Speaker 1:
Welcome to The Dr. Gundry Podcast where Dr. Steven Gundry shares his groundbreaking research from over 25 years of treating patients with diet and lifestyle changes alone. Dr. Gundry and other wellness experts offer inspiring stories, the latest scientific advancements, and practical tips to empower you to take control of your health and live a long, happy life.
Dr. Steven Gundry:
If you’ve got dark spots showing up on your hands, face, or arms, I want you to listen carefully because here’s something most people don’t know. Dark spots are not just skin-deep. They’re an indication that you’re forming the same kind of damage in your brain, your heart, and your lungs. If you’re seeing them on the outside, chances are they’re forming all over the inside, too. Despite what people call them, age spots, they are not just a normal part of getting older. They’re a signal. Your body is actually trying to tell you something.
Today, I’m going to break down what those spots really mean, how they’re connected to aging on the inside and on the outside, and what you can do to help get rid of them naturally. Plus, I’ll share my own routine, and why, at 75, I still get compliments on my hands and skin.
Okay, let’s break it down. Most people think dark spots are caused by sun exposure. And yes, sunlight does play a role. But it’s not the whole story, and it’s definitely not the main reason they show up because here’s what’s really happening. Dark spots are a visible sign of something much bigger, a process called fibrosis. Fibrosis is when tissues throughout your body, like your heart, your lungs, and even your skin, start to stiffen and scar over time. This stiffness makes it harder for your organs to function the way you’re supposed to.
For example, in the heart, fibrosis can prevent the muscle from relaxing properly between beats. That’s called diastolic dysfunction and it’s incredibly common as we get older. In the lungs, fibrosis makes it harder to take a deep breath. That’s known as pulmonary fibrosis and it can sneak up on you without any symptoms.
Now, here’s the connection. The same process that causes stiffness in your heart and lungs also happens in your skin. When you see dark spots forming, it’s not just surface-level discoloration. It’s a visible warning sign of tissue damage that could be affecting your entire body long before you feel it. The real culprit is a process called glycation. This happens when sugar molecules in your body bind to proteins, especially when heat is involved, forming sticky compounds called AGEs, or advanced glycation end products. These AGEs break down collagen, stiffen tissues, and speed up visible aging, including wrinkles and dark spots. These same AGEs also show up in stiffened heart tissue and damaged lungs. Again, this isn’t just about your skin. Glycation affects your whole body.
Now, what makes glycation worse? Now, most people know that sugar is part of the problem. But what they don’t realize is protein is the other half of the equation. In fact, glycation requires both sugar and protein to happen. Even healthy-seeming meals, like grilled chicken with a sweet marinade or a protein bar with sugar alcohols, can create a perfect storm for AGE formation, especially if you cook a high temperatures. Grilling, toasting, roasting, you dramatically increase these compounds.
Where are some of the worst offenders? Well, charred or burned meat. That crust on your steak are advanced glycation end products. When you eat those advanced glycation end products, you actually absorb them. Another bad offender is toast and grilled sandwiches. Just remember that sweet marinades and barbecue sauces which are going to get grilled on the grill, you’re eating advanced glycation end products on that food. Processed high protein snacks or extremely high amounts of protein powder also create advanced glycation end products.
Now, here’s the problem. Back in the good old days, you didn’t drink protein powder or eat a protein bar. You ate an animal or plant that contained protein. Now, it actually takes a huge amount of energy and digestion to break down that protein. You lose about 30% of all the calories in a protein-based meal by the process of digestion and that’s one reason protein can help you lose weight. But when you suddenly eat protein that’s been broken down into its individual amino acids, that protein slams into your bloodstream, unlike trickling down. Your mitochondria, which can use protein for fuel, get overwhelmed. Now, it’s rush hour in your mitochondria. When mitochondria can’t turn all that protein into energy, ATP, the mitochondria shift it over to store as fat.
