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Aldehydes, Tyramines, and our Liver
Posted by Richard
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Richard
Aldehydes, Tyramines, and our Liver December 03, 2003 07:04PM |
Hello All,
I often have wondered, as I know all of you have, as to why we have so many different symptons, yet we have the commonality of AF/flutter. I thought I had found the answer last night, and was quite excited. It pertained to PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid) and I posted in the conf. room about my findings. (Pls. join in the conf. room, as I feel lonely). I'm still going to try it, and have good feelings, but after reading what I'm about to post, it dawned on me that the "heart" of our problem is the liver, as you will read. That's not to say that the nutrients we are taking aren't important, because they are, but the processing of all the nutrients from supplements and foods, drugs, the polluted air we breathe, the organisms and nutrients in the water we drink, the tyramines in the chocolate and cheese we love, and the alcohol we drink, are all processed through the liver. If the liver isn't functioning properly, then how can all these important nutrients breakdown and reach their desired destination???
One of our bodys most vital functions is to convert metabolic products and toxins into safe, soluble substances which can be eliminated via the urine or the gall bladder into the intestines. The liver plays an all-important role in this process known as detoxification or biotransformation. Recent research has shown that many patients with chronic illnesses have a disordered liver biotransformation ability.
We simply dont know all the diseases and health disorders which may be promoted by a toxic overload resulting from such dysfunction, but progress is beginning to be made in looking at specific detoxification pathways and relating underfunctioning of these to the development of disease.
Pathways
A number of biochemical pathways sequences of chemical changes are involved in liver biotransformation. These are normally grouped into oxidation, reduction or hydrolysis reactions (Phase I) and conjugation reactions (Phase II). Phase I reactions are catalysed by a group of liver enzymes scientifically known as cytochrome P450 oxidases (or P450 oxidases or cytochrome p450s). These enzymes introduce oxygen into the chemical structure of toxins or metabolites. Typically, by this process the toxins are converted into intermediate substances alcohols and aldehydes then into acids, which are water-soluble, and can be excreted via the urine.
Phase I detoxification
The intermediate substances created during Phase I detoxification, which include reactive oxygen species (free radicals), can be extremely toxic far more so than the original toxins. Their harmful effects are primarily controlled by antioxidant nutrients/enzymes: a plentiful supply of these substances is essential. Apart from free radicals, intermediate metabolites include chloral hydrate (which is identical to the knock-out drug often known as a Mickey Finn), epoxides, and endogenous benzodiazepines substances similar to Valium and other tranquillisers and sleeping pills. This makes it easier to understand how chronic fatigue, for instance, can develop when a toxic overload is present.
The more P450 enzymes are induced in the liver, the more of the toxic intermediates will be present in the body. P450 enzymes are induced by caffeine, alcohol, dioxin and other pollutants, exhaust fumes, high protein diets, oranges and tangerines, organophosphorus pesticides, paint fumes, steroid hormones, and a variety of drugs including paracetamol (acetaminophen), diazepam tranquillisers and sleeping pills, the contraceptive pill and cortisone.
Aldehydes
Substances which can inhibit the action of P450 enzymes include carbon tetrachloride, carbon monoxide, barbiturates, quercetin and naringenin (found in grapefruit). The oxidation reaction can also be blocked by an excess of toxic chemicals, a lack of enzymes, lack of nutrients and/or loss of oxygen.
Such blocking results in a build-up of more toxic substances such as formaldehyde and other aldehydes in tissue. This can in turn lead to a spreading phenomenon, with increasing sensitivity to more chemicals such as ketones and alcohols, and eventually even to natural chemicals occurring in foods, pollen and mold. A build-up of aldehydes can in severe cases lead to tissue cross-linking, causing vasculitis with possible seizures and brain damage.
Although most aldehydes in the body are thought to occur as intermediate metabolites, external sources include exposure to formaldehyde gas (which is given off by new carpets, curtains and other furnishings) and breakdown products of ethylene glycol and methanol.
Two known sources of aldehydes are intestinal overgrowth with Candida albicans, as well as the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fats. The fatigue, foggy thinking and brain fag linked with candidiasis may be due to an overloading of the detoxification system with aldehydes, which can even lead to a reverse reaction of aldehyde to alcohol. Extreme intolerance to alcohol consumption may occur in these individuals, as it does in those diagnosed with ME or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Amines
Cytochrome P450 and other oxidizing enzymes also oxidize amines such as phenylethylamine found in chocolate, tyramine found in cheese, and adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine. These are oxidized into aldehydes by the enzyme mitochondrial monoamine oxidase (MAO) if this enzyme is blocked, for instance by MAO inhibitor drugs used to treat depression, tyramine, for instance, cannot be metabolized and hypertension can develop as a chemical sensitivity reaction.
