This video, part of the 'Today's Nutrition' series, discusses how toxins impact brain health, leading to issues like dementia, depression, and brain fog. The speaker highlights that chronic inflammation, often caused by long-term irritants like plastics and air pollution, is a major problem for the brain. The video focuses on identifying common toxins in our homes and environment, such as microplastics and airborne pollutants from cooking and candles, and offers solutions like using air filters and supporting the body's natural detoxification processes.
Key Takeaways
1
The video focuses on how toxins affect the brain, influencing brain aging, mood, anxiety, and depression, which are common issues globally.
2
Chronic inflammation caused by long-term irritants like poor diet, lack of sleep, high stress, and toxins can damage brain tissue.
3
Our homes are significant sources of brain-damaging toxins because we spend about 90% of our time indoors.
4
Plastics are pervasive toxins that disrupt metabolic and hormonal pathways, leading to inflammation that harms the brain and can contribute to weight gain.
5
Microplastics have been found in almost every human organ, including the brain, with higher concentrations in the brains of individuals with dementia.
6
Indoor air pollutants, such as smoke from cooking (especially gas ovens), candles, incense, and even vacuuming, significantly contribute to inflammation and cognitive decline.
7
Living near busy highways exposes individuals to higher levels of particulate matter (PMs), which is linked to increased risks of depression and dementia.
8
Air fresheners and scented products are unregulated and highly concentrated sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can cause various health problems.
9
To reduce toxin exposure, use high-MERV furnace filters and HEPA 13+ air filters, ensure proper ventilation, and be mindful of indoor activities that generate pollutants.
10
Supporting the body's natural detoxification processes through deep breathing, drinking water, sweating, and good gut elimination is crucial since plastics do not degrade easily.
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0:01
good morning and welcome to another
0:03
edition of today's nutrition where we
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look at what is new in research what's
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hot in the news or any topic that can
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help us lose weight feel great or live
0:12
longer better so continuing this month
0:16
back to school month and focusing on
0:19
better brains remembering better
0:21
thinking better studying better testing
0:24
better over the last few weeks my shows
0:26
have covered the diet influence Stress
0:29
Management exercise how it affects the
0:31
brain in prevention of dementia
0:35
depression and stroke while improving
0:39
memory mood and resilience this week I'm
0:44
going to dive into the ex exciting
0:47
fascinating topic that has profound
0:50
implications for our health and
0:51
well-being namely the impact of toxins
0:55
on the brain brain aging test taking
1:00
mood implications on anxiety depression
1:04
and more and this is huge because around
1:08
60 million people around the globe have
1:12
dementia 300 million have depression and
1:17
billions of people are experiencing
1:20
brain fog due to chronic stress and
1:22
other
1:23
reasons every week I have people
1:26
complaining of brain fog memory decline
1:29
or just worrying about how they're going
1:31
to age and this is crazy as we age the
1:34
fear of dementia actually exceeds the
1:37
fear of cancer cancer can be cured but
1:41
with conventional treatment dementia is
1:44
incurable now I've told you about all
1:47
the exciting research about reversing
1:49
Alzheimer's disease and it really is
1:51
exciting go back and listen to my other
1:53
shows about the you know conventional
1:57
there's no hope you know diet and
1:59
lifestyle however 75 to 86% improve now
2:04
that is exciting work yes but more life
2:09
in your years when we think of
2:12
depression and
2:14
dementia these conditions are so much
2:17
preventable but most people don't know
2:20
the steps to take to decrease their risk
2:22
and protect their brains you know it
2:25
starts with removing things in our
2:27
environment that are the biggest problem
2:30
causing the most inflammation I've
2:33
talked at length about inflammation but
2:36
I guess it's worth taking a second here
2:38
to review the process of inflammation
2:40
The Good the Bad and the Ugly so the
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good you twist your ankle and it swells
2:47
up it brings in all the compounds that
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are supposed to clear up the damage and
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start the repair process this is
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fantastic we want inflammation to do its
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job and then go back to sleep the
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problem arises the bad when there is a
3:04
long-term irritant like bad diet like
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sugar processed foods lack of good
3:10
nutrients and the ones that we need or
3:13
toxins lack of sleep high stress those
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irritations just like never go away this
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causes long-term activation of
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inflammation that
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damages tissue if it's in the joint you
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know that's joint damage if it's in the
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heart it's the cardiovascular system the
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problem there if it's in the brain it's
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the inflammation it's what we're looking
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at is the trem one or two receptors in
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the gal cells that get triggered to
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cause long-term inflammation turns it on
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in the
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brain that's the ugly that is the
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longterm chronic inflammation wherever
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it is it could be causing anything from
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arthritis to cancer to kidney disease
4:03
dementia diabetes you pick the the
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target organ that's the the core is from
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inflammation so today I'm going to talk
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about number one the inflammation in the
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brain due to certain toxins number two
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where we're exposed to them number three
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what the worst ones on are and finally
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what you can do to get rid of these
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toxins that damage our brain causing
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memory problems dementia logic issues
4:34
impulsivity mood problems like anxiety
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depression anger and even emotional lack
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of control these toxins are everywhere
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but it turns out the place where our
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brains are at highest risk for being
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damaged is actually in our home where we
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spend most of our time modern day I mean
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here we are today we spend 90% of our
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time
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indoors whether it's in your home or in
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the office or in your car and this turns
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out to be a good thing because we have
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incredible amount of control over what
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happens in our homes you know one way to
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kind of look at it is it's simply what
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goes in into our body through the air
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our skin the food and of course our
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thoughts but that's another discussion
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for another week it's G basically what
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goes in and then what comes out in the
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brain what comes out the byproduct of
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what goes in is your mood your memory
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and how we think it's how good the brain
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is able to work or not so what goes in
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food water air through your skin your
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eyes your ears your thoughts think of it
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as input so today we're going to talk
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about the input of
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toxins you know we think about that
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basically as air pollution what we're
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breathing in you know air has got a lot
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of good things I oxygen you know to keep
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us going but the air also contains more
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than just oxygen there's nitrogen
