WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.360 Welcome to this month's Ask Your Herb Doctor. My name is Andrew Murray. 00:00:03.360 --> 00:00:05.360 My name is Sarah Johanneson Murray. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:10.800 For those of you who perhaps have never listened to our shows, which run every third Friday of the month from 7 to 8 p.m., 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:16.400 we're both licensed medical herbalists who trained in England and graduated there with a degree in herbal medicine. 00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:21.100 We run a clinic in Garboville where we consult with clients about a wide range of conditions. 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:27.260 We manufacture all our own certified organic herbal extracts, which are either grown on our CCUF certified herb farm 00:00:27.260 --> 00:00:30.600 or which are sourced from other certified organic suppliers. 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:35.400 You're listening to Ask Your Herb Doctor on KMUD Garboville 91.1 FM. 00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:40.500 And from 7.30 until the end of the show at 8 o'clock, you're invited to call in with any questions, 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:46.400 either related or unrelated to this month's continuing topic on the thyroid, its role in health, 00:00:46.400 --> 00:00:51.900 and the use of coconut oil as a means of weight loss and improved thyroid function. 00:00:51.900 --> 00:00:55.400 The number here, if you live in the area, is 923 3911. 00:00:55.400 --> 00:01:03.000 Or if you live outside the area, the toll-free number is 1-800-KMUD-RAD, which is 568 3723. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:12.400 So we can also be reached toll-free on 1-888-WBM-HERB for further questions during normal business hours, Monday through Friday. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:21.700 So to carry on from last month's expose on the polyunsaturated versus saturated fat controversy that's raging right now, 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:29.400 I wanted to mention right from the get-go that some of this material has been copied from Dr. Ray Peat, 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:37.400 and that this material is not something that we have produced, although in between the other excerpts, the material is ours. 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:46.200 So I wanted to carry on, like I said, from last month and just carry on this expose of a fairly startling turnaround, 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:53.700 for some people at least, in the belief that polyunsaturated fats are good and that saturated fats are bad. 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:57.700 And actually, it's seemingly very much the other way around, 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:02.200 and that our ancestors and our grandparents had it right the first time around, 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:09.700 eating lots of saturated fat, animal fats, eating butter, milk, cream, dairy products, 00:02:09.700 --> 00:02:19.700 were very healthy and actually had very, very low incidences of cancer, diabetes and obesity, things which have shot up since the 1920s. 00:02:19.700 --> 00:02:27.700 So a lot of things that we're going to say for some people will be cheeringly applauded by those people perhaps who are in their 50s and 60s, 00:02:27.700 --> 00:02:32.700 or a little older even, who used to eat just the same kind of things that we're going to be covering and talking about, 00:02:32.700 --> 00:02:36.700 and to another group of people, might be very shocking. 00:02:36.700 --> 00:02:41.700 I don't mean to shock people, but I just want to make these other viewpoints known, 00:02:41.700 --> 00:02:47.700 so that those people who do find some thread of truth in it can actually hold on to it and find out more. 00:02:47.700 --> 00:02:53.200 Most of this information is freely available on the web, and the web is increasing in popularity as time goes on, 00:02:53.200 --> 00:02:57.700 as a source of material for all different viewpoints, and the truth is out there. 00:02:57.700 --> 00:03:01.700 If you just want to search for it, you will find it. 00:03:01.700 --> 00:03:07.700 So I wanted to carry on. The whole end of the war, the Second World War, 00:03:07.700 --> 00:03:13.700 essentially the seed oil industry was in a crisis point, and the traditional use of seed oils, 00:03:13.700 --> 00:03:20.700 such as flax seed oil in paints and plastics, was being displaced by new compounds made from petroleum, 00:03:20.700 --> 00:03:24.700 and the industry itself needed new markets. 00:03:24.700 --> 00:03:29.700 It was discovered that ways to convince the public that seed oils were better than animal fats were introduced, 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:33.700 and they called their seed oils "heart protective", 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:38.700 even though human studies soon showed the same results that the animal studies had, 00:03:38.700 --> 00:03:42.700 namely that they were toxic to the heart and increased the incidence of cancer. 00:03:42.700 --> 00:03:48.700 This all came about from the 1920s and 1930s experiments with animals on feedlots 00:03:48.700 --> 00:03:55.700 that were basically put there for the last six or eight weeks of their life to increase their weight, 00:03:55.700 --> 00:04:02.700 become more saleable and more valuable by having an increased portion of fat on their bodies. 00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:08.700 Essentially they started using coconut oil, 00:04:08.700 --> 00:04:13.700 which was basically a fairly cheap imported tropical oil that was a saturated fat, 00:04:13.700 --> 00:04:19.700 that they believed would be a pretty good feed source for cattle and other ruminant animals 00:04:19.700 --> 00:04:23.700 to increase their weight gain prior to slaughter, and that would help the industry, 00:04:23.700 --> 00:04:29.700 and would help the farmers, and everyone would get more money, and that the product would be appreciated. 00:04:29.700 --> 00:04:33.700 So they started feeding these animals coconut oil, a saturated fat, 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:38.700 and lo and behold, rather than gaining weight, the animals actually lost weight. 00:04:38.700 --> 00:04:43.700 Anyway, so they soon changed their plans there from coconut oil, 00:04:43.700 --> 00:04:48.700 they suddenly switched to corn oil and soy oil. 00:04:48.700 --> 00:04:52.700 Now when they did that, lo and behold, the animals started gaining weight, 00:04:52.700 --> 00:04:56.700 so they suddenly thought, "Okay, well this was a good idea." 00:04:56.700 --> 00:04:59.700 Soy and corn did the trick, put lots of weight on animals, 00:04:59.700 --> 00:05:04.700 even though these animals would never be eating it, like coconut oil, they'd never be eating that either, 00:05:04.700 --> 00:05:09.700 but as a foodstuff it was certainly a hit in terms of gaining weight on the animals. 00:05:09.700 --> 00:05:15.700 But essentially the long-term effects of these fats and oils were pretty toxic, 00:05:15.700 --> 00:05:21.700 and the animals themselves were certainly unable to continue eating this for more than seven or eight weeks 00:05:21.700 --> 00:05:26.700 before they started getting very serious inflammatory disorders that were eventually life-threatening and would kill them. 00:05:26.700 --> 00:05:29.700 So eight weeks was about as much as they could feed these animals 00:05:29.700 --> 00:05:34.700 before they started dying of gastrointestinal disorders from eating these products 00:05:34.700 --> 00:05:38.700 that they should never be eating in the first place, so that doesn't surprise anybody. 00:05:38.700 --> 00:05:45.700 So ultimately the coconut oil was thrown out, and a huge campaign was started to alert the American public 00:05:45.700 --> 00:05:50.700 that these cheap tropical imported oils were not very good for you, they were toxic, 00:05:50.700 --> 00:05:58.700 and actually that they should be kicked out, and that the alternatives would be USA-grown corn and soy. 00:05:58.700 --> 00:06:03.700 And lo and behold with the chemical and pharmaceutical industry behind this, 00:06:03.700 --> 00:06:11.700 fairly big players in pharmaceutical production, was that the corn and the soy were there again, 00:06:11.700 --> 00:06:16.700 other very important crops to be genetically engineered, and the seeds to be owned, 00:06:16.700 --> 00:06:20.700 so that they were a product that could be sold and owned independently, 00:06:20.700 --> 00:06:25.700 rather than a wild product, a wild seed that no one had the rights to and that people could get freely. 00:06:25.700 --> 00:06:31.700 So soy and corn soon became rapidly two very big US crops, 00:06:31.700 --> 00:06:35.700 and rapidly the information was disseminated that soy and corn were very good for you, 00:06:35.700 --> 00:06:38.700 they were polyunsaturated, they were good for your heart, they were good for cholesterol, 00:06:38.700 --> 00:06:42.700 they were good for lots of things and everyone should be eating lots of it. 00:06:42.700 --> 00:06:49.700 And the propaganda was promoted by a lot of money, and soon it became very commonplace 00:06:49.700 --> 00:06:53.700 that these oils were good for you and that everyone should be eating it, 00:06:53.700 --> 00:06:59.700 and so obviously the natural production of these two crops rapidly increased, 00:06:59.700 --> 00:07:03.700 as did the awareness, or the false awareness that these things were good for you. 00:07:03.700 --> 00:07:10.700 So getting on to the point that the animals were fed these things and they gained weight, 00:07:10.700 --> 00:07:16.700 despite the widespread acceptance that the lipid hypothesis which would cover this 00:07:16.700 --> 00:07:22.700 has never really been proven, an oil researcher, Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon, 00:07:22.700 --> 00:07:25.700 founder and director of the Western A. Price Foundation, 00:07:25.700 --> 00:07:29.700 point out in their article called "The Secrets of the Edible Oil Industry" 00:07:29.700 --> 00:07:35.700 that the lipid theory was first proposed by David Kritschepsky, a Russian researcher, 00:07:35.700 --> 00:07:40.700 who in 1954 published a paper describing the effects of feeding cholesterol to rabbits. 