Acid reflux, or what is now commonly referred to as G.E.R.D. (gastroesophageal reflux disease) afflicts about 40% of adult Americans. One can hardly watch an hour of television without an advertisement for one of the following drugs appearing to treat it. Drugs like Nexium, Prilosec, and Prevacid. These drugs are classified as proton pump inhibitors (P.P.I.’s) which means they suppress the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. OTC drugs such as TUMS,and Gaviscon provide short term relief by blocking acid irritation, and another group of drugs called H-2 Blockers are also used to treat GERD by blocking histamine production in the stomach. This medical approach as it so often does, treats the symptom but ignores the real cause. Most people would be surprised that many of those who suffer from GERD are deficient in hydrochloric acid.This is especially true for those over 40 years of age.
Where, What, and Why
Where: Acid reflux and the irritation that results is at the bottom of the esophagus, (the food pipe that runs from the throat to the stomach). A valve sits between the esophagus and the stomach. This valve is called the lower esophageal sphincter. The pain does not occur in the stomach. The stomach lining itself is specially adapted to protect itself from the powerful acid. In a normal stomach the pH before food is introduced, is about a 2 on a 1-14 acid scale
About 20 million people in the U.S. suffer from a condition called peripheral neuropathy. Neuropathy means nerve disease or damage, and in the case of peripheral neuropathy it is usually damage to the small nerve fibers that extend to the feet and hands. These small nerves could be sensory nerves which transmit messages to the spinal cord and brain with feelings of cold, burning, numbness or tingling. It could also affect motor nerves which would transmit exaggerated feelings of pain, muscle wasting, balance difficulties, and paralysis. It is also possible that neuropathy can cause autonomic nerve damage to blood vessels, and organs resulting in impaired sweating, urination, and breathing. Essentially this means the communication wiring from the brain to the extremities or organs is not working properly. Although neuropathy isn’t fatal, it can take a painful and debilitating course which causes suffering over many years.
Types and Causes
There are about 100 types of peripheral neuropathy with carpal tunnel syndrome perhaps one of the more common types. It is estimated that there may be about 80 known causes. Some of the causes include Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, Cancer, Autoimmune Diseases, B12 deficiency, Alcoholism, Drugs, infections such as Lyme, physical trauma, environmental toxicity, and for about 30% of the cases it is idiopathic, meaning there is no known reason. If one nerve is affected it is called mononeuropathy and if more than one nerve is affected it is polyneuropathy.
Vitamin E was discovered by Herbert Evans and Katherine Bishop from Berkeley in 1922 when they isolated a fat-soluble factor from greens that allowed rats that were previously infertile, to deliver healthy offspring. It became the fifth vitamin to be isolated and was thought of as an anti-sterility factor. Because of this association with fertility it was later called Tocopherol from the Greek words “toc” (offspring) and “phero” (to bring forth) and has enjoyed humorous cultural references regarding virility since then. The original vitamin E isolated was Alpha Tocopherol. Because this was the original form, alpha tocopherol is legally labeled vitamin E. The natural form of vitamin E, is D alpha tocopherol and 95% of the vitamin E sold in the U.S. is D alpha tocopherol in a capsule. Asynthetic form of vitamin E labeled dl alpha tocopherol is also legally called vitamin E, but it is a much more difficult form for our body to utilize. Even the FDA recognizes that the natural form of vitamin E has a biopotency effect twice that of the synthetic dl form.
The natural form of vitamin E, D alpha tocopherol has been widely used as an antioxidant and was generally regarded as a sensible supplement to protect the body from free radical stress
Dr. Aaron White is a neuroscientist with an interest in how the brain and immune system interact and how to improve the health of both. I just finished his book titled, Transfer Factors and Immune System Health. In it, he delves into research that started in 1949 with an American Immunologist H. Sherwood Lawrence and the discovery he could transfer immunity to tuberculosis from ill patients to healthy ones using an extract from the ill patients’ white blood cells. He called the mystery component of the extract- transfer factor. In the past 50 years, there have been a 1000 studies and 600 of those examined the therapeutic value of transfer factors in disease treatment and prevention. Essentially transfer factors represent a unique type of messenger used for cell to cell communication in the immune system. Some people theorize that the Transfer Factors evolved as a way of compensating for the immune system’s slow circulatory response to foreign substances. It takes time to react to all the different viruses, bacteria and fungi that we are exposed to.
If all of this sounds like immunizations, you would be correct. However...
The commonly accepted ideal ratio between omega 6 and omega 3 fats polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) is anywhere from a 1:1 to a 4:1 ratio. It is estimated that Americans in the late 1800’s and early part of the 20th century had those kinds of ratios. Not anymore. The estimates are that now the ratio is more like 20:1 and up to 50:1. This ratio has been rising steadily since the beginning of the industrial age when grains became more of a source of feed for domestic livestock. This is depicted in the graph below.
Joseph Hibbeln, a researcher at the National Institute of Health (NIH) who has published papers on omega 3 and omega 6 intakes said the following.
“The increases of omega 6 oils in the past century may be considered a very large uncontrolled experiment that may have contributed to increased societal burdens of aggression, depression and cardiovascular mortality”.
All of us have 23 pairs of chromosomes and on those chromosomes, there are approximately 20,000-25,000 genes that provide the instructions for how our bodies look, and function in the world. The chromosomes that contain the genes and DNA form a double helix that looks like a twisted ladder where the rungs are represented by 3 billion base pairs of 4 amino acids called nucleotides. These chromosomes crammed into the nucleus of every cell in our body contains a molecular blueprint that gives us our ability to either thrive or feel challenged by various health stressors that all of us experience. If you could unwind the chromosomes and stretch it out straight the nuclear DNA of just one cell would be six feet in length!
The Human Genome Project was tasked with the job of sequencing those approximately 25,000 genes (a section of a chromosome) and the approximately 3 billion base pairs of in the human DNA (the rungs of the ladder). It took 12 years and approximately 4 billion dollars and it was completed in 2003. The science that sprung from this is called Genomics and it is dedicated to understanding illness from an individual patient perspective. Using Genomics, doctors, and scientists are taking the information from mapping an individual’s DNA to see if they have a genetic susceptibility to a disease such as diabetes, or depression, or finding out if someone may or may not respond to a specific medication such as a chemotherapy drug. click the title to read more
Mercury is often mentioned as a toxic element that humans have been getting increased exposure to in recent decades. Although mercury is a naturally occurring element that is released into our environment from volcanic eruptions, about two-thirds of the mercury we are exposed to is entering our biosphere from man-made sources including industrial plants, coal burning and incinerators. Coal fired power plants release about 75 tons of mercury into the atmosphere each year. Historically, the chlor-alkali industry is one of the largest industries that used mercury in the processing of sodium chloride brine to chlorine gas, hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide. Most would be surprised to know how pervasive these chemicals are and how they are used in the food industry, aluminum and textile production, soap and other cleaning agents as well as water treatment and effluent control.
We are coming up on flu season and with it we will be getting the requisite recommendations from various mass media sources to get the flu vaccine to prevent the flu this coming winter. Presently about 40% of adults get the flu shot. Worldwide about 1 million people die of the flu each year, and here in the U.S. there are 200,000 hospitalizations and death rates in the U.S. range from 3,000 to 49,000 annually.
Flu Facts
Ninety-five percent of the deaths attributed to the flu each year worldwide occur in people aged 65 or more. In April of this year a study from Yale University suggests that death from influenza in older people may be more related to our bodies damaging response to the flu and not the virus itself. To understand why, the research observed differences in the way our immune cells react to the virus when we are older vs when we are younger. The key difference was the secretion of key antiviral proteins called interferons and they were significantly decreased in an older population. Therefore, this diminished response led to unchecked viral replication and led to an inflammatory response that increased mortality. The conclusions from the study is that the immune system in older people was unable to activate a specific white blood cell called a neutrophil to further activate an anti-inflammatory enzyme known as inflammasome caspases.
There are many factors that influence both depression and sleep. In a previous newsletter I talked about the dangers of GMO foods, and how Glyphosate (Roundup) has been shown to influence the Shikimate pathway of our gut bacteria and their production of amino acids such as Tryptophan and Tyrosine that are precursors to Serotonin and Dopamine. Other newsletters on Heart Rate Variability and stress pointed to the effects of the imbalance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system and how cortisol fluctuations could influence hormones and sleep cycles. All of those factors are important but this newsletter will focus on Tryptophan, about why it is such an important amino acid, why it is poorly utilized and what can be done to improve optimal levels.
The Serotonin pathway and Kynurenine pathway
Tryptophan is an amino acid that gets converted to a neurotransmitter serotonin and this has been linked to restful sleep, and in the case of low levels, depression and even problems such as obsessive compulsive issues. There are a few biochemical steps that take place in order for this to happen. Tryptophan first gets converted to 5-HTP or (5-hydroxytryptophan) and this in turn is converted in our bodies to serotonin. If you or someone you know has tried either taking tryptophan or 5-HTP as a supplement, they may or may not have had success in achieving restful sleep or avoiding SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant medications. The following information may explain why.
I recently came across some information from a company called Mother Dirt that I thought was interesting enough to share. The company has developed a line of skin care products, one of which is to deliver bacteria to the skin. Essentially it is probiotics for the skin and the reasoning behind it is based in some interesting science. We commonly see results with the use of probiotics for our gastrointestinal system, so it would make sense that probiotics for our external environment is important too.
The external microbiota
It is a subject that doesn’t get too much attention, but there exists on our skin a “skin microbiome”or “cutaneous microbiome” that protects us. Our skin is our bodies largest organ and modern man’s skin biome has become sterile rather than clean due to our near obsessive use of anti-microbial soaps, deodorants, shampoos and daily showers. All skin and hair products have preservatives in them and this keeps them free of bacteria and gives them a long shelf life but kills the beneficial bacteria on our skin...
