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 Bankley, board -certified
doctor of non -forest chiropractic and practitioner
of functional medicine. I've got an exciting
show for you today. It's going to be mostly about
omega -3 fatty acids, which are mainly, the most
important ones, are from the ocean. All the tremendous
benefits for cardiovascular health for your brain
and virtually every part of your body benefits
from getting adequate amounts of these omega
-3 fatty acids. Before I get into that, I have
an exciting announcement. When I started this
program two years ago, I could only imagine what
kind of response I would get. And it has been
tremendous and a profound blessing. So thank
you, all of you, who keep tuning in and contacting
me, sending questions, and keep informing yourselves
and taking responsibility for your own health.
My mission with this show has been to arm you
with reliable information you can use to fill
the gap between standard medicine and maybe why
you're still not getting. what you need or why
you might still have unexplained symptoms that
are very real and probably have a solution available
that is effective and natural and safe. So it's
been my pleasure to host this show every week
for two years now, but I also very much enjoy
doing live presentations with a big screen and
a PowerPoint and the opportunity to see you face
-to -face and answer your questions. So I'm announcing
a new series of live events, which will take
place every first Wednesday, the first Wednesday
of the month, in my office. So this radio show,
Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions, the radio
show, is now being augmented by a monthly live
presentation in my office in downtown Ventura.
961 East Main Street. And it's going to be the
first Wednesday of every month, starting October
1st. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
And that's a good thing, but I always like to
focus on breast cancer prevention. How can you
reduce your risk of getting breast cancer in
the first place? How can you reduce your risk
of breast cancer recurrence if you have had it
before? And for those who are in recovery, how
can you reduce the debilitating side effects
of chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer
treatments? These will be the focus of the first
live presentation in my office, October 1st,
Wednesday at 6 o 'clock. Bring your friends,
bring your family, join us for, we'll have some
light refreshments and a 30 minute presentation
followed by questions and answers. This is all
free of charge and I can, I'll be happy to answer
any question you show up with. So what common
questions I get are things like, is it safe to
take supplements when you're also on medication?
Or how do you know if you're getting all the
nutrients you need to peel whatever conditions
you have and to be truly healthy? How do functional
medicine tests identify these conditions that
so many other doctors miss? And what are the
most important tests for you? Everyone's a little
bit different. So I look forward to seeing you
there, 6 p .m. every first Wednesday. The first
one is October 1st, 6 p .m. in my office in downtown
Ventura. So this week we're going to talk about
omega -3 fatty acids, which are mainly from the
ocean, from eating oily fish like sardines and
salmon and oysters, or taking fish oil supplements.
And one of the most common questions I get is,
can you take supplements while you're on medication?
And a lot of people, one of the questions that
comes up around that a lot is if someone's on
blood thinners. It doesn't necessarily mean that
you can't take most supplements. The one major
exception to this is if you're taking warfarin
or coumarin, same thing. That's the old classic
and relatively inexpensive blood thinner that
a lot of people still end up needing to take
for various reasons. When you're on warfarin
or coumarin, you can't take vitamin K because
it interferes directly with the mechanism. of
that drug. But most other blood thinners, like
things like Plavix, antiplatelet medication,
and Eliquis, drugs like this, there isn't really
any contraindications between most supplements.
So, you know, ask me if you have any special
questions about that. But it's a common misconception
still that fish oil increases bleeding. Lots
of doctors used to think, oh my God, if you take
fish oil, it's going to increase your risk of
bleeding, especially after a surgery. Well, so
I have a little story for you. I went and had
a colonoscopy a few years back. I like to practice
what I preach. Prevention is important. And everyone,
I didn't really have any strong risk factors.
for colon cancer, but I thought, okay, I'll get
that test just so I can say I've done it. And
when I went in, they gave me a list of things
to not take for the week before the actual test.
Don't take any aspirin. Don't take any ibuprofen.
Don't take any fish oil supplements. So when
I got there the day of the test, the nurse reviewed
those things. She said, did you take any aspirin
this past week? No. Did you take any ibuprofen?
No. Did you take any fish oil supplements? I
said, yes. I took fish oil every morning this
week, including this morning, about two hours
ago. And she says, oh, why did you do that? And
I said, because fish oil, there's no contraindication
between taking fish oil supplements and any kind
of surgery. In fact, it improves surgical outcomes.
