An interesting finding published in the American Journal of Psychiatry from a Dutch cohort study. In diagnosing major depressive disorder, three things are measured, and this study is saying that the number one characteristic is insulin resistance!
Dr. Martin says this is earth shattering blockbuster news. The study looked at 200 subjects, focusing more on men, and each one of them having depression were also exhibiting insulin resistance.
Join Dr. Martin in today’s episode as he further unpacks this study!
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
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Dr. Martin: Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day. Let's get going. Okay. This came out... I'm just reading a study here that I flagged on the weekend, but I'm just looking down at my notes here. This came out of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Okay. Now listen to this. I think you'll find this interesting. Major depressive disorder are measured by three things, that they mention. Okay. And then they get into some other things that we're testing. This came from a Dutch study, a cohort study.
Here's what they found. This is in a major depressive condition, both men and women, and then they focused in on men. But they said this was characteristic in depression. And I got to tell you, I think this is the first time. I'm trying to think, if it's not the first time I've seen this. Because you and I have talked about depression many of time. And characteristics of that and looking at not only the, but some of the causes. I've often talked to you about nutrition and you know that. But here, here's what they were saying. This was a large study looking at people that had depression. You know what the number one characteristic was? Insulin resistance. Every subject, and this was over 200 people from the American Journal of Psychiatry is where I saw it. But it came out of a Dutch cohort study that showed that insulin resistance was one of the main factors in depression. Well, hello.
You know you and I talk about insulin, I mean on a daily basis, we talk about it, right? And it's incredible. But here's the three things that they saw. Okay. In terms of measuring insulin resistance with depression. And of course in the book reset, I bring to you the major, major causes of death. From cardiovascular disease to cancer, to Alzheimer's and fourth, the fourth main cause of death in the United States and Canada. Those top four, is insulin. It's insulin. And now we got to put a fifth one here because depress can be very deadly. I've talked to you about this whole Netflix syndrome. Where there's so much suicide and so much overdosing, so much depression.
We're not talking about it, but this has been the consequence of the last, almost two years. The last 18 months. But what they're saying in this study, this is so significant, it's incredible. This Dutch study is saying that food has a huge link to depression. Because what they did is they measured insulin resistance by three things. Okay. Because I've you about metabolic syndrome before. So what they were saying is every case that they saw of depression, okay, follow me here. Every case they saw of depression was characterized by metabolic syndrome. And remember what metabolic syndrome is. Okay. Here's what they're saying. They did three measurements of metabolic syndrome: high triglycerides, and low HDL. Low cholesterol, high triglycerides. That is characteristic of metabolic syndrome, right? High fasting, blood glucose. Now again, you don't have to be a diabetic to have high fasting blood glucose. It just has to be up in the upper levels.
I prefer even looking at A1C. But it doesn't matter, if you are fasting glucose is higher than average even you got metabolic syndrome. And the third one was higher waist circumference, meaning belly fat. So here it is. Study of both men and women and then they focused in on the men. I'll get to that in a minute. But what they're saying is that connection between insulin resistance and how would that affect the brain? Well, we know that when you get insulin resistance, well you get inflammation and inflammation. Like I said, inflammation is not Houdini. But inflammation coming from insulin resistance coming from crappy carbs, sugars, seed oils, crappy carbs are made with seed oils, okay. Seed oils. And this is dangerous stuff guys, because now we're showing that even depression, even depression. And I know there's a big link and we've talked about this many a time too.
There's a huge link to your gut. But what you can control is food. And so what they're saying, the American Journal of Psychiatry is saying what? Guys, food. Depression. They had insulin resistance with high triglycerides. You know that. I'm happy to look at your blood work. Happy to look at your blood work. And I flag off five, six things that I look for. You can send me 60 pages. I don't care what you do. I'm not looking at most of it. I'm not. Because if I look for triglycerides and HDL, I'm getting a big picture right there. I'm getting a big picture of what's going on in your body because if you have high triglycerides and low HDL, I mean you're in trouble. How can you even get high triglycerides? Guys, triglycerides is food. It's food. It's not genetics. Triglycerides are not genetics. Daddy had high triglycerides therefore I'm going to have high triglycerides. No, no.
