WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:03.100 Prepare to have your health questions answered 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:07.059 here on Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with 00:00:07.059 --> 00:00:10.439 Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:15.199 in downtown Ventura. Now, here's Dr. Todd. Good 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:17.160 afternoon. I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board -certified 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:19.339 doctor of non -force chiropractic and practitioner 00:00:19.339 --> 00:00:21.820 of functional medicine. Today, we're going to 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:25.019 talk about microplastics, tiny little plastics 00:00:25.019 --> 00:00:28.219 that many of us are eating and drinking. Every 00:00:28.219 --> 00:00:30.160 day. Why it's important. More and more research 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:32.219 is coming out demonstrating how important and 00:00:32.219 --> 00:00:35.079 why it is so important to stop eating plastic 00:00:35.079 --> 00:00:37.539 and stop drinking plastic or even breathing plastic 00:00:37.539 --> 00:00:40.840 in from the air. These microplastics, anything 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:43.380 smaller than five millimeters is considered a 00:00:43.380 --> 00:00:45.780 microplastic. Some of these things are deliberately 00:00:45.780 --> 00:00:49.219 manufactured to be tiny, such as microbeads found 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:51.939 in some cosmetics. But most of them come from 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:54.299 the inevitable wear and tear of larger plastic 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:57.689 material like plastic bags, water bottles. plastic 00:00:57.689 --> 00:01:02.490 packaging, car tires, synthetic fibers like polyester, 00:01:02.670 --> 00:01:06.709 fishing equipment, even paint. So plastics were 00:01:06.709 --> 00:01:08.849 first engineered at the turn of the 20th century, 00:01:08.969 --> 00:01:10.730 but they really came into widespread use in the 00:01:10.730 --> 00:01:12.950 1950s because they're cheap and are versatile, 00:01:13.030 --> 00:01:15.890 do so many different things. Since then, the 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:19.510 plastics production has increased 230 -fold. 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:22.349 And most of this plastic never fully decomposes. 00:01:22.430 --> 00:01:24.969 It just breaks down into smaller and smaller 00:01:24.969 --> 00:01:29.049 pieces over decades. And these things are being 00:01:29.049 --> 00:01:30.930 found almost everywhere now. They're ubiquitous 00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:33.189 in the environment. They're in agricultural soil. 00:01:33.390 --> 00:01:35.310 They're in groundwater. They're in the ocean. 00:01:35.569 --> 00:01:39.189 They've been found in chicken, fish, pork, cows, 00:01:39.609 --> 00:01:42.750 tofu, apples, pears, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, 00:01:42.950 --> 00:01:45.310 potatoes. They're in the water we drink. They 00:01:45.310 --> 00:01:47.730 literally rain down on us and we inhale them 00:01:47.730 --> 00:01:50.709 as airborne. particulate matter. We wear them 00:01:50.709 --> 00:01:52.989 as synthetic fibers like nylon and polyester. 00:01:53.069 --> 00:01:55.709 They can enter the bloodstream and IV infusions. 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:59.230 The hospitals are full of plastic bags and tubing 00:01:59.230 --> 00:02:03.810 that directly cause plastics to enter our bloodstreams, 00:02:03.810 --> 00:02:05.930 and they've been found embedded in virtually 00:02:05.930 --> 00:02:09.169 every human organ. So teasing out the health 00:02:09.169 --> 00:02:12.050 impacts of this requires a lot of study. There's 00:02:12.050 --> 00:02:13.849 a lot of new information coming out about that. 00:02:13.909 --> 00:02:15.610 There's no control group. You can't have a control 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:17.750 group and give one person plastic and not the 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:20.069 other one. But other studies, animal studies 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:22.449 and human studies, more and more information 00:02:22.449 --> 00:02:25.870 is coming out over the months and years. Especially 00:02:25.870 --> 00:02:28.050 recently, exposure to microplastics has been 00:02:28.050 --> 00:02:30.789 associated with endocrine system disruption. 00:02:30.909 --> 00:02:32.870 That's one of the main ones. They screw up your 00:02:32.870 --> 00:02:34.689 hormones, your hormone production, your body's 00:02:34.689 --> 00:02:38.069 response to normal hormones. Weakened immune 00:02:38.069 --> 00:02:41.310 systems, developmental aberrations, irregular 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:45.319 reproductive organ development. And they exert 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:48.479 their damage partly through local and chronic 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.979 inflammation once lodged in tissue. And plastics 00:02:51.979 --> 00:02:54.460 are often coated with chemicals. So the chemicals 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:57.319 leach into the surrounding tissue once you ingest. 