This week, on A Different Perspective, Dr. Flynn addresses an email he received from an ADP viewer asking about melatonin’s effects on cancer. Then he covers what he considers a pandemic of testosterone decline and young men and how to address it with diet and specific nutrients.
Overview of Events
Dr. Flynn begins with his upcoming speaking events across the country and recaps the recent Wellness Way seminar in Orlando, Florida. There were not only chiropractors there but also doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, academy students, and staff from our corporate office and clinics around the country. Everyone was there training at a high level to serve you clinically every day.
The ADP episodes, information on the website, and other training events across the country are great. But the one thing unique about The Wellness Way is that we have practicing clinicians all over the country. Clinicians can then apply this information to guide you through the process of health restoration.
The Wellness Way practitioners are like tour guides. Everyone needs a guide. Dr. Flynn comments that he needs the guide on his Peloton bike. The voice on the Peloton screen pushes him to work harder and keep going.
Similarly, our Wellness Way practitioners are there to guide you on your health journey.
A Viewer Question on Melatonin for Cancer
(Begins at 12:50)
Dr. Flynn then addresses an email he received from a viewer of last week’s A Different Perspective. (You can email Dr. Flynn at [email protected], and he or one of the other doctors will answer it.) The email said,
Dr. Flynn,
I watched your show on melatonin and it was fascinating, I had no idea because they don’t tell you things like that. My question is, I started to look it up more and it said it is good for people who have cancer and are going through cancer treatments, do you have any insight.
Sincerely,
Megan
Melatonin, while it is known as the sleep hormone, does much more than that. But first, some background.
What Is the Master Antioxidant?
If you ask integrative doctors what they consider the master antioxidant, most will say, “Glutathione.” Well, that’s not necessarily true. You cannot eat it, and you cannot take it as a supplement. You have to take “reduced glutathione.” To get glutathione, you need to convert it into its active form.
It’s like vegans saying they can get vitamin A from carrots or other foods. You cannot get vitamin A from these foods. You get beta carotene, which is a pro-vitamin. Our bodies need to convert pro-vitamins into the active form of retinol in the liver. If you eat a meat source, like organ meat, you get a direct form of vitamin A, retinol, which is more bioavailable.
Since you do not need the liver to make the conversion, you do not have to worry if you have liver problems. (Most vegans have liver problems because they eat too much sugar).
Back to glutathione… Glutathione IVs and shots are fantastic. There are also some foods, like avocados, that help you produce glutathione. But, what about an antioxidant that doesn’t require an IV, a shot, or conversion into its active form?
If you look at body weight and what the body needs, antioxidant-wise, about ten percent of our body weight comes from mitochondria. The mitochondria determine so much when it comes to cancers.
Scientists have found that most (but not all) types of cancer start in the mitochondria. So, whether you have breast cancer, intestinal cancer, or brain cancer, there is some problem with the mitochondria. They become damaged, and of course, then the cells change.
Researchers even talk about the longevity of the cells based on the mitochondria. Mitochondria are a vital part of the cell, and many cancers start there. Guess what the major antioxidant is that keeps mitochondria great? It is not glutathione; it is melatonin.
Melatonin has a fantastic effect on mitochondrial repair and stopping cancer growth.
Mayo Clinic Study on Melatonin
The Mayo Clinic published a study on the potential of melatonin for brain cancer:
Mayo Clinic research says that melatonin not only enhances the effects of chemotherapy on the cancer cells, but it also protects non-cancerous cells. According to Mayo, it could help avoid “the danger of introducing foreign molecules to the patient.
Is Dr. Flynn saying that melatonin will replace cancer treatments? No. He is just trying to demonstrate ways to get the highest level of antioxidants without needing an IV or shot or a reduced supplement form.
How to Get Melatonin
The best form of melatonin doesn’t come from a pill. Does Dr. Flynn take melatonin supplements? Yes, sometimes. At the seminar last week, he was going and going and didn’t get enough sleep, so he needed a bit more. After all, melatonin is known as the hormone of darkness.
But that’s misleading. The best promoter of melatonin doesn’t come from darkness; it comes from light: near-infrared light. That’s why he loves his infrared sauna. You can also get infrared from the sun.
Melatonin is interesting because, if you sit in the sun, you reduce your pineal production of melatonin, but you increase your mitochondrial production. That’s why sitting for a long time in the sun makes you sleepy.
Now you know why when you go on vacation and spend time in the sun all day you get so tired. That’s because you get massive melatonin production from ten percent of your body weight – the mitochondria.
