What is VARS? Super Antioxidant Protection?

All right, I'm Jackson Larkin here today with Lois Schwigert from the N fibromyalgia with natural options Facebook page and we're going to talk about all the fun things happening around physician design products and all everything wellness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How we're helping. So, one question that I'm getting a lot is

what is vars? Where did it come from? Yeah. So VARS that V A R S uh stands for validated, absorbable, reduced and stable. Now these are the the rules that Dr. Perser created uh for a functional antioxidant. And so it started with our

varss glutathione. Vars glutathione was the first validated fully validated. We did studies on it to make sure that it worked in the ways that we were saying. And so that's the V validated and then it was absorbable. And that's the painstaking process that we went to absorbable and reduced glutathione uh

through our manufacturing process to make it truly absorbable through a liposomaal uh delivery system. And then also make sure that it's the reduced form GSH versus GSSG oxidized version of glutathione. Reduced glutathione is the truly functional version of glutathione.

And then it had to be stable, shelf stable for two plus years so that it can actually benefit people whenever they purchase it. And so that's the whole process of varss and glutathione was the first version of that, right? And so that now we have a couple

different antioxidant products uh with our vars sod and our vars catalyst as well as vars vitamin C, right? And so all of these fall under that same category of what are truly functional antioxidants. And so when we put the VARS name on there and we got that trademarked registered um so that if

that if you see VARS on there you know that it's a truly functional antioxidant. And so same thing with our sod and with our catalase they're very unique versions of these products. The vars sod uh comes from a sea algae extract which is pretty cool. And they

did a they found it in a deep sea uh near volcanic vents which is interesting. And so it's kind of a cool story, but a very intense environment under extreme pressure and then the acidity of volcanic vents and the heat everything. So it's very very specific

strain of yeast that grows with this um with these algaes. And so it's from this yeast that it's then extracted that we utilize in our vars sod product. And so they the company that did all that, they did their studies on the sod as well,

showing that it's a very hardy strain of sod or wherever it comes from. So so much so that it survives the stomach acids and then absorbs into the into the small intestine where it actually gets to work. And so that's why varsod is super cool. [laughter] It's a really really functional product.

So when you say for antioxidants, so does that mean v the vase label will only be on antioxidants. Yes. So that's why it's not on Britain or MTHFR daily. And funny enough with Brightin, it has a few antioxidants in it anyway, but we just don't hold it to the same standard.

Okay. Okay. Good to know. Good to know. Okay. So, that's um uh to to delineate between the the VARS and the other products. So, I I love that. I love that explanation. That's good. I think that'll be helpful. And our VARS glutathione has been around

for almost 10 years now. And so, many people just know it as VAS. Yes. And so, that gets confusing now with some people. And so, we always have to Right. And that's why I wanted to clarify a little bit because I've had people say, you know, wait, what's the difference? Is this a different product? Is it the same thing? What's do I need

this one or this one? And so that was another thing I kind of wanted to talk about was how they are how they work together. What functionally like if you're if you're already been using glutathione, you're seeing results with that. I I will never go without it. Y

um but then adding in sod and now adding in catalase. Yeah. Um I know for me I I've noticed a big difference since I was able to add in the catalase. So, I want to know how that um how they work together. And who

who are we looking at who we're targeting? Who what are the things that that make you might say, "I might need all three of these products." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So, what what's so fun is I get to talk to patients about this all day, every day. [laughter] And and

so I sometimes I forget, and I'm sure Dr. Per forgets, too, that this is all new stuff for most people, right? And so, um, I have a couple images to just kind of help show a little bit about that. Um, we'll start with this one. It's got a picture of Dan on there showing the three products. So,

glutathione, sod, and catalase. It's actually sod, catalase, and glutathione. If we're talking about it, the way that it actually works in the mitochondria of our cells, all three of those are super potent antioxidants that we use. Glutathione is the master antioxidant. It exists in every cell of the body and

