METHYLCOBALAMIN, B-12, SLOWS BRAIN SHRINKAGE & RESTORES YOUR CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS

George Hoyt Whipple discovered B-12 in 1934.  So knowledge of this nutritional compound is well known and well-studied.  B-12 is water soluble, plays a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and basically interacts with the bacteria in your body to produce energy, described here:

Vitamin B₁₂, also called cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin that has a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system via the synthesis of myelin (myelinogenesis),^[1][2] and the formation of red blood cells. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is involved in the metabolism of every cell of the human body, especially affecting DNA synthesis, fatty acid and amino acidmetabolism.^[3] No fungi, plants, or animals (including humans) are capable of producing vitamin B₁₂. Only bacteria and archaea have the enzymes needed for its synthesis. Some substantial sources of B₁₂ include animal products (shellfish, meat), fortified foods, and dietary supplements.^[4][5] B₁₂ is the largest and most structurally complicated vitamin and is produced industrially only through bacterial fermentation. This B₁₂ is used for fortified foods and supplements. It has also been produced synthetically via vitamin B₁₂total synthesis.

Yeah, the synthetic version of B-12, called cyanocobalamin, actually has cyanide in it.  You may want to steer clear of that one.  Methylcobabalmin is the preferred for of B-12.

Sardi published an article back on September 11, 2013, titled "The Incredible Shrinking (Mushy) Vitamin B-12 Deficient Brain."  It will alert you to the serious problems that result from a B-12 deficiency, and I say this as a guy who takes a supplement daily (with a B-12 dose of 320mcg; that exceeds a maintenance dose by 5000%.  I wonder what a therapeutic dose is).  His article starts with a citation to the Tufts University study on how a mild deficiency of B-12 speeds dementia.  Yikes.  In terms of numbers, what is a deficiency of B-12?  

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain of a 76-year-old patient with dementia. The brain has shrunk, and the ventricles, the fluid-filled spaces (dark brown) at the center of the brain, have become enlarged. Photo: BSIP/Photoresearchers Inc.

It's elusive.  According to the B-12 website (yes, there's a website dedicated just to vitamin B-12), he states that it is 7ug, whatever that is.  But there is a summary to the article, and that's here:

The daily requirement according to DGE: 3 µg.  

The daily requirement is not actually the necessary amount!

Current studies recommend an intake of 7-10 µg.
During stress, illness and pregnancy, a higher intake is required.
Vegans should take supplements. 

Okay, so it looks like you want to be maintaining, meaning taking on a daily basis, 3 µg.  So anything less than that, you risk becoming deficient and moving toward mild dementia.  So don't start down that road.  It's a lot easier to remember to take the methylcobalamin, B-12, than to try to rebuild the brain.  

Investigators at Tufts University display striking images of the human brain when it is deficient in vitamin B-12.  Brain scans show fluid-filled spaces as the center of a shrinking B-12 deficient brain—literally holes in the brain. 

The report starts

Being even mildly deficient in vitamin B-12 may put older adults at a greater risk for accelerated cognitive decline, an observational study from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts suggests.  

Still, no numbers on how to measure "Being even mildly deficient . . . ."  

BENEFITS OF B-12, METHYLCOBALAMIN

BENEFIT #1:  Delays and significantly slows the shrinkage of the brain.  Methylcobalamin, B-12 produces stunning benefits on the brain, on the heart, on the spine, and the muscles and nerves that run all through your body.  It slows brain shrinkage by 7 times of what is normal.  This should be a daily regimen for life.   

A prior study showed that high-dose B vitamins (800 mcg folic acid, 20mgs vitamin B6, 500 mcgs of B-12) slows the rate of shrinkage in the human brain, and more demonstrably (by 7 times) shrinkage of grey matter in the brain.

So here I've listed some of the benefits of B-12: Methyllcobalamin, B-12, Betaine Hydrochloride, and Benfotiamine.  But what causes brain shrinkage in the first place?  Is there a way to prevent shrinkage or avoid it altogether?  First, I would stay away from foods drain the B-12 stores from your body, things like coffee, alcohol, digestive disorders, pernicious anemia, injuries, and worst of all, stress.  Stress is a killer, especially chronic stress.  B-12 helps fight off the damaging effects of stress on the brain.  

BENEFIT #2:  B-12 revitalizes and restores brain, heart, and spinal energy.  Few things do all three.

BENEFIT #3:  B-12 restores your circadian rhythms.  You will get the best sleep of your life.  Nothing compares.  Plus, given all the other benefits of how it rebuilds the brain, spine, heart, blood vessels, tell me, what's not to like.  If your sleep is better, just think how less irritable you'll be the next day.  I got the best sleep I'd head in decades.   

Effects of vitamin B12 on performance and circadian rhythm in normal subjects.  Neuropsychopharmacology, 1996.

