Latest / Ageless and Timeless Podcast® / Dr. Kelly Ruef, licensed naturopathic doctor

Transcript

Dr. Kelly Ruef, licensed naturopathic doctor · Ageless and Timeless Podcast®

0:10
Good morning everyone. This is Michelle Hughes from Ageless and Timeless. I just
0:15
wanted to say that this guest today is doctor Kelly. Roof right, Kelly's
0:20
how you say it? Are you? E? That's right? Like raising
0:24
the roof? Like raising the roof? Good for you. So anyway,
0:29
doctor Kelly. I came to my attention through another podcast host named Lisa Comedy
0:35
from New Zealand, and Lisa and I have been like kindred spirits. I'm
0:41
marching on the same path of wellness and longevity. And so I asked Lisa,
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I said, who had been some of your favorite podcast guests because I'd
0:51
like to reach out to them, And one of the first people she mentioned
0:54
was doctor Kelly. So I just wanted you to know that doctor Kelly.
0:57
I don't think I ever told you that. The reason is, you know,
1:03
most of you know if you've been watching me for the last four years,
1:07
that I'm passionate about hormone well, just hormones in general, but also
1:15
hormone replacement therapy, and so many times on my podcast I've had guests who
1:21
have touched on the subject, but no one knows it is deeply in my
1:25
opinion as doctor Kelly. So we're going to go today to talk about deep
1:30
diving into hormones. And this is going to be a very intensive discussion because
1:36
doctor Kelly is a practitioner. She is an educator. She actually has her
1:41
bs and biochemistry and cell biology and a minor neuros well in cognitive neuroscience,
1:48
which is an interesting combination. We'll get to that in a moment. But
1:52
she has a degree from the University of San Diego at the University of California
1:56
at San Diego, and so she has been very deep into this whole area
2:02
we're going to talk about in a moment again, Kelly, how you've gotten
2:06
on this path. But she works as an educator for Precision Analytics, which
2:13
is the people that do the Dutch test. Many of you who are in
2:17
the anti aging world know the Dutch test is kind of like synonymous with hormone
2:24
testing. So we're going to hear a little bit more about that test,
2:30
not a little a lot about that test today. So doctor Kelly, welcome
2:34
to Ageless and Timeless and tell us a little bit. Why are you on
2:38
the path that you're on, How did you get influenced and how did you
2:44
get to where you are today. Thank you, Thank you for having me
2:47
today. I'm really excited to be here and talk with you about hormones.
2:53
So I think my path started, of course when I was little. My
2:57
parents were always really into health and eating well and maintaining health as we age,
3:04
and especially when I was in my teenage years in high school, I
3:08
started getting a lot of cystic acne m hm. And it was it was
3:14
really it was hard for me to deal with it. And I I saw,
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you know, I went through conventional medicine. I saw a dermatologist every
3:21
month or so, and she would do the same thing every single visit.
3:23
She'd put on a on a glove, touch my face and say, oh,
3:28
this medication isn't working, Let's try the next one. And I was
3:32
kind of on my way to acutane, you know, but I had to
3:38
do textracycling too, right, yeah, yes, yes, a drug,
3:47
right you have to like with the Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I
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took antibiotics for two years. You know, your gut must have been a
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mess. Oh yeah, yeah. After that, you know, I suffered
4:00
with IBS and some other gut issues. But one day when I was applying
4:08
it was duac cream to my face. I was like, I'm going to
4:11
look at the actual pamphlet that came with the cream, and I read that
4:15
it had actually given or induced tumors in rats and rodents, and I was
4:19
like, why am I putting this on my face? And so that's the
4:24
moment when I realized that my health was my responsibility and it wasn't my doctors.
4:29
And I had a lot of almost resentment and anger towards my doctor because
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I felt like, she's like, why can't she figure this out? And
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then I realized like, oh, she's doing the best she can if this
4:41
is actually on me. And so I started researching more natural ways to cure
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my acne, or you know, I started making my own hair care products
4:50
and skin care products, and I started researching a program where I could learn
4:55
more about herbal medicine, and that's when I stumbled upon the naturopathic program.
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There are no accidents in life, and out of adversity comes opportunity. So
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I really believe in that, and I think sometimes the things that we feel
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are negative and hurtful can actually be learning experiences and opportunities for us to grow.
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And this is what you just said is exactly that situation where you got
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on a path because you had a personal challenge and it wasn't you were being
5:28
tested by the traditional allopathic approach. And do you realize that you had to
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be the one to take control and do your own research. You have to
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be your own health advocate and so but you went a lot further than that
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by going in and age. Were you on that path to into into the
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sciences before or did that just be Was that just the catalyst for you to
5:55
choose biochemistry? Oh? Yeah, no, I I've always been into math
6:00
and science, and I've always been fascinated with the body and with health,
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and I knew I was always going to go into the healthcare field. I'm
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sure exactly what I was going to do. You know, I've seen probably
6:12
more of a nutritionist or yeah, you know, personal trainer, but I
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wasn't really sure. Yeah, well, your parents obviously had an influence on
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you. So that's another great, a great accolade for your parents being there
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for you and helping you to see the other side the way that would be
6:30
more beneficial and supportive. So how did you happen to go to precision Analytics
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four years ago? Yeah? So I started up with them, you know,
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with the science background, I've always been interested in lab testing and I
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loved that they worked with hormones and women's health. And it was actually a
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friend, a friend of mine saw the posting and she said, Kelly,
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you should really apply for this, and so I did. I know you.
