Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
Dr. Robin Rose discusses Kidney Care with Peptides 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
Dr. Robin Rose is a Medical Doctor and an expert at supporting kidney health using a wholistic approach and peptides. She has recently published a book, Renology Peptides: Kidney Success with Bioregulator Peptides. Renology Peptides is a comprehensive clinical volume that presents an evidence-guided scholarly tool to deepen understanding of regenerative kidney medicine and bioregulator peptides. Her website is Renology is Kidney Success.
Dr. Ben Weitz is available for Functional Nutrition consultations specializing in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders like IBS/SIBO and Reflux and also Cardiometabolic Risk Factors like elevated lipids, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure. Dr. Weitz has also successfully helped many patients with managing their weight and improving their athletic performance, as well as sports chiropractic work by calling his Santa Monica office 310-395-3111.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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.
I’m excited today to be talking about the kidneys. In fact, this is the first podcast I’ve done on Rational Wellness about kidney health, and we’ll be speaking with Dr. Robin Rose. The kidneys filter our blood to remove waste products such as creatinine and urea and extra water and remove them through the urine. The kidneys have other important functions including removing acid. Balancing electrolytes like sodium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium regulating blood pressure, helping to produce red blood cells and converting vitamin D into its active form. Chronic kidney disease is a long-term condition where the kidneys gradually lose their ability to filter waste products and excess fluid from the blood.
Most doctors monitor kidney function by monitoring the estimated glomerular filtration rate, also known as GFR which is usually considered problematic or abnormal when it goes below 60. But the reality is A GFR of below 60 actually represents stage three kidney disease. Full kidney function is with a GFR of one 20 or better. And a GFR of 90 to 120 is considered stage one. GFR of 90 to 60 is considered stage two, which I don’t think most people are aware of. So, Dr. Rose, thank you so much for joining us and let’s talk about kidneys.
Dr. Rose: Thank you. Thank you. I love having this conversation. I think of kidneys as a root cause, actually. It’s so insidiously connected with everything else. You know, we think of filtration, but, that’s only the first step. The downstream from filtration abnormalities is this crazy array of problems that actually do start showing up in stage two. You know, like you say GFR of 60, you’ve already lost 50%. It’s crazy to wait that long.
Dr. Weitz: And so how, what, why do you think it is that basically doctors say everything over 60 is fine?
Dr. Rose: Well, you know, I think long ago we didn’t have any labs and so by the time you figured out what’s going on with kidneys, it was pretty advanced. And okay. You know, we started looking at BUN and creatinine. That added a little insight, but it’s still not very precise. When the GFR showed up, it. You know, I wasn’t there for that decision making. I think it has to do with, I may have to let my dog off its lease. Hang on one second. I apologize. My apologies. A rescue dog who chases everybody home anyway. There aren’t medications really. And so I’ve heard that said, it’s like, well, we don’t really have a way to treat it, so you don’t wanna tell people they’re sick when you have nothing to offer, [00:04:00] which is where I come in and I actually renamed what I do ology, which is the art and clinical science of kidney success.
Okay. To say those words, the limbic cy lightens up because kidney failure is like way down the line. And so, you know, this decline that we see, it starts in stage two. I mean, it’s so cool to realize this. The first thing I started learning about was uremic dysbiosis That starts in stage two. There are a lot of toxins. I mean, you know, the filtration includes filtering toxins. Some, the body makes loads that we get from the environment. And so, you know, ultimately we have to be aware of what’s going in and how do we get rid of it.
Dr. Weitz: By the way, why is GFR estimated glomerular filtration [00:05:00] rate is there a way to actually measure GFR without estimating it?
Dr. Rose: Yes, but it’s complicated and nobody does it. Okay. You know, so, so it’s basically a formula I that somebody smart came up with. Right. And you know, there’s also statin C which doesn’t use creatinine and that’s a whole nother conversation ’cause creatinine, like a very bulky person is gonna have a higher creatinine, but that doesn’t mean their kidneys aren’t working. A very skinny old, somebody may not have much muscle, so their creatinine’s low and it makes it look like their kidney function’s normal. So, you know, there’s play in this wheel. But anyway, so there’s uremic dysbiosis, that’s a huge conversation and hugely important. And then there’s endothelial damage that’s enormous with kidney disease. And, you know, the cardio decline because of kidney is some 30 to a hundred times more than someone without kidney [00:06:00] dysfunction. So it, you know, it’s a real relationship.
Dr. Weitz: And then mitochondrial, what is uremic dysbiosis?
Dr. Rose: know all of these nasty things that harm kidney ends up in the gut. I mean, it’s a whole conversation that’s, and I’m probably gonna have tomorrow, ’cause I’m doing a talk with a gastroenterologist about kidney, gut relationship. But the truth is, these toxins cause leaky gut. Damage. Damage. The way the gut works, the
Dr. Weitz: gut is there a microbiome of the kidney?
Dr. Rose: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And the gut microbiome alters, and then with leaky gut, it’s going through getting in the blood and harming kidney. You know, once things are in the blood. So inflammatory mediators from the gut, that might be a result of phosphorus. For instance, you know, phosphorus is a [00:07:00] uremic toxin for people who have healthy kidneys. Phosphorus is a lifesaver, but when it starts elevating, that’s a problem. And the problem in the simplest form is it sucks calcium from the bones and places it in the arteries. Two severe problems that happen as kidney disease advances.
Dr. Weitz: And so, so if you have leaky gut, can you have leaky kidney?
