This week is a potpourri of my health travails plus another installment of our new feature called Bullshit Corner, which lays to rest the myth that apple cider vinegar is a magic elixir for weight loss. First, I laugh in HIPAA’s face by spreading truths about my health conditions far and wide. I doubt that anyone out there is keeping track.
On todays health front menu are my low iron stores, the SOMMA study, and some interaction with my new doctor, code-named Dr. Macallan here to protect the innocent (so far). Let’s lead off with the SOMMA study, as I probably will not be hearing further from them until my six-month follow-up or the arrival of my promised “results package”.
SOMMA Follow-Up: Did Your Leg Fall Off Yet?
As mentioned in previous issues, my service as a lab rat for three-year SOMMA2 (Study of Muscle, Mobility, and Aging — Part Two) research project conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, Wake Forest University, and Advent Health has yielded some enlightening interaction. Aside from giving the researchers my time, blood, sweat, tears, and tissues, my hope is to learn more about how my body functions and what effects aging has on it. I have now completed the initial phase, and will be doing follow-ups at six month intervals.
To briefly recap my involvement thus far , I have had an MRI, strength, agility, and balance assessment, cognitive testing, VO2 Max, nutritional analysis, blood testing, and last week’s grand finale for the first round: a muscle biopsy. If you’re curious about what being a research subject in the SOMMA study entails, take a look at the prior issues describing Day One, Day Two, and Day Three.
Follow-up Call
A research assistant from SOMMA called on Wednesday to check in, a week after they cored my quad like a Thanksgiving turkey. She wanted to make sure my leg hadn’t fallen off, ask how I was feeling about the study, and — best of all — whether, knowing what I know now, I’d do it all again. My answer: yes. I signed on for three years, and I intend to ride this pony to the bitter end.
I took the opportunity to tell her I haven’t seen much in the way of results, aside from the CBC and the A1c, and that part of the reason I joined was to actually learn something about myself. She said they’re preparing a package of results and that, in her understanding, I would see those that apply to me. Hope springs eternal. I hope I won’t age out of the study by the time I get them — oh, wait! There’s no upper age limit.
I thought I’d have a little fun. So, I told her I was looking forward to the next muscle biopsy because the first go-round was “fun.” She said I was the only subject in her flock who thought so, and she didn’t think they’d be repeating it. Damn shame — just when I was starting to enjoy them pulling vacuum-assisted steak plugs out of my thigh!
As we concluded our conversation, we scheduled my six-month follow-up, which will happen in late March, 2026. It will be a phone interview, which I hope will not entail blood loss or muscle coring. In the meantime, I continue to wonder when I’ll see the promised “results package”.
Iron Dome
My iron saga has dragged on for a year, and it’s the main reason I finally fired my old PCP, “Dr. DeLorean.” He waved off my concerns about slipping hemoglobin and lousy iron saturation with a pat on the head and a line: “If you want to keep donating blood, just take some iron pills.” I stopped donating, dutifully swallowed the supplements, and still hovered at the low end of “normal.” DeLorean shrugged. I didn’t. With CKD and GI issues in play—not to mention hernia surgery looming—I wasn’t about to slide into iron deficiency anemia on his watch.
Enter Dr. Macallan: young, engaged, and actually listening. While DeLorean was off tinkering with antique car parts bought with my concierge fees, Macallan was mapping a plan. At first he balked at an iron infusion before surgery—“too much stress on the body at once”—but when the hernia date got bumped from October to mid-December, he green-lit it. And unlike DeLorean, he answers emails like a human being. In one month I’ve had more real communication with him than in eight years with the other guy. Oh, and his fee? One-third of DeLorean’s gilded vampire castle’s building fund.
So Friday I got my first IV iron infusion. Two more to go. Side effects? Flu-ish, like I got run over by a truck, but worth it if it boosts my hemoglobin out of its 12.9 purgatory. With luck, by the time the surgeon takes his robot out for a December joyride, I’ll have some extra iron armor in place.
