We discussed an earlier article by this author once before on Hacker News, which I recall submitting. I was actually embarrassed after submitting the article to find out that the author pushes his guesses beyond what current research shows and that scientists who work on the same problems mostly don't endorse his conclusions. You'll note, as I should have noted last time, that this New York Times column is an OPINION column, not a reporter's article about established facts. If you read this opinion piece the same way that Malcolm Gladwell encourages his readers to read his essays (as a prompt for further thinking, not claiming that he has the last word), then maybe no harm, no foul, but please be wary of making important health decisions for yourself without gathering second opinions on ideas like this.