October 15, 2025 • 10 mins
Dr. Jim Keany, Chief Medical Officer at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, joins The Bill Handel Show for 'Medical News'! Dr. Keany talks with Bill about kiwis for constipation, more L.A. deaths tied to Kratom, a liver disease breakthrough, and FDA clearing a bloodtest for Alzheimers.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Doctor Jim Keeney.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's our medical segment, chief medical officer for Dignity Saint
Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I Jim, good morning, yep, good morning. I know. Oh
there you are, all right, Uh okay.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
One of my favorite topics that we talk about, of course, constipation.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It's just one of those things. And uh you know
a lot of us deal with constipation.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Uh A lot of us have successfully dealt with constepation,
for example, going to federal prison for a few months.
Uh now, uh see, I got you on that one,
didn't I uh all right, uh a, I guess not
a cure, but uh certainly I help for constapation. Kiwis
(00:42):
like the kiwi's that you put in the fruit.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, exactly, So like kiwi's, they're similar to I think
an American culture. You know, prunes are more well known,
but uh you know they trigger uh you know, increase
volume of water drawn into the gut because of the
amount of sugar that's in kiwi's and in prunes, and
then that helps, you know, helps things move along because
(01:08):
it's stays more hydrated. It actually triggers bowel contractions too,
so and it makes the stool more soft. So all
you put all that together and basically kiwis will help.
And the study showed that they're so effective kiwis and
prunes that rather than promoting like fiber supplements or other
supplements or even probiotics or medications, that doctors should use this.
(01:30):
This is the British health system by the way, They
said doctors should use this as first line therapy rather
than other things, and I think that's a good idea,
right because it's a little bit more natural. They're even saying,
you know, mineral water. They call it in mineral water
because compared to electrolyte waters and things like that, electrolyte
waters usually are high on potassium and that replaces you know,
(01:51):
what you lose when you sweat a bit. But mineral
water is usually rich in magnesium, and magnesium helps. It
has a mild lacks of effect, It helps your gut
move better, helps you sleep at night. So a lot
of good, you know, good effects from using a magnesium
supplement or drinking magnesium rich mineral water have there.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm assuming there are studies out there that compare prison
with kiwi's and which would you suggest.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, No, I don't think there's any studies out there
that compare.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh okay, here is a big story that's very serious,
which I think is groundbreaking. Uh, the FDA is clearing
a blood test for Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Prior to this that there was nothing there other than
the symptoms.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Right, No, we actually we talked about a blood test
just back in March that is a different type of
blood test, but also as clear by the FDA that
you know, to look for the products that are related
to Alzheimer's that you find in the blood. So what
(03:02):
this is is it's not really a test to determine
you have Alzheimer's. It's a test to really rule out Alzheimer's, right,
if this test is negative, this especially this new one.
So what they're looking for we talked about Alzheimer's. What
it is. It's a combination of what we call amyloid plaques,
which is a bunch of gunk that gets in between
(03:23):
the nerves, and then there's tawel proteins that hagle within
the nerve fibers themselves and cause bad conduction of nerves
of electrical signals. So the TAUL protein can be found
in the blood in these people that are developing Alzheimer's disease,
and the steps are in that order. It's first the amyloid,
(03:44):
then the towel, and so once you find that in
the blood, you're concerned that they may have Alzheimer's. It's
not diagnostic. You then need to go on to the
diagnostic tests. But if this test is negative, if you
have somebody coming in, say they have a strong family
history of Alzheimer's, they're getting memory loss early in life,
and then they get a negative test. This test is
said to be ninety eight percent accurate in ruling out
(04:07):
Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
When you talk about a memory loss early in life,
what does early mean?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
So if your we typically look at this and this
test would be for people fifty five and over, and
so if you're having memory loss before fifty five, that's
very concerning and probably is not Alzheimer's. It could be
it could be a variant of Alzheimer's, but that's something
that needs to be looked into by a neurologist.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Typically. All right, by the way, is Alzheimer's is it
increasing or is just the diagnostics are improving?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You know a good question. I think that that both.
