Gut Check Project

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Your Immune System and How it Works Pt. 1 Dec 11, 2020

Show notes

Immunity, immune system boosting, vaccinations, and more… What does it mean to “ post your immunity”? TV ads and news personalities tell us all kinds of tips, but is their advice just being repeated without understanding? The immune system has become a bio-celebrity and it doesn’t look like that is going to change anytime soon. In this episode you can begin to learn simply the basics as we address how the innate immune system functions. We will follow up this episode with further discussion to better give you the tools that you need to understand what your immune system is and how to protect it. Join us today, and like and share with a friend!

The Secret Weapon Nov 27, 2020

Show notes

Eric Rieger 0:00
All right, everyone, it is now Episode Number 45 Hello KB MD health family and GCP gut check project fans. I'm Eric here with my co host, Dr. Kenneth Brown. We've got an incredible show today. And well, this guy's always referred to a special secret weapon and I'm gonna let him unveil it here in just a moment. But I'm gonna go ahead before he talks about why this secret weapon is a secret weapon. Let's just talk that here in just a moment. Angie cook is a registered nurse. She has some issues such as dysautonomia, miles Ehlers danlos, colonic inertia, severe constipation, all of these different things that she's got experience with that she could actually share a personal story. So, Ken, what brought us here? All right, so

Ken Brown 0:53
this is what Alright, so this episode is very dear to my heart. And people that don't experience this, you're going to go out? That's kind of an odd topic. But I'm telling you, you want to listen to this. Because we know that there's a connection between digestive health, gut inflammation and the possibility of developing other symptoms, other issues, like dysautonomia, and before you just turn it off? You're like, what's that? Like? Whoa, that's what Angie is going to tell us about today. So Angie, I've always referred to her as my secret weapon on the podcast, you can go back to almost one of the first episodes that we've ever done one, Episode 45. And first of all, Angie, thank you so much for your incredible diligence to researching and backing everything by science. So I get emails from all over the world. And people say, Hey, can you help me with this? And I will email you and say, is there any chance that you could find this article, and then you find me 50 articles related to that, and we sift through them. So one of the most impressive things is that you're a patient of mine, that has gone from having some symptoms, to learning so much about it, that you've actually gotten your master's in nutrition. And you realize that part of this process is that you and I are now a team. And I've gotten to the point where I'm relying on you for information. And this is my exposition of us saying, look, you know so much more than me about this, we need to get this out to the public. And this is what I want to do. I did Chris kresser, his podcast a couple months ago. And immediately him and I ran to the same conclusion. It's not about the bacteria. It's not about this, it's about the motility. What do we do about that? What is it and so what we're going to talk about today is the motility about everything. And your history is incredible. Because if you're somebody who's ever felt frustrated, by the lack of attention that maybe you've gotten in medical community, if you're somebody who's felt frustrated that you're being blown off or anything like that, this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna go from Angie's story about what she has gone through. And then we're gonna geek out on a level that I am so impressed by. So if you're shavon Sarna and you're the CBOE summit person, you're gonna want to listen to this one if you're Chris kresser. I got an email from Ben Greenfield just today or yesterday. Yeah, today asking about what different help with some CBOE people I feel like and what I feel like because this hasn't been done is because you sent me 30 pages of that, I know that you figured this out. This is like the first time ever, these puzzle pieces have been put together. And I'm so excited. So I want to say first of all, I'm honored to be your doctor. Secondly, I'm disappointed I didn't figure it out. And I have not figured it out yet. Thirdly, I'm super proud of your resilience, of your drive and of your determination to not only help yourself, but ultimately share it with other people. So I'm thrilled about this podcast, we have Angie cook on the podcast, Rn, a nutrition Master's in nutrition and just beginning her road to helping lots of people I know this and I know that you're gonna end up writing a book and I know that you're gonna be the motility expert, and that's what we're gonna talk about today. So, welcome.

Angie Cook 4:42
Thank you, no pressure there.

Eric Rieger 4:46
I just want to say that was the most detailed introduction we've ever done for anybody

Angie Cook 4:54
i know i kind of want to run into the other room and hide under a cover

Eric Rieger 4:59
in Episode 46 sakes, what are we talking about the stuff that we just did in the introduction.

Ken Brown 5:04
But in all sincerity, it's that important to me. And it's that important that you help me. You teach me so that I can help other people. That's why we're doing this. Definitely.

Angie Cook 5:16
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Ken Brown 5:18
Absolutely. So I'm gonna throw it back at Eric and let him kind of lead. And I'm just going to try and pop in occasionally, because I'm a huge superfan of you. So I'm going to try not to interrupt every 30 seconds.

Eric Rieger 5:31
Not a problem, not a problem. So Angie, whenever we are dealing with issues of motility, not everyone necessarily understands what the problem is. So when you began to experience problems, and not really even knowing that it was a motility issue, what did you first experience? And then who did you go to to try to find out answers? And then also you take it from there,

Angie Cook 5:55
right. So I'm to share a little bit about my story. My problems started about eight years ago. And so what happened was at that time, I was actually pretty healthy. I didn't have any kind of diagnoses, I didn't have any medications, I didn't see a doctor on a regular basis for any kind of ongoing reasons. And over a very short period of time, I had sort of what I described as the perfect storm of things happening, and they sort of seemed a little bit unrelated. But the first thing that happened was I started having abdominal pain. And I did have a little bit of trouble with the bowel movements. But my main issue was I just started having really severe pain. So I started by seeing my gynecologist, and I went to him and they found a very large ovarian cyst. So I had surgery right away to get that taken care of. But I still had problems, I still had pain. So then he sent me to another doctor who was a surgeon. And they thought maybe I had appendicitis. So I ended up I did have a problem with my appendix and they removed it. But after that surgery, which was just 30 days after the first so I had two surgeries within 30 days. Both my gynecologist and my surgeon said, Well, we think you're just constipated. And I was shocked. I was like, What do you mean, I'm constipated. I've never had a problem with bowel movements. I've never taken any kind of medication. It's never been anything that has been an issue. For me, it's always been a non issue. Even though I've been having a little bit of trouble, I didn't really consider it constipation. And so I found out very quickly that I did have constipation, and that the pain was relieved when I took medication. But the problem was that I needed a lot of medication. It wasn't just like a normal laxative over the counter, I needed very high doses. And it took my body a very long time to do anything once I took the medication. So they told me to go find a gastroenterologist. And that's when it came to you, Dr. Brown. And all of this happened within about six or eight weeks from where I thought I was fine to where I was severely incapacitated.

