#149 - What Science Says About Intermittent Fasting, Sunscreen Risks, And Mosquito Magnets

We trade the most interesting health headlines of the month and test our assumptions about fasting, sunlight, and mosquito prevention. We connect the dots between gut health, kidney function, inflammation, sunscreen ingredients, and the biology that makes some people mosquito magnets. 
• Crohn’s disease research on 16:8 time-restricted eating and symptom relief 
• fasting-mimicking diets and why meal timing may affect circadian rhythms and the gut microbiome 
• autophagy, inflammation reduction, and the case for fasting beyond weight loss 
• chronic kidney disease findings tied to low-salt fasting-mimicking approaches 
• kidney communication with the brain, immune system, and metabolism 
• sunscreen headlines, chemical absorption concerns, and the benefits of smart sun exposure 
• FDA approval of bemotrizinol and questions about US regulatory delays 
• what attracts mosquitoes, including CO2, heat, skin chemistry, beer, bananas, and clothing color 
• DEET and permethrin tradeoffs plus practical non-chemical bite prevention 
• patchouli oil as a potential repellent and who should avoid it 

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Transcript

Health Headlines And A Quick Challenge

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today on the Frontline Health Podcast, are there benefits just for everyone when it comes to fasting?

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Absolutely. What they have found is with fasting, your body goes into autophagy much quicker. So they have linked that autophagy to having a reduced likelihood of having cancer. So your body goes in and starts eating up those cancerous cells on its own. It helps reduce inflammation, as we know over time, and it's going to help uh kind of reset your gut microbiome as these Crohn disease uh studies have shown us as well.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Frontline Health Podcast, where we share news, tips, and insights to help you take ownership of your health. I'm your host, Evan Patrick, joined by Troy Duell, founder and CEO of Centurion Health. Today we're just we're sharing some of the most interesting health headlines from the past month around the topics of fasting, sun exposure, and believe it or not, mosquitoes. So, Troy, I was thinking maybe a fun way to kick off this conversation would be to ask if you had to give up one between fasting, daily sunlight, or mosquito repellent, which would it be?

SPEAKER_01 1:17

I mean, I think it's a no-brainer. Um if you'd have added in maybe uh sunscreen based on some of the articles we read, it may be sunscreen, but since you didn't have sunscreen in there, I think it's got to be the mosquito repellent. Uh that's the one that you you gotta do without, even though it's not real fun to be bitten by mosquitoes, and there are a lot of them out there this time of year.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

I guess that's true. There there are multiple ways that you can uh can kind of manage that issue besides just mosquito repellent. For me, it's gonna be the the fasting. That's a that's a hard one for me to wrap my mind around implementing that in my life, but you might be able to convince me today as we talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Absolutely. I think there's some great things that we've learned from fasting, especially uh in the recent years as studies have come out, and some of these uh articles that we ran across certainly speak to the benefits of fasting and excited to share it with everybody. So I guess we can go ahead and get started.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

All

Time-Restricted Eating For Crohn’s Relief

SPEAKER_01 2:18

right. Well, that first article that we ran across were and we're gonna combine two of these. It says overnight fasting cut Crohn's symptoms by half in a new trial. And then the second is a periodic five-day diet, mimics fasting, eases Crohn's symptoms in 70% of patients. A Stanford study found. And what they found was that fast mimicking diet uh eased those symptoms. And up to 40% in the first study, they said up to 40% of Crohn's patients don't respond to the most advanced treatments available. But as many as half who do eventually stop responding. So you got 40% who don't respond, and then that 60%, half of those guys don't respond to it over time. So they're always looking for some other option. And what they found was that an overnight fast would help. And by overnight fast, they meant fasting for 16 hours and then eating for eight. And that was the eight-hour window that they saw. And they cut that abdominal pain by 50%, they reduced stool frequency by 40% in Crohn's patients who had obesity or who were overweight. So it seems like there is a lot that goes into that, and a lot of it comes from the meal timing. And they felt during this study that the meal timing really affected the circadian rhythms, the metabolic health, and kind of the gut microbiome. And it wasn't just reducing the caloric intake, but it was about when they did it and uh what went on. And the second study, where they did that fast mimicking diet, which again is the 16 hours uh not eating, eight hours eating, they had 700 out of a thousand that uh found benefit from Crohn's disease when they followed them over a three-month period and they did that diet just five consecutive days per month. So we weren't even talking about having the diet every day, but doing it five consecutive months or five consecutive days in a month.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Yeah, that's that's really interesting. I guess my first question when I first saw this was were these people waking up in the middle of the night to to eat? But as you said, it's really more so about this 16-hour time period where they're not eating, which I mean, to be honest, that really takes uh a lot of commitment because you're really seriously limiting the amount of time in a day that you have to be able to eat. Um you're talking about people with with Crohn's symptoms, which could you give us just like kind of a brief flyover uh view of what that looks like? We're talking about um just this this GI distress that goes along with with Crohn's.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, I mean, Crohn's there's just a lot of pain uh in the abdomen and in the intestines itself. So you're talking about a lot of issues with being able to digest your food. So um when you can't digest your food and there's pain when you eat, then there's a lot of people who are just miserable because of Crohn's disease itself. So what this is gonna do is lower that pain threshold or lower the uh uh uh I guess the number of times that you have pain, and it's gonna decrease the frequency of going to the bathroom, which is um what people with Crohn's are always looking for and certainly complaining about.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

