Peptide Therapy for Mitochondrial Health, Energy, Body Composition, and Immunity

And also, uh, she treats chronic infections such as Epstein BARR, candida gut infections. Uh, she’s used peptide protocols for weight loss, you know, body composition, cognitive performance, ADHD, um, auto immune disorders, and many more. She’s a physician member of the international peptides society. And it has a peptide certification through American Academy of antiaging medicine. She graduated from Bastyr university in San Diego. Uh, she’s passionate about blending natural medicine and modern technology to provide therapies that truly help patient get answers and outcomes for their health concerns and diagnosis. She’s passionate about educating patients on peptide therapy and works with a patient. She also has an office in Hollywood, um, and she does a lot of telemedicine as well, which is really big now with the COVID issue. So I’d like to welcome you, dr. Amber, thank you so much for taking the time and being with us.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

So great. Tell me just a little background how’d you get into, uh, peptides?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah, so I, I learned about peptides actually through a book that I was reading. Uh, it’s called the testosterone Bible by Jay Campbell and also through some podcasts. I, I actually didn’t hear about it through practitioners. It’s not as well known. Uh, a lot of doctors are really just hearing about peptides. And so I heard about it. I started using some of the growth hormone, analog peptides, some CJC and hyper Maryellen on myself. Notice profound changes, uh, you know, dug into the research, decided I need to get trained in this. This is really powerful medicine for patients. I was already doing a lot in the bioidentical world, a woman’s hormones, a lot of that testing for men, uh, and then, you know, found that peptides really just compliment that so beautifully.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

I think that the they’re really synergistic. And you said you tried the, um, growth hormone, secreted Gog. So, you know, growth hormone gets a little, it was kind of a big thing taking, but the FDA, it’s the only drug you can’t give off label. And, uh, which has really worked, no one’s died of, you know, growth, hormone overdose, but so these peptides, you know, will boost your own growth hormone. And who do you use that on and what, what do you find with, uh, with those, which, which ones in particular, there are many combinations of them, but, um, uh, you find those helpful for what, what type of patient?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah, so I work with, I work with a lot of women, big complaints, sleep issues, can’t sleep. Uh, and then, you know, as a followup to that, can’t lose weight. I have a trainer that I work with in Hollywood who sends me women who are really, you know, their diet is clean, they’re training five, six days a week. And they’re just not able to drop the weight, uh, through doing all of that. And so adding in something after we’ve kind of addressed pillar one, what’s going on with the hormones, um, balancing that, and then adding in something like CJC and hyper Maryellen. So, uh, those two growth hormone analog peptides can catapult their results as far as fat loss goes. And not only that, it will give you that deep restorative sleep, which we know will help regulate hormones just by that alone.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. So basically it’s, instead of giving the growth hormone, you’re stimulating the hypothalamus pituitary to produce. So you’re basically anti-aging that, you know, that the master gland and it tends to do a lot of other things and then also improve sleep. Um, do you use a battalion as well or Delta sleep inducing peptide?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

I have used, yeah, I have used epitaph battalion. Uh, and the one thing that I love about that one is it’s so it’s the one molecule that I know that increases natural synthesis of melatonin substantially over time. And we know that that’s protective for immunity. And so many things think about COVID, who’s susceptible to COVID those loan melatonin and those, uh, people who are older and they’re low in melatonin. So I do love Allen DSIP. I have used on occasion for, I have a couple clients who fly internationally for work. And so there they get these flips circadian rhythms all the time, and they really need to just recalibrate that. 

So seeing that work really well there, um, but the honestly adding in sometimes, uh, we’ll just start on iPad Maryellen, but really find that the combination of CJC and I for Maryellen is the most effective, the way that I like to explain that to patients, because peptides are such a foreign concept when we’re explaining it to somebody who’s never heard about it before. I like to talk about the CJC as almost like the, uh, the production. So the producing of the growth hormone and that’s signaling to pituitary is, Hey, let’s produce more. And then I like to think about the hyper Merlin is more of like a delivery truck. So let’s get it out to the body and their work very closely in tandem. If you think about how Amazon works, they have their manufacturing plants, the delivery trucks, and,

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

And we’re actually very good at explaining it. Yeah. I’m sure patients appreciate that because it’s just like so foreign, but yeah. Yeah. So one’s a growth round screening peptide. One’s a growth hormone and they work very well together. I have found that one. I’m sure you found that people don’t sleep, they don’t lose weight, you know, and that combination of what you would treat a lot of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme, and they just don’t sleep. But that combination of Delta sleep, inducing, peptide, uh, battalion, and the, um, uh, the, uh, growth hormone, secreted dogs, all of a sudden they get some deep sleep, which is key. Yeah,

