Dr. Aristo Vojdani discusses Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention with Dr. Ben Weitz.

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Podcast Highlights

5:16   Dr. Vojdani explained that the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease is largely environmental with genetics only accounting for 1-5% of cases, depending upon whether the APOE 44 genetic variant gets expressed, which is also dependent upon environment.  There is an early onset form of Alzheimer’s that is largely related to genetics, but this only accounts for 1% of cases.  The key to preventing Alzheimer’s Disease is healthy lifestyle choices.

10:30  One of the potential possible causes of Alzheimer’s disease are pathogens, including oral pathogens, like Porphyromonas gingivalis.  P. gingivalis, which is the cause of gum disease, makes a toxin called gingipain, and this has been found in the amyloid plaque of the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease.  We used to think that the blood brain barrier prevented bacteria and viruses and other pathogens from entering the brain, but now we know that when this barrier is leaky, like leaky gut, such pathogens and even spirochetes like Borrelia Burgdorferi, the causative agent in Lyme Disease, can get into the brain. Other pathogens that may be involved in Alzheimer’s Disease include Herpes Simplex type I, Chlamydia, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, E. coli, salmonella, and lipopolysaccharides produced by such bacteria–E. coli, salmonela, Shigella, and Campylobacter jejuni.  If these pathogens or their toxins get into the brain they cause inflammation and can contribute to a degenerative process in the brain and because of an antigenic similarity between these pathogens and proteins in the brain, this leads to immune attack on brain tissue like beta amyloid and tau proteins and this results in aggregating and clumping of these proteins.  Beta amyloid protein is really being produced as a way for the brain to protect itself against pathogens and it is thought to have an antibiotic effect.  Dr. Vojdani published a paper on this in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease:  Reaction of Amyloid-β Peptide Antibody with Different Infectious Agents Involved in Alzheimer’s Disease. 

17:45  This story of the function of beta amyloid protein is similar to the cholesterol story where we used to think that simply ingesting cholesterol and fat would lead to a build up of cholesterol in the arteries.  But you have to wonder why would the body lay cholesterol down in the arteries when that might kill us?  Well, because there is inflammation and oxidative stress and the body’s coating your artery wall using cholesterol. And so it’s actually beneficial. But once it builds up to a point, then it blocks the blood flow and it becomes pathological. And the same way in the brain, the brain is using the amyloid protein to protect the brain from the pathogens, but when it forms tangles, it becomes pathological and contributes to neurodegeneration.  Dr. Vojdani explained that this process can start with bacteria in the gut releasing a toxin that results in leaky gut. Then the bacterial toxin, LPS, get into the blood stream, resulting in pro-inflammatory cytokines being released which then breaks down the blood-brain barriers, causing brain inflammation. The microglia of the brain then become activated, which results in a lot of beta amyloid protein becoming aggregated, forming a plaque, which contributes to neurodegeneration.

21:38  Toxic chemicals can also be one of the triggers for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Dr. Mark Houston discusses Preventing Heart Disease with Dr. Ben Weitz.

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Podcast Highlights

4:11  There are a limited number of specific vascular responses to the many insults to our blood vessel walls that result in coronary artery disease. Dr. Houston said that there are 400 different risk factors for coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis. Whether it is E. coli or a heavy metal toxin or LDL cholesterol there are only three things the blood vessel can do to respond to these insults. There’s three of them called inflammation, oxidative stress, and vascular immune disfunction. When these responses occur in the artery wall, it creates biomediators that eventually lead to coronary heart disease or congestive heart failure, stroke, or any kind of cardiovascular illness.

5:47  There is much controversy over whether red meat contributes to heart disease, with a recent paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine, in which a group of doctors and researchers who call themselves the Nutritional Recommendations Consortium and who did an analysis of the literature and concluded that red meat and processed meat do not significantly contribute to heart disease and cancer, Unprocessed Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption: Dietary Guideline Recommendations From the Nutritional Recommendations Consortium.  Dr. Houston said that red meat is not the problem, but what the red meat has in it that causes problems. If the cattle are being fed corn and grains, which contains pesticides and glyphosate, and they are given hormones and antibiotics, then this will not be healthy to eat. On the other hand, if you eat meat from organic, grass fed cattle, that will have a different effect in the body and is healthy to eat.  Numerous studies show that this type of red meat does not increase coronary heart disease of heart attack. 

