Join Dr. Martin in today's episode of The Doctor Is In Podcast.
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 morning everyone. And once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day. We appreciate you coming on and let me bring you a couple of studies this morning. Two new studies on muscle. Guys, your muscles are far more important than you think, or at least the way we used to think. I memorized every muscle in the body when I was going through school in the '70s, and I probably could name most of them now, and maybe with exception of a few. But we never understood the importance of muscle. And as we say here on the Doctor Is In, muscle is a real important part of your metabolic function.
Now, you know, I talk about metabolic syndrome all the time. 93% of the population have metabolic syndrome, which is, the way I put it in analogy, they're on the Titanic. If you've got metabolic syndrome, which is high A1C, anything above 5.4, visceral fat, belly fat. You can be skinny as a rake. You got that fat inside your body, around your organs, that's visceral fat. It's not subcutaneous. It's not under your skin. It's around your organs. It's got its own kettle of fish because it's very inflammatory in the body. Your body sees it as a foreign invader, that kind of fat. And then if you have high triglycerides, so when you look at your lipids, guys, when you get your lipids tested, doctors looking cholesterol and total cholesterol and HD, excuse me, LDL cholesterol, that's what they're looking at because they have medication for that. And that's the way they've been trained. It's not really their fault. If they're not reading, you'll never know what we're talking about here this morning, but you guys do. You want to know if you're on the Titanic in trouble, we're talking about it.
And so when you have high triglycerides, three fat balls that travel around through your blood vessels, those are dangerous. They need to be low and your HDL cholesterol needs to be high. It's like a teeter totter. And there's nothing that will move the needle of triglycerides and cholesterol. Diet. Diet. It's food. It's not medication. It's food. Okay? So we talk about metabolic syndrome and high blood pressure, by the way. That's another sign. And you know me, I added a couple of more and I think with really good experience behind it. What did I add? What did we do at the Doctor Is In? We added two more biomarkers, probably three. Two, metabolic syndrome, because this was my experience. You guys, remember, okay? I'm not a researcher at university. Okay? That's not my job. Now, I'm going to the University of Tennessee in a couple of weeks or less to speak to them through our dear friend on this program, Dr. McKewan, who teaches psychology at the University of Tennessee. And I've been invited. I'm going to go speak there. Now we're going to talk about metabolic syndrome. Big time.
But I added a few things and I'm convinced more than ever that I'm right about this. So I added a couple of biomarkers. The world won't acknowledge this, but that's all right. I added uric acid. It's a very important biomarker. And I added vitamin D to the metabolic syndrome. If you have low levels of vitamin D, it's one of the big factors in metabolic syndrome. Again, this is me. I'm not saying you're going to read that out there. I'm telling you what my experience has been. And B12. B12 is such an important vitamin. The world is crazy short in it, and it has a huge effect on your brain, has a huge effect on your metabolism. And guys, let me just convince you a little bit in case you're not convinced. Okay? I always bring people experience. Something that they might know or they might not know. But I give you an example, i.e. Dr. Bernstein. Remember the Dr. Bernstein Weight Loss Clinics? I don't even know if they exist anymore, but they were really popular at one time.
You know what Dr. Bernstein did? You know how his diet worked? What did he do? Well, he starved you to death. 600 calories a day. Okay? 600. That's for a mouse. But every week when you came in to bewave to the clinic, you got a B12 shot. What did he know about B12 and your metabolism? How your body breaks down food. B12 is very important in that. Okay? But I understood what he was doing. It was sort of like a crash diet. Did it work? Well, sure. If you eat 600 calories, the problem is the second you stop that because you cannot do that forever. But he had one thing that I really liked, and that was using B12. And again, the reason I mentioned this is because 80%, if not more. Is it the 93%? Maybe not quite. But I'm telling you folks that B12 vitamin D are very important when it comes to your metabolic health. That's what I'm saying. Okay?
And one of the things that they should do is talk about grip strength. Okay? Let me fill you in on the new studies. And you know I've talked about this in the past, but we'll do it again because there's a couple of new studies on this. Okay? One study just came up. 190,000 people they follow. And they have the records of their grip strength. I'm quoting their study here. A good proxy for all body strength. Okay? So when they measure grip strength, it's a good proxy for your body's over all muscle strength. Okay? Your grip strength. It helped to predict dementia risk. Okay? The people who had the highest grip strength. Okay? Like you're not going to be as high as Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's not even important, guys. It's just to be stronger than you are now. You're moving the needle in the right direction when it comes to your muscle strength. Your muscles have a big effect on this up here, your brain, on your metabolism. Remember, your brain's only 2% of your body weight, and yet it consumes 25% of your energy from food. It's headquarters. It's the federal government. It's taxes.