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:01.379 plastic. So here's an interesting study. In 2024, 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.800 researchers followed patients undergoing carotid 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:06.840 surgery. The carotid arteries are the arteries 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:08.699 in your neck that are the main blood supply to 00:03:08.699 --> 00:03:11.000 the brain. And when they do the surgery where 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.379 they go in and remove the plaque from those arteries 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:15.740 to reduce your risk of having a stroke, if you're 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:18.120 starting to have transient ischemic attacks, 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:20.580 minor strokes, or if you have high risk of a 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:22.800 stroke and they do an ultrasound and find that 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.020 you have a lot of plaque in those arteries, they'll 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:27.180 go in and scrape that out. And they found that 00:03:27.210 --> 00:03:30.069 But those who have microplastics embedded in 00:03:30.069 --> 00:03:33.210 those plaques had a significantly higher rate 00:03:33.210 --> 00:03:36.469 of heart attack, stroke, and death three years 00:03:36.469 --> 00:03:39.490 later. Wow. So this plastic stuff is getting 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:42.310 embedded in the plaque in your arteries. And 00:03:42.310 --> 00:03:45.449 if you have more of that, those with the most 00:03:45.449 --> 00:03:47.750 microplastics in their plaque have a significantly 00:03:47.750 --> 00:03:49.590 higher rate of heart attack and stroke three 00:03:49.590 --> 00:03:53.289 years later. More recently, from 2016 to 2024, 00:03:53.610 --> 00:03:56.990 brains from autopsies were evaluated for a concentration 00:03:56.990 --> 00:04:00.449 of plastics in their brain tissue, and the concentrations 00:04:00.449 --> 00:04:03.069 of plastics in the brain were significantly higher 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:05.810 among individuals diagnosed with dementia compared 00:04:05.810 --> 00:04:08.849 to those without. Also, the plastics in the brain 00:04:08.849 --> 00:04:12.909 tissue increased as much as 50 % from 2016 to 00:04:12.909 --> 00:04:15.509 2024, consistent with this increasing ongoing 00:04:15.509 --> 00:04:18.449 environmental exposure. More and more plastics 00:04:18.449 --> 00:04:20.490 are entering our systems all the time. So in 00:04:20.490 --> 00:04:22.009 these brains that they studied over an eight 00:04:22.009 --> 00:04:25.089 -year period from 2016 to 2024, there was 50 00:04:25.089 --> 00:04:29.610 % higher concentration of plastics. And it dramatically 00:04:29.610 --> 00:04:32.029 increased the risk of dementia in those patients. 00:04:32.310 --> 00:04:34.810 And these plastics are everywhere. Just tires 00:04:34.810 --> 00:04:37.319 and garbage are constant. Recently shedding tiny 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:40.019 pieces of plastic that then float up into the 00:04:40.019 --> 00:04:42.139 air, creating a form of air pollution that we're 00:04:42.139 --> 00:04:45.019 all exposed to. Researchers at UC San Francisco 00:04:45.019 --> 00:04:48.740 did a review of some 3 ,000 studies and found 00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:51.759 that these particles are implicated in serious 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:54.779 health problems involving male and female infertility, 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:57.879 colon cancer, poor lung function, lung inflammation 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:00.920 that can increase your risk of lung cancer, and 00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:03.560 other forms of damage to harm to reproductive 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:07.480 and digestive health. So the jury is in. It's 00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:08.959 really important to start paying more attention 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:10.779 to this stuff. Most of us know that plastics 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:14.379 are not good, not good to eat or drink plastic, 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:16.519 but a lot of people don't realize how much they 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:20.060 already are literally eating, drinking, and breathing 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:24.980 in plastic. So this is also, before we get into 00:05:24.980 --> 00:05:26.819 the specifics, this is really important for younger 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:29.439 generations because younger generations are getting 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:32.490 exposed to more plastic. in their lifetimes than 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:35.189 ever before. And that is all signs or that's 00:05:35.189 --> 00:05:38.310 likely to increase. So the easy one that everyone 00:05:38.310 --> 00:05:40.810 should do is stop drinking water out of plastic 00:05:40.810 --> 00:05:44.269 bottles. There's so much exposure to plastic 00:05:44.269 --> 00:05:46.970 from people drinking water out of plastic bottles. 00:05:47.069 --> 00:05:50.509 If you have any sense of taste, you can usually 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:53.430 taste the plastic. When you open a bottle of 00:05:53.430 --> 00:05:56.269 water, a plastic bottle of water, those things, 00:05:56.350 --> 00:05:59.660 you see them. being shipped, being unloaded from 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:01.720 trucks that have driven across the desert and 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:03.980 100 degree plus heat sometimes. And then they'll 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:06.980 sit on pallets outside some big box store in 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:09.060 the sun. The more that you heat the plastic, 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:12.139 any plastic, the more it's going to leach into 00:06:12.139 --> 00:06:14.839 the food or the water, any other liquid that's 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:16.779 in direct contact with it. So it's really important 00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:19.779 to always avoid anything that combines heat and 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:22.839 plastic around your food or anything you're drinking. 