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/1519ht3d.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 6, 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: Alright, that's AskDrMikeSmith@RadioMD.com. I love this part of the show, so send me your questions. If you want, you can try to stump me. It probably isn't that hard to do but I love this part, as I said. So, here is the first question. It has to do with vegetable oils. You know, sometimes I answer, and I've said this before, I answer these questions right off the cuff. What's on top of my head. But sometimes I do have to do a little research. This one, I had to do a little research and I usually have some help. There are some great health advisors here at Life Extension that help me out with all this.
"I read that vegetable oils are not as healthy as we think. But I thought they were healthy. I'm very confused,"
and that's all that was said. So, there's really no question here but if I can extrapolate, I think the question is, you know, are vegetable oils healthy or not? Well, I mean, in its purest form a vegetable oil is healthy. It's an unsaturated fat. Usually, there's Omega-6s in vegetable oils, mostly. A little bit of Omega-3s. You know, there's even some Omega-7s which are monounsaturated.
So, I mean, yes, in its purest form, there's nothing wrong with a vegetable oil. They are healthy but the problem is how we process them today. So, a couple of the health advisors here at Life Extension who are really into the oils, the essential oils, the coconut oils. I mean, they do a lot of research and, you know, their opinion on this was that probably if somebody is reading, you know, on whatever website you're on that vegetable oils aren't unhealthy, it's probably related to two issues. That's what we found.
One is the GMO issue-- the genetically modified organism issue--and then the other one is related to these chemicals that they add to the vegetable oils to preserve them better, to make them more stable. Those are called petroleum-based chemicals. And it's probably those two things where most of this idea that they're not healthy comes into play. So, GMO--genetically modified organisms. You know, most of our corn and soy in this country are genetically modified and I don't want this to become a debate about GMO but there are some people who take that very seriously. They don't want any GMOs in their food sources. They believe that, based on some research, that they're dangerous and those genetic modifications do alter our health and all that kind of stuff.
So, that's one aspect of it, especially if you doing canola, corn, soy. You know, those kind of oils, it's pretty much going to be GMO. So, that's one part. But, I think, and that's debatable but the one part that's probably not debatable in this is the petroleum-based chemicals that they add to these vegetable oils to stabilize them. You know, oils do go bad. Fats go bad. So, you have to do something to stabilize them and they often add things like BHA and BHT. These chemicals are petroleum-based and there's some good evidence in the literature that these may not be the best chemicals to be adding to food sources, especially when you heat them up, you know? So, prior to, I don't know, the 80's, when the big push against fats happened , you know, fats where the worst thing in the world. Stop eating fats.
We started eating more sugars, all that kind of stuff. Prior to that, in the 60's and 70's, we fried everything in lard, which, it turns out, is probably better than some of these vegetable oils that have these petroleum chemicals added to them because these petroleum chemicals, when they're heated up they do leach. They get in the food. You eat them and they're probably not all that great for us, so those are probably the two core issues here when it comes to saying vegetable oils are not healthy. The GMO issue and the petroleum-based chemicals. So, it's best to probably find oils that are more in the extra virgin classification, less processing. You can try to find some that don't have these petroleum-based chemicals added to them or just don't fry them. Don't heat them up too much because that's really where the where the issue comes in.
So, there you go. So, vegetable oils in the purest form are not unhealthy. They're actually good fats. It's the things we do to them--the GMO, petroleum chemicals. That's where the issue comes in. So, it is confusing. I'm confused, too.
Next question:
"What is a night shade vegetable?"
This comes from a gentleman named Dan.
"I was told by my nutritionist friend not to eat them. I just said, "Okay," not knowing what they were. I've since Googled them and see that they are linked to inflammation. Should I really avoid night shade vegetables?"
Well, you know, Dan, I don't know. I think it depends if you're sensitive to them or not. I mean, it's the same thing, maybe, with gluten sensitivities. You know, not everybody is gluten sensitive.
We don't have to have this anti-gluten thing out there. There's no reason to have an anti-night shade vegetable thing out there. I mean, I think it's if you're sensitive to them. What are the night shade vegetables? Anything that likes to grow more in shady environments. That's the night shade, you know, or underground. So, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, stuff like that. I think eggplant is always listed as a night shade. There's nothing wrong with those food sources, if you're not sensitive. I can eat those food sources all day along and I do just fine. But there are some conditions and some people who are just sensitive that you do want to avoid them but, I think we get ahead of ourselves a little bit.
We get a little crazy in this industry when we start demonizing food sources. I think it's really just a reflection of the fact that we're so blessed in this country. We're so blessed in the Western Hemisphere. I mean, we have food all over the place that we can demonize food sources but there are some people, some conditions. For instance, if you have arthritis, just plain old-fashioned arthritis or any form of "itis". You know, any inflammatory condition, Dan, it might be best to avoid night shade vegetables because that can increase inflammation. There are these things called glycol alkaloids in night shade vegetables that are linked to driving some of these pro-inflammatory pathways and stuff.
