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Series Code: MH
Program Code: MH240005S
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00:01 What do vinegar, white rice, white sugar, salt,
00:03 real vanilla extract, and honey have in common? 00:05 They don't expire. 00:07 You never have to throw them away. 00:09 That is definitely not true of the rest of the thousands 00:12 of foods we eat. 00:14 In fact, did you know in the United States we throw away 00:16 between 30% to 40% of food the supply? 00:28 Food waste is the single largest category dumped in landfills, 00:32 making up 22% of municipal solid waste. 00:35 When we throw food away in the trash, that's where it ends up. 00:38 And instead of decomposing, it rots and it puts 00:41 methane into the environment. 00:43 Composting food gives back nutrients to the soil. 00:47 The point is that what we do with our garbage matters. 00:50 And this is especially true when we're talking about 00:52 what's going on inside our body. 01:17 Exposed. That's the title of today's program. 01:20 It sounds a little dramatic, doesn't it? 01:22 It could be the title of a thriller or a mystery maybe. 01:26 But you know, our topic today does have the qualities of both. 01:30 What are we exposed to? 01:32 Too much, it turns out. 01:34 Today we're going to be talking about environmental toxins 01:37 which are chemicals seen and unseen 01:40 that permeate modern society. 01:43 Yeah, so I see environmental toxins as some of those 01:47 components that can create insole or can create 01:49 inflammation in the body, 01:51 because they're foreign and they are not something that our body 01:54 is used to handling or wanting to manage. 01:56 Our body wants to be like homeostasis, in balance. 01:59 And so, so many toxins in our world now, including 02:04 things that are in our water, things that are in our air, 02:08 things that we put on our body, things we have in our house. 02:12 So we have introduced toxins everywhere. 02:15 They actually found Prozac, measurable quantities of 02:20 medications that we use as humans, in fish. 02:23 In fish. 02:24 So we've introduced chemicals into the world around us; 02:28 from arsenic in some rice, to chicken, to foods that, 02:33 you know, fish that have these toxins. 02:35 And much that we don't even know about. 02:38 Because we don't measure. 02:39 We don't go around regularly measuring toxins, 02:42 and a broad range of toxins. 02:44 Now I'm not trying to scare people. 02:46 It's okay. 02:47 We can do a lot of healthy things to counter that. 02:49 But it's important for us to have conversation 02:52 about these things, and start having systems in place 02:55 where we can actually measure things we know 02:58 and look for the things that we don't know. 03:00 Because otherwise, it's like running around blind, 03:04 with the obvious factor that we have toxins in our system. 03:08 In our food system, in our environmental system, 03:10 in our agricultural system. 03:12 And just ignore it? 03:14 That's not wise. 03:16 There are so many different toxins in our environment 03:19 that haven't even been researched. 03:21 And then the interactions between toxins have hardly 03:24 ever been looked at. 03:25 And so, we're dealing with a world right now 03:29 that is so much more toxic than it was even a few decades ago. 03:35 We just talked about the fact that we don't 03:37 know how much toxins exist in our system, 03:41 in our environment. 03:42 We know it exists, but we don't measure it. 03:44 We know it exists. 03:46 In fact, we know that it exists quite a bit. 03:48 But we almost, like, close our eyes 03:51 and hope that it disappears. 03:53 It's a natural human behavior that when something is 03:57 overwhelming or so significant, yet you think that you can't 04:02 do anything about it, you close your eyes. 04:03 You just ignore it. 04:05 We're doing that. 04:06 To get to the point to know that it's not just one chemical, 04:09 but multiple chemicals, and together their effect, 04:12 would be overwhelming. 04:13 I definitely don't want to overwhelm you, 04:16 but there are reasons why I think you 04:18 really need to consider this seriously. 04:21 Check out this recent peer reviewed paper out of Italy. 