0:07

Welcome to the Just Ingredients Podcast. I'm

0:09

Cara Lynn, and here we talk all

0:11

things nourishing to the mind, body, and

0:14

soul. This is a place where you

0:16

can find just good ingredients to life.

0:23

When it comes to nutrition supplements for

0:25

women, one brand stands above the rest.

0:27

It's needed. And here's why. Pregnancy and

0:30

postpartum are some of the most demanding

0:32

times in a woman's life. Your

0:34

health and your baby's health, both now and

0:37

for years to come, depend on your nutrition.

0:39

With thousands of options out there, how do you

0:41

know which is the best? Over

0:44

4,000 practitioners recommend Needed's Perinatal

0:47

and Women's Health Supplements. Needed

0:50

offers premium supplements for every stage

0:52

from aid quality support for those

0:54

trying to conceive, to lactation support

0:56

for breastfeeding moms, and stress and

0:59

sleep support for all women, including

1:01

those in perimenopause or menopause stages.

1:04

Another great supplement I love that they

1:06

offer for all women, especially those who

1:08

are pregnant, is Omega-3s. I love that

1:11

these nutrients work synergistically to support

1:13

optimal egg health and fertility in

1:15

mama, and optimal brain, nerve,

1:17

and eye in both mama and baby.

1:20

You deserve to thrive, not just

1:22

survive. Head over to

1:25

thisisneeded.com and use code JIPodcast

1:27

for an exclusive 20% off

1:30

your first month of needed products. Julie

1:32

Sawiah is the co-founder of Needed, a

1:35

mama to two young girls and a

1:37

lifelong nutrition nerd. Julie grew

1:39

up in a family of medical doctors and

1:41

learned at a young age the power of

1:43

nutrition to influence our health. Julie

1:45

went on to study the issue of

1:48

nutritional excess in college and got her

1:50

master's in business from Stanford, where she

1:52

met her needed co-founder, Ryan. As

1:55

the most nutritionally aware of their friends, Julie

1:57

and Ryan were shocked to realize that through

1:59

new Nutrient testing that they were

2:01

severely deficient in key nutrients needed

2:03

for a healthy pregnancy. They

2:06

dug into the research and realized they were not

2:08

alone. 97% of

2:10

women take a prenatal and yet 95% have

2:12

nutrient deficiencies. Most

2:16

prenatal vitamins just weren't cutting it. So

2:18

Julie and Ryan started needed to

2:20

create a new higher standard for

2:22

perinatal health, working alongside a

2:25

collective of more than 3,000 perinatal

2:27

nutrition and health experts. Together

2:30

they've redesigned the products, education,

2:32

and experiences women need. Welcome

2:36

back to the show everyone. Today I

2:38

am really excited for our guest because

2:40

I think she will answer so many

2:42

questions for you listeners because I have

2:45

so many of you that are

2:47

trying to get pregnant or are pregnant

2:49

or have just given birth and she

2:51

is the co-founded of Needed, which is

2:53

a supplement company that I love the

2:55

prenatals of the omega-3s and so I'm

2:57

excited for her to answer all of

2:59

your questions and so thank you

3:01

Julie for being here and welcome to the show.

3:04

Thank you so much for having me. So

3:06

like I just said, you are a co-founder

3:08

of Needed and I love that

3:11

company. I recommend you guys quite often. But

3:14

before we start talking about prenatals, omega-3s,

3:16

things like that, will you just tell

3:18

my listeners a little bit about yourself

3:20

and your background? Yeah, absolutely.

3:23

So I grew up in a family

3:25

of medical doctors and medical professionals. My

3:28

dad's a doctor, my mom's a nurse, my sister went

3:30

on to become a doctor later in life and

3:32

at a very young age, it

3:34

became clear to me that nutrition

3:36

and the healthcare system are in

3:39

a disconnect from one another. I

3:41

learned this really firsthand through my dad's

3:43

diagnosis with type 2 diabetes when I

3:45

was five and that

3:48

trend of seeing how preventative

3:50

health through nutrition was not

3:52

emphasized in the medical system

3:54

carried through throughout really all

3:56

of my adolescence. By the time

3:58

I got to undergrad, I was a doctor. I ended

4:00

up studying the nutritional access

4:02

side of our nutrition and

4:05

health care system from the

4:07

perspective of food deserts in

4:09

Chicago and how people in

4:11

certain socioeconomic and racial groups

4:13

lack access to healthy foods.

4:15

So nutrition is something that

4:17

I have been super passionate

4:19

about my whole life. I

4:22

later became trained as a

4:24

certified nutritionist and

4:26

went to business school with the

4:28

idea that I wanted to start

4:30

a company to help change the

4:33

trajectory of women's health. At the time, I

4:35

didn't know that that was gonna be a

4:37

supplement company. I really came to

4:39

the category as somewhat of a supplement

4:41

skeptic. I didn't know really why they

4:43

were needed. I very much came

4:45

from the school of thought that you get

4:47

all of your nutrients through food, but

4:50

came to realize through my own nutrient testing

4:52

and pairing up with my co-founder Ryan who

4:54

was on a similar journey that

4:57

we had really massive nutrient

4:59

deficiencies despite doing all

5:01

of the things that we knew to be the

5:04

right things to do. We shopped at

5:06

the farmer's market. We were sourcing high

5:09

quality fruits and vegetables and meats and

5:11

trying to eat a really well-rounded diet,

5:13

keeping our toxicity low, but found that

5:15

it's just very difficult with our modern

5:18

food farming practices, how long food takes

5:20

to reach your plate to

5:22

maintain optimal nutrient status,

5:25

especially in a time period like

5:27

fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum when your

5:29

nutrient levels and your requirements for

5:31

nutrients will never be more significant

5:33

than at that time of life.

5:35

So it was super eyeopening for

5:37

us, enough so that we decided

5:39

to dig into the research and start talking

5:41

to health and wellness practitioners who were testing

5:44

women's nutrient levels to understand, is it just

5:46

us or was this happening to other women?

