Welcome to another section of DocScopy, let us walk you through the life journey & experiences of Dr. Jeethan Bendoor.
This DocScopy session of Dr. Bendoor with Parul Soni and Dr. Darshit Patel from MedBound Times tells us about the experiences of former while working as a medical practitioner in the UK and coming back to India, establishing his practice and starting an educational YouTube channel called Physician Perceptives.
Parul: Sir, please tell us about your life and professional journey?
Dr. Bendoor: I studied medicine in Bangalore at Kempe Gowda institute of medical sciences (1988). Post which I practiced for a while in my parent's hospital. My father was a gynecologist owning a small hospital with 30 beds. And after that, I did research for about seven years at the Hong Kong University (1989-91) on molecular biology in immunology. Looking at cell death mechanisms, apoptosis was new at that time, which is a kind of physiological cell death system. I think there are more than one physiological cell processes happening in the background to maintain input, output and to maintain homeostasis.
I decided not to pursue my PhD thesis any further. I joined an international school and started teaching life sciences, environmental sciences which I thoroughly enjoyed and applied computers also, as it is my hobby.
Then I joined Elsevier (1998-2006) and edited at least six medical journals at a time and found it very interesting. Elsevier had a medical communications department where we used to cover medical communication meetings and have them presented as printed publications.
I worked as Regional Medical Director (2011-2014) in Elsevier for some time and then joined another medical communications company and moved to India. I joined Elder Pharmaceuticals, where I was not in the pharma wing but more in the Nutraceutical wing. They had a willingness to succeed and my boss, Mr. Saxena bought a company in the UK called BioCare. The division had an Indian wing known as Neuvithrah Nutrition Pvt Ltd. It was an interesting part of my journey. And there, I supported nutraceuticals selling in India.
I returned to India and joined a pharmaceutical company called Elder Pharmaceuticals. I was not in the pharma wing, but more in the Nutraceutical wing.
Dr. Jethan Bendoor, MBBS, Clinician
Elder pharmaceuticals did not work out for me, and we faced huge problems. So, I joined the medical practice full time and joined the Center for Medical Weight Loss in Mumbai (2014). In 2015, I also worked for two years with a cosmetologist called Dr. Amit in the clinic named Tvacha in Thane, Mumbai. I joined an IVF clinic as well during that time Cocoon Fertility where I worked with Dr. Anagha and Dr. Raj Lakshmi, IVF specialists, on patients with their food habits. Currently, I am a medical advisor at Anglo-French Drugs Limited with my own Practice. I run my practice in Mumbai by telemedicine.
Let me come back to my interest.
I am interested in the phenomenon of aging. And to get aging right, you need to get nutrition right! Because you can't get aging right without getting the right kind of food and nutrition.
Nutrition is a self-taught science. And I really think that reading textbooks is pretty old. So, you have to look into the published data, published scientific information, digest the information and then make up your own mind of what you need for your patients and people around you, including myself, I am 58 and follow this.
That is where the science and people should be heading. I am not saying that textbooks are bad. Textbooks are great to have. Since, I come from a publishing background, I think a lot of things need to be changed in the way we practice nutrition. And it has to be practical as well. When you look at it, you need to get your metabolic challenges right. You need to get your sleep patterns right. Because when it comes to sleep, they are abysmal these days. That's why our videos like sleep deprivation are trending online.
Dr. Darshit: Sir, is stress behind everything?
Dr. Bendoor: I don't think it is the stress factor. I mean, stress has always been and will always be with us. And when people complain about stress, it is unlikely that it is very unusual. That is usually not a problem. Right!
Biological system need stress, you need stress, because if you were to complain about stress, then you shouldn't be exercising either. Because exercise is a stress challenge to the body and body responds to exercise by doing better with muscular skeletal system.
I am on telemedicine currently. I shut down my clinic during COVID. I run my practice by Telemedicine, and I do see them quite often.
As I said, skeletal muscle is my new focus. The important part is that we have to get our skeletal muscle strong because we are mobile creatures. The minute we reduce our mobility, we are in trouble - serious trouble!
Parul: Sir, now medical professionals are saying that, "Sitting is the Next Smoking". This has been trending a lot these days. What would you like to say about that?
Dr. Bendoor: Sitting or lying down for a long duration will increase your risk of chronic diseases, such as back problems, heart disease like hypertension, heart attack as well as diabetes mellitus. When you sit for a long time and be immobile, it can also be bad for your mental health.
Being active is not as hard as we all perceive. There are a lot of simple ways to include some physical activity in the day like, when I am doing tele consultation, I take a walk and stretch and practice a lot of physical activity.
Parul: Sir, tell us something about melatonin. It has been trending on social media. Every influencer is going on and on about melatonin. Does it help with sleep?
Dr. Bendoor: Melatonin is one of the oldest antioxidant molecules that we have had. It is a brilliant antioxidant. Brilliant is not the word which can describe it. Yes, it does induce sleep and it is popular for sleep induction. It is ubiquitous and even plants make melatonin. So, this ubiquitous molecule has been there for a very long time but now, it is a hormone of darkness too.
If you look at rats, they are nocturnal creatures, have high melatonin, but are still active. It doesn't put them to sleep. So biologically, it depends on the environment and the system it exists in.
For us, during sunset, when there is no light on retina, signal indicates that it is dusk and night and that is when the melatonin levels start going up. And when melatonin levels start going up, your cortisol levels are dropping. Melatonin levels increase and it peaks around one or two o'clock in the morning and then again starts coming down. And then we get a surge of cortisol and that is what wakes us up. When there is a surge of cortisol, your heart rate, blood pressure as well as your sugar levels go up. You see some people when they wake up, fasting sugar goes up naturally and that's a natural mechanism that we have.
What we have observed is, melatonin has got numerous different sources. Melatonin is not just released in the pineal gland in the brain, it is also released in the gut. It is released in the gut and is very important for gut functions, microflora and microbiota in the gut. It is an antioxidant. But our biological system doesn't use one molecule for only one thing but for different things. And one of the things that melatonin does is, it helps us with sleep.
Now, when it comes to infertility, one of the biggest challenges in male or female infertility is oxidative stress. In females, it is the reason why the release of ova becomes challenging and in males, the quality of sperms is affected. And all, because of oxidative stress. That's where the melatonin comes in and the dosage of same can be altered as per the need.
Stay tuned for more!!!