04:24 And it documents this strong association between patients 04:28 with carotid artery plaque in which microplastics 04:33 and Nano plastics were detected had a higher risk of a composite 04:38 of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from any cause 04:44 than those in whom micro or Nano plastics 04:47 were not detected. 04:50 Microplastics in carotid artery plaque? 04:54 And those who have this internal contamination 04:56 have increased risk of heart attack, stroke, 04:59 and all causes of death? 05:01 That is crazy. 05:02 Plastic doesn't degrade like compost. 05:06 It just gets smaller. 05:08 And we may not be able to see them, but they are there 05:11 disrupting the peace. 05:13 I think one of the biggest examples 05:15 is endocrine disruptors. 05:17 And so these endocrine disruptors that are in plastics: 05:20 plastic bottles, BPA is a big one. 05:22 It's also in canned goods. 05:24 Even in, you know, the water that we drink from plastic 05:28 water bottles, we can be exposed to toxins that way as well. 05:33 Yeah, we really don't consider that very much, do we? 05:36 You know, here we think we're drinking purified water, 05:39 and yet it's been sitting in this plastic water bottle 05:41 where it's absorbing, or it's contaminated, 05:45 polluted with some of the particles from what it's been 05:48 sitting in for who knows how long. 05:50 And especially if the plastic is left in the hot sun 05:53 and you have something in the container, 05:56 like water in a plastic container that has been 06:00 sat in the sun for a while, the BPA and some of these 06:03 other toxins are going to leach into the water, 06:05 then you're going to drink it. 06:07 We would buy the bottled water. 06:10 Well now we're getting more water, 06:12 we're drinking more water. 06:13 That's good for you. 06:15 And it's not just the plastic that's bad for you, 06:17 but the little microplastics that's actually 06:20 floating in the water. 06:21 And they have shown that to be existent in bottled water, 06:25 even though it's supposed to be filtered. 06:28 And we have so many issues with fertility nowadays 06:32 that in my mind as I look at the data, there 06:36 seems to be a pretty strong correlation with the toxins, 06:39 especially endocrine disruptors and the plastics that are 06:42 influencing the fertility of our young women. 06:45 When toxicants enter our body, they don't just 06:49 mind their own business. 06:50 Dr. Rea mentioned the term, endocrine disruptors. 06:54 I asked her to clarify that term. 06:58 So when we think about our endocrine system, 07:00 our endocrine system is really like our reproductive hormones, 07:04 and then we also think about our stress hormones 07:07 are also a big part of that. 07:09 And so, our ability to handle stress, our ability to handle 07:11 our estrogen, our progesterone, our testosterone, 07:15 all of those types of hormones that really make us uniquely 07:17 male and female, those pathways are disrupted 07:22 by some of these toxins. 07:23 And the big toxin is the toxin that is in plastics, 07:26 in a lot of these water bottles, plastic water bottles. 07:30 Hormone disrupting chemicals have become pervasive 07:34 in our environment to the point where we are being exposed 07:37 daily through what we eat or drink, 07:41 in the air we breathe, and through direct skin contact. 07:44 Exposure has been associated with 07:46 obesity occurrence in humans. 07:49 You know, why aren't I losing weight? 07:52 Are you toxic? 07:53 And I lot of people are. 07:55 I won't say it's 100%, but a lot more than you'd recognize, 07:58 because we're not looking for it. 08:00 But when you actually look at these things, you can see that 08:03 a lot of people are polluted. 08:06 The interesting thing is, if you look at this 08:09 the body knows that it has pollution. 08:12 It can't always get rid of it, but it tries to wall it off. 08:16 And where it tries to wall it off is in fat cells. 08:21 Why aren't you losing weight? 08:23 Well there could be multiple contributors. 08:26 But a lot of people are just polluted. 08:29 I think this is one of the reasons why we Americans are 08:31 becoming more and more overweight. 08:34 The prevailing view is that obesity results from calories, 08:37 from an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure 08:41 caused by overeating and insufficient exercise. 