C60: The Molecule That Freaked Out Scientists—and Might Help Menopause

Introduction and Sponsor Welcome 0:00

Hello. Welcome back to Mastering the Menopause Transition Summit 4.0, where I am still your host after all these years. Doctor Sharon Stills and I have a special guest who actually is also a sponsor. And, you know, I always love to send our sponsors a little extra love and Bell and all the good stuff, because without them we wouldn't be here. It's our sponsors who make us, give us the ability to bring you all this information for free. So shout out. And, I only bring on sponsors who I know, who I love, who I trust, who I utilize, their products, and who I know are the best because there's lots of noise out there and lots of different things, and it can be confusing.

And that's one of my things. I pride myself as a clinician, as a physician, that I know how to find who's doing the right thing. And I know how you know, I know who's doing the best of the best and working with people who aren't just in it for the marketing or the sales. They're in it because it's their heart and their passion, and they really want to make a difference. And Chris Burris not burns Burris for us from my vital see, is one of those people. And he is, the chief scientist of my vital see.

And what we're going to talk about today is your mitochondria and menopause. And I know mitochondria mitochondria is really made the scene. It's like it is having it's it's having its decade. It is like all about the mitochondria and rightfully so because the mitochondria is important. And so patients are always asking me how can I make my mitochondria work better, what can I do for my mitochondria? And I was just kidding around. Before he came on, I said, you know, we are totally going to carry my vital see at the clinic. It's something I love to take.

And I was saying, you know, people come in, we're just gonna be like, open up like a baby bird and, you know, drop a shot in their mouth, you know, no whiskey at our clinic. Right? So this is something that's really important. He is brilliant. He knows this product and this molecule, which actually won a Nobel Prize. Very in-depth. So we're going to go on a great little learning journey today to learn how our mitochondria are, involved in our hormones and what we can do to keep them healthy and step into our a second sacred act with lots of energy and feeling groovy.

So welcome, Chris, to the summit, doctor stills, thank you so much for having me. And thank you for that introduction. We are very proud and very excited. One to sponsor this right. Like this is a topic, by the way. My wife didn't make me sponsor this. So I'm going to share that my wife went through early menopause and she didn't make me sponsor it. I'm happy to sponsor this. I actually have a podcast and I've done a lot of interviews on menopause. So it's it's a very interesting topic. And I do think, you know, men often kind of, oh, I don't want to talk about it, but they need to hear about it because often they're going to be with somebody who is going to go through it or has gone through it or whatever.

And I think it's important to have open and honest conversations about it. Exactly, exactly. So for let's just dive in because we have a lot to cover. And you said you could talk for 2.5 hours and we only have 30 minutes. So I want to hit all the high points.

What C60 Is and Why It Matters 3:31

So, you know, we see your beautiful sign, my vital signs. So what is this molecule. Tell us about it. I'd also like you to explain why yours specifically. A higher quality than some of the other ones we see on the market, because it can get really confusing for the ladies who are listening. And if anyone's listening, you know, not understanding because you just hear all this marketing and it's coming in, it's hard to understand, like, well, who's really got my best interest at hand? So yeah, I think sometimes it can be hard to separate the great marketing from the science.

And, you know, I will readily accept there are companies in what I would call the industrial C60 space that are great at marketing. And I would say we're not as great at marketing, but we are amazing scientists. And if you're talking about a cutting edge product, you decide which one means the most to you. So what is the molecule we call it S60, that stands for elemental safe spheres and 60 atoms. And I'm holding up a model of a molecule of the molecule. If you're just listening, you don't have to rush to the screen or anything.

Just imagine a soccer ball where the lines on the soccer ball represent the bonds between the carbon atoms. If you have a spherical molecule of 60 carbon atoms, and one of the things we know from way back when it was discovered, by the way, it was discovered in 1985 here in Houston, that's where our lab is based at Rice University. And the three scientists who discovered it won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of this molecule. So now, of course, it's a misnomer. The molecules can't win Nobel Prizes.

