Tag Archives: Systemic Formulas

Vitamin E & the Brain

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Vitamin E & the Brain

Among fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin E often gets sidelined in favor of compounds with better-known functions. People automatically associate vitamin A with vision and eye health, vitamin D with calcium homeostasis and bone health, and vitamin K with proper blood clotting. When vitamin E makes a rare appearance in discussions about health and nutrition, it’s often in the context of infertility, since deficiency of this nutrient is associated with reproductive difficulties  in animals and humans. But with advances in technology, scientists continue to uncover previously unknown and under-appreciated roles for vitamins and minerals. In the case of vitamin E, this nutrient might have a significant role to play in brain health and neurological function.

Results of a recent animal study support a requirement for sufficient vitamin E in order to deliver and maintain adequate levels of DHA and DHA-dependent phospholipids in the brain. Neuronal cell membranes are rich in cholesterol and polyunsaturated fats, which are highly susceptible to oxidation. With vitamin E having an antioxidant function, a deficiency can have dangerous consequences for brain health. In fact, severe vitamin E deficiency can manifest as cerebellar ataxia, demonstrating the importance of this nutrient for proper functioning of the central nervous system. Vitamin E deficiency also results in reduced myelination of spinal cord fibers, and leads to neuropathic and myopathic lesions all of which may have disastrous consequences for cognition and neuromuscular coordination.

A small, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study demonstrated that vitamin E supplementation led to improved scores on the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) in tardive dyskinesia patients who had had the condition for less than five years. The vitamin intervention was less effective in subjects with more longstanding disease.

The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of Alzheimer’s disease patients has been shown to be low in Vitamin E.While this specific finding may play a direct role in disease pathology, it might also simply be a reflection of overall poor nutrient status resulting, in part, from the modern diet, which is high in refined carbohydrates and low in micronutrients. However, considering the important role of vitamin E in the central nervous system, a lower level of this nutrient in CSF may expose neurons to profound free radical damage, leading to memory loss and declining cognitive function. Compared to placebo, patients with moderately advanced Alzheimer’s given 2000 IU of vitamin E per day experienced delayed deterioration of cognitive function. . Other studies indicate vitamin E is more effective in combination with another important antioxidant, vitamin C.

Reviews and meta-analyses of studies involving the use of supplemental vitamin E show mixed results, leading researchers to stress using caution regarding high doses of vitamin E. Some study authors suggest emphasizing food sources of vitamin E, or a multivitamin with around 30 IU of alpha-tocopherol, rather than isolated vitamin E supplements that deliver a higher dose. As is true for the use of any nutritional compound in a healthcare setting, caution should, of course, be practiced when dosing vitamin E. However, the mixed outcomes of studies employing vitamin E may be the result of confounding from the makeup of the supplements themselves. For example, a high alpha-tocopherol preparation may result in different effects than one with a higher fraction of gamma-tocopherol.

While frank vitamin E deficiency is rare, it is not unheard of. Vitamin E Deficiency can result from inborn errors of tocopherol transfer proteins, as well as disorders of lipid absorption, transport, and assimilation. Conditions that affect digestive efficiency, such as celiac disease and Crohn’s  disease, may interfere with proper absorption of fat-soluble nutrients. Biliary insufficiency resulting from compromised liver or gallbladder function may also contribute. An additional cause of vitamin E deficiency (as well as deficiency of many other nutrients) is bariatric surgery. While this can be a lifesaving procedure for many people, altering the anatomy of the digestive tract can have severe consequences for nutrient absorption, and extra care should be given to ensuring sufficient nutrient uptake in the body.

The foods richest in vitamin E are nuts and seeds, whole grains, and vegetable oils, such as corn, soybean, and safflower oils. However, overly large intake of these oils is not recommended, due to the potential for skewing the dietary omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio toward the generally pro-inflammatory omega-6 pathways.

NOTE: GCEL (Glutathione) is 5000 times stronger than Vitamins C & E,

  • Vitamin C has 5 extra electrons to donate
  • Vitamin E has 3 extra electrons to donate
  • GSH has 1 million extra electrons to donate

Intestinal Strep

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Janice Haney Carr/CDC Public Health Image Library  NPR

Streptococcus bacteria, like this strain, can be found in our guts.

Most of the microbes in our guts appear to remain stable for years, perhaps even most of our lives, researchers reported Thursday.

An analysis of the bacteria in the digestive systems of 37 healthy women over a period of about five years found, for the most part, little variation over time, says molecular biologist of the Washington University School of Medicine, who led the research. As decades-long internal companions, Gordon says, many microbes “are in a position to shape our lives, to promote our health or, in certain circumstances, contribute to risk for disease.”

Scientists have known for a long time that we all carry around bacteria that help us digest our food. But they apparently do lots of other things for us too.

“These are cells that are important parts of ourselves,” Gordon says. “And they contribute to our health.”

There’s always been one big question about the microbes, he says: “Once these communities are formed, how long do they endure? What is the stability in healthy individuals?”

