{"podcast":{"title":"Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson","slug":"fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256","podcast_index_feed_id":940256,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/forku/","website_url":"https://www.forku.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/788b2349-48f2-498b-af8c-3fc9e102deaa/FU-2026-1.png","author":"Terry Simpson","episode_count":135,"summary":"Fork U(niversity) Not everything you put in your mouth is good for you. There’s a lot of medical information thrown around out there. How are you to know what information you can trust, and what’s just plain old quackery? You can’t rely on your own “google fu”. You can’t count on quality medical advice from Facebook. You need a doctor in your corner. On each episode of Your Doctor’s Orders, Dr. Terry Simpson will cut through the clutter and noise that always seems to follow the latest medical news. He has the unique perspective of a surgeon who has spent years doing molecular virology research and as a skeptic with academic credentials. He’ll help you develop the critical thinking skills so you can recognize evidence-based medicine, busting myths along the way. The most common medical myths are often disguised as seemingly harmless “food as medicine”. By offering their own brand of medicine via foods, These hucksters are trying to practice medicine without a license. And though they’ll claim “nutrition is not taught in medical schools”, it turns out that’s a myth too. In fact, there’s an entire medical subspecialty called Culinary Medicine, and Dr. Simpson is certified as a Culina…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-19T16:19:44.473681+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256"},"episode":{"title":"Alcohol Cuts Healthspan","slug":"alcohol-cuts-healthspan","published_at":"2025-12-11T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/alcohol-cuts-healthspan","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256","url":"https://forku.com/episode/alcohol-cuts-healthspan","audio_url":"https://op3.dev/e/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/0c77fab7-d155-4a1a-ade2-8cef4b704aed.mp3","summary":"The Holiday Party That Turned Deadly It started at a holiday party. Laughter, champagne, a toast — then a collapse. A fifty-two-year-old, active and healthy, suddenly lost consciousness. Paramedics did CPR and shocked her heart twice. She survived — barely. Doctors called it Holiday Heart Syndrome: an alcohol-triggered arrhythmia that can kill.​ What Is Holiday Heart? Holiday Heart arises after binge or even moderate drinking, especially around celebrations. Alcohol irritates heart cells, disrupts electrolytes, and scrambles electrical signals, which can trigger atrial fibrillation — an erratic rhythm that raises the risk of clots, stroke, and sudden death. Even a single heavy night can set it off, and repeated use amplifies inflammation and structural damage long after the hangover fades.​ Alcohol and Your Heart For years, the “French paradox” suggested red wine protects the heart, but newer evidence points instead to lifestyle patterns rather than wine itself. Ethanol and its metabolite acetaldehyde directly injure heart muscle, disturb calcium handling, damage mitochondria, and can lead to Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy — an enlarged, weakened heart. Harm shows up even in relatively low intake, and improvement typically requires reducing or stopping alcohol.​ Alcohol and Cancer Alcohol is a proven carcinogen that promotes DNA damage, inflammation, oxidative stress, and hormonal shifts that favor tumor growth. At least seven cancers — including those of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, and breast — are directly linked to alcohol, with risk beginning above zero and rising with each additional drink. Even up to one drink a day meaningfully increases breast cancer risk, and the combined use of alcohol and tobacco multiplies risk even further.​ Blue Zones, N…","meta_description":"The Holiday Party That Turned Deadly It started at a holiday party. Laughter, champagne, a toast — then a collapse. A fifty-two-year-old, active and healt…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":720,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/episodes/alcohol-cuts-healthspan/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/alcohol-cuts-healthspan.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}