Treasures from the Sea #161

Tollef Olson:

We are growing what is arguably the healthiest vegetable you can eat with no fresh water, no arable tillable land, no fertilizers or insecticides. And what I see is an industry that should continue to grow, create jobs in this state and help the earth while feeding people well into the next century.

Wendy Taylor:

One thing led to another and we started talking about skin cancers and photoprotection and why can't someone come up with a product that really is a multi purpose, multitasking product that people will use on a daily basis, like a moisturizer that actually nourishes the skin but also protects it?

Dr. Mike Taylor:

So I began real research for about a year and a half of different marine ingredients. We ended up with five very good ones that hydrate and rejuvenate and there are other things out there that we'll still keep looking for.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 161, Treasures from the Sea, airing for the first time on Sunday, October 12, 2014. Maine is home to miles of inviting coastline which gives us proximity to a prolific ocean whose treasures are many. The benefits of the sea go beyond swimming, sailing and fishing. Today we speak with Dr. Mike and Wendy Taylor, developers of Ocean Elements skin care products and Toliffe Olson whose company Ocean Approved harvest nutrient rich sea vegetables for eating. Listen to our conversation and understand what treasures the sea has to offer. Thank you for joining us. On today's show we have two individuals who discuss things that are really very close to my heart as a physician and as an individual. They wrap together things like community health, public health, but also environmental health and physical health. Today we have with us Dr. Michael Taylor, who is a retired dermatologist who has had a career long interest in public health and international health and community medicine. His wife, Wendy Taylor, began her career in Long range planning, market research, marketing planning and marketing management in large financial institutions in Chicago and Colorado. The husband and wife team later founded Konbit Sante Cap Haitian Health Partnership. More recently and the reason why we have them in the studio today, they founded Brightwater Bay Science llc, a main based company whose focus is on skin health. Ocean Elements is a Brightwater based science brand. And in May of this year they introduced the first product, a daily moisturizer with an SPF of 30. Well, welcome into the studio.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Thank you for having us. Thanks, Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we've had a chance to speak with Nate Nickerson of Konbit Sante and also Deb Dietrich has spoken about your organization as well. So I wanted to start with that because it's something that I, I am fascinated by. This has been, you've done this for quite a long time. And as a dermatologist and somebody who does work in marketing and long range planning, I wonder if you can tell me why it was that you thought that this was important to you.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Well, it was 2000 that we founded Combit Sante and it grew out of a belief that, that we had resources here in the greater Portland area that would be useful and willing to help out in underdeveloped areas of the world if we could put together a structure that would support the volunteers as they provided their services. Both of us had had experiences in medical missions, being dropped in for a week, taking blood pressures, giving some medicines and feeling as though we had done wonderful things and then abandoning our patients there. And they went back to the way they were before. What struck us during one of our missions was a nurse, a very caring nurse who ran up to us and said, I just diagnosed a woman with diabetes. She has a blood sugar of 400. And Wendy and I looked at one another and said, have we done anybody any good by being here? This was in the Dominican Republic because there are no needles, there are no syringes, there are no public health nurses to train individuals on how to take care of their diabetes. No strips to check the urine, really nothing. And we thought, wow, this really isn't very useful. We have to, if we're going to do anything and use our time and resources, we have to develop a method that's sustainable. We have to partner with a community over the long haul to support them so that the individuals, the professionals who live in that community can provide better services, actually trying to create a sustainable program rather than just dropping in and leaving feeling that we've done some good. So we gathered thought leaders in the Community, not just physicians, but Don McDowell, who was then president of Maine Medical Center, Jim Moody, who was president of Hannaford, Don Nickel, who is a planner and had worked originally with Ed Muskie. So we really tried to get people who would give us honest, good advice as well as several physicians. And we met in our dining room for seven or eight months on a monthly basis and got things going and found, not to our surprise, that, I mean, Portland's a wonderful community. I could just talk about Portland. But we found, not to our surprise, that there were many people who wanted to participate and would participate if the structure were such that they could be supported, which required finding a hotel, transportation, making sure about immunizations, forming the relationships. But it's really been successful, I suspect, you know, Eva Lathrop. And Eva was one of our first volunteers and she's incredibly involved.