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:26.180 But the bottled water is guaranteed to be exposing 00:06:26.180 --> 00:06:29.939 you. to plastic. Bottled water has 20 times more 00:06:29.939 --> 00:06:33.399 microplastics than tap water. And it's cheaper 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:35.120 in the long run just to get a good filter and 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.959 then fill glass or steel bottles and drink your 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:41.709 water out of glass. Or steel, stainless steel, 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:44.269 metal, any kind of metal container. Instead of 00:06:44.269 --> 00:06:46.449 plastic, just cut the plastic out of the picture. 00:06:46.509 --> 00:06:48.750 That's the most important way to dramatically 00:06:48.750 --> 00:06:51.829 limit your ingestion of plastic if you're drinking 00:06:51.829 --> 00:06:54.449 water out of plastic bottles. So it's also important 00:06:54.449 --> 00:06:56.069 just to look around the kitchen. You know, anywhere 00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:59.990 you store and eat and cook your food. So that 00:06:59.990 --> 00:07:02.170 means using wooden cooking utensils and cutting 00:07:02.170 --> 00:07:04.949 boards instead of plastic ones. Using tinfoil 00:07:04.949 --> 00:07:07.170 or wax paper. If you're going to heat something 00:07:07.170 --> 00:07:09.980 in the oven, use tinfoil. You're not going to 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:12.699 usually put plastic in the oven anyway, but storing 00:07:12.699 --> 00:07:15.300 things with tinfoil as a lid or wax paper. If 00:07:15.300 --> 00:07:16.279 you're going to microwave, if you're going to 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:18.560 heat something in the microwave, don't put saran 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:21.040 wrap on the container. Use wax paper instead. 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:24.600 And I don't recommend really cooking in the microwave 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:26.920 much at all. It's better to cook your food. I 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:28.819 like to do most of my cooking in a toaster oven 00:07:28.819 --> 00:07:32.759 or on the stove. But if you are going to reheat 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:34.019 something in the microwave, or if you're going 00:07:34.019 --> 00:07:36.860 to get any kind of a frozen dinner or precooked 00:07:36.860 --> 00:07:39.480 food and heat it up in the microwave, take it 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:41.480 out of whatever paper or plastic container that 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:43.860 it comes in and put it in a glass bowl, like 00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:46.670 a Pyrex bowl. and then cover that with wax paper. 00:07:46.910 --> 00:07:49.110 That way you don't get any exposure to plastic 00:07:49.110 --> 00:07:51.670 while that food's being heated and while you're 00:07:51.670 --> 00:07:54.009 eating it, while it's hot. So anytime you expose 00:07:54.009 --> 00:07:57.470 the plastic to heat, you're going to be ingesting 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:01.069 more of that plastic. So it's okay to store food 00:08:01.069 --> 00:08:03.569 and even water in plastic bottles as long as 00:08:03.569 --> 00:08:05.990 it's not cold, you know, overnight in your fridge, 00:08:06.050 --> 00:08:08.310 for example, if you have room temperature water. 00:08:09.430 --> 00:08:11.250 And if you don't have any stainless steel or 00:08:11.250 --> 00:08:13.370 glass bottles and you put room temperature water 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:16.149 from your water filter into a plastic bottle 00:08:16.149 --> 00:08:18.829 to take with you, that's not so bad. If it doesn't 00:08:18.829 --> 00:08:20.550 get hot, then it's not going to be good. And 00:08:20.550 --> 00:08:23.829 if it's not a super soft plastic and, you know, 00:08:23.870 --> 00:08:25.649 leave it in your car where it's going to get 00:08:25.649 --> 00:08:28.930 hot and exposed to in the sun or in a hot car, 00:08:29.050 --> 00:08:30.750 it's going to, you know. You don't want to do 00:08:30.750 --> 00:08:32.830 that. If you're going to carry a bottle of water 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:35.029 in your car, make it a glass or a stainless steel 00:08:35.029 --> 00:08:36.889 bottle, not plastic. But, you know, sometimes 00:08:36.889 --> 00:08:38.970 it's just hard to find an alternative. So if 00:08:38.970 --> 00:08:40.730 you're going to put something overnight storage, 00:08:40.929 --> 00:08:43.409 for example, food with a plastic lid, not really 00:08:43.409 --> 00:08:46.070 a problem. And even storing some liquids in plastic. 00:08:46.169 --> 00:08:48.929 If it's in your fridge, especially, and it's 00:08:48.929 --> 00:08:50.789 not in there very long, then you're going to 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:53.220 get much less exposure to plastic. from that, 00:08:53.259 --> 00:08:55.259 but ideally, you know, minimize it as much as 00:08:55.259 --> 00:08:57.299 possible. And with your wife, you have these 00:08:57.299 --> 00:08:59.840 plastic containers, um, you know, don't stick 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.019 them in the dishwasher, wash them by hand. Uh, 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:04.220 again, just to avoid the heat dishwashers, the 00:09:04.220 --> 00:09:06.600 water and dishwashers is much, much hotter. So 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.220 heating plastic is just leaching the chemicals 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:12.379 out and breaking down the plastic material. even 00:09:12.379 --> 00:09:14.919 faster, making it more likely to leach into the 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:16.580 food or beverages that you're going to put in. 00:09:16.620 --> 00:09:18.519 This includes baby bottles. A lot of people stick 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:21.100 the baby bottle into the microwave to warm that 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:24.659 up. Much better to use glass. Here in California, 00:09:24.820 --> 00:09:27.179 we're not using as many plastic bags as we used 00:09:27.179 --> 00:09:30.320 to. Most of us take canvas bags or some kind 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:32.559 of cloth bag into the store when shopping or 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.659 get paper bags there. Avoid using the plastic 00:09:35.659 --> 00:09:38.220 bags wherever you can because they are really 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:40.759 soft plastics that break down really easily. 