Hi everyone,
Exposure to low frequency mechanical vibration for two to ten minutes per day stimulates musculoskeletal development (1, 2). The vibration used in both studies was 30 Hz. Before you rush out and buy a vibration machine consider that the natural frequency of orgasmic vibrations is 8 Hz. Which is of little value if you're the only one experiencing them. But, consider if you're with a partner. The phenomenon of resonance kicks in.
http://www.elitesoft.com/sci.hvac/itreson1.html explains what resonance is: "When the natural frequency of an object is excited by a vibration of the same frequency the objects natural frequency escalates to a point much greater than the exciting force or vibration. Hence, the singer breaks the glass, or the walls of Jerico come falling down."
So, hot sex will lead to resonance vibrations in both partners of 16 Hz, 32 Hz, etc. 32 Hz is close enough, I suspect, to help our bones and muscles.
Note that 32 Hz is 4 times 8 Hz which makes (3) interesting indeed. Research has shown that having mutual orgasms is four times as beneficial as doing it solo. The researcher seems to have a blind spot for gay sex since the two choices were heterosexual or solo. I'm sure gay sex together works just fine too although some of the men might have trouble making the two minute point. :)
6/13/2008 update - see (4) for a recent report on vibration and our health. The researchers note that vibration improves flexibility. No kidding!
11/27/2016 update - see (5) which discusses vibration and obesity control. It links to a study at (6) which mentions how this ties in with bone health.
1. J Bone Miner Res. 2006 Sep;21(9):1464-74
Low-level, high-frequency mechanical signals enhance musculoskeletal development of young women with low BMD....
The potential for brief periods of low-magnitude, high-frequency mechanical signals to enhance the musculoskeletal system was evaluated in young women with low BMD. Twelve months of this noninvasive signal, induced as whole body vibration for at least 2 minutes each day, increased bone and muscle mass in the axial skeleton and lower extremities compared with controls....CONCLUSIONS: Short bouts of extremely low-level mechanical signals, several orders of magnitude below that associated with vigorous exercise, increased bone and muscle mass in the weight-bearing skeleton of young adult females with low BMD. Should these musculoskeletal enhancements be preserved through adulthood, this intervention may prove to be a deterrent to osteoporosis in the elderly.
PMID: 16939405
2. J Sports Sci. 2007 Jan;25(1):111-9
Whole-body vibration can reduce calciuria induced by high protein intakes and may counteract bone resorption: A preliminary study....
Excess protein intake can adversely affect the bone via an increase in calcium excretion, while suitable mechanical loading promotes osteogenesis. We therefore investigated whether vibration exposure could alleviate the bone mineral losses associated with a metabolic acidosis. Ten healthy individuals aged 22 - 29 years (median = 25) underwent three 5-day study periods while monitoring their dietary intake. The study consisted of recording the participants' usual dietary intake for 5 consecutive days. Participants were then randomly divided into two groups, one of which received a protein supplement (2 g . kg-1 body mass . day-1; n = 5) and the other whole-body low-magnitude (3.5 g), low-frequency (30 Hz) mechanical vibration (WBV) delivered through a specially designed vibrating plate for 10 min each day (n = 5). ...results indicate that vibration stimulation can moderate the increase in bone resorption and reduction in bone formation caused by a metabolic acidosis.
PMID: 17127586
3. http://sexuality.about.com/od/sexualscience/a/weirdscience3.htm
Weird Sexual Science: Sex with a partner is 400% better
From Cory Silverberg,
Orgasm Study Offers Status Quo and Universal Generalizations
The same researcher who last month brought us the study suggesting that heterosexual intercourse was much better than any other kind of sexual behavior, is at it again.
This month New Scientist is reporting on a study by Prof. Stuart Brody (and colleague) that examined the blood level of the hormone prolactin following heterosexual intercourse versus masturbation. Prolactin is related to feelings of sexual release. The results?
After orgasm from sexual intercourse, the increase in blood prolactin levels was 400 per cent higher in both sexes compared with after orgasm from masturbation. The resulting headline (which I copied above) suggests that heterosexual sex is 400% better than masturbation. Prof. Brody is quoted as saying “this explains why orgasm from intercourse is more satisfying than masturbation.”
4. http://www.galenicom.com/es/medline/article/18477873/Whole+body+vibration+exercise:+training+and+benefits.
Whole body vibration exercise: training and benefits.
Autores:
Dennis G Dolny, G Francis Cisco Reyes
Idioma:
Eng.
Fecha:
14-05-2008
Revista:
Current sports medicine reports (1537-8918)
Entrega:
Curr Sports Med Rep. ;7(3):152-7
Abstract:
In recent years, it has been suggested that exercise using whole body vibration (WBV) platforms may increase muscle activity and subsequently enhance muscle performance in both acute and chronic conditions. WBV platforms produce frequencies ranging from 15-60 Hz and vertical displacements from ~1-11 mm, resulting in accelerations of ~2.2-5.1 g. Acute exposure to WBV has produced mixed results in terms of improving jump, sprint, and measures of muscle performance. With WBV training, younger fit subjects may not experience gains unless some type of external load is added to WBV exercise. However, sedentary and elderly individuals have demonstrated significant gains in most measures of muscle performance, similar with comparable traditional resistance exercise training programs. WBV training also has demonstrated gains in flexibility in younger athletic populations and gains or maintenance in bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. These promising results await further research to establish preferred WBV training parameters.
Copyright:
Current sports medicine reportsDepartment HPERD, University of Idaho, College of Education, Human Performance Laboratory, Moscow, ID 83844, USA. ddolny@uidaho.edu
5. https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-people-regain-weight-after-dieting-65095
Anyone who has tried to lose weight and keep it off knows how difficult the task can be. It seems like it should be simple: Just exercise to burn more calories and reduce your calorie intake. But many studies have shown that this simple strategy doesn’t work very well for the vast majority of people.
A dramatic example of the challenges of maintaining weight loss comes from a recent National Institutes of Health study. The researchers followed 14 contestants who had participated in the “World’s Biggest Loser” reality show. During the 30 weeks of the show, the contestants lost an average of over 125 pounds per person. But in the six years after the show, all but one gained back most of their lost weight, despite continuing to diet and exercise.
Why is it so hard to lose weight and keep it off? Weight loss often leads to declines in our resting metabolic rate – how many calories we burn at rest, which makes it hard to keep the weight off. So why does weight loss make resting metabolism go down, and is there a way to maintain a normal resting metabolic rate after weight loss? As someone who studies musculo-skeletal physiology, I will try to answer these questions.
Activating muscles deep in the leg that help keep blood and fluid moving through our bodies is essential to maintaining resting metabolic rate when we are sitting or standing quietly. The function of these muscles, called soleus muscles, is a major research focus for us in the Clinical Science and Engineering Research Center at Binghamton University. Commonly called “secondary hearts,” these muscles pump blood back to our heart, allowing us to maintain our normal rate of metabolic activity during sedentary activities.
Resting metabolism and weight maintenance...
6. http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/288/3/R623.long
Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2005 Mar;288(3):R623-9.
DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00513.2004
Plantar vibration improves leg fluid flow in perimenopausal women.
Stewart JM1, Karman C, Montgomery LD, McLeod KJ.
Abstract
Recent studies have indicated that plantar-based vibration may be an effective approach for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. We addressed the hypothesis of whether the plantar vibration operated by way of the skeletal muscle pump, resulting in enhanced blood and fluid flow to the lower body. We combined plantar stimulation with upright tilt table testing in 18 women aged 46-63 yr. We used strain-gauge plethysmography to measure calf blood flow, venous capacitance, and the microvascular filtration relation, as well as impedance plethysmography to examine changes in leg, splanchnic, and thoracic blood flow while supine at a 35 degrees upright tilt. A vibrating platform was placed on the footboard of a tilt table, and measurements were made at 0, 15, and 45 Hz with an amplitude of 0.2 g point to point, presented in random order. Impedance-measured supine blood flows were significantly (P = 0.05) increased in the calf (30%), pelvic (26%), and thoracic regions (20%) by plantar vibration at 45 Hz. Moreover, the 25-35% decreases in calf and pelvic blood flows associated with upright tilt were reversed by plantar vibration, and the decrease in thoracic blood flow was significantly attenuated. Strain-gauge measurements showed an attenuation of upright calf blood flow. In addition, the microvascular filtration relation was shifted with vibration, producing a pronounced increase in the threshold for edema, P(i), due to enhanced lymphatic flow. Supine values for P(i) increased from 24 +/- 2 mmHg at 0 Hz to 27 +/- 3 mmHg at 15 Hz, and finally to 31 +/- 2 mmHg at 45 Hz (P < 0.01). Upright values for P(i) increased from 25 +/- 3 mmHg at 0 Hz, to 28 +/- 4 mmHg at 15 Hz, and finally to 35 +/- 4 mmHg at 45 Hz. The results suggest that plantar vibration serves to significantly enhance peripheral and systemic blood flow, peripheral lymphatic flow, and venous drainage, which may account for the apparent ability of such stimuli to influence bone mass.
PMID: 15472009
Nerissa
Friday, January 12, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Narcotic like addiction behind eating of fatty foods
Hi everyone,
The abstract below demonstrates that it only took five days for daily consumption of corn oil by rats to induce what amounts to a narcotic addiction in them. I.E. the corn oil appears to elevate brain narcotics (endodorphins) and/or to directly stimulate a narcotic receptor to the point the rats become addicted to it.
This certainly makes sense evolutionary-wise. Imagine one of our ancestors finding a source of high oil supplying food. Nothing guarantees repeat business like a narcotic addiction. Additionally when the food would run out nothing guarantees a very active search for another similar source like being addicted. Ask any smoker who runs out of smokes at midnight.
Limiting calorie intake long term successfully for most people involves breaking a narcotic drug addiction. However, since oils are a required part of a healthy diet staying clean of this addiction is impossible.
