Stress, Survival and Mitochondrial Function: How Much is Too Much

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Hi, thank you so much for having me back. I’m very excited about our conversation today and being part of this summit again. Thank you for inviting me.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

So let me introduce you to our audience who may not have met you yet. You are an expert in the field of integrative medicine. You specialize in cancer detoxification immunity. You help people with complex conditions. You are a physician. You are a researcher. You are a bestselling author and educator. You are also a mind-body practitioner which I have always found fascinating because you do not see many physicians who are also mind-body practitioners. And I absolutely love this about your practice. So today we are going to talk about stress survival, mitochondria function, and we are going to get deep here into some of the groundbreaking concepts from your bestselling book The Survival Paradox. So can you start off by giving our listeners an overview of what do you mean by survival paradox? And what is the main culprit here?

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

So the survival paradox as it sounds is a paradox in that what really drives us to survive is actually what also shortens our lives and drives many diseases. So how really does it happen? We are all aware especially with the COVID behind us or with us still, that inflammation drives every chronic disease and acute disease. We know it in the integrative field for decades, and now Western medicine recognizes it with the cytokine storm. But inflammation is really not the cause it is a result and what is driving inflammation is the survival response. So the survival paradox offers a new paradigm of a deeper understanding of our lives, our health, how we can improve our lives, and what drives our illnesses. So because we are built to survive because it is innate in us it is present in every cell in our body and it is really automated through the autonomic nervous system through the sympathetic system and we respond, as we all know, in a fraction of a second when there is a danger. When the body feels it is in survival mode we respond either with fighting which equates biochemically with inflammation or with flight, fear in flight. Freezing or with running away which equates to hiding, to isolation, and to creating a shield which will then drive organ dysfunction and fibrosis. So these two automated processes can be balanced relatively easily if we do not do it all the time, when we take a deep breath, when we relax, when we are more open, and when we are in nature we can balance the system. 

The issue is that within minutes the biochemical system gets triggered to a survival response through proteins called alarmins. Molecules that sound the alarm and once they turn on they do not turn off so quickly. And the key I have been researching for almost 30 years and made the key discoveries about blocking it is the way to attenuate and reduce inflammation fibrosis and regulate the immune system is called Galectin-3. And this is a protein that drives the survival response so when we look at the survival response we want to look at what we can do in the simplest way of blocking this protein. There is a natural blocking modified citrus pectin and what the survival response when it is in balance means to us, to our life, and what we can do about it.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

I guess I’m trying to, I think this is a very complex concept for our viewers to understand because it is almost like the thing that protects you also can kill you. So the way I’m thinking about this is it is almost like if you have an engine, a very high functioning, expensive engine. It is a Maserati or something and if it is revving constantly at a high level eventually stuff is going to start to break. And our body, if I’m trying to simplify this, does that make sense?

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

This is only one limited way of looking at it because really you are describing wear and tear. And when there is higher wear and tear galectins will go up. Why? Because the body needs to repair. So whenever the body sees that there is something that needs repair, it is a survival issue for the body. So when we are very young, when we are babies in utero even more if you get a scar in utero, or when you are just a newborn if you get it cut the cut heals without a scar. There are no consequences to the healing process because we are fresh.

The response is more efficient and the response is fresh in a deeper sense. What I mean when I say fresh, the response is based on what’s happening at the moment. When we get an issue and we are 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90 years old, now the response is attached to baggage of experiences in our life and interpretations. And the last time I had this, this is what happened and I need to respond in a different way. And then suddenly the response is not fresh and it lives an aftermath. It leaves a scar, it leaves a layer, and slowly the scars accumulate and this is important in general. This is specifically important when it comes to mitochondrial function.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Okay. So let us talk about that. How does this survival response relate to mitochondria, energy production, healing, and prevention of chronic pain?

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

It is important for the viewer to really see the interdependence and interconnectedness of all of these elements. I want to emphasize it now because it is really what makes the difference between just struggling or really healing in between being an okay doctor and an amazing doctor. This interconnectedness of everything. So our metabolic system, our energy production system is functioning in order to serve us. We need energy to do what we want to do. Based on our state of mind, based on our state of physiology, based on how we feel about ourselves at the moment, and based on how we felt about ourselves in the past. And how our ancestors felt about themselves which affects us genetically and epigenetically we will have a response at the moment and this response is regulated by the metabolic system. That is the definition of the metabolic system. 

