 This is Dr. Michael Greger coming to you live from my treadmill like I do every month answer your questions I'm both Facebook live and here on YouTube. I just finished my Facebook An hour ago and here For my last Q&A of the month. So get your questions in now I see some people have already listed them down I will start at the top and just go straight down and hopefully get to your question Those of you unfamiliar with my work every year. I read through every issue Every English language nutrition journal in the world so busy folks like you Don't have to I think about the most interesting most ground-breaking most practical finds new videos and articles upload every day to my non-profit site nutrition facts org Everything on the website is free There are no ads no corporate sponsorship It's really non-commercial not selling anything just put up as a public service as a labor of love as a tribute To my grandmother whose own life was saved with evidence-based nutrition. Let us get to your questions Jessica asks Thank you for my work. What about BPA in an air popper for popcorn? I don't want to undo the benefits of popcorn by adding BPA so BPA is a plastics compound used as a liner for can't from any canned goods And in polycarbonate plastic so it's something like you know leaving a Hot water bottle in a car or something you get BPA in your water But I don't know how an air popper would Put BPA so BPA is used for flexible plastics. In fact, that's why they add it to plastics And so an air popper is not made out of flexible plastic. I'm not sure where I I Can't imagine how an air popper would put BPA on your popcorn So I wouldn't worry about it Unless you have a date. Otherwise, let me know and I'll maybe do a video about it Leanne says Questions asked now. We'll most certainly not be here by the time. Dr. Gregor shows up in two hours. So I suggest trying back. Well Leanne it appears you're wrong. So it looks like two hours Before my next Q&A and all my Q&A is here in YouTube. You can already start listening your questions You can have your question first like Jessica did and get it answered Okay, well, it's good to know. So thank you for Leanne for for helping us out. Okay Leanne, oh Leanne is answering someone called be mindful Saying that she thinks prune juice would be yellow light since it's a process plant food. Oh So Well, so there's one So actually so tomato juice is actually healthier than tomatoes with unless of their salt added But so you so I mean obviously it is the way I define process is nothing bad added nothing good removed And so is so no salt added tomato juice doesn't have anything bad added and you think well Yeah, but you remove the fiber. Actually tomatoes just has a lot of fiber Well, you they don't seem to remove a lot of fiber and the cooking process that makes me just actually makes Modivate carotene lycopene some of these carotenoid More absorbable. So I would put tomato juice in a green Sulfur tomato juice in a green light category in terms of prune juice. That's a good question I wonder because prune juice seems to me kind of thick. Is there fiber? Maybe they remove some of the fiber. So yeah, probably prunes or plums would be healthier than eating prune juice But I don't think prune juice is like something like apple juice where they literally like remove all the fiber and literally You're just left with kind of flavored sugar water a little vitamin C or something So actually in case of apple juice, no vitamin C really at all. Although they probably add it afterwards anyway So so yeah, prune juice may be in the in the middle there and not as bad as some of these other Juices though. Why not just eat some prunes? Okay? Or plums it is plum season. It's stone fruit season at least where I am here on the east coast I just got some of my CSA my community sport and agriculture and Boy, do I love plums? All right. I just had two for lunch Okay, Leanne. Leanne is now responding to at Alexandra D I'm not sure what the question was Okay, Nicole is the next question But how long should you wait after drinking green tea to eat a meal or how long after meal to drink it? So what Nicole is presumably referring to is the ability of green tea and black tea any kind of tea from the tea plant like Oolong tea Anyway, white tea is that it can block the absorption of iron So having tea and a meal in your stomach at the same time is not ideal for the absorption of non-heem iron so So I encourage people to drink tea separate from their meals and the question great question is a way second house separate So the concept is not having food and the tea in your stomach at the same time. So before a meal Pure liquid drinks very quickly out of your stomach. So like you had tea an hour before meal It would be totally out before you probably I mean maybe like half an hour before meal But after a meal right the foods in your stomach for a while depending on what you eat how much you eat It I mean it could take hours for your Stomach empty, but look if you give