00:07:40.700 --> 00:07:45.700 Now by showing that polyunsaturated oils from vegetable sources 00:07:45.700 --> 00:07:49.700 lowered serum cholesterol at least temporarily in humans, says Enig, 00:07:49.700 --> 00:07:53.700 Kritschepsky appeared to show that the findings from the animal trials 00:07:53.700 --> 00:07:56.700 were relevant to the coronary heart disease problem, 00:07:56.700 --> 00:08:01.700 that the lipid hypothesis was a valid explanation for the new epidemic of heart disease, 00:08:01.700 --> 00:08:06.700 and that by reducing animal products in their diets, Americans could avoid heart disease. 00:08:06.700 --> 00:08:10.700 So soon the United States was on an anti-cholesterol campaign. 00:08:10.700 --> 00:08:18.700 In 1956, an American Heart Association fundraiser was shown on all three major TV networks. 00:08:18.700 --> 00:08:24.700 Panelists presented the lipid hypothesis as the cause of America's heart disease epidemic 00:08:24.700 --> 00:08:28.700 and recommended a prudent diet in which corn oil, margarine, and chicken 00:08:28.700 --> 00:08:32.700 replaced butter, lard, beef, and eggs. 00:08:32.700 --> 00:08:35.700 But the panel was not unanimous. 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:42.700 Dudley White, MD, Dr. Dudley White, disagreed with his AHA colleagues 00:08:42.700 --> 00:08:48.700 by noting that heart disease in the form of myocardial infarction, MI, 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:55.700 was nonexistent in 1900, when egg consumption was three times what it was in 1956, 00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:59.700 and when corn oil was completely unavailable. 00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:02.700 I mean, who would have ever thought of making oil from corn anyways? 00:09:02.700 --> 00:09:09.700 How much corn would you have to squeeze or process or do what to to get a teaspoon of oil? 00:09:09.700 --> 00:09:13.700 When pressed to support the prudent diet, Dr. White replied, 00:09:13.700 --> 00:09:23.700 "See here, I began my practice as a cardiologist in 1921, and I never saw an MI patient until 1928. 00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:28.700 Back in the MI-free days before 1920, the fats were butter and lard, 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:32.700 and I think we would all benefit from the kind of diet we had at that time, 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:35.700 when no one had ever heard the words 'corn oil.'" 00:09:35.700 --> 00:09:38.700 But unfortunately, his observations fell on deaf ears, 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:44.700 and ads in the Journal of the American Medical Association described Wesson oil. 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:47.700 I'm sure a lot of people have heard of Wesson oil. 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:50.700 It's a famous corn oil manufacturer. 00:09:50.700 --> 00:09:56.700 So the AMA described Wesson oil as a "cholesterol depressant." 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:00.700 Mazola, another large corn oil company, 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:05.700 advertisements claimed that "science finds corn oil important to your health," 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:11.700 and medical journal ads recommended Fleischmann's unsalted margarine for patients with high blood pressure. 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:16.700 Dr. Frederick Stare, head of Harvard University's Nutrition Department, 00:10:16.700 --> 00:10:22.700 wrote a syndicated column in which he encouraged the consumption of up to a cup of corn oil per day. 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:23.700 Great. 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:29.700 Meanwhile, experimenters found that feeding a diet that totally lacked the essential fatty acids 00:10:29.700 --> 00:10:33.700 produced animals with remarkable properties. 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:40.700 "They consumed oxygen and calories at a very high rate," says Dr. Rapey. 00:10:40.700 --> 00:10:44.700 "Their mitochondria were unusually tough and stable. 00:10:44.700 --> 00:10:49.700 Their tissues could be transplanted into other animals without provoking immunological rejection, 00:10:49.700 --> 00:10:53.700 and they were very hard to kill by trauma and a wide variety of toxins 00:10:53.700 --> 00:11:00.700 that easily provoked lethal shock in animals on the usual polyunsaturated oil diet." 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:03.700 As German researchers had seen in 1927, 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:06.700 they had a low susceptibility to cancer, 00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:10.700 and new studies showed that they weren't susceptible to various fibrotic conditions, 00:11:10.700 --> 00:11:14.700 including alcoholic liver cirrhosis. 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:18.700 Dr. Mary Eneg points out that other researchers conducted population studies 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:22.700 that showed that the animal model used by Krzyzewski, 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:25.700 especially one that used vegetarian animals, 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:31.700 was not a valid approach to the problem of heart disease in human omnivores. 00:11:31.700 --> 00:11:38.700 She cites studies conducted in the 1950s showing that the presence of arterial plaque, 00:11:38.700 --> 00:11:40.700 which is considered a symptom of heart disease, 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:45.700 is a natural process that has nothing to do with diet. 00:11:45.700 --> 00:11:53.700 American soldiers killed during the Korean War had similar amounts of severity of plaque, 75%, 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:58.700 as Japanese natives whose diet was lower in animal products, at 65%. 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:04.700 And the largely vegetarian Bantu in South Africa had just as much occlusions 00:12:04.700 --> 00:12:10.700 or plaque buildup in their arteries as other races in South Africa who ate more meat. 00:12:10.700 --> 00:12:13.700 In 1957, Dr. Norman Jolliffe, 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:17.700 director of the Nutritional Bureau of the New York Health Department, 00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:22.700 launched an anti-coronary club for businessmen aged 40 to 59. 00:12:22.700 --> 00:12:25.700 All were placed on the previously mentioned prudent diet, 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:32.700 and results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1966. 00:12:32.700 --> 00:12:37.700 Those on the prudent diet of corn oil, margarine, fish, chicken, and cold cereal 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:43.700 had an average serum cholesterol 30 points lower than the meat and potatoes control group, 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:48.700 but the more important statistics were the heart disease deaths of eight prudent diet followers, 00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:52.700 while none of those who ate meat three times a day died. 00:12:52.700 --> 00:12:56.700 Jolliffe himself died in 1961 from a vascular thrombosis, 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:02.700 although his obituaries listed the cause of death as complications from diabetes. 00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:05.700 Larger follow-up studies produced the same results, 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:10.700 and an ambitious million-man diet heart study was abandoned for reasons of cost 00:13:10.700 --> 00:13:13.700 when its chairman died of a heart attack. 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:18.700 In the 1960s, interest in organ transplantation led to the discovery 00:13:18.700 --> 00:13:24.700 that polyunsaturated fats prolonged graft survival by suppressing the immune system. 00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:27.700 Immunosuppression was considered to have a role 00:13:27.700 --> 00:13:32.700 in the carcinogenicity of the essential fatty acids, says Dr. Peat. 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:38.700 So just to reiterate that, the polyunsaturated fatty acids suppress the immune system. 00:13:38.700 --> 00:13:41.700 That's the crux of that last sentence, isn't it? 00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:48.700 Yes, so in the 1960s, they found that if people who had just recently had an organ transplant, 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:52.700 if they were taking in a lot of polyunsaturated fats in their diet, 00:13:52.700 --> 00:13:59.700 their immune system was suppressed and they didn't reject the transplant. 00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:03.700 At around the same time, there were studies showing that unsaturated fats 00:14:03.700 --> 00:14:06.700 retarded brain development and produced obesity. 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:11.700 In addition, the age-related glycation products that are usually blamed on sugar 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:16.700 are largely the result of peroxidation of the polyunsaturated fatty acids. 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:19.700 Okay, that's one of the other important things about the polyunsaturated fatty acids, 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:25.700 is because they are polyunsaturated, they're very susceptible to lipid peroxidation, 00:14:25.700 --> 00:14:29.700 which is oxidation of the molecule, because they're not stable. 