Mycotoxins & Mitochondria

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

Thanks for having me on. I always appreciate our discussions and how much I learn from you too and how we can move forward to help everybody that we’re trying to help.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Oh, well, thank you. And I know you speak from such experience, right? You’ve had a personal story that you’ve often shared, you’ve been a doctor treating patients that we’re talking to today, and then you’ve developed an incredible company that really on a larger scale, is able to impact patients in recovering their health who’ve been struggling with mycotoxin and chronic illness. And so as we dive into the conversation, I would just maybe love to hear just a few words from you. People are still new to you and your work of really what led you to be so passionate about helping these patients.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

Well, I think it goes back to my own journey. So in 2008, I went through the economic crash that everybody did, and I was having some different health issues. You know, you hit 40, you start getting arthritis symptoms and you start getting just a variety of issues. I had a lot of allergy issues and headaches at times. And going through that stress seemed to really ignite a lot of my health issues, which went down to finding out that I had lyme, babesia pretty bad, and as I was addressing those issues, my lyme journey, through my 40s, of having this severe fatigue and a lot of memory recall issues and joint pain all over the place, especially my hands hurt quite a bit, low back, severe back pain, and going through lots of therapies that didn’t really work. 

Protocols, I got a lot of things that helped that process. I’m taking a lot of the products that we utilize today and have made and worked with doctors on that really helped with my lyme, my babesia and whatnot, but I knew something was missing because, just, I had some remaining issues. And that’s the headaches, migraines, which was exposure to dairy, which then created the headaches, and then the allergies, seasonal allergies, which were horrible for me, and then my fatigue. And as I’ve gotten down that road, I learned about parasites and the role that parasites play and do, new dives into that. 

Now I educate quite a bit with Cellcore on parasites and importance in immune function and immune regulation with that. And so as I went to school back in 2008, I went 2009, I went back to get my doctorate in chiropractic, and knowing that I wasn’t gonna do a traditional chiropractic business, but I wanted to do things that are more internally based due to my allergies. My family all had eczema, my kids, my wife, I didn’t, but they all had that, which was the parasite issue. And then just for my own self, like, I was surviving life, not thriving in life. And that just how, it’s just aging, like 40. And now here, I’ll be, let’s see, in September I’m 54. 

So, you know I’ve had, being in my fifties has been so much better being recovered and going through this and, and then coming outta school, 45, working with a lot of people in lyme. And then the parasite realm, and then learning about mycotoxins and educating tremendously about mycotoxins and mycotoxin illness with a lot of practitioners, creating protocols that have really worked tremendously. Seen before and after labs and with products that we’ve developed, it’s just been awesome. So that’s been my journey as is now getting my life back, feeling amazing at 54. And then also I’m, you know, running the company with 130 team members plus my clinic and just having a passion for helping those that have chronic illness, creating products for those.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Yeah. Well no, thank you so much for sharing that story and I love it, you reverse aging right now. You feel better now than you did then. And I think that’s such an important message ’cause when people are struggling with this, when they have the brain fog and the joint pain and some people start to think, am I ever gonna recover? Is my body damaged? Am I gonna be able to heal? And so you paint the picture right of hope and what’s possible, which is really wonderful and your journey and then your product development, you have a lot of information to share and we wanted to focus today, especially on the role of mycotoxins and how they impact the mitochondria. So let’s just start there and dive in because this is the mycotoxin summit, most people have an understanding and we do have lectures on just really what mycotoxins are, so you don’t have to do too much of an introduction into that, but really how do mycotoxins affect the mitochondria?

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

So let’s discuss the mitochondria a little bit. We’ve heard that word, it’s the the power, right? The generator of the body or the cells. And so when you really look at it, not only does it do that, but it also does immune modulation. It’s the, ATP is the cytokine or the signaling molecule that goes out of the cell and then tells the immune system, “Hey, there’s something going on here.” It’s one of the things that really helps. So it’s either utilized to do enzymatic processes and feel energetic processes through the body to build enzymes and allow enzymes to work, to build neurotransmitters, hormones and, or just regenerate the body and have organ function, or it’s designed to help the immune system. 

