Gut Check Project #40 with Dr. Tom O'Bryan

Gut Check Project

Eric Rieger 0:00
Hello It is now time for the gut check project KBMD health fans and those at the Ken Brown clinic. I'm here with my guest host, Dr. Kenneth Brown. We've got an incredible special guest with us here today Dr. Tom O'Brien joins the show. Like and share of course, Dr. Brown once you take it away and introduce our awesome guests.

Ken Brown 0:19
Well, I'm so excited because Dr. Tom, you and I have been running in similar circles. And every time I bump into somebody including different lab companies, including different mindshare people, everybody's like, Hey, you and Dr. Tom need to hang out. I'm like, I keep missing him. I'll go on a summit and he'll be like before me or after me. And then I'm just like, Oh, this is awesome. So we finally got you, wrangled in, you've got so much stuff going on. You're an author, you're a doctor, you obviously do some incredible deep dives. And what I love about you is everything that I've seen you on a webinar on a summit is science backed and that's exactly what we do. So I'm just thrilled I I have no agenda for this. You got a ton of information. If we ended up talking about something that I need to learn about, I'm just going to peel off and say, Wait, explain that. And that's, that's for me. So I'm not trying to question you, but like, sure, where I've read some of your stuff. And it's pretty cool. We're talking the same stuff, fix your brain through your gut, that kind of thing. That's all about us. So, welcome. So excited.

Dr. Tom O'Brian 1:18
Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm thinking a place to start if I may. The Alzheimer's Association came out last year and said one out of three elders dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia. So that means between the three of us, one of us is going down in our brain function, and it ain't gonna be me.

Ken Brown 1:42
It's gonna be Eric. It's gonna be Eric.

Eric Rieger 1:43
This is unfair.

Dr. Tom O'Brian 1:44
I feel like I understand. But that's a reality check. And with a reality check like that, whether we like it or nobody likes to talk about brain function, no one does. You know, we all know someone that had a heart attack and survived. They changed their diet, they started exercising, they lost 25 pounds, they look better than they've looked in years. Most of us know someone diagnosed with cancer that went through the recommended protocols. And they're doing better than they've done in years. No one knows anyone diagnosed with a brain deterioration disease that's doing good. It terrifies us. And so we avoid the topic. So I want to talk about first the reality check that our healthcare system is not quite working the way we want it to and more people are getting sicker, especially if we talk about the brain and kids with autism and the numbers are skyrocketing and all that, but how can we look at our health care if our bodies aren't working the way we want them to right now? What's the big picture view of that? How do I get a big picture and I want to suggest this concept because I have found that this works really well. When I moved from Chicago to Southern California in 2010 I needed a map. How do you get from Chicago to San Diego? You need a map, you know, and I may know how to get to Denver cuz you just get on I 80 in Chicago, it takes you to Denver, right? You know, I may or it actually doesn't, it takes you close and you have to go up and 94. But I don't know how to get to San Diego, you need a map. When your body is not working the way you want it to you need a map. You can't just look for a better form of vitamin C, or what brain nutrient Can I take to help my brain function better? We have to have the map and what is the map in healthcare. The map is understanding at a layman's level, how I got to where I am and if we don't. To understand how we got to where we are right now, we are just like a dog chasing its tail trying to get somewhere else. So the question about brain dysfunction, or the question about auto immunity is, why is the immune system attacking my own tissue? Why is my brain not functioning the way it's supposed to, and you have to do a deep dive. And you don't need to be a geek and know the science because there's lots of information out there now. But we have to be willing to be uncomfortable for a little bit of time in being overwhelmed with knowledge. And we take it just one step at a time. That's why the subtitle of my most recent book, you can fix your brain. The subtitle is just one hour a week to the best memory, productivity and sleep you've ever had. And it's not cutesy subtitle It is the only way to be successful at changing the direction your brains going. Because as you learn more and more about the things that you didn't know, you mean that little bit of mold on my shower curtain there, it secretes spores into the air every time I take a shower, and I'm inhaling those spores and they go right up to my brain. And the number one type of Alzheimer's of the five types is called inhalation Alzheimer's, meaning what you're inhaling is causing the inflammation in your brain killing off brain cells. Yes, change shower curtain, you know, or whatever the trigger is. People don't know what the trigger triggers are. So they don't know what to do and they're hoping for a magic pill. You need the map. How did I get to where I am, so you then can make the corrections over six months to a year that turn your health in a new direction.

Eric Rieger 6:00
I agree with that. I think that with where you're where you're beginning here in our discussion, many of the things you listed there, there's a lot to unpack, but many of the things that you listed there are, I think some huge tenants that that we discussed here on the go check project. One of those is that gut brain access, Dr. Brown talks quite a bit about the relationship for brain health and how it begins really with systemic health, which obviously originates in the gut. And then you're talking about issues of, of nerves and obviously the brain is a bundle of nerves but neural health and so what is it specifically that we need to do to protect our bodies from I would assume you're getting to long term inflammation what what the caveats are there that are initiating those inflammatory responses? So is there something that you wanted to kind of peek at there were

Ken Brown 6:51
Yeah, so love where you're going with this. I'm um, as a gastroenterologist what I'm seeing is an exponential growth of autoimmune disease, Crohn's all sort of colitis are those celiac disease. Those are the ones that I deal with. And we're seeing this huge exponential growth. What you're describing is one in three people getting Alzheimers, we are seeing that autism is increasing. there's a there's a common theme here. And it's this upward hockey stick that's going on with chronic diseases. I love everywhere you're going and you I'm my bandwidth is only so large, where I have to kind of focus on how do I improve your gut to improve your brain and now you're talking other aspects. I want to get into that, but I want to know more about the guy. I'm a real big fan of how I built this. So I want to know more about the guy, the doctor Tom, how did you end up deciding that you were going to go down this path? I've heard a lot of your lectures so I know that you're super smart. I know you're very well read, but I don't know you. So let's talk about you for a moment.

Dr. Tom O'Brian 7:52
Sure, sure. When I began my medical education in chiropractic school, very first week, the very first week I knew absolutely nothing. You know, we're working on a cadaver. I've just seen a dead body for the first time learning how to work with cadavers and genetics classes. There wa...