TRIGGERnometry - How Microplastics Are Ruining Your Health And What You Can Do About It - Dr. Rhonda Patrick

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

Dr. Rhonda Patrick is a biochemist and founder of FoundMyFitness, known for her research‑backed insights on longevity, nutrition, microplastics, and metabolic health. Triggernometry is proudly in...dependent. Thanks to the sponsors below for making that possible: - Superpower: Test 100+ biomarkers. Detect early signs of 1,000+ conditions. Click https://superpower.com - BUBS Naturals Collagen Peptides. Go to https://bubsnaturals.com and use code: TRIG for 20% off - Wild Alaskan Company: premium, wild-caught seafood. Go to https://wildalaskan.com/TRIG for $35 off your first box - Let our sponsor, American Financing, help you regain control of your finances. Go to https://americanfinancing.net/triggernometry Disclaimer: NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-885-1948, for details about credit costs and terms. Join our exclusive TRIGGERnometry community on Substack! https://triggernometry.substack.com/ OR Support TRIGGERnometry Here: Bitcoin: bc1qm6vvhduc6s3rvy8u76sllmrfpynfv94qw8p8d5 Shop Merch here - https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/shop/ Advertise on TRIGGERnometry: marketing@triggerpod.co.uk Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media: https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod/ https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod/ About TRIGGERnometry: Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@francisjfoster) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians. 00:00 - Introduction 01:08 - Testosterone And Sperm Levels 08:15 - How Would Society Be Affected By Lower Testosterone Levels In Men? 18:14 - This Is A Public Health Crisis 23:50 - Microplastics 26:35 - ADHD And Autism Diagnoses 39:57 - Why Aren't We Talking Enough About Microplastics In Relation To ADHD And Autism? 43:37 - What Should We Be Doing To Reduce Our Exposure? 46:59 - Hormones In The Water Supply 52:08 - Flame Retardant Chemicals 57:35 - Paper Receipts 59:41 - Focus On Water 01:02:57 - What's The One Thing We're Not Talking About That We Really Should Be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:01 They're in our water, they're in our food that we're eating, they're in our personal hygiene products. The other major source of microplastics is actually from the air we breathe. Receipts are terrible. I have this funny story. Receipts? Yeah. Oh, yes. Well, like paper receipts? Yes, yes. What's wrong with the receipts? It's trapping, mate. Oh my gosh. You haven't heard about this? This is a public health crisis. It's totally a public health crisis. Oh my God. It's like time to wake up. Is there a connection between conditions like ADHD, autism, and also other conditions as well, and these microplastic? Yes, there is.
Starting point is 00:00:37 Pregnant women that have the highest levels of BPA in their urine. They're six times more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism by the age of 11. This seems far more rock-solid in terms of its evidence than Tylenol does. So why aren't we talking about this? I don't know. We need to be talking about this. How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here.
Starting point is 00:01:05 Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount. New vehicle discount. Storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. Rhonda, welcome to Trigonometry. I'm so excited to be here. Oh, it's great to have you on.
Starting point is 00:01:21 We can't wait to have the conversation. We're going to talk about microplastics, but particularly we wanted to start with. testosterone. We hear a lot of stuff about the fact that testosterone and men is dropping with each generation. Is that true? There's definitely a lot of evidence suggesting that testosterone levels are dropping and sperm quality, sperm levels are dropping as well. I mean, you've probably heard that very famous statistic globally about, you know, over the last few decades, men are making, you know, 50% less sperm. So, and that's obviously very intimately related to testosterone.
Starting point is 00:01:57 as well. Yeah, it's definitely a problem. And the question is, why is it a problem? And, you know, I know that's something that I've been interested in. Many people are interested. Obviously, a lot of men are interested in this as well. But there's a lot of changes in our environment that have happened over these few decades as well, right? I mean, we've got a lot more chemicals that we've been exposed to. We're eating food. We're not as connected to our food anymore. So foods are a lot more process and packaged and, you know, there have been at least one study that I know about showing that if you take healthy young men and you give them like a large bolus, like 80 grams or something of sugar, it drops their testosterone levels by 25%. And this is like pretty immediate.
Starting point is 00:02:41 Now, that's a lot of sugar, but like a donut and, you know, Coke or something. I mean, people eat that stuff all the time in a day, day after day. And, you know, that's just kind of one example. But I think the larger problem here does have to do with a lot of the chemicals that we're ingesting on a daily basis and aren't even aware of it, right? So these chemicals, I mean, we were having this conversation a minute ago when you guys were pouring your water and your glass. We're about to get it telling off. Yeah. We have a lot of chemicals that are in an environment that we're ingesting that we don't
Starting point is 00:03:15 know about. And these chemicals are often associated with plastic. So they're plastic. So they're plastic associated chemicals, and they're what are called endocrine disrupting chemicals, EDCs. These are things like bisphenol A, BPA, or BISF phenol S. It's kind of related cousin BPS. And they're in a lot of plastics. They're in plastic water bottles. They're in the recyclable, reusable water bottles. They're in aluminum cans that have sparkling water or soda. They're lining canned foods, you know, anything that's in a can, aluminum can, is lined with the plastic lining that has this BPA. They're in to-go coffee mugs. So those coffee mugs that you're getting at your Starbucks or your local, bougie, you know, coffee joint, they're also lined with plastic
Starting point is 00:04:08 that has BPA or BPS. And, you know, these chemicals leach into the beverage. In the case of heating them, it's even worse. So there have been studies that have shown if you add, boiling water to this BPA chemical, it increases the leaching by 55-fold into the water. So that's your to-go coffee or to-go tea that everyone's drinking, walking around drinking, is literally like you're getting these plastic chemicals and you're also getting pieces of plastic as well. We can talk about later. But BPA and BPS are endocrine-disrupting hormones.
Starting point is 00:04:42 And so essentially what that means is they're disrupting our fundamental sex hormones like testosterone like estrogen. And they do it by a variety of different ways. You've probably heard of this Xenoestrogens. So BPA is known as a xenoestrogen. It's an estrogen mimetic. And the reason it's referred to that is because it binds to the estrogen receptor and the estrogen receptor thinks it's estrogen. So it kind of confuses things and maybe your body will stop making the estrogen. So they also bind to androgen receptors, which bind to testosterone and other androgens. And they do the same thing. So essentially what happens is, you know, you'll have these chemicals binding to the receptors,
Starting point is 00:05:27 and your body thinks, oh, I have enough testosterone around. I don't need to make more. When really it wasn't testosterone binding to that angigen receptor. It was the BPA. And this is why you can find studies that have shown everywhere from early development to adolescents to adulthood. BPA and BPS to a lesser extent only because BPS has replaced BPA, so there's fewer studies out there, just looking at its effects on testosterone. But essentially, BPS is doing the same thing.