it an hour to head start then drink some tea, you know You know that wouldn't be as much a problem, but basically that's the thinking right so tea kind of on an empty stomach Although some people actually it irritates your stomach to drink tea the tannins and tea As these bitter compounds actually sometimes give people a stomach ache if they drink it on to stomach in which case don't do that alright Let me see Where are we here? Sedant Ask what are some alternatives for people with serotonin deficiency who take SSRIs? Selected serotonin be uptake inhibitors to manage their condition Okay, so I have videos on that so I have videos on SSR anti-depressants Questioning their efficacy in fact the whole kind of serotonin theory May not actually be legit. I mean that that Depression is a state of serotonin deficiency. That's kind of controversial, but There are certainly things you can do to improve the conditions for which SSRIs are often prescribed such as Depression so just type in anti-depressants or depressants depression Into nutrition facts.org all the videos will pop up There is actually serotonin in plant foods actual real serotonin like in your brain in plant foods But doesn't cross the blood brain barrier But does but what does is the precursor to serotonin tryptophan? And I have a video talking about how you can optimize the absorption so basically tryptophan in context of low protein Can facilitate Serotonin levels in the brain So I think it was but not squash seeds right in that video about but no so anyway check out the videos And and there's lots of things you can eat that may improve your mood Felicia asked my hope my whole body's itchy What could be the cause and what to do about it? What to do about it is the first part of the question find the cause so Itchiness all over can be a consequence. It's really potentially serious conditions like liver or kidney problems or it could just be some like you know You're like having a hypersensitive reaction to like the fabric softener or something In your clothes or something so The important thing is find out what it is and then treat the cause rather than trying to like use some kind of anti-itch cream or something so so Make an appointment see your medical professional and get to the bottom of it Though you can kind of think you're in your own mind what you might have been exposed to in terms of some kind of contact dermatitis Or anyway, and if you're getting hives this whole another story kind of swellings in the skin But you see your doctor and get to the bottom of it rather than just kind of cover up the symptoms Okay Debra asked this turmeric need to be eaten with a fat. Oh for best absorption I've got a video about that eating turmeric with fat does improve the absorption some of the fat soluble Nutrients in it. And so yes, I would encourage you to You know Throw some nuts seeds or avocado onto a turmeric dish I Would do it so for people that take vitamin D supplements, which is typically in an oily form or Preformed DHA this long chain of make-a-threes if you if you just took those Anytime you're going to when you're eating turmeric We're gonna take them any time might as well do when you're eating turmeric because then that little fat down there will Increase absorption if for whatever reason you don't mean nuts seeds nut butters seed butters or avocado in the house Leanne says please. Oh How nice of the answers please some nutrition facts shirts made from a hundred percent organic cotton. Oh, that's a great question I'm presuming that whatever we're using is not a hundred percent organic I Where if you? Go to nutrition facts that organ click on the contact button and leave a message saying Please try to find organic shirts We will see if we can source those it depends on whether Who are the vendor we use has that in stock, but I'd love to offer that Okay Leanne new company leaf side. Yes. I was just talking about leaf side on on Facebook a new company leaf side sells free dry just had water meals based on my daily dozen Yes, I have heard of them How much nutrition is lost in free drying? Yeah, that's a good question. Yeah, so that's that's actually what I just talked about on Facebook Yes, so I encourage you to check them out. So they Came up so it's all we know when there's this overwhelming signs Suggesting eating healthy has all sorts of benefits and the so the question is really okay that that dot, right? I mean Anyone who delves into this will quickly become Convinced by the overwhelming mountain of evidence. The question is okay. Well, how do you make it convenient though? I mean, how do you actually get it incorporated into your life? and From and look for me that's difficult not when I'm at home when I have control of my diet But I'm traveling around and find myself stuck in airport food courts. I'm trying to dig up something that's healthy It can be a real challenge And so that's why I personally was really excited about the at least that food. So yeah, it's a just add water But just