Dr. Rose: Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Weitz: Interesting. I know,
Dr. Rose: I love saying that too.
Dr. Weitz: Is there any way to measure kidney dysbiosis or kidney leaky gut, you
Dr. Rose: know,
Dr. Weitz: or kidney leaky kidney.
Dr. Rose: Leaky kidney, I love that. You know, basically a lot of it to me has become intuitive ’cause the lab work isn’t that good. You know, the tubules are what gets harmed first. And learning about tubules is an adventure like the small intestine. [00:08:00] It’s responsible for things coming and going. And so the tubules are the discernment. What do we keep and what do we get rid of? Toxins in the world that we ingest end up harming. The tubules, the mitochondria are in the tubules. When that starts going, you know, the energetics of kidney isn’t working well, things that you’re supposed to keep, get excreted, you know, you see protein in the urine that shouldn’t be there. And you know, things like sodium are brought back into the system when they should be excreted. And so, you know, it’s complicated. And yet there’s some simple guidelines and some simple remedies to use to reclaim particularly early. You know, if you start in stage two, you know, there’s a little digging, taking a history to really find out what portal did this person enter to get to kidney problems. [00:09:00] ’cause there are several, there are many.
And you know, we look at vascular issues, we look at neoplastic issues, autoimmune issues. And so the stuff that we know already as functional practitioners can be applied and really, you know, you use your typical dysbiosis testing and then do some repairs. I mean, I was reading about Akkermansia yesterday in regards to kidney function, a beneficial you know, I, I was told early on by Jenna Henderson, who’s a naturopath, who works with kidney to do fermented foods as a daily every meal issue because you’re providing good organisms that the gut will then have more ability to adjunct the kidney. You know, we talk about like intestinal dysbiosis, I mean, excuse me intestinal di. I can do this intestinal dialysis. So, you know, you’re using the gut to excrete some things because the kidney isn’t quite as adequate.
Dr. Weitz: Let’s just finish with the testing first. You said that GFR may be problematic as a way to test should we use cystatin C? Is that a better test? Why why are we still using GFR as the way to really decide where you are in this process?
Dr. Rose: Yeah, it’s useful, you know, I mean, and you thought, and because this is a long haul issue, you can follow the GFR over time and see where you’re going. Okay. A lot of it has to be the intuitive, you know, I mean, you know, I, I didn’t include my story. I mean, I’m one of the kidney wounded healers that I had, kidney cancer, had a nephrectomy. Woke up three months later with a GFR of 30 and basically got no [00:11:00] good advice and sat right here in my tropical paradise and started looking stuff up, right, and basically evolved this concept, I lost a lot of weight and so my creatinine was always super low. There’s a discrepancy for me personally with GFR and S stat and C others, they’re pretty consistent, so, you know, it’s expensive. Sometimes insurance doesn’t pay for it. So, you know, GFR still has value, but to be appropriate in the kind of precision that we like to be, you just have to know it’s false, you know, know its strengths and know its weaknesses as a lab test. And because, you know, if you’re dealing with. The lifestyle aspects for kidney, which is really the first step. These are healthy things to do, no matter.
Dr. Weitz: So let’s say I have a patient [00:12:00] and we are still trying to figure out what’s going on, whether or not they might have a kidney problem. Do I look at BUN? Do I look at creatinine? Do I look at uric acid? If those one or several of those things are slightly elevated, what do we make with that?
Dr. Rose: So we know that kidney affects all of these things. I mean, there’s more parathyroid hormone. Vitamin D is important, and I like the 1 25 because that’s kidney prepares the vitamin D. And so, you know, you do a 25 hydroxy D you’re getting a liver marker. Okay. Phosphorus, to me is very important. It’s not. Really given the kind of credence that I give it in the conventional nephrology community, but I, I’m seeing more and more it, it’s, it has a big role as a toxin and early on, the lab doesn’t look [00:13:00] abnormal.
However, during stage two already phosphorus damage is happening. Even though on the lab it looks normal. And what I learned was 3.5 midline is when you start being concerned. And there are plenty of activities to do, actionable for people whose phosphorus is elevated. But here’s another lab. I know I, I wander a bit, but the the phosphorus issue is connected with calcium 1 25 D parathyroid hormone, and something called FGF 23. FGF 23 may become elevated before the phosphorus. And again, you know, when you’re looking at damage to bones and damage to blood vessels, that’s serious stuff downstream. And so the earlier you start, the better. And some of [00:14:00] that goes back to diet and lifestyle choices. So, you know, again, stage two, we can do real simple stuff and it helps to have abnormal labs to motivate people. ’cause otherwise they’re like, yeah, I’m fine. I feel good, I don’t care. But when you understand that, you know, the beginning of a long story is where to be motivated. I find that guiding people to willingness to learn about the course of decline that you wanna avoid, I. So, you know, a year now,
Dr. Weitz: I, I read a review by Guppy and others in 2024 that healthy adults have a normal decline in their kidney function, I think between 0.37 and 1.07 milliliters per minute per year of GFR. And they speak as though it’s inevitable.
Dr. Rose: Oh no. And you know, I had this lovely experience talking with a nephrologist and Joe Pizzorno on a call.