Starting point is 00:05:59 And in fact, it might even be worse because it stays around longer in our bodies. But essentially, these chemicals are lowering testosterone. They're lowering sperm quality, sperm morphology, the shape of the sperm. They're lowering the number, the quantity of sperm that men are producing. So there's studies in adolescents showing that healthy young adolescents with the highest level of BPA, for every log increase of BPA, now that's a lot. A log increase is a lot. But for every log increase in BPA, there was almost a 50% reduction in testosterone,
Starting point is 00:06:36 which is very significant. That's a lot. Again, it is a log increase. It's not just a little bit. it's a lot. But I think you get the picture here, and that is that you're seeing a dose-dependent effect here, right? And that always strengthens the data. There's also studies with adult men showing, again, bisphenol A is associated with lower testosterone levels. You know, at the end of the day, that's obviously like a correlation data. You're saying, well, higher levels of bisphenol A is associated
Starting point is 00:07:02 with lower testosterone. We don't really know if that's causing it, right? Maybe they're just all the sort of packaged foods and stuff that people are eating are, you know, the chemical BP is leached into that. And so you're getting an association when it's really the packaged foods and all that. And so you can't ignore that fact that, you know, plastics. And when you're eating these, like, processed foods, they are packaged in plastic. And that stuff does leach into your food, particularly if the food is hot or acidic or fatty. That will cause the leaching of it even more.
Starting point is 00:07:36 But there are animal studies that have now shown causation. So you can then give, for example, rodents, minors. rodent mice, high levels of BPA, and yes, it decreases testosterone. It does the same thing with the sperm quality, the sperm quantity, like it goes down as well. And so there's a, there's a sort of causation that's established when you look at the totality of evidence. And then we have mechanisms. So I mentioned that, you know, the BPA and BPS, these are, these are xenoestrogens. They're binding to the estrogen receptor. They're also binding to the androgen receptor that affects testosterone. well, they also affect the aromatase enzyme as well.
Starting point is 00:08:13 And so you're just getting all these combining factors here showing that essentially these plastic associated chemicals are dropping testosterone. I mean, I think it's pretty at this point, just looking at the totality of evidence, it's pretty obvious that they are affecting our hormones. Well, we'll get into the plastics more as we go on. But it occurs to me that there's an interesting question to ask you
Starting point is 00:08:36 because, as you might know, one of the things we've explored on the show is cultural and political changes that have been happening in society for decades now. And I guess the obvious question is, is like, what would we expect to see in a society in which men's testosterone was dropping in this way? Like, what are some of the ways that might manifest itself? Well, I mean, there's a lot of, I would say, a lot of different health consequences of having lower testosterone. Obviously, one that people think of right out the gate is, you know, lower libido sex drive, right? like that's something that's affected. Cardiovascular disease is another one that's also like bone health, you know, brain, like your mental health as well.
Starting point is 00:09:14 I mean, these are all connected energy, right, lower energy. So, yeah, I mean, there are downstream consequences to having lower testosterone, everything from the brain to cardiovascular health to like, you know, sex drive, which is also very fundamental. But is also what I'm getting out is something else, which is also is it likely to be something that affects the way you view the world, the way you perceive politics or whatever, everything? I mean, you know, that's not really my area of expertise, but just sort of if I were to speculate, you know, I think that hormones very much affect the way we see the world, they affect the way we feel, they affect our mood. I mean, those things all affect our view on things, right? I mean, if we're feeling anxious, I mean, low testosterone does cause anxiety.
Starting point is 00:10:04 If we're feeling anxious all the time, that's going to affect our view and outlook on a variety of different topics, right? I mean, that's pretty obvious. I wouldn't say that I'm an expert in that. You could talk to a psychologist or something, but it seems pretty obvious to me that it would affect, you know, people's viewpoint just knowing that it's pretty fundamental to brain function. But yeah, back to the chemicals, like I talked about BPA and BPS, and those aren't the only ones that are affecting testosterone. It's just one of the barrage of chemicals that we're ingesting, you know, on a daily basis. Another really important one is phthalates. Have you guys heard of phthalates? Not.
Starting point is 00:10:45 So, thalates are something that are often, they're found in a lot of plastics. They're added to, like, PVC piping to soften them a little bit. So they're obviously in the pipes that our tap water is running through. And this is global. I mean, it's not just in the United States. They're in a variety of, you know, food packaging items as well. But they're also in personal hygiene products. So they're in shampoos, shaving cream, lotion, makeup, hair products.
Starting point is 00:11:16 You know, women are definitely consuming a lot of these through their hygiene products, but men as well. and they're disguised under the word parfume or fragrance are the two things that will, it's a proprietary sort of blend of things, and phallates will be in there to sort of extend the half-life of the fragrance, like to make it smell good for a longer period of time. Well, phallates disrupt testosterone on multiple levels, one, in the testes. So they actually directly, I talked about the androgen receptor with BPA. well, thallates are directly disrupting testosterone production in the testes, and they're affecting, you know, the hypothalamic, so the HPG access, the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis. This is the axis that's regulating our hormone production. They're affecting that as well. And phallates are also associated with lower testosterone at like every stage of life. It's really important for development that you're having, you know, normal testosterone.
Starting point is 00:12:19 And women that are pregnant that have high phthalate levels, for whatever reason, either they're consuming it through their water, or it could be coming, the phthalates could be coming from their personal hygiene products. But essentially, it's really important to realize that pregnant women that have high phthalate levels are dramatically more likely to have sons that have a variety of different sexual development problems. So for one, they have undescended testicles. So these are, you know, the testicles aren't coming. They don't drop down like they're supposed to. This is a big problem. It causes fertility issues later in life, but a big thing it does is it dramatically,
Starting point is 00:12:56 it's probably the number one factor that plays a role in testicular cancer in like young, young adults, young adult males, undescended testicles, the biggest factor that plays a role in testicular cancer. So that's more likely to happen. Hypospadia, which is the basically the slit on the ureth on the penis is like further back.
Starting point is 00:13:17 And so that's also distrously and then the ano genital desk distance, the distance from the anus to the penis is like smaller. All these things affect fertility. They affect testosterone. I mean, this is, they're, again, affecting testicular cancer. So very, very important. This all comes down to thallates, but even later in life, again,
Starting point is 00:13:40 the thallates are associated with lower testosterone in adolescence. And also there's large, very, very large studies. These are nutritional and health surveys that are done in the United States. They're called the Enhanes studies. You know, we're talking hundreds of thousands of people and participants in these studies. Men with higher level of thallates have much lower levels of testosterone. So again, we're seeing this trend of these chemicals that are put into plastic. They're put into our personal hygiene products.
