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OASIS HEALTH NUTRACEUTICALS FOR INFLAMMATORY RHEUMATOLOGY

Dr. George Munoz discusses Oasis Health's Nutraceutical product line and how it focuses on inflammatory rheumatic disorders.
OASIS HEALTH NUTRACEUTICALS FOR INFLAMMATORY RHEUMATOLOGY
Featuring:
George Munoz, MD
George Muñoz, MD, is a board-certified rheumatologist and internist, fellowship trained in rheumatology/immunology at Harvard Medical School affiliates the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He completed a second fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine founded by Andrew Weil, MD, and was the first recipient of the Jones/Lovell Rheumatology Scholar Award for 2006-2008. He is a national speaker, lecturer, published author, and co-editor. He serves as chief of integrative medicine and integrative rheumatology for the American Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates (AARA), the largest rheumatology super-group in the US. He is a futurist and innovator, “specializing in the patient journey and experience” as a cornerstone and guiding principal for healthcare stakeholders to emulate and innovate. 

Learn more about George Munoz, MD
Transcription:

Bill Klaproth: Welcome to Oasis Rheumatainment, a podcast with Dr. George Munoz, Chief Medical Officer, and founder of both the AOTRC, the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Research Institute; the AARA, the Arthritis and Rheumatology Association Care Center; and the Oasis Institute, a fully integrative multidisciplinary clinic in Aventura, Florida.

And on this episode, we'll be reviewing the Oasis Health Nutraceutical product line, most focused on inflammatory rheumatology. I'm Bill Klaproth. Dr. Munoz, it is always great to talk with you and this is really going to be cool hearing about the nutraceutical line. So tell us about the Oasis Health Nutraceutical line. Who made it and why?

Dr. George Munoz: Hi, Bill. Thank you for asking. And it's a pleasure to be here with you once again. This time, talking about Oasis Health Nutraceuticals. I actually am the formulator and the Chief Medical Officer of Oasis Health. And I made this line because our rheumatology patients need clean anti-inflammatory natural products that blend with their advanced medications for different diagnoses such as rheumatoid arthritis, auto-immune conditions, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis.

We wanted to have a product line that we could have verifiable components that are clean, that are tested and that are labeled and GMP-certified and made in the United States. So these were a lot of specifications that we needed control of. And in order to do that, we went ahead and formulated the line with the rheumatology patient in mind.

Bill Klaproth: So the Nutraceutical Line covers a lot of ground in treating arthritis and inflammation. Is that correct?

Dr. George Munoz: That's right. Any type of inflammation, whether it be joints or muscles or osteoarthritis, support as well as excellent supplements for bone health and bone support in addition to the medications that are used, for example, for the treatment of osteoporosis or the milder form of bone loss called osteopenia. And we want to have clean good products that are highly absorbed and then have the correct ratio of minerals, vitamins and of the appropriate botanicals in inflammation control, so that our patients can have excellent results with minimal side effects.

Bill Klaproth: I like it when you say you formulated this as a clean product. We are all looking for that today. So can you tell us, Dr. Munoz, which is the main product then in this amazing supplement portfolio?

Dr. George Munoz: The main product, Bill, is called ANP Joint Muscles. And it's got an amazing combination of botanicals, omega-3 and vitamin D. The botanicals are highly bioavailable curcumin, which comes from the Indian sub-continent. And it has been around in use for at least 10,000 years in the east.

The thing about curcumin, which is derived from tumeric, is that it's very poorly absorbable orally. So something has to be done to the curcumin so that it's absorbed. And what we have done is two things, we've attached protein to it, so that the cells take up the protein and, with it, the curcumin is dragged into the cell and it's able to be activated at the cell nucleus level, the center of the cell, to create the biologic effects to reduce inflammation.

Our flagship product, ANP Joint Muscles, has been such a hit because it is also formulated with a second plant-based component called boswellia also from the east in India and Asia. This botanical boswellia works differently in reducing inflammation than curcumin. Curcumin works at the nuclear level, the nucleosome we call it, and it reduces certain components of inflammation such as NF-kappa beta. I don't want to get too technical. But the boswellia works in a different place where inflammation is created in the body.

So what we've done is we have different what are called mechanisms of action, different MOAs, in ANP Joint Muscles, this flagship product, so that inflammation is attacked from different sites and not just one site, because we now know that inflammation can bypass medications, in attempts to reduce the inflammatory pathway signaling. So by attacking inflammation at multiple sites, the chance of the botanical or nutraceutical compound working is much higher this way. When we add omega-3 fish oil, which works on prostaglandins and arachidonic cascade, these are also anti-inflammatory and the final component is vitamin D, which is very important in the body for numerous types of activities and functions, especially of the immune system in what we call both innate and adaptive immunity.

