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Why You DON'T Want to "Boost Nitric Oxide"
71 Plays2 months ago
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Transcript
Introduction to Nitric Oxide Supplements
00:00:01
chrisyzen
So since 2008, which was when I first started kind of studying ah personal training and fitness instruction in Ireland, already supplements that boost nitric oxide were kind of appearing on the market. They were pretty, they were pretty
00:00:25
chrisyzen
Not, I don't wanna say popular, but they were, guys were talking about them. People were talking about them because it will boost your pumps. You get bigger pumps and you get super swell. But since then, it's been 16 years or so.
Medical Recommendations and Concerns
00:00:43
chrisyzen
Since then, now i'm I'm noticing a lot of the men I work with are already on some kind of nitric oxide boosting stack.
00:00:54
chrisyzen
Usually, it's some sort of mix of or one of the following, L-arginine, the amino acid, L-citrulline, and maybe beetroot, some kind of supplement with beets, beetroots, or extracts, or stuff like that. And the I've noticed even um clients are in their 60s are recommended this even by doctors as a supplement.
00:01:23
chrisyzen
especially when there's some kind of potential for heart disease, whether already diagnosed in an early stage or this um kind of ah there's risk factors,
The Dual Nature of Nitric Oxide
00:01:36
chrisyzen
right? So they're being given these nitric oxide supplements.
00:01:41
chrisyzen
or precursors in order to boost nitric oxide. But why? The ah the the very sort of basic rationale is to increase vasodilation, right? But when you look at what nitric oxide is, it's a reactive oxygen species, and it's also a reactive nitrogen species. So and it's not even super controversial.
00:02:09
chrisyzen
But it does seem like people are being steered away from this information. For example, there's ah there's a study ah there's a paper published in 1998 called The Nitric Oxide Hypothesis of Aging by S.M. McCann, and then he published another one ah In 2005 the nitric oxide theory of aging revisited and over there he starts, you know, he he really kind of explains a lot of these ah Inflammatory and damaging effects of nitric oxide right and some of its roles But if you go to duck the go at least because that's the one I use for tapping duck the go and then I type in nitric and
00:02:56
chrisyzen
oxide, I get synthase booster benefits supplement, nitric oxide foods, nitric oxide journal, nitric oxide flow. Then if I type in c T-H-E-O, only therapy comes. And if I type in theory,
00:03:13
chrisyzen
Nitric oxide theory of aging does not appear as one of the pre-existing search results. Now that could be because people are not searching for it, or it could be sometimes evident it's very evident that they remove certain entries because they don't want people to, oh, let me see what this will bring, what results this will bring.
Media Influence and Information Bias
00:03:34
chrisyzen
Also, when I type in nitric oxide HYP, hypertension comes up. Hypertension, H-pylori, hydrogel, hypoxia. Then if I type hypothesis,
00:03:49
chrisyzen
this hypothesis again nothing comes up. So in both cases, those two papers the nitric oxide theory of aging revisited and the nitric oxide hypothesis of aging do not appear in the search now if you do search for it it does appear nitric oxide theory if you type that in and ah hit enter it does it's not first Actually, ah you have to type in theory of aging, otherwise it some other stuff comes up. So if you type in nitric oxide theory of aging, it does come up, right? So they're not like obfuscating the result completely, but it's so these are subtle.
00:04:31
chrisyzen
social engineering um tactics so people are steered towards specific information that ah and yeah just to give an example so I type in nitric oxide theory of aging so that's the first PubMed entry that comes up but then
00:04:51
chrisyzen
The next article is from the American Heart Association journals. we We know how bought and paid for they are by industry. And they say that the next century is aging of the nitric oxide system. Are we as old as our NO? Then there's again the nitric oxide hypothesis of aging the the previous, the first paper.
00:05:12
chrisyzen
But then the videos are Dave Asprey, the nitric how nitric oxide controls oxygen and nutrient delivery, why is nitric oxide important and what is its relationship to is the next one. Then the next video, these are YouTube videos kind of in the search results, unleashing the anti-aging benefits of nitric oxide boosters yeah from eight months ago.
00:05:33
chrisyzen
Discover the power of nitric oxide transformative anti-aging some doctor's channel transformative anti-aging effects
Health Risks of Excess Nitric Oxide
00:05:43
chrisyzen
Then the next video recommended is instantly increased nitric oxide in the body, kill viruses and top foods to eat. Another Dr. Nathan Bryan and the science of nitric oxide revolutionizing modern medicine with that. This is the kind of stuff that comes up. Then here's another one.
00:06:04
chrisyzen
why nitric oxide is crucial for your health essential health tips elevate your nitric oxide level seven science backed i guess strategies and then another video 2.2 million views nitric oxide the holy grail of in inflammation and disease fix this for longevity that's again that doctor guy So everybody, guess what? Guess what? When everybody is trying to boost nitric oxide, we have to start thinking, wait, something something here must must, there must be fuck a rear foot. I love that saying.
00:06:48
chrisyzen
So I'm not gonna be controversial, I just went to chat GPT and I said ah list all the ways in which nitric oxide is harmful in the body. okay And of course it's gonna play to the mainstream narrative. It will say nitric oxide plays a crucial role in various physiological processes like vasodilation, immune response and neurotransmission. However when producing excess or under certain pathological conditions it can be harmful to the body. Here are some of them. so Nitric oxide can actually react with this thing called superoxide to form peroxynitrite.
00:07:25
chrisyzen
but a baroxy nirite This is a highly reactive nitrogen species. It's a but potent oxidizing agent that can cause extensive oxidative damage to proteins, lipids, and DNA. And from what I recall, excuse me.
