Pierre S. Haddad, Ph.D., Biomedical reseracher & Scientific director, presents his two formulas for metabolism & glucose

 

Pierre S. Haddad, Ph.D., Biomedical researcher & Scientific director, presents his two formulas for metabolism & glucose

 

What a beautiful pride, so touching, when he received his products yesterday!  

 

Meeting with Pierre Haddad, biomedical researcher & scientific director.

What a wonderful meeting! I invite you to listen to it directly here here (in French) to discover a golden partner, presented, with honor, by Jean-Yves Dionne (his student some time ago), you will understand. 

JWe are fortunate to be at the intersection of science and the power of plants, accompanied by an eminent figure, who ultimately wishes for your well-being. 

Thus, you will experience it through listening to Dr. Haddad (or Pierre because he is also humble and touching), engaged in an extraordinary scientific rigor process (the bar being higher when navigating in the natural environment), has, over fifteen years, developed beautiful formulas from amazing medicinal plants – and obviously, they have proven their scientific worth – addressing the needs revealed from his field of expertise, which includes, among others, nutritional needs, functional foods, nutraceutical products, and for the past 30 years, metabolic diseases, diabetes, and obesity.

During our first conversation at the beginning of the year, I learned that his formulations, the fruits of a rich history of exceptional experiences, were gathering dust in a drawer. So, "Pierre, we can bring them to life!" 

And so, yesterday, he welcomed Gluconig and Metabzen to his home, he was moved, just like us this morning. And here we are at the beginning of a beautiful adventure with this desire to help maintain well-being through plants. 

• Gluconig, a happy blend of nigella seeds and brown algae, regulates blood glucose. 
• Metabzen helps maintain the body's ability to metabolize nutrients, supports liver functions, protects tissues against oxidative stress, and improves carbohydrate metabolism. Impressive, this Haddad cocktail plays the role of several traditional formulas.

Gluconig and Metabzen are complementary and completely innovative. Listen (in French) and read here. You understand my turmoil and this beautiful new step marked by this strong collaboration.  
 

• Pierre S. Haddad Ph.D., researcher and member of INAF, President of Research on Natural Health products in Canada, which he founded in 2003.
• Family history: Born in Egypt to a Syrian father and an Italian mother, and arrived in Canada at the age of four years and a half. He attended an English-speaking school during his adolescence because his parents wanted him to be bilingual. Very early in C.E.G.E.P, he took a course on chemistry and society; his professor talked about cleaning products and all sorts of things, because chemistry is everywhere in our society, and he talked about medications, which really sparked his interest in understanding how those medications worked.
• He is a pharmacologist. To differentiate from pharmacists, pharmacologists are studying the action of drugs (pharmacodynamics) and also the fate of drugs, how the body transforms drugs (pharmacokinetics). Pharmacists know this too, but pharmacologists are more focused on understanding and designing drugs. He does not practice pharmacy; he is a Ph.D., therefore a university researcher at a major research university in Canada.
• He created, a few years ago, Phytothera, a consulting company to offer his services and expertise in natural health to various companies. 
• In 1998, being a classical biomedical researcher, he attended a conference.  At that time, he was studying, for example, the action of insulin on liver cells, liver transplantation, and also metabolic diseases, in general, how the body manages nutrients, whether they are sugars, fats, proteins, etc. He is associated with the nutrition department as a research associate at this university. Also, a professor in nutrition, on modes of action.
• The spark for his work came at that famous congress in Morocco, where his colleagues were working on liver transplantation but were also doing researches on plants for diabetes. There was a symposium on medicinal plants; he found it really interesting and asked himself, "How come there aren't many people studying this?"  There was a plant that they were partly interested in, and he conducted himself a small survey among herbalists and naturopaths, people knowledgeable in medicinal plants, and nigella came up (a spice that is widely used and originates from the Mediterranean region, Asia, Turkey, and India as well). It is indeed a spice that is used much more in Mediterranean and Asian cuisine than some might know; it is a small black seed with a particular smell..
• His colleagues were studying the antidiabetic activity of this black cumin, so he started there. But the real opportunity came when (a true story of human chemistry) he made connections because he knew that a pharmacologist cannot study medicinal plants alone; he needed a botanist, a plant chemist. So, he started building a multidisciplinary team around him. Alain Cuerrier (botanist at the Montreal Botanical Garden) invited him to another conference where people from Indigenous communities opened their hearts because, unfortunately, there were thefts of their traditional knowledge, and this made him realize that indeed Indigenous traditional medicine used plants and diabetes was truly a serious condition (the Indigenous population has a rate 3 to 5 times higher than the normal population. About 7% of people in Quebec have type 2 diabetes, whereas in the Indigenous population, it can rise to 20-25%).
• He started working with the Cree of James Bay because it was a significant health issue.

