#1 Longevity Doctor: 7 Toxic Products Destroying Your Health

1. 0:00 – 1:31

   Meet the Guest

   1. MRMel Robbins0:00

      What the heck is a microplastic and where is it?

   2. ETDr. Eric Topol0:03

      (instrumental music plays) It's everywhere. It's so pervasive. In our brain, reproductive organs, plastic water bottles, plastic bags, plastic everywhere, you name it. And so this is a serious problem.

   3. MRMel Robbins0:15

      Hey, it's Mel. Today on the Mel Robbins podcast, we have Dr. Eric Topol. He is one of the most respected scientists and medical researchers who's alive today. His work has been cited in over 360,000 times in academic journals and he's gonna talk about microplastics and how there are seven toxic products that are in your home right now that are destroying your health. What are forever chemicals?

   4. ETDr. Eric Topol0:35

      Yeah, so the PFAS, perfluoroalkylating agents. There's over 10,000 of these chemicals. Whether we're eating, breathing, or drinking, we're constantly exposed to these. They are in, you know, microscopic, minute quantities, but it isn't like they go out. I mean, (laughs) they just, we just are accumulating these into our body. A spoonful of microplastics in our brain? We're seeing people in their 20s now with colon cancer, women in their 30s, young 30s with breast cancer. The question is why? They had no genetic predisposition.

   5. MRMel Robbins1:08

      Is that your theory, that the rise in cancer in young people is due to forever chemicals and air pollution and water?

   6. ETDr. Eric Topol1:16

      When you take that whole mix, they're all what you could consider as epidemics. The problem we have is we're in a state of complacency. We've just accepted this. I think it's time to hit the alarm now.

2. 1:31 – 11:31

   The Chemicals that are Hurting You Quietly

   1. MRMel Robbins1:31

      Dr. Topol, welcome to the Mel Robbins podcast. I am thrilled that you're here.

   2. ETDr. Eric Topol1:36

      Thanks, I'm so thrilled to be with you.

   3. MRMel Robbins1:38

      Well, I just wanna start by congratulating you on a fantastic new bestselling book, Super Agers. I absolutely devoured this. And I'm thrilled that you're here because I cannot wait to get into a section of your book about how environmental factors are impacting how we age, our longevity, and our health overall. And so, I'm thrilled you're here and what I would love to do is start by having you speak directly to the person who's with us right now and tell them what might change about their life if they take everything that you're about to share with us and teach us today to heart, and they put it to use in their life.

   4. ETDr. Eric Topol2:20

      Well, I mean, I think the principal things that we've been, known about for years, these lifestyle factors, I call them Lifestyle Plus because it's much more than just diet, exercise, and sleep. We have to now add in environmental factors. We haven't paid nearly enough attention and the compelling evidence that has come forth on air pollution, microplastics, nanoplastics, and the forever chemicals. These things are having a big impact and we're not doing anything about it.

   5. MRMel Robbins2:51

      For starters, I just wanna understand them because I had never heard the word microplastics, for example. And I think intellectually or common sense wise, you, of course, go, "Oh, well, you know, air pollution, of course, impacts your health," but some of the statistics that we're gonna unpack in your book in terms of the connection between environmental factors and the diseases that people get and the health, uh, challenges that people are facing, it's really scary, Dr. Topol.

   6. ETDr. Eric Topol3:19

      It is scary. And, uh, the fact that most people are not aware of the risks and that f- uh, that we're not doing anything about those risks. You know, certain conditions we are masked because, like a heart attack, we can't really say, "Oh, it's from this forever chemical or from the, uh, plastics or the air pollution." Can't really say because they're so common. It's the number one killer. But when you see the declines in fertility, both among men and women, and you know that these plastics and chemicals are invading the testes and the ovaries and the reproductive system, right?

   7. MRMel Robbins3:54

      Mm-hmm.

   8. ETDr. Eric Topol3:55

      When you see young people, as I've seen, in their 20s and 30s developing cancer with no risk, you say, "Well, wait a minute. These are special groups of people that shouldn't have these things. What is it in our environment that could account for this?" And, you know, until proven otherwise, these are the things we have to consider are causal.

   9. MRMel Robbins4:15

      I agree with you. You know, as I was reading Super Agers, Dr. Topol, and you're going through Lifestyle Plus factors, it stopped me in my tracks as you started to write about how pollution, how plastics, how the environment that we're living in, how there are household items that are in our homes right now, that we use when we cook, that we, you know, sit next to at home-

   10. ETDr. Eric Topol4:38

       Yeah.

