
🌟 Ready to take control of your fertility? 🌟 Tune in to this eye-opening episode of the Digital Social Hour Podcast with Sean Kelly, where Dr. Rahi Victory shares powerful expert tips to optimize fertility for men and women. 💡 From...
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Dr. Rahi Victory
Was way below what I feel it should be. People were not being educated, they were not being given options. And even when they did treatments, they weren't being given explanations for what was wrong. So there was this just overwhelming hunger from patients just to get human care. Right. Like one on one. Tell me what's wrong. Tell me why I didn't do well.
Host
All right, guys, Dr. Rahi Victory here. Today we're going to talk infertility, a growing crisis. Thanks for coming on, man.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Thanks for having me.
Host
Yeah. Based off the stats you just shared with me, we really need to talk about this now.
Dr. Rahi Victory
For sure. Yeah. Infertility is rapidly growing.
Host
Yeah. So by 2050, you said 50% of countries won't be able to meet up.
Dr. Rahi Victory
With their replacement rate for the population. Yeah, that's correct. And by 2100, they estimate 97% if we're on the same trajectory. So it's a very growing concern and it's going to have a real social, environmental health impact. The economic impact, really like a massive tidal wave of, of a problem.
Host
This is going to impact us, our kids, our grandkids, for sure. Scary stuff.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
And it seems like it's just a lot of contributing factors, not just one thing, right?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. There are many. I mean, there's age, there's the environment, there's all the exposures. You know, there's. There's other problems with diseases that are growing. Endometriosis. Men's health is rapidly declining. We have a huge decrease in sperm performance. So all these things are contributing, you know, together, and it's really becoming a problem.
Host
How much does the men's health impact the health of the. The baby?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Huge. Huge. So the quality of the sperm can impact everything from the health of the baby to miscarriage rates. There's a test we do called sperm DNA fragmentation testing. That test measures the amount of damage to the DNA in the sperm. And for the guys that have a high amount of damage, it's up to a 12 fold increase. So 1,200% increase in the risk of having a miscarriage.
Host
Holy crap.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Placentas, things like preeclampsia, the health of the baby later on, all of those are very significantly impacted by men's health. Great. Example that I use on a lot of my patients is if they're smoking, we need to get them to quit smoking. And it's hard for a lot of guys. So one thing I'll frequently tell them is your baby has a higher chance of having heart disease and cancer, even if it's only the dad that is smoking and wow, baby's maid.
Host
That's scary.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Because you're imprinting that stuff into the epigenetics of the sperm DNA.
Host
Yeah. This is all new to me because when I was growing up, I always thought it was the woman's health that mattered. I never knew it was both.
Dr. Rahi Victory
50. 50.
Host
So it's 50 50. Oh, yeah. Wow. That's crazy because I know a few women that have had kids with different fathers.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Sure.
Host
And some of them have hard. Had much harder pregnancies.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, exactly. So you'll find some women that sail through one pregnancy and have no problem and then they'll have another pregnancy with a different partner.
Host
And they're complicated and it's like a night and day difference.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
So it has to be on the male at that point.
Dr. Rahi Victory
A lot of it will be. I mean, every pregnancy is different, but a lot of it will fall back on the health of the male and their habits and you know, what they're doing. There was a really good post, I don't remember who it was from, on social media recently where this guy was talking about, if women have to go through nine months of taking care of their bodies and their health and attending to their well being because they're pregnant, why shouldn't guys get their sperm optimized? And I got millions of views and I was like, yeah, this guy hit it right on the head. Right. We need to actually send that message out to the guys to make sure they're as healthy as possible when we're going ahead to produce a baby.
Host
What are some ways to optimize for.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Males so automatically no smoking, no drinking, no drug use. And that includes vaping?
Host
Really?
Dr. Rahi Victory
All that stuff?
Host
Vaping shows up in the sperm.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, it's all terrible for sperm.
Host
Damn.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It's a train wreck. Alcohol is a cellular toxin. Increases the number of abnormal sperm by 83%. So all of those things are huge negatives. Smoking is terrible. Slows down the sperm, reduces the number that are there, the number that are normal. Vaping does the same thing. And marijuana has side effects as well. So that's the first one. Second one. You got to have sex a lot. So every day or every other day, nonstop.
Host
Holy crap.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Right? Which is sometimes a challenge. I mean, some people's schedules don't allow it or they kind of get sick of each other after.
Host
Yeah, every day. It's like, sex is great and all that.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Every day. Every day is a lot. Right. So we need the guys to ejaculate frequently. Vitamins do Make a difference. That's being shown over and over again. So I don't promote one brand over another because I don't believe in that. But I think taking vitamins and watching your overall well being, your diet, your exercise, stuff like that's really important. And then lastly, cold therapy. So avoiding cell phone exposure. A lot of guys have their cell phone in their.
Host
Hey guys.
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Dr. Rahi Victory
It that's terrible because of the EMF. Making sure that you're not going in a hot tub, jacuzzi sauna, not turning on your car seat heater. You guys don't have that problem in Vegas, but we, we do where I come from. And then just keeping the testicles cold. So a lot of times we'll tell guys to buy a bag of frozen peas and just sit on them for 20 minutes a day. That the colder your testicles are, the better they work.
Host
And why does that help the sperm?
Dr. Rahi Victory
So heat is negative for testicular function. It just screws up the enzymes and the processing. So the cooler the testis is, the better it is at producing the sperm. Wow.
