Jack O’Brien talks with Dr. Jenny Yu, chief health officer at Healthline Media, about the nuance missing from the GLP-1 conversation and how marketers can reshape messaging. Lecia Bushak discusses a bill that would require HHS to better monitor AI advancements for biosecurity threats, as well as President Biden’s crackdown on insurers who avoid paying for mental healthcare. And Twitter’s rebrand tops our social media segment, along with items on Bronny James’ cardiac arrest and a potentially dangerous TikTok trend involving face cleanse. Music by Sixème Son.

Note: The MM+M Podcast uses speech-recognition software to generate transcripts, which may contain errors. Please use the transcript as a tool but check the corresponding audio before quoting the podcast.

Hey, it’s Marc…

It seems like not a week goes by without another barrage of news stories, thought  pieces and/or social media posts discussing the weight loss benefits of drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. 

These drugs which – in the case of Ozempic and Mounjaro were initially approved for diabetes – have not only muscled their way into many of the conversations across the healthcare industry; they’ve also all but entrenched themselves into the cultural zeitgeist.

No doubt the widespread off-label use for weight loss that has proliferated has further fueled that endless discourse around obesity in America, dieting and the effects of the entire GLP-1 class.

While the cultural phenomenon can be interesting in its own right, we also wanted to delve into some of the medical issues surrounding these drugs, including how they affect the body, the access issues and what the next-generation of treatments could mean for the industry.

To that end, my colleague Jack O’Brien sat down with Dr. Jenny Yu, Chief Health Officer at Healthline Media, to get the skinny on the diabetes drug craze, how off-label use for weight loss has affected consumers and the industry in a broad sense, and what role medical marketers play in all of this.

And Lecia’s here with a health policy update…

Hey Marc, today I’m going to talk about a new bill introduced in Congress that seeks to target the potential danger of AI when it comes to biosecurity. Plus, President Biden takes aim at health insurers that are trying to avoid paying for mental health care.

And Jack, once again, no shortage of issues on the h/c social media front. What do you have for us this week?

This week, we’re discussing medical marketing’s reaction to Twitter rebranding to X, Bronny James’ cardiac arrest and a potentially dangerous TikTok trend involving face cleanse.

hello and welcome to the mmm podcast. My name is Jack O’Brien. I’m the digital editor at mmm. Please be joined today by Dr. Jenny Yu the chief Health officer at Healthline. Media Jenny. How are you doing today?

I’m good. How are you? Thanks for having me.

It’s a pleasure to have you on the show. You’re you’re on to talk about something. That’s very timely in terms of where the healthcare industry and I think kind of mainstream Society is at this point, which is kind of the ozemic wagavi manjero weight loss praise that we’ve seen which is nothing new Americans have always kind of been obsessed with weight loss and battling obesity in the past few years, but this is taking on a new level so I kind of want to

The conversation on that front in your own estimation just where we stand with kind of this diabetes drug craze and you know the off-label use that we’ve seen for weight loss.

Yeah.

Go back a little bit on the history of it. Right? So this class of drugs and glp-1. I have been around for treating diabetes for 15 years and treating obesity for about eight and really I think coming out of the pandemic maybe, you know, perhaps with our more kind of quiet like quieter life people are focused on weight loss and certainly caught the sort of cultural Buzz last year last summer, but this drug has been around for a long time and it’s it works really well. It works. Well in terms of affecting the different sort of parts of the metabolic system to cause weight loss. And so I think that’s why has called this buzz and you’re right, you know, we we want to be able to have something that helps us feel better and whether it’s from a mental behavioral aspect or just for me less disease prevention of disease aspect and so that’s why I think that’s the craze.

But what I would say is that we can certainly see the Demand right and it says something about our society in terms of where people are and how people are really seeking something for obesity. And so I think that’s where we need to kind of have the conversation about. You know, how can we change the conversation about weight management and obesity in addition to this drug being available for the patients and consumers

and I think that’s probably where our audience of medical marketers comes into play because they do have that responsibility and role of interfacing brands with consumers and I want to get your take on that because obviously there is a role for you know patients with living with diabetes or those who are battling obesity to be able to use these drugs, you know to help improve their lifestyle. But then on the other hand we see the likes of you know, Charles Barkley saying he’s taking Monro to lose 60 pounds or the Real Housewives saying that they’ve used it because they want to be skinny when they show up for the reunion show what role does marketing have in

Is being able to say hey this is available to you as a consumer, but it really is for those who need it most which are those who may have a medical condition that requires these drugs. Yeah.

