Search Podcasts
A recent study showed that daily curcumin consumption drastically lowered cholesterol levels.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1509ht1a.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Here you'll find answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht5e.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: February 20, 2015
Host: Dr. Michael Smith
You’re listening to RadioMD. It’s time to “Ask Dr. Mike” on Healthy Talk. Call or email to ask your questions now. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call: 877-711-5211. The lines are open.
So, I have a question here about rosacea and then another one I wanted to answer about blue marks and bruising easily, but before I did that, what I do is I just print out my emails. I mean, you can send your question to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can send one right now. But, I just print them out. I just pretty much do them in order for the most part and I was skimming through and I came across this one and I have no idea how to answer it, but I’m going to. I have a dog. I’m a dog lover. I’ve always had dogs my whole life. Right now, I have a dog. Her name is Edie. She’s about 6 years old. She’s a border collie mix. Just awesome. So, I saw this and it caught my eye. So, I’m going to read this question, but I have no answer. Is that okay?
Here’s the question: Do you know anything about head butting? Yeah. Do you know anything about head butting in pets?
No.
So, I’m going to have to look that one up and respond through email. Maybe have some of the life extension health advisors help me. I actually just pulled it up on Google real quick and there’s a picture. Okay. See? It’s not even what I thought. I’m thinking head butting in pets means your pets are head butting each other. But, that’s not what this image shows. Where is the image from? Well, anyway, it’s a picture of a dog with its head down against a wall and they call that “head butting”. Apparently, maybe they just kind of bounce their head off the wall. And, well, just the brief description there is, it is worrisome. So, if your dog or your cat does that—head butts walls, I guess—in that kind of position with the head down, you need to go have the vet check that out. It could be a neurological thing. So, I’ve never even heard of that. Thank God, Edie does not do that. She does other things, but she does not head butt a wall. But, if your pet does that, no, I don’t know anything about it, but it does look like something a vet needs to check out.
God. Oh, isn’t Google wonderful? Thank God for Google. What did we do before Google? We went to the library and it took us two weeks to answer one question. So, we couldn’t do “Ask Dr. Mike” without Google.
Let’s go to the rosacea question.
“I’m a 45-year-old adult male. I thought I was past the acne stage, but my skin continues to break out. My dermatologist said it’s actually rosacea. What is the cause and nature of this condition and is there any treatment or cure?”
So, it could be both. I’ll describe what rosacea is here in a second, but when you have a rosacea flare-up, the flare-up itself increases skin inflammation which can clog some of the pores and that can cause, actually, a breakout. So, you can get acne breakouts within a rosacea breakout. So, you could have both, okay? So, the question, though, is more focused around the rosacea, Again, remember, I’m not a dermatologist. I’ve mentioned that before. My medical training is “if it’s wet, dry it and if it’s dry, wet it”. Don’t laugh. It works. So, I have to do some research with the dermatology questions.
The cause of rosacea remains unknown. Inherited factors may play a role. Some research suggests that rosacea sufferers have blood vessels that dilate too easily resulting in a flushing or redness of the skin and, basically, if that happens, if your vessels dilate and skin comes to the surface, that’s basically inflammation. That’s what inflammation is. Inflammation is blood flow increasing to a certain area. That’s what it is. And, it’s usually in response to something. So, to me, reading this, there’s some sort of trigger, though. I mean, just because your blood vessels are dilating and bringing blood to the surface, that’s still not answering the question for me. There still must be some trigger causing that. To me, it’s an inflammatory process. Could it be infectious? Could it be allergens? I don’t know.
Numerous factors can cause rosacea to flare up in one person, but have no effect in another individual. Some people claim that one or more of the following have aggravated their rosacea:
Heat, hot baths, strenuous exercise, sunlight, wind, very cold temperatures, hot or spicy food. I haven’t heard that one. Alcohol consumption, menopause, emotional stress and steroid use on the face.