Host
I was going to say no. I actually love the sauna, so I'm going to have to take some time off when I want kids.
Dr. Rahi Victory
When you want kids. Yeah. Or get Yourself tested now just to make sure ahead of time you're not doing damage.
Host
Wow. So you've seen chronic sauna and hot tub use, lead to damage?
Dr. Rahi Victory
I can't say that I've seen chronic use. I mean, in the research, it's there for sure.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
But I haven't seen it because where we are in Canada, people aren't chronically in a sauna or a hot tub. But there's no question that the science is, like, unequivocal. Heat is bad and. And cold is good.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
I mean, sperm whales live in the Arctic, Right. Those guys are producing tons of sperm. There's a reason for that.
Host
I never even connected the dot on.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
So cold plunging might be actually good for those.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It's amazing.
Host
Wow. Yeah. I've always hated it. But if it helps have kids, I.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Mean, it can be very beneficial.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
For your overall well being and for sperm performance. For sure.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It's a little bit short because most people are in there for like a minute or two, but if you're sitting on frozen peas, that's a lot easier to tolerate.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Why we tell guys to do that. There's actually underwear you can buy on Amazon that has like a pocket for an ice pack on either side.
Host
Wow.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So for guys that work in, like, really hot jobs where they're in a suit or they're in a tank or something like that, they can't control the heat. We actually tell them to use those to keep their testes cool.
Host
Interesting. Have you seen the studies on the polyester underwear?
Dr. Rahi Victory
I have not.
Host
So polyester. I guess there's like microplastics in there or something. So that's getting in people's balls.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Sure.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
They're doing a lot of tests on. On balls and there's a lot of plastic in them, basically, for sure.
Dr. Rahi Victory
I mean, I know the. The work on tea bags and that tea bags contain billions of plastic particles. You do have to be careful with some of those plastic confused teabags because those can do the damage.
Host
I stopped draining those actually, when all that.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
And I love tea.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
But that's concerning.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Oh, yeah. You don't want plastic.
Host
Even plastic water bottles, Like, I try to drink out of glass these days.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. I noticed you guys are using the glass bottle.
Host
I mean, who knows what the damage is? But I'd rather just be as proactive as possible.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, for sure.
Host
You know.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
You mentioned vitamins earlier. Were there specific ones or. Just make sure you're good everywhere.
Dr. Rahi Victory
There are, I mean, things like coenzyme Q10. That's a big one. Zinc, magnesium, vitamin D, E, C. Those are all really helpful. Folic acid or folate. That's really brilliant as well. So there are some basics that you want in there, but overall, what you want to do is reduce the oxidative damage. And most of the vitamins are good at that. We get people that come in and they're on like 20 different vitamins. That's actually harmful. So you can actually do what's called reductive damage by being on too many vitamins. And there's a device that can measure the amount of oxidative or reductive stress in. In the semen. So we have that. And. And for guys that are on like a million different vitamins, we'll often recommend. Why don't you let us test you out first? Because if it is really high, you got to tell them you might want to come off of some of those. Those vitamins because you're doing too much.
Host
You got to.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, sorry. You got to let the body kind of do what it needs to do on its own.
Host
Yeah, you got to tell that to Brian Johnson, man.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, for sure.
Host
He's on like, what, 50 or 100? Oh, yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It's not good for you when you're on that, man.
Host
Yeah, that's a lot. But his results say otherwise, which is crazy.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Well, I mean, I think it depends on what you're looking at as well. Right. So if you're in an environment where you're overexposed to toxic medications or substances, or your environment, you may need more. If you're just trying to stay healthy, great. If you are trying to produce a baby, you can overdo it.
Host
Yeah, that's good to know. The low testosterone stuff, you see that being a big factor in all this infertility issue.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It definitely can be. So we are seeing a decline in testosterone globally, and that's probably a big reason that the sperm quality is declining. So with that, we are looking at how to correct that. Obviously, I think a lot of that is environmental and exposures, but there is no question that correcting that's going to make a big, big difference. Right now. We don't have great ways to correct it other than telling them to be more healthy, health conscious, follow the right diet, lose weight, stay in shape, you know, exercise, that kind of thing. There are medications we use for it, but obviously we don't want to hit everybody with meds as the solution because that's the trt.
Host
Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Well, you can't take testosterone oh, you can't? No. So if your testosterone's low and you take and you have sperm production problems, or you're trying to produce a baby, it's basically male birth control. It'll stop you from making sperm.
Host
Really?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, because your brain stops sending the signal to your testicles to produce sperm, and then you stop making sperm. So your testosterone normalizes, but you're totally.
Host
Wow. So you're shooting blanks.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Totally blank.
Host
Holy crap.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
Yeah. Blanks are scary, man. You know?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, they are. Yeah.
Host
Have you seen the rate of miscarriages go up, too?
Dr. Rahi Victory
It has. I mean, it's pretty steady in terms of being related to age. So a woman's age and a little bit the man's age has the biggest role in the risk of miscarriage because 80% of miscarriages are caused by genetic abnormalities in the embryo. So we see that with an increasing age in the woman. But there's no question that again, there's environmental stuff, there's low vitamins, there's DNA damage. Again, with the guy's sperm quality tanking by globally, we definitely are seeing more miscarriages because they're a big factor in that.
Host
I've also heard the rate of C sections is going up. Is that true?
