Let's Talk Wellness Now

Let's Talk Wellness Now

Deep Health, Real Answers - hosted by Dr. Deb

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 267 – Environmental Toxins, Nutrition, and Their Role in Chronic Disease Development

    Dr. Deb Muth 00:08What if the toxins in your food and water weren’t just harming our bodies, but rewriting the very code of human health? My guest today, MIT scientist Dr. Stephanie Sineff, has spent over a decade connecting the dots between environmental toxins, metabolic chaos, and neurological decline. You’ll want to hear every word of this conversation. You guys can put our, Serenity ad in here, and then I’ll do the standard intro.Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now, the show where we uncover the root causes of chronic illness, explore cutting-edge regenerative medicine, and empower you with the tools to heal. I’m Dr. Deb, your medical detective.And today, we’re diving into how environmental toxins and nutritional imbalances are silently shaping chronic disease patterns, from autoimmune disorders to neurodegenerative decline. And how we can take back control of our health. So, as usual, grab your cup of coffee, tea, or whatever helps you unwind, settle in, and let’s get started on your journey to deeper healing. So, Dr. Sunif, so glad to have you here. I can’t wait to have this conversation with you. We were just chatting off-camera a few seconds ago about what we’re going to chat about, but tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into this field of looking at toxins and mitochondria. Seneff 01:50Okay, yeah, my background is a bit eclectic, so it starts out with biology. I have an undergraduate degree in biology from MIT. My PhD is in electrical engineering and computer science, so that’s quite a switchover. And most of my career, I was writing computer code to train computers to talk to humans in a natural conversation… conversational interaction with computers. We were pioneers in that space. You can see that it has really taken off now. And actually, by 2006, 2007, I started to realize that the kind of work I did already then was getting compromised by the, by the emergence of AI. And I got concerned that, I wouldn’t be able to sustain the path I was on. And it’s happening now, of course, to the young… many people, young people today, are facing a crisis in computer science, because it used to be if you had skills in hacking code, you were good to go, you know, and that’s just not true anymore, so that’s another whole story, but anyway, I decided I needed to do something different, and I pivoted in a big way in 2007. managed to get the company that had been funding me, a Taiwanese company called Quanta Computers, And they,We’re willing to switch over to funding me to do research on health and toxic chemical exposures. Which was a miracle that they let… they let me switch over to that, and that was fantastic, 2007. So it’s been almost 20 years. that I’ve been looking for toxic chemical exposures and their association with human disease. And I focused initially on autism and heart disease, kind of for personal reasons, because I knew people who had, you know, who had those issues.But it led into a much, much bigger story, and I’m super excited about what’s happened over the last 20 years. It’s been a continual learning experience for me, and I’ve just kept broadening my space in biology, furiously reading papers as I discovered new concepts and trying to explore those. opening up new windows, and it’s just been a profusion of learning over the past 20 years, and I’ve published many papers at this point. Peer-reviewed papers on the topics of toxic chemical exposures and disease. Particularly, glyphosate is the one I really focused on, and I wrote the book, Toxic Legacy, how the weed killer glyphosate is Destroying Our Health and the Environment.That was published in 2021. So. Dr. Deb Muth 04:18So I’m sure you have a few thoughts about the administration wanting to bring that back to be made at home instead of China, right? Seneff 04:26I know, that’s so interesting. And actually, you know, he makes a point that I agree with, which is that we are relying on China. for importing a whole bunch of stuff that’s really toxic, and we’re pouring it all over our food supply, so China’s probably very happy to poison us, you know? Oh, absolutely. It’s kind of ironic that we’re doing that, and he makes a good point that we shouldn’t be relying on China for these chemicals that are poisoning us, but where he misses the point is he says, well, we just need to poison ourselves, you know? Rather than getting rid of that chemical, we need to really change the way we grow food.I think it’s the number one most important thing right now. in America is to change the way we grow food, and it has to be certified organic, regenerative. We need to focus on healing the soil, just as we have to heal the gut. I mean, we’ve really messed up the microbes in both the soil and the gut, and the consequences, as you can see, are a huge problem with human disease. Dr. Deb Muth 05:20They’re devastating. I mean, we have so much chronic illness and so much neurological disease these days, and just the rise of autism, it should be telling us that we’re doing something wrong, right? Seneff 05:31Absolutely. Dr. Deb Muth 05:32We have a problem. For those people who are listening that don’t understand what the term glyphosate is, can you explain that a little bit to them? Seneff 05:39Yeah, so it’s one of the many herbicides that we use. We use herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides in agriculture, all these poisons, and it kind of seems crazy to me that we would think it’s okay to pour poisons all over our food supply. I don’t understand why we think that’s fine.Yeah. You know, categorically. Glyphosate is supposed to be a wonderful chemical, because it’s an herbicide that kills all plants except for those that have been engineered to resist it. And supposedly is completely harmless to humans. And that’s what gets to be, you know, disbelief, because how can something so toxic to plants be harmless to humans? Just, how can it be? Dr. Deb Muth 06:14We haven’t been re-engineered like the seeds that they use from Monsanto, so how can it not affect us if it only affects everything but their seeds that they’ve modified to make grow beautifully under that condition? It doesn’t make any sense. Seneff 06:32Right, and of course, the critical thing they missed is that our gut microbes do have that pathway. It’s the chicken mate pathway that it disrupts. Really critical in all the plants, and in most of the microbes. In the soil and in the gut, and so it kills off the microbes as well as the plants, and when it kills off your gut microbes, you gotta watch out, because gut dysbiosis is a huge thing. And we’ve had so many papers coming out lately that Talking about the relationship between gut dysbiosis and all kinds of different diseases. Dr. Deb Muth 07:01Do you think that’s why we see so much gut dysbiosis these days? Seneff 07:04Oh, absolutely. I think it’s not just glyphosate, because we have lots of poisons that are messing up our gut microbes, but glyphosate is a really big one, because the shikimate pathway is essential for many of the microbes, and they use it to make essential nutrients for the host. So we get compromised as well, just because they can’t make those nutrients in that. Dr. Deb Muth 07:22It’s so… Seneff 07:22lies. Dr. Deb Muth 07:23so much harder today to treat people with gut issues than it was 25 years ago when I started. It was so much easier. And now, it’s, like, nearly impossible sometimes to get some of these people back to a good, healthy gut microbiome, no matter what you do, no matter how well they eat, and all the things that they do. It’s a struggle, for sure, compared to what it was 20 years ago. Seneff 07:44It’s interesting that you have that personal experience, because I think people like you really can see what’s happening. Dr. Deb Muth 07:49and appreciate. Seneff 07:50the difference between then and now. I, of course, as a child, autism was not something I knew about at all. Really, when I was a child. It didn’t exist, basically. I mean, it was so rare. And now, you know, everyone knows someone with autism, you know, pretty much. Dr. Deb Muth 08:08Autism and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s seems to be just so much commonplace. Everybody knows somebody in their family that is affected by one of those disorders, if not multiples, and We tend to say it’s genetic, right? Well, there’s got to be a genetic… why wasn’t it genetic 50 years ago, or 100 years ago? But now, all of a sudden, it’s so prevalent in our environment that we’ve just become acceptable of it, and I think that’s wrong for us to do that. We shouldn’t be doing that. Seneff 08:38I know. I find it very interesting how quickly it appears that humans adapt to the new normal, you know? Dr. Deb Muth 08:44Yeah. Seneff 08:45It’s normal that you have, you know. 3% of the kids have autism, that’s normal, you know? It’s just like, no, it’s not. And also, of course, all the Alzheimer’s and dementia and Parkinson’s, as you mentioned, in the elderly, those are connected, because they’re all related to brain problems that are being caused by chemicals that are destroying the brain. Dr. Deb Muth 09:03Yeah. So, how does glyphosphate interact with our body’s ability to absorb those essential nutrients, like sulfur? Seneff 09:12Yeah, well, it’s… that’s a big… that’s a big question. I don’t know where to begin with that one. Glyphosate, you know, it’s a train wreck for the gut microbes, and then that causes the gut dysbiosis. The microbes are unable to produce adequate amounts of nutrients that are essential for the host. And as a consequence, the host cells get sick, you know, so the colonocytes get sick because they’re not getting adequate nutritio