00:14:29.700 --> 00:14:32.700 Unlike saturated fats, they're completely saturated, 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:35.700 their bonds are saturated, and they're very stable oils. 00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:37.700 And they don't go rancid very quickly. 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:41.700 I mean, coconut oil has a very long shelf life. 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:45.700 Through the 1970s, information about the harmful effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids 00:14:45.700 --> 00:14:48.700 was slowly being assimilated. 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:53.700 And by 1980, it looked as though reasonable researchers would see the promotion of cancer, 00:14:53.700 --> 00:14:58.700 heart disease, mitochondrial damage, hypothyroidism, and immune suppression 00:14:58.700 --> 00:15:03.700 caused by these polyunsaturated fats as their most important feature, 00:15:03.700 --> 00:15:09.700 and they would see that there had never been a basis for believing that these were essential fats. 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:14.700 But then, without acknowledging that there had ever been a problem with the doctrine of essentiality, 00:15:14.700 --> 00:15:17.700 fat researchers just started changing the subject, 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:21.700 shifting public discourse to safer, more profitable topics. 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:26.700 As a result, the old discredited theories about polyunsaturated fats are alive and well 00:15:26.700 --> 00:15:33.700 for the past 68 years, and so are the inaccurate health claims that replace them. 00:15:33.700 --> 00:15:36.700 Most of us are so used to hearing that saturated fats harm health, 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:39.700 while polyunsaturated fats improve it, 00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:46.700 but the recommendations of experts like Dr. Mary Enig, Dr. Ray Peat, and Dr. Bruce Fife 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:48.700 require mental adjustments. 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:52.700 Get acquainted with pasture-fed butter, lard, and tallow products, 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:55.700 and other traditionally saturated fats like coconut oil. 00:15:55.700 --> 00:16:00.700 Throw away the canola, corn, sunflower, safflower, sesame, soy. 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:04.700 Stay away from anything that contains polyunsaturated fats. 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:09.700 Kiss tofu goodbye and forget soy milk, soy yogurt, soy cheese, soy protein, and soy lecithin. 00:16:09.700 --> 00:16:13.700 For good measure, says Dr. Peat, stay away from commercially raised chicken. 00:16:13.700 --> 00:16:17.700 Animals that eat polyunsaturated fats don't produce saturated fat. 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:21.700 Dr. Peat explains, when you eat their meat, you're eating polyunsaturated fat 00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:25.700 with all of the adverse effects of soy and corn oil. 00:16:25.700 --> 00:16:27.700 Because polyunsaturated fats are perceived as healthful, 00:16:27.700 --> 00:16:31.700 the meat, milk, and egg industries are working on ways to promote these products, 00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:35.700 which are incredibly harmful, as desired. 00:16:35.700 --> 00:16:38.700 The beef industry is doing so, he says, by treating soy oil 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:42.700 so that it won't be broken down in the cattle's rumen. 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:45.700 I think that's a factor in causing scrapie and mad cow disease, he says, 00:16:45.700 --> 00:16:49.700 since it was already established that the equivalent disease in chickens, 00:16:49.700 --> 00:16:55.700 called crazy chick syndrome, is caused by too much polyunsaturated fat in the diet. 00:16:55.700 --> 00:17:01.700 Chickens don't have a rumen, so they are much more susceptible to these oils than cows and sheep. 00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:06.700 Okay, it's 7.18 now. You're listening to Ask Your Herb Doctor on KMED 91.1. 00:17:06.700 --> 00:17:10.700 And from 7.30 until the end of the show at 8 o'clock, you're invited to call in 00:17:10.700 --> 00:17:14.700 with any questions, either related or unrelated, to this month's topic, 00:17:14.700 --> 00:17:19.700 which is a continuation on the thyroid gland, its role in the health and maintenance of the human body, 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:26.700 and coconut oil as a means to lose weight and improve your thyroid function. 00:17:26.700 --> 00:17:35.700 Okay, so in 1995, researchers studied 25,862 participants 00:17:35.700 --> 00:17:38.700 at the Colorado Statewide Health Fair. 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:42.700 They discovered that among patients not taking thyroid medication, 00:17:42.700 --> 00:17:51.700 9% were hypothyroid, had an underactive thyroid, and 1% were hyperthyroid, with an overactive thyroid. 00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:55.700 Now, this indicates that 10% clearly of the population had a thyroid problem 00:17:55.700 --> 00:17:58.700 that had most likely gone unrecognized. 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:04.700 Now, these figures suggest that nationally, there may be as many as 13 million Americans 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:06.700 with an undiagnosed thyroid problem. 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:11.700 In her book, Living Well with Hypothyroidism, What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You, 00:18:11.700 --> 00:18:17.700 that you need to know, Mary Shamon quotes endocrinologist Kenneth Blanchard, 00:18:17.700 --> 00:18:20.700 MD of Lower Newton Falls, Massachusetts, as saying, 00:18:20.700 --> 00:18:25.700 "The key thing is doctors are always told that thyroid stimulating hormone 00:18:25.700 --> 00:18:27.700 is a test that gives us a yes or no answer." 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:30.700 And in fact, I think that's fundamentally wrong. 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:33.700 That's commonly called TSH. 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:34.700 Right, the TSH test. 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:39.700 Okay, so what they were saying that it's commonly wrong. 00:18:39.700 --> 00:18:43.700 Now, in fact, I think that's wrong, very much so. 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:49.700 The pituitary TSH is controlled not just by how much T4 and T3 is in circulation, 00:18:49.700 --> 00:18:53.700 but T4 is getting converted to T3 at the pituitary level. 00:18:53.700 --> 00:19:00.700 Now, excess T3 generated at the pituitary level can falsely suppress TSH. 00:19:00.700 --> 00:19:05.700 Hence, many people who have simply tested for TSH are found to be within normal, 00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:07.700 in parentheses, normal range. 00:19:07.700 --> 00:19:11.700 They are, in fact, suffering from thyroid problems that are going undetected. 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:16.700 Now, consequently, reader R.M., MD, Associate Professor of Medicine 00:19:16.700 --> 00:19:21.700 in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Bayer College of Medicine, agrees. 00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:28.700 He says that hypothyroidism may exist despite normal TSH levels. 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:31.700 In his book, "The Thyroid Solution," he says, 00:19:31.700 --> 00:19:34.700 "Many people may be suffering from minute imbalances 00:19:34.700 --> 00:19:38.700 that have not yet resulted in abnormal blood tests. 00:19:38.700 --> 00:19:43.700 If we included people with low-grade hypothyroidism whose blood tests are normal, 00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:48.700 the frequency of hypothyroidism would no doubt exceed 10% of the population. 00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:51.700 Now, what is of special concern, though, 00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:55.700 is that many people whose test results are dismissed as normal 00:19:55.700 --> 00:19:59.700 could continue to have symptoms of an underactive thyroid. 00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:05.700 Their mood, emotion, and overall well-being are affected by this imbalance, 00:20:05.700 --> 00:20:09.700 yet they are not receiving the care they need to get to the root of their problems. 00:20:09.700 --> 00:20:13.700 Even if the TSH level is in the lower segment of normal, 00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:17.700 a person may still be suffering from low-grade hypothyroidism. 00:20:17.700 --> 00:20:22.700 Thus, if we were to include those who may be suffering from low-grade hypothyroidism, 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:28.700 the number could well be double the 13 million estimate from the Colorado study." 00:20:28.700 --> 00:20:31.700 Now, while more research needs to be done, 00:20:31.700 --> 00:20:36.700 it is generally accepted that diet plays a major role in thyroid health. 00:20:36.700 --> 00:20:40.700 For decades, we've known that low iodine's intake 00:20:40.700 --> 00:20:44.700 leads to low thyroid function and eventually to goiter. 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:48.700 Now, the goiter is the large swelling around the thyroid cartilage 00:20:48.700 --> 00:20:54.700 as the thyroid swells in response to a decrease in thyroxine and other thyroid hormones. 00:20:54.700 --> 00:21:01.700 Now, iodized salt was intended to solve this problem, but it's not been the answer. 00:21:01.700 --> 00:21:06.700 There are a number of foods known as goitrogens that block iodine. 