Podcast Episode #40: Milk & Acne, Fish Oil vs. Flaxseed, Self-Massage, Natural Remedies for Prostate Health and Much More!

Podcast episode number 40 from BenGreenfieldFitness.com welcome to the BenGreenfieldFitness.com podcast, your free weekly audio exposure to cutting edge fitness, nutrition and wellness information. My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer and nutritionist. Each week I'll be bringing you information that goes outside run of the mill exercise and diet advice. So whether you're an Ironman triathlete or you're just trying to lose a few pounds, enjoy this week's podcast episode from BenGreenfieldFitness.com. Hey podcast listeners, it's Ben Greenfield. And I'm happy to say that this week I am no longer recording from my bedroom closet. Hidden among my suits and coats and jerseys. I am actually out. I'm standing. I'm wearing a headphone. So hopefully the audio quality is a little bit better in this podcast episode. So what do I have coming to you today? Well, we have some great listener Q&As. I got some fantastic questions this week. One is on the difference between fish oil and flaxseed oil. Another one is about dairy, milk and skin problems, eczema or acne. Very interesting question. There is another question about self massage, using some of the things that we talked about in last week's episode. And then finally a listener had a question that builds on the discussion about prostate health. And I've actually responded to that question by featuring a really great interview that talks a lot about the use of pollen, not just for prostate health, but but the use of pollen as a nutritional supplement. It's actually one of the most complete foods on the planet. And I've got a great interview about how you can actually get pollen and how it's used and where it's from. So we'll be getting to all that as soon as we go through this week's calendar of events and Special announcements from BenGreenfieldFitness.com Some great content for those of you out in the online Internet world as well as those of you in the local Spokane Coeur d' Alene area. So let's move ahead to this week's special announcements. Special announcements now remember a couple of weeks ago I was actually forced to cancel the online TV Q&A that was going to be posted in March and this was the one that was going to be on the top metabolism boosting exercises that require no fancy gym equipment or as I've explained to some of my clients, how to use your body as a fat loss weapon. Well, basically I'M going to be teaching the best bodyweight exercises for instantly burning your fat, boosting your heart rate, enhancing your lean muscle, tightening and toning your body. And we're going to be doing this on the last Sunday of April. It's at 6pm Pacific time. All you'll have to do is go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com click on the link that I'll have right there and you'll go straight to a page where you can interact with me. I'll be live on video. You'll be able to ask your questions. I'll be demonstrating exercises. So that's Sunday, April 26th at 6pm Pacific Time. That's for that live online video. Q and A. Now for those of you who are local in the Spokane or Coeur d' Alene area, two special announcements for triathletes. The first is on on a Friday, April 24th. That's from 6 to 7pm at Pilgrim's Nutrition on 4th street in Coeur d', Alene, Idaho. I'll be teaching a class on how to holistically fuel the body for Ironman Triathlon, basically how to dump thousands of calories into your body every day without having them all come from sources that might not be all that great for your body. So you'll be sure to get some pretty non run of the mill advice from that lecture, primarily designed for Ironman triathletes who are consuming a lot of calories. And then also down the line of triathlon, there's going to be an Ironman Coeur d' Alene training camp. I'll be coaching at that as well as a few other coaches. That's Saturday, May 9th through Thursday, May 14th. We'll be taking people out on the course teaching you proper pacing, proper nutrition, little tips and tricks, strategies for Ironman Coeur d'. Alene. If you're doing that triathlon or if you're doing any triathlon in the States this year, that's going to be a great camp for you to check out. And we'll include race strategies, nutrition lectures. There'll be time for Getting physiology testing, VO2 max testing, blood lactate testing. You'll get your swim videotape. So there's quite a bit coming from that camp and it's much, much more affordable than most of the camps that are out there right now. So I'll put a link to that in the show notes that you can check out. And I also have an update, something really cool. If you haven't been to BenGreenfieldFitness.com help yet and I'll put a link to that in the show notes then. You may not know that I am actually training about eight different people this year online and I'm recording everything that we do, our videos, our photos, the techniques, the tactics that we're using. You're sure to pick up a lot of free tips if you go check that out. But I just wanted to give a congratulations to Farrah, one of the first people to enroll in that program and she was a 32 year old stay at home mom who's tried Slim, Fast, Atkins, Herbalife, body for life, interval training, personal training, detox diets, low fat diets, horseback riding, home treadmill and elliptical, mini trampolining, gym membership, cleanses, Weight watchers, hoodia, green tea, calorie counting, walking, hiking, taebo, we fit Denise Austin bands, exercise balls, yoga, and lean for life. And she