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:43.320 The more people use them, the more those end 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:45.940 up breaking down and becoming airborne pollution. 00:09:46.139 --> 00:09:48.419 Those plastic, those horrible single -use plastic 00:09:48.419 --> 00:09:51.379 bags are a huge source of airborne plastic that 00:09:51.379 --> 00:09:55.120 all of us then end up breathing. Another great 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.259 way to avoid... Or reduce your consumption of 00:09:57.259 --> 00:09:59.639 plastic is just to avoid ultra -processed foods, 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:02.940 junk food, any food that comes wrapped in plastic. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:06.559 You know, potato chips, cakes, cookies, crackers, 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:09.100 you know, so many foods come wrapped in plastic. 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:11.519 Try to find foods that are not wrapped in plastic. 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:14.019 Even vegetables and fruits come wrapped in plastic 00:10:14.019 --> 00:10:16.799 far too often. Try to get the ones that are not 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:19.500 wrapped in plastic. And finally, take good care 00:10:19.500 --> 00:10:21.960 of your health so that you don't end up... In 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.519 a hospital, hospitals are full, teeming with 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:28.039 plastic aprons, IV tubes and bags, syringes, 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:31.519 plastic gloves, packaging for different materials, 00:10:31.740 --> 00:10:35.000 plastic bottles and utensils and devices. A quarter 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:38.600 of the trash hospitals produce is plastic. And 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:41.519 hospitals produce a lot of trash. So that's a 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:44.460 lot of plastic. I'm Dr. Todd Bankley. You're 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:46.899 listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions 00:10:46.899 --> 00:10:49.179 to Almost... Any health challenge, if you just 00:10:49.179 --> 00:10:50.519 tuned in, we were reviewing some of the latest 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:53.259 literature showing how important it is to start 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:55.759 to spend a little more time and effort reducing 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.000 your exposure to plastics, especially plastic 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:02.279 food and beverage containers and anything that 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.720 involves cooking, especially avoiding any type 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:09.159 of contact with food or beverages that are heated 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:12.279 or in contact with heat in a plastic packaging 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:15.029 or container. Here's a great study that just 00:11:15.029 --> 00:11:17.429 came out in this week's news published in the 00:11:17.429 --> 00:11:19.190 Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 00:11:19.269 --> 00:11:21.210 It was done in Japan, but just published last 00:11:21.210 --> 00:11:24.909 month, September 2025, a review of over 1 .5 00:11:24.909 --> 00:11:28.070 million people without any form of cardiovascular 00:11:28.070 --> 00:11:31.370 disease. This is from a database gathered from 00:11:31.370 --> 00:11:36.289 April 2014 to November 2022. So eight and a half 00:11:36.289 --> 00:11:40.169 year period with constipation, individuals with 00:11:40.169 --> 00:11:44.700 no cardiovascular disease. but with constipation. 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:48.980 So people that had constipation had a much higher 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:52.519 risk. They looked for associations between people 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:55.320 who had constipation and whether or not they 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:58.679 had a heart attack, angina, the chest pain that's 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:01.019 associated with strain on the heart, strokes, 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:04.409 heart failure, atrial fibrillation. and a composite 00:12:04.409 --> 00:12:07.149 of all of these forms of cardiovascular disease. 00:12:07.330 --> 00:12:10.149 And the result was that constipation was associated 00:12:10.149 --> 00:12:13.830 with a 30 % increased risk of all cardiovascular 00:12:13.830 --> 00:12:18.049 diseases and a 32 % increased risk of heart failure. 00:12:18.350 --> 00:12:20.370 So heart failure doesn't mean your heart stops. 00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:23.029 Heart failure is a common cause, a quote -unquote 00:12:23.029 --> 00:12:24.730 natural cause of death. It's when your heart 00:12:24.730 --> 00:12:27.070 basically is worn out, can no longer keep up 00:12:27.070 --> 00:12:28.870 with demand, or is weak. It doesn't have to be 00:12:28.870 --> 00:12:30.610 permanent. Sometimes it's reversible if you take 00:12:30.610 --> 00:12:32.799 good care of yourself. But heart failure just 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:35.620 means the pump is failing to keep up with demand. 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:38.980 So who knew constipation increases your risk 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:42.840 of heart attacks and strokes 30 % and heart failure. 