08:45 But what about obesogens? 08:48 They too can alter the balance between energy intake 08:51 and energy expenditure. 08:53 The obesogen hypothesis proposes that exposure to these 08:57 chemicals can alter the development and function of 09:00 fat tissue, liver, the pancreas, your gastrointestinal tract 09:05 function, and brain. 09:07 Thus changing the set point of our metabolism. 09:12 I'm sure you've heard a lot about 09:13 the changing rate of obesity. 09:15 But it's just worth noting that in 1985, not that long ago, 09:19 no state had an average obesity rate that was greater than 15%. 09:23 But today over 35% of adults in 16 states have obesity, 09:28 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 09:32 These toxic chemicals are altering our hormones, 09:36 metabolism, and can increase the production of fat cells, 09:40 change their shape or size, how they interact with processes 09:43 that regulate our appetite and sense of fullness after a meal. 09:48 It's a term that environmental scientists use for certain 09:52 toxicants, meaning that they promote obesity, 09:55 even though they have zero carbs and zero calories. 10:00 Obesogens are a subset of environmental chemicals. 10:04 That's kind of how you can think about them. 10:06 They act as endocrine disruptors. 10:09 Obesity is not the only concern from them either. 10:12 Is our increasing exposure to chemicals 10:15 affecting our risk of disease? 10:17 Are environmental toxicants something we need to consider 10:21 in relation to neurological health? 10:24 Definitely. I mean, there's evidence from Parkinson's 10:28 and other diseases that there appears to be 10:31 environmental factors that have at least 10:33 contributed to onset of disease. 10:35 Be it toxins that we've added to the environment as a result of, 10:40 you know, farming and all these chemicals that we use in farms, 10:43 or chemicals that we've added into the water system, 10:46 chemicals that we've added to the foods that we're eating, 10:50 consuming, these huge farms and antibiotics or hormones; 10:56 all these things have an effect because downstream we get them. 11:00 But I have another colleague of mine here in Mount Shasta 11:02 who is more into preventative medicine, 11:04 internal medicine. 11:06 And we have seen Parkinson's patients, and every single one 11:11 of those Parkinson's patients has glyphosate 11:15 off the chart. 11:18 So that's another one of the things, you know. 11:21 Here in the county they still, spray the roads 11:24 to kill the weeds, okay. 11:26 And yet, that we know is causing Parkinson's in certain people. 11:29 Now, it's probably not everybody, because again, 11:33 genetics play a role. 11:35 Certain people do not detoxify well 11:38 because of genetic mutations. 11:41 And toxins damage mitochondria function. 11:44 They cause oxidation, irritating and causing dysfunction 11:50 in the mitochondria and your ability to produce energy 11:53 so that the rest of the cells can do their job. 11:56 A lot of times we don't look deep enough 11:58 and we don't realize the earth is waxing old like a garment. 12:04 It's toxic. 12:06 Okay, we're inhaling chemicals, we're eating it in our food, 12:12 If you're not eating organic food, 12:13 you're eating food that's contaminated, by definition. 12:16 You've got chemicals on that. 12:18 And that affects your energy. 12:20 It affects the ATP, it affects the mitochondria. 12:24 Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Roundup, 12:27 the weed killer. 12:28 It's commonly used in lawn care. 12:30 Animal studies have found it is toxic to the nervous system, 12:34 and the mitochondria, 12:35 and inhibits testosterone production. 12:39 Probably our major source of exposure 12:41 is through the food we're eating 12:43 because it's used as an herbicide. 12:45 And it's used en masse on American food crops. 12:47 It's sad. 12:48 It's also found in conventional raised meat and dairy 12:52 as the animals are fed food contaminated with RoundUp. 12:56 Based on population studies, glyphosate was found in over 12:59 80% of urine samples of Americans. 13:02 It's been found in rivers and even rain. 13:05 And researchers are finding that it can adversely affect 13:09 the male reproductive health by inhibiting testosterone. 