A Parent's Guide to Vaccines & Obesity: Protecting Your Child in a Confusing World | Dr. Joel Gator

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:00)
Do you think that vaccines cause autism?

**Dr. Joel Gator Warsh** (0:02)
That is the most important question. We don't know. If they are causing some of these concerns, we need to know that. There is no way you look around California and one in 12.5 adult males have autism. That's insane. Something is happening. A vaccine doesn't have zero risk. And so I think it's reasonable to say, okay, but what are the risks from this vaccine? If you don't feel like vaccines are the best thing for your kid, you should be allowed not to take them.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:27)
How many vaccines are children getting?

**Dr. Joel Gator Warsh** (0:30)
It depends on which number you look at and how you define it, but it'd be 30 to 50, even more so than that. It's not unreasonable again to say, well, is it too many? There is nothing that has shocked me more in my probably entire life than looking into the autism research myself. So how can you say that vaccines don't cause autism? I think the biggest concern right now is the chronic disease epidemic. We're seeing more and more kids sick, more and more kids having to take medications. I think that's a massive concern. 50% of kids have a chronic disease. That number is staggering and it continues to get worse. It wasn't like that just a few decades ago. It was 5-10%.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:17)
I'm really excited to have you on, you're a pediatrician, and my number one goal for this episode is how do we keep our kids safe? And my first question to you is, what are some of the most concerning trends that you are seeing in childhood?

**Dr. Joel Gator Warsh** (1:32)
I think the biggest concern right now is the chronic disease epidemic. I mean, we're seeing more and more kids sick, more and more kids having to take medications, 50% of kids have a chronic disease. And the latest statistics just came out, and it's 75% of adults. That number is staggering and it continues to get worse. It wasn't like that just a few decades ago. It was 5-10%.
So a lot of what we're doing is moving us in the wrong direction.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:55)
And by chronic disease, your biggest concern in terms of keeping kids healthy is what?

**Dr. Joel Gator Warsh** (2:00)
Obesity would be one of the biggest concerns. I mean, we have a huge obesity epidemic, but it's really all of it. I mean, it's diabetes, it's neurodevelopmental concerns, autoimmune conditions, they're all skyrocketing and all skyrocketing together, and cancer. All these things we're seeing increase, and I don't know that we should pick out one or the other. They're all concerning, but certainly obesity is probably the biggest concern, I would say.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (2:21)
Have you seen the health of children change?

**Dr. Joel Gator Warsh** (2:25)
For sure. The amount of conditions that we're seeing, the concern around conditions has skyrocketed. In my practice, it's a little bit different because I have a self-selecting population who are a little bit more integrative minded. And if I look at the statistics, I don't see quite as many of those things in my practice, but certainly more than I used to. And without a doubt, when I look around, when I go outside, when I see my kids playing at the playground, you notice more and more kids that have developmental concerns or seem like they have chronic conditions, or they just always seem sick. Unfortunate, I think, that we're seeing this.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (2:57)
You mentioned neurodevelopmental, and that leads me to my next question, which I think is an obvious question. How do we protect our children from vaccines? And do we need to?

**Dr. Joel Gator Warsh** (3:09)
I think that is such an important question that we don't quite know all the answers to yet. I think when it comes to vaccines, what's important is to weigh the risks versus the benefits. And I think we have a pretty good understanding of the benefits of the vaccines in terms of risk reduction, the diseases which we used to have. But I don't think we have a very good understanding at all about the long-term complications of the vaccines. And I think that's a really important piece, because it's not just about protecting against disease, it's also about protecting against chronic disease.
And I am very confident that we don't have the information that we need to assess how or if vaccines are interacting in such a way that it's one of the factors that are leading to chronic disease. And I think that's a very important piece, because if they are causing some of these concerns, we need to know that.