August 28, 2026 · 3:17 AM

Omega-3 Supplement: Take or Not?

I recently started taking an omega-3 fish oil supplement with hopes of preserving cognitive function as I age. Cold-water fatty fish are a natural source of omega-3s and I haven’t been eating much lately. My supplement contains 1040 mg of omega-3 fatty acids. It’s a large pill that’s difficult to swallow sometimes.

Alaskan Omega-3 Fish Oil by Sports Research

Now I’m starting to wonder if I should continue. From Daily Mail:

The [single observational study] researchers compared 273 people who take omega-3 supplements daily, with 546 similar non-users – and found that those taking fish-oil pills appeared to decline faster on several cognitive scores.

However…

…when it comes to omega 3s and cognitive function, in a major [meta-analysis] review published recently in Scientific Reports, analysis of 58 randomised controlled trials from multiple countries suggested that omega-3 supplements may be associated with slightly better cognitive outcomes – or slower decline in some areas, particularly memory.

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: There’s a diet linked to lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia. It’s the Mediterranean diet.

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August 27, 2026 · 3:00 PM

Kill the Parasite That’s Causing Your Diabetes

“Ultra structural details exhibited by a parasite” by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/ CC0 1.0

I was watching something at rumble.com last night when up popped and ad informing me that type 2 diabetes is caused by a parasite in the pancreas. Drink a concoction of three common household items and your diabetes is cured in 20 days. Because you killed the parasite.

I did not click through for the details.

Ads like that make me think that maybe I shouldn’t be watching anything at rumble.com.

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

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August 26, 2026 · 4:23 PM

Has Dogman Solved America’s Obesity Epidemic?

This guy is a raconteur. He also vlogs at Ouchita Mountain Living.

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

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August 8, 2026 · 9:43 AM

Artificial Intelligence May Slash Your Hospital Bill

From Fox News:

Last summer, a man’s brother-in-law suffered a fatal heart attack. The hospital bill for four hours of emergency care: $195,628.

The man’s sister-in-law was ready to pay it. He asked her to wait. He requested an itemized bill with CPT codes, the universal billing codes hospitals use, and fed the whole thing into Claude, an AI chatbot.

Within minutes, Claude found duplicate charges, services billed as “inpatient” even though the patient was never admitted, supply costs inflated by 500% to 2,300% above Medicare rates and charges for procedures that never happened. He cross-checked with ChatGPT. Both AIs agreed. He wrote a six-page letter citing every violation by name.

The hospital dropped the bill to $33,000. An 83% reduction. Zero medical training. A $20 app.

This is amazing.

I have a friend who was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia about nine years ago. He was intubated quite soon after arrival at the emergency room. The bill for the first hospital day was ~$1,000,000. His wife went through the entire itemized hospital bill by hand and found numerous mistakes that were eventually rectified

We’re grateful beyond words that my friend survived and is doing well to this day.

—-Steve Parker, M.D.

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June 15, 2026 · 1:39 PM

Baby Boomers Are Sicker Than the Previous Generation

From The Guardian:

Researchers analysed health data for more than 100,000 people between 2004 and 2018, covering several generations of people aged 50 and above across England, the US and Europe.

They found increasing rates of chronic disease, especially when comparing people born between 1936 and 1945 and those born from 1955 to 1959.

Rates of chronic disease rose across successive generations in all regions, with more recently born adults more likely to have cancer, lung disease, heart issues, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol than their predecessors at the same age.

Although prevalence of type 2 diabetes rose at the same rate across all regions, diagnoses of cancer, heart problems and high cholesterol increased the most in England and Europe, with baby boomers and people in their 50s being 1.5 times more likely to have these issues than their predecessors at the same age.

Levels of grip strength, a good measure of overall muscle strength and healthy ageing, decreased across generations in England and the US, but either increased or remained constant in Europe.

Why is health worse?

Pollution? Poor food quality? Increasing rates of obesity? Increasing social isolation? Over-crowding? Loss of religion?