So, bottom line is, we don’t really know what rosacea is. To me, it’s some sort of inflammatory process. There’s some sort of trigger. Whether some of those aggravators that I just read can be the trigger for the inflammatory process, maybe so. I’m not sure. I, personally, would like to see some rosacea research into infectious origins. You know why? Because if you use an antibiotic cream, in most cases, that works the best. Most doctors simply just give an antibiotic cream. Why? Well, they’ll tell you that they’re trying to prevent a secondary infection because of the inflamed skin and when skin’s inflamed, it allows more bacteria to come in. All that’s true, but could they be treating some sort of, you know, previously unidentified bacteria that’s linked to rosacea? That might be something worth researching. There’s also some evidence that Diosmin will work. I’ve mentioned that before. Diosmin is from the rind of citrus fruit. It helps the vasculature, specifically the veins, to maintain tonicity so that will decrease that inflammatory response a little bit, decrease the dilation. It will get rid of some of that fluid faster. So, Diosmin might be helpful. And then, I wrote down here “white peony”. White peony is an herb that has some immune modulating effects, meaning that it tends to turn on certain parts of the immune system by kind of deactivating other parts. Kind of rebalancing the immune response. White peony has had some benefit in autoimmune issues, even some big ones like lupus. So, could there be some sort of overactive immune response here? Maybe the trigger is some bacteria, but we overreact. We get that inflammation in the skin. You get the flare up of the rosacea. That’s all possible. So, maybe the antibiotic cream, the Diosmin to control the vascular aspect of it and the white peony to control maybe that overactive immune response. I would try those three things. But, I’m not a dermatologist. Talk to your dermatologist.
Let’s go on to the next question that I promised about bruising easily. We’ll see how far I get with this.
“I frequently get black and blue marks and bruise very easily. Can you explain why this happens and what can be done about it?”
Well, okay. The first thing is, if it’s chronic--if this has been going on a long time--you might have some blood clotting problems. So maybe right there, you just need to have a good hematological workup. You know, there are doctors who study the blood. Hematologists. I have a good friend of mine back in Texas where we went to school—in Dallas. He’s a hematologist. So, maybe you need a good blood clotting workup. I mean, that’s just a thought. You also might have to consider poor diet. Malnourishment has been associated with easy bruising. For instance, if you’re not getting enough Vitamin C. You know, if you have absolute Vitamin C deficiency, that’s called scurvy. That’s not what I’m talking about, but even just, you know, slight drops in Vitamin C. You know, maybe I’ll just call it a “Vitamin C inefficiency”. It’s not really a deficient level, but maybe just not enough. That’s been associated with weakening of vessel walls and maybe some bruising there. So, maybe some Vitamin C rich foods that are called bioflavonoids from citrus plants.
So, I guess my focus would be diet, first. Vitamin C, anti-oxidants from bright-colored fruits. That’s going to give you these things called bioflavonoids. All that could help, but if this is really an ongoing problem, I would see a hematologist.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I’m Dr. Mike. Stay well.
[END OF RECORDING] - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Here you'll find answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 4
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht5d.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: February 20, 2015
Host: Dr. Michael Smith
It’s time for you to be a part of the show. Email or call with questions for Dr. Mike now. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call: 877-711-5211. What are you waiting for? The doctor is in.
Alright. So, I have my first question here about what is called the VAP test—advanced cholesterol testing and lipoprotein(a). So, here’s the question:
“I had a VAP test done and my lipoprotein(a) was high. Are there supplements that lower lipoprotein(a)?”
Okay. So first, there’s actually a lot to this question. That’s why I wanted to start with it. First of all, what is a VAP test? A VAP test is simply an advanced cholesterol test. You know, I’ve had the authors of the book, The Great Cholesterol Myth, Dr. Stephen Sinatra, who’s one of the leading natural cardiologists in the world, really, and he wrote the book with a nutritionist, Jonny Bowden. I’ve had them both on my show talking about the cholesterol myth. And, you know, one of the things that both of them have said, and I’ve said this before and I agree with them totally, it’s if you just look at total cholesterol or you just look at the bad stuff (LDL) or the good stuff (HDL), by themselves, those are not really the risk factors. You know, cholesterol comes in many different subforms and subtypes. There are different subtypes of LDL cholesterol. There are different subtypes of HDL cholesterol and it’s really those subtypes that give us more information about what your risk is for heart disease from cholesterol. So, the standard cholesterol testing--which is total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides--other than the triglycerides, those other three measuring cholesterol don’t really tell us anything. They’re not really helpful in any way and that’s the great cholesterol myth. So, what I have suggested and Dr. Sinatra and Dr. Bowden, also agree, is that what we need to be doing is more advanced cholesterol testing which is available and it’s not that much more expensive. It should be a part of a yearly workup for people. Advanced cholesterol tests, they break down the cholesterol—the good and the bad—into these subtypes and it just gives you so much more information about, you know, where your risk really is.
