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Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht3e.mp3
- Featured Speaker Mike Smith, MD
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 13, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
It's time for you to be a part of the show. Email or call with questions for Dr. Mike now. Email AskDrMikeSmith@RadioMD.com or call 877.711.5211. What are you waiting for? The doctor is in.
DR MIKE: That's AskDrMikeSmith@RadioMD. Send me your questions. Be as vague or specific as you want. Try to stump me. See if you can send me a question that I just don't have the answer to.
Of course, I'll find the answer. Alright. Let's go to this next one and I think this one's going to take some time.
The question is:
"I suffer from RSD," and that's, for those of you who don't know, that stands for "reflex sympathetic dystrophy".
Sometimes it's called "reflex sympathetic syndrome". And there's a more modern name for this. I just forgot it, it left my mind but there is a common name now, maybe a chronic pain syndrome or something like that. But anyways, the classic reflex sympathetic dystrophy is a type of a pain that is associated with the sympathetic nerves in the body. Sympathetic nerves are ones that kind of drive metabolism, drive motion and activity, that type of thing--the sympathetic nervous system. You have these nerves that come out at certain parts of your spine and they go into the nerve, the muscles, the skin.
They're all over the body and when these nerves -- usually from trauma or surgery-- when they become damaged, inflamed, they produce a lot of pain. The sympathetic nerves, when you stimulate them in the body, they produce burning sensation, tingling, sharp type pains. Have you ever maybe had a walking pneumonia or upper respiratory tract infection and when you take that deep breath you get these real sharp pains that kind of shoots out in your chest and you're like, "Oh, my gosh, what was that?" That sharpness is usually from inflammation of the pleural space which comes from inflammation of the sympathetic nerves.
There are a lot of nerves that innervate the chest cavity and the sympathetic nerves so that type of sharp pain that you might get with those types of congestive type disorders is what we're talking about here. It's very debilitating, very painful. And this person here suffers from that condition, RSD. She says, her name is Anne, she says:
"I take Neurontin off and on with some relief. What about foods for pain? I hate taking pills. Thanks, Anne."
I think this is a great question. So, Neurontin is a nerve drug. I didn't really know they were using that for RSD but I guess they are the user for this. So, any type of nerve pain, the common prescription is Neurontin. It's a rotten drug, Neurontin. Rotten. See how I did that? Doesn't work all that great for nerves and has a lot of side effects. And so, let's see where we're at. I had to do some research on this one.
So, what I found mostly through Life Extension literature, first of all, dark cherries specifically tart cherries--dark tart cherries—are great for neuropathic pain and that one I knew. I often start there with people. Anybody that has that sharp stabbing type pain regardless of what it might be, diabetic, trauma, surgery, whatever. Tart cherries are great for that. Even just post-workout type pains. Tart cherries. This has been confirmed, too. This isn't just anecdotal evidence, historical evidence. John Hopkins, they have a very highly regarded pain treatment center there at John Hopkins and they confirm that bioflavonoids specifically the anthocyanin that produce the deeper hues, deep dark hues, are good for nerve inflammation and nerve damage so they've actually shown this.
They did a study where it wasn't an extract. It was just eating tart cherries and it wasn't even that many. Twenty to forty tart cherries a day helped to relieve some of that type of neuropathic pain. I think you should do a capsule. Eat the cherries but also do the capsule about 1200 milligrams a day, 1500 milligrams a day, really good there. Second that I found was ginger root. Ginger is not just for motion sickness although it works great for that. Ginger has some of these similar compounds. They are bioflavonoids but they're not anthocyanin. They don't have those hues but they have some of the same effects as you see in the dark tart cherries. Ginger root extracts would be something I might suggest for you.
More and more people are using ginger root to make a paste, too, so it's not just the extract. You can make a paste and you can apply that topically to joints and muscles. For most people with RSD, I don't know if this is the case for Anne, but most cases of RSD, it's down on the outside of arms, forearms, thighs, calves, those are common areas for that sharp type sympathetic pain. So, maybe do in a ginger root paste. You know, maybe right over that area when that pain kicks in. Maybe that would be something you could do. Next, I found obviously Omega 3. Maybe that's where I should have started. It's a foundational supplement I include with the multivitamin, probiotic, CoQ10, Omega 3.
Now with something like RSD you probably want to do more than the average daily dose which is one to two grams of Omega 3s. You might want to be in the three to four, maybe even five to six grams. The only downside to that is blood thinning. So, if you notice some bruising you just kind of back off the dose a little bit but higher dose Omega 3s might be helpful.
And now that I think about it, maybe even a combination of Omega 3s from fish and Omega 3s from krill because there's some evidence showing that the type of Omega 3s from krill which are phosphate form, the different type of form basically. The Omega 3 from krill is able to penetrate into cavities better, joints better, muscle fibers better. And the krill form of Omega 3 is a phospholipid form. There are products out there now of fish oil Omega 3s with a combination of krill Omega 3, so that might be something to consider there. So, those are the main ones.
So, you got the Omega3, ginger root, dark cherries. Another one is classic curcumin from turmeric. Obviously, that's important too. That's probably second after the omega 3s. Curcumin is going to inhibit the COX and LOX enzymes which are pro-inflammatory and there is definitely an inflammatory component here to reflex sympathetic dystrophy or reflex sympathetic syndrome. Now, cooking with turmeric is great, though you're not going to get a lot of curcumin from that. So, you'll probably want to do an extract that's standardized to the curcumin by 400 milligrams and do the BCM-95. That's the best form on the market.
So, I think those are the big ones for me. There are some other ones here that I found. Apparently raw probiotic yogurt helps with pain. Good bacteria from the yogurt just overall, it's not just for your gut, it promotes overall better inflammatory response so there may be something there. Hot chili peppers, capsaicin, that's the main extract. Great for metabolism. Great for your heart. Maybe have some benefit for nerve pain.
As a matter of fact there is a substance in your nerves called substance P that has to do with pain and some researchers say capsaicin helps to modulate that a little bit. So, there's just some suggestions there for you and, Anne, I do hope you get better.
This is Healthy Talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- 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/1520ht3d.mp3
- Featured Speaker Mike Smith, MD
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 13, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Radio MD. It's time to ask Dr. Mike. Do you have a question about your health? Dr. Mike can answer your questions. Just email askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call now 877.711.5211. The lines are open.
DR MIKE: Alright, so I have two questions that I want to get through in this next segment. So, I'm going to really watch my time because I think both are really awesome questions and important ones, too.
This first one is about glaucoma. And if you don't know, glaucoma is increased intraocular pressure. You know, you have this fluid, obviously, in your eye and that fluid has to come in the eye and then get out of the eye and there has to be a good drainage system. Just like in your house, if there is a pipe that's not working well, that's clogged, things back up and that water that's now in your sink adds pressure to the sink itself.
In a closed system like the eye, it's a globe, any increased fluid raises pressure quite significantly and the retina and the optic nerve that's feeding the retina are very sensitive to that pressure. It can cause a lot of damage and eventually even blindness.
So, here's the question:
"My dad has glaucoma (open angle)." There's two types of glaucoma, open angle and closed angle. Open angle is the most common form. So, "My dad has open angle glaucoma with increased intraocular pressure. What supplements can he take to decrease eye pressure? Thanks for your show. Diane."
The conventional treatment for this is tough. Usually in the open angle glaucoma, first of all, they just watch it and if the intraocular pressure gets to a point that's too wide then they put little stents in there to dry the eye better but those get clogged up and often what you see is people who are having to go in and out of these little surgical procedures to have those little new pipes cleaned and de-clogged. So, unfortunately, the conventional treatment is not all that great.
But there are some supplements. There are some research-based supplements looking at intraocular pressure and showing some benefit and I think the first one that comes to mind is pine bark extract.
The traditional name of that in the industry is "pycnogenol". Most people, I think, are familiar with this in terms of maybe like cholesterol management, blood pressure management, that kind of stuff. But pycnogenol coming from pine bark has been shown to decrease intraocular pressure. It's not powerful. It's one of the situations where if the glaucoma is caught early and you start something like pycnogenol early, maybe 10-20 milligrams a day, you might be able to control that pressure and never have to go for that stent procedure. But that's one option.
To be honest with you, that was the only one from the top of my head that I could remember.