Phase II detoxification (conjugation)There are five main conjugation categories, including acetylation, acylation (peptide conjugation with amino acids), sulphur conjugations, methylations and conju-gation with glucuronic acid. Some substances enter Phase II detoxification directly, others come via Phase I pathways.
Conjugation involves the combining of a metabolite or toxin with another substance which adds a hydrophilic (or water-reactive) molecule to it, converting lipophilic (or fat-reactive) substances to water-soluble forms for excretion and elimination. Individual xenobiotics and metabolites usually follow a specific path, so whereas caffeine is metabolized by P450 enzymes, aspirin-based medications are conjugated with glycine, and paracetamol with sulphate.
Acetylation
Acetylation requires pantothenic acid to function. It is the chief degradation pathway for compounds containing aromatic amines such as histamine, serotonin, PABA, P-amino salicylic acid, aniline and procaine amide. It is also a pathway for sulphur amides, aliphatic amines and complex hydrazines.
A proportion of the general population perhaps up to 50 per cent are slow acetylators. This rises to as high a level as 80 per cent among the chemically sensitive population. Their N-acetyltransferase activity is thought to be reduced, and this prolongs the action of drugs and other toxic chemicals, thus enhancing their toxicity.
Acylation
Acylation uses acyl CO-A, with the amino acids glycine, glutamine and taurine. Conjugation of bile acids in the liver with glycine or taurine is essential for the efficient removal of these potentially toxic compounds. Disturbed acylation by pollutant overload decreases proper levels of bile in the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in poor assimilation of lipids and fat-soluble vitamins, and disturbed cholesterol metabolism.
Toluene, the most popular industrial organic solvent, is converted by the liver into benzoate, which like aspirin must then be detoxified by conjugation with the amino acid glycine (glycination): large doses of glycine and N-glycylglycine are used in treating aspirin overdose. Benzoate itself is present in many food substances and is widely used as a food preservative.
Glycine is a commonly available amino acid, but the capacity to synthesize taurine may be limited by low activity of the enzyme cysteine-sulfinic acid decarboxylase. Damage can occur to this enzyme directly by pollutants, or by overload/over-use resulting in depletion.
Both taurine- and glycine-dependent reactions require an alkaline pH: 7.8 to 8.0. Environmental medicine specialists may alkalinize over-acidic patients by administering sodium and potassium bicarbonate in order to facilitate these reactions.
Glutathione conjugation, using the amino acid glutathione in its reduced form, is used for the transformation of xenobiotics such as aromatic disulphides, naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthacin compounds, aliphatic disulphides and the regeneration of endogenous thiols from disulphides. There is a cycle of replenishment for glutathione, allowing it to be reformed after conversion to glutathione reductase. Heavy metals can inhibit this cycle, thus preventing replenishment.
Sulphur conjugation (sulphation)
Neurotransmitters, steroid hormones, certain drugs and many xenobiotic and phenolic compounds such as oestrone (one of the forms of oestrogen), aliphatic alcohols, aryl amines and alicyclic hydroxy-steroids employ sulphation as their primary route of detoxification. Steventon at Birmingham University (UK) has found that many sufferers from Parkinsonism, motor neurone disease and Alzheimers disease as well as environmental illness, tend to have a reduced ability to produce sulphate from the amino acid cysteine in their body, and instead accumulate cysteine.
Sulphate may be ingested from food, but is also produced by the action of the enzyme cysteine dioxygenase on cysteine. This process is known as sulphoxidation.
The bodys ability to conjugate toxins with sulphate is rate limited by the amount of sulphate present; if there is inadequate sulphate, toxins and metabolites can accumulate, perhaps building up to levels which cause degeneration of nervous tissue after several decades.
Steventons findings are a matter for serious concern. How many individuals are given the opportunity to find out whether they are poor sulphoxidizers and to reduce their chances of developing the above mentioned diseases by improving their sulphoxidation ability?
Methylation
According to environmental medicine specialist William Rae, the process most often disturbed in chemically sensitive people involves methylation reactions catalysed by S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent enzymes. Methionine is the chief methyl donor to detoxify amines, phenols, thiols, noradrenaline, adrenaline, dopamine, melatonin, L-dopa, histamine, serotonin, pyridine, sulphites and hypochlorites into compounds excreted through the lungs. Methionine is needed to detoxify the hypochlorite reaction.
The activity of the methyltransferase enzyme is dependent on magnesium, and, due to the frequency of magnesium deficiency, supplementation with this nutrient will often stabilize chemically sensitive patients.
Glucuronidation
Glucuronic acid is a metabolite of glucose. It can conjugate with chemical and bacterial toxins such as alcohols, phenols, enols, carboxylic acid, amines, hydroxyamines, carbamides, sulphonamides and thiols, as well as some normal metabolites in a process known as glucuronidation.