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I know you have a cold, Kelly, So I'm going to be
7:09
very very supportive of you today. So just take take glasses of water,
7:13
do what you have to do, right or herbal tea thank you, tickle
7:17
in my throat. But she said you should apply for this, and so
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I did and I got the job. And it's just been such a blessing
7:26
in my life because I have learned so much at this job about hormones,
7:30
women's health, men's health, hormone replacement therapy, you know. Precision Analytical.
7:35
We do a lot of our own research on the data that we get,
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and the research is a lot of it it's around hormone replacement therapy.
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And how can we improve the field around hormone replacement therapy. How can we
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improve the research that's out there and make guess so that hormone replacement therapy is
7:59
more effective for people? Well, so let's start before we get into what
8:05
Dutch does, Let's start with the abcs of hormones. So what is a
8:11
hormone? Yeah, so a hormone, it's it's like a messenger in the
8:16
body, and a hormone pretty much affects our behavior and our physiology. It
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tells tissues and cells what to do. And pretty much every cell has receptors
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for hormones. So a lot of the most you know, more common sex
8:35
hormones that we know of, our estrogen, testosterone, DHA, progest aroone.
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You know, people have probably heard of a lot of these, and
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they're important for so many different, so many different things in our lives.
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They affect our libido, our ability to exercise, our ability to put on
8:56
muscle mass, to lose weight. They affect our insulin resistance, our neurotransmitters,
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our mood, our hair, our skin, our nails, our cardiovascular
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function or immune function. So hormones, you know, they really do impact
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a lot of our body systems. Why Kelly, is it that so many
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doctors don't even look at your hormones as when they when you go to see
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them for traditional you know, annual physical and they you know, I'm not
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talking about the specialists that you and I know, but many many doctors just
9:37
don't even address the hormones and they never test for them. Why is that?
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Why is there still the dark ages when it comes to understanding the importance
9:46
of hormones. Yeah, that's a really good question, and I'm not sure
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exactly. I think partially there's research that's lacking around the use of hormone testing,
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especially if for hormone replacement, if someone's on hormone replacement therapy. But
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I think a lot of doctors are just not trained in it. Like my
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dermatologists never looked at my testosterone mm HM, which was probably high because I
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had a lot of symptoms of high testosterone and high estrogen. But I think
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the training isn't there to some extent, and a lot of it is.
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You know, medical schools and residencies can be well, medical schools can be
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funded by pharmaceutical companies, or there can be a lot of pharmaceutical influence traditional
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medical schools, and so a lot of times, you know, their focus
10:43
is learning about the pharmaceutical agents that can help acne, for example, and
10:48
not more on the nutrition or the gut health or the hormones like high testosterone.
10:56
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11:56
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12:03
I'm being idealistic in Pollyanna, but that they begin to appreciate the importance of
12:09
not only hormones but nutrition. There's never they don't even teach, or at
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least they used not to teach according to a lot of doctors. I've spoken
12:16
to anything about nutrition in medical school, so I understand the politics, and
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it's not something that's very pleasant to think that a pharmaceutical industry could control what
12:31
happens to our healthcare. And I don't want to go down the political rabbit
12:35
hole, but I do want to be sure that people understand that it isn't
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always it's not your fault, you know, just like with Kelly, she
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just went with what she was given as a as an advocacy for her treatment.
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But very often that treatment is for symptoms rather than looking for the root
12:54
cause. And so if they had done that, they would have seen gone
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deeper. And that in your case is Kelly so, but this is the
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case in so many many people's experiences. So I just want to, you
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know, put a like just say, make a point that if you give
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an advice and you don't see the results, then that's do what Kelly did,
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you know, start doing your own research and you know, understanding what
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might be the cause, not why do I have these symptoms and how can
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I put a drug a chemical in my body to cure a symptom that's not
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really addressing the root cause. So just a little sidetracked there. But so
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okay, so when you when you look at a hormone, let's just let's
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just take them one at a time because I don't think everybody understands what what
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are the actual hormones. So we're going to go a little deeper. So
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we have a hormone. It is a messenger molecule, as you said,
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and those molecules, those messenger and molecules control so many aspects of your health.