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

That’s, that’s really where the magic happens because when you improve the sleep, you improve autophagy, you improve brain function, you improve everything. And we also know you have growth hormone receptors, literally all over the body, in the brain and the gut and the muscles. And so though those two peptides, when somebody is not feeling recovered, restored, not waking up rested, not getting that deep sleep hormone regulation is off just adding in those two alone. I find just produces tremendous effect.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Nice, nice and nice things that how the peptides are very synergistic is the BPC one 57. Um, well basically increased growth or receptors on all the cells of the body. So you get again centered, uh, synergistic effect. So, so what got you into mitochondria? Can you talk a little bit about the importance of mitochondrial? What are mitochondria? I’m sure people have heard about it, but what really are they?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yes. So I love to use analogies and this is the analogy I use is my patients and explaining what mitochondria are. And I’ve worked with some athletes, uh, who I bring up the word mitochondria and they’re like Mito, what? And you know, their training intensity,

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

They should know of anyone. Yeah.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

So, uh, essentially mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell. We know that from eighth grade biology, but they also have other functions. So they help to protect the cell too from oxidative damage. And the best analogy is we live in LA, we’re both in LA right now. And in LA we have a power plant that feels this entire city to work every single day. And if immediately in this moment, the power plant can discontinues working. We couldn’t plug in our computers or wifi box, or we can’t run our dishwasher. You know, everything stops in the city of LA and nothing has power. And so in a cell, we think about LA is the cell. The power plan is the mitochondria. Uh, really we need to make sure that we’re continually producing that energy, uh, for the cell to function

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

And people, and people think, I think of like energy, think of exercise, but it’s every function. And you think, especially the tissues that need them a brain, um, and, uh, you know, immune system and even cells need energy to die. And you’re talking about a top a G when they don’t have the energy, they can’t go through, what’s called apoptosis. So they hang around and that’s when you get cancer. So not enough energy, you don’t actually get rid of the old cells and they turn into cancer. So it’s pretty amazing. It’s, it’s, um, uh, counter intuitive, but it affects really, uh, everything. Yeah,

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

It’s so interesting. There’s, there’s a lot of medical literature and APRM talks about this and you and I are both well versed on how mitochondrial dysfunction is a driving force behind so many of these chronic illnesses now, and it’s not really being addressed or talked about. It’s so interesting that, you know, we know things that are mitochondrial toxic. So INSEAD’s pain, relieving medications for most pharmaceutical drugs are, are toxic to mitochondria as well as alcohol. And so you think about those three things. Most people have come into contact with those in the last 30 days in America. So not only, uh, as we age our mitochondrial function decreases, but then we come into contact with these substances. We need even more support to overcome that.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

And I, I totally agree. And there’s so many things we just can’t get away from BPA. Uh, and we’ll check people’s basal metabolic rate. So how many calories they burn per day when they come in and, you know, you get the woman who can’t lose weight and there are people, Oh yeah, you’re just eating ding dongs and the closet, you know, they’re exercising. And we find that they’re about 25% lower metabolism than they should be for their weight. And, you know, they’re like, see, I told you, you know, it’s like, um, and it’s mitochondria dysfunction sometimes, you know, the thyroid boost that, but there’s other things that also affect the thyroid affect the mitochondria. But yeah, and it’s, you know, the theory of aging, it’s all fixed the mitochondria, you fix such a wide array of, of issues. Yeah.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

It’s, it’s really fascinating too. Looking at the role of hormones. I mean, cortisol part of the metabolism of cortisol and creating cortisol. It happens in the mitochondria, anything about the role of cortisol and weight gain. And L-carnitine being that amazing molecule, that shuttles as fatty acids that we burn into the mitochondria to be burned so fat. When you look at fat loss, uh, body composition goals, you have to look at mitochondria in my mind.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. And I, I agree. And you look at diabetics, we find, and also all the studies, you look at the conditions with mitochondria dysfunction, neurodegenerative diseases, uh, diabetics, they all have mitochondrial dysfunction, autoimmune anyone with inflammation and you know, and everyone’s inflamed. And then you start talking about the gut, you know, the whole gut brain access. Like, I mean, everyone’s gut is so messed up and I even people are consider themselves healthy. We find they’re just gut is so leaky and causing that inflammation, mitochondria dysfunction, and they just don’t feel great. I think everyone I know is either, you know, like you go to a party and talk to her, well, they feel terrible. They have a family member or a friend who just, Oh my God. If my doctor says, I’m fine and put them on statins, but you find you fix their mitochondria. Cholesterol goes down, uh, you know, their risk for cardiovascular disease, much, much better, uh, prevention than giving them a stat. And, you know, they don’t have a stat and efficiency that actually statins the decreased mitochondrial function.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

We cook you 10, which protects them.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. And, and yeah, it’s kind of a classic. The people get muscle aches and brain fog, memory loss, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the doctor goes, Oh, but your cholesterol is lower. Why not fix the problem? Fix annoying from,

