How I Keep My Arteries Clean: Nattokinase

So, how are you doing today? We're going to be starting a new series. It's a series on things I do, uh, to, uh, keep my arteries clear. You know, Jesus loves to use that term. Since I'm a physician, I tend to be a little bit nervous about that term. But here's the thing, it's the term that people understand. So, the bottom line is keeping your arteries, keeping plaque out of your arteries. Well, how do you keep plaque out of your arteries? Go back and look at what causes it. 90% of the time, somewhere between 75 and 95% of the time, in most people, it's, uh, too much insulin, too much glucose on a regular, ongoing basis.

Now, um, so you'll end up seeing us looking at multiple things. I think one of the most important, well, I don't think, we all know the most important thing is diet. You cannot outrun a diet. You cannot out-supplement it. You cannot out-stint a diet. You doctors can't out-stint you. They cannot out-prescribe a diet. So, um, actually, this morning, I had eggs and bacon and butter for breakfast. We're actually doing a video on, I'm, the goal was originally to do 100 eggs in 10 days, but I'm overachieving on that. I loved eggs. I love eggs. I always have. Um, and I'm averaging like 12 eggs a day right now. Part of the goal for that one is, uh, you may remember, uh, we did a, a live video back in 20, uh, in May of this year. If you haven't seen it, go back and take a look. It was on eggs, um, and it was amazing the response that we got. And what was really amazing was so many people still think eggs are bad for you. And so I'm going to eat a whole bunch of eggs. I got some labs, uh, last week. I'll get some more labs this week, and maybe a week or two from now, to demonstrate that not eggs don't mess your metabolism up, eggs are good for you.

So, um, that's a couple of comments about diet, couple of comments about what we're doing with the channel, uh, in terms of upcoming and past videos. But a lot of people are interested in supplements, uh, sometimes interested in supplements too much, interested in just like everything else. Sometimes interested in exercise too much. They think they can out-run a diet, out-lift a diet. You can't. Uh, a lot of people think they can out-supplement a diet. No, you can't. Uh, again, you know, I'm repeating myself on that concept.

Now, let's get to the topic for today. It's natto. And natto is actually very much related to, uh, vitamin K2. I originally started taking vitamin K2 when, um, one of my viewers started raising the issue with me, said, "Hey Doc, check out vitamin K2." So I did, and I found out a lot of interesting things on that. Actually, vitamin K2 is one of our more popular topics. And here's a little, uh, tip on vitamin K2. It might not be what you think. Like so many things in, um, in life, it seems very obvious to just about every content creator on YouTube that vitamin K2 takes, uh, calcium out of the artery walls where we don't want it, and puts it back in bones where we think we do want it. And, uh, the reality is, you might not, you might actually want calcium in your artery walls. If you know more about plaque, you understand what I'm talking about. The other thing is, it might not matter one way or another. Calcium might just be a marker of something else. But again, this video today is not about vitamin K2 either. It's about natto. It's about this little bag that I'm, it's hard to see because it, it's, um, it's a foil bag. But if you could see it, and I don't know if Jesus, if you've got an image you can show, this is all in, it's from Korea, and it's in Kanji. And it's got this little picture of some beans right here. And the beans clearly aren't just beans. There's some other cheesy looking stuff around them. And for those of you who know what natto is, that's exactly what it is. It's soybeans that have been, uh, fermented.

Why do I bring that up in, um, at the same time that I'm talking about vitamin K2? Well, one of the major sources for vitamin K2 is fermented soybeans. Geek alert! Where does that come from? Bacillus subtilis. It's a certain bacteria that tends to hang around, uh, soybeans. And when you ferment them, you get a lot of Bacillus subtilis. That Bacillus subtilis makes vitamin K2. It also makes, uh, natto. As you see, this is my Georgia Bulldogs, um, uh, cup, and this is my coffee. I've already had some. But, you know, how Jesus is, he works me to death trying to get this, uh, content. And I agree with him. We want to get this content out to as many people as we can. It's saving lives. So we want to do that. So I'm having another cup of coffee, just for Jesus's sake. And again, you may have noticed a couple of logos here. Unabashed advertisement for the state of South Carolina, where I live half the week, and the state of Georgia, University of Georgia in Athens, where I live the other half of the week. Anyway, back to natto and Bacillus subtilis. You see, Bacillus subtilis creates a couple of things. Number one is natto, and number two is vitamin K2. Like I said, I got into natto because, um, I was going after vitamin K2, and I discovered natto on the way. So, Jesus, was that the introduction that I know you probably wanted me to do better, but I did the best I could. You want to come in and join me? I am so proud of you though. The brewer, you just digressed a little bit into eggs and vitamin K2, but just a little bit. Uh, so I think you did well. The whole point behind this series, hi everyone, by the way, is to show you guys, uh, give you an answer to what a lot of people ask about, and is what Dr. Brewer does right. And work, uh, doing some, I don't want to say spoon-feeding, like one tip at a time. Uh, pardon the pun. Pardon the pun. And, uh, I don't think you, we are sponsored by nattokinase, nor any specific brand. That, that, that powder he's using is the one that Dr. Brewer researched and liked. I can't even read any of the writing on this thing, let alone work out a sponsorship deal. So, so, big, big, big jump. Uh, how do you call that? Leap of faith, right there. Yeah, leap of faith. Well, I got it on Amazon, and I looked at the, uh, the reviews, and they were really good. I tried it a few times, I liked it. I believe it or not, I've been using that for years. I've been putting it in my coffee. Well, and, and the other part is, Dr. B might need to start learning Korean. So if you really, if he wants to know if that powder actually has nattokinase on it. Well, I, I assume from the picture that that's what I'm getting, and from what Amazon's telling me, that that's what I'm getting. I did, did learn a little bit. This is mostly in Kanji. For those that, uh, speak or read these languages, or it looks like Kanji. I learned a little bit of Kanji when I was working at Toyota, but not enough to read that. Yep.