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And Kelly just gave you the list of all of those, which there
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are probably many more as well. So we start there to say hormones are
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essential to understand your understanding as your own health advocate, and I call them
14:20
the super highway of your body. That they are so important. I mean,
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they just they influence everything. So never if you haven't done any hormone
14:33
testing and you have not understood the importance of your hormones, this is the
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time, take this moment to start getting tested. So now, just because
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I'm saying that, Kelly, obviously there's a difference between blood testing lab tests,
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which most people get, you know, get their annual physical and get
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blood tests. But tell us the difference between why would you do a Dutch
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test, which is a urine based test versus blood test in order to understand
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where what your hormones are doing in your body right now. Yeah, So
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in the urine we're looking at hormone metabolites, so all the hormones that have
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been seen by the cells and metabolized and cleared out in the urine. And
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in the urine we're testing more hormones than you would typically get tested in the
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blood. So in the blood you could look at progesterone estrogen usually it's estradil,
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which is our most biologically active estrogen in the body, our most potent
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estrogen, and a lot of times people look at testosterone free and total DHA
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or dhas. But in the urine we can you know, we're looking at
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about eight different androgen metabolites. And androgens are called like the male sex hormones,
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you know, those are the testosterone, the DHA, those are the
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ones that really help with our bone mineral density, our lobido, you know,
16:04
buildings stamina for exercises, right and we're looking at about ten estrogen metabolite
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mm hm. So we're really focusing in on how the body is using those
16:22
hormones, like how the body is metabolizing those hormones, And so, Kelly,
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can I interrupt for a second. I want every man a metabolite and
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you know, correct me if I'm wrong, But metabolite is unique to hormone
16:41
testing because what it's really doing is telling you what pathway your body is utilizing
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those hormones. You can have a certain count on a level, but it's
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how the body downstream is is going to use them is This is something that
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is much more, much deeper, and much more unique to what does with
17:00
the Dutch tests. And I think people when you do a blood test,
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you see account that's a prick of the blood at a moment in time,
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and you know you haven't mentioned cortisol. But you know, I always think,
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why would I measure my cortisol in a blood test when that's only going
17:15
to show me what my cortisol's doing at that very moment, but not how
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I'm doing processing cortisol all day long. And of course, cortisol, being
17:23
the stress hormone, tends to be much more elevated at the end of a
17:27
day than at the beginning when you first wake up. And most people have
17:32
their blood tested first thing in the morning. So the cortisol counts are probably
17:36
a bit off when you do a blood work, but not when you do
17:38
the Dutch test because you're doing it over the course of a day and even
17:45
into the night. So back to Okay, what you were saying, So
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the the metabolite. So give us an of how a hormone is metabolized.
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Give us one example. So one example is blood focus on testosterone, and
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let's you know, one symptom of a high testosterone is ACME m H.
18:10
And testosterone can be metabolized through a more potent we call it the alpha pathway
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into more potent, more biologically active alpha metabolites like five alpha dht mm hmm,
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or it can be pushed metabolized more down the weaker beta pathway. So
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what's cool about the Dutch test is sometimes I will see normal testosterone levels in
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the serum, even normal testosterone levels in the urine. When I look at
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how the body is metabolizing, how it's pushing that testosterone downstream m H.
18:56
In some women and men, they're really really pushing the alpha a pathway which
19:00
you tend to see with inflammation, with blood sugar dysregulation, you can also
19:06
see it if people are kind of heavy bodybuilders too, they're doing a lot
19:10
of weight resistant exercise. But most of the time it's due to inflammation,
19:15
blood sugar dysregulation. You know, people really push that alpha pathway and you
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could say, oh, well, no, wonder you've got the acne.
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Like you've got a lot of alpha androgen activity in your body, you know,
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even though your testosterone was normal, really pushing it into these very biologically
19:37
active metabolites like bive alpha DHT, which is four times more potent than testosterone,
19:42
and genetically you can have the predisposition to those issues too. So how
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do you fix something like that. Let's say you just you know, you're
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you're working with a patient, a client, and they have that situation,
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So how do you go about repairing the a cabalite and getting it on the
20:00
right pathway? So there's a like, thankfully, there's usually a lot that
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we can do. So I'm always testing their blood sugar, sometimes even doing
20:11
a continuous glucose monitor, so they understand how the foods that they eat,
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the combinations of foods that they eat, how a poor night's sleep, or
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how stress affects their blood sugar. You know, weight loss if needed,
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can be really helpful if someone's pushing the alpha pathway, and then try and
20:29
understand if you know, there could be any reasons or any contributors to inflammation
20:33
in their body. So a lot of times I'm looking at stress levels,
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sleep sleep quality, the amount of hours they're sleeping, exposures to toxins,
20:45
chemicals in their world, you know, possible infections. But there's also things
20:52
called natural five alpha blockers. So there's herbs out there that can actually block
21:00
the alpha pathway and help someone metabolize more of that testosterone towards the beta pathway.