And I know that we've you know certainly seen a lot of health benefits that are are even broader than just this when it comes to fasting in recent years. So I'm curious what your thoughts are. You know, somebody

Autophagy And Broad Fasting Benefits

SPEAKER_00 5:52

who maybe doesn't necessarily have these issues with Crohn's uh or you know, different things that we've already looked at, but are there are there benefits just for everyone when it comes to fasting?

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Absolutely. What they have found is with fasting, your body goes into autophagy much quicker. So they have linked that autophagy to having a reduced likelihood of having cancer. So your body goes in and starts eating up those cancerous cells on its own. It helps reduce inflammation, as we know over time, and it's gonna help uh kind of reset your gut microbiome as these Crohn's disease uh studies have shown us as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah, this is is really interesting because what I have been told, and I think what a lot of people kind of have in their minds is that maybe it's better to eat frequent, smaller meals throughout the day, uh, that that's that there are kind of some metabolic benefits when it comes to that. Is that true? Are both things kind of true at once, or is is one better than the other?

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I think it probably depends on your body type and who you are. Some people respond really well to fasting, other people respond to that frequent meals throughout the day, smaller meals. But I think if you also look back to a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, you didn't have refrigeration. It was harder just to drive to a grocery store or go to uh uh a convenience store and pick up a snack. So in that case, at that time, they were doing more frequent fasting, and the body is really designed not to eat every single day because uh you didn't you weren't able to get food every single day. There were a lot of times where you didn't eat in a day. So I think there is some of that that is built into us from um the way we were created and made. And uh, you know, I probably lean more towards the fasting side than I do the the multiple meals. Uh and I did the multiple meal thing for a while when it first came out, and I was like, there's some there's some legit information behind this, but I think the more we find out about fasting, the the more I'm leaning towards the fasting side uh over the multiple meals and snacks per day.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Yeah, well, excited to learn more about that. Maybe something that we would uh we'll want to explore in a in a future episode.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah, I think so.

Fasting-Mimicking Diets For Kidney Health

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Our next headline has to do with the kidneys, but it also has to do with fasting. This headline said fasting mimicking diets improved kidney function in patients with chronic kidney disease. There was a recent study that kind of built upon previous research in animals, and it showed that the low salt fasting mimicking diet would slow later stage kidney disease progression. So they came in, gave these individuals a low-salt diet with that 16 hours of not eating and eight hours of eating. And when they got to the end of it, they found that it improved kidney function, it reduced protein in the urine, and it lowered inflammation in patients with a stage three chronic kidney disease after just three months. So, again, this is another, I guess, article supporting the fact that fasting is really starting to catch on, and probably shouldn't be too surprised when you think about uh history and biblical history, where fasting is one of the things that uh God often called the Israelites to, and uh you were even called to that in the New Testament in order to help with our spiritual health. But I think uh there is always that benefit when you get the spiritual health, you're gonna get some of the physical health as well. So um don't think it's all that surprising to me to find that fasting starts to have some profound effects on our body.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Yeah, I I think you might be winning me over. Uh, it's just kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around it since I've never done it before and I tend to get hungry every few hours.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Well, uh it is definitely one of those things that you get hungry, uh, and that's that's supposed to happen. Um but our our bodies, you'll you'll find as you go through a fast that once you get to about that six-hour mark, everything just kind of falls and you're not worried about it anymore. Uh another good way to to maybe start the fast is if you eat a meal at night and that's your dinner, and then you don't eat until the next day uh for dinner, and you've got the first eight hours when maybe you're most miserable, you're sleeping, and then you get up the next morning, you just go through your regular routine. And uh that sometimes is a little easier way to step into the fasting side of things.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Well, maybe I'll give it a try. Uh, you got something else to share about kidney health here, correct?

