Prepare to have your health questions answered
here on Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with
Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center
in downtown Ventura. Now, here's Dr. Todd. Good
afternoon. I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board -certified
doctor of non -force chiropractic and practitioner
of functional medicine. Today, we're going to
talk about some surprising risk factors. for
hypertension, high blood pressure that you may
not be aware of and should, as well as the connection
between the gut microbiome and hormones. Is there
anything that isn't affected by dysbiosis in
the gut, by imbalances in the bacteria in the
gut? Seemingly more and more research is definitely
coming out every week, every month, every year,
identifying further and further links between.
the microbiome, the bacteria in your gut and
other beneficial organisms in your gut and overall
health. These guys are essential for breaking
down nutrients, for keeping the bad guys in check.
And some of the good bacteria and the bad bacteria
are the same organisms depending on how many
they are. So it's a finely tuned balance that
you want to keep your immune system functioning
at its peak and absorbing nutrients and preventing
infections and a whole host of other things.
Among them, these things... also affect the hormone
levels. It affects your estrogen and testosterone
levels and your adrenal function and progesterone,
the whole gamut. So we're going to talk about
that. And time permitting, I'll talk about some
successful patients that I've treated for hypertension
and hormone issues and problems in the microbiome.
Before I do that, I'd like to remind everyone,
or those of you who do not know, you can get
past episodes. You can listen to previous episodes
of this show anytime you like, on demand, on
my website, BinkleyHealingCenter .com, as well
as at Apple Podcasts and on Spotify and YouTube.
So check out those past episodes, and I'd love
to hear from you. I love it when you send in
your questions. What do you like about this show?
What would you like to hear more of? Is there
a health topic or condition you'd like to hear
more or know more about? If it's something you're
interested in, then many other people probably
are as well. So please email me your comments
and questions, drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter
.com or text me at 805 -218 -3939. The ringer
on my cell phone is always off, so you're never
going to bother me. Just text me and I'll get
back to you. And if you know someone, love someone
who is not getting the care that they feel they
deserve from the doctors that they've been to,
I would love an opportunity to help them. One
of the most common referrals I get is from somebody's
nephew or niece or grandmother or sister that
quote unquote has been to a dozen doctors and
they're always told that everything is fine.
Well, you know what? So that relative may think
that they've tried everything, but really what
they've done is they've tried 12 different doctors
that all basically do the same thing. They're
all just basically looking for something that's
severe enough that it will warrant the expense
and side effects of standard medical therapies,
pharmaceuticals, that you don't just want to
give out unless you have a good reason to do
so. But what if you fall under that marker if
you don't have the severe enough effects to justify
the risks? and expense and potential harm of
their big guns, then they tell you, you're fine.
Come back, watch and wait. We'll see you next
year, six months. Wait till it gets bad enough
to use the toolbox, things that are in my toolbox.
So what do you do until then? Well, you can use
those same blood tests with a more narrowly focused
metric, a narrower yardstick that measures early
signs of stress on your liver, your kidneys,
your heart, your immune system, and things that
these are earlier. signs of stress, deviations
from what your blood tests look like when you're
in your 20s, in your teens, that everything's
relatively perfect. You can use those things
that are outside of that range and address them
with better food, exercise, and supplements where
needed. Identify nutrient deficiencies, nutrient
deficiencies and or problems that can be remedied
with supplemental nutrients for a period of time.
And much of the time I'll get a... comprehensive
blood test back. I usually order a panel that
includes about 55 tests, which if your regular
insurance doctor were to order that, it would
cost your insurance company about $1 ,400 or
$1 ,500. which is why they won't do it routinely.
They're literally medically unnecessary unless
your doctor suspects that you already have a
medical condition. They're just confirming it
with all of these tests. Then they're not going
to do those tests. But you can find earlier signs
of stress on the various parts of your body and
then fix them with better food, exercise, and
supplements and get you back to functioning normal.
That's what functional medicine means. Identify
places where normal function is not happening.
as well as it should be, and then figure out
a way to restore normal function, peak function.
At whatever age or level of disease or disability
you may be, there is often a natural, safe, effective
solution that can be identified with proper testing
and analysis, functional analysis of those tests.
