Speaker 1 0:00
Kay, hello guys. You're listening to beauty bites with Dr Kay, secrets of a plastic surgeon. And today's podcast is going to be amazing. We are interviewing Amy Killen. She's a leading physician specializing in women's longevity. She helps women thrive in their queen phase. She really uses evidence based interventions, and I'm all about that. I'm tired of these Insta bros who are going out there and spouting longevity claims, and I think more women need to be in longevity. So I'm so excited to invite her today to talk to us. She's a board certified former emergency room physician, and she's dedicated 12 years coming up with health hormone optimization profiles and cutting edge treatment, stem cell therapies, bioidentical hormones and peptides, so really diving into what we can do with technology to improve our longevity in the way we live our lives. She's Co Founder and Chief Medical Officer of human art health. This is a longevity clinic franchise. You're going to see these popping up all over. And she's founder of the human optimization project. And she's also writing a book. She has a supplement line, I think she does not sleep. She's had her morning ketones, and I have too. So welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 2 1:25
Amy, thank you. I'm so happy to be here. I appreciate you inviting me.

Speaker 1 1:29
I love to I love that you're a physician. You have five, a family of five,

Speaker 2 1:35
yes, three, three teenage kids that are almost out of the house.

Speaker 1 1:39
And you live in Salt Lake, Utah, Salt Lake City, and then what brought you from the ER all the way into longevity? That's a journey.

Speaker 2 1:48
It is a journey. When my kids were little, I had three kids under the age of three, and was still working in the ER, you know, 4am shifts, getting up at 3am to go to work, lots of stress, not sleeping, all the things. And I kind of wasn't, I wasn't doing that well after a while, and I just realized that if I didn't start taking better care of myself, I was going to be a patient in the, er, in the next, you know, five years, 10 years, with probably some kind of chronic medical problem that could have been prevented if I had, if I had the knowledge and time and and had taken, you know, just taken a step back for myself. So I started learning about how to be healthy. And that's kind of how we ended up here.

Speaker 1 2:21
I love it. And then you are running human art, health, what, where are these clinics located right now? And what can someone expect when they walk into a clinic like that?

Speaker 2 2:29
So humanot is currently in Austin, Texas, and we're in Palm Beach garden, Florida, and we'll be doing Dallas here in the next few months as well, and eventually, hopefully nationwide. But we're basically kind of a one stop shop for longevity medicine health optimization. We, you know, we do hormones and peptides and advanced diagnostics. So we also do regenerative medicine under under one roof. So we're trying to make this accessible for more people.

Speaker 1 2:53
I love that. Do you feel like that? Too many people are dabbling in longevity right now, because I'm kind of getting feeling that when I the last flight I took, the airline stewardess was chatting me up about peptides, and I was like, Oh, where'd you do your training? Well, how do you know about peptides? Oh, I learned at the gym from some people. And now I'm telling my friends what peptides to get, and I'm selling it to them. Horrified, wow, yes, yes, you're prescribing peptides.

Speaker 2 3:18
It is, yeah. I think that a lot of people talk about longevity, money. It's funny, when I got into this, there was no longevity medicine. I think we called it integrative medicine or functional medicine or preventative medicine. You know, it's really been the last few years that we've kind of changed the terminology a little bit. And I think that longevity medicine means very different things to different people, like each person you ask, has a different different definition of it. So I think in a lot of ways, we're not always speaking the same language, but it's an exciting field to be in.

Speaker 1 3:43
Nevertheless, it really is. If you're someone who's new to longevity, and you're a mom, a woman, a business, busy person like what's a good first baseline step to get started on your longevity journey as a patient?

Speaker 2 3:57
Oh, my goodness, that's a great question. I think just educating yourself, you know, there's lots of online tools and influencers. I like a lot of doctors, you know, in the space who are actually practicing the medicine, I think those are good resources to look and see who's really interested in that. Certainly, there's a lot of misinformation out there as well. But I think starting with, like, good books and some doctors that you trust, and start learning some of the terminology, and then kind of go in from there.

Speaker 1 4:26
That's true. I think there's so much misinformation that you really have to choose credible sources. And how do you know someone's credible? Well, are they board certified? Do they practice? Maybe they've been doing this for 20 years. Honestly, you have to, we have to machine learn patient outcomes, and we prescribe peptides and things like that, and hormones too. And there's like, artistry involved in it. It's not just pure dosing recommendations, right?

Speaker 2 4:51
Yeah, absolutely. I think that you can certainly read a lot in a book, and you can learn a lot that way, but until you actually are taking care of patients and seeing their how. Doing and hearing from them and seeing, you know the side effects and the and the good things and the bad things altogether, then you don't really know what you're doing as well as you could.

Speaker 1 5:09
That's true. Now you use stem cells, bioidentical hormones, peptides and lifestyle all these things in your work, prescribing with patients. But if you had to pick like the most, highest impact intervention for women that are entering perimenopause or menopause, what would that be? I mean, I think

Speaker 2 5:26
lifestyle is always going to be your first, your first foundation. And I think that that is always your steps, one, two and three. But then beyond lifestyle, hormone hormone replacement or hormone optimization therapy is my next go to step for women.

