The Blood Test That Predicts Heart Attacks Years Early | Darshan Shah Part 2 DSH #914

Summary

Digital Social Hour Podcast Summary Episode: The Blood Test That Predicts Heart Attacks Years Early | Darshan Shah Part 2 DSH #914
Release Date: November 23, 2024
Host: Sean Kelly

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly engages in an in-depth conversation with Darshan Shah, exploring the significance of advanced blood tests that can predict heart attacks years before they occur. This discussion delves into the intricacies of biomarker testing, metabolic health, and preventive measures essential for maintaining optimal health from a young age.

The Importance of Early Biomarker Testing

Sean Kelly emphasizes the critical role of early biomarker testing in preventing future health issues. Unlike traditional medical practices that often delay testing until symptoms appear or individuals reach middle age, Next Health advocates for proactive measures.

Sean Kelly [02:03]: "We see this in almost 50% of the people that we measure these biomarkers are even at your age."

Darshan Shah acknowledges the surprise many feel upon discovering underlying health risks through such tests, highlighting the necessity of early intervention.

Vitamin D and Its Impact

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on Vitamin D, its comprehensive role in the body, and the consequences of deficiency. Sean explains that Vitamin D acts like a hormone, influencing every cell and system.

Sean Kelly [02:12]: "Vitamin D is not just a vitamin. It actually acts like a hormone. It affects every single cell, every single system of your body."

Darshan's Vitamin D level was notably low at 22.4, prompting Sean to recommend increased sun exposure and supplementation with Vitamin D3K2 to optimize his levels.

Sean Kelly [04:51]: "One supplement I really believe everyone should be really considering taking is vitamin D3K2."

Metabolic Health and Blood Sugar Regulation

Sean delves into the concept of metabolic health, linking it to mitochondrial function and energy production within cells. He explains that proper sugar regulation is vital to prevent the buildup of toxins in the bloodstream.

Sean Kelly [07:15]: "Metabolic health as being the health of your mitochondria. If your mitochondria are not healthy, you don't have enough energy being produced for every cell in your body to do the work it needs to do."

Darshan's hemoglobin A1C level was 5.5, slightly above optimal. Sean provides actionable advice on dietary adjustments, such as reordering meal components to regulate glucose absorption.

Sean Kelly [10:19]: "One simple change is to change the order in which you eat your food. Eat your protein first and then finish with fruits."

Additional recommendations include incorporating apple cider vinegar into daily routines and utilizing continuous glucose monitors for real-time blood sugar tracking.

Sean Kelly [13:53]: "Taking a shot of apple cider vinegar inside your water and drinking that also lowers your blood glucose levels for most people by about 20%."

Cardiac Biomarkers and Heart Health

The conversation shifts to cardiac biomarkers, particularly focusing on LDL and APOB levels, which are strong indicators of heart disease risk. Sean highlights the importance of understanding these markers to prevent heart attacks later in life.

Sean Kelly [18:14]: "By looking at your cardiac biomarkers, there's a really high chance you might have one in your 50s."

Darshan's elevated LDL levels indicate a potential risk, prompting Sean to advise a diet rich in steamed vegetables and lean proteins while avoiding processed foods.

Sean Kelly [19:20]: "A carb-heavy diet focused on a lot of ultra-processed restaurant food can cause this."

Inflammation and Gut Health

Inflammation, measured through C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, is discussed as a cornerstone of chronic diseases. Sean connects high inflammation to poor gut and oral health, stressing the need for a holistic approach to wellness.

Sean Kelly [21:23]: "Inflammation increases your risk of all forms of chronic disease."

Darshan shares his recent dental issues, illustrating the link between oral health and systemic inflammation.

Sean Kelly [22:12]: "Poor oral health is related to higher levels of Alzheimer's disease, higher levels of cancer, higher levels of heart disease as well."

Heavy Metals and Genetics

The episode touches on the importance of testing for heavy metals and understanding genetic predispositions. Darshan’s heavy metal levels were slightly elevated, but within manageable ranges thanks to a recent parasite cleanse.

Sean Kelly [24:01]: "Heavy metals are usually highest in mercury, which is found not just in seafood but also in water and other foods."

Genetic panels reveal Darshan's compromised ability to utilize B vitamins due to the MTHFR gene mutation, leading to recommendations for methylated B vitamin supplements.

Sean Kelly [27:01]: "You're not able to convert your B vitamins to the usable form of B vitamins called methylated B vitamins. So how do you correct for that? You take methylated B vitamin supplements."

Preventive Health Measures and Lifestyle Changes

Sean offers practical advice on integrating exercise into daily routines to combat the detrimental effects of a sedentary lifestyle. He introduces the concept of "exercise snacks" to maintain metabolic health throughout the day.

Sean Kelly [16:09]: "Every 45 minutes, you can get up and move around, and even do some jumping jacks, some air squats, that completely reverses the effect of being sedentary."

Additionally, Sean recommends strength training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to reduce visceral fat and enhance overall metabolic function.

Sean Kelly [16:28]: "Lifting heavy weights and doing some high intensity training will take that visceral fat and burn it off for you."

AI in Diagnostics and the Future of Preventive Health

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medical diagnostics is explored, highlighting its potential to enhance accuracy and reduce misdiagnosis rates. Sean anticipates AI-driven tools revolutionizing preventive healthcare by enabling early detection of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s through advanced blood tests.

Sean Kelly [36:29]: "AI is going to incredibly augment the diagnostic capabilities of all the tests that we already have."

This technological advancement promises to provide more precise and comprehensive health assessments, facilitating timely interventions.

