Why are ineffective oral decongestants still on store shelves?

Another week and another edition of the Wellness Talk podcast. I am George Batista, your host and your wellness advocate. Wellness Talk is a show that goes over the latest in health, healing, nutrition, and fitness. We've got a lot of information to share with you. We'll dive right into it. Today, first, we're going to start with an update on a program that I did a while back on decongestants. If you followed me for a while, you may have seen the podcast. If not, you can always look it up on the website. Basically I did a story on an ingredient called phenylephrine that's currently in decongestants that they found out doesn't work. Basically, part of the article was that the FDA was convening a committee to talk about it and to find out what they need to do regarding this ingredient. Well, there's a brand new update on this. This is from Cheryl Atkinson. It's going to be a video clip that I'm going to play and it's about six minutes long. I wanted to kind of shorten it, but I didn't because every part of that video is really pertinent to what I'm talking about. It kind of lays out the exact timeline of exactly what happened and what's going on. I think you guys really need to take a look at it. Basically, she does a great story on it. What's the update on it? What is going on with it? What the FDA says about it? Are they doing anything about this ingredient that's in many of the decongestants that does not work? Of course, you don't want to spend your hard-earned money on a decongestant, especially if you're dealing with allergies or colds and things like that, to have an ingredient that actually doesn't work for you, right? So I'm going to play that clip for you and it really, you know, I think you're really gonna, you know, get a lot of information out of this, but it's also good for the consumer because again, something you really don't want to waste your time or money on. So something to look out for. Then from there, brand new information on a spice that has existed for thousands of years. And that spice of course is turmeric. I've talked about turmeric and or its ingredient that's in turmeric or cumin many, many times on this show. So brand new information is from wellness resources and this is entitled turmeric is a gold mine for women's, men's and colon health. So we're going to dive into turmeric, why it's great for women's health, men's health and specifically colon health and why you should be taking a look at turmeric in your regular protocol, where you can get it. Of course, what's the best turmeric to take a look at? Of course, you know, I go over all that stuff for you. So a lot of information there for you. Then from there, another great piece from wellness resources, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy this one. This is body trivia, discover the amazing facts about your body. So this one is really laid out. I think there's going to be a lot of fun. So they're going to, they're going to go over many different questions that you may have on the human body and the answers. And I think you're going to find a lot of interesting facts about the human body that you may not know. So we'll go through them. It's going to be kind of a question and answer thing. And I'll kind of put my two cents on, on each of them. So, but I think, again, I think you guys are really going to enjoy this because I think you're going to come away from this with a lot of interesting information, facts you may not have known and facts that you can actually use in your health journey, things that you can use just in your everyday life in terms of, uh, you know, general health. So, uh, so that's what we got for you today. A lot of course, amazing information for you as always, every week, of course, go to georgebautista.com. 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Then the next question is, okay, well, the FDA was contacted regarding this. What are they doing about it? And are they taking any action on this? So interesting clip on this. Again, this is about a six-minute clip. So I know it's a little bit longer, longer than most of the clips that I normally do. I wanted to shorten it a little bit, but you really need to see the whole thing, basically, in order to get all the information on it. So check out this information on phenylephrine and decongestants. Tens of millions of Americans suffer from nasal and sinus congestion, and turn to medicine you can buy on store shelves without a prescription. But it turns out they may be a big waste of money, because these are not your daddy's decongestants. The active ingredient has been switched out for one that by nearly every account doesn't work. Today, the inside story. The first thing you should know is that decongestants with the same brand name may contain two completely different active ingredients. And by nearly every account, one of them doesn't work. It was no different than taking a placebo for a stuffy nose. To help tell this story, we turned to Leslie Hendelis, a doctor of pharmacy and professor emeritus at the University of Florida. The two ingredients