Orthomolecular : Nutrition and Life Extension Articles from Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, author of Life Extension 0446512729, 9780446512725

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Durk Pearson LATEST FROM DURK PEARSON FDA Watch: To Tell the Truth DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 4.1.1993 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: New Wave Cooking DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 8.1.1983 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Put This in Your Tailpipe! DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 6.1.1983 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: The New Drug Market DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 4.1.1983 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: The Latest Dope on Opiates SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 3.1.1983 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Gourmet Chemistry SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 2.1.1983 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Pollution Eye Opener DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 1.1.1983 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Boosting Brain Power DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 12.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Enhancing Intelligence DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 11.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: More Smart Pills DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 10.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Smart Pills Revolution SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 9.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Hope for Herpes DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 8.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Sex Play DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 7.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Preservatives Fresh facts DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 6.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Conflicting Medical Worldviews SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 5.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: The Great Sugar Debate DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 4.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Sleep and Your Health DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 3.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Bruises, Vegetables, and Life Extension DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 2.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Aging and Health More information DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 1.1.1982 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Aging and Health Information sources DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 12.1.1981 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: How to Stay Well Using nutrients SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 11.1.1981 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: How to Stay Well The body's defenses SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 10.1.1981 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Synthetic vs. Natural Which is better? DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 9.1.1981 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Back to Butter? SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 8.1.1981 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Getting Rid of Phobias for Good SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 6.1.1981 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: DMSO Its uses and mode of action DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | 5.1.1981 12:00 PM

Health & Welfare: Helplessness, Self-Esteem, and Sudden Death SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | 4.1.1981 12:00 PM

Living Longer DURK PEARSON | 8.1.1980 12:00 PM

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Health & Welfare: Preservatives Fresh facts DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE JUNE 1982 ISSUE

      "Preservatives may be preserving you…I think that's something you missed." —from "Eat Starch, Mom," lyrics by Grace Slick Preservatives may be preserving you, says the rock-and-roll singer. Others believe just as vehemently that food preservatives should be avoided like the plague. What are the facts? Food ages, just as living organisms do, and by similar chemical processes. One of the most important of the food-aging processes is the oxidation of fats and oils. Fats and oils contained in foods are subject to spontaneous, self-catalyzed oxidation (autoxidation) reactions when exposed to air. Both the creation and the breakdown of the oxidized fats result in the formation of chemically reactive and highly promiscuous entities called free radicals. Free radicals are mutagens (mutation causers), carcinogens (cancer causers), and a major cause of aging, both in food and in living organisms. In living plants and animals, special enzyme systems and antioxidants (substances that block uncontrolled oxidation reactions) control free-radical reactions. Uncontrolled free radicals can do serious harm (they are implicated as causative factors in aging, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, as well as a host of less deadly but still unpleasant conditions). Free radicals are necessary, however, in some normal metabolic reactions, such as the burning of food for energy. Without the free-radical-control enzymes (such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase) and antioxidants (like vitamins C, E, B-1, B-5, B-6, the amino acid cysteine, the minerals zinc and selenium), all air-breathing organisms on this planet would quickly die. Foods are tissues of dead animals or plants. The fats and oils in these tissues are still susceptible to oxidation. (Polyunsaturated fats are particularly easy to oxidize.) Since the organism is no longer actively synthesizing the control enzymes and antioxidants, the fats and oils in these foods are especially vulnerable to oxidation (becoming rancid). Manufacturers of foods such as potato chips and cooking oils used to add antioxidants such as BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) to protect the fats from oxidative degradation. But now, in response to misinformed public clamor for removal of preservatives, most such foods contain no antioxidant additives. The sad fact is that such foods are much more dangerous to eat without added antioxidants than with them. An experiment in which oils were fed to rabbits showed that even oil that is only slightly oxidized, in which a rancid smell cannot yet be detected, contained enough oxidized fats to inhibit the rabbit alveolar macrophages (lung white blood cells, part of the immune system) from ingesting bacteria. If our white blood cells were as sensitive as a rabbit's (fortunately, they are not), it would take only a few teaspoons of these slightly oxidized oils to reduce the activity of these white blood cells by 50 percent! Our alveolar marcrophages are an important defense against lung cancer; healthy, active alveolar macrophages seek out, identify, kill, and eat cancer cells. Manufacturers of foods have turned to other means of protecting foods containing fats and oils. One successful method is to package the food in an airtight container such as a tin can, bottle, or plastic bag lined with aluminum foil. Of course, once the container is opened and the food exposed to air, it should be eaten immediately—or you can add your own antioxidants. Leftovers such as meats develop off-flavors that are a reflection of the level of oxidized (rancid) fats they contain. Whenever we want to save these foods for later eating, we coat them with one of several antioxidants. Ascorbyl palmitate, a fat-soluble form of vitamin C, is particularly good for this because it is a powerful antioxidant and excellent synergist with other antioxidants and has little or no flavor of its own. The food is placed in a self-closing plastic bag, ascorbyl palmitate powder is sprinkled generously over the food, the bag is shaken to disperse the powder, the excess air is squeezed out, the bag is zipped closed, and then the food is refrigerated. You can do a simple experiment comparing food stored in this manner to food stored without added antioxidant that will demonstrate how much longer it takes the treated food to develop a rancid odor. Autoxidation of fats and oils takes place in the bodies of living plants and animals such as ourselves. The brain is particularly susceptible to autoxidation because it contains a higher content of polyunsaturated fats than any other organ in the body. In one experiment with Sprague-Dawley rats, animals fed semisynthetic diets (which did not significantly affect the death rate) made more errors on a maze test when larger amounts of polyunsaturated fats were fed in place of saturated fats. Free-radical damage resulting from the autoxidation of the excess polyunsaturated fats is a likely explanation.

Many people have strong negative feelings about food preservatives, especially synthetic ones. BHT, which has long been accused of causing cancer, is a good example. Yet the fact is that numerous experiments in both animals and cell cultures have demonstrated that BHT inhibits the development of many different types of cancers. It reduced the number of chromosome breaks in cells exposed to benzoalphapyrene, a powerful carcinogen and a product of almost any type of combustion. In another study, nude mice exposed to ultraviolet light but fed antioxidants (including BHT, which was later found to provide most of the protection) developed far fewer skin tumors than control mice. In the Soviet Union, BHT is sometimes used as part of cancer therapy. Some scientists believe that the drop in stomach cancer in the United States since World War II is largely due to antioxidants such as BHT added to the food supply. BHT has also increased the lifespans of several species of experimental animals. Cancer-resistant strains of mice lived about 25 percent longer when given BHT, while a cancer-prone strain lived about 50 percent longer than normal. BHT given to pregnant mice, in one study, increased the lifespan of their offspring by about 20 percent, even though the young mice received no BHT after weaning. This is thought to be due to BHT's ability to prevent mutations. So the next time you see a package of food in your supermarket bragging that it contains no preservatives, remember that preservatives may be preserving you and that unpreserved fats and oils spontaneously turn into immune-system suppressive carcinogens when exposed to air. We hope that widespread public knowledge of these facts will lead to the return of routine antioxidant preservative use and to the development of even more effective new antioxidants.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, June. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Preservatives".

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Living Longer DURK PEARSON | FROM THE AUGUST 1980 ISSUE

      The Life Extension Revolution, by Saul Kent, New York: William Morrow & Sons, 1980, 465 pp., $12.95. Saul Kent's book is thoroughly researched and well written, an excellent overview of the field of life extension. It is worth buying for the 750-reference bibliography alone! This book is not for everyone, however. In the introduction, Kent states the three purposes of this book: (1) to provide an objective, comprehensive picture of where we stand today in our efforts to extend human lifespan, (2) to assist the reader in living a better and healthier life, and (3) to provide an effective starting point for action. How well did he meet these objectives? Of course, in a field as rapidly changing and complex as life extension, no one person knows more than a fraction of the extant knowledge. This book, therefore, is not comprehensive. A great deal of useful theory and data is left out. It is absurd, however, to expect any 20th-century technical book to be all-encompassing. A wide range of subjects have been well chosen for inclusion—from regeneration to cryonics, from evaluating rejuvenation therapies to transplants and artificial organs. It may seem like a book about futurology, but this isn't the future. This is now. One serious deficiency is the lack of a glossary, even though many technical words—for example, "genome" and "autoantibodies"—are used throughout the text. Because the technical level is so high, this book is not suitable for the average reader. It is written for professionals and well-educated, intelligent laymen (such as those who read Scientific

American level material). Kent's basic position is that we have so far produced little in the way of effective anti-aging technology. In this, I must disagree with him. I think he undervalues increasing average lifespan, which is much easier to do with current technology than increasing maximum lifespan. Since the maximum genetic potential lifespan for man is about 110-120 years (Kent's book tells you why those stories about 150-year-old men didn't pan out), increasing the average lifespan from its present 73 years or so to 110 is about a 40-year increase. While Kent argues that we don't know whether the diseases and symptoms we're learning to control (such as atherosclerosis) are causes or consequences of aging, I think that if physiological and biochemical features can be maintained at a young adult level, we probably are affecting basic aging processes, though not necessarily all of them. Regarding purposes number two and three, it is important to realize that this is not a how-to-do-it book. While it provides an immense amount of data and a cornucopia of well-chosen references to guide further investigations, practical application information—dosage data, side effects, what responses to look for, etc.—are not provided. It is clearly not the intent of the author to attempt to do so. Therefore, unless you are prepared to do a very large amount of legwork following up items of interest, you will not be able to apply effectively most of the new technologies you read about. On the other hand, if you are serious about life extension, you will find many, many leads in this valuable work. One significant omission you may notice is a discussion of the negative effects of governmental intervention on the development of life-extension technologies. The Food and Drug Administration, for example, is costing the American public over a billion dollars a year in terms of unnecessary suffering and dying because of unavailable medications. (See Sam Peltzman's Regulation of Pharmaceutical Innovation, American Enterprise Institute, 1974, for an extensive economic analysis of the FDA'S effects on the drug industry.) Nowadays, it takes 8-12 years and $56 million on the average to take a drug from research past the FDA approval gauntlet and then finally to market. Over 90 percent of this cost is attributable to the FDA. Note, too, that US patents expire after 17 years. Only the largest firms can afford to pay the price and only then for drugs that promise to have a large return. It is unfortunate that Kent didn't include anything about this. If new anti-aging drug therapies are to be made available, the FDA's obstructionism must be eliminated. I would like to see the FDA become a purely advisory agency. It could share half of drug labels and package inserts with the manufacturer. Each could unilaterally say what it wanted, and you and your physician, not a bureaucrat, would be the final arbiters. Best of all would be an "opt-out" form that any adult could sign to receive unapproved drugs; we could give up our FDA "protection" in exchange for taking our own risks when we use non-FDA approved medications. In an excellent section, Kent tackles the frighteningly popular notion that industrial technology is largely responsible for carcinogens that produce our high cancer rate. He discusses evidence that, on the contrary, the principal factors responsible for causing cancer are "smoking, diet, hormonal imbalances, viruses, immune dysfunction, genetic abnormalities, and aging." He mentions persuasive evidence that food preservatives may have even contributed to the reduction in incidence of stomach cancer in the United States that has occurred since World War II.