00:21:06.700 --> 00:21:10.700 Two goitrogens are quite prevalent in the American diet. 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:13.700 One is peanuts and peanut butter, and soybeans, 00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:19.700 used most often in prepared foods as textured vegetable protein, known as TBP, 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:23.700 which is a refined soy food and soybean oil. 00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:30.700 Now, we mentioned the growing, the widespread growing of soy and corn in the 1930s 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:36.700 and the subsequent GMO control of this by big multinational companies. 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:43.700 The rise of industrialization, corporate farming, and mass production of food 00:21:43.700 --> 00:21:47.700 has drastically changed our food supply from what our ancestors ate. 00:21:47.700 --> 00:21:53.700 Many studies now show the detrimental effects of refined sugars and grains on our health. 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:58.700 These foods are very taxing on the thyroid gland, and we consume them in large quantities. 00:21:58.700 --> 00:22:04.700 Environmental stress, such as chemical pollutants, pesticides, mercury, and fluoride, 00:22:04.700 --> 00:22:06.700 are also tough on the thyroid. 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:09.700 A growing body of evidence suggests that fluoride, 00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:12.700 which is prevalent in toothpaste and water treatment, 00:22:12.700 --> 00:22:15.700 may inhibit the functioning of the thyroid gland. 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:18.700 Additionally, mercury may diminish thyroid function 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:21.700 because it displaces the trace mineral selenium, 00:22:21.700 --> 00:22:27.700 and selenium is involved in the conversion of thyroid hormones T4 to T3. 00:22:27.700 --> 00:22:35.700 OK, so that's certainly food for thought in terms of the effects of modern farming 00:22:35.700 --> 00:22:41.700 and modern industrialization, and how these things have certainly become the norm 00:22:41.700 --> 00:22:47.700 and how the prevalence of the diseases, obesity, cancer, and diabetes, 00:22:47.700 --> 00:22:50.700 have shot through the roof, as it were, 00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:55.700 and pretty much so connected to the ingestion of these food groups, 00:22:55.700 --> 00:23:01.700 as these food groups are very specifically thyroid or thyrotoxic in many ways. 00:23:01.700 --> 00:23:06.700 They slow the thyroid function down or stop it altogether in some cases. 00:23:06.700 --> 00:23:12.700 I think it's true enough to say that people that have fairly, 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:15.700 what you would call normal thyroid function tests, 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:19.700 that are on the border of being hypothyroid, 00:23:19.700 --> 00:23:22.700 there are several different things that can be done, 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:27.700 even in your home, without any complicated chemical analysis, 00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:32.700 that pretty much confirm the diagnosis of hypothyroidism. 00:23:32.700 --> 00:23:36.700 So, Sarah, perhaps you want to talk about some of the things 00:23:36.700 --> 00:23:39.700 that would be useful for people they can try out themselves, 00:23:39.700 --> 00:23:42.700 and if any of the signs or symptoms are present, 00:23:42.700 --> 00:23:46.700 then these people may well do themselves a lot of good 00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:49.700 to find out more information on the internet or from other sources 00:23:49.700 --> 00:23:52.700 to see, in fact, whether a thyroid replacement, 00:23:52.700 --> 00:23:56.700 either a glandular or a prescription, would be useful for them. 00:23:56.700 --> 00:24:00.700 Well, I think the best place to start is always with your diet, 00:24:00.700 --> 00:24:04.700 and everyone could benefit from taking coconut oil. 00:24:04.700 --> 00:24:08.700 From eating coconut oil internally, it will help your skin externally. 00:24:08.700 --> 00:24:11.700 From applying it externally, it will help your skin externally. 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:16.700 It helps your thyroid gland, helps improve your metabolism. 00:24:16.700 --> 00:24:20.700 It's very beneficial for everybody to eat coconut oil. 00:24:20.700 --> 00:24:24.700 What are some of the main benefits of coconut oil? 00:24:24.700 --> 00:24:26.700 I just mentioned a few of them, 00:24:26.700 --> 00:24:28.700 that it can help as an emollient for your skin, 00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:31.700 it helps improve your metabolism. 00:24:31.700 --> 00:24:37.700 All of our body has--well, we store a lot of saturated fat in our body, 00:24:37.700 --> 00:24:41.700 and that helps to maintain a healthy level of fat. 00:24:41.700 --> 00:24:45.700 I think a real low-fat diet can be very detrimental. 00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:49.700 You won't gain weight eating coconut oil. 00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:54.700 But something you could do in your home to assess your thyroid function 00:24:54.700 --> 00:24:56.700 would be to take your temperature. 00:24:56.700 --> 00:25:01.700 People should have a fairly normal body temperature from 98 to 98.6. 00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:03.700 That's normal. 00:25:03.700 --> 00:25:05.700 You can buy a thermometer, 00:25:05.700 --> 00:25:09.700 especially useful is a basal body thermometer from any pharmacy. 00:25:09.700 --> 00:25:13.700 And you can take your temperature before and after you eat breakfast, 00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:17.700 and before and after you eat lunch, as well as your pulse. 00:25:17.700 --> 00:25:22.700 Your pulse should be around normal, which is 70 to 85. 00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:27.700 And those are some things that you can assess with low thyroid. 00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:29.700 It's not definitive, 00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:32.700 so don't think that just because you might have a slightly lowered temperature 00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:36.700 or a slightly lowered pulse that that's it, you're hypothyroid. 00:25:36.700 --> 00:25:39.700 It's, of course, always best to work with a practitioner 00:25:39.700 --> 00:25:44.700 in assessing your symptoms and to read your temperature and your pulse 00:25:44.700 --> 00:25:52.700 to come up with a proper diagnosis of exactly what's going on with your system. 00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:56.700 Can I just quickly read out a couple of sample questions 00:25:56.700 --> 00:25:59.700 that people maybe would be able to answer? 00:25:59.700 --> 00:26:05.700 These would all be things that for the greater number of yes to these questions, 00:26:05.700 --> 00:26:09.700 there would be more of a basis for wanting to find out more information 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:14.700 about your own self in terms of your thyroid health. 00:26:14.700 --> 00:26:16.700 So some of these questions would be things like, 00:26:16.700 --> 00:26:19.700 have you experienced infertility or miscarriage? 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:21.700 Especially if this is for women. 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:24.700 Are you feeling like you're getting every infection that goes around, 00:26:24.700 --> 00:26:28.700 or is it taking longer for you to recuperate from infections? 00:26:28.700 --> 00:26:34.700 Do you regularly eat significant amounts of uncooked goitrogenic foods 00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:42.700 such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, rutabaga, turnips, radishes, cauliflower and millet? 00:26:42.700 --> 00:26:46.700 Okay, and cabbage and kale, again, are two other goitrogenic foods. 00:26:46.700 --> 00:26:51.700 And then are you experiencing changes in your menstrual cycle, 00:26:51.700 --> 00:26:53.700 as in the cycle is too short or long, 00:26:53.700 --> 00:26:58.700 or your period has become very heavy or very light? 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:05.700 Now there is actually, I think it's a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio in gender of female to male. 00:27:05.700 --> 00:27:10.700 Certainly more females seem to get hypothyroidism than males. 00:27:10.700 --> 00:27:13.700 And that's because females have higher estrogen levels, 00:27:13.700 --> 00:27:16.700 and estrogen is a very powerful thyroid suppressant. 00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:20.700 But in healthy women, your estrogen should be in balance with your progesterone, 00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:25.700 which is a powerful thyroid stimulant and supportive to your thyroid. 00:27:25.700 --> 00:27:29.700 And I just want to mention one thing there, Andrew, about the goitrogenic foods. 00:27:29.700 --> 00:27:36.700 Plants in the brassica family, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, 00:27:36.700 --> 00:27:39.700 those are all meant to be cooked. 00:27:39.700 --> 00:27:43.700 I mean, everybody knows if they eat these vegetables raw, they have terrible gas, 00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:45.700 terrible indigestion. 00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:49.700 But if you cook them until they're soft and they don't cause any gas, 00:27:49.700 --> 00:27:56.700 then you've taken away the potential for them to cause a goiter and to suppress your thyroid. 00:27:56.700 --> 00:28:01.700 So the person who wrote these questions out isn't suggesting that you don't eat them. 00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:04.700 They just said to not eat them raw. 