Eric Rieger 8:10
So in that, at that point, when you when you end up going to obviously see Ken and you go to his clinic, I've gotten to know a little bit more about your story, just simply because not only do you experienced this issue and...

BrocElite: Naturally Anti-Cancer... Nov 05, 2020

Show notes

0:00
Hello KBMD health family and gut check project fans welcome to episode number 44. This episode's very special because we have is many of y'all know with my co host here, Dr. Kenneth Brown, he's only selected three products to be a part of his own store Atrantil, and CBD Of course, which has his own KB MD CBD label on it. But today, we're actually only going to talk about one. And that re ally was shot through seeing. So see that but this is

0:32
Broc Elite today.

0:33
It's all about Broc Elite. These are stable sulforaphanes. And we are joined with David Phd. No, David Roberts, John Gildea, saying that's why that's why I have a co host. That's why he has me one of the to David Roberts and John Gildea, john, good day being the PhD for Broc Elite. And Welcome, gentlemen, thank you all so much for meeting us this afternoon.

0:56
That's your tip.

0:57
It's good to be here. Thanks for having us.

0:59
So john, is if you're looking at the YouTube is the first voice that you heard in the purple shirt. And then David is the one in the buttoned up. So hello, there's David. So, Dr. Brown, you want to take us into the fourth year of introducing these two?

1:13
Absolutely. So all the only reason why I have three products on my website is because it's three products backed by science we do certificate of analysis and all these things we were introduced to Brock Elite through baby bathwater networks. And we had our first zoom call many months ago where I have been so excited about sulforaphanes as a supplement and finding out that these two brilliant men figured out how to actually make what I tell my patients is the world's first stable sulforaphane developed in science and been able to show clinically and through laboratory testing that you can increase the NRF two pathway. Now you and I did a whole episode on NRF. Two, in anticipation of trying to get these two guys together. Correct, which like typical entrepreneurs, and typical PhDs, they got a lot going on. And john did inform us I'm sorry, john, do you go by Dr. Gildea? Do you go by john? Do you just go by Dr. Brock elite?

2:23
My dad was a physician. So I I'm fine with a PhD John. Not a physician. So yeah, the doctor.

2:34
So when you write that when you write PhD, John, do people come up to him and go, John, John, your appointment is now available?

2:44
Yeah, some some some of my students call me dr. john. But that's, that's just them being kind of silly.

2:50
Well, this is something that is not silly at all. And what I'm really excited to talk about is how you guys got here, how you guys got to know each other. But I know that we have a little bit of limited time with you as the PhD. What I want you to at least explain while we have some availability with you, is why you decided to help David, develop this product and the lab that you have that?

3:21
Yeah, absolutely. I think the at least the crux of it was that when, during a commercial adventure that we're trying to do to figure out how to do personalized medicine. We have an arsenal of of compounds that we would try by culturing the cells from New grown from the person who had the cancer and then and then putting these bevy of pharmaceutical compounds on the, on the cells. And pretty soon after we have been doing that for a while. Sulforaphane kept on coming out really high on on the on the list, and it's because it attacks a specific type of cancer, cancer stem cell. And I know that's not even on people's minds right now. But that is the cell type that goes on to create metastasis. And we're all surprised that there wasn't a sulforaphane product out there. And so that combination of seeing this gigantic need, working with people had these cancer stem cell driven, driven cancers. We weren't we we knew that you know, you can buy the $650 for five milligram sulforaphane from from Sigma but that way, you know, one treatment would have been, you know, 1200 dollars to give person that. And so that was when we started trying to figure out how to make it and stabilize it. We grew up broccoli sprouts for a long time, got really good at that. scaled it up enough so that we could help help out one person at a time really. But, you know, from that we started down the journey of trying to figure out how to make it into a pill. Because a lot of people can't can't eat, you know, the, the cup of broccoli sprouts, that's necessary to get the right dose and, and so worked on that for a long time and then and then figured out how to stabilize it.

5:30
If you don't mind just to kind of paint the picture here. If everyone's not caught up. Brock Elite i derives its name because it's from broccoli sprouts, and it's elite because correct me if I'm wrong, john, but you essentially have the only stable so fear of fame delivery system available in capsules, in other words, and in other terms you can find so if you're a fan of different supplements, etc, on various platforms, some that rhyme or sound like a jungle, and they probably aren't the same. or certainly don't perform actively, like what we would find your broccoli does that correct?

6:09
Yeah, so the this sort of, I would guess the marketing hitch here is that they re coined an old name. The precursor to sulforaphane is called glucoraphanin. Correct. And so they changed the name of that to

6:29
sulforaphane glucosinolate. Yeah. Okay.

6:32
So that is the new marketing term, okay, because we're gonna I went, when I tell my patients, the first thing that they do, I say, Listen, I really think that for whatever reason, and I have a bunch of medical reasons why I want their NRF two pathway to go up. First thing they do is go I went on Amazon, and I found this sprout product that's $12. And I'm like, that's glucoraphanin and then that takes me down a rabbit hole. Can you just explain really quick, why glucoraphanin is not the same thing as so perfect.

7:00
So glucoraphanin is stable, and it's waterside long. It's relatively easy to isolate. And has been available for a long time, but you have to convert it through an enzymatic reaction. In order to make sulforaphane but then the sulforaphane is unstable. So you can make it all you want, but it's only going to stick around for you know, a day or so. So you can't put it in bottle and package it and get it out there. So that was that was sort of the magic because it is making the stable sulforaphane. And also along the way we were we're testing lots of other cruciferous vegetables and sort of the the added benefit was that we found that process that we landed on actually stabilizes all the, the isothiocyanates that's the term for all of the ingredients in in these cruciferous vegetables that are good for you. So like, you know, bok choy and, and watercress and, and cabbage, they all have their own individual combination of isothiocyanates. And so we found in testing in the laboratory that sulforaphane and another isothiocyanate from watercress called PITC act synergistically. And we basically used the most stringent test that you can do in order to measure for synergy. Just dilute the dilute the one compound sulforaphane until you see no response. And then you you dilute the PITC. Until you see no response. And then if you combine the two, and you see your response, you know that it's synergistic. So actually, the two primary compounds in our product acts synergistically. So even if someone else had a for fame, stabilized product, ours is going to outperform it.