Speaker 1 5:38
That's the first thing. And then are you excited about this recent FDA removal of the black box from the estrogen.

Speaker 2 5:46
Yeah, I am excited. I mean, it was, it came. I think it's great news for women. It's great news for doctors who were reluctant or hesitant to prescribe estrogen specifically. But I think, you know, part of me was a little bit a little bit upset by it, not the ruling, but just that it took so long, the fact that it took 20 something years, and that there was, you know, an entire generation of women like my mom, who missed out on good decades of hormones. So it was kind of a bittersweet win, but I do think it's good for women overall.

Speaker 1 6:14
For those women who did sort of miss out, Is there still room for them to get on estrogen? Let's say you've passed through menopause. You're 10 years out of your menopause, our moms, should they be getting on estrogen now?

Speaker 2 6:24
Yeah, I think that there certainly are still some benefits, depending on how old you are and what other medical problems you have. We know that that that 10 year window of opportunity is not necessarily like you can have hormones beyond 10 years, but some of the side that you know, some of the benefits are not as great, because you have missed out, unfortunately, on some of the cardiovascular benefits, potentially brain benefits, but we do still see like bone benefits, even with very late start hormones, even if you're in your 60s or 70s, you can have bone benefits. We still see pelvic floor benefits, which is really important for for older women, you know, preventing bladder infections and and urinary incontinence and things like that, and we can also see some metabolic benefits as well. So I think it's still worth talking to your doctor about whether the risks and benefits make sense

Speaker 1 7:09
for you. I think so. And neurodegenerative and like for brain health and for cardiovascular health still very important.

Speaker 2 7:16
It's very important. Unfortunately, we that so far, the studies don't show that we have is that we can significantly improve cardiovascular health in women who are starting late, so people who are starting more than 10 years out from menopause onset or already have cardiovascular disease. The evidence so far doesn't suggest that adding hormones is going to be further beneficial for cardiovascular health, but it doesn't mean it's not beneficial for other aspects of health.

Speaker 1 7:42
And then you talk about helping women thrive during their queen phase. What does that mean? And why do you think that's such an important concept for women today to have a queen phase?

Speaker 2 7:53
Yeah, so Queen phase, to me, is the, you know, it's kind of perimenopause, menopause and beyond. And I came up with that because I think about, you know, this estrogen shield that we have as younger women. We have estrogen that's there in our bodies. It's always there, and it's, you know, it's really protecting all different areas of our body, our brain, our heart, our blood vessels, you know, all of these things. And then at perimenopause, that shield starts to kind of dissolve, and then goes away completely at menopause. And so, you know, this is a time in a woman's life where she's losing this protection she's always had. So she's kind of moved out of this princess phase, where she had this protection, but she's now moving into the Queen phase where she has to protect herself, and that's with lifestyle, that's with wisdom and knowledge and maybe some of these other tools as well, if she wants to stay healthy long term. So that's the Queen phase,

Speaker 1 8:39
and I love that. I feel like that embodies everything that we're doing. How do you see technology helping in all of this process? What are your favorite wearables or tech devices that help give you feedback on how your body's doing and how your interventions are doing? For patients?

Speaker 2 8:56
I know I really like wearables, as long as they don't make use too stressed out. But I like that. You know, different rings Ultra human, or aura rings. I'm not wearing mine today, but I often do or like whoop and bands like that, looking at things, certainly like you're sleeping, how your deep sleep is, in your REM sleep, but also looking at like your heart rate variability, or your resting heart rate, or sometimes they'll give you stress scores. I think they can also be really beneficial for looking at in younger women, looking at, you know, what you know, ovulation patterns. Are you having regular ovulation? And because that can give us some clues about some of the some menstrual health as well. So I love all those tools. I think technology is fantastic. I love that we have now the ability to aggregate large data sets with artificial intelligence and with, you know, these other tools to really start to make sense of all this data that we're being inundated with.

Speaker 1 9:47
So true, are you, are you doing, like, continuous glucose monitoring, or what do you think's like the next phase? Like, okay, everybody's heard of the oura ring and the, you know, the various things you could do to monitor your sleep. But what's what's coming next? Right? Yeah, I

Speaker 2 10:01
think, I think continuous blood glucose monitors are can be really helpful, at least for short periods of time, and just to see kind of what, you know, get your sugar up and what doesn't I think that there's a lot of other wearables that are coming, you know, EEGs that are in just your just in your wrist, like our wrist or your finger, where we can look a little bit more at cardiac rhythms. There's other people looking at trying to monitor hormones in real time using tests like saliva tests or, you know, urine tests, or even some skin wearables to see if they can monitor estrogen and progesterone and things like that in real time, which could be, which could be really helpful as well. So lots of cool stuff coming. I think

Speaker 1 10:37
that's it is going to be like, a little overwhelming. I feel, I almost feel like patients are developing stress and performance anxiety about looking at their numbers, and they're, like, competitively tracking themselves, and to the point that they're losing the pleasure factor of life, like, yeah, tracking. Have you seen

Speaker 2 10:53
I think that's true, and I think you have to kind of know yourself. So, you know, sometimes some patients get really it makes them very stressed out to see these numbers. Some people just love more numbers, and they love spreadsheets, and they like tracking everything. And I think it's, you know, both are totally fine. It's just understanding what who you are. And maybe you don't collect data all the time. Maybe it's just for a week or two, and then you, you know, go back to enjoying your life.

