The Dr. Hyman Show - How Addictive Foods Are Driving Fatty Liver Disease

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

How Addictive Foods Are Driving Fatty Liver Disease | This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (or fatty liver, for short) affects 90 million Americans and is a major cause of chronic disease and inflammation in the body. This inflammation creates insulin resistance and pre-diabetes, which causes your body to deposit fat not just in your liver but also all around your organs and in your belly. So what is driving fatty liver and the whole cascade of issues it causes? And how do you fix it? In this mini-episode, Dr. Hyman speaks with Shawn Stevenson and Dr. Shebani Sethi Dalai about the various mechanisms that are at work when our bodies process food. They also discuss how non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is on the rise in our country due to the overconsumption of sugar, starch, and ultra-processed food.  Shawn Stevenson is the author of the international bestselling book Sleep Smarter and creator of The Model Health Show, featured as the number #1 health podcast in the U.S. with millions of listener downloads each year. A graduate of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Shawn studied business, biology, and nutritional science, and went on to found Advanced Integrative Health Alliance, a company that provides wellness services for individuals and organizations worldwide. Shawn has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, The New York Times, Muscle & Fitness, ESPN, and many other major media outlets. He is also an in-demand keynote speaker for numerous organizations, universities, and conferences.  Dr. Shebani Sethi Dalai is a double board-certified physician in Obesity Medicine and Psychiatry. She is the Founding Director of Stanford University's Metabolic Psychiatry program and Silicon Valley Metabolic Psychiatry, a new center in the San Francisco Bay Area focused on optimizing brain health by integrating low-carb nutrition, comprehensive psychiatric care, and treatment of obesity with associated metabolic disease. She is clinical faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she leads a number of clinical trials investigating the important relationship between nutrition, metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, and mental health. She is the author of multiple peer-reviewed publications, a recipient of numerous professional awards from organizations including the American Psychiatric Association, the Association of Women Psychiatrists, and the Obesity Treatment Foundation, and a widely featured speaker and thought leader. She holds an MD from Duke University, a Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University, and completed residency at Stanford University. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is offering Doctor’s Farmacy listeners a full year supply of their Vitamin D3/K2 Liquid Formula free with your first purchase, plus 5 free travel packs. Just go to athleticgreens.com/hyman to take advantage of this great offer. Find Dr. Hyman’s full-length conversation with Shawn Stevenson, “How To Eat Smarter” here: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/ShawnStevenson2 Find Dr. Hyman’s full-length conversation with Dr. Shebani Sethi Dalai, “How Does Ultra-Processed Food Affect Our Mental Health?” here: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/DrShebaniSethiDalai

Coming up on this episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Sugar is an addictive substance. It's not just something we say. It has a straightforward neurochemical basis in the brain, just like any other drug. And I think of sugar as a, it's a recreational food. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark. My main goal with diet is to use food as medicine.

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You'll get it delivered straight to your door and I promise you'll feel the difference Athletic Greens can make in your daily wellness routine. Again, that's athleticgreens.com forward slash hymen. Now let's get back to this week's episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Hi, I'm Kea, one of the producers of The Doctor's Pharmacy podcast. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or fatty liver for short, affects close to 90 million Americans

and is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, and even cancer. Dr. Hyman recently discussed what's driving this with best-selling author and creator of the model health show, Shawn Stevenson. He also sat down with founding director of Stanford University's Metabolic Psychiatry Program, Dr. Shabani Sethi Dalai. The thing that I really wanted to usher in and bring to the forefront, because it sounds the most ghostly, it sounds like cast with a ghost, like it's not even a real thing, is inflammation

and how inflammation has an impact on your body composition. And the data, like it's not even a real thing is inflammation and how inflammation has an impact on your body composition. And the data exists. It's just that a lot of folks don't know about it. And the way that it really manifests when we're talking about inflammation is that it has this very detrimental impact on our organs that are related to our body's production and utilization of our fat kind of fat loss related hormones. So namely production and utilization of our fat, kind of fat loss related hormones. So namely, let's take our liver, for example, your liver is incredibly important in regulating your metabolism. You know, we're talking about a relationship with how it manages insulin, even the production of fat takes place in your liver to the storing of glycogen can take