13:12 And I just mentioned, promoting neuro-inflammation, 13:15 ROS, and hurting our mitochondria. 13:18 These are just a few of the reasons why I think 13:21 this stuff should be banned. 13:24 In my field of pain management, environmental toxins are 13:28 very important to consider. 13:30 And we are exposed in so many different ways to toxins. 13:36 You know, when it comes to the food we eat, 13:39 you know, pesticides have been used. 13:44 And we know that pesticides can cause chronic inflammation 13:48 in our patients. 13:49 So when they have chronic inflammation, 13:53 it makes their pain worse. 13:54 We're exposed in so many different ways to toxins. 14:00 Definitely foods. 14:02 Foods are a problem. 14:05 Many of my patients come in, they're on 10 or 15 drugs. 14:09 That is pollution. 14:11 Those drugs aren't pure. 14:12 You've got carriers with them, and you know emulsifiers, 14:15 and all kinds of stuff. 14:17 And the body has to take care of all that stuff. 14:19 So that can be a problem too. 14:22 We use a lot of cleaning solutions, 14:24 and all this kind of stuff. 14:26 Especially with this past pandemic. 14:28 That stuff can be toxic. 14:30 So it's a build-up that occurs, 14:34 and we're not good at getting rid of these things. 14:37 We know that every medication that we take 14:41 has the possibility of side effects. 14:43 It's a foreign substance that we're taking into our bodies. 14:45 It's not something that God made, you know. 14:48 And if we overutilize, you know, these medications, 14:56 we can run into problems. 14:58 Boy, I hadn't thought of medication 15:01 quite like that before. 15:03 They also mentioned food. 15:04 One of the sources of food worth discussing is meat. 15:08 Sadly, animals are just as exposed, if not more so, 15:12 than we are. 15:14 Animals are toxic. 15:15 Okay, just like people are getting toxic, 15:17 but animals are really toxic. 15:20 And that's one of the reasons you want to 15:21 stay away from animal products; because of that toxicity. 15:24 We've messed with the genetics on some of these animals. 15:27 And it's not good. 15:29 The Bible speaks of the creation groaning under the corruption, 15:34 waiting for God to renew this planet. 15:37 Even fish suffer. 15:38 Studies have documented high levels of microplastics 15:42 and heavy meals in many species of fish. 15:45 Marine life like oysters and clams filter the water for food, 15:49 and they reportedly have some of the highest levels. 15:53 There seems to be some data that fish seem to be safer right now, 15:57 but at the same time, there is no fish, be it farmed or ocean, 16:01 that is now not filled with some kind of chemicals. 16:06 Because living beings, all of them concentrate, but animals 16:11 concentrate more, and then the further up the food chain 16:14 you are, the more you concentrate things 16:17 like chemicals and toxins. 16:19 So mercury and lead is something we talk about. 16:22 The bigger fish seem to have more of them. 16:24 The reason why bigger fish are more of a problem 16:27 is because of the fact that the little fish that are exposed 16:30 get eaten by larger fish. 16:32 And those fish get eaten by even larger fish. 16:36 And each time we go up the food chain, the concentration 16:39 of contaminates exponentially increases. 16:42 We call this, biomagnification. 16:46 So by the time you get to the large fish, 16:48 they have a heavy toxic load. 16:50 You know who also is polluted that we don't think of enough? 16:53 Our pets. 16:55 Our pets are polluted with high levels of many of the same 16:58 synthetic industrial chemicals that researches have 17:02 recently found in people, including newborns. 17:05 Studies are showing that our pets are serving as involuntary 17:09 sentinels of the widespread chemical contamination 17:13 that scientists increasingly link to a growing array of 17:16 health problems in animals and humans. 17:19 Just as children ingest pollutants in tap water, or 17:23 play on lawns with pesticide residues, or breathe in 17:26 an array of indoor contaminants, or chew on plastic toys, 17:30 so do their pets. 17:32 But with their compressed lifespans, developing and aging 17:36 seven or more times faster than children, 17:38 pets also develop health problems from exposures 17:42 much more rapidly. 