The Dirt on 9 Health Trends of 2024

An analysis of the good, bad, ugly, and downright gross.

Jul 15, 2024

Post Summary

We’re covering nine health trends of 2024.
Some of these trends can improve your health—but some can hurt it.
You’ll learn which of these trends are worth your time, and which you can ignore.
The result: You’ll boost your health and performance while saving time, money, and energy—and you’ll avoid harm.

Housekeeping

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The post

We’ve reached the middle of the year, and outlets from the New York Times and Washington Post to the researchers at McKinsey are covering the health trends of 2024.

The McKinsey report explained:

In the United States alone, we estimate that the wellness market has reached $480 billion, growing at 5 to 10 percent per year. Eighty-two percent of US consumers now consider wellness a top or important priority in their everyday lives, which is similar to what consumers in the United Kingdom and China report (73 percent and 87 percent, respectively).

Today, we’re investigating those reports—the good, bad, ugly, and downright gross health trends of 2024. Consider it a mid-year checkup.

You’ll learn:

What each trend is.
Which trends can improve your health, and which may hurt you.
This will help you dial in your health while saving you time and money.

Let’s roll …

1. Gut health is big business

Jamie Lee Curtis began hustling Activia probiotic yogurt in 2008. With their illustration of stomach bacteria and use of sciencey words like “bifidus regularis,” the commercials put gut health on the public radar.

The industry has exploded since. McKinsey wrote:

More than 80 percent of consumers in China, the United Kingdom, and the United States consider gut health to be important, and over 50 percent anticipate making it a higher priority in the next two to three years.

Amazon now sells 7,000 different gut health supplements and 10,000 gut health books. We even have candy and sodas marketed to improve gut health.

Only in America can a person see a boom in gut health interest and think, “I think we can make a candy or soda pop for that.”

Two Percent take: Gut health is important. But the space faces an issue: There’s no good definition of gut health.
When we talk about gut health, we generally talk about stomach problems. So having a “healthy gut” often means “I don’t have any stomach issues.” If you don’t have stomach problems, it’s hard to say whether using gut health products will make you healthier.
- Here’s what we do know: Eating a wide variety of whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables is good not just for your gut, but your health in general.
- If you eat healthy and still have stomach issues, some research suggests probiotics may help. Or—and this is often more effective—you may need to avoid certain foods. For example, you could be sensitive to foods high in FODMAPs.
- Other practices that may improve “gut health”:
  - Spend time outdoors. Don’t worry if you get a little dirty. The outdoors may contain various bacteria that could benefit your gut.
  - Take antibiotics only when prescribed.

2. Biomonitoring devices

The McKinsey report stated, “New modalities powered by breakthrough technologies have ushered in a new era for biomonitoring and wearable devices.”

Whosits and whatsits galore, we’ve got wrist-based trackers that measure your HRV, oxygen levels, sleep, etc. More non-diabetics are also using continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to track their blood sugar levels.

Two percent take: Most trackers that calculate biometrics like HRV or blood oxygen aren’t accurate enough to be all that useful.
- Read more: Here’s a post on problems with heart rate calculations. If our trackers can’t get wrist-based heart rate right, do we really think they can get blood oxygen right?
Continuous glucose monitors have a clear benefit for diabetics and pre-diabetics. But if you’re not at risk of diabetes, CGMs often just reinforce common sense.

3. More focus on women

McKinsey identified women’s health as a growth area.

Men and women have different physiology and face different health issues. But modern medicine was built using men as a default, which has led to subpar health outcomes for women.

Here’s just one example:

A key symptom of a heart attack in men is typically pain in the left arm and chest.
But for women, a heart attack is more likely to manifest similarly to heart burn, with nausea and indigestion.
This is why “Women have been found to be 50 percent more likely than men to be misdiagnosed following a heart attack and more likely than men to die from heart attacks,” according to one report.

Another example of how we misunderstand women’s health: Sports research has ignored female athletes for decades, but studying women has recently led to breakthroughs for everyone. We spoke to Christine Yu about this last year. Read more here.

Two Percent take: Please, for the love of God, make this area grow as fast as possible.

4. Weight management

One report said weight management is trending this year, with 60 percent of Americans trying to lose weight.

Reality check: Weight management is a trend like the sun rising and setting is a trend.

People have been trying to lose weight en masse since at least 1860, which is when the first bestselling diet book was published.

The difference today is that we have powerful drugs that can help.

The report stated, “More than 50 percent of US consumers considered prescription medication, including glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs, to be a ‘very effective’ intervention.”