    38 min

  2. May 20

    Episode 265 – The Future of Healing: How Exosomes Re-Educate Your Body to Heal Itself

    Dr. Deb Muth 00:04What if the future of healing isn’t about replacing cells, but about teaching your body how to heal itself again? We keep hearing the words stem cells and exoomes thrown around like they’re interchangeable, but they’re not. One is regulated, controversial, and often misunderstood. The other is rapidly emerging as one of the most exciting communication systems in human biology. Dr. Deb Muth 00:33And here’s the real question no one’s asking. Are we actually regenerating tissue or are we just stimulating the body to remember how it used to heal? Tired of being told your labs are normal, but you still feel terrible? At Serenity Healthcare Center, we don’t chase symptoms. We find the root cause. hormones, gut health, autoimmune conditions, chronic fatigue, brain fog. Dr. Deb Muth 01:02We use cuttingedge functional and regenerative medicine to get you real answers and a real path forward. This isn’t your average doctor’s office. This is medicine the way it was meant to be practiced. You deserve to feel like yourself again. Visit serenityhealthcarecenter.com to book your appointment today. Let us help you heal from the inside out. Dr. Deb Muth 01:28Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now. I’m Dr. Deb, your host. And if you’ve been following regenerative medicine, you’ve probably noticed the confusion. Patients are asking me every week, are exoomes stem cells? Are stem cells legal in the United States? I heard the FDA is shutting down all these clinics. Can I even get this therapy? Do I have to leave the country for treatment? Today, we’re cutting through the noise. This episode is not hype. Dr. Deb Muth 01:54It’s not sales. It’s education so you can understand the science, the regulatory reality, and the clinical difference between stem cell therapy and exoome therapy. And here’s what I want you to know right up front. Yes, these therapies are being used in the United States every single day. Yes, they’re being offered by highly trained physicians in integrative and regenerative medicine clinics across the country. Dr. Deb Muth 02:22Some are being used in FDA registered clinical trials. Some are being used in observational studies and some are being used in clinical practice under physician discretion. The landscape is nuanced and you deserve to understand it. So, grab your cup of coffee or tea and settle in for a deep dive into the most understood therapies in regenerative medicine. Dr. Deb Muth 02:43what they actually are, how they work, the regulatory landscape, and how they might support your body’s natural healing capacity. Let’s talk wellness now. So, let me start by asking you something. When you hear the word stem cell, what do you picture? Most people imagine damaged tissues magically regenerating or a torn meniscus growing back, cartilage reforming it into an arthritic joint or damaged brain tissue being replaced with healthy new beautiful cells. It’s a beautiful vision. Dr. Deb Muth 03:15And while it’s not quite that simple, the reality is actually more sophisticated and honestly more beautiful. Stem cells are powerful and they absolutely work, but the way they work and the mechanism by which they support healing is far more elegant and more so than most people really understand. And if you’re going to invest in regenerative therapy, you deserve to understand what you’re actually receiving. Dr. Deb Muth 03:44So, let’s start at the beginning. What are stem cells? At their core, stem cells are undifferentiated cells. That means they haven’t yet decided what they want to be when they grow up. Unlike a heart cell or a skin cell or a bone cell which have already committed to a specific function, stem cells exist in this beautiful state of potential. Dr. Deb Muth 04:05They have two remarkable abilities. First, they can self-renew. They can make copies of themselves, maintaining a reserve of these powerful cells throughout your lifetime. Second, they can differentiate under the right conditions. They can transform into specialized cell types. Bone cells, cartilage cells, nerve cells, muscle cells, even blood cells. Dr. Deb Muth 04:27This is why they’ve captured the imagination of the medical world. The potential is extraordinary. Now, there are several types of stem cells and understanding the differences matters tremendously for both understanding how they work and understanding how they’re regulated. Adult mezzenymal stem cells. We call these MSC’s are the most commonly used regenerative medicine. Dr. Deb Muth 04:54These come from bone marrow, atapost tissue, that’s fat, and other adult sources. They’re what we can call multi-potent, meaning they can become several types of cells, but not every type. A bone marrow stem cell isn’t going to become a brain cell, for instance. It has potential but it’s directed potential. Dr. Deb Muth 05:19Then we have perinatal stem cells. These come from umbilical cord blood cord tissue or something called Wharton’s jelly which is the gelatinous substance inside the umbilical cord. These cells are younger, more potent, and research by Weiss and colleagues published in stem cells back in 2006 showed that Wharton’s jelly derived MSC’s have superior proliferation and differentiation potential compared to bone marrow derived cells. Dr. Deb Muth 05:48They’re like comparing a 20-year-old athlete to a 50-year-old athlete. Both can perform, but one has more reserve capacity, more vigor, and more regenerative potential. And this isn’t this is very important because the perinatal sources umbilical cord tissue Wharton’s jelly amniotic tissue these are what many regenerative medicine clinics in the United States are using today and they’re using them because these tissues are incredibly rich in not just stem cells but growth factors cytoines and exoomes. Dr. Deb Muth 06:21Then there are embryionic stem cells. These are pur potent and they become any cell type in the body, but they’re highly regulated, ethically controversial, and honestly, they’re not being used in clinical practice in the United States outside of the very specific FDA approved research trials. Dr. Deb Muth 06:41So, when clinics talk about stem cell therapy, they’re almost never talking about embryionic stem cells. Now, here’s where it gets interesting and this is the part that changes everything about how we understand regenerative medicine. When you receive stem cell therapy, let’s say someone injects umbilical cord derived messenymal stem cells into your arthritic knee, those cells do not typically engraft or become new tissue in any permanent way. Dr. Deb Muth 07:12They don’t set up shop in your joint and start cracking out new cartilage cells for the rest of your life. So what are they actually doing then? Well, in 2011, researchers Arnold Arnold Kaplan and Dennis Korea published a landmark paper in stem cells translational medicine that fundamentally changed how we understand MSC therapy. Dr. Deb Muth 07:35They proposed that we should stop calling memal stem cells and start calling them medicinal signaling cells. Why? Well, because their primary therapeutic benefit doesn’t come from what they become. It comes from what they secrete. Think of stem cells as incredibly sophisticated biological pharmacies. When you inject them into damaged tissue, that arthritic knee, that inflamed autoimmune condition, that injured brain, that don’t just sit there passively, they sense the environment. Dr. Deb Muth 08:07They detect inflammation. They recognize the tissue damage and they understand that the immune dysregulation is present and they see that and respond. They start pumping out hundreds of bioactive molecules, growth factors that tell your cells to repair and rebuild, cytoines that modulate inflammation, chemocines that recruit your body’s own healing cells to the area. Dr. Deb Muth 08:32And these tiny membranes bound packages called extracellular vesicles, including exosomes, which we’re going to talk about extensively today as well. These secreted factors are giving instructions to your native cells. They’re saying, “Let’s reduce inflammation. Let’s modulate your immune response. Let’s promote angioenesis. Dr. Deb Muth 08:53” That’s the formation of new blood vessels, bringing nutrients and oxygen. Let’s stimulate your own resident stem cells to wake up and get to work. Reduce cell death in damaged tissue and restore normal cellular function. This is called paracrine signaling. It’s the cellto cell communication. And this is where the real therapeutic power lives. Dr. Deb Muth 09:14The stem cells themselves, many of them die within days to weeks, but the cascade of healing they trigger, the signals they send, the programs they activate in your own cells, those effects can last for months or even years. Now, this understanding is crucial because it explains why both stem cell therapy and exoo therapy can be effective. Dr. Deb Muth 09:38The stem cells are powerful not because they become new tissue but because of the signals they send and exoomes are those signals isolated and concentrated. The biggest misconception in regenerative medicine is that stem cells replace tissue and in reality they coach healing more than they become healing. They’re biological educators teaching your body to remember how it used to heal before chronic inflammation, toxicity, and disease turned off all those programs. Dr. Deb Muth 10:12So if stem cells don’t exactly end graft and become the new tissue, if their power is in their signaling and then next logical question is why do we need the cells at all? Well, if we could isolate the messengers themselves, what if we could deliver just the communication systems without any of the complexity of the living cells? Well, that’s exactly what exosomes are. Dr. Deb Mut

