Latest / Age Defiantly with Mark Young / [Ep 34] ED Isn’t Just “Performance”—It’s a Heart Health Warning | Dr. Nathan Bryan
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to Performance Driven Living, the podcast where we question everything.
- 0:05We don't tip to around tough topics, we walk right into them, not to provoke, but to
- 0:11get closer to what's real.
- 0:13You might not agree with everything you hear, and that's okay.
- 0:17The show isn't about being right, it's about being real.
- 0:20These conversations are meant to stretch your thinking, challenge assumptions, and spark
- 0:25something deeper.
- 0:26The views shared are those of our guests and may not reflect those of the host or team.
- 0:32And while we dive deep into health, performance, and transformation, this is not medical advice.
- 0:38Talk to your doctor before making changes to your health or lifestyle.
- 0:42Take what lands, leave what doesn't, but whatever you do, don't stop questioning.
- 0:49We're here at the Performance Driven Living podcast at the Changing Life and Destiny Conference
- 1:00here in Plano, Texas.
- 1:02And I have the honor of talking to my friend, Dr. Nathan Bryan, who is just the king of
- 1:08nitric oxide.
- 1:09I mean, it's a better way to say that.
- 1:11I know you're products, the things that you've worked on.
- 1:14I've been familiar with Numa for years.
- 1:17Nathan, so the point of this podcast and what we do is, again, Performance Driven Living,
- 1:22right?
- 1:23It's my contention that people want to always live in a way, or the people I want to
- 1:28be around, anyways, want to live in a way that they can outperform you yesterday.
- 1:32It's that 1% better kind of mindset.
- 1:35How could we be better?
- 1:36I heard you in a talk the other day using that exact same metaphor and everything we talk
- 1:40about here is, how do we do better?
- 1:43How do we show up better in the world tomorrow than we did yesterday?
- 1:47And I happen to know that you're an expert on nitric oxide, which is this Nobel Prize-winning
- 1:52molecule that the world in many cases knows nothing about.
- 1:56That's right.
- 1:57And yet, it is a miraculous, I'm correct, but it's a miraculous molecule and the truth
- 2:03of the matter is, I mean, nitric oxide is everything from anti-aging to sports performance
- 2:09to fixing a reptile dysfunction, like-
- 2:12That's in as many ways as you can imagine, nitric oxide is a part of that.
- 2:16And I would just love it if it teach me, teach me whatever you have, and I want the audience
- 2:21to listen to what you have to say about how does nitric oxide just change the game?
- 2:26Well, you know, I've spent 25 years in the basic sciences and academia as a professor
- 2:31of medicine, really studying nitric oxide, how the human body makes it, what goes wrong
- 2:36in people that have lost the ability to make it?
- 2:39And then how do we fix that?
- 2:40How do we correct that?
- 2:41Because you touched on a lot of the high points.
- 2:45It's a vasodilator, so it's a gas that's produced in the lining of the blood vessel.
- 2:49And it dilates the blood vessels.
- 2:51And it basically eliminates the inflammation that we see in the lining of the blood vessel.
- 2:57So vascular inflammation, micro-inflammation, micro-vascular inflammation, that's really
- 3:02the earliest stages of cardiovascular disease or avalous sclerosis.
- 3:06But you know, it does so much more, it mobilizes our own stem cells, and helps repair and
- 3:10replace dysfunctional cells.
- 3:12It prevents our telomeres from getting shorter, so it extends our lifespan.
- 3:17And perhaps from an performance perspective, it improves mitochondrial function.
- 3:22So it's improving the efficiency of energy production with less oxygen.
- 3:28And it's improving mitochondrial biogenesis.
- 3:30So when we make adequate nitric oxide, we have normal blood flow.
- 3:33We can dilate blood vessels upon demand.
- 3:36We have less inflammation.
- 3:37In fact, some of my patents are the method of reducing inflammation with nitric oxide.
- 3:42Lower oxidative stress, immune dysfunction, everything we see with chronic disease, nitric
- 3:47oxide appears to addressing.
- 3:49I actually want to unpack that last statement, because you talked about oxidative stress.
