Are Artificial Sweeteners Making You Fat & Slowing Metabolism? | Dr. Oz | S9 | Ep 83 | Full Episode
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Artificial sweeteners.
The yellow, the blue, the pink, this.
Might be making you gain weight.
They may have a shocking effect on your metabolism.
I was definitely craving more sugary snacks and foods during the day.
The bitter truth, plus, they cure the drug overdose.
It can be a life-saving intervention.
Or a killer herb.
We investigate Kratom.
It killed his brain.
Never opened his eyes.
coming up next.
Are you ready to say some lives today?
I love you back, dog.
Hey, could your love of artificial sweeteners be actually making you fatter?
That's right, you heard me right.
Could artificial sweeteners be making you fatter?
The average American consumes 24 pounds of artificial sweeteners, right?
The yellow, the blue, the pink, all kinds of different colors, but they're all basically doing the same thing, possibly, filling you up.
But is it possible these aren't the best thing for you?
And if you're using them right now, this might change everything.
For the first time, we're beginning to understand why this might be making you gain weight.
The new research raises the question, can they make fat accumulate in your body faster?
Especially if you're already overweight.
And they may have a shocking effect on your metabolism.
Could it really make it slower?
Leading the weight gain.
Dr. Jennifer Carter is here.
She's a health and wellness expert.
And she can help break down this latest study.
And we're all trying to avoid this.
Yes.
This is fat.
This is fat.
This happens to be the video of anatomy classes.
Yes, it does.
Exactly.
One of the first things we do in anatomy is learn about fat.
Yes.
Because it's on the outside of most of us.
But this is actually the fat that's deeper inside of us.
But fat is fat.
It's fat in one way, which is, look at these little globules, little nubbins here.
These are fat cells accumulating fat inside of them.
And this is where researchers began to look for understanding this paradox.
How can it be that eating or drinking stuff that has low in calorie with artificial sweeteners, how is it possible that could lead us to actually gain weight?
What's going on?
Yeah, well, there's a number of theories about this.
I have to say, as a physician, I was really surprised by the research myself.
There have been a number of studies that suggest that artificial sweeteners can promote metabolic dysregulation, which could lead to obesity and other health problems.
Now, there was a particular study, the study we're talking about, that decided to try to figure out if this was in fact the case and what the mechanism of action was.
They tested artificial sweeteners on stem cells taken from human fat tissue.
And they found this.
Like this, like this.
Right, exactly.
And they found that the amount of artificial sweeteners that we would find in about four cans of diet soda, and remember, some people drink this in a day, right?
Some people drink it.
A lot of people, a lot of you.
Well, a lot of us drink it in a day.
I've witnessed it.
That's true.
But the amount of artificial sweetener in about four cans of diet soda was enough to increase expression of genes that signal fat production, inflammation, and increased fat accumulation within cells, which this brings us right back to the fat.
This is what we're talking about, increased globular fat in our bodies.
And it's a really interesting concept.
So all beyond willpower and all the things we'll talk about now, specifically changing the way genes are turned on and off in your fat cells might be the answer.
Next, let's talk about all the ways arthrops sweeteners might be problematic here.
I'm going to just walk us through all these so we're all on the same page because we're all trying to lose weight this time of year.
First, does it in fact store metabolism?
Do we know that for a fact?
Well, so it certainly can affect a number of things in terms of our metabolism.
And another thing with it is there's this mismatch, right?
We take in sugar, super, super sweet, but we're not getting the calories that goes along with it.
So our body and brains actually get confused.
And that confusion can actually cause us to process carbohydrates abnormally and not process them efficiently.
So that may be one of the reasons why we sometimes see this question about our metabolism being off.
All right, so metabolism is one issue.
The genes are one issue.
Then there's this reality.
Do people who use artificial sweeteners crave more sweets?
We sort of think of it this way.
Chomping thrown the cookies, the bars, the donuts, all things you want.
And that's the one that a lot of folks have been asking me about.
So we decided to do a little social experiment.
Very innocent experiment.
Here's how we did it.
We asked folks for two days to put regular sugar in their morning coffee or tea to get a baseline.
Then, after days one and two, where they're eating sugar, we asked them to switch over completely to artificial sweeteners.
So for two days, days three and four, they used artificial sweeteners in their coffee or tea.
They drank it with their regular breakfast and then answered the following three questions.
You can do this yourself.
You might want to try it.
Do you feel satiated?
Do you feel full?
How much are you craving something sweet?
That's the experiment.
So two ladies from the experiment are here.
One loves artificial sweeteners and the other loves sugar.