Two Percent take: If you’re overweight or obese, losing weight usually improves many health markers.
However, the McKinsey survey found that “exercise is by far the most reported weight management intervention in our survey.”
Exercise is perhaps the best way to improve your health, but it isn’t great for weight loss.
- Read more in this post: The big debate: Does exercise lead to weight loss?
- TL;DR: Exercise can help you lose weight—of course it can!—but it takes more exercise than people think (or are usually willing to do). Better to focus on diet. Or, yeah, Mounjaro.

5. Fancy gyms

The NYT noted, “This spring, Equinox announced a new program with a startling price tag: For $40,000 a year, clients could sign up for a longevity program complete with exercise, nutrition, and sleep coaching.”

That’s just one example of gyms charging exorbitant prices to give clients extra services under the guise of longevity.

Two Percent take: I’m all for people investing in their health. But regaining your health doesn’t need to cost $40,000 a year (I’m also not sure a gym chain is the best outlet for it, either).
Here’s how I’d make more efficient use of that money and still have a lot leftover.
- Buy some exercise equipment. Here’s the Two Percent Budget Home Gym, with one option that costs just $79. Use it.
- Buy foods that have one ingredient. I’m not convinced that eating healthy is actually more expensive—it depends on what “healthy foods” you buy.
  - If eating healthy means going to Whole Foods and buying organic produce and a bunch of yuppie green juice concoctions, then yes, eating healthy is more expensive.
  - But I don’t think eating healthy is more expensive if you build a diet around whole grains, potatoes, lean meats, nuts, and a rotating cast of relatively inexpensive fruits and vegetables (think buying in season when those foods are cheaper).
- Find a good doctor that listens to you and follows through. This may require finding a concierge doctor (more on that below).
- Do fun stuff with cool people. A strong social circle is important for health.

6. Water wars

The NYT said the wellness world is experiencing “water wars.” They pointed to people on social media arguing over water: How much you should drink, whether it’s OK to drink water flavored with calorie-free sweeteners, etc.

Two Percent take: FFS, drinking water doesn’t need to be this complicated or controversial. Read The 2% Hydration Guide.
The only new point I’d add to the guide: Maybe drink less water bottled in plastic. I’m monitoring the latest research on the link between microplastics and health issues. More to come.

7. Full body MRIs

WaPo pointed to this trend, which is popular among influencers and, apparently, the “new status symbol.”

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) helps doctors see what’s going on in your body. But docs usually use it locally when you have a symptom.

Full-body MRIs are pitched as preventative tool. Companies scan your entire body to potentially detect hundreds of conditions, including cancer.

For example, Prenuvo charges $2,500 for a full-body MRI and claims “1 in 20 scans result in a potentially life-saving diagnosis.”

Two Percent take: This idea sounds great in theory. But right now most medical bodies argue it’s not great in practice—and maybe even harmful.
My favorite thinker in this space is Dr. Vinay Prasad, an oncologist and professor of epidemiology and biostastics at UCSF.
He recently wrote an informative post on the topic titled “Why you should NOT get a whole body MRI.” Subtitle: “Even if it & all downstream testing were free, I would say no.” Let’s put a pin in that subtitle: He wouldn’t recommend it even if it were free.
Prasad explains (and he’s simplifying the science for the public) that there are three tumor types. But only finding the third type is beneficial for surviving cancer. He wrote:
- “The problem is that finding tumors #1 and #2 is not good for you. You are subject to surgery, radiation and chemotherapy that you don’t need. These interventions can improve survival when done appropriately, but when done on people who don’t need them, result in a net loss of survival. Your life is shorter and worse off if you got these treatments when you can’t benefit.”
- Read his piece here.
- Looking forward: I think this technology could eventually become more accurate and useful as AI improves medicine.

8. Colonics and wellness enemas

No, I thought. It can’t be. There cannot be people who are shooting coffee up their back end in the name of removing unspecified “toxins” from their bodies.

But the Washington Post says it’s a trend. And a follow-up Google search revealed plenty of places with names like “Healing Waters” and “Body Temple Colonics” near me where I could have this done.

Two Percent take: Don’t.

9. Deeper bloodwork

Many new preventative health startups are offering blood work. But not, like, the standard annual bloodwork your family physician has you do.

This bloodwork goes deeper and is more frequent. The idea is that deeper and more frequent data can help us spot trends, make improvements, and catch problems.

Two Percent take: Your doctor already has you do annual bloodwork, but those tests are infrequent and can be rather limited. It’s wise to know more.
Deeper tests can give you critical information like your ApoB.
- Peter Attia publishes important information on the topic of ApoB. Listen to this clip.
The caveat: Many companies give you results, but not necessarily a unique action plan based on your results or deep enough information to interpret them. That’s where having a skilled doctor you trust comes in.
- If your current doctor doesn’t give you the time you need, a concierge doctor cam be a good investment. Research shows that people who have a better relationship with their doctor have better health outcomes.

Have fun, don’t die, do what helps you and avoid what doesn’t.

-Michael