And, and just go back to some fundamentals. Uh, if somebody's, uh, thinking, "Well, Dr. BR is just pushing unproven supplements and trying to deceive people." First things first, we set it from the beginning. Lifestyle, diet, exercise. Those are critical components. Those are the major components. But we also have people asking for what else you can do, right? And if you want to know more about the research behind nattokinase, I just placed multiple links in the description video. Of course, the evidence, some of that is really good, some of that is not as strong. But we have a lot of research signals. And I can tell you a couple things about natto. Is one, some research showing that it can decrease blood pressure. Some research saying that it also has some anti-platelet, uh, uh, effect, similar to aspirin. Some research saying that it, it works better in old people, better on obese people, and better on people who smoke or drink alcohol. So we're not saying use natto and you will decrease the risk of smoking. We're not, we're not advocating for either smoking or alcohol. Just saying that if you already have that problem, this might help. But of course, quitting smoking, quitting alcohol, exercising, eating better, that's, that's way more effective, right? All right, so that's, and if you want to know more about nattokinase specifically, and some of the research on that, we do have a video on that that you can take a look. Uh, links in the description as well. Any other additional comments on nattokinase, Dr. Bre? Uh, um, I will make a, a couple of comments. Well, it's not on nattokinase. Okay. Do you want to address the elephant in the room then? You mean the big, the big, uh, bandages on my neck? I, I remember you said you didn't want to stop the show for today. I wanted to just tell people what happened. So, uh, yesterday, are you, are you into pit fighting now, or what? What are you doing? Yesterday, I was attacked by a, um, a surgeon with a scalpel. Oh, man. I inherited a, a proclivity for basal cell carcinoma, skin cancers, from my mom. I don't think she would mind my sharing it. Several members of the family have it. I'm 67, and I've had about 50 of these at this point. So I told Jesus, you know, I can't, I can't wash my hair. So I've got a really bad case of greasy hat head. And so I decided I'd just wear my favorite South Carolina cap and just go ahead and come on and tell people, don't get too distracted. You know, I've got my own health challenges, many of which I have shared. You know, I've got plaque. I've got a major tendency for skin cancers. I had a couple of removals of these skin cancers yesterday. I've got atrial, had atrial, I still have atrial fib. And in fact, there were a lot, there was a lot of interest on atrial fib in the last video that we did on aspirin. It was a very popular video. Um, and one of the major concepts that comes up about aspirin is when not to use it. And no, don't use it with, uh, with atrial fib because it doesn't work. Aspirin, I mean, atrial fib increases your risk for a stroke, specifically by five to eight times. And so, I, I'll also share this. Jesus and I, maybe we could get some reactions from the audience here. So Jesus and I, uh, are arguing about how to do the title for the next, uh, atrial fib video. Oh, no, that's settled. I mean, you said you think it is. Just said, "I'm rolling with an iron fist. It's going to be my title." And I just accept. Now, this is there. This is information about the channel and what we're doing. But buried in this is a very interesting piece of information. So, you know, uh, Jesus has this thing about what it calls buckets. We have to do number one, this, number one worst, number one best, etc. And yes, you have to, the viewership has climbed dramatically. But here's my perspective, my concern is that, what we call paroxysmal atrial fib, over the past decade or two, has made a huge splash in the prevention world. And here's why. Most strokes, we used to think were what we called cryptogenic strokes. Cryptogenic. It's another geeky word, but it basically means we don't know what caused it. Well, what we're finding more and more and more is that the people that are, that have these cryptogenic strokes, these strokes that you don't know what caused it, actually had paroxysmal atrial fib. And what does paroxysmal mean? It's a, in a paroxysm, it's, uh, it just happens for a few seconds, and then it goes away. It may happen a few seconds again today, and then it goes away. And that's incredibly common. So here's the battle that Jesus and I have been having. I've been saying, "Well, then it, it's paroxysmal atrial fib is the number one cause of strokes, uh, number one undetected cause of strokes." That's what the message that I want to get out. That folks are not very much aware of subclinical atrial fib, and if they're not, if they have it, they're not aware of it, they have multiplied their risk of stroke by five to eight times, and they don't know it. And I think we can all rely on the fact that it's not very likely that their doctor is going to tell them. So here's where we get stuck. Jesus, his point, and it's true, he said, "Well, no, in reality, most of these people started off with insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, just like you did." So the number one hidden cause of strokes is actually pre-diabetes. Did I present that argument, that debate, correctly? Jesus? Uh, you just dismissed the part where, where you started yelling. But I didn't yell. That must have been, I think you're mistaking that for the time when, uh, we found out that you, that your intro didn't work on the last, on the last video. That's Dr. B's way to lose half of the audience. They don't care about YouTube, they just care about nattokinase or AFib and plaque. So we can go back to the main topic, please. Okay.

