Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:00:07] Our bodies evolved over millions of years to a specific climate, specific environment. But that environment rapidly changed in the past 70, 80 years with all these exposures I talked about. We just evolutionarily haven't had time to catch up. We don't have a better system in place. We have the old system in place. We have the vintage architecture infrastructure here, trying to function in the modern world. With all of these exposures, you got damage happening at the gates to your castle. It's killing off the soldiers, it's putting holes in the castle wall, it's disrupting the moat that's supposed to guard things. So you have a weak first line of defense. I'm Dr. Sarah Rahal, and this is the Life Stylist podcast.

Luke Storey:  [00:01:06] Okay, Life Stylist, we're about to crack some serious health codes today. Our guest is Dr. Sarah Rahal, MD, who's founder of ARMRA, a patent-pending colostrum extract that, quite frankly, has been taking the world by storm and as a result, the episode you're about to hear. Dr. Sarah is a badass. She's a double-board certified pediatric neurologist with expertise in environmental and functional medicine.

She trained at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, and prior to founding ARMRA, was assistant professor of neurology and pediatrics and director of pediatric headache at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. And in the process of overcoming her personal health crisis, she discovered a modern twist on what might just be nature's oldest medicine, which is what we're going to be discussing here today. So you are in for a treat. This is Episode 427, Colostrum: Nature's Solution to Autoimmune Inflammation and Leaky Gut.

And as always, we've got some great show notes together for you with links and complete written transcripts. And you can find those at lukestorey.com/armra, A-R-M-R-A. Now for those of you who have not yet heard of colostrum, it's also known as first milk. It's a precious healing elixir that is secreted by all lactating animals before the actual breast milk begins to flow. And is a longtime user of and believer in the healing power of colostrum, I got to say it was very rewarding for me to finally find an expert on the topic and someone who had not only used it to heal themselves, but who also discovered a way to maximize its benefits to create something profoundly effective.

All right, so you know what you're getting into. Here's a quick teaser of what is to follow. Dr. Sarah's harrowing personal pain-to-purpose story, the first time she tried colostrum and why she felt the need to share with the world, the history of use of colostrum in Ayurveda and elsewhere. And we also explore the most mind-blowing studies on colostrum that exists and why you probably haven't heard of them. Sarah then breaks down autoimmune symptoms, leaky gut, leaky brain, and general inflammation as the root to most of our health challenges.

We also talk about how colostrum supports mood, metabolism, and even sleep, plus the distinguishing factors that put ARMRA in a category of its own, how lactose intolerant folks react to this form of colostrum, the optimal sources for colostrum and how its harvest impacts the cow's lives, the many useful applications of ARMRA that go way beyond just mixing it into a glass of water, such as nasal rinses, and believe it or not enemas, and finally, the research and science that helps ARMRA pack such a punch in a seemingly tiny serving size.

And for those of you listening who find yourself colostrum-curious, by the end of the show, ARMRA has provided a discount for you folks. You can get some at tryarmra.com/luke, that's T-R-Y-A-R-M-R-A/luke and make sure to use the code LUKESTORY10 at checkout for 10% off. And of course, that link is also clickable in your podcast app show notes. All right, let's dig in here and get to the bottom of this fascinating new rediscovery known as colostrum with Dr. Sarah Rahal. Enjoy the show.

Dr. Sarah, good to see you again. Welcome to the show.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:04:24] Thank you for having me.

Luke Storey:  [00:04:25] Man, I'm excited to speak with you again today. We had a private conversation a couple of months ago and we were geeking out on colostrum and talking a bit about your journey through the medical system and your challenges with your own personal health and such and I was just geeking out on that so hard because I'm so obsessed with colostrum and have been for many years.

But I've yet to meet someone who had enough knowledge and expertise about it and specifically how it pertains to different conditions and our vitality. It's strangely something I haven't had a dedicated episode to yet. So I'm really excited to finally track down someone who can really speak to this topic and is also doing something really innovative with it as well. So I'm pumped.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:05:11] Thank you. I'm so excited to talk about it. I do feel like it's this unsung hero of health that's flown under the radar for all these years really only known by insiders. And it's just a ripe opportunity because it can be so helpful for some of the issues that we face in the modern day and really has relevance for everybody.

Luke Storey:  [00:05:32] Yeah, absolutely. I took mine this morning as I do. I actually took a couple of different types today, because I put some of the bulk powder colostrum in drinks because it just tastes really good. It's just the creamiest best additive, but I took some of yours as well. Before we get into that, though, we haven't talked in a minute, what's new and exciting in your life in general? What are you fired up about today?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:05:58] Well, I'm really just excited to see how the reception has evolved over the past few months since we last spoke in being in the market. This is really our first year as a colostrum product. The first consumer-facing bovine colostrum concentrate with all our proprietary technology and patent pending concentrate formulation. It's the first year that we've been on the market.

And as I said, it's an unknown ingredient. And we have just really resonated with our customer base. And I am overwhelmed and humbled by the reception we've received and the benefits that people seem to be experiencing and transformational health benefits that are almost unbelievable, sometimes, and it just speaks to the power of the body to really revive itself when it has the proper nutrients to do so.

Luke Storey:  [00:06:56] Yeah, I like that perspective. Congratulations, by the way. But many of us get caught up in taking things-- myself included absolutely, taking things exogenously thinking, oh, this thing is healing me, this supplement and or pill or powder, or whatever it is. But I really like that perspective that it's actually our bodies and our own consciousness and our own energetic natural forces that are doing the healing, it's just a matter of giving the body the right key to the lock. No matter what you're taking, or why you're taking, I think that's an important perspective because it's more empowering. It's like, okay, I'm in partnership with my body. It loves certain molecules, and there are other molecules that it loves less, toxins and whatnot. And so if we can limit the number of molecules that go in or on the body that it doesn't like and thrive with, then add in some of the things that it really needs to do its job, then it does what we want it to do. So it's a great perspective.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:08:05] Yeah, absolutely.

Luke Storey:  [00:08:07] So let's back up a little bit. And sometimes I gloss over people's origin stories, even if they are compelling pain-to-purpose stories because I'm just selfishly wanting to get into the meat of the topic and the conversation, just like let's just steamroll past that. I'm sure it's great, but I want to save the time. But I think your story is interesting for a number of reasons, two of which being I love traditionally trained medical people, physicians, clinicians, scientists, etc. like yourself that have the pedigree and the education of the allopathic system, but for some reason, to some degree, defected and went "Okay, yes, and there's more."

Part two is, I'm always astonished when people overcome serious challenges in their life, which I know you have, yours been more as far as I know, of the physical nature. So maybe you could give us a brief overview of how you meandered your way through the medical system, what you've done in practice, and how you migrated into more of the functional medicine preventative side, and then what issues that you had physically that prompted a lot of that evolution.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:09:22] Yeah, thank you for that question. There's so much synergy here in the origin story of the business and my growth over time, both professionally and personally, in this space. So as you said, I come from the clinical medicine world. I'm allopathically trained, trained at the best of institutions. I'm a pediatric neurologist. I did all my residency and fellowship at Columbia here in New York City and ran a very busy practice for kids on the Upper East Side, once I finished at Mount Sinai, my sub-specialty being headache and chronic pain in kids, which you'd be astonished to know how long of a waiting list I had for treating such a niche issue in very young kids, absolutely booming.

