NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump's is a burgeoning health influencer who has shared her approach to health care through appearances on some of the nation鈥檚 most popular wellness and right-wing podcasts.
A sampling of Dr. Casey Means' comments from those interviews over the past year paints a picture of someone who could use the nation's most prominent health care position to focus on diet and lifestyle factors as a way to prevent chronic conditions, while raising questions about pharmaceutical interventions and the vaccine schedule for children.
Means, 37, has said she devoted her career to studying the root causes of why Americans are getting sick after dropping out of her residency program.
Here鈥檚 a closer look at what Means鈥� podcast appearances reveal about how she might approach the role as surgeon general:
She believes we鈥檙e treating chronic health conditions the wrong way
Means argues that the cause of most health conditions 鈥� including cancer, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, obesity, erectile dysfunction and infertility 鈥� is the 鈥渢oxic stew鈥� of harmful products, air pollutants, food additives and technology overload that we are living in.
She says those environmental impacts are 鈥渃rushing鈥� the body鈥檚 metabolic system of breaking down food for energy, leading to chronic conditions that are rising significantly in the U.S.
鈥淲hen you go to the science with a root cause perspective, you go back to PubMed with a slightly different perspective, not how do I treat these diseases once they emerge, but why are they happening, you see a very obvious blaring answer,鈥� she told podcaster Joe Rogan on his show last October in a discussion about public health. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all caused by metabolic dysfunction, a term that I never learned in medical school.鈥�
That root-cause philosophy aligns with Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.鈥檚 stated priorities for his job. He has to identify any environmental factors that may cause autism.
Means attributes a wide range of chronic diseases to those factors. She argued on 鈥淭he Megyn Kelly Show鈥� in September that COVID-19 鈥渨as really fundamentally a metabolic disease" that more seriously affected people who were compromised because of 鈥渓ifestyle-related and food-related diseases.鈥�
Her approach to health care also has made her critical of some popular pharmaceutical products, from birth control pills to GLP-1 receptor agonists such as Ozempic that treat obesity.
On 鈥淭he Tucker Carlson Show鈥� last August, she said birth control pills have given women 鈥渓iberation鈥� but said they are being prescribed 鈥渓ike candy鈥� and inhibit women from assessing important biomarkers related to their menstrual cycles.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a disrespect of things that create life," she said.
While Means said taking obesity drugs such as Ozempic can help some people jumpstart their way to healthier lifestyles, she also called the drug 鈥渧ery dark鈥� and said it has 鈥渁 stranglehold on the U.S. population, almost like solidifying this idea that there is a magic pill.鈥�
She advocates against pesticides, ultra-processed foods and seed oils
Means argues that Americans should radically change their diets to improve their health, including sticking to organic fruits and vegetables that have not been genetically modified and avoiding highly processed foods and refined sugars.
The 2020 to 2025 U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that added sugars make up less than 10% of Americans鈥� diets. On Jay Shetty鈥檚 鈥淥n Purpose鈥� podcast last August, Means called for an executive order to reduce that number to zero, or at most 6%. She also said there should be no added sugars in federally funded school lunches.
While Food and Drug Administration guidance currently says genetically modified fruits and vegetables are 鈥渁s healthful and safe to eat as their non-GMO counterparts,鈥� Means disagrees, saying anything modified to withstand pesticides should not be ingested.
鈥淭hey wanted to be able to spray it with poison and not kill it,鈥� she said on reality TV star Kristin Cavallari鈥檚 podcast 鈥淟et's Be Honest鈥� in January. 鈥淭hat should set off some red alarms.鈥�
Like Kennedy and some Republican lawmakers, Means has , which include common cooking oils such as canola, soybean and corn.
Nutrition scientists have pointed out that decades of research confirm the health benefits of consuming such oils, especially in place of alternatives such as butter or lard.
Food scientists agree with Means that people should reduce their consumption of which are linked to a host of negative health effects. But they say there鈥檚 no evidence that the seed oils themselves are responsible for poor health outcomes.
In her interview with Shetty, Means said the worst advice she鈥檚 ever heard is 鈥渁ll good things in moderation.鈥�
鈥淭here are things that we do not want in moderation in our bodies, in our temple, especially in our children鈥檚 bodies,鈥� she said.
She has criticized the children's vaccination schedule
Asked by Cavallari about vaccines, Means said that鈥檚 not her area of expertise but raised concerns about the national vaccination schedule for children.
She highlighted the recommendation that newborns be vaccinated for hepatitis B, which spreads through contact with blood and other bodily fluids.
鈥淭his is the one that was kind of, like, my gateway to being, like, asking a lot more questions,鈥� Means said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the newborn dose is 鈥渁n important part of preventing long-term illness in infants and the spread of hepatitis B in the United States.鈥�
Means said she didn't think the vaccine needed to be given so widely to young infants when a test for the disease in pregnant mothers is a standard part of prenatal care.
Means also said COVID-19 vaccine mandates 鈥渄estroyed so many people鈥檚 lives鈥� and 鈥渂roke something open鈥� among American citizens.
鈥淧eople started to really see that maybe we shouldn鈥檛 be, like, trusting the experts blindly,鈥� she said. 鈥淢aybe there is such deep, like, corporate capture of industry and honestly corruption of our medical data and information that like, we have to kind of question everything.鈥�
She urges a spiritual approach to solving 鈥榚xtinction-level鈥� threat to health
Means frequently references the current state of the nation鈥檚 health as an emergency situation.
鈥淲e鈥檙e facing, I would say non-hyperbolically, extinction-level trends in our health right now,鈥� she said on 鈥淭he Megyn Kelly Show鈥� last November. She's repeatedly said 鈥淩ome is burning鈥� when talking about the health care system and chronic illness.
As a wellness influencer, she also takes a religious and spiritual approach to solving those problems. She urges people to trust their intuitions and view themselves as part of something bigger.
鈥淒o we want to believe that humans are, that life is a miracle, this universe is a miracle, our bodies are miracles, and we want to connect with God in this lifetime and we want to build and respect these temples that are interconnected with the Earth to do that, or do we not?鈥� she asked Rogan last October. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the choice we have right now.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
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Ali Swenson, The Associated Press