Speaker 1 11:17
Yeah, it's so important to be consistent, too. In terms of peptides, I think this is such a popular topic right now, and in my office, I literally have told my nurses This is a new category of questions we have to ask, not just what's your medication history, because people give their listed meds, but they do not mention that they are taking peptides. So we're asking, number one, which GLP, one shot Are you on? They also don't disclose. And number two, what peptides are you on? So it's everywhere. What? What's the right approach to starting peptides? And what are your kind of, your favorite stack, or your most useful peptides for women?

Speaker 2 11:53
Yeah, I think that working with a medical provider is an important part of this, obviously, not just doing, you know, getting research peptides online and doing it yourself. I understand the draw of that. But these, these peptides are, you know, they are strong, bioactive molecules, many of them, and they have, they have very real effects, and potentially very real side effects. So having it, have having a co pilot to work with you is important, you know, I certainly love the GLP ones. I think that they're fantastic. I think, you know, the different dosing, the micro dosing, like I think all of that is very interesting and worth, worth more research. I also like some of the like the growth hormone secretagogues, especially with when you're doing a GLP one, so things that will increase your own growth hormone production, like IPI morally, or tesamorelin, or some of those, I think can be useful. I like BPC, 157, I think it's a good kind of gut health molecule, especially when taken orally, and probably also good for musculoskeletal healing, you know, when injected, although that, I know that's not as easy to get right now because of the FDA. And I'm also excited about SS 31 which I know just got FDA approved for, for a rare mitochondrial disease, but I think that it probably has some really good applications outside of that disease as well that we're using it for. So those are kind of my favorites right now.

Speaker 1 13:07
Interesting is that, and can you tell us your personal stack?

Speaker 2 13:11
Yeah, right now, I'm just, I'm not doing a GLP one. I am doing a actually, I'm not doing a growth hormone. Right now, right now, I'm not doing any peptides. It turns out I do. I do topical GHK copper, which is, you know, for skin health. And I'm pretty good about doing that one, although I don't, I don't do it every day, but I kind of go through, like, you know, phases. I'm right now. I'm on, like, a low technology, low medications phase, and then I'll go in a couple of months, and I'll swing the other direction and start something different. So I like to kind of ebb and flow a little bit depending on my travel schedule and what else is going on

Speaker 1 13:45
in my life. I think, as it should be, I feel the same exact way. Sometimes I'll be taking, like, 20 vitamins and supplements a day, and then other weeks I'll be like, Screw it. I'm not taking a single thing. That's kind of like the body is used to that evolutionarily. It's like fasting and famine, right? Like, yeah, you kind of need that stress hormesis too, exactly.

Speaker 2 14:05
And when I'm traveling, it's so hard. I travel quite a bit, and I've been in the last month traveling a lot, so I just haven't been as good when I'm traveling, about doing all the things. But now, you know, hopefully after the holidays are over, I'll get into more of a active phase with supplements and hormones, not not hormones, but peptides again.

Speaker 1 14:22
Yeah. I think that maybe there's a misconception with listeners out there that see all of us doing peptides and all these innovative measures, and they think we're doing every day, every day, like, religiously, like, yeah, like a soldier, but when, in reality, those of us that are most experienced are doing this ebb and flow, like, what you're doing,

Speaker 2 14:41
yeah, a lot of people, and many of the peptides are really, are really cyclical. Like, you don't want to do them every day you you know, actually want to have a plan, like GHK copper, if you're doing injections, you don't want to do more than, you know, four to six weeks, and then you take some time off, and then you come back to it in three or four months. Like, there are some of these that that's we schedule in the cycle. Is precisely for that reason to give your body a little bit of up and down time.

Speaker 1 15:04
Yeah, I think one of the barriers to longevity is the cost right now of all these various treatments. Do you have any idea when that's going to become more affordable for patients? Or what are the solutions for affordable longevity people want to try? Yeah, I

Speaker 2 15:19
think it's a great question. I mean, I think hopefully eventually this longevity medicine will just be incorporated into medicine. You know, hopefully a lot of these things will become part of traditional medicine, whether you're going to just see your primary care doctor, or you're going to the hospital like we can integrate a lot of these strategies into just medicine, because it's just good medicine. But I also think that, because of the health systems are so kind of screwed up right now in terms of insurers and reimbursement and all the things, I think it's probably going to continue to be a little bit out of some people's reach this longevity field for a little while. I wish that wasn't the case, but people have to, oftentimes pay out of pocket for these services, and unfortunately, not, not everyone can afford that.

