Medical News of the Week
I read the journals so you don't have to
# 🩺 The Unfiltered MD: This Week in Medicine
**Week Ending November 9, 2025**
by **Dr. Terry Simpson**
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### 🧭 Why We’re Here
Every week, I read the medical journals so you don’t have to — cutting through the hype, headlines, and hucksters to bring you the science that actually matters.
While the rest of the media obsesses over celebrity diets, miracle supplements, and detox fads, we focus on the studies that truly impact you and yours — from outbreaks of food poisoning to pandemics, from everyday prevention to new treatments for disease.
These are the stories that probably won’t make the evening news — but should.
*And to my paid subscribers — thank you. You keep this newsletter ad-free and our science sharp. You’ve also helped launch our **live TikTok cooking show**, which has been going beautifully so far. The gear is dialed in, the crew is getting comfortable, and we’re still experimenting with the timing. Right now, it’s a toss-up between **Thursdays at 4:30 PM** and **Sunday Suppers**. Stay tuned — literally.*
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## 🫀 Headline of the Week
### **Evolocumab Cuts First Heart-Attack Risk by 25 Percent**
A new *New England Journal of Medicine* trial on **evolocumab** (*eh-voh-LOH-kyoo-mab*, brand name **Repatha**) shows that lowering LDL cholesterol works even before the first heart attack.
More than **12,000 patients** with atherosclerosis or diabetes — but *no prior heart attack or stroke* — were followed for nearly five years.
**Results:**
- **3-point MACE (heart attack, stroke, CV death):** 6.2 % vs 8.0 % on placebo → **25 % lower risk**
- **4-point MACE (adds unstable angina):** 13.4 % vs 16.2 % → **19 % lower risk**
- **No increase in adverse events**
**What it is:** A monoclonal antibody that blocks PCSK9, letting the liver pull more LDL (“bad cholesterol”) out of circulation.
**How it’s used:** *140 mg every two weeks or 420 mg once monthly by injection.*
**LDL reduction:** 50–60 % beyond statin therapy.
**Translation:** Fewer heart attacks. Longer lives.
And maybe fewer arguments from the “statins-are-poison” crowd.
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## 💊 The GLP-1 Drug Deal: Cheaper, but Still a Rip-Off
The White House announced new deals with **Novo Nordisk** and **Eli Lilly** to lower prices on Wegovy and Zepbound — “as low as $149 a month.”
That only applies to the lowest pill doses, and Americans will still pay far more than patients in Germany, Canada, or the UK.
We need **real drug-pricing reform**, not election-year placebos.
And we could start by banning **direct-to-consumer drug ads** — drug companies spend **twice as much on marketing** as on research.
Finally, something **RFK Jr.** and I agree on.
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## 🫒 Mediterranean Diet: Less Pain, More Science
A meta-analysis in *Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism* found that following a Mediterranean or anti-inflammatory diet reduced rheumatoid-arthritis risk by **up to 46 percent.**
Once again, olive oil and lentils outperform gummies and gurus.
**Food isn’t medicine — it’s better.**
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## 💤 Mediterranean Meals = Better Sleep
In *Sleep*, post-menopausal women who followed Mediterranean or DASH diets were **less likely to develop insomnia.**
Apparently, hummus beats Ambien — and comes without the black-box warning.
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## 🚭 Teen Vaping + Cannabis = Nicotine’s Pipeline
Two studies, one concern:
- Teens using **cannabis** are **13 % more likely** to become regular tobacco users.
- **Daily vaping** among teens nearly **doubled (15 → 29 %)** since 2020, and failed-quit attempts climbed from 28 → 53 %.
When your teen says, “It’s just weed and a vape,” what they mean is, “I’ve started my nicotine internship.”
The Marlboro Man doesn’t ride horses anymore — he sells mango pods.
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## ⚖️ Bariatric Surgery: Still the Heavyweight Champion
In *Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism*, over 15,000 patients with fatty-liver disease who underwent bariatric surgery had:
- 48 % fewer heart attacks and strokes
- 42 % fewer obesity-related cancers
- 51 % lower mortality
Metabolic surgery remains one of medicine’s most underused lifesavers.
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## 🧬 Hidden Cancer Genes
A *JAMA* study found that **1 in 20 Americans** carry genetic mutations that increase cancer risk even without a family history.
Sometimes it’s not *in* your family — it’s in your DNA.
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## 🍷 Heavy Drinking = Earlier, Bigger Brain Bleeds
In *Neurology*, people drinking ≥ 3 drinks/day had strokes **11 years earlier** and **larger bleeds** than moderate drinkers.
Moderation is Mediterranean; hangovers are not.
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## 🧠 Early-Onset Dementia Shortens the Clock
Median survival after dementia diagnosis before 65 was **8.7 years** — shorter for frontotemporal, longer for Alzheimer’s.
Early planning saves chaos later.
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## 💉 Statins Boost Breast-Cancer Survival
Women with early-stage breast cancer who started statins within three years had better outcomes (*JAMA Network Open*).
Cholesterol control: still saving lives — and not just hearts.
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## 🧫 Colon-Cancer Screening Soars for Ages 45–49
Since the USPSTF lowered the screening age to 45, screening rates jumped ten-fold.
Fish, fiber, and fecal tests — the new three F’s of longevity.
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## 🧬 CAR-T Therapy Gives Lupus a Reboot
CAR-T cells, originally built to fight cancer, are now sending lupus into drug-free remission.
The first patient treated in 2021 is still healthy today.
Think of it as *Control–Alt–Delete* for your immune system.
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## 🩺 The Bottom Line
From LDLs to lentils, this week proves — again — that science works when you let it.
Lower your cholesterol, raise your fiber, and question anyone selling miracles.
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### 🔒 **Read more below (for paid subscribers):**
*PCSK9 vs Statins vs GLP-1s — what the new data mean for prevention, costs, and long-term healthspan.*
*Plus: deeper context on every study featured this week — what held up, what surprised me, and what’s worth ignoring.*
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