- 3:54And I don't think most people understand exactly what oxidative stress is.
- 3:57It's a word that gets thrown around, particularly in our circles.
- 4:00But it gets used, I think, outside of these circles a little bit more than it used to
- 4:04now.
- 4:05And I tell people, like oxidative stress is literally the dichotomy of longevity.
- 4:13It's almost a matter of your body deals with oxidative stress through environmental toxins,
- 4:17through everything you can imagine.
- 4:19And the more oxidative stress builds up, eventually your body just can't handle the oxidative
- 4:23load.
- 4:25And then the oxidative stress begins the aging process.
- 4:27And it's like there's a tipping point for most people, because when you're young, your
- 4:30body is able to deal with it.
- 4:32And eventually the oxidative stress ends up building up through a point that your body
- 4:35just can't deal with it any longer, right?
- 4:37Yeah, it's rust.
- 4:38It's, I mean, that's what rust is in the environment.
- 4:41It's an oxidation of the iron.
- 4:43Yes.
- 4:44And oxidation is a loss of an electron.
- 4:46So when we become oxidized, we're losing electrons.
- 4:49Antioxidants are electron donors.
- 4:51Correct.
- 4:52So we get oxidative stress when we have an imbalance of antioxidants with prooxyns.
- 4:57And so what we've looked at biochemically is what are the primary sources of oxidative
- 5:01stress in the cell?
- 5:03In its NADPH oxidase, it's an uncouple electron transport chain.
- 5:07And it's actually the enzyme that makes nitric oxide becomes uncouple and it produces super
- 5:11oxide.
- 5:12Yes.
- 5:13So when we looked at the three primary sources of oxidative stress in the cell, then how
- 5:15do we fix that?
- 5:17And fortunately, nitric oxide fixes all those.
- 5:21So if you lose the ability to produce nitric oxide, you get over a production of super
- 5:24oxide from the NADPH oxidase.
- 5:26You're an electron transport chain of the mitochondria, become uncouple.
- 5:29Now, you're reducing molecular oxygen to super oxide.
- 5:32And we produce super oxide from the enzyme that's supposed to make nitric oxide.
- 5:36So we're talking about the danger of super oxide, though.
- 5:39Yes.
- 5:40So super oxide is an oxygen radical.
- 5:42And so oxygen radicals steal electrons.
- 5:45So they oxidize other molecules.
- 5:48Which net effect means that the problem makes the problem bigger.
- 5:51No, and it's a perpetual reaction because these oxygen radicals, which means that it
- 5:56has an unpaired electron and et cetera over it.
- 5:58So it's always trying to grab another electron to stabilize that configuration.
- 6:02So the only way to stop a radical reaction is with another radical.
- 6:06And nitric oxide is a radical.
- 6:07It's a free radical.
- 6:09But it's different than super oxide because it's a nitrogen, oxygen bond, and there's
- 6:14a polarity.
- 6:15So it's complex physical chemistry, yeah.
- 6:18So nitric oxide donate to the electron, which means it's antioxidant properties.
- 6:24So when nitric oxide donate to its electron to super oxide or hydroxyl radical, it
- 6:28neutralizes that free radical, that antioxidant, and it prevents oxidative stress.
- 6:33So it completely neutralizes the damage.
- 6:36So it's oxidative stress, of course, you know, for the audience to say, we're talking
- 6:39this is rust.
- 6:40That's right.
- 6:41You're resting from the inside.
- 6:42It gets rusty enough until it dies, you know, it's really, and I always go back to
- 6:46that tin man kind of analogy, right?
- 6:48Like tin man's out in the haunts of forest and, you know, I think things are just not
- 6:54working the way they did, but, you know, Dorothy comes along, gives them some oil, and
- 6:59things start working.
- 7:01He does his happy dance.
- 7:04Is there a way to reverse oxidative stress then?
- 7:07Absolutely.
- 7:08So again, it's a balance between antioxidants and pro-oxidants.
- 7:12So if we can stop the oxidative stress inside the cell, then that's a major step.
- 7:17The other thing is, you know, unfortunately we're exposed to a lot of toxins in the environment.