Melatonin as an Addition to Traditional Cancer Treatments
Melatonin’s ability to enhance chemotherapy treatments and even protect non-cancer cells during chemotherapy is something that scientists should investigate.
Dr. Flynn would like to see melatonin added to cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiation. In his opinion, it would be great if the oncologist would put patients on a certain number of milligrams of melatonin while doing cancer treatments.
The melatonin would help protect the non-cancer cells but create apoptosis (cell death) in the cells with damaged mitochondria so that they die faster, and the chemo is more effective.
Melatonin is not only fantastic for synergistic cancer treatments but also successfully used to enhance fertility. Doc has helped thousands of people improve their fertility and cannot recall a situation where he didn’t use melatonin.
Melatonin also positively affects the immune system (including SARS-Cov-2) due to its antioxidant effects. He will continue to argue that glutathione is not the #1 antioxidant: but rather melatonin.
He then goes into another topic: the pandemic he believes is happening among young men.
A Pandemic in Young Men: Testosterone Decline
There is a true pandemic for young men. Yes, there is a cultural aspect of the powers that be trying to demasculinize men. But you do not need to demasculinize men when internally they are becoming sicker and sicker.
The true pandemic in young men is the steady decrease in testosterone levels they are experiencing here in the United States.
A Study on Testosterone Decline
(Begins at 24:13)
Dr. Flynn brings up a study published in Urology Times, entitled “Testosterone levels show steady decrease among young US men”:
From 1999 to 2016, testosterone levels have declined in adolescent and young adult men (AYA), according to results presented at the 2020 American Urological Association Virtual Experience1.
“Overall male testosterone decline can be attributed to multiple etiologies. The United States has an aging population with older males exhibiting lower testosterone levels. Furthermore, overall population has an increase in comorbidities, including diabetes, which may have cause this testosterone decrease nationally,” Soum Lokeshwar, MD, MBA, incoming urology resident at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, said during a press briefing.
“However, most of these explanations for testosterone deficiency may be attributed to age.
Dr. Flynn is 47, and his testosterone levels are over 800. If it’s all related to age, is he the exception to the rule? He can give thousands of numbers of men who have healthy testosterone levels as they age. There are even guys he knows in their 80s with testosterone levels over 500.
We will all eventually die and will experience a slow decline. We are a copy of a copy of a copy. The copy machine is a good illustration of aging. You can only get so many “copies.” Eventually, they run out. But you can add more ink to the printer and get a better copy. Enjoy the journey because eventually, your copies run out.
They blame things on aging because you have an “easy out,” and you don’t have to take responsibility for it.
Testosterone deficiency has a prevalence of 10%-40% among adult males, and 20% among AYA men aged 15-39 years, he added. Therefore, Lokeshwar and colleagues hypothesized that serum total testosterone levels will decline in AYA men.
Testosterone levels are going down over time. It’s worse now than it was 25 years ago. Why is this? Who is guiding young men on how to take care of their testosterone levels? Our thinking is leading to an unhealthy population. The medical field is dominating in this area.
Are these doctors and pediatricians doing blood work and checking testosterone levels in your teenage boys? No, they are just doing the basics. You’d be surprised how many young men have low testosterone. That has huge implications for health in general: heart issues, eye problems, and eventually, sexual dysfunction. It just might now show up right away.
According to Lokeshwar, potential causes for these declines could be increased obesity/BMI, assay variations, diet/phytoestrogens, declined exercise and physical activity, fat percentage, marijuana use, and environmental toxins.
That sounds exactly what The Wellness Way tests every day to determine which of the three stressors (Trauma, Toxins, and Thoughts) are affecting someone’s body. Do you know what the highest source of phytoestrogens in infants is? Formula. Soy is not good for you. Avoid it.
Testosterone Impacts a Man’s Attractiveness
Ladies, pay attention! (This is a non-PC show). You ladies are attracted to strong men. Yes, you like to see men holding their baby girls. That’s also attractive. There’s no doubt.
But you want a strong man who can stand up, protect you, go to battle for you, who is strong and will go after things. The most common complaint women have at seminars is that their man has lost his “Grrr” – His manly attractiveness.
Testosterone has a lot to do with that, and we need to look at the factors leading to low levels. We’re destroying young men’s testosterone levels with sugar, obesity, phytoestrogens, environmental toxins (even vaccines), heavy metals, glyphosate, and lack of physical activity.
