Ultra-Processed Foods & Childhood Obesity: What Parents MUST Know

In this episode of Hormones & Hope Podcast, Dr. Chhaya sits down with pediatrician and obesity-medicine specialist Dr. Sushma Chamarthi, who has dedicated her career to helping children build healthy, sustainable relationships with food and movement.

Key Takeaways:
✅ How can parents spot weight issues early?
✅ What makes junk food risky for kids?
✅ Does screen time cause weight gain?
✅ Who should get GLP-1 medicines?
✅ Why is there stigma around weight-loss meds?
✅ What easy habits can families start today?

This episode explores childhood obesity not as a sudden diagnosis, but as a slow, subtle shift influenced by habits at home, modern lifestyle patterns, and food environments that work against our kids. Dr. Chamarthi shares the red flags parents often overlook, explains why ultra-processed foods now make up 70% of a child's diet, and breaks down the risks of conditions like fatty liver disease appearing in kids as young as eight. 

Her patient stories illustrate the emotional, psychological, and medical weight that families carry and the hope that comes with proper intervention. If you’re a parent, caregiver, or healthcare provider, this episode will give you a roadmap to understanding and addressing childhood obesity with confidence and empathy.

Follow Dr. Chhaya Makhija here:

https://www.instagram.com/chhayamakhijamd/

https://www.facebook.com/unifiedendocrine

https://unifiedendocrinecare.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@chhayamakhijamd

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chhayamakhijamd/

Download The Free Stress Buster Guide:

https://dr-chhaya.myflodesk.com/stressbuster

Follow Dr. Sushma Chamarthi here:

Website: https://www.valleychildrens.org/provider/venkata-sushma-chamarthi-md
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/v-sushma-chamarthi-md-faap-dabom-62b7a9363

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only. It’s not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider for personalized guidance.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe to the Hormones & Hope Podcast for more expert insights, real conversations, and science-backed strategies to help you feel your best—inside and out.

Transcript

00:00
So true or false? Childhood obesity is mostly caused by genetics.  False. Genetics can predispose, but environment and habits determine outcomes.  Number two, what's  one ultra processed food you'd love every family to cut back on? Sugary drinks.  Are GLP-1 medications ever used in pediatric obesity care? Yes. Can family habits influence a child's lifelong metabolism and food relationship?  Welcome.

00:28
to Hormones and Hope,  a podcast where we bridge science and wellness  to help transform your health.  I'm your host, Dr. Chhaya Makhija,  or you can call me Dr. Chhaya,  a triple board certified endocrinologist and lifestyle medicine physician and founder of Unified Endocrine and Diabetes Care.  Each week we dive into the powerful intersection of clinical medicine  and real life lifestyle strategies to help you feel stronger,  live longer.

00:56
and show up as your most vibrant self inside and out.  So let's get empowered. Hi, my dear friends and people  and patients and community. Welcome to another episode on Hormones and Hope. This is your host, Dr. Chhaya Makhija.  And today I have my first pediatrician. So we always talk about adults, right? And we haven't had anyone really touch base on topics related to infants, kids, or teenagers, or even adolescent age.

01:24
or even that transition period from being a teenager to an adult because prevention starts early, right? So I'm very, very delighted to introduce our first pediatrician  and an obesity medicine specialist, Dr. Sushma Chamarti.  I've known her recently, but interestingly, she lives in the same town as I do in central California, Fresno.  And she is also serving as a childhood nutrition and obesity prevention committee chair.

01:52
and this is for American Academy of Pediatrics. She also is an expert in obesity care, both integrating lifestyle medicine, as well as pharmacological therapy to fight childhood obesity. So Dr. Chamarty, welcome to our episode. And I'm pretty sure there are lots of adults and parents listening to this episode. And I'm pretty sure by the end of this conversation, they're going to take such simple steps, habits, and insights from you. So I'm very, very thrilled and excited to learn more.

02:21
today about our childhood obesity, childhood weight gain, or how to tackle it from start to finish. Thank you, Dr. Makhija. Thank you for having me today. Absolutely. So Dr. Chamarti, we talk about professional accolades. Most of the guests on our podcast are usually physicians. We would love to hear something fun about you, anything that you would like to share, anything that you enjoy in life, or even  any passions or hobbies that makes life exciting for you.