So when you see this, wow. So if I’m very relaxed, if I feel very safe, and if I’m in no rush I can produce energy more leisurely. I can produce energy without too many byproducts. I can produce energy more efficiently and then what happens is mitochondria say it is great. The cell feels like it’s oxygenated, like it’s relaxing, and it is not in danger. So the factors that signal danger within the cell are shut down and the cell gets glucose coming to the cell in an efficient way something called AMPK gets activated and M21 gets blocked. And hypoxia inducing factor is a factor within the cell that tells the cell that there is no oxygen we have got to produce energy, it is an emergency. You shut down and then the mitochondria open up and glucose breaks to pyruvate. We make 36 ATP from one glucose. 

That is a basic healthy metabolism where we are not producing too much oxidative stress and we do not need too many antioxidants because it is all balanced. It balances itself. And it is a state of balance when the cell goes into survival mode and it happens within a second then the cell says, “Oh, my god. I need more energy.” A great example is when we sprint. When we do a 100-meter sprint. We can run as fast as we can and then suddenly afterward we get exhausted. These amazing professional runners how tired they are after they run 100 meters that is all because they mobilize the energy systems then the body repairs, cleans, and clears lactic acid and clears the oxidative stress. So at this stage, we can produce energy 100 times faster.

It is amazing but we produce it at five percent efficiency. Two molecules of ATP for one molecule of glucose. So, if you think about the number of glucose molecules that we need to consume in order to produce the same amount our efficiency is actually 2000 times lower because we are working at five percent and we are doing 100 times more, right? So 20 times than a hundred. This has very deep and grave consequences. We can maintain it for a very short time then we start damaging our metabolism. Basically, when it is done on a long-term basis it is part of different factors that of course, we can talk about and we will talk about, it starts shifting the metabolism and as a result, as you and I have talked before you drive practically every disease.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Yes. And I think what is important to think about right now is we are talking about the analogy of an athlete that is sprinting but many of us are sprinting in our life with stress or we are sprinting in our life with being in a relationship that taxes us, working in jobs that we do not like, or stressing watching the news and that same type of taxing on the body also is like this marathon sprinter. So can you talk a little bit about that and how stress? I mean, there are different types of stress, right? There is healthy stress, there is bad stress, and there is a concept of eustress. So I think this is a good time to talk about that because some people may be watching this right now thinking, well, I’m not a sprinter, and I do not run marathons that is not going to happen to me but you may just be sitting in your office all day long stressing out and this is happening.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Yeah. The marathon is just an example of people who are really well-fit. That is a very important concept and it is a concept right now there is more interest in the concept of hormesis. Stress-induced balance. But I can tell you and I’m going on air, it is great that there is a lot of research on it but there is a big Catch-22 with it. Just like there was a Catch-22 with everybody using a ketogenic diet in 2010. So what happens? It is very easy to feel good about and feel justified in being stressed because it is good for you. So in principle stress is not good for you. It is a big category. It is good for you when it is driving you. I mean it can be useful when you use it in a controlled way. In a controlled way, either as part of your lifestyle and in a controlled way when it happens for a very short period like a runner running 100 meters. 

So many of us are stressed all the time so we are sprinting. We may not be sprinting with our muscles but we are sprinting with our brains, and our brain needs to get glucose just like the muscles. The brain is glucose dependent in the beginning then it can switch to ketone bodies. That is why the ketogenic diet helps in alternative metabolism. So when the brain is under stress and on an ongoing basis we have different transmitters that are coming into play and these neurotransmitters will affect growth factors; IGF-1, insulin, and will create obesity and will affect metabolic processes, we are focusing on metabolism but it will also create a wear and tear. So wear and tear in the brain where inflammation is very devastating and is not the topic of today.

So what happens and it is interesting, this is fascinating for me because I do not think I ever shared it but when I was in medical school I was a yoga teacher. And I was noticing that when you exercise, when you dance, when you move your blood pressure gets better. That means putting the body into activity helps which is really the concept of hormesis because the body, and I will explain why it is important. It is really the caveat today that I want to go a little bit deeper into this but at the same time, I noticed in reading and experience that when people just relax we also get the same effect and it was very challenging for people. And I kind of remember I came up with the whole theory of how it works together. I can get to the same place. You get to the same point from two sides by letting go and going into the parasympathetic mode or by working out because when we work out there is always a state of relaxation afterward. And it is really fascinating to me that it is coming back and becoming a big topic now. It is about 40 years later. So what happens when we challenge our body? If it is people who do cold showers, I do not like cold showers.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Me either, I hate it.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

I love warm showers. I do not care how good it is for my health. I love warm showers. 