Wendy Taylor:

Eva Lathrop has been really instrumental in getting a women's health program going in Cap Haitian. Working with a powerful OBGYN there, they formed a fast friendship as well as a collegial relationship which has resulted so far in bringing local health care workers into the health care system. The matrons who delivered 85% of the babies at home in the community had no training to speak of. They were the ones who people trusted and they didn't know what to do if they ran into a problem Delivery. Eva and Dr. Telemark, her colleague, developed a program to bring those people in and train them and connect them to the medical community so that they would improve birth outcomes. And they've continued to do that to take health care out into the community. As you probably know, Eva was a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi and she still travels to Haiti as well as to Africa. And she does it on a regular basis. She has taken her little baby girl with her since she was less than a year old.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it sounds like doctors are continuing to want to do good things in the greater global community. And you've set up a structure that enables them to do this and feel supported.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How did the two of you. I know this is somewhat personal, but how did the two of you meet and come to understand that you both were able to offer something in a relationship that would really be of benefit to the greater good?

Dr. Mike Taylor:

You can talk about how we met.

Wendy Taylor:

Well, we met like most people meet. We were introduced and found out we had mutual friends. And it wasn't till we had been married.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

We were introduced by her mother.

Wendy Taylor:

I was pre approved by my mother, but it was later, I think I worked briefly in Michael's office when he was between office managers. And I quickly realized I did not have the skills or the background to do that for very long. But we did hire someone else who stayed with the practice for years and was wonderful in the Haiti project. I guess we just decided over the dinner table that we were going to put a toe in the water and try it, get some people together, talk about it and see what happened. And we have a good working relationship. We have interesting dinner conversations.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Well, we work well together. We were married when we went to the Dominican Republic on a medical mission. And I think both of us concluded after that experience that there were really wonderful human beings who wanted to give of themselves, but it required a structure for that to happen in the proper way. I mean, ours isn't the only one. There are several, but there are many more that are dead ended. And we decided together at that time that, you know, we were young and foolish. We said, well, I think we can do this better. I think we can set it up so that it's sustainable, so that it has broad community support. I mean, we're a sister city. We've had the priest from the cathedral, Father Jim. Do you remember Father Jim?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I do.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Father Jim came down with us to Haiti and he then brought up the priest from Cap Haitian who gave mass and a sermon at the cathedral. So, you know, we felt that not just medical professionals, but the whole community would probably want to participate in a helpful way if there were a mechanism. So we did this together after that experience, I think it occurred during a conversation. We said, well, you know, we could probably do this. So we gave it a try.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Here on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast, we've long recognized the link between health and and wealth. Here to speak more on the topic is Tom Shepard of Shepherd Financial.

Tollef Olson:

Sometimes I meet with married or partnered clients and when we get to talking about their financial lives, a cultural divide bubbles to the surface. One person feels one way about their money and the other seems to be on their own financial island with a set of beliefs and rules that have created unnecessary borders and boundaries. It's not an uncommon thing. And when I hit those situations, I do my best to help both people understand that neither is 100% right or wrong, that they simply have to take a step back and look at their own financial life in a new light. It is also true in politics and economics. What we need to do is see money as a living thing that can be used to grow our lives together without disagreement or so called border issues. It's a great feeling for me, it's like I'm helping people negotiate peace treaties with their money. Be in touch if you want to know more. Tom@Shep Shepherd FinancialMaim will help you evolve with your money.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

so let's talk about your newest endeavor, which I know is going to be successful because the other one was. So why wouldn't this one be?

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Well, each has its own challenge.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Of course it does. But this is very exciting to me. This is BrightW, Bright Water based Science. You're focusing on skin health, which of course is your background. Dr. Taylor in dermatology. Ocean Elements is part of your is part of the Brightwater Based science brand. And you now have a daily moisturizer with an SPF of 30. There's an interesting story behind this and there's an interesting main connection and I want to ask Wendy about this.

Wendy Taylor:

Well, Michael retired from his dermatology practice several years ago and I think spent one month collecting the books he intended to read and going on a road trip with a guy friend and doing a little meditation. And at the end of a month he said, I have to do something else. So that was the brief retirement of Dr. Taylor and one thing led to another and we started talking about skin cancers and photoprotection and why can't someone come up with a product that really is a multi purpose, multitasking product that people will use on a daily basis, like a moisturizer that actually nourishes the skin but also protects it. We were saying people have such a bad attitude about anything that's called a sunscreen because they assume it's going to be sticky, smelly, unpleasant, it'll creep and itch and get into your eyes. And that was sort of the beginning of the conversation.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