This preliminary study investigates effects of methyl- and cyanocobalamin on circadian rhythms, well-being, alertness, and concentration in healthy subjects. Six women (mean age 35 years) and 14 men (mean age 37 years) were randomly assigned to treatment for 14 days with 3 mg cyano-(CB12) or methylcobalamin (MB12) after 9 days of pre-treatment observation. Levels in the CB12 group increased rapidly in the first, then slowly in the second treatment week, whereas increase in the MB12 group was linear. Urinary aMT6s excretion was reduced by both forms of vitamin B12 over 24 hours with a significant decrease between 0700-1100 hours, whereas urinary excretion of potassium was significantly increased between 0700-1100 hours. Activity from 2300-0700 hours increased significantly under both forms of vitamin B12. Sleep time was significantly reduced under MB12 intake. In this group the change in the visual analogue scales items "sleep quality," "concentration," and "feeling refreshed" between pretreatment and the first week of treatment showed significant correlations with vitamin B12 plasma levels. Cortisol excretion and temperature were not affected by either medication. We conclude that vitamin B12 exerts a direct influence on melatonin. Only MB12 has a positive psychotropic alerting effect with a distribution of the sleep-wake cycle toward sleep reduction.

WHAT B12 DEFICIENCY LOOKS LIKE

You already know what it looks like: fatigue because your circadian rhythms are ruined; poor appetite because you're eating fast food and coffee because you're trying to compensate for the deleterious disruption of your circadian rhythms.  Get the B-12.  Depression and numbness and tingling in the hands and or feet all for the same reason: disruption of your circadian rhythms that are built on your body's ability to coordinate its nerve and muscle and hormone functions properly.  You don't want to let these conditions go unanswered.  Get the B-12.  Take it throughout the day.  Take it daily.  It's at this point that most medical articles will say "so speak to your doctor promptly about treatment," but I would say, hey, your doctor doesn't know much about nutrition and even less about nutritional supplements, so instead of speaking with your doctor, consult the valuable articles and books by Bill Sardi.  

CAUSES OF B-12 DEFICIENCY
Bill Sardi points to two causes of B-12 deficiency: lack of absorption and H. Pylori bacterium.  The latter shuts down stomach acid and the former   

Lack of absorption of dietary and supplemental vitamin B-12 due to progressive inability to produce stomach acid is cited as a growing concern.  Therefore, it may be that widespread H. Pylori infection, which is prevalents in more than half of the US population, could be a parallel facto as H. Pylori shuts down production of stomach acid or hydrochloric acid. 

Lack of absorption is a serious problem for oldsters.  We might eat right but we're just not absorbing the nutrition that we need from a healthy diet.  

The academy estimates that between 10 percent and 30 percent of people older than 50 produce too little stomach acid to release B12 from its carrier protein in foods, and as the years advance, the percentage of low-acid producers rises.

Diabetics are at an added risk.

Another concern is that most often used anti-diabetic drug, metformin, depletes the body of vitamin B-12.  Metformin use has been associated with decliningmental function.

REMEDY THE DEFICIENCY

1.  Eat lean animal meats to get B-12 from food. 

Animal proteins, such as lean meats, poultry and eggs, are good sources of vitamin B-12. Because older adults may have a hard time absorbing vitamin B-12 from food, the USDAʼs 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that people over age 50 incorporate foods fortified with B-12 or supplements in their diets.

2.  Supplement with Betaine Hydrochloride to replenish stomach acid so that you can digest the foods above and get the needed B-12.  

The group studied did eat meats, so one of the reasons for them being deficient is due to low stomach acid at age 75 and above.  To remedy the problem of low stomach acid, then you'll need to supplement with Betaine Hydrochloride.  For low stomach acid, Sardi recommends the following:  

1) Follow an anti-H Pylori regimen;

2) Supplement your diet with zinc which is needed to make hydrochloric acid in the stomach. [I never heard of this before];

3) Take Betaine Hydrochloride with meals to provide supplemental acid source. 

SUPPLEMENTS TO REMEDY NERVE & MUSCLE FATIGUE, A TIRED HEART, A TIRED BRAIN, AND A TIRED SPINE

Methylcobalamin
 

If you're not getting enough B12 from the meats and eggs in your diet, supplement with this hydrochloric acid to help break down those proteins and other nutrients, like B-12

Betaine Hydrochloride.  


Mind Boosters: A Guide to Natural Supplements That Enhance Your Mind, Memory, and Mood, Ray Sahelian, 2000.  

HEARING VOICES IS A SIGN OF A WELL-TUNED BRAIN

If you start to hear voices, don't worry.  That's the sound of a well-organized brain say researchers from Durham, England.  Many folks will hear voices at night as they lie their head down to go to bed.  While others hear voices throughout the day, but these episodes are sporadic and fleeting.  It is not a sign of a mental illness.  In fact, "it’s a clue that a person’s brain is simply well-tuned to many sounds."

