 Hello, this is Dr. Michael Greger coming to you live from my treadmill as I do every month To answer any questions you may have for those you are familiar with my work every year I read through every issue of every English language nutrition journal in the world so busy folks like you Don't have to and then I compile the most interesting as groundbreaking most practical finds to new videos and articles that blow nearly every day To my website nutrition facts.org everything the website is free There's no ads no corporate sponsorships strictly 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 Alright All right Let's let's just the start of the top and go down Until they get too crazy, and I'll just pick them a random Oh, Maria says which mushrooms are not safe to eat. There are some mushrooms like the I think one's called like the deadly they owe the angel of death or something like that Something like that. Um, but there there are of course Mushrooms that are that are deadly. I would encourage people not to forage for mushrooms I'm actually a big fan of foraging for food. I Used to make all sorts of dishes with like, you know You know milkweed pods and things which of course you have to boil Sufficiently long to destroy the toxins etc But yeah, so but so I encourage people to stick to mushrooms that they get in their store And even then there are there's one type of mushrooms more L mushrooms that have to be cooked Let's see what I need to make sure you cook your mushrooms I'll encourage people to cook all their mushrooms for the reason that I describe In a ancient video now nutrition facts that organ fact I'm I just compile all the new research on on those Toxins in raw mushrooms for my upcoming book How not to age be on December 2022? And there's it looks like some there's some great recent review articles talking about should we still be concerned about anything wrong mushrooms? I mean, I can't wait to delve in and see what they actually say. So I will include that in my new book Since there is apparently some anti-aging properties of certain mushrooms. I'm excited to learn all about that as well Alright, let me just pick one at random here. This is Debbie Herrick saying I have to supplement Too much on a vegan diet. I do so much better adding a little meat Supplement too much. I mean the only supplement the vegans have to take is vitamin B12 critically important For anyone eating a healthy diet to get a regular reliable source of vitamin B12, but that's it You know other supplements I recommend like vitamin D supplements. That's for everybody Who doesn't get sufficient sunlight? And because otherwise you're not gonna probably gonna have insufficient levels and so and you can even take And it's the way I do it a supplement once a week So two thousand micrograms of cyanocobalamin because about five bucks a year get all the B12 you need so One little chewable pill once a week Shouldn't be Too much of a of a burden for too many people. All right See what's next? Dr. Hyman states it's sugar that causes fat level disease. You see the high fat diet because fat does not cause Lycogenesis Do you read the statement? It's not either or it's both. In fact, accessory fat is actually worse than sugar. They've actually been put to the test Where the randomized people to eat excess sugar or excess saturated fat next and excess saturated fat was actually worse in terms of causing Liver inflammation, but that doesn't mean sugar is good for you. I mean we're talking about industrial sugars We're talking about sucrose and high fructose corn syrup and And you can show this experimentally give people have people chuck a bunch of soda and you just and you can build up More fat in your liver not a good idea to Excess sugar or excess saturated fat Okay, what do we got next? How can I communicate to people about veganism in a positive way? Oh That's very sweet of you, Sophia You can I think some people I mean Know thine audience is the answer, right? I mean you have to know who you're talking to So when you're talking to a friend where you're talking to a classroom where you're talking to I mean, you know, it depends what? What you'd like to how you'd like to frame it? but I think people like to Hear about the positive things the benefit this is what's gonna do for your own health or for the planet or for Potemic risk or whatever as opposed to this is really bad. So You know like my daily dozen is talking about here's all the great foods that you should you know fit into your diet And yes those foods You know are fantastic and mountains of nutrition of all sorts of Unique wonderful properties, but part of the daily dozen is is wink wink It kind of crowds out some of the bad stuff. I mean if you actually go through and check off that whole list Yeah, there's not a lot of room for crap at the end of the day And so talking about the benefits of some of the more helpful foods Naturally can lead one to just kind of crowd out some of the less healthy foods And who doesn't want to be told to eat more of something? So you're like wait a second. I have to eat more blueberries. Okay, that sounds delicious Like oh tastes good and you get to live longer. That's what plant-based eating is all about Alright, oh ma. Oh, it looks like there's a new let's see what this does. Can people actually see this? No, I guess not. Oh messages Okay, oh Alright good. Um, there's a new. I'm there's a there's a I can actually show all the comments coming through here and so this