So you've been using artificial sweeteners for a long time.
Yeah.
What makes you enjoy them?
I mean, it's just like my mother was using them when I was in high school.
So I've just been used to putting it in my coffee every morning.
It's like I'm not used to coffee without a creamer in it and that has artificial sweetener.
And what was it like to switch to regular sugar?
It was like not enough sweet in the beginning because I was like half and half.
I was like, what is this?
You know, it's like real milk.
What is that?
But then when I woke up in the morning, I wasn't like craving sweets.
I'm like the cookie monster.
And I was craving it less with regular sugar.
Really, like when like a light went off in my head, like, oh my God.
You pointed it out.
Artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter.
So you can tell when you're not getting them, but it does change how some people anyway felt about cravings.
Okay.
Now, Rebecca, you're a real sugar person.
Yes, I love real sugar.
I know exactly what it is, especially in putting my coffee.
So to switch to artificial sweetener, I was definitely craving more sugary snacks and foods during the day more so than I used to.
So when you saw one of these, just take a whiff.
Oh my God, it smells really good.
Doesn't it?
Yes.
Benise, how's that for you?
Now, if you were taking an artificial sweetener in your tea, would you crave more or less of these?
Oh, definitely more.
Bundenise?
Like, I would eat five of these.
Five of these.
You don't get any of them.
They're trying to help.
So here's the thing.
Ideally, you could actually walk by these and not crave them.
And that's the situation we're trying to struggle with there.
And I don't know if you are able to articulate this, but I actually did the research.
I pulled down the nine people that we had do this experiment with us, right?
And you guys are saying your cravings actually went down with regular sugar and went up with the artificial sweeteners.
Yes, yes.
Okay.
So women on the experiment, they did this experiment, found that there were a couple people, two in particular, who didn't have any real differences.
They thought it was the same whether they have artificial sweeteners or regular sugar, which is why you should do this experiment yourself, because we're all a little different.
But most of the people, most of the people on the experiment, had more sweet cravings with the artificial sweetener, just like our two guests here.
That was the norm, which might explain why we're getting this paradox of people using artificial sweeteners and gaining weight, especially if they're trying to lose weight.
Let me show you a surprising reason why this happens.
This is the idea that we have.
So normally, when you eat sugar, your brain knows that you've had it.
So put the sugar in your mouth.
Your brain says, hey, you know what?
Sugar, sugar goes in there.
It turns off the cravings of chocolates and donuts and all the other sweet stuff, right?
Your brain knows it shuts off your sweet tooth.
When you eat foods with artificial sweeteners in them, guess what?
It can't send that same signal.
It gets blocked.
So the cravings remain for the donuts and the chocolates and the sweets.
It can't tell that you've had the sweet taste.
All it's looking for is the actual sugar itself.
So your tongue tastes the sweetness, but your brain doesn't know any better.
So you don't get that same sense of satiety that you get with real sugar.
So you're out there looking high and low for all kinds of sweets.
I threw some puddings in here, probably to get you guys hungry, right?
So Dr. Carter, what is the overall takeaway from this study?
Yeah, well, I think one of the biggest takeaways is we might be buying into a number of false promises with artificial sweeteners.
Now, look, there are a number of studies that don't show any correlation between artificial sweeteners and weight gain.
We have to be fair about that.
But there are a number that do.
But the idea is we've got to be careful.
And we have a lot more research to learn.
There might be false promises here.
And the biggest take-home is that maybe our diet just shouldn't be so sweet at all after all.
Less sugar and less artificial sweetener.
And what I always find from people, for example, on the Pegan 365, our diet plan, is as they cut back the sugar for the first day or two, it's hard, then they actually don't expect a lot of sugar.
And when they have something sugary, it doesn't taste so good to them.
It's too sweet, right?
So here's the question.
What are you going to use instead of artificial sweeteners if you want to cut back on it?
Less sugar and less artificial sweeteners together.
What are some options up next?
The Dr. Oz approved sugar substitutes for 2018 and you're going to love these.
Samantha Martinez, Tiffany Ann Gray, Thelma Williams.
These women say they were abducted.
They each made the whole thing up.
Staging crimes and then crying wolf.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Thursday.
Ready to finally ditch the packets of artificial sweeteners this year?
You just heard me talk about it.
Y'all ready for that?
All right, so you want some options?
I'm about to give you my 2018 Oz approved substitutes that will naturally sweeten everything from your drinks to your favorite baked good nutritionist.
JJ Smith is back helping us with this.
And if you love diet sodas, there's a new bubbly drink that's naturally sweetened without too many calories.
