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AFP
18-07-2025
- Health
- AFP
Health influencer falsely claims nicotine can cure neurological disorders
"Nicotine is not addictive. Parkinson's disease can be prevented and can be cured, and its symptoms reversed, with nicotine alone," health influencer Byran Ardis says in a video teasing an episode of the "Culture Apothecary" podcast from Alex Clark, a leading voice in the "Make America Healthy Again" movement. Ardis, whom AFP has previously fact-checked for spreading health misinformation, goes on to claim: "Nicotine is known by medical science to be a curative agent and a preventative agent for Alzheimer's. Did you know nicotine could also cure the symptoms of hypothyroidism?" He also asserts that "glioblastomas were proven in 2021 to be cured by nicotine alone." The clip has attracted tens of thousands of interactions on Instagram since May 19, 2025. Ardis's endorsement of nicotine patches continued to be shared across platforms in July, alongside other edits of the conversation, including one Clark posted on YouTube. Image Screenshot from Instagram taken July 18, 2025 But nicotine is an addictive chemical, and the only use for nicotine patches approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to quit smoking (archived here and here). "Don't use nicotine, other than trying to help quit smoking," Edward Levin, chief of the Neurobehavioral Research Lab at Duke University Medical Center, told AFP July 14 (archived here). He said the effect of nicotine on cognition, depression, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's "has not been proved, so it's still under investigation." Parkinson's disease In the podcast, Ardis claims nicotine by itself can prevent, cure or reverse symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Scientists are exploring nicotine's potential as a Parkinson's treatment due to the chemical's dopamine-increasing properties and the fact that smokers develop Parkinson's at a lower rate, but research has yielded mixed results (archived here). "Nicotine does potentially up the release of dopamine, and dopamine is what is impaired in Parkinson's disease. So the rationale for it is there, but the proof of it is not," Levin said. "To say flat out that it does prevent or cure Parkinson's just is not true." A 2015 study by the Parkinson's Institute concluded that nicotine could hold promise in terms of protecting against nerve degeneration, alleviating symptoms and reducing side effects of other drugs used to treat the disease (archived here). However, the study stops short of recommending nicotine as a proven treatment, saying instead that it "may represent a new disease modifying approach." A 2021 literature review published in Molecular Medicine Reports said nicotine may slow the progression of the disease by improving memory impairment and dyskinesia (archived here). Conversely, a trial supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation showed nicotine patches did not slow the progression (archived here). "Despite some initially promising findings from animal models and correlational studies in humans, this has not translated well to clinical trials," Maggie Sweitzer, an associate professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, told AFP in a July 15 email (archived here). "I am not aware of any solid evidence to support nicotine as a treatment in Parkinson's disease." Alzheimer's disease Ardis's second claim is that nicotine is "known by medical science" to be a curative and preventative agent for Alzheimer's disease. Researchers in the United States are currently investigating the effects of nicotine on mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer's, as part of the "Memory Improvement Through Nicotine Dosing" (MIND) study (archived here). But nicotine has not been incorporated into human treatment beyond clinical trials. A 2012 trial focused on 67 subjects concluded that nicotine led to cognitive improvement in attention, memory and processing, but it said further study would be necessary to determine if the findings were clinically important (archived here). A much larger follow-up is currently in progress, with results expected later in 2025 (archived here). Levin, a researcher on the MIND study, said despite promising findings, nicotine patches have not yet been FDA approved to protect against cognitive decline. "I can't recommend it," Levin said. "It's not FDA approved for that purpose. It's under investigation." Levin said that if nicotine patches were implemented as a treatment for Alzheimer's or other cognitive diseases, they would likely be used alongside other drugs, rather than alone. He also pushed back on Ardis's claim that it is safe to place nicotine patches on children, saying the drug is toxic from early fetal development through adolescence and can adversely impact the nervous system (archived here). Glioblastoma Ardis then claims nicotine alone was proven in 2021 to cure glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. AFP did not find a reference with such clear proof. Instead, a 2021 paper in Pharmacological Research showed nicotine can promote the proliferation of glioblastoma cells, with nicotinic receptors potentially contributing to the tumor's aggressive behavior (archived here). The paper also discovered that drugs that block nicotinic receptors can decrease glioblastoma cell growth. An earlier literature review said smoking and other uses of tobacco and nicotine during treatment