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 Sr: Okay, let me talk to you about two nutrients that don't get a lot of ink. They're not well-known in terms of the average Joe [00:00:30] on the street wouldn't be able to tell you much about choline and lysine, but I want to tell you about these two essential nutrients that are absolutely foundational.
Dr. Martin Sr: Everything is all right. I'm upside up and you can see me. You can hear me. Good. Okay, so welcome to a little teaching on choline and lysine. Okay. Now, primarily, choline [00:01:00] and lysine, they're essential nutrients. Your body can't work without them, but where are they found? Okay, just where are they found? A little bit in the plant kingdom and huge amount in the animal kingdom, so eggs, meat, and cheese. It's another reason that you know the Martin Clinic, we're always talking about two kingdoms, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom. [00:01:30] You need both. You need both.
Dr. Martin Sr: Lysine and choline are primarily found in the animal kingdom, in eggs, meat and cheese. And your body doesn't work without them. Let me just tell you about a little study that came out last week and it came out of England. But what they were talking about, especially for expecting [00:02:00] mothers, they need to get their choline levels checked. Why? Because the baby does not do well without choline. And again, we're seeing a population, there's a shift going on away from eggs, meat and cheese to the plant kingdom.
Dr. Martin Sr: Look, plants are great, they're wonderful, but they do not have the right amount of levels of choline. If you don't have [00:02:30] enough choline, baby's brain development, not only your brain, your brain needs choline because it is the precursor of all B vitamins. And you know me, I always talk about the importance of B vitamins, but especially B12 in the development of the brain. Today, in terms of brain health and especially for expectant mothers, you must have high levels [00:03:00] of choline for the brain. Okay. The brain is, primarily it needs choline. When people tell you, "Don't eat eggs," well, don't listen to that. I mean look, if you can't digest eggs, I understand that. You need eggs. One of the primary sources in eggs is choline. Choline because it's so good for you. Let me give you a couple of other reasons to [00:03:30] enjoy choline.
Dr. Martin Sr: What choline does for your heart is that choline lowers your homocysteine, another amino acid. With high levels of choline in your body, you lower homocysteine. What is that? Well, I like to describe it as very important for your heart. Homocysteine, if your levels are high, your cells don't communicate with each other. It's almost like a fire [00:04:00] is wonderful, but you never want smoke. You want smoke to go out the chimney. If it comes back, it clouds everything. It keeps the cells from connecting and to communicate with one another. And this really can elevate your inflammation. This is why it's important. We talked about that in the past about getting your homocysteine levels checked. Well, if you have low levels of choline, you [00:04:30] will have high levels of homocysteine. So that's really, really important for your heart.
Dr. Martin Sr: It regulates the function. Choline regulates the function of your liver. And again, think about it. I mean your liver is so important in your body for detoxification. Your liver is important for the production of hormones. Your liver is important for [00:05:00] the production of most of your T4 thyroid hormones are converted to T3 in the liver. And without high levels of choline that you get in eggs, meat and cheese, your liver isn't going to work properly. And even then, that is a very important thing. So, it's a precursor to all vitamins. It's good [00:05:30] for your brain. Okay. It's good for your brain. It's called the smart nutrient, not only in babies but also in adults. What they're finding in Alzheimer's is that patients with Alzheimer's and dementia are very low in the nutrient choline. Choline doesn't get a lot of news, but it is an essential nutrient.
Dr. Martin Sr: Now, let [00:06:00] me talk to you about lysine. Okay, so lysine, now maybe you've heard a little bit above lysine because lysine is important for your immune system. And especially of people that get ... Look, if you've had the chickenpox as a little kid, lysine helps to keep the herpes virus, the chickenpox, dormant. You want to keep it dormant. It just sits [00:06:30] in your body. And if it's dormant, it doesn't give you any trouble. But if it gets activated, lysine helps to keep it dormant. Lysine, again, where do you find it? Eggs, meat and cheese. Do you want to hear Dr. Martin always talking about ... Look, there is a little bit in the plant kingdom, but it's mostly in the animal kingdom.
Dr. Martin Sr: Okay, so lysine, you may [00:07:00] have heard about this is that it keeps away cold sores. It keeps away shingles. This is a big problem in our society today is shingles and they're talking about shingle vaccines and all this and that because shingles is ... Why is shingles much more common today than it ever used to be? I wait for the answer. Because people are getting away from the animal [00:07:30] kingdom foods and they're shifting over to plants because they think it's good for them.