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:07.700 Okay, do you want to carry on? 00:28:07.700 --> 00:28:10.700 Do you have any more questions you want to-- 00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:16.700 Well, there's lots of questions here, but they were some of the more obvious ones. 00:28:16.700 --> 00:28:24.700 So many of these dietary unsaturated fatty acids, dietary polyunsaturated oils, 00:28:24.700 --> 00:28:26.700 can negatively affect the thyroid health. 00:28:26.700 --> 00:28:31.700 We cook them almost every day, and they're plentiful in commercially prepared foods. 00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:36.700 Expeller-pressed or solvent-extracted oils only became a major part of the American diet 00:28:36.700 --> 00:28:37.700 in the last century. 00:28:37.700 --> 00:28:42.700 It is possible they are among the worst offenders when it comes to the thyroid. 00:28:42.700 --> 00:28:45.700 They are known as vegetable oils or polyunsaturated oils. 00:28:45.700 --> 00:28:50.700 The most common source of these oils used in commercially prepared foods is the soybean. 00:28:50.700 --> 00:28:54.700 And I don't mean that you have to eat a lot of these oils in order to suppress your thyroid. 00:28:54.700 --> 00:28:57.700 Yes, the more you eat, the more suppressed it will be, 00:28:57.700 --> 00:29:01.700 but it can even be as much as one teaspoon a day. 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:03.700 That's quite a scary thought. 00:29:03.700 --> 00:29:09.700 Large-scale cultivation of soybeans in the United States began after World War II 00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:13.700 and quickly increased to 140 billion pounds per year. 00:29:13.700 --> 00:29:18.700 Most of the crops are produced for animal feed and soy oil for hydrogenated fats 00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:20.700 such as margarine and shortening. 00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:25.700 Very poor quality fats, very cheap and expensive fats are produced. 00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:28.700 Roundup ready corn and roundup ready soy. 00:29:28.700 --> 00:29:33.700 When we traveled across the Midwest, we saw so many fields of roundup ready corn 00:29:33.700 --> 00:29:37.700 and roundup ready soy, and these are-- 00:29:37.700 --> 00:29:40.700 The food staple of America. 00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:48.700 This is what's being made into oil, and of course we all know that the oils of animals and plants suppress-- 00:29:48.700 --> 00:29:55.700 I mean, it contains the toxic compounds of whatever has been applied to them, 00:29:55.700 --> 00:29:57.700 the pesticides, the herbicides. 00:29:57.700 --> 00:30:03.700 It's in the oil, and here most of America is eating corn and soy oil in products, 00:30:03.700 --> 00:30:08.700 and those two plants are grown with a huge amount of chemicals. 00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:14.700 Michael Moore's expose on the burger diet, when he was just-- 00:30:14.700 --> 00:30:19.700 He had a 30-day-- He was just eating McDonald's, and he was just eating-- 00:30:19.700 --> 00:30:22.700 He was always encouraged to get the supersized version, 00:30:22.700 --> 00:30:26.700 and how he was suddenly gone-- His blood pressure was going through the roof. 00:30:26.700 --> 00:30:29.700 His pulse was going up. He'd gained all this weight, and he was-- 00:30:29.700 --> 00:30:30.700 His liver enzymes. 00:30:30.700 --> 00:30:33.700 His doctor was trying to pull him off it because he was worried that he was going to-- 00:30:33.700 --> 00:30:35.700 I don't think that was a Michael Moore, though. 00:30:35.700 --> 00:30:37.700 I thought it was Michael Moore. 00:30:37.700 --> 00:30:38.700 I don't know. I think that was-- 00:30:38.700 --> 00:30:39.700 You know the one I'm talking about. 00:30:39.700 --> 00:30:40.700 Yeah. 00:30:40.700 --> 00:30:41.700 Supersize me, I think it's called. 00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:42.700 Supersize. 00:30:42.700 --> 00:30:46.700 And then there was the other thing, the other expose on corn. 00:30:46.700 --> 00:30:50.700 The high-fructose corn syrup that's prevalent in the population of America. 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:52.700 Almost every processed food. 00:30:52.700 --> 00:30:56.700 Almost everything that you see on a store, if you pick up the package and look at it, 00:30:56.700 --> 00:30:58.700 has high-fructose corn syrup in it. 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:00.700 It's become the common sweeter. 00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:04.700 No longer is sugar or honey used because, of course, it's too expensive, 00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:07.700 but the high-fructose corn syrup is readily available, 00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:13.700 and they grow it massive, widespread, thousands of hectares, roundup ready. 00:31:13.700 --> 00:31:14.700 Okay, great. 00:31:14.700 --> 00:31:16.700 Okay, I think there's a caller on the line. 00:31:16.700 --> 00:31:17.700 Hello. 00:31:17.700 --> 00:31:18.700 Hello. 00:31:18.700 --> 00:31:21.700 That's why I make a distinction in my life, and I've started talking to people about it. 00:31:21.700 --> 00:31:24.700 There's a difference between food and food-like products. 00:31:24.700 --> 00:31:25.700 Yes. 00:31:25.700 --> 00:31:26.700 Exactly. 00:31:26.700 --> 00:31:30.700 And when I'm out and about with people, I just do those little bits of education, you know, 00:31:30.700 --> 00:31:32.700 steering away from the food-like products. 00:31:32.700 --> 00:31:34.700 Because education is what it's all about. 00:31:34.700 --> 00:31:40.700 People need to be educated as to what's happening because most of it is a common misconception that, 00:31:40.700 --> 00:31:43.700 "Oh, this is okay," or, "This is acceptable because it's on sale." 00:31:43.700 --> 00:31:45.700 It doesn't mean that at all. 00:31:45.700 --> 00:31:49.700 Yes, and also, especially when they ask me if I want ketchup or jam at a restaurant, 00:31:49.700 --> 00:31:54.700 I say, "Do you know that stuff has high-fructose corn syrup and that has E. coli in it?" 00:31:54.700 --> 00:31:57.700 So just those little spots of education here and there. 00:31:57.700 --> 00:31:58.700 Thank you. 00:31:58.700 --> 00:31:59.700 Well done. 00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:00.700 Thank you. 00:32:00.700 --> 00:32:01.700 Keep up the good work. 00:32:01.700 --> 00:32:02.700 Thank you. 00:32:02.700 --> 00:32:03.700 Thank you. 00:32:03.700 --> 00:32:04.700 Anything on the line? 00:32:04.700 --> 00:32:05.700 Hello? 00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:06.700 Hi. 00:32:06.700 --> 00:32:07.700 Hello? 00:32:07.700 --> 00:32:08.700 Hello? 00:32:08.700 --> 00:32:09.700 Hi. 00:32:09.700 --> 00:32:10.700 You're on the air. 00:32:10.700 --> 00:32:11.700 Okay. 00:32:11.700 --> 00:32:15.700 You guys have neglected to discuss the issue regarding the omega-6 and omega-3 fats and the ratios, 00:32:15.700 --> 00:32:19.700 and I wanted to recommend a book called The Omega Diet. 00:32:19.700 --> 00:32:21.700 It's a long Greek name. 00:32:21.700 --> 00:32:34.700 It's Artemis P. Simopoulos and Joe Robinson, and I wanted your feedback on that. 00:32:34.700 --> 00:32:42.700 As I understand it, there's actually amounts of evidence coming out now that show that having a higher ratio, 00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:49.700 I think it's the omega-6 fats, makes a big difference for health issues of many variety, 00:32:49.700 --> 00:32:54.700 and the most affordable oil that's high in omega-6 is canola, 00:32:54.700 --> 00:32:58.700 but also I think flax and walnut oil are the other ones. 00:32:58.700 --> 00:33:00.700 I think that's right. 00:33:00.700 --> 00:33:06.700 But anyway, I wanted your feedback on that because you haven't discussed that at all on this show or the last show. 00:33:06.700 --> 00:33:07.700 Thanks a lot. 00:33:07.700 --> 00:33:08.700 Okay. 00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:09.700 Thank you. 00:33:09.700 --> 00:33:13.700 So a question and answer, what about essential fatty acids? 00:33:13.700 --> 00:33:19.700 Aren't some polyunsaturated fatty acids essential as we all believe? 00:33:19.700 --> 00:33:21.700 They happen and we're taught. 00:33:21.700 --> 00:33:29.700 During the last 30 years, Dr. Ray Peat has asked prominent oil researchers for evidence that there is such a thing as an essential fatty acid. 00:33:29.700 --> 00:33:37.700 One professor cited a single publication about a single patient who recovered from an illness after taking unsaturated fat. 00:33:37.700 --> 00:33:43.700 If he had known of any better evidence, wouldn't he have mentioned it, asked Dr. Peat? 00:33:43.700 --> 00:33:51.700 The others, if they had answered at all, cited Burr and Burr, 1929, a study that tested rats. 00:33:51.700 --> 00:33:58.700 The surprising thing about that question is that these people would consider any research from 1929 to be definitive. 00:33:58.700 --> 00:34:05.700 That's like quoting the 1929 opinion of a physicist regarding the procedure for making a hydrogen bomb. 00:34:05.700 --> 00:34:13.700 What was known about nutrition in 1929, most of the B vitamins weren't even suspected to exist. 00:34:13.700 --> 00:34:20.700 Burr had no way of understanding what deficiencies or toxicities were present in his experimental diet. 00:34:20.700 --> 00:34:30.700 Two years before Burr's experiment, says Dr. Peat, German researchers found that a fat-free diet prevented almost all spontaneous cancers in rats. 00:34:30.700 --> 00:34:35.700 Later work showed that polyunsaturated fats both promote and initiate cancer. 00:34:35.700 --> 00:34:43.700 With that knowledge, he says, the people who kept claiming that linoleic, linoleic, and maybe arachidonic acid are essential fatty acids, 00:34:43.700 --> 00:34:50.700 should have devoted some effort to finding out about how much of that essential nutrient was enough, 00:34:50.700 --> 00:34:54.700 so that people could minimize their consumption of the carcinogenic stuff. 00:34:54.700 --> 00:35:04.700 And the way I'd like to logically look at this situation with polyunsaturated fats is that how did we get to where we are today? 00:35:04.700 --> 00:35:07.700 What did our ancestors eat? 00:35:07.700 --> 00:35:11.700 Did they eat bottles of essential fatty acids, canola oil? 00:35:11.700 --> 00:35:14.700 Did they make oil from canola, from sunflowers? 00:35:14.700 --> 00:35:19.700 They might have eaten sunflowers, but they wouldn't have made oil from sunflowers necessarily, 00:35:19.700 --> 00:35:24.700 because it was much easier to make oil from olive and coconut and butter. 00:35:24.700 --> 00:35:26.700 And how much fish were they eating? 00:35:26.700 --> 00:35:27.700 Well... 00:35:27.700 --> 00:35:29.700 Probably not that much fish. 00:35:29.700 --> 00:35:31.700 Well, it depends where they lived. I mean, of course, some people ate fish. 00:35:31.700 --> 00:35:33.700 But did they eat sea fish? I mean, what were they doing, were they... 00:35:33.700 --> 00:35:39.700 Right, they wouldn't have eaten as much tuna, and only salmon when they could catch it from the shore, or close to the shore. 00:35:39.700 --> 00:35:42.700 They wouldn't have traveled 40 miles out in the ocean. 00:35:42.700 --> 00:35:47.700 I mean, maybe in some areas where the ocean's calmer, but definitely not in our Pacific Ocean, 00:35:47.700 --> 00:35:51.700 where it could be very scary 40 miles out in a paddle boat. 00:35:51.700 --> 00:35:53.700 That's why I logically like to look at it. 00:35:53.700 --> 00:36:01.700 Let's get back to basics and say, "What is it that we used to eat? How did we get to where we are today?" 00:36:01.700 --> 00:36:03.700 Okay, there's a caller on the line. 00:36:03.700 --> 00:36:05.700 Hello? 00:36:05.700 --> 00:36:06.700 Hello? 00:36:06.700 --> 00:36:07.700 Hi, you're on the air. 00:36:07.700 --> 00:36:11.700 Yes, thanks for your show. It's been really interesting for me, 00:36:11.700 --> 00:36:14.700 because I've heard all my life how good polyunsaturated oils are. 00:36:14.700 --> 00:36:16.700 Most of us have, yeah. 00:36:16.700 --> 00:36:17.700 I... 00:36:17.700 --> 00:36:20.700 Hello? 00:36:20.700 --> 00:36:21.700 Uh-oh. 00:36:21.700 --> 00:36:26.700 I'm sorry, I think we had a little bit of interruption between the last 20 seconds or so, 00:36:26.700 --> 00:36:28.700 so just reiterate what you were saying. 00:36:28.700 --> 00:36:34.700 Okay, I have a basal temperature of 96.8 consistently in the morning, 00:36:34.700 --> 00:36:37.700 and then I eat and it stays the same. 00:36:37.700 --> 00:36:38.700 Right. 00:36:38.700 --> 00:36:44.700 And I have a number of symptoms, like three or four symptoms of hypothyroidism, 00:36:44.700 --> 00:36:48.700 and I've painted iodine on me and it's disappeared within 12 hours. 00:36:48.700 --> 00:36:55.700 So I'm wondering, do you think I should get a prescription for the Armour thyroid, or what do you think? 00:36:55.700 --> 00:37:01.700 Well, the best thing to do would be to go talk to a doctor who is open-minded and knows a lot about thyroid. 00:37:01.700 --> 00:37:03.700 One of those doctors was Connie Bash. 00:37:03.700 --> 00:37:05.700 Unfortunately, she's moved to San Francisco. 00:37:05.700 --> 00:37:14.700 Another doctor is Beverly Copeland, and she's also open to alternative methods for testing thyroid, 00:37:14.700 --> 00:37:20.700 alternative being taking your temperature and having symptoms that match a hypothyroidism picture. 00:37:20.700 --> 00:37:27.700 Alternatively, you can buy glandular thyroid extracts from health food stores and online. 00:37:27.700 --> 00:37:31.700 Most of them are bovine, but I think there are some porcine available. 00:37:31.700 --> 00:37:36.700 But I always recommend it's better for people to see a practitioner and work with a practitioner, 00:37:36.700 --> 00:37:38.700 because you don't want to take too much thyroid. 00:37:38.700 --> 00:37:39.700 It's definitely not safe. 00:37:39.700 --> 00:37:44.700 And besides that, something like the diet would be the first place to start. 00:37:44.700 --> 00:37:46.700 Okay. 00:37:46.700 --> 00:37:50.700 And not eating those thyroid-suppressive foods that we've mentioned. 00:37:50.700 --> 00:37:54.700 Which I have eaten in the past, and I'll avoid the polysaccharide oils, 00:37:54.700 --> 00:37:59.700 and possibly I'm thinking eat some seaweed for the thyroid. 00:37:59.700 --> 00:38:04.700 Well, the thing with iodine is, yes, you can have a deficiency of iodine, 00:38:04.700 --> 00:38:10.700 and that can lead to hypothyroidism, but also too much iodine can lead to hypothyroidism. 00:38:10.700 --> 00:38:16.700 So it's a really delicate balance, and maybe you just want to eat some very occasionally. 00:38:16.700 --> 00:38:18.700 Okay. Thanks for your help. 00:38:18.700 --> 00:38:19.700 You're welcome. 00:38:19.700 --> 00:38:21.700 There's one more caller. 00:38:21.700 --> 00:38:22.700 Hello, you're on the line. 00:38:22.700 --> 00:38:23.700 Hello? 00:38:23.700 --> 00:38:24.700 Hello. 00:38:24.700 --> 00:38:25.700 Oh, good. 00:38:25.700 --> 00:38:27.700 Hi. Thanks for the show. 00:38:27.700 --> 00:38:29.700 I got a call from my sister yesterday. 00:38:29.700 --> 00:38:32.700 Her cholesterol is 280. 00:38:32.700 --> 00:38:33.700 Okay. 00:38:33.700 --> 00:38:38.700 And she asked me, and I love getting this call, "What can I do naturally?" 00:38:38.700 --> 00:38:42.700 So the first thing I said to her is you have to start eating the right oils. 00:38:42.700 --> 00:38:43.700 Right. 00:38:43.700 --> 00:38:47.700 And I wondered if you could distill some more advice for her, 00:38:47.700 --> 00:38:52.700 some steps she can take towards lowering the cholesterol. 00:38:52.700 --> 00:38:57.700 Well, cholesterol is often raised because of too much sugar and carbohydrates in the diet. 00:38:57.700 --> 00:39:05.700 So when you say good oils, I mean, if heart attacks, myocardial infarctions were unknown before 1920, 00:39:05.700 --> 00:39:07.700 what were the oils--what were people eating? 00:39:07.700 --> 00:39:09.700 How did we get to where we are? 00:39:09.700 --> 00:39:12.700 Well, they ate coconut if they lived in tropical climates. 00:39:12.700 --> 00:39:17.700 If they lived in Europe, they ate butter and lard, animal fat. 00:39:17.700 --> 00:39:23.700 Animal fat in this day and age is not something you want to be eating because the animals are fed so many horrible things 00:39:23.700 --> 00:39:25.700 and given so many antibiotics. 00:39:25.700 --> 00:39:31.700 But butter, organic butter, organic coconut oil, a small amount of olive oil, 00:39:31.700 --> 00:39:33.700 those are some good oils to start. 00:39:33.700 --> 00:39:42.700 And decreased grains and sugars would be a healthy place to start in her diet, in my opinion. 00:39:42.700 --> 00:39:50.700 Yeah, this is the first I heard that corn oil and polyunsaturates in general could be so harmful. 00:39:50.700 --> 00:39:54.700 I don't know if they're directly related to cholesterol, 00:39:54.700 --> 00:39:58.700 but high fructose corn syrup is something I presume she should avoid. 00:39:58.700 --> 00:39:59.700 Definitely. 00:39:59.700 --> 00:40:07.700 And, you know, there's--just instead of eating so many carbohydrates and sugar foods that get converted to fat and cholesterol, 00:40:07.700 --> 00:40:13.700 to eat instead more protein and even for vegetarians, fruit has a lot of protein in it. 00:40:13.700 --> 00:40:17.700 Potatoes have a very good quality protein and that would be one carbohydrate she could eat. 00:40:17.700 --> 00:40:19.700 I don't know if she's vegetarian or not. 00:40:19.700 --> 00:40:20.700 If she was a meat eater-- 00:40:20.700 --> 00:40:23.700 You're saying sugars get converted into cholesterol? 00:40:23.700 --> 00:40:29.700 Sugars get converted into fat, yes, and they can also raise your cholesterol levels. 00:40:29.700 --> 00:40:33.700 You have to start with some kind of lipid structure to make-- 00:40:33.700 --> 00:40:37.700 Well, cholesterol--your body makes cholesterol on its own. 00:40:37.700 --> 00:40:41.700 People who have a fat-free diet, they can still have cholesterol levels off the chart. 00:40:41.700 --> 00:40:47.700 But the other thing I want to say about cholesterol is that a recent research that was either Harvard or Stanford 00:40:47.700 --> 00:40:55.700 came out saying that people who had a cholesterol of around 230 over the age of 50 00:40:55.700 --> 00:41:03.700 were less likely to die of heart attacks, cancer, and degenerative diseases than those who had a cholesterol below 200. 00:41:03.700 --> 00:41:12.700 And we all know that--well, maybe we don't all know, but the average number that they say you should have your cholesterol under is under 200. 00:41:12.700 --> 00:41:13.700 Right. 00:41:13.700 --> 00:41:19.700 And now they're coming out with these results saying, "Well, look, the study of these people was a 10-year study. 00:41:19.700 --> 00:41:24.700 These people that were in their 70s versus people that had high and lower cholesterol, 00:41:24.700 --> 00:41:27.700 the people that had higher cholesterol-- 00:41:27.700 --> 00:41:28.700 Live longer. 00:41:28.700 --> 00:41:31.700 Live longer, because cholesterol is a protective function in the body. 00:41:31.700 --> 00:41:33.700 It's a natural protective function. 00:41:33.700 --> 00:41:37.700 Every one of our cells in the body, in our body, has a cholesterol membrane. 00:41:37.700 --> 00:41:38.700 Right. 00:41:38.700 --> 00:41:39.700 And it can also-- 00:41:39.700 --> 00:41:42.700 But what about plaque buildup in the arteries? 00:41:42.700 --> 00:41:45.700 That's supposed to be the big concern with it. 00:41:45.700 --> 00:41:48.700 Well, that's what they're saying is a lot more contributed-- 00:41:48.700 --> 00:41:58.700 coming from an increase of sugars in the diet and also these polyunsaturated oils because they're trans fatty acids and they're an odd-shaped molecule. 00:41:58.700 --> 00:42:04.700 Just think, before the Industrial Revolution, we would have never tried to make oil from corn. 00:42:04.700 --> 00:42:06.700 Who would think of it? 00:42:06.700 --> 00:42:09.700 Yeah, maybe we'd eat corn and eating corn in small amounts. 