When I was in practice, I'd suggest to individuals that they try a couple, go to the pharmacy and try a couple and first of all determine which one they would use and then check what was in it and so forth. So for us that became a primary, primary thing. We Wanted to, based on our experience during the screening, wanted to use marine ingredients as much as possible if they would provide legitimate benefit to the product. And being in Maine, we were really fortunate to have access to information.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me about that and why it was important to use marine ingredients.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Well, they're ubiquitous, they're available. We wanted to promote Maine. That was a side goal of ours, was to promote Maine, and we haven't done that yet. Truth right out there. The marine ingredients that are in our product are sourced by the manufacturer. We're a small startup and we don't have the financial or historical clout to persuade the manufacturer to look beyond their traditional sources. So our intention was to use main sources. And it will be in the future, if we continue going, we'll have enough ability to do that. But if you look around at how natural products are discovered, most of them are close by. People look at rose hips and say, okay, vitamin C. We haven't explored the ocean for all of the possibilities, and there's a treasure trove out there. When I started doing my research, it became clear that there were tons of effective antioxidants. There is a coral that actually creates a photoprotective barrier, and you find it only on the highest points of the coral closest to the surface of the water. And it has an effective SPF value. So there are many things there. And the more research we did, the more we found out.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Wendy, can you tell, can you talk to me about some of the trends that you've seen in skin care?

Wendy Taylor:

Sure. There are several things that we're seeing right now as trends in skin care. First and foremost, I think people are becoming more concerned about what's in the products they use and what's in the products they use on their children. Secondly, people are becoming increasingly aware of, of potential damage from sun exposure, aware of skin cancers, but also aware of photo aging, potential damage, wrinkles, fine lines, dark spots. And that's interesting to people of all ages, not just the older people who are already experiencing them, but also the younger people who would like to avoid the problems. A third trend we're seeing that as people mature, they're increasingly concerned about the appearance and the health of their skin. And they become interested in anti aging products and routines. And this translates into a growing interest in anti aging products, but not just among older women. We're seeing it among younger women now too. The other thing that we're seeing is that this, this interest in anti aging products is not just among women. We're starting to see more men I

Dr. Mike Taylor:

just wanted to comment on one thing and that is, and this would interest you as a family physician, there was a recent study of teenage girls. They showed a movie of the effect of sunlight in creating skin cancer to one group. They showed some pretty awful erosive lesions on the face. Then they took a separate group of teenage girls and they showed them a movie on the effect on aging of sun exposure with blotchy skin, wrinkles, sags. And then after that they gave them sunscreen and watched. It was an observer study who used sunscreen. Guess who? Not the ones who saw the skin cancer, their use stayed the same, but the teenage girls who saw aging consequences, their use went up. So as a dermatologist who has preached about the risks of skin cancer for years, and while not ignoring, certainly not emphasizing the anti aging, I've been headed in the wrong direction for decades.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I think that that's a very important point and one that in medicine we are only just starting to understand is that people don't want to get cancer, they don't want to get heart disease, they don't want all these bad things. But at the same time they want to see some benefit to what they're doing and they want to know that there's going to be some physical positive impact. So as opposed to avoiding things always, which is a very fear based approach, I think, embracing things that enable us to be healthier and more, well, longer. So that's something in medicine that's really a fairly relatively young idea. So this is something that you're trying to do with your moisturizer and what are your plans for other products?

Wendy Taylor:

Well, we have several products that are on our possible wish list. But the one that is coming up next is a night product that rejuvenates and repairs. We're in the process. And it also has some marine ingredients in it. We're in the process of finalizing that formula and doing some testing. We're doing both scientific testing in California in a scientific laboratory there. And we're also doing some consumer testing here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And one of the reasons that you became so interested in marine products, do I understand this correctly? Is that you were noticing that the hands of people who worked around the water, fishermen, for example, tended to be nice and bright and free of aging.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

I was doing a snake skin cancer screening up at the Fisherman's Forum. They have them every February at the Samasat. And actually the nursing school at USM has promoted this. I was just one participant with them. But during that, one of the wives who was with her husband said when he harvests seaweed, his hands are nice and smooth and moist. And his friends, who are fishermen and lobstermen, have rough hands with cuticles that are broken. And they admitted that harvesters of seaweed have smooth hands. I began to research it, and Laminaria digitata, which is a seaweed common to Maine. It's the brown, long, flat seaweed, has a moisturizing component. It's actually hydrophilic. So even after you put it on, it absorbs. Absorbs moisture from the air and maintains that. So it's a great moisturizer. There is a gentleman by the name of Toliff Olson who farms Laminaria digitata off Chebee island, and he came and confirmed that and demonstrated it. And as I did more research, there was one plastic surgeon in New York who used it for wound healing successfully. So that really stimulated. I said, well, if there's something like this that's legitimate, it's effective, people will use it, has scientific evidence as to why it should work, there must be other things. So I began real research for about a year and a half of different marine ingredients. Many dead ends, many wonderful ingredients that I just couldn't obtain. You know, they aren't manufactured, but we ended up with five very good ones that hydrate and rejuvenate. And one of them has a photo protective feature about an SPF of 5. It's not high enough, but it supplements. And there are other things out there that will still keep looking for.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Meanwhile, the proceeds from your moisturizer and other things that are yet to be put together in your brand. 50% of them are going to go to benefit environmental and public health nonprofits.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So 10% will be

Dr. Mike Taylor:

correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

10% will be the sister organization down in Haiti. Is that right? And then other ones, I think, are still.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Sure. Well, we're going to have a little. The equivalent of a little foundation to support environmental and health nonprofit organizations, and it probably eventually will be more than 50%. But at the moment, quite truthfully, we're self funded and we've made very little money so far. So we really do want to pay ourselves back or at least pay part of it back before we go off saving the world with our resources. But you're right, 50% of it right off the top. And one of the consultants in San Francisco, Peter Elias, has been head of our scientific advisory board. He's giving 5%, which is all we would have given him, to nonprofits. So it's sort of the ethos of the organization.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I'm excited to try this myself. I haven't yet, but I am excited too. And I know that people who are listening will want to try your new moisturizer from Ocean Elements, which is your Brightwater Bay science brand. Also, we'll want to learn more about Combit Sante. How do people learn about all of these things that you two are doing, all of these wonderful things that you're bringing to the world?

Wendy Taylor:

We have a website@o elements.com and that website has the background story of how the product and future products developed. We've tried to be very open about what's in the product, what's in our packaging and what isn't in our packaging, which is important. And it also lists. That's where the product can be bought. We love it when people buy online, but we have some excellent retailers who are doing a great job of helping us get the word out. The product is now available in Maine at 19 or perhaps 20 by today. Retailers from York to Booth Bay harbor, including the Cape Arundel Inn, the Black Point Inn in Scarborough, the Innit Cuckolds Lighthouse in Southport, Maine, Mygas Lodge in Casco, Mim On a Whim in Ogunquit, Alan Sterling in Lothrop in Falmouth, Apothecary By Design in Portland and 9 Stone Spa in Portland. There are several here. I'm sorry if I've missed anybody. We also have Spoil Me in Falmouth and one of our favorite places on the weekends, the North Creek, Florida farm in Phippsburg.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And then how do people find out about Kombit Sante?

Wendy Taylor:

Kombit Sante has a great website at www.k o n b I t s a n t e dot org.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I'm impressed with all the work that you've done. It sounds like you've been very thoughtful about not only the products that have, not only the things that have gone into your products, but also the packaging surrounding the products and where the proceeds, because I know this will be successful and I know that you will have lots of proceeds because everybody who's listening is going to go out and buy some of this product. So where the proceeds will go to. So I appreciate what you're doing and really trying to use all of your skills and talents as individuals and as a couple to bring this great work into the world. Thank you. We've been speaking with Dr. Michael Taylor and his wife Wendy Taylor about the Konbiza Cap Haitian Health Partnership and also their newly founded Brightwater Bay Science Main base company and their Ocean elements. Brightwater Bay Science brand. We're very appreciative of your coming in.

Dr. Mike Taylor:

Thank you.

Wendy Taylor:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcy Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marci

Wendy Taylor:

when asked, most of my clients say the same thing about what keeps them up at night. Money making. Certain cash flow is there to meet day to day operational needs. Oh my gosh, is payroll going to be able to make it? When we dig deeper, we understand that those sleepless nights are symptoms of poor planning and forecasting. And more often than not, the reasons for not doing it are a lack of time and a lack of resources. So here's a suggestion. Instead of living in fear of the numbers and losing sleep over them, make peace with them by paying closer attention to the financials and creating positive cash flow. I'm Marcie Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need. Boothmain.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

it's always a pleasure for me to have the chance to meet people that have created products I enjoyed long before I knew I was going to be on the radio and long before I knew there was ever a chance I would meet them. I One such individual is Talef Olson, who is the founder of Ocean Approved, a Maine based kelp company. Ocean Approved was the first company to commercially raise kelp in open water farms in the United States. Really fortunate to have you here today. Thanks for coming in.

Tollef Olson:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Lisa Taliph, you were featured in Maine Magazine because you do really interesting things. I'm not sure people think about kelp as something that you can eat.

Tollef Olson:

Kelp has been eaten worldwide in coastal communities for millennia. The problem is it's a marine vegetable. It does not want to be in the atmosphere. And so traditionally it's been dried, which is a very healthy presentation and a good way to eat it, but it limits the uses of it. Think the difference between a dried pea and a fresh pea for taste, color, texture, ease of use. What we've done is found a market form or I've made a market form that's much easier for people to enjoy.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

When I first started eating your product, I found it in, I think it was a freezer and I think it was brown trading When I was way back when. Is this still the way that you are producing it?

Tollef Olson:

That is what we do. It has to be stabilized as soon as you bring it out of the ocean. It doesn't want to be exposed to the atmosphere. And we found that by cutting it, blanching it, and freezing it immediately, it stabilized it in its best possible state to eat it. Kelp is unique. It's designed to freeze on the low tides in the wintertime. The cell structure doesn't break down when we freeze it. The frozen is indistinguishable from the fresh.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So let's back up a little bit. Kelp is one of many sea vegetables, and if I'm out looking at seaweed, let's call them seaweed, because that's what most people think of as sea vegetables. What does kelp look like when it's sitting on the shore?

Tollef Olson:

We're focusing on the brown macroalgaes right now, which are the kelps. Kelp is actually a generic term that came out of Europe years ago. There's almost really such thing as kelp. They even call rockweed kelp sometimes. So we're working with the brown macroalgaes. Kelp seaweeds come in various colors. You've got the reds, the browns, and the greens. They all look slightly different. We're working with the broader banded laminarias because they are the best known in the market at this point. It was easier to extrapolate knowledge from Asia to convert it to our systems here. That said, there are many different seaweeds, and most of them have great nutrition, nutritional value.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So kelp would be sort of one of these broad, flat things that you would find as you're walking along the beach.

Tollef Olson:

That's what most people would think of. Yes. And the one you see predominantly on the beach is the sugar kelp, which are the great big flat blades with the ruffles on the edges. You will see some digitata also, especially after storms. That's a big plant that looks a lot like your hand, thus the digitata designation. And we also have olaria here, which is the equivalent of undaria, which is the wakame that most people are familiar with from seaweed salads. And you will see that on the beaches after big storms.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Also, in the article that Susan Connolly wrote about Ocean Approved in Maine Magazine, you mentioned to her that kelp and seaweed are not true root vegetables.

Tollef Olson:

That's correct. They don't feed from the root system like terrestrial plants do. They actually feed from the blade undulating through the water, and it's the surface area with the water flowing over it is how they collect the nutrients that they're very efficient at removing nitrogens and phosphorus and also taking in carbon dioxide and releasing the oxygen. So it's a wonderful plant in that respect. The ocean is so efficient at mixing all these elements that the kelp can really capitalize on that. And we are growing what is arguably the healthiest vegetable you can eat with no fresh water, no arable tillable land, no fertilizers or insecticides, and I can't say much more than that. It's a great way to grow a vegetable.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. I mean, the fact that it already just grows on its own and if you can find not an uncontaminated water source, then you're going to be, you can be able to harvest it well.

Tollef Olson:

And the beauty of that is Maine does a really good job of monitoring the waters. So we know where the clean waters are. And of course, the majority of water in Maine is absolutely pristine compared to most of the world. We have so much coastline, a relatively small population and not a lot of industry on the waterfront. There were problems back in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s with the factories upriver, but a lot of that has been alleviated now. So we're fortunate in the fact that we've got a great medium for raising the product. There's a lot of wild kelp available, but by moving it into aquaculture, we're able to control our source, keep pressure off the wild beds and ensure a more uniform product.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So where are you raising your kelp?

Tollef Olson:

Currently we have three farm sites here in Casco Bay in the Outer Callender Islands. We have a small site up in the Blue Hill salt ponds. We've been experimenting up and down the coast to find the best areas. We're working with other folks in helping them learn how to farm it to produce product for us or for themselves, literally. From the New Hampshire border to the

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Canadian border, you talked about kelp being used or all sea vegetables being used for hundreds of years in different cultures. I think what I'm remembering in reading about my own family's Irish background, there was a lot of use of specific types of sea vegetables, kind of the things that they had available in Ireland. Is this true of all of the ocean going countries around the world?