we're talking about are pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine. Most decongestants before 2006 contained pseudoephedrine, which works. But after 2006, most changed to phenylephrine, which doesn't work, according to experts. Hendelis' role in the scandal began more than 30 years ago, after he did research for an article on decongestants. And in that article, I commented that this phenylephrine was not an effective drug. America switched from the ingredient that worked to the one that doesn't, was made around 2007 because the original products were being abused by meth users and drug dealers. So there was a point in time during which the ingredient that is widely agreed upon works well was being abused by people who make illegal meth or methamphetamines. Correct. So that's why Congress passed a law, the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, that requires pseudoephedrine to be behind the counter. A version of the decongestants remained available on regular store shelves, but switched to the allegedly ineffective active ingredient. Most people probably didn't know about the switch, but may have noticed their tried and true cold medicine no longer worked. After the law was passed and pharmacists had to move the pseudoephedrine behind the counter, patients were buying the products that had phenylephrine in it and then complaining to the pharmacist that it didn't work. The University of Florida's Drug Information Center started getting a relative flood of calls from pharmacists and doctors asking about the medicine. Hendelus and a colleague, Doctor of Pharmacy Randy Hatton, collaborated. Hatton got copies of the original studies the FDA used decades ago to approve phenylephrine. And he analyzed that, the data, and his analysis showed that it wasn't effective, even the data that the FDA had. The pharmacist duo decided something should be done about what they discovered. When we published a paper, we brought this to FDA's attention and they ignored it. What year was that? 2006 or 7. When they didn't do anything, we filed a citizen's petition. And in response to the citizen's petition, they called their outside advisory committee to look at the data. This is phenylephrine and this is pseudoephedrine. The FDA committee recommended studies to see if maybe the decongestants just needed to up the dose of the ingredient that didn't seem to work. One of the companies did actually do some studies at higher doses. And in a blinded study that looked at various doses, they found that even four times the maximum FDA-recommended dose was no different than placebo. Meantime, years passed and the FDA didn't act. Then in 2015, Hendelus and his partner wrote an editorial again questioning the effectiveness of phenylephrine. And they filed a second petition asking the FDA to take it off the market. And FDA sat on that petition for five or six years before doing anything. And in 2023, they had put together an internal scientific committee within the FDA to look at all of this data. And that committee determined that the drug wasn't effective and we were right. And so they then called another advisory committee meeting in September of 2023. And these outside advisors, none of them had any conflict of interest. Judged that the FDA was correct and we were correct that it was not effective. And they still haven't done anything about it. Hendelus says he personally contacted the FDA to find out why. And I contacted the head of the non-prescription drug division and she gave me ice in the winter. She said that they were looking into it, but they haven't acted. I suspect that there's a problem because it's in 261 products. And I think the lobbying group for the manufacturers of non-prescription drugs probably has pushed back on the FDA's determination that it wasn't effective. The industry lobby group says phenylephrine is a safe and effective decongestant and that the FDA advisory committee is at odds with the numerous clinical trials. For now, Hendelus says two things that do work for cold and allergy stuffiness are nose sprays with phenylephrine or steroids. And if you think your store shelf bought decongestant isn't working, it's not your imagination. Hendelus says there are other common non-prescription products with the same MO and that Congress should examine the broken FDA system that allowed them on the market and keeps them there. All right, guys. So this is interesting, right? So the question of the day is what is the FDA going to do about it? Because obviously they have done nothing yet. So obviously this is an issue. And this goes back into the trust factor, right? Number one, if you're going to spend your hard-earned money on a decongestant or any kind of over-the-counter medication, you want to make sure that the ingredient in there works, right? That the ingredient's been tested and that it actually works. And the fact that it's been brought to the FDA's attention, they've actually convened panels on this and they've done nothing yet. It's a little sketchy for me, you know? So, you know, I just wanted to bring this to you guys' attention. For those of you who