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Train Your Body (438)
The show for fitness buffs or beginners. Expert guest from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) discuss all areas of fitness, nutrition, athletics and sports medicine.
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Staying Well (382)
RadioMD’s “talking” Health A-Z hosted by senior health correspondent, Melanie Cole, MS. Melanie interviews experts in the world of health, wellness, fitness and medicine.
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Healthy Talk w/ Dr. Michael Smith (698)
Integrative physician, Michael A. Smith, MD is committed to providing listeners with the most current health information available.
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Naturally Savvy (899)
Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Andrea Donsky and health expert Lisa Davis discuss their passion for living a natural, healthy lifestyle.
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Eat Right Radio (48)
EatRight Radio, with experts from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, discusses food and nutrition topics, healthy weight, allergies and health conditions, healthy aging, food safety and so much more. Give us 10-minutes and we'll give you the important information and expert advice from registered dietitian nutritionists to help you eat right, feel better, and live a healthier life. Hosted by Melanie Cole, MS.
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Sharecare Radio (235)
Sharecare Radio, hosted by Sharecare’s own Dr. Darria Long Gillespie, SVP of Clinical Strategy at Sharecare, will appear live every Tuesday from 12 to 1 p.m. EST on RadioMD. Dr. Darria will break down the top health news of the week, pull in experts from around the country on a wide array of health topics and answer listeners’ live questions on all things health.
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Wellness for Life (455)
On Wellness For Life Radio you will learn practical, easy-to implement tips to improve your life and start feeling better — the natural way.
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The Wizard of Eyes (163)
Dr. Robert Abel Jr. talks about many of the important and unrecognized parts of our visual system which we so often take for granted. The show covers the usual common ocular disorders with an East/West approach to both prevention and therapy. The eye-brain connection is presented with information about memory retention, Alzheimer's, the myopia epidemic, and many more subjects. Dr. Abel discusses how the eye and vision are connected with remote parts of the body including your gut flora, musculoskeletal system, blood pressure, drugs and lifestyle. practical and simple health tips.
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Code Delicious with Dr. Mike (135)
Code Delicious with Dr. Mike breaks all the rules. Unabashedly confronting the questions, concerns and conundrums that continually confuse both public and experts alike; Dr. Mike takes us on a tasty trip of inquiry.
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CLEAN Food Network (98)
This show is a call to action for all the clean eating revolutionaries that care about their health and how and what they eat. Non-GMO, natural, organic . . . food the way nature intended. The clean food movement is huge and is growing exponentially. This companion program talks to experts in food preparation, healthcare, celebrities, and even those companies that care enough to provide the best, wholesome, organic foods and groceries.
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Talk Healthy Today (213)
Looking to create your best self? Whether it’s good-for-you lifestyle hacks, smarter ways to supplement, or tasty tips to fuel optimal health, Talk Healthy Today brings you the latest research, tools, and common sense tips you need to get and stay healthy... starting today!
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Be a Doer (17)
Be A Doer features master coach and TV personality John Abdo as he shares health and fitness tips aimed at getting you in shape – and keeping you there!
View items...The Power of Probiotics (3)
Probiotics is a major global industry. But like any industry, it had to have a beginning. Natasha Trenev is the daughter of an Eastern European family where the manufacturing of yogurt was a generational business. When Natasha emigrated to the US in the 1960’s, she brought with her 750 years of family experience with probiotics – and introduced the science (and the term itself) to her new country. Today, Natasha’s California-based Natren, Inc. is the recognized pioneer in probiotics and company founder Natasha Trenev has earned recognition as the Mother of Probiotics. Her more than 50 years of work in natural health is at the core of the unparalleled success of her company – and you will benefit from her depth of expertise in each and every episode of THE POWER OF PROBIOTICS.
Probiotics are live microrganisms that are commonly referred to as ‘friendly,’ ‘good’ or ‘healthy’ bacteria that function to help maintain the natural balance of organisms in the intestine. Throughout Natasha’s extensive work in the field of probiotics, she has always been amazed by how nature provides the very ‘good’ bacteria that can help overpower ‘bad’ bacteria to keep our digestive tracts functioning at peak performance. Properly cultivating friendly bacteria and ensuring their potency is at the core of the Natren Process. Natren is cited – by retailers, by the medical community and by consumers – as the best probiotic supplement available. Only Natren carefully chooses its probiotic cultures, formulates and manufactures its industry standard probiotics in its own plant and utilizes a specially-formulated oil matrix to protect probiotics bacteria to survive until they reach their destination in the upper small intestine. This is why only Natren is the most trusted probiotic supplement on the market. Truly, where other probiotic supplements promise – Natren Delivers.
To learn more about how probiotics can benefit your health, we are proud to introduce you to THE POWER OF PROBIOTICS with The Mother of Probiotics, Natasha Trenev.
Your Brain Health (24)
Noted Los Angeles-based neuroscientist and media personality Dr. Kristen Willeumier launches Your Brain Health with Dr. Kristen Willeumier, a podcast series that explores the latest news and information in the burgeoning science of brain health.
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Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File train_your_body/1521tb2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Walter R. Thompson, PhD
- Organization ACSM
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Guest Bio
Walter R. Thompson, Ph.D., FACSM, is a regents professor of exercise science in the Department of Kinesiology and Health (College of Education) at Georgia State University and in the Division of Nutrition (Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions) where he also serves as the executive director of the After-School All-Stars Atlanta. He has served on the ACSM Board of Trustees and was twice elected a member of its Administrative Council.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 19, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: Walter R. Thompson, PhD
Train Your Body. Here is exercise physiologist, Melanie Cole, MS.
MELANIE: The American Fitness Index data reports measures these metropolitan areas and provides a score and a ranking that reflects the preventive health behaviors of the communities, the level of chronic disease conditions, the access to quality healthcare, community resources, policies that support physical activity, which includes recess in gym and park districts, and golf courses and public pools. And, again, I'm always blown away. You cannot imagine what goes in to creating this report.
And my guest is Dr. Walter Thompson. He is a Regents’ Professor of Exercise Science in the Department of Kinesiology at Georgia State University, one of my favorite guests here on Train Your Body. So, Dr. Thompson, let's talk about some of the guys at the bottom here. We talked about Indianapolis a little. Memphis, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham. What are these guys doing? They are spending less per person on recreation. What else are they doing? Is it their smoking policies, are they cutting gym and recess? Do they have not great access to healthcare? What are they doing?
DR THOMPSON: The answer to that question is “yes” to all of those that you just mentioned. All of these cities that fall in the bottom of the American Fitness Index, those that are chronically at the bottom, and you just named them, all have the same kinds of characteristics. I mentioned before this park-related expenditure is true of every city. And I know we focused on Indianapolis earlier but it's true of the bottom five, from Nashville, Louisville, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Memphis and, of course, Indianapolis. All spent less on their parks than the top cities.