9:05
That's awesome. So the beauty of this is we're leading with the science first because we're going to spend the rest of the time talking to David about the history how this all came to fruition an...

US VP Candidate Jeremy "Spike" Cohen: Ideal Administration and Your Health Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

0:00
All right gut check project fans, it is now time for a very special episode. I'm joined here with my co host, Dr. Kenneth Brown. And we're here on episode number 43 with the 2020, libertarian vice presidential candidate Jeremy Spike Cohen spike, thank you so much for joining us here today here in conroe, Texas.

0:16
Absolutely beautiful. conroe, Texas, Eric. Ken, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

0:20
It's an honor to have you This is so exciting.

0:22
Absolutely. And sorry, for the brevity, we're going to have to move kind of quick because a lot of people want to talk to spike. So we're gonna get straight to it. Okay, if you were elected, and you have the opportunity to change the way that we handled lobbyists, specifically the corn lobby, the corn farmers Association battles to make certain that we keep high fructose corn syrup in all of our foods, we know that it can lead to disease. What is your position on how to handle things like that?

0:47
Well, the short answer is the government shouldn't be picking winners and losers in the market, it leads to this very type of thing we need to look at corn is a perfect example high fructose corn syrup. And the corn lobby in general is a perfect example of cronyism leading to actual death and harm as a direct result. So why is corn so heavily used in our foods? Why is high fructose corn syrup so heavily used in American foods and not really heavily used in other countries foods? It's because in the 1970s, the Nixon administration was approached by the corn lobby, which is a very powerful lobby, because they're based in Iowa, which is the first state that has primaries, in every election cycle, they were approached with an idea of stabilizing and lowering the cost of food in this country and the fluctuations in the change of the price of food in this country. By heavily subsidizing corn products. Corn is a hearty crop, it grows year round, it is a great way to provide an ever steady supply of food. Well, here's the problem. High fructose, high fructose corn syrup, is a great way to lead to larger rates of obesity, and diabetes and other issues because it is not processed the same way as other sugars. It is a very, very concentrated form of fructose, it can potentially lead to autoimmune issues, I have multiple sclerosis, I have not been eating corn or corn products for quite some time. And that's a big part of it. Anything that is high in carbs like that. And in general, this is another perfect example of what happens when government has the power to choose a winner and to choose a loser instead of the market. And which in this case would be consumers of food and health consumers deciding what is safest and healthiest for them and creating demand for that thing, which would mean an increased supply of it. Instead, the government goes in and says, No, everyone's eating corn, we're gonna lower the price drastically, it leads to those who have the least those who are the lowest income having to eat more of that because it's what they can afford. And it leads to what we have right now, the poorer you are, the more likely you are to be obese, the more likely you are to have diabetes, the more likely you are to have autoimmune issues, the more likely you are to deal with depression, the more likely you are to deal with a host of health issues that are directly related to the diet, and that the harm the poison that it's caused.

2:57
That is exactly what we just talked about. Wouldn't it be fascinating if on a more local level, we could subsidize fruits and vegetables? Get those farmers doing that?

3:07
And while that sounds good, here's the problem with that you're now picking another winner right? True. And so while that may be better than corn, without fail, you know, here's the thing. Fruit also was high in sugar. So I could very well conceive you know, a situation where now we're eating Apple syrup, or some other type of high fructose syrup that's coming from another fruit as a direct result of what was originally a well intentioned idea. This thing with the corn lobby, the I fully believe that the politicians who signed off on this Yes, they were getting their their you know, campaign coffer kickbacks from the corn lobby, they also probably thought it was a good idea. They're probably also thought that it was a good idea to be able to stabilize the food, in food pricing in the food industry in this country, it's led to massive harm. We don't know how many hundreds of thousands, millions, possibly 10s of millions of lives have been prematurely ended. And and and and the quality of life been reduced as a direct result of just another bad crony policy, what we believe is free markets, we believe that when people are empowered to be able to make their choices based on their best informed consent of what is the best way for them to eat, we're instead of trying to artificially lower the price of this and artificially increase the price of this. You let people make their choices with their themselves, their families, their health providers, what works best for them, and allow the market to dictate pricing and the market to dictate supply and demand, then you end up with a much more equitable, fair and healthy situation.

4:28
So while we're talking about lobbies, we can't ignore the fact that when we're looking at the corn refiners Association, and of course you have the sugar Producers Association, which includes RJ Newman, Archer, Daniels, Midland, Cargill, etc. They obviously have a big push to do sweeteners and then sometimes they work together and sometimes they battle for their own piece of the pie of this of these crony dollars. So with all of that said, so we know that there's this lobby for sugar, but we can't ignore the fact that there's Monsanto and Bayer so they have a lobby also, in essence, what is it that a liberal herion platform or a different platform, our ideal platform for that matter would look like handling lobbyists that essentially make us dependent upon things that are inherently bad for the core

5:09
issue here is that you have lobbyists and cronies stepping up to the federal trough to write themselves blank checks of your money that is stolen from you. The answer is to look at the root problem was the existence of that trough to begin with, get rid of the trough, give you your money back stop the cronyism at its core. And the demand for this these crony favors goes away. If the government can't give away crony favors, if they can't pick winners and losers, not just in the health care market. In the energy market, the corn industry is pushing for more and more higher levels of percentages of ethanol in your gasoline. And we now know not only is that know better for the environment, it's actually worse for the environment. It also was corrosive to car parts, which means it makes your car die faster. It makes your car require maintenance faster, turns out to corrode your insides too, right. So here's the situation that we have. This entirely exists because of the lobby system that is built around cronyism around the government's ability to hand out favors in the form of regulation subsidization taxes, mandates, and other red tape and bureaucracy and lobby favors that they create for their favorite cronies that by and pay for them to be in office, the libertarian platform across the board, whether we're talking about health, whether we're talking about education, whether we're talking about energy or anything in between, we are talking about completely dismantling the system and putting the power and the money and the freedom that was stolen from you back in your hands so you can make better choices, better energy choices, better health choices, better nutrition choices that are clearly have been made on your behalf b...

