 one gram of algae has the same nutrition as a thousand grams of fruits and vegetables. Now for those who may be new to the podcast or haven't read my books, I'm going to do some quick cliff notes about mitochondria. And then we can dive right in about how algae actually helps to boost its function. So just real briefly, those of you who don't know, mitochondria are sometimes referred to as our cells powerhouses. They are ancient engulfed bacteria that about two billion years ago took up homes in our cells and they produce ATP, our energy currency, from the food we eat, from glucose, fats, and proteins. And producing ATP is incredibly hard work and incredibly damaging to mitochondria. Mitochondria suffer from making all that energy and one of the theories of aging, and in fact one of the theories of cancer and one of the theories of dementia, is that our mitochondria become dysfunctional and no longer work properly. So keeping our mitochondria in tip-top shape is really one of the keys to everyday energy production but long-term, great long-term health. So that's why mitochondria is so important. So Catherine, what the heck are algae? Is that pond scum or why should we be so interested? Well, yeah, most people if they think of algae at all, they think of it as pond scum or something that's interfering with their beach day. But I can assure you algae is a nutritional rock star and hopefully by the end of our talk today I will have helped people understand it. So the first thing you need to know is that algae was the first life on earth almost four billion years ago and it's still here. So the fact that it's outlasted all the ice ages and the dinosaurs and it's still around is pretty powerful in its own right. Number two, algae is everywhere. It does exist in the oceans, the lakes, the rivers, the streams, your swimming pool, your aquarium. But the two that we're going to be talking about today are spirulina and clorella that do not come from the ocean so that it's toxin-free. They're harvested as a vegetable crop. And so it's number one, algae, spirulina and clorella that we're going to talk about today are not supplements. Supplements are made in factories with extracts and high heat. And I'm showing you a picture of an algae farm. This happens to be a spirulina farm. As I say, we're going to talk about spirulina and clorella. So basically it's a dried vegetable. We grow ours in triple filtered spring, mountain water. We don't use high heat. So the enzymes are all intact and this is going to be very important. And we talk about the importance of spirulina for your mitochondria because there's an enzyme that protects your mitochondria called superoxide dismutase. I know it's a mouthful, but it is an enzyme. And because we don't use high heat to dry our algae and everybody else does, our enzyme is intact and it can do great things for your mitochondria. But anyways, algae, the spirulina and clorella we're going to talk about today are like vegetable crops grown hydroponically. And because it's food, your body recognizes it and absorbs it a lot easier. And like I said in the introduction, using algae as food is not a new idea. No, no. I tell people algae isn't new. It may just be new to you. It's been used in Asia for 60 or 70 years. In Japan, they don't leave their house without taking clorella algae every day. They don't take supplements. It's been used thousands of years ago by the Egyptians, by the Aztecs. It is the highest concentration of protein in the world. It has the highest concentration of chlorophyll in the world. The highest concentration of nutrients in the world. We have a quote from NASA that says, one gram of algae has the same nutrition as 1,000 grams of fruits and vegetables. And it's because it's so concentrated. These are what's called microalgae. And they're called microalgae because they're microscopic in size. You can't even see these visually. Something like a million of them would fit on the head of a pin. So when you consolidate all that protein, all that chlorophyll, all those micronutrients, now you start to understand why it's, I call it more than a superfood. I call it a superduper food. There is nothing in the world with more nutrition. And we provide them in small tablets like this that are the size of a baby aspirin. The green one is clorella because it's just got the chlorophyll. The darker one is spirulina, which has two pigments in it. But this way, each one of these tablets has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables. So if you aren't getting the nourishment that you need, you don't have time or you don't like vegetables, you could just swallow a handful and you're done. I just had the equivalent of a plate of vegetables. No work, no effort. It's effortless nutrition. And as you're going to find out, it's an effortless way to protect and rejuvenate your mitochondria. You know, people are obviously thinking more and more about a plant-centric diet. And a lot of times people go, well, I need to get all my essential amino acids. And I've been told that most plants don't have a complete set of amino acids. But in fact, spirulina has all the essential amino acids that we need. Right, both spirulina and clorella. But the United Nations has endorsed spirulina since the 1974 as the answer to world hunger because it is a complete protein. And it has three times the amount of protein