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. Once again, welcome to another live. Hope you're doing well. Hope you're having your coffee. I am. Good to have you on with us this morning. If you get a chance, say hello. Okay, I did this quite a while back, but it's just because there's a couple of studies that I want to talk to you about. And one of them is, okay, again, if you go and look at our podcast, I'd have to go and look what number it was. It was what's worse than smoking for your health? And I brought in three things. What's worse than smoking for your health? And I'll tie this in today. Okay? Now, if you remember good, you might remember one or two things, but there's three things that are worse than smoking.
So we all know I always laugh because my father's generation didn't know this. My dad was a smart cookie. And he came home and guys, it was like yesterday I have such a memory for it because my dad was bigger than life to me, my hero. He comes home from the office in 1962. I was 10 years old and he opened up the waste paper basket in our house and he took his pack of cigarettes. At the time he was smoking Buckinghams, no filter. I remember it's like yesterday. And what he did is he opened up the garbage and he threw those cigarettes in there. And I'm 10 years old and I'm going, "Dad, what are you doing?" He says, "I quit smoking because I found out it was bad for me." I don't know if my dad had read a study or somehow some way. This is 1962 guys. Everybody and their dog was smoking.
I was telling my grandchildren the other day that when I was, I guess, I don't know how old 16, 17 playing hockey and playing in an arena. And I said, we could barely see ourselves. Everybody, I think there was 3000 people in the arena and I'm playing hockey and you couldn't see the other end of the ice for all the smoke in the building. That's what we lived with when we were kids. My three older brothers smoked. My dad smoked, my mom smoked and my dad comes home and no more smoking for him. He went cold turkey. He was smoking four packs of Buckingham cigarettes a day. Packs. I don't know how he did it when he saw all his patients in between, I guess. Or he smoked with them. It's kind of funny. We laugh about it today, but that's the way it was. But what's worse than smoking? So we all know smoking's bad. There isn't a doctor in the universe that would say, oh no, you know what? You need to start smoking. Okay. So we all know that. Three things that are worse, inactivity when you're not moving, low omega-3 and low vitamin D. Now I'm going to elaborate.
We talk about vitamin D all the time and we talked about it as recently as yesterday's podcast. Vitamin D, the sun, immune system, bones, cancer. When you're low in vitamin D, you might as well be smoking. When you're low in omega-3, you might as well be smoking. You can actually measure omega-3 levels. And I was looking at a new study yesterday on omega-3 and heart. Okay. New study, 2026 trial. That's as new as you're going to get in a study. 1,228 patients. Okay? And when they follow these people, here's what they said. When their omega-3 levels are optimized, it cuts cardiovascular risk by 43%, 43%. Omega-3. I've been talking about omega-3 for a long time, guys. And I just want to tell you therapeutically what it does, okay? Because a lot of you know this, but it's always good to go over. Obviously for the heart. Well, why is that? Why would omega-3 be good for your heart? What is it? Well, you guys know this because we talk about it all the time. When you take omega-3, it lubricates your blood vessels. Very good for the heart. It lubricates. It's like getting a lube job, right? When you get an oil change, they do lube. They do lubrication. It's important because omega-3 does that.
Now, let me just come back one second here. Omega-3, there's lots of omega-3s. It's like you got different cars on the road. They're all cars, but you got different ones. And guys, you know this for me. The two most important omega-3s are EPA and DHA. And what sets them apart? What sets them apart is that they come from the animal kingdom. They come from the animal kingdom. So plants have omega-3s, but they're not the same because they don't have DHA or EPA. And when it comes to your heart and we'll talk about the other things that it does, it's the best things on the highways and byways of your blood vessels. Okay? It lubricates. It's a good oil. There's good oil. There's bad oil and there's ugly oil. The ugly oil is the oil that belongs in your car, not in your body, but we consume way too much of that. Omega-6, it creates huge amount of inflammation.
And by the way, let me tell you this about the study in 2026, because it said it at the top. 90% of the population, wow, this sounds like vitamin D. 90% of the population are deficient in what? Omega-3, which makes them worse than smoking in the body. That's how important omega-3 is. And again, now I separate the omega-3 into the animal kingdom and take the best of omega-3. And I guess look, there ought to be absolutely no controversy about this because the studies really confirm. Okay. You've got EPA, DHA. And what's the most important one again on top? I love EPA, guys. I do. It's good for you. But the DHA is the key. It's the key. It's the king of the castle. It's the most important. And I always try and prove it by telling you what your brain is made up of. Your brain, fat head. I just complimented you guys. Hey, fat heads. My audience, hi, fat heads. Take it as a compliment. I like when people call me a fat head. Hey, you, you're a fat head. Thank you. I appreciate it. Your brain is made up of fat and very specific fat. A DHA fat. Yeah.
