MARTIN: Hello, this is Martin Pytela for Life Enthusiast podcast and today with me, Dr Lyle Wilson. He is bringing to us a product known as Strength24. Dr Wilson!

LYLE: I'm delighted to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

MARTIN: Yeah. We have been selling your product for years and it has been narrowly cast at people who may have issues with frequent urination. But this product is so much more.

LYLE: It is indeed. Yes.

MARTIN: Yeah. Let's explain what all it actually does help with.

LYLE: Okay. The list is long and pretty glorious. So let's begin with a little background understanding of what we're addressing with the key ingredients in this product. Calcium. Most of us, when we think of calcium, we're thinking about bones and teeth and 99 and a half percent of the kilo’s worth of calcium in our bodies is that. But that other half percent about an ounce and a half of free calcium in the body are calcium ions that because of their unique double plus charge, the body has adapted to and uses that unique quality as a second messenger. And calcium is involved in every function of every cell in our bodies. And so consequently with that very potent charge, our bodies have developed these unique ways of regulating where that calcium is and what it's doing so that it can use it well to ask the cells to do the work that they do and then stop it when it's no longer appropriate to continue.

MARTIN: My understanding of this was that calcium is the signaling molecule in the autonomic nervous system, activating and magnesium being its opposite, turning it off. Right, so they play together like that?

LYLE: They do, yes. Yeah.

MARTIN: And in our diet, calcium is rich and magnesium is not. So we end up being too happy or too triggered into the calcium realm, right?

LYLE: Yes, we do. Yeah. And there's this great huge gradient of calcium ions outside the cell membrane to inside. It's about a 10,000 to 1 gradient. And so it's very easy and quick to send the signal and cause a flood of calcium into the cell to trigger its work. But then we have to have a way to regulate that and pull it back out of that activity. So there are a couple of enzymes, calcium ATPase enzymes that we keyed in on in our work with the formulation of this product. And these enzymes are really about relaxation. They're really about giving the cell the opportunity to relax between times that it's being called on by the nervous system to do the work that it does.

MARTIN: Yeah, this is like getting the gas pedal unstuck and pulling it back, right?

LYLE: That's exactly right. Yes. Yeah. So one pretty easy visual way to think about this is that when we get a signal to contract our biceps muscle, that's that release of the calcium into that muscle fiber. And the actin and myosin do their thing. In order for that muscle to be able to relax that contraction, the calcium ATPase enzyme has to gather up all of that calcium and put it back into storage and then the muscle can relax. And so that's happening in every kind of cell that we have in our bodies.

MARTIN: Yeah, right. And in microseconds.

LYLE: Yes. Yeah. It's so fast.

MARTIN: Right.

LYLE: It's so fast. Yeah. There are 600,000 to 1.4 million chemical reactions a second inside of ourselves. And so all of this is,

MARTIN: So let's outline. Would you please outline the horror of when things go off the rails? What does actually happen to a person who has this dysregulation going on?

LYLE: Well, what happens is diabetes and cancer and fatigue and heart failure and blood clots and a-fib. And when we are out of balance and unable to pull the cells back from their work and enable them to relax, then we get all of this dysregulation and dysfunction happening, which we step back and look at in the wider world and just call disease.

MARTIN: Right. I was just talking to my wife. She says a relative has been in an emergency room with a-fib. They had to do a cardioversion on him.

LYLE: When we think about that heart muscle, this is a muscle that's going to beat three and a half or four billion times over the course of a lifetime. And the only time it gets to take a break is between beats. And this calcium ATPase is what allows that relaxation between the beats. And so when we have low function of the sarcoplasmic endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase, when that's not functioning well for us, when that activity level is low, then we start missing beats and we translate that as a-fib or, or more horribly, v-fib.

MARTIN: I don’t know what that is.

LYLE: Ventricular fibrillation.

MARTIN: Okay. So rather than the top side, it's the bottom side that's out of rhythm.

LYLE: And the a-fib is acutely uncomfortable and can be life-threatening. V-fib is a heart attack. So.

MARTIN: Oh dear. Okay. And so here we are right back to the calcium magnesium story and the enzyme, the calcium ATPase, which that's actually everything to do with our ability to convert energy. No, well, spend energy and function. Right? Like all of us, you mentioned it in muscles and heart. So everything that involves spending of energy requires this to function.

LYLE: That's correct. And the ATPase in the heart of that enzyme is using that energy expenditure to gather a couple of calcium ions and put it back on the other side of itself. And so the ability for that enzyme to recycle, get a fresh ATP molecule into the heart of itself so that it can keep doing what it does, is at the very heart of what this supplement is all about, is that we're stimulating, serving that enzyme's ability to be more responsive and reactive to the needs of the body.