An interesting study was published in the Journal
of American Medical Association Cardiology recently
about the fact that a lot of people who have
high blood pressure and diabetes and high cholesterol.
are not aware that they have it. So results from
the National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey spanning the years from 2013 to 2023,
10 -year period, showed a significant portion
of adults that have high blood pressure, diabetes,
and high cholesterol continued to self -report
being unaware that they had it and never being
diagnosed until they found it on this test. And
this is reported. So Dr. Rishi Wadhera of Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Harvard. Harvard
Chan School of Public Health in Boston wrote,
given declining cardiometabolic health in young
adults, it's concerning that approximately one
in three with hypertension, two in five with
diabetes, and one out of four with a high cholesterol
level are unaware that they have these conditions.
So that's really important. Young adults, people
in their 20s and 30s, 20 % of them don't realize
that they, 30%, 33 % of them don't realize that
they have high blood pressure because they haven't
checked it. 40 % don't realize that they have
diabetes. And one in four, 25 % have high cholesterol
and are unaware of it, even in their 20s and
30s. So she went on to say that these results
support the idea that the COVID pandemic had
wide -ranging health effects, including indirect
effects such as disrupted medical care, increased
sedentary behavior, and worsening psychosocial.
And they were especially surprised that the large
jump was in adults 22 to 44 years old, 20s, 30s,
and early 40s that were unaware of their high
blood pressure. That percentage of people that
didn't know that in that age bracket went from
29%, 21, 22, 21 .9, 22 % in 2013. Up to 37 %
in 23 -24. So in a 10 -year period, the fraction
of people in their 20s and 30s and early 40s
that did not know they had high blood pressure
went from 22 % to 37%. And that drove, in part,
the population -wide increase in high blood pressure
since the COVID pandemic. So the takeaway here
is all adults with risk factors, even though
they're only in their 20s and 30s, should get
their blood pressure and cholesterol and diabetes
markers checked. Well, what are the risk factors?
Being a little bit overweight, having stress,
any kind of stress in your life, having a family
history of these conditions. Those are the main
ones. There are a few others. And of course,
I'm happy to do that for you. Make it easy. Just
give me a call and I'll check those. things for
you. So also in the medical press, another interesting
study about hypertension risk factor for high
blood pressure is proton pump inhibitor use.
Proton pump inhibitors. What are those? These
are the medications taken to reduce stomach acid,
mainly for people with heartburn and GERD. So
Prilosec or Omeprazole and Prilosec, same drug.
The most common selling one is Prilosec or Omeprazole.
Also, Nexium Prevacid Protonics. These are all
proton pump inhibitors. Proton pumps in the stomach
are part of the mechanism your stomach uses to
make stomach acid. So you want stomach acid.
You may have heard that it's a good idea to alkalize
your body, keep every part of your body alkaline.
Well, that's true, except for your skin. It should
be slightly acidic. And your stomach should be
strongly acidic. You need your stomach to make
really strong. you know, a cauldron of bubbling
hydrochloric acid when you have food in it so
that you can digest that food and assimilate
the protein and other nutrients that's in that
food. because if you don't, you won't. And that
strong acid in your stomach is your first line
of defense against any kind of invader, any kind
of bacteria, virus, parasite, fungus, or other
pathogen that's getting in your, and these things
are in your food. Trust me, you don't even taste
them sometimes. Most of the time, you know, when
you feel sick, but acid kills bugs. So if you've
got that stuff in your food, but you have, you
ever seen it, or everyone's heard of a situation
where Two people eat the exact same food and
nearly the same amount. One gets sick and is
hurling and the other one's just fine. What's
the difference? Well, usually just the difference
is how much stomach acid do you have? Because
the stomach acid will kill off those bugs if
you've got enough of it. It's a numbers game.
And while we're on that subject, if you ever
get to a place where you suddenly feel nauseous
after eating something and you suspect that you've
gotten food poisoning, do this. Immediately drink
vinegar. Because acid kills bugs. It's not the
bugs themselves that make you sick. When you
get food poisoning, it's their metabolic waste.
It's their wee that is the toxin that makes you
sick and causes you to throw up to get that out.
