This transcript is condensed and lightly edited for readability and limited to the three news stories covered. Host small talk, a sponsor segment and a tangent outside the scope of this page are not reproduced here; the full unedited conversation is in the episode itself.

Why doesn't the US approve testosterone for women when other countries do?

02:56Liz: If you've listened to The Health Revival Show, we've done a couple of episodes on testosterone and the epidemic of low testosterone. So I'm really excited about what's happening. Of course, there are caveats. This past week the FDA held a public workshop on testosterone for women in menopause. The goal is to look at the current science and the gaps in what we know, and to help guide future research and drug development for women specifically.

03:29Liz: In other countries — women don't maybe realize this — there is access to testosterone. It's normalized, because it's understood and recognized as such an important thing for women's health that there are approved prescriptions. Yet here in the United States, we have the men who are taking it all. And we need it too.

Why can't testosterone be dosed one-size-fits-all?

04:56Becca: I have mixed feelings. I want it to be available for more people, and that's the positive for sure. But as it gets approved by the FDA — that's how conventional medicine works — there has to be a reason to give it. In a lot of these cases, what they're seeing is that it will only be for low sexual desire. That's the only option right now for women.

05:21Becca: And the problem with the FDA controlling this — quote-unquote medication; it's not a medication, it's a hormone — is they will want standardized dosing. They'll want insurance codes. They'll want one-size-fits-all protocols. And hormones just don't work that way. Hormones are very unique to each person. Some women do really well on higher doses, some women do great on lower doses. I see that day in and day out.

06:13Becca: My fear is that when the FDA does control this, they'll give support to just relieve symptoms, not to optimize. The good news is compounding pharmacies hopefully aren't going anywhere, and you can still get individualized dosing — yes, you'll pay out of pocket. I don't blame anyone for this; they have to go through standardized protocols, and that's just how they work. It's great that we're getting press. It's great that women are getting more research. I'm just torn.

07:08Liz: If we look at estradiol patches, there are multiple dosing options. So who knows what comes out of this — troches, creams. Will they eventually support injectables? Probably not for a very long time. But I really hope this opens people's eyes to how important testosterone is, not only for libido. We should be talking about vaginal health, about muscle, about cardiovascular health, Alzheimer's prevention, cancer — as long as we're doing it in a smart way.

What should you do before starting any bioidentical hormone?

08:00Liz: For any bioidentical hormone you're going to take, you want to be thinking: how are you priming your body to go on it? How are you supporting your body while you're on it? Because it is not going to be magic. There is no magic pill. It can be supportive. It can absolutely help if you're somebody like myself or Becca who has had low testosterone since our twenties. But I'm having to play teeter-totter with what the right level is for me, and what I need to support in terms of liver, bile and estrogen, because I aromatize a little more, and I push a little more to DHT.

08:39Liz: There's a lot to consider. But at the end of the day, I think we're trending in the right direction from where we were with the Women's Health Initiative.

Why is mold finally being taken seriously?

08:50Liz: Whatever your political stance, I'm excited that mold is being brought to the table, and that research over the last year has brought to light that mold exposure and mycotoxins are very harmful to your health. Many people walk around thinking it's their asthma, their seasonal allergies — that chronic nasal drip, the clearing of the throat, the cough, the hoarse voice, even nosebleeds. Guys, this is serious. A lot can happen in your body when you're exposed to mold mycotoxins.

10:00Liz: On September 18th, there was a mold surveillance roundtable, and it's important because it brings to light how severely this can impact people's health. When you look at government buildings, daycare centers and schools, this should be a topic of conversation.

Why is my kid fine all summer and sick once school starts?

10:22Liz: If you have someone who is fine in the summertime, but they go back into the school year — your child — we all think, oh, it's flu season. Is it? Or are the headaches and the fatigue and the cough and all the sinus problems about what they're exposed to inside the buildings they're in all day long?

10:43Liz: I don't know what will come of it. This is just the news this week. I think the truth usually lies somewhere in between, depending on which source you're getting it from. But I'm excited this is going to be a broader topic.

