About Supplements with Dr. Derrick DeSilva

INTRODUCTION: Welcome to Qualgen's podcast where we talk about all things health and wellness related, including hormones, pharmaceuticals, health trends and ways you can help better your life.  

JENNIFER: Hi everyone! Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen in. Today I am joined by Dr. Derrick DeSilva who is a practicing internist in New Jersey. Dr. DeSilva is a member of multiple associations, including the American Medical Association, The Society of Internal Medicine, the American Nutraceutical Association and the Age Management Medicine Conference. He has his own radio show called “Ask the Doctor” along with his own television show called “To Your Health”. Dr. DeSilva – thank you so much for joining me today!   

DR. DESILVA: My pleasure thank you for the invitation. 

JENNIFER: Thank you. Yeah, we have been trying but the schedules just make it so hard. So, I'm glad we finally got the opportunity to do so. 

DR. DESILVA: Me too, thank you. 

JENNIFER: I have asked Dr. DeSilva to join me to talk about nutraceuticals and supplements. Can you tell me about your supplement line and how it got started?  

DR. DESILVA: Oh boy that's a very interesting story. 25 years ago, I've been doing this for a little bit over 30 years, about 25 years ago I realized that you know I've always been very interested in nutrients and supplements and some of the other therapies along with traditional medicine so I kind of developed my own line out of need because I saw that there weren't very many good ingredients nutrients out there. So, it was just something I created, and it's been wonderful. I'm thrilled with it. 

JENNIFER: I want to get more in depth about the supplements. Can you tell me which ones you would recommend for hormone support and what they do? 

DR. DESILVA: Well, the primary supplement that every single patient that uses any form of bio identical hormones should be on is something called DIM. DIM stands for Diindolylmethane. DIM is an extract from cruciferous vegetables, spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, etc. and what DIM does is that in men, DIM is what is called an aromatase inhibitor. So, if I'm giving a man testosterone, what's going to happen is certain men are going to aromatize, they're going to convert that testosterone to estrogen. So that's called aromatization. What DIM does is DIM blocks that process, because if I'm putting testosterone into a man, I don't want that testosterone to convert to estrogen. I wanted to stay as testosterone. In women what DIM does is that DIM sends estrogen down the right pathway. It sends estrogen down the two hydroxy pathway. What that means is that it is protective for breast tissue, uterine tissue, ovarian tissue, the cervix, and also, it raises the free testosterone in men and women just a smidgen. So DIM is my number one recommendation for anybody that's on hormones.

JENNIFER: So, it sounds like it kind of acts like anastrozole in a way.  

DR. DESILVA: Yes. Yes. Yes. 

JENNIFER: I mean what are the differences between anastrozole and DIM like what would be the difference in that? 

DR. DESILVA: Night and day, night and day. Anastrozole is a prescription. All the time, Jennifer, that I have been doing this I have never ever used a prescription aromatase inhibitor like anastrozole ever. I've used the DIM and if you know how to use DIM properly, you're not going to get into the side effects and all of the problems that you get with some of these aromatase inhibitors. So, you know in men the dose is two a day. Now, what separates what we have with the DIM is that this DIM - the ingredient in there it's called a micronized form of DIM. So, it's not the regular stuff or like indole-3-carbinol that you're going to buy in the stores. No, this is a studied form of DIM that has real science and real data in men. The doses to a day, one in the morning, one in the evening, don't be lazy and take the two at one time. Take one in the morning, one in the evening and in women it's one a day. Now, the trick on this is very interesting. The trick here is I'm about 5’8” and I weigh about 150-152 pounds. I don't aromatize. Now, my dose of DIM is one a day. If I were 5’8” and 200 or 250 pounds, the chances of me aromatizing are much higher. So, I would then do two a day. So, you need to not only follow the testosterone free and total, you also need to follow the estradiol levels and then dose suggest accordingly and just get used to playing with it, because there's no downside, there's no downside to it. 

JENNIFER: Right and are there different strengths of it or there's just the one strength that you take either more or less of? 

DR. DESILVA: Well in common sense supplements formulations, there's only one strength. It's 150 mg and that's the studied dose. So, in men it's two a day, in women it's one a day. 

JENNIFER: And are there different supplements you would recommend for women's health compared to men's health?  