simply could not lose weight. Well, we are basically going through 2009, throwing everything that we can at her in terms of my knowledge of fat loss. And she started off at 225. Since the beginning of the year, she's dropped down to 208. So we've already dropped 17 pounds of fat over the course of this year. And there'll be much more to come, but you'll be able to see her story and some of the techniques that I'm using with her, both nutritionally and from a fitness standpoint, as well as a lot of the other people that are doing this program@BenGreenfieldFitness.com help and then the final announcement is is I now am able to offer you a way to have food allergy testing, parasite yeast fungus testing, and a complete snapshot of a screen for your body for 30 major minerals and six different heavy metals. If you've listened to podcast episodes in the past, you know that what's going on inside your body has just as much an influence on your human performance and your fat loss, your energy levels, chronic fatigue, etc. As what you're doing outside your body. And I'm able now to help walk you through the process of actually getting tested if you don't know where to start. Basically, I found a very affordable way to have all your hormones tested, to have your tissue mineral hair analysis performed, a way to test for parasites, yeast, fungal spores in your gut, and basically any snapshot that you want of what's going on inside your body. So if that's something that intrigues you, if that's something you want to know, if you want to know if you're allergic to certain foods, etc. What I'd like you to do is email me and I will get you on the road to getting that done. I'll tell you exactly how to do it and it's actually something that you're going to be able to do via kits that are sent to you with instructions on how to run these tests from your home, where to send them. I will hold your hand and walk you through the whole process. If you're interested in participating in that program, just email me BenGreenfieldFitness.com and I'll take care of you. So let's go ahead and move on to this week's jam packed listener Q and A. And remember, if you listen to these questions and you would like to ask a question to me, you can simply call my toll free number at 877-209-9439. Or if you have the free Skype software, you can Skype me@username PacificFit. Finally, you can email your questions to Ben greenfieldfitness.com any of those are a fine way to get a hold of me and I am still offering for the best audio question that I received this week. That means if you call the toll free number or if you call me via the audio software Skype, then I will give you a three month subscription to TrainingPeaks, which is pretty much the world's top online fitness software for tracking your fitness and your nutrition progress. And that's about a $50 value you'll get for free just by simply calling and asking your question. So, first audio question that I get this week. Okay, here's the listener Q and A.

Hi Ben, my name is Jenny. I was just calling because I had a question about the difference between fish oil and flaxseed oil.

First of all, I was just kind.

Of wondering if there are any advantages to take one over the other.

And if there are, should I take.

Them both or is it better just take one.

Thanks. Okay, I know Jenny's question was just a little bit muffled, but basically she was asking about the difference between fish oil and flaxseed oil. Now the whole idea behind fish oil or flaxseed oil is that they have what are called omega fatty acids in them. And I'm sure that you've probably heard if you're tuned into the media, all about how these are the type of fats, the omega 3s and to a certain extent the omega 6s that help to support a healthy heart, brain, nerve, eye function, fat loss, etc. And there's a little bit of controversy right now over which version of it is better. Getting your omega fats from fish oils or getting your omega fats from a more vegetable source like a flaxseed oil. Well, let's first talk about the whole idea behind why you would want to be supplementing with omega 3s in the first place. Basically, about 100 years ago, what happened with the Industrial revolution was that a different type of extraction method started to be used for processing vegetable oils or oils that were derived from seeds. So this would include like corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil. Basically what happened is that this different type of extraction was called screw nut expelling. It concentrates the omega 6 fats from these vegetable sources while basically destroying the already kind of low omega 3 concentrations. And then you compound that with the fact that animals at this time started to be fed with more of a type of feed that's loaded with omega 6 fatty acids, but doesn't really have very many omega 3 fatty acids in it. And then even, even the fish, which tend to have a higher omega 3 content, the ones that are farm raised, those also generally get a little bit lower omega 3 concentration because they don't get as much phytoplankton in their diet. They're just fed with basically the farm feed used on the fish farms. So essentially, from all these different factors in the extraction of vegetable oils and the way the animals are raised, we're getting a lot more omega 6s in our diets than we are omega 3s when it comes fatty acids. And one of the things that food manufacturers figured out is that the higher the omega 3 content of a food, the shorter the shelf life that the food is. And so a lot of dietary sources of omega 3s are actually, they're avoided in the