Provider Spotlight: Andrew Rostenberg, DC, DIBAK
by Courtney Poling
Andrew Rostenberg, DC, DIBAK, is a chiropractor, kinesiologist, functional medicine expert, methylation researcher, author, and director of Red Mountain Natural Medicine in Boise, ID. In addition to running a busy practice, Dr. Rostenberg has developed cutting-edge protocols using methylation pathways designed to optimize biochemistry, detoxification, digestion, brain function, and more.
He is the founder of BeyondMTHFR©, a leading voice in the emerging field of functional medicine and genetics, raising awareness of how genetic variation impacts our health. He is the author of Your Genius Body, a book designed to help connect the dots between genetics, gut health, and optimized brain function. Due to the populator of his BeyondMTHFR© YouTubeTM channel and website, he has attracted patients from all over the world who seek to optimize their genes and change their lives.
To learn more about Andrew Rostenberg, visit him on his websites: http://www.beyondmthfr.com and https://www.redmountainclinic.com.
Watch our interview with Andrew Rostenberg, DC, DIBAK:
TRANSCRIPT:
At the end of the day, I incorporate DUTCH simply because it matches the way I think. I love seeing a pathway laid out in front of me with a patient’s data put into it, and then I can show them how the nutritional work and the recommendations with diet and supplements that I’m going to recommend are going to fit in every one of those little steps and help steer these hormones in a better direction.
Meet Andrew Rostenberg
My name is Dr. Andrew Rostenberg, I’m a chiropractic physician in Idaho, but, you know, rather than seeing myself as just a chiropractor, we have a really big functional medicine practice and presence. So, I’ve always been attracted mainly to my profession’s philosophy that, you know, there’s an innate intelligence inside the human body. Bodies heal themselves.
I just wanted to have a practice that would essentially serve the needs of entire families of a population and do everything that could be done that did not require surgery and did not require pharmaceuticals.
Why is hormone testing important to you?
So, hormone testing is a critical part of what I do, and it’s simply from the fact that hormones are critical to human health. If a molecule, like testosterone, can turn an eight pound baby into a 225 pound linebacker in the NFL or if estrogen can turn a, you know, 7.5 pound baby into a 110 pound ballerina at the world’s, you know, elite level… Hormones, we need to pay attention to them, because, you know, they have so much potential to change cell expression and gene expression without getting, you know, too scientific about it. So, just off the nature of what hormones are, to be somebody who supports their patients at young ages, at old ages, throughout life, we need to be fluent in what hormones are and how they work.
Hormone testing isn’t just important to me, it’s important to you, because your hormones are controlling and influencing how you sleep, how you grow, how you recover, your tolerance of stress, your susceptibility in your immune system to viral infections. Cortisol is a huge influence on your immunity. Your viral vigilance, your cancer vigilance. And so, it’s like a layered cake, or I often tell patients, it’s like peeling the onion.
Why did you start using the DUTCH Test®?
I looked at a sample report, and I was like, there’s so much more information on this test. And if I was going to get the DUTCH amount of information from another company, I’d have to order dozens of single individual tests, and it would be cost prohibitive, so, I mean, just on an economic standpoint, I think that probably was, like, my business mind that just said, let’s try it. And, you know, from then on we never looked back. It was like, this is just, too… It was so well prepared, and the information on the DUTCH reporting, for me as a practitioner, spoke my language. As somebody who thinks holistically and looking at connections, that I could tell this company was different, and they were doing something that I wanted to, you know, I want to do business with people who think like me and have that same mindset.
How have you incorporated DUTCH testing into your practice?
I’m focusing on the DUTCH Test® with patients who have hormonal-related problems. They’re, you know, they have adrenal HPA-axis type issues, a lot of women with menstrual problems, like, for example, endometriosis, fibroids, PMDD type issues, heavy bleeding, amenorrhea, perhaps even hirsutism, acne, you know. There’s a large number of women out there suffering with these problems, we live in a very toxic world. There’s endocrine-disrupting chemicals everywhere, and so, I’d like to incorporate it that way. And then, on the third page of the DUTCH, at the bottom, on the left-hand side, there’s one of my favorite parts of the test, it shows us the methylation score. Basically, how well obese patients methylating their estrogens, and so…
At the end of the day, I incorporate DUTCH simply because it matches the way I think. I love seeing a pathway laid out in front of me with a patient’s data put into it, and then I can show them how the nutritional work and the recommendations with diet and supplements that I’m going to recommend are going to fit in every one of those little steps and help steer these hormones in a better direction.
What are you excited about in your practice?
You have to be a little crazy to write a book, and in 2018, I finally got my book published. It took me about three years to write it. I wrote it, basically, one blog post at a time. I needed the cathartic, like, I needed to write, but I couldn’t just sit and write the whole thing at once. So, I just wrote it a little bit at a time. And finally, in 2018, we had it published. So, that was my goal with that book was to be a resource for patients who are looking for answers.
