Immune and Allergy Response with Dr. Jason DuBois
We’ve all heard about ways to boost your immune system. Load up on vitamin C, drink your greens, take probiotics, manage stress, eat a healthier diet. But how do we know if it’s really helping (besides maybe not getting sick)? Are there any clinically studied options?
MEET Dr. DuBois:
On this week's episode we talk with registered pharmacist, Dr. Jason DuBois. Dr. DuBois is an educator and the founder of Hybrid Remedies, a natural supplement research and development company. He has transformed from one of the ultimate skeptics of dietary supplements, to one of the greatest advocates through his research. We talk about all things immune related, his rapid response immune formulations and how you can easily boost your own immune system.
SOME POINTS WE DISCUSS:
How did Dr. DuBois go from the pharmaceutical world to natural products? (3:29)
What makes the Hybrid Remedies product Hybrid CR unique for building up the immune system? (10:28)
When should you start taking immune boosting supplements if you’re not feeling well? (18:16)
What’s the difference between Hybrid CR and Hybrid AR? (21:26)
How would someone transition from traditional allergy medicine to something more natural? (28:44)
SOME KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
Andrographis is one of the few herbs that has direct antiviral activity. (15:30)
The sooner you engage your immune system, nourish it, give it the information, give it the supplementation it needs, the better the results are going to be. (19:52)
PRODUCTS + RESOURCES:
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor: Mt. Angel Vitamins
GET SOCIAL WITH Dr. DuBois:
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:44 Hello, friends and welcome to another episode of the Holistic Navigator Podcast, where we believe in the body's ability to heal itself. I'm Brian Strickland, the producer of the show, and I apologize for my voice please bear with me as I'm feeling a little ill today. But today we have a really great episode lined up for you. We're talking today with someone who is well versed in immune health, supplementation, and the blending of Eastern and Western medicine, Dr. Jason Dubois. Dr. Dubois is a registered pharmacist educator and founder of Hybrid Remedies, a natural supplement research and development company. Today, we're speaking all about immune health, and specifically a few ingredients that you might be unfamiliar with, that can help boost your immune system. So thank you for listening in. That's it from me. But here's the host of your show, Ed Jones.
Ed Jones 01:39 Thank you so much, Brian. And thank you listeners for tuning in today to the holistic navigator. We are very happy to have an extremely skilled, accomplished guest on the show today, which is a rarity, if you all you know have been listening to the show. And this person, ironically, was a huge skeptic of the power of nutritional supplementation. And at one point at one point of his life, well, we're gonna get to that in a minute. But let me introduce Dr. Jason Dubois, to The Holistic Navigator. Welcome, my friend.
Dr. Jason DuBois 02:13 Thanks so much for having me on the show today and glad to be a guest.
Ed Jones 02:17 Well, when I read your credentials, and also had a really trusted friend, tell me that you are a man that we really need to have on here. Because your knowledge base your history, you know, to me and I speak of this often, you can't learn all about healing and health in academic world, you have to have a good chunk of that. But you also have a certain sense of, I don't know, wisdom, and passion and devotion in order to enter the area that I really kind of just call healing is a big word. And you know, I, again, have been involved in nutrition and clients and customers for 40 plus years. And you know, one of the most, sometimes frustrating, but also one of the most commonly asked questions is going to be on immune systems. And what do I do, I'm not feeling well, you know, going down for the count, and I don't want to use pharmaceuticals. So that's kind of the focus we're going to be heading toward today. But at first, let me let you tell the listeners some of your history, and, you know, get them up to snuff on where you were in where you are now.
