Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Doc Lounge Podcast. This is a place for candid conversations with the healthcare industry's top physicians, executives and thought leaders.
This podcast is made possible by Pacific Companies, your trusted advisor in physician recruitment.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Doc Lounge Podcast. I'm Stacey Doyle, senior director of Marketing at Pacific Companies and I'm thrilled to introduce today's guest, Dr. John Newsstand. And he's an internationally recognized expert in integrative and functional medicine, a researcher and a number one Amazon best selling author in osteoporosis. Dr. Neonstand has published over 100 medical articles, worked with the FDA on evaluating natural treatments and trained physicians on improving patient outcomes. He's built multimillion dollar health businesses and is passionate about helping people take control of their health. His latest book, Fracture Proof youf Bones, is changing the way we approach osteoporosis prevention and treatment. Today we'll discuss the science behind bone health, functional medicine and practical ways to optimize Overall well being. Dr. Newstadt, welcome to the show.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:01:15] Speaker D: Well, I'd love to. You have such an impressive background in integrative and functional medicine. I'd love to hear hear a little bit how you got into this and what you know, your background is.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: It dates back 25, 30 years now when I was working, this is not my first career. I was a project manager in software companies in the Seattle area and I started to get sick. I was interested at that time in, you know, integrative medicine, nutrition, health. I was bike commuting to work. I loved gardening. But I started to get sick. I was in my 20s. I went to a conventionally trained, you know, by the book medical doctor that was on my list of doctors from the insurance company. And I started asking questions. I was curious about what I could do to help myself and I didn't love the service that I got. It was immediately when I walked in the room. Once he heard about my symptoms are, he wanted to prescribe a medication which, which frankly may have been appropriate. But I was looking for other information as well and he just wasn't able to provide it. No fault of his. I just don't think it was in his wheelhouse. It wasn't part of his training nor the protocols that he was following. And I'd heard about an integrated medical school, naturopathic medical school in the area called Bastyr University. And I thought to myself, you know, I'm going to see what these folks have to say. So I went and made an appointment at their teaching clinic and had an amazing experience where they took their time with me. They talked about what was going on in my symptoms and how I can do things, what I can do to improve my health from a holistic and integrative point of view. And at that time I was not thrilled with the career I was in. And I think I was looking for just some, you know, third party validation that it was time for me to make, make a career change. I was already thinking about medical school and the, the chief medical officer happened to be the attending physician at the appointment. And he got to know me so well with his line of questioning that he realized that the profession that I was in, the stress, chronic stress that I was under, was having really damaging effects on my body. And I was in my 20s, so if I'd kept that up, 30s, 40s, 50s, I would be just in awful shape right now. And he looked at me at the end of the appointment and he said, you need to quit your job.
And again, I think that was the third party validation. That was the message that I was wanting to get at that time in my life. And so I changed careers and went to medical school and have focused ever since on integrative, natural approaches to help people improve their health.
[00:03:57] Speaker D: Love that story. And your journey from obviously, yeah, high stress career to now you operating as a physician and helping many people with functional medicine. So let us know, how can physicians and apps integrate functional medicine principles into their practice? You said obviously when you went into a clinical setting that wasn't given to you right away. So what would be some advice you could give to the conventional healthcare setting, how that can be integrated more?
[00:04:31] Speaker C: If doctors are looking to learn this approach, there are wonderful organizations and associations out there that offer continuing education classes and certifications. In this one is the Institute for Functional Medicine, an amazing conference they put on every year. There's also a 4M, which is a group of integrative minded clinicians that put on multiple conferences and certifications every year. AMMG out of Florida, there's another one. There's basically an Alphabet soup of organizations and associations that are really pioneering this in terms of getting the word out, educating clinicians, finding opportunities to teach clinicians how to integrate this into their practice and not just with the science, but also with the clinical models that they can, they can, they can use to make it part seamlessly of their interactions with patients.