21:07
What are some of those? Those are like saw palmetto, Rachi mushroom,
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which this is the way. This brings me to another point. A
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lot of people put rachi mushroom in their coffee in the morning mm hm,
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and sometimes you know, it's a five alpha blocker. Sometimes it pushes the
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beta pathway for people, and especially in people who already have low androgens,
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they have got low libido, they're tired, they're depressed. Putting that rachie
21:38
mushroom in the coffee might actually be pushing their androgens even more towards the weaker
21:45
pathway. And making those symptoms worse. Mm. Just that's just a side
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note. And you know other five alpha blockers are green tea extract, the
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EGCG PI GM, and netle root not the leaf. A lot of people
22:03
use the netle leaf for allergies. This is netle root. And you can
22:07
buy all of these in an online or in a health restructure. You can.
22:11
Yeah, And a lot of the products are combination products. A lot
22:15
of them say prostate on them, like for prostate health, because men will
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use them for prostate issues or BPH if they're pushing the alpha pathway a little
22:25
too much, right, But you know a lot of times women will take
22:30
those supplements that say like prosta something or prostate health. Well, and you
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and I talked about methylation, So how does the methylation element in the body
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influence what you're talking about with the path with the metabolite and the pathway.
22:48
Yeah, so methylation it's a phase two reaction. So when our body is
22:56
metabolizing hormones and a lot of other things in the body, they can go
23:00
through phase one, phase two and phase three of detox and phase one in
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phase two mostly happen in the liver, but not always, but most of
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it happens in the liver. And phase one is when you take a hormone
23:15
or something else and you that's that word I'm looking for, oxidize it,
23:21
I believe. So phase one metabolites I always say they're they're kind of like
23:26
rowdy teenagers that are going out looking to party, like they could be rowdy.
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They can cause some oxidative damage in the body. So we don't want
23:36
phase one metabolites to stick around for very long in our body. They tend
23:42
to be very reactive phase two. So the way we get rid of phase
23:48
one metabolites is we methylate them. So we add a methyl group to them
23:55
and it makes them stable, or we glucoron it date them. We add
24:00
a gluguronic acid group to them and it makes them stable, or we sulfate
24:07
them, you know, adding a soul fur group and to make them stable,
24:10
or even glutathion conjugation. There's a lot of different phase two reactions,
24:15
and methylation is one way that we can take a reactive phase one metabolite and
24:22
make it stable, you know, turn it into a phase two metabolite.
24:26
So methylation is it's really important for overall detox of our hormones for clearing them
24:33
out, getting them out of the body. And of course phase three is
24:37
the elimination and the stool and the bile, the urine, you know,
24:44
Kelly's that's I mean, I know this is very very just like baseline for
24:49
you because you are an expert and a specialist, but for the lay person,
24:56
this is very comprehensive. You know, like, Okay, I'm a
25:00
slow methilator, So how do I know that I that I'm doing what you
25:03
just described and is there anything that I can do to monitor that or measure
25:10
that. Yeah, So on the Dutch test, we look at we have
25:15
a methylation activity that we calculate based off of a ratio, and we're actually
25:21
looking at some estrogen metabolites when we calculate this methylation activity, and it can
25:26
give you some idea about how well you're methylating your estrogens. And you know,
25:33
that's really important for estrogen detox because in estrogen detox, you can push
25:40
your estrogen down different pathways, and some pathways are more stable than others,
25:45
some are healthier than others, some pathways are more carcinogenic. You can cause
25:51
more DNA damage and increase risk for breast cancer and other pathways are more proliferative,
25:57
so they can cause tissue growth, which for one of the classics example
26:03
is you know sometimes younger women who are cycling, they have a lot of
26:08
breast tenderness and heavy bleeding, and when we do a Dutch test, we
26:11
realize they're really pushing down that proliferative pathway that's causing tissue growth. So the
26:18
estrogen is actually attaching to their receptors. I think we're tissue growth, which
26:26
can definitely affect breast sensitivity, the uterine lining, thickness. You know how
26:30
heavy are periods are. So we're let's start. Let's start at the top,
26:37
okay, because I want to get into the actual the Dutch test and
26:41
why the Dutch test versus other hormone tests, but because I think it's important
26:47
that people understand the basics of what are your hormones. So let's go through
26:52
each each hormone. Okay, and just before we go too too deep into
26:56
the metabolize, which is very important in the messylation and all that, but
27:00
let's just make sure that people understand. So you have the androgenous or the
27:07
sex hormones, So let's go to those first. Okay, the top one
27:10
being, I suppose everybody knows would be testosterone. And men and women,
27:15
by the way, have testosterone, just as you mentioned earlier, and many
27:18
of us, like you and me, have very high testosterone accounts. So
27:23
we have an extra challenge to you know, one, it's a benefit in
27:27
some ways and a challenge in others. So start with testosterone and tell us
27:32
what how do you define and what are the symptoms of low and high testosterone?
27:38
Just let's start there. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So testosterone is
27:42
classically known as that male sex hormone, and yes, men and women both
27:48
produce testosterone. It's important for both men and women, and it's pretty you
27:57
know, the levels don't fluctuate like progesterone and estrogen in a cycling woman.
28:03
For testosterone, the levels are pretty consistent from day to day for men and
28:07
women. For women, they peak a little during ovulation, but they're pretty
28:11
consistent. And testosterone is it's really important for a few things, like for
28:19
building building muscle, for our ability to exercise and recover from exercise. It's
28:26
important for our bone mineral density. Our joints are ligaments, right, you
28:33
know, a lot of a lot of the things that hormones do overlap.
28:36
Like when we talk about estrogen, I see that estrogen supports a lot of
28:40
the same things as testosterone. I think a lot of people think testosterone for
28:45
the estrogens for the women. But the truth is that men have estrogen and
28:49
women have testosterone, just not as high levels. But they're both doing very
28:53
similar things. And of course the libido is probably the one that gets the
28:59
most play. And I would assume in the fitness world the muscle building and
29:04
maintenance of the workout is another really big advantage of a good testosterone count So
29:14
what influences your testosterone county? So in men, ninety five percent of their
29:22
testosterone is made by their testes. The majority is made by their testes,
29:27
so their testicular health is going to be really important. Their brain communication with
29:33
their testicular health is going to be really important for their testosterone, whereas in
29:38
women it's a little different. So you know, their ovaries make about like
29:47
directly and indirectly make about half of the testosterone. And then the adrenal glands,
29:53
which those are the two glands that sit on top of the kidneys,
29:56
and they make a lot. You know, everyone knows about the drenals for
30:00
stress and cortisol. But in women, the adrenal glands are contributing also about
30:04
half of our testosterone and the majority of women's DHA. Oh, well,
30:11
I knew about the DHA. I did not know about that cortisol. So
30:15
if you have a low cortisol level in your body, does that mean you're
30:21
gonna have low testosterone level. That's a really good question too. I do
30:27
think that it can. Yes, it can affect women more than men.
30:32
Like For example, so the brain tells the adrenals to make cortisol through a
30:38
hormone called ACTCH. So the brain releases ACTCH, and ACTCH goes to the
30:45
adrenal glands and says, hey, adrenals make some cortisol. But a CTCH
30:49
also tells the adrenals to make DHA and testosterone and androgen. So yes,
30:56
over time, if that AC signal declines, then usually it happens because of
31:03
chronic stress. A lot of times I'll see lower cortisol, and I will
31:08
also see lower androgens, lower DHA, and both men and women lower testosterone,
31:14
especially in women because the adrenals in women play a huge role in our
31:19
DHA in testosterone production, Wow, that is so interesting. So what what's
31:26
a typical normal level for menopausal woman for DHA and testosterone. Oh, that's
31:36
a really good question. I mean, it could depend on the lab or
31:41
menopausal women. So I'm thinking more in like the Dutch reference ranges for the
31:45
urine. Right, that's fine. Let me see if I can give you
31:51
comparison. So for for like a cycling woman, let's see a woman in
31:56
her twenties and thirties, good testosterone level in the urine. We're looking more
32:02
at like bioavailable testosterone, like what was actually seen and used by the cells
32:09
would be. You know, our reference range is four to fourteen, but
32:13
I usually like to see it around six or eight or nine. You know,
32:16
it depends on the women. Everyone that woman's different. They're gonna feel
32:20
their best at different levels, but usually around like six to nine or ten
32:25
is where I like to see it in postmenoposal women. So in women over
32:30
sixty three, that reference range goes down to around like two. Oh yeah,
32:39
two. But so you know, our hormones they are are androgens,
32:45
our DHR testosterone, and men and women they peek in our twenties and our
32:49
thirties and then they naturally decline as we get older, so it's it's natural.
32:54
It's normal to have lower hormones when we're postman a puzzle that sometimes women
33:01
and men feel better if they can. Sometimes they'll they'll take testosterone replacement therapy
33:08
or they'll take DHA to help increase their androgen levels, and sometimes they feel
33:13
better when their testosterone is back at the level of a typical you know,
33:19
forty year old or a thirty year old. Yeah, so it's not worrisome
33:22
to you to see a postmenopausal woman. We're talking about women now, but
33:27
we'll go to men next. But a postman apostle woman having levels that are
33:34
what you just said of a cycling woman of her age thirty forty years earlier,
33:39
and the same for DHA, but both are probably connected to the level
33:45
of cortisols, then that puzzle woman is making a body. So this is
33:52
so interesting. It just shows you how interconnected everything is. You know,
33:55
it's like the gut brain axis and they and just how hormones affect so many
34:02
cellular and molecular functions in the body. So what you're saying is really fascinating.
34:07
So what if a woman had postmen apostle has low DHA but normal in
34:14
your reference range normal testosterone. What would that tell you? Oh, that's
34:20
a good question. So DHA is not active, Like DHA is not an
34:27
active hormone. It doesn't find the receptors, but it's a pro hormone,
34:34
so it's inactive, but it turns into testosterone and estrogen. M So when
34:42
I see that, I just see that the DHA the pro hormone levels are
34:45
low, so they're going to have less of it contributing to testosterone and estrogen
34:52
levels. So I really do look at the testosterone and the downstream testosterone metabolite
34:59
levels, and I also look at the estrogen levels and a lot of times,
35:04
I mean not always, but a lot of times, if the androgens
35:06
are low, I'll see the estrogen being low. One way I support estrogen
35:12
is by supporting DH and testosterone m HM. So they're interconnected once again.
35:16
So what about man? So what's a normal let's say a man. I
35:22
think most of my audience are, you know, forty to sixty age range,
35:27
So I'm just suggesting that age range is for a man. What would
35:31
you normally what would be normal testosterone counts for a man at that age,
35:40
So I mean in this series, I think more on the serum with men.
35:44
For total testosterone, the usually the reference ranges go up to about a
35:50
thousand or twelve hundred for total testosterone, and once it starts getting below three
35:57
hundred, that's especially concerning, right, but even like below three fifty can
36:06
be concerning for total testosterone. And then what about DHA? Oh, dha,
36:16
gosh, I'm trying to think of it. Off the top of my
36:19
head. I don't know if I have a level on the top of my
36:23
head for DHA. My blood work my DHA was like one hundred and sixty
36:30
something like that. Is that is that high for a woman? No?
36:35
No, no, A lot of people will shoot for that in postmenopausal women.
36:38
For therapy. For women, the DHA usually the reference rangoes go up
36:44
to about three hundred and three fifty. Okay, good, So yeah,
36:47
I think one time I had three fifty. They said, oh, that's
36:51
way too high, and then you know they wanted it. But my doctor
36:54
said, don't worry about it, because they use the ranges of the averages.
37:00
If you have a ring, if you have a result that's like a
37:02
twenty year old, why do you care you should be happy with that as
37:07
long as it's not doing some negative damage. Right. SAME's tossed around.
37:12
So you know, estrogen, I think is one of the confusing hormones.
37:17
There are three estrogen So can you go through each one and tell us which
37:21
is the most beneficial and which is the most dangerous m hm. So they're
37:27
all gosh. I would say, they're all beneficial at the right levels,
37:31
and they're all very safe at the right levels. Estrone that's E one,
37:38
that's more prominent after menopause, mhm. E two, which is estradile.
37:46
That's the most biologically active estrogen. So that's the one that can get some
37:51
bad press around around bresh cancer and uterine cancer. Yeah, usually it's around
37:59
the hormonal cancer there. And we know one risk factor for breast cancer is
38:02
high estrogen. High and dodges estrogen levels when we're when we're young, so
38:09
I'm when we're cycling. So I think of a risk for breast cancer as
38:13
like the total estradyle exposure during our lifetime mm hmm. And then we have
38:19
estreeol and estriel is actually metabolite of estradyle and estriol. It's E three.
38:25
It's highest in pregnancy, but it's a week a very weak estrogen, and
38:34
people think it has some protective effects or anti inflammatory effects. You know,
38:38
often times people will use it vaginally, like locally vaginally for vaginal dryness.
38:44
Built to an estrial cream, there's a lot of receptors and the vaginal canal
38:50
for estriol. So that can work really well for some women. Yeah,
38:54
you know, let's stop on that for a moment, because that's something that
38:58
came up in another discussion and I wanted people to understand women, the women
39:02
out there, you do not have to you never have to accept vaginal dryness
39:07
there and Kelly, I'm sure you'll echo this there. There are just easy
39:15
ways and so you should never have to have painful sex. And when after
39:21
you know, typically after menopause. So this estriol comes in a in a
39:28
cream and you put it in a syringe and you just inject it into your
39:32
vaginal cavity and and guess what you do that maybe what once or twice a
39:38
week and you're fine, right, Kelly, Yeah, Yeah, for some
39:43
women it works really well, and it's it's very safe to Estriol is very
39:49
safe. I totally agree that for most women if not all women like local
39:58
vaginal estrogen there therapy is pretty safe and can be effective for vaginal dryness for
40:07
people. You know, sometimes we start to tear down there more often because
40:09
the tissue is fragile, we get that vaginal atrophy where the tissue isn't as
40:15
plump, we don't have as much lubrication. So the estrogen can really be
40:19
helpful. And even even for women who are survivors of estrogen receptor positive breast
40:23
cancer. The major associations out there say, you know, try these natural
40:30
therapies first, like vitamin E, et cetera. But if they don't work,
40:34
yeah, go ahead and use estrogen. And they're mostly talking about low
40:38
dose ESTRADL inserts, so like ten microgram or twenty five microgram estradyl inserts rather
40:47
than the estriol. Yeah, and that's just because the associations, their recommendations
40:53
are based on their research and FDA approved products, and there's no FDA approved
40:59
estrial products. Those have to be compounded, right, But we do have
41:04
FDA approved estradle low dose ESTRADL products and research on them, so they have
41:12
shown that if you use those low dose estradil products, they're they're safe you
41:19
don't. You don't need to oppose it with progesterone. That's a whole other
41:22
topic. If you take estrogen and you have a uterus, usually you have
41:24
to oppose the estrogen with progesterone to protect your uterus from cancer. Basically,
41:32
I'm glad you brought that up because that was my next one. So okay,
41:36
yeah, yeah. Do not understand the connection between progesterone and estrogen and
41:43
how they are really like to twins. I mean, they are twins,
41:47
and they need to be combined and needs to be very a very delicate.
41:52
When you're doing bio hormone replacement therapy, there needs to be a very a
41:58
very precise dosage to keep these two in balance and complimenting each other. So
42:04
could you go into the talk about the progesterone and how that affects. But
42:10
right now I've been talking more about women. I guess that's a little selfish,
42:14
but because I know men, you know, men are very very important,
42:17
and they oftentimes ignore their hormones. So I hope that the men that
42:22
are listening are going to take heed here and do some hormone testing, and
42:29
hopefully it'll be the Dutch test. So Okay, talk about progesterone and tell
42:34
us what is the importance of progesterone and the balance with estrogen in terms of
42:39
the body's needs. Yeah, yeah, and really quick going back to men
42:44
men and estrogen. Estrogen is really important for men's health. Yeah. They
42:50
have found that even if their testosterone levels are normal, if their estrogen is
42:53
low, they're still going to have issues with bone mineral density. Though the
43:00
estrogen really helps their bone mineral density, it helps their libido, it helps
43:02
their ability to have an erection, it affects their cholesterol, their lipid profile.
43:08
So estrogen is very important for men to way, we should test it
43:14
too much. They tend to get the protruding and the men's booze, and
43:20
you know the bad side of that, right if they have and there's so
43:23
much estrogen influencers in the environment today that this because become an endemic thing.
43:30
To see men with high estrogen that you have very obvious symptoms. Correct,
43:36
Oh, yeah, definitely, And you're right. It could be their own
43:39
production of estrogen, especially if they're overweight, if they have extra fat tissue,
43:45
their testosterone will convert to estrogen and their fat tissue m But also I
43:51
do think about the indocrend disrupting chemicals. You know, a lot of women
43:54
are are I don't want to put it on women. There's a lot of
43:57
indocrendous erupting chemicals that can affect estrogen. But for example, like women,
44:04
when we're taking birth control or we're taking hormones and then we urinate those synthetic
44:09
estrogens, those biodentical estrogens are ending up in our water supply. And that's
44:15
why I think it's important for everyone to really filter their water, because you
44:19
don't know what pharmaceutical agents are in there or what hormones are in there.
44:23
I'm so glad you just said that. People you know, I've had doctor,
44:28
not doctor, but Robert Slovak is like the father of reverse osmosis and
44:32
he's a good friend of mine and I and Watering Wellness the company he founded
44:37
along with Quicksilver or Scientific, both of them are you know, extremely credible
44:44
supplement companies. But anyway they are. Don't want to sound like I'm giving
44:47
a plug, but I am because they are one of my sponsors. And
44:52
honestly, I would encourage everyone to look at their little If you don't have
44:58
an under the counter or a whole house, which is very expensive water purification
45:02
system. At least look at the Aqua Pure, which is their Aqua True
45:07
I think it's called, but that's their countertop and it's portable. So like,
45:12
if I'm leaving on a trip and I'm driving somewhere, I'll put that
45:16
machine in my car. Because most of the places you go, you know,
45:21
the hotel, whatever, they're not going to have purified water. So
45:24
I can't emphasize enough the importance of purified water is part of your total health
45:30
plan. And and yet you know, I have so many friends, very
45:34
wealthy friends, and they don't have water purification in their homes, and yet
45:38
they can well afford it. It's just that for some reason, they don't
45:43
recognize the importance of what you just said. The endercan disruptors and the and
45:50
the other elements like the fluoride and the bleach. I mean, you know,
45:57
all the stuff that and then all the things that you just said about
46:00
the people's uh what do you call it? That? Yeah, the disruptors.
46:07
But okay, so you know what they just they just flash me.
46:12
I can't even believe that we're already at the end of our time. But
46:15
so so I want to race on you. I'm so sorry, but I
46:19
do want you to explain the Dutch test if you could in like two minutes.
