Hello, and welcome
to Health for a Lifetime
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I'm your host Don Mackintosh
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We're glad you're with us today
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and we're glad Dr. Neil Nedley
is with us for today's program
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Welcome Dr. Nedley!
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Thank you! Good to be here
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What kind of a physician
are you... what do you do?
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I'm an internal
medicine physician
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and that's a specialist of adult
diseases of the internal organs.
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And, currently, you're the
president of Weimar as well.
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Correct... And
you're involved with the
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health and wellness programs
there, the New Start Program
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all those different
things. That's right
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Well, we're glad
you're with us today.
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You always are
up-to-date on research!
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You have a website drnedley. com
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People can go there and get some
of the notes from today probably
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You have it all archived...
all the newest research, right?
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Yes, the Nedley Health Report.
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We're just going to look at
some of these studies that are
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exciting... they're interesting
and I hope very useful.
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The first one,
"Healthy Eating May Extend
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Someone's
Life... a Woman's Life"
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Yes, this was the
Harvard Study 72,000 U.S. women,
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actually over 72,000...
To be exact 72,113 women
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enrolled in the
"Nurses Health Study"
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They have been a
study group since 1976
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and more and more
information starts coming out
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about this group. Um hm
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What they took a look
at are the women who had
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4 different foods that
were eaten at higher amounts
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So this isn't lowering
food intake necessarily
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But it's raising the
intake of 4 different foods...
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Fruits, vegetables,
beans and whole grains.
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Did that increase
life? Let me guess...
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It did... It increased life.
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Even though they may have
still been eating meat actually
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Now what they found out is
that statistical association...
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People who eat more
of those 4 food groups
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have a tendency to
eat LESS meat. Okay
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So they noticed that
tendency in these women as well.
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What were the 4 again?
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Fruits, vegetables,
beans, and whole grains.
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If you eat those,
you're going to live longer...
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You will live longer.
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And it's true
also, we believe in men,
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but this is a
women's health study.
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It was just
published in 2008 in June.
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It was actually published by the
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"Journal of the
American Heart Association"
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which is the
journal's circulation
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And "Dr. Christin Heidemann,"
who was at Harvard at the time;
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now she's at the "German
Institute of Human Nutrition"
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in Germany, said that
it was rather significant
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...the difference in
longevity that took place
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And those who ate more meat,
had a 22% higher risk of death
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Those who ate more of
these foods 16% less likely to
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die of cancer, and well
over 20% less likely to die
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of heart disease.
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Now I should
add my parenthetical
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note to that statement...
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It's not as GOOD as if you
are a plant-based vegetarian.
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In other words, if
you go ALL the way...
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you get much greater benefits.
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But this kind of goes along with
my "good, better, best approach"
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The BEST approach would
really be a healthy plant-based
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vegetarian diet...
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And the next best
approach which would really be a
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GOOD approach is
increasing those 4 food groups
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and then just decreasing
the amount of red meat consumed
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And you may want
to start out that way
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and you'll still
get some benefit as this
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study illustrates.
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So FRUITS,
VEGETABLES, GRAINS, AND...
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what was the 4th
one? Beans... BEANS! Yes.
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And it's not just grains...
WHOLE grains... whole grains!
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This same study and a previous
study done on the 72,000 nurses
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showed those who
eat WHITE grains...
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In other words,
refined grains Don't do so well
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Yeah, right... they actually
lived less... less years.
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And so, it's not just grains.
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It's the whole
grains... that are important.
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Well, let's move on
to the next study...
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Amphetamine use
and risk of death.
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YES, and this is highlighted...
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The reason why I
brought it forward is
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I just had a patient in the last
2 weeks, who was a young person
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...28 years old coming in with a
pretty significant heart attack.
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Lost quite a bit of
muscle, severe chest pain, and
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28 YEARS OLD? ... 28 years old
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Wow, that's pretty young!
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Yeah, it got my attention.
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She was thin, young, beautiful,
didn't look at all like a person
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who should be
having a heart attack.
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And we checked her urine,
and found out that she had
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"speed" on board...
what we call "amphetamines"
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And then, on further questioning
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she was using it recreationally
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...in other words, doing it
in order to try and get high
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and it was in the midst of
that that she ended up having
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that crushing chest pain
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So amphetamines...
what this study shows
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...It was actually a
study published in June 2008
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It was published actually,
I'm sorry, July issue...
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"The Drug and
Alcohol Dependence Journal"
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And actually
showing very clearly
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that 18- to 44-year-olds
that were hospitalized,
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3 million of
them, were hospitalized
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between 2000 and 2003...