Dr. Weitz: Okay. I
Dr. Rose: know
Dr. Weitz: Joe
Dr. Rose: and she brought it up that it is just what you said, that Well, the decline is inevitable. And I loved what Joe said. It changed how I think about this. We do not measure toxins really. An elder has been exposed for many decades to toxins that are very likely nephrotoxin. That’s what’s causing the decline not aging as a thing. And you know, I have a 70-year-old husband with a GFR of a hundred, right? It’s not inevitable. And so that’s where my passion for the bio regulator peptides came from, because you actually can reverse the epigenetic [00:16:00] damage and re-up the DNA deduction of proteins that can do some of these repairs.
Dr. Weitz: How should we think about kidney decline if it does happen? Is it typically inflammatory? Is it more toxin related? Is it, what is it more typically related to when it does happen?
Dr. Rose: So, and that’s what I said before. It’s like there are many portals. Every case is really quite a collage. Right? Unique, but So you think some people, the hypertensives that end up with kidney damage, the diabetics, you know, the glucco toxicity, another insulin resistance, another pathway in toxins.
Absolutely. I think that was my story. Autoimmune is another one. Neoplastic is another one. And so, you know, in genetics there are genetic syndromes that harm kidney. [00:17:00] And so once you know that you get a good history. You are already doing some stuff for those underlying issues. You know, somebody’s autoimmune, most of us know what to do, but all of a sudden it’s like the attention to kidney changes things because the diet’s a little different. The what the body will accept and use the hormetic zone changes basically for what’s safe and what may be too much or too little.
Dr. Weitz: Right. Hypertension seems being closely linked with kidney disease.
Dr. Rose: Absolutely. And you know, the other thing I wanted to say is every case indeed ends up inflammation, oxidative damage. Okay. It’s the every case. And so that’s, that is a, oh yeah. Gotta work with those markers, with the spread. And
Dr. Weitz: consequently, addressing oxidation and inflammation is part of the [00:18:00] reasonable preventative care for kidneys. Absolutely. So, when it comes to managing kidney, chronic kidney disease, usually hear about you, you need to lower your protein intake. You need to lower your intake of potassium and phosphorus. Those are things people commonly talk about.
Dr. Rose: There’s truth in the protein aspect of it. Again, every case is unique. It depends on what’s going on. Their blood type, their gut status.
Dr. Weitz: So at what level of. Kidney function, should somebody think about limiting their protein intake?
Because understand, as people get older, there’s a tendency to lose muscle sarcopenia and there’s a tendency to lose bone osteopenia. And [00:19:00] maintaining reasonable protein levels is important to prevent those.
Dr. Rose: Yeah, exactly. And so, you know, even in stage two, the one thing that you wanna know is there proteinuria? ’cause with proteinuria, you’d think, oh, losing more protein, you want to eat more protein. But actually what I found is 0.8 grams of protein per kilo can be acceptable for people in the course of improving function at some point. You can nudge it up a little bit, but what I found is I have people doing 1.5 grams, lower them down to one. They do much better.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Weitz: I’ve really been enjoying this discussion, but I just want to take a few minutes to tell you about a product that I’m very excited about. Imagine a device that can help you manage stress, improve your sleep, and boost your focus all without [00:20:00] any effort on your part. The Apollo wearable is designed to just to do just that, created by neuroscientists and physicians. This innovative device uses gentle vibrations to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, helping you feel calmer, more focused, and better rested. Among the compelling reasons to use the Apollo wearable are that users experience a 40% reduction in stress and anxiety. Patients feel that they can sleep. Their sleep improves up to additional 30 minutes of sleep per night. It helps you to boost your focus and concentration, and it’s scientifically backed. And the best part is you can get all these benefits with a special $40 discount by using the promo code Weitz, W-E-I-T-Z, my last name at checkout to enjoy these savings. So go to Apollo Neuro and use the promo code Whites today. And now back to our discussion.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Rose: You know, let’s say
Dr. Weitz: somebody has a GFR of 75. That person should they be thinking about restricting your protein intake,
Dr. Rose: at least to monitor, you know, how much do you actually take in? And I personally did chronometer for a month.
It’s a total pain in the rear end to do it, you know, weighing stuff. And, but what I found was half of my protein came from things like carrots, you know, things you don’t think of as protein fruits. And it was like, oh, so I was eating way more protein than I thought I was. Okay. And so, you know, so [00:22:00] that’s interesting.
And with a GFR of 75, I think, you know, caution how much, I guess it would depend on the person, you know, somebody really bulky is gonna. Need to support that muscle. Somebody really skinny who needs to build up muscle also. And there’s a thing that is interesting to me. Ketone analogs are amino acids, that the nitrogen was taken off and a ketone replacing the nitrogen being an issue with decreased kidney function.
And so that way you are actually getting the benefit of more protein without eating the more dangerous protein. You can also supplement essential amino acids. And for a lot of people that makes up for the decrease in, in intake.
Dr. Weitz: And now, what about lowering potassium and phosphorus? Is that something that [00:23:00] really needs to be done?
Dr. Rose: You know, to some extent everybody should be aware of it. Maybe more closer to stage three. However, check labs, because not everybody with elevated with CKD has elevated potassium. Some people have low potassium and you’re telling them, you know, eat more bananas. Those who do have high, normal or elevated potassium, there’s such an easy fix bicarb.
Dr. Weitz: Okay?