You know that it may be increasing slightly. I don't
have the stats on that, but for sure our ability
to diagnose it is improving. And now, before we had
to make the diagnostic diagnosis clinically right, people would I'm
in with certain features and we would attribute it to
Alzheimer's disease. Now we actually have the ability to measure
(05:05):
things like MRIs and look for amyloid packs, neurofibrullarity tangles,
and this can confirm that the person's developing Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, it's pretty scary stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And like I have memory issues, There's no question about it,
and I'm really concerned. And everybody I know telling me, handle,
you've had these memory issues since you've been in your
twenties and nothing has changed. And frankly, I've forgotten that
I had it in my twenties, So you know at
some point.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You know, by the way, I'm not far off on
that one.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So now, next time we get together, you and I
will do a little test right there on dementia.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'll do it.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, I'll bring a mini mental status exam and we'll
see how you do.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Liver disease, that's always fun to talk about. One of
my favorite diseases. Liver disease, and there is it's a breakthrough,
and that's dealing with liver disease, not giving you leave
liver disease.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, So the breakthrough is, yeah, how to address liver disease.
You remember last week we just talked about you know,
drinks and sugary drinks and even diet sodas as much
as you know, one diet soda a day can increase
your risk for liver disease. And this is what's called
metabolic dysfunction associated dietotic liver disease or mass LD. And
(06:33):
so that leads to a worsening form of liver disease
that can cause permanent damage, rhosis, and even liver failure.
And up to twenty percent of those cases, and we're
seeing a lot more of these. We believe that you know,
probably at least forty to sixty percent of the population
has the early forms because of all the diet sodas
and regular sodas that people are drinking. So this is
(06:56):
kind of interesting. Now, remember this was done not on humans,
but on rats and deeper fish lavay, so still not
human studies, but good markers that show that the fatty
accumulation in the rats liver reverses with these two drugs
put together, and then so do all the other metabolic
(07:16):
markers in a rat. So I mean, I think it's
a it's a good start and potentially shows that there's
some drugs out there that are These are not FDA
approved in the US, by the way, just in other
countries they're using these. That one drug is an arb
which is used for blood pressure, and the other one
is used for triglis, rising cholesterol, and they're being used
(07:39):
regularly in other countries. We can repurpose those for something
like this, which is great news.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Jim.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I do pay attention to rat studies. This one is
not a joke.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I mean, you have studies that are done, as you
indicated in rats and you know whatever, excuse me, So
whatever you put into a rat causes this disease or
that disease, or cures this disease. I mean, you know
what in terms of efficacy in humans do you do?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You buy this stuff?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah? I mean this is how research is done, and
this is often how we get the first signals that
something could be good. You know, for humans, a lot
of our metabolic processes really carry over. I mean, rats
make cholesterol and they have a liver, so a lot
of this is really connected to humans. And when it
shows promise in that population and there's a good kind
(08:39):
of physiologic reason why this would work and we have
the same exact mechanism in our body, it's a good
first step. But of course nobody is going to recommend
that we across the board we start mixing these two chemicals,
right humans. Yeah, but it's a really good first step,
and it's really encouraging. So you love to know about
(08:59):
cutting edge, and this is cutting edge, all right, sure.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Enough, But let me throw something at you.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
This would be the last question, and that is as
a percentage if a certain drug or procedure works in
rats and then translating to humans after the additional testing,
what is the percentage of success at the rat level
that translates for us.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, that's a lot harder because you're talking about such
a wide variety. Again, something like this. I think it's
encouraging because there is a lot of conservation of processes
between humans and rats in this area, but in other
areas maybe not so much. Because I mean I remember
one that was supposed to be a vaccine for ass infections.
(09:45):
I thought, wow, this is going to change the world.