Dr. Rahi Victory
It is a little bit. It depends on which countries you're looking.
Host
I think us. I was looking up.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It is. So the US is unfortunately plagued by the whole we're going to get sued thing.
Host
Right.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So doctors are not always necessarily making their decision based on. On, you know, what's best in that circumstance. Oftentimes they're a little bit afraid of what the outcome could be, so they have to follow that part of it as well. And I get that. I mean, if you're constantly worried about being sued, it's safer to just do a C section when you're even harboring a little bit of risk.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Other countries, like Canada, is pretty steady. It's around 20, 25% nationally.
Host
Damn.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
That's pretty high, though.
Dr. Rahi Victory
I feel like that's pretty standard.
Host
Oh, is it?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, that's pretty standard across the board. I mean, other countries, like South Americ, the Middle east, it's like 80, 90%. Yeah.
Host
Why is it so high there?
Dr. Rahi Victory
So I'm. I'm born in Iran.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
I've lived in Canada my whole life, but I was born there. And I get a lot of Persian patients because I'm Iranian. I speak the language. And you talk to them, and they walk through the door and the first thing they say is, I want a Cesarean. And that's because everybody in Iran is told to do a cesarean section. Like, as soon as you walk in the door, they're telling you.
Host
Is that a safety thing or what's the reason behind that?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Money.
Host
Oh, they get paid more. Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
That's why our. Our. Our numbers in Canada aren't that bad.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
The difference for me between doing a vaginal delivery and a cesarean, it's like, 60 bucks.
Host
Oh, really? So you don't care? Yeah, not at all. But I've seen stuff where it's like the baby absorbs more nutrients if they're born naturally. Have you seen that? Through the birth canal.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yes. So babies will absorb more bacteria. Yeah. Which helps colonize them, which protects them from infections and having respiratory difficulties and stuff like born. So it is safer for the baby always to be born vaginally? No question. And we. We encourage that in our patients. I mean, generally speaking, unless there's a really good. Excuse me. Indication, will tell our patients not to have an elective cesarean section. Okay, so you're encouraging patients generally to try and deliver vaginally. Having the baby by cesarean is great when you need to. There are indications, obviously, where you don't have a choice, but otherwise, you want to really try and focus the patient on having a. As natural a delivery as possible.
Host
Yeah, I'm with you on that. Yeah. What's the shot they make you get to when you're giving birth? The pain one.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, the epidural?
Host
Yeah. Have you looked into that?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Epidurals are great in many ways. It does slow down your labor, which can be a problem for some people. Average is about an hour and a half, though, so it's not a huge issue. Um, it does make it more difficult to push. And because of that, sometimes we have to do what we call more operative vaginal deliveries, where we're using the vacuum or the forceps to pull the baby out. That's fine if you're good at doing it. That's not fine if you're not good at doing it. So it's. It's a lost art in the U.S. like, almost nobody does forceps. Um, I remember years ago, when I was doing fellowship training in the US they had a baby that was facing the wrong direction.
Host
Oh.
Dr. Rahi Victory
And I'm very comfortable with forceps because we trained on them a lot in Canada. So I went in there and I assessed, and I went out and talked to the guy that was above me, and I said, we need to turn this baby. Can I turn It. And he said, do you know what you're doing? And I said, yeah, I know what I'm doing. And he said, okay. So I went in there, easiest thing ever. Gently turned the baby around with the forceps. Even taught the resident how to do it.
Host
Wow.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Helped pull the baby out. Not a scratch, no tear, no way, no injury, nothing. Perfect. Right. So I came out of the room and that the attending was standing there, and he said, everything go well? I said, yeah. He said, don't ever do that again. No one's done it in 10 years.
Host
No way. Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Like, they just don't do it out here. It's too risky.
Host
Oh, wow. Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Like you said, we do.
Host
These hospitals are scared of getting sued out here. Right? Is that in Canada, too, or.
Dr. Rahi Victory
No, it's starting. It's not as bad as it is out here, but there's definitely litigation for. Damn.
Host
Yeah. I wonder if there's some middle ground, because I get it from the parental side and the business side from the hospital. You know, I get both perspectives.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, for sure. You gotta make sure that you're doing the right thing for the baby and the mom. That's the combo that comes first.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
The rest of us, honestly, we. We don't matter as much. I mean, obviously, you want to make sure you're taking care of the physician in the hospital and so on, but you're not the priority. The patient's the priority.
Host
Yeah. Have you seen a rise in IVF, too?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, huge. Huge. It's like, nonstop.
Host
Seems to be the future. Like genetically modifying your. Your kids, Right?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Well, in terms of genetic modification, that's something that has been very, very, very rare. Right now they have the capability to do it. It's called CRISPR9. So you can genetically modify embryos? As far as I know, it's only being done once. It was done by a guy in China who tried to modify a set of twins that were being born with hiv. So he somehow change the gene for the hiv. Last I heard, those babies were not doing well. And it's, like, wildly illegal everywhere else, so nobody's trying that stuff.
Host
Oh, I didn't know that.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Not yet.
Host
Oh, okay.
Dr. Rahi Victory
We can select out genes. So let's say a guy shows up with his partner. They each have cystic fibrosis. They don't want to have a baby that actually has the disease cystic fibrosis. So even if they're just carriers, we can look for that gene in an embryo before we even put it in. So we just don't use those Embryos.