But we say this molecule won a Nobel Prize because the scientists who discovered it, won that Nobel Prize. Part of the reason they won the Nobel Prize is this molecule is amazing. I describe it as it performs as well or better than the current best material in almost every application. It makes better inks, better batteries, better tires, better photo cells. And this is where people get their first wave of being nervous because. Because, well, I know there's maybe some biohackers there, but in general, nobody in this audience looked out at their car this morning and thought, I wonder what part of my car battery I should be consuming on a daily basis.

Only the craziest of Biohackers wake up and think things like that. And the story actually gets it a little bit worse. First, because there's 20 shapes on the exterior of this SS 60 molecule that are the same as benzene. Now, benzene is really important to modern society. Just to prove that, look around you and imagine everything that is plastic gone, because the foundational molecule of plastics is the benzene ring. But benzene, when it's on its own, is known to be toxic and carcinogenic. So you think about this SS 60 molecule with 20 of these benzene rings on the exterior.

The scientists were convinced that it would be toxic. They put it in a toxicity study, and instead of being toxic, the test subjects that they gave it to, in this case, it was Wistar rats lived 90% longer than the control group. So that's the single longest longevity experimental result on mammals peer reviewed, published research. And I'm very proud to say my lab provided the material in my lab, as mentioned in that original study. And I'll just throw in here are most kind of consistent testimonial is that people take it in the morning, they report mental focus and energy during the day and then better sleep that night.

And I'm about to turn it back over to you in case you've got any questions. But I do want to kind of preface it with you don't necessarily think about your mitochondria when you're thinking about menopause, but the reality is you probably should, if you think about what the mitochondria does for your body, the mitochondria is the powerhouse of every cell. Every cell in your body has between 50 and 5000 mitochondria. And except for your blood cells, they actually have zero. And then your brain and neurons have 2 million.

Like the amount of energy our nervous system uses is just immense. And if you're addressing the mitochondria, which we'll end up talking about, if you're addressing the mitochondria, then you're going to be addressing really kind of everything. And your body's ability to manage everything from head to toe. We actually do have head to toe testimonials. And of course, that will ultimately kind of cascade down into helping in the menopause process. Yeah. I, I, like you gave me like, samples of like for the morning that I was taking in the night time and I need to restock.

Yeah. And the menopause when I love I was like, all right, because we met at a forum, which is a big conference for longevity. And I was like, who is this guy with a bottle that says menopause? I need to know. I need to know this from my people. Absolutely. Right. So yeah, I mean, obviously mitochondria is, you know, important in everything from menopause and hormone production where we actually produce hormones. And, you know, for aging and preventing cancer and preventing neurodegenerative disease.

And then I can go on and on and on. So how did you get involved with C60 and how why do you have a bottle, like, why a specific bottle that says menopause? Because that's easier to learn about. So. Well, I can joke and well, I'll jokingly, jokingly say it was not an a menopausal rage that my wife made me put this on the product. Really? We came up with this. My wife is from Panama. So of course to speak Spanish. She went through early onset, menopause and she has quite a following.

Mitochondria, Oxidative Stress, and the BOSS Theory 9:08

Talking about menopause in Spanish on my TikTok and Instagram. Big. Yeah, because it's a, you know, it's a subject that, you know, I think it's becoming a lot more and maybe that's our age, like, we're we are hearing more about it. But I think younger generations are interested, curious or whatever. But aren't it's not really an open topic. So she actually just kind of exploded in the Spanish speaking menopause space and, yeah. And, you know, when she was going through menopause was about the time we started bringing this product to market.

There's a whole history of us trying not to get into the supplement space. We didn't want to get into the supplement space. Finally we did, because our kind of customers were clamoring for this to be a high quality product. And we're the oldest and longest manufacturer of the molecule on the planet. And we knew we were in a unique position to do that. So we did. And around that time, I was able to give some to my wife. Not, you know, your spouse doesn't always believe you. Like, what do you know about supplements?

So I convinced her at some point. And, it really had a positive impact for her. And so then she was like, I think you need to make a label. That kind of focuses on menopause. Now, I'll tell you what we're going to talk about through this whole show and what, you know, I mentioned earlier, our most consistent testimonial is people take it in the morning, they report mental focus and energy during the day. And then better sleep that night. It is the same formula, right? We don't have to make modifications to that to put this menopause label on it.