And it really worked well in rats. It did not
work at all in humans. So but again, the immune
system is a totally different thing and may not be
as well conserved when you go from rats to humans.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Got it all right, Jim, Thank you. We'll do this
again next week. Always good stuff, greatly appreciated.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
All right, take care.
Doctor Jim Keeney.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's our medical segment, chief medical officer for Dignity Saint
Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I Jim, good morning, yep, good morning. I know. Oh
there you are, all right, Uh okay.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
One of my favorite topics that we talk about, of course, constipation.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It's just one of those things. And uh you know
a lot of us deal with constipation.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Uh A lot of us have successfully dealt with constepation,
for example, going to federal prison for a few months.
Uh now, uh see, I got you on that one,
didn't I uh all right, uh a, I guess not
a cure, but uh certainly I help for constapation. Kiwis
(00:42):
like the kiwi's that you put in the fruit.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, exactly, So like kiwi's, they're similar to I think
an American culture. You know, prunes are more well known,
but uh you know they trigger uh you know, increase
volume of water drawn into the gut because of the
amount of sugar that's in kiwi's and in prunes, and
then that helps, you know, helps things move along because
(01:08):
it's stays more hydrated. It actually triggers bowel contractions too,
so and it makes the stool more soft. So all
you put all that together and basically kiwis will help.
And the study showed that they're so effective kiwis and
prunes that rather than promoting like fiber supplements or other
supplements or even probiotics or medications, that doctors should use this.
(01:30):
This is the British health system by the way, They
said doctors should use this as first line therapy rather
than other things, and I think that's a good idea,
right because it's a little bit more natural. They're even saying,
you know, mineral water. They call it in mineral water
because compared to electrolyte waters and things like that, electrolyte
waters usually are high on potassium and that replaces you know,
(01:51):
what you lose when you sweat a bit. But mineral
water is usually rich in magnesium, and magnesium helps. It
has a mild lacks of effect, It helps your gut
move better, helps you sleep at night. So a lot
of good, you know, good effects from using a magnesium
supplement or drinking magnesium rich mineral water have there.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I'm assuming there are studies out there that compare prison
with kiwi's and which would you suggest.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, No, I don't think there's any studies out there
that compare.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh okay, here is a big story that's very serious,
which I think is groundbreaking. Uh, the FDA is clearing
a blood test for Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Prior to this that there was nothing there other than
the symptoms.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Right, No, we actually we talked about a blood test
just back in March that is a different type of
blood test, but also as clear by the FDA that
you know, to look for the products that are related
to Alzheimer's that you find in the blood. So what
(03:02):
this is is it's not really a test to determine
you have Alzheimer's. It's a test to really rule out Alzheimer's, right,
if this test is negative, this especially this new one.
So what they're looking for we talked about Alzheimer's. What
it is. It's a combination of what we call amyloid plaques,
which is a bunch of gunk that gets in between
(03:23):
the nerves, and then there's tawel proteins that hagle within
the nerve fibers themselves and cause bad conduction of nerves
of electrical signals. So the TAUL protein can be found
in the blood in these people that are developing Alzheimer's disease,
and the steps are in that order. It's first the amyloid,
(03:44):
then the towel, and so once you find that in
the blood, you're concerned that they may have Alzheimer's. It's
not diagnostic. You then need to go on to the
diagnostic tests. But if this test is negative, if you
have somebody coming in, say they have a strong family
history of Alzheimer's, they're getting memory loss early in life,
and then they get a negative test. This test is
said to be ninety eight percent accurate in ruling out
(04:07):
Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
When you talk about a memory loss early in life,
what does early mean?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
So if your we typically look at this and this
test would be for people fifty five and over, and
so if you're having memory loss before fifty five, that's
very concerning and probably is not Alzheimer's. It could be
it could be a variant of Alzheimer's, but that's something
that needs to be looked into by a neurologist.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Typically. All right, by the way, is Alzheimer's is it
increasing or is just the diagnostics are improving?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
You know a good question. I think that that both.
