The Most Underrated Anti-Aging Tool in the World (Boost Stem Cells Naturally!)

Most people think stem cells come from pricey treatments or controversial labs, but your body is already making them every single day. What if you could naturally boost that regeneration and help your tissues repair faster as you age? Watch my recent episode with Dr. Darshan Shah → https://youtu.be/SZqSakZl-Og Watch The Dr. Josh Axe Show every Monday & Thursday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjoshaxe 🎧 Early Access! Our podcast listeners get every episode early, and you can tune in and be a part of our exclusive listeners below → Spotify: https://bit.ly/DrJoshAxeSpotify Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3JDvWcS Order my NEW BOOK, The Biblio Diet → https://bit.ly/4oPEP3t Watch my free training on how to naturally balance your blood sugar and reverse your symptoms →http://DrAxeDiabetesClass.com Discover practical steps you can take today to start healing your thyroid naturally → DrAxeThyroidClass.com If you’re ready to start feeling like yourself again and balance your hormones, take my free class → DrAxeHormoneClass.com Uncover what’s really going on in your body with advanced biomarker testing for hormones, thyroid, and metabolism— plus a 1-hour consultation with a Senior Health Advisor! → http://MyBloodWork.com CONNECT WITH DR. JOSH AXE Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjoshaxe/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJoshAxe/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedrjoshaxeshow/ X: https://x.com/drjoshaxe/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshaxe Website: http://thehealthinstitute.com Sign up for my newsletter: https://bit.ly/4oE9Jf3 Ask me a question: http://speakpipe.com/drjoshaxe Links https://blog.cirm.ca.gov/2014/06/05/out-with-old-and-in-with-new-starvation/ https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/fasting-refeeding-paradigm-rejuvenates-old-stem-cells https://news.mit.edu/2018/fasting-boosts-stem-cells-regenerative-capacity-0503 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10164224/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2020.00308/full https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4542867/ https://www.stemcell.com/resveratrol-enhances-proliferation-and-osteoblastic-differentiation-in-human-mesenchymal-stem-cells-via-er-dependent-erk1-2-activation.html https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6767769/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6891787/ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0088916&utm https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-05407-8 https://stemcellsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/stem.1620 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12010580/ https://stemcellnetwork.ca/stem-cells/ https://www.aboutstemcells.org/info/stem-cell-types https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-4-431-56847-6_1 https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13287-022-03126-1 https://musecellinnovations.com/our-science/what-are-muse-cells/ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2130724 https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/sauna https://ai.hubermanlab.com/s/jzJrWlI2 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10128966/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11954214/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16299259/ https://www.aging-us.com/article/202188/text https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4146146/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11171912/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8625339/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9563555/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12482016/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2024.1393181/full https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10925866/ DISCLAIMER This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Josh Axe and is for informational and educational purposes only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Speaker 00

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• 1:00Josh Axe?

  In the late 1990s, scientists discovered that bone marrow transplants could not only help blood cells, they were also accidentally mobilizing stem cells to repair patients' damaged hearts, skin, and even their brains and nervous system. And today, we're going to be looking at how you can naturally boost your body's own stem cell production without expensive treatments or clinics. For example, studies show that fasting for just 24 hours can significantly boost stem cell regeneration, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy can do the same. Even simple habits like exercise, sunlight, and eating more polyphenol-rich foods can help your body repair itself faster and age more slowly.

• 1:45Josh Axe?

  And this is key because if you're struggling with any health condition, everything from diabetes to hypothyroidism to low testosterone to chronic pain, and you're looking to heal, well, stem cells can help create new tissue, help you regenerate, and heal more completely. Living a life free of drugs, without medications, and living a long, healthy life, free of disease, free of pain, in stem cells. Are probably the most promising form of medicine to help you do just that. So on today's episode, I'm going to dive deep on the foods, the herbs, the lifestyle, the holistic treatments that can help you take your stem cells to the next level without breaking the bank. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Ak Show.

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• 3:14Josh Axe?