Bullshit Corner: Apple Cider Vinegar
Vinegar Dreams Go Sour
Science said no—your waistline won’t shrink, but your enamel might.
Yet another “miracle” weight-loss hack has gone down the garbage disposal. BMJ Group just retracted a much-publicized study claiming that apple cider vinegar could slim you down with nothing more than a daily shot glass. Why the retraction? Pick your poison: “implausible” stats, shoddy analysis, missing trial registration, and raw data so sketchy that outside experts couldn’t replicate the results.
The study’s authors chalked it up to “honest mistakes.” Translation: the dog ate their homework, and when statisticians looked, the dog was bloated with Type I errors. Even the editor admitted publishing the thing “was the wrong decision.”
And here’s the kicker: even without this fiasco, the evidence for vinegar as a fat-melter is flimsy at best. A handful of tiny, short-term studies hint at some appetite suppression, but they’re riddled with methodological potholes. Risks? You get the privilege of stomach irritation, dental erosion, and possible drug interactions—especially if you’re diabetic.
Apple cider vinegar—great for salad, lousy for science.
Meanwhile, in a nicely sour coincidence, Bragg Live Food Products—the venerable purveyor of “Organic Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother,” backed by Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom—is reportedly exploring a sale. Nothing like a retraction splashed across the headlines to pickle investor sentiment and make celebrity backers squirm in the brine of reputational risk.
So unless your goal is to marinate your esophagus while doing sweet nothing for your waistline, leave the vinegar in the salad dressing where it belongs.
For an annotated catalog of all my Peptide Purgatory and Mounjaro updates, visit my Mounjaro Update Catalog page.
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Apple cider vinegar as a supplement gets a lot of attention. Much more than it deserves, in fact.
I asked Chat GPT 5 to summarize the claimed benefits of apple cider vinegar as a daily supplement and then tell me whether each benefit was proven, speculative or disproven. I think you’ll like the results below!
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Apple Cider Vinegar: Hype vs Reality
Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is widely promoted as a health supplement. Here’s a roundup of common claimed benefits, with evidence assessment.
Claimed Benefits vs Evidence
Blunts post-meal glucose/insulin spikes – Proven (modest effect). Supported by small RCTs and meta-analyses.
Improves A1c in type 2 diabetes – Tentative. Small improvements, short trials; not a substitute for therapy.
Weight loss – Unproven. Conflicting evidence; major trial retracted (2025).
Increases satiety/reduces appetite – Speculative. Likely due to delayed gastric emptying/nausea.
Improves cholesterol/triglycerides – Tentative. Small, short-term improvements reported.
Lowers blood pressure – Speculative. Small reductions, low-certainty evidence.
Improves PCOS/ovulation – Speculative. Based on a tiny uncontrolled study.
Helps reflux/heartburn – Disproven. Vinegar delays gastric emptying, often worsens reflux.
“Gut health” or microbiome benefits – Speculative. No convincing human data.
Topical wound care (antibacterial) – Proven (topical only). Low-strength acetic acid is an effective antiseptic.
Skin/hair benefits (eczema, acne, dandruff) – Speculative. Weak evidence; controlled trials negative.
Heart health/longevity – Speculative. No hard outcome data.
Exercise performance – Disproven. No ergogenic effect in trials.
Detox, immunity boost, cancer cure – Disproven. Myths with no credible human evidence.
Safety Considerations
Can erode tooth enamel – always dilute.
May delay gastric emptying – risky in gastroparesis.
May worsen reflux symptoms.
Possible interactions with diabetes/diuretic medications.
Rare cases: low potassium or bone effects with heavy, long-term use.
Bottom Line
ACV has modest, short-term effects on blood sugar and possibly lipids.
Most other claims remain speculative or disproven.
It should not replace proven medical treatments.
The BMJ Group’s study (not an RCT) that generated much of the social media hooply promising miraculous effects of ACV was discredited and retracted by — none other than BMJ Group. That’s all I need to know.
Bullshit confirmed.
—TNT