Kidneys, Immunity, And Whole-Body Connection

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah, so uh this was interesting. As I was reading through the fasting, another article popped up that said five new discoveries about kidneys are changing how scientists think, that there's new research that suggests the kidney influences more than just our fluid balance from salt cravings and blood pressure to how the body recovers from injury. Um I think this is an interesting article because it kind of parlays into the whole gut-brain axis and the things that are moving on, that your gut is not just your gut. I think we're starting to see more and more evidence that every single piece of our body interacts with the other and it's going to affect something else much more than we previously thought. So this article went on to talk about how it communicates with the brain, the immune system, and our metabolism to influence our salt cravings, blood pressure, and recovery from injury. And they really talked about uh making sure that you're doing time-restricted eating, which gets back to our fasting, and regular exercise in order to reduce inflammation and produce or and improve our metabolic function, which helps us uh in the long run. The the interesting thing to me is the immune system and how it was tied into this article and kidney function and repair. So they found that certain immune cells helped regulate the blood pressure, remove that excess sodium, and promoted the healing.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

I think one of the things that this really speaks to that's been a common theme among a lot of the topics that we have discussed on this podcast, is that our bodies do not work in uh in isolation, right? We have all of these systems that are working together, they're all connected, they are all talking to each other and working together to do what our bodies are supposed to do. And I think that's really important. And this is even something that, you know, my wife and I have been discussing recently. She's an internist, and so she kind of sees how different aspects of someone's health are working together in ways that some of the specialties she works with do not. They have priorities, whether it's, you know, the cardiovascular system or whether it's uh gastroenterology and all these different things. And it is hard sometimes, even for specialists, to see how these things are working together. So I love it when we get a chance to highlight something that that really stresses the importance of different systems and organs in our body working together.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Yeah, and I think uh the medical community is certainly catching up. Something we've seen in the last 10 years is instead of the isolation of a cardiovascular uh specialist and uh uh you know kidney specialist or whoever it may be, they're all starting to work in tandem and they're working together much more than I feel like we did 20, 30 years ago where we were working in isolation and we thought that, well, we'll just treat this uh cardiac issue or cardiovascular issue, and we're not gonna worry about the kidneys because this is ultimately what's happening. But then we'd find that when we treated that particular issue, you'd have issues with the the kidneys, or uh vice versa. So I think that is um one of the big things that we're certainly seeing uh happen across the medical community, and one of the better things to happen as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Well,

Sunscreen Links And Sunlight Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_00 14:19

our next health headline gives me a little bit of ammunition on my mom for when I was little, and she would, you know, take me and spray me down with with the sunscreen. So I might give her a little bit of a hard time for this. Uh it's a study, sunscreen use linked to up to a 292% higher risk of multiple skin cancers. A bombshell study from the UK of 470,000 people found using sunscreen increased the risk of three major skin cancers, including invasive melanoma, which is two a 292% increase, basal cell carcinoma, 140%, and then squamous, is that how you say it? Squamous cell carcinoma, 126%. So these alarming cancer signals persisted even after researchers accounted for age, sex, skin type, tanning ability, sunburn history, sunlamp use, and time spent outdoors. So this is a pretty good indicator. It is not a good idea to slather rapidly absorb toxic chemicals all over your body while blocking vitamin D, one of the body's main defenses against cancer.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah, I think uh that was a shocking headline and something that we've been trained, like you said, from a young age, that we needed to be sure we didn't get sunburned, which you still don't need to get sunburned, but we have such a fear of the sun in our culture that I think we missed the fact that the sun is actually beneficial to us as long as we do it the right way, and that these sunscreens that we're putting on our body are getting absorbed into our skin and they're causing long-term harm, and they're something that we need to be aware of and we need to watch out for, uh, especially this time of

