HoldsUp

Richard Horowitz

Richard Horowitz is a physician specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease, tick-borne coinfections, and chronic illness. His published research primarily focuses on treatment protocols for chronic Lyme disease and post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, particularly evaluated through dapsone combination therapy regimens and the Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome (MSIDS) model. Additionally, his work includes studies on diagnostic assays for babesiosis and clinical reports on therapies for COVID-19.

47 claims checked on air: 5 context 1 contradicted 8 overstated 19 supported 14 unverified

What they said on air - context

6 citing their own research

0:22:15needs contextlowUndiagnosed Infections Are Silently Causing Chronic Disease!

A Johns Hopkins study showed that administering sulforaphane glucosinolate (broccoli seed extract) improved symptoms in one-third of autistic children.

"if you give sulforaphane glucosinolate, broccoli seed extract, to the autistic population, they did it at Johns Hopkins, a third of these kids, their brains—and the same thing with the Alzheimer's." (said at 0:22:15)

A landmark pilot randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital evaluated sulforaphane derived from broccoli sprout extract in 44 young males (aged 13–27) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In that trial, sulforaphane treatment resulted in a 34% average reduction (improvement) in Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) scores compared to placebo, which is frequently misquoted or conflated as improving one-third of participants. A subsequent randomized trial in children aged 3–12 found small, non-statistically significant improvements on the primary clinician-rated outcome measure, though secondary caregiver ABC ratings did show improvement.

0:25:00needs contextvery lowUndiagnosed Infections Are Silently Causing Chronic Disease!

Low-dose naltrexone inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.

"low-dose naltrexone, one of my favorites also for blocking the third pathway, NLRP3 inflammasomes" (said at 0:25:00)

Low-dose naltrexone (and its stereoisomer (+)-naltrexone) attenuates neuroinflammation primarily by antagonizing Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 (TLR2/TLR4) on microglia, which secondarily reduces downstream inflammatory signaling, including the expression of NLRP3 and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Describing naltrexone as a direct blocker of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway conflates upstream TLR antagonism with direct NLRP3 inhibition (such as by specific inhibitors like MCC950). Furthermore, support for this mechanism derives from preclinical rodent models rather than human clinical trials.

0:34:25needs contextvery lowUndiagnosed Infections Are Silently Causing Chronic Disease!

A study by Lee et al. found that people not taking dapsone had a rate of Alzheimer's disease six times higher than those taking 100 mg of dapsone.

"So in a study by Lee et al. with like 3 to 4,000 people over 16 years, he gave them 100 milligrams of dapsone, the rates of Alzheimer's were like this, and the people who didn't take dapsone was six times higher." (said at 0:34:25)

A 2022 study by Lee et al. (PMID 35542045) evaluated Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnoses in South Korean leprosy patients according to dapsone prescription history. The study reported that leprosy patients not prescribed dapsone had significantly higher rates of AD diagnosis compared to those taking dapsone (with an approximate sixfold difference across cohort comparisons). However, the claim frames this as a clinical trial where the author 'gave them 100 milligrams of dapsone' over 16 years, whereas it was a retrospective observational cohort analysis of health insurance and leprosy registry data. Observational studies in this population are subject to substantial confounding by indication, survivorship, and differential healthcare access, and do not establish a causal preventive effect of dapsone in the general population.

0:40:45needs contexthighUndiagnosed Infections Are Silently Causing Chronic Disease!

Methylene blue is used in the treatment of blood plasma supply to eliminate infectious pathogens.

"in the blood plasma supply when they're treating for all the red blood cells they're storing. Methylene blue is what's used to kill all the infectious agents that's in our blood supply." (said at 0:40:45)

Methylene blue combined with visible light (such as the Theraflex MB-Plasma system) is a well-established pathogen reduction technology used specifically to treat therapeutic plasma units to inactivate viruses and other infectious pathogens. However, the speaker incorrectly asserts that methylene blue is used to treat stored red blood cells or to clear infectious agents from the whole red blood cell supply; methylene blue pathogen inactivation is specific to plasma (and in some systems platelets), whereas red blood cell concentrates require distinct pathogen reduction technologies (such as amustaline/S-303) because methylene blue causes hemolysis or binding issues when applied directly to red blood cells.

1:09:01needs contextmoderateUndiagnosed Infections Are Silently Causing Chronic Disease!

Sixty percent of Americans have one chronic illness, and 25 percent have two or more.

"60% of Americans have one chronic illness, 25% have two or more, 86% of our health care costs, and 70% is chronic disease." (said at 1:09:01)

The speaker's statement roughly reflects national surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but blends estimates from different definitions of chronic illness. Analyses of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) examining 10 major conditions (arthritis, cancer, COPD, coronary heart disease, asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, hypertension, stroke, and kidney disease) found that 51.1% to 51.8% of US adults had at least one condition and 26.4% to 27.2% (roughly 25%) had multiple chronic conditions (two or more). When broader definitions of chronic disease are used, the CDC frequently cites that 6 in 10 (60%) US adults have at least one chronic condition and 4 in 10 (40%) have two or more.

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