  So when people hear the word stem cells, they often think of high-tech medical treatments or controversial lab experiments, but your body actually makes stem cells naturally, and stem cells are your body's master repair cells. So if you have damaged thyroid tissue that's not healthy, your stem cells are what repair it. If you have major low back pain or knee pain, it's your stem cells that heal it and allow it to regenerate and create new and healthy tissue so the pain is no longer there. So no matter what condition you're struggling with, stem cells can help you heal, and this is especially true for things like autoimmune disease, which you'll find out here on the show.

• 3:56Josh Axe?

  But stem cells, again, are your body's master repair cells. They are special cells that can divide and turn into many different types of cells, including muscle, bone, brain, blood cells, organ cells like liver or pancreas, which of course is key for diabetes, or thyroid, which is key for hypothyroidism, or reproductive organs, which is important for fertility. And think about them as your body's build in maintenance team. When you get injured, sick, or simply age, stem cells rush in to replace the damaged or worn out cells and keep tissues functioning properly. Kind of imagine remodeling a home. Okay, your body's constantly remodeling itself,

• 4:40Josh Axe?

  creating new and healthy tissue. And if your stem cells are active and working properly, your body is coming in and putting in stone and high quality wood beams and brick and marble, the things you want your house made of. But if your stem cells are low and not functioning properly, your body's putting in like cardboard and styrofoam. And so your tissue isn't healthy. And so it doesn't function properly, which leads to disease. In short, stem cells are what make regeneration possible. And the reason why your skin heals and you know, sometimes we see these celebrities. And I was literally just talking to my mother in law about this because we were watching somebody on TV. I think it was like Kathy Ireland or someone like that.

• 5:22Josh Axe?

  And I'm like, wow, I mean, she looks so young still for her age. And, uh, and then we started talking about stem cells and how there are women in their sixties and seventies. It looked like they could be in their forties, 20 to 30 years younger because of now. Listen, I know there's other things out there as well. As my mother in law reminded me in terms of they are, uh, getting, uh, you know, nips and tucks and things like that there with plastic surgery. But overall, I definitely have seen some celebrities and I know they're doing stem cell treatments and following a stem cell based diet. And that's how they've looked so young. In fact, you know, I think about someone like Hugh Jackman, a male, and how he has continued to play this role in Wolverine and Marvel movies and, and done what he's done while lifting heavy weights and staying really fit.

• 6:08Josh Axe?

  In his, uh, in his late 50s. And he's done it because he's used actually certain peptides and certain types of, uh, diets and, and, and, and treatments using stem cells to keep him physically younger. So again, stem cells are what make regeneration possible. They're what you, you allows you to regenerate. With new and healthy, younger tissue regenerate your skin healthier, new blood, your organs stay younger. By doing this, you know, one of my favorite tests I've done over the past few years is an organ age test. Where you can actually test how old your organs are. And probably the single greatest factor that will keep your organs younger. Is supporting your body in creating more and healthy stem cells.

• 6:53Josh Axe?

  And when you get older, your stem cell production naturally declines. Okay, so it's natural. Your body produces less, but you want to keep it as high as possible to stay younger and to fight disease. And when your stem cells decline, it typically leads to slower healing. Tissue degeneration, aging, and you might notice this, of course, you notice this. If you're in your 40s, 50s, 60s beyond. You notice that compared to 20 years ago, you don't heal as quickly or completely, right? What maybe a sprained ankle or or a little twinge in your knee might have taken three days when you were. 18 years old, now it takes 30 days or three years, or it just doesn't go away at all. That's because your body isn't producing enough stem cells.

• 7:37Josh Axe?

  And by supporting your body's own stem cell system. You can help your body create way more of these stem cells. Which leads to longevity and greater healing. And I want to go through the really fascinating history of this in the 1960s. Two Canadian scientists, one was named Dr. Ernest McCullough, the other is Dr. James Till. They made a groundbreaking discovery. They found that certain bone marrow cells could regenerate your blood and help heal your blood. And this was the first real proof that stem cells existed in mammals. And it was a concept that would completely, as we now know, reshape medicine. And in the 1990s, researchers learned how to isolate. Embryonic stem cells, which are capable of becoming any type of tissue in the body.

• 8:21Josh Axe?