So, is cholesterol a risk factor for heart disease? Well, by itself, total cholesterol—even LDL, HDL—no, they’re not. It’s the subtypes that we need to look at. It’s the subtypes that bring the risk and one of those subtypes—and you’ll find this only in the advanced testing—is something called lipoprotein(a). Some people call it LP(a), lipoprotein(a), lipoprotein A, it’s all the same thing. It is a very atherogenic compound that sticks out on the surface of the LDL molecule.
Now, LDL stands for low density lipoprotein. It is the carrier molecule for cholesterol and fat from the liver where all that stuff is made and the LDL molecule is the carrier to take all that cholesterol and fat out to your body to your cells and tissues. One of the markers on that carrier molecule called “LDL” is this thing called lipoprotein(a). And, let me tell you, that’s the thing that causes LDL to get sticky and stick in arterial walls and cause atherosclerosis. It’s not the LDL itself, it’s something like the lipoprotein(a) that’s really causing the problem.
So, in this case, this gentlemen had the advanced cholesterol test. I say gentleman. I don’t know why I assumed he was a man. I don’t have that information here. I just did. This listener had the advanced cholesterol test done which is awesome. It included a lipoprotein(a) which is awesome and his was high. Usually, when it’s above 10, you know, that’s when we start getting a little concerned. Above 20, that’s definitely a risk for heart disease. So, I don’t know where the number was for this person, but it was high. So, at least over 10. And he or she wants to know, “What can I do to bring this down?” Well, now, so it’s great to know that. Now, the bad news in all this is, you know, lipoprotein(a) is really hard to bring down. A lot of the traditional supplements that we might use to lower LDL cholesterol, like red yeast rice or, you know, there is Pycnogenol. There are other ones like Policosanol. These are classic. Guggulipids which is a type of soluble fiber. I mean, there are all kinds of different traditional supplements that help to lower LDL completely, but they don’t seem to have a great effect on the lipoprotein(a). There have been some studies that show that Niacin--at high doses, now—about 1500 mg to 2000 mg of Niacin. Now, that’s a lot of Niacin, so if you’re not used to that, don’t start that high because you’re going to flush and you’re not going to be happy with me. So, don’t do that. It might be able to help to bring liproprotein(a) down and, in particular, Niacin mixed with Omega-3 oil. So, Niacin supplement plus an Omega-3 supplement. So, maybe a gram of Niacin plus a gram of Omega-3 has been shown to maybe have some effect on lipoprotein(a). Eating walnuts. I saw a small study where a handful of walnuts a day was helpful. But, here’s the thing: if the lipoprotein(a) was the only thing that was elevated on your VAP, I think you’re fine. I mean, you have to take it into context. I mean, yes, do some things to try to bring it down, maybe. If everything else was okay, maybe just try some walnuts first or something. But, Niacin plus fish oils, plus walnuts would be my best suggestion.
Second question: I think I’m okay here. In keeping with this cardiovascular line of questioning here, “I have a 50% blockage in my left carotid artery and a 40% in my right. My doctor is going to “watch and wait” but I would rather be more proactive. Do you have any suggestions to prevent this from getting worse?”