The solution? Satisfy the addiction by finding things, other than eating, that makes us feel good. Or limit the need to be addicted by limiting exposure to things that make us feel bad. Or do both.
Biomed Res. 2006 Dec;27(6):259-63.Daily increase of fat ingestion mediated via mu-opioid receptor signaling pathway.
Mizushige T, Matsumura S...
We investigated the involvement of opioid receptors such as the mu and delta receptors in the predominant elevation of corn oil appetite just after 5-day repeated treatment of corn oil ingestion. Rats were given 5% corn oil emulsified with 0.3% xanthan gum for 20 min at the same hour for 5 consecutive days. A strong appetite for fat was formed after the 5 days presentation, and it was inhibited by naloxonazine, a selective antagonist of the mu-1 receptor, at doses of 3 mg/kg, but not by antagonists of the opioid delta receptor. In days 6, after the formation of a strong appetite for corn oil, an additional injection of naloxonazine suppressed fat intake 0-30, 30-60, 60-90 and 90-150 min after the presentation of the corn oil, but antagonists of the opioid delta receptor did not. These data suggested that the opioid mu receptor is involved in the sharp elevation of corn oil appetite during repeated presentation of corn oil to rats.
PMID: 17213681
Nerissa
The abstract below demonstrates that it only took five days for daily consumption of corn oil by rats to induce what amounts to a narcotic addiction in them. I.E. the corn oil appears to elevate brain narcotics (endodorphins) and/or to directly stimulate a narcotic receptor to the point the rats become addicted to it.
This certainly makes sense evolutionary-wise. Imagine one of our ancestors finding a source of high oil supplying food. Nothing guarantees repeat business like a narcotic addiction. Additionally when the food would run out nothing guarantees a very active search for another similar source like being addicted. Ask any smoker who runs out of smokes at midnight.
Limiting calorie intake long term successfully for most people involves breaking a narcotic drug addiction. However, since oils are a required part of a healthy diet staying clean of this addiction is impossible.
The solution? Satisfy the addiction by finding things, other than eating, that makes us feel good. Or limit the need to be addicted by limiting exposure to things that make us feel bad. Or do both.
Biomed Res. 2006 Dec;27(6):259-63.Daily increase of fat ingestion mediated via mu-opioid receptor signaling pathway.
Mizushige T, Matsumura S...
We investigated the involvement of opioid receptors such as the mu and delta receptors in the predominant elevation of corn oil appetite just after 5-day repeated treatment of corn oil ingestion. Rats were given 5% corn oil emulsified with 0.3% xanthan gum for 20 min at the same hour for 5 consecutive days. A strong appetite for fat was formed after the 5 days presentation, and it was inhibited by naloxonazine, a selective antagonist of the mu-1 receptor, at doses of 3 mg/kg, but not by antagonists of the opioid delta receptor. In days 6, after the formation of a strong appetite for corn oil, an additional injection of naloxonazine suppressed fat intake 0-30, 30-60, 60-90 and 90-150 min after the presentation of the corn oil, but antagonists of the opioid delta receptor did not. These data suggested that the opioid mu receptor is involved in the sharp elevation of corn oil appetite during repeated presentation of corn oil to rats.
PMID: 17213681
Nerissa
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Manipulation of GI bacteria for our health using the essential sugar, fucose
Hi everyone,
In postings to the Calorie Restriction Society I have mentioned the anti-cancer effect of butyrate. Prior postings have shown it to suppress appetite also. Butyrate is produced by GI bacteria digesting (fermenting) resistant starches. Of these bacteria, Roseburia sp., are some of the most productive of butyrate.
For example, (1) points out that Roseburia inulinivorans is up-regulated by the essential sugar, fucose. What is fucose? It is a very interesting sugar which appears little appreciated in human health (2).
Read the end of (2) to see the role that Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (BT) plays with fucose. Not only is fucose in food but it is actively produced by our intestinal linings on request by BT. Without this bacteria we will not actively produce fucose. BT is one of the most abundant bacteria in our colon so unless you've been on antibiotic therapy recently you should have plenty of this bacteria.
Fucose is in the supplement Fucoidan and is from brown seaweed. There are several hundred published articles on the health and longevity enhancement effects of fucose/Fucoidan. See (3, 4) for more.
If you're in an experimental mood consider (5). BT requires ammonia to grow well. Our bodies produce ammonia from protein metabolism and then we excrete it via our urine with most of it in the form of urea. I wonder what might happen if we were to give BT some ammonia directly? For example, (6) tells how to make ammonia cookies. Will this really increase the amount of fucose we produce? I have no idea. It simply seems something fun to try. I've never had ammonia cookies.
1. J Bacteriol. 2006 Jun;188(12):4340-9
Whole-genome transcription profiling reveals genes up-regulated by growth on fucose in the human gut bacterium "Roseburia inulinivorans".
Scott KP, Martin JC, Campbell G, Mayer CD, Flint HJ.
Gut Health Division, Rowett Research Institute, Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, United Kingdom. K.Scott@rowett.ac.uk
"Roseburia inulinivorans" is an anaerobic polysaccharide-utilizing firmicute bacterium from the human colon that was identified as a producer of butyric acid during growth on glucose, starch, or inulin. R. inulinivorans A2-194 is also able to grow on the host-derived sugar fucose, following a lag period, producing propionate and propanol as additional fermentation products. A shotgun genomic microarray was constructed and used to investigate the switch in gene expression that is involved in changing from glucose to fucose utilization. This revealed a set of genes coding for fucose utilization, propanediol utilization, and the formation of propionate and propanol that are up-regulated during growth on fucose. These include homologues of genes that are implicated in polyhedral body formation in Salmonella enterica. Dehydration of the intermediate 1,2-propanediol involves an enzyme belonging to the new B12-independent glycerol dehydratase family, in contrast to S. enterica, which relies on a B12-dependent enzyme. A typical gram-positive agr-type quorum-sensing system was also up-regulated in R. inulinivorans during growth on fucose. Despite the lack of genome sequence information for this commensal bacterium, microarray analysis has provided a powerful tool for obtaining new information on its metabolic capabilities.
PMID: 16740940
2. http://www.innvista.com/HEALTH/nutrition/essensug/fucose.htm
Functions
It is now known that Fucose glycoconjugates (glycoproteins and glycolipids) are an essential part of eliminating or reversing such disease processes as cancer, inflammation, and immunity.
Fucose concentrations are found in such areas as:
a) at the junctions between nerves, implying that a deficiency could affect synaptic transmissions;
b) in the proximal tubules of the human kidney, indicating the vital need for this saccharide for proper kidney function;
c) in the testes, suggesting that it plays an important role in reproduction;
d) in the outer layer of skin, where it may be involved in maintaining skin hydration.
Fucose is profoundly important for efficient neuron transmission in the brain. According to studies, Fucose is known to influence brain development and may also help improve the brain’s ability to create long-term memories. Several studies have shown that, by inhibiting the Fucose-containing protein, amnesia developed. Research is ongoing but showing good promise.
Fucose is a powerful immune modulator. It is distributed in macrophages, which are critically important to immune function. There have been numerous well-documented benefits for its necessity in immune function ,especially that of an overactive immune system, the cause of autoimmune disorders. Fucose is showing promise in its ability to normalize immune function.
Fucose is particularly active in inflammatory diseases and has the ability to suppress such allergic skin reactions as contact dermatitis.
Fucose and another essential sugar, Mannose, have the ability to kill bacteria and to help fortify resistance to infection. This is particularly true of respiratory cells. New studies reveal that, because bacteria have lectins on their surfaces that stick to the host’s saccharide receptors, supplying the body with these essential sugars can help deflect host-binding so that an infection can either be foiled or lessened.
Researchers who injected Fucose into lab animals found a possible treatment for breast cancer. U-fucoidan, a complex polysaccharide found in brown seaweed, was able to kill cancer cells in vitro within 72 hours. Interestingly, the destruction was self-induced (apoptosis), suggesting that the sugars were able to break down the DNA within each cancer cell through enzyme action.
Fucose can be found in blood cell antigens, which are involved in determining blood type.
Cancer
Fucose studies are also showing that it plays a significant role in many diseases, including cancer and its spread. Research is still ongoing but showing promise in the areas of inhibiting and reversing leukemia and breast cancer, including the suppression of tumor growth. Some studies have concluded that Fucose and Mannose appeared to be the most effective of the essential sugars when it came to slowing the growth of cancer cells.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Levels of Fucose are low in those with rheumatoid arthritis, and supplementation is showing promise as a harmless but surprisingly effective treatment. What is particularly interesting is the lower a person’s level of Fucose (as well as Galactose, another essential sugar), the more advanced the disease.
Other Diseases
Fucose metabolism appears to be altered in various diseases. Several studies have concluded that Fucose metabolism is abnormal in those with cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and during episodes of shingles, which is caused by a herpes virus. These studies go on to suggest that the sugar is active against other herpes viruses. In addition, the saccharide guards against respiratory tract infections and inhibits allergic reactions. Liver function and serum protein levels were also affected by a deficiency of Fucose. All these disorders, as well as many others, go back to immune function where fucose is showing to play a significant role.
Future Use
In other studies, Fucose proved that it can be incorporated into certain areas of the body where and when it is most needed. For instance, Fucose incorporated into the photoreceptor layer of the retina, may help with the biosynthesis of rod cell glycoproteins. In psoriasis, fucose may play a significant role in the disease process because of altered glycoprotein distribution. Normally, skin keratinocytes and non-psoriatic cells have most of their fucose on the plasma membrane, whereas psoriatic cells retain most of their fucose within the cytoplasm. The list is endless for connecting the reversal and prevention of disease and the use of Fucose and other essential sugars.