   11. MRMel Robbins4:38

       ... that also can impact our health and are playing a role in our longevity. How big of a, of a factor is this?

   12. ETDr. Eric Topol4:48

       If we just talk about the forever chemicals and plastics, they have links to all the adverse health outcomes. Now, for example, we know that more young people are developing cancer than ever before. And it's not just colon cancer, breast cancer, all these types of cancers that were age-related. We're seeing people in their 20s now with colon cancer, uh, women in their 30s, young 30s with breast cancer. The question is why? They had no genetic, uh, predisposition. We have to think, "Well, maybe it's related to the chemicals." So some people say, "Well, you don't have cause and effect," while others will say, "You know what? We got this mechanism of inducing inflammation and being mutagenic, that is im- capa- capable of inducing mutations in our cells, which could cause cancer, and we have this new thing we haven't seen before and it just keeps getting worse." It's pretty hard not to connect the two, right?

   13. MRMel Robbins5:41

       Well, and you write about this, like on page 125, you literally say, by 2050, if we keep going the way that we are, the number of people dying from cancer is gonna double.

   14. ETDr. Eric Topol5:51

       Yeah.

   15. MRMel Robbins5:52

       Is that your theory, that the rise in cancer in young people is due to micros- plastics and forever chemicals and air pollution and water?

   16. ETDr. Eric Topol6:01

       ... and maybe-

   17. MRMel Robbins6:02

       Contamination?

   18. ETDr. Eric Topol6:02

       ... and add to that ultra-processed foods, which also are pro-inflammatory and injurious. So just starting, you know, maybe with plastics.

   19. MRMel Robbins6:10

       Mm-hmm.

   20. ETDr. Eric Topol6:10

       Uh, plastic water bottles, plastic bags, plastic everywhere. It's so pervasive. And the problem is we have it in our bodies, and it's in our organs. One of the most important studies to come out in years about plastics was one from Italy, where they looked at people's arteries. These are the arteries in the neck, the carotid arteries, where there's atherosclerosis or cholesterol buildup. And they found that more than half had plastics in their arteries, and that those were the people that had over a four-fold risk of heart attacks and strokes.

   21. MRMel Robbins6:46

       Wait, so hold on a second. Let me just make sure that the person heard that. So in a recent study, half of people have microplastic buildup in their carotid artery, and of those people that had microplastic buildup, they were four times greater risk for stroke and heart attack.

   22. ETDr. Eric Topol7:03

       That's right. And it was correlated with the fact that if you look at the arteries under the microscope, not only did you see the microplastics like polyvinylchloride, but you saw profound inflammation around the plastic pieces. The other one, of course, was the brain. So this was in people who had died, and they looked at the brain, and they found plastics throughout the brain, this spoonful of plastics in the brain.

   23. MRMel Robbins7:25

       Spoonful of plastic in the brain?

   24. ETDr. Eric Topol7:27

       Yeah. And wherever there was plastic, guess what? There was local marked inflammation, just like in the artery wall. So you, you can't say that this is innocuous, right? This is, this is something that's very troubling, and it mean- it needs action.

   25. MRMel Robbins7:42

       Well, I just wanna try to translate to make sure I'm tracking with you. So the reason why the inflammation is the problem is because if your arteries are inflamed, that means they're gonna get blocked, which means they're not gonna work.

   26. ETDr. Eric Topol7:51

       Yeah, well, it's not just even the blockage. We're talking about even in the tissue of the brain outside of the arteries, where the plastics-

   27. MRMel Robbins7:58

       Wow.

   28. ETDr. Eric Topol7:58

       ... can get in. Once they get into our tissue, they incite a lot of inflammation. This isn't good, whether it's in the wall of an artery or in the tissue like the brain. They're seen in testes. They're seen in, uh, semen. They've been associated with blood clots. Uh, they're in, uh, women's reproductive system as well. Eh, I mean, just as they're pervasive in the air and the water, they are in our bodies, uh, and it's a cumulative exposure.

   29. MRMel Robbins8:27

       I, I, I realize this isn't conclusive, but, you know, what do you worry about as a scientist in terms of the implications of these environmental factors?

   30. ETDr. Eric Topol8:36

       Well, the, the two that are, um, especially troubling for our reproductive system, and it's not just for women with fertility, but we're seeing progressively lower sperm counts and sperm function in men. Uh, and so we have a big problem with, uh, reproductive health. But both forever chemicals, which get into the reproductive organs, and also the plastics, nanoplastics, they both can do this.
3. 11:31 – 15:24

   Simple Ways to Avoid Microplastics

   1. ETDr. Eric Topol11:31

      That's how they're made. They have the also pervasive presence. 97% of us have, uh, PFAS, forever chemicals, in our blood, detectable at low levels, some higher than, than others.

