Your Lungs Have a Microbiome… And Nobody Is Talking About It

In today's episode of The Precision Wellness Practice, I have a very fun and enlightening conversation with Cara Seedman. Cara works for a company called ResBiotic, who I had the opportunity to connect with at the IFM International Conference this past year in San Diego. What really intrigued me about her and her company is they focus on the lung microbiome, the gut microbiome, and they've developed evidence-based products that have made a profound shift in the way people breathe, the foods they crave, and the way they function. This episode's very enlightening because it explores the microbiome from a new lens that you may not be familiar with, and we discuss the profound effect of the Resbiotic product line. It's very affordable, very accessible. And evidence-based to produce the results that you want for your clients. So my hope is that you learn something new, that you take meaningful action, and that you breathe better because of this conversation. So enjoy my interview with Kara Seedman from ResBiotic. Kara, welcome to the Precision Wellness Practitioner Podcast. It's so great to have you here.

Thanks so much for having me on. I'm super excited for this conversation today.

Yeah, I've been looking forward to it ever since we met at IFM.

Mm-hmm.

There's literally 100 booths there, and by God's grace and, you know, just universal law of we meet who we're meant to meet, we had a chance to meet, had several great conversations. And what intrigued me about you is how passionate you are about the microbiome and how passionate you are about helping people. I'm curious because you have a background as a dietitian.

Mm-hmm.

And you've worked in diabetes and you've been educating people for 15 years. I'm curious what sparked your interest in the microbiome?

I love that question cuz it actually starts way earlier than even before I knew I wanted to become a dietitian. I got very into fermentation, a little bit of a hippie dippy girl, went to a hippie dippy school and started experimenting with fermentation and, enzyme nutrition and sprouting. And I never even knew I could do a career in nutrition. And I kind of found myself along that. I was pre-med and thought I was gonna become a doctor. And so I think that's where like the early seeds got planted was, you know, we didn't, the Human Microbiome Project hadn't launched yet. I didn't learn about this as I started my nutrition career, but there's been some ancient and early nutrition advocates in enzyme expression and bioavailability and digestive enhancements that we've understood about fermentation. And so I like to say it started really early on. My college apartment was like a science experiment. And yeah, that sparked, you know, obviously my interest in nutrition, but I never veered far from the microbiome. And then I landed in gastroenterology and I started a functional nutrition practice for a very large GI group. And spent almost 10 years working with them. And I think that's really where this science and the practicality and how we can use this in, in the clinical lens really blossomed. And I loved working for the GI docs because from a diagnostic perspective, we could rule out lots of things. And then I always said that I could work with the world within. And then it even led me to marrying a brewer, and we still ferment to this day. Our first conversation was about bacteria. And so I think It's just always been in my, in my spirit and ethos that I'd be around bugs.

Well, you know, we were both talking before we started recording that we didn't really learn about the microbiome in school. You know, I've been out in practice for over 20 years and, you know, for you it's over 15 years and it's, it's a new and, and budding and emerging field. We've learned a lot. I'm sure there's, like most things, still a lot to learn. What's something that really fascinated you or intrigued you about the microbiome?

Ah, that's such a good question. Yeah, I think for me, and I can only speak to where I am now in regards to where the science gone, how much it's advanced over the last 20 years. And, you know, I think of the microbiome truly as that foundation. Hippocrates said it right, all diseases begin in the gut. So we've had an understanding of this forgotten organ as we like to think of it. And then ultimately what is really anchoring every system of the body because we think of systems in silo, right? You've got your cardiology, you've got your neurology, you've got pulmonary, you know, pulmonologist. But what truly anchors this is the microbiome. And I think that's really where my passion is, is when I think about health and where health is going and how we can start to improve health from a root perspective. You don't get more foundational than the microbiome itself, and that's what the science has showed us. So I think there's a, we have a ton more to learn, but there's so much opportunity for us to modulate, for us to improve that can have profound impact on our overall health and wellness. There's not one disease that's not linked back to what is going on in the microbiome.

Yeah, it literally is all connected. And what really fascinates me and intrigues me about the microbiome is that it's passed down through the vaginal canal from generation to generation to generation. So it's like this ancient wisdom that we're born with if we're born, you know, vaginally, let's say, or, you know, certainly if we're breastfed and, and, you know, all the, all that good stuff. But I'm curious if what you're seeing in the research you're doing is like if there's a break in that ancestral transfer of our microbiome and what people can do about that.

Yeah, you know, a lot of the early microbiome research looks at indigenous tribes and there's a lot of conversation around the diversity and what industrialization has done, right? The exposome, all these things that we know can impact the overall ecosystem within, 'cause it is an ecosystem. And I think what we're still learning, which is unique, and I, I love what you brought up in terms of the ancestral, and we do know that there is, there is a sort of generational aspect to the microbiome. So, you know, if my mother doesn't have something, then I may not potentially have it. But does that necessarily equate to not having a healthy microbiome? Not necessarily. And that's what we're learning about now is we've looked at indigenous tribes and the amount of different microbes and over 1,000 different species and this really diverse ecosystem to where now we have a much less diverse ecosystem., but maybe a well-functioning or a healthy functioning microbiome. And that's really where I think the emphasis is, is the function. So maybe we don't have this one specific microbe anymore, or this has gone extinct. Does that mean we need it? And I think that's where a lot of the research is focusing on is what is a healthy microbiome and what does that actually mean? And that's really what's guiding so much of, you know, microbiome therapeutics, microbiome solutions, and where the microbiome space is headed in terms of product and formulation development. So, so much to know. And I think more of it, and where obviously we'll talk about is how does the microbiome and your specific microbiome, how is that impacting your systems beyond, or how is that potentially driving or contributing to the symptoms that you may be experiencing? And what can we do from there to create a better functioning microbiome. Maybe it's not, oh, you need this specific microbe or you have this one microbe or you're missing this. I think it's not as black and white, right? It's ecosystem.

Yeah. You know, I'm on the other side of the screen. I have this huge forest, you know, this beautiful window and I can see into the woods and kind of in the canopy because we have a ravine. And, you know, I know the forest has a microbiome as well. And you talked about the exposome, which is what we're exposed to and, and what we're not exposed to is, is also part of that as well.

Yeah.

And I feel like a lot of times people aren't spending time in nature. They're not even spending time outdoors. Right.

Yeah.

And my understanding is, and I'm here to learn, so please, you know, enlighten me. My understanding is the sun shapes our microbiome, especially getting the sun on our abdomen. And then what we breathe in, if it's, you know, the, the, the forest air that plays a role in our microbiome. And if people aren't spending much time in those environments, are you seeing that that's creating a specific shift in their microbiome?