In a chapter on rejuvenation therapies for the immune system, I was disappointed to see that nutrients which stimulate the immune system, including Vitamins A, E, C and the minerals zinc and selenium, were not included. The immune system— the body's self-defense forces—declines with age. Many of the conditions that occur with ever-increasing frequency with age, including cancer, atherosclerosis, arthritis, blood clots, and diabetes, can occur only if the immune system becomes defective. These nutrients, among other remedies, actually rejuvenate the immune system so that it doesn't fail to attack the bad guys (like cancer and atherosclerotic cells, bacteria, and viruses) and doesn't make a mistake and attack our own cells (the cause of rheumatoid arthritis, for example). On the cover of The Life Extension Revolution, it says that this book is "the definitive guide to better health, longer life, and physical immortality." I will agree with this description except for the part about physical immortality. It's a bit early for that! But if you are willing to think in terms of doubling or tripling your lifespan, this book is a good place to start. I highly recommend it.

Durk Pearson, a consultant in wide-ranging scientific and technological fields, has made numerous national TV appearances in the past several years. His book on life extension, coauthored by Sandy Shakocius, will be published by Warner Books in late 1980. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Living Longer".

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Muddling the Tradition

Durk Pearson

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Health & Welfare: Jet Lag, or How to Reset Your Internal Clocks SANDY SHAW | FROM THE MARCH 1981 ISSUE

      Circadian (24-hour) biological rhythms play an important part in human functioning and health, Scientists have only a very sketchy understanding of mechanisms controlling changes in biological rhythms as a result of traveling across time zones. But even at our present relatively crude levels of understanding, we know some causes of the most important phenomena and how to minimize some deleterious changes that can occur in long-distance travelers. Acclimation to a new time zone doesn't happen instantly. In fact, most people require about one day at their destination for each one-hour time-zone change. Many large corporations forbid their executives to engage in the most critical of negotiations until this adaptation period is past. But what if you are flying between Los Angeles and New York and don't have three days to devote to the natural acclimation process? Jet lag is a familiar phenomenon to many, if not most, frequent fliers. Waking up groggy or having a hard time getting to sleep, waking up frequently and finding it difficult to get back to sleep, and experiencing fatigue, depression, and inefficiency during the day are common. We have developed a way to prevent these symptoms in ourselves that is based upon a biochemical understanding of some of the day/night rhythms in the brain. We know that sleep is induced by the release in the brain of the neurotransmitter serotonin (neurotransmitters are chemicals used by nerve cells to communicate with each other). The serotonin release cycle appears to be disrupted by a rapid change of time zones. Therefore, when we decide that we want to sleep (a decision that may be better made by logic than gut feelings under conditions of jet lag!), we take about two grams of the amino acid nutrient tryptophan, which in most people is rapidly converted to serotonin in the brain. Since tryptophan has to compete with other aromatic amino acids to be transported into the brain through the finicky blood-brain barrier, best results occur when the tryptophan is taken alone and on an empty stomach immediately before going to bed. Exact dosage has to be individualized. It is helpful to take, at the same time, a 100 mg. supplement of Vitamin

B-6, since B-6 is required for the conversion of the tryptophan to serotonin. The time-shifted traveler often suffers from interrupted or restless sleep. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine plays a major part in controlling responsiveness to external stimuli as well as regulating nerve signals sent to muscles. In normal sleep, adequate acetylcholine is released to turn down response to the environment and to inhibit restless movements. These symptoms can be modified or eliminated in the insomniac traveler by taking the nutrient choline (which is converted by the brain into acetylcholine) before bed. A dose of three grams is reasonable. Since Vitamin B-5 is required for the conversion of choline to acetylcholine, a supplement of 200 mg. of B-5 (pantothenic acid or calcium pantothenate) with the choline can produce superior results. Some frequent travelers take Valium or Librium as sedatives to make it easier to sleep. Scientists have discovered that the brain receptors that respond to Valium and Librium also respond to the nutrients niacinamide and inositol. A gram of niacinamide and 3-10 grams of inositol before bed can be very helpful in producing drowsiness and sleep. To increase alertness, motivation, and energy the next day, we often take a quantity of the amino acid nutrient

phenylalanine early that day (or just before bed the night before). Phenylalanine, after transport into the brain, is converted into the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (the brain's version of adrenalin). This conversion requires Vitamins C and B-6. Norepinephrine is important for memory and learning as well as for primitive drives and emotions, long-term planning, and mood. Some popular stimulants, such as amphetamines and cocaine, cause the brain to release norepinephrine from its stores but, unfortunately, do not tell the brain to make more, eventually depleting the supply. Depletion of norepinephrine by excessive use of stimulants can result in severe depression. In one clinical study of people with various sorts of depression—including depression induced by amphetamine abuse, endogenous and schizophrenic depressions, etc.—most were entirely relieved of their depressions by taking 100-500 mg. of phenylalanine a day for two weeks. Jet lag attenuation with phenylalanine is most important when flying from west to east. Doses have to be individualized. The dose required on the first night is generally larger than that required for chronic antidepressant use and is typically 250 mg. to 2 grams taken at lights out—not an hour earlier. (If you have high blood pressure, you should increase phenylalanine doses cautiously, while checking your blood pressure—some large doses can cause blood pressure elevation in a few susceptible individuals.)

The sensitivity of your nerves to norepinephrine is increased by several commonly used drugs, including caffeine,

theophylline (in tea), theobromine (in cocoa), and, most selective of all, the prescription drug Hydergine R (Sandoz). These may be beneficially taken in the morning but probably should be avoided in the evening for travelers going from west to east. Relieving the unpleasant symptoms of jet lag is more than just a matter of convenience, though, because we know that disrupted day/night neurotransmitter release patterns are hazardous to your health. When serotonin and norepinephrine release are disrupted, it affects the release of other important chemicals. Growth hormone is one of the most important. Without adequate growth hormone, the immune system does not function well. Since your immune system is your defense against viruses, bacteria, cancer, and atherosclerotic plaques, this is a serious matter. People who frequently travel long distances have been found to have higher rates of many illnesses, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, both of which largely result from inadequate immune-system surveillance. There are a great many ways to stimulate the performance of the immune system with nutrients you can buy in any health food store—but that will have to be the subject of another column. In the meantime, both serotonin and norepinephrine are important growth hormone releasers during sleep. Taking the nutrient supplements mentioned above to prevent jet lag should help prevent both serious disease and the near-ubiquitous minor illnesses that dog the jet-lagged traveler. Before embarking on your next trans-time-zone trip, stop by a vitamin shop and purchase the nutrients mentioned above,and see your physician for a Hydergine R prescription. We follow our own advice; we now wake up alert the first morning in New York City after a good night's sleep, having left Los Angeles the day before. Due to our personal late-to-bed, late-to-rise sleeping habits, this involves a time shift of about six hours. Using the techniques described here, we both feel and perform better on the first morning than we did previously after three days of adaptation.

Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1981 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson. References to this column are available. Send a stamped envelope to this publication and indicate the month of the column. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Jet Lag, or How to Reset Your Internal Clocks".

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Sandy Shaw

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Health & Welfare: Helplessness, Self-Esteem, and Sudden Death SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE APRIL 1981 ISSUE

      Self-esteem is the exact opposite of helplessness, the feeling of being out of control, of being unable to alter the adversities in one's life. Nearly everyone has experienced the feeling of helplessness at some time or another and knows how unpleasant and depressing it can be. Perhaps worst of all, the belief that one is helpless and impotent can become paralyzing self-fulfillment. Recent scientific research has uncovered some of the biochemical mechanisms underlying the helpless state and has provided valuable clues to increasing our control over our own feelings of confidence and avoiding the deleterious effects on health, long-term planning, action, and even life span that can result from feeling helpless. Animals can suffer from helplessness, too. When experimental animals were repeatedly subjected to unavoidable mild electric shock, they became less able to escape an avoidable mild electric shock, even when they could do so by simply moving away a short distance. In animals and people, the perception of helplessness results in an inhibited ability to respond in new situations, less ability to perceive success, and a heightening of emotionality. When helplessness occurs as a result of a single session of unavoidable shock, this condition dissipates in time. But after a number of such events, the effect tends to persist, interfering with ability to learn the connection between actions and results. The belief in helplessness is enough to cause these effects. In one experiment, people had to perform several tasks while listening to a loud, raucous noise. One group of the people were told that they could terminate the loud noise at any time by pushing a control button if they felt that they could not continue the experiment because of the clamor. Another group did not have this option. The result was that the group with the optional control button performed better even though they never used it and even though this button was a dummy that did not control anything. But the people's beliefs that they had control over the experiment prevented them from feeling helpless. Even more startling effects occur. When rats are squeezed in the hand, then allowed to wriggle free and drop into water, they can swim many hours before sinking in exhaustion. When, however, rats are squeezed in the hand just as hard and long and not allowed to wriggle free but simply dropped into the water, they swim about frantically in a poorly coordinated and inefficient manner for only a few minutes, then sink under and drown. A reasonable interpretation is that the rats that wriggled free did not feel helpless because they had "escaped." In fact, some of the helpless rats died in the experimenter's hand before even reaching the water! Among humans, sudden death from helplessness is not uncommon. For example, old people frequently die a short time after retiring or being moved into a nursing home. Sudden deaths may follow loss of a loved one or loss of status or selfesteem. Among 4,500 British widowers 55 years of age or older, there was a 40 percent higher than normal death rate during the six months following the deaths of their wives. Other studies suggest that the risk of contracting cancer and other diseases is also significantly increased by helplessness. It is likely that the well-documented sudden death of some voodoo victims results from helplessness. An important physiological factor associated with helpless states is depletion of norepinephrine in the brain. Norepinephrine is an important chemical used by some brain neurons to communicate with each other. NE is important for learning and memory, primitive drives and emotions, motivation, and long-term planning. NE also causes the brain's pituitary gland to release growth hormone, which is required in adequate quantities for proper function of the immune system—the police force responsible for recognizing and destroying bacteria, viruses, cancer, and atherosclerotic plaques (a type of tumor). Giving rats chemicals that specifically deplete brain supplies of NE results in helpless behavior. On the other hand, giving rats chemicals that increase brain NE (such as the nutrient phenylalanine) seems to prevent helplessness under conditions that would otherwise cause it. We know that depletion of NE can cause depression and that many forms of depression—including amphetamine abuse, schizophrenic, endogenous, and the depressive phase of manic-depression—can be alleviated with the amino acid

phenylalanine, which increases brain levels of NE (the brain converts the phenylalanine into NE; Vitamins C and B-6 are required for this conversion). In one study, 100 to 500 mg. of phenylalanine a day for two weeks was effective for most subjects in entirely alleviating their depression. In some susceptible persons, high doses of phenylalanine (the exact dose depends on the individual) can increase blood pressure. Therefore, people with high blood pressure should start at a very low dose, perhaps 50 mg., while measuring their blood pressure at frequent intervals and increasing the dose gradually over a period of weeks. Phenylalanine should be taken either on an empty stomach just before you go to sleep or immediately upon awakening in the morning. Possible side effects (annoying but not dangerous) include insomnia, irritability, and headache; reduce dosage if any of these occur.

