Today we’re talking about the science behind antibodies and their usefulness not only related to Covid-19, but also in other medicinal applications. I have with me antibody expert, Shawn Owen, from the University of Utah. We talk about the various types of vaccines used in the market and how they are measured and tested before and when they are brought to market. There are various tests that go along with the research in understanding a sickness or disease, such as antibody and antigen tests, the former trying to find the cells that fight off the disease and the latter finding the actual disease itself.

Different Covid vaccines on the market and how they work 2:26
How successful do scientists expect these vaccines to be? 5:38
Antibodies 12:32
Antibodies in diagnostics/medicinal applications 19:44
How their research can benefit our lives 23:03

“But now almost all the antibodies, once we know the sequence, we can create them and we can produce them just in cells in an incubator. So we can avoid having to use animals, we can avoid having to have donors to get these things eventually.” 27:36

In this episode we’re going to discuss the topic of bioavailability, what it means, its importance in human health, and the tactics we can use to enhance the efficacy of the good food we are already eating. Bioavailability is the concentration of bioactive medicines in the cell that can improve health. The higher the concentration, the healthier our cells, and thus our bodies will be. At Brilliant, we have studied and experimented with various compounds, which scientists in general have ignored, such as chrysin, bee propolis, trans pterostilbene, and others. I talk about the various compounds that are studied here, which will enhance our own health and from which we can all benefit.

Definition of bioavailability 1:08
Phytonutrients, bioactive compounds, and natural medicines 1:24
Efflux pumps 3:39
Plant research at Brilliant 5:02
Chrysin 5:52
Bee propolis 6:56
Trans pterostilbene 7:56
Chitosan 8:51
Piperine 11:04
Our Enhance product 12:34
Foods that can increase bioavailability 15:55

“So lifestyle factors like poor diet, stress, anxiety, and others, can cause several of these efflux pumps to malfunction such that they start to pump out the good bioactive compounds from food. This is also true in pharmaceutical sciences where drugs that can fight disease are pumped out of the cell.” 4:20

www.feelbrilliant.com

Chris Wark was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2003 at just 26 years old. After surgery, Chris made the decision to go against his doctor’s advice, opt out of chemotherapy, and use nutrition and natural therapies to heal. Today I talk with Chris about his journey of healing and how he has been able to become one of the most well known cancer survivors in the world. He tells me about what started to happen to his body as he went on a raw food diet and that giving his body the tools it needed to heal was how he was able to overcome this disease. “You don’t have to have a degree in science or chemistry, or even a high school diploma to recognize the simple truth that your diet and lifestyle, and your thoughts and stress can either promote health or disease.” 20:57

His cancer story 2:42
The definition of bravery 10:04
A great epiphany 14:05
Researching 19:34
Belief factor 28:29
Anti cancer compounds 34:04
The importance of fruit 44:11

“Your immune cells are designed to identify and eliminate cancer cells. That’s one of their main jobs. It’s not just to kill bacteria and viruses. They also are supposed to identify and kill cancer cells–natural killer cells. But if your immune system is suppressed based on your physical condition or your mental and emotional condition, or both, then you become vulnerable.” 19:10

https://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/

Today we talk about immune health and new strategies we can utilize to promote health of the immune system. There are two basic components of the immune system, which are the basic foundation and integrity of the immune system, and the immune response. The general structure of the immune system refers to the inherent to initiate and cause the immune response, while the immune response refers to the antibodies, macrophages, and other immune fighting compounds that are active and are the standing army waiting to fight off infection. The immune system can be compared to a war between the body and viruses/bacteria. The body needs “tanks” to fight off the bad things entering the body and increasing that number will help in the fight, but we often forget we need to be able to produce more and not just add more. I talk about quorum sensing, a phenomenon that has to do with bacteria communicating with each other found in squids in the ocean.

2 basic components of the immune system 1:43
The body is like a factory 2:14
How can we decrease bad bacteria and increase good bacteria? 4:56
Ingredients that can inhibit quorum sensing 9:35
Guava leaf 13:31
Saliva biomarkers 15:47

“Chinese Skullcap is a really cool plant. It’s also called the ‘Golden Herb’ in Chinese because of its many applications. There’s a compound in Chinese Skullcap called Baicalin and it works by espionage, and by sabotaging the molecules emitted by bad bacteria. It intercepts them and it neutralizes them.” 12:13

In this episode we’re talking about women’s health, including the importance of openly sharing experiences that in the past were only shared in private, and providing actionable information on how our female listeners can improve their health. I have with me on the show April Davis, an expert on all things women’s health, especially the vagina. There are a lot of stigmas women face that may prevent them from sharing and talking about things that would otherwise be healthy for them to talk about, and that’s why April Davis is here. “Shifting women into ‘You can be a scientist. You can be a doctor, and you can be all these types of things.’ it still is praising them for what they can be, which is very masculine.” 10:04 There are different phases that women go through during their cycles and they need to approach life, work, sports, etc. according to where they’re at in their cycle as opposed to how men approach those things.