It is called Stevia Soda.
How about that?
What's the story with this?
Okay, so Stevia is an herbal, plant-based, all-natural, virtually no calories.
This is so good.
Let me show this to the audience.
Keep going though.
Who wants to taste this?
Who wants options?
I love stevia.
There is never a time stevia is not in my purse.
It's just a great no-calorie drink.
It's herbal, it's plant-based, it's all natural.
And you can use it in so many things.
You can use it in coffee.
You can use it in tea.
You can use it in your cereal.
It's very versatile.
All right, honest opinion here.
You just heard about why you should cut back in artificial sweeteners and probably regular sugar.
What do you guys think about this?
It's phenomenal.
Yeah, it's really good.
Yay.
It's very good.
It's surprising, isn't it?
I tell you, it's robust, and you can actually, I know they're selling it now in cans.
Yeah, it tastes like ginger ale.
It's very good.
So there's only one knock on stevia, only one knock.
Sometimes you get it right in your tongue.
Give it a little taste.
A little taste to it.
So for those folks who are sensitive, and there are some members of my family who are, we actually have monk fruit.
Oh, by the way, when you look for this stevia, it's that simple, right?
Just look in the packet.
Yeah, you want to make sure it says green leaf stevia.
There's a lot of derivatives and versions of it, but you want to look at the label.
Make sure it says green leaf stevia.
Lots of companies making it, not that expensive.
Okay, monk fruit.
Monk fruit, well, go figure, it's extracted from monk fruit, which is a type of fruit.
And it's all natural.
It's low on the glycemic index.
And the thing I like about it is it's 200 to 300 times as sweet as table sugar.
Oh my goodness.
So you don't even need a little.
So you can get a pack and it will last you a lifetime.
You will never be able to use it all.
And it's a great alternative and it will stimulate insulin secretion, so it's great for diabetics as well.
Then again, these aren't crazily expensive things.
Yeah, it's a great alternative.
The next substitute, the big hit, I think it's gonna be its sweetener of the year, is date paste.
Dates, they are more popular today than ever before.
Oh my goodness, let me tell you, dates are the superfood that's in the spotlight right now.
They are all the rage.
They are so super sweet and they're high in fiber and they have this caramel-like flavor.
So, you know, it's a little bit of different flavor, but it tastes good.
You're drinking my world-famous smoothie right now.
I like it.
I know why it's world-famous.
This thing's got just unbelievable.
It's got the fullness.
Fullness?
It's sweet.
It's sweet, but not too sweet.
It tastes like it's supposed to be sweet, not like someone added stuff to us.
You have lots of nutrients in dates, which is one of the reasons you like them.
So why do you love them?
Yeah.
And how do you make your, this is your date paste.
So I love dates because they are full of nutrients.
Anytime I can get more nutrients in anything, I'm all for it.
I'm all about health.
And so it's full of potassium, B vitamins, and iron.
So it's a great taste, a great way to get a lot of nutrients in.
But what I like about it is date paste, which is also known as date honey, is something that you can buy, you can make at home.
It sounds tasty.
It really does.
It's as smooth as butter, and it's a great alternative.
Anytime a recipe calls for honey, syrup, or sugar, use date paste.
All right, so you take your dates, get the pits out.
Yes.
So you take the pits out and you want to put it in super hot water and you just blend for about 30 seconds.
Aha!
And then it'll get all nice and smooth.
That's well blended.
And then it comes out like this.
Isn't that fabulous?
See how smooth and buttery it is?
You only need two ingredients, hot water and dates.
Oh my goodness.
Isn't it good?
There's a store well, you just make it and put it.
You can make it, but you can actually buy it.
Oh.
And it stores very well.
And anytime your recipe has honey, syrup, sugar, anything, you can use date paste.
It's a great alternative.
So I'm going to put some recipes up on Dr.Oz.com, especially this world-famous smoothie, which you guys got to try.
Look at those pictures, guys.
Recipes for all the drows.com.
Check it out.
You're wonderful to have.
Thank you.
Right back, everybody.
Your supermarket cart will never be the same.
The ultimate 2018 supermarket shopping list.
The foods you'll be eating all year.
All nuance.
That's coming up on Friday.
There's a new wave, a brand new wave of pre-packaged low-calorie snacks.
They're making big claims about slimming your waist.
That's why so many of you love them.
You adore them.
But, but their takeaway of the supermarket aisle has left many of you confused and wondering whether these low-calorie snacks are your secret weapon or your diet's worst enemy.