Luke Storey:  [00:10:16] I didn't even know kids had headaches. But the minute you said that Upper East Side headaches, I was like, oh it's probably the 5G.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:10:26] It's not healthy.

Luke Storey:  [00:10:27] Maybe a contributing factor. Anyway, carry on.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:10:31] And so in my clinical practice, I was seeing in real-time, what I was reading in all the literature, which is that today, chronic diseases are absolutely booming in kids. 54% of children have a chronic disease diagnosis. 54%.

Luke Storey:  [00:10:50] Is that real? Is that a legitimate number?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:10:54] It's a horrific number.

Luke Storey:  [00:10:57] That's insane.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:11:00] So here's the catch.

Luke Storey:  [00:11:02] Okay, go ahead.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:11:03] In the 1960s, it was 1.6.

Luke Storey:  [00:11:09] Oh my God.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:11:10] Our genes didn't suddenly mutate in a generation and a half. These are all health issues that are being driven by the modern environment. And a landscape that really rapidly changed over the past 60 or 70 years, with unprecedented pollutants in our air, pesticides like glyphosate in our agriculture, completely unregulated chemicals in our bath, body, home care, even toy products, refined carbohydrates, a complete overhaul of our diets. And we see the ramifications of this in the most vulnerable populations early in life. Kids are like the canary in the coal mines.

And so I was really struck by this. And that's paired with my sitting on the other side of the table, with long-standing gut issues that I've had through childhood that were never addressed, were always dismissed by the medical establishment, my professional peers, which started to spiral and get worse. And I said, this doesn't make sense. And then I had to become my own healer.

And I started my own journey of education really outside of my allopathic training, really learning about a functional medicine approach. And wanting to implement that in my practice, which is very different from the western model. You require hours with your patients. You're doing a deep dive to understand their epigenetic influences, the environments they were born into, what their home triggers maybe, what their family dynamics are. It's a very complicated system, doing special kinds of nutritional testing and microbiome analysis.

And it works really well, but our system is not set up to support that. And I struggled to practice the way I thought was ethically appropriate, the way I thought would serve these children best, and eventually grew frustrated because I couldn't implement it. It was just arguments all the time. So I left. And at the time, I was researching for myself something called colostrum, which is the first milk that all mammals produce for about 48 hours after delivery.

It's a food, but it acts more like an immunization shot for a baby. It's got all of these exclusive micronutrients, antibodies, peptides, growth factors, fibers that can't be found in any other natural source. And they act almost like a blueprint in the body, optimizing development very early in life of all the different organ systems. It's the first nutrition we all receive in life.

And I'm going through the literature, there are 5,000 research studies talking about its benefits, and it makes so much sense to me. But what was really remarkable about the literature was that it wasn't just showing health benefits in babies, but there were actually health benefits in the research at all ages. And there were a couple of recent studies showing it even was three times more effective than the flu vaccine at preventing flu.

I said this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. This is a product for babies. Why is this working for the rest of us? We're already developed. What I learned is that one of the most powerful ways that colostrum works in the body is all of these different bioactive nutrients. A way that they work synergistically is that together, they seal up something called the immune barrier in the body. And what that means is just like we have skin as this physical barrier on the outside, separates us from the outside world, it's our layer of protection is the same thing that lines the inside of the body. It's intuitive, but we don't really think about it. In lines are eyes, nose, mouth, sinuses, throat, lungs, gut, urinary, reproductive tract, it's literally skin on the inside. And it's the interface between everything we inhale and ingest from the environment and our bloodstream.

And the interesting thing is that all these modern exposures that I mentioned, the pollutants, the pesticides, the toxins, chemicals, one of the most detrimental things they do in the body and the first pathway they hit in the body where they cause damage is this mucosal barrier, this immune mucosal barrier. And it breaks down the integrity of that barrier and makes it more permeable than it's supposed to be. That allows things that aren't supposed to be let into the body to get into the body into the bloodstream to trigger the immune system inappropriately, and that's inflammation. And inflammation is what underpins almost every single modern chronic disease that we see.

The big, bad scary things like autoimmune conditions, NMS and allergies, but also inflammation that drives the everyday health issues, almost everyone you know struggles with-- weight gain, bloating, low energy, mental fog, all of this driven by inflammation. And there are thousands of research studies popping up just in the past 30 years, making this link. It hasn't quite made its way to the mainstream yet, but we're starting to see hints of it because everybody found out about probiotics a few years ago. And probiotics target the microbiome, which is one layer of this barrier. This barrier has four layers to it. So this is really interesting. So we have this natural product that is uniquely suited to seal up that barrier in all of us in the face of the threat.

Luke Storey:  [00:17:08] As someone who spent so much time, energy, and money to be healthy, I want to keep track of what's working and what's not. That's why I'm really into this company I found called InsideTracker. They are an ultra-personalized performance system that analyzes data from your blood, DNA, lifestyle, and fitness tracker to help you optimize your body and reach your health and wellness goals. Through their app and testing protocol, I'm able to get a clearer picture of what my body looks like on the inside. And I also get a clearer measure of whether my diet, supplement, and exercise choices are helping or even hurting.

I did the whole InsideTracker deal recently and was actually shocked to find that I was less than perfect in some areas. My cholesterol and B vitamins were high, for example, and a few other things needed a little tweaking. There was, of course, also some good news as my overall health score was that of a much younger person and certainly more optimized than your average American.

And that's the point. The whole goal with InsideTracker is to be optimized, not normal. So they don't merely show you the normal biomarkers zones, they show you the optimal biomarker zones and numbers that are best for your individual body. So if you want to check this out, I highly recommend you sign up for InsideTracker now. You're going to get your testing done, the results of your biomarkers, and then some incredible lifestyle and diet recommendations from their brainiac scientists to help you improve everything you find. Just go to insidetracker.com/luke where you will save 25% off your entire order, that's insidetracker.com/luke.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:18:52] What's interesting is, so we have this damage to our barrier just by virtue of living in a modern world. We do the best we can, we filter our air, we buy organic produce, buy the clean label products, but we can't avoid all exposures. We all have damaged for mucosal barrier on an ongoing basis. When babies are born, they also have a problem with the barrier because it's immature.

And so colostrum evolved in mammals 300 million years ago specifically to be the first food that goes into an infant's body and seal up the barrier like glue to protect them. And it's one of the reasons why infants who don't get any colostrum or even breast milk after birth have a higher risk of immune dysregulating issues later in life like allergies, eczema, atopic dermatitis. So we have this ancient food that's been honed over evolution specifically to solve an issue that is now rampant in the modern landscape.

Luke Storey:  [00:19:51] Well, I wasn't breastfed so I'm going to have to quadruple the dose of my colostrum. So what physical challenges were you dealing with, to whatever degree you want to go into detail on, that led you into researching this? And how did you find colostrum? What were the first types you tried? Was there something noticeable in your particular symptoms that presented at that time that lit this light bulb further?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:20:21] Yeah. So at the time, my gut health issues were also starting to deteriorate from complications that were not addressed early in my life. And I was learning so much about colostrum and uncovering all of this. And when I looked to the market to try something, it was a really difficult product to find. It existed in these niche, integrative medicine circles. It was actually very confusing what it did, which probably explained why I never knew all of this about it, and probably why it's unknown for so long. It does so much. There's so much language around it. It was confusing. The bodybuilders were using it because it's got all these growth factors and peptides in it that are--

Luke Storey:  [00:21:08] You're looking at one right here.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:21:10] Yeah. Very good for lean muscle building and accelerating tissue recovery and repair. And there really wasn't anything more mainstream. And one of the problems with any natural product, particularly a dairy product, is that-- this is important, so many people nowadays have issues with dairy, have a dairy intolerance. And conventional dairy has a bad rap for very good reason. But there is a reason for that. If you take a step back, it doesn't make sense that we would have biologically, physiologically an issue with dairy.