To try to get a sense of that, Gordon and his colleagues developed a new type of “gut check”: a genetic analysis Gordon calls “a bar code of life.” The technique involves repeatedly analyzing all the variations in a particular bacterial gene. Because each strain of bacteria carries a slightly different form of the gene, the forms act almost like name tags or “bar codes” that identify which strains are present.

The method is “a way of classifying organisms represented in an individual’s gut community in a moment of time and over time,” Gordon says

Being able to test gut microbes from time to time could eventually prove to be a useful part of a checkup, Gordon says. For example, in the current study, published in this week’s issue of the journal Science, Gordon and his team found that when several women lost weight, the makeup of their gut bacteria slightly shifted (though the scientists couldn’t tell which came first — the weight loss, or the bacterial shift).

“By looking at someone’s intestine we could pretty much tell how much weight they had lost or gained without having to put them on a scale,” says of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, who helped conduct the study.

Another intriguing finding was that people’s microbes seem to run in families — much as genes do. The researchers found more similarities in the gut microbes of related women — such as sisters, or a mother and her daughter — than among women who were not related.

“For everyone that we checked we were able to identify strains of bacteria that were shared between related individuals, which suggests that [they] had these microbes for a long time because many of these [relatives] lived far apart from each other now,” Faith says.

The finding corroborates earlier work suggesting that our microbial communities tend to form early in life, largely from microbes we get from our mothers and other close relatives when we are young.

“In the same way our genome defines who we are, one could say that the microbial populations that inhabit us define who we are,” says of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Because all the women in the study were healthy, the researchers did not examine what happens to our microbes when we do things like take antibiotics or probiotics. Stay tuned for future research.

NOTE:  New pathogens, some deadly, are appearing by the week.  The only way for us to survive is to maintain a strong immune system.  Because 87% of our immune system is located in the Intestines, it is of paramount importance to support and invigorate this integral part of our anatomy.

For more information please contact Dr. Princetta at [email protected] or calling 619-231-1778

Detox Tips – Long Term n Easy

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Acetyl-Glutathione & Intracellular Detoxification

By Jack Tips (Ph.D, CCN)

Clinical nutritionists have long recognized the premier importance and vast significance of the molecule, glutathione (GSH), in human health.  It is the body’s most important antioxidant/detoxifier, and protects the cells from free radical damage incurred during mitochondrial production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy. Other cellular free radical protectors are the enzymes catalase and super-oxide dismustase. Simply put, if glutathione levels drop, the body is prone to cancer, wasting disease, autism, hepatitis, cataracts, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s COPD, asthma, schizophrenia, bipolar and aging—just to cite a few conditions bearing numerous medical references

Raising glutathione levels in the cells has been a challenge.  Glutathione can be put into a supplement, but it’s difficult to get it through the intestines into the bloodstream.  Once in the bloodstream, it’s difficult to get supplemental GSH into the cells as degradation occurs in the bloodstream.  Studies showed taking supplemental GSH does not raise blood levels.  Thus oral supplements were deemed  to assist in the gastrointestinal tract; perhaps some help in the blood, but not enter the cells where it’s needed.  Intravenous GSH administration became the most effective way to push GSH into the cells.

Recently, a new form of GSH became available—one that demonstrates it can be absorbed through the G.I. tract and survive degradation in the bloodstream, cross cell membranes and thus favorably impact the cells, as well as help prevent cancer.  It is acetyl-glutathione featured in Systemic Formulas’ GCEL.

S-Acetyl Glutathione is an alternative frm of the reduced GSH. Several studies have shown that this precursor of GSH is well absorbed and more stable throughout the digestive tract than the reduced       L-glutathione and has a positive effect on many oxidative stress bio-markers.  S-Acetyl  Glutathione enters the cell directly and once inside the cell it is converted to GSH by the cytoplasmic thioesterases that remove the acetyl group thus rapidly raising Intracellular GSH levels.

Because of GSH ability to promote detoxification from within the cells, its supplementation can flood the detox pathways and cause large amounts to enter the small intestines via gall bladder excretion via the bile.  To prevent resorption from the intestines, practitioners utilize BIND (Toxin Elimination), a superactived charcoal, to absorb and bind toxins so they cannot be resorbed.  Together GCEL and BIND assist the body in “removing the cause” of inflammation, hormone resistance, cell membrane damage, and errant cell metabolic processes.

NOTE: In clinical practice, detoxification proponents often employ the 60 Day Systemic Detoxification Program to help the body clear out the interfering toxin backlog, improve liver function, open detoxification pathways, and impact cellular metabolism with protective antioxidants.  Then boosting GSH to drive the detoxification effort into the cellular processes offers the body an amazing opportunity to rejuvenate its cellular functions from which a more optimal health can be restored.  Systemic’s Intracellular Detoxification program provides state of the art true cellular detoxification support that serves the brain, cells, and innate healing processes.