Women In Wellness: Dr Rachel Fresco of Biociden On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Spending time in nature for me is so essential, relaxing our overworked nervous system, and connecting to the beauty around us. Stress is such a significant factor. Try turning off the phone, so you are really present, and take a few deep cleansing breaths.
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Rachel Fresco.
Dr. Rachel Fresco is the founder and CEO of Biocidin Botanicals, located adjacent to Silicon Valley on the Monterey Bay. Her company has been delivering innovative botanical formulas to health care professionals since 1989. These cutting-edge formulations are utilized as key support in the most challenging clinical presentations. Her focus in product development has been addressing concerns relating to GI health, Lyme disease, Autism Spectrum Disorders, as well as oral care and systemic infections. The flagship formula Biocidin®. is recommended by noted authors, clinics and laboratories worldwide.
University-based research and published studies on her formulas include Borreliosis, pathogenic biofilms, and immune response in elite athletes. Other ongoing clinical trials include SIBO, H. pylori, periodontal disease, mycotoxins, and other topics.
Dr. Fresco lectures at medical conferences both in the US and internationally, in addition to appearing on many podcasts and online summits relating to health and wellness. She “walks the talk” empowering and inspiring others to lead healthy
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Looking back to my childhood, I was fascinated with medicine, asking my dad endless questions while he worked as a pharmacist in his drugstore. I enjoyed helping customers coming in with finding the right products. I also loved to dig up sassafras roots in the forest and make tea or pick wild berries and miners’ lettuce. Once I was determined to collect the nectar out of honeysuckle blossoms, I spent the entire day squeezing out the blossoms and got about a teaspoon full of nectar. It was delicious!
When I was in my late teens, I had an interest in learning about other cultures, particularly Asian art and philosophy, and found myself studying Buddhism and Taoism in college. But the main impetus to study medicine myself came in 1981 when I was suddenly faced with a serious health challenge — a class 4 PAP smear. The doctors said it would require surgery to remove my cervix. At the time, I was enrolled in a massage class, and I told my teacher about the issue. He suggested I go and see Dr. Wha Ja Kim, a well-respected acupuncturist. So, although I had never experienced acupuncture, and it was relatively new to the western world at that time, I figured it was worth a try.
Dr. Kim took my pulse on both wrists, looked at my tongue, and gave her diagnosis, “blood stagnation in the lower burner.” “No problem,” she said, “come twice a week for six weeks, then get another PAP test.”
So, I went in for the treatments. She performed a practice called cupping that uses suction to pull out toxins, along with acupuncture. After six weeks, I went back to the clinic and got a PAP, and it was normal.
When I told the surgeon I wanted to cancel the scheduled surgery, he couldn’t believe it and ordered another PAP from his office. It was also negative. He said he had never seen this kind of remission before, and I explained that I had gotten acupuncture. Instead of being happy that I had found a method that worked to reverse the condition, he got angry and told me to get out of his office. I was floored and left in disbelief. It made me want to be able to help more people, particularly women, using acupuncture, so I enrolled at Five Branches University to study Traditional Chinese Medicine.
After getting my degree and passing the California state boards, I worked at a Chinese Herb company as a technical consultant to practitioners, teaching practitioners how to use the herbal formulas. I was also practicing veterinary acupuncture and learned about other treatments such as homeopathy and western herbal formulations. Through that work, I learned about other herbs that were very effective as broad-spectrum agents, outside of the Chinese ones I had studied in acupuncture school, and that they were often successful in really difficult infections.
At the same time, the AIDS epidemic had just begun, and doctors were looking for potential treatments for opportunistic infections, especially GI disorders. I offered the herbal formula I had been using, and the doctors were getting great results, and the word spread.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
As I mentioned, a few doctors were starting to use the Biocidin herbal formula at clinics in San Francisco, and one doctor had sent a sample (without my knowledge) to Great Smokies Diagnostic Labs, now called Genova Diagnostics, to see if it would be a candidate treatment for yeast and bacterial species commonly seen on a Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis. On that panel, both drug therapies and natural agents are tested to see if the bacteria or yeast are sensitive to it and then could be prescribed for the patient.
One afternoon in 1990, I got a phone call from the director of the lab, Dr. Martin Lee. I’ll never forget the conversation where he said to me, “I don’t know who you are or what this is, but it kills everything!” He told me he wanted to include it on the list of candidate treatments and to send him a dozen bottles to use in testing. Suddenly many doctors were seeing this formula show up on the patient test results, and it was the most Highly Sensitive agent. He told me to find a name for it that sounded medical, so that’s how Biocidin was born and became popular among integrative and functional medicine practitioners.
Over a six-year period, 250,000+ patient tests were run where the Biocidin formula was the most effective agent. So, although I had never planned to have a botanical products company, I suddenly had to take the necessary steps to produce the formula and create the companion products and protocols to go along with it.
I believe the main lesson for me is to maintain your motivation to help others and keep following your intuition, stay aligned with your passion, and continue to grow and learn. Then things will fall into place.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of my biggest mistakes was not diversifying my efforts. When after six years, Great Smokies could no longer include Biocidin on the CDSA panel, sales dropped precipitously, and I had to get to work getting the word out in other ways. But this was also a blessing, as I learned more about sales and marketing and started to lecture at medical conferences to raise the visibility of our research. This also gave me confidence that our success was not only a gift but also a manifestation of our hard work and efforts.
When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
Having access to broad-spectrum botanicals has given both doctors and patients the ability to avoid using potentially harmful agents that can harm the good flora in our GI tract. Biocidin actually increases the beneficial strains while “weeding the garden,” so to speak. This clinically effective and evidence-based approach, backed by research, has helped to substantiate the benefits of botanical medicine. Our research and education have contributed to the understanding of gut health and the microbiome and the complex topic of biofilms and chronic infections.
I think we’re also making an impact by taking these broadly acting and biofilm-busting agents and applying them to things we use every day. A recent example is our toothpaste and mouth rinse. They are a true breakthrough in oral care. We even created the term “Dentaceutical” to describe these natural formulations that impact oral health and ultimately support whole-body wellness.
Dentists and hygienists are so excited to see the improved outcomes in their patients, including a reduction in plaque and reduced inflammation in the gums –I think that’s something to smile about.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Diet is, of course, top of the list. Eating a healthy and preferably an organic diet rich in phytonutrients and free from pesticides, GMOs, sugars, and inflammatory ingredients is key. My mom had swelling and pain in her joints for years. I told her to try cutting out gluten, but she never listened until she finally got a lab test showing gluten sensitivity. When she cut wheat out, her joint pain “miraculously” disappeared.
Toxins in our homes and bodies are a huge factor in our health. I can’t stress enough the importance of stopping use of all chemically scented products like laundry detergent, dryer sheets, and body products like deodorant and cologne. Any product that contains perfume or fragrance on the label is toxic. Worst of all, room and carpet sprays and plug-in type “air fresheners.” Many of these chemicals, combined with phthalates to carry the scents, cause endocrine system disruption, including fertility issues, respiratory distress, and immune system burden, leading to serious consequences. If you go to EWG.org, you can look up the dangers of commonly used cosmetics. Fortunately, unscented products or products using plant-based ingredients like essential oils are now readily available. Read the label. Something might say “natural” but then has fragrance in the ingredient list. Often, I have to take a cab or Uber from the airport to a conference, and when I see the driver has a hanging air freshener, I let them know. I told one guy about lowered sperm health associated with them. He pulled over to a gas station and threw it out! He had been trying to conceive with his wife and took this news to heart.
Spending time in nature for me is so essential, relaxing our overworked nervous system, and connecting to the beauty around us. Stress is such a significant factor. Try turning off the phone, so you are really present, and take a few deep cleansing breaths.
I take a walk morning and evening down a forest trail to the ocean. I love getting to know the deer, osprey, and owls, seeing a bunny dart into the brush. It always lifts my mood. If I have to be in a city environment, I go outside to a park or just even say hi to a squirrel or admire a pretty tree.
Breathwork or focused breathing like Wim Hof or Pranayama, or even just slow, intentional breath, is so vital to every system in our body. And the psychological, spiritual, and emotional benefits are huge. I have participated in Holotropic breathwork retreats with Dr. Stanislav Grof, and practice and study the techniques of David Elliot, whose book Healing I highly recommend.
In one breathwork retreat, a man was able to feel and connect with grief he had not processed about his father’s death, and afterward, he looked so much brighter and more energetic. He even moved differently. Unexpressed emotional energy trapped in our body is a type of stress that also needs our attention. Having a facilitator or therapist trained in this work will provide a safe container to process and integrate the experience.
Of course, movement is also a pillar of health, so finding a regimen that works for your body and is fun is important. I love dance and working with my horses. Stretching, Pilates, yoga, and hiking are all ways I like to get to exercise.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Use natural products, eat clean food, learn how to use nature’s medicine chest, and find a good functional and integrative medicine practitioner to help keep track of your health.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
It’s not only related to my professional life, but certainly asking for help, not being afraid to be seen, standing up for myself if people are out of line, and not trying to caretake or fix others, and loving, appreciating, and accepting myself come to mind as key points. I’m sure I’m not the only person that looks back at certain situations or relationships and goes, “what the ___was I thinking?” But these are the life lessons that we got to learn from (hopefully) and no longer are encountering. Overall, I’m extremely grateful and happy with the level of success Biocidin Botanicals has reached, and I feel like it’s still just the beginning.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
These are all important areas but taking care of the environment and sustainability are key for me. We worked for two years to find a 100% recyclable tube for our Dentalcidin toothpaste. This saved thousands of pounds of plastic from going to landfills. If I could wave a magic wand, I’d eliminate all single-use plastics.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
You can visit our website at www.biocidin.com, and we are also on Instagram and Facebook. We have wonderful articles, webinars, and great customer service and clinical education teams to support both consumers and health professionals.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
Women In Wellness: Dr Rachel Fresco of Biociden On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.