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Interview with Dr. Wallace Nelson Part 1 of 2
Hey, Ben here, founder of Sensory Scout. I’m really excited to share this interview I had with Dr. Wallace Nelson, who helped us formulate the NeuroBrocc (previously Sensory Thrive) supplement. In this first part, you’re going to learn the safety standards and testing procedures we’re using to guarantee a powerful supplement that delivers results.
You’ll also learn the breakdown of each ingredient inside NeuroBrocc and what it does. And you’ll also learn the truth about mainstream supplements and why they rarely actually work and why thousands of bottles were removed from store shelves and a whole lot more. So without holding you up any longer, here’s part 1 of our interview.
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ABOUT THE FORMULATOR OF NEUROBROCC
Ben: So Wallace, can you share a little bit about yourself and your background?
Wallace: Yeah, absolutely. I am a naturopathic doctor and have been doing that just over twenty five years. So for those that may not be familiar with what a naturopathic doctor is, basically we work as primary care physicians, but we deal with natural modalities. So instead of drugs and surgery, we use diet and stress control, sleep and exercise and natural supplementation, as our medicines, per se, really focus on working with the body to rectify what's going on and.
In stark contrast to using like surgery or a medication kind of force, a reaction in the body. We want to encourage the natural healthy reactions. And we also tend to work systemically, rather than symptomatically. So, if you come in and say, “Hey, my head's hurting.” Rather than giving you a pill that just makes you not feel the pain, we go back to the systemic source of what's going on and try to actually help iron that out. So your head stops hurting naturally rather than having that pain suppressed.
And I'm second generation, actually, as a naturopathic doctor. My mother, Dr. Linda Nelson, was one of the founding naturopathic pioneers here in our state. And I was just so inspired growing up by these huge differences she was making in the lives of her patients that I wanted to follow in her footsteps and do the same thing that she did.
Ben: Got it. Yeah. And when you mentioned systems and really looking at it from a bigger picture, as opposed to trying to get a reaction from the body, it's almost like you're being proactive as opposed to reactive, right? You're trying to prevent challenges from happening as opposed to “Now I have these challenges, how do I fix them?” So it's kind of like a way to build a lifestyle that prevents a lot of those challenges in the first place.
Wallace: Absolutely. And prevention is a huge key. You know, maintaining wellness while you've got it is absolutely the preferred way to work. The only time we really step out of that is, you know, when something's already presented, where you've got symptoms and something's not working right. We work first to kind of regain balance on that and get to a point of wellness and then definitely work preventively to maintain that wellness indefinitely for the rest of your life.
Ben : And within that, where do you think supplements fit into that picture? Can you share a little bit about how supplements fit into your background and when you started focusing more on supplements as well?
Wallace: Supplements really are one of the main areas that we've had impact in our practice. And the biggest thing that we do with that is that we have for the last 40 years, actually created lines of supplements specifically for clinical use. So this isn't something that you would find in like a health care, you know, like nutrition store or on a shelf at a mass retailer. These are supplements designed with clinical strength, you know, with professional strength to be used by physicians in treating their patients.
So those physicians that, you know, either are natural in their inclinations overall or physicians who are enlightened to the fact that many conditions actually respond better to natural interventions than to drug and surgery interventions. So surgeons that that want to work on helping you get over something naturally, rather just getting in and cutting at the first sign of trouble, are able to use the supplemental and dietary protocols that we put together basically to prescribe to their patients and do a little bit of national health care that way.
NEUROBROCC: PRODUCTION AND TESTING
Ben: And with this supplement in particular, can you share a little bit about the production of that with NeuroBrocc and what kind of goes into taking that from just raw ingredients to kind of the end product that parents will be trying?
Wallace: Yeah, definitely. So like I said, our background is in the creation of clinical grade supplements. So because of that, every detail in the process matters tremendously. When we're dealing with any supplement, really, all we're dealing with is a food. It just happens to be a highly active, very concentrated food that allows us to do some super cool things inside the body. And in order to make that come together and get the clinical outcome that we want, make sure that we're getting an incredibly good result and a repeatable result, we obsess about every piece of the process.
So whether that is in the formulation, we're going to make sure that we've got just the right amount of actives balanced in a formulation with all of the supporting ingredients that are necessary to get the most out of those actives so that we truly get like a noticeable effect from the supplement. It's more than just some placebo type effect where you're taking something and hoping that it works.
We really genuinely have the science in place in the formulation to make sure that we're getting a meaningful, positive effect on the products and then being a food, just like any meal you cook the quality of the ingredients that you use go a long way towards determining how good the outcome of a meal that you cook. Same thing with supplements since we're just dealing with medicinal foods. So we're incredibly careful about where we source those ingredients, which farms we work with.
We prefer, whenever possible, to work with a local producer, as possible, because our lab staff actually is able to go directly to the farm of these producers, walk out into the soil, make sure that everything we've specified for our ingredients - from soil preparation to planting to harvesting to drying is all happening, exactly as we need it to happen. So getting top quality ingredients is primary in the outcome of what we get out of the supplement and then we begin the real lab work.
So, you know, once you've got it formulated right, once we source the absolute best quality domestic United States produced ingredients that we possibly can, we bring those into the lab and test them like crazy. So we test them not only for safety to make sure there's nothing in there that shouldn't be in there - there's no contamination, nothing growing that shouldn't be in there or anything like that.
But we also test them in the lab for efficacy - make sure that the active ingredients within those herbs are in the range that they'll produce the intended result when it's consumed. And we do that three times. So we run all of these tests. We quarantine for a period of time, we run them again, quarantine for a period of time and run them for the third time. So this is triple redundant on purpose.
For one, it makes sure that we haven't missed anything in the testing process. But secondly, it makes sure that the drying process of these medicinal herbs has happened properly so that the actives are not degrading over time. Because if the raw materials weren't treated right, if a little too much moisture was left in them or a little too much moisture was taken out, you see degradation, almost day by day, of the potency of the actives that are there. So if that isn't ensured, a supplement won't perform the way that you want it to perform, you know, a month or two months or three months down the line when it's being consumed. So we're really, really careful about that.
And then the last thing that we do is focus intensely on the actual digestibility of the product. So I used to tell people all the time, I'd always be like, you know, your grandmother was right, “You are what you eat.” And I had another doctor call me out on that one time. And he's like, you know, you're not entirely accurate there. He's like, “You really aren't what you eat, you are what you digest.” And it's like, you know what? He was more correct than I was. And so we worked really hard to make sure, it's not only about creating a product that looks good on a supplement facts label.
We're actually delivering it in such a way that it's going to be properly digested - it's going to make it into your cells where those ingredients can do some good and actually help to bring about the outcome that we want. And, you know, the flip side of that, if you want to see when delivery is done wrong, digestibility is done wrong. You can actually just go on and do like an image search on your computer and look for vitamin tablet x ray and you'll see like X-ray after X-ray, where where they've actually got imagery of someone's gut where they've taken tablets, vitamin pressed tablets, which don't digest very well, especially in sensitive populations who already have digestive issues.
So no matter how good the ingredients look on that tablet they consume, if they can't digest it, they really don't get any benefits. So we make certain that everything we use is top quality from the ingredients to the digestibility of the capsules that we incorporate those ingredients into to make sure we're getting the best of the best into the cell where it can do all the good we're expecting of it.
Ben: Yeah. And as far as those X-rays, we'll definitely put a video here as you're as you're talking about that so we can actually see what that looks like. And yeah, you mentioned ingredients being added to assist with digestion. And I know a lot of children who have sensory challenges might be very picky about the foods they eat as well, which can have a huge effect on digestive health, which kind of played a role in some of the ingredients that we've chosen to add into this as well.
So I actually want to talk a little bit about that, if you could share a little bit about some of those ingredients and what those roles play, because I know that a lot of companies will not really focus too much on how digestible the supplement is. It’s just what are the main ingredients someone's looking for so we can put on the label and it's really marketable, but it's not necessarily something that will produce results because they're not putting attention into those additional ingredients, which will help with absorption, which help with digestion.
NEUROBROCC: INGREDIENTS AND ITS BENEFITS
Ben: So could you share a little bit about some of those additional ingredients that we put in, in addition to the main ones of course, being broccoli sprouts, broccoli powder? What are some of the other kinds of supporting supplements that we added in there to help with that?
Wallace: Yeah, absolutely. In addition to the broccoli sprout extract, which is a really high potency source of the raw materials that help your body to create sulforaphane, We have a couple of ingredients that are there just to make sure that your body's able to access all the potency of what we find in that broccoli ingredient.