5:48

And what we found was overwhelmingly

5:50

women in this life stage

5:53

have nutrient deficiencies despite taking

5:55

prenatal vitamins. So the

5:58

products really aren't solving. for

6:00

that gap in your diet that most

6:02

of us think that they are. Oh,

6:04

that's actually really interesting. Let me ask

6:06

you about prenatal vitamins, because I am

6:09

asked about prenatal vitamins every single day

6:11

without fail. I get asked quite often,

6:13

why should I take a prenatal? Why

6:15

can't I just take a multivitamin? And

6:17

so what's the difference? That's a

6:20

good question. So generally speaking,

6:22

prenatal vitamins are designed to

6:24

meet your specific needs in the

6:27

fertility, pregnancy and postpartum time of

6:29

life. The reason that they differ

6:31

from a general multivitamin in many

6:33

ways, that's what they are. They're

6:35

an array of vitamins, minerals, in

6:37

our case, also antioxidants that

6:40

support the underlying processes that

6:42

your body needs during this

6:44

perinatal stage. In

6:46

many cases, prenatal vitamin dosing differs

6:48

from a standard multivitamin because

6:51

women's nutrient needs differ in

6:53

this life stage. But I

6:55

usually like to take it back

6:58

to kind of the root question

7:00

of like how prenatal vitamins are

7:02

dosed, typically, because there's a lot

7:04

of challenges with that. In the

7:06

current kind of standard recommendations for

7:09

pregnancy, what's known as RDA levels,

7:11

they are generally based on a concept

7:14

that came out of World War Two

7:16

around how do you dose nutrients to

7:18

avoid a serious disease or death. You

7:20

can think of the example of the

7:23

amount of vitamin C you need to

7:25

prevent scurvy, a significant deficiency of vitamin

7:27

C that's life threatening. That's a very

7:30

different amount than what your body needs

7:32

to support healing postpartum or optimal immune

7:34

function during pregnancy. So orders of magnitude

7:36

different typically. And in

7:39

the US, much of

7:41

the research around women's

7:43

nutrient levels are based on

7:45

studies that intentionally excluded pregnant and

7:48

nursing women. So oftentimes they're really

7:50

just the best guess at

7:52

what women need or they're based on levels

7:54

of nutrients that men need. And

7:56

then a triangulation is made around body

7:59

weight, body composition,

8:01

etc. A baseline woman and

8:03

then a pregnant woman. So

8:05

generally speaking, RDA levels tend

8:07

to be lower than what's

8:09

optimal and rather imprecise. So

8:12

typically when you look at a prenatal

8:14

vitamin, you might actually find that the

8:16

nutrient levels are lower than a women's

8:18

multivitamin. Even though we know

8:21

through clinical insights from tapping into

8:23

the insights of thousands of women's

8:25

health practitioners that women's nutrient levels

8:27

are actually higher in pregnancy than

8:29

at baseline. That's not always the

8:31

case that a prenatal vitamin will

8:33

be dosed higher or lower,

8:35

but I think something to keep in mind is

8:37

that there's not a lot of standardization in

8:40

the category. Dosing can be all over

8:42

the place and so you know I

8:44

think it's really, really important not only

8:47

to try to do your own research

8:49

but to you know get a sense

8:51

for who the company is behind the

8:53

product because the amount of research, the

8:55

amount of thought that went into dosing

8:58

varies widely in this category. Yeah, I've

9:00

seen it in so many different brands that

9:02

I've looked at. It is just a

9:04

wide range of variety of things but

9:07

it's also a wide range of variety

9:09

of vitamins that are put in there

9:11

and so are there a few vitamins

9:13

that you think are nutrients I should

9:16

say that you think are really important

9:18

to be included in prenatals? Absolutely.

9:20

So in the needed prenatal we have

9:22

24 vitamins and minerals. I'm not

9:24

going to go through all 24 of those but some

9:28

really important ones and a good way

9:30

to filter for a quality prenatal vitamin

9:32

is to look for a nutrient called

9:34

choline. Choline is vitamin like

9:36

in its nature but it's actually

9:39

you know kind of categorized as

9:41

a mineral. Choline very much is

9:43

important for babies brain development. It's

9:45

a lot like the nutrient folate

9:47

or sometimes referred to by its

9:50

synthetic form folic acid. Many people

9:52

know that they need folate in

9:54

pregnancy. It's one of if not the

9:56

most widely known nutrients for

9:58

this life stage. here, nothing else you

10:01

might hear, take a folic acid containing

10:03

prenatal or you need folic acid. And

10:05

the reason for that is because that

10:07

nutrient is so important to babies, neural

10:09

tube formation and brain development in

10:11

early pregnancy. And choline is actually

10:14

a synergistic nutrient. It works alongside

10:16

folate. It does a lot of the

10:19

same functions that folate does. And

10:21

its importance really can't be understated. But

10:23

what's interesting about choline is maybe it

10:25

had a bad PR team because it

10:27

didn't get the same attention that folate

10:30

did. There's actually been an RDA for

10:32

choline for 30 years, but

10:34

it is missing or dosed at one-tenth

10:36

of the RDA in the vast majority

10:38

of prenatal vitamins. So the most common

10:40

dose you'll see for choline is zero. And the

10:42

second most common dose you'll see is 55 milligrams.

10:46

The RDA for breastfeeding is

10:49

550 milligrams. And for pregnancy,

10:51

it's 450 milligrams. So I

10:53

like to recommend looking for at least

10:56

300 milligrams of choline in a prenatal

10:58

vitamin. We dose 400. The reason that

11:02

a lot of prenatal don't have choline in it

11:04

is because it's a bulky nutrient. It takes up

11:06

a lot of space. So you typically

11:08

won't find a lot of choline in a

11:10

one a day prenatal or a handful of

11:12

dummies because it just won't fit in there.

11:14

I was just going to ask you why

11:16

a lot of prenatal out there don't have

11:18

choline because I have looked and a lot

11:20

don't. So thank you for explaining that. That

11:22

makes sense. That is just a bulky ingredient.

11:25

It is. Yep. And other nutrients that

11:27

are similar to choline in terms of

11:29

their molecular weight are calcium and magnesium.

11:32

Super, super important nutrients for a

11:35

whole host of bodily functions, including

11:37

developing babies, muscular skeletal system, ensuring

11:39

that your body isn't drawing the

11:42

calcium from your bones and your

11:44

teeth to build babies, bones and

11:46

teeth. So really, really important

11:48

nutrients that they take up a lot

11:50

of space. So they're typically dosed really

11:52

low in a prenatal vitamin. We talked

11:55

a little bit about folates. That is

11:57

a nutrient that I highly recommend. We

11:59

recommend looking for the methylated folate

12:01

form of the nutrient. The

12:03

reason being many women aren't able

12:06

to process the synthetic folic acid

12:08

form of the nutrient. Methyl folate

12:10

is a lot more expensive of

12:12

a nutrient than synthetic folic acid.

12:15

A lot of research has gone into showing that

12:17

it is better absorbed by the body than the

12:19

synthetic form. It's also 98% of the folate that

12:21

circulates in your body is in the methyl

12:25

folate form. It's the naturally occurring

12:27

form whereas folic acid is entirely

12:29

synthetic. It's man-made. But the reason

12:31

that it's not the more

12:34

commonly found form of folate is because

12:36

folic acid is a lot cheaper.