    51 min

  3. May 11

    Episode 263 – Functional and integrative psychiatry: combining nutrition, biochemistry, and lifestyle with mental health care

    Dr. Deb Muth 00:03Welcome to Let’s Talk Wellness Now. I am your host, Dr. Deb.And today, I have the pleasure of meeting with Dr. James Greenblatt. I’ve known Dr. Greenblatt for a very long time. We, started lecturing together, gosh, over 15 years ago.And he is an amazing practitioner. Dr. Greenblatt is dual board certified in psychiatry and internationally recognized.as a pioneer in functional and integrative psychiatry. He’s widely regarded as the leading expert on the clinical application of low-dose lithium for mental health.Dr. Greenblatt has spent more than 30 years advancing precision medicine-based approaches that move beyond symptom management to address the root causes of mental illness.And after earning his medical degree at George Washington University.Dr. Greenblatt completed his psychiatry and residency there as a fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry.Joined John Hopkins Medical School, and he currently serves as an assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University. He is a prolific author. Dr. Greenblatt has written 9 books, including his newest book, Finally Hopeful. in… available in January of 2026. We can ask him about this today.And his bestsellers finally focused the breathwork, natural treatment plan for ADHD,Answers to anorexia, Functional and Integrative Medicine for Antidepressant withdrawal, and nutritional lithium, and Untold tale of Mineral and Transforms Lives, that heals the brain.He has founded, in 2019, the Psychiatry Redefined, a leading educational platform training clinicians worldwide in functional and integrative psychiatry. He is a sought-after international speaker. Dr. Greenblatt regularly lecturesOn nutritional psychiatry and the transformative role of functional medicine.I am super excited to have him here with us today. This is going to be a pleasure. You guys are going to love this conversation that we are going to have. And I am going to pick his brain today on functional and integrative psychology and psychiatry, and combining nutrition, biochemistry, and lifestyle with mental health care.I’m really, really happy to have Dr. Greenblatt with us, so I am going to bring him on, and we are going to have this amazing conversation with my friend.Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now. I’m your host, Dr. Deb, and I have with me Dr. James Greenblatt, who I have followed for… we were just chatting about this for over 20 years.He is amazing in what he is doing, and we are going to have this conversation today about integrative psychiatry and the future of mental health. So, welcome to the show, Dr. Greenblatt. James greenblatt md 03:20Thank you, Dips, good to be with you. Dr. Deb Muth 03:22Now, you’ve been pioneering this integrative psychiatry for decades. What really inspired you to bridge nutrition and psychiatry long before it’s become mainstream? James greenblatt md 03:35You know, I developed an interest in college, you know, studying nutrition, and then I remember writing papers on orthomolecular psychiatry, high dose, vitamin B3 for schizophrenia.So, I really did not think I’d be a psychiatrist. I wanted to be a pediatrician when I went to medical school, but, just early interest in nutrition and brain function.And it’s been my career now for 30-plus years. Dr. Deb Muth 04:05Wow. Can you define what integrative psychiatry actually means, and how it’s different from traditional psychiatry for most people who wouldn’t be familiar with that term? James greenblatt md 04:17Sure, I mean, I have to add the word functional as well. I mean, I think, you know, I call myself a functional psychiatrist, but for most of my career, and every book, and everything I did, I would have to use words like functional and integrative.Medicine for mental illness. And, you know, I define integrative medicine as the… Adjunctive lifestyle, mindfulness. And diet, sleep, and exercise. Dr. Deb Muth 04:46Mmm. James greenblatt md 04:46And I kind of use the term functional for kind of a deeper root cause dive, looking at nutritional deficiencies, looking at hormones, looking at genetics. And, you know, to treat patients with mental health challenges, we need both integrative and functional medicine. Dr. Deb Muth 05:05That’s awesome. You know, in our integrative space, we often kind of joke that there’s no such thing as a Prozac deficiency, right? Can you explain to our listeners how nutrient deficiencies, gut health, or inflammation can play a role in mental illness? James greenblatt md 05:23Sure, I mean, I think the most importantBeginning of this conversation would be that, you know, 10 people with depression, there might be 10 different underlying factors. Dr. Deb Muth 05:35Yeah. James greenblatt md 05:35And we do know that there’s not an antidepressant deficiency, so we have to look deeper. And… and that’s,just different than our current psychiatry model, where it’s just symptomatic-based medicine. Everyone who’s depressed. It’s an antidepressant.And by looking at functional integrative medicine, we’re looking at B12 and vitamin D and zinc and magnesium. We’re looking at hormones, we’re looking at the gut, and we’re trying to determine what might be either causing or contributing to that person’s depression. Dr. Deb Muth 06:10Is there a particular, flavor that you see more commonly with others, like depression versus anxiety versus bipolar. Is there a particular underlying factor that you see more commonly than others? James greenblatt md 06:27Well, the short answer is no, and that’s why this work takes time, because you have to think.You know, every patient that walks in the office is different. I mean, I think the overarching umbrella is nutritional deficiencies, you know, whether… regardless of weight, regardless of diet. I mean, I have people coming in who’ve been eating…You know, these ketogenic or paleo diets, you know, perfect organic foods, and are profoundly nutritionally deficient.So I think nutritional deficiencies would be number one, and then, you know, the whole host of, you know, infections and hormone problems and inflammatory issues related to celiac disease is really common in the mental health space that’s ignored. Dr. Deb Muth 07:14Yeah. Celiac disease is really not paid attention too much, other than thinking that it’s damaging the gut. They don’t really think about all the other aspects of the body that are being affected by the gut not being able to absorb the nutrients properly and then utilize them properly. It’s really sad. James greenblatt md 07:34we find out… and there’s research to support it. That’s the tragedy. This is not something, as clinicians, that we found. We have many, many years of research showing high rates of anxiety and depression, you know, amongst those with, celiac disorder because of this chronic malnutrition, and many patients present without any GI symptoms, just mental health complaints, but nobody’s looking at celiac. Dr. Deb Muth 08:02Yeah. You know, I’m sure there’s people that are listening to us thinking, there’s no way thatEverybody who’s depressed or anxious has a nutritional deficiency. When we’re… live in a country where there’s so much abundance of food, and the obesity rates are high, and most people are very plump, how could those people be deficient in nutrients? What do you say to people who think like that? James greenblatt md 08:28Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, we have, what’s called high caloric malnutrition, so regardless of weight, I would say the vast majority of patients with a mental health issue I would say my best guess would be 90-plus percent. Dr. Deb Muth 08:47Wow. James greenblatt md 08:47We would find nutritional deficiencies. Dr. Deb Muth 08:51And part of this, we’ve discovered, is genetics. James greenblatt md 08:56People having, kind of, genetic needs for Higher amounts of certain micronutrients. Some of it is just the kinds of foods people are eating. The kind of ultra-processed food actually strips the body of micronutrients. So, it is just so common, and many of these tests are pretty simple that your primary care doctor could do in the office. Dr. Deb Muth 09:22So, traditional labs can identify some of these nutritional deficiencies. They don’t necessarily have to invest thousands of dollars in advanced nutrient testing to find these things out. James greenblatt md 09:35Absolutely. I mean, I think, you know, oftentimes when we’re working with a patient who has failed traditional psychiatric treatment, we do need some functional, testing, but I’m quite convinced we could change the trajectory of our mental health epidemic in this country by some labs that are covered by every insurance company on the planet. Like, people think of vitamin D as, you know, building bones or immune function.It has dramatic relationships to mental health problems, demonstrated over 30 years of research. So vitamin D and B12 and folate, all simple blood tests that are covered by all health insurances. Dr. Deb Muth 10:18You know, with the change of genetics, MTHFR is so popularly known these days. It’s probably the most popular genetic mutation that people know of.And in the mental health space, it plays a significant role as well in that absorption of B12 and folate. How do you look at MTHFR mutation with inside the mental health world? James greenblatt md 10:43Well, I think it’s, It’s critical, it’s required on every patient that I see, and I’ve been, known to say it would be considered malpractice for psychiatrists not to test for the MTHFR gene. Because most of my career, I’ve spent working in inpatient psychiatric hospitals and residential. So seeing those individuals that have failed outpatient treatment, so really struggling.And one of the most common things I’ve been seeing for 30 ye