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

I like hot showers.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

And I like to swim in the ocean when it is not too cold.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to stimulate hormesis. 

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Exactly. 

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

So cold shower is not for me either.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

So some people like it. But the basics that we know when we have not exercised for a long time when we start exercising our muscles ache. And as we exercise every day we can do more. We can do more because our mitochondrial function is improving. If we do it at an early stage in our life we actually create more mitochondria and we do not have the same muscle aches because we are able to clear lactic acid and because our antioxidant system is working better. So this is a very useful system but when we are under stress because of the survival mode on a repeated basis it really affects our whole being and it will affect cellular metabolism. 

Let me give a little bit of an image. Right now when we are talking and right now when people are listening, they are reacting to us. Everybody listening goes, oh, my god, I love hormesis. Oh, my god, these guys are nonsense or we just become more neutral, I really do not care we are multitasking anyway right now. Okay. So that is a reaction. So whatever we feel outside is going to affect us inside. The cell function metabolically is affected by the interaction of the cell with its environment and that’s an important concept to understand that the interdependence between cells is also affected by how this cell interacted with its environment in its history during our life, genetically and epigenetically. We are all aware of it, right? 

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Yes.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

So the cell has a certain state of mind, and I really look at the cell as a living being and I’m glad that now more people are looking at it because it is just a boundary, it is a metabolic system, it reacts to the environment and how it is going to function so the cell puts different receptors on its surface. It will decide how it is going to react, what is going to take in, and what is going to not take in. And based on this, it will affect all these pathways that we talked about that will affect the mitochondria. So we are under constant stress and the cell is in a constant survival mode it will change its receptors in an adversarial way and we will affect our metabolism in an adversarial way. Very different than when we put the body under a very short defined time of stress. And one more thing, stress can come from different places. Stress can come from a place of crisis where we are emotionally, mentally, psychologically, psycho-spiritually, in crisis, and in trauma. That is very damaging stress. 

Stress can come when we love what we do and we just keep doing it. There is not enough time and we just committed to helping another 10 people. But we love what we are doing and then the whole effect on the body is different. This is healthy stress because we are mobilizing ourselves to something which comes from our heart. And when our heart is happy every cell in our body is happy. The electromagnetic field of the heart reaches every cell in our body. When the heart functions better we get a blood supply better. And when the heart is open and spacious and compassionate, our brain is happy and compassionate. These are the three levels of body, spirit, and mind in Buddhism translated into physiology. So all of this system is affecting us on a cellular level. So now when we look at stress we got to look at it in this way. It is great to rely on research but for me, research is just a confirmatory act. What I talk, my insights do not, I mean research supports them, obviously, I’m a bona fide researcher with a grant to study this protein Galectin-3 and the removal in blood filtration in apheresis and I publish all the time. So obviously, I’m a researcher but what drives the way I try to understand life, and the way I treat people is insight from my meditation practice, from connecting inwardly and outwardly. 

And so in this sense, I wanted to be a little bit present and a little bit expand this idea of stress. For each of us, we can look inside and see what it does to us and it takes time, you know. Although, sometimes when I sit and meditate even for a few minutes, I really feel wow and I tell myself why did it take, I started meditating at the age of 15 so almost 50 years. And why do I realize things now? Why did it take 50 years? There is a certain process of maturity and understanding. So when we connect with our body, if people are meditating especially, then connect with yourself and open up. Usually, I know I talk a lot about open heart medicine and we talked before about it being transformative. It is the essence of the solution, the transformative quality of a survival product. Actually, I will not talk about it as much. I want to talk about the recipients of our open hearts, which is ourselves. So when we come from a place where we are connected to a sense of compassion, of community, of we are all in this together ourselves get opened up, and when ourselves get opened up, we can handle stress much better because the receptors on the self feel safer. So insulin will work better and the mitochondria will function better. There will be less byproducts and there will be less oxidative stress. And the balance between antioxidant processes and oxidative stress becomes better and so this is part of the process I want to take a different angle today.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Yes. I’m so glad that you just explained it in this way because we all know in the functional and integrative medicine space that we can run labs on people. We can write supplement protocols and lifestyle protocols. We can detoxify people and we can remove toxic elements from the environment but if people do not handle the internal. If they do not do the internal work, if they do not do the emotional and internal work then oftentimes they will get stuck. And so in my history of working with people, the ones who just get stuck and cannot resolve their symptoms, oftentimes it is an internal job. There isn’t a supplement I can give someone. You can not exercise your way out of this. You can not eat your way out of this. You must do the internal emotional work and this is what I’m hearing. It’s inside of us. It imprints in ourselves. It imprints inside our bodies and this can literally stop us from healing.