High Fructose Corn Syrup: Avoiding It Can Save Your Life Oct 22, 2020

Show notes

Eric Rieger 0:00
All right, we are here at gut check project. Welcome KBMD health fans and family. We are on location in Conroe, Texas at Southern star brewery with my co host, Dr. Kenneth Brown. I'm Eric Rieger Dr. Brown. It's Episode 42. And this does not look like our set.

Ken Brown 0:19
This is not our set. And this is very special. First of all, shout out to Southern Star Brewery, or letting us do this. Now we're here for a reason, a very special reason we are. This is going to be a really cool episode where we're going to talk about something really important and how it impacts the health and the future of everyone living in the United States. We're gonna talk about high fructose corn syrup. And there's a reason for that, because the next episode, oh, man,

Eric Rieger 0:42
It's huge if we won't give it all away. But if you're tuning in for this episode, you're missing out. If you're not watching the one that comes right after this, we've got a special guest. And it's the whole reason that we're here in Conroe, Texas, Southern Star brewery just north of Houston, you can hear the sound in the background, the music's going crazy, but it's all worth it.

Ken Brown 1:01
And the really cool thing is Southern Star Brewery, I just spoke with their brew masters, they do not use high fructose corn syrup. So we are in a perfect place to do that

Eric Rieger 1:09
We are in a perfect place to do this. So Dr. Brown this particular episode, we're going to really get down to the meat and potatoes we normally don't do, quote unquote short episodes, even though we try to do that. But today, we have a topic that we really kind of discussed that we needed to cover before we had our special guest on. And this is an election cycle also. So of course, the next guest the next episode is definitely I would say political when you say it is definitely political, but also like minded, very like minded and really much very interested in your health. So let's get straight to it. high fructose corn syrup. That's what's on the table today. Why don't you kind of steer us where we're gonna go.

Ken Brown 1:52
So we were planning on doing high fructose corn syrup, regardless. And then yesterday, a patient of mine sent me an article said, Hey, check this out. And an article just got published out of the University of Colorado, okay, where they looked at the lows. Yeah. And they, they were able to associate that symptoms, ADHD, aggressive behavior, and bipolar disease can actually be linked to high fructose corn syrup, not just Oh, if you drink this, this happens, scientists figured out that the reason why is that when you take in high fructose corn syrup, you are actually starving your brain. Your brain thinks it's starving, while your body's getting fat. And so because of that, your brain goes into what is called a foraging mode. It actually turns on remember when we talked about orexin and things like that when when you go into a forest? Yeah, guess what your brain is going Yo, we got to get some food here. Even though you're drinking mountain dews. And you're opening up, you know hohos and stuff and you are morbidly obese on the outside, your brain is starving for energy. And they're attributing that this could actually be the the reason why you have hyperactivity, creating ADHD, aggressive behavior, and bipolar disease. When you have foraging mentality, your brain tells you to go out and do something. So you end up with impulsivity, aggressiveness, and reactiveness. And I just want, there's no way a patient just sent me this article. It came out yesterday. And we were already planning on talking about this beautiful timing. So this is just one article. I mean, that just showed up yesterday. So that is, if you are interested in high fructose corn syrup, and you happen to be somebody who suffers from anxiety, ADHD, or impulsivity, listen,

Eric Rieger 3:41
well, another thing to take away here is where do you find high fructose corn syrup? Oh, I don't know, almost everything that's processed with sodas, breads, treats. It is a sweetener, per se. And a lot of people have even told me I remember when I was younger, that it was just like sugar. Well, it's sweet. And that's pretty much where it ends. We've already talked about the dangers of just even sugar exposure. Believe it or not, it's worse. It's truly worse. We're gonna get into it today, but Coke's, Pepsi's sodas, if they're sweetened. And I mentioned breads and treats. But in sometimes you'll find high fructose corn syrup and things that you don't even perceive as sweet. Which is the problem

Ken Brown 4:23
100% we're gonna get into that. Now, one of the things we do here on the gut check project is we want to bridge the gap. A lot of people always say, Oh, yeah, I've heard the same on high fructose corn syrup. And in this climate right now, it feels like everything could be politicized. Yes. And I feel like even bringing this up could turn into some sort of political argument. That's not what we do here. We're just gonna talk science. Let's, let's talk objective data. So I'm gonna throw this at you. You're better at the historical aspects of things. Let's just briefly go over how did we end up with high fructose corn syrup in everything.

Eric Rieger 4:57
I think if I recall the story, somebody What correctly, we needed number one to have sugar or sweeteners available, we wanted to see if we we mass produced products that the shelf life could be extended. And in doing so we also had farmers that had grown a lot of corn. And so you have the I think it's the Corn Growers Association or corn refiners Association, CRA that essentially functions as a lobbying agency for corn growers. And what they found is they could compete in the sweeteners market by mass producing high fructose corn syrup. And this process was, I don't know if it was discovered accidentally or on purpose. But ultimately, it's a two step process, which one phase of it is somewhat, I guess, naturally occurring if you force it, but it's not a natural thing to have.

Ken Brown 5:52
It sounds like you're describing a Labradoodle?

Eric Rieger 5:54
sorta a Labradoodle of sugar.

Ken Brown 6:00
Kind of natural, but it was forced. Yeah.

Eric Rieger 6:02
It's kind of like a liger. You're not supposed to have them.

Ken Brown 6:08
Did you ever see Dan Cummings? Chocolate squirrel doodle?

Eric Rieger 6:13
Oh, the comedian.

Ken Brown 6:15
He does a whole set on this exact topic. Yeah, mixing animals that shouldn't be missed. Anyways, off topic already, wow, are are super fast episode. on time, DeRay. A lot of the time. Everything you're saying is true. Let's just put a little historical context into it. So basically, since the 1920s, there have been farm subsidies. So the US government has said, okay, we need to help out. We've got a great depression going on, let's make sure we have enough food for everybody. And then, through a series of events, which I'm not an economist, but basically the 1960s. During the Nixon administration, there was a series of events like a couple bad harvest years, and then we made a bad decision to sell millions of tons of grains to the Soviet Union. And all of a sudden, we ended up with a shortage. This shortage, of course, led to the overcorrection, which happens in government at the federal level a lot. It's like driving down an icy road, you turn a little bit here and go well, and then you overcorrect and now you're spinning out of control. Yeah. So in the 1960s, they started this subsidies program where they were going to subsidize farmers and ultimately, the most...

