The Amazing Results from Vitamin K2
Jeff Harrison: Well, welcome back to another episode of Living to 120 and Beyond. I’m Jeff Harrison. I’m here with …
Dr. Chein: Dr. Edmund Chein.
Jeff Harrison: And we get to talk … I get the benefit of talking to Dr. Chein who is one of the leading doctors in longevity. In fact, you’re known as The Doctor of Longevity. The Father of Longevity.
Dr. Chein: Yes.
Jeff Harrison: You’ve done some things that are pretty amazing when it comes to helping us do what we’re supposed to to live longer. Would you mind taking just a moment and just, for those people that might be just jumping in and they don’t know the story, give us that Reader’s Digest, if you will, of your story of when you were back at USC Medical School and you decided you’re going to make aging …
Dr. Chein: A disease.
Jeff Harrison: … as a disease and really attack this a different way? Would you mind taking just a second and talking about that?
Dr. Chein: Okay. Actually, a title is more appropriate by calling me Father of HGH …
Jeff Harrison: Oh.
Dr. Chein: … and not longevity.
Jeff Harrison: Okay.
Dr. Chein: It’s HGH because I was the first one in the USA to use growth hormone HGH on adults. At that time it was a crime. Still it’s on the books as a felony, but I won in the federal court and even have the California state judge declare that use of growth hormone for anti-aging is scientific. Now basically, any doctor after me can … If Chein can do it, I can do it. This is America. This is equal protection before the law. So basically, that way I became a father of HGH, and we can use growth hormone for anti-aging now.
When I started years ago when at SC, my job was to find out why do we age? We age, we know that … We knew at that time already that the telomere in the DNA had something to do with it. When it gets long, a person lives long. When it’s short, a person lives short life, life expectancy. By the way, this is newest thing this month. Telomere length test was expensive. It was $650 last month. This month, $89.
Jeff Harrison: Whoa.
Dr. Chein: Yes. A new company from Menlo Park came out with a test at $89.
Jeff Harrison: Wow.
Dr. Chein: So, lucky to all of us, me included. I already sent for it. I already paid for it yesterday. I ordered the test kit. He ordered the test kit. Do it at home, and then send it in. I think it’s a finger stick blood test.
Jeff Harrison: Wow.
Dr. Chein: Yes.
Jeff Harrison: That’s fabulous.
Dr. Chein: It’s fabulous. Because now you can do a telomere test on yourself, see how old biologically you are as compared to your chronological age on your birth certificate. Basically, my scientific question at the time was, well the DNA is right inside of a nucleus of our cell. How does it know how old I am? There must be a spy. There must be a tipper, tipping that DNA off. Well, who is tipping it? What is tipping it? It turns out to be hormones. All the hormones and the hormones is the one that attaches cell surface and gives the RNA message to the telomerase, which is the engineer keeps repairing the telomere. When our hormone levels drop, the telomerase go to sleep, vacation, and the telomere gets shorter and shorter.
Jeff Harrison: Ah.
Dr. Chein: No repair. Nobody to lengthen it.
Jeff Harrison: Okay.
Dr. Chein: That’s why subsequently, long story short, is that hormones turn out to be, the talk on my patent, is that hormones can change a life span by affecting the telomere or the telomerase. That’s why I advocated that, I took that as a specialty, and now all I do is supplementing hormones, nutrients … Because when you supplement hormones, the cells grow. They regenerate, and they regenerate new materials. If I have you build a new house every day, you would need a lot of bricks, and cement, and four-by-fours, right?
Jeff Harrison: Right.
Dr. Chein: Same things. When you regenerate to be youthful, you need all the vitamins like a little kid.
Jeff Harrison: Okay.
Dr. Chein: All the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acid, and vitamin D, vitamin K, these things.
Jeff Harrison: So, if somebody’s just doing just hormone replacement …
Dr. Chein: Is not wise. No.
Jeff Harrison: … they’re creating this massive deficiency-
Dr. Chein: Fail. It’ll fail.
Jeff Harrison: … and as you say, bricks and mortar it’ll … Yeah.
Dr. Chein: Yeah.
Jeff Harrison: Okay.
Dr. Chein: You can hire the best architect, the best contractor, but I say, “Oh, nope. There’s no brick available, no four-by-four available, no cement … ” You can’t build a house.
Jeff Harrison: Yeah.
Dr. Chein: Even with the best architect and best contractor.
Jeff Harrison: Ah, interesting. Okay.
Dr. Chein: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Harrison: I love it because Dr. Chein gives me these little stories all the time, and this is a new one. I didn’t realize that. That’s excellent.