place in your liver. You know, if your liver is if your body's overburdened by glucose in your liver too. The storing of glycogen can take place in your liver. If your body's overburdened by glucose, your liver can literally convert that into fat right there on the spot. And so if something is damaging your liver, it's going to inherently damage your endocrine system and your process of metabolism. So inflammation, and I've just kind of shared some of the data in the book, damaging your liver. And this is one of the most fast growing issues in our country is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This is really a kind of chronically inflamed situation taking place in our liver. And also- How do we get fatty livers? Because I think people should know, we go to fancy restaurants and they give you foie gras, which is French for fatty liver. And, and, uh, as, as how do they get the ducks to be

like that? And how do they get us humans to have 90 million Americans with fatty liver? Everybody should know by now, very simple, the fastest way to, to, to damage your liver and to create that fatty liver, by the way, it's called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease because we associate it with alcohol, but sugar. Sugar, absolutely. Sugar, starch, flour. It's so bad. It's so bad, particularly high-fructose corn syrup. Your liver has to take on the brunt of it because your liver is really, even the name liver, it's responsible for so much, like every minute it's filtering your entire blood supply. It's so important. That's right.

But to take this one step further, and I'll just drop this little nugget so we can move on to the other topics, but also the master regulator, often referred to, of course, I've even taught this in my conventional university setting but your hypothalamus all right your hypothalamus is one of the major regulators and communicators with your thyroid with your liver with your adrenals all the organs related to fat loss and fat storage the governing kind of master gland is called the master gland is your hypothalamus. That's in your brain. Right.

And now we've got data that this new term, neuroinflammation, inflammation specifically regarding the function of your hypothalamus can damage what's happening with your metabolism. But nobody's talking about that in these cookie cutter diets that you need to address the inflammation in your brain in order for you to lose weight. Right. So these are all, and the beautiful part is it's possible. It's not just possible. It's probable when you have the right information and we avoid the things that create the inflammation. And namely, you just mentioned sugar, but we go through a whole subset of the different things. Yeah. And in functional medicine, we also look at, you know, food sensitivities and environmental toxins and

the microbiome and all, there's so many things that drive inflammation. And if you're overweight, you're inflamed. And for those listening, you know, think, oh, you know, I'm a few pounds overweight, a little extra belly fat, you know, maybe I need to lose 10, 20 pounds, or maybe you're're more overweight or obese. You should really pay attention to what Sean's saying because right now during this COVID pandemic, what we're finding is those people who are overweight or obese or have even a little bit of extra fat are much more likely to get sick, much more likely to end up in

the hospital, the ICU, and to die from COVID-19 because of poor metabolic health. What's so beautiful about the body is that you think, oh my God, I've taken years and years to get here. Within a couple of weeks, you can change all of that. You might not lose all the weight in a couple of weeks, but you can change your inflammation markers, your hormones, your brain chemistry, literally in a couple of weeks of changing your diet and following the principles that are in Eat Smarter, which is Sean's new book. When we talk about how nutrition affects the brain and specifically focusing on reducing that sugar and processed foods and

refined carbohydrates to improve mental and physical health, we know that consuming excessive amounts of sugar, processed foods, and refined carbohydrates lead to obesity, metabolic problems, fatty liver, heart disease, even cancer. There is evidence for this. And the body is really one whole system. And what happens in the body also affects the brain. The brain has a delicate balance of neurotransmitters or chemical messengers with more sugar and processed foods.

