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May 14, 2020 - The Joe Rogan Experience
03:04:04
Joe Rogan Experience #1474 - Dr. Rhonda Patrick
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joe rogan
46:32
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rhonda patrick
02:15:05
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jamie vernon
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Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
What were you saying?
unidentified
Damn you!
rhonda patrick
You suck!
unidentified
No!
joe rogan
It's not that embarrassing.
rhonda patrick
Sometimes when I get nervous, my eye will start watering.
joe rogan
I don't think that's odd.
I think that's probably pretty normal.
I mean, your system's fired up and your eyes are probably trying to clear themselves.
Right?
Maybe, you know, I mean, I'm just speculating.
rhonda patrick
Maybe people will message me after this podcast and be like, that happens to me too and I'll feel better.
joe rogan
I'm sure.
It doesn't sound that odd.
It's certainly not embarrassing.
So I don't know why you're embarrassed by eyes watering if you're nervous.
Okay.
Thanks for being here.
I really appreciate it.
rhonda patrick
I am super always happy to come.
joe rogan
Well, we've been talking and we've been talking about immune systems and this is one of the main things that I wanted to talk to you about.
All we're hearing is shelter in place, wear a mask, don't touch anybody, don't go outside.
But we're not hearing, what can you do to strengthen your immune system?
And I think that as a public health, a public service, you know, health thing, this is one of the most important things that I think you can really focus and concentrate on and an actual thing that you could be proactive about during this weird time.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
Well, definitely, I think focusing on lifestyle factors that you can possibly modulate your immune system and strengthen it is important.
What's interesting is that the immune system You know, after doing just so much, of course, the past, like, couple of months, I've been nothing but, like, reading about the immune system and trying to understand, of course, this new virus, SARS-CoV-2.
But I've just learned so much, you know, over the past couple of months.
I'm not an immunologist.
I'm not an infectious disease expert.
So, you know, while I've had some training in immunology, I definitely, you know, didn't know – don't know everything there is to know.
But what – just, you know, doing some reading about, like – Why are people's immune systems so different?
That's the big thing.
When you take a young population, as you get older, your immune system does decline.
I mean, there's lots of changes that occur.
But in general, people have different immune systems.
And what's interesting is that there's been tons of genetic studies done on identical twins, and they're followed over time.
And what's found is that genetics is not the major regulator of immune function.
It's something in the environment.
This is what surprised me, and it's not totally going to answer your question, but we can totally get to that.
But one of the main things besides age that regulates the immune system is previous exposure to viruses.
So I thought that was really interesting.
And in particular, one virus, the cytomegalovirus, CMV. Did you know like between 50 to 80% of the U.S. population has it, like at least by the time they're like an adult?
joe rogan
Has it permanently or has caught it?
rhonda patrick
It's a herpes virus, so it's a lifelong thing.
And this is why it basically, so it changes your immune system.
joe rogan
What are the symptoms of it?
rhonda patrick
Most people that are healthy don't ever know they have it because there's no symptoms.
joe rogan
Whoa.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, unless you're immunocompromised.
But most people that are healthy, they don't know that they're infected with it.
joe rogan
Say it again.
rhonda patrick
What is it called?
The cytomegalovirus.
It's CMV. Sounds like something Godzilla fights.
There it is.
But here's the interesting thing about this virus is that...
So this is one of the major things.
Multiple studies have been looking at, like, you know, just immune variability.
And it's like CMV has been identified in multiple studies.
And the reason it got me interested, because I was like, almost 80%, I mean, I could have it, right?
I could totally have it.
It changes the immune function.
It's totally different between young and old.
So when you're younger, and if you have it, it actually enhances immune function.
So they've done studies where, like, they have given people influenza vaccine.
And oftentimes these vaccine studies are used to kind of test the immune response and, like, how robust your immune response is because you're given a vaccine and there's all different types of vaccines, you know, pieces of an antigen or all different types of, you know, ways that you can expose someone to.
to Bacteria or virus, but you have a response to it and the response is, you know, involves your adaptive immunity.
You make what's called neutralizing antibodies that, you know, basically eventually bind to the virus and neutralize it, prevent it from entering the cell.
So people that have CMV that are young have a really robust response to the vaccine, much better.
But older people have the complete opposite where it's like, you know, deleterious.
And the reason for that, scientists think, is because basically this virus, it's stuck with you lifelong and it kind of reactivates every few years.
And like every time it reactivates, it kind of trains your T cells, which are part of your immune system, to become focused on that CMV. And so as you get older, your T cell population becomes more focused on fighting that virus and less so on other viruses that you're exposed to.
joe rogan
But this virus doesn't have any symptoms?
rhonda patrick
Most healthy people don't have any symptoms with it.
I know.
It's really weird.
So what I'm wondering, and the reason I'm even going here, it has nothing to do with taking vitamin C or zinc, and we can talk about that stuff, and vitamin D, but I just thought it was so damn interesting because we hear all these Stories in the news where, you know, some people are asymptomatic.
Some people are, you know, then some people are just really getting, you know, hard hit.
And these people, let's say they're more age matched, right?
We know that elderly people are more prone to severe form.
But it just made me think, what if this, you know, previous viral exposure to something like CMV is also kind of shaping people's immune responses in some way.
Surely people are going to be looking at that, but I just thought that was a really interesting thing to come across.
And then the other sort of along the same lines as previous virus exposure is something that really seems to be something that is a main regulator of what your immune response is.
joe rogan
So you mean by how many times you've caught the flu, how many times you've had...
rhonda patrick
How you respond to it.
How you respond to it, you know?
Yeah, I mean, like, if you cut the flu, is it like a three-day kind of thing, or is it going to knock you out for two weeks kind of thing?
That's what I mean, right?
So...
I mean, if you get a sample, like, there's been these zero surveys where they basically...
That just means they'll get a sample of plasma and look for different antibodies, viral antibodies, and they'll find at any given point a person has, like, antibodies against 10 different viruses, just randomly.
You know, so you're constantly being exposed to viruses.
You're not always...
joe rogan
You just don't succumb to them.
rhonda patrick
Right.
You're not always getting sick, and so, you know, like...
Another really interesting kind of thing is like, you know, there's...
So the SARS-CoV-2 virus is part of a family of coronaviruses called the beta coronaviruses.
So SARS-CoV-1, the virus that was responsible for the original SARS outbreak in 2002 or something.
The MERS-1 in the Middle East.
And then there's two different ones that are responsible for the common cold.
between like 15 to 30% of common cold cases.
So it's not like the common cold is the illness you get, but there's lots of different viruses that can cause it.
But what's interesting is that there's been studies showing that these two beta coronaviruses that are responsible for some of the common cold cross-react with, so there's one that cross-reacts with the SARS-CoV-1, which has a very, it's very, the sequence is very homologous to SARS-CoV-2 which has a very, it's very, the sequence is very homologous And it's also been showed that the SARS-CoV-1, the antibodies against the SARS-CoV-1 can neutralize the common cold one.
So there's like cross-immunity happening between these other viruses, right?
Right.
And so there's been some studies by the CDC on SARS-CoV-2 where they found basically that people that are infected with SARS-CoV-2 also boost their antibodies against the common cold one.
So, you know, there's certainly, I think, a good hypothesis to be made that potentially, you know, one or two of these common cold viruses could – the antibodies you make against them could also somehow – Maybe, you know, interact with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, potentially neutralize it.
I mean, that's a big open question that seems possible.
We don't have an answer to that.
I think we will.
Like, there's large-scale serial surveys being done.
I know at least three that...
I think his name is Dr. Michael Bush.
He's at UCSF. He's doing really large surveys where they're going to be analyzing CRF and people from blood donors and stuff and following them over the course of several years to see – just basically understand more.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Now, what is the speculation, if there's any sort of uniform speculation as to why, when you hear about prisons, where a lot of these prisoners...
I don't know if you've seen that there's a video going around where one prisoner had SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, whatever, and spitting into a cup and then passing it around to all these other inmates so they could all get it so that they get released.
Because they're releasing people, especially California, which is so wacky.
They're releasing sex offenders.
And there's been some really high-profile releases of these horrible people that should be in jail probably forever, and they're releasing them.
It's really disturbing.
What would cause, other than something like that, what would cause all these prisoners to not just be positive, that makes sense, but to all be asymptomatic?
Is there any speculation as to why these large groups, there was another one that was a meatpacking plant where most of the people were asymptomatic as well?
rhonda patrick
I wasn't aware of the meatpacking one being asymptomatic, but I did read about the one in prison and it was like, Blowing my mind.
joe rogan
98%.
rhonda patrick
Like, what's going on?
Like, that's insane.
It's kind of like, you read these stories.
So this is like, there's one thing that it's important to keep in mind when we say asymptomatic.
Like, you know, there's asymptomatic in like a person that never actually gets symptoms, right?
And then there's asymptomatic.
So there was a study done at the CDC, I don't know, a month ago, maybe a little more, where they measured like, they did this nasal pharyngeal swab test in a nursing home.
70-something people.
And 13 of them tested asymptomatic, like they had no symptoms, but they tested positive.
But then they went back a week later and 10 of those people had symptoms and three were asymptomatic.
So unless, like, there's another, like, if you test someone and they're asymptomatic at that time of testing, they could be pre-symptomatic, right?
In other words, like, you have to go back a week later and see if they have symptoms.
Because that's really important.
So let's say even...
You know, 60% were asymptomatic.
I don't know if they went back and tested a week later, if it was just like a single time.
But this is what got me thinking about this whole thing was, you know, in the prisons and jails, I mean, they're in close quarters, and you got one virus that someone's exposed to, and they all get it, right?
So, like, what if there's, I don't know the CMV, you know, percentage there, but what if the coronaviruses are going around there?
What if Some common cold coronavirus has gone around and those antibodies that they've made to neutralize that beta coronavirus are somehow helping with the SARS-CoV-2.
I would love to see that tested.
joe rogan
Do you know if they immunize people, vaccinate people when they go to jail?
rhonda patrick
I was trying to figure that out as well because the tuberculosis, one of the types of vaccines they do for TB... I think they do it in Japan and some other countries where they've got a really low death rate.
That's a clinical trial that's now going on where they're trying to test.
But I was trying to figure out, is there a vaccination?
joe rogan
I would imagine it would be simple for them to do that.
You're entering into prison, they just vaccinate you.
rhonda patrick
I couldn't come to an answer.
I was searching for that the other day.
I was trying to figure that out.
But I think that's also a really good...
I mean, there's a ton of theories, right?
joe rogan
Right.
rhonda patrick
I mean, it's just you could go...
On and on and on.
But the whole, the thing that I just think that I would like to see more research and I'm just hoping, you know, that CDC and other people are investigating these other, the cross immunity, right?
Like, if there's antibodies that you're making against another coronavirus, beta coronavirus, that's in the same family as this SARS-1.
No one's had SARS-1 in the United States, right?
So that's not as relevant as...
But the common cold, that's very common, right?
So if 15% to 30% of the common cold is composed of coronaviruses, we know at least two of those coronaviruses are in the same family that have been identified to make...
At least in one case, there's been neutralizing antibodies, so there has been cross-immunity.
Then you'd think...
Why not test that?
Let's get some animal studies started on that, you know?
joe rogan
Speaking of animal studies, there was an article that I was reading yesterday that was saying that they're hoping that they've found some antibodies in llamas that they're hoping they're going to be able to...see if you can find this...
Because of these antibodies in llamas, they're hoping they can either transfer them to people or learn something about how these antibodies are created.
But llamas seem to be...
Here it is.
Llamas could be the key to fighting new coronaviruses, research says.
We'll make that larger.
It says, it may sound bizarre to most, but llamas could be the key to fighting a new coronavirus.
Researchers from Belgium...
Oh, remember?
That's the big lady that I was showing you earlier.
She's the health lady.
And the United States published an article this week in the journal Cell that highlights the potential use of llama antibodies to prevent COVID-19 infections.
Antibodies from a four-year-old Belgian llama named Winter show promise in blocking coronavirus from infecting cells, according to research from the University of Texas, Austin.
The National Institutes of Health and the Ghent, how do you say that?
Ghent?
G-H-E-N-T University.
Studying earlier forms of the coronavirus, researchers have found an antibody in winter that effectively attached itself and neutralized spike protein in SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV.
Researchers believe the particular antibody, which has been found in other llamas as well, can be injected into an uninfected individual to protect them from getting infected with the new coronavirus.
That's very interesting.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, so I think there's lots of avenues for therapeutics, in addition to repurposing drugs.
So monoclonal antibodies, you know, being able to basically identify antibodies that do neutralize SARS-CoV-2 virus, whether they come from llamas or humans, you know, and basically identify the specific antibody that can bind to that spike protein that you just mentioned, which is that region.
It's known that the antibodies bind there and neutralize it.
It's also the region that is used to get inside of the cell.
So monoclonal antibodies, I think, are a really big possibility for a promising therapeutic because you can then...
I mean, the problem is growing, like, large-scale manufacturing them, right?
So if you can identify these antibodies and then manufacture them, you can inject them in people and then potentially get some protection.
The problem is that it's just going to be a short-lived protection.
It's not like a vaccine where your body is making its own antibodies and they're more longer-lived.
joe rogan
So in areas where people are getting exposed, perhaps you could give it to them and it would stop them from getting...
But how long would you say short-lived?
rhonda patrick
Well, I don't know.
It's probably enough to, like, if you're a healthcare worker, your first-line, you know, first responder, people that are definitely, like, being exposed to large doses of the virus, that could be a promising area.
But also, I think, even just treating patients, like, that have already been infected.
So that's also another – so like in combination with some of this other stuff like remdesivir, which is – it's not like a silver bullet, but it seems like it's also promising probably with a combination of other factors as well.
But yeah, the monoclonal antibodies is a really...
I know there's like...
Regeneron's a big company.
They're growing some large-scale ones.
I think they isolated from humanized mice or something.
But there's other companies that have isolated them from humans that have been infected.
So, you know, that's definitely...
A promising area, for sure.
And a good thing about that is that, have you heard of antibody-dependent enhancement?
Do you know?
unidentified
No.
rhonda patrick
So that's a big concern.
All right.
So basically, when your body is exposed to a pathogen, like a virus, your innate immune system, the first line of defense, like neutrophils, things like that, are making hydrogen peroxide, trying to kill the virus.
But then in the background, your adaptive immune system, and I'm just totally generalizing, is also working in the background.
And part of that adaptive immune response is to produce antibodies.
So you have memory B cells that are making antibodies that are specific to bind different regions, epitopes on the virus, and neutralize them, prevent them from getting inside of the cell.
And so that adaptive immune system usually takes about seven days after you're exposed to the virus, right?
The problem is antibody-dependent enhancement.
So sometimes a neutralizing antibody is an antibody that can bind to the virus and neutralize it, stop it from entering your cell, right?
So it's doing its job.
But you sometimes make antibodies that are non-neutralizing or don't do as good of a job.
They don't bind as tight or something.
And Then you can have what's called antibody-dependent enhancement.
And this was a big problem for the RSV vaccine.
Most kids get RSV. It's a respiratory tract infection.
Most kids get it by the time they're two.
There's no vaccine that's given.
Back in the 60s, there was this antibody-dependent enhancement happening in some clinical studies with toddlers.
And some toddlers got really, really sick and a couple died.
But what happens is basically...
The antibody binds to that.
There's a couple of things.
The antibody binds to the virus and can basically change its conformation and allow the virus to get into the cell better.
So then you become like, you know, you get like a higher viral load and then you don't have antibodies to neutralize it.
And it just, you know, it could be more, it could be, it could lead to death.
The other thing that happens is the antibody binds to the virus, doesn't neutralize it, but it like makes this crazy immune complex that like, It activates your immune system to just go haywire, and it causes all sorts of pathology, and that's what happened with the RSV toddlers.
So there's a few viruses that this happens with, and unfortunately, coronavirus is one.
Like, this has been identified with the SARS-CoV-1 virus, and I think marriage as well.
So this is also a problem with vaccines.
So giving the vaccine people's immune response, some people can have that antibody-dependent enhancement.
And that's what was shown to happen with the SARS-CoV-1.
There were some non-human primate studies that did that.
And also animal studies as well.
So, you know, the thing with monoclonal antibodies is they're a little more specific because you know they neutralize and you're like growing them up like you've done all that test as opposed to just letting your immune system do its thing.
And then potentially, you know, you may have this like non-neutralizing antibody that could cause problems.
But that's kind of the concern.
I know that the vaccine people that are working on vaccines are working on them.
It's like they're concerned about that and completely trying to figure that all out.
joe rogan
It's such a strange virus.
It almost seems like there's multiple viruses.
rhonda patrick
There are.
Yeah.
So, I mean, there's...
And it's funny because it's kind of connected to this antibody-dependent enhancement.
There's been quite a few different, like, forms, like, mutations that have been identified.
But two particular in that spike protein region, that's, like, an important region because antibodies bind there and because that's the region, like, that, you know, the virus uses to get into the cell.
And so there's been two major, like...
Strains that have been identified and one of them, so it's in the spike region and it's an aspartate to glycine mutation.
And basically in Asia, in China, the predominant form is the aspartate, the original quote unquote form.
And then in Europe and also in North America, this other form, the glycine mutant, is predominant.
And there's been studies that have shown...
Looking at like, okay, looking in parts of Europe, different countries in Europe that have this predominant form, that basically there's a higher mortality rate.
But they didn't actually measure infected patients.
So, you know, it's kind of like correlation.
But what's interesting is that there's actually been a genetic link to this mutant.
So there's studies, there's been some large-scale genetic studies that have found that Asians...
About 20% of Asians have basically a nucleotide change in a gene that encodes for a protease that's involved in this, you know, basically in allowing this virus to get into the cell.
But that basically prevents them from having this mutant that's predominant in Europe and also in New York and North America in general.
joe rogan
That's interesting because my friend Michael who got it, his mom who got it, who's in her 70s, is Asian.
She kicked it in a day.
rhonda patrick
That is interesting.
I wonder if she has that SNP. Our genetic report that we have, we've got one that's a new viral report.
It's a free one where we're putting some of these interesting SNPs, which don't mean anything.
It's just information that was interesting.
There's a lot of researchers out there trying to, like, figure out if genetics is involved in this.
But the thing that's so interesting about that mutation is that it's in that spike region and it's where the antibody binds.
And there's like a theory going around because that specific region, it's been shown in SARS-CoV-1 to cause antibody-dependent enhancement.
So there's a theory that potentially that mutation is causing people's immune system to hyperactivate and basically become more active.
and it can lead to a more severe COVID-19 illness.
That's not been shown.
It's not been shown at all.
But it's interesting, right?
It's interesting how in Asia and China particularly, I mean, about 1% of the population, it's like less than 1% has the other mutation.
The glycine mutation that's in New York, it's in most of the United States, but that Less than 1% of the population in China has that form.
joe rogan
So weird.
And Japan has a very low mortality rate, correct?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, they do.
I know that I was mentioning that TB vaccine, that's one thing that they're investigating.
I mean, there's all sorts of differences in handling the whole, you know, from the beginning, just how you handle the virus.
There's too many factors to say one thing, but there's lots of...
There's lots of possibilities.
And I think that eventually there's going to be therapeutics that are identified, you know, multiple ones maybe.
And I think vitamin D is going to potentially play a role there.
But I mean, just like things like remdesivir and the monoclonal antibodies, and then you eventually like, you know, a vaccine will, you know, eventually, you know, be available.
But I think until that point, I do think that things will be identified that just kind of help us like deal with this like better, you know.
joe rogan
What is going on with blood types?
One of the things we talked about earlier, you asked my blood type and I said O positive.
Why is O positive better?
rhonda patrick
There's been some data, and this was also identified with SARS-CoV-1, that people with type O blood, they make antibodies, they make type A antibodies, whereas people with type A blood, they make antibodies against...
Like they make against the B antigen.
And so the type A antibodies were identified.
So there's been studies looking at people with type O blood or type A blood and also type B. In type O blood, there's like less frequency of getting COVID-19.
So as opposed to having a severe form, it's just like you're less likely to contract it even.
And it's thought because the type A antibodies that people with type O blood make We neutralize the—they basically bind to that region, that spike region, and neutralize the antibody and prevent the virus from entering the cell.
So that's—at least that was the mechanism that was shown with SARS-CoV-1.
So it's thought, oh, well, the same—we're seeing the same— You know, pattern where people with type O are protected from SARS-CoV-2.
Possibly that's also why.
But another really interesting thing is that people with type O blood...
We were also talking about these, like, blood clots and, like...
I mean, there's all kinds of crazy things you read.
I mean, I'm reading all these publications.
And then the other thing is all these publications are being uploaded on, you know, before they're peer-reviewed.