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there's some other gases but also
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microbes mold bacteria viruses a lot of
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things our immune system has to process
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but it's also taking in an increasing
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amount of artificial things that we have
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added to to our environment in the last
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880 years like Plastics ah Plastics
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they're everywhere so what well it's a
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big what the problem is those Plastics
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bind to and affect Pathways biological
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metabolic pathways in our body really
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upsetting our biochemistry sitting on
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those cell receptors so that they can
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block or accelerate what's naturally
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supposed to happen
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affecting the immune system infecting
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affecting inflammatory Pathways and
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ultimately causing inflammation that
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affects the brain
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neuroplasticity our ability to learn to
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remember to concentrate to do things
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well you know the body isn't
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disconnected from the brain research
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shows
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absolutely air pollution things that we
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breathe in
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are absolutely Associated to weight gain
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but how can that be well like everything
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it comes down to biological Pathways
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that get blocked or accelerated in the
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case of obesity Pathways that act on
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hormone metabolism are disrupted by
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these plastic toxins your thyroid
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estrogen testosterone insulin glucagon
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basically you name the hormone it is
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probably affected by a metabolic pathway
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blocked or accelerated by
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Plastics researchers around the world
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are looking at a mechanism inflammation
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that can make the brain go bad
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specifically in Alzheimer's or dementia
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Dr Jack ATI is a Tasmanian researcher
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yes Tasmania science knows no borders
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just as disease knows no borders but Dr
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Jack ATI focuses on the iety of inroads
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to inflammation including nutrient
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deficiency as well as the possible
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road that the ever increasing exposures
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to microplastics has on this inflammator
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mechanism you know interesting
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researcher and he's done on a lot of
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different number numbers he has looked
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at
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microplastics in the lab on lab animals
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and then again humans focusing on the
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inflammation and the role it has
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throughout the whole body but
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particularly in the brain his work his
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PhD started out with stroke research and
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then it just has continued his research
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has now looked into other players
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involved like a bad diet nade drugs but
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he really dug into the Plastics you know
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Plastics are everywhere from the bottom
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of the oceans to the clouds on top of
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the mountains in the food we eat the
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water we drink the air we breathe they
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have found
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microplastics in our lungs placentas
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testicles bone marrow almost every organ
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in the blood in the urine even breast
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milk cardiologists are finding it in
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arterial plaque when they're in heart
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surgery it is estimated that we consume
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the size of a credit card every week in
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plastic
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new study found plastic in the liver
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kidneys and brains in human cabers the
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brain tissue containing 20 times more
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plastic than other organs more
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concerning the brains of people who
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suffered from dementia contain
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significantly more plastic than the
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brains of healthy people another
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research Jamie Ross and her team found
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that within 3 weeks in a mice study
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Plastics found their way into the mice
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brains passing the bloodb brain barrier
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that was defenseless against the plastic
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and worse yes the researchers ran tests
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they found that that micro plastic
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exposed mice exhibited signs of
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cognitive decline similar to
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dementia plastic is everywhere it wraps
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our food holds our water gets into our
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Municipal Water Supply every time you
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wash your clothes nylon spandex moisture
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working fabric vegan clothes polyester
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all plastic and when the plastic from
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our clothes Finds Its way into our
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drinking water on our skin and just
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about everything you touch in your home
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even the glass tint on your windows in
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your car and your home oh it's
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everything where it affects us you know
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but Plastics aren't the only form of
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pollution that's affecting our brain
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let's look at the air in your home
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anytime you have smoke not just
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cigarettes but incense candles cooking
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smoke they are pollutants and if you
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have a gas oven great for cooking but
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those gas ovens contribute the most
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pollution of all ovens they leak
12:00
and then there's combustion with the
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flame and that flame emits a lot of
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benzene which is a huge carcinogen very
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inflammatory and research shows that gas
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ovens contribute to asthma another
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inflammatory problem so if you cook with
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gas and I know it is great for cooking