COVID-19 Files: Ep. 11 Oct 01, 2020

Show notes

Eric Rieger 0:00
All right, it is now time for the gut check project with the COVID file installment number 11. I'm Eric Rieger, with your co host, Dr. Kenneth Brown. Dr. Brown what's happening today?

Ken Brown 0:10
What's going on Eric? I love you sticking to your roots and the hair just keeps getting bigger and bigger this COVID do that. Yeah going on it's starting to starting to really rock right now.

Eric Rieger 0:20
You can you can see roots you can see some gray Kevin but yeah, roots. Whatever it takes.

Ken Brown 0:27
How have you been? What's going on with the family? let's get let's get caught up on that stuff. We're not doing enough personal stuff lately.

Eric Rieger 0:33
Man family. It's funny. You mentioned that. Yeah, considering what we're going to talk about. But this weekend, I get to go and see my oldest he is in his first semester at Texas Tech. He's loving it, but I'm not seeing him in over a month can't wait till this weekend for us to say hello to each other and youngest Mac has got basketball this evening. They're doing tournaments. And of course, both of them are having to do this readjustment obviously around COVID. And Marie, I couldn't be more excited to to obviously go and watch the boys play. And then go watch or go catch up with gage this weekend. And she and I just remain busy. So it's a it's it's the world we live in now. It's prefaced by my COVID. What about yourself?

Ken Brown 1:23
things are going really good with the family. We're trying to figure out how to get back at some of these tennis tournaments, as they put them on, and they cancel them and so on. So talking to mom a lot and trying to be very proactive about speak with mom trying to figure out how I can get my 79 year old, very Spry mom who's feeling better now than she did when she was 69. So and then 59. I think she's feeling better now than she has in 20 years. And so I started thinking about that I started thinking about family and how important that is. And this is what I want to kind of get into today today's I kind of threw you a curveball, I initially said we're going to talk about something and then I started going down these rabbit holes of research. And rather than rabbit holes, I'm gonna call them vole holes, the prairie vole holes. Alright, I'll explain how that ties in. But when we're looking at this, I'm sitting there talking to my mom, and she sounds great. And we're trying to do this. I've got, you know, we did some some zooms with some other friends around the country. And I'm like, wow, this is an interesting time. And I then started thinking about my practice. And I'm like, and my practice is really busy right now, like people are really struggling, and they're very desperate. So I started down this whole path. This is where it began. And this is going to end up being Angie Cooks podcast, because she's going to come on and I'm challenging her to be the expert in this, because I just got done doing Chris Kresser's podcast where he agreed, we need to bring this one thing out in the open. What we're seeing and what I'm seeing with patients is a consistent deal where if people have some sort of gastrointestinal problem, specifically CBOE, I can trace it back. And then you have these people that are showing up with dysautonomia, they've got pots. Ehlers Danlos and which comes first chicken of the egg did something cause that, if those terms don't mean anything to you, good. If they mean something to you, then you know what I'm talking about, because it's this. It's this constellation of symptoms that nobody has put together before, which is gut something happens to your gut, then suddenly, you're diagnosed as having Ehlers Danlos. And then it's postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome called pots. So for all those people that have this, and there's actually way more than we realize, that's what I started with this, I was like, Oh, I'm going to do a, I'm going to do the preface, the the sort of general 30,000 foot view of why we have this and then I started thinking, Wait a minute, why is this why are we seeing more of this now? Why are we having more gastrointestinal issues, which conceivably can lead to chronic long term stuff. And then I had a wake up in the middle of the night moment where I went COVID people are recovering from COVID. But then they're having chronic issues. And it's really all over the map. Now, cardiac issues, pulmonary issues, some some nerve issues, are we going to end up with a whole new wave of almost post Lyme, chronic infection type things that the immune system is turned on? So then that got me thinking, I'm like, Oh my gosh, we got to figure out this whole motility deal. And during this really busy time, I've got all these people and then I got a article was sent to me by the Journal of American Medical Association, this month, September 2020, that signs of depression have tripled in the US since COVID 19 pandemic So 28% of the people surveyed had at least one symptom of depression, you compare that to 8.5% pre pandemic. So it's not just the number, but the severity of depression is increasing tremendously also. And there's actually a significant number of people that have been diagnosed with serious depression. When you fall into that category, you start really worrying about suicide, you start really worrying about breakthrough of other problems. And it usually requires a ton of treatment and different things to try and get this under wraps. So there's very little research going on right now discussing this. So we've got this COVID problem, even if you don't get COVID. So if you get COVID, it's possible, you have to worry about a long term consequence. We know it can infect the gut. And then even if you don't, we're seeing the next wave of impending pandemic of depression that we're going to have to deal with. So

Eric Rieger 6:00
No joke. I was just going to add that the I guess the the syndromes that you're describing Ehlers Danlos, and POTs, etc. It is reminiscent to the time when you were addressing IBS and bloating, okay, because those were somewhat seen as throwaway trashcan diagnoses. And that's really kind of stealing a lot from you. That's what people felt they're like, well, I don't know, it's IBS, I don't know. It almost feels like it, we're we're now sustaining a wave of POTs and Ehlers. And we're seeing these people come through and they don't really know who they can turn to. And little bit by little bit, it seems like maybe we're making a little bit of headway. So drawing this connection really pulls me in, and others who may actually have happened to suffer from this, or who have witnessed family members suffer from this kind of stuff, because there has to be a way out. And there's usually a cause and just kicking it under the rug and pretending like it's not there is not really going to work. And if we know that COVID is setting us up to experience syndromes similar to this, then more than likely, we can walk backwards and figure out what was it that COVID did to put these things in motion? And what can we do about it? If we become infected to hopefully either curve it or not experience it all together?

Ken Brown 7:23
Well, I think one of the biggest things is that if you are in a situation, you cannot have a healthy immune system without a healthy gut. So what I'm saying is that we do have evidence now that when you have a something that affects your gastrointestinal system system, like an h2 receptor, where spike protein can bind to it, and then that's where the, the whole disease starts, that could lead to a domino effect of more chronic problems. And so I'm sitting, I'm just like, wow, okay, this is daunting, my practice is full, we're getting all these people showing up with these, I don't, I can't giv...

