Question
Could amino acid therapy be a powerful addition to other therapies?
Answer
In my opinion, amino acid therapy is extremely problematic. Theoretically, benefits could accrue treating deficiencies in nutritional amino acids, which manifest in specific ailments or symptoms. The brain-body connection is the supreme determinant of body functions. Amino acid therapy has the potential of impact on that connection, as many amino acids are neurotransmitters.
My first concern as a physician is to “do no harm.” It is suggested by the authors of Heal With Amino Acids And Nutrients, that this type of therapy would be “natural.” It is true amino acids are part of plant and animal protein. However, they never occur in tissue as individuals. Independently amino acids are not natural foods. The natural way we assimilate them into our metabolic pool is very complex. Nature only makes the L-form in higher organisms. We can only use these L-forms.
I have no problem applying the principles of amino acid therapy if we are talking about the use of whole natural foods to achieve these goals. Individual amino acid therapy must be cautiously tempered, because of the following:
Proteins must be broken down in commercial production of amino acids in one of two ways:
1. Hydrolysis by heat and acid or
2. Hydrolysis by enzymes.
A third way to make amino acids for commerce is even more problematic.
Called “bacterial fermentation,” it involves genetically engineering bacteria that utilize cheap substrates to make amino acids. The bacteria exude the amino acids out of their cell walls.
In all of these processes, the resultant artificial amino acid isolate preparations have isomers the body cannot use as well as undesirable, closely related, chemicals called contaminants. This is what they thought happened with L-tryptophan that caused eosinophlia-myalgia syndrome (EMS)! Contaminants are like new drugs that will elicit side effects as well as idiosyncratic reactions in those that take them. L-tryptophan’s association with EMS was thought, initially, to be related to one manufacturer’s processing produced contaminant. Spectrographic analysis of their L-tryptophan product showed an odd chemical “blip.” This is the story we got on television. What was not made public is that when the FDA looked at this problem more closely, they discovered that EMS was caused by L-tryptophan preparations without the “blip” also. That’s why L-tryptophan was made a “by prescription only” item (now ironically it’s again an “over the counter” drug.) After all, amino acids unnaturally isolated from their food constituents are in fact drugs, as they have a potential pharmacologic effect in some of those who consume them.
I am very concerned about the indiscriminate use of amino acids. In young bodybuilders and other athletes who take commercial supplements of amino acids, irritability may be due to more than just the illegal use of anabolic steroids. Amino acids are CNS active molecules that can have a mood-altering potential in susceptible individuals. Free amino acids (those amino acids not bound by or part of a protein) also have the potential to damage the brain, as so eloquently has been described by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock M.D. in Excitotoxins The Taste That Kills.
The same company, Ajinomoto, that makes L-tryptophan, now finally recognized as a drug, as well as much of the world’s amino acid isolates, makes MSG. Jack Samuels, a world expert on MSG, will tell you that commercially made MSG is a drug. To many orthomolecular individuals like Jack, it is extremely dangerous. MSG is a manmade chemical that releases quantities of the neurotransmitter glutamate that SOME people cannot tolerate.
There are too many products on the market containing these unnatural amino acid/drugs that are disguised as food. They are in infant formulas and supplements used by people who think they provide some advantage. We should protect our brain cells from damage by not using isolated amino acid products until they are PROVEN SAFE! We need to protect the brain cells of our children and elders also. We can’t do that by feeding them neurologically active, and potentially neurologically toxic, so-called “food”. The role of food chain chemicals in contributing to the unexplained insidious epidemics of ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s, and others cannot be ruled out, therefore has to be suspect. In general, it makes little common sense to use them, as the potential harm far outweighs any perceived advantage.
All of these epidemics run in temporal parallel lines that suggest a food chain, or other, chemical contributions. Isolate amino acids preparations and neurotoxin releasing food chain chemicals are some of my top suspects. I would strongly recommend that truth in labeling is mandated and that we learn to read food labels. I recommend that everyone should attempt to avoid any products that contain food processing produced new chemicals or additives, such as aspartame, MSG, trans-fats, AGEs (Advanced Glycation End-products which are generated when high heat cooking combines protein and sugars), cooking in Teflon coated cookware which generates toxic chemicals at high heat, genetically engineered “food”, and amino acid isolates. I also advise minimizing the purchase and use of water and all other food products (especially foods containing fats) bottled in plastic. Virtually all plastics contain EDC’s (Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals) that can leach out and contaminate the product, especially with heat or freezing. Microwaving should only be done to water or food containing no fat while in a “non-lead” glass container. “Microwave-safe” plastic containers just assure the plastic will not melt or burn in the microwave! These chemicals acting alone, or in concert with other environmental chemicals that have entered our bodies, are very likely causes of many of the unexplained epidemics we are experiencing in our species today. These epidemics include: breast cancer, ADHD, autism, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, chronic pain, chronic sleep disturbance, impotency, asthma, and others. Chemical food additives and chemicals in the food chain from: 1. absorption into plants that are grown in contaminated soils, 2. food processing, 3. food preservation, 4. certain methods of food cooking, 5.chemicals added to food source livestock, 6. genetically engineered foods, 7. etc. are all drugs.