Why these figures? 

• There are several theories, the most popular or well-supported being that there were significant changes in dietary habits, as well as mechanization; Indigenous communities were very physically active (canoeing, snowshoeing, etc.) and gradually machines arrived, motorboats, snow machines, leading to a decrease in physical activity and at the same time an increase in what we call Western food (our food from the South that moved up North to these populations), and there too, rich in sugar, fat, processed foods, simple sugars that are quickly absorbed.
• All of this combined led to metabolic imbalances because there is also a theory that says they lived in arid or difficult conditions, especially up North, with cycles of famine and abundance when they hunted animals and gathered fruits. It's not a theory that is necessarily proven, but it can contribute. So, there are, so called, energy-saving genes, which are perhaps more efficient energy sensors. This is a survival advantage when we are in difficult conditions, but when we have a diet high in fats and sugars, it somewhat accelerates obesity, metabolic problems, etc.; the most important risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Ultimately, we don't die from diabetes; we die from complications such as liver problems, cardiovascular issues, blindness (loss of vision is largely caused by diabetic retinopathy), kidney problems, diabetic nephropathy, loss of sensation because diabetics must be very careful with their feet, as they injure themselves and don't feel it), leading to nerve problems that can get infected, gangrene, and amputations. Diabetes is also the leading cause of non-traumatic amputations (not related to an accident).
• It is truly a serious modern disease and unfortunately, it is largely related to metabolic problems, which is why he became interested in it.
• It increasingly affects children; the youngest ones are starting to show metabolic symptoms, meaning disorders in the regulation of sugar and fats.

To continue his story

• He built this team and also joined with endocrinologists (specialist doctors who look at the different hormones including insulin and glucagon, the two hormones that regulate blood sugar). These researchers (advisors) conduct studies on medications and were also interested in the aspect of medicinal plants. Also, the Cree Council of Social Services was an important partner. They had a team built over the years, including 7 laboratories from 3 major universities; they looked at things from multiple angles, because the intestine, where nutrients are absorbed, including glucose, can be a target, and they also looked at the targets of existing medications to try to reduce the absorption of sugar in the blood. Next, the main organs targeted by insulin: firstly, the pancreas which produces insulin in response to changes in sugar; in fact, it responds to the increase in blood sugar to store it in the liver and to slow down production because the liver can store sugar when we have a lot and can also produce it, it is the only organ along with the kidney, a little bit, that can produce glucose from fats and amino acids, thus from other nutrients. The liver is somewhat our metabolic factory, and that's also why fatty liver disease is a condition characterized by the accumulation of fat in the liver, which causes insulin to work less effectively, leading to what is known as insulin resistance.

The liver is truly a key organ in the entire metabolism of the body.