So, if you have any sort of "itis" condition, you might go on a night shade vegetable-free diet for a while and then you can add one or two back in and see if that causes some issues, a flare up. If it does, you avoid that night shade vegetable. And we have to be careful about lumping them all together. Just because you're, maybe, sensitive the peppers it doesn't mean you are sensitive to all night shade vegetables. That's not the case. It sometimes is the case, but not always. So, you do what's called an elimination diet where you eliminate them and then you add one in at a time and see which one really causes the flare up.
So, there you go. I don't know why your nutritionist friend is telling you this. Maybe you told this friend of yours that you have an "itis" of some sort and this nutritionist could be right. I just don't know but if there's a reason, Dan, for you not to eat night shade vegetables, like arthritis or like rheumatoid arthritis or any inflammatory condition--fibromyalgia or whatever, avoid them. Just wash them out. Stop eating them. Do kind of a night shade vegetable wash out phase for a month or so and then just pick one of them. Eggplant. Eat it and see if you get a flare up. If you don't, eggplant's probably okay. That's the elimination diet. We do that with food sensitivities.
Okay. Alright. Next question:
"You said," Oh, I love it when the question starts with "You said". It usually means a complaint.
"You have said..." So, it means I've said this more than once.
"You have said that the blue light..." Yes. Okay. Now I see the quote. Yes, I have said that.
"You have said that the blue light from our devices is bad, especially for our eyes and sleep. Will privacy shades or screens help reduce blue light exposure?"
Great question. I don't know if I have answer. I didn't look this one up. I don't know. I think it depends maybe on the shade. Maybe there's blue light absorbing privacy shades. I don't know. I think you just have to be real specific in your search. Don't assume that a privacy shade does, though. You may have to look or even just call the manufacturer, if they've looked at that, but that's a great question. Maybe there's a whole product line right there. Privacy shades for devices that block blue light. Hmm. Interesting! That's my idea. Don't take it. Great questions today. I love them. AskDrMikeSmith@RadioMD.com Send them! I love this.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD.
I am 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 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1519ht3e.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 6, 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, Allen sent me an e-mail. Allen is a long time listener, he says. Thank you, Allen. He wrote:
"Life Extension posted a blog on how to junk food and rewires our brains. This would be a great article for you to review on your show. Thanks, Alan."
So, it's not really a question but I think this, obviously, resonated with Allen. He found this interesting. So, I went back and looked at our blog. You can check it out at blog.lifeextension.com and, of course, my good friend May Lynn Pas, who I've talked about before, she writes for my show.
She writes articles and blogs for Life Extension. She works in the social media department. She's a registered nurse, so if you want to go check that out, again, that's blog.lifeextension.cm.
Now, so the title of this was, "Junk Food Rewires Our Brains," and it looks like it comes from some research that was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology from August of last year, 2014, and now May Lynn begins by writing, "If you find that you are not inclined towards healthy foods, don't be so hard on yourself. It may not be just a lack of willpower, discipline or motivation, after all. In fact, a new study shows that junk food can actually rewire the brains of rats, at least, to increase their preferences for junk food."
Hey, don't forget the rat is a good model for humans. It's true. Our physiology is very similar to the rat, especially the white rat or the white mouse. Very, very physiologically similar to humans. So, if something happens in the rat, it most likely does extrapolate to the human, but we always have to put that disclaimer in there. So, the first thing that May Lynn writes here, Allen, let's see. Rats...and I haven't reviewed this. I didn't see this.
I'm going over this just right now with my listeners. "Rats fed junk food avoid balanced diets", so they just keep craving the bad stuff and you keep eating the bad stuff, right? Researchers from –so, this came from researchers in Australia--and again they published in Frontiers in Psychology, wanted to test the effect of junk food on weight and food preferences. They assigned rats and one of two diets with the difference being the inclusion of meat, pies, cakes and cookies in one group. That made me hungry. Weight gain was seen for both groups. Okay.
So, basically these rats were, it looks like, put into two groups and they didn't really limit what they were eating, except there was some more junk food in one group. Now, both groups of rats gained weight but the group, obviously, eating the junk food gained about 10% more. Okay. That's not that hard to see, right? Both groups were trained to associate flavored waters, cherry and grape, to two different sounds each time a specific sound was played.
So, this is after. After they got used to these diets. Okay? So, you have two groups of rats. They're eating the same amount but one group is eating some more junkie food and they gained about 10% more, right? Now, here's what they did. Now, so you've got these two groups of rats eating these two different diets. Both groups of rats were trained, now, to associate flavored waters to two different sounds. Each time a specific sound was played, it was a cue for the rats to drink a specific flavor. The group eating the more healthy diet responded correctly to the sound cues. After drinking grape water, for example, they would ignore the sound cue to continue drinking grape water. So, they had some control in all this. On the other hand, the rats that were in the junk food group would drink the grape water, they'd hear the sound and they just kept right on drinking the grape water.
They didn't care. They, basically, stopped listening to the researchers. The same reaction was observed with cherry water, which, basically, grape water, cherry, this is just all sugar. So, you know, the rats on the healthier diet, which, they didn't gain that much weight, they had a better control over not overindulging, if you will.