are dealing with allergies, dealing with any kind of sinus issues, you know, congestion and all this type of stuff, you need to know what you're buying. You need to know what's on the label. You need to know what the ingredients are and if they work. Now, obviously there's a lot of things you can do on the natural side. And I understand, you know, as a person who's dealt with sinus congestion, you know, for many years in his life, as a person who's dealt with allergies and bronchitis and all these types of things, I completely understand the issue of dealing with congestion and having congestion with you for weeks and wanting to get rid of it and not being able to sleep and all these types of things. Completely understand that. Been through it, been there and done that. But you know what? I fixed it. Took me years to fix this, but I fixed it. Okay. And how did I do it? I used the natural remedies. I use the natural side. What did I use? I use quercetin, large amounts of quercetin, right? Quercetin is a supplement that you find in apples and oranges and the peels and these types of things. You know, it's an antioxidant, but it's great. It's great for mast cell reduction. It's great as a natural antihistamine. I also used vitamin C. Okay. And I also used antioxidants. I lowered my sugar. I changed my diet. I did all these things. And doing that over time enabled me to little by little. And again, this wasn't, you know, this wasn't over or, you know, overnight, this was a few years of this. I was able to literally get rid of my allergies. And this is a fact. Okay. And I'm not saying it's going to work the same for every single person, but even if you want to lessen the effects of these things, these are things that you can do on your own. Okay. Now, again, you know, obviously you want to take a look at your labels. You want to take a look at anything over the counter and make sure that those ingredients are working for you. So again, something to take a look at. Of course, I'm going to be staying on top of this, making sure that, you know, I get updates. And of course, if I find updates on this to see what the FDA has done, if they have done anything on this, I will make sure I let you guys know, because I don't want you guys to feel like you're wasting your time on this show. I want to make sure that you guys are updated as always. So that's the update on that. And we'll see what they do going forward. All right, guys, next, I'm going to talk about turmeric. And again, this is from wellness resources. Great article on this brand new information. This is turmeric is a gold mine for women's men's and colon health. Of course, turmeric has been used for thousands of years. You know, I've talked about turmeric many, many times on this program. So let's dive into it and exactly what the latest science on this is. So, of course, you know, turmeric has been known, you know, especially the spice and turmeric curcumin as well, or the ingredient in the spice turmeric has been known for, you know, great for joints, anti-inflammatory, for gut health, for heart health, for fat burning, for, you know, all these types of things. They're still finding new things that turmeric and or curcumin is good for. Plus, obviously the spice is great for cooking. A lot of people use it for cooking. So let's talk about women's health. Okay. So turmeric's effects on women's hormonal concerns was recently evaluated in a double blind placebo controlled trial. So the results show that women who consume turmeric supplements experience positive hormonal changes with DHEA and an adrenal steroid hormone and insulin resulting in a healthy balance. So it was, it was turmeric supplements combined with DHEA and insulin. They had great results in, you know, healthy hormonal changes in women's balance. And this is this great stuff. Also turmeric is a natural option for weight management, because it actually has been shown to be to help with appetite control. And it turns out that turmeric is a natural GLP-1 supporter. We all know the GLP-1s. I've talked about them many times on this show. We all know Ozempic, right? It acts on that GLP-1, uh, you know, protein and all that type of stuff. And basically what it was to do, it keeps you fuller longer. This is why you get the weight loss effect when you use Ozempic and those types of, uh, medications. Well, turmeric helps to support, uh, the GLP-1, uh, as well. Okay. Great information on this. So those of you who may want to look at things in a more natural way, as far as weight support, turmeric can assist in that. It also, uh, helps to increase the natural secretion of this satiety hormone. Okay. And aids in metabolism and hormonal changes natural. Now there was another interesting study that uncovered a relationship between turmeric and vitamin D. In this women's hormonal health study, participants received turmeric before and during their menstrual cycle for 10 days over the course of three months. The study results showed that turmeric helped with menstrual cycle comfort, but also help raise their vitamin D levels. Now that's something that's very, very interesting. That's