So, I did some more research and found your classic pigmented antioxidants, like lutein, zeaxanthin, meso-zeaxanthin, you'll find those in most eye-care products. These are naturally-occurring antioxidants and we call them pigmented because they look yellowish and reddish under a microscope and they absorb blue light which is the most damaging light and they get rid of--they reflect--the yellows and the reds and that's why they look yellow and red. Those antioxidants are great for decreasing oxidative stress in the eye which can cause macular degeneration which is a leading cause of blindness in people over 65.
But they also have an effect of just keeping the retina healthy, the optic nerve healthy and in the context of glaucoma, I didn't really see in the research that they were decreasing intraocular pressure. I think it's more of a protective effect because these are great eye antioxidants. There's some evidence for the antioxidant EGCG found in green tea, at 1000 mg a day and, obviously, natural vitamin E and natural vitamin A, also play a role there.
Then, there is a plant extract called forskolin. It's been around for decades. I guess it was popular maybe a few decades ago but forskolin is just an anti-inflammatory. It has some antioxidant properties and, again, it's listed in a lot of medical journals, in a lot of websites, natural websites as a potential supplement for glaucoma.
So, pine bark, pigmented antioxidants, green tea, natural vitamin E and natural vitamin A, and forskolin.
Question number two. I just like this one. I'm going to enjoy doing this and I'm doing this right off the cuff. I saw the question and I just left it there. I'm just going to answer it as best as I can right just from my memory, from my experience.
So, here's the question. I saw a Facebook post by health activist, David Wolfe. And I'm not familiar with him. That said, "Eat colors for your health." And in this post, he said white foods are good for the immunity, yellow foods are good for the skin elasticity, orange foods are good for inflammation, red foods for the heart, purple foods for the nerves, green foods for detoxification. What are your thoughts? Can you place a food with each color? Or compound with each color known to give that benefit?
This is going to be interesting. Well, okay. The white one is easy. Mushrooms. Technically speaking, not all mushrooms are white. I get it. Reichi is a classic mushroom for immune health and it is not really white. It's actually more reddish brown. So, maybe I'm not starting off all that great. But there are other white ones like coriolus - really cool looking mushroom that's kind of white. Coriolus has a lot of immune boosting properties, anti-cancer properties. So, mushrooms in general.
We know they're not all white. So, I'm cheating a little. Fudging it. So, apparently, David Wolfe said yellow foods are good for the skin. Yellow food. Okay. Well if it's good for the skin, we're talking ceramides, wheat, grains. They're kind of yellowish, right? Golden. This is harder than I thought. Yellow squash, vitamin A. You know, vitamin A is a yellowish to orangish color and that's good for the skin.
Orange. He says it's good for inflammation so that's a tougher one. The orange, like the yellows, have the carotenoids so vitamin A is good for inflammation. The orange-colored foods, I would also say because they're high in vitamin A are going to be good for anything that has a mucosal lining so lung and gut, vessels, stuff like that.
So, inflammation within the lung, guttural vessel, sure. Yes, orange foods, oranges, carrots. Red – heart. Pomegranate. Absolutely. That's the easy one. Pomegranate, a lot of good antioxidants, good for blood pressure, improving endothelial health, which is stuff that lines the inside--the lining of the artery.
Purple foods, nerves. Blueberries. Blueberries aren't blue. They're actually purple.
They're great for your brain, right? And, zucchinis. Anything like that. The deep dark, what look like blues are really purples. Awesome for the vitamins. There you go. That one I could do, too. Green, leafy greens. You know, any leafy green is good for detox. So health - cruciferous vegetable. Not quite the leafy greens but still green.
So, yes. Plant-based foods are just wonderful for proper cell division, detoxification. How about this one? Artichoke which is kind of green. Great to decongest the liver.
That's a good one. There you go. I did pretty good. Alright, this is Healthy Talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
The spectrum balance protocol diet may help ease your child's ASD symptoms. But, do you have to strictly follow ALL the guidelines and recommendations?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht3c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Shauna K. Young, PhD, CTN
- Organization No Harm Foundation
- Book Title Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance® Protocol
- Guest Website Dr. Shauna Young
-
Guest Bio
Dr. Shauna Young, PhD and Certified Traditional Naturopath, is the owner and Medical Director of the Assertive Wellness Research Center of Durango, CO, which first opened its doors in 2001.
To date, her center has had seen thousands of clients from every U.S. State and several foreign countries. In 2005, after four years of clinical observations and experience, Shauna began specific research regarding her theorized negative effects of excess and stored manganese on the human neurological and sensory input systems and its possible symptomatic connections to Autism and other neurological, learning and behavioral disorders in both children and adults.
The unique success of this clinical research, called the "Spectrum Balance® Protocol", led to her receiving Distinguished Awards of Excellence in both May of 2006 and 2007 from the internationally-recognized Global Foundation for Integrative Medicine.
Shauna now serves as the Chief Medical Advisor for the NoHarm Foundation (www.noharmfoundation.org), a Colorado not-for-profit organization formed with the primary goal of releasing this vastly important information with the intent of ushering in a new paradigm in research and providing real help for countless suffering children and adults. This information to date has been downloaded and utilized at no cost to families living in more than 65 countries.
Her first book, If Naturopaths are Quacks, Then I Guess I'm a Duck, has garnished primarily 5 star reviews, and her new book, Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance® Protocol that specifically highlights and chronicles her research and uniquely successful work with Autism Spectrum Disorders, was released in March of 2015. -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 13, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Living longer and staying healthier. It's Healthy Talk with Dr. Michael Smith, MD. Here's your host, Dr. Mike.
Dr. Mike: So, we're going to talk about the spectrum balance protocol diet. I'm here with Dr. Shauna Young. She is an expert in autism. She wrote a book called Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance Protocol and we've been talking about this imbalance between iron and manganese which I find very interesting.
Recently, Dr. Young and I did a show and I even did a lecture here in South Florida on some of the latest theories of autism and autism spectrum disorders. In one of those leading theories now is in-utero inflammation and they're looking at different types of infections. They're looking at auto-immune disorders in the mom and how that influences anti-inflammatory proteins. So, what do you think about just improving the diet of a pregnant woman? What do you think that's going to do down the line for reducing autism?
Dr. Shauna: Well, I think it's absolutely viable. It only makes sense if you think about it. But the unfortunate case with manganese is that manganese is one of the minerals that concentrates in the umbilical cord.
So, if the mom is getting a high level of manganese - she's a 140-150% getting an excess of manganese. It's concentrating in the umbilical cord and her baby that's developing is the size of the sea monkey or something right now is getting this huge overload of manganese. I ordered one of the fanciest pre-natal vitamins that's on the market. You know, one of the most respected and expensive and everything else and it has a massive overload of manganese. So, if the mom is getting 150%, let's say of the daily requirement, then the baby is getting about a 300% overdose.4
Dr. Mike: What is about manganese and the umbilical cord? Why do you say it's concentrated so much there?
Dr. Shauna: There is just certain minerals that concentrate in and are able to cross the blood-brain barrier for a developing child and manganese is just one of those minerals. So, I'm actually finding that any supplementation that has manganese sometimes can be too much. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, just like more people are sensitive to...
Dr. Mike: Let me just...Doctor, let's make sure the listeners are understanding that we're not talking about magnesium.
Dr. Shauna: No.
Dr. Mike: I know I lot of the lay population get these two mixed up. We're talking about manganese which is a totally different mineral, right?
Dr. Shauna: Correct. And not...I'm glad you made that distinction because people send me emails a lot saying magnesium. No, I'm not talking about magnesium. It's manganese.
Dr. Mike: So, you came up with what is called the spectrum balance protocol diet. Why don't you just describe that for my listeners?
Dr. Shauna: Okay. It's a non-processed food diet. There's an enormous amount of food that you can have and it's not restricted. You're not going to have to run to your dictionary to figure out what any of these foods are. You can get it at any grocery store.
But it takes out grain, rice, anything that contains phytate, and also some really common foods for children like pineapple and blueberries. Things like that. But it's amazing how often those are put in the children's food and those are very, very high in manganese.
So, what the diet is are things that are higher in iron and then low...We are trying to eliminate as much of the manganese as we can. It's a weird thing because there are foods like spinach. Spinach has a lot of iron in it but it also has a lot of manganese but it seems that when you're eating it in a balanced fashion, the iron does absorb. It's when you're eating the phytates and getting rid of the iron that you're not achieving balance.