    25 min

  4. Apr 27

    Episode 262 – The Root Cause of ADHD & Autism: Beyond the Diagnosis with Dr. Anju Usman Singh

    Dr. Deb Muth 0:03What are the answers to your child’s chronic allergies, ADHD, or autism?weren’t just in another prescription, but in restoring balance to their body chemistry. Today’s guest has spent nearly two decades uncovering those answers through integrative and biomedical medicine. That’s a mouthful, isn’t it?Helping children heal when nothing else seemed to work.This is the conversation about science, compassion, and changing the future of pediatric care.Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now. The show where we uncover the root causes of chronic illness, explore regenerative breakthroughs, and empower you with the practical tools to heal. I’m your host, Dr. Deb, your medical detective, and today’s episode is one every patient should hear.My guest is Dr. Anu Usman Singh, Medical Director of True Health Medical Center in Naperville, Illinois, and the owner of Pure Compounding Pharmacy.And for over 17 years, she has been pioneering evidence-based integrative interventions for children with ADD, autism, allergies, and complex gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders. She’s not only a practicing physician, she’s a researcher who’s investigated copper-zinc imbalances.metallonine dysfunction, biofilm-related infections, vitamin D in pregnancy, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.Dr. Usman serves on the executive board of TACA, and is a faculty member at MAPS, training other practitioners in pediatric integrative care. So get ready for a conversation that will open your mind and heart to the possibilities of when medicine truly becomes holistic.If you guys can insert the ad in here, that’d be great.Well, welcome back. I’m so excited to have Dr. Usman with me today. I have known her for, oh my gosh, 15, 17 years, something like that. We’re aging ourselves. Anju 02:32Oh, yeah, when we were in our 20s, right? Dr. Deb Muth 02:35Yes, exactly. So, welcome back, and I am so excited for you to be here, because you have literally helped thousands of families over the years.But I’d love for you to share a little bit about your journey, kind of who you are, what drew you into exploring integrative and biomedical approaches for helping children and families. Anju 02:58I think my journey is similar to a lot of you out there, the audience. I mean, we’re looking to help our families, and our kids, and ourselves, and I was doing my residency at Cook County Hospital, downtown Chicago, in the 80s.And I thought, oh my goodness, if I could take care of the sickest patients, then I can take care of anybody. So I came from Indiana, and I went to Cook County, and my children, my eldest daughter, started having, severe allergies and asthma, really, really at a young age.And I went to, like, my residence, and I went to my attendings, and I said, this baby is wheezing. And they told me, babies don’t have asthma.And I said, she has all the symptoms of asthma. She has asthma. And I remember with, in her crib, I would just nebulize her, you know, and I was like, what is going on?And I figured out that she had a lot of food allergies, and I was nursing her, eating the foods that she was allergic to, and back then, in the 80s, you know, we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have Whole Foods, and I just…being a doctor, and I didn’t even know what to do, and I felt so hopeless. And I thought, gosh, you know, I’m a doctor, I have these, like, skills, I have… people I can talk to, and I still feel so… it’s so difficult. And then this… my particular daughter, the oldest one, her name is Priya, and she developed severe, asthma, and I couldn’t figure it out. She was in junior high. Every time she would walk into the lunchroom, she would have a severe asthma attack.And I’ll be like, what’s going on? What’s going on? I kept her home over the weekend, she was better. I sent her back to school, she was bad again.And we figured it out that it was other people eating peanuts. Dr. Deb Muth 04:54Severe peanut allergy. Anju 04:56And I went to the school, and I said, she…can you, like, put her somewhere else? Can… they said, oh, no, that’s not fair to other kids and their food. And this was in the 90s. Dr. Deb Muth 05:10Yeah. Anju 05:10And so, I just…You know, my heart goes out to families who are struggling to find answers for their kids, and my daughter Priya, the one I told you about, she ended up passing away from a peanut allergy.And so, I’ve just… Dr. Deb Muth 05:26Yeah. Anju 05:27My heart goes out to parents and my own kids and their illnesses.And so I just started working with families, with kids, andIt just kind of grew from there. Dr. Deb Muth 05:40Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I think being a mom who went through that yourself, and…was seen but not heard, and turned away from the traditional medical community, you’re forced to start finding answers on your own. And we always feel like we’re on an island by ourselves in the medical world when we’re doing that. Anju 06:01Yeah, I, it was really hard when I found out, you know, about…Integrative medicine, and just different…ideas and approaches to diet and supplements, I thought, how come I wasn’t trained in any of this?And… Dr. Deb Muth 06:21So angry when I learned some of the things that I learned in the beginning. I was like, same thing, like, how did they not teach us this? And then I think, you know, it’s my fault, was I asleep, was I not paying attention, whatever. And then you just realize, like, there’s this whole part of the human body.That they just didn’t teach us. Anju 06:42Yeah, so then I… I, probably like you, we had to learn it on our own. There weren’t, like, classes or any way to learn this stuffAnd I just reached out. There’s a clinic that,I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center? Dr. Deb Muth 07:00No. Anju 07:01Do you know Carl Pfeiffer from the attendees.He has a clinic called the Pfeiffer Treatment Center in New Jersey. It was called the Princeton Brain Bio Center. Dr. Deb Muth 07:12And in the 70s, they did orthomolecular medicine for patients with ADD. Anju 07:18And schizophrenia. Dr. Deb Muth 07:20Mmm… Anju 07:21and depression.And they used to categorize them in 3 categories, and at the time, they called them histopenics, histidelics, and pyrolurics. Dr. Deb Muth 07:31Okay. Anju 07:32Histapenix were low histamine patients.Delix were high histamine patients, and pyrolurics were their own kind of category. We added another category of copper-zinc imbalances, and then we would categorize that population into high histamine, low histamine, pyrolurics, and copper-zinc.Now we talk about under-methylation, over-methylation. Sure. So, under-methylation is the, you know, the high histamine people, they can’t clear the histamine. And the over-methylators are, you know, what we call about low histamine now.And, and then pyrolurics and copper zinc. So…I lost my train of thought, but in the 80s, when I was going through this, in the 90s, I reached out to the Pfeiffer Treatment Center.He’s like, can I calm and just hang out and, like, see what you guys do? Because I need some answers.And I started working there and, started doing research on copper-zinc imbalances, and I did it in children with autism.And that’s how people started coming to me, and I kinda got, like. not famous, but I, you know, the word spread about, okay, we could talk about it, and Dr.Walsh was the, you know, PhD there that did a lot of the research, so we worked together for 8 years. Dr. Deb Muth 09:05Isn’t it crazy to think that we knew about histamine issues way back in the 70s? You know, I got the pleasure of being trained by, environmental medicine doctors. Dr. Wayne Konetsky and Glenn Toth taught me about environmental medicine, and what we called histamine issues that we call it today, mast cell, right? But when I was learning in the early 2000s, it was labeled as chemical sensitivity. And so it was just people that would react to everything, and we really didn’t know why, and they didn’t necessarily have this very specific allergic reaction, but we knew they were reacting, and we would try to treat them, to lower the histamine way back then. And it’s taken all these years, 25 years, to get to a point where we understand mast cell activation now, and histamine issues.And it’s really sad to me that it’s taking this long for us to identify things.And we’ve all got our journey, and I loved back in those days, too, because as I learned, I would call people up and say, hey, I just got a patient from you, and they told me this great story, and I have other people, can I come see what you were doing? And back then, everybody was very open. They were like, yes, please, come, learn. Now everybody’s like, oh, we can’t teach you, we can’t give you our secrets, but…Or pay me $20,000 to come learn with me. But back then, I mean, everybody was just… we were all in the same boat. We were all just trying to learn from each other. Anju 10:36Oh, yeah, oh yeah, and any bit of knowledge you got, you’re like… Dr. Deb Muth 10:41Yes. Anju 10:41God, you know, I learned this piece, and… Dr. Deb Muth 10:43Hmm? Anju 10:44We just kind of built from that. I keep thinking about back then, you know,the under-methylators, over-methylators, copper, zinc, and then I learned about metals.And then, as a physician, I was like, oh, okay, well, there’s mercury in vaccines, there’s aluminum in vaccines, and now I’m seeing these high levels. Dr. Deb Muth 11:04In my patients, now what happens? Anju 11:07And then we started, kind of, trying to get the word out about those things. Dr. Deb Muth 11:13Yeah. Anju 11:13And in 2000, a lot of the people that I knew put out a paper about, you know, mercury. Dr. Deb Muth 11:22And then… Anju 11:22And we all got on