at stake. Our spirulina has 64% protein. So it has 18 of the 20 amines, including all of the nine that your body can't make, which is why it's called a complete protein. In comparison, collagen powder is not a complete protein. It's missing tryptophan. But both the algae that we sell are complete proteins. So whether you're on a keto diet or when you don't want carbs, there are no carbs in either algae. There's only one calorie per tablet. There's also, and Dr. Gundry, you know this, there are no oxalates or lectins either. So they have spirulina and clorella offer you all the benefits of plants and none of the downsides. No carbs, no lectins, no oxalates, no toxins and it's effortless nutrition. If you can swallow water, you can pop down five, 10 in the morning, get your nourishment for the day, have 15 or 20 as a meal replacement and it's in seconds. So we find guys, particularly men who don't like vegetables are really thrilled because both of them, especially clorella, have the highest chlorophyll in the world and that's what makes plants green and chlorophyll is so important for your health. I'm gonna show you something. This is the chemical composition of your blood and this is the chemical composition of chlorophyll and they're virtually identical. There's only one different atom in your blood. You have iron in the middle that carries oxygen. Chlorophyll builds your blood and when you have a healthy blood, you're gonna have a healthier body and you're gonna have healthy organs, healthier mitochondria. So chlorophyll is very important but if you eat it from greens, you'll get carbs and you could get toxins and you could get lectins and oxalates but none of that happens with spirulina or clorella. So I wanna kind of continue on this helping mitochondrial theme. Damage to mitochondria is so prevalent due to our modern lifestyles and food choices like too much sugar, too many saturated fats, glyphosate and roundup, lack of sleep and a sedentary lifestyle are some of the worst things for our mitochondrial health and they're quite frankly almost impossible to avoid. So I've been very excited about the research and both spirulina and clorella on how they might help protect and restore mitochondria. Can you go into some of the details on that? Absolutely and I'm gonna add on to your early primer about what mitochondria are because mitochondria are your key to life. They are, I'm gonna say that again, they are the key to life. You can't get any further down in your body than mitochondria. This is where everything happens and this is where everything starts. So when your mitochondria are healthy, you are going to be healthy. It's really that simple. So you may say to yourself, well, where are the mitochondria? Well, they're in all of your cells but the higher concentration are in the cells that require a lot of energy. Your brain has the highest concentration, that in the retina. In your brain, there are two million mitochondria per cell. I'm gonna say that again, two million mitochondria per cell. They're realizing Alzheimer's is a mitochondrial disease and it's because there's such a high concentration of them. So that's where when you have disease mitochondria, it's affecting your brain so much sooner and faster and worse than any other part of your body. So if you have any desire and we all do to keep your brain active, your thoughts working and protect yourself from dementia, Alzheimer's, you need to protect your mitochondria and you're gonna find out why algae is the best way to do that or one of the best ways. Just for another example, your muscles like your heart, they have 5,000 mitochondria per cell. So again, your mitochondria in your heart, when you have heart disease, it's a mitochondrial disease. As a point of comparison, just your average cell, like your fat cell, they only have 100 mitochondria per cell because your fat cells don't have a high energy need. So any of your organs, but particularly your brain, have the highest concentration of mitochondria. So it's critical that you keep those mitochondria healthy. So here's a couple of fun facts about mitochondria. They only live about 100 days, the mitochondria themselves. But did you know that your mitochondria have their own DNA? Now you know that we have our DNA, that is called nuclear or cellular DNA. Well, the mitochondria have their own. And our nuclear DNA, they found out with the genome, there's about 25,000 DNA, but the mitochondria only have 35 or 37, 37 and a third of them are involved with that production of ATP. So protecting your mitochondria DNA is critical because when they get damaged, that has an immediate effect on decreasing the ability of your mitochondria to create the DNA. Now you think of your mitochondria DNA, sort of like as an air controller, the air controllers at the airport. They control everything in the mitochondria. So when they get damaged, that's like having planes crashing, your cells aren't communicating properly, your mitochondria get damaged. So that mitochondria DNA, keeping them healthy is the most critical step to preserving your mitochondria. And yet their average lifespan is only 35 days because the average mitochondria DNA gets so damaged in the process of ATP. Whereas your nuclear, your regular DNA, they last a lifetime and I'm gonna show you why in a minute. So as you mentioned, the main purpose of your mitochondria