Because triglycerides three fat balls, right? When your liver is all packed up. When the minivan doesn't have any more space to put one more bag in it. When the Costco parking lot is full and it only gets full guys, it only gets full when people insist on eating carbohydrates. So let's bring this back even another step. Okay? Because you know that I've made up a new term. I hope you enjoyed. What's it called? Netflix Syndrome. You like that? I think I should write a book about that, Netflix Syndrome. What do I mean by that? Well look what's happened to us in the last 18 months, metabolically. And guys it's not just me saying it. In the last 18 months, people are putting on weight somewhere between 12 and 29 pounds in North America. It's Netflix Syndrome.
We've been at home. We're spending too much time online. Watching too much Netflix. Kids, you know, they could even go to school. The unintended consequences, think about that for a minute. What are the unintended consequences of that? Well, we're seeing it now. And imagine this study coming out from Denmark, telling us that depression, if you unpack it, it's metabolic syndrome. And metabolic syndrome is food. We're eating the wrong foods. I've been screaming that for so long. I get tired of me saying it. But I'm telling you, it doesn't shock me but it shocks me. Do you know what I mean? It's incredible. And we're not talking about it. There will be millions and millions and millions of more people put on antidepressants. Guys, an antidepressant is just like a bandaid. You know what I mean? It's just a bandaid. It's not going to fix anything.
And I'm not saying people shouldn't be on anti... I'm not saying that. But we need to unpack what's going on with people. So can you imagine like, look forward a little bit with me. Look forward a little bit with me. If this study, if you can just imagine in your mind that this is what I do. I always say, look, I've made these blanket statements. All the tea in China is not going to pay for our, it's not even a healthcare system. Our disease care system that we have in North America. Wait till you get sick and then treat it. And don't fix it just manage it. Guys all the tea in China, isn't going to pay for the amount of diabetes even. Again and diabetes, it's food. There's no other factors. Look, I told you about myself. My dad was a diabetic, sister. If you want to talk about bad genetics, I got it.
But I got to be careful, that's all. Like with me. I, you know, I can't fool myself. You know. My name is Tony and I'm a carboholic. I got to be careful. I've got to be disciplined. That's me. So all I'm saying is, imagine this study. This is depression we're talking about. What cost will that be to society? People that are severely clinically depressed. Wow. Now it was interesting because when you kept reading this study, it went in on men. Some of the symptoms, okay. For men. Sort of the byproduct of their depression was lack of focus, irritability, aggressive, low libido. These are men. Okay. Heavy drinking, or drugs. Guys, Netflix Syndrome. And this is clinical depression. These are men with clinical depression. Okay. Now, look what else they found. High triglycerides, TG. How do you get triglycerides? Crappy carbs and sugars. Simple as that. Manufactured in the liver.
When your liver is full of fat and you get fat by eating sugar, not by eating fat. Okay? But if you eat a bad fat, like those vegetable oils. Like I say, go to the middle aisles of your grocery store or go to fast foods. Fast foods are made with oils, bad oils. Bad oils. Canola, safflower, soy. So high triglycerides and low HDL. Teter taught. I've taught you that when your triglycerides are high, 99%. High triglycerides, you get low HDL. You get high HDL, you get low triglycerides. And it's food. Okay? Secondly, higher fasting glucose. Now remember your body is unbelievable. Fearfully and wonderfully made at the worst of times. Listen to what I'm going to say. So I can convince you at the worst of times you have 20 donuts in a row, okay? Go on a splurge of donuts and your blood sugar, you will not have more than a teaspoon. In 20 minutes, you will not have more than a teaspoon of sugar in your bloodstream.