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Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Yeah. You are so right. And so what they gain is a little bit of a jump, which is one of my weaknesses, I jump from topic to topic sometimes. When we are aware of it and we are working on it, I want to just bring up the idea of somatizing it. There is a way of somatizing it, bringing it into our body, and then when we bring it into our body, how we respond to it relates to the survival response. So we talked for example about Galectin-3 that is the repair of protein and about modified citrus pectin that blocks it. There are so many, I picked modified citrus pectin and I developed over 80 published papers on Galectin-3 and over 10,000 papers on modified citrus pectin on multiple health issues that’s one part and we got to address it because that’s why I feel modified citrus pectin is the most important supplement. Because it helps to regulate such a key process that damages our health. 

But now taking the other end, the mind end, when we can have this sense of openness, of compassion, of understanding that we are all capable of doing and we all are capable of losing? Right. I know from my experience that I lose it one moment and I get it one moment and they lose it one moment they get it one moment. The more we are trained in it, the more it embodies who we are, the more it becomes part of our essence, and the more ourselves get this quality. And they start treating their communities around them in such a way and their microbiome. Just the way we treat other people. We have this idea that our body is different than the environment. It is a microcosm of a microcosm and within this microcosm, it has almost 50 trillion cells. That’s a lot of cells, you know. Each of them is close to 1 million reactions a second. It is insane. So looking at this, each cell is in this amazing relationship. I mean think about it. It is infinite. The reaction is beyond genius. It is why we are alive and the reason why mitochondrial function is the essence of it, last that I emphasize it because it is a great regulator. 

So we have great regulators in our bodies. We have more than an immediate metabolic rate. In function, we have the thyroid and we have the adrenals which you know cortisol, different adrenal hormones, and sex hormones give us the drive and the move. These are different qualities of movement but within the cell, all of them at the bottom line are driven by metabolic function. So metabolic function is so important. But what you said and what I want to emphasize is that it is a reflection of how we think, how we feel, and how we live our lives, and in this sense, we have a choice. You know sometimes it amazes me, I will see it in a lot of symptoms after COVID, long COVID and thankfully I recovered. That I would feel certain symptoms, it is amazing, you just relax the mind and suddenly they’re not there. It is not that I pushed them away. I just relaxed and it went all the way to the cellular level and the cell relaxed. And that’s a place where this integration between oxidative stress and antioxidants between proper function all comes together.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Well, let’s talk about that oxidative stress piece because we know that mitochondria produce free radicals. That is part of normal energy production.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Right.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

But we also know on the other side that antioxidant supplements can actually damage mitochondria so there is a paradox. So how do we avoid the buildup of oxidative stress in the body and get around that?

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

That is a great topic and there are no easy solutions because it depends on our balance at the moment. This relates to our inner wisdom as people and that inner wisdom on a cellular level. So the systems that need to be functioning and producing energy when they are producing energy in a more efficient way, their mitochondria are normal. We need less of the support and less of the clean-up. Antioxidants are still very important. But to think about it, if you are trying to heat a place or you are making a fire and the fire is very tiny, you put a little bit of water you are going to extinguish the fire. The fire is huge and it is about to burn the whole field. You got to put water on the sides. So it is a balance between mitochondrial function and antioxidant capacity, and that’s why it is regulated. After you have a big burst of energy challenge and production. Let’s say after an extensive exercise or other activities or challenging activities you need more antioxidants to clean the field so it’s really a balance. And the balance is not only in the biochemistry. The balance is also in the personality. Part of people have very great adaptivity, who are very adaptable people who can have a big burst and do a lot but also the ability to recover well. So some of us can do it on an ongoing basis and some of us need to have a defined time to do it. In my lifestyle, I’m not as extreme as I used to be, but I need time for repair for the antioxidant work. So in my life story, I would do a lot and it would go away. Every year I would go away for, you know, six to 12 weeks on my own to meditate for 20 years. During this time there would be an enormous repair where I would look different when I come back. People literally, I would look 10 to 15 years younger. My whole being would change. Why? Because this was the repair time. I went into the repair mode. The more balanced way is to do it all the time and that’s a part of building a lifestyle where during the day we take time to play hard emotionally, psychologically, mentally, and physically, and we take time to rest.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