  And it was hailed as the most exciting discovery in modern biology. But of course, as I agree, it became majorly controversial. Because these stem cells came from embryos, which I and many people believed is unethical. And then by 2001, among this heated debate in the public. And political arena, the US government restricted federal funding for new embryonic stem cell lines and overnight the the break was slammed as it should have been because this is unethical in what they were using as the tissues for for for for stem cells. But there was a newer discovery and they found, okay, many of these same stem cells that are found in embryo are also found in areas of the body like umbilical cord or in bone marrow of

• 9:06Josh Axe?

  adults. And so many people viewed that as a setback, but scientists began looking elsewhere for where are stem cells in adult bodies. And they found that there were these stem cells are called mesenchymal stem cells in our bone marrow. And so those could be extracted from bone marrow and used for healing. And then they also found another source when mothers donated their umbilical cords after pregnancy, the umbilical cord also had incredibly high amounts of these stem cells that could be used for healing. And that pivot transformed the field. Instead of relying on these unethical embryonic stem cells, researchers started using stem cells from our own

• 9:49Josh Axe?

  body, like our bone marrow and from donated umbilical cord. And these are the very types of stem cells that are used today and injected in people with major orthopedic issues. This is the type of stem cell I've had where they pulled my own bone marrow and an umbilical cord was then cultured. And then this is what I've used to get back to 100% United series spinal infection and other major injuries in the past. And I use this sort of stem cell therapy to help me completely heal. And this sort of research also led to though other discoveries on how we can boost our own stem cell production with things like fasting, nutritional and dietary therapy,

• 10:28Josh Axe?

  peptides, and even things like hyperbaric oxygen therapy that naturally stimulate new stem cell production. Now, there are a few types of stem cells I want to talk about today. One are called mesenchymal stem cells, and these are found from adult stem cells from bone marrow. They're also found in a in a younger version in umbilical cord tissue. And these are the body's natural maintenance workers. They are tissue specific. Again, they're found in the in the

• 10:58Josh Axe?

  They're best from bone marrow or umbilical cord's even better. Now, they're also found in things like your fat cells, but bone marrow's superior. And even superior, that would be umbilical cord. And they're less versatile than these embryonic stem cells, but they're much safer. They're fully acceptable and they have been shown in scientific studies to have major, major benefits for tissue repair, reducing inflammation, immune balance, and so much more. And I can tell you, these are the type of stem cells that again, I used for healing myself, and I've got many friends and colleagues who have used in healing themselves using stem cells. A really close friend of mine, Gary Brekka, has used these types of stem cells.

• 11:41Josh Axe?

  In fact, him and I have gone to the same clinic in Cancun, in Cabo, Mexico, and had treatments. Dr. Mark Hyman, Chris Williamson, Dan Pampa, and there's a lot of doctors out there and well-known fit public figures that have used these sort of stem cells to help them overcome and heal from chronic health issues. And I've also used these sort of stem cells to help many patients I've had with chronic health issues heal and recover when nothing else worked. Now, I also want to mention, there's a new type of stem cell out there that's unproven at this point, but you're going to see a lot of information coming out in the future. And I talked about these sort of stem cells with another colleague of mine, Dr. Darshan Shaw. And Darshan is the founder of Next Health Clinics.

• 12:23Josh Axe?

  He's been a guest on this podcast and we've talked a lot about stem cells together and a lot of other things that support cellular longevity and healing. And so, one of the types of stem cell treatments we were discussing is called muc cells. And muc cells are one of the most exciting frontiers in regenerative health and longevity because they're safe and naturally occurring stem cells in the body. Now, this is a newer discovery out of Japan, and these are stem cells that are found naturally in adult tissues such as bone marrow, blood, and fat. And the research on muc cells are showing that these sort of cells might be the most beneficial stem cells for helping repair and regenerate certain organs like the heart.

• 13:05Josh Axe?

  But as of today, the most promising stem cells are those from your own bone marrow and from umbilical cord that is then cultured.

• 13:17Josh Axe?

  Have you ever felt like you're doing everything right? Eating clean, working out, taking all the right supplements, but your body just won't cooperate? Maybe you're tired, you're foggy, you're gaining weight, you can't sleep, and your doctor says your labs are normal? Here's the truth: normal blood work does not mean your body is operating normally. It just means the levels in your blood work look okay. Not that your cells are actually using them the way they should. It's like using the wrong map and wondering why you're lost, or putting gas in the tank but the engine still won't turn over. Because if your cells are inflamed, stressed, or in survival mode, nothing you do will work the way it should. Your body's been whispering for years. Now maybe it's screaming, and you deserve someone who's actually listening.