[00:05:33] Speaker D: Love that advice. Thank you for sharing that. Now tell us a little bit more about, you know, your, your practice. I mean, obviously a lot of patients I'm sure, are Struggling with chronic issues, you know, anything from poor sleep to digestive disorders, low energy. What are some simple evidence based, you know, interventions you recommend for these type of conditions?
[00:05:57] Speaker C: There, there are a lot of, there's a lot. First of all, there's a lot of research out there on these integrative, natural, nutritional medicine approaches to many chronic conditions and the therapeutic. The National Library of Medicine's PubMed database has millions and millions of research citations on there. So pick a condition, do a few keyword searches and you're bound to find something.
One of the areas that, as you mentioned, my book, Fracture Proof your Bones that I become quite passionate about and an expert in is bone health and osteoporosis. And from an integrative or functional medicine point of view, there's a lot of things we can do. And the basic idea of this approach is what are the, the biochemical, physiological mechanisms in the body that help promote health and how can we use those to our advantage to push that system in a direction of health? And I think osteoporosis is a great example of that because it's essentially a disease of imbalance where the destructive forces, the osteoclast that break down bone, are winning. They're working at a faster rate than the osteoblasts that build up healthy bone. And how can we rebalance that system? What does the research show can be used not only to promote healthy bone density, but more importantly to reduce fracture risk and maintain bone strength. Because a bone density test only predicts 44% of women with osteoporosis who will fracture and only 21% of men. So we really want to focus on the question of how can we reduce fractures.
And there are lot, there's lots of research on diet, lifestyle changes that can be made, but also dietary supplements beyond just calcium and vitamin D. There's a specific form of vitamin K called MK4 that in the dose of 45 milligrams per day, which has been approved in Japan since bone health since 1995, stimulates osteoblast formation and activity and helps build a stronger bone, helps rebuild bone, not just improving bone density in clinical trials, but also maintaining strong bones as indicated by fewer fractures in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. And it's a natural non toxic nutrient that people can use that there are lots of people who aren't getting enough vitamin K in their diet. And again, this is a very specific form of vitamin K and it's about looking at and starting to understand the biochemistry of nutritional medicine, of how the body uses nutrients. And biochemistry, you know, very simply, is how the body uses vitamins, minerals, fats and amino acids to do its job. And how things like deficiencies, environmental toxins can interfere with that. You know, allergies, infections can interfere with that healthy biochemical functioning and, and create the environment for diseases to begin and to progress. And what can we do then to interact with that system, to reverse it?
And I got into this 20 years ago from my own frustrations with helping women with osteoporosis and not getting the results that I was hoping for.
[00:09:20] Speaker D: That's fascinating. It sounds like there is a big disconnect with diagnosing and getting people treated for osteoporosis. So what is, what is the, Is there a way that you think is a better way to identify, okay, is somebody dealing with osteoporosis at this time? Yeah.
[00:09:38] Speaker C: Osteoporosis is considered a silent disease and it is under treated, it's mistreated, it's under tested for. In fact, only 5% of Medicare eligible patients are getting tested for osteoporosis with a bone density test. So the first thing I think is awareness. The Bone Health and Osteoporosis foundation recommendation is that any woman or man 50 years or older who breaks a bone should get a bone density test. I, I'm a fan of when a woman starts with perimenopausal symptoms that, that's a great time to get a baseline bone density test, because during menopause and for the 10 years after, it's the fastest rate of bone loss. And then if they're on certain medications, many medications destroy bone and increase fracture risk. Antidepressants. About 25% of women over 60 are on antidepressants, which is also the prime demographic for osteoporosis. And anything that artificially elevates serotonin, because there are serotonin receptors on bone damages, damages bone and increases fracture risk. So much so that a woman taking, for every 19 women taking an SSRI for more than one year will expect to have one. Fracture people on proton pump inhibitors also damage bone and increase fracture risk. So anybody who is on those medications or has a long list of other diseases that create osteoporosis, they are great candidates for screening and testing and treatment.