• He was studying, just before working on plants, he was interested in this disease, called hepatic steatosis, which causes liver problems, and he was trying (with his colleagues) to improve it. They were looking at the different organs that respond to insulin; we're talking about the liver, but there are also skeletal muscles that take in glucose in response to insulin to use it (with movements, we burn energy). Glucose provides some of the body's energy, then there are fats that store the excess sugar in the form of fat, which also respond to insulin. There are different types of fats; some fats, if too much accumulated, contributes to creating a small level of inflammation in the body. We hear a lot about inflammation, oxidative stress.  In life, there are many prevention approaches, especially with natural health products; we talk about super fruits that are super antioxidants, things like that. Oxidative stress comes a lot because glucose contains a lot of oxygen in the molecule, so it creates oxidative stress and there is a lot of it in the body.
• Inflammation is also important because many chronic diseases have inflammation as a component. Inflammation is a normal condition of the body to defend itself when we get injured, for example, it becomes red, it hurts, it swells; these are all reactions of the inflammatory system and when it heals, everything disappears. But chronic diseases like obesity, cancer, Alzheimer's, etc., have a component of low-grade inflammation that does not cause swelling, pain, or any of that. It contributes, but it's not like an injury, that's acute inflammation. We're talking about mild chronic inflammation, and this also disrupts the metabolism in the body.
• Subcutaneous fat is good fat, but not the fat that is in the abdominal cavity. We usually look at the body mass index (BMI), an index between height and weight, and we use BMI a lot to categorize people, such as, let's say, normal, overweight, or obese, and different types of obesity grade 1, 2, 3, etc.
• Researchers at Laval University have indeed discovered that waist circumference is a very precise indicator that truly correlates with metabolic problems as well. Through extensive studies, they understood that this abdominal fat produced more inflammatory molecules and disrupted the body more than other fats. The purpose of fat, if there is too much energy in the body, too much glucose, for example, is to store it in the form of fat. At some point, the capacity of adipose tissue overflows, and that's when it accumulates in the liver, in the muscle, and insulin resistance sets in, causing insulin to no longer manage sugar properly, and sugar levels start to rise. It is a very insidious disease because we have no symptoms, we don't feel bad; there are imbalances that occur in the body but they don't necessarily have consequences. It can extend over 5-10-15-20 years before we start having complications from diabetes.
• Prevention. We are not talking about curing diseases, we are talking about helping people prevent metabolic disorders. All he explains is precisely the approach they took in understanding how metabolic diseases develop and what the key organs are. They had about twenty tests on different tissues, on oxidative stress, inflammation, the differences between the various organs he mentioned; they established a fairly comprehensive research platform to study this.
• The more he studied plants, the more he thought about several elements, namely, if we really want to help people prevent metabolic diseases, we should have something that helps the liver, inflammation, oxidative stress, and also helps the body manage nutrients well, particularly glucose.

This formula he is presenting us, which has been simmering in his mind for at least 15 years, is the culmination of much reflection and is based on scientific evidence. By working with natural health products, he was forced to raise the bar.

(He draws inspiration from what he does for himself to create formulas that he developed with MJ.)

 

26 :25 - IHe was trained in the doctrine of the ‘’silver bullet’’, the bullet that will hit a target and solve the problem (ex.: antibodies). Plants have thousands of compounds. The more complex the diseases, the more targets we can act on. For example, several areas of the pancreas and liver can be targeted to control sugar.

28 :18 - The formulas were in his drawers; they are all-in-one formulas – introduction. He wanted to help people, he went back to school to study herbalism, he wanted to combine science and tradition.

34 :16 - Gluconig blood glucose regulator is a brand of the innovative Quebec product Insea2.

• The glycemic index measures how quickly sugar can enter the bloodstream. A high glycemic index is found in foods that contain simple sugars (e.g., a slice of white bread or chocolate) capable of entering the body very quickly, prompting the pancreas to send a signal of high sugar in the body. Insulin is secreted and quickly rises to control glucose, followed by a "down" because insulin works so well, it manages to lower glucose, and hypoglycemia can follow.
• Slow sugars (dietary fibers) have a low glycemic index, they enter more slowly in the bloodstream.
• IInsea2 attenuates the transformation of complex sugars into simple sugars, which lowers the glycemic index of foods. That doesn't mean eating chocolate and taking Gluconig. Prevention starts with healthy lifestyle habits (eating well, staying active...).
• The blend of seaweed made by Innovactiv is the Quebec side of the product, and the Mediterranean part is the nigella seed, which helps the muscles, liver, and pancreas. He had the idea to combine the two ingredients.
• Can a diabetic take it? This does not replace medication; it rather helps to mitigate the sugar rush when eating and slows down fat absorption. Nigella helps the body manage sugar better.