I think it’s too full there. So the first one is yes, I think there’s the responsibility in terms of Education around how this drug can be used in the way management. I think it’s a tool in the toolbox of how we manage weight. So if someone’s will be and and they’ve tried everything and again, this is a metabolic set Condition. It’s considered obesity itself is considered a relapsing medical condition. And so how can we set up the system so that it allows people to understand? Yes. This drug is powerful it can help you to lose weight.

But at the same time what are the other things are important in sort of the other tools in managing lifestyle Behavior, you know talking about nutrition talking about Fitness talking about sleep so that it really, you know one approach this Whole sort of how we manage obesity in a holistic way thinking about it as a whole person because we know that there are many facets to how we think about eating and controlling appetite and there’s an emotional behavioral and mental aspect of it. And so the drug is one aspect, but we need to think about it from a whole person approach and that’s where where the kind of marketing comes in right in terms of Education in campaign around that and then in terms of just people who want to lose weight, whether it’s for, you know, Aesthetics reasons or for their own kind of mental behavioral reasons, whatever the reasons are I would say no judgment there right? But again, we need to sort of think about it in terms of this drug being a tool and you know in a toolbox and not sort of talk about it as like the magic wand or the wonder drug and it’s easy for us as a society and culturally to think about that because we all want fast fixes.

And it’s easier to have these fast fixes and sort of say okay. I can live my lifestyle and then use this drug, you know, and it just easy. It’s it’s just culturally how how we are. However, I think again taking the opportunity for whatever the reason is to prevent weight gain and think about lifestyle and our behaviors. We need to take an opportunity to talk about that in a bigger conversation about health outcomes, right? So, what does it mean to prevent, you know gaining weight as we age or or whatever sort of stage of life you’re in in is that disease prevention? And then what does it mean when you already have chronic conditions like a cardiovascular issue or diabetes or you know musculoskeletal issues because of way and so I think we need to sort of reframe the conversations about a structure that allows people to think of this drug as a more comprehensive programming for how we deal with the energy weight.

I’m so glad you brought that point because I really do think it kind.

Points to the Nuance of this entire conversation this whole dynamic that we’re seeing at play where again to your to your point. It’s not a silver bullet. It’s not something that you just take it and then all these other issues are gone by the wayside. You have to focus on your health and and what you’re consuming how you’re exercising all these other external factors in conjunction with potentially taking this drug or this treatment and I want to kind of pivot the conversation because you were talking about the effects that can have on your body and we’ve seen a lot of reporting about the side effects people talking about dehydration people talking about having diarrhea ozemic, but ozemic face, there’s been even this report this week that the European medicines agency is looking into, you know reports of suicidal ideation that are related to it. What do you make of all these side effects because obviously with any sort of treatment that comes out we all mock it that it comes out and Pharma ads where it’s like people dancing around. Here’s the Litany of side effects, but these are real things that come with the drug.

Yeah, these are real things that come with drug and I think if one understood how the drug worked it made sense some of the side effects that you mentioned. So first acts like a gut hormone like the glucagon. So when that’s around allows the pancreas to create more insulin that reduces the glucose or blood sugar level and all so sort of helps. You slow your your gastric emptying what that means is slow sort of how food is processed your stomach.

So I always gives you that kind of fullness a little bit and it has a feedback mechanism for suppressing appetite and that fullness that you feel in your stomach at times can make people really nauseous and that’s what we’re the nausea and the vomiting comes in and because of that changing of the kind of gut motility is what then causes some folks to have the diarrhea and then of course the some of the dehydration that comes with it and for folks who are coming on the drug first, I think there should be conversations around how do you reduce these side effects, right? So, You can’t take this drug and it’s expect to sort of still eat these huge large amounts of meals or greasy, you know, fatty foods are more difficult to digest so the conversation should be around. Okay.