So guys, this is key. When you read these studies, they're coming out with omega-3 and how important it is that you can actually measure it in your body. Doctors should do this routinely, but good luck with that. But anyway, that's another issue. Okay. 90% of the people are deficient and we need it. Okay? We need it. And let me just go down on this study a little bit more. Okay? Now we talk about the heart. Why it's so good for the heart. It's a lubricator. You got a little Teflon layer. Remember Teflon? Butter doesn't stick to it. Okay. Remember the pans? Okay. Teflon. But your body has a Teflon layer. It's called endothelial. It's the inner layer of your blood vessels. Oh, by the way, I got to do this because I heard this yesterday. Okay. I'm bringing you five pounds of fat. See that? A foot long and six inches thick. Oh, Dr. Martinez, I did the reset. I only lost a pound. Well, we talked about that yesterday, Tony Jr. and I. And Tony Jr. showed me a study that said every pound that you lose, you lose 50 miles of blood vessels. 50 miles. Well, think about it. The more miles that your blood has to flow through, the harder it is on your heart. So when you lose one pound of fat, you lose 50 miles of blood vessels that your heart doesn't have to circulate. The 60,000 miles of blood vessels that you have. When you got extra fat on, well, isn't that something? 50 miles of blood vessels that your heart doesn't have to work for. I kind of enjoyed that.
Okay, now let's get back to the omega-3. So blood vessels is very anti-inflammatory too because inflammation damages. We teach this all the time. Remember, inflammation is on your side if you have a fever. If you just got injured, you need inflammation because inflammation is your body's ambulance system. If you have a virus, a cold or a bad bug, well, you want to be inflamed because now your body is reacting. It's the way it brings extra enzymes and extra white blood cells and it's the ambulance. But inflammation is a double-edged sword because if it doesn't go away, it becomes chronic. It damages blood vessels. You don't want chronic inflammation and medicine is finally understanding that to some extent. Okay? So you want to lower the temperature. You want to lower inflammation, the burn inside the body. Omega-3 helps to do that, especially DHA. Okay?
Now I'm going to bring you to another area, of course we just talked about it, the fat head, the brain. Over the years, I've brought you studies on the importance of DHA and the brain. Well, your brain is made up of it. So think of Alzheimer's for a second, guys. Okay. Think of what happens in Alzheimer's. Now there's a couple of reasons why it happens. Well, we'll get into that in a second. Okay? What happens in Alzheimer's? The brain shrinks. They're not fat heads no more. The brain shrinks. And this is really important for cognitive. You know what shrinks the most? What area? The hypocampus. The memory center of the brain. That is so significant. How do you help that? Well, there's a lot of ways because there's a gut brain connection. There's cut your sugars down because type three diabetes, the brain is swimming in a massive amount of fuel that it can't use. That's type three diabetes Alzheimer's, but the brain shrinks. That's why omega-3 DHA especially is the best for that. And guys, it's not even close when it comes to brain.
So cognitive, even in depression, guys. There's actually many studies on this, but the more DHA the brain gets, the less depressed a person gets. It helps restore that. And then you have like inflammation, think of joints. It's a powerful anti-inflammatory and that's not only inside your blood vessels, but also in the joints and the synovial fluid and that. Omega-3 is so good for that. And that's why we need to get our levels up. Now the other thing, and we talk about this a lot, you and I, because we get this question almost all the time and that is your eyeballs, your eyes. DHA is proven to be one of the most important nutrients in your eyes, guys. You look in the back of your eye and ophthalmologist when they look in the back or an optometry, they look in the back of your eye. And what are they looking at? Well, they see a lot of things, but they're really looking at a lot of blood vessels too. Like your eye behind it, I always said it was like when I was in school in Toronto, the 407, the 403, the 404, the highways and byways of Toronto.
I hated the traffic there, but you got a lot of highways and byways in the back of your eyes, guys. And when that gets damaged, that's where you get macular degeneration. That's where you get cataracts. That's where you get retinopathy. That's where you get glaucoma. And one of the best things you can do is take DHA. Now with the eyes, let me say something too, because I say this probably every Friday on Q&A when we get questions of the eyes. Over the years, what I found in my practice, guys, and I mean this with tens of thousands of patients, I did a combo of DHA and some EPA. Come on. In the DHA, you got EPA. I love EPA too. It's just that the DHA is more important, but I combined it with Navitol, the pine bark extract and there was a reason for it.
Somebody was asking yesterday, I think, on our private Facebook group just saying, "What are you taking Navitol for?" Okay. Somebody asked a very good question like, "What is Navitol and why are you taking it?" You talk about it all the time. Well, whenever you think of Navitol, and it's a good question because it's sort of a polypill, a polynutrient. Remember, I've been dealing with this stuff for 40 years on the radio and I used to get asked this all the time, "Well, what do you take that for?" Well, I used to tell the story, well, the first thing that I ever discovered with it is what it did in chronic fatigue syndrome, i.e., My wife. It crosses the blood brain barrier, one of the few natural products that do that, but it's blood flow, guys. You take it to the foundation of pine bark, it's blood flow. It helps blood flow. Okay. That's why it's so effective with the eyes.
