2 Tbsp Stops Fat Cells from Forming (and repairs brain cells)

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]I can guarantee you've had this on your plate before and you've thrown it away.

[00:00:03]And it has some really powerful properties. It does three things specifically. One, it blocks the master gene that tells your body to create new fat cells. It blocks the formation of fat cells. Two, it inhibits an enzyme that converts testosterone into unhealthy forms of estrogen. And three, it crosses the bloodb brain barrier, which almost no dietary compound can do.

[00:00:26]It's parsley. And I'm going to tell you how to use it. This is the thing that's on the side of your plate at Denny's at any kind of restaurant. Yes, I chose Denny's. It contains a flavonoid that is called epigenine. Okay? And that doesn't work like a normal antioxidant. Most polyphenols actually float around doing a little bit of everything. They don't bind to specific places. Whereas apagenine binds directly to specific enzyme targets and it shuts them down.

[00:00:50]And it works in a really unique way.

[00:00:51]Here's what we're going to cover today.

[00:00:53]First, we're going to talk about how apagenine directly blocks aromatase.

[00:00:57]This is the enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogen. This has a play with fat as well because estrogen is highly linked with fat accumulation, but there's a direct effect on fat cells too. Secondly, we'll talk about how it activates AMPK, which is one of the primary switches that your body uses to shift into fat burning mode. And it does this through a pathway that's very independent of exercise and calorie restriction and fasting. Third, we're going to take a little bit of an aging angle, okay? Because apagenine and parsley doing something that you might not expect it to be doing when it comes down to like mitochondria and just aging in general. And then finally, we'll talk about apagenine crossing the bloodb brain barrier when most polyphenols don't have the ability to and what that actually means for neuroinflammation.

[00:01:38]And then I'll wrap it all up with a practical protocol, including three different tools that you can stack along with parsley or at separate times to get these independent benefits. So let's start with estrogen and we have to talk about aromatase. So this is the enzyme that converts testosterone into estradi and also into estrone. Okay, it is expressed in fat tissue. It's done in the liver. It's also in the brain and a little bit in the adrenals. As body fat increases, aromatase expression increases which means more testosterone gets converted into estrogen. So the more fat you have, the more aromatase you have, the more risk of developing more estrogen and consequently more fat.

[00:02:14]So if we look at a study that was looking at human adreninocortical carcinoma cells so like cancerous cells they tested them using a broad panel of different flavonoids to look at aromatase inhibition. So basically to see how you could block aromatase apagenine inhibited aromatase activity with an IC50 of 20 microar. That means in human terms at that concentration they dropped the enzyme activity of aromatase by 50%. They cut it in half.

[00:02:39]Okay. Now that IC50 doesn't necessarily translate to a concentration that you would get with like a bunch of parsley, but the mechanism itself is extremely real and it does play a role even at a functional level from the amount that you'd get in your diet. This is a very competitive enzyme inhibition and it's extremely important. It's not upstream of hormonal signaling. It's actually acting directly at the point of conversion. So really it's working in a twofold way. So like for one, consistent use of parsley, like actually like consuming it regularly has a pretty powerful effect and can close the gap between dietary levels and that IC50 that test we talked about. So if you were to consume parsley every day, you very well can get closer to that 50% reduction in aromatase. Okay. Number two, aromatase is highly expressed in fat cells. So if you pair apagenine or parsley with a body composition protocol where you're trying to drop fat, you're going to have a lot more success. So like as you're simultaneously dropping fat like through fasting or through caloric restriction and using parsley, they actually double team. They work better. And this is a perfect dovetail into thek piece because this is where parsley looks a lot more like a fat burning tool or a fat blocking tool than just a hormone tool. But a quick note on the hormone piece, the second best way to start combating estrogen and fat accumulation, particularly for men, is through the microbiome. And I'll save you a lot of time on this because, you know, you can consume kafir, you consume fermented foods, you can consume uh kimchi, sauerkraut, probiotics, all that stuff. I also put a link down below for the probiotic that I recommend because some people just want the shortcut.

[00:04:14]Okay, that's a prebiotic and a probiotic in one. It's called Seed. So, that link for 20% off is down below. It has a capsule inside a capsule. So when you take it, you get a multi-stage delivery where it drops some off in the lower of the small intestine and drops more off in the large intestine. So prebiotics and then probiotics. So very unique delivery. So that link's down below for 20% off and that is legit science. Okay, probiotics do play a role in helping us metabolize estrogen better. So check them out. Now I want to move into the fat loss piece. Okay, so AMK, this is like the most important metabolic switch in the body if you ask me. When you activate EMPK, you are activating fat oxidation, fat burning. Okay? You inhibit the storing of fat, lipogenesis.