This second characteristic that is quite unique, and, Melanie, you and I have talked about this before. And that is the opportunity to get our kids physically active. In all of the top cities, there is a physical education requirement in the public schools through high school. In all of the bottom cities, there is no requirement for physical education in our schools past the fifth grade. So, when a kid gets into middle school, and into high school in these lower ranked cities, they’re not exposed to physical education and they lose the appreciation for being physically active. And guess what? That carries into adulthood as well.
So, it's no surprise that these two things that we just talked about, policy for school physical education and park related expenditures per resident, are chronically low for the lower ranked cities and chronically high for the higher ranked cities.
MELANIE: Dr. Thompson, are they also cutting these gyms and recess things because they feel they need to spend more time on academics, mathematics, when we know kids need to get their beans out or they can't think straight. Do you have studies that say whether they are doing that for academics and is it resulting in higher academics? Because it would seem to me that some of those communities also have low scores in their math testing and such.
DR THOMPSON: Well, they do and in the state of Georgia just a couple of years ago, we actually tried to legislate physical education back into the school system. That is, we tried to get the state legislature to create a law.
MELANIE: God, you shouldn’t have to do that.
DR THOMPSON: No, we shouldn’t have to do that, but we felt that we needed to do that and it’s happening all over the country--that we’re forcing these kids now to learn and you’ve heard the word “STEM”. And sometimes it's called “STEAM” when they want an appreciation for art. But most of the time we are forcing this STEM agenda, which is not a bad agenda, as long as kids also get an opportunity to be physically active. Let me tell you about this very unscientific study that I did. My daughter is a second grade school teacher, public school teacher. Second grade--so there's a physical education requirement in the state of Georgia for physical education in elementary schools. So I asked her, "Do your kids have physical education?" And she said, "Yes." Then I said, "Well, for how long?" And she said, "30 minutes." And I'm thinking to myself, “That’s great, 30 minutes a day.” And then she quickly followed up by saying, “30 minutes a week.”
MELANIE: Yes. Once a week.
DR THOMPSON: Once a week for 30 minutes, and you know when you corral second graders, that’s going to take 15 minutes to get them to the gym. They do a physical activity program for about five minutes and it takes another 10 or 15 minutes to get back to class. So even when there's the physical education requirement, we’re not doing a great job in teaching these kids how to be chronically, physically inactive throughout adulthood.
MELANIE: Well, and, I think, as you say, it’s a role model situation and if they see…So, if in your community, your school is cutting these for STEM. And, as you said, we need that. It's good, it's giving them technology and science and art, music and all of these things. But there has to be room for all of it. And I think that there is. My kids are getting both of it. We are in a good community here but I know that my kids would go crazy if they didn’t have their physical activity in the day. They just would be squiggling around, like they'll got those schpilkas all day long. They wouldn’t even be able to sit still.
So, there has to be room for all of it. But the role modeling, Dr. Thompson. If they see it’s a community where you can't be smoking around doorways, where the park district is offering fitness classes all over the place. So, tell us just a little bit more about some of these other places that are not doing well. Does that include fattening food and these regulations on smoking? Do these tend to be in communities where they say, “Leave us alone. Don’t regulate our government. Don’t regulate my personal space.” Is it political I guess?
DR THOMPSON: And the answer is “no”. People who live in the cities that fall in the bottom of the American Fitness Index list are not happy. And I'm going to give you a great example of this. Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City, when he became mayor, the American Fitness Index ranked Oklahoma City at number 50. He was not happy about that, because he adopted an active lifestyle. He put the City of Oklahoma City on a diet in about 2008 when the first American Fitness Index came out. He put the city on a diet and they lost a million pounds.
MELANIE: Wow.
DR THOMPSON: And he continues to be the mayor and he continues to push the physical activity agenda. He is involved in all of these community-based road races and things like that. A great of example of a leader who leads the kind of lifestyle we would like for them to lead. Now, Oklahoma City is no longer number 50. It’s 48, but it’s inching its way up the American Fitness Index. And if we could just keep the weather under control in Oklahoma City because they had some tornados that came through there, which sets some of these public policy agendas back.
MELANIE: Back a little.
DR THOMPSON: But as long as Mayor Mick Cornett is there and as long as the city -- and we met with them, and all of them said, “Yes, we need to make some changes,” and they have done exactly that.
MELANIE: See that’s cool when you say they lost a million pounds. And that it's not political that they are not saying, “We don’t care how we rank,” because I would think that there would be a little bit of that. Don’t regulate my smoking. Don’t do that. Don’t take these things away from me. But I'm glad to hear that that’s not the case. In just the last minute: best advice, website, for people listening about the American Fitness Index for 2015.
DR THOMPSON: Well, we are certainly indebted to the Anthem Foundation who provides the funding to allow us to do the American Fitness Index each and every year. We look forward to talking with folks like you, Melanie, and others in media across the country, about the good things and some of the not so good things that are happening in communities. But most important, if folks who live in these cities are not happy with the American Fitness Index ranking, go to our website americanfitnessindex.org, download the community action plan and make some significant changes in your own communities.
MELANIE: Great advice. Absolutely great advice. Go to americanfitnessindex.org and look for your community, look for your city. And then, you can click on the map and it will tell you the ranking and why. It will tell you what's going on in your community, and that’s how you can figure out how you can get involved to change some of those things. And you can download the action guide for free and use that also as a good guideline on how to make those changes.
You’re listening to Train Your Body, absolutely motivate and perform, with the American College of Sports Medicine right here on Radio MD. Thanks for listening and stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File train_your_body/1521tb2a.mp3
- Featured Speaker Walter R. Thompson, PhD
- Organization ACSM
-
Guest Bio
Walter R. Thompson, Ph.D., FACSM, is a regents professor of exercise science in the Department of Kinesiology and Health (College of Education) at Georgia State University and in the Division of Nutrition (Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions) where he also serves as the executive director of the After-School All-Stars Atlanta. He has served on the ACSM Board of Trustees and was twice elected a member of its Administrative Council.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Train Your Body | Original Air Date: May 19, 2015
Host: Melanie Cole, MS
Guest: Walter R. Thompson, PhD
Your trainer, Melanie Cole is here to motivate and help you perform. It's time now for Train Your Body.
MELANIE: In 2008, the American College of Sports Medicine launched the ACSM American Fitness Index program in partnership with the Anthem Foundation. This report measures the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States and it breaks them down for you on the fitness level based on so many factors that you cannot even imagine that they are able to put together this report. My guest today is one of my absolute favorite guests here on Train Your Body, Dr. Walter Thompson. He is a Regents’ Professor of Exercise Science in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Georgia State University. He is also the one in charge of this massive undertaking of the American Fitness Index. So, tell us what's going on this year, Dr. Thompson.