People would talk to me about lutein and elderberry and look, I loved all those things, but I said the superior one is the pine bark. It's Navitol. Why is that? Because there's nothing like it for blood supply. It brings extra blood supply. That's why I combine it with DHA for dry eyes, glaucoma, cataracts, retinopathy. And then I would prove it. Put the two together and I'll prove it. You can go back to your optometrist or the ophthalmologist and they'll see the results. So there you go. Blood flow. DHA lubrication protects those blood vessels and the Navitol opens up the blood vessels. It elevates the nitric oxide. It opens up. That's why I like that combination if you're wondering. I didn't just come out of nowhere. Remember, I had a clinic. I had to get results like, "Oh, he's such a nice guy, Dr. Martin." Well, that's not what made me busy. You better get results. Otherwise, why would anybody come? Why did I get patients from all over the world? Yeah, you better get results.
So that's why the formulation, people tell me about other things too and I like it and a lot of times I say, "Yeah, I like that too, man." But I'll tell you what I did. This is me. This is why I did it. And I had to get results so I could prove it with eyes. Put the two together. Brain, put the two together. DHA and Pine Bark extract goes across the blood brain barrier. You need more blood flow. One of the Alzheimer's is what they call small vessel Alzheimer's. A lack of blood flow, a lack of fat in the brain, the shrinking of the brain and blood flow. So when I read this study yesterday, 90% deficient in omega-3. But it's amazing to me. I know I have told you this story before. I know I have, but I got to do it again. When I used to teach a guest lecturer to physicians, it's amazing they would even have me, but I like to poke fun at them.
And I remember doing this one time one year, this has got to be almost 30 years ago, teaching a course to doctors. And there was a lot of cardiologists and I'm giving them nutrition 101. But I said, "I got to do this. Okay? I got to do it. Let's see." I said, "Put your hand up if you know what Omega-3 is." We're going back 30 years, guys, almost. "Put your hand up." And almost every physician in that room that was in a ballroom in Montreal, never forget it. Put your hand up if you know what Omega-3 is. The hands went up. Not all of them, but just about 90% over. I said, "Okay, put your hands down. Now put your hands up. If you take Omega-3." This is a long time ago and I'm going to say about 60% of the doctors in that room put their hand up. They were taking omega-3. They read the research way back when. I said, okay, put your hands down. "How many of you who just put your hand up that you take omega-3 are telling your patients to take omega-3?" And I think only two hands went up in the room. I said, "You're a bunch of hypocrites. You know omega-3 is good for their heart and you're not telling them to take it. You're a hypocrite." Even back then, there was studies on omega-3 in the heart. Fish oil, they knew that. They take it, but they don't recommend it. Are you kidding me?
Now, that was a long time ago. Hopefully things are changed. I don't think so because 90% of the population have low levels of omega-3 in their bloodstream. It's a fact. It's amazing. In this day and age, what's worse than smoking? Inactivity. Low vitamin D and low omega-3. Guys, don't leave home without it. I take DHA, high DHA, every day. I guys, I'm into prevention. Somebody asked me the other day, Dr. Martin, do you eat fish? Every day in a capsule. I eat fish every day in a capsule. That's me. It's the good oil. It's lubricates. It's anti-inflammatory. It's like a probiotic in the brain in a sense because you know what I tell you about probiotics every day. Renew, replenish, regenerate. The microbiome. I got to study here and I thought I'd get at it today, but I won't. It's unreal what they're showing on the microbiome again, the bacteria, the war in your body. But guys, one thing they know one thing is settled. It's settled science. You need to get omega-3 in your body. You want to regenerate those neurons in your brain? Your brain cells. It's a grid, guys. Your brain is a grid. You want to renew, regenerate, replenish. Even at my age, guys, you want to do that. It's good for you. So good.
There's another thing and let me finish. Let me close with this. It helps you metabolically because DHA helps. Now, you're not going to do this void of changing your diet. So if you're a carboholic, your triglycerides are going up. You don't want that. DHA and EPA help to lower triglycerides. Now, you know me, I always start with food, guys. I always start with food, but it helps you metabolically. It helps to lower triglycerides. And I always teach you guys that. The most important markers when it comes to your heart in your blood test, your lipid profile is you're looking at your triglycerides and your HDL, your cholesterol. Okay? Got the memo, guys? What a study. Reinforcing good health. Okay. What's worse than smoking? Inactivity. Low levels of vitamin D and low levels of omega-3. Okay. Love you guys dearly. You know what tomorrow is? It's Q&A. Is it too late to send your questions in? I don't think so. Info@martinclinic.com, info@martinclinic.com. Okay? Love you guys. 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!