The Natural GLP-1 Alternative

Advisory Board Member, Menopause Association

Practicing Physician at Blossoming Longevity

Founder and CEO of Calocurb
- Natural GLP-1 activation works differently than GLP-1 medications
Sarah Kennedy explains that GLP-1 is a hormone the body naturally releases after eating to regulate appetite and blood sugar. Unlike medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy that deliver a synthetic version of GLP-1 lasting up to seven days, Calocurb is designed to stimulate the body’s own release of GLP-1, CCK, and PYY by activating bitter taste receptors in the intestines. - Calocurb uses bitter hop extract to support appetite control
Developed through 16 years of New Zealand government-funded research, Calocurb contains a natural bitter hop extract that activates intestinal bitter taste receptors. Early clinical studies found increases in GLP-1 and CCK, along with reduced calorie intake, while mimicking the body’s natural hormone patterns rather than maintaining continuously elevated hormone levels. - Calocurb may complement healthy lifestyle changes and GLP-1 therapy
Sarah discusses how practitioners may use Calocurb as an alternative for people who cannot tolerate GLP-1 medications, alongside lower-dose GLP-1 therapy, or during discontinuation to help manage rebound hunger. She emphasizes that it is intended as one tool within a comprehensive approach that includes nutrition, exercise, and healthy lifestyle habits.
Full Transcript
Hormone Heroines Intro and Guest Welcome 0:00
How a practitioner is using it, how are people using? They're using as an alternative for people that can't take the side effects, they want to take a pharma or they can afford it. Most people don't realize is that you have suppressed your natural, your endogenous hormones down to zero. Now that's quite normal whenever you take synthetic hormone. Your own hormones go, we don't need to do anything. I'm off on holiday. Oh, I am off. People get this insane hunger. They're not used to it. they've absolutely saturated their receptors to the point where they're nauseous.
You know, of course you're going to have this and say hunger and often this, you know and there's nothing to regulate that. And often the weight gain. So I say, our calicurb acts as this incredible safety net. and allows you to start monitoring or getting back into what we would call healthy habits of eating. Do you feel like your hormones have turned against you? Trust us, you're not alone. We're Dr. Serena and Dr Heidi and on hormone heroines we explore all the root causes that are behind hormone imbalances and we teach you how to thrive through them.
Join us for real talk, expert tips and even a few laughs. Hi, welcome back to Hormone Heroines. Today, we're going to be talking about the world's first 100% natural GLP-1 activator with Sarah Kennedy, who is the founder and CEO of CalloCurb. Callocurb is a revolutionary weight management product, was commercialized after 15 years, and 30 million of New Zealand government-backed science. Welcome. We are so happy to have you here today. Thank you so much.
What GLP-1 Is and How It Regulates Appetite 1:35
It's great to We're just going to dive right into the questions. First off, GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegobi are everywhere right now. People can't stop talking about them. But for our listeners who may not understand the science and what exactly is a GLp-one and why does it play such an important role in appetite and weight regulation? Yeah, it's a really good question. And what most people don't realize is we produce this normally. So, you know, when you eat and it's really important, this is what's called your gut brain access, right?
So when your eat, in about 45 minutes, an hour later, the digester goes into your upper intestinal tract. and it stimulates a release as it goes down of appetite suppressing hormones. And you've heard of a lot of them, which is GLP-1 and GAP, but there are other ones such as CCK and PYY. So we have these, and its just natural feedback because what they do is they work to stabilize your blood sugars, they go to your brain and go, yeah, you know what, your full. And I often say to people, you think about it after, it's quite a subtle effect.
It's more for blood sugar management. But you know, when you've had a big dinner, really big, dinner and about an hour later, ooh, I'm really full. I wish I hadn't eaten that. eaten that much, that is your own natural appetite suppressing hormones telling your brain, hey, otherwise we'd pop, but interest, so why doesn't this work all the time? Well, a number of things as we age. We get a decrease in these releasing hormones. In our intestinal tract, we get decreasing in the L-cells where they come from.