Next Health Initiatives and Expansion

Sean discusses the expansion plans of Next Health, emphasizing their commitment to making advanced health diagnostics accessible nationwide and internationally. The establishment of a supportive community environment encourages individuals to take charge of their health proactively.

Sean Kelly [31:30]: "We're going to be all over the country and we're even opening in Dubai, in Australia and also in Canada."

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a powerful message on the importance of proactive health management. Sean Kelly and Darshan Shah reinforce the idea that understanding and optimizing one’s biomarkers can lead to significant improvements in health and longevity. They advocate for routine testing, lifestyle modifications, and embracing technological advancements to prevent chronic diseases and enhance overall well-being.

Sean Kelly [35:18]: "The key right now is to stay alive and don't die."

Listeners are encouraged to take control of their health journey by utilizing resources like Next Health and implementing the actionable strategies discussed throughout the episode.

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Notable Quotes:

• Sean Kelly [02:03]: "We see this in almost 50% of the people that we measure these biomarkers are even at your age."
• Sean Kelly [04:51]: "One supplement I really believe everyone should be really considering taking is vitamin D3K2."
• Sean Kelly [07:15]: "Metabolic health as being the health of your mitochondria."
• Sean Kelly [10:19]: "One simple change is to change the order in which you eat your food. Eat your protein first and then finish with fruits."
• Sean Kelly [18:14]: "By looking at your cardiac biomarkers, there's a really high chance you might have one in your 50s."
• Sean Kelly [21:23]: "Inflammation increases your risk of all forms of chronic disease."
• Sean Kelly [27:01]: "You're not able to convert your B vitamins to the usable form of B vitamins called methylated B vitamins."
• Sean Kelly [36:29]: "AI is going to incredibly augment the diagnostic capabilities of all the tests that we already have."
• Sean Kelly [35:18]: "The key right now is to stay alive and don't die."

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This episode of Digital Social Hour serves as an enlightening guide on leveraging advanced health diagnostics to preemptively address potential health crises. Sean Kelly and Darshan Shah provide valuable insights and practical advice, empowering listeners to take meaningful steps toward a healthier, more informed future.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. So you got to get your vitamin D right.

[B]

All right, guys, part two with Darshan. Results are in.

[A]

Your results are in, man. We got them.

[B]

Yeah, I learned a lot, but I'd love to hear you explain some of these, too for the audience.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So, Sean, the biomarkers that we do on at Next Health, basically we're testing for things that a lot of doctors don't test for. And definitely you being 27, right? Yeah. You're not going to get these blood tests until sometimes it's too late. Right. So I'm so glad you decided to do this because we have some news that we have some stuff we got to talk about here. But the key is you found it super early and now you could change the direction of where you had simple things like your diet, your workout routine. So directionality is so important. Now if we make changes early, we can put changes in now. And then you're going to right the ship here.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So that's good. So I don't want to bum you out initially, but there's some stuff we got to talk about.

[B]

I'm glad you said that because people assume in their 20s are healthy.

[A]

Right, Right.

[B]

And I thought I was, but when you see it on paper, it's a different story.

[A]

Yeah. And I'll be honest with you, this is not abnormal. We see this in almost 50% of the people that we measure these biomarkers are even at your age.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

50%.

[A]

Yeah. It's, you know, we're just exposed to the most toxic environment ever in human history. And our habits and our routines and the levels of stress, people are getting sicker a lot sooner. The incredible thing is our bodies are so resilient that you don't see the signs of disease until you're like 40 or 50. And then, you know, the biomarkers don't change until then, too, sometimes to point out to the doctor that you have a disease. So we know where the optimal range is, and that's where we want to get you into optimal range.

[B]

Got it? Yeah. Let's dive in.

[A]

All right, so something simple, okay. You got to have adequate nutrition. Right. So one of the things that we do is we measure some of your micronutrient levels, one of them being vitamin D. Right. Do you get out in the sun a lot?

[B]

I don't, to be honest.

[A]

Yeah, we spend. Humans spend 90% of their time shielded from the sun, and the other 10%, we're wearing sunscreen. Right. We're just not getting enough sun. When you don't get enough sun, you don't make enough vitamin D. Vitamin D is not just a vitamin. Is actually acts like a hormone. It affects every single cell, every single system of your body. If you don't have enough vitamin D, you can't perform cellular processes as efficiently. And over time, low vitamin D levels have been very highly correlated to Alzheimer's disease, heart attacks, and even gut health issues.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. So you got to get your vitamin D right. Your vitamin D level was 22.4. That's really low. Okay. But easy to correct. So I'm going to tell you, of course, get out in the sun more often. Right. The best time to do that is, is first thing in the morning about 5:36, when the sun is rising. Get really good sun for about 15 to 20 minutes if you can. So as simple as, like, adding into your routine, instead of having your cup of coffee inside, just go outside and have a cup of coffee, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do stuff like that. And in nighttime, too, when the sun is going down, that's another good time to get in out in the sun.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. The reason is because you're not in direct sunlight, which is potentially these higher rates of skin cancer. When you get into the sunlight in the beginning of the day and the end of the day, you still get the benefits on vitamin D levels, but also you avoid some of the intense, harsh sun.

[B]

Interesting. And is that enough, you think, these days, just to get sunlight, or do you supplement too on Top of that.

[A]

No. So, you know, I'm not a big supplement pusher, but one supplement I really believe everyone should be really considering taking is vitamin D3K2. It's really important to get that form of vitamin D. Okay. And the reason is when you take vitamin D, you also want to make sure that you're getting calcium in as well. And that calcium, the K2, puts the calcium in your bones. Okay. So taking those two together work really well for you. I would even start you on a higher dose of it. 10,000 international units until we get you optimized. Okay. And then we're going to drop it back down to 5,000 international units.