Out of the 400 or so species of intestinal microbes found in the human intestine, one has been studied as being of particular interest in its relation to Fucose – Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Present from birth, this bacterium survives in the lower part of the gut and feeds on Fucose. Cells lining the intestine manufacture it and post it on the surface of the cell. During weaning, Fucose production stops but begins again if B. thetaiotaomicron is present, leading researchers at Washington University School of Medicine to conclude that the bacterium is able to communicate to the intestine that it requires Fucose for its food. Understanding this communication between microbes and human cells may help provide treatment when friendly intestinal bacteria are destroyed after the use of antibiotics, for instance.
3. http://www.nutraingredients.com/news-by-health/productpresentation.asp?id=382&k=jinke-gingko-fucoidan
Fucoidan for a Healthy Life
04/1/06 - Jinke Group USA Inc, as the Subsidiary of Beijing Gingko Group announced a new product Ginnovay Fucoidan to the market. Ginnovay is the Trade Mark of BGG
BGG is leading the way to provide a potential natural non-toxic holistic healing product, Fucoidan, to support the body ability to forestall a lot of health problem, reported by Dr. Jay Lee in Jinke Group USA Inc.
Fucoidan is a type of glyconutrient as a new and more specialized type of nutraceutical. The main effective ingredient in Fucoidan is the fucose, one of the eight essential biological sugars. Since 1996, a total of four Nobel Prizes in medicine have been awarded for work in glycobiology. Unlike other nutritional supplements, Fucoidan provide special saccharide, biological sugars, which have recently been identified as being absolutely essential for cell-to-cell communication through glycoproteins and glycolipids.
Typically only glucose and galactose are in the foods we eat so we don’t consume Fucose and must produce over thirty-four different enzymatic reactions to generate intermediate molecules to make Fucose. During the conversion process if there is any problem in any step (due to toxins, stress etc) it will cause a severe and chronic disease. Now there are evidences that people in Japan who consume large quantities of these seaweeds (Fucoidan) have the longest lifespan.
Fucoidan produced by BGG is extracted from two brown seaweeds, Cladosiphon okamuranus grown in Japan and Ascophyllum nodosum from Norway.
4. http://limu.icthus.net/fucoidan.shtml
Excerpts from the book: Fucoidan
Fucoidan, The Ocean's Gift: Many people don’t fully understand the extreme importance of controlling free radical cellular damage in the body. A free radical is an unstable oxygen molecule that must find another electron to make itself complete. In order to do this, the free radical begins randomly bombarding the body’s cells, resulting in injury to the surrounding cell tissue.
The damage from free radicals can be countered by antioxidants. Antioxidants stop free radical damage by donating an electron without becoming a damaging free radical themselves. The problem in today’s society is that because of the lack of proper nutrition and moderate exercise, the number of free radicals in our bodies vastly outnumbers the number of antioxidants. This leads to premature aging and chronic disease.
The answer to this dilemma is to supplement our diets with plant-derived substances that contain antioxidants. However, not all supplements are made the same. Some supplements contain mostly filler or they contain impure plant products. Sometimes, the plants from which the supplements are made were grown in soil that lacks the necessary vitamins and minerals to create a plant rich in antioxidants. Again, Limu Moui does not suffer from soil deficiencies. It contains the antioxidants necessary to help prevent the negative effects sustained from free radical damage. Researchers in Madrid, Spain, showed that ingredients in brown seaweed exhibited great capacity as a natural antioxidant-even greater than extracts from green and red sea plants.
Fucoidan in Limu Moui
Limu Moui has been a vital source of food and commerce for many coastal peoples. Not surprisingly, some of these people credit the plant for their long lives. Many Tongans, for instance, stay robust, full of life and vigor, without suffering the effects of disease normally associated with aging. If you were to ask for their secret, chances are the Tongan people would direct you to Limu Moui as the reason for their good health.
In Japan, sea plant dishes like kombu and wakame are well known, but a lesser known dish call mozuku shares a common characteristic with Limu Moui. The people in the regions of Japan where mozuku is used enjoy longer lives and lower incidences of cancer when compared to counterparts in other parts of Japan.
Recent studies actually verify these phenomenona. Japanese scientists have isolated a substance in Limu Moui that promotes healthy living, seems to slow down the aging process, and fights a myriad of diseases. This substance is called fucoidan. A large number of recent scientific studies have shown fucoidan fights against cancer formation, development, and growth. Other research also indicates that fucoidan can be used for many other ailments common in today’s world.
5. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=186696
Appl Microbiol. 1974 August; 28(2): 251–257.
Nutritional Features of Bacteroides fragilis subsp. fragilis
Vincent H. Varel and Marvin P. Bryant
Departments of Dairy Science and Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Studies of three reference strains of Bacteroides fragilis subsp. fragilis showed that they grow well in a minimal defined medium containing glucose, hemin, vitamin B12, minerals, bicarbonate-carbon dioxide buffer, NH4Cl, and sulfide. The vitamin B12 requirement of 0.1 ng/ml was replaced with 7.5 µg of methionine. Cysteine or sulfide was an excellent source of sulfur, thioglycolate was a poor source, and thiosulfate, methionine, ß-mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol, sulfate, or sulfite did not serve as sole sources of sulfur. Neither single amino acids, nitrate, urea, nor a complex mixture of L-amino acids or peptides effectively replaced ammonia as the nitrogen source. Comparative studies with a few strains of other subspecies of B. fragilis including B. fragilis subsp. vulgatus, B. fragilis subsp. thetaiotaomicron, and B. fragilis subsp. distasonis indicate that they exhibit similar growth responses in the minimal medium. A single strain of B. fragilis subsp. ovatus required other materials. The results indicate the great biosynthetic ability of these organisms and suggest that, in their ecological niche within the large intestine, many nutrients such as amino acids are in very low supply, whereas materials such as ammonia, heme, and vitamin B12, or related compounds, must be available during much of the time.
6. http://www.emerils.com/recipes/by_name/ammonia_cookies.html
AMMONIA COOKIES
from Cooking Section, September 2001
Ingredients needed:
1 cup milk
One-half ounce ammonium carbonate
One-half cup shortening
One and one-fourth cups sugar
1 egg, well beaten
One-half ounce oil of lemon or 1 ounce lemon extract
5 cups sifted enriched flour
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Add the milk to the ammonium carbonate and let stand for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cream the shortening and the sugar; add the egg, lemon flavoring and the milk mixture. Stir in the flour. Chill. Roll the dough to one-fourth-inch-thick on a floured board. Cut into 3-inch squares. Prick with a floured fork. Bake on a greased baking sheets at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly browned.
Note: Ammonium carbonate is no longer readily available in stores. It can be special-ordered by many druggists, and sells for about $1.75 an ounce. Commercial bakeries use ammonium carbonate as a dry rising agent for various products, and may be willing to sell small batches to the public on request.
Makes three and one-half dozen.
Nerissa
In postings to the Calorie Restriction Society I have mentioned the anti-cancer effect of butyrate. Prior postings have shown it to suppress appetite also. Butyrate is produced by GI bacteria digesting (fermenting) resistant starches. Of these bacteria, Roseburia sp., are some of the most productive of butyrate.
For example, (1) points out that Roseburia inulinivorans is up-regulated by the essential sugar, fucose. What is fucose? It is a very interesting sugar which appears little appreciated in human health (2).
Read the end of (2) to see the role that Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (BT) plays with fucose. Not only is fucose in food but it is actively produced by our intestinal linings on request by BT. Without this bacteria we will not actively produce fucose. BT is one of the most abundant bacteria in our colon so unless you've been on antibiotic therapy recently you should have plenty of this bacteria.
Fucose is in the supplement Fucoidan and is from brown seaweed. There are several hundred published articles on the health and longevity enhancement effects of fucose/Fucoidan. See (3, 4) for more.
If you're in an experimental mood consider (5). BT requires ammonia to grow well. Our bodies produce ammonia from protein metabolism and then we excrete it via our urine with most of it in the form of urea. I wonder what might happen if we were to give BT some ammonia directly? For example, (6) tells how to make ammonia cookies. Will this really increase the amount of fucose we produce? I have no idea. It simply seems something fun to try. I've never had ammonia cookies.
1. J Bacteriol. 2006 Jun;188(12):4340-9
Whole-genome transcription profiling reveals genes up-regulated by growth on fucose in the human gut bacterium "Roseburia inulinivorans".
Scott KP, Martin JC, Campbell G, Mayer CD, Flint HJ.
Gut Health Division, Rowett Research Institute, Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, United Kingdom. K.Scott@rowett.ac.uk
"Roseburia inulinivorans" is an anaerobic polysaccharide-utilizing firmicute bacterium from the human colon that was identified as a producer of butyric acid during growth on glucose, starch, or inulin. R. inulinivorans A2-194 is also able to grow on the host-derived sugar fucose, following a lag period, producing propionate and propanol as additional fermentation products. A shotgun genomic microarray was constructed and used to investigate the switch in gene expression that is involved in changing from glucose to fucose utilization. This revealed a set of genes coding for fucose utilization, propanediol utilization, and the formation of propionate and propanol that are up-regulated during growth on fucose. These include homologues of genes that are implicated in polyhedral body formation in Salmonella enterica. Dehydration of the intermediate 1,2-propanediol involves an enzyme belonging to the new B12-independent glycerol dehydratase family, in contrast to S. enterica, which relies on a B12-dependent enzyme. A typical gram-positive agr-type quorum-sensing system was also up-regulated in R. inulinivorans during growth on fucose. Despite the lack of genome sequence information for this commensal bacterium, microarray analysis has provided a powerful tool for obtaining new information on its metabolic capabilities.
PMID: 16740940
2. http://www.innvista.com/HEALTH/nutrition/essensug/fucose.htm
Functions
It is now known that Fucose glycoconjugates (glycoproteins and glycolipids) are an essential part of eliminating or reversing such disease processes as cancer, inflammation, and immunity.
Fucose concentrations are found in such areas as:
a) at the junctions between nerves, implying that a deficiency could affect synaptic transmissions;
b) in the proximal tubules of the human kidney, indicating the vital need for this saccharide for proper kidney function;
c) in the testes, suggesting that it plays an important role in reproduction;
d) in the outer layer of skin, where it may be involved in maintaining skin hydration.