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Awesome. So what, what types of things do you, do you do what what’s your first step become in? Um, and you treat a lot of women or maybe, you know, can’t lose weight, not feeling great, not sleeping. And how do you approach that patient?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. So generally we’re running a hormone panel, which is going to be a comprehensive panel where we’re looking at the, the cortisol levels. We’re looking at melatonin levels, we’re looking at what are their sex hormones and then checking thyroid. Cause that’s a huge player for so many women in weight loss issues. So,

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

And then levels they’re told they’re normal. Right. Right. And you find that they’re not yeah,

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. And this, and they could potentially have completely normal levels and lots of symptoms too. So that’s subclinical picture. So yeah, really, I, you know, run a hormone panel, uh, you know, assess what’s going on, depending on the situation, a lot of women are on bio-identical or they’ll be on birth control, basically another pharmaceutical medication for anxiety or depression. And then, uh, you know, have alcohol consumption, potentially pain reliever, you know, BPA. And I look at that as man, their liver is just suffering with all of these things that are taxing those pathways. 

And so a lot of what I do is liver support of detoxing hormones. It can show up on the skin really just supporting them there. So that’s kind of pillar one and then looking at, uh, since I’m trained in peptides and I know how to use them in an effective way for women, we can add in other, uh, solutions to help their mitochondria. And that could be anything from, uh, you know, a supplement that boosts mitochondrial function. So adding in things like PQQ resveratrol, cocuten a lot of those really important, uh, you know, protective factors. Or we could talk about peptides that we use for, uh, for mitochondrial function too. Like Motsee is an amazing one for, or,

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Or let’s just go back for a second. You mentioned toxins. So I just want to mention one toxin that people don’t realize Tylenol is so toxic and there’s bunch of studies showing it may be the number one cause of autism.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Wow.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Um, yeah. And it’s just toxic to about a Candelaria and, uh, it’s, it’s a major issue. And I talked about other things for mitochondria function. Like it suddenly antioxidants. Why, how do any oxidants help mitochondrial function?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah, so the mitochondria, we have DNA in the mitochondria. So we have DNA in the nucleus and the DNA in the mitochondria and essentially, uh, the mitochondria produces energy. Yes. But they get turn into the mitochondria can turn into like a battleship where it’s trying to protect the cell. And if we have overwhelming amounts in a, say, a Tylenol overdose, uh, that that DNA will be damaged. And that’s a problem because then the mitochondria are not working appropriately. It’s like the whole city of LA will shut down, uh, from the prior analogy. And so protecting against oxidative stress and damage in the mitochondria will preserve the ATP production. It’ll keep everything flowing. And when we have an overwhelming amount of reactive oxygen species, that’s a problem. That’ll damage our mitochondria that puts us in a really dire situation.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. And so the mitochondria, yeah. They make the energy and they, they cause oxidative stress when they make the energy. And so when you have oxidative stress, otherwise it just kind of stops it. You know, it stops the production. And, uh, and I think, you know, the major thing finding, you know, and aging and all these, and, and everyone’s just been incredibly inflamed. Right. And probably the number one suppressor of mitochondrial function is, you know, there’s talks and bill a lot of things, but inflammation is just seems to be a key. And have you found just, it seems to me like everyone just has so much inflammation. Um, and, and so really everyone has mitochondrial dysfunction.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. You know what I really, when I think about the whole situation about the research and the literature, and we know all of these diseases are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction from Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s autism, uh, diabetes, uh, you know, all of these things, it’s really the future of where medicine is going to go is, is providing us, uh, the people who are going to farewell are those who have the tools on board to protect these biological systems like mitochondria. There’s some things we cannot avoid. 

We can’t avoid all plastics. We can’t avoid all toxins. We can avoid some of them, you know, on purpose this, but gonna really about bring things on board that helps support the body. I mean, we’re going to fair way better, uh, preventing cancer, preventing these chronic degenerative issues. And this is going to become, I think, in the next 10, 20 years, pivotal, like this is pivotal. If you have access to these things and know how to use them,

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

I totally agree. And it’s interesting. It’s like you talk to most doctors or you learn biochemistry and it’s school, then you forget it. Now we’re having to relearn it because we’re actually utilize it. And I really agree cause people were keeping people alive, but are they living better? You know, there are nursing homes and these chronic nerdy Jenn diseases. Now, if you go to someone like yourself and they go and they get their mitochondrial mitochondria tuned up, they’re likely going to prevent those diseases 10 years, 20 years, 30 years down the road and have a great life instead of being in the nursing home and fragile and having, you know, neurodegenerative diseases and, uh, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease and dementia. And you can really prevent that. And we’re, we’re finding, and it’s interesting, you know, how standard medicine as well, let’s wait until it gets bad enough. And then we’ll give you a, a med and we’ll keep you alive and try to stop, you know, we get, so it doesn’t get worse, but prevent it beforehand. It’s, it’s just life changing literally.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. It can turn around your entire destiny, future of your life. And what’s more important than your, your health and wellbeing. If you think about it, like with COVID, that’s really brought that to the surface for many people is you can lose your job, your car, your house, but if your health is in a dire situation, I mean, that is really the most important thing. Is you your wellbeing?