It is just kind of where it tends to have that impact, and it allows us to have a conversation, with different people. I appreciate that, but, you know, you're honest about what it is and and so what. So let's talk about this molecule and why why it's helpful and why it's something that both you and now me believe that everyone and you know, you can share it with your family and friends and spouse like everyone should be taking. Yeah. Well, I'll walk through kind of really? You're probably interested in, like, the method of action, like what's going on.

And my role as we really ultimately decided and it's begrudgingly, but we decided to bring this product to market again because we have the lab and can do a great job with it. My role as now chief scientist, not of a carbon nanomaterial manufacturing business, but of a supplement business, was to try and understand why are we getting these head to toe testimonials? And the first place that I landed well in the context of this study, where the rats live longer, I'm like, hey, what is the medical community?

Tend to think about longevity and they tend to think about it. Not everyone, but often as an oxidation and an inflammation process. So there's an ad hoc study out on the web to show our product is 172 times more powerful than vitamin C as an antioxidant. There's an ad, there's peer reviewed, published research that shows it to be 125 times more powerful than vitamin C. So we're in Houston, Texas. I like to put a big ol checkmark next to antioxidant. And then when it comes to inflammation, you have to be really careful talking about inflammation, because the FDA equates conversations about chronic inflammation with the diseases of inflammation, which are arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and those are also the diseases of aging.

And really, if I say, hey, we address inflammation, what the FDA hears me saying is we cure cancer. We cure cardiovascular disease, right? That's not what we're claiming. There's so much more research and extremely expensive research that would need to go into that. So we have to be very careful. What the FDA will allow us to say is that we address inflammation, at least inflammation caused by exercise. So we've all had a tough workout or maybe just walked longer than normal. And we felt that inflammation in our body.

We absolutely addressed that. And I'm going to I'm pretty excited right now and maybe I should skip it, but I can't because I'm just so excited at a for em. When when we met a doctor, Lane Young came up to me, he said this and then I was like, hey, you said it. I need to record a video of it. And then I did, and this is what he said. He said, Chris, I don't care if you're male, female, pre-surgery, post-surgery, cardiovascular disease, otherwise healthy. Your product reduces CRP from elevated numbers into normal ranges and 4 to 8 weeks.

And he went on to say that there's improved. He's seeing improvements between and V right. So heart rate variability and sleep improvements between 20 and 60%. Now H.R V stands for high hs crp I'm sorry CRP for high sensitivity C-reactive protein. And it's an inflammatory marker really associate often associated with cardiovascular disease. But it tells you your inflammation status. And I actually had a conversation with the oncologist later and he said if you're at nine, we assume you have cancer until we prove otherwise.

So that's a pretty elevated, inflammatory marker. So it's kind of interesting. With the FDA, we can talk about inflammatory markers, but we can't talk about inflammation in general. So we're talking about inflammatory markers. So we're in the process of doing an ad hoc study. And I'll share just two things. And then we'll hop into our boss theory, which is what we really believe we're doing in the mitochondria and what impact we think that might have, on menopause. So one of the, you know, at the Health Optimization Summit, the booth next to us was looking at ESR, which stands for urethra site sedimentation rate.

So really what that is, is you take a drop of blood, you put it in a capillary tube, you expose it to gravity, and it measures how quickly your blood cells separate from your blood plasma. And that rate is indicative of inflammatory status. I took this test. He has a biological component of that test. He had me at 25 plus years younger than my chronological age. So yeah, that's good. I've got a great inflammatory status according to this ESR test. The other one, that I'm pretty excited about is glycan age.

So glycan age is looking at glycans, which is a sugar molecule on different, cells in your blood. And this tends to go one direction as you age. It goes into what we would call a negative direction. I took this test, and when I took this test, it had me at 34 years younger than my chronological age. So it actually had me at 21 when I took this test, which I kind of joke, do you even want to be biologically younger than 21? Because to still have a drink? So those are just some tests that kind of support what we think is going on.

