Stuff You Should Know - Should you not eat gluten?

Episode Date: January 4, 2011

Since gluten is found in rye, wheat and barley grains, it's a near-ubiquitous part of many diets. So why do some people avoid this common protein? Tune in as Josh and Chuck break down the concerns surrounding gluten. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready, are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. With me as always is Charles W. Chuck Bryant with his freakishly big fingertips that I just noticed. I don't know what you're talking about. That's a

toe. I'm looking at it now and it didn't look any different than any other fingertip I've ever seen. Hold your hand up. That is big. This is on the middle finger. It gives me an advantage. I met a girl once who actually had, I can't remember, I think she'd like worn out like her fingers from tight fingers. She broke it or she did something and she actually had that splint like this. Her middle finger is sticking up. I was like, I envy you. You know, you can get a splint and do that and just tell people. I could. I'm very lazy, though, Chuck. So, Chuck, how you doing? Great. Good. You getting ready for Christmas? Yeah, this is our last couple of shows here before we break. And actually, this will come out in 2011. Yeah, people are going to go, what?

Yeah, mind-meld, but this is what's really going on in our world right now. Chuck, you remember Norman Borlaug? Yeah. For once, I do. I know. This is unique. Yeah, he was great. Nobel Prize-winning, I guess, agriculturist, botanist. He is responsible for the Green Revolution, which ironically, the people of the Green Environmental Revolution like to point out is like the scourge of the environment. Because basically what Borlaug did in the 40s, I think, the 50s, the 60s, there was a lot of famines predicted. Apparently up to a billion people were predicted to die because the agriculture had reached its carrying capacity, which is the number of people

it can support. I think without any help whatsoever, agriculture can support a couple billion people, something like that. And we'd reach that point where we were about to and everybody was about to be in big trouble. And then Borlaug steps in just at the nick of time, goes down to Mexico, basically forces wheat to evolve super quickly so that you have these high, high yields over very small areas. Yeah, more output. Exactly. But like 70% more output. Yeah. And literally saves about a billion lives. That's what he's credited with. Amazing. Well, the problem is he's also credited with creating these really intensive agriculture techniques that pollute watersheds from intensive fertilizer and pesticides. These things don't

just grow on their own. It requires a lot of intensive farming. Right? I didn't know if there was a downside to his work. I know. It's kind of weird to think about. But yeah, he's actually kind of a whipping post for the environmental movement. He just passed away this last year, right? Yeah, within the last year or two. Yeah, I think it was last year, maybe 2009. But yeah, so he's kind of, he's been vilified unfairly in my opinion for creating a lot of ecological problems. I think when you say that, you miss that he saved about a billion lives. Yeah, sure. You know, but there's also possibly one other thing that he created inadvertently with his green revolution. And that is what we call celiac disease. Interesting. Yeah.

Yeah, because this is about that. This will think to think about this. Okay, celiac disease, which is an allergy or an autoimmune disorder that results from an allergy to gluten. Yeah, but it is an autoimmune disorder, though. It's not a food allergy. It's an autoimmune disorder brought on by a food allergy. Okay. But a study, I think from 2009 found that it's that gluten allergies or celiac disease is about 4.5 times more common now than it was 50 years ago. And a lot of people suspect that it's because wheat's become such a staple crop, that it's found everywhere. So since we're more exposed to it than ever, thanks to this green revolution, we have started to develop this disorder because of it. Now, so is Borlaug's was his plan or not,

obviously it wasn't planned, but was his technique of making the wheat more yield, high yield? Did that actually increase the amount of gluten? I would imagine so because it's just more wheat. Just more wheat. But I think also what's behind it is wheat is everywhere because in the West, there's so much of it that we just use it for everything. And we'll see in a minute, it shows up in some pretty random places that you wouldn't notice. Yes, that you wouldn't notice. Well, you could put some wheat in water and drink it. Well, yeah, wheat water. It's good stuff. Also called beer. Wheat water. I'm going to order one of those next time we go to a bar. Yeah, can I have some wheat water? Kind of wheat water. I'm going to order fire water when you

