Are you feeling fatigued? Do everyday tasks require significant effort to compete?
You are not alone. Fatigue is a natural side effect of aging, many degenerative diseases and medical treatments. Fatigue can also be caused by environmental stresses. No matter the orientation of your fatigue, the source of it is the same. Fatigue is caused by the degradation of cell membranes due to oxidation and free radical damage. When the cell membrane is degraded, the cell is unable to function at optimal levels resulting in fatigue for the individual.
Lipid Replacement Therapy is the replacement of damaged lipids that make up the cell membrane with healthy, fully functional lipids. LRT, combined with antioxidants, has been proven to increase cellular function and reduce individual’s fatigue. NT Factor by Nutritional Therapeutics targets the source of fatigue at the cellular level without herbs, stimulants or chemicals. NT Factor is a proprietary formula that is comprised of phosphoglycolipids that can replace the damaged lipids of the cell membranes degraded by oxidation and free radicals.
Nutritional Therapeutics couples the unique powers of NTFactor with their superior multivitamin packet, Propax and Propax Gold. Both formulas supply a complete nutritional system that supports overall health and increases the benefits of NTFactor. PropaxGold has additional antioxidants, such as; resveratrol, coenzyme q10 and green tea that can further aid in the reduction of fatigue by eliminating free radicals and oxidative stresses in the body. Nutritional Therapeutics has effectively combated fatigue with their unique formulas by replacing the damaged lipids with healthy ones and then furthering the functional life span of the lipids by neutralizing the degenerative chain reaction free radicals can inflict on the cells. In recent surveys, results were felt in as little as three days, and fatigue was reduced by up to 40% after 60 days. The specific combination of Propax and NTFactor has also been tested in clinical trials and has proven to reduce the fatigue, and other symptoms, of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Don’t let fatigue take over your life; it can be combated without drug therapies. Join those who have already achieved relief from NTFactor and Propax. Nutritional Therapeutics unique and scientifically tested formulas offer long term and significant relief from fatigue, no matter the source.
60-70% of people over the age of 70 have some degree of Osteoarthritis (OA). So learning what starts the process and the inflammation that comes with it are important.
The bottom line may be your cells; in particular, your mitochondria. So what are these little things, and how do they relate to you. The mitochondria regulate the cells very survival, and the way it functions. But more specifically how does that affect such an important age related disease as arthritis? Is there a way to deal with this?
Mitochondrial mutations, and oxidative stress (free radical damage), are commonly the cause of age related diseases. Among those diseases, is osteoarthritis, a related rheumatic disease, most commonly seen in the degradation and loss of joint cartilage. The death of joint cells is a prominent feature of the process of decline. As these cells are damaged they can’t replace your joint cartilage at the rate it used to. That leads to loss of cartilage. It also leads to inflammation, the basis for most OA pain flare ups.
The danger to all mitochondria is nitric oxide (NO). It is this that causes the damage the synovial fluid in your joints and the joints cells. The higher the amount of NO is the greater the cell damage, and death.
Now several studies are pointing out this important role mitochondria play in both OA and Rheumatoid Arthritis. They point to the idea that it is this dysregulation in cartilage cells that may be the most basic root of the overall problem.
From the beginning to the end your cells are the key to your good health.
One of the key elements to NT Factor, and its core products, is to help your cells regulate themselves and be healthy. NT Factor repairs those damaged cell membranes, which protect your mitochondria. This allows the cells to live a normal life cycle and function to their peak efficiency.
References:
Journal of American College of Rheumatology, 2008 58:8 2217-18
Professor Nicolson is on the Board of Scientific Directors of the Road Back Foundation (www.roadback.org), a nonprofit educational organization that provides information on rheumatic diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, and their treatments. He also serves on the editorial boards of 15 medical and scientific journals.
Arthritis is group of autoimmune/degenerative diseases that have been around since prehistoric times and now afflict approximately 50 million Americans. These diseases are characterized by inflammation, the body’s natural response to injury, and/or degeneration, especially of the joints and other tissue structures. These diseases most often present with joint tenderness, pain, swelling, stiffness and reductions in joint mobility and range of movement. With time, degeneration and enough destruction of the joints can result in a condition that requires joint replacement. Typically, arthritis pain and degeneration of joints persist over many years, and generally, they slowly increase over time. However, certain events, such as trauma or infection(s), can cause sudden increases in severity of arthritic signs and symptoms.
