21. Dr Jack Kruse: Critical Role of Light in Human Evolution, Health & Chronic Disease

Dr Jack Kruse joins me in an epic three-hour interview to weave the story of human evolution fundamentally tied to light. He describes our transition from furry ground dwelling mammals to upright walking primates, the critical role of the POMC gene, melanin and function of mitochondria as producers of endogenous light, as well as the distortion of the light environment as the key underlying driver of modern chronic disease. Dr Jack Kruse is a neurosurgeon, biophysicist, health optimisation researcher and founding father of the circadian health / mitochondrial medicine movement. This is the first in a series of interviews with Dr Kruse that will also cover water and magnetism, two further installments in a trilogy that strongly challenges the centrality of diet as the chief determinant of optimal health. Stay tuned for further episodes.  *This is not a podcast for beginners, and if you want the cliff notes I’d suggest watching Dr Max’s summary takes and the closing thoughts. Some explicit language in this interview – Dr Jack is extremely passionate! TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Dr Max's intro 00:05:11 Dr Kruse’s backstory 00:10:22 Differences between centralized and decentralized medicine 00:12:32 Incongruence in Darwin’s theories of evolution 00:13:27 Evolution of mammals from ground dwelling creatures 00:17:57 The POMC gene and its cleavage products allowed mammals to survive the dinosaur extinction event 00:28:12 POMC, the leptin melanocortin pathway and human metabolism 00:34:37 POMC and autoimmunity 00:38:42 To understand the effect of light on biology, we need to understand physics 00:41:15 UV light from the sun is critical to stimulating POMC 00:46:42 Robert O. Becker’s research on bioelectrics and cellular DC electric current 00:50:22 POMC, melanin and biological semi-conductors 00:59:52 Dr Max’s summary of the first hour 01:05:05 What is leptin and its function? 01:12:28 All mammalian cells generate UV light in the mitochondria and use it to signal 01:19:27 The biological function of melanin 01:26:19 Dr Max’s summary of the function of leptin 01:30:05 Reversing vitiligo, grey hair & melanin loss with sun & UV light 01:36:43 Melanoma develops in absence of full spectrum (red/infrared) sunlight 01:39:38 Dr Max’s summary of the first 1.5 hours 01:41:22 What are mitochondria? 01:47:29 Competing theories on the factors that influenced development of human brain 01:49:27 History of biological semi-conductors and importance of DHA in the SN2 position 01:56:36 Photoreceptors, neuropsin and mental health conditions  02:08:00 Incongruent light signals between eye and skin creates disease 02:12:47 The harms of taking exogenous melatonin 02:17:52 Why blocking UV light causes melanoma 02:24:32 Rebuttals to ‘light causes all diseases’ point of view 02:38:42 Understanding light is critical to understanding the root causes of patients diseases 02:54:03 Dr Kruse’s take on premature male pattern balding and refractory error aka ‘soyjak meme’ 02:59:49 Why we see low serum Vitamin D in overweight or obese people 03:04:49 Dr Jack’s closing thoughts 03:08:02 Three actionable steps for the listener  FURTHER READING See Youtube show notes for full list - unable to fit here Send us Fan Mail 🧡 HARDBLOCK Australia's Longest Running Bitcoin-only (₿) Exchange Use code REGENPOD for AUD 10 of bitcoin post account verification Support the show