So the two main ones that we have in there for that is, first of all, a yellow mustard seed extract. The yellow mustard seed extract is there because in order to get the benefit of the sulforaphane out of those broccoli ingredients, it requires an enzyme called Myrosinase. And myrosinase basically you cannot access sulforaphane without myrosinase. And so myrosinase there is a little bit that is naturally occurring inside the Broccoli ingredients itself, but it's not sufficient to get the full benefit out of those ingredients.
So we add this yellow mustard seed extract because it is an incredibly rich source of myrosinase. And so what we've done is supplied more than ample amounts of myrosinase enzyme so that no iota of the goodness of those Broccoli ingredients is going to be wasted due to a lack of that enzyme. There's plenty in there to balance out what is available inside the Broccoli ingredients.
Additionally, we've added a second ingredient that is geared 100% towards extracting the nutritional benefit from those ingredients, which is BioPerine. And Bioperine is an amazingly potent ingredient that comes from a black pepper extract. And it has the properties to help your body digest and extract nutrients from those ingredients that otherwise would be locked away and unavailable to it. So, you know, it's interesting. We follow a lot of really tried and true human nutrition principles that have existed forever. Right?
So when you take a look at a lot of these really potent medicinal ingredients, some of them have a place in traditional cuisines in the world. But you'll see that some of these ingredients for example, if we take a look at foods that are traditionally found, like in the Indian cuisine. It has many of these potent nutritional foods that our body can't naturally extract all of the other goodness out of. But you see them prepared in a fashion like a curry has the black pepper, and it has, you know, ingredients that are a good source of myrosinase.
So innately through human diet, you know, in the annals of time, we've combined foods into recipes that just taste delicious to us, But they use these tried and true principles to pull out that nutritional goodness. So really what we've done is just harnessed the science, the cutting edge science of these long practiced human food traditions and tuned it up to the point that we know we have the exact proper balance of potency of the digestive ingredients to get what we need from the nutritional ingredients.
Ben: Yeah, that's awesome. And then that all works together because ultimately, just as a quick recap. Sulforaphane isn't something that someone can take. I know if a parent watching this that might have invested in the supplement to try with their child, you might have heard of sulforaphane. And we talked about some of the benefits in fever shock response and how it can improve speech. And there's all kinds of interesting science behind it and we always hear sulforaphane, But that ultimately is produced by the body, it can't be taken in a supplement. And that's where all of these supporting ingredients help the body produce the sulforaphane as efficiently as possible, right?
Wallace: Yeah, exactly right. Sulforaphane is amazing - the research on it is incredible, the real world benefits that I've seen on it are incredible. But it is one of those ingredients that is a little bit like a kind of a magical unicorn, that we can't just give somebody sulforaphane and have it do what it needs to do inside the body. It's not properly digested. It doesn't make it to the cells where we need it.
So the way that we work around that is we use these high potency Broccoli ingredients that are full of Glucoraphanin. And when we marry that up with these digestives - the Myrosinase and what we see in BioPerine, it basically opens that up and unlocks it so that in digestion, your body can convert that and get active sulforaphane directly in the cell where it needs it to do any good. So what it is, is it's teeing up just the right ingredients for your body to do what it's naturally adept at, in creating that highly potent Sulforaphane in a format that can be used by the body.
Ben: Yeah, absolutely. And to go specifically with the Glucoraphanin that you mentioned, I believe we have two sources of that. One is the extract and one is the powder. So what's the reasoning behind having both an extract and a powder versus just having an extract or just having a powder?
Wallace: Yeah. So by using a dual source, we end up with a really, really cool effect in the body. The extract is like the quick-hitting powerhouse ingredient that makes sense. We have a highly concentrated amount inside of that extract, which is very rapidly available to the body. So when you take the supplement, you'll see a really good initial dose converted there from the extracts ingredient within the product.
But the amount that is found in the powder, which we use to complement that, is slower digesting and slower converting. So what we see is a supplement we're able to take with an immediate, quick impact and improvement. But then it ends up basically being almost time-released by having a slower absorbing version that's found inside the Broccoli powder. So it kind of gives us the ability to get the best impact now and a sustained impact for later.
Ben: Yeah, yeah. That's really cool because I've seen a lot of options where it's just extract or which just kind of powder. So of course there's pros and cons to both, but this way we kind of were able to see immediate impact. And then, for example, if a child takes us in during the day, those effects probably won't wear off as quickly because the powder kind of carries those effects throughout the day.
Wallace: Exactly right.
