Is Your Home Making You Sick? A Simple Guide to Choosing the Right Air Filter | EP 396.A

What if the one place you felt safest was actually one of the most toxic?

Not to alarm you, but according to the EPA, the air inside your home can be up to 100

times worse than outside, filled with invisible particles, chemicals, and mold spores we breathe

every single day.

Today, we're talking about what that's doing to your body, and I'll be introducing

my brand new home kind purifier that's going to change the way you breathe at home.

I'll be right back after this message.

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Our air purifiers worth the cost.

Well, you know, we all know that air pollution is harmful.

According to the World Health Organization, 99% of the global population breathes air that

exceeds safe limits, 99% of all of us.

But what about the air inside your home, where you're supposed to be safe?

And what about inside your child or grandchild school?

That's what I want to focus on today.

Now the problem with indoor air pollution, well, when we talk about air pollution, most

people think about smoke stacks, car exhausts, or wildfires, certainly here in California,

we think about that a lot.

But the truth is your home could be a hotbed of invisible invaders.

Now the EPA warns that indoor pollutants can cause irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat

that can result in headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and even long-term issues like respiratory

disease, heart problems, and cancer.

So what in the heck are these pollutants?

So let's discuss some of these forever chemicals in the air in your home.

Where do they come from?

Some of the obvious places that they come from that you're probably not aware of is from

cooking.

Number two, candles we've had podcasts dedicated to the issues of candles in our home for

scented candles, air fresheners, air freshening devices.

This actually produces endocrine disruptors, which are damaging not only to your lungs,

but also damaging and disrupting to the hormones within your body.

And we think nothing of them because of this pleasant scent, but these are really, really

concerns.

Volatile organic compounds from cleaning supplies, paints, and even the furniture that you're

sitting on.

Most furniture in the United States that has a fabric has been sprayed, treated, or soaked

with fire retardant chemicals.

And these are constantly being leached from your furniture into the air around you.

And all of these, sadly, we now are what are called forever chemicals, and they are

endocrine disruptors.

So just the act of sitting in your home or having a carpet in your home is exposing you

to these pollutants that wouldn't have existed 50 years ago.

And don't forget about pet dander, dust mites, and mold spores, or even airborne bacteria

and viruses.

Now, dust mites don't get as much love or hate, I guess, as they should.

Dust mites are a major cause of allergens in humans.

Dust mites, almost certainly in your mattresses, in your pillows, they're almost certainly

in your furniture.

And they become airborne, and they, as the name implies, are very potent allergens.

And they're so microscopic that you really don't see them with a naked eye.

But it's something that an air purifier could handle.

Now, mold and mold spores obviously thrive in damp areas, like bathrooms, like kitchens

and certainly in basements.

And they certainly thrive in damper areas of our environment.

Now I've had multiple discussions with environmental experts about just how dangerous or not dangerous

mold is.

Let me put it this way.

When we used to have a vigorous, healthy microbiome, bacteria and fungi molds actually

hate each other.

They vie for the same food supply, carbon atoms.

Most antibiotics, antibacterial compounds are made from funguses and molds.

Penicillin, of course, is the classic example, bread mold.

So bacteria have great ways of handling mold.

On the other hand, if you don't have a healthy microbiome to handle these mold, then that's

when it can become a problem.

When I've been impressed with mycotoxin testing in my patients, that a great number of my

patients are sensitive and are exposed to mold in their home.

So it's something that we do have to take under consideration because we don't have a good

defense mechanism against mold spores like we used to.

Here's the other problem.

We don't like pests.

We don't like cockroaches.

We don't like ants.

We don't like spiders in our homes.

Many people spray insecticides, both in their home and outside their home.

Many people have home pest control, people that spray routinely to control these pests.

Without understanding that these pesticides linger and these pesticides become airborne,

and these pesticides are also incredibly damaging to our nervous system.

You probably recently heard about the recent study showing the incidence of Parkinson's

disease is incredibly high in people who live within a mile and a half of a golf course.

Now think about your neighborhood for a moment.

The odds are you live remarkably close to a golf course, even if you don't live on a golf

course.

My office, as many of you know, is in Palm Springs, California, which the greater Palm Springs

area has 120 golf courses.

It's mecca for golfers, but living on a golf course takes its toll.

Sadly, I see so many patients who live on a golf course who have developed either Parkinson's

or other movement disorders or Alzheimer's.

When we look at their environmental toxins, these pesticides and insecticides herbicides

show up in high concentrations in their bloodstream.

If you live near these places, it's all the more important to make your home, your sanctuary

from exposure to these airborne pollutants.

So how do you do that?