Dairy is milk. It evolved to be the first nutrition for an infant, the most nourishing and nutrient-dense product. Why would we have evolved a problem with it? And the answer is it's not the dairy itself, it's the way that it's processed in this country. Because of FDA regulation, the mechanism of pasteurization and sterilization that's mandated in mainstream industry requires the use of high temperatures and heat. Here's the problem with that. All these bioactive molecules, peptides, growth factors, antibodies, all these micronutrients, they're bioactive, and instruct your cells in all of these beneficial behaviors, because they work via a lock and key mechanism.

So they have a certain shape that fits a certain receptor in the cell, and that activates a certain reaction. When you take a protein peptide and you expose it to high temperatures, it does something called denature. It unfolds, changes shape, and the fats get oxidized. Now it goes into the body, it's unrecognizable as a food. So the things are still in there, but the body doesn't recognize it as food. In fact, it thinks is a foreign thing. It doesn't know what this is. This is not a natural thing. So it triggers inflammation and intolerance symptoms. And that's why so many people have digestive issues, rashes, etc. with dairy. It's the processing that's the problem, not the dairy itself. Most people do very well with raw dairy.

And so this was very important to me in thinking about how I wanted to craft a product that would be impactful, and actually health promoting in the body and in my body. And so my journey started with developing what we have now at ARMRA, which is proprietary low-temperature technology. We called it cold chain bio potent technology that allows us to do this processing, the pasteurization, sterilization, and extraction of all the nutrients without the use of high temperatures. So it stays almost like a raw product. And it confers all of the benefits that a raw colostrum would, but legally meets all the components of regulation.

And when we did research on our product, third-party research showed that because of this technology, it confers 32% stronger anti-bacterial immune protection than other colostrums. So we know it works. The bioactives are just intact more. And so once I was able to develop this custom formulation, this proprietary process that I knew was the highest integrity, highest potency would be the safest and most beneficial for my body, I started using it on myself. Of course, all biohacking use ourselves as guinea pigs as scientists and I had transformational benefits relatively quickly.

One of the fastest things that happened for me was because I was so sick at the time and so nutrient-depleted, this so beneficially sealed my barriers, improved my nutrient absorption, and my hormonal health that my period had stopped, it came right back within a month of starting the product. And that was my first signal and the sign that my body was sending me that it was starting to move into a healthy place. And so that personal journey gave me the confidence to start building this into something that I knew could serve more people than just myself because I had had that experience.

Unfortunately, I had some further complications that were more structural in nature and so I've had to have surgeries as recently as a few weeks ago, but I'm doing well and feeling well now. But it's important to have that personal experience with the product because you create something that you yourself use, and you wouldn't give to someone else something that you wouldn't put in your own body. And that's the integrity we have behind the development of ARMRA.

Luke Storey:  [00:26:03] Well, I'm happy to hear that. And I share that same ethos in terms of all the different brands that I promote and work with. It's not very often, but sometimes someone will be like, one of the first to market was a niche product, and then I think that's the best that's out there. And then someone comes along and does it better. And then I'm like, people ask me what's the best? Not that I know what's the best, but what I perceive to be the best based on my own using it and research, then it's like, well, I have to knock that one off. That actually just happened today. I did some research on hydrogen and I have been owning and promoting a certain product. And I found something that is better, and just has more rigor behind the science. So it's all right, I got to jump ship, I have to evolve. So I appreciate that.

Going back to a couple of items, the raw milk thing being the first of them, I wouldn't say that I've been historically someone who is classically lactose intolerant, but if I were to drink a huge glass of milk, it would cause some digestive upset. So I'm not someone like I can eat some cheese, and I'm probably okay, but just straight up dairy not so much. But having been in California, I had access to raw dairy because it at one point became more accessible. You could go to the store and buy it, here, you can't go to the store and buy it. So I recently researched and in Texas, that is, at least in Austin, but they do have something in place where they allow farmers to sell it directly. So I could go to the farm, or the workaround they found is you can preorder it and they'll bring it to your local farmers market, which is what I do.

So I haven't taken raw milk in a while. I never really even when I had raw milk back home, drank it. I just use it here and there. But I found this farm here that not only is grass-fed and raw, but they also only have A2 cattle versus A1 cattle. And I mean, I literally just chug huge glasses of this stuff. And it's just instant yes for my body. And I feel great on it. There's zero side effects or anything. So to your point, that I've experienced the raw versus adulterated dairy, and also the A1, A2 thing that now people are starting to become a little more aware of, but that's also another huge piece of it.

So thank you for illuminating that because I believe dairy is a superfood, and it's just, unfortunately, was ruined by the agricultural system we have here. And there may have been some good intentions in there to make it more sterile and safe and shelf stable and all that kind of stuff, but in the process, you're really like in most cases better off not having any dairy if it's that type. But I think that the colostrum, and raw dairy, and raw butter, and even ghee, although it's cooked, and you remove all the inflammatory stuff by doing so, I think these are just foundational to health. And it's just a shame that people have been led to believe that, "Oh, I just can't do any kind of dairy ever." And it's really important, as you indicated to know that it comes in degrees, and there's different ways that it can be processed and utilized. So that's something I just wanted to reiterate that you spoke to.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:29:15] May I comment on that? because you raise an interesting point. And so lactose intolerance is a separate thing. It's a gene that gets turned on or off that regulates our ability to make the lactase enzyme. And so many people think they're lactose intolerant because they can't tolerate milk, but it often has nothing to do with the lactose, it often has to do just with what we're speaking about, the inflammatory nature of the product itself. And raw dairy has in it lactase enzyme, natural lactase enzyme. So it helps itself digest. So I think it's just an important nuance there. There's dairy intolerance, dairy allergy, and then the lactose intolerance, they all get lumped together. But they're actually separate things, all problematic because of the regulation of how dairy has to be manufactured.

Luke Storey:  [00:30:14] That is a really good point. Thank you for adding that. I know certain people will take the enzymes necessary to digest it so they can use dairy products, but the dairy products are still pasteurized and homogenized and ruined. So I'm like if you can get a hold of something raw, you could probably not take the enzymes.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:30:34] Yeah, I have my raw dairy farm in upstate New York that delivers to me in this very covert blue plastic bag on the weekends. It's very under the cuff because it's not allowed.

Luke Storey:  [00:30:50] You just reminded me years ago in LA, there was a community Co op, I think it was called Raw. And you could go there and get vegetables and meats and all kinds of things. But they sold raw milk, and at some point, and I don't know that this was the sole reason, but they were raided under the guise of illegally being milk dealers and the guy went to prison.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:30:50] I heard about that.

Luke Storey:  [00:30:52] It was a whole thing. And then I don't know what happened legislatively, but then at a certain point, I could go to Erawan and there was raw milk there. So I don't know what happened, but yeah, I remember when it was like the underground railroad, like raw dairy products.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:31:30] Exactly. Exactly.

