Testing is one of the most important strategies we have to control the COVID pandemic, yet it seems difficult to implement well, at scale. The type of tests used to tell if you’ve had the disease in the past, the so called serology, or antibody, tests, in particular had a bit of a rough start. But what’s the status of these tests now? Are all antibody tests on the market equally good? Are they at all reliable, and perhaps even more importantly, are they useful?  In this episode we meet James Freeman, who’s worked in assay development for over 35 years and who’s led the development of Siemens Healthineers’ top-performing COVID antibody test . James will explain the difference between COVID antibody tests on the market, and what you should be looking for when buying a test. We’ll also discuss immunity and how antibody testing can be used to evaluate the response to a vaccine.  After listening to this episode, you’ll have a good understanding of what information you can and can’t get from an antibody test. And if you feel like you want to test your own antibodies, you know how to choose the right test for you, based on the questions you want answered. If you want to learn more about us, Melio, or find links to our previous podcast episodes, visit meliohealth.co.uk. For questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Dr Nick Murch is a highly experienced cold water and open water swimmer, as well as a consultant physician in acute medicine and medical education at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Nick will give you tips on how to break down a daunting challenge into bite size tasks, and the way small improvements compound over time. We’ll of course also cover his COVID experience, and what he’s learnt about the disease so far. If you want to learn more about us, Melio, or find links to our previous podcast episodes, visit meliohealth.co.uk. For questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Recently, there have been many reports about Vitamin D and its role in the immune system. But what do we really know about Vitamin D and COVID-19, and how will the last months of lockdowns, travel restrictions and working from home have affected our Vitamin D levels? If you want to learn more about us, Melio, or find links to our previous podcast episodes, visit meliohealth.co.uk. For questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

It is rational that different countries take different approaches to manage an outbreak, such as what we’ve seen with COVID-19? And how can you tell the difference between fake news and real facts in the midst of a pandemic? In the last episode of the WDGLL podcast, Sam Stoddart explained the basics of health economics, and how the interplay between individuals, healthcare providers and clinical settings affect our health. This week we continue that conversation through the lens of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation builds on an article on the melio website originally written by Sam. If you want to learn more about Sam and his work, check out his website Monkeyglandin and blog to learn more about science, medicine, statistics…stuff. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Health economics helps us understand how to improve health outcomes and lifestyle patterns through interactions between individuals, healthcare providers and clinical settings. Broadly speaking, it helps answer questions such as what is health and what is its value? Sam Stoddart helps us understand the basic health economics concepts; their benefits but also their limitations. If you want to learn more about Sam and his work, check out his website Monkeyglandin and blog to learn more about science, medicine, statistics…stuff. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

This week we’re making a deep dive into hematology, the medical speciality of blood disorders. A simple blood test can open up a world of valuable information about what’s going on inside our bodies, and hematologist Dr. Joel McCay guides us through some of the most common problems to look out for. Blood also contains many key players of our immune system, and inevitably the conversation gravitates towards COVID-19 immune responses and antibody testing, as well as some other recent learnings from the pandemic. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Will and Anna discuss their top 5 predictions for how healthcare will evolve over the coming decade. Do you agree, or do you have a different view on what's going to happen? We'd love to hear your thoughts! If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

In our second episode with marketing expert Rory Sutherland, we discuss what medicine can learn from marketing, social lubricants, the sport of gamified walking, and why there needs to be more personalisation in medicine. Rory also shares his thoughts on why there is cold pasta in pre-made salads, and his somewhat unorthodox view on nicotine use. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Rory Sutherland, Ogilvy vice chairman, TED talk superstar and self-acclaimed behavioural science groupie joins us to share his knowledge of human behaviour. Rory and his marketing colleagues use this information to affect how people behave, and we’re keen to learn how we can use this knowledge to improve our own healthy care behaviours. Tune in to learn more about angry bridges, behavioural fatigue, solving problems you don’t know you have and the true reason for why ski trips should be banned. If you’re curious on the books mentioned in this episode, you can check them out here: Alchemy; The surprising power of ideas that don’t make sense (Rory Sutherland) Zero to One (Peter Tiel) The Checklist Manifesto; How to get things right. (Atul Gawande) If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Richard Breeze is a Consultant Intensivist leading the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Lewisham Hospital, one of London’s hardest hit intensive care units. What is it really like at the ICU during a raging pandemic, and who is most likely to do well on life support? We’ll also cover testing, treatment options (or lack of), immunity, and when you should seek hospital care for Covid-19. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