    1h 3m

  5. Apr 18

    Episode 261 – Root-Cause Healing and Whole-Body Wellness

    Dr. Deb Muth 0:03What if everything you’ve been told about getting healthy is backwards?What if chasing symptoms with pills, procedures, and quick fixes is exactly why you’re still sick? Tired, inflamed, and frustrated. Today, I’m sitting down with Dr. Holly Donahue, a naturopathic doctor who walked away from corporate burnout to discover the truth.Your body already knows how to heal. You just need to remove what’s blocking it, and give it what it’s missing. If you’re done with Band-Aid solutions and ready for real, lasting transformation, this conversation changes everything. Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now, the show where we uncover the root causes of chronic illness, explore cutting-edge regenerative medicine, and empower you with the tools to heal. I’m Dr. Deb, your medical detective, and today, we’re diving into the hidden truth about whole body wellness, and why treating symptoms will never give you the vibrant health you deserve. I’m joined by Dr. Holly Donahue, a licensed naturopathic doctor with over two decades of clinical experiencing Helping high performers heal from burnout, chronic fatigue, hormone imbalance, and stubborn weight issues. She’s the founder of Simple Health, and she’s here to share the science-backed approach to root cause healing that addresses your body, mind, and spirit, not just your lab values. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with a chronic condition, or is struggling with unexplained symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, hormonal chaos, or chronic inflammation. This episode is for you. Please share it with them. So, as usual, grab your cup of coffee, tea, or whatever helps you unwind, settle in, and let’s get started on your journey to deeper healing. And we’ll be right back after a word from our sponsor. All right. So, Dr. Donahue, let’s start with the question that’s on everyone’s mind, right? How did you transition away from corporate and into the world of, naturopath… natural medicine, naturopathic medicine, root cause medicine, all the wonderful terms we’re using for this these days? Dr. Holly Donahue 02:56Yeah, first of all, thanks for having me, Dr. Debb. I so appreciate it, and that is a beautiful question, and I will share with you my health journey and why I got into this, and… how I got to do this amazing work, right? Because I always believed, for me, my higher being is God, and it walked right into me, right? Because I was pretty happy in the apparel industry. So, just as you said, I was in the apparel industry, I, my education doesn’t really matter, but double, like, marketing and textile marketing, and I was in design, and I was working in design. from LA to London to the East Coast. And 2 days after September 11th, to sum it up, I got laid off. Even though I had been pulled out of a job where my vice president of the company was like, I want you to come down here with me, and the apparel industry, you’re switching every two to three years. For those that don’t know it, that’s just how the journey works, and I was known as a changemaker in the field. And so, here we are two days after September 11th, and I was seeing a naturopath, and I was, let’s see, 29 to 30, right? And so, prior to that, the reason why I searched out for a naturopath was because in my teenage years, and… Up until that time, I was suffering with horrible menstrual cramps and horrible depression, hence why I moved to LA, thinking if I was in the sun all the time, my life would change, which we all do, change our place, change our time, things will change. Had nothing to do with family or roots, but I thought, if I’m around sunshine all the time, I won’t be depressed. Well, wherever you go, there you are, because it went with me, right? So I had my foot down to the ground, and I was just like, I am committed to not living life like this, right? Even at 7 years old, I had strep ear all the time, and my mom’s like, we’re gonna have your tonsils out, and I’m like, no we’re not. And she goes, no, you’re gonna feel so much better, no more strep ear. And I’m like, God gave them to me for a reason, you’re not taking them out. She’s like, okay, like, I was really strong. And so, let’s wind up to 2 days after September 11th. Prior to that, I had started to retake chemistry and biology, because I haven’t taken it since my textile years, which was a different chemistry, right? And so, I thought, well, I’ll just start and see where it goes, because my naturopath at the time. Dr. Dadama was like, we need more naturopaths, and I’m like, I’m really good where I am. I love what I do, I love corporate America, I love designing, I love product development. And he’s like, no, no, no, so he kept talking. Well, when this all fell… And 2 days after September 11th, I raised my hand and I said, God, I hear you. I went off to naturopathic medicine school in my 30s. And I never looked back, and I just really believe the gift of healing was, put together for me in so many ways. And so, why do I love talking about natural medicine, naturopathic medicine? Because I was not gonna just take an antidepressant, which is what the medical world… they wanted to give me a pill for a nail, that’s what I call it. I didn’t need to be on birth control. I wasn’t sexually active. Right? So none of that made sense to me. And it wasn’t until I really changed my nutrition, began to understand who I am as a person, and what my body really needed, did I heal. Dr. Deb Muth 06:20Isn’t that amazing? Like, I think so many of us enter into the alternative quote-unquote world. Because what is happening over here in what is known as the traditional medicine world isn’t working for people, and no one’s listening to them, and we just follow the traditional protocol, whether it makes sense or not, this is the protocol, everybody gets it. There’s no individuality, no personalization, nothing that happens in that world. And so, people tend to go looking for that… that uniqueness that natural medicine and naturopaths allow to happen. And that’s where true healing actually begins, for so many people. Dr. Holly Donahue 07:02 Yes, and honestly, once my hormones were healed, hence why I talk about hormones all the time, and my thyroid was healed, and I was eating the right nutrition, and for those of you that are listening, please stop playing with nutrition, like, get on that… get on that connection of what works for you. And I’ll be honest, like, none of us as doctors can… we can guide you. what’s really good in eating, but figuring it out for yourself is important. And the other naturopath that I saw. Never healed me. I only got so far by just taking supplements and herbs. And I speak that into that, that’s why I’m so driven around the foundation of our medicine. I am not just saying this, is your nutrition. And until I changed my nutrition, and I figured out what workouts work best for me, and I took all the toxicity and mucus out of my body, I was just inflamed, and I didn’t really it. I was eating all the wrong foods. Right? My body can’t do searches and simple sugars, hence why I talk about it, and so many people are addicted to sugar, and they deny it. Dr. Deb Muth 08:11Yeah. Dr. Holly Donahue 08:11It’s a comfort food, right? So, I always say, I can’t heal you until I fix your nutrition and your sugar, and if that’s not something that you’re willing to work on with me with love, I am not the right practitioner. Because I remember it didn’t heal me. Dr. Deb Muth 08:29Yeah. I think we forget that nutrition is our medicine, right? Food is thy medicine. And it’s so easy for us to just say, but it’s easier to just take 10 supplements than it is to change my diet, cook for the whole family, and then cook for me. Nutrition is really, really difficult for people, because so much of who we are is born into nutrition, right? All of those family traditions of what we make at Christmas, or Easter, or what do you do for a celebration, when all of that changes, you kind of… you have a loss for things. So how do you work around that with people? Dr. Holly Donahue 09:12Yeah, so I look at that as, I’m always suggesting to individuals in all these different celebrations, like, if you’re the one, kind of. that is the pinnacle that’s creating the celebrations, could you change that, right? So maybe you always have people over for your children’s birthday parties, and you have cake, and, you know, you have a spaghetti dinner, whatever it looks like. I’m not judging, I’m not here to judge, I just know what works, right? Then maybe you get to change that. How about doing an outdoor activity with the children? Maybe choosing to go on a hike to the beach where they’re active. And then, you know, you do a healthy treat with them, or do we always have to have these celebrations around sugar? And I’m talking America, because I never saw this when I lived in Europe, like, the way it is here, right? Or, as adults, we’re celebrating with alcohol all the time, right? I removed sugar and alcohol from my diet years ago just because I knew I just didn’t feel good with it. I’m not judging that that’s what you need to do. So, back to your question, the other suggestion I say, if you can with your family, because I know there’s all sorts of… Hidden rules, quiet rules, ways you have to do things to be fit in. First of all, stand up for your own health, so I suggest that. And secondly, how about if you bring something to that meal that you can share with everybody that you know that you can eat? If that doesn’t work, I’m pretty sure, I’m pretty confident, unless I’m really not connected, and I’ve never had anybody not be able to maneuver this. When you go to a meal, look at where… what the protein is there, look at what vegetab

