,

Improve Your Health with Nitric Oxide with Beth Shirley: Rational Wellness Podcast 282

Beth Shirley discusses How to Improve Your Health with Nitric Oxide with Dr. Ben Weitz.

[If you enjoy this podcast, please give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, so more people will find The Rational Wellness Podcast. Also check out the video version on my WeitzChiro YouTube page.] 

 

Podcast Highlights

3:15  The nitric oxide pathways have a powerful impact on our health, esp. for cardiovascular health.  Nitric oxide governs circulation and micro circulation and if circulation is impaired, that means that oxygen, glucose, and nutrients aren’t being delivered to cells and tissues.  Therefore, nitric oxide is critical for keeping cells healthy.  One pathway that we make nitric oxide is the nitric oxide synthase pathway, which takes arginine and/or citrulline.  This pathway can be uncoupled by an acidic pH, which we see in diabetics.  We also have the nitrate to nitrite, to nitric oxide pathway.  We consume nitrates, which get absorbed and concentrate in our salivary glands. The salivary glands release the nitrate and anaerobic bacteria on our tongue reduce the nitrate to nitrite.  The nitrite in the stomach gets further reduced to nitric oxide and this nitric oxide is also protection against H. pylori infection.

7:45  When you discuss nitrates, many people are concerned about the nitrates in processed meats and we have all heard about them being carcinogenic.  However, we get most of our nitrates through vegetables, much more than we get from processed meats.  Whatever there is in processed meats that increases cancer risk, it’s not the nitrates.  Also, if you add antioxidants like vitamin C with nitrates, you will less likely get nitrosamines formed.  Also, there are far more nitrates in vegetables than there are in processed meats. For example, a hot dog may have 10 mg of nitrate or nitrite added, but 5 oz of spinach has 325 mg of nitrite.

 

 

 



Beth Shirley is a Registered Pharmacist and also a Certified Clinical Nutritionist.  Beth is the executive Director of the Berkeley Life Scientific Advisory Board and Berkeley Life has developed products that support nitric oxide production.  The website for Berkeley Life is BerkeleyLife.com.

Dr. Ben Weitz is available for Functional Nutrition consultations specializing in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders like IBS/SIBO and Reflux and also specializing in Cardiometabolic Risk Factors like elevated lipids, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure and also weight loss and also athletic performance, as well as sports chiropractic work by calling his Santa Monica office 310-395-3111. Dr. Weitz is also available for video or phone consultations.

 



 

Podcast Transcript

Dr. Weitz:            Hey, this is Dr. Ben Weitz, host of the Rational Wellness Podcast. I talk to the leading health and nutrition experts, and researchers in the field, to bring you the latest in cutting edge health information. Subscribe to the Rational Wellness Podcast for weekly updates, and to learn more, check out my website, drweitz.com. Thanks for joining me, and let’s jump into the podcast.

                                Hello, Rational Wellness Podcasters. Today we’re going to be speaking about how to improve your health by promoting nitric oxide production with Beth Shirley. Nitric oxide is a very important gaseous signaling molecule in the body, made up of a combination of a nitrogen, and an oxygen molecule, and nitric oxide has an incredible number of beneficial functions, especially for the cardiovascular system.  Nitric oxide promotes the dilation of blood vessels, thus improving blood flow, reversing erectile dysfunction. It helps to lower blood pressure, it reduces coronary artery disease, and it also helps to regulate cardiac muscle contractility. Nitric oxide also supports brain health, gut health, immune function, and it may help with exercise performance. Nitric oxide was awarded molecule of the year in 1992, and three scientists who discovered nitric oxide’s role in the body were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1998. Nitric oxide will be starring in a new series debuting on Netflix in 2023.

Beth:                     Oh really?

Dr. Weitz:            Beth Shirley is a registered pharmacist, and also a certified clinical nutritionist. Beth is the executive director of the Berkeley Life Scientific Advisory Board, and Berkeley Life has developed some products that support nitric oxide production. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Beth:                     Thanks for having me.

Dr. Weitz:            So, how did you become interested in nitric oxide?