These are the ways in which one could adopt into being on this drug, which is smaller meals and staying hydrated and that’s the conversation, you know, a clinician or provider who’s prescribing the structure be able to guide the patient when they first start and then the ozymic bun those Epic Face, although things are just you know, we have specific fat pads that are more receptive to loss right and with this drug when you have fast loss and when you have sort of reducing of the metabolic rates and such and when you your skin just can’t catch up. It depends on what age you’re and so this is why some of the things we’re coming up and then I did see the reports out of Iceland in terms of you know, the suicidal ideations.

I think again with this drug being so popular and everybody wanting it there needs to be better sort of Clinical protocols in terms of who’s eligible again, right who’s eligible and who qualifies and so that includes sort of understanding the whole person again, right in terms of how this can play into a role for them. So whether it’s there, I’m sure there’s going to be investigation from the EMA into this but to you know incidences into I say cases, like I said, this is been around for a while. So whether it’s you know particular patient cases that this was not the right drug for don’t know the answer but but I do say that that having a better protocol for understanding what type of patience qualify this is important and having the conversation about how this is just one tool and that in the toolbox of managing weight is also important and so that’s what I would say about sort of those side effects and having the right conversation again education for patients and people who are also prescribing it and sort of the Jason kind of care teams, right like whether it’s a nutritionist behavioral person who’s part of that big or care team in managing patients with weight issues

And I kind of wanted to continue the conversation on that line where you talk about maybe the implications of the long-term effects were only you know, like you said about a year or so into this latest craze as it relates to widespread off label use for weight loss but it’s not stopping here, you know, Eli Lilly just last month released really promising data for read a two tried which is supposed to be, you know, even more powerful than these other drugs. I know pfizers in the space as well. It kind of goes back to your point about there needs to be an education push there needs to be something where it says. Hey you as consumers can use this but beware that this is how it can affect your body and you’re gonna have to change some other aspects of your behavior. Just kind of curious when you look at the long-term what that’s gonna mean maybe for adults. I know that there’s been studies too of how it’s affected children with obesity and being able to change their lifestyle and their bodies going forward. You know, what what does the long term look like in your perspective?

Yeah, and I think from a public house standpoint, we whether you’re one instant Pharma or you’re in the clinical side as a provider or you’re on the consumer side or branding site. I think it’s our sort of responsibility to make sure that our education and messaging is consistent and is consistent in the way that allows people to understand the implication of this drug long term and we don’t know sort of the long-term effects of it, right? Yeah. We know that there’s a increased risk of causing thyroid cancer and that potentially people will have to stay on it forever though. There are cases where people are who are obesity medicine providers who are able to kind of titrate and use the medication sort of in their way that makes sense for their demographics of patients that they’re taking care of. So, I think so. I think the messaging needs to be consistent that Yep. This drug is powerful. It can do wonders and of course, you know their studies now being done that outside of just metabolic and obesity treatment options that this has acts on Google.

Receptors have your protective effects right from my dementia standpoint and then it can affect sort of fat metabolism. I’m just from the liver and how it’s transported in terms of lipid in high cholesterol. So those are still studies to be done and we show don’t quite understand all of the sort of potential positive effects in the same time. We don’t know what the long term negative effects are either. So we just need to have sort of a very kind of cautiously guarded approach right where it allows the folks who really know the patient population to be able to utilize this in sort of study it in the real world in terms of how this can help people along their Journey again. I see this as a medication that helps obesity as a chronic condition and then how then it can affect the other chronic conditions that’s associated with having obesity. So I think we need to have consistent messaging in terms of educating around the positive and negative effects talking.

About it in a whole person way in terms of this is not just a quick fix right that needs to be lifestyle changes and behavioral changes in addition to using this medication in and I think that would really help then sort of kind of bring back the messaging and conversation back from the the cultural and kind of craze that that this medicine has kind of Taken on since last summer.