Now, here’s something interesting I’ve seen over and over in my practice. Patients who eat more plant-based protein, things like lentils, nuts, and hemp tend to have much lower levels of IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor. Why is that good? It turns out that super aged, or super old people, late 90s, early 100s have very low levels of insulin like growth factor one, IGF-1. Sadly, high IGF-1 levels are linked to accelerated aging, tissue overgrowth, and more dark spots.
That’s because plant proteins are different in their amino acid structure. What’s interesting is they don’t spike IGF-1 the way animal proteins do. And they’re less likely to promote glycation, especially when cooked gently, like steaming veggies, including animal proteins. For instance, the Japanese tend to steam their fish, steam their chicken, steam their vegetables. Now, I’m not saying everyone needs to cut out animal protein completely. But if you’re dealing with dark spots or worried about what’s going on inside your body, dialing back the meat and adding more plant-based sources can really help.
If you want to reduce dark spots and slow the aging process inside and out, here’s what I recommend. Number one, add more plant-based protein to your diet. Number two, cut back on sugar and excess protein. The average American consumes two-times the recommended amount of protein just by eating food. Two-times the recommended amount. We are over-proteinized. Third, avoid high heat cooking and try steaming, roasting at low temps, or indirect grilling. Next, each polyphenol-rich foods every day. Whether they’re berries in season, pomegranates in season, extra virgin olive oil, even extra dark chocolate. Use a clean mineral-based sunscreen. Take timed release vitamin C twice a day. Focus on your gut health because skin health starts in the gut. Eat foods that feed your gut gut buddies, like fermented foods. Prebiotic foods, like chicory. And avoiding inflammatory foods, like whole grains and nightshades.
Okay, let’s go over some of the questions I get all the time. “Dr. Gundry, how do you keep your hands looking so young?” Now, the hands are one of the first place dark spots form. Now, my hands weren’t always this way. It took about one year to get rid of the dark spots after putting myself on my eating protocol. Now, this list is free at Gundry MD and drgundry.com. Primarily, I stopped eating a low fat diet. I don’t go a day without olive oil, avocado, or pistachio nuts. I focused on doing all the things I just recommended. Eating polyphenol-rich foods, cutting sugar, avoiding overcooked proteins, and taking care of my gut buddies. Everything starts in the gut.
But here’s the thing. Even with all that, I know I’m still exposed to sun and oxidative stress like everyone else. Let me tell you a story about one of my patients. Two of my patients are in their late 70s from Oregon. As many people know, many people from Washington State and Oregon bring their RVs down to Palm Springs for the winter. Good idea. This patient whose hands were covered in dark spots, we saw them the first year and they went off back to Oregon. They were driving back to Palm Springs in the winter of the following year in the RV. His wife suddenly turned to him and she said, “George, look at your hands.” George had his hands on the steering wheel like this. George went like this to look at his hands and nearly drove off the road.
Now, why was she exclaiming for him to look at his hands? Because his dark spots had disappeared. When I saw them back in my office, number one, his dark spots on his hands had all gone away. They shared the nearly fatal way that he discovered how good he looked. He’d been following the protocol, it worked.
Do I use one product on my skin? Yes. It’s called Dark Spot Diminsher, and yes, it’s mine. But unlike most spot treatments that just lighten the skin, this one is packed with polyphenol-rich plant extracts. I used to have a number of dark spots on my hands. I’m down to one and you actually can barely see it. I have none on this hand. Why? Because I eat to remove dark spots, I eat to prevent dark spots, and any pesky ones, I treat with Dark Spot Diminisher.
Other questions I get all the time. “Is melasma the same as these dark spots? Is it fixed the same way?” No, melasma is not the same, but it’s actually fixed in the exact same way. I’ve had a number of patients, including a few famous ones, that were able to relieve their melasma by eating a proper diet. A melasma is, once again, a sign that you have insulin-resistance, you have metabolic inflexibility. This is just another warning on your skin’s surface that something is really wrong inside of you.