Host
Oh, got it. Okay.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So we're not modifying genes, but we're selecting embryos that don't have a specific disease. So people will do it for like the breast cancer gene or cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy, stuff like that.
Host
That makes sense.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
Yeah. I've heard IVF is on the rise. I didn't know how much it was, but with all the infertility, it would make sense that people are going that route, right?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. I mean, right now, a large number of the patients that have infertility will either turn to IVF or unfortunately, in many cases, they're being nudged or pushed towards IVF by clinics because it's a moneymaker. And so sometimes you'll have a whole list of options, but they'll say you should really do ivf, when in reality you actually have number of options that you could choose from.
Host
Yeah, I did want to talk about the clinics because a lot of them are getting taken over by private equity, right?
Dr. Rahi Victory
They are, yeah. Vcp, it's, it's huge in the infertility space. Infertility space has the capacity to make an enormous revenue. One company in the US during the pandemic sold for just under a billion dollars.
Host
Damn.
Dr. Rahi Victory
984 million.
Host
That's a lot of IVF treatments they gave out.
Dr. Rahi Victory
That's a lot IVF. Right. So the, the problem is that when you turn it into a kind of money making. Yeah. Machine, you got to ask the question, is the patient still coming first? Right. So if they are, great. But if they're not, if you're having to drive volume into one specific treatment, you gotta wonder if that's what's best for the patients or if that's what's best for the company. Right. So I'm not a huge fan of that. I think medicine should stay medicine. I have no problem with someone making an honest dollar at whatever they're doing. But I have a problem when your goal is let's make money and not let's help people.
Host
You're kind of seeing that issue in the peptide space now too.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
And their testosterone treatment space. Right. I mean, it's bad. People are just prescribing trt. You could do it on the phone now.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
Like you could just say you have low testosterone and get a prescription.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Prescription.
Host
Isn't that wild?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Yeah. And those guys are going to show up infertile and then they're wondering why. And you know, like guys like bodybuilders, only 20% of them will regain testicular function after they stop.
Host
Oh.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So they get all jacked up, and they're huge, and they're on all these roids. But then when they want to have a baby, they're coming to me, and I'm like, dude, I. I can't do anything for you.
Host
So you've seen cases where you can't even fix their issues.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
Damn. That's sad as a man.
Dr. Rahi Victory
And then they need IVF or sometimes they need donor sperm because the sperm is so bad you can't recover it. Holy crap.
Host
Yeah, dude. That's sad as a man, because you want to give life, you know, you want to be. Leave a legacy.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. You want to pass on your genes. Right. And having kids is awesome. I mean, I got three, and I adore each and every one of them, so. So, yeah, I mean, it's hugely important, but people are being led astray, all the misinformation out there. Right.
Host
Well, it's sad that a lot of them don't even know that this is a side effect. Right. They're just taking it to look better, look healthier, and they don't know they might be giving up the future to have kids.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. And I think some of that falls on the shoulders of the pharma. I think some of that falls on the shoulders of the doctors. Right. We get presented with options for treatment, but unless you ask, what are the side effects of this, if you don't know, how are you going to pass that knowledge on to your patients? So, yeah, you know, it behooves us as physicians to be knowledgeable. Sometimes we are, sometimes they're not.
Host
There'll always be human error in any space.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Yeah.
Host
Are you seeing any side effects from birth control on fertility?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Not generally speaking. So it depends on the birth control. If you're on just the pill, there's no evidence that it in any way compromises fertility. In fact, in some ways, for certain groups of women, like those with endo endometriosis, they can actually do better because it'll keep the endo kind of quiet. If you're on something like Depo provera, which is an injectable progesterone which lasts, like, three months per shot, that stuff can stay in you for anywhere from 12 to 18 months.
Host
Holy crap.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So in those situations, you can compromise your fertility because you got to wait a really long time before you're restoring your normal function.
Host
Yeah. Yeah. Is. Is it pretty common in Canada, birth control?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, yeah. Common everywhere these days.
Host
Oh, yeah. I didn't know if that was Like a US thing or.
Dr. Rahi Victory
No, it's huge. Everywhere.
Host
I think, like, almost 50% of women in the U.S. yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
I forget what the numbers I read were. I think it was saying, like, hundreds of millions of women per year across North America.
Host
That's insane to me.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It's a lot. Yeah, a lot of women.
Host
I just wonder, like, what the side effects of birth control are, you know?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Well, there are serious side effects that you need to be careful of. So the main one is the risk of having a blood clot in your legs. Pieces of those can break off and go to your lung that can be fatal. And a small percentage of the population actually carries genes that predispose them already to that happening. So when you have the two of them together, you can really cause some damage. There can be things like headaches. A small percentage of women that get migraines can actually have a stroke. And if you're smoking and you're older and you're on birth control, that's contraindicated because it's actually a risk for heart attack.
Host
Wow.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So Once you're over 35, if you're a smoker, your. Your birth control pill days are done. You can't do it.
Host
How much misinformation are you seeing about fertility on social media?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, God.