    47 min

  6. Apr 13

    Episode 260 – How Trauma Passes Through Generations: Epigenetics, Trafficking and Chronic Illness

    Dr. Deb Muth February 2026, 3 million documents released, a network exposed. But here’s what no one is sayingThe trauma of trafficking doesn’t end when the victim escapes It doesn’t even end when that survivor’s lifetime. It writes itself into DNA. It alters the stress response of children not yet born. And it creates epigenetic markers that echo through 3, 4, and even 5 generations. This is not a metaphor, this is molecular biology. And if we don’t understand how deeply trauma sees itself. Biologically, genetically, and spiritually, we will never understand why autoimmune disease, addiction, and chronic illness are epidemic in families that carry this hidden history. Today, we’re going deeper than headlines. We’re going into the cells, the genes, and the soul. Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now. We’re here to uncover root causes, explore regenerative medicine, and empower you to heal from the inside out. I’m Dr. Deb, your medical detective, and today we’re confronting one of the most important and least discussed wellness topics of our time. How the exploitation and trafficking of women and children doesn’t just harm individuals, it damages bloodlines. And if you’re someone who carries an unexplained chronic illness, autoimmune disease, addiction, or trauma that seems to have no clear origin, this episode may finally connect the dots. Grab your cup of tea or coffee, settle in, and let’s go deep into this subject. Can you put an ad sponsor right here before we get started? Let’s start with what just happened. In February of 2026, the Department of Justice released over 3 million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. According to The Guardian, on February 2nd, 2026, these files contained allegations that Epstein didn’t just abuse women, he provided them to other powerful men. One accuser identified Harvey Weinstein from a photo lineup. Describing coercion and payment. Another FBI document described threats of force. Lativia launched a criminal investigation after the files linked Epstein’s network to modeling agencies overseas. But here’s what I need you to understand. As a practitioner who treats trauma survivors, Epstein’s operation was not new. It was ancient. From Mesopotamian slave codes to Roman markets to the transatlantic trade, trafficking has always been about the same thing. Power, and exploiting vulnerability for profit. The tools change. Private jets instead of ships, social media instead of market squares. But the wound, it’s identical. And that wound… It doesn’t heal when the victim is freed. It embeds itself into biology. Let me explain what happens when a human being experiences the kind of trauma that trafficking creates. The immediate biological response. When someone is trafficked, their body enters a state of chronic survival mode. The autonomic nervous system, which controls unconscious functions like heart rate, digestion, immune response, it gets locked into a fight or flight. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, floods the system. At least, at first. This is protective. But when the threat never ends, when abuse is daily, when escape is impossible, cortisol stays elevated for months and even years. And here’s what chronic cortisol does. It suppresses immune function, making the body vulnerable to infections, cancer, and autoimmune disease. It disrupts the gut microbiome, leading to leaky gut, food sensitivity, and systemic inflammation. It dysregulates hormone production, thyroid sex hormones, insulin, and it creates metabolic chaos. It damages the hippocampus, the part of the brain region responsible for memory and emotional regulation. But it goes deeper than that. Cellular memory, trauma written into our tissues. Research published in the Biological Psychiatry of 2025 and Frontiers in Psychiatry 2025 shows that trauma doesn’t just affect the brain, it reprograms cells throughout the body. Mitochondria, the energy factories inside every cell, shift from producing ATP energy to producing reactive oxygen species, stress signals. This is why trauma survivors often develop chronic fatigue syndrome. That cortisol, over time, starts to dive down, and eventually can’t be produced when it’s supposed to be during a traumatic episode, and it stays at this low level, creating what we now know as chronic fatigue syndrome. Inflammatory genes turn on and stay on, even after the threat is gone. This is why we see such high rates of autoimmune disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, MS, inflammatory bowel disease, in trafficking survivors. The fascia, the connective tissue that wraps every muscle and organ, stores trauma physically. This is why survivors develop chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and tension that no amount of massage can release. The body literally remembers the violation at a cellular level. The ACE study, Childhood Trauma as a Disease Predictor, the CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experiences Study in 2025, showed that 64% of the U.S. adults had experienced at least one ACE abuse. neglect, or household dysfunction. And nearly 1 in 6 has experienced 4 or more. And the data is devastating. The ACE that you have maybe experienced, if you have had this, you have a higher risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease, depression, suicide, and addiction. Trafficking survivors often score 8, 9, or 10 out of a 10 on the ACE scale. Their bodies are biologically aged by trauma. And according to the VA’s National Center for PTSD, PTSD is associated with excess mortality, meaning survivors die younger, not just from suicide, but from the stress related to chronic disease. Now, here’s where it gets even more profound. What is epigenetics? Well, your DNA is like a library of instructions, but not every book is open all the time. Epigenetics is the system that decides which genes get turned on. or off, without changing the DNA sequence itself. And here’s the critical discovery. Trauma can change those epigenetic marks, and those marks can be passed to your children. The Science of Inherited Trauma. The studies on the Holocaust survivors and their descendants showed that children and grandchildren of trauma survivors had altered stress hormone regulation, even though they never experienced the original trauma themselves. Research on famine shows in the Netherlands during World War II, Found that children born to mothers who were pregnant during starvation had higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease decades later. This happens because stress during pregnancy alters the developing fetus’ stress response system, and when a pregnant woman is trafficked, abused, or living in chronic fear, her elevated cortisol levels cross the placenta, and the baby’s developing brain is bathed in stress hormones. And the child’s HPA access, the stress regulation system, Is programmed for hypervigilance. The child is born with a biological predisposition to anxiety, depression, autoimmune disease, and addiction. And it doesn’t stop there. That child grows up, and if they have children, their altered stress response can influence the next generation through epigenetic inheritance, and through the environment they create. This is why we see patterns of addiction, autoimmune disease, and mental illness running through families, even when there’s no clear genetic mutation. It’s not just genetics, it’s inherited trauma written into gene expression. There is also a spiritual dimension to this. There’s something beyond biology here, something that science is only beginning to touch. Survivors often describe feeling disconnected from their bodies, as if their spirit left during the abuse. And never fully returned. This is disassociation, a survival mechanism. But in many healing traditions, somatic therapy, internal family systems, even ancient spiritual practices, there’s recognition that trauma fragments the self. And healing isn’t just about regulating cortisol or repairing the gut, it’s about reuniting the spirit with the body. It’s about teaching the nervous system that it’s finally safe to be fully present once again. And when that happens, when one person heals that fracture, it changes the trajectory for everyone else who comes after them. So what do we do with this knowledge? Well, first. Trauma-informed root cause medicine. Healing trafficking survivors and their descendants requires more than talk therapy. It requires nervous system regulation, vagal nerve stimulation, somatic experience, breathwork. Gut healing, repairing the microbiome, addressing that leaky gut, and reducing the inflammation. Hormone balancing, supporting adrenal function, thyroid, and sex hormones, detoxification, clearing accumulated toxins that the stressed body couldn’t process, both physically and emotionally. Nutritional restoration. Replenishing the nutrients depleted by chronic stress. This is functional medicine. This is what I do every day with my team. Second, we need epigenetic reversal, and that is actually possible. Here’s the hope. Epigenetic marks can be changed. Studies show that meditation therapy, safe relationships, and even nutrition can reverse some of the epigenetic damage caused by trauma. Every time a survivor learns to regulate their nervous system, they’re not just healing themselves, they’re changing what gets passed to the next generation. Third, we have to speak the truth. Silence protects the perpetrators. Truth-telling breaks generational curses. And every time we name trafficking for what it is, a crime that damages biology, genetics, and spirit, we create the space for healing. Thank you for going deep with me today on Let’s Talk Wellness Now. If this episode moved you, share it, because healing begins when we stop pretending trauma is only psychological, and we start treating it as a biological, g