Dr. Jason DuBois 03:29 Well, that's it's quite a journey, and I'll paraphrase it for everyone. Because my my background, and my personal journey to where I am today is is unique, I would say probably compared to a lot of your guests. But if you and I had met, perhaps 15-20 years ago, I was not anywhere near the field of natural remedies or natural medicine. And in fact, I was the complete opposite. I often tell my story and I tell people that I meet that I was kind of like the Darth Vader of natural remedies. I didn't believe in them. And I didn't use them and I certainly didn't recommend them. So 15 years ago, I was the lead clinical pharmacist for a world renowned healthcare institution here in Jacksonville, Florida. And part of my role or most of my role was I was the clinical pharmacist for the department of organ transplant. So back then, I was helping patients after they got a new organ. Let's say they got a new kidney or a new liver. And I was the pharmacologist behind the scenes that was designing immunosuppression protocols. So when someone gets a new organ, you have to suppress the immune system or actually you actually have to balance it out so that you don't incur what we call organ rejection. And everyone's unique and that's what I did for 15 plus years is I help people get a new what we call a new lease on life after they got that new organ. So a lot of people want to know is how did I go from that part of the world. And as I alluded to the Darth Vader of natural remedies to today, and today, I'm a very passionate advocate. I'm a huge supporter, huge believer. And so my journey actually started with my patients. We back the clock up 10 years ago, patients after they got a new organ transplant, and they entered the New World, so to speak, a lot of them would want to come back, and they would meet with me, and they would want to incorporate alternative and holistic medicines to improve their lifestyle. And for the longest time, I was a huge skeptic of it, didn't believe it, didn't recommend it, and often didn't recommend it to my patients. But it just kept pursuing it kept pursuing. And so I started to research natural remedies. And I don't know if you guys remember back in 2004, there was a natural remedy, very popular, it was created by a school teachers called airborne. And everyone was using it. This was like back in 2004. And so around that time, a lot of friends, family, and even patients were coming to me and saying, hey, what what do you think about this remedy? Do you think it actually works? You know, tell me your professional opinion. And up until that point, I hadn't been really giving people a professional opinion, you know, I was just giving a biased answer. And so I started on the actual quest of researching natural remedies. And that's kind of what kicked it all off. And what started out as a very simple what I honestly thought would be like a weekend project on natural remedies, and I was looking specifically on things that could improve your immune system and improve your immune health. That weekend project turned into started to turn into weeks, and then weeks turned into months. And then after two years of true research, I had probably researched over 200 herbs, I read well over 1000 clinical papers, clinical trials. And through that process, it actually convicted me. And it transformed me from what was the ultimate of skeptics to a very passionate advocate. And it led me to a career change, I ended up leaving that very promising career behind, I stepped down from that role. I started Hybrid Remedies in 2012. And then, after several years of research, I launched the the first product, which is called Hybrid CR, which we'll talk about later, that was our flagship immune product. So my journey is unique. And I bring I bring my wisdom from where I worked in the pharmacology world, and I apply it to the natural world. And that's kind of the hybrid approach. When you talk about hybrid remedies, it's a blend of Nature and Science and I'm, I'm in essence, a hybrid myself, so I have the best of both worlds to to learn from.
Ed Jones 08:03 Well, that is such an interesting story. And, you know, the fact that you were spending so many years actually, you know, making the immune system not want to be overly active. And now you're on the opposite side, which is when we are facing, you know, a temporary attack by whether it be the flu, the crud, the cold, or whatever, and the immune system is needing support you have, I guess, truly were because you were so skilled on the opposite side, you knew what bit maybe what to think about what to pursue, and when the light went off, which obviously sounds like it did for you. It's gonna be a wonderful journey because it sound like you have found your heart and your passion. And, you know, personally, again, and the past two to three years in my neck of the woods here, it seems it has been an epidemic of one thing after another with I mean, we've had schools closing just one month ago from all kinds of different infections and some were flus, some were the stomach bug. Some of it was of course allergies starting and you know, we have a plethora of options because we also have a local business that you know, pursues this and you know, it's difficult sometimes if you want to, you can load a cart up and then you know this you could literally load a small little grocery cart up with all the suppose it immune helpers. And before I even mentioned that the people and I think people listening to The Holistic Navigator realize this, you go into the drugstore to buy most of your remedies for whatever you're feeling bad about. It's going to treat a symptom. It's really not most of the time, going to stimulate a journey to get better, quicker. It's going to reduce symptoms, and but with that many times has side effects. And that's why many people are more following the wisdom journey, which is let's really get to the root of this, which is let's make my immune system is strong and also focused as possible. And I know on my Holistic Navigator from February 2, I did a one just for the one I did most of the time, which is just me rambling on, it was called the holistic approach to fighting sickness. And, you know, it was what I've learned over four decades that, you know, if I come down with a sore throat, or this or that, what little tools were going to be in my toolkit that I'm going to embrace. But when I talked to the Julie, who's the lady who really connected me with your history and passion, I was really impressed by the fact that, you know, I looked at these two products, one Hybrid AR, and the other Hybrid CR. And I want you to tell us more about how and the how and the why of this. And I'm so always intrigued by I mean, I thought I'm really read about everything. But Andrew graphis is something that's kind of come around only in the recent time, I think in the big literature, and I have used endo graphis, to great success. And that's one of the ingredients in your product. So give me a little bit of, you know, info on on these two things, and why and how a person would use them?