- 7:21The water we drink, the food we eat, things we're exposed to, the environment.
- 7:24Stress.
- 7:25Stress.
- 7:26So we have to eat an antioxidant rich diet, and then we need to do things that promote and
- 7:34limit the oxidative stress.
- 7:35And also get the oxidative stress out of our lives.
- 7:39Yeah, we have to understand that how do we, so there's, there's an electrical potential
- 7:44that's required to extract an electron from every molecule.
- 7:48And the redox potential is for glutathione is much different than a scorbic acid, and
- 7:52an alpha-lapoic acid, and all these known antioxidants.
- 7:56So we have to do is figure out what electrical potential do we need to prevent oxidation
- 8:01of certain biomolecules.
- 8:03And that's what really our research has been, one for the past 20 years.
- 8:06We know how to prevent oxidation of BH4 tetrahydribobterine that prevents nossum coupling, so
- 8:12we can maintain normal endothelial nitric oxide production and prevent that age-related loss.
- 8:17So I wanted to get into that endothelial production of nitric oxide for a small moment, because
- 8:22you know that cardiovascular health is a personal topic for me.
- 8:27When we talk about endothelial function, unpack that for me, because I want to draw some
- 8:32connections between that and blood pressure.
- 8:34Yeah.
- 8:3545.4% of the US population struggles with hypertension, or has it at least been diagnosed
- 8:40with hypertension, save all those that haven't been.
- 8:43How does this endothelial function connect there and nitric oxide's role on it?
- 8:48So the endothelial cells, or the single layer of cells that line all blood vessels start
- 8:52the bone.
- 8:53Right?
- 8:54It's your lymphatic cells, is lined by endothelial cells, and your entire cardiovascular
- 8:59system is lined by endothelial cells.
- 9:01So 40 years ago, it was thought the endothelium was a barrier, right?
- 9:04It was designed to keep things into the blood supply versus extravascular.
- 9:09And in 1980, it was recognized that the endothelium is a vasoactive, even an endocrine organ
- 9:15that secretes a molecule that causes the blood vessels to relax.
- 9:19And that was Bob Furchcott, who discovered this, what he called endothelium derived relaxing
- 9:23factor.
- 9:25And then in 1987, Luegnar discovered that EDRF is nitric oxide gets.
- 9:30So now the endothelium is a vasoactive organ system.
- 9:35And what we call endothelial dysfunction is when the enzyme enos, endothelial nitrogen
- 9:39oxide synthase, is no longer functional and can no longer produce nitric oxide, then
- 9:44we don't get vasodilation.
- 9:46In fact, we get vaso constriction.
- 9:47Correct.
- 9:48And then you get an upregulation of adhesion molecules, white blood cells, platelets,
- 9:53monocyte stature, Phil stick, and we get vascular inflammation.
- 9:56So I want to break that down for the audience a little bit in this idea that the endothelium
- 10:01is almost like I call it the thermostat of the cardiovascular system.
- 10:05It's the endothelial lining of the cardiovascular system that actually recognizes when the blood
- 10:12vessel needs to expand and contract.
- 10:14So it literally is the, it has to be responsive to agonist or stimulators or activators.
- 10:20If it's not, then we can't get the best example is during sexual function because erectile
- 10:26dysfunction is a symptom of nitric oxide deficiency.
- 10:30So if we're about to be intimate and we're stimulated, the body's response is to make
- 10:34nitric oxide in the sex organ, the blood vessels of the sex organs, we get dilation, we get
- 10:39engorgement, and that's an erection in men and women.
- 10:42But if you have endothelial dysfunction and the blood cells can make nitric oxide, you
- 10:45don't get vasodilation, you don't get engorgement in the calvator rectal dysfunction.
- 10:49That's correct.
- 10:50But if that endothelial dysfunction is occurring in the blood vessels of the sex organs, it's
- 10:55systemic.
- 10:56You've got the same dysfunction in the coronary arteries and the cerebral arteries.
- 10:58So it's really the canary in the coal mine that tells us, tells patients, tells people
- 11:05that you have endothelial dysfunction and you're on a slippery slope to a long set of
- 11:09cardiovascular disease.