production of processed foods just because omega 3s do shorten the shelf life. So the idea is that when you have too many Omega 6s and not enough Omega 3s, this can create a situation in the body that can lead to inflammation. And inflammation results in things like low energy, resistance to insulin, losing the ability to shed fat, and the type of things that we would all kind of like to avoid. So obviously, one of the first things that we can do is try to avoid consuming a lot of Omega 6s in the first place. And that just means that we should avoid, to a certain extent, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, corn oil, and try and choose oils in our diet that are more like olive oil, grapeseed oil, and flaxseed oil is also included in that. We can also supplement with omega 3 fatty acid sources. And that's what a lot of people have caught onto. And a lot of people are realizing it actually helps them to feel better, helps accelerate fat loss, and helps to fight chronic fatigue, among a lot of other benefits. But the idea is that some people are taking fish oil and some people are taking flaxseed oil. Now, one of the issues with the fish oil is that you have the potential for a higher number of toxins, mercury, PCBs, and compounds that would be found in animal tissue when you're supplementing with fish oil. Now, that's not to say that these are going to occur in such a high amount in fish oil that it's going to be bad for your body. But I personally use a little bit of caution when it comes to taking an oil like that. Not just because of the potential of toxins, but also because fish oil is about 30% saturated fat. And so if you're taking four fish oil capsules in the morning, you need to realize that you are dumping a high number of calories, particularly from saturated fat, into your body. Now, the other thing is that when fish oil is made, the processing that's required when you extract omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil can result in what's called oxidation. And that can decrease the shelf life of fish oil. And it can also increase the need to add things like citric acid and potassium, sorbate a couple different preservatives and into the fish oil. And one way to avoid that would be to actually supplement with an omega 3 fatty acid source from a vegetable oil. And that's where something like flaxseed oil comes into play. And that's why a lot of people take a flaxseed oil versus a fish oil, because they don't want the animal oil, they don't want the spoilage, they don't like the fishy burp that the fish oil can tend to give you, and they want to avoid the high amount of saturated fat. Comparatively, flaxseed oil is only about 2 to 3% saturated fat. So I personally take the flaxseed oil. I just get it from a supplement. It's pretty easy to find flaxseed oil supplements. If you were going to take both fish oil and flaxseed oil, you could. You'd be getting omega 3s from two different sources. I really don't see any need to do both. You know, I take Flaxseed oil. And then I'll have at least for one meal during the week, a fish based meat meal. And so, you know, that's anywhere from 4 to 8 ounces of fish, depending on the size of the dinner that I'm having. But I personally would recommend that you go with a vegetable based omega 3 fatty acid versus an animal based omega 3 fatty acid. So great question, Jenny. Now the next question is a write in question from listener Valerie who asks, in your conversation with Dr. Akers, you talked about a stick. What is that? Where can I get one? How do you use it? A stick is basically a term for something that's almost really like a rolling pin. And believe it or not, I have actually used a rolling pin myself before when I didn't have a stick. And it's used to rub inflammatory pockets or connective tissue adhesions out of a muscle that's sore. It's basically like giving yourself a self directed massage. And as opposed to something like a foam roller, it can be used in a little bit more targeted, smaller area, you know, such as, for example, if you want to get just the area above the inside of your knee because it was sore, you could roll a stick 10 to 20 times up and through that area. And this isn't a literal stick like you would go snap off a tree outside. It's literally basically two handles attached to some form of a rolling device. Again, kind of like a rolling pin. The one that I use is called the muscle track. And the reason I use that one is because it's actually got little indented wheels that feel like they grab a little bit deeper into the tissue than like a smooth rolling stick that you'll find most places. So it's called the muscle track. You can get it if you go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com and you scroll down the right side of the page. There's a little link there that shows the the muscle track and I'll also put a link to that after or in my response to your question so that you can just click on it and go check it out. There's a ton of information on the website about how to use it for different things. You know, everything from tennis elbow to, excuse me, Achilles tendonitis to just general muscle soreness. But a great little tool to have. They're pretty inexpensive. Sticks are going to range anywhere from like 20 bucks up to about 50 bucks. And it's well worth having around as an alternative to massage therapy or as something you can just add in after workout. You know, five minutes with the stick can actually leave you with a lot less soreness and a lot better recovery. So I'll put a link to that in the show notes. Great question, Valerie. Okay, next