Dr. Martin looks at a new study about the significance of your thymus gland. Much like your appendix, researchers are determining if it’s needed. Dr. Martin explains why it’s important for your immune system.
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. I certainly am. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Hey, I want to talk to you about sun steak and steel. Well, the sun, okay, now we're going to focus on two organs this morning and derma the sun, vitamin D. Okay? And one of them is called your thymus gland. Now, little quiz. Okay, little quiz. Where's your thymus gland? Okay, and let me see, I'll get some answers here. Hi, Wanda from Virginia. Good morning Marielle. Guys. Someone give me, where is that Thymus clan, Bruno, I know you guys are smart. So every once in a while it used to scare me if the teacher came in and said, close your books. Yes, Sue. Yes, Sue in your chest. Okay. And Barbara says, brain will not far down there.
No, the thymus, you guys are thinking of the pineal gland, your third eye, okay? Your pineal gland is in the brain, but your thymus, okay, right in your chest wall, right around your breastbone. Just in behind that. Now there's a new study out that is showing the significance of your thymus gland. And look, the reason they talked about it is because they wanted to know if God made a mistake. That's not really what they wanted to know, but it's the way I look at things because it's like your appendix guys or your tonsils years ago at the first sign of infection of your tonsils, they were taken out. Now, okay, I think I've told you this before, but my dad wouldn't let me get my tonsils out. I wanted to get my tonsils out. Who wants to be different at school, right? There's a lot of peer pressure.
I was under peer pressure. Everybody went to the hospital in my class, it seems, and they got ice cream. I said to my dad, I want cream. He said, you need your tonsils. They're not going to get rid of your tonsils. They're the gateway. They're the barriers to your trachea and your esophagus. Okay? Those two tonsils are gatekeepers. They're going to stop bacteria from going down there and viruses, okay? So you just don't want to take them out. And today, right? I mean, not that you would never get tonsils taken out today, but it's very rare in the 1950s. I can tell you that was like as sure as the day is long, a lot of people lost their tonsils. And the other one is appendix because they always said, this is the truth. Okay? This is what they call evolutionary biology. It permeates every school, every higher education, especially when it first started.
So evolutionary biology taught that you didn't need your tonsils. They were part of evolution and another kazillion years, they wouldn't even be in the back of your throat. And the same thing with your appendix. And now of course they found out, yeah, no, you need your appendix. I mean, you can live without 'em and you can live without your tonsils, but generally you're going to do a lot better because they're very important part of your immune system. Your appendix is an important part of your gut, and your tonsils are a very important part of your immune system. Okay? Now the TH is flat, okay? So point sort of at the middle of your chest wall, hit your breastbone, okay? And your thymus is underneath that. And this study was looking at people that had their thymus gland removed. How do you get that removed? Well, usually with chest wall, open heart surgery or whatever, the doctor just took it out, get it out of the way, you don't need it, whatever.
And then they found out this, that people that had their thymus gland removed in surgery, they were much more susceptible after to cancer and autoimmune. According to the study, and here's the headline of the study, at least where I read it. It said, unexpected importance of the thymus gland, T H Y S, thymus. Why didn't they call me? I could have told them. The thymus cland is very important part of your immune system. We don't think about it, but it's really important. It's where your T cells, you know your navy seals of your immune system, while the thymus clan helps to produce them, you think they're important? Those navy seals, I get so frustrated at times when I think of the way we operate in this world that you and I live in, a virus comes around and we go crazy. Shut the world down, wear a mask, social distance, yada, yada, yada.
But nobody talked in mainstream media or in medicine mainstream. Nobody was talking about the immune system. Okay? The immune system. Everybody talked about the virus, but nobody talked protecting one from the virus. You have an immune system. What would've been the best way to take care of it? Okay, the unexpected importance of the thymus gland. Hello? If the thymus gland produces T cells, I think it's important, don't you? And vitamin D and the thymus gland. Now I am going to give you my theory, okay? This is the Martin Clinic theory on the thymus clinic, okay? It works and it produces T cells. T cells are your navy seals of your immune system. Do you think you need them? They're the first responders. Do you need them? Absolutely. They see a virus or a bacteria, they're out first, they protect your body. Okay? Now, one of the ways your thymus gland works, and it won't work properly if you don't have enough vitamin D, 80% of the population have low levels vitamin D, and therefore their thymus gland. It'll work, but it won't work at its highest level. Now, I'm going to give you a little trick at the Martin clinic, okay? I'm going to give you a little trick to your thymus.
When you go out in the sun, what do I tell you? Even if it's in the middle of winter, you get benefits from the sun. Why is that? Because of your pineal gland. The third eye, when your eyeballs see the sun, your body is developing. It's not like you're getting a lot of vitamin D. You're not, but you're getting melatonin. Is that important? You bet your boots, it's important. That's why the sun is so good for you. Don't wear sunglasses, okay? I'm not saying never. I'm just telling you, you need about 15, 20 minutes of the sun. Now, some people are so hypersensitive, guys, there's always exceptions, okay? So I'm not talking to you as an exception. You know what? I like to call you. You're weird, and I mean that in a very loving way. You're weird, doc. I can't go out. I got to wear my sunglasses because my eye, okay, you're weird.