is to generate ATP. And where the ATP is generated is inside the second membrane. Mitochondria are unique. In all of your other cells, you have one cellular membrane. And that allows antioxidants and proteins to come and go through something called porans that are little pores that allow these molecules in and out. But your mitochondria, they have a second membrane. And it's sort of like having being in the ICE unit at the hospital. Because production of ATP is what keeps your body alive. And so the mitochondria, for whatever reason, well actually is a remnant from when they were a bacteria that was engulfed by the larger molecules that became mitochondria. They have the second membrane and virtually no antioxidants can penetrate that inner membrane, except that's where all the ATP is produced and that's where your mitochondria DNA are. So here's what happens. You've got your mitochondria in the inner membrane, sort of like that inner ICE unit, that no other antioxidants can get at. And right in that inner membrane is where the, not only where the ATP is produced, but where your mitochondria DNA are. If you've ever sat at a fire or you're camping and you get too close to the fire, sparks fly, right? And you could get burned if you sit too close to the fire. Well, that's exactly what's happening to your mitochondria DNA. They are ringside. They are right beside where all the ATP is produced. So sparks, the sparks that are flying, they're called free radicals. So when you get all these sparks flying and the mitochondria DNA is right ringside, they get burned, they get damaged, they die. And this is what causes the mitochondrial disease. Because as you age, you have fewer mitochondria, the few that are still with you are damaged and not communicating properly and causing your cell membranes not to work properly. They don't perform properly and it's a slippery slope and leads to disease. But it's because the mitochondria DNA which are inside that inner membrane are right where the ATP is being produced. Now, there's two ways you can reduce the free radicals that are being produced during ATP production, two ways. One is reduce the number of free radicals. And one way to do that is by fasting or by a keto diet. Now, because when you have less food to digest, there's less activity, less energy required and fewer free radicals. But the problem is fasting is very difficult and keto diets are also difficult. And as you pointed out, Dr. Gundry, it's probably sometimes better to cycle in and cycle out and modify your keto diet. Because keto diets burn fat as fuel and it's a cleaner fuel. So there's fewer free radicals. Here's a great analogy. When you're, if you've ever seen a car with an old car, with an old muffler and you see that big black smoke coming out of the back of the car, right? Well, that's what's going on in your ATP when you are eating sugar or carbs. It releases a lot of free radicals which are like that dirty smoggy stuff coming out of an old Jalabi muffler. Now, when you are using keto diet which ends up fat as your fuel, that's more like a hybrid car. It's a much cleaner fuel, fewer ATP, fewer free radicals being generated. So that's even better. But as you're going to find out, algae, which is loaded with chlorophyll, which also generates as they've been finding, science has shown that it generates ATP, that's like having a Tesla. There is no exhaust at all. It's the most efficient way to generate energy for your mitochondria and not have your free radicals. So number one again is a recap. One way to reduce your free radical production is to have either a cleaner diet. The second way to reduce and protect your mitochondria DNA from free radicals is to have more antioxidants because antioxidants, they neutralize the free radicals. But here's the problem. Remember I said there's that second inner membrane? Virtually no antioxidants can get in there. Glutathione can, interestingly melatonin can, chlorophyll can, but the most important one is called, is that big mouthful that I mentioned at the beginning, which is superoxide dismutase. Because the most damaging free radical that's created during the production of ATP is called superoxide. Now the good news is our body generates superoxide dismutase to squash the free radicals, but it decreases after about the age of 20 to virtually zero when you are older. Once you get 60 or seven, there's virtually no superoxide dismutase. And here's the other problem. There's very little superoxide dismutase in other foods. And the few foods that have them like cabbage get destroyed during digestion. But spirulina has the highest concentration of superoxide dismutase in the world. And what does superoxide dismutase do? Well, it takes those free radicals and turns them into water. Boom, problem solved. There's now no free radical damage or certainly less to your mitochondria DNA, which protects your mitochondria DNA, which protects your mitochondria. Now they will be communicating properly. They won't be causing cellular misfires, which would cause the disease to take hold for the death of your mitochondria. So superoxide dismutase is an enzyme that protects your mitochondria. But the only way to get access to it is through raw spirulina. Not spirulina that is sold by most companies because most other companies use high heat to dry their algae. And we do not, because a high heat kills all