So anyhow, uh, I'd, I'd be very interested in hearing from the audience what you think. Which do you think is the number one hidden cause of strokes? Is it undiagnosed pre-diabetes, or is it undiagnosed paroxysmal atrial fib? And if you were managing a channel like ours, how would you title that a video getting that information out there? Okay, so is that a question for the audience? That's a question for the audience. I'd love to hear feedback on that. Okay, because if we get a strong message from the audience, okay, so supernova 76 is saying diabetes. Oh, oh, he, you can't start saying I was wrong again. I'm beginning to think I may have been wrong. Not oh no. It's like everybody's saying pre-diabetes. Gosh, you're the pre-diabetes guy, Dr. Brewer. You're supposed to root for pre-diabetes. And we're not saying atrial fibrillation is not a problem. Of course, it is. And we're going to address it because we want people to be aware of that. I'm just saying it, it, pre-diabetes is a major problem. All right, so let's go, let's go to Q&A, Dr. Brewer, and start some of the questions. I know nattokinase was really brief. That's, that's, that was the whole point behind this session. Just a practical tip. See what Dr. Brewer uses. He uses that, a specific powder, one spoon in his coffee. That's what he does. Not saying everybody should do that, but we're putting some links in the description for more research so you can make your own decisions. And I will tell you, um, if you have, if you want to go deeper into nattokinase, you and I did a live on natto six months ago, not even that long ago, and the, uh, link is in the description too. Oh, okay. So if you, you'd like more content very specific to nattokinase, hit that link right below the, the video. You right after the Q&A. Gilbert, let's, let's put a water bottle here. [Music] All right, so shout out, shout out to Pimo be, who just became a YouTube member. You can do that by clicking on the join button next to the subscription button. And remember, you had a small old joke. If you ever saw Seinfeld, if you're, uh, not a YouTube member, no answer for you. Um, oh, there we go. Well, and of course, the, the, that only means we're going to address YouTube members' comments and questions first. Like Rick Folas, "Good morning from Atlanta." Good morning, Rick. Uh, any update on the coated versus non-coated debate on baby aspirin? I have an update, but I want you to answer that first because I'm going to say that you are right. Oh my goodness. I don't think you are. Here's my perspective on enteric coated baby aspirin. Um, uh, some of it works, some of it doesn't. And, um, you can't really predict. So what I recommend people do is they just, uh, break it between their molars to make sure that they're breaking through the enteric coat to make sure that they're not pooping out that baby aspirin. So what's your perspective? Your update? I saw a couple of papers, uh, from this year and last year, and even though the research is not kind of, uh, definitive, the, uh, it's leaning towards saying that enteric coating doesn't matter. It's not as protective as thought it was. Uh, so I was right. That's what I'm saying. Oh my goodness. Did that hurt you to say that? No, I mean, I, I don't, I don't have strong feelings, uh, towards aspirin. You have strong feelings towards admitting I'm right. Uh, no, no, at all. Uh, I mean, you have proved me wrong multiple times. I just enjoy when you're wrong. I know you do. Whaty word green? Uh, so, oh, just go back to the enteric coated baby, non-enteric coated. It seems it doesn't matter. It doesn't, enteric coated aspirin doesn't necessarily protect better against GI gastrointestinal symptoms. That's what we have seen under research.

Can Dr. Brewer explain again why blood sugar spikes over 120 are bad, and if they are only for less than 30 minutes, are they still bad? That's an interesting question. Uh, first of all, it's a great question, very, very, uh, focused on the reality of what happens. A lot of people think they get a spike. You know, a lot of people have really good control and think that 110 is a spike, and they need to avoid it. And no, they don't. There's little to no evidence that, uh, you get damage at that level. In fact, the only really good, uh, review that I've seen of the evidence about when you start getting damage was in Jenny Ruhl's book, Blood Sugar 101. And gosh, the last time I read that was a few years ago. The, uh, number that she suggested based on a really good review of the evidence was, uh, 140. And that's the one that I tend to focus on as well. I think the second part of the question is even, uh, more, uh, critical, and that is, is it, how bad is a spike as in less than 30 minutes versus, uh, versus something else? You know, staying up there. Here's the thing. It's staying up there that's the damage, that's the damage that creates the damage. It's the problem. I was just, I just saw a, a short, uh, from Levels using, uh, Robert Lustig, and he was saying the same thing. I mean, he was saying, "Look, you get up to 180, even 200, if you get it back down in less than, you know, half an hour, you're not going to do that much damage." Now, another thing to consider. Am I going on too long here, or do you want? Well, don't worry, I'm, I'm sitting down. So, uh, a couple of things. Uh, one thing is, it's not just blood sugar, right? Now, the evidence is that it may not just be blood sugar alone that causes that damage. It's insulin. So you might, unless you know exactly what's going on with your, um, glucose response and your insulin response, you might not know it. Uh, we had a patient just yesterday who went through a glucose challenge. Initial blood sugar was 90. One, one hour was like 126. Not going to cause damage. And then the 2-hour was back down to 95. But when you looked at his insulin response, it went, I think it went over, it went over 150 for sure. I think it went over 200. So somebody like that is going to be wearing a CGM, thinking, "I'm not having any problem at all." Meanwhile, his insulin may just be cranking along really high. So, most of the evidence in most of the, um, what do you call it, when quote experts agree, consensus, yeah, there's some consensus that, um, hyperinsulinemia, even without hyperglycemia, too much insulin, even without too much glucose, like that patient that I just described, can and will cause inflammation as well. So two or three things to think about. Number one, no, it's not so much the, uh, the peaks that get you. It's not knowing that this is a problem. Not knowing that your blood sugar is way over 140, uh, and the time under for the, we had an engineer in yesterday, and he resonated with this term, "time under the curve" over 140. So you look at a geometric curve, you look at your blood sugar, the longer it's over 140, you know, hour after hour after hour, the more damage you're doing to that fragile glycocalyx, you know, that part of the intima, the lining of your artery wall. The other major concept to think about is it may not just be glucose, it may be insulin as well. Now, what do you do about, uh, each of those? Again, for the first one, wear a CGM. If you're like me, and you, you know, you have a family event once a week, and you sometimes eat a little bit too much dessert, um, you watch it on your, on your glucometer, and you, you get out and do a walk or go home and do a, a quick hit on your attack cycle, and pull that blood sugar down. The, what's the countermeasure for the second problem, hyperinsulinemia without hyperglycemia? You need to get a, a crap insulin survey or something similar where you actually do a glucose challenge, but you also get insulin as well. We find that in about 20% of our folks, uh, that have insulin resistance, they're still managing their glucose in a good, at a good level. Yeah.

Would you agree with the idea that if you put your glucose down with exercise after the spike, the insulin will follow, will go down as well? I do. I do. You know, the insulin's going to follow. It's going to take a while. Uh, the other thing you need to watch out for is if you know you've eaten so much, you got so much mass in your, in your stomach, that you do your, your, uh, exercise, you bring it back down, and then it goes back up. Well, that happens. But I don't think that, I mean, it's completely different when you have a, a small increase in blood glucose during exercise compared to after eating sugar or carbohydrates. Yeah. Um, and the source where that sugar is, is coming from, it's completely different. If you're eating carbohydrates, that's going to come from your gut, from what you're absorbing, and then the body is waiting for you to use it. Versus when you have an, an increase of glucose during exercise, you're actually pulling glucose to storage from your liver, and your body is preparing to use it right away because you are exercising at the moment. Right. Yeah. And so that's, that's different. And just so you know, Dr. Brewer, I'm not going to challenge Dr. Brewer what he said because, because he is right. That's what I have seen on the research as well. And somebody asked, what's more inflammatory, glucose or insulin? And to me, from what I've seen, glucose is by far more inflammatory. However, a lot of people have inflammatory problems with insulin over time, and they don't know it. And that's what ends up being actually causing pre-diabetes and diabetes in the long run. All right.