MARTIN: So in that sense that name is actually really appropriate. Strength 24.

LYLE: Yes. Yes it is. Yes.

MARTIN: Maybe we should have put down slash 365.

LYLE: Right. Yes.

MARTIN: Yeah. Awesome.

LYLE: Maybe the next version of the product.

MARTIN: No, not needed. I'm just playful. Okay, so here we are. Let's talk about how did you actually come up with it? How did that come to be?

LYLE: Yeah, it's a beautiful story. The woman that I co-created this formulation with gave birth to a child who had lots of dysfunction. One of the things that was at issue was that his little body was not making enough of this enzyme. And so she set about to learn everything that she could learn about how to intervene on this. And her father and I are friends and her father is who put us together. We began looking at natural compounds that are available that can stimulate the activity of these calcium ATPase enzymes and do so in a way that was friendly and appropriate to be bringing into the body. And we did create that product really specifically for her child. And in the process of our research, we really figured out that we all begin to lose that optimal function. We hit 25 as a male and 28 as a female. We start seeing a year over year decline in the quality of the function of that enzymatic process and realized that there was an opportunity to help people shift from that steady state decline that we often call the aging process and move it to more of a plateau where we can enjoy that optimal health for a much longer period of time in our life.

MARTIN: If only I had my strength and flexibility and metabolic capacity that I had 50 years ago.

LYLE: Yes.

MARTIN: Yes, indeed. I just heard someone tell me, listen, the way you're feeling right now, 30 years from now, you really wish you felt like that.

LYLE: What?

MARTIN: Which, it's an interesting perspective shift. Right? Like as a 25 year old, I had no understanding of what it's going to be like when I'm 60 or 70.

LYLE: Right.

MARTIN: But anyway, so this is really, really neat. So this boy, did he get better or not?

LYLE: Yes, indeed. He is a couple of years post-graduation with an engineering degree from Georgia Tech and doing beautiful work in the wider world. And so yes, he's done well.

MARTIN: I guess he's still using Strength 24 every day, is he?

LYLE: Yes, indeed. Yes, yes.

MARTIN: So I guess in some way the boy was born into a 70 year old body, right?

LYLE: Right. Yes. Yeah, that's a beautiful way to think of it. And I hadn't ever really. But yeah, that's a great way to understand what he was experiencing. And so the ability to lift that up and help his body to begin adapting to and improving from his state is really what we're looking at being able to do with this idea that we can help ourselves create better versions of ourselves when we make replacement cells in the presence of better quality supplementation, whether it's our air or our food or the specific substance that we bring in.

MARTIN: Okay, so I'm thinking, well, what could I do to improve my life? So this calcium antidote is magnesium. So I suppose supplementing that would be helpful, right?

LYLE: Yes, indeed. Yes.

MARTIN: And then I guess not eating inflammatory foods would be helpful.

LYLE: Yes, of course.

MARTIN: Yes, not drinking inflammatory drinks would be helpful.

LYLE: Right, right.

MARTIN: Okay, well, talk about this, right? So now we have the ability to essentially get a get out of jail card in a way with this product, right?

LYLE: Yes. You know, one of the things that we haven't in our marketing addressed with this product nearly as adequately as we're moving into now is this key idea that this product is broadly anti-inflammatory. This enzyme, this calcium ATPase enzyme also, besides being in every cell of the body as an overall way of thinking about it, it is inside of these specialized immune system cells called mast cells. And when calcium builds inside those mast cells to a point that they're bursting at the seams with calcium.

MARTIN: I know the story of mast cell degranulation.

LYLE: Exactly.

MARTIN: It actually is sort of like stepping on puffball mushrooms. You squish it and a cloud of horrible molecules is released into your body. They're not horrible per se, but they are the messengers that says fire!

LYLE: Fire. That's exactly right. And so when we don't have great calcium regulation, we automatically have higher systemic level inflammation because we have more mast cells degranulating than we should have based on our environment. We're creating an internal environment that is causing this higher level of inflammation because we're causing more mast cell degranulation. So when we provide the body the opportunity to regulate that calcium that is triggering that mast cell degranulation so that we lower the frequency of that happening, then we are in turn lowering systemic level inflammation in the body.

MARTIN: Yeah. I have recently been listening to interviews that include talk about metabolic dysregulation and metabolic disease, as in America as we know it is fed horrible foods grown in horrible ways and that's causing epidemic scale rise in metabolic disease, which will be listed as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and the rest of all of the autoimmune “diseases”, which will include interstitial cystitis, fibromyalgia, vitiligo, vertigo, or Meniere’s, or Sjogren's. And should I go on, right?

LYLE: Yes, and there was just a report in the New York Times this morning that said that 75% of the adult population in the United States is clinically obese. And that number is up from a third pre-pandemic. And so we're in an epidemic status with this, with all of this metabolic disease. Yeah.

MARTIN: Indeed.

LYLE: So bringing that specific aspect of this back to this idea of calcium regulation, when we have poor function of circa, when it's not appropriately activated, then the pancreas is being less effective about creating the regulatory hormones to regulate blood sugar levels appropriately in the body. And so you get this cascading effect of all of those downstream diseases from the metabolic syndrome. When, we talk in fancy terms and we talk about A1C tests and this sort of thing. That A1C test is really measuring how much our red blood cells are being sugar-coated. What percentage of our red blood cells are being sugar-coated?

MARTIN: Yeah, it's a reflection of the damage we suffer as we go.

LYLE: And so if we can do a better job of regulating those blood sugar levels, then that number, that measurement of that damage can come down. And it reflects the fact that we are shifting in a positive way.

MARTIN: Just to tell people what we're talking about. The hbA1c, you'll find it on almost every blood test and it will be a number between four and seven or something like that. And you want it below five. And these days doctors are saying, well, below five and a half you're okay, but I don't agree. And then, when you hit six, they declare you in diabetes.

LYLE: Yes.

MARTIN: And I have seen people's tests that say eight.

LYLE: Yes.

MARTIN: Yeah. And that's a lot of damage.

LYLE: That is a lot of damage. That's a lot of damage. And so as you characterized it before, we have an opportunity with this product to begin the consistent, the required consistent work of undoing some of that damage. Because we can improve the pancreas's ability to create insulin and other regulating hormones. We can improve the sensitivity of the receptor sites for the insulin.

MARTIN: That is what matters.

LYLE: Yes. So all of that function rests on the ability for these calcium ATPase molecules to do the work that they do to help those cells function the way that they're supposed to.

MARTIN: So let's talk about dosage. I mean, this stuff is a simple tincture, right?

LYLE: It is indeed. Yes.

MARTIN: So how much does a person need? Does it vary?

LYLE: So it does, it does vary. The standard dose is a dropper full, a milliliter, two times a day.

MARTIN: Okay.

LYLE: There are instances where there is significant cellular damage when somebody is pre-diabetic or diabetic or they're dealing with other more life-threatening illnesses when the body is begging for more support and so more can be taken. I will in periods where I've sustained an injury, I had an automobile accident not long ago. I'll double that dose because my body is wanting more support.

MARTIN: Well, it supports the healing, right? Supports the calcium and magnesium dance in every cell and every reaction. It's involved in your nerves, in your muscles, in your organs, everywhere. There isn't a place in the body where it's not involved.

LYLE: Yes, that's right. Yeah.

MARTIN: Okay, so the bottles are 2 ounces, right?

LYLE: 2 ounces bottles.

MARTIN: So normal dosing one month.

LYLE: Yeah. At the standard dosage it's a month supply.

MARTIN: Right.

LYLE: Yeah.

MARTIN: Okay, well, buy six, right?

LYLE: Yes, we give a discount.

LYLE: Wonderful. Yeah. So, here's a way that I love looking at this. We're 38 trillion cells in our body. Roughly 80% of those are red blood cells.

MARTIN: Wow.

LYLE: Yeah. And so the life cycle of a red blood cell is about 120 days. So if we can help the bone marrow function optimally by giving it the support to be as beautiful as possible in its production of those cells, then we can shift that balance into a more regenerative place. And that's really where we want to go when we think about our bodily experiences.

MARTIN: Yeah, that is truly a beautiful message if there is one about health. Right, like which product helps you with carrying oxygen? I mean look back four years when we had this disaster with our bodies not carrying oxygen. Right. We did not have a lung illness, we had an oxygen transport illness.

LYLE: Yes, yes. Yeah, exactly.

MARTIN: Yeah. Had we all been on this, the outcome might have been very different.

LYLE: Yeah. So, we're looking at an opportunity I think, through our own attention to our well-being, create an ever better version of ourselves. And we're doing that with being mindful about the air and the water and the quality of the food that we eat. And then this targeted supplementation that really can help us be so much better.

MARTIN: So interesting to me that this product is actually based on jasmine.

LYLE: Yes, it is. Yeah. Yeah.

MARTIN: Is this something in the flower or how is this?

LYLE: Yeah, it is in the flower. And that's all, all plants make jasminates. They are defense hormones. And so the highest concentration of those is in the jasmine plant, in the flowers.

MARTIN: Is it like a terpene or something of that sort?