And she looked kind of dumbfounded and said,
go get the doctor. So she brings him back. The
gastroenterologist comes up and he says, have
you got any data to back that up? And I said,
sure. What's your email? And I sent him several
studies. The main one was on the Journal of the
American Medical Association back in 2016, completely
refuting. any increased risk of bleeding. The
study was published in 2016 by William Harris,
Ph .D. in the Journal of American Medical Association
and says, quote, the idea that fish oil's increased
risk for bleeding is a legend that persists despite
substantial evidence to the contrary. In 2014,
we reviewed the literature regarding the risk
of clinically significant bleeding associated
with fish oil use and concluded, quote, these
agents do not produce clinically significant
bleeding. Well, I also went on to Send him several
other studies that show it actually improves
surgical outcomes for many reasons, which we're
going to get into today. But it was pretty impressive
because he took that in. He said, OK, and send
that data to me. And the following week, I think
it was Monday or Tuesday, the following week,
I got an email that he copied all his staff on,
communicating to them now that, you know, the
latest data shows that there is no increased
bleeding risk when you take. fish oil supplements.
There was another story that I remember. One
time I was at a presentation that a dentist was
giving a presentation on a case where he was
worried because it wasn't his patient. It was
something he read in a dental journal about a
patient that's developed unexplained profound
bleeding after a surgical procedure. And the
article said, you know, you need to find out
what supplements your patient's taking because
that could be causing the unexplained bleeding.
Well, that's just ridiculous. I said, what supplements
was she taking? Vitamin D, fish oil, and a couple
of other things. So I looked up all of those
things. And the following week, this is a meeting
that I attended regularly. And the following
week, I presented a rebuttal. to that article.
I actually subscribed to the dental journal in
question to find all the specific details of
that article. And searching, you go to the bottom
of these articles, oh, fish oil increases bleeding.
So said this paper from this journal. And I followed
that down. You go to the bottom of each one of
these journal articles and there's a reference
that this article referred to this article and
they just kept referring to the same article
over and over and over again that was ultimately
based on a study done in 1981. that said there
was increased risk of bleeding if you take fish
oil. And it was just ridiculous. I found that
study, and this was so long ago. It was before
they had the standard test they used to measure.
Blood clotting now, bleeding, risk of bleeding,
international normalized ratio, the prothrombin
time. If you've ever been on warfare and you'll
know about those tests. Instead, back then, the
way they measured bleeding and clotting time
was they would produce a little cut, a one millimeter
deep cut, one centimeter long on the skin and
your wrist of controlled incision. Very, very
minor cut, like kind of like scratching yourself,
maybe with a scratch from a cat. And then we'd
set a timer and see how long it took for the
scab to form. That was how they measured bleeding
back then. And there was a normal range. And
this test showed, this study showed that when
people took fish oil, they went from the very
low point of the normal range for this type of
measured clotting time to the middle of the normal
range. So basically what they showed is that
if you take fish oil supplements, your clotting
time will go from normal. To normal. From low
normal to mid normal. And so all these other
journal articles for years after that headline,
fish oil increases bleeding, and they just referred
to the same references over and over again. And
it was ultimately all based on that really, really
misleading test from decades ago. I'm Dr. Todd
Bankley. You're listening to Safe, Effective
Natural Solutions. To almost any health challenge,
we're talking about fish oil, omega -3 fatty
acids from fish and fish oil supplements and
the benefits of that. Here's another study about
the old, now refuted, completely refuted confusion
in the medical press and among the medical community
about the interaction between fish oil and bleeding.
This is from the American Heart Association Journal
Circulation in 2018. The background on this is
listed as fish oil. is among the most common
natural supplements for treatment of high triglycerides
and prevention of cardiovascular disease. And
however, theoretical bleeding risk, concerns
about theoretical bleeding risk have led to recommendations
that people, patients should stop taking fish
oil before surgery or delay an elective procedures
for patients taking fish oil by some healthcare
professionals. So they tested the effect of fish
oil supplements on bleeding before and after
surgery with a multinational placebo control.
old trial, 1 ,516 patients, average age 63, who
were randomized to take fish oil or not. And
they gave them high doses before perioperative
fish oil. The first two to five days before surgery,
they gave them eight to 10 grams for two to five
days before the surgery. That's a lot of fish
oil. That's about six or eight. capsules of standard
fish oil or eating several servings of fish.