Luke Storey:  [00:31:31] You got to know a guy who knows a guy. You paid them. That's going way back. Another thing I wanted to discuss with you is how pissed I was when we first met and you told me that you ruin colostrum by heating it. I buy these big kilos of just bulk-- not bulk as in low quality, it's grass-fed and all the things, but I buy these big kilos of colostrum, as I said, just because I love the taste, and I just mix it in all my smoothies and stuff like that.

And I made some pretty good recipes like ice cream with colostrum and stuff, but the main way I was using it prior to meeting you, and thank you for saving me money, was I would put four tablespoons in my super hot coffee. And it just makes the most delicious, creamy coffee. And I remember asking you about that and you're like, "You're basically just having coffee creamer now. There's no more colostrum." I was like, God, damned. I was doing that for years. So I've since stopped, and I'm not wasting it. So thank you for that. And also damn, I wish I would have known that.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:32:36] It's still delicious.

Luke Storey:  [00:32:38]  It is. It makes a really good creamer, but it's pretty expensive if you're going to go that way. You'd be better off with butter.

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You mentioned something and you just I want to say you brushed over it, but you just threw it in one of your prior dialogs and that was in clinical trials, bovine colostrum was found to be three times more effective than the flu vaccine at preventing flu. It says clinical trials with an S plural. Is there rigor behind that particular statement?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:35:21] Yeah, there's two clinical studies showing that colostrum is more effective than the flu vaccine at preventing flu. One of the populations was older patients with cardiovascular risk factors. I can't remember what the population segment was in the other group, but it makes so much sense. You are literally rebuilding the fortress, your first line of defense, you're putting the soldiers back up at the gate to patrol what comes into the body in the first place.

And we talk about having a barrier in the gut all the time, because we're talking about the microbiome, but that barrier, as I mentioned, is the entire body. It's the sinuses, the nose, the lungs, all of the mucosa. And so it's really important to have your immune system and barrier fortified there at all of the layers. It provides protection for any population. It's completely safe for an infant or for a 90-year-old, grandma taking seven other prescription drugs. There's no interaction. It's a whole food that is perfectly matched for the body's needs at those surfaces. So really compelling research that just drives home, one of the multitudes of benefits that colostrum can confer.

Luke Storey:  [00:36:42] I think that one just stood out to me because anytime I walk into Rite Aid or CVS, and I see all these, now there's incentives for other similar shots, but just for years, seeing these big banners outside of CVS, "Get your flu shot. Get your flu shot," and I'm just thinking, folks, there is a better way. I would rather have the flu every month than take that myself. So that one really stood out to me.

But another thing that I think is really cool here, and maybe as a doctor, and a professional who knows such things, you could help me understand this, but I'm starting to have a visual as you describe this mucosal lining within our body, it's almost as if we think of what's under our skin, like the inside of our body as being self-contained, and that all of that is on the inside. But what I'm getting is we have skin that is a barrier to the outside world, but that mucosal lining it's self-containing in the outside world, but it happens to be inside our body. So if we think about the digestive tract, that is actually not inside our body. I mean, the tract it is, but what's inside is still technically outside of our body because of this lining. So it's like we have all these air tubes and all these holes in body that let things in and out, nutrients in, toxins out, but it's almost like we have the outside world actually coexisting inside of our body. And what you're saying is that when that barrier is compromised, thus begins this cascade of problems for many people because your body is defenseless on the inside. Is that a way of illustrating that that makes sense?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:38:24] Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that analogy holds. You wouldn't give it a second thought if you had a wide gaping wound on your skin. You'd say, "Oh, this is a vulnerable point. I need to cover this. I need to make sure this heals so nothing gets inside and gets me infected." But the same thing is happening on the inside of the body when all of these exposures are coming in. They're literally causing abrasions and damage to the integrity of the surfaces in our barriers at all of these interfaces in our gut and our lungs. And those are vulnerable points. And we don't have the paradigm yet to think about, oh, we need to protect that surface. We need to regenerate and strengthen and make sure that we're fortifying ourselves at that surface because that's a vulnerable point of entry now for something that we don't want to get in to the body and cause harm.

Luke Storey:  [00:39:21] Got it. And what I find interesting about this as well is that there have been over 5,000 published studies on colostrum. I don't count studies, but if I think about other purported superfoods, let's say goji berries or cacao beans, I don't know, whatever they are, like you go to the health food store, there's the superfood section, I'm guessing that many of those things that we just think are so vital, maca, or something might not have 5,000 published studies. That's an astronomical number of studies for something like this, I think.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:39:21] Yeah, colostrum again is a naturally occurring food. It's been used for health benefits, dating back thousands of years. They've been using it in Ayurvedic medicine. In a sacred vegan culture, they use this dairy product. It's classified as sacred, its own thing. It's neither plant or animal. It's its own healthful product for people. And they've been using it for its health benefits for a very long time. The first polio vaccine was actually developed from colostrum as the raw ingredient.

We've been using this stuff and taking this stuff for a very long time. We've accumulated so much literature on it, validated research on these benefits. And it's really almost unbelievable that it isn't something that is a household familiarity with by now. But to your other point, I think we're also in a situation-- it is also the only true superfood, only true superfood because it's one of the only substances in existence whose sole purpose is to be a food. It has no other reason for being other than to be consumed for its health-promoting properties. All the other things you mentioned, maca, goji berries, mushrooms, all these things we talk about, these are living things, these are plants that we've co-opted to use and leverage their unique and in some cases, sacred properties in conjunction with our own for some other purpose.

But this doesn't have any other reason for being other than to be a food for us. And we've so adulterated the concept of what food is that we basically call anything nowadays that's healthy or a whole food is called the superfood. We're so divorced. No, that's just food. Food is supposed to be health-promoting. It's supposed to provide nutrition for your body. It's not supposed to be entertainment. So I think we're so divorced from our relationship with our nourishment that we just call everything superfood if it's healthy.

Luke Storey:  [00:42:12] That's hilarious. Yeah, it's like, well, technically any food that you take with the intention of benefiting your body should be a superfood. It's a marketing word that's gone Australian. If you ask me what's the ultimate superfood, I would probably say, grass-fed beef, liver, egg yolks, colostrum, especially after this conversation, and there's very few things, oysters made, things that are just nutritionally so dense and specifically things that have nutrients that are difficult to get in that quantity from other sources like a great cod liver oil for its high retinol content. There are probably 10 things that I use on a regular basis that I would call superfood. But maca and goji berries probably wouldn't make the list if I really had to get down to it. They're bonus foods.

Let's get into a little bit of detail on auto-immune. I know that this is at least I think related to this mucosal lining we're talking about and inflammation and all this, but this is something I've seen more and more in our listenership here on the Life Stylist, in our Facebook group, autoimmune this, autoimmune that, Crohn's, IBS, all these things that people have a very difficult time, really even naming or identifying. And I think a lot of it's getting lumped under the autoimmune umbrella. And I myself, I'm not totally clear on where we are with that in terms of the science and the medical perspective at this point, because it's a word that gets thrown around loosely much like superfood. So maybe you could give us whatever you happen to know about that particular angle.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:43:53] Sure. Let's break it down a little bit. You have a sophisticated listenership, so I'll do my best to explain and use analogies. My analogies tend to break down when you stress test them, so we'll see how this goes. But if you think about the role of the immune system, it's got two jobs. It's got to figure out what's part of your body and what's foreign. And then it's got another decision to make, which is if it's foreign, is it something helpful, like food or is it something harmful that I need to be on the alert for, like a virus or toxin or something? And so it's got this decision matrix to make.

So it makes sense that when you break down where the immune system is located in the body, 80% of it is actually at the mucosal barrier surfaces. 80% of your immune cells live at the mucosal barrier. They're not these antibodies floating around in your bloodstream like were all talking about, especially during the pandemic, everybody became an antibody expert. That's like a small part of your immune system. Most of your immune system is at this mucosal surface.

That makes sense. If you were a castle that needed to be guarded, you would put all your soldiers up at the front gates to make sure you didn't let the intruders in. And so that's what our body does, puts most of its immune cells, most of its defense mechanism, at the gate of entry, which is these mucosal barriers, the interface between the outside world and the bloodstream.

Now our bodies evolved over millions of years to a specific climate, specific environment. But that environment rapidly changed in the past 70, 80 years with all these exposures I talked about. We just evolutionarily haven't had time to catch up. We don't have a better system in place. We have the old system in place, the vintage architecture infrastructure here, trying to function in the modern world. So with all of these exposures, you got damage happening at the gate to your castle. It's killing off the soldiers, it's like putting holes in the castle wall, it's disrupting the moat that's supposed to guard things. So you have like a weak first line of defense.

And now, things are getting into the body that shouldn't get into the body, things that are supposed to be kept out. So you're breathing all the time these pollutants, you're being exposed to these chemicals, all of these things are constantly coming in. And now they're actually coming into the castle. They're not hanging out at the gate being stopped and excreted. And so they're coming into the castle and the immune system, the people in the castle trying to defend the king, they are on overdrive. They are constantly having to do this work of patrolling and fighting, they are totally tied up with all these intruders coming in. And they can't do their job to actually protect anything. They're just riling up on overdrive all the time. That's the immune system run amok, that is autoimmunity, that is an immune system that can no longer tell the difference between what's foreign, and what's part of your body and it can't tell the difference between what's harmful and what's helpful. It's reacting to everything, it's on overdrive.

And so our traditional model, we talk about, oh, we need to boost the immune system, we need to boost the immune system. That's the last thing we need to do. All of our immune systems are running in overdrive because things are just rushing into this castle. The traditional model for autoimmune issues or inflammation is okay, well, let's suppress the immune system, let's give you steroids, or let's give you drugs that shut the immune system, that calm the immune system and shut it down. The intruders are still in there, but now you're just killing your own immune system, you're weakening it. And that's the traditional model of how autoimmune conditions are dealt with in traditional medicine, that's steroids and immune-modulating drugs.

Now, what if you could instead doing all of that, and suppressing your immune system, which now can't do its job for anything, what if instead, you could build that wall back, put more soldiers there, fill them out with water, put the drawbridge up and fortify your wall, again, close the gate of entry so that things don't get into the body in the first place and trigger the immune system, inflammation comes down. And now your immune system is even stronger because you've restored it to its state of equilibrium and balance. And so it can function the way nature intended it to.

We don't have weak immune systems in the modern day. That's not the problem. The problem is our immune systems are completely consumed dealing with the modern exposures, they can't function the way they evolved to. It's rare to have an immune suppressive issue. That's a separate medical condition. That's not what's the problem for all of us. So that's what colostrum does. Colostrum has all the ingredients to build that wall back. It has peptides and growth factors that repair the architecture of your barrier. So those cells, it's one cell layer thick, this immune barrier that lines your body.

Colostrum actually has the peptides and growth factors that instruct those cells to regenerate and repair themselves. So now you built the castle wall back up. You've put all the bricks back in place. You have a physical barrier, physical architecture. It also contains sialic acid and all of these very interesting micronutrients that replete the moat. Your moat is an extra layer of defense. That water, that mucous layer that's really thick and things can get stuck in and bad guys can drown in, that's really important part of your barrier. We all have that mucous lining. Colostrum replaces that.

It also has prebiotics in it called milk oligosaccharides, which can't be found in any other natural source. Milk oligosaccharides are a special kind of prebiotic that only feed the healthy population of bacteria in the microbiome, only feeds the Bifido species. So you actually replenish a healthy microbiome whereas if you take traditional prebiotics, you are feeding good guys and bad guys. It can't tell the difference.

This is a special prebiotic that evolved only to switch your microbiome to a healthy medium. So now you've repleted your microbiome. We'll call those the soldiers. Those are the guys patrolling the gate, and it has actual immune cells in it. Colostrum has actual immune cells. It has the artillery you need at the gate. It has antibodies. Specifically ARMRA colostrum has segae, IgA, which is the most abundant antibody at mucosal surfaces in the body. So now you've equipped all of your soldiers with the machinery they need to defend the castle. And that's how colostrum works proactively to address the root cause of what drives autoimmune reactions in the body in the first place. And there is a lot of research on the benefits of colostrum in supporting autoimmune conditions and a host of inflammatory disorders for this reason.

Luke Storey:  [00:52:04] Wow, damn, that was a great model. Thank you for that. I'm with you on your metaphor there all the way. I think that's the way I understand things because I'm forming pictures in my mind as you speak. So I like that you put that together. I want to let people know if they're anything like me, if I just heard that, I'd be like, I need some of this. So you guys have given us a discount, which I appreciate. If you guys want to check out the ARMRA product, you can go to the following site, tryarmra.com/luke, that's A-R-M-R-A. And the code is LUKESTOREY10 and we'll put it in the show notes too. So thank you for that. I didn't want to forget to let people know. Sometimes I do it at the beginning and the end of the show and I think if people listen to podcasts like I do, they probably skip that part.

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So we've got a really good model for autoimmune. If this autoimmune response is taking place within someone's body, the overlying negative consequence of that is inflammation, is that right?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:55:22] Yeah. That's what inflammation is.

Luke Storey:  [00:55:25] Oh, okay. That's the definition of inflammation. Okay.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:55:28] Well, an inflammation that's reacting with the body's own tissue is the autoimmune part. It's the immune attacking itself.

Luke Storey:  [00:55:38] Okay. So what are some related, I guess, pathologies to inflammation? I just hear, oh, inflammation is bad. You don't want it. So I take anti-inflammatories. But what are some of the different diagnoses I guess that will manifest as a result of this systemic inflammation rooted in a compromised lining and an immune function as you've indicated?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:56:05] Yeah, so inflammation, in general, is just immune system in overdrive, not necessarily that it's attacking the body's own tissue, that it lost the ability to distinguish what's foreign, what's not foreign, but it's this immune system in overdrive because it's being bombarded by all of these threats. And inflammation in the short term is a good thing. If something bad happens, if you have an injury, you want your body's immune system to rev up and help repair it and protect you.

But when that's going on all the time, then your body can't actually help you when big, bad things come along. It's totally preoccupied. It's all the resources are being used up. So it's problematic. And this inflammation and its chronic state is what drives so many of the common health issues that are not necessarily-- we don't necessarily intuitively make that link with, but inflammation has been connected to a lot of the everyday health complaints people have like weight gain, mental fog, neurodegenerative conditions, tied with inflammation. We know there's a complete overhaul too of the paradigm of Alzheimer's very recently. Inflammation is wide.