For most individuals glucuronidation is a supplementary detoxification pathway. It is a secondary, slower process than sulphation or glycination, but is important if those pathways are diminished or saturated. Obese people seem to have an enhanced capacity to detoxify molecules that can use the glucuronidation pathway. However, damage to the capacity for oxidative phosphorylation which takes place in the mitochondria, is likely to diminish the capacity for glucuronide conjugation.
Overload
If the livers detoxification pathways are excessively stimulated and overly utilized, they eventually become depleted or begin to respond poorly being suppressed by toxic chemicals. Once breakdown of the main pathways occurs as a result of pollutant overload, toxins are shunted to lesser pathways, eventually overloading them, and disturbing orderly nutrient metabolism. Chemical sensitivity may then occur, followed by nutrient depletion and finally fixed-name disease. Depleted immunity is also a potential outcome of a toxic overload.
Interesting facts
Dr William Rae of the Environmental Health Centre in Dallas says that the most severely ill chemically sensitive patients not only have abnormally low antipollutant enzymes, in addition to toxic suppression and nutrient depletion, but in some instances antibodies are produced against cytochrome P450 and these may inhibit or decrease its effectiveness.
Environmental medicine specialists have found that almost 35 per cent of chemically sensitive patients are deficient in intracellular sulphur. Not only can this hinder the detoxification of some sulphur-containing and other toxic chemicals, it can enhance the harmful effects of exposure to cyanide from foods such as cassava and almonds as well as from tobacco products. The hereditary disease known as Lebers optic atrophy involves a defect in the ability to detoxify cyanide, and leads to sudden, permanent blindness on first exposure to cyanide in small amounts such as those ingested from smoking cigarettes.
Many multimineral supplements in the UK omit iron and copper due to theories that individuals may already be overloaded with these nutrients. However if no overload is present, an unbalanced supplement may promote depletion of the minerals. The Environmental Health Centre in Dallas finds that intravenous infusions to replenish iron stores brings dramatic improvements for the chemically sensitive patient as part of their detoxification process. Copper is also found to help catalyse the cytochrome systems. (NB: self-supplementation with iron and copper should be cautious, to avoid iron and copper overload conditions).
Although the liver is the primary site for oxidation of xenobiotics, the cytochrome P450 system is found in other tissues that are exposed to environmental compounds like the skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, placenta, corpus luteum, lymphocytes, monocytes, pulmonary alveolar macrophages, adrenals, testes and brain, in both the mitochondria and in the nuclear membrane.
Always rinse your washing-up carefully. Pollutants in the form of solvents and detergents can damage and penetrate cell membranes and damage the contents of the cell.
Vitamin B3 has been shown to accelerate the clearance of aldehydes in some chemically sensitive patients.
Molybdenum, although an essential element, competes with sulphate in its activation step to the important enzyme PAPS and can thus lower sulphate levels and impair sulphation ability. Environmental medicine experts warn that molybdenum supplementation may be contraindicated in individuals with poor sulphation ability.
The substance naringenin, found in grapefruit, can significantly inhibit Phase I detoxification, as can grape-fruit itself. This may prove clinically useful in some situations where Phase I activity is too high, (as shown in liver function tests available from nutritional therapists).
Persons who have been exposed to toxic chemicals, drugs and other xenobiotics, have increased requirements for some vitamins. Functional nutritional assays for vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and folate, and serum levels of vitamins A, D, C and beta carotene were performed in a random sample of 333 environmentally-sensitive patients prior to treatment. 57.8% were found to be deficient in B6, 37.7% in vitamin D, 34.9% in B2, 32.2% in folate, 27.7% in vitamin C, 21.4% in niacin, 14.9% in B12, 5.6% in vitamin A and 4.6% in beta-carotene. (Ross GH et al: Evidence for vitamin deficiencies in environmentally-sensitive patients. Clinical Ecology 6(2):60-6, 1989.)
[www.garynull.com]
There's advice on how to help and cleanse the liver, at the end of this link.
Richard
I often have wondered, as I know all of you have, as to why we have so many different symptons, yet we have the commonality of AF/flutter. I thought I had found the answer last night, and was quite excited. It pertained to PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid) and I posted in the conf. room about my findings. (Pls. join in the conf. room, as I feel lonely). I'm still going to try it, and have good feelings, but after reading what I'm about to post, it dawned on me that the "heart" of our problem is the liver, as you will read. That's not to say that the nutrients we are taking aren't important, because they are, but the processing of all the nutrients from supplements and foods, drugs, the polluted air we breathe, the organisms and nutrients in the water we drink, the tyramines in the chocolate and cheese we love, and the alcohol we drink, are all processed through the liver. If the liver isn't functioning properly, then how can all these important nutrients breakdown and reach their desired destination???
One of our bodys most vital functions is to convert metabolic products and toxins into safe, soluble substances which can be eliminated via the urine or the gall bladder into the intestines. The liver plays an all-important role in this process known as detoxification or biotransformation. Recent research has shown that many patients with chronic illnesses have a disordered liver biotransformation ability.
