Transcript Of Today's Episode
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Hello, I'm Dr. Martin, Jr.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: And I'm Dr. Martin, Sr.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: And this is The Doctor is In podcast and this is episode 129. Today, we're gonna talk about a few studies actually a lot has [00:00:30] come out recently that some of them are making some headlines, some of them should be making headlines but aren't. We'll kind of talk about a few of those today.
Really a smorgasbord type of podcast, but knowing us, we'll probably go on a-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: A rant or two.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Or side tangent and we'll be way off topic again but that's alright. The first study that we ... we got some questions about this, and its really interesting because the essential oil industry, [00:01:00] especially in the last couple of years has absolutely exploded.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Yeah, it's booming.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: There are companies, multilevel companies out there now that sell essential oils, a lot of people are selling essential oils. A lot of homes have these diffusers now that it kind of puts the scent of essential oils in your home.
It's gotten really big in terms of usage. It's a lot of people are using essential oils [00:01:30] now, which I get we're not here to talk about ... we're not gonna talk one way or the other really about essential oils.
What we want to talk about is a study that was done, it wasn't a big study, but it lead to some other kind of interesting research that they did and what they found was this, this was the title here, it's called, "Chemicals in Lavender and Tea Tree Oil", appear to be hormone disrupters.
What happened was, [00:02:00] it's interesting, there were three boys, before puberty that were having a gynecomastia, which is very rare before puberty. Gynecomastia is basically putting breast tissue-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Growing boobs.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Yeah, man boobs they call them, right? So they had these three boys that were having an issue with gynecomastia prepubescent, which is very, very uncommon. Anyways, what they did is all three of them were using [00:02:30] lavender or tea tree oil and when they removed that from the equation, the gynecomastia went away.
What they did, which was interesting is the study looked at ... and here's the thing with essential oils that you may not be aware of, is that there are a lot of ... everything is chemical, H2O is a chemical, so it's not a ... sometimes you say the word chemical and people are like, "Oh, chemicals." But everything is a chemical. You can't be chemical free, you'd be [00:03:00] dead 'cause H2O, water, is a chemical.
Essential oils are really the combination of a lot of chemicals. To get these, for example, lavender, and this is what they look at, is really made up of a lot of different chemicals. What they did is that there are a lot of chemicals that make up lavender and they looked at some of the chemicals that are in lavender and some of the chemicals that are in tea tree oil. They found them to be a estrogen [00:03:30] mimicking chemical, we call them xenoestrogen.
So The body can interpret these chemicals as a form of estrogen, which is never a good thing.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: No, because we got way too much estrogen already. We live in an estrogen dominant world. This is just part of our, this is why you see so much breast cancer, so much ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, all these are on the high, high rise [00:04:00] in society today because of the amount of estrogen, the mimicking estrogen, the xenoestrogen.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: What the study did basically they did, again, lavender and tea tree oil are really made up of a whole lot of chemicals and what they did is they picked the four chemicals that are generally required or mandated for the inclusion in those oils. In order to be called lavender oil, tea tree oil, they have to have certain chemicals that are mandated to be in there. [00:04:30] They found that four of those chemicals that are found in both lavender and in tea tree oil, that's where the problem, they found that these four chemicals that are included in both these things mimic estrogen.
It's interesting and I'm just gonna read you a quote here from the lead researcher, and this is important and this is what he said, by the way, this was done by the national institute of environmental health sciences and this is what they said, "Our society deems essential oils as safe," [00:05:00] 'cause we're not ... same thing, we're not here to talk necessarily about the use of essential oils in general. So they said "our society deems these essential oils as safe, however, they possess a diverse amount of chemicals and should be used with caution because some of these chemical are potential endocrine disrupters," and we would agree with that to a certain extent. Right? We would agree with that.
A lot of people will spray lavender on their pillow for at nighttime to help them sleep. [00:05:30] Lavender has a real calming effect for a lot of people. A lot of people use tea tree oil, listen tea tree oil is fantastic for anti-bacterial.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: [crosstalk 00:05:42].