Tollef Olson:

It is. And it was a dual fold purpose in Ireland. The folks who were lucky enough to have rack rights during the potato blight were the families who stayed in. The rack rites meant that you could scavenge the beach, basically, and you could eat mussels and seaweed. You had food because the problem was lack of food. Hawaiian royalty four or five hundred years ago actually had private seaweed gardens. Indian community indigenous communities along the Mexican coast used an eel grass type equivalent to make flour. Every coastal community throughout the world has used seaweeds as a component of their diet. In Iceland, you actually have hereditary rights to certain seaweed beds as a family unit, because, of course, you don't have the ideal growing season for vegetables there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I was talking to Dean Lunt, who is the publisher at Islandpore Press, and he was saying that up where his family is from Frenchborough, they take and dry sea vegetables on the shore and then they keep that throughout the winter for various uses. So it becomes a nutrient that you can use all year round.

Tollef Olson:

One of the seaweeds he's probably working with is one of the red algaes. It's called Dulse. And as you go up into the Maritimes and towards Canada and into Canada, it's a very popular snack item. It's actually consumed the way a lot of people eat potato chips or peanuts. It's just a regular snacking item and you're literally taking a multivitamin with fiber anytime you eat any of these seaweeds.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As part of the work that I've done in Chinese medicine and acupuncture, I have encouraged people to eat seaweed and I usually send them towards Dulse or I will send them towards this very popular now snack called Sea Snacks. You know, where you have these little sheets of seaweed and people really like that. But yours is a slightly different product and you use it in slightly different ways.

Tollef Olson:

Yes. What we've done is instead of drying it, we actually present it as a whole vegetable product, which makes it very easy to use. It's extremely palatable. It's mild, it's green. When left in the form that we do, it's not strong. When you dry it, it can concentrate the flavors and become a little bit overpowering for some people. In the snacks, they moderate that by adding other items. But in our presentation, you've got a mild green vegetable that can be used across the board. I do everything from a lobster Benedict to a carrot cake and anything you can think of in between. With the kelps, it makes it a very easy way to take advantage of the nutritional benefits. Kelp is loaded with selenium, selesium, magnesium, 30 or 40 trace elements and minerals that are extremely difficult to get from terrestrial plants because the soil leaches and you try to replace those nutrients, but it's not cost effective. And since we quit using Morton's iodized salt, kelp is the place to get your iodine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think I've had your ocean approved product at maybe Linda Beans and the kelpie slaw.

Tollef Olson:

That's correct. She does the kelpie slaw. She also does a wonderful thing, salmon and papillot. I actually do a version of it. I call it and kelpy oat. And it takes the traditional fish. They used to be done in a parchment paper and a brown paper bag. Instead you wrap it with kelp. So instead of cutting the paper open and leaving it on the plate, you're actually consuming the vegetable as you eat the fish. And it's a beautiful presentation.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And some people also used. I know this is not your product, but some people use dried seaweed granules and they'll put them almost like a protein powder into a smoothie.

Tollef Olson:

They do. We've actually been playing with smoothies a lot. Our kelps go wonderfully into smoothies. They leave a nice. Because of the fiber. Green fleck in your smoothies. Protein is an interesting one. There's been a lot of studies on that with the kelps and seaweeds. And one thing that has been proven, the more seaweed you eat, the more protein you derive from it because you actually change the microbial count in your gut. And it takes a certain microbe to really get derived the protein benefits.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I believe that kelp and other sea vegetables were very helpful after World War

Tollef Olson:

II, especially in Japan with the nuclear disasters over there. Kelp once again is a great source of iodine. And iodine is extremely important if you're exposed to radiation. And of course, we're all exposed to radiation every day. And so kelp is an integral ingredient to help keep you balanced in that respect.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I also think that I'm remembering reading about a recent nuclear reactor accident after maybe a tsunami. And one of the things that ocean, that sea vegetables are doing is actually helping clean up the water around that nuclear reactor.

Tollef Olson:

That's correct. And it did something else too. It altered the market. Japan, the Fukushima disaster. Japan had had the lead position in the industry, the kelp industry, as the best number one product worldwide. And we're kind of moving into that niche a little bit now. People are afraid of the Japanese kelps a little bit now. And China is the largest farmer of kelps. But there are some questionable waters over there. So people are starting to lean towards our American Kelps.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But it does say something really good about kelp in general. Maybe you don't want to be eating the kelp that's from near Fukushima, but you certainly eating kelp is going to be helpful for your own body because it can help clean up some of the things that you might normally ingest or be exposed to yourself.

Tollef Olson:

Kelp is fantastic for that. The fiber in kelp, as a matter of fact, two different studies, one in Great Britain and one in Japan, preliminary studies have found that marine fiber is 75% more efficient at removing bad fats, among other things. But they do carry out many of the baddies with them while leaving you with a good source, literally a multivitamin with fiber of selenium, selesium, magnesium. It just goes on and on and on. But as far as for cleaning up the water. And it's a neat thing in farming, it is. We're taking advantage of excess nutrients, excess nitrogen, phosphorus that washes down from uphill. That's one of the reasons we don't have to add any fertilizer. And the ocean is extremely efficient in mixing all these. Salt water is composed of the same elements and minerals as our blood, basically. And so kelp is a real easy vegetable for the body to assimilate and take advantage of.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I will often tell my patients who have thyroid issues or have a family history of thyroid issues that they might enjoy some sea vegetables because of the iodine.

Tollef Olson:

My generation grew up with Morton's iodized salt, which was done intentionally with the assistance of the government because iodine is really hard to derive from terrestrial plants or meats. You don't get adequate. And there's no commercially viable way to add iodine to the fertilizers and get enough. Kelp is the source for that. And as things have evolved, this is something that should be added to pretty much everybody's diet. I think it's 43% of the people in this country are iodine deficient right now. And as you said, applying that to the thyroid, that's one of the key parts of your body that requires and regulates your iodine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

In macrobiotic circles, there are different types of and Chinese medicine. Different types of sea vegetables are used for different things. Some of them are more cooling, some of them are more warming. They just. They have different properties. But in general, these vegetables seem to be very good for hair and skin and nails.

Tollef Olson:

Absolutely. I can take that to a direct correlation. I had a horse back in the 1980s that I took over. Who was in trouble? Nutritionally and I used source products with kelp in them and one of the problems we had was to get her to grow hoofs and her hoofs grew. It took almost a year, but with constant use of the source products with the iodine, I mean in the kelps, we grew beautiful fur and hooves. We feed our cat kelp and we noticed, literally notice a difference in the fur. We're working on some topical applications too as opposed to the internal and they work fantastic too. I work outside year round on the water. I pulled in 3,000ft of line yesterday and as when I showed up here, you commented your hands aren't rough, it's from handling the kelp.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

why are you so passionate about kelp? How did you come to be? I mean you're clearly very enthusiastic about it and I love this. Why is this so important to you?

Tollef Olson:

I've been intimately involved with the ocean my entire life. I've circled the globe. I've crossed the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. I've worked in the water, I've worked with food and the writing's on the wall for the future. Our current food model does not work. The FAO branch of the United nations has flat out stated that at the current population ramp up, we cannot feed the earth past about2035. We need new ways. I've actually been fascinated with this since I read Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues under the Sea when I was about 11 or 12 years old and it stuck.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And were you raised on the ocean?

Tollef Olson:

Yes. We started in South Portland. We moved to Auburn Maine. And from the time we moved to Auburn until I firmly planted my feet on the beach, all I ever wanted to do was get back to the ocean. I surf, I dive, I sail, I motorboat. The ocean is a huge part of my life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what about your family? How does your family feel about your dedication to the ocean and also ocean approved and the kelp farming that you're doing?

Tollef Olson:

I think that they like it. I think sometimes maybe they're even embarrassed. I've been a little bit fortunate in the press that I've received, but it's a unique approach to some age old problems. It's taking a combination of modern technology and known practices. And I think they must. I think they do enjoy the fact that there will be a tad of a legacy here. It's fun to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've actually recently received some, not only some acclaim from people in the media world, but you've also recently received $470,000 worth of grants from the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Maine Technology Institute. So this is a big deal that you're actually getting money to do the type of work that you're doing.

Tollef Olson:

Well, it's been a fantastic boost for the company. For a small, close funded company, it's really hard to get through the R and D stage. And those grants allowed us to move through the R and D stage and create a model that we see as a first step towards a new industry here in Maine and the United States. States. Shep Earhart from Maine Coast Sea Vegetables has done an absolutely wonderful job with dried sea vegetables in Maine since the 1980s and a couple others also have. But the market, like most markets, is evolving. And this is a chance to evolve the market in a way that we can integrate the entire coastal community. We see this as a model for There are many boats that sit unemployed in the wintertime. Our crop is countercyclical to lobsters, one of the largest marine crops in Maine. And so we see this as a job creator. Last year or the year before, aquaculture in an area of the size of the Portland Jetport generated $110 million. That's aquaculture, not seaweed. But we see this as a growth industry and we see seaweed as a brand new component of it. And the best year I can find on record, there were 17 million metric tons of kelp farmed worldwide, none of it in the US this would have been about 19 or about 2005 or so. This has huge potential for the state of Maine. And it has ramifications for the rest of the US Also because there are seaweeds, different seaweeds available on all the coastlines.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How is what you're doing with the kelp and the aquaculture, how is this impacting the ecosystem of the coastline?

