Exclusive Dr. Hyman+ Ask Mark Anything: Detoxifying Heavy Metals, Microbiome Health For Infants And Children, And More

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Hi everyone. Thanks so much for tuning in to another episode of Ask Mark Anything. My name is Harshil Purohit and I'm the Dr. Hyman Plus Community Manager. I'm joined by Darcy Gross. Hi Darcy.

Hi.

And she's one of the producers of the Longevity Roadmap docu-series. And of course, we're here with our expert, Dr. Mark Hyman. Hi, Dr. Hyman.

Hi. How's it going?

Going super well. And a big congratulations to you on all the success of the new book. We're so excited. We're gonna get to talk about that in just a second. But let's go ahead and get started with today's question. So we're here to ask Mark anything. So number one is, do you have any suggestions on eliminating or reducing mercury mercury in your body.

Well, okay. Yes. I mean, I basically learned functional medicine through my own mercury poisoning. So whether I like it or not, I became an expert in having to deal with heavy metals and mercury. And I really, you know, learned so much about the body's own detoxification system and how to enhance it. And I think that we have a real ability to optimize our body's own capacity to get rid of stuff and the truth is we are all exposed to high levels of environmental toxins. There's 80,000 new chemicals on the market and they have all different effects on us, but heavy metals are real and mercury's real. Mercury comes from mostly fish and fillings, you know, we call them silver fillings, but they're actually mercury. Over half of the content is mercury and that gets absorbed over time. If you have a lot of fillings, it definitely correlates with body burden of mercury. Fish is a, you know, big, big source of coal burning plants. If you live near pollution, cement plants, that that can be a source if there's air pollution and, you know, big fish. And I think we really can change the way we, we sort of eat to actually reduce our mercury exposure, and then we can enhance our body's own detoxification system. So, you know, the way I think about it is that they're like basically four or five processes that have to work in the body for you to get rid of the metals. And the first one is to actually, you know, bind them and, and, and kind of activate the the mercury removal from the tissues. And this is usually with a chelating agent, something like DMSA, which is a drug that is used to chelate heavy metals. There are other compounds that will help with this, like zinc, which activates an enzyme called methylthionine, which is your body's own built-in enzyme that is in every cell to help it get rid of metals and toxins. There's also various compounds like selenium and other things will help to with metal detoxification, but you need to first mobilize the mercury. And then you need to increase your circulation to help it move out of your cells and tissues into your liver to be ready to detoxify. And that's through things like exercise, things that enhance limb circulation, saunas, massage, you know, just moving it through your system. I think that's really important. And saunas are a really key way, not just because of the increased circulation, but they also help with excretion through the skin, so forth. and then you want to activate your detoxification pathways. So this is a really critical part. You have many, many different pathways for detoxification. And you optimize these, especially sulfation, methylation. This is a very key cycle, two cycles that are interconnected that produce glutathione, which are really important for binding to the metals. Glutathione is basically made from glutamine, glycine, and cysteine, three amino acids that you can supplement with, or you can take an acetyl cysteine, or you can take herbs like milk thistle or you can take lipoic acid, you can take whey protein, all these things increase the, the glutathione content in the body, which is often depleted with mercury. So you need the right protein, amino acids detoxify, you need the right B vitamins, B12, folate, B6 for this methylation and sulfation cycle. You need the right raw materials of, of, to support glutathione production. You need all the, the, those things. You need the right foods that help also activate these pathways. So the whole broccoli family, cruciferous vegetable family, broccoli, collards, kale, brussels sprouts, all those contain compounds called glucosinolates, sulforaphane, indoles, all that activate detoxification, particularly phase two detoxification and glutathione production, which is like basically a sticky substance like fly paper, which the mercury binds to and is excreted. So you need to make sure you're activating all those pathways in your liver. And there are many other supplements that can help like N-Acetyl Cysteine, lipoic acid, selenium, zinc, and all the B vitamins and so forth. So there's a lot of stuff we can do therapeutically. And then, and then once you've got it out of your, you know, liver processing, you need to increase the excretion. So you need to make sure your bowels are moving. There's fiber content in your diet. There's binders that you can use like silica and alginate and other things to help bind the metals to get rid of them. You also need increased hydration and move, you know, fluids for your body. So it's mobilization. It's increasing circulation. It's activating detoxification and it's increasing elimination. and so if you don't do it that way, if you don't, if you don't do it smartly, you can actually get quite ill from, from trying to detoxify because you will maybe mobilize it, but you won't excrete it. But it's done slowly and steadily over time. You can really drop metal levels, and it has huge implications for health. I mean, for me, it's all my chronic fatigue syndrome, my gut issues, my autoimmune issues, and all sorts of other cognitive issues that I had. and it really fixed a lot of that. So I've treated people with heavy metal issues for decades and it's one of the most powerful things when you find someone who's got a heavy metal issue, then you actually can get rid of it and it actually has a powerful effect on your overall health.