Dr. Mike: So, like the spinach with the grains would not be a good combination then.
Dr. Shauna: Correct. Then you would then be absorbing the manganese and not the iron.
Dr. Mike: Let me ask a question about the grains, though. Because that word grains is becoming more just like an umbrella term for lots of different things, right? Maybe we need to define what that is. What do you mean by grain?
Dr. Shauna: Well, primarily wheat. And that's like it's in everything. But anything that you would make bread out of. Wheat, oat, barley, all of those things. Those are all going to be - anything that contains phytates like that and that's the more--like you said it's kind of becoming a more non-specific term. So, I do understand that.
Dr. Mike: These compounds, what were they called again? The phylates or is that what you were saying? These chemical compounds with...
Dr. Shauna: Phytates.
Dr. Mike: Phytates. Are they also in the legumes, beans, seeds, that kind of stuff, too, or is it just mainly the grains?
Dr. Shauna: They are also in the legumes and that's why a lot of people...peanut is a weird word because it sounds like a nut but it's not. It's actually a legume. And so, that's why we take all of those out for the time being.
Dr. Mike: Okay so this is the phytic acid, the phytates. I looked it up real quick. It's a storage form of phosphorous in a lot of plant tissues, grains, bran, seeds. Okay. There you go. I just had to jog my memory there. Okay. So, let's go back to the diet. So, who needs this diet? I mean when do you suggest this for a child?
Dr. Shauna: Well, this is for...I suggest a phytate-free diet for everyone. I think if everybody takes just completely grains out of their food. I haven't eaten grains in like ten years myself so it's certainly not impossible but anybody that is having...anytime that you're not feeling 100%. For example, I was just buying a car the other day and I'm talking to the salesman and he starts telling me how worried he is about his son because he's not catching on in school. He's nine years old and he's not really getting it and he's getting very frustrated. His social skills are getting pretty feeble. All these kinds of things. So, he started his son on the diet three days ago--I actually just heard from him this morning--and he says that he's definitely seeing something changing. That even in just a short period of time he noticed that his focus is little better this morning. He's running around doing things.
Dr. Mike: Do you think he started his son like just all...eliminated the grains completely or do you think he started maybe just eliminating some? Is there a process? I guess here's the question. When I start this diet, does it have to be all or none or can I do this slowly?
Dr. Shauna: No. There is no such thing as slow on this protocol, unfortunately. 90% sticking to it will yield usually zero result. The problem is...
Dr. Mike: So, you've got to really go for this.
Dr. Shauna: You better go for it. You better run at it. And what he did for example is, he spent like a week getting rid of everything, finishing off the food that they had in the house and then they just re-shopped. And when they had it, they started it because the grain is the main thing. I have had some kids that they cheated on other things but they didn't do grains and they still have results. But the grains get chelates that iron and you've got to have the iron to get the results of this protocol.
Dr. Mike: So, what about the picky kids? The picky eaters. That's really tougher. Do you happen to have any suggestions?
Dr. Shauna: They're just like puppies. When they get hungry they're going to eat and sometimes it's so hard on parents that...The longest one that I ever had go without eating was a five year old girls and she went for five days. And every time they put food down in front of her she...What her mom said was she hockey pucked it. She just took a hold of it and threw it off the table because it wasn't what she wanted. But on the fifth day when they put the scrambled eggs out in front of her, it was spinach but she was hungry and she ate. And that was the beginning. And within about three months we were looking at re-diagnosis.
Dr. Mike: We really have about thirty seconds left here. So, the multivitamins. More and more kids are taking multis. So, should we be doing manganese-free multis? Is there a nice ratio between iron and manganese you'd like to see in these products?
Dr. Shauna: I wouldn't give a child anything that has manganese in them, quite frankly. Because there's too much of a9 risk. And I'm not a vitamin taker anyway. I take enzymes and then I get my vitamins from my food.
Dr. Mike: Got you. Alright the website is www.noharmfoundation.org. Dr. Shauna Young wrote a book called Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance Protocol. Go check that out.
This is Healthy Talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Have scientists gotten any closer to finding a cure?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht3b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Shauna K. Young, PhD, CTN
- Organization No Harm Foundation
- Book Title Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance® Protocol
- Guest Website Dr. Shauna Young
-
Guest Bio
Dr. Shauna Young, PhD, and Certified Traditional Naturopath, is the owner and Medical Director of the Assertive Wellness Research Center of Durango, CO, which first opened its doors in 2001.
To date, her center has had seen thousands of clients from every U.S. State and several foreign countries. In 2005, after four years of clinical observations and experience, Shauna began specific research regarding her theorized negative effects of excess and stored manganese on the human neurological and sensory input systems and its possible symptomatic connections to autism and other neurological, learning and behavioral disorders in both children and adults.
The unique success of this clinical research, called the "Spectrum Balance® Protocol", led to her receiving Distinguished Awards of Excellence in both May of 2006 and 2007 from the internationally-recognized Global Foundation for Integrative Medicine.
Shauna now serves as the Chief Medical Advisor for the NoHarm Foundation (www.noharmfoundation.org), a Colorado not-for-profit organization formed with the primary goal of releasing this vastly important information with the intent of ushering in a new paradigm in research and providing real help for countless suffering children and adults. This information to date has been downloaded and utilized at no cost to families living in more than 65 countries.
Her first book, If Naturopaths are Quacks, Then I Guess I'm a Duck, has garnished primarily 5-star reviews, and her new book, Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance® Protocol that specifically highlights and chronicles her research and uniquely successful work with Autism Spectrum Disorders, was released in March of 2015. -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 13, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Healthy talk with Dr. Michael Smith, MD, and now, here's the country doctor with a city education, Dr. Mike.
DR MIKE: Let's talk about the science behind autism. My guest is Dr. Shauna Young. She has a PhD and she's a certified, traditional naturopath, is the owner and medical director of the Assertive Wellness Research Center. It's out there in Colorado.
To date, her center has seen thousands of clients from every U.S. state and several foreign countries. She serves as the chief medical advisor for the No Harm Foundation, which is a non-profit form but the primary goal for releasing this vastly important information with the intent of ushering in a new paradigm in research and providing real help for countless suffering children and adults. She's written a couple of books. I think a couple books. One was called, If Naturopaths are Quacks, Then I Guess I'm a Duck and Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance Protocol.
Dr. Young, welcome to Healthy Talk.
DR. YOUNG: Hi. Thank you.
DR. MIKE: Dr. Young, I don't think you're a duck.
DR. YOUNG: You know, what's so funny is people calling you something for a length of time, it's like, I may as well own this. You know?
DR. MIKE: Right? I love it, good for you. Just roll with it right? Yes, that's great. Listen, I'm going to start off... I do this, I don't know, Dr. Young, every maybe twenty shows or so. I do have some autism expert come on. I've had medical doctors on, I've had psychiatrists, psychologists, naturopaths.
I mean, I've had research scientists and I usually like to ask them one thing. I kind of put you on the spot, but don't freak out. I just like to see what the experts' opinions are. We've seen obviously a substantial increase in the diagnosis of autism, autism spectrum disorders. Listen, let's both agree right now: it's multifactorial, but if there was one thing out there, one thing that you think is the main culprit behind all this, what, in your opinion, is it?
DR. YOUNG: Diet. Our diet has so vastly changed over time. You know, it used to be that people...It's funny because you hear people talk about eating health food or eating organic food or eating those kinds of foods and, you know, our parents just called it food because everything was organic. My mom and I were actually just discussing that because...
DR. MIKE: They didn't have those categories, right?
DR. YOUNG: Right. Exactly. We were talking about that and when you look at the meteoric rise of autism--and not only of autism, but all kind of neurological issues-- what's considered to be kind of psychological issues, you know, like schizophrenia and bi-polar and things like that. These are all categorically meteoric rises. When you really look at it, the only thing that we all have in common is that we eat. You know, because some people, you know, that live up on top of a mountain or I've had tons of people come up to me that were eating all organics food, you know, all unprocessed food and all of that, but their kid still had autism.
DR. MIKE: Dr. Young, I'll tell you. I mean, I really don't know how many autistic experts I've had on the show. You're probably maybe the sixth or seventh one and they all either say toxins or diet, right? When you look at underdeveloped countries or developing countries that don't quite have the industry that we do, they actually have cleaner food in some cases, maybe not as much, but cleaner food. You don't see the brain disorders, the mood disorders, the autistic disorders like you do in the west.