Some Common Types of Arthritis
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, and it can affect both large and small joints of the body, including the hands, feet, back, hips or knees. The disease is essentially due to daily wear and tear of the joints and their protective coverings; however, Osteoarthritis can also occur as a result of injury or infection. Osteoarthritis begins in the cartilage and eventually leads to opposing bones eroding toward and into each other, narrowing the gap between joints, and eventually causing pain and reductions in joint mobility. Osteoarthritis typically affects the weight bearing joints, such as the back, spine, and pelvis. Unlike Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis is most commonly a disease of the elderly. More than 30 percent of females have some degree of Osteoarthritis by age 65. Risk factors for osteoarthritis include: prior joint trauma, obesity, infections and sedentary lifestyle.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
In Rheumatoid Arthritis, an autoimmune disease, the body’s own immune system attacks the joints, mostly the joint lining and cartilage as well as other body tissues. This eventually results in swelling and erosion of opposing bones, often in the joints in the fingers, wrists, knees, elbows and ankles. The disease is usually symmetrical and can lead to severe deformity in a few years if not treated. Rheumatoid Arthritis occurs mostly in people aged 20 and above, and in contrast to Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis is a systemic or system-wide autoimmune disease affecting many other tissues and organs.
Infectious Arthritis
This form of arthritis is related to Rheumatoid Arthritis in that elements of infection are involved, and patients with Infectious Arthritis show evidence of Lyme Disease, Mycoplasma and other infections.
Juvenile Arthritis
Juvenile Arthritis refers to a systemic arthritis-related condition that develops in children or teens. Approximately 300,000 children under the age of 18 have this disease. This type of arthritis is a umbrella term for several types of arthritis previously known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis among others. Patients usually exhibit a variety of symptoms, including muscle and soft tissue tightening, bone erosion, joint, fevers, rashes and changes in growth patterns.
There are also other chronic diseases that can present with elements of rheumatic or arthritis symptoms, such as Gout, Lupus, Scleroderma, Reiter’s Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome and other less common diseases and syndromes.
All of the rheumatic diseases, and especially arthritis, have been associated with the presence of one or more bacterial and viral infections (see next section) [1, 2].
Possible Causes of Arthritis and their Treatments
Although the causes of various common forms of arthritis are considered to be generally unknown, there appears to be a link to genetics. If a close family member has the disease, you are more likely to have it. Most researchers feel that there is no one single cause for the various forms of arthritis, and they are likely to conclude that multiple factors are involved, which are probably different in each patient and type of arthritis.
For the most part, treatments for rheumatic diseases have depended on treating symptoms, such as treatments for the alleviation of pain and other symptomatic treatments, and such treatments are usually not directed at possible causes of the disease.
Infections are extremely important in rheumatic diseases and are a major cause of various chronic illnesses [1, 2]. Bacterial and viral Infections have been found in a variety of autoimmune and degenerative diseases, and in particular in rheumatic diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Infective Arthritis, Juvenile Arthritis, Lupus, Scleroderma, and other rheumatic disorders [1, 2]. We and others have gathered substantial evidence that chronic bacterial and viral infections are commonly associated with these conditions [1, 3], and these same infections have been found in the synovium of arthritic joints [4].
Importantly, rheumatic disease patients respond to anti-infective therapy [2, 5]. For example, for many years investigators have found that systemic intracellular bacterial infections (Mycoplasma, Borrelia, Chlamydia, etc.) are commonly found in rheumatic diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis [1]. These diseases can be treated with antibiotics, and indeed, several controlled clinical trials have shown the benefit of long-term antibiotic therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis [6, 7]. Successful treatments for the infections found in Arthritis patients have resulted in resolution of signs and symptoms.
Bacterial infections appear to be especially important, because they can stimulate immune reactions to joints and other structures. Microorganisms like Mycoplasmas can kill cells and damage cartilage, but when they exit cells, such as synovial cells, nerve cells, among others that can be infected, they can stimulate autoimmune responses. This can occur by different mechanisms. One mechanism that has intrigued us is that when certain microorganisms, such as certain species of Mycoplasmas, exit from invaded cells, they carry part of the host cell membrane on their surface. This may trigger the immune system to respond to the host antigens on the foreign microorganism but this also results in an autoimmune response to the host antigens. Alternatively, some microorganisms display surface antigens that mimic host cell surface antigens, and these may stimulate autoimmune responses. When these microorganisms exit synovial cells in the joints, they can stimulate immune responses against the cells in the joints and related cells, causing joint inflammation and degeneration [5].
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Arthritis
Another important property of tissues involved in arthritis is that energy functions inside cells, and in particular the cells of the joints, are dysfunctional. This has been found in the most common forms of arthritis, such as Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis [8, 9]. These conditions, probably the result of chronic intracellular infections, result in increased oxidative stress and the excess production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) or free-radical oxygen species that can directly damage cellular membranes [10].
The lipids in cellular membranes involved in providing an essential environment for energy production are inside the mitochondria—our cells’ batteries that produce high energy molecules necessary for life—and mitochondria are particularly susceptible to ROS damage. Once the mitochondrial lipids are oxidized by ROS, they no longer function properly. Cumulative oxidative stress and excess ROS, such as seen in arthritis and other chronic diseases, can damage mitochondria, at a higher level cause fatigue as well as nerve cell damage at their synapses, the communication regions between nerve cells. Thus changes in mitochondria can influence both the onset and severity of arthritis and the fatigue and pain that accompany arthritis.
Arthritis and Lipid Replacement Therapy
Since arthritis patients have mitochondrial and other membrane impairments, Lipid Replacement Therapy with NT Factor® is an especially attractive, all-natural approach to replace cell membrane damage and reverse the effects of excess ROS damage to cellular lipids [11]. NT Factor® provides cells with the specific types of membrane lipids that can repair mitochondria and cell membranes and make them functional again.
The uniqueness of NT Factor® over other lipid supplements is that NT Factor®’s lipids are required by mitochondrial membranes and other cellular membranes for their function, and NT Factor® lipids are protected from damage by ROS and other factors that damage most dietary lipids before they even reach our cells.
Thus Lipid Replacement Therapy with NT Factor® is an effective way to reduce the effects of excess oxidative damage to the cells in our joints and nerve and other cells and restore mitochondrial function. By restoring mitochondrial function and repairing cellular membranes, fatigue is reduced and cellular function can be restored.
References
1. Nicolson GL, Haier J. Role of chronic bacterial and viral infections in neurodegenerative, neurobehavioral, psychiatric, autoimmune and fatiguing illnesses: Part 1. British Journal of Medical Practitioners. 2009; 2(4): 20-28. Part 2. British Journal of Medical Practitioners. 2010; 3(1): 301-311.
2. Brown TM. Basic concept of rheumatic mechanism. Posted at www.roadback.org.
3. Haier J, Nasralla M, Franco AR, Nicolson GL. Detection of mycoplasmal infections in blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology 1999; 38: 504-509.
4. Johnson S, Sidebottom D, Bruckner F, Collins D. Identification of Mycoplasma fermentans in synovial fluid samples from arthritis patients with inflammatory disease. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 2000; 38(1): 90-93.
5. Nicolson GL. The role of microorganism infections in chronic illnesses: support for antibiotic regimens. CFIDS Chronicle 1999; 12(3):19-21.
6. O’Dell J, Haire C, Erickson N, Palmer W, Churchill M, Drymalski W, Blakely K, Wees S, Eckhoff J, Doud D, Weaver A, Dietz F, Olson R, Klassen L, Moore G. Successful Treatment of Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) with Minocycline: Results of a Double-Blind Trial. Arthritis & Rheumatism 1995; 40(5): 842-848.
7. O’Dell JR, Blakely KW, Mallek JA, Eckhoff PJ, Leff RD, Wees SJ, Sems KM, Fernandez AM, Palmer WR, Klassen LW, Paulsen GA, Haire CE, Moore GF. Treatment of early seropositive rheumatoid arthritis: a two-year, double-blind comparison of minocycline and hydroxychloroquine. Arthritis & Rheumatism 2001; 44(10): 2235-2241.
8. Blanco FJ, Rego I, Ruiz-Romero C. The role of mitochondria in osteoarthritis. Nature Review of Rheumatology 2011; 7(3): 161-169.
9. Seven A, Güzel S, Aslan M, Hamuryudan V. Lipid, protein, DNA oxidation and antioxidant status in rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical Biochemistry 2008; 41: 538-543.
10. Sun G, Xu X, Wang Y, Shen X, Chen Z, Yang J. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection induces reactive oxygen species and DNA damage. Infection & Immunity 2008; 76: 4405-4413.
11. Nicolson GL, Ellithrope R. Lipid replacement and antioxidant nutritional therapy for restoring mitochondrial function and reducing fatigue in chronic fatigue syndrome and other fatiguing illnesses. Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 2006; 13(1): 57-68.
About the Author:
Professor Garth L. Nicolson is the President, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Professor at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, California and is an Emeritus Professor of Laboratory Medicine. Professor Nicolson has published over 600 medical and scientific papers, edited 16 books, and served on the Editorial Boards of 30 medical and scientific journals and Senior Editor of four journals. Professor Nicolson has won many awards, such as the Burroughs Wellcome Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine (United Kingdom), Stephen Paget Award of the Metastasis Research Society, the U. S. National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award, and the Innovative Medicine Award of Canada. He is also a Colonel (Honorary) of the U. S. Army Special Forces and a U. S. Navy SEAL (Honorary) for his work on Armed Forces and veterans’ illnesses.
As a health conscious person you try and do all the right things to insure your health. You watch what you eat, take your vitamins, and most of all, you exercise. But are you doing more damage to your body? Is what you’ve believed all these years wrong?
It has become almost common sense that exercise is good for you. Most people know it improves health and mental clarity, while it reduces weight and relaxes us. However, one thing it also does is damage body tissue. The key is to balance stress and health.
Vigorous exertion exercises cause a dramatic increase in reactive oxidative stress (free radical damage) to your body and skeletal muscle. What researchers have been discovering over many years is that any form of exercise will cause harm to the mitochondria of your cells. But, that damage increases with the amount of exercise you do. Exhaustive exercise, such as running, however, will cause a dramatic increase of the impact free radicals have on our cells (cell membrane damage). We have always known that stress causes damage. But now there is a way to reverse that damage.
However, NT Factor ® will increase your energy levels, and relieve the damage, now making it easier for you to find the get up and go to finding a healthier you. By replacing the damaged cell membranes with new healthy ones, NT Factor ® allows the cell to produce the proper levels of energy you need naturally. When your cells function at their maximum allowable levels it takes in all sources of energy and uses them. By doing this you feel an increased amount of energy. The energy you need to find your sneakers, and begin a little exercise.
Never think exercise is all bad. Research has also found that supplementing with antioxidants, such a Co-Q10, resveratrol, and others, can suppress the breakdown of mitochondria regardless of the amount, or level of training. Anti-oxidant’s can downgrade the progression of damage to a slower pace, suppressing the amount of cell membrane damage done. NTFactor, however, goes beyond mere antioxidants, but in a much more beneficial way. It does this by working directly on the cells to replace the damaged layer of cell membrane with new healthy ones. This inhibits further damage, and more refined layer of protection of the mitochondria on a continuous cycle.
The key is always going to be energy, and healthy cell life. A healthy cell produces energy at its peak level. This allows you to do the things you want to do. It also allows for all multitudes of other processes your body requires to remain healthy and vital. Begin living your active life today.
References:
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011 Jun;43(6):1017-24
African Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 5(1), pp. 50-56, 4 January, 2011
The role nutrition plays in Autism is an emerging field of research study. Recent studies have been done to look at the vital role nutrition plays in relation to children with autism.
A recent study of children with autism found children with autism were more likely than neurotypical children, to suffer from nutritional and other related metabolic issues.
Children with autism spectrum disorder suffered vitamin insufficiencies, increased oxidative stress, reduced capacity for the transportation of cellular energy, sulfation and detoxification. The cause of these issues, and its relation to autism is still under study. However, the biomarkers for these issues are more prevalent in autistic children. One study has stated that these metabolic and nutritional differences are likely benefited by nutritional supplementation.
NT Factor by its formulation is the nutritional supplement for this task. NT Factor works on replacing damaged cell membranes with new healthy cells. Thus, increasing the ability of the cells, and mitochondria to function properly. This means a reduction in the amount of oxidative stress and an increase in the ability of the body to produce and use energy. NT Factor works on the basic level of the ATP chain to allow for the better creation, and transportation of energy. At the same time it is replacing damage caused by oxidative stress.
NT Factor combined with the nutritional aspects of Propax, or Propax Gold, can provided the great range of nutritonal supplementation needed by most people suffering from vitamin deficiencies. While moderately dosed the nutrition in Propax, and Propax Gold are designed for greater apsorbtion potential. The fact that it can be taken with, or without food, or crushed makes it easier to take.
Dr. Steven Rosenblatt, M.D., Ph.D. explains how most people don’t understand the significance of cells to weight loss, but it’s essential that you understand that what you consume affects your body’s cells. Watch this video to understand the connection between food consumption and weight loss at a cellular level.
The risk of dementia is more overshadowing the older we get. Alzheimer’s disease becomes the leading cause of dementia the older you are.
Among the known risk factors for Alzheimer’s are age and nutrition. Once you look beyond the genetic factors, age, nutrition, smoking, alcohol, head injury, and depression are the most related factors to the disease. However, number one on the list is aging. It is the strongest of all the risk factors.
How aging affects the disease has yet to be understood. What we at NTI can do is help slow down, and reverse the aging process by giving you our Lipid Replacement Therapy, in combination with good nutritional support. Allowing your cells to function at their peak levels, NT Factor®’s Lipid Replacement Therapy replaces damaged cell membranes with new healthy ones removing the damage caused by oxidative stress.
Good nutrition may be on of the keys to helping reduce your risk factors. Some researches believe that following a good regimen of nutrition in midlife can increases your cognitive function later in life, specifically your verbal skills. Verbal function is on e of the most vulnerable pieces of cognitive skills susceptible to aging. As a result, it can also be more of a victim to Alzheimer’s.
A large piece of evidence supports the fact that oxidative stress plays a role in Alzheimer Disease. This type of stress leads to an increase in homocysteine levels in the body. A recent study showed that an increase in intake of antioxidants helped lower the levels of homocyseine in the body of Alzheimer patients.
So what does all this mean for you? It means that your interest in good nutrition and good health may help you in the long-term fight against aging.
Alzheimer’s Q & A with Prof. Garth Nicolson Department of Molecular Pathology, The Institute for Molecular Medicine, Huntington Beach, CA
Q. What is Alzheimer’s Disease?
Professor Nicolson:
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that damages and eventually destroys brain cells, leading to loss of memory, thinking and other brain functions. Alzheimer’s is not a part of normal aging, but results from a complex pattern of abnormal changes in nerve cells in the brain.
Q. What are the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease?
Professor Nicolson:
The earliest symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease is often difficulty in remembering newly learned information, but as the disease progresses there are increasing numbers and severity of signs and symptoms. This can include: disorientation, mood and behavior changes, increasing confusion about specific events, their time and place, unfounded suspicions about family, friends and coworkers, and other changes.
According to the Alzheimer’s Disease Association the Ten Most Common Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease are:
1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life. This starts as mentioned above with forgetting recently learned information, but this also includes forgetting important dates or events, asking for the same information over and over, relying on memory aids, such as family members, notes, etc.
2. Challenges in planning or solving problems. This occurs when people experience changes in their abilities to develop and follow a plan. They may also have problems with numbers, familiar tasks, such as paying bills, and requiring much longer periods of time to accomplish things that they routinely accomplished.
3. Difficulties in completing familiar tasks at home, work or leisure. Alzheimer’s patients have difficulty in completing familiar daily tasks. For example, they may have trouble driving to familiar location, managing a budget or remembering the rules of a favorite game.
4. Increased confusion with time or place. People with Alzheimer’s often lose track of dates, seasons, and passage of time. They may also have trouble understanding something that is not immediate.
5. Problems understanding visual images and spatial relationships. Having vision problems is a sign of Alzheimer’s in some patients. They may also have difficulty in reading, judging distance or determining color or contrast. They may perceive that someone is near that is not present, or they may not realize that they are the person who’s image they see in a mirror.
6. Development of new problems with speaking or writing. People with Alzheimer’s may have trouble joining or following a conversation. Or they may stop in the middle of a conversation and have no idea how to continue or they may repeat themselves. They struggle with vocabulary and finding the right word, or they call things by the wrong name.
7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps. Alzheimer’s patients may experience an inability to find commonly used things. They can also forget where they are or how they got there.
8. Decreased or increasing poor judgment. People with Alzheimer’s may experience changes in judgment or decision-making. They may use poor judgment in dealing with money, or they may pay less attention to personal grooming and keeping themselves clean.
9. Withdrawal from work or social activities. Alzheimer’s patients may remove themselves or show decreasing interest in former hobbies, social activities, work projects or sports.
10. Changes in personality. The mood or personality of an Alzheimer’s patient can change over time. They can become confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful or anxious. They may also be easily upset at home, work or with friends or at places where they do not feel comfortable.
Q. Are there different stages of Alzheimer’s Disease?
Professor Nicolson:
Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive disease that gradually worsens over time, which means that it can have different stages. In its early stage, the symptoms of Alzhimer’s, such as difficulty learning and remembering new information, are mild, but at later or severe stages individuals are extremely confused and lose the ability to carry on even simple conversations and reasoning; eventually they essentially lose all responsiveness to their environment.
Q. Is there a genetic basis for Alzheimer’s Disease?
Professor Nicolson:
Almost all cases of Alzheimer’s are sporadic, which means that they are not genetically inherited. However, some of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s have been identified as certain genes, for example, that are involved in encoding the amyloid protein or its production in nerve cells.
Q. Are there treatments for Alzheimer’s symptoms?
Professor Nicolson:
Although there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, there are a number of treatments that can temporarily slow the progression of the disease and improve quality of life. Examples are treatments that remove heavy metals, drugs that enhance, interfere with or mimic certain chemical messengers that act between nerve cells, anti-infectives that treat brain viral and bacterial infections, and behavioral interventions.
Q. Is there anything that can be taken orally to repair the membrane damage that has already been done to people with a neurodegenerative disease?
Professor Nicolson:
In neurodegenerative diseases patients sustain cellular damage to their nervous systems because of excess oxidative damage (similar to the rust that can form on certain metals). This damages cellular membranes and the organelles inside cells (mitochondria) that function as our cellular batteries, providing the energy necessary for life. Once our mitochondria have been damaged, they lose function and cannot provide the high-energy molecules necessary for daily activities.
There are natural dietary supplements that can prevent or even reverse the cellular damaged caused by excess oxidation. One that I highly recommend is NT Factor. This all-natural supplement provides replacement components of our membrane lipids that are damaged by excess oxidation. Cell membranes, and in particular mitochondrial membranes, are very sensitive to oxidative damage, but they can be slowly repaired with NT Factor taken daily. Scientific studies have shown that patients who take NT Factor can repair their mitochondrial membranes within a few weeks and return mitochondrial function to normal.
Lipid Replacement Therapy with NT Factor is an effective way to reduce chronic fatigue associated with neurodegenerative diseases and also to reduce the effects of excess oxidative damage to the membranes in our nerves and other cells.
The following is taken, in part, from an invited symposium presentation entitled “Chronic Bacterial and Viral Infections in Neurodegenerative and Neurobehavioral Diseases” presented at the 18nd International Symposium on Functional Medicine held on April 28-30, 2011 in Seattle, Washington.
Many diseases are associated with chronic fatigue, including neurodegenerative, neurobehavioral, respiratory, coronary, musculoskeletal, metabolic and gastrointestinal diseases as well as infections and cancer. In fact, chronic fatigue is the most common complaint of all patients seeking general medical care, and almost all patients with neurological diseases experience various degrees of fatigue along with their neurological symptoms.
Within the neurological diseases dementia is one of the most common conditions. Dementia is found in various degenerative neurological diseases and is characterized by loss of thinking, memory and other brain functions caused by damage to brain cells and brain cell death. The most common form of dementia, accounting for 50-80% of cases, is Alzheimer’s Disease, named after the German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer who first described it in 1906.
Alzheimer’s Disease usually strikes older people (the majority are 65 and older), but in about 5% of cases it can affect people in their 40s. The early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease are often confused with the changes that take place during normal aging. However, Alzheimer’s Disease differs from the natural brain aging process in that it is a progressive brain disorder that gradually worsens with age and damages and eventually destroys brain cells, resulting in loss of memory, intellectual abilities and other brain functions [1].
Alzheimer’s Disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, affecting approximately 5.3 million people. Most Alzheimer’s Disease patients can live for some time with their condition, often ranging from 5 to 20 years or more, depending on their age and other health conditions [2]. Alzheimer’s is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by the year 2050 [3].
The Symptoms and Characteristics of Alzheimer’s Disease
Usually the earliest symptom of Alzheimer’s is difficulty remembering newly acquired information. This occurs because Alzheimer’s changes in the brain typically occur in the parts of the brain that affect learning and memory. However, as Alzheimer’s advances or progresses through the brain, increasingly more severe symptoms appear, such as disorientation, mood and behavioral changes, increased confusion about specific events and their time and place, unfounded suspicions about family, friends, coworkers and health care personnel, and eventually difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking along with increasing fatigue [1].
What makes Alzheimer’s Disease different from natural aging can be found at the cellular level. Alzheimer’s Disease is characterized by loss of connections between nerve cells, inflammation and build up inside nerve cells of microscopic clumps of altered proteins called beta-amyloid proteins that can form plaques, twisted and tangled microscopic strands of filaments containing components called tau proteins and alterations in nerve synapses, the specialized signaling regions between nerve cells or the signals they send to other nerve cells [4].
Mitochondrial Membrane Function in Alzheimer’s Disease
In each of our cells, energy is produced in the form of high-energy molecules in our mitochondria, small two-membrane separated organelles responsible for energy production. When our mitochondria are damaged, due to aging, disease and even pharmaceutical treatments, they do not produce enough high-energy molecules to keep cells functioning properly. The most common way in which mitochondria are impaired is by oxidative damage to mitochondrial membranes by cellular free-radicals called Reactive Oxidative Spcies or ROS. Excess ROS oxidize mitochondrial membrane lipids, making the mitochondrial membranes less capable of insulating the energy-producing part of the mitochondria, resulting in lowered production of high-energy molecules needed by the cell.
In Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases excess ROS and oxidation of membrane lipids are believed to play a central role in disease development [5]. The lipids in membranes, and specifically those found in nerve cells, are particularly susceptible to ROS and oxidative stress. This can result in the production of neurotoxic products as well as oxidized lipids that can affect the pathogenic processes that produce the altered beta-amyloid and tau proteins that produce Alzheimer’s nerve cell plaques and tangled filaments. Such oxidative stress and ROS can damage nerve cell membranes in the synapses, the communication regions between nerve cells, can also be affected along with nerve cell mitochondria and cellular energy production [5].
In Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases there are processes that produce excess ROS and oxidative damage to lipids and other cellular components. For example, heavy metals and infections, found often in Alzheimer’s patients and other neurodegenerative diseases can result in excess ROS and oxidative damage [6, 7].
Lipid Replacement Therapy and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Until recently the only treatments for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases were pharmaceuticals that treated the production of beta-amyloid protein, heavy metals or by correcting general nutrition. At the Institute for Molecular Medicine research is undergoing on the use of immunotherapy to treat beta-amyloid deposition, anti-infectives to treat various infections found in neurodegenerative diseases and Lipid Replacement Therapy to protect nerve mitochondrial and cellular membranes (see www.immed.org).
