WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.000 This free program is paid for by the listeners of Redwood Community Radio. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:09.000 If you're not already a member, please think of joining us. Thank you. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:16.000 This free program is paid for by the listeners of Redwood Community Radio. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.000 If you're not already a member, please think of joining us. Thank you. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:27.000 This free program is paid for by the listeners of Redwood Community Radio. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:31.000 If you're not already a member, please think of joining us. Thank you. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:37.000 This free program is paid for by the listeners of Redwood Community Radio. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:41.000 If you're not already a member, please think of joining us. Thank you. 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:48.000 This free program is paid for by the listeners of Redwood Community Radio. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.000 If you're not already a member, please think of joining us. Thank you. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:57.000 [Music] 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.000 [Music] 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:04.000 [Music] 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:16.000 [Music] 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:29.000 [Music] 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:32.000 [Music] 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:49.000 [Music] 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.000 [Music] 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:59.000 [Music] 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:05.000 [Music] 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:12.000 [Music] 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.000 Well, welcome to this month's Ask Your Herb Doctor. My name is Andrew Murray. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.000 My name is Sarah Johannison Murray. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.000 For those of you who perhaps have never listened to our shows, 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000 which run every third Friday of the month from 7 till 8pm, 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000 we're both licensed medical herbalists who trained in England 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.000 and graduated there with a degree in herbal medicine. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:38.000 We run a clinic in Garboville where we consult with clients about a wide range of conditions 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.000 and we recommend herbal medicine and dietary advice. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:46.000 This month we wanted to continue exploring the positive role that sugar has to play in the diet 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.000 and why good sugars are essential for good health. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:54.000 It seems that many things we're told are bad for us are actually beneficial 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.000 and we need to see the facts and the research that's out there. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:04.000 So with an ever increasing worldwide prevalence of so-called diagnosed diabetes, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.000 what is it about sugar that we can defend? 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.000 We're excited to have Dr. Ray Peat with us again this month 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.000 and we'll be hearing from him on scientific research based facts. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:20.000 So you're listening to Ask Your Herb Doctor on KMUD Garboville 91.1 FM 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:25.000 and from 7.30 till the end of the show at 8 o'clock you're invited to call in with any questions 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:31.000 either related or unrelated to this month's topic of dietary sugars and the protection they offer. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.000 The number here if you live in the area is 923 3911 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:41.000 or if you live outside the area the toll free number is 1-800-KMUD-RAD. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.000 So Dr. Peat, thank you for joining us again. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.000 Hi. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:51.000 Okay, well as always I think there's new listeners, people that perhaps have never heard you speak 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:57.000 so would you please just introduce yourself and your academic/professional background. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:05.000 Well, I've been writing a newsletter on health issues for about 30 years 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:14.000 and I started that about 8 years after finishing my PhD research at the University of Oregon. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:23.000 Part of the reason for starting my own newsletter was seeing that the journals, 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:29.000 science journals are very doctrinaire and influenced by industry. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:42.000 So since doing my study at the University of Oregon I've been reading lots and experimenting some on my own. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.000 Okay, thank you. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:51.000 I know that you've published many articles and your specialisms are hormones, 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:54.000 pregnenolone, estrogen, protective hormones, 00:04:54.000 --> 00:05:01.000 the things that would normally confer some protection to people from aging and free radical damage etc. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:08.000 But your other specialties are thyroid and polyunsaturated fats and I know you've done a lot of research on that. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.000 The sugar issue, again I know you joined us last month 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:21.000 and we got some of the way through expanding on why sugars are good for you 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:28.000 because as you mentioned earlier in your introduction the common doctrination is that sugars are bad for you 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:34.000 just like salt is bad for you, just like saturated fats are bad for you and that is the doctrine. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:40.000 It seems that I'm finding out as time goes by for me because I'm not that old 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.000 that actually a lot of the things that I was taught when I studied at university are actually not true. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:50.000 Unfortunately some of the basic facts that underlie the physiology were also in error 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.000 and that's why I've had to kind of retrain my brain to think anew. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:06:00.000 So for those people that are listening now and some of those people will be diagnosed as diabetic, 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:06.000 some of those people will be diagnosed as hypothyroid or hyperthyroid. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:16.000 So for those people that are listening in terms of sugar and the way it's been bad pressed in the last 20 years or so 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.000 and they would have us eat less sugar. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.000 Well that actually started about 200 years ago. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:26.000 Okay, good. Alright, well that's a good start. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:32.000 So what's the history behind why we started being told that sugar was bad for us 200 years ago? 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:40.000 At that time they had defined diabetes as the sugar disease because they discovered glucose in urine 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:49.000 and the mechanically thinking doctors said if you don't put glucose in it can't come out. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:56.000 But in fact the glucose was being produced by dissolving the protein in the person's body 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:04.000 and it turned out that the worst thing you can do is to starve them for sugar 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.000 because that accelerates the breakdown of both protein and fat. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:18.000 And two doctors at least in the 19th century went against that conventional opinion 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:27.000 and started giving their patients the amount of sugar extra in their diet that they were losing in the urine 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.000 figuring that they would die more slowly from diabetes. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:38.000 And they found that they actually recovered very quickly 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:50.000 and that curative effect of large amounts of sugar have been fairly recently demonstrated 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:58.000 in animal experiments and in vitro experiments in which sugar stimulates the regeneration 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:02.000 of pancreatic insulin producing cells. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Okay, so a basic question then, do humans need sugar? 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:15.000 And yeah, monkeys for example who normally live on fruit 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:23.000 they found that when fruit is scarce they develop very high cortisol levels 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:34.000 and that is something that pretty much happens in any animal that habitually has a mixed diet containing carbohydrates. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:43.000 Some animals like reptiles can get along nicely on a protein diet 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:49.000 and we can turn protein into sugar too, sugar and fat. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:58.000 But it happens that one of the effects of the sugar is to inhibit the cortisol 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:07.000 which turns protein into sugar so we spare protein and don't have to eat so much of it 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:11.000 and that has some beneficial effects. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:19.000 The cortisol has many side effects other than breaking down the tissue proteins 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:24.000 at the same time that it helps to digest protein foods. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:32.000 It changes the whole arrangement of the way that metabolism works 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.000 so it's better if we can minimize cortisol. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:45.000 And the sugars also inhibit the chronic release of free fatty acids from storage 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:52.000 so that our body, our brain in particular and some tissues such as the red blood cells 00:09:52.000 --> 00:10:01.000 strongly prefer sugars over fats and function better. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:07.000 And when we get enough sugar we inhibit the release of fats from storage 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:13.000 and allow these tissues to have all the sugar they need. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.000 So it's basically a backup mechanism. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.000 When you don't eat sugar your body will get the sugar from your protein, 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.000 your muscles, your bones, your brain. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:32.000 Well, not only your-- the cortisol is stimulated, can dissolve various organs 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:35.000 that will then release different free fatty acids 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:40.000 and/or proteins that the body will convert into sugar. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.000 So that's a less preferable backup mechanism. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.000 Is that what you're trying to describe, Dr. Peat? 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:59.000 Yeah, and the famous Arctic explorer-- I forget his name-- Bill Yelmer something-- 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:05.000 reported that people that he knew their ages approximately 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:12.000 seemed to be many years older by appearance than they really were. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:17.000 And he didn't exactly know what the cause of that was, 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:23.000 but they were eating a mostly fat and meat diet. 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:33.000 And when people try to lose weight by fasting, what happens is for a day or so 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:40.000 their cortisol is still high and their metabolic rate is fairly high. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:46.000 And so what they're living on temporarily is a meat diet as they dissolve-- 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:47.000 Stem cells. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:52.000 --their muscles and fat. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.000 The thymus gland is one of the first to be dissolved. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:03.000 And since we would eat ourselves up in just two or three weeks 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.000 if we kept eating at the same rate, 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:14.000 our metabolic rate slows down drastically under the influence of these free amino acids 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.000 liberated from our tissues. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:21.000 And those turn the thyroid hormone off. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:28.000 The falling blood sugar and the rising free amino acids and free fatty acids, 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:34.000 all of these turn our metabolic rate down. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:40.000 And then we can get along on a very low calorie intake, 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:46.000 but it slows down reproductive function, brain function, everything. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:50.000 So basically fasting is the worst thing you can do if you're trying to lose weight. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:53.000 Yeah, or pretty much anything, 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:00.000 because fasting turns off the liver's ability to detoxify things. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:06.000 So you're exposing yourself to increased toxins rather than decreased. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:12.000 The only thing that benefits is the intestine from not putting bad stuff into it. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.000 Right, it gives the intestine a break, 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:20.000 but in the meantime you harm your liver and other organs. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:27.000 Okay, so in terms of sugar as a quantity to consume, 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:34.000 I've heard that you've said I think before 170 to 250 grams of sugar per day. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.000 Is that correct? 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:42.000 Yeah, I think for a person of normal activity and eating mixed foods. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 So let's just discuss some of these sugars 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:50.000 and which ones are good sugars and which ones are bad sugars. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:55.000 Lactose has a lot of special properties, so it's a very good sugar. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:01.000 It's somewhat slowly absorbed, but it stimulates digestion, 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:08.000 so it's something that people often overlook as a sugar. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:16.000 It helps with the calcium metabolism, absorbing the other nutrients in milk. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:24.000 Sucrose consists of one unit of glucose and one of fructose, 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:32.000 and that is fairly quickly broken into the components when we eat it. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:39.000 The glucose stimulates insulin, and when they're eaten together, 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:45.000 fructose, besides not itself stimulating insulin, 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:50.000 it actually slightly inhibits the release of insulin. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:55.000 So if you ate pure glucose, you would get a stronger insulin reaction, 00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:03.000 and in most situations, if you eat slightly faster than you're metabolizing, 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:10.000 a surge of excess glucose is going to turn on your fat metabolism. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:17.000 And so when you take sucrose with a little bit of the fructose component, 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:25.000 it will moderate the secretion of insulin and the production of fat deposed. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:30.000 Okay, because if something stimulates insulin, if a sugar stimulates insulin production, 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:35.000 then your liver is not happy and you store that sugar as fat. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:40.000 So we want to be eating the types of sugars that don't strongly stimulate insulin 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 so we can use the sugar in our liver and stimulate metabolism. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:51.000 And surprisingly, the fructose, besides moderating the production of fat, 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:57.000 which can lead to stress and so on, it does many other things. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:02.000 It raises your temperature by a variety of mechanisms, 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:07.000 which all by itself will increase your metabolic rate, 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:17.000 and it increases your consumption conversion to energy of carbohydrates by about 20%. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:26.000 And it will do that even in a fairly small amount, but with sucrose you have a 50/50 ratio. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:37.000 And it activates several components of the thyroid system better than glucose even. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:43.000 Glucose is pretty essential for keeping the thyroid functioning optimally, 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:50.000 but fructose does some extra things that cause it to raise your temperature 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.000 and metabolic rate more than glucose alone would. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:00.000 So the foods that these sugars are found in are fruits primarily? 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:02.000 Mostly fruits. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:09.000 Mostly fruits, and honey and white sugar also have a little bit of fructose in them as well. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:10.000 Yeah. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:15.000 So then when you're looking at the glycemic index, Dr. Peat, 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:20.000 how would you describe this to people who are familiar diabetics looking at glycemic indexes? 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.000 How would you describe why they should eat fruits and honey 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.000 and stay away from any kind of starchy carbohydrates like -- 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:35.000 30 or 40 years ago there was quite a bit of publishing activity 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:40.000 relating to the anti-diabetes effects of fructose 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:47.000 because exactly of that stimulating effect on the metabolism. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:54.000 But something is happening currently the last three or four years. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Besides forgetting all of that, 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:10.000 they're inventing a lot of new stuff to direct people away from the anti-diabetic effect of fructose. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:18.000 Supposedly some of the motivation of that is the popularity of what they call the high fructose corn syrup 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:21.000 or corn sweeteners. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:29.000 Those are more fattening than sugar, but it isn't because they're actually high in fructose. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:40.000 They have slightly more fructose than glucose, but a group in Los Angeles a few weeks ago 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.000 measured the amounts in some soft drinks 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:53.000 and found that they accurately reported the content of fructose and glucose. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:19:03.000 When they hydrolyzed the material, they found that there was much more carbohydrate in the drink 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:07.000 than just the fructose and glucose. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:17.000 There was about four to five times as much caloric value in some kind of carbohydrate present in the drink 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.000 that was not glucose or fructose. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:30.000 So if you have four or five times more food in your soda pop than you were thinking, 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:36.000 you're going to be more likely to get fat, not because fructose is fattening, 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:44.000 but just because you're getting a huge amount of pretty much the equivalent of eating flour. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:53.000 So a huge amount of starch that strongly stimulates insulin, and insulin stores that starchy sugar as fat. 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:58.000 Whereas if it was actually sucrose from white sugar, 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:04.000 then it would be much easier for your body to store as glycogen in the liver. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:05.000 Yeah. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:10.000 So there's lots of other reasons why I know corn syrup is a little bit of a hot topic right now, 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:20.000 but there's also been reports that high fructose corn syrup is quite high in heavy metals, various heavy metals. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.000 Have you heard any of this research, Dr. Peat? 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.000 Yeah. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:29.000 A few years ago, some samples were analyzed, 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:38.000 and then the government decided to drop it as soon as they saw that they were full of mercury. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:46.000 And then the industry supposedly corrected itself, but the government isn't keeping up on it. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:53.000 Well, I've noticed that a couple of different soda pops now are being advertised that have sugar rather than the corn syrup, 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:58.000 the Pepsi, the Honeydew, and the Mexican Coca-Cola. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:01.000 Coca-Cola needs to make a new Coca-Cola for America. 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:02.000 Yeah. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:11.000 I heard that the Coke company was suing the Mexican branch to make them stop using sugar because so many Americans were importing it. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.000 Sugar's fighting back. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:18.000 And I spoke to the late chemist that tests products in Mexico, 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:24.000 and she said that the Mexican Coca-Cola in Mexico -- now, I don't know if that's the same stuff that gets imported here, 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:31.000 but the Mexican Coca-Cola in Mexico will have sugar sometimes and corn syrup other times. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:40.000 If you're drinking Coca-Cola in Mexico, you're not guaranteed that it is sugar or is made with sugar. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:41.000 Anyhow, so -- 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:48.000 I just wanted to cover very briefly the amount of sugar in grams or in ounces. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.000 We can do that conversion pretty quickly. 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:55.000 It's probably eight ounces of sugar a day. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:56.000 Well, yeah. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:57.000 250 grams. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:02.000 Five to six ounces, isn't that what you would say, Dr. Peat? 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:03.000 Yeah. 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:12.000 Some people can eat a lot more, but your appetite is a fairly good guide. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:24.000 If you are eating more than you're going to need in the long run, once your liver has enough glycogen, it tends to turn off your appetite. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.000 For everything or just sugar? 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:26.000 No, just for sugar. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:27.000 Right. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:35.000 Okay, because I know last month you outlined about eight hours for the glycogen stores in the liver to be depleted, 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:40.000 and that was a fairly rough average that you would get from the stores. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:51.000 So in terms of someone's diet, in order to keep up with their sugar consumption so that the liver is adequately primed with glycogen, 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:57.000 maybe, Sarah, I know because you look at the weights and measures of foods. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:01.000 Well, one glass of orange juice contains 25 grams of sugar. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:05.000 One glass of milk contains 12 grams of sugar. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:13.000 And one teaspoon of sugar only contains four grams of sugar. 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:16.000 One tablespoon of honey contains about 17 grams of sugar. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:25.000 So if you're just looking at sugar, actual sugar, it's easier to get a lot more sugar in fruit than it is actually in sugar, white sugar. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:39.000 And when you're eating fruit, the potassium and other minerals in the fruit really bypass the whole issue of glycemic effect 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:50.000 because the potassium itself has an insulin-like action that helps you turn sugar into glycogen. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:56.000 And if you ate too much, it would also produce fat, 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:12.000 except that the presence of the potassium with your sugar means that it's going to not produce an excess of blood sugar. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:18.000 It's going to keep your blood sugar pretty level compared to eating starches. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.000 Okay. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:27.000 I think the other thing that is a fairly popular misconception, Dr. Peat, is that people, whenever it's brought up, 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:31.000 whether it's people that we're consulting with or just people, you know, friends and whatever, 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:37.000 I think the general argument is that they defend avoiding sugar by saying, 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:41.000 "Well, you know, sugar in the diet will make you fat and it's bad for you. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.000 It'll increase your weight." 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:47.000 But I think probably what's important to bring across from what you said is that 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:56.000 the sugar will increase your metabolic rate and that in its own right will speed your metabolism up. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:05.000 Yeah, a 20% increase in your metabolic rate makes a tremendous difference in how much you can eat without getting fat. 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:06.000 Right. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:10.000 And again, to stress the point that sugar is important so that you can-- 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:15.000 well, the right sugars are ones we've outlined, especially fructose, sucrose, and to some extent glucose then. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:23.000 It's important that those sugars be consumed rather than the sugars that are essentially in the most American diets 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:29.000 found in the starchy carbohydrates, the pastas, the pastries, the-- you know, all those kind of things, 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.000 the high fructose corn syrup, that it's important to get the right kind of sugars 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:37.000 so that your liver has got an adequate store of glycogen and that your sugar consumption 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:44.000 doesn't actually turn on your fat storage mechanism by stimulating cortisol like the carbohydrates do. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:53.000 One of the things that fructose does is to protect against the fat deposition effect of insulin. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:03.000 It not only restricts the secretion of insulin itself, but it sort of makes insulin less harmful 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:12.000 by blocking in some way its tendency to produce obesity. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:25.000 There's a publication that has been cited frequently to say that fructose is dangerous because it has an anti-insulin effect. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:30.000 That was the conclusion of this group of five researchers. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:37.000 They gave a five-week diet only to rats, and they said at the end of the five weeks, 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:44.000 that a gigantic amount of fructose were insulin resistant. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:56.000 When given glucose, they maintained a higher level of both glucose and insulin in their blood. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:03.000 And the implication was, "See, in just five weeks, we have made these animals diabetic." 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:15.000 But the thing that doesn't get often cited is that those animals during five weeks gained tremendously different amounts of weight. 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:20.000 And if you had continued that same diet for the rest of the year, 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:30.000 the ones eating the starch-based diet would have weighed twice as much as the ones eating the sucrose diet. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:38.000 Okay. All right. For those people that are listening, you're listening to Ask Your Herb doctor on KMUD, Garboville, 91.1 FM, 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:44.000 from 7.30 until the end of the show, you're invited to call in with any questions either related or unrelated to this month's 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:51.000 continuing topic of dietary sugars and the protection and benefits that good dietary sugars offer you. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.000 Or you can ask other questions. 00:27:53.000 --> 00:28:04.000 I'm very pleased to have Dr. Ray Peat, a renowned expert in many ways on the subject of saturated versus polyunsaturated oils, 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:11.000 the hormones, especially the longevity hormones, and many, many other topics. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:18.000 So just to name a few, we're talking about sugars now, but obviously an expert in thyroid and other metabolic situations. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:24.000 So from 7.30 on, people are encouraged to call in with any questions, take advantage of his expert knowledge. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:32.000 It's KMUD Rad for those familiar with the popular number or the regular numbers, 923-3911. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.000 That's 1-800-KMUD-RAD. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:41.000 And I know we had a lot of callers last month that didn't get a chance to have their calls answered. 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:49.000 So if you see people that are listening tonight, please call in starting from 7.30. 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:57.000 Okay. So interesting fact, and it's something that I think has been brought out in one of your papers. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:03.000 Why do diabetic women have smarter, larger babies? 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:14.000 I don't know whether last time I mentioned the Zamenhof's experiments in eggs developing chicks. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.000 I don't think so. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:27.000 He noticed that their brains stopped growing before they were ready to hatch two or three days, 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:39.000 and he saw that the glucose that was in the egg originally was depleted before the whole body of the chick had finished maturing. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:45.000 And he saw that the brain stopped just at the time that the glucose was depleted, 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:58.000 and he knew from studies on mammals in the 1950s and '60s that if you give a pregnant animal either estrogen or insulin, 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:08.000 which will lower the supply of glucose, that their brain stops growing as long as the glucose is below a certain limit. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:19.000 So he made a little chip in the egg shell and injected some glucose right at the stage where the brain had stopped growing 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:23.000 and found that that caused the brain to keep growing, 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:30.000 and the chicken hatched with a brain bigger than chickens had ever normally had. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.000 Okay. Smart chickens. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:43.000 Yeah, and that's a general thing that in humans they see that about at six months gestation, 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:50.000 the brain has many more cells than it will have at birth. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:58.000 So during that from six to nine months, cells are dying rather than being created, 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:07.000 and diabetic women are able to, so-called diabetic, are able to deliver more glucose during that time 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:12.000 and prevent the death of this huge number of brain cells. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:20.000 And how do you feel when they give women who have supposedly gestational diabetes 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.000 and they want them to restrict their sugars? 