Dr. Rose: And I saw five nephrologists before I found this out myself. Oh, you know, I mean, there are drugs that the Nephrologists use for people to lower potassium. It binds up other stuff and I find it a little bit demoralizing to do that to people. But, you know, between magnesium citrate and sodium bicarb, you can really raise [00:24:00] the CO2. Which is the bicarb level. And it’s amazing what you see. I mean, optimizing uric acid, potassium, phosphorus, PTH, all by simply using bicarb. And you know, the other thing is a plant-based protein helps. That’s not to say never eat animal foods. Some people don’t. There are some people who really do better without any animal foods. Most of us can be a bit omnivore, but not overdoing red meat seems to be helpful. And that might be because of the the acidification that happens. And so again, you know, you can offset some of the concerns because kidney is quirky. It’s just quirky. It’s like stuff that usually doesn’t matter, like, you know, mid-range phosphorus.
And so I don’t think everybody [00:25:00] needs to worry about phosphorus if they have kidney decline, but processed foods, get rid of ’em. Okay. You know, there’s, the phosphates in synthetic food, I call it, is a hundred percent absorbed, right? And so that becomes a IC toxin. Animal foods, it’s about 80% absorbed.
And plant-based proteins are more like 40% absorbed and they have phytates. And so it’s just, you know, you monkey with the dials depending on the person that you’re working with. Because first of all, if somebody utterly can’t cope with not eating meat, work with it, figure it out. How do we make this work for you?
Dr. Weitz: Yeah. So what kind of diet is best for a patient with kidney disease?
Dr. Rose: I think organic food is critical. Sure. Life shade is nasty about, you know, in, in ways that really harm kidney. I [00:26:00] think focused on more plant-based eating. So in other words more vegetables, not excessive amounts of fruit, because fructose has some issues, but you know, the fruits and vegetables, not so much grains. You know, I’m finding that, you know, the tendency for GCO toxicity with kidney disease means every meal doesn’t have to have bread, every meal doesn’t have to have rice and noodles. You know, more eating root starches, you know, squashes and sweet potatoes and that kind of thing.
Dr. Weitz: Now, if you’re going to have a more of a plant-based diet, you’re going to have more potassium, aren’t you?
Dr. Rose: Yes. And it’s more alkaline, so there’s a little bit of offsetting.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: And you know, some of my passion about potassium is because my potassium has been elevated in the past, and I found out which vegetables were lower in [00:27:00] potassium. I was, you know, I grow a lot of eggplant. It’s a low potassium food. I’ve come to appreciate it. Arugula, which is a wonderful contribution because of the nitric oxide, you know, the nitrates in it, low potassium green. Whereas I was guzzling kale. I was growing gorgeous kale and eating it every day. And, you know, the consequence of elevated potassium isn’t fun. I didn’t feel good. I mean, I had neurologic symptoms and I’ve seen that in other people. And just with a little. Messing around with their willingness, you know, once the person understands why they’re doing it, it’s like, you know, if you’re driving a car and you’re going off the road, well let’s turn the wheel back.
Dr. Weitz: So when it comes to potassium, what you’re saying is you wanna monitor the serum level. Is that adequate?
Dr. Rose: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it is it’s good enough to say we need to fine tune this
Dr. Weitz: more. And what number [00:28:00] of potassium serum potassium do you like to see patients with kidney issues? Keep below,
Dr. Rose: under five for sure.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: You know, and you know, nephrology these days is saying Don’t worry about potassium. It’s not an issue because there’s a drug we can use if yours gets too high. I tend to be a little old fashioned and more natural in my way of thinking. We can adjust the diet and we can colonize. And we can do saunas and sweat things out and make sure we’re peeing out stuff, you know, by hydrating adequately. So there are ways to accomplish this.
Dr. Weitz: Now let’s talk about nutritional supplements that may be of benefit for patients with kidney disease. And I would say my experience is that the prevailing view in the medical community is as [00:29:00] you know, that don’t do it to begin with. Supplements are ineffective and unsafe, and especially since the kidneys are filtering out toxins don’t take anything. Exactly. The worst thing you can do is to take an herb or some nutritional supplement that’s gonna put more stress on your kidneys. So what nutritional supplements are beneficial for kidneys? So,
Dr. Rose: Can I do a sidebar and share person? Sure. My, the last nephrologist I went to see, I had started with a GFR of 30. I was alarmed. I mean, I felt awful. I felt sick. And so I went to see, I had a. Fly to another island to go see this person. By that time I had actually gotten my GFR up to 51, which as a doctor, the first question would be like, wow, how did you do that?
Right?
Dr. Rose: Because originally I was told, don’t be surprised to lose 5% a year. I’m like, wait a minute. And so [00:30:00] I wrote down my supplement list and I gave it, you know, part of my history to this doctor. And she walks in and turns her back to me, starts messing around with her computer, and she turns around and says, you are taking too many things. And like, oh, you know, I feel like Susie Kre.
She’s like, oh, have you seen my labs? Yes, but I have not read about these things. So you are gonna hurt yourself and you must stop. And I’m like, oh, I’ve read about them. Would you care for some references? No. So, you know, that was a cameo for me that. Ended my relationship with nephrology, and after that it’s gone up to 68.
Thank you. To peptide knowledge, I think. And so, yeah, there are a lot of things. In fact, my next talk,
Dr. Weitz: talk about some of the nutritional supplements that can be beneficial for patients with kidney problems.
Dr. Rose: So I really love N [00:31:00] Nutrival.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: I’ve used it for years. Did you know with test?
Dr. Weitz: Yeah.
Dr. Rose: And it has so much information and so much useful information for kidney.