Dr. Martin, Jr.: It's very good. They got a lot of benefits to them. However, like anything else, doesn't mean that every body should be using it. For example, if you're listening to this and you have estrogen dominance-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: A lot of women do.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: A lot of women do.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Even men do too.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Yeah, [00:06:00] and let's talk about that for a second 'cause this study was done on boys. We talk a lot of times on estrogen dominance and the effect it has on women, a lot of common symptoms we see are a direct result of estrogen dominance and a lot of people have thyroid issues because of estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance can really mess up your thyroid. However, we don't talk about it that often in men, and a lot of you that are listening to this podcast have husbands that have estrogen dominance, now, [00:06:30] how do we know that?
Well, there are two things that make a prostate grow abnormally, one is, one that most [inaudible 00:06:37] hormones there is, insulin, high insulin growth will cause your prostate to grow; it's a growth hormone. So somebody has an insulin issue, a lot of times they have a prostate issue. And the second thing that causes the prostate to grow, is estrogen. A lot of men, well, the top two causes in my opinion, [00:07:00] which, can it get you a cup of coffee [inaudible 00:07:02], but, in my opinion the top two causes of prostate problems in men is high insulin, or high estrogen, or a combination of both because they usually go hand in hand. Right?
So that's one aspect that prostate, sorry, of estrogen has an issue with men, is prostate problems. That's not the only thing.
Estrogen dominance causes fat storage, causes gynecomastia, so there's a lot of men [00:07:30] that have man boobs, as you mentioned, have abnormal fat storage, have a swollen prostate, have all the other metabolic issues because of estrogen-like-issues. Estrogen dominance. Both men and women.
I would gather here as well that based on the fact that, even the study shows here, there are estrogen-like properties in some of these essential oils. For a woman who has estrogen dominance, probably the best not to really [00:08:00] use these things while you're estrogen dominant. But for a lot of men as well, it'd be interesting to see, because they've done these studies before on different things, on different scents, for example; the scents of different shampoos will lower testosterone in a guy. And makes sense, we were starting to understand that.
But, in a home with a diffuser, you have young boys, you have boys or you have-just interesting if they would go down that path a little bit, and do a little bit more research to see if that's having an effect on the testosterone levels [00:08:30] of men in that house. It'd be interesting, it'd be fascinating. I would venture a guess that it does, based on some previous other studies that were done on different things, but it'd be interesting to know what the effect of this would be.
Again, like anything else, you always have to, before you take something, you always have to just put a little thought into it, and say, "Why am I taking this? Why am I using this? What is the benefit of using it? And what's the potential issue?" Now-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: And don't overuse it.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Well and that's the thing, [00:09:00] right? We are over-scented. No question. Scents everywhere today.
Having a diffuser running in your home with essential oils running all day may not be, listen I know-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: May not be as beneficial as we think it is-
Dr. Martin, Jr.: I know we're going to get a lot of emails on this question.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Yeah, but that's alright. I mean, we want people to think. We're just giving people information.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Yeah, but it's just one of those things, because a lot of people do sell essential oils; however, again, because it's brand new, in a lot of way-now some of these things have been around forever-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Oil of oregano-
Dr. Martin, Jr.: yeah they've been around [00:09:30] forever.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Frankincense has been around for a hundred years. From the time of the bible.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Yeah, so they've been around for a long time, so we're not, listen, some of them are fantastic, and we're big fans of some of them, but now it's almost like it's a medley of essential oils that people have in their house. They use them everyday, all these different scents, and all the different oils, and all these different- it'd be interesting to see what the effect of that will be down the road.
And again, we're not-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: We're not saying don't-
Dr. Martin, Jr.: We're not saying don't, we're saying; however, in the [00:10:00] study that they looked at, there are some definite like estrogen qualities of some of these essential oils. So, at least what this study's showing with young boys, it could have an effect on them, I would venture the same thing with men, we don't know for sure.