A deficiency of acetylcholine (Ach), another neurotransmitter, can also lead to depression. Ach is important in long-term planning, learning and memory, sleep, sexual function, and mood. Either choline (3 grams/day) or lecithin (80 grams/day) increase brain levels of Ach, and both have improved memory and learning in normal human subjects in clinical studies. Acetylcholine precursors seem to be particularly useful in helping to combat the lethargic depression that often accompanies advancing years. Vitamin B-5 (pantothenic acid or calcium pantothenate) is required for the conversion of choline to acetylcholine in the brain. The prescription drug Deaner R (Riker) also increases brain Ach and has been shown to reduce apathy and to increase motivation in senile people and to improve learning and memory in hyperkinetic children. Ach precursors should not be used in the depressive phase of manic-depressive psychosis because they can deepen this particular type of depression. A good many political problems, such as the propensity of people to look to powerful governments and charismatic leaders to act for them, may be due to feelings of helplessness experienced by people in response to problems like pollution, wars, energy shortages, and pessimism and uncertainty about the future. When people perceive the outcome as being unaffected by their own efforts, helplessness results. Understanding how this process works, how helplessness is produced and how it can be unlearned, and, especially, the underlying biochemical mechanisms that control these feelings is an important start to overcoming the tragedy of human helplessness.

Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1981 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson. References to this column are available. Send a stamped envelope to this publication and indicate the month of the column. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Helplessness, Self-Esteem, and Sudden Death".

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Interpreting Hayek

Sandy Shaw Durk Pearson

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Health & Welfare: DMSO Its uses and mode of action DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE MAY 1981 ISSUE

      DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is one of those drugs caught up in the quagmire of FDA regulations. We have seen it being illegally sold in many health food, hobby, and hardware stores in southern California. It is being sold by mail order, as well, via display ads in major newspapers and magazines. Judging from the prices at which it is offered, much of this quasiillegal DMSO must be of industrial-solvent grade—which contains undesirable impurities such as dimethylsulfone, dimethylsulfide, and benzene—rather than the high-purity reagent, spectrophotometric (very pure DMSO for use as a solvent for substances to be analyzed by the selective absorption of ultraviolet, infrared, and visible light), or pesticide-quality (suitable for pesticide residue analysis) grades. DMSO is also available legally as an industrial solvent and as a prescription drug, RIMSO50 (50 percent DMSO and 50 percent water). The prescription drug is approved by the FDA for the treatment of bladder cysts, and they warn that use of DMSO for any other condition may be dangerous. DMSO has an almost legendary public reputation as a treatment for arthritis and sports injuries. Yet, because so much of that reputation has stemmed from anecdotal accounts (which can provide leads but cannot be considered proof of anything), because there is no patent protection available for DMSO (and consequently little incentive for a private firm to invest in DMSO research), and because the mechanisms of its action were not known until recently, DMSO use has been considered controversial. Now, however, researchers have discovered a major mechanism of its action which explains much if not most, of DMSO's beneficial effects in many cases of pain and swelling of arthritis and in reducing time required for the healing of injuries. At present, this drug is being used by millions of Americans, including sports teams, where injuries can represent a lot of lost income. In 1974 McCord reported his studies indicating that free radicals are responsible for arthritis. Free radicals are molecules or atoms with an unpaired (free) electron, and they are extremely reactive. They are also ubiquitous in living organisms. All air-breathing organisms on this planet contain special protective enzymes (such as zinc-containing superoxide dismutase and selenium-containing glutathione peroxidase) and antioxidants (nutrient factors that both destroy free radicals and block uncontrolled oxidation reactions that result in their formation), including vitamins A, C, E, B-1, B-5, B-6, the amino acid cysteine, and the minerals zinc and selenium. Free radicals are now considered by many scientists to be major causative factors in aging, cardiovascular disease, cancer, emphysema, and many other conditions, including arthritis, dandruff, and acne pimples. Radiation sickness is an example of a pure free radical disease. Radiation kills by creating free radicals, which then attack cell membranes, fats, DNA, RNA, and proteins. Dr. Denham Harman of the University of Nebraska, who originated the free radical theory of aging, calls free radicals "internal radiation." Free radicals arising out of exposure to external radiation such as x-rays represents only a very small part of the total amount of free radicals to which we are exposed. The rest are created during normal metabolism (free radical reactions are a necessary part of energy production) and during the breakdown of peroxidized fats (rancid fats created in the body by exposure of these fats to oxygen or other oxidizers). Although we do contain a generous supply of protective enzymes, the protection is not perfect and, over time, much damage is done. There are different types of free radicals. McCord found that superoxide radicals and hydrogen peroxide (a common byproduct of metabolism) must both be present in order to destroy the lubricating fluids and membranes in our joints. The enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) can protect our joints and other tissues against superoxide radicals; injections of SOD into arthritic joints have sometimes had dramatic effects. The enzyme catalase, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide to harmless products, also provides protection. According to McCord's studies, the agents that actually attack the lubricants in our joints are hydroxyl radicals, the nastiest type of free radical known. They are more reactive than fluorine and are so reactive that they can attack the "inert" or "noble" elemental gas xenon. This is where DMSO comes in. DMSO is not a joint lubricant. DMSO is not an analgesic (pain deadener). Arthritis experiments based on these hypotheses were doomed to failure. DMSO is a powerful scavenger of hydroxyl free radicals. Inositol is another such scavenger, though not as powerful as DMSO. By removing the hydroxyl radicals, DMSO provides excellent protection to joint-lubricating fluids and membranes. That isn't the end of the story, however. After chemically reacting with hydroxyl radicals, DMSO is itself converted to a free radical—not as dangerous as the hydroxyl radicals, but a free radical, nevertheless. Because of this, it is important to use DMSO in conjunction with other antioxidants, like vitamins C, E, and the others mentioned above. Large repeated doses of DMSO have caused cataracts in the eyes of experimental rabbits. Rabbits have relatively poor natural antioxidant enzyme protection compared to humans and, in experiments, could not adequately protect themselves from all those DMSO free radicals. The DMSO radicals oxidized the amino acids cysteine and methionine to their sulfoxide, sulfone, and disulfide

forms, impairing the transparency of the lens and cornea in the rabbits. It is important, therefore, that if you choose to use DMSO you be sure it is very pure, use it externally on limited areas of the body, and take plenty of supplemental antioxidant nutrients. Where do sports injuries come in? We now know that free radical damage is an important part of such injuries. When injuries occur, blood vessels leak blood into surrounding tissues. As the red blood cells hemolyze—that is, break down— they release copper and iron, which are very powerful catalysts of free radical reactions. The blue, black, yellow, and other colors you see in a crushing injury are a result of free radical attacks. The browning of freshly cut fruits such as apples and bananas is another example of free radical reactions, which also damage cell membranes and cause softening. We've found in our personal use that if you apply DMSO quickly enough (preferably in the first half hour, two to four hours at most) to a crushing injury, the colors never form and swelling is greatly reduced. Dr. Harry Demopoulos of New York University and his coworkers found that prompt injection of DMSO reduced the degree of paraplegia occurring in cats that had been subjected to experimental crushing injuries of the spinal cord. Concussion damage to nerves is principally due to free radicals catalyzed by the leaking copper and iron. Using an electron spin resonance spectrometer (an electronic instrument that identifies and counts free radicals), he found that free radical activity increased to over 100,000 times normal several hours after the injury. Perhaps in the future, we will see DMSO in the emergency medical kits of paramedics, as well as sports physicians and veterinarians. References to this column are available. Send a stamped self-addressed envelope to this publication, referring to "DMSO."

H & W QUESTION Q: I live in a small town that doesn't have a health food store. The local drug store carries the usual, run-of-the-mill vitamins but not the more "exotic" nutritional supplements you mention in your columns. Do you have any suggestions about how one might obtain these? A: Your best sources after local vitamin/nutrient shops are mail-order firms. There are many such companies, although the more "exotic" the nutrient, the more searching you may have to do to find a company offering it. Here are a few mail-order companies that offer a wide variety of vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and other nutrients. We have no financial involvement in any of these companies and we accept no responsibility for dealings with them. vitamin C crystals Bronson Pharmaceuticals 4526 Rinetti Lane La Canada, CA 91011 vitamins, amino acids (mostly supplied in formulations) Alacer Corp. Box 6448 Buena Park, CA 90622 empty gelatin capsules Pure Planet Products 1025 N. 48th St. Phoenix, AZ 85008 vitamins, amino acids, food additives Vitamin Research Products 1961-D Old Middlefield Way Mountain View, CA 94043

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1981 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: DMSO".

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Health & Welfare: Getting Rid of Phobias for Good SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE JUNE 1981 ISSUE