Good morning from Washington, Woody. Robert Binsky, I have been taking a combo of nattokinase and serrapeptase, and my fibrinogen, is that how you say fibrinogen? Fibrinogen levels have remained lower. I'm hoping it reduces blood clots. What do you think? Robert's a smart guy. He tends quite a bit. And yes, he's right. If you go to the, again, people like to hate on natural groups, but the National Institute of Health has a good supplements area. It's a great place to find, uh, good literature reviews and evidence reviews on different supplements. And yep, you go in there, and that's what you see about nattokinase and serrapeptase. And there is evidence that it helps in that space. Fibrinogen, by the way, has long been known to be a risk factor for heart attack and stroke. So that's what Robert's going after. And Bonnie Carney, I don't know. Oh, yeah, you can see it. Just a small Super Chat of almost a dollar. Thank you so much. Those go a long way. It might, it might not seem like much, but believe me, those go a long way. And let me just go back to Joe SXM. Had a question right here. Oh, okay. Well, let's answer that one, and we go back to the other one. Uh, if morning glucose is normal and constant, but when glucose after eating seems to be spiking after eating, and you started a statin, what would you think? I'm, I'm not sure I understand that. I think basically, are you saying is statin causing the, uh, hyperglycemia? Is that what he's talking about? Uh, probably because there's a follow-up question about the effects of rosuvastatin on insulin resistance, how permanent they are, and if they will go away if you just stop the statin. So I'm, I'm guessing. I'm guessing you are getting, you were not getting glucose spikes at one hour, you started taking, and then you started getting glucose spikes. No, it's not permanent. Give it a month or two, um, and usually it won't even take a month. Um, the other thing I would say is, uh, we just don't see it. I, when we use rosuvastatin, five milligrams per day or less, usually, or, or less, like five milligrams three or four times a week, and we don't see an impact. And I don't think you're going to. You, you take 10, maybe 20, so clearly 20 and 40 like some of the patients that come to us, those kind of levels will cause that. Um, pitavastatin, if you're, if you're wanting to take a statin, pitavastatin is well known that, uh, its major advantage is that it does not do that. It doesn't, uh, send you down that diabetes highway. Wonderful. Uh, the other, I, I got to add one other thing. You know, it's a bunny hole, but I think it's a very important bunny hole. Let me, let me, let me get comfortable on my chair. Okay. Go ahead. I was very interested. I heard for the first time about some evidence. You know, here, here's one of the big things. Um, if you saw, um, uh, Eric Westman's coverage of our aspirin video, you, you'll see one of the big differences between us and the low, the rest of the low-carb community. You know, the rest of the low-carb community has sort of looked at us a little bit side-eyed. And the reason for it is Eric mentions in his, his video covering our aspirin thing, so he's saying, "Look, why would you have to take any medicine, any prescription medicine at all whatsoever, if you are on a low-carb or keto diet?" And, um, that's a really good question. And I don't know. I, back at, at one point in time, I would say over, I know over half of the patients that I saw that had plaque, and I offered statins, would say, "Don't want to do it." And as you know, Jesus, we're totally comfortable with that. Not only because we're just not a paternalistic practice, but because I think that's the reality. I don't think it's clear yet. In fact, I heard for the first time, quote of evidence about maybe statins are not as helpful for people on a low-carb diet. And that was the 5S study, and it was quoted by David Diamond, uh, recently. So here's the thing. Um, yes, clearly most folks that watch this channel and clear and understand the things like this that we're talking about, do know more than most doctors, uh, including family practitioners, internists, and cardiologists that do most of the cardiovascular prevention in our country and around the world. Most folks that are watching this know more about it than them. So I'm totally comfortable with, uh, our patients making their own decision. And this is not an advertisement for the practice. It's a, it's a reality. Uh, the other thing to think about is the evidence is not clear. There's only one study so far that actually indicates, no, if, if you're on a low-carb diet, maybe you don't need statins. So I hope I didn't muddy that concept up too much. Maybe you can translate for me if I did. Uh, I think what we're trying to say, one of Dr. Westman's points was, there is no, not enough evidence on people who are on a low-carb ketogenic diet. And I couldn't agree more. And there are a lot of, uh, ethical considerations behind that because the standards of care is still considered low-carb or keto as dangerous. So which, which ethics board, it's going to approve a, a study where you intentionally put people on a dangerous diet? You don't see that happening very often. You start seeing some of that now with that study you just quoted. And now, uh, we're going to, you're going to be talking tomorrow on your Friday rant about the new study that finally got published, the KETO study, comparing low-carb diet, high LDL, and plaque development. That's already published. Our friends Dave Feldman, Nick Norwitz, Dr. Adrian Sota, with the, uh, support of Dr. Matthew Budoff, really good study. It and it's a landmark study now. I think, uh, just a piece that is helping research to go beyond and breaking paradigms. And just watch the video this morning from Nick. He posted a video. I don't know if you saw that, where he said this study on LDL is not saying LDL doesn't matter, but it's also challenging the idea that LDL is old there in regards to cardiovascular risk. That's, and it's hard because I'm going to give you another, "I was right" moment, Dr. Brewer. Whenever you ask Dr. Brewer for a definitive, definitive answer, he always says, "It depends." That's real. That's reality right there. Every, every person is different. So this study, the LDL study, the KETO study, is on people who are lean mass hyper-responders. So if you are not a lean mass hyper-responder, those results probably don't apply to you. But how do you know if you're a lean mass hyper-responder? If you start a low-carb or ketogenic diet, that's when you're going to find out. Let me, let me emphasize and maybe translate something that you, you had hidden in there that, uh, a lot of people probably missed. I think one of the things you're saying is, does LDL matter? You know, you've got Peter Attia and Thomas Dayspring and Tom Snyder, all that crowd saying it's, well, it's not even LDL now, it's ApoB. And, you know, the trashing on either side of the statin deniers, which Peter would call the, you know, the low, some of the low-carb community. Here, here's the thing. That evidence is showing something that, uh, again, reality is messy, but it is what it is. You can argue with it if you want. Argue with reality at your own hazard, at your own risk. LDL does seem to matter if you're not metabolically healthy. No, yes, if you're not metabolically healthy. And we see that all the time. Somebody comes in that's not metabolically healthy, LDL level higher, LDL is a problem. Just 88% of Americans. Yep. But it's clearly not 88% of our population. Oh, no, no. That's why we're a little bit different, and our audience is a little bit different. Because if I was able to, uh, do a survey on who on the audience is metabolically unhealthy, I bet it's not going to be as much as the general population. It's not going to be 88%. I don't think it's going to be even 50%. Well, we got our own little survey already, and you, you just whipped me on that one. I don't know what you were expecting. Dr. Brewer, I didn't want to put you on the spot, and you did it yourself. You whipped me. I mean, it's like pre-diabetes, pre-diabetes, pre-diabetes. So, you know, I get it. I, I'll admit defeat on that one. But to your point, we've got a whole bunch of people that are very much much more aware of, uh, of metabolic disease than your typical primary care doctor in the US. Definitely. And I want, I want to go to, I want to go to the next question. I hope that helps. Yo.