[B]

Got it? Okay.

[A]

Yeah. And the benefit of this is not just preventing disease in the long term. You're going to notice improvements right away with your energy levels, with your gut health. You're going to even notice improvements in your skin, ability to work out all of it.

[B]

I can attest that because I did buy the one you sent me.

[A]

Great.

[B]

I feel way better. And I noticed on days I don't take it, I actually notice it now. Isn't that crazy?

[A]

So glad you're on it, man.

[B]

Yeah. Thank you for that tip.

[A]

And I could tell you for your audience, 90% of people out there have a low vitamin D level. They just don't even know it. Most doctors are not measuring it. You can insist to your doctor, I want to know my vitamin D level optimal is 50 to 80.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I was like, way under that.

[A]

Yeah. And you know what? Like the reference range on this lab sheet, too, from the doc from the lab says 30 is the lower limit of normal. And that's not true. 30 is too low. You want to be up around 50.

[B]

Okay, that's good to know. Yeah. I never knew what those comparisons were.

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[B]

Based off of when I saw that.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Those are based on population levels and they're also based on, like, you know, diagnosing disease. Well, we don't care about diagnosing disease when you're young and you're. I mean, we do care about it, but diagnosing disease when you're young is not going to really happen a lot. Right. This is going to happen when you're 50, 60, when all the compounding effects have built up over decades.

[B]

Right.

[A]

What we want to do is focus on the optimal number, not just disease ranges. Right. Make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you want to hear about what.

[B]

Was the next one?

[A]

Okay. So are you familiar with the term metabolic health?

[B]

Kind of.

[A]

Okay. Every cell in your body has mitochondria. Mitochondria is where you make energy. Okay. So at the simplest level, I can explain metabolic health as being the health of your mitochondria. If your mitochondria are not healthy, you don't have enough energy being produced for every cell in your body to do the work it needs to do. Your brain can't think as fast, your heart can't pump as efficiently, even your gut cells can't absorb nutrients as efficiently. Right. So metabolic health is super important. There's a few biomarkers of metabolic health that we check, and a lot of it has to do with how your body is regulating sugar. Sugar being in a molecule of energy, basically.

[B]

Right, yeah.

[A]

And so we want to make sure your metabolic health is very tightly controlled and you're able to take in energy, carbohydrates, sugar, and be able to turn that into energy that your body can use. Well, a lot of times, if our diet is not on point, we build up high levels of sugar in our bloodstream that can be toxic if your body can't utilize it for energy. So that's kind of where you have a few deficiencies here. And we really gotta optimize your diet and mainly your sugar control to make sure that you don't have issues in the long term.

[B]

Right. My grandfather had diabetes.

[A]

Yeah, there you go.

[B]

That's genetic, right?

[A]

Really? No, it has a lot more to do with your habits than anything. Much more to do with your habits. 80% of it is more to do with. With your habits and your diet. And I don't just say diet, I say habits. Because it's not just your diet, it's Also your movement and your sleep, all of those have to tie in to your metabolic health. And so just because your grandfather. Diabetes. Now that we caught that you were headed that direction, we can turn this around and potentially, you'll never get diabetes.

[B]

Got it? Yeah. Because when I took 23andMe, it said I had the gene or whatever, and it said I'm this percent more likely. But they never mentioned the diet part in that test.

[A]

Right, Exactly.

[B]

They just scare you.

[A]

Yeah. They just scare you. And they're like, now what do I do? People think getting those tests that, like, now my genetics are my destiny. This is gonna happen. So I guess better just, you know, whatever it is, suck it up and just live my life. And I'll have diabetes one day, and I'll get put on insulin and medication. That is absolutely not the case. You absolutely can prevent it. In fact, all top 10 causes of death on the CDC, top 10 cause of death are all preventable.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

Including Alzheimer's, heart attack, stroke, all of it.

[B]

That's a great way of thinking. Cause before, like, I even had the Alzheimer's gene too. And I remember for years I was kind of scared of that one. Cause I saw my dad have it.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. That is definitely not an Alzheimer's sentence at all. In fact, I'm so glad you do these biomarkers now at age 27, because there's a much higher chance of us turning the ship in the right direction and preventing all of these diseases.

[B]

Love it.

[A]

Yeah. So some of your metabolic markers, sean, are hemoglobin A1C. This is a blood test that tells you the average of your last three months of your sugar metabolism and glucose regulation. Yours was 5.5, which is a little bit on the higher side than I like to see it now. Once again, your doctor won't tell you it's abnormal until you're 5.7. But at that point, you're pre diabetic.

[B]

Damn. So that was close.

[A]

You're getting close to being pre diabetic. See, isn't that. It's good to know that now. Whoa.

[B]

I didn't realize I was that close. I eat a lot of fruit. I wonder if that's why it could.

[A]

Potentially have a lot to do with it. Actually, to be honest with you.

[B]

I love smoothies and. Yeah, juices.

[A]

Yeah, smoothies, juices. Potentially one of the worst things that you can do, to be honest, if you're adding a lot of fruit and a lot of sugar to it.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Okay. Because there's a couple reasons. Number one, when you're doing juices and smoothies. You're eliminating the fiber for the most part. And so fiber is what slows absorption of fructose, which is a form of sugar that's in fruit that's potentially even more dangerous than regular sugar.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yep. And so you're separating it from the fiber. So when you're juicing fruit or you're putting into smoothies, you are removing the fiber from the fruit, which causes increased absorption of the fructose and the glucose from those fruits. And that's what causes eventually leads to diabetes.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So what I would do if I were you is it's fine to love fruit. Fruit is actually good for you. But eat it at the end of a meal as a dessert. Okay. So for example, when are you doing smoothies? Like, for breakfast?