And then I'll turn it over to you, and if it's time, we'll talk about the boss theory and where that might set, as it relates to mitochondria. I'm I'm enjoying this. Keep going. Excellent. So although I do want to know how much you drink every day to be, like, 30 years and alcohol or actually not 16, are you down in a whole bottle or how, like, how much do you actually intake? So my typical routine and we have three different oils, but my typical routine is to take a teaspoon and a half of our MCT product.

So it's MCT with the S60 molecule that goes in my coffee. So that's a water and oil situation. So while that's blending I take a teaspoon and a half of our olive oil product. And then if I'm you know have a busy day or if I'm back to back podcasts or tough meetings, I might take another shot. And a shot is one teaspoon, or five mils. And that's our typical recommended dose, one teaspoon or five mils. And I think I want to do what you're doing. Yeah, yeah I then then that would be probably a teaspoon and a half to two teaspoons, per day.

And you do we do recommend you take it in the morning. I mean, think about what I said. Our most consistent testimonial is take it in the morning report mental focus and energy during the day and then better sleep at night. What can you take in the morning to positively impact sleep? Right. We know we can get exercise and that'll help you sleep that night. If you get exposure to the sun and get your circadian rhythm in line with the rising and falling of the sun, that'll help you sleep. So it's a very unique thing.

And we think it's this boss theory explains what we think it does right. Okay. Now are you saying boss like on your boss. Yeah. So buffering oxidative stress system I do have a slide. If we can pull those up. I don't know if this platform allows that and supports it. Yeah. You should be able to share. Let's see. Let me let me try it here. I've got to pull it down here. We'll do this. Yeah. And hopefully you can see that. Can you see it I can yes. Excellent. So that's our buffering oxidative stress theory and the kind of preface of this we know from peer reviewed published research that this S60 molecule gets into the mitochondria.

We also know from way back in the 90s when it was discovered it can hold up to six negatively charged particles. So what that means is well, let's here's how we think that matches up. First we already mentioned mitochondria between 50 and 5000. And every cell in your body 2 million. Your nerve cells. Like every power source there's a negative byproduct. You think about your car going down the road. It's got exhaust. You think about a power plant, you have smoke coming out of the smokestack. In the case of mitochondria, you have reactive oxygen species and internal to the mitochondria you actually have glutathione and melatonin to manage those reactive oxygen species.

Right. So that's here. And the healthy one, it's just humming along and it's producing reactive oxygen species that are being managed by glutathione and melatonin. I do like to pause here because melatonin is the sleep hormone. And our most consistent testimonial is related to sleep. I think there's a nice parallel there. Now, what happens when you overstressed your mitochondria? First off, how do you stress your mitochondria? I like to joke you live in this modern era. That's how you stress your mitochondria, right?

A tough workout, exposure to smog, exposure to secondhand smoke or first hand smoke, airplane rides, stressful email, stressful conversations. That's how you stress your mitochondria. And so, when you stress your mitochondria, it's producing more reactive oxygen species than can be managed inside of the mitochondria with that glutathione and melatonin. So you can see here in this kind of grayed out your stressed mitochondria. There's extra UN bonded reactive oxygen species.

Menopause, Hormones, and Symptom Support 19:48

And there's even a whole like they I picture these like once once they're un bonded. They're like little bumper cars running around the body, rusting everything they bump into causing oxidative stress, oxidative damage and ultimately, inflammation, aging. Right. The combination of inflammation and aging. And that's where we see this SS 60 molecule coming in. Remember it can hold up to six negatively charged particles. So we believe it holds on to those negatively charged particles so that they don't run around like little bumper cars doing damage.

And then when that mitochondria replenishes the glutathione and or replenishes the melatonin, then it can handle them appropriately. And that's why we call this molecule the boss. Now I have a fun, I'll stop sharing here for just a second. I have a fun analogy, and maybe you'll agree all biology analogies should start with Mardi Gras. Yeah, I mean, a lot of art. A lot of biology happens at Mardi Gras, right? So it's the end of Mardi Gras, and you have these drunk reactive oxygen species on Bourbon Street running around and doing the oxidative stress, oxidative damage.