The rest of us don't go looking directly at the sun, but the sunlight is good for you. Okay? Now, this is a trick and I believe it to be very important. Expose the thymus gland to the sun. I really do like sun bathing. Okay? 20 minutes, 10,000 IUs. When someone tells you 10,000, I use, holy moly, you're going to croak, you're going to die on the spot. No 20 minutes in the sun without sunscreen, and you get 10,000 IUs, especially if your arms and legs are exposed, your solar panels are exposed to the sun. 10,000 IUs in 20 minutes doesn't take long. You don't need to burn in the sun. Okay? Now I'm pointing here to my thymus clan. You see me? Okay? For those on a later, go down about three or four inches from your collarbone here, okay? And go down in the sternum, your breastbone, and go down.
Just go down about three or four inches. You don't have to go very far down and there's your thymus plan. Expose it to the sun. Expose it to the sun. I believe that. Let the sun hit that thymus, Glen, because remember with your T cells, okay? Remember this with your T-cell. I've taught you this in the past. Your T cells have receptors. I mean, your whole body's a solar panel, your brain to your toes, but your T-cells, your navy seals, they have antennas and they're looking for vitamin D, and I'm giving you a little trick that you won't hear anywhere else. At least I've never heard anybody say it, but I have believed this for a long time, that if you get a chance, if the sun is out today, arms, legs exposed, those are your big solar panels, but try and expose at least for about 20 minutes if you can, the upper part of your chest and think when you're doing it, you're going, those T cells are getting their batteries charged.
Where would I bring a cancer patient to the hospital? Nope, out in the sun. Where would I bring someone that's got a virus out in the sun? Where would I bring every senior that's deficient in vitamin D? They're deficient. Almost invariably when it gets 60 and up. Seniors are 95% deficient in vitamin. Oh, my doctor didn't tell me that. Your doctor didn't even look. Oh, my vitamin D was normal for a mouse. Most people, when they have their vitamin D tested, it's shockingly low. If you're a vegetarian, you got low vitamin D, guaranteed unless you get in the sun a lot because you're certainly not eating any foods with vitamin D. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, only found in eggs, meat and cheese. Why do you think I like eggs, meat and cheese. I had bacon and eggs this morning for breakfast. You, there's vitamin D in there in them. Their hills of eggs, meat and cheese.
Expose, guys, okay, expose your thymus. Cla to the sun. September's coming, isn't it? That means you got to get your vitamin D as a supplement. I'm sorry. And the people living in Florida, my dear friends in Florida, they don't go out in the sun. They're scared, skinny of it. You talk to senior citizens in Florida, I mean, Floridians, they got the wrong memo. They're scared. Skinny of the sun, Dr. I'm going to get skin cancer. No, it's the opposite. It's the opposite. Melanoma is a lack of vitamin D. It's a lack of the sun cancer. I know you don't hear that almost anywhere else, but that's a fact. But facts don't matter, ma'am. It's the narrative and the sun is the boogeyman. But get that sun raised. You don't have to burn. God, don't burn. I don't believe in burning. Cover up and wear a hat and don't put on sunscreen.
Whatever you do, you know how to put on a good sunscreen. Start inside out. Yeah, when you lay off sugars and crappy carbs, you'll be surprised how much better your skin is. It'll become a much better solar panel. Start inside. Skin is an organ, my friend. You always start inside out with an organ. It's an organ you can see, but nonetheless, it's an organ. Another thing that's really important for vitamin D is bacteria. Yeah, you've got kazillions of bacteria on your skin. You don't even think about it. A couple of things. Don't clean that bacteria off so often.
They're on your side unless you've got eczema or psoriasis or whatever. But I'll tell you, even in those conditions, here's what I found in my office. Those people were extremely low in vitamin D. Your skin needs, the sun needs a sun. And I know dermatologists have made a living telling you to get out of the sun, but when you study vitamin D and you see the importance of it from your head to your toes to expose your thymus gland to the sun, okay, expose it to the sun. Those ray of the sun will stimulate the thymus gland and help your immune system. I don't think that's ever going to get to an oncologist, but if I could get to them, I would say, why don't you do a study and see what happens? What did they do during the Spanish flu? People were dying like bugs, and they put 'em out in the sun and it was amazing what that did.
They exposed them tuberculosis and others. Okay, now let me talk about the thyroid because now I'm going to go a little bit higher. I'm going to talk about, see that your thyroid, that little butterfly organ right here that can give us so much trouble? Well, here's a study. This was done in 2021, and it was a meta analysis of 35 studies. They looked at 35 studies in 21, and they looked at the importance of vitamin D and the thyroid gland. Here's what they concluded. Looking at 35 studies from the year 1980 to 2018. Now guys, there's a lot more studies than you think on vitamin D, okay? There really are. And the problem is, is that they don't get a lot of ink because there's no money in vitamin D. The pharmaceutical companies, there's a war on vitamin D. There's no money in that. You can't patent it if you can't patent it.