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:36.000 Well, I met some women, one who had, I think he was four or five years old at the time, 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:42.000 but her doctor had told her to restrict her sugar when she was pregnant again. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:47.000 And I asked about the development of the older boy, 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:56.000 and she said that he had taught himself to read when he was, I think, two years old, 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:01.000 and that at the age of four he was wearing an adult-sized hat 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:07.000 and was a very well-behaved and precocious kid. 00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:17.000 I had heard many stories like that from old obstetricians associated with the so-called diabetes, 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:24.000 but that caused me to look up where the idea of gestational diabetes came from. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:38.000 And it was in the '60s they were promoting the idea of a glucose tolerance test to diagnose diabetes very early. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:47.000 And it was out of those situations, expanding the definition of diabetes, 00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:55.000 that they started noticing that most pregnant women, healthy pregnant women, 00:32:55.000 --> 00:33:06.000 tend to have about 130 blood glucose, quite a bit above the non-pregnant normal. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:20.000 And that simply was redefined as something that is off the scale of normal, un-pregnant people, 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:25.000 and so they started thinking of pregnancy in terms of diabetes. 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:28.000 But that's just the body's natural response when you're pregnant, 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:31.000 is to raise the sugar so the baby has more sugar? 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:37.000 Yeah, one of the things that Zamenhof did besides adding glucose to the eggs, 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:42.000 or glycine was another thing, it turns into glucose, 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:48.000 he added progesterone and found that that also keeps the brain growing 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:57.000 and it helps to stabilize, make more efficient use of glucose. 00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:03.000 And the glucose and progesterone work together. 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:10.000 Women with low progesterone tend to have unstable low blood sugar 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:18.000 and many more problems all through the pregnancy, 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:24.000 mostly related to ups and downs of blood sugar. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:26.000 OK, we've actually got a caller on the line, Dr. Peter. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:32.000 Sorry to cut you short, we'll get back to Zamenhof and what you were talking about after you take this call. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:33.000 Are you on the air? 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:34.000 Hello? 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:35.000 Hi, you're on the air. 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:38.000 Oh, good. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:46.000 This is not a question about my health, because I'm kind of an organic fruit and vegetable gardener, great. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:50.000 But I've got a lady friend who is overweight. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:55.000 And I knew her when she wasn't overweight, 00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:03.000 and I suspect that she needs to kick up her thyroid a bit, 00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:11.000 to kick up her metabolism so that she can burn that fat. 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:21.000 And you're saying, the doctor, the guest, is saying, certain sugars would do that? 00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:22.000 She's pretty cool. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:31.000 She knows to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and stay away from too much carbohydrates and all that. 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:32.000 I must have missed something. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:34.000 I came in late. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:47.000 What's the relationship between the sugars and the thyroid being stimulated to kick up the metabolism? 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:48.000 I'll take the answer off the air. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:51.000 I just don't quite understand that relationship. 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:52.000 Okay, thank you. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:54.000 Dr. Peat, would you like to answer that question? 00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:03.000 If your diet isn't providing either glucose or the mixture of glucose and fructose, 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:11.000 your liver can't activate the thyroid hormone as fully. 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:22.000 If you're living on a high-protein diet and fat, your liver will slow your whole body metabolism down. 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:28.000 That's just as effective as if your thyroid gland had shut down. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:33.000 You're saying this because the liver converts T4, which is the inactive hormone, into T3. 00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:41.000 Yes, the liver makes about 60 or 70 percent of the active hormone. 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:48.000 Once your liver slows down, if you try to boost it just with the thyroxine, T4, 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:54.000 that will tend to turn your own thyroid hormone production down. 00:36:54.000 --> 00:37:01.000 So if you're going to supplement, it has to be a balanced T3 and T4, 00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:11.000 but often just by avoiding the things that inhibit the conversion of thyroxine to the active form, 00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:20.000 avoiding too much of the muscle meat, avoiding the polyunsaturated fats, 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:28.000 and getting enough of the pro-thyroid nutrients and chemicals. 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:41.000 Sucrose and lactose are both effective at maintaining your production of thyroid active hormone. 00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:46.000 So to summarize that, that would be limiting the amount of muscle meat, 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:52.000 means the steaks and burger and those types of meat. 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:56.000 Yes, and that includes fish too. 00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:01.000 And fish and chicken, limiting those to a small portion per day. 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:06.000 What would you recommend for an overweight person? 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:09.000 How much meat a day or a week should they eat? 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:15.000 If a person really wants to concentrate on losing weight, using milk as their main protein. 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:20.000 Milk and gelatin are the most favorable for weight loss, 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:27.000 partly because the milk comes with such a generous supply of calcium, 00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:33.000 and calcium powerfully stimulates the metabolic rate. 00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:38.000 And having enough salt in your food is another thing. 00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:43.000 The salt and the calcium interact to stimulate your metabolic rate. 00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:55.000 The sugar in itself, the fructose in particular, activates the whole range of cells independently even, 00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.000 but it activates the production of the active thyroid hormone. 00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:03.000 And apart from that, these things activate cells. 00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:06.000 Even if you're deficient in thyroid hormone, 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:15.000 you can keep the activity going to a great extent with sucrose, salt, and calcium. 00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:18.000 So that's white sugar, salt, and calcium. 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:24.000 And also, the polyunsaturates, just in case there are some listeners that haven't heard our shows 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:28.000 and Dr. Peat's discussion on polyunsaturated fatty acids. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:33.000 Those are powerfully thyroid toxic oils, and they are found practically everywhere. 