Doctor you have really appreciated having you on the show and being able to have this kind of nuance conversation around the issue given that it you know, it’s obviously grabs so many even mainstream headlines it goes beyond us just in the B2B space. I am curious if there’s anything else as a release of this topic that you think are audience of medical marketers should be privy to or should keep in mind obviously is new developments come down the line in the next few months.

Yeah, and I do think that we haven’t really touched on the cost piece. Right and just in terms of it is costly and again, it’s one of those things where not all insurers want to cover it in terms of what this means long term. And is it life-long drug that someone has Beyond and what does this mean in terms of someone’s actual Health outcomes. And then what’s the expenditure around sort of getting to that Health outcome? And so I think those are still things that we have to figure out and and I just hope that however, we think about this and whatever the conversations they’re being head that we do think of obesity and wait management sort of as they Upstream sort of solution to some of the more landscape of we focus on help sick here right rather than Healthcare. So I think there’s still lots and more conversations to have to be had but that’s what I would encourage people to think about as more medications come out whether it’s the oral form versus other injectables, but just in terms of how we think about that.

Absolutely you talk about that in terms of it’s not being a silver bullet for own care, but then you talk about the cost access, you know inequities that go down the line. There’s so many other aspects of this conversation and I’m sure that you know in our reporting will be covering those over the next few months as I’m sure a lot of people in the mainstream, press will as well so doctor you again it really a pleasure to have you on the show here to be able to talk about this hopefully and get you back on when you know, read a two tried or whatever whatever else comes to the market. We can revisit these conversations.

Yes. Thank you for having me.

As AI continues to capture the imagination of many in the healthcare industry, policymakers are beginning to turn their attention to the potential pitfalls of the technology – this time, when it comes to biosecurity.

Last week, a group of bipartisan legislators introduced a new bill in Congress, the Artificial Intelligence and Biosecurity Risk Assessment Act. The bill would require the HHS to better study and monitor AI advancements – and how AI can be used maliciously – to develop new viruses, pathogens or chemical weapons.

In a statement, Representative Anna Eshoo said QUOTE “we must remain vigilant against how AI can threaten our national security and public health,” and that AI can “design new, lethal biological agents or resurrect history’s worst pathogens that could devastate our country.”

Talk around AI has mostly centered about how the technology can help improve healthcare by helping to generate new treatments and diagnostics; but this likely won’t be the last time legislators try to target AI as a potential public health threat.

Next up on the policy front, President Biden is hoping to crack down on health insurers who are avoiding paying for mental health care.

On Tuesday, the HHS proposed a new rule that would force health insurers to adhere to the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which requires insurers to provide the same level of coverage for mental health issues as they do for physical conditions.

The White House noted that insurers are frequently dodging that law, and limiting patients’ access to mental health care. 

The new rule would force insurers to pay fines if they don’t provide that equal coverage for mental health. This is especially relevant given that more than one in five adults in the U.S. have mental illness, according to the NIH.

I’m Lecia Bushak, Senior Reporter at MM+M.

And this is the part of the broadcast when we welcome Jack O’Brien to tell us what’s trending on healthcare social media.

Hey, Jack…

Hey Marc, we had a few options for this segment, including most notably 25-year-old nursing student Carlee Russell apologizing for a hoax kidnapping that set off a nationwide hunt.

Twitter has experienced a fair amount of tumult since Elon Musk bought the company at the end of 2022 and there’s more to come, as the company will undergo a rebranding from Twitter to X.

Musk announced on Twitter — er, 𝕏 — on Sunday that the new logo would be going live to replace the iconic blue bird that has been the face of the company since 2010.

With it comes Musk’s vision to transform the Twitter we know into something new — what he’s hoping will be an app for “everything.”

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino noted in a tweet that X will “go further, transforming the global town square.” She added that the app seeks to be “the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities.”

When it comes to initial thoughts on the rebranding effort, several healthcare marketers expressed some level of doubt.

“I would say I have a healthy amount of skepticism,” said Chuck Hemann, president of integrated activation at Real Chemistry, a 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree.

