324: Why Mouthwash, Fluoride, and Antacids are Slowly Destroying Your Health | Nathan Bryan, PhD

People who have been on antacids for 3-5 years have a 40% higher incidence of heart attack and stroke ... People who have been on proton pump inhibitors for four years had a 40% increase in dementia and rapid onset of Alzheimer's.

We focused on the oral microbiome. And what we found was that the more diverse the microbiome, the better cardiovascular health and the better blood pressure management ... You take normal types of patients and you just put them on mouthwash twice a day for seven days, you see an increase in blood pressure.

If you have ED, that's not just a sexual dysfunction ... If you have vascular dysfunction in the sex organs, you have vascular dysfunction in the heart, the brain, the liver, the kidneys. It's a systemic disease.

Insulin resistance, vascular dementia, Alzheimer's—every single age-related chronic disease can be traced back to lack of nitric oxide.

That's why I supplement with iodine every day, 12.5 mg. The American diet and the food that we eat in America is basically devoid of any iodine.

Nitric oxide's one of these fascinating molecules that's a gas that's produced naturally in the human body. The older we get, the less we make, and that's what's responsible for age-related disease ... It's a signaling molecule. It's how cells in the body communicate. Its most common or known function is in vasodilation.

Nitric oxide is what controls and mitigates all four of those. It improves blood flow ... It shuts down the fires of inflammation. It prevents oxidative stress. And it mitigates the immune dysfunction that's occurring in those diseased tissues. So, it's really the holy grail in terms of cardiovascular medicine.

If you use mouthwash, we certainly see an increase in blood pressure ... If you use mouthwash, you actually lose the protective benefits of exercise.