Toxins in green potatoes
Solanine is a glycoalkaloid poison found in species of the nightshade family within the genus Solanum, such as the potato (Solanum tuberosum), the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and the eggplant (Solanum melongena). It can occur naturally in any part of the plant, including the leaves, fruit, and tubers. Solanine has pesticidal properties, and it is one of the plant’s natural defenses. Solanine was first isolated in 1820 from the berries of the European black nightshade (Solanum nigrum), after which it was named.
Solanine poisoning
Symptoms
Solanine poisoning is primarily displayed by gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, cardiac dysrhythmia, nightmares, headache, dizziness, itching, eczema, thyroid problems, inflammation and pain in the joints. In more severe cases, hallucinations, loss of sensation, paralysis, fever, jaundice, dilated pupils, hypothermia, and death have been reported.[2][3][4]
Ingestion of solanine in moderate amounts can cause death. One study suggests that doses of 2 to 5 mg/kg of body weight can cause toxic symptoms, and doses of 3 to 6 mg/kg of body weight can be fatal.[5]
Symptoms usually occur 8 to 12 hours after ingestion, but may occur as rapidly as 10 minutes after eating high-solanine foods.
Mechanism of action
Solanum glycoalkaloids can inhibit cholinesterase, disrupt cell membranes, and cause birth defects.[6] One study suggests that the toxic mechanism of solanine is caused by the chemical’s interaction with mitochondrial membranes. Experiments show that solanine exposure opens the potassium channels of mitochondria, decreasing their membrane potential. This, in turn, leads to K+ being transported from the mitochondria into the cytoplasm, and this increased concentration of K+ in the cytoplasm triggers cell damage and apoptosis.[7]
Correlation with birth defects
Some studies show a correlation between the consumption of potatoes suffering from late blight (which increases solanine and other glycoalkaloid levels) and the incidence of congenital spina bifida in humans.[citation needed] However, other studies have shown no correlation between potato consumption and the incidence of birth defects.[8]
In potatoes
Green potatoes usually have elevated levels of solanine and should not be eaten.
Potatoes naturally produce solanine and chaconine, a related glycoalkaloid, as a defense mechanism against insects, disease, and herbivores. Potato leaves, stems, and shoots are naturally high in glycoalkaloids.
When potato tubers are exposed to light, they turn green and increase glycoalkaloid production. This is a natural defense to help prevent the uncovered tuber from being eaten. The green colour is from chlorophyll, and is itself harmless. However, it is an indication that increased level of solanine and chaconine may be present. In potato tubers, 30–80% of the solanine develops in and close to the skin, and some potato varieties have high levels of solanine.
Some potato diseases, such as late blight, can dramatically increase the levels of glycoalkaloids present in potatoes. Tubers damaged in harvesting and/or transport also produce increased levels of glycoalkaloids; this is believed to be a natural reaction of the plant in response to disease and damage.
In the 1970s, solanine poisoning affected 78 schoolboys in Britain. Due to immediate and effective treatments, no one died.[9]
Green colouring under the skin strongly suggests solanine build-up in potatoes, although each process can occur without the other. A bitter taste in a potato is another, potentially more reliable indicator of toxicity. Because of the bitter taste and appearance of such potatoes, solanine poisoning is rare outside conditions of food shortage. The symptoms are mainly vomiting and diarrhea, and the condition may be misdiagnosed as gastroenteritis. Most potato poisoning victims recover fully, although fatalities are known, especially when victims are undernourished or do not receive suitable treatment.[9] Fatalities are also known from solanine poisoning from other plants in the nightshade family, such as the berries of Solanum dulcamara (woody nightshade).[10]
The United States National Institutes of Health’s information on solanine strongly advises against eating potatoes that are green below the skin.[11]
Home processing methods (boiling, cooking, frying, and microwaving) have small and variable effects on glycoalkaloids. For example, boiling potatoes reduces the α-chaconine and α-solanine levels by only 3.5% and 1.2%, respectively; the corresponding loss during microwaving is 15%. Deep-frying at 150 °C (302 °F) does not result in any measurable change; significant degradation starts at ∼170 °C (338 °F), and deep-frying at 210 °C (410 °F) for 10 min causes a loss of ∼40%.[12] Freeze-drying or dehydration has little effect.[13]
In tomatoes
Some, such as the California Poison Control System, have claimed that tomatoes and tomato leaves contain solanine.[citation needed] However, Mendel Friedman of the United States Department of Agriculture contradicts this claim, stating that tomatine, a relatively benign alkaloid, is the tomato alkaloid while solanine is found in potatoes. Food science writer Harold McGee has found scant evidence for tomato toxicity in the medical and veterinary literature.[14]
Caregiving notes for 93 yr old on oxygen, ambulatory and had heart surgeries
Caregiving notes for 93 yr old on oxygen, ambulatory and had heart surgeries
This season, with less sunshine and less exercise , most seniors suffer from falls, aches and pains. With a caregiver beside her on 24/7 basis many emergencies can be avoided.
Below is my caregiving tips to one of the caregiver caring for our client who is ambulatory , had many heart surgeries, eats well and on oxygen 24/7.
1.Fall prevention:
Suggest to remove the small square table beside her bed or change to round one to avoid sharp objects when she falls from bed. Or perhaps put the pillow on the other side, with her feet towards the side where she always climb, positioning her in the middle with head by the window.
Suggest to remove the small square table beside her bed or change to round one to avoid sharp objects when she falls from bed. Or perhaps put the pillow on the other side, with her feet towards the side where she always climb, positioning her in the middle with head by the window.
2. Potassium:
It is common for elderly to have low energy or faint during the morning due to lack of Potassium, which is a side effects of taking some medications or diet lacking in potassium (potassium rich are kiwi and bananas)
It is common for elderly to have low energy or faint during the morning due to lack of Potassium, which is a side effects of taking some medications or diet lacking in potassium (potassium rich are kiwi and bananas)
3. Whole foods:
Since she does not like veggies, a liquid soup cooked with veggies and served with no veggies can be a solution.
Since she does not like veggies, a liquid soup cooked with veggies and served with no veggies can be a solution.
