Presenter: Hello, today we have the chance to meet Antoinette Sarasin Gianduzzo. Antoinette Sarasin Gianduzzo is the Director of Biomolecular Restoration, Nutrition and Lifestyle. Good afternoon Antoinette.
Antoinette Sarasin Gianduzzo: Good afternoon.
Presenter: What is BIO-R®? Can you tell us more about this?
AS: In fact BIO-R® stands for biomolecular restoration. And it is our very innovative highly-personalised medical treatment approach to empower and revitalise the body and mind of our clients, delay the ageing processes, and allow them to feel at their best physically, emotionally and mentally. This through very in-depth, state-of-the-art laboratory testings, tailored micronutrient supplementation and specific treatments on a cellular level, and coaching to make the success sustainable on long term.
This method is applied either as stand-alone treatment, or in synergy and harmony with our conventional medical approach. In BIO-R® we focus on the gain of physical, emotional and mental health, and vitality of well being. But on the other hand, also on rejuvenation; delaying the ageing process, which we know nowadays is possible. Restoration of a healthy sleep, which is key for lots of people nowadays. Sustainable weight loss – make it work for the long term. And of course, actually a very important topic, a strong immune system.
Presenter: And how is BIO-R® linked with addiction and psychiatric disorders?
AS: The reason we feel depressed or anxious, drained out, experience strong cravings for sugar or substances, have problems falling asleep at night is often linked with our very complex biochemical environment interior, and deficiencies and imbalances there. In fact, human beings are a chemical factory. The way we feel full of energy or drained out, enthusiastic or rather anxious, low mood, good sleep or bad sleep, cravings. This is linked with complex reactions in our body from enzymes, hormones and other compounds involved.
And we know that, especially enzymes, need cofactors: which are essential vitamins, minerals, sometimes fatty acids, and waters to make it work well. This has also been shown in the synthesis production of neurotransmitters like serotonin or dopamine, being built by our body from precursor substances, which are amino acids, so action of enzymes and transformation.
Now given our changing lifestyles involving much more stress and eating food that is less nutritious than required, deficiencies and imbalances are an ever-increasing problem in most cultures. And we sometimes see that simply a lack of an iron, a severe iron deficiency, can already go along with a low mood and a psychiatric issue. And also Vitamin D3. We know that it’s known that, especially in autumn when the sun is more rare, to be very low, and that’s where we see it is linked. Especially the fact that deficiencies, imbalances of micronutrients can lead to psychiatric disorders, but the underlying cause of depression, anxiety or another psychiatric disorder can also lie elsewhere. For example, already unstable blood sugar, peaks of sugar up and down, as a consequence of a behaviour of how we eat can be a stress for our brain where we know sugar is a main energy source, besides keto bodies or others, which can provoke such symptoms as well.
Or when we think about our adrenal glands, small glands close to the kidney, so not in our brain, close to the kidney linked with our brain, our stress managers. When they are exhausted we also feel weepy, depressed, low, have problems getting out of bed in the morning. Or, think about leaky gut, inflammation in our gut, imbalanced microbiome, gut brain. Link is also a topic in psychiatry.
Presenter: How can BIO-R® re-energise us both physically and mentally?
AS: So there are the following topics, or the following parts which are crucial to make it work. Though first of all, an in-depth assessment because in BIO-R®, we don’t treat lab results or numbers, we treat the human being holistically. So an in-depth assessment with the clients to get an insight into actual health concern, symptoms, goals, expectation. Often together with our medical check-up, then an important part is solid diagnostics.
So besides the medical check-up and screening there, in BIO-R® a team of experts go in depth with further lab testings. They take various biological samples, so the blood, urine, saliva, hair, stool samples, up to buccal swabs to get an insight into complex biochemistry, and try to detect underlying causes there for actual symptoms. So the two roots of problems. And there we see deficiencies or imbalances in culture micronutrients, but also metabolic stress factors like inflammation, glucose elation, oxidation, imbalances of hormones, status of adrenal gland, exhausted or still functioning in a physiological way.
I mentioned already the microbiome, a more and more important topic we look at. So the leaky gut, is it working well or do we have to influence there with our tools, up to heavy metal loading or genetic predisposition, via nutrigenetic testings? So get an in depth insight to have the best fundament for the third part which is crucial in BIO-R®, in the BIO-R® method is the definition of a personalised treatment plan.
And this treatment plan lies on the following important pillars; on one hand, or the first pillar is based on the results, very personalised tailored formulation of micronutrients as a supplement, in phases where it’s needed. Going along with deficiencies we detect, or imbalances, so when it’s needed. Together with a tailored fine tuning of an individual’s diet, nutrition; we are not all the same so we need to adapt, like our fingerprints we differ and so therefore our needs.
So we have to adapt as well the kind of lifestyle somebody needs. The way we work out, we exercise, we relax, we eat. This combined with the third pillar of specific treatments. So we have in our BIO-R® method specific treatments like intermittent hypoxic therapy. A specific treatment which affects our energy plant in every cell. The mitochondria is part of rejuvenation of energy and vitality, also supporting and delaying ageing processes. So this is one example of specific treatments.
And the fourth pillar, a very crucial one to make it work sustainably, to make the achieved gain in well-being and health. To consolidate and make it work sustainably in very challenging environments, is the specific education and personal coaching.
We try to fit our approach and changes concerning diet, lifestyle, around the client’s preferences and environment. Because our profile of clients are clients who are very challenged in their professional life, or their private life, often travelling a lot, having lots of social events, late dinners, sometimes a little bit short nights, but it still has to work. And that’s why this one size fits all, or standard diets or lifestyle recommendations are not part of the BIO-R® method.