Who is at Risk for Colon Cancer? Sep 17, 2020

Show notes

Eric Rieger 0:00
Hello gut check project fans and KB MD health family. Thank you so much for joining us. This is episode number 41. I'm Eric rigger here with my co host, Dr. Kenneth Brown. How

Ken Brown 0:11
are you doing Dr. Brown? I'm doing great, Eric. Episode 41. We're back to check project we kind of dabble between COVID this one is not it's not a COVID episode. This one's gonna be a very informative episode. And it might not be the most lighthearted topic. It might not be something but it's going to save lives. So I want anyone who's listening to this to realize what we're going to talk about is something that's pertinent in the in the media right now, and we're going to help people and that's a little teaser.

Eric Rieger 0:44
Well, so a couple weeks ago, what prompted where we are today is Chadwick boseman. Young man actor. He succumbed to colon cancer now. He has a different story that talks about how he kept it under wraps and really No one knew that he was sick and he battled this issue after being diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. He dealt with it for four years. And really it's kind of remarkable how he just wanted to go on living a normal life and and you know, Godspeed to to him and his family. What a what a hard thing to do but what a soldier he was for him and his family to carry on and try to live a very normal life. But really what it did for me being that I'm I'll turn 45 this year. It made me look at myself and my friends and just be reminded that young and younger people are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. And it's happening at a large clip far more frequently than it did decades ago. And we'll use and I think that you will also will use around 1990 ish is kind of a marker or delineation of when things started to change in these trends. But why don't you tell me Can what you think whenever you've begun to notice the trend of younger and younger adults showing up for colonoscopies and we've, we've, we've found cancer, we found cancer together with some of our own patients.

Ken Brown 2:18
You know, you and I were talking about this and All right, so first of all, Chadwick boseman. I think one of the things about his very tragic death is what a badass. Okay? This is a guy that can act at a level that very few can get to. This is a guy that I mean, the the movies he's been in the people he's portrayed, he's been amazing and then to find out later that he was actually dealing with some of the stuff while it was going on. Absolute badass and leisure. While he was essentially dying. He was doing charitable work going out meeting with children. We're dying and everything and never once was like, Hey, this is what I'm doing. This all came out after his death. That is so amazing. And you and I were talking and I'm like, Oh my god, I did this article came out this article came out and you told me you're like, Hey, I was listening to the radio. And they were talking about Chadwick. And I really feel like he was a gastroenterologists and me as somebody that puts these people to sleep. We have to do this. And I was like, Yeah, but everybody was doing it. And you're like, No, we just need to do this because it's there. And now when I sit there and look back at how I have been trying to fight colon cancer, I'm like, wow, one of the greatest people that could move this topic that we're going to talk about, which is why in the world that a 43 year old man died of colon cancer. I want to give a why to that. Yeah, we're going to talk about today

Eric Rieger 3:58
without questions. So it's there's really no right way to set the table here. And so forgive us here on the show if we kind of jump at different ways on how to approach this issue or colorectal cancer has been appearing far more frequently in the last two and a half decades for younger people and by younger people. It's not or it wasn't, it wasn't normal for people to have colorectal cancer before the age of 40 at all. And and now, we've seen in the last few years where the screening age has moved basically for all insurance carriers from 50 down to 45. And this is to basically capture those who need preventative intervention before it's too late. And go ahead.

Ken Brown 4:44
Oh, no, I was just gonna say that's exactly it. You and I live this world. We talk it all the time. And now because a super likable, lovable person that was taken before his time brings light to something You and I talk about every single day, we screen people young, we find young cancers. So for me, it's like, that's, it's horrible that that happened. But we want to prevent it. And that's what this show is about. It's about finding the science, it's about talking about it. And maybe even if just one person sends their child to go get screened sooner, even if just one person listen to this, says, you know, what I've been ignoring the symptoms of my stool looks a little different, meaning it's narrow, possibly, there's little bit of blood on the toilet paper, possibly, there's something else well, then everything that we do is worth it because we have one person to go ask their doctor and say, I want to make a change. Chadwick boseman, was a tragic death. But the problem is, is that this is a trend of a growing number of people below the age of 50, who are developing colon cancer, and he had stage four colon cancer. This is horrific, it's horrible. And as two people that prevent this cancer. It's, it's, it's a timing thing. And that's what this is about.

Eric Rieger 6:08
No question and this isn't isolated and he's not even remotely the first high profile person to die at a young age from colon cancer. If we all know who Katie Couric is her husband, James Monaghan, he died at the age of 42. In fact, I think the the GI Center in New York affiliate with the Presbyterian Hospital, there's actually named for him cheap, donated quite a bit of money to help them advance the research not only for colorectal cancer, but to start the trend of people starting to detect it earlier. So honestly, kudos to Katie Couric and and the foresight that she saw that my husband should not have died from this and he shouldn't have. We just didn't know that someone is at that age at the age of 42. Back then, which has been over 20 years ago. Yeah, that could have that could have happened. So let's get down to some of the many different things that maybe could contribute to why someone wouldn't go get checked, I'm going to leave the science part of discovering the colon cancer to you. But as someone who's 44, what are some of the reasons why someone might not go when they should go. And we'll get to the symptoms a little bit, but there's just some, some normal or abnormal things that have had have occurred over the last few years that may be contributing. Our sources of food have continuously changed quite a bit as a person who was born in the 70s. And a kid of the 80s best food was normal in learning about GMOs. Who knows no one's really made all of the connections and of course, there's a lobby that wants is more or less to somewhat ignore some of the things that could be the the key factors to allow Our body to grow these tumors etc. So, there's no doubt though, that if you were to compare my childhood with my parents who their generation does not have a high incidence of colorectal cancer, when they were in their 40s, there's obviously some type of environmental change, somehow. And I would say that food may have played a part and then there's some other things. One would be males. Traditionally, males just don't go to the doctor when there's signs and symptoms that should be sending them there. I mean, we know that here with with artron to our biggest purchasers of artron. teal, are women. Even if it's for the men in their lives, they actually are the ones who purch...

