YouTube Livestream Q&A Transcript, September 9, 2025

Question
“What do you know about GLP-1 in microdoses for treating rheumatoid arthritis? I am not overweight, but I have heard from some respected doctors that research suggests that they may have a direct anti-inflammatory effect independent of weight loss. The whole GLP-1 craze has come on too fast, and I am unsure of current/future side effects. What do you know about this?”  [0:04:30]

Answer
Well, I know a good amount. I know that it came out with a black box warning immediately at the onset of making GLP-1 medications available for prescription. It came out with a black box warning of its risk of generating thyroid medullary cancers. So that's never good when you see a prescription drug come out initially with a black box warning. Now, remember, this inhibits your desire to eat, it reduces your appetite, so it's feedback to the brain, and satiation is that you're full. It slows down peristalsis, so it has neurochemical effects. It can cause paralysis. Now, microdosing would be argued to be less of a risk, but again, this has not been published or studied. I would far rather have had rheumatoid arthritis patients who do absolutely fine and get off their methotrexate or their Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) by using lifestyle changes, and that would be seeing a good functional doctor. This doctor would then get your history and your background and study what likely led to the development of rheumatoid arthritis, rather than just shooting out prescription medications at it. And using natural things like even high-dose vitamin C, which, remember, NF Kappa Beta is an inflammatory marker that is upregulated in inflammation, and what's causing the inflammation should be the big question. And the biggest thing that we have found as a general practice is gut dysbiosis, inflammation, leaky gut, materials passing from the microbiome into your bloodstream that alarms your immune system, and molecular mimicry can create this cross-reactivity with cartilage and your joints. The same could happen to your thyroid and get thyroid attack, inflammation, thyroiditis instead of rheumatoid arthritis, and it can molecularly mimic myelin sheath or neurological damage for MS/ALS, various other diseases, skin mimicry for psoriasis, and these are all usually treated by doing a complete digestive stool analysis, looking at your sugar metabolism, insulin, and triglyceride, hemoglobin A1c, and your fasting blood sugar, looking at the time of day that you eat, looking at your stress in your life, looking at your hormone replacement because hormones, estradiol is a natural anti-inflammatory. Your hydration status. I mentioned high-dose vitamin C. Natural anti-inflammatories like the curcumin family, turmeric, and systemic enzymes that you take on an empty stomach. These enzymes go through your whole body to disinflame the whole body. So, over the decades, here at this place where I've worked, I have helped many women with rheumatoid arthritis, MS, other arthritis, and neurological inflammation improve with these other things. So, I wouldn't goof around with prescription medicines like that, especially since they have a black box warning.

Question
“Could you tell me about SBI Protect?”  [0:08:57]

Answer
SBI Protect is a serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin. And if you get them from Ortho Molecular, a company that has high standards for sourcing their materials, these are from New Zealand Jersey cows, I believe, and they are not given antibiotics, drugs, or steroids. And the colostrum of these cows is full of immunoglobulins, like a mother's breast would have all the antibodies for the newborn baby. These immunoglobulins, especially IgA, are high, high, high in the colostrum. And so, if you take that as a capsule, when you're trying to quiet down an inflamed, upset microbiome in your gut from too much sugar in your diet and fruit sugar feeding the bad bacteria and too much starch and sugar from the grains and pastas and sodas and candies, feeding the bad bacteria, those, then creating a ground to create abnormal microbiome and fungus growth, these then can produce waste products that injure the lining of your gut, creating cracks of leaks, separation of cells that should be tight in junction, then they get open, and then the material in your gut, that bad bacteria, can leak through, inflame your body, lipopolysaccharides, very alarming. And then your whole body has this general inflammatory alarm going on. And then finally, there's a molecular mimicry. And then you get diagnosed with the fruit of the tree. It may be in your epigenetic situation to have chronic eczema, or another person's fruit of their tree will be rheumatoid arthritis or some of the arthritides. Another person's end of the fruit of that tree of the same disease problem will be some neurological MS or Lou Gehrig's disease or something like that. 