is you get a sense of of What's out there, so I'll just pick one a random see what happens. Oh, I actually have to pick it over here Let's see what happens All right, what? This is from Jaden. What blood test should I ask for as a six-year vegan if I want to just get one Just make sure I'm on top of everything. Oh, that's very sweet. Um, Well the only so if you're feeling fine Um, then the only Blood test really that's recommended by the USP STF the United States preventive services task force Which is kind of like the official body that in terms of what is important for kind of preventive medicine Is cholesterol you want to get your cholesterol taken in fact got the earliest cholesterol They used to be age 20 but I think it's now earlier than that and then I get another cholesterol checked every five So it's fine. You might get checked every five years And so ways like ways I'm I mean plant-based. I don't really need your cholesterol checked Yes, you really need to get your cholesterol checked. There are some Secondary causes of hypercholesterolemia meaning high cholesterol independent diet, so I make sure that's down He said we sing what's this hubble about cholesterol. It's a primary respect for the number one killer men and women That's why we're so sensitive, but making sure everyone's cholesterol is down So um, then that's just not for vegans. In fact, it's less important for vegans, but important for everyone So but beyond that Obviously if you're not supplementing with vitamin B12, you get a urine MMA Test so it's not a blood test. It's a urine test Get a sense if you're having enough vitamin B12 should be you don't need to do that test if you're getting enough Which of course you should be But If you haven't been you must see where you are If you're getting insufficient sunshine we gave vitamin D checked but but in general in fact I have a series of two videos on one on Should you get a annual health check and she get an annual? physical exam and I talk about the data suggesting they actually be harmful In some cases, so check out those two videos if you're interested like well wait a second, you know Shouldn't I just go see a doctor? For the heck of it. All right, what do we have next? This is from Stephanie I don't know if vitamin D3 is okay for a hopeful plant-based because I read vitamin D2 is vegan rather than vitamin D3 Okay, there are vegan sources of both vitamin D2 which is sourced predominantly from Fungi mushrooms and vitamin D3 which is sourced predominantly from sheep's wool, but is also from lichen which is the kind of an Algae-based multicellular organism, but but not an animal So, so yeah, you can get vegan vitamin D3 All D2 is vegan, but D3 is probably preferable just because the studies showing Increased increased longevity with vitamin D supplementation. We're all done on vitamin D3 And so since that's what the studies were done on we don't know if that necessarily Translates to D2 so I would just use D3 if you have a choice and if it's important for you to be vegan you can get a vegan D3 No problem. Oh, and you know what else? I Actually have a video coming up on this I was always getting the the like oil based D3 thinking well, it's fat sobbing. You know how there's like these little like gel caps almost filled with you know D3 and oil And it's also but there's also D3 in powder like just powder regular kind of capsules and I was always buying the the oily ones because I was like well You know, it's fat soluble. Maybe it's better absorbed that way. Um, it turns out they put it to the test and It's equivalent of the oil based pills or just the regular It's like, you know tied the rice starch or melted dextran or something. I'm just a dry powder Works just as good and so now I switched over and just buy the cheaper stuff was just a powder form Okay, so that's cool. Um, so and I have video coming on that but you're watching the Q&A and you get the sneak peek. Oh Sorry, I accidentally clicked I didn't see the last question. Sorry about that. Whoever that was Okay, Kim Robinson says what are your thoughts on the unapproved? Covid vaccines the FDA has approved for emergency use, so they are approved, but they're approved more than she used Why because it's an emergency and so I Encourage people to get whichever vaccine you have a chance to get The getting it sooner rather than later is most important thing rather than one brand over another And we now have for most of these vaccines literally tens of millions of people that have gone before us So we know how safe it is. We know how effective it is and we should thank our lucky stars. We have Such a cornucopia of options and I am patiently waiting my turn And hopefully by May 1st most states will I'm be vaccinating the entire populace and I will be first in line and Looking very much forward to it. Okay. Grace says is there a proper order? Oh, yes How cool is that? Is there a proper order to floss brushing rinse with green tea this and when you if for anyone saying rinse with green tea What kind of craziness is that I did a video about rinsing I Did a video about I don't know if it was actually a combination of green tea and amla or two separate videos talking about the health of the usefulness of amla which is powdered Indian gooseberries and separately green tea on periodontal health on On keeping the your gums healthy And then I just put them together But I did recommend people but add some amla and green tea and swishing around their mouth And in fact if I