Some new studies came out the last few days that Dr. Martin says are quite interesting.
Two of the studies are on probiotics. Researchers are realizing more and more the importance of the microbiome. One of the studies looks at the role of probiotics in colorectal cancer. Your gut is made of billions and billions of bacteria – 3 to 5 pounds worth – and they’re seeing how antibiotics can destroy your microbiome, opening the door to disease.
The other study is reporting that a test of insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance, done once, can predict the risk of major heart disease over the next 22 years. Dr. Martin shares why the A1C test, glycated hemoglobin, is one of the most preventative tests that you can get.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In Podcast, brought to you by MartinClinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Well, good afternoon everyone, and once again, welcome to another live here today. Okay, guys, so what I want to do is we're just going to go over some new studies that came out in the last few days. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on them. I'm just going to mention them to you. They're interesting. I flagged them and I figured, okay, let's talk about them a little bit. One. Well, there's actually two new studies on probiotics, and guys, hold onto your seats because the more they study these bacteria that are on our side, the more they study, the better the results are. It's incredible. Okay, so here's one, the role of probiotics in colorectal cancer. Guys, your gut is made of billions and billions, three to five pounds of bacteria. So when you get on the scale, you have my permission to take three to five pounds off because it's bacteria, okay?
And if you have more good guys than bad guys, it's called you win. And 80% or more of all diseases come out of the gut. Hippocrates said that 2000 years ago. And the more they study these bacteria, whether they be bacteria in your gut, because the vast majority of them are there, they're on your skin, they're in your brain, they're in your lungs, but these bacteria communicate with each other. But what they're finding is the better your microbiome. That means, again, it really is a numbers game, okay? It's a numbers game. And I know this simplifies things to some extent, but this is what happens inside your body. You have three armies. You have good bacteria, you have bad bacteria, and you have yeast, fungus. And the only time a fungus or a candida or yeast can invade your body is when you don't have enough good bacteria.
So when, and this is the studies they're making, okay? And I've been saying this for a long time, but here's what the studies are confirming. The more they study the microbiome, and guys, what is the biggest killer of the microbiome? Something that will save your life. What is that? Antibiotics. Antibiotics destroy your good and bad bacteria. You get an invasive army, and this is why I've always said this, that even though antibiotics can save your life, they are a double edged sword. And it's because of the invasion of the yeast. And what happens, yeast is so destructive in the body because it can travel from your brain, literally from your brain to your toes once it gets in the bloodstream, and it's one of the major causes of colorectal cancer. So what is this study saying that people that have, and they can test this, that have the best healthiest microbiome, have the least amount of colorectal cancer?
Let me tell you something about colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common of all cancers today, and it never used to be. And you know what? It used to be an old man's disease, but not anymore. And again, these are sort of modern day phenomenons. And the problem is, is because of antibiotics, because of all the chemicals that are in our environment and that they get into our gut, they disrupt the microbiome. You've got all these artificial foods that your body doesn't recognize. You've got artificial sugars and all this kind of thing. They destroy the microbiome. And then anti-inflammatories, non-steroidal, anti-inflammatories, even over the counter ones like Advil, Tylenol is not considered a non-steroidal, but it doesn't matter. It's still a medication. People take this, they live on it, but it destroys the microbiome. Bad food, sugar feeds yeast, crappy oils, crappy carbohydrates, bad sugars, like high fructose corn syrup.
It destroys your microbiome. It causes leaky gut. Leaky gut allows the invasion of that third army, guys. And I'm telling you, it's really important. If you ever have to take an antibiotic, remember, I'm not against antibiotics. Please don't misquote me. I'm not. If you need an antibiotic, you take an antibiotic, but never, ever take an antibiotic without taking probiotics. You take the probiotics, double up, triple up even while you're taking an antibiotic, and then go about 10 days past. And you know what I say about antibiotics? The new research is showing stop the antibiotic when your symptoms have abated. The old days of finish the treatment, finish the treatment. They said this when I was in school, and they've never changed their narrative, their mantra, and it was never right. I used to scream at them, not that I was again, not that I was against antibiotics.