can detrimentally affect a patient's prognosis (archived here). Keyword searches did reveal a 2022 in vivo study which found that nicotine, in conjunction with lithium carbonate, can suppress and kill glioblastoma cells, although the study also warns of health risks resulting from nicotine's cytotoxicity (archived here). But such findings have not been replicated outside of in vivo cell studies, and Sweitzer said it would be difficult to study the isolated effect of nicotine on glioblastoma in a clinical setting. "It would be unethical for researchers to assign patients with glioblastomas to a treatment condition where they received 'nicotine alone' in the absence of usual standard of care, because this would deprive the patients of treatment that they would receive if they were not in the study," Sweitzer said. "In general, people should be highly skeptical about claims that something has been 'proven' in health and medicine." Lead Stories and Medical Dialogues previously debunked claims by Ardis that nicotine can cure brain tumors in as little as 72 hours. Hypothyroidism Finally, Ardis poses that nicotine could cure symptoms of hypothyroidism, a thyroid gland condition that can lead to high cholesterol and heart problems. The 2021 Molecular Medicine Reports literature review said nicotine may "activate thyroid receptor signaling pathways" to improve hypothyroidism-induced memory impairment (archived here). But Sweitzer said Ardis's claim misleads. "There are interactions between nicotine and thyroid hormones that have been clearly demonstrated in animal models," Sweitzer said (archived here and here). "But I am not aware of any evidence that would suggest nicotine can be used as a treatment in itself." Rexford Ahima, director of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Johns Hopkins University, agreed (archived here). "Nicotine does not cure hypothyroidism," Ahima told AFP in a July 15 email. "Nicotine use, especially through smoking, is linked to worsening of autoimmune hyperthyroidism." AFP has debunked other health misinformation here.
Axios
16-07-2025
- Health
- Axios
Gen Z influencers give RFK Jr.'s movement new edge
A new wave of teen influencers is gaining followers by touting ideas central to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s public health movement, adding a Gen Z edge to a following that's trended toward wellness entrepreneurs and so-called MAHA moms. Why it matters: The distrust of Big Pharma and antiestablishment health messaging may create a convenient gateway into conservative politics for adolescents and young adults. The big picture: Youth influencers are driven in part by concerns about chronic disease they see in their parents. The New York Times has even dubbed them "crunchy teens" for their embrace of natural living. Case in point: Adolescents who've gained big followings on TikTok and Instagram include 17-year-old Ava Noe — a Make America Healthy Again supporter with the handle @cleanlivingwithava who has more than 27,200 followers— and 16-year-old Annika Zude, known online as @thatcrunchygirlannika, who has more than 38,600 followers. They're joined by peers like 19-year-olds Lexi Vrachalus and Grace Price, known as the MAHA Girls, who extol followers to "detox your life" and enumerate what they claim are harmful ingredients in consumer products. "Girls our age are looking for answers," Price told CNN. "They have this opportunity to take ownership of their health, or they're going to fall victim to Big Pharma and Big Food." Between the line: The messaging syncs with Kennedy's agenda, down to advocacy of beef tallow and criticism of refined sugar. And the often female influencers offer a younger twist on "MAHA moms," who push health content around raising children in homes that are free of highly processed foods and, in some cases, vaccines and other pharmaceutical interventions. The convergence of wellness and politics was apparent at last month's Young Women's Leadership Summit, hosted by Turning Point USA, which featured influencers like Alex Clark, a millennial known for her podcast "Culture Apothecary" who testified at a Senate hearing on chronic illness, the Times reported. "What dipped my toe into all of this was the MAHA movement," Rhaelynn Zito, a nurse, told the Times, recounting her embrace of conservative ideals, as well as skepticism of vaccines and abortions. Health communications experts warn much of the content contains misinformation and, in some cases, comes from minors passing themselves off as experts. "The teen MAHA influencers like Lexi and Grace do not have the expertise and training to discuss health topics online," Katrine Wallace, epidemiologist at the University of Illinois Chicago, who debunks questionable health claims, told Axios. She pointed to their criticism of fluoride and seed oils based on research they'd done online when scientifically validated studies don't support those positions. Health providers also worry about the unhealthy promotion of disordered eating wrapped in a veneer of health and wellness. "It's also important to recognize that the line between empowerment and misinformation can get blurry on platforms like TikTok, where personal anecdotes often substitute for evidence," A. Susana Ramírez, associate professor of public health communication at the University of California, Merced told the publication Parents about the trend. What to watch: Whether these teen influencers start mobilizing young voters toward Kennedy and like-minded figures.