46:22
Sorry about this, no worries. I mean the Dutch test is great
46:29
for people of all stages of life, all ages, not not really children,
46:34
you know, because we're using urine and they have different excretions of creating
46:38
and it's the whole thing. But yeah, yeah, it's it's a great
46:43
test to really look at sex hormone levels to see how you're metabolizing your hormones,
46:47
which I can tell you a little bit more about why you might not
46:51
have a libido, why you can't build muscle mass, why you're you can't
46:55
have those erections, why you're getting breasts or heavy bleeding, and even breast
47:02
cancer risk. And we're looking at cortisol too throughout the day, and we
47:08
know cortisol affects our mood, our energy levels, our ability to regulate our
47:13
blood sugar, our sleep wake cycles. And then at the very end,
47:17
we have a list of organic acids. We have about ten organic acids,
47:22
so they're kind of nutritional markers where we're looking at B vitamin status, inflammatory
47:29
markers. We have one marker for gut inflammation. So it's a really comprehensive
47:35
test. And I always say, even if people are healthy, I recommend
47:39
at the very least getting their baseline hormones done in the serum. Like if
47:44
you've got a twenty five year old man, go get your baseline testosterone in
47:47
the serum, so by the time you're forty and you start having low libido,
47:52
you can compare what's normal for you, right exactly, Well, Kelly,
48:00
what how does one go about getting the Dutch test? If you if
48:04
if one if our viewers want to uh contract the company, did they do
48:09
it then directly or does it have to be through a medical practitioner. They
48:15
can buy it directly, but we usually recommend going through a medical professional.
48:19
So they can always go to our website Dutch Test dot com. Mm hmmm,
48:23
and that's d U T C H T E s T dot com.
48:28
And there's on the upper left or up upper right it says find a provider,
48:31
So you can click on that link, put your zip code in,
48:36
can find a provider in your area that that knows how to read the Dutch
48:38
Test and can order it for you. Okay, all right, and you
48:43
know one other thing, before we go. Is that. I think it's
48:45
very fascinating that you mentioned to me. I think it was in one of
48:50
our conversations that that your hormones are influenced by your cholesterol. So yes,
48:58
you know, all these people that are taking staff drugs, are they hurting
49:00
their you know, maybe they're doing one thing for cholesterol by lowering it,
49:06
which oftentimes they don't even need to be doing that because the cholesterol, the
49:09
absolute cholesterol may be above two hundred, but that's still it's their ratio and
49:15
the size of their particles and their good you know, the ratio of the
49:21
good to the HDL to the ELDAL. But the absolute count like mine is
49:24
two seventeen, and I always got so worried because it was over two hundred.
49:28
But yet so many of my practitioners have explained to me, you're very
49:32
lucky because cholesterol is influencing so many of your bodily functions, and as long
49:39
as it's not the bad cholesterol, and as long as it's not big particles
49:45
that are blocking your arteries. So could you just say to us, one,
49:50
is it okay in your opinion to be having a cholesterol absolute count that's
49:55
higher than what the government seems to tell us to hundred. Yeah, for
50:01
some people, it's totally fine. Usually what we do is we will do
50:07
like a calcium we calculate their calcium score. So they go and they get
50:12
a a a CT scan, an ultrasound of your Yeah, I did that
50:17
and yeah that was completely normal. That's telling you whether your arteries are blocked.
50:23
Yeah, so they can. You can kind of re stratify your risk
50:27
by calculating your calcium score. And if your calcium score comes back low,
50:30
like if it's zero, then you probably don't need a statin. You know.
50:35
But I always say, you know, work with your healthcare provider on
50:37
that, of course. But but you are saying that cholesterol is the influencer
50:42
of your hormone. So you know, if you look at it down on
50:44
a map, you know, what do you call it? A medical map
50:50
of your body? Cholesterol is the source of the production of hormones. Correct,
50:57
it is? Yes, it It turned into all of our sex permons.
51:00
It turns into court of all It's very important. Okay, good,
51:05
Well, I know we're out of time, but I want to just say
51:07
thank you, and so let's just one more time. Tell people if you
51:10
want to do Kelly's test, and by the way, I did the test
51:15
a lot. Everybody should know that. I forgot to mention that I'm I'm
51:19
a great advocate of this testing because I see how comprehensive it is compared to
51:25
what I've historically done, which has always been a serum. So I think
51:30
that as a first hand spokesperson, I can tell you it is worth it,
51:36
and follow Kelly's instructions about contacting the company, or more importantly, I
51:42
think go make sure you're doing it with a provider. So then you get
51:45
Kelly or wonderful associates to help you understand the test or and with your provider,
51:53
you're going to have a much better map of what you should be doing
51:58
both nutrition and and and and medically with hormone, with hormone replacement possibly or
52:07
and or herbs and other supplements. So on that note, I want to
52:13
end and just say thank you, thank you, thank you Kelly for helping
52:15
us to better understand what's going on. And I just want you to know
52:22
that hopefully we've encouraged people because of your knowledge, to take a proactive step.
52:30
So thank you again and have a beautiful day. Thank you, Thank
52:34
you so much for having me. It's been an honor to be here and
52:36
have a beautiful day too. Yes, and I'm so happy you could do
52:38
it, even though I know you're dealing with your cold, so you were
52:42
very You were a real true Thank you again. Okay, they take care
52:45
you too,