Since vitamin D deficiency is so prevalent, we went ahead and added a certain amount of vitamin D3 to this flagship product, ANP Joint Muscle, so that we could make sure that patients who took this had at least some vitamin D exposure in addition to the botanicals that I just mentioned and the omega-3 fish oil. Together, they form a very formidable naturally-based combination of supplements that have different MOAs, mechanisms of action, in reducing inflammation.

Bill Klaproth: So the four products in the flagship product, ANP Joint Muscles, curcumin, boswellia, omega-3 fish oils and vitamin D. Is that correct?

Dr. George Munoz: That's correct, Bill.

Bill Klaproth: So then why do these four components work together to form that perfect mix to help people that have rheumatology or arthritis problems?

Dr. George Munoz: The main reason is that, in rheumatology, we have patients whose main problem that causes swelling, stiffness, pain is related to inflammation. And these four products together work as a team to reduce inflammation through different mechanisms. And together, their combined benefit is greater than any of them alone. So this is what we call a superadditive effect.

Bill Klaproth: I love it. The superadditive effect. So all four of these working in conjunction together. So let's get the updates so far. What is your experience with ANP Joint Muscles so far and how many rheumatology patients are taking the supplement?

Dr. George Munoz: The testimonials and the direct observation of the physicians, the rheumatologists, the practitioners, the advanced practitioners, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners who see this inflammatory patient population nationwide has been phenomenal. We have over 35,000 patients taking this advanced formulation for inflammation and joint muscle inflammation currently. And the experience overwhelmingly has been double thumbs-upped by patients. They have tolerated the supplementation formulation extremely well. They like the formulation and they also are surprised at how well it works and how well it's tolerated with all their other regimens and medications that are many times prescribed for their rheumatology condition.

Bill Klaproth: So I also understand you have a product for osteoarthritis as well. Can you tell us about this product?

Dr. George Munoz: Sure. This osteoarthritis product called ANP Osteo, for osteoarthritis, ANP Osteo Mobility, again follows the same rubric of having different mechanisms of action. And there are three capsules in the sachet. By the way, we have very convenient packaging in boxes with individual sachets that patients with arthritis can open easily. And the ANP Osteo Mobility osteoarthritis supplement has glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid with MSM, which is methylsulfonylmethane. And together, these form a supplement combination that decreases pain, that supports cartilage breakdown from occurring and it's certified bovine serum-free because anything with chondroitin,, you have to make sure that there's no bovine product in it. And ours is clean and devoid of that because of the concern of mad cow disease as has occurred, for example, in Europe and Great Britain with certain products. And we have certifications that the chondroitin we use is free. Also the glucosamine has no shellfish or animal products in it. And once again, the GMP clean label and non-GMO, AARA-certified products make these very attractive and the individual components of glucosamine, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid and MSM, if you were to buy these individually, the cost would be much higher than the actual costs that we are able to sell these to our patients, making them quite affordable.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah, that's really important. And this sounds like another great product in the nutraceutical line of products. You know, all of these products sound like they really can help improve the quality of one's life. Is that correct?

Dr. George Munoz: That's correct. Then, the idea here is that rheumatology patients, just like general patients, have complaints in other areas such as fatigue, our patients complain of trouble sleeping, memory changes. These are common complaints and we have gone ahead and addressed these complaints in our product line at the request of our patients. We listen to our patients and we develop the product lines based on what they want addressed. So we have CNA memory support. We have RNR for rest and relaxation, sleep support. And we have ANE Fatigue Support because fatigue and sleep problems are so common. And we saw this during the pandemic, especially, and people coming out now need continued support as they begin to get more active and start working out and moving. We want to be able to help them return to healthy lifestyles. They may get achy, have joint pain, inflammation, osteoarthritis may be an issue and people are still not sleeping great. So we want to help them with sleep and with energy and obviously memory becomes an issue for people as they get older due to stress, chronic inflammation, et cetera.

Bill Klaproth: So it sounds like you've got everything covered here, Dr. Munoz. You've covered the other common complaints as well, such as memory support, sleep support and fatigue support. You've got all the bases covered. I love it. So then let me ask you this for someone listening that might be saying, "This sounds great. And I just heard Dr. Munoz say that to buy these supplements individually, they would be very expensive." So how much are these products then?

Dr. George Munoz: So once again, the combination and the formulations in general are 20% to 25% cheaper than if you were to go buy good quality products individually. ANP Joint Muscle, the flagship inflammation product line is $49.99 and that's the most expensive product that we have. Our patients in our general population can go ahead and get these through physician's offices, AARA rheumatologists nationally now in over 30 states, or they can directly order online at the website for Oasis Health, which is www.oasis.care and you can order directly online and they can be drop shipped to you. So that's www.oasis.care.

Bill Klaproth: Got it. So that's really easy for people to find these. Once again, oasis.care. So go to that URL and you'll be able to access and find all of these great products. So Dr. Munoz, for these health supplements, can they be taken with advanced rheumatology medications?

Dr. George Munoz: That's one of the beauties that we are able to interface and combine high quality natural products that are absorbed, that are clean and that are tolerated very well alone or with medications that a rheumatology patient may be prescribed for their auto-immune condition, for their osteoporosis, for their osteoarthritis, and whether they have some of these comorbid conditions that we call sleep disturbances, fatigue, or cognitive memory issues. These supplements combine very well with any medication a physician is prescribing to the patient for any of these conditions.

Bill Klaproth: That sounds really good. And let me ask you this. I know this is a great product line. But I know you, you're always thinking. There's something always going on. You're always trying to help people. Any new products in the pipeline?

Dr. George Munoz: We have some new pipeline products that you guessed.

Bill Klaproth: I knew it.

Dr. George Munoz: And so here we go. We have CBD in moderate and high disease with whole hemp oil, THC-free, a broad spectrum. We have something called Sunrise and Eclipse from our GMO organic farm in Colorado. Once again, we have two strengths, a mid strength and a high strength, and these are priced competitively. You will see on the internet CBD pricing all over the place. We are in the mid-price point, not too cheap and not the most expensive, but the highest quality, verifiable.

We also have a topical CBD called Lumina for patients who want to use CBD topically. And this has been a hit for patients with aches and pains topically that they can combine with ANP Joint Muscle or with ANP Osteo for osteoarthritis if they have extra pain that needs addressing without a drug, without a non-steroidal, which could give them gastrointestinal, kidney or cardiovascular side effects. We have a topical CBD Lumina, which is very effective and priced phenomenally at $30 for a roll-on of one fluid 30-cc bottle.

But perhaps the biggest thing that we have is we have our new ANP Curcumin Complex that, in addition to having the curcumin that we've already talked about and the boswellia that we've already talked about in the original ANP Joint Muscle formulation, we came up with something else that includes resveratrol. And resveratrol is another botanical that comes from grape extract and it's attached to NAC, N-acetylcysteine, along with the ultra curcumin, also attached to the NAC. And what that does is it makes both of them highly bioavailable by the cell. It's taken up into the cell and it amplifies the effectiveness and the anti-inflammatory effect. So this one doesn't have fish oil, but has curcumin, boswellia and resveratrol. And again, this is what's called Oasis ANP Curcumin Complex, and we have bottles of 60 capsules available again online and phenomenally priced and extremely effective in reducing pain and inflammation.

So we really have a whole line of products that are great. We have a skin repair serum called Clear Sky for thin skin. And we have just phenomenal feedback from our patients on all of these products, because rheumatology patients have not just pain, but they also have, as we've talked about besides memory and fatigue, they also have skin issues and thin skin either from prednisone or steroids or aging, so that we want to help address these problems to reduce skin frailty and to help them prevent secondary infections.

Bill Klaproth: So it's great to hear about all of these wonderful products directly from the person who formulated them. So great that you do this podcast so we can hear directly from you and how these products were made and the benefits of each. So, Dr. Munoz, thank you for talking to us about the Oasis Health Nutraceutical line. It really is fabulous. And like Dr. Munoz says, if you want to learn more and order some, just go to oasis.care to find out more information on those.

Dr. Munoz, as always, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate this.

Dr. George Munoz: Bill, thank you so much for being a great host and for allowing me to share this valuable information that patients may be able to use and access phenomenal products, high-grade nutraceuticals that are a safe, clean and formulated here in the United States. Thank you.

Bill Klaproth: And that is Dr. George Munoz. And to order those products you can go to oasis.care. This is the Oasis Rheumatology podcast, featuring Dr. George Munoz. And for more information, you can also call (305) 682-8471 or you can visit the oasisinstitute.com. Thanks for listening.