Dr Jack Kruse joins me in an epic three-hour interview to weave the story of human evolution fundamentally tied to light. He describes our transition from furry ground dwelling mammals to upright walking primates, the critical role of the POMC gene, melanin and function of mitochondria as producers of endogenous light, as well as the distortion of the light environment as the key underlying driver of modern chronic disease.Dr Jack Kruse is a neurosurgeon, biophysicist, health optimisation researcher and founding father of the circadian health / mitochondrial medicine movement. This is the first in a series of interviews with Dr Kruse that will also cover water and magnetism, two further installments in a trilogy that strongly challenges the centrality of diet as the chief determinant of optimal health. Stay tuned for further episodes. *This is not a podcast for beginners, and if you want the cliff notes I’d suggest watching Dr Max’s summary takes and the closing thoughts. Some explicit language in this interview – Dr Jack is extremely passionate!TIMESTAMPS00:00:00 Dr Max's intro00:05:11 Dr Kruse’s backstory00:10:22 Differences between centralized and decentralized medicine00:12:32 Incongruence in Darwin’s theories of evolution00:13:27 Evolution of mammals from ground dwelling creatures00:17:57 The POMC gene and its cleavage products allowed mammals to survive the dinosaur extinction event00:28:12 POMC, the leptin melanocortin pathway and human metabolism00:34:37 POMC and autoimmunity00:38:42 To understand the effect of light on biology, we need to understand physics00:41:15 UV light from the sun is critical to stimulating POMC00:46:42 Robert O. Becker’s research on bioelectrics and cellular DC electric current00:50:22 POMC, melanin and biological semi-conductors00:59:52 Dr Max’s summary of the first hour01:05:05 What is leptin and its function?01:12:28 All mammalian cells generate UV light in the mitochondria and use it to signal01:19:27 The biological function of melanin01:26:19 Dr Max’s summary of the function of leptin01:30:05 Reversing vitiligo, grey hair & melanin loss with sun & UV light01:36:43 Melanoma develops in absence of full spectrum (red/infrared) sunlight01:39:38 Dr Max’s summary of the first 1.5 hours01:41:22 What are mitochondria?01:47:29 Competing theories on the factors that influenced development of human brain01:49:27 History of biological semi-conductors and importance of DHA in the SN2 position01:56:36 Photoreceptors, neuropsin and mental health conditions 02:08:00 Incongruent light signals between eye and skin creates disease02:12:47 The harms of taking exogenous melatonin02:17:52 Why blocking UV light causes melanoma02:24:32 Rebuttals to ‘light causes all diseases’ point of view02:38:42 Understanding light is critical to understanding the root causes of patients diseases02:54:03 Dr Kruse’s take on premature male pattern balding and refractory error aka ‘soyjak meme’02:59:49 Why we see low serum Vitamin D in overweight or obese people03:04:49 Dr Jack’s closing thoughts03:08:02 Three actionable steps for the listener FURTHER READINGSee Youtube show notes for full list - unable to fit here