So, why should we go into waiting for this disease and all these outlier treatments? Why don't we start from the core? It doesn't mean you can't consult your specialist, but you can come alongside, and that's what I've done all these decades, I have come alongside the specialists and work with the patients under the care of a specialist, especially if they have had an MRI-proven MS or something like that, rheumatoid arthritis with their rheumatologists. And then we work on their lifestyle and diet, and hydration, and then we improve them that way. So, no, for GLP-1 and microdoses, let's make sure that we stay away from medications as a last resort rather than a first resort. 

Question
“How do kidney stones form?”  [0:12:22]

Answer
Well, calcium oxalates and oxalic acid are produced in many biochemical pathways. So, if you drink a lot of alcohol and eat a lot of fructose, if you look at the YouTube video by Dr. Lustig, and it's called Sugar: The Bitter Truth, he has this big cell on an image right around the one-hour part, and you'll see him compare glucose metabolism versus fructose metabolism entering the cell for being processed. When you see how fructose is metabolized, it's almost like a toxin, like alcohol, associated with a metabolism that produces a lot of oxalic and uric acid, and these are damaging with high triglycerides. So, there's really no way to describe fructose high consumption, which is in our high fructose corn syrup, it's in our soda pops, it's in almost all restaurant glazes because it has a higher sweetness taste, so it addicts us, attracts us to re-consume these terrible foods that are very hard on our liver. Now, with the kidney, if you're eating a lot of these smoothies and shakes, spinach, a lot of people hype the value of spinach, but it's full of oxalic/oxalates, high oxalates. And there's a book, the title of the book is Toxic Super Foods, and it's all about all these wonderful kale, spinach, and various vegetables and other items that we eat in our diet that we think are very healthy for us, full of oxalates. 

And remember, I'm not against eating vegetables, but if you cook them and you kind of cook out some of the anti-nutrient challenges, like the cooked versions tend to be better than the raw versions, these are consumed, and if you are taking, God forbid you're taking calcium supplementation, we get plenty of calcium from our diets, you don't need to take calcium, that will combine, especially if you're under hydrated, if you're not drinking water. So, the typical person who gets kidney stones is a coffee-drinking person who doesn't drink much water at all, and they're chronically dehydrated, and they're taking foods rich in calcium and supplements and multivitamins that have a lot of calcium, and they wind up over the years getting calcium oxalates. So the oxalates in the food and the calcium of the food, in a dehydrated situation, generate these stones. That happened to me. I was an ER doctor for many, many years, and there just never was time. We were in a level-two tertiary ER. We didn't do neurosurgery, but we had a lot of trauma coming in. It was hard. And I never drank enough. Why? Because I didn't want to stop to pee. And so, I hurt myself, and I had a kidney stone. Then I believe I had two different times of kidney stones. And then when I started working here, I often would put off drinking enough water just to try and keep the business working, and I got a kidney stone here. And then I just made an effort to drink enough water. So, really, it's a lack of water. 

Question
“Hi, Dr. E., I think my skin is sensitive to the estradiol cream I applied to my forehead. Can I apply it somewhere else, like my wrist?”  [0:16:40]

Answer
Absolutely. Yeah. No doubt. You can put it on the inside of the wrist, wherever the blood vessels are, like that, that would be just fine as general guidance.

Question
“How would you handle a large lipoma on the clavicle? MRI shows it is not cancerous, but it is about as big as an egg at this point. Is there a way to avoid surgery?”  [0:17:26]

Answer
Probably not. When we see benign moles/skin tags right at the belt line or at the bra line, where the straps are, or where we’re putting our tie and clothes on, these trauma trigger sites very often are just because the irritation of daily clothes and rubbing will create skin irritation. So, that is the reason why we remove them. So, that's the thing. 

What causes a lipoma? There are just people who tend to, in the American dietary world, have so many carbs with so much insulin, that their doctors never test their insulin level, and they wind up being high-level insulin, and that can trigger some fat cells to become ballistic, you might say, extremely big, storing triglycerides inside the fat cell, but when they get big like that, they also produce inflammatory cytokines materials from stress inflammation. So, yeah, I think you're going to have to wind up just having it surgically removed. 