throughout everywhere, every blood vessel, everywhere in the body. It's everywhere and it's doing its job everywhere boosting energy, providing antioxidant support, detoxing things everywhere. Glutathione is that molecule that does it all. And so that's why it's the cornerstone of everything that we do. Now specifically within the

mitochondria we every time that we produce ATP when we make energy carbohydrates they go through a whole process to turn into energy ATP. Throughout that whole process we put off a lot of free floating oxygen and those

are the free radicals those are the the oxidants that are happen that just come about as this normal process that then cause damage within the mitochondria within the cells. It's those oxidants that go and shoot off and cause that can damage the DNA in our cells. So we have

protective mechanisms to to stop that damage from happening. And that's this chain of antioxidant enzymes that our body util utilizes starting with superoxide dismutase sod that's the first the main potent uh the very first part of this chain of superoxide of

super antioxidants that stop super oxide radicals. And so then it's a chemical process that turns it from a super oxide radical into hydrogen peroxide into eventually safe oxygen and water. And so then it's totally stable. The cell is nice and safe. No damage is happening.

And so we have these mechanisms built in so that we can reduce oxidative stress and damage. And then this in turns provides immense benefits to the whole body uh lowering inflammation and allowing anti-aging benefits which is really cool. We lose the ability to make

sod and these other super antioxidants as we age. And then this then increases oxidative stress and damage that causes different mutations and causes different things to grow, causes inflammation. So if we can get ahead of all of that, we can reduce all of those effects. So

exactly what we're saying, glutathione is one of those main parts. That whole chain goes from superoxide dismutase into catalase. Catalase takes hydrogen peroxide, puts it into its next step. Then we utilize glutathione peroxidase actually and then glutathione jumps in at any point in that in those processes

to help stabilize whatever is going on. So it's this chain of super antioxidant enzymes that work together. And so that's why we have the system of the vars triad. Glutathione is the base that's going to support everything, right? But then giving a boost of sod is going

to help reduce that inflammation like crazy. Mhm. And that's where the Catalase is our newest product. And we haven't ever had a Catalase product until literally just a couple months ago. First time I ever heard of it. Totally. [laughter] Totally. And so we've always known about why you need catalace and what goes on with it, but

we just we never found the right tooling. There were other products out there that just provide catalace and so we'd put we'd send that our for our patients. But then we came across this other algae extract that's u that's called algity and this is from it's like

seaweed like the same seaweed that we'd put on sushi and everything that we use everywhere. It's the most abundant sea plant that we utilize. And so this specific strain of it that we have, it causes what's called nerf 2 activation. And so what that is is it's

a signaling message to your cells to make sod catalace and glutathione to provide more protection for those cells. So look at all the countries they eat a lot of seaweed. I was just Yeah, exactly. Like thinking that's interesting, isn't it? Right. They have enhanced antioxidant

protection throughout their life, which is incredible. Just through their diet. Through their diet. And so our vars catalase product has an extremely potent extract version of the same seaweed that causes nerf 2 activation. So the problem we run into with a lot of our patients genetically they already are behind in

making all of these super antioxidant enzymes. What is the reason that we we're not making these things? Is that genetic? Is it just aging? Is it it's the mix of both. Okay. And so definitely genetic things are passed down all the time. If you have sod heirs, you're always going to be lacking sod. At some point somewhere in history,

that mutation became beneficial, but in our modern world when we are bombarded with toxins constantly, not not as not so much. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. And so, and then there's epigenetics where certain trauma can activate certain genes or turn off other genes. So, everyone's unique. Everyone's on

their own special journey, right? And so that's where with Nerf 2 activation, with that VARS catalase product, if you're not making enough of it, but then you supplement with the VARS triad, then not only is signaling to your cells to make those antioxidants, but to use them. And so

it's a usable form, so your body can use it and it's signaling it to create it on its own. Exactly. So is that why over time I know for in my own experience through this many years journey um [clears throat] I always tell people you know at one time I was taking 10 copper balance a day you

know now my daily dose is for um glutathione same thing you know I I used to I mean I don't even remember how much glutathione I used I was going through it like crazy but like is that because my body is using what I'm taking but it's also making it

potentially so I need a lesser dose be and that's the thing. Everyone's in a constant state of flux. Yeah. And so there may be sometimes this is why I did another CMA yesterday. [laughter] Yeah. That's exactly why because we have to keep tweaking these things. You got it. You got it. Yeah. Interesting.