Fucose is profoundly important for efficient neuron transmission in the brain. According to studies, Fucose is known to influence brain development and may also help improve the brain’s ability to create long-term memories. Several studies have shown that, by inhibiting the Fucose-containing protein, amnesia developed. Research is ongoing but showing good promise.
Fucose is a powerful immune modulator. It is distributed in macrophages, which are critically important to immune function. There have been numerous well-documented benefits for its necessity in immune function ,especially that of an overactive immune system, the cause of autoimmune disorders. Fucose is showing promise in its ability to normalize immune function.
Fucose is particularly active in inflammatory diseases and has the ability to suppress such allergic skin reactions as contact dermatitis.
Fucose and another essential sugar, Mannose, have the ability to kill bacteria and to help fortify resistance to infection. This is particularly true of respiratory cells. New studies reveal that, because bacteria have lectins on their surfaces that stick to the host’s saccharide receptors, supplying the body with these essential sugars can help deflect host-binding so that an infection can either be foiled or lessened.
Researchers who injected Fucose into lab animals found a possible treatment for breast cancer. U-fucoidan, a complex polysaccharide found in brown seaweed, was able to kill cancer cells in vitro within 72 hours. Interestingly, the destruction was self-induced (apoptosis), suggesting that the sugars were able to break down the DNA within each cancer cell through enzyme action.
Fucose can be found in blood cell antigens, which are involved in determining blood type.
Cancer
Fucose studies are also showing that it plays a significant role in many diseases, including cancer and its spread. Research is still ongoing but showing promise in the areas of inhibiting and reversing leukemia and breast cancer, including the suppression of tumor growth. Some studies have concluded that Fucose and Mannose appeared to be the most effective of the essential sugars when it came to slowing the growth of cancer cells.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Levels of Fucose are low in those with rheumatoid arthritis, and supplementation is showing promise as a harmless but surprisingly effective treatment. What is particularly interesting is the lower a person’s level of Fucose (as well as Galactose, another essential sugar), the more advanced the disease.
Other Diseases
Fucose metabolism appears to be altered in various diseases. Several studies have concluded that Fucose metabolism is abnormal in those with cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and during episodes of shingles, which is caused by a herpes virus. These studies go on to suggest that the sugar is active against other herpes viruses. In addition, the saccharide guards against respiratory tract infections and inhibits allergic reactions. Liver function and serum protein levels were also affected by a deficiency of Fucose. All these disorders, as well as many others, go back to immune function where fucose is showing to play a significant role.
Future Use
In other studies, Fucose proved that it can be incorporated into certain areas of the body where and when it is most needed. For instance, Fucose incorporated into the photoreceptor layer of the retina, may help with the biosynthesis of rod cell glycoproteins. In psoriasis, fucose may play a significant role in the disease process because of altered glycoprotein distribution. Normally, skin keratinocytes and non-psoriatic cells have most of their fucose on the plasma membrane, whereas psoriatic cells retain most of their fucose within the cytoplasm. The list is endless for connecting the reversal and prevention of disease and the use of Fucose and other essential sugars.
Out of the 400 or so species of intestinal microbes found in the human intestine, one has been studied as being of particular interest in its relation to Fucose – Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Present from birth, this bacterium survives in the lower part of the gut and feeds on Fucose. Cells lining the intestine manufacture it and post it on the surface of the cell. During weaning, Fucose production stops but begins again if B. thetaiotaomicron is present, leading researchers at Washington University School of Medicine to conclude that the bacterium is able to communicate to the intestine that it requires Fucose for its food. Understanding this communication between microbes and human cells may help provide treatment when friendly intestinal bacteria are destroyed after the use of antibiotics, for instance.
3. http://www.nutraingredients.com/news-by-health/productpresentation.asp?id=382&k=jinke-gingko-fucoidan
Fucoidan for a Healthy Life
04/1/06 - Jinke Group USA Inc, as the Subsidiary of Beijing Gingko Group announced a new product Ginnovay Fucoidan to the market. Ginnovay is the Trade Mark of BGG
BGG is leading the way to provide a potential natural non-toxic holistic healing product, Fucoidan, to support the body ability to forestall a lot of health problem, reported by Dr. Jay Lee in Jinke Group USA Inc.
Fucoidan is a type of glyconutrient as a new and more specialized type of nutraceutical. The main effective ingredient in Fucoidan is the fucose, one of the eight essential biological sugars. Since 1996, a total of four Nobel Prizes in medicine have been awarded for work in glycobiology. Unlike other nutritional supplements, Fucoidan provide special saccharide, biological sugars, which have recently been identified as being absolutely essential for cell-to-cell communication through glycoproteins and glycolipids.
Typically only glucose and galactose are in the foods we eat so we don’t consume Fucose and must produce over thirty-four different enzymatic reactions to generate intermediate molecules to make Fucose. During the conversion process if there is any problem in any step (due to toxins, stress etc) it will cause a severe and chronic disease. Now there are evidences that people in Japan who consume large quantities of these seaweeds (Fucoidan) have the longest lifespan.
Fucoidan produced by BGG is extracted from two brown seaweeds, Cladosiphon okamuranus grown in Japan and Ascophyllum nodosum from Norway.
4. http://limu.icthus.net/fucoidan.shtml
Excerpts from the book: Fucoidan
Fucoidan, The Ocean's Gift: Many people don’t fully understand the extreme importance of controlling free radical cellular damage in the body. A free radical is an unstable oxygen molecule that must find another electron to make itself complete. In order to do this, the free radical begins randomly bombarding the body’s cells, resulting in injury to the surrounding cell tissue.
The damage from free radicals can be countered by antioxidants. Antioxidants stop free radical damage by donating an electron without becoming a damaging free radical themselves. The problem in today’s society is that because of the lack of proper nutrition and moderate exercise, the number of free radicals in our bodies vastly outnumbers the number of antioxidants. This leads to premature aging and chronic disease.
The answer to this dilemma is to supplement our diets with plant-derived substances that contain antioxidants. However, not all supplements are made the same. Some supplements contain mostly filler or they contain impure plant products. Sometimes, the plants from which the supplements are made were grown in soil that lacks the necessary vitamins and minerals to create a plant rich in antioxidants. Again, Limu Moui does not suffer from soil deficiencies. It contains the antioxidants necessary to help prevent the negative effects sustained from free radical damage. Researchers in Madrid, Spain, showed that ingredients in brown seaweed exhibited great capacity as a natural antioxidant-even greater than extracts from green and red sea plants.
Fucoidan in Limu Moui
Limu Moui has been a vital source of food and commerce for many coastal peoples. Not surprisingly, some of these people credit the plant for their long lives. Many Tongans, for instance, stay robust, full of life and vigor, without suffering the effects of disease normally associated with aging. If you were to ask for their secret, chances are the Tongan people would direct you to Limu Moui as the reason for their good health.
In Japan, sea plant dishes like kombu and wakame are well known, but a lesser known dish call mozuku shares a common characteristic with Limu Moui. The people in the regions of Japan where mozuku is used enjoy longer lives and lower incidences of cancer when compared to counterparts in other parts of Japan.
Recent studies actually verify these phenomenona. Japanese scientists have isolated a substance in Limu Moui that promotes healthy living, seems to slow down the aging process, and fights a myriad of diseases. This substance is called fucoidan. A large number of recent scientific studies have shown fucoidan fights against cancer formation, development, and growth. Other research also indicates that fucoidan can be used for many other ailments common in today’s world.
5. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=186696
Appl Microbiol. 1974 August; 28(2): 251–257.
Nutritional Features of Bacteroides fragilis subsp. fragilis
Vincent H. Varel and Marvin P. Bryant
Departments of Dairy Science and Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Studies of three reference strains of Bacteroides fragilis subsp. fragilis showed that they grow well in a minimal defined medium containing glucose, hemin, vitamin B12, minerals, bicarbonate-carbon dioxide buffer, NH4Cl, and sulfide. The vitamin B12 requirement of 0.1 ng/ml was replaced with 7.5 µg of methionine. Cysteine or sulfide was an excellent source of sulfur, thioglycolate was a poor source, and thiosulfate, methionine, ß-mercaptoethanol, dithiothreitol, sulfate, or sulfite did not serve as sole sources of sulfur. Neither single amino acids, nitrate, urea, nor a complex mixture of L-amino acids or peptides effectively replaced ammonia as the nitrogen source. Comparative studies with a few strains of other subspecies of B. fragilis including B. fragilis subsp. vulgatus, B. fragilis subsp. thetaiotaomicron, and B. fragilis subsp. distasonis indicate that they exhibit similar growth responses in the minimal medium. A single strain of B. fragilis subsp. ovatus required other materials. The results indicate the great biosynthetic ability of these organisms and suggest that, in their ecological niche within the large intestine, many nutrients such as amino acids are in very low supply, whereas materials such as ammonia, heme, and vitamin B12, or related compounds, must be available during much of the time.
6. http://www.emerils.com/recipes/by_name/ammonia_cookies.html
AMMONIA COOKIES
from Cooking Section, September 2001
Ingredients needed:
1 cup milk
One-half ounce ammonium carbonate
One-half cup shortening
One and one-fourth cups sugar
1 egg, well beaten
One-half ounce oil of lemon or 1 ounce lemon extract
5 cups sifted enriched flour
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Add the milk to the ammonium carbonate and let stand for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cream the shortening and the sugar; add the egg, lemon flavoring and the milk mixture. Stir in the flour. Chill. Roll the dough to one-fourth-inch-thick on a floured board. Cut into 3-inch squares. Prick with a floured fork. Bake on a greased baking sheets at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly browned.
Note: Ammonium carbonate is no longer readily available in stores. It can be special-ordered by many druggists, and sells for about $1.75 an ounce. Commercial bakeries use ammonium carbonate as a dry rising agent for various products, and may be willing to sell small batches to the public on request.