But again, just one of those things again-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: We'll keep our eyes open. If we see anymore studies coming-
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Absolutely, because this will lead to more further research. So that's one study we want to talk about.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: It's interesting.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: [00:10:30] It definitely caught my attention when I saw it, because again, we get asked a lot about essential oils, and we always try to be current on everything.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Well, and the thing is, we know, like in the clinic, again, just to reemphasize, it's not like we never use essential oils. Like I said, oil of oregano, ha-ha-ha, the Martin Clinic is famous for always talking about oil of oregano, it's just because clinically we seen the results of it. It's incredible. [00:11:00] Clinically, I tell people, "You know what? Did I do research, well how bout with 50,000 patients? Would I say that over 40-something years? Yeah." I mean come on, I have thousands and thousands every year. So a lot of people ask me, and just to re-emphasize, a lot of people will ask me, "Well, what about this, what about that? What about this product?" I get that everyday. I said, "Well I don't know about that product, but I'll tell you [00:11:30] about this product, because clinically this is what I use, and I know the effect of it."
And I was saying to you today, "It's amazing to me." I shouldn't necessarily be amazed, but we're pretty consistent on what we do, right? We're food people, so we're always talking about the diet, and we like to supplement the diet with certain foundational [00:12:00] things that we do. And it's almost consistent. And the courses we have online about our cereal killer, the way to eat, and our metabolic storm, and how to work on estrogen dominance, and the hormonal storm that we see today.
But, we know it works. It's not that we're not-we're certainty open to everything, we wanna study it, we want to-but until you and I can get our hands on it, and clinically [00:12:30] see it; see the results of things in people, and how it works.
Like if somebody tells me, and I understand all of it, it's a big thing, essential oils, they're big, and people always wanna talk to me about it because they say, "Dr. Martin, you should maybe implement this in your practice." And I say, "Well, I already use essential oil."
And the essential oil I know that work, is oil of oregano. And I use it personally [00:13:00] everyday. I give it to my patients, thousands of times a year, because if you want to compare that to anything else, I love it. And I know it's safe, I know what it does, and listen, I'm a 44 year old man, and as we age as men
Dr. Martin, Jr.: And women
Dr. Martin, Sr.: As well by the way, we did a podcast episode on this a couple ago, on testosterone. We lose a certain percentage [00:13:30] of testosterone every year, which impacts our muscles every year, it impacts our brain, our heart, so we fight a little bit of a losing battle with testosterone every year.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: And I enjoy lifting weights, I hate cardio, personally, I just don't enjoy doing it, but I like lifting weights. I like lifting heavy things.
So whenever I come across a study that has the words antianciogenic effect, meaning it kind of effects your testosterone levels, [00:14:00] it always kind of makes me nervous in a sense, because I already know I'm fighting a losing battle with testosterone. And as I mentioned, it's vital; it's vital for my brain, vital for your brain, vital for women's brain-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Heart, prostate-
Dr. Martin, Jr.: It's essential, right? I mean I know a lot of people don't talk about testosterone, and it's always viewed in light of a woman's enhancing drug, and stuff like that, but the reality is we need testosterone.
So whenever I start reading things that these things have, specifically, that effect your testosterone levels, it always makes me nervous.
And in [00:14:30] the study it mentions that the chemicals in these essential oils do have that effect. Always makes me nervous as a guy, that maybe, it's not the best thing for us to be smelling or using. But anyways, I think we've talked about this one study enough. But it is an interesting-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: But I think people appreciate it, because they're hearing about essential oils too.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: So let's switch gears really quickly. There was another study that came out not that long ago as well, and basically [00:15:00] the study looked at the effect of antibiotic use on the heart, specifically in women, and over the age of 60.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Yeah, that was fascinating.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Yeah, so , when you're over 60, and you're a woman, again this study was done on woman, probably very similar to men as well; however, the study done on women found antibiotic use-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Recurring-
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Recurring antibiotic use, seems to cause some heart danger issues for women over the age of 60. [00:15:30] So it's interesting right?
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Clinically again, where I see this so frequently it's unbelievable. Because it ties in hormonally.
Now why would a woman, first of all, generally, why would she be on antibiotics. Well, women over 60, you know it's quite common, is infections; recurring urinary tract infections. Rarely happens in men, not that it can't. But it's rarely in men, it's almost [00:16:00] an exclusive women's disorder, and when they hit menopause or post-menopausal years, often times-I'm just gonna give you a little bit of physiology of what happens-hormonally, their progesterone goes down. As levels of progesterone go down, estrogen dominance sometimes, but estrogen is supposed to go down, progesterone is supposed to go down; but if it goes down too low- the bladder depends on progesterone to have [00:16:30] its elasticity-and a lot of women, then they get recurring infections.
