According to an article Dr. Martin recently read, 25% of North Americans are deficient in iron. Surprisingly, there’s more talk today about too much iron than being deficient in the mineral.
When you consider the North American diet, consisting primarily of crappy carbs and sugars, it’s no wonder 1 in 4 people are deficient. Many women are also deficient in iron because of heavy bleeding from their menses.
Join Dr. Martin in today’s episode as he talks about the major deficiencies found in our diet and why they exist.
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. I'm glad you could join with us here as we have another live this morning. Okay, let's get going. I want to talk about some of the mean deficiencies that I see. Okay? And the reason I bring it up is because I was reading an article about iron, here's the percentage, it's incredible. 25% of the North Americans are deficient in iron. Okay? Now there's a lot of talk today about too much iron and we'll talk about that and why that happens. But 25% of the population according to this article, and that's why I thought I would bring in a few other things that we're deficient in, and I'm going to give you some reasons why that's happening. Why would we be deficient in iron? Well, first of all, we talked about this yesterday, when we were talking about hormones. A lot of women are deficient in iron because of their menses, heavy bleeding.
It's much more common today, by the way. I mean, if you read the Bible, you read about a lady that comes up to the Lord Jesus and wants just to touch the hem of his garment, she had that much faith in Jesus. But if you remember the story, she had what they called in the Bible an issue of blood. And whenever I read that, I know what she had. I can give the diagnosis. She had endometriosis where the lining of her uterus was growing and growing and growing and bleeding is a major issue with then endometriosis. So this lady, she got healed instantly by touching the garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not going to happen to you by faith, mostly. Okay? I mean, not that there's no miracles today, but the vast majority of people, women that have endometriosis, it's a big problem. And of course those people are often, the vast majority, anemic. They're anemic due to the loss of blood.
So they don't have enough iron. Okay? But this article's not, eh, it's touching on that, it would certainly be a percentage of people. But what this article is talking about is the pervasiveness of low iron in our society today, comparatively to even eh, 50 years ago. Okay? And they're seeing it today, and the article goes on, very prevalent in preschool children. Very prevalent in preschool children. Iron is essential, guys. It's an essential nutrient. You need it. Why? Well it helps you to carry oxygen. O2, can't live without that. Iron's fundamental. So is B12. We'll get into that. And again, I'll spend a minute or two on iron toxicity because you can become toxic with iron and I'm not big on iron supplements. Okay? Not that I'd never give them out, but I never give iron alone. I don't believe in that.
I like to combine it. And that's why in our liquid blood boost, I've got iron, but I never put it alone and it's a citrated iron, meaning that it's been chelated. It's already been broken down. You're much better to eat iron. But here's what's happening. Okay? I'll just give you the overall principle. There's a couple of things. One, people today, unfortunately, are getting the religion of the world. What is that? Don't eat meat. It's no good for you. It's acidic. It's going to give you cancer. Those poor animals with eyeballs. And don't eat that stuff. You don't need it. It's going to give you cholesterol and yada yada yada. Lots and lots of negativity surrounding and they want you on this meatless craze and the absolute insanity that's in the world today.
And look guys, maybe you never went for that lie, but I'm going to tell you something, millions upon millions upon millions of people have gone forth hook, line and sinker. They bought the lie that animal products, especially red meat, is bad for you. And every day I have to push back on that. Every day. I have to push back on it. It's not true. Folks, it's religion. It's a belief system brought to you by the environmentalists and whatever, and even my guru friends, people that I have a lot of respect for. Do you know that I graduated 48 years ago today, May the 11th in 1974. I've been around a long time, guys. And since 1974, when I graduated with my first degree, I've seen an enormous shift away from meat and eggs and dairy. An enormous shift. And it's not going to end, guys. It's not going to end. It's going to get worse in my opinion. And you got to hold your ground because you are not going to get iron that you need.