They listened to the sound and the researchers and they were able to stop drinking the sugar water, basically. The rats that had some of the junk food ate it and they gained more weight, they lost all control. After two weeks, it was apparent that the group eating the junk food, they were not interested in a balanced diet which encourages us to seek novel foods. They resumed their normal diet. They continued to seek out the junk food given to them during the study and they drank the flavored waters indiscriminately. Does that sound like some humans you know? Okay. Listen, it makes sense.
Now, they go on to say. What's going on here, why...So, why would these rats who are given the meat, pies, cakes and the cookies, why would they just decide not to even search out healthier food? "Just let me stick with this junk food." Why would they do that? Why would they overindulge? The authors propose, based on results from other published studies, that rats from the junk food group, changes occurred in the reward section of the brain which controls decision making. This could explain why they overindulged in junk food. Hmm. So, there is, there's like a change. There are parts of your brain that are based on reward so you can do behaviors that keep you surviving longer.
There's a reward mechanism in the brain, so we avoid behaviors that could kill us and we do behaviors that would keep us alive. That's why eating food is sometimes comforting to us because we've got to stay alive and bring in energy, but that has to be controlled. Those reward centers in the brain are...There's feedback mechanisms that shut them off so we don't overindulge where it looks like when you eat a lot of junk food, at least in rats, the control mechanism on the reward parts of the brain shut off and they just wanted to keep getting that reward. So, it was a rewiring of the control mechanism that kind of shuts off those reward parts of the brain. So, when that mechanism is shut off, you're just constantly activating that reward part of the brain and you just want to keep eating the meat, pies, cakes and cookies. Hmmm. And, again, the rat brain is very, very similar to the human brain.
By the way, the authors go on to say hard drugs such as cocaine produce similar changes in the brain. With continual use, a greater quantity is needed to produce a desired high. The same relationship has been seen with junk food.
So, is junk food the new cocaine? Bottom line: the study was conducted on rats, but it may offer insight as to why many humans tend to overindulge in junk foods. In a day and age when junk food is so common, it can be hard or even, in some cases, impossible to resist. So, how do you do that, though? I mean, if you do feel like you're somebody who is a little addicted to junk food and it's hard to break that, especially when you're stressed, for instance. How do you do that? How do you, you know, wire the brain back to normal so that you can bring down those reward mechanisms in the brain? You know, to inhibit them a little bit.
Well, it just takes more willpower. I mean, it does. I mean, breaking addictions, whether it's junk food or cocaine, at some point, you have to eliminate it and you have to overcome that desire to put it back in by controlling the reward behavior. That's what a lot of addiction programs are based on.
So, one of my favorite ways of doing this is called the "first line thought process". Have you ever heard of this? I don't know if that's the formal name for it. It's the front line or first line thought process. You simply tell yourself "no". The minute you think about, "I want that Twinkie." "No." It's almost like you're talking to yourself like a child. You want that cigarette? "No." Walk away. You act like you...You almost treat yourself like a child. You want that Twinkie? "No." It's first...So, when that thought comes in to overindulge in that bad thing that's gotten you fat and, you know, gotten you in trouble? Drug or food, it doesn't really matter. You tell yourself "no".
It's reestablishing the normal inhibition on the reward part of the brain. Try it. I don't know. It may work for you.
There you go. Junk food rewires our brains. Or, at least, rat brains. Hmm.
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
For a long time, fibromyalgia wasn't even considered a real disease.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File healthy_talk/1519ht3c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Glenn Parris, MD
- Book Title The Renaissance of Aspirin
-
Guest Bio
As a board certified rheumatologist, Glenn Parris has practiced medicine in the northeast Atlanta suburbs for over 20 years. He has been writing for nearly as long. Originally from New York City, Parris migrated south to escape the cold and snow, but fell in love with the southern charms of Georgia and Carla, his wife of nearly 23 years. He now writes cross-genre in medical mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction.
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Researchers found those who consumed eggs had a lower risk of type-2 diabetes.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1519ht3a.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
- 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 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1519ht2e.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 1, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
It's time to ask Dr. Mike do you have a question about your health? Dr. Mike can answer
your questions. Just e-mail AskDrMikeSmith@RadioMD.com or call now 8777115211. The lines are open.
DR MIKE: So, remember you can send detailed questions, big questions. You can tell me your name or not. Tell me not to say your name or whatever. You can even ask me to read your question and answer it on a certain day and I will do my best to do that, AskDrMikeSmith@RadioMD.com.
Here's a question from Diane. My anxiety level is very high. I feel stressed out all the time. My N.P.," and probably that's means natural path a doctor, "checked a morning and evening cortisol level and both were low. Any thoughts before I go to see her?"
