If you think detox is only for recovering addicts, you may be off the mark. In fact, practically every day we are all being bombarded by toxins in the food we eat and in the air we breathe. So would a detox have any effect on your own health? In this third episode of a series with Dr. David and Daniel Root and 9-11 survivor Anne-Principe, they discuss all things detox, and who can benefit the most from it.
Dr Daniel Amen: Welcome to The Brain Warrior's Way Podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen.
Tana Amen: And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body.
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Tana Amen: Welcome back. This is such a fascinating week, talking about toxins and detoxination. You call it detoxination, right?
Daniel Root That's right.
Tana Amen: Yeah. So we're here with Dr. David Root, Daniel Root, and Ann Marie Principe. So I'm just loving this discussion. In the last episode, we talked a little bit about your protocol, sort of an overview. I have a question about the niacin. So you guys use niacin. I take niacin daily, probably not in the doses you use, I'm going to guess. But I'm curious, do you use IV niacin? Do you use oral niacin? You talked about using... You don't use the no flush niacin, you want the flush. So I'm a little bit curious, if people are taking niacin at home, should they use a regular niacin that flushes? Should they use niacin that ... I mean this is obviously if they're doing it at home.
Dr Daniel Amen: My guess is they should do it under the supervision-
Tana Amen: I'm not suggesting they do this program at home. I'm just saying for people who are just doing a regular, healthy supplementation at home. If you need detoxination, you need to be doing that under the guidance of a professional. That's my suggestion because that's a little intense, especially going in and out of saunas and exercising and all that stuff. But I'm curious about the niacin and what you guys are doing, what the protocol is.
Daniel Root The niacin that we use is immediate release, pure nicotinic acid. The non-flushing kind actually does not create or set up the conditions that make this protocol work. Likewise, this is something that my father introduced in this broadcast, but what niacin does for us is it actually sets up what is known as rebound lipolysis. And that rebound is where we see the massive mobilization of these xenobiotics. And unfortunately the no flush or the niacinamide does not set that condition up. So it has to be pure nicotinic acid.
Tana Amen: Excellent.
Dr Daniel Amen: And what dosages are you using?
Daniel Root Well in a two week wellness program that we know can do, people average about an 1800 milligram dose, but we start you at 25 milligrams and work you up. You have to titrate up. And the research that my father alluded to that I found really actually shows that 500 milligrams is where we start to see the magic occurring. And from there, we just continue to titrate you up so that you continue to set up that rebound.
Tana Amen: And one of the reasons I wanted to bring that up is there's a thing that happens with kids who are trying to pass a drug test and it's highly toxic. They'll take a whole bunch of niacin and they'll take it like 2000 milligrams at a time when they're not used to taking it. And it's very toxic to do that. That's why I suggest if you're going to do a detoxification program, you go to someone who knows what they're doing because you can really hurt yourself doing that. Am I correct on this? That's not a good thing to do.
Dr David Root Absolutely.
Daniel Root If you take 2000 milligrams without titrating up, yes you can hurt yourself.
Dr Daniel Amen: And so what sort of conditions does this help? When should people think about, I really need to go through a detoxification health and wellness program? My sense is we all have a toxic load, just given the food-
Tana Amen: The environment we live in.
Dr Daniel Amen: ... the drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe.
Tana Amen: Stress.
Dr Daniel Amen: And so it almost makes sense for all of us to do it at some point. And you have actually written a book I want to highlight that people can get on Amazon, that's where I bought my copy, Sauna Detoxification using Niacin following the recommended protocol of Dr. David E. Root. And it's written by Daniel Root with his dad, Dr. David Root. When should people be thinking about this?
Daniel Root Great question. What happens is is that we're accumulating toxins our entire lifetime. Some people, like Emory, were acutely poisoned, and she needed the 30 day medically supervised program, but my two week health and wellness version people can do at home. However, we do recommend people come to our center and actually have us administer it because the two weeks that they're with us, they're dumping the massive amounts that they've accumulated their entire life. And then from there, they can continue to do this protocol maybe once a year or I like to do a five day mini version every six months. But most people are toxic. We just have had so many different ways that we're being polluted. In fact, there's over a 100,000 chemicals that are manufactured each year and only 10% of those have been actually tested for human safety. And out of that, only 1% has really been tested in combination.
Daniel Root You know what happens when you mixed chemicals in the lab? They tend to do all kinds of weird things, and that's going on in the body. So one of the things that people don't recognize is like fluoride is actually a neurotoxin and it can calcify the pineal gland and aluminum, we're actually getting aluminum from all kinds of sources. We've got the flame retardants, flint or formaldehyde in carpets. There's all kinds of ways that we're being poisoned. We're putting chemicals onto or into our body every day. As a matter of fact, there was one study that showed that women on average will put 168 chemicals into their body every day. And I actually have seen another study where it was 515 chemicals.
Tana Amen: Yeah, I'm on this new rampage to change all of my cosmetics and body products out to completely organic, nontoxic. And it's not that easy. It's not that hard once you set your mind to it, but you really have to set your mind to it because it's amazing how toxic, when I started actually checking out my products, I'm like, "Whoa." It's amazing how toxic they are.
Dr Daniel Amen: Let's bring Ann Marie back in. Ann Marie, I mean you described how sick you were and how much better you have felt over time. What are the things you do now to help continue to eliminate the toxins but also to avoid them?
Ann Marie Principe: I was raised in a very healthy environment. My parents were pioneers long before their time. I grew up with a sauna in my home. My dad, Jews didn't use wheat germ back in the '60s and everybody thought he was weird. I can tell you, I have five brothers and sisters. Not one of them is overweight. All are in good health, all look far younger than their years, and I attribute that to growing up healthy, exercise, good diet, sauna. So when I learned about this program, I wasn't as questioning or afraid of it as other people were. Many people are intimidated by a sauna, exercise, vitamins. That was always a part of my life. Once I finished the detox to begin with, I was so grateful to just function like a normal human being again. I immediately went to work reaching out to other people so that I knew other people were suffering as I had been in, and wanted them to get well.
Ann Marie Principe: There were over 500 of us at one point that did a study, and we do know now in me speaking to other first responders of those 500, now 19 years later, only two of those people who took part in this program have passed. And considering that nearly 3000 9/11 survivors have passed of their illnesses since that time, that speaks so much about this program and what it did for people. For me, it was just the catalyst to continue eating healthy, exercising. I've had other bumps in the road. I had a brain tumor and I have had breast cancer. Through both of those illnesses, I once again did the detox to get me through those surgeries. I have chosen to do everything holistically.
Ann Marie Principe: I chose not to do chemo, I choose not to do radiation, and my oncologist fully supported this. And this is someone who is well-regarded at Dana Farber up in Boston. And her whole belief is that you are what you eat and you are your patterns of exercise, taking care of your health, eating well, make the difference in whether you need chemo or not. And this is not just her speaking out of hand. These are published medical studies that have now come out that show that people who exercise, eat healthy, live healthier lives, usually do not need chemotherapy. That speaks wonders to what the program does. Who would want to do chemotherapy for six months at a cost of half a million dollars?
Dr Daniel Amen: Oh, I have so many stories. Wow. Let's talk about this some more when we come back in our final podcast with Ann Marie Principe and Daniel Root and Dr. David Root. I'm just so taken with this. It's part of the war against your brain, but detoxification is such an important part. Stay with us.
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