[00:11:17] Speaker D: Thank you for that statistics. I mean, that's really fascinating. It sounds like, you know, there is research there and there are ways to learn if you, you know, you are going to be at risk or currently at risk for that. Now go back, you said vitamin K. Where can, if somebody's interested in, you know, supplementing with this to help with, you know, if they're having issues with osteoporosis, tell us where they can get that and tell us more about that.
[00:11:44] Speaker C: So as I mentioned, I started down this path in this research 20 years ago looking at osteoporosis and bone health. And I could not find the clinical trial dose of the MK4 in existing products. So I created a company to provide the solutions for my patients. And now I have three versions of the formula for bone support, Osteo K, Osteo K minis and OsteoMK4, each with the clinical trial dose of MK4 plus vitamin D3 and different amounts of calcium. Because not everybody needs the same amount of calcium all the way down from, you know, 1,000 milligrams per day with the osteo K, 400 milligrams per day with osteocaminis and no calcium for osteomK4 for people who don't need it. But all are still backed by our strong bone guarantee based on the strength of the research and the fact that these products have been on the market for, for 19 years now. And the guarantee is that somebody taking these products will see their bone density stabilize or improve within six months, but more importantly, they will maintain bone strength, meaning that if somebody breaks a bone, we'll refund their money for all qualifying purchases between their bone density tests and that information. The research, the clinical trial summaries, articles I've written on this are all available on my website@nbi health.com thank you for sharing that.
[00:13:13] Speaker D: It sounds like obviously this is something you're passionate about, have put a ton of research and time in developing to help this, like you're saying, really kind of under, under diagnosed, you know, symptoms and I don't know if it's a disease you would call it or what would you call osteoporosis.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: Well, it is, it is officially disease, but again, it's a, it's a condition of imbalance where just the, the microenvironment in the bone is, is not adequate and you're getting bone destruction and, and bone breakdown. And I, I do just want to mention that with, with any of the dietary supplements, important to note that they're not treatments, they are not FDA approved to, to treat or prevent diseases. But what they do, because they're nutrients, they're pushing the biochemistry powerfully in the direction of health of creating that healthy microenvironment. To produce healthy bone collagen and healthy bone mineral density and promote and maintain bone strength. They can be used with the medications, the osteoporosis medications. It's not that one. You have to do one thing or the other. Again, it's about an integrative approach based on the research and the clinical trials and what the data show are the most effective ways to help our patients.
[00:14:39] Speaker D: I know you've had a lot of experience working with the fda, you know, on evaluating natural treatments for diseases or chronic conditions. Tell us, what do you see the role of nutritional and integration. Excuse me, integrative therapies evolving with mainstream medicine in the future?
[00:14:58] Speaker C: Well, I'm hoping that it's going to become integrated more, first of all, into the medical education.
There are quite a few barriers to that that some people are addressing. And it's becoming more and more in demand that nutritional medicine becomes integrated within the curriculum. There are some structural challenges, some medical legal challenges, some intellectual property and financial challenges around that full and wide implementation, as well as quality control and manufacturing issues within the dietary supplement company that companies like mine and others organizations are addressing and working to improve to make sure that the quality of manufacturing is really at a pharmaceutical grade level for purity and potency.
So there are multiple challenges around this, but also in part of the education that occurs with physicians in starting to dip their toe in the water of integrative and functional medicine and nutritional medicine is learning the questions to ask to ensure that the dietary supplements they're recommending are of that highest quality, that they can be comfortable and confident that what they're recommending, the label accurately reflects the dose and the purity and the potency that's in the bottle. And there are distributors that do their due diligence as well. It's not that everybody has to do their own, you know, legwork with this. There are distributors to healthcare providers that, that like that distribute my. My company's products, that have vetted my company and other companies with whom, with which they work, they vetted the manufacturing, they've done their due diligence on the quality of that. So not everybody. You don't have to become an expert in every tiny detail of this industry.
[00:16:57] Speaker D: Great advice. I don't know if you can name some of those names of the companies that you just said that are doing the vetting. So for any physicians listening, want to utilize them and like you're saying, if they don't have time to research every single different supplement out there.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So one is Dr. Supplement Store, the other is FullScript. They also own Emerson Ecologics.
Another one is MHP. But with respect to those formulations that are on there, it's important to understand that what they do primarily is a due diligence on the quality of the manufacturing, the formulation and what's in the product and the nutrients that are in the product and the doses is not something that they're going to evaluate and compare those with clinical trials. And that is where really it's important for clinicians to educate themselves, which is, well, with my frustration was decades ago that I could not find existing products on the market that have the clinical trial doses of the nutrients that have been shown to work. And so what you see out there in the industry, which I think is a real stain and a shame, is that companies will cite research of clinical trials to support their formula. But then if you look at the formula, you look at the dose of the nutrient, they don't use the clinical trial dose. So you're getting a sub therapeutic dose that we don't even know works. Which is why all of my products are based on the clinical trial doses. I've never deviated from that. It's sort of become the DNA of the company. And that's something that's really important to be able to, to discern. You even have sometimes companies out there who will cite a research study, like they'll cite vitamin K2, where the clinical trials all used MK4 when they looked at fractures. And then they'll use a different form of vitamin K that's never been shown to improve bone density or reduce fractures instead of what was used in the clinical trial. Or they'll use a lower dose that was in the clinical trial, like, you know, 5 milligrams of MK4, 1 milligram instead of the 45 milligrams, which is the only dose that's ever been shown to work.
[00:19:10] Speaker D: That's practical advice, I think, for any physician or any just lay person like myself. Listening to really kind of, if you're doing the research and seeing what was tested in the clinical trial to make sure the same dosing and the same actual, like you're saying, form of vitamin or supplement was used.
[00:19:30] Speaker C: The other thing too, that I like, it can get really complicated, complicated and time consuming. But there are a few questions that I teach clinicians and the general public to ask that can just cut through all of that, you know, cut through the fog, clarify very quickly. One is, if you're looking at a nutrient that has minerals in it, just look at the form, look at the zinc, the magnesium, the copper, if any of those are oxide form, it's not the highest quality, because magnesium oxide, copper oxide, you can only absorb about 2% of that. The rest just goes right through you. You don't absorb it into your body. Look at the vitamin B12 and the folic acid. They should be the methylated form, methyl folate or methyl methyl cobalamin. Those are the bioactive, highest quality forms of those. And then in addition to that, you can reach out to the company and you can ask them, you know, for a certificate of analysis. Every lot, every batch that is created by law has to have a certificate of analysis. So tested for label claims, tested toxic metals, tested for microbiology to make sure it's not contaminated. If they're not willing to release that to you, to me, that's a red flag. Why not? Why shouldn't there be transparency in this industry? There should be. I think consumers deserve it. And so those are just simple things people can do to get an idea of the quality of the formulation and the transparency and the quality of the company.
[00:20:57] Speaker D: Great advice. What other are you focused primarily on, the vitamin K or what other offerings do you have right now?