So, okay. So, cortisol, is the stress hormone. It comes from the adrenal gland and it peaks in the morning. There's a substantial peak of cortisol in your blood around sun up. I mean, that makes sense, right? Cortisol kind of prepares you to get moving, is what it does. You know, we think whenever we say stress hormone most people think bad things. No, stress is good and waking up from a nice, peaceful sleep is stressful but it's good. You're getting up. Cortisol peaks and it helps to mobilize sugar for energy and it releases the catecholamines, the epinephrine, the norepinephrines so you can...It just gives you this what's known as a sympathetic drive, so you're just getting your day ready. Some of us need some coffee help, too, but that's what cortisol supposed to do for us.
So, it peaks in the morning and then it should trail off, should come down kind of fine like a valley from most of the day and then there is usually, for most people, a slight little peak, maybe half what you see in the morning around evening time and then it drops off fairly quickly. Once cortisol drops, things like melatonin and serotonin increase. Those are the feel good and calm you down hormones. I just threw my pen. Maybe I need some serotonin. Anyway, I get excited when I talk. It's the Greek in me and I can't help but use my hands.
So, cortisol drops in the in the PM, the calm you down hormones go up because, you know, it's time to go to bed. So, that's how it supposed to be. There should be a morning peak and maybe a slight evening peak and, apparently, for Diane that didn't happen.
Her doctor, rightfully so, checked the AM and PM cortisol and they're both just low, which, by the way, before I go on here, Diane, your doctor did a great job. It is better to do cortisol twice, an AM and PM blood draw. I mean, I know that's harder and it may make your day tough, I guess. But to take just a random cortisol, you know, most people, I guess, when they do blood work, they usually go in the morning but just to check a random cortisol level is not going to tell you much.
So, the AM and PM is better but in this case for Diane, she's anxious, she stressed out. You know, you might get the idea, you might think yourself, "Oh, my gosh. Cortisol's just going to be sky high in her all the time," right? But in this case, it's low. Well, here's what happens. I mean remember cortisol is considered the stress hormone but that doesn't necessarily mean bad stress like anxiety. It means that it cortisol is the hormone that prepares your body to deal with a stressor. So, you can still have low cortisol and be anxious because anxiety and stuff like that have many different causes, multi-factorial. It's not just cortisol linked.
As a matter of fact, if you've been living most of your adult life stressed out and anxious, not sleeping well and day in and day out, you know, one year to the next, your adrenal glands get wiped out. I mean, in the alternative medicine arena we call that "adrenal fatigue". You know, it's not total dysfunctional adrenal gland like you see in Cushing's disease. That's different. I mean, that's a total knock out of the of the adrenal, but in this case this constant day in and day out, week to week, month to month, year to year stress just causes your adrenal gland to dysfunctional a little bit and they become fatigued. So, they're not regulating. Not only is cortisol kind of being mismanaged.
So, you're not peaking cortisol the way you should, you're also probably not dealing with the catecholamines. Maybe they're just getting released too much. Maybe that's driving some of the anxiety. The adrenal glands, basically, just lose the ability to control all these hormones that they're making and that's not good because these hormones and neurotransmitters that come from the adrenal glands are quite powerful.
So, if your adrenal glands are a little fatigued, Diane, yes. All these hormones can get a little wacky. Cortisol drops. Epinephrine's up all the time. Yes. I mean, those are consistent signs of adrenal fatigue. I'm pretty sure your naturopathic doctor is most likely really on top of adrenal fatigue. Diane, she's going to look at those numbers and know exactly what to do for you but you might consider a 24-hour urine cortisol test. That's more detailed so the best way to check cortisol. The bad way is just to do cortisol in the morning. That's the best way. The second best way would be what you did. Cortisol in the morning cortisol in the evening. The best way is a 24-hour urine collection looking for cortisol. That really tells you what you're doing throughout the day.
So, you might want to do that I might suggest that but licorice extract is good for adrenal fatigue. DHEA, which is a hormone; Vitamin B5. Pantothenic acid is good. CoQ10. Even some adaptogenic herbs like rhodiola, American ginseng. Pretty good for adrenal issues so I'm sure you're naturopathic doctor will be ready to set you up on a good adrenal support program but, so, the cortisol levels are low and you're still anxious. That's adrenal fatigue in a nutshell. Great question. Thank you, Diane. I hope you feel better soon.
Alright. Moving on.
"I understand there's a better test for sugar problems than hemoglobin A1C. Do you know what it's called?"
You know, they change these things all the time. There's new inventions and new tests and so I had to look this one up and I did find one here. There is a new sugar test. It tests for something called 15AG and "AG" stands for anhydroglusitol. 15AG. It's a glucose like sugar, okay? And, it gives us a better understanding specifically of sugar spikes. You know, that's, if you really think about it, the post-meal--the official terminology for that is postprandial--but the post-meal sugar spike. So, you eat. Let's just say a donut.
Okay? You eat a donut. Within like thirty minutes or so, once you've digested the donut, the sugars are in your blood stream, your blood sugar levels just spike, big time. And when your blood sugar level spikes, say, over a level of about 200, that causes some issues especially, if you're doing that day in and day out.