Beth:                   Well, back in 2009, I was working with the Neo40 people.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                   Helping to formulate the Neo40 lozenge. So, I’ve been around the nitric oxide world for quite a while.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                   But I was a pharmacist for 20 years, and I became a pharmacist because I thought I was going to be able to help people. But I saw them coming back sicker, and sicker, on more and more drugs. So, in 1997, I became a certified clinical nutritionist. So, I became the pharmacist to go to if you wanted to get off of drugs, or not go down that road. And since 1997, I’ve been helping people get healthy without drugs. So, the natural progression to the nitric oxide story just fit right in.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. So, can you explain a little bit about the nitric oxide pathway, and why it has such a powerful impact on our health, especially our cardiovascular health?

Beth:                    Nitric oxide is a miracle molecule, truly. It governs circulation and micro circulation. When you have impaired micro circulation, that means that oxygen, glucose, and nutrients aren’t being able to be delivered to cells, and tissues. And just as importantly, debris can’t be carried away, and cells can’t be more than two cells away from a micro capillary, or they die.  So, nitric oxide is critical for keeping cells healthy, and we make nitric oxide through two different pathways. One is the NOS pathway, the nitric oxide synthase pathway, and this takes arginine, and oxidizes it into citrulline and nitric oxide. However, this pathway is real sensitive to environmental factors, and just everyday factors that we come into contact all the time. It’s pH dependent, like acidity uncouples at NOS enzyme, and in most chronic conditions like diabetes, you’re more acidic.  It’s pH dependent. So, hypoxia uncouples that NOS enzyme.  And then we’ve got the nitrate to nitrite, to nitric oxide pathway. And this pathway, we consume the nitrates, they get absorbed, they circulate around, they get concentrated in our salivary glands. The salivary glands release the nitrate. We’ve got good anaerobic bacteria on our tongue that will reduce that nitrate to nitrite. And when you use the strips to test your nitric oxide, you’re actually testing the nitrite concentration on your tongue.  We swallow the nitrite, and in the acidic environment of the stomach, some of that nitrite gets reduced further to nitric oxide. Here’s your protection against h. pylori, e. coli. But most of the nitrite gets absorbed, and acts like a nitric oxide donor molecule. And in different tissues, they can reduce that nitrite to nitric oxide on an as needed basis, like in the muscle, when you’re exercising, you need more food being delivered to your muscles, and debris to be carried away, so myoglobin can reduce nitrate to nitric oxide. The electron transport chain can reduce nitrate to nitric oxide as needed. When the electron transport chain is uncoupled, it starts cranking out super oxide, and not the water. So the nitrite can help recouple that, to decrease the oxidative stress, and decreases superoxide production.

Dr. Weitz:            So, nitric oxide’s a gas.

Beth:                   Right.

Dr. Weitz:            It’s hard for me to understand how a gas could play such a powerful role in the body?  As a gas, I’m assuming it can’t be around for all that long. Right?

Beth:                    Less than a second.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    However, a lot of the metabolites from nitric oxide, and actually even peroxynitrite, can make what’s called nitrosothiols. So, like a nitroso glutathione. So, which is storage form of both nitric oxide, and glutathione. So, it makes these other molecules that can hang around longer, and have beneficial actions even themselves.

Dr. Weitz:            I was also reading that hydrogen sulfide gas works synergistically with nitric oxide.

Beth:                   Nitric oxide.

Dr. Weitz:            Which is interesting because that’s when the gas is involved in causing SIBO.

Beth:                   An overproduction of the hydrogen sulfite. Yeah.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                    Yeah. But, nitrate is such a wonderful molecule for supporting healthy microbiomes everywhere. So, even by optimizing your nitrate intake, you’re going to support your good, healthy microbiome.

Dr. Weitz:            Now, whenever you talk about nitrates, so many of us have heard about processed meats that contain nitrates, and how these nitrates are carcinogenic, and every time we try to figure out exactly what sorts of foods are more likely to cause cancer, processed meats are high on that list. And it’s apparently because the nitrates convert into nitrosamines.

Beth:                    However, we get most of our nitrates through vegetables, way more than we ever do with any processed meat.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    Vegetables are not connected with unhealthy lifestyles. So, nitrosamines will only form if there’s a lot of superoxide, or oxidative stress. So, in these foods, which that whole premise has been debunked, so this was something that they found in the test tube, not in real life.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                   And in those foods, you will see a vitamin C, or a vitamin E analog, like erythropoietin, that actually, when you add an antioxidant, the nitrosamines means will not be formed.

Dr. Weitz:            But, even in epidemiological data, when you’re trying to suss out what sorts of dietary factors might increase cancer, they almost always include processed meats.