[00:21:08] Speaker C: So I've created about 15 products for, you know, I started out formulating them for my, my patients. One is an iron supplement that is the highest dose ferrous bis glycinate on the market called ferrousol. No constipation, no GI complaints, 45 milligrams of iron per capsule, guaranteed to improve serum ferritin. Because my patients are having such problems with that cramping and nausea created by other forms of the iron and their ferritin wasn't budging. So I created a solution. And just to give you sort of a quality, an understanding of how I approach and how I think about nutrition and nutritional medicine in patients is, you know, in, in capsules, sometimes you don't have the nutrient, the dose of the nutrient doesn't completely fill the capsule. So you've got to put something else in there. A lot of times companies will use cheap filler like, you know, rice powder, which is fine to use, but in this case with the ferro solve, I wanted to give a little bit of additional nutritional support. Iron deficiency and feeling anxious, anxiety, they go hand in hand. And glycine is an inhibitory amino acid. It's an amino acid that also kind of calms the nervous system down. And I have some extra room. So ferrous bis glycinate has some glycine in it and Then to fill the rest of the capsule, I added some additional glycine. So just to help patients, you know, they start to feel better and they'll notice the difference. They're not really sure why, but they start to just kind of feel better at the same time. Another product that I'm very proud of is my sleep product called Sleep Relief. It's the only biphasic time release tablet on the market. People generally have difficulties with sleep in two categories. One is staying falling asleep, and the other is staying asleep. So I dove into the research on the neurobiology and endocrinology of sleep and created a product that releases its nutrients in two phases. Phase one is a quick release within about the first 30 minutes till people fall asleep. Phase two, over the next four hours to help people stay asleep, or if they wake up, they can more easily go back to sleep. And then it wears off and they just feel refreshed in the morning, hitting all of those stages of sleep that so many other products don't hit or people wake up, they have to take such high doses, they just feel drugged and groggy in the morning. And this takes care of all of that.
[00:23:40] Speaker D: Sounds incredible. Well, I want to, I want to wrap up here. And I know, you know, we talk about a lot on the Doc Lounge podcast about how, you know, providers are experiencing burnout, really just due to the constraints of modern healthcare. What do you think? I mean, integrating some of your approaches, how could this improve, you know, both provider satisfaction and patient outcomes?
[00:24:01] Speaker C: Well, I think first and foremost, you know, doctors need to pay attention to their own health.
And we can only take patients as far as we've gone ourselves in terms of our own personal development, in terms of our own health, in terms of our learning and education. So making sure that you're practicing, you know, you're exploring that balance in, in your own life, and you'll be more able to then discuss that and talk with, with patients about that. They're within the constraints of a short appointment where it can be challenging to address everything prioritizing in terms of looking at the various categories that are crucial for integrative approaches, stress management, sleep, nutrition, and maybe there's just one thing or two things that you can mention in an appointment. But what we know and what the research shows is that even if somebody just starts focusing on one of those areas, let's say diet or exercise, that they're more likely once they start doing that, to be, start following or doing activities that benefit other areas in their life to improve health. So People who exercise are more likely to start eating healthier and vice versa. And it doesn't have to be a huge long conversation. But, but what is important and research has also shown is that when it comes from the physician instead of a nurse or a paraprofessional, it is more likely to have a greater impact and patients are more likely to start doing those activities. So just meeting people where they're at, if all somebody can do is just walk, you know, go for a walk once a day and you encourage them to do that, that's fantastic. Small wins build up over time. And what we know even with just walking is walking only 7,000 to 7,500 steps per day is associated with a 50 to 70% reduction in all cause mortality. And that's not. You don't have to do that all in one thing. Somebody can just park a couple rows away than they normally do when they go to the supermarket to walk a little further. It's all cumulative throughout the day. So I like practical solutions that people can just work into their daily lives and they're wonderful things that people can. Doctors can recommend to their patients that do exactly that.
[00:26:30] Speaker D: Great advice. Thank you so much Dr. Neustadt and I'd love for you to just wrap this up and give everyone the information where they can access all of the information you shared today and where to purchase your products.
[00:26:43] Speaker C: The best place to find me information products, my book as well is nbi health.com feel free to contact me through that. Also, I'd be happy to speak with any clinician out there who's interested in more information or wants to do a clinical consult about a patient, talk about these subjects. I love doing that. So feel free to reach out to me through that website, nbi health.com thank you so much.
[00:27:14] Speaker D: Appreciate you being on the podcast today.
[00:27:17] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: Thank you to all of our listeners. If you would like to be notified when new episodes air, make sure to hit that subscribe button. And a big thank you to Pacific Companies. Without you guys, this podcast would not be possible. If you would like to be a guest, Please go to www.pacificcompanies.com. thank.
[00:27:43] Speaker C: You.