Question
“Is cadmium really a micronutrient? My biochemistry professor showed a list of micronutrients, and cadmium was on the list.”  [0:19:05]

Answer
Yes, because there are different valences, you might say just like there are different valences or energy levels reduced or oxidized of iron, the same for cadmium. And so, that can be toxic to a human being; other charges can have a possible benefit. Yeah. 

Question
“What are your thoughts on the Berkey water filters? Are they safe? Also, what are your thoughts on drinking celery juice every morning? Also, do you know if the Juice Plus capsules can be opened up and put into yogurt or applesauce? Thank you.”  [0:19:49]

Answer
The answer is yes. I have one sitting right here that I've used for years. Mine is called AlexaPure. I got it from Alex Jones, that's why it's called AlexaPure. But it's the Berkey water system that markets it through Alex Jones Infowars, and that's where I got mine. Yeah, they're very good.

Yes, the Juice Plus capsules can be opened up. Drinking celery juice, I'm not really for it. Celery juice is for hydration; it has a lot of water in it, but I'd rather you drink a glass of water. I'd rather you take real water than a celery stick pulverized up in a blender. It does have antioxidants, polyphenols, apigenin, I think, also. These things have antioxidants in them that may be of value, and then the fiber that's in them may have value, so I'm not going to say you can't. But usually what people do is they dump many different vegetables into a smoothie, and it becomes, at one risk, an oxalate excess challenge because you can get a whole lot more in a dose than you would if you had to eat it with chewing, which slows the amount of exposure you would get from those oxalates. And the sugar availability after blending them pulverizes it, and the starches and cellulose become more available, increasingly as sugar. So, it's another unnecessary exposure to excess carbohydrates.

Question
“Are there vitamins to take that can help you with depression and anxiety? I am taking B complex and D with K2 and magnesium.”  [0:22:02]

Answer
Well, I hope you're taking methylated B complex. Thiamine is probably the most underrated. Vitamin B1 is probably one of the most underrated B vitamins for neurotransmitter production. Remember, your gut is probably one of the biggest sites where you make serotonin. The other thing would be a low-carb diet. Your brain functions better on ketones. Medium-chain triglycerides, MCT Oil, are helpful. Exercise is very, very helpful. Doing exercise three times a week, both weight resistance and aerobics, would be a natural mood elevator/antidepressant. It would help with anxiety as well. I'm glad you're on vitamin D, but you have to have enough vitamin D. So, find a doctor who will measure your D level to make sure it gets up into the 80 to 100 range. The methyl component on the B complex needs to be there, so it has to be methylated B complex. And how much thiamine? You know, even a 200 mg, I think, if I recall correctly, are the studies of the amount of B vitamins, 100 to 200 mg of vitamin B1, with a hefty dose of the others in a B complex. We've done that with our TLC Methyl B Complex and the methyl B complex we get from Ortho Molecular here. And usually it's one to four capsules of ours or one to two capsules of Ortho Molecular, and you could increase the dose from it. Your urine will look like a Chartreuse yellow color. Magnesium is very good as an antidepressant. A good night's sleep is a very good antidepressant. Standing in your bare feet, getting grounded every morning at sunrise, is a mood enhancer. I said the low-carb diet and exercise. Hydration, drinking enough water, is calming for the brain. And then hormone replacement therapy, because most women will start experiencing depression and anxiety as they go through stress and menopause. And so, we certainly recommend natural hormone replacement for men and women. And yeah, that'd be a good start right there.

Question
“What is a good protocol to turn around Alzheimer's?”  [0:25:00]

Answer
Dr. Bredesen is a neurologist who wrote about 10 years ago this, and I'm glad he did it. He is a neurologist, that's his specialty. We've been doing it long, long before his book was put together, with the natural hormone replacement therapy for adults with Alzheimer's, estradiol for the women, testosterone for the men, exercise, and a diet that's low carb. Remember, better cognitive function is in a ketogenic-like body. Not eating late at night, so you get better sleep. So we usually don't let patients with Alzheimer's eat after 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon at all. Adequate hydration, along with her exercise. We don't restrict salts. We give them the Celtic salt, salting their food to taste. We put them on an excellent multimineral for magnesium and potassium. We put them on powerful polyphenols, which are antioxidants, and the fruits, vegetables, and berries, and I use Juice Plus for that. We put them on vitamin D and get their fat-soluble level of vitamin D up to about a hundred. And then getting them involved in social activities, staying, working as long as they can work functionally, getting them into ministry service, getting them into helpful supportive industries, like helping childcare, helping at nursing homes, anything that puts them into service and of use. So, Dr. Bredesen’s book, hormones, antioxidants, polyphenols, D levels with exercise, and the MCT oils would be valuable. 