17:44 When I used to be in medical school, or college more likely, 17:47 I used to eat tuna. 17:48 And I thought tuna was a small fish because it came in cans. 17:50 But then I saw these shows that tuna are huge. 17:53 They're up in the food chain. 17:55 So they concentrate chemicals. 17:57 Oftentimes foods that we might think are quite healthy 18:01 and promoting of health can have some unrecognized 18:05 side effects, or negative effects I want to say, 18:09 damaging effects on our system. 18:10 Even fish in the promotion of type 2 diabetes. 18:14 Types of toxins that fish, actually, their bodies love to 18:19 absorb from whatever water they're swimming around in. 18:22 So there are certain types of toxins in the environment that 18:24 fish bodies are very efficient at absorbing and storing. 18:28 And so, those toxins wind up in really high concentrations 18:32 in fish that we eat. 18:34 Depending on the fish, I suppose, and where it's from. 18:37 But these are things like heavy metals, and chemicals with 18:41 names like organophosphate. 18:43 It turns out that there's strong evidence that some of those 18:47 toxins in the environment that we ingest through the 18:50 eating of fish promotes diabetes. 18:54 Wait, what? Say that again. 18:56 Toxins in the environment that we ingest through the eating of 18:59 fish promote diabetes. 19:02 Did you catch that? 19:04 Oftentimes foods that we might think are quite healthy 19:07 and promoting of health can have some unrecognized 19:11 side effects, or negative effects, I want to say, 19:15 damaging effects on our system. 19:17 Even fish in the promotion of type 2 diabetes. 19:21 This is so important to highlight. 19:23 Dr. Racine was not saying that fish causes diabetes. 19:26 No. The point is that exposure to environmental toxicants 19:30 can be a major contributor to the development of this disease. 19:34 So mercury is a great example. 19:37 But there's various ways mercury can get into the body as well. 19:41 For instance, I had a patient years ago while practicing 19:46 with the Guam Seventh-day Adventist clinic 19:48 in Micronesia in the middle of the western Pacific. 19:52 And this was an elderly Korean couple that came in to see me. 19:57 And a 65-year-old lady was very fatigued. 20:03 She tried to eat really healthy, and was very health-conscious, 20:10 and had gone to the doctor after doctor trying to figure out 20:12 What was wrong with her. 20:14 And so they were finally referred to the wellness center. 20:18 Kind of last-ditch effort. 20:20 And so I had at the time been doing studies on almost 20:26 every patient and measured their blood mercury levels, 20:30 and discovered that if somebody ate fish on average of twice 20:34 or more often a week, that their levels of mercury would 20:38 be above 10 micrograms per liter. 20:40 And the goal should be at least under five. 20:42 Really should be zero. 20:44 There shouldn't be any mercury in our body, right? 20:46 But it should be at least under five. 20:48 And so on average, it was double the upper limit 20:52 on the average patient eating fish twice a week or more. 20:57 So I suggested to her to stop eating fish for about a month, 21:03 and come back and we would retest. 21:05 Well, I tested her mercury levels initially, and it was 21:09 45 micrograms per liter. 21:11 It was incredibly high. 21:14 That's basically nine times higher than the upper limit 21:18 at the time. 21:20 And so I figured it was fish, right? 21:23 And so I told her to stop eating fish. 21:25 She did. 21:26 She came back six weeks later and it was 21:30 still super high, above 40. 21:33 So I said, there's something else going on. 21:34 So I started asking more questions, you know. 21:37 It's been said that if you listen to your patient 21:41 long enough, they'll tell you exactly what you need 21:43 to do for them, right. 21:45 And so that's why I always spend an hour with every patient, 21:47 because oftentimes I don't really understand the condition 21:50 until I've just listened to them long enough. 21:53 So she was talking and I said, "Well, what do you do? 21:56 Tell me about your life." 21:57 And she said, "Well, my husband and I, we own a little business. 22:02 We run a jewelry kiosk at the mall." 22:05 I go, "Really?" 