The health and wellness boom has led to a wide range of consumer products promising to improve health and happiness, but physician and journalist Zand van Tulleken talks to Grace Wade about three trends to watch out for, and points out their reasons.
In 1893, cowboy Clark Stanley killed rattlesnakes at the Chicago World's Fair, then boiled them and sold the fat extracted from them as a tonic to treat a variety of health problems, giving rise to the famous "snake oil" story. This trick may seem less convincing today, however, as the distinction between quackery and medicine has become more difficult; Health guidelines now compete with an ill-defined health and wellness industry, fueled by influencer podcasts and social media.
A journey to understand the world of health
In his book Make Me Well: A quest to understand the confusing world of wellness, physician and journalist Xand van Tulleken investigates this largely unregulated industry. It explains the things that keep people healthy, and the things that don't.
• Grace Wade: What exactly is “wellness”?
- Zand van Tulleken: Wellness is concerned with how we feel: improving performance, improving bodily functions, and perhaps reducing the risk of disease. But wellness insurance practices do not fall within the framework of health care.
• The modern wellness industry is trying hard to blur the boundaries between health and wellness. But what's the difference?
-The difference is that wellness is equivalent to improving health. The industry's intentional blurring of the lines between health and wellness, and the resulting confusion, prompted me to write Make Me Well. Health usually involves a specific, measurable problem, while health care is concerned with preventing or treating specific conditions. Wellness focuses on goals that are difficult to measure: feeling better, improving performance, and improving appearance.
Except for strictly controlled claims — such as vitamin C's ability to reduce fatigue — the wellness industry cannot claim that products treat medical problems. However, advertising rules do not prevent influencers from offering their opinions as advice.
While the healthcare industry protects the “minimum,” keeping people’s health within the normal range, the health and wellness industry promotes the “maximum,” inviting them to imagine the best version of themselves.
• Are there health products that improve health?
- certainly. I've examined nutritional supplements, wearables, and commercial tests. These products are similar to medications, but for most of them, the supporting evidence disappears upon scrutiny. These products are not designed to treat or diagnose diseases, and generally do not require any proof of effectiveness or safety; Because manufacturers avoid claiming that they provide any medical benefit.
The problem is that companies can still tout health benefits through less-scrutinized channels: the packaging may not carry a claim, while a podcaster might.
• Is there any harm in trying these products, such as vitamins, for example?
- Yes, vitamins are necessary, but healthy people usually do not need nutritional supplements. Accepting that supplements are not beneficial to healthy people has challenged my personal beliefs (as a doctor).
Doctors previously believed that nutritional supplements were safe and that excess nutrients were easy to control. However, large clinical trials conducted in the 2010s showed that multivitamins did not reduce deaths from serious diseases, while some antioxidant supplements increased mortality by between 4 and 16 percent, depending on their type and dose.
Antioxidant supplements may help protect cancer cells from damage. It remains unclear why fruits and vegetables do not cause the same risks; The body appears to process nutrients in whole foods differently.
Vitamins remain valuable treatments for diagnosed deficiencies, including vitamin B deficiency in beriberi and vitamin D deficiency in rickets.
Suspecting a deficiency in any nutrient is a health care concern. The doctor not only treats iron deficiency, for example, but also looks for other causes such as intestinal disease, pernicious anemia, and irregular menstruation, questions that promoters of nutritional supplements have no motive to ask.
Home checks and wearable technologies
• What about home examinations? It seems that they would be useful, rather than harmful, for detecting deficiencies and diseases.
-Commercial tests cover cancer, menopause, hormones and vitamin levels. However, comprehensive screening without medical indications may not save lives and may even deteriorate people's health.
In a large Finnish clinical trial of blood tests for prostate cancer, only about a third of positive results were confirmed by biopsy. Performing tests without other reasons for suspicion can lead to harmful tests, nerve damage, and unnecessary anxiety.
Doctors conduct tests after estimating a person's likelihood of contracting the disease. Interpretation of results depends on symptoms, medical history, and context.
I'm not against public health, I just want to save people time and money, and give them the freedom to do what matters to them.
• What about wearable technologies?
- I have my smartwatch here with me, and while I doubt how useful this data on my heart rate, stress levels and sleep is, I don't think it's doing me any harm.
The numbers provided by wearable devices simplify the complexities of life into a reassuring conclusion. On an exercise bike, for example, I know my heart rate and strength level accurately, whereas regular trials don't provide a similar objective measure.