And, I mean, some of them are just a mess.
And it's just...
You kind of just take it with a grain of salt.
Where these clots are like, you know, there's clots in people that are healthy and young, certainly people that have severe cases, people like older people, people that are pre-existing conditions and stuff.
And the type O blood, people have lower levels of this von Willebrand factor, which basically is involved in clotting.
And it's been shown that that von Willebrand factor also is higher in people with SARS-CoV-2.
It was shown to also be that with SARS-CoV-1.
And it's involved with clotting.
So having lower levels may somehow even help protect against...
A theory.
It hasn't been shown.
But what is known is that people with type O blood are less susceptible to contracting COVID-19.
That's definitely known.
But I mean, I think there's so many things.
There's so many factors.
joe rogan
A lot of data that needs to be parsed out, right?
rhonda patrick
For sure.
I mean, a lot of data that needs to be parsed out, a lot of data that needs to be generated.
And, you know, we need higher quality data.
We need, you know, people to repeat stuff.
I mean, like, look what's happened with this hydroxychloroquine stuff, right?
I mean, it's just kind of a mess where initially it seemed like it could be helpful.
And then just more and more studies came out where it was not only not helpful, it was toxic.
It was causing people to have dangerous arrhythmias and stuff.
So that's kind of the reason to kind of be cautious when you have something new in a small, one small study.
joe rogan
It just seems like in the beginning, at least, they're trying to figure out what the correct treatment was for these people as they were just showing up in mass in the emergency rooms.
And they didn't really know.
And doctors, they varied in how they approached it.
My friend Michael, his doctor, didn't put him on a ventilator.
And he said, if I put him on a ventilator, he's probably going to die.
rhonda patrick
Right.
joe rogan
Because he said his body's going to stop working because it's going to let the ventilator do the breathing for him and it's going to give up.
And what he was talking about after the fact, what Michael was talking about was how that is proven to be correct in New York and that some people A monstrous number.
Like, 80% of the people that put on ventilators wind up dying.
rhonda patrick
Not just New York.
I've had friends that are physicians that have, like, you know, in New Orleans, I mean, same thing, where it's like, you know, there was someone on my team, we were doing some research on this, and I didn't sort of dive into the whole thing, but he was telling me that ventilators do actually,
like, cause more damage to the lungs, and, like, he'd been reading some studies to, like, confirm that, and he was pretty certain that That ventilators actually cause damage and actually could induce damage, where it's making it worse.
joe rogan
That's so hard.
rhonda patrick
But I don't know.
I don't know all the specifics of that.
All I know is that looking at the statistics, if you go on a ventilator, surely it seems like the outcome's not very...
It doesn't seem like it's going to be very good.
joe rogan
Right, but it's hard to say is that the cause of it or is it just that they're so fucked up by the time they get on a ventilator they just wind up dying?
rhonda patrick
Right.
There's been some really interesting data looking at like in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Where else?
I think New Orleans as well.
They've looked at patients that have died and their vitamin D levels.
And basically like in the Philippines, people that for like every standard deviation increase in vitamin D levels, serum vitamin D levels, the people had like an 8% or were eight times less likely to have a severe form of COVID-19.
And if they had – and they were 20 times less likely to have critical form of COVID-19.
Whoa.
So that was the Philippines.
And Indonesia was a really interesting study where like they measured vitamin D and this was measured in the patients.
There's been some vitamin D studies also where they're like looking at countries that have been affected the worst and they all like have low vitamin D.
And it's like, OK, well, anyways, that's a correlation.
But, well, so is this.
But it's a little stronger data.
In Indonesia, patients that died, almost 100%, it was like 98 point something percent of patients that died with COVID-19 were vitamin D deficient.
4% of patients that died from COVID-19 were vitamin D sufficient.
So basically, they were all vitamin D deficient, all the ones that are dying.
joe rogan
Whoa.
rhonda patrick
Crazy, right?
And New Orleans had some crazy number.
joe rogan
What would be the mechanism that would cause that?
rhonda patrick
So I think there's...
All right.
Can we get into vitamin D? Please do.
It's a big...
joe rogan
Well, because of you, I take 5,000 IUs a day.
rhonda patrick
Awesome.
Right now I'm taking 5,000 IUs a day.
You know, 70% of the U.S. population has insufficient vitamin D levels, which is considered blood levels less than 30 nanograms per milliliter.
joe rogan
This is something that your body can generate naturally if you're exposed to the sun on a daily basis.
rhonda patrick
Yes.
joe rogan
That's the best way to get it.
rhonda patrick
It is.
But the problem is that we don't go outside anymore.
Especially now with this lockdown.
Exactly.
Now more than ever.
joe rogan
And what a terrible recipe, right?
rhonda patrick
Vitamin D deficiency is what makes it worse, and then you're staying inside, so you're not getting any vitamin D. Yeah, you're becoming even more deficient, you know, like somewhere like 28% of the US population is actually deficient, like less than 20 nanograms per mil, you know, like that's defined deficiency.
So there's a lot of people in the United States, as you mentioned, you make it from the sun.
So particularly UVB radiation, there's a reason why I want to talk about this.
You make it from UVB radiation exposure, you know, basically, it's made in the skin.
And but you know, there's certain times of the year, depending on where you live in a more northern latitude, where That UVB isn't even hitting the atmosphere.
You're not making vitamin D. Also, if you have darker skin, melanin protects you.
People with darker skin, people from maybe Africa or India or South Asia, They're more equatorial regions.
They're closer to the equator and there's more UVB radiation throughout the year.
And so as a protective mechanism to not get burned, you have melanin, which protects you, right?
The problem is that melanin also blocks your ability to produce vitamin D.
But if you're out in the sun all the time in a place where you're getting UVB radiation, it's not a problem.
joe rogan
Well, this is the very reason why people in places like Scotland and England have such pale skin.
unidentified
Exactly.
joe rogan
Because it's cloudy all the time, so your body sort of develops its own ability to absorb more vitamin D.
rhonda patrick
Exactly.
So what happens when you take a person from South Asia, from India, from Africa, and you put them in Sweden or in Minnesota or in the U.K., a place where UVB radiation doesn't hit most of the year, and you don't give them a supplement?
What happens is they become severely vitamin D deficient, severely.
And what happens when you take – I mean you can flip this over and say, okay, what happens when you take the guy from the UK, the Brit, and put him in Australia?
Like, without any sunscreen or without a hat.
They're in cancer.
Yeah, so I mean...
joe rogan
Do you think that this could be a factor in why so many African Americans are getting hit so hard?
unidentified
Yes.
rhonda patrick
So here's the thing.
unidentified
Wow.
rhonda patrick
So African Americans are...
There's lots of...
All right.
African-Americans are, in the United States, there's been studies, African-Americans are severely deficient.
They're 28 times more deficient in vitamin D than Caucasians.
unidentified
Whoa!
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
And it's because they have darker skin.
And they're not getting enough They're not getting enough sun because people stay inside more.
People stay inside.
It's not like the old days when we were out hunter-gatherer and out in the sun all the time.
We're inside all the time.
We're in school.
We're at work, in our office, in our cubicle.
So the CDC, you know, obviously there's been studies showing that African Americans are more hit, but they didn't really correct for tons of like other factors because socioeconomic status is important, other health factors, you know.
But there was a big study just released not long ago from like the National Office of Statistics in Britain or something like that.
I don't know what their official name was, but they released some statistics from England and Wales.
And the, I don't know what the correct name to say, I mean, the blacks there basically living in England and in Wales are four times more likely to die of COVID-19 than whites.
When they adjusted all that data for socioeconomic status and for other health factors, they were two times more likely to die.
So clearly socioeconomic status and other health factors are playing a role, but there's something else unidentified.
And I think it's vitamin D. I think that, you know, so...
The vitamin D, I'm not saying that vitamin D is going to prevent you from getting COVID-19 or it's a treatment, although I am involved in a clinical study where we're going to be testing a very small open-arm study we can talk about.
But I'm not a physician.
I'm a medical doctor.
I've never intubated anyone.
So don't think I'm saying that.
I don't want people to think I'm saying it's a treatment.
It's a hypothesis that needs to be tested.
And thankfully, there are Clinical trials, randomized controlled trials that are now ongoing and there are some that are recruiting.
joe rogan
But just the statistics that you've already listed about vitamin D and the people that have had COVID-19, those are insane.
rhonda patrick
It's insane.
And also in Sweden, there's a huge population of Somalis that have migrated to Sweden.
And they have been identified as being severely vitamin D deficient because a lot of the Somalis have also – like autism rates are really high there.
And there's this link between – I published a link also between vitamin D and autism.
So there's been studies looking at vitamin D levels in the Somali population.
I mean they are so deficient because you're taking – again, you're taking someone who's supposed to be – who's evolved to be getting a lot of sun – But not burn from it.
And then putting them in a place where they can't get any vitamin D from the sun.
And if they don't get a supplement, they're going to be deficient.
And they're so much more likely.
It's wreaking havoc in Sweden on the Somali population.
joe rogan
That is so logical.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
So elderly are insanely more deficient.
I forgot the exact number.
Obese also.
Obese people are like...
Three times more likely to be vitamin D deficient in the United States.
joe rogan
Why is that?
rhonda patrick
Because vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and it's been shown to be 50% less bioavailable.
So after you make it in your skin, it's stored in fat and it's released basically into the bloodstream and then it gets converted into a hormone.
This hormone regulates more than 5% of the protein-encoded human genome.
That's a lot of – it's a hormone.
Like can you imagine just walking around without testosterone?
You're a man.
That's a hormone.
I mean like – because there's a lot of people that are deficient in vitamin D. It's a steroid hormone.
It gets converted into a hormone.
Like this isn't just a vitamin.
It's important.
It's really important.
So I went off on a tangent.
But anyways...
joe rogan
Can I ask you this, why we're off on a tangent?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
What is happening to people when they are vitamin D? Like, what's happening in vitamin D deficient?
What is happening in the body that's causing their immune system this hormone deficiency, not having this vitamin D? Whether it's through sun exposure or diet?
rhonda patrick
So there's lots of things.
I mean, there's vitamin D receptors on, like, your immune cells.
And the reason for that is because when the hormone, vitamin D hormone, binds to the receptor, it activates all these genes and the genes do stuff that regulate immune function.
You know, there are studies that have shown people, and I love these studies because...
Because they basically take away people's complaints about, you know, there's lots of epidemiological studies showing that low vitamin D is associated with disease X, Y, or Z. And everyone's like, well, you know, they're not in the sun as much, so they're not as healthy, they're not as physically active, they're not whatever, even though those confounding factors are usually corrected for.
At the end of the day, it's an association, right?
And everyone's like, correlation's not causation, which is true.
But sometimes you've got to look at the full body of data, you know?
There are genetic polymorphisms.
So there are people that have variations in genes that cause them to genetically have lower vitamin D. And so this is called Mendelian randomization, where you can take a person that's That has a genetically – like they're genetically low vitamin D. So you're not categorizing them based on their vitamin D levels.
You're categorizing them based on their gene.
And those people are more likely to die from respiratory infections just based on that gene alone.
So yeah, that gene that it's known to lower – it lowers vitamin – it leads to lower vitamin D levels.
And so like those people are more likely to die from respiratory infections than people that don't have that, which – It's a great way of kind of randomizing people by their genes as opposed to doing a randomized control trial.
Those have been done as well.
There was a study that was over 25 randomized control trials.
People that were given a vitamin D supplement varying doses either weekly or daily.
Monthly didn't work.
The people with low baseline vitamin D levels, so people that were deficient, they were 50% less likely to have a respiratory tract infection if they were taking the vitamin D supplement.
Over 50%, actually.
And people that had already normal levels still had a protective effect.
They were still 10% less likely.
So even people that were already considered normal taking a vitamin D supplement helped prevent the respiratory tract infection.
unidentified
Can you take too much vitamin D? Yes, you can.
joe rogan
What's too much?
rhonda patrick
So the tolerable upper intake has been set by the Nutrition Board and the Institute of Medicine to be 4,000 IUs a day.
But there's been studies that have shown that people that have taken 10,000 IUs a day for multiple years haven't had any hypercalcemia or had problems.
Too much vitamin D can be toxic.
It's not good to take that.
It's best to like get a vitamin D blood test.
And I think that personally, there has been a trend.
So people that have blood levels higher than 60 may have just a little bit higher calcium levels, but not much, not like it's not like Anything to be hugely concerned about.
But there are studies also showing that either vitamin K1... So there's been a meta-analysis looking at 12 different studies, I think, where vitamin K1 or vitamin K2 were given.
And both of those improved bone mineral density and prevented any hypercalcemia.
Because when you take vitamin D, you absorb calcium better.
Like something crazy, like 40% more dietary calcium is being absorbed.
So the problem is that...
Calcium can easily form a precipitate in general, and particularly when phosphorus is around.
And phosphorus is another thing vitamin D does increase the absorption of.
But again, like I said, it's really hard to find any studies where vitamin D is causing...
You know, hypercalcemia unless it's like really, really high dose for a while.
I personally think taking the vitamin K... And what's interesting about the vitamin K1 versus vitamin K2 without going into too much of a tangent is basically the vitamin K1... Normally, it goes to your liver and it's involved in blood coagulation.
But when there's enough vitamin K1 around, it stays in the periphery and it moves calcium, periphery being the bloodstream.
It moves calcium out of the bloodstream and takes it to places where it's supposed to go, like the bones and the muscle.
Vitamin K2 usually stays around in the periphery.
It doesn't really go to the liver.
So that's usually what it's just doing is moving calcium out and bringing it to the bones and So I take a...
I actually have K1 in my multi that I take, but I also take a K2 supplement, MK4. I take it like a couple times a week.
And what dose are you taking for K1? Well, the K1's in my multi, so I don't...
Vitamin K1 is really...
It's found in dark, leafy greens.
So I get a lot of those as well.
I get a lot.
So I'm getting a lot of K1. Vitamin K2 is not as, it's not as readily found in like the western, I mean it's like the food that's highest in it is that fermented soybean natto.
But it's like small quantities and like cheese.
joe rogan
Do you ever get concerned from the high volume of leafy greens?
Do you ever get concerned of oxalates or getting kidney stones or anything along those lines?
rhonda patrick
No.
Like the few studies that I've seen, it's in people that are like doing insane juicing and they're already like messed up, you know.
So I'm not concerned at all.
Like even like the oxalates.
Oxalates actually, I don't want to go into this.
So yeah, no, I don't concern.
The vitamin D thing is so important to me.
unidentified
Okay.
rhonda patrick
There's a big reason I think that vitamin D is so important.
It's for the lung function and the respiratory function.
But what's really interesting is that, you know, the very receptor that this SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to to gain entry into the cell, it's called ACE2, that very receptor plays a really important role in preventing lung Lung damage and basically preventing acute lung injury,
preventing acute respiratory distress syndrome ARDS. And what's been shown with SARS-CoV-1 is that, because SARS-CoV-1 also binds to that receptor, ACE2 it's called, and that's how it gets into the cell, just like the SARS-CoV-2.
When it binds to the receptor, it, like, it attaches in, like, through this, like, weird endocytosis mechanism.
It takes the receptor in and decreases the receptor, what's called down-regulates.
Down-regulates the receptor, so you end up having less ACE2, which causes, like, can cause severe lung injury.
Not having the ACE2, it plays a big role in protecting.
That's been shown in multiple studies.
Like, so the SARS-CoV-1 virus does that.
It's thought the SARS-CoV-2 also does it because it goes through the same, enters through the same receptor.
And it's been shown that like if you, for example, if you give mice lipopolysaccharide or something that's going to cause lung injury, and then you give them vitamin D. So the lung injury itself also causes the ACE2 receptor to decrease.
And so it's like this vicious cycle of like making the damage worse.
But if you give mice vitamin D before that happens...
The ACE2 receptor increases and it protects them from the lung injury.
But you give the vitamin D to control mice that don't have the lung injury, it doesn't do anything to the ACE2 receptor levels.
So it's not like full stop.
It's not like, you know, drugs, the way drugs are designed is they like, they target a certain molecule and they boom, they like do their thing.
They either increase it or decrease it.
A lot of times with hormones, vitamins, things like that, they maintain homeostasis.
You know what I mean?
So when shit goes wrong, they fix it.
They're not just like, boom, full stop, going to increase something when everything's normal.
And that's important because there have been some concern about taking vitamin D, increasing the ACE2 receptor.
And there's another study that was with hypertensive rats.
Where the hypertension caused ACE2 to go down and that like makes lung...
It makes all sorts of problems.
It also causes like kidney problems and all sorts of things, right?
But the vitamin D increased the ACE2, but only in the hypertensive rats, not in the normal control rats, again.
So, you know, and then there was another study that was like some other messed up diabetic animal model where the vitamin D actually didn't increase the ACE2 receptor, but it increased what's called soluble ACE2, which is in like...
It's in the periphery, and that actually potentially could bind SARS-CoV-2 virus and prevent it from – it's like sequestering it, preventing it from entering the cell.
That's actually being explored as a potential therapeutic.
So the bottom line here is that sometimes you'll hear this ACE2 receptor, and that's how the virus gets in, and it's like, I don't want that.
I want less of that because that's how the virus gets in.
But, like, biology is always way more complicated than just a simple – Taking it out of a big picture, right?
You know, so like the ACE2 receptor, the ACE2 is part of the renin-angiotensin system.
It plays a huge role in inflammation.
It's also like when you decrease ACE2, all these signaling cascades happen and it's like ACE2 is important for producing pro-inflammatory cytokines at the end of the day without getting into all the stuff, you know, specifics.
So it causes massive inflammation to have a decrease.
It basically causes acute lung injury.
It exacerbates it.
I mean, it's crazy.
So I really...
I just...
I really...
Can you imagine if vitamin D really did help?
Like, if there was something that could be given along with the other stuff from Desivere, whatever, whatever it's going to be the stuff that we identify.
But like, vitamin D is so cheap.
It's so easy.
And so many people are...
Deficient and insufficient.
So yes, as you mentioned, you don't want to take too much vitamin D. You don't want to overdose on it.
But I think in the short term, particularly in the short term, and particularly in people that have already been infected, it may be wise to try giving your patient, like if you're a physician dealing with this, it may be wise to try and see their vitamin D levels and perhaps give them some.
Is this being explored publicly?
joe rogan
I mean, is this something that people are talking about publicly?
Because all I'm hearing is drugs and possible drug remedies, potential vaccine that they're working on in the future.
I'm not hearing anything about methods, nutrition that boosts your immune system.
This is one of the reasons why I really wanted to talk to you right now.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, let's definitely talk more.
There are...
Yes, it is.
So there are clinical studies, unfortunately not a ton of them in the United States, that are looking...
Randomized control trials looking at vitamin D, the effects of vitamin D on already, you know, patients with COVID-19.
Which what would be great is like giving them to like...
First responders or healthcare workers and seeing, like, how does it – what role does it play in prevention?
Because that's really the easiest thing, right?
I'm involved – a friend of mine, Dr. Eric Gordon, he's put together, so I kind of – with his help, I've – Helped him design an open-arm trial, very small, 40 patients, where he is going to be giving them 50,000 IUs every five days of vitamin D. So it's like a weekly dose because a lot of times these people are severely deficient and so you want to give them a higher dose.
And doing 50,000 IUs weekly isn't something that's necessarily going to be toxic or anything like that.
And then we're doing some other things, vitamin C, I think it really should be explored.
I think it has huge potential.
It has to be shown.
Like, this isn't something that people can just, you know, take it home and think I'm protected.
Like, that is not the case.
We don't know that.
There's no data showing that.
But I think it has huge potential, you know?
joe rogan
How would one do a randomized control study on vitamin D in people that have COVID-19?
rhonda patrick
Well, they're going to do it in addition to standard of care.
So it's basically whatever the standard of care is, and that's what is happening at the Huntington Hospital in New Jersey.
joe rogan
But as you said, it seems like what's really critical is getting it to people before they get it.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I would love to see that study done.
If anyone can do that study, amazing.
Because that would be like...
joe rogan
Get it to nurses, get it to first responders, EMT workers.
rhonda patrick
Or even just get the information out there and have nurses and first responders take it.
I mean, you know, vitamin D is something, again, like 70% of the U.S. population has insufficient levels.
joe rogan
That is such a crazy number.
rhonda patrick
It is.
And it's generally safe to take like 4,000 IUs a day.
joe rogan
But you're taking five.
rhonda patrick
I am.
But 4,000 is what they indicated as the tolerable upper intake.
joe rogan
So why do you take five?
rhonda patrick
I'm just taking 5,000 right now because I could buy the 5,000.
I didn't want to take two pills of the 2,000.
joe rogan
Well, that's me, too.
I got one pill.