00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:43.000 They're corn oil, soy oil, canola, safflower, sunflower, hemp, flax seed, fish oil, cotton seed-- 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:44.000 Rape seed. 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:46.000 Rape seed. Well, that's British, Charlie. 00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:48.000 It's canola in this country. 00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:53.000 All those different vegetable liquid oils-- 00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:54.000 Anyway. 00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:56.000 No, canola is not corn oil. 00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:01.000 All those liquid vegetable oils are very, very powerfully thyroid toxic, 00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:04.000 and they block the thyroid hormone in many different locations. 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:06.000 Dr. Peat, weren't you talking about a French study? 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:13.000 Didn't you mention to me a French study that showed that these liquid vegetable oils block your thyroid hormone 00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:15.000 in like five different places? 00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:23.000 Yeah, that was a whole series of studies that showed that they inhibit the secretion from the gland 00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:27.000 by blocking the digestive proteolytic enzymes, 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:36.000 and they block the transport in the bloodstream and several different places in the cells. 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:49.000 One of the protein or enzymes that binds and reacts to the thyroid hormone happens to be a key enzyme 00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:52.000 in the response to fructose. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:55.000 It's activated both by thyroid and fructose. 00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:06.000 And the key respiratory enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, is activated both by thyroid and fructose. 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:16.000 And the polyunsaturated fats block these intracellular places as well as the transport and production. 00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:23.000 So for your friend, for the last caller, for your friend, just to summarize, 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:28.000 avoiding the polyunsaturated fats and replacing those with coconut butter 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:34.000 and a little bit of olive oil is more fattening than butter and coconut oil, 00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:40.000 but coconut oil specifically is going to be helping your friend with weight loss, 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:48.000 along with lots of fruits, lots of milk, and some cheese for protein, and a little bit of muscle meat. 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:53.000 Do you have any other suggestions for the caller, Dr. Peat? 00:41:53.000 --> 00:42:05.000 Keeping the intestine happy, not eating too many raw, indigestible foods. 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:14.000 If you have the wrong bacteria, even supposedly good fiber like grain fiber bran, 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:24.000 that can support the production of toxic chemicals in your intestine under the action of bacteria. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:28.000 Okay. All right. Well, we do have another caller on the line, Dr. Peat. 00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:30.000 So, caller, you're on the air. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:33.000 Yes. Thanks for the show. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:39.000 I have a friend who swears by a diabetes cure of sorts. 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:51.000 He doesn't call it a complete cure, but it's 400 international units of vitamin E and 1200 milligrams of lecithin. 00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:52.000 Hello? 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:54.000 Hi. You're on the air. 00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:56.000 Did you get my question? 00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:57.000 Yes. 00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:01.000 Okay. I'll listen off the air, and I wonder what comment you'd have on that. Thank you. 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:04.000 Okay. Thank you. 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:09.000 Lecithin generally is made from soybeans. 00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:17.000 It could be extracted from eggs, and that would affect the composition if the eggs ate good food. 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:30.000 But generally, lecithin is essentially the same as the polyunsaturated fats in corn oil or safflower oil. 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:43.000 And so a gram or so isn't going to make a big difference, but it does have a slightly toxic effect. 00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:48.000 So I don't think it's safe. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:53.000 It's not very dangerous, but it's not the safest way to approach diabetes. 00:43:53.000 --> 00:43:58.000 Okay. All right. Well, we've got another caller on the air, so let's take the next caller. 00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:00.000 You're on the air. 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:01.000 Good evening. 00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:02.000 Hi. 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:12.000 Along with your polyunsaturated list, you mentioned butter. Could ghee be included as well? 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:22.000 Actually, ghee and butter are saturated fats, so they are not thyroid toxic, and they are very liver supportive, 00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:32.000 and they would not be amongst that list of corn, canola, soy, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower. 00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:39.000 In fact, these saturated fats, they're being researched as cures for liver disease 00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:47.000 because they're so protective to cells that are under attack from the polyunsaturated fats. 00:44:47.000 --> 00:45:00.000 Alcoholic liver disease is being treated with the highly saturated fats such as butter and waxes from palm trees and cane and so on. 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:06.000 Yeah. Didn't you tell me about a study that's being done in India right now for alcoholic hepatitis? 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:14.000 Well, I think Northwestern University is the last I heard about it, but it started in India, 00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:23.000 and it's a man named Nanji who I think is from India who is doing the most research. 00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:38.000 But there have been studies in the U.S. earlier showing that fructose protects various organs against alcohol 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:44.000 in pretty much the same way that it protects against diabetes. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:58.000 They've found that you can stimulate the removal of a toxic amount of ethyl alcohol from the body by giving a person some fructose. 00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:03.000 So if someone's going to drink, then they want to have a vodka and orange juice, right? 00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:13.000 Yeah. The fructose actually detoxifies the alcohol better than ordinary glucose. 00:46:13.000 --> 00:46:18.000 We've actually got two more callers on the line, Dr. Peat, so perhaps we'll take the next caller. 00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:30.000 Thank you. My name is Mike, and I'm interested in finding out about dairy, and Dr. Peat was talking about sugar and proteins. 00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.000 And he mentioned different types of proteins. 00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:50.000 And my question is, A, I've heard or did some reading that fertilized eggs are supposed to be better for you than non-fertilized eggs. 00:46:50.000 --> 00:47:03.000 And I'd like to get anybody's opinion there, Dr. Peat included, or Andrew or the other person. 00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:04.000 Sarah. 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:07.000 And I'll take my answer off the air. Thank you. 00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:09.000 Okay. Thank you. Cool. Dr. Peat, do you have any -- 00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:12.000 Yeah, I think there actually could be a difference, 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:24.000 because when chickens are kept in tiny boxes where the eggs won't get fertilized, they're under extreme stress. 00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:29.000 And the stress is undoubtedly reflected in the egg. 00:47:29.000 --> 00:47:40.000 And so if they have the freedom of movement that would be necessary for fertilization, I think the eggs are going to be healthier. 