actually something that I didn't know. So apparently turmeric helps with the raising of vitamin D levels. This is great because now you get a two in one, especially for the women out there who are dealing with, you know, bad menstrual cycles each month. So turmeric not only helped with that, but also at the same time helped to keep their vitamin D levels at good, good ranges. This is great, especially if we're going into the winter months, right? Uh, you know, you want to make sure you get your vitamin D levels at, you know, at good optimal range. Again, two in one for turmeric here. Great stuff. Turmeric also helps to provide support benefits for post-menopausal women as well. Turmeric, when combined with exercise, supports heart health and the vascular endothelial lining, despite the natural decline in estrogen. Now we know post-menopausal women have a natural decline in estrogen, right? That's known, which actually raises their risk of endothelial dysfunction. And it actually raised their risk of heart attacks, right? Actually makes them more on par with men in terms of raising their risk of cardiac issues, this type of thing. Well, turmeric obviously is being shown in combination with exercise to help keep your endothelial lining in great shape. We all know that your endothelial lining, especially in the blood vessels of the heart, need to be in great shape, right? To secrete nitric oxide, to keep your blood vessels, you know, flowing and keep them nice and fresh, right? Keep them expanding and contracting. And that lessens your risk of a heart attack. Great information on this. So, you know, something to take a look at. Now let's take a look at men's prostate health. So turmeric helps to protect against age-related decline and stresses to the prostate. Extensive studies on turmeric and prostate show several biological protective effects. Turmeric supports healthy function of cell signaling pathways that involve removal of old, worn out, and rogue cells. This is great because obviously if you're not getting rid of the old cells, you're not getting, you're not removing those worn out cells, those things can wreak havoc and actually, you know, cause stressors to the prostate. Also, a 2024 meta-analysis, the authors concluded that turmeric and or curcumin exhibited a superior inhibitory effect on men's prostate health. Great stuff. Another extensive review article outlined how turmeric supports several signaling pathways involved with management of rogue cells in men's and women's health. Turmeric down-regulated androgen receptor-dependent activity, as well as modulating the inflammatory signals, NF-kappa B, COX-BEL-2 and BEL-XL, and several other pathways that affect the repair or cell quality within the prostate gland. Great things because men obviously dealing with this as they're getting older, right? More of a tendency to deal with prostate issues, the enlargement of the prostate, dehydro testosterone, all this type of stuff. Well, turmeric helps to inhibit those inflammatory processes. In women's breast health also. Turmeric also inhibited the mTOR pathway, the NF-kappa B, and many other cell signaling pathways that lead to inflammation, helping to keep the body's natural managed rogue cells in check. So again, turmeric, great for women's health on the breast health side. Let's also take a look at colon health. Cell studies demonstrate that curcumin also affects several signaling pathways that led to the regulation of cell cycle proteins and mitochondria, transcription factors, cytokines, and hormonal activities in the colon. This is the detail stuff. This is the really, really down to the cell structure stuff here. This helps with cleanup of the damaged, injured cells and management of daily inflammatory reactions. Also, turmeric also supports the maintenance of intestinal lining integrity and gut microbiome modification. So, great keeping your colon in good health, keeping your intestines in good health from beginning to end. Great stuff here for turmeric and or curcumin. So, great stuff to look at. Obviously, brand new information on this. Obviously, if you want to add turmeric to your, you know, protocols that we talk about regularly on this show, you can take a look at Wellness Resources. They have great turmeric and or curcumin supplements. You can take a look at their turmeric gold. You can take a look at Repair Plus and Brain Protector. All contain great amounts of curcumin and or turmeric. So, check those out. Of course, you can check them out at MyVitaminResource.com. Again, it's MyVitaminResource.com if you want to take a look at those supplements. So, great information on turmeric. Again, a spice that has been used for thousands of years. Great healing properties. And we're just scratching the surface in terms of the health properties of turmeric. I'm sure more stuff is going to come out and the more they do studies on this. So, turmeric, something you should add to your toolbox. As always, make sure that you check that out. All right, guys. Next, we're going to get into some interesting factoids. This should be fun. This is from Wellness Resources. This is kind of