Most health-damaging hobby in America? – Dr. Al Sears

I’ve seen a lot of epidemics in my decades of medical practice, but this may be one of the most alarming trends yet…

Over the past 25 years, Parkinson’s cases have exploded around the world, rising 60% faster than Alzheimer’s.1

That’s not a typo.

The disease once thought to strike only the elderly now hits people in their 40s and 50s… and it’s growing faster every year.

Golfers

Has golf, the pastime of health-conscious, active people, become one of the most dangerous hobbies in America?

But here’s something that will shock you — and that Big Medicine will probably never tell you.

If you spend your weekends on the golf course, your risk of developing Parkinson’s is a jaw-dropping 126% higher.2

And it’s not just golfers themselves who are at risk — it’s also dangerous for residents who live nearby.

You see, every lush fairway and putting green is drenched in pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides — the same chemicals that researchers now link directly to Parkinson’s disease.

Gardeners exposed to these chemicals are also at risk.

In 2012, a study in Environmental Health Perspectives found that men exposed to pesticides such as paraquat and rotenone had 2.5 times the risk of developing Parkinson’s.3

These are not obscure industrial chemicals — they’re common ingredients in lawn sprays, golf course turf treatments and on the farmlands that grow the fruit and vegetables you eat.

In fact, paraquat is so toxic that it’s banned in over 50 countries — but not in America.

Both paraquat and rotenone are known to attack your mitochondria — the tiny power generators inside each of your cells.

These toxins choke off the ability of your neurons to the cellular fuel that powers your brain cells.

But as it turns out, Parkinson’s doesn’t begin in your brain.

It starts in your gut…

In a recent study, researchers determined that the gut of Parkinson’s patients was very different than that of people who didn’t have the wasting disease.4

And when mice that didn’t have the disease, but did have a predisposition to Parkinson’s, were injected with the gut bacteria from those that did have Parkinson’s, those mice then developed the symptoms quickly.

It doesn’t surprise me…

Good gut bacteria helps defend your entire body, acting like a second immune system — killing off bad bacteria.

So how is your brain affected by what’s in your gut?

Parkinson’s disease is the result of degenerative nerve cells in the substantia nigra section of your midbrain, which leads to a decrease in the production of dopamine.

Dopamine is crucial as it is the brain’s signaling center. The loss of dopamine, in turn, leads to uncontrolled movements and the loss of motor function — the telltale signs of Parkinson’s disease.

The new study points to this conclusion: Parkinson’s disease starts in the gut and spreads to the brain via something called the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve extends from the brainstem to the abdomen and controls unconscious body processes like heart rate and food digestion.

The truth is, Parkinson’s is not inevitable. It’s a man-made disease — born from decades of chemical exposure, poor diet and mitochondrial neglect.

Protect Yourself From Parkinson’s

But the good news is that you can protect your neurons — even rebuild them — by restoring mitochondrial health, detoxing, calming inflammation and healing your gut.

Here’s what I recommend to my patients:

Detox Dangerous Toxins. Golf courses, roadside vegetation control and industrial farming all use neurotoxic products like paraquat that raise your risk of Parkinson’s disease.

You should always avoid these places after chemical treatment.

You can also start to eliminate these toxins from your life by consuming only organic fruits and vegetables, which are usually — but not always — free of toxic pesticides and herbicides.

If you garden, I recommend using herbicides based on vinegar, clove oil, or other botanical acids… or do manual weeding, which is also healthy physical exercise.

Heal Your Gut-Brain Axis: Start by cutting gut saboteurs from your diet. This means you should immediately reduce processed carbohydrates.

Avoid products that contain refined sugars and processed grains, and keep sweetened foods to a minimum.

Instead, focus on high-quality protein, fat, and organic gut-saving vegetables. I’m talking about onions, garlic, asparagus, artichokes, and almonds, which are prebiotics that promote a healthy gut microbiome.

Some foods also include inulin, fermentable prebiotic plant fibers. Bananas, chicory root, dandelion greens, leeks, peas, and beans all have this type of fiber.

Meanwhile, probiotics like kefir and yogurt help redress that balance. The problem is that not all yogurts are created equal.

Recharge Your Mitochondria. Clinical studies show that ozone therapy is a powerful mitochondria healer. This is the same ozone that protects our planet from the sun’s UV rays.

When it’s harnessed properly, this special “energized” kind of oxygen is one of the most powerful healing tools on Earth.

Here at the Sears Institute of Anti-Aging Medicine, I use an ozone technique called Autohaemotherapy.

This simply involves drawing a small amount of the patient’s blood and infusing it with medical-grade ozone and oxygen. Then, I slowly reintroduce the oxygen-rich blood back into the patient with an IV.

Studies show that ozone therapy can reduce systemic inflammation, improve oxygen utilization, and restore mitochondrial function — a triple win against Parkinson’s pathology.5

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD, CNS