4. Kidneys:
Cranberry juice is always a preventive measures for kidney’s health.
Cranberry juice is always a preventive measures for kidney’s health.
5. Vitamin D
Sunshine is always good, although she is taking Vitamin D.
Sunshine is always good, although she is taking Vitamin D.
6. Liver
Protect liver which is directly connected to the heart with green juice but she is not fond of it.
Protect liver which is directly connected to the heart with green juice but she is not fond of it.
7. Massage
During massage , use one directional motion. Eucalyptus oil added to her massage oil is good for her lungs.
During massage , use one directional motion. Eucalyptus oil added to her massage oil is good for her lungs.
8. Be observant on daily routine and know the signs of mini stroke, lung and kidney issues and heart health issues.
For quality supplementation , visit
caregiving
bay area senior care
Butyrate in butter, green bananas , plant oils to burn fat
Butyrate in butter, green bananas , plant oils to burn fat
Butyrate in butter, green plantain bananas, anti-cancer properties
My mom loves her boiled plantain banana which she eats at night and she at times uses the microwave for 4min, wrapping the plantain banana with skin on in wet paper towels.
She lived until 83 years old before liver cancer over powered her life.
Butyrate has so many benefits, combatting autoimmunity, cancer, and psychological disorders. It also changes the epigenetics in our brain.
Sodium butyrate protected newborn pigs intestines. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01652/full
Where Do We Get Butyrate From?
Summary of the proportions of SCFA produced with different forms of carbohydrates. Adapted from Smith et al. 1998 [102].
| Proportion of SCFA energy (kJ) produced | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbohydrate | Butyric Acid | Propionic Acid | Acetic Acid |
| Cellulose | 0.33 | 0.24 | 0.43 |
| Gum arabic | 0.17 | 0.28 | 0.56 |
| Lactulose | 0.36 | 0.16 | 0.48 |
| Oat bran | 0.38 | 0.24 | 0.38 |
| Pectic substances | 0.32 | 0.17 | 0.51 |
| Resistant starch | 0.55 | 0.21 | 0.24 |
| Wheatbran | 0.34 | 0.23 | 0.42 |
| Xylan | 0.06 | 0.23 | 0.71 |
Aside from being produced by bacterial fermentation, butyrate can also be produced in much lower concentrations by mammalian cells through fatty acid oxidation and glucose metabolism [13,14] and can be found in plant oils and animal fats [4]. Butyric acid (the acid form of butyrate) is also present in the milk of ruminant animals, such as cows. Butter contains 3–4% butyric acid, in the form of tributyrin (butyryl triglyceride), making it the richest dietary source of butyrate [15]. Interestingly, the term butyrate originates from the Greek word for butter [16,17]. One molecule of tributyrin is metabolized into three butyrate molecules by intestinal enzymes. Tributyrin (1 g/kg) was able to elevate portal vein concentrations of butyrate to 2.4 mM after 1 hour in rats [18].
Resistant starch is found naturally in many common foods, including grains, vegetables, beans, seeds, and some nuts, but in small quantities, just a few percent of the total. As I discuss in my video Getting Starch to Take the Path of Most Resistance, there are a few ways, though, to get some of the rest of the starch to join the resistance.
When regular starches are cooked and then cooled, some of the starch recrystallizes into resistant starch. For this reason, pasta salad can be healthier than hot pasta and potato salad can be healthier than a baked potato, but the effect isn’t huge. The resistant starch goes from about 3 percent up to 4 percent. The best source of resistant starch is not from eating cold starches, but from eating beans, which start at 4 or 5 percent and go up from there.
If you mix cooked black beans with a “fresh fecal” sample, there’s so much fiber and resistant starch in the beans that the pH drops as good bacteria churn out beneficial short-chain fatty acids, which are associated both directly and indirectly with lower colon cancer risk.
- Resistant starch is a type of starch that’s “resistant” to digestion — your body can’t break it down. Once resistant starch arrives in the colon intact, good bacteria feeds on it, producing beneficial short-chain fatty acids.
- Resistant starch carries many benefits: it strengthens the gut, burns fat, and protects against colon cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
- The best sources of resistant starch are green banana and plantain flours, cooked and cooled white rice, and raw potato starch.
Other sources: https://selfhacked.com/blog/butyrate-health-benefits/
Health Benefits of Butyrate
- Crucial For Gut Health
- Increases Gene Activity
- Fights Inflammation
- Good for the Brain and Nerve Cells
- Used for Treating Anxiety, Depression, and Mania
- Both a Cure and an Enemy in Case of Addictions
- Has Anti-Cancer Properties – Colon Cancer
- Can Help With Weight Loss
- May Be Good For Balancing Blood Sugar
- Can Help Treat Allergies
- May Help Autism
- Can Be Useful In Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s
- Good For The Mitochondria
- Protects the Liver, Pancreas, and Heart
- May Increase Red Blood Cells
- Can Kill Certain Bacteria Directly
- May Increase Dopamine
Cautions and Side Effects of Butyrate
Increasing Butyrate Levels
Buying Butyrate
Butyrate in green bananas and rice
Butyrate has so many benefits, combatting autoimmunity, cancer, and psychological disorders. It also changes the epigenetics in our brain (R).
Butyrate
- Is a major energy source for colon cells
- Has anti-cancer effects
- Increases mitochondrial activity
- Prevents toxins from crossing gut barrier
- Prevents activation of intestinal glucose production
- Improves insulin sensitivity
- Increases energy expenditure by improving mitochondrial function, reducing obesity
- Increases intestinal barrier function – an anti-inflammatory potential
- Protects against diet-induced obesity without necessarily causing a reduction in caloric intake (mediated through gut hormones).
- Increases the synthesis of leptin (which reduces appetite)
Where Do We Get Butyrate From?
Butyrate is a molecule that is called a short-chain fatty acid.
Fatty acids are building blocks of fats and our cells can not be without them. This particular fatty acid is very small and is usually is made by bacteria living in our gut mostly from fibers derived from grains, beans, onions and bananas.