Well, an air purifier is the way to go, but not all air purifiers are the same.

Now the best ones contain what are called hepa filters, high efficiency, particulate air

filtration.

That's what hepa stands for.

Now think of a hepa filter like a super fine siv.

That's designed to capture 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns, things like dust,

things like pollen, mold spores, and many bacteria.

Now within hepa filters, there are different grades.

The most common in consumer products are hepa 13 and hepa 14.

So hepa 13 captures about 99.95% of particles down to 0.3 microns.

It's extremely efficient while still allowing good airflow.

And that makes it a strong choice for everyday use.

The hepa 14 gets about 99.95% of particles down to 0.3 microns.

It's got an even tighter weave designed to trap the tiniest, most harmful pollutants,

like ultra fine particles, like smoke and viruses.

But it can create more resistance to airflow.

So there's a balance.

In simple terms, I have a 13 is excellent, I have a 14 is ultra high precision.

Now both are considered medical grade and are far superior to the standard air filters

you find in the big box stores.

And if you add an activated carbon filter, you can also capture these VOCs and odors.

And that's where we start to see a big difference in air, indoor air quality.

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Okay, so how about the evidence?

Do they actually make a difference?

Do they work?

Well, a meta-analysis found kids with asthma had 24% less airway resistance when purifiers

ran overnight.

Now, it's not about your lungs, either.

A Johns Hopkins study found that people with COPD, a COPD is chronic obstructive pulmonary

disease.

You see that advertised on TV every night about this various inhalers or miracle products

that allow people to have normal lives.

These are people with COPD.

People with COPD who used to have a plus carbon filter saw a 25% increase in heart rate

variability.

Now, heart rate variability is something I measure on all of my measuring devices like

an aura ring, like a hoop band, and in general, a higher heart rate variability corresponds

to a better long-term health outcome.

So you want higher heart rate variability.

It also is a good way of predicting how hard your heart's working.

And what we see in my patients with COPD is their heart, particularly their right ventricle,

the ventricle that pumps blood to the lungs, actually has a very hard time pumping blood

through the lungs in people with COPD.

So what this study shows is people who are using a HEPA filter plus carbon filter increase

their heart rate variability by 25%, which quite frankly is a huge amount just by getting

this filter in their home.

So are they worth it?

Well, unfortunately, given the impact of our homes are now definitely more polluted than

the outside in many cases.

And if you're living on or near a golf course, the evidence is unfortunately overwhelming

that you're being bombarded with things like insecticides, like pesticides, like herbicides

that you do not want in your body.

A high-quality air purifier is absolutely worth it.

It's like choosing healthy food or prioritizing good sleep.

It's just another layer of support for overall health.

And I'll give you an example, part of my training in pediatric heart surgery.

I spent a year in London, England in the mid-1980s.

That was when coal was used for all electricity and all the cars, all the taxis are running

on diesel.

And I can tell you it was a common occurrence for us to blow our noses multiple times a day

and literally soot came out of them.

And so it's not that bad, but the problem was we could see that soot.

We knew how bad it was.

Now most of the things that we're encountering except for wildfire smoke, we can't see.

And even if the wildfires are gone, we now know that many of us, particularly where there's

been a fire, live in a toxic environment with these compounds leaching now out of the ground.

It's invisible, but that's why you need one of these devices.

So what do you look for again?

Look for a true hepa filter, not hepa like, ideally a hepa 13 or a 14 for medical grade

protection of the smallest particles.

Choose filters with microband technology.

Now this helps prevent bacteria and mold growth right on the filter, keeping it cleaner

and safer for longer.

Now make sure it has an activated carbon filter for VOCs and other gases.

Now check this CDR rating.

That means clean air delivery rate and match it to the size of your room.

The other thing, your filter shouldn't drive you crazy with the noise.

Check for quiet operation so that you can run it all day.

Now stick with the reputable brands that share testing data and certifications.

Now a purifier is certainly better than no purifier.

If an air filter is cost prohibitive, check with your state or local government for programs.

Believe it or not, some states will often provide a free air purifier for you.

So is one filter good enough?

Well, as I always say, and when I've had my experts on the program, if you can only

afford one good quality air filter, put it in the room where you're going to spend

the most time.

That means in general it's your bedroom.

Now if you've got great outdoor air quality, do what my wife's mother did or made her

do, open the window at night.

Again, we have worse air pollution in our homes than we do outside.

So my wife to this day, now in our mid-70s, still has to open the window at night because

her mother made her.

And it's not a bad idea unless you live near a golf course.

If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, family room, great room, that's another place

to keep an air filter.

If you've got kids, don't depend that they get to sleep in your bedroom and you get the

air purifier.

