Health

Health Follow Follow ‘Wellness’ feels like it’s losing all meaning in health tech Oura is lobbying for relaxed wearables regulation. It has a point, but is regulation even the problem here? Victoria Song Feb 13 V External Link Victoria Song Feb 9 Link Oura goes to Washington. This Politico story is a fascinating deep dive into Oura cozying up to the government. What caught my eye is a tidbit that Oura is lobbying lawmakers for a “digital health screener” device classification process that would sidestep the more intensive FDA clearance process for medical devices. Why Washington’s all-in on smart rings [ Politico ] V Victoria Song Feb 6 Link Not to say I told you so about AG1… But here’s Dave Wiskus, founder of the Nebula streaming service, on how AG1 did not pass muster as a sponsor. If you’re curious to learn more, may I point you to this week’s Optimizer ? AG1 is a lot less science-y than it sounds Athletic Greens is ‘clinically backed.’ What does that even mean? Victoria Song Feb 6 J External Link Jay Peters Feb 6 Link Apple has changed its AI health coach plans. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is “scaling back” plans for the coach and will instead roll out some of what it had been working on into the Heath app over time. Maybe not the worst idea . Apple Is Scaling Back Plans for New AI-Based Health Coach Service [ Bloomberg ] Fitbit’s founders launch a new platform for monitoring your entire family’s health Andrew Liszewski Feb 3 Giving your healthcare info to a chatbot is, unsurprisingly, a terrible idea Robert Hart Jan 23 Influencers are pushing suspicious peptides. How much are you willing to risk? The search for the contents of my mystery “GLP-3” vial leads further into the wellness wild west. Victoria Song Jan 23 T Quote Thomas Ricker Jan 23 Link US exits WHO. The withdrawal from the World Health Organization makes good on an executive order Trump issued on his first day in office. Per The New York Times : The up-in-the-air status of the flu vaccine is just one of countless global health matters that are left hanging in the balance by the United States’ withdrawal. Global health experts are deeply concerned that if a novel bug similar to the coronavirus emerges, a lack of international coordination will lead to death and disaster. T External Link Terrence O'Brien Jan 18 Link Despite what you’ve heard the 49ers’ injuries have nothing to do with an electrical substation or EMF. The Washington Post has an excellent piece (subscription required) debunking this viral theory . If the levels of EMF radiation measured at the 49ers’ practice facility weakened ligaments, we’d all have torn ACLs. When cornered, Peter Cowan, the self-proclaimed expert who popularized this theory , admitted he had no hard evidence and moved the goalposts: In an interview, Cowan acknowledged he hadn’t seen any research specifically on EMF damage to muscles and tendons; he drew connections from other studies and his own observations as a clinician, he said. He also didn’t know the 49ers started practicing in Santa Clara so long ago. If he had, he would have broadened his research to track the rising number of cell towers in the area. He said he remains “confident” the substation contributed to the injuries. An injured NFL team, an electronic substation and a theory that won’t fade [ Washington Post ] Natural Cycles launches wristband to replace thermometers for its FDA-cleared birth control app Emma Roth Jan 15 J External Link Justine Calma Jan 15 Link US greenhouse gas emissions are growing again. Planet-heating carbon and methane pollution had actually fallen by around 20 percent over the past decade, but ticked back up again in 2025 as the Trump administration slashed environmental regulations. The US Environmental Protection Agency also announced this week that it plans to stop calculating the economic benefits of improved health from cleaning up air pollution. US carbon pollution rose in 2025 in reversal of previous years’ reductions [ the Guardian ] RFK Jr.’s new food pyramid could be a disaster for the environment New US dietary guidelines promote more protein and beef tallow, potentially moving Americans further away from a low-carbon diet. Justine Calma Jan 13 Google pulls AI overviews for some medical searches Terrence O'Brien Jan 11 CES 2026 was awash in bodily fluids It all boils down to metabolism and longevity. Victoria Song Jan 9 H Hayden Field Jan 8 Link HIPAA-compliant ChatGPT. Unlike the consumer-facing ChatGPT Health announced Wednesday , the new OpenAI for Healthcare products launching today are designed do things like create reusable templates for discharge summaries and patient instructions, or analyze medical evidence to apply to specific patients. ChatGPT for Healthcare is already being used by healthcare organizations like Boston Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. Image: OpenAI The weirdest tech we’ve seen at CES 2026 Emma Roth Jan 7 You can now use Abbott’s OTC glucose monitors with Withings Victoria Song Jan 6 You can now take testosterone tests with a stick, your phone, and some spit Victoria Song Jan 6 The Vivoo FlowPad turns menstrual pads into an at-home hormone test Victoria Song Jan 6 The taint bandaid has evolved into the taint zapper It took six