In this episode of The Natural Heart Doctor Show, I sit down with Catharine Arnston, PhD, a friend of nearly a decade and the founder of ENERGYbits. Our introduction was not exactly professional. My one-year-old daughter crawled off at a conference and came back with green all over her mouth, having helped herself to a bag of Catharine's tablets. That moment is a decent summary of the whole argument: this is food, not a supplement, and a toddler recognized it before I did.
Catharine walks through what actually separates the two algae. Spirulina is a cyanobacteria, so there is no cellulose wall for your body to break down, and its protein arrives already in amino acid form alongside the B vitamins that convert it into steady energy. She uses a Lego analogy for why complete proteins matter, since your body is building far more than muscle with them. Chlorella works the other direction. Its hard cell wall binds heavy metals and other unwanted compounds, its chlorophyll travels through the liver and colon, and its fiber feeds the gut microbiome. She also makes a point I had not connected before: chlorella is high in tryptophan, tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, and most of your serotonin is made and used in the gut, where it drives bowel motility. Her practical tip for stubborn cases is fresh organic pineapple, and I would underline the organic part.
We spend real time on sourcing, because it is where most of this falls apart. Catharine explains why she will not use algae from lakes or oceans, why high-heat drying deactivates the enzymes and pigments people are paying for, and what it took to find growers who meet her standard. From my side, this is the same thing I tell every patient. Skip the lab-made shelf, get the foundational food right, and give the body what it needs to do its own work.
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Catharine Arnston, PhD is the founder, CEO, and Chief Science Officer of ENERGYbits, a microalgae company whose spirulina and chlorella tablets are used by functional medicine practitioners, heart and longevity clinics, and professional sports teams. Her work began as personal research. When her younger sister was preparing for chemotherapy and was told to move to an alkaline diet with no explanation of what that meant, Catharine, then an MBA working in international business, set out to find the answer for her.
That research led her to spirulina and chlorella, and to seventeen years of studying how they are grown, dried, and absorbed. She earned her PhD in the field and is now finishing Love Your Health to Bits with Algae, a book with roughly two thousand references, due out in January 2027.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Energybits! Supercharge your cellular energy, recovery, and immune health with pure, nutrient-dense algae tablets. Use discount code WOLFSON at checkout for 20% off your order.
Shop here: https://energybits.com/?rfsn=9057679.20dd01&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=9057679.20dd01
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Jack Wolfson, DO, FACC
Websites: https://drjackwolfson.com/; https://naturalheartdoctor.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjackwolfson
Ready to move past the confusion and fear of typical heart health approaches?
Visit naturalheartdoctor.com/discovery to schedule your free discovery call and start your journey toward a 100-year heart with real, evidence-based answers.
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