Absolutely. You know, in the exposome, it's, it's, it's not weighted one way or the other, right? So when we think about the exposome, which is just the term for external factors, or external inputs that can throw off this delicate balance. And that can be everything from your diet, of course, probably one of the biggest modulators of the microbiome, to life cycle stages for women, especially as we go through hormonal changes, to chronic stress or stress in general, which obviously is there. So some of these things are, or in other areas of medicine, you call them modifiable versus non-modifiable. Your genetics, obviously we can't modify, And we're learning more about the exposome, and it's, I always think of everything as a bucket. So, you know, at some point your diet may not contribute 'cause you're really on it and you're doing all the things that we know are great. Whereas like for me living in Colorado, we have the worst air quality out of any city right now because of all the forest fires that are happening in our state. Where that, I know, it's terrible actually. Where that might be adding more to my bucket right now in that, exposome is constantly shifting, and it's what can we do in our life that we have control over. Because sometimes my diet's not in my control. Maybe I'm traveling, maybe I'm with other people and I'm not, you know, following the same thing I follow at home. Maybe I'm traveling and I'm not sleeping as well, so maybe other things I need to focus on. And it's all about what is in our control and what we have the ability to make better, which is a lot of opportunity as a practitioner because it's not one thing. So if I have a patient who— and I, as a dietitian, I still see patients— if I have a person who's like really resistant to diet changes, well, there's so many other things within the exposome that they may be more willing to adjust. And I think that's an important piece because can't do it all, right? I think the stress of doing it all creates more stress, and then we're in that vicious cycle. And I do believe in the 80/20 rule, and what I may put more weight on in my own life might not be the same thing that you emphasize in your life, and that's okay. I think the beauty is, is that we do have the ability to modify or modulate these exposome factors, and they're all gonna impact the health, whether it's negative or positive.

Yeah, I think it's, you know, the lifestyle and our environment is very complimentary to the dietary changes, the supplemental changes that we're making. And I think they kind of work hand in hand, right? So to make fire, you need wood and you need oxygen, right? You can't just have one or the other. Exactly. And the magic happens when you combine things together.

The, exactly.

The microbiome is prevalent in many, like pretty much all of our exposed tissues, right? So the skin has a microbiome. Yeah. The mouth, the sinuses, the vaginal canal, the digestive system. And I'm sure they'll discover, you know, more.

Honestly, there's microbiomes everywhere. We really don't have a sterile part of the body. There is one area that we believe is sterile, which is, and we can talk about what that is, that mucosal barrier. Mm-hmm. But your lungs have a microbiome, your eyes have a microbiome, your brain has a microbiome. It's bacteria everywhere. Blood, urine, we, these all have bacteria.

Oh wow. And traditionally those might be think, thought of as sterile environments, right? Yeah. Where microbes don't exist. So what are some signs, like if, if I'm a clinician, You know, of course everything's connected to everything. I get that. But what are some signs that we really need to double down on the microbiome, or is that somewhere that you suggest everyone starts?

You know, when in my, my saying and when I mentor other practitioners, when in doubt, start with the gut because there's a lot of upstream. And I do. And that's kind of the analogy I use. I think of our microbiome as the foundation to a home. And you may find your perfect home. It's got everything you've ever wanted. But what do we wait before we pull out or before we go move forward with the home? We wait for the inspection report to tell us if there's cracks or issues in our foundation. Cuz that means when that hurricane comes or that tornado or wherever you live, your structure, your home is not gonna be as resilient. It's not gonna be as stable. And I truly believe in that. So we know this exposome that we talked about, this is what drives cracks in our foundation and that foundation then in turn starts to decrease resiliency to just about every part of the body. And it's 90% too. So even when, you know, everyone's heard of the gut-brain axis, right? It's the conversation or the communication that's happening between your gut and other organ systems. We call it the gut-X axis at Resbiotic because X can be sort of anything. And we understand that. But most of the conversation's happening from gut too, because that is your largest microbiome in the body. So when I think of, as a practitioner, what would be sort of a clinical clue to wanting to work, it's really just about everything. And I think for me, it's always been that anchor. It's always been that foundational outside of working in GI because I know how much it impacts everything from metabolic health to lung health to brain health to our eating patterns, of course, digestive health. So I think it offers a great opportunity to start. Because from there, you can actually see what improves versus what doesn't, and that can help kind of guide your clinical course of action. But it really, and I think most people are struggling with some of those blatant sort of microbiome dysfunction symptoms from sleep issues to skin issues, to obviously digestive issues, but even respiratory. And I know we're gonna talk a lot about that, but why can you have two people? I mean, COVID really highlighted some of this, Why can you have one person be perfectly fine or end up in the hospital? And a lot of this from looking back retrospectively at studies looked at microbiome imbalances and the more imbalanced, then greater dysfunction or dysregulation to these specific systems of the body, which is why I think your microbiome anchors systems biology. And it's really what helps to, guide some of that, that actionable takeaway.

Awesome. Thank you. And, and just from a practical standpoint, where does one start? So you, you mentioned there's microbiomes everywhere. So where, where do we start if we're trying to really help someone, you know, foundationally? It sounds like the gut is a good place to start. And I, and I think of it just like, you know, you kind of alluded to is that if you wanna grow a garden, it's really gonna depend on the quality of the soil. Yeah, right. The seeds are what a lot of people focus on, which might be the probiotics and things like that, but it's really the, the, the soil itself, right? And, and how it interacts with itself that really—

and before the soil, what do you have? You have land. It might not even be ready for that nutrient-dense soil. So exactly. Um, so yeah, I think there's a couple different areas. I mean, where the microbiome space is going is really exciting in that we are getting more targeted in understanding because it's not so much— we kind of mentioned this earlier— it's not so much who is there. I like to think of it as a neighborhood, and I think of a neighborhood not just by my neighbors, but how the neighborhood functions as a whole. What are the things they do? Who are the people living around me? Do they have other kids? You know, all the things that impact whether or not I want to live in this neighborhood. And so it's not always about just the neighbors or the people, It's the houses, it's everything else. And so that really equates to, or I think of that as the functionality, like what functions are you not, are your, is your microbiome not carrying out? And this can be everything from metabolic regulation, like GLP-1 is obviously a big topic of conversation. Well, that's heavily influenced by your microbial signals, from brain health to respiratory health. So I look at kind of the patient in sort of two buckets, you know, symptoms, what are we experiencing? 'Cause as a practitioner, Part of our success is also getting people to feel better initially a little bit to help drive more of that motivation to continue to work on some of the longer term. So I, I think of what can I do from a symptom perspective? So if someone's having GI issues, obviously that's a great place to start from diet modifications to different supplements to what is more from a foundational or root cause. And I think when you start to look at the various products that are out there, there's a lot of opportunity, whether it's rebalancing, whether it's microbiome testing, which I think can be very useful as long as we understand how to actually interpret that, whether it's really going off of someone's symptoms, um, because we now have that ability to better study intimately, intricately understand what these probiotics or these different biotics are doing, that we can start to match them to either the system or symptom from a microbiome lens.

Yeah, you know, it's, there's so many tests out there as you know, and it's interesting because the microbiome is changing, right? It can change from one meal to the next. I mean, to a certain degree, of course it can change from a stressful event in our life, right? Even saunas and cold plunges, like all those things, everything affects the microbiome, so to speak. So it seems like testing, while can be very valuable, it's kind of a snapshot in time.

It's a snapshot.

So it seems like going based off of somebody's symptoms and their lived experience would be a better way to address it. Would you, how, what are your thoughts on that?

You know what, I think that's a great question and I think there's microbiome testing has come a long way and I think depend, that's why I kind of preface by saying depending on how you use it, because I think microbiome testing outside of just taxonomically, like who is there, we can also get insights into the balance and how your microbes are actually utilizing your diet. So again, I think depending on how we're actually using it clinically, it can be helpful in understanding digestive capacity, um, you know, certain microbial patterns that may be associated, but also your interview with your patients, your Understanding them from their lifestyle to their diet, to their symptoms, to past experiences, to goals can ultimately help shape and guide some of that direction that you wanna go. And again, to me, microbiome testing is data and data is sometimes good and data is sometimes not good depending on how you use it.