Butyrate production is determined by the level of bacteria that produce butyrate, and the pH of the large intestine.
Butyrate-producing bacteria seem to thrive in a more acidic environment (lower pH), whereas acetate and propionate bacteria seem to thrive in a more alkaline environment (higher pH) (R).
Butyrate is mainly produced by Firmicutes (R).
Butyrate can also be made by animals’ own cells – for example, it can be found in the form of butyric acid in dairy products (especially butter) [R4].
Butter contains about 3-4% of butyrate in form of tributyrin and it is actually from butter that butyrate gets its name [R5, R6];
Plant oils also contain butyrate to some extent [R4].
Therefore, people receive butyrate mostly from their diet.
According to research, not all plant-based foods yield butyrate equally: for example, diets rich in fruit or in starch increases butyrate content in rats [R7, R8], but starch free wheat bran doesn’t [R8].
Studies have shown that eating more fiber increases butyrate production [R].
There is a positive association between a higher intake of plant foods and increased levels of short-chain fatty acids in stools.
Short Chain Fatty Acids provide about 10% of our daily calorie needs [R].
The following types of fiber produce of short-chain fatty acids (R, R2):
- Inulin: Food sources include artichokes, garlic, leeks, onions, and asparagus.
- Fructooligosaccharides (FOS): Food sources include fruits and vegetables, including bananas, onions, garlic and asparagus.
- Resistant starch (Hi-Maize): Food sources include green bananas and rice that has been cooked and then cooled.
- Pectin: Food sources include apples, apricots, carrots, oranges and others.
- Arabinoxylan
- Guar gum
- Arabinogalactan (R)
Health Benefits of Butyrate
1) Butyrate Is Crucial For Gut Health
Butyrate is important for creating tolerance in the gut and promoting an anti-inflammatory environment.
Butyrate is mostly not absorbed because it is primarily used by colon cells, where is serves as a major source of energy for them (R).
Butyrate-producing bacteria (such as Clostridium butyricum) live in the end part of the gut, in the colon [R9].
Colon cells prefer butyrate for sustenance [R10].
In the mitochondria of colon cells, 70% to 90% of butyrate is oxidized into acetyl-CoA, which is subsequently processed through the tricarboxylic acid cycle to generate a large quantity of ATP (R).
Butyrate and its “production factories” are imperative for intestinal health [R15].
Not enough butyrate-producing bacteria in the gut can lead to serious problems [R11–R15]:
-
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis [R11, R12, R13]
-
Colorectal cancer [R14],
-
Diarrhea – resistant starch has been shown to reduce diarrhea in children [R,R2]. Butyrate in combination with several other substances was also shown to be beneficial for the treatment of traveler’s diarrhea – a condition common among tourists, especially those who travel to exotic countries [R60].
Human studies show that short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, can improve symptoms of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease [R, R2, R3, R4].
Butyrate supplements resulted in improvements in 53% of Crohn’s disease patients[R].
An enema of short-chain fatty acids, twice per day for 6 weeks, helped reduce symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis by 13% [R].
There is a variety of approaches for using butyrate for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and colitis. The treatment strategies range from high-fiber diet, butyrate-producing bacteria, coated tablets and rectal enemas [R58, R59].
Bacteria that produce butyrate can only live in oxygen-free conditions, so this approach is difficult to apply [R59].
2) Butyrate Increases Gene Activity
Butyrate is able to influence which genes are active.
There are several mechanisms in the cell that control gene activity by changing composition of the chromosome proteins (or histones).
An addition of a methyl group to a part of the histone (methylation) forces it to cling tightly to the gene nearby, successfully blocking its production.
Another reaction called acetylation (addition of an acetyl group) frees an area of DNA and increases gene production.
Butyrate helps maintain “open” and productive state of genes by blocking a protein that takes off acetyl groups [R16].
This activity turns out to be extremely important in many different conditions.
3) Butyrate Fights Inflammation
(R)
Many researchers show that butyrate can influence the activity of immune system. It was observed rather early that addition of butyrate to the culture of immune cells has a double-edged effect [R17].
On one hand, butyrate blocks the development of new immune cells participating in inflammation. On the other hand, it stimulates the production of some inflammatory proteins [R17].
Later research also performed on cell cultures has proven that butyrate does reduce inflammation. Butyrate suppresses the activity of cells and proteins driving inflammation [R18].
It was also shown in mice that supplementation of their diet with butyrate-producing fibers counterbalances inflammation caused by bacterial toxins[R19].
Butyrate is also good for reversing alcohol damage. It was observed that mice given butyrate before being injected with high doses of ethanol had less inflammation and damage to the inner organs compared to controls [R20].
These anti-inflammatory properties may be partly connected to the ability of butyrate to support the development of specific immune cells that block inflammation in the lining of the end gut in mice [R21].
Butyrate also strengthens barriers between the cells, thus preventing invasion of microbes [R22].
4) Butyrate Is Good for the Brain and Nerve Cells
Sodium butyrate, like exercise, places the brain into a state of “readiness for plasticity” and can benefit long-term memory [R].
It was shown on the model of a stroke in mice that treatment of the animals with sodium butyrate after brain injury supports the development of new nerve cells in the damaged areas [R23].
Also, treatment with sodium butyrate in mice that have brain trauma strengthens the barrier between brain and blood, which helps recovery [R24].
Butyrate is useful in with other types of nerve damage as well: for example, sodium butyrate was reported to protect nerve cells in the ear after treatment with antibiotics thus preventing hearing loss [R25].
It is not true for sodium butyrate only, but for other butyrate containing preparations, too. For example, the death of nerve cells obtained from mice with stroke-like injury was prevented by treatment with 3-hydroxy-butyrate (3-OBA) [R26].
The same protective effect was shown for sodium 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA), a drug used for a number of genetic disorders [R27]
Cultures of butyrate-producing bacteria can also be used to treat nerve damage.
Mice pretreated with a butyrate-producing bacterial species fared better in a model of brain injury [R28].
These bacteria were also beneficial in a more complicated case of brain injury – in vascular dementia, a disease when nerve cells die progressively due to blood vessel blockages [R29]
Butyrate-producing bacteria are able to improve the quality of the barrier between brain and blood in healthy mice as well [R30].