12:39

There are double blind placebo controlled

12:41

clinical studies showing that folic acid

12:44

prevents neural tube defects. And

12:46

doing that type of research on methyl

12:48

folate now that we know how important

12:50

the nutrient folate is is

12:52

really difficult. It would actually be unethical to

12:55

do. So generally speaking what's interesting

12:57

I think about understanding the research

12:59

and how that translates into product

13:01

formulation and recommendations by

13:03

you know official bodies like the

13:06

CDC and ACOG is on

13:08

average it takes 17 years for

13:10

what we learn through clinical research to make

13:12

its way into official recommendations. And it

13:15

can take decades after that official recommendation

13:17

for it to actually make its way

13:19

into product formulation and into really the

13:21

recommendations that you hear from your care

13:23

providers. And so at needed what we

13:26

try to do differently is look

13:28

at all of the available clinical research

13:30

but also tap into those in-practice insights

13:33

from practitioners that are testing

13:35

nutrient and hormone levels in women day in

13:37

and day out to really

13:39

short circuit a lot of that that

13:41

time lag between what we know to

13:43

be true in clinical practice and what

13:45

actually makes it into products that are

13:47

available to the consumer. Yeah

13:49

that time lag is crazy and

13:52

it even happens with ingredients. I

13:54

remember 20 years ago my sister's

13:56

oncologist was telling her to stay away from

13:58

partially hydrogenated oils and it took

14:01

20 years later to finally get those

14:03

banned in 2021. And

14:05

so it's crazy how long it takes. But

14:07

I want to go back to the folic

14:09

acid and folate. I'm so glad you mentioned

14:11

that because thankfully more and

14:14

more prenatals are using folate or a

14:16

methyl folate instead of the folic acid.

14:18

But a lot of women out there

14:20

have that MTHSR gene, or I shouldn't

14:23

say a lot, but a good percentage

14:25

of women have this. And

14:27

I have it and a lot of family members have

14:29

it. And here I was

14:31

taking a prenatal with folic acid in

14:33

it, finding out that that folic acid

14:36

actually, one, wasn't being absorbed, but not even

14:38

that, it actually was being harmful to my

14:40

body. My body does not do well with

14:42

folic acid. And so is

14:44

that like the number one thing you would tell people

14:46

to look for in a prenatal is to look for

14:49

the folate? I think it's

14:51

one of the most important nutrients

14:53

because it is so critical in

14:55

that early neural tube formation process.

14:57

So preventing something like Sinovifida or

14:59

cleft palate, it's really critical. And

15:01

the importance of it starts really

15:03

early on. For some women, it's

15:05

like, you may not know that

15:08

you're pregnant until six or

15:10

more weeks after your last period.

15:12

And that's really the time between

15:14

five to eight weeks when your

15:17

baby's neural tube is forming

15:19

and closing. And a lot of that

15:21

early kind of brainstem is in development.

15:23

So it's absolutely a really important nutrient

15:26

to focus on. As you

15:28

mentioned, there is now research showing that

15:30

unmetabolized folic acid can do harm in

15:32

the body. If you're consuming any processed

15:35

foods at all, I imagine many of

15:37

your listeners are trying to avoid processed

15:39

foods wherever we can, but it

15:42

sneaks in there. Folic acid

15:44

is in bread, it's in cereals,

15:46

it's fortified in so many different foods

15:48

that a lot of us are exposed to

15:51

unmetabolized folic acid, even if we're trying to

15:53

avoid it in our supplements. So it's a

15:55

really, really important one. I would say it's

15:57

up there alongside the choline that you're using.

16:00

you're consuming and your prenatal is probably the

16:02

two most important nutrients to focus on, especially

16:04

in that early first trimester period. Okay, so

16:06

good to know. Talking about

16:08

not knowing that you're pregnant, you know, for

16:11

maybe six, eight weeks later, when

16:13

do you suggest that people start

16:15

taking a prenatal month before or

16:17

when's a good time? Yeah,

16:19

absolutely. The ideal would be

16:22

to start taking a prenatal vitamin six

16:24

to even 12 months in advance of

16:27

trying to conceive. The reason

16:29

being is that there's several

16:31

reasons. One is that the nutrients in

16:33

a prenatal vitamin can support

16:36

your fertility, support your egg

16:38

quality, support your body's nutrient

16:41

reserves being in an optimal

16:43

place before trying to conceive.

16:46

And not only does that have

16:48

benefits for your, you know, conception outcomes,

16:51

but also once you become pregnant, many

16:53

women experience first trimester nausea. First

16:55

trimester nausea can be worsened by nutrient

16:58

deficiencies. So if you start out

17:00

your fertility stage in

17:03

a nutrient abundant state, your body has nutrients

17:05

to draw upon. There's, you know, better chances

17:07

that you will feel well in the

17:09

first trimester. And if you don't feel great

17:12

and you find it hard to consume the

17:14

healthy and nutrient dense foods that you're

17:16

used to eating, your body has enough nutrients

17:18

that it can draw upon, especially if you're

17:20

taking a prenatal vitamin during that time

17:22

period to get by and to make it

17:25

through to the second trimester. I

17:27

think a lot of women don't know to do this

17:29

because we are told generally

17:31

it's understood that a prenatal vitamin is

17:33

for the baby. But actually

17:35

in most cases, other than in the

17:37

case of something like methyl folate, which

17:40

absolutely we would recommend you supplement with

17:42

to make sure that there's enough for

17:44

baby because it can cause some complications

17:46

if there's not. Most

17:48

of the time our bodies are really

17:50

smart. They know to draw nutrients for

17:52

mom to give to baby. That's

17:54

the order of operation. So if you

17:56

don't have enough nutrients, your body will

17:58

give it to baby. and it'll take

18:00

it from you. We see this through, you

18:02

know, mother's brains, you know, in the case

18:04

of omega-3 or through calcium in the example

18:06

I mentioned before about your teeth and your

18:08

bones. And so at Needed, we

18:10

really try to emphasize, yes, this is an

18:12

investment for your child's health today and in

18:15

the future, but it's also for you. If

18:17

you start out pregnancy depleted

18:20

and you go through pregnancy, which is

18:22

a deplete of state, and then you

18:24

end up postpartum, you give birth, it's

18:26

such a taxing experience for the body.

18:28

And then you breastfeed thereafter. It

18:30

is like more than a year, maybe

18:32

two years or beyond of a

18:35

deplete of state. And many women

18:37

are left after that experience undernourished,

18:40

under-resourced, and that can have complications for

18:42

your later fertility or for your hormone

18:44

health for years to come. Right,

18:47

I'm so glad you mentioned taking

18:49

the prenatal like afterwards, even during

18:51

breastfeeding. And so could someone take

18:53

it for years afterwards or how

18:55

long do you suggest? Absolutely.