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. And I had it myself where, you know, chronic Lyme was so sick. I was like, I would give up, you know, anything to feel because you can’t use anything and we have some other super rich and, but they’re so sick. Like what’s the use, you can’t use your private plane, you know, it’s like, and it’s, so your, your health is, is key. And we, we forget that. And I think until you lose it, you just take it for granted. Yeah.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. So we could talk about, uh, one of this really powerful molecules that we’re using for mitochondria, which is NAD. Yeah. And, uh, there’s all different forms of NAD, the NAD IVs, but essentially what does NAD, we could talk about that.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. So the, um, uh, nicotine of mine, um, died nucleotide. So yeah. Tell us, tell us about that. And, and how does that work with the mitochondria?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. So NAD, is that really important? Co-enzyme right. And nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. Uh, but essentially it, it powers the cell to continue producing energy, uh, and it’s evolved in a redox reaction, but I love it. So there’s different forms of NAD that we can give to people. We can give NAD IVs, we can give NAD intra-nasal, we can give, uh, an ID and a patch form transdermal. We have sublingual forms. We have precursors like NR and NMN, which we can give. Uh, we can also talk about five amino, one MQ, which is like dear to my heart peptide. We’ll talk about that.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

But yeah. So w with the NAD and, uh, Roy, I think taking an idea doesn’t absorb very well. I don’t think sublingual even, um, some of the precursor, I think the NICU time, or, um, revenue decide probably the best the precursor, but you’re doing going right to the source and finding the IVs, doing Ivy NAD, getting the best results. Can you tell us about some of those things you’ve seen and what you use that for?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Definitely. So I like to use, of course the, the bioavailability of an IB is just, uh, compared to none. It just, it goes straight into the cell and right in the bloodstream. And so what NID does is it helps the brain cells to age well. And so we know that by introducing NAD to those cells, that we’re, it’s like giving the cell a spark plug to recreate energy, if they were, uh, you know, kind of sluggish mitochondrial function, it’ll, it’ll actually even upregulate PGC one alpha, which is that molecule that we talk a lot about going back to biochemistry and that protects against oxidative stress in the cell. So it’s so valuable. Uh, we’re using NAD for addiction. Uh there’s you know, we’re, you can go through a whole week of NAD IVs back to back. 

We use them for Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s any type of newer degenerative condition. Uh, athletes can benefit because we know that, um, muscle tissue has just way more mitochondria cause it’s powering, uh, needs that energy to fire. So I’ve seen athletes use it. I really like the back to back IVs for someone with a more serious condition. So when we’re doing like four or five days in a row, somebody advanced stage Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s somebody who’s, you know, really, uh, trying to avert an addiction to alcohol or, or something I like to use the NAD IVs more. Yeah.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. Oh no. I was saying, it’s just, it’s interesting when I give lectures on peptides, like I almost, especially to the public and you say all the things they work for, it’s, it’s a little embarrassing, cause it sounds like snake oil, like, well, how can it work for addictions and Parkinson’s and for athletics? Can you, can you talk about that a little bit? Why would it work for addictions?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. So it’s balancing, it’s balancing those brain chemicals, um, and it’s working through, so if you think about, you know, why is autism related to, uh, for mitochondrial function, right? It’s, it’s an issue with those nerve cells. We know the nerve cells also have way more mitochondria than, than typical cells. I think the comparison is like a normal cell in the body has about a thousand to 2,500 mitochondria. A nerve cell has about 10,000 plus mitochondria. So way more. Uh, and so if we have any sort of issue with mitochondria, it’s going to show up in two places, first, the brain and the muscles, brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness, lethargy, no motivation to work out. Right.

So in the case of addiction, any sort of, um, you know, think about like mood disorders and do you think about Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, why is it impacting the brain while you have a lot of nerve tissue that’s playing a role in that conduction and it can absolutely impact, uh, those conditions. So, yeah, I haven’t, it specifically for addiction in my practice, I’ve used it more for neuroprotective for some of my Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s patients, but there’s a clinic in San Diego who does phenomenal work, uh, on addiction with NAD.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. I, I think it, it, it works great and prevents, like it reduces the withdrawals and that, but yeah, if you’re going to do addiction, you, you gotta like do addiction. Totally different clientele, but it’s, it is amazing. It works for that, but yeah, it’s interesting. Like, you know, we’ll do big panels, like sounds like, like yourself and, you know, look at immune system and we find that like autistic kids, their panel, their immune system, all the dysfunctions look just like a chronic Lyme patient look just like a chronic fatigue syndrome patient. And that ultimate, you know, everything’s a vicious cycle, especially with mitochondria dysfunction that everything starts breaking down, which causes nothing to break down. And, but you get at that commonality, you fix the mitochondria, you’re going to fix a lot of things. What has been your, some of your biggest success stories?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Ooh. So I had a fibromyalgia patient who, uh, I actually was using LDN with her because she also had depression.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

