Autologous vs Birth Tissue-Derived Stem Cells: Which is Right for You? - Dr. Joy Kong

Could you touch on how, you know, stem cells are not all stem cell therapies are equal.

So the problem with these sources is, first of all, these cells are your own age. What's interesting when we use birth tissue derived stem cells is that they are actually in between embryonic stem cells and the baby stem cells. The baby stem cells are powerful. Right. But these stem cells that's trapped in the birth tissue, in the placenta and vocal cord, they are in between. So they're even more powerful than the bab.

I've been talking to a lot of people and doing research and many, many people have because, you know, recently in the past five years, the number of clinics offering stem cell therapy has quadrupled, which is pretty impressive, actually. Now, when talking to people who've received different types of stem cells, not all types of stem cell therapies are the same, is what I'm coming to appreciate as I'm learning about this. And I've encountered some people, these are young individuals, healthy, who are active individuals. They're big skiers, hikers, they like being outdoors. I have one friend who, she's had an ACL injury and she has had six different rounds of the autologous treatments of stem cell therapy from her bone marrow. And despite having six separate therapeutic treatments with the autologous stem cell therapy, she's still having issues. And I know another gentleman, again, another active individual, plays outside, he plays in a football pickup league and very, very active in college. And again also has a knee injury and he's had two separate rounds of the autologous stem cell therapy. And the results of these two individuals, and these are people who, they go to the physical therapist, they follow the guidelines, they wear the braces, and they're careful with their activities and follow the doctor's orders, but the results are not potentially expected. And so what do you think with regards to that? With, you know, not maybe could you touch on how, you know, stem cells are. Not all stem cell therapies are equal.

Yeah. So I think when we, you know, I delved really deep into comparing what's going on when we use autologous sources. So in this country, mostly either from a person's own bone marrow or their fat. So the bone marrow has very, very few mesenchymal stem cells. It has a few. But from 0.01 to 0.1% of all the cells in the bone marrow are MSCs, and there are some hematopoietic progenitor cells. So they still are very helpful. But the percentage mesenchymal stem cells, which is the main signaling regenerative cells in the body. So those are small in number. And the fat derived stem cells do have more. And they're about probably 20% of the cells are mesenchymal stem cells. They were able to get it from the vasculature because these cells are always kind of holding on to the vasculature. So anywhere you have blood vessel supply, you have these cells. So they're able to get the cell cells from the vasculature of the fat. So the problem with, with these sources is first of all, these cells are your own age. So these stem cells, even though they are stem cells, but they are still your age. So everything you've done, your life, you know, whether or not you've, you know, you've, you know, drank a lot, you've smoked, you've, you know, exposed to toxicity or infections, everything that has happened, bad diet, it's all affecting those cells. I'm not just saying this because studies have shown even obesity, someone has obesity, their stem cells quality are different, or somebody has diabetes, their stem cells are different because there are damages as a result of these conditions. So you're accumulating these damages and that impairs some of the capabilities that these cells can have. When you get it from adult source, they are, even though they're still called mesenchymal stem cells, they're still stem cells, but they are aged stem cells. So they're not as young and as potent as the baby stem cells. So the baby, the newborn baby, we know how fast they heal, right? They can get a cut and then it disappears. You don't know where the cut was. But as we age, you know, lingers for, for a while because your body just not keeping up. We all have those stem cells, right? Why isn't it giving you the power that's your own body? The cells are attracted to the injury. It's still not giving you the kind of repair that that could be, could be ideal. So what's interesting when we use birth tissue derived stem cells is that they are actually in between embryonic stem cells, which are day five to seven old embryo, the cells came from there in between of that and the baby stem cells. The baby stem cells are powerful, right? But these stem cells that's trapped in the birth tissue, in the placenta, umbilical cord, they are in between. So they're even more powerful than the baby stem cells. And they don't have the kind of environmental toxins that are accumulated in adult person yet. People say, yes, we found toxins in umbilical cord blood. Yes, we live in a, that happens. But comparing to the mother's toxic load, there's no comparison. There's absolutely no comparison. So for the preservation of species, the whole regeneration process, when you have a new progeny, this new offspring, it's pretty fresh. Everything is kind of like reprogrammed all over again. You got a fresh new start. So you can use that is not only much more powerful, the cells, even though they're called MSCs, they are way upstream comparing to the stem cells in the baby, not to even mention us. So they're a lot more potent, they have more potential to become all kinds of tissue. For example, the studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells from your adult source cannot form neurons, whereas from birth tissue, the mesenchymal stem cells from the birth tissue can. So there's a huge difference between these cell sources. And also these cells are safer. So for people who are using their own cell sources, you just always have to be cognizant that why do people talk about, oh my God, stem cells may cause, may promote cancer growth. And those it came from the adult derived stem cells from the autologous cell sources that can promote cancer formation because they've lost certain capabilities of recognizing that certain cells are cancer cells. So I need to give it a different signal to tell it to die instead of telling everything to grow. Whereas your own stem cells apparently have lost a lot of that intelligence. So it's telling everything to grow. So we all know everyone has some cancerous growth in the body, cancerous changes, but if you promote it, instead of having the immune system just get rid of it, but you have certain signals to really expedite their growth. That's when bad things could happen. But if you use birth tissue derived stem cells, the overwhelming evidence is that they are going to kill off those cancer cells. So there's huge difference between the two. So I just think the, the potential of these cells to promote regeneration is more powerful. And watch my video. Our OMS created equal because that's 40 minutes of me giving you scientific evidence. And they're also safer. And also you can use it for anti aging purposes. You can't use your own cells to anti age yourself, right?