   2. MRMel Robbins11:44

      So where exactly do the forever chemicals come from? Like, what are the... How are they generated in the air, in the water, and in plastics?

   3. ETDr. Eric Topol11:51

      Yeah, well, you know, if you really wanna get the, the nitty-gritty on that, there's a, a, a famous New Yorker article from last year, where, uh, a 3M employee...... uh, Chris Jensen basically was the whistleblower. And the company knew about the injurious effects, uh, of these chemicals, but they didn't wanna do anything about it.

   4. MRMel Robbins12:18

      Hmm.

   5. ETDr. Eric Topol12:18

      And, uh, I mean, it's pretty scary to read this article because it's from the inside. And 3M, that's kind of their thing, they just... Everything is made with forever chemicals (laughs) , uh, whether it's, you know, uh, Post-its or plastics or, I mean, you name it. We've done nothing to rein this in, which is extraordinary. We know they have, um, a toxic potential, and yet just like with the, the big food industry with ultra-process and like what we've seen with, um, the plastics industry that rely on 'em, the companies that rely on these forever chemicals are doing nothing to make a difference. And so, we're stuck with these very serious risks with no action.

   6. MRMel Robbins13:01

      Hmm. What are the top ways that you and I and the person listening are being exposed to microplastics and to the forever chemicals that are impacting our health?

   7. ETDr. Eric Topol13:12

      Well, uh, it is pervasive, and, you know, like you said, Mel, it's in our air and in our water, but there are certainly things that we could do to lessen the burden. I mean, so for example, uh, wrapping things in plastic, I mean, is not a good idea. You know, you-

   8. MRMel Robbins13:26

      I have a feeling that I'm gonna leave this conversation-

   9. ETDr. Eric Topol13:29

      (laughs)

   10. MRMel Robbins13:29

       ... Dr. Topol, and throw out everything in my kitchen.

   11. ETDr. Eric Topol13:30

       (laughs)

   12. MRMel Robbins13:30

       Is that what's about to happen?

   13. ETDr. Eric Topol13:32

       No, no, and hopefully not. But if you wanna be conscious about the burden of plastic intake, which is... (sighs) It's an enormous amount of plastics we're taking in on a, on a daily, yearly basis. Anything we can do to reduce dwell time in plastic, or better yet, not plastic at all, that would be an improvement. In our family, we've made some changes. Uh, you know, we're... A lot less things that are being wrapped in plastic. Just things are sitting in plastic, more likely to absorb some of the plastic material. But, you know, cooking, you can reduce. Uh, water bottles. No, not plastic water bottles. So, there's at least something you can do, uh, but it's mainly paying attention. Uh, it, it's pretty obvious what the plastics are. Like, for example, you know, when you go to the grocery store-

   14. MRMel Robbins14:19

       Yeah.

   15. ETDr. Eric Topol14:19

       ... everything's in plastic bags.

   16. MRMel Robbins14:21

       It's true.

   17. ETDr. Eric Topol14:21

       Uh, it should be cloth. You know, there's, there's many ways, but it's mainly the attention to what things are being wrapped in or being cooked in or ca- cooked with make a difference. I mean, like, for example, we used to have these Teflon-coated things, like a spatula. Now, we have wood. Unfortunately, the... what we can do on an individual basis is somewhat limited, right? Because, um, you know, n- very little has been done to change the environmental burden that all of us face.

   18. MRMel Robbins14:50

       Yeah.

   19. ETDr. Eric Topol14:51

       I mean, we're breathing in these chemicals and plast- nanoplastics, and so it isn't like you can change that very easily. So, there's at least something you can do, uh, but it's mainly paying attention.

   20. MRMel Robbins15:03

       Well, one of the things that I think of immediately is that when I go to the grocery store, if I put something in one of those plastic bags in the produce section, I leave it then in my fridge for a week or two before I end up using it and cooking in it. So, that's an example of the thing bathing in it. And it's true, when I go to the farmer's market, there's nothing in plastic. People are using paper bags, or I throw it into

4. 15:24 – 23:36

   The Everyday Items Harming your Health

   1. MRMel Robbins15:24

      my basket-

   2. ETDr. Eric Topol15:24

      Yeah.