DR. DESILVA: The big thing I think with well, you know, let's talk about what's common and then what we can use separately. So, what's common that everybody should be using when it comes to hormones should be a probiotic - the good bacteria. Remember lot of the neurotransmitters are made in the gut, believe it or not, some of the hormones are made in the gut. You need the right B vitamins and in order to make those B vitamins that are the precursors for some of the hormones you have to have the right flora. Okay, so having the right organisms, having the right gut balance is extremely important and the probiotic that we have - the capsules are acid stable, meaning the capsule does not open up until it gets into the small intestine where the ph is a little bit more alkaline and as a result you don't have all the die off from if it opens up in the stomach. All right? So, the probiotic that we have is very different, three different strains and four billion organisms. People say well there's only four billion organisms. Only three strains. No, it doesn't matter. What matters is the technology and these three strains are the most studied strains when it comes to the good bacteria. The other supplement that everybody should be on is vitamin D. So, we have a combination of vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K2. I put this formulation together about 8 to 10 years ago when everybody was saying why are you putting vitamin K2 with this? Well now, today everybody has vitamin K2 in with their vitamin D, but what they're missing is vitamin A. Vitamin A is a carrier molecule that is very important to be put in when it comes to vitamin D. So, probiotics, ADK, DIM and I think the other thing that's really important for women is something like calcium. The calcium that we have is all six forms of calcium because you, Jennifer, use calcium differently than I use calcium. You may need citrate or lactate. I may need gluconate or malate. All right? So, I give all six forms of calcium to the body in one soft gel and the body figures out what it needs. Men also, and even women, could you use some saw palmetto because a lot of women will convert the testosterone to dihydrotestosterone and start losing their hair. So, instead of using spironolactone, what you can do is you can use saw palmetto, the prostate formula that we have, for women and men along with the DIM and you don't need to use any of the prescription drugs that are out there.

JENNIFER: That's interesting. I've never heard of that one before.  

DR. DESILVA: Well that's why I'm here.

JENNIFER: I know that is why you're here to teach me and teach everyone else that's listening. So, what about immune support? What do you have in regard to that? And what do they do?  

DR. DESILVA: Goodness gracious immune system, you know, the whole immune system thing has gotten to be such a big deal because of the you know, the whole virus thing that's out there. What I use for immune support, my number one recommendation for the immune system is a probiotic. 70% of your immune system resides in your gut. The other thing I like is vitamin D. Vitamin D is absolutely critical, you know, the data on vitamin D. I believe pub med has maybe 5,000 clinical studies on the role of vitamin D in the immune system. I like zinc, but zinc has to be a chewable form of zinc, not the one you swallow. The data on zinc is all has to do with the chewable form of zinc - 25 mg once a day. If you do get sick then it comes up, goes up to 50 mg - 25 mg twice a day and then last but not least, of course, the old standard, right? Vitamin C - I personally take about 3,000 – 5,000 mg of vitamin C every single day.

JENNIFER: It seems like a lot. 

DR. DESILVA: It isn't, it really is not a lot that is really not a lot of vitamin C. Most people will use 1,000 mg a day. No, I mean especially during this time, I really like anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 mgs a day, because remember I'm still seeing patients, right? I'm seeing patients. So, I have a lot of exposure and I haven't had covid and you know, it's really not a big dose seriously. 

JENNIFER: You're just protecting yourself.  

DR. DESILVA: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Now there's other things that people can use there’s quercetin, a lot of people are using quercetin, which is a great immune system support agent. The problem with quercetin is there are certain people that have breaks in their methylation pathways that if they've got what is called a comp T break. quercetin will make their genetics, if you will, their anxiety and all of that stuff worse. So, I try to stay away from quercetin unless I know your genetic makeup and where you are in your methylation pathways.

JENNIFER: Interesting. And what about heart health? I mean are there different supplements that help with that?  