a fun article that they put out there. It's Body Trivia. Discover the amazing facts about the body, right? I've talked about how amazing the body is on this show many, many times. And just the immense amount of things that it does. And there's things that it does that we still don't even know. But let's look at some interesting facts. We'll run through them here. And it's kind of like a question and answer segment. So, I think you'll find this interesting. So, first, how many cells make up the human body in a 150-pound adult? Well, the human body is an incredible complex system composed of approximately 30 trillion cells with about 200 different types of cells. Each cell type performs a unique function based on their size, shape, and makeup from your heartbeat to absorption of food, nerves, and glial cells, skin cells, and all of the functions of your body. Each cell has a unique defined purpose. Good stuff. Next, what percentage of the brain is made up of fat? The human brain is made up of approximately 60% fat. The remaining 40% is water, proteins, carbohydrates, electrolytes, salts. And some fats are needed by your brain that include omega-3s, omega-6 fats, like PEA, phospholipids, like phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylcholine, all these types of things, you know, are all required. And the big thing for fats is fats are required for nerve protection, also for electrolyte activity, cell membrane structure, repair, immune function, and so much more. You got to remember, fats and lipids are extremely important. I mean, we're all fatheads, right? So if somebody ever calls you a fathead, it's actually a compliment, right? It's not an insult because we are all fatheads, right? But when you look at omega-3s, when you look at just healthy fats in general, especially cholesterol, this is what makes up a good portion of your cells. Your cells are made of fat. Your cells are made of lipids. Think of fats as structure to your cells and in the brain as well. But again, they're also required to protect your nerves. They're required for electrical activity, structural repair, all these types of things. So, you know, all these years where they have demonized fat, right? It's been demonized for the last like 30 years and stuff like that. A lot of it is not true, okay? If you have healthy fats, healthy cholesterol levels, healthy omega-3, and especially omega-3 to omega-6 ratios, you're doing well. Fat, extremely important. Next, how many cranial nerves originate in the brain? There's 12, 12 cranial nerves. Now, cranial nerves are essential for sensory and motor functions. These nerves originate in your brain, but they extend down to the neck, the chest, and even to the upper abdominal organs. Now, what's interesting is they control everything from facial expressions, sensations, vision, hearing, taste, and your internal organ functions. Matter of fact, the vagus nerve, which is the big one, is your 10th cranial nerve, right? Now, again, you have this nervous system, right? That extends all the way up and down, right? You have all these nerves that come out of your spine and you have these cranial nerves and each one is intimately involved with organs and everything. Literally, they coordinate everything in your body. If you have a pinched nerve or something going wrong with a nerve or a degenerative nerve or whatever the case may be, you may have symptoms. Those symptoms can be in your heart. They can be digestive symptoms. They can be in your lungs and breathing symptoms. They can be through your neck and your head, all these types of things. So, nerves are extremely important in this whole ratio, in this whole comprehensive approach to health. Now, how many times does a healthy adult's heart beat per day? In a healthy adult, your heart beats around 100,000 times per day. That's a lot. Pumping blood through about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body. This equates to about 2.5 billion beats over a 70-year lifetime. Cardiac muscle cells are unique compared to other muscles in your body. The heart also has its own autonomic nervous system. That's a lot of beats. It's important to keep your heart healthy, obviously. Next, how much air do you breathe in each day? The average adult breathes about 12 to 18 times per minute, which adds up to about 22,000 to 25,000 breaths per day. Breathing is essential for oxygenating the blood and removing carbon dioxide. It's basic biology, ensuring that the body's cells have the oxygen they need to function properly. People don't realize how important breathing really is. The yogis know this, right? People who do deep breathing meditations, this type of thing is extremely important. It calms your body, it calms your nervous system, and it actually helps you with stress, all these types of things. A lot of people don't breathe. They're too stressed to even breathe. Breathing is extremely important. We need to be more conscious of it as a society in general. Take some time to just breathe in and out and be conscious of it. Be conscious of it because you would be shocked at overall, especially if you do it on a long term