Hype: What's Real and What's Not in Medicine

Guest: Nina Shapiro, MD, Pediatric Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon, and Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, and Author of "Hype: A Doctor's Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims and Bad Advice--How to Tell What's Real and What's Not" When you hear about some new disease, treatment, promised cure or health trend, what do you do next? Google it? And then it’s a matter of sifting through the flood of information online. Definitive answers are hard to come by. Is buying organic always better for you? Do detoxes work? Does sugar feed cancer cells? Which diet is scientifically proven to bring weight loss? Do I really need to drink 8 glasses of water a day? Is taking vitamins necessary for good health? Can face creams really reverse aging? UCLA Pediatric ear, nose and throat surgeon Nina Shapiro says even doctors like herself fall for hype sometimes. So she’s written a book to help us sort out what’s real and what’s no. It's called “Hype.”