Mathew Andresen

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@mattyglesias Strong agree

[Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias]

It was such a relief this year when my son was able to join a convenient, free, school-based soccer team that just practices after school on the playground and plays other schools in the neighborhood on Thursday afternoons.

We need more “normal sports.”

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@A_Pig_Named_Wil @cremieuxrecueil Selection of what? We are spending billions of dollars to treat obesity and obesity related comorbidities

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@benryanwriter * treat the patient not the blood level

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@benryanwriter Not everybody's body reacts the same to a given level. Some people feel just fine with a lower level. Other people feel like crap with the same or even a higher level. Create the patient not the blood result

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@agingroy @davidasinclair How long till results?

[Afshine Emrani MD FACC @afshineemrani]

I need to talk to you about what's in your sunscreen — because an FDA-funded clinical trial proved something in 2020 that most people still don't know.

Six of the most common chemical sunscreen ingredients — oxybenzone, avobenzone, octocrylene, homosalate, octisalate, and octinoxate — are absorbed through your skin and into your bloodstream after a single day of use. This was published in JAMA. Not a wellness blog. The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The FDA's own safety threshold is 0.5 nanograms per milliliter. Oxybenzone reached plasma concentrations exceeding 200 ng/mL — roughly 400 times the threshold that would normally trigger mandatory safety testing. Some ingredients were still detectable in the blood 21 days after the last application.

Oxybenzone is a documented endocrine disruptor. It mimics estrogen in the body. It has been detected in 97% of Americans tested by the CDC. It crosses the placenta. It has been found in breast milk and amniotic fluid.

The FDA's response to its own study: continue using sunscreen while manufacturers conduct additional safety research.

That was six years ago. The additional safety data from manufacturers has still not been submitted.
I want to be precise about what this means and what it doesn't.

This does NOT mean sunscreen causes cancer. UV radiation is a proven carcinogen. Unprotected chronic sun exposure increases skin cancer risk. That science is settled. I am not telling you to stop protecting your skin.
But it DOES mean that the specific chemicals in most commercial sunscreens enter your bloodstream at levels that were never proven safe — and that safer alternatives already exist.

Here's what most people don't know: mineral sunscreens — zinc oxide and titanium dioxide — are classified by the FDA as GRASE: generally recognized as safe and effective. They sit on the surface of the skin and physically block UV radiation. They are not absorbed into systemic circulation. They don't disrupt hormones.

They cost more to manufacture. They can feel thicker on the skin. And they represent a small fraction of the market — because chemical sunscreens are cheaper to produce and easier to formulate into the cosmetically elegant products consumers prefer.

Now the vitamin D piece — because this is where my practice as a cardiologist intersects directly.
I've written extensively about vitamin D on this platform. Most Americans are deficient. Low vitamin D is linked to higher cardiovascular risk, weaker immune surveillance, increased inflammation, and poorer outcomes across nearly every chronic disease I treat.

Your body manufactures vitamin D only when UVB radiation hits bare skin. Fifteen to twenty minutes of direct sun exposure on your arms and face — before applying sunscreen — can produce 10,000 to 20,000 IU of vitamin D naturally. That's the dose you'd need to take in supplement form to match what your body makes for free.

Chemical sunscreens block the exact UVB wavelengths that drive vitamin D synthesis. This isn't a conspiracy — it's photochemistry. If you apply chemical sunscreen before any sun exposure every single day, you are reducing your body's ability to produce vitamin D. The solution isn't to abandon sun protection. The solution is to get brief, intentional sun exposure first — then protect.

Here's what I actually recommend to my patients:
Get 15-20 minutes of morning sunlight on bare skin before applying anything. Arms, face, no sunglasses. This drives vitamin D synthesis and resets your circadian rhythm.

When you need extended sun protection, use a mineral sunscreen — zinc oxide or titanium dioxide based. Look for "non-nano" formulations. They stay on the surface. They don't enter your blood.

Check your vitamin D levels. Target 50-80 ng/mL — not the bare minimum of 30 most doctors accept. Supplement with D3 plus K2 if needed.

Read the label on your sunscreen the same way you'd read a food label. If it contains oxybenzone, avobenzone, octocrylene, homosalate, octisalate, or octinoxate — you now know these chemicals enter your bloodstream at levels the FDA itself flagged as requiring further safety evaluation. Safer options exist.

This isn't about fear. It's about informed choice. The same way I want you to know your ApoB, your Lp(a), and your hsCRP — I want you to know what you're absorbing through the largest organ in your body every day.

The FDA confirmed the absorption in 2020. The safety data still hasn't arrived. You deserve to make your own decision with both halves of the truth.

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

Wow! https://t.co/zbEZ2kmy6b

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@oliviajune82 @turing_hamster Same

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@turing_hamster Actually a lot of it isnt that great. I chose to read Grapes of Wrath on my own in HS. It was boring

The Great Gatsby, just ok

[Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox]

Sam Harris has written the best thing you’ll read today.

https://t.co/gI0wZZNH4m

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@A_Pig_Named_Wil @cremieuxrecueil That we have spent decades telling people to do that, and it's quite clear they will not do it on their own .At least not at a population level

[Lyndsey Fifield @lyndseyfifield]

I bucked all advice from my friends (and resisted my conservative bias) and decided to fully trust the Times journalists.

As they left my home they asked that I not talk to any other outlets and I insisted then and repeatedly over the following weeks that I would keep my word and only share this story with them.

But then the weeks dragged on. They kept coming back to us saying the editors needed more. I needed to go on the record (okay). We need more screenshots (okay). I met every bench mark they set, eager to provide more sources or evidence as needed.

After the story went up I began to ask them … wait, where are the stories from the other women? Where are their accusations of sexual assault? Why am I the focus? Why are there 11 paragraphs dedicated to detailing my work history (more than has been published about Graham’s by far)?

Why does it say “nobody could corroborate” when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate?

Why did they include an out of context quote from a friend joking “do not call Graham” after I called off my wedding? (Because she knew I would never).

Where were the screenshots they’d said they would use? Or the mention that I’d supported local democrats and that most of my family (and husband) are liberal?

The editors said it was too much, they explained.

The Times also failed to include any mention that I DID confide in multiple friends through the years that Graham had been abusive — long before he was running for office. Those friends confirm they told the Times so.

It dawned on me that this really was a set up all along. The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign. Violating the trust of his victims. Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life.

And at the end of my call with them I reluctantly accepted their insistence that this was still a powerful story and that I had done a brave thing. And I thanked them for all the hard work they had put into it.

Still fawning after all these years.

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@Principal_Jon Oh, in the great gatsby, not that great either

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@Principal_Jon I read grapes of wrath on my own in high school. It is a boring book and nobody should be subject to it

Especially not, if you're trying to get them to love reading

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@Deiscirt @cremieuxrecueil But the ones I get from the guy on the side of the road are delicious

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@DKThomp Take a look at Life Bioscience and their FDA stage 1 trial to reverse aging in eyes.

Ww might be closer than you think

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@whignewtons Cingrats!

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@markkaplan20 @davidasinclair They already have something to solve diabetes. GLP 1 drugs

[Mathew Andresen @Kroneborge]

@Heavenly_Race_ What a bunch of BS. I have over a 130 IQ. And didn't have a problem at all waiting tables with a bunch of average people