How to improve the results of Regenerative Medicine Treatments

Are you considering trying new regenerative medicine treatment options like stem cells, exosomes or peptides? The potential therapeutic benefits of these treatments are very exciting, but to achieve the best possible outcome, it’s essential to consider the following:

Think of these regenerative treatments as seeds you are “planting” in your body. 

If your body is a “fertile terrain”, you can expect the seeds to flourish, and produce excellent treatment results. 

However, if your body’s terrain is infertile, you are likely to miss out on many of the benefits, because the seeds you are planting won’t grow as well as they could.

How do you know if your body’s terrain is fertile or infertile?

Recent scientific studies indicate that only about 12% of the U.S. population has good metabolic health (with Australia and Europe not far behind). Metabolic health is a reasonable indicator of how “fertile” your body’s terrain is.  This means only about 12% of the people who try regenerative therapies will achieve optimal results.

However it is important to remember that the health of our body’s biological terrain is more than just metabolic health and is also affected by how well other parts of our body function such as our nervous, immune and endocrine systems. 

While pills and supplements can help address specific deficiencies or support certain health goals, science has conclusively shown that it is our daily habits (diet, sleep, stress, exercise etc) that have the greatest and longest lasting impact on the body’s overall health and biological terrain (see footnote). 

Bad habits = bad biological terrain = poor regenerative medicine results

To illustrate the impact that just one lifestyle habit can have on treatment outcomes, let’s consider the following study on the effects that poor sleep can have on the immune system.

In this study, which was published in the prostigious Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002, participants were divided into two groups: one group had their sleep reduced in the nights before receiving a flu vaccine, while the other group was allowed full nights of sleep before their flu shot.

Those who got only four hours of sleep for six nights before receiving the vaccine produced less than 50% of the flu antibodies compared to those who slept between seven and eight hours. 

Get this! The poorly sleeping group received less than 50% of the vaccine’s benefit compared to the well-rested group.   

What made matters even worse was that even when the sleep deprived group was able to recover their sleep in the subsequent days and weeks, their flu antibodies did not increase significantly. 

This basically means that you get only ONE chance to get a good treatment result. 

Regenerative medicine treatments such as stem cells and exosomes also require optimal sleep for the best results.    This is because high quality sleep, with adequate amounts of REM and Deep Delta Wave sleep, is critical in order to achieve:

1. Optimum oxidative stress levels (necessary to maximize the viability and functionality of stem cells by avoiding DNA damage and protein degradation)
2. Adequate modulation your body’s Nuclear factor Kappa Beta (required to minimize inflammation and stem cell death)
3. Balance in your autonomic nervous system (which prevents the release of harmful pro-inflammatory cytokines can cause the body’s immune system to reject the stem cells)
4. Low levels of silent chronic low-grade inflammation (which impairs cellular function and disrupts the body’s healing pathways).

The above bio-markers must be in their optimal ranges if you want the best possible outcome from your treatment.

Imagine how frustrated you would feel if you left up to 50% of the possible benefits of your regenerative treatment on the table because you didn’t pay enough attention to your sleep?

And so far we have only considered the impact of sleep, however “what” and “when” you eat in the weeks and days before and after a stem cell treatment could affect the result even more than your sleep.

This is because different ways of eating generate varying levels of insulin, growth factors, and inflammation in the body. To achieve the best results from a regenerative treatment, it’s crucial to optimize these levels before undergoing the therapy.

A 2018 study published in the journal “Cell Stem Cell” showed that a 24 hour fast doubled the regenerative capacity of stem cells in mice (the equivalent fast in humans would be about 3 to 5 days).

In conclusion, if you’re considering investing in regenerative treatment, you should also invest time and effort in preparing your “biological terrain”, to ensure the best possible results and the greatest return on your investment.

Click here to watch a 3 minute video I recorded on this topic in Youtube.

Footnotes

Here are some high-quality studies that illustrate the greater benefits of lifestyle changes over supplements and medications for overall health:

1. Diet and Lifestyle vs. Supplements:
   • Study: “Mediterranean diet and prevention of cardiovascular disease.”
     • Authors: Estruch, R., Ros, E., Salas-Salvadó, J., et al.
     • Journal: New England Journal of Medicine, 2013.
     • Summary: This landmark study, part of the PREDIMED trial, found that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts significantly reduced the incidence of major cardiovascular events compared to a low-fat diet. This demonstrates the superiority of dietary patterns over isolated supplements.
     • Link: NEJM
2. Exercise vs. Medications for Cardiovascular Health:
   • Study: “Exercise-based rehabilitation for coronary heart disease: Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis.”
     • Authors: Anderson, L., Thompson, D.R., Oldridge, N., et al.
     • Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2016.
     • Summary: This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that exercise-based rehabilitation significantly reduced cardiovascular mortality and hospital admissions compared to usual care, highlighting the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions over medication alone.
     • Link: PubMed
3. Lifestyle Modifications vs. Diabetes Medications:
   • Study: “Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin.”
     • Authors: Knowler, W.C., Barrett-Connor, E., Fowler, S.E., et al.
     • Journal: New England Journal of Medicine, 2002.
     • Summary: The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) study demonstrated that intensive lifestyle intervention (diet and exercise) was more effective than metformin in reducing the incidence of type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals.
     • Link: NEJM
4. Diet and Lifestyle vs. Supplements for Cancer Prevention:
   • Study: “Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of major chronic disease.”
     • Authors: Hung, H.C., Joshipura, K.J., Jiang, R., et al.
     • Journal: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2004.
     • Summary: This study found that higher fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a lower risk of major chronic diseases, including cancer, compared to supplement use, which did not show similar benefits.
     • Link: JNCI
5. Comprehensive Lifestyle Interventions vs. Medication:
   • Study: “Effects of comprehensive lifestyle modification on blood pressure control: main results of the PREMIER clinical trial.”
     • Authors: Appel, L.J., Champagne, C.M., Harsha, D.W., et al.
     • Journal: JAMA, 2003.
     • Summary: The PREMIER trial showed that comprehensive lifestyle modifications, including diet, physical activity, and weight loss, led to significant improvements in blood pressure control compared to standard care and medication, demonstrating the profound impact of lifestyle changes.
     • Link: JAMA