02:50
Yes, absolutely. I'm a mom of two kids and they're nine and six and I love baking. Something  not many of my friends know that I do a lot of baking at home and a lot of fun activities for kids on weekends. I try to stay away from work and focus on personal life all the weekends. Okay, that's good. So we prevent burnout by giving that me time and the self time. So great.

03:15
Alright, Dr. Sushma. So when we start our podcast, we have these rapid fire questions which are fun, engaging and also helpful to debunk some myths. So one-liners or just uh one word answers. Are ready? Yes.  Okay. So true or false? Childhood obesity is mostly caused by genetics.  False. Genetics can predispose, but environment and habits determine outcomes.

03:40
Number two, what's one ultra processed food you'd love every family to cut back on? Sugary drinks, sodas, sports drinks, any fruit punchers. They're the single biggest contributor to empty calories and insulin spikes in children. Thank you. Number three, true or false, kids will outgrow extra weight once they hit puberty.

04:03
False. It's actually the other way around.  children will carry obesity into adulthood. Early intervention is very critical. oh Number four.  Are GLP-1 medications ever used in pediatric obesity care? Yes. Selectively. They are now FDA approved in children under certain criteria. True or false? Healthy snacks from grocery shelves are usually healthy. False. Marketing  is deceiving.

04:29
Whole grain or low fat often hides high sugar or additives. So read the contents carefully. Number six, can family habits influence a child's lifelong metabolism and food relationship?  Absolutely. Kids learn how to eat, move, and self-regulate by observing parents. All right. Number seven, one myth about carbs, sugar, or fats that you wish parents would stop believing. Carbs are the enemy. Quality matters more than quantity.

04:59
All right, so carbs are the enemy is a myth. That's what Dr. Sushma just taught us.  And now you're going to learn more as to what are the facts, know, what's the science telling you and let's debunk even more myths. So Dr. Sushma, are  a specialist in obesity medicine in our pediatric age group, and you've dedicated your career and your mission in your professional life towards this  cause.

05:24
So in general, like in your clinical care, when you're educating the community, what are the earliest signs that families or parents usually miss  when their child is actually struggling or dealing or has a diagnosis of obesity? That's such a great question because most parents don't realize that childhood obesity doesn't just appear overnight. It develops slowly over time. Some of the earliest signs we see are very subtle. A child

05:53
who's consistently moving up percentiles on the growth chart, or a kid who's snoring at night, tired during the day, or even struggling with energy and focus in school. Sometimes it's even behavioral, like maybe just more irritable, craving for snacks constantly, or skipping meals like breakfast. Okay. I often tell families that prevention really starts with structure and routine. Kids thrive when they know what to expect.

06:20
regular meal times, family dinners, without screens, consistent bedtime and wake up times. When families eat together, even a few times a week, the impact is really powerful. That single habit is linked with better nutrition, less emotional eating, and strong family bonds. Then there are the basics that sometimes get overlooked. Cutting back on sugary drinks, encouraging outdoor play, then screen time, and prioritizing sleep. We often underestimate how much sleep

06:50
impacts appetite, regulating hormones and metabolism. A tired child is more likely to crave sugary snacks and be less active. But here's the biggest message I try to share is that prevention starts with family change and not a child's blame. Kids learn by watching, not by being told. When parents make balanced choices, keeping healthy foods at home, movement and avoiding negative talk about body weight, kids absorb those patterns naturally.

07:20
In my own clinical practice, I always emphasize on family centered and personalized approach to nutrition counseling. I sit down with the child and ask what they enjoy, their favorite foods, activities, and routines. And then we come up with  one simple change,  one realistic goal they can actually do. It might be something  as small as swapping a juice pouch to water or adding one

07:46
family walk after dinner or swapping a chip packet with one fruit. That personalized, compassionate approach has given me a lot of success. Then a general statement, please eat healthy, exercise, take care. Okay. I like to remind families, healthy habits are not caught, they are caught, but not taught. Yeah. It's, you know, it's a very similar approach to how you would get into the heads or the minds of adults.

08:13
I was just interviewing another physician prior to this podcast, and she's also about lifestyle and how she's helping adults to prevent osteoporosis, to prevent muscle loss as we're aging.  And she's like, I just try to unzip their minds and get into their heads  and visualize as to how they're thinking, what's their perspective and now bring about that change so that they can get aware. So you're doing the same exact thing with kids, which is very impressive.

