Deep Dive: Rebalance and Restore – How to be your optimal self this year

The beginning of every new year is an opportunity for a fresh start, right? 

While our resolutions often come and go within 100 days, our need to address suboptimal metabolic health, poor sleep, and high anxiety is becoming increasingly important for more and more of us.

That’s why fatty15 is dedicated to helping you rebalance and restore your whole body and mind health at the cellular level.

Below we’ll discuss more about these three wellness priorities, the latest scientific studies showing how nutritional deficiencies in C15:0 may be driving the rise in these issues, and fatty15’s founders’ mission to replenish C15:0 levels and restore global wellness - starting with you.

So, the world’s metabolism is out of whack.

Struggling to keep a healthy weight. Feeling sluggish. Doctor just mentioned that my liver health may not be in tip top shape. While at least one of these statements may seem personally familiar, you’re not alone. Today, about 1 in 3 people globally have a condition called metabolic syndrome, which often includes:

• Higher body weight
• Higher insulin
• Higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Higher liver enzymes
• Overactive immune responses

Importantly, metabolic syndrome is rising significantly among younger people, especially those between the ages of 20 to 39 years old.

We’re tossing and turning.

As many as 50% of us have poor quality sleep––that’s a lot of people. So, if half of us are getting poor sleep, what is healthy sleep? Well, healthy sleep is defined as getting between 7 and 9 hours of zzz’s every night. This is your Goldilocks-sleeping goal. Less than seven? Unhealthy.  Nine or more hours of sleep? That’s unhealthy, too.

While people who are 65 years or older typically have poor quality sleep, younger people are now more likely to report poor quality of sleep.  And though women are more likely to report sleeping difficulties, when sleep is actually measured, men are found to have lower-quality, fragmented sleep compared to women.

The bottom line is that just about everyone could benefit from healthier sleep these days.

Doesn’t it feel like anxiety is ever-present?

That’s because it is. Today, nearly 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 3 adolescents have anxiety, and the prevalence of anxiety is increasing, especially in younger people. In fact, the American Psychological Association’s 2020 Stress in America report stated the following:

“We are facing a national mental health crisis that could yield serious health and social consequences for years to come.”

Anxiety can come from many sources, and scientists have been actively researching associations between metabolism, sleep, and stress. 

Links between metabolism, sleep & stress.

Imbalanced metabolism is linked to poor sleep and increased anxiety. 

A slew of studies support that poor sleep, caused by faulty circadian rhythms, results in a higher risk of imbalanced metabolism and body weight gain. Conversely, imbalanced metabolism can interfere with sleep. Similarly, people with anxiety are more likely to have imbalanced metabolism. And - you guessed it - people with imbalanced metabolism have a higher risk of developing anxiety.

While associations among imbalanced metabolism, poor sleep and higher anxiety have been well established, the causes for the rise in all three of these issues have not been fully understood. 

Until, perhaps, now.

Fatty15, a pure C15:0 supplement to support healthy metabolism.

Today, more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific studies have linked C15:0 (aka, pentadecanoic acid) to better metabolic, heart, immune and liver health. The pure, vegan-friendly C15:0 fatty acid in fatty15 has been shown to rebalance our metabolism naturally by:*

• Activating PPAR-alpha and delta receptors, the master orchestrators of our metabolism.
• Activating AMPK pathways, which regulate glucose.
• Repairing mitochondria and enabling our cells to generate supporting energy.
• Lowering pro-inflammatory cytokines, which protects the health of our organs, including our liver.

Heck, that’s a bunch of much-needed benefits to help get our metabolism back on track. But, what exactly is C15:0?

C15:0 is an essential and healthy fat.

C15:0 is a healthy odd-chain saturated fatty acid present in trace amounts in whole fat dairy, as well as some fish and plants. Fatty15’s co-founders, Drs. Steph and Eric Venn-Watson, discovered that C15:0 is not only a beneficial and good fat, but that C15:0 meets the rare criteria of being an essential fatty acid.

What are essential fatty acids? Well, these are nutrients that our bodies need to maintain baseline health but can't make. That means we must get these essential fats from our diet or supplements. Today, there are three known essential fatty acids: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3), linoleic acid (an omega-6), and now, pentadecanoic acid (C15:0).

So, why a C15:0 supplement? Can’t I just get C15:0 by drinking more whole fat cow’s milk?