New Sunscreen Ingredient And US Delays

SPEAKER_01 16:07

year. And I think it really rolls into our next headline, which is the FDA approves the first new sunscreen ingredient in 20 years, and it's called Bemotrizenol, I think is the way that you pronounce it. But it's actually been available in Europe and Asia for years, and America American consumers can start getting this for kids as young as six months of age, and it really is probably going to start by September of this year. So unfortunately, we're gonna miss the the heavy summer season, but we will have it for next season and the end of the summer season here. What they like about it is it still provides the UVA and UVB protection, but it's more stable in sunlight, so that means that uh you're not gonna have as many of those uh ingredients breaking down on you and getting into your skin. Um, it offers the benefits of that chemical sunscreen without kind of that zinc oxide look of the mineral sunscreens where you can't rub it in. And um I think it could be a great opportunity to have a new sunscreen in our uh weaponry or in our bag to choose from and hopefully be less toxic. And based on the studies that came out of Europe and Asia, it seems like that may be a good alternative for people going forward.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Yeah, I actually heard about this recently in an interview I was listening to with uh a researcher named Rowan Jacobson. He wrote a book called In Defense of Sunlight, the surprising science of sun exposure. And he was was kind of talking about uh a lot of a lot of what these last two headlines have said, and he's actually been receiving a lot of criticism from dermatologists, going back to our previous discussion about how you know it's easy for sometimes specialists to get locked into their one priority. And his argument is that a lot of dermatologists they see their primary job is to prevent skin cancer, which in in for many of them that that is it, and that's what they're concerned with, and that's a great thing. But to totally discount the benefits of the sun when it comes to our overall health, when it comes to mental health, when it comes to you know uh just all vitamin D, all these different things that we're talking about now, and then especially to look at studies that say that sunscreen, which has been the primary, you know, thing to go to for preventing issues when it comes to overexposure, now to be linked to increased risk of cancer, I'm hoping that we will really pay attention to these things and take them seriously and not just look at what we have done in the past, but that we would actually learn and and try to get better for the future. My question for you when it comes to this Bimotrizinol, if we're saying that correctly, is from a regulatory regulatory standpoint, why is it that this is not even allowed in the US now?

SPEAKER_01 19:08

It's a great question. I think it's one of those things that uh we kind of got stuck in our ways. We felt like we had everything we needed. And sunscreen is uh considered an OTC product, so it's a little bit more regulated than supplements, less regulated than pharmaceuticals from the standpoint of how you make it and manufacture it. But um the idea that there are new ingredients to to introduce and bring in, I I really can't put my finger on why they don't increase the um number of options that we can have, especially in a case like this where it's been out for 20 years and you have some data in Europe and in Asia. It seems like it would be an easy case to go ahead and just bring it in, which kudos to them for finally making that happen. But yeah, I don't I don't think there's a great explanation for why we don't bring some of these things in unless it's just a a money thing, which you you hope that's not the case. But I know we can all get a little cynical with uh the profit motive with some of these, and that could be exactly what that is.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Well, and honestly, it gets really frustrating when you consider, you know, uh another episode that we're gonna come out with soon has to do with toxic overload, and we're gonna talk about some of the ways that we're exposed to toxins that we know are bad for us through the products we use in our environment and stuff like that. You know, that so much of that stuff is allowed and considered safe, and then things like this that could actually be good for us, they're they're not allowed. And so it really is crazy that that is the way that that these regulations work.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

It is a very frustrating thing for sure.

Why Mosquitoes Pick Certain People

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Shifting gears to mosquitoes, our next headline reads 12 things that may make you a mosquito magnet. Scientists are uncovering why some people appeal to mosquitoes more than others. This is good, Troy. Mosquitoes choose people based on biology, not sweet blood. So so what my mom always told me is that you know, the mosquitoes are going after me because I'm so sweet. That's just not true. They are most strongly.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Yeah, that's sad. It's a sad realization, I'm sure. No.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