08:41
Because I somehow feel being in the adult realm of medicine, that it must be challenging to get into a child's head because there's trust, know, there's this compassion, there is love, which is also very, very essential before the child really feels that, she's not just my doctor, you know, she's not preaching me, but she's like a buddy or a friend or a companion at whatever age it could be. Age five, it could be age 15. So very, very impressive.

09:09
You know, while you're dealing with kids, you are in one of those professions where you're also dealing with the adults, that's the parents or whoever the caretaker is. How do you help them, the adults, the parents, at least understand that they need to implement certain changes or certain habits? Because you mentioned that how that plays a role in childhood obesity. So how do you initiate the conversation so that there is at least this one step forward towards awareness? That's really challenging.

09:39
with some families. So initially I start my conversations with opening up growth chart on the computer and showing them this is your child's height and weight. This is the normal range on a CDC growth chart that your child we expect or you know it should be within that range but your child is up above here  and believe me

10:00
There are some children who don't even stand on the growth chart. Their weight is so high that we only have up to 209 pounds as the max.  And they're about that range that it just gives a little arrow mark. Right? So that's where I start my conversation by first just simply saying, hey, this is the weight, this is the percentile. This is the height, this is the percentile. And then I turn towards the child and ask,

10:27
Is it okay for us to go about discussing how this is going to affect your health and what changes that we can bring to help you lose weight? And if they say, okay, then I turn towards the parent and then I start the counseling, right? And I said, okay, so tell me who does the grocery shopping at home? Who goes to the store? Do you go together as a family or, you know, parents go and who pays for the food, right?

10:54
My child eats lot of soda, my son drinks lot of soda, my child eats a lot of chips, but who is paying for them? How are they getting from store to home? That's where my conversation starts. It should be a family-centered approach. We cannot just blame the child and say, hey, eat healthy and you need to lose weight. If not, you're going to start getting these commodities. It has to start from the parent. Sometimes it's challenging because parents don't believe the child is overweight.

11:23
That's where the challenge starts. My kid is fine. Now he's doing good. So Dr. Sushma, you talked about, you know, your adult parents and, you know, how to bring about that awareness that, okay, there is a problem here, but the problem has to be addressed as a family, not just blaming the child for it. And then you talk about, you know, that who's paying for the sodas or the juices or even anything that is related to, especially sugary snacks or very, very salted chips.

11:52
And you mentioned that it's challenging too, which I completely get. But you know, to bring about that mindset change, it's also helping them to adapt to certain changes.  And sometimes it is more education that is needed rather than that one time visit, right? So why stop sugar? And this I'm specifically asking because you've an article also on or published an article on ultra processed foods. So why are we talking about these sugary beverages? Why are we talking about these salted chips?

12:22
as one of the very, very commonly used culprits  for our kids, for adults in this era of 21st century as easy access to snacks. So what is the problem with these packaged foods?  So ultra processed foods, right, is the packaged foods we are talking about.  And  70 % of children's diet in this  age generation is ultra processed food.

12:48
given its easy access for busy parents' lives and  the shelf life for these ultra-processed foods is longer compared to real foods. And parents who are busy, kids, lot of activities, school, and even if you look at school lunches, there's a lot of ultra-processed foods even at school to end the school lunch, right? So why are we so much worried about this sugar ultra-processed food? These foods

13:18
are behind the epidemic  of childhood obesity. They are driving the weight of our kids higher  and it's unseen, under recognized  epidemic that is within us. And if you see the global rates, not just United States  of childhood obesity prevalence,  one in five children  are obese  and they

13:46
take this weight into adulthood, end up having a lot of comorbidities. NASLD, which is the metabolic associated steotatic liver disease, or if we say a generic term, it's fatty liver disease, we are seeing as young as eight years, nine years.  And as you know, this fatty liver disease progresses to MASH, which is the steotoheptitis, and then eventually cirrhosis liver failure.

14:14
leading to need for liver transplant. And all of this is starting in childhood. So if we can nip it in the bud, discuss about eating real food, healthy food, more fruits and vegetables, trying to avoid those ultra processed food, they just have a lot of carbs  and the body is taking a toll and they're so tasty, attractive for the kids and all the marketing, all the pictures, glowy picture, what not.