And so yeah, that's why we do the CAMAS look at those. You get your genetics done once, which is great. Gives us that idea, but then getting a CMA done yearly or ever, however often gives us a great snapshot of where you're at right now. And th those intracellular deficiencies

are constantly changing too, right? I know people always ask me, "How how often should I get this? Is this a one-time thing?" And I'm like, I mean, not ideally, no. And I always say, "Well, Dr. Perser would probably love it if you did it every six months, [laughter] ideally." Um, but I think I think it had

been about 18 months since I did mine. So, I get a little lazy about it, but we, you know, but it's time to make sure I'm doing good. I'm feeling good. So, I'm kind of excited to see the results of this one because Sometimes you get surprises and you know I think the last one I had a weird

deficiency. Yeah. And then it was like where did that come from? Yep. [laughter] Totally. But um yeah, I'm kind of excited to see the results and I'm I'm not expecting anything crazy. So yeah, I'm kind of hoping to just hear stay on course or maybe tweak something here and

there, but that's usually what it is when you're retesting. Yeah. So a lot of times we get patients come in and they have just a horrendous CMA when they first start. tons of super severe deficiencies as we'd classify them. Um, and then that was me. Yeah. And then within even a few months

or six months or so, it takes time for those intracellular levels to change. So, you got to give it a solid 90 plus days even to start really feeling anything and six months plus to really get the benefits of it, right? And certain things may take longer. It just that's how it goes. And so that's why testing is only beneficial maybe

once a year. Every six months maybe, but for most people once a year is probably perfect. Yeah. Yeah, if not even further. 18 months. So, yeah. Um, yeah, there's something else I can say. I know. I'm like I'm I'm forgetting something, too. We'll edit that. [laughter]

Um, okay. So, um, so who needs this triad, this varss triad? Who like what in your what what are we looking at? What are you looking at to say this is be do they need testing? That's another thing. or is it a good idea to I mean

it's not going to hurt you to just try these things if you're on the journey you're seeing improvement but we still need tweaking. Yeah. Um do we need to test or can we just start adding these in and give it some time? For the most part I mean we'd always

want to do some kind of diagnostic something just to make sure that we're treating things properly. But if you have any kind of inflammation, and that can be any kind, whether that manifests as back pain or gut issues or just constant headaches, whatever it is, something you've never

been able to kick, give it a try. It's not going to hurt you. That's okay. That's it's not going to hurt you. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. The the one thing with glutathione, taking good large doses of it is going to detox you, right? And so, just be aware that you may be dumping a lot of toxins maybe when you never have before,

right? And so, be aware of that. you work right through it. It's your body's natural process to to get rid of the things that aren't supposed to be there. And then you add in that catalase and the sod utilize all three and let your body do its magic. It knows how to heal itself. It's just missing those key

nutrients. Right. What what I think that I've noticed and I I don't know whether you'll keep this or not. You can edit it out, whatever. But one thing that I've really noticed um because I've been lifting weights consistently for almost three years and my recovery is always a

challenge. Yeah. And I've kind of just I got to a point where it's tolerable. I mean I couldn't have done what I'm doing 10 years ago. Um but when I added in the catalase I am not having four days of recovery

like and really it's just leg day. Leg day kills me. Yeah. [laughter] I'm the same way. It just and it just and it was like, you know, if leg day is Thursday, you know, by Monday when I go back to the gym, that's like I'll wake up that morning and it's the first day that I'm like, I'm not in pain, you know, I'm suffering every

time I go up and down the stairs. I But I'm just doing it because it's what I need to be doing for myself right now. And whatever. It's not I can deal with it. But what I have noticed once I was once I've been taking it consistently for about two months, I think I had a really heavy leg day and I thought, "Oh,

