I am delighted to have Sam Apple joining me today! Sam is on the faculty at Johns Hopkins. Before he arrived at Johns Hopkins, he taught creative writing and journalism at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Creative Non-fiction from Columbia University. 

Sam has written many books. His most recent is called Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection. It is about the German biochemist Otto Warburg and his new developments in cancer science. Warburg was a unique individual. He was a Jewish man who managed to keep doing his biochemical research despite living in the extremely challenging time of Nazi Germany.

In this episode, Sam talks about Otto Warburg’s incredible discovery regarding cancer cells and the research done by Nazi scientists. He also discusses the shift in the focus on cancer research in the post-war period, how insulin drives cancer and metabolic diseases, and how to make better dietary choices. Stay tuned to hear what Sam has to share about his book, Ravenous, and the connections between diet and cancer. 

IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN:

• What motivated Sam to write about Otto Warburg?


• Otto Warburg’s fascinating discovery about what makes cancer cells unique.


• Nazi researchers were way ahead of their time in discovering the link between environmental toxins and people developing metabolic diseases and cancer.


• What happened to much of the advanced research done by German scientists during the war years?


• What happened in the 1950s that entirely changed the direction of medical research on cancer?


• The accidental and surprising discovery that was made about the benefits of mustard gas.


• Insulin drives metabolic disease and causes cancer cells to grow.


• Why most Americans could develop cancer.


• Why do you need to get your fasting insulin checked?


• What does fructose do in the body that differs from what is done by other sugars?


• Some of the changes that Sam made in his life after researching his book, Ravenous.


• The cancers that you will be more likely to develop if you eat too often.

Bio:

Sam Apple is on the faculty of the MA in Science Writing and MA in Writing programs at Johns Hopkins. Before he arrived at Johns Hopkins, Apple taught creative writing and journalism at the University of Pennsylvania for ten years. He holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.

Apple is the author of Schlepping Through the Alps and American Parent. His most recent book, Ravenous (Norton/Liveright, 2021), is about the German biochemist Otto Warburg and new developments in cancer science. Apple has published short stories, personal essays, satires, and journalistic features on a wide range of topics. In recent years, he has primarily written about science and health. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wired, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, The MIT Technology Review, and McSweeney’s, among many other publications. Schlepping Through the Alps was a finalist for the PEN America Award for a first work of non-fiction.

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Books mentioned:

The Nazi War on Cancer by Robert Proctor