People are walking around half dead, half dead because they're living on plants. You're never going to have enough iron living on plants because you don't get the iron that you need that's called heme, H-E-M-E iron. Think of hemoglobin. Folks, this is essential. Imagine kids with low intake of iron. One of the reasons you don't get enough iron is the negative effect if you're low in copper. I don't talk about copper too much. You think copper, you might be thinking pennies. Does Dr. Martin want me to eat pennies? Copper pennies? Remember pennies? They don't mean nothing anymore. We used to have an expression, collect your pennies. I tell that to my grandchildren they laugh. They don't know what that is. What's a penny? No, but guys, copper... but when you don't eat eggs, meat and cheese, you're low in copper. You know what else you need for iron metabolism? Vitamin A. Eggs, meat and cheese. And folks, chicken is good. Steak is better.
Chicken is good. Steak is better. And I know, you almost got to mortgage your house. I tell people, look, it's the way it is. We have to make an investment in our health. It's an investment. So every time you have a steak or hamburger, I know it costs a fortune, I get it. But if you want to be healthy, I'm sorry, you need iron. You don't want to be deficient in iron, and they're saying 25% in this article. People have gone off the cliff when it comes to eating meat and they substitute it with soy. Ooh, you want to see Dr. Martin get a migraine? Bring me to the grocery store, hold my hand, blindfold me if you want, and then bring me to the meatless aisle and then I'll get a migraine. I might even pass out because I'm so upset of the nonsense that is. You want a soy burger? I feel sorry for you.
Now, you can get too much iron. I'm going to tell you why that happens. Why would you get too much iron today? Too much iron will rust you out. You'll corrode. The reason that's happening more, let me tell you why, I'm a why guy. If I see not enough iron, why? Well, I gave you the main cause, people don't eat red meat today. Red meat sales go this way, because people, if they say the lie long enough people buy it. But there's also a segment of the population, mostly in men, mostly but it's not always, we call it hemochromatosis and that is too much iron. Okay? I admit, I see it more often than I used to. Hemochromatosis, and then they tell you to go blood let, go give blood, get it out of you. And yeah, that's all right, but why is that happening?
I know there's some genetics, but let me tell you the overarching principle. You know what it is? It's fatty liver. And how do you get fatty liver? You're a carboholic. That's how you get too much iron in your system. Not enough, too much. Okay? And of course the standard American diet adds iron, fortified iron. It's not heme iron, it's iron that's not well absorbed but can clog you up. Cereals, fortified cereals, they better fortify them because there's nothing in there except carbs. Oh yeah, but Dr. Martin there's fiber too. Yeah, fiber too. Way overrated. Okay? Fortified... Oh, and by the way, one thing that will really rob you of your iron is high fructose corn syrup. The Frankenstein of sugars, the invention of man, they should put sugar 666, the number of man, because high fructose corn syrup is... you know me, I've said it... it's the antichrist of sugars.
It's that bad. Made in the lab and put into everything because it's very inexpensive and it'll hook you. And some people at the first sign of sugar, they get hooked. They're like an addict. And as a matter of fact, high fructose those corn syrup takes the same root in your brain that cocaine does. It goes right to your feel good center in your brain. But high fructose corn syrup will rob you of copper. It will give you lots of heavy metal because there's lots of mercury in high fructose corn syrup. Terrible stuff. In my last book, The Reset, I mentioned they couch it. How do they couch high fructose corn syrup? They don't tell you they've got high fructose corn syrup, but there's 92 names they give. I counted 92 or is it 99? I can't remember. I think it's 92. I'm going to look it up. It has 92 different names, but it's high fructose corn syrup, terrible stuff.
Okay, one of the deficiencies is iron. What to do? Eggs, meat and cheese. Eggs, meat and cheese. And especially, guys, especially red meat. Yeah, I know it's vilified. I know people talk against it and you're going to have to understand that there is a propaganda out there coming at you, coming to a theater near you, 24/7 to get you away from eating meat and especially red meat. They'll tolerate some chicken, but they don't want you eating red meat from Bill Gates on down. It's incredible to me, the people have lost their collective minds. And red meat, by the way, is not... hello... not acidic. It's not. Your body buffers it. Your body knows exactly what to do. It's the super food. There's nothing like it. Well liver, but okay. I'm sorry, I don't like liver so I don't talk about it very much but I know how good it is for you. That's why I talk about steak.