And so that’s low dose naltrexone. It’s a opiate blocker at very low dose and it modulates the immune system. So it, um, so all these chronic illnesses also have immune dysfunction where th one immunity’s too low tier two’s too high, but that causes a lot of inflammation, which then caused the mitochondria dysfunction. And then once again, we’re back to mitochondria.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

So mitochondria. Yeah. So we, we use some LDN. That’s a great simplified explanation of what it does, but it helps increase those endorphins in the brain through adaptation. So we blocked the receptors transcendently at night and then ends up improving mood, helping with pain, all these things. So the LDN I’ve used NAD with her. She had market improvement in pain, uh, went from probably eight or nine out of pain to a two or three within a matter of four weeks, which is amazing.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Well, just think of her life, how much he changed her life.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yes. Yeah. That was a powerful case. He was

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Told I’m sure. You know, we, we actually published our results and this was 12, 15 years ago that people saw on average 7.2 physicians without any benefit. And then they came in by the fourth visit, 80% got to see if any better, but you know, they were told that, Oh, it’s all in your head. And then they start believing it and you know, like, Oh, why am I just lazy? And then their friends abandoned them and they’re, Oh yeah, they look fine. Just exercise and eat better. And it’s, it’s a terrible as cause doctors, you know, in general, if they don’t know how to treat it doesn’t exist and it’s patient’s fault. So I’m sure when they come to you and you’re like, Hey, this is a real illness and I’ll show you the dysfunctions and I can treat it, uh, just right there, I think is very powerful.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. There’s so much power and explaining to someone that the symptoms and what they’ve been going through is really a metabolic cause when same with weight loss, it’s a metabolic issue. It’s an insulin resistance issue, which is driven by mitochondria and other mechanisms. But the insulin piece is why things like Motzy, which is mitochondrial peptide. It’s so amazing for, uh, insulin sensitivity. And they actually found that children who had obesity had really low levels, like a third of the levels of Motzy that they should have. And Montse is a peptide that helps with insulin sensitivity and, you know, shuttling the glucose and the fatty acids into the cell, through the glute for receptors to be burned for energy. And they were low in that. So we know that mitochondria plays a huge role in the obesity issue, the chronic disease picture of insulin resistance in America. And we’re not talking about that and we need to, to be offering solutions and addressing that. And so I think it’s just pivotal to finally bring the mitochondria to the spotlight and treat that.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. So you’re kind of breaking the cycle because once they kind of get the insulin resistance, then they actually get increased inflammation and suppress the mitochondria. They’re actually suppresses thyroid function and metabolism drops. So now they get more weight gain and more insulin resistance. So that’s why it’s so difficult for people with insulin resistance and diabetes lose weight because they, if they also, you know, go on a diet, it basically the thyroid senses that, and basically it gets lower metabolism drops. So it’s, yeah, you have to intervene and fix their broken mitochondria. 

Cause they’re not burning any calories, even though people think all they’re doing is just eating all day, but really it’s that inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction and you fix that and they’re like a new person and they’re like, Oh my gosh, I’m like a regular person, you know? And they see their friends that are skinny, just eating crazy. And uh, it’s, you know, what percent of the population is obese and it’s just, it’s going up. I think the only country that’s more obese than us, I think, of Saudi Arabia or where they can hide under the big, uh, you know, clothing. Yeah. But it’s, it’s, it’s bad. And uh, what, what do you think the whole BCT crisis is from, you’ve kinda mentioned a number of things, but what what’s your, your thought?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. Um, you know, it’s because in America we’re one of the most industrious nations in the world. I mean, we’ve created more novel companies, business ideas. We’re the, one of the most creative nations we’ve done so much in terms of innovation. We’ve got Microsoft and Google and a lot of these things have started in America. And so we’ve created this. Um, and I worked with a lot of wall street and I worked with, you know, entrepreneurs and people who are building their businesses and it’s, it’s a burnout culture. And so we’re burning ourselves into the ground working to accomplish something. I know I med school is exhibit a of that. So, uh, I think it’s really about not to say that, you know, I’m so ambitious and all for hard work, but we need to help the body support itself through that. And that’s looking at mitochondria, what’s happening with chronic stress, uh, sleep deprivation. 

