Townhall reported in October 2026 on a University of Michigan study Abdul El-Sayed co-authored as a doctoral student, which found roughly an 18% higher chance of premature birth for Arab-American mothers with non-Arab fathers. The hosts of Ruthless Podcast say they obtained the published study itself rather than relying on Townhall's account. Gutfeld has since claimed that El-Sayed's 2011 Columbia research said Arab women should mate only within their own group or risk birth abnormalities. The discussion weighs the 18% finding against the published paper and contests how the earlier research is characterized.