00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:42.000 Yeah. Okay. Stands to reason. 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.000 Yes, that does. That makes sense. 00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:48.000 Okay, good. We've got another caller on the line, so let's take this other caller. 00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:49.000 Yes, hello? 00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:50.000 Hi, you're on the air. 00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:56.000 Yeah, I want to ask -- this is -- okay, about cholesterol. 00:47:56.000 --> 00:48:04.000 Now, I know Lipitor is like really being pushed around quite a bit, 00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:13.000 and I've heard that it's like not good for your liver, and it seems like doctors are crazy to put you on Lipitor if your cholesterol is too high. 00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:19.000 And my daughter recently was told by her doctor that her doctor is not happy with her cholesterol level. 00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:25.000 She's tried to lower it with diet, and it's not like super high, but her doctor thinks it's too high, 00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:30.000 and says if it isn't lower in six months, I'm going to put you on Lipitor. 00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.000 And I really have my trepidations about this Lipitor, 00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:38.000 and also I've heard some controversial things about cholesterol anyway, 00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:45.000 that maybe, you know, just the level of cholesterol is not necessarily related to, you know, 00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:50.000 you're going to get heart disease because your cholesterol is a little high necessarily. 00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:55.000 So I'd like to know what you think, you know, about the cholesterol issue in itself 00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.000 and how much it really does relate to heart disease, and what do you think about Lipitor? 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:06.000 Is it dangerous to take, or, you know, do you think people should run out and take this medicine to lower their cholesterol 00:49:06.000 --> 00:49:08.000 so they won't get a heart attack? 00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:11.000 Can I just ask you what your daughter's cholesterol was? 00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:13.000 I can't remember exactly. 00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:16.000 How old is your daughter? 00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:18.000 She's about 38. 00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:20.000 Okay. 00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:32.000 There have been several studies showing that lowering cholesterol by any drug means has pretty serious side effects. 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:33.000 Why is that? 00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:46.000 That's because cholesterol is, next to glucose, it's probably our single most important protective all-purpose molecule. 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:55.000 The reason it rises during stress in a fairly healthy person is that it's our defensive molecule, 00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:01.000 and it's the precursor to the antistress hormones. 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:09.000 It's used massively in making the steroids such as pregnenolone, DHEA, and progesterone. 00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:16.000 And if you artificially lower the supply of cholesterol in the blood, 00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:23.000 you're going to just proportionally push down the amount of progesterone you can make, 00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:30.000 and that seems to be why it causes so many disastrous effects, 00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:39.000 increasing the general mortality in people who are using drugs to push down the cholesterol. 00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:43.000 Can you tell me what some of these bad effects are of Lipitor? 00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:50.000 That particular drug, I don't know, but muscle -- 00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:53.000 It's probably the most popular one for lowering cholesterol. 00:50:53.000 --> 00:51:02.000 Well, one of the things that has turned up a lot in recent years is breakdown of muscle, skeletal muscle, 00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:13.000 first pains and then sometimes seepage of enzymes and myoglobin into the blood, damaging the kidneys. 00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:16.000 Well, the Lipitor is a statin drug, I believe. 00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:19.000 So aren't statins really hard on your liver, Dr. Peat? 00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:26.000 Yeah, and it's through that effect, I think, that they affect the muscles. 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:32.000 The muscles are destabilized if they aren't getting enough cholesterol. 00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:40.000 All of your organs, including the brain, suffer when your liver isn't supplying enough cholesterol, 00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:43.000 even though other cells can make it. 00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:47.000 Why are they so upset about your cholesterol being a little on the high side? 00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:52.000 I'm not talking about really super high, but above the level it's supposed to be healthy. 00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:54.000 Why are they so concerned about that? 00:51:54.000 --> 00:51:58.000 Is it that's going to kill you when it sounds like the medicine is worse for you? 00:51:58.000 --> 00:52:06.000 Yeah, there was a study a few years ago of older people in nursing homes, for example, 00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:17.000 looking at their cholesterol as they aged and seeing what the life expectancy was in relation to cholesterol. 00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:28.000 And the longest-lived people, I think, were up around 280 milligrams of cholesterol. 00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:36.000 So if it's not above 300 or so, then it's probably safer to have a little high cholesterol 00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:41.000 than to take these medicines that would compromise your liver, kidneys, and muscles. 00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:48.000 Yeah, a Framingham study about 20 years ago saw that after the age of 50, 00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:56.000 people who have below 200 cholesterol are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. 00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:59.000 It's a very protective substance. 00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:05.000 So it protects a lot of things, but why do they think it's so bad, 00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:07.000 that it's going to give you a heart attack? 00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:10.000 There are some good articles. 00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:12.000 Chris Masterjohn has one. 00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:14.000 I think I have one on my website. 00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:16.000 Well, I don't have a computer. 00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:18.000 I don't do the Internet things. 00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:20.000 If you could just quickly say something about it. 00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:27.000 It was basically developed as a way to sell drugs and products, 00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:39.000 and never since the 1930s it's been known that hypothyroid people are susceptible to many diseases, 00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:47.000 including heart disease, and that hypothyroidism is the basic cause of increased cholesterol 00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:56.000 because cholesterol has to be converted to progesterone under the influence of thyroid hormones. 00:53:56.000 --> 00:54:05.000 So if you're low in thyroid hormone, your body increases cholesterol to keep the progesterone production going. 00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:08.000 Well, my daughter actually takes thyroid. 00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:10.000 She apparently has thyroid. 00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:15.000 Well, maybe she needs to take a T3, T4 drug called Thyralar. 00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.000 She's probably only taking Synthroid or Lavoxel. 00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:26.000 The metabolic rate is a mirror image of the blood cholesterol level, 00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:34.000 so that when your metabolic rate is below normal, your cholesterol will defensively rise above normal. 00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:43.000 And as you increase your metabolic rate, your cholesterol will come down as a mirror image. 