order wheat water. Okay. Well, that would be whiskey or something in fire water liquor. Whiskey. So Chuck, let's talk about celiac disease. Let's talk about gluten. Let's just lay it out on the table and see what happens, man. Yeah. I mean, it's all over the place now. It's a big, I would say there's some controversy because a lot of people are jumping on gluten free diets because like Gwyneth Paltrow said she lost some weight. So people are using it to lose weight. Can she lose weight? Like she's not two-dimensional. She's a sheet of paper. Yeah. So let's talk about the small intestine. So if we want to absorb what's going on here with this podcast. Nice, Chuck. The small intestine is absorbs nutrients. That's what it does

thanks to the little villi in there. Yes. If you have celiac disease, that means the lining of your intestine is destroyed to the point where it's not doing that job and the nutrients go straight through to your poop. Right. And that's pretty much it. Yeah. It's just as straightforward as that. Yeah, that's celiac. I mean, there's a lot of twists and turns along the way, obviously. Well, one of the, he's not exactly straightforward. One of the, we absorb nourishment in the small intestine, right? Yeah. So one of the side effects of celiac disease of an inability to absorb the nutrient gluten is malnourishment. Yeah. Which also happens if you've had a significant portion of your intestines removed. Yeah. Malnourishment is often a result as well. Yeah. And that can lead

to potentially anemia, osteoporosis, bad things. Very bad things. And malnourishment just isn't good period. So a lot of people think, well, you know, celiac disease is an allergy to wheat. It is. But like you, like you just pointed out, you can get malnourishment. You can develop malnourishment from it. And it is also an autoimmune disorder where the body is warding off something unnecessarily, right? Right. Like your immune system is not functioning correctly. Yeah. What is this? They said that 95% of sufferers have one of two histocompatibility leukocyte antigens. Right. So what I take from it is that's what they search for when they do a blood test for celiac disease, right? So I think what happens is we're exposed to wheat, right? Yeah. Our body mistakes the gluten.

Actually, in this case, in celiac disease, our body mistakes the protein we make ourselves. Right. Or the enzyme we make ourselves that breaks down gluten as a foreign invader. Yeah. Gluten is a protein. Have we even said that? I don't know. Gluten is a protein. Yes. It's a protein we should say. Naturally correct protein. Yeah. Found specifically in wheat, barley and rye. Yeah. Right. Okay. That's yeah. Okay. But the weird thing about celiac disease is our body's not even warding off the gluten. It's warding off the enzyme our body makes to break down the gluten. So it's all kinds of confused. Yeah. Right. So we're introduced to wheat. Here's some gluten. Our body produces an enzyme to go break it down. So our immune system goes, whoa, whoa,

what's going on forms antibodies that are that are developed just to destroy these enzymes that break down gluten. Right. So then anytime we're exposed to gluten again, these enzymes are produced. Our immune system mounts a defense. Yeah. Unnecessarily. And therefore we this as a result, the gluten is not broken down. It passes through the stool or the poop, as you said. Sure. And we're malnourished. Yeah. Because the villi just basically lies down on the job or is destroyed all together. And about one in 133 people suffer from it. But it is under diagnosed because it can mistake. You can mistake it for irritable bowel syndrome. Yeah. What else? Well, let's talk about the bowel symptoms, right? There's you can have an upset tummy, irritable bowel syndrome.

Uh-huh. You can also have chronic diarrhea. Yeah. Which is one of the worst kinds of diarrhea. Yeah. I would say the worst. You can lose weight even though you're eating just a normal diet. Right. Foul smelling bowel movements. Yeah. What is that all about? It means your poop stinks bad. Yeah. But I mean, that not always. I think that this is like even in the noticeable realm of poop. This is bad. Like dad poop. Yeah. Except without the tang of shaving cream also mixed in with it. Right. It's funny. There's a break. Like when you're a little baby, it's like the worst thing on earth. And then I remember being a kid specifically and like going to ask my dad a question and he would just open the door and I would be like, oh my lord, what is happening in there?