DR THOMPSON: Hey, Melanie, it's always great to talk with you. The American Fitness Index is published today. We had the big unveiling today and to no one’s real surprise, Washington DC came out on top again as number one. Number two is Minneapolis, which is always surprising. Maybe we can spend some time on Minneapolis there are really interesting things happening there. But the real big surprise this year, up from number eight in 2014 is San Diego, at number three. Some real significant things happening in a lot of the California cities and maybe if we have time, we can focus on a couple of them as well.
MELANIE: You mentioned Washington, DC, as being number one. I wouldn’t think of that as being number one but it's been a couple of years. Why is Washington, DC? It doesn’t seem like it's got a lot of open areas, parks golf courses, all those things that you take into account.
DR THOMPSON: Yes, and Minneapolis is a surprise, too, isn’t it? In 2013, Minneapolis was number one. It flipped to number two last year and stayed at number two. But you know what? In Minneapolis, folks know that between about October 1st and April 1st, it's going to be wet and cold right? Same thing in Washington, DC. So, what they have done in these cities and really in the top 10 of our 50 most populated cities in the American Fitness Index is they understand that in the wintertime particularly, they have to find places indoors to exercise. So, you walk down the street of Minneapolis and it seems like every other storefront is either a commercial health club or a community-based organization or a recreation center run by the cities.
So, they make these conscious, really conscious decisions to put their money and their resources where it's going to be the most benefit. So, let me focus a little bit on Washington, DC. One of the things that is a really interesting is the comparison between the one number city and the number 56. One of the things we look at is not just how many parks, for example, are in a city but how much money do we spend on keeping them up, making them safe and welcoming for the folks who live in the city. Washington DC spends $287 per resident on their parks. Indianapolis, who came in number 50, and this is a trend in the bottom 10 of our cities, Indianapolis spends $24 per resident…
MELANIE: Wow.
DR THOMPSON: …on their parks. A huge difference, right?
MELANIE: Wow. And you don’t expect to hear the Midwest like Indianapolis the home of the American College of Sports Medicine. You expect those Southern States because of the fatty food or because of the rural atmosphere but that’s an odd thing. Then, as you say, Minneapolis being in the tundra is able to put these things forward and spend the money. How do you think that happens?
DR THOMPSON: Well, because the city will just make this very conscious decision that that’s what they are going to do. Let me give you an example of Atlanta. Atlanta is my hometown. Our mayor, who was elected now six years ago, is in his second term. The previous mayor made the decision, between 2007 and 2010, when the city was being hit by the recession, to close every one of Atlanta's recreation centers. Every one of them. When our new mayor came on board six years ago, he was determined to open up every single one of those recreation centers, and every single one of them is open today.
So, that’s just an example of a mayor and city leaders making, again, that conscious decision to open up recreation facilities to allow kids and adults in the neighborhoods just around those recreation centers to exercise, and exercise safely. Another example in Atlanta, and I hate to use Atlanta as an example but I live here and I'm so proud of the fact that we moved up to number 14 this year.
MELANIE: You did move up to number 14. Yes, you did.
DR THOMPSON: We did. And something that we’ll find it a greater impact in years to come because the project’s not done yet is, the Atlanta BeltLine. Again another conscious decision made by city leaders, and with public and private funding opened up 22 miles of walking, jogging and bicycling paths that surround the city of Atlanta. So, you literary can get on your bike and ride around the perimeter of Atlanta on the BeltLine.
MELANIE: See that’s really cool, and as you say Dr. Thompson that’s a conscious effort. People think of places like Boulder where everybody is hiking and they are all natural and they are biking everywhere and all of that. While Denver is up on the list for sure at number six, that seems to be less of a conscious and more of an environmental…It just goes with the territory.
DR THOMPSON: That’s right, and there are certain pockets of communities and I use the examples of California cities because the folks that live in California and particularly along the coast and in -- Los Angeles is not a great example because it fell a little bit. But cities like Sacramento and San Diego, all those folks that live there are conscious of their health, and they create public policy. Like for example, indoor and outdoor smoking bans. They make these public policies that promote good health.
MELANIE: So, I think that when they make those policies, they look at this overall -- I mean it blows me away every year, Dr. Thompson, how you’re able to compile all of this information from medical reports and park district and money spent. People can go to Americanfitnessindex.org, that’s americanfitnessindex.org and see the 2015 report, see the work that these folks at ACSM put into this so that we can look at our communities. Because that's really the goal isn’t it, Dr. Thompson? So, that we can look at our own communities and say what can we do, a little bit of a competition, “What can we do to rise ourselves up that list? What can I do to get involved?” Give your best advice in the last minute. And we are going to talk in another segment about some more of these areas but what can they do in their communities to try and get in on this competition and rise up that list a little bit?
DR THOMPSON: This is a great question, Melanie, and we provided the answer for folks who live in these cities. We have created what is called a community action guide. You can go to the americanfitnessindex.org website and we have this community action guide ready for you to download free of charge. And it's full of ideas on how you as an individual living in a city, in your community can make some significant changes. How to approach your mayor, how to approach your city council, how to put pressure on the leaders within the city, to make significant changes.
MELANIE: I think that’s great information and the website is americanfitnessindex.org and you can download for free the action guide that they put out. Because if you do that listeners you can take this action guide, print it out at your local library and take it to one of your board meetings, take it to a meeting of your community members and show it to them and say "We need to rise up on this list and this is how we can do it and this has been put out for us."
It’s information that is succinctly put out on things that you can do to make your community more active and healthier all around. It includes everything from smoking cessation, to food deserts, to park ways, park districts, bike paths. I mean, you cannot imagine what these guys put into this. So go to americanfitnessindex.org and read about it. We are going to talk more as we come up about the American Fitness Index right here on your Train Your Body with the American College of Sports Medicine.
I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening and stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Melanie Cole, MS
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File sharecare/1521sc2e.mp3
- Featured Speaker Dominique Wilkins, Former NBA All-Star
- Guest Website Dominique Wilkins
- Guest Facebook Account https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dominique-Wilkins/309389275872570?fref=ts
- Guest Twitter Account @DWilkins21
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Guest Bio
Dominique Wilkins is a legendary professional basketball player who began his career playing for the Atlanta Hawks. Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and one of the all-time elite scoring machines in NBA history, living up to his college nickname "The Human Highlight Film."
Today Wilkins has a unique position with the Atlanta Hawks, splitting time between the front office as Vice President of Basketball Operations and the broadcast booth as a Hawks game analyst for Fox Sports South.