Starting point is 00:14:06 And they're affecting hormone levels. And so I think that's, it's just a, it's a recurring trend. There's other environmental factors as well that are affecting testosterone. I think some of the glyphosate, you know, is, is, is, is, is a recurring trend. some of the glyphosate, you know, is, is known to as well. I'm, I don't know that literature as well, but the plastic chemicals, I think, you know, they're endocrine disruptors. They're fundamentally affecting hormones. It's pretty obvious to me that is a culprit in the declining testosterone levels and also affecting just basically hormones, right? Estrogen and testosterone, both,
Starting point is 00:14:39 androgens. So not just testosterone. Going into this year, I told myself I was finally going to stop guessing about my health. Like most people, I want more energy, better focus, and to be still strong and sharp years from now. But every time I've gone to the doctor, I walk out with basically nothing. Everything's fine. Drink more water, sleep a bit more. No real insight, no plan, just vibes. That's why superpower stood out to me. Superpower makes it simple to actually understand what's going on inside your body. You do one blood draw either at home or in a nearby lab, and they analyze over 100 biomarkers, that's heart health, hormones, metabolism, vitamins, minerals, and even environmental toxins. What I love is that you don't just get numbers. You get a personalized
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Starting point is 00:18:31 you're doing it beautifully. It makes me think, as I listen to you, that this is a public health crisis. It's totally a public health crisis. Oh, my God. It's like time to wake up. You know, I mean, the problem is we can't see these chemicals. We don't really smell them or not.
Starting point is 00:18:49 It's just, they're just insidious. They're there, I know. They're in our water. They're in our drinking water. They're in our food that we're eating. They're in our personal hygiene products. And every day, every day we're being exposed to them. It's a public health crisis.
Starting point is 00:19:07 And, you know, yes, I get that there's other important public health issues to focus on, like, obesity. Like, that's a big crisis, right? Let's, let's be real. Like, that's a big crisis. But this is also a crisis, and I think it's just getting worse. And it is affecting our hormones, although obesity does also affect our hormones as well. It is something that we need to pay attention to. And we need, I think we just need more focused on it from, from, you know, everything from a public health standpoint, we need, we need our politicians to maybe help intervene here, like, more regulations. Like, maybe we shouldn't just be having, be able to have all these plastic chemicals, you know, so readily put in our products in, you know, children's toys and children's, you know, stuff that they're putting their mouths and stuff
Starting point is 00:19:57 and chewing on, all that stuff. Because we've done numerous interviews with demographers, and they're talking about there's a population crisis in the West and across the developed world. And look, there's societal factors for that and et cetera. But you're looking at, you're going declining testosterone. You know, men are going to be more anxious. They're going to be less fertile. They're going to want sex less. You go, this is a recipe for disaster when it comes to declining birth rates, isn't it?
Starting point is 00:20:24 And it's not just men. These chemicals are affecting female reproduction as well. In fact, there have been studies showing that BPA, bisphenol A, that plastic compound, it's associated with women that are undergoing in vitro fertilization. If they have high BPA levels, it reduces their success rate by 50%. Wow. 50%. It also, egg quality is reduced.
Starting point is 00:20:48 So we're talking about exactly on a very fundamental level it is affecting human life, right? Our ability to procreate. So, and, you know, both on the male and the female side. And these chemicals are, like I said, they're everywhere. heat really speeds up the process of it coming into our water, into our beverages, into our food, because the oxidation, it's like almost
Starting point is 00:21:14 time passing, you know, it takes a lot of time for oxidation, but when you heat it up, you're oxidizing it really fast. And so you're getting just orders of magnitude more of these chemicals and plastics and stuff in your food. And that's why the to-go coffee mugs are such a big in my mind, it's like, why haven't we solved this problem? all these cardboard plastic mugs are lined with these plastic, you know, lining to prevent the beverage from leaching and breaking down the cardboard. But you can use other things. You can use polylactic acid from sugar cane to do that. It's more expensive. But like, you know, this needs to be done because adding the heated beverage to these, you know, plastic lining is the worst thing you can do in terms of plastics getting into your beverage, but also these chemicals. These chemicals are really getting into the beverages. BPA, there is a pretty short half-life.
Starting point is 00:22:04 It's like a couple of hours, two to three hours. But the problem is we're constantly exposed to it, just constantly, constantly. It's always in our body. There are ways that we can get rid of BPA. Some does come out of sweat. Mostly we're getting rid of it through our urine. So if you exercise or you're using the sauna, you can excrete a little bit more BPA through sweat. But that's not the major root of excretion of this.
Starting point is 00:22:30 compound. It's actually through urine. And so there is an argument to be made to increase your consumption of a certain compound called sulfurophane, which is found in, it's found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, you know, cabbage, that whole family. All the sexy, all the sexy greens. I know, all the ones that taste so good. It's really high in actually broccoli sprouts, which is the young broccoli plant. And in fact, there's like 100 times more. more of the precursor of sulfurophane in it. So sulfurophane's actually formed once the plant is crushed or like chopped or something. By the way, it's actually a plant insecticide.
Starting point is 00:23:10 So the reason the plant makes this is because it's trying to ward off insects. And so when we consume it, you know, we're chewing it. And that's when we make, that's when the plant actually makes the sulfurophane. But sulfurophane activates these enzymes that are involved in excreting BPA and other harmful compounds that were exposed to like benzene from air pollution. And it will, for example, in benzene, in the case of benzene, it increased the excretion by 60% after just 24 hours. And again, this is like benzene's a carcinogen. It's found in air pollution, cigarette smoke. The same enzymes that get rid of benzene are getting rid of BPA and BPS and phallates.
Starting point is 00:23:50 And so there's a case to be made to eat your broccoli sprouts or supplement with a good high-quality sulfurane supplement. I mean, obviously you want to try. to avoid, you know, like I don't like to drink out of plastic bottles, you know, but, but there's a case we made to, you know, supplement with this sulfur-fane supplement as well. Here's the thing, though, on the plastic bottles thing, I don't know if you saw this. There was something that went viral the other day when they did test on glass bottles and they found they actually have more plastics in them because of the lids. Yes.
Starting point is 00:24:17 Is that true? I'm so glad you brought this up. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. So there have been, that wasn't the only study, by the way. There have been other studies that have done that have measured. So now we're talking about microplastics. We were talking about the chemicals associated with those plastics.
Starting point is 00:24:30 But part of the problem with microplastics is they are a vector for these chemicals and they're in your body. Right. So microplastics range in size from like five millimeters, which is like the size of a grain of rice to like 100 nanometers, which is like a thousand times smaller than a grain of sand. So they're very, very, you know, wide ranging. Size does matter. And that's why I'm bringing this up.