up, I have a question from listener William and he says, I was just reading an article in the newspaper about some people who have quit giving their children dairy in an attempt to get rid of skin eczema. How much of a correlation is there between milk and dairy consumption and presence of acne or other skin problems? Great question, William. I think I actually saw that same article in the health section of, I think it was Saturday or Sunday in the newspaper. And it is true that there is a correlation between dairy and acne. It's just that a lot of people maybe don't understand what that correlation is. Well, the, the idea is if we look at milk, if you look at milk from a physiological standpoint, it's basically, it's provided to be the sole food of infant mammals. It's made to make baby cows grow. If it's cow's milk that you're consuming, and in addition to things that help babies grow like proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, even lactose sugars, milk contains a bunch of different growth stimulating steroids and what are called peptide hormones, as well as all of the different enzymes and transporters necessary to make sure that when that's consumed, it has maximum activity. So some of the hormones that we're talking about that is in cow's milk in particular is insulin. Insulin like growth factor, something called beta cellulin, estrogens and then precursors is something called dihydrotestosterone or dht. Well, each of these different hormones has a certain goal when it's consumed. So for example, insulin is actually designed to allow the compounds in cow's milk to actually get taken up into the muscle as quickly as possible. The actual insulin in cow's milk differs from human insulin by about three different what are called amino acids and it survives the pasteurization process. Pasteurized cow's milk is just as high in insulin as raw cow's milk. But the idea is that this type of insulin actually survives the human digestive process. It crosses what's called the gut barrier intact and it's actually absorbed a lot more completely in infants because infants have a higher intestinal permeability, meaning that they can absorb things across their intestines a lot better than older kids or adults. Now, whereas the insulin may not have a huge role to play in the formation of skin problems or acne. One of the problems is that because the cow insulin is a little bit different from the human insulin by those three different amino acids, it can force the body to have what's called an immune response. And the human insulin can react with the bovine insulin and lead to an actual destruction of the insulin cells. So this could actually increase a child's susceptibility to type 1 diabetes when the. When the insulin cells are destroyed, what are called the beta cells are destroyed. So I would actually highly recommend, at least for the first few months of a child's life, trying to stay away from formulas that are based on cow's milk. Another hormone that you're going to find in cow's milk is called insulin, like growth factor 1. It's been mentioned on this show before. But cow's milk consumption is definite associated with a higher IGF1 concentration. And the idea behind IGF1 is that it can set up what's called a hormonal cascade that can result in a little bit of overgrowth of skin cells or epithelial cells. And one of the things that can happen when the skin cells are induced to overgrow is acne and skin problems. And so that's one link between the possibility of consumption of milk and acne, especially in children, but possibly also in adults. Now, another thing that we find in cow's milk that's also very related to the growth of the epidermis or skin cell growth factor, is something called beta cellulin. And this is found in cow's milk. It's also found in whey, it's found in cheese. Just like insulin, it's not killed when cow's milk is pasteurized or processed. And a lot of milk, especially bovine milk, contains special inhibitors that prevent the human gut from. From degrading this beta cellulin. And so what can happen when you consume this beta cellulin is you have a hormone receptor called the epidermal growth factor receptor. And when you consume cow's milk that contains beta cellulin, it can again cause an upregulation of the growth of skin cells, and it can cause acne, eczema, and skin problems. And it's actually potentially a little bit of a carcinogenic substance, because anything that induces that kind of growth in your body can put you at risk for something like cancer or overgrowth of cells. Now, another thing that you're going to find in cow's milk is steroid hormones. And these are primarily going to be estrogens, although you're also going to find stuff like progesterone this DHT that I talked about, the dihydrotestosterone that can also be found in cow's milk. And a lot of these can also survive the human digestive process intact. They can cross the gut barrier, especially in children, intact. And these estrogens or steroid precursors or steroids can actually again, up regulate the growth of certain cells. And while they could increase the risk of cancer, you know, such as overgrowth of breast tissue in adults, they could also again, upregulate the growth of skin cells in children and could potentially lead to acne. Now, some people have absolutely no problem with cow's milk. They don't find that it increases their weight, they don't find that it gives them skin problems. They don't find that it makes them tired or sleepy or inhibits fat loss. But I find that a lot of people, especially some of my clients who I've had