New York Post
24-06-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Meet the 'crunchy' college students crusading against fast food, forever chemicals on TikTok
Sophie Pokela just graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an English degree — and a rigorous education in nutrition. Pokela grew up thinking she was a healthy eater because she mostly chose foods packed with protein and fiber. It dawned on her a year into college that she didn't actually know much about what she was consuming. 'I was scrolling on Instagram and came across a crunchy mom who was talking about seed oils,' Pokela, 21, told The Post. 'I'd never heard of them before, and I started scrolling through her page and realized that I had no idea what the ingredients in my food were.' Advertisement 4 Sophie Pokela recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an English degree — and a rigorous education in nutrition. Sophie Pokela Pokela quickly graduated from health-conscious to 'crunchiness,' a holistic lifestyle prioritizing whole foods while shunning toxins. Crunchy crusaders tend to avoid ultra-processed foods, plastics, 'forever' chemicals and pharmaceuticals in favor of alternative remedies, natural ingredients, organic fare and spiritual wellness. The 'Make America Healthy Again' movement has helped this subculture become more vocal and visible, even on college campuses, where 2 a.m. pizza, borgs and the freshman 15 are rites of passage. Advertisement Clinical psychologist Laura Braider said crunchiness can be positive — if managed properly. She warned that some students may overdo healthy practices, especially if they've struggled with an eating disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. 'In moderation, I think this is not necessarily a bad trend,' Braider, assistant vice president of college mental health at Northwell Health, told The Post. 'I think being intentional in this population and being present and being aware can be a very good thing, as long as it's in a controlled atmosphere.' Navigating online information One concern is that crunchy enthusiasts are not receiving evidence-based advice. Online communities, particularly social networks, can be breeding grounds for misinformation. 'Social media can provide good information, but there's also a lot of erroneous information on social media, as we all know,' Braider said. Advertisement 'From a healthcare perspective, I think that we have to meet students where they are,' she added, 'and perhaps we need to be able to disseminate information in a more palatable way.' 4 In her TikToks, Pokela promotes whole foods, morning and evening walks and breathing exercises. Sophie Pokela As she became crunchy, Pokela turned to the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit alternative nutrition organization that promotes nutrient-dense foods, raw milk and cod liver oil and discourages strict vegetarianism, seed oils and fluoridated water. Advertisement She also tuned in to the 'MAHA'-friendly health and wellness podcast 'Culture Apothecary,' hosted by Turning Point USA contributor Alex Clark. Both outlets have been accused of spreading potentially harmful health misinformation. Pokela dismissed the criticism, saying she's come to 'really trust' those two resources after doing extensive research. Clark, 32, and Pokela are even on similar journeys. They have Hashimoto's disease, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland. Pokela first learned about the autoimmune disorder when Clark revealed her struggles. Promoting healthier swaps Pokela has been detailing her approach to managing symptoms on TikTok, emphasizing whole foods, morning and evening walks and breathing exercises. She had already overhauled her diet months before her diagnosis, replacing the so-called 'healthy' processed snacks that had become staples in her pantry with ground beef, sweet potatoes and avocados and giving gluten the heave-ho. Advertisement She encourages her 400 TikTok followers to make healthier swaps, like organic coconut sugar for cane sugar. '[It's] just a crime that people don't know that they're consuming these foods that aren't even real food,' said Pokela, who got a certificate online in health coaching from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. 'That's why I think this is so important.' Finding balance Courtney Beck, an 18-year-old rising sophomore at Texas State University, began dishing on her crunchy lifestyle on TikTok in December. Beck spent most of her life training in classical ballet, which led to a 'really warped idea about what being healthy meant' and eventually, anemia and anorexia. Advertisement After recognizing that being skinny at all costs wasn't sustainable, she quit dancing and sought health guidance elsewhere. 4 Texas State University student Courtney Beck became crunchy after battling an eating disorder. Katherine Palomo/@ 'I fell into a rabbit hole about being crunchy and eating whole foods and how counting your calories isn't the most important thing,' Beck told The Post. 