So you find out there’s quirky things and not in every patient. So you know, your can’t assume, oh well, you know, your thiam transporters are broken, you know, but there’s weird things. Folate. Transporters, they go, so if you’re seeing these abnormalities, but that’s
Dr. Weitz: like the organic acids part of the test.
Dr. Rose: The organic acid part, amino acid panel. B vitamins, you see things all crazy places. Selenium, you know. And so I like to base what I do on personalizing, and that’s one way, you know, I’ve been cowgirl in it for years. I was doing holistic, whatever you call it, medicine. Years before functional medicine got named. We cow, I cowgirl it. I made stuff up and went along with it and problem solved and figured out things. And I think with kidney [00:32:00] it’s kind of like that. You just have to see who your patient is. But yeah, you know, B vitamins I think are really important. Okay. Zinc can be important. Magnesium can be important.
Selenium interestingly has a quirky thing with kidney, so it’s worth knowing about. You know, iron gets. Messed up with some people. And so you wanna follow iron studies. Things like quercetin and resveratrol are very useful. You know, I have the tray with way too many things. Astragalus,
Dr. Weitz: I’ve seen some data on astragalus for kidneys.
Dr. Rose: Yeah, that, that’s the next project that I’m now calling that plant-based medicine.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: That’s my next book. My what about,
Dr. Weitz: what about phosphate binders? Like ferulic acid, I
Dr. Rose: important stuff, you know, and again, I’d wanna know if that person actually has the problem. ’cause nothing, I shouldn’t say nothing, [00:33:00] but most things come with added either harm or benefits.
And so you just wanna know that you know, things like chitosan. I really love Acacia Senegal.
Dr. Weitz: Okay. It’s,
Dr. Rose: it’s a powder. I recommend people start with a teaspoon and go up to five teaspoons and get hydrated. Well, ’cause it can turn to cement in there. It is butyrate enhancing substance, which is wonderful. But it also can curate things like creatinine in the gut. Again, here we go with the intestinal dialysis. It assists that process. Things like, I mean, rhubarb can be helpful. I mean, all, there’s a lot of plan. I walked around my property.
Dr. Weitz: What about my, one of my favorite binders? Modified citrus, pectin
Dr. Rose: ab. Absolutely. And it’s worth doing, you know, finding out the galectin status,
Dr. Weitz: right? Galectin 3 is an inflammatory marker. [00:34:00]
Dr. Rose: And TMAO trimethyl, amine oxidase, another one, and asthma. Also play a role in the cardiovascular decline and also homocysteine. So, you know, some genomics really helpful. Right. And again, you know, you’re gonna do all of this on every patient. No. You gotta be an intuitive clinician to know, ah, with you, I want this. Right. And so, you know, the cardio portal people, all these things are essentially useful tools to keep folks, you were the one, you posted something just before about ace inhibitors. Yes. And hydrochlorothiazide. And it’s like, okay, you know, here’s kidney disease and reasons why, like aged garlic extract endo calyx products
Dr. Weitz: like Arteriosil.
Dr. Rose: Those are really, you know, they’re precious.
Dr. Weitz: Yeah. Do you have a [00:35:00] favorite kidney combination product?
Dr. Rose: Not really. I tend to like, to weave all, you know, it’s like, again I’m such a obsessive personalize that you know, and I mean, the list of botanicals is crazy long. I walked around just my property, not that big of a property. Writing down all of the medicinals that either are indigenous or that I’m growing planning to material medica that for kidney, because a lot of these things, they’re amazing. And, you know, the, like you say, it’s like don’t do it. But there’s a lot of literature that’s, it’s really supportive and, you know, it’s like if you know the pathophysiology and, you know, the pharma cocy of the plant.
And make sure I, you know, like certain plants aren’t safe, cat claw isn’t safe for kidney star, you know, too much oxalate. So you gotta [00:36:00] know that stuff. But, you know, to make that crossover, I’m going to use Java tea in this plant, in this patient. Cat Whiskers, it’s a really good, I just got some, I got some and I’m planting some it.
Okay.
I’m into growing medicine, you know, so it’s part of the diet really. So I’m trying to articulate that now for this next project that I’m doing because, you know, the anti botanical medicine force, especially in kidney medicine, is huge though. They do support turmeric. That’s a good one. Ginger is fabulous. Galaga is fabulous. I just planted cardamom. I live in Hawaii, so I can grow these things really well. That’s cool. Cardamom is amazing medicine and I, you know, I started taking notes and looking this stuff up. It’s so amazing. The lytics have a place, you know, it’s definitely a senescent condition.
Dr. Weitz: Okay. What would be your favorite [00:37:00] lytic for kidneys?
Dr. Rose: You know, I safe quercetin and cetin.
Dr. Weitz: Okay. They’re
Dr. Rose: not that effective. I mean, I actually personally used Soo four Dry and had an enormous herx. Okay. Which scared me ’cause I’m here in Timbuktu by myself. And then three days later I hadn’t felt so good in a decade.
Dr. Weitz: And what was it that you took? Say it again.
Dr. Rose: It’s a peptide called foxo. Four DRI Drive. Okay.
Dr. Weitz: So let’s go into peptides. First of all, for those who don’t know, what is a peptide?