Host
You probably get sent videos all the time.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, people send me stuff all the time. The amount of misinformation out there is enormous. So there was just a recent study, I don't know if you saw it, where they said 70% of medical sort of propaganda. I shouldn't say propaganda posts.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Had misinformation in them on social media. 70%. And a large number of those were from influencers or people driving the narrative that were actually selling some kind of product. Right. So I recently had a post out there about vaccination during pregnancy. Somehow it got sidelined into vitamin K, which is necessary for babies at birth. And that's because babies are vitamin K deficient and they can't clot properly. So then I got everybody coming out saying, no, you don't need it. And I was like, well, no, actually the babies need it. Like they're gonna have a stroke and everybody's coming out with all their own ideas saying, no, it's harmful, and there's not one shred of evidence that it's harmful. So we get that on both sides. Sometimes people come out and say something's good and there's no evidence that it's good, and they'll come out and say it's horrible. It's causing this, that and the other thing, and it isn't. There was another post I saw. We just made a clip about it the other day from a gentleman, I think he was in the UK who said that he was a holistic practitioner. And he said that if you take magnesium and vitamin C as a woman, you'll have nine times less tearing when you deliver a baby. So I thought, hey, that sounds amazing because I still deliver babies.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So I thought I should look this up. So I looked it up. Yeah. There's not a shred of evidence anywhere to show that that's true at all. Never been studied, never been looked at, nothing anywhere.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
A lot of this stuff, people are just kind of making it up on the fly. And when you say it really convincingly.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
People buy it.
Host
They got a really confident delivery. Some of these guys. Yeah, yeah. Medical misinformation is actually dangerous too, because it impacts your life.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It does.
Host
So they need to figure out some sort of penalty system or something.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Well, especially when you're talking fertility. Like, we're not just talking about, you know, am I going to grow some extra muscle?
Host
Ye.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Is my hair going to be better or my fingernails better or whatever. Like, these are people trying to have babies. It's the rest of their life. It's their future. And when you're messing with that or the health of the baby like that, that's serious. There should be some kind of censure for it. But you can't. I can't even convince these people. Despite the fact that vitamin K has been used for 60 years and probably billions of uses, people are still saying, no, it's bad for you. I'm like, there's not one single study in existence that says vitamin K is bad for the baby. But they're all convinced.
Host
Wow.
Dr. Rahi Victory
And you can't convince them otherwise.
Host
Is that the vaccine the babies get when they're born?
Dr. Rahi Victory
No, it's not a vaccine. It's just a vitamin.
Host
Okay.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
Because I know when the babies are born, they're giving them some vaccines, Right?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. There's definitely a lot of vaccines being given more all the time. So I think that needs to be looked at. There's a lot of concern with it. I mean, the medical guidelines say they're safe. There's enough worry about it socially that it's actually causing people to distrust the doctors.
Host
Right.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So I actually wish that the science would re look at it just so that we can say definitively for patients, it's safer, it's unsafe, so that patients would Start trusting us again.
Host
I agree.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Because right now they're just saying you're on the take. And, like, I don't get paid for vitamin K or for doing vaccines. Right. We just don't. It's not part of what we do, at least not in Canada. But no one believes you there. There's so much distrust that people don't want to even, you know, listen or talk about it. They just say, nope. What I'm saying is right. Because I heard it on a, you know, on a social media post. That's the wrong place to get your info for something critical like a baby's chance of having a bleed.
Host
A lot of distrust with doctors. Now. I will say it feels like you're just a cog in the machine. Whenever you go to the doctor's office, like, you have like, five minutes, and then they're like, I'll get out.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Right. That's a huge problem, especially when it's financially driven. You know, they've got people looking at how much time it takes from the minute you walk through the door till the minute you decide to do ivf. So in a fertility clinic space, like, they're actually measuring that.
Host
Are you serious?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, yeah. On metric or how the physician performs. There was one company that got written up in Bloomberg where they had grown very rapidly, and they were talking about releasing physicians that were not doing enough ivf. Right. Because they were trying to sell to a bigger venture capital. And so, again, like, it just harkens back to the fact that we need doctors to be doctors and not business people necessarily. You know, it's great if you're making a dollar doing something honest. I'm all for that. But as soon as your priorities change, that becomes a huge.
Host
Yeah. And I feel for these doctors because they became doctors to help people.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
And then they get thrown into these large companies where they don't have a say. If they speak up, they get fired.
Dr. Rahi Victory
That's right. That's right. Exactly. Or if you don't perform the way they want you to, you get fired.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
And that's your whole life on the line.
Host
Right. You spent 20 years, all the debt. So I totally get it from the doctor point of view. I got friends in med school. Right now, they were stretched out their minds spending 300k.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, it's crazy.
Host
Yeah. So if they speak up and get fired, they just wasted basically their whole life. And once you get fired once, I feel like it's really hard to get another job.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It's a black mark for sure. Yeah. You're you're gonna have to start all over again and you might have to go private. And that takes millions. Like that's what I had to do when I started. Because in Canada we don't have the models you have here in the US where you get hired by other companies.
Host
Oh, really? Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
And I mean, I had to go to the bank and borrow the money and work my tail off. Damn.
Host
So you had to start your own practice, right? Right out of college.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Right out of finishing residency. Yeah.
Host
Wow.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
That's crazy because you were already in debt, so you had to get into even more debt for sure. Damn.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, it's really tough for the kids coming out now. And. And I think the big companies know that. Right. Because they can take advantage of that. They can leverage that. You're 300,000 or 400,000 in the hole coming out. Yeah. I'm going to give you a signing bonus. I'm going to give you a fixed income. Come work for me. Here's all you got to do. And people look at that and they're like, this is my ticket out of my. My dilemma.