It's 5,000.
rhonda patrick
So I had my levels measured literally.
I went to Quest Labs.
Like, a month before all this lockdown happened, so I got my data back pretty recent.
And I still hover around 50 nanograms per mil, even though before I was taking 4,000.
Generally speaking, 1,000 IUs will raise your blood levels by about 5 nanograms per mil.
And there are people with different variations in genes that are related to vitamin D metabolism where they have lower levels and they need a higher dose.
The only way you're going to know that is by, of course, measuring your vitamin D levels multiple times.
And then potentially even doing, like, a genetic analysis, you know, as well.
But you have to measure your levels.
Like, that's the only way to know.
Of course, right now, it's, like, you can't go to a lab.
It's, like, hard to do any of that.
I mean, the things that are, like, normal.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Right now when you need it.
rhonda patrick
But the vitamin D, I mean, I'm just so, like...
I have high hopes for it.
And maybe I'm a bit of an enthusiast with it.
I've studied vitamin D so much, I've got two publications on it.
I certainly take that with a grain of salt as well.
But I just think the data is strong.
I really think the data is...
I think it's mounting data and I think that eventually something will come out and it's going to, just like the randomized controlled trials, showing that it protects against respiratory tract infections.
Everyone wants randomized controlled trials.
No one wants to believe anything until it's a randomized controlled trial.
joe rogan
I'm amazed at the numbers of people that are deficient.
It's so stunning.
And when you point out the number of people that are deficient that actually wind up having severe COVID-19 problems.
rhonda patrick
Right.
Yeah, I know.
It's stunning, like some of those numbers.
joe rogan
It's like the missing link.
It's like it's right there.
rhonda patrick
I think that's a really good hypothesis.
I do.
I think it's a really good hypothesis.
I want to believe it because it's easy, it's safe, and I think people need vitamin D anyways.
I mean, you know, so of course I want to believe it, you know.
But, like, there was this interesting study where African Americans who are very deficient in vitamin D, they were given a vitamin D supplement for like a month and It decreased their epigenetic age by like two years.
I mean, yeah.
So that's a marker.
joe rogan
For a month?
rhonda patrick
Something like a month, I think.
Yeah.
joe rogan
In a month, they decrease their epigenetic age by two years.
rhonda patrick
Okay, don't hold me to the month.
Give me some month or two months, but I think it was a month.
Most of these clinical studies.
joe rogan
Even if it's three months, that's crazy.
rhonda patrick
Most of these studies are about a month.
Yeah, by 1.8 years.
joe rogan
So what's indicative of their suffering from this vitamin D deficiency, this alleviates that suffering and then puts the body in homeostasis.
rhonda patrick
It's a hormone.
It's a hormone.
It's changing 5% of the human genome.
That's a lot.
That's a lot.
joe rogan
That's a crazy number when you think about it.
rhonda patrick
It is.
One vitamin doing that?
It's not just a vitamin, though.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Fucking hormone.
joe rogan
Super vitamin.
rhonda patrick
Can you imagine?
It's like, what happens when you go into menopause?
Well, you're not making your estrogen.
I mean, stuff goes wrong.
I mean, it's a hormone.
Estrogen's a hormone.
Tetosterone's a hormone.
It's a hormone.
It's important.
joe rogan
So if you have the Dr. Rhonda Patrick pyramid of supplementation for preventative symptoms of COVID-19 or preventative measures dealing with COVID-19, that's your base?
That's number one.
rhonda patrick
I take vitamin D. I certainly don't know if it's going to prevent COVID-19, but I'm hoping it does.
Yes, I take it hoping it will.
joe rogan
But I'm not even saying preventative.
I mean, like keeping your body healthy if you get COVID-19.
Totally.
rhonda patrick
I mean, my mom, I've got my mama, I've got my dad, I've got my whole family.
Everyone's on the routine.
You know, vitamin D is like the most important.
So that's the foundation is vitamin D. Right now, yeah.
I mean, I'm always trying to get them to have that.
But it's easier to convince when people are scared.
People are more likely to make change.
They have to be motivated to make the change themselves.
Otherwise, it doesn't work.
So I think that in this case, people are motivated, especially people in my parents' generation that are older because they're more scared.
They're more scared that...
They could be affected by a severe case of this, right?
So I think that's certainly the issue.
Yeah, I mentioned I'm drinking my vitamin C water.
It's funny because I probably got like a thousand questions about vitamin C in the past.
Month, month and a half or whatever.
My team and I just dove in and put together an article, released a podcast on it, a video where it just kind of covered everything.
I mean, I can't believe how many studies I read on vitamin C. 190 references in our article, the 28-page article on our website.
But vitamin C is interesting, too.
I mean, I don't...
I certainly...
The interesting thing about vitamin C is there's oral and then there's intravenous vitamin C. And the intravenous vitamin C is what seems to be really relevant right now.
But I think the most interesting thing that I learned really had to do with the pharmacokinetics, which is basically like...
How much vitamin C raises your plasma levels and is there a saturation point where you can eat 20 grams of vitamin C but still only get to this certain point versus what you do if you inject it into your veins intravenously?
So what's interesting is that most people that are just like eating, let's say that people are just eating like five, somewhere between five to nine servings of vegetables or fruits a day.
Those people have anywhere between like 70 to 80 micromoles of vitamin C like per liter.
So it's micromoles per liter in their blood.
If you take like a 200 milligram supplement, you only raise your levels to like 90. So it's not much over that like baseline.
Most people that aren't eating that many servings probably have around 50, which is still considered normal, 50 micromoles or micromolar.
And then what's interesting is that like, but those levels you take, if you take 200 milligrams, it doesn't do much.
If you take a gram, it can raise you up to like 130 or something.
If you take three grams, it can raise you to 220. And that's like the maximum level you can get from oral supplementation.
220 micromoles.
That's a big difference.
220 versus like 50. So three grams.
Three grams.
But here's the other interesting thing is that if you don't take it multiple times throughout the day, if you only take it once, You'll peak at around five hours after.
I think there's like a really nice graph on my website on the topic page.
It shows it's like you'll peak like five hours after, but then you go down steadily and over 24 hours, you're back to normal, your baseline.
But if you take it like, you know, four times a day, you can stay at 220, like the whole time.
And the reason that's important is because a lot of studies looking at oral Vitamin C consumption and like, for instance, the common cold, incidence of the common cold, really depends.
Like there's huge variations in the results and it all really seems to come down to dose.
Like it really does.
And when you know the dose and how that's changing your blood levels, like if you're only taking 200 milligrams, which some studies are doing, It's barely doing anything over your baseline.
So I found that really interesting.
And then the intravenous vitamin C, so far the maximum I've seen measured is like 70 times that.
Your blood can get 70 times 200. So it's like 18,000 or 17,000 or something like that.
joe rogan
So IV is far more effective.
rhonda patrick
Oh, it totally overcomes all those saturatable mechanisms.
And it's not only more effective, it's a completely different What dose do you recommend for intravenous vitamin C? Jamie, can you pull up foundmyfitness.com and there's a vitamin C topic page so that way I can answer that question better?
Because there's a graph.
If you just scroll to the graph, there's a graph.
joe rogan
And all this is on your website.
We should tell everybody foundmyfitness.com.
rhonda patrick
Oh, that's the episode page.
That's the podcast.
Scroll back up to the main home.
Yeah.
So topics.
Click on topics.
There we go.
Vitamin C is somewhere at the bottom.
There we go.
Okay.
Just look for the figure.
Scroll.
You'll see it.
Okay.
unidentified
Wait.
rhonda patrick
There it goes.
Is there any way you can make that?
Yeah.
The bottom one is the one I want to see.
That's the intravenous.
Okay, so there we go.
So this is intravenous dose.
You want to get at least 10 grams.
So you can see 10 grams is like...
joe rogan
And 10 grams is 10,000 milligrams?
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
10 grams is 10,000 milligrams.
So that's about 10 grams.
That's what I've done in the past.
But what's interesting is when you get above...
That's the pop-up.
My newsletter is great.
I mean, I do lots of announcements there.
I give commentary, you know, stuff I'm scared to publish on the website because I don't want to hear all the crap.
Anyways...
joe rogan
What are you scared of?
rhonda patrick
I'm not scared.
I guess that's the wrong word.
I just don't want to deal with it.
That's the thing.
I just don't want to deal with it.
The intravenous vitamin C is a completely different game because It literally generates hydrogen peroxide.
When you get doses above, when you start to max out over that plasma level, 220 micromole, the vitamin C itself, so vitamin C kind of cycles between being oxidized and reduced.
It's called dehydroascorbic acid, dehydroascorbate, and then ascorbic acid or ascorbate.
Dehydroascorbic acid is the oxidized form and hydrogen peroxide is generated.
Which is really interesting because it's one of the mechanisms by which at least it's thought that intravenous vitamin C kills cancer cells.
It also has been shown to like kill viruses and stuff in a variety of different studies.
But that's interesting because your neutrophils generate hydrogen peroxide.
So the intravenous vitamin C is like generating hydrogen peroxide.
At the same time, it's also acting as an antioxidant for your own neutrophils.
And that's been shown.
So people...
You know, in clinical studies, but also it's been shown that the hydrogen peroxide does not damage the normal cells.
Like normal healthy people, given intravenous vitamin C, it's generating hydrogen peroxide, but there's no oxidative damage happening in people's like lymphocytes and stuff.
So it's not like damaging your own cells.
joe rogan
And how often would you do this if you could?
rhonda patrick
Well, the studies, you know, it depends on what virus you're looking at.
joe rogan
But I mean for you personally, just for health benefits, how often would you take it?
rhonda patrick
If you just had access to it every day, how often would you take intravenous vitamin C? You know, it's something because if you if you look at the graph, it's kind of a trans intravenous vitamin C is transient.
So it's like it's having it's not something that like necessarily needs to be done all the time.
It's something like I was I was interested in doing it like my mom was my mom had just gotten sick and like common cold, you know, she had like a runny nose and stuff.
And so I took her we went to get the IBC and they did it was 10 10 grams that we did.
And I took it because I was like, well, she's sick and I've been around her and like, I don't want to get sick.
So, you know, I thought, why not try it?
And, you know, so, you know, the intravenous vitamin C, maybe there's like a reason to do it, but it's not something that I'm certain that people need to do on a daily basis.
It's different than like vitamin C, you know, normal vitamin C you do need.
You need to get it from your diet.
It's important.
Like it's important for normal immune cells, normal immune function, and that's been shown.
But I don't – I'm sorry to interrupt you.
joe rogan
But do you believe it's important to take it orally as well as IV?
rhonda patrick
Well, the IV is totally – the IV is totally different. - Right.
The IV is really being used as a therapeutic treatment.
Like it's a therapeutic treatment more, you know, the IBC, where it's been shown to help with like, for example, at least in the hospitals in San Diego, it's routinely used for sepsis.
Like friends of mine, you know, use that for treating sepsis and there's been...
Large randomized controlled trials showing that it dramatically reduces mortality with sepsis.
So, like, that's, especially in combination with thymine as well, like, huge differences in people dying from sepsis, which is obviously very relevant now, but hasn't been shown.
I mean, there are clinical studies that are ongoing right now, some in China and some in the United States looking at IVC potentially to help treat sepsis.
COVID-19 associated pneumonia.
You know, it'll be interesting to see the data from those trials, whether or not there's going to be an effect, it's not known.
But the fact that it has been shown to improve sepsis outcomes in multiple studies.
It's also been shown, obviously, cancer is a big one.
Linus Pauling was deemed a nut, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist who basically is the vitamin C guy.
He, back in the 70s, was championing intravenous vitamin C for cancer patients because he was claiming it was curing them, quote-unquote, curing them.
I wasn't quite doing that, but it was improving the outcomes of cancer patients.
And there's all these studies from the Mayo Clinic came out and they were like, nope, doesn't do that.
Turned out they were using oral vitamin C, which is like comparing apples to oranges.
But now there's been so many studies, a lot.
joe rogan
How's the Mayo Clinic fucked that up?
rhonda patrick
I don't know.
They did.
joe rogan
That's so crazy.
rhonda patrick
They did.
Yeah.
joe rogan
But that's who you would depend upon when you wanted to know, well, is this accurate?
rhonda patrick
I mean, this was decades ago.
I don't know.
Maybe they've definitely gotten more on game since then.
joe rogan
They just didn't understand the difference.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
Who knows back then?
The pharmacokinetic studies that I'm referring to, I mean, those aren't...
Mark Levine at the NIH, he gets credit.
He is really...
Really involved in putting that out there.
Like the difference between intravenous vitamin C and oral are apples and oranges.
Completely different.
And so until that was known, I guess maybe the Mayo Clinic, they just thought, oh, vitamin C is vitamin C. You just can take it orally.
And until like some of that data started coming out, the pharmacokinetic data, where it was like, no, it's not the same thing.
Like you're talking about 70 times higher vitamin C levels in the plasma.
Like you could never do that from oral.
Like it's not the same at all.
Before that was known, I guess maybe that's why.
joe rogan
I've even heard people dismiss vitamin C, saying that your body only absorbs a certain amount and it's wasted if you take more than that.
rhonda patrick
So here's the thing.
So maximum bioavailability does occur at 200 milligrams.
And once you go above that, if you take 500 milligrams of vitamin C orally, you start to excrete a lot in urine.
But that doesn't If you look at the plasma levels, you're still increasing them much higher.
You're excreting more, too, but you're increasing your plasma levels more.
So you take 200 milligrams, you get your plasma levels of vitamin C up to 90. You take 500, you may get it a little bit more.
You take 3 grams, you get it to 220. Yeah, you're going to be peeing a lot out, but you got to 220, right?
And so if you look at these common cold studies, there's like randomized meta-analysis, randomized control trials, meta-analysis.
They've shown that like...
You know, two grams is better than one gram for, like, reducing the duration of the common cold.
Two grams is better than one.
And children have a more robust effect than adults.
So, like, adults, like, it reduces the common cold.
Two grams can reduce the duration by 20% or something.
joe rogan
That's not like Emergency.
That company got a lot of shit for their claims.
rhonda patrick
But two grams.
I said two grams.
joe rogan
Yeah, Emergency doesn't have nothing like that.
rhonda patrick
It's like 200 milligrams or something.
There you go.
So you keep looking down.
There's more meta-analysis.
There's another meta-analysis that looked at 200 milligrams up to, like, 200 milligrams up to two grams.
And that study kind of just lumped everything together rather than the other study, like, okay, what happens is two grams in one, and they did all these sub-analysis, and that was great because they, like, got to the bottom of it.
Dose matters.
The other study, it was like, oh, it reduces the duration by, like, 4%, you know, basically nothing.
So there was all these conclusions.
It doesn't do anything.
Well, yeah.
200 milligrams, look at that graph.
It doesn't do shit to your plasma levels.
Like, you're still at baseline.
So I think that people designing clinical studies, like, that needs to be in their mind before they design their trial.
Okay, what am I trying to measure here?
Like, I want to get, I need to, like, I need a measurable, like, I need something to measure.
I need that to change, right, to get an outcome.
Like, if you want, you're trying to, like, see what effect vitamin C has on whatever outcome, you're going to want to raise someone's plasma levels, right?
I guess it's good at the end of the day to know that 200 milligrams doesn't do anything because then you go, okay, well, 200 milligrams doesn't do anything.
But it's also good to know that, oh, wait, if I take a higher dose, there is an effect.
So, you know, making this general statement that, oh, vitamin C supplementation doesn't do anything is accurate in some respects.
Yeah, 200 milligrams, it doesn't do much for the common cold.
But when you take two grams...
It can help.
And also other studies have shown that prophylactically is slightly better than like therapeutic.
So like after the onset of symptoms.
So if you do it like before symptoms, like there's a better, you know, outcome as well.
So I mean, that's...
All kinds of interesting...
joe rogan
So for you personally, if you had the option, would you do it once a week, IV? It's pretty interesting.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I was doing it.
I was actually doing it once a week before shelter in place.
unidentified
That's enough?
joe rogan
Once a week is enough?
rhonda patrick
Totally.
I don't even know if it's necessary, honestly, to be honest, because again, it's a therapeutic treatment.
I will say this, like one of my friends, she's an MD, and she has reactive airways.
There's interesting studies that have shown that intravenous vitamin C is dramatically reducing inflammation as well.
It's doing all kinds of crazy things.
But her cough, and it was very transient.
It only happened while the vitamin C was high in her plasma.
She's got this crazy cough.
I mean, you'd think she'd had COVID. It's just like a constant nagging cough, you know, that it completely 100% went away.
I noticed it.
And she like my friend is a little bit, you know, she's a little bit of a skeptic when it comes to like vitamins or anything like that.
You know, so I wasn't going to say anything because her and I have gone in so many debates about it.
So but she said something and I was just like, you know, I'm so glad.
And so she now she's wanting to do it like she's wanting to do it like, you know, once a month at least.
So I thought that was, you know, interesting.
Again, I don't know that the intravenous vitamin C is necessary.
There's also interesting effects on, like, fat oxidation.
Like, it affects fat oxidation because it's important for carnitine, which isn't necessary for oxidizing fat.
Like, there's been clinical studies where people are, like, burning more fat when they're exercising if they have vitamin C and if they have low vitamin C levels or not, like, burning as much fat.
I think it's because it's the carnitine.
I thought that was really interesting.
I didn't know anything about that.
joe rogan
So we've been doing intravenous vitamin C and glutathione and a bunch of other stuff, zinc, once a week.
That's what we've been doing.
rhonda patrick
Okay.
Zinc's another one that's really...
You know, important for immune function as well.
And elderly people are more, zinc deficiency is not really common in the U.S. Most, you know, zinc is found in, it's really high in oysters, but not a lot of people with oysters.
Red meat, poultry, you know, if you eat enough of that, you should be getting enough zinc.
What about vegetarians?
Vegetarians, they are more prone to zinc deficiency.
In fact, because the zinc is bound to phytate, it's less bioavailable and they need to eat up to three times more.
The RDA needs to be almost three times as high for them.
which I know a lot of vegetarians do.
But yeah, zinc, zinc's really important for immune function.
Like there's been studies where they've like depleted healthy people of their zinc just transiently.
And like T cell function like is all messed up.
So it like totally messes the immune system up.
Randomized controlled trial showing that zinc, zinc acetate or zinc gluconate, like lozenges, they can dramatically lower the duration of common cold.
unidentified
So.
joe rogan
Is acetate or gluconate which one's superior?
rhonda patrick
So it was trending that acetate was better.
Trending meaning it was non-significant.
Although it was like 40% versus 28%.
To me, lowering the duration of the common cold by 40% versus lowering it by 28%, I guess it was non-significant for whatever reason.
So the study concluded that they're both the same, but it seems as though acetate may be slightly better, may be slightly better.
But, you know, I am taking zinc.
Zinc is also a positive ion, so you need a zinc ionophore to help it get into cells.
So, like, flavonoids like quercetin.
Quercetin is found in, like, apples, onions, buckwheat, teas, which is what I drink.
But you can supplement with it, which I also supplement with it.
joe rogan
Yeah, I supplement with it as well.
rhonda patrick
Quercetin is interesting because it's a zinc ionophore.
It's also been identified to have activity against SARS-CoV-1.
Antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-1.
joe rogan
Doesn't it have nootropic properties as well?
rhonda patrick
I don't know.
joe rogan
Am I wrong about that?
rhonda patrick
It has...
I don't know.
joe rogan
It might be confusing it with something else.
rhonda patrick
It's got senolytic properties, which means it's been shown...
It's been identified as a possible compound that can clear out senescent cells, which are those cells that are...
They accumulate with age and they're basically like...
They're not dead, but they're just like...
Not really functioning and they're secreting cytokines and things that age in your bicells.
I always like to think of like, I was mentioning to Jamie that I'm going to be 42 next month.
And so yeah, I have some gray hairs.
Hey, gray hairs.
And it's funny how like you'll get one gray hair And the other gray hairs, like, cluster around that one.
Like, they're clustering.
And I always think of, like, because cellular senescence happens in the melanocytes that, you know, are responsible for pigment.
So I always think about, oh, the senescent melanocyte is, like, secreting all this pro-inflammatory stuff that's now accelerating the age of my other nearby hair follicle melanocytes and it's causing them to...
Anyways, quercetin's been identified to clear away senescent cells, so that's kind of cool.
For aging.
joe rogan
For gray hairs.
And all just for aging in general.
rhonda patrick
No, that's just my analogy for people to understand why senescent cells are bad because they age other nearby cells by secreting all this stuff, pro-inflammatory cytokines.
joe rogan
One thing I forgot to ask you about vitamin D deficiency is red light therapy.
rhonda patrick
What would that have to do with vitamin D? I don't know.
joe rogan
Do you know about these red light machines that people stand in front of?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, the photobiomodulation.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Does that have any effect on vitamin D? That's not UVB, no.