Away from the basketball world, Wilkins is regarded as a leading advocate for the causes of diabetes and spina bifida research – both of which touch his daily life. Wilkins himself is a diabetic and both his father and grandfather passed away from complications related to Type-1 diabetes. In May, Wilkins will be honored by the American Diabetes Association as a “Father of the Year” for his work in the area. Wilkins has also served as a celebrity ambassador for the Spina Bifida Association, a condition affecting his daughter. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Darria Long Gillespie, MD, MBA
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File sharecare/1521sc2c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Joseph Merola, MD
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Guest Bio
Dr. Joseph Merola received his MD from the NYU School of Medicine and MMSc from Harvard Medical School. He is board-certified in internal medicine, dermatology and rheumatology. He completed dermatology training and was chief resident at the NYU School of Medicine. He trained in internal medicine and rheumatology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Merola is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and currently serves as Director of clinical trials for the Department of Dermatology, is Co-Director of the center for Skin and Related Musculoskeletal Diseases, and Associate Program Director for the combined internal medicine-dermatology residency training program. His clinical and research interests are focused on autoimmune diseases of the skin and joints including psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis and connective tissue disorders.
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Darria Long Gillespie, MD, MBA
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File sharecare/1521sc2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Patti Howell
- Organization JAM School Program
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Guest Bio
Patti Howell is the creator and founder of the Just-a-Minute (JAM) School Program. After successful careers in Fortune 500 careers, Patti is following her passion of helping kids and adults learn how to make health and fitness a lifetime daily habit. Patti’s work is focused on the importance of daily physical activity in order to perform at your personal best each day. The success of the JAM School Program in over 30,000 schools with 13 million students created our nation’s first ever national fitness break that has a world record of almost 1.7 million people who participated on Feb. 12, 2015.
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Darria Long Gillespie, MD, MBA
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File sharecare/1521sc2a.mp3
- Featured Speaker Darria Long Gillespie, MD
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Darria Long Gillespie, MD, MBA
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File wellness_for_life/1520wl5e.mp3
- Featured Speaker Susanne Bennett, DC
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: May 15, 2015
Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
It is time to feel better with help from Dr. Susanne Bennett. Allergies, nutrition, ultimate wellness all discussed right here, right now. It is Wellness for Life Radio on RadioMD. Here is your host, Dr. Susanne.
DR SUSANNE: Eighteen years ago when my son Cody was two years old, he had severe mold allergies so terribly that we had to carry an Epi-pen 24/7. This is a medical injectable device to use just in case he has an anaphylactic reaction from eating anything contaminated with mold. I didn’t know and his pediatrician didn’t know, much about mold and fungi allergies and how toxic it can be to the human body. Today on Nature’s Secrets we are going to discuss the fungus among us, whether it is inside our body or outside and how we get rid of it naturally.
Now, molds are just one type of fungi and is different from plants, animals and bacterias. Molds are eukaryotic micro-organisms that are decomposers of dead organic material such as leaves, wood, plants and even dead animals, and they are absolutely essential for the health of our earth ecosystem. But we just don't want them invading our body’s food and living environment. For people with general mold sensitivities, it can trigger irritating immune responses such as hay fever symptoms, allergic rhinitis and coughing issues. Now for people with severe allergy systems or compromise immune systems, mold can cause chronic inflammation and more significant issues such as asthma, anaphylactic reactions, bronchial fungal infections, chronic fatigue and even irritable bowel symptoms.
Some ingested molds of aspergillus and fusarium species can be very dangerous because it actually produces potential toxic substances called mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are the toxins that mold excrete to help fight off other molds and microbes like bacteria. You probably know a lot about penicillin because that is actually a microtoxin because we know that from penicillin molds we were able to many, many years ago find them. It is what kills bacterias in our body and now we use that as an antibiotic substance. But if we eat molds and mycotoxins, it can cause severe GI upset. It can also damage the intestinal lining causing leaky gut. It can wipe out the liver function enough that it actually causes liver failure. And long-term exposure to mycotoxins such as aflatoxins can cause liver cancer. This is well, well known.
So, it is also mycotoxins that are poisonous neurotoxins meaning they can damage your central nervous system causing inflammation and irritation, really scary when you think about what is found in our foods, the foods that we eat such as nuts, grain crops such as corn, rice and wheat. You know, foods that we have every single day on our plate. So, where else can you find it? Celery, potatoes, apples, peppers and other produce. Of course, because produce that is not good and it is old, definitely mold has set in. They are finding that 25% of the world’s crops could be affected by mycotoxins, particularly aflatoxin. So aflatoxin grows on peanuts and grains, particularly and corn is really toxic. You know how you find that when you open up that fresh looking corn? You open it up and right there under that silky stuff is black mold, brown mold, yucky mold? That can be mold that produces aflatoxin, so you really want to stay away from that.
Did you also know that aflatoxin is found in cow’s milk and, yes, did you know why? Because the cow is eating the grains that are actually are contaminated by mold. So, it’s really important to watch out for the dairy products that we have. So, what else do we have? Bleu cheese--that’s roquefort cheese. Penicillin roqueforti is actually what is growing in bleu cheese. All types of cheese actually grows mold. You could tell because as soon as you take it out of the refrigerator, often there is just green or blue all over it. So, you have got to be careful with that. Also, salamis. You know, the outer cover on salamis often kind of whitish stuff; that is mold as well. And alcohol, we love to drink alcohol when we are out with friends and family but that is a mycotoxin itself, fermentation with sugar as well as grain and fruit juice, right? That is all that makes alcohol, all that fermentation.
So, it’s really important to stay away from that. If you’ve got mold allergies, other risky foods are mushrooms that obviously comes from fungi, dried fruits, restaurant salad greens, freshly squeezed fruit and veggie juice that is packaged in foods as well. Crackers and chips. They all can harbor mold. Then, of course, because nuts such as peanuts, cashews, pistachios they are really, really high in mold growth. Now every week, I would say three to five times a week, I get patients who complain about stomach upset because of food poisoning. Why? They have eaten a big salad trying to be healthy and they eat it out of a restaurant. And out of a restaurant they don't wash the veggies, they don't wash the greens. They literally take it out of the bag and they put it on your plate and put all that dressing on so you can't taste it because often you can taste what fungus and mold taste like and it is so disgusting.
But what we want to do is this. I recommend people do not eat salads outside of your home in restaurants. If you want to be able to eat cooked veggies, ask for just steamed cooked veggies. You can even ask them to cook your arugula. So, instead of arugula salad have steamed or sautéed arugula just like spinach, you know? If you are really jonesing for fresh greens then go home and make sure that you clean it properly. I am going to teach you in one minute how you can eat mold-free salads at home. Other tips that I want to talk about is that you know what? When you are at the store, make sure you look at the best buy dates and make sure that before you put it in the shopping cart, read what you are buying. Make sure it is way before the date because it takes days and days and will start to harbor mold otherwise.
