Neuroscientist, professor, and influential podcaster Andrew Huberman ignited a firestorm of criticism on August 1 after publicly discussing the merits of full-body MRI scans. While acknowledging the controversy surrounding the practice, Huberman noted on X that while these scans can be expensive and prone to false positives, he has heard from neurosurgeons who claim to perform life-saving surgeries after incidental findings from such screenings.
Huberman’s endorsement has drawn significant scrutiny, particularly due to his financial ties to the industry. According to a disclaimer on his website, he serves as a scientific advisor for Function Health, a company that provides full-body MRIs and other health services, and receives financial compensation and other sponsored content from the firm. Huberman did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the backlash.
The medical community was quick to push back against his claims. Dr. Sanjay S. Dhall, a neurosurgeon at UCLA, dismissed the premise as “hogwash” on social media. Similarly, Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, an associate professor of neurological surgery at UCSF, stated that he has never operated on a “life-saving” lesion discovered through a whole-body MRI. DiGiorgio noted that while unruptured intracranial aneurysms are occasionally treated, they are rare, and the clinical necessity of intervening on most incidental findings remains highly debatable.
Internal medicine physician Dr. Brandon Luu offered a more nuanced perspective, acknowledging the difficulty of the situation. He noted that while he has witnessed patients die from cancers that might have been caught earlier, there is no simple consensus on the efficacy of widespread screening. This tension highlights the broader debate over whether such technology serves as a proactive health tool or an expensive, anxiety-inducing luxury.
Research suggests that these scans frequently identify “abnormal” findings, though these rarely indicate actual disease. A 2020 study found that while 95% of asymptomatic patients had some form of abnormal result, only 1.8% of those findings were confirmed as cancer. Dr. Manjiri Dighe, a professor of radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, has previously described the field as being in its “clinical infancy.” She emphasized that the technology lacks the large-scale longitudinal data required to prove it saves more lives than it complicates through overdiagnosis.
For the average consumer, these scans remain a significant financial burden, costing anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars depending on the scope of the imaging. Because they are not considered an “evidence-based medical necessity,” they are typically not covered by insurance. Dr. Francis Deng, an associate professor of radiology and radiological science at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, warned that popularizing direct-to-consumer MRIs without clear medical indications could divert critical resources away from the broader healthcare system.
Despite the skepticism, some experts acknowledge that the demographic seeking these tests is often already health-conscious. DiGiorgio observed that those willing to pay for high-end longevity technology are typically individuals who are already proactive about their well-being. However, he remains skeptical that such scans will lead to meaningful improvements in public health outcomes.
Ultimately, critics argue that the focus on high-tech diagnostic tools distracts from more systemic issues in the American healthcare landscape. DiGiorgio suggested that true improvements in health outcomes would come from fixing fundamental access to care rather than relying on expensive, unproven screening technologies that have yet to solve the core challenges of the medical system.
Physicians piled on Huberman’s post with a mountain of additional context, with some throwing cold water on his claims.
There’s no easy answer here.”
“As a neurosurgeon, there are very few things we operate on if they are truly asymptomatic,” DiGiorgio told in an interview.
You eat healthy, work out and feel great.
Then, the intrusive thought: What if a mysterious disease is lurking somewhere in your body?
You visit a futuristic, fresh-smelling wellness clinic and shimmy into a hospital gown.
You lie down on the table, and a machine scans your body for any hidden problems.
It spits out a shocking answer: You have a brain tumor, and thank goodness we caught it, because you were going to die and now we can take it out and save your life.
This experience is what many full-body MRI proponents tout as a success story.
If you book one of these scans, you could save yourself a world of hurt later.
“The whole body MRI thing is controversial for obvious reasons,” Huberman wrote on X earlier this month.