We simply dont know all the diseases and health disorders which may be promoted by a toxic overload resulting from such dysfunction, but progress is beginning to be made in looking at specific detoxification pathways and relating underfunctioning of these to the development of disease.
Pathways
A number of biochemical pathways sequences of chemical changes are involved in liver biotransformation. These are normally grouped into oxidation, reduction or hydrolysis reactions (Phase I) and conjugation reactions (Phase II). Phase I reactions are catalysed by a group of liver enzymes scientifically known as cytochrome P450 oxidases (or P450 oxidases or cytochrome p450s). These enzymes introduce oxygen into the chemical structure of toxins or metabolites. Typically, by this process the toxins are converted into intermediate substances alcohols and aldehydes then into acids, which are water-soluble, and can be excreted via the urine.
Phase I detoxification
The intermediate substances created during Phase I detoxification, which include reactive oxygen species (free radicals), can be extremely toxic far more so than the original toxins. Their harmful effects are primarily controlled by antioxidant nutrients/enzymes: a plentiful supply of these substances is essential. Apart from free radicals, intermediate metabolites include chloral hydrate (which is identical to the knock-out drug often known as a Mickey Finn), epoxides, and endogenous benzodiazepines substances similar to Valium and other tranquillisers and sleeping pills. This makes it easier to understand how chronic fatigue, for instance, can develop when a toxic overload is present.
The more P450 enzymes are induced in the liver, the more of the toxic intermediates will be present in the body. P450 enzymes are induced by caffeine, alcohol, dioxin and other pollutants, exhaust fumes, high protein diets, oranges and tangerines, organophosphorus pesticides, paint fumes, steroid hormones, and a variety of drugs including paracetamol (acetaminophen), diazepam tranquillisers and sleeping pills, the contraceptive pill and cortisone.
Aldehydes
Substances which can inhibit the action of P450 enzymes include carbon tetrachloride, carbon monoxide, barbiturates, quercetin and naringenin (found in grapefruit). The oxidation reaction can also be blocked by an excess of toxic chemicals, a lack of enzymes, lack of nutrients and/or loss of oxygen.
Such blocking results in a build-up of more toxic substances such as formaldehyde and other aldehydes in tissue. This can in turn lead to a spreading phenomenon, with increasing sensitivity to more chemicals such as ketones and alcohols, and eventually even to natural chemicals occurring in foods, pollen and mold. A build-up of aldehydes can in severe cases lead to tissue cross-linking, causing vasculitis with possible seizures and brain damage.
Although most aldehydes in the body are thought to occur as intermediate metabolites, external sources include exposure to formaldehyde gas (which is given off by new carpets, curtains and other furnishings) and breakdown products of ethylene glycol and methanol.
Two known sources of aldehydes are intestinal overgrowth with Candida albicans, as well as the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fats. The fatigue, foggy thinking and brain fag linked with candidiasis may be due to an overloading of the detoxification system with aldehydes, which can even lead to a reverse reaction of aldehyde to alcohol. Extreme intolerance to alcohol consumption may occur in these individuals, as it does in those diagnosed with ME or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Amines
Cytochrome P450 and other oxidizing enzymes also oxidize amines such as phenylethylamine found in chocolate, tyramine found in cheese, and adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine. These are oxidized into aldehydes by the enzyme mitochondrial monoamine oxidase (MAO) if this enzyme is blocked, for instance by MAO inhibitor drugs used to treat depression, tyramine, for instance, cannot be metabolized and hypertension can develop as a chemical sensitivity reaction.
Phase II detoxification (conjugation)There are five main conjugation categories, including acetylation, acylation (peptide conjugation with amino acids), sulphur conjugations, methylations and conju-gation with glucuronic acid. Some substances enter Phase II detoxification directly, others come via Phase I pathways.
Conjugation involves the combining of a metabolite or toxin with another substance which adds a hydrophilic (or water-reactive) molecule to it, converting lipophilic (or fat-reactive) substances to water-soluble forms for excretion and elimination. Individual xenobiotics and metabolites usually follow a specific path, so whereas caffeine is metabolized by P450 enzymes, aspirin-based medications are conjugated with glycine, and paracetamol with sulphate.
Acetylation
Acetylation requires pantothenic acid to function. It is the chief degradation pathway for compounds containing aromatic amines such as histamine, serotonin, PABA, P-amino salicylic acid, aniline and procaine amide. It is also a pathway for sulphur amides, aliphatic amines and complex hydrazines.
A proportion of the general population perhaps up to 50 per cent are slow acetylators. This rises to as high a level as 80 per cent among the chemically sensitive population. Their N-acetyltransferase activity is thought to be reduced, and this prolongs the action of drugs and other toxic chemicals, thus enhancing their toxicity.