You know that it may be increasing slightly. I don't
have the stats on that, but for sure our ability
to diagnose it is improving. And now, before we had
to make the diagnostic diagnosis clinically right, people would I'm
in with certain features and we would attribute it to
Alzheimer's disease. Now we actually have the ability to measure
(05:05):
things like MRIs and look for amyloid packs, neurofibrullarity tangles,
and this can confirm that the person's developing Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, it's pretty scary stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And like I have memory issues, There's no question about it,
and I'm really concerned. And everybody I know telling me, handle,
you've had these memory issues since you've been in your
twenties and nothing has changed. And frankly, I've forgotten that
I had it in my twenties, So you know at
some point.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You know, by the way, I'm not far off on
that one.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So now, next time we get together, you and I
will do a little test right there on dementia.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'll do it.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, I'll bring a mini mental status exam and we'll
see how you do.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Liver disease, that's always fun to talk about. One of
my favorite diseases. Liver disease, and there is it's a breakthrough,
and that's dealing with liver disease, not giving you leave
liver disease.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, So the breakthrough is, yeah, how to address liver disease.
You remember last week we just talked about you know,
drinks and sugary drinks and even diet sodas as much
as you know, one diet soda a day can increase
your risk for liver disease. And this is what's called
metabolic dysfunction associated dietotic liver disease or mass LD. And
(06:33):
so that leads to a worsening form of liver disease
that can cause permanent damage, rhosis, and even liver failure.
And up to twenty percent of those cases, and we're
seeing a lot more of these. We believe that you know,
probably at least forty to sixty percent of the population
has the early forms because of all the diet sodas
and regular sodas that people are drinking. So this is
(06:56):
kind of interesting. Now, remember this was done not on humans,
but on rats and deeper fish lavay, so still not
human studies, but good markers that show that the fatty
accumulation in the rats liver reverses with these two drugs
put together, and then so do all the other metabolic
(07:16):
markers in a rat. So I mean, I think it's
a it's a good start and potentially shows that there's
some drugs out there that are These are not FDA
approved in the US, by the way, just in other
countries they're using these. That one drug is an arb
which is used for blood pressure, and the other one
is used for triglis, rising cholesterol, and they're being used
(07:39):
regularly in other countries. We can repurpose those for something
like this, which is great news.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Jim.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I do pay attention to rat studies. This one is
not a joke.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I mean, you have studies that are done, as you
indicated in rats and you know whatever, excuse me, So
whatever you put into a rat causes this disease or
that disease, or cures this disease. I mean, you know
what in terms of efficacy in humans do you do?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You buy this stuff?
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah? I mean this is how research is done, and
this is often how we get the first signals that
something could be good. You know, for humans, a lot
of our metabolic processes really carry over. I mean, rats
make cholesterol and they have a liver, so a lot
of this is really connected to humans. And when it
shows promise in that population and there's a good kind
(08:39):
of physiologic reason why this would work and we have
the same exact mechanism in our body, it's a good
first step. But of course nobody is going to recommend
that we across the board we start mixing these two chemicals,
right humans. Yeah, but it's a really good first step,
and it's really encouraging. So you love to know about
(08:59):
cutting edge, and this is cutting edge, all right, sure.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Enough, But let me throw something at you.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
This would be the last question, and that is as
a percentage if a certain drug or procedure works in
rats and then translating to humans after the additional testing,
what is the percentage of success at the rat level
that translates for us.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, that's a lot harder because you're talking about such
a wide variety. Again, something like this. I think it's
encouraging because there is a lot of conservation of processes
between humans and rats in this area, but in other
areas maybe not so much. Because I mean I remember
one that was supposed to be a vaccine for ass infections.
(09:45):
I thought, wow, this is going to change the world.
And it really worked well in rats. It did not
work at all in humans. So but again, the immune
system is a totally different thing and may not be
as well conserved when you go from rats to humans.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Got it all right, Jim, Thank you. We'll do this
again next week. Always good stuff, greatly appreciated.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
All right, take care.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.