The Truth About... Season 1 Episodes

Episode 1

Sugar

57 mins

Journalist Fiona Phillips tries to find the truth about the sugar we consume with the help of four volunteers.

Episode 2

Calories

60 mins

Dr Chris van Tulleken takes 9 randomly selected foods to the lab to see if the calories in them match those stated on the packaging and sets 3 families in Glasgow a challenge as he examines calories.

Episode 3

Fat

60 mins

Dr Saleyha Ahsan cuts through the confusion and reveals the surprising science of fat. Fat has a reputation as being public health enemy number one but the truth is a little more nuanced.

Episode 4

Your Medicine Cabinet

60 mins

Dr Chris van Tulleken examines some of the most common medicines found in the home. How much do we really know about what we are buying?

Episode 5

Your Teeth - Part 1

60 mins

The BBC teams up with some of Britain's top dentists to show how the latest science can change how we look after our teeth.

Episode 6

Your Teeth - Part 2

60 mins

Dr Chris van Tulleken continues his investigation to find the latest scientific discoveries that can change how we look after our teeth.

Episode 7

Dementia

59 mins

Angela Rippon investigates the disease that took her mother's life and is now starting to affect her friends. She undertakes a series of tests to determine if she herself has any of the early signs of dementia.

Episode 8

Alcohol

59 mins

Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, an emergency room physician at St. Mary's Hospital in London, admits he likes an occasional alcoholic drink, despite seeing his fair share of alcohol related health issues in his work. With the federal government's new guidelines of no more than fourteen units of alcohol a week as being low risk for both men and women, he goes on a quest to find out what effect consuming alcohol truly does have on humans. He himself gets measured to see if his alcohol consumption in a typical week in his life is within that guideline, and what effect the drinking over his lifetime has had thus far on the health of his liver, the organ most negatively affected by alcohol. He goes to a local pub to conduct an experiment on the short term effect of alcohol on the mind, such as on cognitive ability. Without the subjects touching a drop of alcohol, he then tries to answer the question of why certain people get drunk faster than others. Beyond the calories contained in alcohol, he then looks at if alcohol has an affect on potential weight gain by making people eat more. Unscientifically, he delves into the science of how lining one's stomach with food helps absorb alcohol more readily. He next looks into the common notion that moderate amounts of red wine consumption is heart healthy, as seen by what is known as the French paradox, the French who have an uncommonly low rate of heart disease despite a diet high in saturated fat. He goes to a sleep clinic to see if the myth that alcohol helps one sleep is true. Heading to a brewery, he tests various hangover remedies on brewery staff who've had a "piss-up". Associated, he sees if one type of alcoholic beverage is more apt to produce hangovers than another. Finally, he speaks to Prof. Dame Sally Davies, the country's Chief Medical Health Officer, about the evidence that led to the implementation of the most recent guidelines.

Episode 9

The Truth About Healthy Eating

Fri, Jan 23, 202652 mins

Fiona Phillips teams up with some of the UK's leading scientists to discover how we can eat and drink to good health - and finds some surprising truths about healthy eating.

Episode 10

Meat

60 mins

Chris Bavin, a greengrocer by trade and "carnivore" by nature, investigates if we can, and should, keep meat in our diet and stay healthy.

Episode 11

Stress

58 mins

Presenter Fiona Phillips investigates what happens when we get stressed and what we can do about it.

Episode 12

Sleep

58 mins

We should spend almost a third of our lives sleeping, but we don't, and Britain is one of the most sleep-deprived countries in the world. Presented by chronic insomniac Michael Mosley, this feature takes us on a fascinating journey finding out what sleep is, what happens when we don't get enough, and looks at surprising solutions to help us get more.

Episode 13

HIV

59 mins

Dr Chris van Tulleken explores the latest scientific advances into the HIV virus. He also meets with Elton John to talk about the initial stigma against gay men as a result of misinformation 30 years ago.

Episode 14

Looking Good

Episode 15

Getting Fit

60 mins

Episode 16

Obesity

Episode 17

Carbs

Episode 18

The Menopause

Episode 19

Antibiotics

58 mins

Angela Rippon looks at new ways that scientists are fighting bacterial infections, as they combat antibiotic resistance. She hears of the latest scientific breakthroughs, meets a GP on the front line and finds out how we can all help.

Episode 20

Takeaways

Episode 21

Cosmetic Treatments - Part 1

50 mins

Presenters Michael Mosley and Mehreen Baig test the claims of a variety of treatments - from a device that says it can lift and tone the bottom using electrical currents, to a weight loss procedure that uses infrared light.

Episode 22

Cosmetic Treatments - Part 2

49 mins

Presenters Michael Mosley and Mehreen Baig explore the brave new world of cosmetic enhancement. The first program looks at the latest cosmetic treatment trends for the face.

Episode 23

Boosting Your Immune System

58 mins

Discover the human body's most extraordinary structure: the immune system. Using ground breaking science, experts in the field reveal myths and key questions about our very own secret weapon.

Episode 24

Getting Fit at Home

58 mins

Episode 25

Improving Your Mental Health

57 mins

Clinical psychologist Professor Tanya Byron teams up with former England footballer Alex Scott, who has suffered from depression. Together, they look at how the latest science can help treat some of the most common mental health issues.