• 14:02Josh Axe?

  Go to mybloodwork.com and see what your blood work missed, what's really going on beneath the surface. Because you're not crazy, you're not lazy, you're just stuck in a system that was never built to find the problem. It was built to diagnose disease, not restore your health. At mybloodwork.com, we'll show you how to finally get your body and your life back.

• 14:26Josh Axe?

  And so the way stem cells work is they travel to the damaged area. So whether you're getting them injected, or you're eating a diet that supports it, here's an example: your body will take stem cells from your bone marrow, and it will be then sent into the blood to heal something in the blood, or then from the blood to an organ like the lungs, or the heart, or the digestive system, or that old injury you have in your low back. Your body will send stem cells there, which will then help regenerate and heal, and actually it will become that tissue. So stem cells can become healthy back tissue, healthy knee cartilage, healthy heart tissue. So they become whatever type of cell you need

• 15:10Josh Axe?

  in order to heal and function properly. And here's another example of this: they can turn into neurons after brain injury, or heart muscle after a stroke or heart attack with cardiac damage. And as you can see on this graphic, stem cells and muc cells can migrate Directly to sites of damage and differentiate into many types of tissue, everything from muscle to nerve to liver to heart to skin and become that new organ tissue, which is true healing and regeneration. And early research suggests it could help with, one is neurological disorders. They're showing promise in repairing damage from a stroke, spinal cord injury and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

• 15:55Josh Axe?

  Also cardiovascular disease. You know, I know somebody who had a heart attack, had major damage to their heart tissue and has had stem cell a couple of times. And now all their markers for the health of their, their heart are much, much improved. Medical studies have shown it's been shown to help liver and kidney disease, supporting regeneration, reducing fibrosis. It's been shown to help heal skin and wound issues, reduce scarring formation. And the thing that I've probably recommended the most for, along with orthopedic issues, which I'll get into a minute, are autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. A friend of mine who's a doctor actually struggled with inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's and colitis. I had him go and get treatment and the results he saw

• 16:38Josh Axe?

  were phenomenal at helping him completely reverse, he completely reversed his inflammatory bowel disease with this. And so this is also great for Hashimoto's thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, and any type of autoimmune, any type of autoimmune disease. But again, the great news is you can start boosting your body's own stem cells using foods, herbs, and lifestyle medicine. I also want to mention a case study here on healing the brain after stroke with Mew cells. In 2023, Japanese researchers made headlines with a clinical trial using Mew cells to help patients recover from strokes. The study included 35 stroke patients, all with significant movement

• 17:20Josh Axe?

  and function loss. Participants received a single IV infusion of Mew cells between two to four weeks after their stroke. No surgery, no immunosuppressing drugs were used. After just 12 weeks, 40% of patients treated with Mue cells regain meaningful mobility and daily function compared to only 10% in the placebo group. And then MRI scans showed after this, cells migrated to damaged brain areas and it's actually showed these new, it showed healing of nerve tissue, which is amazing and typically takes 10 years or longer, or it never happens. So the fact that they saw this sort of healing regeneration is extraordinary.

• 18:04Josh Axe?

  And this was the first randomized placebo-controlled trial on this sort of stem cell therapy and showing that it safely restored brain function after stroke. Now here's something to note that's really important about stem cell therapy. It's not FDA approved. Now, I think it might have FDA approval possibly for certain types of stem cell for knees, actually for, for things like ACL tears, or we're very close there. But for a lot of these treatments, especially with things like autoimmune disease and other sort of things impacting the nervous system or organ systems, uh, it's not FDA approved. And stem, stem cell therapy though has huge potential. It's one of the most tightly regulated areas of medicine.

• 18:47Josh Axe?

