Why Science Is Waking Up to the Powerful Benefits of Vitamin D | Dr. Joel Gould (Replay)
Dr. Joel Gould, a Canadian dentist, discusses how vitamin D deficiency, combined with deuterium (a hydrogen isotope in processed foods) and glyphosate exposure, are root causes of modern chronic diseases, sleep disorders, and aging. He argues that optimizing vitamin D levels, reducing processed foods, and reconnecting with natural living conditions can resolve most health issues.
Summary
Dr. Joel Gould shares his journey from suffering with Crohn's disease and sleep apnea to discovering that vitamin D deficiency is central to modern illness. He traces historical context through Weston Price's 1930s observations about traditional diets and dental health, showing how pharmaceutical and food industries deliberately suppressed natural health information over 80 years. Gould introduces deuterium—a hydrogen isotope twice as heavy as normal hydrogen—as a key villain in modern disease. Processed foods, grains, and high-fructose corn syrup are loaded with deuterium, which damages mitochondrial function and prevents vitamin D synthesis in skin when exposed to sunlight. Glyphosate (Roundup) is the second villain, destroying the cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver that activate vitamin D, meaning people can have adequate sun exposure or supplementation yet remain deficient. Together, these factors destroy the gut microbiome, which produces 90% of serotonin and regulates sleep through the gut-brain axis. When vitamin D levels drop, the body interprets it as winter and shifts bacterial composition to crave sugar and carbohydrates. Gould explains vitamin K2's critical role as a cofactor for 17 enzymes and its necessity for properly directing calcium to bones rather than arteries. He connects poor sleep (from low vitamin D causing sleep apnea) to stunted childhood growth, weak jaw development, and narrow airways. The discussion covers how industrial farming, monocrops, and glyphosate destroy soil microbiomes, reducing nutrient density. Gould advocates for grass-fed meat, nose-to-tail eating, intermittent fasting, sun exposure without sunglasses, and supplementation with vitamin D3, K2, and magnesium as foundational health practices. He dismisses vegan diets as inherently higher in deuterium and lacking nutrient density, though acknowledges they're survivable with extensive supplementation. The core message frames modern chronic disease as fundamentally an epigenetic problem—environmental signals (diet, light, air, water) activating genetic predispositions—rather than purely genetic.
About this episode
<p>[Original air date: September 24, 2020]. Vitamin D, gut health, and your microbiome. What actions must we take today to build ourselves up for a lifetime of undeniable health? How do we know if our diet, supplements, and environment are causing us harm rather than good?</p><p>On this episode of Health Theory, Dr. Joel Gould joins Tom Bilyeu to address these questions head on and discuss the hidden benefits of Vitamin D that no one seems to be talking about. </p><p>They reveal the root causes of symptomatic health problems, how your gut is influenced by Vitamin D, the negative impact of the vegan diet, how the key to aging is deuterium, why you should be eating grass-fed, which supplements to take and when, and the ‘must-dos’ to achieving optimal health.</p><p><br /></p><p>FOLLOW JOEL: </p><p>Website: modernhuntergatherers.com </p><p>Instagram: https://bit.ly/35WWgco</p><p><br /></p><p>FOLLOW TOM:</p><p>Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/</p><p>Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en</p><p>Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu</p><p>YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomB</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p><em>If you purchase an item using these affiliate links, Impact Theory may receive a commission.</em> </p><p>Get 5 free AG1 Travel Packs and a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D with your first purchase at <a href="https://bit.ly/AG1Impact" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/AG1Impact</a>.</p><p>Just visit <a href="https://adbl.co/3RJgA79" target="_blank">https://adbl.co/3RJgA79</a> or text impacttheory to 500-500.</p><p>Right now, download NetSuite’s popular KPI Checklist, designed to give you consistently excellent performance - absolutely free, at <a href="https://bit.ly/NetsuiteImpact" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/NetsuiteImpact</a>.</p><p>This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. 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Key Insights
- Gould argues that without evolutionary vitamin D levels, healthy gut microbiomes cannot be maintained regardless of probiotics or fecal transplants, because the microbiome interprets low vitamin D as winter and shifts bacterial species composition.
- Deuterium, a naturally occurring hydrogen isotope that weighs twice as much as normal hydrogen, accumulates in processed foods through grain and sugar production, damaging mitochondrial energy production and aging cells by replacing normal hydrogen in enzymes and DNA.
- Glyphosate destroys the cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver that activate vitamin D, meaning people with high glyphosate exposure can have low vitamin D levels despite adequate sun exposure or supplementation.
- Weston Price discovered in the 1930s that two substances—vitamin D3 and vitamin K2—were present in all traditional Aboriginal communities' ceremonial foods for fertility, and their absence explains modern chronic disease, yet this information was deliberately suppressed.
- The gut microbiome produces 90% of the body's serotonin and regulates sleep through the gut-brain axis, making vitamin D deficiency (which destroys microbiome diversity) a root cause of insomnia and sleep apnea.
- Gould claims that bruxism (teeth grinding) and snoring in children resolve within 2-3 days of appropriate vitamin D supplementation, indicating these are neurological vitamin D deficiency symptoms rather than structural problems.
- Industrial seed oils (canola, corn, peanut, soy) are high in deuterium and omega-6 fatty acids, causing unhealthy cell membranes, whereas coconut, avocado, and olive oils are naturally low in deuterium.
- Farming was described by Gould as 'a mistake' 12,000 years ago because monocrops kill soil microbiomes, reducing nutrient density of foods and exposing humans to glyphosate and deuterium they never evolved to handle.
- Gould argues that grass-fed ruminant animals are low in deuterium because grass itself is low in deuterium, whereas grain-fed animals incorporate high deuterium levels into their tissues.
- The historical suppression of vitamin D information traces to the petrochemical industry's dominance over pharmaceuticals and food, with companies like Monsanto/Bayer and oil-based interests preventing patent-free natural therapies from being promoted.
- Vegan diets are inherently higher in deuterium because plant-based starches and processed plant foods contain more deuterium than animal products evolved for human consumption.
- Gould claims vitamin D deficiency causes most modern chronic inflammatory diseases not because it causes 'everything' but because it controls the gut microbiome, sleep quality, and the anti-inflammatory immune system simultaneously.
Topics
Transcript
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Health Theory. I'm here with Dr. Joel Gould. Thank you so much for joining me, man. I have had so much fun researching you. It has been a wild ride, I think to say the least. So if you don't mind, give people a little bit of background. Your story is pretty interesting. Sure. Well, I'm a dentist by profession. I'm Canadian, and I practiced in Canada for about 10 years in Vancouver before moving down to Los Angeles and I've been here in Manhattan Beach for the last 20 years. My story is kind of interesting because I was sick for most of my life with an autoimmune disease called Crohn's, something…
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