basis, you'll be shocked at the difference it makes in your body really well. Next, how many alveoli or air sacs are in your lungs? Between 300,000 and 500,000 alveoli. Alveoli are the little tiny little sacs in your lungs where oxygen and other gases are exchanged, right? Your lungs are involved with detoxifying all the things you breathe and alveoli are extremely important in that process. Next, how long is the small intestine in the human body? Between 10 to 16 feet long. The small intestine plays a crucial role in digestion, obviously, and nutrient absorption. It breaks down food and absorbs essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients needed by your body for energy and repair. The large intestine or large percentage of your immune system is actually in the small intestine. Many hormones are released in the small intestine. Remember, the majority of your immune system is in your gut, right? We always talk about that. Next, what is the combined surface area of the small and large intestines? About 32 meters. The surface area of your intestinal tract is amazingly large. It's about half the size of a badminton court. This massage area allows your body to perform numerable complex activities with the gut microbiome that affects digestion, absorption, immune, endocrine, detoxification, and more. It is also a supercomputer highway system. Remember, that goes up and down. I've talked about that all the time. How many bacteria are estimated to live in your gut microbiome? The gut microbiome consists of approximately 37 trillion bacteria outnumbering the human cells in your body. These microorganisms play a vital role in digestion. The microbiome crosstalks with all the parts of your body influencing your immune system, inflammation, brain and heart health, mood, skin. Obviously, you need a healthy gut microbiome. It's critical, again, to absorb the nutrients with the immune protection, but also to protect against the harmful pathogens that come into your body. Obviously, you have to maintain that gut bacteria. This is part of the problem that we have today in society. Most people's gut bacteria is way out of whack, and we have to replace that. This is where you have your prebiotics and your probiotics that do a great job that lead eventually to the postbiotics, the short-chain fatty acids, butyrate, and all these different types of things. But keeping your gut in check is extremely important. We've mentioned that many times on this show. How much food does your digestive system process in a year? The average adult consumes about 2,000 pounds or one ton of food per year. I know some people that consume a lot more than that. There's probably a lot of people, especially in this country, that consume probably a lot more than that. But anyway, I will move on. Which organ in the body is responsible for filtering blood and requires up to 10 times more glutathione than the rest of the body? The answer is the liver. That's right. Your liver is the primary detoxification organ. It filters everything that gets put into your body. It pulls toxins into the blood that entered from your digestive tract. Liver produces and activates hormones, stores and burns fat and blood sugar and other essential metabolic activities. It requires high amounts of glutathione to neutralize harmful substances and supports 24-7. You have to remember also that the liver detoxifies. It basically has a detoxification system and many detoxification pathways. It's very, very intimately involved with glutathione and making sure everything is working properly. Plus, remember that your liver also synthesizes cholesterol. Very important. A lot of people walking around with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. We have to make sure we keep our livers in check. Obviously, good food helps the liver, even though the liver does regenerate, but it can go past a certain point where it doesn't. But again, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is literally inflammation in the liver that doesn't have to do with alcohol. This is where we're getting really bad diets and processed food and stuff like that. A lot of people are being diagnosed with that right now. So you got to really keep that in mind because you don't want to deal with that. Next, how often does all of the blood in your body go through your kidney filtration? About every 30 minutes. So your kidneys are the body's natural filtration system. They clean the blood of toxins, excess fluids, and waste about 50 times a day. This process ensures that the body maintains a proper balance of electrolytes, fluids, while eliminating harmful waste products. Next, how many lymph nodes are in the body? About 700 lymph nodes. The lymphatic system is responsible for filtering out waste, toxins, harmful substances in the body. These nodes act as filters that are essential for immune defense, collecting and draining fluid and cellular waste in the bloodstream for elimination. And the spleen is the largest lymph organ. Again, also dealing with fat and your lymph can get congested. So there's ways to help to detox that and to get the lymph moving