Why You Might Want to Rethink Folic Acid with Troy Duell from Centurion Labs

“There are a lot of conditions out there that we can do things about through the right diet, exercise, and taking advantage of who we were designed to be.”

Topics Discussed:

🦩 How a lifestyle change can improve your fertility health.

🦩 The difference between folic acid and folate. 

🦩 Factors to consider when getting supplements.

Do you get confused about which one between folic acid and folate supplements you should get? Did you know that folic acid is synthetic and our bodies were never intended to process it?

In this episode of the Finding Fertility podcast, Monica speaks with Troy Duell on the consequences of consuming folic acid on your fertility. Troy is the CEO of Centurion Labs and a former Executive in the pharmaceutical industry.

Listen in to learn the importance of making intentional lifestyle changes to help improve your overall health. You will also learn the difference between folic acid and folate and why folic acid is not healthy for your fertility.

“It’s not easy and there’s no magic pill, but you can change things and create a better environment for the potential of you having that child.”

Episode Highlights:

• [3:21] Troy on his pharmaceutical background and how he got into helping people change their lifestyles.
• [5:50] He shares his and his wife’s infertility journey and how it led to a lifestyle change.
• [11:40] Why he went the route of helping bring beneficial and affordable products to people.
• [13:40] Why you should stay away from folic acid plus how healthy forms of folate are made.
• [17:21] Why the medical community is wrong about folic acid and what needs to change.
• [22:25] Why you should avoid cheap supplements not available in bio form.
• [26:03] How the folic acid/folate terminology confusion hides what’s in a product.
• [28:56] Troy on his new product Bump DHA and its benefits.

Listen here: Why You Might Want to Rethink Folic Acid with Troy Duell from Centurion Labs

Let's Do This Together 💚

Monica

🌺 Download your FREE Guide: Top 3 Steps to Maximise Your Fertility That Your Doctor Isn't Talking About

Connect with Monica over on:

• Instagram: https://bit.ly/FindingFertilityIG
• TikTok: https://bit.ly/FindingFertilityTikTok

🎙 Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform:⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣

• Apple: http://bit.ly/FINDINGFERTILITYAPPLE
• Google: http://bit.ly/FINDINGFERTILITYGOOGLEPLAY⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣   
• Stitcher: http://bit.ly/FindingFertilitySTITCHER
• Spotify: http://bit.ly/FFSpotifyPodcast

🍍Support Finding Fertility & shop for your favourite fertility-friendly products over on:

Seeking Health: https://bit.ly/FFSeekingHealth Amazon: http://bit.ly/FindingFertilityAmazon

🍍

Anything written or said about health and diet are my opinions, that I have formed over the years, through trial and error, study, reading, listening and observing. What worked for me may not work for you. I am not a doctor, nutritionist or dietician and all medical advice should be gotten from a qualified professional. Product recommendations are based on what I used during my infertility journey or wish I had.

Full Transcript: 

0:01
Hello beautiful and welcome to finding fertility. I'm your host, Monica Cox from finding fertility.co And I created this podcast to help get you to start thinking outside of the box and realise that your infertility might have nothing to do with your lady bits rooted in functional medicine and personal experience. Finding fertility is all about looking at the whole body and finding the root cause of your infertility. Finding fertility does not diagnose, prescribe or treat any issues of infertility. But what we do is take a holistic approach and improve your diet and your lifestyle to get you steps closer to creating your dream family. Just by being here with me listening to this podcast, you're already going down the right path to making your dreams come true. Let's do this together. Happy Friday. Oh, welcome back to another episode of finding fertility. I'm your host, Monica Cox. And I'm super grateful for you being here becoming the conscious mama bear you were always born to be. We have a special guest today is Troy two from Cinterion labs. And I'm super excited to get him on. Because he has a wealth of knowledge and can really give us behind the scenes look at the pharmaceutical companies and what he's doing to really change the conversation and how he is supporting women now with his own personal supplement line. So welcome to the

1:40
podcast. Thanks, Monica. Super excited about being here.