Okay, thank you. Now, you—

I'm a nerd. I like microbiome testing just 'cause I'm a nerd. And so I'm—

Yeah, you know, I, I, I test it as well. So, you know, I'm right there with you, but I know that, you know, just like even blood work is a snapshot in time, right? And you know, depending on what's happening in our life that day or that week, and we get the results back several weeks later, I mean, certainly it's nice if the symptoms correlate with the patterns that we're seeing.

Well, and I'll add too that there is newer research that's sort of coming out in helping us understand, you know, how fluid is our microbiome? And it is fairly stable. So yes, from day to day, you can have some shifts, but there is a stable micro. So creating a new microbiome can actually take a lot of time. And we don't even understand yet how long that can take, which is why it is a snapshot and why it can sometimes give greater insight into maybe your clinical course. I'll give a really good example of one way that I actually love using microbiome testing. So I've worked in GI for a long time. I've worked with very complicated SIBO patients, small intestinal bowel overgrowth, your IBS patients, right? And these SIBO patients I think can be really hard because there's a lot of different factors than just this overgrowth of bacteria in a place where it's not supposed to be. And sometimes I find when I have people that we've done treatments, whether it's the traditional antibiotic route, whether it's a blend, whether it's just antimicrobials, whether it's a combination of all of them, 'cause we've done it all, sometimes microbiome testing can help me understand why someone may not be responding to SIBO treatments. Maybe they're a desert and we're keeping a desert a desert and we're not priming the land. You talked about the garden. Their land's not even ready for that nutrient-dense soil. So maybe we have to do some work ahead of time before we even enter into antimicrobials or antibiotics. And I think that can be helpful sometimes if it's used correctly to guide that clinical course, right? And again, going back to what I said, all data can be helpful, but it can also sometimes create blind spots and we start to look at the data as data and we don't look at the data with the person sometimes.

Okay. Is there a particular test that you like? I, I'm, I'm curious if there's a particular one.

Yeah. You know, I've done every single one under the sun and I've definitely changed throughout the years. I'm very impressed. So I'm definitely more of an advocate for whole genome sequencing, Deep Shotgun, because I wanna see beyond just who is in the microbiome. I wanna see beyond just potentially stool output. I wanna see the functions. And there are a handful of companies that are looking at different functions. I love Tiny Health's test. I think it's actually pretty advanced. They're continuing to add more functions. Functions are the jobs that your microbes are supposed to be carrying out, the genetic capacity for them to carry out certain functions like, GLP-1 production, like hormone, like the Strobilom hormone balance, beta-glucuronidase. And I think that, that to me sometimes is more insightful because you can have someone where you're looking at maybe they're missing Akromancia, maybe they're missing, and your first thought is, well, oh, then you have to take Akromancia. Well, wait, maybe not. Maybe they actually have a robust metabolic— maybe they're not dealing with metabolic issues. Maybe they have good short-chain fatty acid production. So who's to say that that is actually necessary? And that's actually what the research is showing. So taxonomic, who is there, can give insight, but really the functional redundancy, the jobs that are being carried out or not being carried out, to me, are a better indicator of how we can use it clinically.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

I love Tiny Health as well. Elisa is a really good friend.

Oh yes.

And friend of our community.

Another microbiome nerd. She knows so much. I love her.

You know, parasites and pathogens are a big topic of conversation these days. Like, it's hard to open up any social media platform and not think that you're dying of a parasite or some sort of pathogen. I'd love, I'd love your take on that. Oh boy.

Yeah. You know, so, so yes. So listen, we're an ecosystem. We're a neighborhood. Do I love my neighbor actually that lives right next door to me? I don't. I don't think they're the best neighbor, but are they causing a problem in the neighborhood? They're not actually. So hopefully that analogy makes sense. We've got pathogens, we've got parasites. I spent years traveling in third world countries. I stopped sanitizing my water, you know, as a backpacker. I'm sure I've got lots of things in there. I've done a lot of microbiome testing. But listen, it's an ecosystem. Are they always causing a problem? Not necessarily. And I think that's where when we start to blanket where it's like, oh, your issues are because you have a parasite. It's hard, and parasites are very hard to test for, but that's where when you have someone who's clinically knowledgeable in that area where it's part of the differential, these are areas that we have to explore because they could be causing problems because they are part of the ecosystem and they could be having a more pronounced impact. But do I think everyone has parasites? Yes. Do I think they're all causing problems? No. And that's because it may not be throwing off the balance enough because it's how the ecosystem, how the neighborhood's functioning as a neighborhood versus one or two neighbors alone.

It's a very grounded response. Thank you.

Well, listen, I'm going to use myself as a personal storyteller. I, after a year of traveling, because we're always our best patient, right? A year of traveling, I was all over Asia, Southeast Asia, great trip. I came back and started having some GI stuff, some reflux, and so of course, working in GI. I did H. pylori testing. Of course, I was like, I probably have a parasite because I was not sanitizing my water. And then I got diagnosed actually with eosinophilic esophagitis, and I have histamine issues. So of course then I started thinking, okay, maybe it is a parasite because we know parasites can be a driver of histamine. I did all of the stuff and it didn't go away. I still have issues. Maybe I needed to do more. But just to say that, you know, again, it's not always wrong to think it, but it's not to me always the end-all be-all. I have a family history, I have genetic predisposition to these things, you know, stress, female at the age— I was kind of in that perfect age of diagnosis. But, um, I don't think that a parasite caused my EOE or my histamine issues that I've always had. So, um, but that's fine. And people are probably listening being like, no, no, no, it's definitely a parasite, we just have to do a different treatment. And maybe that is the case, but yeah, you know, everything's connected.

So it could be a combination of things that are, that are going on. Let's switch gears and, and talk about the lungs, cuz that's what really kind of sparked our, you know, what I hope becomes a great friendship. And, you know, as somebody who focuses on helping people breathe better and knowing that we consume about 30 pounds of air and we take 23,000 breaths a day. There's a lot of exchange, uh, between the outside world and the inside world that happens in our lungs. And of course, coming out, you know, a few years out of this whole respiratory virus thing that went around with COVID I'm curious as to what are some of the common, uh, imbalances that you see in the lung microbiome and what can people do to, you know, immediately, and then of course long-term we'll talk about, but, uh, what are some things people can do immediately to improve their lung microbiome health?