So acid, including vinegar, can kill that bacteria
if you get enough of it. So usually if you feel
a little bit sick, not quite ready to throw up
yet, but you're feeling queasy, or maybe if you're
just throwing up a little bit, then I would try
to do about six ounces of vinegar. You can use
any kind, but balsamic or apple cider vinegar
are the easiest. to swallow. And you could do
six ounces, I'm sorry, three ounces, which is
about two shot glasses full, three ounces. You
can do it straight if you don't already have
burning of any kind in your throat. If you do
have GERD or heartburn already, then cut it with
water. Get about three ounces or add a little
bit water to it if you need it. But if you don't
already have any raw tissue in your esophagus,
if you don't have that burning in your throat,
then it's safe to drink. vinegar. And if you
drink it straight, then you're more likely to
kill off the bugs. If you're already curled up
on the floor, then double that. If you're already
sick, throwing up, severely infected, or if it's
been, you just heard this and it's been a while,
or if you forget, you remember what I'm telling
you now a little bit too late, hours or even
the next day, you're still really sick, then
you can still drink the acid, but you're going
to need to probably drink a little bit more of
it. But this can knock it out. You can feel totally
fine. This happened to me a few years ago. I
was out, went to a local seafood place, which
shall remain nameless. And I had some oysters.
I had six oysters and they were delicious. But
one of them tasted just a little bit off. And
then I went to a friend's house for a little.
get together afterwards. And about 20 minutes
later, I started to feel a little nauseous. And
I said, have you got any vinegar? And I drank
some vinegar. And then I just went in and made
myself throw up in the bathroom just a little
bit. And, you know, 15 minutes after that, I
felt totally fine, like nothing ever happened.
I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. You're listening to Safe,
Effective, Natural Solutions to Almost Any Health
Challenge. We're talking about proton pump inhibitors,
acid blocking drugs, and... Incident Hypertension
in Menopausal Women. This is published in the
Journal of the American Heart Association, June
of 2025. And they showed that... Postmenopausal
women who are taking these acid -blocking drugs
have an increased risk and incidence of high
blood pressure. So these drugs are the treatment
of choice for esophagitis, peptic ulcer disease,
GERD, heartburn. They're among the most prescribed
medications in the U .S. In 2016, just one of
these drugs was dispensed more than 70 million
times in the U .S. And so a lot of people just
get stuck on these drugs and take them forever
or for years or for way too long. identified
this risk factor in it. And there's been several
other studies that showed that inappropriate
PPI use, proton pump inhibitor use, whether it's
just too long, prolonged use for no longer being
in a situation where it's no longer needed, or
just not getting a follow -up, not getting tested.
Really, you need to test whether or not you need
this acid blocking drug. And if you're not having
GERD anymore, perhaps you should be able to wean
yourself off of these things. eventually. And
a lot of doctors just forget to do about that.
They just keep writing the script indefinitely.
And so many other studies have showed that prolonged
use or inappropriate use of these drugs increase
your risk of bone fractures and osteoporosis,
pneumonia, kidney damage, especially in older
people. And it also weakens your immune system.
So partly by making it more difficult to digest
and assimilate protein. Your immune system needs
protein to work just like every other part of
your body needs protein to heal and repair itself.
Almost all of your cells are made out of protein.
And so there's been other studies that showed
these risk factors as well as gut infections
and dysbiosis and imbalance between the good
and bad bacteria, protein deficiencies and deficiencies
of vitamin B12, iron, magnesium. and other minerals.
So how does this, what is the theory? Why did
the people, these postmenopausal women or menopausal
and postmenopausal women end up with increased
risk of high blood pressure? Well, nitric oxide
is a potent vasodilator. Whole books have been
written on how you can improve your heart health,
reduce your recurrence and risk of heart disease
by optimizing nitric oxide. because it's a vasodilator,
meaning it relaxes your blood vessels so that
they open wide, plays a critical role in blood
pressure regulation. Well, nitric oxide is made
in the stomach from nitrite. So the importance
of this nitrate to nitric oxide pathway in the
stomach is dependent on the presence of gastric
acid. So you need adequate acid in your stomach
to make adequate amounts of nitric oxide. So
if you don't have enough acid, you're not going
to have as much nitric oxide production as you
otherwise would. And that's going to increase
your risk of hypertension. So this is a study
of 64 ,720 menopausal women in the Women's Health
Initiative study, a huge study from 93 to 98.