[B]

Yeah, breakfast. And I usually eat fruit before my meals, so I got to reverse all of this.

[A]

You're still going to have fruit because fruit is good. It tastes yummy and has a lot of great phytonutrients in it. So we an antioxidant. So we want to eat fruit. But what you want to do first is get rid of the smoothies. Botox Cosmetic adabatulinum toxin, a FDA approved for over 20 years. So talk to your specialist to see if Botox Cosmetic is right for you.

[B]

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[A]

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[B]

Got it.

[A]

And that's going to regulate the glucose curve for you and actually get you the protein you need at the beginning to keep you full for the rest of your day as well.

[B]

Good to know. Thank you.

[A]

Yeah, just that little change. Like I'm not telling you, don't eat fruit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But you just change the order in which you eat your food. Okay. There's a couple of other markers here. Your fasting glucose was 108, which is a little bit higher than we'd like to see as well. We want to see that under 100, but optimal is under 70. Okay. And then your insulin level was 7.9. Just your fasting insulin, that was also kind of high. We want to see that five or below. Okay. All these are point and insulin is a first marker that tells us if you're headed towards metabolic disease, diabetes. So it is a little bit on the high side. So I'm going to give you some advice and you can choose which ones of these things you want to do to totally turn your metabolic health around. One we talked about is changing the order in which you eat food. Eating your protein first and then finishing it off with fruits and other. Even if you want a dessert, eat that at the end of your diet and from the beginning of your diet. What do they give you when you go to the restaurant for dessert that will be before your meal?

[B]

Bread.

[A]

Yeah, bread in the dessert menu, usually. Right. So instead of eating bread and. Or the chips, if you're going to like a Mexican restaurant, start with some. Some vegetables. Okay. So just order one of the vegetable sides. Order the crudite, Start with a salad. Just doing that at the beginning for the rest of your meal, it will decrease your sugar absorption and potentially completely reverse headed towards diabetes.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Love it. Simple fix.

[A]

Simple fix. Simple fix. And have you ever heard of apple cider vinegar?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. Taking a shot of apple cider vinegar inside your water and drinking that also lowers your blood glucose levels for most people by about 20%.

[B]

Whoa. Just take that every morning.

[A]

Every morning or even before meals.

[B]

Good to know. I will do that for sure. I'm a fan of apple cider vinegar.

[A]

Yeah, me too. I love it. It's. I actually don't think it tastes that bad. And you can even put it on your salads and actually improves the taste of the salad, too.

[B]

Love it. Thank you, man. That's super useful stuff.

[A]

Yeah, it's good. It's very useful. And then the last thing I'll tell you, and this is kind of an advanced modality, is to use what's called the continuous glucose monitor. That's that little patch you see on some people's nose. Yeah, yeah. So this. You'll learn a lot actually, with a continuous glucose monitor because it will tell you minute by minute what your glucose is doing. And if your glucose goes over like 120 or 130, whatever you did or whatever you ate is something you might want to avoid or kind of change the order of the food. So continuous glucose monitors are available now readily over the Internet. There's a company called Levels that you can get it from. There's another one called Ultra Human, and it will give you on your app what your glucose levels are, and then you can modify what type of foods you're eating. So, like, for example, you could eat a banana and have a massive glucose spike, and I could eat one and not. And it could be the opposite for apples. For us, you know, you just don't know until you know for your own biology.

[B]

Right. Everyone's body's a little different.

[A]

Everyone's body's a different.

[B]

Is it possible my sedentary lifestyle is making these numbers really high, too?

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. So another huge part of metabolic health is constantly saying moving, okay? And a lot of people, you know, we go to work, we spend four hours in front of our computer until it's lunchtime, have lunch, and then another four hours in front of our computer. Podcasting is, you know, we're guilty of that, too. You're, like, sitting in this chair for a couple of hours, but your podcast link, I think it's like 45 minutes, right? Optimal amount of time. Every 45 minutes, you can get up and move around, and even if you can even do some jumping jacks, some air squats, that completely reverses the effect of being sedentary. Okay. It's called an exercise snack. You can see it in the research or you can look it up. Taking an exercise snack every 45 minutes will counteract the sedentary behavior.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Going to the gym and exercising after a sedentary day, believe it or not, doesn't really help.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wow. A lot of people think it does.

[A]

A lot of people think I can sit around for eight hours and then go to the gym and I'm fine. Absolutely not true. You have to break up the sedentary behavior in 45 minutes.

[B]

You got to be more proactive with it.

[A]

Right? Exactly.

[B]

That's good to know.

[A]

Yeah. The other piece of advice I have for you is what to do at the gym. So at the gym, you want to make sure that you're lifting heavy weights. Okay? So right now, your disease, your biomarker panels are kind of pointed towards a condition called skinny fat, for lack of a better term. You know, you're a thin, tall guy, but you're accumulating a lot of fat inside your abdomen, where it's actually dangerous. Fat is highly inflammatory. I could tell that because some of your liver markers are elevated, so you're probably depositing some fat in your liver as well. Okay, so what you want to do is you want to go to the gym, you want to do all the things we talked about, but also go to the gym and lift heavy weights and do some high intensity training as well. That will take that visceral fat and burn it off for you. Got it. So even if you go to the gym for 20 to 30 minutes, as long as you're lifting heavy and you're kind of lifting till failure, we call it, where you're not just doing endless reps, um, you can turn all of this around.

[B]

Good to know. And everything you said is spot on. Cause I did get an MRI and add a ton of fat, visceral fat, all over my organs.

[A]

So there you go.

