Dr. Brown Hosts Dr. Mark Stengler Who Will Answer All Your Health-Related Questions

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. You've got health-related questions.

We've got health-related answers with Dr. Stengler today. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on the line of fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us, friends, today on The Line of Fire.

This is Michael Brown coming your way live from our studio in Fort Worth, Texas at Mercy Culture. I just finished teaching the students at the Spiritual Leadership School. Great time with them. Thrilled to be with you today. We haven't done this in a few months, so we wanted to bring my friend, colleague, and doctor, Dr. Mark Stengler, back on the air on a Friday. Any health-related question you have of any kind, something you're going through, something with a family member, something you've wanted to ask, get to the truth about things you've heard. Phone lines are open.

866-348-7884. It's a great opportunity to call in. Before we get to any calls, Mark, great to have you back on the air. Thanks so much for joining us.

Hey, Michael. Great to be back with you today. What do you—I know there's more time in the day.

You're on the West Coast, so three hours behind us, or two hours behind where I am right now, three hours behind East Coast. But what do you normally do on Fridays? Well, you know, I work really hard at the clinic Monday to Thursday, and then most mornings it starts off the same way I get up. I do some Bible study, apologetic study. Then I do my exercise, have my morning shake, and then usually some other clinic stuff comes up.

And then I work on some of my writings from my website and books and things like that. So usually around Friday, 2 o'clock, I'm pretty much done, and I get ready for Saturday, which is a big evangelism day for me, kind of like people have their sports day. Saturday, sometimes Sunday is my—you know, one of those two days is my evangelism day, so I start kind of getting prepared for that as well. Interesting. So the evangelism, you go out in the park where people come through, share the Gospel, or you share the Gospel in front of mosques, things like that?

Yeah, exactly. Saturday usually—it's Saturday or Sunday, usually it's Saturday, I'm at the park most of the day with a group of men, some women, and we're doing evangelism, you know, apologetics is involved with that too. We do do some separate events at mosques between San Diego and Los Angeles, where we meet up and talk to people after their services, we kind of wait outside on the sidewalks, we're not being, you know, seen as being rude or obtrusive, and then we have outreach that way too. Got it.

Very interesting. Yeah, I just love that side of you, going out, sharing the Gospel on a regular basis. Okay, before we get to any calls, a lot of people, I realize, when I mention you're a naturopathic doctor, they don't know what that means. They think it's someone without medical training using crystals or something like that. So we did this a long time ago, but I want to just do it again, because I'm familiar with your background and your writings and how your work is respected. But compare for me the training that you went through to get your medical degree, compared to what a traditional American doctor would do.

Yeah, no problem. I mean, there's two terms for licensed doctors in my field, yeah, naturopathic doctor or naturopathic medical doctor, I use naturopathic medical doctor here in California. So basically, we're trained as primary care physicians, so if you think you're a family physician, that's how we're trained. So like all the other doctors, you've got to get your bachelor's degree, and then you've got to get accepted into a medical program. And there are certain medical schools where basically you learn integrative medicine. And what that is, you learn all the standard stuff people are familiar with, doing exams, using lab tests, pharmaceutical medications, minor surgery, those types of things. And then integrated along with that, you're trained more heavily in nutrition, nutritional supplements, herbal medicine, intravenous nutrient therapy, bioidentical hormone replacement, spinal manipulation, things of this nature. And so basically, you're trained in both types of system, and we have a lot of flexibility. What we try to do whenever possible is treat people nutritionally or as naturally as possible.

But we also use modern technology. We use lab tests. We actually usually do use more lab tests than the typical doctor to find out what's going on inside the body at the root level or root causes.

And so we can address that better. But if the patient needs medication, then we certainly use them. For example, with this COVID, I mean, I think I've prescribed steroids more in the last, you know, six weeks with this recent upswing than I have in years for people, you know, lung issues, a major body inflammation, you know, antibiotics when needed.

Obviously, Ivermectin, I've talked about prescribing that. So, you know, we use medications when necessary. We use specialists when necessary. You know, if a patient comes in and maybe they're diagnosed with an EKG of a certain heart condition, let's say atrial fibrillation, or, you know, maybe they're suspicious, maybe they, you know, had some heart damage, then I refer to one of the cardiologists I work with.

There's about four cardiologists I work with very closely. If someone has some other type of thing where they need specialty care to a psychiatrist, to a gynecologist, whatever, you know, we make those referrals and continue to work with the patient. So it's really an integration of both types of systems, which, you know, the American public is very much resonating with because we have found the hard way or several decades that a drug surgery driven medical approach is insufficient to prevent disease to successfully treat especially chronic disease.

And so this model is, you know, becoming somewhat mainstream. And in point of fact, if you went to your average doctor, they haven't been trained a lot in nutrition, right? So let's say someone has high blood pressure, maybe they're not, you know, really obese or something like that, it's possible that the first solution the doctor would give is medication as opposed to really looking into that person's diet and those habits that may be causing the high blood pressure. So they're treating the symptom rather than treating the cause.

Yeah, that's true. I mean, modern medicine does acknowledge diet and lifestyle as major factors, major factors in terms of most chronic disease. The problem is the medical model doctors aren't well trained in nutritional medicine. It's just a fact. I mean, most medical, you know, programs maybe have a course in nutrition, which is very insufficient.

So that is true. I mean, you can pretty much go down the list of most chronic diseases and they're at least in part some, in some cases, much more than that nutrition imbalances, you know, problem with the diet, nutritional deficiencies, lifestyle factors, exercise, stress reduction. I mean, almost all the chronic diseases, you can make a strong case, the scientific evidence, you know, these factors are involved, but you know, we're kind of quick fix, give a prescription, you know, mentality and, you know, there's places for that, but you know, look, America with all our resources, with our phenomenal medical training, we're not doing well in terms of, in terms of other countries and chronic disease, we're actually doing horrible. And so the reason for that is when you look at drug therapies and surgery, and while we need them and are phenomenal for acute problems, they are really insufficient for chronic disease. And so chronic disease is not well managed in America. In fact, we know most chronic diseases, at least in part, and some more than others, you look at the big ones, like obviously obesity, you look at diabetes, you know, arthritis, for example, heart disease, all these types of big conditions affecting a lot of Americans, you know, at the foundation is diet and lifestyle and stress problems. And so when those aren't addressed as the root causes, these diseases continue to flourish and affect more people. I mean, look, 50% of American adults approximately have prediabetes or diabetes. Now that's not a drug deficiency. That is a diet and lifestyle fundamental problem.

And so, you know, you can see when you have conditions like obesity and diabetes, it's well acknowledged in all medicine that your risk of heart disease, your risk of Alzheimer's disease, joint destruction from the extra weight, autoimmune disease, all these things skyrocket, and so that you develop other problems from the foundation of diet, exercise, lifestyle factors. Got it, got it. And that's how you and I actually connected. I was speaking at an apologetics conference at the church we were a part of, and there was a different person basically hosting me each day and getting me foods and things.

And you said, ah, you're not the only one that eats like this. And that's how we first started talking and then found our common interest in apologetics and other things. All right, let's get to some calls. Again, friends, today, as we have Dr. Stengler as our guest, it's your opportunity to call in and get his opinion. How far booked are you at your integrative clinic? Is it weeks? Yeah, yeah, yeah. For me, it usually takes about, for the new patient, it usually takes like around six weeks to be on a waiting list to get in.

Got it. So this is a busy clinic you get to call in right now. 866-348-7884.

We'll start with Vicki in Winston-Salem. What's your question for Dr. Stengler? Hi, Dr. Stengler. I have had hair loss right in, around my temple area. It is bilateral and I can tell that it's continuing. I'm continuing to lose hair and I was just wondering where they could possibly reduce the medication I take.

I'm on centroid and low trail. I get to go to a dermatologist. She gave me steroid injections and topical steroids. Then she wanted to start me on Proscar. I did not start the Proscar, so I just thought I'd call her and ask.

Yeah, if I could ask just one question. How long has it been going on for and was there anything new going on right before it started? Like, had you just started these medications? Did you have an illness, high stress, anything like that before the onset?

Well, I've been on the medication for, I've been on centroid for about 25 years and I've been on low trail for about 15 years. Okay, and how long have you had the hair loss for, did you say? Yeah, how long have you had the hair loss for? I noticed the hair loss probably about maybe 20 years ago.

I thought it was due to, I had a relaxer on my hair and I thought the hair follicles may have gotten damaged on the side because she put it in my hair when I had just come back from the gym, so my scalp was wet and so I thought I may just have, you know, some damage to my hair follicles, but then I noticed that it was, it's become progressive that, you know, is slowly going into, you know, more areas and the left side used to not have any issues. Tell you what, we'll stop here. Vicki, we come back, we'll be on with Dr. Stengler. Now's a good time to call in. We've got a line open.

We'll get as many calls as we can. Stay right here. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Our friends just want to make a very special announcement before we get back to our calls with Dr. Stengler. I want to encourage you right now, go to vitaminmission.com, vitaminmission.com. Today there is a special offer, I believe it's going to run a few days through the weekend into early next week, so take advantage of this.

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So we are blessed with all of this. Okay, Dr. Stengler, back to you. Words for Vicky, what would you say? Yeah, just for Vicky. I mean, the medications she's on aren't typically known to cause hair loss. I don't think it's likely that's the problem.

It's not really clear, to be honest. Your doctor did recommend Proscar, which blocks the hormone known as dihydrotestosterone, which can lead to hair loss. For our patients, we don't, if possible, we don't like to have people take those kinds of medications internally because you're affecting other hormone balance in the body. Actually, that medication, we prescribe the patients topically.

Your doctor could prescribe it from a compounding pharmacy in a topical cream form that could be applied to the scalp. We prefer that. We think based on that it'd be less, you know, internal imbalance being caused. Number two, some of our patients they get really good results with our collagen hair, skin, and nails formula. You can look on the website about that. And third, there's a newer technology we also recommend the patients you could look into. And it's called PRP. It stands for platelet-rich plasma. Basically what happens is the doctor draws your blood.

It gets spun down. The growth factors from your blood then are injected into your scalp, of course, you know, with anesthetic, to stimulate a new hair growth, hair follicles to be producing. So that's something newer technology we're seeing decent results with and some things for you to consider.

Excellent. Hey, thank you so much for the call, Vicky, and for the advice, Dr. Stangler. What was the supplement that you recommended that others can look at who are having hair loss related issues? Yeah, vitaminmission.com. It's called Collagen Hair, Skin, and Nails.

That's basically nutrients that promote, you know, hair health, skin health, and nail health. A lot of crossover into the same tissue. Got it. Okay, let's go to the phones with Deb in Bootstrap, Texas. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Shalom, Dr. Brown.

Bastrop, Texas. Shalom to you and Dr. Stangler. First and foremost, thank you for your faithfulness to serve God and to serve us. Appreciate you.

Our joy. Thank you. Dr. Stangler, when you first partnered with Dr. Brown, we invested in some of your products. But my question has to do with a Crohn's disease diagnosis about 20 years ago. And when I presented, they hit it pretty hard with some steroids, some other things, some Remicade infusions. And after about a year and a half, it seemed like the treatment was worse than the symptoms. And I got caught up in what you've described sort of as, I mean, it's worse, it's bad, it's going to get worse, you're going to die from it.

You can't do anything about it. And so when I tried to get weaned off of everything, they were resistant. And I ended up weaning myself off. And for about 20 years, I've been symptomatic, free, no symptoms. And that's how I'd like to actually handle the disease. We invested in some of your digestive wellness and your flora things and that sort of thing.

Very, very recently, though, within like the last week, I was doing some research again, and I found products that talk about prebiotics, probiotics, and also something called postbiotics. And I've come to understand that the gut biome is really important in Crohn's disease. And I wanted to know your opinion about that. And if you have an idea about Crohn's treatment as a whole, through diet, through exercise, through monitoring, instead of just being loaded up on all sorts of medications and that sort of thing. So I guess your input or your take on that is what I'd be interested in hearing about.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm very familiar with Crohn's disease. I've had many patients with it over the years. And yeah, some of those cases, you know, we treat them combined with conventional medicine and other patients, we're able to treat them just solely with natural medicine alone.

So it kind of depends on the case. Maybe just a few things I've seen over the 27 years of practice, you know, there can be different causes for different people with Crohn's disease, what we tend to look at more in depth, is there an undiagnosed infection? I mean, that's one of the theories as to why some people continue to have problems with Crohn's disease, undiagnosed infection. So we use more of a modern technology of stool testing where we're looking for DNA fragments, say a parasite, bacteria, things which should not be in there creating inflammatory response. That doesn't mean you have the problem with it.

But that's one thing, you know, we look at. Number two, food allergies are probably a better word would be food sensitivities. Certainly possible you have food sensitivities delayed, which you're not aware of. And there's ways, you know, doctors in the field could test you to kind of help pinpoint maybe what's irritating contributing to the problem.

And number three, and I'm actually finishing an ebook on this right now. But the whole, the whole idea of what's called leaky gut syndrome, which is increased intestinal permeability, so unhealthy lining of the small intestine, where most of your immune system resides actually creating a lot of the inflammatory reaction you get with inflammatory bowel disease. And that ties into what you're talking about, the microbiome. So certainly many studies have shown people with Crohn's disease, virtually all of them, definitely have an imbalance in their microbiome, you know, an imbalance overgrowth of the bacteria that shouldn't be there or fungi, as well as not levels of good bacteria. So answering your questions, yes, we want patients to get in prebiotic foods, foods which feeds a good flora, foods people may not think about, but basically just going to go down to fruits and vegetables. There's ones within those categories which work better than others, like who would ever know that the inulin, a component of fiber you find in artichokes is one of the best prebiotic foods you can eat to feed your good bacteria. Probiotics you find obviously in foods like yogurt, but when you have conditions like Crohn's disease, most of these patients don't tolerate dairy products, and so you can use things like coconut yogurt, for example. And in post products are when you get the good bacteria in, and these are metabolites which fight off bad bugs, supply good fatty acids to your digestive tract, that can be good.

In our products, actually one of the main products I use is the ELO DGL Glutamine powder. The ELO and DGL is very healing, anti-inflammatory, the lining of the small intestine as well as the colon. Of course Crohn's disease can go from the mouth to the anus, so it actually helps with the whole elementary tract. So we have people use that always when they have those conditions.

But then we're trying to work more with the root problem. Most people with Crohn's disease, we find they have gluten allergy, dairy allergy, we want to support the digestion kind of like you're doing, and then use those anti-inflammatory herbs like I talked about, along with high dose fish oil is used a lot in Crohn's disease. So those are some of the things, and like I said, also looking at maybe undiagnosed infections. If a patient's not doing well, we recommend for a period of time getting intravenous nutrients to supply the nutrients to the body so you don't get so weak, so your GI tract can heal as well. And the last thing we use a lot with patients is our implant fighter powder. It's actually specific to the digestive tract, inflammation of the digestive tract. It has a hypoallergenic protein in it, anti-inflammatory compounds. We almost always use that as well until the patient's doing better.

So those are just, you know, some things to consider. Awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Stanger. Thanks for the call, Deb.

866-348-7884. You may want to call a friend who's been struggling and can't seem to get answers from a doctor and don't know what's going on. Great time to call in and get some professional advice.

Dr. Stanger, we've just got a short time before break, then we'll get back to our calls. But we're often used to instant results with medicine that we take dealing with some of the symptoms. But when you're dealing with a lifestyle change or you're dealing with adding in healthy supplements, it's only going to take a little while before you see the results of these, correct? Yeah, you know, it just really depends on the person and their state of health. I mean, the longer someone's been sick for, then yes, you should give them more time to see how they're responding. Someone who's in generally good health, though, I mean, you know, maybe has more of a mild to moderate health problem. I mean, with the right treatment, you know, some people can notice difference within days to a week or two. So it just depends. I mean, it's like that in regular medicine, too. I mean, the longer someone's had a condition, the longer you got to kind of get the time to see how they're responding, yeah. Right.

Got it. Yeah, I just know sometimes we're always looking to snap our fingers. You know, I remember when I radically changed my lifestyle with God's help back in 2014, August of 2014, I was surprised maybe six weeks in I got a cold. I thought my immune system is going to be like invincible.

It took a while to get stronger, and it got much stronger over the years. Hey, friends, we're going to be back with Dr. Mark Stangler. It's a real privilege to have him on with us. And you get to call in and ask your questions for yourself or for someone else.

And as you can see, he is a wealth of knowledge and is doing his best to work with God and the human body to help people get well. Remember, visit vitaminmission.com. When you go there today through early next week, so take advantage of this, you want to use the health code, capital H-E-A-L-T-H. When you put that in with any order, if you're subscribing, I mean, you want to take advantage of this, 20% off your orders that are placed today through early next week. So spread the word. They're great health supplements.

This is a great way to get them. And then funds come back to help with our ministry as well. So everyone's blessed in the process. And we really believe these will contribute along with lifestyle changes to really get you healthy. We're here to see your healthy spirit, mind, and body.

We'll be right back. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on The Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks for joining us, friends, on this special Friday edition of The Line of Fire. We're talking with my friend, colleague, and doctor, Dr. Mark Stengler, and he's answering your health-related questions. This is a wonderful time to call in 866-348-7884 for yourself, for a family member, for a friend. It can be not personal health, but something you're trying to sort out. You read one thing, you read another thing, you read this is recommended, that's recommended.

How do you sort these things out? We could even take COVID-related questions. Thankfully, hopefully, these will continue to wane, but you may have a COVID-related question.

866-34-TRUTH. Before we go back to the phones, I just want to ask Dr. Stengler a couple quick questions. I had seen another doctor specialize in nutritional things, and he was saying, you don't want to take this, this, this. You don't want to have this and vitamins. He's giving a list of things. My wife Nancy is the one really familiar with nutritional issues. I just do as told, okay, this is healthy.

This is not whatever. I don't know the reasons for it. But there is something saying don't use folic acid, and I don't know the background to that. Is that ever used as an ingredient in vitamins or supplements? What are the pros, cons with using it?

Yeah, good question. Actually, I had an article, I guess people Google search, I had an article published in a medical journal on this topic in terms of folic acid, folate, and depression. But folic acid, interestingly, it's referred to as a B vitamin, but it's manmade. It's synthetic. You do not find it in food. You don't find it in nature.

So it's very cheap and inexpensive to make. So if you look at, say, a multivitamin or a B complex that has folic acid, typically it's going to be a lower cost kind of nonprofessional item. So holistic doctors like myself, we always use formulas which have folate or methylfolate. That's what you find in foods like, say, green leafy vegetables. And so the human body is designed to obviously interact with natural folate, folic acid, again, synthetic.

You don't find it in nature. And so about 45% of the population, they have what we call a genetic variation, and it's called the MTHFR gene. We have a couple different locations for MTHFR in our genes, but basically about 45% of people have a variation where they do not metabolize folic acid very well. And like I said, folate is very important because it's involved in normal cell division. It's involved in metabolizing hormones.

It's also involved in making neurotransmitters. That's why there's several studies showing that folate can help with depression because it helps you make serotonin. But if you have this genetic variation, then you can't get folic acid into its final form. So when you take folic acid as a supplement, it has to go through some different conversions to get into its active form in your cells. And so people, a fair amount of people genetically have problems doing that.

And so if you're using the natural form like the methyl folate found in foods, then you already have it in its active form so your cells can utilize it for all the cell processes. So there is something to that. That is true. Got it. Okay. And then I'll tell you what, I'll get to my other question. I want to get to our callers first. My other question can wait.

Let's go over to Claire in Centerville, Virginia. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi. Thank you for taking my call.

You're welcome. Can you hear me? Yes. Go ahead. Okay. Yes. I would like to find a more natural doctor.

I've been looking for one. But when I look, it seems like they're involved in like acupuncture and different things that I've always thought were new age. And I was wondering what you think of that and how do you recommend looking for a natural doctor as a Christian?

Yeah, I mean, it's a good question. I mean, in terms of field, what we call integrative medicine, holistic medicine, in terms of doctors, I mean, there are about 20,000 of us around the country and it's growing actually very rapidly. It turns into a number that are Christian. Yeah, it does tend to be a smaller percent.

That is true. Some doctors are into kind of new age medicine type stuff. So honestly, you just have to Google like integrative doctor and see what comes up in your area and then just look at their bio or call their clinic and kind of see what they're into. That's about the only way to do it. There are some national kind of associations like A4MA, the number 4NM, and that lists integrative medical doctors like myself around the country.

That's one resource people can do. In terms of acupuncture, I mean, there's different thoughts on it. I mean, when I started in this field, maybe like 20, well, I've been practicing 27 years. There's a small percent of people that use acupuncture.

They're into some strange stuff. I mean, most of the people I know that use acupuncture totally use it from a medical model. They just see it as grooving circulation, blocking pain signals. They don't get into the Chinese philosophy and from the spiritual aspects of it. I know Christians kind of have different thoughts on it. I do have an osteopathic doctor, my clinic, who does do some acupuncture and he's a very dedicated Christian and would reject all other forms of theology for sure.

So different thoughts on that, but nevertheless, I think that's just the best way to do it. Just type an integrative doctor, type in holistic doctor, see who comes up in the area, and then you're just going to have to kind of see what their bio is or ask their clinic. Or, hopefully, you can get maybe a referral from someone in your church that has a good experience and knowledge of somebody. Yeah, and I think a lot of it, Mark, has to do with different parts of the country. Different parts of the country seem to be much more aware. I had to get a particular shot I'd gotten at your clinic for a hand condition, and the only place I could get it was someone doing acupuncture. I had to go just to the state immediately south of me, and the person – I live in North Carolina, just have to drive like four to five minutes into South Carolina – and this doctor was trained in Chinese medicine, not into the spiritual side of it at all. But the doctor was telling me, yeah, I have to go to South Carolina because I can't practice in North Carolina. Then when you had called in a prescription for me to our mutual shock, we found out that they don't fill prescriptions from integrative doctors in North Carolina. When I asked the woman in South Carolina about it with the Chinese medical background, she said to me, she said, yeah, it's basically a bureaucrat, it's just somebody in charge making the decisions. She would say that certain parts of the country are way ahead of other parts of the country. Yeah, very interesting.

Thank you. That's true, Michael, but one thing is, basically, every major city in America – and I don't know, it depends on where someone lives, it's very rural and there's not a major city nearby, it's a problem – but every major city in America has integrative doctors. I mean, it's been my experience.

Yeah, absolutely. It's just the mentality, the philosophy, it's so interesting. You know, this woman who had been trained in Chinese medicine made an interesting comment. She said, Western medicine is really good for emergencies.

You know, someone's been in an accident, it's life or death, get them back. But in terms of long-term health, when you go in to see whatever your condition is, she spends like an hour with you discussing your diet and lifestyle first. So it's just such a different mentality. It's just interesting to talk about what did you learn, how did you learn – not the spiritual stuff, forget that – but just the different approaches to Chinese science. So when you do your health research, you're looking at studies from around the world, as any good doctor would do, and you're looking at different results – China versus Europe versus America – and that's how you put everything together, correct? Yeah, and I've been trained in analyzing statistics and stuff and studies no matter where they come from, so I stick that into account. But yeah, I don't have a bias in terms of, you know, a study doesn't have to come out of America to be credible. So yeah, I try and – I actually look at a diverse amount of different sources. Some are more holistic in natures. I actually look at a lot of very mainstream. I've been writing this e-book on leaky gut syndrome or intestinal permeability, and I have over 45 references that come from mainstream medical journals supporting the concept of how common leaky gut syndrome is.

We have malabsorption of small intestine, how it contributes and makes one successful, all sorts of different health conditions. So I kind of like that because, you know, some people take that more serious since there may be some unknown holistic journals or something, so I actually rely on that quite heavily. Got it. All right, let us go back to the phones, and let's talk to Bert in Greenville, South Carolina. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Thank you, Dr. Brown. Good to speak with you. I appreciate your show and Dr. Stangler.

I also listen to him often on another radio program. My question is about extra virgin olive oil. I buy cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil and believe it's healthy for you when it's in its raw state. When you cook with it, is it only good because it's less worse than other saturated fat or other fats, or is it actually good for you after you've heated it, olive oil? Yeah, I mean, olive oil, of course, has tremendous studies on it in terms of cardiovascular disease, shown to reduce blood pressure, reduce risk of heart disease, it's high in antioxidants. You know, it's singled out as one of the key items why the Mediterranean diet has been the most well-studied successful diet in the world. Olive oil, high amounts of it. High amounts have been shown also to reduce the risk of breast cancer in women. So it's a very powerful food.

Food is medicine. The only problem with olive oil, it does not tolerate a high heat when you cook with it. You're not really supposed to cook with it at high heat because it oxidizes too easily. So you can use it in cooking, you should, but you do not want to put it at high heat. It has to be at a lower heat, and of course, you know, as I'm sure you do, as you're doing, you can obviously add it to salads and stuff without heating it.

So, but it is definitely a super food. All right, thank you, Ben, for the call. 866-34-TRUTH. There was a caller who ended up not coming on the air, Mark, and he was asking questions about mental health. Obviously, this is complex, and mental health can have endless numbers of explanations, and that's what I know about it.

I mean, you're an expert in wide ranges of medical issues. But generally speaking, we've been talking about diet, lifestyle, affecting the body, chronic diseases, things like that. What about diet and lifestyle affecting our emotional state in general? So we're not saying all mental health issues, but in general, how did diet lifestyle impact how we feel mentally, emotionally, how we function, brain health, things like that?

Yeah, that's been studied. There's definitely a direct connection for a lot of people, how their diet and lifestyle is compared to if they're afflicted by say anxiety and depression. So when we see patients, maybe they have just started to have anxiety or depression, we certainly want to work with the diet, getting more of a whole foods diet in, make them more resistant to stress.

With that, we need to get them not overdoing the stimulants, like too much caffeine, for example. Alcohol creates imbalances in the brain, causes brain inflammation, making sure they're getting the omega fatty acids in their diet. Our brain is 60% fat.

So there's been several studies showing that when people are low on omega three fatty acids, like in cold water fish, maybe things like walnuts, for example, people are more prone to anxiety and depression. This has been studied. The brain's like any other organ. It doesn't work by magic. You got to, it does have to have the right nutrients and nutrition to work. And so, you know, it's just like a card.

The gasket will work, you don't put the gasket in and it won't work. Got it. All right. We'll be right back. I want to talk to Dr. Stender about ivermectin, about a quercetin supplement, and we'll take some more of your calls as well. Stay right here. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the line of fire, 866-34-TRUTH, for your health-related questions for Dr. Stangler. Remember, friends, when you visit vitaminmission.com, if you've never been there, do check it out as soon as you have a moment. Make sure today, tomorrow through the weekend, beginning next week, use the code HEALTH. Don't use the normal Brown code, that's 10% discount, but use the code HEALTH, capital H-E-A-L-T-H, for a double discount 20%.

Order big. Take advantage of the 20% discount while you can at vitaminmission.com. It's our joy to partner with Dr. Stangler as he partners with us. We want to see you healthier physically, and with each order, funds come back into our ministry to help with our work, so everyone gets blessed in the process, and Dr. Stangler gets to do what he loves to do, which is help people get healthier. Mark, I know you just wanted to make one more comment regarding mental health, so back to you, and then questions, then back to our calls. Yeah, I was just going to say, in terms of mental health, we see a lot of people with anxiety and depression, and so what my experience is, is people have mild to moderate anxiety and depression. A lot of these patients, we can treat very effectively without pharmaceuticals. Patients that are more moderate to severe, yeah, they may need to be under psychiatric care and beyond medications for a period of time, but even in those patients, you work with their diet, you work with their lifestyle, replace their nutrients. It gives them more of an opportunity to not only feel good, but have the potential to get off those medications in the future, so it's all about balance, but we use them when needed.

I had a patient just a couple days ago, she had a flight, prescribed a few pills of Xanax to use in her flight there and back, but not long term, because we now know that Xanax is very addictive, and even increases your risk of dementia when used long term, so when you use these things, you have to use them properly in a judicial way. Got it. All right, just very quickly, and then I want to get back to the phones. You've really been very positive about quercetin as an important natural supplement. You were able to get it in stock.

Last time we were talking, you were just getting it in. You found the right balance in terms of what to take on a daily basis, or to up it during certain times. Folks, you can go to vitaminmission.com, check out quercetin while you're there, obviously, with a Q. What is it that makes this so effective? Well, quercetin is a very interesting natural ingredient. You do find it actually in foods.

They like berries, for example, onions, and it's a powerful antioxidant. It's also powerful in reducing inflammation. It does have studies on it showing it reduces allergies, so if the allergies are near, it's great as a natural antihistamine. It has anti-inflammatory effects. What's been really big about it recently was last year, there was two studies published on it, people who had COVID, and they were treated with quercetin. In both those studies published in medical journals, people had significantly less number of days they were sick, and the intensity of the symptoms were reduced as well. It was one of the few natural things actually studied when people have COVID. I'm not saying people just treat their own COVID, but it's something you could take with your doctor's supervision and see what's going on. It's kind of exciting that way.

Yes, I was able to get the one that the two published studies used from Europe, Italy, actually, that we do carry on the website there. And then, last time you were on with me, you raised concerns about how America was dealing with ivermectin, that you couldn't get it filled at pharmacies, and you're saying it's really kind of an unprecedented thing for the government to step in and say this drug, which is used widely with human beings successfully around the world, can't be used. Some time has gone by, a few months since then.

Do you feel the same way? Is there anything that's changed your concern about the way this has been restricted or maligned? Yeah, and I don't know if there's a, quote, federal law where you can, pharmacies can't. It's just the mainstream pharmacies won't carry it. No one has said why, but we have to prescribe from compounding pharmacies, and we've prescribed it hundreds of times with good results.

But no, I mean, it's like anything else. If something has, let's say, you know, 50 studies on it, and it's something that's effective, then you should expect, you know, maybe there's 35 good studies, maybe five or 10 negative ones, and five kind of so-so, and that's what you find with ivermectin. So last year in the American Journal of Therapeutics, in their July-August issue, which is very mainstream, they reviewed 15 trials using ivermectin for COVID, and they found it had moderate effectiveness. They found large reductions in COVID deaths using ivermectin. A more recent analysis of 78 studies found it to be effective, statistically significant improvements were seen regarding mortality or death, ending up on a ventilator, intensive care unit admission, hospitalization, and recovery. So, you know, it's just what drives me crazy when people say, oh, there's no science showing it works, this and that.

I'm like, what are you talking about? I mean, we have, you know, dozens upon dozens of studies, so that just isn't true. On the other hand, look, it's not necessarily a magic bullet.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't get proper medical care and assessments and treatment and maybe other things, but it certainly should be part of the consideration in helping a patient, and we prescribe it all the time. Got it. Yeah, and just when people just repeat things, that's what always frustrates Nancy.

We'll talk about it just online. Science does this, and they're just repeating something they heard without really digging and looking into it, so that's what you want to do. Yeah. I wrote an article on it recently, Michael, and I entered the article with a proverb, Proverb 1215, the wave of fools right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.

People should get their information from various credible sources, not just one who maybe has a slant one way or the other, in my opinion, especially, you know, when it comes to health. Absolutely. All right, let's go over to Brian in Pensacola, Florida. Welcome to the line of fire. Can you guys hear me? Brian, are you there? Yeah, go ahead. Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Hey, hey, guys. Thank you for answering my call.

So I've got just a quick little, not story, but just a little insight into what we're dealing with, and I want to ask about a few supplements on Dr. Stangler's website. So- Go ahead. Yeah, time is short, so dive right in. Yeah.

So my wife was recently diagnosed with high cholesterol up into like 270, so they're kind of saying that it's more of a, maybe something she inherited. Okay. Yeah.

What was it up to? You just cut out for one second. How high was her cholesterol? Like 270 on her LDL, just her LDL.

So it's over the three- Yeah. Brian, unfortunately, I hate to do this, but the call is cutting in and out, and it's very difficult to hear you. So Dr. Stangler, if you could just address in larger terms cholesterol-related issues, that would be helpful.

We've got maybe two minutes to do it. Okay. Yeah, and I heard you said the LDL was 270, which is very high. Normal is less than 100 or less than 130, so that's very high. Cholesterol is just one factor amongst many when people have cardiovascular disease. It may or may not be contributing to cardiovascular disease, as studies show. I've done research in people at the hospitals having heart attacks. 50% of those people had normal cholesterol levels.

So it is a factor, but it's not necessarily the factor. We do use products on the website like our cholesterol product, cholesterol wellness we use a lot, helps with cholesterol. Our bergamot wellness has good research on it too. But what I do with patients, if they have high levels like that, or maybe there's a family history, I'd like to be more scientific. What I usually do is a screening test besides an EKG, is I'll order a coronary calcium score, and that is a CT scan of your heart arteries. And it shows the calcification reflecting the plaque buildup in your arteries.

That score is basically zero or very little. We don't go right to medications with a patient, work with diet and supplements, or I'll refer to a cardiologist if I'm more concerned based on what some of their testing shows. So I think nowadays doctors are not being scientific enough. Just because you have high cholesterol does not mean you have a problem. Actually cholesterol is very important in our body. It makes up our cell membranes, it makes up hormones.

We have to have it. We're starting to see the opposite problem. People are getting their cholesterol so low, they're ending up with things like hormone deficiency, for example, which can affect you in many different ways.

So it's better to do a more comprehensive assessment. Look at the state of your arteries. Are you forming plaque in there? If you are, yeah, maybe you need more, you know, drug therapy combined with nutrition, exercise, and all that. If your arteries are pretty clear, there's just mild amounts, you don't necessarily need to be on drug therapy. So I think most doctors, especially family doctors, are not being scientific enough when it comes to cholesterol.

Just putting in a category of being something that's bad, when actually it has, you know, an intelligent design behind it, maybe due to diet, lifestyle, sometimes genetics, there are problems, and you may need medical attention. So you just have to dig deeper to see what's going on. Hey, Brian, thank you for the call.

We just seem to have a couple of connection issues with calls being heard clearly. Yeah, look, the big word is being holistic, is looking at the whole person and the whole life and larger medical issues related and often we're in a hurry to get things done. So, Mark, if there was one book, we've just got 30 seconds, if you could recommend one book of yours that would be helpful for someone to read, to just get an idea of all this. Is there one in particular, you've written so many, but one in particular?

Yeah, definitely. I think it would be The Prescription for Natural Cures. It goes into diet, all the common conditions, how to address them integratively. Got it, right. So that's Mark Stanger, The Prescription for Natural Cures. Hey, thanks so much for joining us and thanks for being with me when I had COVID and giving me the advice I needed. Much appreciated. God bless. Oh, thank you. You too. All right.

All right, friends, great to have Dr. Stanger on with us and may God's blessing be on his evangelism efforts this weekend. Let me just remind you one more time, when you go to vitaminmission.com, don't use the normal Dr. Brown code for the 10% discount. Use the health code, capital H Health. Use that for 20% discount on everything you purchase. Add that into a healthy lifestyle. These supplements could really, really benefit you. Wherever you are, they can be of help. Another program powered by The Truth Network.