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

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May 4, 2026 · 8:10 AM

More Ways to Prevent or Delay Dementia

The main focus of this video is the zoster vaccination. The physician also has hopeful comments about multivitamin-mineral supplementation, omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, and creatine.

I recently hit an improvement plateau with my weight training, so have started supplementing with creatine 5 g/day. It is quite popular these days.

Remember when collagen peptide supplementation was popular a few years ago. To reduce joint pain. I gave it a decent chance and saw no benefit.

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April 16, 2026 · 3:57 PM

Too Good to Be True? Reduce Knee Pain by 50%

I don’t know if this guy’s legitimate or not. At least what he proposes looks safe to try. It’s interesting that he doesn’t mention the underlying diagnosis of the knee pain. I assume he’s referring to chronic pain unrelated to acute trauma. He says it works to reduce pain at the front of and inside the knee. The suggested exercise is simple and quick. Sounds to good to be true.

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

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April 15, 2026 · 1:35 PM

Glyphosate: Scourge or Savior?

Steven Novella recently reviewed the evidence for and against glyphosate, the weed killer that coats many of our plant foods. His conclusion:

While I personally find the evidence overall supports the safety of glyphosate (I feel a risk-based approach is better than a hazard-based approach, there is a wide margin of safety levels, and the best evidence is negative), there is a lot of data that legitimately can be seen as concerning. There is also the question of industry influence in the research. A study from 2000 showing glyphosate is safe was recently retracted because of undisclosed industry funding. It is therefore no wonder that the public remains confused and divided on the safety of glyphosate. 

As it stands, I think the regulatory agencies are correct in continuing to approve glyphosate. It is likely safe and better than all the alternatives. However, more and better research is always welcome. This is definitely an area where we would benefit from highly rigorous large consensus studies designed to resolve continued scientific disagreement.

I encourage you to do your own research and draw your own conclusions. I’m busy with other things now.

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

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April 8, 2026 · 11:49 AM

AI and the Enshitification of Healthcare

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I consider infectious disease specialists to be, in general, the smartest non-procedural medical specialists. They are often called in to consult on a hospitalized patient who’s already been evaluated by three or four other doctors, but just isn’t responding to treatment and may have an underlying atypical infection.

Dr. Mark Crislip is a retired infections disease doc who is highly intelligent and a good writer. I don’t know him personally but have had the pleasure of working with a few like him throughout my career (shout out to Dr. Kara Asbury). Here’s what he thinks of the intrusion of AI – artificial intelligence – into medical practice.


I really think we are heading into a world where doctors are going to be mediocre at best. There are many articles about how kids today (remember, I am an old geezer) are unable to read books or even sit through a whole movie. You wonder how they are going to master, yes, master, the immense amount of information, all in dense, dry, complicated, technical textbooks, required just to get through medical school, much less become proficient in whatever medical specialty field they choose.

Now? All the cognitive processing will be offloaded into AI. And people will take the path of least resistance, in the process acquiring only the facade of understanding. And if the AI hallucinates? They are not going to know enough to recognize it.

So there will be three kinds of doctors slowing evolving into one.

A few old geezers like me who will mostly avoid AI. I say mostly. I wouldn’t mind if AI generated my billing codes. But that is it. But their medical mind will remain sharp and be wielded like a samurai blade.

Most current MDs will take the path of least resistance, use AI and their mind will be increasingly rusty and dull and at some point be useless.

And those brought up on AI? Their minds will be plastic sporks. Enshittified from the start.

I recommend you read the whole thing, especially if you’re a physician. Plus he takes a few jabs at EMRs (electronic medical records).

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

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March 15, 2026 · 3:44 PM

Reflections On Life and Death at 92

Is this real or is she AI-generated? How can she be so articulate? I saw little evidence of editing. Was she reading a teleprompter?

I wonder how I would have reacted to this if I were 40, 50, or 60 years old. I’m 71 now, and it made me tear up at the end, and thereafter for many minutes, thinking about my wife, my life, my children, and the time I have left before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

It may be impossible for folks under 40 or 50 to think seriously about these issues.

—–Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: I can help you maximize your lifespan and “healthspan.”

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