Yeah, that's super helpful. Thanks, Dr. Hyman. Darcy, over to you for the next question.

Yeah, for sure. So the next question is kind of related to almost what we were talking about a little bit, but really it's just about alcohol flush. And if when you get that, and maybe what it is in the first place, is that possibly related to other food intolerances or, you know, what causes alcohol flush?

Well, alcohol is something that's metabolized in the liver by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase. And there are certain variations in the population that cause it to move more slowly. And so you, when you, when you are consuming alcohol, you don't detoxify it well. For example, a lot of Asians are having a sluggish enzyme for alcohol dehydrogenase, and then they get the flushing and the red face and all that. You've probably seen that. That, that's, that's, that's important. And there, there's really kind of no way to really jack that up very well. I think it's really about avoiding alcohol or minimizing it if you have this particular problem. There are many other pathways in the liver that allow to other food sensitivities and reactions. They're not so much related to alcohol, but things like sulfite sensitivity, for example, is really common where people have sulfites and they get like a rash or they get, you know, mouth stuff or they get like feeling crappy. And there's a lot of sulfites in our food from, you know, salad bars to preservatives that is used in food like dried fruit and so forth. So people can have sulfite sensitivities that are often treated with increased selenium and manganese and other nutrients to help some of these detox pathways we just talked about. So, I mean, they're not exactly related, but it's just all about detoxification.

Yeah, for sure. Thank you for that. And over to you, Herschel.

So our next question is about the microbiome of toddlers and children. So what is the best way to improve their microbiome?

Well, first is, is to have the health, the health of a mother be a priority. And, and that's really important. You know, now, you know, the microbiome of the baby is governed by the microbiome of the mother. And when it's delivered through the vaginal canal, it, it, you know, kind of eats basically the vaginal fluids, swallows them, and then that starts to populate the microbiome, which is sterile in the gut, in the uterus. problem is, you know, women, women have depleted microbiomes themselves. Many women, probably most people are not antibiotic virgins. And so we've all probably had antibiotics at some point in our life, and that is, causes a decimation of a really important Keystone species called bifidobacterium infantis. And that particularly bacteria is like the Cornerstone of building immune health in the gut of a baby. Really, really important. And so a lot of women are, don't even have it, even if they give vaginal birth. If you have a C-section that's a problem because you're not to the vaginal canal. So, and then babies are often given formula, which tend to foster the growth of bad bacteria in the gut, as opposed to breast milk, which breast milk has, like, I think it's 25% of its calories is not even digestible by the baby. And so the question is, what is that? It's oligosaccharides that are food for the healthy bacteria, particularly for the bifidobacterium infantis. And so we have a double problem. We may, may be breast, not breastfeeding as much. We may not have the bacteria in there. And so a lot of kids have immune issues, allergies, eczema, asthma, and it's all related to changes and damage to the gut microbiome. So there is actually a, a company that has developed a product called in vivo, which is a supplemental bifidobacterium infantis, which you can take as a supplement. And the baby can take it, the mother can take it, but you can literally, you know, put on the breast and then they can press, suck it off, or they can mix it in a little water, put in a little bottle or something. And it's easy to give the baby, they put on your finger, they'll suck it off. And that, that actually is a very important strategy for establishing a healthier microbiome. Now, most of the time when you take a probiotic as an adult, you don't colonize, you sort of, they kind of work like tourists. They sort of change the environment in there temporarily, like, you know, the economy has changed when a tourist come by, but basically it doesn't sort of set up house, whereas bifidobacterium infantis, when the baby's young, can set up house and have a lifelong benefit from taking it for, you know, three, six months a year when they're babies. So I highly encourage pregnant women to take it and for their babies. to take it. And I think it sort of probably should be universal given how widespread this phenomenon is we call newborn gut deficiency.