DR. YOUNG: Yes, that's very true. Very true. And then when you look at areas that are extremely developed then you get the autism rise. Diet, I think, is amazing. I think environmental toxicity has something to do with it as well. Like you said, it's never one thing. It's always the perfect storm but I do feel that that is the main one.
DR. MIKE: So, and you talk a lot about...maybe I should rephrase that...You've written about iron and manganese, right? So, tell us about that connection there.
DR. YOUNG: Okay. Iron and manganese share the same receptor side in the brain, so they're supposed to be balanced. You know, if you think about it like musical chairs, the iron is in 5 of the seats and the manganese is in 5 of the seats and that's how it's supposed to be but when people are eating too much phytate in their diets--phytates come from grains primarily.
So, most of the stuff that people would eat for breakfast like, you know, toast or waffles or pancakes or something like that, those are going to be loaded with phytates. What the phytate does, is it chelates out the iron that you're eating for the day. So, it basically erases any of the iron that you're taking in. So, those iron receptor sites, that are supposed to be balanced with the manganese, are now open because you're not absorbing any iron. The manganese gets into those open receptor sites and causes extreme sensory overload. So, this is where the symptoms come from.
DR. YOUNG: Interesting. Let me ask you this. Let me back up for a second, though, doctor because...So you were talking about...so, there's stuff in grains called phytates. Correct?
DR. YOUNG: Correct.
DR. MIKE: And these compounds, in a sense, chelate out the iron. So, is this why, sometimes...and more and more, I should say, even as a medical doctor, when I look at basic bloodwork of adults, for instance, because they are eating more grains and stuff, I'm starting to see more and more...Literally, over the past five years, let's say, more and more slight iron deficiency anemias. Is there a connection there? Because that's been written up in some journals before. It's interesting.
DR. YOUNG: Well, I hear it all the time with the kids, they say "Oh, my kid is so anemic. He's so low in iron. We give him tons of iron supplements, but he never seems to get his iron levels up" because the phytates will chelate not only iron that's in food, but iron that's in a vitamin. So, it's almost impossible when you're eating grains to get your iron up.
DR. MIKE: You gave a name to this. There's a certain syndrome, correct? In your book? What's the name of that?
DR. YOUNG: We call it the Menefe syndrome, Mn for manganese and Fe for iron, indicating that balance, but it's a new name, but it's not science. You know, I have found research going back to, gosh, the 1960s--a lot of research--but this goes all the way back. High manganese, or manganism, was actually diagnosed right around 1900s as being a problem.
An English physician found that local manganese miners had a lot of issues that, you know, ataxia, bad memory, nightmares. You know, all these sort of symptoms that they were having and attached it to the high manganese but at the end of all of these research...If you look at the No Harm Foundation website, we've got science, all kinds of cases, but at the end of all of these it says, "Well, these need more research," but nobody actually ever did it. So, when I started looking at high manganese, there's plenty of science to look at.
DR. MIKE: So, in your treatment experience, if we correct that imbalance...Id we, you know, going back to your analogy of the musical chairs, right? If we get five irons and five manganese, what's the result? What's the outcome that we see in kids with autism?
DR. YOUNG: It erases the symptoms. That's why the book is called, Erasing Autism. I know I use metaphors a lot, but it helps when you're working with this as many people as I do. If you break your arm, you put a cast on your arm and then the arm heals inside of the cast and then you take the cast off and the arm is healed. That's what we're doing with this diet.
The kids are--well, and adults too--are dealing with these symptoms, so we give them this diet which gets the manganese out of the chairs and gets iron into the one that it's supposed to and it erases the problem.
So, if you look in the book, there's 26 cases on it and I tried very hard to make it go across the entire autism spectrum so that people would understand that we're not just talking about autism here, we're also talking about ADD, OCD, you know, all of those kinds of things. When you take away what is causing these high sensory overloads and causing the symptoms, then it very often takes away all of the symptoms.
DR MIKE: So the book is Erasing Autism: The Spectrum Balance Protocol and we're going to talk more specifics about that protocol coming up. The website is noharmfoundation.org. Her name is Dr. Shauna Young. Stick around.
This is Healthy Talk on Radio M.D.
I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Is there a link between the amount of vitamin D in your system and your risk for obesity?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht3a.mp3
- Featured Speaker Mike Smith, MD
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 13, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Anti-aging and disease prevention radio is right here, on RadioMD. Here's author, blogger, lecturer and national media personality, Dr. Michael Smith, M.D. with Healthy Talk.
DR MIKE: So, a new study coming out of the University of Puerto Rico shows that vitamin D status is inversely associated with obesity. Pretty simple, if vitamin D levels are up, obesity levels go down. Are you taking vitamin D? Are you taking it every day? Do you know your blood level is for vitamin D? Everybody—Well, I wouldn't say everybody, but most people--they know cholesterol, they know sugar levels for the most part, but so many people don't know vitamin D levels. I was doing a lecture a couple years ago and I don't know, there was about maybe 200 people in the auditorium I asked them, I said, "How many of you know your cholesterol level?" and gosh, maybe two-thirds, if not more, raised their hand. "Okay, put your hands down. How many of you know your vitamin D level?" Maybe 10 hands went up—15, maybe, at the most.
We must reverse that trend. You know, I talk about vitamin D all the time and why do I? Because it's one of the few micronutrients that has thousands of studies on it. Laboratory studies, animal studies, human studies showing benefits literally from your head to your toes, inside out, skin, organs, blood vessels, white cells red cells, hormone production, bones, joints, ligaments, muscle, nerves. I mean, I think you get the picture. Take vitamin D. Let me go through this study first and then I'm going to go what I think is the appropriate dose. We'll talk a little bit about vitamin D2 versus vitamin D3 and what is an optimal blood level.
So, this study was published in Obesity Fitness and Wellness. Oh, I'm sorry. This was a report. I take that back. This is a report written up in Obesity Fitness and Wellness, May 4, 2015, and it comes from preliminary findings out of the University of Puerto Rico. Studies show that vitamin D status is associated to obesity, but data in Hispanic individuals is scarce.
So, this was specifically looking, obviously, at the Hispanic people, but it extrapolates to all of us. The aim of this study was to assess the association between vitamin D status in obesity in a clinic-based sample in Puerto Rico. The researchers hypothesized that subjects with a higher body fat percentage would have a lower vitamin D status. The researchers' understanding was that the vitamin D has a link to metabolism. There is a vitamin D receptor on every single cell in your body, including thyroid. Including fat cells. So, when vitamin D level is higher, you're managing energy better. Your metabolism is better. They understand that. So, their hypothesis is very simple. If you're overweight, your vitamin D level is low.
So, they extracted data from medical records from a private clinic. I don't know how many clinics there were, but they look at age, gender, vitamin D levels, blood levels, weight, height and waist circumference. They also checked body mass index. Waist- height ratio is all important, by the way. BMI is kind of the standard in these kinds of studies looking at weight and stuff, but I like to see more and more studies looking at waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, waist to height ratio. Those give us a little more information about overall health, much more than the BMI. So, they looked at all the important stuff. They had 797 people, average age was around 60-ish, about pretty even split between men and women.
A little over 35% were overweight. Almost 44% were obese. This is a random sampling of 797 people from Puerto Rico. I mean, that's not good. So, you have about 35% overweight and 44% obese. Then, they looked at the serum vitamin D level. The average was 44.7 and 5.3% of the subjects in the studies had levels less than 12 ng per ML. That's dangerously low. Almost about 31% had levels between 12-20 ng/ml that's significantly deficient and about close to 44% had levels between 21-30 ng/ml.
In my opinion, still deficient. Mean vitamin D blood levels were significantly higher than normal weight and overweight males compared to obese males and in overweight females compared to obese females. Levels were also higher in those with low risk compared to high risk of waist circumference and waist to height ratio. So, it's just inversely related.
The lower the vitamin D the greater the risk for someone being overweight and having some issues with other types of body composition markers like BMI and waist circumference. Pretty simple. A greater proportion of obese individuals, about 42%, were vitamin D deficient or insufficient compared to the normal weight and overweight individuals. According to the news editors that were reviewing this, the researchers concluded in this clinic-based sample of Puerto Rican adults, those with higher BMI, waist circumference and waist to height ratio had a significantly lower vitamin D status again confirming their hypothesis. Simply confirming the fact that what we know.
Vitamin D, is as I said, linked to every cell in your body, but also to fat cells. I've talked about this before, fat cells aren't just these cells that are just engorged with fat and they sit there. I mean, they do play a role with keeping heat in and adding some protection and that kind of stuff, but we have learned, just really in the past decade or so, that these fat cells, they're called adipocytes, they are metabolically active and the fatter and fatter they get, they have these mechanisms and that continues to build fat.
They communicate together, there's hormones that interact in them like leptin and adiponectin and there are enzymes like glycerol 3 phosphate dehydrogenase. These are active cells and they will get bigger and smaller based on things we do. Here we have a vitamin--t's really a hormone. Vitamin D is really a hormone, it's made in the skin, travels to other parts of the body It's the definition of a hormone, but whatever. Vitamin D interacts with these fat cells and helps them to communicate properly. It helps them to manage their energy better. In a sense, vitamin D helps fat cells become skinnier. Yes. That's what we want. We want skinny fat cells. Additional points from this research.
I found this really interesting because, right at the get-go they tell us the average vitamin D blood level...Let's see. Where was it? 24.7 ng/ml and that's the standard units they give us. 24.7 out of the 797 people from Puerto Rico. 24.7, in my opinion, is significantly deficient. So, the average person in this study is just deficient. You know, personally, I think, and you know, working at Life Extension, we've established an optimal range for vitamin D somewhere between 50-70 ng/ml and your average dose of about 400 international units. That's the dose that the AMA and the FDA support. That's not going to do it for you. To reach that 50-70 ng/ml, you definitely need to be at least 1000 units a day, if not 2000. So, get your blood level tested. We can. Life Extension doctors, give us a call. We can get you on the right dose. Vitamin D2 versus vitamin D3. Vitamin D2 ergocalciferol comes from plants, vitamin D3 cholecalciferol comes from animals. Both of them will boost your blood levels.
So, it's really just if you're a vegan or vegetarian D2 is fine. It doesn't really bother me. Just take vitamin D. Shoot for that 1000 maybe 2000 international units and get tested. It's more important to know vitamin D than cholesterol.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD.
This is Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht2e.mp3
- Featured Speaker Michael Smith, MD
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
You're listening to RadioMD. It's time to ask Dr. Mike on Healthy Talk. Call or email to ask your questions now. Email askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call 877-711-5211. The lines are open.
DR MIKE: So, I have a question about liquid vitamins and specifically, liquid vitamin D.
"I see that Life Extension published a study on the liquid vitamin D. Can you review it and is it best to take liquid formulation of all vitamins?"
Let's review this study first. We did publish this at Life Extension, so let's review this study on at least a liquid form of vitamin D and the result and then I'll answer the question about liquid formulations in general. So, again, at Life Extension we have a clinical research division and we did this study where we switched some people from a capsule form of vitamin D to a soft gel liquid formulation, a lipid-based formulation containing 5000 units of vitamin D3.
What we found with this liquid formulation was a 28.5% increase in vitamin D blood levels among healthy adults who had been taking 5000 units, international units, of a dry powder. So, just to kind of summarize it, again, when we switched the group of people from... which is probably the most common way people get vitamin D because most people don't take a stand-alone vitamin D, by the way. Most people take it within a multivitamin.
So ,whether it's in the dry powder of a multiple vitamin tablet or capsule or it's in its own vitamin D little capsule when you switch over, at least in our study when we switched over from the dry powder to the liquid form, the increase in vitamin D blood levels is incredibly significant--about 28%. The actual title of this study that we published was, "An Open Label Study to Evaluate the Effect of 5000 International Units of Vitamin D3 on Serum 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D Levels Among Healthy Adults", and we presented this at the Experimental Biology Scientific Conference in Boston at the end of March. So, our scientists...We have a doctor or director of clinical research Dr. Hirsch, Dr. Huber, Dr. Schmidt, Dr. Joel, who is our chief medical officer, they all were involved in this and the results, I think, quite honestly surprised all of them. It surprised me when they showed me the results.
So, that's a pretty significant jump. I mean, you're talking about a 28% improvement in blood levels in vitamin D just by going to a liquid formulation. So, again, based on this one study, it looks like we need to look more into a liquid formulation, or at least maybe the fat soluble vitamins. Back to the other question, though, does this mean we should be taking liquid forms of all the vitamins? Is it the liquid form that allows better absorption of these micronutrients? I say that sometimes just so my listeners know.
A macronutrient that's your carbs, your fat. The micronutrient are the vitamins and minerals and antioxidants oils, that kind of stuff. So, in this case, you know, it does seems that at least with vitamin D, the liquid form is better, but does that mean that all liquid formulations are better? Because that's the next part of this question. Is it best to take a liquid formulation of all vitamins? I just don't have the answer to that. I think that it is probably more individual.
I mean, I've been taking a dry powder multivitamin and I know it works well for me. How do I know that? Well, the best way to know whether you are absorbing a multivitamin, whether it's liquid or powder form, is your urine. You don't have to test it, just look at it. If you're doing a multivitamin and there are B vitamins in that multivitamin--and there should be--your urine should look quite yellow even kind of neon yellowish.
It should be quite bright. That's a good sign, you know. Some people make the mistake and say "Oh, if you take a multivitamin, you're just creating expensive urine" Well, that's not true. You actually are getting the metabolites and the leftover stuff into your urine. That means you are absorbing it. That means the nutrients are going from your gut to your bloodstream, then your cells use them. Then the metabolites, the wastes from all that, eventually make it out to your urine. One of the wastes, by the way, are the B vitamin pigments. B vitamins have a natural very yellowish orangish type pigment and you see that in your urine. For me, I take a powdered form of a multivitamin and my urine is quite bright yellow after I'm done taking it.
So, to me that means I'm absorbing those nutrients pretty well. So, for me, I think a powder is fine. Also, I take a powder vitamin D and my blood levels are awesome, so it works for me. I'm not going to make the switch, but if you're having some issues, if you take a multivitamin and it's a powder form and your urine's not changing... Another way to tell if the multivitamin is working is to look at your nails and hair. Is it improving a little bit? That's a good sign it's working. If not, maybe you do need to switch over to another formulation like a liquid form. So, I think on this one study, in general, liquid forms of at least the fat soluble vitamins are probably better. Does that mean you have to switch over to all liquid forms? No. I think that really has to be looked at on a case-by-case basis and the best place to start is your urine.
Okay. My next question comes from a listener, her name is Anne. She's asking:
"Can you list the top three or four supplements for diabetes?"
These are always hard questions. So, when I first answered this question for Anne, here's what I wrote down. I just started writing. I wrote down lipoic acid, chromium, cinnamon, soluble fibers. Lipoic acid, the best form is R-lipoic acid.
I don't want to get into Alpha lipoic acid versus R-lipoic acid, but R- lipoic acid is the best form. Lipoic acid helps with insulin sensitivity. It's also an important antioxidant that protects from the high level of oxidative stress that sugar causes. So, it helps to protect cells and tissue from excess sugar. Chromium, classic, classic mineral that improves sugar metabolism. Cinnamon, same thing. With cinnamon, it needs to be water based, water soluble, whole cinnamon has oils in it that kind of disrupt the normal water-based nutrients that give you the sugar benefit. So, if you're going to do an extract of cinnamon, it needs to be water-based. Soluble fibers, these are fibers that are able to kind of just soak up fats and sugar more. They form these gels in your gut so it decreases sugar absorption.
A lot of great research on one called propolmannan. I think that's probably one of the top-of-the-line soluble fibers out there, propolmannan. So, those are the four, Anne, that I wrote down, just without thinking, just right off the top of my head. Of course, I forgot some key ones. Green tea extract is good, green coffee bean extract with chlorogenic acid is awesome for many different reasons. Sorghum bran and phlorizin, which comes from apple root. White kidney bean extract, brown... I mean there's so many more that I could I could list, but I guess, you know, Anne, I just have to stick with what I wrote down first. Lipoic acid, chromium, cinnamon, soluble fiber, propolmannan.
You know, you're asking this question, so I don't know if you have diabetes or a family member has diabetes. Something else that is helpful is eating a protein snack at night like egg, nuts, stuff like that. Protein at night controls sugar in the morning, so that's a good tip for you. Alright, there you go, hope that helps.