Makes three and one-half dozen.
Nerissa
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Hurt me! The potential benefit of experiencing periodic pain for health.
Hurt me! The potential benefit of experiencing periodic pain for health.
Background information - this was originally written to be posted to the Calorie Restriction Society listserv. The CR Society practices calorie restriction for health and longevity. See http://www.calorierestriction.org/ for their web site. I've decided to post this to my blog instead of the CR listserv for various reasons I won't go into.
************************************************
Substance P (SP) is a chemical used by our nerves to communicate pain. It is located both in peripheral nerves and in the central nervous system. When SP is released our bodies and brain respond by producing protective agents against the SP. These agents include somatostatin (1) and beta-endorphins (natural narcotics). (1) indicates that somatostatin down regulated autoimmune disorders. (2) shows that beta-endorphins are lowered in autoimmune disorders.
In addition to these indirect effects SP has direct effects to down regulate autoimmune disorders. (3) shows SP has long lasting benefits in the treatment of autoimmune modulated diabetes. (4, 5) are also suggestive that substance P might be useful in limiting autoimmune disease.
Continuous exposure to high levels of substance P would not be pleasant. Constant pain is not much of a trade off for limiting the autoimmune diseases common with aging, for example. But what about intermittent pain? My belief is it might be quite beneficial. And particularly so if it is voluntarily received as in competitive athletics or various sexual activities I hope I don't have to explain to you.
Interestingly, cultures going back to the dawn of humanity have had mystic healers called by various names, Shamans being the common name today. These individuals were often what we would call gay or transgendered today. They are probably the first to discover the value of periodic pain for health. (6) explains more.
In a small world isn't it sort of way our founder Roy Walford may have known of some of this. (7) discusses his relationship with his performance artist girlfriend, Barbara T. Smith, at the time he was in Biosphere 2. Barbara appeared to have quite an interest in shamanism. Incidentally if you're new to our group you might think the founding inspiration of CR, Roy Walford would have been quite the stiff prude. After all isn't CR about "restriction?" Ah - but read it again. That is "CALORIE restriction." Not life restriction. (8) is his obituary which shows he really knew how to enjoy life and made doing so a priority. Also note that one of the last things he worked on was the role of immune system malfunctioning in aging.
1. Eur Cytokine Netw. 2000 Jun;11(2):161-76
Somatostatin and somatostatin receptors in the immune system: a review.
ten Bokum AM, Hofland LJ, van Hagen PM.
Department of Immunology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Communication and reciprocal regulation between the nervous, endocrine and immune systems are essential for the stability of the organism. Among others, cytokines, hormones and neuropeptides have been identified as signalling molecules mediating the communication between the three systems. This review focuses on the role of the neuropeptide somatostatin as an intersystem signalling molecule, with emphasis on the immune system. Somatostatin down-modulates a number of immune functions, among others lymphocyte proliferation, immunoglobulin production and the release of proinflammatory cytokines such as IFN-g. Systemic or local treatment with somatostatin or somatostatin analogues has been shown to be beneficial in a number of in vivo models of autoimmune disease and chronic inflammation. In many of these models somatostatin appears to antagonise the effects of another neuropeptide, substance P. A somatostatin-substance P immunoregulatory circuit has been proposed to operate within murine Schistosoma mansoni-induced granulomas. In this review we extend the model of the somatostatin-substance P immunoregulatory circuit to include data derived from other biological systems, and those relying on human clinical situations. In addition, we present a hypothesis on the regulation of the default class of immune response within a tissue, based on the local balance of pro-and anti-inflammatory neuropeptides.
PMID: 10903795
2. J Neuroimmunol. 1999 Jun 1;97(1-2):129-33
Hypothalamic beta-endorphin concentrations are decreased in animals models of autoimmune disease.
Sacerdote P, Lechner O, Sidman C, Wick G, Panerai AE.
Department of Pharmacology, University of Milano, Milan, Italy. paola.sacerdote@unimi.it
Complex interactions between the neuroendocrine and the immune systems are present in autoimmune diseases. The central opioid peptide beta-endorphin (BE) has been shown to modulate peripheral immune responses in normal animals. In the present study we analyze the hypothalamic concentrations of this peptide in two models of spontaneous autoimmune disease, the MRL [corrected] lpr/lpr mouse, that develops a lupus-like autoimmune disease, and the obese strain (OS) chickens afflicted with spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis. In both instances, hypothalamic concentrations of BE are significantly lower than normal controls. In MRL [corrected] lpr/lpr mice, BE is already lower at 1 month of age, when no clinical sign of the disease is yet present. Similarly, low levels of BE are observed in OS chickens before the onset of thyroiditis, i.e., already at the embryonic stage. Moreover, a further decrease of BE is observed in OS chickens in correspondence with the first signs of thyroid mononuclear infiltration. Considering the immunosuppressive effects exerted by central BE, these results are suggestive of the fact that in autoimmune disease prone animals the low hypothalamic concentrations may be one of several factors predisposing for the development of autoimmune disease.
PMID: 10408966
3. Cell. 2006 Dec 15;127(6):1123-35
TRPV1+ sensory neurons control beta cell stress and islet inflammation in autoimmune diabetes.
Razavi R, Chan Y, Afifiyan FN, Liu XJ, Wan X, Yantha J, Tsui H, Tang L, Tsai S, Santamaria P, Driver JP, Serreze D, Salter MW, Dosch HM.
Neurosciences and Mental Health Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 1X8.
In type 1 diabetes, T cell-mediated death of pancreatic beta cells produces insulin deficiency. However, what attracts or restricts broadly autoreactive lymphocyte pools to the pancreas remains unclear. We report that TRPV1(+) pancreatic sensory neurons control islet inflammation and insulin resistance. Eliminating these neurons in diabetes-prone NOD mice prevents insulitis and diabetes, despite systemic persistence of pathogenic T cell pools. Insulin resistance and beta cell stress of prediabetic NOD mice are prevented when TRPV1(+) neurons are eliminated. TRPV1(NOD), localized to the Idd4.1 diabetes-risk locus, is a hypofunctional mutant, mediating depressed neurogenic inflammation. Delivering the neuropeptide substance P by intra-arterial injection into the NOD pancreas reverses abnormal insulin resistance, insulitis, and diabetes for weeks. Concordantly, insulin sensitivity is enhanced in trpv1(-/-) mice, whereas insulitis/diabetes-resistant NODxB6Idd4-congenic mice, carrying wild-type TRPV1, show restored TRPV1 function and insulin sensitivity. Our data uncover a fundamental role for insulin-responsive TRPV1(+) sensory neurons in beta cell function and diabetes pathoetiology.
PMID: 17174891
4. Zhongguo Yi Xue Ke Xue Yuan Xue Bao. 1996 Jun;18(3):183-8
The role of substance P in the spinal dorsal horn in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases
Chen J, Li S, Liu Y, Wu S, Ji H.
Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, CAMS, Beijing.
The aim of the present study is to explore the role of immunosuppression mediated by substance P (SP) in spinal dorsal horn (SDH) in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diseases. The experimental allergic neuritis (EAN), experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) and adjuvant arthritis (AA) animal models were established in the guinea pigs and Wistar rats, respectively. The effects of alteration of SP activity in SDH on immune responses and the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diseases were observed. The results showed that decreasing activity of SP in SDH by pretreatment of capsaicin or intrathecal SP antagonist could enhance cellular and humoral immune responses and aggravate the autoimmune diseases, while intrathecal SP agonist could suppress the immunity and alleviate clinical signs. The contents of SP in SDH was elevated dramatically at the peak of immune responses. These results suggest that SDH SP might participate in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diseases. The increase of SP contents in SDH may inhibit the immune system via unknown pathway and ease clinical severity of the autoimmune disease, where SP might act as neurotransmitter in the immunoregulation of the negative feedback. To elevate SP content in SDH might be beneficial to the autoimmune diseases.
PMID: 9388989
5. Neuropeptides. 1991 Oct;20(2):73-8
Substance P and neurodegenerative disorders. A speculative review.
Barker R.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Cambridge, UK.
The causes of the neurodegenerative disorders of Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are unknown. It is proposed that all these disorders result primarily from a loss of trophic peptidergic neurotransmitter, possibly Substance P (SP). This loss in turn produces the classical neuronal degeneration seen in each of these diseases and occurs due to a combination of natural aging and chronic autoimmune destruction following a viral infection of the CNS, early in life. The loss is therefore slow and by the time of clinical presentation the inflammatory process is disappearing as the antigenic stimulus lessens with its removal. The implications of the theory in terms of future research and therapy are briefly discussed.
PMID: 1724684
6. http://www.links.net/vita/swat/course/shaman/heal.html
Shamans heal themselves.
By working through their own pain, they learn to help others.
wounded healin'
This appears a universal notion (if there is such a thing); from various shamanistic systems, as well as Greco-Roman mythology; I am reminded of Chiron, the wounded healer centaur:
"Hercules chased the maurauders all the way to Cape Malea, where Chiron himself was struck by one of Hercules' poisoned arrows, after it had passed through another centaur. The wound would have been fatal, but since Chiron was an immortal, he couldn't die of the wound, and its pain led him to a search for healing. In his search for a cure for his own wound, Chiron was the discoverer of medicine, which he taught to Asclepius."
- Chiron Mythology
In other cultures, particularly Siberian proto-Shamanic systems, healing proficiency is predicated on individual wounding and self-curation.
"But the primitive magician, the medicine man, or the shaman is not only a sick man; he is, above all, a sick man who has been cured, who has succeeded in curing himself."
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, page 27
Without delving into a world of detail, this preliminary sickness seems less than infectious. Perhaps the resulting celebration of destiny determines this, regardless, the sicknesses appear spiritual in origin; resulting from the shaman's need to experience pain and heal himself to become a shaman.