walked over the fridge right now, I'd have it and I could show to you and I do it every night Yeah, anyway, wonderful stuff. Okay but aside from that what about the proper order um and I've the fact that this questioner Was smart enough to know about the green tea stuff But still I says question means that the video I wrote about proper sequence obviously hasn't been put up in the website yet I forget which ones are up and which ones are in the queue but no there's so every single randomized controlled trial of Flossing brushing sequence every single one. I think there's only been two or three But every single one is the best available day that we have Says that you should floss first. Whoa so If you're in the floss first camp you are right Yeah, it's fascinating because you can imagine it both ways intuitively and but nope. All right, so um and then In the rinse with green tea I would do at the end Because then you would have that residue because then otherwise if you just rinse with green tea, then you're brushing it off But if you rinse afterward, but if you floss then brush then rinse There'll still be some amla green tea residue in your mouth when you go to bed um And when you start your day whenever you brush then it'll kind of last a little longer I mean, that's not actually been put to the test, but that's just my thinking Anyway, all right, let's go next up Rennie says if I could conduct a study On what topic would it be what topic? Oh my god, there's so much Um so much research that needs to be done. Um, I'm Uh, I think reversal data is particularly Um compelling So when you talk it's like prevention is unexciting when you when prevention works nothing happens, right? So it's like why don't I have cancer today? Why my prevention's been kicking ass Okay, it doesn't have the same thrill as someone who has some horrible disease And then you do something and they have the horrible disease goes away. That's really compelling, right? You want to get people to eat healthier? That's the sexy stuff Not like you won't get breast cancer if you do this for the next 20 years. Not as exciting. Okay Uh, and so one of the arenas where I think reversal would be um, potentially really exciting low back pain low back pain Causes a tremendous amount of disability. Um, and we have all this data talking about um, the uh, the The correlations between high cholesterol levels and low back pain and you can do MRIs of people's spines Look at the vertebral arteries which are feeding the discs feeding the spine and you can correlate the low back pain With the clogging of the arteries that the closing off with atherosclerosis um, and so uh, and so maybe we're just robbing Um our intervertebral discs, which are actually avascular. I don't have any, um, you know arteries or veins inside them So nutrients just have to diffuse in waste parts have to diffuse out very sensitive. I think Um potentially to uh poor circulation so um So in terms of preventing low back pain one would think that a artery healthy diet Right a diet centered around whole plant foods would be good in terms of preventing But if that's the case wouldn't it um wouldn't stand a reason that if you Went on a really healthy diet. Maybe you could you know improve the function of these arteries You know with a nitrate rich diet lots of nitrate rich vegetables And uh, maybe we could uh improve the blood flow to our spine and maybe our back pain would go away That would be great to be able to tell people and I do tell people Um to eat healthier, but it's never actually been put to the test and I'd love to randomize people Um to a healthier diet versus kind of a more standard diet and see if we can actually improve back pain with reverse back pain with Healthy diet never been tried. I'd love to see that study Okay, what else next? Should I a nigma 981? Asks not to be confused with a nigma 980 Should I inspire a spire? To uh to feed my two-year-old according to the deal the daily doesn't any tips on getting young kids. Ah, okay um, obviously the daily doesn't Uh Amounts way off for a two-year-old. Um, and in fact It's particularly important for young children. Um to get Really nutrient and calorically dense foods in their little termines because they have such little dummies, right? So, um, I mean they need lots of calories to grow One of the benefits of whole healthy plant foods is they're so chlorically dilute and we have this massive No pun intended obesity epidemic And so the fact that you can stuff yourself to the brim with all this food and have very few calories in your stomach That's a fantastic thing for adults for overweight adults, but for little kids Um, uh, you know You could little kid eats a lot of salad. They're not going to have enough calories to grow Um or nutrition for that matter. So they need to be really chlorically dense foods um, and uh, so but in terms of Are those same foods healthy for all ages? Yes With the exception of course infancy where human breast milk is the only way to go even Into uh into your two-year-old, but um in addition to starting to eat real food. Um, so, uh Daily doesn't foods are still good. Um, but obviously um, uh the The daily dozen quantities are for adults Because there's a huge amount of food on purpose um Oh cadet of space. Sorry I was trying to parse those syllables there Can you synthesize enough vitamin d during the warm months to last you throughout winter? Okay. Well Yes in terms of enough vitamin d to live Um, I mean that's the whole