Are Golf Courses and Sports Fields Poisoning Us?
Episode 200
Welcome to another episode of Integrative You Radio! Dr. Nicole will guide us through the complex world of chemical exposure and its effects on our well-being. Using a real case study involving a young individual with a history of migraines and exposure to a green substance used on golf courses, we explore the links between his health challenges and the chemicals present in his environment. Unveiling the toxic compounds such as Paris Green, an arsenic-based insecticide, and other common chemicals used in golf course maintenance, Dr. Nicole will delve into the potential dangers they pose to vital systems like the liver, kidneys, respiratory and digestive systems, and even the pineal gland. This episode serves as a stark reminder that these chemicals travel beyond the golf course, affecting all of us. Join the Dr. as she discusses how these toxins can compromise detoxification pathways and contribute to various health issues, urging us to take a closer look at the products we use and the environments we inhabit. Interested in learning more about Dr. Nick & Dr. Nicole’s courses, memberships, or private work? Learn more at Integrative You . Have a quick question, Would you like to schedule a call, or just want to say hi? Text us at 732.913.0009. Our mission to innovate humans & Healthcare does NOT start and stop with us! This is why we are also dedicated to helping other practitioners in evolving healthcare too! If you are a healthcare leader and are looking to up-level your clinical + business excellence Learn more about our course membership: Limitless Healthprenuer and start boldly disrupting this industry! What you’ll learn: Chemical Impact: The episode highlights risks from chemicals used on golf courses, such as arsenic-based Paris Green, which can harm vital body systems. Rethinking Health: Aging-related health issues might have environmental causes, prompting listeners to question assumptions and explore holistic health solutions. Detox Importance: Maintaining e
Topics: golf, health, courses, chemicals, course, unknown, integrative, nicole
Key takeaways from this episode
- ## Are Golf Courses and Sports Fields Poisoning Us?
- Chemicals used on golf courses and sports fields, including arsenic-based compounds, can pose significant health risks.
- Exposure to these environmental toxins can negatively affect the liver, kidneys, respiratory and digestive systems, and the pineal gland.
- The burden of these chemicals can compromise the body's natural detoxification processes.
- Environmental factors may play a greater role in chronic health issues than often assumed.
Pull quotes
This is the place where you become limitless. **Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior.
We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs, so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare.
If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place. **Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive.
Transcript
**Unknown:** Welcome to Integrative U Radio, hosted by Dr. Nick Carruthers and yours truly, Dr. Nicole Rivera. This is the place where you become limitless.
**Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior. We are also covering how those topics affect the human and family dynamics. We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs, so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare. If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place.
**Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive. This is Integrative U Radio. Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Integrative U Radio.
**Unknown:** So I am Dr. Nicole, and I will be your host today. I am talking about a interesting topic, primarily because it was brought to my attention by one of my more recent cases. And, uh, this was a young individual that has worked on a golf course since he was 14 years old.
**Unknown:** Uh, he has also been golfing since he was a pre-teen, so he has spent a lot of time on a golf course. And really, overall, this isn't the first time that I've investigated the probability or possibility that some of the chemicals being used on golf courses could potentially be compromising the liver, kidneys, and urinary systems of individuals, especially men, because a lot of men are golfers. And the reason why I originally have looked into this is because there are many men that are dealing with prostate issues, espe- especially above the age of 45, and it is said that it is just part of the aging process. And if you've listened to podcasts before, you know that I debunk that pretty often.
**Unknown:** We are designed to live to upwards of 100 years old, and if we are going to start, start having organ decline in our 40s and 50s, I can't imagine that from a, a, a strong genetic standpoint that we are supposed to have organ dysfunction in the middle of our lives. And on top of that, there are many, many, many things in our environment right now that are compromising our liver and kidneys, because those are the two primary filters of our body. So going back to the more recent case, there, there was an interesting thing that unfolded. This was an individual that was dealing with debilitating migraines, that he ended up rotating about four to five different medications to finally find the right one to help with the migraines, and then also to reduce the side effects of some of the other medications.
