Scribble

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:00:02

'Hey there, it's Sanjay, we're gonna be back with paging Dr. Gupta in January and I wish you happy holidays until then, but today we have something special for you. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this year's top health stories. You know, 2025 was a veritable battleground when it comes to public health, and it faced challenge after challenge. Mass layoffs. There was even an armed attack at the CDC. And as misinformation started to gain momentum, once-forgotten viruses took hold on U.S. Soil. But I will say this, as always with science and medicine, progress persists and with that I'll be right back with our top 10 health stories of 2025. Here are the top 10 hell stories of 2025. Number 10. It is impossible to ignore the impact of MAHA. It's been the rallying cry of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

00:01:09

The real overhaul is improving the health of the entire nation to make America healthy again.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:01:15

'The main driver of the movement, reducing chronic disease, and a lot of efforts to that end, like condemning ultra-processed foods and taking action on artificial food dyes, those have been largely applauded by public health experts. But other targets of the MAHA movement, those have them worried.

Bill Cassidy

00:01:33

We currently have our current vaccine schedule based upon a lot of people who know a heck of a lot looking at things not to make mandates but to make recommendations.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:01:42

Number 9.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

00:01:46

No sensitive fluoride in our water.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:01:48

This year, we saw some states take steps to ban fluoride in their water supply. Dentists and other public health experts worry that its removal will increase cavities, especially for people without access to regular dental care. But supporters of these bans point to studies that found children exposed to higher fluoride levels have lower IQs and more neurobehavioral issues. But as with so many things this year, there is important nuance. Those studies looked at levels much higher, almost double, than the levels found in the majority of public water systems. In fact, another study found that fluoride at the recommended levels in drinking water did not negatively affect cognitive ability. Number eight.

Dr. Marty Makary

00:02:33

There may be no other medication in the modern era that can improve the health outcomes of women on a population level than hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:02:43

In November, the FDA announced that it was taking steps to remove what is known as a black box warning for many hormone treatments for women with menopause symptoms. Now while this change is expected to give women more options for treatments, I do want to stress that it needs to still start with a conversation with your doctor. Number seven.

Anderson Cooper

00:03:03

President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Today publicly linking the rise in the number of cases of autism to the use of acetaminophen or Tylenol by women during pregnancy.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

00:03:14

Today, the FDA will issue a physician's notice about the risk of acetaminophen during pregnancy and begin the process to initiate a safety label change.

Donald Trump

00:03:24

Don't take Tylenol, don't take it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:03:27

Now the FDA was much more nuanced in its warning, saying that pregnant women should use the lowest effective dose for the shortest necessary duration and only when treatment is required. However, there is decades of evidence that Tylenol or acetaminophen is among the safest options for pregnant women dealing with fever or pain, and that it does not cause autism.

Dr. Edith

00:03:49

I understand the risks of a fever in pregnancy, which is risk of miscarriage, risk of birth defects. And I said, no way am I taking that risk.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:04:00

Number six.

Tim Andrews

00:04:03

It may shorten your life, but you're going to do something for humanity.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:04:07

This year, we follow the courageous journey of Tim Andrews, the fourth living patient in the United States, to get a genetically modified pig kidney transplant. It's a process known as xenotransplantation.

Tim Andrews

00:04:20

And the little pig is right there so I can pat it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:04:23

Tim lived with a pig kidney for a record 271 days. And while he did have to have it removed, his case helps move this field farther into the future, especially as larger scale human clinical trials are just on the horizon. When do you think this might be available for the average person?

Dr. Robert Montgomery

00:04:42

I think less than five years.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:04:47

Number 5

News Anchor

00:04:50

We just learned that Robert Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, will announce huge layoffs today. Some 10,000 jobs across the agency and this comes on top of some 10,00 employees who left the department voluntarily. Thousands of jobs.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:05:05

'Billions of dollars in research funding stripped. It's almost unimaginable to predict the long-term impacts of the Trump administration's cuts to public health.

John Prensner

00:05:14

This is going to make it more challenging to bring the best new treatments for children with cancer. And the cuts extended beyond America's shores.

Aid

00:05:23

Withdrawing from the World Health Organization.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:05:26

Global programs like GAVI and USAID also had funding pulled by the administration. Number Four.

Meg Tirrell

00:05:37

In Milwaukee, one kid was found to have really elevated blood lead levels, and that sparked this whole public health investigation.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:05:44

And that investigation led them to Milwaukee's public schools and several other children who had elevated blood lead levels. For the first time, they were able to link lead poisoning in children to the city's aging schools. The problem we found when traveling there is that most of the school buildings were built before 1978. That's before lead paint was banned. And to further complicate the city efforts to handle this crisis, those cuts I was just talking about. That left the city without federal support.

Health Commissioner

00:06:15

Investigation into the potential chronic exposures of students at the districts is a part that we were really looking to the CDC to help us with and unfortunately HHS had laid off that entire team for childhood lead exposure. These are the best and brightest minds in these areas around blood poisoning and now they're gone.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:06:37

Number three.

Sarah Sidner

00:06:37

The FDA just did something that could be a game changer for people living with pain.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:06:41

'For the first time in more than 25 years, the agency approved a new class of pain medication. It's called Suzetrogen. It's not an opioid. It works by preventing pain signaling nerves around the body from firing in the first place. So that message of pain never makes it to the brain. And even cooler, This medication was actually discovered after researchers learned about a family of fire walkers in Pakistan that lacked a gene allowing those pain signals to be sent. Those people, they could walk on hot coals without flinching. Number two. A new FDA-approved blood test could help diagnose Alzheimer's by detecting certain biomarkers of the disease. It will still need to be used alongside other diagnostic tools, like neurological exams and brain imaging. But preventative neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson says that he thinks blood tests will be a great new option for screening.

Dr. Richard Isaacson

00:07:37

I believe this is a screening test that may predict if a person is going to be more likely to be on the road to Alzheimer's or dementia in 10, 20, 30, or 40 years.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:07:47

And that means patients, including myself, who went through a battery of tests with Isaacson, can get a baseline for their risk, and they can also track their progress while applying certain lifestyle interventions.

Dr. Richard Isaacson

00:08:00

Your numbers went from eh, to now working faster and better than your age, and you're actually six years younger than your, in your age.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:08:11

And here's number one. Have you ever seen measles before?

Dr. Jennifer Shuford

00:08:16

No and I'm an infectious disease physician. I've never diagnosed a case. That's incredible. It's because you know measles was declared eliminated from the United States back in the year 2000 because of the effectiveness of that vaccine.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:08:30

'A measles outbreak that started in Texas earlier this year. It signaled a worrying trend as cases continued to grow across the country, putting the U.S.'s elimination status in jeopardy. But this is also symbolic of the larger fight over vaccines, especially as the RFK appointed members of the highly influential Vaccine Advisory Committee to the CDC has pledged to re-examine the entire vaccine schedule, even for shots that have long established safety records.

Dr. Paul Offit

00:08:59

'ACIP is full of people who are anti-vaccine activists and science denialists, so you know that the decisions that they're going to be making are not science-based.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

00:09:08

As always, we will continue our reporting. You have our word on that. We're going to bring you everything you need to know when it comes to your health in 2026. Stay healthy until then, and talk to you next year.

Chasing Life