Which is why when people get sick and at winter time, they feel tired because their body is now using that energy to actually signal and say, “Hey, there’s something going on. Let’s take care of this. Let’s clear this stuff out.” So the impact of my mycotoxins, as we know, create a lot of oxidative stress and that oxidative stress to the mitochondria is, is very important because then it downregulates its abilities to do what it needs to and it creates a lot of destruction. And when you look at that standpoint of, okay, one of the things it does is it downregulates the Nrf2 pathway? Like what does that mean? Well, we know it helps control the enzymes in the mitochondria that take this free radical, this oxidative stress and convert it to water. 

And if we don’t convert it to water then it’s in a worse form of a free radical. It’s either a free radical or it’s a super oxide, which means oxygen attaches to it then it’s converted hydrogen peroxide, it can be converted to hydroxy ion. These things are very damaging to cells, to membranes and to the DNA. So the goal is to convert it to water, which then helps us to be a healthy body. And the other thing is it does, is it helps create this what we call aerobic respiration, meaning we’re making energy by using oxygen. So people can maybe relate to better to like, Hey, I jog, I can jog a lot further and a lot longer before I need to take a break because I have oxygen coming in and I’m not utilizing it all up. Where anaerobic respiration is more that sprint, and then you worn out, and then you start to go into lactic acid. 

So what will happen with the mycotoxin illness is it downregulates the mitochondria which pushes the molecules over to create really lactic acid. And then people feel even worse, and it creates the toxin environment for the whole body and a sluggish environment for the whole body. And then it’s really hard to have the lymphatic movement and the health that each cell needs. And when you really evaluate the organs and the cells, how many mitochondria do they have and how important is the mitochondria to these areas. Let’s look at your muscles, typically your 500, maybe up to 1,000 mitochondria per cell. That’s per cell, liver is gonna be around 2,000, really important.

The heart’s about 5,000 up to 5,000 and the brain is 10,000, so your nervous system requires a huge amount of energy and when you downregulate its ability to do that then the function of everything goes down. So it’s very vital to have optimal recovery in health by upregulating mitochondrial function which is what, unfortunately mycotoxins inhibit, and there’s parts of your brain that even have 2 million mitochondria per cell, it’s incredible. So the role it plays in immune system function, as well as in being able to actually do all metabolism within the body is essential. And then when you look at that point of coming in and saying, “Okay, Hey, I need my liver to get rid of the toxins.” Well, it needs energy.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Mm-hmm.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

These processes can’t work without having that ATP molecule and without having charged particles which help to move those processes through. So that’s what we’re looking at.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

That was a really great explanation. And you can see how you can feel really bad really quickly, right? When you’re struggling with mycotoxin illness and one of the things that I think, I’ve talked a little bit in a couple other conversations, which I’m really so happy that Cellcore has this philosophy too and I’m learning how to integrate this more and more into my protocols is that, when I was getting trained we used to think, okay, you clean up, get rid of the mycotoxins or the co-infections and all of this and then the energy comes back, the mitochondria recover and, I know that you all are very big believers of like, let’s get more energy in the system so the body can do the work to heal and repair and get rid of the mycotoxins. So can you just really share like your strategy and philosophy of like, how to handle like, all of this work that needs to be done with the body and really your first step.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

So the first step in our process, the roadmap to health that Cellcore has created is really in phase one, energy, mitochondria function and drainage. So the first step to detoxification is being sure you can go to the bathroom. The next part of it is being able to be sure that bile flow is moving. And then the liver processes are working properly. So phase one, two and either phase three or transportation of bile into the bowels that can then empty out and then from there the lymphatic flow that goes down into the kidneys or the liver. And then you have cleaning those tissues and organs out through the lymphatics and going up to them more individually as the cells. 

So to be able to get all that stuff to drain and clean out, you have to open up the processes because otherwise it just creates a backup and then more toxicity and more reactions that people are having. So we start with the process of really a phenomenal binder, like the BioToxin Binder and Carboxy, that has so much energy to help to clear out these toxins that we could be being exposed to in the bowels, but also more systemically. And we’ve had a lot of great results clinically, we’ve seen before and after labs just on the binder itself and how big a difference that’s made and then you throw in the charged particles. So then our minerals that have polysaccharides and electrolytes and parts to it that are very beneficial to upregulate the body’s own function to detoxify. So one is in the mitochondria, you need three main things to help the process of binding these free radicals. 