'And it just took off from there,' she continued. 'I just got super into my health and vitamins … completely changed my life, and it just became something I'm super passionate about.' Advertisement The former vegetarian slowly added ground beef and chicken into her diet and became a 'beef tallow connoisseur,' rubbing the animal fat all over her face. She crowed that her skin 'never looked better.' (Experts warn that this trend may not be suitable for everyone.) Most of Beck's TikToks are grocery hauls, recipes and peeks at her daily diet. Advertisement She preaches moderation, confessing that she enjoys Dr. Pepper and popsicles now and again. 'I still eat out with my friends every once in a while, and I still go do fun things,' Beck shared, 'but it's just about choosing to make intentional decisions when you have the opportunity.' Overcoming challenges for personal growth One of the downsides of living this life online is the pessimistic feedback. 'It's really easy to take those [negative comments] to heart,' said Beck, who is majoring in mass communications and minoring in nutrition to pursue a career in holistic nutrition. 'At the end of the day, I know that I'm healthy, and I know that this is the best I've ever felt.' 4 Most of Beck's TikToks are grocery hauls, recipes and peeks at her daily diet. Katherine Palomo/@ Pokela has endured difficulties as well. She recalled a few occasions in college when eating healthy was tricky. 'A lot of social events revolve around eating out and drinking, which I also don't do,' she said. 'Sometimes I would have to go to a restaurant and not order anything, which is kind of awkward to just sit there.' She also admitted that consuming so much health information 'can feel like a lot at times.' 'But I think that the people who say that I need to be enjoying myself in my 20s don't realize that I am working towards a healthier future self,' Pokela said.
Washington Post
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
MAGA and the single girl
GRAPEVINE, Tex. — 'We are witnessing a cultural revolution.' Alex Clark stood center stage in a hotel ballroom on Friday evening, all business in her tweed minidress, pearls and beehive bun. The influencer and podcast host was addressing the hundreds of attendees who had gathered for the Young Women's Leadership Summit, an annual conference hosted by MAGA youth group Turning Point USA. Perched on a pair of periwinkle platform heels, Clark laid out the tenets of that cultural revolution, one alliterative prescription at a time. 'Less Prozac, more protein!' she said. 'Less burnout, more babies! Less feminism, more femininity!' Clark, whose 'Culture Apothecary' podcast for Turning Point vaulted her to the forefront of the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement, was articulating her vision for a new conservative womanhood — one that fused its traditional pillars of faith and family with wellness culture. 'This is Whole Foods meets The West Wing,' she said. 'It's collagen, calluses, and conviction. It's castor oil, Christ, and a well-stocked pantry.' The right has 'the girls who lift weights, eat clean, have their hormones balanced, have their lives together,' Clark said. The left, meanwhile, has 'TikTok activists with five shades of autism, panic attacks and a ring light.' All this amounted, by her calculation, to the notion that conservatives are now 'the cool kids' and 'mainstream.' 'We're not running from culture anymore,' she continued. 'We're running it.' Are they? President Donald Trump's most enthusiastic supporters like to imagine that his narrow victory in the 2024 popular vote signals a wholesale rejection of liberal cultural values and institutions. Turning Point leader Charlie Kirk has suggested that liberal ideas prevailed in the past because media and tech leaders had stacked the deck, and that was changing. 'We are the zeitgeist now,' Caroline Downey, the editor in chief of a conservative lifestyle magazine, recently told attendees of a party in Washington. Trump's gains among younger voters, including young women — Kamala Harris still won these groups, but by relatively small margins — have been particularly exciting to the soothsayers of the MAGA cultural revolution. Sure, maybe it was concerns about the economy and the job market, but hear them out: Maybe it was also a backlash against toxic feminism, trans people and the woke police. And what, exactly, is the conservative culture in the age of Trump's second coming? What does it think conservative women should want? These were the questions facing the roughly 3,000 young women, mostly ages 16 to 26, as they flitted around the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in a smear of pastels and florals — ruffles on their dresses, cowboy boots on their feet, bows on their curls. The aesthetic could be summed up as