The title of the book is “Your Genius Body”, and as I mentioned in the beginning, philosophy is a heavy part of practice, in my opinion. There was a quote I heard in school that just really blew me away, and it said that, you know, the philosophy, the science and the data changes, but philosophy never does. So, if you’re just hooked onto the latest study, but you’re not anchored in philosophy, you know, you can veer off course pretty fast, and so, the book, “Your Genius Body” is there to just encourage people to understand that their body doesn’t make mistakes.
What do you like about DUTCH that you don’t see in other testing?
First of all, it’s easy for patients to accomplish the testing at home. This was true before 2020, but now, in the post-COVID era, the amount of hurdles, and maybe lack of privacy, and there’s just so many things that have to go on to go see your doctor in person now that create, maybe, friction for some people and anxiety for others, it’s just really nice when you can empower people to do things at home. It’s, you know, there’s only so many doctors, and there’s thousands and thousands of people. The more we can empower them to be, to find out what’s going on with them at home, it’s going to help our health care system and actually keep it open for the people who are really sick. I actually really liked that aspect.
So, doing the urination, the urine collection is very simple. And so, that’s one thing that I really like about it, and it’s just, again, the DUTCH Test® is built from a functional perspective. It’s trying to, by looking at the DUTCH Test® the right way, you can see the process of hormone production, the process of hormones in circulation, the process of hormone detoxification, and it… and with the right understanding as a practitioner, you can really have leverage to get it right when you’re balancing hormones. So, those are the things that I like about it. It’s just, for the price that people pay, the amount of data is just incredible and it’s easy, it’s an easy test for people to do at home, so.
What’s your approach to solving unique hormone-related issues?
One situation that has arisen over the last couple of years, with a patient, a couple of different patients, were females who had a very irregular cycle. They had signs of having amenorrhea, they had signs of the PCOS phenotype, and they also had acne issues and skin problems. And so, it’s been known for a long time that, you know, women with acne and male hair pattern type issues have a hormonal imbalance involving testosterone or some of the derivatives of testosterone, so… It was really helpful for me as a practitioner to be able to test this.
So, having the DUTCH Test®, sitting on this table, sitting across the table from a patient who’s obviously very concerned about their skin, and put a lot of time and energy into trying to be, to heal that part of their body. To be able to show them, you know, and say, you know, Jennifer, the reason that you’re dealing with this challenge is evident on this test. You can see that your, you know, five alpha and five beta testosterone derivatives are, they’re high, and out of range, and they’re not being converted into estrogens as they should be in the female body. And so, that helped me develop a functional medicine protocol to help, you know, interact with those enzymes, and help guide those hormones to the downstream direction of turning into estrogen. It’s just a relief for the patients to, you know, see that there’s a reason why things happen and to see it on a piece of paper is very, very useful.
I like the DUTCH Test® for the adrenal results because if somebody has fatigue and adrenal stress, it’s just not specific enough as a practitioner to know which supplements are going to be most effective at which time of the day.
Why would you recommend the DUTCH Test® to other providers?
The DUTCH Test® is affordable, it is super simple for the patient to do. You don’t, as a practice, have to really do anything, hardly anything at all to get this data. And with, once this test comes back, you can educate your patient. And when they’re educated, they’re much more committed and much more likely to follow through with your advice. And so, you know, I prefer to work in a practice where people are excited about what’s happening. They’ve been educated, they’re committed. I’ve found that those type of people get the best results and they refer the people in their life back into your practice because they’re getting the best results.
What’s your favorite wellness advice you give to your patients?
If I was to give one blanket statement to the public about what actionable thing they can do to improve their well-being, their genetic expression, I’m going to say that they need to be aware of and learn about the level of xenoestrogens in their environment. And we’re talking about compounds that look like estrogen under a microscope, act like estrogen in the human body, and are absolutely tearing people apart all across our society and really all over the world.
There’s a big, big, big problem with xenoestrogen toxicity, and it’s in hair products, it’s in skin products. It’s in inexpensive beef products, it’s in traditionally farmed, you know, non-organic dairy. And it’s just these chemicals permeate our life. And so, I’m not saying stay up, you know, stay up in the middle of the night sweating, worrying about all the chemicals in your environment, but really take those steps, there’s simple things you can do to change out your detergent, to change out your cleaning products. Spend a little bit more money on local organic food. Spend a little bit more money, especially on organic dairy and butter. Organic butter is the… probably most important organic product you’ll ever put in your refrigerator.
There’s a website called “Skin Deep”. This is, so maybe, this is the best piece of advice on, let’s say, just in general, Skin Deep is a clearinghouse of information run by the Environmental Working Group. It’s like a Washington, like, a government organization that ranks and categorizes products sold in the United States in terms of their toxicity.
Then they can put their product in, just look at what’s in your bathroom, look at what’s on your counter and at your vanity. Look at the makeup you’re using, if you’re a female, right? Or, you know, look at the products both men and women are using and see how toxic they are and find a better alternative. That simple thing right there will help improve your health with really a little bit of effort.