Oxygen, we need electrons and we need protons, which are hydrogen ions. So by, in the mitochondria part of it, those are all necessary particles that really is the essential part of what life is. So if we can get those particles raised and elevated, then all those reactions and that oxidative stress can reduce in the mitochondria, which then everything else starts to work better. In the liver, for example, phase one, liver detoxification is the cytochrome P450 enzyme. But when you break that down, what that process is, is multiple reactions that occur there and every one of those reactions either has an electron or proton or an oxygen molecule that’s required for it to happen. So you start getting the body, what it really needs, breaking it down to really the basic atomic level, what we need out of our nutrients at a high level of energy, then it really makes a massive difference on how people can recover and how quickly they can recover.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Yeah, no, that’s a great point and I being a naturopath, right? I’ve definitely appreciated the role of drainage and supporting the lymphatic system as foundational, and you guys have done a great job educating the community as well as I feel like that’s getting more and more well known, but still it can be missed, right? And people try to either kill pathogens, or move too much mycotoxin out of the body before the body’s ready and that is never fun to walk a patient through that, so I think it’s really, really important to not forget the foundation. And as, I’m just curious, your thoughts about not only recovering these mitochondria that have been affected by mycotoxins, but what is your insight at this time around creating new mitochondria too? ‘Cause my understanding is like as we age or as we stress that we, the mitochondria numbers go down and you mentioned that even some parts of our brain have 2 million in the brain. So how do you approach or maybe what are some of your clinical insights of creating new mitochondria as we recover mitochondria as well?

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

So part of the process is making sure that we keep the mitochondria we have and those don’t deteriorate so bad. Secondly, is creating new mitochondria, really goes back to the right building blocks and the energy that body needs. One of the things that’s very helpful for that really is exercise, so exercise is a really important part but there again. People can’t necessarily exercise if they’re not doing aerobic respiration. Meaning that, they turn to lactic acid and then it becomes worse. This is where I had problems with for a number of years where I couldn’t work out for almost 10 years because I just, it took me 5 to 10 days to recover from working out one day at the gym. 

And that was because I just went directly to lactic acidosis essentially and then I had a hard time clearing it. And as I got rid of those toxins and those issues that were affecting my mitochondria, then I was able to basically process it all the way through, And now I’ve been able to work out for the last four years and be able to have a much better process and energy system in my body. So it’s the same thing with working with our patients or clients that were, we focus on to where all of a sudden, Hey, the brain’s working better, I can think better. 

That means all my organs because everything’s innovated is working better. And then the other part is then they’re all the cells are getting the nutrients and the you charged particles that they newly need that we have in our products to help their bodies and help their cells to function the way it needs to. And if you have optimal function, meaning that, I have energy now for this enzyme to work and I can digest properly, I have energy for this enzyme to work so now I can make this hormone, or I have energy for this enzyme to work, so now I can make this neurotransmitter where now I can actually repair this cell or this tissue, or this organ. And I can now drain the organs. Really, when we think about drainage, the lymphatic system, you realize 80% of lymphatics don’t come from all over our body, they come from two organs. That’s the intestinal lymphatics and the liver lymphatics. And when you really dive into supporting those two things and making sure those organs are working really well and they’re getting the proper drainage, then they’re gonna work so much better to be able to detox and to help people through the process.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

That’s a good clinical parallel about the liver component. I knew with the, all of the lymph within the intestines and also in the abdomen, that can be huge for the patients. But I, thinking about the liver lymph and bile connection, I feel like a broken record a lot in practice where I’m like, move bile, move lymph and if that’s all I do, like I know I’m, I’m moving the patient in the right direction but thinking about the lymphatic component of the liver and again, the mycotoxins, right? They put so much stress on a lot of organs, but the liver, obviously gets really overrun and then the bile gets sluggish, and so it’s again that vicious cycle, so I hadn’t heard it in that way. Probably why caster oil packs, right? Work over the liver, just moving lymph over the liver, huh?

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

Well yeah, we dry brush, but that’s only addressing maybe 20% of lymph, if that much. And when really the biggest part of the lymphatic system is gonna be back to the intestinal system and you get all the vilii in there and I’ve done a full on hour presentation just on intestinal lymphatics and diving into how important it is. And that’s where we go through the phase two in our Roadmap to Health and in phase three, where we’re really trying to clean up the digestive system to where it opens up the ability to absorb nutrients, takes the stress off of the immune system of having to work so hard, and gets rid of things that are creating imbalances in the immune function.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Do you wanna share like one or two products that you really find that are helpful for cleaning up the gut in this phase two to help again, as you mentioned, get the lymph draining and open up the ability for the digestive tract to absorb better, because again, these patients are so depleted, right? Even if you have a really good diet, you could not be absorbing nutrients because of the intestinal vilii but also, other friends that might be in your digestive tract as well, that need to leave, right? So what are some, maybe one or two tools that you like to use at this phase of your treatment?

