HoldsUp

Jeff Bland

Jeff Bland is a functional medicine practitioner. His work focuses on the relationship between dietary interventions, immune function regulation, cellular aging, and chronic disease prevention.

36 claims checked on air: 3 context 8 contradicted 4 overstated 15 supported 6 unverified

What they said on air - contradicted

0:03:02contradictedmoderateEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

Conditions including autism, atopy, allergies, asthma, eczema, and autoimmune diseases are largely absent in indigenous cultures worldwide.

"And in indigenous cultures around the world, these are primarily absent." (said at 0:03:02)

Epidemiological research directly contradicts the claim that allergic diseases, asthma, eczema, atopy, and autoimmune conditions are primarily absent in indigenous populations worldwide. Systematic reviews and large population-based surveys show substantial disease burdens across diverse indigenous populations. For example, a systematic review of 54 studies involving over 170,000 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people found asthma prevalence ranging from 2.0% to 50.5%, eczema from 2.0% to 44.4%, and atopy up to 36.4%. A meta-analysis in the Arctic region found a cumulative incidence of atopic dermatitis of 19% among indigenous children and adolescents. Studies among Sámi populations in Sweden also found self-reported asthma prevalence exceeding 20%, which was higher than in the non-indigenous Swedish population.

0:19:22contradictedhighEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

Crown-like structures observed in fat biopsies under microscopy represent dead macrophages surrounding adipocytes.

"And what are those called? They're called crown cells. And you can see those in people that are metabolically unstable that are obese. If you do a thin section under the microscope of their fat, you do a needle puncture biopsy and you look at their fat cells, you'll find these crown cells. Those are the the skeletons of the dead immune cells that told the fat cells they should be upset." (said at 0:19:22)

The speaker inverts the biology of adipose tissue crown-like structures (CLS). In histological sections of adipose tissue, crown-like structures do not represent dead immune cells surrounding fat cells; rather, they consist of living, active adipose tissue macrophages (immune cells) that encircle and clear an individual dead or dying adipocyte (fat cell). Adipocyte hypertrophy and stress in obesity lead to adipocyte death, which triggers the recruitment and clustering of viable macrophages to degrade the lipid droplet remnants via lysosomal exocytosis and phagocytosis.

0:23:52contradictedmoderateEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

The systemic immune-inflammation index is calculated from neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts on a standard complete blood count, and a score above 2 indicates an inflammatory state.

"It is taking the differential from a CBC, complete blood count, and putting it through a simple arithmetic equation that anybody can do because it's simple math, of the relative number of neutrophils, lymphocytes, and platelets in your in your blood from a standard blood test. You do a calculation, and it will tell you from the immune-inflammatory index—is what's called the result of that equation. If it's above two, then you start to be into an inflammatory state" (said at 0:23:52)

The speaker correctly identifies that the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) is calculated from neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts from a standard complete blood count (specifically, [platelet count × neutrophil count] / lymphocyte count). However, the assertion that an SII score above 2 indicates an inflammatory state is contradicted by the literature. Because SII multiplies the platelet count by the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, normal healthy baseline values for SII typically range in the hundreds (e.g., median ~380 to 540), and inflammatory disease cutoffs are typically between 500 and >1,700. The threshold of ~2 is commonly cited for the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) alone, not the SII.

0:36:37contradictedmoderateEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

Blocking prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) with NSAIDs such as indomethacin or ibuprofen suppresses the immune system and increases susceptibility to opportunistic infections.

"How do we get rid of it? We block it with an anti-inflammatory drug like indomethacin or ibuprofen that blocks PGE2. Now, but when we block PGE2, what happens? Then we become more immune-suppressed, and now we become more at risk to opportunistic infection." (said at 0:36:37)

The speaker reverses the established biological mechanism. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) functions as an immunosuppressive mediator that impairs anti-tumor and anti-microbial functions of cytotoxic T cells, natural killer cells, monocytes, and neutrophils while expanding immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and regulatory T cells. Consequently, blocking PGE2 synthesis with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as indomethacin or ibuprofen reverses or alleviates immune suppression rather than causing immune suppression or increasing susceptibility to opportunistic infections.

0:44:28contradictedhighEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

Albert Szent-Györgyi won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery of vitamin C.

"Albert Szent-Györgyi, who won a Nobel Prize, as you know, in chemistry for his discovery of vitamin C" (said at 0:44:28)

Albert Szent-Györgyi did not win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry; he was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning biological combustion processes, specifically focusing on vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and the catalysis of fumaric acid. The 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Walter Norman Haworth (partly for his investigations on vitamin C) and Paul Karrer.

0:50:20contradictedmoderateEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

Tartary buckwheat has a protein utilizability close to that of meat.

"it's high in protein and its protein utilizability is close to that of meat." (said at 0:50:20)

While buckwheat and Tartary buckwheat contain a favorable essential amino acid profile (notably higher lysine than true cereals), Tartary buckwheat protein has relatively low digestibility and utilizability compared to animal proteins like meat. In published nutritional research, the bioavailability and digestibility of buckwheat protein are known to be limited by strong interactions with high concentrations of polyphenols (such as rutin and quercetin), anti-nutritional factors, and complex structural features, leading to significantly lower net protein utilization than meat.

1:02:20contradictedhighEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

Delphinidin has never been reported in high levels in any food source other than berries.

"Now, delphinidin has never been reported in anything at high levels in anything other than berries." (said at 1:02:20)

Delphinidin and its glycosides (such as delphinidin-3-rutinoside, or nasunin) are well-documented in high concentrations in non-berry dietary sources, most notably the peel of purple and black eggplants (Solanum melongena), as well as in black bean seed coats and other pigmented plant foods. Analyses of eggplant cultivars consistently demonstrate that delphinidin derivatives constitute the predominant anthocyanin pigment in the peel, reaching concentrations well over 1,000 mg/kg fresh weight.

1:03:09contradictedlowEat This to Regulate Your Immune System and Fight Inflammati

The hull of the tartary buckwheat seed contains anthocyanosides, while the interior endosperm contains higher concentrations of flavan-3-ols.

"And it turns out that in the hull of the tartary buckwheat seed, there is a different composition of polyphenols than in the endosperm inside the seed, because the hulls have to be able to protect the inside of the cell against all the environmental damage. So what's in the hull—in the hulls, the husks—are these anthocyanosides that are really good as protectors from environmental stress to protect the interior, which are higher in the flavan-3-ols that are necessary for metabolism." (said at 1:03:09)

The speaker claims that the hull of Tartary buckwheat contains anthocyanosides (anthocyanins) while the interior endosperm has higher concentrations of flavan-3-ols. However, spatial-temporal metabolomic and tissue-fraction profiling reveals an inverted distribution for flavan-3-ols/procyanidins: procyanidins (polymeric flavan-3-ols) and related phenolics are concentrated predominantly in the outer hull and bran fractions, rather than accumulating at higher concentrations in the interior tissues.

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