   3. MRMel Robbins15:24

      ... and then I store it in the fridge without plastic. And so, you know what would be very interesting is did they ever... have they ever done a study where, like, if I think two people ago, my grandparents, if they were to draw my blood versus-

   4. ETDr. Eric Topol15:36

      (laughs)

   5. MRMel Robbins15:36

      ... Grandma Bippert or Grandma Schneeberger's blood-

   6. ETDr. Eric Topol15:38

      (laughs)

   7. MRMel Robbins15:39

      ... I bet that the plastic content in my blood versus theirs must be night and day.

   8. ETDr. Eric Topol15:47

      Oh, no question, because if you think about the fact that it's in virtually everyone's blood now, and it wasn't, you know, 10 years, 20 years ago, at, uh, de- detectable. And wh- things have changed so much. This has become, uh, just a enormous burden to us, and we don't do anything about it. So, you know, going back to your point about going to the market and, and bags, why aren't we using paper rather than plastic? Why isn't that the norm? Uh, I mean, we have become so dependent on this, uh, it's just... It's so frustrating to watch this.

   9. MRMel Robbins16:21

      Well, I can also tell how impassioned you are when you start to make the case about infertility rates rising, sperm counts lowering, the spike in cancers that people are getting diagnosed with when they're young, children, middle school, high school, in their 20s, that are not the rates that people were diagnosed just 10, 20 years ago. I can see why as a researcher, medical doctor, and one of the world's most respected medical researchers, literally in the world, that you're very upset and impassioned about this. What if we go through a couple items one by one and have you talk about how they're, either the free chemicals in this thing or the plastic in this thing can impact your health and what changes to swap out? Does that sound cool?

   10. ETDr. Eric Topol17:09

       Sure, sure.

   11. MRMel Robbins17:10

       All right, cool. I'm gonna have one of my, I'm gonna have our executive producer, Tracy-

   12. ETDr. Eric Topol17:13

       (laughs)

   13. MRMel Robbins17:14

       ... bring over a box of things. And you can't see this if you're listening. On YouTube, you can watch this. But I'm gonna narrate this as Tracy puts a gigantic-

   14. ETDr. Eric Topol17:23

       (laughs)

   15. MRMel Robbins17:24

       And now, I'm afraid to have this stuff near me because now I'm like-

   16. ETDr. Eric Topol17:27

       (laughs)

   17. MRMel Robbins17:27

       ... "Oh, my God, Dr. Topol just said this is all very dangerous stuff." So, let's just start with... I've got Tupperware.

   18. ETDr. Eric Topol17:37

       Yeah.

   19. MRMel Robbins17:37

       Tupperware.

   20. ETDr. Eric Topol17:37

       Yeah.

   21. MRMel Robbins17:37

       I've just gotten big. You can hear it. These are in my, uh, cabinets right now. Talk to me about Tupperware, Dr. Topol.

   22. ETDr. Eric Topol17:45

       Yeah, I mean, you know, the Tupperware parties, when you think about that, is like adding to the plastic burden that we don't need at all. We should be avoiding plastic containers, which of course are everywhere. If we're gonna wait another 10 years before we finally have this cause-

   23. MRMel Robbins18:01

       Yes.

   24. ETDr. Eric Topol18:01

       ... and effect, uh, that's waiting much too long when we can do something now that's beneficial.

   25. MRMel Robbins18:05

       Dr. Topol, I microwave in plastic all the time.Is that okay?

   26. ETDr. Eric Topol18:10

       Hopefully, that would be past tense.

   27. MRMel Robbins18:12

       (laughs)

   28. ETDr. Eric Topol18:12

       Because that is, um, a double whammy here. You've got not only the, the microplastics that can get into the food from the plastic container, but now you're heating it up, so you're really promoting it. We know if you heat up plastic, that's the way to get more nanoplastic into whatever you're, you're gonna consume. So that... You don't wanna be using these for microwave.

   29. MRMel Robbins18:36

       Plastic, swap out for glass.

   30. ETDr. Eric Topol18:38

       Yes.
5. 23:36 – 29:32

   How to Make Your Home Safer

   1. ETDr. Eric Topol23:36

      Unfortunately, there's been a big review of menstrual products, uh, and they, many of them have a significant ex- exposure of forever chemicals. And so, again, our attention, whether it's the manufacturer or the consumer-

   2. MRMel Robbins23:53

      Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   3. ETDr. Eric Topol23:53

      ... is just not there.

   4. MRMel Robbins23:55

      Mm-hmm.