Starting point is 00:24:51 Size does matter. This is going to be a great clip, right? You go, size matters. The bigger of the place. The plastics, the better, the better, actually. So sizes matter. So the study did look at microplastics that were shed in the beverage from plastic bottles or glass bottles. And as you said, shockingly, the glass bottles had more particles of microplastics than the plastic bottles.
Starting point is 00:25:15 However, the size of the microplastics, because these microplastics were coming from the lid, as you mentioned, they're coming from the paint on the lid. they were larger in size. Why is that important? Because the larger microplastics, less readily are absorbed in our gut than the smaller ones are. So you're much better off still drinking more quantity of larger microplastics than smaller quantity of the smaller ones, because the smaller ones are very, very problematic. Those are the ones that are getting into our gut and getting absorbed into our bloodstream. Once they're in our bloodstream, they're accumulating in organs,
Starting point is 00:25:54 and then we can talk about the damage they're doing there. I sort of feel like we've kind of got a deal either way. Like, why are we drinking all this stuff in the first place? I mean, I think the companies that are making these glass, whether it's a beer bottle or my mountain valley, you know, spring water that I like because it's in a glass bottle, they can actually take action and do something about the paint that's getting into the water, right?
Starting point is 00:26:18 like it's easy to like rinse off blow air like get this get get this stuff or don't use the paint like why do we need the paint like i don't need to paint on the lid i don't care like you know put it on the the glass part right not on the lid so um i do think that there can be action that's taken by the companies themselves but even at home like if you get open your glass bottle water you can rinse the lid off right too like so it's not continually shutting um but yeah i still i'm still drinking the glass bottled water versus the plastic You know, as you talk, I'm thinking more and more. So when I used to teach, I saw year upon year, more and more kids get diagnosed with ADHD, more and more kids get diagnosed with autism. And I was looking at these kids and going, are we just over-diagnosing? Is there something literally in the water? Is there a connection between conditions like ADHD, autism and also other conditions as well, and these microplastic?
Starting point is 00:27:17 Yes, there is. And yes, it is something in the water. It's called microplastics and the chemicals associated with them. Obviously, there is a increased awareness and people are, you know, aware more. And I do think it's overdiagnosis. I mean, like, kids are being diagnosed with ADHD. Boys are being diagnosed with ADHD. And really, they're just boys, right?
Starting point is 00:27:39 I mean, they're just boys. So that's, aside from that issue, there are studies that have now linked, again, back to the bisphenol. BPA and BPS, they've linked that to autism and ADHD. So there have been studies with pregnant women that have the highest levels of BPA in their urine. They're six times more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism by the age of 11 than women with the lowest levels of BPA. I'm citing this one study because the statistic is shocking,
Starting point is 00:28:14 six times more likely. That's a very shocking number. but I just want to sort of emphasize that there's not just one study showing this correlation. This is just the big statistic number of correlation. There's multiple studies showing this correlation between higher levels of BPA and increased autism risk. There's also animal evidence. So if you give pregnant female mice BPA, if you make them exposed to the BPA, they also are more likely to have pups that are, you know, as much as you can, you know, correlate. this autistic like behavior in these pups,
Starting point is 00:28:49 that's what you're seeing in these pups, right? And again, this comes down to the disruption of hormones, and it's particularly during a very, very important time during development, brain development. And so I mentioned, you know, the aromatase enzyme. A lot of men are probably like, oh, aromatase, well, that's what causes my testosterone to be converted into estrogen, right? You do want some amount of estrogen.
Starting point is 00:29:16 I mean, biology is the way it is for a reason, right? And so you don't want to be disrupting this delicate balance between hormones. Things are supposed to be, you're supposed to have high levels of estrogen at certain points and periods of development. And it's actually, we were talking about this earlier, it's counterintuitive because, you know, BPA is inhibiting that aromatase enzyme. That aromatase enzyme is important for increasing estrogen, particularly during very specific moments of brain development.
Starting point is 00:29:43 And what happens is, is that estrogen is, is that estrogen is, very important for actually masculinizing the male brain. It's counterintuitive, but it's pretty, pretty well known that estrogen plays a role in actually masculinizing the male brain. And so when you're not getting those estrogen surges during brain development, what happens is the connectivity of the brain, the wiring of the brain, the structure of the brain isn't quite right. And so that's, you know, playing a role in, at least that's what's thought to partly play a role in the increase autism risk in women that are having these, you know, high exposures to BPA. And then again, like I said, you know, it's something that's been shown in replicated in animal
Starting point is 00:30:26 studies, which is nice. Again, going to that totality of evidence when you're like, okay, I'm looking at the epidemiological observational data with the correlation that doesn't equal causation, but now I have a mechanism here. I know that the mice are also that are exposed to it. We see the same thing. And then we look at the genetic data. And if you look at genetic data in boys that have dysfunctional aromatase enzymes, guess what? They're much more likely to be diagnosed with autism, especially if they also have an environmental insult. So there's this gene environment interaction when you're already sort of vulnerable and then you add in that insult and you just, you know, get that plastic chemical. So any sort of aromatase function that they, that they were having
Starting point is 00:31:03 as low as it was, now is like worse, right? And so that's like that double whammy sort of effect. That's also known to be, to play a role in autism as well. And then there's some interesting data on actually children with autism, this is really interesting. They are, they have some sort of dysfunctional mechanism in excreting BPA. So children with autism oftentimes have like 15 times higher level of BPA than non-autistic children. And it has to do with like the excretion pathway I was talking about. And it's really, really interesting because that so this is all connected, that sulfurphane supplement that I was telling you about. So this is, this is, this is extract. from broccoli sprouts, the richest source of that compound, right? That sulfurophane compound has been
Starting point is 00:31:50 now used in two different clinical studies, placebo-controlled trials, one with children with autism spectrum disorder and one with adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. And they were given this sulfurane compound or a placebo. And the children that got the sulfurane compound, it improved, you know, the whole battery of tests that they do for the autism, you know, array of tests that they do to look at, you know, improvements and symptoms. And so it was in two studies that it was shown to improve. And again, I mentioned that sulfurphrine, it helps excrete BPA,
Starting point is 00:32:23 kind of interesting that the autistics are having such high levels of BPA. And BPA also is disrupting the hormones, right? Disrupting the hormones, causing oxidative stress and stuff. So I thought that was a very interesting connection between sort of all these pieces of the puzzle that we're talking about, like the plastic chemicals, the BPA, the hormone,
Starting point is 00:32:43 disruption and then the autism. And by the way, ADHD is another one that's associated with BPA levels as well. So it's all linked. And, you know, there's a lot of underlying, I would say there's a lot of common denominators between ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. I'm like, there's so many different commonalities between the two. I mean, that's why it's a spectrum, right? You know, and I really truly believe that, first of all, that there's overdiagnosis, particularly with ADHD. I think that's, that's, you can't ignore it. I mean, we were talking about, studies that I, you know, read a few years ago where boys that were born in July and August, you know, these are the youngest in the class, are three to four times more likely be diagnosed
Starting point is 00:33:23 with ADHD. There's nothing about being born in July or August that makes you have ADHD. You're just the younger boy. And so you're moving around more. You're, you know, the teachers are comparing you to the girls or to the older kids that are a little more school ready, right? That's crazy to me because, you know, we talked about this. I have a three-year-old. and I take him to football, soccer, you'd call it, every weekend. And if whenever there's an older child there who's been brought by a sibling or something like, you go, the level of distractability in these two groups of humans is so vastly different. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:56 And boys and girls are so vastly different. It's become the controversial thing to say, but they are. Oh, yeah. Very different. To compare them on things like distractability, ability to concentrate and then go, well, one has a, It's not to say there isn't ADHD, it's just it seems like if you start telling these myths about how we're all the same and ignoring certain realities, you're going to end up in a bad place in that way. Right. No, I mean, obviously there is such a thing as ADHD, but, you know, the fact of the matter is is that it's, the kids are not just meant to sit still for so long, especially when they're younger. and it does make it easier on the teacher
Starting point is 00:34:37 to have kids that just sit still and pay attention. So to some degree, and I don't want to blame teachers because they're doing amazing jobs, but to some degree, maybe they're not even aware of it. Maybe they're not even aware of the fact that they're comparing them.