Beth:                   Right. But there’s probably other things in processed meets that are not so healthy for us. But it’s not the nitrate, or the nitrites. So, like in a hot dog, if they add nitrate, or nitrite to the hot dog, they’re only adding 10 milligrams. And in five ounces of spinach, there’s like 325 milligrams of nitrite.

Dr. Weitz:            So it’s not the fact that it’s a synthetic nitrate versus a actual nitrate.

Beth:                    No.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    No.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    No. No. But when you buy things that say, “No nitrates, nitrates added,” they actually use celery seed salt, which has way more nitrates, and nitrites than if they would’ve just added the nitrate, or nitrite.

Dr. Weitz:            Right. Another interesting fact is that nitric oxide is a free radical.

Beth:                    Yes. But that’s a-

Dr. Weitz:            So, normally adding to our oxidative stress can potentially be problematic. Right?

Beth:                    There’s a different perspective. So, only a free radical can scavenge another free radical.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    So, nitric oxide can scavenge all these free radicals, like the free radicals from the Fenton reaction, your hydroxyl radical, your FE3+ free radical. Nitric oxide scavenges the super oxide free radical. So, only a free radical can scavenge another one.

Dr. Weitz:            Right. So, let’s talk about some of the various ways that our body produces nitric oxide. And I read that nose breathing is one thing that stimulates nitric oxide production.

Beth:                    Well, it sure can, as long as you’ve got coupled NOS, or good nitrate nitrite stores. So, do you want me to explain what a coupled NOS means?

Dr. Weitz:            Sure. Yeah.

Beth:                    Okay. When the NOS enzyme is a dimer-

Dr. Weitz:            So that’s nitric oxide synthase, right?

Beth:                    Right. It’s a dimer, and it’s connected. It’s held together, this dimer is held together by BH4. And so this electron is handed down from NADPH, through your flavin molecules, to the heme part of the NOS enzyme, and then then down to arginine, to nitric oxide. But when nitric oxide is uncoupled, it is not a dimer. It’s only one strand, and that electron is handed down from NADPH through your flavins, but it’s handed down then to oxygen, and makes super oxide. So, an uncoupled NOS enzyme is a super oxide generator, not a nitric oxide generator. So, that’s like giving arginine to someone with an uncoupled NOS can actually increase oxidative stress.

Dr. Weitz:            So, what factors lead to uncoupling of NOS?

Beth:                    Age. By the time we’re 40, that NOS is only functioning about 50%. By the time we’re 65, it’s only functioning about 15%.

Dr. Weitz:            Now, is that just a function of chronological age, or is that more related to biological aging?

Beth:                    Biological.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    Okay? The standard American diet, devoid of nitrate rich veggies, and essential co-factors, and nutrients. Medications like antibiotics, antifungals, especially the azole antifungals, antidepressants, birth control pills, NSAIDs, PPIs. PPIs inhibit the production of nitric oxide through both pathways. EMFs. EMFs are everywhere. EMFs increase an enzyme called NADPH oxidase, which increases super oxide, increases oxidative stress, oxidative stress uncouples at NOS.

Dr. Weitz:            When I see all these electric cars, I-

Beth:                    Oh, it’s terrible.

Dr. Weitz:            I know, I want to get an electric car, but I don’t want to be in an EMF-

Beth:                    No, no. Yields.

Dr. Weitz:            Accelerating-

Beth:                    Fry your brain. You’re frying your brain. You’re destroying your blood brain barrier.

Dr. Weitz:            Boy, that’s something.

Beth:                    You’re increasing diabetes.

Dr. Weitz:            That’s something we got to figure out, how you can have an electric car and not get exposed to all these EMFs, on top of all the EMFs we’re getting exposed to from 5G, and everything else.

Beth:                    Yeah, yep. And stress. Stress uncouples that NOS enzyme. Glyphosate, genetic snips. So, that’s why by the time we’re 40, it’s only functioning about 50%, because all the people that are sitting in front of us, they’ve got a lot of oxidative stress going on. They’ve got something going on that’s making them not so well.

Dr. Weitz:            One more in the long list of reasons why we should avoid eating gluten, is glyphosate leading to decreased nitric oxide production.

Beth:                     Precisely. Precisely.

Dr. Weitz:            So, let’s talk about the foods that are the richest sources of nitrates in our diet.