Thank you, super helpful. I know many members on our team have used that, in fact, for their children. So thanks for that. Darcy, over to you.

All right, the next question is, are there any tests or considerations that can help individuals with muscle twitching?

Yeah, for sure.

So muscle twitching with eye twitching, muscle cramps, twitches in your muscles. I mean, it's most likely magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is what keeps your muscles relaxed. It's actually used in medicine to treat, you know, constipation, arrhythmias, hypertension, seizures, anything that's kind of really irritable and twitchy. we use magnesium as a relaxation mineral and it's super important. So you can take magnesium, you know, three, four, or 600 milligrams at night, magnesium glycinate if you're not constipated, magnesium citrate if you tend to be more sluggish in your bowels, and you can just take that. That usually takes care of it. Sometimes it's something else. Sometimes it can be something more serious, like a neurological problem, whether it's a nerve compression from a disc or whether it's ALS or something. So there are other more serious problems that can be causing muscle twitching, but usually it's a It's just run of the mill magnesium deficiency. And then staying hydrated, upping your electrolytes, really important. So I usually, you know, there's some people believe you should ever drink water without electrolytes. I obviously do, but I think, you know, having electrolytes on a regular basis is key. So for example, now every morning I drink a liter of water with a quart of water, let's say, with electrolytes in it. First thing I do in the morning, I mean, after I go pee.

Yeah, that's so helpful. And actually on our one of our recent team calls we were talking about just in honor of your new book that just came out young forever. We were talking about what longevity hacks that we've all personally implemented. And the top one that kept coming up over and over was a hydration challenge where they started their day exactly like that where they'd start off with a liter of water with electrolytes. And that was most of our team was practicing that and it's just so helpful.

Yeah, thank you.

And over to Herschel.

Yeah, it's definitely something that many of us use on our team and noticed a huge difference on just in that simple drinking water in the morning with electrolytes, so super helpful. So our next question is about stem cell treatment and what are the pros and cons of stem cell treatment and can it help individuals with brain function or nerve damage?

Great question. So we're at the beginning of our understanding of how to use stem cells in medicine and there's a lot of research going on all around the world about this. So whether it's orthopedic injuries or whether it's for dealing with chronic illnesses or autoimmune issues or whether they're dealing with their neurologic problems like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, I think it's very, very promising. The problem with stem cells is they're hard to get and they're expensive and they're not approved for everything yet. So, I think the key is, I mean, if you can afford it, worth trying. But the good news is that the body has its own stem cells and that a lot of the things that I talk about in Young Forever are ways to activate your body's own stem cells and to activate your body's own healing system. So if you can afford it, great. But, you know, I think it's, it's out of reach for most people. I mean, you, and, and the problem in America is you can't actually harvest them and grow them. you can only harvest them, which means you get a certain number and there's a certain amount, which is not necessarily enough to be therapeutic. So you kind of have to go to Panama, Cayman Islands, or Costa Rica or somewhere like that to actually go and be able to grow stem cells of your own, for example, or get umbilical or placental stem cells. So it's, it's kind of a great question, but I think, I think they're very promising for many, many things, and I think they're going to be a key part of medicine. But right now we're still, we're still kind of early in that stage. Well, I hope you enjoyed that teaser.

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