Dr. Rose: A peptide is a little tiny fragment of a longer, bigger protein. So proteins are big and they’re wound up in certain ways. And people have discovered smarter than me. People who are chemists figured out like if this is the whole protein, this little piece here is the active ingredient. And so they’ve been able to separate those [00:38:00] out. And when somebody says, well, I don’t know what peptides are, insulin is a peptide. Yep. Many of them have to be injected because if you take them orally, they get broken down and they just become amino acids, which aren’t of no use. But there’s something about peptide bonds. So when you take, you know, a few amino acids and hook them together, some other chemistry happens that’s powerful, is medicine. And so for me it was, thank you Beth Shirley, who introduced me to BPC 1 57 because it enhances nitric oxide, which in kidney it’s in the Cooper.
And that may explain why it’s such a vascular disease. You know, kidney is a clump of blood vessels. And so I was struggling to get my nitric oxide level up and somebody else was it might have been in your group, but I, or maybe Sean. Anyway, I. It was interesting because as soon as I heard that, I had [00:39:00] one of these head spin moments and was like, I need to know about this.
Spent a month reading like a maniac. Got some from a compounder. The first time I did a subq injection of it was like, changed my life damage that I’d had from my surgery was gone in a day. Wow. And I was like, I gotta learn about this. And so that was the beginning for me studying with different teachers.
But what I was doing was really looking at the it’s getting windy all of a sudden. Tell me if it’s too noisy. Looking at the relationship with kidney and you know, what’s okay for kidney. ’cause what’s okay for other things may or may not be. And found amazing benefits, you know, in the middle of all this.
The FDB is
Dr. Weitz: BPC 1 57. Oral of benefit as well.
Dr. Rose: Not as much for kidney.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: Because, you know, that tends to be, I mean, I actually take the integrative peptides, BPC orally [00:40:00] every day and then use the injectable at intervals for the most part. Right. But it’s better for the gut, the oral. Right, because it comes from the stomach, it doesn’t get broken down, so you can use it that, but I don’t see it as mutual and in systemic illness.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: So,
Dr. Weitz: so what is some of the other peptides that are beneficial besides BPC 1 57?
Dr. Rose: Know the thymus peptides are amazing and ta one, the din
Dr. Weitz: beta four.
Dr. Rose: Yeah, the fragment din beta four, one to four. The first four amino acids of that are very kidney protect. I think I’m gonna have to go in all of a sudden. It’s like massive here. Okay, well I’ll show you where. Okay. Sorry.
Dr. Weitz: No [00:41:00] problem. And
Dr. Rose: while I’m moving, I’ll do my, this is how much I like peptides. My baby was just birthed this week. So, I then discovered, I mean, after I wasn’t sure about the growth hormone peptides with kidney, I’m still on the fence about IGF one. Right. And the role of kidney. I’m still don’t have clarity to be recommending it. ARA two 90 is a wonderful tool for kidney.
Dr. Weitz: What is a RA two 90?
Dr. Rose: It’s another peptide. Don’t ask me what the a RA stands for. I can’t remember. Okay. And it’s typically used for peripheral neuropathy and I’ve seen it do incredible things for people with those issues, even sciatica and stuff like that. However, there’s a role in the vascular realm. I [00:42:00] mean, another one that I’ve had remarkable success is LL 37. Okay. Which,
which
Dr. Rose: is a anti-infective peptide and both for self and others. I mean, I’ve been amazed to see like radical improvements and gently placed. ’cause there are concerns with using it haphazardly. And I know a lot of people are. The issue right now is there are limited pharmacies to get these for clinicians who are prescribing
Dr. Weitz: And they’ve made it d more difficult.
Right. The FDA Yeah.
Dr. Rose: It’s crazy. And so I’m very hopeful that our new HHS person who is aware of peptides interfering, interfere with this interference and change this. But that was kinda where I got off in delight with the bio regulator peptides because they are [00:43:00] oral and they are supplements, so they’re not so far being messed with.
Dr. Weitz: And so for those of us who don’t know what bio regulator peptides are, can you explain?
Dr. Rose: I am glad to. So in the seventies, Vladimir Vinson a PhD gerontologist was in the Russian military. Soviet military close friend of Putin’s.
Dr. Weitz: No, just kidding.
Dr. Rose: And unfortunately Professor Robinson passed away, but apparently I’ve heard Putin goes and comes out with carton loads of these bio regulators, which are longevity tools. So Commons was asked to find ways to protect their soldiers and submarine sailors, I don’t know what you call those, from American ke chemo Chemical and [00:44:00] radioactive warfare. And he did, he came up with these substances, started looking at the sinus and the pineal. And after a while started looking at him as medical tools and he was getting enormous amount of funding.
Had a whole crew. His wife’s a pediatrician and so they, they did a huge amount of research, which really was just stuck in Russia. And a lot of the research, of course, is in Russian. And so, we didn’t really know about them. I found out about this not that long ago. Somebody mentioned to me the bio regulator peptide called Otax as in kidney. Okay. And so what they are is very tiny fragments of glandulars. So like, and there’s many, there’s brain and pineal and eye and thyroid and lung and bronchus and heart and blood vessel on [00:45:00] spleen, and. On and on.
Dr. Weitz: So, and these are oral are they’re oral general. Are they readily available?
Dr. Rose: They are readily available. And you know, you have to know who’s producing them. And so there’s two main categories. There’s synthetic ones where they have taken the two to four amino acid moty and reproduce that adequately to use. They’re very clean. The body recognizes it itself. You’ve probably heard of Epitalon. That’s one that’s become rather popular. That’s a four amino acid pineal peptide. I think it’s on the FDA don’t use it list, but endo lutin is the actual natural one. The, so the natural category is refined glandulars, they have more bulk to them. There’s the four amino acids and then there’s nucleic acids in vitamins and minerals.