LYLE: It is, yeah. And so these jasminates are, I’m getting a little geeky and nerdy, they're allosteric compounds. These calcium ATPases are proteins. And so an allosteric compound is something that fits into a secondary receptor site on the protein and causes it to change the way it's shaped.

MARTIN: Yeah. So instead of attack, it's in defense, right?

LYLE: Yeah. And so on a calcium ATPase molecule, when that jasminate comes in and attaches to that secondary receptor site, it moves that ATPase into the ready state so that it is optimized to do the work that it does. And so, one of the things that, circling back to this problem with obesity is that the utilization of calcium ATPase when it's cycling like I just described, that's responsible for 20% of our calorie burn a day. So if we can change that by a half a percent by having the calcium ATPase be in a steady state and ready more often, if you can change that by half a percent, we're moving the basal metabolic rate in our bodies up and therefore we're consuming more of the calories that we're putting in and so we're able to regulate weight better.

MARTIN: Yeah. Which means in 200 days you will have doubled your burn. Yes, it seems small, but it's in time. It's impactful, right?

LYLE: Yes, it is. Yeah.

MARTIN: Yeah. I don't know what more to say other than I've just so enjoyed being with you all these years because you're just such an awesome character.

LYLE: Thank you.

MARTIN: Not putting on airs, not putting anyone beyond or just, feeling like you treat humanity with kindness.

LYLE: Ah, well, thank you. I appreciate it. That's a high compliment.

MARTIN: Yeah. Is there something else that you want to mention or share? There are several talking points we had ahead of us to cover. I think we covered most of it, but could you just review?

LYLE: You know, I will tell you that I've had a long standing passion with classic Asian medicine as well. And so I've had the opportunity to appreciate the jasmine flower extract as the key ingredient in this product from a classic Chinese medicine and an herbal perspective. And all of you who have tasted this wonderful product know that there's this beautiful sweet quality to the flavor and that has us bringing that in through the earth element from a five element Chinese medicine perspective. And so it's liver and spleen. The earth element is that central pivot around which all of the rest of our health, that drawing in of resources and transforming those resources into ways that we can use them optimally. That's our earth element. And so this introduction of Strength 24 into our system through the earth element and the distribution of its lovely qualities through the luo, l-u-o network of the energetic anatomy is how the classic Asian medicine sees this nutrient being delivered to the cells so that it can be utilized. I just find that a gentle,

MARTIN: Very poetic. When I think of spleen, of course that's the organ where all blood gets filtered, where all the red blood cells get checked.

LYLE: Yes.

MARTIN: So the logic of it. Right. The Eastern tradition tells you that the spleen is on this meridian and truly it is involved with the health of your blood.

LYLE: Yes.

MARTIN: And the liver of course is involved with the inflammation or opposing the inflammation because there the methylation takes place in the liver where we all detoxify and neutralize all these toxic things that would damage us. So, just sological when you understand the anatomy of it. Right?

LYLE: Yes. Yes. So, I guess my parting thought is that because, and thank you for inviting me to talk about Strength 24 as being broadly anti-inflammatory. A positive way to look at that is that it's pro-longevity. And so it goes back to that idea that I spoke of earlier. This notion of bringing the quality of our life up to move at a high level across a plateau rather than this slow and steady decline.

MARTIN: Yeah. Make me 25 again, thank you. Yeah, yeah. What's really interesting is that the main marketing push for this product was dealing with getting up at night to urinate.

LYLE: Yes.

MARTIN: And I find that it's the level of histamine in the body that triggers their urge to go right to wake up.

LYLE: Yes, yes. So, pulling that inflammation level down in the body, pulling that kind of baseline histamine level down in the body has the beneficial effect of letting us sleep more deeply and stay in bed longer.

MARTIN: Right. And get out of your chair without stiffness.

LYLE: Right.

MARTIN: The stiffness on rising. It's a classic high level inflammation body wide. So I mean the applications, when you say broadly anti-inflammatory for people sometimes it just doesn't sink in what that means, but it means more grip strength in your hands if you're starting to lose it or more flexibility if you're starting to lose it or,

LYLE: Yeah.

MARTIN: What else would you throw at it?

LYLE: Well, just as you mentioned, that ability to stand up out of a chair, the number one indicator for longevity is quad strength. The ability to stand up out of a chair. And that is directly related to keeping inflammation levels low and giving those muscles the opportunity to do their work well and relax well in between.

MARTIN: Well, if people out there hear this message clearly, you should soon be a rich man. I wish people hear it clearly.

LYLE: I hope so as well. Yes.

MARTIN: Thank you very much. This is Dr Lyle talking about Strength 24. And Martin Pytela, you will find us at life-enthusiast.com and by phone at 866-543-3388. Thank you.

LYLE: Thank you.