This is really important because I know people listening right now are thinking, well, that’s great for Dr. Eliaz, that he could leave his life for six weeks and go meditate and repair. People are thinking, I cannot do that. My job only gives me three weeks a year off from my family. So this is, listen between the lines, he is not suggesting everybody has to repair for six months.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Of course. This was my personal choice and journey. I probably would have done it again. Every time I went, it would risk my clinic collapsing and I took a risk. I decided I wanted to meditate and it was not like I was on off and I would just leave but it was a choice. But then within it for 10 years, I meditated every day, which again is not for everybody. This time it is not suitable for us now but we can. When we wake up in the morning sit in bed for five to seven minutes and just let the whole space in front of us open up. We can do it before we go to bed. We can remind ourselves to just take a few deep breaths and relax, and we can add a certain exercise regimen, even if we have five to seven minutes or 10 minutes. So these days, everything is intense. The body adapts. 

One of the reasons why the stressful time we are living in right now is also an opportunity to heal much faster because everything is happening faster. Being trained in very traditional methods of meditation that I trained in and when I teach they do it in the context of diet, exercise, and other methods. It is amazing what happens to people in a few days while in the past people would go away for months or years. Everything is fast now. I often say that if you take a yogi from the mountain from the Himalayas from 500 years ago and you drop them inside Wall Street in the stock market they would be dead in 20 seconds. Their bodies would not be able to handle the stress. Our adaptability is a result of where we live. We have our amount of radiation of all kinds, which puts pressure on the body that we have now compared to 100 years ago, estimated or even found a clear source is 10 to the 15th power. So, not million, not billion, not trillion, 1000 trillion times.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

And this is radiation to the bodies.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Of all kinds.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Exposure.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Yet we are all alive, of course, there is the cost, then the adaptability that’s the whole thing. So it is happening. So within it, we also adopted the 10 or 15 minutes of exercise done in a very wise way may serve us for certain people. Like somebody would take a slow walk for three to four hours. It is not the same, I want to say. We are able to adapt differently and this is the same dialog between oxidative stress, antioxidants, and how we run our lives. If you live your life in a more balanced way, you need less support on the edges. If we work very hard, we need time to recover. But what we care about is what happens in the middle way. And the more, the less we go up and down, the more our life is balanced, and the more we can wear the same hat because we are not as reactive to the situation.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

I feel a lot better about myself right now because I’m super fast-paced.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

As I am, you know.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Yes. And I’m that person who does, okay, I got 10 minutes before I start my day to sit in front of my red light, read some scripture, clear my head, meditate, whatever it is, and then when I’m working, I have 20 minutes to lift some heavy weights. I do not have the luxury of a two-hour meditation and a three-hour walk. I would not even get anything done in my day if I did that. So I’m feeling better about myself.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

But it is more than feeling better. You started the day by relaxing, exactly what we talk today, about relaxing power sympathetically and you edit on the other side exercising in intensity. It is exactly what we talked about today. Actually, it’s both sides are balancing themselves.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

This is a great way to wrap up this conversation because what we just established is everybody listening right now can do this. You do not have to go off for six weeks and meditate to restore your body. You do not have to. So listen very carefully to what Dr. Eliaz is suggesting that there are little moments, and those in-between moments in your busy day can make a huge difference in your cellular adaptability.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Definitely. It is important to remember. I do not go for six weeks anymore for many years. I do not even try. Yeah, definitely.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Yes. So as we wrap up here, always when I speak with you, it is profound. And I’m hanging on your every word, every time. Any other recommendations you have for our audience right now to help balance their biochemistry and support their mitochondrial energy production? We covered a lot of ground but any final words on.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Yes.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Yes. Okay.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Of course, I think it is important to put lifestyle into it as much as we can. And because it is free, it is available. It is the same principle of relaxation, exercise, good hydration, and sleep. This can be in the grand way of really taking the time in small ways in 30 seconds or in 60 seconds. We have to address Galectin-3. And Galectin-3 drives practically every disease. That is why I feel modified citrus pectin is so essential and it is remarkable, the feedback we get from all over the world in situations we were not aware of. In the beginning, when the initial work on modified citrus pectin and Galectin-3 was on cancer, it was my specialty. And then I started watching the people’s blood pressure get better, the joint pains get better and the memory improves. And then later on, Galectin-3 was recognized as a driver of inflammation and fibrosis. The basic processes of aging.