DURHAM, England — Hearing voices may not be a sign of mental illness as much as it’s a clue that a person’s brain is simply well-tuned to many sounds. A new study finds that healthy people who hear voices have differently-wired brains that find speech patterns in other sounds.

Researchers from Durham University studied brain-response differences between two groups of people — those who have experienced hearing voices (auditory verbal hallucinations) and those who have never mistaken other sounds for speech. Participants in the study included 17 people with typical responses to sounds and 12 people who have experienced hearing voices, but do not have any mental health problems.

Can hearing voices be a good thing? A new study finds that people who are not mentally ill, but often hear speech in sounds may actually have a special skill that comes from having a differently-wired brain than the rest of us.

Participants underwent an MRI brain scan while listening to hidden speech sounds, known as sine-wave speech. Sine-wave speech to the untrained ear would sound something like birdsong or alien-type noises. Typically, people are able to make out these sounds only after they have been clued in to listen for them or taught to decode the hidden speech sounds. After people are trained, though, they can detect simple sentences within the sounds, such as “The clown had a funny face.”

Researchers found that less than half of those with typical listening skills noticed the hidden speech while 75 percent of the voice-hearers picked it up.

“It suggests that the brains of people who hear voices are particularly tuned to meaning in sounds,” says lead author Dr. Ben Alderson-Day in a university release.

Researchers were surprised that the voice-hearers had such strong neural responses to the sounds with hidden speech. Even before being told to listen for hidden speech, voice-hearers reported hearing the voices in the sounds. They found speech-like sounds faster and more easily than those who have never experienced the phenomenon of hearing voices.

“We did not tell the participants that the ambiguous sounds could contain speech before they were scanned, or ask them to try to understand the sounds. Nonetheless, these participants showed distinct neural responses to sounds containing disguised speech, as compared to sounds that were meaningless,” adds co-author Dr. Cesar Lima.

The authors believe this shows that the brains of voice-hearers are more perceptive to the hidden meanings in sounds. The areas of the brain that control attention were quickly activated in the brains of voice-hearers when they were exposed to hidden speech compared to when they were listening to vague sounds.

“These findings are a demonstration of what we can learn from people who hear voices that are not distressing or problematic,” says Alderson-Day.

Between 5 and 15 percent of the population has occasionally had the experience of hearing voices. Although not everyone who hears voices has a mental health problem, it is commonly associated with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Researchers hope their findings could someday help scientists and clinicians find better ways to help those who are troubled by the voices they hear.

Be sure to protect your brain nonetheless.

TOXINS IN WATER SUPPLIES ARE ASSESSED INDIVIDUALLY, NOT IN TOTAL AND NOT OVER A LIFETIME

A friend of mine loves to complain about how the free market allows bad players and profit-seeking outfits to do whatever they please with regard to their product or service and hide much of the truth about these through clever advertisement or outright omission.  This is a fact of life, and one reason why online journalists are a source of valuable facts and information.  I try.  But the free market also makes us smarter.  We learn pretty quick what is good, bad, and absolutely ugly.  And once we know, we can abstain from a product or a service or even a person.  This is the virtue of a free market--it makes consumers smarter.  

Take water, for example.  We drink bottled water to avoid excess copper or rust or chlorine.  Or so we think.  Until we learn that municipal water supplies in one city are bottled and shipped for sale in other cities without batting an eye at the contaminants in the water.  People learn.  We adjust.  Sometimes too late, after we get sick, not Montezuma's Revenge sick, but a low-grade health sick, like fatigue.  And only to find out later that some other chemical has found its nefarious way into our water supply.  Find ways of shortening that learning curve.  But we need water as toxic as it might be.  There are remedies, however, that I point to below, ones that comes from the premiere nutritional compound guy, Bill Sardi.  But first, this report by Matt Agorist from Natural Blaze.  

We've known about the deliberate and legal poisoning of the water supply by cities and counties with flouride, but radioactive isotopes?  That's new.  Government agencies cooking the books?  That's not new.  But it seems that all reports about heavy chemicals in the water are problematic since the reports tend to focus on a single chemical and fail to look at the accumulative effect from decades of a combination of metals.  However, this fact is not overlooked by Bill Sardi.

ACCUMULATED/COMBINED HAZARD OVER TIME  

However, one of the problems with assessment of toxins in drinking water supplies is that they are considered individually, not in total, and not over a lifetime.