Gut Check Project #40 with Dr. Tom O'Bryan Sep 03, 2020

Show notes

Eric Rieger 0:00
Hello It is now time for the gut check project KBMD health fans and those at the Ken Brown clinic. I'm here with my guest host, Dr. Kenneth Brown. We've got an incredible special guest with us here today Dr. Tom O'Brien joins the show. Like and share of course, Dr. Brown once you take it away and introduce our awesome guests.

Ken Brown 0:19
Well, I'm so excited because Dr. Tom, you and I have been running in similar circles. And every time I bump into somebody including different lab companies, including different mindshare people, everybody's like, Hey, you and Dr. Tom need to hang out. I'm like, I keep missing him. I'll go on a summit and he'll be like before me or after me. And then I'm just like, Oh, this is awesome. So we finally got you, wrangled in, you've got so much stuff going on. You're an author, you're a doctor, you obviously do some incredible deep dives. And what I love about you is everything that I've seen you on a webinar on a summit is science backed and that's exactly what we do. So I'm just thrilled I I have no agenda for this. You got a ton of information. If we ended up talking about something that I need to learn about, I'm just going to peel off and say, Wait, explain that. And that's, that's for me. So I'm not trying to question you, but like, sure, where I've read some of your stuff. And it's pretty cool. We're talking the same stuff, fix your brain through your gut, that kind of thing. That's all about us. So, welcome. So excited.

Dr. Tom O'Brian 1:18
Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm thinking a place to start if I may. The Alzheimer's Association came out last year and said one out of three elders dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia. So that means between the three of us, one of us is going down in our brain function, and it ain't gonna be me.

Ken Brown 1:42
It's gonna be Eric. It's gonna be Eric.

Eric Rieger 1:43
This is unfair.

Dr. Tom O'Brian 1:44
I feel like I understand. But that's a reality check. And with a reality check like that, whether we like it or nobody likes to talk about brain function, no one does. You know, we all know someone that had a heart attack and survived. They changed their diet, they started exercising, they lost 25 pounds, they look better than they've looked in years. Most of us know someone diagnosed with cancer that went through the recommended protocols. And they're doing better than they've done in years. No one knows anyone diagnosed with a brain deterioration disease that's doing good. It terrifies us. And so we avoid the topic. So I want to talk about first the reality check that our healthcare system is not quite working the way we want it to and more people are getting sicker, especially if we talk about the brain and kids with autism and the numbers are skyrocketing and all that, but how can we look at our health care if our bodies aren't working the way we want them to right now? What's the big picture view of that? How do I get a big picture and I want to suggest this concept because I have found that this works really well. When I moved from Chicago to Southern California in 2010 I needed a map. How do you get from Chicago to San Diego? You need a map, you know, and I may know how to get to Denver cuz you just get on I 80 in Chicago, it takes you to Denver, right? You know, I may or it actually doesn't, it takes you close and you have to go up and 94. But I don't know how to get to San Diego, you need a map. When your body is not working the way you want it to you need a map. You can't just look for a better form of vitamin C, or what brain nutrient Can I take to help my brain function better? We have to have the map and what is the map in healthcare. The map is understanding at a layman's level, how I got to where I am and if we don't. To understand how we got to where we are right now, we are just like a dog chasing its tail trying to get somewhere else. So the question about brain dysfunction, or the question about auto immunity is, why is the immune system attacking my own tissue? Why is my brain not functioning the way it's supposed to, and you have to do a deep dive. And you don't need to be a geek and know the science because there's lots of information out there now. But we have to be willing to be uncomfortable for a little bit of time in being overwhelmed with knowledge. And we take it just one step at a time. That's why the subtitle of my most recent book, you can fix your brain. The subtitle is just one hour a week to the best memory, productivity and sleep you've ever had. And it's not cutesy subtitle It is the only way to be successful at changing the direction your brains going. Because as you learn more and more about the things that you didn't know, you mean that little bit of mold on my shower curtain there, it secretes spores into the air every time I take a shower, and I'm inhaling those spores and they go right up to my brain. And the number one type of Alzheimer's of the five types is called inhalation Alzheimer's, meaning what you're inhaling is causing the inflammation in your brain killing off brain cells. Yes, change shower curtain, you know, or whatever the trigger is. People don't know what the trigger triggers are. So they don't know what to do and they're hoping for a magic pill. You need the map. How did I get to where I am, so you then can make the corrections over six months to a year that turn your health in a new direction.

Eric Rieger 6:00
I agree with that. I think that with where you're where you're beginning here in our discussion, many of the things you listed there, there's a lot to unpack, but many of the things that you listed there are, I think some huge tenants that that we discussed here on the go check project. One of those is that gut brain access, Dr. Brown talks quite a bit about the relationship for brain health and how it begins really with systemic health, which obviously originates in the gut. And then you're talking about issues of, of nerves and obviously the brain is a bundle of nerves but neural health and so what is it specifically that we need to do to protect our bodies from I would assume you're getting to long term inflammation what what the caveats are there that are initiating those inflammatory responses? So is there something that you wanted to kind of peek at there were

Ken Brown 6:51
Yeah, so love where you're going with this. I'm um, as a gastroenterologist what I'm seeing is an exponential growth of autoimmune disease, Crohn's all sort of colitis are those celiac disease. Those are the ones that I deal with. And we're seeing this huge exponential growth. What you're describing is one in three people getting Alzheimers, we are seeing that autism is increasing. there's a there's a common theme here. And it's this upward hockey stick that's going on with chronic diseases. I love everywhere you're going and you I'm my bandwidth is only so large, where I have to kind of focus on how do I improve your gut to improve your brain and now you're talking other aspects. I want to get into that, but I want to know more about the guy. I'm a real big fan of how I built this. So I want to know more about the guy, the doctor Tom, how did you end up deciding that you were going to go down this path? I've heard a lot of your lectures so I know that you're super smart. I know you're very well read, but I don't know you. So let's talk about you for a moment.

Dr. Tom O'Brian 7:52
Sure, sure. When I began my medical education in chiropractic school, very first week, the very first week I knew absolutely nothing. You know, we're working on a cadaver. I've just seen a dead body for the first time learning how to work with cadavers and genetics classes. There wa...