So I sent chef and best-selling author Rocco Despirito to investigate.
Noshing, grazing, picking, whatever you call it, we simply love the snack.
It could be because we're bored or stressed, sad, or simply just have to satisfy an oral fixation.
There are endless amounts of snack foods, but now a new wave of low-calorie snacks has taken over the snack aisle.
Promising you can munch on chips, pretzels, popcorn, chocolate without the guilt.
This low-calorie label comes on really big bags as well as tiny little 100-calorie snack packs.
So how do you know which one you should put back on the shelf or which one you should keep for yourself?
I asked food scientist Taylor Wallace to weigh in.
These snacks are smaller or thinner size portions, so the food label tells a good story.
Less than 100 calories.
The problem is, you need to be careful to only consume one at a time, just as a treat, every now and then, or else you'll forfeit their total benefits.
Are some healthier than others?
Absolutely.
There are a slew of low-calorie snacks out there.
You just have to know what to look for.
The truth is, your snack choice can be the key to losing weight or sabotaging your diet completely.
So, today we're giving you a snack plan of attack.
Straightforward rules so you can pick the best low-calorie snack every time.
Thank you, Rocco.
So, I'm here at my snack pack.
Provide low-calorie snacks as a way to lose weight without feeling hungry.
You're all in a similar category.
So, Akila, I'm going to start with you.
What's your favorite go-to snack?
My favorite go-to snack is a good old bag of chips.
You open it, it's salty, punchy, it's extra.
Smells good.
Yes.
Not bad for you, right?
Not at all for me.
So you think, we'll find out.
Yelena, what's your go-to snack?
What do you like?
I like cookies, chips, salty things.
Selena is so comfortable there.
She got her go-to foods.
Everything she ever wanted in life.
So today, what I'm going to do for you all is I'm going to give you a snack plan of attack.
Simple rules to get the healthiest snack every single time.
And help me break it down.
His nutrition is Kellyanne Petrucci, who's over here at the Truth 2 waiting for us.
I'm going to walk through some of these steps.
I want you to help us understand what's good and what's bad, about what the snack pack is doing for themselves.
We'll start with salty.
They all seem to like the salty stuff for good reason.
And there's a rule for everybody to remember here, that you want 30% of the calories in any bag of chips you get to come from fat.
Yes.
Roughly, how many grams of fat is that?
Yeah, so that comes out to about five grams per serving.
So that's what you want to look for on the package.
It's a really good rule to follow.
Five grams of fat per serving.
All right, so Kellyanne and the med team selected a chip snack that she just loves.
It's a super snack that also abides by this rule.
And Selena has it.
Those little chips you're chewing on, you notice the color?
There's like beetish color.
That's because they're made from beets.
Real beets.
Real beets.
What do you think about those?
These are actually, they actually have a sweetness to them, a little bit salty, and they're not overpoweringly taste of beet, which I thought they would.
But they're actually pretty good.
So they're not as earthy as the beet.
I don't mind the earthy taste, but I get what you're saying.
If you were to get the sweetness of a vegetable and let that sing a little more loudly, but you got the savoriness of the salt, you'd have a beet chip, which is why I love it, and it meets your criteria.
It does, and it's a hearty taste, so you don't eat as much, right?
Because they're richer in taste.
So that's a big bonus.
All right, next up is the healthy snack rule for crackers.
So I'm going to walk you over to this.
Be careful.
Don't step in the cracks.
Don't step in the cracks.
This is not the shoes to walk.
This is not my cracker wear.
There we are.
Come on, come on, come on.
Don't fall.
Okay.
Watch out for the cheesy crackers.
Okay, yeah.
All right.
So the rule is this.
Look for a box with the word whole as the first ingredient.
Why is that so hard?
Always, always, always.
Because when you see that word whole, it means that most of the cracker comes from a whole grain.
And Dr. Oz, we love this because that means it has two things, fiber and nutrition.
And here's the benefit.
You stay fuller longer so you're not grabbing stuff later.
So you can stay balanced on whatever crack you happen to be standing on.
Next rule of thumb, just keep in mind, is you don't want to be fooled by enriched flour.
That sounds like a good thing, enriched flour.
But let's be honest.
Enriched flour is basically flour that's had everything taken out of it.
And then some fake stuff put the bag.
You put vitamins back in it.
You put things that you want to have in food, but it's not the same.
So don't go for the head fake.
So we found the snack in a super category that fits both those rules and its tail still tastes good.
They are seed crackers.
Alana, you've got one.
I do.
You enjoy them?
Oh, they're delicious.
They're very flavorful.
