Dr Ford Brewer - PrevMed

There does appear to be a relationship between benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) & diabetes, prediabetes &/or insulin resistance. Metformin is the most common drug given for DM & IR. John sent me a study indicating that metformin may decrease the viability of BPH cells. It was intriguing.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0173335

It clearly indicates a relationship. There were both time and dose relationships (inverse relationships) between metformin & BPH cells. Metformin is not being proposed as a treatment for BPH. This is being provided for 2 reasons:

1. to help motivate proper control of DM & IR; and

2. to consider a possible mechanism involving IGF-1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHs9sQ82sm8

Unfortunately, stress tests are utilized too often for screening. And they can give a false sense of security. Just ask Tim Russert's family - and countless others that have had events - often fatal - after having a negative stress test.

There are a couple of alternatives: CIMT and Coronary Calcium. I prefer CIMT for several reasons. But CIMTs are often difficult to access. Coronary Calcium is also good as a screening tool. (Contrary to what many believe, there's a good case for occasional use sequentially as well. See Budoff 2013 and John's video on CACS.)

This video covers the 2006 publication of the AHA scientific policy document on CAC for screening purposes. It also covers some basic history and interpretation of the Agatston score- still the best scoring method for CAC.

Todd Eldredge, the founder of CardioRisk, describes the science behind CIMT. In other words, what do the results actually mean? He describes the definitive study in this area, the CAFES CAVE study. He also describes the critical differences between CIMT and carotid ultrasound.

Our channel viewers are now beginning to ask which statins are best for CV Inflammation. And how do statins actually impact CV Inflammation? We go over the details in this study.

Statins help by decreasing both intracellular and extracellular mechanisms of immune function. They stop the attraction of immune cells to the damaged intima or endothelium. They stop those cells from releasing enzymes and forming "hot" liquid plaque.

Lipitor (atorvastatin) works, but not as well as Livalo( pitavastatin), Crestor (rosuvastatin), pravastatin or simvastatin as CV inflammation. Livalo is prohibitively expensive. Crestor has lost its patent for 3 years now. It's not expensive.

CIMT is not the same as a carotid ultrasound. And Todd's Eldredge's interview video got rave technical reviews. But it was just too long. So we're taking excerpts of specific topics. This one is on Arterial Age vs Mean Max (or plaque average)

David Sabatini MD Ph.D. has done much of the research into mTOR (Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin). This is the key decision point in the metabolic pathway between fasting & feeding, cell growth vs autophagy. Cell growth is associated with cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure & another chronic disease - & earlier death. Autophagy is associated with fasting, decreased diabetes, cancer & other chronic diseases & increased longevity. We cover one of Dr. Sabatini's video discussions of MTOR and related topics.

This is Pt 2 in a series on Dietary Fiber & CV disease. What's the scientific evidence. I mention some $ wars between Proctor & Gamble and General Mills. Then I go into an "umbrella" Cochrane review. It turns out that, even though it's not in a world-leading journal, it's actually pretty good. This video goes into some detail. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5731843/

This was previously the most quoted science in this area - from 2000. The 2 big problems: 1. an affiliation with Proctor & Gamble; and

2. the assumption that lower cholesterol actually makes a big difference.

This is an excerpt from the Todd Eldredge interview. Todd's the founder of CardioRisk, a CIMT company. He explains the basics of CIMT, including inter-study variability & quality.

We had a patient's labs come in with a Vit D level of 175. Although unusual, Vit D toxicity is happening more. It's been making the news a lot that Vit D helps in a lot of areas, ranging from mental health to energy level to bone health, arterial health, & even prevention of diabetes.

This level was due to repeated Vit D injections by a healthcare provider. Unfortunately, many care providers see this as an opportunity to diagnose a problem & give an injection, thereby underlining their value to the patient. In fact, I haven't seen any Vit D toxicity reports or examples outside of those created by provider or patient supplementation. Please be careful 5,000 and even 10,000 IU per day have been shown to be safe in multiple studies. But injections of 25,000 & even 50.000 can create risk, especially when given multiple times. Unless targeted using blood levels, I do not recommend taking over 5,000 on a regular basis.

We can debate whether safe levels are under 150, 125, or 100. A viewer on this channel commented recently that 125 is a safe target level. I don't agree. To get so close to 150 without a clear and proven advantage is taking risks without benefit.

A NONMEDICAL ARTICLE ON VIT D TOXIC LEVELS:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6115827/figure/nutrients-10-00953-f001/

Autophagy is getting more popular on YouTube. It's a major part of the benefit behind fasting, whether Fasting Mimicking Diet or water fasts. This video describes some of the key concepts behind:

cell growth & division vs autophagy;

cancer treatment & fasting-mimicking diet;

Valter Longo's experience & research in fasting;

IGF1 - Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 & fasting;

Rapamycin & MTOR - the Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin.

Here's a link to a podcast by Kirk Hamilton, a PA with a preventive podcast & website, and James Kelly MD, MBA - the CMO for L-Nutra, the company that markets Prolon, Valter Longo's Fasting Mimicking Diet.