You know me, it's hard to change an old goat like me. Another deficiency and we'll only spend a minute because we spend almost every day on this one, guess what we're deficient in? Vitamin D. Yep. Okay, can I tell you what I think? Of course you are going tell us what you think. 80 to 90% of the population is low in vitamin D. 80 to 90%, and there's pushback on that, there always has been. Watch out for the sun. The sun's going to kill you and it's going to give you skin cancer and you're going to destroy your kidneys with vitamin D, and you're going to get toxic and vitamin D and yeah, nana-nana-nana-nana, because vitamin D... you want to live longer? Put your hand up. You got your hand up? You want to live healthier? There's no vitamin, I'm sorry, there's no vitamin like vitamin D. It beats all other vitamins combined. When it comes to your bones, of course, everybody knows that. Even doctors know that.
They even learned that in medical school. Wow. But what they don't learn is this, your immune system doesn't work properly without vitamin D. When they were talking about vaccines, you know me, I was talking about therapeutics. Give everybody vitamin D. You remember what I said. The government would've spent less money if they would've all brought us down and put us in the sun in Florida. It would've been better for us. We're always going to be surrounded by viruses, guys, always. Viruses ain't going away. It'll be a new one, influenza season, Corona, you name it, it don't matter. I'm more interested in your immune system. Prevent, prevent, get your immune system firing on all cylinders. What are we low in? Vitamin D. Listen, I'm just going to get you the way I think. Okay? I want you to come with me just for a second. I'm going to go down a little path. A little path, and I want you to follow me on this path just for a second.
Remember how I always say 88% of the population, and by the way, that didn't come from me, okay, 88% of the population is metabolically unwell. Okay? Why? Insulin resistance, food, we're carb crazy. Right? 88%. Nobody argues with that. They're not arguing that statistic. It's true, because with insulin resistance you get measurements. People today, 88% of the population, have some form of metabolic syndrome. High triglycerides, low HDL, belly fat, high blood pressure, some form of this, obesity, fatty liver, 88%. Well, I'm going to tell you what's in there too. When they're metabolically unwell, 90% of population, they have insulin resistance and they have low levels of vitamin D. Their blood serum vitamin D levels are not optimized. And they researched, 150 papers at least, studies, have proven this. From your brain to your toes you're a human solar panel. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you hear something different, but I'm telling you, the world has lost its collective mind.
They have something, and I showed you this study... ah, go back I don't know how many podcasts ago, maybe three weeks or whatever... remember the study on vitamin D in Europe when hospitalizations... 40 cents a day was the headline... 40 cents a day would've saved gazillions of dollars. Hey, I didn't say that. The study in Europe said it. And you know what bugs me? Fauci. He takes vitamin D every day. He admitted it, 6,000 IUs, he admitted it, but no talk about it for a virus. Anyway, you guys know better and I know you do. Okay. There's three ways to get vitamin D. Viderma... the sun, food... it's only in the animal kingdom... supplement, and most people have to supplement. I only got to two, I got three more. What are we really deficient in? Here's what we're deficient in, iodine for the thyroid. First of all, iodine's not in the soil anymore.
When they started using fertilizers, it knocked iodine out of the soil and that's had a major effect on the thyroid. We just spent a couple of sessions this week on sluggish thyroid. Your thyroid will not work properly without iodine and other things. And iodine is found, can I tell you? Yeah, you can get it in seaweed. Do you like seaweed? You can eat it. It has iodine in it. I gave you one reason. The second, because we're not eating enough eggs, meat and cheese where iodine is found, and selenium, your thyroid doesn't work without selenium. It won't work properly, it'll work. I turned on my barbecue the other day. Okay? The flame wasn't heating up the way... And listen, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, okay, when it comes to anything like that, and my son-in-law's over and he said, "Dad, you didn't turn the gas on all the way." Well, that's what happens in your thyroid when you don't have iodine and selenium and your B vitamins, even like B12. Your thyroid needs it. Why do you think I'm so big on red meat?