Right? You're spiking blood sugar levels at a high number every single meal day in and day out that causes insulin spiking. Insulin spiking, eventually, is going to cause something called "insulin resistance" which is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes. So, knowing really how you're doing meal to meal is important and apparently, this is what this new test does. I don't think this replaces hemoglobin A1C. That gives you an idea of how much sugar is in your blood for about a three month period because sugar glycosylates the hemoglobin. So, we can measure that.
It's a sign of not controlling it very well for months down the line. This is more about blood sugar spiking per meal and you want the number to be higher, actually. Fourteen is ideal. Less than ten tells us you're having too many sugar spikes. So, yes. There is a new test 15AG for sugar spikes.
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
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/1519ht2d.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 5, 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.
So, my first question and I think I want to spend some time with this because it's an opportunity for me to highlight one of the Life Extension protocols and if you—I've talked about these protocols before. At the Life Extension Foundation we have over--I don't know the number anymore. It keeps going up. I would say probably close to 200 health protocols and it includes theories on why these diseases develop, conventional treatments, lifestyle, integrative therapies. I mean, they're extremely up to date and comprehensive and so let's spend some time with this one.
The question is: "My dad was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL. I want to take steps to prevent this from happening to me. Is there anything specific I should do?"
Wonderful. Let's just go right—no. Not wonderful your dad has CLL. I'm sorry to hear about that but it's wonderful that you are wanting to take some proactive steps. Prevention is the key, right? And there's a history of this in your family, so that's awesome that you want to take charge and learn about things you can do to prevent CLL in your own body. So, let's talk about this the first thing—and again this is from the Life Extension protocol. Maintaining a healthy weight is extremely important. An estimated 20% of all cancers are caused by obesity and obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing leukemia.
A study of a little over 1000 leukemia patients and over 5000 control subjects found that higher body mass index was linked to greater risk of all these different forms of leukemia. AML, CML, and CLL, like your father has. So, we have to maintain a healthy weight. That's the first thing. Now, how you go about doing that? That's a whole other discussion, isn't it? So, maintain that healthy weight. Second thing, obviously, avoid smoking and there were some stats here that the protocol went over and I'm not going to get into that. Just don't smoke. Consume a healthy well-balanced diet.
This is from Nutrition and Cancer 2013:
"Three hundred twenty-three adults," —now in this case, the type of leukemia they had was called acute myelogenous leukemia, AML, but I do think we can extrapolate this to all these forms of leukemia.
"Three hundred twenty-three adults with AML and 380 controls found that AML risk was significantly decreased among those who consume the most dark green vegetables, seafoods, nuts and seeds. Risk was significantly increased among those who consume the most red meat."
So, just a nice balanced diet. You know, your protein from different sources, healthy carbs, healthy fats and maintain that healthy weight. So, don't overeat is a great way to prevent CLL, or any form of leukemia really. Now, when it comes to a specific nutrient, I think the best thing you can do is green tea. There is tons of green tea research in preventing and treating all forms of leukemia. Now, the main anti-oxidant in green tea is called "EGCG" and that's been the focus of most of the research. In two studies involving adults with leukemia, green tea consumption was associated with a 50% decrease risk of leukemia.
The association was dose dependent and that risk was reduced as the number of cups of tea consumed per day and number of years of tea consumption increased. So, the more you drink the better. I mean, obviously, there's a point where. You can't drink....Well, I couldn't drink ten cups of green tea a day. I struggle with one or two a day. I don't really even do that all of the time, so what might be a better option here would be maybe a couple of glasses of high quality green tea with maybe a capsule that has the EGCG standardized to it. So, that might be where the supplement itself rather than the tea drinking could come in. Here was another study about green tea. This was published in Clinical Cancer Research 2009:
"EGCG has been shown to inhibit tumor growth and in leukemia, cell line experiments it induced apoptosis."
That's that programmed cell death and it did that through activating this pathway known as the reactive oxygen species pathway. This pathway is often a pathway that is used by cells when it's time to die off and cancer cells shut that pathway off so they can grow more. Green tea reinitiated that pathway in cancer cells, so it's not just a prevention thing. It's also maybe even a treatment option for you. And specifically for your dad. Now this one piece of research is really interesting. This was published in Leukemia Research 2006 and it was a what are called "case reports" where they were looking at individuals who were using green tea, green tea supplements, green tea the drink. It comes from Mayo Clinic. It says here they detailed the cases of 3 early stage CLL patients.
So, again, this really could apply to your dad as well. On their own initiative, they began taking polyphenol-rich green tea extracts or green tea while under medical observation. All three had objective measurable improvement in leukemia signs or laboratory indices and an indication of cancer regression while taking only green tea extract and no other treatment. It was these case studies coming out of Mayo that really led to some of the research I just talked about in 2009 and 2013 came from these case studies. Green tea by itself--no other treatment--improved some of these markers for cancer progression.
So, very encouraging. So, if you want to prevent CLL, watch your weight, don't smoke, eat a balanced diet, try to limit the red meat and if you are going to do the red meat, grass-fed beef is the best way to go. It has a nice balance between Omega-6 and Omega-3. Take some green tea--2,3,4 glasses of green tea every day with a capsule that's standardized to a high potency EGCG.
