Ask Dr. Mike: Link Between Hair Dye & Cancer, Fish Oil Supplements & More

Additional Info

• Segment Number: 5
• Audio File: healthy_talk/1509ht1e.mp3
• Organization: Life Extension
• Guest Website: Healthy Talk MD
• Transcription: RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: February 23, 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.
  
  I’m going to start off with, I think, the easier of the two questions I have for this segment. The first one is, “Are there some secrets to taking fish oils and not burping them up?” That, actually, is a big issue for people. So, there are some suggestions here if you take fish oil and you get that fishy, burpy aftertaste which is not very pleasant. It causes some people to have heartburn and even reflux issues, so the first thing you could try, I know companies are now manufacturing fish oil products with smaller soft gels. So, instead of taking maybe two large ones, you have to take four small ones. Simply by decreasing the size of each soft gel seems to help in some cases. You can also do enteric coated soft gels. Of course, the flipside to the enteric coated ones is the soft gel tends to be a little bit bigger. Another complaint that we hear a lot about with fish oils is that the soft gel is too big. So, when you enteric coat it, it becomes even thicker and bigger so you can try that, but if you have an issue with swallowing big pills, that may not be the best way for you.
  
  Here’s what I have found to be the easiest way to do this and to hand this so that it doesn’t disrupt the quality of the product in any single way and it’ perfectly safe to do this: to freeze them. Freeze the soft gel. Put your fish oil soft gels in the freezer. Yeah. For whatever reason,--and I have maybe some theories on why it helps--but it does. Freezing the soft gel allows, I think, the fat to get through the stomach into the small intestine where it dissolves, absorbs where it’s supposed to absorb and leaves the stomach alone and people feel better. So, you can try freezing them and that’s perfectly fine. It does not disrupt the quality of the polyunsaturated Omega-3 oil. Freezing your soft gels.
  
  Okay. Now listen, that’s for fish oil. That doesn’t mean you should go around freezing all of your stuff. We’re talking about fish oil specifically. It’s worked. We’ve looked at it here at Life Extension. It preserves the fat just fine, but that may not be true for all different types of soft gels out there. But when it comes to fish oils, you can freeze them. There you go. And that should help. Okay.
  Next question is about hair dyes. Alright. “If I dye my hair only on occasion is that safe? I read on Martha Stewart’s website that hair dye is linked to allergies and certain cancers.”
  
  Yeah, this is a good question. I wrote an article—it was a long time ago—on hair dyes and just kind of trying to review some of the literature as far as cancer goes. Now, the one cancer that does seem to have some association to hair dye use is bladder cancer. So, when you use hair dye a lot, there does seem to be a link to bladder cancer, but it’s not consistent. The literature is not consistent. I’m not drawing any absolute conclusions here, but I remember when I did my research for this, there were several studies looking at hair dye and bladder cancer risk and there was a decent association there. There are different chemicals in hair dye. No one really knows for sure which ones are causing the problems. One in particular is called “PPD”. It’s paraphenylenediamine. I’m not sure. I can’t remember the full name of it, but PPD. That’s usually how they list it on the label anyway. That’s the main compound that’s in these hair dyes and some people are thinking that might be the chemical we want to avoid. As a matter of fact, some hair dye manufacturers are making PPD-free hair dyes and that might be the better way to go. This one particular chemical, PPD, has been linked to allergies, which was part of the question here. When I was doing my research, that seemed to be the chemical most of the oncologists were concerned about with this bladder cancer association. Notice I’m saying “bladder cancer association”. Whether or not hair dyes is directly increasing the risk of bladder no one is willing to say that yet. So, we’re calling it an association. I went to the American Cancer Society and I pulled this up off of their website and I’m just going to read you the review they had about this:
  
  According to a review published in January 2013 in The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, the bulk of available data does not strongly support an association between hair dye use and bladder cancer among individuals in these professions.
  
  There was a segment above this summary here where they were talking about hair stylists for the most part.
  
  However, based on the results of a previous study that found a significant relationship between hair dye use and bladder cancer, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded in 2008 that working regularly with hair dyes in salons and barber shops probably increases the risk of bladder cancer in that long-term employment in these establishments is probably carcinogenic to humans. At the same time, the IARC, an arm of the World Health Organization, reported that there is not enough evidence to conclude that occasional, personal use of hair coloring raises the risk of any type of cancer.
  
  So, just to summarize that summary from the American Cancer Society, if you are working on a daily basis with this stuff and you’re being exposed to these chemicals like PPD on a daily basis—that’s your job—maybe there could be some risk. So, I would, if that’s you—if one of my listeners is a hair stylist, this is how you make your living, you’re constantly working with these dyes--I think you should protect yourself. As a matter of fact, when I developed in my book, The Supplement Pyramid, I have a cancer quiz in there and a couple of the questions are about professions. People working with paints and paint thinner and dyes--if you answered “yes” to that question, I gave you a few points on your cancer quiz. So, I think you should protect yourself. I think you should take supplements like cruciferous vegetable extracts, which can be very protective, even mushroom extracts like coriolus. Make sure you’re getting an ample amount of Vitamin D, a nice optimal level in your bloodstream. Vitamin D is extremely important. Making sure that you’re easing inflammation in your body with the Omega oils and curcumin. I think all that is important if you’re working with these types of dyes. The good news is, if you’re just using them on occasion, you’re not in one of those professions, maybe you even just got to a salon and you have someone do it for you and you’re not directly touching it, although it’s obviously getting on your scalp, but you’re not using the stuff on a daily basis like a salon specialist, in that case, according to the American Cancer Society, according to the IARC which is part of the World Health Organization, you should be okay. But if you definitely are working with this stuff on a daily basis, you probably want to be careful and increase your intake of, as I said, cruciferous vegetables, Vitamin D, curcumin, even some mushroom extracts.
  
  I have time, I think, for one quick one. “Can you really get nutrients from vitamins and nutrients from drinking the leftover water from boiling vegetables?”
  
  Yes, you can. As a matter of fact, that used to be a fad. I don’t know if people still do it in the industry, but when I started for Life Extension, I took some phone calls as a health advisor many, many years ago when I was just learning all about nutrition. Yeah. I remember coming across a lot of members that would drink the water that’s left over from boiling vegetables. Yeah. And, there’s some research showing that there are some leftover nutrients in there. So, sure. Go ahead. I don’t know if it’s going to taste great, but you can give it a try.
  
  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