  And that's why many so-called stem cell clinics operate outside of the United States. This is why myself, I have traveled to Cancun and Cabo to rehealth to their stem cell clinic, as is Gary Brekka and Mark Hyman and these other docs have gone there because, uh, first off, their clinics are amazing there, but they can do the things that make the most difference in terms of what they're doing with stem cells. And a big part of that is culturing stem cells. So what they do is they will pull your bone marrow or use umbilical cord cells. They'll culture them and expand them, which means you might get 10 to 100 times more stem cells by doing that. It's just, it's similar to the process of fermentation where you create more, a few bacteria, now you have a lot more bacteria.

• 19:30Josh Axe?

  Very same, you can culture and create more cells. And that's what's not legal in the United States today. Even though I will say the state of Florida is now challenging those laws, thanks to RFK Jr. and people like Ron DeSantis, who are more on the forefront of wanting, wanting to get this sort of extraordinary medicine, have more approval for it. So people aren't having to travel to other countries to get these types of treatments. So what's currently allowed in the United States of America is stem cells that come from your own body. Or from other sources that are not changed whatsoever. Okay, what is illegal is you taking even your own cells or these umbilical sores and multiplying them. That's what's not allowed, even though it's completely safe and effective and something

• 20:14Josh Axe?

  that literally thousands of functional medicine doctors have had treatment on themselves in other countries. Now, what I want to dive into now, though, is how you can boost your body's own stem cell production naturally. Your body is already producing stem cells. The problem is for many of you, your body's not producing enough or not the right quality. And if your body can start producing more stem cells and mobilizing those stem cells, you can heal much more quickly and completely from every medical condition you can think of. Step number one is this, stop blocking cellular regeneration and stop blocking your body from producing stem cells. The single biggest thing today that's absolutely destroying our stem cells is highly processed

• 20:58Josh Axe?

  foods, refined sugars, highly processed oils. These are driving chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. Oxidative stress and inflammation damage and destroy your stem cells and shorten the lifespan of your stem cells. And a nutrient-dense diet full of whole foods, especially rich in antioxidants, has been shown to increase your body's stem cell production. Toxins are another big issue. Heavy metals, plastics, pesticides, environmental pollutants, also infections like Lyme and parasites and mold are very toxic to the body. They damage your DNA, they damage your cell membranes, and they damage your stem cells.

• 21:41Josh Axe?

  So reducing your toxic exposure is another key to support stem cell production. Then chronic stress, not getting enough sleep at night, and chronic release of cortisol suppresses stem cell activity and slows tissue regeneration. Learning to regulate stress and sort of boost your parasympathetic nerve system through things like prayer, spiritual meditation, deep breathing techniques, time in nature, and as I mentioned, restorative sleep, these are the greatest ways to restore your stem cell activation.

• 22:15Josh Axe?

  Are you interested in functional nutrition tips to burn fat, reduce inflammation, improve your brain and energy levels and heal naturally? Then I want to encourage you to listen to my friend, Dr. Dave Jockers podcast, the functional nutrition podcast. This podcast is designed to help you with easy actual steps to improve your nutrition and lifestyle, understand your lab work and address the root cause factors that may be driving up inflammation in your body. Now I've been friends with Dr. David Jockers for 20 years and he's truly a world expert in functional nutrition, cellular healing, and so much more. If you want to learn the best nutrition and natural healing tips, tune into the Dr. Jockers functional nutrition podcast on Apple iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you can listen to podcasts worldwide.

• 23:02Josh Axe?

  So now I want to walk you through nine science-backed ways to boost your body's own stem cell production. And again, this is something that I've been very conscious of as I had this, this major injury where doctors told me I might be permanently disabled. And so I dove deep into the research to discover, how can I support my body in creating the greatest level of tissue regeneration repair that was possible? And one of the first things I discovered was fasting and caloric restriction. Short-term fasting triggers cellular cleanup and regeneration and researchers have discovered that autophagy, the body's built-in cellular recycling process is triggered by fasting and is the key to protecting aging stem cells.

• 23:45Josh Axe?

  There's a 2024 study from Columbia University that found that 24 hours of fasting followed by refeeding can reset old blood stem cells, helping them behave more like young ones. And MIT researchers found that a 24-hour fast doubled intestinal stem cells and supported your body's regenerative capacity. You know, the other unique thing in that study that they found was is that it also supported your body from going from burning carb for energy to fat for energy, which of course, if your goal is weight loss and supporting insulin resistance and really reversing almost any condition, you know, excess body fat.