These levels really become unbalanced and they're significantly off. So I'm talking about- So wait, wait, so your brain chemistry gets screwed up when you eat processed food and sugar, is what you're saying? Yeah, yeah. And I'm talking about ultra processed food also

in particular, because I do think that there's a difference between processed food and ultra processed food. Ultra processed food is like the real sugar, the, you know, the cookies, the cakes, the chips, the potato chips, it's kind of highly processed things versus minimally processed foods, maybe some oils, you know, vegetables that are frozen, that's a little bit different than ultra processed food. And so the research is showing differences between those things in the brain. Yeah. And you need the right raw ingredients for chemical reactions to occur in the brain and

elsewhere, like vitamins and minerals and nutrients. You need proper functioning of the brain. You need proper speed of transmitting signals. Your brain is composed of electrical cells, and it's a complicated web of signaling molecules. Those cells need fat to develop and to function properly. So you need those omega-3s in your diet. And if you eat sugar and ultra processed foods, the chances are that you're likely not getting those important nutrients, those vitamins and minerals for those important reactions that you need,

nor are you absorbing them. The most people with metabolic dysfunction actually have nutritional deficiencies and are malnourished. They're looking in all the wrong places for the nutrients. They eat more and more food. And I think a know kevin hall and others showed that if you let people eat as much as they want and you give them ultra processed food versus whole foods they'll eat about 500 calories more a day of ultra processed food because they'll keep eating and they're hungry and they keep driving and you you talk a lot about that in your work about the the biology of what these do to your brain in terms of dopamine and the addiction reward pathways in the brain that make you literally become addicted to these compounds and how that affects you.

Right. So the rates of obesity and binge eating and addictive like eating are rising alongside the increasing dominance of ultra processed foods in the modern food environment. And there are several mechanisms as to how this works, some which act directly on the brain and some that indirectly act through hormonal signaling. So our body is very complicated and the brain is connected to the body. And we used to learn in medical school that you have this blood brain barrier that nothing can get across it. But that's not, it's like the Berlin Wall. But in reality, it does leak, right? And there are things that do cross.

It's more like a coffee filter, you know, it's a sip. Right. Yeah, so ultra processed food and sugar decrease our dopamine receptors and make us eat more compulsively, much like addictive drugs, the highly processed foods, they trigger dopamine reward pathways and they invoke addictive-like behaviors, which have been well-documented and include intense cravings, includes feelings of withdrawal when cutting down on ultra-processed food, continuing to eat these things despite knowing the adverse consequences to it, and repeated attempts to try to quit, right? I'm describing addiction here, basically,

and the consumption of larger quantities over time than intended. People go, it's like emotional eating. It's not really biological, true addiction. What you're saying is this is really a true biological addiction, just like heroin or cocaine or alcohol, that you get withdrawal, you get cravings, you get increased need for more and more of the substance to receive the same pleasure. You downregulate the receptors for pleasure. So you have to take more of the stuff to actually stimulate that reward pathway. And it's really this vicious cycle that people get into. And then they blame themselves and they feel guilty, you know, for doing it. And they think they just have no willpower. But you're saying it's much bigger than that. Yeah, that's exactly right.

So sugar is an addictive substance. It's not just something we say. It has a straightforward neurochemical basis in the brain, just like any other drug. And I think of sugar as a, it's a recreational food. It's not a food that's essential for survival. We make sugar, you know, through the process of gluconeogenesis, through other foods that we consume. And so it's really about excess carbohydrates. I call sugar a recreational drug. I've never heard anybody say it, but I always write down in my book, sugar is a recreational drug. It's like, if you like tequila, it's fine, but not breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the quantities we're having in America.

Exactly. Highly refined carbohydrates and ultra-processed foods can alter our brain signaling as well as our appetite satiety mechanisms and reward signaling. This leads to a cascade of physical issues, including fatty liver disease, in addition to higher risk for mental health issues. One of the fastest ways you can take back control of your health is to make your own kitchen a safe zone and focus on eating real whole foods. Get in the practice of reading food labels. Always avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients you can't pronounce and would never have in your own kitchen cabinet. Dr. Hyman says before you eat something, ask yourself, who made this, man or nature? If nature made it, eat it. If man made it,

leave it. Finally, focus on feeding yourself lots of colorful plant foods and high quality fats and protein at every meal. If you'd like to learn more about anything you heard today, I encourage you to check out Dr. Hyman's full length conversations with Sean Stevenson and Dr. Shabani Sethi Dalai. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a friend and leaving us a review below. Thanks for tuning in. Hi, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Just a reminder that this podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey,

seek out a qualified medical practitioner. If you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, you can visit ifm.org and search their find a practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who's trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health.