DR. DESILVA: Absolutely. You know, I think my favorite heart nutrient is coenzyme Q10. Right? COQ10 - cellular energy, the heart has more mitochondrial units, or energy units, than any other organ in the body. So, the heart, you know if your heart stops working, you're in trouble, you got to keep going. It's got to keep going. You know if you're sleeping, your brain's not working as much, your kidneys slow down, your liver slows down, but the heart doesn't stop. The heart may go into a little bit of a rest phase, you know, the heart rate may go down, but the cardiac function continues to go. So, Coenzyme Q10 is really important. I still really really like vitamin E. Vitamin E has gotten a really really bad rap. The problem with vitamin E, the data on vitamin E was that vitamin E unfortunately was, you know, they did the studies on the wrong part of vitamin E. They did it on dl-alpha tocopherol and they really should have done it on the full complex of all the tocopherols and all of the tocotrienols, and we have something called Eight-E. All eight forms of vitamin E are in there and it really works wonderfully. Again, vitamin D, is very good for the cardiovascular system because vitamin K2 is very protective for the cardiovascular system. So, the A. D. K. that we have is not only for immune support, not only for bone support, but also for heart support. And of course, Omega 3s. Right? I mean you got to have the Omega 3s for the heart and there's no question that that is also a really good thing.

JENNIFER: Every time I think about the omega vitamins. Now I just think about the lady that came from the conference and she was talking about your supplements and how great the omega vitamin was. She was like if he ever takes it off the market, I'm going to be so mad at him. Tell us about that, what makes it so great and what it does. 

DR. DESILVA: That's the omega 30. Omega 30 is an oil called PC S0524, it is an oil from the green lipped mussel from New Zealand, it is a very very very potent form of Omega 3s. Why? Well, let’s compare to regular fish oil, regular fish oil contains between four and six fatty acids. Krill oil contains between 14 and 16 fatty acids. So, taking one krill is equal to taking three regular fish oils. The omega 30 that we have, the reason it's called omega 30 is because there's 30 different fatty acids in there. Taking one of our teeny little soft gels and they're about the size of a bb is equal to the free fatty acid concentration of taking between eight and ten regular fish oils. They're easy to swallow, you don't get the fish burb, you don't get any of that stuff. What I tell my patients is this - put it in the fridge. In fact, you met Jackie at the conference. What Jackie does is that she puts it at in the freezer. So, there's no question, there's no issue, it doesn't freeze because it's an oil, but it gets very cold when it gets into your stomach. You don't burp, it digests, it goes right through and there's no issue. 

JENNIFER: That's really interesting. Yeah. What I do, because I take an omega vitamin, which I need to try yours. I take it in the morning, but I don't drink anything, like I don't drink coffee or hot tea anything for like 30 minutes afterwards to try to avoid that. But that's really smart. I never thought about that.  

DR. DESILVA: Yeah. Put it in the freezer or try the omega 30 and you really, there's no burp because it's so tiny, right? Yeah, the size of a bb.

JENNIFER: The one I take right now, I mean it's like it's a big sucker. And I mean, if it doesn't have half the stuff in it, then what's the point of it? What about brain health?  

DR. DESILVA: Brain health? I think one of the most important things that you can do for your brain are the B vitamins, believe it or not. I mean, there's look there's ginko, there's phosphatidylserine, there’s phosphatidylcholine, but I think one of the best things that we can do for our brain are the B vitamins, believe it or not, along with omega 3s. So, why? 60% of our nervous system is fat - if you don't have the right amounts of fat in your body, your brain is not going to work. The other piece of this is the B vitamins. If somebody comes in to see me as a patient and they're having memory loss, dementia, early Alzheimer's, whatever, the work up traditionally is always we check the B12 levels, other B vitamins, we check thyroid, we check vitamin D, I check magnesium. All of those parameters need to be looked at. So, you know, do they have again, an MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) break, do they have some methylation, genetic issues that they're not able to methylate and they're taking the wrong form of B vitamins are they taking cyanocobalamin versus methylcobalamin, right? So, making sure that their genetics are right, they're able to methylate, giving them the right B vitamins, adding some omega 3s in there, and again, vitamin D, is critical for brain function because vitamin D controls a lot of the mood, seasonal effective disorder, right? Depression in the winter is because a lack of sun and vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin. So, keep it simple. You know these supplements that we use have a broad array of applications. You're asking me about all of this stuff and there's been some redundancy; vitamin D, omega 3s, probiotics. These are all redundant because they hit so many systems.

JENNIFER: And I think it gets so intimidating when you're looking at supplements because there's so many out there now and, you know, there's not enough education to know exactly what they do. So, I think you know a lot of people get scared about what they should be taking, what they shouldn't, because there's just so many choices.  

