Healthy Talk

If you're overweight or obese, certain enzymes that break down fat for energy slowly stop working.It's hard to miss the buzz surrounding "fat" and how it can increase your risk of serious health issues like diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Recently, studies found that fat cells in obese people act differently than the fat cells in leaner people. If you're obese, you lose certain enzymes that are needed to help break down fat and eventually burn it for energy. How can you stop the fat cycle? Listen in as Dr. Mike explains how fat functions in your body and how it works differently if you're obese or overweight.

Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans. Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know: What are your feelings on carnitine? After the research linking it to TMAO and heart disease, what say you? Carnitine is a substance found in your body that turns fat into energy. Recently, research was suggesting that red meat and egg consumption releases carnitine in the gut which allows gut bacteria to produce TMAO (trimethylamine-N-oxide; a gut flora-dependent metabolite that contributes to heart disease). However, the way it was phrased in the media's headlines was misleading. Usually, when a study like this comes out, researchers at Life Extension will look into the study to conclude if there are flaws, or whether or not the study is legit. If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans. Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know: What has more sugar content, red or white wine? This depends on the type of wine and not so much the color. For example, moscato and riesling are sweeter wines which have more sugars than drier wines. Dry reds like pinot noir have .06 grams of sugar, Merlot .74 grams of sugar, cabernet has .75 grams of sugar. Dry white wines like pinot grigio have .6 grams of sugar. I have a gold cap molar next to a large filling and now have a deep pocket between the capped tooth and the tooth that has the filling. I've been told the filling is too large to replace and the tooth should be capped as well. If I get the tooth capped, should I get the filling removed in the first tooth? Assuming that the fillings have silver mercury, then yes you should get those removed. They should be replaced with other alternatives or capped. Will the cap help fix the deep pocket? Unfortunately no, it won't. The reason why you have this deep pocket is probably due to an infection which caused some inflammation and this pocket. You might want to try oil pulling. My son had an operation as a newborn for the narrowing of the aorta. Now, he's 28 and coughs a lot in his sleep. Does he need another operation? The best answer Dr. Mike can give you is to have him see his doctor. He might want to mention a procedure MRA, which is angiogram to see if there's any narrowing issues. If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

How can you treat your blurry vision?Presbyopia is a natural part of the aging process of your eyes. This condition causes blurred vision while trying to read or work on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. It can occur as early as your 40s. Up until now, options for patients in the U.S. with near vision loss have been limited to reading glasses, bifocals or surgical procedures that compromise patients' distance vision and offer no guarantee of lasting success. What is the breakthrough treatment that can help cure presbyopia? Dr. Tom Tooma joins Dr. Mike to discuss presbyopia and the newest treatment options available.

What signs should you look for before things get too blurry?Just as your body and mind age, so do your eyes. This can be concerning, because the ability to see may rank number-one as the most important of all your senses. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, 22 million Americans have cataracts, 2.3 million Americans have glaucoma, and 3.2 million Americans have dry eye syndrome. What are some signs of aging eyes that you should be looking out for? Dr. Tom Tooma shares the signs of aging eyes and when you should seek medical attention.

Could this green vegetable be instrumental in fighting cancer?Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a common form of cancer found in children. It's caused when the bone marrow produces too many immature white blood cells, called lymphoblasts, which crowd out healthy cells. There is a high cure rate; according to Life Extension, 80 percent of cases are cured. However, even though there is a high cure rate, there are still other treatments that are needed for the 20 percent of children who don't respond to conventional treatment. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine researched a compound found in broccoli and found that it could possibly kill leukemia cells. Listen in as Dr. Mike discusses the results of the study and how a compound in broccoli could help fight leukemia.

Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans. Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know: Can someone get hooked on Adderall? Yes! Adderall is a stimulant drug that's a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine. Adderall is used to treat ADD/ADHD. Even though it is prescribed and can help those who truly need it, you are still capable of becoming dependent on this medication. Some natural alternatives to Adderall include changing up your diet and making sure you're getting probiotics, ginseng, fish oil, and magnesium. What's better to take for aches and pains: Tylenol or Advil? Tylenol is acetaminophen, Advil is ibuprofen. In Dr. Mike's personal preference, Tylenol doesn't do anything for him. He prefers ibuprofen. However, he wants you to make sure you're aware of the dosing you're taking. The maximum dose for Tylenol is 4,000 mg a day, and for ibuprofen the daily max is 1,600 mg. If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans. Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know: I've been taking NAD+ for longevity, however I recently began taking Nicotinamide to decrease my chances of getting skin cancer. Do I need to take the NAD+ or will the Nicatinomide cover both health concerns? In a short answer, you should still be taking both. The Nicatinomide is a precursor to NAD+. Nicatinomide will have have to go through a conversion in order to become NAD+ and will boost these levels. Nicatinomide also has other benefits besides protecting against skin cancer. I did a Life Extension nutrient panel blood test. My vitamin B12 and folate levels are very high. Is that going to be a problem for me? No, there is no harm in having high levels of B12 and foliate. The reason is because these nutrients are very transient and fluctuate. I have been taking magnesium with calcium. I wonder if magnesium citrate is better? How much do I need to take per day? I also take vitamin K2; is there also a ratio to calcium for this? Magnesium citrate does absorb better than any other kind of magnesium. The problem is, anytime you have citrate added to the mineral, it becomes a huge molecule that you can't (and shouldn't) mix with any other mineral. Dr. Mike doesn't suggest switching to magnesium citrate and to just continue to do what you're doing. As far as the ratio, most people do a 1:2 ratio of calcium, but there's not ratio of vitamin K2 and calcium. What's your opinion on drinking unpasteurized milk? Dr. Mike thinks that if it's stored properly and consumed within a couple of days of milking the cow, it's fine. If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