Beth:                     Arugula has got the highest nitrate concentration, and no oxalate concerns. But spinach, butter lettuce, celery, bok choy, beets, kale, all of these are high nitrate veggies.

 

Dr. Weitz:            I’ve really been enjoying this discussion, but I’d like to take a minute to tell you about a new product that I’m very excited about. I’d like to tell you about a new wearable called the Apollo. This is a device that can be worn on the wrist, or the ankle, and it uses vibrations to stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system. This device has amazing benefits in terms of getting you out of that stressed out sympathetic nervous system, and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system.

                                It’s has a number of different functions, especially helping you to relax, to focus, to concentrate, to get into a deeper meditative state, even to help you sleep. And there’s even a mode to help you wake up. This all occurs through the scientific use of subtle vibrations. For those of you who might be interested in getting the Apollo for yourself, to help you reset your nervous system, go to apolloneuro.com, and use the affiliate code Weitz10. That’s my last name. W-E-I-T-Z 10. And now back to the discussion.

 

Dr. Weitz:  Now, what about eating foods that are high in arginine, or citrulline, like grass fed beef, or line caught wild fish, cage-free eggs? And then I guess watermelon is really high in citrulline.

Beth:                    Citrulline, yeah, that’s my favorite fruit. Well, if you’re under a lot of oxidative stress, increasing your arginine intake is not really the smartest idea.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. And why is that?

Beth:                    Because arginine has other pathways it can go down besides just your NOS pathway. So arginine can increase this molecule called ADMA, asymmetric dimethyl arginine, which, it was connected to all cause mortality. Arginine can increase ammonia, and if you’re having trouble clearing ammonia, then you’ve got kidney problems. Can increase urea, and if you’re having kidney issues, this is not good there, either. So, just think about it. If you’ve got like a latent herpes virus, and you eat high arginine foods, like some nuts, or something, you can reactivate that, and that’s due to that oxidative stress you’re increasing.

Dr. Weitz:            But arginine is an essential amino acid, too.

Beth:                    Sure it is, but the amount of arginine it takes to feed that NOS enzyme is very, very small. In fact, there’s rarely anybody with an arginine deficiency. Rarely.

Dr. Weitz:            But, we must all be feeding our NOS enzymes, because if you’re eating a balanced diet that has the essential amino acids, we’re all getting arginine.

Beth:                    Right. But you don’t necessarily want to take arginine supplements, is what I’m talking about.

Dr. Weitz:            Right. Right. So when it comes to the discussion of supplements to simulate nitric oxide production, the two major strategies that you see on the market, and a lot of products have both strategies in it, one is to include arginine, and or citrulline. What if you just have citrulline rather than arginine? Does that avoid the arginine issues?

Beth:                    Well, citrulline is better than arginine, because actually the cell uses citrulline to make its own arginine to feed the NOS. However, you’re still trying to make an uncoupled dysfunctional NOS work, and it’s just not going to.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     Nitrate supplementation actually helps recouple that NOS.

Dr. Weitz:            Right. So, the product that you recommend the most is a product that contains beetroot. Right? Extract.

Beth:                     Well, it’s mainly a nitrate supplement.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. I saw the potassium nitrate.

Beth:                     Yes.

Dr. Weitz:            That’s a first ingredient. So, tell us about why that’s good to consume.

Beth:                     Because that’s supporting your nitrate, to nitrite, to nitric oxide pathway.

Dr. Weitz:            And why is that better than taking beets, or beet juice, or a beet extract?

Beth:                     Well, part of the reason is you just never know exactly how much nitrate you’re getting in these beet products.

Dr. Weitz:            Oh, okay.

Beth:                     Okay? Because beets grown in different environments will have different concentrations. This is a standardized dose of nitrate, where all the studies show that it takes three to 400 milligrams of nitrate to make these physiological changes, and that’s what you’re getting with two caps of the Berkeley. So, that’s kind of equal to five ounces of spinach, or seven ounces of beets. So, you can get it through your diet, you can get enough through your diet. And in fact, the DASH diet, the dietary approaches to stop hypertension, it is used as medicine, and that has 12 to 1500 milligrams of nitrate per day.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                     [inaudible].

Dr. Weitz:            Most mornings I have a big omelet, and I put beet kimchi on the side.

Beth:                     Oh, good.