Look, ladies. You got a bladder infection, it's burning. Okay? You get an antibiotic, use it only till the burning stops and then stop it and use probiotics instead. And study after study after study is confirming that I was right about that. Because this whole thing about your bacteria, when you lose those friendly guys, it sets you up for all sorts of problems. Not only cancer, but autoimmune disease. Why do we see so much autoimmune today? I'm telling you, it's coming from the gut probiotic. Here's the second one that probiotics can determine if you can sustain weight loss, even the microbiome in your gut, if you have a healthy gut. Well, I remember this is, I mean, this is going back, guys, probably 40 years ago, the first time I ever read anything on this, that children who took antibiotics when they were kids, now we know that as a big factor in ADD, ADHD, it's a huge factor in autism, huge factor.
But what they showed even back then is that kids that were on antibiotics, little kids for ear infections or throat infections, recurring ones were much more likely to be obese. What's the connection between obesity and the gut? Well, everything. The gut is so, so, so key. So at the end of the day, guys, friendly bacteria, you can never get enough of the good guys on your side. There's an invisible war going on in your body if you understand that. You realize that sugar is so destructive, and I'm big on probiotics. Okay? Now, just another study, it won't even talk about it too long. Surgical removal of ovaries linked to increased risk of Parkinson's, okay? Now, they didn't even postulate as to why there might be a link here, but they're saying surgical removal of ovaries, okay? Having a partial hysterectomy. They're not even talking about taking the uterus out, but surgical removal of ovaries link to increased risk of Parkinson's.
Okay? What's the link? What's the possible link? Obviously, hormonal, obviously, right? You lose your ovaries while you're, you're going to produce less estrogen and progesterone. By the way, I used to tell women this in the office all the time. Remember, God gave you plan B. Even if you have a total hysterectomy, you're still going to be a woman. You’ll still be a woman. Your body still knows how to produce estrogen and progesterone. Won't be the same, obviously. But there's a link here. They're saying between surgical removal of ovaries linked to increased risk of Parkinson's.
Listen to this one, this third study that I wanted to talk to you about, a test for insulin resistance. Okay? Listen to what it says. A test of insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance, done once, only once can predict the risk of major heart disease over the next 22 years. This was a very interesting article. You've got a rattling in your car, okay? You got a major rattle, you bring it to your mechanic, and your mechanic says, well, yeah, you got something going on with that engine, but let's just wait till it blows up before we do anything about it. Guys, listen, there are tests out there. Doctors, it's not that they don't know what they are because they do, but they don't look at it in a holistic sense. And what do I mean by that? When they take your A1C, for example, because I believe, okay, the best test for insulin sensitivity is the A1C, okay? Glycated hemoglobin, okay? Why is that? Because sugar attaches to hemoglobin on your red blood cells and they're able to take an average of them. And to me, that is one of the most preventative tests that you can get.
Why? Because what they're showing is that if you are 5.4 or higher, 5.4 or higher, your insulin resistant, that means you have too much circulating insulin. Now, it doesn't mean diabetes, okay? Remember, let's use the analogy. You've gone to the mechanic, you hear a rattling in your engine, but your mechanic says, don't worry about it. We'll look at it when your car blows up. No, no, no. But that's the problem today. It's the problem with modern medicine because as I've explained to you over and over and over again, the last thing that happens to you, the last thing in terms of blood sugar is diabetes. Diabetes is the last thing that happens, not the first. What happens first is insulin resistance or high circulating insulin. It's a food hormone. And when you eat sugars and crappy carbs and your cells, they don't like the presence of insulin, and your body doesn't care if they like the presence of insulin or not.
Your pancreas will secrete insulin. If someone insists on eating carbs and sugars, your body will do the job. It will not allow sugar to stay in your bloodstream. It just can't until it doesn't work anymore. But the last thing that happened doesn't work anymore. Your pancreas can't keep up, and that's diabetes. But what we're finding is that when we realize the importance of insulin resistance, and you can determine that light years ahead of diabetes, but not only that, listen to what this study said. Listen to what this study said. The study said that if they would do insulin sensitivity testing, meaning a1c, okay? Or they can do an insulin testing. I like A1C myself better. I do. Okay? Now listen, it is a better predictor of major heart disease even up to 22 years later. Talk about prevention.
So folks, when you send me your blood work, and I tell you that you have insulin resistance, it means at the cellular level in your body, especially at the muscle cells, especially at the liver cells and your fat cells, they're going like this. Stop coming and knocking at my door. I'm tired of you. Insulin get lost, but insulin, it doesn't get the memo. It keeps coming and coming and coming. And the way to measure that, the best way in my opinion, is what we call the A1C test. The average glycated hemoglobin where sugar attaches to the red blood cell. It gives you the best indication. Now, what did I always say? It has to be under 5.4, and I'll remind you, okay? Because I have it right in front of me. I will remind you that probably a month ago, it may not even been that long. I brought to you a new study on A1C and brain shrinkage. Do you remember that? Do you guys remember that? And here's what it said, okay? I'm just going to refresh your memory, <laugh>, because we're talking about brain shrinkage, but it just goes to show you what insulin does, my friend, okay?
Your brain shrinks, and here's what they found. You get high shrinkage, maximum shrinkage if your A1C is 5.9 and up. Now, guys, let me tell you something about A1C at 5.9. Your doctor won't even flag that at 5.9. They won't even flag it. Again, the mechanic is saying, well come back when the engine blows up. You know, we're not worried about the rattle too much, but if we were into prevention, true prevention, we would be really seriously looking at A1C. Of course, we love triglycerides. We love HDL for heart disease. Okay? Oh, oh, before I bring you the rest, let, let me hear. Cause I'm going to forget. I'm going to forget this new study came out. Hold on, let me get it on LDL, okay? L D, let me remind you. LDL cholesterol, okay? Low density lipoprotein. That's what statin's work on.
When a statin drug is lowering cholesterol, a statin drug is a cholesterol lowering medication. Okay? Now listen to what I'm going to say. It goes after LD because LDL, according to medicine is the boogeyman. LDL bah! You're going to get called into your doctor's office if your LDL is high. But listen again to another study that says that's bunk. Listen to this. Low LDL, and I'm quoting here. Low LDL is bad news in terms of all cause mortality. Low LD, you know what? Low L, LDL, what I was texting or whatever with that lady the other day. She said, doc, I've got to lower my cholesterol. I said, why do you want to do that? Well, she said, my doctor, I said, well, I know your doctor, but cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease, so why do you want to lower it? And now they're showing the lower your cholesterol is the better chance you're going to croak. I'm telling you.
Okay, now let's get back to that A1C okay? So anything over 5.4 and up is for insulin resistance. But listen, it must be even lower. Must be even lower because brain shrinkage 5.9 and up is very, very bad. Brain shrinkage with a1c. Okay? Two moderate shrinking of the brain is 5.6 to 5.8. Moderate small shrinkage is 5.3 to 5.5, and none at all is 4.4 to 5.2. Now guys, this is probably the most significant when it comes to Alzheimer's. Remember, type three diabetes, Alzheimer's, your brain, it's shrinking when your A1C is too high and when your A1C is too high, it means you got insulin resistance. Too much insulin circulating. That's what it means. That's what it means. And guys, the solution to A1C is not a pill. It's not a pill.
I know they talk about Metformin and Glide and others, you know that, oh, you know medic, nah, it's food because insulin is a food hormone. Starting the kitchen with food 5.9, terrible on the brain or up. Think of that. 5.6 to 5.8 moderate shrinking of the brain. Small shrinkages, 5.3. See, they're even lower than my 5.4. They're even lower. They say insulin resistance is at 5.3, not 5.4. Okay? I stand to be corrected because if you send me blood work and it's at 5.4, I will tell you that you have mild insulin resistance already need to change your diet, you need to change your habits. Get the memo, because they're showing here that test. The more they study A1C, the more they realize how significant A1C is, that test, okay? Up to 22 years ahead of time telling you about heart disease. Isn't that crazy guys? A test of insulin done even once predicted the risk of major heart disease over the next 22 years.
Okay, guys? Shortened version today. I got a birthday party to go to <laugh>. My own! Okay, guys, when you get my age, you want to stop counting, but I guess I'm very thankful. Very thankful. Let me tell you what I'm thankful for as I close. I'm very thankful for my health, okay? I don't take that for granted at all. Very thankful for that. Very thankful for you guys. What a team. What fun we have, what support you guys give this podcast and lives that we do. You guys make it happen. It's not me, it's you. And I thank you for that. What would it be if I had no audience, right? Thank you for making this program the number one health podcast in Canada. We appreciate that. We appreciate that. Okay. And let's get the message up. Okay guys, we love you. We'll talk to you soon.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!