14:41
Kids want to just keep eating them and all these extra calories and carbs, they sit in the liver and it causes liver disease. Not only that, pre-diabetes, oral dental cavities, sleep apnea because of being obese. There are a lot, lot of comorbidities and we have to address it in childhood. And as a pediatrician, I try my best in every single visit to address this with the parents, especially of children who are overweight and obese, so that eventually

15:10
Hopefully that it will bring one change in them. Yeah, so true. And it's also very sad that, you know, when I was in medical school, so this was 2004 is  when I graduated medical school. And, you know, at that time too, we were like, Oh yeah, type two diabetes is, later onset. It's more seeing midlife or past that age or after 60. And by the time I started practicing, fast forward, you're just seeing in younger and younger adults and now.

15:39
You as a pediatrician, you know, talking about fatty liver disease or MASH seen in an eight-year-old, just imagine the complications that they'll encounter would be just by the time they're young adults or even early on. And that leads to the risk of being dependent on medications and pharmacological drugs, seeing more doctors, like so much burden are we buying both for that individual, the family, and of course, as a nation. So it's very...

16:05
Not necessarily tragic, but I feel very, sad when  you are as an adult endocrinologist or I as an adult endocrinologist looking at this, but you are looking at the youngest population, our future, who's dealing with these diagnoses right now.  And absolutely, yes, kudos that we need those interventions, small changes in habits right now,  rather than later. Personally, like when I look at

16:29
cousins, extended family members, I feel, now this is my observation as  a physician, that the kids  are just  larger. Okay? And they're coming, they're getting the same genes.  It's not that I'm talking about, you know, that entire family pool. They're larger. Of course, their eating patterns are very westernized.  And the second thing is they're bigger. So larger and bigger. And yes, they are into sports, they are active.

16:59
But it's also when I'm um looking through, you know, what they are feeding themselves. So it's, you know, there is a choice that parents can feed the  kids, but also there's a lot of tug of war between what a child also, you know, a child who can make decisions to what to eat, they decide. And that is so much in terms of the ultra processed foods that you talked about, but also, you know, it's that sedentary lifestyle with the screen, watching TV, you know.

17:27
Vacations are not necessarily engaged in  all sporting activities or fun or playing outdoors. What's the contribution because you're seeing this age group? Like, is that contributing a lot to this epidemic of obesity and other metabolic diseases?  When I talk about obesity with parents and family, I tell them that obesity is a chronic disease. It's multifactorial in origin.

17:54
It could be epigenetics, environmental factors,  diet, lifestyle. Everything together brings us this burden of obesity. As you mentioned, it's the dietary patterns. Yes, there's a tab of war and most of the time parents tend to give in because we don't have time on us to kind of keep arguing. We just want to get the dinner done, go to bed, next day work and school.  And lifestyle, screen time. Growing up, so many years ago,

18:23
We didn't have so much screen. I didn't have a phone or so much of a TV or so many channels or Nintendo or Roblox, whatnot. We were always playing outside and I was on vacation and whatnot. So children nowadays, they don't go out much. They have to step out in the environment, just play, have free play, not structure so much after school. Nowadays, as you may know, you've seen this, children have a lot of extracultural activities that they don't have.

18:52
Even few minutes of the time after school to just enjoy the nature or go out and play. They have this class, that class, online class, drive them around. It's  so robotic in nature, so as to say.  Every single thing contributes to it. It's not just one and it's not just diet and not having exercise. It's many other factors that our generation,  the children generation, which is now growing up  and

19:21
I do not want to say we have to change everything,  but take them to grocery shopping instead of going into the aisle where there are snacks, take them towards fruit section, help them pick the fruit. Always have fresh fruit, vegetables ready on the counter, washed or cut and sidelined in the refrigerators.  And try to keep those snacks away, far away where they're not easily reachable.  And it should start with parents. The moderation should start with parents. What you eat, you influence your younger generation. So true.

19:51
And yes, you're giving us, know, one path in life is just easy give in, simple way, doesn't need much courage. The second one is what you just talked about, but it's a long end game where both the parents and their kids are going to be healthier and with little bit less number of diseases. So thank you for sharing those real life swaps for grocery shopping. I'm going to switch gears here a little bit.

20:19
And because in the rapid fire, you mentioned that now  we have glucagon-like peptide, the receptor agonist, the GOP-1 medications,  enter into pediatric obesity care, which are also FDA approved. Are there, I'm pretty sure there are, but again, I don't prescribe these to pediatric age population.  But what's, is there a stigma?