This is Healthy Talk on Radio M.D.
I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - 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/1520ht2d.mp3
- Featured Speaker Michael Smith, MD
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
It's time for you to be a part of the show e-mail or call in with questions for Dr. Mike now. E-mail ask Dr. Mike Smith at radio MD.com or call 877 711 5211. What are you waiting for? The doctor is in.
DR MIKE: So, this first question is from a listener who apparently has a daughter who is taking finals and she says:
"With finals coming up, I don't want my daughter taking things like No Doz to stay up. What can she take for energy that's safe and lasting?"
See, I remember No Doz. For those of you... I don't even know if it's still out there, No Doz was very, very popular in the 80s and 90's. It's basically just pure caffeine. I mean high, high dose, you know, 200 mg 300 mg I don't remember. I remember once taking No Doz and, a lot of it, I remember cleaning my dorm or at that point I was in an apartment, but cleaning the apartment, doing laundry and not studying.
So, I got some house cleaning stuff done that definitely needed to get done but I didn't do any studying. Yes, and it's not good, obviously. Come on, we don't want to be giving kids that. Just have them drink some coffee. That would probably be a little bit better.
So, what can she take, though, for lasting energy. I want to mention, I could list out some things for you, for your daughter and they're just suggestions, I can't tell you what to do. I think, when it comes to the natural energy boosters, the lasting energy, you can't just take these things the night you're studying. I mean, you might feel a little energy, but it's not like 300 mg of caffeine, that's for sure. It's better to take these things over a period of time and build up your ATP production.
You'll just have more energy in general. You're sleeping better. When you do the natural supplements for cell energy and overall energy. You just function better, including sleep. I know it sounds weird, but you do. You sleep better. Your overall outlook is better. So, maybe what you need to do with your daughter is get her on these things over the summer, get her energy levels up through good ATP production and that will send her off into the next semester. You can try, though, I mean it's not going to hurt, you can start CoQ10--ubiquinol CoQ10. If she's never done it before 50 mg, 100 mg something like that.
Carnitine is an amino acid that helps to bring in the fats that you can burn better as energy. A good natural sweetener that's not a dietary sugar is called ribose, D-ribose. You can get it in powder and you can use that to sweeten the coffee. You get your caffeine from the coffee and the nice energy boost from this non-dietary sugar called D-ribose. It's very important for ATP production. D-ribose, by the way, was really popular in the industry a few years ago. I actually had some at my desk.
I don't know why I don't use it anymore, not for any specific reason and I haven't seen or heard too much about D-ribose recently, but it's good. Maybe coffee and D-ribose is the way to go. B-vitamins, B-12, under the tongue so you really absorb all that B-12—1 mg, 2 mg, 3mg something like that. That would be good. And then the other one, and I've talked about this combination before. It's a combination and it is a supplement product. It's a combination of cordyceps, which is a type of, let's just call it a mushroom, although it's not. Cordyceps are weird, but it's basically a mushroom type thing with fermented ginseng--not regular ginseng, but fermented ginseng. You can get more of these ginseng compounds and the cordyceps in ginseng also raise ATP. So, CoQ10.
Did I say carnitine? Yes. Carnitine, D-ribose, B-12, cordyceps and fermented ginseng. Of course, it's better to start those now and just do them all the time, right? Okay. Now, I do receive and you can send your email questions to, askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com. I love this part. Please send me your questions, vague as you want, detailed as you want.
But, you know, working at Life Extension as the senior scientist, we have a whole group of health advisors, we're one of the few companies that does this. You can call in to a Life Extension health advisor and ask anything you want, about lab work, supplements, nutrients--whatever. We have doctors and naturopathic doctors and chiropractors and fitness trainers. We have herbal specialists. I mean, it's an amazing group. So, and I get some of my questions from them and there's been a couple of questions recently about some studies that were published and so I wanted to use this to review some of those.
This first question is really not a question. This person is asking--this is a Life Extension customer asking the health advisor, now me, to discuss a certain study and here's what they wrote:
"Please review the study that showed people taking a multivitamin had a reduced risk of stroke. Nowhere in the mainstream media is this being reviewed. Thanks, Nate"
Yes. We always hear about when the supplement study has a negative result. You don't ever hear about the positive benefits of a supplement. I mean, we dealt with this recently. The headline at Fox and CNN was something like "supplements may actually increase cancer risk". Well, first of all, it wasn't supplements. It was synthetic beta carotene and synthetic vitamin-E, which we already knew. It was a rehash of older studies, but the point being, that those negative results, man, the media picks that stuff up like crazy. Nate's right, you don't see those positive studies. So, this came from March 31, 2015, so really recent. It was published in the American Heart Association Journal, Stroke, and it revealed a reduction in stroke deaths among older users of multivitamin supplements. I mean, this is important because this is The American Heart Association.
This is one of their key journals, Stroke, that's peer reviewed. I mean, this is top of the line stuff and here they have a study showing a multivitamin reduced stroke risk, stroke deaths and no one talks about it. This study included 72,000 men—a little over 70,000 men and women between the ages of 40 and 79 and they were enrolled in what was called the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study, which was designed to evaluate the effects of lifestyle habits on health. Dietary questionnaires administered at the beginning of the study collected information on multivitamin use and other data. Listen, I've said this before and I'll say that even for a positive study dietary questionnaires are inherently problematic, let's just say. We never draw ultimate, absolute conclusions from surveys or questionnaires, whether the results are positive or negative.
In this case, this was as dietary questionnaire asking about multivitamin use and they show that those taking the multivitamin had a reduced risk of stroke and stroke death. I'm not going to say it's absolute because this is a questionnaire. We have to be fair and unbiased as much as we can. Subjects were followed for almost 20 years, during which there were 1,148 deaths from ischemic stroke and 877 deaths caused by hemorrhagic stroke and 62 unspecified stroke deaths. 13% of the subjects reported multivitamin use.
So, then they did this thing called "adjusted risk of overall mortality", meaning they factor out confounding factors in this and what they found is that multivitamin users had a 13% lower risk of stroke and stroke death than non-users and the risk of dying from ischemic stroke was 20% lower. I mean, that's pretty awesome.
Again, it's a questionnaires and survey type studies, especially when they're retrospective, when they're looking back at a cohort of people and you kind of data mine a little bit, you can't draw definitive conclusions. So, I'm not going to give you some crazy headline like "Multivitamins reduced stroke, absolutely". No, no, no. There's a cool association between multivitamin use and the reduction of stroke and stroke death. We need to study this more in a prospective, randomized trial. That would be awesome.
Thanks, Nate for bringing this to my attention. This is Healthy Talk on Radio M.d.
I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
What message can you give to people who've just been diagnosed with cancer?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht2c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Bill Aron, PhD
- Book Title New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors
-
Guest Bio
Bill Aron, PhD, is an internationally renowned photographer and author. Aron's photographs have been exhibited in major museums and galleries internationally including the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center for Photography, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
His books include From the Corners of the Earth, Shalom Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South and his latest book New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.
Aron lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons, where he is quite possibly the only photographer with a PhD in sociology (from the University of Chicago). -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Healthy talk with Doctor Michael Smith MD and now, here's the country doctor with a city education, Dr. Mike. Anti-aging and disease preventing radio is right here on radio M.D. Here's author, blogger, lecturer and national media radio personality, Dr. Michael Smith M.D. with Healthy Talk.
DR MIKE: Now, you've seen the challenge of cancer, new beginnings, in speaking with Bill Aron he's a PhD. He's a renowned photographer and author. He's been in many museums with his art work and he wrote a book titled, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.
Bill, welcome to Healthy Talk.
DR. BILL: Thank you Dr. Mike. It's good to be here.
DR. MIKE: Thank you for coming on. So, you mentioned, too, before we started, the website you have is, Bill Aron and that's Aron with one R. BillAron.com
DR. BILL: One A. One R. yeah.
DR. MIKE: I'm sorry, one A, you're right. You know, it's funny, Bill. I had a friend, his name is Aaron Bartenstein, when I was growing up in California, and he spelled his name with two A's. Is that the more common way of doing it? I don't know.
DR. BILL: It is much more common
DR. MIKE: So, Bill Aron, with one A dot com. Is the book available at that site?