I'm going to I'm going to be in pain this weekend." And I was fine. Wow. And that was the only thing I could think of. I actually called your mom and was like, "Would that would the Catalyst be doing this?" And she talked to Dr. Perer and he was like, "Yeah." Yeah. And he and

and so anyway, he was talking about the hydrogen peroxide and I was like that makes so so can we talk about that a little bit like how that might affect that like what is it doing in your body? Yeah. No, exactly what we've been saying inflammation is really kind of the root cause or the root symptom of most pain

in general, right? And so when we go through like a weightlifting session, especially with our legs, they're big long muscles. lots of lots of nutrients, lots of things are being used because when you're contracting using those muscles, it's using energy and so you have to replenish it and then you're breaking

down those muscles at the same time when you're trying to when you're doing weightlifting, right? So, just think about it. I resources are being used, right, to just make that happen. And so through all that, you have to rebuild it. And so, it's going to take, you know, they have lots of nutrients to

rebuild it all. But then think about all that. All of that rebuilding is going to cause more oxidants to be produced, right? And so you'll need an abundance of super antioxidants to then come in and stabilize and help everything to repair in a fast and healthy manner.

And so if you'd done that leg workout when you were 20 wouldn't have affected you, right? Not nearly [laughter] as much anyway. And that's because it would have been normal sore. Yes. Exactly. And you want normal sore from the gym, right? Because you want to know you did something. Yeah, at that time you made a lot more of

those antioxidants than you do now. And so that's where that nerve two activation comes in. Supplement with all three of these. Give your body everything that it knows it used to have and let it heal itself, let it recover. And that that's what I and I tell when I talk to people all the time too. I tell people all the time like expect our

protocol to change for fibromyalgia. And um I just keep say he he doesn't stop. He didn't go oh we have had success. Yeah. And so this is great like because and I've come to understand that a lot of things that I was dealing with with fibromyalgia that I thought was

fibromyalgia is really genetically y I mean genetically inclined and so as we continue to add I I just feel like every new thing is a new piece of the puzzle and it just keeps propelling me to feel better and better and better. And so it took me a long time to get to the point

where I even felt like I could lift weights regularly again and try to, you know, go from just surviving [laughter] Yeah. to thriving. Um, but this is this I'm like, geez, I can push way harder than I thought I could.

Yeah. And not suffer afterward. Yeah. Which is awesome. That's incredible. [laughter] Incredible. One of the things kind of circling back to a question you asked earlier, who needs this? Yeah. And so that's why we get genetic testing done. Dr. Perser's identified 22 plus snips,

right? Genetic polymorphisms that if you have any one of those as homozygous, you're going to have over an overabundance of homoyine and overabundance of of cytoines, inflammation later down the road. And so that comes from an imbalance of

not making enough glutathione over time, right? Way too much inflammation, right? And so that would be our number one diagnostic tool. Get genetic testing. just see if you have any of those. And then there's probably 18 different um nutrient deficiencies. If you have any of those, same kind of thing, right?

Let me pull this image up real quick. The transuleration pathway. That's what we always are talking about, right? Um it's that process of methane at the top there going down to cysteine. And then in that bottom right, I'm just pointing out the image here. That's the glutathione production system. So all of these pieces have to work perfectly for

you to be making enough glutathione. If anything, if any genetic error, if any deficiency in any one of those, the whole thing gets less efficient and thrown off. You're not going to be making zero, otherwise you wouldn't be alive, but it's going to be much less efficient than it could be, right? And that's there are there are

things that were my understanding of of I focus on fibro obviously. So my understanding is growing in that um there's so many common things that we suffer from and yet there we are all unique and we have to deal with

everything uniquely. Um but so many of the things that again that I attributed to just the fibro which I'm even starting to you can cut this out. I'm even starting to question like is it all just genetics?