20:41
Where is the line drawn between, you know, this patient definitely needs pharmacological management versus they would not need it or are the parents or kids, you know, dealing with the  social stigma or just the idea, the fact that, oh my gosh, I have to be on an injectable  at this age. Like, what are the challenges that you're seeing in your clinic, in your practice?  I see both sides of the coin.

21:08
I have some parents coming in asking for medication and I have some who don't want the medication even though the child is eligible and will benefit from having the medication. So the criteria when FDA approved these medications, the injectables, liragrutide and semagrutide, we also have oral medication, the combination of ventromint, opiumate, it's called Kismia. We can use metformin as off-label.

21:35
not really approved for weight loss itself. These are some of the few medications. There's one medication for genetic obesity. So these are the medications that's approved by FDA for severe obesity class three in pediatric population or class two with comorbidities like liver disease or diabetes. So previously to 2023 AAP guidelines,

21:58
What we used to practice was watchful waiting. Let's see if the child will lose weight on exercise and diet alone for six months or so, and then we'll discuss further. That was the theory before the new guidelines came in. And once the new guidelines came in, the approach is you talk about lifestyle interventions along with medication hand in hand. It has to go together. So when I talk about medication, always...

22:26
Look at the motivation of the family in taking the medication  and the mindfulness of the child in taking an injection. In pediatrics, one of the challenges is the injectable. As you know, many pediatric patients have this phobia of needles. So having a child take injection once a week, well, Lidoclutide usually I don't offer as much because it's a daily injectable. And  I haven't seen one patient come to me and say, I'm ready to take a daily injectable, right?

22:54
Weekly is more so doable. I have support of parents if they are already on that medication. They see the change they have lost weight, they're either on it because of diabetes or adult indications. You know better than that. But they are more favorable. And I also have some patients that are like, no, my child doesn't need a medication. And from my side, it's like your child's BMI is 45. She or he will definitely benefit from medication along with exercise and diet.

23:24
So I see both sides.  And my first patient that I started a patient in 2023 on injectable, she was African-American 13 year old female who's now 14 and a half. She was BMI 45 with depression,  anxiety, so much of bullying at school. She didn't want to go to school, right? So I kind of brought her in, offered her the medication and they were positively receptive of the offer. They started taking it. Now,

23:53
Fast forward one and a half years, she's BMI of 32. She lost 60 pounds along with strict exercise regimen, 150 minutes per week with two resistant training. She joined the gym with her dad. Again, a family centered approach. I practice what I preach. It should be a family centered approach. We cannot have the child go to gym and work out 150 minutes. It has to start from the family. So the dad was willing to go with her.

24:21
And she is a very, very active, happy teenager who walks in and say, Hey, Dr. Chamurthy, how are you? Right? She's still my patient. The second thing is another challenging is this medication is not  a small  term. It's not for three months, six months. It has to be continued for many years until

24:44
both the parent and patient and we are ready to wean off the medication. I think that's the second challenging part when I talk about like we don't know when we're going to stop the medication. You won't have many parents willing to keep a child on medication forever, right? Because antibiotics, 10 days, one week, done. Eye drops, five days, done. But when it comes to weight loss medications, as you know,  what is the end point or when is the end point?

25:09
That is the second challenge we see in pediatric population because they're only 12 or 14. Parents have this thought, oh my God, I'm starting this patient on this medication, my child on this medication that I don't know when I'm going to stop. So my argument in those cases is imagine a patient having diabetes or asthma or hypertension. We don't wean off the medication when the hypertension is controlled. We are delighted that the hypertension is on.

25:37
uh is well controlled on this medication and let's keep going on the same dose, same like ADHD, right? Patient is doing well on this medication, let's keep going with the medication. So the point here is, that's what is my argument. We want to make sure your child is losing weight, getting better with the comorbidities  and mental health is getting better, doing well at school. So why not give them medication? You don't stop asthmatic albatross just because he's doing well, you give albatross.

26:07
and other medications.  yeah, lots of nuances that go on with these prescription medications. I feel like there are more nuances in pediatric age population than adult. Yeah. So, so many insights.  There are a lot of questions, concerns,  and confusion for many individuals. And I feel like the take-home point, as in many of our episodes with many of the physicians are, that you want to start with one thing at a time. Awareness comes at the top.