- 11:10So we're running off topic here, but I like it.
- 11:13So tell me.
- 11:14So for instance, getting into this topic of a rectile dysfunction, then you've mentioned
- 11:18the canary in the coal mine.
- 11:20I'm curious from your position as a researcher in an nitric oxide specialist, let's say a man
- 11:25ends up being diagnosed with a rectile dysfunction or not diagnosed.
- 11:28I mean, he knows it.
- 11:29Yeah.
- 11:30So he knows.
- 11:31But we treat that like it's a sexual dysfunction issue when in fact, if somebody is diagnosed
- 11:38with a rectile dysfunction or a doctor like we're like, here's Viagra, here's Cialis,
- 11:42here's whatever here.
- 11:43This will fix this.
- 11:44But again, it's the medical community, then not to dog on the medical community, but
- 11:49maybe a little bit.
- 11:51We're passing out symptom reduction.
- 11:53And in fact, that is a symptom that tells you you've got a bigger cardiovascular problem
- 11:59and we're not dealing with that.
- 12:01Yeah.
- 12:02Thank you.
- 12:03We agree on that.
- 12:04I assume.
- 12:05No, without a doubt.
- 12:06So the challenge is, well, it's not a challenge, it's just the fact.
- 12:11So the PD5 inhibitors like the Viagras and the Cialis and LaVitra, they were approved
- 12:15in 1998.
- 12:16So 20, 27 years ago, right?
- 12:19And so we know from the clinical data that only 50% of the men that are prescribed
- 12:23Viagra, or Cialis for a rectile dysfunction, respond with better erections.
- 12:29So these drugs don't work in 50% of the people in which they're prescribed.
- 12:33Because when you understand how these drugs are working, they're called phosphidesterase
- 12:36inhibitors.
- 12:38So the way the relaxation occurs is, in the end of the female cells, when they're activated,
- 12:42they produce nitric oxide, nitric oxide's a gas, it diffuses into the smooth muscle that
- 12:47surrounds blood vessels.
- 12:48And then that nitric oxide binds to an enzyme called guanolocyclase, complex biochemistry,
- 12:53make a long story short.
- 12:54It leaves some increase in the second messenger, cubsiclic GMP, and it's cyclic GMP that allows
- 13:00for the calcium mobilization, smooth muscle relaxation.
- 13:03So phosphidesterase enzymes degrade cyclic GMP.
- 13:08Cyclic GMP is dependent upon nitric oxide production.
- 13:12So nitric oxide is upstream of PD5 activity.
- 13:17So the reason 50% of the people don't respond is because they're not making any nitric
- 13:21oxide in the philium of the blood vessels.
- 13:24So there's no increase in cyclic GMP, so there's no substrate for PD5 inhibitors to work
- 13:28on.
- 13:29The interruptions, it's up here.
- 13:30It's not down here.
- 13:31Yeah, it's like, it's like, what I say, it's like, it's dominoes, right?
- 13:36Nitric oxide is the first domino.
- 13:38Once that flips, it's a cascade.
- 13:41But if you don't flip that first domino, nothing else is going to happen.
- 13:45We're prescribing with the intention of fixing the third domino or the fourth domino.
- 13:50We're not fixing the first one, which doesn't even require a prescription.
- 13:53Now, that's right.
- 13:54It's diet, lifestyle, medical technology, it's pretty simple.
- 13:58Correct.
- 13:59Which is phenomenal, because obviously, a man who gets, you know, an erectile dysfunction
- 14:03problem is that it's an ego issue on top of everything else.
- 14:07Well, at least it's like a logical issue.
- 14:08It's a physiological issue, but then it leads to psychological issue.
- 14:11It leads to relational issues, leads to divorce, leads to all sorts of issues.
- 14:15And, and again, something I hate to say is basic as, but nitric oxide shouldn't be that
- 14:21big of a mystery to people, but it seems to be because word hasn't gotten out to explain
- 14:25to people the upstream, the preventative, but the extra in benefits of just having nitric
- 14:31oxide in the body.
- 14:32Yeah.