And then they lowered it to two grams a day after
the surgery post -op. Two grams a day is, you
know, two to three grams a day is a healthy dose
for most people. So the conclusions of this study,
fish oil supplementation did not increase perioperative
bleeding and reduced the number of blood transfusions.
And the patients who had the highest levels of
omega -3s in their blood had a lower risk of
bleeding. A lower risk, not a higher risk at
all. It actually had a lower risk and other improved
outcomes. So they recommended doing further studies
to find out and better understand these beneficial
effects of fish oil. So here's one that was published
in the Journal of American Medical Association
Cardiology. The conclusion of which is that omega
-3 fatty acids present in cold water fish, such
as herring or salmon, are commercially available
as supplements, and they can decrease triglyceride
concentrations 20 % to 50 % by reducing the production
of triglycerides in the liver and increasing
their clearance. And importantly, with long -term
intake, they may increase HDLC, which is the
good cholesterol, the high -density lipoprotein,
the good cholesterol. is increased when you take
fish oil supplements. Another study in the Journal
of American Medical Association looked at the
risk between stroke and omega -3 fatty acids
and found, this is from 2001, higher consumption
of fish and omega -3 fatty acids is associated
with a reduced risk of thrombotic infarction,
which means a reduced risk of a clot flowing
downstream and blocking a blood vessel in your
brain causing a stroke, reduced by taking fish
oil. Well, here's an even more impressive study
on dietary consumption follow -up data from 84
,688 female nurses enrolled in the Nurses' Health
Study, aged 34 to 59 years, all free from cardiovascular
disease at baseline in 1980. And then they followed
up with questionnaires completed. four years
later, six years later, in 1984, 86, 1990, and
in 1994. Then they published the data in 2002,
and higher consumption of fish and omega -3 fatty
acids is strongly associated with a lower risk
of cardiovascular disease and death from cardiovascular
disease. So that's pretty good data, 84 ,000
women. And it's an important distinction to know.
People often ask me, well, what about... flaxseed
and chia seeds and walnuts and the plant -based
sources of omega -3 fatty acids. So most of the
studies are studying fish oil from fish, eating
fish or getting the omega -3 fatty acids from
fish consumption. So there is some data that
shows that the omega -3s that are in the plant
-based sources like flaxseed, walnuts, leeks.
Tiny amounts in almonds, pinto beans, and kale
have modest cardiovascular benefits. I tell people
to think of flaxseed oil as kind of like olive
oil. It's a good oil to put on your salad. It's
a good fat to consume in your diet. But the problem
is that people falsely sometimes assume that
you're getting all the benefits that you hear
about from eating fish and taking fish oil supplements
by... using flax oil on your salad or eating
chia seeds or walnuts. And that's just not true
because your body has to convert ALA, the alpha
-linolenic acid that's in flaxseed, all of the
plant -based sources of omega -3s. If you see
anything that's not from the ocean that says
good source of omega -3s, that omega -3 they're
referring to is ALA, alpha -linolenic acid. And
that doesn't really have any benefits in your
body until it's converted to EPA. or DHA, which
are the two main omega -3s in fish. And your
body converts about 5 % of ALA to the famous
EPA and DHA that are in fish oil. So they're
good things to have in your diet. They're good
fats like olive oil. They're a good source of
high -quality fat calories to consume and get
the nutrients from that. But they don't replace,
they don't have the well -understood benefits
of EPA and DHA. the fish oil, the omega -3 fatty
acids that are in fish and fish oil. And I say
from the ocean, they're also in algae oil. So
if you're vegetarian and you want a non -fish,
you don't want to have to kill fish to get your
omega -3s, it's a great idea. Algae oil is also
high in the important omega -3s, DHA and EPA.
But for some reason, which I don't understand,
the fish oil, if you're wanting to get some of
this Nordic Naturals is the one I recommend.