Host
Yeah. They're like, finally some money.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Right.
Host
You know, they're, by the time they're there, they're like 30 years old. It's crazy.
Dr. Rahi Victory
More.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
36 when I started. What? Yeah.
Host
So how long were you in school for?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, God, you don't want to know. So five years of undergrad because I took a year off to do research.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Four years of medical school, five years of residency, three years of fellowship.
Host
Oh, my God. Seventeen years.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, 17 years.
Host
What is fellowship? I haven't heard of that one.
Dr. Rahi Victory
That's when you sub specialize. So I became an obstetrician. Gynecologist first. My years of training in Canada, it's four here in the States. And then you go and you do a three year subspecialty, which was my reproductive endocrinology and infertility.
Host
Wow, that is nuts. So you gave 17 years of education?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. Yeah. Well, they get questioned on social media all the time. People saying, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm like, okay, that's what you need to believe then. That's what you need to believe. But like, I actually spent 17 years doing it, living it, breathing it, studying it, researching.
Host
Yeah. Well, there's a huge holistic movement on social media.
Dr. Rahi Victory
There is.
Host
These moms go hard for it.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Right. And actually I believe in holistic approaches. So we have a number of clinics and we have a naturopath in each one, we tend to connect with someone that'll do traditional Chinese medicine. I tell people to take vitamins. I tell them to avoid the toxic exposures. We're trying to get them to get away from the bad stuff. I like more natural approaches. So when I'm talking to my fertility patients, I'll say, you can do this, this and this. One of them is always the natural approach, right?
Host
Yeah. That's cool. You present options rather than, here's what you're going to do. Right. If you don't like it, I don't care.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. We don't work that way, at least not in my clinic. I want people to be educated first, which I think is really critical because they come in frequently not knowing all the information. Right. So we need to test them, then educate them about what's going on. And then once we've educated them, you can say, look, you got four different options. How can I support you now? Right. It's not for me to decide for them, it's for them to make a decision that's right for them and then I'll support them through that decision.
Host
I love that. Yeah. How many clinics you got right now?
Dr. Rahi Victory
4.
Host
Nice. Plan on growing.
Dr. Rahi Victory
We're moving to the UK and Ireland next.
Host
Really?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. So we are trying to grow. I think the message really resonates. I just came back from a conference in Ireland this weekend, the Future Fertility show, and I'm not an emotional person, but it was actually kind of gut wrenching to be there because the care I felt people were getting was way below what I feel it should be. People were not being educated, they were not being given options, and even when they did treatments, they weren't being given explanations for what was wrong. So there was this just overwhelming hunger from patients just to get human care. Right. Like one on one, tell me what's wrong, Tell me why I didn't do well. This is my whole life. And they're investing thousands of euros into these processes. They're not even getting answers.
Host
Dang.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So I think we could do a better job with the model we have.
Host
Thanks for that, man. I'm half Irish. I've been. Yeah. Been Ireland. It's. It's beautiful there.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, it's gorgeous. Prettiest places I've been.
Host
Yeah. The people are so nice. There they are. Yeah. Shout out to Ireland. Yeah. I got UK citizenship, too.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, cool.
Host
I still got to get out there.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
Was it raining the whole time you were there?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, you know what? We looked there, the weather was awesome. Wow. They're cool. But no rain at all. It was really nice.
Host
Nice, yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. We were in Dublin. It was great. A couple years back, I was in Belfast. I was bad weather for sure.
Host
When I went, it rained every day.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Did it?
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
What part did you go to?
Host
I went near the coast, so that's probably why. But yeah, I remember there was a village of like 100 people.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah.
Host
And they had five bars there. Yeah. And all of them were packed. It was nuts. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Part of the culture, right.
Host
Yeah. They love drinking. Oh. That's probably why they have infertility issues.
Dr. Rahi Victory
It is, yeah. You get to closing time and every pub in Europe is full. Right.
Host
Packed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
That's just part of the culture.
Host
I didn't realize drinking impacted it that heavily. My dad was an alcoholic.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, gosh, I'm sorry.
Host
Yeah.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Wow.
Host
So I didn't know it impacted the sperm that much.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Huge, huge, huge negative impact on sperm, on your overall health. Alcohol is a Class 1 carcinogenic, causes cancer.
Host
Are you serious?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. So the World Health Organization has lots of data on that, on the number of cancers. They said 11 different types that they believe. Seven for sure. Four more that they're pretty convinced. Amongst them, breast cancer. So you get women that you know will have a glass of wine with dinner thinking it's good. It isn't.
Host
Wow.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, it's a, you know, one glass of wine per week is about a 10% increase in your risk of breast cancer. Cancer.
Host
I've seen Huberman talk about this. Yeah, I pretty much don't drink anymore. Yeah, I used to love it, but it's not worth the side effects. What about caffeine? Does that impact?
Dr. Rahi Victory
It does. So it's interesting. With caffeine, it's a. It's a too much or too little kind of thing. So if you're having up to three cups of like small cups of coffee or whatever caffeinated beverage per day, it's actually beneficial for men because it speeds up the sperm. But if you go over that, it starts to impact the blood flow delivery, so you'll actually get less sperm produced.
Host
Got it.
Dr. Rahi Victory
For women, one cup a day, and over that, it starts to increase risks of miscarriage. The data is sort of not a hundred percent on that, but there was a big study, I think, back in the Lancet years ago that said too much caffeine and you might increase your risk of miscarriage.