Our primary food-based source of C15:0 is whole dairy fat, which contains trace amounts of C15:0. Dairy fat, however, contains much higher levels of pro-inflammatory even-chain saturated fatty acids (C16:0), as well as a wallop of calories. Food-based C15:0 is also tied up in complex lipids that makes them less bioavailable.  We developed fatty15 to help consumers get > 99.5% pure C15:0 in a vegan-friendly and readily bioavailable form. No cows or calories needed.

Scientific breakthrough shows how fatty15 supports deeper sleep and lower anxiety, too.

While C15:0 has been established as an essential nutrient to support our long-term body health, the latest science is showing how fatty15 may support our mental health at the cellular level, too.* 

• Remember those PPARs? Fatty15 activates PPAR-alpha receptors, which have been shown to deepen sleep, as well as lower anxiety. 
• A peer-reviewed study showed that fatty15 has 36+ clinically-relevant cell-based activities that are a 78% match to leading mood-supporting compounds. This match predicted that fatty15 has mood-supporting benefits.
• These cell-based studies help explain why, in a recent peer-reviewed study, people with higher circulating C15:0 levels had lower anxiety.

Importantly, fatty15’s founders made a(nother) groundbreaking scientific discovery relevant to whole body health: Our bodies use fatty15 (aka C15:0) to make a second molecule that is considered by some as the holy grail of mental health and wellness. 

Simply put, our cells combine C15:0 with carnitine to make a molecule called pentadecanoylcarnitine. Because that word is quite a mouthful, we are calling it PDC, a molecule that may be key to solving the global mental health crisis (more on that in the next section).

What makes PDC so important? Well, the recent peer-reviewed study showed that PDC fully activates CB1 and CB2 receptors throughout our body and brain. In turn, these activated receptors can greatly help to deepen sleep, reduce anxiety, and increase joint comfort. 

Before PDC, there was only one other known molecule with this behavior. This other molecule is called 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG). Both PDC and 2-AG are considered full-acting endocannabinoids. However, 2-AG doesn’t last in our bloodstream long enough to exert its benefits. Unlike 2-AG, it is believed that PDC has much more staying power to provide a bunch of good, body-balancing benefits.

To learn more about the endocannabinoid systems and nerd out on this groundbreaking discovery, check out this deep-dive blog.

Nutritional C15:0 deficiencies as a driver of our decline in wellness.

Because younger generations are increasingly avoiding whole fat cow’s milk, our primary food-based source of C15:0, population-wide C15:0 levels have been declining. Additionally, regardless of diet, our C15:0 levels naturally decline as we get older.

So, knowing that 1) C15:0 is an essential fatty acid that our bodies need to support whole body health, including balanced metabolism, 2) scientific evidence has shown that C15:0 targets receptors that can support better quality sleep and lower anxiety, and 3) knowing that population-wide C15:0 levels are declining, the leading hypothesis is as follows:

Nutritional C15:0 deficiencies are driving our decline in wellness - at both the individual and global levels. 

Here’s the good news. We have a potential opportunity to fix the current metabolic and mental health crises.

Fatty15 to the rescue.

Backed by a bunch of peer-reviewed and published research, fatty15 is a groundbreaking, award-winning C15:0 supplement developed by doctors to restore your C15:0 levels and renew your whole body and mind health. Our proprietary ingredient (the only ingredient in fatty15) is a > 99.5% pure, sustainable, stable, and vegan-friendly C15:0 powder that fits into one tiny pill.

Metabolic benefits tend to kick in after 3 to 6 months of routinely taking fatty15, and 75% of fatty15 customers report feeling benefits, such as deeper sleep and lower anxiety, within four months. 

Here are just a few inspiring testimonials from fatty15 customers:

“My blood test after taking [fatty15] for 6 months [is the] best I have had in 10 years. Low lipids and perfect a1c.” - V.B.

"I feel and look better, sleep better, easy to take. Blood work came back significantly better." - M.B.

“It’s been 2 days after receiving my 3 month supply and I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I feel so great - rested and energized (at the same time?), but it’s a very calm and steady energy. My anxiety feels at bay somehow and I feel much, much more leveled out. I’m genuinely in disbelief by how great I feel. I rarely reach out with reviews or reactions to products I consume but wow. Just wow. You have something really special going on.”  - S.L.

In summary, our world is undergoing a mental health crisis that is impairing our metabolism, negatively affecting our sleep, and increasing our anxiety. A growing body of science supports that we need to maintain certain levels of C15:0 to support our wellness. Science-backed fatty15 was developed to help you replenish essential C15:0 body levels to rebalance your metabolism, restore your sleep, and reduce your anxiety.

Here’s to a renewed you.

Key Peer-Reviewed Papers: 

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64960-y
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18266-w
• https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268778