There's a couple other companies. I think actually
Orthomolecular and Designs for Health have a
veggie fish oil now too, which all of these are
from algae oil. The problem is they cost about
two and a half times the amount to get the same
dose. of fish oil from algae omega -3s from algae
versus getting it from sardines and anchovies
which is where the regular fish oil supplements
are made from cold water anchovies and sardines
off the coast of Norway or off the coast of Chile
little fish that haven't been alive long enough
to accumulate many toxins which the ocean is
filled with So while we're on that subject, don't
buy cheap fish oil. One of the main reasons to
get a high -quality fish oil is because the equipment
necessary to properly filter and test that fish
oil to make sure that it's free, minimize the
amounts to an absolute minimum. amounts of any
toxins that are stored in the fat of that fish.
You're consuming these particular fish because
they're fatty and they have high amounts of omega
-3 fatty acids. But fat is where all toxins are
stored. If you're exposed to any kind of toxin
in your environment, it ends up stored in fat
cells in our bodies. and in fish. So I only recommend
fish oils that I've seen the testing data from.
And they don't just hand this out. It's hard
to get this information directly from the manufacturers.
But I've seen the data to prove that the fish
oils are clean from Nordic Naturals, from Designs
for Health, from Orthomolecular Products, and
from Metagenics. So primarily now I use, I recommend
to my patients the ones from Designs for Health
and Orthomolecular Products because they're high
quality and they don't have the fishy taste or
the burping issues that some other fish oils
have. But one of the things I really strongly
recommend and encourage people to not buy from
Costco or any other store really is cheap fish
oil. A good quality fish oil costs about, for
two capsules a day, about a gram and a half combined
EPA and DHA dose, costs about $50 to $60 a month
for two months. $50 to $60 for two months' worth,
so about $25 to $30 a month for a good quality
fish oil. So if your fish oil is half that for
a month's worth, $10 a month for a month's worth
or something like that, which there's lots of
places that sell that kind of stuff, I don't
recommend it. You don't really know what you're
getting in addition to those omega -3 fatty acids
and products like that. So Nordic Naturals is
available in stores if you want something that
you can go out and pick up in a health food store.
And other brands are usually only available in
doctors' offices or from websites that doctors,
different functional practitioners carry. These
are not the only good brands, the only brands
that have been tested. They're just ones that
I'm familiar with and have used on thousands
of patients over the many years and tested before
and after to confirm that they are getting the
anti -inflammatory benefits, the heart benefits,
the changes in brain focus. People with autoimmune
conditions, rheumatoid arthritis, any kind of
arthritis, any inflammatory condition, fish oil
helps with all of these things. And when you
take the good stuff, you see those changes reliably.
Here's another great study originally published
in the Archives of Internal Medicine on the many
benefits of omega -3 fatty acids. Among them,
antiarrhythmic, reducing abnormal heart rhythms
that can cause your heart to skip a beat or cause
atrial fibrillation. It's an antithrombotic through
multiple mechanisms that reduce clots that can
break off and travel to your brain and cause
a stroke. EPA, eicosapentanomic acid, one of
the main omega -3s from fish oil, enhances the
vasodilation effect of nitric oxide. I talked
a lot about this in an episode a couple weeks
ago. Nitric oxide helps relax your blood vessels,
reducing blood pressure. It's important to have
adequate acid in your stomach because you need
that to produce adequate amounts of nitrous oxide.
But the fish oil enhances the effect of nitrous
oxide. also relaxing your blood vessels, helping
to reduce blood pressure and other risk factors
for cardiovascular disease. Both EPA and DHA
have also been shown to inhibit the plaque formation
that causes hardening of the arteries. So the
effect on lipid metabolism is predominantly its
ability to reduce the formation of plaques. And
it does this by lowering total cholesterol and
triglyceride concentrations by inhibiting the
very low density lipoprotein and triglyceride
synthesis in the liver is the mechanism. But
here's the takeaway. Existing evidence from epidemiological
studies, animal studies, and human intervention
trials supports the role for omega -3 fatty acids
in the prevention of coronary artery disease.
Several randomized controlled trials with omega
-3 fatty acids have demonstrated relative risk
reductions in coronary artery disease similar
to the landmark trials in hyperlipidemia with
the HMG -CoA reductase inhibitor. So that's a
mouthful. What is an HMG -CoA reductase inhibitor?
