Improve Gut Health with Dr. William Davis

george grombacher 0:00
Come on let’s pull this George G and the time is right. welcome today’s guest strong and powerful. Dr. William Davis. Dr. Davis. Are you ready to do this?

Dr. William Davis 0:19
Anytime, George.

george grombacher 0:20
All right, let’s go. Dr. Davis is a leading medical expert cardiology cardiologist. He is the author of The New York Times Best Selling Wheat Belly series. his upcoming book is super gut, reprogram your microbiome to restore health, lose weight and turn back the clock. Dr. Davis, tell us a little about your personal life some more about your work and why you do what you do.

Dr. William Davis 0:44
George, it sounds awfully cynical, but the health care system is broken. It does not do what it’s supposed to be doing which is provide health. Instead it is a machine for generating revenue for healthcare insiders by dispensing pharmaceuticals and procedures. And last net conversation is real health. So doctors should be experts in nutrition and health and the microbiome and then resort to drugs and procedures. That’s not how it works. It’s the opposite. It’s the other way around. And that’s sad because we have reached a time in human history. George, where the tools and the information that allow people to empower themselves in health is tremendous. But it’s not coming from the doctor. So I feel it’s my job. It’s my mission to help people understand many of the things you can do to take back control over health.

george grombacher 1:37
Amen to that. So I guess it doesn’t really matter the why why that’s all happening because it is so why don’t we focus our time on helping people to sort of better understand everything? What’s what what’s the best jumping off point Where’s Where’s where’s the best entry point here?

Dr. William Davis 1:56
Well, I’m tell you how I got here with the Super guts. I’m a cardiologist. What the hell am I doing with my my Wheat Belly program that originated with efforts to put a stop to coronary disease, doing heart scans and doing coronary calcium scores. The conventional answer, George, if you have a heart scan score, coronary calcium score, it’s a way of scoring or measuring coronary disease, a serious disease, right? People die of sudden cardiac death heart attack. And by the way, I undertook these projects while I was doing angioplasty, stent, implantation, all those kinds of procedures, and then my mom died of sudden cardiac death after her two vessel coronary angioplasty. So it illustrates to me what a flawed way to manage a disease and a cath lab and a procedure lab. That’s where I set up us heart scan center. We were scanning people, but most became clear that the convention answers so if you if heaven forbid, you went through and you had a heart scan score, say 500, which is very abnormal, normal is zero, no plaque at all. In your coronary arteries. Well, the conventional answer is a low fat diet, exercise, baby aspirin, a high dose statin cholesterol drug, maybe some other things. Well, we help publish the data. It doesn’t work at all. If you did nothing to score increases 25% per year. If you take what my colleague to this day, George called optimal medical therapy, your score goes up 25% per year, zero impact. And with each leap and score your closer and closer to dying heart attack need for procedures. So I look for better solutions. One of the things you hit if you really want to get control of a risk for heart disease, you reject this idiocy called cholesterol. Cholesterol should have been rejected 40 years ago as outdated, useless method, but it makes a ton of money. But if you reject that, look for the real causes for coronary disease you find them inflammation, insulin resistance, and small LDL particles. And so that’s what I did. Now the science is clear what what in the diet allows formation of small LDL particles, not LDL cholesterol, the actual lipid protein particles themselves what caused it, we grains and sugars. So that’s what that’s what led to the Whole Wheat Belly thing because when I took wheat and grains out of people’s diets, I saw their lives transformed. Type Two diabetics became non diabetic people lost 73 pounds people’s skin rashes went away depression lifted, they could control their appetites. So that led to the widow experience. So that and I coupled it with some nutrients that are largely lacking in modern life, not from a diet but just from modern life like magnesium. We drink filtered water, water filtration removes all magnesium vitamin D because nice guy like he likes to work clothes and public works indoors so we don’t get some exposure. So replace the handful of nutrients lacking in modern life. That those two things the diet wheat grain elimination, with nutrients that are lost have you in my life, let alone huge benefits. But people said things like, but you know what, I’m still intolerant to a bunch of foods, I can’t eat legumes, I can’t eat fruit, I can’t eat FODMAPs I can’t eat histamine containing foods, or they had some residual problems. Maybe they lost 73 pounds, but need to lose another 45. But we’re stuck at a plateau or type two diabetic. With a hemoglobin a one state long term measure blood sugar may be 12.7. That disastrous 12.7 gets off the insulin gets off medications reduces hemoglobin a would see downs a 5.9% Much better, but not perfect, perfect would be 5.0. That’s where all the excess risk, which is considerable, even at 5.9 goes away at 5.0. So people were showing me these residual problems. So I wonder where the x is coming from? Well, I looked in the microbiome, lo and behold, George, all I would say nearly all the residual problems came from disrupted microbiomes. And it’s become clear that modern people have massively disrupted their intestinal microbiomes.