00:07:38
chrisyzen
Dr. Mercola in his book about EMFs was talking about how yeah EMFs can actually increase peroxy nitrite. This is one of the most damaging free radicals ah or reactive nitrogen species in the body.
00:07:57
chrisyzen
And yeah EMFs can, apparently, can contribute to to its creation. And um this damage contributes to cellular dysfunction, apoptosis, which is programmed cell death and cell death, is just necrosis. And these are linked to cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory disorders, and neurodegenerative conditions. so ah We are told boost nitric oxide for its vasodilation and cardioprotective and you know cardiovascular benefits. Yet, it when we're when we go out of our way to boost this, it can actually cause a lot of damage in the body because at the end of the day, we are all really exposed to all of these factors that are, according to Chad GPT, under certain circumstances.
00:08:46
chrisyzen
or produced in excess or under certain pathological conditions. But look look at the population. ah Pathological conditions are the norm nowadays.
00:08:59
chrisyzen
They are not the exception. ah A truly healthy human being without too much oxidative stress, and chronic low-grade inflammation, nutritional deficiencies, and high levels of stress. That is super exceptional, super duper, pooper scooper exceptional, right? We're talking like one in a hundred thousand, I guess. Well, maybe not that much, but maybe one in a thousand.
00:09:22
chrisyzen
or one even if it's 1 in 100 it's still the the the sad reality is that these certain pathological conditions are the norm for many people. So in these instances trying to boost nitric oxide in your body is going to cause more damage in the longer term which will take time to manifest but then it will be oh you you didn't eat well or it you know it's genetic you know that kind of way so excess nitric oxide can lead to nitrous nitrosative stress like oxidative stress by nitrosative
00:10:05
chrisyzen
where cellular nitrogen species such as peroxy, nitrite modifying damaged cellular components, especially proteins, this is called nitrocellation and it alters function of the proteins and can impair cellular signaling pathways.
00:10:24
chrisyzen
then inflammation and immune dysregulation. So overproduction of INOS, so that's inducible nitric oxide synthase. This is an enzyme that is upregulated up-regulated during an immune response, immune responses, right? So it causes a lot of nitric oxide to be produced. So nitric oxide can be used, or it's probably one of its chief functions is to kill bacteria, you know, fight fight infections.
00:10:57
chrisyzen
During that process, because how is it doing it? It's by damaging, it's it's a damaging molecule. There's collateral damage, right, that can damage tissue surrounding wherever that particular, quote unquote, pathogen is, right. And that tissue damage over time, again, remember, if you're boosting it on a daily basis with these supplements, if it's marginally elevated where it should be or there's stress in the body that's elevating it and there's a little bit of damage going on over the years and decades that is contributing to diminished longevity because the the tissue damage could be in the vascular system right the
00:11:37
chrisyzen
The blood vessels, it could be organs, could be in the brain, could be brain cells, right? So cytotoxic effects in inflammatory diseases, that's another one. In autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, high levels of nitric oxide contribute to the destruction of healthy tissues. The elevated nitric oxide levels produced by immune cells can damage joint tissues, intestinal walls and other structures. So again, if you are going out of your way to boost your nitric oxide, there is a lot of potential for collateral damage to to the your tissues, right? You might get some basal dilation.
00:12:17
chrisyzen
But as you see kind of near the end of this episode, there is a ah safer way to vasodilate yourself that is probably the true vasodilator as opposed to nitric oxide, which seems to be more of a way to like kill things that are not supposed to be there.
00:12:40
chrisyzen
no Then we have the issue of neurotoxicity and neurological disorders. So in the brain, nitric oxide acts as a neurotransmitter and signaling molecule, but excessive nitric oxide especially when produced by neuronal nitric oxide synthase.
00:12:56
chrisyzen
can be neurotoxic. High levels of NO can react with superoxide to form peroxynitride, like we mentioned, leading to oxidative damage in the neurons, the brain cells. And this contributes to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS.
Medical Missteps and Long-term Effects
00:13:14
chrisyzen
And that can ah also this neuronal damage can just impair memory and learning in general, just cognitive dysfunction, cognitive Diminish a diminishment of cognitive functions as a person ages And it kind of to me. It's really horrific that doctors are now Giving these had one client last was it last week or the week before? um He gave me the supplement that so this
00:13:41
chrisyzen
supposedly top cardiology clinic in the US you know gave him and it was I think that it had all of the things the citrulline the arginine the beetroot whatever the hell is it extract or the root that it doesn't even matter it's a but and you know for someone kind of in in late in their later years to be adding additional damaging factors like that, thinking that they're doing good just because there's 50,000 papers out there because you know there's there's maybe hundreds of thousands about cholesterol and and whatever heart disease, but that doesn't make it any
00:14:27
chrisyzen
More true that cholesterol is the the true culprit in saturated fat or the animal protein or animal fats are are the culprit in heart disease, right? There could be a million papers, but it's ah a lie is a lie. So similarly with nitric oxide, there could be 50,000 papers, but if this is a reactive nitrogen species, a reactive oxygen species, and it causes all of these pathological things in the body, like excitotoxicity, neuronal damage, cell death, cell damage to proteins in the cells, um why are we trying to boost this? it's like It's like, but you see medicine is so warped, it's so perverted,
00:15:10
chrisyzen
today that one of their most used drugs to treat disease, the symptoms of disease, is straight up cortisol, like the cortisol mimicking chemicals from hydrocortisone.
00:15:27
chrisyzen
There's like, ah but I think hundreds of different cortisol type chemicals, prednisolone and whatever else. ah for inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune conditions, rheumatoid arthritis, ah all kinds of conditions, skin issues, eczema, psoriasis. So it's so deranged and perverted that they're using cortisol as one of their main medications. So it's not such a shocker that they're also trying to boost nitric oxide.