00:42:09.700 --> 00:42:15.700 I don't think there's anything wrong with that, especially the way it traditionally is used is like masa harina. 00:42:15.700 --> 00:42:18.700 It's fermented and soaked and much more digestible. 00:42:18.700 --> 00:42:26.700 But corn in large quantities in the form of oil has been shown to suppress the immune system. 00:42:26.700 --> 00:42:28.700 There's lots of information on the Internet. 00:42:28.700 --> 00:42:30.700 All you need to do is just Google it. 00:42:30.700 --> 00:42:33.700 Yeah, I wonder--Michael Pollan's new book is about corn. 00:42:33.700 --> 00:42:35.700 We're always called corn-fed and stuff. 00:42:35.700 --> 00:42:36.700 Right. 00:42:36.700 --> 00:42:37.700 Oh, my. 00:42:37.700 --> 00:42:38.700 We're way too corny. 00:42:38.700 --> 00:42:40.700 All right, well, thanks a lot. 00:42:40.700 --> 00:42:41.700 Okay, you're very welcome. 00:42:41.700 --> 00:42:42.700 Thanks for your call. 00:42:42.700 --> 00:42:43.700 Bye. 00:42:43.700 --> 00:42:44.700 Thank you. 00:42:44.700 --> 00:42:48.700 I think you were--okay, you're going to carry on. 00:42:48.700 --> 00:42:51.700 All right. 00:42:51.700 --> 00:42:56.700 So large-scale cultivation of soybeans in the United States began after World War II 00:42:56.700 --> 00:43:00.700 and quickly increased to 140 billion pounds per year. 00:43:00.700 --> 00:43:03.700 So that's, you know, mid-1940s. 00:43:03.700 --> 00:43:09.700 Most of the crops are produced for animal feed and soy oil for hydrogenated fats such as margarine and shortening. 00:43:09.700 --> 00:43:14.700 Today it is nearly impossible, absolutely impossible, to eat at restaurants 00:43:14.700 --> 00:43:18.700 or buy packaged foods that don't have soy oil in the ingredients, 00:43:18.700 --> 00:43:21.700 often labeled simply "state vegetable oil." 00:43:21.700 --> 00:43:27.700 That reminds me of the caller who called in and said, "Food and food-like products." 00:43:27.700 --> 00:43:30.700 Most Americans eat food-like products. 00:43:30.700 --> 00:43:36.700 Even bread has dough conditioners in it, iodine bromate, yeast--bread made with yeast, 00:43:36.700 --> 00:43:39.700 which is highly indigestible. 00:43:39.700 --> 00:43:41.700 Iodine bromate is enough. 00:43:41.700 --> 00:43:46.700 If Americans are eating bread every day, it has enough iodine bromate in it to suppress your thyroid. 00:43:46.700 --> 00:43:49.700 Okay, I think there's another caller or two on the line. 00:43:49.700 --> 00:43:50.700 Yeah, hi there. 00:43:50.700 --> 00:43:51.700 Am I with you? 00:43:51.700 --> 00:43:53.700 Yes, you're on the air. 00:43:53.700 --> 00:43:59.700 Yeah, I have two kids, and I'm pretty careful about, you know, what I buy, 00:43:59.700 --> 00:44:03.700 and I don't buy any high-purchase corn syrup or anything like that. 00:44:03.700 --> 00:44:08.700 And I was hearing you guys say that soy milk and tofu 00:44:08.700 --> 00:44:12.700 and all of those products also have polyunsaturated fat in them, 00:44:12.700 --> 00:44:17.700 so I was wondering if you could maybe clarify about the other soy products 00:44:17.700 --> 00:44:20.700 other than just the oil factor. 00:44:20.700 --> 00:44:24.700 Well, the soy has a goitrogenic effect. 00:44:24.700 --> 00:44:31.700 It's the soy flavonoid in there that is also thyroid suppressive, 00:44:31.700 --> 00:44:34.700 and that's why you don't want to eat soy products. 00:44:34.700 --> 00:44:40.700 They might not have a lot of soy oil in them, but they have a lot of a goitrogenic effect. 00:44:40.700 --> 00:44:44.700 And it has been shown that 11 ounces--a study that was done a couple years ago-- 00:44:44.700 --> 00:44:48.700 11 ounces of soy milk a day in a healthy individual, 00:44:48.700 --> 00:44:54.700 not someone who already has disease and isn't healthy, is enough to suppress thyroid function. 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:55.700 Okay, wow. 00:44:55.700 --> 00:44:57.700 This has just been a really enlightening show. 00:44:57.700 --> 00:45:00.700 You guys have--I've heard so many things I've never heard before. 00:45:00.700 --> 00:45:04.700 So I really appreciate you guys being on the air. 00:45:04.700 --> 00:45:05.700 Well, you're very welcome. 00:45:05.700 --> 00:45:11.700 And the best advice I have to feed your children is the least processed foods, whole foods. 00:45:11.700 --> 00:45:16.700 I give him tons of chocolate soy milk because he eats so much dairy, cottage cheese, 00:45:16.700 --> 00:45:18.700 and butter, and everything else. 00:45:18.700 --> 00:45:23.700 I was just trying to balance out his diet a bit so that he's not eating quite so much dairy products. 00:45:23.700 --> 00:45:28.700 And he just loves the chocolate soy milk, so I give him quite a bit of that every single day. 00:45:28.700 --> 00:45:32.700 Well, maybe you just want to replace it with--make your own chocolate milk. 00:45:32.700 --> 00:45:38.700 Yeah, I have Dutch cocoa, and, you know, we still have milk in our house too, so I could totally do that. 00:45:38.700 --> 00:45:41.700 And just to make sure to include plenty of fruit. 00:45:41.700 --> 00:45:42.700 Children need lots of fruit. 00:45:42.700 --> 00:45:46.700 Soft fruits are the best, soft, ripe fruits. 00:45:46.700 --> 00:45:52.700 Bananas, if they're very ripe, otherwise they can have a latex-like allergy, banana allergy. 00:45:52.700 --> 00:45:58.700 Yeah, I found that my 2-year-old actually really prefers eating stuff straight from my garden too, 00:45:58.700 --> 00:46:01.700 like food that he won't eat necessarily if I buy it at the store. 00:46:01.700 --> 00:46:06.700 He loves picking it right off the vine, and he'll eat it like that for some reason. 00:46:06.700 --> 00:46:07.700 That's exactly the same-- 00:46:07.700 --> 00:46:09.700 I just find it amazing. It's wonderful. 00:46:09.700 --> 00:46:12.700 It's wonderful. That's the same as with my 4-year-old niece. 00:46:12.700 --> 00:46:14.700 She loves everything out of the garden. 00:46:14.700 --> 00:46:19.700 Yeah, it's been really amazing since we had the garden how much his diet has improved 00:46:19.700 --> 00:46:26.700 just because he's so much more open to the new experience of picking it himself and just eating it right there. 00:46:26.700 --> 00:46:29.700 Well, that's how it's supposed to be. That's the way it always used to be. 00:46:29.700 --> 00:46:34.700 Yeah, I really appreciate your show. This has just been really great. It's been awesome information. 00:46:34.700 --> 00:46:36.700 Well, thank you for your call. 00:46:36.700 --> 00:46:37.700 Have a good one. 00:46:37.700 --> 00:46:38.700 You too. 00:46:38.700 --> 00:46:39.700 Okay, I think there's another call on the line. 00:46:39.700 --> 00:46:40.700 Hello. 00:46:40.700 --> 00:46:41.700 Hello. 00:46:41.700 --> 00:46:45.700 Listen, thank you so much for the program, and I did not catch your show last week 00:46:45.700 --> 00:46:50.700 and don't want to take up a lot of your time because you have a lot of valuable information you're giving out. 00:46:50.700 --> 00:46:58.700 I'm actually someone who was diagnosed 4 weeks ago with hypothyroid and just started the medication 3 weeks ago. 00:46:58.700 --> 00:46:59.700 Okay. Are you on-- 00:46:59.700 --> 00:47:02.700 I'm on a very small dose, 25 milligrams of Lavoxel. 00:47:02.700 --> 00:47:03.700 Okay. 00:47:03.700 --> 00:47:10.700 And I eat a really clean diet. I'm blessed. I live in Arcata, so I can go to the farmer's market. 00:47:10.700 --> 00:47:18.700 And 95% of my diet is home-cooked, fresh food from the farmer's market. 00:47:18.700 --> 00:47:24.700 But what I'm wanting is additional information about dietary do's and don'ts. 00:47:24.700 --> 00:47:33.700 I read up on the soy and used to take a lot of soy until I realized that it's not good because I have breast cancer 00:47:33.700 --> 00:47:38.700 happening with a sibling a year older than I am and lots of cancer in the family. 00:47:38.700 --> 00:47:40.700 So I try to stay away from the soy. 00:47:40.700 --> 00:47:45.700 But I do drink a lot of almond milk, and I like peanut butter, and I like almond butter. 00:47:45.700 --> 00:47:46.700 Bad, bad, bad. 00:47:46.700 --> 00:47:47.700 Bad, bad, bad. 00:47:47.700 --> 00:47:50.700 Sorry. You should cut it out of your diet now. 00:47:50.700 --> 00:47:53.700 If you want, you can take our toll-free number and call us and give us your email, 00:47:53.700 --> 00:47:57.700 and I can email you a do and don't diet sheet for your thyroid. 00:47:57.700 --> 00:48:03.700 That's the best thing you can do. Call us on our toll-free number, and we'll email you the diet sheet. 00:48:03.700 --> 00:48:05.700 Okay. What's your toll-free number? 00:48:05.700 --> 00:48:06.700 Okay. 00:48:06.700 --> 00:48:07.700 Go ahead. 00:48:07.700 --> 00:48:12.700 888-926-4372. 00:48:12.700 --> 00:48:14.700 4372. Thank you so much. 00:48:14.700 --> 00:48:19.700 I just have one more thing I want to tell you, and that is whoever your prescribing doctor is, 00:48:19.700 --> 00:48:26.700 since you called in, I want to tell you my advice, and that is to switch to Armor Throid or Nature Throid 00:48:26.700 --> 00:48:34.700 or West Throid, one of the natural glandulars because it has both T3 and T4, whereas Lovoxil is just T4. 00:48:34.700 --> 00:48:39.700 And then that relies on your liver to do the conversion into the active form, which is T3. 00:48:39.700 --> 00:48:46.700 And it's a much better alternative for people than taking Synthroid or Lovoxil. 00:48:46.700 --> 00:48:48.700 Okay. So Armor Throid, and what were the other two? 00:48:48.700 --> 00:48:53.700 They're all the same. They're a porcine raw glandular, a thyroid glandular. 00:48:53.700 --> 00:48:57.700 So it's Armor Throid, Nature Throid, or West Throid. 00:48:57.700 --> 00:48:58.700 Thank you. 00:48:58.700 --> 00:48:59.700 You're very welcome. 00:48:59.700 --> 00:49:00.700 Okay. Bye-bye. 00:49:00.700 --> 00:49:01.700 Okay. Have a good night. 00:49:01.700 --> 00:49:03.700 Okay. There's another caller. 00:49:03.700 --> 00:49:04.700 Hello. 00:49:04.700 --> 00:49:05.700 Hi. You're on the air. 00:49:05.700 --> 00:49:08.700 I have a question concerning soy products. 