Dr. Weitz:            So, I get my beets, and I get some probiotics, on top of the other probiotics I take. So, let’s talk about a few more benefits of nitric oxide that people aren’t familiar with. I know most of us are familiar with the cardiovascular, but in fact, I mean the cardiovascular benefits are really pretty amazing, in terms of blood pressure, and this is largely through the vasal dilation effects. Is that right?

Beth:                     Right.

Dr. Weitz:            Now, is there more of an effect on the micro circulation, I thought I read?

Beth:                     Yes. Oh, excuse me.

Dr. Weitz:            Yeah.

Beth:                    Yeah. Because that’s where all the action happens.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    So, the micro circulation, that’s where all the action happens.

Dr. Weitz:            Yeah, and one of the things… I also organize a functional medicine meeting, and I also have a mastermind group, and one of the women who was in our mastermind group, she was in her mid to later fifties, and she just died of a heart attack with no history of heart disease. And interestingly, I’ve done some reading about this, and women have a tendency to have a type of cardiovascular disease where they get blockages in micro circulation, rather than in the major vessels.  Now of course, they do get blockages in the major vessels too, but there is this variant of heart disease that tends to become more common in women, and I think it’s really been understudied, and sounds like nitric oxide would be particularly beneficial in those types of cases.

Beth:                    Right. And especially once a woman hits menopause, because estrogen actually stimulates that NOS enzyme, the E NOS enzyme to make nitric oxide. So once our estrogen production goes way down, we’re not making nitric oxide like we need to be. So that happens quite frequently, after menopause.

Dr. Weitz:            Interesting. And there’s also some pretty amazing benefits for brain function with nitric oxide. Maybe you can talk a little bit about that mechanism.

Beth:                    Right. Brains are only about 2% of our body weight, but they use about 25% of our oxygen consumption. And brains need to be making about 20 times more nitric oxide than our whole vasculature, because that micro circulation is so critical to feed those cells in our brains. So, dementia is connected to poor blood flow.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                    And then nitric oxide is essential to make our neural stem cells. Nitric oxide is important for synaptic plasticity. That means to regenerate.

Dr. Weitz:            Right. That’s pretty interesting.

Beth:                    Right.

Dr. Weitz:            So, has there been any data testing nitric oxide in prevention of Alzheimer’s?

Beth:                    Well, there’s actually this one study that… Well, it wasn’t a study, it was a review of something like over six million people that had used the PDE5 inhibitors, like your Viagra, your Cialis, and the amount of dementia went down astronomically.

Dr. Weitz:            Interesting.

Beth:                    With the use of those.

Dr. Weitz:            Maybe you can talk about how those PDE5 inhibitors work, and what that tells us about nitric oxide.

Beth:                     So the PDE5 inhibitors, your Viagra, your Cialis, these allow that nitric oxide to hang around longer. However, you need enough nitric oxide in order for those to work. So, that’s why when men use them for ED, they only work in about 50% of the men, because they don’t have enough nitric oxide in order to get the erection. However, it’s the same with opening up the blood vessels in the brain, too. You need enough nitric oxide in order for them to work. So, why not just support the core? Get to the nitric oxide to begin with.

Dr. Weitz:            Right. Yeah. It’s interesting, in a similar way, a lot of people with depression, and anxiety are taking drugs that keep serotonin around, but if you’re not producing enough serotonin, they won’t work. So, sometimes you need to support that serotonin production pathway for those drugs to work.

Beth:                    However, these SSRIs uncouple that NOS.

Dr. Weitz:            Ah, interesting.

Beth:                    Okay? So now, maybe you’re got more serotonin in the synapse. However, you’re not helping your brain any, because you’re not keeping that circulation open in the brain.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                   Not good.

Dr. Weitz:            Now, exercise increases nitric oxide production, right?

Beth:                     Yes. Through NOS, or if you’ve got enough nitrate, nitrate stores. So by optimizing your nitric oxide prior to exercise, you will increase your exercise endurance, and decrease your recovery time.

Dr. Weitz:            Is there a particular type of exercise, or exercise strategy that will help you maximize nitric oxide production? Like in resistance training, versus aerobic, cardiovascular training, or steady state cardiovascular training, versus higher intensity training, et cetera?

Beth:                     I just want people just to do it, and I don’t really care what it is. Just do something.

Dr. Weitz:            Sure. Sure. For the average sedentary person. I’m also speaking to the biohackers, those of us who are trying to maximize our longevity.