Question
“Hi Dr. E., I've noticed on sunglasses there is a Prop 65 warning. Also, I'm not on the computer much, but for the short time that I am, there is a strain on my eyes, and also when looking at my phone. What do you think of Blue-blocker glasses? Do you know of a trusted brand to recommend?”  [0:27:27]

Answer
I think a lot of them because the glasses I wear are blue-lockers, and I've used these for years. OptiqBlue is the brand name that I use. I think it's one of the highest regards. My optometrist got them for me. Yeah. OptiqBlue. Yeah. 

Question
“Dear Dr. E., my post-menopausal sister just tested very high on her oxidized LDL 549. She is lean and healthy. She eats a clean Ketogenic diet. Her coronary artery calcium score is zero. Total cholesterol 318, HDL 78, LDL 227, triglycerides 85. Any thoughts on what has driven up her oxidized LDL?”  [0:28:13]

Answer
There is a group of people who have been found to be hyper-responders to the lean mass, hyper-responders to a ketogenic diet. It has not been found to be an increased risk for heart disease, and this is being intensively studied by the carnivore and keto diet promoters on YouTube. There are plenty of podcasts out there on the ketogenic diet and research on the elevated LDL, lean mass hyper-responders to the ketogenic diet. So if you type that in on YouTube, you'll see these guys who look at research all the time and have studies. There's a study coming out or has come out in the recent year or two, and they're expanding the study where they looked at these gentlemen from Low Carb Down Under. It's called Low Carb Down Under. This is an Australian-based YouTube group of physicians that originally looked into the lean mass hyper-responders and elevated LDL. And I think the conclusion is that it's just a non-issue of risk for heart disease. And certainly, when I look at all these numbers, remember, when I was on active duty in the 1970s, starting my medical training and practice, all those military men had total cholesterols of 430, they had 360, yeah, very common, that was the common range of the cholesterols at that time. So, I just applaud her HDL matching her triglycerides. Her HDL is 78, and her triglycerides are 85, so they're basically equal. So her exercise, HDL is equal to her consumption of energy from carbs, and triglycerides. I don't think I would worry about that. That's my understanding of the LDL hyper-responder lean mass people, and she's probably one of them. But go to Low Carb Down Under on YouTube and put ‘lean mass hyper-responder,’ and you'll see those doctors just pour out a bunch of research that was just done. I just don't have it on the tip of my tongue, but I'm not worried about your sister. But of course, she has to share that with her doctor and make her own decision, let her watch the YouTube, and discuss it with her doctor for oversight, because I don't know if she has any other comorbidities or anything.

Question
“Hi, Dr. Rita. What would cause an iron level of 189 and an EOS (Absolute) level of 0.7 in a male, age 41? Don't know blood type. Works out, takes supplements, but is always tired. Also, is a 553 free testosterone level normal for a 41-year-old? Thank you.”  [0:32:04]

Answer
There are so many things that go into this. His diet, his body mass, his sleep, other inflammatory markers, and his ferritin level. So, I would have him see his doctor. A total iron of 189 is not terribly high, but that does put it in a mildly elevated range. So, likely it's not a concern. He might be taking a multivitamin that has iron in it. He needs to try to get out of unnecessary sources of iron. So, you would look and make sure he is not on a multivitamin with iron in it. And postmenopausal women who don't menstruate should not have supplemental iron either in their diet. I think his testosterone levels are fine. So, has this gentleman seen his doctor and had the ferritin and other inflammatory molecules? Look at his diet and evaluate him from that point. Get his liver enzymes and go from there. 