- 14:33So when you look at it from a mechanism of action and ideology standpoint, it's a symptom
- 14:36of nitric oxide deficiency, just like Alzheimer's and dementia is a symptom of chronic nitric
- 14:42oxide deficiency.
- 14:44Hypertension is a symptom of nitric oxide deficiency.
- 14:47Yes.
- 14:48So we got week today.
- 14:49We can address the root cause of all these chronic diseases and not just treat the symptoms
- 14:53because similar to erectile dysfunction and you brought it up, 50% of the people that
- 14:57are given anti-hypertensive medications for their high blood pressure don't respond with
- 15:01better blood pressure.
- 15:02Correct.
- 15:03And why is that?
- 15:04Because they're put on an ACE inhibitor, an ARB, your calcium channel blocks isn't the
- 15:07problem.
- 15:08No, the problem isn't a rate of an angiotensin or kidney issue.
- 15:11Nitric oxide addresses the physics of blood pressure.
- 15:15So we have a finite amount of blood pumping through our body at any given time.
- 15:19If we make nitric oxide, we dilate the blood vessels, now we've got the same volume going
- 15:22through bigger pipes.
- 15:23If we can't make nitric oxide, we're chronically constricted.
- 15:27If the same volume of blood going through smaller pipes, physics tells us pressure goes
- 15:31up.
- 15:32If we give nitric oxide or restore nitric oxide, we'd vasodilate, blood pressure comes
- 15:36down and it's normal.
- 15:38And all we're doing is put an additional strain on the heart over and over again because
- 15:41you're making it force fluid through a smaller opening.
- 15:45Yeah.
- 15:46And then you get left intriguing to hypertrophy, you get a hard failure and people die.
- 15:50Yeah.
- 15:51And again, it's a very simple thing.
- 15:52This is going to talk together day here at the conference and is we're talking 50% of
- 15:56the US population have been diagnosed with hypertension.
- 16:00What exactly is the definition of a pandemic?
- 16:05We're blowing whistles on pandemic level stuff all over the place, but why is this not?
- 16:10Why is this not a conversation that we're having about hypertension and how this is
- 16:14affecting things?
- 16:15And that again, especially considering the solution is only 50% effective.
- 16:19Yeah.
- 16:20And the fact that cardiovascular disease remains a number one killer today worldwide is
- 16:24simply inaccessible, unacceptable because we know we know what causes it.
- 16:29We know how to diagnose it and there's technology to treat it.
- 16:32So for me, it's just it's a lack of translation of the science and it's a lack of being able
- 16:37to penetrate into the pharma model of continuously mitigating.
- 16:42I'm going to put you in the spot.
- 16:43Why do you think that?
- 16:44Yeah.
- 16:45But in a sense of business, it's a for profit business.
- 16:47In fact, it's the most profitable business enterprise in the world, especially in the US,
- 16:54especially in the US.
- 16:55We have 4% of the population and we prescribe 60% of the global drugs, which is and we have
- 17:00the sickest population on earth.
- 17:01So just the bad date itself tells us that drug therapy is now making anyone better.
- 17:07You'd think, right?
- 17:08And you'd think more people would be jumping on board at this.
- 17:10Now Nathan, I know you've been working on a lot of other projects and you've got your
- 17:14fingers and a new upcoming clinical trial talking about nitric oxide and its effectiveness
- 17:20and wanting to prove that from an FDA perspective as well as getting more products on the market
- 17:26to do this.
- 17:27What do you got?
- 17:28Tell me what you're working on.
- 17:29Well, you know, we try to number one, understand what goes wrong and people that can't make
- 17:33nitric oxide and then provide solutions to that.
- 17:36So we've had dietary supplements on the market for a number of years.
- 17:41We've got topical products for skin care and beauty.
- 17:44We just launched an oral line of products, toothpaste, mouth rinse, that's targeting the
- 17:49oral microbiome.
- 17:50As opposed to mouth wash, which is killing us away from our mouth.
- 17:52We want to support the microbiome.
- 17:54We don't want to kill and destroy.
- 17:56But we're also, you know, I was trained as a drug discovery bio-kills.
- 18:00So I'd never intended to develop dietary supplements or could see products.