00:54:43.000 --> 00:54:49.000 Doctors have disregarded the effect on the metabolic rate, 00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:55.000 and they prescribe only the inactive part of the thyroid hormone, 00:54:55.000 --> 00:55:00.000 and very often people stay hypometabolic despite taking thyroid. 00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:03.000 Okay, one more quick question about the sugar thing. 00:55:03.000 --> 00:55:07.000 Now, are you saying that sugar, even white sugar-- 00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:10.000 I know that Thai Toast Corn Syrup isn't so good, 00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:16.000 but sugar is from fruit and fruit juice, and even white sugar is okay, 00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:22.000 but the bad thing is like white flour, white rice, white pasta, white carbohydrates, 00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:29.000 what they call the simple carbohydrates, you say that's the real--what is more bad for you. 00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:34.000 So let's say if you eat sugar in, let's say, a good ice cream, 00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:40.000 that's a better way if you can eat sugar than in, let's say, a pastry or something with flour in it. 00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:41.000 Voila. 00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:42.000 Definitely. 00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:44.000 Yeah, get the nail on the head. 00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:47.000 It's not necessarily sugars that people should cut out, 00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:53.000 but it's the refined carbohydrates that they need to lower to lose weight. 00:55:53.000 --> 00:55:59.000 Yeah, the starches and the polyunsaturated fats are the main culprits in fatness. 00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:01.000 Okay, thank you very much. 00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:07.000 And another thing I wanted to mention about the cholesterol is think of the cholesterol as a bandage 00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:11.000 because, Dr. Peat, you told me about a study that the Japanese came out with 00:56:11.000 --> 00:56:15.000 showing that actual arteries are blocked up by polyunsaturated fats, 00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:22.000 all these vegetable oils, and the body bandages it over with a cholesterol plaque. 00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:28.000 Yeah, the unsaturated fats are very reactive with oxygen, 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:33.000 and the bloodstream is where there's the most oxygen for them to react with. 00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:41.000 The saturated fats that we make in the liver, if we eat too much sugar and are low thyroid 00:56:41.000 --> 00:56:47.000 and have high estrogen and high cortisol and such, we might have high triglycerides, 00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:54.000 but these made in the liver are saturated, and they happen to be protective to the heart. 00:56:54.000 --> 00:57:04.000 So the thing is to avoid the things that cause the distorted blood lipids, 00:57:04.000 --> 00:57:09.000 not to try to lower the lipids themselves, but to remove the cause. 00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:13.000 Right, so if someone has high cholesterol, try to find out what's causing that. 00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:15.000 If it's low thyroid, get that treated. 00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.000 We can talk to you more about that maybe on the next show. 00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:22.000 But I do have--the engineer has a question, Dr. Peat. 00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:29.000 She wants to know what you think of Splenda and all the artificial sweeteners. 00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:34.000 Well, Splenda, I think, is the one that has chlorine in the molecule, 00:57:34.000 --> 00:57:40.000 and that exposed to bacteria, the bacteria can break down the molecule 00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:47.000 and liberate things in the family of organic chlorine compounds 00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:53.000 like chloroform-related toxic substances. 00:57:53.000 --> 00:57:58.000 So I wouldn't want my intestine exposed to Splenda. 00:57:58.000 --> 00:58:00.000 How about Stevia? 00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:01.000 It's pretty safe. 00:58:01.000 --> 00:58:04.000 Yeah, because I hear they're actually wanting to take it off the market in America. 00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:08.000 I think it's maybe getting too much of a foothold as a safe alternative. 00:58:08.000 --> 00:58:13.000 And I saw some press release about the FDA and some controls. 00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:18.000 They want to basically crack down on it. 00:58:18.000 --> 00:58:19.000 I couldn't quite understand it. 00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:23.000 It seemed a bit too bizarre. 00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:24.000 Okay, well, there we are. 00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:26.000 Sarah, do you have anything else? 00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:27.000 No, I think that's it. 00:58:27.000 --> 00:58:32.000 So basically all those--sorry, all those artificial sweeteners, Dr. Peat, 00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:35.000 you'd recommend to our listeners that they avoid those. 00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:40.000 Yeah, sugar is so much more nourishing and protective. 00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:41.000 Thank you, Dr. Peat. 00:58:41.000 --> 00:58:43.000 Okay, well, thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Peat. 00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:46.000 I just want to let people that are listening know how they can reach you 00:58:46.000 --> 00:58:49.000 or how they can read more about your research. 00:58:49.000 --> 00:58:54.000 We've been joined by Dr. Ray Peat, endocrinologist and research scientist. 00:58:54.000 --> 00:58:55.000 He has a website. 00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:58.000 It's www.rayPeat.org. 00:58:58.000 --> 00:59:00.000 Oh, gosh, dot com. 00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:01.000 Oh, gosh, I keep saying that. 00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:02.000 I'm sorry. 00:59:02.000 --> 00:59:03.000 I need more thyroid. 00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:05.000 Okay, rayPeat.com. 00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:11.000 And there are lots of articles on his home page, and they're all reference scientific articles. 00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:15.000 And that's spelled r-a-y-p-e-a-t. 00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:16.000 Dot com. 00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:17.000 Dot com. 00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:18.000 Okay. 00:59:18.000 --> 00:59:20.000 So, yeah, once again, thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Peat. 00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:22.000 Okay, thank you. 00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:25.000 And for those people who have been listening, 00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:31.000 we can be contacted during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. 00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:36.000 We have our phone number is -- you want to get out the regular -- 00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:37.000 Toll free. 00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:38.000 Toll free. 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:39.000 There you go. 00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:44.000 If you want to call toll free, it's 1-888-926-4372, 00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:49.000 and that stands for WBM Herb, for Western Botanical Medicine Herb. 00:59:49.000 --> 00:59:55.000 Or you can call us on our local number, 707-986-9506. 00:59:55.000 --> 01:00:00.000 We look forward to hearing from anybody and everybody with any further questions about this show 01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:02.000 or any other shows we've done in the past. 01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:03.000 Thank you for listening. 01:00:03.000 --> 01:00:09.000 Yep, and for those who've tuned in this evening and to those who have ears, let them hear. 01:00:09.000 --> 01:00:14.000 So thank you for joining us, and we'll see you next month when the clocks will be going back 01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:18.000 and it'll be dark on our way into the studio until April. 01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:24.000 So get the fires burning and get yourselves shut down for some recuperation. 01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:25.000 We'll see you November 19th. 01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:27.000 Thank you for listening. 01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:39.000 [Music] 01:00:39.000 --> 01:00:43.000 Support for KMED comes from Pacific Justice Center, 01:00:43.000 --> 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