Okay, it's different?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, yeah.
And I think that...
That itself, it's an interesting field.
I would say that the marketing has got a little ahead of the science for that.
But I do think that there's promise, particularly for some treatments.
There are some claims out there that are sort of being backed up by very poorly done claims.
Studies.
But I think there's some promise out there for it.
joe rogan
It makes you feel good.
rhonda patrick
Does it?
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's interesting.
I've been doing it.
I wanted to do it before I even talked about it for a month solid.
And I do it basically four or five days a week.
And I don't know.
It's hard to tell because I do so much shit.
rhonda patrick
Do you sauna?
joe rogan
Yes.
unidentified
Every day.
rhonda patrick
Because that makes you feel good.
joe rogan
Every day.
Every day.
rhonda patrick
I'm doing it five days a week.
joe rogan
I'm doing it seven days a week, 180 degrees for 25 minutes.
rhonda patrick
Dude, I do 180 degrees for 25 minutes.
joe rogan
Dude, we're on it.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, unless it's, if it's 190 or 188, then I'll do 20. But yeah, I do 25 at 180 as well.
joe rogan
That seems to me the sweet spot, you know, and I've been doing it every single day of the quarantine because I have a sauna in my house.
Do you have a sauna in your house?
rhonda patrick
We do.
Well, it's in our office, which is like a home office.
It's like, well, it's not in our home, but yeah, it's just next door pretty much.
So we got that literally, you're not going to believe this, like three hours before shelter in place was put into California.
I mean, I couldn't believe it.
joe rogan
Well, we had ours done just a few months before.
I mean, it was just, I was thinking, like, God, if we didn't have this in the house, and you couldn't go anywhere.
Luckily, we have one here, so I could use the one that's here.
But it's a godsend.
rhonda patrick
Oh, man.
joe rogan
It changes everything.
It's a game changer.
rhonda patrick
It's a game changer.
And I've been doing, so I haven't had a warm shower since...
Since the shelter in place.
Since I got my sauna.
It's amazing.
I don't want to make people feel bad.
Look, I went a long time without a sauna.
I know what it's like.
I was doing hot baths and we can talk about that.
Yeah, it is.
But there is something about the sauna and then the cold bath, the cold shower, sorry, the cold shower that is just, it is a game.
I'm so much more relaxed.
And this is like, I think I've told you the story.
The whole reason I got interested in the sauna was because I was in graduate school doing it like every day.
And I was like, this is amazing.
I am so much less stressed.
I am like calmer.
I'm more relaxed.
I'm happier.
Something's happening.
So I was like into the, not even all the muscle and all the cardiovascular.
I mean, it mimics cardiovascular exercise.
joe rogan
It really has a big difference in my cardiovascular activity.
rhonda patrick
It's been shown to.
In people, there's a study.
This was, I think, Gary Laukinen, who's a friend of mine.
He's like the best, the leader in sauna research in Finland.
He published a study where they looked at cardiorespiratory fitness and...
I think other cardiovascular disease risk markers in people that were physically active plus the sauna or just sauna alone.
So physical activity was like the king.
So if you compare physical activity alone to sauna alone, physical activity is the best at improving cardiovascular health.
Sauna is also good.
Sauna and physical activity together were better than the physical activity alone.
Which I was like, yes, that's what you want.
I don't remember.
I don't remember.
You're asking me like six months ago or more.
But that's what you want, right?
You're like, I'm already physically active.
I mean, you're more physically active than me.
But that's what you want is the combination.
joe rogan
It makes a big difference.
Once I started doing it during the lockdown, one of the things I noticed, the runs that I do, the last hill is fucking brutal.
And I always finish on this last hill.
But now I've been able to run that last hill, the last hill.
It's like a marked difference.
When I hit the hill, I'm like, wow, this is crazy.
Either I'm getting in better shape, and I know I am for sure, but it's also...
I gotta think the sauna has a big impact, because it feels like I'm on a drug.
It feels like I'm on, I don't know what EPO feels like, but I would imagine it would feel something like this, where the increased cardiovascular benefit is very noticeable.
rhonda patrick
Totally, totally.
I mean, there's been some small studies looking at You're talking about performance enhancements.
There's been some small studies showing that, particularly with endurance, that there is a performance enhancement.
I think it was cycling.
Maybe it was running.
Running and cycling.
joe rogan
Have you ever measured your heart rate during it?
rhonda patrick
So, yes.
So here's the thing with that.
At first, I was terrified to do that because I didn't want to ruin my Apple Watch.
I've ruined so many things there.
And, like, Kevin Rose was like, no, just put your hand on it.
I do it all the time.
And, like, he's a tech guy.
So I'm like, all right, if Kevin Rose tells me I can take my Apple Watch in the hot freaking sauna, I'm going to do it, right?
So, you know, my heart rate, it can get up to, like, 120. But the thing is, is that there is adaptation that happens.
So you're basically, like, you're becoming adapted.
And so your heart rate doesn't increase as much, like, over time.
Right.
I'll be honest.
I stopped wearing my watch in there, so I'm not measuring my heart rate anymore.
joe rogan
To get a whoop strap, because the whoop strap has no problem at all.
Yeah, the whoop strap.
W-H-O-O? Yeah, P. I'll get you one.
I'll have one sent to you.
rhonda patrick
All right, whoop strap.
joe rogan
Because they're one of the sponsors of the podcast, but I love it.
rhonda patrick
I would love to have something to measure it without having to take my watch in there because I don't like sitting like it's like you know well the whoop strap measures it really well and it'll give you like you could actually mark it down as an activity and it'll show you what your heart rate so it's you had a mountain of data it's really good that's cool yeah let me It's also great for sleep.
joe rogan
It shows you really accurate sleep.
It actually has a sleep coach built in.
So it shows you how much sleep you got, how much recovery, where your recovery is at, and what you need.
It'll even tell you, hey, you should go to bed.
Since you've been getting up at 6 o'clock in the morning, you should go to bed by 10 tonight.
rhonda patrick
Nice.
Had you noticed an effect?
So I've been doing the sauna every day.
Sorry, five days a week.
Because...
I would do it every day, but I've got to have more time with my son.
Have you noticed an effect on your sleep at all?
joe rogan
Yeah, I feel relaxed.
rhonda patrick
Do you?
Do you feel like you need more sleep, though?
Do you know when you're working out hard, you sometimes require more sleep?
More sleep?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, when I do squats, for sure.
Anytime I do lunges and squats and heavy leg days, I'm a zombie for two days.
And if I have a particularly intellectually challenging podcast, I'll skip leg days.
Because I know I'm just going to be too stupid.
I've done it before where I come in and I'm like, I can't form sentences.
unidentified
That's weird.
joe rogan
Well, it's not.
If you see what I'm doing, it's just brutal.
rhonda patrick
There was a study that linked...
There was a link between...
Leg strength and cognitive function.
It's very strong.
Like the more leg strength you had, like the improve.
It was like some kind of crazy number two.
joe rogan
It makes sense.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
It just makes sense that if you have more leg strength, that means you're doing more activity.
That means you get more blood flow.
That means everything's probably functioning better because it's such an enormous part of your body.
When you look at your musculature, the large percentage of it is from the waist down.
And when I'm doing legwork, most of what I'm doing is kettlebells, but I'm doing lunges and presses and squats and all these different things with heavy kettlebells.
So it's a lot of weight that your muscles are pushing.
rhonda patrick
Dan is always trying to get me to do squats like I don't know what back when I was in grad school I was doing squats and I was using the stuff and then I was doing I guess what are they called leg presses yeah and I like injured myself and in this I want to call it sciatica what's the other one that's like sciatica there's another sciatica is is a nerve that comes from your discs like right here yes well you know what that's from though I don't know what it is, and I'm calling it sciatica.
joe rogan
Well, sciatica, most of the time, what you're getting is your lower back, your discs are protruding.
And your disc, like if you have a herniation of the disc or if you have a bulging disc, it's pushing against your nerve.
And that's sending that pain down usually your butt and into your back, your leg, and along those lines, right?
Is that where you were getting the pain?
rhonda patrick
I don't really get it.
It doesn't go into my leg.
It's just like this right above my...
joe rogan
Right above your butt, yeah.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's it.
That's a lot of times you think it's that area, but it's not.
It's your back, and it's your back with a disc pushing into the nerves.
rhonda patrick
Have you had an MRI? No.
joe rogan
You should have an MRI. Okay.
rhonda patrick
Because I'm scared to do squats, like squats, or like every time I do that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
I get a flare-up, and it's like, I'm out.
joe rogan
Well, there's other things you can do to strengthen that area.
rhonda patrick
Like what?
joe rogan
First of all, there's a machine called Reverse Hyper.
It's fantastic.
rhonda patrick
Reverse Hyper?
joe rogan
Yeah, I have one outside.
I'll show it to you.
But it was created by this guy Louis Simmons from Westside Barbell.
He's a genius.
He gave us this new platform, too, that's amazing, too.
What is that thing called, Jamie?
unidentified
Belt squat.
joe rogan
Belt squat.
I love this thing because you wear a belt and the weight is actually pulling.
The weight is behind you.
I'll show you how it works before.
But you're on this platform and all of the weight is on this belt instead of on your shoulders.
So you can have like 250 pounds or whatever it is, but it's all being carried.
See, that's the thing right there.
Yeah, that's similar to what we have, but the machine that we have is a little bit more complicated.
But the point is this guy comes up...
rhonda patrick
Are there any pictures of females doing this?
joe rogan
Only gorillas.
These big giant dudes.
But the reverse hyper, the reason why it's so special is...
Forget about this for a second.
Yeah, there's a girl.
There's a girl using that.
That is a more primitive version of the one that we have out there, the new one that Westside Barbell sent us.
It's just a cable that comes through the floor and the weights are actually behind you.
You're carrying all the weight on your hips, so it strengthens the legs without putting a load on the back, which is fantastic.
I like that for that.
So you can get all the leg work that you get from squats, but you don't get the pressure on the discs.
And then the Reverse Hyper is a machine that he actually invented.
Louis Simmons invented it because he had a herniated disc and the doctors are telling him, hey, we have to operate on you because you have this compressed disc.
And so he's a very smart guy and he knows so much about physical fitness and weight training.
That's Louie right there.
He came up with this machine.
So he said, well, listen, if something compressed it, something can decompress it.
So he came up with this machine.
And with this machine, the reverse hyper does on the lift, it's strengthening the lower back muscles.
But then as you drop it down, it swings low and it actively decompresses all of your discs.
rhonda patrick
Wow.
I'd be so scared that it's going to aggravate it, you know?
joe rogan
No, no, no, no.
Trust me.
First of all, you could do it with no weight.
You could do it at first with no weight, and that's how a lot of people...
unidentified
That's a start.
joe rogan
When I introduce people to it, I have them do no weight.
But for me, it's been a giant game changer.
So I do that, and then there's another thing by Teeter.
Teeter makes this decompression dex.
It's called a DEXX. And from that, you hang from the waist...
I have that outside as well.
You strap your ankles into it, and you hang from the waist, and that's it right there.
So with that, that lady right there in that image, she's holding onto those handles, and that's how you kind of get yourself down.
But once you get yourself down, you just relax, and all of your weight, see how that guy's doing it there?
All your weight is decompressing the spine.
So it stretches the spine out and decompresses it, and it gives you a lot of relief.
So between those two particular pieces of equipment, the Reverse Hyper and this DEX2, which I fucking love that thing.
rhonda patrick
DEX? Yeah, DEX2. So when I get my home gym, I'm going to have to get all this stuff.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's made by Teeter.
Teeter has two things that are really cool.
It has those inversion tables, which are great for the same thing.
You're hanging by your ankles and it's decompressing your spine.
But I actually prefer this product from them because this completely isolates the back.
And you're not pulling on your knees and your ankles when you're decompressing.
It's all just decompressing the back.
And also you can do leg extensions and a bunch of other things.
You see people doing dips and other exercises from the...
The Teeter.
But it's a great machine and it's just really specifically good for back health, lower back health, decompressing it, and even strengthening it because you can do those back extensions.
So you hook yourself into it and then you just lift your back up and down.
rhonda patrick
Everything that I'm scared to do.
joe rogan
But you shouldn't be scared to do it because that's what's going to protect that area.
What's going to protect that area is muscle and strength and also flexibility.
rhonda patrick
If this works, that would be just incredible.
joe rogan
I guarantee you it's going to work.
rhonda patrick
The whole time I had a gym membership, it's been like on pause, but the whole reason I had one because it's on it.
Like, I'm like scared to do...
Like, I do free weights.
I have free weights and I'll do that.
But like, I'm just scared of machines, all that.
joe rogan
We need to get you a trainer.
rhonda patrick
That's what you need.
That's what you need.
joe rogan
Because so many people fuck themselves up by trying to do things on their own.
rhonda patrick
And I did.
And now I'm scared.
It's like this.
And now I'm...
joe rogan
I guarantee you it's just poor form and all kinds of other stuff.
rhonda patrick
I need to do more...
I'm a big...
I go for...
My thing is like...
My jam is like endurance.
unidentified
Yes.
rhonda patrick
I love going for runs.
Like...
You know, and it's like...
It's huge.
joe rogan
It's so great for the mind, right?
rhonda patrick
That's the reason I do it.
Absolutely.
With this shelter-in-place thing, because I like to do outdoor runs and I don't have a treadmill or anything like that.
I finally got a jump rope and it came in right when the beaches opened up.
I'm good at jumping rope and I should have been doing that, but I was sauna-ing every day.
I do some ballet stuff, but I need to do resistance training.
Muscle mass is important for aging, for Sure, and bone density.
joe rogan
Lifting weights increases bone density, tendon strength, so many different variables that are so huge because as your body gets older, those are the things that go south.
rhonda patrick
Yes, and I'm going to be 42 next month.
joe rogan
I'm 52, so that should make you feel better.
rhonda patrick
I'm a decade ahead of you.
You're definitely fit.
You can't ever let it go.
That's the thing.
My diet, that's dialed in.
I definitely do the running and the sauna, but I need to be better about resistance training, for sure.
I used to do yoga a lot, but I became a mom.
I mean, like, I used to work out, like, you know, twice a day.
Twice a day I would do my yoga, my ballet, and then I would run.
Now it's like, you know, lucky.
joe rogan
Did you realize how much work being a mom was before you did it?
rhonda patrick
Oh, no.
I had no idea.
I mean, it's amazing.
joe rogan
Most people are so ignorant to it.
They have no idea.
rhonda patrick
It is.
I mean, it's...
Tons of work.
I mean, sometimes I like it's like three o'clock in the afternoon.
I'm like, I never brushed my teeth.
You know, like I haven't showered in a couple of, you know, the sauna thing.
Like I have to shower now.
But like before before I was doing the sauna every single day.
Yeah.
Showers.
I mean, it's like nap time.
It's like, well, can I can get work done or I could take a shower?
What should I do?
I got a lot of work to do.
joe rogan
It's hard.
rhonda patrick
It's hard.
So thankfully, I have help from my mom.
My mom is like, you know, she's Nana.
So she she helps out a lot so I can I can actually get work done.
It's hard, you know, being a mom that's, you know, I run a business.
But I also, like...
I want to be a really good mother.
Yeah, I get it.
It's hard.
joe rogan
The balance is very difficult.
It does help if you have some equipment in your house.
That certainly helps.
rhonda patrick
Yes.
We've been leaning towards that and we're slowly getting to the point where we're going to have more and more.
You have to have easy access.
It has to be something you can just, you know, do real quick.
joe rogan
And you need to find a trainer.
Just find someone that can...
I mean, you can learn a lot online, but you have access to resources.
You really need to find someone who's willing to come.
And you live in San Diego.
It's an awesome place for fitness.
I mean, there's so many people down in San Diego that you could find.
rhonda patrick
Just find someone.
joe rogan
Find some gal who's fucking jacked, who knows how to lift weights.
rhonda patrick
And then I'll inform them all about the sauna and tell them all benefits of the sauna.
joe rogan
Yes, yes.
Yeah, for sure.
I'm sure they can get a lot out of that.
I'm sure there's someone listening to this right now that's probably going to message you and say, I'll do it.
I'm your huckleberry.
rhonda patrick
Hey, I wanted to tell you this about the...
I've been...
Nice.
It's been like just having the effect.
I think the first time I came on your podcast, like, I don't know how many years it's been.
It's been a while.
But I talked about the sauna.
joe rogan
It's been five years at least, right?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, it was like, what, you were in 2020 now?
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
It's more than that.
joe rogan
The first time you came on?
rhonda patrick
I think so.
2014 maybe?
Yeah, because I was still a postdoc.
So, yeah, 2015, I stopped.
I cut that out.
Like, I finished my postdoc.
So I published a couple studies.
So I think it was 2014. But, like, the sauna, you know, it's just been, like, something...
I came on your podcast the first time when we talked about it and then, of course, continued to...
You know, publish videos and articles and stuff.
And I'm writing a review article for peer review publication right now.
But there's a woman who reached out to me.
She had done her, I think her PhD, either her PhD, I don't know.
I'd say psychology, but she had done it with a guy I interviewed on the podcast, Dr. Charles Rezon.
He's the guy who showed that like a single hyperthermic treatment, which was with a device that raised the core body temperature like almost three degrees, could have an antidepressant effect.
Well, she reached out to me and like the FDA shut that whole machine down.
Like, no, you can't use that for research anymore, which kind of shut down the whole sauna depression, you know, research area.
So she basically, she has gotten some funding and she's doing a pilot study with a new device, which is something you can like buy off Amazon where it's like a sauna, like your head's out, but like it's like a tent, like a sauna tent.
joe rogan
Yeah, my wife had one of those before we had a sauna.
unidentified
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, so it's different, but it's something that she's got to prove that it's safe before the FDA will allow her to even continue on to study how it affects depression.
And so I've been able to help with connections I've had, help fund new studies she's going to be doing where she's going to get depressed patients.
To basically be exposed to this sauna and it's like an intense like she's like this intense protocol where like she's like it's like an hour long and they get really hot and people are giving them wet towels because like it's like it's like imagine being it's like 140 degrees Fahrenheit so it's an infrared but they're in there for like an hour you know and they're getting they raise their core body temperature they're measuring that rectally so um But she's going to measure the effects on, you know, on depressed patients.
So it's really exciting because, and they're going to do like a dose response where they're going to see how many, the Charles Rezon, Dr. Charles Rezon showed one, just one single session could result in an antidepressant effect six weeks later.
She's going to try to do eight sessions where she's going to see if these people can handle...
joe rogan
Over the course of how much time?
rhonda patrick
I think it's going to be once a week.
joe rogan
Once a week for eight weeks?
rhonda patrick
Yes.
joe rogan
And when you say, what is the methodology?
What are they using?
rhonda patrick
So...
Okay, what are they using?
They're using that sauna that I was telling you about.
joe rogan
The same thing?
rhonda patrick
So they're using that, yeah, that's the sauna.
So right now, her name is Dr. Ashley Mason.
joe rogan
What did they do before where they were saying they wouldn't let them use the machine?
rhonda patrick
Okay, so it was a device.
It was like this device that basically is sort of like a far infrared thing, but it would raise your core body temperature through infrared, right?
joe rogan
Okay, what is the difference?
rhonda patrick
What difference?
joe rogan
When people ask me about infrared saunas.
rhonda patrick
So infrared, yeah.
So infrared saunas, the main difference between infrared saunas and like the regular dry saunas that you and I use is that the regular dry saunas are heating the ambient air, right?
And that's then raising our core body temperature through that mechanism.
The infrared saunas are, like, they're, like, changing electrons.
They're, like, directly heating your body, basically, without having to heat the outside air as much.
There have been some studies that have compared...
I mean, there's benefits with these infrared saunas.
In Japan, it's called Weyon therapy.
It's far infrared.
And they use it...
It's been used to, like, help even treat different cardiovascular diseases.
Like it's been shown to improve like chronic heart failure or something like that, I think.
So there's benefits with these – with the infrared.
Personally, there's – I think there's a lot stronger.
There's much more research on not only dry saunas, but in Finland, they take the sauna – A dry sauna that has like these hot rocks and they pour water on top of the hot rock and so it creates humidity, right?
Steam.
And so that's really a common sauna.
Like I went to Finland a few years ago, visited Finland, some other saunas there.
In Finland.
And so that's a very common thing.
I think they call it like...
First of all, they call it sauna.
Sauna and they call it...
joe rogan
What a weird way of talking.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, luell or something where they make the steam.
joe rogan
Do you pour water on your rocks?
rhonda patrick
So our sauna is like...
It's pretty small.