    14 min

  7. Mar 31

    Episode 259 – The Desiccated Thyroid Crisis: FDA’s Unseen Impact & Corporate Manipulation

    Deb (00:03.606)Within the next seven months, up to 1.5 million Americans could lose access to a medication that they’ve relied on for decades. Not because it’s dangerous, but because a pharmaceutical giant may have lobbied the FDA to eliminate their competition. And if you’re one of them, your doctor may already have told you about this issue and stopped prescribing it.This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This is documented in federal court filings. This is happening right now. And the company that stands to profit, well, they’re the same ones manufacturing the only product that might survive.Today on Let’s Talk Wellness Now, we’re exposing the desiccated thyroid extract crisis, the corporate manipulation behind it, and what you need to do right now to protect your health. Stay with me because I’m about to share what could save your access to the medication keeping you alive.Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now, the show where we uncover the root causes of chronic illness, expose regulatory capture in healthcare, and empower you with the tools to advocate for yourself. I’m Dr. Deb, naturopathic doctor, your medical detective, and today we’re diving into one of the most consequential and corrupt healthcare decisions affecting patients right now. If you or someone you love takes Armour thyroid, NP thyroid, or any desiccated thyroid extract,for hypothyroidism or if you’ve struggled to find a thyroid medication that actually works for your body, this episode is absolutely critical. And if you have celiac disease, gluten sensitivity or corn allergies, what I’m about to reveal will make your blood boil. Now grab your cup of coffee, don’t forget your notebook and settle in because what’s happening to this medication right now is a masterclass in how pharmaceutical companies use regular Deb (02:06.544)agencies to eliminate competition, control markets, and price gouge patients. And I have all the receipts. Deb (02:20.982)Let me start with what might surprise you. Desiccated thyroid extract, or DTE as we call it, is actually one of the most oldest thyroid medications in the world. And I mean old. From the 1890s through 1970, this was the standard treatment for hypothyroidism.Now let’s really dive into that. From the 1890s to the 1970s, this was standard hypothyroidism treatment.In 1965 alone, and this is documented in peer-reviewed literature published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, approximately four out of every five prescriptions for thyroid hormone in the United States were of natural desiccated thyroid preparations.The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism is a very high-end journal. Now think about that. This wasn’t some fringe therapy. This was mainstream medicine. Armour Thyroid, the most recognizable brand name, has been manufactured since the early 1900s, well over a century ago.and this is cited again in NIH bookshelf. When the FDA was officially established in 1938, Arbor thyroid was already on the market. And this is important and I want you to understand why. Under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, any drug that was already being marketed before 1938 was automatically grandfathered into the system. That means it didn’t have to Deb (04:08.112)go through the formal FDA approval process. And this again is cited under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, grandfathered drugs and exemptions. And this is crucial to understanding what happens next. By the 1970s, synthetic levothyroxine, brand name Synthroid and generics became the preferred treatment. Hmm, wonder why?It was easier to standardize, came into consistent doses, and worked well for most patients, and could be mass manufactured. By the 1980s, levothyroxine had largely replaced desiccated thyroid in clinical practice, according to the American Thyroid Association 2014 guidelines for the treatment of hypothyroidism. But here’s what matters. Some patients…a very significant minority of them, never felt right on levothyroxine alone. Despite their lab work looking normal, they still had fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, cold intolerance, and depression.These patients often found relief when they switched back to their desiccated thyroid, which contains both T4 and T3 hormones, the way human thyroid naturally produces them. And this is not anecdotal. This is documented in randomized double-blind crossover studies published in Endocrine Practice.For decades, that was fine. Their doctors prescribed it, insurance sometimes covered it, patients were getting better, and the system worked really well. Until August 6th of 2025, just a short time ago, everything changed. On that date, the FDA sent letters to manufacturers, importers, and distributors of desiccated thyroid extract products stating that these medications would need an approval. Deb (06:04.654)a biologics licensed application, a BLA, to remain legally on the market. And this is cited in the FDA’s official statement, FDA’s actions to address unapproved thyroid medications. understand it says unapproved thyroid medications. However, desiccated thyroid, specifically Armour, has been approved since 1938. And this was dated August 6th through 7th, 2025.This wasn’t a guideline. This wasn’t a suggestion. It was an endorsement of action. And the timeline they gave them? Well, just 12 months to transition patients to another medication before enforcement action could begin.This was also cited by an FDA notice to the industry, animal derived thyroid products notice to industry, August 6th, 2025. Now do the math, that means August 2026, seven months from now, 1.5 million Americans currently taking this medication. And this number comes from the FDA official statement, citing that it’s an estimation of 1.5 million patients receiving prescriptions for these medications.could potentially lose their thyroid access. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The FDA didn’t wake up in August of 2025 and decide to regulate desiccated thyroid after a century. This decision has a much longer backstory. And understanding that backstory is critical to understanding what’s really happening in this industry.The shift started in 2022. Back in September of 2022, over three years ago, an FDA branch chief sent a letter to the National Associations of Boards of Pharmacy noting that the agency had decided to designate DTE as a biological product, which would affect its eligibility for compounding. Deb (08:13.972)This also is cited in an FDA letter to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy September 2022.Then two months later, in November of 2022, the FDA’s Office of Compounding Quality and Compliance sent a softer letter acknowledging that many Americans take medication to treat hypothyroidism and some choose to take DTE products. The letter stated that the FDA would focus enforcement on cases that pose the greatest public health risks, such as serious adverse offense or serious product quality or adulteration.also is cited by an FDA letter from Francis G. Bromel, the director, Office of Compounding Quality and Compliance, November of 2022. Now, let me just think about this for a second. If this drug has been on the market since the 1800s, been FDA approved since 1938, would we not have seen a health crisis long before 2022?I honestly don’t know of any other drug that’s been around this long that’s used by this many people. Now granted, I haven’t done the research on it either, which I can do for you guys, but I’m just thinking if a drug is on the market today and it causes harm, it doesn’t make it three years, five years before you see lawsuits everywhere. Why are there no lawsuits on this drug? Why are there no major reactions that people are seen having?Hmm, just thought. But here’s the pattern. The FDA was already laying the groundwork back in 2022, testing the waters, signaling where this was headed. The August 2025 action. Then this came down. Deb (10:09.806)August 6, 2025, the FDA announced its position publicly and sent formal letters to all DTE manufacturers, importers, and distributors. This was cited by the FDA Enforcement Action August 6, 2025, letters to manufacturers, importers, distributions of DTE products. The agency stated several concerns. First, DTE products have experienced quality and dosing issues.The FDA cited, and I’m quoting directly from their statement, over 500 adverse events reported associated with DTE products from 1968 to 2025. From 1968 to 2025, we had 500 adverse reactions? What is that math equate to?A couple a year? Come on guys, this is insane! With a substantial increase, you, between 2019 and 2020 that the agency suggested was related to voluntary recalls of sub-potent or super-potent products.This was cited in the FDA statement, over 500 adverse events reported associated with ADT products from 1968 through 2025.Second, the agency expressed concern about batch inconsistency. According to the FDA’s official statements, tablets made from the same manufacturing batches may not always provide the same thyroid hormone levels. Okay, this was cited in the FDA statement, tablets made from the same manufacturing batches may not always provide the same thyroid hormone levels. Thirdly, and I want to actually let’s back up. I want you to remember I said that Deb (12:11.216)because further down in this podcast, we’re going to talk about this. This is an important point to remember. Thirdly, the agency raised concerns about potential impurities from animal source material, including potential for viral contamination due to the animal source and supraphysiological levels of T3.the FDA statement on impurities, viral contamination and super physiological T3 levels. Now I will tell you, I’ve been prescribing armarithograde for 20 years. I’ve rarely seen a super physiological dose given of T3 in lab results, unless the patient takes their medicatio