Our genetics have not had thousands of years to adapt to these chemicals, as we have had with natural foods. They are not natural foods, and when they enter our bodies they can affect us pharmacologically and immunologically. No matter what they call them, drugs are drugs.
What we think of as pharmaceutical drugs (both over-the-counter and prescription) are extensively tested to protect the public. It costs over 100,000,000 to bring one such drug to market in order to ensure public safety. Yet, we still see many serious adverse effects, in susceptible individuals. Even after these “well tested” drugs are deemed safe, we see a number removed from the market when a catastrophic pattern is finally appreciated! (The recent withdrawal of Vioxx from the market is a typical example. We discovered years later, only by serendipity, that it doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke for those who have taken it for 18 months or longer. If you project the numbers out for this widely prescribed drug, doctors have killed tens of thousands of patients with this drug/weapon in complete naivety.) We expose only a small portion of our population to those drugs. We’re exposing all of our population to food chain chemicals that are drugs with relatively little knowledge of their metabolism, pharmacokinetics, or effects on the population at risk. Then we compound the problem by letting politics run the protective institutions we have in place. There have been more complaints to the FDA on aspartame than any other chemical. The whole phenomenon has been dismissed as “group hysteria.” There is an enormous amount of money being spent on obesity research. Unfortunately, most of it is going to attempt to find a drug treatment rather than a cause that will pay much more dividends in prevention. More drugs to treat a drug-induced problem sadly seems part of our culture of poly-pharmacy. How else can the drug companies that control research make money? The research is not about altruism, it’s all about the love of money. I am very proud of the few ethical scientists who recently left NIH saying they were ashamed of collecting their six-figure salaries for doing nothing. We need them and others to work to determine food chain chemical safety.
What is difficult to determine, is what role do chemicals play in the the genesis of diseases in general. We know that, depending upon the genetic predisposition, any chemical/drug may be recognized by the body as foreign and elicit an antibody response ending in autoimmune tissue damage. This usually involves huge molecules such as proteins or glycoproteins acting as antigens. However, simple chemicals that are a very common part of our environmental pollution may act as adjuvants. I strongly suspect that formaldehyde, for example, acts as an adjuvant, increasing the potency of common allergy pollen antigens in eliciting IGE antibody responses. To further complicate the identification of the “culprit” chemicals causing specific diseases, only those of us genetically predisposed will react. This phenomenon is clearly evident in the genesis of lung cancer. We are statistically certain that cigarette smoking causes most lung cancer, but not one authority can identify for certain which one(s) of the thousands of chemicals in the smoke is the key offender. If we knew, we could eliminate it. In fact, it may be several chemicals working in synergy, or simply an overload of chemicals in general that exceed the body’s detoxification capacity. All of this confusion makes cause and effect relationships between chemicals and diseases difficult to determine and avoidance strategies difficult to employ.
One thing is evident, we must change our thinking regarding safety standards for chemicals. No longer can we accept the traditional concept that a chemical/drug is safe unless proven unsafe. We must adopt the PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE which states: a chemical/drug or any intervention is deemed unsafe until proven safe. We must also take individual responsibility by limiting as many man-made chemicals as possible from entry into our body. This strategy needs to be proactive and political. We can no longer stand idly by, while those we love are in harm’s way of greed-driven social phenomena.
Our current obesity epidemic, in my opinion, has to be related to insidious damage or toxicity to the hypothalamus portion of the brains of many of those individuals who are obese. The hypothalamus is the part of our brains that is unprotected against chemicals by the “blood-brain barrier.” It’s also vital to the control of energy (fat) storage. This unique brain damage literally causes those affected to have an insatiable hunger that cannot be overcome with drugs, fad diets, etc. In my theory, with so many of our population so uniquely brain damaged, it also has to be environmentally induced. The best strategy to prevent the ongoing damage is by attempting elimination of any chemicals that could potentially be responsible for the ongoing brain damage, then detoxification, and the introduction of more positive lifestyle and diet changes. The brain should be able to heal in many such cases. Regarding the obesity epidemic, energy storage is such a vital function to the survival of our species, that many backs up systems are programmed into our automatic physiology. If specific brain cell damage (destroyed hypothalamic POMP/CART neurons) prevents the satiety messages from being transmitted, the message our brain will always transmit will be EAT MORE, I AM STARVING! This is why, I believe, drugs for obesity are always detrimental failures, in the long run. It is also why no diet works for good health in the long run, except the ones that eliminate most unnatural chemicals and provide the nutrients the body needs. Supersizing portions doesn’t cause obesity, in my view; it merely supplies our insatiable brain-damaged demand with poor nutrient quality choices.
In the meantime, the FDA should not assume aspartame or any other food-chain chemical is safe just because it doesn’t seem to kill or harm people quickly. Obesity and type 2 diabetes are slow, insidious, expensive killers that can bankrupt the healthcare system. It seems very unusual that the FDA allows aspartame’s use knowing its metabolism!