• 24:24Josh Axe?

  Really is a major cause of of inflammation and it's connected to most disease processes, but especially heart disease, diabetes and hormone imbalances and weight gain are are definitely up there. So, so there are benefits of fasting. Now, I always encourage people to moderate their fasting and listen to their body. If you are very weak and you've got an issue like hypothyroidism or major hormone imbalance, I typically recommend not doing intense fasting. Now, if you've got more of an issue such as certain types of cancer or you're overweight and need to lose weight, then fasting is tremendous.

• 25:05Josh Axe?

  Loads of benefits there doing a 24 hour fast or taking a day a week and fasting regularly, lots of benefits. But even doing intermittent fasting where you're fasting maybe around, let's say you're 10 hours you're eating or a nine hour, nine to 10 hour eating window and then you're fasting 14 hours a day, that can have benefits there as well. But I would say just for most people, doing an intermittent fast one day a week where you where you skip breakfast and lunch, you spend that time more focusing on spiritual growth. This is what the early church fathers did, the early church did continually as they focused on one day a week of fasting. I think that's a great way to regularly fast one day a week and get tremendous benefits for boosting your body's own stem cell production. Number

• 25:46Josh Axe?

  two way to boost your body's own stem cell production is consume a high quality diet. A diet rich, I would say a diet that's biblically based or Mediterranean based, but a diet that's rich in wild organic meat, lots of vegetables, lots of things like fruit and things like healthy fats. That is the diet you want to follow. Foods rich in polyphenols, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids and collagen protects stem cells from oxidative damage and aging, also called stem cell senescence. And there are certain antioxidants in studies such as roseveratrol, which is found in grapes and blueberries. They help your stem cells

• 26:28Josh Axe?

  live long and recover faster. Again, when we're looking at your diet.

• 26:34Josh Axe?

  Diet rich in omega threes is fantastic. Lots of wild caught fish like salmon, sardines, sea bass, halibut, mackerel, a lot of these omega three rich fish are at the very, very top of the list. In addition to that, vegetables of all colors, beets, which support nitric oxide, carrots and beta carotene is amazing for stem cells. Green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, but vegetables of all kinds, the full spectrum of the rainbow. Doing those ideally steamed, some raw, but doing lots and lots of those vegetables is sort of the number two along there with those omega three rich foods. And then foods that are rich in high quality protein like collagen, so drinking bone broth,

• 27:19Josh Axe?

  doing grass fed beef, those sort of things regularly, and then lots of fruit, especially those that are high in antioxidants. Pomegranates are maybe the best because of how they support mitochondrial function. They can be turned into that allicic acid into your L-thea. Blueberries, blackberries, goji berries are at the top of the list. So berries and pomegranates are going to be some of the most healing for the body. And then getting healthy fatty acids from things like extra virgin olive oil, walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, eating avocados, getting these healthy fatty acids, especially these plant based fatty acids or fish based fats are going to be the most healing to the body.

• 28:02Josh Axe?

  And then consuming more anti inflammatory herbs, especially rosemary, turmeric and ginger have tremendous benefits at boosting stem cells. Number three is exercise. Exercise is a good hormetic stressor. Physical activity, especially resistance training and HIIT training, acts as a powerful stimulus for stem cell release and tissue regeneration. And doing things that create micro tears actually stimulate stem cell driven regeneration in muscle and bone. Now again, you never want to do it to the point of injury. That will drain your body of stem cells, but these sort of micro tears by doing healthy weight training techniques is fantastic. And studies show.

• 28:44Josh Axe?

  That even a single session of intense exercise can increase circulating stem cells significantly. And this enhances the repair of your body of muscle, bone, and even vascular tissues. Number four is cold exposure. Cold plunges, ice baths, cold cryotherapy, or even a cold shower boosts norepinephrine, a powerful neurotransmitter that reduces inflammation and mobilizes muscle and brown fat stem cells. Now, I want to mention this, this isn't for everybody. Just because something boosts stem cell production doesn't necessarily mean there's not also a side effect of it. And we're consuming the diet I talked about is good for almost everybody.

• 29:26Josh Axe?