This is not a member, but it's interesting because I want to ask you one thing regarding this comment. Shannon Ashford says, "I just got out of the hospital after having a 99% blockage in my LED, I guess it was L, probably yeah, left anterior descending artery, the widow maker, and having a heart attack last week. And today's her birthday." So, first of all, happy birthday. I'm, I'm glad that you're here with us after dealing with a heart attack. Yes. Uh, not many people have that opportunity, and I'm glad that you're here trying to avoid that from happening ever again. 50%. What would you recommend to somebody who just had a heart attack and it's new to the channel and wants to prevent that from happening back again? Guys, there's so many different ways you could go. I mean, but the first thing I would do is make sure I got off carbs. And then I would go ahead and get an OGTT, insulin response, and fractionation. Now, that may all sound a little bit technical. If it is, uh, pardon me if I sound like I'm advertising the channel, but, you know, maybe we could set up something where, uh, we could give you, give Shannon a complimentary, uh, evaluation. You know, first, first visit evaluation. Just make sure. Okay, so, Gilbert, can you put the phone number 859-721-1414? And I think, uh, you need to tell the office. Dr. Well, we can just let the office know. But that's the first thing I would do. I would, so you see where I'm going, assess your metabolic health. Because it happens time and time again. I have people, we have people come in for strokes, from heart attacks, and they're full diabetic, and it was never diagnosed.

All right, Joe is asking a very good question that I'm not sure I know the answer, the exact answer. How can you tell if natto is fermented or just spoiled? Well, I remember when we did, we did a deep dive on natto, and I made the comment that natto tastes terrible, and it, and it tasted like, uh, rotten bean with dirt. And I really got beat up on that. Um, and I agree. You know, it's a, another way of saying it is it's an acquired taste. But there are a lot of people out there that are pretty deep into natto and really enjoy it. Short answer is, I don't know. I, I think it's, it's, I hate cooking. I know probably a lot of our audience likes cooking. I hate it because a lot of, a lot on cooking is, uh, how you feel it, how you taste it, it's about this amount, it's about this time. And I think this applies right here. If you let it ferment for a, for a, for too much time, it's going to get spoiled. And I think that's the difference. But I don't know. I don't know the exact moment until, how did you differentiate between fermenting and spoiling? Well, I'll tell you this, uh, my, my dad and my brother used to make wine, and sometimes the wine would spoil. And usually what was going on was it was something else other than what you wanted took over. So, yeah, a more, uh, uh, dangerous bacteria over there that can cause the disease rather than healthy bacteria that you want in there, right? Or just a bacteria that's not beneficial. And that's what would happen with wine as well. Yeah.

And Joey T, how is nattokinase better than high-dose K2? I'm not sure that it is. And again, I think we're actually talking a little bit more about apples than oranges because K2, you know, you know, I'm going to go down that bunny hole. I'm not, I'm just going to make a quick statement. I don't think K2, I think K2 actually has more of an impact on insulin resistance than anything else. And if you have a question about about my proposed mechanism, you can see some of our other videos. Natto, on the other hand, is again, a little bit more involved with, um, with clot formation, as Jesus said in the beginning, what anti-platelet activities, things like that. So two very different mechanisms. One more involved with clotting, the other one more involved with the original offense, which everybody, so many people on here already know, and that is insulin resistance. Uh, and also one more thing is K2 doesn't have an anti-platelet, anti-fibrinogen effect, meaning K2 doesn't necessarily decrease clots as nattokinase has shown to be able to do. So K2 is over in the pre-diabetes area. I'm the only one, well, I'm not the only one saying that K2 is more in pre-diabetes, uh, activity, and natto, and nattokinase is more over in the clot forming area. Yeah. And, well, natto has nattokinase and some K2 on it as well. Yes, or some vitamin K2. Yeah.