Get the kids in air purifier too.

Prioritize.

Again, nobody can afford too many of these if you can, great, put them in all these rooms.

But bedroom first, great room, family room, kitchen second, where you spend the most time.

Also something to think about is how much coverage are you going to get.

If you have an open design, like a kitchen dining room, living room, a bedroom air filter

is not going to do the job and it's not going to cover the entire room.

Just like a window air conditioner who may not work for an entire room, same way with

the filter.

So make sure you pair your filter choice with the room you're trying to keep clean.

The other thing that's important is most of us, when we think about air purifiers, think

about nuisance symptoms, then that's why we're getting an air purifier.

But like obvious itchy eyes, sneezing, coughing, headaches, fatigue, now these are common

and that should be a warning sign that something needs to be fixed in your house.

But the real threat comes from invisible toxins and these various organic compounds that

we can't see and we may not feel.

You know, I've often talked about leaky gut, but a subject that needs more discussion

is leaky lung.

Just like we know that there are compounds that can damage the wall of our gut, which is

only one cell thick, I can tell you as a heart and lung surgeon that the lung is also the

lining of all these alveoli is also one cell thick.

And so what happens at the surface of our breathing apparatus is exactly the same thing

that's happening in the wall of our gut.

And so we know that these pollutants can damage the wall of our lungs and cause leaky lung.

Now will you feel that?

Unfortunately you may not and this builds up over time.

We're seeing now a huge epidemic of cancers of the lung that didn't exist 50 years ago.

And these are in people who do not smoke, who have not been exposed to smoke.

Women in particular, and it's called alveolar cell carcinoma.

This did not exist, whereas it coming from, we have to suspect it's from these environmental

pollutants that we were never exposed to 50 years ago.

That's why even if we can't smell it, even if we can't sense it, we've got to be aware

that something is radically changed in our environment.

So an air purifier is a great way of making a healthy home, just like you're cooking healthy

food, just like you're making healthy choices for your family.

When outdoor air is good, keep your windows open.

Please choose non-toxic cleaners and try to reduce indoor air pollution like you

using gas stoves.

Now, just like you make conscious choices for everything else, breath matters too in ways

that unfortunately most of us probably don't feel.

Every step you take towards cleaner air is a step towards a longer, healthier life.

Now it's time for the question of the week.

The question from Aunt Amy Rebecca I, over on Instagram about my reel about going gluten-free.

She asked, hey, Dr., how do you feel about red lentil pasta?

That is naturally gluten-free, is it any good?

Well, lentils are certainly gluten-free, but they're not lectin-free.

And just remember, gluten happens to be a lectin and lentils contain lectins.

My choice is either sorghum pasta or millet pasta, and it just so happens that I make

my own sorghum pasta at Gundry MD.

I think you'll find it has the texture and mouth feel that regular pasta does without

the mischievous lectins from wheat or lentils.

Great question.

Now it's time for the review of the week from Aunt Michelle Makroski, 8.629 on my YouTube

episode about which breads to avoid.

They said, once again, you've answered the question why I'm suddenly gaining weight again

and why my cholesterol numbers are going up.

I listen to the podcast and realize, yep, too much almond flour and too many potatoes.

I need to get back on track with your plan.

Thank you.

Oh, thanks for that review, Michelle.

I see this sadly almost every day or week with my patients who are doing all the right

things, eating from the yes-food list without realizing that even though something doesn't

have lectins, it may have a lot of carbohydrates that are going to tip your triglycerides up,

make you gain weight, and change your cholesterol numbers for the worse.

So glad you noticed and glad I could help.

Did you know the air inside your home could be up to 100 times more toxic than the air

outside?

Chemicals from your furniture and cleaning products, invisible harmful particles from

your stove and candles, mold spores floating through every room.

These toxic invaders are silently linked to brain fog, fatigue, heart disease, and more.

That's why I created Total Air.

From my new home wellness brand, HomeKind, Total Air uses a true surgical grade HEPA filter.

The same standard I trusted in the operating room.

Plus an activated carbon layer for chemicals and microband technology to stop mold and bacteria

from spreading.

Three layers of medical grade protection, one device, clean air for you, your loved ones,

even your pets.

Go to HomeKind.com right now and use code CleanAir for 10% off on Total Air 180, HEPA 13

or 14.

I built this to protect my family, now I can protect yours too.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dr. Gundry podcast.

If you did, please share this with family and friends.

You never know how one of these health tips can completely transform someone's life when

you take the time to share it with them.

There's also the Dr. Gundry podcast YouTube channel, where we have tens of thousands of

free health insights that can help you and your loved ones live a long, vital life.

Let's do this together.

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