And you have the New Orleans Police Department, the glutathione in the melatonin coming on to Bourbon Street, handcuffing themselves to those reactive oxygen species. And getting them off of Bourbon Street. But what does the New Orleans Police Department do when they're stressed or overwhelmed? They take those reactive oxygen species and they put them in a paddy wagon. They attach them to the exterior of this SS 60 molecule so they can't do any damage. And then when the New Orleans Police Department replenishes the glued it down and, and, or melatonin, then they can handcuff themselves to those reactive oxygen species and get them off of Bourbon Street.

So what that all of that means is we believe we're reducing the negative impact of stressed mitochondria. I love it, I love that that's a great analogy. And then and then I do have like two more slides if you want me to pull those up kind of how this might cascade down into menopause. Yeah yeah yeah yeah let's do it. I'm I'm, I feel like I'm in med school. I love it. All right, so we'll pull this up. I did use ChatGPT to make this, so it's calling it a my mitochondrion. Which I don't know what that is, but it's a mitochondria, right.

One thing that we know about mitochondria is it's responsible for producing, assuming it's not overstressed. Right. You can imagine this isn't going to happen, as easily if it's stressed, but it's responsible for producing preg alone. Now, preg alone is actually the core hormone that's responsible and utilized in the production of estrogen and testosterone. So in this kind of process of menopause, where those are things that are fluctuating so much, to have stable mitochondria is probably going to help in those situations and is probably why my wife said it, said that it helped her and, you know, maybe put the menopause label on our bottle.

And then I'm just going to talk about what are the things that are improved. So if you go look up when you have improved mitochondrial function, you actually have improvement in menopausal symptoms. The most kind of famous and up front I think is hot flashes. I mean, if that doesn't sound like an energy source gone awry, a hot flash, right? Burning too much energy, that would be your mitochondria creating the energy for the cells. If you think about mood changes now, this is mood and cognitive function.

Because remember, there's 2 million mitochondria in every brain cell and every neuron. And so this is where we think that the mitochondria having again, reducing the negative impact of stress, mitochondria would have this impact on mood and cognitive function. And then finally fatigue. That's a that's an energy source. I can share, you know, again, sleep better sleep is one of our most consistent testimonials. I'll share one last testimonial kind of related, I think ultimately to fatigue. This one's kind of fun.

The, the it includes arguably the worst testimonial about a supplement ever and that we don't use them. So our largest distributor here in Houston, her name is Gwen, and she originally bought the product for her dog, had no intent on taking the product, noticed such a profound difference. Her dogs, a Pekinese, noticed such a profound difference in her dog that she decided to take it. And I like to pause here for a second, because we all are aware of the placebo effect. And if you're listening to this, you might be, hey, is this all placebo effect?

And actually a placebo effect applies to everything. It applies to bioidentical hormones. It applies to aspirin. It applies to everything. But one thing, one place it doesn't apply is with pets, right? The pets, ironically, aren't smart enough to know they got the dropper and they're supposed to show more energy. They just feel that way and they show that energy. So she started taking it and I did an interview with her and she said, Chris, if you had asked me at the three month mark, have I noticed anything?

My initial response would have been, no, I haven't noticed anything. And then she said, I stopped and I took stock of my life and I was like, wait, I'm working later, she's obviously as a distributor in the health care industry. And I'm waking up earlier, I was never a morning person and arguably the worst testimonial about a supplement ever. I cleaned my garage. No, we don't use it in any marketing material, but that goes back to the fatigue, right? If you've got more energy, you tackle bigger projects.

You know, there's potentially, emotional baggage in the garage that you don't want to face. And it's just a big project and, you know, takes all day. So, we we do have a lot of head to toe testimonials that support this concept of reducing the negative impact of stress. Mitochondrial. All right. Well, my garage is, I think I need to drink. My garage need some attention. You you might need three teaspoons for a little while. I'm. I'll get back to you. Add after the three teaspoons and I'm like, I'll do it before, you know, people think before and after pictures of themselves.

Yeah. Or an after picture of my garage. But it could be a selfie with you with the garage in the background. Right. I'm so happy. And then later very happy. I love it. Oh my God. So let's just speak to why my vital see and what the listeners what the ladies need to like. Just be aware of. And I think this is true in, in every industry. And part of the reason I kind of alluded that we took us, that it took us a while to get into this industry was because I think it's, generous to say that the industry is challenged.

