September 7, 2025 • 7 mins
Doctor Gregory A. Poland is an American physician and vaccinologist. He is the Mary Lowell Leary professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as well as the director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. He is also the editor-in-chief of the medical journal Vaccine. Poland received his BA in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University In 1977 where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity. He received his MD from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in 1981. Poland also received an MA in theology from Westminster Theological Seminary. Doctor Poland is known for researching the immunogenetics of responses to certain vaccines, including smallpox vaccines. He has also written about the negative impacts of the false claim that the MMR vaccine might cause autism, and is an outspoken advocate of mandatory influenza vaccination. After developing tinnitus after his COVID vaccination he has called for better safety studies.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from wor Here again is Larry
Minty with the wr Saturday Morning Show, Welcome back. Can
using nasal spray really reduce your chance of getting COVID?
That's what a new study says. Let's ask doctor Gregory
Poland from the Mayo Clinic what he thinks. Doctor paulwin,
(00:21):
this is pretty exciting news, especially in the wake of
a pushback on the COVID vaccine. There is apparently a
popular anti histamine that can decrease the risk of COVID?
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This is really interesting, Larry. It's an antihistamine that's used
in a lot of nasal sprays and somebody had the
idea to do a study with it, and lo and behold,
what did they show. They showed a decrease by seventy
per cel in PCR confirmed COVID infection, a decrease in
(00:54):
the number of symptomatic days, and a different virus called rhinovirus.
People you've got the nasal spray had about a one
point eight percent incidents of getting infected if they didn't
use it, about a six point three percent increase. Now,
the kicker on this is, we don't really know the mechanism.
And in this study people had to use the nasal
(01:17):
spray three times a day for almost sixty days.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So most people don't use the nasal spray three times
a day for sixty days. I guess that is your point.
And also finding the active ingredients. I think is it
will really be the pot of gold, right.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's right, and they'll be able to exploit that. You know,
it's an early study. It's a really interesting study, and
stay tuned. More needs to be learned.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So you said a popular antiastamine nasal spray. What is
the nasal spray? Is it many of them or just
or just a com there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Of them that use this particular ingredient called as a lastem,
and it's an antihistamine, as I say, So, you know
that's interesting. Is it's shutting down something that the body
makes that actually encourages COVID infection through the nose. We
don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Is there any drawback to taking a nasal spray three
times a day?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
This is a good question, Lariy, And the answer is yes.
People get dryness, they can get cracking of the mucosa
around the nose, they can get burning, stinging, headaches. So
it's not like well, I mean, it's like anything. There's
always side effects to something that we use. It's the
balance of benefit and risk that we look for.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So I would imagine your recommendation is to people that
are hearing this and may go out and start using
nasal sprays three times a day. To wait for further
studies exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It would be premature to start using this clinically, but
you know, I wanted to make people aware of it
that there are what we call repurposed drugs. So this
is a drug that's out there for allergic rhinitis that
may have a repurposing that's valuable. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Well, this is a little bit concerning. There is a
surprise increase in colorectal cancer among the young.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, this is this is We've been watching this year
by year, Larry. The risk has increased by two percent
every year. So in the last twenty five years, the
risk of colorectal cancer and people under the age of
fifty five has gone has doubled. Now you look at
it at a lifetime level, one in twenty four men
(03:41):
and one in every twenty six women will develop colorectal cancer.
That's why we have screening guidelines. What's new is that
the guideline has said, if you're of average risk, that is,
you don't have a family member who had coorectal cancer
or inflammatory bial disease, you start screening at age fifty.
(04:02):
That has now been moved down to age forty five
for everybody because of this dramatically increased risk. When I
was training, I saw one case of colorectal cancer in
a woman in her thirties. This diagnosis is now being
made much more commonly for people in their twenties and thirties.
(04:27):
In fact, coorectal cancer is now the second leading cause
of cancer death in people under the age of fifty.
This is really surprising.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It is surprising, and immediately you go to what could
be the cause of that, and I guess, we don't
know at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Well, there's speculation and there's some biologic plausibility behind it.
But the high fat, ultra processed food diets that people eat,
we know that obesity, smoking, alcohol use all are implicated
because they cause changes in what's called the bowel or
(05:07):
gut microbiome. That is the pattern of microbes that are
in the bowel and that keep it healthy. So I
think what it has to do with is our own
lifestyle choices and the way our culture is sort of
shaping lifestyle behaviors and sedentary behaviors.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So now you're saying a colonoscopy is needed starting at
the age of forty five rather than fifty. What about
these non invasive colon cancer tests that I see?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And then the non invasive test that you're talking about,
colon guard that looks for DNA evidence of not only
bowel but along the whole GI track cancer. The problem
with that test is that it doesn't it's not very
sensitive for catching very early cancers or the precursor to
(06:02):
colorectal cancer, which is colon polyps. So the advised thing
is that you have a colonoscopy first determine if you're
at risk because of polyps, and then with your doctor
work out the schedule and type of screening.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Natalie is really into this one story I'm about to
bring up, so I'm gonna let her take the lead
after I just mentioned that in Europe they have banned
nail polish use the gel, the gel nail gel nail.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yes, it's an interesting one. Starting September first and it
was a it was a hard stop. You couldn't use
existing stock or anything. No use of gel. Nail polish
that contains something an ingredient called ppo. The reason they
use it is that it drives very quickly under the
UV light and it gives that strong, ultra glossy machine.
(06:55):
But the problem is, and if you've ever accompanied your daughter,
your wife into one of these nail salons, you smell
it immediately. It is been associated with fertility issues, adverse
reproductive health, damage to the nail plate, infections of the
(07:16):
nails where the nails turn thick and yellow or green.