We also get dysregulation by the foods we eat. The other thing is we graze a lot, snack a lots, so we're never getting true release. The other thing is we eat too fast. I don't know if you ever remember, I know I'm saying what we all do, your mother saying to you or someone saying you should chew 10 times. What that actually is doing is not chewing, it's slowing down your eating. We used to sit at a table and discuss and take longer to eat, but what do now is what, we are a lot of the time on the run, grabbing something, eating at our desk.
You're nodding at me. You know what we do the whole time. We're super guilty of it. Yes. And look, it's normal in the life we lead. So we're not listening. GLP-1 and the others are normal. They never get to a really high level, which is what you get with the drugs. But they are there to tell you you're full. It's a nice low, what it does. This is a normal, in your body. So when you take a GLP-1 receptor agonist, which is Zydraka, that is synthetic version of your own natural GLp1. And what they've done, they have changed a couple of molecules.
Because normally when your release GL p1 in your body, and of course you're going to carry on releasing it as your food moves down your intestinal tract. But with these, but they break down in about two to three minutes.
How Calicurb Was Developed from Hop Extract 5:00
your own natural hormones. But when you have a GLP-1 receptor agonist or a pharma drug, you've changed a couple of molecules so it lasts in your body for seven days. And what happened is you injected at what we would call a supraphysiological level, so a very, very high level. and then it goes down over seven days. And then you inject again and you go back up and it just decreased the half-life. So it is the same, but it's a synthetic hormone, not your natural. Yeah. When we get it in our normal bodies, how we produce it ourselves, it doesn't make us have the constipation or the diarrhea or gas imploding or nausea and vomiting and all of the side effects that we've heard about GLP-1s.
Um, and there's also a lot of concern about accessibility and cost and practitioners that actually know what they're doing with it because it's become so famous so fast and these have been using it for years because we do micro dosing and stuff like that for other reasons, but it became famous and you could get a lotta people in the door if you said you were gonna give them a DLP one. So they didn't necessarily do enough research and didn' know the side effects, But now it' coming out with all the site effects and people are knowing a lo more and costs is getting worse.
I think it's crazy. So what Kellequibb does, and this was developed by the New Zealand government. It's actually over 16 years now, I hate saying that. I know it ages me every year, but it is still partially owned by New And why did they do that? We have an obesity problem in New Zealand as well. 16 years ago, they sent out a request for proposal to research institutes. Just a clarification there, just about all primary research in new Zealand is done by the government. because we don't have large pharma companies.
So they support what we call primary research or blue ocean research. They send out a request to proposal to these institutes saying, hey, we've got an obesity problem. What do you think you can do about it? A very talented group at Plant and Food Research went back and they said, We think we can find a plant-based natural extract that will suppress appetite. and there were some reasons for that both historical and some recent work and their proposal was accepted and they got 20 million dollars to start that research off.
So very early and what they actually showed, and this is fascinating, that we not only have bitter taste receptors on our tongues, we have right the way through our gastrointestinal tract. And this is this secondary protection mechanism that were developed over evolution, so a very elegant way. So if you eat something bitter, you will spit it out. If it goes to your stomach, You'll probably feel nauseous because it's saying to you, don't eat anymore. go to your upper gastrointestinal tract, there's nothing you can do then.
So it stimulates the release. It's stimulating these little L cells to release appetite-suppressing hormones to tell the brain to stop eating. What an incredibly elegant know secondary mechanism in our body. We forget how wonderful our human bodies are and this was to protect us. The interesting thing is in out clinicals we have found that women are more receptive and the theory is that of course it was protect fetuses. So sometimes we say that, and other times we think they just fill out forms better.