Again the Life Extension protocol's are extremely detailed and they go into much more about green tea. They also mention the importance of Vitamin D in leukemia's, Vitamin C, curcumin, even melatonin and I've talked about that before on the show. Melatonin--most people think, "Oh, that's the sleep hormone," and it is but melatonin, because it does help you go through the proper sleep stages and it's going through those sleep stages where a lot of the repair and regeneration of healthy tissue occurs and people who take melatonin and sleep better have better outcomes when it comes to all cancers.
And so, melatonin is something to also consider, especially if you're not sleeping well and you want to treat or prevent, really, any cancer. Go check out the rest of the protocol at LifeExtension.com. Just go ahead and just search. You go to that home page. There's a search bar at the top like at most websites and just type in "leukemia" and the protocol will pull up.
Alright spent some time there but I think that was important. I think I only have about 60 seconds left let me do this quick question here:
"Is it true that aspirin doesn't work in some people?"
Yes, it is true. About 25% of the population will not respond to aspirin. So, if you're on an aspirin regime because you've had a heart attack or a stroke or maybe it runs in your family or you're at high risk for those things, there's a good chance it may not work with you. There's a test you can actually take it's called "Aspirin Works". It's a test that's offered by many different labs and it will determine the ability of aspirin to have the positive effect in your body, so if you're on aspirin therapy that might be something you check out-- "Aspirin Works".
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
Why are some prescriptions specific, such as "take this medication every six or eight hours," but others are more general, such as "take this medicine three or four times a day"?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1519ht2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN
- Book Title Just the Right Dose: Your Smart Guide to Prescription Drugs & How to Take Them Safely
- Guest Website Just the Right Dose
-
Guest Bio
Marijke Vroomen Durning is a health writer and registered nurse from Montreal, Canada. She specializes in writing clear and concise information to help people learn about their health concerns in a way that makes sense, without the heavy-duty jargon that just confuses the matter.
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
What should you do if you miss a dose or you're traveling across several time zones?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File healthy_talk/1519ht2c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN
- Book Title Just the Right Dose: Your Smart Guide to Prescription Drugs & How to Take Them Safely
- Guest Website Just the Right Dose
-
Guest Bio
Marijke Vroomen Durning is a health writer and registered nurse from Montreal, Canada. She specializes in writing clear and concise information to help people learn about their health concerns in a way that makes sense, without the heavy-duty jargon that just confuses the matter.
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Did you know someone with more than 100 moles has a greater risk for melanoma?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1519ht2a.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 5, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Mike:
DR MIKE: So, this one is for all of my coffee drinkers out there, me included. Did you know that coffee, according to a report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, may reduce melanoma risk? That's nice. We like that. For me, I'm not a big coffee drinker. A couple cups in the morning I brew them pretty strong though. Here in South Florida we have a lot of good Cuban coffees. They're technically espressos but I'll use them just as normal drip.
So, it's strong. But only two. That's about all I can do. And, you know, we've talked about coffee in the past, too. You know, coffee has a compound in it, an anti-oxidant, called chlorogenic acid. Chlorogenic acid has a lot of different effects in the body but ultimately it helps you to manage sugar better.
I'm not sure if we're really teasing out from this study--the key compounds in coffee--but it could be some of the other polyphenols, maybe even chlorogenic acid because of how it manages sugar. I don't know but here's what the headline and this, by the way, is a summary of the report written by Maylin Paez at Life Extension she also writes for my show, if you want to read her full report on Coffee May Reduce Melanoma Risk. Go check it out at blog.lifeextension.com.
Here's the headline: Four Cups of Coffee a Day Linked to 20% Lower Melanoma Risk.
That's pretty significant. I mean, this time of the year we talk a lot more about skin cancer/melanoma. Usually, most of your medical groups, they use the early-spring, mid-spring to start talking about skin cancer prevention, skin protection, sun protection, that kind of stuff. So, very consistent this time of the year. We usually talk something about skin cancer. In this case, of course, melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer. It's very metastatic. As a matter of fact, you know, the issue with melanoma is, it's often caught late and because it is so metastatic, meaning it spreads so easily to other organs, that it's often too late in many cases.
So let's get to the research here. Researchers from Yale analyzed data from a study involving over 440,000 people. That's pretty good. Participants were given questionnaires.
I'm sorry--food questionnaires--which analyzed their coffee intake. They were followed up after a period of ten years on average to determine the incidence of melanoma. So, granted it's a survey type study and if you listen to my show, you know how I feel about surveys. You can't draw any definitive conclusions from surveys and questionnaires and stuff like that but they can be what I like to call "hypothesis generating".
That's why, if you noticed, the title for this segment is called Coffee "May" Reduce Melanoma Risk because it's a questionnaire and there's limitations there. So, anyway, you have 440,000 people, good number, food questionnaire, followed for 10 years. That's all good stuff. Compared to non-drinkers coffee drinking lowered the risk of melanoma by 10%.