So it's Natalie and I were talking a little bit
earlier about it. It's actually a pretty strange custom that
women paint their nails, that they put on the acrylic nails, etc.
I suspect I don't know this, but I suspect that's
something you see in wealthier societies rather than poorer societies.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Doctor Gregory poland health and medical expert who is a
leader in vaccines and infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic.
He's also president of the Atria Research Institute in New York.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
This has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from wor Here again is Larry
Minty with the wr Saturday Morning Show, Welcome back. Can
using nasal spray really reduce your chance of getting COVID?
That's what a new study says. Let's ask doctor Gregory
Poland from the Mayo Clinic what he thinks. Doctor paulwin,
(00:21):
this is pretty exciting news, especially in the wake of
a pushback on the COVID vaccine. There is apparently a
popular anti histamine that can decrease the risk of COVID?
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This is really interesting, Larry. It's an antihistamine that's used
in a lot of nasal sprays and somebody had the
idea to do a study with it, and lo and behold,
what did they show. They showed a decrease by seventy
per cel in PCR confirmed COVID infection, a decrease in
(00:54):
the number of symptomatic days, and a different virus called rhinovirus.
People you've got the nasal spray had about a one
point eight percent incidents of getting infected if they didn't
use it, about a six point three percent increase. Now,
the kicker on this is, we don't really know the mechanism.
And in this study people had to use the nasal
(01:17):
spray three times a day for almost sixty days.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So most people don't use the nasal spray three times
a day for sixty days. I guess that is your point.
And also finding the active ingredients. I think is it
will really be the pot of gold, right.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's right, and they'll be able to exploit that. You know,
it's an early study. It's a really interesting study, and
stay tuned. More needs to be learned.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So you said a popular antiastamine nasal spray. What is
the nasal spray? Is it many of them or just
or just a com there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Of them that use this particular ingredient called as a lastem,
and it's an antihistamine, as I say, So, you know
that's interesting. Is it's shutting down something that the body
makes that actually encourages COVID infection through the nose. We
don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Is there any drawback to taking a nasal spray three
times a day?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
This is a good question, Lariy, And the answer is yes.
People get dryness, they can get cracking of the mucosa
around the nose, they can get burning, stinging, headaches. So
it's not like well, I mean, it's like anything. There's
always side effects to something that we use. It's the
balance of benefit and risk that we look for.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So I would imagine your recommendation is to people that
are hearing this and may go out and start using
nasal sprays three times a day. To wait for further
studies exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It would be premature to start using this clinically, but
you know, I wanted to make people aware of it
that there are what we call repurposed drugs. So this
is a drug that's out there for allergic rhinitis that
may have a repurposing that's valuable. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Well, this is a little bit concerning. There is a
surprise increase in colorectal cancer among the young.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, this is this is We've been watching this year
by year, Larry. The risk has increased by two percent
every year. So in the last twenty five years, the
risk of colorectal cancer and people under the age of
fifty five has gone has doubled. Now you look at
it at a lifetime level, one in twenty four men
(03:41):
and one in every twenty six women will develop colorectal cancer.
That's why we have screening guidelines. What's new is that
the guideline has said, if you're of average risk, that is,
you don't have a family member who had coorectal cancer
or inflammatory bial disease, you start screening at age fifty.
(04:02):
That has now been moved down to age forty five
for everybody because of this dramatically increased risk. When I
was training, I saw one case of colorectal cancer in
a woman in her thirties. This diagnosis is now being
made much more commonly for people in their twenties and thirties.
(04:27):
In fact, coorectal cancer is now the second leading cause
of cancer death in people under the age of fifty.
This is really surprising.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It is surprising, and immediately you go to what could
be the cause of that, and I guess, we don't
know at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Well, there's speculation and there's some biologic plausibility behind it.
But the high fat, ultra processed food diets that people eat,
we know that obesity, smoking, alcohol use all are implicated
because they cause changes in what's called the bowel or
(05:07):
gut microbiome. That is the pattern of microbes that are
in the bowel and that keep it healthy. So I
think what it has to do with is our own
lifestyle choices and the way our culture is sort of
shaping lifestyle behaviors and sedentary behaviors.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So now you're saying a colonoscopy is needed starting at
the age of forty five rather than fifty. What about
these non invasive colon cancer tests that I see?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And then the non invasive test that you're talking about,
colon guard that looks for DNA evidence of not only
bowel but along the whole GI track cancer. The problem
with that test is that it doesn't it's not very
sensitive for catching very early cancers or the precursor to
(06:02):
colorectal cancer, which is colon polyps. So the advised thing
is that you have a colonoscopy first determine if you're
at risk because of polyps, and then with your doctor
work out the schedule and type of screening.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Natalie is really into this one story I'm about to
bring up, so I'm gonna let her take the lead
after I just mentioned that in Europe they have banned
nail polish use the gel, the gel nail gel nail.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yes, it's an interesting one. Starting September first and it
was a it was a hard stop. You couldn't use
existing stock or anything. No use of gel. Nail polish
that contains something an ingredient called ppo. The reason they
use it is that it drives very quickly under the
UV light and it gives that strong, ultra glossy machine.
(06:55):
But the problem is, and if you've ever accompanied your daughter,
your wife into one of these nail salons, you smell
it immediately. It is been associated with fertility issues, adverse
reproductive health, damage to the nail plate, infections of the
(07:16):
nails where the nails turn thick and yellow or green.
So it's Natalie and I were talking a little bit
earlier about it. It's actually a pretty strange custom that
women paint their nails, that they put on the acrylic nails, etc.
I suspect I don't know this, but I suspect that's
something you see in wealthier societies rather than poorer societies.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Doctor Gregory poland health and medical expert who is a
leader in vaccines and infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic.
He's also president of the Atria Research Institute in New York.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
This has been a podcast from wor
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