So they're better in clinical trials than men. We have more estrogen, you know, everybody's got estrogen receptors in their brain. And so, we have estrogen. I think, the whole maturity thing really fits. I would agree with you. So they did this and you know they then went about to find an extract that would activate these receptors and they tested over a thousand It's a very hard
Clinical Results and How Calicurb Works 9:20
mechanism to turn on because remember it's secondary protection. Out of a thousand they really only found one and that was this bitter hop extract. So yes, hop from beer. We didn't go looking for hops, hops came to us. And because they were plant and food research, they had bred all the hops in New Zealand. So they then tested another 50 or 60 hops until they came to what they called the Eureka one that stimulated these hormone release. Remember they built this interoindithelial model to do this.
And being scientists, then they named it amarasate, so amara meaning bitter and sate meaning satiation, which is fabulous but no one can pronounce it. So I say that's the last time scientists name anything, but they still think it's fabulous. they named it. So it had worked in vitro, so in the laboratory, but would it work in humans? So they took it into the first human clinical, and this was an extraordinary clinical. They cannulated 20 men. I think every 20 minutes it was, or even 10 minutes, they gave Remember, it didn't have a name then.
They gave amarythate, which is now calicurb, an hour before an eat-to-your-full lunch and an Eat-To-Your-Full snack. And they measured these appetite-suppressing hormones. It increased CCK, or cholecystokinin, a very potent and short-acting appetite suppressing by 600%. and G1 by 600% and then laterally PYY, which is the one lower down. So getting this wonderful increase in these appetite suppressing hormones, double the amount that you would produce with food, but it follows this one wonderful curve that we've just super stimulated your release.
And with that, they got an average of an 18% reduction in calorie intake. Now, remember, this is against placebo and treatment. So, I always equate that to people too. Well, it depends on your size, but it's like a burger. It's not a Big Mac. And they measured that. And if you say, well, what's the comparison to a semi-glutite or a Zempik, that on average is about 25% calories. So you're getting that, so really the mechanism, you take these two little tiny capsules, 100% natural. They're really just the hop extract, vegetable oil and rosemary, which is a natural preservative.
They go down the delayed release, they open in that upper intestinal tract and they stimulate those bitter taste receptors and it goes down through the intestina tract. I equate it to like a pinball going down, banging against these receptors, releasing it and at last for four to six hours. So you're going to get this reduction in hunger, reduction and craving and reduction of calorie intake. By using this evolutionary mechanism that we've been able to That's amazing, so if I can just summarize for our listeners, because that was a lot of information, but it was amazing.
I know, I'm sorry. Basically, Calicurb is using hop extract to stimulate the body to produce its own natural hunger suppressant hormones. and it does that in not only a natural pattern like our body would, so less likely to have side effects because you're not doing the super physiological doses at the beginning of the week and then have to go throughout. You basically have the hop extract stimulate those hormones with each like with your meals throughout the day and they go up and get much higher than they would have been if you did not take it and then they come back down where they're supposed to be and that is how callocurb works which is amazing and super exciting for people to have a natural option.
And talking a little bit more about callocurb, you recently released a new research and I wanted to talk a bit about that. What was the goal of the study and what questions were researchers hoping to answer? If you've ever felt like your appetite is working against you, then you're not alone. That's where callocurb can help. CowlCurb is a 100% natural, clinically proven, appetite management supplement powered by Amarasate, a patented hops extract developed over 15 years with $30 million in research.
It works by activating three key satiety hormones, GLP-1, CCK, and PYY, helping you feel full faster.
Using Calicurb with or After GLP-1 Medications 14:20
In three clinical studies, Cowlkurb reduced cravings by 40%, hunger by 30%, and calorie intake by 18% after just one hour of taking the capsule. Whether you're working towards a health goal, maintaining your results, or navigating changes after GLP-1 medication, CaliCurb is designed to support your body's natural satiety signals. Trusted by healthcare professionals, cali-curb is prescription-free, easy to take, and supports real, sustainable results. Learn more about calicurb and take the next step towards feeling balanced, in control, confident in your health journey.