Question
“Eye Health: Know about MacuMira in Canada?”  [0:33:54]

Answer
It's a trade name for a microcurrent device that you put on your head; it's like a whole tree you put on your head, and it puts a little microcurrent right through here. It's like a pulsed electromagnetic therapy, and this microcurrent helps with microcirculation. Anytime you improve the microcirculation, you're going to have better behavior of any tissue. So, we have all this macular degeneration improved, not needing their Avastin eyeball injections, or greatly reducing their need for them, preserving their ability to drive. Many people who do EDTA chelation therapy, so that it helps the entire body, the entire vasculature of the entire human being. You have to remember, you have hundreds of thousands of tiny capillaries, let's say that's 99% of your tissue delivery of nutrients and removal of waste, and you have 1% of all your blood flow in bigger vessels. So, people who do EDTA chelation have the benefits of EDTA improving nitric oxide delivery, improving the blood flow, and reducing damage from oxidative stress. So, MacuMira in Canada is just another method of delivering microcurrent therapy. Exercise would do this. Extra vitamin C would help. Extra magnesium would help. A very low-carb diet would help. Not eating after 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon would help. Drinking enough water, half your weight in pounds as ounces, every day would help. All these things would be of benefit. 

Question
“How many nicotine lozenges a day would you recommend for an adult? Is it based on age, weight, sex, or blood type?”  [0:36:21]

Answer
The anecdotal research is 6 mg a day. I get mine at Walgreens. It's in quitting smoking, I don't smoke cigarettes, but this is like getting the patch to get nicotine patches to help you stop smoking, or you have these lozenges. And the lozenges look like they're very tiny. See how tiny that is? And I just put it up under my lip, like tobacco chewing, chewing tobacco, and it just dissolves there slowly, and I do 6 mg a day. That's like one and a half of those lozenges because they're 4 mg each. 

Is it based on age, weight, sex, or blood type? Not really. No. I wouldn't give this to children, but there's nicotine in tomatoes and tomato sauce and eggplant and potatoes. So, they're getting nicotine, you're getting nicotine also in your diet, so it's not a carcinogen. 

Question
“My carotid artery shows mild stenosis after ultrasound. My cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are good. Low blood pressure. The doctor said I have genetic markers checked, Lp(a).”  [0:37:52]

Answer
Well, what is good to you may not be what we would call good. Well, why don't you take high-dose vitamin C if you have Lp(a) because that's what I have, and I take extra vitamin C to help mitigate that risk, cutting the risk of that for cardiovascular disease. Really, there's not much at all known to lower Lp(a), but of late it looks like high-dose vitamin C seems to be very, very valuable in that. Now, we consider triglycerides to be healthy if they're roughly 75 or less, and they are basically equal or very close to HDL from exercise. We don't care really what your total cholesterol or your LDL cholesterol is. We care more about your fasting insulin, your fasting blood sugar, and your hemoglobin A1c, whether or not you drink enough water and exercise, and that would be our approach to this. You didn't get a coronary artery scan; you just had the ultrasound. Okay. So, why don't you ask them to do a coronary artery scan as well with your doctor? That would probably be the next step. But long and short of it is, it looks pretty good for you.

Question
“What options are there for stones on the kidney? How much of a dose of vitamin C?”  [0:39:46]

Answer
Not much. You'd better drink a lot of water, and just resolve yourself to drink a lot of water, and don't eat oxalate-rich spinach and kale and foods like that. You can Google what oxalate-rich foods are. Make sure you're well hydrated. And then you can take systemic enzymes to reduce inflammation in your diet and eat a low-carb diet. That's the best thing you can do. And then work with your doctor, your urologist. Sometimes, if you have a lot of stones or recurring stones, lithotripsy is the ultrasound targeted pulsing to break them up, so that they'll be removed. 

“How much of a dose of vitamin C?” Well, what I do is I probably take 6 g minimum a day. Now, for you, that might make you have diarrhea, but I've been doing this for so many years. My gut is tolerant of high-dose oral vitamin C. 

Question
“My father-in-law has prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bones, and his treatment makes him extremely exhausted. Is there anything you can recommend to increase energy levels? How do you feel about creatine? Thank you.”  [0:42:06]

Answer
There's a lot that can be done, and I have been blessed to work with oncologists. I'm not an oncologist, but I work alongside them with the patient to address the patient, to maintain their lean mass, and help them with tolerating the radiation or surgery, or chemotherapy that the oncologist is giving. One is that high-dose Vitamin C therapy is tremendously beneficial, getting the vitamin D levels up, getting methylated B complex up for their metabolism, and looking at the hydration status, and they have to start some form of exercise, even if it's from a chair, as well as bands for stretching to help get muscle tone.