[B]

Without you even seeing that, you knew that. That's pretty cool.

[A]

Yeah. It's all in your blood markers.

[B]

Wow. Damn. Yeah. I need to do some hit. Hit therapy.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. A few things to work on, but, you know, it's all about being good at forming habits. And if you just start small and just kind of stack a few of the big picture things, eventually it'll become a part of your normal life. You know, one thing I do in the podcast studio, you might want to do this too, is just have some dumbbells in the podcast studio.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

In between podcasts, just grab the dumbbells and do some air squats with them. Some shoulder presses. You'll get some exercise in.

[B]

I love it. I'll start doing that. Yeah, that's cool, dude.

[A]

I want to talk a little bit more about your cardiac biomarkers as well. So, look, you're super young. You. Are you worried about having a heart attack in the next five years?

[B]

No.

[A]

Right. You shouldn't be. Right. Very rare for young people to get heart attacks. But by looking at your cardiac biomarkers, there's a really high chance you might have one in your 50s.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Okay. And so I say that because your LDL is elevated. But even beyond LDL, the one biomarker that a lot of people don't measure for cardiac health is apob. All right? APOB is a protein that wraps around all the bad forms of cholesterol. Not just ldl, but also vldl, also lp. These are called atherogenic. Means they can block your blood vessels going to your heart, leading to a heart attack. 50% of all heart attacks are not diagnosed until you actually have the heart attack. So they don't even know you have heart disease until you have a heart attack. And 50% of those are fatal.

[B]

Jeez. Yeah, that's high.

[A]

Exactly. So that's why you want to know as early as possible if you have a higher portion of atherogenic cholesterol particles, because it means you need to start doing something about it now so you can avoid heart disease when you're 50.

[B]

What do you think caused my level to be off like that? In my heart.

[A]

It's also your diet.

[B]

Diet?

[A]

Yeah, it's all diet, ultra processed food. You know, a carb heavy diet that's really focused on a lot of ultra processed restaurant food can cause this.

[B]

That's my weakness, man. I love eating out now, but it adds up. It's showing my results.

[A]

It adds up. Yeah. And, you know, look, we all live a very busy life. You're, you're doing a ton of podcasts, you know, a lot of stuff. You gotta find easy food, right. To eat. And so I don't think necessarily eating out as bad is the selection that you make when you go out. Right. So you can go to any restaurant and ask for some steamed vegetables and a piece of salmon. Pretty much. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If you limit yourself to just, you know, for most of the time, not all the time, 80% of the time, asking for the food that you know is healthy versus just picking something off the menu that could be, you know, doused in seed oils and have a whole bunch of like low quality ingredients in it. You're going to be doing better.

[B]

Right, that makes sense.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Thanks for that, man. Yeah, yeah, that's important. Heart's one of the most important ones. Keep track of it is.

[A]

It is. I'd say, I would say, you know, if it's. If you want to prioritize things to look for in your biomarkers, I would say, you know, metabolic health number one. Number two is your cardiac biomarkers, like things like the apob, and then lastly, like looking at your nutrient levels. And also with that comes your inflammation levels. Hs, crp, your C reactive protein. So that's a blood test that you do. It gives us an overall indication of how much inflammation is going on in your body. Yours is actually okay.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah, Yours actually okay. I would want to see it lower. It's not in the dangerous level. So, you know, in the blood work, it tells you the reference range. Right. And the reference range it gives you here is over five is when you start raising alarms. Really? Over one is when you need to start raising alarms.

[B]

Whoa. Yeah, That's a big difference.

[A]

Exactly. And you wanted this as close to zero as possible. Okay. So you're right in between, which is okay. But we want to try to reduce inflammation even further in your body so that you don't have all the negative effects of inflammation.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

Inflammation increases your risk of all forms of chronic disease. Once again, the top 10 things that people die of on the CDC list, you can eliminate many of those by getting your inflammation levels low, too.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So with that, I would say if you're looking at inflammation, most inflammation starts in your gut. 90% of your immune system is in your gut, and that's where most of the toxins are being absorbed in our body. Okay. So if your inflammation is high, probably means your gut health soft for the most part. There's other reasons, too. Oral health has a lot to do with it. So go to your dentist, you know, get your cleanings done. But fixing your gut health is key, and there's a variety of different ways you can do that.

[B]

Wow. So dental health can impact gut health, you said?

[A]

Yeah. Dental health can impact inflammation.

[B]

Really? People do not connect those dots ever.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, it's one of the highest. One of the ways that people lose their immune system's ability to fight cancer and other diseases is by having poor oral health. Believe it or not, poor oral health is related to higher levels of Alzheimer's disease, higher levels of cancer, higher levels of heart disease as well. Higher incidences. Yep.

[B]

Dude, I just saw this crazy thing where they found skulls of, like, humans from hundreds of years ago. None of them had cavities.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Isn't that great?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And there's a great book called Breathe by Michael Nestor where he went into, like, the catacombs of Paris, and he looked at all the skulls. He's like, wait a minute. All these teeth are perfect. Like, what's going on? What happened in the last hundred years where we all, you know, we have.

[B]

Braces now and retainers and cavity fills and veneers.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

It's getting nuts.

[A]

I know.

[B]

Wow, that's good to know. Because a lot of people really don't care about their dental health. They're just out partying, drinking, consuming sugar in their young years, you know?

[A]

Absolutely. Absolutely. It all adds up into poor. Not just poor teeth and cavities. Poor teeth and cavities. Your mouth is a window into the rest of your health. If you have poor teeth and cavities, it probably means that you have inflammation. It means that you have gut health issues and higher chance of all forms of chronic disease like we talked about.