What got April into her field 1:19
General things about the vagina 6:20
Thoughts and knowledge on menstruation 11:58
Yeast infections 20:22
How men can support the woman in their lives 26:33

“I don’t love using the word patriarchal, but we live in a society that is patriarchal. It praises a lot of masculine qualities and I’m ready to start praising feminine qualities and really counter that. It’s not that masculinity is bad, it’s that that’s not my fight.” 8:40

Today we’re going to talk about biosignaling mechanisms in the body, their importance in health and wellness, and what we can do to restore breakdowns in biosignaling. Healthy biosignaling can be killed from poor diet because good food contains small natural molecules that exert their biological activity by maintaining their integrity of the biosignaling mechanisms in the body. Various aspects of the body are directly affected by how much sleep we do or do not get, and stress, along with anxiety, are other factors many don’t consider to directly affect their body’s health. I talk about the various different foods which contain specific molecules that can regulate the signaling pathways in the human body, improving your health.

Biosignaling mechanisms and STC’s 1:21
Lifestyle factors that can severely interrupt the signaling mechanisms in the body. 3:03
Sleep’s importance 5:17
Pollution 7:50
Some of the plants that can regulate the signaling pathways in the human body 9:56
Burdock 13:37
How to know what CoQ10 supplement is the best 18:29

“Sleep is very important, and when sleep deprivation occurs, it has a negative effect on cognition, bone health, obesity, insulin resistance, workplace performance, neurodegenerative diseases, and inflammation. Insomnia affects ⅕ Americans during the course of each year. And it’s estimated that not sleeping for 11 consecutive days will cause the body to shut down and die.” 5:17

https://feelbrilliant.com/

Epigenetics and how it can influence all aspects of our lives is a topic we will address today. With me is renowned epigeneticist, Professor Moshe Szyf, an expert on how the way our DNA is expressed can influence all aspects of human health. He tells us the basics of epigenetics, and then we go into what happens in cancer cells, how the cells are communicating, and how we can spot those cells in blood early on to prevent them from spreading. There are certain things that can happen in the early stages of development for humans or animals that will leave a mark on someone’s genes and may last or stay for an extended period, but these marks can be changed/removed. We discuss diet and the development of infants whose genetic code will be greatly influenced by what diet they were exposed to growing up, causing obesity later in life.

Moshe and his accomplishments 1:03
How many genes does the human body have? 5:53
Examples of how epigenetics can impact various aspects of our lives 7:35
Epigenetics and certain experiences in life 10:23
Addiction and epigenetics 19:23
Diet 21:18
We can see if cognitive behavioral therapy is improving people’s conditions 33:09

“I always say that genetics is pessimistic. Epigenetics is optimistic because genetics is predetermined, right? It’s very hard to change the genes you inherited. But how you take care of your inheritance, that’s epigenetics, and that’s up to you and up to society and your parents, and et cetera.” 17:54

In this episode I meet with Professor of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California San Diego, Bill Fenical, and one of the founding scientists in the field of discovering natural medicines. He gives us a brief history of natural medicines that people have discovered and the process that that required, and then we talk about the natural products found in modern drugs. Bill and his colleagues discovered that The Ocean is the perfect productive environment to isolate new medicines. We discuss Covid-19 and what advances we have seen in vaccines, what is going on right now in the medical community, and what we should all be doing to fight this disease.

About Bill 0:59
Background on natural medicine and their history 3:10
Bill’s program start 9:55
Research in medicine related to Covid-19 12:58
Why is there a need for the continued discovery of natural medicines? 22:56
What Bill sees as the future of natural medicines 25:06
The future of Covid-19 33:05

“Over evolutionary time, life in the sea, life in the forest, wherever it may be, evolved to produce materials that improve their survival. So they’re pre-tested. What we’ve found is that these molecules have targets that we can use.” 23:44

https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-fenical-5646749/

In today’s episode I talk about my adventures traveling around the world finding plants with undiscovered molecules in them, potentially revolutionizing how we take care of our bodies. There is a Hawaiian plant called Hinahina, also known as “The Ghost Plant,” which helps with asthma and other lung ailments. This plant gets its name because it often will be seen in one spot, and then be completely gone when people come back to find it again. I tell my story about how I, along with my colleagues, got stuck in a Hawaiian forest before I was able to find the Hinahina plant. 30 species of plants go extinct every single day, which means potential remedies for our health are lost.

Hawaii, The Ghost Plant 2:16
Looking for the plant 5:36
Getting stuck 11:37
Finding the plant 21:24
Does wearing masks actually work with Covid? 23:55
What’s the best multivitamin to take? 25:22

“There have been a lot of clinical studies studying 600,000 people. One group took a multivitamin, the other group didn’t, and they tracked them for 20 years. And they found that the multi group versus the control group, there was no difference at all between incidences of heart attack, stroke, cancer, other health maladies. Exactly the same.” 26:15

Today I met with Mike who has been in the field of science for 20 years and has synthesized many anti cancer drugs, is currently studying to get a PhD in Human Performance, and he is a world record powerlifter. He tells us about his journey through exercise throughout his life and how it has brought him to where he is today, and then gives tips on how to use it to your advantage along with a deeper explanation of how this all works. We learn what a person should actually be doing and paying attention to in order to lose weight. Mike talks about creatine and the benefits of using it to work out, especially when you use Micronized Creatine.

Mike’s journey with exercise 1:34
What exercise does to your cardiovascular system 3:00
What type of exercise a woman or man should do to lose weight 10:20
Mike’s most successful exercises: The Conjugate Method 21:06
Creatine 25:43

“Exercise, especially cardiovascular exercise, treadmill type exercise, that is not for weight loss. That is for health. That is for improving the health of your cardiovascular system, reducing incidence of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, things like that. It’s not for losing weight.” 11:53