Cooked up with it. So typically what the Russians say [00:46:00] clinically is the synthetic ones you use first, they have a more immediate, quicker, intense response. And then the other ones are less effective, but longer term. And so there’s a hundred different ways to go about using these. But you know, what I’ve found is every category of these has a hook to the syndrome of kidney.
And again, you know, one person might have issues with sleep and then gee, the pineal peptides are really useful. You know, other people might be diabetic. Okay, let’s put the pancreatic and g the liver and sinus in there. And so, you know, again, it, it takes that intuitive creativity to know what am I. Who am I taking care of? What is this?
Dr. Weitz: So if you were going to set up a bio regulator peptide program, it would seem to me you’d probably, at least for [00:47:00] sure, want to include the Neph Nephro peptide
Dr. Rose: Otax. Absolutely.
Dr. Weitz: Right.
Dr. Rose: I love Piot Tax. I pretty much, you know, when I do consult, everybody ends up with Piot Tax and it, you know, but again, realize and what is,
Dr. Weitz: what is the best company to get Piot tax from?
Is it, does Integrated Peptides offer that one?
Dr. Rose: No, I don’t think he’s doing that quite yet. Okay. Yes, I know he, he’s got some going, but profound Health.
Dr. Weitz: Talking about Kent Holtorf?
Dr. Rose: Yes.
Dr. Weitz: Yeah, he’s a friend of mine too.
Dr. Rose: And profound Health is really my go-to resource. Okay. You know, the. It’s a pharmacy that
Dr. Weitz: they’ve work directly with. So you have these made from a compounding pharmacy?
Dr. Rose: No. It, no. Their pro, their product nature’s Marvels is the product that Oh, that I like the best. Now here’s something, ’cause I think that this podcast [00:48:00] is specifically for clinicians. You can get an account through IAS International Anti-Aging Services, and the discount is fabulous.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: And it’s worth having a wholesale account with them. They even, they do drop shipping. So, you know, as a clinician you can order a protocol of stuff and your patients can get the benefits. I mean, and I know like, integrative peptides is selling some, it’s way more expensive. So, you know, and that, that’s an issue. ’cause you know, I mean, you, so when you look at a kidney, there’s cartilage. Okay? There’s a cartilage, you know, there’s blood vessels, okay? There’s immune system, there’s you know, parathyroid issues, there’s bone marrow and all
Dr. Weitz: those are important for the function of the kidney.
Dr. Rose: And so what I did with this book was really weave all this together. I started looking at, what are the other bio regulators, [00:49:00] oh, this has to do with kidney. And so the book is, has several sections. One is about alternative mindset of kidney, the stuff we’re talking about. Heavy metals, microplastics, phosphorus, you know, just the way of thinking about kidney that steps past conventional nephrology. The third section is really the material medica where I go through every bio regulator and how they relate. To kidney care, and it was really what I needed. I mean, I call this the book I needed and I’ve cycled all of these over the last couple of years and it’s, and I’ve done that with a lot of patients as well, and everybody comes back saying, I feel better. And I did the longevity testing and, you know, I’m 25 years younger than stated age, so I’m like, okay, you know, these,
Dr. Weitz: You talking about the DNA methylation test?
Dr. Rose: Yeah. And telomere length and know, and [00:50:00] so, I mean, at one point I had this alarm doing that testing that my CD four to CD eight ratio was absolutely dreadful. I sort of panicked. I used to do AIDS medicine and I was like, oh my God. And I used high dose ta one. At a time, normalized it.
Dr. Weitz: Oh, okay. And were you talking about the TruAge test? Is that the one you did?
Dr. Rose: Yeah. Yes.
Dr. Weitz: Cool.
Dr. Rose: You know, and so there’s so many things to do, you know, to, to neglect kidney. The what are you waiting for was my inner dialogue about it.
Dr. Weitz: Well, I would say quite frankly, most clinicians don’t know what to do with kidney Exactly. Problems. And number two, there’s so much fear about the fact that the kidney is this detoxifying organ than anything you put in that could possibly [00:51:00] stress out the kidney worse. So you gotta be really careful about taking anything. Yes. That a I think a lot of clinicians are kind of scared off from doing much with kidney.
Dr. Rose: Exactly. And that’s kinda why I. I decided not to be retired and put all this energy into doing this. You know, as a family physician, having one organ to focus on is really a treat. It’s like the cherry on top. And the book helped me really put all this together. And so it’s a useful guide. As a guide.
Dr. Weitz: And now your, your experience, your personal experience was you had one of your kidneys removed, correct?
Dr. Rose: I did, yeah.
Dr. Weitz: Because you had a cancer.
Dr. Rose: I did. And I, you know, my I was like, how does health food, Hannah get cancer? But when I looked at my story, I had been through insane stresses. Just crazy. I mean, my medical practice was embezzled. It was utter nightmare. You know, a [00:52:00] partner assaulted me after a decade, you know, my father got sick, demented and sick and died. My mom freaked out, got sick and died, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You know, all the homes, rahe points were up there. And so, you know, it’s just interesting like, how did I get here? And I didn’t get good advice. I mean, you know, I’m sitting here in the middle of nowhere crying out for help and even really educated. Some of my mentors didn’t know enough, and so it’s really time, you know, I realize, you know, the kidney bones connected to the eye bone, the kidney bones connected to the ear bone, to the mouth bone, it’s connected to everything. So it’s a root cause that we really need to know about. And,
Dr. Weitz: and it’s just a, and you know, we didn’t mention this, but obviously drinking lots of water is really good for kidneys. Absolutely.