   5. ETDr. Eric Topol23:55

      I mean, if manufacturers really wanna be promoting health, they could use different ingredients, different components. Uh, some of them are, evidently, but most of them aren't.

   6. MRMel Robbins24:06

      You know, I also have this, uh, non-stick-... techno-resistant pan here.

   7. ETDr. Eric Topol24:13

      (laughs)

   8. MRMel Robbins24:13

      It says that it's got titanium in it. It's pla- it's coated with something. Why are nonstick coated pans a really bad thing to cook with?

   9. ETDr. Eric Topol24:21

      That Teflon or other plastics is getting right into the food. The more you're using it, the more in, in microscopic quantities, but you're basically, you know, getting into your digestive tract. And yeah, it's a problem.

   10. MRMel Robbins24:34

       Well, and plus, I would imagine, Dr. Topol, that as you're cooking something in here and using a plastic, like, cooking utensil-

   11. ETDr. Eric Topol24:41

       Yes.

   12. MRMel Robbins24:41

       ... and the heat is, like, heating up the plastic on the pan coating and on the utensil, you're just releasing more microplastic-

   13. ETDr. Eric Topol24:51

       Yeah.

   14. MRMel Robbins24:51

       ... from the utensil and the pan into the food that you're eating?

   15. ETDr. Eric Topol24:54

       Just like the microwave of the Tupperware. Same thing. Heat is just gonna increase the, the load of, uh, the nanoplastics into your body.

   16. MRMel Robbins25:03

       I'm gonna be emptying-

   17. ETDr. Eric Topol25:04

       Oh, and- (laughs)

   18. MRMel Robbins25:04

       ... out a lot of the drawers at home. That's all I can say. Um, what do you think about air filters in the house? I mean, should we all be having one? Is there a certain type of air filter that can help filter the air?

   19. ETDr. Eric Topol25:15

       Well, we, we do have a problem with bad air, dirty air. And so, you know, we saw this, of course, through COVID. Uh, and so had we, at our home or our workplace, had better air filtration-

   20. MRMel Robbins25:28

       Hm.

   21. ETDr. Eric Topol25:28

       ... uh, we could have reduced the, the spread of COVID. Uh, and it's the same with the respiratory viruses, but it also gets us to air pollution. Air pollution, when you get down to the 2.5 particulate matter, or the tiny, uh, amounts of, uh, air pollution, the tiniest, that's-

   22. MRMel Robbins25:46

       What do you mean by that? What do you mean when you get down to the 2.5?

   23. ETDr. Eric Topol25:48

       Okay.

   24. MRMel Robbins25:48

       I don't know what that means.

   25. ETDr. Eric Topol25:48

       So there's breakdowns of the pollutants in our, in our air.

   26. MRMel Robbins25:52

       Uh-huh.

   27. ETDr. Eric Topol25:52

       The smaller you go, the more toxic. And again, just like we talked about with the microplastics and the forever chemicals, it's these small 2.5, uh, particulate matter, um, these are the ones that are, uh, throughout our body in- in- inducing inflammation. And so anything we can do to have higher quality air, um, particularly, uh, you know, with good filtration. So there are these HEPA, uh, filters, but even just exchanging the air, a lot of peep- people's home-

   28. MRMel Robbins26:25

       Like a fan?

   29. ETDr. Eric Topol26:25

       Yeah, well, fans or, you know, normally in a workplace, uh, now we have these so-called MERV 11, MERV 13. These are just air filtration systems that, uh, are exchanging our air on a frequent basis. The more exchanges, the more filtration, the better quality air. Last year, the CDC for the first time said, "We're gonna make a move towards healthy buildings." And that sounded really good. But what's actually being done? That in- that involves, you know, much better ventilation and filtration systems. And, uh, there's little action that's actually been taken.

   30. MRMel Robbins26:58

       So, you know, the reality is, as I hear all this, it makes perfect sense. Like, I'm not one of those people who's like, "Well, there's not enough evidence." I, to me, if you look at the rise in cancer and the rise of infertility rates and the rise of diseases that people are being diagnosed with at ages in their teens and 20s and 30s that they weren't being diagnosed with 20, 30 years ago, it makes a lot of sense. Like, there's no denying to me the connection of all this, but I feel like it feels out of control that, oh, my God, there's teaspoons of plastic in my body, that it's in my arteries, that it's everywhere around me. The air that we breathe has got God knows what in it. Every product that I'm buying is not labeled and so I don't know how to look for the free chemical. If you were to say, Dr. Topol, that there are three things that everybody can do and should do that would make the biggest impact in your environmental risks and mitigating against them, what would they be?
6. 29:32 – 35:04