Ladies, get your young boys off video games and get them outside.
Don’t Equate Symptoms and Appearance with Testosterone Health
He continues with the study…
“We’ve seen that lower values of testosterone have been associated with increased comorbidities and an increase risk for all-cause mortality. This decline specifically, in these young adult men, with increased obesity may lead to an increase in precocious cancer,” Lokeshwar said, adding such decreases can also result in a lower libido and an increased risk for erectile dysfunction.
When testosterone goes down, it’s a bad day. You have an increased risk of all-cause mortality, including heart disease. Testosterone is very protective of the heart.
“This is especially worrisome in this young adult age group, as many men feel stigma and are less likely to seek care for these low libido and erectile dysfunction.”
That’s a good point. Men are less likely to seek care for some of these issues. It’s difficult for men to talk about problems they are having, and because they don’t talk about them and don’t seek help and the problem gets worse.
So, doctors need to be proactive in testing.
Appearances can be deceiving. Doc has had star athletes who look physically fit, and their testosterone levels are 200. He has even had professional football players that have that.
Often, we equate physical fitness levels with testosterone levels. Dr. Flynn has had chiseled male patients with testosterone levels under 200. That’s why we don’t just guess and assume a guy with big muscles has good T levels. That’s why we do lab testing –even for young men.
Doc goes over a lab result of a young man aged 22 who had testosterone levels of 220. Yes, he had some symptoms, which is why he came to the office. But Dr. Flynn is more focused on what this means long-term.
This young man doesn’t currently have heart problems, but what happens in 10 or 15 years? He could develop a heart problem over time without anyone ever knowing.
It’s about being a carpenter-type doctor. As carpenters, we’ll look at that 22-year-old and say, “Maybe something’s missing.” So, we need to work on building it up.
A Wellness Way clinician will look at this 220 and ask, “Does he have trouble producing testosterone?” Nope.
But we turn the page of the report… and his CRP (C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker) is high, showing chronic inflammation. Then you see that he has elevated estradiol. His testosterone is converting into estrogens. He’s becoming more dominant in female hormones than in testosterone. That’s a bad day.
Eventually, that will lead to illness… By the time he’s 35, 40, or 50 and has some type of chronic illness, doctors will blame it on aging. It’s not about aging. It’s about who guided him along the way as he got older.
What Impacts Testosterone Levels?
(Begins at 47:00)
Doc then goes over another study called Low Testosterone in Adolescents & Young Adults. This is well-known! It’s in all the medical journals:
Male hypogonadism, the clinical syndrome with variable symptoms associated with gonadal dysfunction, can affect men of all ages. In older males, physiologic changes of the aging testis, account for the majority of decreased testosterone levels in this population.
Again, they go back to aging. Dr. Flynn, at 47, has four times the testosterone as that young man at 22 years old. Doc is 25 years older than he is. It has nothing to do with aging. Back to the study:
For younger males and adolescents, the etiology of hypogonadism is commonly due to congenital or acquired conditions that disrupt the testis production of testosterone or signaling from the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Diagnosis of hypogonadism in younger males can be a challenge, as symptoms such as decreased libido or erectile dysfunction, common in the older men, are not usually present, and young men instead commonly complain of low energy.
Most people judge their health by how they feel. That young man who’s 22 doesn’t have erectile dysfunction yet, but give him 5, 10, or 15 years. Never judge your body based on symptoms alone. That’s why labs are important; labs that look for optimal levels.
How old should a young man be when he gets his testosterone checked? Before puberty would be great.
While an underlying congenital cause should always be considered in young men with hypogonadism, acquired conditions such as obesity, diabetes, anabolic steroid or illicit drug use have all been associated with low testosterone levels. Outside of modifying identifiable risk factors for hypogonadism, pharmacologic testosterone therapy can also lead to therapeutic dilemmas in young men who desire paternity. Topical or injectable administration of testosterone, through negative feedback on the hypothalamus and pituitary, can decrease spermatogenesis, posing an infertility risk.
They always go to synthetic replacement. But manipulating hormones from a synthetic standpoint doesn’t always get the desired result. Here, they admitted it could lead to infertility. Topical or injectable testosterone is not the same thing as your natural testosterone. You need the components to create healthy testosterone and sperm. Testosterone levels are at an all-time low.