COVID-19 Files: Ep. 10 Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

Eric Rieger 0:00
All right, welcome back to COVID files. This is actually an extension of COVID files number nine, so we used to call them 9.5. When we brought in Dr. Ackerman, we just call it nine plus,

Ken Brown 0:12
man, I think we ought to call it COVID file 10. It actually deserves its own thing. Now I understand that you've gotten some, some listeners that maybe were a little bit dismayed by how we ended the last podcast. Can you go ahead and get everybody up to date in case they didn't see it?

Eric Rieger 0:28
So there's there's actually a lot of things to attack number one, we had covered phone number nine, and COVID File Number nine, we talked specifically about the NRF two pathway. And we laid it all out there leading people up to the fact that how do you supplement the NRF two pathway because of how beneficial it is. If you've missed that. Don't watch this episode yet. Go back check out episode number nine. It's going to really lay the groundwork for this episode of COVID file number 10. Second thing, this is our first time this is my co host by the way

Ken Brown 1:00
But why don't you can write a long time since we've been together this close without without a mask on? We work together with a mask

Eric Rieger 1:05
No kidding.

Ken Brown 1:06
But you know, thank goodness, it's easy to get tested now. So at least I know as of this moment your test was negative. My test was negative, we can be this close together.

Eric Rieger 1:13
at least for as good as the test was. Yeah, it says that we're negative.

Ken Brown 1:17
And I'm super excited that you're able to multitask during this podcast.

Oh, yeah.

With you being so Eric, as you can see by the headphones, that he is a dual timing is a air traffic controller. Is that correct? You're getting feedback there. Is that why you're wearing headphones? And I'm not that is why I'm wearing them. Go ahead and raise your altitude.

Eric Rieger 1:37
Bet Yes, that's we're doing a little bit of double duty. Here we are in the studio. But we're all alone. We don't have anybody helping us. Paul is still doing a fantastic job of doing the production after we get finished recording. But for right now, we're keeping our exposure to a minimum because this is the first time that we've been this close.

Ken Brown 1:54
Yeah,

Eric Rieger 1:55
We've got a mask on

Ken Brown 1:55
It really is. And you and I have worked together this whole time. Yeah. Several times a week. But we have a Had a 95 mass on and so at some point you got to start to, you know, push the boundaries a little bit, we've got to get the studio, let's go ahead and do this. And why do I feel comfortable about this because what we're going to talk about today is an extension of last podcast, check it out. It's about the NRF two pathway. We'll recover that really quick, just briefly go over it. But I'm going to tell you how the NRF two pathway can be very effective in overall health right in multiple ways, but also the possibility that there is compelling evidence to show that if you do not have a healthy NRF two pathway, then you are at risk for getting COVID-19

Eric Rieger 2:39
Yes.

Ken Brown 2:39
So you and I are trying to do everything in our power to make sure that we have optimized our bodies in case we get exposed. Last episode we talked about how Joe Rogan's always saying why don't healthcare workers talk about how to prevent getting it that's what that whole show was about? Definitely. So it was about the last episode we talked about the NRF two pathway. And so today, what I want to discuss are some papers that I have found that show how to use certain natural products to improve your NRF two pathway. And that's right where we ended, we ran out of time last time, but specifically how this could be a new target to actually prevent SARS cov. Two, which is the virus that causes COVID-19 and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation while improving your immune system overall, and down regulating these two receptors, so it's kind of crazy, because it's like the panacea when we start talking about this pathway. And I started looking into these different papers. I'm like, why isn't anybody talking about it? Right? And I think that frequently, you and I have kind of pushed the boundaries a little bit and talked about stuff before everybody else was because we're, well, because we're just two turntables and a microphone. Because we have the access to some microphones.

Eric Rieger 3:52
It's just yeah, access to microphones. But even more importantly, it's science based. What we're doing is we're staying true to the whole order. Have the origination at origin ation origination of the program which is we're finding compelling evidence to talk about as it applies to not only our but your health

Ken Brown 4:10
yeah and so I think something that we have the ability to do is that been in healthcare and having access to wonderful people that help us out like Angie cook where we can get these articles that say Angie I want to talk about NRF you know, just unloads incredible articles on me and then we go through and sift through this. It's essentially what we're not making any claims. We're not saying anything to run out and this is what's what you should go do remember the disclaimer is, although I'm a doctor, or crna, we are not your crna and your doctor if you do have anything unusual going on if you have that weird rash or if you believe that you need to dogmatically look at something that we're talking about here and say I'm gonna do this, it's gonna protect me that's not what I'm saying. Talk to your doctor. What we're giving you is information. We're giving you science backed information. You do with that what you want. Ideally, I want you to take it to your doctor. And say, look, these guys are talking about this right? We should be talking about this. Right? So that's sort of the disclaimer right there, but it's all based on science. So, recap. We did talk about the NRF two pathway and we discussed how ridiculous the acronym is the acronym is nuclear factor, e two factor related related factor. I'll say that one more time nuclear factor, e two factor related factor, hence the f2, which is really funny. All right, it's the master regulator of cellular health, and it detoxifies all your cells. It stimulates cellular defense, and if any type of insult starts happening that protects the cell, specifically when we're talking about SARS, cov two, it actually down regulates the h2 receptor which allows the SARS cov to to attach and I'm gonna throw in a new term that we did not talk about last time because now it's relevant. The in normal conditions your NRF two pathway remains suppressed and kind of controlled like a cage using something called the cytoplasma repressor protein keep one that is the KE AP one. Talk about bad acronyms that's ever decided the NRF two decided that the keep one. The acronym stands for kelch like erythroid cell derived protein with CNC homology associated protein one cannot make that up. Like whoever was discovering this did not go to any acronym training at all. Now, we thought the NRF was bad. Now I'm going to tell you that there's something called the keep one protein, which doesn't allow your NRF to become activated. This is going to be relevant when we get into the next interesting. And so in response to any type of damage or attack or oxidative stress, the NRF two will actually separate from the keep protein which is controlling it, dive into the cell, hop into the nucleus and then turn on On 250 jeans, that's wha...

COVID-19 Files: Ep. 9 Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

How are you able to stay healthy with the pandemic situation not going away? Maybe your NRF2 pathway loves you that much! Immunity, obesity, and aging... be on the right side of these issues everyday by loving your body and this incredible mechanism that makes a healthy life possible. Join Dr Ken & Eric as they break down how your body is actually fighting to keep you healthy everyday, and what you can do to keep it that way!

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