What is the CDC actually funding?

10:59Becca: What they're specifically talking about is invasive mold disease, which is severe. This is people dying within 90 days — a very high death rate, over 50%, and the CDC has numbers to back that up. But the cool thing is they're putting money behind this. The CDC is pledging millions for clinical research, about $8.7 million to boost surveillance and lab capacity across states, and more for education.

11:29Becca: Mold has become more and more prominent — people know about it, it's getting talked about, and we can thank social media to an extent for that. It lets us understand this is a really big issue for a lot of people. Your phantom symptoms — sinus congestion, lung issues, fatigue, skin issues — maybe we do look here.

12:00Becca: Having it get a seat at the table is a huge step in the right direction, because a lot of people probably thought this was very rare, or woo-woo. It's a very real thing, and we see it all the time, every day, in our practice. I love that they're bringing more of the functional world into the conventional side, because that's where a lot of the money is — and hopefully that money goes into good research on how to prevent, treat and help people dealing with this.

Where do you start with mold testing?

12:36Liz: If you go to the CDC website — take federal websites with a grain of salt, but the information is there, and I appreciate that. There are also affordable testing options: blood work that comes back with a report, and like us, they read ranges functionally rather than just by standard lab ranges.

13:08Liz: For example, MMP-9. That's a blood marker we look at when we suspect mold may be affecting neurological health — headaches, migraines, brain fog, short-term memory problems.

What mold symptoms does the CDC recognize?

13:32Liz: What I was excited to see on the CDC site: for years it was just, maybe it's attributed to asthma, or pneumonia. But they've recognized skin rashes, chronic lung disease, opportunistic fungal infections — especially in immune-compromised individuals — and various other symptoms. And of course the respiratory ones: stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing, wheezing, burning eyes.

13:58Liz: I'm really thankful it's there, so you don't look or sound like you're crazy — like you have three eyeballs — when you walk into your doctor's office and ask for testing.

How do you know if your school or workplace has mold?

14:09Liz: Within our clinical practice, and personally with some of my family members, I've said: I believe this is too cyclical not to be true. And then we tested, and we saw it.

14:26Liz: My sibling was able to talk to previous teachers in that room who also got sick every school year — and then they identified the black mold. Sometimes it's going to take you being the advocate. Being the person who says, hey, I don't feel right — does anybody else not feel right? Be that person in your workplace. If it's a school, or another building where you just know it's damp, it's moldy, it's kind of smelly, or you can visibly see it, band together and demand change if it's impacting your health. They can't ignore it now that the CDC has picked it up.

Is lab-grown meat legal in the US, and why did Texas ban it?

15:08Becca: Can we just start with which states have approved this and which haven't? I think that says it all. California: two companies already. Texas: absolutely not.

15:26Becca: The USDA approved two California companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat, to sell chicken made from animal cells back in 2023. By late 2025, five companies were approved to market cultivated meat in the US — chicken, salmon and pork fat. It's grown in steel tanks with cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a bank of stored cells. One company used chicken cells from fertilized eggs that were spontaneously immortalized — they just keep dividing — and the cells grow in bioreactors until there's enough mass. Immortalized cells: no thank you.

16:06Becca: It's not in grocery stores yet, but it's being planned for. In Texas, the answer was absolutely not — the governor signed a ban on making, processing, possessing and distributing it. My family knows what we're going to do: we are not going to eat lab-grown meat. I'll get my own real meat and feed my children that.

17:45Liz: We don't officially know what's changed with chicken in stores. But control the controllables.

What's the homework from this episode?

18:27Liz: Number one: if testosterone access matters to you, go comment on that docket. It's open until October 19th. And if you're thinking about hormones, prep your body. Prime your body. Make sure you're doing the foundational things that let your body actually use the hormones.

18:53Liz: Number two: if you think mold is part of your picture, reach out to a provider and have a conversation. Get some testing done. Come into FitMom — we run labs, and we can absolutely discuss this with you. A blood draw is a great place to start, and then we can get into testing the environment.