Okay? Now, low vitamin D, here's what they concluded. Meta-analysis, 35 studies between 1980 and 2018. Here's what they found in hypothyroid. Hashimoto's graves, okay? Hashimoto's and graves are autoimmune disorders. One high, the other low hypothyroid is something I talk about. Well, if you send me your blood work, I don't like to make a diagnosis because you're not my patient. I'm just going to give you my two pennies worth of my experience looking at blood work. I look at things differently from what I call functional medicine, okay? Holistic, looking at everything. And in my book, sun, steak and Steel, you know what a critical test? I can tell you if you're in that 93% that has metabolic syndrome, if you're on the Titanic, okay, pretty well tell you, and you better change course if you're in that 93% and you want to get out of that. But one of the things that's really important is your thyroid. Now, the thyroid doesn't act independently. We know that there's a lot of strings attached to the thyroid, but nonetheless, your thyroid, here's what they concluded. When your thyroid's not working properly, almost invariably you have low levels of vitamin D. Aha. So what am I saying? You got a solar panel there too.
Just like you do with your thymus gland, you have receptors looking for vitamin D on your thyroid. Why do we see so much thyroid problems today? Well, there's a lot of reasons for that. We call it a metabolic storm, and the thyroid gets affected big time, but the thyroid, one of the strings attached is leaky gut, leaky thyroid, because T four to T three, about 20% of that conversion. And listen, in order for your thyroid to work properly, it needs T three. T three. You only make about a teaspoon of it a year. Any a little teensy wey bit can throw off that thyroid, your liver, huge component of thyroid production of T three, the conversion T four, T three liver, very important place. What happens in the liver doesn't stay in the liver. It's not Las Vegas. And if your liver is gummed up with fat, because we're carboholics, not because you're eating bacon, because you're eating bread and noodles. I read an article this morning, it gave me a migraine on the importance of eating fiber. You better get your wheat.
Oh no, to Martin. I only have whole wheat toast. I know, but it's going to be sugar. Then it gets turned to fat in your liver. It gums up your liver, and yet if you gum up your liver, your thyroid's not going to work properly. Why do you think so many people benefit when they get on the eggs, meat and cheese that their thyroid, Hey, doc, my thyroid's working better. Yeah, yeah, because the thyroid is weeding for the production of T three, and your liver has a big effect on that. The sun has a big effect on your thyroid, and if you can't get the sun on your thyroid, well then you better take a supplement. The vitamin D, very important for the thyroid to function properly. This meta-analysis looking at studies concluded that people that had a sluggish thyroid had low levels of vitamin D. What came first? The chicken or the egg?
Well, I think it's a low vitamin D that starts low vitamin D. People just don't realize the importance. Everybody and their dog should be tested for their vitamin D levels. Everybody and their dog, they won't do it. Most doctors don't know the significance of it. You don't need your vitamin D tested. You don't have osteoporosis because all they can think of is bones, and they don't read. They don't read. It bothers me if there's a vitamin. Why do you think when I wrote the book sun, I put it first, sun, steak and steel. Why sun at the top? It's so important, and trust me when I tell you, trust me, not a person in North America. Here's the latest statistic I gave them to you the other day. Not one person. I told you this the other day. I think one or two people, probably about 10 a year die from drinking too much water.
Okay? Now, 99.9% of the population, they don't even drink enough water, but there's about 10 a year they drink too much water and they croak, they die. Does that mean we don't drink water? Of course not, right? And they're usually marathon runners or whatever and drink too much water. They're losing too much salt, and they created a perfect storm and it can kill you guys. You can read about it, but it's rare. I mean, it's extremely rare. But I'm going to tell you what happened in the latest year of statistics in 2021, not one person died of taking too much vitamin D. Now one, you think there'd be one, but there wasn't one.
Now, am I telling you to take too much vitamin D? No, I'm not telling you that. I'm just telling you though, when they want to outlaw it, is it just me or is the world crazy out there? I'm telling you. Okay, I better breathe. Okay, so where do you get some sun? If you get the sun today, okay. Even you Floridians who are scared skinny, get in that sun. You get it for 300 and something days a year. I used to tell my Floridian friends, you don't get heaven. Us Canadians, we get heaven when we die. You had heaven all your life in Florida and you didn't realize it, or Arizona, you don't get heaven. You got heaven. We get heaven. Okay, guys, we got a great week coming, okay? We got a great week coming. Don't be shy. Ask your questions because Friday's question and answer Friday, we have the best staff in the world.
We do. We do. They're there for you answering your question. You want me to look at your blood work, get your blood work done, try and get vitamin D done. Try and get B 12. If you have to twist the arm of your physician, well twist their arm, okay? And if you have to pay for a vitamin D test, pay for it. I hate to have to tell you that, but it's a good investment. People have surprised what your numbers are for a lot of people, not you guys so much because you guys are smarter than the average. Bear my audience, 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!