Yeah, no, you just can't. And the other thing is, even if you're a healthy individual, any exposures that you've had, for example, people who've taken NSAIDs, you know, if it's an athlete who's technically healthy and they've been an active person who's played sports. If you've been taking nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs, you know, aspirin for, you know, the shoulder, knee, whatever injuries you've had, those are all going to be over time accumulating the insults on your own autologous stem cell supply. Whereas these birth tissue derived, and again we're not talking about from the embryo, we're talking about from the birth tissue itself, itself from the umbilical cord, the Wharton's jelly, from the placenta. So it's from a source that is when she says upstream, as I understand it, it's from the very basic cell structure from when these, you know, first signs of, you know, potential growth for any sort of cellular activity, this is the building blocks for that and it's the actual like, kind of like the point of origin for all of these opportunities to heal. That's why it's anti aging and regenerative because it has all of the fresh new start for all of these cells. And I just think it's, it's something that should be distinguished as different from something an awareness that there are not all stem cells are created equal. Because if you have these fresh placental, umbilical and birth tissue derived cells as compared to those derived from an adult source, whether it be from bone marrow or from adipose, you know, fat tissue, there's a very distinct difference. Even if you're otherwise healthy, you have been out in the world and there have been cellular changes just as a result of natural.

Right. I'm not anti stem cell therapy when it's, when it's using a person's own, you know, nowhere near that. You know, a lot of great work has been done, people have gotten great results. So I respect that. But what I see is that there is a degree of improvement that you can bring to patients that if the cells, the young cells I'm giving people is so much more potent. Using a person's own cells, let's just say that gives you 70% of improvement. But by using something else, the younger source, I can give you 85% of the improvement. So me as a doctor, I'm obligated, I feel obligated to use a source that can give you better results. So I don't want to take away from doctors who are using these autologous sources because they've done great work and there are people who are swearing by it, they've gotten relief and I believe them and I know that these can be powerful and helpful. But technology has evolved and we have a better source. So that's something that I wanted to convey.

Thank you so much. And again, thank you guys so much for your time. And Dr. Kong, thank you so much for sharing this very, very amazing advances that are happening in medicine today. Thank you so much for your time.

You're so welcome. Yeah, this is good discussion. I hope you find it helpful.

Thank you.