So, the carotid arteries are in the neck. They go from the heart into your brain, basically, and bring all the good stuff into your brain. It’s the pulse you can feel in your neck. That’s the carotids. Have you ever had a doctor take a stethoscope and place it over your neck and you’re like, “What is he doing? That’s not where my heart is. That’s not where my lungs are.” Well, no. He’s listening for the carotid because if you hear a little wispy sound, that means there could be some blockage there and then, usually, they do an ultrasound to actually identify the blockage. So, in this case, this person had a 50% blockage on one side and 40% on the other, so what can you do? Well, there are some things. Number one, I would probably increase my Vitamin K2 amount. At least a milligram of Vitamin K2. Now, Vitamin K2 is broken up into two major subparts. There’s one called “MK-4” and one called “MK-7”. So, Vitamin K2 is broken up into MK-4 and MK-7. MK-4 is about a milligram a day. MK-7 is about 200 micrograms a day. If I want to get real technical about it, your total Vitamin K2 amount should be about 1.2 milligrams. Okay? One milligram coming from MK-4 and 200 micrograms coming from MK-7. So, that’s the first thing. I would increase Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 helps to get calcium out of that kind of stuff which could help to decrease the blockage.
You might also consider chelation therapy. Now, you can do the real expensive one with doctors who do that. It’s called “EDTA”. It also removes calcium, plus some other metals, from your body. It can reduce oxidative stress, but it can be expensive, but it’s been shown and there have been a couple of studies recently showing that IV chelation is good for these kinds of blockages. We’re not concluding anything here yet, but it looks very promising. So, maybe chelation therapy. There’s also oral chelation with EDTA that’s available. But now, that’s never been studied. All the studies have been done with IV chelation. So, check that out. And, I do like Pycnogenol—pine bark extract—for this kind of stuff.
So, increase your Vitamin K2, the MK-4 and the MK-7; try some chelation, maybe, with EDTA; and pine bark extract which is better known as Pycnogenol. That might help.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I’m Dr. Mike. Stay well.
[END OF RECORDING] - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Learn how you can reduce your RLS by incorporating supplements into your diet.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht5c.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
What are some natural ways to keep your body protected from cancer spread?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht5b.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
- Waiver Received No
Even though there's no tobacco inhaled through an e-Cig, are the other chemicals damaging your health?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht5a.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Here you'll find answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht4e.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: February 19, 2015
Host: Dr. Michael Smith
You’re listening to RadioMD. It’s time to “Ask Dr. Mike” on Healthy Talk. Do you have a question about your health? Dr. Mike can answer your questions. Just email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call: 877-711-5211. The lines are open.
This next question, you know, I could do a whole seminar on this next question. But, I can also answer it pretty straightforward and simple at the same time.
The question is, “What is the best way to test my hormones? I see that there are different methods such as saliva, blood and urine and I’m just wanting to know you what your opinion is on these methods?”
You know, this is good because I talk a lot about hormones as a longevity specialist. You know, hormones are those key messengers between your brain and your body. And, as we get older, we just don’t produce hormones as we should, so your brain has a hard time talking to your body and if your brain can’t talk to your body, it can’t control physiology. It can’t control health and things begin to break down. Back in the 1960’s, there was an interesting study looking at age-related disorders like diabetes and heart disease--all that kind of stuff and how it relates. You know, when these diseases start to develop and how that relates to the loss of steroid hormones specifically, like testosterone and DHA and estrogen. Right around your 40’s and 50’s, all of these steroid hormones begin to drop in production in the body and that’s right when you see a lot of these age-related disorders kick in.
Now, I’m not saying that hormone deficiencies cause age-related disease, but definitely play a role. I mean, again, your brain knows what it needs to do, but in order for it to send out those commands to the body, to fix and repair and regenerate, it needs hormones. And, if they’re missing, then there’s a disconnect between the brain and the body. So, you know, I do think we should, probably your mid 30’s, start testing your hormones. Ask your doctor for a male hormone panel or a female hormone panel that’s checking all of the steroid hormones: testosterone, estrogen, DHEA, pregnenolone, progesterone. Also thyroid, maybe even growth hormone, cortisol, all of those should be in that type of profile.
The question, then, becomes how though? You know, there are doctors that like saliva. There are doctors that like to do a blood draw. There are doctors that even do hair now with hormones, urine. You know, the easy answer is blood. Blood is the best way to test all of this. Now, that depends on the hormone itself. So, I’m going to answer this question by saying, “Blood is the best way to go.” And, I’ll tell you why in a moment, but I will also mention—there’s a caveat there. If you’re checking estrogen--and especially estrogen metabolites--urine is best.
