Healthy Talk

Did you know that increased consumption of sugar can trigger insulin resistance and diabetes, as well as magnesium deficiency, all of which have an impact on heart health?

Research supports this, with a study in JAMA Internal Medicine (2014) revealing that American adults consume, on average, about 15 percent of their calories from sugar added to their food, with 37 percent of the added sugar coming from sugar-sweetened beverages.

Researchers project that consuming just one 12-ounce sugary soda a day could increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by a whopping 30 percent.

What are some tips to beat sugar addiction?

Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, shares his top tips to help you overcome your sugar addiction.

You may already know the powerful health benefits that are packed in honey, but another superfood that bees produce is called royal jelly.

Royal jelly is a white secretion that is made by worker honeybees and is used to help feed the queen bee. Since it is a main source of nutrition for the queen, experts believe it can offer many health benefits to humans.

What are the health benefits of royal jelly?

Royal jelly is believed to help enhance your immune system, regulate your blood sugar and cholesterol levels, increase fat metabolism, and promote wound healing. It may even contain anticancer properties.

What are some of the other benefits of royal jelly?

Listen in as Dr. Mike shares the health benefits of royal jelly and why you should consider using it.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.

Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:

If I ride my bike, will that make my enlarged prostate worse?

This has been debated back and forth for many years. Some doctors will tell you that it doesn't damage your prostate, while other doctors will tell you it does. Dr. Mike thinks that if your prostate is normal size, there's no issue with riding a bike.

However, if you have prostatitis, or an enlarged prostate, you might exacerbate and cause more symptoms.

A study on Health Day's website looked into bike riding and men's health. Researchers found that cyclists who ride more may face a higher risk for prostate cancer, but not a greater chance of infertility or erectile dysfunction.

Is Hawaiian spirulina the best source, and is it better than chlorella?

Yes, Hawaiian spirulina does seem to be the best sourced. Spirulina is a blue-green algae; it doesn't have a cell wall and has more of a complete protein. Chlorella is more like a plant and is better for heavy metals. So, depending on what you're trying to do will determine whether to use spirulina or chlorelia.

If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at [email protected] or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.

Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:

I sometimes feel like a mad scientist in my own personal experiments as I mix several supplements into a drink and toss it back. Currently, before I go out for my hikes I mix L-carnitine, d-ribose, MSM, and natural calm into a drink and it actually tastes okay. I feel like I can actually hike and climb longer with lower heart rates when I take this. The question is this: are there supplements that should never be mixed together?

There are two ways to think about this, and one of them is pharmacokinetic. This is how something is digested, distributed, absorbed, and eliminated from your body. So, if you're mixing things together, does this change the kinetics of that compound? On the other hand, there's an pharmacodynamics perspective... is it going to increase or lower the response of the supplement?

Dr. Mike is going to answer with a pharmacokinetic response. You need to be cautious when mixing calcium, magnesium, and zinc together, since calcium blocks the absorption of zinc and magnesium.

Another bad combination is creatine and glutamine, as they use the same co-transporters and end up competing with one another. If you take them together, you might lose the cellular effect. Vitamin E and iron is another combo that you shouldn't mix, because iron can disrupt vitamin E absorption.

From a pharmacodynamics standpoint, Dr. Mike would never start someone on rhodiola and DHEA because it might overstimulate.

Everyone is taking probiotics these days. As I understand, the small intestine is supposed to be almost sterile and the colon is supposed to be lined with the desirable probiotic. More is being talked about small intestinal overgrowth, where the normally bacteria-free small intestine becomes overgrown with bacteria. This seems to cause bloating and gas. I am unclear: if we swallow large amounts of bacteria, how is it that most people don't develop small intestinal bacteria overgrowth?

You internal digestive system is covered in probiotics, all the way from your throat to your anus. The reason why you don't see intestinal overgrowth when people are taking probiotics is because in the small bowel, there's a layer of bicarbonate that protects any seeping from your stomach acid coming into your small bowel.

If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at [email protected] or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) is one of the largest studies to connect childhood maltreatment and your health later in life.

Over 17,000 Kaiser patients who volunteered to be in the ACE study and participate in regular health screenings.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the ACE study suggests that certain experiences are risk factors for leading causes of illnesses, poor quality of life, and death.

How else can ACE affect your life as an adult?

Donna Jackson Nakazawa discusses what ACE is and how it might cause serious health issues later in your life.

Even though research has suggested that some amount of stress might be beneficial to your health, emotional stress is different.

Emotional stress involves your sympathetic nervous system, the part of your brain that kicks in during a fight-or-flight situation.

Could there be a connection between a psychologically stressful event and physical disease?

Public speaker, Donna Jackson Nakazawa, discusses whether or not emotional trauma and stress can cause disease.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) occurs in millions of women in the weeks that lead up to their monthly cycle.

Even though the symptoms you experience are usually predictable every month (mood swings, bloating, tender breasts, irritability, food cravings, depression), it can still be unpleasant to deal with.

If you've ever experienced PMS, you and those around you know the roller coaster it can put you through.

What if there was a way to combat your PMS symptoms?

Listen in as Dr. Mike shares the dietary and lifestyle changes you might want to consider to ease your PMS symptoms.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.

Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:

Grains or no grains? I'm confused. What do you do?

Dr. Mike agrees that it can be confusing when it comes to deciding on whether or not to eat grains, and there might be conflicting answers. For example, people who follow a paleo diet don't believe in eating any type of grain, since society's ancestors never did. Then, you have other dieters who believe that the ancient grains are okay to eat.

One of the issues with grains is that they are carbohydrates that break down into simple sugars. This results in an insulin release, which in turn causes you to store food.

Dr. Mike believes that grains are fine in moderation, but that you should try to avoid overdoing it.

Fox News Health listed ways to prevent summer weight gain. What do you think about what they had to say?

The first thing Fox News had on the list was if you're feeling a sweet craving coming on, eat something sour instead (bite into a pickle or drink lemon tea).

Dr. Mike believes in this, and even suggests brushing your teeth to curb sugar cravings. The next one on the list was to eat more fiber. Dr. Mike also believes eating fiber is great for your health, but also that there are more factors involved.

The third on the list is to stay hydrated and to drink a glass of water before every meal. Dr. Mike agrees with this tip and suggests that drinking broth can also help.

The fourth tip is to savor every bite. Dr. Mike strongly believes in this and has talked about it before.

The last tip is to snack smart by eating a healthy snack in the mid-afternoon. Dr. Mike agrees with this and suggests snacking on almonds.

If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at [email protected] or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans.

Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know:

I have a history of depression and my family is moving to Montana. I've read that depression happens more in higher elevations (we're currently living in Houston). If this is the case, what can I do?

There was a study published in March 2015 in High Altitude Medicine and Biology that said there is an increase of depression at higher elevations. In the study, rats were exposed to high altitude conditions (both simulated and real), and they increased depression-like behavior.

Dr. Mike suggests doing a few things to help prevent depression like symptoms, such as taking tryptophan, lysine, and saffron supplements.

If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at [email protected] or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

When browsing food at your grocery store, you might have noticed the major difference in price between organic and non-organic food.

This can cause you to avoid organic foods, or only buy them selectively. Fortunately, you don't have to buy all organic, all the time.

According to a new study, eating organically (even occasionally) has some major health benefits.

The results of this study were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Listen in as Dr. Mike shares more about this study and the benefits of eating organic food.