We’re not able to do that autophagy in the brain like we need to do. And that plays a role in setting you up for something like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, uh, down the road. And so what are the things it’s not, it’s not telling people to, you know, not be ambitious, but it’s like, what, what are the things that we can bring on board for you to help you support, support you? And I don’t think that conversation is happening enough with really high level go getters or, or people who have really high stress jobs in LA, you know, and who’s using NAD to support themselves when they’re tired. I know I am, but a lot of people don’t know about that. So, uh, yeah, I think it’s, I think it’s a cortisol issue, sleep deprivation, chronic stress cortisol, uh, you know, we know that that causes abdominal adiposity and that visceral fat, which is poses risks. So I think it’s a lot of things mitochondria very talked about.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

So you think stress plays, plays a big part and, and it’s interesting with the cortisol, when your body’s like, try to see my cortisol, secretes, corticotropin, releasing hormone, what actually really is a huge stimulator of mass cells. And so stress equals inflammation, inflammation equals mitochondrial dysfunction. And yeah. And so we’re, we’re back to your, to your core thinking, everything comes back to mitochondria.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. And then the one thing that you mentioned earlier that was really valuable is how immune dysfunction plays into that. So the effects between cortisol and immune regulation, there’s a very tight link right there. And so chronic stress, you know, why do so many women after the age of 30 have autoimmune conditions while the thymus Glenn involutes, we’re not producing this time as pets, we get set up for a perfect storm for autoimmunity. Right? So, and it’s

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Interesting, you look at, you know, I don’t want to on dr. You know, but like in the cross, they don’t look at the immune system and they don’t think let’s see of Hashimoto’s or other auto-immune. I mean, they say, Oh, they’ll just treat the thyroid. But you find, you know, that you look at their immune system and really you can look at the immune system and tell how healthy a person is. And with dysfunctional mean system, they are going to get all these diseases of aging. And after when the, you know, the fine mist, the involutes, and when we’re 45, it’s basically a fraction about, you know, 5% of what it was. And so it means system’s off, which then again, causes the, the, um, all that oxidative stress makes you much more prone to autoimmunity, worse with women, you know, so they tend to get out of immunity. And instead of just like, you know, going after the damage in sale, we’ll try to limit the damage. Why not try to fix the underlying immune system, which ties right into mitochondria. The immune system basically, uh, affects the mitochondria, the mitochondria affects mean system. So he kind of got to look at everything. And so do you use immune modulating peptides?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. So I’ve used the thymus an alpha, not only in myself and patients. And I have seen that one be pretty prolific and effective. Also, the other one that’s not really talked about a lot I’ve used is LL 37. So that one upregulates that cathelicidin and the gut. So it essentially wakes up the surveillance system and the gut say, Hey, let’s get candied out. Let’s get in. And gut infection taken care of. Cause usually the patient will have a low secretory IGA and their immune system is just in a tank and they’re not able to actually identify and kick out the gut pathogen. So I feel I’ve found that one to be really effective.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

And now you’re, uh, with that. So I love 37, it’s an indogenous antimicrobial peptide. Uh, and it’s pretty amazing that I such a wide array of effects. For instance, studies show that it kills the lime system better than like the antibiotic tonight dissolve, which is for that it works against yeast and parasites and, you know, they find it’s low. So you find you, you give it to patients. Um, and you find, are you looking for infections first? Are you finding that? And, um,

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Still test GI panel and look for it.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Got, and, and what, what are you finding in that? Are you finding a lot of patients just have significant parasites or dysbiosis or candida

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Indeed is a big one. I see a lot of people candy, especially if they have a history of eczema psoriasis, it’s usually driven by some sort of candida overgrowth or know gut microbiome imbalance. So we’ll address that. And there’s a multipronged approach, but peptides are just bringing in a new level of what we’re able to do, uh, for patients. Cause I’ve, I’ve put patients on, you know, gut healing protocols, leaky got candy to protocols. And I just haven’t seen anything work as quickly as adding in something like Ello 37 or TA one, the thumbs in alpha one. It’s just, it blows my mind that we’re able to actually reintroduce those peptides that are byway identical to the body. We already make, you know, thymus and alpha and thymus in beta. But to, to add in more of a good substance or add in a signal to help our body make more of what it knows.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

And just to explain, to find this and alpha Juan Dima, some beta for their thymus peptide. So as we were talking about the famous, it, basically it from age 15 on, it just keeps declining. And so your immune system gets worse and worse. And that’s about age 45 is when you start seeing you get the abuse dysfunction and you start seeing all those issues. And, um, and so the famous alpha one really increases that I miss the a T H one and it’s approved and, uh, 30 countries or so for HIV cancer. Cause this side of the immune system, not only fights infections, it monitors your body for cancer. And then by miss and beta four is a modulator. And then, um, BPC one 57, lowers that T H two. 