Yeah, and I think even before getting into that, like most people, like we talked about earlier on, thought the lungs were sterile. And so our founder at ResBiotic, Dr. Vivek Lau, I mean, fascinating neonatologist physician, really found himself in early research and he and his group were digging into, he worked in the NICU and really trying to figure out and among other groups, you know, why why within the NICU are certain babies getting what, you know, called secondary hits or secondary respiratory infections versus others not? And it led them to the lung microbiome. And him and a couple other groups were sort of the main groups to really discover that the lungs even had a unique microbiome 'cause it wasn't included in the Human Microbiome Project. We didn't know it, we thought it was sterile. And so it's really opened up a lot of opportunity that's really advanced in, you know, over the last 20 years of understanding this gut-x communication being actually a major pathway that the gut communicates to. And we don't think, I always like to say, we don't think about the gut and lungs in the same breath. But like everything else, they are connected. And from an external perspective, what we breathe, there's been newer studies that have come out showing how air pollution can actually modulate or impact the balance within the gut lung, within the gut microbiome impacting the gut lung access. But even our indoor air quality has been shown to also impact gut-lung communication. And this could be sitting at the root of why someone may be more prone to respiratory infection, why someone can get the flu and get really sick, and why someone may not. I'm that person that gets a cold and it always goes to my lungs. Like, I always end up with a cough. There may be some understanding of the microbiome's role in that resiliency. So it opens up an opportunity within the microbiome research space to understanding and finding these sort of precision biotics or these precision formulations that can actually target that specifically. So I think it's, you know, in general where I would say the microbiome space is headed is into this more targeted space because we can understand and look at specific lung outcomes. And we do something very unique at RES in regards to how we can see this system-specific impact. But I think that's one of the more unique things is that people don't think about the air we breathe, the 23,000 breaths we take. You know, I always say the day we stop breathing is not a good day, right? And as Dr. Lau, our founder, says, you know, we eat 3 to 5 times a day. We think about that. We understand that. But what is happening around us? What is the quality of our breath? You know, how is that impacting? And of course, I know that's, Right up your alley. I'm a yogi. I love talking about breathwork. But how is all this— and it's in constant communication through shared mucosal, lymphatic, thoracic duct, you know, all these different highways that can transmit compounds that are either going to support inflammation or create more inflammation or create more immune activation and immune imbalance. So it offers a really nice opportunity to, whether you are struggling with any type of respiratory concern or you're proactively trying to prevent— our lungs start to decline as we age just like our microbiome does and we see sort of similar timelines of that. That person, you know, like my husband is a runner and I am like, he's out there running in this horrible air quality that we have right now. Yeah. And so I'm like, okay, we need to think about your lungs in this because we're around it, we're not stopping, we're trying to optimize our respiratory health. So are these things potentially impacting the potential advantages that we're doing. And so I think this just becomes a really great opportunity from a clinical care perspective, from a healthy aging, from a longevity, from, you know, chronic health perspective of an area that we can actually bring a lot more attention to.

You know, given that we're talking about the lungs, would restoring the lung microbiome be through a process of inhalation, or would it be through a process of ingestion and then, you know, relying on the different pathways to get those microbes into the lungs?

Yeah, so we're still learning about that. In fact, our, our founder, Dr. Lau, is working on that, on, on the live biotherapeutic side of, of inhaled, because that is drug therapy, actually. And, and we do know that there, from their early studies in their, you know, in moving through their clinical trials of the strains that we have in our lung probiotic. But what we've looked at and what some other groups have looked at is because we know the microbiome has such a profound effect on modulating systems beyond, because the conversation's primarily happening gut to, that we can start to look at these very specific compounds or signals from the gut to how it can actually improve these respiratory outcomes. So I think, yes, we're gonna see some more inhaled focus because the other side of it is when you look at the pulmonary space, there's just not a lot of pharmacological options. It's a very hard field to get new medications. And so people who are suffering from actual respiratory conditions, this offers a really great opportunity to bring respiratory and lung support to the conversation from a different mode, right, from a microbiome because people who have respiratory issues, we see dysbiosis, right? So in all conditions, when we look at diabetes to obesity to COPD to Parkinson's, we see certain microbial profiles, certain bacterial compounds, certain functional functions that aren't being carried out that are common or more likely to be seen signatures in those conditions. So we see dysbiosis in COPD, we see dysbiosis in asthma. In fact, we see similar patterns in asthma and certain irritable bowel diseases and why that you can often see GI issues even before asthma and why these things go hand in hand. So we understand that there's already microbiome imbalance and what we're looking at and what we've looked at is, well, if we can build precision formulations to support what's happening in the gut, what are those specific respiratory outcomes or what are those specific markers that we're seeing improved in that process? So I think oral, like people don't understand, like I get that question a lot. So are we inhaling these? We can modulate just about every organ of the body from an oral perspective. We just wanna make sure we're understanding what that actual mechanism is.

Okay, thank you. Talk to me about the oral and nasal microbiome or this, the microbiome in our sinuses and, you know, whatever patterns you might be seeing or research you might be coming across and how that impacts our lung microbiome.

So this is, I would say the sinus microbiome is becoming a little bit more known. It's a newer area of research. I mean, we have a lot of, a lot more understanding. So your oral microbiome, your mouth, which obviously everything kind of runs through, and we're constantly swallowing. So this is obviously interacting also with the lung microbiome, right? Everything's porous and things are moving in and out. We are understanding more of the sinus microbiome and very similar certain pathogens or unfriendly bacteria that may be more predominant. We know the oral microbiome's playing a huge role in other systems. It's the second largest microbiome next to the gut. So this is offering a really exciting area, even something we're looking into of understanding the sinus because, and we were even talking about this, the amount of people, and I get this complaint a lot from patients is that sort of chronic sinus, that chronic drip. And of course there's other etiologies, there are other things that can be playing a role, but you know, you're constantly swallowing this, right?

Mm-hmm.

So anytime we swallow, now hopefully then just kind of thinking about the digestive tract as we swallow things, your stomach should neutralize, you know, bad bacteria. But the problem is then most people have issues. There's a lot of issues with stomach acid and reasons why we either have not enough or insufficient amounts, which then means that these sort of pathogenic bacteria, because your nasal cavities of course are exposed to the outside world, how this then can start to infiltrate into the gut microbiome. And so we see that, and that's one thing I would say from a microbiome testing perspective, digestive. We can see evidence of oral microbes or ones that may be more predominant in the sinus cavity, in the gut, which then tells me that maybe digestive— outside of just potentially having those, but that to me is a sign that you have digestive insufficiency. So yeah, that's an area that I think is, is newer in the microbiome space and that we're continuing to look more. I can tell you that this is an area that we're definitely interested in exploring. Yeah, from an, from an oral sinus, you know, cuz it's all linking back to the lungs and your gut and the things that, you know, we've been studying.

So one of my dear friends is a, is a microbiologist and, you know, we had a conversation about the microbiome and one of the things that we were talking about is the microbiome of the sinuses and, you know, just kind of protecting ourselves when we're traveling, we're vulnerable, we're, our sleep might be off, our stress might be off, we're breathing recycled air, we're in conferences meeting like hundreds of people. And we wanna take, you know, precautions and, and measures to create, you know, a vital microbiome in our sinuses to just make sure we don't catch anything. So I'm curious, like the thing that he recommended was a, a spray, which a nasal spray, a mist that has bee propolis and xylitol in it.

Okay.

So I'm curious if you have any thoughts on, on xylitol or bee propolis to help enhance our nasal microbiome.

You know, I'm super interested in looking into it and bee propolis obviously has been used for lots of different purposes and xylitol is definitely one that's been looked at from an oral microbiome perspective in not harming the oral and actually maybe enhancing it. So I haven't done much research, so I won't say I'm an expert or know anything about this, but I can see where that may be helpful and I'm definitely interested in looking into it more because I think that is something to be said in why You know, again, we're breathing a lot of air and is then our increased or decreased immune health because of really starting from nasal, probably, right? I mean, we know that connection. And so yeah, I think that's interesting. And I do love bee propolis and the xylitol's interesting, but that makes sense to me again, 'cause we understand some of the impact on the oral microbiome, so. Fascinating.