Tollef Olson:

Well, the beauty of it is right now we have adequate wild stocks, and if they're carefully harvested, we could maintain them. But I'm 58 years old, and in my lifetime, I've seen so many fisheries go boom and bust and have been a part of them. So right now we are carefully using the proper husbandry, maintaining wild beds as we move more and more into farming. By moving into farming, we're probably the first company that has ever preemptively gone into aquaculture or fishing industry before there was a shortage of the wild product. But this will allow us to move gracefully into the farm product before the native beds are damaged. But it also allows us, from watching what happens in the wild, to pick the best part, spots to learn how to grow it properly, where it really wants to be. So we get a more uniform source of our product and we get a guaranteed source of the product into the future instead of counting on Mother Nature to keep up with us and our demands.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Some of your company's institutional customers include Mercy Hospital, Gould Academy, Portland Public Schools, Bowdoin College, University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College. That's a pretty prestigious group of people who are following you and believing in what you're doing. How has this been so possible?

Tollef Olson:

Well, it's been really fascinating because it's not only the quality of the food and the health benefits that these institutions are enjoying, and especially amongst the students, I've been real excited to realize just how socioeconomically aware they are. So not only are you getting a product that is being grown in a very sustainable fashion that can perpetuate jobs into the future, the combination of this is exciting. And then when you look at the nutritional value of this product and how little, as little as 3 or 4 ounces of this kelp a week will give you your iodine needs, not to mention all the trace elements and minerals. And it's also a good source of calcium, it's a good source of fiber, it's a good source of so many vitamin A. There's so many different components to this that it's really not that surprising. These institutions are interesting.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what do you see in your future? Your company's been around since 2006, so you're heading into 10 years doing this. What Is it that you'd like to accomplish?

Tollef Olson:

Would like to keep seeing the industry evolve and see it become a true industry and not just a novelty. When I opened the company by myself in 2006, even people that respected me were laughing. Like some of the scientists at the dmr. They're like, talef, what are you thinking? And now these same people are actually going out and eating kelp and taking it home to their families. What I see is an industry that should continue to grow, create jobs in this state and help the earth while feeding people well into the next century.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How do people find out about Ocean Approved or where can people buy your kelp?

Tollef Olson:

The easiest way is to go to oceanaproved.com just hit the Internet and you can buy it direct from us on online. We do have some retail presence. Harbor Fish, downtown Portland is a great place if you want to pick some up. Or Brown Trading, as you mentioned earlier. And we really haven't been pushing the retail side right now as a small company, we found it behooves us to chase the institutional side because these then become our educators. I actually go down to Johnson and Wales University every trimester now for three days and teach seaweeds, which the first year I went, people were kind of raised eyeballs. The second year it was two times. And now I'm a regular. I'm almost an institution down there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I must admit, I was at Hugo's last night and a very interesting dish they created with seaweed, and it was something that I'd eaten before. Actually, at the same Earth at Hidden Pond, they also use seaweed. So I think that what you're doing must be sort of seeping out there. People are definitely paying attention.

Tollef Olson:

When I wrote my business plan, the first paragraph was the biggest hurdle in this industry is going to be the education of the consumer because we have a dedicated group that likes seaweed. But to move from that dedicated group to a larger segment of the population is a difficult move. And the way that we've made that is by changing our market form. By not drying the kelp, we actually put it in a form that's extremely easy to use. You open the package and you can eat it right out of the package, which you can with dried. But it's very versatile and you can use it any place you would use a mild green vegetable and some places you wouldn't think of. I literally use it from lobster Benedict in the morning to carrot cake in the evening.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I encourage people to go online, find Ocean Approved, try out your product. I have. It's quite good. And learn more about sea vegetables and the benefit of sea vegetables and what sea vegetables can do for an individual's health, but also not only an individual's health, but also the health of really the state of Maine and the ecologic systems that exist off the coast. So I appreciate your coming in today.

Tollef Olson:

Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Talef Olson, who is the founder of Ocean Approved, a Maine based kelp company, and you can read more about Taliph in Maine Magazine's article by Susan Connolly. You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 161, Treasures from the Sea. Our guests have included Dr. Mike and Wendy Taylor and Tolif Olsen. For more information on our guests and extended interviews, visit Dr. Lisa.org the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our E. Newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page, follow me on Twitter and see my daily running photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Treasures from the Sea show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.