So you can use these peptides and, and follow that immune system and you find everything gets better. And I don’t know, you’d probably see, you know, CBO and everyone’s like, Oh, treat the CBO. But you know, there’s that gut brain X, but also the brain gut access. And I find, I, I got in so much trouble with the CBO guy. I said, I think it’s a symptom, not a cause because it’s, it is you get, you basically treated, it comes back because you got the gut dysfunction from the immune dysfunction that’s causing. So, you know, you can treat, it you’ll feel better, but you still didn’t fix the underlying issue. The reason they got CBO. Yeah.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

That’s fascinating. Yeah. So it’s, it’s, it’s really, yeah. Digging deeper a little bit deeper. It’s the immune dysfunction. It’s the mitochondrial dysfunction. So this really paramount pivotal underlying, you know, I talk about it, like it’s seven layers, deep weight loss is the issue up here, but down here we’ve got a lot more going on.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. It’s like, you don’t even, yeah. It’s fixed ever under, like you find the gut plays a big role.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. So I’ve loved using BPC. Uh, I’ve used the injectable, but I’ve also used the capsules in a lot of patients for leaky gut. I’ve found that to be more effective than so many, uh, other leaky gut protocols or sometimes in Tana, but usually just BPC alone is just really effective.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. And, and so just a little plug shameless plug. So, you know, we now have the PPC one 57 out as a supplement, um, and then TB for thymus and beta for big molecule that again, modulates, but it’s too big to take orally. It needs to be injectable, but so we found the fragment that actually is orally available and active. So it does all the same things as I’m some beta for, but we did take out the part that stimulates mass cell. So, uh that’s and it also it’s shown to specifically heal the tight junctions. Um, so you get kind of that, um, double the BBC, lowering the inflammation, fixing the tight junctions and we’re coming out with KPV added to it. So we’re kind of getting off, but it’s, um, a Malana court, um, uh, troubling out alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone. 

So I don’t know if you’ve heard of, you know, Malana Tam two, which is like the Barbie doll pep tie where you get tan, you lose weight and you have increased libido. Um, and then PT one 41 for libido, which works for erectile dysfunction, if nothing else works, but it’s also very anti-inflammatory. But the problem is, is if you take it for inflammation, you’ll get Tam, which can be good, but I don’t know, you may have found different, but if you’re older, it can make all dark spots darker. But so we take out the, the small active section, there’s only three amino acids that has all the, uh, the antiinflammatory properties, but doesn’t cause the, uh, uh, increase of Atlanta site stimulation. So we’re running that orally and it’s so anti-inflammatory um, that they’re you put on, you know, let’s say psoriasis, if in a couple hours it’s, it’s so much better, but so that should be coming out a couple of weeks again, shameless plug. Uh, but, um, yeah, so, um, so w w with the gut, but what are their, uh, peptides G’s brain peptides, do you like?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah, so I have used to see max and this link, so link for very specific, for any anxiety, SEMA X, more for increasing that BDNF I’ve used that in medical students, I’ve used that in myself, just for improving retention and memory. This could be really effective as well. Have you experimented with us?

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, we like M and a and C Lang you know, very calming. Um, it can be subtle and used over time, then there’s Cerebra Lyson. Um, which I know you’ve used in everyone, uh, find can work very well, even in like end stage Alzheimer’s it studies that dramatic improvement, but had to be given Ivy. Um, but we are, that will be coming out as an oral supplement probably in the next month. So we’re excited about that. Yeah. That will be able to cause, uh, for everyone it’s like, the peptides are very big and all of a sudden we’re worried that, you know, the FDA, I think it’s think pharma kind of says, Hey, we, you know, we, we don’t want to lose all this, all this business. 

So they’re putting pressure on, uh, to stop compounding pharmacies, we, and company pharmacies may go away. We may not have bioidentical hormones. Um, it’s very, very scary and they’re doing it behind the scenes. And so we don’t know how long, so we’re trying to move to bringing these out in a different modality where, but, uh, I’m worried, but a lot of people just don’t know and, you know, uh, the power of big pharma. Um, let’s see. Um, so how do people, what, what would you recommend? So patient they’re like, um, I’ve been all these doctors. I’m not feeling well. Um, they can call you, they can do telemedicine or do who they look for.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. Like how did they find me reach out to me?