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Starting point is 00:37:32 8851948. That's 866 8868811948. Or go to Americanfinancing.net slash trigonometry. Not loving your AT&T or T mobile bill? Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot. Good news. Bring your AT&T or T mobile bill to Verizon and we'll give you a better deal. So get away from that unfortunate phone bill and get to Verizon. Run, ride, canoe. Whatever it takes, we'll be here. Bring your AT&T or T mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal on the best network. A better deal. No surprises. That's Verizon. Best network based on root metrics, best overall mobile network performance U.S. second half 2025. All rights reserved. It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person who gave me the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. Back to the environmental chemicals and to your question, you know, they are definitely playing a role.
Starting point is 00:38:19 We have the data to back up. We have the mechanism. You know, we have animal evidence. Just all the things pointing to it. And, you know, I don't think it's the only thing playing a role in autism and ADHD. I think the reality is playing a role. I think other environmental, you know, chemicals. Because there's genetics, right. Genetics is a massive fact. There's definitely genetics. And I think the genetics is like the template. It like sets you up for the environmental insults that we're all exposed to now that make those individuals more vulnerable. And that's what we've seen with this aromatase enzyme data. Whereas like the boys that have the defects in this aromatase are much more vulnerable to the environmental insults.
Starting point is 00:39:01 And so I think that, you know, the genetics you can't ignore, but it's really an interaction between the genetics and the environment. And if you can, there's some degree that you don't have control over your genes, right? I mean, you know, obviously there's futurism stuff where you're going to, you know, be mating with the people and you're going to be looking at your genes and doing all that. But like, that's not where we're at right now, right? There's only so much control you have over your genes. But you do have control over is what you put in your body, what you're,
Starting point is 00:39:31 exposed to, I mean, to some degree, right? Like, we were talking about, I mean, like, you know, you don't even, you don't even realize that your to-go coffee cup is like a BPA factory. I mean, every time you, I can't even think about how many, like, hot teas. And by the way, we got to talk about tea, but, like, you know, the hot coffees and stuff. That is sacrilegious on a British show. I, we're going to talk about tea. You're going to ruin tea. I'm going to ruin tea, but only tea bags, tea and tea bags. Oh, my wife is so on to this, go on. Yes, yes. Because there have been studies now showing that the tea bags themselves, particularly the ones that are like the pyramid-shaped ones, like the bougie teas.
Starting point is 00:40:09 Billions of microplastics. And remember, remember the microplastics have these chemicals associated with them. Billions like being released into your cup of tea. Even the, even the ones made of cellulose are releasing microplastics. So you have to use loose-leaf tea. Or, I mean, you can look for, there's some tea brands that are market. themselves as plastic-free or microplastic-free, I don't trust it. I go for loose-leaf. And if I can't get loose-leaf at a restaurant, I ask them forgive me fresh
Starting point is 00:40:39 mint and lemon, and I just use that as my tea because... So the question is this. From a political point of view, the evidence that you've outlined seems rock-solid. So from a political point of view, autism is at the forefront. We've seen RFK Jr. talk about it. We've seen the conversation that has been had around Tylenol. And you go, this seems far more rock solid in terms of its evidence than Tylenol does. So why aren't we talking about this? I don't know. We need to be talking about this.
Starting point is 00:41:10 We really do. Yeah, there is evidence of acetaminophen and, you know, the problem. And I've been looking, by the way, I've been interested in this evidence, like, for the last 10 years. You can, like, go back and search X, and I've, like, been tweeting about it, like, at least eight years ago. I was tweeting about acetamethin link to ADHD and autism. So I was interested in it before it became a political issue, just because I've published on autism. I've been very interested in autism for many years.
Starting point is 00:41:40 But I think that, you know, with the Tylenol link, and there is a link there, by the way. And it certainly seems to be more predominant in males than females, which I think confuses the data a little bit because then you'll see that female fetuses that have been exposed to Tylenol in utero, don't seem to be as vulnerable, but again, they're not as vulnerable in general to any of the environmental insults. And also as well, it's much more difficult to pick up autism and girls.
Starting point is 00:42:06 Girls are much better at masking. That's another thing. True, true. That's a very good point. Very good point. But, yeah, when it comes to tunnel, like, maternal fever is something that is also very well known to play a role in autism. So women that have a fever are much more likely to have a child with autism spectrum disorder. And so if you think about people that are taking Tylenol, they're also trying to reduce their fever. In fact, there's some interesting data out there that women that have a fever and take Tylenol actually have a lower risk of having a child with autism versus the woman that's taking the Tylenol every day because she has the headache or she has morning sickness. And it's the chronic use of it, you know, that I think is the more danger. The fever is like dangerous. So taking Tylenol for like a fever once or twice, you know, is actually, it's,
Starting point is 00:42:55 there's evidence showing that's beneficial, but it's the chronic use of Tylenol. When it comes to the plastic chemicals, I feel like the evidence is so strong. We have the animal evidence. We have the genetic evidence. We have the epidemiological evidence. I don't know why it's not being talked about more.