Don't sniff. You know, often we pick something and sniff it. Don’t sniff it. Well, you know, on an orange all that whitish film? Well, on an orange that whitish film is mold that naturally grows on them. So, don't sniff because the mold’s spores can go right into your nose and then, of course, you end up having sinus infections from that. Store things at the right recommended temperature. Don’t leave things out because often if you leave things out like bread and stuff like that, of course, gluten-free bread will go moldy in a jiffy. And don't over buy produce. Get whatever you eat. I go to the store twice a week and then what I do is I literally clean all my produce with Vitamin C crystals and this is how you are going to be able to have great green free of mold and, of course, not have any damaging toxins in your gut.
So, what do you do? I use Vitamin C crystals. You just put about a half a teaspoon. You soak your veggies, wash your veggies as well as other kinds of fruit that you can't peal like berries and grapes as well as grains such as brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa and amaranth. What I do is, I soak it in a glass container and then you just put half a teaspoon of Vitamin C for fifteen minutes and what that does is, it cleans off all of the greens and the berries of the mold, debris as well as bacterias and sometimes even little bugs. It will clean it right off and then of because Vitamin C’s are a super antioxidants, it will neutralize pesticides and any kind of fertilizers that may be on your produce. Remember, even organic produce can have other kinds of stuff coming from other farms and what not and of because little bugs are there, too. Sometimes even organic can actually have more fungi because they don't use fungicides on the veggies.
Make sure you get ascorbic acid, not the buffer kind Not Ester-C. Get the one that is corn-free so that you don't deal with Genetically Modified Corn (GMO). A lot of Vitamins C’s are made with GMO but if you have trouble finding it, you can go to drsusanne.com/crystals. Finally, if there is any spot of mold in your fruits, let’s say in a box of berries, throw that whole berry box out. It is not worth it because mold you cannot see and it just goes everywhere. It is really important that you don't end up eating it. That’s so important. Wow. This is a lot of information. I am so glad that we talked about all this. You know, once you make some changes, you will see how much better you feel inside and out.
This is Dr. Susanne. Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to serve you I am dedicated to helping you feel your best today.
This is Wellness for Life Radio on Radio MD. See you next time. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Susanne Bennett, DC
Additional Info
- Segment Number 4
- Audio File wellness_for_life/1520wl5d.mp3
- Featured Speaker Gary Kaplan, DO
- Guest Website Kaplin Clinic
-
Guest Bio
Dr. Gary Kaplan, D.O., a pioneer of integrative medicine, is one of just 19 physicians board certified in both family medicine and pain medicine and practices in McLean, VA. A clinical associate professor at Georgetown University and director of the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine, he has also served as a consultant to the NIH and, in October 2013, was appointed to the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee at Health and Human Services. He has discussed his work on Good Morning America, NPR, NBC News, as well as in New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. He resides in Falls Church, VA.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: May 15, 2015
Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
Guest: Gary Kaplan, DO
You’re listening to Radio MD. She’s a chiropractic, holistic physician, best-selling author, international speaker, entrepreneur and talk show host. She’s Dr. Susanne Bennett. It’s time now for Wellness For Life radio. Here’s Dr. Susanne.
DR. SUSANNE: Do you, suffer from chronic pain, headaches, muscle aches, joint pain? Well, you’re not alone. There are approximately a hundred million people in the United States suffering from chronic pain. My next guest joins me today to share with you how the environment around you may be causing this pain and how you can find treatment. Please welcome a pioneer of integrative medicine and best-selling author of Total Recovery Breaking This Cycle of Chronic Pain and Depression, Dr. Gary Kaplan. Thanks for being here, doc.
DR. GARY: Once again, thank you for having me.
DR. SUSANNE: Absolutely! Tell the listeners first, what would you consider chronic pain? We all know acute pain is like when you slip and fall, and hit yourself, and you’ve got this major bruise and swelling. What is chronic pain?
DR. GARY: So, actually chronic pain and acute pain are two very different things, it turns out. Acute pain is when you directly hit yourself, the tissue is damaged, the body part’s damaged and over time it heals and resolves and you’re done.
Chronic pain is any pain that persists after a period of time of expected healing. So that that can be typically about six weeks out after an injury is occurred. So, chronic pain is on-going. The chronic pain is also a curse in terms of migraine headaches, which are recurrent in people. People will suffer in chronic daily headaches, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis and low back pain are, by the way, the number one and two causes of disability in this country. They cause something in the order of about $18 million dollars and start affecting eighteen million people a year with these disabilities. So, we actually don’t do very good job at treating chronic pain.
DR. SUSANNE: Well, the chronic pain that I know of, like you’ve just said, as a chiropractor, we deal with low back pain. You’re absolutely right. But the problem is that there are not good enough treatments. There aren’t good enough therapists and a lot of us go for the surgery because that’s all they know but even…there are a lot of failed surgeries, isn’t it that right too?
DR. GARY: Oh, there’s a huge amount of failed surgery. The fact of the matter is, we are horrible at treating chronic pain. If you just look at the statistics, if you happens to suffer with chronic pain, your odds of recovery are about forty-eight percent. If you happen to suffer with chronic pain and depression or anxiety disorder, your odds of recovery drop under 10 percent. Think about that. This is a less than chance of getting better in terms of getting better with conventional medical therapy. And the reason for that is because we have not understood what this problem is. We treat these conditions as if they are the disease itself. Fibromyalgia, headaches, when in fact what they really are, is symptom of an underlying inflammatory problem in the brain. This is a brain on fire symptom. And so what we need to do then is step back and say, “Okay, what is it this that’s causing the brain to be inflamed, and then how do we go about our treating it?” And once we start asking those questions, that we understand the basis and what I go into in my book, is how the brain gets inflamed because it typically occurs as a result of cumulative assaults multiple times and with the brain has concussions or you have problems with mold exposures we discussed previously.
Celiac disease, I’ve had patients who’ve had chronic migraines, who in fact had celiac disease and that was the sole presentation of the celiac. They had no gastro-intestinal symptoms. So, if you don’t know to ask questions about what’s creating the inflammation, then you don’t get the right answers and inevitably you don’t get the result that is the resolution of the pain for the patient.
DR. SUSANNE: In your book Total Recovery Breaking the Cycle, and I like the title, Breaking the Cycle of Chronic Pain, you’ve got to know, first of all, all the symptoms that you may be having. People think that when they’ve got, let’s say, hemorrhoids and stuff and pain like that, that that’s just what it is – hemorrhoids, but they might be much deeper issue. So, in your book, do you go through some of those deeper-rooted issues?
DR. GARY: Absolutely. We go through a lot of case studies in the book that people can easily relate to and understand as to how this might pertain to them. But it’s really about the detective work of going through the process of, first off, starting with a very comprehensive history. Patients don’t come into me and say, my right knee hurts. They come in, and they spend 2 hours with. I take a very comprehensive history in terms of how their digestion is, how their sleep is, what’s going on in their lives, because stress can also be something that’s neurodegenerative. Stress actually damages the neuron response. So, if you were in an extremely high stress situation, this may be something we need to address as well.