We have to support our cells, and our mitochondria by removing things that put pressure on them. Diet, emotional, and psychological but also we didn’t touch on it today, environmental toxins. We are bombarded with heavy metals, environmental toxins of all kinds, and pesticides. So pesticides are huge. Pesticides, especially glyphosate, and there are many others that really are so prevalent in the United States that affect our lining, affect the gut lining but also affect the cell lining, and membrane. Also affects the blood-brain barrier producing neuroinflammation and damaging organs like the kidneys, etc. So I have made it a goal of mine to find a solution and know our product, Glyphodetox just went through the second phase of clinical data. We will be publishing it shortly. Great results in reducing glyphosate toxin.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

I’m really excited to hear this. So I test glyphosate levels on most of my clients and find high levels of it, probably like 80% of people that I test. And we are also bringing some glyphosate specialists on this summit. So, Dr. Stephanie Seneff will be here. Yes. So definitely catch that talk. I’m so excited to hear that you are creating a product for this.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Yes. It is kind of how I do my work. We actually did know we are in the midst of trials and now we have more, more subjects. And really it is consistent with what we are seeing. So that’s another part. In the other part, we talked about the balance between activity and rest between oxidative bursts and antioxidants. So there are compound that helps the cell regulate it like berberine, curcumin, and quercetin. But nature sometimes creates the same quality of compounds that can decide what we need and when. And one of these compounds which are under use, despite the fact that I have been talking about it for a long time, is honokiol from a Magnolia Bark. It has an unparalleled effect in that it becomes an antioxidant and a protective and will reduce possible post-exercise inflammation and damage in a normal cell. And it will put pressure on the cell when the cell is a cancer cell. When the cell has an infection. 

It recognizes the different molecules within the cell, the p53 expression there, and the oncogene that protects us against cancer when it’s in imbalance there is a greater chance for the cell to develop cancer or it is a cancerous cell. It will attack the cell. So honokiol is a substance that can biochemically do what we talked about. That’s why when you look up honokiol, a lot of research on cancer. You will see that it is synergistic with different chemotherapies, with immunotherapy, and with biological agents. I published a number of papers on it. The only clinical data that I published. And in the same time, it also relaxes our brain. It moves us from glutamate to GABA, from an excitatory phase to a relaxed and more efficient phase. So in effect, it reduces neuroinflammation, it is neuroprotective. So I’m mentioning Honokiol a little bit more extensively because it really mirrors our discussion today, Laura. And it is a natural compound present in Magnolia Bark, one or two percent.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

You always are so full of so much information. Every time I interview you, which is multiple times now, we could keep going for hours. So you have so much knowledge and information to share with our audience. You do have a bestselling book, you are an author, and you have a clinic up in Northern California. you have a website where people can get information, you have a product line of supplements. Can you share with our audience where can they get more of you?

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Yeah, of course. So people are welcome to go to dreliaz.org. That is one place where you can find everything, dreliaz.org. And we have a high-quality newsletter. We have a staff of people who research and put out informative and really high-quality information, including supportive research. And you can find more information about my interviews, and my lectures, and I hope to start teaching more meditation and healing in the United States. I have taught a lot outside of the United States. You can find more about PectaSol and other products that I have developed and researched. And my book, The Survival Paradox. I think for many people it makes a difference. It gives you a different point of view of an understanding of life and about health.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

So good. Thank you so much for yet again dropping your wisdom on us. And I also want to thank you for the huge contribution to the medical space that you are in. You have influenced the way that many of us practice and many of us think about healing from deep inside, cellular healing. And when I moved my practice toward the concept of cellular healing, this is when people started to get better results. So I just want to thank you for being such a stand for this and educating and just thank you.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Laura Frontiero, FNP-BC

Well, until next time, Dr. Eliaz. Take good care. Bye now.