I am here reminded of Saint Francis of Assisi, who after a few months of fever recovered to embrace a severe ecstatic Christian mendicant life. I don't know that he was a healer, per se, but he certainly traversed the spirit realms for folks.
Once they've had their illness, or some other form of calling to the profession, many of the early shamanistic societies elaborated a ritual of pain and health to further train the shaman, or medecine man. They set up dismemberment rituals and mythology, where budding young healers and metaphysical wanderers are hacked into pieces then taken to heavenly surgeons who put together a new and improved shaman.
and/or their relatives sit around sticking cigarette butts in them for a few days.
Through this is achieved symbolic death and mystical resurrection.
Having gone through the process successfully themselves, they are thus prepared to help others through the process.
"If they have cured themselves and are able to cure others, it is, among other things, because they know the mechanism, or rather, the theory of illness."
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, page 31
Shaman sickness as medical training is obviated by Eskimos;
...the Eskimo neophyte must undergo a great initiatoy ordeal. Success in obtaining this experience requires his making a long effort of physical privation and mental contemplation directed to gaining the ability to see himself as a skeleton.
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, page 62
7. http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2005/Articles0205/BTSmithA.html
BARBARA T. SMITH
Smith set up a role reversal in this epic performance, becoming a female Odysseus, organizing a journey to faraway sites from India to Norway (where she entered into the mythology of her personal ancestry in a journey paralleling Odysseus’ trip into the Underworld). Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz of The Electronic Café International, set up communications between Smith and her partner, Dr. Roy Walford, a medical officer sealed in Biosphere 2 who became the male counterpart of Penelope. In an essay written for High Performance in 1987, Smith eerily predicted concerns she would carry on her Odyssey, including threats to life on the planet “that made the link between feminism, spirituality and ecology an obvious one,” and pleas for “the widespread recognition of the need and desire for an entirely new perception and method of living--capturing the power of the sun.”
Interlacing video projections with ephemera from the performances allows viewers’ to come closer to experiencing the cyclical and transformative nature of Smith’s work. But it is the catalog essays that enrich materials available in the gallery and compel deeper deliberation. Jennie Klein elaborates on Smith’s role as shaman.
8. http://www.grg.org/RWalford.htm
In a career that can only be described as colorful, Walford alternated years of intensive laboratory research on mice with yearlong sabbaticals in which he walked across India in a loincloth measuring the rectal temperatures of holy men, traversed the African continent on foot and lived in Biosphere 2, practicing what he called the Signpost Theory of Life..."I find it useful to punctuate time with dangerous and eccentric activities."
His most recent idea was that the immune system malfunctions during aging, producing an inappropriate response to pathogens that is manifested as the normal side effects of aging. ...
Upon graduation, what he later described as his periodic craziness took over, and he and Hibbs decided they wanted to sail around the world. Lacking money, a boat or the desire to earn the money working, they decided to try gambling. Analyzing roulette wheels, they found that each had its own idiosyncrasy, with certain numbers appearing more often than others. Armed with their observations and a borrowed $200, they tackled Las Vegas and Reno. They came away with $42,000, which allowed them to purchase the yacht of their dreams.
In addition to being a gifted scientist, Walford was also what one friend called a "cultural provocateur." Although he was on the clinical faculty at UCLA, he traveled with the Living Theater, writing reviews for the now-defunct Los Angeles Free Press. He wrote about the underground drug scene in Amsterdam before it became well known. His tastes were eclectic. He was close friends with members of the pop group Manhattan Transfer and "was into punk rock before the rest of us knew what it was about," UCLA's Cochran said. His adventures in India, Africa and Biosphere-2 got him elected to the Explorers Club.
He met and married Martha Sylvia Schwalb while he was in Chicago and they had three children, but the couple divorced after 20 years. After that, he gained notoriety for his large number of relationships with women. Friends joked that he wanted to extend his life span only because "there were too many women and too little time." Even so, he was a devoted father, his daughter Lisa said. "I majored in dance at UCLA, and he came to every performance I was in," she said. "He was my best friend."
Nerissa
Background information - this was originally written to be posted to the Calorie Restriction Society listserv. The CR Society practices calorie restriction for health and longevity. See http://www.calorierestriction.org/ for their web site. I've decided to post this to my blog instead of the CR listserv for various reasons I won't go into.
************************************************
Substance P (SP) is a chemical used by our nerves to communicate pain. It is located both in peripheral nerves and in the central nervous system. When SP is released our bodies and brain respond by producing protective agents against the SP. These agents include somatostatin (1) and beta-endorphins (natural narcotics). (1) indicates that somatostatin down regulated autoimmune disorders. (2) shows that beta-endorphins are lowered in autoimmune disorders.
In addition to these indirect effects SP has direct effects to down regulate autoimmune disorders. (3) shows SP has long lasting benefits in the treatment of autoimmune modulated diabetes. (4, 5) are also suggestive that substance P might be useful in limiting autoimmune disease.
Continuous exposure to high levels of substance P would not be pleasant. Constant pain is not much of a trade off for limiting the autoimmune diseases common with aging, for example. But what about intermittent pain? My belief is it might be quite beneficial. And particularly so if it is voluntarily received as in competitive athletics or various sexual activities I hope I don't have to explain to you.
Interestingly, cultures going back to the dawn of humanity have had mystic healers called by various names, Shamans being the common name today. These individuals were often what we would call gay or transgendered today. They are probably the first to discover the value of periodic pain for health. (6) explains more.
In a small world isn't it sort of way our founder Roy Walford may have known of some of this. (7) discusses his relationship with his performance artist girlfriend, Barbara T. Smith, at the time he was in Biosphere 2. Barbara appeared to have quite an interest in shamanism. Incidentally if you're new to our group you might think the founding inspiration of CR, Roy Walford would have been quite the stiff prude. After all isn't CR about "restriction?" Ah - but read it again. That is "CALORIE restriction." Not life restriction. (8) is his obituary which shows he really knew how to enjoy life and made doing so a priority. Also note that one of the last things he worked on was the role of immune system malfunctioning in aging.
1. Eur Cytokine Netw. 2000 Jun;11(2):161-76
Somatostatin and somatostatin receptors in the immune system: a review.
ten Bokum AM, Hofland LJ, van Hagen PM.
Department of Immunology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Communication and reciprocal regulation between the nervous, endocrine and immune systems are essential for the stability of the organism. Among others, cytokines, hormones and neuropeptides have been identified as signalling molecules mediating the communication between the three systems. This review focuses on the role of the neuropeptide somatostatin as an intersystem signalling molecule, with emphasis on the immune system. Somatostatin down-modulates a number of immune functions, among others lymphocyte proliferation, immunoglobulin production and the release of proinflammatory cytokines such as IFN-g. Systemic or local treatment with somatostatin or somatostatin analogues has been shown to be beneficial in a number of in vivo models of autoimmune disease and chronic inflammation. In many of these models somatostatin appears to antagonise the effects of another neuropeptide, substance P. A somatostatin-substance P immunoregulatory circuit has been proposed to operate within murine Schistosoma mansoni-induced granulomas. In this review we extend the model of the somatostatin-substance P immunoregulatory circuit to include data derived from other biological systems, and those relying on human clinical situations. In addition, we present a hypothesis on the regulation of the default class of immune response within a tissue, based on the local balance of pro-and anti-inflammatory neuropeptides.
PMID: 10903795
2. J Neuroimmunol. 1999 Jun 1;97(1-2):129-33
Hypothalamic beta-endorphin concentrations are decreased in animals models of autoimmune disease.
Sacerdote P, Lechner O, Sidman C, Wick G, Panerai AE.
Department of Pharmacology, University of Milano, Milan, Italy. paola.sacerdote@unimi.it
Complex interactions between the neuroendocrine and the immune systems are present in autoimmune diseases. The central opioid peptide beta-endorphin (BE) has been shown to modulate peripheral immune responses in normal animals. In the present study we analyze the hypothalamic concentrations of this peptide in two models of spontaneous autoimmune disease, the MRL [corrected] lpr/lpr mouse, that develops a lupus-like autoimmune disease, and the obese strain (OS) chickens afflicted with spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis. In both instances, hypothalamic concentrations of BE are significantly lower than normal controls. In MRL [corrected] lpr/lpr mice, BE is already lower at 1 month of age, when no clinical sign of the disease is yet present. Similarly, low levels of BE are observed in OS chickens before the onset of thyroiditis, i.e., already at the embryonic stage. Moreover, a further decrease of BE is observed in OS chickens in correspondence with the first signs of thyroid mononuclear infiltration. Considering the immunosuppressive effects exerted by central BE, these results are suggestive of the fact that in autoimmune disease prone animals the low hypothalamic concentrations may be one of several factors predisposing for the development of autoimmune disease.
PMID: 10408966
3. Cell. 2006 Dec 15;127(6):1123-35
TRPV1+ sensory neurons control beta cell stress and islet inflammation in autoimmune diabetes.
Razavi R, Chan Y, Afifiyan FN, Liu XJ, Wan X, Yantha J, Tsui H, Tang L, Tsai S, Santamaria P, Driver JP, Serreze D, Salter MW, Dosch HM.
Neurosciences and Mental Health Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 1X8.
In type 1 diabetes, T cell-mediated death of pancreatic beta cells produces insulin deficiency. However, what attracts or restricts broadly autoreactive lymphocyte pools to the pancreas remains unclear. We report that TRPV1(+) pancreatic sensory neurons control islet inflammation and insulin resistance. Eliminating these neurons in diabetes-prone NOD mice prevents insulitis and diabetes, despite systemic persistence of pathogenic T cell pools. Insulin resistance and beta cell stress of prediabetic NOD mice are prevented when TRPV1(+) neurons are eliminated. TRPV1(NOD), localized to the Idd4.1 diabetes-risk locus, is a hypofunctional mutant, mediating depressed neurogenic inflammation. Delivering the neuropeptide substance P by intra-arterial injection into the NOD pancreas reverses abnormal insulin resistance, insulitis, and diabetes for weeks. Concordantly, insulin sensitivity is enhanced in trpv1(-/-) mice, whereas insulitis/diabetes-resistant NODxB6Idd4-congenic mice, carrying wild-type TRPV1, show restored TRPV1 function and insulin sensitivity. Our data uncover a fundamental role for insulin-responsive TRPV1(+) sensory neurons in beta cell function and diabetes pathoetiology.