Luke Storey:  [00:57:23] That was a big oops, our bad. And also with clinical depression and the serotonin--

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:57:34] Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [Inaudible 00:57:37].

Luke Storey:  [00:57:38] Oh, God. I mean, I guess it's good news.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:57:40] I saw that one coming, thank goodness.

Luke Storey:  [00:57:42] I mean, that's the thing about the science. If science is settled, it's not science. That's what I like to say. It's ever evolving. You keep researching. I'm like a total armchair scientist, I would never classify myself as that. But I don't think that because I figured something out that's the end of the story. I just think, well, I understand this well as I can now. But it's the curiosity. So it's a shame sometimes that our medical system is based on the settled science, and usually that science settles on where a big paycheck is going to arrive.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:58:19] Yeah, it's so dogmatic and there's just such a lack of intellectual humility in allowing things to be questioned. And we have to question everything. Everything needs to always be up for question. And you want to be wrong, and then find out you're wrong as quickly as possible. And that should always be the goal.

Luke Storey:  [00:58:40] I like that. So our understanding of things like autoimmune and the cascade effect of systemic inflammation, that's obviously constantly evolving, or at least we would hope so as well then, right?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:58:54] Absolutely.

Luke Storey:  [00:58:58] We've covered the inside of your body. And I think that the outside of our bodies feel much less vulnerable because we're aware of when it's been compromised, as you gave that example earlier of having a cut, it's like, oh, shit, put some ointment, disinfect it, whatever. But we don't see the inside of our body. We just have these downstream effects that then we chase our tails trying to fix with medications and surgery. But on the outside of the body, I'm curious, does colostrum have any topical applications? Or is that just going to be a waste of your hard-earned money that you're spending on something like ARMRA?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [00:59:36] No, it sure does, but it works for skin benefits as an ingestible. So it's even a good place to start there. The skin is a barrier too, and it is also bombarded by environmental assaults. And so colostrum has those same regenerative peptides and growth factors and has also been shown even to activate stem cells in the hair and collagen. So it's very good for skin, hair, and nail benefits as well. It activates hair follicular cells, it activates collagen stem cells. And so it's good at regenerating these surfaces to an ingestible form and can also be used topically most certainly.

Luke Storey:  [01:00:24] Has anyone tried micro-- what are they called? micro dermal rolling? Those little rollers. I forget what they're called. It's like a little rolling pen that puts small holes in your skin.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:00:36] Oh, interesting, with the needle, yeah.

Luke Storey:  [01:00:39] Yeah, dermal roller. I heard that, I was like, "Oh, I could take a dermal roller on my scalp and put the colostrum in there."

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:00:44] I've not tried that. I've put it in almost every other orifice and tried every other way of applying colostrum, definitely done face masks with it, but that's an interesting one.

Luke Storey:  [01:00:59] Yeah, I mean, one could conceivably dermal roll their face and make a colostrum mask to actually get those growth factors and peptides to penetrate the skin. I like it. You said you've done it a number of different ways. Another thought that came to mind for me was having done colonics off and on for 25 years--

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:01:20] I was going to mention that, yeah.

Luke Storey:  [01:01:21] It's been a while, though. One of the things that a good colon hydrotherapist in my estimation will do is give you what they call an implant after you're all emptied out of anything from chlorophyll to probiotics to, God knows what, to just use the opportunity for that nice, clean surface to be receptive to whatever nutrients and specifically with the probiotics is an opportunity to reseed that part of your body with probiotics that might otherwise not make it through your GI tract. Is there any evidence to support benefits of taking colostrum that way? Or you might as well just drink it, and it's going to get there eventually. What are your thoughts on that?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:02:00] You certainly could drink it, but you certainly would have additional benefits using it as part of a colonic regimen. The research we did on ARMRA classroom again, because of the way that we preserve these bioactive compounds, actually when applied in solution, when applied topically to the mucosa of colon cells, cells in the large intestine, it stimulated regeneration of those cells. So the cells were damaged and made a cut as would happen from damage with bacterial toxins or a traumatic injury. And with colostrum applied, regenerated that barrier 70% faster than control, even under conditions of inflammation. So even in the presence of bacterial toxins in the colon, it regenerated that barrier 70% faster than control. So any kind of mucosal issue that someone may have in the large intestine, certainly, I would suggest this could be a useful adjunct to whatever else you're doing to really just be those surfaces with the regenerative and healing properties of colostrum.

Luke Storey:  [01:03:20] Awesome. That brings me, I'm thinking of the various orifices at this mucosal lining. I often use different nasal--

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:03:27] You're thinking like me now.

Luke Storey:  [01:03:29] But I use different nasal sprays like the one from Zach Bush's company ION. It's just amazing soil-based organisms and whatnot. And they have a great nasal spray. I noticed when I use that, I don't get dry nose or runny nose. It's just awesome. But with some of these nasal sprays, you can screw off the top and make your own mixture. I wonder if I could do the same thing with the ARMRA the plain, I'm assuming not the blood orange. For those watching, I have one of the little packets right here too. Before the interview I was like, oh man, I'm almost at two hours on the show people. But do you think that would be a viable application for sinus issues and whatnot?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:04:07] Absolutely.

Luke Storey:  [01:04:08] Okay, cool. I got I like to check how crazy I'm actually being, especially when I'm talking to the person that created something.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:04:15] I think I'll mention one other thing though because I think your line of questioning brings up another point that I think a lot of people ask about which is, they've seen colostrum products before and they look like a pharmaceutical product and they're like in a pill like a capsule and it defeats the purpose. There's so much intentionality around how we developed ours, it's a powder, the powder, you ingest the powder. You want to maximize contact of that powder along the mucosal surfaces as it goes in your mouth and along your upper digestive tract. You do not want it covered in a capsule or tablet or anything like that where you're fearing with its contact on the surfaces.

Luke Storey:  [01:05:02] That's funny, you're totally psychic because that was my next question. Am I screen sharing and you could see my notes literally, because I've never used colostrum in capsule form? And I didn't even know that. I just thought, I don't know. It's just dumb. I just want a big scoop of it. I want to taste it. I want the mouthfeel. I want to alert my body that that's what's coming in and not just sneaking it past. But that's also a really good point. The other thing I wanted to cover was the distinction between the ARMRA process and how you guys manufacture your colostrum versus more of the bulk powders that have all of the fats and other constituents.

And one thing that struck me about this, I mean, I think this is two grams, so it's like, a teaspoon or less, and anytime I take it, and I trust that you guys are doing it that way for a reason, but I'm like, is this enough to do anything? So when I first got this product, I was putting five in a glass of water, because I'm just used to using a huge scoop of colostrum. So maybe you could break down the process and how it's more concentrated or why less is needed, and ultimately is much less expensive, because colostrum in any form, it's not a cheap supplement. It's pretty expensive. The big kilos I get are a few $100 and they last a while, but it's not like buying whey protein powder or something.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:06:31] So in whole form it is like a protein powder and you're scooping 20, 30 grams of this to get any of the research-backed benefits. And one of the parts of our proprietary process is that we remove the compounds that are unnecessary for humans. And then allows the concentrations and the bioactives essential for human health to be amplified. And why our product is so concentrated, so it's a one gram serving size.

You probably have the blood orange flavor, so it's 2 grams. It's one gram of flavor, one gram of ARMRA colostrum. And our AMRA colostrum concentrate is one gram, it's half a teaspoon. And it's 20x more effective than the same volume. And we know with our research showing that it's 32% stronger at conferring benefits than the standard colostrum, because of the way we do this processing. So it doesn't have fat in it, it doesn't have casein in it. It's really just pure bioactive properties that you're getting with this product.

Luke Storey:  [01:07:46] That's very interesting. And I'm glad to know that even a small amount is still providing benefits.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:07:52] A lot of benefits. But most customers because the benefits are dose-responsive, most users started taking one and then they noticed a change and they take 2, 3, 4 servings a day, and that's perfectly fine. There's no such thing as taking too much. It's a whole food.

Luke Storey:  [01:08:11] I guess it depends on each individual's health condition, but I don't have any persistent or chronic issues myself, just fine-tuning and wanting to have as much energy and vitality as I can. Would there be a point at which I would be wasting it if I took a glass with two packets in the morning and two in the evening? Would that be overkill? Am I just wasting my money? Or is more better I guess is what I'm asking.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:08:38] More is better up to a point. And I think that that threshold point varies from person to person. And you can toggle that based on your own system, but you have to monitor for yourself. But four servings a day, definitely we have a lot of people who like using more like that. Particularly I've noticed for those who are using it for performance benefits related to muscle composition, and elite athletes using it for recovery, they seem to use a more robust dose. They really get more bang for their buck as they as they go up.

Luke Storey:  [01:09:21] Well, I'm certainly no elite athlete and I suspect there might be a couple listening. Would this work better as a recovery tool than say like a pre-workout then if someone was using it for that purpose?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:09:34] Yes.

Luke Storey:  [01:09:34] Oh, okay.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:09:37] It's also a complete protein. It's got all nine essential amino acids in there. It replaces your supplements.

Luke Storey:  [01:09:44] That's cool, okay.

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All right, I got a couple more questions. One was around, you've mentioned a couple of times you have a proprietary extraction process. And I read on your site that you have a patent pending. Is that patent specifically around the way in which it's processed and made into a product and where are you on that particular track?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:12:15] Yeah, the patent is around our entire process of using this low-temperature extraction technology in addition to the composition of ARMRA itself as a concentrate. And so that's something that just takes time to finalize.

Luke Storey:  [01:12:32] Yeah, I understand. I know people have had patterns in for years, especially people in the tech space that I work with. I'm like, well, at least if someone's filed one, that tells me they're doing something interesting and I always find that a little bit intriguing. I'm like, oh, that's cool because they wouldn't go through that bowl unless they were really onto something, why would you bother? If I could just grab some colostrum and go through my own little process at home, then what would be the point of that?

Another thing I wanted to cover was, you mentioned this blood orange product. At first, I was only using the plain one. And so I had this set aside, which is why I have some left. And so I've been on these in the past couple of days in preparation for the interview and actually really liked the taste. It doesn't have like a fake artificial flavor or color in them. It tastes like real food. But with the plain one, I don't think it has any flavor. And so I was wondering if one could get the same results from just pouring it on your yogurt or putting it into any drink or food that's not hot. Is there any benefit to just slugging it down with a big glass of water versus just mixing it in your food?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:13:43] That's a great question. Yes, you still get all the benefits if you add it to cool food or beverage. And a lot of people add it to their smoothie or yogurt or iced coffee, whatever. The unflavored, as you mentioned, has no taste because it doesn't have casein in it, it really doesn't have much of that milky flavor either. So it doesn't change the taste of whatever you're having as part of your routine. However, particularly for people who have issues, complaints, concerns around their upper digestion, like reflux, or their mouth, any kind of oral health issues, mucositis, or cavities, or ulcers and things like that or just better dental care, just pour the powder directly into your mouth and just chew around and swallow it. And a lot of people take it that way. It kind of gets sticky, sticks to gums and around all of the surfaces in your mouth. It's like a chewy candy. And that's good. It's maximizing the contact again on those mucosal surfaces and you're just reaping more and more benefits from it. So in those cases, you definitely pour it in your mouth, but otherwise, you get off all of the rest of the whole health benefits now included by just taking it with whatever you're going to have as long as it isn't hot, so it doesn't destroy the bioactives.

Luke Storey:  [01:15:11] Okay, cool. And last couple of questions. One is around the sourcing in terms of where it originates. So on your product, it specifically indicates that it's from grass-fed cattle. In the colostrum industry as a whole is that an issue, are some people producing it from not grass-fed cows, which hopefully people learn by now, cows are designed by nature to eat grass, and the foods that they make and become as a result are highly compromised if they don't. How important is the grass fed part in terms of the classroom industry or specifically, the way you guys make it?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:15:49] It's really important to start with the highest quality raw ingredients. So we source all our colostrum exclusively from grass-fed cows and family-owned dairy farms here in the US. And we're partnered with different dairy co ops in order to do that. It's important because the nutritional composition varies based on the animal's diet. And the animal's diet can result in an inflammatory product, if not taken into consideration. So it's something that it's important to us in crafting ARMRA colostrum. And that's how our supply chain is built. It's always going to be that way.

Luke Storey:  [01:16:32] Okay, cool. And then in terms of the actual collection process, so mama cow gives birth, starts lactating, and then this colostrum is what they call first milk. So it's produced within the first 24, 48 hours after birth, typically.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:16:57] Yes, correct, up to 72 hours after birth. It changes composition over the few early days, and then becomes transitional milk and then the mature milk. What's interesting is legally we get into FDA regulation again. You can't sell colostrum into the milk industry. It's considered something separate. It's actually considered a waste product. And mama cows make a surplus of colostrum. They make a lot more than their babies need. And so we exclusively source on these family-owned farms from that surplus supply. We upcycle it. So after the baby calves get fed all they need, we take the extra and that's what we purchase from farmers and use to make ARMRA colostrum. So we're not getting into the calf supply at all.

Luke Storey:  [01:17:46] Again, you're psychic. You must be spying on my notes here. Because I assumed the answer was what you had just indicated, but I did have the thought like, oh, that sucks if we're taking away the colostrum from the baby calves. I want to make sure I eat meat. So there's that but I just think God, I hope they're waiting until the kids get their fill before we started taking it from them. So that's good to know just from an ethical standpoint.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:18:16] Yeah, I care about that, too.

Luke Storey:  [01:18:18] And I'm sure the farmers do, too. They don't want a bunch of sickly calves that didn't get the proper nutrition when they came out of the womb.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:18:25] What's interesting is humans are the only species that can survive past infancy without colostrum. All other species, all the mammals, they perish if they don't get colostrum. So actually the biggest industry for colostrum right now, internationally, China, I think, being the biggest user of it, in the farming industry, they just repurpose colostrum species to species because they needed on hand. If something happens to the mom or the calves or a baby mammal doesn't get enough, they'll die. So it's supplemented, and then really, really important in nutrient, obviously.

Luke Storey:  [01:19:07] Do you see in the foreseeable future that colostrum could become an integral ingredient in a more holistic healthy baby formula? Or are there already people making their own formula using colostrum that you're aware of?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:19:23] It should be. You can add ARMRA colostrum to formula. It confer some of the beneficial properties that you wouldn't otherwise get a bunch of properties of milk. But the infant formula industry has its own beast of regulation and grandfathered in formulas and ingredients that happened in the '70s, and so is a challenge to get policy changes there, but there are some really wonderful companies that I'm familiar with that are spearhead doing that and working to make those changes.