Did you know that? Why is that? Because sugar is so toxic. So toxic, your body cannot allow sugar to stay in your bloodstream. So what happens? You secrete an enormous, a boatload full of insulin. Insulin's job primarily is to take sugar out of your bloodstream. So when people say, oh, moderation, that's craziness. Sugar is toxic. It's so toxic your body cannot leave in blood. It must take it out and store it. Now a diabetic of course, once that insulin's not working anymore, you're not getting all your sugar out of that bloodstream. So what happens? Well now it starts damaging blood vessels. And we talked about that a lot too. But imagine, even having slightly elevated glucose levels, okay. Slightly elevated. Fasting glucose. We're not talking diabetes here. You know, diabetes in Canada is over seven, really 6.5 to... I'm much harder on blood sugar than physicians are.
Okay. Because they have a number and if you're not over that number, well, you're not a diabetic. But remember the guru of diabetes was a fella by the name of Dr. Kraft. And he did more research and more studies on diabetes than anyone in the world and he was the top guy. Passed away four or five years ago and he was like a genius. And he used to say this man, oh man. He said, "Look, if you are over six in the United States, that would be a hundred. If you are over six at all, even creeping up to six on your blood sugars, 5.5 and up." He said, "You're really a diabetic effectively you are a diabetic already." Because he wasn't big on pre diabetics. He said, "Nah, you're a diabetic." And the thing that I used to do, and I like this test even better, you know, they don't do it anymore.
When I was in practice, I wasn't taking people's blood sugar. You know that? I could have done it? It was easy to do. You get a meter and just take your blood sugar. You know what I was looking for? Urine. I wanted urine. Why? Because your body's so smart. Remember what I said, you can have donuts and 20 minutes later, your blood sugar is back to its high. But it's in the normal range. What happened to all those donuts that you ate? What happened to all the sugar that's in there and the crappy carbs? What happened? Well your insulin went crazy and it took that sugar up. But you know what it does? And we don't do it anymore, I think we should do it. One of the ways your body gets rid of it, it sends the sugar out in the urine. So I used to tell patients all the time, you're a diabetic and they'd argue with me. No, my doctor said, I'm not a diabetic. I said, you got sugar in your urine. You know what that means? You're a diabetic. I don't care what your blood sugars are.
Your body is spilling sugar into urine. I mean that's the old fashioned way of testing it, but it really was the best way. You don't need numbers. What do you need numbers for? You just go, if your body is spilling sugar into your urine, you know what? You're in trouble. You better switch your diet. Okay? So high fasting glucose. This is what the study showed. And high triglycerides, we talked about that in HDL and then the higher waist circumference. These were the three things they found consistently. Okay? All of those, all of those are food. Now, ladies, one way you can get belly fat is with high cortisol. Stress can give a woman belly fat, not so much men, women. Okay. Men were from a different planet in case you didn't know that. Here's what else they found. Okay. So I told you about the symptoms.
These are men. Lack of focus, irritable, aggressive. Your husband like that? Are they not nice and calm like me? Okay. Low libido, all that. See men, of course. What did they find? I mean these are other things they found in these depressive men. Remember we are talking about depression. What did they find? It's fascinating. Here's what else they found. So I told you about the three main ones all has to do with food and insulin. They had low levels of serotonin. Okay. Makes sense. Serotonin is a feel good hormone. And they had low levels of that. We often find that with, with leaky gut. Have low levels of serotonin, but this was just the finding of this study. Here's the other one. Guess, guess, guess what vitamin they were low in? Guess, guess, guess. Well vitamin C probably. Okay. Vitderma they were low in vitderma.