enzymes, including superoxide dismutase. So you need to get it from a company that sells spirulina that is raw, like ours. Or there are some companies that sell spirulina frozen. And in that case, the enzymes are all still active and still would be able to protect you. Just to give you a little tip of how powerful this is, they did a study and they gave patients 104 units of superoxide dismutase. And within a couple of weeks, their energy was improved, their anxiety was gone, their depression was gone. They had physical mental energy with 104 units. And every one of these little tiny tablets of our spirulina has over 3,000 units. And yet just 104 had the impact of literally changing people's lives. So we talk about spirulina as being an energizing algae, which it is because it has high protein and high B vitamins. And it's a vasodilator, which opens up your blood vessels. And it has all these great antioxidants and great omega threes. But the most important thing is the superoxide dismutase that will protect your mitochondria and create clean energy of ATP without all those free radicals. So it's pretty amazing stuff. And just to help you understand again why the mitochondria gets damaged and not your regular DNA, here's your cell, here's your regular nucleus. And it's in the middle of the cell, but your mitochondria are all over the place. And inside the mitochondria is where the mitochondria DNA are. And that's where the ATP is produced. And that's ring side to where your mitochondria DNA are. So you can see why, you know, your regular DNA, they're in the cheap seats. They're not anywhere near where the action is where all that free radical stuff and ATP is producing but being produced, but your mitochondria DNA are. And normally getting front row is usually a good, you know, an expensive ticket and you want that. But when it comes to your mitochondria, those poor little mitochondria DNA are getting fire burns all the time. And there's virtually other than you can't fast forever. And you can't be on a keto diet forever. And since other free radicals, most of them other than chlorophyll, melatonin and superoxide, dismutase and glutathione, virtually no, you can eat all the vitamin A and beta carotene that you want. It will never get into the inner membrane because the molecule size is too large. And, you know, it's interesting to me, and I'm sorry this is such a long answer, but, and we'll talk about this in another minute because I do want to explain about chlorophyll and chlorella, why it has its own benefits as well. But we're talking right now about spirulina. But part of it as you're going to find out is as you mentioned at the very beginning, when Earth was first formed, there were these little tiny bacteria called cyanobacteria that became engulfed by larger bacteria about after a billion years. And the little baby bacteria, cyanobacteria is basically spirulina. Spirulina is a cyanobacteria. So it's no surprise to me, like literally spirulina and your mitochondria, they're the same thing. They came from the same family. So it's no surprise to me that spirulina contains everything that your mitochondria need to survive and thrive. It's no different than maybe you were born a twin and you never met your twin until much later in life and suddenly you got reconnected. And like you instantly connect with them because they're family. Spirulina is family for your mitochondria. It's got the superoxide dismutase, it's got the chlorophyll, it's got all the nutrients and antioxidants that your mitochondria need to thrive. And this is all proven in something called in cellular biology. And it's remarkable to me and that I found this and it's not being talked about, but it's pretty exciting to me because I feel spirulina is the missing link to what we need to protect our health. And I joked about it the other day. It's like, it's been here all these billions of years and we haven't noticed it because it's everywhere. But if you dig into the science and I have thousands and thousands of references I can give you about how the spirulina, the cyanobacteria became mitochondria and how all these nutrients are preserving your mitochondria. It's pretty exciting stuff to me. So there's something you mentioned I wanna step back to. How in the world would somebody know whether the spirulina that they're about to buy is has been heat treated or has just been air dried like yours? I mean, do you have to disclose on a label or how would you know? Yeah, well, you wouldn't know. And when I started the company 12 years ago, it was really only really to help my sister who had breast cancer, she's fine now, but her oncologist recommended she change her diet to a plant-based diet. I helped her figure out what that was when that led me to algae. And I tell you this because when I finally discovered all the great nutrients of algae, I only wanted to build the company to help people. So my goal was not to make a profit. It was just to get out there and make a difference in the world. Now most, so every process that I selected, hand selected, was with the intent of providing people with the safest, purest product possible. Now, virtually, and so when I learned that, if you used heat when you dried your algae, you would kill the enzymes. And I knew enough about enzymes at the time to know that that was not a good thing. I know so much more. I'm so glad I made that choice. So virtually everybody uses high heat. That is the unfortunate thing. And it's because all the other algae companies are lower priced and so they are high volume, low priced companies. They have to use high heat to get their algae to market in order to make sales and to make revenue. So there's probably 99% of the algae that's out there whether it's at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's uses high heat. And it probably has superoxide dismutase in it, but it's dead. It's like shooting blanks. So it can't do anything because it's dead. You have to have an active enzyme for it to be able to function in your body. And so maybe now that people are starting to learn about the importance of superoxide dismutase and the importance of enzymes, there may be other companies that will start doing it, but it's a very long expensive process to do it our way. And I may have mentioned my goal is to grow this in America. We grow ours in Taiwan. And so we'll use all the same parameters, but I've always emphasized quality for preserving people's health. I mean, that's why we exist. So I don't have an answer because most people don't even know if they, but I can assure you that they do use high heat because that's the only way that they can get to market quickly. Other than your sister's experience, you must hear patient stories all the time of the benefits. Can you share a few of those with us? Well, we get them literally every day now. Just a couple of days ago, we had an email from a woman who was in her late sixties and she had been taking chemotherapy and it really knocked her out. And she was sleeping like 16 hours a day, could barely get out of bed and she discovered our products. So she started taking both the spirulina and chlorella and within days she was able to reduce her sleep to a normal eight hours, was able to get around. In fact, she was so excited by the turnaround in her health. She told her oncologist about us so they're taking a look at working with us. Other people, we had a man who was again in his seventies who was on an oxygen tank and they were basically giving him his last few days and he started taking again both the spirulina and the chlorella. And with it now in his case it was a couple of months before he went back and had his blood tested by then. He had gotten rid of his oxygen tank. He was going dancing again and he started living his life again. So you will notice the difference in your energy and your mental acuity with the spirulina which we call energy bits for that reason. You'll notice it literally within 20 minutes. It doesn't take a long time. But because when you're talking about your mitochondria and you need to be restoring them to health and building them up, that affects your longevity and it's really something you should be taking every single day for the rest of your life. I couldn't live without them myself. But the good news is there's so much nutrition. Like I said, 40 vitamins and minerals in either of them. This is the chlorella product, recovery bits that they would replace many of your supplements not yours, Dr. Gundry. Yours are special, yours are special but your multivitamin, your CoQ10, your magnesium potassium, fish oil, definitely replace your fish oil which would generally, generally goes rancid by the time you've got it. And by the way, where do you think the fish get their megatree from? They get it from algae in the ocean so you can save your health. So you'll notice we've had people tell us, they gave it to their kids and their kids are having much better focus at school especially the spirulina for that because that also has boron in it which helps with the brain. It's used for all kinds of diabetes. If you have, you know, anybody with diabetes this balances your blood sugar, lowers your cholesterol, your bad cholesterol improves your heart health. They use chlorella, we've got people who have had Lyme disease. I'm using this to help remove the dead mites and finally get back on their feet. They use this for pulling out all kinds of toxins. Toxins damage your cells, damage your mitochondria. I didn't really get to chlorella helps your mitochondria but because it pulls out toxins everywhere including in your mitochondria, it helps them function better. It also has the highest chlorophyll in the world and there's been some studies I mentioned at the beginning that show that when you merge chlorophyll and red light either from red light devices or sunlight, it generates ATP at the cellular level. And basically what it does is it recycles the CoQ-10 molecule. That's part of what's something called the electron transport chain which probably Dr. Gundry knows. Maybe it's a little bit too sciency for many of you listeners but I just want you to know that it creates such clean energy. That's why I say it's like having a Tesla running your energy and generating your ATP. So the high chlorophyll builds your blood, cleans out your system. They use it for disease, for IBS and Crohn's and it pulls out toxins including alcohol by the way. So most of you will take the spirulina in the morning and the chlorella at night because your body goes through a detox when you're sleeping. And what I wanted to mention again is that there's so much nutrition in these tablets that one tablet has the same nutrition as an entire plate of vegetables that you didn't have