Host
Got it. Any data on the healthiest age to have kids, like for women?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah. So that's really interesting data, actually. So if you look at the curve for genetics, when they're really young, it's high, and then as you get to about 22, 23, it starts to decrease, and it's pretty flat until you're around 28, 29, and then it starts to increase, and then it's just like a reverse skill. It's like massively increasing with age.
Host
Interesting.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So your best sweet spot is sort of like 21 to. To 30. It's probably still fine up to 35. After that, it does start getting more difficult.
Host
Yeah, good to know.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Not impossible, but yeah.
Host
My fiance is 26, so we're trying to plan around that because I know there's increased chances for, like, disease and stuff, right, as the woman gets older, right?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, much higher chances. So, yeah, I mean, she's still young. You're young, too, so that's not a major issue right now. You just. We had a lot of people who are delaying because of their career or they're worried about finances or in this economy, you know, God knows what's going on. Right. So, yeah, those people are worried, and so they're hesitant, and because of the hesitation, they're delaying. And then they show up at 38, 39. They've been trying for a year or two. It's not working. And now I test them, and either the guy's got weak sperm or the lady's got weak ovaries and weak sperm. We can kind of work around. Weak ovaries is really tough.
Host
Really? Yeah, because they're so damaged or they're damaged.
Dr. Rahi Victory
And for IVF or fertility, it's a numbers game. Right. The more eggs you make, the better we do. So it's really tough at that age to just say, hey, you've got three or four eggs. Just jump into ivf because they're only going to make one or two embryos, and they have a very high chance those embryos won't be genetically normal. So then you got to get them to do it again and then again. So those people are need to know ahead of time. Like, you're going to need to do this three or four times, otherwise they jump in and then it doesn't work.
Host
And they're crushed and they give up. Right, right.
Dr. Rahi Victory
And a lot of them will give up saying, you know, why didn't it work? And. And then they're. They're really damaged or traumatized because they.
Host
Have to pay, too, even if it doesn't work.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So, yeah, it carries a lot of emotional trauma. There's good research on this that shows that even when they're successful, they're still carrying trauma the whole way through the pregnancy and even when the baby's born.
Host
Really?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, because they've worked so hard, they've invested so much into it, that by the time they get to the here's my baby, they're just. They've carried all this trauma baggage with them the whole way, and it marks them.
Host
Whoa. Yeah, that's not talked about enough.
Dr. Rahi Victory
No, not at all.
Host
Yeah, because that trauma can rub off, right?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Oh, for sure. It affects how you interact with your baby, with your partner, your relationship, everything. Right. How you function at work. You got to carry that around potentially for life. So we. We make sure with all our clinics, we have very robust psychological support mechanisms in place, because a lot of places ignore that. And when they do, like, your patients suffers.
Host
Have you seen the optimal diet for. For having kids? Like, is it vegetarian? Is it carnivore?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Like, it's definitely not carnivore. So the best diet is the Mediterranean diet. They've done research on this. So a lot of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, low red meat, fish, whole grains, a little bit of dairy, that kind of thing.
Host
Really? So not the carnivore?
Dr. Rahi Victory
No.
Host
Wow.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Not for fertility.
Host
Okay. Yeah. Because I just had a carnivore on the podcast. He was saying it's. It was better than vegetarian, but I didn't know.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Not for fertility. I mean, you know, again, it depends on what health metric you're looking for. Right. But for fertility, we know that the. The Mediterranean diet is best, that they're proven in a bunch of different epidemiological studies where they've examined that.
Host
That makes sense. Mediterranean food is. Is really good.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Yeah, it is.
Host
Love me some good olive oil. Well, doctor, it's been awesome. Where can people find your. Your clinics and keep up to date with you, man?
Dr. Rahi Victory
Just go to www.doctorvictory Dr.victory.com. and then we're on social media, so rahivictory MD and we have a YouTube channel, which is Dr.
Host
Victory.
Dr. Rahi Victory
So.
Host
Yeah, Amazing.
Dr. Rahi Victory
Any of the socials, you'll find us there?
Host
Yeah, we'll link it below. Guys, no misinformation on your channel, so.
Dr. Rahi Victory
I hope so. We're gonna always present the truth.
Host
All right, check them out, guys, and I'll see you next time.
Digital Social Hour Episode Summary: "Infertility Crisis: The Shocking 2050 Prediction | Dr. Rahi Victory DSH #1279"
Release Date: March 29, 2025
Hosts: Sean Kelly and Dr. Rahi Victory
Introduction
In this compelling episode of Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly engages in an in-depth conversation with Dr. Rahi Victory, a renowned specialist in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Together, they explore the alarming predictions surrounding the global infertility crisis, dissecting its causes, implications, and potential solutions. The discussion is rich with expert insights, practical advice, and personal anecdotes that shed light on a topic of critical importance for current and future generations.
Infertility Crisis Predictions
Dr. Victory opens the discussion by highlighting the staggering projections concerning infertility rates worldwide. He states, “By 2050, 50% of countries won't be able to meet their replacement rate for the population” (00:40), escalating to an estimated 97% by 2100 if current trends continue (00:44). This impending crisis poses severe social, environmental, and economic challenges, threatening the very fabric of societies globally.