Yeah. or for maybe not for everybody, but for a lot of us, it's just we have common genetics and so as we keep treating each one of those things, we we keep seeing improvement, but it's just it's just I don't know if I'm being very

clear. Does that make sense what I'm saying? So, for example, with myself, uh what most of these things we've developed because we're trying to treat my own family. Dr. Perser had all these kids, all these issues, and we're just trying to figure out what is going on, right? And so for my own self, I was up to almost 400 lb at my heaviest, right?

And same thing as you, I could never work out consistently. I wanted to my my mind was there. I wanted to be healthy and be active, do all of it, but the recovery just it would take me out for days and I couldn't function, right? And so that's where I was just in such a lull and just eating my feelings away.

And so you just get into that bad roll, right? And so that's when we had copper balance. We'd come out with vars glutathione. I was already feeling great improvements of just energy but then copper balance to help stabilize where the copper molecules get and now definitely 10 years plus later

now we know more that it is all this other inflammation going on. We do need to support the cerillo plasmid. We need to support the metallinines to put copper into the cells where it needs to go. Right. Um [snorts] but then at the same time you got to detox the rest of the excess copper. You got to deal with all the inflammation that's still there. And so

that's where just like you said the program has enhanced. It's continuing to build on itself. keep that's and I tell everybody all the time like expect it to change expect it and we may take things away I don't know or we may just keep adding things you know as we get more information and

yeah so all those fibromyalgia snips all the MTHFR snips those are all part of those homoyine related snips so that okay so that's where it draws it together is because they're all they all affect those we might not have the same snips but they kind of have the same effect yes yep

okay yep they all play together and so that's the thing there's so many you can think of it as redundancies throughout our body, right? So many different systems all trying to maintain homeostasis, balance each other out and so we are in constant flux. We are constantly having to balance and just be

right. Well, and life happens. So our stress and everything, which is another reason why it's good to do CMAs sporadically, right? And just because because yeah, our bodies are going through different things. Check in your active. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, okay, all of these tools are now at our

disposal. And so, that's where for me, again, my personal story, I was able to be a great success story for this, right? That once I got my CMA, got all my other nutrients in check. We looked at my genetics, got me on all the right supplements, I was finally able to work out consistently and have that mentality

to just keep going, right? And I lost 150 pounds, right? Yeah. I've gained a little bit back now, working again. Hit [laughter] it off. But that's again, well, you just had a baby. You're married. You have a baby. Life happens, right? Life happens. But and it's and I mean, similar to me, I mean, I'm 30 years older than you are. Um, but

like that's what I'm saying. Like, it was finally I wasn't I had healed enough, you know, two and a half years ago to where I was like, okay, now I feel like I can really take this on and really and and I've lost 40 pounds, but it's taken me two years to do it, but I'm doing it hard and slow, and that's okay. We're going in the right

direction. Um, but yeah, it's it and it took me that many years of being on this protocol and for my body to heal to the point where I could take that on and be consistent with it. So, I think that's I tell people all the time and I I think when you're younger, what I see is when

we get people who are younger, under 40, um I just don't think your body has used all of its reserves. Yeah, totally. If that makes sense. you know, and so you can um kind of get through it a little quicker maybe. Yeah.

Um and it's not to diminish people's suffering. Not at all. Not at all. Everyone is just at a different point. Everyone's in different things. Yeah. Definitely. And I think I think too it depends on how many genetic snips you have, how many I mean there's so many variables to how much your suffering is. Exactly. And that's why I love talking

with our patients too. I love getting an idea of their diet. Uh because if they're eating a lot of things that aren't going to be very good for them, then Yeah. everything else is going to get thrown out of whack, too, right? And so, there's so many factors. And then any kind of trauma, if you've had a really bad car accident versus someone else that just broke a leg or something,

different traumas are going to be different. And then there's the psychological traumas as well. All of it has to be taken into account. So many layers to this to to take into account, which is I always tell everybody, it's not a one-sizefits-all. I wish it was, but it's not. But it's also not that hard.