Acylation
Acylation uses acyl CO-A, with the amino acids glycine, glutamine and taurine. Conjugation of bile acids in the liver with glycine or taurine is essential for the efficient removal of these potentially toxic compounds. Disturbed acylation by pollutant overload decreases proper levels of bile in the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in poor assimilation of lipids and fat-soluble vitamins, and disturbed cholesterol metabolism.
Toluene, the most popular industrial organic solvent, is converted by the liver into benzoate, which like aspirin must then be detoxified by conjugation with the amino acid glycine (glycination): large doses of glycine and N-glycylglycine are used in treating aspirin overdose. Benzoate itself is present in many food substances and is widely used as a food preservative.
Glycine is a commonly available amino acid, but the capacity to synthesize taurine may be limited by low activity of the enzyme cysteine-sulfinic acid decarboxylase. Damage can occur to this enzyme directly by pollutants, or by overload/over-use resulting in depletion.
Both taurine- and glycine-dependent reactions require an alkaline pH: 7.8 to 8.0. Environmental medicine specialists may alkalinize over-acidic patients by administering sodium and potassium bicarbonate in order to facilitate these reactions.
Glutathione conjugation, using the amino acid glutathione in its reduced form, is used for the transformation of xenobiotics such as aromatic disulphides, naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthacin compounds, aliphatic disulphides and the regeneration of endogenous thiols from disulphides. There is a cycle of replenishment for glutathione, allowing it to be reformed after conversion to glutathione reductase. Heavy metals can inhibit this cycle, thus preventing replenishment.
Sulphur conjugation (sulphation)
Neurotransmitters, steroid hormones, certain drugs and many xenobiotic and phenolic compounds such as oestrone (one of the forms of oestrogen), aliphatic alcohols, aryl amines and alicyclic hydroxy-steroids employ sulphation as their primary route of detoxification. Steventon at Birmingham University (UK) has found that many sufferers from Parkinsonism, motor neurone disease and Alzheimers disease as well as environmental illness, tend to have a reduced ability to produce sulphate from the amino acid cysteine in their body, and instead accumulate cysteine.
Sulphate may be ingested from food, but is also produced by the action of the enzyme cysteine dioxygenase on cysteine. This process is known as sulphoxidation.
The bodys ability to conjugate toxins with sulphate is rate limited by the amount of sulphate present; if there is inadequate sulphate, toxins and metabolites can accumulate, perhaps building up to levels which cause degeneration of nervous tissue after several decades.
Steventons findings are a matter for serious concern. How many individuals are given the opportunity to find out whether they are poor sulphoxidizers and to reduce their chances of developing the above mentioned diseases by improving their sulphoxidation ability?
Methylation
According to environmental medicine specialist William Rae, the process most often disturbed in chemically sensitive people involves methylation reactions catalysed by S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent enzymes. Methionine is the chief methyl donor to detoxify amines, phenols, thiols, noradrenaline, adrenaline, dopamine, melatonin, L-dopa, histamine, serotonin, pyridine, sulphites and hypochlorites into compounds excreted through the lungs. Methionine is needed to detoxify the hypochlorite reaction.
The activity of the methyltransferase enzyme is dependent on magnesium, and, due to the frequency of magnesium deficiency, supplementation with this nutrient will often stabilize chemically sensitive patients.
Glucuronidation
Glucuronic acid is a metabolite of glucose. It can conjugate with chemical and bacterial toxins such as alcohols, phenols, enols, carboxylic acid, amines, hydroxyamines, carbamides, sulphonamides and thiols, as well as some normal metabolites in a process known as glucuronidation.
For most individuals glucuronidation is a supplementary detoxification pathway. It is a secondary, slower process than sulphation or glycination, but is important if those pathways are diminished or saturated. Obese people seem to have an enhanced capacity to detoxify molecules that can use the glucuronidation pathway. However, damage to the capacity for oxidative phosphorylation which takes place in the mitochondria, is likely to diminish the capacity for glucuronide conjugation.
Overload
If the livers detoxification pathways are excessively stimulated and overly utilized, they eventually become depleted or begin to respond poorly being suppressed by toxic chemicals. Once breakdown of the main pathways occurs as a result of pollutant overload, toxins are shunted to lesser pathways, eventually overloading them, and disturbing orderly nutrient metabolism. Chemical sensitivity may then occur, followed by nutrient depletion and finally fixed-name disease. Depleted immunity is also a potential outcome of a toxic overload.
Interesting facts
Dr William Rae of the Environmental Health Centre in Dallas says that the most severely ill chemically sensitive patients not only have abnormally low antipollutant enzymes, in addition to toxic suppression and nutrient depletion, but in some instances antibodies are produced against cytochrome P450 and these may inhibit or decrease its effectiveness.
Environmental medicine specialists have found that almost 35 per cent of chemically sensitive patients are deficient in intracellular sulphur. Not only can this hinder the detoxification of some sulphur-containing and other toxic chemicals, it can enhance the harmful effects of exposure to cyanide from foods such as cassava and almonds as well as from tobacco products. The hereditary disease known as Lebers optic atrophy involves a defect in the ability to detoxify cyanide, and leads to sudden, permanent blindness on first exposure to cyanide in small amounts such as those ingested from smoking cigarettes.
Many multimineral supplements in the UK omit iron and copper due to theories that individuals may already be overloaded with these nutrients. However if no overload is present, an unbalanced supplement may promote depletion of the minerals. The Environmental Health Centre in Dallas finds that intravenous infusions to replenish iron stores brings dramatic improvements for the chemically sensitive patient as part of their detoxification process. Copper is also found to help catalyse the cytochrome systems. (NB: self-supplementation with iron and copper should be cautious, to avoid iron and copper overload conditions).
Although the liver is the primary site for oxidation of xenobiotics, the cytochrome P450 system is found in other tissues that are exposed to environmental compounds like the skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, placenta, corpus luteum, lymphocytes, monocytes, pulmonary alveolar macrophages, adrenals, testes and brain, in both the mitochondria and in the nuclear membrane.
Always rinse your washing-up carefully. Pollutants in the form of solvents and detergents can damage and penetrate cell membranes and damage the contents of the cell.
Vitamin B3 has been shown to accelerate the clearance of aldehydes in some chemically sensitive patients.
Molybdenum, although an essential element, competes with sulphate in its activation step to the important enzyme PAPS and can thus lower sulphate levels and impair sulphation ability. Environmental medicine experts warn that molybdenum supplementation may be contraindicated in individuals with poor sulphation ability.
The substance naringenin, found in grapefruit, can significantly inhibit Phase I detoxification, as can grape-fruit itself. This may prove clinically useful in some situations where Phase I activity is too high, (as shown in liver function tests available from nutritional therapists).
Persons who have been exposed to toxic chemicals, drugs and other xenobiotics, have increased requirements for some vitamins. Functional nutritional assays for vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and folate, and serum levels of vitamins A, D, C and beta carotene were performed in a random sample of 333 environmentally-sensitive patients prior to treatment. 57.8% were found to be deficient in B6, 37.7% in vitamin D, 34.9% in B2, 32.2% in folate, 27.7% in vitamin C, 21.4% in niacin, 14.9% in B12, 5.6% in vitamin A and 4.6% in beta-carotene. (Ross GH et al: Evidence for vitamin deficiencies in environmentally-sensitive patients. Clinical Ecology 6(2):60-6, 1989.)
[www.garynull.com]
There's advice on how to help and cleanse the liver, at the end of this link.
Richard
|
Peggy Merrill
Re: Aldehydes, Tyramines, and our Liver December 03, 2003 07:41PM |
hello, Richard. The reason i don't contribute in the conference room is i am hard put to understand what is written there. I read it faithfully, and understand maybe two thirds of it, but there is nothing i can add to the discourse.
Got the usual 2 thirds of the above, found the discussion of cytochrome P450 particularly clear and very interesting. Do continue.
Peggy
Got the usual 2 thirds of the above, found the discussion of cytochrome P450 particularly clear and very interesting. Do continue.
Peggy
|
Mike F. V42
Re: Aldehydes, Tyramines, and our Liver December 03, 2003 11:19PM |
Richard,
Sorry to hear that you're feeling a little lonely in the CR!!
I just want to assure you that, whilst feeling that you must be a little mad (in the nicest possible way (-: ) to spend such a lot of time researching and writing, I DO really admire your tenacity, and I DO always read your posts. Problem is that work and not allowing myself too much time on the Internet means that I do not revert to your copious references! I guess that I am not willing to put in the effort to make the time to do so given my predisposition to spend an unhealthy (for me) ammount of time obsessing (again, only me I'm referring too here) about my heart on the Internet.
At the risk of sounding lazy, I WOULD be MOST interested to read and properly digest the conclusions of your current research re. candida and liver function given that I have had long-standing candida problems and have high blood urate, billirubin and cholesterol (jaundiced as a baby). Thanks for your continuing efforts on all our behalfs Richard. Whilst I don't join in very much, I do NOT want your kind efforts to go un-thanked and un-appreciated! Instinct and my own situation tells me that really might really have something with this PABA angle.
Mucho respecto,
Mike F.
Sorry to hear that you're feeling a little lonely in the CR!!
I just want to assure you that, whilst feeling that you must be a little mad (in the nicest possible way (-: ) to spend such a lot of time researching and writing, I DO really admire your tenacity, and I DO always read your posts. Problem is that work and not allowing myself too much time on the Internet means that I do not revert to your copious references! I guess that I am not willing to put in the effort to make the time to do so given my predisposition to spend an unhealthy (for me) ammount of time obsessing (again, only me I'm referring too here) about my heart on the Internet.
At the risk of sounding lazy, I WOULD be MOST interested to read and properly digest the conclusions of your current research re. candida and liver function given that I have had long-standing candida problems and have high blood urate, billirubin and cholesterol (jaundiced as a baby). Thanks for your continuing efforts on all our behalfs Richard. Whilst I don't join in very much, I do NOT want your kind efforts to go un-thanked and un-appreciated! Instinct and my own situation tells me that really might really have something with this PABA angle.
Mucho respecto,
Mike F.
|
Debbi
Re: Aldehydes, Tyramines, and our Liver December 04, 2003 01:05AM |
|
Richard
Re: Aldehydes, Tyramines, and our Liver December 04, 2003 05:49AM |
About 10 mths ago, I knew very little about any of this. I knew I had a liver, pancreas, stomach, intestines, I definitely found out I had a heart, and wasn't quite sure I had a brain. I do have an educational background in chemistry, but that was years ago, and I haven't utilized my education, as I went on to do real estate.
When my wife said to me in Feb. 03, that the doctors were killing me, we decided at that point, to find alternative means. I never dreamed it would take me to where I am now. Fortunately, I found this site in the beginning and it changed my life. THANK YOU, HANS!!!!! I am forever greatful. My wife and I were determined, and it does take determination, to try and figure this out, especially after finding so many other people with the same affliction. My wife only has a 12th grade education, but she has persevered, and learned right along side me.
The mere fact, that any of you are here, shows an above average level of intelligence. I must add, that many posts here go completely over my head, so I try to take out of it what I do understand, if anything, and continue on. Do NOT let anything intimidate you. We all start at the beginning, just at different times. Everyone thinks about situations in different ways. Some are more technically minded, while some are not, but that doesn't have anything to do with determination. We all have that WILL, but only if we truly want to understand and heal ourselves.
One example of how to contribute and get a better understanding of your own situation, is to focus on your trigger. Maybe, for example, your trigger is chocolate, or that you know you have Candida. Just let your fingers do the walking, and utilize the amazing internet, that we've been gifted with, and punch that into your computer, and start reading. It will not only empower you with more knowledge, by getting a better understanding of what could be happening within your body, but you just might find the link or cure to AF, just by pure happenstance. And maybe what you find, could stimulate someone else's thoughts in another direction, as well. I have been stimulated, more than I can count, from other posts. As with everything, it always takes a concerted effort, from a lot of people, to accomplish anything. As Jerry once put it, no matter how small the piece of evidence is that you present, it could make the difference or be the answer. So don't ever be intimidated by presenting your thoughts or posts, and don't think for one minute, that because you don't understand the technical posts, that you have nothing to share, because that is simply not true.
In summary of the above post, I do believe the liver is the key to unlocking this mystery, for if the liver is depressed or not functioning properly, the nutrients are locked behind a closed door, or they're just being used up as fast as the liver can process them, due to all of the daily assaults of pesticides, pollution, drugs, etc. In the case of Fran, for example, she is very sensitive to free glutamate. That tells me that her liver function for processing glutamate is not working properly, and the free glutamate is passed through the liver unmetabolized, leaving higher levels to create toxic results. This is also why hospitals should monitor someone when administering flecainide. If the person is lacking the enzyme (Cytochrome P450 2D6) which metabolizes flec., then this drug could have toxic effects, because the liver didn't break it down, therefore leaving high levels of the toxins to circulate the bloodstream. In the case of Jerry, who took the drug Cipro for bronchitis, found this caused AF. The reason is that this drug used up his stores of Mg. because the enzyme that processes Cipro needs Mg. to do so. He was probably already low in the mineral, but this further insulted his levels of Mg. If you're senstivie to tyramines, then your pathway for processing this substance isn't working properly, therefore leaving too much tyramine to circulate. In the case of Candida and alcohol, which is presently being discussed in the conf. room, these produce acetaldehydes of which the liver must detoxify. But how can it, when it is overburdened, overworked, and malnourished. It is my humble opinion, that the focus should be on the liver, but I just figured this out. Our predisposition is to heart problems, whereas someone else's might be Parkinsons, Alzheimers, MS, ALS, or countless other ailments. Just as we each take different individual pathways in life, so does our bodies, but one thing for sure, is that we all process everything through the liver, but it just depends on what pathway our livers are deficient in.
Richard
When my wife said to me in Feb. 03, that the doctors were killing me, we decided at that point, to find alternative means. I never dreamed it would take me to where I am now. Fortunately, I found this site in the beginning and it changed my life. THANK YOU, HANS!!!!! I am forever greatful. My wife and I were determined, and it does take determination, to try and figure this out, especially after finding so many other people with the same affliction. My wife only has a 12th grade education, but she has persevered, and learned right along side me.