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it is recommended but always always use
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your hood vent and be sure it vents
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outside
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and wildfires remember the Canadian
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wildfires when our blue skies all summer
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were gray it was because of that
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particulate matter PMS is what they call
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them and those are strongly Associated
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to problems yeah lots of smoke when
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homes burn up you know it's much more
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than just wood it's all the plastics
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it's the paint it's the polyester it is
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the garage
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full of all the chemicals you know
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you're told to close windows don't
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exercise outside use n95 glass masks but
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even using air filters closing your
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windows so that your air conditioner can
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pull out that PM you know it's still a
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problem and you got to be I mean there's
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other things that are in there you know
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there's gases you know carbon dioxide
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and sulur dioxide and Nitric oxides and
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volatile organic compounds you got lots
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of those benzene tuline polycyclic
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hydrocarbons and bisphenols you know
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there's so much that when you've got
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those fires you've got problems with
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pollution in the air a lot of research
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also if you live on a busy highway there
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was a study in just pretty recent August
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14th of 2013 in jamama Internal Medicine
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on depression and dementia they followed
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around over 4,000 people and 15%
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developed dementia during the followup
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period those who did were more likely
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among other inflammatory factors more
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likely to live in places with higher
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levels of particulate matter PMS another
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study 28,000 people over 50 years old
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studied that the the PM's particular
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matter related to Traffic agriculture
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yeah agriculture and smoke more head
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dementia and there are other sources of
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PMS I never thought about vacuuming yeah
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vacuuming huge source of indoor air
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pollution you know you're stirring it up
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even if you have a HEPA 13 plus filter
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so you need to be careful and now I'm
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not saying not to vacuum or cook but you
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know definitely be careful and when
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you're emptying I never thought of this
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cuz I always empty mine right there in
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the kitchen and you see the Dust D so
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you got to empty it outside and scented
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candles oh they're awful they produce a
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heck of a lot parapan candles petroleum
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so by far the worst but one of the worst
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things burning
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incense super concentrated PMS
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400% more particulate matter than
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cigarettes and very damaging on pregnant
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women there was a
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51% increase in depression in pregnant
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women when there was incense in the
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house probably due to the inflammation
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on the nervous system and have you ever
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smelled this one have you ever ridden in
15:45
an Uber and they have that little
15:47
dangling green evergreen tree that is
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like overpowering and just want to open
15:51
the window these
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air whatever they want to call them
15:56
those little Christmas trees or whatever
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they have or even even the sprays that
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are designed to quote clean the air air
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fresheners are unregulated and super
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concentrated sources of volatile organic
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compounds fragrances I mean yeah there's
16:14
there's causing all sorts of problems
16:17
and the research this is a bad one for
16:19
office workers or schools the higher
16:21
levels of PMS the lower the cognitive
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scores if you live close to a highway
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that's not good so fin finally what can
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we do to avoid all these well use
16:33
filters home filters you need to change
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them often if it looks dirty that's very
16:38
concerning change as often as necessary
16:41
so you can keep it clean if you can't
16:42
see through it it's not doing its job
16:45
and your furnace filters have to have
16:47
the highest rating of Merv higher the
16:50
rating the better HEPA 13 on other
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filters HEPA 13 plus they're going to be
16:56
coming out with 14 the higher the better
16:59
the whole idea is to reduce the input
17:02
because we inhale
17:04
22,000 times a day and the more
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inflammatory compounds we breathe in the
17:09
more our body has to neutralize n95 Mass
17:13
yeah I mean that's that's an option it's
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not easy it needs to be a continuous
17:19
effort it requires commitment to
17:21
limiting this exposure you know the best
17:24
is to encourage your body's own detox
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methods through the lungs deep Brea
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breathing through the kidneys drinking
17:30
lots of water through the
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skin sweating and the gut good
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elimination because unlike other
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materials Plastics do not degrade it
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takes what a thousand years to break
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down and when it's discarded it builds
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up in the environment in fact we now
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have five islands of plastic floating
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around our oceans so remember the
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journey to better brain health and
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overall well-being starts with a single
18:00
step by incorporating
18:02
detoxification eating for health Stress
18:05
Management regular exercise building
18:08
that into your life you're going to be
18:09
enhancing your body's ability to stay
18:12
sharp resilient and ready to tackle
18:15
whatever comes your way at any age a
18:18
single step could just be avoiding as
18:21
much as possible through filters and
18:23
ventilation but small steps can have a
18:26
huge impact thanks for listening to
18:29
another edition of today's nutrition I
18:31
hope it helps you or someone you love
18:34
you can listen to other shows on my
18:36
website Deb for.com on YouTube or any
18:40
place you listen to podcasts if you'd
18:42
like to work with me my greatest
18:44
pleasure is working with people to
18:46
reverse their health or weight problems
18:49
one of my quotes from my latest group
18:51
includes my brain is like 20 years
18:54
younger mental Clarity like years ago I
18:57
think that's pretty good huh have a
18:59
great day and I'll see you soon
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Toxins and the Brain
Deb Ford DCN RDN
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Oct 30, 2024
19:02