Speaker 1 16:05
Now let's talk a little bit about stem cells, because that's such a controversial topic. You live in Utah and you're able to, I think Utah is very liberal rules, so you're able to do stem cell injections. What? In other parts of the country, it's super restrictive, and I feel that people get are advertised to with very claims that are, you know, not legitimate. And I think it's hard for patients to distinguish when they hear stem cell, they think all stem cells are the same, and I'm going to be getting exact premium goods everywhere I go. But yeah, what are the red flags that consumers should look out for if they're going to a stem cell clinic. And you know, how can they be injured

Speaker 2 16:43
by that? I think that they're the first of all, in general, the types of stem cells that that we use in most, most physicians use that are mesenchymal stem cells are, you know, you can get them from yourself or from somewhere else. But in general, the cells are pretty safe, as long as they are from a good source, and your doctor knows what they're doing. But of course, those are things that you can't control. I think some red flags with stem cell medicine is, if your daughter, your doctor, is promising you anything, if they're making any guarantees, any promises, then that is a red flag to me, because when we use stem cells, we're trying to get your body to do something. We're trying to kind of activate your own cells to become more active, or to, you know, to reduce inflammation or heal, feel, heal faster and and so not everyone responds the same way. And so we never give, I never give guarantees. I never say this 100% will work for you. And in fact, with stem cell medicine in general, we have to be very careful, just like with supplements, we actually, from an FDA standpoint, can't, you know, and we can't say that we're treating any specific disease, because that goes against FDA regulation. So how we talk about these, these therapies, is actually really important.

Speaker 1 17:53
I think people have to be aware too. Like, where are these stem cells coming from? What's the source? Like, you guys do a lot of autologous with are you doing? What kind of autologous cells are you getting?

Speaker 2 18:03
We do bone marrow and we do fat derived autologous cells. So fat cells coming from the patient, from their bone marrow, or they're like we just do like a little baby liposuction, and can get cells that way. And then in Utah, we're also allowed to do the allogeneic cells using just like placental tissues as well. That's not true necessarily everywhere, but that's coming from donated placental tissue and umbilical cords. And we don't, you know, it's not processed very much, but it is screened and cleaned and all of those things. And those are also available for us.

Speaker 1 18:34
I love that. I love that you do the bone marrow one that's cool that must come from, is that from, like, your, er, days and you've done bone marrow biopsies, you

Speaker 2 18:42
know, actually, no, I didn't. I don't. I didn't, ever, I never did them in the ER days. And actually, my partner, Harry Adelson, is the one who does the actual bone marrow aspiration. We do it all under X ray guidance, under fluoroscopy, so it's all very he's been doing it for years. So he does that procedure. And then the two of us, you know, will do the rest of the injections, depending on what we're injecting.

Speaker 1 19:01
And how does the quality of the stem cells differ when you're getting bone marrow versus mesenchymal fat cells?

Speaker 2 19:07
So bone marrow cells are you're not going to get as many stem cells as you would like if you were getting fat. The MSCs, the mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow are less numerous than they are from fat. But in some ways, we found that the bone marrow cells, when we're treating like musculoskeletal injuries, like shoulder pain, hip pain, knee pain, things like that, they tend to give a little bit more reliable results in our experience, but the fat derived stem cells tend to give more extreme results. So oftentimes, when we're doing autologous cells, we'll actually do we'll pair them together and do both bone marrow and fat derived in the same person, so that you can get reliable results, and, you know, more extreme positive results.

Speaker 1 19:47
I like that idea. And then, have you heard of the Muse stem cells? What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 19:54
Yes, I have. I think they're exciting. You know, the idea behind the Muse stem cells are that there are these more. Potent like cells, so they have the potential to be able to turn into different types of cells in a way that the mesenchymal stem cells actually don't when we use them in people. I have not used them yet because they are not they're not really allowed anywhere that I'm working. But I think they're really interesting. I'm excited to see what happens with them.

Speaker 1 20:18
I am too. I think they're going to be the next big thing. You talk about mitochondrial sexual decline. Can you explain? What is this? How do the little mitochondria work? And how does that relate to our libido? And how can we fix this?

Speaker 2 20:33
Yeah, the mitochondria, as you know, are kind of like the powerhouses of the cells, and they make energy. They make ATP, they're involved. They're very important for just longevity in general. And we know that, you know, mitochondrial function declines as we get older. You know, sexual health is, to me, it's kind of like sits in the middle of all these other types of health. And you know, you have to have, you know, good emotional health and mental health and physical health and social health and all these other things to have, you know, a solid sexual sexual health, and so mitochondria are part of that picture. They're part of the picture of keeping the sexual organs healthy, keeping the ovaries healthy. As you know, when women ovaries are like you're probably your most important longevity organ, and they're packed full of mitochondria. So for women, keeping mitochondria healthy, so that your ovaries stay healthy can help prevent, not prevent, but delay menopause potentially. And it's one of those things that it's being studied by research to see if that's a lever we can pull to delay menopause in women, but lots of benefits to keeping your mitochondria healthy.

Speaker 1 21:33
Yeah, you talked about a mitochondrial peptide that became FDA approved. But I don't think any anything like that's going to become consumer available really readily or soon, right? So what is, yeah, what is out there that's, I know exercise, of course, is so good for mitogenesis. What are the other healthy habits that we could do to improve the mitochondrial function?