I know. I wonder what it is. So I would say then your poop smells best between the ages of like two and 30. Right. So if you're ever going to have to smell poop, do it during those ages, right? This is going downhill fast. There's also some non bowel related symptoms. Well, excessive gas, we didn't say that. Oh yeah. That's a big one too. Right. The non bowel related symptoms are like muscle cramps, joint pain. Yeah. Irritability and depression, which I think actually are probably comorbid with smelly poop. Yeah. Fatigue. Yeah. Yeah. You're just like, oh god, I can't take this. One unmistakable sign is a, well, not unmistakable because it could be other things, but a skin rash known as dermatitis, herpetiformis. And that's like blistering and itching on the

elbows and knees and your butt. Yeah. So if you got that going on, you may want to get that looked into. And then part of the big problem with celiac disease, like if you go to a doctor and say, my poop smells really bad. I often have chronic diarrhea. I'm irritable. I'm gassy. And I have joint pain and I have this rash. The doctors can be like, you have celiac disease. You may also be asymptomatic. And this is where it's a problem because if the symptoms are not too terrible, like you can deal with it and you don't even really think about it. Yeah. Or if you're asymptomatic entirely, your small intestine is still being ravaged by this autoimmune disorder that you have. Yes. You may not feel terrible, but it's wrecking you. Yeah. You're going to become malnourished.

You're at risk for anemia and osteoporosis and all this other stuff as well. Well, one stat that's in this article, I think Molly Edmonds wrote this, right? Yes, she did. Stuff mom never told you. And our chief medical correspondent. For every person that is diagnosed, about 30 people have it and are undiagnosed. Yeah. That's huge. That's huge. Underdiagnosis. So they think you're just gassy and fatigued and irritable. Right. And one of the reasons why it's so underdiagnosed is a lot of these symptoms mimic other better understood diseases like cystic fibrosis. Yeah. We mentioned IBS and Crohn's disease, which I thought was interesting. Which I think is related somehow.

Is it? They usually have to take out part of your intestine for Crohn's disease. Okay. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy, number one, is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah. And they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs. Of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops,

are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and nonstop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64?

Do you remember getting frosted tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL instant messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper, because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s, called on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So Molly suggests, you know, to be your own advocate, which is always a good idea, and because a lot of doctors will bypass that. But I bet these days doctors are hearing more

and more from people saying, I think I might have celiac disease. Right, and a lot of people has celiac disease and the idea of gluten and eating a gluten-free diet, which as it stands right now is the only treatment for celiac disease is eating a gluten-free diet. As more and more people become aware of it, I think a lot of people are starting to adopt that. Not only because of celiac disease, a lot of people consider it to be healthier, yeah, that possibly gluten is responsible for the widespread depression, aches and pains, murder rates, like everything that's wrong with the world. It can be traced to gluten or casein, which is, I think, what the, what is the responsible party for lactose intolerance,

right? Right. So a lot of people are eating what's called gluten-free casein-free diets, right? Well, gluten, you can have a gluten sensitivity without having celiac disease. So that's important to point out, without having full-blown celiac disease. You can't have a sensitivity to it, but the things that I've read say that if you don't have a sensitivity to it and you're not celiac, you're not celiac disease, then there's really no reason to avoid it. And a lot of it is, it's sort of the fad now. Yeah, it is. But it makes you wonder, sometimes the mob mentality is correct, you know? True. If you do think you have celiac disease, though, and you're considering adopting a gluten-free diet, hold off and actually go to the doctor

first if you want to be properly diagnosed. Because once you start, once you adopt a gluten-free diet, it's going to mess with the results of the blood test. Yeah, you can actually show a false positive for celiac because you're avoiding gluten in the blood. Or, no, it won't show up. Oh, no, I thought it said you can appear to have celiac disease. Oh, see, what I took from it is that it won't show up because your body's not producing the antibodies that they look for in the blood test because adopting a gluten-free diet is so effective that your body starts healing itself pretty quickly. Am I wrong? I don't know. It just says it can distort the blood test. So it just messes with it one way or the other. Right. So if you want to be diagnosed with celiac