And after a mean follow -up of 8 .7 years, of
these 64 ,700 menopausal women who didn't have
cardiovascular disease in the beginning, 8 .7
years later, 29 ,000 of them did have. So almost
half of them did have hypertension. And the ones
that were on a proton pump inhibitor like Omeprazole,
Prilosec, Prevacid, Nexium, people who were using
those drugs had a 17 % higher risk of hypertension.
And the longer they were using the proton pump
inhibitor, the increased incremental increased
risk. So after one year, the risk was 13%, 17
% after two years, 28 % after three years. And
then the overall change in systolic pressure,
the number on the top when your heart pumps,
was increased significantly for new PPI users
compared with those. who had never used it. So
it starts right away. If you start taking these
drugs, that risk is going to, you're going to
have that risk factor in a very short period
of time. Well, of course, it is important to
protect the lining of the esophagus. The main
thing that you have to avoid, in addition to
not wanting the pain and damage to the esophagus,
ultimately, if you have acid eroding the protective
mucus layer that lines your esophagus and protects
it from acid, then you're at higher risk of esophageal
cancer. You definitely don't want that. So your
stomach has even thicker mucus to protect it
because the cells that produce that super, super
strong acid are surrounded on all sides by other
cells that produce this really strong mucus.
So that acid would easily, without that mucus,
it will eat right through the wall of your stomach.
That's what an ulcer is. When that mucus layer
breaks down and that acid starts to eat the wall
of the stomach or the intestines, then you get...
So similarly, if that acid leaks from your stomach
back up into your esophagus, it can cause gastroesophageal
reflux disease, GERD, or heartburn. But the important
thing to know about that is stomach acid, you
need high stomach acid. That's the normal condition.
So having strong acid in your stomach isn't the
cause of GERD or heartburn. The cause of GERD
and heartburn is a leaky valve. between the stomach
and the esophagus. You need that strong acid
in your stomach, and you also need that valve
to close tight so that it doesn't leak out of
the stomach. So why doesn't that always work?
Or how does that work? Well, there is a valve
at the very end of the digestive tract that is
always closed. It opens when you have a bowel
movement and then closes back up again. But most
of us have also had the experience that even
though that valve's always closed, if you're
in a rush to get to the bathroom in time, you
can also voluntarily tighten that muscle down
and lock it down tight to prevent something coming
out before you're ready. So similarly, this valve
at the higher end, close to the upper highest
end of the digestive tract between the esophagus,
where your food travels from your mouth down
the back of your throat to the stomach, that...
esophagus valve connection to the stomach. It's
called the lower esophageal sphincter. It is
always closed as well. You take a bite of food,
chew, chew, chew, swallow it. That bite of food
hits that valve. It opens to let the food through
and then closes back up again. So it's always
closed. But it's not closed super tight all the
time because it doesn't need to be. What do you
think triggers that valve to close down tight?
You can't voluntarily control that one. But it
is automatically set to lock down tight when,
would you suppose? When you have strong acid
in your stomach. That presence of strong acid,
the lowering of the pH in your stomach, triggers
an automatic response to tighten down that muscle
to make sure none of that strong acid leaks out.
So a lot of people eat their biggest meal of
the day in the evening and then go to bed right
after that or an hour or two later. They got
a stomach full of food. and or maybe they're
drinking some alcohol and they're tired and so
their digestive system is sapping their energy
because it requires a lot of energy to digest
your food that's another reason it's not really
that great of an idea to eat your biggest meal
of the day and then go to sleep because then
you're going to be using energy to digest your
food that you could have been putting towards
healing and repair which would otherwise be going
on if that energy were available to do that when
you're sleeping. But anyway, so a lot of people
go to bed with a stomach full of food, maybe
a little bit of alcohol or other things that
make them relax in their systems and then lie
down flat. And what do you think is going to
happen? There's a lot of pressure. There's a
lot more pressure when your stomach is full than
if it's empty or relatively empty. And if you're
taking anything that relaxes you and relaxes
your muscles, it will relax that one too. It
can make that. sphincter, make it more difficult
for that sphincter to automatically stay locked
down tight. And when you have heartburn or GERD,
it feels like there's a geyser, you know, squirting
acid up into your esophagus. It feels like sometimes
it can go all the way up to the back of your
throat because it only takes a tiny bit of acid
to cause those symptoms. And you can eat the
same thing, eat at the same time, and sometimes
you have it and sometimes you don't. So people
think, well, that can't be the cause or it would
be happening every day. No, that's not true.