You see, if a hormone is heavily metabolized in the body, like estrogen, it’s probably best to test it in your urine because you’ll see all those metabolites. If you have a hormone that’s not heavily metabolized, like testosterone and DHA—the androgens, basically—blood is definitely the best way to go. But, if you have to decide. I mean, if you only have enough money to do one of these types of testing--one of these methods—blood is the best way to go.
Here’s why: As a doctor, I know how to interpret the blood results and that’s the simple answer. I mean, saliva testing—we still haven’t figured out what is an optimal for these hormones in saliva. As a matter of fact, what we’re finding is temperature; if there’s a little bit of blood mixed in in the saliva; whether you’re hungry or you just ate--all of that kind of disrupts the hormones in your saliva and it makes the test kind of unreliable.
Urine is a great way to do hormone testing, but the problem is, you really should do a 24-hour urine collection and no one’s really going to do that. So, you know what? At the end of the day, blood remains the best way. It’s simple. You know, as a doctor, I’m used to the blood levels, I know what they mean. I can find imbalances a little bit better. So, personally, I think blood’s the best way to go. I think until we optimize the saliva testing; until we figure out what those levels really mean—the same for hair analysis—they’re just hard to use. So, I do think blood is the best way to go.
Okay. Alright. So, let’s go on here. Do we have a caller on? Is that for me, Kevin, there? Ellen? Oh, she’s for the next show. Sorry about that. Alright. So, let’s go on here.
My next question is: “My doctor prescribed Atenolol,” which, it’s a beta blocker for blood pressure. So, “My doctor prescribed Atenolol to lower my blood pressure. Ever since I started taking it, I constantly feel fatigued and lethargic. Yet, at night, I don’t get any restful sleep. Why is this and what can I do?”
Yeah. So, that’s kind of weird, right? So, you’re taking a drug for blood pressure, fine. And, beta blockers do work well for that finding. But, here you feel tired during the day, but yet you’re not really sleeping at night. Yeah. That’s not great. “What can I do?” So, you know, the thing to remember about Atenolol—it is a beta blocker. You know, it reduces the effects of, ultimately, what are called “catecholamines”.
Catecholamines are neurotransmitters in the body that rev you up. So, if you take a beta blocker like Atenolol, you block the receptors that the catecholamines attach to and if you block those receptors, the catecholamines—these sympathetic, energetic neurotransmitters—can’t work, so it brings down heart rate. It brings down blood pressure. That’s kind of how it works, right? So, you block the effects of the catecholamines. You slow down heart rate. You relax blood vessels. You know, you can even improve the rhythm of the heart by doing that and lower blood pressure. But, the flip side of all this, you know, since beta receptors are effecting these receptors that the Atenolol is blocking which are all over you cells and tissues and they control multiple physiological and metabolic pathways. So that means, yes, they have terrible side-effect profiles. Beta blockers, especially the older ones, the older generation beta blockers like Atenolol, they just block all the beta receptors in your body. So, not only are you slowing down the heart and everything, but you also slow down the brain a little bit and you slow down your gut a little bit and there are just all kinds of side effects with it. You get really fatigued and have low energy, but you don’t get great sleep cycles. Those are known side effects of beta blockers.
So, what can you do about this? Well, I think you need to talk to your doctor. There might be some better options for you. As far as other drugs go, the classic ones to usually start with rather than beta blockers are called “ace inhibitors”. So, you can try those. There are angiotensin blockers, calcium channel blockers. These might be better choices for you. So, your doctor may just have to play around with it a little bit, but if your side effects—if the sleep disturbances and the fatigue are really starting to affect your everyday life--then I think you need to have a discussion with your doctor about it.
Hey, what about some natural things, right? I’ve talked about the trinity of nutrients for blood pressure control. Don’t forget about things like pomegranate extract, grape seeds, milk peptides. Those are milk proteins that have been broken up into small pieces called “peptides”. All of those have been shown to reduce blood pressure significantly. You know, take pomegranate alone. Pomegranate extract—about 200-250 mg a day can lower the top number 6, 7, 8 points and the bottom number 4 or 5 points. That’s not that far off from the drugs like beta blockers. You know? And pomegranate, pretty much, is well tolerated by people. I mean, the only downside of pomegranate is maybe it thins the blood a little bit. That’s it. So, there are some natural options as well. Maybe go check out www.LifeExtension.com and search the “blood pressure protocol” and see if there are some better options for you there. But, don’t stop the drugs—don’t stop beta blockers by yourself. That can be dangerous. So, talk to your own doctor. Tell them about the side effects. Talk about some of those nutrients.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I’m Dr. Mike. Stay well.