Awesome. You know, when I work with a lot of dentists and yes, you know, of course talking a lot about the mouth and one of the things that my wife and I both, both use is called Perio Protect. So the size of our palm is about the size of our pockets in our mouth that we can't brush. So that's where a lot of bacteria can find a home. And, and so these are like special trays that we wear with a hydrogen peroxide gel and it gets into those pockets. Where those anaerobic bacteria live and, and starts, you know, eradicating them. Yeah. And it's quite fascinating because when we use it, we use it at night before we go to bed and we wake up in the morning, we both mouth tape and which helps promote healthy oral microbiome health.

Okay.

But in addition to that, when we use the Perio Protect, it almost feels like we wake up and it feels like we already brushed our teeth.

Interesting.

Like it's really fascinating to, to experience that. And I'm just curious if you had any thoughts on, you know, what we can do to enhance our oral microbiome.

Mm-hmm.

Whether it's toothpaste or, you know, yeah, oral rinses or, you know, Perio Protect. I'm just curious, what do you do to take care of your oral health?

Yeah, no, I love that. And we, we've worked with a lot of dentists as well. I've had a lot of dentists that are early adopters of our ResV Lung Support because they specialize also in airway disease. And again, like the air we breathe, it's, it, all of this interacts with these different mucosal surfaces. So it makes sense that when we start to look at these different tools, I like to say in our toolbox, that these are all kind of targeting the microbes, right? Microbes in the nose, microbes in the mouth, microbes in the gut, microbes all over because we know how much they're impacting systemically in this balance. And so yeah, I've been into the oral microbiome as well for a while and I think, you know, we understand and learned a lot about the impact of mouthwash. We have some newer companies that have come out and have designed, you know, oral probiotics and different microbiome products specifically for the mouth. So I think we're kind of just getting there. There's been some newer companies that have popped up. I definitely have my own ideas of like formulations of things and looking into different biotics. So yeah, we use like, I like, we use like a probiotic toothpaste. I don't use any mouthwash. I'm also a mouth taper. I'm going to definitely look into this Perio Protect, um, because my husband's actually someone like— we all floss, we, um, use like the Waterpik. Of course, we try to have good oral hygiene, and I do think there's some people that are more prone to having poor oral, whether it's the oral microbiome that's driving it, poor oral health. And my husband's one of those. I mean, he hates when I talk I don't wanna talk about him, but he's like that person that constantly needs like deep cleaning. And is it because, you know, he's had some GI issues? So what's that? We understand SIBO even more so and how the oral microbiome is playing a role. 'Cause again, you're constantly swallowing. And so this is all related. It's all one tube, right? And so I really started him on a lot of products and things to just try to see if his oral microbiome is what's contributing to some of his oral hygiene outside of the fact that he flosses 3 times a day and uses the Waterpik twice a day. But he does use mouthwash and that's the one thing that he won't give up. And we know how that kills the good bacteria. Oh yeah. He won't give that one up.

Understood. Understood. I think the Perio Protect might be something worth investigating. I am looking at that. You can find a dentist if you go to perioprotect.com, you can find a dentist that can fit you for the trays and then you just put the gel in and It's about 10 minutes every night. So you could kind of do your nighttime stretching routine or just wind down routine while the trays are in your mouth. And you can really use them any time of day.

Yeah, I'm gonna look into this.

But that, that can make a big difference. My wife, I don't think she likes when I talk about her either, but she's, she's been spoken about in, in many other interviews that I've done. And if she was here, she'd tell you the same thing. So she's the type of person that needs a lot of deep cleaning as well. And after using the Perio Protect trays, her dentist even remarked when she went for her last cleaning, hey, what are you doing? Because I didn't really have to do a lot of cleaning on you. So, wow. Uh, definitely something, you know, perhaps worth investigating and no harm, right? And, and I think we all know that our oral microbiome plays a role in our cardiovascular health and brain health. And of course gut health as we've described here as well.

Yeah, I think, you know, we look at two ends of the spectrum, and because it is our second largest, it makes sense now that we are understanding it. And again, because we have more technology, better ability to study these, these specific functions and jobs of these microbes, that we can start to really have targeted products that are targeting the oral microbiome, that are targeting the lungs, that are targeting your metabolic health, your hormones, because we can actually study that now.

And you know, with not— certainly nobody listening to this interview is eating junk food or processed foods, but I'm, I'm sure those play a role as well, right? They're—

oh yeah.

Versus eating healthy foods, 'cause healthy food stuck in your teeth is probably gonna have a different effect than unhealthy food. It's gonna feed the, you know, the wrong type of microbes that we don't want growing there.

Yeah. In fact, I asked a functional dentist this because my daughter and I had this actually hyperplasia on my molars, and it's apparently something that happens in utero. So of course we can always blame our mothers for everything. But my daughter has this on one of her molars. And so I was talking to this functional dentist because I'm like, oh, I don't want to have to have her go get a filling, you know, because it creates kind of a sticky tooth. And she gave the advice too. She's like, obviously kids are snacking on crackers and these are things that can obviously interact with the oral microbiome more and kind of stay there. And so if anything, like follow those types of things up. And my daughter actually eats very well. Like, I'm not a crazy dietitian mom, but we definitely— she definitely likes her healthy food. But follow it up with like an apple, right, or fruit, because that becomes a lot of nature's, you know, sort of toothbrush. And so I definitely focus on that because I'm curious to see if we can help kind of stave off any type of filling or anything. And we'll see what happens when her— when her her adult tooth comes in. But yeah, I was like digging and I was like, what do I need to do? What don't I do? Because the dentist of course is gonna recommend, you know, filling it and we don't want a cavity 'cause obviously that can then, you know, cause systemic inflammation. But yeah, I think there's healthier food. We know now the impact. There's been a lot of research that's come out over the past few years on the impact of ultra-processed foods and how they're impacting the gut microbiome, how they're throwing off diversity. And I think we've all known this, certain emulsifiers, certain additives will decrease certain types of bacteria. And so it's another reason to, again, we're not perfect, I'm not perfect all the time, but how can we find more 80/20 in what we're consuming or the things we're putting in us or on us? And that might be an easier thing than I don't have control over the air, you know, the air outside, I don't have control over, I'm not moving, you know? Eventually, eventually the fires will go away. But that's going back to that expo zone. Like, what do we put more weight into now that maybe we don't have to put as much weight into later?

Okay, awesome. I'm curious, like, there's, there's this concept of when keeping it real goes wrong. It's from Dave Chappelle, if you're a Chappelle fan.

I like that.

And, and I'm curious of anything that you can share where we might think we're doing something good for our microbiome or just our health in general, and it's the opposite? So it's having kind of the opposite effect. Is there anything that— I know it's kind of a weird question.

I mean, I actually— no, I mean, I like this, and I am as Libra as you get, and I am all about balance in life. My way of practicing has been about balance, and I really try to I live by that. I think it's just innately in me. But there's been a lot of conversations 'cause even in like the longevity space, most people have heard of Bryan Johnson, you know, the biohacker who spends millions, you know, on, and he just announced that he has an autoimmune disease. And so I think there's a real conversation in when these types of things become stressful, when we become obsessive. You know, I live in Colorado outside of Boulder where orthorexia, that term really became known in being too healthy. And so I believe in that because when we start to become fearful of everything around us and we start to become obsessive where that innately is turning into more stress, that stress is gonna have a more profound impact on our health than the cupcake we ate, right? And so that's why I think I like to meet people halfway. I meet myself halfway all the time where, okay, I didn't— my daughter woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning. I didn't get my workout in, but can I go steal 10 minutes and just take a walk around the block even? It's not necessarily what I would choose to do, but maybe that's what I can do. So I think we all live kind of in this perfectionist space sometimes. I know I can. And I think we're the hardest on ourselves, but how can we find balance? 'Cause to me, that's where the microbiome, it's not, it's the Goldilocks. It's not whether it's too hot or too cold, it's the balance. And balancing doesn't mean it's always good. It just means that we're kind of maintaining equilibrium. And that can mean something different for everyone.

Yeah, I think that's important. You know, we can get obsessed and, you know, it can make it, make it seem like being healthy is unattainable. And, you know, then people just give up altogether. So they go, right, you know, just trying to doing nothing because they just feel overwhelmed with all the things that they need to do. So I love, I love that 80/20 approach. I'm gonna have to look into what Aquarius's are in that regard because I think I'm more like 95/5. I don't project that onto other people, but I like to, you know, I like to know what I'm doing and then just kind of stick to it.

And, you know, I think routine, right? Routine is important because it becomes then just part of what you do versus what you think necessarily. And right. But yeah, I think as long as what you're doing or what you want to do isn't creating an imbalance somewhere else. And to me, ebbs and flows like I'm constantly I might be in a season of life right now where certain things are unattainable, but it doesn't mean that in a year or two years that I can't then make that a priority. And I think that's being real, right? Like that's the being true to yourself. And I think ultimately whatever we do that's good for us is having profound impact than potentially the other thing. So anything we can change that we feel good about is good for us.

Amazing.

I love it.

Now looking at, let's talk about Resbiotic.

Yeah.

Because you know, that's, that's how we met and, and that's what sparked our conversation. You've got a lineup of products for lung, for GLP-1 production, for energy and, and maybe like a pre-workout type of deal and then perimenopause support. So Maybe you can talk us through how these products are different and is it possible to take them all or do you start with one and then build yourself up?

Yeah, so we are, we're a newer, you know, microbiome company and I had mentioned before, founded by Dr. Vivek Lau, a neonatologist, and we launched with our lung support probiotic. It's really after, you know, his years and years of research. And I think, you know, we, we're only a few years old. We, we've been around, we, we launched, you know, right after COVID. COVID, um, which was great, obviously, you know, people really wanting more respiratory. And I think we're, we're truly innovating in this next generation microbiome space. We think of next generation oftentimes, like, as practitioners or people who are well-versed in the microbiome space, is just certain microbes. But next generation or precision formulation isn't necessarily what do you need because we don't have that level of knowledge. There are big researchers out there that are trying to understand more personalization to your microbiome and what you eat and, and all the above, but it's more about how can we formulate these precision solutions to target these specific needs or these specific areas of the body. And that's really our basis, this gut x axis. And we formulate products, we use various, uh, Probiotics, so we have a lung support probiotic, which is obviously targeting, I think of it as your 3-in-1 probiotic. It's gut health, right, right, 'cause it's a probiotic. It's immune support 'cause it's through this gut-immune axis, but you're getting that targeted respiratory, and we've got multiple published studies on that. We have a metabolic product, which is a GLP-1 postbiotic. We didn't really talk about the difference in these various biotics. The postbiotic space is really exciting. In fact, this is really where the microbiome space is headed. Most people don't really even know what a postbiotic is. Postbiotics we often thought of as just the bioactive compounds that are produced by our probiotics, our beneficial bacteria, butyrate being one. Many of us use butyrate in our practice. You know, that is part of the definition and it's evolved now, really in, I think it was 2021 or 2022 when a newer definition definition came about where we started to look at inanimate microorganisms. What happens when these probiotics die, basically? Or I think of it as a ghost. They're not fully dead yet, but they're not culturable, meaning you can't culture them. And so it launched this whole area of research of what happens when you heat treat or pasteurize or heat inactivate a probiotic. And what we've learned, and we've done some of this research, is that when you start to look at specific end outcomes, they're either retained when the probiotic is in this sort of ghost-like state, or they're enhanced because probiotics have to travel quite a journey to get to where they need to get to, and your journey is very different than my journey. Postbiotics, they just get there. So you basically get the targeted benefit without them needing to be alive. And that offers a lot of opportunity from a formulation perspective because they're still stable. You can blend them, combine them, and you are getting that benefit. So our GLP-1 postbiotic is our heat-treated L. plantarum strain. These are our strains that we combine with bioactives like fenugreek and white mulberry. And we actually just wrapped up our clinical trial on it, which is really exciting. It's the first postbiotic microbiome product to go through human clinical trial. And I really will say, I want to add to this because this is truly what I think differentiates us as the core of our company, is Because our founder, Dr. Lau, comes from this research world, pharmaceutical development, we really saw an opportunity to bring this pharmaceutical level rigor. What the pharmaceutical companies do very well is research finished product validation, but it's inaccessible, it's slow to the market, right? Whereas the consumer supplement space or supplements in general, there's been a lot of distrust. We know consumers and patients are demanding more science and data because how do you know from a quality perspective, from an outcome perspective, how do you know it's supposed to do? And we saw an opportunity to build ResBiotic to bridge that gap between what was lacking in the consumer space to what the pharmaceutical world does very well. And so we bring this level of rigor from preclinical. So we do lots of lab work on our biotics to understand their mechanism of action. On the blends, but more importantly on the finished product so that we know the finished product is having a greater impact or greater efficacy than any individual. So we know that everything that's being added in, it's synergistic, it's compatible, it's intentional. We're not just adding something in because it sounds cool or because it's a popular ingredient. And we're not putting things in in greater amounts to just make it more expensive. But then we follow everything up with human clinical trial. And that's for every single product that we put out. And that's very different, and it's something that we stand by. It's truly a mission of ours as practitioners and scientists, but really wanting to bring more of that rigor and that science. And also because we are working in this sort of next generation space, the space that's really newer in the microbiome, how the microbiome's impacting metabolic health. We have a perimenopause support postbiotic that combines things like black cohosh and chaste berry, really looking at how it impacts the estrobol and the group of bacteria that are responsible for estrogen metabolism and balance. But we do those end studies to make sure that we're actually seeing that. And then we have a bone and joint postbiotic. So we're really in the postbiotic world. If you ask me, I'd probably never formulate another probiotic. I think the scientific community is trying to better understand, you know, are probiotics only beneficial because of their postbiotics? So I think we're entering a really exciting exciting world in the biotics space. Okay.

So I'm on your website. Yeah. And the first thing I notice is how reasonably priced everything is.

Yes.

Yeah. Which is very refreshing.

Yeah.

Because it adds up pretty quickly when you start making recommendations to clients. And, and, you know, I think that kind of keeps people out of, you know, the market in the sense that if, they're unattainable from a cost standpoint, then they might do it for a month or two and they kind of fall off the wagon. But I love that your pricing is very affordable. And, uh, you know, you've got like these, these products like really speak to, speak to the work that we do. So in our practice, we work with a lot of menopausal, perimenopausal, postmenopausal women. So it sounds like the perimenopause support would be a The midlife support, right? Yeah. And, you know, we work with a lot of people who are looking to improve metabolic health and, you know, so we like the GLP-1 postbiotic and then, you know, I'm really big into helping people learn how to breathe better. So would you recommend starting with multiple strains or do you recommend starting with one and then adding another? Like how would How would I go about placing an order if I'm on your website? What would I— what would you recommend?