00:16:00
chrisyzen
ah To make people even worse because we know that court these court is all mimicking medications Drugs, we should call them medication But even the whole term medicine has been perverted so it doesn't even matter so much but uh We know the side effects of those and I actually talk about them in my book how to actually live longer in chapter one there's everything from steroid induced diabetes to to straight-up ah What was it? Psychosis, ah osteoporosis. ah It was just a ridiculous amount of things that are in the literature. Recognized conditions from, let me see, I'm sorry. So yeah, so from diabetes, panic disorder, glucocorticoid-induced muscle atrophy, ah high blood pressure, glaucoma, pancreatitis, and um
00:16:58
chrisyzen
you know, just these are all side effects of medications that they use to treat to treat, you know, symptoms of disease. So if they got that so badly and woefully wrong, and it's still rampant, still continuing, and like even we've gone to the doctor once or twice with my wife, for our daughter, and they give they gave us some kind of cortisol thing, you know,
00:17:24
chrisyzen
so it's this is one of the primary tools it's like
00:17:30
chrisyzen
the you ah yeah I'm sure you understand
Functional Medicine and Symptom Masking
00:17:34
chrisyzen
what I mean. I don't want to kind of belabor the point. But if they're that deranged already, this should not surprise you, I believe, all that much that they are trying to boost something that is going to cause the person more health problems and they'll be back in the clinic. I'm not saying these this particular clinic are doing that. They seem to be doing really good work in the US and stuff like that.
00:18:01
chrisyzen
But this is this these are the tools that doctors are given. And unfortunately, in natural medicine, a lot of doctors that go from allopathic to integrative and functional, they just swap the the pharmaceutical drug for some kind of herb that does a similar job.
00:18:21
chrisyzen
so it's still symptom masking and and kind of these short term short-sighted tactics right so you can swap out the metformin to lower the blood sugar with berberine but you're still artificially lowering the blood sugar level the blood sugar level being high Yeah, it's not great, but that's not the actual problem. It's a symptom of the underlying problem, right? So we have to figure that part out. And a lot of these docs that switch over to this, they're still stuck in the old paradigm. We just lower the markers on the piece of paper on the lab test, you know? Endothelial dysfunction. So the whole point of boosting nitric oxide is supposedly for, you know, to to dilate the the the the blood but vessels, vasotilation.
00:19:10
chrisyzen
The problem is that if there's oxidative stress, which people that already have some kind of disease processes going on that have already been diagnosed, they generally already have oxidative stress. So in that scenario, which is all too common in people nowadays, especially older folks, that presence of oxidative stress with the nitric oxide is going to, or can lead to endothelial dysfunction because again,
00:19:41
chrisyzen
This peroxy nitrite that's formed from nitric oxide and superoxide can damage the endothelial cells, the the lining of the blood vessels and of course impair their ability to maintain proper vascular function and when they're damaged there's going to be these quote unquote healing processes where ah you know you have cholesterol coming to the party and LDL and stuff like that and then if the repair processes are imperfect because of ah again continuous inflammation continuous oxidative stress not
00:20:18
chrisyzen
addressed just trying to boost the nitric oxide that might not allow the heating to take place properly and then over time you're gonna have these imperfect ah heating ah responses turning into atherosclerotic plaques calcification and clots and stuff like that so it's it's adding nitric oxide to this party is only exacerbating the problem
00:20:48
chrisyzen
What else? Oh, here's a good one. Increased vascular permeability, so excessive nitric oxide can increase vascular permeability, so the the the blood vessels, causing leakiness of blood vessels. This can lead to edema, which is swelling due to fluid buildup, and can contribute to conditions like septic shock and acute respiratory distress syndrome, where fluid leaks into the lungs, impeding normal breathing.
00:21:15
chrisyzen
ah Then you have septic shock and high potential which is low blood pressure. This is kind of a bit more end stage. um Basically sepsis is where there's an overwhelming immune response to an infection and then a lot of nitric oxide is produced by that INOS, Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthes.
00:21:37
chrisyzen
inport in response to these inflammatory signals and that can all of that excessive vasodilation can cause a dangerous drop in blood pressure known as hypotension. okay And then in septic shock, this excessive vasodilation leads to poor blood perfusion of vital organs such as kidneys, liver, brain.
00:21:55
chrisyzen
And that can contribute to organ failure and actually has a pretty high mortality rate.
Nitric Oxide in Cancer Progression
00:22:00
chrisyzen
So it's not something you want to create the right conditions for. Then another interesting one, this again from Chad GPT, so not controversial, tumor promotion. So nitric oxide has dual roles in cancer biology.
00:22:14
chrisyzen
when whenever they say dual roles it's kind of oh you're obfuscating something but whatever so in some context it can inhibit tumor growth by killing cells or promoting apoptosis however chronic low-grade nitric oxide production particularly from inducible nitric oxide inos synthase in tumor associated macrophages has been linked to tumor progression formation of new blood vessels to feed tumors and metastasis when the tumor spreads In some cancers, nitric oxide may enhance the survival and proliferation of cancer cells, making it a potential contributor to the aggressiveness of certain tumors.
00:23:00
chrisyzen
So to me, I've researched the stuff so much that it doesn't really surprise me how depraved this industry is. But it's like you go there with um potential heart disease risk.
00:23:20
chrisyzen
and to give you this nitric oxide boosting stuff and then that now you have a double whammy of potential cancer you know progression and proliferation and it's it's sickening it's sickening and and it's when you have so much resources you can very easily sponsor tons and tons of research, and then meta analysis on that research and then reviews of all the the research and, and ah citing groups, you let your sponsor research groups citing each other and creating a huge body of evidence.
00:23:57
chrisyzen
um And then on the back end, you are feeding this feeds your other business departments, you know, the cancer treatment industry and whatever else, you know, so it's kind of if you think it's far fetched, you know, obviously, obviously, you need to do a little bit more research on the topic because this is the evidence is there. There's dozens of books even that document a lot of these things.
Effects on Respiratory and Mitochondrial Function
00:24:26
chrisyzen
so okay what else nitric oxide in the respiratory system so airway inflammation excess nitric oxide can contribute to airway inflammation and bronchial hyper responsiveness in conditions such as asthma high levels of nitric oxide in the airways are associated with inflammation and airway obstruction leading to worsened respiratory function in asthmatic individuals
00:24:50
chrisyzen
ah Nitric oxide contributes to oxidative stress in the lungs, which may exacerbate lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Then damage to mitochondrial function. Jesus Christ, I mean, does it end? This is huge. ah So my my nitric oxide can impair mitochondrial function by inhibiting cytochrome C oxidase, a key enzyme in the mitochondrial electron transport chain. This impairs production of energy, basically ATP production, leading to reduced cellular energy availability, particularly in tissues with high energy demands, such as the heart, brain, and muscles.
00:25:30
chrisyzen
Okay. So more nitric oxide, it basically makes a complex with ah this um complex for in the ETC, the electron transport chain. It's called cytochrome C oxidase. And that apparently.
00:25:49
chrisyzen
um red light apparently so these red light therapy lamps that uh some people have apparently that can actually break that uh that complex so maybe that's that's one of the reasons why some people are are getting but ah feeling a lot of benefits from these red light therapy lamps of which i have too uh but but it's kind of interesting that a lot of those folks are going to be doing the nitric oxide boosters And then they're going to be doing the red light therapy. So it's kind of taking the poison and then the antidote.
Identifying Harmful Health Practices
00:26:25
chrisyzen
It's a little bit roundabout. And and with a lot of my clients, they're doing a a lot of good things, especially those more more more sophisticated clients doing quite a lot of different sort of interventions and going to maybe different practitioners. So they they're doing a lot of good work, but then they do certain things that kind of
00:26:45
chrisyzen
invalid not not invalidate but they kind of reset what's the word I'm trying to freaking find here they basically nullify the work that ah so ah ah specific it for example just as an example you can excuse me you can
00:27:07
chrisyzen
do some let's say meditation and breathing exercises to calm down and lower the the stress response going to parasympathetic nervous system state right but then if you're starving yourself for two-thirds of the day because of the intermittent fasting You're by default running largely on on stress hormones and cortisol So this is where people kind of they mix things where one is one is stressing and one is calming it down So it's kind of you're in the middle. So it's not too bad but one the the The idea when you work with me is just to help you discern which are the things that were contributing to the good things and and let's continue those on that good foundation and build on top of that good foundation and all of the damaging things you were doing let's get them out and remove them and then you will be way better off
00:28:01
chrisyzen
So what else? DNA damage and mutagenesis. That doesn't sound good. Nitric oxide induced DNA damage. So excessive nitric oxide, particular particularly through the formation of peroxynitrite, can cause DNA strand breaks and mutations. This occurs through direct oxidative damage to DNA or through the nitrosylation of key proteins involved in DNA repair. Chronic DNA damage and mutation accumulation.
00:28:29
chrisyzen
ah risk factors for the development of cancer particularly in tissues exposed to high levels ah of oxidative and nitrosative stress. Then we have impaired wound healing so chronic wounds or ulcers may be exacerbated or dysregulated by nitric oxide production.
00:28:50
chrisyzen
High nitric oxide levels may lead to excessive inflammation, tissue damage and impaired angiogenesis prolonging the healing processes, then gastrointestinal damage, Jesus Christ, ah damage to the gastric mucosa in certain gastrointestinal diseases, excessive nitric oxide production contributes to Mucosal damage and inflammation, IBD, inflammatory bowel disease is one example. It can worsen symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal pain and bleeding. it has an involve ah Nitric oxide has an involvement in autoimmune diseases.
00:29:31
chrisyzen
So tissue destruction ah in autoimmune diseases, in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes, high nitric oxide levels produced by immune cells via INOS contribute to the destruction of healthy tissues. For example, in MS, nitric oxide can damage the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers leading to impaired nerve function in type 1 diabetes.
00:29:55
chrisyzen
Nitric oxide mediated damage to pancreatic beta cells can worsen the autoimmune attack leading to decreased insulin production and worsening blood glucose regulation So that there's a summary right so oxidative stress and nitrous damage peroxy nitride super damaging reactive nitrogen species ah It can worsen chronic inflammation Neurotoxicity, damaging brain cells and contributing to new neurodegeneration via excite to toxicity and oxidative stress. Endothelial dysfunction, so excess nitric oxide damages blood cells.
00:30:38
chrisyzen
contributing to atherosclerosis and vascular diseases, ah cancer promotion, airway inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, that's huge because the which organs are super energy hungry, the gut, the brain, the obviously the muscles, but also the the the heart.
00:30:58
chrisyzen
So if you ah impair mitochondrial function in those, well, you can absolutely expect that there will be gastrointestinal dysfunction, ah diminished longevity, faster sort of loss of cognitive capacities, neurodegeneration and and all that good stuff, oh and all that horrible stuff I should say, sorry.
00:31:21
chrisyzen
DNA damage. We covered that. Gastrointestinal damage. I mean, autoimmune tissue destruction. So that's nitric oxide. Why you don't want to boost it too much.
00:31:34
chrisyzen
you shouldn't we shouldn't be going out of our way to boost it it's like ah going out of your way to boost cortisol if you you know what I mean so everybody knows cortisol but then it's it's it's similar with adrenaline why would you want to boost your adrenaline But if you look at what medicine are doing they are giving cortisol mimicking drugs as we already covered and they have a lot of estrogen like compounds that they give to mostly women and That's another fucking crime against humanity folks That's straight-up a crime Because who in their right mind would want to add extra estrogen?
00:32:18
chrisyzen
to the body it's like saying oh I want to add more cortisol yeah it has an effect it has it might have um an immediate benefit in terms of symptom reduction but long term it's straight up gonna cause horrific things in the body So with that behind us, I hope that sort of at the end of the day Most people are going out of ah their way to boost nitric oxide that they most people who are doing this They're going out of their way
The Benefits of Carbon Dioxide Over Nitric Oxide
00:32:48
chrisyzen
to do it. So it's actually very easy and simple to stop it So when I have clients on arginine supplement and whatever at first I'll ask like what's the rationale behind the supplement and
00:32:59
chrisyzen
If they remember why, if they tell me nitric oxide, whatever, they say, why do you feel like you need to boost nitric oxide? And eventually I kind of explained that you know that's there's better ways to vasodilation if that was the goal of the person, vasodilation.
00:33:18
chrisyzen
And that vasodilation is achievable through, would you believe it, carbon dioxide. right So we in the when we were kids in school, in the government indoctrination camps, we were told carbon dioxide is a waste product. It's a waste byproduct of making energy in the body.
00:33:46
chrisyzen
and we just you know we expel it through the lungs and that's that's all really that's about it but the more you dig into it the more you're like wow this thing is a freaking so this is a vasodilator it's a smooth muscle relaxant um it's an antioxidant
00:34:09
chrisyzen
it's without it basically we cannot even stay oxygenated the cells cannot cannot uh the the um We cannot even basically release oxygen into the cells from the hemoglobin without a sufficient ah level of carbon dioxide in the blood. right So this is actually the key. And you are going to love what the best way to boost. There's a couple of really good ways to boost carbon dioxide, which I will touch on in this episode.
00:34:51
chrisyzen
um To cut to the chase, I'm going to cover some of carbon dioxide benefits, just so you're aware of how important this is. But to cut to the chase, it's actually how you breathe, not over breathing and breathing ah in a way that you don't expel so much carbon dioxide. It's pretty easy to retrain yourself to to kind of breathe in a way that you don't waste so much carbon dioxide so that's one and then the other one is would you believe using carbohydrates for energy instead of fat
00:35:36
chrisyzen
Right? So saying goodbye to these low carb bollocks diets, because actually, as you've seen ah in a few minutes, if you can only find my notes in front of me here, I'm trying i'm stalling because I can't find my ah my notes.
00:35:50
chrisyzen
um So what the hell was I talking about? So.
00:36:01
chrisyzen
Sorry about that, are too many tabs open. but So the burning carbohydrates produces more carbon dioxide, and that has a very beneficial effect in for our physiology. So but we'll get to that at the end. Let's just look at why carbon dioxide is a better vasodilator than nitric oxide. So first of all, it's it gives a stable and controlled vasodilation. So it's carbon dioxide it has a non-reactive nature zone.
00:36:31
chrisyzen
unlike nitric oxide which can react with other molecules to form harmful byproducts, peroxynitride being that really horrible one. Carbon dioxide is non-reactive and does not generate reactive oxygen or reactive nitrogen species that can damage tissues. okay So CO2 acts gently and consistently to promote vasodilation by modulating blood pH and interacting with hemoglobin leading to a more stable and controlled vasodilation without causing oxidative stress or inflammation. So Cl2 has a direct effect on smooth muscle relaxation.
00:37:13
chrisyzen
okay So the effect is partly mediated through the Bohr effect, where an increase in carbon dioxide levels lowers the blood pH, facilitating the release of oxygen from hemoglobin. The resulting oxygen delivery to tissues helps further relax vascular smooth muscle muscles, promoting better blood flow. So I um i actually learned this in back in, it was 2018, I think, yeah. ah I was studying breathing with Patrick McKeown, one of the foremost breathing experts in the world. That's where he he kind of taught us that the when you increase your carbon dioxide levels by breathing, retraining, using the Botteco breathing ah exercises, which are super free to learn, free to do, super cheap, or super easy, super simple. It's actually, I sometimes think these simple things is what kind of
00:38:13
chrisyzen
make certain people not adopt them so some people so so maybe type A personalities they prefer more kind of more complex more sort of
00:38:24
chrisyzen
you know complex I guess um procedures and stuff or maybe working with a practitioner and whatever else whereas it's something you can just learn in like in five minutes and you're you just have to then do it every day so maybe it gets boring to just repeat the same silly simple breath holding exercises and that that's what it is at the end of day they're just little breath holding exercises that you can even teach the children to help them fix their, and first of all, their mouth breathing. If your mouth breathing some role of the time, you're probably expending way too much carbon dioxide more than you should. So that's one way, not mouth breathing. And then the other is to, to slow down the rate of breathing. And obviously when I'm, when you're talking and doing, if you're doing talks and recording, you, you will breathe through the mouth some of the time to help you kind of keep us some kind of cadence. But in your regular everyday life,
00:39:19
chrisyzen
If you can breathe through the nose and learn how to slow down your rate of breathing that is gonna be one of the most profoundly Beneficial things you can do and it's cheap and it's free. It's it's it's actually free and it's not cheap. It's simple. It's free and no amount of The best bio hacks even the best diet Will not
00:39:47
chrisyzen
compensate for poor breathing practices a lot of people have this it's even called um chronic hyperventilation syndrome so where they over breathe they might breathe through the mouth some or all of the time and this is seriously diminishing their longevity right um So we have to we have to cover that in a separate episode because there's some some nuances there and I can discuss some of the exercises and ah it's we covered that in much more depth in my in my health program that clients can enroll in. But what else? Let's let's just keep keep going with CO2 here. So CO2 affects all levels of the vascular system from arteries to capillaries.
00:40:36
chrisyzen
providing uniform vasodilation through the body. Nitric oxide, on the other hand, tends to have a more localized effect and is often influenced by inflammatory processes. So the inflammatory processes often um ah activate this INOS-inducible nitric oxide synthase and then you know it's it's almost like ah it's like a something bad's happening so nitric oxide is produced so if you're producing nitric oxide or you're upregulating its production with these supplements
00:41:13
chrisyzen
you are it's kind It's almost like you're sending sending a signal to the body that that things are and are not okay. right ah what ah Why else is carbon dioxide a better vasodilator than nitric oxide? So prevention of hypoxia. so Improved oxygen delivery. Carbon dioxide facilitates oxygen delivery to tissues via the Bohr effect. So when CO2 levels rise, hemoglobin more readily releases oxygen to tissues. This is the key point. That's the Bohr effect. right So when the ah blood CO2 levels are low,
00:41:50
chrisyzen
It's harder for the oxygen to be released from the hemoglobin to the cells to the tissues So this can actually lead so you could be breathing very hard and fast But Paradoxically, you will be less well oxygenated than when you breathe slowly and you almost create this but when you're learning the boot ache exercises You're taught to I'm a certified potato instructor personally. So we we we tell the client you have to kind of create an air hunger right so you have to really it's uh that's why it takes time and you have to do them judiciously every day ideally it's because you're this creating this air hunger does take some time to get used to so you have to
00:42:37
chrisyzen
you know reach a new level plateau there get used to that and this is kind of how over time you can increase this ability to breathe less and again paradoxically be more well oxygenated at the tissue level at the cellular level and this you when you're talking about longevity like i said no No amount of biohacks and and even nutrition and supplements can ameliorate this because it's such a fundamental, it's base base zero of the
The Role of Stress and Proper Breathing
00:43:11
chrisyzen
pyramid. Before even diet, it's breathing. It's always been breathing. It's just not that sexy. So these guys are like Patrick McKeown are making it sexy like James Nestor and stuff. But still it's not that sexy like red light therapy and all these kind of cool supplements and stuff like that.
00:43:27
chrisyzen
But ah the other thing is if you over breathe chronic chronically, it also activates the parasympathetic system. So you can do a simple experiment right now. Breathe in and out through your mouth five, 10 times, even 20 times. You notice your pulse increasing. right You notice your heart rates increasing. your um ah just your You can almost feel your adrenaline rising. And that's that is how some people keep themselves in a chronic stress state.
00:43:56
chrisyzen
just through their breathing you know so it's important because that just that fact that you're in this chronic mild sort of stress sympathetic fight or flight state that alone because of the hormone cascades it initiates that alone is going to diminish a lot of things including longevity so
00:44:23
chrisyzen
balanced vasodilation, so excessive nitric oxide induced vasodilation can lead to hypotension, so low but blood pressure, especially during inflammatory conditions. um So I think this is kind of marketed as a good thing about nitric oxide because it can lower your blood pressure, right? So then these kind of more functional, ah formerly allopathic doctors, let's say,
00:44:50
chrisyzen
They'll tell you, so nitric oxide, it will vasodilate to prevent clots and stuff. And then it will also lower the blood pressure more naturally when you use arginine or beetroot and these kind of precursors to nitric oxide. But that is that is, again, a super short-sighted tactic that it will, you yeah, the the their patient or client will be like,
00:45:19
chrisyzen
clapping their hands. Oh, amazing work. Thank you. You're a genius. my my My blood pressure lowered in a week. My ah whatever ah parameter ah improved, but then long-term what's happening in the months and years down the line. So this is why if a client tells me to have high blood pressure,
00:45:42
chrisyzen
I'm going to be like, I'm not even going to think about diet so much yet, but first I'm going to be thinking, what's your stress like? Like what, what is causing because this is, um, the stress system, the stress hormone system is what raises your blood pressure. So again, do that exercise with the breathing in and in and out through the mouth. If you measure your blood pressure before and after you do that,
00:46:08
chrisyzen
your blood pressure will rise because adrenaline cortisol, these increase your blood pressure. That is why steroid induced hypertension is a recognized condition when people are put on a glucocorticoid cortisol mimicking medication. That is ah being stressed raises your blood pressure. So, yeah okay, you have someone stressed, maybe they're working 60, 80 hours a ah week, high pressure job.