Dr. Rose: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, being hydra hydration is [00:53:00] critical. And as people get sicker when we manage to miss them in our safety net, you can’t hydrate as well. You know, then people end up getting all puffed up and all kinds of things happen, you know, hyponatremia can happen, but, you know, in, in the early stages, you know, one, two, and three, it’s like optimize hydration, right? And so I look at some of these herbal teas as part of the way to hydrate, you know? Okay. It doesn’t have, you know, it’s like I put Shaka Piera in my tea.
Dr. Weitz: Okay. I,
Dr. Rose: I put my husband’s the tea bartender and he’s become an herbalist since we’ve lived in Hawaii Union, you know, so he goes out and picks stuff. You know, tulsi grows as a weed in our yard. It’s amazing medicine. I mean, there’s so many things to do, and my personal, like, I’m not a good hydrator. I don’t think about it. Kidney makes [00:54:00] you forget to be hungry and forget to be thirsty. And so it really, there’s a mindfulness to this. There’s a self-love. If I don’t love myself enough to do what I need to do, that’s a problem. If I’ve lost my executive function and I can’t, that’s a clinician issue to help. You know, and things like DNRS and meditation and breath practices and, you know, all of these tools that we know with just awareness know about kidney, you know, and visualize what’s kidney ’cause it’s beautiful stuff and it’s amazing.
Dr. Weitz: So I think we’re getting to the close final thoughts for our listeners?
Dr. Rose: Final thoughts? I have a website. Okay. Ology is kidney success.com.
Dr. Weitz: I’m
Dr. Rose: starting to,
Dr. Weitz: allergy is kidney success.com. Okay.
Dr. Rose: [00:55:00] That’s my my meme. Turning vicious cycles into precious cycles. What was I gonna say? The website is, it’s new to me. I am not a geek, but I’m learning how to put stuff in. So I put my first blog, which was on ozone because Robert Rowan and Terry Sue were here visiting, and so I got inspired to write up ozone. You know, I have so many things to add. And so that’s a resource for learning. You can communicate with me through that website. The book, I think, is a useful tool. It’s a research
Dr. Weitz: And the book is titled again, ology. Peptides. Is that Now
Dr. Rose: it’s a peptides. Let’s see if I can do this
Dr. Weitz: too.
Dr. Rose: It’s heavy. I’m gonna use it for weightlifting
Dr. Weitz: And it’s, is it available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble?
Dr. Rose: No, it’s only available on my website.
Dr. Weitz: Oh, okay.
Dr. Rose: I decided I didn’t wanna be meddled with, I don’t wanna opinions. Oh, this book is good. Oh, this book is bad. I’m old [00:56:00] fashioned. It’s a hardcover book. You can write in it, it’s all bullet points. It’s really a lot of information that I’m still looking stuff up in my own book. So you, so
Dr. Weitz: you self-published it, but you actually publish hardcover copies?
Dr. Rose: Yeah. We use Lulu.
Dr. Weitz: Okay.
Dr. Rose: My businessman husband has been taking care of all the details, so I don’t Okay. I’m not that good at that end of things.
Right. But
Dr. Rose: it’s, you know, it I really. I had a lot of people do editing to give me some initial guidance. But I really wanted this to just be like simple clinician guide and it’s a lot of information and what I’ve found is kidney is not simple. Right. And so that’s the humbling part that, you know, nephrologists are all like geniuses and I was totally intimidated by a kidney until I was forced to get over it. Right. And what I realized [00:57:00] is primary care kidney is what ology is what all of us can do to turn this pandemic around.
’cause we can’t afford to put all these people on machines or replacement parts. It’s not easy. You’re talking
Dr. Weitz: about the pandemic of croat and kidney disease.
Dr. Rose: Absolutely. And it really is a pandemic. It’s huge. It’s worldwide And, you know, other countries do some more creative things ’cause they can’t afford to dialyze. Their population. Right. And it’s not, you know, it’s like, okay, it might extend life, but it’s not a lovely life to live on dialysis or live with a transplant.
Right.
Dr. Rose: It’s a gift. It’s a miracle. And yet we can do so much better. We can, it’s, we can impact.
Dr. Weitz: That’s great. Thank you so much for giving us such valuable information about kidneys and it’s a topic that is really under talked about.
Dr. Rose: Yeah. Truly. Thank you. This is, it’s so fun to talk about it. And [00:58:00] I’m available for chat through the website on Facebook. They can find me. I am happy to talk to clinicians and help with cases. Okay. I do a lot of that ’cause, you know, sometimes it’s like each case is unique. Let’s talk about it.
Dr. Weitz: That sounds great.
Dr. Rose: Thank you. Yay. Thank you so much for everything you do.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Weitz: Thank you for making it all the way through this episode of the Rational Wellness Podcast. For those of you who enjoy listening to the Rational Wellness Podcast, I would very much appreciate it if you could go to Apple Podcast or Spotify and give us a five star readings and review. As you may know, I continue to accept a limited number of new patients per month for functional medicine. If you would like help overcoming a gut or other chronic health condition and want to prevent chronic problems and wanna promote longevity, please call my Santa Monica Weitz Sports Chiropractic and Nutrition office at 310-395-3111 and we can set you up for a consultation for functional medicine and I will talk to everybody next week.