Back to the study…
Other agents that can replace testosterone or increase the body’s natural production of testosterone without decreasing spermatogenesis are preferred, such as intranasal testosterone, selective estrogen modulators, aromatase inhibitors or human-chorionic gonadotrophin, often used in combination. Clinicians must maintain a high level of suspicion to properly diagnose young men with hypogonadism and tailor treatment based on both the underlying etiology and fertility goals.
So, what do you need to increase testosterone? Yes, you need the constituents, like zinc and vitamin A, but to make it simple, you need LH (luteinizing hormone) from the brain, and you need cholesterol.
What Are the Long-Term Implications of Low T?
Let’s look at another study: Comparative transcriptional study of the effects of high intracellular zinc on prostate carcinoma cells.
The normally high concentration of zinc in normal prostate gland is significantly reduced in malignant prostate tissues, but its precise role in prostate tumorigenesis remains unclear.
A lot of guys think that prostate problems like prostate cancer come from having high testosterone levels. That’s not true unless you’re talking about DHT, which is a more potent form of testosterone. Most prostate problems come because of estrogen levels.
That young man at 22 years old will end up with prostate problems before he has other types of dysfunctions.
Which organ has the highest concentration of zinc? The prostate. So, if you’re low in zinc, it causes problems. They’ve done studies on this: Zinc status of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate carcinoma.
The body doesn’t store zinc, meaning you have to eat it daily to have high concentrations. If you lack zinc, you will be more likely to have BPH. It’s so common in men these days. So is prostate cancer. Scientists are blaming it on testosterone, but there’s a major zinc deficiency and, on top of it, higher estrogen levels.
This 22-year-old young man, if not guided properly, is going to end up in that realm.
In prostate carcinoma, the mean tissue zinc was decreased by 83% as compared to normal tissue and in BPH, there was a 61% decrease in mean tissue zinc as compared to normal tissues.
Can we measure zinc levels? No; that’s why we need to eat it regularly. If you cannot get these nutrients in your diet daily, you need to supplement with them.
It is evident from this study that BPH or prostate carcinoma may be associated with a reduction in the levels of tissue zinc, plasma zinc, and an increase in urine zinc/creatinine.
If you suffer from BPH or prostate cancer, did your doctor even mention your zinc levels? Did they talk to you about your estradiol or estrone levels? Or your DHT levels? No, they move right into an emergency medicine form of treatment.
Is it aging, or have they been guided wrongly?
How Do We Stop Testosterone Decline in Men?
It goes back to eating the right foods and getting the right nutrients.
Zinc
What’s the #1 source of zinc? Oysters. They have 52 milligrams per six oysters. Other foods high in zinc include lamb, beef (steak), pumpkin seeds, crab, cheese, almonds, oats, lobster, muesli, and chickpeas…
The majority of them are animal-based foods. That’s why Doc cannot recommend a vegan diet. The most nutrient-dense foods on the planet are organ meats.
Zinc is the second most abundant mineral in the body after iron. It’s present in every cell of the body but not stored well. The activity of over 300 enzymes in the body (possibly even 1000) depends on zinc.
This mineral is critical for the development and function of immune cells, skin, body growth and development, and our senses of taste and smell. It helps maintain your blood sugar, explaining why the pancreas has the second-highest concentration.
And… it’s used in the production of testosterone and all major hormones. The first sign of zinc deficiency is shortness of breath.
Organ Meats
Liver is dense in nutrients. It’s the #1 organ meat. The next best thing is probably heart, whether lamb hearts, chicken hearts, beef hearts, etc. You want to get good sources.
Zinc is four times higher in red meat than in white meat, so relying on chicken as a protein source is not that helpful.
If you don’t want to eat these foods, then guess what? You will need to supplement.
Yes, you can supplement with glandulars. Our zinc is high in bioavailable zinc from organ meats.
Watch for Phytic Acid Intake
Phytic Acid depletes zinc. It’s very common in grains. It’s known as an antinutrient, which binds to minerals, including iron, copper, zinc, and other trace minerals, and keeps them from being absorbed.
So, when athletes think they’re carb-loading and eating rice and pasta, they are causing major mineral deficiencies right before their sporting events.
Athletes have severe problems in their muscles because they are zinc deficient. The third highest concentration is in the muscles, especially the calf muscles. So, if you’re an athlete and you don’t have enough zinc, you’ll have major muscle fatigue and cramping.
The carb-loading leads to zinc deficiency, leading to calf muscles cramping up. Zinc is also critical for the Achilles tendon. If you deplete the zinc in tissue over time, eventually, it will snap.
Are these problems from aging? Or are they from poor guidance? Who is guiding you?
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