They're very earthy.
So it's fulfilling for me to go throughout the day and feel like I had almost a sufficient meal because of all the flavor and taste in it.
You look very cuddly over there.
Thank you.
All right, so let's walk over here carefully.
You're going to walk in our crunchy crackers over here.
Now, the next category is sweets.
And sweets are an interesting category because you've got to pay attention to a couple of very important rules here.
One of them is you don't want to have less than three grams of fiber.
And I have one other sweet rule.
I'm going to throw to you.
Be careful of sugar-free candies.
Yeah.
They sound so good, don't they, guys?
Sugar-free, why not?
Oh, yeah.
You get the sweet without the sugar.
But they have these things called sugar alcohols in them.
Have you heard of sugar alcohols?
No, no.
You've probably felt sugar alcohols.
You just didn't know that's what was causing your problem.
Let me explain.
I'll be right back.
So you take these sugar candies, let's take things like gummy bears.
They seem harmless.
They're bouncing up and down in your mouth, in your hands, right?
They're fun.
They, interestingly, have a chemical sweetener that we've talked about in the past called sugar alcohol.
Now, sugar alcohols are neither sugar nor alcohol, but when you put them on your tongue, they stop bouncing around in your hands and they bring you joy because they taste just as sweet.
So you smile, you're happy.
Your mouth digests these things and the gummy bear then makes its way down towards your stomach.
Now here's the thing.
When we go into your stomach, we realize the stomach can't actually digest these gummy bears.
Instead, bacteria in the large intestine finally meet up with them.
And this bacteria, these little brown things, when they digest the candies, they release gas, right?
That causes bloating.
What's more, people think they can have the whole bag because they're not that many calories.
These sugar alcohols bring water into the intestines.
They suck this torrential bit of water and that creates, well, you got it, diarrhea, a little runniness.
You know, even as few as 15 gummy bears can cause digestive issues.
So that's not what you want to have as a side benefit of having a snack.
So when it's labeled sugar-free, it may not always be a free lunch for you.
You've got to be thoughtful.
So I'm going to give you a little different recommendation.
It's my personal snack that I've been going to for years and years.
It's dark chocolate-covered almonds.
Now, before y'all say, oh, please, dog chocolate cover elements, it's important to notice, if you love your snack, if you love it, if it wakes up your mouth, is your mouth woken up by the way?
Oh, wow.
It's chocolate, nutty.
It tastes good.
Yeah.
Well, these things I adore because they make my mouth so happy.
The mouth feels so perfect.
I don't have to eat 10 of them.
Now, the most important tip I'm going to give you, it's the Oz Golden rule.
You never want your snack, any snack, more than 10% of your daily calories.
Because if a snack is more than a tenth of all your daily calories, that's called a meal.
Yes.
Right?
So I've included the rule and the entire snack plan of attack in one easy-to-use sheet that you can bring to the supermarket.
It's on Dr.Os.com.
That's what it looks like.
Share with your friends as well.
We'll be right back.
Let's go.
Up next, a new herb is called kratom that's being used for anxiety, pain, even addiction.
It's popular and it's controversial.
The big question is, does Creighton kill, or will it help with the addiction crisis?
Today, is this leaf what we've been waiting for in the war on addiction?
Or is it as dangerous as a drug you're trying to avoid?
Now it's called kratom.
Kratom.
It's a natural herb that's becoming more popular and it's also highly controversial.
People struggling with addiction drink it as a tea and say it helps them wean off opioids like heroin.
It looks like this.
It's a natural supplement.
It's legal, but some say it's also fatal.
The government is issuing warnings saying it's dangerous and 36 deaths have been linked to it.
Today we investigate kratom.
What exactly is it?
Should you be using it for anxiety or chronic pain?
And could it be a new tool in the fight against the nation's opioid crisis?
The Kratom controversy is reaching a fevered pitch, where advocates see a life-saving miracle treatment for pain, depression, and drug addiction.
Opponents warn of an addictive and deadly drug akin to heroin.
Kratom comes from the leaves of a tropical evergreen tree.
In the U.S., it's marketed as a dietary supplement and said to help with pain and anxiety.
It's sold over-the-counter and online in capsules, liquid, or powder form.
Do you have any concerns about it being addictive?
So I believe that anything could be addictive if you overdo it.
At low doses, the drug, which is chemically similar to morphine, acts as a stimulant.
At high doses, a sedative.
Kratom sales are estimated at $750 million nationwide.
But Kratom use and abuse is on the rise.
In 2016, the DEA was set to classify it as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin and LSD.
Then advocates staged a successful campaign to halt the plan.
Kratom, they say, can ease opioid addiction, offering a safer alternative.
But after 36 deaths linked to products containing Kratom, the FDA is warning consumers to stay away.
Kratom is already illegal in seven states, but recent deaths raise the question, will Kratom soon be banned nationwide?
Michael White is a professor of pharmacy at the University of Connecticut, and he studies Kratom.
Hamilton Morris is the host of Iceland's Hamilton's Pharmacopoeia.
He's been tracking Kratom and actually has tried it.
You haven't just tried it.
You've traveled to Thailand, you've been around talking to folks about it.
Tell us more about a product that most people have never heard of.
It's a fascinating tree.
It's a tree that's endemic to Southeast Asia.
It's in the coffee family.
And if you look at it, it looks almost like any normal tree.
If you talk to people in Southeast Asia, they view it as a medicine.
They do.
Michael, tell us a bit about why it's gaining so much popularity in the U.S.
I had never heard of it before we did the show.
I was polling the audience informally.
Most of them have not.
So there's three main reasons.
So the first reason is because people believe that it's effective for people with opioid addiction.
They also believe that it's effective for people who have pain.
The second thing is that because it's a natural product, people naturally believe that it's safe.
And then the third thing is that it's the only drug that we have that has opioid-like effects that you can get without a prescription.
And it's the only one that is legal to be able to use in the United States where people can go and get it in whatever quantities they want to at a time and place that's most convenient for them.
So far, we're going to talk about that.
Yeah, you tried it.
Describe how you feel when you've used the different forms of kratom.
You know, it's interesting that we're all sitting here talking about this because it's actually not that interesting.
It doesn't make for great television.
The effect is very mild for someone like me.
And, you know, when you compare it to other intoxicating substances like heroin or morphine or fentanyl, it's in a completely different category.
It's really very mild.
It's more like drinking a cup of tea or something like that.
But for people that have chronic pain, people that are attempting to withdraw from heavier opioids, it can be a life-saving intervention.
If that's the case, why is the government trying to ban it?
Last year, they made an earnest effort.
You study kratom.
I mean, this is your specialty area.
Is it safe?
Should the government be aggressively going after it as they are?
Well, I can tell you that it's a lot safer.
It looks a lot safer than heroin and fentanyl.
But is it safe?
I just don't know, right?
So what are the things that go into that?
Well, one of the problems is that the products can be contaminated.
We don't know how they're being produced, how they're being harvested, what kind of pesticides they're putting on it when they're cutting it down and they're chopping it up.
So Hamilton actually went to Thailand where it has been used for a long time.
And I want you to take a listen to what they say about its safety.
Why is it so hard to get approval when there's people all over Thailand that are chewing these leaves?
Katham has bad image.
It's a big, big problem for Thai researchers.
It should not be classified as an opiate.
But nobody listened to me.
They just listened to what they like to listen and believe what they want to believe.
Nobody listened to the scientist.
So Michael, compare it to other products we might be using either over the counter or illegally.
Prescription.
So it's pharmacology.
It's extremely interesting.
So it does have some mild opioid effects.
It's not a pure, very powerful opioid like what we would expect based on just the natural powder.
But it does have some alpha-2 effects like clonidine.
And so some people, when they're trying to get off opioids, will take clonidine in addition to some of their other drugs to try to take away some of those withdrawal effects.
It also has some COX2 activity like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
There's a couple reasons why it could be useful for people who have pain.
Could it create the same kind of overdose problems in your mind that narcotics, that opioids do?
I think the risk is a lot lower with one important caveat, and that's the risk of drug interactions.
They know that this drug blocks multiple systems in the liver and can raise concentrations of other drugs.
So if you're treating yourself for opioid withdrawal, you take that drug along with it.
We don't know if the drug that you thought was safe before, the opioid of choice that you had before, is still going to be safe when you're taking it with that.
This is a vitally important issue.
And it might explain why there's so much controversy.
So let me take a second to explain why kratom can block the liver's ability to metabolize other drugs, including opioids.
The liver is your filter.
It detoxifies you.
It's busily getting rid of all these little white dots of junk and toxins going into your body and drugs too.
Now when you take kratom, however you take it, pill form capsule, tea, right?
The body breaks it down into elements that go back to the liver and they slow down the way the liver gets rid of the toxins so they don't quite cleanse you quite as effectively.
That leaves a lot higher concentrations of these drugs in your body.
Let me translate.
It might not be the actual opioid effect of the kratom that hurts you.
It might be the fact that it prevents your liver from clearing out the opiate that you took next to it.
The illegal one that you were taking, you shouldn't have been taking, or a doctor may prescribe to you.
And that can cause an issue.
And this is particularly dangerous when people are taking kratom without any supervision.
So up next, I want you to meet a woman who says kratom killed her son.
That's what she says.
What she says you need to know now.
Stick around.
Samantha Martinez, Tiffany Ann Gray, Thelma Williams.
These women say they were abducted.
They each made the whole thing up.
Staging crimes and then crying wolf, all new oz.
That's coming up on Thursday.
I'm still in shock every day that my brother is not here with us anymore.
Now knowing, you know, it was kratom that slowly killed him and that this substance is poisonous.
My brother I know is taking it after sports surgeries to remedy pain.
He found this because it's advertised with raving reviews of how healthy it is, how it's a supplement, and all of this health-oriented vocabulary that is completely wrong.
That's Julie, who lost her twin brother Jay after he used kratom.
I want you to meet Joy who says her son Guy also died after using kratom.
I know this is hard to talk about and thank you for coming.
Had you ever heard of kratom before you lost your son?
I had heard about it from his wife because he was using it and it destroyed their marriage.
He became addicted, he told me in a rare moment of honesty after using it only three times.
And he could not stop.
He was spending all the money he made on kratom and ruining their finances, ruining their home.
So he was living with my husband and me.
And we had him in seeing a special therapist to try and get him off of kratom.
He was going to Narconon, but all this time he was using and we did not even know it.
Why did he start using kratom?
He started using it to help with anxiety.
He was bipolar and could not control the anxiety part, even with bipolar meds.
He used to be so healthy, so working out all the time, taking good care of his body, eating well, and then when he got on the kratom, he just stopped taking care of himself.
Kratom was all that mattered to him.
It's like any other addiction.
Kratom was all that mattered.
What happened to him the day he died?
Well, he didn't die in one day.
We were all just sitting there in the family room, and he I thought he was playing.
His hands start jerking like this, jerky.
And I said, Guy, and all of a sudden his head came back and I knew he was seizing.
So I said to my husband, oh no, he's seizing.
And so we got him out of the chair, got him on the floor, and the seizure seemed to last forever.
Maybe it was only because it was personal, but it was long and it was bad.
And I have seen many seizures, but he was bad.
And when it was over, he had no pulse and he was not breathing.
So my husband, a retired firefighter, started CPR immediately and called 911 and they were there very, very quickly, within five minutes.
And still, no respirations, no pulse.
And so my husband mentioned to the EMTs there, well, he had been using this stuff called kratom, but he hasn't been using it.
We did not know he was using it.
And they all just went, oh, possible kratom overdose.
They recognized it.
They started working on him really hard.
It took a long time at the house to get his heart started.
Then he cored in the ambulance on the way over there.
Coded.
Stopped again.
Yeah, stopped again.
And then in the ER, the same thing.
And we waited then until we could see him.
And he was completely unresponsive.
That was really, his brain was gone.
I'm so sorry.
It killed his brain.
And never opened his eyes, never responded to anything.
And the only other thing they found in his lab was Paxil, which he had been taking, just a prescribed drug.
And They noted when he came in that he had been using kratom.
So the death certificate that was issued for Guy, the apparent cause of death was what they called it apparent acute toxicity from the chemical that actually is found in kratom.
Which is mitragyne9.
Right.
And so we're sort of stuck here.
We have people saying it works.
We have relatives saying it killed their loved ones.
The government says 36 people have died like your son.
But part of the controversy is no one knows if it's the kratom alone to blame or if it's because it was combined with some other medication.
You know, he was on, as you mentioned, one other pill.
Who the heck knows if the liver was slowed up and it caused an interaction?
It's just impossible to tell.
Hold on, let me bring Pressure White into the conversation.
So do you believe that Kratom was the main reason these 36 folks have passed?
Is that why they have died?
So in a lot of these cases, kratom was used along with other drugs.
Drug interactions are definitely a reason why.
But there were three cases of people who have had seizures that didn't die from the seizures.
Two of the three were with another drug, but one was not with another drug.
So it is possible that kratom in very high doses can also cause some of those effects as well.
So up next, should the government ban a natural supplement people drink as a tea in other parts of the world?
Think around.
Your supermarket cart will never be the same.
The ultimate 2018 supermarket shopping list.
The foods you'll be eating all year.
All nuance.
That's coming up on Friday.
They were asking if a popular natural supplement called Kratom should be banned or is it a potential tool in the fight against the opioid epidemic?