00:12:43.019 --> 00:12:45.940 So heart failure is, you know, most, most commonly 00:12:45.940 --> 00:12:48.340 happens as you get older. So the, the major risk 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:50.440 factor for heart failure is just being old, but 00:12:50.440 --> 00:12:54.539 in having a repeated minor heart events, many 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:57.240 strokes, a heart, you know, chest pain, any of 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:00.019 the things that can, atrial fibrillation, anything 00:13:00.019 --> 00:13:01.860 that puts strain on your heart is going to increase 00:13:01.860 --> 00:13:04.379 your risk of eventually having heart failure. 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:07.480 And being constipated increases your risk of 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:10.220 all these things. So if you're frustrated about 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:12.360 being constipated, here's another good reason 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:14.700 to do something about that. There's lots of ways 00:13:14.700 --> 00:13:16.980 that you can completely eliminate constipation 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:19.580 without becoming dependent on Metamucil or stool 00:13:19.580 --> 00:13:22.220 softeners for the rest of your life. When people 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:25.580 come into me, my office, who have constipation, 00:13:25.659 --> 00:13:28.019 I'm going to look at a whole host of things in 00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:29.679 their blood work that could be contributing to 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:32.360 constipation. And sometimes it's just a few basics 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.500 like insufficient vitamin D. B, insufficient 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:37.720 protein in their diet, insufficient fiber in 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:40.320 their diet. Some basic things that many people 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.860 can easily do to change. And even just taking 00:13:42.860 --> 00:13:45.100 a little bit of supplemental magnesium. A lot 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:47.000 of people are deficient in magnesium. A little 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.500 bit of supplemental magnesium can help with that. 00:13:50.659 --> 00:13:52.279 There are a bunch of other things that are less 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:55.700 common. And then ultimately, if the basics don't 00:13:55.700 --> 00:13:58.179 do it, then a stool test can identify whether 00:13:58.179 --> 00:14:01.299 or not you have... Some kind of gut bug, a virus, 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:05.480 a bacteria, a parasite, worms, fungus, anything, 00:14:05.639 --> 00:14:08.600 yeast, anything that can disrupt the normal gut 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:13.460 microbiome can cause constipation. And especially 00:14:13.460 --> 00:14:17.039 if you're on the seesaw where you have constipation 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.259 and diarrhea. Oh, one day I'm, you know, I'm... 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:21.580 It goes back and forth. That's really frustrating 00:14:21.580 --> 00:14:23.259 and confusing. You'd think you'd have one or 00:14:23.259 --> 00:14:25.500 the other. And some people would go back and 00:14:25.500 --> 00:14:27.159 forth. And that's usually because you have some 00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:29.460 kind of bad bug in your gut. And it's creating 00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:32.580 an inflammatory process. That is constantly changing, 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:35.259 but results in the inability for your colon to 00:14:35.259 --> 00:14:38.919 do its job and form normal consistency stools. 00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:40.639 So yeah, get that stuff checked out. Here's another 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:42.320 good reason. If you're having constipation, do 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:43.840 something about it. I'd love to help you with 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.320 that. So you can obviously become more comfortable, 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.820 but you'll also be reducing your risk of heart 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:51.250 attack and stroke. I've got some more great studies 00:14:51.250 --> 00:14:53.129 to talk about here today, and if we have time, 00:14:53.230 --> 00:14:56.350 I'll talk about a case study or two. But before 00:14:56.350 --> 00:14:58.029 I do that, I want to talk about something that 00:14:58.029 --> 00:15:00.590 just occurred to me. I had a patient last week 00:15:00.590 --> 00:15:02.129 who was under a lot of stress and was complaining 00:15:02.129 --> 00:15:06.429 about how angry they would get just... Just something 00:15:06.429 --> 00:15:08.909 as simple as not being able to find their keys 00:15:08.909 --> 00:15:10.990 is raising their blood pressure. And I see that. 00:15:11.029 --> 00:15:14.110 People come in. So something as simple as that. 00:15:14.309 --> 00:15:17.429 Here's one way to consider reducing your stress. 00:15:17.470 --> 00:15:20.409 If you find that you're constantly wasting energy 00:15:20.409 --> 00:15:23.929 and aggravation looking for something, keys is 00:15:23.929 --> 00:15:26.129 a common one. It's really simple. Just put your 00:15:26.129 --> 00:15:28.470 keys in the same place every day. Just take that 00:15:28.470 --> 00:15:31.100 extra second. to put your keys on a hook, in 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:33.379 a little bowl, on a little table, somewhere near 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:35.840 the door ideally, wherever you're going to find 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:38.299 it every day, and always only put your keys there. 