1:43
Yeah. So just tell us a little bit about maybe your previous life.

1:48
Yeah, previously, I've been in pharmaceuticals for about 20 years, and worked with some great companies and saw some great things, but also saw a lot of things that it seemed like we were treating things within the pharmaceutical industry, and even promoting things that may not have been the best for individuals. And we took out a lot of personal responsibility from just our health in general. And we made it easier. I think one of the best examples of that, for me was I was calling on some physicians back in the day, and went in and there was a doctor who happened to be eating some doughnuts, and was out back smoking a cigarette. And I was like, Well, isn't that kind of bad to be doing in front of your patients? And he was like, No, it's okay, I've got this cholesterol medicine that's just come out. And it's gonna be fine, because I'm taking the cholesterol medicine. So those are instances that I think we have decided to magic pill is better than taking that personal responsibility piece. And really what led me down the path to start centre and try to find products and issues that we can help people overcome through changing their lifestyle and providing supplements or products that may be affordable and beneficial for them overall.

3:12
Yeah, yeah, it's a very much treatment Society of like, whoa, what's your issue? Here's the treatment for it, instead of asking, like, Why do you have that issue in the first place? And if our doctors or our professionals like literally don't even care about their own health and wellness, and they're just taking the supplementation? How are we ever supposed to know that the actual long term effect is that you're gonna get sicker and sicker and sicker and need more medication. And I personally, this is like a big passion of mine. When you're dealing with fertility, it's not only going to be impacting you, it can potentially impact your future child's health, because they're developing everything they that they possibly need to become a human inside that environment. That isn't, is well, if you're dealing with fertility, as your body is basically saying it's not a good environment to grow human in.

4:18
Very true. And it was certainly something that we saw or that I saw when I was out in the field, a good bit. I mean, we always are looking for the easy way out, we've become a fast food mentality. And unfortunately, your health is not a fast food, mentality thing. And fertility in particular, is one of those things that I think there are a lot of conditions that are out there that we can do things about through the right diet, exercise, and really taking advantage of who we were designed to be and how our bodies were designed. And that's really one of the paths that I went down as well my wife and I I had fertility issues as well, we had our first child has been married seven years and had our first child. And we're thinking, hey, this is easy. Three years later, we're like, we're going to have our second child, we're gonna do that whole American Dream thing, have two kids three to four years apart, it's going to be perfect. And lo and behold, we tried and couldn't get pregnant, and went down that whole fertility route of IVF. And everything else to the point that my wife was sat down by the fertility doctor, and he said, Look, you're never going to have another child. And if you do, he's not going to be he or she will not be normal. So you need to just stop because you don't have healthy eggs. And that certainly, in my mind, started that process of what is it in our health in our body? Is there anything we can do to help that fertility process and led me down that path, but to kind of in that story, on a happy note, we went down the path went through a lot of soul searching and prayer and decided we would adopt a little girl, and went through the process of adopting a little girl from China. And the day we sent off the paperwork, we found out we were pregnant with our second son. So we've got three wonderful kids all healthy. And, you know, God's way of getting us that little girl that we probably wouldn't have had we not gone through the process, and also just a way for me to learn more about what we can do as individuals and get that personal responsibility to get things rolling.

6:37
Yeah, exactly. Well, that is an amazing story. Thank you for sharing that with us. And I think it is just proof in the pudding. You know, I always hear things like while you were just lucky, or you just relaxed or IVF taught your body what it needed to do, which is my ultimate favourite and a big kick in the teeth. But it is one of the hardest things for a woman to really do take a hold of is that it is your personal responsibility. It's not your fault. You're dealing with fertility issues, that was decades of not knowing the certain diet or lifestyle was having an impact on your health. But when you come to that place of realisation of like Will I actually have the power to reverse my situation, or greatly improve it to increase my chances of success through IVF. And the whole myth that you can't improve your egg quality. I was told the exact same thing at 30 years old. It's complete BS and I, you know, I I openly admit I'm not an academic. I'm not smart. I'm a creative. I love photography and snowboarding and all that, if I can figure this stuff out. Like other you know, people who are more inclined that way should just see a very clear picture that your a leg is one of the largest living cells in your body. And if you can manipulate other cells, the liver can regenerate the gut is always regenerating your hair your skin when you get sunburned the most obvious one, right? Why? Why is your egg not a representation of what's happening inside your body? And same for sperm, right? We're I don't want to just attack a quality it's sperm quality to. And I just don't understand how that isn't very simply seen by the industry.

8:46
Totally agree. And I I wish it wasn't the case. But I think there's some truth to it that a lot of it's tied to money. I mean, it is a huge industry to get into that world and see the money come through and whether their success or not, they're getting paid the same. And I think unfortunately, there is some merit to that. It does some great in certain situations, but all of it is for naught if you don't take those first steps like you're talking about with that personal responsibility. And I think one of the best examples to your point of egg quality is if you're a smoker for 1015 years, and you stop smoking, your body can overcome that damage from the smoke. If you stay that way, and you start to eat right and you remain healthy. So those are some great opportunities. To your point of yes, we can change things. It's not easy, and there is no magic pill, but you can change things and create a better environment for the potential of you to have that child pregnant.

9:54
Yeah, exactly. So what was the tipping point for you when you bid really just needed to walk away from the whole pharmaceutical company and you decided to start your own business.

10:07
You know, we went out, I felt like there was an opportunity for us to go out and create a different type pharmaceutical company. And we did that with a few products in which we were still in that realm. And I was looking for other products. But then as I studied and got more involved, like the personal walkthrough of fertility in my family, it opened up an avenue of research that took me down a path down to MTHFR, which I know you're familiar with, and many of your listeners are. But MTHFR was one of those pieces that I recognise, there are some certain things that you can do in products that will help people, you just have to do it at a level that hopefully it's affordable that everybody can do. And that's the path that we started running down with some of our products. And that just kind of opened up a whole new avenue for us, other than just the pharmaceutical realm, we still have some prescription products, but we also have supplements, and we have over the counter products that really what I want to do is find products that work that bring benefit, and that are affordable. And if we do that, then I feel like we're successful. We may not be a billion dollar company, like Pfizer or any of those others. But that's hopefully not my end goal. The end goal would always be to, to help somebody and to improve their health.

11:37
Yeah, I'm sure you're familiar with Dr. Ben Lynch, then. Yes, yeah. I, I'm a big fan of his and I saw a dispute between himself and highly popular OBGYN on Instagram, and he, you know, was just talking about folic acid. So I'm sure that you have an opinion on the difference between folic acid and folate? What's your opinion on that?

12:07
Absolutely. I mean, it goes back to the fact that folic acid is a synthetic form of folate, so it's not natural, our body was never intended to process that. And really, that's where my study with my wife and I and what we went through, let us do because my wife ended up, she does have MTHFR, which means she can't process folic acid, and you go down the path of methyl folate and folic acid, which are the two natural forms that allow your body to process that. And it is a huge, huge piece. And I'm I'm a firm believer, if you look back at the studies that since 1996, when we have started to or when we implemented the whole fortification of all of our foods with folic acid, you saw a huge uptick of allergies amongst kids. I mean, growing up for me, there was nobody in my class who had these food allergies, that were just a dime a dozen, like they are today. I mean, I can't tell you how many friends come over my kids that they've got peanut allergies, they've got asthma, they've got whatever it is, and there is somebody in every single class a multitude of people in every single class, that habit. And there, there are many studies that suggest maybe that's folic acid that causes that. Yeah, I'm a big proponent of staying away from that.

13:28
Yeah. Okay, so the same OBGYN. I don't know how she I don't know how much time she has on her hand, but she came after me on my instagram post once too. And she stated, well, all forms of folate inside of supplements are manmade. So what would be your response to that?

13:51
Well, that is true. There are certain things that are manmade inside of every supplement, because we don't have it, you have to create a form that is just like nature. So that's what you're trying to do is create something that is just like nature, in order to provide what your body needs. So maybe it's not a whole food coming straight from salad or from your lettuces. But it is the same form just in a lab where they've learned how to make that form to mimic the body as opposed to creating a whole new form that the body can't process.

14:33
Yeah. And we're just going to run with this because I find it very intriguing. The other thing is that, you know, she obviously quoted every single American government body, the FDA, the CDC, you know, this is all the research that they have, you know, don't go against that and My little pea brain, my little like, you know, to to wearing brain is like, well, weren't those studies done when back in like the 80s, when we didn't have the information that we have now. And that started those studies, were only done with one type, which is folic acid. So you can only assume that's what they would recommend, because that's the only thing that they tested. And then on top of that, you know, you'll never get another study, because it's unethical to test these things on women who are really pregnant. So how, what do you feel about that? When people say, Well, these institutions up here, say that's the word so don't argue with them?

15:48
I always come back and say, well, these are the same institutions in the 50s. That said, it was okay to smoke when you were pregnant. And it takes 20 to 30 years sometimes for those institutions to catch up with science and reality, because we knew that smoking was bad. And we knew for years, but the CDC, the FDA, they all said, Hey, smoking is okay. Until about the seventh late 70s and early 80s. So, and it was ACOG. The OBGYN group that actually promoted saying, yeah, it's okay to smoke when you're pregnant. So those are the same institutions she's claiming, then that just haven't caught up yet. So just because these big institutions say it certainly does not mean that it's true or bring it merit. And to your point, I think, and for on her behalf, those studies did show that neural tube defects were reduced if you took folic acid. So again, it's that unintended consequence of this altruistic means or, Hey, I want to do good. So we're going to add folic acid into all of our food. That's a great thing and a great thought. But the the unintended consequence was, you know, what, folic acid isn't what we should be adding, maybe they should be adding methyl folate to it. The problem with that is that methyl folate just doesn't hold up under that high heat. So that's why you can't do it. But, and I think when you added folic acid to the food, they saw a drop in certain states and certain areas and neural tube defects, because we know that some people have the ability to process folic acid. But we also know that 40 to 60% of the population can't. So depending on what studies you look at. So if you have 40 to 60% of the population that can't, no matter how much folic acid you're gonna take, you're still going to have some neural tube defects, you're still going to have fertility issues, and you're gonna have a lot of other things that that pop up. So I just, I call BS on an argument that because the FDA and the CDC and the NIH say, this is what you're supposed to do. Again, they've told us for years that there are a lot of things we should that we're supposed to do that end up being bad for us in the long run.

18:17
Yeah, exactly. Going back to why they maybe aren't using these other types of folate because they are maybe shelf stable, or they don't like hold in the pressure of that he that surely comes down to like a cost issue as well. So another comment she made towards Dr. Bill Lynch was he's just a snake oil selling very expensive supplementation. But obviously, when you are coming from it from a different point, you're you're using better quality things. So your supplements are just naturally going to be more expensive. What's your take on that? And what have you seen in your company?

19:00
Absolutely. Anytime you use methyl folate or folic acid, it is more expensive than putting folic acid into it because it is much cheaper to get folic acid for anything. So yes, that is true. Now, on the flip side, I think that's another problem with our medical community and really insurance in particular, she talks about how expensive some of these supplements are. But if you didn't have insurance, you wouldn't see the hidden costs that were there. So what cost you $50 For a copay cost the insurance company $300 for that product, so it is truly more expensive for that product that they're promoting. But the copay comes in line. And none of us really know what we're paying for our medications. And that's one thing that I think has to change within the medical community is we've got to get more transparency because I think with more transparency, and more paying out of our own pocket I think that truly begins to shift the focus and brings that personal responsibility back to us. Because anytime you start putting money down on something, you all of a sudden start to really take into consideration the product that you're taking. And you go, Wait, am I going to spend $300 for this? What's the benefit of that? Why am I going to do that? Instead of going, Oh, well, my insurance covered it. Doctor said, It's okay. Just swipe a card, go to a pharmacy and pick it up. And that's one thing that I think has to change within the medical community as well.

20:37
Yeah. What's your nicest opinion about the cheap supplements that are out there that maybe you can get from Costco or Rite Aid? Why? I guess, why would you stay away from them.

20:54
Because in a lot of ways, just like folic acid, they can cause more harm than good. Now, there are some people that there may be some benefit from it. But the truth is, if it's not a bioavailable form, a form that your body can use, and that doesn't build up in your system, then it can cause a lot of harm, and you need something that mimics nature and mimics what is happening from the foods that you eat in order for it to really bring benefit and value to who you are. So one of the things that we battle against his we call on our our sales reps call on OBGYN offices is the idea of, Hey, I just tell my patients to go get a $4 Gummy from Walmart, because it's $4. And it doesn't matter anyway. But I think what they miss is, it doesn't matter to them, because they deliver a baby, baby seems healthy babies breathing. If it's a fertility issue, and they're not able to get pregnant, then they send them off to a specialist, and they don't see what happens four or five, six years down the road when these allergies start popping up in these kids. And they don't have to deal with that. That's somebody else's problem at that point. And I think until there's more awareness of that, within OBGYN offices, that's going to be one of the things that we get, because they're they in a physician's mind, they're thinking about all the big things that can happen, and that the baby's not able to be delivered at all. So they're trying to avoid that. And they just don't put the value in the nutrition. And you know, most doctors are pretty honest, when you talk to them. They're teaching on nutrition during medical school is basically a day, maybe two days, they don't spend much time on nutrition, so they just don't know what nutrition can bring in the value that it can bring. Yeah, exactly.

23:01
Okay, we'll shift away from folic acid. But thank you for your opinion on it, because it is highly debated out there. And I think a lot of women just feel so confused by all the information. And I've even seen comments, saying that it's not real, like MTHFR isn't real, like someone made it up to make money. And from an epigenetics point of view, it's not just MTHFR far either. There's a lot of other genes that you need to pay attention to and know. I mean, not you don't have to know but you'll be aware of, and that it all works as a system as a system. And unfortunately, a lot of the information we're getting out there from our OBGYN and our fertility experts, medical experts is a lot of these things just don't matter. They're just trying to get you to the two pink lines. And I mean, yes, that's the ultimate goal. But when you look at the broader picture of women's health, like how many women are having issues now, during pregnancy, how many women are having postpartum issues, they can't breastfeed. You know, the type two diabetes, the autoimmune issues, the thyroid issues that are going on, and they're we're just not we're under estimating how impactful a pregnancy is on a woman's body.

24:30
Absolutely. And I think to your point earlier, you mentioned the confusion that's out there, and there's no end for doctors, I think there's a lot of confusion for them too, because the studies come out, and they say folate, when in the study, they've used folic acid, so there's even confusion within the medical community because they're not consistent with the terminology that they're using. And really, I think they need to change it to folic acid, methyl folate. and folic acid. Instead, they've changed now and they have this dietary folate equivalent that they are now putting in the FDA has said everybody needs to come out which hides what really is in the product. So a dietary folate equivalent make you think that folic acid is the equivalent of methyl folate, which we know it's not? That's a shame.

25:24
Yeah. Do you check the labels for your kids? Whether or not there's folic acid in there?

25:28
Absolutely. And, you know, it's interesting, this is, this is my personal opinion on this. I haven't read a lot about it. But I believe that the folic acid piece and the gluten piece are certainly tied in a great deal because of the the fortification of things. I think that there is a lot of the gluten allergy that is been prompted by the folic acid. And there's a sensitivity that people have that maybe it's folic acid instead of gluten itself.

26:02
Yeah, I definitely believe in a similar thing. Like it's not necessarily the gluten, it's what else is in that glue in type of product, right. Many of people I mean, I lived in in Europe for a really long time. And it was just different, you could tell the difference. And we had a fresh bakery where we lived once. And you know, the the traditional sourdough and rye breads did not affect me, like the Wonder Bread that tastes a list. So I'm not gonna lie. But that stuff messes me up like instantly. And so it's not like gluten has gotten this bad rap rap. But it's it's definitely many other things, including folic acid. And I think to a lot of people, even if you're not focused on folic acid, when you go to a clean lifestyle, and you just get rid of the all the packages, just in the process of it clears out all that stuff, by default.

27:09
definitely agree.

27:11
This has been really interesting. Thank you so much for coming and talking about this. I know you have an amazing product and you want to offer our listeners a little coupon on it. So first, tell us what that product is and what it does.

27:24
Yeah, we've got a product called bump DHEA. And it is specifically designed by maternal foetal medicine doctor who understands that really pregnancy is about certain things. The The main thing is, during pregnancy, you're having red blood cell production for both you and the baby. But you're also producing DNA and RNA. So it's a super enhanced product that focuses on that without folic acid, without Saina Kabbalah. And so we took all those non natural forms that are found in nature out of the product, and I made it as bioavailable as we possibly could. So, and really designed with MTHFR in mind, like I mentioned my wife, that's one who, we didn't have it at the time, but wish we did and had her in mind from when we were designing it as well. So that's the idea behind it. It's called bump DHEA, you can go to Centurion labs, that c e n t u r i o n, l a b s.com. And you can look up bump DHA, you can read all about it there. But we've got a special code for you guys. It's code F F, and you can get your first bottle for 67% off on that first bottle. And we'd love to let some of your listeners try that and believe in it that much that I think your listeners will be super excited to have it. We also wanted to make it affordable. So once you get that 67% off the monthly subscriptions about 30 bucks plus shipping. So it's about $1 a day is what we try to keep it at.

29:02
Perfect. That sounds really amazing. And we are grateful for doing that. All that information is down in the show notes. And when we send out an email and the blog that goes along with podcasts all that will be in there too for our community. Awesome. Yeah. So yeah, so let our listeners know where they can follow you and just get more information about your company and your products as well.

29:28
Yeah, the best place is Centurion labs.com. So you can go to our website, we do have a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at current account. But if you go to Cinterion labs, you can get a link there and follow us and sign up for newsletters if it's something you wanted to do.

29:45
Perfect. Well, thank you so much again for coming on sharing your knowledge and your personal story as well. And I'm sure we'll see each other in the future.

29:54
Absolutely. Thanks, Monica. Have a great day.

29:57
Thank you once again for tuning in to the findings. utility podcast. If you're loving this podcast please leave us a rating and review and let us know how this podcast is supporting you to get steps closer to creating your dream family. I hope you have a beautiful weekend and we will see you next Friday for another episode of the finding fertility podcast.

Let's Do This Together 💚

Monica

🦩 Get Steps Closer to Getting & Staying Pregnant with EIGHT FREE DAYS within the Fertility Formula

Connect with Monica over on:

• Instagram: https://bit.ly/FindingFertilityIG
• TikTok: https://bit.ly/FindingFertilityTikTok

🎙 Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform:⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣

• Apple: http://bit.ly/FINDINGFERTILITYAPPLE
• Google: http://bit.ly/FINDINGFERTILITYGOOGLEPLAY⁣⁠⁣⁣⁣   
• Stitcher: http://bit.ly/FindingFertilitySTITCHER
• Spotify: http://bit.ly/FFSpotifyPodcast

🍍Support Finding Fertility & shop for your favourite fertility-friendly products over on:

Seeking Health: https://bit.ly/FFSeekingHealth Amazon: http://bit.ly/FindingFertilityAmazon

🍍

Anything written or said about health and diet are my opinions, that I have formed over the years, through trial and error, study, reading, listening and observing. What worked for me may not work for you. I am not a doctor, nutritionist or dietician and all medical advice should be gotten from a qualified professional. Product recommendations are based on what I used during my infertility journey or wish I had.