[END OF RECORDING] - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 4
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht4d.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: February 19, 2015
Host: Dr. Michael Smith
You’re listening to RadioMD. It’s time to “Ask Dr. Mike” on Healthy Talk. Call or email to ask your questions now. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call: 877-711-5211. The lines are open.
Alright. So, we’re going to get right to your questions. This first one, let me just read this to you. It’s pretty funny, but it brings up an important issue about taking supplements. So let me just go ahead and read this to you:
“I take supplements, but my wife doesn’t. We got into an argument again over supplements. We were watching Big Bang Theory and Sheldon said to Penny, who was buying supplements, ‘Your body can only absorb so much and you’ll end up with expensive urine.’ I tried explaining to my wife that if the supplement ends up in my urine, it did absorb. She didn’t get it. Can you explain this?”
So, I do like Big Bang Theory, too. I watch it. So, you’re right. If anything you ingest—whether it’s a capsule or powder or food that you chew—I mean, anything that you ingest into your stomach and small intestine, if it ends up in your urine, that means it did absorb well. So, this whole idea that supplements only produce an expensive urine, as if everything—all the supplements I take—they go from my gut, to my blood, into my kidneys and right into the urine--they don’t do any good, is kind of silly. But, you’re right. Lots of people make the mistake with this word “absorption”. What they really mean to talk about is a different word that we use to describe how the body manages a drug or a supplement once it gets into your bloodstream. So, absorption is the word that we use to describe how much of a substance goes from your digestive system into your bloodstream. That’s absorption. And, if you’re taking a supplement and it ends up in your urine--all of it, let’s say--that actually is 100% absorption. That’s awesome, okay? So, “absorption” really is not the right word. What Sheldon on Big Bang Theory meant to say was a different word and that word is “distribution”. Distribution is a word that describes how the body--once it’s in your bloodstream--how it delivers it to the tissues, how the tissues metabolize it, how it then gets out into the urine.
Now, let me just give you some examples. If you take a supplement. Let’s call it “Supplement A” and you take 100 mg of “Supplement A” and 20 minutes later, we measure 100 mg of “Supplement A” in the bloodstream, that’s 100% absorption. That’s really good. But, let’s say 20 minutes later, we measure 100 mg of “Supplement A” in your urine. In that case, the distribution was quite low and Sheldon would be right. That’s just pretty much expensive urine. You’re not really getting much out of “Supplement A”. What you want to see is maybe a little bit of “Supplement A” in your urine, but you don’t want to see a lot of it because you want it to get to your cells and your tissues and you want your cells and tissues to utilize it and metabolize it. What you might end up seeing in your urine are metabolites of “Supplement A”, which would tell me not only did you get good absorption, but you got good distribution to your tissues. So, yeah. If you’re just going to use the word “absorption” and I end up with a bunch of supplements in my urine, hey, that’s good. That means it actually got in my bloodstream. That’s awesome. Absorption’s good. But that’s not really what we’re questioning. It’s really once the supplement is in your blood, how is it getting to the tissues, the cells, how is it being metabolized and that’s really a different word called “distribution.”
You know, another example is, if you ever take a really good, high quality multivitamin and let’s say maybe an hour, two hours, after taking the multivitamin, all of a sudden your urine is neon yellow--like a bright, bright yellow. Has that ever happened to you? That actually is a good sign. That means that multivitamin actually got from your gut into your blood and what you’re actually seeing in your urine is the leftover pigment from the B vitamins. So, a very bright yellow urine after taking a multivitamin is actually a good sign and it’s not the B vitamins. It’s just the pigments. So, that means absorption was good and distribution was good. So, you actually kind of want to see that in your urine.