again. Remember that your lymphatic system does not have its own pump. So if you're not moving or if you're overweight, you're sedentary all the time, that's a perfect way to get lymph congestion. And it really starts to build up and start to cause many problems. It can lead to autoimmune issues, can lead to cancer, all these types of things, right? So how do we get our lymph system to move properly? Exercise. You got to move. All types of exercise because that is your pump. Exercise is your pump for the lymphatic system. Extremely important. Next, how many skin cells do you have in every inch of your body? About 19 million skin cells. Your skin is the largest organ in your body. I talked about that in the previous podcast. The skin cells constantly regenerate with 30 to 40,000 cells being shed daily. This process helps to maintain and give your skin that glow and the elasticity. Next, how many mitochondria are typically found in each human cell? There are an average of 1,000 to 2,500 mitochondria per cell. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell. We know they're just cell engines. They, they're the ones that generate eventually ATP, adenosine triphosphate. Okay. And this is important because there's this whole Krebs cycle that you go through to generate ATP. It's this whole process and magnesium is involved with that. The B vitamins are involved with that. You've got all these mitochondrial generating nutrients that are involved in this whole process. If you're missing nutrients, it's going to be a weak link in that chain. Okay. So very, very important, but very interesting. How much ATP is produced per minute by your mitochondria? A healthy person at rest produces their body weight in grams per day of healthy ATP. For example, the mitochondria in a healthy 150 pound adult produces 150 grams of ATP or about 1,200 Watts of energy. Athletes at maximum output may produce up to 1.0 kilograms per minute of ATP. And ATP must constantly be produced as it is not stored in your body. And exercise obviously is another thing that stimulates ATP production. What percentage of ATP produced in the body is used by the brain? 70%. Now that's a lot, right? Think about it. That's a metabolically demanding organ. That is your brain. But think about everything that the brain does and everything that the brain processes. 70%. Okay. Your brain is the most energy demanding organ because it uses so much of this ATP. Okay. Extremely important. How many different hormones are produced by your adrenal glands? About 50 different hormones. You have cortisol, you know, DHEA, all these different things, right? All those obviously derived from cholesterol. Now, remember the adrenal glands are these little glands that sit on top of your kidneys. They each weigh about five grams. And they produce all these hormones that help to regulate blood sugar, your hormonal responses, your stress responses, your immune functions, bone density, reproductive health, and so much more. Very, very important to keep your adrenals in good shape. How many muscles are in your body? There are over 600 named skeletal muscles in your body, along with the cardiac and smooth muscles. How many bones are in your body? A lot of people know this. A lot of people know this one from, especially from, you know, your high school and stuff like that. Babies are born with around 270 bones, many of which fuse together as they grow. By the time the person reaches adulthood, you have about 206. So think about it, you go from 270 to 206. Next, what is the longest and strongest bone in the human body? The guess is the femur, the thigh bone, basically. And that's what the femur is, the longest and strongest bone. It supports the weight of your body and activities, especially like walking, running, heavy lifting, you know, jumping, all these things are crucial. So the femur is crucial for, you know, maintaining upright posture. Okay, so again, squatting and different types of exercises that use the femur, keep it strong, keep those muscles strong, very, very important. So what are the things we can do? Those are the basic questions, I mean, I thought those were interesting, but obviously it's a lot, right? I mean, those are just some basic facts, there's thousands and thousands of other facts that we can go through. But then at the end of the day, you want to do things to maintain your body and to maintain your body's function, right? So let's go through some really quick things that we always recommend here and that Wellness Resources recommends to keep this system, you know, running smoothly and optimally, okay? So number one, you know, we talk about all the time, sleep, you want seven to eight hours of quality sleep, preferably at night and in one period. Most people don't get good sleep, okay? And disrupted sleep, shift work, altered circadian rhythms, all these things dysregulate your clock and can throw your body way out of whack. So you want to make sure you get good sleep because again, sleep is also where we detox. Physical activity, you know, you were made to move, so it's use it or lose it, you need to move. This is, remember, your