Speaker 2 21:54
Yeah, I mean exercise and a good diet is certainly, are both going to be great for mitochondria. Getting a little bit of sunshine or some sunlight occasionally is probably a good idea. Like, I always, you know, I cover up my face, I don't want to rapidly age, but a little bit of sun on my body occasionally, I think, is a good thing. There are some supplements that are known to be helpful for mitochondria, like you're looking a or CO, Q, 10, or, you know, some of the NAD precursors, like, like nr in a man, methylene blue. So there's, yeah, there's a lot of different things that can potentially work on the mitochondria when you pair them with healthy lifestyle. I also really like red light therapy for mitochondria. I don't have my own red light therapy bed, although I do have a kind of a face mask that I wrap around my face and I'll take, like, a little afternoon nap with it. And it feels, feels great.

Speaker 1 22:39
Yeah, it does feel really great. And I totally agree with you about sunlight. I think people forget that you need sun and ultraviolet to create your own internal vitamin D, yes, and it's kind of just important from the all the spectrum of light that you're getting from that. And then we mentioned libido a little bit. So if you improve your mitochondrial function. Is that going to automatically improve your libido? Are you going to recommend something else, like PT 141, or kiss peptin, or are there other things, like injections that will help with libido? Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:12
I mean, I think with libido, it's obviously pretty complex. It's not any one thing. If there's a lot of things that go into sex drive. What, you know, it could be relationship problems, it could be past trauma. You know, there's a lot of things that can go into it, but assuming that it's, it's mostly a chemical issue, I think certainly hormones are going to be a big part of that. So testosterone is really important in both men and women for libido and making sure that they have enough of that. Because we, all you know, produce less and less as we get older. Estrogen is also important in libido for women as well. So especially in midlife women, that's important to know hormone. So hormones for sure. And then, you know, I do like, I like PT 141, I think that it is a peptide that has some good uses, although it also can have some side effects. It's one of those things that doesn't work for everyone, by any means. But when it does, it can actually help with libido, versus versus like, look like, like Viagra, for instance, which doesn't really help with libido, but does help with the blood flow. But PT 141 can do, kind of do help with both the libido and the blood flow, which is, which is great for men and women. And of course, there's a, there's actually an FDA approved drug for women that's called valise, which is the same thing as PT 141, so I like that one. But I think starting with, you know, how's the relationship? How are, you know, how's the stress? How is your sleep, like things like that, that we can adjust with lifestyle can make a huge difference with libido. And then, you know, adding in the other exogenous molecules as needed can be helpful.

Speaker 1 24:41
Yeah, you're a wealth of information. How do you keep up? I feel like I read for two or three hours every day, as much as I can, till I fall asleep on my, you know, my phone or my laptop. With all this,

Speaker 2 24:53
it is hard. It's hard. I have a same problem. I read quite a bit, and I I also I found that I do I write sub. Articles, and I found that in writing the articles I write, I make myself write at least one every week. I found that in writing those articles, I'm learning a lot and keeping, you know, staying abreast of the literature a lot, but I only you know. I certainly I know the things that are kind of in my my niche. I don't. There's so many other things in medicine, and every day I'm like, Oh, I wish I knew that. I should have known that.

Speaker 1 25:20
How do we keep up? Yeah, I think that's so true. It's, but if you don't keep up in this field, that's, that's one of the ways you find a good provider, is someone who's always learning and keeping up and pushing, you know, yeah,

Speaker 2 25:33
and changing their minds. I think if your doctor hasn't changed their mind, you know, in in 10 years or 20 years, about whatever they thought was, you know, good for you. I think that's a red flag, too. I think that as medical providers, you know, we should change our mind as the at the science changes, as the literature changes, as our experience changes with patients,

Speaker 1 25:52
yeah, and but it's so frustrating because even my own OB guy, and when I first went and talked to her, she was like, No, this is part of life. You don't need anything. You just let you know that stage of your life is over. And I was like, No, this is not the right doctor for me. Yeah, yeah. I think there people are so fixed in their ways. It takes a lot to learn the new thinking and the new science. It's so easy to stay with what you learned in med school. And that's the problem that you know, the generation of women before us suffered from that mentality. So yeah, it's really hard.

Speaker 2 26:20
And then we know that we're at this kind of Expedition. Exponential inflection point. People talk about the exponential, you know, exponential medicine, where, you know, all these different types of science and technology are kind of converging right now, and you have this exponential growth and increase in knowledge in a way that we really haven't had before. And I think it's, it's it is overwhelming, like, I think it's really hard for any of us to keep up. And certainly having having AI tools and things that can kind of pull together the literature is helpful, but it's still, it's still just a lot, but we have to keep trying

Speaker 1 26:52
which, which AIs are you using right now that are helpful for you?

Speaker 2 26:55
I like perplexity for research as well as open evidence. And I like clawed for writing, like, kind of helping with my, you know, kind of nailing my voice and writing chatgpt I like for, like, arguing, like, I like to get in discussions with it and, like, have it, you know, kind of get it in, like, little

Unknown Speaker 27:12
arguments back and forth. So, yeah, yeah,

Speaker 2 27:16
I like, it's so funny when several of them were, you know, they like to, they like to compliment you. You know, they're like, Oh, you're so smart. You're the best. This is an amazing idea. And I would be like, No, Amy, you're not that smart. This is just the AI is just telling you

Speaker 1 27:28
that you have to say, Stop flattering me. Stop flattering me. Pay attention. That's right. Stop lying to me exactly. I think AI is helpful, but then also feels like it's such a superficial dive into everything. Yes, it could summarize it all for you, but it's just like skimming the surface.

Speaker 2 27:43
So yeah, and it still hallucinates, like it will still make up sources. It will still make up, you know, just facts that are not real. It still gets things wrong. So I always, you know, I'm always fact checking and reading going back to the actual articles and but it's so it's a nice tool. I think it's something that we we need to learn to use to make sure that we're as efficient as we can be. Definitely.

Speaker 1 28:04
Well, you mentioned GHK, copper and peptides for your skin. What else are you doing? I know. Well, I do so much for skin, but I know you're also doing some exosomes. PRP, what are the fun things you're doing for outward appearance?

Speaker 2 28:18
Yeah, yeah. I love, I love all the regenerative therapies for skin and scalp, for hair, you know, for hair and skin. So whether that's that stem cells themselves, in some cases, or exosomes exercise, or vesicles, which, have, you know, like kind of the messenger bubbles that come from the stem cells that with all the growth factors I've been using, those I've been using exosomes for skin for probably eight years or so in the clinic, kind of before they got to be widely popular. And, you know, even just something as simple as micro needling and putting them on top or adding them after, like a laser treatment to help with healing, or things like that. And certainly, now a lot of skin care companies are starting to put, you know, exosomes in skin care. So I think it's, I think it's fun. I think they're not, they're not going to solve all your skin problems, certainly, as you know, like they're not going to give you volume, they're not going to really tighten that much. But I think that the regenerative therapies are can be really great for skin quality and improving, you know, the health of the skin itself. And then you can pair it with other things,

Speaker 1 29:14
any rate, any really great xsM brands or products that you found to be super effective.

Speaker 2 29:20
Yeah, there's, I, we use VD labs in in our clinic. And then there's another, a new product called Addison's, which we're using as well. I have a one of one of my companies that I, that I run, has a we have a new mesotherapy gun that we just brought to the United States, that we're using for skin and scalp injections in the clinic with either exosomes or even, you know, PRP or whatever you want to inject. So we've been experimenting with that the new company, addosomes for that, which is, I think I'm really liking as well.

Speaker 1 29:50
Okay, that's cool. Let's do a little rapid fire questions, and then that, I think, will be really good information. So. Them about you, first off coffee or tea.

Unknown Speaker 30:03
Oh, coffee or ketones. Yes, also ketones, but not in the coffee.

Speaker 1 30:10
Dre more of a runner or yoga.

Speaker 2 30:14
I am a hiker. I would say hiking, hiking. And like weight training, and I like yoga too.

Speaker 1 30:19
Got it. And then what's the last book you've read?

Speaker 2 30:23
I'm reading a lot of spy thrillers right now. I think the rat the last one was like a brad Thor book. I do a lot of like, I'm all over the place, but that was my last my last one

Unknown Speaker 30:33
got it. What's your first app that you check on your phone every day?

Speaker 2 30:37
My Kindle app, I'm trying to just do my actual book reading on my Kindle for the first 30 minutes of my day and not get on my phone for 30 minutes. That's what I've been trying

Speaker 1 30:47
to do. Wow, that's a good one. I was gonna say, like Instagram or yeah,

Speaker 2 30:52
I'm trying not to get on that first thing. I'm not always successful, but that's my goal.

Unknown Speaker 30:57
What's one peptide that you think is overhyped? Ooh, um,

Speaker 2 31:02
think that BPC 157, is a little over hyped. Yeah, I don't think that we have as much evidence as we think we do, even though I like the idea of it, and I hope that we have more evidence in the future.

Speaker 1 31:14
And one peptide you wish that clinicians used more?

Speaker 2 31:19
Oh, I think some of the mitochondrial peptides, like the SS 31 or the MOT C, or some of those, would help with mitochondrial health.

Speaker 1 31:26
And if you had to pick one thing, PRP or exosomes, which exosomes? For sure, for sure. Okay, that's more expensive, but if, if money is no object, then yes, exactly what's the one supplement everyone should be taking they're not

Speaker 2 31:43
probably magnesium is the one, and then vitamin D, if you're not getting enough sun,

Speaker 1 31:49
that's a good one. And most overlooked lifestyle habit for longevity,

Speaker 2 31:55
I think getting outside in nature is probably the big thing. Like, I don't think people talk about it, but to me, it makes it so important. A little sunshine, a little exercise, a little nature, it's like the perfect combination,

Speaker 1 32:08
yeah, a little forest bathing, yes, yes. Is there any myths about testosterone for women that you'd like to dispel, or hormones in general? Yeah.

Speaker 2 32:18
I mean, I think the myth that testosterone, that women don't need testosterone, is a myth. We not all women will need testosterone therapy, but many women will benefit from it. You know, in midlife and beyond, as their own production goes down,

Speaker 1 32:31
I think so. Is there any clinical red flag that you like if you're doing labs? What are the things that you think are most important for people to check? Let's say you're going to your internist, they do their regular HMP labs. What are some things that people need to tell their doctor to please

Speaker 2 32:46
add, ooh, love that. Apo B on with your regular lipids, I think, a like as well as LP, little a. So those two lipid tests, markers of insulin resistance, like fasting insulin, as well as, like hemoglobin, a 1c and fasting glucose, and then markers of inflammation, like a like a CRP and casting a net there and see if there's anything bubbling to the surface on inflammation.

Speaker 1 33:13
Pretty good. That's a good one. Anything else you should tell your intranets, and you know everyone's going at the end of the year for their physicals. How about DEXA scans? I was

Speaker 2 33:22
just gonna say DEXA. I think that. I think all women, especially so, and men as well, but especially women, you know, over the age of 30 or so should probably have a DEXA scan. And you know, certainly looking at your muscles and your your visceral fat, but also looking at bone health, because we can see, you know, weak bones, osteopenia, even in younger women these days,

Speaker 1 33:44
that's so true. Are you a fan of these clinics that do, like, a whole liquid biopsy, like, you know, 600 labs, and then do full body MRI scan? Is that something you think that we should all be doing?

Speaker 2 33:56
I think that, I mean, we do. We just started offering that executive physical at human, odd health, where we're doing all of those tests, I think that that can be really impactful. But you have to understand that when you cast a wide net with testing, that you're going to get some positives that are probably false positives, like with the MRI, for instance, you you'll it's good, it's a very good chance that you'll get false positives that then require testing and ultrasounds and this and that. So just being prepared mentally for that if you decide to do all those tests,

Speaker 1 34:26
yeah, I think it does lead to other tests. So you'll start down a road of a little bit more testing, but you'll have some peace of mind probably at the end of

Speaker 2 34:33
that, yeah, and potentially catch some things in an early stage that we can treat and get better outcomes. That's the

Speaker 1 34:39
goal, exactly. If you could give your 40 year old self one piece of advice on changing aging trajectory, what would that be?

Speaker 2 34:49
Hmm, yeah, I think that the main thing is that we all have so much power in deciding how we're going to age. We don't have we can't control everything. But I think that as women. Men and men, that just knowing that we actually have most of the power, that lifestyle is so important, that you know that that finding people to support us, that community, is so important. So just kind of understanding that power dynamic and that we have the power and we just need to wield it. It's our queen phase.

Speaker 1 35:18
It's true sometimes you think you're on a road and you don't you can't control the speed or the rate, or you can control everything. Actually, you can even change the road that you're on. I love that very true. I think for women in childbearing years, there's some additional stresses that are just your body goes through so much, and stress level is high, sleep level is low. What can we recommend for women in those, you know, early childbearing years, where they have no time for themselves,

Speaker 2 35:47
it is so hard. Like, I, yeah, I had three kids very close together, and I spent years not sleeping. You know, I think be gentle with yourself. Like, give yourself some slack. You're not going to be doing everything perfectly, and that's completely okay. Like, you don't have to be making all your meals, homemade meals, and cleaning the house perfectly and exercising every day like just kind of give yourself a little bit of grace and know that these years are, they don't last that long. They'll be over before you know it, and then you might, you might miss the chaos you will.

Speaker 1 36:17
Yeah, I have four kids, and we had one set of twins. So it was also, Oh, do you Oh amazing, yeah. But always, honestly, I feel like I've arrived to this, this age with a lot of sleep deficit that I'm still trying to go backwards on,

Speaker 2 36:30
yeah, I bet, yeah. I mean, now I sleep great. But there were so I, you know, spent 15 years between right training and kids not sleeping. So when I started sleeping, well, I was like, Oh my gosh. This really

Speaker 1 36:40
is life changing. It really is. I'm what's the best way to get started on our queen phase? Like, what are some actionable things you want people to do as they begin their queen phase?

Speaker 2 36:51
You know, start working on just the basics. Start working on sleep. I think sleep is one of the top things that people don't talk about. And certainly you're, you know, working on eating a little cleaner, or getting rid of some processed food, and, you know, getting your protein and fiber, some of the things that people talk about. And I also think that the weightlifting is really important for women that not not just yoga, not just, you know, walking and hiking, but really lifting heavy weights. I'm pretty skinny myself, and so I'm always working on building muscle, but that's one of those things that you could never be too young to start building muscle.

Speaker 1 37:20
I think that's true. That's the hardest thing to do, though. I wish we had more time to, like, spend in the gym. And, yeah, getting a trainer is a nice gift to ask for this coming holiday season.

Speaker 2 37:32
Yes, it's a great idea. Or I have, I have a tonal at my house, which is, you know, like the machine that has, like, the trainers inside of it. And you and I, it's not as great as a real trainer, but I think it's pretty good. You can mix up the programs stay on track. So some something to stay on track is really helpful is that, like, one of those mirror things that has, it's kind of like the mirror, but it has, like, arms that, you know, you can move around, and so you can do almost, almost all weight bearing exercises with it, and then adjust the weight for use. It keeps, you know, keep record of what, how much you're lifting at every at every muscle group. So it's pretty helpful. I don't work for total, but I do like

Speaker 1 38:10
to check it out. If you could predict these next five years coming up in the longevity field, what direction do you predict? Or anything exciting you think is going to happen? Are we all going to be on rapamycin coming up soon? Are we going to need 10 years for that?

Speaker 2 38:27
I think we probably. I, you know, I'm excited. I think we'll continue to see more GLP, one use, you know, at lower like the lower doses, kind of the micro doses for, you know, quote, unquote, longevity. I think we'll see more use of other medications, like the sglt, two inhibitors, which are another diabetes medication group that seems to have a lot of multi system benefits. I also think we'll continue to see increased talking, talking, speaking about women's longevity as a distinct entity from kind of general longevity and the role of the ovaries in women's longevity, you know, the role of ovarian health and ovarian aging. We'll see a lot more discussion about that as well.

Speaker 1 39:04
I think you're right. I think you're absolutely right. It's an exciting space to be in. And I know you have supplement line. What's in your supplement line? I always ask people what supplements they're on. Yeah.

Speaker 2 39:15
So I have my I have a company called hotbox. We make these little packets like this, and it's we I created the formula. It's 19 ingredients in five pills, and that you just take them twice a day. So there's 19 different things. But you know, include some of the kind of longevity darlings, like nicotinamide, riboside and spermidine and alpha ketoglutarate and dihydroberine for blood sugar. But then it also includes some of the basics, like some of your B vitamins and vitamin D, magnesium, hyaluronic acid, for skin, acid, Xanthine. So there's 19 things, but we I put them all together in a way that I think is really beneficial for men and women, but really created for the product for women.

Speaker 1 39:52
Specifically, I love that I'll have to try that I'm always struggling with how many different pills I have to take to cover the formulas of what i. Like to cover? Yeah, yeah. Let me know. I'd be happy to send you a box. Oh, yeah, I'll definitely try it. I know you have a book coming out. Are you able to talk about that?

Speaker 2 40:10
Yeah, it's, it'll be not till early 2027, so, you know, hold on, but, but follow along. It is, I don't have the name dialed in, but it's basically women's longevity through the lens of reproductive aging and sexual health. So kind of this, what I think of like an egg centric view of women's longevity, and looking at also how as women with ovaries and eggs, even if you don't have them anymore, but how that has shaped everything from many of our physical advantages as well as a lot of our social advantages. And you know, we have a lot of these longevity advantages that men don't have, but how do we take advantage of them? And so we can stay healthier even longer?

Speaker 1 40:49
I like that. I think that we overlook femininity as a power. Yes, yes, the women live longer. There's definitely more women born than men. And yeah, I think that's super interesting. Is there one sex supplement that's best for sexual health that we're not taking we should be

Speaker 2 41:07
my favorite ones are the nitric oxide boosters. So like in 101, or Neo 40, or some of the brands that have good data behind them, those are two that I know Dr Nathan Brian formulated, but they nitric oxide is it's a vasodilator, so it's opening your blood vessels up and helping with blood flow, which, of course, is important for sexual health, but it also is important for keeping blood vessels healthy, and blood blood, you know, blood pressure down, and things like that. So I think some kind of nitric oxide booster is fantastic.

Speaker 1 41:35
Okay, that's good advice. And are you taking DHA or any other beneficial oils?

Speaker 2 41:42
Essential? Yeah, I do well, sporadically. I do an EPA DHA blend. I try to eat fish. Also, relatively frequently it, but it's one of those things I have a hard time. I like I think we should be taking omega three fatty acids, but it's one of those things that tend, I tend to forget, but I do think it's valuable. I also take fatty 15 fairly frequently, which is, you know, it's a version of those that just came out recently in the last couple of years, that may be helpful as well. Wonderful.

Speaker 1 42:14
Well, you're wealth of information. Where can our listeners find you, and what's the best way to get started on the Queen phase journey with you? Yes.

Speaker 2 42:20
Thank you. So I'm, I'm very active on Instagram, Dr Amy B Killen, and I'm also, I do sub stack articles every week, mostly around women's hormones and longevity. And that's just Dr Amy B Killen, that's on my sub stack. And then finally, Dr Amy killen.com, is my website, and I've got lots of resources and free guides and things like that on my website. I love it.

Speaker 1 42:40
I'll have to come visit when I'm out in Utah next time. Yes, that would be so lovely. You're just like me. You're always lecturing and traveling. Yes, that's That's it for now, guys, I hope you enjoyed so much. I learned a lot from Dr Amy Killen, and I know that I am going to follow a lot of those recommendations as I start on my queen pace.

Unknown Speaker 42:59
Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. This was really fun.

Speaker 1 43:03
Yeah, that's it for now. Guys, don't forget to find me on my instagram. It's Beauty by Dr Kay, doing amazing things with people's faces. And our website is the same Beauty by Dr kay.com and that's where you can find my new skin longevity line, which I'll have to send you some it's got boothion and GHK copper. It also has a tripeptide complex for building collagen and elastin precursors for mitochondrial boosting, and, you know, all kinds of really great goodies. Nice. That sounds great. I'll send you a travel kit. Since you travel so much, it'll be, yes, great. I'll send you a hot box too. Exactly. That's it for now. Guys stay beautiful, and remember to think about your trajectory of aging. How are which path are you taking, and what's your speed? It's time for you to determine how you're going to age in the next decade. Right now. Right now is the time that's it for now. Guys stay beautiful. Bye. You.