A Modern Pharmacist

About A Modern Pharmacist

Most of what gets called healthy is just normal. Normal is not the same as optimal. I am Lee, a prescribing pharmacist working in the NHS. I also live with diabetes, so this is not theory for me. Every week I break down the tests, numbers and decisions that actually move the needle on long term health. The biomarkers I run on myself. The tests I cannot order on the NHS but wish I could. What it is really like navigating the health system as both the person prescribing and the person managing a condition every day. No fluff. Just evidence, from a clinician who holds himself to the same standard

Publisher

lee

Category

health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jul 2026

Latest episode

18 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

30 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Oct 2026

   Iron Explained: Why It Matters, Testing and Treatment

   Iron is one of the most important minerals in your body, yet most people only find out they're low once they're anaemic, and that's one of the last signs to appear. In this episode I give a general overview of iron, from why it matters to how to test and treat it. I start with what iron does: 6.5% of the body's enzymes depend on it, it sits at the centre of haem in haemoglobin, and the body uses zinc instead when iron runs short. Then how much you need: we lose 1–2 mg a day and absorb only about 10% of what we eat, and needs differ for men, menstruating women and pregnancy. I cover the best food sources and the symptoms of low iron, including restless legs and craving ice. Next, testing: why a full blood count isn't enough, what ferritin, transferrin saturation and TIBC tell you, and why inflammation can make ferritin look normal. Finally, treatment: finding the cause first, why once-daily or alternate-day dosing works better because of hepcidin, why a 65 mg tablet is repaying a debt rather than overshooting, and when IV iron is needed. Sources: NHS iron guidance, NICE CKS, British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines (Gut, 2021), AGA guidelines (2020), Moretti 2015 (Blood), von Siebenthal 2023, The Peter Attia Drive AMA #58. This is informational purposes only, not medical advice. If you can't get seen by your own physician, by all means do so, but always speak to your own healthcare provider.

2. 

   15 Oct 2026

   Is Microdosing GLP-1s Backed by Any Evidence?

   Around 1 in 7 people on GLP-1s say they've tried microdosing, so in this episode I look at whether any of it is backed by evidence. I start with what microdosing actually means. There's no official definition, and I cover why it took off, from cost to side effects to claims about inflammation, longevity and the brain. Then how people do it: using the "golden dose" left in the pen, and stretching out the gap between injections. Next, the evidence. The lowest-dose trial we have used daily semaglutide, adding up to 0.35 mg a week, which gave 6% weight loss at 52 weeks vs 2.3% on placebo. That's still above the licensed starting dose. SURMOUNT-1 shows weight loss rising with dose, and SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN compares staying on the top dose, dropping to 5 mg, and stopping, along with what happened to side effects. I also cover EVOKE, where full-dose semaglutide didn't slow Alzheimer's. Finally, the MHRA warnings on fake pens, and why you can't know what's in an unlicensed vial. My verdict: below licensed doses, microdosing remains unstudied. Sources: O'Neil 2018 (The Lancet), SURMOUNT-1 (NEJM, 2022), SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN (The Lancet, 2026), EVOKE/EVOKE+ (Novo Nordisk, 2025), Eli Lilly UK Medical Information, MHRA falsified Mounjaro alert, STAT News (2026). This is informational purposes only, not medical advice. If you can't get seen by your own physician, by all means do so, but always speak to your own healthcare provider. New episodes every week.

3. 

   11 Oct 2026

   Is VO2 Max More Important Than Strength?

   I come from lifting, so I wanted the answer to be strength. In this episode, I go through the biggest studies on fitness, strength and mortality to answer one question: if you could only train one, which matters more for living longer? I start with what VO2 max really measures, and why a MET is based on the resting oxygen use of one man. Then the cardio evidence: the Cleveland Clinic study of 122,007 people, where elite fitness was linked to an 80% lower risk of death than low fitness, and why "being unfit is worse than smoking" misreads it. Then the case for strength, from Ruiz's bench and leg press data to grip strength across 1.9 million people. The UK Biobank head-to-head brings both together, and I finish with Generation 100, the largest exercise RCT on mortality, and why its result isn't as clean as it looks. My verdict: cardio edges it, but the lowest risk belongs to people who have both. Sources: Mandsager 2018 (JAMA Netw Open), Lang 2024 (BJSM), Ruiz 2008 (BMJ), García-Hermoso 2018 (Arch Phys Med Rehabil), UK Biobank 2018 (Eur J Epidemiol), Generation 100 (BMJ, 2020), Byrne 2005 (J Appl Physiol), UK CMO Physical Activity Guidelines 2019. This is informational purposes only, not medical advice. If you can't get seen by your own physician, by all means do so, but always speak to your own healthcare provider. New episodes every week.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

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