26:36
most and getting the right medical expertise. You're dealing with something, your child is dealing with something, speak with an expert like yourself. If you have a pediatrician,  Dr. Tamarathy is certified or both certified in obesity medicine. But then if you're not able to get answers and you're just stuck at the same place, your child is stuck at the same place, seek expertise. You can affect their mental health by just forcing them to constantly  nag them.

27:03
about their food and their nutrition and their exercise, but uh get them the right help. That is going to be so essential. And integrating that piece, which you just talked about, that it's lifestyle, it's the family approach, and when needed, the pharmacological intervention.  Even in adult medicine, we don't have a right time to discontinue the GLP-1 medications. Personally, in my patients, I give them a span for a year or so. This is only for over-rate or...

27:30
obesity, is around BMI of 30 or so, or even for medications, because we are working on their mindset, the lifestyle coaching and muscle strengthening exercises, which just gives us a higher probability of weaning down the dose of GLP-1 or even possibilities of weaning off. And this is only specifically for weight.

27:52
And I'd actually recorded an episode a couple of weeks ago on how I  approach that type of care. But you're right, with pediatric obesity, and especially when you're dealing with BMI of 40-45, that's insane. That's insane that where we've gotten  to.  I want to share one more story with you. Yes, please do. Like a patient story? Yes.  I recently  kind of had a handover patient  after someone moved out of our clinic.

28:21
BMI of 67 in a 17 and a half year old. Can you just give us a perspective like what would have been his approximate height and weight? Yes, weight 430 pounds, height constipally taller, I would say five, eight, something like that. So they came to me for some refills on medication.

28:46
And when I looked at this chart, I couldn't believe because as I mentioned to you, the CDC blood chart had a maximum of pounds it would reach and above that is just an RMR. And we do have extended BMI percentile charts in pediatrics that we can use to categorize the obesity. And BMI of 67, I believe that's the highest I have seen in my 15 years of career in pediatrics.

29:15
And when I look over as I scrubbed the chart,  all the known commodities, pre-diabetes,  although the labs were a year old,  asthma, severe  and as you know, obesity and asthma are very closely related. That's a different topic by itself. Hypertension, mental health issues, and 15 ER visits in four months' for many, many, many, many, many

29:42
emergencies, so as to say. And I was raffled. And think about this, if this patient was offered medication in 2023, right? Hopefully if they were compliant with nutrition, exercise, whatnot, this BMI 67, we were not housing this in the chart. And so many ER visits in two and a half years.

30:07
moving back or even before that we had some medications approved like Phentermine was approved short term even before 2023. So the point I'm trying to make is this patient he's going to be 18, he's already 18 now and he's going to go to see you guys, adult medicine, right? And you're dealing with many things now, hypertension, diabetes, severe asthma and liver disease and obesity. So you have to treat five or six conditions and

30:36
If we can treat these children in primary care, giving them medication, we can prevent so many commodities going into adulthood. He's quit school. He stopped going to school. Yeah, absolutely. So this is  one experience that I always share. Please start treating pediatric obesity in primary care because they come to us first as pediatrician. They see us for sick visits, well-child visits before they go to

31:05
specialists because they need referral from primary care to see a specialist. So we are the first point of contact. So my focus  and mission has been for the past two years is to equip pediatricians with this knowledge that needed to treat pediatric obese patients in primary care.  Many, many pediatricians have graduated even before these guidelines came into place. So they may not have had training or expertise or knowledge

31:35
and it's time to work on it, work towards it, to implement in  primary care. Yeah, absolutely. In every  specialty, yes. So many insights,  so many answers, and of course, lot of discussion that can be contemplated. I'm sure our audience is taking a lot of teeny tiny pieces of wisdom from today's conversation. So thank you so much, Dr. Chamartee, for explaining  a different part of medicine, which is starting at a younger age.

32:04
and how we can approach that sooner rather than later and help our future generation to thrive, live healthy and live longer. So I really appreciate you being on our podcast today and looking forward to hearing more from you maybe at the next one. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, doctor. Thank you for having me.  Thanks for hanging out with me on Hormones and Hope.  If you've loved this episode, do me a favor,  hit subscribe, share it with someone you care about.

32:33
and drop a review if you're feeling generous.  Want more tools to support your hormones and health?  Head over to unifiedandocrinecare.com.  We've got free guides, resources,  and more waiting for you.  Until next time,  stay curious, stay kind to your body, and keep your hormones happy.