It's a two-person sauna.
And yes, so I can get the humidity...
If I get it up to 50%, I feel like I'm burning.
unidentified
Yeah, you're cooking.
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
So, yeah, if I'm in a rush and I'm like, I got things to do.
So I'll pour the water on the hot rocks to just get it feeling really hot.
But my personal favorite is a nice 25-minute, 180, no water, just dry.
I like that.
joe rogan
I'm so accustomed to 180 that I used one in Vegas, and when I was there, it was 160. I was like, this is ridiculous.
I could be here forever, and so I just started pouring water on the thing.
I got 10 bottles of water, and I was just pouring bottles of water, because it was just me in there, and I got that fucker hot in hell.
It was like, okay, now we're cooking, and I was sweating up a storm.
rhonda patrick
It works.
I mean, like I said, ours is really small, and so like, I mean, you're breathing like it's like burning you there's a direct formula too between the percentage of humidity and then the increased temperature the way it feels like if it's at 180 but you have 10% humidity it's like feels like yeah there is i don't know what that formula is absolutely there's a formula and In a lot of the studies coming out of Finland, many of the people there are doing the humid saunas as well.
So, I mean, I guess they're called Finnish saunas, which means they're using the hot water and steam.
joe rogan
It would be amazing to have an outside sauna that's right next to a frozen lake, like the way they do it.
rhonda patrick
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
They cut a hole in the lake and then get the party started.
rhonda patrick
So what we did, I visited the Sauna Society, and it was in November, so it was cold, and it's right on a lake.
And so they have, like, the day I went, it was not co-ed day.
So, you know, it's only women saunas that I went in.
It was, like, sectioned off.
But so you go and you do these different, they have all these different types and I don't remember and they're like whipping each other with like birch wood, you know, which it's interesting.
joe rogan
Yeah, the Russians like to do that too.
They call it the banya.
rhonda patrick
Right, the Russian banya.
joe rogan
Yeah, they beat each other with these branches that are wet.
rhonda patrick
It's weird.
Anyways, they jump in the lake and then they go back and they're doing this.
Did I ever tell you my crazy story?
Which crazy story?
There's a friend.
Some of your friends are a little eccentric, right?
Well, this guy, he's got a huge property in the country, in the woods, in Finland.
And this was the first time I ever went camping.
And it was snow camping.
It was crazy.
It was the worst thing ever.
He had a...
He had us do this like – there was like two tents and it was a conference that I gave a talk at and so some people paid extra to like go to this event that was after it.
So there was like 30 or so people there and they were – from all around the world.
There was only like three Americans, me, Dan and some other guy.
No, four Americans I think.
But anyways – It was my first time camping outside.
I've been to Yosemite, but I stay in a cabin.
I don't like to sleep in a tent.
So it wasn't a great experience because, one, there was this guy who snored all night.
Two, because it was snow camping, there was some weird fire thing.
This guy was in the military, and so he had us do this thing where everyone had to wake up at, I forgot what it was, every hour.
You had to pass this thing.
joe rogan
Oh, so you're in a big wall tent.
rhonda patrick
We were in a big, I don't know what it was called, but I didn't sleep the whole night and it was awful.
But here's my sauna experience.
So he doesn't believe in, you can't wear like swimsuits or anything in the sauna.
So you have to be like, you have to wear no clothes or if you really wanted, you could wear a towel.
Like if you were modest or whatever.
Because to them it's like, oh, no big deal.
The sauna, you just, you don't wear any clothes.
joe rogan
I never buy that.
rhonda patrick
I think they're just freaks.
I know.
They told me, oh no, the sauna is an asexual place.
And I'm like, really?
joe rogan
Get the fuck out of here.
There's humans in there.
rhonda patrick
I know.
So only three people wore a towel, me, Dan, and this other American.
And so everyone was in there naked.
There weren't that many females, but there were some from, I don't know, the UK or in some Germany.
I don't know.
But they were all naked.
I guess Europeans are like that.
They're more used to it.
That's what someone was telling me.
I don't know what the case is.
But anyways, I had people coming up to me going, I love your podcast.
I'm like, I'm not going to get naked.
Before, at the conference.
And they were there.
And you think I'm going to be naked in this sauna with someone who's like...
joe rogan
A podcast fan?
unidentified
Yes!
joe rogan
Oh my god, they're in your face.
rhonda patrick
So anyways, I'm in the sauna, everyone's naked, and the guy who's my friend, he's still my friend, he's an interesting guy, but he had people come and started doing yoga, and they're naked too.
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus.
unidentified
People are totally naked.
joe rogan
They're doing downward dog?
Yeah, they're doing yoga.
Wonderful.
rhonda patrick
Get out of here.
So that was like my first Finnish sauna experience where it was like...
joe rogan
Some people are too open-minded.
They really are.
When it comes to things like that...
rhonda patrick
I was just happy.
He was like, you can wear a towel if you want.
Because he has this whole...
joe rogan
I wouldn't do it.
I'd be like, get out of here.
You're not staring at my junk.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, so then they were all jumping in the lake after, and I'm like, I'm going to just sit on this patio.
It's freezing out here in Finland in November.
I'm not going to take my towel off and jump in the lake forever.
joe rogan
Why can't you wear a swimsuit?
Why?
Says who?
What is the difference?
There's zero difference in the benefits of it.
rhonda patrick
It's some cultural thing?
It's a cultural thing, and also he claimed that there's toxins being released from the- Oh, one of those assholes.
joe rogan
Fuck off, buddy.
I got a swimsuit on.
rhonda patrick
And then, okay, the yoga was bad.
It got worse.
Then he had some whipping technique with the birch wood, and he wanted, like, to demonstrate it, so he had, like, one of the Britain girls, like, and she was laying...
I mean, it was just, like, it was too much.
unidentified
Oh, Christ.
rhonda patrick
Like, here's the truth.
Like, I was hot as fuck, right?
So, like, I didn't care anymore.
Like, I cared about my towel, but I didn't care what was going on.
I was trying not to look at everyone, you know?
Like, I didn't want to see...
Like, you know, I'm married.
Like, I don't want to see everyone's...
joe rogan
Well, people get sexual, too, because it's hot and sweaty.
It sounds like he's a little bit of a cult leader.
rhonda patrick
Right?
joe rogan
Everyone needs to be naked.
Oh, okay.
That's how it starts.
rhonda patrick
Someone was asking me that because he passed out this flyer because we were doing all these events.
All these events were happening and this flyer passed out.
We were reading it and I was like, it says you can't wear any clothes or swimsuit or anything because I had packed my swimsuit.
I was like, yeah, I'm going to wear my swimsuit and sauna.
joe rogan
You can't tell people they can't wear clothes.
rhonda patrick
It was his own home sauna.
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
How convenient.
rhonda patrick
But you could wear a towel, so.
joe rogan
Great.
Thanks, buddy.
All that toxins talk, too.
As soon as someone's talking about cleansing toxins, we're like, fuck off.
rhonda patrick
I was, like, so put off with the toxins and stuff.
Like, it's funny because the sauna, like, that's, like, the one, like, for years, like, all the benefits about sauna were always about toxins, right?
Right?
They're always toxins, toxins.
joe rogan
What are you talking about?
Like, show me what you're saying when you're talking about, you're talking about just regular sweat?
rhonda patrick
But it does.
You do actually...
joe rogan
Regular sweat.
rhonda patrick
Regular sweat.
It doesn't have to be from sauna.
It could be from exercise.
But you do sweat out certain compounds like aluminum.
It's funny that you can actually excrete certain compounds better from sweat than urine.
Because that's another way of eliminating things is through urine.
But...
Aluminum, cadmium, and there's one other that I don't remember.
Sweat is like the best way to get rid of that.
joe rogan
But it's just the conversations you have with people that are into releasing toxins.
It's like...
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
You're talking mumbo-jumbo talk most of the time.
rhonda patrick
I try not.
I try not to judge.
Like, I really do.
joe rogan
You should judge.
rhonda patrick
But I have a hard time.
joe rogan
You should.
rhonda patrick
When they start to go there, I'm like...
joe rogan
You should have a hard time, and you should judge.
rhonda patrick
I do, but I try not to.
joe rogan
Well, it's just they say things that they don't really know what the fuck they're talking about, and they say it with such authority.
rhonda patrick
And I've had those conversations in public saunas before, too, where people start getting into the toxins and the whole sauna, and I'm just sitting there quiet, and I'm just like...
Okay, let me start to tell you some benefits, like some real benefits, cardiovascular.
Did you know that it actually mimics exercise?
Like, literally, like, that's been shown.
It's been, like, compared, like, 25 minutes in the sauna, 25 minutes on a stationary bike.
And same things are happening, you know, like...
Blood pressure goes down afterwards.
Heart rate variability improves.
Same things are happening.
You're increasing plasma volume.
Heart rate increases.
Core temperature increases, right?
Exercise is doing the same thing.
The antidepressant effect that I feel from the sauna that Charles Rezon published and that Dr. Mason will hopefully carry on the torch I think it's real, and I think that there's potentially multiple mechanisms, immune modulations, but also just the fact that BDNF. There's a study showing that hot baths do increase BDNF. BDNF? Brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
joe rogan
Why would you think everybody would know what that means?
rhonda patrick
I know.
I thought everyone that listened to your podcast...
joe rogan
Not everyone!
There's millions of people.
I don't even know what it means.
unidentified
You do!
joe rogan
I do when you say it.
unidentified
Once you say it, I go, okay, yeah.
joe rogan
BDNF. Brain-derived neurotropic factor.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
What's so amazing about this neurotropic factor is that it's always thought about in the context of like...
Brain aging because it helps you grow new neurons.
It's neurogenesis.
It helps already existing neurons survive.
But there's studies now showing that it regulates what's called neuroplasticity, which is like the ability, like your brain, your brain changes, you know, with the changing environment.
But you have to be able to adapt to that, right?
Like children are really good at that.
Like they have a lot of neuroplasticity.
But neuroplasticity is associated with depression.
Like, not being able, like, stressful conditions and stuff like that.
Like, not being able to, like, adapt.
I'm not using, like, the best of terms, but neuroplasticity is something along those lines.
And so...
And BDNF plays a role in that.
And BDNF has been shown to increase with exercise and also with heat stress.
joe rogan
I'm glad you brought up hot baths because that's something that I wanted to cover before we got off track.
When we're talking about sauna, when people that don't have access to a sauna, how much benefit can they get out of a hot bath?
rhonda patrick
I'm glad you brought that up because there was, you know, so a couple of things.
One, there was a study that showed hot baths can have an antidepressant effect.
And these people were put in 104 degrees Fahrenheit bath where they were up to their shoulders for like 20 to 30 minutes.
And the sham control was like a green light So people thought they were getting a treatment.
They were getting some kind of green light therapy or whatever.
So it was a placebo control because placebo is definitely real, particularly with depression.
And it had a pretty powerful antidepressant effect, very similar to Charles Raison's study with the hyperthermic chamber thing.
joe rogan
And when you say antidepressant, there's no real way to measure that?
rhonda patrick
They have this whole...
unidentified
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
I mean, so there are some...
There's potential biomarkers being identified.
C-reactive protein being one.
Inflammation.
Inflammation plays a...
There is like a huge link now between the immune system and chronic inflammation...
And depression, brain function in general, brain aging, but inflammation.
So, I mean, there is a push for a looking...
But not all depressed patients have it.
It's like there's a subset of C-reactive protein.
But yeah, depression is measured...
It's a very much like, you know, have someone...
So a subjective measurement would be a clinical person like measuring a whole battery of things they do.
I forgot the name of the test.
But yeah, that's the test.
So it's like basically a battery of feeling things.
So it's not like a hardcore quantitative biomarker, which so badly is needed.
But the hot baths have also been shown.
So heat shock proteins...
There's so many amazing things that heat shock proteins do.
They've been shown to prevent muscle atrophy.
And that's, you know, in the brain, they're so important, like preventing proteins from aggregating in the brain.
That's how I first got in, like, one of my first biological experiments ever, because I was a chemistry major in college.
So I was doing all chemistry stuff, organic chemistry and, like...
Chemistry.
But after I graduated, I went to work at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla.
I was working in an aging lab.
And one of the first experiments that I was doing, like one of my first projects, was we were taking the human amyloid beta gene And injecting them in these worms, these nematode worms that only live, like, 14 or 15 days.
And we're making them form amyloid plaques in their muscle.
So, like, basically, you look at these little worms under a microscope.
So they're only, like, half a millimeter.
You know, they move around.
And as, like, they get older and they're aging, they don't move as quickly.
You know, they're kind of slower, a little more decrepit.
But anyways, you give them this amyloid beta.
And after, like, a couple of days, they become paralyzed, where they're, like, laying in their little Petri dish plate on the E. coli food you're giving them.
And they kind of just move around just to feed, like their nose is just moving around.
And so when we would give them tons of heat shock proteins in addition to the amyloid, totally reversed it, like completely.
They would move around and be young.
So anyways, heat shock proteins play a role in neurodegenerative disease, also some links to improving depression in animal studies.
joe rogan
Can you measure heat shock proteins in the bath versus sauna?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, so that's been done.
So the sauna, I know of one study where people that Sat in a 163 degree Fahrenheit sauna for 30 minutes, had heat shock proteins, their levels were 50% higher over baseline, which is great.
And that usually, like, animal studies show that they can stay elevated for like 48 hours after that.
There's a hot bath study where they also elevated, it wasn't quite as high, but it was like, you know, 40 or so percent higher than baseline levels, and it was 104 degrees.
But this study, instead of doing it from the shoulders down, where I told you about the depression, it was like only 20, 30 minutes, it was like from the waist down, so they had to stay in there for an hour.
It's like a jacuzzi, you know, where you're sitting there from the waist down and like, that's hot.
Like staying in 104, that's pretty hot.
But heat shock proteins did increase.
So I think...
For people that don't have access to a sauna, that hot baths absolutely are a good modality for heat stress.
And I used it for a long time.
Like I said, I just got a sauna.
I've made a career about talking about saunas, and I just got one last month.
So I understand what it's like to not have a sauna and to have to use hot baths.
But I was also using the gym saunas, but right now it's like...
There's no gyms that are open.
Hot baths are the only choice if you don't have a home sauna.
joe rogan
What about cold shock proteins?
How much difference is it between taking a really cold shower, ice bath, versus something like cryotherapy?
Like the place that I took you to.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
So, I mean, there's differences in, I mean, so it depends on how long you're staying in a cold, you know, water, like cold shower, like actually being submerged, like from like, if you're like in the ocean or something or a lake and you're like from your shoulders down, like that's...
Probably much more powerful than just having the shower on.
But by the way, the shower, like some days I'm like, what does the matter?
This is not cold at all.
You know, it's just so variable.
joe rogan
Well, you live in Southern California.
You live on the border of Mexico.
rhonda patrick
But yesterday, so most of the time now I shower right after the shower.
That's like my shower time now.
And so I do about six minutes and it's so easy for me.
I totally have adapted.
And I'm not sure if I've just totally adapted or if it's just like my faucet just doesn't get that cold.
Like it really doesn't.
Today I took a cold shower.
I did it just because I wanted to have the mood effects, the norepinephrine that's been shown to be increased.
And it was much colder.
But then again, it was a different shower.
I'm not sure if it's because I didn't have the hot beforehand.
Being hot and getting in the cold shower, it just feels really good.
joe rogan
It's a nice shock.
rhonda patrick
But the cold shock, you were asking me cold shock proteins.
That hasn't really been measured in humans.
What is measured most of the time with cold shock is norepinephrine release.
And norepinephrine in plasma, and there has been studies correlating norepinephrine in plasma upon cold exposure, norepinephrine release in plasma in the brain, where it's involved with mood and focus and attention.
So there's been studies where you could do a two-minute cryo Whatever the average temperature, it's really cold.
joe rogan
Minus 240 is where we went.
rhonda patrick
Something like that, yeah.
And then that could be compared to a longer duration in 50 degree Fahrenheit water or something like that.
I don't remember the exact time, but it is comparable, but you have to stay in a longer duration.
joe rogan
So some people prefer ice baths.
Some athletes prefer the ice bath versus cryotherapy, even though it's probably more painful because it lasts a lot longer.
rhonda patrick
Oh, it's painful.
Have you done those ice baths?
unidentified
No.
rhonda patrick
Oh, I've done it.
joe rogan
I've only done the cryo.
rhonda patrick
So have you ever done cold shower after your sauna?
joe rogan
Yes.
rhonda patrick
Do you like it?
joe rogan
I like it a lot.
I like it particularly after hot yoga.
rhonda patrick
After hot yoga.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
After hot yoga, especially in the winter when it's actually cold, the water's cold, that's when I love it.
rhonda patrick
There's something mood enhancing.
I mean, these things also affect the immune system, by the way, which is also very relevant, both cold and hot.
They both have been shown to increase lymphocyte numbers and also like other myeloid cells and stuff in people.
But like...
There's something, like, I've done the sauna and then gone into an ice bath, and then, you know, it's just really, it's hard.
It's cold.
I mean, you feel good, but man, you know, I think just, like, the guy's house I was doing, I was trying to impress him, so...
You know, I was like, I'm hardcore, I can do this.
But it was pretty intense.
I do eventually want to get some kind of like, they have those baths that you can regulate the water temperature.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's ones that you plug in and they're not ice baths at all.
They just cool the water.
rhonda patrick
That's just too much work, like ice and baths.
joe rogan
Yeah, we wanted to get one here.
We're probably going to wind up doing that.
Get one here.
rhonda patrick
You should, because you have the sauna.
joe rogan
I have two showers and the shower next to the sauna is kind of useless.
rhonda patrick
So who uses the sauna here, Jamie?
joe rogan
Just me.
rhonda patrick
You don't use the sauna yet?
joe rogan
He uses it occasionally.
unidentified
I also had a gym I was going to.
rhonda patrick
You do use the sauna though, right?
Yeah.
joe rogan
I use it every day.
I usually use it at home, but sometimes I use it here right after workouts.
If I work out, I try to get a workout here before I do podcasts and I'll time it so that I have an extra hour so I can get in the sauna.
rhonda patrick
That's awesome.
joe rogan
Yeah, it makes a big difference for me.
But I also just I think it might be a little too much before like I'm always trying to regulate how much activity I do with whether or not I'm be exhausted when I do a podcast.
Because I used to do yoga, and then I would come out, I would get out of yoga at 11, or at 10.30, and I would do a podcast at 12, and I was like, oof, I think I better wait till 1. Because I'd just be so, because 90 minute yoga classes into 105 degrees is fucking rough.
rhonda patrick
It's intense.
joe rogan
It's rough, yeah.
rhonda patrick
I've only done Bikram a couple times.
I would love to do it more.
I loved it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
I really loved it.
joe rogan
Well, I would wonder, and I know there's supposedly some sort of Harvard study that's ongoing right now measuring all sorts of markers in people that have done hot yoga.
And whether or not it mimics heat shock proteins that are created in the sauna.
Because the thing is, you are getting this incredible cardiovascular exercise because your heart's beating like crazy.
And you're not doing cardio per se, but your heart rate gets jacked because of the heat and the stress.
Totally.
And then on top of that, even though it's only 105 degrees, your body is heating up.
You're really sweating up a storm in there.
I've taken some friends there that have never experienced it before, and they're like, fucking yoga.
Come on, bro.
Yoga.
And then they get in there, and then I look over at them 15 minutes in, and they're like, fucking A. And I'm like, yeah.
rhonda patrick
It is.
joe rogan
I told you.
It's not what you think it is.
rhonda patrick
Because you're doing...
Like yoga, even uncoupled from the heat, like the hot part, yoga is also like...
It's pretty intense, like holding those positions and stuff.
And like your heart rate does start to elevate.
I mean, it's like just from that alone.
Adding on the sauna, which mimics moderate physical activity that's been shown, absolutely mimics it.
And then all the, you know, studies that have shown that.
On top of that, I mean, that's like...
It's super intense.
It's super intense.
The really cool thing about...
And I want to get my mom...
I think once we move the sauna to our home where it's not like the office, people that are sedentary and people that are sedentary for whatever reason, maybe they're sedentary because they're disabled or maybe they're sedentary because they've had a lifetime of being sedentary.
It is just hard to get them motivated to go exercise.
The sauna to me is like...
So important because it's giving these people a potential cardiovascular workout.
No, it is.
That's been shown.
It's giving them a cardiovascular workout without having to force them to go for a run or get on a bike.
You know, people think, like when you tell them to go sit in the sauna, they think of like a spa.
Like, yeah, I want to go do that.
You get someone who's like my mom.
She's sedentary.
She's not like a physically active person.
And she needs to be.
But like the sauna, that's kind of my goal is to get her doing...