Pete Levin, SVP of paid search and paid social at Publicis Health Media, another 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree, echoed Hemann’s concern that a rebrand won’t address brand safety issues. If anything, it might even be detrimental to the platform as a whole and further shake user and brand trust.

“My first response as a creative director is that X works very well if Musk’s aim is to kill the platform,” said Jody Van Swearingen, SVP and group creative director at AbelsonTaylor, another 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree.

Yeah the main takeaway from you know, all the people that I reached out to to comments or spoke with yesterday from the healthcare marketing world all we’re pretty much on the same page that they weren’t impressed. They weren’t convinced that this Rebrand would really change anything or do anything to kind of learn advertisers back to the platform. We know that there’s been a lot of brand safety concerns ever since Elon Musk took over the platform last year and I believe Twitter’s ad Revenue has dropped by more than 50% in that time.

Frame and you know everyone I spoke with was concerned that just this sort of Rebrand with the new logo and the new name isn’t really going to do much to kind of address those deeper concerns.

It’s kind of that moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic sort of feeling.

Yeah, definitely

right and great reporting Russia Today on that name change. And yeah, like you said the name change alone doesn’t seem like it’s going to affect advertising on the platform or brand, you know, we’re brand safety has been an issue and you know, if anything you think they’d want to kind of fall back on the on the well known brand Equity of the name. And also as you point out, you know, they’re bad business. This is facing a really slow recovery after losing a lot in the previously reported Exodus, you know, a lot of their advertisers have yet to come back after that debacle, you know with the Twitter blue and so, you know, they’re facing a very slow recovery there and it sounds like from your reporting that the companies that are going to be, you know, advising Pharma clients are still skeptical so that could could really impact that recover.

Rate given given that how much Pharma companies have historically spent on that platform.

Yeah, and I’ll just bring up another comment from someone. I spoke with Jennifer Vance associate director of Social Media fingerpaint Group basically said, there’s so many other things that a platform would need to address Beyond a Rebrand data private privacy engagement enhancements content moderation and add targeting capabilities. She said are just a few areas that influence markers decision to activate on a social platform and platform success lies in demonstrating a commitment to fixing what hasn’t been working and making improvements from there. So I thought that that provided some insight and you know, a few other people said that Rebrand might even hurt I guess Twitter or X now because Twitter is such a you know, trusted name. It’s like a long standing brand that’s well known and changing. It could hurt it, you know could could further.

Shake public and advertisers trust in the platform.

I thought it was interesting lessia in the piece. You you include the fact that somebody asked what are we going to call, you know messages or contacts? Yeah, what we had classically called tweets and

yeah

Elon had said we’re gonna call them x’s and yeah, I’ve seen a lot of other reporting and commentary pieces talking about, you know, companies strive so hard to get you know, the brand value that Twitter has you know, we were talking the past couple weeks. What do you call threads? Like, what do you call the activity on there and Twitter already comes with likes and retweets. And now that’s seemingly going out the window. I saw one analyst report saying that they’re losing anywhere between Four and Twenty billion dollars.

Wow

and brand value and it’s like, yeah, you can’t just get that back

for sure. Yeah,

and you know just to bring kind of a macroeconomic Slants to the discussion other digital platforms alphabets Google the world’s largest Digital Life platform. They said they’re earnings or have been

On Snap has talked about tough economic conditions. So everybody I think across the board, you know is facing tough sledding and so a lot of the problems that Twitter has

Faced or not solely due to musk’s, you know, sometimes erratic, you know running of this platform, but it just kind of underscores all of our eyebrow raising, you know around some of these moves of late, you know you it’s a time, you know, when people want to go to brands that they trust and these these moves are further raising questions about about that trust. So yeah,

as if their own moves weren’t, you know, playing to their detriment there’s all these other sort of macroeconomic headwinds that they have to contend with too. So, you know, what, what do you do? Even if you’re trying to do it perfectly and you’re not succeeding and then you have somebody who may or may not be shooting themselves in the foot with each of these kind of erratic to use your word Mark decisions.

Absolutely.

Great, so great reporting on that one from from Lesha the next item you have for us a Jackman when you first mentioned it earlier today. It was yeah, I think we were all taken taken aback. What do you got for us next? Yeah.

Bronny James, the eldest son of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, suffered a cardiac arrest during a practice on Monday and is in stable condition.

A James family spokesperson issued this statement: “Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest. Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital. He is now in stable condition and no longer in ICU. We ask for respect and privacy for the James family and we will update media when there is more information. LeBron and Savannah wish to publicly send their deepest thanks and appreciation to the USC medical and athletic staff for their incredible work and dedication to the safety of their athletes.”

James, 18, is entering his freshman year at USC and is ranked 20th in the 2023 ESPN 100 rankings.

Did that stop Elon Musk from speculating that it was related to the COVID-19 vaccine? Of course not.

The world’s richest man tweeted shortly after the news broke: 

“We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing. Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”

This cardiac arrest comes more than six months after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game. Training staff from both teams, along with first responders, began administering CPR and used AEDs to restore his heartbeat, which took around 10 minutes to achieve. 

There are more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occur annually in the U.S. and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation said that nearly 90% of these cases are fatal. 

Importantly, the American Heart Association has promoted its A Nation of Lifesavers campaign this year to double the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest by 2030 through a combination of in-person training and other resources. 

Yes. Definitely. It’s definitely sad, um, you know, I I don’t think it’s like common to see cardiac arrest from very young people, but apparently it’s not too unheard. It’s not an unheard of phenomenon among athletes.

I mean, obviously we did see this with Demar Hamlin and there has been documentation of this happening to Young athletes under the age of 35 when they’re exercising and a lot of times it’s linked to a genetic condition that was not identified before or sometimes. It happens to a structurally normal heart when there’s a blow to the chest and there’s a lot of other factors behind it as to why it happens to Young athletes, but it is it is definitely you know, it’s it’s sad to see this happen to someone so young

and and to that point less I just want to pull out a study that I saw on Defector one of my favorite websites. They said that a decade-long study of NCAA athletes found that sudden cardiac or death was much more common in men’s basketball players than in other sports. So I just want to just that some context to what you bring up there because I think that’s important Mark. What is your take on this whole

situation just you know, so surprising such a promising.

Athlete and you know to be facing this and you know, I hope it was hoping you’re working to bring up the Elon Muska point, but I guess you had to you know, because it’s definitely grabbing headlines, you know that he’s trying to link this with the covid vaccine known side effects being myocarditis.

And young male males but you know just in and of its own right, you know, it’s just I was again I was just taking it back by it and you know, it just hit home the fact that somebody’s so young to be facing this in the prime of their life. So

we just we wish him the best.

And so did Demar Hamlin too Demar Hamlet had put out a tweet shortly after the news broke basically saying that he’s their supporting Brawny and had highlight. The fact that LeBron James had sent his well wishes when everything was going on with Tamar back in January. So obviously good to see that sort of camaraderie between athletes and what is you know, a very unfortunate situation all around

absolutely, and I think of my own, you know Sons, you know who are around that age one of them and you know, the one close behind and you know, when you have kids that are into sports these things can rattle you and so

It’s it’s just a reminder that we’re all human and as less should point out. There’s a lot of factors, that could be a play here. So that’s important to keep in mind as well. Let’s not rush to blame it on anything but wait for the facts to play themselves out.

Recently, a seemingly harmless TikTok trend emerged: people have used coconut oil and micellar water to cleanse makeup off their face or help remove fake eyelashes. 

However, one TikToker’s rush to the doctor to remove a stye that had built up as a result of the oil has marked the trend as potentially risky.

In a recent video, the TikToker, @entre_letrasea or Aranza, explains her story in Spanish. She warns others who use the coconut oil and micellar water combo on their faces that it can potentially have harmful effects on your eyes and skin. The video includes pictures of the stye she developed on her eye.

“I removed my makeup everyday with coconut oil and then with micellar water,” Aranza said, according to New Beauty. “In the end, I ended up seeing two different ophthalmologists and they both told me it was the oil’s fault. My message to people who follow advice on TikTok is that you have to get good information from professionals.”

