In a world where dietary trends fluctuate frequently, the importance of foundational nutrients remains constant. Among these, phospholipids stand out due to their crucial role in cellular health and overall well-being. Recently, Dr. Wahls, a staunch advocate for managing autoimmune conditions through diet, joined forces with Jess Kane from BodyBio to discuss the significance of these essential molecules.
The Critical Role of Phospholipids:
Phospholipids, a class of lipids that form a major part of every cell membrane, are not just structural entities; they are dynamic molecules that regulate cellular activities. Dr. Wahls emphasized, “Our cell membranes are protected by a wall of healthy fats and oils, forming a double bilayer that keeps external toxins out and internal components safe and functional.”
Jess Kane highlighted how modern diets often lack sufficient quality fats, leading to a rise in cellular issues: “The low-fat diet trends of the past have done more harm than good. Today, many of us are struggling with leaky cells and a breakdown in cellular communication due to insufficient phospholipid levels.”
Phospholipids and Aging:
As we age, our bodies face a decline in the ability to synthesize these vital compounds, particularly during critical periods such as menopause. Jess explained, “It becomes increasingly difficult to synthesize phospholipids from our foods as we age, making supplementation necessary for maintaining optimal health.”
Dr. Wahls shared her personal experience with phospholipids in managing multiple sclerosis (MS), noting the visible benefits such as improved skin health and enhanced brain function, which many of her patients also report after starting on phospholipid supplements.
Addressing Misconceptions About Fats:
The discussion also ventured into the often misunderstood topic of fats in our diet. Jess Kane made a strong case for distinguishing between harmful processed seed oils and beneficial bioactive lipids. “Not all fats are created equal. While industrialized, rancid seed oils are detrimental, bioactive lipids from sources like BodyBio’s Balance Oil provide essential fatty acids that are crucial for health.”
New Innovations in Supplements:
Highlighting BodyBio’s commitment to innovation, Jess introduced the new Fish Oil Plus, a product derived from high-quality caviar sources, which avoids the common pitfalls of traditional fish oil processing. “This supplement not only provides the beneficial EPA and DHA but also includes specialized pro-resolving mediators that significantly enhance its anti-inflammatory properties,” she explained.
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*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Read the transcript here:
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Hello everyone. It’s Dr. Wahls and I’m here with one of our Wahls Protocol sponsors, Jess Kane, who is going to be talking to us about phosphatidylcholine, phospholipids and their critical role of health. Jess has her own interesting story in passion in terms of why they’ve created the company BodyBio, and I’ve been working with them and using their phospholipids, I think for over a decade already. It’s been so, so marvelous. Jess, have I left anything out on that intro that we should touch on?
Jess Kane:
No, not at all. The company’s been around for over 35 years, and it was started originally by my grandfather and now it’s still a family-run business that we manufacture. We’re actually just opening a new location just for PC Manufacturing, so that’ll be our third location for manufacturing in New Jersey.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Okay, super, super exciting. Now, I think we should start off with phospholipids and review for everyone what is so unique about phospholipids?
Jess Kane:
Yeah, I think that there’s this kind of pervasive low fat idea. It really took a damage to our society in the 1980s and 1990s. We need fats and we need these beautiful fats in oils that we really call lipids and bioactive lipids that feed all of the cells in our body. And so our cells are protected by this wall called our cell membrane that keeps the extracellular matrix, where the toxins are supposed to sit that keeps them outside of the cell, and it’s this beautiful double bilayer of these healthy fats and oils. We need these and we’re not getting enough in today’s world, so we’re breaking them. It’s causing a leaky cell, a breakdown, and they’re very important for all the cells in our body, whether it makes up our liver, our brain, our skin, everywhere.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
And again, everyone who’s listening, I just want to reinforce, this is so essential for your cells to be able to communicate. For those of us with MS, we need the cell membranes to make myelin and then complicating this as we age, the cell membranes and the cell fats deteriorate. We don’t have as many of these phospholipids, and that’s why many of us, Jess and myself are very aware that these are essential nutrients, and the older we get, the more helpful it is to be replacing these.
Jess Kane:
Yeah. And it becomes very difficult as we age to synthesize phospholipids and lipids from our foods. So we’re losing the ability to synthesize them even through periods of different times in our life during menopause actually, the ability to synthesize decreases even more for women. So women need it actually even more during that time, and it’s something that’s really critically important that many of us are not getting enough of from our food. Also, as you’re very aware, the sources of our food have been degraded, and so we’re getting even less then. And so that’s why when you see people start taking PC, our phosphatidylcholine, they immediately will notice, “Wow, I have better brain function” or “My memory is coming back. I’m able to recall things much faster.” Those are the first symptoms.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
One of the things that people talk about is like, “Dr. Wahls, you have such amazing skin,” and part of the reason I have such great skin has to do with PC. The phosphatidylcholine.