What happens is over time, small amounts of acid,
just a few drops, leak up into your esophagus
and slowly erode patches of mucosal lining in
your esophagus. So if there's places where there's
not as much mucus as there should be and you
get a little acid up there, if it hits that spot,
then it'll hurt. And if the acid comes up and
it's hitting a different spot where there is
adequate mucus, then it doesn't hurt. And so
you're not getting a strong stream. It doesn't
take a lot of acid to cause those symptoms, just
a little bit. And there's lots of ways to reverse
that without taking proton pump inhibitors or
any other acid blocking drugs. There are two
other major classes of acid blocking drugs. So
if you know anybody that's dependent on those
things, I'd love to help them figure out a better
way to prevent that. among other things, so that
they can avoid this risk for, especially if they're
a menopausal woman, avoid this increased risk
of hypertension. But it's also going to help
you reduce the risk of all these mineral deficiencies,
B12 deficiency, and protein deficiency, which
is critically important, and reduce your risk
of getting an infection in your gut. So you want
strong acid in your stomach. And one of the things
that I, I even treat people with gastroesophageal
reflux and heartburn. By giving them supplemental
betaine hydrochloric acid from beets. You can
get from beets the same acid that your stomach
makes. And you supplement it. And it will cause
that sphincter to lock down. So that you're not
getting that leakage into the esophagus. That's
one way that we can do it. And there are others
as well. Well, I've had so many patients that
I've helped with this. It's just too many to
name. But just off the top of my head. So, well,
first of all, there are other things you can
do as well. So other things that anyone can do
to reduce the risk, especially if they're getting
the reflux at night, is make four hours pass
between your last bite of food and when you go
to sleep. So if you eat dinner at 6, finish your
meal at 6, then go to bed at 10. If you're already
going to bed at 10, then don't eat at 8 o 'clock
or 9 o 'clock or 7 o 'clock. Try to eat four
hours before finish eating, four hours before
you lie down. Another thing is if it's really
bad and you've tried that already and it's not
working, sleeping on an incline, you can buy
little wedge -shaped cushions that you can lie
on in bed so that you're on just a slight angle
so that you're less likely to get that leakage
of acid into your stomach. And then you can take
betaine hydrochloric acid to make that sphincter
lock down tight. I had a 62 -year -old woman,
I can remember now, that had this happening for
a long time, you know, esophageal reflux, got
her on the Betaine HCL, got it to where it was
totally gone, didn't have a problem. And then
years later, it came back and it was bad enough
that she had an endoscopy and had some damage
to the esophagus. So she really needed to be
on a meprazole. But usually you take that first
thing in the morning. So what I had her do is
take that in the morning and then take the Betaine
HCL with lunch and dinner. And that also helped
her dramatically reduce, entirely get rid of
the reflux again. and not become as dependent
on as much omeprazole for the rest of her life.
It looks like we're out of time. I promised to
talk about the effect of hormones and the gut,
the connections between the gut microbiome. Ran
out of time. We're going to talk about that next
week. Thank you for listening. As always, remember
the condition of your body is always far more
important than any condition you may be diagnosed
with. Health is wealth. Invest in your most valuable
asset, your body. Have a fantastic weekend. You've
been listening to Safe, Effective Natural Solutions
with Dr. Todd Binkley. If you have a health question
you want discussed on the show, email your health
questions to drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter
.com. Take advantage of this opportunity to ask
questions for yourself and for your loved ones
because our health matters. Join him next Friday
at 2 p .m. for safe, effective natural solutions
here on 98 .3 FM, The Word.