The other thing that’s particularly interesting, is that the things that can help reduce inflammation of the brain, are things like exercise. Regular aerobic exercise will absolutely reduce inflammation of the brain and improve actually cause new nerves neurons to occur of the brain.
Meditation is another thing that’s extremely effective of reducing the inflammation of the central nervous system. So, there are a lot of things that come into play here and the only way get into the bottom of it is really listen to the patient, have a chance to take your comprehensive history and then do the proper testing for appropriate for that individual.
DR. SUSANNE: Got it. You talk a little bit about the Lyme disease. That’s a huge area but you did mention that we should get tested for Lyme disease.
DR. GARY: So I practice in Northern Virginia. I live Northern Virginia. We have a huge number of Lyme cases this region of the country, all open down the eastern seaboard. Again, it’s one of those things that we don’t get to ask, you don’t make the diagnosis. So, when people are in tick-infested areas, they’ve been outdoors, they are exposed, the majority of people who get bit by ticks actually aren’t unaware that they’ve been bitten, so that, your migraine reaction which is a positive reaction in Lyme disease, actually doesn’t show up in the majority of people who get Lyme Disease, so if you’re not asking questions about what your potential exposures, do they have pets in the house, did the dog have ticks, you’re not going to think about the diagnosis. There’re only two diagnoses you make: those that you think you make and those that you actually make. So, if you’re not making an inquiry, if you’re not doing the detective work, you’re not getting the comprehensive history, you’re not going to know what the questions to ask, what testing to do, to get to the bottom of what the problem is.
DR. SUSANNE: Right, I know. Lyme disease has so many different symptoms in Lyme. And like you know, if you it’s in the area, but I’ll tell you what, we’ve got it here, Dr. Kaplan. We’ve got it here in Southern California, a lot of people have Lyme, and I’ve seen many, many and you know there are tests that you can do. Which test do you recommend for people to ask your doctor to get?
DR. GARY: So, there are a number of specialty labs that do really fine testing for Lyme disease. The test that I typically use is IGENEX.
DR. SUSANNE: Right.
DR. GARY: Which is out in your neck of the woods. And you’re absolutely correct. So, let me back up. The testing for Lyme disease is not as good as we’d like it to be. So even the Western blot so the ELISA test which is typically the screening test, some will miss almost half the cases and many doctors will stop at that test and that’s a huge mistake. So, doing the Western blot testing is absolutely essential. But, even the fact, that there are our cases of what we call sero-negative Lyme, and in those situations is about getting…listening to the patient, understanding the whole picture to be able to take the diagnosis.
DR. SUSANNE: Right. Right. I know that depression is one symptom of Lyme, but depression is definitely a symptom that a lot of us have. We just have one minute. You know, a lot of us walk around, we say, “Oh, I’ve got foggy brain.” That alone can be considered depression, isn’t that right?
DR. GARY: Well, so foggy brain, difficulty focusing and concentration, is really about some inflammation of the central nervous system but it may not be a full-blown depression. Again this is discussed in my book, Total Recovery, and I would hope people will have an opportunity to look at it and read it and find their own pathway to health, and that’s what I wrote it for and hope that’s what people will find.
DR. SUSANNE: Right. Right. Total Recovery. That’s what you want. Look at that book. It’s awesome. Breaking the Cycle of Chronic Pain and Depression. And you mention that depression is definitely more than just the emotional and psychological aspect of it. If you find that you got all these symptoms, that you don’t even know that are related, chronic pain, you don’t feel good, you get irritable quickly, and you find yourself, for no reason, being depressed, you end up having foggy brain, digestive issues, allergies, all of this is in Dr. Kaplan’s book, Total Recovery. Again, everyone, Breaking the Cycle of Chronic Pain and Depression, so that you can feel your best. Dr. Kaplan, thanks so much for being here. Loved it, loved it.
Alright to learn more on chronic pain and the factors that can cause it, please go to www.kaplanclinic.com.
This is Dr. Susanne Bennett sharing natural strategies for ultimate health and wellness right here on RadioMD. See you next time, stay well! - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Susanne Bennett, DC
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File wellness_for_life/1520wl5c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Gary Kaplan, DO
- Guest Website Kaplin Clinic
-
Guest Bio
Dr. Gary Kaplan, D.O., a pioneer of integrative medicine, is one of just 19 physicians board certified in both family medicine and pain medicine and practices in McLean, VA. A clinical associate professor at Georgetown University and director of the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine, he has also served as a consultant to the NIH and, in October 2013, was appointed to the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee at Health and Human Services. He has discussed his work on Good Morning America, NPR, NBC News, as well as in New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. He resides in Falls Church, VA.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: May 15, 2015
Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
Guest: Gary Kaplan, DO
It's time to feel better with help from Dr. Suzanne Bennett. Allergies, nutrition, ultimate wellness. It’s all discussed right here, right now. It's Wellness for Life radio on Radio M.D. Here's your host, Dr. Suzanne.
DR SUZANNE: Toxins in your home. You know, mold in particular, can make you really incredibly ill. My next guest is here to show just how serious mold toxicity is and what you need to know to keep your family worry free and healthy. Please welcome my host, Dr. Gary Kaplan. Thanks for being here doc. Tell us, what makes most so dangerous?
DR. GARY: Well, thank you for having me on the show, Suzanne. Mold is a ubiquitous problem in that it occurs anytime there's been water damage to a building, so that if you have water damage to your house or water damage to your office and that damage is not addressed, what happens is mold starts to go back in the wallboards in the carpet… and what happens is most secrete toxins. Toxins normally keep themselves and we’re protected in the environment, but in humans about 20% of us can't process those toxins. We don’t make the enzymes necessary to break them down. What happens is they end up accumulating in our body. That accumulation can result in an inflammatory process in the central nervous system. The consequences of the inflammation can be problems with difficulty focusing and concentrating, problems with depression, and problems with chronic pain. You can see fibromyalgia or you can see chronic fatigue systems associated with this inflammatory process in the central nervous system all caused by mold toxins. The toxins can…
DR. SUZANNE: Go ahead, toxins can…
DR. GARY: Okay, so the toxins can be so severe that we see people who look like they have multiple sclerosis. They have problems with coordination or movements. They have problems with focus, concentration and such severe fatigue that they can't get out of bed: muscle pains, muscle aches. If we do not address it, if we don’t find, if we don't ask the right questions in terms of finding out that they've got mold toxicity, what you end up doing is making the diagnosis that’s incorrect and not responsive to treatments.