Another question. “Will red light therapy help?” Well, I’m actually quite fond of some of the red light therapy masks that are available. “What about white spots instead of dark ones?” Now, white spots are actually an absence of pigment and there can be two reasons for that absence of pigment. One is the more concerning one, which is vitiligo. Now, Michael Jackson suffered from vitiligo. Vitiligo is actually an autoimmune disease where your melanin-forming cells in your skin are attacked by your immune system. The good news is I see a lot of patients with vitiligo and we’re able to reverse that vitiligo with my program.
The other cause of white spots is actually a simple fungal infection called tinea versicolor. You can treat it with topical antifungals that will kill the fungus. But the bad news is the white spots will remain over the winter until you get out in the sun the next year, and then they’ll go away.
Question. “What are healthier ways we can cook on the grill?” Well, I never cook directly over the coals on a grill or over the flames. I always cook indirectly so that I’m not really making chars on anything I cook. That’s an easy way to start.
Okay, here’s the bottom line. Dark spots aren’t just a sign of age, they’re a sign of damage. What’s happening on your skin could very well be happening in your heart, your lungs, even your brain. If you’re seeing those spots show up, don’t just cover them up. Use them as a signal to take action.
Tried every cream, serum, and skincare hack out there and still struggling with breakouts, dryness, or premature aging? There’s a missing link most people even dermatologists completely overlook, your diet. Your skin is actually a reflection of what’s going on deep inside your body, specifically inside your gut. I say it all the time, your gut is your skin turned inside out. If your gut isn’t happy, your skin won’t be either. Unfortunately, most people are unknowingly doing damage from the inside out by eating foods that irritate and inflame the gut lining.
Take grains, for example. If you wouldn’t scrub your face with sandpaper, why would you do the equivalent to your gut lining? Because that’s exactly what eating grains and other lectin-heavy foods does. They act like little tiny razorblades, scraping and weakening your gut wall. The result often shows up right where you don’t want it, on your skin. Let’s walk through a few gut-loving, skin-supporting foods I recommend adding to your plate today.
First off, fermented foods. If you want glowing skin, start with your gut buddies. Fermented foods are one of the best ways to nourish them. This includes foods rich in probiotics, which are living bacteria, and postbiotics, and beneficial compounds they produce. And yes, even dead probiotics, which research now shows can be incredibly useful for skin health. In my new book Gut Check, I explain how these dead bugs once thought to be useless help build a thicker skin and gut barrier, and even support healthy hair growth.
What are some of my favorites? Try plain goat or sheep kefirs. Plain goat and sheep yogurt. Kimchi, miso, raw sauerkraut, or even canned sauerkraut. Even vinegar, which contains beneficial short-chain fatty acids that support your gut lining. Now, all of these foods help crowd out the bad guys and feed the good bacteria leading to calmer, clearer skin over time.
Now, the second thing you need to add is soluble fiber. You have to feed your skin from the inside out. Now, eating foods with probiotics is one thing, but you’ve got to feed those probiotics what they want to eat. That’s where prebiotics come in. Here me out, not all fiber is created equal. Soluble fiber feeds good gut bacteria and helps repair the gut wall which translates directly to clearer, healthier skin. Unfortunately, insoluble fiber from things like grains can actually damage the gut lining. Guess where that damage shows up? Yeah, right on your skin.
Okay, where are some of my favorite soluble fiber sources? Flaxseeds. Now, flaxseeds have a double bonus. They’re packed with alpha-linolenic acid, which is a short-chain omega-3 fat, which really helps prevent destruction of your gut wall. It’s loaded with lignans that nourish the microbiome. Artichokes are loaded with a prebiotic fiber called inulin, and they’re loaded with polyphenols that actually improve your liver function. How to eat them? You can saute them with oil oil and garlic, there’s absolutely no preparation required. You can get them frozen, you can get them already in jars, you can add them to your salads. You can add them to other vegetables. They should be in your pantry, and in your freezer, and in your refrigerator all the time.