Oh, if only the world would wake up. If only the world would wake up. Not only a booster shot for your immune system, but your brain. Your hormones. Here's these men who are depressive. They had low levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D, I mean, is there anything vitamin D doesn't do? Vitderma, vitderma. And this is the time of the year, guys. This is the time of the year. Unless you're living in Florida, this is the time of the year to get your vitderma up. This is the time of the year to take the supplement of vitamin D. Okay. Really important. They had low levels of serotonin. They had low levels of vitamin D. In my mind it was a no brainer. But it seemed to get to them because they were surprised by men having low levels of testosterone. But that didn't surprise me. And you know, it's the chicken or the egg, what comes first.
You know, men. You don't get good testosterone if you're a bad eater. If you're a bad eater, you're not going to have good levels of testosterone. Here's another thing that affects testosterone. The making of testosterone for men. The manly hormone, you know what? Vitamin D, vitamin D. Isn't that interesting? Here you have depressive men and they were focusing in more on the men on this study. Food primarily, because that's what they talked about. It shocked them. Their wasn't a man in the study that didn't have insulin resistance, not one. Who had depression. Now they didn't check the gut, but I betcha their microbiome too was affected. It's incredible. And I wonder. I wonder if anybody's going to talk about this. In the mainstream media or even online in social media. Like I haven't seen it. I haven't seen anybody pontificating on the importance of this study. And I used to see it all the time because there wasn't anybody that had depression, anybody in my practice. That I didn't put on the reset.
I always put people on the reset, 30 day program. I was explaining this to one of my friends yesterday. Why do I do what I do? Well, I start with the reset because the reset fixes insulin resistance. I was on our private Facebook group last night, just looking at a few posts. And one lady said, you know, like, and I get it, I get it, I get it. But she said, I did 30 days and I only lost, I can't even remember how much weight. Look, the reset is the best weight loss program in the world. I mean it. But the primary purpose of the reset. Guys, the primary purpose of the reset is to fix metabolic syndrome and metabolic syndrome is caused by insulin resistance. High circulating insulin. If you have insulin, remember in the book, I have a picture in there. In the Reset book.
You remember the jail guard? Behind him is a prisoner looking outside the bars. Do you remember that picture in the book? And written on the inmate is fat and they're looking out at, the there's a jail guard in front of them. And the name on there is insulin. If you have insulin resistance, if your insulin is high, it won't let fat escape. It's the biggest roadblock to weight loss that you can have. It's not calories. It's not. Listen, if you have weight to lose, the reason I want you to eat the reset is because you are going to get at the root issue. You have to get at the root of it. You can do all sorts of different things and count in this many points and whatever, but that's not getting at the root of it. That's not the root at all.
The root is insulin. It's insulin resistance. And you got to fix that. Ladies. You're not even going to fix your hormones without that. You got to get at the root cause. And this is why I tell everybody, everybody. The reset is for you, everybody. Here's a blood test, prick your finger if it comes out red. Well the reset is for you. You it's for everyone because it is a 30 day program to get rid of insulin resistance. It does a lot of other things. It'll empty your liver. It'll lower. Your triglycerides and elevate your HDL. It'll get rid of inflammation. Big, big factor, because insulin's at the root of it. If you understand that, you know more than 99% of every physician I've ever met. And I mean that. They're still not teaching it in medical school. It's beyond my imagination. It's still about cholesterol. I talked about that. Calories.
What's calories got to do with it? It means nothing. Okay. Isn't that an interesting study though? Like for me it was fascinating. Fascinating. Just confirms what we've been doing here. Okay. So we got some great studies this week coming up. Question and answer Friday, Friday. Right? And if you have any questions, get them ready. You know what they're about the supply chain? It really affects everybody in small business, but you know what we have a lot of? We have a new printing of our books, The Reset. So it makes a great Christmas gift. Give them out to your friends. It is meant to fix insulin resistance. So guys, I'm going to pump your tires to get that book. If you don't get our emails, make sure you sign up at martinclinic.com. And for those who can't watch with us early in the morning, like at 8:30 in the morning, you can get them to download The Doctor's In podcasts. Okay. Because these are turned into podcasts. Okay. So got it? Got the memos? Good. We love you guys. And we'll talk to you soon.
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