And we'll have to start slowly because you have to adapt.
The heat shock proteins help with that.
The more times you're exposed to heat stress and the more adapted you are, the heat shock proteins increase quicker.
And so it's part of the adaptation process as well of being able to handle the heat stress.
But I want to get her to do that because any cardiovascular...
Improvement is going to help her mood.
It's going to help her, you know, all-cause mortality.
That's been shown, you know, four to seven times a week, 40% lower all-cause mortality.
Cardiovascular-related mortality is 50% lower.
You know, so, like, I think that's a really cool thing about the sauna is that you can get people that are disabled, people that can't go for a run, you know?
I mean, I still think exercise, I mean, it's just the best thing ever.
Period.
For everything.
joe rogan
Right.
rhonda patrick
You know, for everything.
It's just going to overall improve the way you age and that's going to make you more robust and resilient to anything.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
You know?
joe rogan
Sauna to me is, there's so many benefits, but one of the big ones is that muscles feel better.
They feel looser.
They're not as sore.
Like when I have hard workouts and I get in the sauna afterwards, I feel like my recovery is more rapid.
rhonda patrick
Interesting.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
Because I don't do resistance training.
Shame on me.
I don't have that same perspective.
But there have been studies, at least were localized heat on people that had a limb immobilized.
I don't remember what limb it was, but after a week, people that had the heat treatment, local heat treatment, had almost 40% less muscle atrophy.
That's huge.
That's huge.
In animal studies, and I remember I shared this animal study in an article I wrote years ago before the human study came out, and there were critics, well, it's animals, and blah, blah, blah, you can't say it does this, and I would get on the mechanism, and they showed it was heat shock proteins, and I was so happy when that human study came out, because I was like, told you!
That's what I wanted to say.
There's just a few of those guys that you're just like, maybe I just do a big comprehensive search of the literature and understand things and don't have that exact study just yet, but I know that it's going to help with muscle atrophy.
joe rogan
Well, people love to dismiss things, don't they?
rhonda patrick
Yes.
joe rogan
They really do.
Even if they're wrong, they just love to fixate on confirmation bias, a little possible potential things that might dismiss it.
Instead of just being open-minded and going, hmm.
rhonda patrick
I think that happens a lot too with social media because, for example, if I share one study, I'll share an epidemiological study.
And it's like, it's Twitter.
You know, I'm doing 140 characters, whatever the chain, I don't know what the characters are now, but I'm doing a small number of characters.
And I'm just sharing one study.
And if it happens to be a non-randomized controlled trial, then, you know, it's just correlation doesn't, you know, doesn't equal causation.
It's like, sometimes I just share a story because one, I think it's interesting, or two, because I I've read a bunch of, you know, evidence surrounding this topic, you know, about all the other clinical evidence, all the genetic evidence, all the animal.
And so I have a knowledge base here.
And so I share a study that may be isolated in and of itself.
It's not the strongest study.
But, you know, it's like...
joe rogan
You can't read the comments.
rhonda patrick
That's the problem.
You can't.
Like, you just can't.
I can't.
Someone else does it.
joe rogan
It's like trying to strike up a conversation in a port-a-potty.
rhonda patrick
Because it affects me.
I'm the kind of person where...
I like to make people happy.
It bothers me when people are unhappy.
It bothers me when people...
joe rogan
Well, then don't go on Twitter, period, because most of those people are unhappy.
rhonda patrick
Or YouTube.
No.
I mean, I guess that's not really the case.
For me, at least.
The bigger audience...
For you, for sure.
I mean, the bigger your audience is, the more...
You get that.
joe rogan
This is what I tried to explain to a friend of mine who was on the podcast, who read the comments, and I go, you just have to stop and think.
Okay, even if just 1% of all of my people that go from Instagram, like if you're reading the Instagram comments, 1% Just one, which is probably really conservative, right?
If you get a room full of people, there's a hundred people in the room, what are the odds that one of them is going to be an asshole?
It's a hundred percent, right?
That means there's 92,000 assholes.
rhonda patrick
That's a lot.
joe rogan
That's untenable.
You can't manage that.
92,000 shitheads who have half-assed their whole life.
And they want to shoot people down, make people feel bad, and just don't.
It's not worth it.
rhonda patrick
I don't.
joe rogan
And I feel for those people.
I genuinely do.
I feel for people that are in that state where they realize that they're not...
They're not happy.
They're not happy with their own performance.
They're not happy with their life.
They're probably not happy with their relationship or their job.
And they just want to spew nonsense and negative garbage.
Yeah.
I mean, that's the problem with not being able...
It's delicious, right?
rhonda patrick
That is really delicious, yeah.
joe rogan
Kill Cliff, 25 milligram CBD. All right.
Mango.
I got some other flavors, too.
The problem with that is you'll fixate on the one person that says the negative.
rhonda patrick
Exactly.
joe rogan
It's a natural human inclination.
rhonda patrick
And that fixation, for me, keeps me up at night.
Oh, no!
Don't say that.
It doesn't happen much anymore because I try not to read.
joe rogan
I've gotten so much better at it.
rhonda patrick
But you know what I'm talking about.
joe rogan
Yeah, no, in the early days of social media, before I got a handle on it, I'd be like, fuck, this is stress.
It's like so taxing.
Like you'd get into discussions with people like, what am I doing?
rhonda patrick
I think it's important to be critical.
And I get like, you know, there's there are people that are really trying to like, You know, prove something.
And there's all sorts of incentives for being hypercritical.
joe rogan
Well, if you had rational people who are kind folks who have interesting viewpoints and they looked at something and they found something to be wrong with that and they handled it with, you know, grace and some sort of modicum of dignity and kindness, that would be great.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, absolutely.
And there are those people too.
joe rogan
Sure.
Like if you were having a discussion with a good friend and the good friend was looking at something that you said and said, I disagree because of this.
Look, I have conversations with good friends all the time and even on the podcast where I disagree with them.
But we handle it like friends.
rhonda patrick
Right.
joe rogan
But that's the problem with Twitter is that you don't see that person.
You don't know them.
You don't want to please them.
You just want to be mean.
Right.
You know, and that's what a lot of people are doing, and they're just getting their rocks off.
And I feel like now, for a while, during the pandemic, when it started and the lockdown started, people were nicer.
There was less social justice outrage, there was less this.
But now, it seems like as time's gone on and people are getting more frustrated and more desperate and more depressed because they're locked up, it seems like it's ramped up.
rhonda patrick
It's hard.
I mean, this is unprecedented, right?
It's horrible.
It is.
I miss my life before the pandemic.
I miss taking my son to the park.
I miss our soccer classes and, I mean, like, music classes.
I miss it.
It is hard.
joe rogan
My kids are having drive-by birthday parties where they drive by with fucking balloons and yell out the window, happy birthday!
Like, fucking...
They're never going to forget this.
They're never going to forget how weird this is.
They're doing all their classrooms on iPads.
I'm like, this is so...
Weird.
rhonda patrick
See, my son's at an age where he's not going to really remember.
Well, I mean, depending.
You know, I really think that things will start to get better.
joe rogan
Well, if it doesn't, I'm going to move to a place where it's better.
Because I think the way this state is handling it is fucking terrible.
They're treating us like we're infants.
Some of the lists they've given you of approving activities and non-approving activities, that highlights it for me.
Because the lists are...
I don't know if you've seen the list.
unidentified
I haven't.
rhonda patrick
I didn't even know that.
joe rogan
Oh, pull it up, Jamie.
They're so fucking stupid because you got to realize these people that are writing these lists, these are not experts.
These are bureaucrats.
These are politicians.
These are people that really have no business telling you what to do and what not to do.
They're fools, but they're in a position to influence millions and millions of people.
So they have the ability to tell 40 million people what they can and can't do.
Make that a little larger so I can read this.
Look at this.
Athletics.
Badminton.
Singles.
Throwing a baseball.
Softball.
BMX riding.
Canoeing.
Singles.
Crabbing.
You can go crabbing.
You'll find crabs.
Cycling.
Exploring rock pools.
Oh, can I? Can I explore rock pools?
You fucks.
Gardening.
Not in groups.
Golf.
Singles.
Walking.
No cart.
Why?
Why can't I take my cart?
Who are you?
rhonda patrick
Wow.
joe rogan
Hiking trails.
Paths.
Allowing distancing.
Horse riding.
Singles.
Jogging and running.
It gets grosser.
Meditation.
Oh, you can do outdoor photography?
I didn't know.
I thought that was going to kill everybody.
rhonda patrick
Picnics.
What's the top of this?
What's this headline?
What is this page?
unidentified
Approved outdoor activities.
rhonda patrick
For LA or for California?
joe rogan
For California.
It gets worse.
Scroll down.
It gets so stupid towards the end.
Oh, look.
Soft martial arts.
Tai Chi Kung.
Not in groups.
Chi Kung.
They've listed the martial arts.
Like, fuck off.
Table tennis.
Singles.
Trail running.
Trampolining.
Oh, can I get on a trampoline?
Thanks.
Didn't know.
How about this one?
Watch the sunrise or sunset.
How about wash the car?
Oh, you can wash the car?
Oh, great!
I thought rocks were falling from the fucking sky and I couldn't wash the car.
Jesus Christ.
But that's what drives me bonkers.
In all cases, you should only do these activities alone or with members of your household.
Make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and those outside your household.
You fucking clowns.
rhonda patrick
Have you been doing comedy bits?
No.
Sorry, writing?
joe rogan
No.
rhonda patrick
No?
joe rogan
No, I haven't written anything.
rhonda patrick
Oh, man.
joe rogan
Yeah, I thought I should, but I've decided to just accept where this is, and then when comedy clubs are about to open up, Then I'll start writing again.
But I'm just accepting where this is, and I want to have an honest take on it.
I don't want to be manufacturing a take or trying to come up with some sort of a hot take on how I feel.
But I want to know how I really feel about this.
And how I really feel about this is very different now versus the way it was in March.
Because in March, I was concerned.
And I was like, Jesus Christ, this could be terrible.
We really have to stockpile food.
We really have to make sure that we have water purification.
We really have to be careful here.
Now I'm like, we gotta be careful these fucking politicians.
Now I'm in the place where you guys have to understand these people, people are starving.
People don't have any money.
You're telling people they can't go to work, but you're telling people they can go to work in some places.
Like, why is it okay to work at Target, but it's not okay to work in a family business?
Why is it okay?
Let's figure out testing.
Let's quarantine the people who are sick.
This strategy that you guys have, you're not adjusting and adapting.
You're not adjusting and adapting to the mortality numbers, too, because they're way lower than they were before.
Plus, now we have this understanding of the asymptomatic people and how many people have tested positive that are asymptomatic.
It's off the charts.
It's somewhere in the range.
In many studies, 70-plus percent of people that get in contact with this Are asymptomatic but test positive for the disease?
rhonda patrick
That's crazy.
Asymptomatic?
joe rogan
Yes.
rhonda patrick
So that's the thing.
We've got to be careful about that.
joe rogan
We've got to be careful about what you were saying earlier.
rhonda patrick
Maybe 40 to 50 could be, like, there's probably a range.
joe rogan
I have friends that are asymptomatic, went through the entire disease.
It's out of their system.
They never felt it.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I have one friend who – he did – he had tightness in his chest, but he actually was in – outside of Wuhan like in December.
So he was like – he got it.
So he didn't know – like at the time, he just thought it was some like little like whatever.
Chest cold.
Chest.
Yeah, but it was like just mostly just tightness, he said.
It wasn't like – Well, that's what's crazy about this.
joe rogan
There's so many variables in terms of how people are affected by it and what goes wrong.
rhonda patrick
Because there are so many variables.
There's your genetics.
There's your immune system.
How is your immune system shaped?
There's your diet that's included in it, your vitamin D status.
The other interesting thing, and there's been no studies with SARS-CoV-2, but there have been influenza studies showing that viral dose, it's really interesting studies that have been done where, I don't know who volunteers for these studies, but like, sign me up to get influenza.
I want to be...
joe rogan
Right.
Let's give me a full load of virus.
rhonda patrick
They somehow get healthy people to do that.
And there's been these studies where people are like intranasal, like they'll give them various titers of influenza virus.
And they try the point of the studies to figure out what viral dose.
And they have like some measurement like in tissue culture number or whatever.
And they found like to make people have symptoms.
Right.
And they found with influenza.
I forgot which A or something.
I think one of the strains was like they could do a certain dose like 10 to the 7 in tissue culture or whatever units where it's 70% of the people would get like symptoms ranging from fever, you know, cough and all the influenza, you know, flu symptoms.
But then when they went down to from 10 to the 7, let's say they went down to 10 to the 5, only like 10% of people were getting symptoms.
So like it's kind of interesting that viral dose At least with influenza.
And there's actually been some other studies, I think measles also.
It is a thing, not something that you want to like go and experiment with yourself.
But, you know, that's another possibility, right?
joe rogan
For sure, when you hear about nurses.
rhonda patrick
Yes, they're getting way more sick.
That could be one reason.
joe rogan
Their actual job is to be around infected people and they're intubating these people and they're doing chest compressions.
They're getting it right in their faces.
Some of them, they have poor PPE, especially in the beginning when you're seeing these people that were using makeshift masks and trying to...
It's horrible.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I think with the masks, you know, for people, I mean, reopening the economy and, you know, some places have been more successful, you know, like, you know, even like Japan and stuff where, you know, the wearing the mask, like the cloth mask doesn't do much to prevent you from breathing in maybe a respiratory droplet or something or aerosol.
Right.
But it will prevent you from spreading it.
To a certain degree, I get that people don't want to wear masks.
It sucks.
Who wants to wear a mask?
But maybe to open up the economy again now, maybe everyone could wear a mask if they're going to be inside around a bunch of people, grocery stores, theaters.
joe rogan
It's certainly better than keeping the economy closed.
rhonda patrick
It's better than keeping the economy closed.
I'll be willing to do it.
It's not going to be forever.
You know why it's not going to be forever?
Because we're going to figure this stuff out.
We are.
We're already finding repurposed therapeutics, the monoclonal antibodies.
People are working on that.
That's going to be coming soon.
joe rogan
What is that?
rhonda patrick
The monoclonal antibodies.
Remember you were talking about the llama?
So the whole point of that is that they're identifying antibodies that can neutralize the virus.
And they're going to grow them and manufacture them and give them to people.
And it'll help treat...
Eventually they'll identify one that, you know, works.
joe rogan
What kind of a timeline do you think they have for something like this?
rhonda patrick
Oh, I think that, I think things are gonna, I mean, I think that these therapeutics can start, the monocle, so like remdesivir has already been identified and there may start to identify other ones like the pancreatitis drug, pancreatitis drug in Japan.
I mean, there's a lot of different repurposing drugs that are being investigated.
And I think over the next couple of months, and then Regeneron's already doing one of these monoclonal antibodies, I think in the next couple of months, we'll have more therapeutics than we have right now.
That'll make things less scary.
People will be less scared of getting sick because They'll have, you know, they'll have a better idea of, oh, we have some more, you know, things that can therapeutically treat this, you know, successively.
Hopefully, people are going to start looking at the vitamin D. I really like that.
I really hope that.
If not, just I hope people are going to, you know, take their vitamin D or ask their doctor to take it, you know.
But yeah, I think that in a couple of months.
So like, can you wear a mask for a couple of months?
And like, here's why it's not going to work to just have the people that are vulnerable wear the mask.
Because the cloth mask isn't going to prevent them from getting...
The aerosolized droplets, if you're spreading it and asymptomatic, which it's been shown, if you are asymptomatic.
That CDC study I mentioned a while ago about how pre-symptomatic versus asymptomatic, after a week when they came back to measure the people again, they found that out of the 13, 10 of them actually did get symptoms.
The other three that were asymptomatic were shedding as much virus that could make them basically...
Contagious and, you know, basically able to transmit to others.
joe rogan
That's so strange.
rhonda patrick
So the point is that I think that I know people don't want to wear masks.
I have family members that, like, think it's, like, infringing their freedom, you know?
And, like, it does suck.
And I know people are – I mean, the thing is, like, also children.
I don't know how to tackle that issue because it's really hard.
That seems a little more difficult.
unidentified
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
But like adults, you know, I think that if you're working, you want to open your restaurant back up, you know, like masks.
I think that seems like a good compromise, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, it does.
It's real weird with this disease because some children are getting sick, but it's a very small number.
But many children are getting in contact with this disease.
And how many of them are asymptomatic but are spreading it?
rhonda patrick
So there have been quite a few studies looking at children that are asymptomatic, children that have mild symptoms, and children that are symptomatic.
And so far, the studies have shown, for the most part, that children even that are asymptomatic are shedding as much virus as both children that are symptomatic and adults that are symptomatic, meaning they're able to transmit it.
They're shedding the virus, right?
joe rogan
They're little sprinkler systems.
rhonda patrick
They are.
They're like notoriously like, I used to never get sick.
And then I became a mom.
And I mean, I think first of all, the first year it hit me hard because I wasn't sleeping, you know, because you have to like, every three hours, you got to feed, you know, feed the baby.
joe rogan
That's a giant factor in your immune system.
rhonda patrick
Oh, sleep is huge.
We didn't talk about that.
I know you've had Matt Walker on the podcast.
I've had him.
I mean, he's talked about it before.
And lots of other researchers have studied this.
Sleep is so important for immune function.
I mean, so important.
I mean, no one's working because they're probably getting more sleep now.
joe rogan
But they're also stressed out and they have anxiety, particularly if their bills are piling up and they have no income.
rhonda patrick
It's true.
It's awful.
It's really awful.
It's really awful.
joe rogan
And it's awful for so many of these people that didn't do anything wrong.
They didn't do anything wrong.
They built a business and now that business is crushed.
I think you've got to give people the option.
You've got to give people the option to go to work.
You have to.
You can't do this.
rhonda patrick
Give them an option but wear a mask.
joe rogan
Yeah, this is not the plague that we thought it was going to be.
This is not the horrible tragedy that we thought it was going to be.
rhonda patrick
It's not.
It's definitely not.
I'll agree with you on that.
I think a month and a half ago, I thought I was going to see body bags in the street.
I was like, this is going to be really bad.
I was terrified.
Thankfully, it has not been that bad.
I mean, New York City got hit pretty hard.
But, you know, we have been on lockdown, so that has to be accounted for.
joe rogan
I would like to see, in New York City, particularly when they were getting hit, you've got to think, this is New York City in January, which is January.
It's wintertime.
People are not going outdoors.
I wonder how much the vitamin D deficiency varies, depending upon winter.
rhonda patrick
So winter, there's been tons of studies, sons of studies.
Tons of studies showing that vitamin D levels are much lower in the wintertime.
It also correlates, there's been studies correlating it with seasonal defective disorder and all that.
But yes, January, all those, vitamin D deficiency is lower for sure.
joe rogan
But I would like to see a study on whether or not it varies between the East Coast and the West Coast.
Because over here, we do have all these sunny days.
And people are outside far more often than they are in New York.
rhonda patrick
Particularly in Southern California.
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they wear less clothes.
They're wearing T-shirts.
They're wearing shorts.
You have more skin exposed.
rhonda patrick
Someone might have done that study.
joe rogan
I would like to see that study because it makes sense.
Look, and people are shittier over there.
Maybe that's why they're shittier.
I mean, they're cold and grumpy, I'm sure.
But also maybe that is not feeling well because vitamin D deficiency plays a factor in that as well.
And I would also like to see something done on whether or not that contributes to how many people get sick over there.
Because when I lived on the East Coast, when I lived in New York, I got sick way more than I get sick out here.
I'm for sure healthier, more cognizant, definitely more proactive.
rhonda patrick
I think all of those things play a role.
Personally, I think that there's been enough evidence showing that vitamin D plays a role in particularly respiratory infections.
Psychosocial stress, like stress, cortisol, that dampens the immune system.
So when you are stressed, basically you're not in a good situation to fight off, as you were mentioning with your friend.
When you're stressed out, your immune system is dampened and you are more susceptible to illness, for sure.
And that's also known.
You know, so I think all those things and then the sleep.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's why it's so rough with all these people stuck inside and stressed out, you know, all this the financial pressures that people are experiencing right now because of the lockdown.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, it's really, it's so awful.
Yeah, it is horrible.
joe rogan
It's horrible and it's not getting better.
rhonda patrick
I hope, I just hope, I hope that, you know, we can reopen the economy in a very safe manner where we don't have, like, flare-ups that, you know, we don't want to be set back to, like, shelter in place again, like, full on, you know?
joe rogan
I'm not going to do it again.
I'm definitely not going to do it the way it was before.
If it's the same disease, I don't think it's warranted.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
rhonda patrick
Well, not if the numbers are like right now.
joe rogan
Right.
I think social distancing makes sense.
I think sanitizing, making sure you're using hand sanitizer and cleanliness and all that good stuff.
And if you want to wear a mask in public, that makes sense too.
Okay, I get it.
rhonda patrick
But masks inside, like inside when you're in places, I think, like if you're going grocery shopping.
joe rogan
Yes, sure.
But test people.
How about that?
rhonda patrick
Absolutely.
joe rogan
Test people at work.
I mean, I test everyone that comes in here.
You told me you'd been tested, and I just got tested again on Sunday.
I tested, and I'm clear.
And I did that right when I got back from Jacksonville, because I was like, look, I'm in Florida.
Even though everybody's been tested, I'd like to get tested again, just for the fuck up.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I'm hoping that the accuracy of the PCR test improves.
I don't know...
If there's like a, but you mentioned one test that might be coming out.
I hope that's...
joe rogan
Do the saliva-based test?
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
You know, I don't, you know, I'm not sure.
joe rogan
What factor do you think play, like when we're talking about saunas before, one of the things, this is a respiratory disease, and this is something where you're breathing in these particles.
And from what I understand, this is a vulnerable virus in terms of the temperature that it can survive in.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
Obviously it's in your body.
But if it's in your nostrils or if it's in your respiratory tract and you're breathing in that heated sauna air, does that have any effect at all on viruses?
rhonda patrick
I think that hasn't really been studied.
If the virus is, like, right in your nostrils, I don't know, maybe, but I think it's already, like, getting...
If it's already getting inside, you know, the respiratory, you know, area, like, your body's kind of maintaining homeostasis, so, like, the heat that you're breathing in...
joe rogan
Would you be able to kill some of it off that way, though, and reduce the viral load?
rhonda patrick
I don't...
I think the...
joe rogan
I know you don't want to just speculate.
rhonda patrick
Well, no, I think what's actually...
The sauna is actually just...
It's improving your immune system.
And I think that doing the sauna is making you more resilient against infection.
That's been shown.
There's been small trials showing that people doing a sauna...
I forgot the duration, but they were much less likely to come down with a common cold.
But they had to be doing it for at least three months.
It wasn't just something that you're mentioning at the time of getting it.
Also...
The respiratory illness connection, there have been correlation studies out of Finland showing that people, actually I think this study was men, only men, that use the sauna two to three times a week, they're 27% less likely to have pneumonia after correcting for,
and if they use the sauna 47 times a week, they're 41% less likely to come down with pneumonia after correcting for socioeconomic status, physical activity, cholesterol, Lung, you know, smoking, COPD, like asthma, all those like, you know, lung disorders.
So, you know, the sauna does seem to be associated with lower incidence of pneumonia, but it's thought to be because of immune, you know, perturbations and also like the, there's the heat shock proteins and all those things like help, there's like an antioxidant effect in the lungs, like things like that.
So heat shock proteins also do have antiviral activity against at least influenza A. So the heat shock proteins directly can activate your innate immune system, but they also have antiviral activity against influenza virus.
So, you know, I think that the heat stress in the sauna does help.
Now, there's another study that did look at humidity and the effect of humidity on basically like the ability of your epithelial cells and your airway and nostrils and stuff to filter out.
Particles and particulate matter and viruses and stuff.
And humidity actually made a big difference.
The more humid, the better that was acting.
Basically, you're able to filter out stuff.
Whereas dry, it was like...
joe rogan
That makes sense.
rhonda patrick
So it does make sense.
But I just don't know the answer to your question.
I'm not sure.
joe rogan
When the whole thing started, when the lockdown started, I was getting the sauna really hot, and then I was pouring a bunch of water on it, nose breathing.
Big, long, deep nose breathing, and it was burning.
rhonda patrick
I was doing it too.
joe rogan
I was like, I'm killing you bitches.
I'm killing all you dirty viruses.
And I would take these long, deep nose, and the whole inside of my nose would be like stinging and everything, but I was like, it's got to be killing these things.
rhonda patrick
It feels like it's killing your nose, though.
joe rogan
But then, you know, I was talking to a doctor about it, and he's like, well, you know, I was like, would it, I was at Osterholm, right?
Yeah.
I was asking him, was it Osterholm or was it, but it was a Hotez.
unidentified
Maybe.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And he was like, you wouldn't be able to breathe in that temperature.
It wouldn't be hot enough to kill it.
I'm like, hmm, maybe the way you do the sauna.
Like, how are you doing the sauna?
Like, you know, because people think about the sauna, they just think about sitting in there and breathing.
rhonda patrick
No, you're breathing.
The steam is hot.
I mean, it's burning.
But the question is, is like, you know, there's homeostatic processes in these cells and stuff.
joe rogan
And so is it Actually, I was doing the sauna too hot at one point in time.
I was doing it at 210 degrees because of crazy Laird.
Laird Hamilton had me convinced.
rhonda patrick
Oh, that's nuts.
Well, that guy's a savage.
I've been to Rick Rubin's house and we've done like, it was like 200 and something barrels.
joe rogan
He's a Laird Hamilton enthusiast as well.
rhonda patrick
Laird, I talk, but like I... I was about to, like, go to one of his—I was, like, literally going to get on a plane and go to Kauai.
And I'm like, Laird, I'm doing this XPT thing.
I'm bringing my son.
We're going to all, like, make a trip.
And it was happening in March.
joe rogan
Oh, right when it all went down.
rhonda patrick
I was like, okay, one day, one day, Laird, we'll do it.
One day we'll do it.
joe rogan
So he gets in over 200 degrees with a fucking airdyne bike with oven mitts on.
This crazy asshole is riding an airdyne machine.
And I say crazy asshole with all due respect, because I love the guy.
But he's riding an airdyne machine in a fucking sauna.
I'm like, bro.
rhonda patrick
So I did that 200. I bet you it was the same because they do the same protocol.
And this was like 210 or 220. It was so hot.
I was on some kind of mind-altering drug.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think that's the point with those guys.
rhonda patrick
It's the other thing that happens is, and then we'd go into this ice bath and there's like this bath right outside and we like did all this ice.
And like I said, I was like trying to impress Rick.
So I was like staying in the ice bath as long as I could, you know.
So then I get back into the sauna and like getting back into this like 210 or 20 degree sauna and you feel like it's like room temperature because you were just in this ice bath.
It's the weirdest feeling.
joe rogan
It's really weird, right?
rhonda patrick
And then you do that like we did it like three or four times.
I don't remember.
But I was like – I started out the conversation.
I was like, heat shock proteins.
And I was like talking science.
And at the end of the conversation, I was just spilling everything.
I was like – I was just telling them all those.
It was just kind of you open up, basically.
joe rogan
What were you saying?
rhonda patrick
I don't remember, but I wasn't talking science.
joe rogan
Talking about life?
unidentified
I was talking about life.
joe rogan
One day we're all going to die, and then the sun's going to explode, and it's going to create carbon, and it's going to create more life forms.
rhonda patrick
I think Gabby, Laird's wife, she has a podcast.
Or at least she did.
I don't know if she still does.
joe rogan
She still does, yeah.
rhonda patrick
It's called The Truth Barrel or something.
joe rogan
Is that what it's called?
rhonda patrick
It was at one time.
I don't know if the name's changed or not, but I thought that was so awesome because she named it after the sauna because the truth comes out.
You just start talking.
joe rogan
It's intense.
rhonda patrick
There's my eye watering.
Anyways.
joe rogan
At 210 degrees, I was finding that it was burning my throat.
And I think I was doing it too often, too.
rhonda patrick
It was burning my ears.
So it was dry for us, so I wasn't experiencing that as much.
But I had to get on the floor because I felt like my hair was going to fall out.
It was just burnt.
It was just so hot.
How long were you doing it for?
He gave me a hat.
I don't remember.
I mean, I was trying to impress Rick, so.
joe rogan
So what is the benefit of it being that hot, though?
Is there any benefit to that over 180?
rhonda patrick
Well, I mean, I think that you could just stay in for...
So the thing is that, like, with most of the studies that have been done looking at the benefits on cardiovascular health and all-cause mortality...
joe rogan
It's quite a bit lower.
rhonda patrick
It's like 20 minutes at 174 degrees.
But, you know, if you're at 210, you can't stay in there for 25 minutes or 20 minutes.
joe rogan
You can, though.
rhonda patrick
I mean...
I guess eventually you adapt.
joe rogan
That's what I was doing.
rhonda patrick
I was in there for I don't know how long and then I'd go in the ice back and then go back in there.
joe rogan
I would get out and I would collapse.
rhonda patrick
You were actually in there for 20 minutes?
joe rogan
Oh yeah, at 210 degrees.
And I would get out and I would go out to the mats out there and just collapse.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, that sounds like too much.
joe rogan
It felt like too much.
rhonda patrick
Do you do electrolyte replenishment?
joe rogan
Yes, I do.
I take liquid IV, actually.
rhonda patrick
Oh, okay.
joe rogan
Yeah, liquid IV is a great electrolyte supplement that I take.
rhonda patrick
You know what I found?
joe rogan
It works.
rhonda patrick
Popcorn.
joe rogan
Popcorn?
Why?
rhonda patrick
I'm just kidding.
Sodium.
It's like my chi.
I love popcorn with butter.
joe rogan
I love popcorn too.
rhonda patrick
But boy, I wear a continuous glucose monitor.
That thing will go to like 165...
Just from the corn itself?
Just from the popcorn.
My meals that are low-carb, I eat more like a paleo-ish diet, so it's like meat and vegetables.
My meals don't get me over 100, for sure.
Popcorn spikes it hard.
Popcorn will spike it really bad.
Certain things will spike it worse than others, but that popcorn, it sure tastes good.
joe rogan
It's a good electrolyte, I guess, with the sodium, with the salt.
It's so good with salt and butter, right?
unidentified
Oh, man.
joe rogan
It's so delicious.
Who figured out that's the perfect food for movies?
rhonda patrick
We can only eat it in our office, though, because we have a two-and-a-half-year-old, and it's like a big choke.
It's like the number one choking.
Popcorn is like the number one choking.
joe rogan
Oh, I can only imagine, right?
The kernels and everything?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I choke on it sometimes.
Yeah.
The thing about the sauna at 210 degrees, too, one of the things that was happening to me, I was just getting headaches, and my throat was burning.
I was coughing a lot, like...
And I was like, I think I'm fucking up the actual tissue in my throat.
rhonda patrick
Oh, man.
joe rogan
Because when you cook a brisket, like, you cook a brisket at, like, 210. That's nuts.
rhonda patrick
220. The headaches, I think, is a sign that you've pushed it too hard.
joe rogan
Yeah, I was doing a lot, too.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, that's intense.
20 minutes at 210. Well, I got addicted to it.
joe rogan
I get addicted sometimes to things that are really hard to do.
In my mind, I'm like, because it's so hard to stay in there for 20 minutes at 210 degrees.
I mean, it hurts.
Everything hurts.
Your skin hurts.
Your toes hurt.
Like it hurts and then so then the next day I would like look forward to doing it to see if I could do it easier again And then I'm like in this weird loop that my own brain creates which is really bad that I'm very addicted to Trying to conquer things.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I'm a bit that way.
joe rogan
Yeah, so that was the thing and then but then I took a step back I was like, I think I'm fucking myself up here 180. 180 is great.
rhonda patrick
I like 180 Fahrenheit, for sure.
Have I told you my xylitol story?
I wanted to tell you this.
unidentified
Xylitol?
rhonda patrick
Do you chew gum?
I know you do.
I remember after show, you chew gum, right?
joe rogan
Sure.
rhonda patrick
Do you use xylitol gum?
joe rogan
I don't think so.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
What is so good about xylitol?
rhonda patrick
So I'm going to tell you my story.
joe rogan
Xylitol is, it's like a sugar substitute, right?
rhonda patrick
It's from the birch plant we were just talking about.
It's the natural, it's naturally found in plants.
So it's that birch, you know what they're whipping?
It's from that plant.
Yes, it is used as a, like if you're eating it, you know, I think it could cause like...
Like the erythritol kind of thing effect where it's like too much GI distress.
But when you're chewing gum or using toothpaste, many studies have shown that it kills anaerobic bacteria like streptococcus mutants that cause cavities and dental decay.
unidentified
Really?
rhonda patrick
So here's my story.
Like multiple studies in humans showing this.
It's like a big deal.
This was before I had my son.
I went to the dentist.
My dentist is great.
And he did an x-ray.
We were doing a cleaning, you know, mental hygiene thing.
And he comes back and he's like, you've got two cavities.
And I was like, how the hell do I have cavities?
I don't even need sugar.
Like, you know, I've just – I've got like a bad oral microbiome or something that I've just – for years, I don't know.
I shouldn't have cavities because I don't need sugar.
But anyways, I had – so he goes, you have two cavities.
They're at the point of no return where, you know, like you – they're – I guess they penetrate the enamel a certain amount and they're like, you have to like – Get them out.
And so the way I am is I always like to look into everything before I do anything.
It's like, okay, this is not my field.
I understand.
I told him, I'm like, I'm going to do some reading research and see if I can find, you know, if there's any possibility that I don't have to get a filling, right?
And he's like, okay, well, if you find anything, please send it my way.
So then I found out I was pregnant.
And so I was like, okay, well, I can't go back to the dentist.
And at that point, I was like...
Looking through everything, all my toiletries and everything.
I'm like, what do I have to get rid of?
What's in there that could be harmful?
So I was like, fluoride, like in my toothpaste.
So I was like, I don't want to use fluoride toothpaste anymore.
And these stories are going to connect.
So fluoride has been shown.
A lot of people are worried about the effects on the brain.
The only solid evidence I could find on negative effects of fluoride on the brain are in utero, meaning...
Pregnant women, you know, and the effects on babies.
And I don't know if toothpaste has enough to even do anything, but in my mind, I was like, nope, getting rid of the fluoride, you know?
I got a water filter that got rid of the fluoride in the water, and I was, like, doing all that.
So I came across this xylitol toothpaste.
And I was like, what is this xylitol toothpaste?
So I started doing research on xylitol while I was looking for alternatives.
So I was like, Tom's a man.
I can't use that crap.
I've tried it before.
unidentified
It's like my teeth get dirtier.
rhonda patrick
I hate that stuff.
unidentified
It tastes so terrible.
rhonda patrick
It makes your breath smell worse.
unidentified
It does.
rhonda patrick
Anyway, so I was like, I've got to find something other than Thompson, Maine.
So I came across this xylitol stuff, and I started doing research, and then I found all these studies.
And not only did I find studies that basically kills these bacteria that cause cavities, the S-mutans, pregnant women that chew xylitol gum By the way, the studies were with gum, not the toothpaste.
People were chewing this gum.
And pregnant women, if they were like six months pregnant, the study started at six months, and they chewed this xylitol gum all the way up until anywhere between the baby being six months, and there were some studies that went out like a year.
And then they met, the researchers measured the oral bacteria of the toddlers, and then they measured them multiple years out as they became children.
And the mothers chewing it, chewing the gum, it lowered the incidence of the S-mutans in the children.
Because, you know, mothers kiss their kids and you transfer oral bacteria.
And so their, like, their chewing the xylitol gum had a positive effect on the child's oral microbiome.
Fuck yeah, I'm gonna do this!
I gave myself TMJ. I chewed so much xylitol gum while I was pregnant.
To this day, I have some with me right now.
joe rogan
TMJ is...
rhonda patrick
Am I saying the right thing?
It was like popping my jaw.
I was eating a lot of sautéed kale and chewing a lot of xylitol gum when I was pregnant.
But it totally fixed itself, thankfully.
So anyways, a year goes by.
I have my son.
Eventually, I'm like, okay, I got to go back to the dentist because, you know, pregnancy makes your teeth worse.
There's, like, all this stuff about you bleeding.
Your gums bleed.
There's, like, there's some kind of term where, like, women get, like, what's that?
Periodontitis or gingivitis.
One of those two.
It's bad.
Anyways, so I go back to Dennis.
We do the x-rays and I'm like, oh, you're going to tell me about the stupid cavities and I haven't done the research.
You know, and he goes, he comes in and he goes, I've never seen this before, but your cavities are gone.
And he shows the x-rays and he shows me before and after.
He's like, they're totally gone.
And I was like, That's amazing.
I was like, is it the pregnancy?
And he's like, no.
He's like, we get women coming in here after pregnancy.
And it's like, worse.
And I said, the only thing that I could think of is like my obsessive xylitol gum chewing, which I still do.
And the fact that it does decrease the, you know, I don't know how it would affect an already formed cavity, but my cavities are gone.
unidentified
Whoa.
rhonda patrick
So my doctor...
See, my dentist is great because he like...
You know, any dentist could just be like, nope, they're still there.
Like, I don't know what the x-ray is supposed to look like, you know?
So I feel like he's a trustworthy guy.
I like that.
But isn't that crazy?
joe rogan
You have to worry about shifty dentists.
Yeah, but you do.
rhonda patrick
Anyone, right?
joe rogan
Right.
So that is crazy.
So the xylitol gum somehow...
So you think that what it did was affect the microbiome of your mouth?
unidentified
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Oh, and it showed...
There's also studies showing that it decreases the incidence of...
I'm talking about staphylococcus mutans because it's the only one I remember, but there's another one that causes dental decay.
But it didn't affect any of the good bacteria in the mouth.
joe rogan
Wow.
rhonda patrick
So I was like, and now I'm just like, it's all...
joe rogan
Staphylococcus mutants, that's the same, is that the same family that you get from staph infections?
rhonda patrick
No.
unidentified
No?
joe rogan
Different stuff?
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
Okay.
rhonda patrick
But, I mean, there's lots of different staphylococcus, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know?
unidentified
Oh, okay.
joe rogan
So it's a...
rhonda patrick
So the xylitol gum, Joe, you need to get on it.
It's really awesome.
Like, it's, I really think it's...
We already are.
unidentified
That gum we've been chewing has xylitol in it.
joe rogan
Oh, the NeuroGum?
Oh, okay.
I've been chewing this NeuroGum.
It's gum with nootropics in it.
rhonda patrick
Nootropics?
joe rogan
Yes.
rhonda patrick
Like Plank.
So I was eating a bunch of ECGC and Cocovia capsules, like the catechins and the dark chocolate for mine.
What's in it?
unidentified
L-theanine and...
rhonda patrick
L-theanine.
See, I was looking for my L-theanine, but I was out because that helps calm me a little bit.
joe rogan
It's got a little bit of caffeine, L-theanine, and B vitamins.
I fucking love it.
I love it.
I take it before I do kickboxing workouts.
I chew gum.
rhonda patrick
I used to...
I used to...
Sorry, it was Neuro?
joe rogan
Yeah.
jamie vernon
Yeah, it has B6 and B12 also.
rhonda patrick
That looks interesting.
I used to take, when I was doing long distance running, I was running 8 to 10 miles a day.
I was probably running about 50 miles a week, which is pretty good.
This was when I was in my early 20s.
But I would dose up on all these B-complex vitamins, and I swear I would have endurance just to run.
I don't know if it was placebo or not.
joe rogan
B12 has a big impact on your ability to do work.
rhonda patrick
You think so?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, for sure.
rhonda patrick
I haven't done any research on it, but I just know that I used to take them and I felt like a big effect.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Yeah, B12 shots.
You ever get a B12 shot?
rhonda patrick
I did.
So the intravenous vitamin C I got, I think it had B12 in it.
joe rogan
If you run down, B12 shots give you an awesome little boost.
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
But I haven't done like a specific B12 shot.
This stuff's pretty good and I don't feel any like...
joe rogan
It's not going to get you high.
rhonda patrick
I don't feel anything weird.
No.
Isn't CBD supposed to also be like the calming one?
Yes.
joe rogan
It relieves anxiety.
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
You just got to get a good CBD, like a good CBD that doesn't have THC. Because I have a few that I've tried from other...
The tincture that I take is from CBDMD. And it doesn't get me high at all.
But I've had some from other companies where I'd have like three droplets full and I'm like, oh, okay, I'm high.
rhonda patrick
Does it help your sleep?
joe rogan
Yes.
rhonda patrick
Or do you require THC for the sleep?
joe rogan
No.
Different people have different results when it comes to CBD. And some people find that CBD with THC benefits them more.
And some people find that it's just the CBD itself.
But the CBD MD the company that I use what I really like is they have a bunch of Muscle creams and like stuff that you rub on the outside of sore muscles.
rhonda patrick
That stuff's fantastic It's really good penetrates into the skin and just really good at alleviating soreness and I had a so like one of my old colleagues science colleagues was telling me that like they were measuring some samples from like different CBD products and like The majority of them didn't actually even have much CBD in them at all.
Really?
I mean, this has been shown with vitamin supplements as well.
There's been so many studies showing, even vitamin D supplements, it'll say it has 10,000 IU, but it only has 6,000.
There's been sampling where you go to...
Walgreens or CVS or just whatever random place and grab the vitamin.
The concentration isn't high.
Also, those echinacea things, a lot of it's just clover leaf.
Really?
Because it's not regulated.
joe rogan
Isn't echinacea kind of bullshit anyway?
What does that do for you?
It's supposed to jack up your immune system.
Everybody always told me that they were all sick all the time.
unidentified
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Probably because they were vegetarians and they were zinc deficient in taking echinacea.
joe rogan
And B12 deficient too, right?
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
No, I know.
I haven't looked into the echinacea.
Someone asked me about the elderberry.
So I looked into that because I was like, is that like an echinacea thing?
But there is some actual legitimate research.
Elderberry has been shown in randomized controlled trials to affect the immune system and lower cold duration and stuff like that.
joe rogan
Are you a fan of kombucha?
Do you...
rhonda patrick
I'm a fan of kombucha.
I used to drink, what is the one?
I drink the dark one, ginger lemon.
Darn, I can't remember the name.
joe rogan
GT's?
rhonda patrick
No, I used to, but then they are sugar.
The sugar in that one's too much.
So the one that I drink is two grams per serving and there's two servings.
So there's only four grams of sugar.
joe rogan
The sugar though is what helps the fermentation and helps the fungus grow, right?
rhonda patrick
I think the GT one that had like 8 grams.
So it was like twice as much.
And the ginger lemon one, I like the ginger lemon a lot.
And I'm like, this one tastes better.
joe rogan
The ginger lemon does?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, the one that I'm getting.
It's found at Whole Foods and Sprouts and it's in a dark bottle.
joe rogan
Does it have the same amount of active culture though?
That's the question.
rhonda patrick
I don't know.
It's in a dark bottle.
You once told me dark bottle is better.
joe rogan
Well, the dark bottle is better in kombucha because it doesn't ferment in the sun as well.
The sun doesn't penetrate it.
Almost like a UV protector.
rhonda patrick
Gut microbiome health is important for immune function.
It really is.
Like, that's another thing we're talking about.
joe rogan
Yeah, I love kimchi.
rhonda patrick
Oh yeah, I love kimchi.
joe rogan
I eat the shit out of that stuff.
rhonda patrick
I love it.
What's the brand?
I buy it.
I buy it from Sprouts or Whole Foods.
Mother-in-law's kimchi.
Mother-in-law, that's the one I get.
That's my favorite.
That's what I get.
joe rogan
We have some here, yeah.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I love that stuff.
joe rogan
I'm a giant fan.
It's so delicious, too.
And I love it with meat.
rhonda patrick
Meat.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
We have a bunch of Elkburger we ordered online.
joe rogan
Ordered online?
No, no, no, no.
I'll give you some.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, but I mean, I hadn't come here.
joe rogan
Why are you here?
I'm going to stock you up.
rhonda patrick
We were like you early on.
We were just like, we bought freezers.
I was like, I need the elk burger.
I need all the orchid beans.
unidentified
I need everything.
joe rogan
I know, right?
rhonda patrick
But I'm just so thankful that it's not as bad.
I really am.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm thankful as well.
But I think our government needs to make an adjustment.
They need to recognize that it's not as bad and start opening things up.
But there's so many people that are just, the sky is falling, the sky is falling still.
They're still saying it and they're still screaming from the rooftops.
Like, we can't, people are dying.
People are dying every day from everything.
rhonda patrick
Like you said, testing, too.
I think that's going to make a big difference.
And I think people will become less scared as these therapeutics do emerge, which they will.
joe rogan
I'm sure.
rhonda patrick
Absolutely.
joe rogan
But what I really wanted to talk to you, the reason why I wanted to bring you in here is this conversation that we just had to talk about what are the methods you can use to help boost your immune system, keep your body healthy.
I think we kind of got it dialed in.
So...
Vitamin D seems to be very critical.
Sauna if you have it.
If you don't, bath.
Vitamin C. Orally, you need a big dose and it's still not going to have the same effect.
If you can do, IV. You don't need to do it but once a week.
Anything else?
Zinc.
Zinc.
rhonda patrick
Plus quercetin for your...
joe rogan
Quercetin.
rhonda patrick
And then sleep.
joe rogan
Sleep, giant.
rhonda patrick
And microbiome health.
joe rogan
Do you use anything to help you sleep in terms of like a meditation app or do you...
rhonda patrick
So I use melatonin.
Why do you say it that way?
I used to not.
So I have a history of night terrors.
What does that mean?
Well, it's like when I'm stressed out, particularly it flares up, and it happens like when I'm shifting from one sleep stage to the next where I am asleep, but somehow I wake up, but I'm not awake, but I'm moving my body, and I think that someone's in the room and that they're going to come get me, and I freak out and I scream.
And it's happened where I scare Dan, of course.
He's like in the middle of the sleep.
And it happens earlier in my sleep cycle.
So it's like...
So I started doing, I started reading about this stuff and it's like, I don't want to, like, the treatments were like benzos.
And I'm like, hell no, I'm not going to take benzos.
That's, you know, been shown to, like, cause dementia, right?
Yeah.
joe rogan
That stuff's terrible.
rhonda patrick
Terrible.
And it's so hard to get off.
Yes, it's very addictive.
And then, like, if you become addicted to it, I mean, it can, like, you can, like, go through serious, like, you can die.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, Jordan Peterson just went through all this and literally had to go...
rhonda patrick
With benzos?
joe rogan
Yes, and went to Russia to have some sort of crazy medical detox.
rhonda patrick
That's awful.
joe rogan
He's still suffering from it.
rhonda patrick
He's not even ready to work again.
joe rogan
He's been fucked up for like a year.
rhonda patrick
It's really bad.
Wow, that sucks.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
So I didn't want to do that.
But there was some studies showing that high-dose melatonin...
You know, more in the, like, 10 milligram range.
Sorry, I'm taking 9 milligrams a night.
And I totally stopped having them, for the most part.
Dan says, yeah.
Like, I went through one episode where what happens when someone has a night tear is, like, if someone else sharing the bed with you, like, tries to stop you or help, like, because I'm still asleep, I'm not aware that that's my husband doing that.
And I really think someone's trying to get me.
me and so I just go into like crazy mode and I like I like somehow like crawled from our bedroom all the way out to the living room and by the time I woke up I mean I had bruised myself I was like how would I get out here you know like this was like the worst this was the worst that's ever happened to me so usually I just kind of scream and wake up and like I'm like like I think someone's gonna get me you know Melick Melatonin totally, totally stopped it.
Totally stops it.
I measure, I track my sleep as well, and I think that, you know, I don't know the sleep stage stuff, how accurate that is.
I think it's not very accurate, but duration is pretty accurate.
joe rogan
What do you not think is accurate in terms of sleep stage?
rhonda patrick
Telling me how much time I'm in deep sleep versus RAM. What are you using to monitor that?
Our Oura Ring.
joe rogan
Oh, you don't think that's accurate?
rhonda patrick
I don't think the sleep stage is accurate.
joe rogan
Why is that?
rhonda patrick
Because you have to measure brainwave.
I'll tell you why.
Because I've had multiple incidents when I was nursing my son, back when I was nursing my son, where he was on a nursing pill, and I'm very relaxed, of course.
I'm nursing him, right?
I'm making oxytocin, and I'm scrolling on my phone reading, and it calculated me as being in REM sleep.
And it happened more than once.
There's other times.
So Dan and I don't, we don't have a TV in our room, bedroom.
But when we go travel, we're in a hotel, we're in bed.
So we're laying in bed watching a show and I'm like totally relaxed in bed.
And it's totally putting me as, calculating me as asleep.
So I'm like, you know, it calculates heart rate and movement and body temperature.
So, you know, I like it.
I do.
I just, I don't think that it's, Totally accurate in measuring my...
joe rogan
The only real way to measure that is those little suction cup things you put on your head.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, right.
joe rogan
I did a sleep study once because I have sleep apnea.
rhonda patrick
You do?
joe rogan
Yeah, so I had to do that.
rhonda patrick
Do you do a CPAP or...
joe rogan
No, I have a...
I got a mouthpiece.
It's amazing.
Yeah, it's a mouthpiece.
rhonda patrick
Can you tell me what it is?
Because my father-in-law has apnea.
joe rogan
There's a doctor, Dr. Karopian.
He's a very wacky guy.
rhonda patrick
Karopian?
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Am I supposed to write that down?
Is that going to, if I look him up?
joe rogan
Yeah, you can find it.
Brian Karopian.
And he's in Tarzana?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's in Tarzana.
He used to be out here.
Well, he was in Tarzana, and then I think he might have moved to Sherman Oaks.
Anyway, you'll find it.
I'll find it.
I'll send it to you.
But anyway, he devised a mouthpiece that has like a little tongue depressor.
And for me, my problem is my neck is very thick.
There it is.
What is a full-breath solution?
rhonda patrick
CPAPalternative.com.
joe rogan
Yeah.
The idea is a lot of people have a problem with CPAPs.
It's uncomfortable.
You're wearing a mask over your face.
That's how I felt.
And so this mouthpiece, the Sleep Appium mouthpiece, it sits in my mouth and the tongue depressor keeps my tongue from sliding back and closing my airway.
rhonda patrick
Wow.
Did you go in?
Yes.
You did go in.
Yeah, I went in.
joe rogan
I had a sleep study done.
rhonda patrick
Wow.
joe rogan
And it was bad.
rhonda patrick
It's hard to sleep probably when you're in those, right?
joe rogan
It is, but I did sleep because I was sleep deprived.
That's what it looks like.
So, see, it sits in and that little tongue thing pushes down on your actual tongue.
rhonda patrick
Does it have to get fit like a...
joe rogan
Yeah, you go in there and they...
rhonda patrick
They do molds and stuff.
joe rogan
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
It makes a big difference.
rhonda patrick
Wow.
That's awesome.
joe rogan
I've gone places and forgot it and I panic.
I'm like, fuck.
rhonda patrick
Yeah, I mean, like not being able to breathe.
Yeah.
So that's a huge thing.
I thought I had that at first because I was like, am I just like freaking out because I'm like not getting enough oxygen or something, you know, but they had me do a pulse oxymor thing and...
joe rogan
A lot of wrestlers and athletes, football players get it because your neck muscles get really big.
And when your neck muscles get big, if you have a big tongue, and I have a big tongue, when I lay down, it closes the airway.
So my tongue slides back and closes.
rhonda patrick
It's associated with obesity.
joe rogan
Yes, yes.
Well, they get fat and all this extra tissue.
It's one of the ways that there's operations that they do to try to alleviate it and they just cut out some of the tissue inside your mouth and then they also cut out your tonsils.
rhonda patrick
If you could avoid surgery.
joe rogan
Exactly.
Especially for me because I wouldn't be able to talk for like a month.
rhonda patrick
Right.
If you don't wear it, do you snore?
joe rogan
Oh, like crazy.
rhonda patrick
But when you wear it, you don't snore.
joe rogan
I don't snore at all.
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Your wife must love it.
joe rogan
She loves it.
Yeah, before it was awful.
And I also choke.
I can't breathe because my body's forcing to adjust.
I remember I was on a plane once.
and there was this guy behind me and he was a kind of a heavy fellow and he was uh he was really snoring loud he was laying on his back and really snoring loud and then he would go without breathing for multiple seconds and i filmed him and i uh i i told him when he woke up i go hey man i go do you know you have sleep apnea and he's like no i go listen i go i have it too i go but you got to do something about it i go you hold your breath For long periods of time.
He goes, really?
I'm going to show you.
Yeah.
So I showed him.
He's like, fuck.
And I go, yeah, dude, this is really bad.
It's associated with so many different things.
It's associated with high blood pressure, heart attacks, the risk of all sorts of ailments.
Plus, you're just not sleeping enough.
You're not getting real sleep because you're constantly being woken up and shocked into this state of like...
rhonda patrick
No, it's really bad.
It's bad for you and it's bad for your spouse.
Like my mother-in-law has to go.
She goes into the guest room to sleep like after...
They go to bed because she can't sleep.
It's really bad.
Do you have to do the sleep study to get the...
Oh, man.
unidentified
I wanted to kill that guy.
rhonda patrick
You have no idea.
I could just stop him.
Having someone that snores is like, you can't sleep.
My ears are like earplugs.
First of all, they're not comfortable for me.
I have really tiny ear canals.
Some people can sleep with earplugs.
I just can't.
It's uncomfortable.
joe rogan
Snoring is a real issue and it's usually an issue of some sort of an impeded airway.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
I'm glad I don't have that, but the night terror thing, I'm just, the melatonin's helped, so.
joe rogan
That's great.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
Anything else?
Has anything else helped you?
rhonda patrick
For sleeping?
joe rogan
Yeah.
rhonda patrick
Oh, I mean, I think that going...
So basically, having a good circadian rhythm and bright light exposure in the early morning, it really does help.
There was a time when I would...
I lived in Oakland.
I was just in this dark little apartment.
It just wasn't really great for my circadian rhythm because I would wake up in the morning, especially on weekends and stuff.
There's no light coming in.
I didn't live in a place that was...
Like I could just go outside and frolic, you know?
Right.
Frolic.
unidentified
Frolic and Oakland don't really go together that well.
rhonda patrick
But yeah, bright light exposure.
It was like a huge thing.
And the red light.
So I do the Philips Hue, where at like 5 o'clock, all the lights in our house go red.
That makes a huge impact on my son and his sleep cycle because children are really sensitive to light because they don't have cataracts and stuff.
And so the melatonin is not being produced.
So if we go travel or go to my in-laws or somebody and they have the lights on, I'm like going around the house turning them all off because I want my son to go to bed at a normal hour.
joe rogan
Do you watch, if you're looking at your screens, do you use blue light blocking glasses?
rhonda patrick
So I have, like, all the apps and stuff, and most of the time, like, and I turn my iPhone screen is, like, down, and I have the black background and all that.
But no, I don't wear glasses.
I just...
joe rogan
Yeah, those are great.
You should look into that.
rhonda patrick
Those blue light blocking glasses.
I might have to because when I actually get a chance to watch TV, like, it doesn't happen much because right now my son falls asleep at, like, nine, and he wakes up at six.
And so, like...
I have to go to bed immediately after he does.
It's a race.
So I'm wondering, when can I cut the nap out?
I'm Googling everything, just trying to figure it all out.
It's like, you have to keep napping until they're three.
I don't know.
I've got to do some more reading.
joe rogan
That's not uniform.
rhonda patrick
I know.
joe rogan
My youngest never wanted to take naps.
She's like, fuck off.
I'm staying awake.
rhonda patrick
Oh, my son doesn't want to take...
He doesn't want to sleep ever.
He wants to party all day, every day, man.
He's like, it starts to get a dusk, and he's like, it's still daytime.
unidentified
It's still daytime.
rhonda patrick
And I'm like, for a little bit, it's going to be nighttime soon.
joe rogan
What about if you get him active, if he exercises?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, well, we used to go to soccer class and stuff and go to the park, but it's hard with the shelter in place right now.
joe rogan
He's probably got a lot of pent-up energy.
rhonda patrick
So we've been doing, yeah, so I've been trying to take him We do hide and seek and run, run, run.
joe rogan
Wear him out.
rhonda patrick
Wear him out.
I think the bright light exposure for him, taking him out in the morning is really important.
Now I'm able to do that more.
I feel safer.
Especially being outside, I'm not as concerned.
I think that's really important.
Bright light exposure, there's just study after study showing.
It sets your circadian clock.
Boom.
It's like, okay, this is like the morning, and your circadian clock starts.
And then, you know, so you become sleepy when you're supposed to become sleepy, as long as you're not in tons of, you know, bright light at night.
But that's been probably the biggest...
By the way, you know what's actually...
I was talking about my glucose monitor, my continuous glucose monitor.
We were talking about popcorn.
You know the biggest thing that really affected my glucose levels?
It wasn't popcorn.
It was actually lack of sleep.
unidentified
Really?
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
Big time effect.
Particularly if I wasn't exercising.
Almost pre-diabetic level fasting blood glucose.
This is when my sleep was being disrupted when my son was younger.
So I've been wearing my continuous glucose monitor for...
A year and a half, maybe two years now.
joe rogan
How do you wear this?
rhonda patrick
What does it look like?
Mine's right here.
joe rogan
Oh, you have a little patch that you wear all the time.
You're not diabetic, right?
rhonda patrick
No.
joe rogan
Because I've seen a guy who wears one of those, but he's diabetic.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
I mean, I'm wearing it because I'm sort of trying to understand how different foods, how different lifestyle changes, like sleep.
How long have you been wearing it?
I got it probably right after the last time I was on here.
joe rogan
Okay.
rhonda patrick
Literally.
joe rogan
So you just constantly wear it for years then?
rhonda patrick
Yeah, it's been almost maybe two years.
Almost two years.
A year and a half.
But I most of the time constantly wear it sometimes because it's like the sensor lasts for 10 days and I have to change it and sometimes I like...
Forget.
And a couple days go by.
And then I start eating the pomegranate because my son loves it.
And I'm like, I wonder what this is doing to my glucose.
But the lack of sleep, because he would wake up...
I would be getting interrupted multiple times at night, where it was like, I don't know, he was going through some developmental stage and he would stand in his crib.
So I was getting woken up multiple times at night for prolonged periods, very, very fragmented sleep.
And nothing had changed with my diet and my blood glucose, my fasting blood glucose levels, if my exercise routine is dialed in, I'm not shelter in place.
It's about mid-80s.
And so I was up to like when fasting blood glucose would get up sometimes to like if I wouldn't exercise, like wake up in the morning and I'm like 106, 107, 109. Wow, that's a big difference.
unidentified
Big.
rhonda patrick
And it was totally repeatable.
joe rogan
Why is the lack of sleep causing the flip?
rhonda patrick
There's so many studies published.
We did a video on it.
I mean, it affects the insulin secretion, sensitivity, all that stuff.
It's all being affected.
So it's one of the reasons why shift workers really are prone to type 2 diabetes.
They really are.
So sleep is so important.
Those poor people.
joe rogan
That has got to be one of the worst things for your body.
rhonda patrick
Nurses, doctors, the first responders.
joe rogan
Warehouse workers.
Anybody who's working that late shift.
rhonda patrick
Dan had his appendix removed.
It's a crazy story, but you probably have to go for it.
How crazy is it?
Well, it's pretty crazy.
Actually, so he had this appendix thing happen.
We were visiting his parents in Memphis and it was like Christmas Eve.
And so he had to go to the hospital.
He's like, it's bad.
I need to go to the hospital.
So we went to the hospital.
They're like, yeah, you have appendicitis.
But he didn't feel comfortable getting it removed there because there was just a bunch of factors.
The doc wasn't this doctor, like, you know, all that stuff.
So he got this antibiotic treatment.
They sent him home.
A couple days later, he got some IV treatment.
And then it came back a couple months later, or a few months later, back when we were home.
But he was like, all of a sudden, the first time he had it, he was just like, pain, I should go, something's wrong.
The second time, he was vomiting.
And I didn't want to...
My son was sleeping.
It was like 2 in the morning, he woke me up.
So...
I called the ambulance.
I was just like, you know, he's vomiting.
I don't know if it's ruptured, you know, because it could be serious.
But anyways, my whole point was the first responders, they came and they were just like, yeah, we don't ever sleep.
It's like, we don't ever sleep.
It's just so awful for them.
joe rogan
Terrible for you.
Yeah, anybody who's working the late shift, God, that's got to be so bad for you.
I used to deliver newspapers, so every morning I was up at 5 o'clock in the morning.
And I was also doing comedy, so I was going to bed really late at night.
And I was just always tired.
I would be sitting here, I would just boom, fall asleep.
rhonda patrick
That's awful.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was terrible.
rhonda patrick
A lot of people are sleep deprived.
A lot, yeah.
joe rogan
A lot, yeah.
It's a huge factor.
rhonda patrick
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, I think we covered a lot today.
We got a lot in.
The vitamin D information was so fascinating.
All of it.
I appreciate you very much.
You're always an awesome resource.
You're awesome to talk to.
rhonda patrick
Thanks so much for having me back on the podcast.
joe rogan
My pleasure.
Anytime.
Tell people how to find you.
It's Found My Fitness.
rhonda patrick
Found My Fitness.
I have an iTunes podcast as well.
I've called Found My Fitness.
YouTube channel, Found My Fitness.
And a website, Found My Fitness.
joe rogan
And Found My Fitness Instagram.
rhonda patrick
Found My Fitness Twitter.
That's right.
joe rogan
All right.
Thank you, Rhonda.
rhonda patrick
Appreciate you.
unidentified
Thanks, Joe.
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