point is that during the summer months, you know You have high latitudes you build up enough and it's stored in your fat And you kind of live through the winter and then you get more The next year, but do you have enough in your body for optimal health? That we don't know the answer um And uh, and we suspect that it's probably probably dipped too low and indeed you see that um, uh You know the that study the oxford Study on vegans in the uk high latitude um vitamin d perfect in the summer it dips Too low during the winter months and uh, so It's probably good when you're going to insufficient sunshine to supplement your diet with vitamin d and I would recommend Allowing a 2000 international units of vitamin d3 a day For anyone getting insufficient sun Doesn't matter where you live even in the warmer months if you're inside all day Doesn't matter how much sun there is outside You're not gonna make enough because it actually it relies on cutaneous exposure without sunblock without clothes Anyway, okay next Oh Oh contra okay. Congratulations. Okay next Why can't I do next okay next? Okay, andrew says I suspect dairy has a negative effect on male fertility um I know saturated fat consumption does um, I have a video on saturated fat and and uh fertility so But the skim milk doesn't have any so I wonder if um The hormones or the the dairy protein would ever have an effect. I don't remember Um, I I would go nutrition facts that are type fertility or type sperm Into uh the search bar and in dairy and see if anything pops up. So good question. Um The only one that pops to mind off top of my head is um saturated fat And dairy is actually the number one source of saturated fat people think saturated fat the things like steak or something But no actually dairy number one source of saturated fat in the country um, and so that's how most people Um get the saturated fat intake Okay I think number two is actually chicken just because we eat so much chicken. Um, if uh, rebecca says it's 1350 calories enough for me exercising um, uh The uh, it all depends on how if you are this tall um, uh, so uh, uh resting metabolic rate How much you kind of need on uh on an hourly basis? Um depends not only on your activity rate, but actually on your body mass how big you are How many cells you have and how active are those cells and so Um, but there's a whole bunch of things there's a bunch of calculators online where you can calculate exactly How much you need based on your activity lever in your size? okay Oh John Moore says does cooking Degree in the ala the health of compounds like lignans inflaks and cheese What is ala alpha linalinic acid? That's the short chain omega threes found in flax and chia and it does not degrade um, so uh, you know, I have uh Videos on flax talking about how you can bake, you know flax seed muffins at 350 for however long it's said in the video And no decrement in the omega three content. Now that is not the case with flax seed oil All right, so flax seed oil can oxidize can turn bad even at no heating Just at room temperature even in the fridge if left long enough Because it's lacking all the protective compounds that come in the whole food Including that hard natural hold But even ground flax seeds in an airtight container even at room temperature lasts for months without any decrement in omega three content But because in the flax seed itself It's packed with all these antioxidants and other compounds that prevent the oil gain rancid you extract all the good stuff You left with just the oil it is very sensitive. So that's what one of the reasons we should eat um foods in whole food form Okay, valory says would it be a good What would be uh, what would be a good dha level lp level on omega three blood tests Not only indicate the optimal level all the magus together um Uh, yeah, no, so uh, there is I'm trying to think the The most popular one is like a blood splut spot test Where uh, they send you a little lancet and you and you poke yourself and you bleed onto a little piece of paper And you send it back and they give you Uh And I think it's a percentage fatty acids in kind of blood cell membranes compared to Total I don't remember um, but um If you have sufficient omega threes, I would assume that you're um Uh See do they they must do the long chains, you know, I have to look into that. That's a good question. I Um, don't know. I'm sure it depends on which test And I don't remember the test of which I'm talking about now. So it doesn't really help anybody um, but that's something you could contact the testing lab and be like wait a second. What does it exactly show? And uh, and how can I kind of further fractionate out my results? Okay, next up oh keeps coming that disappears. Sorry I'm clicking it doesn't show up. So I click again and then I already see everyone come on There we go. Okay Michael, uh, demarius says popcorn corn cold butter. I love popcorn or plant-based butters Which is primarily oil based healthy for you. I've heard Brussels old might not be healthy. It's not better. I'll turn this Yeah, um, so actually both so both the the butter flavoring the the the compounds that make kind of artificial butter flavor are themselves Bad and I have uh Videos about that. There's actually something called popcorn loma. Um, which is a disease not only That affects workers and plants that produce these uh, but um in people that who eat too much microwave popcorn They're actually breathing in this this toxic butter flavor substance