people who created the recent USDA food guidelines had a significant conflict of interest with food or pharma. I didn’t learn that 1 billion pounds of synthetic pesticides are sprayed in the US each year, and that 99% of the farmland in the US is not organic. These invisible, tasteless pesticide chemicals are strongly linked to autism, ADHD, sex hormone disruption, thyroid disease, sperm dysfunction, Alzheimers dementia, birth defects, cancer, obesity, liver dysfunction, female infertility, and more. I didn’t learn that 8 BILLION tons of plastics have been produced in just 100 years and microplastics are now filling our food, water, and even the air we breathe such that very recent research tells us that 0.5% of our brains by weight are now plastic.  I didn’t learn that there are more than 80,000 toxins that have entered our food, water, air, and homes by unchecked industry - many of which are banned in Europe - and which alter our gene expression, alter microbiome composition and the gut lining, disrupt hormone signaling, and more. I didn't learn that heavy metals like aluminum and lead are present in our food, baby formula, personal care products, soil, and many mandated medications like vaccines and that these metals are neurotoxic and inflammatory.  I didn’t learn that the average American walks just 3,500 steps a day, even though we know that simply walking 7,000 steps per day is associated with a 40-60% lower risk of diseases like Alzeimer’s dementia, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and obesity.  I didn’t learn that medical error and medications are the THIRD leading cause of death in the US.  I didn’t learn that just 5 nights of sleep deprivation can induce prediabetes, and that we are getting about 20% less sleep on average than we were 100 years ago.  I didn’t learn that many American children spend less time outdoors each day than a maximum security prisoner, and the average adult spends 93% of their time indoors, even though we know that separation from sunlight destroys our circadian biology that dictates our health. I didn’t learn that girls in the US are hitting puberty 5 years earlier than they were in 1920 because of hormone disrupting chemicals that are now ubiquitous in our environment.  I didn’t learn that the professional organizations that we get our guidelines from like the American Diabetes Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have taken tens of millions from companies like Coca-Cola, Cadbury Chocolate, processed food companies, and vaccine manufacturers. I didn’t learn that if we address these root causes and help patients change their food and lifestyle patterns, rather than eating processed food and relying on pharmaceutical treatments, we could reverse the chronic disease crisis in America and save millions of lives and trillions of dollars in health care costs per year.  In medical school, I learned that the body was 100 separate unrelated parts, and I learned how to diagnose, drug, operate, and bill.  I’ll close by saying that what we are dealing with here is so much more than a health crisis. It’s a spiritual crisis.  We are choosing death over life. We are choosing darkness over light. For both people and the planet, which are inextricably interlinked.  We are choosing to erroneously believe that we are separate from nature and that we can continue to poison and then outsmart nature with drugs. Our path out will be rooted in a renewed respect for life and a renewed respect for nature.  We can restore health to Americans in a couple of years with smart policy and courageous leadership.  We need a return to courage. We need a return to common sense and intuition.  We need a return to awe for the sheer miraculousness of our lives.  We need all hands on deck.