DR. BILL: No, the book is available at Amazon and if people send me a message, I can send them a book. I think it's much easier to get it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble or even their local bookstore.
DR. MIKE: Okay, awesome. So if you want the book, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors, go check it out on Amazon and then if you want to just learn more about Bill and his story BillAron.com At the break, we were talking about better outcomes. We are improving outcomes, people are surviving cancer. The cancer deaths continue to drop and there's probably honestly a lot of reasons for that, early diagnosis, better treatment but what do you think? I asked you the question, and I'm asking this to you just from your own experience, you know, writing the book. If we did a better job of helping people with the emotional pain, especially after what we call post treatment, do you think we could even do a better job with outcome?
DR. BILL: I think the psychological states definitely affect a person's quality of life and I think that's what we can help people with. Whether or not a good quality of life, a sense of peace, a sense of being centered affects the outcome of the disease, we don't know that, but we do know that a person's quality of life is affected. They feel much better and they can enjoy moving forward with their lives. Let me also say that New Beginnings is about this question, not about the diseases that we call cancer, but it's about the psychological states that a person goes through and dealing with their cancer.
DR. MIKE: What is it that you want to, based on that, what was your goal? Was it to highlight some of those psychological phases? What's your goal with the book? I mean, what are you hoping somebody really takes out of it?
DR. BILL: Well, with cancer, it's not that they're cured anymore. It's learning to live with cancer and that's a very different mindset and many people need help to figure out how. Most people arrive at a sense of a new normal, a sense of a new beginning. Becca Gifford, one of the people in the book who was diagnosed at age 22, she said that "Life is so much more than traditional success. It's about joy, about living our soul's purpose and about contributing to the greater good." I live every moment with that in mind. When treatment's over, many people, including survivors themselves, feel, "That okay. Life can get back to normal now."
And that's the expectation and survivors, I believe, go through this transition of realizing that there is no more old normal; that they have to develop a new normal. And once they accept this then they can move forward with their lives. Some people change careers, most reorder their priorities, some people just reaffirm that the path they've chosen is the right one for them. Other people change their lifestyles making it more healthy, but what most people do, and I think this is crucial, they explore ways to give back to the cancer organization, to the cancer community. Some visit treatment centers and just sit and hold people's hands others raise money. Some found survivor organizations. Some reach out to others who have been diagnosed and some even feel that they're living for those people they had known who had died and their motivation is the belief that they could make a difference.
DR. MIKE: That's really interesting. Knowing what you've gone through, the amazing people that you met obviously writing this book, this idea about helping others getting involved with support groups, would you make that suggestion to somebody who is just getting into that post treatment phase? Is that something you encourage them to look into it immediately or does everybody kind of have to go through their own process here? Like, there's no absolute way of helping through that emotional pain.
DR. BILL: I think people need to move at their own pace. When I speak to people who have been diagnosed, I try and figure out where they are and I wouldn't make suggestions. I think the most important thing in speaking to people who have been diagnosed is just to listen, sit and hold their hand. They don't need to be told what to do but when they're ready and they ask "Well, how do I move forward? What do I do?" At that point, I think it's very useful to suggest things. People talk about angels in the book. Angels are people that they define as people who come to you at your worst time of life, and they help you. One person even said that the goal of his life is now to become someone else's angel.
DR. MIKE: That's awesome.
DR. BILL: Tiffany Grazi had this amazing experience where she totally broke down in treatment when she was getting chemo. She felt lousy, she was crying. What she described as this beautiful woman, came over and was also in treatment, sat down next to her and just held her hand. And they became best friends and they had all their treatments together, they talked, they shared stories and this other woman, who Tiffany described as "her angel", didn't make it. She passed away and Tiffany says that she felt that she had a duty to teach what this angel had taught her: "to listen to others and not to my pain. Be kind, not selfish. Everyone is battling something. I realize that I am not a lone soldier". I think in other words, being with someone combats, what it works at doing is, it lets the person know that they're not alone and that's the first step.
DR. MIKE: That's probably really important to the person who was just diagnosed because let's be honest, Bill. There's probably a couple of my listeners who probably just got diagnosed with cancer. How important is it for that person, who's listening to now, to get connected quickly with a support group or with what you're calling an "angel"? I mean, for you that seemed to be a very important part of your journey. Is that something you encourage all people when they're diagnosed with cancer to do? To reach out?
DR. BILL: Yes, I think it's the first step in developing the new normal, and that's a good way to put it, to find out that they're not alone.
DR. MIKE: Bill, we're going to have to leave it there. The website, BillAron.com. The book, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors. Go check it out on Amazon. This is Healthy Talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
What's the best way you can deal with your cancer-induced emotional and physical pain?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Bill Aron, PhD
- Book Title New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors
-
Guest Bio
Bill Aron, PhD, is an internationally renowned photographer and author. Aron's photographs have been exhibited in major museums and galleries internationally including the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center for Photography, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
His books include From the Corners of the Earth, Shalom Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South and his latest book New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.
Aron lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons, where he is quite possibly the only photographer with a PhD in sociology (from the University of Chicago). -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Living longer and staying healthier, it's Healthy Talk with Dr. Michael Smith,, MD. Here's your host, Dr. Mike:
DR MIKE: When it comes to a scary diagnosis, heart disease, Alzheimer's, I like to, during my show, cover the science of those diseases. I like to cover the treatments. I think that's important to keep my listeners, to keep me, to keep Life Extension customers, up today in all that good science, but I also like to talk about people. You know, the people who have gone through the diagnosis, the treatment. People that survived, who are doing well from these treatments and I think we can learn so much from them. My guest wrote a book that is titled, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors. His name is Dr. Bill Aron.
He's an internationally renowned photographer and author his photographs have been in, really, just about every major museum and gallery throughout the world. Really. He's been in the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center for Photography, the Chicago Art Institute, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, so just well-known and I just find it really interesting that he chooses to write a book about cancer survivors.
Bill Aron, welcome to Healthy Talk.
DR. BILL: Thank you, Dr. Mike, it's good to be here.
DR. MIKE: Sorry for that long introduction, but I thought it was important to let my listeners know that; to learn about people's personal stories people who have actually survived, especially, in this case, the dreaded cancer diagnosis. I think we learn a lot from them. What was your inspiration for all of this?
DR. BILL: When I was diagnosed with cancer, I was, of course, devastated, as most people are. The reaction of fear is usually followed by a sense of feeling all alone. I felt alienated, estranged from the world. I could be in a room full of people. In truth, I knew intellectually that everybody had some problem they were working on, but I felt like I was totally alone and separate and Susan Sontag action has a wonderful phrase that she uses in her book about being sick with a serious disease. She wrote that a sick person is transported to another country, separate and distinct from the land of the healthy and I was angry. I felt like I had failed my body. Rabbi Ed Feinstein, who's one of the participants in the book, had this to say and I think it's a really profound thought for people who have a serious illness cancer and other, "The way of healing is to balance the loss and fear and rage with a sense of gratitude. When they balance, we are whole; when they are not, we are cured." And so these 120 survivors, they became my teachers.
DR. MIKE: That's awesome, Bill.
DR. BILL: I went to a support group called the Cancer Support Community in West Los Angeles. During one of the sessions, another survivor said to me "You know, cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me" and it was just like this, you know, it was not an epiphany, but it was total disbelief. It was the opposite, I guess, of an epiphany and I felt, "How could that be?" Cancer's the worst thing. Then, I began to speak with other people and I found out that this is not an uncommon thought and I wanted to explore this and that was really the birth of the idea for this book.
DR. MIKE: Interestingly, Bill, you mention something that I want to talk about a little bit more. You said that you were angry at yourself in a sense, that you let your body down. Is that a way that common cancer patients feel? Because I felt, even just being a doctor, listening and talking to cancer patients, that often what they say are things like "How did this happen to me?" You know, it's almost like they're putting blame. If they believe in God or they're putting their blame away from themselves, but you kind of internalized that a little bit. Is that common?
DR. BILL: Yes, I think so. I did and hat lead to terrible depression. You know, we do as much as we can to stay healthy and there's always more to do, of course, and I felt like I had...It's difficult to articulate, but I felt like, you know, my body is sort of like a temple and that I just did not worship. I just did not take care of it and there's an analogous part to this and that was after my surgery, I felt damaged. What I find is people internalize their diagnoses in various ways. Mine was, as I said, to feel guilty about it, but most people, especially those who lose a body part or an organ, they feel as though they're damaged goods and they go to somebody...