And when we got into the industry, we looked at 22 of the brands that are on the market. And this is what I would call the industrial C60 space. And they were all but one, was woefully low in concentration. Right? Of course, ours was spot on because we have the equipment and we we test every batch, internally multiple times.

Product Quality, Usage, and Where to Learn More 26:38

And, and so when you and in fact, it's not just that there's low concentrations in that space. There are actually four brands that don't. Well, three of them don't have even C60 in them. Right. One of them marks it, markets it, and, you know, talks about all the benefits of C60 and then says we have we're selling you nano onions, which are not C60 like it's it's crazy. By the way I have a buddy of mine, he sells large quantities of nano onions to put in motor oil, but there is no toxicity data. One we think might be like an ink toner.

It's super easy to test those. Another one is a water soluble version that's a different molecule, and there is no toxicity. Studies on it like that, in my opinion, should not be on the market. And then kind of the fun one is there's a company that sells a C60 product, you know, those little Listerine strips that make your breath fresh. So they're selling a C60 product in a Listerine stick strip. And think about, I just said, our typical serving is a teaspoon. How many Listerine strips do you need to make a teaspoon?

Well, the whole package, right like would be appropriate. So you know, the reasons I kind of caution people in that space is you very well may try a C60 product, not experience anything and go, oh, I tried it. It didn't work. Well, try SS 60. And remember SS stands for Elemental Safe Spheres and then the 60 atoms in it. And that's why we kind of made that demarcation. And that's why you're here. Because I you know, if the audience is going to take something, I want to make sure it's safe and it's the right thing because there's so much out there where you think you're getting something and you're not because they're mislabeling and and then you're not getting the benefits, or you think this product doesn't work because it's the wrong product.

So I applaud you for your efficacy and your honesty and your commitment. You know, that's that's what we're looking for. And sometimes it's hard to find in this space, unfortunately. So, for those science nerds like you and me who want to keep learning or find out more, where do that? Where do they go to learn more? Well, I've made, a particular URL just for this audience. Right. So they can go to my vital SI.com forward slash Mastering Menopause and, on that page there will be a coupon code and we'll give $15 off.

So you got to go to that page to get that coupon code. I'll share a couple things when you go there if you decide you wanted to try the product. We do sell it in olive oil, avocado oil and MCT oil. People will say, which one should I take? We always recommend the olive oil for two reasons. First, we're a science based organization, and almost all the research is on the S 60 molecule in olive oil. Next you get the highest concentration of the S 60 molecule. In olive oil. You get about 0.8mg/ml in olive oil, 0.6 and avocado oil, and then 0.3 and MCT oil.

I also share we do have a 25% discount if you go on subscription. So even if you just want to try it once, go on subscription. You can cancel at any time. Our customer service team actually has 1005 star reviews on Google. They're not trained to talk you out of canceling your subscription. They're trained to help you. It just most people end up staying on subscription. And then there's one very important kind of charity piece that I'd like to share. So I have all of this story is in my book, Live Longer and Better.

The book is available on Amazon. It's also available on our website with a special charity piece. Go to the link right. So my vital SI.com forward slash Mastering menopause and, it's not on that landing page, but grab that coupon code, go to the menu structure, find the book book is the same $20 that you could buy it on Amazon for ten extra dollars. I'll sign the book for you in that for $10 fee goes to operation Underground Railroad. You may remember the movie The Sound, The Sound of Freedom, which was an amazing movie about a horrible topic.

It's childhood sex trafficking, which should not be on our planet. Operation Underground Railroad is who that movie is about. The organization that that movie is about and is doing, I think, the best job in tackling that. So 100% of that signature fee goes to Operation Underground Railroad. It's awesome. I want to sign copy. I'm going there. All right. So everyone, my final sitcom slash mastering menopause and, Thank you. I'm I'm exciting. I'm excited to get my garage cleaned. That is awesome. So.

And I'm just excited to share this. You know, in all seriousness, this is an important piece to aging gracefully, to supporting your mitochondria. He's got the data. He's got the, you know, the benefits. So it's definitely something I wanted to bring to you all. So thank you doctor. So you're welcome. Thank you everyone and thank you.