18:57

In the case of the needed prenatal

18:59

vitamin, we recommend taking it before, during,

19:01

and after pregnancy. If you

19:03

were planning if your family isn't complete and you

19:05

think you might have more children in

19:08

the future, there's no harm in staying on

19:10

a high quality prenatal vitamin for five

19:13

to 10 or if you're kind of

19:15

family planning your span even longer than

19:17

that to stay on it the entire

19:19

time. There's huge benefits in keeping up

19:22

with that high level nutrient intake. The

19:24

only time that we might recommend not staying

19:26

on a prenatal vitamin is if the prenatal

19:29

that you're taking contains iron. You

19:31

might be getting too much iron at certain

19:33

times in your lifespan. For example, if you

19:35

are not menstruating and you're breastfeeding and you're

19:38

taking a high dose of iron, it may

19:40

be more than your body needs. The

19:43

needed prenatal doesn't have iron in it. We

19:45

offer iron alongside our prenatal because iron

19:48

can interact negatively with other nutrients if it's

19:50

taken at the same time and it can

19:52

inhibit the absorption of a nutrient like calcium.

19:54

So in the case of the needed prenatal,

19:56

there's no safety risk staying on it for

19:58

the long term. And in

20:01

many ways, it's actually a great

20:03

baseline multivitamin for women beyond the

20:05

perinatal stage. Okay, so good to

20:07

know. So I have

20:09

a question about omega-3s with prenatals

20:11

because I know it's changed now,

20:14

but it was just a few years ago that

20:16

I was looking for a prenatal with omega-3s in

20:18

it and I could not find one on the

20:20

market. It did not exist. I had to take

20:22

a prenatal with an omega-3, two separate

20:24

things. So why

20:26

is that? And let's

20:29

talk about omega-3s. They're so important for

20:31

pregnancy. So maybe talk about why they're

20:33

not in a lot of prenatals and

20:35

why they are important. Yeah, so I

20:37

think this is a great question. Omega-3

20:40

is a really critical nutrient. It's

20:42

one of the most studied nutrients

20:44

for pregnancy. The benefits are very

20:47

clear that it supports babies' brain

20:49

development, cognitive development for years to

20:51

come. It's an absolutely

20:53

essential nutrient. The reason

20:56

that needed we offer omega-3

20:58

alongside our prenatal is because

21:01

it is a nutrient that is

21:03

very subject to oxidation when

21:05

it's mixed with vitamins and

21:07

minerals. Omega-3s typically

21:09

are sourced from either fish,

21:11

hopefully high quality, low mercury

21:13

fish like salmon and sardines

21:15

and the like, or

21:17

it can be sourced from microalgae,

21:20

which is a vegan, basically going

21:22

straight to the source. That's actually

21:24

where fish bioaccumulate their omega-3 from.

21:26

And so in the case of

21:28

consuming omega-3, hopefully you're getting some

21:30

through your diet if you consume, if

21:33

you're a pescatarian or you eat

21:35

a diet that has fish in

21:37

it. But many of us, even when

21:39

we do consume some fish through our diet,

21:41

especially in pregnancy, when you're often told to

21:43

avoid fish because of the mercury concerns, we

21:45

need to get it in a supplement form.

21:48

And because of its sensitivity

21:51

to oxidizing, it's best if

21:53

it's packaged alongside a prenatal

21:55

vitamin, not in the

21:57

same actual capsule. You Can find

21:59

some prenatal vitamins. The Market the have

22:01

Omega Three in it. We've found

22:03

three stability studies that that nutrient

22:05

tenth oxidized and if it does

22:07

oxidized, they can actually become inflammatory

22:09

rather than anti inflammatory. So we

22:12

definitely recommend if you can find

22:14

one sourcing and omega three that

22:16

high quality and that alongside your

22:18

prenatal not actually in the prenatal

22:20

vitamin. I'm so glad you explain

22:22

that. Thank you so much! So

22:24

let's actually talked about. Your Omega

22:27

threes because were source is

22:29

really important. And. So where is

22:31

your source? We. Have today of

22:33

the again Omega Three that is

22:35

sourced from micro algae. It's sustainably

22:38

source though the algae has grown

22:40

in a controlled environment in a

22:42

way that ensures that it's not

22:44

susceptible to You know the pollution

22:46

risk and toxins risk that we

22:48

find in the open ocean. and

22:50

it's really, as you know, a

22:53

high quality, a high potency form

22:55

of algae that is high in

22:57

two forms of Omega three d

22:59

an Iep yea the ha as

23:01

the form of. A mega three that

23:03

is better understood for pregnancy but he

23:06

be a is actually really important. Did.

23:08

actually there's research showing that it helps.

23:10

Ensure. That the ha can cross the

23:12

placenta and reach baby. So. We like

23:15

to include a good amount of both

23:17

the Dj and the he play in

23:19

our omega free and excitingly it will

23:21

launch. Possibly. By the time

23:23

the podcast comes out if not shortly

23:25

thereafter, we are also launching a high

23:28

quality fish oil version of Omega Three

23:30

that will be a little bit higher

23:32

and potency so you can get up

23:34

to two thousand milligrams as and yeah

23:37

Cheney T through the fish oil products

23:39

that were coming out with which is

23:41

gonna be friend of the see certified

23:43

clean label you know certified the really

23:45

high quality we spend a lotta times

23:48

or thing. A fish oil that

23:50

lives up to our standards for quality and

23:52

are really excited to bring. It's marketed. Super

23:54

pleasant to take. One of the biggest challenges

23:57

around pregnancy and fish were really fish well

23:59

it and. The age of life is

24:01

the smell, the taste, the birth factor

24:03

facts, and were you know receiving really

24:06

great feedback about both of our omega

24:08

three option but in some cases the

24:10

fish oil can actually have. Even.

24:13

Less is of a sensory impact than

24:15

the algae a lot of people associate.

24:18

The. Smell of algae actually can kind of smell

24:20

fishy to farm. and it's because it's. You.

24:22

Know that fishy smell? The smell with fish

24:24

is actually the algae that they consumed. So

24:27

we've been focused on Omega Three for many

24:29

years and looking at all different options in

24:31

terms of making it. Highly. Palatable

24:33

and easy to take and are excited to be

24:35

offering the second option and we actually have a

24:38

third coming out early next year To that. Will.

24:40

Be sharing more about oh wow that's

24:42

incredible. Okay so that's really interesting that

24:45

you have the algae one and the

24:47

one coming from says maybe you do

24:49

or don't know this that is it.

24:51

a mess that if you're an omega

24:54

three is really really fishy. Or is

24:56

giving you this burbs. It's not a

24:58

high quality source. Oil. Is

25:00

that true? It can be trail yes

25:02

it back can be a sign of

25:04

oxidation of the product if you're detecting

25:06

a lot of you know fishing a

25:08

duet. For sure. Okay, yeah and

25:10

it's the oil is dark and if it's

25:13

you know, looks almost like blackish in the

25:15

job cap. That can be a sign

25:17

of oxidation as well. And

25:19

for those listening, oxidation can

25:21

contribute to inflammation and omega

25:23

threes help. Lower. Inflammation

25:25

and so you definitely don't want.

25:28

One. That has oxidize so. Thank.

25:30

You for explaining that An Omega Three

25:32

so you don't need to be pregnant

25:34

or breastfeeding. To. Take Omega Three serves

25:37

as good for all women, right? Yeah,

25:39

it's actually one of the most

25:42

important nutrients for hormone health in

25:44

women and so supporting your home

25:46

on house during fertility. And also

25:49

for really any stage of you

25:51

know, your reproductive journey at Harry

25:53

Men A Pod Menopause, you know,

25:55

earlier stages of womanhood. It's a

25:58

great nutrients that. Ever. woman

26:00

should ideally be taking and the research shows

26:02

upwards of 95% of women aren't getting enough

26:05

for their diet. Oh, wow. That's

26:07

a lot. It's pretty shocking, actually. The

26:09

other thing is Omega-3s can really help

26:12

with mental health. And so

26:14

I would say women should stay on

26:16

it for a while to help with

26:18

postpartum, correct? Absolutely. Okay.

26:21

And then also tell me about your

26:24

Omega-3 because doesn't your Omega-3s have like

26:26

choline and some other nutrients in it

26:28

as well? Yes. Our

26:30

algae form of our Omega-3 has choline

26:32

in it. So it has, you know,

26:35

the base prenatal has 400 milligrams of

26:38

choline in it. The Omega-3 has another 100

26:40

milligrams in it. You can actually double up

26:42

the dosing of our Omega-3 to get you

26:44

all the way to 600 milligrams of choline

26:47

if you're taking the prenatal plus the Omega-3. And

26:50

then we also include two

26:53

antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin, which

26:55

are really helpful nutrients for

26:57

baby's eye, optimal development and

27:00

mom's optical nerve support postpartum.

27:02

Some women have an

27:04

impact to their sight and vision

27:07

during pregnancy or postpartum from some

27:09

of the hormone fluctuations and nutrient

27:11

requirements of pregnancy. So those are

27:14

two really great nutrients that work

27:16

alongside the Omega-3 to ensure

27:18

optimal delivery of the Omega-3. They

27:21

help their antioxidants. So they help

27:23

to prevent oxidation of the Omega-3,

27:25

really intentional ingredient selections in the

27:28

Omega-3. Okay. So

27:30

someone like myself who clearly is not going

27:32

to get pregnant, again, you guys, I have

27:34

six kids and my youngest is nine. We

27:36

are not doing that again. But

27:38

can I take this one even though it's

27:40

got the choline in it or it's made

27:42

just for pregnant women? No,

27:44

it's actually designed for pregnancy. So

27:47

it has really powerful benefits to the

27:49

perinatal stage. But the same

27:51

high quality product works really well for

27:54

men who are focused on their fertility

27:56

and also for general women's health. So

27:58

we currently offer a... prenatal

28:00

omega-3, a men's fertility focused

28:02

omega-3, and the general women's

28:04

health omega-3, all

28:06

that utilize the same for key

28:09

nutrients, the CHA plus CTA from

28:11

algae, the choline, and the lutein

28:13

and zeaxanthin. Okay, so good to

28:15

know. We're gonna talk about men's fertility in

28:17

just a second, but I actually wanna ask

28:19

you about one of your other products that

28:22

you have because you have an

28:24

aid quality support, and so I thought

28:26

that was so interesting. So what's

28:28

the significance of egg quality, and

28:30

why is this important? Yes,

28:33

this is a really great question. Egg

28:36

quality is really important for

28:39

optimizing your chances of conceiving

28:41

and carrying a healthy pregnancy.

28:44

So egg follicles, women are actually, it's

28:47

pretty fascinating, I think, women are actually

28:49

born with all of their egg follicles.

28:51

So when you are an infant baby

28:53

in utero in your

28:56

mom, you actually have your egg

28:58

follicles already developed, but they exist

29:00

in really like an immature state

29:02

throughout your life, and then

29:04

when it comes time to, as you're a

29:07

woman of reproductive age, every

29:11

month you have all follicles that

29:13

mature. So that maturation process

29:16

helps to basically the

29:19

egg follicles develop. One,

29:21

typically one, sometimes two, in the case

29:23

of naturally occurring twins, one

29:26

follicle kind of grows to be the dominant

29:28

follicle, and that's the one that ends up

29:30

becoming the egg that you ovulate each month.

29:33

During that period, it's usually about a

29:35

hundred day maturation process. The

29:37

egg follicles are really susceptible

29:39

to environmental factors. The

29:41

foods you're eating, the toxins around

29:43

you, et cetera, they are delicate

29:46

cells, really, it's like, it's a

29:48

single cell, and there's a lot

29:50

that you can do through diet

29:52

supplementation and lifestyle factors to influence

29:54

your egg quality. There's also

29:56

research showing that there are influences

29:58

that you can make. to

30:00

your egg reserve, so that the

30:02

reserve of the egg follicles. So

30:05

if you are perhaps not yet wanting

30:08

to try but you know that it's in your future,

30:10

if you're you know focusing on

30:12

your career, you're just in a different

30:14

stage of family planning, there are benefits

30:16

to supporting your egg quality today that

30:18

can support a future pregnancy

30:20

into the future. For women who might

30:22

be freezing their eggs or pursuing you

30:24

know IVF, a frozen embryo transfer, things

30:27

like that, there is a certain amount

30:29

of nutrients both vitamins and minerals as

30:31

well as antioxidants that can support egg

30:34

quality. And we like to emphasize

30:36

this at needed because so often

30:38

the information around egg quality and how

30:40

egg quality diminishes with age is so

30:43

doom and gloom, it's sort of like

30:45

the prevailing messages that there's nothing you can do

30:48

about your egg quality. You're born with all of

30:50

your eggs and there's nothing you can do about

30:52

that, but there actually is a lot you

30:54

can do about the quality of your eggs. You

30:56

know it needed a lot of our emphasis is

30:59

around controlling what you can and you know letting

31:01

go of what you can't, but in the case

31:03

of the quality there is something that you can

31:05

do and so we formulated our egg quality support.

31:08

It launched in January of this year and

31:10

is one of the best-selling new product launches that

31:12

we've introduced. I think there's just so much demand

31:14

in the market. What's unique about it is that

31:16

it has no ingredients that overlap

31:19

with a prenatal vitamin, meaning you can

31:21

safely take it alongside any prenatal vitamin

31:23

on the market. So whether you're

31:25

taking the need of prenatal or something else you

31:27

can safely take our egg quality support on top

31:29

of it. Most products on the market that say

31:32

that they support egg quality have folate

31:34

and vitamin C and vitamin E and

31:36

some overlaps versus prenatal vitamins that make

31:38

it unsafe to take on top of

31:40

a prenatal. The other really

31:42

exciting thing about our egg quality support is

31:45

that it's safe to take during pregnancy. So

31:47

if you are pregnant with a child and

31:49

you think you may want another in the

31:52

future you can actually take egg quality support

31:54

all throughout your pregnancy and your

31:56

postpartum experience etc to support those egg

31:58

follicles for the future. So it's

32:00

a really amazing product. We do

32:03

recommend taking it alongside CoQ10, which

32:05

is another antioxidant We're

32:07

talking a lot about antioxidants, but it's

32:09

because they're so important for fertility pregnancy

32:11

and post-partum and it's just

32:14

a great product that I think is offered

32:16

at a very accessible price point and It's

32:19

exciting to be able to offer that to women

32:21

to give them a little bit more control over

32:23

You know the timing of building their family That

32:26

is so fascinating because yeah many people

32:28

want to have a career first or

32:31

do some other things first before they

32:33

have kids and so the thought of

32:35

Well during that time let's help,

32:38

you know our egg quality That is

32:40

amazing. And so you talked about some

32:42

factors that can affect egg quality You

32:44

talked about toxins and things like that

32:47

So I'm assuming our

32:49

diet meaning like do sugars

32:51

affect it or inflammatory oils or things

32:53

like that affect the quality of the

32:55

egg as well and the stress Yeah,

32:58

one of the biggest factors is stress

33:00

stress toxins aging other factors Like you

33:02

mentioned they can all contribute to oxidative

33:05

stress And so that at the core

33:07

is why we're trying to give you

33:09

a high potency of

33:11

antioxidants to counteract that Oxidative

33:13

stress that can very much

33:15

impact your egg maturation process and

33:17

the health of the follicles in

33:20

the case of blood sugar what's Interesting

33:22

about blood sugar is just the connection

33:24

between that and your hormone health in

33:26

general and you know Every

33:28

month when you have a menstrual cycle

33:31

There's really an intricate dance between your

33:33

hormones of what needs to happen to

33:35

go right for ovulation to happen and

33:37

then for ovulation to be successful and

33:40

blood sugar stability is one of those

33:42

core fundamentals that Can really

33:44

support a healthy hormone balance and the ability

33:46

for hormones to fluctuate in the way that

33:48

they naturally are meant to during a

33:51

woman's cycle Yeah, and they

33:53

can really affect inflammation which we've talked about

33:55

inflammation and how that affects it So I'm

33:57

glad you brought that up. So it's Does

34:00

your egg quality support mainly antioxidants

34:02

then to help your body with

34:04

that stress? Yes, that's

34:07

exactly right. So it includes

34:09

acetyl alcarnitine, an ingredient called

34:12

EGCG that is basically a

34:14

really rich polyphenol. It has

34:17

an ingredient called PQQ and

34:19

alpha lipoic acid. So really

34:22

powerful antioxidants clinically studied to

34:24

support egg quality and

34:26

related fertility outcomes. What I love to

34:28

share about this product is that one

34:30

of the practitioners who was most involved

34:33

in formulating it is actually an IVF

34:35

mom who is a naturopathic

34:37

doctor. So she's super, super well

34:39

researched on nutrition and has lived

34:42

the experience of how important egg

34:44

quality is. So we try

34:46

to bring that lens of bringing

34:49

together the best of all different

34:51

disciplines together when it

34:53

comes to formulating products that we're

34:55

getting buy-in and expertise from a range

34:57

of different practitioners. Oh, I love that.

35:00

Okay, so now I want to talk

35:02

about the men's part in all of

35:04

this because it's not just the egg

35:06

quality, it's the sperm quality too, I'm

35:09

assuming you would agree with. And

35:12

so let's talk about male fertility.

35:14

Are there lifestyle changes or habits

35:16

that can impact their fertility as

35:18

well? Absolutely. And

35:20

I think, you know, when thinking about

35:23

men's fertility, I think it's important to

35:25

recognize that so much of the

35:27

conversation in the fertility and

35:29

trying to conceive time period is around

35:31

a woman's body. And if there are

35:33

fertility challenges that a couple is experiencing,

35:35

the assumption is that something is, you

35:37

know, maybe not working right in the

35:40

woman's body, maybe it's her ovulation or

35:42

her egg quality or something about implantation

35:44

not going correctly. But we

35:46

know from the research that

35:48

male fertility impacts fertility outcomes

35:51

significantly. So sperm

35:53

are contributing 50% of the baby's

35:55

DNA and we see, you know, somewhere between

35:57

40 to 50%. of

36:00

infertility cases and pregnancy loss is

36:02

male factor in its origin. And

36:04

the reason for that is that

36:06

sperm, you know, we talked a lot

36:08

about eggs and their maturation cycle. Unlike

36:11

an egg where a woman is born

36:13

with all the follicles that, you know,

36:15

that she will ever kind of need or

36:17

that, you know, will ever develop into eggs,

36:20

sperm actually develop their entire life cycle

36:22

is over 90 to 100

36:24

days. The sperm cells generate, they mature,

36:26

etc., all over that time period. And,

36:28

you know, and there are millions of

36:30

them. So it is

36:32

very common even in healthy sperm to see

36:34

sperm that don't swim

36:36

correctly, that don't have the right kind

36:38

of structure, what's called

36:41

morphology, or the right motility,

36:43

the way that they move. And we know

36:45

from the research that lifestyle factors like exposure

36:48

to EMS, heat, toxin, you

36:50

know, things like cycling,

36:53

you know, kind of wearing tight

36:55

pants, constriction, and nutrients can actually

36:57

impact the health of the sperm.

36:59

They are even, you know,

37:01

to a greater extent than the

37:03

egg, they are super, super susceptible

37:06

to environmental factors. So, you know,

37:08

both on the positive side and

37:10

on the negative side. The great

37:13

news is that there's a lot

37:15

you can do through targeted supplementation

37:17

and implementing some of those lifestyle

37:19

changes that can dramatically improve

37:21

sperm quality. And so,

37:23

you know, we talked a lot about

37:26

starting a preconception supplement routine for women

37:28

six to 12 months before trying to

37:31

conceive. For men, the ideal

37:33

time period is, you know, is similar to

37:35

that. At a minimum, you'd want to

37:37

start three months before trying to conceive, since that's

37:39

the life cycle and the turnover of sperm, but

37:42

it never hurts to

37:44

start that process sooner because for

37:47

some people, it can take a little bit longer

37:49

to correct some of the imbalances that you might

37:51

have. Some of that inflammation in the body and

37:53

whatnot that can take a little bit longer than

37:55

90 days to improve. So

37:58

interesting. Everything you said, And it is

38:00

true that women always get the bad rap when

38:03

there's infertility. It's always blamed on the women. And

38:05

I'm like, wait, the men have just as much

38:07

impact in this as the women. And so let's

38:10

talk a little bit more about that. So

38:12

you said that the sperm are affected quite

38:14

a bit by toxins and there are so

38:17

many endocrine disruptors in male products that they

38:19

use hygiene products, the shampoo and shaving cream

38:21

and deodorant and so many of these things

38:23

that they use on a daily basis. So

38:26

do you see that being a part of

38:28

this infertility and issues with the sperm? Yeah,

38:31

absolutely it is. And I think

38:33

generally what our practitioner community advocates

38:35

for is this doesn't always happen.

38:37

Many pregnancies are unplanned, but in

38:39

a perfect kind of, if you

38:41

have time, if you have kind

38:44

of the resources to optimize your

38:46

health in the preconception window, it

38:49

does involve kind of looking really

38:51

carefully at your household cleaning products,

38:53

your personal care products, some of

38:55

your habits and routines like many

38:57

men love to do saunas and

39:00

steam rooms and hot tubs and,

39:02

you know, high intensity exercises that

39:04

actually can damage or hinder sperm

39:06

development during this preconception window. And

39:09

the good news for men is

39:11

that that window lasts until you

39:13

conceive successfully and, you

39:15

know, their kind of ongoing role

39:17

during a pregnancy is more of the

39:20

support person, not the one whose body is

39:22

rapidly changing and having significant

39:24

nutrients. Depletion. So, you know,

39:27

I think it's something that can have such a

39:29

big impact, not just on your odds of conceiving,

39:32

but the health of your child for the rest

39:34

of your life. So I think what it takes

39:36

for men to get on board with the idea

39:38

of proper supplementation is

39:40

usually education around a one kind

39:42

of daily routine change or maybe

39:45

like a really concentrated effort to

39:48

clean up kind of, you know, your

39:50

exposure to toxins and things like this

39:52

over a limited finite time period that

39:54

can have meaningful impacts on your

39:56

future child's health and your virility and your

39:59

ability to conceive. receive a healthy baby and

40:01

what we find it needed is more often

40:03

than not it's women who are the purchaser

40:05

of these products for their partner, but they're

40:07

getting their partner on board through the education

40:09

around what an impact this can make. Okay,

40:12

so let's actually talk about supplementation

40:14

for men and their fertility.

40:17

So do you recommend like a

40:19

multivitamin or could they just take the

40:22

omegas that you guys sell? Like

40:24

what do you recommend? We

40:26

would recommend our kind of optimal

40:29

protocol for men's fertility involves four

40:31

products. It involves a multivitamin for

40:33

men that has nutrients that

40:35

are tailored to men's fertility and to

40:38

their overall well-being. That product men can

40:40

stay on really for the rest of

40:42

their lives, but it has nutrients that

40:44

are dosed in the right forms

40:46

and the right quantities to support

40:49

fertility. We recommend pairing that with

40:51

an omega-3, which is really important

40:53

for those antioxidants. We actually

40:55

offer a sperm support, which is similar

40:58

to the egg quality support,

41:00

but it actually combines targeted

41:02

microbiome support in addition to

41:04

antioxidants. The male microbiome,

41:06

this is true for women as

41:08

well, that your microbiome impacts your

41:11

hormone regulation and your hormone production.

41:13

In the case of men, seminal fluid

41:16

actually has its own biome that can

41:18

impact conception outcomes and the health of

41:20

a woman's vaginal microbiome. There's

41:22

a lot of benefits to supporting

41:25

men's gut health when trying to conceive. The

41:28

sperm support is kind of a two-for-one.

41:30

It includes your gut health and then

41:32

also your targeted fertility support. Then lastly,

41:34

a CoQ10, which is that high potency

41:37

antioxidant. The reason we don't

41:39

offer CoQ10 inside the sperm support and

41:41

inside the egg quality support is because

41:43

that nutrient is also prone to oxidizing

41:45

if it's mixed. From

41:47

a price point wise, we want to be

41:50

able to offer a product that is at

41:52

an accessible price point and high quality CoQ10

41:54

can be expensive. Optimal

41:56

would be to take all four if

41:58

you were... on more of

42:01

a budget. Men are less prone

42:03

to omega-3 deficiency than

42:05

women because they tend to eat

42:07

more meats and fish, especially. Hopefully

42:10

they're consuming grass-fed, pasture-raised beef, high-quality

42:12

fish. So if you had

42:14

to prioritize just two products in the lineup,

42:16

we would really recommend the sperm quality support

42:19

and the men's multi as the kind of

42:21

core, don't miss supplements during

42:23

that time period. Okay, I love

42:25

that you have something with the probiotic and

42:28

prebiotic in it because I

42:30

try to teach that all the time that if

42:32

you're having hormonal issues, it could be due

42:34

to something going on in the gut because almost

42:36

all hormones at some point come in

42:38

contact with the gut, whether it's

42:41

to be created by them or regulated by

42:43

them or secreted by the gut. So I

42:45

love that you guys have that. But I

42:47

am a little bit dying here because you

42:50

guys have a men's multivitamin? Yeah,

42:52

I do. Okay, I shout out your

42:54

stuff to women all the time. I

42:56

love your prenatal. I have looked at

42:59

it, researched it, your Omega-3, same. Love

43:02

that, shout it out. And I did

43:04

not know you had a men's multivitamin.

43:07

So I love that you're providing that for men

43:09

as well. It's a great product.

43:11

And probably one of the reasons you

43:13

weren't aware of it is because we

43:15

do tailor most of the messaging of

43:17

that product around the men's fertility time

43:19

period. But it's a great product. My

43:21

brother takes it, my dad take it.

43:24

They are well beyond their perinatal stage.

43:26

It's a really awesome comprehensive men's multi

43:28

that uses the same high quality nutrient

43:30

forms as the prenatal vitamins that we

43:32

offer for women. So same

43:34

rigorous third-party testing, nutrient

43:37

sourcing, formulation by experts,

43:40

carries across the whole needed product lineup.

43:43

Okay, so good to know. Learn something new

43:45

every day. Really quick as we

43:47

wrap up here on time, I

43:49

know you guys have a digestive enzyme because

43:51

I actually take it. So that one I

43:53

do know. But will you just quickly tell

43:55

the listeners, like what a digestive

43:57

enzyme is, why we should have it? have

44:00

one, but also how it could

44:02

help with pregnancy. Absolutely. So

44:04

enzymes are naturally occurring proteins

44:06

that speed up reactions to

44:09

break down the food that

44:11

you eat by helping to

44:13

break it down into smaller components. There

44:15

are a variety of enzymes that are needed

44:18

to support the digestion of a wide range

44:20

of foods throughout different parts of your

44:22

digestive tract. And modern

44:24

food processing depletes food of

44:27

naturally occurring enzymes. This is

44:29

actually exacerbated during pregnancy and

44:31

nursing, along with stress and

44:34

eating on the go. It can lead

44:36

to digestive challenges and

44:38

through our practitioner community, we see

44:40

that most pregnant women can benefit

44:43

from consuming digestive enzymes alongside their

44:45

high quality foods. So I like

44:47

to think about digestive enzymes as

44:50

the supplement that helps you get more

44:52

out of your foods and supplements, because

44:55

it supports your body's ability to digest

44:57

them and process them. And it's a

44:59

great product. One of the things I

45:01

like best about our digestive enzyme is

45:04

that it includes 14 enzymes

45:06

in total. One of them is

45:08

an enzyme called DPP4 that

45:10

is shown to support gluten digestion.

45:12

And for those who are sensitive,

45:16

have some kind of sensitivity to gluten, I

45:18

tend to try to avoid gluten due to

45:20

my, I have Hashimoto's,

45:23

which can flare up postpartum.

45:25

So I try to avoid lactose

45:27

and gluten and some of those

45:30

foods. And our digestive enzyme contains

45:32

enzymes that specifically target breaking

45:34

down gluten, breaking down legumes,

45:36

breaking down lactose, et cetera,

45:38

really to support kind of

45:40

a well-rounded diet that we hope

45:43

our customers are consuming. So it's a

45:45

great product. I think it's one that is

45:48

really under-recognized, the importance

45:50

of it. Sometimes

45:52

you might know that you need a digestive

45:55

enzyme if you're having a lot of bloating,

45:57

digestive discomfort, but it's a product that... of

46:00

us could benefit from because we're just

46:02

not getting enough of those enzymes through

46:04

the food that we're eating. Yeah, so

46:07

many people that follow me tell me they

46:09

hurt after they eat, they have to run

46:11

to the bathroom after they eat, they're bloated,

46:13

and I always recommend a digestive enzyme because

46:15

it just helps break down those particles

46:17

of food into the good nutrients so that

46:20

we can absorb them better. So I'm glad

46:22

that I know about your digestive enzyme and

46:24

use it. I love it. And so thank

46:27

you so much for explaining all

46:29

of this stuff about supplements during

46:31

pregnancy, after pregnancies, and even for

46:34

men. It's been really interesting. Will you

46:36

tell my listeners where they can find

46:38

NEEDED and where they can find out more

46:40

about your company? Absolutely. So

46:42

we are available online

46:45

at thisisneeded.com. That's the primary

46:47

place to find us. We

46:49

also sell through the Supplement Dispensary

46:51

Fullscript for those that might work

46:53

with a qualified health care provider.

46:56

So Fullscript and our website are

46:58

the two main sales channels for

47:00

us. NEEDED is recommended today by

47:02

over 4,000 practitioners and we just

47:04

so appreciate the support of practitioners

47:07

like yourself. And you know that endorsement

47:09

means a whole lot to us. And

47:11

then on Instagram we are atneeded. So

47:13

pretty simple, all one word. We share

47:16

a lot of educational content

47:18

over on Instagram and

47:20

our other social channels so that's a

47:22

really good place to follow us. So

47:25

a question to wrap this all up because I

47:27

know a lot of people do recommend your products.

47:29

So do you think it's because of the

47:32

research you put into it, the sourcing you

47:34

put into it, quality, all of

47:36

the above? What makes you unique and

47:39

different? I think it's really

47:41

the fact that NEEDED was

47:44

created around the

47:46

need to better understand women's

47:49

nutritional needs and deficiencies.

47:51

And from day one we worked with

47:54

practitioners to better identify them. And I

47:57

think you know in many cases practitioners were

47:59

finding that And by

48:01

practitioners, I generally mean nutritionists, registered

48:03

dieticians, naturopathic doctors, those who are

48:06

most highly trained in nutrition. They

48:09

were finding that even the highest

48:11

quality practitioner grade products had gaps

48:13

in them, especially around women's health.

48:15

The portfolios of products for women's

48:17

health just were lacking and needed,

48:21

showed up, I think at the right time with

48:23

a willingness to listen to practitioners to learn from

48:25

them, to take insights from their practice and use

48:28

it to make formulation decisions. And I

48:30

think that ability to tap

48:32

into those clinical insights and really listen

48:35

to consumers and practitioners is something that

48:37

sets needed apart. Of course, we also

48:39

have really high quality sourcing standards, third

48:42

party testing, you know, the

48:44

nutrients that we're using are really high quality, but

48:46

I think it's really

48:48

that desire to learn from

48:50

practitioners and to work alongside them

48:52

in order to optimally support women's

48:54

health that I think most sets

48:57

needed apart. Oh, I love that. Thank

48:59

you so much. So I always

49:01

end my podcast with asking my guests what

49:03

they have found to be the best ingredient

49:05

in life. What would you say it is?

49:08

I think for me, it's really about living

49:11

my life with authenticity. And

49:14

you know, of course, that as someone

49:16

who focuses all of

49:18

my time on optimal nourishment, you know,

49:20

nourishing my body, nourishing my

49:22

kind of soul with

49:24

people around me who are

49:27

positive influences in my life, and then

49:29

really trying to live my life by

49:31

my values and live it on the

49:33

basis of intentionality and making

49:35

decisions that align with my values,

49:37

I think are probably the most

49:39

important ingredients in my life. Oh,

49:42

I love that. Such good information. And

49:44

if we could all live our life

49:46

with authenticity, that would be amazing. What

49:49

we would do and accomplish and do for

49:51

others. And so I love that. Thank you

49:53

so much. We will have a discount for

49:55

these needed if you listeners want to try

49:57

it will be in the show notes and

50:00

So thank you for offering that and thank

50:02

you for all the information you gave us

50:04

today. And this will be such a good

50:06

episode for my followers that are pregnant or

50:08

just trying to get pregnant to listen to.

50:10

And so thank you for being here. I

50:13

really appreciate you taking the time. My

50:15

pleasure. It's always fun to go deep

50:17

diving on such a passion area for

50:19

me. So thank you so much for

50:21

having me. Thank you. Thanks

50:24

so much for listening to today's show. I

50:26

love providing you with content to educate you

50:28

and your families. To pay it forward, please

50:30

subscribe to the show and leave a review.

50:33

These help us reach more people looking for better

50:36

help. If you found something useful

50:38

or interesting, the greatest compliment you can give us

50:40

is sharing the show with someone you know. Remember

50:43

wellness is a journey and you are never

50:45

alone.