green light ingredients, right? So they don't add salt sugar oil and that stuff is just whole foods but freeze-dried so like and So they I tried a mushroom one that they did I forget what it's called, but there's like forest mushroom something It's got like oats and mushrooms all the stuff you so you get hot water from your Hotel the You know coffee maker you just add it you mix it up poof and I have real food on the road And I don't have to go wander around the middle of the night in some strange city trying to find food So I'm really excited about it In terms of question with a loss of freeze drying, it's not great data out there. We know is that freezing itself Preserves nutrition in terms of fresh and frozen berries or greens, but in terms of the extra drying step I'm not I did kind of a superficial look and I did not see much out there, but If it's a common question, I will do a deep dive and see but I'm certainly enjoying their foods And it's just so rare to get I know a convenient kind of shelf-stable, you know non perishable food. That isn't just garbage It's actually all real food All right Sandra S says my mom has recently diagnosed with phase stage 4 ovarian cancer. I'm so sorry to hear that Wondering what what can we do in addition to search your chemo with diet? So I mean it's even more important when your body is fighting off Such insults to eat, you know extra special well, and so that's I mean, there's nothing Trying to think very in cancer. I mean, I presume you've typed in ovarian cancer nutrition facts.org I remember there was something on ovarian cancer survival. I forget what food it was But it wasn't an interventional study. I believe it was an observational study where they Associated a consumption of a particular food with improved ovarian cancer survival. I don't remember. Maybe that was lung cancer I know you have to check it out But I have not seen much on diet in ovarian cancer either prevention or treatment. So I know of no kind of specific food Although, you know, I've all these, you know remarkable studies on you know, like remember those You know turmeric and broccoli sprouts things like that. That's appear to help in other Arenas and so might be worth adding those but I mean there's no data you can point to to suggest efficacy Towards that particular type of carcinoma Does JF asks does DHA EPA slash EPA raise LDL cholesterol it shouldn't So, I mean typically people just take a few hundred milligrams a day that should not raise your LDL Leanne oh is replying to Felicia Felicia as I'm starting to bruise Very easily since going vegetarian. What could be the cause too much vitamin K? No too much vitamin K doesn't cause easy bruising I I Mean so it may just be kind of a coincidence that You know when people you know people change their diet either way Towards healthier or unhealthy then anything happens. They're like, oh, I wonder if it's my diet But maybe if you hadn't changed your diet at all, whatever would have happened would have happened anyway So I would actually get checked out you get a platelets checked and there's there's all sorts of kind of They they the whole kind of Blood coagulation system in the body is extraordinary complex and it's amazing if you think about it That you know, we should be able to close off a wound instantly So you don't die from blood loss, but yet totally liquid because you get a cloud anywhere You can kill you within a minute. So it's just an amazing Process But there's lots of different components lots of different things that can go wrong So you just got to find out what this so I encourage you to go check it out. But in terms of Food that one would not expect um Change in diet to cause easy bruising um Debbie Tucker asks Just wondering if any research. Oh, I'm reducing uric acid for less than an episodic gout Absolutely typing uric acid or gout into nutrition facts that are old bunch of things Including cherries and cherry juice Um Yeah, so uh Tartar cherries, what else but there's there's other stuff in terms of oh, um alkalizing your diet So basically lots of dark green leafy vegetables alkalizes you urine it helps with the excretion of uric acid It's all sorts of and lots of water Um, uh, so yeah a bunch of videos check them out Uh, right Can b12 cause a laura duarte asks can b12 cause benign prostatic hyperplasia bph Not that I know of what can is our miserable diet. So hopefully um, You're taking b12 because you're eating healthier and that should indeed Forstall or prevent bph in the first place Nicholas asks what about lentils and lentils sprouts? Um, the lectins and lentils are harmless as you can check out in the three videos I have about lectins check them out and eat your lentil sprouts. What a super healthy snack. Um, Uh, Nicholas asks mustard powder and kale smoothies question mark um Gross look there's no so the the whole mustard powder thing Is to reignite The sulforaphane production because you uh in cooked cruciferous vegetables like cooked kale So if you cook kale