[B]

Yeah. I just went to the dentist, and they found seven cavities. Yeah.

[A]

Getting taken care of.

[B]

I need to. Yeah, yeah. I want to do it holistically.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, holistic dentists are doing a lot of things around preventing, you know, treating dental disease, but not causing other problems with things like mercury in the fillings and things like that.

[B]

They're finding PFAs in the fillings.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. Lots of toxins. And then you're living with those in your mouth.

[B]

Yeah. The rest of your life. Crazy, right? Damn. What's next that.

[A]

That we measured heavy metal levels on you as well, and so your heavy metals are all in normal range, so that's good.

[B]

They were a little higher than I wanted, to be honest.

[A]

Some of them were in the yellow range, but I wouldn't be too concerned about that, to be honest with you. I think, you know, this stuff where it's constantly changing. Once again, you know, the environment that we live in is one of the most toxic in human history. So I rarely see people with all, you know, in the yellow range and green range like you have. So be proud of yourself that at least that you have it under a little bit of control.

[B]

It was fresh off a parasite cleanse. So that might have helped.

[A]

That might have helped a lot. Yeah.

[B]

Cool. That's good to know. I saw the yellows and I got concerned, but hearing you say that it's normally higher in people makes me feel a little better.

[A]

Yeah, it's. It's. I. I almost always, with all my patients, see at least one that's in the red range.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, so I did real well then.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, what's. What's usually the highest one? Mercury.

[A]

Usually it's mercury. Yeah. And mercury is not just from. Yeah. Okay, so seafood, definitely. But it's not just seafood. It's also in the water. It's also in other foods as well. There's a lot of places that people are getting mercury toxicity from.

[B]

Wow. So it's not just the seafood. No, I pretty much cut sushi, man. Which I love sushi, dude. I was eating it, like going to those all you can eat sushi buffets for 25 bucks.

[A]

It's usually like the bigger fish that they live a long time that accumulate mercury in their body. So you can still have sushi, but stick to, like salmon and those kind of things.

[B]

Got it. Wild caught or farm?

[A]

Always.

[B]

While possible they'd be pushing those farm ones or.

[A]

I know, of course.

[B]

And it looks better like if you just look at it, but I'm sure it's not good for you.

[A]

Well, the wild caught ones, if you look at the salmon, it's actually a lot like a deeper pink, which I like seeing that nice deep pink salmon. But you're right. I mean, even look, some of the farm ones are actually better than some of the ones that have been out living in the ocean in toxic environments for a long time. So you just really got to be very mindful about what. What you're putting in your body. A really good resource is the environmental working group's website, ewg.org they go through all the foods and. Which are going to be the most toxic and the least toxic for you.

[B]

I love it. Where could people get this test, by the way? Because I learned a lot from this, so I think it's important for people to know.

[A]

Yeah. So this is our next health baseline. So we do this at our next health offices in New York and la, and we're opening all over the country. But also there's a lot of online services that will do a lot of these biomarkers for you as well. Things like function. Health is another good one as well.

[B]

Cool. What other tests should people be looking into other than blood tests?

[A]

So other than the blood tests, I would say at least once in your life, get a genetic panel done. So, you know, we do the genetic panels on all of our patients because we always find things. Tendencies. So one of the things I saw on you, Sean, was that you have a. Your. Your homocysteine level is a little bit high. Homocysteine is an inflammatory marker, and it happens when your B vitamins are not being utilized. Well, okay. And that happens when you have a gene called mthfr. All right, so we haven't done your.

[B]

I had that gene break.

[A]

You do.

[B]

I took Breca's and that came up. I was yellow on it. I wasn't completely red, but I had one of the two.

[A]

There you go. And so we saw the same thing. And so you're not able to convert your B vitamins to the usable form of B vitamins called methylated B vitamins. So how do you correct for that? You take methylated B vitamin supplements. So I don't know if you're on a methylated B supplement or not, but you should.

[B]

Is that vitamin B12 or.

[A]

It's B12, but it's methylated.

[B]

Methylated. I got to check if mine is.

[A]

Yeah, you have to make sure it's.

[B]

Folic acid in it. Right, Right.

[A]

It shouldn't have folic acid. It's a methyl folate in it.

[B]

Right. And that's a big one for pregnant women, too, because they put them on folic acid and they could be allergic, technically. Right.

[A]

Yeah, they could have. They could have a allergy to it, or they can also have. It could also not be doing what they think it's doing, you know, so you have to be really Careful about where you get your supplements from as well.

[B]

Right. Dang, that's good to know. Anything else on the test?

[A]

That's it. That's what I saw on you. I mean, those are the big, big hits. And I think simple things that you need to do, right? Get on some vitamin D, make sure your B vitamins have methylated, switch your. Switch the order of what you're eating. Eating your fruits last. You could do these things. I mean, these are, these are not that hard. And you'll make massive differences in your health.

[B]

Love it.

[A]

Yeah. So the next time you come to town, I'd love to check again once you put these habits into place. And we'll see the.

[B]

Absolutely. Yeah, I'll be back in October, so we'll see.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

How are your results at my age compared to me?

[A]

So this is one of the things I regret. So I unfortunately, even being a trained doctor, I did not know that I should be checking all these blood tests at a young age.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Right? In fact, as doctors were taught not to even order these tests until someone's like in their 40s or they have symptoms.

[B]

They teach you that?

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's backwards thinking, right?

[A]

It's it. Unfortunately, the whole medical system was built on this backward thinking to where you're actually discouraged by insurance company from wanting a blood test because number one, they cost money. But number two, you could find something, right?