Dr. Chein: Yeah. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
Jeff Harrison: That makes total sense.
Dr. Chein: Yeah.
Jeff Harrison: Absolutely.
Dr. Chein: As dumb as as cement. If you don’t have it, you can’t build a house.
Jeff Harrison: Yeah.
Dr. Chein: You know? So …
Jeff Harrison: So, with this, I mean … You did a lot of things. Like you said, you got the patent. You were the first one through that treating hormone levels adds to the longevity or the life of the telomere. You were actually able, if I’m not mistaken, you were actually able to reverse the length of the telomere, were you not?
Dr. Chein: Right. From short to long, yes.
Jeff Harrison: So, with this test you talked about, let’s say for instance a year ago if I would have had that test, which I did … But if I had that test, and let’s say it said I’m 60 years old, okay? But then I supplemented it the way you recommend for a year, and I test it again, I could now-
Dr. Chein: It could be 50.
Jeff Harrison: It could be 50. My telomere could be longer. So that’s saying internally, my body now is that of a 50-year-old, not a 60-year-old.
Dr. Chein: Yes.
Jeff Harrison: Which means I should now have the stamina, the energy, maybe the concentration and focus of a 50-year-old versus a 60?
Dr. Chein: Right. Correct.
Jeff Harrison: I like that.
Dr. Chein: You know, I have a reward on the website: $25,000 for anybody who can show me a difference between the DNA telomere age of more than 27 years. Okay. Birthdate on the birth certificate and DNA telomere age … More than 27 years, I give them $25,000. It’s been tried over the last few years. Nobody won it. But I think not as many, maybe a little over 100 of the people. And I think because of the cost of the telomere test is $650. Now that with the added test of $89 I may see thousands of people try to get that $25,000 …
Jeff Harrison: That’s funny.
Dr. Chein: Because it’s so cheap
Jeff Harrison: Yeah. We might have to throw down a bigger gauntlet.
Dr. Chein: Yeah.
Jeff Harrison: With this, we’re talking about things changing. You’re talking about medication, medicines changing, and science changing.
Dr. Chein: Yes.
Jeff Harrison: There’s a new drug that you’ve been talking … Excuse me, sorry. Not a drug a new supplement, a new vitamin you’ve been talking about that you started introducing back in November of 2015 and it’s called K2.
Dr. Chein: Yes.
Jeff Harrison: Now I’ve never heard of K2 until you mentioned it. Tell us what it is, why it’s so important, and what we can see as far as a benefit is concerned.
Dr. Chein: Okay. K2 didn’t have anybody pay attention to it, other than clotting. K2 is involving clotting and when people have a stroke or venous thrombosis, Dr put them on an anticoagulant. And when people overdose it, when patients swallow a little more than they need to, the antidote is K.
Jeff Harrison: Ah okay.
Dr. Chein: Okay? Vitamin K is the antidote for anticoagulant. However, it was in this group of patients, on anticoagulation that K got it’s fame and found it’s miracle. What happened was that in people on anticoagulation, and sometimes they are on it for venous thrombosis for 20, 30, years, on Warfarin. I don’t know if you’ve heard about it.
Jeff Harrison: Sure, sure.
Dr. Chein: Just daily to maintain to prevent clotting. People who stroke too, take Warfarin daily. They found that Warfarin has a side effect, and the side effect is severe osteoporosis.
Jeff Harrison: Oh boy.
Dr. Chein: And that osteoporosis is so severe that they have a fracture as a result of being on anticoagulation therapy. So they started using vitamin K to try to see if they can lower down the bleeding time, make it shorter, so that the patient gets a little bit of benefit of anticoagulation instead of a lot. In the safety zone. Well, when they gave them K2, they reversed the osteoporosis!
Jeff Harrison: Oh boy.
Dr. Chein: And one smart doctor, or group of doctors, in Japan, decided to stop the anticoagulant completely, give that patient vitamin K … 87% is controlled, compared to the control group.
Jeff Harrison: Wow.
Dr. Chein: Didn’t have fracture … Everybody got osteoporosis but this group, that served as an experimental group, reversed the osteoporosis and 80% don’t have fracture as compared to the control group that has fracture. So much so that they’re planning on making it now an approved treatment for osteoporosis. Not USA.
Jeff Harrison: Wow.