So, yeah. I think actually Sheldon—what he meant to say is the word “distribution”, not “absorption”. So, anyway, that was from the Big Bang Theory. So, there’s absorption, there’s distribution and there’s elimination. These are three separate terms that we actually use to study drugs and supplements and what you want to see is the highest absorption, the highest distribution, and what ends up being eliminated are just these metabolites of it. If you have high absorption, high distribution and your urine is just full of these metabolites of the original supplement, that’s actually a good sign. You eventually do want to see these things in your urine. Okay. Good. Now, that was from the Big Bang Theory.
Okay. So, let’s go on. Another question we have is, and I think I’m doing okay. I think I’ve got a couple of minutes here. “What helps for acute gout?”
What helps for acute gout? So, gout is when you get these uric acid type crystals stuck in your joints. It causes inflammation and swelling of the joint. It can be very acute. What we call “gouty flare-ups”, a “gouty attack”. Very painful. I mean, traditionally, when I was going through medical school, they said it starts, or it usually happens, in the big toe. Usually in a man. Usually a man in his 40’s or 50’s and it’s his big toe. That’s what the Board exams say. I’ve seen it in kids. I’ve seen it in men. I’ve seen it in women. Old and young. And, I’ve seen it in just about every joint. It is usually the smaller joints because the crystals are small. The inflammation that they cause is not too much. So, usually it takes a small joint space to really feel the inflammation and pain and it can be very, very painful and uncomfortable for people. So, obviously, we’ve got to watch your diet. Certain foods that contain what are called “purines”, like meat and dairy, for instance. Beer, for instance. They have these purines in them that can initiate a lot of uric acid production and that can precipitate a gouty attack. But I think most people know, once you’ve had one attack of gout, you kind of know the foods you have to avoid. Now, whether you do that or not, that’s a different story. Doctors are usually pretty good about educating about the foods we shouldn’t eat. So, I think this question is more about supplements. You know, what helps for acute gout since, you know, we talk mostly about supplements, I’m assuming that’s what this question is focused on.
Well, probably in the middle of a gouty attack, you know, when the inflammation and the pain in a small joint kind of first begins, obviously, you want to really check your diet. That’s for sure. You want to start drinking lots of water. That does help. But, Vitamin C. Vitamin C has been shown to increase uric acid in your urine. So, it helps to get rid of the uric acid so you’re not going to get any more build up. You know, once the crystals have formed and they’ve implanted in the small joint, unfortunately, there’s a waiting game there. You know, unless you actually went in there and drained fluid out of a joint, there’s really no way of getting rid of those crystals. Your body just has to reabsorb them. But, what you don’t want is that gouty attack to continue. So, Vitamin C can decrease the severity and the length of time of a gouty attack simply by helping you to eliminate, in your urine, uric acid. Now, it’s going to have to be probably 1-2 grams of Vitamin C. Maybe even more. Maybe 3-4 grams of Vitamin C for a week or two. It might cause some loose stools. So, try some Vitamin C. Also, with the pain, Tart Cherry Extract, about 1200 mg a day helps as well. So, Vitamin C and Tart Cherry for acute gouty attacks.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I’m Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
No matter what weight you're trying to reach, why does it always seem your diet is setting you up for failure?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht4c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Dave Clayton, MD
- Guest Website Clayton MD Total Health Center
-
Guest Bio
Dr. David Clayton is a physician, fitness instructor and wellness expert devoted to helping high-performing individuals invest in their own health.
His fitness-centered approach to medicine incorporates the latest research on fitness and nutrition to help clients measurably improve their health without resorting to medications.
He is board certified in internal medicine, holds an MBA from Columbia University, and is currently on the medical staff at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California. His pioneering medical practice is located in San Diego, California. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
What makes the ancestral diet so successful?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1508ht4b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Dave Clayton, MD
- Guest Website Clayton MD Total Health Center
-
Guest Bio
Dr. David Clayton is a physician, fitness instructor and wellness expert devoted to helping high-performing individuals invest in their own health.
His fitness-centered approach to medicine incorporates the latest research on fitness and nutrition to help clients measurably improve their health without resorting to medications.
He is board certified in internal medicine, holds an MBA from Columbia University, and is currently on the medical staff at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California. His pioneering medical practice is located in San Diego, California. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