      Phobias are all too common. Surveys indicate that over half the population will admit to having a phobia, which probably means that most people have them. In many cases, people can probably live with their phobias without suffering excessively. They may be inconvenient and even embarrassing but are not necessarily a serious problem. However, for the businessman who wants to fly but has a flying phobia or the professional who wants to lecture but has a public-speaking phobia, the consequences of their phobias are debilitating, expensive, and can decrease self-esteem. Although behavioral therapy (gradual desensitization) is sometimes an effective way to get over a phobia, this method consumes a lot of time because the phobic fear has to be alleviated a tiny step at a time. Now there is a new way of very rapidly relieving the acute panic feelings associated with phobias as well as the unpleasant self-perception of being a coward. This approach uses no tranquilizers or sedatives, yet it enables one to quickly, relatively painlessly, and permanently unlearn a terrifying phobia. This new method of treatment, which has been used in many successful clinical studies, is based upon recent advances in understanding underlying psychobiochemistry of phobias. When a person enters a phobic situation, his body responds by releasing adrenalin, while his brain releases its own version of adrenalin, noradrenaline. As a result, the body goes into a classic "fight or flight" state in which the blood is diverted into the muscles and, in the brain, diverted out of the higher cognitive centers in the cerebral cortex and into the primitive, socalled reptile, brain. This type of psychobiochemical response is a good evolutionary adaptation, well suited to a situation such as a saber tooth tiger suddenly leaping at you from behind a bush. But it just doesn't work well when this archaic mechanism is triggered when you are trying to make a speech or learn how to deal with your phobic fears. Your learning capacity is crippled when your thinking brain is shut down by your reptile brain. Phobias do not go away by themselves. Adrenalin and noradrenalin are known to interact with cell receptors called the alpha and beta adrenergic receptors. Drugs that specifically block the beta receptors, so that adrenalin or noradrenalin cannot attach themselves to these receptors, have been used to enable people to get over their phobias with remarkable ease and speed. Three beta blockers are currently available in this country, although there are several available in some European countries. Propranolol is an FDAapproved beta blocker for control of high blood pressure, a condition for which it is very effective. In an English study using a related European high blood pressure control medication called oxprenolol, violin players who had experienced preconcert anxiety used oxprenolol and experienced much less anxiety and were judged by an independent panel of musical experts to have performed better (because their fingers shook less!). In another study, students suffering from chronic examination phobia who were treated with the beta blocker oxprenolol and then given an exam had much less anxiety, with no decrement in their intellectual performance. One of the authors (Sandy) has used propranolol to overcome a public-speaking phobia of many years' duration. Sandy was so afraid of addressing strangers a few years ago that, even with the psychological isolation provided by a telephone, she found it very difficult to make even the most routine business call. This severe phobia even extended to trivial matters, such as a telephone call to an electronics store to ask whether they stocked a certain part. In spite of her wide knowledge, public speaking was utterly out of the question. When Sandy took 30 to 40 milligrams of propranolol about an hour before a public address, she found that it prevented the bodily symptoms of anxiety (hands shaking, sweating, knots in stomach, etc.) and, of far greater significance, prevented her mind from "going blank." There was neither dulling of the intellect nor difficulty in the physical delivery of lectures. Outside of the phobic situation, she could subjectively sense no effect of the drug whatsoever. Best of all, Sandy found that after she had used propranolol to give two or three successful lectures, she no longer had to use the drug. Sandy had two other phobias which promptly and permanently succumbed to propranolol. The first was a fear of flying whose symptoms had previously been temporarily mitigated through the use of meprobamate or Valium R. Each flight required the same tranquilization. A few flights taken with propranolol instead, and the phobia was eliminated, apparently forever. Sandy also had a severe roller coaster phobia. Attempting to ride the repeatedly upside-down, looping ride of the Knott's Berry Farm Corkscrew rollercoaster was a substantial goal. Due to phobic projections of an expected terrifying experience and because a degree of sedation would not interfere seriously with the enjoyment of an amusement park, Sandy used propranolol in conjunction with a European anticholinergic drug called benactyzine. This latter substance impaired vivid phobic memories and projections, while the propranolol disconnected the primitive "fight or flight" system. Sandy was actually enjoying the ride by the time the roller coaster swooped down the first hill—and she was being filmed at the same time for an appearance in our Disney-produced science-adventure-educational film, "Black Holes, Monsters That Eat Space and Time"!

When your thinking brain is not shut down, you can learn how to benefit from your experiences. Propranolol does not eliminate the need for courage to enter a phobic situation, but it blocks the "fight or flight" syndrome that normally prevents the phobic individual from learning to overcome these fears. Your physician is exceptionally well informed if he has heard of this use of propranolol and other beta blockers (approved by the FDA only for the control of high blood pressure), FDA regulations make it a criminal offense for a drug manufacturer to report to doctors on drug uses not specifically approved by the FDA, no matter how scientifically justified, even if the drug has already been approved for some other purpose. The cost of FDA approval for additional drug uses is usually tens of millions of dollars, and the regulatory delay is generally several years. Since the patents on propranolol have expired, it is in no one's economic interest to foot this huge bill. Although very safe (doses used a few times for phobias are typically about as much as those used a few times each and every day for hypertension) and remarkably effective, propranolol will probably never receive FDA approval for the treatment of phobias. It is perfectly legal, however, for your physician to prescribe propranolol for any purpose whatsoever, including the treatment and cure of phobias. Before he is willing to explore this new use for an old drug, you will probably have to give him copies of the relevant scientific literature. A Therapeutic Approach to the Psyche via the Beta-adrenergic System, edited by Kielholz, contains a number of original papers presented at a 1977 symposium; the book is available from University Park Press, 233 East Redwood St., Baltimore, MD 21202. Copyright © 1981 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Getting Rid of Phobias for Good".

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Health & Welfare: Back to Butter? SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE AUGUST 1981 ISSUE

      For a long time, many medical authorities (including the American Heart Association until very recently) recommended substituting polyunsaturated fats in the diet for saturated fats. This is because of the belief that, since polyunsaturated fats reduce serum cholesterol levels, they reduce the risk of heart attack. The findings of several large studies now indicate otherwise. It is true that polyunsaturated fats can reduce serum cholesterol levels to a small degree, but studies have shown that heart attack deaths are not lowered. Not only that, but it appears that cancer deaths are increased in patients with diets high in polyunsaturated fats. New understanding about the biochemistry of fat production and destruction provides a theoretical framework for explaining these otherwise puzzling findings. In polyunsaturated fats, there are double bonds between some of the carbon atoms, whereas saturated fats do not have double bonds to act as chemical reaction sites. Polyunsaturated fats are much more susceptible to autoxidation, when oxygen or its chemical equivalents, without enzymatic control, directly attack the double bond sites and form oxidized fats called organic peroxides. This is the same chemical process that produces what are commonly called rancid (peroxidized) fats. Peroxidized fats are highly toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic. Upon further breakdown they form free radicals—highly chemically reactive molecules with unpaired electrons. Free radicals are strongly implicated as causative agents in aging, cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, cataracts, senility, plus a whole host of other conditions, including such lowly ones as bruises and dandruff. Dr. Denham Harman of the University of Nebraska, the originator of the free radical theory of aging in the late 1950s, calls free radicals "internal radiation." That is a very good description of them because radiation sickness is the result of free radicals created by external radiation. Dr. Harman fed polyunsaturated fatty acids to one group of rats and saturated fats of the same caloric content to another group. On a learning task, the rats fed polyunsaturated fats performed substantially less well than the other group in a period of time that was short compared to the rats' life span. The ease with which polyunsaturated fats are autoxidized is the most probable explanation for this strange phenomenon. When autoxidized (rancid) fats break down to yield free radicals, they can damage other fats, DNA, RNA, and proteins in the surrounding tissues. Since the brain contains far more polyunsaturated fats than does any other body tissue, it is far more susceptible to free radical damage. Our bodies contain a complex system of protective enzymes and antioxidants—substances that react with the free radicals, converting them to less-harmful products. (Common antioxidants include vitamins A, E, C, B-1, B-5, B-6, PABA, the amino acid cysteine, the minerals zinc and selenium, and the synthetics BHT, BHA, propyl gallate, TBHQ, and DMSO.) For example, the brain has two special vitamin C pumps—one in the blood-brain barrier (the selective membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord) and one in each nerve cell membrane—which keep the concentration of vitamin C inside brain cells 100 times higher than in the blood! And during a heart attack, white blood cells carry vitamin C from other parts of the body to the injured heart, even when the other areas have to be depleted of their vitamin C. Free radicals are a necessary part of certain processes, such as the metabolism of food. But without free-radical-control enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, and the natural antioxidants mentioned above, we would quickly die. In fact, all air-breathing organisms on this planet have very nearly the same control enzymes and antioxidants, although in varying proportions and amounts. Radiodurans, a bacteria that lives inside operating nuclear reactors, contains the highest levels of these protective antioxidant enzymes yet observed. Cholesterol itself is an antioxidant. We think that the increases in serum cholesterol seen in some people is a bodily response to an increasing free radical load. It is interesting to note that some antioxidants taken singly in large doses, such as vitamins C and B-6, can reduce serum cholesterol by up to 35 percent or so. In our personal observations, combinations of antioxidants can reduce serum cholesterol by up to 50 percent. Scientists now know that blood clotting is controlled via free radical reactions. A substance called prostacyclin lines the walls in normal arteries and, by keeping platelets in the blood from aggregating, prevents abnormal blood clotting (clots only form in a healthy artery when a hole is torn in it). Free radicals, however, produced in the breakdown of autoxidized (rancid) fats, can interfere with the normal productions of prostacyclin, resulting in abnormal clot formation and hence in cardiovascular problems.

Experiments have shown vitamin E to be an effective preventive of abnormal blood clots. Until recently, it was not understood how it could do this, but its basic biological function as a lipid (fat) antioxidant is the key. Vitamin E can protect the enzymatic prostacyclin-manufacturing apparatus from inhibition by free radical and organic peroxide damage. Rather than substituting polyunsaturated fats for saturated fats—as long recommended—we have radically (no pun intended) increased our intake of antioxidant supplements. It is probably also safest to eat a diet with only a moderate level of fat. Do not eat a lot of polyunsaturated fats, especially without antioxidant supplements added to your diet. Even with the best of diets, the quantity of antioxidants you can get is limited. We purchase cooking oils that are not labeled as being high in polyunsaturates, and we always add BHT (a synthetic antioxidant) to it. Cooking oils often contain a high level of polyunsaturates and become autoxidized (rancid) very rapidly upon exposure to air. With added antioxidants, the shelf life may be many times as long. As Dr. Harry Demopoulos of New York University's Medical School Department of Pathology has said, free radical pathology is as great a breakthrough in medicine as Pasteur's germ theory of disease. We plan to write more on this subject in future columns.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to this publication, referring to the date of this issue. Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1981 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Back to Butter?".

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Health & Welfare: Synthetic vs. Natural Which is better? DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE SEPTEMBER 1981 ISSUE

      We are often asked whether synthetic or natural nutrients are better for health. The function of a nutrient depends upon its chemical structure, not upon its source. A molecule of vitamin C is the same as any other molecule of vitamin C, whether it's made in a soft, green, leafy biological factory or in a shiny, manmade, stainless steel factory. However, advocates of natural vitamins and other nutrients suggest that these substances are often associated in plants with other valuable nutrients, such as bioflavonoids with vitamin C, so that it is better to use nutrients derived from natural sources. Let's consider why a plant contains nutrients such as vitamins C and E. These vitamins and many other nutrients (for example, vitamins A, B-1, B-5, B-6, PABA, the amino acid cysteine, the minerals zinc and selenium, and others) are antioxidants—that is, they block certain uncontrolled spontaneous oxidation reactions that, if left unchecked, would damage various plant structures, including the DNA, their genetic blueprints. Unsaturated fatty acids and structures containing large quantities of them (such as cell membranes and plant seeds) are particularly susceptible to these damaging oxidations. When these fatty acids become oxidized via exposure to air or to chemical oxidizers, they turn rancid. Both the uncontrolled oxidation of the fat and the further chemical degradation of these chemically unstable rancid fats leads to the creation of highly chemically reactive and dangerous entities: free radicals. Their chemical reactivity is very promiscuous; they can attack any molecule in your body and are implicated as a major cause of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and aging. A lethal dose of x-rays kills because the x-rays produce free radicals in matter. Some free radicals are more potent oxidizers than fluorine. These are so ubiquitous that every air-breathing organism on this planet is equipped with a battery of special enzymes and antioxidant nutrients to protect itself from damage by free radicals. Without these enzymes and antioxidants, ordinary air would quickly kill us, as well as all plants and microbes. In a scientific study, it was found that plant seeds were less likely to germinate as the degree of oxidation of their lipids (fats and oils) increased (expressed mathematically as a negative-slope straight-line relation); almost all seeds germinated at low levels of fat oxidation, but none did so at high levels. The very high levels of antioxidants such as vitamins C and E contained by plant seeds are necessary so that the seeds can germinate. But plants also contain many other substances to protect themselves from other enemies, such as animals that might eat them. For example, wheat germ (the embryo in a seed of wheat) contains not only high levels of vitamin E but also high levels of estrogens—female hormones. These hormones act as birth control pills that interfere with the reproductive cycle of female animals and also reduce the libido of male animals eating too much wheat, thereby reducing the number of offspring such animals produce. Cold pressed wheat germ oil also contains considerable quantities of these hormones, so that if a man were to take large doses—say 2,000 IU a day—of natural vitamin E in the form of cold pressed wheat germ oil, he could suffer a reduced libido or even degeneration of the testicles. Indeed, there are more estrogens in a single slice of whole wheat bread than there are in a pound of DES (diethylstilbesterol)-treated calves' liver. About 98 percent of the plant matter on this planet dies before it is eaten either by animals or by insects or by microbes because of contained toxins. Even plants that have been specially bred to be nontoxic, like potatoes and tomatoes, contain toxins that we can detoxify in small quantities at a time but that could kill us in large amounts, such as if we were taking megadoses of potato or tomato extracts. Highly purified natural vitamins, such as vacuum-distilled vitamin E, are nearly free of such toxins, but then there can be no advantage from possible unknown cofactors accompanying these vitamins. In one study of the bioavailability of synthetic vitamin C versus natural vitamin C, the synthetic C turned out to be slightly more bioavailable (usable by the body). One reason for this is that the natural vitamin C is bound to certain plant structures it protects. In order for us to be able to get at this C, our digestive system must break down these plant structures. No such barriers exist in the use of synthetic vitamin C. Bioflavonoids, which are synergistic in function with vitamin C, are contained in only very small quantities in crude vitamin C plant extracts. These bioflavonoids are, however, available inexpensively as relatively pure extracts that may also contain insignificant amounts of natural vitamin C. Many people are allergic to plant substances contained in natural vitamins. We have heard of numerous cases of allergic reactions to products advertised as containing natural C, but never to pure synthetic C crystals.

Finally, synthetic vitamins are less expensive than natural vitamins. Natural vitamin C is a very expensive laboratory curiosity; it costs over $1,000 per kilogram. So-called natural vitamin C sold in health food stores is really almost entirely synthetic vitamin C plus a trace of natural C and other plant extractables, sometimes including allergens and insignificant amounts of plant toxins. When you pay a premium for "natural" vitamin C, you are shelling out your money to pay for a fantasy. But don't worry about the slightly lower bioavailability of natural vitamin C extract; there is so little of it in so-called natural vitamin C that the impaired absorption is irrelevant. The scientific studies showing beneficial uses for vitamins have, in almost all cases, used synthetic vitamins, so that it is possible to attribute the results to a single vitamin under study. As a result, we generally use synthetic vitamins and consider them to be far more cost-effective than natural vitamins (the exception is vitamin B-12, which is most economically produced by fermentation).

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to this publication, referring to the date of this issue. Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1981 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Synthetic vs. Natural".

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Health & Welfare: How to Stay Well The body's defenses SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE OCTOBER 1981 ISSUE

      Potentially deadly bacteria and viruses are all over and within our bodies, ready to take advantage of any chink in our defensive armor. Why, then, are we not all dead? Our immune system, which protects us from these enemies, as well as from cancer cells and atherosclerotic plaques, is busy all the time. Diseases like the flu, colds, arthritis, and cancer cannot happen except when our defenses fail. Recent research has discovered much about how our immune system keeps us well and how to help it to do a better job, whether we are sick or healthy. The immune system is made up of white blood cells (of which there are several types), the thymus gland (behind the breastbone), the spleen, bone marrow, lymph glands, and a variety of large molecules such as antibodies, interferon, and complement. There are two main types of white blood cells: the T-cells, which identify enemies, then kill and eat them; and the B-cells, which make antibodies, generally under instructions from the T-cells. The thymus gland serves as the master programmer of the T-cells, educating them to kill only certain specified enemies and only when they are told to do so. The thymus is supported by growth hormone, supplied by the pituitary gland in the brain. Without adequate growth hormone, the thymus shrinks and becomes less effective in defending the body. Immunity begins in childhood with exposure to various organisms, either through contracting the diseases or via vaccination against those diseases. Some parents believe that it is no longer necessary to vaccinate their children against childhood diseases. What they don't realize is that if the child does not develop immunity, he or she may contract a childhood disease as an adult, when it can have much more serious consequences. For example, when a baby gets polio, the disease is usually like a bad cold; the infant recovers and then has immunity for life. But when an older child or adult gets polio, the risk of paralysis is much higher. The education that a child's immune system receives early in life is very important to his or her later health. Nobel Prize-winning tumor biologist P.B. Medawar has said that everyone probably gets cancer thousands or perhaps even millions of times in his life. Most of the time, our immune system destroys the cancer before we ourselves can detect it. When our immune system is not working up to par, however, those few cancer cells may escape notice and develop into a tumor. What impairs the ability of our immune system to do its job? One important factor is mental state. Depressed individuals tend to have depressed immune systems. Depression is associated with depletion in brain stores of the neurotransmitter (a chemical used by nerve cells to communicate with one another) norepinephrine, NE. NE causes the pituitary gland to release growth hormone. It is also an important neurochemical for mood. People who have suffered a severe personal loss contract cancer at far higher than normal rates during several months following the loss. It is possible to replenish the brain's stores of norepinephrine by taking the nutrient amino acid phenylalanine. In a clinical study, 70 to 80 percent of patients with depressions of several different types (amphetamine abuse, schizophrenic, endogenous, depressive phase of manic-depressive, and others) were entirely alleviated of their depressions by taking 100 to 500 milligrams of phenylalanine per day for two weeks. (Caution: People with high blood pressure should use phenylalanine cautiously and only under a physician's care, since blood pressure elevations may occur in sensitive individuals.) Another important factor that reduces the effectiveness of our immune system is free radicals—chemically reactive and destructive entities created in our bodies as part of normal metabolism, by the breakdown in our bodies of peroxidized (rancid) fat (see our column in the August issue), by white blood cells as weapons for killing enemies, and by radiation. (Radiation sickness is a pure free radical disease, although, normally, radiation contributes only a very small part of the total free radicals to which we are exposed.) Although we have special protective enzymes (such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase) and protective antioxidant nutrients (including vitamins A, C, B-1, B-5, B-6, E, the amino acid cysteine, and the minerals zinc and selenium), protection is not perfect, and, as time passes, damage tends to build up throughout the body. Free radicals are implicated as causative agents in aging, cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and many other abnormal conditions. When oils and fats in the body, especially polyunsaturated fats, are exposed to oxygen (or chemical oxidizers), they become peroxidized (rancid). These rancid fats directly inhibit immune function and also break down, releasing lots of free radicals, further impairing the performance of our immune system. In one experiment, rabbits were fed a small quantity of rancid

oil. Then the activity of the macrophages (a type of white blood cell) in the lungs was measured. The macrophages were greatly inhibited—they didn't move about, actively seeking out and killing enemies, as they should have—because of the presence of the free radicals released in the breakdown of organic peroxides in the rancid oil. This is one reason why overweight people are so much more susceptible to diseases of all types, including heart disease and cancer, than normal-weight individuals: they are full of peroxidized fat. People of normal weight who eat significant quantities of polyunsaturated oils without also taking large supplements of antioxidant nutrients, such as those mentioned above, also run a serious risk of immune system depression. What can we do to stimulate the function of our immune system? In next month's column, we'll discuss some simple nutrients that can boost the body's defenses.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to this publication, referring to the date of this issue. Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1981 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: How to Stay Well".

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Health & Welfare: How to Stay Well Using nutrients SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE NOVEMBER 1981 ISSUE

      Recent research has uncovered a great deal about how the various elements of our immune system—white blood cells, the thymus gland, the spleen, bone marrow, lymph glands, and a variety of large molecules—work to keep us well (see last month's column). More and more is being learned also about how to help the immune system do a better job. We can do quite a bit with some simple nutrients, available without a prescription, which have been shown in animal experiments to improve immune system surveillance.

Vitamin A. A can prevent injury-caused decreases in thymus weight and in the number of thymic lymphocytes (a thymusderived type of white blood cell). It can increase the size of the thymus, even doubling it. 15,000 IU per day is a reasonable adult dose of vitamin A.

Vitamin C. C increases the activity of certain white blood cells that patrol the body looking for bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, and atherosclerotic plaque cells. It also increases the quantity of interferon made in lymphocytes and fibroblasts (connective tissue cells). Vitamin C is lost rapidly via the urine, so it should be taken four times daily. (A convenient schedule is to take it after breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then at bedtime.) Three to ten grams a day is a reasonable dose for a healthy adult. Start at a low dose and work up to higher doses gradually.

Vitamin E. In several species of animals (chicken, sheep, turkey, and rat), vitamin E supplementation at a level of 200 to 2,000 IU of E per kilogram of food resulted in improved immune system responses—10 times greater for B-cells and 3-5 times greater for T-cells. 200 to 2,000 IU of vitamin E is a reasonable daily dose for healthy adults.

Arginine and ornithine, nutrient amino acids. In mice innoculated with MSV (Moloney Sarcoma Virus, a potent cancercausing agent), arginine and ornithine were able to block formation of tumors. Arginine and ornithine increased the thymus weight in both the MSV- and nonMSV-injected mice. These two amino acids cause the brain's pituitary gland to release growth hormone, important in the maintenance of the immune system. Three to ten grams of arginine (or half as much ornithine) at bedtime is a reasonable adult daily dose.

L-cysteine, a sulfur-containing amino acid. Cysteine is an immune system stimulant. It is not as powerful as the chemically related mercaptoethanol, which has been able to restore the immune system function of aged mice (the equivalent of 80 years old for a human) to that of young adult mice; however, there are no long-term use data for mercaptoethanol, and, consequently, more research is needed before people use it on a regular basis. Cysteine is a nutrient and is generally safe to use. It is important, however, to take a few times as much vitamin C as cysteine, because the oxidized form of cysteine (cystine) can form kidney or urinary bladder stones. With adequate vitamin C around, the cysteine will be kept in its reduced (very soluble) form and not be converted to cystine (poorly soluble). One or two grams per day of cysteine taken with three to six grams or more of vitamin C in divided doses are reasonable daily doses for a healthy adult.

Zinc, a mineral (taken in chelated form). Zinc deficiency can cause severe shrinkage of the thymus gland; this can be reversed with zinc. A reasonable daily dose for adults is 50 milligrams of chelated zinc. Zinc is required to mobilize vitamin A from storage sites in the liver.

Selenium, a mineral. Selenium is an important antioxidant in the body. It is estimated by researchers studying selenium that, if people were to take 250 micrograms per day, the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease could be cut by 70 percent and the incidence of cataracts reduced by 80 percent. Selenium is an essential part of the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which is important in preventing damage to the immune system and other systems by organic peroxides, like those formed by the abnormal, nonenzymatically controlled oxidation (via a free radical route) of body fats and oils. In a number of experiments, selenium has demonstrated powerful anticarcinogen (inhibiting development of cancer) and antimutagen (preventing damage to DNA) properties. The most effective, safest, and least-expensive form is sodium selenite. With these nutrients, our body's natural defenses can be stimulated to do a better job at keeping us well.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to this publication, referring to the date of this issue. Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1981 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson.

H&W QUESTION Q: Is there any way to increase the length or thickness of my hair? A: In order to increase the output of hair by hair follicles, you can do several things. One is to increase the supply of amino acids used in the construction of hair. The amino acid cysteine is a particularly limiting factor because it is in relatively short supply even in a person eating a good diet. Hair contains eight percent cysteine, from which it derives much of its structural stability. Disulfide bonds (chemical bonds between sulfur atoms in the cysteine molecules) supply shape and strength to hair. The best dietary source is eggs; one egg contains about ¼ gram of cysteine. We use cysteine crystals purchased from a Japanese manufacturer of amino acids. When you take cysteine supplements, remember to take also at least a few times as much vitamin C (see above). Another thing you can do to promote longer, thicker hair is to prevent free radical damage to hair follicles. Free radicals are highly chemically reactive molecules (or atoms) with unpaired electrons. These are formed during normal metabolism and as a result of various pathological processes, including as a byproduct of nonenzymatic fat autoxidation (self-catalyzed oxidation). The scalp contains a considerable quantity of fatty materials that may become oxidized with exposure to oxygen in the air. Dandruff is an example of a condition resulting from free radical damage. The organic peroxides formed as a result of the oxidation of the scalp's lipids (fats and oils) are irritants. The skin cells in contact with these irritant organic peroxides are stimulated into excess cell division, resulting in the proliferation of excess skin cells, which fall off as dandruff when pushed out by other skin cells growing underneath. Free radicals can also "turn off" or destroy hair follicles or their pigmentproducing melanocytes. Free radicals are mutagens (mutation-causing) and carcinogens (cancer-causing). Use of shampoos containing antioxidants (substances that block uncontrolled oxidation reactions) such as zinc (zinc pyrithione, Head and Shoulders® shampoo) or selenium compounds (selenium sulfide, Selsun Blue® shampoo) provide some protection against free radical damage to hair follicles and may result in a thicker, more luxuriant hair growth. Use of oral supplements of sodium selenite (250 micrograms per day) and chelated zinc (50 milligrams per day) often provides dramatic relief from dandruff, itchy scalp, and rancid hair odors. In our book, Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach, to be published soon by Warner Books, we discuss in detail what we know about the causes of balding, what techniques can stop its progress, and some methods that may even reverse it in some people. —Durk Pearson Copyright © 1981 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: How to Stay Well".

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Health & Welfare: Aging and Health Information sources DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE DECEMBER 1981 ISSUE

      The recent increase of public interest in aging processes and means of intervention has been reflected in a tremendous outpouring of articles and books. Most of these writings contain a good deal of misinformation (such as: "Avoid food preservatives at all costs") and must be read very selectively. Without prior knowledge of what to look for, it is not very likely that reading these would result in an increase in understanding. There are, however, some excellent publications available on this subject. In this column, we review a selection of books that can prepare a careful, intelligent reader (but a college degree is not necessarily required) for planning a rational lifeextension program. Scientific information can be derived from primary sources (the original scientific papers, usually appearing in peerreviewed journals), secondary sources (popular scientific books and publications that interpret the original scientific papers, for example, Scientific American and Science News), or lay sources (popular books). Lay sources tend to contain faddist or ideological thinking and, in our experience, may contain as much as 50 percent incorrect information. Few people will want to read original scientific papers, for which some specialized background is usually required. For those who do, there is a search service available at many large university medical libraries across the country for the National Library of Medicine's MEDLARS computerized data base. For a low price (as little as $10), you can have the over 3,000 journals in the data base searched and receive a printout listing references to scientific papers that involve your area of interest. Suppose you want to know what type of treatments have been tried in a particular type of rare cancer. You have a search done for treatments of this cancer and receive a printout (in the mail) of references. You can then follow up by going to a medical library and obtaining the papers of most interest. The references to papers of recent years usually have a summary of the study's findings, which is of great help in determining which papers you should follow up on. Ask for abstracts with the citations when they are available. There is a large number of excellent secondary sources about aging and its attendant health problems, as well as how to improve your health status regardless of your age. We recommend the following enthusiastically. (But just because a book or publication is not listed here does not mean that we disapprove of it or that it is no good.) Anyone seriously interested in intervening in his or her own aging processes should have a shelf of reliable references. We wholeheartedly recommend the purchase of all of the following books. Isn't your health too valuable to trust to hearsay and popular delusions?

Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach, by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw (New York: Warner Books, forthcoming, spring 1982). This book, aimed at scientists, physicians, and the more intelligent lay public, offers two different types of information. First, a great deal of primary scientific information is reviewed (including hundreds of references). This provides the basis for a theoretical understanding of how aging works, with particular emphasis on free-radical pathology, and of the mechanisms underlying successful intervention in aging processes in both experimental animals and humans. The other type of information is an examination and evaluation of different interventions in human aging, including selfexperiments of Sandy, Durk, and other self-selected human guinea pigs. Sandy and Durk's complete nutrient and antioxidant regimen is included.

Total Fitness in 30 Minutes a Week, by Laurence Morehouse and Leonard Gross (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975, $2.95 paper). Dr. Morehouse was the head of NASA's physiological testing program for astronauts. He wanted to find out what exercise schedule would provide the greatest benefits for the least amount of time. Peak-effort exercise done for only a short time, he found, produced the most benefits in terms of cardiovascular conditioning. He suggests 10 minutes every other day of any exercise you like, as long as you work sufficiently hard for the 10 minutes. Jogging will not do it. This book has a chart showing the heart rate you should try to achieve, depending on your age, and how quickly you should work up to it.

Physician's Desk Reference (Oradell, N.J.: Medical Economics Co., annual, $17.95). We were surprised recently to hear that this is the third best selling hardback book in the country. It is very good news because there is a great deal of vital information in it for anyone attempting a life-extension program. Here is where you will find the side effects of drugs you may be using—unfortunately, doctors rarely inform their patients of side effects. You can learn about undesirable drug interactions, what dosage ranges are typically used, and how fast you can increase (or decrease) your dose.

One thing you won't find mentioned in here are unapproved uses. For example, if you look at the entry for Diapid® nasal spray (Sandoz), you will find information only for its approved use (treatment for a condition of excessive urination), not for a recently discovered unapproved use (improving memory and learning and decreasing reaction time). The federal Food and Drug Administration forbids manufacturers from providing this data to doctors, including merely sending out copies of legitimate scientific papers.

The Life Extension Revolution, by Saul Kent (New York: Morrow, 1980, $12.95), and Secrets of Life Extension, by John A. Mann (Berkeley, Calif.: And/Or Press, 1980, $7.95 paper). Both of these books are excellent introductions to theoretical and practical aspects of current aging science. The Mann book is more oriented to practical application. It contains hundreds of references, a large percentage of which are to the primary scientific literature. Kent's bibliography contains an amazing 750 references, well worth the price of the book by themselves. He is a veteran medical writer with a long list of published articles, many of them in a geriatrics magazine for doctors. His articles are almost invariably impeccably researched, and he rarely draws conclusions that go beyond the data. Both these books have much data on free radicals.

Vitamin C, the Common Cold, and the Flu, by Linus Pauling (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1976, $3.45 paper), and Cancer and Vitamin C, by Ewan Cameron and Linus Pauling (Palo Alto, Calif.: Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, 1979, $9.95). Both these books are musts for anyone seriously interested in improving his health. Vitamin C is an important antioxidant nutrient that does have anticancer properties, as well as performing myriad other functions in the body: stimulating healing (it is required for the synthesis of the protein collagen in connective tissue), stimulating the activity of certain white blood cells, protecting the brain and spinal cord from damaging oxidation (these structures use active transport, requiring considerable energy, to increase the vitamin C content within individual nerve cells to 100 times that in the general circulation), and others. Many of these are discussed in the two books on vitamin C, which are well documented and cover vastly more subject matter than their titles suggest.

Prolongevity, by Albert Rosenfeld (New York: Knopf, 1976, $2.50 paper), and Slowing Down the Aging Process, by Hans J. Kugler (New York: Pyramid, 1974, $1.50 paper). Both of these books were written for a wider public audience than Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach, The Life Extension Revolution, or Secrets of Life Extension. Both of them are excellent introductions to the subject of aging processes and means of intervention. Neither is a how-to book, but they do provide generally clear and accurate information concerning reasonably current thinking in gerontology. Of course, since these were published a few years ago, they lag behind, particularly in the greatly increased recognition of the importance of free-radical pathology in aging and in newer forms of antiaging therapy. Many good references are given to the primary scientific literature. (To be concluded next month.)

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. A list of scientific literature on this topic is available. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to this publication and ask for December h&w references. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Aging and Health".

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Health & Welfare: Aging and Health More information DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE JANUARY 1982 ISSUE

      To continue from last month our listing of good sources of information about aging and how to improve your health:

Supernutrition, by Richard Passwater (New York: B.J. Publishing, 1975, $2.50 paper). This book is seven years old and, consequently, somewhat out of date. However, it was a bit ahead of its time, so there is much of value remaining. For example, it contains cogent explanations for the layman of what free radicals are and how they cause much of the damage that produces aging, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, to name a few. This alone is worth the price of the book. There is also an informative discussion of why cholesterol-reducing diets usually do little, if any, good in preventing heart attacks. There are recommended nutrient regimens—somewhat conservative, by our standards—and uses for individual nutrients are generally well explained. One complaint we have is the rather dry, dull style in which the book is written. Two pages of references are included.

Vitamin B6: The Doctor's Report, by John M. Ellis, M.D., and James Presley (New York: Harper & Row, 1973; out of print, but worth looking for in the used book market). This is a book about clinical results obtained by a doctor with the use of relatively high doses of vitamin B-6 for symptoms of arthritis. The book focuses on practical use of the vitamin rather than explanations of mechanisms. (Vitamin B-6 is an important antioxidant nutrient. A deficiency of B-6 in persons consuming a diet high in meat, for example, can result in the development of atherosclerosis. That is because the methionine in the meat is converted to a substance called homocysteine, which is an oxidant that can promote the damage that causes atherosclerosis. Normally, homocysteine is converted to cystathione, which is an antioxidant. However, the latter conversion requires plenty of vitamin B-6.) There are nine pages of references.

Vitamin E for Ailing and Healthy Hearts, by Wilfrid E. Shute, M.D. (New York: B.J. Publishing, 1972, $1.95 paper). Anyone who plans to use doses of vitamin E of 200 IU or more per day, or who plans to use vitamin E and has a damaged (particularly rheumatic) heart, should read this book. The famous Shute Clinic in Canada has treated about 40,000 patients with vitamin E, and much of the experience is reported here. The book explains how to use the vitamin and the side effects that may be encountered. For example, when vitamin E is first used there may be a transitory blood pressure elevation. That could be important if a person taking vitamin E has high blood pressure. Also, it is possible to get differential benefits in a damaged heart, so that some parts become stronger sooner than other parts, resulting in a strain on the weaker areas. It's all here in this book. There are five pages of references. Highly recommended.

The Healing Factor, by Irwin Stone (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1972, $2.95 paper). This is an excellent book on vitamin C and its many uses. The bibliography (53 pages!) is a good one, with many references to the primary scientific literature. Stone even explains in the beginning how man and all other primates came to be dependent on the environment for their vitamin C (through the loss of an enzyme necessary to manufacture C in our bodies). Dr. Stone, who first interested Linus Pauling in vitamin C, explains how to use vitamin C for herpes and other viral infections, bacterial infections, cancer, heart attacks and strokes, aging, arthritis and rheumatism, allergies, ulcers, diabetes, hypoglycemia, stress, pollution, poisons, wounds, pregnancy, and even mental illnesses. Vitamin C, for example, has been found of value in the treatment of schizophrenia. And vitamin C is required in the brain's manufacture of many neurotransmitters (substances used by brain cells to communicate with each other). Highly recommended.

Nutrition against Disease, by Roger J. Williams (New York: Bantam Books, 1973, $2.25 paper). This is an excellent introduction to the field of nutrition, with many references to original scientific papers, written by the scientist who first identified, isolated, and synthesized pantothenic acid, vitamin B-5. He also did pioneer work on folic acid and gave it its name. There are 31 pages of references. Highly recommended.

Vitamins and You, by Robert J. Benowicz (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1979, $5.95 paper). Robert J. Benowicz used to work for the Food and Drug Administration. He believed the agency's claim that most people can get all the nutrition they require with a knife and fork (in their diet). Benowicz decided to write a book exposing the use of vitamin supplements as a hoax. Being a real scientist, however, he did some literature searching on the subject and found, to his surprise, that the scientific literature didn't support the notion that all nutritional needs can be obtained from even a good diet. When Benowicz tried to bring these facts to the attention of his superiors, he was rebuffed. He quit the agency after that, calling it a "Kafkaesque organization." This book is a good survey of vitamins, as found in the diet and in supplementation. It has one and a half pages of references.

Regulating New Drugs, edited by Richard L. Landau (Chicago: University of Chicago Center for Policy Study, 1973, $5.50 paper). This economic study provides an excellent analysis of the effects of regulations on drug innovation and production in this country. Of particular interest is Dr. Sam Peltzman's section, "The Benefits and Costs of New Drug Regulation." He

found that, considering costs and benefits, consumers were losing at least $250,000,000 per year (in late 1960s dollars) as a result of drug regulations requiring proof of efficacy (the 1962 Kefauver Amendments) using a set of assumptions that are incredibly charitable to the FDA. Dr. Peltzman has shown that these amendments, which have increased the costs of and delayed drug approval, have provided no significant increase in either safety or efficacy. He has also demonstrated that the health costs of a three-month delay in introducing a new drug exceed the health costs of a West German thalidomide maxidisaster once each decade! This book is a real eye opener.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, January. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1982 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Aging and Health".

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Health & Welfare: Bruises, Vegetables, and Life Extension DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE FEBRUARY 1982 ISSUE

      What does a black-and-blue bruise on your leg have to do with the greenness of a package of frozen Brussels sprouts? And what do either of these have to do with life extension? Plenty! When you open up that package of frozen vegetables, such as Brussels sprouts, you are immediately struck by the almost unnaturally green color. But that color is not painted on. It is real. The reason the sprouts have not turned a drab brownishgreen color, as they do naturally, is that they have been bathed in an EDTA solution before packaging. EDTA is a commonly used food additive, a chelating agent that removes heavy metals (such as copper and iron) from the surface of green vegetables.

Chelate comes from the Greek word for "claw"; chelating agents chemically capture and bind many metal ions. Copper and iron in the leaves catalyze (stimulate) the production of free radicals during the oxidation of many of the plant's constituents as it ages after harvesting. These free radicals are what normally make green vegetable matter wilt (by damaging the cell walls) and turn brown after death. In fact, the lovely colors leaves turn in the fall come about partly as a result of free radical reactions. First, the chlorophyll in the leaves is destroyed by free radicals. The leaves are then beautifully colored by the carotenoids (such as yellow beta carotene in carrots) they contain. Finally, the carotenoids themselves are destroyed by free radicals, and the leaves turn brown. Free radicals are highly chemically reactive entities with an unpaired electron, which are created in the bodies of animals and plants while they are alive and even after they die. Because these free radicals are required for many necessary biochemical reactions, both plant and animal organisms have developed an array of protective enzymes (including superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase) and antioxidant nutrients (including vitamins A, B-1, B-5, B-6, C, E, the amino acid cysteine, and the minerals zinc and selenium) to protect themselves against free radical damage. When these radicals get out of control, they can do serious damage to cellular fats, proteins, DNA, and RNA, causing cell death or even cancer. Free radicals are a major mechanism of damage that causes our own aging. But back to the Brussels sprouts for a moment. What is the relation of the browning of the sprouts to your bruise? The copper and iron that catalyze free radical production in the sprouts do the same in crushing injuries that cause blood (which contains lots of iron and copper) to leak into the tissues from broken capillaries. Those black, blue, and yellow colors in a bruise are created by the uncontrolled chemical attack of free radicals on substances in the tissue. Chelating agents—which bind, inactivate, and remove these heavy metals from an injury—can greatly reduce the damage and speed healing. Spinal cord injuries, far more serious than mere bruises, have been successfully treated with D-penicillamine, a powerful chelating agent. It is possible to dramatically reduce the degree of paraplegia that would ordinarily result from an experimental spinal cord injury in cats by prompt injection of D-penicillamine. By chelating the heavy metals in the injured area, the D-penicillamine inhibits the development of a free radical chain reaction that can literally destroy the spinal cord tissue by converting the highly polyunsaturated lipids (fats and oils) there into organic peroxides, generating more free radicals in a chain reaction. Without chelation of the iron and copper leaking from the hemolyzing (breaking down) red blood cells that have escaped from broken capillaries, free radical activity in the crushed area increases by more than 100,000 times within four hours! D-penicillamine has also been used in the successful treatment of some cases of severe rheumatoid arthritis.

Caution: D-penicillamine chelation therapy should be done only by a physician experienced in this type of therapy. (A different compound, L-penicillamine, is a very dangerous substance and can be lethal.) Chelation has been tried successfully for extending the life span of experimental animals. Sincock and his coworkers treated microscopic organisms (the rotifer Mytilina brevispina) by immersing them briefly in solutions of one of the chelating agents sodium citrate, sodium tartrate, EDTA, and EGTA. Their lives were extended by all the treatments—up to 75.9 percent with EGTA. The treated rotifers did not accumulate nearly as much calcium with age as the untreated rotifers did. Chelating agents are now being used to treat people for a number of conditions. In heavy metals poisoning, such as lead intoxication, the combination of EDTA and vitamin C has been found particularly effective, especially in removing lead from the brain, where it does the most harm. Vitamin C alone helps prevent the buildup of heavy metals by helping to keep them in solution in the blood, where they can be eliminated via the urine. Some good results have been obtained with EDTA chelation therapy for atherosclerosis in cases where there are abnormally high plasma lipids. Plasma lipid levels were lowered to normal or near normal in some patients who had elevated levels. Plasma levels returned to their original levels after EDTA therapy was stopped but fell again when it was reinitiated. In

atherosclerosis patients with normal plasma lipid levels, there was little or no plaque reduction with EDTA. Recently, a chelated form of copper, copper salicylate, has been found very effective in interacting with superoxide free radicals, thereby preventing much of their damaging effects to synovial fluids and joint membranes in some types of arthritis (for example, rheumatoid arthritis). The antiinflammatory effects of aspirin work in a similar way by inhibiting the synthesis of inflammatory prostaglandins that are formed via a free radical route. These copper salicylates work much like the natural antisuperoxide-free radical enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) and are sometimes called artificial superoxide dismutases. Since the SOD-like copper salicylate chelate is not FDA-approved yet, you can't purchase it at your drugstore. Fortunately, you can easily make it in the convenience and privacy of your own stomach. Any drug store will sell you 350-milligram sodium salicylate tablets without a prescription. Any health food and many drug stores have chelated copper nutritional supplements. These usually contain 2.5 milligrams of copper bound by a relatively weak chelator such as glycine or gluconic acid. Many arthritis sufferers have obtained relief by taking one tablet of each four times a day; the copper salicylate chelate promptly forms in your stomach. Our bodies contain a number of natural chelating agents—several special metal-binding proteins, citric acid, gluconic acid, and the amino acid glycine, for example—to help control the quantities and availabilities of trace heavy metals in our blood required for certain metabolic reactions. Sometimes these natural control systems break down, resulting in illness. For example, some schizophrenics have excessive levels of copper in their blood. They can sometimes be treated by chelation. However, since all trace metals are removed by chelation, it is necessary to add some of these back. Only an experienced physician should administer treatments using powerful unselective chelating agents such as EDTA and D-penicillamine. Copper salicylate and nutrient chelating agents such as citric and gluconic acids, on the other hand, can be self administered.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, February. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Bruises, Vegetables, and Life Extension".