**Unknown:** So in digging into the timeline of when these migraines started, it is in a very close time period to when there was a green substance that was used as a insecticide, pesticide on the golf course that he was working on. And he remembers it very distinctly because it ruined his shoes. It caused his shoes to be completely green, and it also had a very foul odor. And ironically enough, I was doing a lot of research on mosquito repellent and some of the things that have been used in history to repel mosquitoes, and what were the harmful chemicals associated with mosquito repellent, and are those being used today.
**Unknown:** And I came across a, uh, a lot of research around something called Paris Green. And Paris Green has, uh, been known to be banned, but of course, there are other products that can contain similar compounds and be labeled as something else. Paris Green was the original label from, honestly, it-- I think the first time they ever used it was 900 AD in China, and then they used it again in the 1300s up to the, uh, 1600s in Europe. Ironically, is very similar correlation to the time of the Bubonic plague.
**Unknown:** And if you look at some of the skin effects of, or, or of Paris Green, you will see that there is an overlap with the, um, symptoms of the Bubonic plague. So at the end of the day, Paris Green, what it is, is it's, it's an arsenic-based insecticide, and they've also used it as a rodenticide, which is to ward off rodents. So Paris Green is something that has created a slew of different issues, and this is everything from being a endocrine disruptor, AKA affecting fertility, affecting hormones. It creates nerve damage.
**Unknown:** Uh, can cause everything from pins and needles to numbness to weakness, which when you look at cases of ALS, PLS, uh, there is sometimes a correlation to these types of chemical compounds like arsenic that will be one of the catalysts to the degradation of the neurological input to the musclesThis is also associated with liver damage, kidney damage. If it's inhaled, it can also create a lot of issues in the sinuses. At its extreme, it could be ulcers in the nose that can make its way even into the throat and esophagus, and it also can affect the stomach. So it can create diarrhea, vomiting.
**Unknown:** And I would say that there's a couple of ways that this can happen. So if this chemical gets into the body on a repeated basis because you work on a golf course or you golf avidly, it could affect the vagus nerve, and that would be part of the vomiting that you experience or even the diarrhea that you experience. But also, too, if you are drinking water on site that maybe is contaminated with the runoff of these chemicals, then you could be getting it directly into your digestive system. So overall, there's a lot of layers here.
**Unknown:** There is issues that can affect the neurological system. It could affect our vital filters like our liver and kidneys. It could affect our respiratory system, sinuses included. It can affect our vagus nerve, our digestive system.
**Unknown:** The list goes on. And what's interesting is that when you look at some of the other leading chemicals that are being used on golf courses, it's the exact same issues with the other chemical compounds. Some of the other chemical compounds that I've come across, one is a fertilizer that they use very commonly on a lot of different golf courses, but it's called 2,4-D. And this is a fertilizer being used, same exact effects on the human body.
**Unknown:** Fertility issues, hormone disruptor, neurological effects, pins and needles, loss of motor function, breakdown of muscles, and then liver and kidney damage. So, and then the last one that is used most commonly is, uh, I'm probably not even gonna say this right, but it's chlorpyrifos, and it's C-H-L-O-R-P-Y-R-I-F-O-S. And this is an organophosphate, uh, which is a very common fertilizer. And this is something that could be associated with headaches, sweating, nausea, vomiting, loss of coordination, nerve damage causing weakness, pins and needles, damage to the liver.
**Unknown:** And then even with that specific chemical, this is also something that if it's inhaled, it can affect the respiratory system, even going to the extreme of creating pulmonary edema, which is fluid accumulation in the lungs, which can then affect the heart and move you into congestive heart failure if it goes on long enough or if it compounds long enough. So some really, really interesting things that have to be considered when we are actively on these courses, and especially if you're someone that is not necessarily in the wellness arena, you're not taking any type of supplements or binders, you've never done a detoxification, but you've had this health decline, and maybe it's a rapid health decline, maybe it is a slow health decline. But if you are someone who's been dealing with liver issues, you've been dealing with kidney issues, you've had kidney stones, you've had, um, swelling in your legs, you've had prostatic issues, you've had, uh, chronic sinusitis, chronic upper respiratory infections. You have now been told that you have, uh, respiratory issues, if it's asthma to reoccurring pneumonia to congestive heart failure even.