9:06  Red meat contains saturated fat, which has been shown to be associated with heart disease.  Dr. Houston explained that there are different types of saturated fat based on the carbon length, whether they be 8, 10, 12, up to 20 carbons.  The long chain C-12 and up are the ones that may have an increased risk of coronary heart disease and heart attack. But Dr. Houston did caution that even this link between saturated fat and heart disease depends partially on where the fat is coming from what it’s associated with, what other kinds of fats are in your diet, and the percent in your diet.  The short chain fatty acids C-12 and below are not associated with coronary heart disease. Dr. Houston recommends to keep your saturated fat intake around 10% of your total calories and try to limit it to the short chain fatty acids.

11:41  Dr. Houston is not a big fan of coconut oil, since it is 92% saturated fat and it’s mostly longer chain fatty acids.  He feels that there is not much data that coconut oil has any health benefits.  This is in contrast to many Functional Medicine practitioners who feel that coconut oil is a healthier oil, partially because of the medium chain triglycerides that it contains.

13:10  One reason some people like using coconut oil is for cooking, since it’s high saturated fat content helps it to hold up to heat better than other oils without being oxidized. Dr. Houston is a big fan of olive oil and cooks with it at a lower heat, and he is careful not to bring it to a steaming point.  He cautioned not to overcook at too high a temperature.  He says that monounsaturated fats are healthy a...

Dr. Kathleen O’Neil-Smith discusses Peptides with Dr. Ben Weitz.

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Podcast Highlights

3:35  Peptides are signaling molecules. They are bio natural and are not pharmaceutical agents.  If you have a patient in pain, you don’t want to treat the pain, you want to treat the cause, which is what peptides help you to do.  Peptides communicate with our cells and sometimes they enter the cells through pinocytosis and they signal the cell to function better along with the other cells around it to function as a team.

8:07  Most peptides are prescription medications and taken through injection, except for BPC 157 (Body Protective Compound 157) and AOD (Anti-Obesity Drug), which we are focusing on today.  Dr. O’Neil-Smith emphasized the importance of purchasing peptides from a reputable source like from a doctor or chiropractor instead of from China through the internet.  She explained that AOD is a fragment of growth hormone and its action is lipolysis. If you take growth hormone, this can increase glucose and cause insulin resistance, which is not desireable. But when you use AOD, you don’t get these effects. Dr. O’Neil-Smith explained that AOD is effective in conjunction with hyaluronic acid and can be injected into joints to make those joints function more smoothly and to be more elastic. 

11:21  BPC 157 is available in an oral, over the counter form, and also as an injectible and the benefits are potentially amazing and protects the body from many things.  It was first discovered in the gastric juices and it has great utility in the gut.  Dr. O’Neil-Smith explained that if you were to sever the gut or if you were to take a gut and tie a rope around it, you would get a necrotic gut.  If you then take that rope off after three days and you let that necrotic gut sit there and you bathe one half of the necrotic part in BPC and you bathe the other half in saline, 10 days later the gut bathed in BPC grows back.  BPC can be very beneficial for inflammatory bowel disorder, such as in Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, where it can heal a fragile, bleeding gut and bring it back to health.  If the patient is having an acute flare, it is best to both use oral and subcutaneous injection of BPC.  An oral dosage of 500 mg three times per day would be a good dosage at first to load up, but she noted that there is no reason why you could not take a higher dosage. She also uses it a lot in brain injuries, such as concussions or CTE. 

18:00  Dr. O’Neil-Smith often uses BPC for injuries in athletes, including professional and Olympic athletes.  She notes that BPC is not on the WADA list of banned substances.  While peptides can help heal injuries, they do not provide a boost the way that supratherapeutic levels of testosterone or other anabolic hormones do.  Peptides are bio natural regulatory signaling cells allowing the body to use the body’s own healing properties instead of medicines or drugs. 

22:56  BPC-157 works on multiple pathways in the nucleus of the cell directing the silencing of genes that continue inflammation and promoting the genes that direct blood vessel, connective tissue, fascia, and nerve repair.  BPC is very restorative and regenerative and even stimulates autophagy.  Dr. O’Neil-Smith said that with her patients they need to be taking in the essential nutrients, either orally or through IV.  They need to do either intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, or the fasting mimicking diet.  They need to have the proper balance of hormones. And then to give peptides makes the most sense.