And Tree Lady, do you remember Tree Lady? I remember the moniker. I don't remember met her in San Diego. Oh, that? Okay, you got it. Good to see you again, Tree Lady. And thanks, Jesus, for connecting the dots for me. I know you got a 30-year-old brain and mine's 67. So those damn statins. Does natto or K2 reduce bone spurs formation? I get that spurs are really from osteoarthritis. I have an answer for that actually. But do you want to give it a shot? No. Uh, I have seen papers where they say K2 can improve osteoarthritis, improve symptoms, help with that. Of course, it's not, I don't think it's as good as a painkiller, but it might be good on the long term. I'm skeptical it can decrease the spurs. It might on the long term, but I don't think it's going to be that significant. Uh, but also K2 is pretty much a safe supplement too. I haven't seen evidence on dangers on K2, so that's for sure. Those are my two cents for that.

Uh, Joey T is asking, how many, uh, fibrin units of nattokinase? That's going to have to be you, Jesus. I've already demonstrated my math is terrible. I can't even count to 76 on that top seven foods video. If you haven't watched it, just Google or or search Dr. Brewer Top Seven Foods. I screwed it up in that video too, didn't I? You were supposed to say five units and you were all on grams. Grams. The only study that has used units in units, uh, said that it was 10,800 fibrin units, although you can see some benefit on 7,000, 8,000. But we only have one study referencing that. So, research. And then you see other recommendations for 2,000. And I think 2,000 is just too low. But that's just my opinion. Yeah, yeah.

Joe SXM, order a Stell CGM. Oh, is that on the market already? Yeah, that's what, uh, somebody else is saying they didn't know that it was ready yet. That's, that's the over-the-counter Dexcom glucose monitor. Excellent. Now, what would make a CGM over-the-counter versus prescription level? I don't think there's so much of a difference. Do you think? I think it's, there's something in the infinite wisdom of the FDA that created that difference. I actually did have a battle with the FDA one time over a preventive injection and won the battle, but they, but lost the war. So it lasts for, uh, 15 days and it costs about $100. They give you a 10% discount if you subscribe to their website. So interesting. I mean, uh, I, I think you should try it, and maybe we can do a review on it. Yeah, I know that that's going to be on your list of my todos. Oh, yeah, it's already growing. You're growing list. You should be, uh, going into the Stell website right now and start getting that one for you. So it's by Dexcom. That's interesting. So Dexcom probably went to FDA and said, "Here, we've made the following changes. Let's make it over the counter." And now this is, I'm glad. This should have happened 20 years ago. Yeah.

Uh, Joe, comment also challenge you on something. Try to experiment with other foods. Just ate one serving of steel-cut oats with half a cup of raspberries and got a glucose of 160 after 1 hour. But you said steel-cut oats are fine and raspberries are fine, aren't they? Oh, so what Joe is saying is, I've been saying steel-cut oats were fine. He ate them, and he went up to 160 after an hour. Yeah. Well, with raspberries. So, my money is that probably was more of the raspberries. Overall, raspberries, blueberries are usually fine, but now you have to take into consideration the amount. And we do have seen people who cannot tolerate berries either. But usually the glucose, even if it goes that high, it goes back, it goes back down fairly quickly. So here's another area where I would argue with you, Jesus. It very well may be the steel-cut oats. Some people have, some people react to steel-cut oats, and B, are so insulin resistant that they can get this kind of reaction. I've seen, I've seen it multiple times before. Yep. So what say I'm probably screwed up, but as usual, I'm, I'm really screwed up in the communication more than anything else. If I implied that, uh, steel-cut oats are okay for everybody, they're not. They're not okay for everybody. You need to do exactly what Joe SXM did and, um, try it for yourself. The only difference between the difference between steel-cut oats and instant oats, which are bad for just about everybody, is the speed at which those carbs get delivered to the bloodstream. And some of us are so insulin resistant that in resistant that even the very slow speed of steel-cut oats is still too much for your receptors. Yep.

Uh, I, I think that's the first advice. Wear a CGM and find out what happens to you. I can tell you for a fact, my wife and I can eat the same thing. She's, uh, 32 years old, I'm 33, and our numbers are completely different, even eating the same thing. Gut biome is different, genetics are different. Uh, I do have insulin resistance to pre-diabetes level, she doesn't. So it's, even if you eat the same thing, it's going to be different for each person. Well, I will also bet this, that your reaction to everything is different now than it was six months ago. Oh, yeah, definitely. By far. I don't know. Uh, for those who are not aware, I recently lost 30 pounds, and I haven't gained any of that back. And the only thing that I can consider I really cut from my diet that was heavy on carbs was tortillas. That's the only significant change that I can say I did because I wasn't even drinking sodas or anything else. And I cranked up my exercise as well. And I, I think doing a five-day water fasting also helped. Well, three-day water fasting plus three days sine fasting. We have videos on that that you can see on the show. Uh, but anyhow, digressing right here, learning from Dr. Brewer to talk about other stuff. Black Tangu, always take your baby aspirin after meals. That can help a little bit with the absorption. Do you agree with that? I think it can help. Yeah, yeah. Also help decrease irritation. You usually don't get a whole lot of irritation from baby aspirin, but, you know, some people, it's just like Joe SXM's comment about steel-cut oats, some people react negatively to, uh, uh, even to baby aspirin, especially older people that have, you know, in their 80s, for example, that have some esophageal problems or stomach issues. Shouldn't be taken it. Yeah. And if you haven't seen our video on aspirin from about two weeks ago, go check it out. Some people are like, "Oh, they're seeing an aspirin and they're saying Dr. Brewer is pushing medications back again." And the video is very clear. Some people might take it, some people don't need to take it. Just watch the video. And of course, we're happy to answer comments when we can.