Dr. Chein: So meaning that if you’re osteoporotic and I prescribe you vitamin K, your insurance won’t pay for it. Insurance won’t pay for it in this country. In Japan I prescribe vitamin K, the insurance company pays for it. It’s an approved use. So that’s how vitamin K got it’s name. Then also, in this group, same group of people, they found that people on anticoagulation have accelerated arteriosclerosis. Plaques. Plaques forming on their arteries which we call arteriosclerosis.
Jeff Harrison: Okay.
Dr. Chein: And when you give them K2, that plaque goes away.
Jeff Harrison: Oh wow!
Dr. Chein: Since when have we heard plaques going away?
Jeff Harrison: Yeah.
Dr. Chein: I mean, if I can sell a pill that removes plaques … If I can advertise that I can sell it for $20, $30 a pill. But no! It’s just simple Vitamin K, can remove these poor anti coagulated patients. Their plaques can be removed. So then they tried it on normal people.
Jeff Harrison: That was my next question. What about us healthy people?
Dr. Chein: Healthy people. Same thing! Their plaques go away.
Jeff Harrison: I’ll be darned.
Dr. Chein: So now K becomes THE … Because if you can remove the plaques in your arteries, that’s one of the major causes of death, stroke. Stroke, heart attack, both. Clotting of the arteries. Removes two major causes of death in America.
Jeff Harrison: Wow.
Dr. Chein: So I, in November of last year, make it mandatory that every single one of my patients take K. And in fact, I then talked to myself a little bit. Asked myself a question. Maybe that’s why some women, despite taking vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, estrogen, still get osteoporosis. I have that group of patients.
Jeff Harrison: That are still taking all of that …
Dr. Chein: Yeah, because the old concept was then, osteoporosis can be reversed or prevented by taking D, by calcium, estrogen, right? You heard about that.
Jeff Harrison: Sure.
Dr. Chein: But no! A lot of women still get osteoporosis. Despite compliant on taking all those supplements. Suddenly in my brain it clicked. It could be the vitamin K deficiency.
Jeff Harrison: Yeah.
Dr. Chein: Now vitamin K, there are several kinds. There’s K1 and K2. And the reason … Both does this miracle, and the only problem is K1 doesn’t get absorbed easily. If I give a 1 mg only 10% gets absorbed.
Jeff Harrison: Oh wow.
Dr. Chein: With vitamin K2, it’s all absorbed.
Jeff Harrison: Oh boy. Okay good.
Dr. Chein: Yeah. So that’s why I chose vitamin K2. There are some capsules on the market that are vitamin K1. It’s not they they’re wrong, it’s just that less of them are being absorbed. So why would I carry a product, when I can carry a product that’s 100% absorbed versus one that’s 10%. So I choose to carry K2 in my practice and compound that.
Jeff Harrison: So now you’ve only been prescribing it now, or if you’re just now watching this, we were shooting at the end of October 2016 …
Dr. Chein: Yes.
Jeff Harrison: So it’s only been a year. Have you been able to track any results yet? Or is it just-
Dr. Chein: No I have been able …
Jeff Harrison: … has it been too soon?
Dr. Chein: Yes, too soon. Yeah. But I trust those studies that have been done by many, many, universities, medical centers. Both US and Japan. And it’s obvious.
Jeff Harrison: Because, we’ve talk off camera before. My mom, she had osteoporosis and she had the fractures. And I heard the stories of, “Just take the vitamin D, take the magnesium and it’ll help.”
Dr. Chein: Yeah. See? Yeah.
Jeff Harrison: Nothing seemed to changed. So this vitamin K, it reverses …
Dr. Chein: Reverses the osteoporosis.
Jeff Harrison: Wow. That’s amazing. So it adds to bone strength.
Dr. Chein: Yeah.
Jeff Harrison: And that’s pretty significant for people that are going through … Maybe they’re taking something for cancer …
Dr. Chein: Yeah.
Jeff Harrison: That tends to rob them of their bone strength. I’m asking, and this is way off topic, but is that something they can take for … ?
Dr. Chein: Anybody with bone problem, osteopenia, osteoporosis, bone density problem, should be on vitamin K2.
Jeff Harrison: Wow.
Dr. Chein: It has it’s own independent way of restoring bone density. Different from D, calcium, and every other mechanism.
Jeff Harrison: And this is not a … I think you’ve mentioned before, there’s water soluble or fat soluble type vitamins. Is this something that you-
Dr. Chein: This is water soluble.
Jeff Harrison: So you can’t over take this?
Dr. Chein: No. You cannot. My capsules are 250 mg, 10 microgram per capsule. There’s no upper limit. The studies show there’s no upper limit. There’s no toxicity level.
Jeff Harrison: Wow. That’s great news.