The mere fact, that any of you are here, shows an above average level of intelligence. I must add, that many posts here go completely over my head, so I try to take out of it what I do understand, if anything, and continue on. Do NOT let anything intimidate you. We all start at the beginning, just at different times. Everyone thinks about situations in different ways. Some are more technically minded, while some are not, but that doesn't have anything to do with determination. We all have that WILL, but only if we truly want to understand and heal ourselves.
One example of how to contribute and get a better understanding of your own situation, is to focus on your trigger. Maybe, for example, your trigger is chocolate, or that you know you have Candida. Just let your fingers do the walking, and utilize the amazing internet, that we've been gifted with, and punch that into your computer, and start reading. It will not only empower you with more knowledge, by getting a better understanding of what could be happening within your body, but you just might find the link or cure to AF, just by pure happenstance. And maybe what you find, could stimulate someone else's thoughts in another direction, as well. I have been stimulated, more than I can count, from other posts. As with everything, it always takes a concerted effort, from a lot of people, to accomplish anything. As Jerry once put it, no matter how small the piece of evidence is that you present, it could make the difference or be the answer. So don't ever be intimidated by presenting your thoughts or posts, and don't think for one minute, that because you don't understand the technical posts, that you have nothing to share, because that is simply not true.
In summary of the above post, I do believe the liver is the key to unlocking this mystery, for if the liver is depressed or not functioning properly, the nutrients are locked behind a closed door, or they're just being used up as fast as the liver can process them, due to all of the daily assaults of pesticides, pollution, drugs, etc. In the case of Fran, for example, she is very sensitive to free glutamate. That tells me that her liver function for processing glutamate is not working properly, and the free glutamate is passed through the liver unmetabolized, leaving higher levels to create toxic results. This is also why hospitals should monitor someone when administering flecainide. If the person is lacking the enzyme (Cytochrome P450 2D6) which metabolizes flec., then this drug could have toxic effects, because the liver didn't break it down, therefore leaving high levels of the toxins to circulate the bloodstream. In the case of Jerry, who took the drug Cipro for bronchitis, found this caused AF. The reason is that this drug used up his stores of Mg. because the enzyme that processes Cipro needs Mg. to do so. He was probably already low in the mineral, but this further insulted his levels of Mg. If you're senstivie to tyramines, then your pathway for processing this substance isn't working properly, therefore leaving too much tyramine to circulate. In the case of Candida and alcohol, which is presently being discussed in the conf. room, these produce acetaldehydes of which the liver must detoxify. But how can it, when it is overburdened, overworked, and malnourished. It is my humble opinion, that the focus should be on the liver, but I just figured this out. Our predisposition is to heart problems, whereas someone else's might be Parkinsons, Alzheimers, MS, ALS, or countless other ailments. Just as we each take different individual pathways in life, so does our bodies, but one thing for sure, is that we all process everything through the liver, but it just depends on what pathway our livers are deficient in.
Richard
|
Fran
Re: Aldehydes, Tyramines, and our Liver December 04, 2003 06:55AM |
Richard
Sorry you are feeling lonely in the conference room. I have been far to busy to do any research. Or spend as much time as I would like in getting to the bottom of AF. On top of this I am now on a dial up connection and a lap top that has a mind of its own.... I envisage this will continue till the new year. But it won't stop me from keeping up.
If its any consolation I think you are on to something with the liver. The way I see it is by keeping toxic overload down by going purely natural and eliminating anything like bread, sugar if there is any suspicion of leaky gut/candida etc. That way the liver gets a chance to heal. The one thing I remember being told about the liver (when I had hep) was that it has remarkable facilities to heal and regrow healthy. We just have to give it a chance. So surely by taking the time and effort to restore the liver to health we are doing our whole body a big favour. Especially in this toxic world of pollutants, pesticides, additives and chemicals added to food and toileteries. Top this with the stress of daily life and work. All I can say is no wonder the body gives up and struggles to maintain a healthy stance.
Fran
Sorry you are feeling lonely in the conference room. I have been far to busy to do any research. Or spend as much time as I would like in getting to the bottom of AF. On top of this I am now on a dial up connection and a lap top that has a mind of its own.... I envisage this will continue till the new year. But it won't stop me from keeping up.
If its any consolation I think you are on to something with the liver. The way I see it is by keeping toxic overload down by going purely natural and eliminating anything like bread, sugar if there is any suspicion of leaky gut/candida etc. That way the liver gets a chance to heal. The one thing I remember being told about the liver (when I had hep) was that it has remarkable facilities to heal and regrow healthy. We just have to give it a chance. So surely by taking the time and effort to restore the liver to health we are doing our whole body a big favour. Especially in this toxic world of pollutants, pesticides, additives and chemicals added to food and toileteries. Top this with the stress of daily life and work. All I can say is no wonder the body gives up and struggles to maintain a healthy stance.
Fran
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