Wearable devices may encourage excessive focus on data, pursuit of step counts, or reliance on exercise. For most people they simply provide numbers, and there is no evidence that they improve users' fitness.
However, I support expanding access to personal health information. Such as bathroom scales; Wearable devices can show whether something is moving in an overall beneficial direction.
The danger begins when consumer devices screen for diseases. Although some wearables are approved as medical devices, doctors and health companies use them very differently. A glucose monitor can be a lifesaver for people with diabetes, but users of health and wellness apps may consider normal blood sugar spikes dangerous. In order to avoid these increases, they may move away from fruits, legumes, and whole grains, and move towards eating more cheese and meat, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
I tested a personalized nutrition service twice at the same time, using two glucose monitors, identical stool samples, blood samples from each arm, and identical personal data. The service showed mixed blood sugar and microbiome results, and conflicting nutritional advice, suggesting unreliability of the results.
Health myths
• If the health and wellness industry is full of myths, why do you think interest in it has increased so much in recent years?
The medical sector bears part of the responsibility for the increased interest in health and wellness. Access to health care can be difficult; Even in the United Kingdom, appointments are rare and short due to the small number of doctors.
Health care also does not meet the needs of some groups, especially women and minorities, who may find it difficult to obtain appropriate treatment.
Menopause makes this gap clear: consumers spend billions on nutritional supplements, while scientific research receives relatively little funding.
The United States spends about $57 million annually on menopause research, far less than the required $100 million, while spending in the United Kingdom is not even recorded and is in fact very small.
When menopausal symptoms become severe and science seems uninterested, turning to “wellness products” becomes understandable. Health care may seem paternalistic and restrictive, while wellness provides a sense of control.
Medicine also expresses uncertainty honestly. Here the nutritional supplement offers promises that something can happen; While the doctor may explain that the medication provides only a limited reduction in future risks and has side effects.
• What advice do you have for those who want to improve their health?
- Consult your healthcare professional before purchasing wellness products. Make sure to attend the recommended check-ups, know your blood pressure, and eat vegetables; These simple basics improve health.
You should go beyond health products. Satisfaction can come from community, family, friendship, and personal growth. I'm not against wellness products; I want people to save their time and money and focus on what really matters.
Find something you love — martial arts, knitting, dancing, or pottery — and get passionately into it. This may be the most effective way to maintain your health. It's okay to pursue biomodulation as a hobby, but don't expect products, supplements, special treatments, or stem cell programs to extend your life.
A new scientific study reveals unprecedented details about the way DNA regulates immune system cells after researchers succeeded in drawing the first three-dimensional, cell-level map of the human tonsil genome.
Scientists hope that this map, which describes the complex organization of genetic material within thousands of cells, will help understand the way immunity develops and why some normal immune processes can sometimes become a source of mutations associated with cancer. The study was published in the journal Science on July 23, 2026, and was conducted by a research team from Yale University School of Medicine in the United States, led by immunologist David Schatz from the Department of Immunobiology in cooperation with geneticist Siyuan (Stephen) Wang from the Department of Genetics at the same college.
“Spaghetti” inside the cell nucleus
Although the DNA in the body's cells can be about two meters long, it must be squeezed into a microscopic nucleus; Therefore, DNA is not straight, but rather twisted, bent, and intertwined into a complex structure that, according to researchers, resembles “a huge ball of pasta.” But this apparent chaos is not random. The way genetic material is folded and organized varies from one cell type to another and can determine which genes work, when they work, and how active they are.
To understand this organization, Wang's team used an advanced imaging technique developed in his laboratory known as Multiplexed Imaging of Nucleome Architectures (MINA). The technique allows imaging of DNA, RNA, and proteins inside cells, while they are still in their natural environment within the tonsil tissue.
The researchers say that this method enabled them to build the first three-dimensional atlas of the human tonsil genome at the cell level, and it also represents the first imaging-based three-dimensional genomic map of human organ tissue.
How do cells make better antibodies? The tonsils play an important role in the immune system. They contain specialized immune cells that help the body recognize and confront pathogens.
Scientists also focused specifically on B cells, which produce antibodies. After these cells are exposed to immune stimuli, they can undergo a process known as somatic hypermutation, where random changes occur in the genes responsible for manufacturing antibodies.
Some of these changes may be beneficial; Because it makes the antibody more able to recognize the pathogen, and then helps to form a stronger immune response.