Factors Contributing to Infertility
The conversation delves into the multifaceted causes of rising infertility rates. Dr. Victory emphasizes that infertility is not attributable to a single factor but rather a combination of various elements, including:
Age: Both male and female fertility decline with age, with women experiencing more pronounced effects.
Environmental Exposures: Increased exposure to toxins and pollutants adversely affects reproductive health.
Diseases: Conditions like endometriosis in women and a significant decline in men's health, particularly sperm quality and performance, are major contributors.
Men’s Health and Its Impact
A significant portion of the discussion centers on the crucial role of men's health in fertility. Dr. Victory explains, “The quality of the sperm can impact everything from the health of the baby to miscarriage rates” (01:41). He introduces sperm DNA fragmentation testing, revealing that high DNA damage in sperm can lead to a 12-fold increase in miscarriage risk (02:06). Additionally, lifestyle choices such as smoking have profound effects on sperm DNA, imprinting detrimental changes that affect the child's long-term health (02:34).
Lifestyle Factors
Lifestyle choices emerge as pivotal factors influencing fertility. Dr. Victory underscores the detrimental impacts of:
Smoking: “Smoking is terrible. It slows down the sperm, reduces the number that are there, the number that are normal” (04:00).
Alcohol Consumption: Described as a “cellular toxin,” alcohol use increases abnormal sperm by 83% (04:00) and elevates the risk of breast cancer by 10% per week through epigenetic modifications (33:20).
Drug Use and Vaping: Both are equally harmful to sperm quality, contributing to the overall decline in male fertility.
Sperm Optimization Strategies
Dr. Victory provides actionable strategies for optimizing sperm health:
Lifestyle Modification:
Nutritional Supplements:
Cold Therapy:
Birth Control and Fertility
The impact of birth control on fertility is another critical topic. While most birth control methods, like the pill, do not compromise fertility, certain types such as Depo-Provera can significantly delay the restoration of normal reproductive function (21:40). Dr. Victory warns, “In those situations, you can compromise your fertility because you got to wait a really long time before you're restoring your normal function” (21:40).
IVF and Private Equity Influence
The rise of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is discussed extensively, with Dr. Victory noting its growing prevalence as infertility rates climb. However, he raises concerns about the private equity takeover of fertility clinics, which prioritizes profitability over patient care. This shift often pressures clinics to push IVF treatments as the primary solution, sometimes at the expense of exploring other viable options (18:35).
Challenges in Medical Practice
Dr. Victory shares personal experiences highlighting the challenges faced by physicians in the current medical landscape:
Litigation Fears: In countries like the US, the fear of lawsuits drives medical decisions, often leading to unnecessary C-sections (12:14).
Starting Independent Practices: The financial burden and risks associated with starting a private practice are discussed. Dr. Victory recounts, “I had to go to the bank and borrow the money and work my tail off” (28:16).
Impact of Private Equity: Physicians employed by large companies may face pressure to meet treatment quotas, compromising the quality of patient care (27:11).
Misinformation on Fertility
A significant portion of the episode addresses the rampant misinformation on social media regarding fertility. Dr. Victory highlights how misleading information, often propagated by influencers selling products, confuses patients and undermines trust in medical professionals. He cites a study revealing that 70% of social media posts related to fertility contain misinformation (22:58). Examples include unfounded claims about vitamins reducing labor tearing and false beliefs about vitamin K in newborns (24:35).
Dietary Recommendations
Diet plays a crucial role in fertility health. Dr. Victory advocates for the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes:
He contrasts this with the carnivore diet, stating, “It's definitely not carnivore. So the best diet is the Mediterranean diet” (37:30). This dietary approach is supported by numerous epidemiological studies demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing fertility (37:46).
Conclusion
The episode concludes with Dr. Victory’s heartfelt commitment to improving patient care in the fertility space. He expresses frustration over the lack of personalized, human-centered care in many clinics and emphasizes the need for education and comprehensive support for patients undergoing fertility treatments. Dr. Victory wants to ensure that individuals are well-informed and supported emotionally throughout their fertility journey, advocating for a balanced approach that prioritizes patient well-being over profit.
Sean Kelly wraps up by encouraging listeners to connect with Dr. Victory through his website and social media channels, ensuring access to accurate and reliable information on fertility.
Notable Quotes:
Dr. Rahi Victory: “By 2050, 50% of countries won't be able to meet their replacement rate for the population” (00:40).
Dr. Rahi Victory: “The quality of the sperm can impact everything from the health of the baby to miscarriage rates” (01:41).
Dr. Rahi Victory: “Smoking is terrible. It slows down the sperm, reduces the number that are there, the number that are normal” (04:00).
Dr. Rahi Victory: “The cooler the testis is, the better it is at producing the sperm” (06:37).
Dr. Rahi Victory: “There's so much misinformation out there. 70% of social media posts had misinformation” (22:58).
Dr. Rahi Victory: “The best diet is the Mediterranean diet” (37:30).
Resources:
Dr. Rahi Victory’s Clinics and Information: Visit www.doctorvictory.com
Social Media: Follow Dr. Victory on platforms under the handle @rahivictoryMD
YouTube Channel: Dr. Rahi Victory
This episode of Digital Social Hour serves as a crucial wake-up call about the global infertility crisis, offering valuable insights and practical advice for individuals and healthcare professionals alike. By addressing both the scientific and personal dimensions of fertility, Sean Kelly and Dr. Rahi Victory provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and potential solutions facing the world today.