**Unknown:** We have to dig deeper and see if these chemicals have now accumulated, and there are tests out there that allow you to get that information. So something very interesting about this specific case, so not only did this individual have these debilitating migraines, and then as we dig in, revealed that there was this green substance that he was exposed to, and he remembers it very distinctly. That was at the age of fifteen, sixteen years old is when the migraines started. Migraines were daily, totally debilitating, the worst pain he's ever felt in his life.
**Unknown:** They have gotten better, and we can maybe attribute that to his body's own detoxification, uh, working. But the body is very resilient, but that doesn't mean that those chemicals aren't stored. They aren't stored in fat tissue. They're stored in scar tissue.
**Unknown:** And that's something interesting because when an individual gets injured or they lose weight or go on, say, keto and they burn fat quickly, then they could get really sick. And that is actually something that happened to this individual . Um, so the other layer to this is that a couple years after the migraines started, actually, I think it was within a year, he had a MRI of the brain, and he was told that he had a cyst on his pineal gland, and it was no big deal, and it would probably shrink over time. And I managed to find this extremely interesting article correlating the pineal gland with arsenic toxicity, 'cause as a reminder, the Paris green insecticide, uh, rodenticide, that is arsenic-based.
**Unknown:** And also another sidebar with that is if you look up the technical name-of Paris Green, which is copper acetate triarsenite or copper acetoarsenite. If you type that in and you look at your state, you can see if there is contamination of that chemical in different parts of your state. Um, they have to, they legally do have to report that. So that is something that you could definitely see.
**Unknown:** Is this something that's in my area that I'm possibly getting exposed to? Especially if you are an avid golfer or you live near a golf course. So going back to the pineal gland, for those of you that don't know much about the pineal gland, the pineal gland is, it's essential to so much, but it is one of the main glands that is associated with us using critical thinking, leveraging common sense, being creative, challenging the status quo, thinking outside the box, being in touch with our authentic self, not being afraid to be our authentic self, speaking our truth. Um, it's really just the compass for how we see the world and also how we see ourselves.
**Unknown:** So it's extremely important that the pineal gland is functioning. And there are many layers to this, but the pineal gland, based on the massive amounts of fluoride we are exposed to in a lifetime, and now also some of these very specific chemicals we're talking about today, there is a major assault on the pineal gland because essentially it's a lot better for people to comply opposed to challenge. And this was by design. That's a whole different topic.
**Unknown:** So going back to what I was talking about, they did a very specific study, uh, with arsenic, and they were specifically measuring the kidney functionality. And what they found is that when a rat was exposed to arsenic, they had a massive depletion of all, all of the major antioxidants that help with detoxification. And they also had a massive compromise to very, very specific pathways in the liver that allow for the liver to detox properly. So they had a compromise of the pathways associated with detoxification through superoxide dismutase and glutathione and glutathione reductase.
**Unknown:** But those pathways in the liver will help make these compounds, and then those compounds will go to different areas to help with detoxification. So not only was it compromised in the liver, it was also compromised in the kidneys. So essentially the two major ways that you get chemicals, toxins, and crap out of your body, the liver and the kidneys, were both compromised. So arsenic plays a very significant role in your inability to detox, which means all those toxins stay in your body and then will affect your neurological system.
**Unknown:** They also found that the pineal gland has a major role in detoxification of the brain, and it produces very specific antioxidants that will help detoxify the brain. And they found that when arsenic was something that was negatively impacting the pineal gland and the entire nervous system, that they administered, uh, pineal proteins. So they actually gathered pineal gland proteins from buffalo and administered that as a treatment, and they found that the pineal gland was able to detoxify and the pineal gland was able to heal from any type of enlargement or growths like a cyst. So I can't believe that I was actually able to find a study that freaking specific, but I did.
**Unknown:** So a couple of things to wrap this up is when it comes to like, "Oh, am I really being exposed? I don't golf. This is totally irrelevant to me." A reminder, these chemicals travel. They travel especially based off of where you're located.
**Unknown:** If there are golf course, courses in your area, which there are golf courses everywhere, uh, chances are this could be contaminating the water of your city or your county. There is also a lot of, um, pesticides that are in this same category that are being released in cities, and they're doing this for mosquito control, cockroach control, et cetera. They find that there are tons of different chemicals that are sprayed in cities. And then on top of it, if you remember what I was saying earlier, the original reason I came across Paris Green was in the research that I was doing around mosquito repellent.
