The Holobiont Hacker: Part 2 with Dr. Ted Achacoso
This is part two of an interview with Dr. Ted Achacoso.
This is part two of an interview with Dr. Ted Achacoso. Dr. Achacoso continues to blow me away with his knowledge and ability to make complexity fun. Part two includes deep dives into nootropics, Health Optimization Medicine, Blue Cannatine, and microdosing.
Who is Dr. Ted Achacoso?
Dr. Ted Achacoso earned his college degree in Biology at the age of 18 and his Doctor of Medicine degree at the age of 22. At 25, he was a fellow of interventional neuroradiology, a research professor of pharmacology and toxicology, and a clinical professor of neurology in Manila. At 28, he became a professor of medical informatics and of interventional neuroradiology in Washington, DC, where he also performed artificial intelligence research biased towards connectionist systems.
At 30, he began science and technology consulting for socially responsible investment funds. At 35, he founded and ran a group collaboration software company and created the first wireless groupware. At 40 he traded currencies using artificial intelligence predictive techniques for a private fund. At 45, he retrained in Interventional Endocrinology (Anti-Aging Medicine) and in Nutritional Medicine in Paris, and became double board-certified in both specialties. Dr. Ted wrote the first-ever connectome (of C. elegans) in a book, is published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, holds US patents and software algorithms, provides TV and podcast interviews, and delivers lectures.
He currently has a tri-continental practice in Health Optimization Medicine (HOMe), a clinical framework that he pioneered to include health management in a disease management practice. He also formulated the Blue Cannatine nootropic troche, a product in the Troscriptions line of Smarter Not Harder, Inc.
What is HOMe?
Health Optimization Medicine (HOMe) is a new specialty that takes care of the health of the basic cell that is common to all cells in the body --- the nucleus, cytoplasm, mitochondria and other organelles, cell membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, cytoplasm, microtubules, etc --- which forms the base of specialized cells like muscle cells and neurons, and which in turn, makes up the specialized organs in the body like the heart and the brain. HOMe is for physicians and HOPe (Health Optimization Practice) is for non-physician healthcare practitioners.
“Illness Medicine” diagnoses and treats disease at the level of the organ, for example, cardiology and neurology. In contrast, “Health Optimization Medicine” detects and corrects imbalances at the level of the metabolome, for example, intra-cellular mitochondrial metabolites, extra-cellular microbial metabolites, and inter-cellular neurohormones. HOMe and HOPe use the sciences of Clinical Metabolomics, Epigenetics, Bioenergetics, Gut Immune System, Exposomics, Chronobiology, and Evolutionary Medicine – subjects currently not taught in medical and allied health schools.
The science of HOMe/HOPe is “network-wide range shifting,” meaning shifting the objectively detected levels of metabolites, especially of the major hormone and nutrient networks, into the optimal ranges seen in healthy adults aged 21 to 30. This means that HOMe/HOPe does not use the same reference ranges for laboratory tests used in Illness Medicine, for example, for hyper- or hypothyroidism. This also means that an entire metabolic subnetwork of values is shifted and not just one value, for example, in nutrient optimization, Vitamin E is never given singly but always in relation to the measured levels of all the other major antioxidants in the Antioxidant Regeneration Pathway. Since manipulating one node within a network contextually affects the other nodes to which it is connected, the art of HOMe/HOPe is in manipulating the metabolic subnetwork such that borderline deficiencies and subtle toxicities are corrected to the point of concomitant subjective increase in well-being and health, for example, experiencing increased libido and decreased frequency of self-limiting infectious illnesses.
Whereas Illness Medicine is after diagnosis and treatment of disease, lifespan, and quantity, Health Optimization Medicine and Practice is after detection and correction of imbalances, healthspan, and quality. Illness Medicine asks for Immortality. Health Optimization Medicine and Practice asks for Eternal Youth. Together they provide the full spectrum of health care.
Highlights
[2:57] The difference between Health Optimization Medicine and Functional Medicine
[7:12] What role hormones play in Health Optimization Medicine
[8:50] Work-life balance vs. work-life integration
[14:55] Self-awareness as a metric
[18:02] Peptides as a tool for optimization
[21:46] Addressing concerns around exogenous growth hormone
[24:41] Nootropics
[28:18] What happens when you take nootropics without getting the foundations right
[32:01] Designing the perfect experiment for microdosing LSD
[37:39] Dr. Ted's nootropic formulation, Blue Cannatine
[47:21] Dr. Ted answers the Superhuman 6
Resources
What are genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9?
Episode Transcript
