Profile: Meet Dr. Hiromi Shinya!

"It is no exaggeration that the development of the colonoscopy technique and polypectomy made Dr. Shinya famous throughout the world.”

Hiromi Shinya, who was born 1935,  is a Japanese-born general surgeon. He practices half of the year in Japan and the other half in the United States. He is a clinical professor of surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, head of the endoscopic center at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, New York; and Vice-chairman of the Japanese Medical Association  in  the United States. He pioneered modern colonoscopic techniques, and invented the electrosurgical polypectomy snare now common on colonoscopes, allowing for removal of colon polyps without invasive surgery.

Dr. Shinya has a very interesting theory about Enzyme Factor:  

Enzymes are the protein catalysts that are made within the cells of all living things--and they're needed to maintain life--think transportation of nutrients, digestion, excretion, synthesis, detoxification, decomposition, and supplying energy.  There are over 5000 kinds of vital enzymes, each with specific jobs--like the digestive enzyme amylase that's found in saliva & reacts to carbohydrates. Some foods like dairy products, meat, and alcohol require a greater-than-normal amount of a particular enzyme to break them down--creating a shortage of the necessary enzymes needed for digestion & absorption.  

The solution:  Avoid the kinds of foods that deplete enzymes.  Consume a plant-based diet and practice the habits that replenish & sustain enzymes.  Dr. Shinya clearly admits that this is a theory, but one that he has personally practiced for over forty years--and one that has worked well for his patients.

After viewing 300,000 intestines & stomachs, Dr. Hiromi Shinya has something to say about gastrointestinal health: 

"Remember what over 300,000 clinical observations have told me:  A person with poor gastrointestinal function is never healthy.  When a person's gastrointestinal system is not clean, that person will be prone to suffer from some kind of disease.

In short, whether a person is healthy or not depends on what that person eats and how that person lives day to day.  What determines a person's state of health is the daily accumulation of things such as food, water, exercise, sleep, work, and stress." 

 

Dr. Shinya shares a lot of information in his book. Here's one of his myth buster I want to share with you.

The Green Tea Myth

We've all heard about the antioxidant benefits of green tea. There are all kinds of benefits attributed to green tea.  Dr. Shinya disagrees.  Yes, it does have antioxidants, but in his clinical experience, people who drink a lot of green tea also have stomach problems.   

Here's why:  although it contains polyphenols that can neutralize the damage of free radicals, it also produces tannin.  When tannin is exposed to hot water or air, it turns into tannic acid which coagulates proteins, and can have a negative effect on the gastric mucosa.   "The fact is, when I use an endoscope to examine the stomachs of people who regularly drink tea (green tea, Chinese tea, English black tea or coffee that contains a lot of tannic acid) I usually find their gastric mucosa has thinned due to atrophic changes.  It is a well known fact that chronic atrophic changes or chronic gastritis can become stomach cancer."