So muscle has a big effect on this. And as you get older, if you're anything like me, what are you most concerned about? Metabolic syndrome? Well, indirectly, maybe. But what you're most concerned about, because we know this, you're concerned about your memory. True or false? That's true. We're concerned about our noggin. We're concerned up here. Who isn't? When you get in your 50s, and I hate to even go down that low, but it's a fact. You want to get someone's attention? Talk to them about their memory. Okay? So this study is showing when they measure grip strength, the people whose grip strength was better, was improved. You know what? They had a lot less dementia. They followed these people for years and years and years. Isn't that interesting?
Okay, second study, an Australian study. Okay? Okay. They looked at cognitive and change of shape in the brain. They're very important together. Your memory, where is that mostly?Okay. I'm going to ask a question, you guys. I'm giving you a little quiz. Where in the brain would they measure? This is one or the other. Hypothalamus or hypocampus. Let's see your answers. What are they measuring? Your hypothalamus or your hypocampus? Let's see. If I can see the scroll. Give me the answer. Sandy? Hypocampus. Kathy, hypocampus. Yvonne. She's concerned about it, which is good. Wendy's got it right. You guys. Our students. Gary. Marie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cecilia. Yeah. Yeah. Gertie, you got it. Kelly. Linda. Hypocampus. Hippo. Hypo. Teresa. You got it. Ornella. Oh, my audience. I love it. Chovana. You got it. Elaine, you got it. Nobody has said hypothalamus. Marianne. Well, actually, Marianne, you're a little bit right when you say both. Okay. Judy, hypocampus. It's Jenny. Beverly. You see, guys. Okay, Linda. Jenny, you got it. Nelly, you got it. Cecilia, you got it. Okay. Braheem, you got it.
Okay. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. Anne, you got it. Guys, why do you think I do what I do? I told you. What is my raison d'etre? Why do I do this? For exactly what we just talked about. Because I'm an educator. I used to be a clinician, but even in my clinic days, you got an education when you came to see me. I wanted my patients to understand what I was doing with them because they made far better patients, far more compliant. When I told them, they were on the Titanic and they needed to get off. I did their blood work. I showed them. I made them understand. Listen, Linda. Listen, Larry. You're on the Titanic. I want to fix this. You're going to go home with a plan to succeed, not to fail. I'm going to give you something that's doable. I'm not going to say it's easy because it involves food. Anything that involves food is not easy because we live in a world of deception. We live in a world of deception. What's better? Fiber or steak? Well, they say fiber. You know better. What's better? Margarine or butter?
So folks, this is why I did what I did in my clinic days and I wanted to take it out to the world. I'm just a little weak, nobody. But with our platform, with the Doctor Is In podcast, with the live, and with the books that I wrote, Tony Jr. and I, well, we got millions of downloads. Well, you know what? You want to think I'm encouraged? Well, look what happens today when I ask you a question. You know the answer. You understand. Your hypothalamus, very important part of your brain. Absolutely. And metabolic syndrome has a big effect on that too. Okay? It has a big effect on that too. But your hypocampus is your memory center. Campus. School. It's your memory. And guys, that's what we're worried about. I'm not saying I'm not worried about horror-mones. Yes, I am. But I'll tell you. I'm very concerned about the memory.
And the studies are showing that when you get stronger, your muscles are a metabolic machine that helps in your cognitive memory, figuring things out, your brain, your muscles. And guys, you don't have to be Arnold Schwarzenegger. Okay? You don't. You just need to think stronger. And I listen, do I love walking? You bet your boots, I love walking. A lot of people can't walk, but if you could, you'd walk. And is it good for you? You better believe it is, but nothing like your muscle. Nothing like your muscle. You got to get the memo about this. So I'm reinforcing because of these new studies, grip strength. Guys, think about it. Your grip strength, it's just your overall strength. If you can get yourself out of a chair. One of the things that I talked to you about this years ago is getting yourself off the floor. You know, you get my age in your mid 70s.That's easy for a kid. Get off the floor. For us, it's not that easy. Right? But it's important. It's a real measuring thing. Okay. Back to the study.