TRENDS IN THE SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY
Ben: So kind of a more broad question I guess, is just there's plenty of supplements, I'm sure parents who are watching this might have tried all kinds of different supplements and some of them might have been fantastic and some of them might have not really shown any impact. So just with your background and experience in this world of supplements and nutrition, what are some of the trends you've seen with supplement companies, kind of some of the negative things you've seen that maybe aren't super truthful anything around that you could share?
Wallace: Yes, certainly. You know, we stand in a unique position that we've been doing supplements so long, you know literally 40-plus years that we've seen the entire real lifespan of supplementation inside popular American life. So when we began 40-plus years ago doing supplements, almost nobody took supplements for anything. So we were really at the front and cutting edge of helping to educate people that there was a benefit from supplements. And, you know, something funny happened in the middle that a few of us early pioneers within the industry that were putting out supplements, that were making a difference and helping people.
They became more popular and then we saw, not to denigrate marketing - marketing is important for getting a good word out there, but it can kind of be used for good or for evil. And we saw like this whole rush of people that came in, who saw a business possibility there in supplementation. But there was no health background, right? They didn't understand supplements, they didn't understand natural health, they didn't understand how to holistically support a body. All they understood is like, "Hey, it's the product I think people want. And if I wrap a whole bunch of really fancy marketing around this thing that I don't really even understand, you know, we could have a viable product and make some money."
And so we saw this huge marketing surge within supplements. It's become one of the biggest industries in the United States in supplementation. But that hasn't necessarily led to the increase of a whole lot of good products. What it's done is, it's brought a lot of what I call smoke and mirrors products in, where there really is no substance to the product. But there's a lot of flashy marketing around it.
And perhaps the best example of how extreme this had gotten in supplementation is a couple of years ago, there actually was a big happening in state of New York where the attorney general of New York called sort of a surprise press conference came out, stood up and announced an unprecedented cease and desist order on four major retailers in New York State. So like big time - Walmart, CVS, Target, Walgreens, because what they had done was they went on basically an undercover sting operation. They went and bought supplements off the shelves of these massive retailers and went and had them tested to see if they, you know, what the truth was between the label, claiming all of these herbal ingredients and what was actually the product.
And what shocked most consumers to find out, but being in the industry we already knew was happening with a lot of unscrupulous manufacturers, is that 8 out of 10 of these products they tested actually had zero of the active ingredient they were claiming in the product. So it wasn't a matter of, “Hey, this wasn't the best quality ingredient or it's not being delivered in a meaningful way.”, they literally just didn't ever even put it in. So it became an actual fraud case in the State of New York. And one good thing that happened from that is that we've seen increased activity by the FDA and those are brand new regulations that are rolling out.
One of the crazy things is all they're really doing with the FDA increase is that when they come in and do site inspections, they actually want to see the label and the batch records that happen with that. So they're just checking like, did you actually put in the mixer what it says on the label? And that alone has caused an uproar amongst much of the kind of seedy underbelly of the supplement industry, where these guys are starting to fall off because they can't make a ridiculously cheap, garbage product with good marketing and get by with a quiet way that they used to.
There's still some of them out there, unfortunately, but over the next period of time, we probably will see some of that cleaning up. But the real benefit is that it has supported the work that no legitimate clinical grade type formulators have been doing for years, where we're actually able to hang our hat on the fact that we're doing it right from day one, putting the real meaningful ingredients into this product rather than trying to deceive people.
So hopefully, we'll see a sea change where people can begin to trust more and more supplements. But right now it's careful, or it's prudent to make sure you're being careful about who you're dealing business with and make sure that their sources are legit, the people behind it are legit, they understand what they're formulating and selling. So you're getting something that really, really makes a difference.
Ben: Yeah, that's really surprising because I always had some suspicions about supplements. There have been articles before where, “hey, are supplements really effective or not?” You know, 80% of supplements your body doesn't even process. But I always thought it was the smaller companies. I didn't know is actually the ones that were selling in Walmart and some of these big retailers that we're doing those same things.
Wallace: So oftentimes, it was the big brands that were kind of being disingenuous about what they were putting out.
Hey, Ben again. I hope you enjoyed part 1 of this interview and learned a lot, not only about NeuroBrocc and how it works, but about the supplement industry in general. Feel free to share this video with friends and family if you enjoyed it and you think they might as well. And if you haven’t tried our NeuroBrocc supplement yet, you can take a look underneath this video to learn more. I’ll see you in part 2 of the interview.
And remember, let’s embrace different!