The risk was 20% lower for individuals who drank 4 or more cups daily. So, here you have two sets of data: coffee drinking in and of itself 1 cup, 2 cup, 3 cups, whatever. Just coffee drinkers, 10% less risk of melanoma. However, the significant number comes with 4 cups a day where there was a 20% lower risk of melanoma. Four cups. Is that a lot for most people? I don't know. Maybe we should look this up.
How much coffee does the average American drink a day? How many cups? Interestingly, you know, most Americans get their anti-oxidants from coffee? I don't know if that's a great thing but that's true. I mean, coffee comes from a bean--a plant, right? Hey, plants have lots of good anti-oxidants. That's fine. I don't know, though, 4 cups. Is that considered a lot for most people in this country?
For me, as I said, 2 cups. That's about all I can do but at least at two cups and I'm going to lower my risk of melanoma by 10%. Now, this is where it gets interesting. The results did not hold true for decaffeinated coffee. So, what's going on there? Now, you might be prone to think when you hear that "Well, it must be the caffeine! The caffeine is lowering it. Let's just take caffeine pills!" No, no, no. It might be. Caffeine might be playing a role here but most likely what happens when you decaffeinate anything, it's another step of processing. You begin to strip away other key nutritious compounds those plant based anti-oxidants called polyphenols.
As you process anything, you pick the plant, you take the plant and make it a powder, you put the powder in a capsule, you put preservatives in the cap. All of that is processing. Every step along the way, you lose nutrients. So, my thought here, the reason it didn't hold true for decaffeinated coffee is decaffeinated coffee is too processed and you just...There's not a lot—not only are you losing the caffeine but you're losing the polyphenols. I mean, that's my thought. Caffeine still could play a role there. Let's see. The results were not influenced by factors traditionally associated with melanoma such as UV light exposure, smoking or alcohol intake. So, there you go.
So, very interesting study. Twenty percent drop in melanoma risk for 4 cups a day but it had to be caffeinated, less processed. And, again, I don't know if we've even begun to figure this out. What is it about coffee? Which anti-oxidant is it? The chlorogenic acid that I mentioned before? Some researchers are saying it is the caffeine. There are some previous studies and one in particular I remember from a couple years ago because we were looking at this at Life Extension. Caffeine did block UV damage.
Now, it was cell culture studies. It was a lot of caffeine added to these cell cultures and then they were bombarded with UV light but there was some protection. So maybe, maybe. But, I think most experts believe that the benefit here is attributed to the numerous anti-oxidants found in coffee which includes caffeic acid, diterpenes, chlorogenic acid. Obviously, more research needs to be done. Coffee is good for you. It is.
Coffee is good for you. It's linked to certain anti-cancer properties beyond the skin as well breast, colon, prostate. So, it is good for you. You've got the sugar control with the chlorogenic acid so a couple of cups in this case 4 cups a day can be a part of a healthy dietary regime. One of the things that Maylin noted here and, remember, you can read this at Life Extension: "Not all coffees provide the same protection against disease simply because of the anti-oxidant content." You might think the deeper, stronger roast is going to be better.
It's deep and it's dark. It must be loaded with those anti-oxidants that's not true. Again the darker the roast usually means the longer the bean itself--the coffee bean—is actually roasted. Well, guess what? That's processing. So, it turns out that may be a lighter roast, not quite so strong which I guess takes me out of it because I like my strong cup of coffee, maybe two of them, in the morning. But maybe the more mild roast. I guess if you're a Starbucks fan of the blonde or whatever they call it—isn't there like a blonde brew that they have?
It's a little bit more mild. It might be a little bit better because there's less roasting, less processing and you're going to obtain more of those anti-oxidants. This time of the year, don't forget to make sure you get a lot of B Vitamins. Don't forget grapeseed extract is good for the skin, Polypodium leucotomus is a wonderful plant that you can use to block some UV light.
So, don't forget to protect your skin this time of the year. 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
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/1519ht1e.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 4, 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: I questioned whether or not I should answer this question on air. It's about Dr. Oz. Because, you know, I want to answer the questions that are more about health and trying to help people right now but I think it's worth mentioning a couple little things about everything that Dr. Oz recently went through.
So, there was ultimately a letter was written signed by like 10 doctors asking Columbia University to remove him from his position at the University and they made some complaints about it and the biggest complaint was, believe it or not, about GMO's. Dr. Oz has come out against GMO's. He doesn't like them. He says there should at least be fair labeling and I agree with him. I agree with all that. But these doctors didn't like that. Turns out these doctors that wrote the letter had connections to Monsanto who does a lot of the GMO stuff, so there's a lot of bias in this here going back and forth. But the question—so that's all that happened. So, here's the question I got:
"Do you think Columbia University should sensor Dr. Oz? Maybe not fire him but control what he promotes?"
Hmm that's a good question. My gut answer is no I mean if–I think Dr. Oz just has to self-sensor a little bit more. I know that I have to do this myself. I have to be careful about ever being too definitive about anything I say. I always try to avoid sensational words, emotionally charged words. I do my best to just present the research, the findings and my opinion without overdoing it and I think I do that myself.