   Control What You Can

   1. ETDr. Eric Topol29:32

      say, "There's just no reason that person would get pancreatic cancer. There is just no reason at all. But, oh, by the way, they happen to live in a place that's, you know, got very bad air pollution, very significant exposure to these toxic chemicals, plastics, ultra-processed foods, well, hm, what's going on here?" So the point is, by di- diagnosis of exclusion, the fact that we can look at all these other layers of data and say, "This person presented in their 60s with pancreatic or ovarian cancer, there's just no reason for it, or lung adenocarcinoma in a very healthy, you know, young, young woman, why?"Well, all these things we're talking about here, because they induce inflammation, they induce mutations in our cells that could be carcinogenic.

   2. MRMel Robbins30:21

      That's terrifying.

   3. ETDr. Eric Topol30:22

      Yeah. Yeah. I always like to, you know, have the hardest evidence to make a conclusion. But this one here has a flashing yellow light, especially when in context of not doing anything about it.

   4. MRMel Robbins30:34

      Well, when you and your work have been cited in 365,000 papers, and you've got over 13,000 published papers yourself, and you're alarmed, I'm like-

   5. ETDr. Eric Topol30:48

      (laughs)

   6. MRMel Robbins30:48

      ... DEFCON 10 over here, thinking, "Get the plastic out of my house."

   7. ETDr. Eric Topol30:52

      (laughs)

   8. MRMel Robbins30:52

      Um, what would you say, Dr. Topol, though, to somebody who is listening, like, somewhere around the world? Because our audience is global.

   9. ETDr. Eric Topol31:02

      Yes.

   10. MRMel Robbins31:03

       And, you know, there is a person that is listening to this who is gonna feel so overwhelmed by the chemicals and pollutants that they are surrounded by because of where they live, and feel like, "Well, there's nothing I can do." Is there, you know, obviously, there's always something you can do, but what is the one thing that you would want this person who's feeling like, "Well, I live in a polluted area, and I, you know, there is no regulation around where chemicals are dumped," what's one thing to really take a look at for yourself?

   11. ETDr. Eric Topol31:38

       Well, the things that we've been discussing-

   12. MRMel Robbins31:40

       Yeah.

   13. ETDr. Eric Topol31:40

       ... I, I think, Mel, that, that at least will reduce that person's burden or their family's burden to some extent. And, and at least that raises awareness so that, you know, everything you're doing now is, is a bit different, that, uh, you know, when you go to the, the grocery store or the farmer's market, when you're cooking, you know, that, that you're, you're much more conscious of these, uh, potential risks.

   14. MRMel Robbins32:04

       Mm-hmm.

   15. ETDr. Eric Topol32:05

       Um, it, it isn't like we, you know, (laughs) like you said, DEFCON. You know, this is not like you're gonna die or, you know, you're gonna wind up in the hospital, but these are this kind of chronic-

   16. MRMel Robbins32:15

       Yeah.

   17. ETDr. Eric Topol32:15

       ... low-level, uh, burden things that they're not helping. We know that much. There's not-

   18. MRMel Robbins32:20

       Well, it makes you also wonder-

   19. ETDr. Eric Topol32:21

       Yeah.

   20. MRMel Robbins32:21

       ... with the rise of autoimmune disorders and the massive increase in the last 20 years, when you see the rise of infertility rates, as you've suggested, the rise in cancer diagnosis in young people, when you see the rise of autism diagnosis, it does make you wonder, how are these environmental factors truly impacting people's genes, people's organs, the way e- the body metabolizes food and air, the way that the immune system works? And the fact that you're alarmed is very alarming to me.

   21. ETDr. Eric Topol32:57

       Yeah, I think the problem we have is we're in a state of complacency.

   22. MRMel Robbins33:00

       Hm.

   23. ETDr. Eric Topol33:00

       We've just accepted this. We've accepted this exponential rise of environmental toxins, all of which we've been discussing induce inflammation in our body, uh, pose a risk of every organ system, as you mentioned, including it, the immune system and inflammation, and we're just sitting here i- in some kind of denialism, as if they're, they're innocuous. And they're not.

   24. MRMel Robbins33:24

       You know, your people doing cleanses, whether it's going on, like, a heavy metal cleanse or doing something to reset, you know, their health, once you have microplastics in your system, can you get them out of your body?