Metallic mineral accumulation can produce adverse effects in biology.  For example, the accumulation of chromium VI in plants has been shown to inhibit the production of chlorophyll. [Chemosphere Oct 2000] 

The accumulated heavy metals burden (chromium, cadmium, lead and arsenic) in drinking water in Bangladesh exceeds safe limits. [Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management May 2016]  One study in Pakistan reveals chromium VI sample of 1.313 milligrams per liter of water but total of all minerals tested (cadmium, lead, nickel, zinc, iron, copper and chromium VI) amounted to 4.214 milligrams per liter. [Journal Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research 2015] 

Some heavy metals can be stored in organs like the liver and brain where they accumulate and wreak havoc later in life.  Chromium VI accumulates in all organs in laboratory mice. [Toxicological Profile for Chromium] 

The combined accumulation of heavy metals (antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, cerium, chromium, cobalt, copper, gallium, gold, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, platinum, silver, tellurium, thallium, tin, uranium, vanadium, and zinc, 23 total) in the human body over time is a cause for concern.  [Interdisciplinary Toxicology June 2014; International Journal Physical Sciences 2007]

Fish consumption is the greatest contributor to total heavy metal accumulation in the human body.  [International Research Journal Public Environmental Health July 2014]

Most heavy metals accumulate in the liver, kidney and gills of fish where they can cause functional disturbances. [Soil & Water Pollution Monitoring 2006]  

In fact, the gradual lifetime accumulation of metallic minerals after full growth is achieved in males and with the cessation of menstruation in females is postulated the chief accelerator of aging itself. [Knowledge of Health; Longevinex.com; Resveratrol News]  

Bottom line, the potential health hazard posed by chromium VI in drinking water is overstated.  The total accumulated metallic mineral load over a lifetime needs to be considered in the maintenance of human health.  It is best for adults to include mineral controlling molecules in their diets and food supplements to slow or reverse aging.  Some food supplements provide an array of these metal chelators. [Longevinex]

It is funny how most of us believe that much of what we take to be the free market in groceries and food is literally killing us, and government is the faithful handmaiden in seeing this result brought to its fruition.  

By Matt Agorist from the Natural Blaze.  

h/t Lew Rockwell

Matt Agorist alerts us to a damning report that effects 170 million Americans.

A damning report from the Environmental Working Group has just revealed that drinking water for more than 170 million Americans in all 50 states contains radioactive elements that are shown to cause cancer. Not only does the report expose the deadly levels of radiation but it also shows that officials have been actively covering it up.

The investigations looked at tests from 22,000 utilities in all 50 states between 2010 to 2015.  He points out that only a small percentage of water supplies exceeded toxic levels, but that their standards or legal radiation limits are "more than 40 years old."  So, what, he's calling for government upgrades?  Good luck.  The tests, however, when measurd by the more stringent standards set in Caliornia back in 2006 that "nearly 100 percent of tested water supplies failed," making places like "Flint, Michigan look like child’s play."  

Omitting what the percentage is, Matt Agorist acknowledges that “Most radioactive elements in tap water come from natural sources, but that doesn’t take away the need to protect people through stronger standards and better water treatment,” said Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG’s senior science advisor for children’s environmental health."  I am not saying that this is not serious, but maybe there are bigger fish to fry, particularly when I read in the very next paragraph that "The problem is only getting worse, too."  How can it get worse than radiation?  When it comes to political appointees, which regrettably is what his article to turns to.  Politics, which is so fashionable these days, effectively discredits his message.  

EWG reports, the government has long kown about this problem and has covered it up by fudging the numbers. Now, one of the people who admitted to fudging the numbers has just been nominated to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ. 

The nominee, Kathleen Hartnett White, admitted in a 2011 investigation by Houston’s KHOU-TV that if utility tests found radiation levels over the EPA limit, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality would subtract the test’s margin of error to make it appear the water met federal standards. In some cases, this meant that Texans whose tap water posed the extraordinarily elevated lifetime cancer risk of 1 in 400 were not informed of the danger.

So, what, Argonist's article is about government incompetence?  Okay, then what is the solution?  You got it: a different government appointment. 

AGORIST CHASES POLITICS; DROPS HEALTH CONCERNS              Matt Agorist's concern is less about radiation or water contaminants than it is about partisan appointees.  And that all we need to do is rely on a more effective federal government agent, and certainly not one who seems to have political connections, to fix the problem for us 170 million Americans.  But has government ever been a solution to any of our problems?  There was Erin Brokovich who found poisonous contaminants in Hinkley, California's water supply.  There is the ongoing, rarely-to-be-challenged fluoride medicated water in municipal supplies across the country.  There is an issue with lead, with Chromium VI, and others.  Perhaps if we were to grade government protection or monitoring of our water supply, it would earn an epic fail.  But which chemical is the most toxic and the one we should look to avoid against all others?  Chlorine, according to Bill Sardi.  

Is tap water safe to drink?  Well, yes, kinda.  Tap water has measured levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, nickel, other heavy metals, pharmaceutical drugs, and other industrial chemicals including perchlorate (rocket fuel). In fact, analysis of 59 small streams in the U.S. found the anti-diabetic drug metformin in almost all of them even though only trace amounts were found. [Daily Mail UK Oct 3, 2016]

One of the most toxic chemicals known, chlorine, is added to water to kill off pathogenic bacteria, fungi and amoeba.  Without chlorinated water, diseases like dysentery, cholera and typhoid ran rampant in populations.  Water chlorination is one of the great advances in public hygiene.  However, chlorinated water does increase the lifetime risk of developing bladder and rectal cancer, where it pools into greater concentrations. [Scientific American]

And there is this, "Long-term exposure to chlorinated drinking water (30-40 years) increases the risk of colon cancer."