joints are hydraulic, they need fluid to get the nutrients in, you have synovial fluid, but your joints need fluid, you need that fluid to be moving, the only way you're going to do that is if you move. Again, your lymphatic system, you got to move to get that going as well, okay? This is why movement is so important. Diet, obviously, you want a good diet, choose whole foods diet 80 to 90% of the time, preferably organic, free range from your local farmer's market, avoid processed food, we know that, okay? Drink good quality filtered water, at least six to eight ounce glasses, six, I'm sorry, six, eight ounce glasses per day or more. And if you're outdoors or in a dry climate, exercise, drink, you know, drink even more than that and lower your caffeine if at all possible, okay? Then on top of that, stress reduction, you know, that's a big thing. And then, of course, we have, you know, some of the supplements you can take. And again, many of the supplements that we recommend on this program, you can, if you want to take a look at the wellness resources brand, you can look at the daily energy multivitamin, you can look at the daily DHA, daily protector, iron immune for your antioxidants, fiber helper for your fiber, daily protein for your daily protein, which is a powder for your protein needs, vitamin D, okay? Or mineral brands like your daily bone XL, your daily builder, and your coral calcium for helping keeping your bones in good shape. For your lymphatic system, we have immune plus, you have the capsules or the powder. You also have tributarin plus, and you have repair plus. Then for your adrenal glands, you have adrenal helper, stress helper, muscle mag, relax mag, and vitamin C. All those are from wellness resources. You can check those out. Again, most of those are in pill form and capsule form. Some of them are in powder form, so you can check to see which is best for you. If you're not really good at swallowing pills and that type of thing, or if you're looking more at powders or powdered nutrition, you can also look at the Vibrant Health brand. That's another brand that we talk about on this show. They have Green Vibrance, they have Spectrum Vibrance. Green Vibrance contains, it's a whole comprehensive approach that contains 25 billion probiotics. It contains all the greens, it contains antioxidants, all the great stuff. You have Spectrum Vibrance, which contains, again, it's a whole thing of antioxidants. Again, these are in powder form. You also have your immune. They have a great immune, I think they're capsules, but an immune product that's really good for the immune system. Then they also have their Trilogy product, which is a great product. It's a multivitamin, a fish oil, and a probiotic all in one. Fantastic. First time I've seen it. I think it's the first time it's out there in the industry, I think. I haven't seen anything like it before. Again, those are capsules as well, but those are all in one. But any of those supplements or any of those companies, we endorse them on this show, great stuff here. But at the end of the day, it's basic stuff, right? It's basic stuff that we need to keep our bodies in good shape, especially with the wintertime coming. Nobody's going to do it for you. You got to take the initiative and do it yourself. Your government's not going to do it for you. The health authority is not going to do it for you. The EPA, the FDA, none of them are going to do it for you. They're concerned about other things. You have to take the responsibility to do it yourself. It's that simple. You either do it or you don't. But remember, every decision that you make is going to make a difference. Every decision that you make in health is either moving you towards good health or towards bad health. There's no steady state, okay? You have to understand there's nothing that goes in a straight line. It just doesn't work that way. You are either improving health slightly or you're declining in health slightly. And remember, if you're doing nothing, you are declining in health slightly as you get older, right? Because just the natural process of aging is going to decline you. Just to get it up to a steady state, you have to do more, right? So you have to do more stuff. You have to take in more. You have to take in your vitamins, your minerals, your amino acids, and your fatty acids. You have to take in your antioxidants every single day. You got to move. You got to sleep. You got to do all these things. It's as simple as that. If you want to age gracefully, that's what you need to do. That's what I did. That's what I did, okay? So just a little bit of advice from me who's done it. You can do it. And this is why I do this show to try to help you guys with all that, at least to give you some tips and some tools that you can use. Hopefully, you get some stuff out of it, okay? All right, guys. It was a pleasure, as always, to be with you. Thank you so much for joining me this week. I know you could be doing a lot of other things, but I appreciate you joining me. So have a great week. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. As always, control your health.