DR. SUZANNE: So, what you're saying is that this is a hidden problem that we cannot… we don't know… even as a patient. Let’s say, you go in thinking that you have a headache or you're having some allergy reaction, but it can truly be mycotoxin or mold toxicity that’s triggering these symptoms and you say that it's dangerous because it's a hidden inflammation. Inflammation in the body. Can you talk a little bit more about how inflammation can be detrimental to our brain?
DR. GARY: Sure. Inflammation is a lot of different things in the body, so that if you have allergies you’re…what’s mediating that inflammation is antihistamines, the release of mast cell in the body. But, in the brain, a whole different set of mechanisms occur there that cause inflammation. So, in the brain there’s a small cell called the “microglia”. That’s responsible for mediating inflammation in the central nervous system. There’s a lot of things that potentially set off that microglia. So, the microglia moves into action anytime that there’s an injury to neural tissue. So, problems that occur with mycotoxins for instance, are problems that can occur from Lyme disease or other infections. An example of what it looks like when the brain is inflamed is the flu. Things that would happen: you’ve got fever, you can’t focus, you can’t concentrate, you’re exhausted, experiencing generalized body aches and malaise. One of the big mistakes we’ve made in medicine is that we’ve been treating depression and we’ve been treating chronic pain conditions: headaches, problems with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis. We treat these conditions as if they are the primarily disease and they’re not. The underlying disease is inflammation in the central nervous system and the inflammation in the central nervous system comes from a large number of causes, mold toxicity being one of them. This is a condition which affects better than 100 million people in this country, this chronic pain condition and if you’re suffering with pain and depression, that’s about 20 million people in this country. They’re not responsive to therapies because the therapies are geared at treating the symptoms and not treating the underlying cause, which is inflammation in the central nervous system.
DR. SUZANNE: Wow. So, again, we are dealing with these…a lot of people have depression, a lot of people have inflammation in their body and that it really can be a mold issue and you mentioned very clear that it’s really like the doctor has got to be the detective. I truly believe I’m like a medical detective, I’ve got to figure this out. You’ve got to ask the right questions. What should the doctors be asking a patient who may be having these mold issues?
DR. GARY: You know you’re absolutely right about the necessity of becoming a detective as a good physician and one of the things that patents come to me constantly and say “You know, all of my lab tests are normal” and I say “Well but, you’re not normal” and so that means we haven’t tested the right things yet so, we have to go look. So, there’s a series of specific lab tests that we can do to evaluate. First off is genetic testing that we can do to evaluate whether or not you’re susceptible to mold toxins --spider and tick bite toxins. There’s also direct testing that can be done to look for micro toxins in your body, a urine test that can be done. So, you have to go to a physician that’s familiar with this kind of testing and knows how to ask these kinds of questions. So, that becomes the first problem. If all you’re doing is a blood count and you’re doing c-reactive protein and a urinalysis and a metabolic profile, you’re going to miss the overwhelming majority of cases. This is specialized testing, you have to have been properly trained to do it and if you don’t ask the right questions, you don’t get the right answers.
DR. SUZANNE: That’s a great point. I know that you can go to American Academy of Environmental Medicine to find practitioners and doctors who are well-versed in this. What other organization do you suggest that the people out there, that listeners can go to, to find the right doctors in their neighborhood?
DR. GARY: Physicians who are trained in functional medicine, so the Functional Medicine Institute is a great source of physicians. The American Academy for the Advancement of Medicine is another great source and the Academic Consortium for Integrated Medicine is a consortium of all of the medical schools in the country who are training physicians in integrative medicine, another great source where you can find physicians who understand these conditions.
DR. SUZANNE: Right. You’re an integrative doctor, aren’t you, Dr. Kaplan?
DR. GARY: I am. I am. Now, integrative medicine-- I want to define it a little bit for your listeners because integrative d medicine is not about doing acupuncture or doing herbs and spices, but it’s about a comprehensive medical system which includes everything that is wonderful in Western medicine and expands the diagnosis by including things like dysfunctional medicine, being able to do acupuncture. In our center, I’m trained in acupuncture; I’m trained in manual therapies, in addition to very conventional medicine; my boards, my specialties, are in family medicine and pain medicine. So, it’s about keeping it all and figuring out…being able to expand your scope of knowledge and being able to help people with a whole bunch of different series of interventions which includes supplements, but also includes conventional medicine at the same time.
DR. SUZANNE: Right. I know a great deal about mold toxicity because actually my son was severely allergic to them. That’s really how I got into natural medicine and natural allergies. My son actually, Dr. Kaplan, was severely allergic. We had to carry an Epi-pen. If he were at all to even be exposed and eat it, he would go into a major anaphylactic reaction, swelling of the throat, etc. So what we had to do is go through a great deal of learning and cleansing out the body and cleansing out those mycotoxins that you do it in your practice. Isn’t that right?
DR. GARY: Absolutely and you know, the mycotoxins, they come in a variety of forms. We’ve been focused on…in terms of mold mycotoxin, but mycotoxins also occur in food. You’ve got aflatoxins from corn products. You’ve got ochratoxins from peanuts and so you really have to be attentive and be your own detective somewhat when you’re reacting to things. You’re not feeling well. What environments are you in at that time? What foods have you eaten that perhaps you didn’t feel so well on? And a lot of times we continually poison ourselves to such an extent that it’s hard to distinguish from one to the next. So, what you really need to do is step back. I have my patients go on a hypoallergenic diet, which is rice, fish, chicken, fresh fruits and vegetable, which eliminates some of the food allergens, but then it also allows you to see what other things you may be reacting to. If you stay on that diet for a month, that will begin to clean things up a bit. You need to be attentive. You need to be a bit of a detective for yourself. What environment is bothering you and whether or not you’re getting sick of a certain food.
DR. SUZANNE: That’s right. I say you all have to be an allergy detective yourself. That’s awesome. Well, thanks, Dr. Kaplan, so much for joining me today. To learn more about mold toxicity please to go his website kaplanclinic.com that’s kaplanclinic.com. That’s the website or you can always go to my radio show page on RadioMD.
This is Dr. Suzanne sharing my natural strategies for ultimate health and wellness right here on Radio M.D. Thanks again. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Susanne Bennett, DC
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File wellness_for_life/1520wl5b.mp3
- Featured Speaker David Andrews, PhD
- Organization EWG
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Guest Bio
Dr. David Andrews is using his background in chemistry and nanotechnology research to investigate environmental health issues. His work focuses on finding ways to change national environmental regulations and government policies to protect public health. During his five years at the EWG, he has developed comprehensive knowledge of the regulatory processes affecting industrial chemicals, consumer products, cosmetics and nanomaterials. David has conducted more than 100 media interviews on various public health issues and frequently deals with federal agencies and legislative offices. His recent work has included collaborating on designing and building EWG’s consumer databases, highlighting the overuse of confidentiality claims submitted to EPA and organizing a conference for a federal initiative to set priorities for nanotechnology research. He holds a B.A. in chemistry from Wesleyan University (Connecticut) and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Northwestern. He has authored more than 10 scientific publications and holds a patent on quantum interference devices.