  When we look at cold exposure, more is not always better. I would say for most people, doing a one-minute cold shower is the ideal. If you are a person that generates a lot of body heat, let's say you're a 20-year-old male that does CrossFit. You know, you will probably tolerate cold very well, and it's good for your recovery. For most other people, if your body's weak and cold already, this is one you want to skip when it comes to stem cell production. However, this next one is one that you probably want to embrace wholeheartedly, and that is doing saunas, infrared saunas, red light therapy, and heat therapy. Saunas, hot baths, and infrared heat sessions work in the opposite direction of cold therapy, but deliver similar benefits through thermal stress.

• 30:11Josh Axe?

  Heat triggers heat shock proteins. These are molecules that protect your cells from damage, support protein repair, and encourage stem cell renewal. And a 2018 study published in the Journal of American Medical Association found that Finnish men that started using a sauna four to seven times per week reduced all-cause mortality by 40% and cardiovascular deaths by 50%, likely due to improved vascular repair and lower inflammation. Now, I do want to mention some of these are principles around Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine typically does not like you getting your body really cold on a regular basis for long periods of time. They think going outdoors and exposing your body in that way is good for you to.

• 30:54Josh Axe?

  Build resilience, but overall, most people don't have enough circulation, especially because we are so sedentary today as a society and cool things tend to cause restriction, whereas warming your body increases circulation and most people do not have near enough circulation. And so this is why for most people, you're thinking, okay, what's better for me cold therapy or heat therapy? For 90% of people, it's going to be heat therapy, like infrared sauna, red light therapy, doing things to move your blood, warm your blood and body. Other studies show that sauna exposure, by the way, also boosts

• 31:34Josh Axe?

  growth hormone up to 16 fold, which helps stem cell regeneration and also muscle and connective tissue repair. So there are so many benefits of heat therapy and sauna therapy to activate stem cells, reduce inflammation and promote longevity. So this is a great one for almost everybody to do when it comes to support stem cell production. Number six is this, supporting your sleep and your circadian rhythms. Sleep is when the most repair occurs in your body. It's your body's nightly stem cell therapy session. And when you release growth hormone and melatonin, both of those stimulate stem cell renewal and tissue repair. Studies show that

• 32:16Josh Axe?

  disrupted circadian rhythms significantly impair the ability of stem cells to regenerate tissue. And they've also shown that four times more stem cells are released overnight while you're sleeping. So know this, if you want to promote longevity, if you want to heal from any health problem or reverse a medical condition, maybe the single greatest thing you can do is get better quality sleep. This is why I wear an Oura ring almost every night because I love tracking my sleep because I know it's that important for my health. I'm always going for these 90 plus sleep scores, doing everything I can and sort of adjusting what I eat at night, wearing blue blocker glasses, getting my room cold, doing everything I can to get better sleep

• 32:56Josh Axe?

  because I know it's so important for longevity, healing and recovery. And research also shows that even one night of sleep loss. can reduce stem cell regeneration. So it's really important you do everything you can to aim for that eight plus hours of sleep and a very minimum seven. Seven has kind of been shown to be the floor. Anything under seven, you're destroying your health and body. So you want to do everything you can to get more quality sleep. Number seven is this hyperbaric oxygen therapy. H B O T therapy involves breathing in pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. It literally supercharges your tissues with oxygen and stimulates stem cell

• 33:37Josh Axe?

  release from your bone marrow. Now, when I had my spinal infection, and I was told again that that I had major tissue damage, the first thing I did was start looking at medical research and studies. And the thing I came across was the greatest thing I could do to heal myself according to the medical literature was getting a hyperbaric oxygen therapy tank every single day. So I started doing it. I started doing it every day and then I went down to three days a week, but really for about 90 days for three months, I was getting in a hyperbaric chamber constantly. I, it was so beneficial that I bought one for myself to use at home. Okay. And specifically with having an infection like I had, when you can drive oxygen into the area, infections of all type, whether

• 34:19Josh Axe?

  it be even a Lyme infection or mold, a lot of these sort of infections, they don't like, they don't like oxygen. So when you can drive oxygen deeper into the cells in the body, it tends to kill off infections. It also supports bringing stem cells to the area. There are loads of benefits. And there was a landmark study in 2006 and they found that 20 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy increased circulating C D 34 plus stem cells. These are the body's main regenerative stem cells. They increased them by about 3.5 times in healthy adults. That's a 350% increase of stem cells in the body when you get into a hyperbaric chamber. And even a more recent study in 2021 found that hyperbaric oxygen