Water is important, no doubt.  In fact, when it comes to colon cancer, water is decisive in fending off that disease.  

Drinking water reduces the risk of colon cancer in men. Men who consume the most water have a 92% lower risk of rectal cancer compared to men who drink less water.

Drink water, but avoid chlorine, long-term consumption of chlorine.  As to Chromium VI and chlorine, there are nutritional remedies--vitamin C, N-acetyl cysteine, reserveratrol, and garlic.  Include these in your diet.  

The major dietary antioxidant that counters chromium VI toxicity is vitamin C.  Vitamin C reduces 90% of the oxidative threat posed by chromium VI.  [Carcinogenesis 1992]  The published reports validating the effectiveness of vitamin C in reduction of abolishment of DNA damage caused by chromium VI is abundant. [Environmental Health PerspectivesSept 1994; Journal Applied Toxicology Nov 2005;Molecular Medicine Reports July 2013]

N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), available as a dietary supplement, is well established as an antidote to chromium VI poisoning. [Journal Pharmaceutical Biomedical Analysis Jan 2016; PLoS One Sept 2014; Free Radical Medicine Biology Dec 2013]

The red wine molecule resveratrol is also cited as a molecule that protects against chromium VI toxicity by activation of internal enzymatic antioxidants in the body (glutathione, catalase, superoxide dismutase). [Toxicology Applied Pharmacology 2016]

Garlic ingestion is an well-documented approach to negating the toxic effects of chromium VI. [Journal Basic Clinical Physiology & Pharmacology 2009; Journal Applied Toxicology Oct 2008]  The key molecule in garlic is allicin [International Journal Environmental Research Public Health Sept 2008], which is easily destroyed by stomach acid unless a garlic clove is crushed prior to ingestion allowing an enzyme (alliinase) to yield allicin, or by consumption of a unique alkalinized garlic pill that assuredly produces allicin. [Garlinex]

BREAD, RICE, PASTA, CEREAL INCREASE RISK OF DEATH BY 28%; DIETS HIGHER IN FAT REDUCE MORTAL RISK BY 23%

Let's start with a stunning statement.

And now the final blow–the carbohydrate-rich diet that became the nation’s food guideline, leads to an early death.  As I write this column today a newly published study carried this news headline: “Death by Carbohydrates.” Yes, higher carbohydrate intake (bread, rice, pasta, cereal) increases the risk for death by 28% while diets higher in fat reduce mortal risk by 23%.

So if you eat breakfast cereal or toast with your bacon and eggs, pasta or rice for dinner on a daily basis, you're raising your risk of death by 28%?  Ouch. 

I eat rice.  On occasion.  As of late, on more than one occasion.

I don't eat breakfast cereal.  Who needs the added sugar?  But nor do I eat shredded wheat.

I don't eat pasta any more, but I do eat sandwiches.  Boy, do I eat sandwiches.  I hate this.  There are days, perhaps too many days, where I rush and am not able to prepare a meal at home.  So I eat out.  It is almost impossible to find healthy solutions on the go.  Maybe, just maybe a Whole Foods kale salad, but there isn't really a Whole Foods store in your immediate vicinity.  

So the path to health, the path to life is to get rid of breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, and bread from your home.  Don't quibble.  Just do it.  There are excellent substitutes.  Ground up greens.  Not to a pulp but shred it to the size of rice.  

Okay, now let's take a look at the rest of Sardi's article, titled "Mind Bending Drugs for Psycho Diets."

It's this "higher carbohydrate intake [of] bread, rice, pasta, cereal" that Sardi calls the American diet.  The statistic above illustrates how this American diet increases death by 28%.  But before you get there, you'll suffer from some terribly debilitating conditions--depression, forgetfulness, overweight (maybe obesity), fatigue, and other ailments--that reduce your productivity and your life to levels of mediocrity only public high schools are familiar with.  

When we're young, we're not taught to think about our diet.  As kids, whatever our parents put in front of us we would eat . . . more or less.  And when we're independent, we eat what our parents weened us on--pizza, spaghetti, oatmeal, bacon and eggs, soft drinks, milk.  In short, we did as we were wordlessly told.  As young men and women, the effects of this American diet did not immediately register.  We're going along.  We're moving along.  We were making progress.  Until we're hit with something.  That's when the accumulative effect of a psycho diet works its destruction.  Actually, before some event, for the havoc that this American diet reeks on our minds is the whole point of Sardi's article.  It destroys the gut and the mind.  So decision-making is hazardous.  Uncertainty raises stress.  Life can be a ride and a hell.  Sardi explains

There is such a thing as a mental depression diet.  It’s called the American diet.  In response, physicians hand out anti-depressant pills making patients dependent on these pills for the remainder of their lives when their calorie-rich/nutrient poor diet is causing their problems.  Where does depression/anxiety emanate from? Not the brain but the intestines, what is now called the gut-brain axis.  In a misdirection, mood-altering drugs directly target neurotransmitters in the brain.