george grombacher 6:12
disrupted means I broke it.

Dr. William Davis 6:17
That’s right. So it means we’ve lost numerous species, species that did important things for us. And when you lose those important species, you allow unhealthy species to proliferate. And they do something even worse, they start to also ascend. And these are largely stool microbes, like E coli and Klebsiella, and pseudomonas, they ascended to the ilium, jejunum, do Adidam and stomach. So rather than just having microbes in the four or five feet of colon, many people have 30 feet of bacteria, the 24 feet of small bowel, and that process called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. And George, I was guilty of thinking this is an uncommon problem. But it’s clear, if you do the math and all the studies, it’s likely effects over 100 million people. And you know, even then I kind of refused to believe it until this device came out. The air device, a ir E to consumer device you blow into it talks to your smartphone, it’s essentially a device to map out where in the GI tract microbes are living. Well, I got a hold of this. And by the way, the inventor Dr. Angus short, a PhD engineer in Dublin, Ireland, invented it for his fiancee then now now wife, because she had irritable bowel syndrome, and was told go on a low FODMAP diet, a low fiber, low sugar diet, because that’s been shown in people with IBS to reduce bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal discomfort. So she’s doing it but he saw how difficult it was for and what happened when she slipped up with gas bloating. So he invents this device to measure hydrogen gas that’s produced when some with IBS is exposed to those fibers or sugars. Well, I got to hold it and I call them up, I say, Hey, I guess that’s not what this is. This is a mapping device to show you where microbes are living, that he’s in the process of changing all his instructions and literature. He’s got regulatory issues, so it can’t happen overnight. So anybody who wants to get this device to detect SIBO, it’s $200, by the way, but you can use it over and over and over, you can share it with people who are close to don’t share with your neighbors, like you wouldn’t share your toothbrush, right? So, but it shows you where microbes living. But if you want to know how to use this, it’s in my superior seven pages of conversation in my super guidebook on how to use it. And because it’s changing his instructions, but he hasn’t done that yet. And a new device came out by the way, it’s black. It’s my blackness in the kitchen. And it measures hydrogen gas and methane. So it added methane for another form of this seamless overgrowth process. But Georgia, the SIBO processes everywhere. But the key here is to recognize that SIBO 30 feet, trillions of microbes, you know, they only live for hours, two days, they don’t live decades. So there’s trillions of microbes turning over rapidly and 30 feet of the GI tract. Well when they die, their breakdown products can enter the bloodstream. This has been suspected for many years, but it was finally validated in 2007, by a Danish group now corroborated numerous times. This is called endotoxemia, the entry of breakdown back to your products into the bloodstream, but now tells us how the microbiome a disrupted microbiome can be experienced as the joint and muscle pain of fibromyalgia, or rheumatoid arthritis, or in the brain as depression or Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s dementia, or in the skin as rosacea or psoriasis, or as a metabolic disease like obesity, type two diabetes and fatty liver. In other words, George we’ve got to reconsider all diseases now in light of this finding If all you do is for instance, take a take prednisone for your skin, right? You didn’t address the cause. If you take a blocker of inflammation for your fibromyalgia, you didn’t address the cause that is the disrupted trillions of microbes living in the GI tract.

george grombacher 10:20
Is it possible to bring back the good stuff that that I wiped out?