They're taking antibiotics and what is they study saying? They study says, "It's very detrimental." And you know, what choice, they have an infection, they're gonna need to take an antibiotic. The problem is that it seems like it's really compounding the effects of it, now it's attacking the strength of the heart.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Which is why again, if they did a study now [00:17:00] looking at the effects of people that have taken a probiotic while taking the antibiotic-
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Which we recommend.
We're not against the antibiotic of course.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: No, ecspecially if it's warranted. You see this lesson where no matter what you have you got an antibiotic. I think the different associations are really trying to educate their members.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: But remember folks, antibiotics has a two edged sword.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: [00:17:30] Exactly. Which is why people ask us, "Should I take probiotics?" And before you even ask the question, yes. There's not a time not to take it, so if you're taking antibiotics, take your probiotic.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Then you got no choice [crosstalk 00:17:46] you have to. But it's interesting to find out-
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Well everything's connected. And again, the connection, and this is what we talked about on last weeks episode, the connection is the microbiome. [00:18:00] That's the hook, that's the glue between all of these seemingly random, like why would an antibiotic hurt my heart? Or why would an antidepressant seem to also have an effect on, for example, joints. It's that microbiol, it's the connection, it's the middle ground there that really waking up to the effect of everything's having on that.
Alright, so that was that study. We have a few more minutes [00:18:30] so let's talk about one more study.
Again, we've talked about saunas before, but another study came out, and it's so funny, it's almost like a Hollywood movie. A story comes out, for example, on one period of history, and it just seems like every studio for the next three months also have movies coming out at the exact same time. One of my favorite movies, Wyatt Earp's "Tombstone" I love, I love those good ole western[crosstalk 00:18:54]. But they always seem to come out at the same time, these movies, the same events, right? [00:19:00] It just seems that's how it works out.
Lately there's been a lot of studies on the saunas, for whatever reason.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: They're all good tho.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Sauna are fantastic for you. Remember we talked about this a while ago. You remember people that had all these cardiac issues, because there's signs everywhere, go to any hotel anywhere, go into the hot tub, there's a massive sign, if you have any cardiac or any other-get out, right?
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Or don't go in.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: But the studies are showing it's actually very good for the heart, so it's kind of funny. But those signs will [00:19:30] be up for 25 years still. However, this study found, in terms of antiaging, and also they said this, "Many took saunas four to seven times per week experience this 66 percent lower risk of dementia, and a 65 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, a compared to those who only took a sauna once per week." Now, what's interesting is that taken a sauna a week is definitely beneficial to your brain, it's shown that. Now they're showing [00:20:00] if you have four to seven; so four times a week is better than once a week, once a week is good for you, four times a weeks even better.
It's one of those things, it's good for you. To the point that, there are always lists these benefits have when you take a sauna, and it's actually one of those things that's just naturally so good for you.
Dr. Martin, Sr.: Very detoxifying.
Dr. Martin, Jr.: Just sweating, just very good for you. So anyways, that was another study that came up that I kind of found it interesting. Something that's easy for people to do. You almost want to [00:20:30] try to make getting into a sauna a couple days week, for sure. You can do it more than that, that's awesome. As part of your anti-aging routine, part of the thing you do consistently, because you definitely will get-the benefits for the brain are there. We've seen it on a few studies now, it seems to have tremendous effects on the brain.
Anyways, we wanna thank you for listening to this episode today. If you have any questions, you can email us at info@MartinClinic.com. You can also go to our website MartinClinic.com. And on there you can sign up for our newsletters, and again [00:21:00] we talk about a lot of these studies, we send out a couple times a week, short emails that kinda just break down these studies and talk about these things. And also they can join you every Thursday morning at 8:30, Facebook Live, you have questions you can go right there and ask. Ask Dr. Martin Sr., and he'll answer all your questions live, right there, every Thursday morning, 8:30.
So we wanna thank you for listening, and have a great day.