I don't need Life Extension. I don't need UT Southwest, where I came from, where I went to medical school, doing that for me. I take that on myself. That's my responsibility and I think that's a better way. And ,by the way Dr. Oz has, he has toned some of that down. And so, I guess my answer is no. I don't think Columbia University should I don't think we want to suppress any kind of free speech but I do think there's responsibility with free speech. Just because we have, in this country, the blessing and right to speak what's on our mind but there is responsibility with that. And I don't know.
Just because I can say something in a certain context it might not be the best thing to say and that's something as maturing adults we all have to understand and kind of sensor ourselves a little bit. So that's my answer, no. I think Columbia University should leave him right where he is. I think he should go on and do his show. As a medical doctor and scientist, personally, I would like less sensational words and stuff like that and that's not Dr. Oz, that's the whole industry.
Yeah. So no. I don't think they should sensor him or control any of that. I think he has the right to support the things he wants to support. I think there's a responsibility in how we present that information, however. Okay. So, that wasn't so bad. Okay. I was a little worried about that one. I don't know why.
Alright next question:
"I saw on CNN health that people with cancer from low-income neighborhoods have worse outcomes."
I saw this, too. I saw this on CNN. This actually got around. This story got some traction. It wasn't even just CNN Health. I saw it on Fox News Health. I think it was also on ABC. At least on the online the sources I have. So, this story got some traction. So, let me go back to the question:
"I saw on CNN Health that people with cancer from low-income neighborhoods have worse outcomes. Other than access to care, why is this?"
Oh, boy. This is a harder question than the Dr. Oz one. Well, first of all, that's the key question is access to healthcare, right? I mean the best way to study this would be to take low-income people with cancer and high-income people with cancer and make access and the care they receive completely even and then test outcomes at that point. Now, in the real world, we know that doesn't happen. There are access issues for people with no insurance or low-level insurance. There are different types of care, quality, follow up.
All of that plays a role, I think, in why some of the outcomes are worse in lower income people. It's not right. I'm going to tell you that right now it's not right and it's not fair. I do believe we all have the right to have the same quality access to the best medicines, both conventional and alternative.
And to the best doctors. I mean, I think that's a basic human right. If we've made these advances that help us to live healthier; that help us to have better outcomes from all these diseases like cancer, heart disease, whatever, I think that's only fair and only right that we provide that to people. I know it's not always easy, right?
And I know that in the real world that doesn't always translate that way but why is it? So, I think access is one reason and I think that's a big reason and I'm going to say this and I want you to understand that I'm saying this with all sensitivity. Compliance and follow-up is an issue too. You know, I work in a county hospital and when you're working 3 or 4 jobs and you have kids to take care of and you're in a single home, in many cases it's tough. It's tough to stick with the medical regime.
It's a lot easier when you don't have all those other responsibilities and I'm not saying higher-income people don't have responsibilities I'm not saying that but
I saw this first hand. You know, low-income families are working really hard. This idea that they're not, I don't know where that's coming from. No. Low-income families are working hard. They're scraping by and sometimes the head of that household neglects themselves a little bit because they're working so much and they're trying to bring home the money and food and shelter that sometimes follow up and compliance to the medical regime is not quite where it needs to be. So, I think access is one thing. I think compliance and follow-up is another thing.
And it's a shame but that's the reality of it and I saw that in the Dallas County Hospital system. I mean, I don't know. I'd have to look. I think this is a great question for some epidemiologist who really studies this kind of stuff. I'm just giving you my opinion but it's something we need to do a better job of and we need to correct. If we have a certain population that is not doing well with any sort of disease, we have to ask why is that and how can we improve that because that's not fair.
Okay. Let me go on to my next question here. Those were tough questions. Dr. Oz and cancer questions, low-income households. Those are tough.
Alright let me see if I can—this one is a little bit easier.
"Should I take blood tests before I consider purchasing any supplements? Thanks, Tim."
Tim, well, yes, but, listen. Blood tests form the basis of prevention. You know, if I know what's going on in your body in terms of inflammation, in terms of basic micronutrients, in terms of protein profiles, hormones--all that kind of stuff, it just gives me more information to help you. Now, there are certain blood tests that you absolutely should take before you do a supplement like hormones. If you want to do over the counter DHEA, I need to know what your DHEA level is and I need to know what your other hormones look like so I know where there are imbalances to make sure I'm not going to cause more imbalances.
So, hormones would be one group of supplements or prescription drugs that you definitely need to know your baseline and then you've got to follow up. But that's not necessarily the case. I mean, you can do CoQ10 and fish oil--stuff like that--without knowing what your baseline levels are on those nutrients and that's fine but I would encourage you to get those blood tests done.
Again, it just gives me a lot more information to personalize my suggestions for you and I think that's really a key thing today, right? Personalized medicine. My whole book was about that: personalized supplement regimens, The Supplement Pyramid. Yes. So ,get the test done. I think that's important too.
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