Yeah, it really isn't. So yeah, that's really the beauty of it when it comes down to how to actually deal with a patient. Get the testing done, get them on the right nutrients, right? And let them go. And I always tell everyone, you got to put on your own scientist hat or whatever. And you got

to figure it out for yourself. And you got to be your own scientist and your own and your own experiment patient, right? [laughter] It's all on you. And so we can provide those tools, right? And we can provide the guidance, but you got to be the one to do your work. Yes. Yeah. So important. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. All right. Is there anything else?

Um, I don't know. Was there any other questions? I think we covered varss. I think we did. Yeah, I think we're good. Who this is all for? Otherwise, yeah, just always stick with us. Uh, there is always new content coming out. Even what we've done looking into PEMT.

So many of our fibro patients have all kinds of gut issues and I think it really comes down to MB2. A lot of the PEMT related and PMT is again one of those other snips that's homoyine related. I have like all of them. Yeah, [laughter] definitely. And so that's what's so interesting. People always ask

us like, "What kind of patients do you get?" And we're like, "Well, usually it's pretty much the same kind of person that finally makes their way to us and we just put them on the same protocol or their own tailored version of it, right? But we're always looking for those same things." And so you'll ask Dr. Bcher and he'll say

pretty much every patient he sees probably has some PEMT issue. Otherwise, 99% of our patients have some homoyine related issue. Yeah. And I just wanted to mention real quick too with the triad the vars triad uh bundle or whatever we've been doing with it.

We've had some severe severe cases of major inflammatory issues um with patients. One was with sar sarcoidosis um and had been in and out of the hospital for the last few years and every time the doctors would just put

him on some anti-anxiety meds try to send him home, give him nar narcotics to try to quell his pain and then he'd end up right back there and they're like this is psychological. There's nothing we can do for you, right? He he'd been a longtime patient of us but didn't know about our new catalates and the whole bars triad protocol together and he remembered hey Dr.

Perser he's probably got something figured out. jumped on these supplements and within a couple weeks was getting better for the first time ever. Wow. And is doing fantastic. I believe it just from my own ex like I said I mean I feel like every time we come up with something new I see the

improvement. Yeah. I can I see it and it's like every time we add and that's why I say it's just another piece of the puzzle because like I said with the catalyst it's like I even called my son who you know he he's a workout maniac right because of what he does for a living and uh I was like what do I do for this extreme like is there some

supplement I should be taking and he's like no [laughter] it's the pain so I kind of felt like this and I had just accepted I'm going to have to deal with this if I want to continue this activity I this is something I'm just going to have to accept and now for the last like I mean how long have I've been on the catalyze for maybe four months

now, I think. Yeah. Um Yeah. And I don't have that extended severe. Yeah. My recovery is so much better. And that's why I just keep going. It's just another piece of the puzzle. Yeah. So, one last note I wanted to make with that

vase catalace, the alevity ingredient in there. They did a cl a human clinical trial just came out with their data on it where they showed in their data the increase of glutathione by using that ingredient. but then also the decrease in several cytoine markers. And so

that's exactly the studies that we're wanting to do with our whole triad, but here they are already proving it for us, right? Yeah. That's Yeah, that's why I mean I literally Yeah, cuz that that that one when I really was expecting to wake up suffering and I was like I'm not even sore.

Yeah. So that's what I called your mom. I'm like, is this all in my head or could this [laughter] be real? So yeah, that's awesome. So I'm excited. I just go, "Okay, what's next? What's going to be the next awesome product that we get to add in?" So, that's so fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. Yeah. We'll see where the where the rabbit hole takes us, right? [laughter] That's awesome. All right. Well, it's great with you. Always so much fun always getting together and we should do more. We can do live podcasts or whatever and just have these kinds of conversations,

stream them right to your your Facebook page. Absolutely. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. Let's plan one. Yeah, let's plan it. Okay, sounds good. That's perfect. Okay.