A stye is a red and swollen lump on the eyelid, caused by a bacterial infection in one of the oil glands near the eyelashes and it is typically filled with pus. While most styes can resolve on their own, more severe cases may require going to the doctor to get antibiotics or undergo a short surgery to remove it.

According to Mayo Clinic, risk factors for styes include rubbing your eyes with dirty hands, leaving on eye makeup overnight or using expired cosmetics.

The trend in question has been around since 2021, but continues to make the rounds on the platform. 

Some users were even touting the combination of coconut oil and micellar water as a lash serum to help remove fake eyelashes and clean off mascara. One video shows a TikToker mixing coconut oil with micellar water into an empty mascara bottle, then placing the serum onto her eyelashes.

While micellar water on its own is generally regarded as a safe and effective way to cleanse your face, coconut oil is a little bit sketchier. 

According to the Cleveland Clinic, coconut oil may work great to help soothe dry skin on your body or even treat mild wounds. However, putting it directly onto your face is another story entirely.

Doctors generally don’t recommend putting coconut oil on your face, because it may clog your pores and may even exacerbate acne. Coconut oil may also lead to milia, or clogged pores that lead to yellow bumps on your skin.

There’s I mean, there’s no shortage of you know Trends skin care Trends in particular are really popular on tiktok and I’ve seen coconut oil being used before for you know, dry skin and things like that, but seeing people use it on their face thinking it’s gonna be good for their face and then obviously finding out that it’s actually clogging your pores or leading to eye problems, you know, that’s that’s not very good to see so but as you mentioned this

Borax Trend. I kind of reviewed a few tiktok videos briefly about an hour ago on that and that definitely makes the coconut oil and micellar water Trend. Look extremely harmless and comparison.

Um, so, you know people are apparently putting borax, which is a household cleaner into smoothies every day. They’re bathing in it claiming that it helps relieve chronic pain issues inflammation and other health problems. We’ll probably be covering that more in-depth this week. So stay tuned for more. But in the meantime, do not ingest borax.

Yeah, I get the idea that it could soothe your pain. It’s gonna soothe.

Everything else that comes with human existence if you consume oracs at that level Mark, I don’t know if you want to take the Missler water coconut oil or The Borax or yeah. Take your choose your poison here.

You know.

home remedies have been proliferating, you know for for centuries before we had borax even I can I can confirm that and some of the ancient ancient texts that I’ve studied I can you know, talk to anybody offline about that but

Outside of that the Cleveland Clinic recommends missile or water, you know as an exfoliant, I think so.

You know people aren’t necessarily.

You know out of at a line for you know considering using that as a makeup removal agent I suppose.

In the right way, so so just to jump in there of of the three but it you know as the Cleveland Clinic points out on their site. It can be a good solution to add to your skin routine for those with oily skin and it’s kind of got some kind of detergent quality and but it might not be as hydrating as you think so, you know again another example of

these tiktok Trends taking off and the power of influencers, but people need to Lush as you said sort of look into these things for themselves and not just follow along blindly with what their favorite influencers are doing. I think that’s sort of should be the advice across the board, you know look into these things first before just kind of signing on. Yeah. I thought that the Drinking tide pod. Trend would have taught everyone that.

But seeing the borax thing pop up in the recent weeks, I guess people haven’t, you know learned that they need to do research on these things before trying them.

This is truly the two sweet spots that you cover too where it’s like to Mark’s Point. Like it may be a trend. That’s like, oh, yeah, it’s it can do some sort of harm, but there is some sort of logic behind Mr. Water or coconut oil like it’s just a little off and there’s something that’s borax like drinking or bathing in and you’re like, okay, so that’s just deranged and there’s there’s kind of the two that go into it. See they’re like, oh, yeah, that’s not so bad but like it could be better in the other ones. Like why would you ever do this?

Right?

Absolutely. And you know, if you do a simple search on board on borax, you’ll see the main ingredient boric acid is commonly found in laundry detergent. So there’s a cleaning product and also used for Pest Control just

At that, so I don’t think you want to be ingesting anything that that’s used for pest control because those things usually have a have a mortality component. It’s attached to leave those for the best place.

That’s it for this week.