to buy, cook, clean or eat. And vegetables spoil quickly. The algae never goes bad. We put an expiry date on it for three years but it's really efficient nutrition. So we've been talking about spirulina and you bring up chlorella. Now, a lot of people say, well, wait a minute. Ponskum is ponskum, algae is algae. What's the difference between spirulina and chlorella? Why do you have both? Yes, well, you do need both because they do completely different things in your body. So number one, remember I said spirulina is a bacteria. It is a cyanobacteria. Now, the reason why that's important to know is A, it contains, it became mitochondria. So if you want to have mitochondria health, spirulina is your answer. Hands down, full stop, documented scientifically this will change your mitochondria. But in addition, because it's a bacteria, it has no cellulose wall. So there's zero fiber because it's a bacteria. Now, the reason why that's important is because, well, twofold, it gets into your bloodstream almost instantly. Now, most people do swallow the spirulina because it has a very chewy, earthy flavor. So that's fine. But if you chewed it, it would get into your bloodstream within seconds. When you swallow it, it's maybe five, 10 minutes tops. And because it's absorbed so quickly, you get immediate access to all the great nutrition. Remember it has the highest protein in the world, 64% protein, which is a complete protein. It has loaded with B vitamins, which will convert the protein into energy. And it has all the minerals, all the electrolytes. So the reason why it's important is it gives you the nourishment and the energy that you need virtually instantly. And you never have digestive distress because there is no fiber and because it almost bypasses digestion because it gets absorbed so quickly. This is why in Japan, when the babies can't digest mother's breast milk, they give them spirulina or chlorella in water. And it's the only thing that keeps them alive. So spirulina is very much known as an energizing, nourishing algae, great for intermittent fasting, zero carbs, one calorie. You could have 20 of them for lunch for 20 calories, great for travel. So again, very, very nourishing, replaces most of those other vitamins that you might be taking. Now, chlorella is completely different. It is a green algae. This is a blue green algae. Chlorella is a plant, does belong to the plant kingdom. Oh, and so one other thing I wanna talk before I switch to chlorella. The other important thing about that absorption, being so quick because it's a bacteria, this is why the superoxide, this mutase that's in the spirulina, at least ours, does get to your mitochondria because it literally bypasses your digestion. The, any small amounts, incremental amounts that are found of superoxide, dismutase, and cabbage, I think there's a little bit of broccoli. They've studied it and found out it gets destroyed in your gut during digestion. So it never makes its way to the mitochondria. So, but the spirulina does because of that rapid absorption. By the way, there is no superoxide dismutase that we're aware of that we've been able to test for in chlorella. But chlorella, it has its own benefits to the mitochondria because it has the highest amount of chlorophyll in the world. It has 500 times more chlorophyll than arugula. Now, the good thing to know about chlorella is it's what makes plants green. And it's one of the main benefits of eating plants. But if you don't like vegetables or you're trying to cut out oxalates or lectins, which many people are and you wanna cut out carbs, this is your replacement. You never have to eat a vegetable again if you don't want to when you are taking chlorella every day because it's such a high concentration of chlorophyll. And it has that hard cell wall on the outside. And the importance of that is that that hard cell wall attaches to toxins, lead, mercury, radiation, aluminum, which is in virus, in vaccines, alcohol, lactic acid. So it will remove the toxins, chelate them out of your body, including out of your mitochondria. And because at the same time it has that chlorophyll that can get through that inner membrane, which is like the ICE unit, it also acts as a antioxidant for stopping the free radicals. Now it has the highest RNA and DNA in the world, which helps when you get older, this helps your DNA and RNA heal faster. It has the highest amount of tryptophan in the world, five times the amount of tryptophan is turkey. Now tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, which is your happy mood neurotransmitter, and also the precursor to melatonin. Melatonin, we've all known melatonin that helps us sleep, but did you know, as I mentioned earlier, melatonin is also one of the few antioxidants that can make their way also down into the inner membrane of that mitochondria. Interestingly, your brain has the highest concentration of melatonin. It's made in what's called your pneogland, but the highest concentration of melatonin is in your brain. And again, remember the highest concentration of mitochondria are in your brain, two million per cell. You're starting to see why, you know, algae from the superoxide dismutase and the high chlorophyll and the high precursor to melatonin is so geared towards mitochondrial health. And where we need it the most is where we are seeing the greatest disease, brain health, mood, not