   25. ETDr. Eric Topol33:38

       The problem is, the plastics and the forever chemicals are not degradable. So once you... They're, it's (laughs) a unidirectional thing. You take them in, and, you know, they're, they're in residence. They establish residence in our bodies. Who would want that? Who wants these foreign chemicals and, and materials in our body? Especially when you see them, when you see them in an artery, and then you see surrounding the plastics is this intense inflammation of all these cells that come in that are just profan- And then you look at the arteries that don't have the plastics in them, and it looks, you know, okay. You say, "Whoa, I don't want these in my arteries, and I don't want these, you know, in my brain, because they can't be doing anything good there." Uh, so that's the problem, is they get throughout our body, and they are inducing local inflammation, which is unhealthy. So here, on the one hand, we have a lot of good things that we can do to promote healthy aging, but we got this problem that we're basically largely ignoring, and I, I hope that's gonna change.

   26. MRMel Robbins34:43

       Well, you know, one thing that I am getting out of this conversation that I think is really important, number one, is that there are simple changes that I need to make, that our family needs to make, now that I'm aware of it, in terms of how we cook, the products that are certainly in our kitchen, the way that I am heating up food, the containers I drink

7. 35:04 – 44:15

   You Can Make a Difference

   1. MRMel Robbins35:04

      water in. You know, I grew up in an area where there was a lot of, uh, manufacturing, and there was not regulations related to the dumping of chemicals in lakes. And there were, when I was growing up, clustering of different types of lymphomas and cancers, which, of course, all then tracked back to the chemical dumping. And so we know the connection between the environment and people's health, and we know, based on very bad things that have happened, how chemicals impact people's health. And so the fact, I agree with you, that we're not regulating this or protecting people from it seems profoundly unfair and, frankly, stupid.

   2. ETDr. Eric Topol35:48

      Totally stupid.

   3. MRMel Robbins35:50

      I also think, if we're already on this hockey step- stick upswing, what's gonna happen in 20 or 30 years?

   4. ETDr. Eric Topol35:56

      Yeah. Yeah.

   5. MRMel Robbins35:57

      What's gonna happen to our kids?

   6. ETDr. Eric Topol35:58

      Well, I really appreciate that point because, I mean, The SuperAgers book is, you know, brimming with optimism because we're gonna be able to prevent disease.

   7. MRMel Robbins36:07

      Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   8. ETDr. Eric Topol36:07

      We have this newfound potential to do that. And we have this problem is the overhang...... which is, when are we gonna get serious about environmental toxins and exposures? They're there, they're increasing, they're, it's undeniable that they're having some, posing some hazard. In order to reap the benefits of this amazing capacity of prevention that we're gonna have, we've gotta pay a lot of attention to this issue.

   9. MRMel Robbins36:34

      Mm-hmm. Well, I'm glad you brought up optimism, because you know, SuperAgers, your-

   10. ETDr. Eric Topol36:39

       (laughs) .

   11. MRMel Robbins36:39

       ... best-selling book, which is an evidence-based approach to longevity and using the science of aging to your benefit so that you age well regardless of whether you're 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 or 80. And the lifestyle changes that you talk about in the book, whether it's sleep or exercise or eating less processed food or stay- staying socially connected, are the evidence-based way to improve your health outcomes. And, you know, I'm happy that you also were willing to laser in on a piece of your book that was about the environmental aspect, because this is a piece that can feel very overwhelming and a lot of us frankly don't know about it. And we've, I've prioritized convenience over my actual health. And I've prioritized just kind of being laissez-faire about it, because I didn't understand the deep connection and the actual scary evidence that you've laid out today about how environmental factors are contributing to poor outcomes as you age, regardless of how young or old you are. And so, you know, I am so appreciative, Dr. Topol, that you were willing to make the case and willing to talk to us about some of the simple changes we could make, and to get us really revved up about the importance of this as a, a- a- as a species, frankly.

   12. ETDr. Eric Topol38:03

       Particularly with children here, they're exposed to lots of plastics and these chemicals. And of course, it's the duration of exposure throughout a person's lifetime that also plays a role.

   13. MRMel Robbins38:15

       Mm.

   14. ETDr. Eric Topol38:15

       And, uh, I went on a field trip with my 11-year-old grandson, uh, last Friday, uh, a marine biology field trip. And during that trip, the kids all had lunches, and it was really interesting that their, their parents, typically their mothers, of course, ha- had, many of them had packed things in their lunch, no plastic at all. I said, "Wow. Uh, you know, this is really impressive." So some people are getting the memo, you know? Some people are, (laughs) are figuring out that there's ways to work around this plastic, um, pervasiveness, and that's reassuring. We all can do better.