Jess Kane:
Yeah.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Now, many people talk about seed oils and the harms that seed oils, the cottonseed oil, corn oil, produce. Why don’t we talk about seed oils and fatty acids, those that are essential?
Jess Kane:
Yeah, there’s a big difference, and so a complementary product to BodyBio PC is called Body BioBalance Oil, and that is supplying the body with cold pressed, solvent free, very carefully treated, omega-6 and omega-3. Omega-6 is not this evil oil that it’s made out to be. What is the problem in our society is the use of industrialized rancid, oxidized seed oils, and so when you want to avoid those, that’s critically important. Don’t eat them in restaurants, don’t eat fried foods, don’t cook with our balance oil, but we still want to supplement the body with these beautiful bioactive lipids that you’re getting from the omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids.
We do not make those things in our body. We actually need to get them from our foods, and they’re critically important to people who have MS because if you avoid omega-6 entirely, you actually start to demyelinate. So great sources are things like eggs, clean soy that hasn’t been highly processed. It’s very difficult to find good sources. Nuts and seed creams are wonderful ways of getting pure sources of omega-3 and omega-6, and it’s not as easy as supplementing with a fish oil because what’s important is we’re getting those parent essential fatty acids, the linoleic and alpha linoleic, and that’s the exact ratio that is in BodyBio Balance Oil.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Yes. The ratio four to one in multiple studies had shown the best function in the brain, the best for neurotransmitters and for people with odd immune conditions, the best for calming in normalizing your immune cell function.
Jess Kane:
Yep.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Now you have a new product that you’ve developed. I want to talk about that. So the fish oil plus. Do you want to explain what that is and why that’s so unique?
Jess Kane:
There’s really a problem with fish oil today. So much of it has been heat extracted. These are extremely delicate polyunsaturated fats, EPA and DHA, and it cannot be heated. It cannot be the use of different hexanes and solvents and different toxic elements, and so most of the fish oil that’s on the market is quite actually bad for you, and it is actually going to cause a lot of inflammation and problems in the body. There are carefully treated fish oils, and obviously there are fish oils that have been used as drugs for specific reasons, but what we found is we were telling people, take your balance oil every day and eat whole food fish.
Now, if you can’t eat fish, you can look for a high quality fish oil. What we found is that we can take a very high quality source, which is from caviar, and extract the phospholipid based DHA and EPA from it, and create a really amazing supplement that actually has naturally occurring specialized pro-resolving mediators to which of course you’re going to say, what is that?
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Yes, I was going to say, let’s explain to everyone what those things are.
Jess Kane:
They are the anti-inflammatory molecules in fish oil, so people will say, fish oil is so anti-inflammatory. Well, not if it’s rancid, but if we do get the SPMs from it, they are the mediators. They’re the part in the fish oil that is the anti-inflammatory part, and they’re very powerful molecules.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Okay. And this is from caviar, and so very cool and easier than finding your own caviar. Although caviar certainly is very, very delicious as well.
Jess Kane:
Yes.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
So really powerful to pay attention to your cell membrane, to eat grass finished meats, wild fish, to have really clean phospholipids PC, and of course, this wonderful new product called it Fish Oil Plus.
Jess Kane:
Yes.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
It’s super exciting. So where do people find you? Can you tell us?
Jess Kane:
Yeah, of course. At BodyBio, BodyBio.com, all of our social handles are just at BodyBio and all of our customer experience managers, even me, I’m always in DMs. We have a beautiful Facebook community as well where people get support from one another. We have about 7,000 members now, so that’s a wonderful place. It’s called the BodyBio Wellness Group, and if you’re really wondering how to get started with BodyBio, that’s a great place to get feedback from other people.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
You know what, and I want to reinforce to everyone, this is a supplement that I’ve been taking for years, and most recently when I was traveling so extensively following [inaudible 00:08:56] women’s basketball, I couldn’t take my liquid supplements with me and I could tell that I missed them. So I’m going to do a better job of having capsules on hand so I can keep it up every day.
Now, again, when you’re listening, please post below. What was the one thing that you learned today? What’s the message? What you’re going to change? And again, take care of your cell membranes. They are a critical part of our health and vitality.
Jess Kane:
Indeed.
Dr. Terry Wahls:
Jess, thank you so much for joining us today.
Jess Kane:
Thank you.
For those interested in exploring the benefits of phospholipids and other bioactive lipids, visit BodyBio.com to learn more about their range of products and to join a community of like-minded individuals seeking to improve their health through informed supplementation.