Dr. Martin Sr: Look, plants are good for you, but that's not the point. You're not supposed to live on plants. Your body is made, you're not going to get enough choline. You're not going to get enough lysine. Lysine keeps the herpes virus, specifically the herpes ... It's very good for your immune [00:08:00] system all around, but specifically for the herpes virus and keeping your risk of getting shingles, cold sores, the herpes virus, which is just the activation of your, when you get chickenpox as a little kid.
Dr. Martin Sr: Now, the herpes virus also, the lysine also inhibits. Okay, it inhibits [00:08:30] clotting in your blood. So, lysine is good for your heart and your brain because it inhibits clotting. It makes you less susceptible to a stroke or a heart attack. Isn't that important? It prevents glycation. What's glycation? Glycation is what we call, it's AGE's. [00:09:00] Glycation end products come from sugar. And sugar, as you well know, destroys your blood vessels. But what lysine does, it helps to prevent glycation, which is the calcification, which is the caramelization of your blood vessels and your bones. It's the aging process of your blood vessels that occurs [00:09:30] because you're eating too much sugar.
Dr. Martin Sr: Lysine helps to prevent glycation. And [Marlene 00:09:40] is going, "Is two eggs a day too much?" No. You can have a hundred eggs a week. It's good for you. Eggs got a bad rap. How crazy is that? Eggs are so wonderful for you. If you get a chance, watch my video on eggs and why [00:10:00] eggs are so important for you. They've got a bad rap. It's crazy. They elevate only your good cholesterol, not your bad cholesterol. They actually, if you eat more eggs, you'll lower your triglycerides. Yeah, the bad fat. So, very important for the herpes virus.
Dr. Martin Sr: Lysine is very important for your skin. Lysine helps with, it decreases anxiety. It helps [00:10:30] with anxiety. I love lysine because the ... And even the side effects of diabetes. Why is that? Because it helps with controlling your blood sugars. Yes. Lysine. Choline, lysine. I know they don't get a lot of ink, but it's so good for you. Okay. It helps with your bones. It helps with your rebuilding [00:11:00] your DNA, which gets damaged in cancer. So, is lysine and choline anticancer? Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, so these things are really important guys, that you don't neglect getting your lysine and your choline in your diet.
Dr. Martin Sr: Now listen, if you are a vegetarian, if you are a vegan or if you know people [00:11:30] that are vegetarians and vegans, remind them that they will be low in these two essential nutrients, in choline and lysine. What do you do? What can they do? Well, you know what? One of the best things they can do is to make bone broth. Now if it's, for them, some people, "Ah, bone broth, well that's bone." Yeah, but it's leeching out the minerals and the nutrients from the bone. [00:12:00] Okay. Chicken bone or beef bone, make a bone broth because this is where you get high levels of lysine and high levels of choline.
Dr. Martin Sr: For your vegan and and vegetarian friends, pass this along to them because a lot of times, they don't know about these things because all they're hearing on the internet and on [00:12:30] social media is, "Oh, you know what? Eggs and meat and cheese, that's not good for you. Don't eat that stuff." Well, I'll tell you guys, this is where you get your essential nutrients. Now you're not going to drop dead immediately if you don't get enough levels of choline or lysine. You're not going to drop dead, but your brain isn't going to work properly. Your immune system isn't going to work properly. It doesn't kill you right away.
Dr. Martin Sr: [00:13:00] Your liver, we talked about choline, what it does inside your liver. You're not even going to synthesize your B vitamins without these essential nutrients. You're going to be more susceptible to diabetes because, again, of the effect that these two nutrients have on your metabolism. What did I say the other day? That only 12% [00:13:30] of the population today is metabolically unchallenged, like 12%. 88% of the people that you know, 88% of North Americans are challenged metabolically. They are messed up in their metabolism. They're on their way to diabetes and cardiovascular disease and cancer and Alzheimer's. [00:14:00] The reason is because of these essential nutrients that they are not getting in their diet. And so today, that's why I wanted to talk to you about the importance of choline and lysine. Important. Thanks for watching. Share this with your friends.
Announcer: You've reached the end [00:14:30] of another Doctor is In podcast with your hosts, Dr. Martin Jr. And Sr. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening.