Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
In Part 1, we discussed how the gut impacted your memory. Now, in Part 2, let’s discuss the link between your gut and your mood. Here’s what you need to know.
Our gut is often referred to as our second brain. Expressions like “a gut feeling” or “butterflies in my stomach” refer to this connection. Much of this communication has to do with the trillions of bacteria that reside in our digestive tract.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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SAMe, or S-Adenomethionine, is a compound that we naturally make in the human body. Our highest concentrations are in our liver and our brain. SAMe has been shown to help maintain a stable mood and to support joint and liver health. But this compound has also been studied for its benefit against depression. Depression effects about 15 million Americans each year. The annual cost for treatment is about $50 billion.
What is SAMe’s role in the body?
This compound does a bunch of things in the human brain. It has an anti-inflammatory effect because it raises the level of a very key antioxidant called Glutathione. Glutathione levels vary from person to person and they drop with age. It breaks down peroxides which is important for the brain. Your brain is a super, high-energy organ. There is a great deal of circulation needed, in order to carry all of the calories from your food to your brain so you can use that for energy. In fact, is it thought that your brain takes 20% of all of the calorie content from each meal! Yet, your brain is only 2% of the dry weight of your body. As a byproduct of using sugar for energy, the cell releasing peroxide. This can damage and destroy the cell, so the body has to have ways to find the peroxide, which is where Glutathione comes into play.†
SAMe has to be enteric coated (an additional coating) in order to get past the stomach acids and the intestinal enzymes, which can deactivate and breakdown SAMe.
Besides this nutrient helping to restore antioxidant levels in the brain, it also creates neurotransmitters. We know of about 100 neurotransmitters in the brain. Some are needed for energy, others are needed for sleep and the immune system. SAMe is involved with four key neurotransmitters†:
Clinical Research on SAMe
An arm of the government that is within the Department of Health and Human Services is called The Agency for Healthcare Research And Quality. Their job is to collate evidence so that different organizations and agencies can base clinical guidelines off of them. When it came to SAMe and depression, researchers compiled 28 human clinical trials in their meta-analysis. In all 28 trials, SAMe worked; it improved the Hamilton Rating Scale for depression (a questionnaire that helps doctors judge how severe depression is and how to guide them regarding treatment).
The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, The Department of Psychiatry at New York Medical College, Baylor Research Institute in Dallas, The Department of Psychiatry Michigan State University, Browne University Department of Psychiatry, The Department of Psychiatry UCLA, Columbia University Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston published a review of SAMe for clinicians in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The review included 115 human clinical trials and found promising evidence of the efficacy and safety of SAMe, when used as mono-therapy (used with an anti-depressant).
Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry from the Center for Treatment Resistant Depression from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Researchers added SAMe to the SSRI drugs of 73 patients who had major depressive disorder. They found that if they added SAMe to the drug (in patients where the drug was not working), the drugs started to work. It was far superior to placebo.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
Did you know that beets has recently become one of the world’s most healthiest and most important superfoods? Let’s talk about the scientific research that shows just how powerful the nutrients that are contained within beets can be.
Alcar and ALA are two nutrients that are natural to the human brain that have numerous health benefits, including brain energy production. But they also play a major role for memory. Here’s what you need to know.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Today we are discussing the many benefits that Alcar and ALA have on the brain. There is a huge impact on your brain when you use these two nutrients together. These nutrients are involved with energy production and so much more.
What is Alcar?
Acetyl L-Carnitine (ALCAR) is an absorbable form of the amino acid known as L-Carnitine, a naturally occurring amino acid that is synthesized in the liver and kidney. Like L-Carnitine, Alcar produces energy in the mitochondria of the cell. Because it participates in energy metabolism, it can be supportive in healthy brain development, visual memory and overall focus for the general public.
What is ALA?
ALA, or Alpha-Lipoic Acid, is made by the body and found in every cell. It supplies the body with Lipoic acid that is normally formed and very active in the body. But Lipoic acid activity decreases with age. This is a key nutrient for creating energy out of the calories you eat, functioning with at least two key enzymes needed for energy production. All of the energy required in your body requires Lipoic acid activity.
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Alcar and ALA – Better Together
Alcar and ALA create something called acetyl-coenzyme A out of your food. When you eat fats, proteins, and carbohydrates they go through different pathways to wind up with something called acetyl-coenzyme A. You need ALA to make this and it is very important for the creation of this energy molecule. It is currency for energy. The Alcar shuttles this to your cell – the power plant of the cell where you release and create energy called the mitochondria. So, ALA allows you to create acetyl-coenzyme A and Alcar shuttles it into the cell. This gives your brain energy, as energy production dwindles with age. In fact, Alcar directly creates energy in the brain and is a neurotransmitter. A neurotransmitter is a tiny molecule in the brain that has a profound effect in making the brain work properly and helping to restore metabolism when you are aging. For example, Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that controls your appetite and helps to stabilize your mood.
“In the daytime, Alcar with ALA is driving energy utilization in the brain, or rolling back the clock on an aging brain. At night, it helps to create Melatonin for better sleep quality.”
– Jerry Hickey, Ph.
Alcar and ALA also create a very important molecule called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine interacts with GABA and glutamate to help you learn something. GABA relaxes the neurons so it opens up, acetyl-choline shoves the message in there and glutamate provides the energy to carry out this action. Acetyl-choline also allows you to remember information.
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Key Topic
Questions about Alcar with ALA? Leave Jerry Hickey, Ph. a comment below to join the conversation. You can also send us an email at [email protected] today to speak with a degreed healthcare professional.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