Then there is this

Altered gut bacteria early in life, particularly from over-use of antibiotics that literally sterilize the gut, and modern sugar-laden carbohydrate-rich diets by virtue of their generation of low-grade chronic inflammation, increase the risk for a depressed mood and eventually losing one’s mind later in life.

There is a whole class of antidepressant drugs called serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) that increase serotonin levels in the brain.  Gut bacteria (microbiota) control serotonin.  The SSRI fluoxetine (Prozac) is itself an antibiotic that kills gut bacteria.

So the depression/anxiety emanates from the gut-brain axis in the intestines.  And antibiotics kill gut bacteria.  Let this be a lesson to those who don't know this.  If you put your aging mom or dad in the hospital, and the idiot doctor wants to put her on a regimen of antibiotic IV, something "harmless" until they can run more tests, know that you're unwittingly be coerced into being an accomplice in your father or mother's death.  And see how that will sit you with for the next 5 years. What's my point?  Stay away from doctor-prescribed antibiotics.  The only antibiotic you should take is nature's powerul antibiotic, garlic.  

Therefore, that should be the first place to consider.  Be careful what you put in your gut.  The goal is to use foods that build a healthy brain.

In particular, high blood levels of an undesirable blood protein called homocysteine, are associated with mental decline, depression and other brain disorders (B vitamins are the antidote for this).

The diet is loaded with natural antidepressants – for example, blueberries, grapes, pomegranates.  Many of these anti-depressant fruits and vegetables contain molecules like quercetin, catechin and resveratrol that control homocysteine and bind to iron and copper, major culprits in the onset of age-related brain disease and depression.

Okay, so avoid bread, pasta, rice, and cereals, and replace them with phytonutrients found in fruits and vegetables.  Could it be any simpler?  

Keep reading.  

Be sure to check out Sardi's list at the end of where he points you everso specifically to effective nutritional remedies.  

IN 1934 RESEARCHERS . . . REPORTED THAT CHOLINE ABOLISHES FATTY LIVER

So MarketWatch ran a story on Sunday, December, 10, 2017, on the increase in liver disease among middle-aged Americans.  And it starts off harmless enough with a headline and then an explanation of what functions the liver performs. 

Liver disease is on the rise among middle-aged Americans, but many don’t know they have it—or that they could develop it.   

The liver performs critical jobs, including cleaning toxins from the blood, storing energy and nutrients, digesting fats and processing medications, alcohol and food. 

And then it goes into shock mode, as if it were waking up the dead from the dead, where people will be running to their doctor's office screaming at them indicting them, "Why didn't you tell me that my liver was shot after all those quarts of Jack Daniels over the last two months!"  

 But a host of ills and abuses can wreak havoc on the liver, from heavy drinking and infection with hepatitis B or C to a scourge known as fatty-liver disease linked to diabetes and obesity. Over time, the liver can become fibrous and scarred, eventually developing cirrhosis, the replacement of normal tissue with hard tissue. The damage that occurs increases the risk for liver cancer.

And if having a fibrous liver isn't horrible enough, imagine what happens when liver tissue hardens into cirrhosis and can no longer work?  If your liver don't work, you won't be able to heal.  You can't store vitamin D or C or any vitamin.  You're done.  At least according to this article.  But you do have remedies which I point you to at the end of this review.  

“Patients who are now respectable citizens may not want to tell their doctors, ‘I was a crazy teen back in the ’60s,’ ”Dr. Anna S. Lok, director of hepatology at the University of Michigan

What does that have to do with anything?  If you're sick, you're sick.  If you think that your doctor is the cure or his magic bag of tricks, then talk with him, share with her the biological details of your life.  I am sure that it is bad, that liver disease is on the rise.  

 A September report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that death rates for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis rose 31% among those age 45 to 64 between 2000 and 2015. And cases of liver cancer rose more than 20% in the U.S. between 1990 and 2015.

Yet liver diseases often have no symptoms until they are far advanced, making it all the more important to identify and test those at risk.

Yes, it's true.  This reminds me of when people tell me "I didn't expect to live past 40."  That's because they never thought about their biology, and they found a rhythm and that rhythm has worked for them to help keep them alive.  It reminds me too of functional drunks, people who show up to work irritable and hung over but charming enough to keep the office staff none the wiser or at least rationalize their suspicions or worries.