Sodium butyrate can also prevent the death of nerve cells in the spine in the model of spinal muscular atrophy in mice [R31].
Sodium phenylbutyrate was beneficial for the treatment of a systemic disease caused by nerve cells death – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It prevented the death of nerve cells responsible for activating movement [R32].
5-7) Butyrate Is Used for Treating Anxiety, Depression, and Mania
Sodium butyrate and sodium phenylbutyrate are beneficial against depression and other types of mood disorders [R33].
In mice kept under chronic stress, sodium butyrate has antidepressant-like effects [R34].
It also had an anti-manic and anti-oxidant effect in rat models of mania [R35].
One possible mechanism of such influence may be due to the fact that sodium butyrate influences the processes in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for emotions and emotional memory (it increases several proteins that support nerve cell development) [R36].
Sodium butyrate alleviates depression and increases cognition ability in mice [R37].
It can also restore memory formation when it is blocked with certain substances [R38].
Sodium butyrate protects from stress in general. It is proposed to prescribe sodium butyrate together with anti-seizure drugs because they are less effective if an afflicted person is under stressful conditions [R39]
Another butyrate-containing drug form, sodium phenylbutyrate, was also shown to be good for improving anxiety and depression in mice [R40].
8) Butyrate Is Both a Cure and an Enemy in Case of Addictions
Butyrate containing drugs are a double-edged sword when treating addiction. In alcohol-addicted rats, supplementation of their diet with sodium butyrate has lessened the quantity of alcohol the animals consumed [R41].
It was also shown that phenylbutyrate can reduce the desire for cocaine in a rat model of cocaine addiction [R42].
On the other hand, there is increasing evidence that butyrate can act in concert with such drugs of abuse as cocaine, helping to establish certain behaviors caused by the addiction [R43].
9) Butyrate Has Anti-Cancer Properties
The possibility of using butyrate for the treatment of cancer was entertained as early as the 1980s. In a clinical trial of sodium butyrate for leukemia treatment it was established that the drug is too easily eliminated from the body to be really effective [R46].
It was also shown experimentally that butyrate is able to destroy cancer cells in cancer cell cultures which may result in:
- cancer cell death [R47, R48];
- the partial self-destruction of the cancerous cells [R49];
- prevention of nourishment for the tumors [R50].
But butyrate is not effective enough on its own, in a whole organism, as mentioned [R46].
So there are several strategies and new drugs employed for fighting cancer.
First of all, there is tributyrin, a novel prodrug that can be found in dairy products. This prodrug was tested in patients with advanced solid tumors and was evaluated as effective [R51].
There are at least two more butyrates – containing preparations with anti-cancer activity that are being potentially tested at present:
- pivanex that was shown to prevent metastases and blood vessel growth in tumors [R52];
- butyroyloxyalkyl, a substance that transforms into formaldehyde in the cell. Formaldehyde is highly poisonous for living cells and can kill cancer cells effectively [R53]
There is another promising strategy – using sodium butyrate together with other substances. For example, administration of sodium butyrate with nicotinamide and calcium glucarate can prevent the formation of skin tumors in mice [R54].
In leukemia cancer cells, a combination of sodium butyrate and artemisinin, a plant-derived anticancer compound, was very effective in killing cancerous cells at low doses [R55].
Some authors proposed to combine IL-2 – a cytokine that activates killer cells – with butyrate [R56].
The suggestion is based on the trials performed on rats that have shown butyrate to be able to make tumor cells into better targets for killer immune cells stimulated by IL-2 [R56].
The last untested approach is to inject butyrate – producing bacteria into the tumors in order to destruct them from within [R57].
Colon Cancer
Lab studies show that butyrate prevents the growth of tumor cells and encourages cancer cell destruction in the colon [R, R2, R3, R4].
Several observational studies show a link between high-fiber diets and a reduced risk of colon cancer [R, R2].
Mice on a high-fiber diet and had butyrate-producing bacteria got 75% fewer tumors than the mice who did not have the bacteria [R].
The high-fiber diet without the bacteria to make butyrate did not have protective effects against colon cancer [R].
10) Butyrate Can Help With Weight Loss
It is well established that supplementing resistant starch and dietary fibers in diet, confer metabolic benefits in humans [R65].
Supplementing the diet of animals with sodium butyrate can prevent obesity[R65].
In animal studies, butyrate caused obese mice to lose 10.2% of their original body weight, and body fat was reduced by 10% [R].
In rodent models of genetic or diet-induced obesity, supplementation of butyrate in the diet was shown to suppress weight gain in part by inhibiting caloric intake [R65] and by increasing energy expenditure [R].
Activation of AMPK and increased mitochondrial function were observed in these models, but only after chronic Short Chain Fatty Acid treatment [R65].
11-12) Butyrate May Be Good For Balancing Blood Sugar
Butyrate was also shown to improve various aspects of diabetes.
People with diabetes have an imbalance of gut flora. A review of the evidence reported that butyrate can have positive effects in both animals and humans with type 2 diabetes [R].
Human studies have also reported associations between fermentable fiber and improved blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity [R, R2].
In mice, butyrate makes pancreatic cells sensitive to insulin [R63].
It was shown in young diabetic rats that sodium butyrate protects and supports insulin-producing cells and prevents the release of sugar into blood [R64].
In mice, butyrate increases insulin sensitivity [R].
13) Butyrate Can Help Treat Allergies
It was shown that sodium butyrate has decreased several parameters characteristic for allergy in mice with allergic rhinitis [R67].
14) Butyrate May Help Autism
There are at least two studies on mice demonstrating that treatment with sodium butyrate is good for autism [R71–R72].
It was shown in mice that addition of sodium butyrate improves autistic behavior [R71].
Another study has shown that sodium butyrate helped autistic mice to recognize objects better [R72].
But it is also known that propionic acid, a chemical relative of butyrate (also found in the gut), can be used for creating autism-like behavior in mice and rats [R73].
Such contradicting results indicate that this issue should be researched more extensively.