41 :57 - Dosage 1 capsule, 30 minutes before a meal, 2 times a day.

To help reduce the glucose spike after a meal and maintain a healthy blood sugar level, it can be used even if one does not have any conditions; it cannot disrupt the system in a normal individual, but it can mitigate the effect of quick sugars, so it's not bad for a healthy individual.

49 :48 - Metabzen formula developed over the years with this understanding of metabolic diseases to act on multiple levels. Group of Natural compounds to manage glucose. CContains plants for blood glucose:

• Natural Ginseng: may help manage blood glucose in various metabolic conditions
• Chrome: essential mineral; for many enzymes related to nutrient management and insulin response. Studies show that it helps maintain healthy levels.
• Nigella
• Also contains plants for the liver: Milk thistle.

Pierre has made more than 150 career publications, including a hundred on natural health products.

His studies have been peer-reviewed and published in the most reputable journals. It is difficult to get published in these biomedical or classical journals because there is a lot of skepticism, and this kind of study does not align with the dogma of the molecule acting on a single target. Therefore, pharmacologically, it is very complex, and the major medical or specialty journals are very hesitant. He is happy to join Maison Jacynthe and help by bringing his experience and expertise because we are serious and want to rely on science. He is very touched to see the fruit of several years of reflection coming out in a bottle.

 

54 :47 - Metabzen dosage: 1 capsule, once or twice a day.

• Also contains plants that act on inflammation: turmeric is one of the most recognized anti-inflammatory plants, but it also acts on the liver in combination with milk thistle. It manages stress due to inflammation.
• Vitamin D: deficiency = higher risk of metabolic disease.
• Vitamin E: the oil-soluble antioxidant aspect will protect against oxidative stress in membranes that contain glucose transporters and enzymes. Helps break the cycle of toxic lipid generation in the liver.

58 :19 - You can take both products together, they are complementary.

• Gluconig : more specifically for managing glucose absorption and control.
• Metabzen: more comprehensive for metabolic diseases in general with a multifunctional approach, it combines the equivalent of 5 formulations.

Often, the mixture of molecules is more effective than an isolated molecule, but sometimes it's the opposite. Many medications are natural products or derivatives of natural products. Even today, estimates suggest that 40-60% of the most prescribed medications are linked to natural products.

These products are carefully thought-out blends made from ingredients that have scientific evidence recognized by Health Canada, which justifies the indications found on the bottles. If the claims are permitted, it is because Health Canada and other organizations around the world consider the evidence sufficient to display those claims. That's the beauty of the Canadian system, which is a good balance between the traditional and the scientific.

 

1 :04 :00 - Who are these products for and how long should they be taken?  - They do not affect body weight; black cumin might help but there is no conclusive evidence. However, it is the impacts of fat accumulation that lead to metabolic disorders, which can be better managed with Metabzen. It acts on the well-being of the general metabolic system, affects several organs and aspects of metabolic disorders, including oxidative stress, inflammation, and helps organs better manage metabolic disorders. Can be taken on a regular basis. Check the contraindications mentioned on the labels.

• Gluconig: to help slow down the absorption of sugars and have less impact from meals on blood sugar, on glucose in the blood during meals. 

Natural health products are health management tools that focus on prevention. The modern healthcare system is focused on managing symptoms and treating the disease.

1 :09 :56 -  Contraindications

1 :11 :43 - If you notice an initial increase in waist circumference (a precursor sign of metabolic imbalance): start using it as a preventive measure.

1 :12 :31 - If you already have an imbalance: present the products to your doctor to start using them while monitoring blood glucose to avoid hypoglycemia.

If you have fat in your liver, Metabzen can help.

1 :20 :28 - The regulation of self-care products includes: shampoos, toothpastes, cosmetics, and natural health products.

1 :21 :51 - Summary of the usefulness of the 2 products.

 

Pierre will write simplified texts for us to help doctors understand these products, which are health management tools just like healthy lifestyle habits.