And is scarring up their lungs. Um, and that's a separate issue from the From right from the fat. Um, it's typically in kind of a plant-based butters is palm oil Which is particularly bad in terms of our ldl cholesterol a bad cholesterol Um, there are a few tropical oils palm oil palm corn oil coconut oil Actually, the few are rare instances of plant-based oils being high in saturated fat and they raise your um ldl cholesterol just like lard and tallow and um Uh, um butter fat. So, um, yes better to Have unbuttered popcorn. You say wait a second. How do I make it taste good? Well, there's all sorts of things you can do Um, so uh, what I do I have a right over there. I can see right now I have a little spritzer bottle Um, and you can fill that spritzer bottle with anything you want to I have it right now filled with a little um Either malt vinegar or right now I have apple cider vinegar. Um And then you spritz it on just to make it to make stuff stick to it and then you pile seasonings onto it Um, and so, uh, there's something called bent Benson's table tasty and there's actually a bunch of salt-free Um seasonings out there that actually taste like salt. Um, so that and nutritional yeast and garlic powder Onion powder or smoked paprika all sorts of whatever you like obviously you can do chili powder You can do whatever and instead of spritzing with um with some vinegar You can drip some uh Tabasco on and and then your seasonings mix it all up and it sticks to it and it's delicious and it's helpful and You know you can do chlorella make zombie corn Which we used to call it in our family because it's like bright green and makes your fingers green and anyway All sorts of things to make your popcorn delicious And of course we're talking about your pop popcorn popcorn um a helpful snack Okay, johnny says if I had only one thing to say to someone about optimal health, what is everything you would say? Well finally one thing would be um I would say Eat a diet centered around whole plant foods since diet Is so that would be even more important than telling someone to stop smoking for example a smoker to stop smoking um Well, okay. I'd tell a smoker to stop smoking. Um, but in general Um, the american diet actually kills more people than tobacco Um, according to the globe burden of disease study the largest study of disease receptors in history funded by the bill and linda gates foundation So if diet is the number one killer, I'd tell people eat the healthiest diet, which is one centered around whole plant foods Okay, Renny Says what is the connection between hiccups? Oh hiccups after eating shall be a word. It sounds like one or two times a week Um, uh, so um, oh, I've got a bunch of oh, I had a whole series It's such a fascinating feeling a whole series on hiccups and what you can do to stop your hiccups Um, just to type in hiccups nutrition facts. Org Um, uh, I would uh, it's not something I'd worry about unless you had intractable hiccups Um, uh, meaning hiccups that wouldn't go away Um, eric newcomer says what's the verdict on canned coconut milk will chickpea glory kill me Um, uh, so canned coconut milk Um, is high in sensory fat high in coconut oil Um, and so raise your LDL cholesterol now. Look if you're if you are otherwise eating this perfect amazing diet I mean you have your genetics such your LDL cholesterol is You know Under 70 if you haven't have heart attack under, you know 30 40 50 if you have I had known heart disease I'm your cholesterol is that low right Um, uh, and uh, you don't have other heart disease risk factors Well, then coconut curry since that's all we really care about Is the effects it has on our cardiovascular system? Well, then, uh, you know go for it. You probably couldn't get away eating it every day And keeping your cholesterol that long But if you want to get your cholesterol tested and then eat coconut korea Whatever kind of interval you want and then get it retested and it really doesn't go up that much Well, then go for it. That's the only reason I care about it Um, uh, so but uh, you know, I would just try to use as little as possible And think of all other ways. You I mean you want something creamy. You could blend some cashews um and If you want something coconutty you could sprinkle on some, you know Dry coconut flakes. So wait a second. It doesn't coconut flakes Unsweetened coconut flakes have coconut oil in them. Yes, but they also have plant protein And that's how fiber such that actually has a neutral factor in your cholesterol Um, uh, does not raise your cholesterol like isolated Um, coconut oil does and unfortunately Time flies when you're having fun. Um, I've uh got a bunch more interviews. I gotta run off too So sorry about that, but Make sure I have a webinar coming out next month on cibo and leaky gut really excited about that We don't yet have a link up. So, uh, um Don't want to confuse people, but um, if you're watching this on youtube, you can um subscribe And uh, there's twitter There's facebook. This is going way too fast. Sorry for everybody And of course, please support uh consider supporting our work. We are 501c3 nonprofit. Um, we're kind of a wikipedia model where we just Um, everything's free and if and the only reason we continue to go is because one in a thousand people kicks in a few bucks and poof We've got a staff of more than a dozen folks and uh, we can put out all this wonderful stuff. So you Don't have to do the research yourself. Thanks everybody Bye. See you next month