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. Or how would they go about finding a doctor if they want someone in their area or,

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah. So if they’re looking specifically for peptide therapies, they could go to the international peptide society or a forum. They have a network of doctors. You can usually look up, who’s a functional medicine doctor who is a doctor who would be trained in peptides near you. It’s few and far between quite a few practitioners that are not trained in it. You and I both are very well versed and are prepared to use that in practice and always learning too and experimenting on ourselves with process, which is part of the experience too. But yeah, they can, uh, they can go to either one of those sites. Those are pretty reliable places to find a practitioner. Uh, there’s some functional medicine trained practitioners. You can go to the Institute of functional medicine, uh, and

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

A lot of society’s popping up because, and it’s interesting that we’re now having, you know, but doing this for, I don’t know, 20 years, you know, you kind of said it was small group and now it’s, you know, cardiovascular surgeons and they’re, and they’re realizing that they’re, you know, and they’re just not satisfied with just doing the standard stuff. So I think it is the way of the future. And one of, I think the good things about this COVID is a real expanded telemedicine. Correct. Um, and before, um, you had to have a license in the state where you would connect with that patient via telemedicine. So, um, but now they rescinded that hopefully it will stay and cause it really opens up access. So you can go to a doctor anywhere in the country. Patient could say, they want to see you and, you know, Florida or whatever it may be. And you do a video first visit before you get to see the patient and they would come out. So, um, I think that’s, that’s a great thing. Um,

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Yeah, it’s already happening. Like patients are flying if they live in Florida and their doctors in California, they’re going to fly anyway, just for that initial visit 30 doing it. It’s going to open them back since I agree.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. And I think it is hard for patients to figure out because, you know, with the internet it’s, Hey, who markets the best that, you know, and it’s, it’s scary. Some things are being set out there and uh, you know, people that say, Oh, they’re doing this and you go, Oh my gosh. Or I’m sure you’ve had this like go to so-called integrative functional doctor. And you’re like, Oh my God, if they messed up and it’s giving everyone in our, in our, uh, grope, our way we’re practice, bad, bad name, you know, uh, I think you see that in it with everything. Um, but uh, nice, nice. So, um, and did, did you ever do standard medicine?

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Uh, so I, I w w as far as like conventional medicine, medical school or practicing conventional medicine. Yeah, I had, I have not, I have only looked through the lens of, uh, holistic functional medicine. That’s been, I was lucky because my last year of med school, um, I was out in San Diego. I was in Seattle for quite a while training there. And then I came down to San Diego and did a lot of clinicals. And I got exposed to this entire world of regenerative medicine and joint injections and IB therapy and NAD, and, and then, you know, upon graduating peptides. And so that excited me, I actually, I was going to go the conventional route and I job shadowed a bunch of practitioners. And what I really witnessed was the insurance based model, the 15 minute visits, six prescriptions walking out on a seventh one, you know, just, I was really depressed thinking about doing that the rest of my life and considered changing my route. And, you know, the doctors are doing the best they can. They’re amazing practitioners. And in a lot of ways, it’s just the system that’s broken. So I just didn’t want to be a black gun.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Can’t do this stuff, you know, it’s, they have nine minutes and they’re judged on, on how cost effective they are, which means not doing testing, not doing therapy, seeing as many patients as they can. So they’re there, they’re stuck. It’s not that they’re bad people. It’s, it’s a bad system and ruined the doctor and like HMO style who cares the least makes the most, you know, and, uh, for us like yourself and it’s, if we don’t get the patients better, we don’t get patients, you know? And so, you know, you, you have to keep learning. And, uh, and I think it is nice. It’s now, you know, people 10 years, what do you do? I’m like, Oh, how do I explain this? You know? And because if you mentioned, I mean, I was not going to say alternative, and that means no evidence. And when I first, I got sick myself and found, Hey, I’m not getting better. I don’t want to go to this alternative. And I went to these so called alternative, uh, conference. I’m like, Oh my God, they’re more, evidence-based in what they’re teaching me. Right. And now at least I think the medical students, everyone is getting exposed to these things and seeing the difference. Cause I do think it is more evidence-based and it’s really just practicing better medicine. And I think that’s what we do.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Absolutely. And I’m a huge fan of, uh, looking at the research and the evidence. And I was trained that way, even, you know, it’s very, very, very much so, um, you know, sourcing, what is NAD effective for? What are the research studies? What, and then it brings us back to the biochemistry, which is so fun about going to APRM. It’s just, I get to dive back into all these pathways that I forgot about since med school and now they’re all relevant and they mean something to me.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Yeah. It’s weird. Yeah. And it brings you back to, you know, second year of medical school or most that, Oh, forget that. Just wait for the drug rep to come in and tell me what med and you know, now it’s like, so algorithmic, I have this, I can give them this drug or this drug, you know? And so it’s yeah. It’s, I think being a medical detective, it’s, it’s much more satisfying. Um, you know, I find, I think that’s a practitioner is doing this fine and so much more satisfying seeing patients get better that have been so many other standard, you know, good doctors, but in a bad system. So that’s wonderful. Uh, keep, keep up the great work. And, uh, it was very nice chatting with you and thanks for taking the time.

Amber Krogsrud, BSc, N.D.

Absolutely pleasure. I’m excited to be on the peptide summit when it goes live we’ll uh, yeah. From everyone.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

All right. Thanks again. Alright, bye. Bye. Now.