Now, leeks. As you know, I spent a lot of time in Europe studying ancient, old people. It’s amazing how popular leeks are in the diet of Europeans. Now, they’re part of the onion family and the garlic family. They’re definitely much milder than onions and they’re a staple in all these cuisines. You can braise them, you can make soups out of them. They really should be a part of your diet.
Now, here’s one that surprises everybody. Okra. Now, okra has got some huge benefits. It actually binds to lectins in your gut and helps to eliminate them. I even use okra powder in my lectin shield formula to bind lectins. I’ve got a great recipe for okra potato chips right here on my YouTube channel. Quite honestly, if you’ve never done my okra potato chips, try them out. They will not make it from the oven to the table. You and your entire family will finish them before a second is over, they’re that good. For those of you who say okra is slimy, there is nothing slimy in my okra potato chips.
Avocados. Now, they’re one of the most powerful skin-supporting foods that you can eat. They’re pack with mono and saturated fats which can help keep your skin cells plump and hydrated from the inside out. They’re also rich in fiber, which keeps your gut microbiome balanced. And remember, a happy gut equals healthy-looking skin. They’re also a top source of two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which have been shown to help protect the skin from UV damage and oxidative stress, two of the biggest drivers in premature aging. In fact, one randomized controlled trial in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found that women who ate one avocado per day for eight weeks experienced measurable improvements in skin firmness and elasticity compared to those who didn’t. I recommend eating one avocado a day.
Next up, olive oil. Now, olive oil is one of the best kept secrets in the skincare world and it works from the inside out. It’s loaded with polyphenols, plant compounds that nourish your gut bacteria and protect your cells, including your skin cells, from oxidative damage. But not just any old olive oil will do. Most grocery store olive oils are either cut with cheap oils or oxidized from poor storage and long shipping. In fact, some studies show they contain barely any beneficial polyphenols at all. Instead, I recommend cold-pressed early harvest high polyphenol olive oil. Yes, you’ll taste the difference. A slight peppery bite in the back of your throat is actually a sign of high polyphenol content, that’s a good thing. Use it daily. Drizzle it over cooked veggies. Blend it into dressings, or even sip a small shot in the morning like I do. It’s one of the simplest, most effective ways to support your gut and your skin every single day.
Start eating foods rich in silica. That’s sand. Vegetables like chard, arugula, bok choy, and radicchio are all rich in silica. It’s a trace mineral that plays a crucial rule in collagen formation, skin hydration, and elasticity. Now, silica helps your body convert proline, an amino acid, into hydroxyproline, one of the building blocks of collagen. Without it, your skin can lose firmness and structure over time. A study showed that women who supplemented with bio-available silica for 20 weeks experienced significant improvements in skin’s smoothness, elasticity, and brittleness of hair and nails. But you don’t need a supplement to get these benefits, not if you’re eating the right plants. Dark, leafy greens, plus silica-rich veggies, like artichokes deliver exactly what your body needs to build beautiful skin from the inside out.
Timed release vitamin C is the next step. Ever wonder why smokers tend to have more wrinkles and visible signs of aging? It’s not just the smoke. It’s because smoking rapidly depletes vitamin C, a nutrient your body needs to repair collagen. Without enough of it, collagen breaks down faster and your skin pays the price. That’s why vitamin C is non-negotiable for skin health. It acts like the knitting needle for collagen, helping stitch together strands to form strong, resilient skin and blood vessels. But since your body burns through it quickly and you do not manufacture vitamin C on your own, we’re one of the few animals that don’t, I recommend a time release formula of vitamin C, or simply chewing a vitamin C tablet several times a day.
Now, here’s some bonus support. Eat your sunscreen. You’ve heard me say it, eat your sunscreen. Why? Because most commercial sunscreens are full of toxic ingredients your body absorbs and they’re endocrine disruptors. They’re often less effective than you’d think. Instead, consider Fernblock, a patented oral supplement made from the tropical fern polypodium leucotomos. Research shows that Fernblock helps protect the skin from oxidative stress and UV-induced aging when taken orally. It’s one of my favorite tools for inside out sun protection, and yes, it works. Okay, that’s how to take care of your skin from the inside out.