Now, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that needs to be evaluated with clinical trials about the fenbendazole and the ivermectin used alongside these other standard therapies, and I have patients who I have not prescribed the fenbendazole or ivermectin, but they have found it over the counter or ordered it online, and they are taking it with their prostate cancer. I have some patients taking 222 to 444 mg a day by oral route and doing that for three days on, four days off. They also take 12 to 24 mg of ivermectin, three days on and four days off. And there's a need for the oncologist to get ahold of this because I'm not telling the patient what to do, I'm observing what they're taking, just like there are other nutrients and herbs that they might be taking as well. 

But I'll tell you, one just last week saw me, and he had such bad metastatic disease that it was not looking good for his future, but he went on the fenbendazole and ivermectin about eight months ago. Actually, I think I mentioned this case before, and he actually took too much, I think, or too many consecutive days in a row, because there needs to be a break, because there can be some bone marrow blood production suppression and liver injury, and he wound up getting very anemic and needing a transfusion. So, we talked to him about it. I was familiar with all the anecdotal comments and the blogs of people trying this on their own. And then we got the transfusion, his oncologist was aware, then he went back on a cycling dose, and then he absolutely improved, regained his muscle mass, his own blood production, and did very, very well.
So I have to mention, anecdotally, these things seem to be doing, I have several patients doing this, and I'm encouraging their oncologist to follow them and be aware of what their patients are doing and track it. So, I track it with them for my patients’ benefit, checking their CBCs and chemistries. So he might look into that. But find a good functional doctor who can work with your oncologist and stay open about what they're doing and share everything with them. 

Question
“Hormones - I listen to you talk about being on Hormones and in many of your patients. With an estrogen-positive/progesterone-negative and other mutations found genetically, I find it hard to fathom going off letrozole. My cancer treatments were done in 2022. I listen to the estrogen benefits, but in current Oncology offices like mine, AI meds are the norm.”  [0:46:11]

Answer
Letrozole is a prescription drug given to block estrogen in women who have estrogen-positive receptor cancers on the pathology. They're usually on that for five years or more. What is the name of that…This is an expert panel that discusses hormone replacement therapy, and that was the FDA. So, if you do a Google search for the FDA expert panel on hormone replacement therapy, you're going to see how far western medicine/standard medicine has come in the past 20 years, with these doctors opening up to the usage of estradiol for quality of life and care of the whole person. So, the FDA expert panel on hormone replacement therapy is a two-hour-long listening in on the FDA out in Washington, DC, that took place about a month ago. It's worth your time listening to and reading the book, Estrogen Matters. And also, get the article on, it says, Hormone replacement therapy After Breast Cancer: It Is Time by Dr. Bluming, and this was published in May of 2022 in The Cancer Journal, Volume 28, number 3, May/June 2022, and the title is Hormone Replacement Therapy After Breast Cancer: It Is Time by Dr. Bluming. His first name is Avrum Bluming, MD. So, that might be beneficial to review it like that.

Question
“Good evening, Doctor Rita! I’m wondering if while you do a fast, if you take all your supplements? Also, is it ok to take MCT oil while fasting? And when are the best times to take MCT oil? Thank you and God bless!”  [0:48:54]

Answer
The answer is yes, except for the digestive enzyme. And yeah, I came off my 4-day fast. Labor Day was on Monday last week. So, I didn't eat from Monday lunch all the way until Thursday at 3:00 PM. Okay. So yeah. And I take all my vitamins, and I work, and I went and did my workout and everything, and I'm going to be 72. So, I just want you to understand, you can do this. But I didn't take a digestive enzyme because I didn't eat any food. So, that's the only one I don't take. 

