There is a silent epidemic going on with acid reflux. Apparently 2 billion people on our planet suffer from acid reflux, and they don’t even know it!
Acid reflux doesn’t need to be constant heartburn, it can come in the form of a constant cough or continually clearing of the throat. Because the symptoms aren’t the usual ones, people aren’t being diagnosed properly and are ending up with cancer.
So, why is this happening? Why are so many people getting throat or esophageal cancer? Join Dr. Martin as he shares his reasons why silent reflux is now so prevalent.
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. How are ya? Hope you're having a great day. Looking forward to our session here this afternoon, and we appreciate you guys more than you know. Okay, now, title, Don't Sweep this Under the Carpet. Okay, I'm starting with that. Don't sweep this under the carpet. What am I talking about? I'm talking about silent acid reflux. Don't sweep it under the carpet, okay? Because let me read this to you. Apparently 2 billion people on the planet suffer from silent acid reflux, not necessarily getting any digestive symptoms. That's what it means. It's not like they're always, oh, heartburn or whatever. They're not really getting it. It's silent. They don't know they have, and they might have a cough or they're always clearing their throat, but they don't really have acid reflux as far as they know. And it's often goes misdiagnosed because they don't have symptoms.
Let me just say something general and look in all due respect, okay? What's happened in medicine is that everybody is a specialist, okay? Am I against specialists? Of course I'm not. But you got what we call specialized medicine. I'm not saying that there's no family doctors, but family doctors the second often that they see you, our medications don't work that they first tried or whatever, you're referred to a specialist. Ears, nose and throat, lung, pulmonary specialist, GI doctor. And the problem is, is that if you have something like silent reflux, you can fall through the cracks because nobody's really looking for it. I think it was actually named in 1981 as far as I can remember.
But here's why you don't want to sweep this under the carpet. Not only that, I mean literally they're talking about 2 billion people. I'm going to tell you why it's so prevalent in a minute, but let me just finish my introduction here. So common, and I used to look out for things like this in my office. I'm a food doctor, so I had a questionnaire. You didn't get to see me in my office. And I mean it, nobody ever saw me without filling out a pretty extensive questionnaire. And the reason is because people, when you have limited time or whatever, you want to get to the bottom of it. And really, I found, and I encourage this with you guys, ask questions, and I had it down to a science just because of all the experience I've had.
But let me say this, okay? And I read this recently that what is the fastest growing in terms of numbers cancers in North America today? Okay? What is the fastest growing in terms of numbers cancers in North America today? Well, if you asked me, I would tell you probably pancreatic cancer. And secondly, without looking, I would've said bowel cancer. It's certainly one of the fastest growing amongst young people is bowel cancer. Colorectal cancer is like unreal. Used to be unheard of in young people. And pancreatic liver cancers are very, very common today. And you and I know why. But here's one. Did it surprise me? Yeah, maybe a little bit. But apparently the fastest growing cancer in terms of numbers is esophageal. Throat cancer. Wow. Pretty crazy, right?
And apparently, I mean, the only time that someone would get throat cancer is if they were smoking. And so back in the 1950s or the 1960s, there was more throat cancer back then because people were smoking. And of course, we all know what smoking does to the lungs, but it also with esophageal cancer and mouth cancer, tongue cancer, whatever, smoking cancer everywhere, even uterine cancer can be caused by smoking. So smoking, but the world pretty well got the memo and people stopped smoking. Not completely, but generally, yes. And what happened? Well, these cancers went down. Now, lung cancer is still the number one killer in society today in terms of cancers as far as killing people. Lung cancer is still the number one. And yet I believe that's caused by consuming seed oils. And guys, you know me, I pretty well bring everything back to nutrition.
So why on God's earth would we see today in 2023? A real epidemic of throat cancers, esophageal cancers? And the answer is silent reflux, acid reflux. It's crazy how much of it there is. And I don't know if you've heard this term like Barrett esophagus or whatever. I studied that back in school, Barrett esophagus. But again, it was rare. It was uncommon. And today that is a precursor to esophageal cancer. It's that acid coming up. A lot of people feel acid, they get acid reflux, but a lot of people don't have any symptoms whatsoever other than they cough. They get a lot of phlegm in their throat. They think it's their sinuses, postnasal drip. It could be, but a lot of times that's caused by a silent reflux. Why? Why is this happening? Why is there so much acid reflux, whether it is silent or not? Well, I've given you the answer in the past, but because I've read this, 2 billion people worldwide in some way or another are affected by acid reflux. I just, you shake your head.
Now I'm going to tell you why. Okay? Because the article didn't tell us why. Didn't tell me why, but I'm going to give you why in my opinion. Okay? Now, couple of reasons. Number one reason is that the pH of the stomach has changed, okay? Now, if you look at the rest of your body, all of your body, except your stomach should have a pH, okay? Slightly alkaline, okay? And your body has tremendous ability to buffer, especially your blood. Never allows that pH to go out of whack. And sometimes this throws doctors off because when they think of ketosis, for example, okay, they think of keto acidosis, which is a very dangerous condition. Diabetics can get into a keto acidosis and die from it. The pH of their blood is gone completely acidic. But that's not what I'm talking about here.
In your stomach, it's a furnace, or it should be very acidic in your stomach. Human beings should have a stomach acidity of about 1.5 to 2 very acidic. Now, you don't want that anywhere else. You only want that in your stomach. And your stomach has a valve on the top, and it keeps all that acidity in so that when you eat and your food gets to your stomach, it is mulched. The acid, mulches that food and turns it into a liquid so that you can get all your nutrition. I mean, that acid is unreal, or at least it should be. Our body is a lot smarter than we are, okay? Our bodies very smart, and we are not eating the right things. Now, I think you know where I'm going with this. You're meant to have a very, very, very acidic stomach. And the reason is, is because you are meant to eat eggs, meat, and cheese and red meat very specifically.
Not that you shouldn't have poultry, not that you couldn't have fish, of course, but you need a very, very acidic stomach to eat steak, okay? But when you don't eat, you lose it, use it or lose it, just like your gallbladder. Either you use it. Why are you given a gallbladder? Okay? I ask people that question all the time. Why do you have a gallbladder? For plants? No, no, for animal foods, for saturated fat. Saturated fat is satisfied fat. Can't be oxidized. It can't rust out. It's so good. It's satisfying. That's why when people blame saturated fat on all sorts of problems, they really don't know what they're talking about. The human body is fearfully and wonderfully made. Plus it's made to eat meat and especially red meat because you need a lot of acidity to eat red meat. But if you eat properly, you are going to have the right acidity in your stomach, not anywhere else, just in your stomach.
And your gallbladder is going to pour out its bile into the small intestine to emulsify that fat. Do you need bile? Now, if you don't have a gallbladder, here's the good news, you got plan B, okay? So you can live without a gallbladder, okay? You can live without a gallbladder because bile never came from the gallbladder. Bile came from the liver, the gallbladder just being a reservoir. Of course, you do better with a gallbladder, of course you do. But if you don't have one, you could live without it. You might have to eat a little bit less saturated fat until your body gets used to it. Okay? Now, back to the stomach. You were given a stomach to eat meat. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't have plants. I'm not saying you shouldn't eat any fruit or vegetable. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying if you live on that, you are going to change the pH.
A cow has a pH in their stomach and they got four of them. You need four stomachs. By the way, if you plan on eating plants, cows eat grass, so you don't have to. That's my motto, okay? I always tease people to make a point. Chicken and salad. I heard that in my office for 40 years, Dr. Martin, so I love chicken and salad. I said, I feel sorry for you. And I mean it, I used to tease them about that said, you're not meant to eat salad. What do you think your stomach is for? It's not for salad. Oh, Dr. Martin, I need fiber. Fiber. I said that was made up by Dr. Kellogg. You don't need fiber. Who told you? And can you imagine how much fun I had in my practice every day? Back to the stomach.
So when you don't use it properly, and I'm telling you. Okay, here's a huge, huge component. You don't use it, you lose it, and your body is smart. It's saying, well, because you don't use your stomach properly, you're not eating the right food, especially saturated fat and red meat. Oh, well, I'm just going to have to make up. So what does the body do? The stomach, the proton pumps, they pour out more acid because you are not using it. And it says, okay, I'm going to have to make more. And the problem is when those proton pumps get involved, they'll send that acid up the esophagus because it wasn't meant to be. If you're not eating right, the body overcompensates. It really does.
And here's another huge factor. So people are not eating the right food and they're eating the wrong food, okay? There's nothing worse on your stomach than sugar. And let me rephrase that. There's nothing worse on your stomach than high fructose corn syrup. That monster of sugars, the anti-Christ of sugars, it destroys your stomach acidity. It's very acidic. Like that sugar is so acidic and you think, oh, wow, that's good, isn't it? No, not that sugar. I'm just going to give you a statistic, but I used to see this all the time. Okay? The worst thing you can do with sugar is drink it. Drink it. People would blame coffee. They said, I got acid reflex. I think it's coffee, doc. I said, it's not the coffee. You're drinking sugar. You're putting sugar in the coffee. Stop that. Your stomach wasn't made for that. Now your body's going to overreact to that high fructose corn syrup. The worst thing you can do is drink it. It's already a liquid sugar.