DR. DESILVA: You're right, you're absolutely right. And that's where I come in and that's where Common Sense Supplements comes in. I have made the choices. These are supplements that my family is using. My mom, my dad, my wife, my children, you know my grandchildren, they're all using these supplements. And if I am not comfortable enough to give them to my family, especially my little ones, then I'm not comfortable to give them to anybody. My mom and dad, you know this is our cord, this is our family, and if you trust me for my family, then you surely can trust yourself to use what we have and that's the key. Find somebody you trust, find somebody you like, find somebody that you know the quality of the supplements or what they are and then go with them. 

JENNIFER: Somebody that knows what they're talking about.  

DR. DESILVA: Absolutely. Absolutely. 

JENNIFER: So, on that note - what makes the supplements from Common Sense different than ones you can just go and buy at Walgreens? 

DR. DESILVA: A lot of what we have Jennifer is very different and what we have is technology. I described the probiotic right? The capsule technology, the vitamin D. You can find vitamin D and vitamin K2 but you will not find vitamin A with it. You will not find a calcium that is a soft gel with six different forms of calcium in it. We've got a thyroid formula that is off the charts with I think there's seven or eight different ingredients in our thyroid support, a diabetes support, a cholesterol support, all vitamin, all eight forms of vitamin E. You're not going to find that at the big box stores because they're just they're not there. So, and what really makes us different here at Common Sense and excuse the plug, this is not an infomercial, okay? But, what really makes us different is the ability for me to educate. If you, Jennifer, are a physician and we'll start calling you Dr. Jennifer just for a second. So, if Dr. Jennifer has a question, you have my cell phone, you pick up the phone, or you text me, or you call me, and you say, “hey Derek, you know, how do I do this? How do I dose this - this patient has this this and this going on? What do you think?” Not only do I know supplements and hormones and peptides, I know medicine. I'm an internist, an internal medicine physician, and I really know medicine and I've had very good training so all of those pieces, not only do we have good supplements, but you have me as a resource to ask questions to. There are no other supplement companies that you can pick up the phone and call and talk to a doctor. We’re it.

JENNIFER: Yeah, I think that's great because I mean like we said before there's so many out there and how are you supposed to know and get the knowledge on it if nobody's teaching it and help them. 

DR. DESILVA: Exactly.

JENNIFER: How imperative is it to start taking nutraceuticals and supplements before you're having issues, like before they tell you that your deficient in vitamin D. How important is it to start taking it before that happens? 

DR. DESILVA: I think it's very important, Jennifer, because what happens here is this - once your body starts to sense a deficiency, things are going to spiral down. So, do you want to get halfway down the cliff and have to try to crawl back up and hope you don't fall? No, I want to stay where I am. I want to optimize my health and do what I'm supposed to do and do it that way. And let me give you an example. Here's how important this is to me. We have three grandchildren, my oldest two from my first son, Derek, were born via C section. Our third one, which is our youngest, who's a little over a year old was born regular delivery. Every single one, all three of them, from the very first feeding in the hospital had been on pediatric probiotic from the very first feeding in the hospital. More important for the two that were born via C section, because now they didn't get the right flora from mom because they didn't come through the birth canal. So, critical for them, but even the little one that did have a normal birth canal delivery still he was given and still is on a pediatric probiotic. Since day 30 of their lives. they've all been on vitamin D and Omega 3s and I'll tell you what - you wanted to look at three smart little boys. I know I'm their grandfather. Okay, but seriously - It is incredible the difference in the way the brain works when they're given the right nutrients. None of them get soda, nothing, water and even some of the juices are diluted by both of my boys and their wives. 

JENNIFER: Yeah, I'm sure that makes a huge difference. That's something that I don't think a lot of people think about for their kids. I mean especially that age. Well, is there anything additional you would like to add?  

DR. DESILVA: No just to say thank you. 

JENNIFER: Yeah, it's been great thank you again for joining me! If you would like to learn more or purchase any Common Sense supplements, please visit their website at cssupplements.mybigcommerce.com – you can also find them on Facebook at Common Sense Supplements. If you would like more information on Dr. DeSilva please visit his website at askdrdesilva.com. Thank you again Dr. DeSilva for joining me.  

DR. DESILVA: Thank you very much Jennifer have a wonderful day and many blessings. 

JENNIFER: You too. Thank you so much. 

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