 “With baby boomers, we may focus on heart disease, dementia and cancer, and don’t always think about the liver,” says Dr. Anna S. Lok, director of hepatology at the University of Michigan and president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Ah, yes, new drugs to the rescue.  Or do they . . . rescue I mean?  

 There are new drugs that cure hepatitis C, and a number of treatments are in development for advanced fatty-liver disease. Getting and staying sober can reverse liver damage caused by alcohol, and losing weight can reverse damage caused by nonalcoholic liver disease.

This is true, and this is my point.  People don't take adequate care of themselves, in part, because they don't perceive how things, meaning their biology, is broken.  And that is in part thanks to our homeostasis that keeps us from being conscious of pain.  

 “The liver is very forgiving and can bounce back even in early stages of cirrhosis,” says Lok. Once cirrhosis is advanced, however, the only option is a liver transplant, which can be hard to come by. There are new treatments for liver cancer if diagnosed early, so screening cirrhosis patients for liver cancer is important, she says.

TESTING BARRIERS

Remember back in the 70s and 80s how all doctors were recommending surgery?  I mean the medical profession seemed like they were staffed with a bunch of drunks.  Seriously.  The attention to your concerns were next to nil.  I consulted 3 separate doctors once on a knee problem.  Each one recommended surgery, like they were part of a some profitable cabal.  They all thought alike.  Not one paused.  Surgery was recommended as much as aspirin was.  Today we know that a lot of surgeries are either totally unnecessary or completely botched.  They don't know what they're doing.  Yes, they're following a protocol, but so do dentists.  Would you accept every recommendation made to you by your dentist?  Ouch.  How do you think Hepatitis was transmitted?  Bingo!  Surgery. 

 According to a study published last month in JAMA Oncology, the rise in liver cancer in the U.S. is partially due to hepatitis C infection in baby boomers. An estimated 1 in 30 have been infected with the virus, the second-leading cause of cirrhosis. Hepatitis C was often transmitted during medical treatment before infection-control procedures were widely adopted, or from blood transfusions before 1992, when screening for the virus virtually eliminated such risks. It also is spread among intravenous-drug users, even with just one use, and from unsteril[ized] tools at tattoo parlors.

This is true enough.

 In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a one-time hepatitis C test for all adults born between 1945 and 1965. But fewer than 30% have actually been tested, according to estimates. Doctors may fail to ask patients about past medical procedures or drug-use history, and patients may either be unaware of possible medical exposures or be hesitant to mention risky behavior such as intravenous-drug use.

So it's clear what this is implying.  Nice how the author is attacking baby boomers.  Why not?  The millennials get hit with degrading reports on a daily basis.  Perhaps the two should unite!

 “Patients who are now respectable citizens may not want to tell their doctors, ‘I was a crazy teen back in the ’60s,’ ” Lok says.

Okay, so far we're more than half way through the article and not a word about nutritional or food therapies and only a hint at some new treatments.  But wait, here it comes, you know, the agenda behind the article.  And what is that agenda?  Electronic tracking of health records.  Yes.  That's it!!!  That's the answer to the increase in liver disease.  For people, according to the between the lines statements, are too clueless to track their own health.  That's it!!!  

To eliminate such barriers, Lok and colleagues have designed an electronic-health-record alert that prompts primary-care physicians to perform such screenings if patients who are baby boomers haven’t yet been diagnosed or tested. In a study published in the journal Hepatology in September, the team said hepatitis C testing rates increased fivefold, to 72% among those born between 1945 and 1965, in the year after the electronic alerts were launched. Of 53 newly diagnosed patients, 11 had advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis, 20 started treatment and so far nine have been cured.

Oh, I see, so if you've got other diseases, then you may be at risk for liver disease as well.  And since liver disease conveniently doesn't present symptoms, why, you're really SOL. 

 If you are overweight or have Type 2 diabetes, you may be at risk of fatty liver disease.

Can't doctors detect liver disease through an annual or bi-annual blood test?  It appears so. 

The first sign of liver disease may be elevated liver enzymes in a blood test. Dr. Elliot Tapper, an assistant professor at University of Michigan who treats patients at its clinics and at the Ann Arbor VA hospital, says issues related to alcohol, obesity and diabetes are the most likely cause, followed by hepatitis B or C. Tests for such conditions should be used first, including an ultrasound of the liver to look for fatty-liver disease. If patients disclose they drink excessively or use intravenous drugs, or are taking a drug or dietary supplement that can cause liver damage, the need for more invasive tests such as liver biopsies to test for rarer conditions falls sharply, Tapper says.

FATTY LIVER . . . IS TREATABLE

I love how dishonest and scary these reports are written, ". . . affects as many as 100 million Americans . . . but also strikes children and young adults."  Isn't that about everybody?  Who's left?  

 Fatty-liver disease, a buildup of fat in the liver, affects as many as 100 million Americans, especially those in their 40s and 50s, but also strikes children and young adults. The disease can lead to a progressive form known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, which can cause scarring that leads to cirrhosis and increases the risk of heart disease, Tapper says. Genetic variations may make some people more vulnerable.