Dr. William Davis 10:27
It is that’s the fun part. You know, it is important to address this SIBO and other disruptions first, because you don’t want to throw your good guys into a snake pit. Restoring these good guys is a lot of fun, George so the one that people really get excited about is Lactobacillus reuteri, or e u t. E. R. I named after the German microbiologist who discovered 1962 from breast milk. And back then he was easy to find. In the 40 years of his subsequent career, he thought it increasingly difficult to find, well, you know, all indigenous populations have Rotary, you know, people unexposed to antibiotics and chlorinated drinking water and prescription drugs, they all have road, right. The chipmunk outside chickens, raccoons, they all have returned, we’ve lost it, almost all of us have lost roid, right? So we restore it. And when you restore it, George incredible things happen. So restore it, it takes up residence in the entire GI tract, by the way, sends a signal via the vagus nerve to your brain to release oxytocin, the hormone of love and empathy. So people say, Wow, I like my spouse better. I like my family better. I like my coworkers better, they’re less annoying. My favorite, I understand other people’s points of view better. The ladies go nuts for it because it caused an explosion in dermal collagen, and they get smoother skin with fewer wrinkles. Guys like it because you get a restoration of youthful muscle and strength. There’s an increase in libido and an increase in the erotic content of dreams. Much better. I’m a chronic Insomniac, I’ve struggled for years and years taking melatonin mega doses, tryptophan, whatever I had to do to sleep. Now I don’t take anything I get this rotor I sleep nine hours straight through uninterrupted, vivid colorful dreams. It’s depresses me appetite. So your complete control over appetite and impulse. It preserves bone density and ladies. So people are smoother skin, youthful muscle and strength, preservation of bone density, better sleep, to which we’ve we’re turning the clock back, I think 1020 years. That’s one microbe, there’s many others.

george grombacher 12:49
And so do I need to go and and captured chipmunks to get it out of them? Or how do I how do I access the rotarod. So thankfully, you