I would suggest the NIH look at this possibility, post haste, in three ways:
1: Retrospective studies– Analysis of specific past behavioral and diet choices need to be correlated to specific diseases epidemiologically. For example, there are enough children who have extensively used amino acid isolate infant formulas that could be compared with non-user cohorts to study for autism and ADHD and other outcomes. Similarly, the mental deterioration rate for nursing home patients who used amino acid supplement feedings vs. natural feeding for Alzheimer’s outcome should be done. Lastly and most urgently, mothers of autistic and ADHD children need to be retrospectively studied in relation to mother’s aspartame use in the first trimester of pregnancy. Aspartame’s metabolites are potent neurotoxins.
Autism rates stable until 1990 are many times as high now. This epidemic parallels aspartame’s use as well as the use of many other new chemicals in the environment! All these disorders are enormously expensive stressors to our healthcare system that seriously affect the quality of life. Fetal ultrasound use should be retrospectively and similarly ruled out as an autism risk factor. It’s obvious, to me also that too many unnecessary fetal ultrasounds are being done. We have no proof of their safety on fetal brain development in ALL infants. I know I can kill warts in many people with this waveform energy. It is not a stretch of my imagination to think it could impact SOME fetal brain development.
2: Neurological imaging studies of human volunteers, especially known “reactors” to MSG and formaldehyde (an aspartame metabolite which is both carcinogenic and neuro-toxic) might be very productive of new knowledge.
This would be easy and relatively inexpensive. If we are to continue to sanction the pouring into our food chain of millions of tons of chemicals, the least we need to know is where they are going and what they do when they get there. We have the technology to study this. We know that ADHD children’s brains are damaged, thanks to MRI research done by Xavier Castellanos M.D. In my opinion, AUTISM is environmental brain damage expressed in genetically susceptible children. Most autism is probably induced during mother’s pregnancy (in utero) or very early infancy by a common chemical(s) masquerading as a food, food additive, a food chain chemical, or other environmental chemical or waveform energy exposure (the popularity of fetal ultrasound also runs parallel to the autism epidemic), or a combination of these things acting upon the genetically and environmentally susceptible fetal brain. It is during this time that the child’s brain is most vulnerable. The brain is growing rapidly and the blood-brain barrier is not yet established. I remain “open-minded” regarding MMR and other vaccinations as the cause, but I am doubtful for many sound reasons. I strongly think the “damage” has already occurred and just “comes to light” as the child usually begins to fail the developmental milestones evaluation he is given at about 2 years of age. Prior to that, any potential signs are discounted as probable normal variation. It’s merely a temporal coincidence because the MMR is usually given soon after the child is 18 months of age. I’m sure there are ways we will soon be able to objectively diagnose the disorder at an earlier age, as the rate of autism is now an UNACCEPTABLE 1 per 166 children. Earlier diagnosis will not correct the problem, however. In my opinion, we need to determine the cause and PREVENT AUTISM ASAP.
3: Other studies– Study the stereoscopic structure of brain proteins and insulin when exposed to the toxic metabolites of aspartame, or other food chain chemicals that have been introduced since about 1985 (before Diabetes type 2, Autism, and other epidemics seemed to “takeoff”). See if proteins and insulin become denatured at concentrations of formaldehyde produced by aspartame metabolism, for example. Hyperinsulinism (high circulating levels of endogenous insulin) is the precursor to type 2 diabetes. Does our body need to produce more insulin because most of our molecules of insulin are denatured (bent) when they meet the formaldehyde metabolite of aspartame in the portal system? Insulin is like a key that fits many metabolic locks. If the key is bent it probably does not “unlock” the locks. The resultant failure to “unlock” (turn on enzymes) could explain both epidemics of diabetes and obesity. We also need to establish an LD-50 for the unprotected POMC/CART and AgRP/NPY hypothalamic neurons (brain cells involved in energy storage) for aspartame’s metabolites and other food-chain introduced chemicals. Then, test the concentrations in that area of the brains of test animals given varied dosages of aspartame,etc. to establish the margin of safety for these drugs. If they are not huge numbers, those chemicals should be banned immediately, as per the PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE, while further safety investigations proceed.
Until the damage potential of all these food chain drugs is clarified, my bottom line is that if we use amino acids as therapy, or as food supplements we must use the same caution that we use when we prescribe drugs! For the same reason, man-made chemicals in the food chain that release isolated amino acids or neurotoxins such as MSG and aspartame are, in my view, also drugs, and should be avoided by consumers. Genetically engineered “foods”, which really represent new species of plants, should be avoided by consumers and banned by government agencies. Food chain chemical contamination needs to be reduced at all levels. Chemicals are produced or introduced into the food chain in preservation, attempting to increase food “shelf life”, storage,
shipping, cooking improperly or in Teflon coated cookware, microwaving in plastics (even “microwave safe” plastics) etc. All of these unnaturally generated chemicals/drugs are prime players in the food chain contamination of our Atlas Drugged.
James A. Ferrel MD, CNC
Author: James A. Ferrel MD, CNC
Dr. James A. Ferrel MD, CNC is a retired physician who specialized in environmental medicine. He is the author of Neogenesis - Reconstructing the Self.