do something as simple as quit having that 12 ounce latte in the morning, have noticed a rapid increase in their energy levels and an increase in their ability to, to burn fat. And as far as the consumption of dairy by children is concerned, I would just say that if you're giving a kid cow's milk and you're noticing that your baby or your child or even your adolescent is experiencing skin problems, acne, eczema, things of that nature, you may just want to try a different source of protein for them. For example, goat's milk is one great alternative. And we've had an interview a couple of times about goat's milk on that show. And I personally give my kids powdered goat's milk. It's from a company called Mount Capra, very easy to get your hands on. That is an alternative to cow's milk. And then there are a lot of other non dairy sources that you can also look into. Rice milk, almond milk, soy milk. What it basically boils down to is that the amount of hormones, steroid precursors, beta cellulin, estrogens, dihydrotestosterone and other compounds in cow's milk may make it probably not the best choice from a health perspect for giving your kids protein. And yeah, it could potentially lead to skin problems. So great question from listener William. And then finally I have a question from listener Frank. And this is going to lead into kind of our main interview for the day. Frank says, I listened to your podcast, episode number 38, in which you talked about prostate health, especially for male cyclists. Can you talk more about the saw palmetto extract and rye pollen that you mentioned. Well, to answer Frank's question, I actually found a really good talk. I'd heard it a few weeks ago. I'd been wanting to feature on the podcast anyway, so I'm glad Frank asked the question. So I'm basically going to play this for you. It's about 20 minutes long and it really goes into great detail about some really cool natural remedies for guys. Even you females out there are going to want to listen into this though, because it has some fascinating insight on pollen, which I wasn't aware of this, but it is one of the more complete food sources on the face of the planet. So listen in. Pretty fascinating interview with a guy named Kerry Nosler.

You see, throughout history, pollen has been a food, has been a food and a medicine for humankind. And a lot of anecdotal research, obviously in the past was collected on the value of different kinds of pollen. It's a storehouse of nutrients. And that was the case and is the case with pollen. Well, as we develop the means of analyzing products or different substances to breaking it down into chemical analysis, that was done with pollen and not so much in this country because we just didn't have a history of folklore, of natural medicines the way they did in Europe and in Asia. Well, they started to do studies on the value of pollens and found some pretty amazing results. It was used primarily as an energy tonic because it supplies all the known nutrients, with exception of vitamin B12. You get all the vitamins, you get all the minerals, you get all the amino acids. I mean, this is a storehouse of nutrition. And there were, there were societies that lived on pollen during. During various times. You know, they would collect it either from airborne pollen or they would steal it from the bees, you know, and add it to repertoire. So again, it was used for, as I said, for energy. It was used to stimulate the immune system. It had a direct function on helping the liver to detoxify. The liver. It's a very, very important function, even today, was used again for inflammation. This was one of its primary areas. And far back as we have recorded history, the Chinese reported that with difficult cases of urination that certain kinds of pollens were found to be effective. Well, when we started to standardize treatments, there were some glaring problems here. And one again was there's different kinds of pollens all over the world. They come from different kinds of plants and they all have different properties. And so while you can give a rough analysis of what's in a pollen, you know, they couldn't guarantee if you're going to use this for a study or you're going to use this for therapeutic purposes, that you'd be getting all the nutrition that you need for that particular condition. Well, in Sweden, there were some famous researchers that decided that they were going to research pollen in greater detail. And this one fellow found a way to extract the essential elements of pollen and separate it into the water soluble and the fat soluble elements and standardized them. And they used ripollen. That's the picture that you have on the front of Prostylane. You have a. It's a rye plant because that's what's used in the manufacture of this particular product. There's huge fields of rye pollen and they have these harvesters just like you harvest hay. Well, they harvest the pollen at certain times of the year, collect it, take it to the laboratory. I think it said in the little booklet, it takes 10,000 rye plants to make one kilo of this pollen extract, 2.2 pounds. And they found that certain extracts would do certain things like they may use some more of the fat soluble, they may use more of the water soluble. And it had a great reputation in Europe for athletes, was used for athletic endurance, for strength, in cases of debilitation, for convalescence, for children, for older people, people who had gone through operations, pollen had a remarkable rejuvenating effect. And especially in this particular form where they were able to concentrate the different substances