But the question that has puzzled scientists is why do these mutations occur in certain regions of the genome more than others?
Stopping genetic mutations
The new map showed that the regions most susceptible to mutations appear to be linked to a special three-dimensional organization of DNA, where parts of it fold to form loops maintained by specialized proteins. When the researchers quickly inactivated one of the proteins responsible for forming these rings, the process of somatic hypermutation stopped completely.
The result suggests that the spatial organization of DNA within the nucleus is not just a way to arrange genetic material, but may be an essential part of the mechanism that allows immune cells to develop more effective antibodies. However, scientists discovered an important surprise: the disappearance of mutations did not lead to the disappearance of all genetic loops, but rather some interactions remained present for a longer period. This means that loops alone do not explain the entire process and that there are other mechanisms that have not yet been discovered.
The results may be of particular importance for understanding some B-cell cancers, such as lymphomas. Although somatic hypermutations usually target the genes for antibodies, they may sometimes affect other regions of the genome, leading to unnecessary and potentially dangerous mutations that can contribute to the development of cancer.
The researchers hope that the new atlas will help identify the factors that control this process and understand what happens when mutation mechanisms get out of control.
For scientists, unraveling the mystery of the “genetic spaghetti” inside cells is not only about understanding the shape of DNA, but also about revealing the way in which genome engineering controls immunity, gene expression, and cell proliferation, which may open the door to new discoveries in medicine and diseases in the future.
In a world where floods, fires, earthquakes, and epidemics have become recurring events that threaten the lives of millions, losses may not be limited to homes and infrastructure; Rather, it extends to the food that societies depend on to survive. Floods may destroy crops, drought threatens livestock, while conflicts cut off supply routes and disrupt food access to markets, potentially turning a sudden shock into a widespread food crisis. But an international study offers a more optimistic answer. It notes that countries' preparedness and resilience can help reduce the effects of disasters and protect against deteriorating food security.
Capabilities and preparations
An international team of researchers analyzed data collected from dozens of countries over more than a decade and concluded that the ability of countries to deal with shocks is not determined solely by their level of economic development, or the number and severity of disasters they are exposed to, but is also greatly influenced by the capabilities they build in advance to confront disturbances.
Researchers noted that a number of countries, especially in Asia, were able to improve their food security despite being more exposed to disasters than other regions. The results showed that multiple ways of obtaining food, along with the effectiveness of governments and social capital, can reduce the risk of shocks turning into food crises. The study was published last September in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers define “resilience” as the ability of individuals, communities, and food systems to withstand disturbances and continue performing their functions despite shocks and disasters. Christophe Binet, chief scientist and senior policy advisor at the International Biodiversity Alliance and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Rome and the study's lead researcher, says that resilience cannot be reduced to a country's wealth, explaining that the analysis did not find a direct relationship that means that richer countries are necessarily more able to withstand shocks.
He added to Asharq Al-Awsat: “Economic development remains important, especially since improving the country’s per capita GDP has been linked to improving food security outcomes, but wealth alone does not guarantee steadfastness.”
Benet explained that the effectiveness of governments and the diversification of sources of food supplies are among the most important factors related to the ability of countries to confront crises. Effective institutions help coordinate response, maintain essential services, react quickly when disaster strikes, and invest in advance in capabilities needed to confront risks.
At the same time, the diversity of food sources reduces dependence on a single source or pathway; It allows countries to combine domestic production, imports, stocks, and alternative supply channels when one of them fails.
Regarding the priority that governments should focus on, Binet said that enhancing the effectiveness of institutions and building government capabilities represents an important starting point, while emphasizing that the study’s analysis does not allow for statistical ranking of flexibility factors, and saying that one of them is categorically more important than others.
“Flexible” strategies
Waheed Imam, professor of environmental sciences at the Faculty of Science at Ain Shams University, believes that the study highlights the importance of preparedness and flexibility in reducing the repercussions of disasters on food security, but it cannot be considered a unified solution for all countries. Risks, environmental conditions, water and agricultural resources, infrastructure, and institutional capacities vary, which requires designing flexible strategies that suit the nature of each region.
He added to Asharq Al-Awsat: “Focusing on responding to shocks should not come at the expense of preventing the causes of increased fragility of food systems. Such as soil degradation, water scarcity, loss of biodiversity, and excessive reliance on one source of production or import,” he said, noting that enhancing food security requires combining early warning, diversifying production and sources of supply, improving water and natural resource management, and raising the efficiency of institutions.