15-16) Butyrate Can Be Useful In Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s
Butyrate can be beneficial in protecting nerve cells [R28,R31].
Sodium butyrate and phenylbutyrate are effective in Alzheimer’s [R75, R76 ].
Those drugs improve memory in afflicted mice by increasing gene activity in relevant brain areas [R75].
Phenylbutyrate also prevents protein accumulation in the brain [R76].
Sodium butyrate was also demonstrated to beneficial in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease [R69].
Huntington’s disease is a condition caused by damage in nerve cells that slowly begin to die out. It was shown that therapy with phenylbutyrate in mice with this condition has improved their movements, body weight, ability to recognize objects and gene production [R69].
The same beneficial effect was shown on the cell culture that carried the faulty gene causing Huntington’s disease in humans, where the addition of sodium butyrate to the culture allowed the cells to live longer [R70].
17) Butyrate is Good For The Mitochondria
It was proposed to use butyrate with lipoic acid for prevention and treatment of radiation injury [R77].
Butyrate can protect cells against radiation because it is good for cells’ “energy factories” – mitochondria, which are often destroyed by radiation [R77].
18-20) Butyrate Protects the Liver, Pancreas, and Heart
Butyrate helped to improve liver disease in animals [R61].
Sodium butyrate was also reported to protect the pancreas from damage [R62].
Sodium butyrate can prevent atherosclerosis [R66].
Butyrate is thought to interact with key genes that make cholesterol, possibly reducing cholesterol production [R].
21) Butyrate May Increase Red Blood Cells
Due to butyrate gene-influencing activity, it can switch on the hemoglobin gene that works during the development of the child in the womb, thus ensuring the appearance of properly working red blood cells [R68].
22) Butyrate Can Kill Certain Bacteria Directly
It was recently found that n-butyric acid can directly kill Salmonella (a bacteria that causes salmonellosis and severe diarrhea) and Clostridia perfringes (causes gangrene) [R78].
Moreover, butyrate can directly influence gene activity in Salmonella, making the bacteria less dangerous and vulnerable to killing [R80].
At present butyrate is used mostly for treating salmonellosis in poultry [R81].
Recently, the researchers discovered that butyrate can destroy the cell wall in Helicobacter pylori – a bacteria causing gastritis [R82].
There are no reports found about direct applications of butyrate against human bacterial infections, except a trial of butyrate treatment against shigellosis carried out on rabbits [R83].
The trial was successful, but it mostly reports the favorable reaction to butyrate intake and health improvement but does not register direct antibacterial effect [R83].
Butyrate can also kill bacteria indirectly by increasing the production of specific antimicrobial proteins that help the organism to destroy bacteria [R84].
This fact is also true for phenylbutyrate [R85].
23) Butyrate May Increase Dopamine
Butyrate increases the enzyme that produces dopamine (tyrosine hydroxylase) (R).
Cautions and Side Effects of Butyrate
Butyrate may drive cancerous cell growth in the gut (in antibiotic-treated mice) [R].
Butyrate may prevent stem cells in the gut from growing and repairing the gut after an injury or autoimmune diseases like inflammatory bowel disease(IBD) [R]. Butyrate inhibits the growth of these cells by increasing the Foxo3 gene, which is associated with IBD [R].
The gut crypts are structured such that the stem cells at the top are protected from butyrate in the gut. However, in conditions where the villi are sufficiently damaged, the stem cell in the gut may not be protected [R].
Increasing Butyrate Levels
I personally take 4 pills of calcium/magnesium Butyrate 2X a day and 50g of Hi-Maize daily. The Hi-maize turns into resistant starch, which the gut bacteria feed off of and produce butyrate.
I like the calcium and magnesium butyrate because I don’t consume enough calcium and I prefer to have more magnesium. I already take in enough sodium.
Since I take a total of 8 pills a day, I’d rather not have a brand that has excipients.
I also take Modified Citrus Pectin. I actually find that it has a nootropic and wakeful promoting effect for me. It also chelated heavy metals, while leaving your beneficial minerals. So this is a great choice.
Arabinogalactan is good if you want to boost your immune system, but not if you’re Th1 dominant or have an overactive immune system.
I find the Hi-maize stronger than the pills, but it takes about 20 hours for the effects to kick in. GLP-1 related effects can kick in much sooner.
Buying Butyrate
Each source of butyrate is good in different ways. Butyrate gets to the stomach and small intestines, whereas the fibers are obviously better at producing butyrate in the large intestine.
Favorite:
- Calcium, Magnesium Butyrate by Body Bio
- Hi-Maize (Honeyville, available in 5-pound bag) [R] – the best option
Others:
- Butyrate -Calcium/Magnesium or Butyrate -Calcium/Magnesium or Butyrate -Calcium/Magnesium (no lead warning)
- Modified Citrus Pectin
- Arabinogalactan
- Colostridium butyricum [R]
Other:
Butyrate: A Double-Edged Sword for Health? | Advances in Nutrition …
by H Liu – 2018 – Cited by 45 – Related articles
Feb 9, 2018 – Abstract. Butyrate, a four-carbon short-chain fatty acid, is produced through microbial fermentation of dietary fibers in the lower intestinal tract.
What is butyrate and why is it good for you? – Atlas Biomed
The Health Benefits of Butyrate: Meet the Anti-Inflammatory Fat
Potential beneficial effects of butyrate in intestinal and extraintestinal …
Mar 28, 2011 – The multiple beneficial effects on human health of the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, synthesized from non-absorbed carbohydrate by colonic …
Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid anion that is the conjugate base of butyric acid, obtained by deprotonation of the carboxy group. It has a role as an EC 3.5.1.98 …
Molecular Formula: C4H7O2–
Chemical Names: butyratebutanoateN-Butyrat…
Molecular Weight: 87.1 g/mol
PubChem CID: 104775
Butyrate, a metabolite of intestinal bacteria, enhances sleep | Scientific …
https://www.nature.com › scientific reports › articles
May 7, 2019 – Butyrate, a SCFA, is a product of anaerobic bacterial fermentation of non-
Butyrate – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Sodium butyrate (SB) is an HDAC inhibitor that has been associated with antitumor effects when used as a dietary supplement in a mouse model of colorectal …
Butyrate, neuroepigenetics and the gut microbiome: Can a high fiber …
by MW Bourassa – 2016 – Cited by 159 – Related articles
Jun 20, 2016 – Interest in how diet influences brain function via the gut microbiome is growing. •. Butyrate can protect the brain and enhance plasticity in …
Dynamics of Human Gut Microbiota and Short-Chain Fatty Acids in …
by NT Baxter – 2019 – Cited by 6 – Related articles
Jan 29, 2019 – Production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), especially butyrate, in the gut microbiome is required for optimal health but is frequently limited by …
Beauty Drink for Healthy Skin
Top health and aging hacks Oct – Nov 2017
What is restorative medicine?