So from the three human clinicals we've done to date, or three years ago, we'd showed that we know the mechanism of action which was super stimulating those appetite suppressing hormones. We knew we reduced hunger, and craving, calorie intake. But would that relate to weight loss? Could that acute relate weight-loss? Anecdotally, of course we knew that, but that doesn't work in science, does it? So we raised, I raised over $4 million three years ago and $2 million of that went into our fourth human clinical.
And that was 150 participants, men and women. BMI between 25 and 35 and there was placebo and treatment for six months. on the callicarb or placebo and then a three-month follow-up on both groups on nothing. So really large trial, very what we'd call real-world or low intervention because they were only seen once a month. Not large dietary intervention, not large exercise intervention or anything like that. Um, and the results were stunning. Um. And I can't tell you about them because it's not published yet.
It should be published this month. So I. Can't. Tell you. About it. Until it published because. All I, can tell. You is our primary output was weight and body composition. Cause you know, we know we're worried about the body, composition and muscle loss. I think I'm going to have to come back on and tell, you the. Results were. Stunning. We are. I could have never dreamed of results like that. So we have been able to take it from this, what we would call acute, which is what, we know we do immediately within an hour and take into weight loss and body composition.
Absolutely it is. I'll be killed if I say anything. But what I want to say is how a practitioner is using it, how are people using? To your point, they're using that as an alternative for people that can't take the side effects. They want take a pharma or they can afford it. The second thing is, when you talked about using the low dosage, the drugs, a lot of practitioners are using in combination. are so they can lower the dose. So you're not always going to escalate up that dose of the drugs. They can low the side effect and lower their cost.
But the third one I always say is not an if, it's a must. And that's when people are titrating off. the drugs. What most people don't realize is that you have suppressed your natural urinogenous hormones down to zero. Now, that's quite normal whenever you take a synthetic hormone, your own hormones go, whee, I don' need to do anything. I'm off on holiday. Oh, I'm off, you know, off to the islands." So they've gone down to zero. So when you come off people get this insane hunger, they're not used to it.
They've absolutely saturated their receptors to say, even to a point where they nauseous, when they come They of course are going to have this insane hunger and there's nothing to regulate that and often the weight gain. So I say Calicurb acts as this incredible safety net and allows you to start monitoring or getting back into what we would call healthy habits of eating. Because when you're on the farmer, you really don't feel like anything. You're having to force things down. With kalakub you'll still want to eat, but you just won't eat as much.
So we're going to help you get back on that. Why waste all of that effort, money, time by that weight regain? So absolutely in that. Yeah. And I mean, we've used it in our practice for people who, one, either didn't qualify and couldn't afford to buy compounded or for People who did want to do it the more natural way. But we also used in getting people off of the LP ones because we weren't the ones that put them on the high dose that they were having issues from. But they come to us saying, hey, I can't handle this, but I still need to lose the rest of this weight or I need still to be able to function on a daily basis.
So we do it in combination and we have them take it so that can come off of it without having that rebound. And what we found is that really helps them to kind of keep the weight off.
Dosing, Side Effects, and Practical Use 19:45
But we also are different in certain respects. We require a food and movement visit before we even do any of these things. Because you can't out supplement a bad diet and a bag lifestyle. I completely agree and we say we are a tool in the toolkit. That's why we don't give diet, exercise or any advice because we look to the experts to do that. We're experts, we go deep in our science with this and Amaricate, but we're not the expert. So absolutely, I say if you go from 10 donuts to 8 donuts, it's not going to make a lot of difference.
No, diet is paramount as we know, so I think Kalecube can allow you to make healthier choices because you know when you're hungry, you just about eat your arm off. You want something with that. The big thing, and you would know that with calicoob though, you need to take it on an empty stomach or an emptier stomach because you want it to go through the stomach to the upper digestive tract where it will release to do its work. So that's just the only qualifier I have. Take it with a glass of water, take on a reasonably empty, stomach.