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For doing meth,
methamphetamine amphetamines
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And those who were abusing
amphetamines 61% more likely
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than nonusers to be
treated for a heart attack
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Wow, 61% And what this does is
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it actually raises blood
pressure, increases heart rate
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You know, you get that
adrenalin-type of effect,
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but on top of that, it can
cause spasm to the arteries...
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And if you already
have a plaque there...
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due to cholesterol and
calcium coming on board,
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there's a much
greater likelihood of that
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plaque rupturing,
and when it ruptures
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the platelets come
and close the vessel off.
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And so, amphetamine
is a significant risk
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And it really is an additional
reason not to be using them
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Yeah, now what if
someone is using them?
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It's pretty hard to
get off.. they may need to
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go somewhere and get some help.
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They may need to go
somewhere and get some help
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...Go to a drug rehab
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Amphetamines actually are
easier to get off of than say...
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narcotics... You know,
the heroines and even Lortab,
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and those types of things are
actually tougher to get off of.
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Amphetamines, it just a
matter of making up your mind
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that you are going to
find other ways of finding
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enjoyment in life...
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And putting that aside, and
then trying to get natural highs
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...that are much
healthier and you don't have the
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deprivation period afterwards.
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So it's much more psychological
health that's needed
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than actually
dangerous withdrawal.
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You don't undergo dangerous
withdrawal by stopping speed,
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or even stopping
cocaine for that matter.
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So get help if
you need it on that...
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Don't keep down the path...
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there is help and
there is hope there.
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We want to go on to stress
as it relates to pregnancy!
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Yes! And stress is not
very good in pregnancy.
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What happens is... it
releases a number of hormones
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And the end result,
according to this study done
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among 19,000 Danish
women over a 10-year period
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Big study! Big study...
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Those who had high psychological
stress... 80% more likely to
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suffer stillbirth, than
women with low stress levels
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Wow, 80% more...
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Yeah, and they think that's
actually due to the circulation
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going to the placenta,
and the hormone's effect
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And what they asked them about
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was their stress
in the past month
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For instance, how
often they felt unhappy,
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how often they were worried,
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how often they were unable
to deal with their problems...
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Of course, that tended to
occur in more single women,
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than married women.
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And so, being single and
having a child is a big red flag
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because your stress
levels tend to be higher
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than if you're
married, and undergoing this.
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But they also factor that
out and took a look at just
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single women alone...
the stillbirth rate was
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a little higher in single women.
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But the factor that
seemed to be most related was
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the stress level.
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And this is a study, of
course, over in Scandinavia,
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which is known many times
for a lot of seasonal affective
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or in other words,
season-related depression.
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That's right...
because they don't get a lot of
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sun in the wintertime. Um hm
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And so, in the winter,
there is more depression.
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But they didn't see the
relationship to that at all
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They didn't see the
relationship there. Correct
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Looking next
now at low vitamin D
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being tied to...
what kind of risk?
00:09:52.82\00:09:54.97
Well actually death from
a lot of different causes.
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It has increased the
risk of death from cancer...
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It increases the risk
of death from diabetes...
00:10:04.56\00:10:07.81
increases the risk of death
from high blood pressure...
00:10:07.84\00:10:11.27
increases the risk of
death from heart disease...
00:10:11.30\00:10:15.02
And so death risk
across the board is increased
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if you have a
low vitamin D level.
00:10:18.72\00:10:20.30
They said a 26% increase of
ALL types of death... All types!
00:10:20.33\00:10:24.75
Just because of a low vitamin D.
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...Just because of low vitamin D
00:10:26.36\00:10:28.18
Now, can you tell whether
or not your vitamin D is low
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without a blood test?
00:10:30.59\00:10:31.65
You can't, unfortunately.
00:10:31.68\00:10:33.97
There's not really a clue...
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Other than the fact
if it's severely low,
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you tend to have sleep problems.
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You tend to have muscle aches.
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You know, low vitamin
D can result in fatigue
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It can actually be one of
the precipitators of depression
00:10:45.75\00:10:49.48
And so, we always
measure, you know, yesteryear
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In fact, even this year...
00:10:54.34\00:10:55.86
if you go to your doctor's
office and get a physical
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If he's going to do a
complete physical on you,
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he's going to
measure your cholesterol
00:11:00.36\00:11:02.17
And EVERY American should
know what their cholesterol is.
00:11:02.20\00:11:05.45
But there's
something JUST as important as
00:11:05.48\00:11:07.65
knowing what
your cholesterol is...
00:11:07.68\00:11:08.97
In fact, it may be even
more important and that is
00:11:09.00\00:11:12.34
getting a vitamin
D 25-hydroxy level
00:11:12.37\00:11:15.52
Don't leave your
doctor's office without one.
00:11:15.53\00:11:18.22
If you've never had a
25-hydroxy vitamin D level,
00:11:18.25\00:11:21.89
I'm telling
you... now is the time,
00:11:21.92\00:11:23.87
next doctor visit, ask for it
00:11:23.90\00:11:25.94
It is a rather expensive test...