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

So this phase, Para 1 is one of my key element. And it’s interesting that’s a, I launched this company four and a half years ago on just that one product. And it’s been such a game changer for so many practitioners on their lying patients, on their chronic ill patients, by really getting their digestive system really just cleaned out. And then we have Para 2, 3 and 4. So depending on what the needs are, on what people have, the Para 2 is a really great, it’s balanced within system of all the three doses that is, really addresses parasites and microbials in general. And then Para 3 is a little stronger with the tincture and we’ve seen amazing, crazy things come outta people with that. And then also Para 4, which is a newer product that we have that is more the bigger, the first ingredient on the list there, 30% of that product is the Miranda. And then it’s really great for bacteria, yeast, fungus, mold and then other types of parasites. So we’ve had tremendous results of people with psoriasis and other health issues that that product’s really helped and supporting their bodies on clean out and detoxifying. ‘Cause a lot of the ingredients are supportive within the body to do what it naturally needs to do.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Yeah. I have not gotten my hands on Para 4 yet, and I’m really excited to use that, but Para 1, 2 and 3 have become staples in my protocols. So now I think that’s really important whether you haven’t looked at this lens, if you, let’s say you have a mycotoxin illness, but it’s all interconnected, right? If you just had mycotoxins, that’d be easier to treat, right? But looking at it from the layers, if you have to look it all of it, I always say like the ecosystem. You guys use the word eco too, but this idea of like, it’s this balance of the microbes in our system and we have to look at them all because they’re all interrelated. So now I’m really glad you shared around the parasite tools. So Todd, I wanna go over your binders if you are open to, because this is such a critical part of recovering from mycotoxin illness, in my perspective. And your binders have been game changers, they, our patients to tolerate them very well and do very well with them, but can you just share maybe an overview about what makes your binders different and then some of the clinical pros you think about for treating on mycotoxin illness with your binders.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

Sure. So we have BioToxin Binder, Carboxy, which is really the black powder, the humic fulvic product that’s in the BioToxin Binder already. There just other parts of the BioToxin Binder. We have ViRadChem, which is more of an all round binder that binds different types of toxins and metals, environmental toxins and things, which has some of that Carboxy in it. And then we have the HM-ET Binder, which is more really binding environmental chemicals and toxins, that’s beneficial as well. So HM, heavy metals, ET, environmental toxins. You know I’m really brilliant on naming things, right?

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

As you said, you can remember them though, you know?

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

You can remember that way, right? I see it on the shelf then boom. So, and that’s a little bit of that as well as in ViRadChem, but when it comes to mycotoxins, the BioToxin Binder is a key element at the beginning. And when I formulated this, I looked at okay, how do I reduce some of the ammonia and stress in a GI system? And that’s where the yucca root plays a good role, as well as it has a lot of vitamin C to help reduce some oxidative stress. And then the in there because it helps to, it helps for the sulfur metabolism. So people aren’t getting, a lot of people have sulfur metabolism issues to where they’re sensitive to a lot of sulfur based products, which they really need, like Nac is an example. 

And then there is the broccoli sprout extract, and this is a high potent extract that, what it will do is it helps the nerve two pathways turn on, which really helps those enzymes in the mitochondria to activate again. So we can take those free radicals and bring those free radicals in and make water. And then you’re you get a healthy cell, healthy mitochondria with that. So part of the process is I’m looking at, and how do we bind the toxins, which is the carbons in there. So our carbons have the carbon technology is the humics and fulvics with some of the polysaccharides, the nutrients the cell needs to make energy and then the high potency of electrical connectivity that also helps to get the cell to interact. So you can get stuff inside, in and out of the membranes. 

So we look at a lot of different things from the formulating, and one of those is really, okay, how do we, what system do we need support so it turns on and works? What’s the best binding process? How do we get stuff in and out? because we have to get out as toxins and we have to get in as nutrients. And then what’s the best binders to have the most energy to help bind on something and then take it out of the body.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Yeah, no, they’re intelligent, right? And they’re doing more than just charcoal, or cholestyramine, or things that are often used in this, patient population with even which people can get some short term results, but overall they, I think they’re not great long term solutions. So, no I think that’s, I love your binders and my patients love them and the fact that they can eat them or take them with food, game changer. Game changer, so that’s been really wonderful. 