And I didn't answer that in that previous, because I got, I got on the tangent, but our products are really designed around what are you currently struggling with to what are you proactively trying to prevent, is how I like to think of it. They are definitely meant to be stacked. They are definitely meant to be combined, um, because we've studied the mechanism. Everything's gone through human clinical trial. Most of our papers are held up in publication review currently, 'cause there's not enough reviewers out there, but it's exciting. And hopefully I can come back and talk about our GLP-1 study. To me was incredible in regards to the metabolic optimization and how we actually increased metabolic flexibility. We actually saw weight loss, which was really surprising because we know natural GLP-1, endogenous GLP-1, it doesn't act the same, but we improved your body's signaling or your body's pathway to actually utilize the food and decrease cravings and respond to that pathway even better. So that was really cool to see. So yeah, they're meant to be stacked in regards to we're an omnichannel company. So of course, a consumer can come on and purchase on our site. We do offer a direct-to-healthcare practitioner program as well. So we have a portal that you can sign up. We offer practitioners exclusive resources, patient handouts, lots of protocols. Their own pricing to be able to offer it to their patients. And, and practitioners actually get a 60-day product line, and that was really out of my frustrations working in GI, where I don't know about you if you've ever had patients come back, or anyone listening, that says, oh, you know, this, this probiotic or this postbiotic's not doing anything. Microbiome modulation takes time, and so I wanted practitioners to be able to offer a more patient-adherent, more clinically meaningful product. You know, your patient's walking out with 60 days, so they're more likely to to see, feel a difference. And that really came out of, you know, over 10 years of working in GI and I knowing that this product is probably going to help, but needing to have the patient trust that, right? We are available on other platforms like Fullscript and GetHealthy for practitioners that utilize that. And then we also have some of our products, not all of them available in retail. So going back to the affordability, that is a mission of ours. You know, how do we bring this level of science, the most scientifically rigorous product to the market that is both accessible and affordable because it isn't going to be the only product that probably your patients take. And I know I take a whole bunch of things, probably a lot less than other people, but, you know, we're all taking a lot of stuff. So how do you prioritize? And when I think sometimes there's a, a side to consumer purchasing where sometimes things that are more expensive are seen as better. Which isn't always the case 'cause lots of things are expensive that have no research. And research to me is a big quality bucket that's not being fulfilled by a lot of companies. Right. But affordability is also a way to ensure that when people do feel the benefits, which they will, I have no doubt, that they're more likely to continue it. Because someone like my mother who's on our lung support, she's had lifelong asthma, poor lung architecture, she'll be on lung support the rest of her life because she has a lifelong condition, and it's not going to break the bank.

Yeah, that's great. So are you able to share what some of the findings were from the GLP-1 study?

Yeah, this is so cool. I mean, I— it was a study that lasted longer than it should, as all— as consumer studies can. And so it was really exciting to see. So preclinical, so in vitro, so in the lab, our scientists grow out what's called organoid models, which is so cool. They're basically growing organs in the lab. And that's how we're able to start to understand these sort of system-specific impacts. So they grow out lung organoids, we have ovaries, we have brain models, we do lots of different things. And so when we grew out our gut cells, our ileum, 'cause that's where GLP-1 is produced in the gut, but that production is heavily influenced by what is going on in the microbiome. We know that people that have metabolic dysregulation have altered microbial profiles. They actually have a microbiome that's thriftier. So an obese or overweight microbiome will actually extract more calories from the same food. So we understand all of that. And so we looked at in vitro, so in these gut cells, our product in the finished product form, how that actually increases GLP-1, improves glucose consumption. So how well your cells take in and metabolize glucose. We looked at in the post— antibiotic, decreasing inflammatory compounds or cytokines, interleukin-6, interleukin-1 beta, TNF alpha. And then in this, in the human study, we looked at obviously from a quality of life perspective, GI changes and food cravings, which we saw significant reduction in food cravings. We saw significant increase. We looked at GLP-1, um, which was a hard lab because it had to be like temperature controlled, but we saw significant increase in endogenous GLP-1. So we're actually improving that pathway. And then to see significant reductions in food cravings was awesome because that actually shows that you're getting that gut metabolic brain signaling for your body to say, hey, you're full. What was most surprising in that study was that we actually saw significant weight loss. So on average, 9 out of 10 participants, which is, you know, a significant amount, actually saw 6-pound weight loss throughout the course of the study, which again doesn't sound like a lot, but I think about that patient that is eating well and exercising and not seeing metabolic outcomes, or that patient's on a metabolic journey and maybe is plateaued. It really comes down to metabolic flexibility. It's not about weight loss, it's about how your body can respond to those natural signals that should be regulating appetite or should be regulating glucose or should be regulating gut-brain signaling, and that's not happening. So the microbiome for me offers again that foundational for anyone on a metabolic journey. And so it was really cool to see that full picture because it actually— we saw it in the lab, um, and then it actually, you know, manifested clinically, which was great. So really cool study, and hopefully can share more once the publication comes through. But I can tell you, I take it, I definitely notice less food cravings, which I love, especially, you know, throughout those hormonal changes where I'm like, give me all the sweets that I can have.

I love that. I'm, I think I'm gonna start with the Core Wellness Bundle for myself.

Oh, I love that.

You know, I, I love, I love being healthy and I love being even healthier. And, you know, I think that's a great place. It seems like a great place for a lot of our clients to even start just to, get digestion working better, keep things moving, support their healthy cravings, or reduce their cravings for unhealthy things, certainly. And then improve the way they're breathing.

Yeah, yeah. Or even like that perimenopausal woman who's starting to see metabolic changes, who, you know, may also be having some gut dysfunction. That's where you can, you know, our, our pre— our prebiotic, our ResG PreBeat, with the Res-MGLP-1, with the menopause, again, you could sort of create that personalization. And that's why I say we have to look at our, from a microbiome lens, what are we currently struggling with? Or what do we need to preemptively prime? Like, I like the perimenopause one 'cause I'm 39. I'm starting to get into that next midlife phase. So what can I do now so I don't get into, as my hormones start to fluctuate more than they probably already are, how do I start to protect the microbiome so I don't feel those fluctuations as much? Because that's why symptoms intensify. Intensify. It's not because we're estrogen dominant or estrogen, um, insufficient. Our hormones are fluctuating so wildly, and that group of bacteria starts to get thrown off in terms of their efficiency and how much estrogen's getting put back in versus how much is excreted. So how do we start to protect that well-oiled machine, and what can we do even prior to those symptoms even come into play? And same thing, I'm— I take our Res B Lung Support I'm an allergy person. I have a 4-year-old that brings home every germ known to man. So what are we doing to support our immune system while also getting that specific respiratory? So yeah, I think it's an easy way to start to formulate these things depending on where are the life cycle or the issues that your patients are actually struggling with.

Okay, thank you. For the Res B, which is for the lungs, Tell me what somebody can expect taking that. Yeah. So let's, let's assume that they don't have asthma or COPD or a kind of a outward lung issue.

Mm-hmm.

What, what would we be looking for to know if it's supporting us or working for us? Yeah.

And we actually, in our clinical trial on, on Respi, we saw significant improvements. I think 82% of participants Participants, of course, there were healthy participants, saw reported quality of life improvements, quality of life even from sleeping better because they're breathing better. Even people reported like, you know, I feel like I wasn't taking a deep breath and now I am. I mean, I think of even some of our testimonials that we have. We did see functional improvement obviously in lungs. So if you are someone who has increased mucus production or coughing, or you're that person that wakes up and you've got that congestion and you're like, where is it coming from? These are things that we definitely noted. Even in our clinical trial, 95% of the participants who were taking Resby would recommend it. And so again, many of these were participants that were very healthy. So I usually tell people, because it's a probiotic, you're going to obviously get gut benefits and you may notice the gut benefits initially, 'cause that's kind of the first area to start to modulate, where within a month, you know, again, microbiome modulation takes time. I always say a month to 3 months is the timeframe that we really wanna judge whether we're seeing benefits. Where we might notice respiratory. I mean, our founder, you know, he never gets sick. He stopped taking Res B and all of a sudden he got like a cold and he's like, "I know it's because I wasn't taking it." So in terms of how do we actually support, I don't like to say boost our immune system 'cause it's really about supporting your immune system. How do we actually support that gut-immune communication? So for me, I take this. I can say that, I mean, I'm gonna knock on wood now, but our daughter's first year of being in school, she was in pre-K-3, I, my husband and I did not get any colds at all. So was it just resvii? I don't know, but that was one of the newer things that we had added into our regimen.

All right, well that's awesome. So for practitioners who are watching this, what would you advise as their next step? Would it be to contact your team directly?

Yeah, we're, we're a small team. We're, we're here to help people. I love talking. If anyone ever has microbiome questions, I always say I'm a nerd with a capital R. RD. So I'm always here to field any clinical consults. That's— I should trademark that. Um, but on our site, we do have a for healthcare practitioner section where they can go in and sign up and then get into our system. We offer lots of education. We do monthly webinars. I think the microbiome, that's, that's my passion, is, you know, how do we continue to educate ourselves on the microbiome? And not just from what's happening in the research or what we're doing as a company, but really how to understand it clinically and what does this mean from a clinical perspective. And so I always encourage practitioners to get into our system. I always put our webinars up. So if you can't attend, you can listen. We've got lots of patient handouts and protocols and product sheets to really dig into the science. And that's a nice way to get connected. I'm happy to leave my email address also in the show notes. If anyone ever wants to email me, we're always available to talk. Actually probably the most favorite part of my day is when I get to talk to practitioners.

Amazing. Yeah. I also noticed you offer a gut health test. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

We do. And so this is, um, on our consumer offerings only. Um, obviously healthcare practitioners have opportunities to work with various companies. Um, but this is a test that we're actually, um, in partnership with Tiny Health, um, that we're offering it to consumers. And this is really just to give another level of microbiome support. It's something we obviously hear and then And they get a sort of personalized guide to guide them to their Resbiotic product and how their test is pointing back to things like inflammation or immune system changes or changes in hormones and how to actually pair our products. So that's a newer offering that we're doing on our consumer side. I think there's a lot of interest in microbiome testing and it was a wonderful partnership for us just to say, hey, let's see how our customer base can actually utilize that data.

Yeah. And a good thing to note for people is that, you know, if you go to resbiotic.com, you can get these products using your HSA and FSA account. So that adds some additional, you know, tax-based savings for you. And the bundles are actually very affordable as well. So you can bundle the products together, you know, packs in some additional punch in terms of a discount and really a great way to, kind of hit the reset button and turn on, you know, the flip on the switches of your healthy microbiome when it comes to, you know, your appetite, when it comes to energy, when it comes to lung health. And even for women who are, you know, entering that phase of life, just helping support them in, in that journey of navigating through those hormonal changes. I'm curious, is there something for men? Because I know men go through some hormonal changes as well. I don't know if that's in the pipeline or not.

They do. And definitely something that, it's funny, we were just recently talking about this internally and there is, we have this endobolone, like we're understanding more of male hormone understanding. So hey, maybe more to come. We have some cool things in R&D being studied right now. What's unique about us as a company, these are our own strains, these are everything we're bringing to market. So there's a lot of R&D that goes behind the scenes in our, besides our scientists, growing out all these different organ systems, but really testing all of our different biotics in different forms, whether it's live or postbiotic, because we're really trying to bring the best, you know, product to the market.

Wonderful. And then I'm curious for myself, but also for my Canadian clients, do you ship to Canada if you order from the website?

So we are, we can and we are working on, we actually have our NPN and working on distribution there, so it's definitely a priority of ours. So I always say reach out to us and we can talk through it. We do have some other partners that can ship through Canada. So yes, so we have been, yeah. And obviously we're working on sort of greater distribution in Canada. It's a long process, long process.

The NPN is like, they treat supplements like drugs here in Canada. So you have to jump through a lot of hoops and a lot of stuff.

And even after submitting, it takes a while. So our respi and our prebiotic have their NPN, And now we're just kind of moving through some of the next steps, but—

Okay, amazing. So Kara, tell us how people— what, what's the next step? If somebody's listening to this as a practitioner, please advise us on, on how we can get engaged with the product, with the company. Who should we reach out to? What's the best way for people to connect?

Yeah, so anyone can reach out to me. It's Kara, K-A-R-A, at ResBiotic, R-E-S. Resbiotic.com. But also, I encourage everyone to head over to our website, www.resbiotic.com. You'll see a section there for healthcare practitioners and a form to fill out. This gives you back access, and then you'll hear from me to reach out and ways to, to place a call or to set up a meeting and talk through patients, talk through how to get RES to your patients. And so we're widely available, but I always encourage people to reach out to me directly.

Wonderful. I know I asked a lot of questions, but I'm sure there's even more questions I didn't ask. So is there something I didn't ask that I should have that you want people to know?

I think one of the biggest ones— you asked great questions, but I, I think one of the, the biggest questions I hear are myths related to the microbiome. And I say this a lot because you don't have to have digestive issues to have microbiome imbalance. And that's really kind of the ethos, or the— not the ethos, but it is what we focus on at Res, but really the basis of our conversation is this sort of systems-wide impact that our foundation has. And so as a practitioner, and especially in this functional space, we're navigating some of the most difficult patients. The microbiome or the gut offers to me a starting point that can really give you more clues or can provide some upstream feedback as to how to navigate the complexities of what we know we're, we're dealing with and what we see on a daily basis with our patients. So keep that in mind. That's why I say when in doubt, start with the gut.

Okay. Awesome. I have one more question that came up as you were sharing.

I love that.

Uh, I'm curious because a lot of the clients that we work with have dysfunctional nighttime breathing, uh, like snoring, you know, apnea, things like that. I'm curious if, if there's been any, uh, research or kind of anecdotal evidence that shows that people snore less or there's less apneic events.

So we haven't done any specific studies in sleep apnea, although I think it opens up an opportunity because again, from just what's out there and available, but we have had anecdotal and we've had great feedback that people are sleeping better. And actually we saw this, this is a reported outcome in one of our studies that people were sleeping better because they were breathing better. So I do think it, yeah, I do think it plays a big role.

Amazing. Amazing. Well, thank you, Cara. Thank you. Appreciate our time together. Maybe one of many conversations that we have over the years to come. And for all of you who are listening, thank you for staying tuned in. Lots of great information was shared by Cara. Check out resbiotic.com. If you're a practitioner, set up your wholesale account and, or you can obviously go through Fullscript or GetHealthy if you're on those platforms. I would say try out the products for yourself, as I always encourage people to do. I'll be trying them out myself as well. And here's to amazing health and happiness and wholeness to you, Cara, and all of our listeners today.

Thank you so much.