Love how these articles scare the bejesus out of adults and parents.  And what is the solution?  Biopsies!!!  Yes, of course, give us your tissues!!! 

 While liver biopsies are still used to definitively diagnose liver diseases and determine their stage, noninvasive tests using different types of scans and imaging technology such as MRI are becoming more widely used. A 2015 study of 100 patients, using such technology, showed that almost two-thirds with Type 2 diabetes have evidence of nonalcoholic fatty-liver disease, while more than 7% have advanced fibrosis. Study author Dr. Rohit Loomba, director of hepatology and a research center devoted to nonalcoholic fatty-liver disease at the University of California, San Diego, says follow-up studies aim to determine whether such technology is cost-effective for wide use.

Wow.  As a diabetic, if you're not frightened into a stressful state by now, then there must be something wrong with you.  Note that magnesium is critical for diabetics.  What doesn't the article point that out!?!?!?

Until such screening methods are better established, he says, doctors should assess their patients with classic risk factors for fatty-liver disease—those in their 40s and 50s at high risk of heart disease because of obesity and diabetes. Fatty-liver disease is also closely linked to metabolic syndrome, a group of abnormalities that include increased belly fat, high blood pressure and high blood levels of triglycerides, a type of fat.

Why does the article refuse to mention any nutritional therapies if, in fact, the condition is so bad?  Because they want to cause you to run into your doctor's office frantic clamoring for a fatty liver test.  "Give it to me!  Give it to me now!!"  As if on cue . . . 

 “If you are overweight or obese and have Type 2 diabetes and are 50 or older, you need to ask your primary-care doctor if you might have fatty-liver disease,” Loomba advises.

Wow!  What's with the optimism.  Hilarious, Groucho.  

 For patients in midlife who have already piled on extra pounds, or are gaining a few pounds each year, even moderate weight loss can reduce risk and help reverse harm to the liver, he adds.

Laura Landro is a former Wall Street Journal assistant managing editor. Email her at reports@wsj.com.

The story “The Hidden Disease Of The Middle-Aged” first appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

________________________________________________________________________

Okay, now for some truth, some answers.  Jeeze.  

Chart courtesy of Bill Sardi @ KnowledgeofHealth

Choline treats fatty liver disease.  Eggs are an excellent source of choline.  Got it?  So what is the message?  Eat eggs to keep your liver healthy.  .

The Single Nutrient That Eradicates Fatty Liver Disease

That’s quite a headline.  Wait until you see the list of citations proving that fact.  The incredible headlines simply multiply.  There's this

In 1934 researchers in Liverpool, England reported that choline abolishes fatty liver.  

You read that right, “abolishes.”  Fairly strong language I would say.  Then this

Humans eating low choline diets develop fatty liver and liver damage.

Just incredible. 

Other investigators found that a B-vitamin class nutrient called choline cured fatty liver.  

Did you read that, “cured”?

Choline exercises a controlling influence over the amount of fat in the liver.  Impressive.

And this

In humans, choline levels are closely related to the severity of liver disease. 

And this

Higher dietary choline intake is associated with lower risk for fatty liver disease in humans.

And this

In 1949 researchers showed that table surgar (sucrose from can sugar) and alcohol had equal potential to cause fatty liver disease and that choline could completely protect against this effect.

Okay, okay, you almost don’t believe how good choline is in protecting liver, what, with all we’ve heard and been led to believe about alcohol and cirrhosis of the liver and whatnot.  But there it is in plain English, “abolishes,” “cures,” “protects.”  And there’s more.

An experiment reported on in 1935 showed that among 20 young animals placed on a fatty diet low in choline versus another equal sized group of animals given supplemental choline, fat was deposited in the liver of the choline deficient animals while the choline-fortified diet results in only slight fat deposition in the liver.  Strikingly, five of the animals who did not receive choline died within 2 months.  In a subsequent experiment, 30% of laboratory mice on a low-choline diet died whereas no lab animals given supplemental choline died.

The takeaway?  Supplemental choline works better than choline in the diet.  This is almost too good, and yet there is more.  Read the rest for yourself.  It will blow your hair back.

Lecithin is an excellent source of choline.  WholeHealthChicago explains  

 Lecithin is considered an excellent source of choline, one of the B vitamins. Once in the body, a key component of lecithin–phosphatidylcholine–breaks down into choline. Now available in dietary supplement form, phosphatidylcholine (PC) might be thought of as a purified extract of lecithin. It is commonly recommended for treating liver, nerve, and a variety of other conditions, including multiple sclerosis and memory loss. 

You see.  This is better than a scare piece.  Simply find the nutrient in supplemental form that addresses your situation.  And I can think of no person out there who is reading, reviewing, examining the facts and reporting on them for the benefit of so many than Bill Sardi.