without chopping it up first You've destroyed you you wiped out the enzyme that produced sulforaphane So you add the enzyme back in the form mustard powder and you can make all the sulforaphane You need me only to do that with cooked You know people don't typically use cooked kale and smoothies They use fresh kale to make a green smoothie in which case No must the enzyme is there active ready to do its job So yep, uh, unless it floats your boat. I would not add mustard powder to smoothies Okay, Nicholas again asks is three cups of oats a day too much three cups of oats a day It's a lot of oats So the only problem with I mean oats are super healthy one of the healthiest whole grains out there um The my only uh concern would be somehow that's pushing out some even healthier food Although since they're one of the healthiest foods, it's hard to um, uh It'd be hard to push out a healthier food, but um, you know, you still have to you know Eat your fruits and veggies and other things in there and that might fill you up a little too much But no, uh, but typically look the more oats the better the more healthy food the better um, but yeah throw some Throw some berries on that uh, Federico Federico asks Whole food being there for eight months now serious problem with flatulence I started with two servings of legums and three and I didn't do it gradually Um, but shouldn't I have adjusted by now? So months in I'm still dealing with the issues of flatulence um, and so uh, I've uh, so I have a blog called, uh I don't know if you type in beans gas industry facts that are Um, and you actually click with the the default search will give you just videos But actually I think the best info. Well, I do have a good video on beans gas But I do have a an older blog post click on blogs that goes into detail things you can do to decrease Um, kind of the gassing this of beans typically um, it goes away your your your gut flora um, uh stubbornly, uh, is uh, is trying to um To hold on there. Um, and I have some tips on how you can um Um, uh reduce that issue. Um, worse comes worse. You can actually take these. Um Uh, these uh, the these these uh enzyme drops Like bino, there's another one out on the market now. Um, they add to beans in it and it kind of breaks down all these sugar and so uh There's nothing for your a gut bacteria to make gas from All right, is this at zinvo? or zasset zivo underscore cz As what death What death should I expect on a plant-based diet? um Well, you can still get hit by a buzz, right? It's just still important to make sure you have smoke alarms and wear your seatbelts and practice safe for sex and all the other things Um, diet is not the only thing that can kill you Um barat says hello. Hello barat met jh 33 As any diet or tropical treatment is for uh, subarach dermatitis on the scalp um Not that I know of um, the only thing you really do for subarach dermatitis is uh, just go to A dermatologist get it frozen off Um, you know, they dab it with a little like liquid nitrogen And it gets all inflamed for a little while and then just uh, falter it off Um, but that's strictly cosmetic. I mean, there's no reason I mean, that doesn't help in any other way than just for cosmetic purposes Um, so it's completely harmless if it is indeed subarach dermatitis Um, so, uh, yeah either nothing to do about it or if you want to you can get it taken care of But I don't think there's anything you can like put on it. Um other liquid hydrogen That or anything you can eat that affects it as far as I know Although I don't know if I've ever actually Searched that if you go to pub med dot gov pub med dot gov And type in subarach dermatitis and diet see if anything comes up and if something juicy send it to me Maybe I'll do a video about it Jessica Oh, thanks me for my work and says what kind of air pop popper What I recommend um I yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever's cheapest Uh, I don't know. Um Well, uh, Nicole asks what do I think of castile right and the reason I say cheapest because I need to buy more kale More money for kale Nicole, what do you think of castile? So Nicole asked me. What do I think castile so chemicals regular soap or harmful to our health too of that? She is red castile soap made them all well um, I think I actually use so I I mean This is not based on research. I just like the uh, what dr. Bronner's so if I believe that's castile soap um, it's just done um, but uh Chemicals but I don't know about the chemicals and regular soap being harmful. I do have a video talking about some of the Uh, kind of uh fragrances that are some of the concerns about some of the fragrances that are added to uh How personal care items, but I think that's all I've really done work on Uh, and then oh and then aluminum and antiperspirants and then I have a videos about One of that sodium lauryl sulfate the foaming agent in toothpaste I think those are the only three topics that I cover in terms of this kind of that kind of stuff Oh, I do have diy cleaning