   15. MRMel Robbins38:54

       Well, you know, you just mentioned kids, and I was just sitting here thinking that if I, if I take all the research that you've laid out, and I think about my own life, 56 years old, and you talk about the rise of this in the last couple decades, I probably for the first 20, 25 years of my life, was not exposed to microplastics. It's only been in the last couple decades that I have been. But when I think about my kids who are now 26 and 24 and 20, they've been exposed to this for their entire life. And, you know, we love to point the fingers at social media, which certainly has its upside and massive downsides, especially in the development of young brains, but it makes you wonder, is the rise in ADHD, especially the early diagnosis and other neurodivergent issues also partially because of these environmental toxins? And again, don't know, but when you really look at the research and the evidence, it's hard to deny that it's n- gotta be a contributing factor.

   16. ETDr. Eric Topol39:58

       That's the way I see it, Mel, because there's no way these things are good for us, and when you see the rising incidents of these things, there is no other explanation. It's hard to point away from this as a root cause. These things can't be good for us. And let's assume that they're bad for us and do something about it.

   17. MRMel Robbins40:16

       Dr. Topol, if the person listening does just one thing when they're done listening to all this that you've shared with us today, what would the one thing be?

   18. ETDr. Eric Topol40:27

       Well, I still wanna leave a person with a very optimistic outlook-

   19. MRMel Robbins40:32

       Yes.

   20. ETDr. Eric Topol40:32

       ... that we, we have, uh, a capacity to prevent diseases that's more powerful than ever before in medical history. But we have to pay attention to the problem that is happening at the same time, which is steadily worsening, which is that we have these unwanted foreign toxin- toxins in our, in our environment, in the things that are being manufactured. We're, we're, we're taking them in, uh, on a daily basis, and that has to get on track. We just can't keep going on and expect to reap o- only the benefits without the concurrent risks that, that exist today. So I, I do hope that, um, while we are in prevent mode, we pay more attention to this other issue, which is that we have a few layers of environmental exposures, each of which we can do something better-

   21. MRMel Robbins41:29

       Mm-hmm.

   22. ETDr. Eric Topol41:29

       ... with them to reduce them, but, uh, it's also gonna take a collective, population-wide attention to really, uh, make a difference.

   23. MRMel Robbins41:39

       What are your parting words, Dr. Topol?

   24. ETDr. Eric Topol41:41

       Well, I couldn't be more excited about, um, the ability to prevent the age-related diseases, uh, the ability for us to take a huge dent out of cancer, out of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, along with cardiovascular disease, that being the lo- the number one killer, uh, throughout the world. There's never been better prospects for that, uh, and we have many ways we're gonna achieve that. But let's not forget that alongside there's been a creeping up of our environmental factors that are-... getting in the way. So let's make sure that we pay attention to that and, and take it seriously, uh, from here on in.

   25. MRMel Robbins42:23

       Well, what I really appreciate about you is that underlying that message is the environmental factors aren't your fault, but now that you see them, you can do something to protect yourself against them. And now that you understand the bigger picture and how this is accelerating, you can be part of a solution that helps resolve these environmental factors for future generations. Dr. Topol, thank you, thank you, thank you for writing such a remarkable book, SuperAgers. Thank you for hopping on a plane, and thank you for making this extremely compelling and alarming case, and empowering us to make simple changes to protect ourselves.

   26. ETDr. Eric Topol42:59

       Thank you.

   27. MRMel Robbins43:00

       And thank you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to something that could absolutely change your life. And there's no doubt in my mind that Dr. Topol's research and his new book SuperAgers has all the information and the simple changes that you can be making in your life and the life of the people that you care about that will add years to your life. And I really hope you take everything that you learned today to heart. And in case no one else tells you, I wanted to be sure to tell you that I love you and I believe in you, and I believe in your ability to create a better life. Thank you for listening to something and for wanting to learn from somebody as smart and as researched and as respected as Dr. Eric Topol. Thank you for sharing this, and I'll see you in a few days. I'll be waiting to welcome you in to the very next episode the moment you hit play. I'll see you there. And thank you for watching all the way to the end. Was that not extraordinary? I feel so inspired and moved. I know you do too. Thank you for sharing this with people that you care about. Thank you for hitting subscribe, 'cause that's one way you can support me as I'm supporting you. And I know you're like, "Mel, what do I watch next?" I want you to check out this video. You're gonna love it, and I'll be welcoming you in the moment you hit play. I'll see you there.

Episode duration: 44:15