in the fat, water soluble and fat soluble. Well, because of its ability now to handle inflammation, it became obvious that with certain conditions associated with the prostate, for example, where the prostate enlarges over a period of time, that maybe they would have some effect in that area, or I should say enlarge in the urogenital area. You see everything that I told you before, these are general benefits for everybody. Everybody can benefit from energy, everybody can benefit from improved liver function, everybody can benefit from improved immune function. And whether you're a man or a woman, there are opportunities for inflammation in the genital area. And so women specifically, in cases of menstrual difficulties or just infections in general of the urogenital tract, will find some kind of benefit from, from this product. So it has a wide application. And the odds of a woman getting an infection of the urinary tract are very great too. You know, there's a high percentage of women that every year will get something like that. So again, that's the broader picture. That's the context from which we're coming here. This is an all specific, all purpose and valuable nutritive addition to the diet when they started doing the studies, looking at the prostate difficulties. And again, prostate difficulties are primarily a problem in Western society. And it's linked pretty much to diet, exercise, alcohol, you know, all the things that are part of our lifestyle today. In Asian diets where they have more of the phytochemicals, the phytonutrients, less of a meat based diet, less of a saturated fat diet, they have less bpm, they have less BPH, and they have less prostate cancer. So we're looking again, and this is why it's part of our whole program here, because it's part of a lifestyle. And so you need nutrition to go in and kind of take care of the overall situation and then work from that particular point. Well, with bph, now you've got a particular situation where it's the equivalent of. It's what they call male menopause in a sense because it's pretty much with the exception of the inflammation part, it's a matter of hormone alteration. See, as guys age, just like women, you have a different ratio of the male hormone to the female hormone. And what happens is that the male hormone drops, female hormone comes up as you get older. For most men, well, it causes a couple of things. As the body decreases its production of testosterone, the male hormone, again, your system is always trying to balance itself. If the body doesn't have enough testosterone, which is an androgenic hormone, which gives males maleness in that sense and protects, I might say, the heart. It's not testosterone that causes problems in your body, it's lack of testosterone. As testosterone drops, prostate problems increase. You know, it's normally a little tiny little gland, like 20, 25 grams less an ounce. Tiny little thing. You know, it's right beneath the bladder and the urethra and it's, it's when, you know, the urine when you urinate, that has to go through that little spot as well as when sperm travels from a certain duct through there. You know, that's part of the whole thing that it's doing. So it's got two purposes there. It gets up to that certain size and it should stay there. They're going to be healthy. Unfortunately, again, as the testosterone levels drop, the prostate starts to get bigger. And that's it. It's called androgenic growth in that sense. It's a hormonally based expansion of the, of the prostate gland. So as the pro, as the testosterone drops, the body again, trying to maintain this balance because it needs the energy that comes from testosterone. Well, it produces another more potent form of testosterone. This is called DHT dihydrotestosterone because it's so powerful. Again, what do, what do androgens do? What does testosterone do? Growth, muscle, you know, activity, energy. So if you get a more potent form of that wherever it connects, or if it has like a little docking site somewhere in the body, specifically the prostate here, then it's going to cause an enlargement of the prostate gland. And at the same time as the estrogen level goes up, the estrogens block, block certain enzymes that are supposed to, to unhook, you might say the dht because once it gets bound then it ends in trouble because the body has a hard time unhooking it. Well, the higher estrogens keep that from happening. So you got higher estrogens which are interfering with the action of the enzymes that are needed to clear this DHT from the body. And you got higher test or lower testosterone which is causing more of this DHT to be produced at the same time. So you can see it's a hormonal alteration for that particular kind of bph. And again, there's one kind, there's other kinds too. But this is the one that we're going to talk about at this particular time now. So here comes, now what do we do about this? Well again, medicine says aha. Why is it, why are we producing more of this dht? Well, there's a certain enzyme here that helps to convert testosterone to DHT. It's called 5 alpha reductase. Not real hard 5 alpha reductase. This 5 alpha reductase gets the testosterone, converts it into DHT. They say, Ah, well, why don't we just stop this enzyme, 5 alpha reductase, then we won't form any DHT and we'll take care of the prostate. That's the basis of Proscar, which is the largest selling drug for prostate enlargement. It does do that. It has some, some side effects, it has some problems, especially with long term use and sometimes it doesn't always result in the, in the shrinking of the prostate. But that's