Dr. Chein: The 250 micrograms has come out as a therapeutic level. Meaning at that level we see results. So that’s where we stay. Not because it’s toxic. 250 more likely to see results. So we stay at 250 micrograms.
Jeff Harrison: So this is a stand alone item. It’s not in your multivitamin. It’s a stand alone.
Dr. Chein: No, it’s stand alone. Because it’s too much volume to put into my multiple-vitamin. Already people complaining, my multiple-vitamin, it’s like a rock, it’s so big. Some of my patients have to blend it.
Jeff Harrison: They are kind of big but they work. You get used to it. It’s worth it, trust me.
Dr. Chein: Well some people they can’t swallow this, so I said, “Well, blend it. Blend it with your morning favorite juice.”
Jeff Harrison: There you go.
Dr. Chein: So many patient actually blend my multivitamin, and if I put my K into it, they’ll scream.
Jeff Harrison: So it’s a stand alone. And they take it every day.
Dr. Chein: Every day. I take it every day, myself, too.
Jeff Harrison: Fantastic. What kind of feeling will they have? Is there any kind of awareness that they’re have?
Dr. Chein: No. There’s no awareness to it, other than your carotid ultrasound. There’s a free carotid ultrasound being offered at one of the country clubs. [inaudible 00:16:56] because I want ultrasound to be done by a third party, so that it’s not my own. People don’t trust me, I could lie or take somebody else’s ultrasound and say it’s mine. So I want another party to do my ultrasound. That’s why I go out to ultrasound then. So basically I want to see if I have any plaques at all, which it shouldn’t, last time I didn’t. And I like to do things like that and so I encourage my patients to do carotid ultrasounds and if you find a plaque, to take K2, and then repeat in a year.
Jeff Harrison: Wow.
Dr. Chein: I encourage them to do a bone density test, and if they are osteoporotic, all my patient on K2, to repeat it. Same machine, same hospital, next year. It has to be the same machine to be accurate.
Jeff Harrison: Yeah. Keep the conditions the same.
This is exciting. This is like discovering something totally new.
Dr. Chein: Yes. This is exciting in osteoporosis and arteriolosclerotic plaques is a big problem. Big health problem.
Jeff Harrison: Yeah.
Dr. Chein: Absolutely when a person lives old enough, when they live to 110, what’s the leading cause of death? Hip fracture actually.
Jeff Harrison: Yeah.
Dr. Chein: Hip fractures are very common in elderly people. If they have the faculty together, they have their health together … Boom! They fall … Break a hip they go to the hospital, and they never walk again. Because the broken hip cannot … Even if they put in pins and rods it cannot hold. The nails in the plates cannot hold on a wood that is porotic. So you can’t screw, hold together, with nails when the wood is so frail. So surgery usually is not helpful and then they cannot walk. And then they stay in the hospital, they go to the nursing home, and they stay in bed they get infection because the [inaudible 00:19:10] ulcers and they have no money and they die from that. So sometimes they get fracture and the fat embolism the fat in the bone marrow goes into the lung and they die from poly embolism.
So very unfortunately many, many, healthy elderly people living the full to 100, 110, die from a fall. Just a simple fall. Not from a disease.
Jeff Harrison: Yeah. And we hear them dying of pneumonia.
Dr. Chein: Yeah. Or black lung [00:19:42]
Jeff Harrison: Here’s one of the things I like about you Dr. Chein, is the fact that once you discovered the way hormones affect the aging process. You didn’t just sit back on your laurels and say, “Okay here we are, this is it.” You just keep pushing the envelope. You keep discovering and finding. And I can’t thank you enough for sharing the vitamin K story and understanding there’s K1, K2. And with K2 there’s 100% absorption K1 is about 10%. Not that any one do any different, except why would you take one that only gave you 10% of absorption?
Dr. Chein: Exactly. And there are products out there that are K1, so if you’re okay with 10% absorption it’s okay.
Jeff Harrison: And you can get all of this either on your website or on amazon.
Dr. Chein: Yes. It’s all over. It’s not perscriptional. It’s an OTC product.
Jeff Harrison: So it’s over the counter, you don’t have a prescription, but you can get it on your website or through you on Palm Springs Life Extension at amazon.
Dr. Chein: Yes.
Jeff Harrison: Well Dr. Chein thank you so much for sharing the K2 story.
And thanks for joining us on, I think, another exciting episode of Living to 120 and Beyond. I’m Jeff Harrison. I’ve been here with …
Dr. Chein: Dr. Edmund Chein
Jeff Harrison: Thanks for joining us, see you again next time