Dr. William Davis 12:59
can buy it. Buy as a probiotic, single species single strain. Now I originally got it from Sweden is a company called Bio Gaia, Big O G A, and the product is called gastrous gstr. Us. Now that’s a product made for infants. So the quantity of bacteria is relatively trivial for adults. And so this is some years back I thought I’m going to make yogurt out of it. To amplify the bacterial count. It’s not really yogurt. If the FDA will listen they say don’t call it yogurt. Because look yogurt is only made with Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. And commercial yogurt makers will ferment it, that’s a make yogurt for four hours well water i doubles every three hours. You know, there’s no sexual reproduction by microbes, they just double. The use of rotary doubles every three hours. And you’re going to ferment it in your factory for four hours, you got nothing one vacuum comes to that’s it. So we ferment for 36 hours 12 doublings. I performed flow cytometry to count the number of microbes on the yogurt, we’re getting around 250 billion bacteria per half cup serving. So by doing this extended fermentation making yogurt, we get 1000 fold increase number of microbes, and then we consume a half cup of day. And that’s when all these wonderful effect deep sleep smoother skin restoration youth must all that stuff happens. So that’s from the gastrous tablets. But since then, when we when we play with microbes, whether it’s rotary or Lactobacillus gasseri or bacillus coagulants, we have to be mindful to some degree of the strain of bacteria, not just the species, but the strain. So to illustrate, so I’ve got Ecoli in my gut, you’ve got your listeners have Ecoli What if you eat lettuce contaminated by cow manure? And E coli? You can die of that E. coli so same species E. coli, different strains. mean. So strain specificity can even make life death difference. Now, in this case, I’m not sure. If it’s important to get those strains, if you want to really get the strange we know work. I’ve used gastrous strains, right have since made yogurt with seven other strains. And so far all the effects seem to apply to every other strain. I have a small mouse trial ready to go. And we’re gonna do a series of them to compare. Is there one strain of roid rage better than the others? I think there is, by the way, but we’re gonna prove it. So that’s going to, I won’t have those results probably till end of summer, something like that. But we want to optimize this effect, because it’s so important that tourists that’s one micro, there’s a whole bunch of other microbes and people said, oh my god, this is so overwhelming with all this micro. So I tell them well, you know, when you go to a restaurant, and the waitress hand hand you a menu, you don’t freak out right and say I can’t order all these appetizers and main courses and desserts you you pick and choose this is the same thing here. If you want smoother skin, deeper sleep increased libido muscle instant, let’s make yogurt with like muscles, right? And by the way, it doesn’t have to be yogurt nor dairy just happens the easiest with dairy. Let’s say you want a smaller waist, less visceral fat over that achieved with diet and other meats. Let’s ferment lactobacillus guess right, let’s say you want to reduce arthritis pain in your knee, let’s make yogurt with bacillus coagulants. Let’s say you have a baby, and you want that baby to be healthier, and have more likely to sleep through the night less colic, longer naps, fewer bowel movements happens many diaper changes from mom and dad. And as an older child, less asthma less irritable bowel syndrome, less likely to become obese and have a higher IQ. Let’s ferment by fit of bacteria and fantas. So you can accomplish all sorts of things, once you know which microbe use and how to how to increase the numbers to very high counts.

george grombacher 17:05
Amazing. So since you’ve been sleeping more, have you been coming up with less ideas because you’re not awake for quite as long doctor?

Dr. William Davis 17:13
I tell you, George, it’s fun as heck to play. And these are a lot of the these effects, by the way have not been reported in the scientific literature. We’re learning new things. You know, I love that. I like people like you, citizen scientists, people learning new things. And one of the things we’re learning very quickly are the effects on sleep and the internal dialogue you have with yourself. You know, it’s shocking, to what degree microbes determine whether the internal dialogue you have is one of love and empathy and optimism, or hate and criticism. So this is largely determined by the microbes and their metabolites and it’s shut and you’ll see this play out when you start to play with the microbes good and bad. But I so I did make yogurt with the Reuter i Sleeping nine hours. Wow. I combined it with yogurt made with lactobacillus KCI the Shirota strain so it’s a commercial product called Yeah, cool. So a little wacky, low fat sugary drink crappy thing. But we use it for microbial source net then microbe is unwell has been well studied. And this has never been reported. I added it. I started sleeping 12 hours a day. Going to bed at 9pm which is really early. Waking up at 9am. And George waking up thinking I might sleep another couple hours as a chronic Insomniac sleeping 12 Plus, after I had to stop it actually, there’s another strain that many of us are playing with called Lactobacillus fermentum, the M E three strain that like likewise seems to have a very profound sleep effect. So these new lessons GA are coming out at breakneck speed. We’re learning new lessons, we’re also creating new lessons to with our clinical trials.

george grombacher 18:54
Amazing. And when somebody gets a copy of super gut are they’re going to be able to read about all this.

Dr. William Davis 19:01
Yeah, so I tell you, I did what I suggested with the menu. If you want this specific effect, get this microbe here’s where you get it. Here’s how you ferment it. Your microbes are like animals, you can’t raise a lion under the same circumstances as a walrus. So there’s specific needs they have so we have to attend to those needs. It’s really quite simple though, George. This is not all that complicated. But you can make yogurt or other fermented foods, fermented coconut milk, fermented juices, fermented, salsas, omise, all kinds of things. You can vegetables, and you can pick and choose the microbes you want for the effects you want.

george grombacher 19:42
Amazing. Dr. Davis, you’ve given us a lot but the people are ready for that difference making tip. What do you have for them?