kind of that particular idea. Now another extension of the natural realm, so to speak, in terms of taking care of that phenomenon are several plant based extracts, one saw palmetto. And this is what you guys will all run up against because most of the products that are designed to help the prostate are going to be combinations usually of saw palmetto, pygeum nettles and then zinc. Zinc will be very popular and also beta Sitosterol. These are all compounds that have an effect on inflammation and or stopping the conversion of testosterone to dht. That's what the saw palmetto does. But again it's very specific, that's all it does. None of these substances have an effect on overall nutrition, on immunity, liver detoxification, the general energy factors that we're talking about, the health giving kind of benefits that we're interested in. But what it doesn't do, the saw palmetto, even though it may block some of the conversion of testosterone to dht, it doesn't always result in a shrinking of the prostate. And here's why. Okay. See 30% of the prostate gland is muscle. And in order for it to work right, in order to let. This is why you have problem when you urinate if you have bph, because the, the muscle part of the prostate doesn't relax, it gets bigger impinges on the, the little urethra tube doesn't get, doesn't relax. And so you can't void completely or you have an urge but nothing happens. Or if you start to, it doesn't completely empty any of those things because that muscle doesn't relax. The saw palmetto doesn't really shrink the prostate that much. It just changes the dht. Whereas the prostylon with the action of the pollen does something very good. It allows for that muscle to contract, to open up so you can get the urine out of the body. You know, it's a very, very, very important consideration. The enlargement of the prostate may be due to other factors that are inflammatory processes. Prostatitis, prosthodont and something called nonspecific urethitis. These are infections that you can get and, or you know, it could be caused from other sources, sexual partners for example, or it could be caused from urine that doesn't get out the way it's supposed to. And the bacterial growth then leads to other types of things and you have an infection. Saw palmetto, pygeum, nettles, none of those can take, can handle that kind of infection with the prostate. They just are incapable of doing that. This particular product hits the hormonally related enlargement of the prostate and it takes care of all the inflammation just like it does for the woman. If you happen to have a problem with inflammation and you're general tract again, that's the, that's the difference in the specific action of this product as compared to all the others. So none of them can do the total picture. What you'll find with the Prostyl on the first thing is immediate relief. And this is what Prostylan will do much faster than saw palmetto or nettles or pygeum, any of those, because you'll get immediate relaxation of the smooth muscle of the prostate to help with relief. Okay, then the next phase. And this is something where actually this product, the longer you use it, the better it is, the more results you get. So that over a period of time from three to six months, you can get the body, you can get the prostate to reduce down to whatever size it's going to be, whatever normal size hopefully you're capable of achieving. But again, while this is happening, it's not just isolated to the prostate because again, it's building an overall systemic health effect anyway. So that's, that's a brief overview of what is really as, as Brenda said, a very, very exciting product because of the total ramifications here. And again, you can take it any part you want. You just want prostate. You got prostate. You know, you want to take it beyond that and talk about some real extra special benefits for the body. You got that too. You know, this goes, this goes as far as you want to go with it in that sense. And it certainly, as I said, goes very well with the whole philosophy of enterprise and impacts in general.

So that's a very interesting discussion by Kerry Nosler. If you're interested in some of that information that he talked about in terms of the pollen extract and supplementation after Frank's quest, I will put a link to one of the products he was talking about, which is called Prostylane, and that's the one that actually has that rye pollen extract in it. I actually personally take it every single morning. I have been doing so for a few months now. So anyways, that is Today's content from BenGreenfieldFitness.com Remember to check out BenGreenfieldFitness.com Help to get a lot of information about the free training and free nutrition programs that I post almost every week on the website. Be sure to check out the show notes to this podcast for information that. Sunday, April 26 live online video Q and A on metabolic fat loss. For those of you who are local, you don't want to miss that. Holistic fueling for Ironman Triathlon for you local triathletes as well as the local triathlon camp. Remember to leave us a ranking in itunes. I'm going to put a link in the show notes that you can simply click on to leave us a ranking at the very end of the show notes of this podcast. And until next week when I have a very cool, very special announcement about a ton of stuff I'm giving away and a special challenge leading up to summer. You're going to want to check that out. I will be announcing that in next week's podcast. Stay tuned until next time. This is Ben Greenfield signing out from BenGreenfieldFitness.com.