22:07 And so I said, "What kind of jewelry do you sell?" 22:11 And I had just by chance been reading some studies about how 22:15 some jewelry has mercury contamination on it. 22:19 It's not contamination. 22:20 They actually use mercury for some reason with that jewelry. 22:25 And so I realized that what she was likely doing is 22:31 that all day long she was picking up that jewelry 22:36 that had some mercury on it, okay, 22:39 and touching it with her fingers. 22:43 And that all day long she was exposing her fingers 22:47 to mercury that absorbs into the blood. 22:49 Anything that you touch, any oil that you put on, 22:53 any lotion that you put on, anything you put onto your skin 22:57 gets into your body. 22:59 Make sure you understand that. 23:02 And so that was most likely the reason her mercury levels 23:06 were so high. 23:07 I had another patient who had a business of scrap metal. 23:12 He was buying scrap metal from the military in Guam 23:15 and selling it to China. 23:17 And he was making a lot of money doing that. 23:20 But he would oftentimes get out there with his employees 23:24 and move all these lead pipes and different things 23:28 as he was putting it into containers 23:30 to send over to China. 23:32 And so I checked his heavy metal levels, 23:35 and his lead-level was through the roof. 23:39 And I go, "Where are you getting exposed to lead?" 23:42 And little by little we realized by listening to his history 23:49 that he was not using gloves when, you know, most of us 23:54 wouldn't use gloves if we're just moving these pipes around. 23:57 And so by just constant touching these lead pipes, 24:02 he was actually getting lead into his blood. 24:04 And therefore, in his brain and in his bones, and so forth. 24:08 And that's one of the reasons many people don't really feel 24:11 toxic, or start getting chronically ill 24:14 until they're older, because as we age we lose bone mass. 24:20 Our bones demineralize. 24:22 And guess what comes out with the calcium 24:25 when the bones demineralize. 24:27 All the lead, and other, especially lead that tends to 24:30 concentrate in the bones. 24:32 In other words, we get re-exposed to that same lead 24:36 we had been exposed to our entire life, 24:40 especially in those older individuals that were exposed to 24:42 leaded gasoline fumes. 24:45 And now they're being exposed to that same lead 24:49 50 and 60 years later because their bones are disintegrating. 24:54 This is why I'm a little concerned about all the 24:56 bone broth that people are drinking, you know, 24:58 since animals can store heavy metals in their bones too. 25:02 Now the other toxin that is commonly not addressed 25:07 is mold toxins. 25:09 Very few doctors are actually looking to see if 25:12 somebody has a sensitivity to mold toxins, 25:16 and that could be possibly the reason that 25:19 they have so many symptoms that don't really neatly 25:23 fit into a clear diagnosis, or they might diagnosis it 25:27 as something completely different 25:29 and treat it with a medicine that is not in any way 25:31 addressing the original cause of the problem. 25:34 And so that's why I like to encourage patients like that 25:39 to get testing with the Great Plains Laboratory out of Kansas 25:43 where they do urine toxicity testing; 25:45 mycotoxins for mold-related toxins, 25:50 industrial toxins, and glyphosate toxicity. 25:53 And I'm shocked sometimes when I see the high levels 25:57 of toxins that come back. 25:59 And that's when we talk about the comprehensive fundamental 26:03 strategies as well as specific things that can be done. 26:06 And some people are more susceptible to it than others. 26:11 And mold toxins, mycotoxins, are very much related 26:18 or increase the risk of other toxins. 26:20 So if you have some other toxins in your body, 26:23 mold toxins dramatically increase the risk, 26:27 synergistically, exponentially. 26:30 So these are all clues to help us figure out 26:34 what are the factors that are promoting metabolic disease 26:38 like diabetes, or cardiovascular disease, or neurologic disease 26:43 like impaired cognitive function, including Alzheimer's. 26:47 We weren't designed to be toxic dumps. 26:50 We have amazing ability to detox ourselves from these substances. 26:54 And that will be our topic in the next episode 26:57 of Made For Health. 26:58 Hope you join us. |
Revised 2025-04-21