Change Your Brain Every Day - Which Nutraceuticals Are Helpful For Children? PT.3 with Dr. Kidd

Episode Date: July 11, 2018

In part 3 of a series on nutritional supplements with BrainMD Chief Science Officer Paris Kidd, we turn our attention to children. With the help of Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen, Dr. Kidd answers the question of what supplements are the most helpful for children. Knowing how to support your child’s health is one of the best ways to give them a head start in their development, so it’s crucial to know which supplements will be most effective for them.

We're back and we're going to talk to Dr. Kidd about kids. So we're going to... I really would encourage you... That was a pun, wasn't it? It was, yes. Kids is kiddies. I would really encourage you to watch the video we did with Dr. Kidd on general information about supplements because it will fill in a lot of the blanks. But I want to talk to you about some specific information about kids. People

ask me all the time, what can I give my kids? How much? That kind of stuff. I know with my daughter, I gave her the basics, but I want to hear from the expert what you think the basics are for kids. And how early can you start? Yeah. Kids need all of the vitamins and essential minerals that we need. So multi? Yeah, yeah. Multiple vitamin mineral. And we have one of the best. That's not loaded with sugar.

No, we have a chewable that I actually use on my desk. Don't listen to this. For candy in the afternoon. So I'm like, there's not one thing that will hurt. What people just heard is they can give this to their kids as candy. Don't do that. But the kids' Neurovite, while I was working on it, I got this call from Dr. Amen, from Daniel, and he says, Paris, you've got to do better than this.

And I go, why? What's up? He says, well, the flavoring has maltodextrin in it, and we can't have that. We don't want to have any of those sugary things in our products. So I said, okay, Daniel. And I had to go and redesign the flavoring so that the kids' Neurovite has zero sugars. Which is actually unusual. And it still tastes incredible.

So go to the big box store with the kids. Food dyes, sugar, corn syrup. They're trying to kill these kids. Very unusual for any supplements produced by anyone and very unusual for foods. And I mean, but BrainMD does things differently. So even our beautiful tasting chocolates don't have sugar added to them. So multivitamin, vitamin D is already in there. Would you add vitamin D? Omega-3s, don't forget the omega-3s. And the 12 to 15% of American kids who have some sort of

issue with attention or learning or behavior or whatever, all can benefit from omega-3 supplements. So we can offer them the omega-3 power if they're willing to take a capsule, or we have this product called Car-Omega, which they can just squeeze out of a pack and put into a liquid. Well, and those are good for traveling. So my daughter would rather take the pills because she just doesn't want to have to mess with the pudding. But when we traveled, it was really easy to take that because it wasn't a big thing of oil. I could just take little pudding packs with us.

Right. And the kids' Neurovite supplies actually quite a lot of vitamin D. But if they want to give more, then they can either use our 5,000 IU and give them one every two or three days or so. And I think it's important, even with kids, to test their level. Yeah, absolutely. Because when I found my level was 17, I've been obsessed with it ever since. When you know the number, then you know if you should do something or you don't need to do something. And then what about probiotics?

Well, if their kids have specific issues that involve their GI system, if they know that the child is not doing well with going to the bathroom and stuff like that, then a probiotic would be appropriate. Or if the kid has been taking a lot of antibiotics over the years, or if they just want to give them a probiotic supplement. But as I said in another segment that we did, it's very important to ask the supplier, do you have clinical studies with the strains of bacteria that you want me to buy for my child? Do you actually have clinical studies that show that these work for children?

And there are, by the way, lots of clinical studies. Unfortunately, many of the strains that are being offered are not the ones that the clinical studies were done on. Okay. So if, let's just say, because I know we make a really good probiotic, but it comes in a capsule. And if your child is too young to swallow a capsule, can it be opened up and put into a smoothie? Yes. And that applies to any of the supplements. So what I did with my daughter when she was too young to swallow pills,

I either mixed it into a little, like I created a little like avocado pudding type thing, or I would make her a small smoothie, small enough that she would drink the whole thing. And I would put all of the supplements in there. Right. So that's just one tip for you. And I wanted to make sure that our probiotic could be opened. Right. And I would also poke a hole in the vitamin D. Exactly. This is all very good. This is very good. And some people ask, well, do I have to take my supplements separately or what? And the answer is that supplements are not pharmaceuticals. And supplements work in such a way that you can take them all together. The only distinction is that the vast majority of supplements are meant to be taken with a meal.

There are just a couple, like our Neuralink and Serotonin Mood Support, that are better taken on an empty stomach. Oh, okay. Good to know. But just a few. And there's no need ever to have a high-fat meal when you take supplements because the liver makes bile, which is our biological emulsifier and fat dispersant. And the bile disperses all of the nutrients and optimizes

their absorption. Okay. So just putting it in a smoothie for a kid is enough. Yeah. Bile is the best fat that we have. It's all biological. Well, there's another story to that. But anyway, they're fatty type substances that are actually very healthy for us and

bile takes care of that. So we don't need to worry about fatty meals and all of that. Awesome. I mean, I just think this is so helpful to know with kids. And I still, when my daughter went into kindergarten, I got her blood test done and found out what her, I added vitamin D to it because I'm sneaky that way. So that I would know if I was on target with what she was getting, whether I needed to add or decrease or whatever. Right. Now, you know, I go to my friends' homes and I see them with, you know, like a calcium product or this or that.

And they don't have a good multiple vitamin mineral and they don't have a decent vitamin D and they don't have omega-3s. And yet those are the core of our health. You know, the way our cells function requires that core program, you know, the multiple, the omega-3s and the vitamin D. And so you can go out and you can buy stuff because somebody tells you to buy it but if you're not getting those three then your health is not guaranteed. I agree. So what do you do with a child that is difficult I mean we see so many oppositional defiant disorder kids and they're also very sensitive to taste and they refuse to take them right well you you slip

the supplements into some something that they like yeah you don't ask them yeah well well but i mean but you can you can negotiate with them and get it into you're nicer than i am i'm just like well if they're oppositional though i've actually met oppositional kids. I did a study on them once a long time ago. And they actually responded to omega-3s, by the way, oppositional kids in our hands. And to PS, phosphatidylserine. But anyway, so you slipped the supplements into some vehicle that they were able to shoot. I just made something really tasty and didn't say anything. There are studies with phosphatidylserine or PS, and we have our own standalone PS.

You actually were involved in bringing that to the United States. Right. Just call me Dr. PS. Dr. PS. So why was that? Why were you excited about that? Because there were so many clinical trials on it. Already from the 1980s, there were clinical trials with phosphatidylserine.

And then clinical trials continue to be done. And it has a consistent... And the trials were done in Israel? No, Europe, a few trials in Israel, but all over Europe, in the United States, other places. So have you heard this before? I just heard it yesterday and it really irritated me. Well, are there any trials in the US?

Yeah, there are US trials. Because a lot of Saffron trials are in Iran. And why does that... And I'm like, you know, that was just trials in the U.S.? Yeah, there are U.S. trials. Because a lot of saffron trials are in Iran. And why does that? And I'm like, you know, that was just the most racist thing you could ever say. I'm confused. There are actually saffron trials from Greece. And actually, arguably the single best trial on PS was done in the United States at Vanderbilt by my now-deceased friend colleague, Thomas Crook, a beautifully

designed trial on memory. And then he did another trial on people with catastrophic memory loss, which for regulatory reasons I'm not allowed to talk about. So we have American trials on PS and we have trials all over the world. It's the best documented nutrient for memory, but it's also very good for attention and learning. And what dose for kids would you start with? It's a misdocumented nutrient for memory, but it's also very good for attention and learning. Focus, learning. And it also helps with behavior. And what dose for kids would you start with?

Kids actually need more proportionally than adults do. Little kids need about 200 milligrams, and bigger kids need 300. And the adult dose is typically 300. And I take 600. Wow. I take 600. Is that why you're so smart? Because I know it's safe.

I'm trying. I'm working on it, Daniel. I'm working on it. I take 600. Is that why you're so smart? Because I know it's safe. I'm trying. I'm working on it, Daniel. I'm working on it. I need all the help I can get. Well, we hope this is so helpful. It's really helpful. For you, supplements can really, as Dr. Kidd said, give you insurance. They can help optimize brain function.

We've seen it. I published a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial showing that brain and body power increased memory and focus. We're excited about this, not because it's our business. It's our business because we love it and we know it has the potential to be helpful to you so start with the brain health assessment learn as much as you can go on scientific sites like pub pub med comm from the National Library of Medicine there is more science that will really excite you that these things have the potential to help you.