Vice President's Hamilton Morris is back along with professor and pharmacist Michael White.
The FDA says that there is no reliable evidence to support the use of kratom as a treatment for opioid use.
Michael, you're an expert.
Do you agree with that statement?
There are no clinical trials that have been conducted that would be considered to be high quality looking at it versus other drugs for opioid addiction like methadone and suboxone.
Having said that, the animal pharmacology is very, very promising.
Some of the animal studies look promising that it could be used for opioid addiction.
And there are thousands and thousands of people that anecdotally say that kratom was the thing that allowed them to be able to get off of these drugs.
But anecdotal evidence could have some effect due to the placebo effect.
There could be confounders.
It's not great evidence and we need better.
You get your finger on the pulse of the community most affected if this is banned.
What's going to happen?
What do they say will they will do if kratom is banned?
Well quite simply, many people told me that they will return to using the opioids that they were using previously.
So whether that's heroin or fentanyl or methadone, they will be forced to go back to using those drugs, which may be more dangerous.
So the government tried to ban it last year and they pulled back, which is highly unusual.
It was amazing.
So what happened and where does that stand now?
Users generally have very little say in all of this.
The government decides which drugs are and aren't legal.
And at this point in history, there's a discussion about whether or not CRATOM is a dangerous substance.
That should be a medical discussion, not a legal one, because regardless of whether or not it has harmed people, we need to think about how to use it therapeutically, not to put the users in cages, not to arrest people for it.
So Michael, you have a very innovative idea that might be a solve.
Because I do think a lot of us are hesitant about having lawyers and law enforcement being put in the position of trying to regulate a medical decision, which is whether this stuff has benefit to people for chronic pain and anxiety, whatever it might be treated for.
Again, if it's used in other parts of the world, and they've had these challenges there as well, what is the potential opportunity here?
So, what's the thought?
How could this work?
Yeah, so my plan has a couple different components.
One of the components is that instead of it being available where it could be adulterated, where it could be contaminated, they make sure that the product that's coming into the country is standardized.
So, you know that based on the main constituents, you would get a consistent amount in this product.
If you get one gram, it's going to have this much.
If you get two grams, it's going to have that much.
And I think that that'll take care of some of the problems.
The second one is drug interactions, right?
So, how do you make sure that the people don't have drug interactions or understand the risk of drug interaction so they're less likely to be harmed?
So, if you took the product and you made it a behind-the-counter product like they currently do with decongestants, you could have some of those controls.
274 million people go into a pharmacy over the course of a month or two.
So, they would have wide availability to the product, but not as wide as it's currently available now.
So, let me offer some final thoughts.
This has been hard for me to craft because I'm very touched by the testimonials of women who've lost their loved ones.
We had two on the show, and I'm also affected by the community who feels they desperately need solutions, and this may be one.
So, I'm intrigued, I have to admit it, but I'm also scared by the possibilities of this natural supplement.
But anything that's strong enough to help is also strong enough to hurt.
So, this is not unusual from that regard.
We got to do a better job than we have in past cases like this.
So, let's not run from things we don't understand.
We do need more research desperately to be done to know how the creative affects the body.
Let's get that done.
Let's find ways of smartly, carefully, making this available to people who really do need it and keeping it away from folks who should not be using it.
I'll be right back.
Samantha Martinez, Tiffany Ann Gray, Thelma Williams.
These women say they were abducted.
They each made the whole thing up.
Staging crimes and then crying wolf, all new odds.
That's coming up on Thursday.
Inclusion is causing a firestorm on Twitter.
Now, you remember that dress that tricked your eyes?
That's the dress right there.
Some folks saw it as blue and black, others thought it was white and gold.
You all remember that?
Yes.
All right, take a look at this new illusion.
It's going to trick your ears.
It's been tweeted out.
Take a look.
There it is.
Whoa.
You see the rope going back up and down, the power lines.
Okay, does anyone hear that?
Hands up?
Yeah.
It's interesting.
70% of people online thought they, I'm going to quote them, heard something which blew everyone's mind.
And can you really hear something?
Because guess what?
There was no sound.
There was no sound in there at all.
And the scientists say the reason why you may be hearing the bouncing in this silent video is because your brains and your imagination fill in the gaps, right?
They fill in what you think you should hear.
I didn't really hear it.
I felt it.
I felt like I was bouncing, like if someone was actually swinging a rope for me.
It's a phenomenon called visual hearing, or the shortest veer, visual hearing.
And some folks have a much stronger sense of it than others.
So the next time you think you're hearing things, it could be your brain tricking you.