K2 and natto help with utilizing calcium for our bones, not to remove from arteries. Can taking both D3, K2, and natto be more beneficial? I'll guess so. Uh, I think those are really good options for supplementation. And I will say one more thing. Uh, I do have seen some research regarding aortic calcification. Aortic calcification. Aortic calcification. The aorta is the biggest artery in your body. It goes out from the left ventricle, which is where the heart is pumping most of the blood for all the body. And the aorta, right where it's joined with, with the heart, can get calcified. And the calcification in there, we're not talking coronary arteries. Well, we're talking aorta. Significant calcification in there is like if you're having a water pipe that is getting obstructed. And for the heart, it's harder to push blood through it. So that can lead to heart failure. And some research has shown that vitamin K2 actually can increase that calcification. But evidence is not as strong for coronary calcification, which is the flow that, that arteries that provide, uh, nutrients to the heart itself to work. Do you want to do, do you want to translate that, Dr. BR, for me please? No, that's very, that's very complicated. I'm not sure I understood it. Oh, man. We can talk aortic calcification at some moment, maybe in another live. I, I will real quick try to try to do that. So, uh, some people argue about whether or not, um, you know, I, I keep saying, and a lot of people hate me for it. You know, most other YouTube content creators say, uh, K2 takes, uh, calcium out of the arteries. And, uh, Jesus was pointing out, there is actually evidence that it can take, uh, calcium out of the aorta. And the aorta is a big, big deal because that's, that is the biggest artery that the heart pumps into. Calcification of that aorta suddenly takes what was an expanding, uh, or, um, like a water, uh, receiver of the heart's output into something that's rigid. Now. And his point was, yeah, that can be a big deal, especially for the aorta. But the second point was, back to the, the coronary calcification, it doesn't seem to make as much of a difference there. Wonderful.

We have like three minutes. I want to finish before the hour mark. Woody, Dr. Dr. B, I'm not betting on you, though. This is the last question. Dr. B, my wife is a current patient and doing her initial CGM testing. She ate mashed potatoes and her sugar went up to 250, then down to 73. So big. Any thoughts on such big swings? What's going on? Well, I will say this, and people, you know, I get beat up for a lot of stuff. One of the things I get beat up for is a fairly strict, uh, interpretation of diabetes. You know, I say anytime somebody hits 200, period, by any kind of, uh, viable, uh, classification, including a CGM, that, uh, you fit the, one of the major criteria for diabetes. And a lot of people, you doctors, especially, will say, "Oh, no, no, no. During the half-hour number, it can go much higher, and you're still not diabetic." And my perspective is, okay, you know, I hope your patients don't trust you. Um, because I don't mean, maybe, maybe that sounded harsh. Wait to end the stream, Dr. Brewer. I'm sorry. Um, maybe, maybe there's a better way you can help translate and make that sound better. But, um, here's the other thing, though. Uh, so many people think that a diagnosis of full diabetes is like, uh, a death sentence, and it's not at all. I've got full, full-blown diabetes, and it's not going to, not only is it not going to kill me, it's really not going to harm me. I know about it, and you can take that risk right off the table. And that is one thing that myself and the entire low-carb community and Jason Fung and everybody else agrees with. You can take the risk of diabetes off the table. So don't be afraid of it. Be aware of it, but don't be afraid of it. One. Wonderful.

All right, so let's wrap it up. Uh, guys, if you made it this far, I have three major announcements. Well, two major announcements for you. Don't miss tomorrow's Friday rant. 11:00 AM, Dr. BR is going to talk about the new keto study results. We are trying to publish this Saturday, a redo of our number one best meal to clear arteries video. That one was an hour long. This one is going to be more like a half an hour, but it's, it has different things that were not specified on the original video. So out, it starts from there and goes deeper. Yeah. And the last thing is, if you haven't seen our latest video, we published on Saturday about the number one worst cholesterol lie. Link should appear on the screen anytime, any when we finish the stream. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for showing that much love. We're very happy, very grateful. And next week, uh, that's another announcement. Next, next week, Dr. BR and I will be on another conference, so we won't be live, but we have a very, very good show recorded with Dr. Nick Boven from the Physionic channel about mitochondrial health and longevity. So don't miss that out next week. All right. Want to close the show, Dr. Brewer? Uh, don't let Tony the Tiger take over your family's dinner. And thank you for your interest. All right.