PMID: 17174891
4. Zhongguo Yi Xue Ke Xue Yuan Xue Bao. 1996 Jun;18(3):183-8
The role of substance P in the spinal dorsal horn in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases
Chen J, Li S, Liu Y, Wu S, Ji H.
Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, CAMS, Beijing.
The aim of the present study is to explore the role of immunosuppression mediated by substance P (SP) in spinal dorsal horn (SDH) in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diseases. The experimental allergic neuritis (EAN), experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) and adjuvant arthritis (AA) animal models were established in the guinea pigs and Wistar rats, respectively. The effects of alteration of SP activity in SDH on immune responses and the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diseases were observed. The results showed that decreasing activity of SP in SDH by pretreatment of capsaicin or intrathecal SP antagonist could enhance cellular and humoral immune responses and aggravate the autoimmune diseases, while intrathecal SP agonist could suppress the immunity and alleviate clinical signs. The contents of SP in SDH was elevated dramatically at the peak of immune responses. These results suggest that SDH SP might participate in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune diseases. The increase of SP contents in SDH may inhibit the immune system via unknown pathway and ease clinical severity of the autoimmune disease, where SP might act as neurotransmitter in the immunoregulation of the negative feedback. To elevate SP content in SDH might be beneficial to the autoimmune diseases.
PMID: 9388989
5. Neuropeptides. 1991 Oct;20(2):73-8
Substance P and neurodegenerative disorders. A speculative review.
Barker R.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Cambridge, UK.
The causes of the neurodegenerative disorders of Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are unknown. It is proposed that all these disorders result primarily from a loss of trophic peptidergic neurotransmitter, possibly Substance P (SP). This loss in turn produces the classical neuronal degeneration seen in each of these diseases and occurs due to a combination of natural aging and chronic autoimmune destruction following a viral infection of the CNS, early in life. The loss is therefore slow and by the time of clinical presentation the inflammatory process is disappearing as the antigenic stimulus lessens with its removal. The implications of the theory in terms of future research and therapy are briefly discussed.
PMID: 1724684
6. http://www.links.net/vita/swat/course/shaman/heal.html
Shamans heal themselves.
By working through their own pain, they learn to help others.
wounded healin'
This appears a universal notion (if there is such a thing); from various shamanistic systems, as well as Greco-Roman mythology; I am reminded of Chiron, the wounded healer centaur:
"Hercules chased the maurauders all the way to Cape Malea, where Chiron himself was struck by one of Hercules' poisoned arrows, after it had passed through another centaur. The wound would have been fatal, but since Chiron was an immortal, he couldn't die of the wound, and its pain led him to a search for healing. In his search for a cure for his own wound, Chiron was the discoverer of medicine, which he taught to Asclepius."
- Chiron Mythology
In other cultures, particularly Siberian proto-Shamanic systems, healing proficiency is predicated on individual wounding and self-curation.
"But the primitive magician, the medicine man, or the shaman is not only a sick man; he is, above all, a sick man who has been cured, who has succeeded in curing himself."
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, page 27
Without delving into a world of detail, this preliminary sickness seems less than infectious. Perhaps the resulting celebration of destiny determines this, regardless, the sicknesses appear spiritual in origin; resulting from the shaman's need to experience pain and heal himself to become a shaman.
I am here reminded of Saint Francis of Assisi, who after a few months of fever recovered to embrace a severe ecstatic Christian mendicant life. I don't know that he was a healer, per se, but he certainly traversed the spirit realms for folks.
Once they've had their illness, or some other form of calling to the profession, many of the early shamanistic societies elaborated a ritual of pain and health to further train the shaman, or medecine man. They set up dismemberment rituals and mythology, where budding young healers and metaphysical wanderers are hacked into pieces then taken to heavenly surgeons who put together a new and improved shaman.
and/or their relatives sit around sticking cigarette butts in them for a few days.
Through this is achieved symbolic death and mystical resurrection.
Having gone through the process successfully themselves, they are thus prepared to help others through the process.
"If they have cured themselves and are able to cure others, it is, among other things, because they know the mechanism, or rather, the theory of illness."
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, page 31
Shaman sickness as medical training is obviated by Eskimos;
...the Eskimo neophyte must undergo a great initiatoy ordeal. Success in obtaining this experience requires his making a long effort of physical privation and mental contemplation directed to gaining the ability to see himself as a skeleton.
- Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, page 62
7. http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2005/Articles0205/BTSmithA.html
BARBARA T. SMITH
Smith set up a role reversal in this epic performance, becoming a female Odysseus, organizing a journey to faraway sites from India to Norway (where she entered into the mythology of her personal ancestry in a journey paralleling Odysseus’ trip into the Underworld). Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz of The Electronic Café International, set up communications between Smith and her partner, Dr. Roy Walford, a medical officer sealed in Biosphere 2 who became the male counterpart of Penelope. In an essay written for High Performance in 1987, Smith eerily predicted concerns she would carry on her Odyssey, including threats to life on the planet “that made the link between feminism, spirituality and ecology an obvious one,” and pleas for “the widespread recognition of the need and desire for an entirely new perception and method of living--capturing the power of the sun.”
Interlacing video projections with ephemera from the performances allows viewers’ to come closer to experiencing the cyclical and transformative nature of Smith’s work. But it is the catalog essays that enrich materials available in the gallery and compel deeper deliberation. Jennie Klein elaborates on Smith’s role as shaman.
8. http://www.grg.org/RWalford.htm
In a career that can only be described as colorful, Walford alternated years of intensive laboratory research on mice with yearlong sabbaticals in which he walked across India in a loincloth measuring the rectal temperatures of holy men, traversed the African continent on foot and lived in Biosphere 2, practicing what he called the Signpost Theory of Life..."I find it useful to punctuate time with dangerous and eccentric activities."
His most recent idea was that the immune system malfunctions during aging, producing an inappropriate response to pathogens that is manifested as the normal side effects of aging. ...
Upon graduation, what he later described as his periodic craziness took over, and he and Hibbs decided they wanted to sail around the world. Lacking money, a boat or the desire to earn the money working, they decided to try gambling. Analyzing roulette wheels, they found that each had its own idiosyncrasy, with certain numbers appearing more often than others. Armed with their observations and a borrowed $200, they tackled Las Vegas and Reno. They came away with $42,000, which allowed them to purchase the yacht of their dreams.
In addition to being a gifted scientist, Walford was also what one friend called a "cultural provocateur." Although he was on the clinical faculty at UCLA, he traveled with the Living Theater, writing reviews for the now-defunct Los Angeles Free Press. He wrote about the underground drug scene in Amsterdam before it became well known. His tastes were eclectic. He was close friends with members of the pop group Manhattan Transfer and "was into punk rock before the rest of us knew what it was about," UCLA's Cochran said. His adventures in India, Africa and Biosphere-2 got him elected to the Explorers Club.
He met and married Martha Sylvia Schwalb while he was in Chicago and they had three children, but the couple divorced after 20 years. After that, he gained notoriety for his large number of relationships with women. Friends joked that he wanted to extend his life span only because "there were too many women and too little time." Even so, he was a devoted father, his daughter Lisa said. "I majored in dance at UCLA, and he came to every performance I was in," she said. "He was my best friend."
Nerissa
A night out with the girls
Last evening was my last Saturday night before nursing school starts again. So, I made the most of it by going to a shall we say wild club in the Atlanta area. I wore a hot red high cut Mexican style dress with a plunging neck line plus matching heels.
Two days before this I'd been to the world premier of the L Word at Sky Bar in Atlanta along with a bunch of high fem lesbians. To my fortunate coincidence some of these ladies were at the club last night as well. Anyone with the impression that all lesbians are boring and butch need to hang out with my new friends.
Ignoring for the moment that I'm middle aged (if I live to be over 100!) and the women in their 20s I joined them and we had a really good time. Somehow I ended up on a large bed with two of them in various states of undress. Details not forth coming!
I'm normally into men and not women but the women from last night may just convince me I'm lesbian. I'll have to do some more "testing" of this with them in the future.
Nerissa
Two days before this I'd been to the world premier of the L Word at Sky Bar in Atlanta along with a bunch of high fem lesbians. To my fortunate coincidence some of these ladies were at the club last night as well. Anyone with the impression that all lesbians are boring and butch need to hang out with my new friends.
Ignoring for the moment that I'm middle aged (if I live to be over 100!) and the women in their 20s I joined them and we had a really good time. Somehow I ended up on a large bed with two of them in various states of undress. Details not forth coming!
I'm normally into men and not women but the women from last night may just convince me I'm lesbian. I'll have to do some more "testing" of this with them in the future.
Nerissa
Belly fat and endocannabinoids leads to questioning of our free will
I like to research the medical literature and find things that have unexpected influences on our personalities. Today's post is about belly fat, of all things.
Endocannabinoids are natural versions of the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in marijuana. THC and similar natural endocannabinoids stimulate appetite. The weight loss drug, Acomplia (rimonabant) works by blocking the receptors to endocannabinoids.
(1) is a study of subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue. This fat was shown to metabolize endogenous endocannabinoids. Consider the appetite implications. Lowering of endocannabinoids might lower appetite. Conversely, if the fat were removed as with liposuction appetite might increase. The study states that "human adipose tissue" is able to "metabolize endocannabinoids." I suspect this comment overstates the facts. All human adipose tissue was not studied. Only superficial belly fat was studied.
My observations and readings suggest this fat is unique in our body. For example, I have literally dieted to the point my bones started to deteriorate and still not been able to rid myself of this fat. I maybe got rid of a third of it. Meanwhile the rest of me had the anorexic look. I finally gave up and figure when I have some other surgeries in the future I'll have it moved north a bit.
(2) mentions that Acomplia might be useful for treating various addictions. The mechanism is by blocking the endocannabinoid receptor the feel good effects of addictive substances ranging from rich foods, to tobacco to alcohol and more would be blocked.
Besides the fact that my research shows this is likely to increase cancer risk long term I find the philosophy behind the approach abysmal. As an analogy imagine a person with a sky high libido. This sort of approach would cure the "problem" by eliminating the libido. I think a better approach would be to introduce the person to someone with an equally high libido. Why in the world would be want to limit addictive personalities when the same qualities in a person could be used to become addicted to productive things? I see Acomplia good for short term use only but suspect many people will use it long term rather than take the time to develop alternative addictions less harmful to themselves or even beneficial.
Anyway, I find it amazing to what extent our personalities are affected by things like belly fat, diet, our hormone status and much more. Do we really have the power of self determination or are we simply responding to our internal and external environments?
1. Biochimie. 2006 Dec;88(12):1889-97 Human adipose tissue binds and metabolizes the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol.
Spoto B, Fezza F, Parlongo G, Battista N, Sgro' E, Gasperi V, Zoccali C, Maccarrone M.
CNR-IBIM, National Research Council Institute of Biomedicine-Clinical Epidemiology and Physiophatology of Renal Disease and Hypertension & Urology Unit, c/o Ki Point-Gransial Srl, Via Filippini, n.85, 89125 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Endocannabinoids are a group of biologically active endogenous lipids that have recently emerged as important mediators in energy balance control. The two best studied endocannabinoids, anandamide (N-arachidonoylethanolamine, AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) are the endogenous ligands of the central and peripheral cannabinoid receptors. Furthermore, AEA binds to the transient receptor potential vanilloid type-1 (TRPV1), a capsaicin-sensitive, non-selective cation channel. The synthesis of these endocannabinoids is catalyzed by the N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine-selective phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD) and the sn-1-selective diacylglycerol lipase (DAGL), whereas their degradation is accomplished by the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and the monoglyceride lipase (MGL), respectively. We investigated the presence of a functional endocannabinoid system in human adipose tissue from seven healthy subjects. Subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue underwent biochemical and molecular biology analyses, aimed at testing the expression of this system and its functional activity. AEA and 2-AG levels were detected and quantified by HPLC. Real time PCR analyzed the expression of the endocannabinoid system and immunofluorescence assays showed the distribution of its components in the adipose tissue. Furthermore, binding assay for the cannabinoid and vanilloid receptors and activity assay for each metabolic enzyme of the endocannabinoid system gave clear evidence of a fully operating system. The data presented herein show for the first time that the human adipose tissue is able to bind AEA and 2-AG and that it is endowed with the biochemical machinery to metabolize endocannabinoids.PMID: 16949718
2. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/09/health/main654629.shtml
NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2004(AP / CBS)
(AP) A pill that helps you lose weight and quit smoking? That was amazing enough to capture headlines last week. But scientists say the experimental drug might be even more versatile, providing a new tool to help people stop abusing drugs and alcohol, too.
It's called rimonabant, or Acomplia, and last week researchers reported it could help people not only lose weight but keep it off for two years.
That burnished the drug's reputation after two studies in March, which suggested it could fight both obesity and smoking, two of humanity's biggest killers.
The French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Aventis SA plans to seek federal approval for rimonabant next year.
But the drug's benefits may go beyond just smokers and obese people, researchers say.
"I think it's going to have a big impact on the treatment of addiction," said Dr. Charles O'Brien, an addiction expert at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Animal studies suggest rimonabant can block the effects of marijuana and fight relapse in alcohol and cocaine abuse, he said. Once it is approved for treating obesity or smoking, "we'll be free to study it in these other areas and I'll try to get my hands on it as quickly as possible," O'Brien said.
Nerissa
Endocannabinoids are natural versions of the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in marijuana. THC and similar natural endocannabinoids stimulate appetite. The weight loss drug, Acomplia (rimonabant) works by blocking the receptors to endocannabinoids.
(1) is a study of subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue. This fat was shown to metabolize endogenous endocannabinoids. Consider the appetite implications. Lowering of endocannabinoids might lower appetite. Conversely, if the fat were removed as with liposuction appetite might increase. The study states that "human adipose tissue" is able to "metabolize endocannabinoids." I suspect this comment overstates the facts. All human adipose tissue was not studied. Only superficial belly fat was studied.
My observations and readings suggest this fat is unique in our body. For example, I have literally dieted to the point my bones started to deteriorate and still not been able to rid myself of this fat. I maybe got rid of a third of it. Meanwhile the rest of me had the anorexic look. I finally gave up and figure when I have some other surgeries in the future I'll have it moved north a bit.
(2) mentions that Acomplia might be useful for treating various addictions. The mechanism is by blocking the endocannabinoid receptor the feel good effects of addictive substances ranging from rich foods, to tobacco to alcohol and more would be blocked.
Besides the fact that my research shows this is likely to increase cancer risk long term I find the philosophy behind the approach abysmal. As an analogy imagine a person with a sky high libido. This sort of approach would cure the "problem" by eliminating the libido. I think a better approach would be to introduce the person to someone with an equally high libido. Why in the world would be want to limit addictive personalities when the same qualities in a person could be used to become addicted to productive things? I see Acomplia good for short term use only but suspect many people will use it long term rather than take the time to develop alternative addictions less harmful to themselves or even beneficial.
Anyway, I find it amazing to what extent our personalities are affected by things like belly fat, diet, our hormone status and much more. Do we really have the power of self determination or are we simply responding to our internal and external environments?
1. Biochimie. 2006 Dec;88(12):1889-97 Human adipose tissue binds and metabolizes the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol.
Spoto B, Fezza F, Parlongo G, Battista N, Sgro' E, Gasperi V, Zoccali C, Maccarrone M.
CNR-IBIM, National Research Council Institute of Biomedicine-Clinical Epidemiology and Physiophatology of Renal Disease and Hypertension & Urology Unit, c/o Ki Point-Gransial Srl, Via Filippini, n.85, 89125 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Endocannabinoids are a group of biologically active endogenous lipids that have recently emerged as important mediators in energy balance control. The two best studied endocannabinoids, anandamide (N-arachidonoylethanolamine, AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) are the endogenous ligands of the central and peripheral cannabinoid receptors. Furthermore, AEA binds to the transient receptor potential vanilloid type-1 (TRPV1), a capsaicin-sensitive, non-selective cation channel. The synthesis of these endocannabinoids is catalyzed by the N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine-selective phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD) and the sn-1-selective diacylglycerol lipase (DAGL), whereas their degradation is accomplished by the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and the monoglyceride lipase (MGL), respectively. We investigated the presence of a functional endocannabinoid system in human adipose tissue from seven healthy subjects. Subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue underwent biochemical and molecular biology analyses, aimed at testing the expression of this system and its functional activity. AEA and 2-AG levels were detected and quantified by HPLC. Real time PCR analyzed the expression of the endocannabinoid system and immunofluorescence assays showed the distribution of its components in the adipose tissue. Furthermore, binding assay for the cannabinoid and vanilloid receptors and activity assay for each metabolic enzyme of the endocannabinoid system gave clear evidence of a fully operating system. The data presented herein show for the first time that the human adipose tissue is able to bind AEA and 2-AG and that it is endowed with the biochemical machinery to metabolize endocannabinoids.PMID: 16949718
2. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/09/health/main654629.shtml
NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2004(AP / CBS)
(AP) A pill that helps you lose weight and quit smoking? That was amazing enough to capture headlines last week. But scientists say the experimental drug might be even more versatile, providing a new tool to help people stop abusing drugs and alcohol, too.
It's called rimonabant, or Acomplia, and last week researchers reported it could help people not only lose weight but keep it off for two years.
That burnished the drug's reputation after two studies in March, which suggested it could fight both obesity and smoking, two of humanity's biggest killers.
The French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Aventis SA plans to seek federal approval for rimonabant next year.
But the drug's benefits may go beyond just smokers and obese people, researchers say.
"I think it's going to have a big impact on the treatment of addiction," said Dr. Charles O'Brien, an addiction expert at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Animal studies suggest rimonabant can block the effects of marijuana and fight relapse in alcohol and cocaine abuse, he said. Once it is approved for treating obesity or smoking, "we'll be free to study it in these other areas and I'll try to get my hands on it as quickly as possible," O'Brien said.
Nerissa
Thursday, January 4, 2007
My first post
Hi everyone,
Wow! 51 y/o and I'm finally a blogger. I'm still not all that sure about this blogging thing. Do I really want to world to know about my weekend out with the Dallas cowboys? Oh wait! That was a dream. Do I have to post reality stuff or can I just make it up as I go? How could a reader know the difference anyway. Check it out for yourself. Which is true and which is a dream for the future?
1. I'm a pre-op male-to-female transsexual attending nursing school in one of the most conservative counties in Georgia.
2. I work as an esthetician in the Atlanta area in a top ranked spa.
Stay tuned for future entries to find out which is which.
Nerissa
Wow! 51 y/o and I'm finally a blogger. I'm still not all that sure about this blogging thing. Do I really want to world to know about my weekend out with the Dallas cowboys? Oh wait! That was a dream. Do I have to post reality stuff or can I just make it up as I go? How could a reader know the difference anyway. Check it out for yourself. Which is true and which is a dream for the future?
1. I'm a pre-op male-to-female transsexual attending nursing school in one of the most conservative counties in Georgia.
2. I work as an esthetician in the Atlanta area in a top ranked spa.
Stay tuned for future entries to find out which is which.
Nerissa
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