00:11:25.95\00:11:27.86
and you may want to try
to go to a laboratory where
00:11:27.89\00:11:30.76
you can find it less expensive,
00:11:30.79\00:11:32.56
but I can tell you,
it's worth every penny...
00:11:32.59\00:11:34.38
even if you're paying
a high price for it...
00:11:34.41\00:11:36.44
Because if you have
a low vitamin D level,
00:11:36.45\00:11:38.66
it really is setting yourself
up for a number of problems
00:11:38.69\00:11:41.68
and you can get that
vitamin D level up right away
00:11:41.71\00:11:44.47
by taking supplements...
00:11:44.50\00:11:46.30
You can start
altering your lifestyle
00:11:46.33\00:11:48.26
...getting more
direct sunlight during the
00:11:48.29\00:11:50.79
direct hours of, you
know, 11 o'clock in the morning
00:11:50.82\00:11:53.56
to 2 or 3 in the afternoon...
particularly in the summertime
00:11:53.59\00:11:57.04
and you can start
storing up this vitamin,
00:11:57.05\00:11:59.04
and it WILL improve your health.
00:11:59.07\00:12:00.38
So, that was from the
archives of "Internal Medicine?"
00:12:00.41\00:12:03.11
It was... a study done by
00:12:03.12\00:12:04.89
"Dr. Michos from
Johns Hopkins University"
00:12:04.92\00:12:07.51
And it was published in the
archives of "Internal Medicine"
00:12:07.54\00:12:10.44
in August of 2008.
00:12:10.47\00:12:14.19
And it was
actually a study done by the
00:12:14.22\00:12:15.65
"Centers for Disease Control"
00:12:15.68\00:12:16.75
So this is getting
a lot of attention...
00:12:16.78\00:12:19.07
Even Atlanta where
the CDC is located,
00:12:19.10\00:12:22.16
they're starting to talk
about the critical importance
00:12:22.17\00:12:25.13
of vitamin D.
00:12:25.16\00:12:26.31
So, let's say
you're not near a doctor
00:12:26.34\00:12:29.16
and they can't draw a
level where you are...
00:12:29.19\00:12:31.47
You should go out into
the sun and get sun every day
00:12:31.50\00:12:34.07
That's right.. Avoid
the sunburn No sunburn
00:12:34.10\00:12:37.18
But, apart from the
sunburn, sun is healthy!
00:12:37.21\00:12:40.05
In fact, studies now
show that the sun PREVENTS
00:12:40.08\00:12:43.46
more cancers than it causes.
00:12:43.49\00:12:45.24
Even if we take a
look at the deadly cancers
00:12:45.27\00:12:47.36
like, you know, the
melanoma-type cancers
00:12:47.39\00:12:50.05
You actually
PREVENT more cancer deaths
00:12:50.08\00:12:53.73
than what is caused... even if
you do have the sunburn there.
00:12:53.76\00:12:57.12
So, what I'm saying is...
00:12:57.15\00:12:59.04
Let's not be super,
super afraid of sunburns;
00:12:59.07\00:13:01.99
we do need to avoid them.
00:13:02.02\00:13:03.44
But more important than
that is getting enough sunlight.
00:13:03.47\00:13:09.38
Are there any plant sources
for vitamin D you'd recommend?
00:13:09.41\00:13:12.85
Well there are plant sources...
00:13:12.88\00:13:14.21
there are
mushrooms that have it...
00:13:14.24\00:13:15.29
That's where the chemical
"ergocalciferol" comes from
00:13:15.30\00:13:18.28
It's a plant-based vitamin D.
00:13:18.31\00:13:20.23
"Cholecalciferol"... you would
have to radiate the mushrooms
00:13:20.26\00:13:23.82
to get the vitamin
D3, the cholecalciferol
00:13:23.85\00:13:27.06
and some supplements have
the plant-based vitamin D3;
00:13:27.09\00:13:30.67
others are animal-based from
sheep lanolin or sheepskin...
00:13:30.70\00:13:34.04
or maybe even animal liver is
where they might get that from.
00:13:34.07\00:13:38.45
So we recommend
the ergocalciferol.
00:13:38.48\00:13:40.82
Most studies show it to
be just as healthy as the
00:13:40.85\00:13:43.49
cholecalciferol.
00:13:43.52\00:13:44.86
We're talking
with Dr. Neil Nedley
00:13:44.89\00:13:47.10
We're talking about
cutting edge research
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that's very practical.
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You've heard the
doctor's order...
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Find out what your vitamin D is
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and make sure it's in
the right range so that you
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can avoid these
different killers.
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Join us when we come back.
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