schizophrenia, but Alzheimer's. And this is where we're having mitochondrial disease. Your heart, it's heart disease is the, if not the first or second cause of death. And a lot of it is related, if not all of it, to mitochondrial disease and inflammation. So if we can help get these mitochondria back on track and algae tablets are the most effortless way to do it. You just pop a few tablets down or put them in a smoothie or in a salad. I eat them all day long and you'll get all these other benefits too, but at the very least you're preserving, protecting and ensuring the longevity of your mitochondria. And it's a gift to us from other natures. So Chlorella does have this, you know, a different set of benefits for your mitochondria because of the chlorophyll and the DNA and the precursor to melatonin. And it's been used for decades for wellness. So Chlorella is very much a wellness algae which most people take at night before they go to bed. And spirulina is generally an energizing algae which energizes you, your brain, your body and also your mitochondria. Now, Chlorella you mentioned has a cell wall and we can't digest that cell wall. So tell me about cracked cell wall, Chlorella. Yes. And should we be looking for that? Well, you don't actually in America, North America in fact, you don't have to because the FDA has regulated that all Chlorella must be what's called cracked cell wall, Chlorella. And I'm sure Health Canada has a similar regulation. And this is because that hard cell wall is so hard that if it wasn't cracked, your body would not be able to absorb the protein, the 40 vitamins and minerals and take advantage of all the great nutrition that's in there. So all Chlorella that is sold in North America is cell, cracked cell wall. However, you raise a very important point because we're one of the few companies that I know of if not the only one that use the more, the safer method, more expensive again, but safer method to crack the Chlorella. Now, here's what happened. The Chlorella, the entire algae industry is in Asia. It all started in Japan. And they spent 10 years back in the 50s and 60s to figure out how to grow specifically Chlorella for mass consumption. They finally got it figured out and then it started growing everywhere else in Asia, China, Taiwan, Korea, but the reason I mentioned that is because there is a company called Sun Chlorella which who I'm very grateful to because they started the entire Chlorella industry and they are the ones that realized you need to crack the outside of the cell wall for your body to absorb it. So they patented a technique that virtually everybody in the industry uses to crack that cell wall. And the technique that is used is they tumble it. They physically tumble the Chlorella with glass beads. Now, the problem with that, and I found this out when I was starting my company, the problem is the glass heats up and lead from the glass leaks into the Chlorella. And of course, lead is known to cause birth defects and brain disorders. And they were forced by the state of California to put a warning on their packaging to that effect. So, but the problem is everybody uses their technique. So when I was starting my company, I said, well, that's not gonna work for me. I'm trying to help people be healthy. So I had found a new, more technique that had just been discovered, more expensive, but I said, you know, we're doing it. And what we do to crack our Chlorella is we pass it through a sound chamber. And so it's vibrations that crack the Chlorella. So there's no lead, no heat, which of course, heat again, damages the enzymes and the nutrients. Somebody told me once that our Chlorella had good vibrations. So, there's a Californian, you would very much appreciate that. Exactly. Well, so what, you know, congratulations on doing all this. So what's on the horizon for you in energy bits? Are you resting on your laurels? Never, never. This is a life commitment. You know, I've been doing this for 12 years and I'm the chief scientific officer and I don't have a science background. So it did take me a while to kind of self-educate about biochemistry and cell biology. And I know so much now that my goal is just to get more awareness of what algae is, how to find a good one, let people know how effortless it is, how safe it is. You can give it to your children, your pets, your grandparents. And that takes a lot of time, but you know, I love educating people. So we just want to get out to the world a bit more. I speak now at conferences nationwide. I'm at KetoCon, I'm at Dave Asprey's, speaking at Dave Asprey's Biohacking Congress. I know you are as well. And then we're gonna start getting on bigger, maybe some television bigger. I'd love to get on Joe Rogan's show. He's got a large audience. We just want people to know that it's, they don't have to be sick and they don't have to take drugs and they don't have to have surgery. And with, thanks to people like you, guiding people along the pathway of finding alternative, you know, more less invasive, shall I say, ways to bring back your health, protect your health. We just want to get in front of more of those people. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dr. Gundry podcast. Make sure to check out the next one here. And studies have even shown that people who eat nuts every day live longer, healthier lives than those who don't.