These are statin drugs. So basically what the
conclusion of this study says is that fish oil
works as well as Lipitor. Fish oil works as well
as Zocor, as simvastatin and atorvastatin at
reducing risk of coronary artery disease. So
did your doctor tell you that? Oh, we want to
put you on statin drugs, but just so you know,
you could just take fish oil. It probably works
just as well. There's a lot of people that would
push back on that. I'm oversimplifying a bit.
A lot of people do take fish oil and still have
high cholesterol. Sometimes you need a little
extra support, but the point is there are ways.
to effectively lower your risk of cholesterol
and more importantly, lower your risk of heart
disease, which isn't the same thing. Cholesterol
is not the only risk factor for heart disease.
And there are lots of ways to reduce your risk
of having a heart attack or a stroke without
taking statin drugs or any other drugs. And the
only way you know if you're a candidate for that,
it's a good... thing that you should consider
is to get tested, to get proper testing, to identify
what is your cholesterol now, what are other
important things that influence cardiovascular
disease, like measures of inflammation, C -reactive
protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, which
is a measure of blood viscosity. You can measure
how thick your blood is with this sedimentation
rate test, which is a direct marker of inflammation.
And there are a few others. So if you identify
your actual risk factors, not just your cholesterol,
and you do a good job with your diet and supplements
where necessary, you can dramatically reduce
and test and confirm that you are keeping your
risk at a minimum for cardiovascular disease.
Given your risk factors from family history,
from your diet, from anything else you're doing,
if you test properly and take some things to
alter that and then test again to make sure you're
okay, you can dramatically reduce your risk of
heart disease. Well, anything that reduces your
risk of heart disease also reduces your risk
of any disorder of the brain, especially Alzheimer's,
other forms of dementia. But depression and anxiety,
mood disorders, Parkinson's, anything that troubles
your brain benefits from having reduced. You
can reduce your risk of those things by having
adequate amounts of omega -3 fatty acids available
to your brain. Your brain is mostly made of fat
and water. And one of the main fats it is made
from is docosahexaenoic acid, DHA, which you
can only get. directly from the ocean, from fish,
from fish oil, from algae oil supplements. And
supplementing that has dramatic effects. There's
some really fascinating studies of people with
traumatic brain injury where they just end up
in a hospital with severe debilitation, inability
to speak, and inability to get out of bed and
walk, and horrible disabilities from traumatic
brain injuries. Soldiers and people that have
been in car crashes, motorcycle crashes, and
they give them massive doses of fish oil. and
have seen some miraculous recoveries. Your brain
is totally dependent on adequate amounts of omega
-3s to function at its peak and to heal and repair
from trauma and to regulate stressors like all
the stresses of modern life that result in such
high incidences of anxiety, depression, and...
dementia. Because it's anti -inflammatory, it
also helps reduce any inflammatory condition
like arthritis. So I recommend fish oil to every
single one of my patients because of these many,
many benefits on virtually every aspect of your
health. Remember, the condition of your body
is always more important than any... condition
you've been diagnosed with. So do something this
weekend to be a little healthier than you were
last weekend. Go out for a walk. Meet up with
a friend you haven't talked to in a long time.
Call somebody that you haven't spoken to in ages.
Do anything. Whatever you notice is stressing
you, figure out a way to take a little bit of
that, reduce that stress just a little bit so
that you can be a little bit healthier next week
than you were last weekend. I'd love to hear
from you. What do you like about this show? What
would you like to hear more of? Is there a health
topic or a condition that you'd like to hear
or know more about? Please let me know if it's
something you're interested in. Many other people
probably are as well. You can email me, drbinkley
at binkleyhealingcenter .com, or you can even
text me at 805 -218 -3939. And even better, come
join me October 1st for the first of the new
series I'm doing live in the office, complementing
this radio show with live events in the office.
We'll be talking about breast cancer prevention.
Bring your friends and family. Ask any questions
you'd like. I'd be happy to answer them. 30 -minute
presentation followed by Q &A. We'll have some
light refreshments. And I'd love to see you in
my office Wednesday, October 1st at 6 p .m. 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.