Beth:                     Well, anything that… All exercise tries to optimize your circulation.

Dr. Weitz:            And build muscle, and stabilize your joints, and improve your balance, and burn glucose.

Beth:                     Yeah, but that’s all connected.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                     That micro circulation, to be able to be delivering your oxygen, glucose, and nutrients. But remember I said the myoglobin too, can reduce that nitrite to nitric oxide on an as-need basis. So, this exercise actually helps you optimize your nitric oxide even more.

Dr. Weitz:            Because… Maybe you should explain. So exercise increases myoglobin.

Beth:                     And myoglobin increases can reduce nitrite to nitric oxide, too.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     But nitric oxide also increases mitochondrial biogenesis.

Dr. Weitz:            Oh, okay.

Beth:                     [inaudible] Energy producing organelles of your cell.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     So, exercise plays a role in mitochondrial biogenesis, through that production of nitric oxide.

 

Dr. Weitz:            I’d like to interrupt this fascinating discussion we’re having for another few minutes to tell you about another really exciting product that has changed my life, and the life of my family, especially as it pertains to getting good quality sleep. It’s something called the Chilipad. C-H-I-L-I-P-A-D. It can be found at the website chilisleep.com, which is C-H-I-L-I-S-L-E-E-P dot com.

                                And so this product in involves a water cooled mattress pad that goes underneath your sheets, and helps you maintain a constant temperature at night. If you’ve ever gotten woken up because the temperature has changed, typically gets warmer, this product will maintain your body at a very even temperature, and it tends to promote uninterrupted, quality deep, and REM sleep, which is super important for healing, and for overall health. And if you go to chilisleep.com, and you use the affiliate code Weitz20, that’s my last name, W-E-I-T-Z 20, you’ll get 20% off a Chilipad. So check it out, and let’s get back to this discussion.

 

Dr. Weitz:             Micro circulation, and impairment of micro circulation is one of the factors that seems to be related to long COVID symptoms.

Beth:                    Yeah, I’ve done webinars, and talks on this. So, that spike protein, whether it’s from the virus, or it’s from the jabs, is actually… What it does, it attacks the hemoglobin, and oxidizes the heme from your FE2+ to your FE3+.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     So it becomes-

Dr. Weitz:            What’s the FE2+?

Beth:                     2+ is your ferrous iron, and the ferrous iron can hold the oxygen.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     But your ferric iron, your FE3+ cannot do anything with the oxygen. So, that’s where the hypoxia comes in.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     However, nitric oxide is trying to help us, and it can scavenge that FE3+. And then it takes nitric oxide out of circulation from doing all these other good things, and then you’ve got these little clots, because nitric oxide is connected to platelet activation, and aggregation. So, when you’re nitric oxide deficient, you clot more. So, the spike protein is making… To get the virus to begin with, more than likely you’re nitric oxide deficient to begin with. Then once you have the virus, this makes you more nitric oxide deficient, and then all these clots, and impaired micro circulation.

Dr. Weitz:            So has there been any data on using nitric oxide strategies for helping patients clear long COVID?

Beth:                     I’ve helped a lot of people with that. But right now, Dr. Nathan Bryan has a phase three clinical trial.

Dr. Weitz:            Oh, interesting.

Beth:                     Using it for COVID, in the Black population, because it is known that the African American population actually has more of a nitric oxide issue to begin with.

Dr. Weitz:            Oh really? Why is that?

Beth:                    I don’t know exactly.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    I don’t know exactly.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. Maybe it has to do with certain dietary factors, or?

Beth:                    And probably NOS SNPs, also.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. Do we know a couple of common NOS SNPs that impede nitric oxide?

Beth:                    Right. Any of the NOS SNPs will.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    But also any of the SNPs that increase oxidative stress. Like if you have any SOD SNPs, or catalase SNPs.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    Or HFE SNPs, which are real common in Northern European, like the Irish.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    Anything that interferes with the production of BH4. So, BH4, which is what helps keep the NOSS coupled, like your QDPR, DHFR, if you have any MTHFR SNPs, you are by definition nitric oxide deficient. And that’s about 40% of us, right there.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                    Because you can’t make your BH4 correctly, or enough of it.

Dr. Weitz:            Yeah. I think it might even be a higher percentage. So, we’ve been talking about all these wonderful benefits of nitric oxide. Can you have too much nitric oxide?