DR. MIKE: This is interesting, though, because you just taught me something as a physician. You know, I don't practice anymore, I'm a teacher now. I'm very blessed to be doing shows like this and talking to people like you, Bill, but I, obviously, I have friends, family members. Cancer continues to increase in certain populations. I mean, I'm still doing it, right? I think what's interesting about this from that very sterile, analytical, medical doctor position, I would almost want to deal with someone's physical pain from the cancer rather than emotional, for everything you said so far has been very emotionally based. You haven't said anything about the physical part of it. I mean, do doctors need to focus more on the emotional pain? I mean, obviously, the physical pain has to be dealt with, but I don't think we're addressing this enough with people.
DR. BILL: I think it's a really good point. I've identified four stages of cancer with the 120 people. There is of course, the terrible diagnosis. Then there is the agony; need of treatment and that is very painful. Doctors, I think, do a great job of helping people through that, but then when treatment's over, that's what one of the survivors in the book, Kim Lin, describes as the silent stage. In other words, after that diagnosis and after the treatment, it's a very busy time of life. There are treatment appointments, doctor appointments. People call up to find out how you are and then, all of a sudden, when treatments over, there's a total silence. It's anomic silence and the survivors are left with the feeling of "What's next?" The point that you made about the physical pain? Physical pain is temporary and when it's over, it's over; or, once it's on a low-level it can be, but the emotional pain is more lasting and there are more people surviving and many people have to figure out what to do and how to move forward.
DR. MIKE: Well, you're right, people are surviving cancer at a higher rate, which is awesome. We're getting people past that initial treatment, that post-treatment phase and you mentioned there's this silence. Do you think, based on your research and talking to these cancer survivors that if we did a better job of helping people through the emotional pain post-treatment that we could actually impact outcome better?
DR. BILL: I don't know.
DR: MIKE: I'll tell you what, Bill. Do this, hold that thought and we'll come back to that question and then we'll get more into the 120 cancer survivors.
This is Healthy Talk on Radio M.D.
I'm Dr. Mike. Stay Well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
A recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology gives some new hope for celiac sufferers.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1520ht2a.mp3
- Featured Speaker Michael Smith, MD
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Living longer and staying healthier. It's Healthy Talk with Dr. Michael Smith, M.D. Here's your host, Dr. Mike.
DR. MIKE: So, I want to discuss a potential cure for celiac disease. Some of you may find it kind of disgusting and it is a little bit, but it seems to work. So, I'm going to have to explain what it is. It's a treatment using the parasitic hookworm. Yes, a parasite, a worm may be the potential cure for celiac disease. Now it's important, let me make the distinction right now, I'm not talking about gluten sensitivities. I'm talking about the true autoimmune condition that affects over, oh, maybe about 2% of the world's population--definitely over 1%. This is where if you have celiac disease, your body produces antibodies that create quite a robust overstimulated immune response to gluten.
This causes a lot of damage and inflammation to the gut lining. Celiac disease has been associated with type II diabetes and multiple sclerosis. As a matter of fact, in 2013, the journal Nutrients wrote a great article on the potential link to colon cancer with celiac disease. So, that's what I'm talking about here. Really, the only therapy here, the only treatment for celiac, is to avoid gluten completely. I think most of you know that it is almost impossible to do that nowadays. I mean, gluten is in everything.
That's why it is important, if you have celiac disease, to eat fresh food. You have to know what you're cooking with. It's hard to even go out. You know, you really have to trust the restaurant. If they say, "This is gluten free," you really have to trust them. So really, the only way to treat celiac disease right now is to avoid gluten, which is tough and getting tougher. So, I want to share with you this report.
Now, if you want to read the full report , my friend, Maylin Paez, from Life Extension wrote about this. You can go check this out at blog.lifeexension.com. She pulled this from an Australian research center. They published the results in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, a great peer-reviewed journal.
They looked at 12...Now, okay it's a small amount, right? It's hypothesis generating. We're not going to draw any definite conclusions. That's why I called it a potential cure. Scientists from Australia recruited 12 people with celiac disease and gave each individual 20 hookworm larvae to ingest. I know this is making some of you squeamish. So, 20 hookworm larvae over a period of 22 weeks. Varied amounts of gluten were given to participants and this is an interesting set up. They did a really good job of exposing the subjects to gluten at different doses over an extended period of time.
So-- and this is important--they used different sources for gluten. So that's also important. So, this is a small, but well-designed study. For 12 weeks, after ingesting the hookworms, some of them were given 10 to 50 mg of gluten for 12 weeks and then they switched over to 25 mg a day, plus one gram twice weekly for 12 weeks and then they went to three grams a day using different types of pasta for two weeks. So, they did a really good job of varying up the dose of gluten and the source of gluten. Blood and tissue samples were taken to examine their response to therapy.
Now, of the 12 only eight completed the trial. So, again, we don't have any conclusive evidence here. It's what we call a pilot study. So, only eight actually completed the trial. Tests measuring gluten toxicity showed improvement overall. The participants reacted well to gluten and the hookworm therapy. By the end of the trial participants were able to eat the equivalent of a bowl of spaghetti symptom-free. Now, you have to understand, for somebody with celiac disease, the thought of eating a bowl of spaghetti makes them want to fall over and faint. There's just no way.
So, the fact that after this study, after being given the hookworms, they were given a bowl of spaghetti, or the equivalent of the amount of gluten in a bowl of spaghetti, without any symptoms. That's major. That's a major accomplishment. They go on to say here, samples of intestinal tissue-- because that's important, too. In celiac disease, there's a definite change in the mucosal lining of the gut. So, you want to see if there's any improvement in some of those classic celiac changes in the gut. Samples of intestinal tissues showed beneficial changes. T cells, immune cells, changed from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory. That's awesome!
They also started noticing a decrease overall in what is called denuding of the gut lining, meaning the gut lining started to kind of fill itself in in areas where there were problems. Larger trials definitely are needed to confirm the benefits of hookworm therapy. What do you think? Hookworms? How is this working? What do you think the mechanism of action is? That was the first thing. I thought, "What's going on here?" No one knows what's going on here, but here's the thought: In countries that are developing, or even just underdeveloped countries, especially in the tropics, parasitic infections with worms are not that uncommon, in particular with hookworms. They come from water, often fecal/oral routes. You drink some contaminated water, you wash your dishes with contaminated water. It's quite common.
And I don't have percentages, but I remember learning about these different parasites in medical school and hookworm is just incredibly common and most people just have a few larvae. They don't grow too much. They don't divide too much or they don't make too many hookworms, if you will, and there are a lot of people who have hookworm infections or parasitic infections and they don't even really know it and they can have it most of their lives.
The theory is this: the hookworm itself -- and we already know this because you can show this in petri dishes -- the hookworms produce proteins that breakdown inflammatory proteins in the gut. We already use that in the industry. We use enzymes. It's called enzymatic therapy, where I can give enzymes to customers, Life Extension members, and these enzymes will breakdown pro-inflammatory proteins in the blood and it will reduce chronic inflammation. So, we already know that. We already have this idea of enzymatic therapy to break down inflammatory proteins, and hookworms produce natural proteins that do that.
So, the thought is, in these countries where hookworm infections are ubiquitous, there's a certain amount of protection against high inflammation in the gut. There's a suppression of the immune system in the gut and you don't see things like celiac disease, even in the events where gluten ingestion is increasing. It's unfortunate that these diets that we follow, the Standard American Diet, (SAD) is making its way throughout the world. McDonald's, fast food joints, are popping up everywhere even in underdeveloped countries. So, these countries, where the traditional diet had probably very little gluten, it is increasing and you're still not seeing sensitivity to celiac disease like you see in the United States.
What's happened in Western countries and developed countries is, we've eradicated these parasitic infections, which sounds great. It is good overall, but we have no natural anti-inflammatories from these hookworms, in this instance, to protect us from this over response in gluten. So, we see higher instances of celiac disease. At least that's the theory.
So, the hookworm is, in a sense, an inflammatory and immunosuppressive for the gut lining and it protects against things like celiac disease. Very interesting. More research is needed. We'll have to follow this one. This is Healthy Talk on Radio M.D. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Waiver Received No