00:49:08.700 --> 00:49:12.700 What do you think of tempeh, fermented soy product? 00:49:12.700 --> 00:49:16.700 Do you think it's as harmful as other soy products? 00:49:16.700 --> 00:49:17.700 I don't think it's as harmful. 00:49:17.700 --> 00:49:22.700 I think if grains and beans were eaten in a little bit more traditional way, they're a little bit better. 00:49:22.700 --> 00:49:26.700 But for someone who is hypothyroid or has some hypothyroid symptoms, 00:49:26.700 --> 00:49:31.700 my advice is do not eat anything that could possibly stress your thyroid. 00:49:31.700 --> 00:49:40.700 Okay. And also I'd like to make a comment that I started eating coconut oil probably about three or four years ago, 00:49:40.700 --> 00:49:43.700 and I lost about 20 pounds after I started eating it. 00:49:43.700 --> 00:49:47.700 So it's very good for weight loss. 00:49:47.700 --> 00:49:48.700 Absolutely. 00:49:48.700 --> 00:49:49.700 It's very good for weight loss. 00:49:49.700 --> 00:49:51.700 It's what they call a thermogenic product. 00:49:51.700 --> 00:49:56.700 So it increases your body's metabolism and your oxygen consumption. 00:49:56.700 --> 00:50:02.700 It improves the function of your thyroid, and your thyroid governs every metabolic process in your body. 00:50:02.700 --> 00:50:07.700 So that involves heat production, muscle activity, sympathetic drive. 00:50:07.700 --> 00:50:09.700 So, yeah, that's what we said in the beginning. 00:50:09.700 --> 00:50:16.700 The whole coconut thing is essentially a very good saturated fat that supports your thyroid, feeds it, 00:50:16.700 --> 00:50:19.700 and allows you to lose fat while eating fat. 00:50:19.700 --> 00:50:23.700 And in the 1940s when they were experimenting with animals, they found they lost weight. 00:50:23.700 --> 00:50:26.700 I don't know if you heard that part earlier in the show. 00:50:26.700 --> 00:50:28.700 I did. That's just about when I turned it on. 00:50:28.700 --> 00:50:38.700 But the thing is, is that they didn't want -- the American Soy Association at that time did not want all these imported coconut oils to come in. 00:50:38.700 --> 00:50:40.700 They wanted to sell their soy and corn oil. 00:50:40.700 --> 00:50:46.700 And so they boycotted all these coconut oils, and that's why we haven't until just recently, say in the last 10 years, 00:50:46.700 --> 00:50:50.700 heard all this research that was done in the 1940s. 00:50:50.700 --> 00:50:52.700 For crying out loud, it's 2008. 00:50:52.700 --> 00:50:53.700 Why haven't we heard this? 00:50:53.700 --> 00:50:56.700 Why is it only just coming out in the past five to 10 years? 00:50:56.700 --> 00:51:03.700 Well, all I know is I lost weight on it, and I'm sure others could too, and it also tastes good and I like it. 00:51:03.700 --> 00:51:06.700 So that's all I have, and thanks a lot for the show. 00:51:06.700 --> 00:51:07.700 Thank you for your call. 00:51:07.700 --> 00:51:08.700 Thank you for your call. 00:51:08.700 --> 00:51:10.700 Okay, so do you want to carry on? 00:51:10.700 --> 00:51:11.700 Yeah. 00:51:11.700 --> 00:51:13.700 Well, we have a couple more minutes here. 00:51:13.700 --> 00:51:14.700 I have a couple more questions. 00:51:14.700 --> 00:51:15.700 Yeah, we've got six minutes. 00:51:15.700 --> 00:51:23.700 So off today, it is nearly impossible to eat at restaurants or buy packaged foods that don't have soy oil in the ingredients, 00:51:23.700 --> 00:51:26.700 often labels simply state vegetable oil. 00:51:26.700 --> 00:51:34.700 Dr. Ray Peat, Ph.D., physiologist who has worked with progesterone and related hormones since 1968, 00:51:34.700 --> 00:51:42.700 I think he's in his 70s now, says that the sudden surge of polyunsaturated oils into the food chain post-World War II 00:51:42.700 --> 00:51:45.700 has caused many changes in hormones. 00:51:45.700 --> 00:51:55.700 He writes, "The polyunsaturated oils' best understood effect is the interference with the function of the thyroid gland. 00:51:55.700 --> 00:52:01.700 Unsaturated oils block thyroid hormone secretion, its movement in the circulatory system, 00:52:01.700 --> 00:52:04.700 and the response of tissue to the hormone. 00:52:04.700 --> 00:52:10.700 When the thyroid hormone is deficient, the body is generally exposed to increased levels of estrogen." 00:52:10.700 --> 00:52:16.700 And another small point I want to make is sometimes people might eat a perfect thyroid-promoting diet, 00:52:16.700 --> 00:52:23.700 which is very rare because there's so much corn and soy in our diet and in our meat that we eat or our vegetables, 00:52:23.700 --> 00:52:34.700 but there's environmental toxins Andrew mentioned earlier, high levels of mercury suppress thyroid, pesticides, herbicides, 00:52:34.700 --> 00:52:41.700 fungicides, a lot of these chemicals interfere with estrogen and further suppress the thyroid. 00:52:41.700 --> 00:52:47.700 "The thyroid hormone is essential for making the protective hormones progesterone and pregnenolone, 00:52:47.700 --> 00:52:51.700 so these hormones are lowered when anything interferes with the function of the thyroid. 00:52:51.700 --> 00:52:55.700 The thyroid hormone is required for using and eliminating cholesterol, 00:52:55.700 --> 00:53:03.700 so cholesterol is likely to be excessively raised by anything which blocks the thyroid function." 00:53:03.700 --> 00:53:08.700 There is a growing body of research concerning soy's detrimental effect on the thyroid gland. 00:53:08.700 --> 00:53:14.700 Much of this research centers on the phytoestrogens, the phyto means plant, that are found in soy. 00:53:14.700 --> 00:53:21.700 In the 1960s, when soy was introduced into infant formulas, it was shown that soy was goitrogenic, caused goiters, 00:53:21.700 --> 00:53:23.700 and the babies started developing goiters. 00:53:23.700 --> 00:53:27.700 When iodine was supplemented, the incidence of goiter dramatically reduced. 00:53:27.700 --> 00:53:37.700 However, a retrospective epidemiological study by Fort et al. showed that teenage children with a diagnosis of autoimmune thyroid disease 00:53:37.700 --> 00:53:45.700 were significantly more likely to have received soy formula as infants, 18 out of 59 children, 31%, 00:53:45.700 --> 00:53:52.700 when compared to their healthy siblings, which was only at 9 out of 76, 12%, 00:53:52.700 --> 00:53:56.700 or control group, which was 7 out of 54, 13%. 00:53:56.700 --> 00:54:03.700 So it was 31% of the children who developed, teenage children who developed autoimmune thyroid disease, 00:54:03.700 --> 00:54:05.700 had received soy formula as an infant. 00:54:05.700 --> 00:54:13.700 When healthy individuals without any previous thyroid disease were fed 30 grams of pickled soybeans per day for one month, 00:54:13.700 --> 00:54:18.700 Ishizuki et al. reported goiter and elevated individual thyroid-simulating hormone levels, 00:54:18.700 --> 00:54:24.700 although still within the normal range in 37 healthy iodine-sufficient adults. 00:54:24.700 --> 00:54:30.700 One month after stopping soybean consumption, individual TSH values decreased to the original levels, 00:54:30.700 --> 00:54:32.700 and goiters were reduced in size. 00:54:32.700 --> 00:54:40.700 And as I stated earlier, 11 ounces, which is, you know, a cup and a half of soy milk, is enough to suppress someone's thyroid. 00:54:40.700 --> 00:54:47.700 Traditionally, polyunsaturated oils such as soybean oil have been used for livestock feed because they cause animals to gain weight. 00:54:47.700 --> 00:54:53.700 These oils are made up of what is known as long-chain fatty acids, the kind of fatty acids that promote weight gain. 00:54:53.700 --> 00:55:00.700 In the North Carolina State University's Extension Swine Husbandry, 1998-2000, 00:55:00.700 --> 00:55:09.700 departmental report, for example, was a study entitled "Effect of Dietary Fat Source, Level and Feeding Interval on Pork Fatty Acid Composition." 00:55:09.700 --> 00:55:15.700 Ironically, since the market in its low-fat dogma of recent years is demanding leaner meats, 00:55:15.700 --> 00:55:24.700 this study showed that one could produce leaner meat and reduce the weight on pigs by reducing their intake of soy oil 00:55:24.700 --> 00:55:28.700 and instead substituting it with saturated animal fat. 00:55:28.700 --> 00:55:34.700 According to Dr. Ray Peat, the fattening effect of these polyunsaturated oils, primarily soy and corn, 00:55:34.700 --> 00:55:42.700 is due to the presence of the "essential fatty acids, linoleic and linoleic, long-chain fatty acids which have an antithyroid effect." 00:55:42.700 --> 00:55:50.700 Dr. Peat says, "Linoleic and linoleic acids, the essential fatty acids, and other polyunsaturated fatty acids, 00:55:50.700 --> 00:55:54.700 which are now fed to pigs to fatten them in the form of corn and soybeans, 00:55:54.700 --> 00:55:59.700 cause the animal's fat to be chemically equivalent to the vegetable oil. 00:55:59.700 --> 00:56:07.700 In the late 1940s, chemical toxins were used to suppress the thyroid function of pigs to make them get fatter while consuming less food. 00:56:07.700 --> 00:56:13.700 When that was found to be carcinogenic, it was then found that corn and soybeans had the same antithyroid effect, 00:56:13.700 --> 00:56:16.700 causing the animals to be fattened at low cost. 00:56:16.700 --> 00:56:23.700 The animal's fat becomes chemically similar to the fats in their food, causing it to be equally toxic and equally fattening." 00:56:23.700 --> 00:56:32.700 So there you go. Well, it's 7.58, so we're going to begin to wrap it up now, but I think next month we will continue. 00:56:32.700 --> 00:56:42.700 Although there's not too much left, I think there's certainly more information that we can find to help make people aware of the changes that are in the winds. 00:56:42.700 --> 00:56:47.700 So you've been listening to Ask Your Herb Doctor on KMUD 91.1. 00:56:47.700 --> 00:56:49.700 My name's Andrew Murray. 00:56:49.700 --> 00:56:52.700 My name's Sarah Johanneson Murray. Thank you for listening. 00:56:52.700 --> 00:56:59.700 Until the same time, the third Friday from 7 to 8 p.m. in September, we'll see you then. Take care. 00:56:59.700 --> 00:57:00.700 Good night.