Beth:                    Rare.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    Very, very rare. So, especially with the nitrate, to nitrite, to nitric oxide pathway, because our body kind of can modulate how much that we’re using.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    Remember I said by the time we’re 40, that NOS SNP is only functioning about 50%, and by the time we’re 60, it’s only about 15%.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                     So, it’s rare to get an overproduction of nitric oxide.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     Sometimes, when people have chronic infections, or chronic inflammatory events, you can up-regulate that iNOS, the inducible NOS. However, the beautiful thing about nitrate supplementation is nitrates actually help down-regulate that iNOS.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     Because when that iNOS is upregulated, your eNOS, your endothelial NOS, and your nNOS, your neuronal NOS, are down regulated. But if you can downregulate the iNOS, then it allows more nitric oxide to get to your blood vessels.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. Cool. Well, I think those are the questions that I had prepared. Anything else you want to tell us about nitric oxide?

Beth:                     Right. The red blood cell, the hemoglobin actually has to have nitric oxide attached to that molecule, in order to deliver oxygen to the cells. So, you could be super saturated with oxygen, and if you don’t have enough nitric oxide, then you’re not delivering oxygen to the cells. So, for many years they thought the oxygen delivery was a two gas process, your carbon dioxide, and your oxygen. But now they know it’s a three gas process, nitric oxide, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. You’ve got to have that nitric oxide.

Dr. Weitz:            So, even though the oxygen is there, and the carbon dioxide is there, it might not be able to be utilized without the-

Beth:                     Right. Nitric oxide being attached to that hemoglobin molecule.

Dr. Weitz:            Interesting.

Beth:                     Yeah. Stem cells. Stem cells are how we heal.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                     They require nitric oxide in order to go where they need to go, and do what they need to do. So, if anybody is getting any kind of stem cell procedure, optimize your nitric oxide first, you’ll get much better use out of the procedure.

Dr. Weitz:            Would it be the same thing for… What’s that other injection where everybody’s getting with the…

Beth:                     PRP?

Dr. Weitz:            Yeah. PRP, platelet [inaudible] plasma.

Beth:                    Yeah. All healing comes from stem cells. All healing. And that nitric oxide plays an integral part of that.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. Cool. Okay. Well, thank you Beth.

Beth:                    You’re welcome.

Dr. Weitz:            Are you still doing consultations with clients?

Beth:                    No, I’m doing more research now.

Dr. Weitz:            More research. Okay.

Beth:                    Yeah. I have some people that I’ve had for many years, but not taking any new ones now.

Dr. Weitz:            Right. So, for laypersons out there, should they contact a practitioner to find out about these nitric… This supplement to stimulate nitric oxide? Or can they buy it directly?

Beth:                    No, they’ve got to go through a practitioner to get it.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay, great.

Beth:                    And we’ll get you a code.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    So that people can actually order it through you, too.

Dr. Weitz:            Oh, okay.

Beth:                    Okay? Yeah, you can’t get it on Amazon.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. Okay. And what about practitioners? How can they get in contact with you?

Beth:                    Go to info@berkeleylife.com, and the berkeleylife.com website, you can actually schedule a consult with one of the sales reps.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                    I do the education.

Dr. Weitz:            Right.

Beth:                    Yeah.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Beth.

Beth:                    Thank you Ben.

Dr. Weitz:            And the website, in case people want some more information, as well?

Beth:                    Berkeleylife.com.

Dr. Weitz:            Great.

Beth:                    And then there’s a good Facebook group, a forum that I post a lot of things on, like the Berkeley Life Professional Forum.

Dr. Weitz:            Okay.

Beth:                     So you can request entry into that group, and I take recent studies, and make the nitric oxide connection.


Dr. Weitz:            Right. Awesome. Thank you for making it all the way through this episode of the Rational Wellness Podcast. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please go to Apple Podcasts, and give us a five star ratings and review. That way more people will be able to find this Rational Wellness Podcast when they’re searching for health podcasts. And I wanted to let everybody know that I do now have a few openings for new nutritional consultations for patients at my Santa Monica Weitz Sports Chiropractic and Nutrition Clinic. So if you’re interested, please call my office, (310) 395-3111, and sign up for one of the two remaining slots for a comprehensive nutritional consultation with Dr. Ben Weitz. Thank you, and see you next week.