Dr. William Davis 19:50
Well, it’s become clear especially from the work of Erica and Justin Sonnenberg it’s a husband wife couple at Stanford, they publish a lot of evidence in the microbiome. They publish a very important study About six months ago that showed that fermented foods the consumption of fermented foods that is from vegetables you ferment on your kitchen counter, kimchi, kefir, kombucha has yogurts, fermented meats, probably the most important thing you can do to restore a healthy microbiome. What’s odd about that? Is when you let’s say, eat some kimchi, I’m gonna get a wallop of microbes like looking at stock messenger royalties, or pedia caucus Penta stasis. But those might be very beneficial microbes, by the way, George, but they don’t actually take up long term residents, they somehow opened the door to all kinds of good microbes. And it’s not quite clear exactly how they accomplish this. Is it because they were latent? Or your is your microbiome more receptive to it? Who knows? Nobody knows yet. But it’s, it’s clear that this habit that most modern people have forgotten about, because home refrigeration became a thing in 1927 1928. We all forgot to eat fermented foods, like our great grandmother’s did. That is very, very important.

george grombacher 21:07
Well, I think that that is great stuff that definitely gets come up. Dr. Davis, thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? Where can they get a copy of super gut reprogram your microbiome to restore health lose weight and turn back the clock? Super got

Dr. William Davis 21:21
books available just about anywhere Barnes and Noble Books a Million Amazon etc. I can sell it but consolidated my websites, George recently because I had too many for 20 bucks 20 projects. So it’s all now under Dr. Day of His infinite health.com. There’s a blog there’s a membership website we were every typically Wednesday night I meet with about 70 to 100 people to a zoom and we talked about Reuter i and Gasser i and yogurts and all kinds of other issues in health.

george grombacher 21:50
I was going to ask and I just bought forgot how often should we get a hard skin?

Dr. William Davis 21:57
Well, that’s a whole conversation of its own. So guys, maybe at age 40, ladies age 50 or usual cut offs depends on the score George. So if your score is, let’s say zero, which is great, good. I wouldn’t repeat it for a minimum of five years because your likelihood of converting to positive is relatively low. What if your score is 38? Okay, that’s it’s not a terrible score. You’re not in danger, but you want to get a hold of it. So I get another scan maybe a year or three years. With your score is 1400. You’re in deep doo doo right? You better act fast. And I get that score again about a year after you’ve folded in your program that is diet designed to eradicate small LDL particles fish oil at a therapeutic dose, which is for us 3003 600 milligrams of EPA and DHA per day. Vitamin D, or base gel caps efficiency ratio of 25 hydroxy vitamin D to 60 to 70 nanograms iodine and get your thyroid optimized because hypothyroidism is rampant, and it’s a flagrant cardiac, cardiovascular risk factor. And magnesium because we drink filtered water, we try to get about 500 milligrams from that alone, big. But then you get addressed the microbiome is becoming clearer and clearer that who would have thought that the microbiome plays a role in heart disease and all in congestive heart failure, coronary disease, carotid disease, atrial fibrillation, so it’s a whole new world, George, we have to reconsider all the things we thought we knew about heart disease and other conditions.

george grombacher 23:28
Thank you, sir. Thank you again, if you enjoyed this as much as I did, so Dr. Davis your appreciation and share today show the friend who also appreciates good ideas go to Dr. Dav is Dr. Davis infinite health.com So Dr. Davis, infinite health.com check out other great resources. Learn from him, pick up a copy of super gut, reprogram your microbiome to restore health, lose weight and turn back the clock wherever you buy your books. Thank you again, Dr. Davis.

Dr. William Davis 23:57
Thank you, George. And once again, apologies for last week’s debacle.

george grombacher 24:02
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai