Today, Jill and Gaynell interview Dr. Eduardo Maristany. Dr. Maristany is passionate about functional medicine and has trained in all core modules of functional medicine and has training in advanced personalized genetic interpretation, and chronic inflammatory diseases. During the past five years, Dr. Maristany has shadowed and worked with several prominent providers of functional medicine.

 

As a board-certified internal medicine physician, Dr. Maristany practiced traditional medicine for 10 years as a hospitalist, specializing in caring for complex patients in a hospital setting while collaborating with several specialized consultants. During this period, Dr. Maristany actively participated in training courses focused on functional and integrative medicine and treated his patients functionally with impressive results. 

 

Dr. Maristany completed his residency in internal medicine at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia, where he was honored as Outstanding Resident of the Year and Outstanding Teacher of Medical Students. He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree, with honors, from Ross University School of Medicine in Edison, New Jersey, and his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Miami, where he also worked as a research assistant for the pharmacology department.

 

Before his tenure as a functional medicine provider, Dr. Maristany also served as an academic hospitalist and clinical assistant professor of internal medicine for Mercer University School of Medicine at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga. Dr. Maristany is a South Florida native and is fluent in Spanish and English.

 

Dr. Maristany is currently practicing at The Naples Center for Functional Medicine.

1. What is functional medicine?

   1. Functional medicine is the future. It’s the “function” of what causes and drives disease

   2. Everyone experiences “dis-ease” at some point in their lives

      1. Whether it be sleep related, fatigue, energy, etc.

   3. What dysfunction causes you not to be optimal?

   4. We want to not just treat disease, but we want to make you feel great and optimize your health in multiple different ways

   5. Our goal: anti-aging

2. Aging as a disease

   1. Dr. David Sinclair does research out of Harvard- professor of genomics and genetics

      1. Goal: figure out how long he can get mice to live past their normal lifespan while maintaining quality of life

   2. Book: Lifespan; By David Sinclair

      1. Identifies keys to aging

      2. Philosophy: “All diseases come from aging”

         1. Know this from rat studies:

            1. His lab mutated rats to have shorter telomeres

            2. DNA is more fragile and you age faster when your telomeres are shorter

            3. These rats also got diseases faster (younger when they got heart disease, diabetes, etc.)

         2. The faster you age, the faster these disease states come into play

         3. The opposite holds true: if I can make you live longer, theoretically you have less disease

3. There are many different ways that you age.

   1. One of them is: Senescent cells/age cells/zombie cells

      1. As we age, we create these dysfunctional cells

      2. If you allow them to stick around, they cause dysfunction because all cells are communicating

   2. How do we get rid of these “zombie cells”?

      1. Antibiotic called rapamycin

      2. Intermittent fasting

         1. When you fast 14 hours (at least 12, 16 is most ideal), your body is forced to recycle cellular contents for food

         2. Keeps your brain clear: reduces amyloid beta 

            1. This is the plaque that builds up in the brain and causes memory loss and Alzheimer’s

4. What are “telomeres”?

   1. DNA is a “double helix zipper”, which controls all your data/ your blueprint from since you were born

   2. DNA is protected by a cocoon: The telomere

      1. Guanine-rich nucleotides

      2. Covers the DNA

      3. The longer and thicker the cocoon is, the less susceptible your DNA is to damage

5. How do we keep or telomeres healthy and thick to reduce aging?

   1. NAD+ is a compound that has been shown to stabilize the telomere damage (stops degradation)

   2. Anything oxidative or inflammatory will destroy your telomeres

      1. Sunlight

      2. Smoking

      3. Lack of anti-oxidants in your diet

      4. Radiation (even low-level)

   3. There’s no way we can get away from everything that is oxidizing, but we can increase our intake of anti-oxidents in our diet

      1. Lots of fruits and vegetables

      2. Vitamin c

   4. Resveratrol: ingredient in red wine

6. Group of genes called “sirtuins” (1-7)

   1. Promote telomere stability and lengthening

   2. Effect “clock genes” that determine our lifespan

      1. Steve Horvath: Horvath clock 

         1. 353 methyl markers that determine your biological age (accurate up to 3 years)

   3. If you can activate sirtuins, you can rewind the clock- has been shown in mouse models

7. Can we activate sirtuins? YES!

   1. Resveratrol (ingredient in red wine)

   2. Intermittent fasting (at least 12 hours, 16 hours ideal)

   3. Exercise- need heart rate at 75% max sinus to release proper hormones and release sirtuin

      1. 220-age= max sinus heart rate

      2. Take your max heart rate and multiple by 0.75

      3. Maintain heart rate for about 30 minutes= start to release different hormones that then release sirtuin

      4. If you can exercise while you’re fasting= even better! Compounding effects (clear with MD first)

8. What is “NAD”?

   1. Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide

      1. A form of Vitamin B3

      2. As you age, your body doesn’t produce NAD+ as well from the intake of Vitamin B3

   2. Your clock genes base their age on how much NAD is available

      1. If less NAD in your body: less cell division, less cell repair—slows down metabolism 

9. Can we produce NAD in our body?

   1. Yes, but you produce much less as you age

   2. Dr. David Sinclair research

      1. Took mice that were 2 years old and very aged and decrepit

      2. Flooded these mice with IV NAD+ or NR (precursor for NAD)

         1. These mice became youthful on 9 different metrics

         2. Improved agility and coordination, lived another year with better quality of life

      3. Dr. Sinclair believes humans could live to 120 years old if this treatment was applicable

10. So how do we get NAD? What forms does it come in?

    1. IV form- still experimental

       1. They’ve done a lot of trials on humans and not a single case of toxicity

    2. Oral forms

       1. Straight NAD+= sublingual lozenge (needs to be absorbed directly into the blood stream)

       2. Can take precursors in pill form: NR or NMN

          1. These produce NAD+, but are digestible

          2. We don’t know what the safe human consumption is:

             1. Recommended: 300 mg/day to be safe

       3. Dr. Maristany recommendations (no financial stake):

          1. Tru Niagin has a great NR

          2. Elysium Health has a really good NR

          3. Real NAD has NAD+ sublingual tablets

          4. ProHealth Logevity has an NMN powder that is also sublingual

       4. All supplements are over the counter, about 40$/month

11. Deanna Wallin underwent NAD treatment and discusses her experience

    1. Deanna underwent IV NAD

       1. If you want a little anti-aging, you can get away with taking an oral NAD or precursor

       2. If you have disease or mitochondrial dysfunction, you want IV NAD

    2. When you get an infusion of NAD:

       1. Your mitochondria get directly stimulated

       2. NAD inserts itself into the Kreb Cycle in 3 different positions

       3. The Kreb Cycle is how your body makes energy and occurs in the mitochondria of the cell

       4. This creates mitochondrial division, which can be uncomfortable during the infusion

          1. Once you shut the IV down, all symptoms go away

    3. Deanna Wallin owns Naples Soap Company. Learn more about your skin here!

    4. Fatigues, aches, and pains are not normal! 

12. Women’s Health:

    1. David Sinclair published a study in February 2020

       1. Found that NAD repletion rescued female fertility in aged female mice

       2. Aged eggs became young again and restored fertility in mice

13. How do we know what our “clock age” is?

    1. Epigenetics: how your genes express themselves differently within the clock

    2. Different testing:

       1. Elysium Health: has an epigenetic clock test

       2. Other companies do telomere testing

          1. Still emerging and accuracy is hard to tell

14. How do we make telomeres longer?

    1. Many people can stabilize telomeres, but how can we lengthen them?

    2. In November 2020, in Tel-Aviv they did a study with hyperbaric oxygen

       1. Took 30 healthy individuals that were 64 years old or older and put them in a hyperbaric oxygen tank at two atmospheres that were 100% oxygen

       2. Did 60 treatments in a row

       3. Measured telomeres

          1. Found that after 60 treatments (about 3 months), the telomeres grew by 37%

             1. This is the equivalent of reverse aging 30 years (on a cellular level)

             2. Don’t know how long it lasts

    3. What is the hyperbaric oxygen doing?

       1. Hyperbaric means high pressure

          1. You have a glass cylinder that you get into

          2. It seals and fills with 100% oxygen flow

          3. Pressurized as if 35 feet underwater

       2. Tissue oxygen gradient goes from 40mmHg to 800mmHg

          1. Stimulates stem cells

          2. Stimulates sirtuin genes

          3. Stimulates fibroblasts and chondrocytes

          4. Fuels brain with oxygen and helps to heal brain

15. What takeaway would you tell listeners to begin the process of slowing down their aging?

    1. Understanding is the most important thing

    2. Read the book: Lifespan (David Sinclair)

    3. Realize that simple things like intermittent fasting and exercise are essential

    4. Taking resveratrol and 300 mg of NR is so safe and effective

    5. Make sure you have stable sugars!

 

How to contact Dr. Eduardo Maristany:

Naples Center for Functional Medicine

800 Goodlette-Frank Rd. North, Suite 270

Naples, FL 34102

info@naplescfm.com

239-649-7400