I'm Joe Graydon. And I'm Terry Graydon. Welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy.

You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at people's pharmacy.com.

Most people measure their lifespan in years, but what if we could measure our health span instead? How do you do that? This is the

People's Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Graydon.

Our guest today is one of the country's leading proponents of functional medicine.

He advocates for lifestyle choices that can lengthen and strengthen your life.

My uncle once told me it's not how long we live, but how we live that counts.

Is it possible to have both a long and healthy life? What changes will reduce your

risks for chronic diseases or even help reverse them? Coming up on the people's pharmacy,

learn the secrets for living your longest, healthiest life.

In the People's Pharmacy Health Headlines,

are doctors overusing computed tomography imaging?

CT or CAT scans are performed on more than 60 million patients annually. That number has increased by over 30% since 2007.

Such images can be extremely helpful in making a diagnosis, but there are risks that many

patients may not realize. The name CAT scan sounds innocuous, but in fact it represents ionizing radiation similar to x-rays.

An investigation published in JAMA internal medicine projected the number of future cancers due to

this radiation exposure. The researchers used data from the University of California, San Francisco, International CT Dose

Registry, and modeled the effects of the radiation. They estimated that approximately 103,000 cancers

are likely to result from the 93 million scans conducted in 2023 on 60 million people. The risks are highest in children

and adolescents, but many more adults undergo CT scans. The scientists conclude that if current

practices persist, CT-associated cancer could eventually account for 5% of all new cancer diagnoses annually.

The lead author of the research told the San Francisco Chronicle,

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