It is. It hurts my feelings. I feel lied to. Um, but mosquitoes are actually most strongly attracted by carbon dioxide. They smell it at up to over a hundred meters away. Body heat, skin bacteria, and specific skin chemicals called carbon carboxylic acids, which vary from person to person. We know that there are several factors that actually increase your attractiveness to mosquitoes, including pregnancy. Just one other thing for uh for the pregnant ladies to have to worry about. Sorry about that. Beer consumption, eating bananas, dark clothing, increased sweating, and your unique skin microbiome may all make you a more appealing target. And the most effective ways to reduce mosquito bites include using DEET or permethrin treated clothing, wearing light colored clothing, using fans, swatting, covering exposed skin, using fragrance, free skincare products, and eliminating staining water all around your home. And then there are natural repellents such as citronella and eucalyptus oil that can also help, but they typically require more frequent application than the DEET.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yeah, and I think uh this time of year it's good to know and understand what a mosquito is after and what you're doing to kind of increase the likelihood of you getting bit. But there was something you said in there that really kind of rocked my world. Mosquitoes can smell us at over a hundred meters away, which is crazy. And they come and check us out and then start uh feasting on our blood, which is nuts. The other thing that I thought was interesting was eating bananas. You said eating bananas can actually increase mosquitoes uh or make us more attractive to mosquitoes. Makes you wonder what it is in a banana that makes you more enticing to a mosquito. And maybe it it does make your blood sweet. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yeah, I I really don't know, but that does make sense because I I do eat bananas pretty frequently, and I tend to be one of those mosquito magnets. And this is personal for me. I've tried a lot of things in my yard, traps and uh and things like that to try to get rid of mosquitoes, and nothing has really worked so far. So I may take some of these suggestions into consideration. I do want to ask you, Troy, about the DEET. Is DEET are are there any concerns with it being harmful to us? We know it's effective at keeping mosquitoes away, but is there is there any reason to be concerned about actually using DEET for other health concerns?

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah, the DEET and Promethrin, there are some studies that suggest maybe there are some issues with it, but there are also other studies that have kind of uh come back and said that's not necessarily the case. So I think the jury's still out on both of those. I would always use them and um be use them sparingly and not necessarily jump right on the bandwagon and only use it if you're in a scenario where you're getting eaten alive, uh literally just eaten alive, then use your DEET, use your permethrin, but try these other more natural ways uh to see if you can ward off mosquitoes.

DEET Questions And Patchouli Alternative

SPEAKER_01 24:40

And one of those more natural ways that caught our attention was patchouli oil can ward off mosquito bites based on a study. Researchers say the lotion blocked mosquito bites for up to three hours in controlled laboratory testing. It was a new study that found patchouli oil provided complete protection against mosquito bites for up to three hours. They believed it worked because it masked the skin scent, which we just read about, that if you have a certain uh skin uh microbiome, then you're gonna be more inclined to be bitten by mosquitoes. So this they believe covers up our skin smell. You smell like patchouli instead, and apparently they don't like uh the smell of patchouli oil. But one thing to keep in mind is it can cause some skin irrit irritation on some people, especially anyone who has eczema or maybe they have fragrance fragrance sensitivities. So maybe a good one to start with, so you can stay away from the DEET and the permethrin. If it doesn't work for you, then uh you can you always have those other two to to fall back on.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Well, all I can say about this one is I hope the individuals who participated in this study were well compensated, because that kind of sounds terrifying to me to uh to be sitting in a controlled laboratory and just have mosquitoes be released and see if they can get through this oil that's been applied to my skin.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Yeah, and you certainly hope they screen those mosquitoes to make sure they didn't have something like zinc a virus or anything else that uh could be bad for you.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah. But thank you for the sacrifices that these individuals made to give us some evidence that this patchouli oil is uh potentially a good alternative for us when it comes to keeping keeping the mosquitoes away.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

That's right. I think we'll all go out and buy us a bottle of patchouli oil. So we'll see see patchouli oil stock rising quickly.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

One final question before we wrap up this podcast, Troy. Do you

Garden Of Eden Mosquito Theory And Closing

SPEAKER_00 26:41

think mosquitoes existed in the Garden of Eden?

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Ooh, great question. Um, I've never thought about that. I I mean, mosquitoes were alive, but I think they uh they were alive, they were there, but they didn't bite. Um that all happened after the fall. Had to, because mosquitoes are annoying.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

It had to. And one question I will ask God one day when I go to heaven is uh why did mosquitoes get allowed to come on the ark so that they exist today? All things we don't know, but uh but God is good regardless.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Well, and God may say, well, there was a lot of standing water. Um, so thank you.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

They might not have been on the ark.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Great point. Well, thank you so much for uh for joining us for this episode of the Frontline Health Podcast. As always, we want to encourage you to go out and take ownership of your health because you are your best health advocate. We'll see you next time. If you enjoyed what you heard today on the podcast, please consider subscribing and leaving us a review. We would love to hear your comments or questions about anything we've talked about on the show. For more health news, tips, and insights, follow us at Centurion Health on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube. And for safe, effective, and affordable healthcare products made in the USA to help you elevate your health and life, visit centurion.health. We look forward to you joining us next time on the Frontline Health Podcast by Centurion.