    49 min

  8. Mar 17

    Episode 258 – Investigational Peptides: What’s Promising, What’s Hype & What You Must Know

    Dr Deb Muth 00:03Well, welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now. I am your host, Dr. Deb. And what is the most talked-about peptides in functional medicine? aren’t actually FDA approved. Not because they don’t work, but because no one’s funded the research to prove it yet. The truth is, some of the compounds that dominate wellness forums, BPC-157, TB-500, thymosin beta-4, epitalin, occupy a fascinating space between breakthrough science and unregulated experimentation. In today’s episode, we’re stepping into that grey zone, the world of investigational peptides, to separate mechanism from marketing. I’m going to walk you through the science that actually shows and where it stops, how to evaluate claims when human data don’t yet exist, and the quality, purity, and safety red flags that you need to recognise. Dr Deb Muth 01:06I created it in a previous episode, so go check that one out. And why honesty is the most important prescription in peptide medicine. If you’ve ever wondered whether these research-only peptides are the frontier of healing or the next functional medicine fad, this episode is for you. So grab your cup of tea or coffee, get comfortable, and let’s talk about what it really means to use peptides that are promising but still under investigation. So we’re going to break just for a second here and have a word from our sponsor. It is because of them that we stay on the air. So thank you for this. And we will be right back. Did you know sweating can literally heal your cells? Infrared saunas don’t just relax you. They detox your body, balance hormones, and boost mitochondrial energy. I’m obsessed with my Health Tech sauna. And right now, you can save $500 with my code at healthtechhealth.com slash dr-muth-req-25. Dr. Deb Muth 02:15All right, guys, welcome back. Let’s dive into investigational peptides, the evidence gap. So the following peptides we’re about ready to discuss are extensively in integrative, functional, and regenerative medicine circles. They may have intriguing mechanisms and promising preclinical data. However, they lack FDA approval, and the evidence quality varies dramatically. from interesting preliminary research to essentially no human data at all. And this distinction is really critical for maintaining scientific integrity. So let’s talk about immune-modulating peptides. There’s thymus and alpha-1, and this is an international story on the thymic peptides. Thymusin alpha-1, known as TA1, is marketed internationally as zidaxin. Dr. Deb Muth 03:16It’s a 28-amino acid polypeptide originally isolated from thymusin fraction 5, which was extracted from bovine thymus tissue. Modern production uses synthetic peptide synthesis. The thymus gland is located behind the sternum and is the primary site for T cell maturation, and thymic peptides like TA1 play roles in human system development and regulation. Now, I love thymus peptides. I love thymus glandular products. I’ve used thymus glandular products for decades. Ground-up animal thymus gland is basically what it is. There are a couple of different supplement companies that I’ve used over the years that are amazing with this. And they do a fantastic job, and they really do help to support the immune system. So when thymus peptides came out, it was really exciting because it took the whole idea of thymus support to a new level. Dr. Deb Muth 04:17The mechanism actually behind the thymus in alpha-1 is complex and involves multiple aspects of immune function. At the cellular level, TA1 enhances T cell maturation and differentiation, particularly the development of helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells. It modulates T cell receptor expression and can influence the balance between Th1 cell-mediated immunity and Th2 humoral immunity responses. And it also enhances the natural killer cell activity and modulates dendritic cell function, which are critical for antigen presentation. and initiation of adaptive immune responses. And on the cytokine level, TA1 influences production of interleukin-2, IL-2, interferon gamma, IFN-γ, and interleukin-10, IL-10. Dr. Deb Muth 05:19These create immune modulatory rather than simple immune stimulatory effects. This is a very important distinction because TA1 appears to help balance the immune system rather than simply ramping this up, which theoretically makes it safer in conditions where immune overstimulation would be a problem, such as an autoimmune disease. Hashimoto’s, autoimmune, lupus, Sjogren’s, any of those autoimmune diseases, we don’t want to overstimulate their immune system. So you want to use a product like this that’s non-stimulating. Now, the regulatory status on TA1 is geographically variable and represents one of the challenges in discussing this peptide with patients. It is not FDA-approved in the United States. However, it is approved in several other countries for specific conditions. Dr. Deb Muth 06:19In Italy, it’s approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C. In China, it’s approved for chronic hepatitis B and adjunct immune compromised patients receiving vaccinations or suffering from certain infections. It has an orphan drug designation in the United States for certain cancer indications, but its designation does not constitute approval. It simply provides regulatory incentives for further development. So the evidence base for thymosin alpha-1 is substantial in some areas but comes primarily from non-US populations and research groups, which creates challenges in evaluating quality and generalizable information. So in hepatitis B and C, multiple clinical trials, many conducted in China and Italy, have examined TA1 as an adjunct to antiviral therapy. Dr. Deb Muth 07:21A meta-analysis by Wu and colleagues published in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis in 2013 examined 23 randomized controlled trials, including over 2,000 patients with chronic hepatitis B. The analysis found that combining TA1 with nucleoside analogs like LAMVDUDE or an and TCAVAR improved the hepatitis antigen seroconversion rates by HBV DNA clearance compared to its nucleoside analogs alone. And the effect sizes were modest but statistically significant, with the HBE-AG seroconversion rates improving from about 24% with antivirals alone to 38% in combined therapy. Now in hepatitis C, early trials before the development of direct-acting antivirals showed that TA1 combined with interferon alpha improved sustained virological responses, and compared to interferon alpha, Dr. Deb Muth 08:30Furon alone, particularly in difficult-to-treat populations like those with a genotype one or a high viral load. However, the advent of highly effective direct acting antivirals that achieve SRV rates, sorry, SVR rates exceeding 95%, the role of TA1 in hepatitis C has become less clear. Now in sepsis and critical illness, more recent interest has focused on TA1 in severe cases of sepsis and septic shock. Ren and colleagues published a systematic review and meta-analysis in the Frontiers of Immunology in 2022, analyzing 18 randomized controlled trials, including 1787 patients with severe sepsis or septic shock the pooled analysis showed that ta1 administration was associated with reduced 28-day mortality relative risk at 0.70 meaning a 30 reduction in mortality compared to the standard care alone and the effect appeared Dr. Deb Muth 09:39most pronounced in patients with sepsis-induced immunosuppression measured by HLA-DR expression in monocytes. Now, this is amazing because going forward, we’re going to talk about something that’s commonly known as cytokine storm. Now, cytokine storm really became apparent since 2020 with the viral infection that we’re dealing with in the world today. But they were already looking at this kind of cytokine storm produced by sepsis or sepsis-induced immunosuppression. And it triggered this hyperinflammatory response called the cytokine storm. And many patients who survived the initial phase of the immune suppressed stata, characterized by a T cell exhaustion, reduced antigen presentation, and increased susceptibility to secondary infections. Thymusin alpha-1, TA1, may help restore this immune competence in this phase. However, it’s important to note that patient selection and timing are critical. Dr. Deb Muth 10:43Giving this immune stimulant during a hyperinflammatory phase could theoretically worsen outcomes. So you don’t want to give it to them while they’re in the flare up or the sepsis or the infection, but given to them during the immunosuppression phase afterwards might be beneficial. Now there is also some cancer immunotherapy that we see with TA1 and has been studied as an adjunct in cancer treatment with the hypothesis that it could enhance immune surveillance and response to tumors. And a comprehensive review of Garci and colleagues published in Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy in 2007 examined multiple trials in melanoma, lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and other malignancies. And the results were mixed. Some trials showed improvement in the immune parameters, increased CD4 in T-cells. improved lymphocyte proliferation responses and some actually showed trends toward improved progression free survival but overall survival benefits were inconsistent and the heterogeneity of the cancer types treatment protocols and outcome measures makes a definitive conclusion difficult as a vaccine adjunct several studies particularly from china have examined ta1 as an adjunct to enhance vaccine responses Dr. Deb Muth 12:11in immune-compromised populations, including the elderly, dialysis patients, and transplant recipients. The rationale is sound. These populations often mount suboptimal antibody responses to vaccines, and TA1’s immune-enhancing effects might improve protection. There are small trials. They have shown improvement in seroconversion r

    58 min
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