Laura Ingalls Wilder-core, like if the little house on the prairie had been down the street from a Sephora. The conference's Pinterest board of fashion inspiration featured prairie skirts and Kate Middleton-esque silhouettes; its playlist claimed Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa. There were booths selling toothpaste with 'zero ingredients discovered by NASA' and athletic gear from a company 'unapologetic' in its mission to keep transgender women out of women's sports. There were T-shirts instructing you to 'Call Her Crunchy' and tote bags declaring that 'Motherhood is my resistance.' There were the sounds of babies — crying, cooing, nursing — in the background, clutched to the breasts of young mothers who bounced and rocked them in the back of the ballroom. Some of the women wore 'Make America Great Again' hats, but only a few. Trump didn't come up much. The focus was on culture, not politics. After Clark delivered her manifesto on Friday evening, Charlie Kirk's wife, Erika, took the stage to warn against prioritizing work over family. 'You will always be able to create your own company, but children, family, your husband, marriages — that is not a renewable resource,' she said. Of course, many of them wanted careers, she added, acknowledging she herself had an online ministry and a line of biblical streetwear ('They said Noah was a conspiracy then it rained,' reads an $88 hoodie). 'I don't want you to be chasing a paycheck and a title and a corner office,' Erika told the women, only to 'sacrifice such a short window that you have in this time period.' Later, Charlie joined her onstage to take relationship questions from the audience. Erika advised the women to make themselves 'godly' and 'attract the man He made for you.' Specifically: dress modestly, save yourself for marriage, don't curse and gossip. Charlie — who, at an event later in the weekend, would tell the women that college is a 'scam' but a good place to pursue the proverbial 'Mrs.' degree — admonished that if they're not married with kids by age 30, the chances of either happening for them will drop precipitously. 'To the women who are getting married after 30, that's okay,' Erika added, softening the blow. 'I'm trying to bridge the gap here, because it is okay. It's not ideal — it's not probably the best statistical-odd position for you, but God is good, and — ' 'There's nothing wrong with it — ' Kirk interjected. 'Right,' Erika said, cutting him off. The audience laughed. "It's just, I find... ' Her husband shook his head and threw his hands up in spousal surrender. 'If you just want happy talk, then that's fine.' The next day, the line to meet Erika was at least 300 women long, snaking past the booths with the 'Raw Milk Revival' posters and the 'Dump Your Socialist Boyfriend' stickers. For some, the Kirks' advice about how and when to think of marriage had been clarifying. 'If you have any confusion about the steps of womanhood, they are covering all of that, which has been super helpful and insightful,' Lauren Thacker, a 19-year-old from Fort Worth, told The Washington Post the morning after Erika and Charlie's Q&A. For others, it was anxiety-provoking. 'I thought about that laying in bed last night!' said Wren Gordon, 32, a single woman from the Dallas area. 'I thought I would be done having children at this point in my life, not still waiting to get married,' she said. 'So, yeah, that really does freak me out. I have to rely on God and His timing. He's never late for anything.' Later that day, Nicole Hadar, a high-schooler from Massachusetts, approached the microphone in a smocked blue dress to press Charlie Kirk on what, exactly, he thought women should be aspiring to. 'I was wondering if you could clarify what the mission of this summit is, because it's a Young Women's Leadership Summit, and all of the women that spoke on that stage today and yesterday were there because they pursued a career.' As far as Hadar could tell, the takeaway from the conference 'was that I should, quote, get married and have babies.' Murmurs and some giggles rippled across the room. 'That's interesting,' Kirk replied from the stage. His face scrunched into a thoughtful grimace. 'I wouldn't say all of them are there because they pursued a career — maybe I'd have to think about the entire career.' He stammered a bit before continuing. 'I could flip it on you,' he told the high-schooler. 'The people that pursued a career are telling you to pursue kids. Maybe they know something you don't know.' Hadar asked for the microphone back. 'But don't you think that they, like, had children and got married to their wonderful husbands because of their career?' she said. 'Like, if they didn't pursue that career, that wouldn't have happened? I thought that one of the speakers today was really cool about this, and she talked a bit about how you can have a child and a family while also pursuing your career.' An unscheduled panel discussion seemed to be taking shape. 'Again, that's for every one person to decide,' Kirk countered. The mission of the summit, he ultimately concluded, 'is whatever takeaway you want to have' — a renewed sense of patriotism, of 'traditional norms and roles,' of 'true femininity — not this toxic type.' 'But I'll also tell you this,' Kirk added. 'I hope that some of you ... walk away with a warning that a career-driven life is very empty.' You notice how everyone's dressed and how I'm dressed? I'm dressed like a New Yorker.' Arynne Wexler, in a black tube top and a long white skirt, stood out against the sea of nursery tones and florals. Not that she minds. 'Maybe a liberal would come here and be afraid of floral dresses, but I'm not afraid of the milkmaid dress,' she says. 'I just don't dress like that.' She was hanging out in the convention center lobby on Saturday afternoon ahead of her Sunday morning panel on 'Next Gen Female Voices: Media, Culture & Impact.' Wexler grew up in Westchester County, New York, and graduated from Wharton. She runs a popular Instagram account where she mocks Gen Z college degrees as 'pescatarian arts with a concentration on hating white people' and calls the WNBA 'welfare for tall lesbians' — but she'd delete her account tomorrow if she could trade it in for a husband and kids. She is Jewish, and religious. She eats healthy, but when it comes to the most recent iteration of the cultural right, Wexler has her limits. 'RFK can take that diet Dr Pepper out of my cold, dead, aspartame-filled fingers — he's not f---ing going near that,' she says. Also: 'I'm not gonna use your f---ing pronouns.' she says. (Wexler apparently missed Erika Kirk's advice to 'harness your tongue in a way that's biblical.') She believes there are plenty of people like her out there — those with 'common sense, patriotic values' — who feel culturally out of place among conservatives. The 2024 election cycle had been an 'ascendant time' for the right, she said, but that was partly because people were sick of the excesses of the left — the people Wexler would describe at her panel as 'androgynous pixie haircut unbathed Marxist freaks in polycules.' But a backlash against liberal ways of life isn't the same as an endorsement of the opposite. 'I do not see the popular vote as supporting conservative culture,' Wexler said. 'We love being extreme and telling people they have to meet us where we are in culture. I don't agree with that.' The last person to address the young women was conservative commentator Brett Cooper. Cooper is 26, recently married, and pregnant. Her YouTube channel has 1.57 million subscribers, a following she's built with a cheerful delivery and a penchant for pop culture. Onstage, Cooper told the story of her mother, whose career-oriented friends had mocked her when she left academia to raise Cooper and her siblings. Feminists and the left, Cooper said, had made a 'grave error' when they chose to champion the idea that 'a woman's value and happiness existed only in her work.' As a response to that error, the 'tradwife' aesthetic made sense. But perhaps, Cooper ventured, the pendulum had swung too far in some corners of conservatism — which had become as 'polarizing and puritanical as what the left was doing years ago,' she said. 'Some people might think that I'm crazy for getting up here on conservative women's conference and saying all of this,' Cooper said. 'But I think it's important to say this because I know that, personally, I fall somewhere between these two extreme binaries that we have been presented with. I'm sure that many of you do as well.' 'Tell 'em, Brett!' someone shouted from the audience. 'I'm not here to say that you need to chase being a wife and a mother and finding an amazing career and stay healthy and not eat seed oils and be engaged in politics and, and, and,' Cooper continued. 'That is really not reasonable. That's not the point.' (Later, over email, she explained her decision to address this in her speech. 'I believe young women want — and deserve — a nuanced approach to work and family,' she wrote. 'Life is more complicated than an X thread.') Letting go of living up to others' expectations and building a life that works for you. It's a sensible bit of wisdom — and not an especially political one. The young women shuffled out of the ballroom for a final time, still buzzing from Cooper's closer. To Leona Salinas, 20, she'd gotten permission to be whoever she wanted. 'Don't overwhelm yourself with thinking that you aren't good enough, career-wise, just because you want to have children,' she said. 'You can't have it all, literally. You don't have to be a career girl boss, you just have to be ambitious in what you do.' 'And as long as you have that — like, I'm literally getting chills.' Salinas paused and rubbed her forearms. 'As long as you have that, you really will be at your peak happiness. And that is what God wants from all of us.'