Starting point is 00:43:11 I'm genuinely, like, wanting this to be a discussion. So I'm glad that we're talking about it because I think it needs to be discussed. I think it needs to be, you know, the thing is that it's also hard to give, rid of, it's much easier to tell a woman, hey, don't take Tylenol every day while you're pregnant. BP's in everything. It's so much more pervasive and ubiquitous in our culture and in everything that we're eating and putting in our bodies and our drinking water, that it's harder to
Starting point is 00:43:44 solve that problem. Do you think, and this is maybe the conspiratorial part of me, is it as well, government's going, I don't want to open this can of worms? Because once we open the can of worms, then big business, and my donors are going to get upset, and, you know, profits are going to go down. I'm going to be the bad guy, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, I've thought about that. I've thought about that. I'm like, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but like, I've thought about why isn't this being discussed? And it's only, to me, the only solution that I've come up with is because it is in everything. And so how do you, how do you fix that? It's hard to fix. So that being the case. And And, you know, we haven't seen that politicians act quickly or effectively lately.
Starting point is 00:44:28 So in terms of what we have left as individuals, what are some of the key steps that we should all be taking, in your opinion, to reduce our exposure to this stuff? Yes. I think there are some very, there are some heavy hitters here that can make a big difference, get you a big bang for your buck. And this is also in terms of microplastic exposure. Again, microplastics have their own problems and they have the chemicals that they're carrying with them.
Starting point is 00:44:54 but one of the first and foremost things that people should do is get a water filter. The best one you can get is a reverse osmosis water filter. You can get a countertop one. That filters out 99% of microplastics and it's filtering out bisphenol A, bisphenol S, the phallates, the forever chemicals, PFS. It's filtering out all those chemicals that are endocrine disruptors that are disrupting hormones that are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism. spectrum disorder like ADHD. So a countertop one is an easy solution for people. You can get a
Starting point is 00:45:29 whole house one as well. The caveat there is reverse osmosis does filter out everything, including trace elements and minerals that we actually want in our water. And so you can add those back with, you know, a mineral supplement or you can get these little mineral drops to add back to your water that have these trace elements, you know, like magnesium and these things that like, you know, you want in your water. And so that is also important to consider. Number one thing that you could do, easiest, easiest solution right there. You're going to be doing so much by doing that. The second thing, I would say, is avoid heating any kind of plastic, okay? Whether it's like your Tupperware, like get rid of any spatulas, all those plastic, anything that's plastic that's going to touch heat,
Starting point is 00:46:16 don't, don't do that. And I want to get to the coffee cups because that's the one you don't think about because it doesn't look like plastic. It's very tricky because they're lined with plastic. You have to like, I really want these companies like Starbucks and everyone to like start lining their cups with polylactic acid. You know, why not? You can. You can do it. I know blue bottle coffee does it. It's the only one that I know that does, but you can get sugar cane and line them. But like until then, bring your own mug or, you know, I don't know, stop drinking to go coffee because it's, it's, you're talking 55 fold more BP. into your beverage than if you were drinking just water from like plastic bottle, 55 fold.
Starting point is 00:46:58 The other thing is shift from drinking out of plastic water bottles as much as you can. And certainly don't let them sit out in the sun, you know, let them sit in your car because that's, that's again accelerating the breakdown of the plastic and the chemicals are going into the interior. But you say that, Rhonda, and then I think, well, look at the supply chain. And as supply chain, these are not always going to be perfectly chilled or room temperature. They're going to be thrown in a corner somewhere. They're going to get crushed. They're going to get heated up.
Starting point is 00:47:27 They're going to become warm. They're going to become cool and then warm again. Do you know what I mean? Yes, yes. When they're on the truck, they're in the summer. They're being transported to where. They're in the warehouse. They're sitting in a yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:39 The reality is don't drink out of the ball. Like, just get rid of the plastic bottles. Get rid of them. One thing we haven't talked about is tap water. Yes. Because the filter covers that, right? And what about hormones? Is there any truth to this idea that since the invention of the pill,
Starting point is 00:47:58 there's now more female hormones in the water supply? Have I just got that out of my ass? I mean, I, you know, there's, I think there's some places, maybe where you live where the top water is, you know. You can just say this is BS. I think the bigger problem is the BPA that's disrupting our hormones. Yeah. If you want to focus, if you want to be angry at something, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:21 that's what you should be angry about because that's actually what's disrupting our hormones. And it's really what's ubiquitous. So water filter, avoid coffee cups, avoid heating plastic, avoid plastic bubbles. Yeah, that's the, that's the major thing for the BPA. Now, microplastics, we're breathing them in, but like that. Okay. Anything else? For the, for the BPA. For everything, to do with plastics, microplastics. Yeah. I mean, yes. I would say that if we're talking about plastics on the whole, microplastics as well. So the major source is ingestion. And
Starting point is 00:48:56 I mentioned size matters. Well, it turns out fiber, dietary fiber also can help you excrete microplastics. So both, like, you've heard of, like, prebiotics and fermentable fiber, soluble fiber. It creates like a viscous gel in your gut and that encapsulates
Starting point is 00:49:12 plastic particles and moves them out through your feces. So you poop them out. So fiber is actually good for that reason. The other thing with the microplastics. So everything that I mentioned, reverse osmosis, water filter, not drinking out of plastic bottles, not heating them, all that also applies to microplastics because you're ingesting them. You're also ingesting microplastics in your food.
Starting point is 00:49:33 So you want to avoid, like, oceans are polluted with them. So you want to avoid eating like fish that have their intact gut and intestines like shellfish, you know, eating like shrimp or things like that because they're, the microplastics are accumulated in the intestines of the fish. I'm regretting doing this episode now. I love prawns. Yeah, prongs, exactly. Shrimp, yeah, as you call them.
Starting point is 00:49:54 But the other major source of microplastics is actually from the air we breathe. And so we are breathing in microplastics constantly, and that's also because we live in a plastic world. So, you know, tires, if you're in an urban place, that tires are made of rubber, but also a lot of plastic polymers. So the friction of, like, the tire is, like bringing it into the air. We have our clothes that are nice, cool, fancy clothes that we wear. microplastics are all in the clothes. So when we wash them, and they come out, they get in the ocean, but also the dryer.
Starting point is 00:50:27 They come out into our environment. So we're breathing these in, our shoes. I mean, just everywhere. Okay, it's in the air. And so when we breathe in the microplastics, they get into our lungs, which plays a role in respiratory disease, but also this is very disturbing.