“Is it ok to take MCT oil while fasting?” Technically, that's breaking your fast, but a lot of people will put a tablespoon of butter in their warm tea or warm coffee and use that, or they put it in a hot cup of chicken broth or beef broth to prolong their ketogenic time. Yeah. When I was urinating on my ketone strips, they were dark, dark, maroon red, so I was really pouring out a lot of ketones, and getting some oil in there really never seems to change it for me, but it could for someone maybe a little more sensitive, but I think that's fine. 

“And when are the best times to take MCT oil?” I don't think there is an established good time. I think when you're thinking about food too much or you're trying to break through and get into your second day of fasting or your first day, the MCT will help satiate you, so you learn the discipline of it. So, I think there's any time you want to.

Question
“My daughter was asked to do a TB test for her work (she works for a company that tutors high school students on campus). Do you have any words of advice or concern on how the TB test is administered and how records are stored?”  [0:50:57]

Answer
No, not at all. What they do is they just put a little prong, they gently press it into your skin here, and two days later they look to see if your body makes an inflammatory reaction at that little site in the dermis. That's totally safe to do. 

Question
“Does regular air travel for work deplete good health? Any risk or advice if I fly out in the morning and then fly back the same day in the evening, one time each month?”  [0:51:28]

Answer
Yes, it can. If all you're doing is one time a month, that's like a chest X-ray each time you fly, roughly a three-hour stint, like East Coast or West Coast. When I was a flight surgeon, one of the things we were looking at was this free radical damage in the 1980s and the increased prevalence of neurological disease in pilots. And when you're flying, you know, 30,000 to 40,000 feet from the earth’s surface, the radiation, gamma radiation, is going through you like a chest X-ray. And so, it's likely going to damage or potentially hurt some DNA. But really if they took Juice Plus, if they drank enough water, if they were fasted during the flight, I think fasting during flights is the best thing to do, and if you take vitamin D and you take Juice Plus and a multimineral that is amino acid chelated, like magnesium, potassium with methylated B vitamins that help stabilize the DNA membrane, and exercise and get a good night's sleep, hopefully you won't get much jet lag. You might need some melatonin to help you on the night you go to sleep. But if you're going back on the same day, you're going to wind up within probably the same time zone, so the melatonin may not be needed. Exercise is very important for recovery from that. But just realize every flight is a chest X-ray essentially. That's what we're exposing ourselves to. But take those things, and you should be doing very well. 

Question 
“I have a urine test for heavy metals. Would that reflect my exposure to contrast dye from previous scans?”  [0:53:42]

Answer
Yes, it definitely will, definitely it will. And yes, we're seeing all these scans being used so cavalierly. I don't think doctors understand the retention of gadolinium and its neurochemical damage, which can get toxic. 

Question
“Hi, Dr. Rita. What does it mean if your body is a little on the acidic side of a test strip? It’s from a strip that you put on your tongue.”  [0:54:13]

Answer
Probably it depends on who you are. I mean, your weight, your age. Did you exercise that day? Did you eat a high-carb diet that day? Are you fasting? Did you drink enough water? What was your sleep like the day before? So, there are so many other factors that we would have to know. It really is of itself meaningless. So, I don't get into this acidity/alkalinity testing of the human body because it's all over the place in podcasts and discussions. Your doctor should be counseling you all the time to drink enough water every day to get to bed early and arise early. Stand up and get your little toes in the wet grass in the morning, and get grounded for two minutes in the early sunrise. Exercise. Eat a low-carb diet. If you're over 60 years old, try not to eat past 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Find out your blood type. I recommend iodine, Juice Plus, multiminerals, methylated B complex, and vitamin D with K2 as my core basic nutrients, and so forth. So there are so many things that go into it. 

Question
Amela says
“Hi, Dr. E. What causes a soft palate swelling in teenagers?”  [0:55:55]

Answer
Well, there could be an infection in the sinus above it that will make the roof of the mouth on that side of the palate and sinus pressurized down. There could be a tumor growth. There could be a benign fatty tumor, a lipoma. There could be a tooth infection as well. So, there are several things that can do that.