• 35:04Josh Axe?

  therapy not only boosted stem cells, but also lengthened telomeres by up to 38% and reduced senescent cells. These are your aging cells. It reduced aging Cells by thirty seven percent showing its potential for longevity. So hyperbaric oxygen therapy is one of those things you'd have to go to a clinic and and get or buy one yourself. So that is more of an investment of all the things we've talked about. But I wanted to talk about it because it is greatly beneficial for stem cell production and health. Number eight, red and near infrared light therapy. We know that red and near infrared light penetrates deep into tissues energizing your mitochondria, the powerhouses of your cells. And this helps activate growth factors that enhance stem cell production. Simply getting in a red light bed

• 35:48Josh Axe?

  or using a red light panel for about 10 to 20 minutes is amazing for stem cell production. Number nine are supplements that support stem cells. The first being a vitamin D, vitamin K2 combo. A 2020 study published in the Stem Cell Research and Therapy Journal showed that vitamin D3 improved the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into bone and muscle tissue, helping repair damaged tissue and maintaining bone strength. D3 works best when combined with vitamin K2 and magnesium for it being the most productive. So again, vitamin D and listen, you can get that for free, lay out in the sun, get benefits that way, eat sardines, do green leafy vegetables for

• 36:32Josh Axe?

  the vitamin K or raw fermented or organic dairy as well. So doing those things can help you get vitamin D and vitamin K. Another great one's N-acetylcysteine. N-acetylcysteine is the precursor to glutathione, which is your body's master antioxidant. This actually helps protect the body from oxidative stress, inflammation, and so it protects and allows more of your stem cells to survive. In addition, magnesium, zinc, and selenium are really important for your body creating more stem cells on its own. And all of these act as immune boosters as well, especially zinc and selenium, major, major benefits there for stem cell production. And last but not least,

• 37:14Josh Axe?

  herbs such as astragalus, green tea extract, and chisandra, these herbs, berries, and medicinal mushrooms also have been shown to increase your body's own stem cell activity. And so taking some of these more adaptogenic herbs, again, but I would highlight turmeric, green tea, astragalus and chisandra as some herbs and berries that also boost stem cell production. So taking a longevity powder that like, like, like, um, that especially have reds in them like pomegranate. Um, also a lot of these other things like these adaptogens like ginseng, chisandra, astragalus, doing green tea like matcha. These are other things that have been

• 37:55Josh Axe?

  shown in studies to also support your stem cell production. Now I do want to say if you've got a major injury or a major condition, um, you may also consider getting stem cells done via as an IV or as an injection. It's, it's expensive, but it is tremendous. And sometimes it's cheaper long-term than something like surgery. And, and of course, it also can keep you doing what you love longer. Everything from snow skiing to playing with your grandkids. So for some people, that investment's worth it. But, but for, for, for many of you, if you want to do it the most cost-effective way possible, you know, following these things I talked about, everything from, uh, doing, you know, changing your diet to fasting to sunbathing to taking the right

• 38:36Josh Axe?

  supplements, those can make a significant difference in your stem cell production as well. So you don't have to have costly injections to enhance your regeneration. Oftentimes, again, there are things right in front of us where we can make better daily choices that can also boost our body's own stem cell production, which again, are our body's master healers in terms of cellular medicine. I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Ak Show. We're each and every week I'm diving deep in the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually, and take your health and your life to the next level. And if you want to support the show, the number one thing you can do is subscribe here to the

• 39:17Josh Axe?

  podcast. By the way, stem cells are somewhat controversial. For many people, this may not pop of on their feed, and this is why you do want to subscribe is is that when I talk about controversial things around stem cells and peptides and even treatments for things like cancer, a lot of times they're shadow banned. You don't fully see these versus if you subscribe, you now are able to always see these videos I'm putting out in these podcasts I'm putting out. So make sure to subscribe, like and share, and I can't wait to see you on the next episode.

• 39:52Speaker 03

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