Lipid Replacement Therapy with NT Factor is an effective way to reduce chronic fatigue associated with neurodegenerative diseases and also to reduce the effects of excess oxidative damage to our nerves and other cells.
References:
1. Förstl H, Kurz A. Clinical features of Alzheimer’s disease. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 1999; 249 (6): 288–290.
2. Mölsä PK, Marttila RJ, Rinne UK. Long-term survival and predictors of mortality in Alzheimer’s disease and multi-infarct dementia. Acta Neurologica Scandanavica1995; 91 (3): 159–64.
3. Brookmeyer, R; Johnson, E; Ziegler-Graham, K; Arrighi, HM. Forecasting the global burden of Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s and Dementia 2007; 3 (3): 186–91.
4. Tiraboschi P, Hansen LA, Thal LJ, Corey-Bloom J. The importance of neuritic plaques and tangles to the development and evolution of AD. Neurology 2004; 62 (11): 1984–9.
5. Axelsen PH, Komatsu H, Murray IV. Oxidative stress and cell membranes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Physiology(Bethesda) 2011; 26(1): 54-69.
6. Obulesu M, Venu R, Somashekhar R. Lipid peroxidation in Alzheimer’s Disease: emphasis on metal-mediated neurotoxicity. Acta Neurologica Scandanavica 2011; Feb. 9 [Epub ahead of print].
7. Nicolson GL, Haier J. Role of chronic bacterial and viral infections in neurodegenerative, neurobehavioral, psychiatric, autoimmune and fatiguing illnesses: Part 1. British Journal of Medical Practitioners 2009; 2(4): 20-28.
8. Nicolson GL, Ellithrope R. Lipid replacement and antioxidant nutritional therapy for restoring mitochondrial function and reducing fatigue in chronic fatigue syndrome and other fatiguing illnesses. Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 2006; 13(1): 57-68.
About the Author:
Professor Garth L. Nicolson is the President, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Professor at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, California. Professor Nicolson has published over 600 medical and scientific papers, edited 16 books, and served on the Editorial Boards of 30 medical and scientific journals and Senior Editor of four journals. Professor Nicolson has won many awards, such as the Burroughs Wellcome Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine (United Kingdom), Stephen Paget Award of the Metastasis Research Society, the U. S. National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award, and the Innovative Medicine Award of Canada. He is also a Colonel (Honorary) of the U. S. Army Special Forces and a U. S. Navy SEAL (Honorary) for his work on Armed Forces and veterans’ illnesses.
Questions for Prof. Garth Nicolson
Department of Molecular Pathology,
The Institute for Molecular Medicine,
Huntington Beach, California
I’m a major advocate of Grapeseed Extract and Pycnogenol and have used both since 1995. My allergies/sinus/headache issues are just about history. I have a lot of info on these antioxidants and trust that they do slow down the aging process.
I was given the FM dx back in 1999 and another doc said she didn’t think I had it. I deal with a lot of OA issues. I have to believe that the Pycnogenol and GE could have slowed down the FM issues.
Can you speak on these?
Dr. Nicolson’s reply:
I am all for any supplements that offer patients real therapeutic benefits. Often herbal and nutraceutical supplements are overlooked in favor of pharmaceutical drugs, but we have found them in general to be very useful. You have mentioned two that are useful. I discussed in previous posts that there are some disadvantages with the nutraceuticals in terms of speed of response, efficacy of the nutracuetical, adverse reactions of some patients to certain nutraceuticals (this seems to be much less than pharmaceuticals but it can occur) and the fact that some responses are only temporary and require higher and higher doses to achieve the same effects. Even with these limitations, nutraceuticals are often a less expensive way to help in the recovery process, and they are certainly useful for anti-aging and to help in the prevention of various conditions.
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The role nutrition plays in Autism is an emerging field of research study. Recent studies have been done to look at the vital role nutrition plays in relation to children with autism.