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Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: May 15, 2015
Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
Guest: David Andrews, PhD
You are listening to Radio MD. She is a chiropractic, holistic physician, bestselling author, international speaker, entrepreneur and talk show host. She is Dr. Susanne Bennett. It is time now for Wellness for Life radio. Here is Dr. Susanne.
DR SUSANNE: In my book, The 7-Day Allergy Makeover, I talk a lot about allergens and chemicals in your kitchen, specifically about staying away from non-stick pans lined with PTFE. It is also known as Teflon made by Dupont. You know, when the non-stick pan has been scratched and heated, it can release a chemical called Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Now, this toxic chemical is known for its health hazards including cancer and birth defects. Well, my next guest is here to share that even if you don't use these Teflon-coated pans that you and your family still remain at risk. Dr. David Andrews has been all over the media. He is very passionate about informing the public about the dangers of chemicals, some that are found in our very own home.
Welcome, Dr. Andrews.
DR ANDREWS: Hi. Great to be here, Dr. Bennett.
DR SUSANNE: Thank you. Tell the listeners just in a very short summary what happened about Teflon. What was that all about many years ago and why do we still need to remember that?
DR ANDREWS: Sure. We released a report earlier this month that really detailed the legacy of this pollution. Originally, these Teflon chemicals were being produced by Dupont and 3M in large quantities and ended up contaminating neighboring communities as well as the globe. And so ten years ago, along with a court case, we helped publicize some of the deception and cover up that these companies have gone to to really hide the health effects of these chemicals, and it led to one of the biggest fines ever levied against a company, at least in this part of our environmental regulation regulating industrial chemicals and it led to the phase out of these most concerning chemicals. So, these chemicals have to be phased out by the end of 2015 but what we are concerned about is that the replacement may not be all that better.
DR SUSANNE: I want to learn more about those replacements. I know that you mention, on your site, that you came out with and now we are talking about Environmental Working Group’s site? Isn’t that correct?
DR ANDREWS: That is correct ewg.org and our report is right up there prominently featured, it is titled ‘Poisoned Legacy 10 Years Later Chemical Safety Justice for Dupont’s Teflon Victims Remains Elusive.’ And so, we detailed, really, this legacy of pollution and this chemical as you mentioned earlier PFOA is kind of an integral ingredient in making Teflon, the non-stick coating that goes onto pans, clothing, numerous places in your house it’s integral in some of the carpet non-stick treatment and carpets, also in couches, also tablecloths, really a chemical that finds its way all throughout your house and in the environment. And this chemical was through contamination of nearby water supplies in West Virginia and Ohio, we learned that it’s probably linked to testicular cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid disease, heart disease caused by high cholesterol, pregnancy induced hypertension. This is in a population study of 70 000 people where the drinking water was contaminated. What we do know is that this chemical contaminant is now found throughout the globe, you can detect it in blood of, essentially, all Americans as well as polar bears in the arctic and animals all across the globe. So, it is really concerning in that these chemicals last an extremely long time in the environment, possibly decades or centuries or longer and that they build up in people’s bodies; they build up in our blood and then they cause these detrimental health effects.
DR SUSANNE: What you are saying is even if it is gone by 2015 which I'm so excited about and happy that is going to be the case and more and more people are going to learn about it. I mean, it is in dental floss you know what I mean? You were talking about that carpet stuff and microwave popcorn bags, can you believe that? We are literally popping away our popcorn and we are eating it every single day. It’s pretty scary and, as you are saying, there is a lot. It’s not just our bodies but the animals that are out there in the wild but also domesticated animals, isn’t that right?
DR ANDREWS: That is correct. They are ubiquitous in the food supply. One of the concerns that you mentioned is a lot of food contact uses where it’s on some of the plastic and materials that touch your food, the popcorn bags is a great example. Also very common in carry out containers, sandwich wrappers at your local deli or sandwich shop, pizza boxes. They’re used to greaseproof these paper or cardboard products and yet, at the same time, they may have this unintended consequence of providing or exposing us to these really concerning chemicals. So, as you mentioned, by the end of the year this most concerning chemical where we have fifty years of evidence of the harm that it causes is being phased out of the market, but we timed our report with the publication of a statement and paper by fourteen international scientists in Environmental Health Perspective which is a very prestigious US public health journal. And what these fourteen scientists were calling for was they are really raising concern about all the alternatives that are coming on the market as replacements for the chemicals that we now know causes these really damaging health effects including cancer.
DR SUSANNE: What are these? Yes.
DR ANDREWS: So, the concern is that we bringing out to the market potentially over a hundred alternative chemicals that share as many of the same characteristics and they just haven’t been very well studied and they’re now ending up in all of these consumer products, a lot of these places where the old concerning chemicals were being used, we’ve now got these new ones.
DR SUSANNE: Can you please just share a few of the chemicals, the names of them so we can look out for them?
DR ANDREWS: Sure. Well, the thing is, even some of the chemical names themselves are claimed confidential and secret. But oftentimes, you will see the Teflon label, Goretex, those are some of the more common ones that have the PFOA coating, the Perfluorooctanoic. Those chemicals or those labels you will often find in your house. So really, what it comes down to with textiles, the labels you will see any textile that is claiming to be stain repellant, non-stick, most of those will be coated with PFC chemicals.
DR SUSANNE: Yes. You just mentioned something: non-stick. I remember using Scotch guard when I was growing up I wanted to go to the local snow and go skiing and I didn’t have any ski pants, so I literally Scotch-guarded my jeans. Do you remember that? I don't know you might be very young but I used to do that and that is the stuff you are talking about the PFOS’s right?
DR ANDREWS: Absolutely. It’s these highly perfluorinated chemical. That’s another example the Scotch guard formulation, those original coatings ended up on jeans, clothing and they advertise it for use on clothing and they are very commonly used in carpeting and carpet treatment in extremely high concentrations. So, naturally, in people’s houses and work places carpets actually use the highest quantities of these materials.
DR SUSANNE: A lot of us know that having new carpet, a lot of children to get allergic to it skin issues irritations, you know? I know that you also have EWG Skin Deep which is an excellent list and database of all the different types of substances that you put on your skin and I just wanted to plug that in because that is a great, great resource right there.
Thanks so much, Dr. Andrews, you are such a great, wealth of information. I'm definitely going to have you back here. I love it. Love it.
Okay, everyone you know educate yourself. Go to ewg.org website or you can go to my show page on RadioMD.
Until next time this is Dr. Susanne Bennett sharing natural strategies for ultimate health and wellness right here on RadioMD. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Susanne Bennett, DC