Number one on my favorite foods for healthy skin are foods that contain probiotics. Now, good health begins in the gut. Believe it or not, your gut, the lining of your gut, is your skin turned inside out. What happens in your gut is not like Las Vegas. What happens in your gut doesn’t stay in your gut and it’s reflected on your skin. Your gut health has a direct impact on your skin. Probiotics are the good gut buddies. Your really want good gut buddies to outweigh the bad guys.
Now, there are lots of foods that provide either probiotics, which are living bacteria, or postbiotics. Postbiotics are the fermentation products that bacteria make. Interestingly enough, as you’ll learn in Gut Check, my new book, dead bacteria, dead probiotics actually are incredibly useful for fostering good skin health. Fermented foods like vinegar, kimchi, goat and sheep kefir that are plain, goat and sheep yogurts, coconut yogurts, miso, sauerkrauts, and various probiotic supplements are a great way to improve your skin health. There are some specific probiotic bacteria that have been shown to enhance skin thickness, skin health, hair growth, hair health. That’s exciting new information that a number of us have been talking about recently.
Number two, prebiotics. Now, it goes without saying that prebiotics are important for skin health in that they support a healthy gut microbiome. Remember, think about probiotics as basically grass seed. The problem with grass seed, as I tell my patients in the desert, that if I give them grass seed and tell them to go plant it, unless they fertilize and water the grass seed, it’s never going to grow. Many of us make the mistake that all we have to do is swallow probiotics and everything else takes care of itself. Unfortunately, that’s not true. You’ve got to feed the friendly bacteria what they want to eat, and we’re beginning to know exactly what these guys like to eat. These are called prebiotics. Prebiotics primarily with soluble fiber.
Now, people say, “Oh, fiber is really good for you and you need lots of fiber.” But don’t make the mistake, there are soluble fibers and there are insoluble fibers. The problem with insoluble fibers, like in grains, is these are literally like swallowing razorblades which will damage the wall of your gut, and that damage will be reflected in your skin. Soluble fiber, on the other hand, is what your gut buddies want to eat and soluble fiber will not damage the wall of your gut. Quite the contrary, it will help repair the wall of your gut. As the wall of your gut gets happier and happier, that’ll be reflected on your skin.
Flaxseeds. Flaxseeds are a great source of soluble fiber. They’re great sources of a short-chain omega-3 fat which is alpha-linolenic acid, ALA. It’s also a great source of protein. There’s a recent study showing that the lignans in flaxseed or high-lignan flaxseed oil actually change the microbiome in a positive way that suppresses breast cancer growth. Sounds good to me.
Artichokes. Artichokes get a bad rap for being hard to prepare. Get the frozen artichokes and eliminate all the hard work, or get them in a can. I particularly like them frozen because then I can do anything I want with them. They’re available in most grocery stores in the freezer section, they’re available at Trader Joe’s. Incorporate them into the meals you’re cooking. Put them in soups, cook them in stews. I like to saute them with olive oil, I like to bake them with olive oil and salt and pepper. They’re great with garlic sprinkled on them. It’s really easy to do and they’re just an amazing source of soluble fiber.
Leeks. I just got back from England and France, and I can tell you almost every meal I had there had some form of leek. Either as a part of the dish, or in a soup, or in a stew. It always reminds me how we really have never appreciated the ability of leeks as a great source of prebiotic fiber. They’re a cousin and they’re part of the onion family. Again, it was just amazing how many times I had leeks in a week in London and Paris. It should be part of our diet. They’re really easy to prepare. Make sure you slice them in half the long way and rinse thoroughly before you cook them because they can contain some grit, but that’s the easy way to fix them. Then just treat them like you would treat onions. They don’t have the pungency of onions so people who don’t like onions can actually do great with leeks.