00:46:36
chrisyzen
and um they're coming to you with high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. So you can lower all of those things with like ah metformin or berberine if you're more natural, functional. ah You can ah lower the blood pressure with NO boosters and then you can lower the cortisol maybe with um What you call that ready strikes, you know that that's like a I think it is like a something resembling a statin inside it. That's why it lowers up ah the the cholesterol so you you lower those markers on the paper, but is is the patient or client better off in the long term where when the
00:47:21
chrisyzen
the high the high cholesterol could have been because of a very stressful life which has caused all those signals of stress has caused the metabolism to be lowered right so hypometabolic or hypothyroidism so that's that's good that could be a major reason why the um cholesterol is high okay then the blood sugar being high that's probably that could also be the stress in this particular example because cortisol raises the blood sugar um And then the what was the other one the high blood pressure is also because the cortisol and the adrenaline the stress that also raises blood pressure, so Wouldn't we be better off if we're gonna be using a supplement in this instance is to to do something that targets
Building Health Through Natural Practices
00:48:08
chrisyzen
the stress system that lowers the cortisol and the adrenaline because if you lower those at the very least you're going to improve the blood pressure and the blood sugar on their own, the gently on their own be lowered and then shouldn't we be doing something else about the cholesterol instead of lower trying to lower the number in the blood or on the on a piece of paper, shouldn't we do something about why is this person hypometabolic? Is it all the stress? Are they eating in a way that is contributing to this? you know this is This is what true health restoration and health optimization is. don't just ah ah Yes, it's impressive when you when someone comes to you and you give them a few things, medications or supplements, and parameters on on pieces of paper
00:48:59
chrisyzen
ah lab tests improved that's that's impressive but we also have to factor in did we just get a quick win that is a symptom masking quick win or did we do something that is improving the physiology underneath that is causing those symptoms right so it's by restoring function in the body that those parameters like the blood pressure the blood sugar start to normalize and I think I think if you're If you truly care about the client, you you want to do the latter. And this is why I don't do single sessions. Because, yeah, with a single session, the incentive is to to give something that will give quick relief. That's that's kind of the the current medical paradigm with a quick quick quick something like headache. Here's your ibuprofen, whatever, Advil. And that's the incentive. But when you're working with someone
00:49:58
chrisyzen
long-term like let's say three six months or more so I like to work with people at least for three months but I prefer six or even 12 months then the incentive is yes it's good to give them quick wins and I love I love it when people tell me on the second day that they feel so much better and stuff like that after changing their diet or whatever ah I love that. Of course, I do want to give that to people because it also gives them new newfound energy, power and motivation to do more. Right. so
00:50:29
chrisyzen
give them a quick win, but then give them what they really need. or Give them what they want, give them what they need as well. this is kind of the This is why I believe building a relationship with a client is so important and having this longer term relationship is what is instrumental in truly changing the trajectory of one's health, life, and their destiny. you um so Yeah, what else? CO2 promotes efficient blood flow without inflammatory byproducts. So while nitric oxide can lead to inflammatory damage when produced in excess, such as in autoimmune conditions or during chronic inflammation, CO2 does not contribute to these harmful effects. CO2-driven vasodilation improves blood flow without generating inflammatory mediators, making it safer.
00:51:15
chrisyzen
and more reliable vasodilator under various physiological and baol pathological conditions. okay Other benefits of carbon dioxide in the body, so regulation excuse me regulation of blood pH, it's a buffering system, um it's a it's the primary driver of respiratory rates. Okay, here's something more interesting I'm sure for you.
00:51:42
chrisyzen
so
00:51:45
chrisyzen
CO2 can exert anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the activation of inflammatory pathways and reducing the production of pro-inflammatory molecules.
00:51:59
chrisyzen
This is beneficial in conditions where chronic inflammation is a concern, as it helps prevent tissue damage without generating reactive nitrogen species, unlike nitric oxide. Studies have shown that CO2 therapy, also known as carbon dioxide baths, can reduce inflammation in conditions such as arthritis and vascular diseases, promoting tissue healing and reducing pain.
00:52:25
chrisyzen
ah Improved cellular metabolism, so enhancement of mitochondrial function, so CO2 facilitates aerobic metabolism by promoting efficient oxygen utilization in the mitochondria, which is where the most of the ATP is made. With adequate CO2 levels, oxygen delivery to the mitochondria is optimized, leading to improved energy production, ah ATP generation, right and enhanced cellular function. So efficient mitochondrial function is crucial for maintaining energy balance in tissues with high metabolic demands, such as the heart, brain, and the muscles. So so if you oxygen if you increase your carbon dioxide levels with these even just these simple breathing exercises,
00:53:12
chrisyzen
You are going to be improving the oxygenation of your tissues in the heart, the brain and the muscles. Talk about improving performance and longevity for free.
Carbohydrate Metabolism and Health Benefits
00:53:24
chrisyzen
So CO2 has neuroprotective effects. so ah It can help protect neurons from damage caused by excitotoxicity, a process where excessive stimulation by neurotransmitters like glutamate leads to neuronal death. This makes CO2 beneficial in conditions like stroke and traumatic brain injury, where oxygen delivery to the brain is compromised.
00:53:49
chrisyzen
and there's muscle like relaxation and reduced pain, there's pain reduction. But here's the the thing I'll finish on just to keep this to an hour or less. So the role of carbon dioxide, sorry, the role of carbohydrate metabolism in, ah ah sorry,
00:54:09
chrisyzen
the role of carbohydrate metabolism in CO2 production. okay So carbohydrate metabolism produces more CO2 than fat metabolism. This is the key thing. This is why you don't want to be burning fat predominantly. yeah you want You want to eat your carbs. Eat your damn carbs. Glucose oxidation. When carbohydrates, but not not the bad carbs. I'm not talking about pasta and bread. So glucose oxidation. When carbohydrates are metabolized for energy,
00:54:42
chrisyzen
They undergo a process known as oxidative phosphorylation within the mitochondria, where glucose is converted into ATP, CO2, and water. The complete oxidation of one molecule of glucose produces six molecules of CO2. The higher ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide in carbohydrates leads to more CO2 being produced during their metabolism compared to fat metabolism. okay This is super important.
00:55:13
chrisyzen
Since carbohydrate metabolism produces more CO2, it plays a significant role in regulating blood pH via the bicarbonate buffering system. When carbohydrates are metabolized, CO2 levels rise, which leads to a slight acidification of the blood. The body compensates for this by adjusting the respiratory rate, increasing CO2 exhalation and renal function. So during fat metabolism, less CO2 is produced, leading to a lesser impact on blood pH.
00:55:41
chrisyzen
which may slow down the regulation of acid-based balance compared to carbohydrate metabolism. So higher CO2 production equals better oxygen utilization. So the greater production of CO2 during carbohydrate metabolism enhances oxygen delivery to tissues via that Bohr effect we were mentioning, improving overall oxygen utilization and energy production. This can be particularly important during exercise,
00:56:11
chrisyzen
or in tissues with high metabolic demands such as brain, heart and muscles. So the brain, other it it can burn ketosis if you're in ketosis, but it does not really burn fats. It burns glucose for the most part. And when the heart and the muscles at rest, they'll burn fatty acids. But when, when you're under obviously exertion, they will burn glucose. So glucose is
00:56:41
chrisyzen
the So some folks are saying that carbohydrates produce less real reactive oxygen species and stuff like that. um And it's a cleaner burning fuel. But kind of when you when you look at other factors, it actually does appear that not only is carbohydrate the better fuel right and it produces more carbon dioxide and that this kind of increase in metabolism that it causes seems to be a hell of a lot better because when you're when you're burning fat predominantly especially when you're kind of going into ketosis this is again a signal to the body right there's signals being sent to the body and those are signals of times are tough there's no food i have to burn my own stores and that seems to then lower the metabolism and
00:57:30
chrisyzen
ah Being hypometabolic is not fun. You're more susceptible to infections. ah Those people have more brain, you know, they have brain fog, they're cold all the time. It's a horrible state to be in. Right. So um I think this, this is just another reason why carbohydrates should not, should not be kept out of the diet, at least the clean carbs that is, because it's just another benefit of carbohydrates. I didn't talk about it in the book because it was getting too long winded and I didn't want to get too technical there. But this is another reason why you want to be burning carbohydrates at least
00:58:16
chrisyzen
during throughout the day. you know it's It's okay when you're sleeping to burn fat and whatever else when you're at rest, but this is another benefit of carbohydrate utilization as as a few is the is the, I think it produces 50% more carbon dioxide, right? So the ah being a carbohydrate burner or glucose burner and fixing the breathing if you're ah chronically hyperventilating to an extent,
00:58:43
chrisyzen
or breathing through the mouth or whatever, or over breathing. These are major, majorly important ways of increasing CO2 in the body.
The Case Against Nitric Oxide Boosters
00:58:53
chrisyzen
And CO2 is a much more benign way to you know ensure vasodilation and all those other benefits that we covered ah in the latter portion of this episode. So the moral of the story here is stop if you're using arginine or beet root extract or root or whatever the heck powder or whatever ah and and or citrulline all of these
00:59:31
chrisyzen
i but If it was me or if it was a client asking me from my opinion what should what they they may want to do, I would say I wouldn't even finish my current pack. I would just throw that stuff away because it's it's not just useless because trying to boost nitric oxide is a fool's errand to begin with. It may even be harmful. So it's one thing if something is potentially ah
01:00:04
chrisyzen
there's ah So it's one thing if something is neutral or or some kind of marginal benefit. but Let's say some herb you're taking, let's say ginseng or ashwagandha or curcumin or turmeric. but Let's say that it's it's either neutral or maybe there's some benefit that you're getting.
01:00:27
chrisyzen
That's one thing. In those cases, it's a coin flip. It's your own choice. ah This is pretending I'm talking to a client, right? Then on the other side of the spectrum is something that not only might it not be beneficial or benign, it might actually be be harmful. It might be damaging.
01:00:50
chrisyzen
So this is where I would put the arginine, the beetroot, anything that's ah purported to be a nitric oxide booster, because nitric oxide is a reactive nitrogen oxygen species, both. And it can form this peroxyite ah peroxy I would absolutely say this is, it's like cortisol. So should i boost my should I take something that raises my cortisol? No. Should I take something that raises my estrogen? No.
01:01:18
chrisyzen
Should I take something that raises my adrenaline? No. So should I take something that raises my nitric oxide? Well, given what we know about about the damn thing covered that you covered, that's pretty mainstream information if chat GPT spews that out in a half a second, then the answer logically is absolutely not. Therefore, those supplements
01:01:42
chrisyzen
I believe should just be thrown in the trash. There's no reason to to to even finish the the the the pack. So with my clients, I usually tell them when something, you can finish the pack that you have just so you don't waste the money, and but just don't buy it again. And then I tell them, you can pause that so these ones and then you can cycle them back in and out. ah But then there's a category of things that I tell them, you might as well just stop this one forever, AKA throw it in the bin.
01:02:12
chrisyzen
and fish oil would be one of those anything with a plant oil like a seed oil would be in that mix and nitric oxide boosters would also right so that's That's what I would recommend to clients. Obviously, you are of free free to do what you want. You're an adult. I'm just sharing information. you if you Of course, you can always do further research. If you feel it resonates, you can you can make your own decisions. If you feel I'm i'm talking crazy, of course, there is after all 50,000 papers on nitric oxide. So I'm probably wrong. I'm probably talking crazy, right?
01:02:58
chrisyzen
of course let's not forget all the hundreds of thousands of i don't even know if it's hundreds of thousands of papers on cholesterol and heart disease and saturated fat and that turned out to be bunk so it's just to reiterate if something is becoming mainstream if doctors are recommending it you can bet your sweet ass there's some fuckery afoot as it were okay So hope that this was informative for you and I'll see you on the next episode.