19:27Liz: Number three: support local. Buy your eggs and meat from your local farmer if you can.

Corrections and context

• At 1:18, Liz suggests shoppers may already be eating lab-grown chicken without knowing it. Cultivated meat has not been sold in US grocery stores — as Becca notes at 16:06 — and the texture changes many people notice in conventional chicken match documented muscle conditions (white striping and woody breast) linked to very fast bird growth.
• At 11:06, Becca describes invasive mold disease as having an over-50% death rate. CDC surveillance at four Atlanta-area hospitals found 45% of patients died within 90 days; HHS Secretary Kennedy cited 50–70% at the roundtable. Invasive mold disease mainly affects hospitalized and immune-compromised patients and is distinct from everyday exposure in a damp home or school.
• At 7:48, Liz lists cardiovascular health, Alzheimer's prevention and cancer among areas where testosterone may be protective. Those benefits are not established. Specialists at the FDA's September 17 workshop said current evidence supports testosterone for low sexual desire after menopause, and named long-term cardiovascular and breast-cancer safety as open questions.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my child get sick every time school starts but is fine all summer?

Seasonal viruses are part of it, but the pattern matters. Liz Roman of FitMom describes children who are well all summer and then cycle through headaches, cough, sinus congestion and fatigue from September on. If symptoms improve on weekends and breaks and return once your child is back in the same building, indoor exposure — especially mold in a damp or water-damaged classroom — belongs on the list of causes to rule out.

Can mold in a school make kids and teachers sick?

Yes. Damp, mold-damaged buildings are linked to cough, wheezing, stuffy nose and asthma flares, plus eye and skin irritation in sensitive people. On The Health Revival Show, Liz Roman describes a classroom where teachers had been sick every school year before black mold was finally identified. When several people in one room share the same recurring symptoms, the room itself deserves an inspection.

What are the symptoms of mold exposure in a building?

The most common are respiratory: stuffy or runny nose, chronic post-nasal drip, frequent throat-clearing, sore throat, cough, hoarseness, wheezing and burning or itchy eyes. FitMom's practitioners also see headaches, fatigue and skin issues in people with ongoing exposure, and Liz Roman flags nosebleeds. The pattern to watch is timing: symptoms that flare inside one home, school or office and ease when you leave it.

Is it seasonal allergies or mold exposure?

They can look identical — congestion, drip, cough, itchy eyes — so timing and location are the tell. Pollen allergies follow the outdoor season. Mold-related symptoms tend to follow a building: worse in a particular classroom, office or bedroom, better on vacation. Becca Chilczenkowski calls them phantom symptoms — sinus congestion, lung issues, fatigue and skin problems nobody can explain. If your allergies never fully clear, ask about indoor exposure.

What did HHS and the CDC announce about mold in September 2026?

At a Mold Surveillance Roundtable on September 18, 2026, HHS and the CDC focused on invasive mold disease and committed new funding: roughly $8.7 million to strengthen state and local surveillance and lab capacity, plus money for clinician and patient education and clinical research. Becca Chilczenkowski's take on the show: putting money behind mold research moves a problem many people dismissed as rare or woo-woo into the mainstream.

Is invasive mold disease the same as mold exposure at home?

No. Invasive mold disease is a serious fungal infection seen mostly in hospitalized or immune-compromised patients; CDC surveillance at four Atlanta-area hospitals found 45% of patients with it died within 90 days. Everyday exposure in a damp home, school or office is different — it is linked to respiratory symptoms, asthma flares and irritation. The roundtable's headline death rates describe the first, not the risk from a moldy classroom.

Is testosterone FDA-approved for women?

Not in the United States. There is currently no FDA-approved testosterone product for women, so clinicians prescribe it off-label — often low doses of products made for men, or compounded versions. Some other countries, such as Australia, have a product approved specifically for women. On September 17, 2026, the FDA held a public workshop on testosterone use in menopausal women to examine the evidence and the gaps.

How do I comment on the FDA's testosterone for women docket?

Comments go to docket FDA-2026-N-5479, Testosterone Use in Menopausal Women, on Regulations.gov, and must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on October 19, 2026. Anonymous submissions are allowed. Liz Roman's homework on the show: if testosterone access matters to you, file a comment describing your experience. Submissions become part of the record the FDA weighs for future research and drug development.

Is lab-grown meat sold in grocery stores?

Not in any meaningful way yet. The USDA cleared Upside Foods and Good Meat to sell cultivated chicken in 2023, and a handful of companies now hold US clearances, but products have mostly appeared in limited restaurant settings. Several states ban it; Texas law SB 261 prohibits making, processing, possessing or selling cell-cultured protein until September 7, 2027. Becca Chilczenkowski's family is sticking with real meat, and Liz Roman says to buy local.

Why does store-bought chicken taste rubbery or have white stripes?

Those textures usually trace to conventional chicken, not lab-grown meat. Poultry scientists have documented muscle conditions called white striping — white lines running along the breast — and woody breast, which makes meat tough and rubbery, both linked to very fast growth in modern broiler birds. Liz Roman and Becca Chilczenkowski have both noticed the change, and Liz now buys chicken from a butcher or a local farmer instead.

Key terms

Mycotoxins

Toxic compounds produced by certain molds. Exposure indoors typically comes from water-damaged building materials.

Water-damaged building

A home, school or office with past or ongoing leaks, flooding or humidity that lets mold grow inside walls, ceilings, carpet or HVAC systems.

Black mold

Common name for Stachybotrys chartarum, a greenish-black mold that grows on chronically wet material such as drywall and ceiling tile. Many other molds also look black.

Invasive mold disease

A serious fungal infection of tissue, most often in hospitalized or immune-compromised patients. Distinct from symptoms caused by breathing in mold at home or school.

MMP-9 (matrix metalloproteinase-9)

An inflammatory enzyme measured in blood. Some functional practitioners track it when mold exposure is suspected; an elevated result is not specific to mold.

Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD)

Persistently low sexual desire that causes distress. Currently the use with the strongest evidence for testosterone therapy after menopause.

Off-label prescribing

Prescribing an approved drug for a use, population or dose it is not formally approved for. How most US women currently receive testosterone.

Compounding pharmacy

A pharmacy that prepares customized doses and forms of a medication. Compounded products are not FDA-approved products.

Bioidentical hormones

Hormones with the same molecular structure as those the body makes, such as estradiol, progesterone and testosterone.

Aromatization

The conversion of testosterone into estradiol by the aromatase enzyme. Some women convert more readily than others.

DHT (dihydrotestosterone)

A more potent androgen made from testosterone by the 5-alpha reductase enzyme. Linked to acne, oily skin and hair thinning when high.

FDA docket

The official public file where anyone can submit written comments on an FDA proceeding before a deadline.

Cell-cultivated meat

Meat grown from animal cells in steel bioreactors rather than raised and slaughtered. Also called cultured or lab-grown meat.

Women's Health Initiative (WHI)

A large US study whose early 2002 findings led to a sharp drop in menopausal hormone prescribing for years afterward.

Sources referenced in this episode

• FDA — Public Workshop: Testosterone Use in Menopausal Women, September 17, 2026
• Federal Register — Testosterone Use in Menopausal Women; Public Workshop; Request for Comments (August 18, 2026)
• Regulations.gov — comment on docket FDA-2026-N-5479 (open until October 19, 2026)
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — Mold Surveillance Roundtable, September 18, 2026
• CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (July 2026) — active surveillance of invasive mold disease at four Atlanta-area hospitals, 2020–2024
• Texas Senate Bill 261 (2025) — prohibition on the manufacture, possession and sale of cell-cultured protein, effective September 1, 2025
• USDA clearance of cultivated chicken from Upside Foods and Good Meat (2023)

The Health Revival Show is educational and is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Mold-related illness requires evaluation by a qualified provider, and suspected building mold should be assessed by a professional inspector. Testosterone is a prescription controlled substance in the US and should be prescribed and monitored by a licensed clinician.