- 18:04Right.
- 18:05The opposite.
- 18:06The opposite.
- 18:07Right.
- 18:08Understand the mechanism of disease to the extent that we can develop rational therapies.
- 18:12So we're working on an nitric oxide releasing, uh, uh, uh, lozons for a schemic heart disease.
- 18:18Uh, you know, 33 million Americans live with a schemic heart disease, 250 million people
- 18:22worldwide.
- 18:24The cornerstone therapy is Isis Orbide or nitriblister.
- 18:27Uh, it, it's effective at the acute symptomatic relief of angina, but it's the data tell us
- 18:32that the longer patients are on the organic nitrates, the worse they get.
- 18:35So there's a huge demand for that.
- 18:38And our pre, our clinical data shows that the laws and will dilate the coronary arteries
- 18:42relief, angina, prolonged exercise, induced angina with no tolerance.
- 18:47So we're trying to get that through the FDA, which will start a clinical trial later this
- 18:50year.
- 18:51We've got a drug for Alzheimer's and we're making a topical drug for diabetic ulcers
- 18:54and non-healing wounds.
- 18:56You see, you mentioned organic nitrates, which makes me want to go back because I immediately
- 19:00go to beats.
- 19:01Immediately goes.
- 19:02Well, that's what's called an organic nitrate.
- 19:04So it is.
- 19:05Organic nitrates are nitriblister and Isis Orbide die nitrate, Isis Orbide mononitrate.
- 19:10So these are, these are chemical compounds that have a glycerol backbone of different
- 19:16nitro groups on that have to be metabolized in the nitric oxide by the mitochondria.
- 19:20So the pay, they don't, they're not spontaneous nitric oxide donors, they have to be metabolized
- 19:25and it overwhelms the cell and the system and you become tolerant to it.
- 19:29Got it.
- 19:30And that's creating a decline in performance.
- 19:32And yeah, it makes in the female function worse, creates oxidative stress, and so long
- 19:37term use of these drugs is not a good idea.
- 19:39So there's, there's a severe unmet need, just like in most poorly managed chronic diseases
- 19:45in the US or worldwide.
- 19:48So for people who are looking to get more information about you, more information about
- 19:52nitric oxide, Numa, any number of the companies that you're involved in right now, where
- 19:56would they do that?
- 19:57You know, I send people to my YouTube channel because we provide all Sonsan education
- 20:02awareness.
- 20:03It's Dr. Nathan S. Brian, nitric oxide, Dr. Nathan S. Brian, and that's B.R.
- 20:08Y.
- 20:09The R.Y.
- 20:10Nitric oxide.
- 20:11I just published a new book, J. Bolston, Brick Tower Press is my publisher, Alan Morelle
- 20:17and Creative Management Partner, my agent called the secret of nitric oxide bringing the
- 20:21science to life where I tell really the story of nitric oxide, what it is, what it does,
- 20:27what led to a Nobel Prize.
- 20:29And in that book, I intertwined my kind of a personal life, my series of discoveries
- 20:36that we made in academia and patents, the development of product technology, what nitric
- 20:41oxide does in Alzheimer's, diabetes, sports performance, really taking the complex science
- 20:48and hopefully putting it into an easy to comprehend play rate, but, you know, that's a great
- 20:52resource.
- 20:53I'm searchable on most search engines.
- 20:56What an audio too.
- 20:57It is on audio.
- 20:58We're having it translated now to Portuguese, German, Chinese, Spanish, perhaps Italian.
- 21:07I'm going to probably listen in English.
- 21:12That's going to actually have the best comprehension for me.
- 21:14And then to follow our drug discovery, it's brinetherapyutics.com, our drug programs
- 21:18for our consumer products, where n101.com, that's one nitrogen, the letter n, number one,
- 21:25letter o, number one.com, n101.com, n101.com, and then brinetherapyutics.com, and let's
- 21:32be our YA and again, brinetherapyutics.
- 21:34And I look forward to having future conversations with you, buddy.
- 21:38So we have a lot to talk about.
- 21:40All right.
- 21:41Appreciate it.
- 21:42Yeah.