So Todd, tell me about, when you think about your perspective and you’re really on the front line with all the formulating that you’re doing and all the feedback you’re getting from practitioners and all the feedback they’re getting from their patients, do you have any inspirations at this moment or insights of where you feel this medicine is going and what I mean by that is like, I know you and I have been practicing around the same time, and when we started right, this was really, we were all just shooting in the dark and figuring it out, and we knew a lot, but we know so much more now. And there’s so many more practitioners, but I mean, we still need more ’cause there are too many people who are sick, but I’m just curious, your perspective of like where you see, or what you’re most inspired about right now and helping patients who are in end of the, understand the thoroughs of this on us.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

Well, we provide a lot of education for the practitioner. So our website at cellcore.com will provide a learning center that helps the practitioner understand more the in depth process of what the mycotoxin illness is and how you need approach it to be able to help these people the best. So it’s great education there. I highly recommend going to that. We provide our once a year training, our ECO. ECO which is Exponential Clinical Outcomes with see we use for practitioners that teach them all about the science behind this stuff.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

It’s a great conference.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

Great conference, lot’s of great doctors kinda like yourself. And then the other part is just understanding that it’s a journey here and it doesn’t happen overnight and just be patient with yourself, if you’re going through this with chronic illness and understanding it’s not just mycotoxins. There’s a parasite problem, there’s a mitochondrion dysfunction problem, there’s an environmental toxin problem, and there maybe an emotional, energetic trauma problem as well, because it’s never one thing. You have to address many things and that’s why I learned in my own journey. It wasn’t one thing. 

So that’s why I have different binders. That’s where I really focusing on, on products that create energy and really upregulate oxygen and hydrogen and charged particles in the body so body can repair and then do things on its own. And then really clearing out what’s causing the disruption in the immune system. Whether it’s the mycotoxins, get it out in the environment, getting clean water, drinking clean water is key. I drink distilled water for that reason. And then going in and exercising. The importance of exercising for metabolism within in the body. And it may be slow walking until you get up higher and do more and more, but really taking on and knowing that it’s a journey, it may you take you a year, it may take you two or three or four years. For me, my journey was 10 because there was nobody had all the tools back then. 

One person knew about lyme, one person knew, nobody really knew about parasites much, maybe somebody out there. People knew a little bit about mycotoxins and some heavy metals and, but nobody really talking much about the in depths of environmental toxins. And really, to me, it’s probably one of the biggest issues within our human health today. Why we’re we are so susceptible to mycotoxin illness. Where other people were around all the mycotoxins before, but they could handle it. Now, our bodies are so bombarded with so many layers. It just keeps stacking up to where you throw those mycotoxin on top and it just drops down and blows people out. So it’s a multi-layered approach, utilize the Roadmap to Health, utilize practitioners like Dr. Christine, and keep the positive mental attitude. That alone itself can change a lot of things.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Excellent advice. And I can’t thank you enough for your time and all the education that you’re and putting out there. ‘Cause that’s really how we change this, right? The more practitioners and physicians who understand it’s not on their patient’s head and they have all these tools to treat them. And then the more patients who have access to this information to find a doctor, I mean it really, I think that’s how we continue to create a movement and support, so many out there who need this help. So Dr. Todd, is there anything else left on your mind or your heart, or wherever you can, feel free to drop some links if you want to as well, as we wrap up.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

So I do have a clinic a couple doctors work out of, Total Body Wellness Clinic, but Dr. Christine has an amazing clinic, so I highly recommend her. Our products are available through practitioners, Cellcore. You can order them with a practitioner code at cellcore.com, but you need to engage with a practitioner, or you can order them on a practitioner website. And I’m always a big advocate of getting educated and learning why and understanding. If you’re a practitioner, come learn. We have some of the best education out there on the market to understand all the things that are causing disease and illness and what are really good ways to look at solutions. And so, come join and learn. That’s the best thing for people to get to that next level, it’s just knowledge.

Christine Schaffner, N.D.

Thank you, thank you for the incredible work that you’re doing and your team, and thank you so much for being part of the summit.

Todd Watts, D.C., PSC.D

Welcome, thank you.