Rhonda: So you're, stressing your body.
It's like, what do I do?
And what it does is it starts to like change gene expression.
That's one of the main things it does, where it starts to turn on all
these Genes involved in, you know, helping your body deal with stress
Kevin: Right.
Rhonda: because you're stressing it and it's like freaking out.
It's like, what do I do?
It's like, okay, I'm just gonna like...I'm gonna do this like whole thing where
I just go around and turn on all these really good genes that help me deal
with everything until I figure it out.
you know?
Kevin: Right.
So, It
can be beneficial.
Is what you're saying.
Rhonda: Yeah.
Absolutely.
Kevin: So, You said that turmeric does something similar.
I think.
in one of your...
Rhonda: Yeah.
So there's...this process I'm talking about is often
referred to as hormesis, right?
Darya: Hormesis.
Yeah.
Rhonda: Like the hormetic effect where you're putting a little bit
of stress on the body and, the same goes for exercise, the sauna cold,
shocking.
Kevin: So high-intensity interval training is another example.
of that.
Rhonda: Exactly.
High-intensity interval training, and also some of these plant polyphenols.
So turmeric, EGCG from green tea.
quercetin found in like onions.
Kevin: So, Do you intermittent...
So my question that I had, sorry, I have one question for you.
I know it's your show.
I feel bad.
on the turmeric side, like, is that something that you would do intermittently
then, or would you...because some people take it daily as a supplement and I was
thinking, well, if you're doing that every single day and your body gets used to it,
is it gonna turn on those gene expressions
then?
Rhonda: that's actually a good point, but yes it does because
it is slightly toxic to our body, our bodies Don't like turmeric.
some of the compound, some of these curcuminoids in the turmeric are
made as a response to the plants to fend off like insects and.
you know, Fungus and things that are gonna kill the plant.
or the root, I guess it's not really a plant, right?
Kevin: It's root.
Darya: It's a root.
Rhonda: It's a root, right?
Yeah.
so our body doesn't like it it's slightly toxic.
just like, you know, alcohol is slightly toxic, but as a consequence, it, activates
all these phase II detoxifying enzymes, which are, involved in preventing.
Your body from converting something like nitrite in your bacon to
nitrosamine which are carcinogens.
Kevin: Right?
Rhonda: so we have all these enzymes in our body that are capable of
detoxifying...I hate the word "detoxify" because it's like a lot
of woo-woo people use it, but we actually do have enzymes in our body
called phase II detoxifying enzymes.
And so they do serve a purpose, but not only that turmeric also...so, there's
two really interesting, compounds in it.
One is the one that most people are familiar with, right.
So, that is the curcumin,
Darya: Curcumin.
Rhonda: right?
And that's the one that turns on all these anti-inflammatory genes these phase II
detoxifying, enzymes, all that good stuff.
but there's also something in it called aromatic turmerone which is why
specifically I like to get turmeric or make turmeric tea, not just curcumin
because aromatic turmerone has been shown.
actually just In the past year to cross over the blood brain barrier and increase.
I think it was in the subventricular zone, increased neural stem cell
proliferation, and it affected like memory and performance in, mice.
And so this is like all preliminary, you know, but...and it was like very robust,
like, it was like something very robust.
I'm not gonna say the number because I don't remember.
but it was Pretty significant increase in new neural stem cells,
Darya: Interesting.
Rhonda: which is kind of your But yeah, very interesting.
Darya: Yeah.
That was what my thesis was
on
Rhonda: Oh, cool
Darya: the
SVZ stem cells.
Rhonda: Oh, the subventricular zone.
okay.
So you know more about that.
than I do, but the fact, that this aromatic turmerone is in,
turmeric, it's also very interesting,
Darya: Cool
Kevin: Do you add black pepper to your tea.
Rhonda: Yeah.
So the piperine the component in the, black pepper can.
So, Our bodies like to get rid of these polyphenols.
And a lot of them like EGCG, a lot of them are on the same.
class.
there's certain enzymes in our liver, the CYP enzymes that get rid of it.
so that's why their half-life is very short.
When you, get turmeric in your body, it's immediately...your body is
immediately trying to clear it out.
because it's toxic.
It's like, no, get rid of this, you know?
but the piperine stops that enzyme from working.
So you really have to be, careful for people like you guys are very health
conscientious and probably don't.
You know, take prescription drugs or things like that.
But a lot of people do and, prescription drugs are also
metabolized with that same pathway.
So if you are taking a prescription drug, probably best to avoid
piperine because that will extend the half-life of whatever drug and God
knows what effect that's gonna have.
Right.
Kevin: Oh, crazy.
Darya: Right.
Rhonda: So that's always something to keep in mind.