Luke Storey:  [01:20:03] Oh, that's great. I'm glad to hear that. I haven't looked in a while. We're in the process of getting pregnant at the moment. So I don't yet have babies. But I remember, maybe seven years ago, a friend of mine was pregnant and or maybe it was after she gave birth, found out she couldn't breastfeed, like she was not producing any milk. And so she asked me like, hey, there's got to be some sort of organic, healthy formula on the market. So I put on my research cap, and I went online, and I was shocked. I mean, literally, there was not one brand. I'm like, I wouldn't give this to like a stray dog, let alone my kid, just corn syrup and-- I mean, just gnarly, not even, like, not optimal, but literally just toxic.

So yeah, I'm glad to hear that somebody's looking to approve that particular industry. And maybe someone's making something now that wasn't there six or seven years ago when I look, but I just thought, oh, my God, this is a travesty. No wonder we have so many ill kids, that 50 whatever percent you mentioned earlier, for the kids that aren't getting, at least the ones that are breastfed good, clean mama milk. I got one last question for you. It's in three parts. And I'm going to let you go, who have been three teachers or teachings in your life that have influenced you, and your work that you can share with us, and from any category whatsoever?

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:21:28] Gosh, there's so many. Well, I will say that certainly my parents have been an inspiration to me. They're immigrants to this country. My mom's from Lebanon, and believed in me from a very young age and taught me that I can do whatever I set my mind to. I think that was really empowering in setting the stage for me and the challenges I would later face that I never felt like a victim. I always felt like things that happened were opportunities and challenges to move forward and pivot and make new decisions around. And I think all of my career pivots have extended from that. So I'm very grateful for that, those teachings and confidence that they instilled in me.

I also take a lot of wisdom from Naval Ravikant. I read a lot of his work, and I find him to be really poignant, particularly as I enter this new chapter of my life and just establishing the groundedness in how I've been shaped over the past few years, which is quite, I'll say irreverent and heterodox to a lot of the influences that I've been surrounded with in my life up to this point, particularly professionally. It's hard to go against the green, and the perceived as delusional, which is what you're doing when you're building a new category and introducing something new to people. And you really got to get comfortable with that. If you see things other people don't see, you're by depth definition delusional. And that's an uncomfortable seat to sit in. It takes a lot of digging in your relationship with yourself. So those are I think the top two. I didn't answer your third one. Those are the top two that come to mind.

Luke Storey:  [01:23:27] That's all right. I'll let you off the hook with two. Well, thank you so much, Sarah. It's great to see you again. And I just wish you the best with your entrepreneurial venture. I know how difficult it is to not only launch a product, but to be someone that's innovating something as you just described, and bringing something that was in the shadows and in the obscure corners of the health food store and your alternative medicine practitioners to creating a really sexy, approachable, affordable products.

And when people go to your site, again, the link to get there is tryarmra.com/luke, that's A-R-M-R-A. Just kudos on building a really beautiful brand too. I mean, your site is just gorgeous, the branding is awesome, it's modern, it's sexy. I'm in this game 25 years and I remember when there were no websites, but then when they emerged, it was like, God, you find a really cool product. And it's like, no one's going to understand this because it just doesn't look approachable and cool and young, and engaging in that way. So whatever you're doing as a boss, you're crushing it. So I want to just support you in that and thank you for coming on the show.

Dr. Sarah Rahal:  [01:24:45] Thank you so much. Colostrum is an accessible tool for anybody to be able to level up their health regardless, and it's a sexy superfood, and it should be portrayed as such. So I'm glad that resonated with you. Thanks so much for having me.

Luke Storey:  [01:25:04] Yeah, absolutely. Until next time, take care. And thanks for joining us. All right, there it is. Thanks for taking another trip of discovery with me on Episode 427. I trust that you're inspired to learn about yet another natural solution to many of the health hurdles we face in today's modern world. And I'll be back this Friday with the solo cast number 428 where I break down what it takes to build a biohacking healing clinic, or even create one in your own home. And I will cover my all-time favorite technologies and answer frequent questions about all the latest EMF protection tech, as well as everything I think is worth exploring in the realm of quantum energy, frequencies, PMF, and beyond. It's going to be epic. That's this Friday.

Then next Tuesday, I'll be back at you with number 429. This one features Jamie Wheal, author of Catching Fire and Recapture the Rapture. We'll be discussing ethical cult building-- yes, that does exist or so we hope and ecstatic sex practices for awakening your inner mystic. I just recorded this one today at the time of recording this your outro for Sarah's episode and man, this was a wild conversation. So I highly recommend you check that out next Tuesday Jamie Wheal.

And as a reminder, if you were intrigued by Dr. Sarah's innovative colostrum product ARMRA, here's how to get your hands on some, and I should actually hit this link too because I used up my last packet I think the day I did this recording with her. Here's how we get it. Go to tryarmra.com/luke, that's T-R-Y-A-R-M-R-A, tryarmra.com/luke. And if you're smart, use the code LUKESTOREY10 over there and you'll get 10% off. And like I always do my best to remind you, most of the links and stuff I talked about in these episodes are clickable on your podcast apps, which is a great feature. It didn't use to be that way. They're making it easier and easier for podcast listeners like you and me to just click right through to stuff.

Lastly, before we say goodbye, I want to take a moment to invite you to come hang with me at the Modern Nirvana summit September 23, 2022, here in Austin, Texas, where my wife Alyson and I will be presenting a talk on conscious relationships. And we were there last year as well and it was one hell of a good time, folks. So I highly recommend that you join us there. Modern Nirvana is an annual summit and it's unlike anything you've probably experienced before. It was created by former podcast guests, actress and humanitarian Kat Graham and Frank Elaridi, as well as breathwork master Bryant Wood.

So come on and join us in experiencing the latest innovations in biohacking and consciousness as we all honor Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living and very recent guest on the show. And Alyson and I will also be joined by a slew of other epic speakers, most of whom have also appeared on this podcast. The keynote is Guru Dev aka Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and we've got Dave Asprey, Dr. John Lieurance of MitoZen, Dr. Patrick Porter from BrainTap, Philip and Cru some Samor von  Holtzendorff-Fehling-- try saying that five times fast—of Leela Quantum Tech firm, my man, Ian Mitchell of Wizard Sciences, Kiran Krishnan of Microbiome Labs, and lastly, Sadhguru, who will be appearing virtually. And the day will culminate in a performance by DJ Shivarasa. It's going to be epic, y'all and we can't wait to meet you there.

And by the way, make sure to stop by our family booth where I'll be slinging my gilded blue blockers and Alyson, her Animal Power book, and the accompanying card deck which just came out, by the way, Animal Power card deck, number one on Amazon, at least for the first couple of days. I haven't checked it today. Super happy for her. So come chill. Again that's September 23 at Palmer's Event Center in Austin, Texas. And you can get your ticket by doing the following, go to modernnirvana.com/lukeconference. And you can save 15% off your tickets by using the code LUKEALYSON, that's A-L-Y. All right guys, that's it. I'll be back this Friday with the solo cast about all the fun tech I've discovered over the years as well as next Tuesday for Jamie Wheal. See you then.

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