Question
“Dear Dr. E., please comment on the use of Nifedipine (Procardia) to address poor circulation in the hands (cold, numb, discolored fingers) during the colder months. Has been an issue for 6 years. I'm 65, in good health, and follow your lifestyle advice. The blood work ordered by a rheumatologist did not offer any clues. Scheduled to start the drug soon.”  [0:56:30]

Answer
Well, I would do EDTA chelation. Remember, vitamin C is a natural calcium channel blocker. Magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker. Quercetin in our Seasonal Shield is a natural calcium channel blocker. A low-carb diet, a ketone-rich diet, is a natural calcium blocker. The EDTA chelation helps release nitric oxide to allow for vasodilation. Systemic enzymes are a powerful anti-natural platelet inhibitor; adequate hydration, those kinds of things are what I would say. So, I'm not against drugs, but if you're not doing these other things, you know, I don't know who your doctor is, but if you were to see your doctor or see me, I would want to know what your blood type is, are you using digestive enzymes, what is your insulin level? And then, what they say on the ranges is that your normal is way too tolerant. My insulin is 4 or less. My triglycerides are 50, roughly 75 if I'm being generous. My hemoglobin A1c is 5.2 or less, and my fasting blood sugar is 85 or less. Your C-reactive protein needs to be done. Your sed rate needs to be done. Your food allergies need to be addressed. A complete digestive stool analysis needs to be done. 

Question
Hi Dr. E! What are your thoughts on mammograms? I’m 47 and have had two, but I just wonder about squeezing everything in there and zapping it with radiation as well. It seems a bit counterintuitive, yet that’s the “medical” recommendation, so I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks so much!”  [0:58:40]

Answer
Yeah. Trauma/breast trauma and radiation are two known causes of cancer, and a mammogram is traumatic and involves radiation to the breast. And you have to understand breasts are made of glands, glands are fibrous, and they are less meaningful in mammography. The older a woman gets, and if she doesn't use natural hormone therapies, then the glands tend to diminish, and fat replaces them as they become potentially more vulnerable. But there are false positives, false negatives, there's overreading, anxiety, cortisol stress impact from mammography, and too many unnecessary ones done. There's still an argument over the actual implication of whether mammography has reduced the death rate due to breast cancer. It's an ongoing debate. So, I understand your concerns. So, you have to ask your doctor what their advice is. Take responsibility for yourself. Do your own breast exam every month, get familiar with your breasts, and ask for an ultrasound, which is not known to have any of these risk factors. But eat a low-carb diet, exercise, take vitamin D, and use a powerful antioxidant polyphenol like Juice Plus, quercetin. All these things are known to be supportive of preventing breast cancer. So, your lifestyle is far more important than showing up for a mammogram. But that's the standard of care as an annual mammogram, and so that's what we're told to tell you, but we can't force you to do it. But don't neglect your personal self-care and exam every month. 

Question
“Hi Dr. E., my 19-year-old athletic son has been diagnosed after a CT scan with contrast with a mass on the back of the mouth and soft tissue palate. The doctor speculates that it is heterogeneous soft tissue with possibly fatty components. The doctor is asking for an MRI scan with and without contrast. I don't want the contrast. What are your thoughts?”  [1:01:04]

Answer
I think it's too important to find out what this is. So, I would do and follow what your doctor is advising. And if you can get EDTA chelation after these scans, we can pull the gadolinium dye out through EDTA chelation. It will pull out the gadolinium, and he can do a few of those. But follow their advice and get that worked up appropriately for your 19-year-old son.

Question
“Who in our area (Orange County) would you recommend for general back of throat surgery? Thank you.”  [1:01:57]

Answer
You know, most of the guys my age are retiring, already passed away, or they are out of the state of California due to the politics, so I don't know of one. I'm so sorry. But if you call the front office, I'm thinking of one, and if I can recall his name, I just can't think of it right now. So, call the office and we'll see if we can find an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor's name, or someone I think took the place of someone who I think is good. 

Question
“I'm a type 2 and started not eating after 6:00 until 10:00 AM. Do you think that's okay?”  [1:02:49]

Answer
I think that's wonderful that you're doing it. If it's possible to try and back up your evening meal to 4:00 PM and eat between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, that would be far better, but that's a wonderful start. You're on the metformin, and it looks like you're doing well, but you’ve got to do weightlifting. You have to do it three times a week in the gym, if you have no other contravening problems.