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. So, you know, the tide is definitely turning now. So I think now medical education is like, measure earlier and measure frequently. This is key too. Like no one should be getting a yearly blood test. And that's it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

These are the biomarkers that you want to measure quarterly and see what direction they're headed. So you know, your hemoglobin A1C is 5.1, then 5.3, then 5.5. You would have known years ago. You know, it takes years for these things to change. So I don't have biomarkers from your age, unfortunately. So I don't know. I found out when I was ready. A 40 year old doctor having been working in surgery for almost, you know, 15 years. When I was really sick, I was 50 pounds overweight. I had five diseases, including one autoimmune disease. Yeah. Diabetes, hypertension, Damn. Metabolic syndrome. I had all of it and no one checked anything until those two until I was already being diagnosed with diseases.

[B]

Holy crap. Five diseases at 40.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you're a doctor, that must be common for other doctors then.

[A]

Very common. And so, you know, for Me, that was a wakeup call. And I decided that moment in time, I got to turn my health around. So even in the typical western education, you don't really learn a lot about diet, exercise, sleep, you know, detoxifying your life. And so I took a year off to reeducate myself on the basics of health.

[B]

Crazy, dude. When I walk into one of your wellness centers, or like any wellness center, it's night and day compared to a doctor's office. The energy is just amazing. Yeah, like I, like, I go to a doctor's office. Like depressing almost.

[A]

That's, that was a whole goal. So thank you for saying that. No, for real, that's a whole goal because when I sat down with my partner, we, we decided not just to completely change how we practice medicine, we decided to change the environment completely. Because I wanted to be a place that you want to go to, that you want to go to, even on a weekly basis to do some of the therapeutics that we have on site, like IV therapy, sauna, cold, hyperbaric. All the things that we know have positive impact on your health.

[B]

Yeah, dude, I was down there having amazing conversations with a needle in my arm, just with the IV dripping. It was fun. Dude, doctor's office, no one wants to talk to you. It's like ER rooms are so depressing.

[A]

I know. And that's another thing. Like we have people sitting there and everyone's there because they are interested in their health. So we formed this community and this social aspect to health where people meet each other in the IV chairs and talk about what are you doing, what are you doing? And people just learn from each other that way.

[B]

Yeah. And you got some great clients coming in. I don't know if you're public with some of the people, but yeah, I met some great people there, man. Yeah, it's been really cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you said you're expanding too.

[A]

Yeah, we're going to be all over the country and we're even opening in Dubai, in Australia and also in Canada. So we're expanding. People love what we're doing. So I think it's speaking to a lot of people that they need to, you know, take control of their own health, become the CEO of your own health. I always talk about, I always talk about, you know, knowing your Biomarkers, knowing your KPIs and at an earlier age and doing it more frequently.

[B]

Yeah, because this will save people money in the long run.

[A]

100%. Right. Treating a disease. We have a hundred billion dollar healthcare system. You know, it's gonna. And soon it's gonna be in the trillions to where we won't be able to afford health care anymore. And so treating it early and doing it more mindfully with putting good habits in place, we could potentially eliminate chronic disease if everyone did all this.

[B]

Dude, I'm paying 600amonth and it's not even like that good of a plan. And that's a lot of money for most people, dude, 600amonth. I mean, if you're self employed, it's tough finding good healthcare.

[A]

I totally agree with you. In fact, even for myself now, and for a lot of people, they're finding out just get disaster coverage. So if you get into a trauma or you have some, you know, God forbid you're diagnosed with cancer, it'll cover it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But other than that, take the extra money and spend it on doing things like getting your own biomarkers and things like that. And really, you know, spending a little bit of that money on taking control of your health.

[B]

Yeah, agreed. Dude, when I went to get the mri, insurance wouldn't even cover that. That crazy.

[A]

Yeah, they're not going to cover it.

[B]

Yeah. So four or fifty bucks out of pocket and you can learn a lot from mri.

[A]

Absolutely. Yeah. I think the full body mri, the more places, you know, technology as we know it gets cheaper and cheaper as time goes on. Right. And so there's going to be more and more places than MRI machines that are just sitting there doing nothing. So then it has to get cheaper. And I think in 10 years we'll be able to do a full body MRI for less than a couple hundred bucks.

[B]

Wow, that'd be exciting because I've been looking in that Pulver one. Have you seen that one for nouveau? Yeah, but it's like 5k or something right now.

[A]

It is, yeah. But I know the CEO and his goal to make this accessible and affordable for everybody.

[B]

Nice. Have you done that one?

[A]

Yeah, I sure have.

[B]

Did you like the results?

[A]

You know, I like the results because I didn't. They didn't really find anything on me. But I have seen people get the PR Novo and what happens a lot of times is you find something. Right. And so if you're going to get a full body mri, my advice to you is get in the frame of mind that there's probably a 1 out of 10 chance you'll find something.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And out of that, out of those times that you find something, about 50% of the time is going to be something that's not something you need to worry About. Okay. But Sometimes the other 50% of the times I'm just making up big picture numbers here, is going to be something that it is something you can do something about. So you just have to be in the right mindset that you're going to have to probably go down a diagnostic pathway to figure out what is that incidental finding and what does it mean. And it could stress you out for a little while, but at least, you know, you know.

[B]

Yeah, it is scary if you get a big, you know, diagnosis or catch something. Right, right. Because it can end your life if it goes untreated.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But that's the power of these preventative tests. That's the at least let you know because if you discover too late, the odds of surviving are way less.

[A]

Exactly. I always say cancer's biggest enemy is being diagnosed as stage one. That's when you're talking about like, what can we do to cure the cancer. But even just waiting a few months, it can become stage three and stage four and metastatic and then we're talking five year survival rates. Damn right.