In our second episode with physical activity researcher Dr Paul Kelly, we’ll learn more about why self-reported data is sometimes better than using a digital tracker. And if you want to learn from a true expert in the field, Paul will also share his top tips of how he manages to stay physically active. To connect with Paul or learn more about his work you can find him on Twitter @narrowboat_paul  or send him an e-mail: p.kelly@ed.ac.uk If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Our next guest is Dr Paul Kelly, a researcher and lecturer in physical activity for health at the University of Edinburgh. We’ve invited Paul to our show because we want to learn more about how to become more physically active, and to find out what he knows about what good looks like. To connect with Paul or learn more about his work you can find him on Twitter @narrowboat_paul  or send him an e-mail: p.kelly@ed.ac.uk If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Continuing the conversation on biological age clocks with Professor Sara Hägg, we now turn to methods of measuring biological age that may be more useful for younger people, and lifestyle interventions to keep your biological age down. We also discuss how tracking your biological age over time is useful, and the impact of some medications on biological age. To connect with Sara or learn more about her work you can find her on Twitter @HaggSara. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

How can you tell how well you age? Being able to measure biological age is important for understanding how you age, but how is it done? This is one of the questions we will discuss with Professor Sara Hägg, who recently published a study on 9 different biological age clocks, including functional measures, telomere length and epigenetic clocks. We’ll also discuss differences in how men and women age, and at what age you can expect to see a more accelerated decline in functionality. If you want to read the publication, you can access the paper here: Longitudinal trajectories, correlations and mortality associations of nine biological ages across 20-years follow-up. To connect with Sara or learn more about her work you can find her on Twitter @HaggSara. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Meet Prof. Carl-Johan Sundberg, a man of many hats! In this episode we'll cover topics such as walking GP sessions, corona virus outbreaks, gym classes led by psychiatric staff, and what you should have gotten your parents for Christmas. We’ll also get some interesting insights as to why the media coverage of the latest research often seem to be sending contradictory messages. To connect with Carl-Johan or learn more about his work you can find him on Twitter @scimot. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

February 4th is World Cancer Day. In this episode we will discuss lifestyle interventions for people with cancer, and wether the same things that promote longevity could also have the potential to protect us from cancer. But first, Will shares his personal experience from being a caregiver. Links to publications: Ketogenic diet in the treatment of cancer – Where do we stand? (2019) Ketogenic diet in cancer therapy (2018) A Systematic Review of Exercise Systematic Reviews in the Cancer Literature (2005-2017). (2017) Exercise and cancer: from “healthy” to “therapeutic”? (2017) If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

As we wrap up the first season of the WDGLL podcast, we share highlights from some of our guests and explain what healthy care actually means. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Continuing the conversation on blood sugar and CGMs (continuous glucose monitors), we meet with researcher and medical doctor Tomás Duraj, to learn what discoveries he made when using a CGM for the first time, including the squat & smoothie combo. For more CGM info, you can also read Tomás' CGM article here: What can blood sugar monitors tell us about ice cream, exercise and noodles?  If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll.   Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

Welcome to another deep dive, this time into blood sugar and what you can learn from measuring your blood sugar using a CGM (continuous glucose monitor).  Will and Anna explain what CGMs are, and share their personal experiences from using them (including the effects of sushi and smoothies!). For more CGM info, you can also read Melio's CGM article here: What can blood sugar monitors tell us about ice cream, exercise and noodles? If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.

This week we make a deep dive into the topic of fasting, and more specifically on two methods of 5-day fasting; water fasting and the fasting mimicking diet. Will completed a 5-day water fast earlier this year, and Anna tried a 5-day fasting mimicking diet a few weeks ago, so in this episode we share and compare our experiences. For more information on fasting in general, you can also read Melio's article on fasting: 'From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Science: Fasting Myths and Realities'. If you have any questions, comments or feedback on this episode, we'd love for you to get in touch via e-mail: podcast@meliohealth.com or, if you make a post on social media, please tag us using #wdgll. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking appropriate medical support because of something you have heard on the podcast.