Now, okra is one of my all-time favorites. Okra, believe it or not, absorbs lectins. But more important than that, okra is loaded with mucopolysaccharides, with polysaccharides. Now, a lot of people don’t like the slimy effect of okra. That’s okay. Buy it frozen, slice them in half, put them in a bag with olive oil, salt and pepper, some seasonings. Throw them on a baking sheet, bake them at 400, 425-degrees, flip them over at about 10 minutes. You will have the tastiest okra potato chips. We have yet to get a batch to the dinner table because they’re gone the minute they come out of the oven. It’s here on my YouTube channel, try it out.
Jicama. Jicama is another great root vegetable that tastes like a cross between an apple and a potato. You can actually roast it or eat it raw. You can put it in a salad. I like to use it as a dipping chip for my guacamole. Reminder, please don’t put tomatoes in your guacamole, it’s not supposed to be in there. You can also supplement with prebiotic fiber. I like inositol, myo-inositol, and inulin, and they’re readily available as supplements.
All right, the number three food, foods that are high in silica. Now, silica is basically sand. Dark, leafy greens are full of silica. Arugula, Swiss chard, bok choy, radicchio. They also pack a powerhouse of polyphenols and antioxidants that your skin needs. They all provide the body with vitamin A, which works against dry, flaky skin. They provide vitamin C, which undos to sun’s damage to collagen and elastin. And they have vitamin E, which helps keep your skin calm and comfortable. But what’s most important in these greens is it’s high in the content of silica in dark, leafy greens. What else is high in silica? Artichokes! There’s a double-good reason to get these little guys into your diet. Again, it couldn’t be easier now that we have frozen artichoke hearts.
Number four, mushrooms. Mushrooms are loaded with biotin. But perhaps more importantly, they’re loaded with these polysaccharides, which are one of the favorite foods of your gut microbiome. The happier and more diverse your gut microbiome is, the happier the wall of your gut is, and that’ll be reflected once again in how great your skin looks.
Number five, olive oil. High quality, organic extra virgin olive oil is brimming with nutrients that benefit your skin, including essential fatty acids and vitamin E. But more importantly, it’s loaded with polyphenols like hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol that have been shown to improve skin quality by improving the wall of your gut. There’s an exciting new paper that shows it even improves the ability of your blood vessels to expand and contract properly, and more blood flow to your skin means your skin looks more radiant. Don’t forget, you don’t have to just drink olive oil. Sophia Loren credited her incredible beauty to putting olive oil on her skin daily and I recommend you do the same thing.
Number seven, sweet potatoes. It’s rich in beta keratin, which is the precursor of vitamin A, vitamin E, and antioxidants. Vitamin A fights skin discoloration. I’ll bet you a lot of you are putting retinoic acid on your skin. That’s vitamin A. Retinoic acid is also, by the way, an interesting mitochondrial uncoupler. Vitamin E supports the collagen production in your skin.
Finally, walnuts. One ounce of walnuts contains 8% of the daily recommended value for zinc, and zinc is incredibly important for skin function. Walnuts are also an excellent source of short-chain omega-3 fats like alpha-linolic acid.
Avocados. Before I go, avocados are a fantastic source of oleic acid, the same fat in olive oil, but they contain vitamin E and a ton of fiber, prebiotic fiber that your gut buddies are going to love.
Turmeric. Let’s not forget turmeric. Turmeric is also shown to fight fine lines and wrinkles. There’s an abstract in a dual study, a random clinical trial, that the application of topical turmeric extract reduced the appearance of facial hyperpigmentation and fine lines and wrinkles. It was actually a split-face study among Caucasian women. Turmeric was combined with niacinamide, women put it one side of the face and a placebo on the other. The combination product was significantly better at improving fine lines and wrinkles than just alone. Tell you what, why not try a turmeric mask at home? Let me know the results.
Speaker 1:
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.