What is restorative medicine?
It is the restoration of optimal physiology. It is a whole‐body concept because it affects every organ system, from our head to our toes. Restorative Medicine logically forces a new principle: that many diseases are the result of an imbalance of body chemistry, and once we restore balance and physiology we can correct the cause of the majority of diseases. This is the new message that must be heard, and will be heard because it is logical, it is rooted in science, and it is based on clinical results.
The concepts of Restorative Medicine in this book are based on the lifetime work of Sergey A. Dzugan, MD, PhD, who has fine tuned this concept and identified specific essential hormones and nutrients that need to be brought back into equilibrium or balanced to achieve optimal health, and a body able to fight disease. Using our Restorative Medicine Program, clinicians and patients can enter a brave new world in healing and will be able to effectively prevent or treat diseases and syndromes that result from imbalances, such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, migraine, fibromyalgia, menopause, depression, erectile dysfunction, and many others.
What Causes Disease?
To better understand what Restorative Medicine is all about, let’s first consider some basic concepts. One is, What causes disease? Once you know what causes a disease or disorder, you have a more solid foundation upon which to find ways to prevent and treat it. Disease can be caused by one of four factors:
- Genetics/Congenital: Conditions such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, Down’s syndrome, congenital heart disease, and sickle cell have clear genetic or congenital causes. In addition, many diseases also have a genetic component, meaning that genetics plays a role in the development of the condition, but it is a risk factor, and not the primary cause. That is, you can inherit a tendency to develop a certain disease.
- Infections: Diseases clearly caused by an infectious organism, which include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. Some examples include pneumonia, meningitis, colds/flu, urinary tract infections, bone infections, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.
- Trauma: A fall, automobile accident, or other physical trauma can cause brain hemorrhage, post‐traumatic epilepsy, and brain injuries.
- Acquired physiologic errors: The majority of people who have disease have one or more that has been caused by acquired physiologic errors, or imbalances. Conditions such as heart disease, cancer, depression, arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine, fatigue, ulcerative colitis, atherosclerosis, and many others fall into this category. This is the category of disease addressed by the Restorative Medicine approach.
Restorative Medicine treats the errors of physiology by restoring the body’s hormones and nutrients to optimal levels. Normally, the body strives to keep a healthy ratio between different hormones. For example, some of the hormones that work together and for which we have identified an optimal ratio are DHEA and cortisol, and estrogen and progesterone. When hormone levels and ratios are not balanced, there is a breakdown in bodily functions.
Although we talk about hormones in much detail in Chapter 3, here we just want to say that critical hormones such as DHEA, pregnenolone, testosterone, and others begin to decline around age 35. Perhaps the most important thing that happens when hormone levels begin to decline is that the body tries to correct the problem by increasing production of cholesterol. To help prevent or correct this response and others launched by the body when hormone levels fall, the main goal of our Restorative Medicine Program is to bring a person’s hormone levels back to what is optimal for each individual at age 25 to 30.
Emotions and Disease
The Balance of Passions
Hippocrates,
Hippokratous . . . Iatrike,
Basel, 1543.
This is a Renaissance edition of works by Hippocrates, with parallel text in Greek and Latin.
This story begins as did so many other components of our culture, in Greek and Roman antiquity where medicine first emerged as a secular activity independent of religion. There Hippocrates (ca. 460 B.C. — ca. 370 B.C.) and his followers combined naturalistic craft knowledge with ancient science and philosophy to produce the first systematic explanations of the behavior of the human body in health and illness. Distant ancestors of modern biomedical scientists began to explore the solid and fluid parts of the human organism for keys to unlock the hidden mechanisms of disease. They made the first attempts to understand emotions as mental phenomena which had surprising and complex connections to physiological order and pathological disorder.
Early Western physicians recognized that emotions were of essential significance; however their medical systems were actually weighted more heavily on the body side of the mind-body balance. The dominant theory of Hippocrates and his successors was that of the four “humors”: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. When these humors were in balance, health prevailed; when they were out of balance or vitiated in some way, disease took over. The goal of an individual’s personal hygiene was to keep the humors in balance, and the goal of medical therapy was to restore humoral equilibrium by adjusting diet, exercise, and the management of the body’s evacuations (e.g.: the blood, urine, feces, perspiration, etc.). 1 The bedside scene from Walter Ryff’s Spiegel und Regiment and the diagram from Johannes de Ketham’s Fasciculus Medicinae, although both from later periods, clearly illustrate these classical themes.
Johannes de Ketham Johannes de Ketham (fl. 1455-1470),
Fasciculus Medicinae,
Vienna, 1495
Johannes de Ketham, a professor of medicine in Vienna, published Fasciculus Medicinae, which included illustrations on bloodletting and urine flasks showing the “resemblance of the elements and the bodily constitutions.” This an English translation of Latin text.
Emphasizing the humors gave classical medicine what modern philosophers call a “reductionist” bias–the humors were used to explain more complex phenomena like emotional states in much simpler physical terms. For example, when a patient was melancholy, physicians assumed that his or her complicated feelings of sadness and depression resulted from the physical excess of black bile. Likewise, an excess of yellow bile was thought to make a person angry and impulsive. In the Hippocratic treatise The Sacred Disease, the author explains that “those maddened through bile are noisy, evil-doers and restless, always doing something inopportune”2 this explanation assumes that emotions are the more complicated consequences of the simpler and prior humoral causes.
Even in the unmistakably reductionist Hippocratic writings, however, certain emotional states appear as causal elements. In one case, a woman began to exhibit fears, depression, incoherent rambling speech, and the uttering of obscenities after suffering from a “grief with a reason for it”; and another “without speaking a word . . . would fumble, pluck, scratch, pick hairs, weep and then laugh, but . . . not speak,” also “after a grief.” 3 In The Sacred Disease, epilepsy is said in certain circumstances to be “caused by fear of the mysterious.”4
Emotional factors played only a minor role in the subsequent development of classical medical thought because authors after Hippocrates continued to rely primarily on humoral-reductionism and did not actively pursue emotional causal elements. These medical authorities worked hard to clarify and codify the humoral ideas embedded in Hippocrates’s work. They also systematized a therapy based on “opposition,” whereby excess humors were depleted and “cold” medicines such as oil of roses countered “hot” diseases like fevers and vice versa. Some writers in late antiquity also added important anatomical features to their reductionist medical systems.5
Justus Cortnumm (ca. 1624-1675),
De Morbo Attonito Liber Unus,
Leipzig, 1677
For much of the medieval and Renaissance periods, Galen and Hippocrates were regarded as co-equal medical authorities, with Galen even assuming a superior position for certain medical teachers or commentators. In the seventeenth century, however, the more empirically oriented Hippocrates came to be regarded as superior to the more theoretical Galen. This distinction between the two men is depicted here on the title page by Hippocrates touching the rosebush on the side of the flowers and Galen touching the side of the thorns.
But another dimension to medical thought became increasingly prominent in later antiquity. This was the orientation towards emotions as causes strongly influenced by Galen (A.D. 131-201). Known for his prolific writings and his essential loyalty to humoralism, he was accepted in the medieval and renaissance periods as coequal with or even superior to Hippocrates. Deeply respected for his diagnostic skill, Galen was celebrated for his differential diagnoses, especially for those which distinguished between illnesses traceable to orgnaic causes and those which seemed to mimic them but were actually traceable to emotional causes instead. In one famouse case he treated a young woman who seemed to exhibit the signs of physical illness but who, upon closer examination, revealed no organic pathology. After eliminating any possible humoral explanation, Galen identified the real, emotional cause of her somatic symptoms: a hidden love interest.6 He used the sudden irregularity of her pulse as a crucial diagnostic clue.
… I came to the conclusion that she was suffering from a melancholy dependent on black bile, or else trouble about something she was unwilling to confess.
Galen
As quoted in Galen–On Mental Disorders, Stanley W. Jackson
Galen likewise contributed an important new interest in the balance not only of the humors but of what he called the “non-naturals,” among which he included the “passions or perturbations of the soul.”7 According to the doctrine of the non-naturals–which was incorporated in medieval medical books alongside the humors–it was important for physicians to help patients keep their emotions in balance, for the sake of their bodies as well as their mental states. The influence of strong emotions on physical health and illness thus became a central tenet of medical belief which grew progressively stronger in the medieval period. As rabbi, philosopher and physician Moses Maimonides expressed the point in the twelfth century, “It is known . . . that passions of the psyche produce changes in the body that are great, evident and manifest to all. On this account . . . the movements of the psyche . . . should be kept in balance . . . and no other regimen should be given precedence.”8
Moses Maimonides (1135-1204),
Tractatus Rabbi Moysi de Regimine Sanitatis ad Soldanum Regem,
Augsburg, 1518
The physician should make every effort that all the sick, and all the healthy, should be most cheerful of soul at all times, and that they should be relieved of the passions of the psyche that cause anxiety.
Moses Maimonides (1135-1204)
The Regimen of Health
Gregor Reisch (d. 1525),
Margarita Philosophica cum Additionibus Novis,
Basel, 1517
Gregor Reisch included an often-reproduced woodcut profile of the head in his book Margarita Philosophica. The figure locates various faculties of the soul (cogitation, memory, etc.) in specific regions. Note that Imaginativa (imagination) is located directly over the eyes.
Ideas about the “balance of the passions” were popular in the Renaissance and early modern periods. One famous work showing how influential these ideas would become is Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy which included the following observations about the possibly disastrous role of unchecked emotions: “the mind most effectually works upon the body, producing by his passions and perturbations miraculous alterations . . . cruel diseases and sometimes death itself.”9Also in this period, speculation about the role of the “imagination” added other elements to the non-physical causes of disease. Some authors suggested that the imagination affected the body directly by its immaterial agency, others that it operated indirectly by first arousing the emotions which, in turn, “are greatly alterative with respect to the body.”10 There was general agreement that emotionally-charged ideas could exert enormous effects, as in the case of the monstrous “frog baby” produced by vivid maternal imagination, reported by Paré.
Speculation about the influence of the “imagination” was intense during the Renaissance period. It was widely believed that vivid ideas could lead to various bodily consequences, including diseases and monstrous births. Paré, a famous early surgeon, reported on two cases, one of a child born with the body of a calf, and another that occurred in 1517, of a child “born having the face of a frog,” produced by the power of the mother’s imagination. The mother, advised by her neighbor to hold a live frog in her hand as a means to cure her fever, was still holding the frog that evening, when she and her husband conceived a child.
William Falconer (1744-1824),
A Dissertation on the Influence of the Passions Upon the Disorders of the Body,
London, 1788
Intellectuals and lay people alike were strongly committed to these ideas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. While certain philosophical fashions within the medical community changed to reflect the Scientific Revolution going on around it, much medical practice remained traditional and fundamentally unaltered. Consideration of the role of the imagination and of strong emotions in the onset and course of illnesses continued into the nineteenth century. Medical literature included extensive essays and specialized monographs on emotional states and their impact on somatic health and disease.11 One example is William Falconer’s A Dissertation on the Influence of the Passions Upon the Disorders of the Body.
The husband is attempting to lead his pregnant wife away from the cage of the great apes at the zoo. He is afraid that by looking at the ape in her condition, she might give birth to a deformed baby. The longstanding belief that the vividly stimulated imagination of pregnant women could lead to “monstrous” births persisted in popular culture well into the nineteenth century.
Honoré Daumier (1808-1879)
Bobonne, Bobonne! tu me ferais un monstre comme ca,
ne le regarde pas tant!
In many ways, however, the close of the eighteenth century marked a new era. As part of the Scientific Revolution, anatomical investigation once undertaken in antiquity had revived and became a hotly pursued field of study. Andreas Vesalius in sixteenth century Padua and Thomas Willis in seventeenth century Oxford were just two of the many bold explorers who cut into the body, probed its structure, and displayed their findings in beautifully illustrated works. In the eighteenth century, physicians increasingly turned to anatomy as a foundation for pathology. As a result, disease processes were progressively “localized,” that is, said to reside primarily in the disruptions or “lesions” of the solid parts of the body rather than in the imbalance of humors. Post mortem dissection became an increasingly common medical practice.12
Illustration of dissecting instruments from Andreas Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica. The De Fabrica, the first modern work of anatomy, was initially published in 1543. This plate is enlarged from the 1568 Venice edition.
Andreas Vesalius
Edouard Hamman (1819-1888)
What is particularly notable about this scene of Vesalius about to perform an autopsy is his gaze, directed away from the cadaver, and his hand resting on the left arm, almost as if taking a pulse. Like the Chartran portrayal of Laënnec, this nineteenth-century image strongly conveys the anatomical basis of the new medicine.
Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564),
De Humani Corporis Fabrica,
Venice, 1568
Thomas Willis (1621-1675),
The Remaining Medical Works of Thomas Willis,
London, 1679.
An outstanding example of seventeenth-century anatomical achievement was Thomas Willis’s Cerebri Anatome (On the Anatomy of the Brain), first published in 1664. Shown here are Willis’s engravings of the human brain (left page) and of the sheep brain (right page).
At the turn of the nineteenth century, diagnostic breakthroughs swiftly succeeded the maturation of gross pathological anatomy. R. T. H. Laënnec invented a primitive stethoscope (he called it a “cylinder”) to help him hear inside his patient’s body and thus imagine what the parts “looked” like because of the particular sounds they elicited. In the process of concentrating their attention on the anatomical abnormalities of the solid parts of the body during an illness and as a result of disease, Laënnec and other physicians of his time gained precision in their diagnoses but began to lose the immediacy and intimacy of verbal contact with their patients.13 Clearly captured in Chartran’s painting of Laënnec performing a physical examination is the growing communication gap between doctor and patient, each seemingly contained in his own separate world. This stands in sharp contrast to the scene typically depicted at the medieval bedside.
Laënnec-style Stethoscope
In 1819, Laënnec first described his powerful new diagnostic invention, the cylinder-like stethoscope. The physician placed one end of the instrument on the patient’s chest and his ear to the other, so he could listen to the sounds of disrupted anatomy within.
Courtesy Historical Collections, The National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.
René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec (1781-1826)
De l’Auscultation Médiate, ou, Traité du Diagnostic des Maladies des Poumons et du Coeur (On Mediate Auscultation, or, Treatise on the Diagnosis of the Diseases of the Lungs and Heart), Paris, 1819
The stethoscope is illustrated here in a fold-out plate with parts of the lung shown at the right.
The further development of microscopic anatomy by Rudolf Virchow and others in the nineteenth century led to greater knowledge of tissues and cells. This development, unfortunately, also fragmented the notion of organismic unity implicit in classical and early modern medical theory.14 Emotions became more and more separated from disease.
Rudolf Virchow,Die Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begründung auf Physiologische und Pathologische Gewebelehre, Berlin, 1858
In Virchow’s most influential book, Die Cellularpathologie, he described and depicted the precise microscopic structure of cells–including nerve cells–but seemed to leave no place in the body’s operation for the influence of the emotions.
Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902) is regarded as perhaps the greatest medical scientist of the nineteenth century. He was a pioneer in the field of cellular pathology and pursued pathological anatomy at the tissue and cell level.
By the mid-nineteenth century, however, a place was secured for emotions in connection with disease even as post mortem anatomy and cellular pathology advanced. Already in the eighteenth century William Cullen had noted that patients with certain major disorders–“insanity”, for example–did not always show the expected organic lesions upon post mortem dissection. He reasoned that, instead, such patients may have developed “a considerable and unusual excess in the excitement of the brain” and that this excitement could in turn have derived from “violent emotions or passions of the mind.”15 Cullen and Robert Whytt were two of the many physicians who turned to the nervous system to find a physiological connection between emotions and disease. These physicians hoped to find in nervous system physiology a compromise of sorts between traditional ideas linking emotions and disease and the new desire to extend the reach of localistic pathology. Since the nervous system was enormously complex and its functions were subtle and elusive, it could be the locus of “functional” disorders, which were characterized by disrupted activity but where no inflammation or “appreciable morbid change in the nervous structure” could be found. By the 1840s and 1850s, functional disorders of the nervous system (also called “neuroses”) and the emotional causes that precipitated them had become a major area of clinical study, as is clear in Austin Flint’s popular A Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Medicine.
…in many instances of insane persons, their brain had been examined after death, without showing that any organic lesions had before subsisted in the brain, or finding that any morbid state of the brain then appeared.
William Cullen
First Lines of the Practice of Physic, 1784
…the neuroses are purely functional affections…. [They] occur also as symptoms of diseases involving either inflammation or lesions of structure.
Austin Flint
A Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Medicine,1868
Order your lab tests with free health coaching
Order your lab tests with free health coaching
Know your baseline health data so you can improve your health
When you know what is in your blood and cells, you can optimize your health to a younger you.
Blood Testing -Price List for full list of lab tests and retail price
Portion of the profit goes to support college students in California and the Philippines.
Motherhealth LLC is wholesaler of Life Extension with LabCorp as the laboratory performing all the tests.
Pay via paypal at conniedbuono@gmail.com or Chase bank quick pay using email motherhealth@gmail.com and tel 408-854-1883