We're very low in iodine, okay, in iodine. So we're low in iron, we're low in vitamin D, we're low in iodine. Fourthly, we're low in B12. Now, I'm not going in order of priority because if I had to prioritize it, I would tell you that vitamin D I would've put at the top, and I'll tell you right behind it is B12, B12. Folks, you will not do well without B12. B12 does so much. Your red blood cells won't carry oxygen like they should. You won't produce enough red blood cells out of your bone marrow without B12. And they vilify the very thing you need to make B12. Look, there's B12 in plants for mice. Okay? B12 is in the animal kingdom. Again, red meat. Not even in [inaudible 00:26:34] we're so low in B12 it's incredible. And somebody, I can't even remember exactly, I read a couple of articles yesterday, well, B12 is made in the gut, yeah. And you need to have healthy bacteria, yes. I agree with that. B12 is a finicky, finicky vitamin.
What do I mean by that? Well, if you look at its structure, B12 is a large structure vitamin and almost everything's got to be perfect for you to get B12, to absorb it properly. I call it a finicky vitamin. Okay? But guys, you don't even get it if you don't need it. Let me ask you this question. Okay? Think along with me, how can red meat be bad for you if it's really the only source of heme iron and B12? How can that be bad for you? How can it be bad for you? Cancer hates steak and loves sugar. Going against everything that they learned in medical school about nutrition is wrong. I'm sorry. Why is the world so tired, by the way? One of the reasons is that they're very low in B12. Yawning all the time? B12. You can't even sleep properly without B12. Your brain don't function properly without B12. Your nerves don't function properly without B12.
And every med that you can think of, just about every med that you can think of, pharmaceuticals, destroy your B12. Almost every one. And that the top of the hit parade for meds that will destroy your B12 is metformin that people take because they're diabetic or even pre, doctors sometimes will put them on Metformin. Oh, it's wonderful. Eat what you feel like and then take your Metformin. Ooh, it destroys your B12. You're deficient. You're deficient. But the blood test for B12 is 100 years old. Let's have a birthday party. Like today you could have a graduation party for me, May 11th, 1974, 48 years. But you could have a birthday party, right, for the blood test of B12, because it's 100 years old. Or at least change the numbers, because if you're below 800, and even then I like it higher than that, okay, it's one of the reasons we're so tired today, fatigued, weak. Do you know your muscles need B12? They need protein, but they need B12 too. Your muscles need B12. Okay.
Okay. What else was I going to talk about? Very quickly, okay, you know what we're deficient in a lot of ways today, we don't even realize it? Calcium. Yeah. Everybody thinks Dr. Martin's against calcium. No, I'm not. I'm against a calcium supplement. I don't like that. I don't think you should supplement with a calcium supplement because it doesn't get to its intended destination. That's the problem with calcium. You were meant to eat calcium, eggs, meat, and cheese. That's why I don't want you to ditch dairy. I want you to switch dairy. People that tell me, "Oh Dr. Martin, dairy is bad." No, it's not. No, it's not. Now milk in the grocery store, uh-huh, it's bad. You need calcium, but you're meant to eat it.
And when you're a little baby on mommy's breast, you're getting lots of calcium, but that's the way you're supposed to get calcium because God, listen, always surrounds calcium in nature with vitamin K2. So when you eat calcium or even drink cream, yesterday's milk, you're getting calcium with K2. You see how? And then it's delivered to your bones and teeth. I'm glad I don't have one of those watches that tells me to breathe. Nature's got it right. Calcium's important. I'm not against calcium, never have been, never will be. I'm against calcium supplements. You need vitamin D even for the building of the bone, we all know that, you learn that even in medical school. You need calcium too, but in food. Why do they vilify the poor farmers?
They're not the bad guys. Bill Gates is a bad guy, ooh. But it's science, guys. Science, real science. Okay. I was going to talk to you about vitamin A, but I'm sweating. I'm having so much fun. I got my workout this morning. Okay guys, Friday is question and answer so are you ready for that? Okay, send me your questions. We appreciate them. You want to ask me about calcium? Ask me about calcium. I'll just bring you down the rabbit trails again. Happy trails to you. Okay. We're going to go down trails. Friday, question and answer Friday. Okay? I think Roy Rogers used to sing that song. Oh wow, I'm dating myself now. Okay guys, we dearly love you. I hope you know that, right? We appreciate you guys. Look guys, where would we be without you? And I told you yesterday, have I told you lately not only that I love you, but how smart you are. You guys, I'm telling you, when I give you those little quizzes, unreal how smart you are. Guys, I appreciate you listening very much. Thank you. 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!