Okay, so in Australian study, they showed that when your muscles are getting stronger, two things happen. Okay? Two things that they measured. And that was cognitive. Okay? Cognitive, they measured it. You can do that. Ask Dr. McKewen. They can measure your cognitive abilities. So they watched that and they said, wow, it improved with muscle. Two, the size of your brain. Folks, does size matter when it comes to your brain? Yep. If they call you fat head, yep. So there's a direct connection, guys, between your muscles and your brain. So when you are doing anything to get strength, remember that you're doing a brain day. When I work my legs out, because those are your biggest muscles in your legs. I'm thinking brain. Let's elaborate. Okay?
The muscles, I'm just going to read some of the study. Okay? The muscles and brain, gray matter, talk to each other. Wow. They communicate. Every time you get stronger, okay? I tell my grandchildren, you see these puppies right here, there? I'm pointing at my biceps. Okay? I said, "These are guns." And they laugh. I say, "Grandpa has trouble getting across the border with these guns." Grandpa, you're kind of silly. But guys, those muscles, what do they do? When you are working the muscles, so even if you're using elastic bands to get stronger, whatever it is that you're doing resistant training in any way you can, even gripper, what happens is your muscles are communicating with your brain. What happens, you get these myokines, muscles, send a signal that crosses the blood brain barrier to your brain and your brain releases, okay? Like miracle grow. It fertilizes the brain and the brain grows.
And remember, when they do autopsies on dementia, Alzheimer's patients, you know what they see? Like a prune. The brain is shrunk. They know that by MRI guys. They don't have to wait till you die. The brain loses its volume. It shrinks like a prune. So one way it helps muscles, okay? Remember that, guys. It communicates with your gray matter. It releases signals from the muscle to the brain and the brain pours out miracle grow like a fertilizer for your brain cells. And they grow and they grow and they grow. Isn't that nice? Okay. Even when you're older, it's not too late. Okay, that's one. The second way it works, okay? The second way it works is metabolically, you guys know this because we talk about it all the time. Your muscles are the greatest bins that you can have. What do you need bins for? Storage. Glucose storage. Your muscles have the most room for glucose.
What is metabolic syndrome? Yeah. Glucose. It's your body taking the food and because your cells have become resistant to the traffic cop, insulin. Insulin's got a job to do, guys. It will take the sugar out of your bloodstream. It has no choice. Out, out, out, out, out. Okay? It's got to come out, but then it has to store it. And if your muscles don't have any room, it stores it in the liver. If your liver, it gets gummed up. You know what insulin does? It says, okay, produce more storage space in fat and it makes, and most people have an unlimited capacity to make fat cells. Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, and in the wrong place because it's around your organs, guys. So when you have bins, okay, metabolically, you're keeping yourself, remember what we called Alzheimer's? I didn't start it, but in 2005, a Nobel Prize was given out for the researchers who coined the term Alzheimer's as what? Type three diabetes. What helps that? Muscles. Muscles. It helps that. It helps your metabolism. It's storage space for glucose, keeping it away from your liver, keeping it away from fat cells. There's nothing better than muscle in place to be a storage unit for you. And that'll help you keep away from type three diabetes, Alzheimer's, blood sugar in the brain. You know what sugar does in the brain? Shrinks. Shrinks. Shrinks. The brain shrinks. Okay?
I'm going to end it today because I ain't done. To be continued because I want to talk about another study that was done on muscle. I want to tie it all together. It looks like we need two parts to this podcast. Okay? So here's the memo. Start. If you haven't done it, start. Start light. You don't have to even go to a gym. You want to go to a gym, good for you. You want to be on a treadmill? I don't care. That's all right. You want to do biking? I don't care, but that's not what I'm talking about here today. That's good. It's all good. Good, better, best. The best is muscle building. Okay? Start, light. Don't hurt yourself, but start. I'm trying to encourage you today to do it. Okay?
Can I, again, throw some flowers at you guys? You know, this morning, again, I get encouraged by you guys. Okay? I get encouraged because you're smart. I get encouraged because you listen, Linda. You're listeners. I told you, you all deserve honorary degrees. You really do. Okay? I've always thought I want to hand them out to you. Okay? If we could ever get together, I'd hand out your honorary degree because you're smart. Remember, Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear. Wasn't that a saying? Yogi Bear is smarter than the average. You guys are smarter than the average bear. I love it. Okay. It encourages me. I'm on the right road. Okay, guys, we love you and 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!