Presenter: Yeah, they don’t have much time for themselves, I can see that. And nowadays, these very busy people, for instance, have so many different dietary approaches that they can use. Many people consider, for instance, keto, low calorie, and so on and so forth, eating raw food and solely focusing on raw ingredients. How do you navigate the situation? And is there a practical approach or solution that you can recommend here?
AS: Yeah, you see, the more diets or diet books we get, the more people struggle with being overweight. And the problem is often that people try or want to fit themselves in a certain diet or lifestyle regime. But it’s the contrary, the other way around, which can work, it worked for a long time. And sometimes the second best solution is best, and it’s better than the best solution.
What I mean is certain preferences concerning diet, is it something unhealthy, there is room for it when we focus more on fix; which is on fix other aspects which are easy to implement. So, what I want to say is, we tailor, also concerning diets when weight loss is an expectation. After an initial phase of a certain precise combination of food, and supported by special supplementation.
Also based with the support of certain lab testings and lab results, we manage to initiate and boost the fat burning process in every individual, without cravings or other situations where you suffer. And after an efficient weight loss, also in the sense of kilos, dropping and focusing on mainly fat and not muscle mass.
But a second phase where we are especially focussed on, as I mentioned before, the sustainability in the maintenance of achieved weight loss by respecting personal preferences and the environment, and by our special coaching approach, which makes it work in different environments.
Presenter: I see. So this is really a completely individualised approach that you’re proposing here?
AS: Exactly, and that’s needed because there are also some people that do not like gym, or they do not like another, you know, what other part of lifestyle which you should do, or everybody should do yoga, who said that everybody should do yoga to cut down? No.
Presenter: So what is the science behind the BIO-R® approach that you’re proposing here?
AS: Of course, this is an important aspect also for me and my expert team. So we know, and when you look more closely into it, regarding micronutrients and supplementation of them, there are various studies on the benefits of specific supplementation. For example, the B vitamins. More in the psychiatric field, B12, B12 deficiency can be an issue. And when we supplement it, there is a beneficial effect.
Also the second specific psychiatric aspects or issues of folic acid, for example, but we know also quite well for example, folic acid before a pregnancy, to prevent spina bifida or vitamin A retinol for a healthy skin or treatment of acne. What is quite interesting at the moment is the aspect of Vitamin D3 in actual time with COVID-19.
And also here, there is just a report that has been written in renowned journal The Lancet. Now in September 2020, just this September, summarising very well, that, in fact, meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, they showed, conducted between 2007 up to now, clearly confirmed the benefit of the protective effect of vitamin D3 against acute respiratory infections.
Because vitamin D, which in fact is also a hormone, by its definition, supports an antiviral effect or mechanism, also has an anti-inflammatory effect. And we know that especially these cytokine storms have been shown as a common cause of COVID-related morbidity and mortality. And the vitamin D3 has shown to suppress excessive cytokine release.
So there is an interest in the supplement of vitamin D3 in actual time, where we also see most people are lacking. We see when we test lots of deficiency. It has also been shown that lower circulating vitamin D3 concentrations are associated with susceptibility to COVID-19 infections and severity. Now even though well-powered, one-devised controlled trials of vitamin D3 supplementation for the specific prevention and treatment of COVID-19 are still needed.
From all these data, there is no doubt and it has also been recommended in this report that it makes sense to supplement make or care about a good status of vitamin D3. Another field where we are extremely interested in is more the science behind how our lifestyle and specific supplementation can have an effect on delaying ageing. Ageing is like a disease. It’s the mother disease of all our civilisation diseases. Cardiovascular cancer, biomatic diseases, diabetes, and I would say the most important risk factors are ageing.
And ageing and also pathways within ageing forward. So to have tools and methods to delay the ageing is very interesting then to avoid the development of all the rest. And we know nowadays that for example, the accumulation of senescent cells or the dysregulation of mitochondria I already mentioned earlier, all we know nowadays is that specific metabolic, how do you say re-programming can be pre-cut or can be focussed on to delay the ageing process. For example, nutrient-triggered longevity regulators like mTOR, sirtuins.
There are lots of studies actually going on these pathways and looking for solutions to delay the ageing process. And one aspect which is known, it has been 75 years since the beneficial effect of caloric restriction was described. We know in all sorts of life forms, that when you reduce by 10 – 13% the calorie intake, without avoiding a malnutrition compared to ad libitum diet, that there is an extension or longevity in all these life forms.
And nowadays, we are looking in BIO-R® on intermittent fasting also going in the direction, but showing precisely effects on autophagy, for example. So, cleaning up cells, cleaning up their own junk, rejuvenate, having an effect on these longevity regulators like mTOR and Sirtuins. And if you combine these intermittent fasting with exercise, it has been shown that there is even a more significant benefit.
And what we are looking at, and of course, not only we, lots of researchers, also from famous medical schools and research centres, are looking for compounds mimicking, mimicking this effect of intermittent fasting exercise.
And one quite amazing compound is Resveratrol. Resveratrol is currently one of the most deeply, I would say, studied CRM, calorie restriction mimetics. Or another compound that’s very interesting, also especially maintaining and preserving the vitality and energy synthesis, is nicotinamide mononucleotide, NMN. So you see the science behind different aspects. We want to go even more in-depth with our BIO-R® approach.
Presenter: Thank you so much Antoinette for sharing this with us. We can absolutely see how the BIO-R® programme is helping The Kusnacht Practice to be the global leader in innovation in care services. I was here today with Antoinette Sarasin Gianduzzo, the Director of Biomolecular Restoration, Nutrition and Lifestyle. Thank you very much Antoinette.