Dr. Jason DuBois 11:26 So the first product I studied, and formulated and launched, was our flagship immune product called Hybrid CR, rapid immune defense. And one thing that I guess, would want your listeners to kind of know, not only about my background, which is in pharmacology, but the I have a passion for research and evidence based medicine evidence, when we say evidence based medicine, not only, not only does that apply to like drug therapies, but also natural remedies. And so a lot of my decisions when people ask me, how can you use this ingredient in your formula? Or more? So the question comes up, why didn't you use that ingredient, because that ingredient I see in every product. And, again, my decisions are based on the evidence out there, and what truly actually does work. And so when I'm designing remedies, I design remedies with the idea that the customer that comes into your store, is already needing help very few of us. And we probably we could preach a whole lecture on this, but very few of us actually are incredibly proactive about our health. Some of us are, but many of us when it comes to immune health, I think we need to do a better job at that. So when I designed hybrid cr, I designed it with the idea that customers already under the weather, and they need extra help. And so hybrid cr is designed to enhance or support, I should say your immune system on four different pathways. And it does it very quickly and essentially at the same time. And that's what allows the remedy to work so fast, so quickly helps you get you back on your feet, and four days or less. Now you touched on an ingredient that I am super passionate about andrographis this is an amazing herb. I spent five years researching a developing hybrid cr. And I mentioned that I had researched many, many herbs over 200 herbs. And when I was researching herbs, I was specifically looking for herbs that had immune benefits or herbs that could actually reduce the severity and duration of a cold or flu. That was my initial quest for information. And out of 200 herbs. There was one there was few, a few that really stood out to me but there was one that stood head and shoulders about everything else. And that's andrographis and when I speak of andrographis It is like the holiest of holies. It's an amazing herb has so many incredible properties. And I'll just paraphrase three things that I love about andrographis. And these are things that you probably have spoke on before. So number one endograft. This is an incredible herb in the sense that it engages our immune system, specifically on the dendritic cell pathway. Now we don't talk often about dendritic cells, we tend to talk about T cells and natural killer cells and even white cells. But dendritic cells are extremely important in the fight against an infection. Now, unlike some of the other cells that we talked about, dendritic cells they don't do any hand to hand combat fighting. They don't get in there like natural killer cells and you know, kung fu fight. dendritic cells actually go to the site of infection, they scope out what type of infection is occurring in your body and they will actually take a piece of that viral or bacterial field debris and incorporate it into excel. And then the key things that takes it back to the other areas of your limp immune system. And it gets the other immune cells incorporated in the fight. So think of the dendritic cell as like the the team leader, it gets everybody kind of on the same page at the same time for a very coordinated immune response. So that's number one dendritic cells. Number two andrographis is one of the few herbs that has direct antiviral activity. There's a few of them out there, andrographis can do it. And as you can imagine, when you're fighting off a cold or flu, very, very beneficial. And then number three andrographis, has incredible anti inflammatory properties. Now, when we think of anti inflammatory herbs, immediately things like curcumin or tumeric come to mind. And that is well documented, but andrographis holds its own, it's very, very good specifically for the upper respiratory tract. So in the lung area, and in the upper nasal passages. Excellent, excellent at reducing inflammation. The last thing I love about andrographis is it has some incredible, well done clinical trials. And when I talk about well done clinical trials, I'm speaking of the gold standard, like randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trials, all had great results. And it was an herb that we just had to use in our formula. And it's, it's found both in hybrid CR as well as AR.
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Ed Jones 17:23 Wow. And that, that pretty much summed up exactly my excitement for this because again, you go to the to the data, the PubMed and this and that it has the background to back up what you're saying there's no doubt. And you know, really in that nutritional health food market, it has been under under the radar, it has not been a real popular advertised type of supplement until recently. And I love the fact that it hits, you know, three different avenues of balancing the immune system and trying to achieve what we're wanting to now know, your products, you know, you had seemed to have two that are the mainstay, one of which is you would take it if you're feeling that you're immune compromised, that you have, you know, something going on that you need to fight. And that one is the course called the hybrid CR. Now, I must always put my two cents worth in. And I encourage people to not do what almost everyone does, which is I'm going to wait till I feel ill and then I'm going to find the product. No, you need to get things and put them in your toolbox. Where's your toolbox? It's in your damn kitchen. So when you wake up on Saturday night or Sunday morning, you to me and you tell me if I'm right with this doctor I always say this, you have a window of opportunity if you want anything to work, but especially natural medicine. If you wait three and four days, you've kind of blown that window you need to jump on this within 24 hours. Is that correct?
Dr. Jason DuBois 19:00 That's 100% correct. The sooner you jump on it, the better. And I want to echo something else you just said is that overall health, immune health, the toolbox you reference is so important in how we take care of our bodies. And I also do these other Instagram videos on how to support your immune system. Naturally, even without using hybrid cr, I give you tips on fortifying your immune system that simple things simple lifestyle changes that you can do to maintain immune strength. So not needing any drugs, any supplements. There are things you can do every day, but even the best athletes in the world, even the healthiest people in the world, their immune system will vary for one reason or another. And you can be caught under the weather as I like to say, and the sooner you engage your immune system, nourish it, give it the information, give it the supplementation, it needs the better the results are going to be. And I echo that we did a clinical trial with hybrid cr. And we found that people that used our product earlier on, or got better within two to three days, if they waited until they were truly under the weather, it took the full four days of our dose pack. But I agree with you 100% add, the sooner you can maintain immune health, the better the results are going to be faster.
Ed Jones 20:28 Well in I'd love to hear that you have that core same opinion because that means I'm right. And let me ask you this on Instagram, how would someone find that information?
Dr. Jason DuBois 20:39 I do. You can find our company, which is Hybrid Remedies. If you go to Instagram and just type in hybrid remedies and on Facebook. And I started doing these little video tutorials, video, Instagram videos on how to stay healthy and just get health tips about your immune system and things that you can do to maintain it.
Ed Jones 21:01 Yes, I'm just bringing it up. Excellent. That's wonderful information for people again, you know, the, the other lack of money is inflammation. And because we are over whelmed with information, many have locked down and we actually don't pursue it because it's too confusing. And then you have to wade through it. And people want people like us that they trust to wade through it. And we're fortunate that people do trust the holistic navigator. Now the hybrid AR that you tell me this is something you would take all the time or again, just when you're feeling ill?
Dr. Jason DuBois 21:34 Hybrid AR rapid nasal and sinus support or hybrid AR for short, was something I'd worked on for three and a half years. And it came a lot from customers and even patients want to find a natural alternative to things like the drugs like Claritin Allegra flown ace. So seasonal allergies are huge here in Florida, they're huge nationwide, over 50 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies. And they wanted a true natural remedy that could actually compete with the drugs that they were they could transition off of it. And that's took me a long time to get right. Hybrid AR and seasonal allergies is an immune type scenario. Most of the therapies out there the drugs in particular focus on treating the symptoms. And really it's an immune imbalance. It's a it's an A it's where your immune system is overacting or overreacting to something in the air or something you've inhaled. And the immune system right or wrongly, so is just taking it to an extreme. And what hybrid AR does, it works on three different levels. One of the things that does really well is it kind of brings your immune system back into balance. And it's something that I encourage people to use as they needed. But also if people some people struggle with seasonal allergies year round. And that's something they could use once a day for long term if they needed to.
Ed Jones 23:14 Well, that begs the question that I have heard again for three decades out of four, which is, which is a myth. I do believe and I think you'll clarify this. We don't take Echinacea more than two weeks because of multiple reasons. We get immune to it blank, blank blank, what's the facts?
Dr. Jason DuBois 23:33 This is a great question. And it comes up very, very often. And I I will tell you, I'm a nerd. And I've read every piece of literature ever written on Echinacea, which is quite a bit. I don't recommend that. But so I've done it for you, or I've done it for our listeners. The data is not compelling enough to say that that condition is not good or harmful or stops working. What have you heard those? those reasons? After several weeks. There is some data it's it's not very compelling. But there is some data that shows that people that were using large amounts of Echinacea multiple times a day over a long period of time did develop some like liver elevations, liver enzyme elevations that were transient. So they went up and then they came back down. I have really found no evidence to suggest to me that if you use that condition for more than six weeks, it begins to not work anymore. These are the things I hear and I pursue them wholeheartedly because we use it in our formula. But I also want to know, you know as a clinician as a formulator. I want to know, you know, what's the truth about Echinacea. So that's my current Belief on Echinacea. I know there's some myths out there about it, kind of waxing and waning and efficacy over time. But I haven't found that information to be true.
Ed Jones 25:13 Yes. And as you have also realized, as I have that things can get kind of locked into a certain mindset and headlines early on, in the story of anything where they're beaten nutraceuticals or even drugs, and it kind of becomes the label. Well, that's the label of Echinacea. And again, you know, I actually gave a speech the other night 270 people, and I spoke about the decades really of darkness in regard to we didn't have the internet, we and we didn't have the actually companies that were pursuing the truth about research because they didn't really care they didn't have, they didn't want to spend the money. And so I am, you know, always very fortunate that to the fact that we're in a place that people like you, and even people like me, but especially credible people, like you can do the homework and clarify this, this fogginess that people have about safety and the use of nutraceuticals. And doing it in a wise form and fashion. And again, you know, we're living in a world where, you know, people grab things very quickly, whether it be their food, whether it be their remedies, whether it be whatever. And you know, you said earlier, the key word was, you know, becoming proactive about your health. And that is, again, one reason that I put the effort in to the holistic navigator with subjects like sleep, constipation, immune systems, because I want people to not wait to the airplane starting to go down before they're starting to figure out how to fly the thing. And you know, when you're young, you know, that seemed to work pretty well. But then middle age comes and you know, one thing leads to another. But that's why, you know, I think the world is fortunate to have people like yourself that's out there speaking the truth. If someone wants to someone who's really clinical right now wants to learn more about the data, how would they go? Would they go to your website? Or how would they go and find more info? Well,
Dr. Jason DuBois 27:15 We're happy to make that information available, we we collected data on our hybrid cr remedy. And a lot of times that information, we disseminate to health food stores when I'm doing trainings when I'm doing lectures throughout the nation. But certainly, we always welcome sharing that information with with customers and consumers. And they could just, we don't make it available on the site. But we can share that with you if you just email us directly. And we're happy to share that information on our product.
Ed Jones 27:50 And what is your website?
Dr. Jason DuBois 27:52 Our website is www.hybridremedies.com. And there you can find all of our information about both of our products.
Ed Jones 28:02 Well, that's lovely. And you know, around here, and I'm not sure exactly where you live, but the allergy season is very painful to the public, there is no doubt and, you know, the more I look into and listen to the side effects, not that they're dramatic in most people. But the when I hear people say I've been on Claritin for seven years, it does concern me because of the nature of the of the drug, which it is is not a natural product, not the natural products have 100% safety and no, you know, just because it grew was grown on the earth, does it mean you can, you know, consume huge amounts without any issues. But we do know that it lends itself to a far, far greater safety profile than it would a drug. So and I know legally, we can't say, you know, always if you're taking Claritin, and I wouldn't want to say you know, you can stop taking that and do this. But you have found in the past that people who have had to use pharmaceuticals can transition into like the hybrid AR Is that correct?
Dr. Jason DuBois 29:04 Yes. In fact, that's that was the intent behind the formulation of hybrid AR. And with that we've had incredible success with people that were looking to transition off of the drug remedies, and successfully being able to do so using hybrid AR.
Ed Jones 29:23 Now, would they go cold turkey off of the other or would they do both and then wean off the other.
Dr. Jason DuBois 29:29 So there's a couple of different scenarios. Some customers have very mild allergies, and so they would use Claritin, sporadically periodically and so they would just there wouldn't be any need to wean. Those folks would just do two capsules of hybrid AR to get the same benefit. The remedy works very, very quickly. It's onset of about 20 to 25 minutes, from taking just two capsules. For folks that are on long term. They've been on Claritin Allegra Benadryl flow nice long term, rely on it every day. I do have a protocol where I like to convert them over slower. So those folks, I tend to say, Okay, if you're on, we'll just take Claritin. Claritin is a once a day remedy hybrid AR is a once a day natural remedy. So the way I would do that is I would say use both for a couple days. And then I want you to wean off the Claritin by going every other day for a few days, while maintaining the hybrid AR. And then, after about three, four or five days, somewhere in there, you can stop the Claritin and resume or continue with the AR. And we've had a lot of success with that.
Ed Jones 30:45 I just love that because I and again, I'm going to repeat before we end this, you know, something like hybrid AR is more focused on modulating or, you know, realigning the immune system, because a lot of allergies is a confused system that's attacking something that's really not an enemy. And if you use the big guns of you know, a strong anti histamine where you get those side effects, well, you may live alleviate some of the symptoms, but then you're really messing with the mechanism of the body. And you're not helping to align the immune system, which is the underlying deepest reason why we're having the issues to begin with. And I'm so sick and tired of you know, the philosophy of not digging deep enough and not trying to understand the on the underlying mechanism of action. You have got that down pat, of course, because of your history and all of that. Is there anything else you'd like to close with? For our listeners, before we end the this great episode?
Dr. Jason DuBois 31:48 Well, I think we kind of touched on it is just about being proactive. It's about healthy lifestyle choices, and about education, educating yourself on the remedies that are out there remedies that work, having an excellent store like yours that has well educated staff that can guide the customer, the consumer in the right direction that meets their needs, and then carrying the best products, which is what you guys do. And it's a joy to be able to be on the show like this to be able to share my education, my knowledge to be able to help people. And that's what your show is about. And that's what I love.
Ed Jones 32:27 Well, I can't thank you enough. And again, I want to repeat education, like you said is the key and you have it on your Facebook. And again you go to hybrid. What would it be under Facebook under what name hybrid remedies for both Facebook and Instagram. Lovely and that way people can learn more about the true underlying knowledge we need to have for Dr. Jason Dubois. I so appreciate it. That's going to wrap it up for this episode of the holistic navigator podcast. And thank you for joining us today. And I want to thank our listeners for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider rating and subscribing and reviewing us on iTunes and sharing it that is the fuel that keeps us going up. So helps us to get the word out and help many other people. So until next time, I am Ed Jones and remember, whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm. Have a great week everyone. Thank you.
Brian Strickland 33:31 Thanks for listening to the holistic navigator podcast. For more information, previous episodes and other resources, visit www.theholisticnavigator.com.