[00:04:57]Okay? You stop glucose uptake from being like dysfunctional. It actually improves the efficiency of that. Okay? MTOR gets dialed back. So you have less like progrowth from a fat cell way. Okay? And of course your mitochondrial biogenesis is promoted and improving. Right? So if we look at the journal of agriculture and food chemistry, there was an epigenine study on mice, but it was looking at fat cells. So it's very interesting. They found that apagenine suppressed fat cells and it significantly reduced what is called intracellular lipid accumulation. So it stopped fat cells from accumulating more lipids and getting fatter. It decreased PPR gamma which is the master transcription factor that drives fat cells to form. Okay. But upstream of that apagenine also activated AMPK.

[00:05:39]Okay. So you're also turning on the switch that tells your body you're in a chloric deficit essentially. Now why does this matter beyond body composition though? I mean obviously this can help you lose weight or prevent fat accumulation but AMPK is also the primary cellular mechanism through which caloric restriction and exercise extend lifespan that's how we see that right we know that caloric restriction seems to have an effect there underactivation of AMPK like from being sedentary or from having high visceral fat or from eating too much that is strongly associated with insulin resistance with messed up mitochondria uh ultimately accelerated aging okay apagen and activates EMPK through some really interesting signaling, right? So, exercise uses energy depletion. Okay? Then you have supplements like bourberine that use mitochondrial inhibition. It's basically blocking it. And these are like common ways that we drive AMPK up, right? But what I want to talk about here with parsley is these three independent entry points that converge on this same pathway to drive up AMPK. Okay? And they all amplify each other rather than being redundant. AMPK activation is transient, right? the cell returns to baseline quickly. So like if you you exercise or you fast, you activate AMPK and the moment that's over, it returns to baseline. Okay? So consistently activating AMPK is really important.

[00:06:57]Just like consistently consuming parsley would be really important. You don't want to just do a high dose of it.

[00:07:02]That's not going to help you that much.

[00:07:03]Okay? So you want to continually do it.

[00:07:05]Now there's another thing that parsley does and it's because apagenine is it's commonly described as a like a cinolytic meaning it kills what are called scinesscent cells. So from a longevity perspective very interesting and there was a 2025 study found that parsley or apagenine does not qualify as a true cynolytic because it did not selectively kill scinsesscent cells but what it did consistently do is suppress what is called the scinessence associated secrettory phenotype. Okay, also known as the SASP. This makes it what we call synomorphic, not synolytic. Okay, so there are compounds that are direct synolytics, but cenomorphic might even be better because it suppresses what those cells secrete rather than eliminating the cells themselves because scinessence is kind of good. It's where your cells create like a proxy of themselves, a clone to go take care of other tasks. You kind of want that. It's actually the efficiency. It's only when your cells become weak and decrepit and weird that you don't want them cloned.

[00:08:05]You'd almost rather eliminate what those scinesscent cells are doing downstream than actually eliminate the scinesscent cells entirely. Okay. So, if we look at a study that was in geroscience, it tested apagen across a bunch of different fiberglass strains in humans.

[00:08:17]They found that apagen consistently suppressed this SASP factor, the SASP factor across all models and all cell strains. Okay. So it reduced interlucan 6, interlucan 8, CX10, all major inflammatory and scinesscent markers. So mechanistically you have apagen and just like suppressing the negative things that scesscent cells can do. So from a longevity perspective, you have less aging essentially occurring. It's cutting the signaling chain before it reaches the inflammatory gene expression program. Okay? And this matters because SASP doesn't just cause local inflammation. it's spreading this inflammation to neighboring healthy cells. Okay? So, you're like turning off this major master inflammation switch.

[00:09:03]But, but when we get into the really funky stuff, we see that epigenine can cross the bloodb brain barrier. Okay?

[00:09:09]So, if you look at like longevity compounds or fat loss compounds like or anti-inflammatory compounds, resveratrol, curcumin, queretin, they're really really good compounds, but they don't cross the bloodb brain barrier very well. Okay. Apagenine is lipopilic and has a very small molecular size. So it can cross the bloodb brain barrier significantly. Now if we look at a study in frontiers in aging and neuroscience, they found using these cultures of neurons and gal cells from the brain, they found that when they exposed them to inflammatory stimuli and men treated women with epigenine, it preserved the neurons. So basically it was a heavy neuroprotectant and to see that actually in vitro is actually quite potent. So it reduced what's called microbial activation. So it reduced sort of the inflammation that happens in the brain.

[00:09:56]It reduced IL6. It it's basically massive neuroprotectant and then it also increased BDNF mRNA expression. So basically you had the brain being able to recover and form new synapses. as the primary neurotrphen that controls plasticity and like long-term like neuronal survival and potentiations like actually form new neural synapses and and make the brain function well. Okay, reduced BDNF is one of the hallmark signals of neurodeenerative conditions.

[00:10:25]So a compound that can cross the bloodb brain barrier and reduce the neuroinflammation and upregulates BDNF is very important. So it's a very meaningful finding with that research.

[00:10:34]So, if we tie it all together and we kind of learn how to use it, like we're getting four systems from one compound, right? Like you're getting all these effects on fat loss, you're getting effects on the brain, you're getting effects on longevity, you're getting effects on estrogen. Okay, so the base protocol would actually just be two tablespoons of fresh flat leaf parsley.

[00:10:54]Okay, I would do it with a fat containing meal. The fat matters here because epigenine really likes to bind along with fat like with the absorption of what's called like a lipohilic aglone. So basically fat is improving the absorption. So really without fat you absorb about half of it. So take it with a higher fat meal. Okay. And your microbiome determines how well you convert and absorb apagen 2. So again we focus on gut health, probiotics, kafir, things like that. I would recommend having it closer to the end of the day as well. Okay? That way it's doing the work overnight in a fasted state. So you have it maybe with dinner. And again two tablespoons you could like just mash it up, crush it, whatever, put it as a garnish and eat it. Okay? And if you want to go like a more clinically relevant dose closer to what we've seen in some of the studies, you could also use an apogenine supplement. I would recommend maybe a 100 milligrams per day of pure apagenine. That's the route with the most mechanistic backing. But then there's a few complimentary tools that would work really well with parsley or along with epigenine for this zinc.

[00:11:49]Okay, because apagenine inhibits aromatase which converts testosterone to estrogen. Zinc inhibits five alpha reductase which converts testosterone to DHT. Okay, so these are two separate pathways for testosterone metabolism. By blocking both simultaneously, you actually leave more testosterone in its unconverted form. So parsley with oysters, parsley with pumpkin seeds, parsley with red meat. Okay? Or if you wanted to do like supplemental zinc, I wouldn't take more than 25 to 50 milligrams. Secondly, bourberine for AMPK. Apagen activates AMPK through one particular angle. Bourberine activates AMPK through a different angle through the AMA ATP ratio by inhibiting kind of mitochondrial function in a certain way.

[00:12:31]So the clinical literature is usually using like 500 plus milligrams of bourberine a lot of times like multiple times per day. So bourberine's pretty cheap, right? So you could use that.

[00:12:40]Again, it's just another way to kind of get the benefits here if you're already taking parsley. Uh lion's mane is another one from the neuroprotective side. Since apagen is upregulating BDNF, then you have lion's mane that stimulates nerve growth factors that actually helps the longterm growth of these neurons and that long-term neuronal connectivity. So BDNF from parsley and NGF from lion's mane, they're related, but they're very distinct and they do a lot of very important things together. So one to two grams usually in the morning because it can kind of light your brain up. Okay?

[00:13:13]You don't want to take it at night. So in this case, you could take the lion's mane in the morning, take the parsley at night. I'm trying to give you things where you don't have to take a bunch of supplements, right? You could just kind of add this into the mix. The parsley, you could even eat straight lines mane.

[00:13:24]Again, you can take bourberine as a supplement, but you can also eat oysters and red meat for the zinc. So, you just kind of like incorporate this into your diet. And then sleep is obviously where BDNF and the brain really clears the inflammation. Now, if you're into like the herb stuff and the TCM, like the traditional Chinese medicine sort of look at things, I find that very interesting. I think there's a bridge between Eastern and Western that we can look at. So, I did a video on two different herbs, Jins Singh and Janina.

[00:13:50]And that is a very interesting video that talks about how these two herbs help absorb sugar out of the bloodstream. So, I'll link to that video right here for you to take a look at. I think that one could be a helpful next video from a metabolic perspective. And as always, I'll see you