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:39.899 When you walk in, just drop them there immediately 00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:42.100 so you'll always be able to find them. But there's 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:44.899 lots of other things that I've found myself frustrated 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:47.519 looking for over time, like scissors. Do you 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.120 only have one pair of scissors? Have you ever 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.600 wanted a pair of scissors and wondered where 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:52.519 it was and walked around for hours trying to 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:56.600 find it? Easy solution. Same thing if you find 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:58.500 yourself frustrated looking for a pen or pencil 00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:00.549 and you can't find it. find one or a post -it 00:16:00.549 --> 00:16:03.029 note or a sharpie to mark something on a box 00:16:03.029 --> 00:16:06.289 or a box cutter to open a box or a highlighter 00:16:06.289 --> 00:16:08.830 to highlight things anything that you find yourself 00:16:08.830 --> 00:16:11.470 when you want something and it's not right there 00:16:11.470 --> 00:16:13.450 ready to just reach out and jump into your hand 00:16:13.450 --> 00:16:16.149 when you need it Buy six of those things. They're 00:16:16.149 --> 00:16:19.370 cheap. Put a pair of scissors in your kitchen, 00:16:19.409 --> 00:16:22.309 in your workroom, any place you use a pair of 00:16:22.309 --> 00:16:24.830 scissors, or a pen or a pencil, or a box cutter. 00:16:24.929 --> 00:16:26.789 Just get a bunch of those things and spread them 00:16:26.789 --> 00:16:29.389 around so that there's always one anywhere you 00:16:29.389 --> 00:16:32.889 might ever want to use it. Simple way to reduce 00:16:32.889 --> 00:16:35.850 one stressor, one source of frustration from 00:16:35.850 --> 00:16:38.740 your life. Have you ever had a calcium score 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:42.179 done? A coronary artery calcification test? This 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:44.700 is the CAT scan where you're in the tube for 00:16:44.700 --> 00:16:46.419 a brief period of time. They just do a couple 00:16:46.419 --> 00:16:49.299 of slices, low radiation, and they can see the 00:16:49.299 --> 00:16:52.240 calcium in your arteries and your heart. So if 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:53.799 you know anybody that's ever had that done, if 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:55.519 you've had it done, there's been some controversy 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:59.779 around it. Plaque is made up of fibrin, scar 00:16:59.779 --> 00:17:02.460 tissue, that occurs from inflammation. That's 00:17:02.460 --> 00:17:04.720 why it's not caused by cholesterol, but it is 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:07.319 made of cholesterol. If you have a lot of inflammation 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:09.440 creating a lot of micro tears in your blood vessels, 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.539 then your body forms a scab, a type of a scab 00:17:12.539 --> 00:17:15.180 to heal those little micro tears. And that is 00:17:15.180 --> 00:17:18.660 made of scar tissue. Fibrin is the main type 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:23.799 of collagen -like fiber that forms the scar to 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:25.880 heal the tear. And then that becomes embedded 00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:29.839 with calcium and cholesterol. So calcium and 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:32.390 cholesterol increase in... those plaques as they 00:17:32.390 --> 00:17:35.269 grow. And one of the ways to measure that is 00:17:35.269 --> 00:17:37.690 to measure the plaque, to measure the calcium 00:17:37.690 --> 00:17:42.170 in that is with this CT tube -like x -ray that 00:17:42.170 --> 00:17:44.549 can see the calcium in your arteries. And so, 00:17:44.569 --> 00:17:46.609 you know, it's a useful test because if you have 00:17:46.609 --> 00:17:49.069 more of the calcified, it doesn't show the soft 00:17:49.069 --> 00:17:52.059 plaque. That's the controversy. So you can only 00:17:52.059 --> 00:17:54.160 see the calcium. You can only see the calcified 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.799 parts of the plaque. You can't see the soft plaque. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:59.480 Well, it's the soft plaque that can easily, that's 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:02.099 growing and filling and closing off the artery 00:18:02.099 --> 00:18:04.319 long before it becomes hard enough to show up 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:08.599 on an x -ray. that blocks the arteries and is 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:11.380 the soft plaque that can erode and break off 00:18:11.380 --> 00:18:14.259 and cause a thrombus, cause a pulmonary embolism. 00:18:14.279 --> 00:18:17.259 If it comes off from a vein in your leg, cause 00:18:17.259 --> 00:18:18.940 a stroke. If it comes from your heart, it's going 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:20.819 to go up your brain and cause a stroke. So that 00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:23.599 softer plaque that breaks off easily, erodes 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:27.059 or ruptures, that's what causes the most damaging 00:18:27.059 --> 00:18:29.480 form. And that doesn't show up at all when you 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:32.119 get any kind of an x -ray or a CAT scan or specifically 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.200 this coronary artery calcification or calcium. 