**Unknown:** How many people still spray their homes, their yards for mosquitoes? So we are dealing with the same chemicals that people are spraying next door to you, even if you don't. So you're getting exposed, your kids are getting exposed, your dogs are getting exposed. There were a bunch of initiatives in between New York City and Connecticut to ban some of these chemicals, and what's interesting is New York City banned synthetic pesticides, um, on city property, but they excluded golf courses.
**Unknown:** So when you get out, and in the outskirts of Manhattan, there are tons of golf, golf courses because there's so much more land. In addition to that is they banned the chlorpyrifos. Again, I don't know if I'm saying that right, but I did spell it for you guys earlier. They banned that in Connecticut.
**Unknown:** So all in all, when it comes to golf courses, many of you that have been listening to our podcast for a while, you probably know that we talk avidly about the amount of chemicals on our food.1991, they had a report that showed there was fifty thousand pounds of pesticides being used on golf courses, which is seven times more than what they use in farming. So it is way more abundant on those golf courses. And we need to understand that this stuff gets absorbed in your skin. So every time you go to pick up that golf ball that has been on the turf, in the grass, you're getting exposed to that.
**Unknown:** And yes, chemicals absorb directly into your skin. That's why bioidentical creams, bioidentical hormone creams exist, because you can apply that directly onto your skin and absorbs into your bloodstream and changes your hormones. The same exact thing happens with chemicals, gets absorbed by your skin and it changes your hormones. So it's very, very important for us to consider this.
**Unknown:** In addition to that, we talked all about golf courses. The same thing is happening on the fields that our kids are playing on, the fields, the soccer fields to the football fields, because they are using the same chemicals and fertilizers even on turf. So we need to be very, very conscious of this. I have worked with many young individuals that were soccer, football superstars and started having tons of injuries, started having debilitating migraines.
**Unknown:** One started having seizures. And the common theme was a boatload of chemicals found in their body. Everything from heavy metals, arsenic being one, lead being another, in addition to pesticides, insecticides, acaricides and more. It's all around us, guys.
**Unknown:** And we are this is not about living in a bubble. This is not that we all need to move to an island, which would be actually quite nice. But this is about understanding that your body is very resilient and you do have amazingly powerful detoxification pathways. But your detoxification pathways are under assault all day, every day, especially if you have not cleaned up your personal products, if you have not cleaned up your food, if you're eating out, you're grabbing coffee on the go at Starbucks, like you are getting exposed to an exorbitant amount of chemicals and you need to be aware of that.
**Unknown:** So this is about how can you be proactive? How can you support your body to un-gunk, I'm using air quotes, un-gunk the filters? How can you make your liver and kidneys more powerful, more resilient so that you can properly remove and eradicate the chemicals you're being exposed to while also trying to limit the chemicals that you're being exposed to? And that is the key thing.
**Unknown:** I will say the one of the studies that I found talking specifically about the arsenic based insecticides, in addition to the organophosphate fertilizers, they were finding that even high dosages of zinc, selenium and iodine are fantastic for helping the body to kick out some of those very specific chemical compounds. I'm not going to say that it's that simple, but it's something of value that is usually pretty benign. Some people that start taking iodine specifically, they will have detox reactions or but they'll think it's an allergic reaction or they'll think like, oh, that iodine made me feel poorly. But it's actually because the iodine is detoxifying the body, especially detoxifying the thyroid.
**Unknown:** So all things to to consider. We will also have a link to a very gentle liver support supplement protocol. If you want to take a look at that through Fullscripts, they are fantastic dispensary drop ship right to your house. But at least it is one step in the right direction to get your body functioning better and more resilient.
**Unknown:** We thank you so much for being an avid listener of Integrative You Radio, formerly known as Integrative Wellness Radio. We appreciate all of your support. We love your comments. Please visit us on social media as well as our website to see all of the fun things happening behind the scenes and the new amazing content and courses that is being rolled out on a monthly basis.
**Unknown:** We hope to see you there.
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
Further reading
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