agents talk about tea tree oil right Yeah, so that too, but Yeah, it's almost about soap and not like hand soap Okay, matt jh 33 s are cousin florider edta bad for you Uh, is there a list of food preserves? People should avoid well It's probably so much the not so much the food preservatives, but what food preservatives are placed in So why wouldn't food need preserving because it's not fresh do you think you know like Broccoli has that preserves that to it. No because it's broccoli right good food goes bad if it's just on the shelf for a couple weeks You know and it's not dried beans or dried grains or something, you know I mean usually they add food preserves to a lot of processed crap And so it's probably the processed crap that's worse not the preservative itself um, but um Yeah, but calcium chloride um Yeah, yeah, I so I do I I think I have some videos on bh a bh t Maybe old videos um, but yeah, not on uh preservatives Particularly, I don't think so My usm asks is eating whole food plant-based nutrition late in the evening just for bed Worse than earlier in the day are ready for this the answer is Too bad. There's not like some like polling option where you can be like raise your hand if that'd be kind of cool Anyway, and the answer is Yes, it is worse we should try to Wait are the bulk of food intake earlier rather than later in the day. It actually is Metabolically better So big breakfast small dinner is better than big dinner small breakfast um Why because of Runo biology because of our circadian rhythms. I've got a really fascinating series of videos coming out I mean it'll go deep into that topic All right, where are we? All right, david woods asks Three minutes left david would ask does silica balm and or methyl balm and v12 digest better than the other What are the differences? Um, the the biggest difference is methyl balm and is not as shelf stable So you get a bottle of pills. You have no idea how much methyl balm is actually still in it Where a silica balm and the reason I make it silica balm is because it can be stable on the shelf And so you buy it and it and actually if it had it originally it's still there Um, most of it is still there. And so I recommend 2500 micrograms of silica balm and all once a week Get all the b12 you need you can take 250 micrograms a day if you want Or even b12 fortified foods Um, anyway, but so that's why it's better than methyl balm and there was one study and And most of the studies on reversal of b12 deficiency have been done on silica balm and so we can be much more kind of We can uh much more trusting. Um, there was this only one study ever on people eating plant-based with b12 deficiency on methyl balm and um in terms of reversing b12 deficiency and On one of the people that took it or told the researchers they took it Actually, their b12 levels didn't rise efficiently. So that's concerning. You never want that to happen So, uh, again another data points to just sound like a ballman is better and happens to be cheaper too Though the people selling methyl cabalman Will disagree All right met jh 33 As are the concerns over ingredients in my cook. Oh are Were these concerns an ingredient cookbook or wanted? um Okay, our my or oh are his concerns about these ingredients in my cookbook unwarranted talking about the how not to that cookbook um, oh, so red light white rice White rice and arsenic and miso Oh, uh, so not all miso has rice in it. Um Yeah, you can get rice free miso if you want um Yeah, in fact, there that's arsenic is the reason why there is no any kind of rice in the cookbook Um, and I prefer other grains um Agees in tahini So that would only be So talking about advanced classification in products that will be in toasted tahini. You can get raw tahini um Made from just sesame seeds As opposed to toasted sesame seeds In fact, isn't most tahini that way. I don't know. It certainly tastes Untoasted um and arsenic and rice vinegar. Um, I think in my arsenic videos. I had a um I talked about rice vinegar and but it was it As far as I remember it did not raise any alarm bells just because the amount of rice vinegar Um, anyone with tip of the in a day is minuscule Um, and all that wonderful acetate would have all sorts of wonderful benefits, but you look you can use any kind of vinegar you want um, and Oh time is up. Oh Um, uh, the next question is really easy answer though. Um, uh, is uh, this person is on On uh, switch to a healthier diet and it says his white blood cell count is under four. Oh my god. What should I do? That's why I didn't see this series of two videos talking about white count if you put white cell count Nutrition facts.org I have videos talking about how healthy it is to have a low white count because it is a measure of um, a systemic inflammation In the body and I talk about exactly what kind of white count you want Um, but yeah, that is actually a very common question. Um, and it turns out, uh, what you think is uh, oh Is actually aha Have a great day everybody. Um, and eat healthy