Standard Process or Doctor's Research?
A live webinar presented on Wednesday, April 26, 2023 by Dr Michael Gaeta, DAOM, MS, CDN
Click on Michael to watch the video
Click here for the presentation slides, updated 9-14-24
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Summary of the main points of this presentation:
- SP created the current confusion around Doctor's Research (DR) by letting go of nearly all of its long-established sales force of independent sales representatives, and hiring a new sales force of employees, who, understandably, are starting from scratch with understanding SP practitioners, philosophy, history, products and clinical application.
- DR, after decades in obscurity, is receiving attention now because of its new, robust and formerly-SP sales force. These reps have families to support, and understandably sought work similar to what they did before, using their highly-specialized, niche skill set, supporting practitioners in the use of food-based supplements. I do not fault them for doing so. I have great respect for this group, nearly all of whom were my speaking clients who I had built an excellent and productive relationship with over many years. I believe SP's dismissal of more than 90% of its seasoned Independent and Associate sales force was a mistake, and one which has unexpectedly created the current situation with DR.
- DR is a distributor, not a manufacturer. Unlike SP, they don't make anything. Products seem to be made by Enzyme Process, founded by a former New York SP rep, who was let go from the company decades ago.
- DR products are, for the most part, not living whole foods grown on an organic farm, as with SP. They are mostly hydroponic foods grown without soil, in a water solution of chemicals and isolates, or isolates added to yeast. There some organically-grown foods included as well. These facts alone make this product line unusable, unless SP ceases to exist.
- Soil is essential to life, and imparts known and unknown vital factors to foods and food-based supplements. Hydroponic foods are weak foods lacking the vitality that only rich soil imparts, and are the result of nutritional reductionism, not the Lee philosophy of nutritional wholism.
- DR's use of freeze-drying, while faster and cheaper, is nutritionally inferior to the slow, high-vacuum, low-temperature process SP has created and perfected over its 95-year history. Freeze-drying, while good for emergency long-term storage foods, results in the loss of critical nutrients, including K, C and other complexes.
- DR formulas have reductionistically-manipulated nutrient content, not the naturally-occurring, non-manipulated and far broader nutrient content of robust foods organically-grown in fertile soil. This is a much bigger issue (synthetics added to hydroponic foods and yeast) than the tiny amounts of synthetics added to many SP formulas.
- DR, a relatively unknown company until this year, when 17 former SP reps became their sales force, is the latest in a long series of supplement companies that have sought to emulate SP product names and formulas, while falsely claiming to accurately embody the Lee Philosophy of wholistic nutrition. They offer what appear to be inferior products, that do not have over nine decades of accumulated clinical experience with millions of patients behind them.
- PMGs and cytosol extracts are entirely different than, and superior to, "cytotrophic extracts" (glandular desiccates) and "enzomorphogens" (enzyme-processed organs). SP also makes use of dessicated organs, similar in principle to the DR cytotrophic extracts.
- SP, while not perfect (nothing is), and despite making many decisions that have seriously injured practitioner loyalty, easily remains the best choice for nutritional clinicians who want to provide concentrated therapeutic foods, where the company controls the entire process from seed to supplement.
- I see no reason to switch my nutritional practice to DR, given the many problems with their formulations, and failure to embody Dr Lee's principles of wholistic nutrition.
- I go into more detail on these points, and many more, in the presentation. - Michael
Webinar Description
Standard Process or Doctor's Research: Which to Choose?
Initial Thoughts and a Candid Perspective for Health Professionals
With Dr Michael Gaeta, DAOM, MS, CDN
Wednesday, April 26th, 2023, 130pm Mountain / 330pm Eastern
January's replacement of the entire Standard Process (SP) sales force of independent sales representatives (ISRs) with employees has caused quite a hubbub nationally. Many SP practitioners, having lost the support of the local sales rep they knew for years or decades, are now considering non-SP products for their practices. And the departure of most of the previous SP sales force understandably led many of those experienced ISRs to look elsewhere for whole-food type companies to rep for. This potent combination of factors has led to the sudden awareness and growth of a little-known supplement company called Doctor's Research (DR), a California company that has based almost its entire product line on Standard Process formulas, product names and whole-food philosophy. The company, strongly bolstered by a robust cadre of some of the most seasoned and successful former SP reps, is positioning itself as the upgrade to SP products for health professionals.
Questions abound in online forums and in questions to our school:
- What is a health professional to do?
- Which product line to choose?
- Which is the best source for food-based nutritional, and herbal, products?
- Is it time to abandon SP and move on?
- Is DR the evolution of whole-food / food-based supplements?
- Has SP run its course, to be supplanted by superior DR products?
Dr Michael Gaeta will answer these questions and more, and his answers may indeed surprise you. Dr Gaeta, for the first six years of his 34-year Chinese and functional medicine practice, used a group of nutraceutical / high-dose synthetic isolate vitamin companies, before switching most of his practice to SP and MH on the advice of a chiropractor friend. In just four years, starting in 1996, he became the #4 SP clinic in New York City, Long Island and Connecticut. In 2016, he coined the term "natural functional medicine" to differentiate this whole-food approach to supplementation from the usual high-dose synthetic vitamin approach typical of the functional medicine he initially trained in, and that most practitioners use. He has carefully studied the works of Dr Royal Lee, and the teachings of the leading educators of the Lee Philosophy.
Over 24 years of speaking for SP / MH (since January 2001), he has become one of SP's top national speakers, training 18,000 practitioners internationally and becoming widely acknowledged as one of the most effective educators in the company's 94-year history. Dr Gaeta has created many millions of dollars in SP sales growth through clinical education based on Dr Lee's whole-food philosophy, and his decades of experience as a practicing herbalist. He created the most successful online school for SP / MH / natural functional medicine education, training thousands of health professionals in whole-food nutrition and herbal therapy.
Now, practitioners are asking the Gaeta Institute every week:
- Is he going to switch from SP to DR in his practice and teaching?
- Should we, his students, switch companies?
- Is this the end of an era and the start of a new one, for the Gaeta Clinic for Chinese and Functional Medicine, and the Gaeta Institute for Wholistic Health Education?
Learn the answers and much more in this one-time interactive online presentation. Bring your nagging questions and curiosities, and hear a perspective that may surprise you, and help you make your own informed decisions as a natural health clinician.
About the Presenter
Dr Michael Gaeta's purpose is to co-create a world of vital, resilient people who choose a lifestyle of "nature first, drugs last." To accomplish this, he treats patients with Chinese and functional medicine, and helps natural health professionals upgrade their patient care and practice success. His teaching is informed by 33 years of successful clinical practice.
Michael holds licenses in acupuncture, dietetics-nutrition, and massage therapy. He is also an herbalist, and a doctor of acupuncture and Oriental medicine in Rhode Island. He earned his Master of Science degree in acupuncture from the New York College of Health Professions, where he was a faculty member for ten years. He holds additional degrees in massage therapy, Asian bodywork therapy, and health sciences.
Over the last 30 years, Dr Gaeta has trained over 20,000 practitioners. He was a faculty member at Tri-State College of Acupuncture, New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, New York Chiropractic College, Eastern School of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine, and Southwest Acupuncture College. He has taught hundreds of professional continuing education seminars, and spoken at dozens of natural healthcare colleges and conferences internationally.
Michael co-founded Acupuncture for Veterans, which provided free treatments in New York City. He is past president of the Acupuncture Society of New York, earning awards for State Association and State Association President of the Year. Dr Gaeta appeared on the CBS Early Show and NBC News, and his wellness podcast attracted over 100,000 subscribers. Michael is also a pianist, which was his first career.
Through the Gaeta Institute for Wholistic Health Education, Dr Gaeta gives live and online trainings, and online CEU courses in clinical and business success. These include the Clinician's Mastermind Circle, a one-year certification program in natural functional medicine, and well-reviewed online courses, including the Autoimmune Mastery Program; Cancer Support & Prevention; the Cardiovascular Mastery Program, and Herbal Summer School. Dr Gaeta is also active nationally in promoting health choice and informed consent. Trainings, private health consultations, writings and other resources at michaelgaeta.com.
Comments from Clinicians Who Attended the Live Webinar
"EXCELLENT PRESENTATION, DR GAETA!! Thank you for doing this! I have ALWAYS benefitted from your knowledge, and you are a TRUE treasure!" - Dr CJ Ferguson
"Thank you, Dr Gaeta. Very helpful. I am even more impressed with Standard Process than I was before." - Stephanie Blackton
"D Gaeta is giving his opinion, as he has said many times. He is presenting factual info, and you can do what you want with it. If you are intelligent, take his opinions and do your own due diligence… Thank you, Dr Gaeta. You did a great comparison and I and probably many on this webinar so so appreciate all the time you took to make this presentation for us." - Dr Constance Greene, PhD, RN
"It takes a lot of backbone and integrity to open up to the public. I don't see this as defending SP. As stated in his opening statement. He is answering multiple questions. This is helpful for me and hopefully you also." - Dr James Dudo, MD
"Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together. I so appreciate your lack of filter and your years of speaking your truth. If the DR militia's behavior in the chat is any indication, I'm happy to be sticking with SP (and I won't be sticking my arms in the compost when I go to the farm in August :-)." - Jennifer Ness Schmid, MS, RN, ACN
"From my perspective, I see Dr Gaeta comparing the ingredients of two companies and I appreciate his research, time, and willingness to share this. The discussion's focus I see, is the long-term results and quality of products." - Carol Ann
"I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing and the presentation on the supplements last week was really powerful. Thank you." - Lisa Dancing Light
"I thought you did an excellent job with your presentation on Doctor's Research. I used their products about 10 years ago because I was curious. Initially they seemed to work, but then over time they caused an imbalance. In your presentation, I was totally and completely embarrassed by how you were treated and comments that were made [by new DR representatives, especially one in particular]. This is totally unacceptable to me. So, thank you so much for your comments an all that you did. And keep the good work up. You're fighting the good fight. Hang in there, bro, and be blessed in all that you are and all that you do." - Dr Ron Violet, DC, Texas
"Those (DR reps who came from SP) were my brothers and sisters. I understand they need to support themselves, and just wish they found a better company to work with." - Former SP Rep
"Many companies that tried to copy Standard Process came and went over my 25 years with SP. Some practitioners will go and try them as the shiny new thing. 99% of the time they come back." - Retired SP Rep
"I was amazed that one of the DR reps actually stated [twice] that saccharomyces cerevisiae [a yeast, not a plant] is grown hydroponically." - Former SP Rep
"Doctor's Nutrition? Just not impressed at all. Looks like a bunch of wannabe nonsense. Also, I think they source their ingredients from hydroponics. I have some serious reservations about the nutrient density of foods not grown in soil. Have you ever had hydroponic lettuce? It's weird AF. But their source would need to be verified as well. And Gaia will never compare to MediHerb. I toured their facility years ago, and their supercritical CO2 extracts are simply too processed IMO. Their products lack clinical efficacy. I appreciate what they try to do, but if the products don't perform well, then it doesn't really matter what the intention is." - SP Practitioner, Educator & Herbalist