Starting point is 00:50:45 Essentially, so have you guys heard about this study? This was done in Sao Paulo, Brazil. where they looked at a variety of different organs and microplastics in those organs, and it was found that microplastics accumulated in the brain 10 to 20 times more than other organs. They're essentially everywhere. They're in 100% of semen samples
Starting point is 00:51:04 that have been sample, like measured. They're in testicles. They're everywhere, placenta. But 10 to 20 times more in the brain, which is astounding, considering we have something called the blood-brain barrier that's supposed to not let stuff get into the brain, like micropastics, right? And so part of that is that the nanoplastics, the size matters.
Starting point is 00:51:23 So like the small ones are getting in. But the other part is that when we are breathing in microplastics, so we have something in our olfactory, in our nose called olfactory neurons. And those neurons have fibers that extend into our brain. And so essentially you breathe in the microplastics and they can get into the brain through the olfactory fibers and then get transported to other parts of the brain. A lot of scientists have sort of, I would say, They're using this method to deliver drugs to get past the blood-brain barrier because it's a way to get past it.
Starting point is 00:51:55 So essentially, you're breathing in microplastics and those are getting into the brain. There's studies now showing that people with Alzheimer's disease post-mortem if you look at their brain, they have 10 times more microplastics than post-mortem brain of people without Alzheimer's. So it's playing a role in Alzheimer's disease as well. So you want to air filter. This is what I'm getting to. An air filter. You want to like, you know, any kind of hepa filter, it can be, you know, it doesn't have,
Starting point is 00:52:19 have to be the fancy, like, really, like, medical grade ones. It can be any kind of heapilter. They really do work. I have a honey, honeywell heapilter in all the rooms in my bedroom. I also have an IQ air monitor that measures the particulate matter. And you can see the data. If you turn off the filter, the particulate matter goes up. And it's very, very obvious. Like, if I, if I'm traveling, I unplug everything. I don't, like, leave the filters running. And you look at the IQ where it's like, oh, it goes up. So an air filter is another thing that I would say is a simple solution with, in terms of getting rid of the microplastics that we didn't cover as well.
Starting point is 00:52:53 Rhonda, and there's been one thing that I read about that was very interesting, positively racist, which is black plastic, which is the worst type of plastic. It is. So black plastic, so there's another type of chemical called brominated chemicals. Brominated chemicals are a type of chemical that's flame retardant.
Starting point is 00:53:12 So flame retardants are often put in electronics because electronics, we don't want them starting fires, right? And so black plastic is often made from recycled electronics, hence the black color. And so these recycled electronics have the brominated chemicals in them. And there was a very famous study that was published in like 2018. I think it was like the University of Plymouth or something that published a study showed. They looked at a variety of black plastic articles. So everything from black spatulas to like spoons to like baby toys and found that they had 30 to 4.
Starting point is 00:53:48 40 times higher levels of these brominated chemicals, which, by the way, are known carcinogens, then is considered safe. And so black plastic is something you definitely want to avoid. I mean, have you ever ordered like a rotisserie chicken? And it's like the chicken's still hot, and the bottom of the thing is black. And remember, I told you, heat is accelerating the leaching of everything into your food, whether it's a brominated chemical or a BPA or a microplastic. it's all coming in and it's accelerating the process in real time.
Starting point is 00:54:21 It's almost like getting something that was like over the course of 10 years, this is leached into your, and it's just like minutes, right? Because that's what the heat does. It accelerates that oxidation process. So you want to avoid the black chemical, sorry, the black plastic as well. The black straw is like everything. The black stuff, it's not good, especially heating it. So get rid of all the black spatulas because that's like the worst.
Starting point is 00:54:43 The culprit is the heat plus the plastic. So that's also something. that's about, and that's associated with cancer, the brominated chemicals as well. And but it's also the pans as well, because let's talk about pans, because I never, like, when I was a kid, like, there was a pound had, we'd never had much money. Like, if there was a pound of a few scratches on it, who cares? I know, I know. Teflon. Yeah. So the Teflon, that, that's actually has forever chemicals in it. So we didn't talk about forever chemicals. They're called PFS. These, they're called forever chemicals because they last in our environment for like,
Starting point is 00:55:17 years. So they're in our bodies. I told you BPAs, half-life is about two to three hours. It's excreted through your urine. Forever chemicals, the PFS are in your body for like four to five years. So really a long time. These chemicals are added things to make them water repellent, stick, non-stick, oil resistant, stain resistant, all those things, right? And so you have these pans that are non-stick and you're heating them. I can't, I'm like, it's, it's, I probably have, Forever chemicals in me from like, you know, when I was a kid, right? Like, I remember my mom bought all that nonstick pan, you know, we were cooking with that. And so that's the worst thing that you can do is heat that nonstick pan because you're getting those PFS forever chemicals in you. And those are
Starting point is 00:56:02 also disrupting hormones. Those are also associated with cancer as well. So, yeah, also in their clothing, right? So anything that's if like water repellent clothing, I mean, that stuff is all forever chemical that you're getting into your skin and absorbing. The worst is. It's eating it though, the worst is eating it. And the forever chemicals are now, unfortunately, they're attracted to, they're lipophilic, so they're attracted to fat, and they're found in high fat foods. So it's been shown now that our water sources are contaminated with phallates. They're contaminated with forever chemicals. And so you have this sludge, this like, you know, this fertilizer that's used in, you know, farming and stuff. Even the organic farms are now
Starting point is 00:56:45 contaminated with forever chemicals and phthalates, which is in the sludge, and which have all these chemicals. And so the cows are eating it. And the way that the cows get rid of forever chemicals, not like us, we don't excrete it through our milk, but they get rid of it through their milk, their dairy. And so I don't know if you've, have you guys seen these studies that have been done where they've gone around, I've looked at milk, like organic, grass fed, like the thing that you think is the best, tons of forever chemicals in it because the cows are contaminated and
Starting point is 00:57:14 they're screening it through their milk. So dairy, milk, high fat butter, cheese. This all has the phallates and the forever chemicals because they're lipophilic and they're attracted to fat. And so now even our fat foods are like sources for these chemicals. This is probably why no one wants to address the issue. Because it's like, what do you, it's everywhere. It's like you have to do what you can.
Starting point is 00:57:35 I call it like, it's like imperfect avoidance. Because like you have to eat, you have to live, right? But like, do what you can to like reduce your exposure, whether it's the reverse osmosis filter, you know, getting the air filter, doing, not cooking with the teflon pans and not heating the plastic and not drinking it to go. All those things, do all those things.