disease, if you think you have it, go get diagnosed and then adopt the gluten-free lifestyle. And that is the good news that you're going to stop experiencing symptoms within a couple of days, possibly a week or so, and then your small intestine will begin to repair itself and function correctly. Yeah. Because it's really just the gluten that your body's reacting to, and if there's no gluten, hey. Yeah, they call it disease. I guess it qualifies, but to me, it's more of a condition. If you can just quit eating gluten and it'll repair itself, although it's uncurable. So I guess it is technically disease. And we talked about diets, right? The gluten-free, case-and-free diet is actually a lot of parents

of autistic kids, which by the way, I checked with a guy who has an autistic kid and he said it's cool to call him autistic, or yeah, autistic rather than people with autism or both. Oh, really? He said he thought it was. He's been doing it for the last 20 years. So that's just his opinion. Right. But at the very least, he won't be offended. Okay, good. But there's a certain amount of logic to feeding kids with autism a gluten-free, case-and-free diet. And basically, the logic behind it is that kids with autism overproduce certain peptides that break down these things. Okay. And for some reason, this process in the brain treats these compounds when they're broken down as opiates and cause kids to behave differently from other kids, which apparently explains autism.

And it's not vetted enough. There haven't been enough studies, apparently, to prove or disprove it. But there's a lot of parents of autistic kids who are not feeding them gluten or case-and- Wow. Well, we're just learning so much about autism now. We need to do that as a podcast at some point. Oh, definitely. Because all the controversy around the shots that kids get causing autism and stuff like that. Yeah. And it still remains, even after that one doctor who basically started that whole thing was completely discredited. Yeah. Well, there's just so much cynicism and suspicion toward the establishment. Right. So we'll do autism. We're promising that. So we were talking about the fact that gluten products are lousy

with this stuff these days. It's obviously, if it's in wheat, barley and rye, it's going to be in any kind of baked good with this stuff, crackers, pasta, cereal, bread. Sure. But it's also in some weird things, not weird things, but it's weird that it's in these things. Right. Like salad dressing is so weird. Yeah. Salad dressing, soy sauce, peanut butter, ice cream, pudding. Yeah. Lipstick and toothpaste. Yeah. Beer, obviously. Yeah. Vitamins and envelope adhesive. Yeah. Which makes me wonder, is that what killed Susan from Seinfeld? Does she die? Does she have like a really heightened gluten allergy? Perhaps. So yeah, it's in all those things. Obviously, any kind of anything made with flour. So you don't might not think about soup like a chowder

or a gravy that's sticking with flour. I wouldn't want to live if I couldn't eat gravy. Really? Yeah. You wouldn't want to live a gravy free life? Either that or my bowel movements would stink because I would not stop eating gravy. What's the point? If you can't eat gravy, what's the point of eating anything? Yeah, I'm with you. Either you do the dark brown gravy or like the light brown? Anything. I prefer brown gravy, like dark brown. Like KFC. Yes. But I will eat any gravy really. All right. The other good thing about the fact that gluten is all over everyone's radar now is that if you do want to live a gluten free life, it's a lot easier now too because there's tons of products now that are touting being gluten free. Including gluten free

beer. Yeah. Do you know the brands? I was curious about that. No. Interesting. No, but there's several out there. I think Terrapin, one of our breweries from beloved Athens, Georgia has a gluten free beer. Oh, really? Yeah. I think there's several brands that started to produce gluten free beer because really all you need is some sort of starch to get things going. Yeah. It doesn't have to be wheat. You should conceivably use rice. There's also a soy vodka that's awful, but it's out there. Have you had it? Because think about it. Gluten vodka is often made from grain and you're in big trouble with whiskey vodka. I have had it. It was one of the few shots free shots I've ever given back in my life. Really? Now, when you mean give

it back, you spit it back at the bartender? No. I grabbed two and I did one and actually caught the girl who was handing him out attention and put it back on the tray. You put the little test tube back in the thing? So bad. What was I going to say, Josh? Oh, if you're eating out, you're going to want to talk to your waiter or chef and a lot of trendy restaurants these days have little gluten free sections too because everyone thinks that they have celiac disease now. Right. Well, and not only that, there's a lot of people out there who, like you said, think it's healthy. It's kind of the fad. So there's strengthened numbers as far as consumership goes. Oh, sure. And apparently between 2002, no, 2004 and 2009 and five years, the amount of gluten free products on the market

increased 74% according to the Nielsen company. Well, and they know what they're talking about. Well, they want to make a buck. Well, who? The Nielsen company? No, just people that make products that you consume. They want to make a buck. So they know that gluten free is a big deal. So they slap gluten free on there and obviously remove the gluten. I'm not saying they're lying to everyone. You know, Mellow Mushroom has a gluten free pizza. Oh, really? Of course they do. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana.

Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Step out of piss y'all. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. Cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show Hey Dude,

bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and non-stop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting frosted tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL instant messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy,

blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Molly points out that one thing you can do is instead of to try and avoid gluten, just look at a list of safe foods that might be easier just to think in the realm of vegetables and fruits, nuts, dried beans, milk and eggs. Clear soups. Yeah, clear soup. No gravy. Dairy. And Chuck, I want to correct myself. Corn, rice, soy. Retail sales of gluten-free products have increased 74%, not the number of products on the market. Oh, okay. Retail sales. But still, I think that that's directly proportionate to the number of products on the market.

Also, Josh Potato and quinoa. I like how you say that. How should I say it? I think that's right. Oh, okay. Instead of quinoa. How I've always said. Chuck, what happens if you are a Catholic? You're in big trouble, aren't you? Yeah, like it's made with wheat and they're not going to bend on that, right? Isn't that the deal? The Pope, the Catholic Church, is actually issued a ruling. Pope Scary, the new guy? Pope, yeah. Oh, yeah, you're right. He just, he looks creepy. That's a reason to say that. Okay, I'm glad you said that. The Catholic Church issued a ruling on the presence of gluten in the communion wafers and said that the true Eucharist bread must be made with wheat, right? Apparently, there is a young girl whose communion was nullified by the Catholic

Church because she received her first communion as a low gluten wafer, which the Protestants have come to embrace. So they said they didn't count? They said she's not a Catholic. There are several rights to Catholicism. There's baptism, first communion, first penance, confirmation, marriage, and last rights, right? You, man. And she can still rattle that off. So one of her, I guess, points of Catholicism was literally overturned, hers personally, by the Catholic Church because she had received a low gluten wafer. And they wonder why Catholicism is losing its members. Because they're basically saying to her, we're forcing you to have stinky poop. Little girl. Little girl. We don't care if you can die from this. Well, it's only one little wafer,

though. Well, the problem also is the Protestants have embraced low gluten wafer, but low gluten doesn't mean no gluten. Right. So there's kind of that, too. I mean, people with severe celiac disease can still have a pretty bad reaction to a communion wafer. And check this is a big deal. I mean, it's not to you and me, but to devout Catholics who have celiac disease. This is a big deal. Yeah. It's a very important right for them. And it is very disappointing that the church came out and ruled like that. Sorry. It's like, we're all with the changes a little bit, you know, which is weird because the church has been known to, you know, evolve over time. Like there used to be such a thing as purgatory, not anymore, according to the Catholic Church,

but the Eucharist has to be made with wheat. Interesting. It is interesting. I think we said the word gluten enough now to where it sounds funny to me in my head. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds very Midwest, northern Midwestern gluten. Yeah. Yeah. Like smorgasbord or something. Do you have anything else? I got nothing else. I mean, I could keep talking for a while. No, I just say if you, if you think you have a gluten sensitivity, you can, you should go see a doctor, get your blood test. I think after the blood test, I'll even do a biopsy of your small intestine, I guess. And if you're a heavy smoker and you're not sure if you have a gluten sensitivity, ask a friend or loved one who lives with you. They'll tell you. Oh, because you can't smell. Got

you. And if you want to learn more about Celiac disease and whether or not it's plural, you can type that in C-E-L-I-A-C in the handy search bar at howstuffworks.com. It'll bring up a very interesting and concise article by Molly Edmonds, who manages to marry Greek mythology and autoimmune disorders of the intestine. Pretty deftly, really. Yeah, in the intro? Yeah. Since I said handy search bar, that means then it's time for listener mail. Yeah, Josh, I'm going to call this a couple of emails from the same girl. Okay. It's first kiss stuff, and then there was an update. You'll see what I mean. From Allison? Yes. Guys, you asked for a story about a first kiss. I think I have just the one. If you hold on through the cheesy parts, you'll see how it all comes back to you

guys. Is this the girl who had her first kiss at 27? No, I already read that one. Yeah, I thought this was a follow-up. No, this is a different girl. When I was 18, she was a late bloomer, too, because she was 18. Okay. Two late bloomers. I interned for a summer in Paris staying at an international house students. In turn, she wasn't allowed to leave Paris. That's what she said. Okay. I met the most wonderful people there. Two English brothers and an Irishman became my particular friends, and we decided to go on a weekend trip to Venice. And a turn of fortune our last night landed me alone on a dock in Venice with one of the Brits that had shyly been flirting with me for months. It may have been pheromones. It may have been that our teeth

did not smash together, but my first kiss led to my first love. Wow. We have been together for two years now, all of it long distance. On a return vacation to Italy, we took last winter. The Brits introduced me to stuff you should know. I've been hooked ever since, and as sad as it may sound, you guys helped us stay connected by either sharing of our headphones, loling to your podcast as we traveled, or listening separately before we go to bed and ocean apart, only to discuss the news episode in the morning. That is very sweet. Here's an update. She sent me an update a couple of weeks later. The Brit and I actually broke up for a few months with his career about to start in London and my graduate studies starting next year in New York and a few other complications.

However, he said he's made a mistake and he's trying to win me back. He's even willing to move to New York for me. Sweet. He's just waiting for me to decide if that's what I want. And I've been getting I've been giving him a hard time as I make up my mind. I quote directly when he said listening to Josh and Chuck at night before I go to bed without you is torture. Oh, that is really sweet. This guy's pretty cool. It read a different way. Listening to Josh and Chuck is torture. I told you, uh, I told you that you guys play an important partner lives to make a long story short. I want to give him a second chance. He's a love of my life. Would there be any chance that you could read my email and perhaps let him know that I'm still there? Wow. I just got chills, Chuck.

So nameless, uh, Brit. Allison says she still loves you. Sounds like you're moving to New York. But it's like the Big Apple's calling your name, my friend. So if you had a secret, I'm sorry, not so secret guess on a dock in Venice with a girl named Allison, then we're talking to you because she didn't give a name. He calls him Brit. Maybe his name's Brit. Maybe Brit from Great Britain. So that's it. Wow. Wow. And she sent bug me a couple of times, like, are you going to read it? Have you not talked to him? Yeah, she's refusing to contact him until it comes out. It's weird. Well, I hope they don't actually, um, I hope he doesn't move on because he doesn't hear from her because we didn't publish fast enough. Right. Wow. Wow. I can't even think of something to call

for. That was really sweet. Um, if you've ever been on a boat that started sinking, we want to hear about it. Yes. Hopefully the Brit will be fine actually to New York rather than sailing. I doubt he's taking a steamer ship. If you've ever been on a boat that started sinking, uh, we want to hear about that story. You should probably just go ahead and put it in an email and you can address the email to stuffpodcast at howstuffworks.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com. To learn more about the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner of our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the Reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you?

The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops. Are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil answer for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, family. It's your boy Michael Cal. You're the funniest man on the planet. I'm excited to announce my new podcast, Michael Talk to Air Body. Don't get it twisted. It's not everybody. We'll be interviewing some of the greatest artists in the game from actors, musicians, and comedians discussing some of

the best topics. But most importantly, we're going to be doing a lot of laughing, having a lot of fun, and talking that talk. Listen to Michael Talks to everybody on Monday, Wednesday, Friday on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.