Let me give you a statistic. I pulled this out and this is an old one, so I wonder what it's like even today. In 2010, okay? This is old. This is 13 years old. The average America, I only can get it there between 12 and 29 years old, consumed 49 soft drinks a week, 49 a week, 50 cans of soda a week. The average. What? Yeah, terrible. That's in 2010. Oh, the food industry and all those juices. I'm talking about soft drinks. They're not even including juices. You see the parade of young people? I get fooled, okay? Easily because I like coffee. You guys know that. Okay, so I go to a coffee shop, I see these young people there. I feel like giving them high fives. You guys are learning how good vitamin C is for you. I want to give you a high five. Come here. Young people, but they're not getting coffee. Why is Starbucks so popular? It's all the drinks, the sugary drinks.
I remember my grandson said to me, grandpa, he would be making those drinks. He said, you have no idea how much sugar we put in those things. I said, what? You mean they're not just coming because they saw me coming and they're going into a coffee shop because they say, here's Dr. Martin. And he always recommends drinking coffee. No, he said, no, grandpa, it's the sugar and they're drinking it. And I go, huh? No one, 2 billion people on the planet have got acid reflux. And most of it is silent. They don't eat meat or enough of it. They're drinking their sugar. Worst thing you can do, not only for your liver but your stomach. It messes up the pH of the stomach. Unbelievable. It's amazing to me. What I used to be able to do in the office in terms of getting results, I said, well, stop eating and drinking sugar. Okay? Trust me, you're going to go on the reset and the only thing you're going to be drinking is water and coffee. Okay? Okay. Okay, you teetotalers. I'll let you have a little tea. I don't know why you want tea when you can be drinking coffee. I'm sorry. Coffee's so much better for you.
Now. Interesting, isn't it? One of the major upswings in cancer is esophageal cancer. And we know why. It's not smoking, it's drinking sugar, it's not eating enough. Saturated fat, the satisfied fat that's in meat and eggs and cheese. We don't eat enough of it. We think it's bad for us. It's craziness. And if you have any of those symptoms that I talked about earlier, coughing, unexplained phlegm in your throat all the time, and sinus problems all the time. A lot of people think their sinuses are the problem. Yeah, yeah. But why are you making so much phlegm? pH in your stomach's not right. Got to look at that. Got to look at that. It's amazing what happens when you change your diet and you get back to eating the way God wanted you to eat. Okay, interesting.
Here's a couple other tips. Don't eat at night. People ask me all the time, what do I think of intermittent fasting? I said, I like it, especially at night. You're not meant to eat at night. Don't eat before going to bed. Three to four hours at least. And if you're going to elevate your pillow, elevate the pillow, but don't eat. You're watching Netflix and you want popcorn. I get it. But that's the worst thing. Don't eat at night. I like intermittent fasting. I've told you that a thousand times. But the best, in my opinion, the sweet spot is when you give your body, if you can stop eating at six o'clock at night or five o'clock at night, even better. And give yourself now you're 12 hours at six in the morning and go to 14 at eight. And if you can go past it even a bit, even better.
Like I said, I am big, big, big on letting that stomach do what it's meant to do. Be very acidic furnace. And the problem is when we don't eat the right foods and when we drink the wrong drinks, you're really destroying the intention and the functionality of your stomach. And that can create big problems downstream too. Like leaky gut. A lot of times yeast can come from the stomach into the bowel because they're not enough acidity in the stomach. And why do we see so much today? And this is another topic, H pylori. I always tell people h pylori. I know my doctor said, I know what your doctor said, but I said, why? Everybody has h pylori. We do. Yeah. Most people have no idea until they get stomach problems. And the doctor says, well, you've got H pylori. Yeah, but you always had H pylori.
It's like that herpes virus. You get the chickenpox as a kid and then it goes to sleep. It's permanently in hibernation until you get stressed or whatever, and your immune system isn't up to snuff. And then you get shingles or you get herpes simplex like a cold sore. Well, that's the chicken pot. It's the same thing with h pylori. If your stomach is in good shape and the acidity there is 1.5, well, h pylori is asleep. It ain't bothering you. And because doctors are so familiar with antibiotics, they'll give you an antibiotic for h pylori, but they're not looking at the root issue, which is your stomach acidity. Your pH in your stomach has gone up. You don't want that. You want it to be very acidic.
Anywho. Okay, tomorrow morning session. Okay, morning session. Hey, we appreciate you guys coming on. Share this, tell about the Doctor Is In podcast. Okay? We thank you that we're the number one health podcast in Canada and we want to bring that to the United States of America and just keep on sharing guys. We appreciate that. You have no idea. Okay, so have I told you lately that I love you even if you're not eating right? No, but we can all change, right? We can. If you're not a member of the private Facebook group, Martin Clinic private Facebook group, please join us. What a community. We have fun. So join up today. Okay, love you. 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!