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:39.839 score. But in general, the more calcified plaque 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:41.960 you see on that test, the more you're likely 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:45.319 to have the other types of softer plaque that 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:47.339 you can't see on that test because they go together. 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:51.160 So that's why people get that test. Some people 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:53.000 think it's useless because it does not measure 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:55.319 the worst type of, and especially in young people. 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:57.539 So that's what this, there's a letter published 00:18:57.539 --> 00:19:00.339 in Cardiovascular Imaging, Journal of American 00:19:00.339 --> 00:19:02.559 Cardiology, Cardiovascular Imaging, talking about 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:06.619 how some more data review of the studies that 00:19:06.619 --> 00:19:09.079 they've done on autopsy. They did, they took, 00:19:09.099 --> 00:19:11.619 how many, I think it was 2 ,500 people. Oh, 5 00:19:11.619 --> 00:19:15.160 ,000, 5 ,000 adult autopsies. They analyzed 3 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.730 ,130 hearts to see. They did the coronary artery 00:19:19.730 --> 00:19:22.630 score on them and then compared the plaque score, 00:19:22.809 --> 00:19:26.109 the coronary artery calcification, with the amount 00:19:26.109 --> 00:19:30.109 of the softer plaque that is prone to rupture 00:19:30.109 --> 00:19:33.970 and erosion that can cause a heart attack or 00:19:33.970 --> 00:19:36.970 stroke. What was the difference? Did it correlate 00:19:36.970 --> 00:19:40.009 directly? What was the deal with that? So what 00:19:40.009 --> 00:19:43.769 they found is that in younger people, it correlates 00:19:43.769 --> 00:19:47.009 very poorly. So you can have a very low calcium 00:19:47.009 --> 00:19:49.410 score or a zero. And it kind of makes sense. 00:19:49.529 --> 00:19:52.190 It hasn't been there. Everyone has plaque. Almost 00:19:52.190 --> 00:19:54.579 everyone has plaque. They find plaque in... For 00:19:54.579 --> 00:19:57.519 decades ago, they found huge amounts of plaque 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:00.359 and blockage in the arteries in returning soldiers 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:02.599 when they did autopsies on returning soldiers 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:05.420 going back decades from various wars. So depending 00:20:05.420 --> 00:20:08.240 on how lousy a diet you have, you can have massive 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.940 amounts of blocking in your arteries, even in 00:20:10.940 --> 00:20:14.519 your 20s. But the younger you are, the less likely 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:17.410 you are to have plaque that has calcified. But 00:20:17.410 --> 00:20:19.230 depending on your lifestyle, you could still 00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:21.609 have a lot of the softer kind of plaque that 00:20:21.609 --> 00:20:25.150 can cause heart attacks and strokes. So the younger 00:20:25.150 --> 00:20:28.049 you are, the less likely the calcium score is 00:20:28.049 --> 00:20:30.630 going to correlate with the total amount of plaque 00:20:30.630 --> 00:20:33.549 that you have and therefore your risk of heart 00:20:33.549 --> 00:20:37.200 attacks. Whereas as you get older, the more likely 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.880 it is to compare calcium score is likely to represent 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:43.920 your total burden. So it doesn't show you exactly 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:46.740 what we would like to be able to see more easily 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:49.019 on a scan. To see the actual amount of plaque 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:51.740 or blockage of an artery, you have to inject 00:20:51.740 --> 00:20:55.470 a dye in. and do an x -ray of that dye, which 00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.289 will show a blockage directly. But in the meantime, 00:20:58.430 --> 00:21:00.210 this score is useful. I like to think of it, 00:21:00.269 --> 00:21:02.150 I've ordered it on patients. It's inexpensive. 00:21:02.430 --> 00:21:03.630 I think the last time I ordered one was about 00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:07.769 $150. Well, that was at Grossman Imaging here 00:21:07.769 --> 00:21:11.430 in Ventura County. Radnet, Rolling Oaks, everything 00:21:11.430 --> 00:21:13.289 is Rolling Oaks now. They bought out Grossman. 00:21:13.309 --> 00:21:15.740 There's fewer places to go. I've had a... A lot 00:21:15.740 --> 00:21:17.259 of patients recently saying that they're having 00:21:17.259 --> 00:21:19.640 trouble getting in to get an appointment to get 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:21.160 any kind of imaging done lately. But I think 00:21:21.160 --> 00:21:23.700 it's inexpensive to do. It's useful. I like to 00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:26.680 think of it as a way to motivate you, especially 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:30.339 if you're in your 60s or 70s or older. Or if 00:21:30.339 --> 00:21:32.920 you have had a lifestyle, eating a lot of red 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.519 meat, cheese. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:39.480 a lot of inflammatory. components of your diet. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:41.660 If you've eaten a lot of junk food or soda, or 00:21:41.660 --> 00:21:44.220 if you've smoked, drinking a lot of alcohol, 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:46.319 done anything that's going to increase inflammation 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:48.019 throughout your body, it's going to increase 00:21:48.019 --> 00:21:50.619 your risk of cardiovascular disease, the formation 00:21:50.619 --> 00:21:53.500 of plaques. And so you can think of this calcium 00:21:53.500 --> 00:21:56.319 score as a way to find out. If it's really important 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:59.299 for you, it's a motivator to motivate you. Say, 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:01.200 hey, look, you can't argue with these x -rays. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:02.720 Now it's going to motivate you to take better 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.079 care of yourself. Maybe come in and get some 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:06.359 blood tests done. Do a little bit more exercise. 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:08.720 Find a way to get rid of the pain that may be 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:10.960 preventing you from doing more exercise. Whatever 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.200 it's going to take to motivate you to take better 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:16.819 care of your health and directly reduce your 00:22:16.819 --> 00:22:19.089 risk of cardiovascular disease. So I had her 00:22:19.089 --> 00:22:21.750 patient in her mid -60s who had this calcium 00:22:21.750 --> 00:22:23.509 score done. She came in. She wanted to know what 00:22:23.509 --> 00:22:25.329 does this mean? What does this score mean? I 00:22:25.329 --> 00:22:27.150 said, well, you have a certain amount. I explained 00:22:27.150 --> 00:22:29.410 how it doesn't show the softer parts, the more 00:22:29.410 --> 00:22:31.730 dangerous types of plaque. And we also did a 00:22:31.730 --> 00:22:33.569 bunch of blood work on her, among other things, 00:22:33.569 --> 00:22:39.009 measuring markers for inflammation like erythrocyte 00:22:39.009 --> 00:22:40.910 sedimentation rate. That's a kind of a mouthful, 00:22:40.930 --> 00:22:42.750 but there's a blood test that measures the viscosity 00:22:42.750 --> 00:22:45.089 or the thickness of your blood. And your blood 00:22:45.089 --> 00:22:46.589 gets thicker when you have a lot of inflammation. 00:22:47.089 --> 00:22:48.960 And there's also a test. It's called CRP. Those 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:50.880 are two of the markers of inflammation that I 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:53.180 do on every patient. And so this woman had high 00:22:53.180 --> 00:22:56.220 cholesterol. And slightly elevated inflammatory 00:22:56.220 --> 00:22:58.380 markers as well, especially the SED rate, this 00:22:58.380 --> 00:23:00.140 erythrocyte sedimentation rate, where both were 00:23:00.140 --> 00:23:02.799 elevated. And I tried to get her to eat a little 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:04.519 bit better food. She already actually had a pretty 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:07.339 good diet. She was exercising some, but not as 00:23:07.339 --> 00:23:08.940 much as she'd like. So she started exercising 00:23:08.940 --> 00:23:11.539 a little bit more, but not that much, not a huge 00:23:11.539 --> 00:23:13.380 change in her lifestyle. She didn't dramatically 00:23:13.380 --> 00:23:16.259 change her exercise or her diet. But what she 00:23:16.259 --> 00:23:19.240 did is took some supplements to control inflammation, 00:23:19.259 --> 00:23:22.039 like turmeric. And a product that's a rock star 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:24.109 for lowering cholesterol called Bergamot. mutt 00:23:24.109 --> 00:23:26.869 bpf it's from orthomolecular products a few other 00:23:26.869 --> 00:23:30.789 things and in about took about four think about 00:23:30.789 --> 00:23:32.589 six i usually retest in four months but i think 00:23:32.589 --> 00:23:34.609 it was six months with her six months later her 00:23:34.609 --> 00:23:38.190 cholesterol total cholesterol went from 249 to 00:23:38.190 --> 00:23:41.660 199 50 points drop in the total cholesterol and 00:23:41.660 --> 00:23:43.579 her even more importantly, the bad cholesterol. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:46.500 This is harder to do. It's easier to reduce the 00:23:46.500 --> 00:23:49.140 total and get the HDL good cholesterol up. The 00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:51.759 hardest is to get the bad LDL cholesterol to 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.839 come down where you want it. You want it ideally 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:58.420 below 100, no more than 125 to be healthy. Of 00:23:58.420 --> 00:24:00.579 course, MDs put you on statin drugs to lower, 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:03.319 but we got her LDL bad cholesterol down also 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:06.539 by 50 points in about six months with mainly 00:24:06.539 --> 00:24:08.740 just with some supplements that help your body 00:24:08.740 --> 00:24:11.039 stop forming as much cholesterol. first place, 00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:13.619 reduce inflammation and to a certain extent, 00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:16.380 break down that old fibrin and remove some of 00:24:16.380 --> 00:24:18.339 that scar tissue that's contributing to plaque 00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:20.720 in the first place. Thank you for tuning in. 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:22.180 Send me your questions. What would you like to 00:24:22.180 --> 00:24:24.279 hear more about on this show? I'd love to answer 00:24:24.279 --> 00:24:26.880 your question next week. Have a fantastic weekend. 00:24:27.259 --> 00:24:30.220 You've been listening to Safe, Effective Natural 00:24:30.220 --> 00:24:33.500 Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. If you have 00:24:33.500 --> 00:24:35.619 a health question you want discussed on the show, 00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:40.700 email your health questions to drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter 00:24:40.700 --> 00:24:44.400 .com. Take advantage of this opportunity to ask 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.059 questions for yourself and for your loved ones 00:24:47.059 --> 00:24:50.859 because our health matters. Join him next Friday 00:24:50.859 --> 00:24:54.940 at 2 p .m. for Safe, Effective Natural Solutions 00:24:54.940 --> 00:24:58.140 here on 98 .3 FM, The Word.