What are some safer alternatives to mercury fillings?According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), mercury is mixed with silver, tin, or copper to help bind together and create a strong and solid filling for your tooth. Dentists have said that since there is only a small amount of mercury used in the filling, it shouldn't cause any health concerns. But, if you're someone who has a more than a few cavities, all that mercury can add up. Researchers have been questioning the safety of mercury fillings for years and have looked for alternatives to use. So, what are the safe alternatives? Dr. Robert Gregg joins Dr. Mike to discuss safer alternatives to mercury fillings.

Mercury fillings have been used for decades, but are they safe?Mercury is a highly toxic metal that can be extremely damaging to your body and health. This metal is released into the air via power plants and industrial facilities and can even be found in certain fish, thermostats, and light switches. Mercury has been used for decades to fill cavities and prevent tooth, nerve and bone decay. Even though dentists have been using mercury fillings for many years, some are now beginning to wonder if they are safe. Dr. Robert Gregg joins Dr. Mike to discuss mercury fillings and if they are safe to use or not.

A ketogenic diet is high in fat, low in carbohydrates and has an average amount of protein. Could this combination help fight cancer?Cancer is a collection of related diseases, where the cells in your body begin to divide at an abnormal rate. This allows old and damaged cells to survive (when they should normally die) and new cells are formed that aren't needed. The extra growth of cells can form tumors. A ketogenic diet is high in fat, low in carbohydrates and has an average amount of protein. The fat and carbs act as your body's main source of energy. Doctors have been using this diet for years to help ease epilepsy, and now researchers are looking into seeing if this diet can help fight cancer. Researchers from the University of South Florida found a combination of oxygen therapy and the ketogenic diet stopped the spread of cancer cells in mice and increased their survival. What were the other results of this study? Listen in and join Dr. Mike as he discusses the latest research surrounding a ketogenic diet.

Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans. Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know: Your recent guest advised not eating chocolate because he thought the casing in the chocolate was inflammatory to the joints. The problem with this is plants don't make casing. If there's casing in chocolate, it's because the manufacturer used milk to process it. Most dark chocolates, such as those at 85 percent cocoa, aren't made with milk products and therefore have no casing in it. Yes, so this is correct. Cocoa hasn't gone through the processing and therefore doesn't have casing. However, what the guest was talking about was opening up a Snickers, Hershey's, or other milk chocolate candy wrapper and eating it. Those examples have been processed with milk and can cause inflammation in your body. What's the point of taking the same probiotic everyday? Since bacteria divides very quickly, the gut is no longer the perfect growth medium for healthy gut bacteria. When you take a protbitic pill it's (in theory) supposed to release the healthy bacteria and help balance your gut out. It might be wise to cycle your probiotics throughout the week. Should you cycle curcumin? It appears that this supplement works by hormesis. Hormesis is the theory that a little bit of a stressor goes a long way and it stimulates protective processes in your body. Dr. Mike believes in this theory and thinks that by cycling through nutrients like curcumin during the week is fine. If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.Here you'll find the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions posed by Healthy Talk fans. Listen in because what you know helps ensure healthy choices you can live with. Today on Healthy Talk, you wanted to know: What is the best probiotic pill to take daily (are blueberries sufficient)? Dr. Mike wants you to know the probiotic pills he takes. Dr. Mike takes theralac probiotic and florastor probiotic. When choosing a probiotic you want to make sure it contains a healthy balance of healthy bacteria and concentration. Specifically, you need to make sure it contains Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium with the range of five to 10 CFU. You also want to make sure you take a prebiotic as well, specifically a sugar base that's going to feed the probiotic. The third thing you should look for in a probiotic is a protective barrier like sodium alginate. How much water is necessary for weight loss? How much water should I drink on a daily basis? Water consumption for weight loss is individualized. Someone who weighs 160 pounds would be drinking a different amount of water than someone who weighs 140, or 120 pounds. If you have a health question or concern, Dr. Mike encourages you to write him at askdrmikesmith@radiomd.com or call in, toll-free, to the LIVE radio show (1.844.305.7800) so he can provide you with support and helpful advice.

Wasabi is a root vegetable that's typically grounded into a paste and served with Japanese foods.Whether you've been out for sushi or browsing the international aisles at your grocery store, you might have noticed a green paste called wasabi. Wasabi is a spicy green Japanese condiment that is made from the herb wasabi japonica. Wasabi rhizome is a rich source of long-chain methyl isothiocyanates that have been shown to help maintain healthy liver enzymes and DNA, as well as support a healthy inflammatory process. Why else should you be eating more wasabi? Listen in as Dr. Mike shares the powerful benefits of wasabi and why you should be eating more of this food.

How does healthy gut bacteria influence your body, mind and life?Taking care of your gut health is extremely important, as doctors have found that poor gut health could be the reason for an increasing number of health issues. Your gut is full of healthy bacteria that helps protect your body from diseases and falling ill. In fact, your body has 10 times more microbial cells than human cells. How does your gut bacteria influence your health, mind and life? Dr. Mike shares the importance of microbes in your body and how you can promote healthy gut bacteria.