[B]

I'd be curious what percentage of like discovery for each stage. Like the averages. I'd be curious.

[A]

Yeah. You know, it's different for different cancers, unfortunately. Like pancreatic cancer, for example, was Steve Jobs died of. He was diagnosed way too late. Right. And I always say if full body MRI was around during the time of Steve Jobs and he had got one, he might have discovered it at stage one and he might be alive today.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

But then the other cancers, things like colon cancer, breast cancer, there's a huge portion of it being diagnosed as stage one. Why? Because we have good screening methods for it. Right. And so colonoscopies, breast mammograms, ultrasound, even a PSA test, the blood test on males to make sure, you know, see if you have prostate cancer risk. We have that technology now. People just have to do it. They have to get their preventative screenings done. And what I find is almost 80% of people are missing one of their preventative screening tests now.

[B]

Wow. Which ones are people missing?

[A]

First of all, a lot of people don't check themselves for skin cancer. So that's, that's a big one. You know, I might see like five, six patients in a day. And almost every time I see these patients, none of them ever been checked for skin cancer.

[B]

That's on that one. Yeah. What's that test like?

[A]

Just going to a dermatologist and having him look over your whole body, note any moles and just note them down and see if they're changing.

[B]

Got it. Now there's AI. I heard for that too.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is cool.

[A]

AI is going to be a game changer. There's going to be a time where there's an AI kind of in your shower mirror, maybe. And all it does is like check you for skin cancers and other things.

[B]

Yeah, I can see that. You might have to start incorporating someone Next Health.

[A]

Yeah, right, Absolutely.

[B]

When I went to the holistic dentist, they use AI to see how many cavities I had.

[A]

Amazing.

[B]

Crazy, right?

[A]

It's crazy.

[B]

Yeah. Because the human eye can only see certain ones or they have to physically touch it.

[A]

Yeah. I think AI is going to incredibly augment the diagnostic capabilities of all the tests that we already have.

[B]

Yeah. That's exciting. And there's no emotion involved. It's just pure logic.

[A]

It is.

[B]

Because misdiagnosis is a common issue. Right. In medical space.

[A]

Huge, huge misdiagnosis. Right, Absolutely.

[B]

Yeah. I see Gary talk about that a lot, which is super high. Third leading.

[A]

Cause it is. And the nice thing about using AI is that it can find things that sometimes a doctor will miss. But also it can give you a better differential diagnosis too. So it could say, yeah, you might think it's this, but it's probably. It might even be these other four things. So that way you don't ignore a potential positive diagnosis as well.

[B]

What do you mean positive?

[A]

So sometimes when you find like a. Finding an mri. Right. A lot of times people, the radiologists might note it as something that's benign when it's really not.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

Right. So the AI can help point the radiologist into potentially looking at it a different way.

[B]

They might replace that job. I heard.

[A]

You know, who knows? I might replace all of our jobs.

[B]

That's true. They might be podcasting.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

There's priority. Some AI podcast, to be honest. Right, right. I don't know. Podcasting might be difficult, but anything where it's analyzing stuff, I feel like those will go first.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's so funny because everyone thought that AI and robots going to take over, like manufacturing jobs. Instead it's more of like the thought jobs, the other jobs that require more brain power.

[B]

Dude. It helps me come up with questions for the podcast because it can comb through my guest book or other podcast episodes. It's pretty, Pretty good time saver. Yes, dude. Anything else? Any new findings or anything coming up for you?

[A]

You know, I think at Next Health we're always looking for the next thing and there are on the diagnostic side There are blood tests that are going to be coming out that can potentially prediagnose Alzheimer's by years way before you develop any type of cognitive issues. So imagine being able to diagnose Alzheimer's with a blood test. Right. And even other neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, et cetera. So there are blood tests coming out for those. There's also blood tests coming out to diagnose and tell you the potential severity of a lot of. A lot of illnesses in the brain. Okay. And so I. I mean, things like ADHD, depression, etc. So a blood test that can help us point us in the right direction for therapeutics as well. So we can actually see the blood test levels going down when the right therapeutic is applied.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. Because doctors struggle a lot, especially in psychiatrists, when they're treating mental disease, in finding the right medication. Right. For people. And so having a blood test to kind of guide therapy could be very helpful.

[B]

Yeah, that'd be massive. I hope to see Western integrate this type of stuff. More Western medicine.

[A]

I think. I think it will happen. It's just gonna take time. But we're living in an incredible age where we're having all sorts of new discoveries coming at us like more rapid fire than ever before.

[B]

Yeah. Did Brian Johnson's dinner change your life?

[A]

Yeah. I really love Brian Johnson's dinner because his way of thinking about the world and the whole don't die philosophy. I told him I'm a believer the key, right, is to stay alive, because in the next 50 years, the world is going to change in such ways that we have no idea even what's going to happen. We think we can predict the future, but we really can't. Especially now in this age of accelerated progress. Right. We have this incredibly fast rate of discovery happening. And with AI applied to that, who knows? We might unlock a secret that can potentially add decades to our life or maybe even more. We don't know. And so the key right now is to stay alive and don't die.

[B]

I could see that they're adding a lot of time to dogs. I just saw there's a new thing that can add like 10 to 20%.

[A]

Yeah. So definitely ready selling a drug for that.

[B]

Yeah. Don't die, guys. Well, Darshan, it's been awesome. We'll link Next Health below. And thanks for coming on, man.

[A]

Yeah, anytime. Good luck on the health journey. Can't wait to see your next set of biomarkers.

[B]

Yes, sir. Thanks for helping out. And check out next Health, guys. If you're interested in LA and New York, Right? And Vegas coming soon. So we'll link below. Thanks for watching.