Fox News
20-03-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Secret of looking younger, feeling healthy is in this morning drink, MAHA influencer says
A supporter of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) is revealing her go-to morning snack that she says can help anyone feel good and look younger. Alex Clark, the Arizona-based host of the health and wellness podcast "Culture Apothecary," recently shared her protein-packed breakfast smoothie with her 418,000 Instagram followers. Clark refers to it as her "beauty smoothie," as it's filled with beauty supplements — from collagen powder to camu-camu berry plant powder. (See the video at the top of this article.) "This is my antioxidant protein beauty smoothie. This is 40g of protein," the MAHA advocate wrote on Instagram. "It's got tons of collagen in it, vitamin C [and] antioxidants. It makes me feel amazing in the morning." Clark uses unique ingredients in her breakfast beverage. Powdered bone broth protein is just one of the protein powders she uses to make the smoothie a filling meal. She also includes concentrated electrolytes and pure liposomal phospholipid complex — a supplement she says is like "magic and sops up glyphosate exposure" in the body. "This might be the most expensive smoothie you could make, but it works. Joint pain? Forget it. Forty grams of protein to start your day? Game changer," Clark told Fox News Digital. "Collagen and creatine to help fight inflammation, stimulate hair growth and improve skin texture and hydration? Absolutely," she added. Clark admitted that she does opt for a pricier $100 collagen powder but claims it is the best on the market; she said she can "really see" the difference in her hair, nails and skin when she does not use it regularly. She also adds organic goji berry powder and organic beet powder, along with camu-camu powder. Camu-camu is a berry native to the Amazon rainforest and is a great source of vitamin C, as reports. "A cold doesn't stand a chance with the amount of vitamin C in here from the camu powder," she joked. Clark's mix of fresh berries includes organic cherries, strawberries, peaches and pineapples. She also incorporates one avocado for a dose of healthy fats. Clark said in the video's comments that she usually adds colostrum powder and a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, but she was out of those when she made the smoothie shown above. "People will make fun of me for the price," she said in the video, "but if they drink this smoothie every morning for a week, they're going to feel like they have a new lease on life." You should speak with your physician or health care provider first if you plan on incorporating supplements such as collagen into your diet, Cleveland Clinic reports. "A promising 2019 systematic review found that oral collagen supplements could help heal wounds and with keeping skin elastic, but more research was needed on the best dosage to take," the medical center's site notes. The brands Clark uses in her smoothie are mentioned in her video, which has been viewed more than 115,000 times on Instagram. Plenty of people shared online comments on it as well, with some praising it and some wondering about the cost. Base 1 cup filtered water ¼ cup aloe juice with organic lemon Splash of organic lime juice Proteins and powders 1 scoop bone broth protein powder (strawberries & cream) 1 scoop whey protein powder 2 tbsp organic goji berry powder 1 tbsp organic beet powder 1 tbsp camu-camu powder 1 scoop collagen powder Boosters 2 tbsp liposomal phospholipid complex ½ tbsp concentrated electrolytes Sprinkle of bee pollen Fruit 1 avocado 1 cup organic cherries, strawberries, peaches and pineapple mix