years, FDA clearance, and some rabbits, but this CES health wearable didn’t end up as vaporware. Victoria Song Jan 6 V Youtube Victoria Song Jan 5 Link Behold, the taint bandaid in all its glory. This is Mor, a wearable for men suffering from premature ejaculation. It zaps the perineum — or the taint — to help you delay orgasm or intensify it. I’ve been covering this device for six years, so enjoy this video , and stay tuned for my full hands-on. ( Update: The hands-on is now available right here .) This smart mirror was a menace at CES 2026 Victoria Song Jan 5 J External Link Justine Calma Jan 5 Link The US is limiting vaccine recommendations for children. The Trump administration — and antivax crusader RFK Jr. — are cutting down the number of childhood immunizations federal agencies recommend. ”This is just one more example of the decisions coming out of HHS that are sowing confusion,” Daniel Jernigan, former director of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, tells Stat News . Federal health officials slash recommended childhood vaccinations under Trump’s directive [ STAT ] This egg-shaped gadget aims to demystify hormones… with pee Victoria Song Jan 5 Withings thinks of its latest smart scale as a ‘longevity station’ Victoria Song Jan 5 The Mui Board will support mmWave sleep tracking and gesture control Terrence O'Brien Jan 5 R Richard Lawler Jan 2 Link Apple Fitness Plus brings new fitness plans, musical guests, and podcasts for 2026. Just like last year , Apple has announced new fitness content that will start rolling out next week (if you want to try another app, we’ve got suggestions ). There are new multi-week Strength, HIIT, or Yoga Fitness Comeback workouts, new music playlists, a Strava challenge for Apple Watch owners, and new Time to Walk audio episodes with Penn Badgley, Mel B, and Michelle Monaghan. Image: Apple The wellness wild west is back on its bullshit with unapproved weight loss drugs It’s far too easy to buy so-called GLP-3s through gray-market websites. Victoria Song Dec 19, 2025 R External Link Richard Lawler Dec 18, 2025 Link Trump signs executive order directing AG to reschedule marijuana. In the middle of threatening funding for hospitals that provide gender-related care to minors and trying to tack his name onto the Kennedy Center, the president also signed another executive order. This one directs the Attorney General to take steps to move marijuana from Schedule I classification under federal law, along with heroin, to Schedule III, which includes ketamine and anabolic steroids. It’s something Biden had said he would pursue . Trump signs order to ease US marijuana regulations, sparking industry hopes [ Reuters ] Chatbots are struggling with suicide hotline numbers Robert Hart Dec 10, 2025 A External Link Andrew Liszewski Dec 5, 2025 Link Kohler’s stopped claming its Dekoda toilet camera uses end-to-end encryption. After Simon Fondrie-Teitler called out the Dekoda health tracker’s incorrect use of the term end-to-end encryption because Kohler does have access to the data it collects, the company has updated the toilet cam’s product pages to now say that user data is “ encrypted in transit and at rest .” ‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted | TechCrunch [ TechCrunch ] Welcome to the wellness surveillance state We’ll take your blood and urine, please. Victoria Song Dec 5, 2025 M Mia Sato Dec 2, 2025 Link “We don’t wear masks” in Altoona, Pennsylvania. We’re listening to testimony from one of the responding officers who arrested Luigi Mangione in a Pennsylvania McDonalds. The officer testified that Mangione’s medical face mask made him stand out as the person who was reported as being suspicious. “We don’t wear masks” in the city, officer Joseph Detwiler told the court. “We have antibodies.” This elicited an audible reaction from the audience. Data centers in Oregon might be helping to drive an increase in cancer and miscarriages Terrence O'Brien Nov 30, 2025 You need to read the treatise on spacing out, Bored and Brilliant Terrence O'Brien Nov 30, 2025 The dark side of optimizing your metabolism There are known benefits to tracking your glucose levels, but it can also be a slippery slope into disordered eating. Victoria Song Nov 28, 2025 AI has no idea what I’m eating Food logging is tedious enough without AI making stuff up. Victoria Song Nov 21, 2025 D Dominic Preston Nov 12, 2025 Link Now everyone can tell Whoop about their blood. The wearable company offers paid blood tests to US users through its Advanced Labs feature, which launched in September. But now users worldwide can upload their blood results into the app for free, and see biomarkers alongside their daily data. Whoop-organized tests will roll out internationally “in the coming months.” DIY biomarkers. Image: Whoop AI chatbots are helping hide eating disorders and making deepfake ‘thinspiration’ Robert Hart Nov 11, 2025 Most Popular Most Popular Apple’s doing something on March 4th Why are Epstein’s emails full of equals signs? OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI The Pocket Taco is the best way to turn your phone into a Game Boy Anker’s USB-C cable that lets you charge two gadgets at once is 20 percent off Advertiser Content From This is the title for the native ad