Starting point is 00:57:56 Like, because you're going to be exposed to it. Like, you order takeout, you know, those, like, if you go to a bakery and it's like the tissue paper, that's all lined with forever chemicals. It's to prevent the grease. Or if you get foe, they give you a black plastic bowl. Oh, the fuzz is the worst. I can't tell you, like, during my 20s,
Starting point is 00:58:12 like, I love fa and I, like, take out fah. a plastic, you know, container. I mean, I know, like, it's like... And receipts. Oh, and receipts. Yes. Receipts are terrible. I have this funny story. Receipts? Yeah. Oh, yes. Well, like paper. Yes. Yes. Yes. What's wrong with receipt?
Starting point is 00:58:28 It's trapped, mate. Oh, my gosh. You haven't heard about this? No. So, so receipts are, you know, the printing that's on the receipt is done with thermal paper. And essentially the way that you're able to get the ink on, it's not ink. It's like the printing on it is, it's, it's, it's coated with BPA, coated with it. Bisfinali, that's stuff that we're talking about.
Starting point is 00:58:50 Now, the worst insult is ingesting it, but unfortunately, if you have any kind of cream on your fingers or, like, sanitizer everyone uses now, ever since COVID, like the hand sanitizer, everyone uses, that causes the BPA from the receipts to go into your circulation a hundredfold, a hundredfold. So you don't want to touch receipts. And if you're someone that's working in like,
Starting point is 00:59:13 your, you know, with a cash register or anything like that, you have to use nitrile gloves. Like, you don't want to be touching that every day. Latex gloves don't do it. It has to be nitrile, and latex doesn't filter out the BPA. But it's funny, I was in the San Diego airport, and this guy was there, and I just couldn't help myself because he was like, I saw him like the person in front,
Starting point is 00:59:34 giving him receipts, and he was giving all these people receipts. And finally, it came to me, and I come up with my Yeti glass, and I was like, hey, can you put my, like, latte in my Yeti, you know? And he's like, oh, yeah, because I didn't want the to go cup. And I was like, hey, by the way, you know, you shouldn't be handling those receipts because they're coded with BPA. I'm like, do you know what BPA is? And he goes, oh, yeah, something like endocrine. I was like, yes, it disrupts your hormone, testosterone.
Starting point is 00:59:58 And it's a funny story. I was in the airport. I was going on Chris Roller & Simpson's podcast, and I talked all about some of this stuff. And then I went, you know, I don't know, a month later, I was back at the same coffee place and he was there. And everyone working there, I told him to wear nitrile gloves. Everyone working there was wearing nitrile gloves. Nice. I know.
Starting point is 01:00:14 It was awesome. But, so that's kind of a funny story. Yeah. But receipts are terrible because they have the BPA. And like, I freak out if like my son somehow
Starting point is 01:00:22 will like get the receipt, get a hold of receipt, you know, because it's disrupting the hormones. And it's terrible. This conversation reminds me. Have you seen that seriously good place? No.
Starting point is 01:00:31 No? A long story, very short. But basically it's about people who end up either going to hell or to heaven depending on the total sum of their actions that they've taken throughout the course of life. Did they do good things or they do bad things? And what they find is a society gets technologically more sophisticated.
Starting point is 01:00:47 Everyone goes to hell because every decision now is so complicated and has so many trade-offs. So if you eat a tomato, some poor guy somewhere has had to grow that in some terrible circumstances. And it sort of feels like this with everything that we're consuming now. Well, like you're having to make choices between these two terrible options. Like either you drink out of a plastic bottle, that's really bad for you. You drink out of a glass bottle and that's just bad for you. You know, it's just so complex now. So I guess you haven't given us some like big hitters is where people should start,
Starting point is 01:01:19 really, isn't it? I think the big hitters is really, like I said, it's the water filter. If you can if you can just get water from your faucet and have a reverse osmosis filter on that, that's the best thing that you can do, travel around with your own, you know, to go with Yeti or whatever your favorite brand is, a hydroflask or something, and drink out of that water. That's one of the big things. and then just avoid the heating.
Starting point is 01:01:42 You know, those two things will make such a big difference in terms of your exposure because a lot of it is coming from our water and heating the plastic stuff that we're consuming, whether it's like to go coffee cups or to go food items as well. You know, I guess it's an argument to be made to like cook at home too, you know?
Starting point is 01:02:02 I mean, it really is because it's all in the restaurant industry. I mean, they're using all these, you know, containers and who knows what they're, are they using Teflon nonstick? Probably it's easier to cook with. I mean, much easier to cook scrambled eggs on a Teflon pan than like cast iron or something, right? So you just never know what you're getting when you're eating out as well. But I think at the end of the day, you know, obviously I don't think, I think there are other things that are very important to focus on with respect to health. But I think this is a topic that needs to be discussed because I do think it's affecting, it's affecting hormone levels, but it's affecting,
Starting point is 01:02:39 fertility and it's affecting neurodevelopment. And I think that is so important, you know, I think it's so important because we have all these insults and we have to try to like, at least do something as much as we can, you know, to help decrease some of that insults that's, that's really kind of affecting, like you said, our ability to procreate. I mean, that's crazy. It's kind of important. 50% reduction, you know, in sperm, in sperm production. over the last few decades. I mean, that's a lot. So. Well, thank you for ruining it everything that we used to love. Including tea.
Starting point is 01:03:16 Including tea. I mean, that really was a world block. And gum. And gum. And gum. Yeah, gum is gum base is made of plastic polymers. It wasn't before World War II, but after World War II, gum base is plastic polymer. So you have to look for microplastic free gum. That's another thing crossed off the list. I know, but and of course the plastic-free gum taste,
Starting point is 01:03:35 it's like it's made of like plant sap and stuff. And so the, the texture is awful. But yeah. There we go. Well, before we head on over to our substack where we ask you questions from our audience, thank you so much for being here. The last question we always end on is, what's the one thing we're not talking about other than plastics that we should be? I think a really important thing that we're not talking about that we should be is omega-3. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and seafood. They are hugely important for brain health and for overall health.
Starting point is 01:04:08 In fact, there's studies showing that, you know, if you can supplement with two grams, about 1.5 to 2 grams a day, people that have that high level of omega-3 that you can achieve with at 1.5 to 2 grams a day, have a five-year increased life expectancy, a 90% reduced chance of having sudden cardiac death. I mean, it's the easiest thing that you can do
Starting point is 01:04:31 is take a pill, and it really has a huge effect on depression, mental health. All these things are, affected by omega-3, neurodevelopment, very important. And it's, again, why do I think we should be talking about it? Because it's a simple solution. People like to take pills. And it's the one pill that really is having a big impact on not only your health, your overall health, your life expectancy, but your mental health as well. So I think that's something people should be talking about. And it's one of my favorite things to talk about. Awesome. All right. Head on over to
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