You just don't want to get it caught in the, in stomach, so it'll release there. Not that it's going to any harm. The big thing is, you know, it is very safe in the fact that we have all the bioavailability or human bio-available and only 1.2% of americite, so the hop extractor, is absorbed in blood and of that, 0.1% is metabolized in the liver, so we are totally gastrointestinal focused. So we don't go into the blood, we're stimulating those little L cells. The other thing with that, people go, well, what happens if I come off Gallicur?
The exciting thing, and this will be in this latest clinical, is we upregulate your receptors. I kind of think of these little L cells and receptors like a muscle. We're exercising them, so we're reconnecting that gut-brain axis. So we've up-regulated that, not down- regulated it. And that's quite important, I said, because as we get older, our L-cells, gut integrity, a lot of things happen, and we want to keep that gut-brain axis functioning. Yeah. I know for our listeners, people are probably thinking, we know some of this stuff, but have you found in any of your clinical research what kind of side effects there are, if there's any major side-effects or minor side effect that people can look out for?
Yeah, and around 5% of people were between 5 to 10% percent of the people. We call them supertasters. They just have a higher intensity of these bitter taste receptors through their gastrointestinal tract. So in around that amount of time, you will get a laxative effect, so a softening of this stool. That's why we have an onboarding of a week. One a day for two days, two a days for three days and then up to the normal day. That just allows you for the body to get used to this release. Remember, we're biologically active.
So if the drugs give you up to 70% gastrointestinal upset, because you're putting a very high amount in, and some people are up 10%, your body will adapt to it. And that's why we have an onboarding. If you are a super, super taster, so you've got a good gut brain access, you may be all right on one capsule, not two. So that onboarding allows you. So yes, on an empty stomach with a glass of water, and yes that on-boarding, so you get used to it. We do find that women are once again better at this.
Well, we find men like, oh, I'll be all right. I won't just take two, I'll take three. More will be better." And you're like, oh no, because it doesn't matter. If you are a little bit small person, you may have low intensity. You may need more, or you were a big hulking man. It all is your physiology and the intensity of those bitter taste receptors. are. We're always very upfront about that. It will pass as your body gets used to it, but just remember to listen to your bodies. Yeah, that's what we tell people.
Okay. All right, well, do you have anything else you want to add before we wrap up for today? No, I think, you know, we are a wonderful tool in the toolkit. We do help you to make healthier choices. You will feel it in an hour. And it's a really funny feeling. I remember when I first took it, Gosh, that would have been in 2017 when I was introduced to it. I'm with a group of girlfriends and we were having dinner. Because we're in New Zealand, we had this slow-cooked leg of lamb in the middle of the table.
Before the meal or sometime before, I've been handing these out like a drug dealer around the tables for these women.
Final Thoughts and Show Outro 24:55
I'd finished and normally I would sit there and sort of pick at the crunchy bits. And I sat there, and I thought, I'm full. So it's so incredible for me, it stopped that whole picking. I used to be a dreadful picker and grazer. It's just stopped all of that. Of course I am going to say that, but I really do. It has been, you know, that graving, the noise in my head. It's like, what am I going to eat? When am i going eat, how am going get it? It just, all of that is quietened down. Food brain. Absolutely.
And that's real. You know it's really, I know. Yes. Okay. Well, Callocurb, everyone, you've heard it here. It's hop extract, and it sounds like, with the research that's coming out soon, it's going to show some real promise in the weight loss world. So exciting for that to be coming here real soon. We'll definitely have to have you back so we can actually get all the information from you. Love to come back and, you know, as I said, I am, thrilled about it. And you, know what? We'll talk muscles.
How's that muscle and fat? Oh, that's my favorite. Yeah. My favorite thing. All right. Lastly, it can be used to help either alternatively or with GLP-1s. Yes. Or help you come off with the GLPs too. So thanks for tuning in to another episode of Hormone Heroines and thank you for being here with us today. We are super excited for everything you're doing and the research that's coming out soon. we'll see you next time listeners. Bye guys. You know how us women are always just pushing through it and then when we go to find help we're often not taking seriously or told oh that is just part of being a woman.
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