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Health & Welfare: Sleep and Your Health DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE MARCH 1982 ISSUE

      Although our understanding of the biochemical and physical processes underlying sleep is still rather crude, we now know enough to be able to modify some of them repeatably. Sleep is an altered state of consciousness from that of our everyday world. We are put to sleep by increased quantities of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter (chemical used for communication between nerve cells) that decreases the firing rate of certain nerve cells. The quantity of serotonin in the brain depends on a day-night clock cycle maintained by the brain. Even in the absence of any external dark or light signal to establish the time of day, most people run on a 23- to 26-hour daily rhythm. Serotonin is manufactured by the brain from the nutrient tryptophan, which may be obtained from the diet (for example, bananas or milk) or from a nutritional supplement purchased in a drug or health food store. In order for the brain to convert the tryptophan to serotonin, vitamins C and B-6 are required, so supplements of these ought to be taken with tryptophan for best results. Animal studies have shown that after a large carbohydrate meal more tryptophan enters the brain; insulin released in response to the carbohydrates alters the binding properties of tryptophan to the protein that carries it in the bloodstream. This phenomenon explains, at least in part, why so many people fall asleep at lectures after lunch! Another aspect of sleep is staying asleep once serotonin has induced us to enter that state. The cholinergic nervous system in the brain uses the neurotransmitter acetylcholine to regulate the input of stimuli from the outside world. When we sleep, this input is greatly reduced, allowing us to stop paying attention to our surroundings and enter the sleep state. Taking

choline (along with vitamins B-1 and B-6, which are required for its conversion to acetylcholine by the brain) can help us to stay asleep. Lecithin (which contains phosphatidyl choline) and the prescription drug Deaner® (Riker) are also effective. Why do we need sleep? This is a question that has interested scientists and nonscientists alike since time immemorial. We still do not know, but there are hypotheses. An interesting hypothesis is that REM (rapid eye movement) sleep may serve to increase our brain's supplies of certain neurotransmitters, the catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine), that are important for learning, memory, long-term planning, emotions, primitive drives, motor activity, and other functions. An increase in these substances has been measured in the brains of experimental animals after REM sleep, and a lack of REM sleep has been known for many years to reduce ability to concentrate and focus and to increase aggressiveness and bad judgment. REM is associated with dreaming, a fascinating altered state of consciousness. It is initiated in the brain by a release of the hormone vasopressin by the pituitary gland. It is currently available as a prescription drug, Diapid® (Sandoz), used to treat a condition of excess urination caused by a deficit of vasopressin. We have experimented with this drug (because it has been shown to increase intelligence and improve memory in several human clinical trials) and found that it increases the ability to visualize. Thus, its connection with dreaming is not surprising. Another hypothesis concerning why we sleep is that it removes individuals from the relatively more dangerous night environment to the relative safety of the home territory. It puts us "on hold," so to speak. One important event that takes place about 90 minutes after we begin to sleep is the release of growth hormone (GH), triggered by serotonin and dopamine. Growth hormone is necessary for the proper function of our immune system—the white blood cells, thymus gland (located behind the breastbone), spleen, bone marrow, and various chemicals, including antibodies, interferon, and complement. The thymus gland enables certain white blood cells, called T-cells, to identify and attack entities that are foreign to the individual's body. When there is inadequate GH, the thymus shrinks in size and the white cells don't do as good a job of locating, killing, and eating bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Certain of these white cells instruct other white cells (called B-cells) to make antibodies. This, too, is performed less well when there is inadequate GH. Older people release less growth hormone than younger people do, and this is suspected by some scientists studying aging, including ourselves, to be an important factor in the rapid decline in health that occurs after young adulthood. It is possible to bring GH release back up to young-adult levels by taking supplements, including the nutrients L-tryptophan, L-arginine, and L-ornithine (amino acids) and the prescription drug L-Dopa (also an amino acid). Taking these just before bedtime increases GH release at a natural place in the daily cycle. Other stimulants of GH release include exercise, fasting, and hypoglycemia.

Reducing sleep without disturbing the brain's chemistry may be an effective strategy for life extension; even if we don't live any more years than is normal, we can increase our subjective life spans by up to about a third. Although it is possible for at least some individuals to function with very small amounts of sleep, data indicate that, for most of us, sleeping seven to eight hours a night is normal, and any substantial deviation from that amount is usually associated with a reduced life span. Staying awake for prolonged periods results in a psychotic state (including hallucinations and paranoid delusions) that closely resembles that seen in chronic abusers of amphetamines. They both result in depletion of brain stores of norepinephrine, an important neurotransmitter. Staying awake for a couple of nights has been of benefit to some people with depression, possibly by a mechanism involving a resetting of day-night cycles. It is known that REM deprivation reduces the threshold for electrical shock convulsions. Thus, it may activate an overly inhibited (depressed) nervous system. Finally, we'd like to close this column with a little sleep experiment you can try. Vitamin B-12 increases the brain's manufacture of RNA and has other interesting properties: it promotes the appearance of colored dreams! We and others have noted this when we have taken high doses of B-12 after a period of abstinence (you quickly develop tolerance to the effect). A dose of 1,000 micrograms is a reasonable adult dose that often, but not always, produces vivid, brightly colored dreams. They may be so vivid that they wake you up. It must be taken immediately before going to sleep and seems to work about half of the time. Sweet dreams (or, if you prefer, happy nocturnal hallucinations).

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, March. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. Copyright © 1982 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Sleep and Your Health".

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Health & Welfare: The Great Sugar Debate DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE APRIL 1982 ISSUE

      Sugar has become a scare word to many people, while others continue to use it but wonder whether they are harming themselves. You can eat sugar in a responsible manner—if you understand why sugar can cause problems when used excessively. Sucrose, or table sugar, tastes good to most people and to most animals as well. Raw sugar, brown sugar, beet sugar, and cane sugar are all composed largely of sucrose. Recently, many books and articles have claimed that sugar is literally a poison and should be avoided like the plague. It is being blamed for heart disease, diabetes, and many other conditions. What are the facts about sugar? Must we avoid it, or can we use it in moderation? When we eat sugar, insulin is released into the bloodstream. Insulin is a potent hormone required by most cells to remove sugar from the bloodstream and utilize it for generating energy. Insulin has many far-reaching effects beyond this necessary function, however. It has been shown to cause lipids (fats) to be deposited in arterial walls, and it increases fat storage in adipose (fatty) tissues by stimulating the synthesis of lipids and inhibiting their breakdown. It is also known that diabetics who are able to control their blood sugar levels by dietary means, rather than by taking insulin, may avoid most of the complications suffered by insulin-using diabetics—cardiovascular disease, blindness, etc. Insulin also blocks the actions of growth hormone, which is necessary for proper function of the body's police force, the immune system. The decrease in output of growth hormone by the brain's pituitary gland with age is thought to contribute to the increased incidence of cancer, heart disease, and infectious disease with increasing age. Sugars are not equal in their abilities to release insulin. Glucose (grape sugar) releases the largest amounts of insulin most rapidly. Sucrose (cane, beet, brown sugar, part of honey) is next. Fructose (fruit sugar, com syrup, most of honey), releases insulin more slowly; however, it may elevate serum triglycerides more than sucrose does. Xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, and inositol do not release or require insulin. Of course, artificial sweeterners such as Aspartame®, cyclamate, and saccharin do not release or require insulin either. With the exception of children with the genetic defect PKU, who should not use large amounts of the amino acid phenylalanine that makes up part of Aspartame®, we consider any of these artificial sweeteners to be at least as safe as sugar for normal people and to be far safer for the obese and diabetic. It is possible to reduce lipids in the bloodstream and to reduce their deposition in arterial walls with nutrients such as

niacin (3 grams per day in one study reduced serum cholesterol by 25 percent and triglycerides by 30 percent in human subjects after only two weeks), and vitamin C (0.5 gram three times a day reduced cholesterol by 35–40 percent in a human clinical trial).

Warning: If you use the acidic forms of either vitamin C or niacin in quantities of a gram or more a day, you should neutralize the acidity with baking soda or (if you are on a low-sodium diet) a nonsodium-containing antacid recommended by your doctor. This is important because it is possible for gastrointestinal damage to occur from megadoses of these vitamin acids without there being noticeable pain or discomfort. Acid vitamin problems can be minimized by taking them immediately after meals. Excessive ingestion of sugar can lead to reactive hypoglycemia. When eaten, sugar stimulates the release of insulin. Insulin has a much longer half-life in the bloodstream than sugar does (it takes much longer for the insulin than for the sugar to decrease by half). When the excess sugar is used up, insulin is still circulating in the bloodstream. This insulin burns more sugar and can keep blood-sugar levels abnormally low for hours after the original sugar was eaten. It has been found that certain sulfur-containing compounds, such as the nutrient amino acid cysteine, are able chemically to deactivate the insulin molecule (by reducing one or more of its disulfide bonds). A combination of vitamins B-1, C, and

cysteine is a very effective remedy for reactive hypoglycemia and its unpleasant symptoms. One gram of B-1 and of cysteine and 3 grams of C would be a reasonable dose for a healthy adult. Insulin can block the effects of a vital hormone, growth hormone, released by the brain's pituitary gland, about an hour and a half after we fall asleep. This hormone is essential for optimum function of the thymus gland (located behind the breastbone), the master gland of the immune system.

It is the thymus that instructs certain white blood cells, called T-cells, which entities in our bodies to consider foreign and, therefore, to locate, kill, and eat. If the thymus fails to give proper instructions (which can happen when there is inadequate growth hormone), the T-cells may not kill a cancer cell in your body or they may make a mistake and attack some of your own cells (which happens, for example, in rheumatoid arthritis). The T-cells also activate other white blood cells called B-cells that produce antibodies. An error here means poor antibody defenses against infections or even antibodies against your own tissues. It is important that sucrose (table sugar in all its varied forms, as listed above) and other insulin-requiring sugars not be eaten within a few hours of bedtime so that the release of growth hormone is not inhibited by insulin. The problem of sugar-stimulated dental caries may not necessarily be a serious one because of the availability of prescription phosphate-fluoride mouthwashes (an example is Hoyt Phos-Flur®), which are capable of preventing cavities and even repairing small ones if used regularly. The organism responsible for most decay is streptococcus mutans, for which a vaccine has been developed. If the vaccine is ever able to pass the FDA gauntlet, the ultimate solution to dental caries will be upon us. One sugar problem that is not due to eating sugar is false readings in clinical laboratory blood-sugar tests, caused by large doses of vitamin C and other anti-oxidant nutrients such as cysteine and B-1. These nutrients interfere chemically with the most common of these clinical laboratory tests, giving falsely high blood-sugar readings with the orthotoluidine test and falsely low readings with the glucose oxidase test. We use the hexokinase test, which is free from these interferences. You should ask for this test because it is not used as frequently as the others, being somewhat more expensive. When used in moderation and not within a few hours of going to sleep, we do not consider table sugar to be a health problem in nondiabetic, nonobese people who practice good oral hygiene. We ourselves occasionally enjoy sweet desserts without fear of harming our health.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, April. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists, authors, and TV personalities. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: The Great Sugar Debate".

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Durk Pearson Sandy Shaw

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Health & Welfare: Conflicting Medical Worldviews SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE MAY 1982 ISSUE

      Many people, including some doctors, believe that medical knowledge, drugs, and other technology should be used only for the amelioration or prevention of disease. This is also the position of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Medically improving the normal human condition is anathema to these people—a good example is the attitude that many doctors had toward plastic surgery when it first became available. New drugs (or new applications for old drugs) that are available to many of us will widen this already serious schism in medical philosophy. These include extant drugs that increase normal human intelligence, slow aging processes, enhance sex and other sensory experiences, and give us greater control over our body weight and emotional states, to give just a few examples. Nothing is perfectly safe. This means that we must assess the possible benefits and risks of the use of any substance, whether synthetic or natural, drug or nutrient. Risks include discomfort or even physiological damage from side effects, time and money invested, and forgone opportunities. In some people, for example, vitamin E use will initially produce a temporary rise in blood pressure, which could be hazardous for some heart disease patients. Some doctors think that they should decide for you what level of risk is acceptable to you for a particular benefit. This is the source of a controversy that extends far beyond the medical sphere. In this column, we write about scientific reports on drugs and nutrients we use and describe our experiences with them, but just because we have found a particular benefit/risk ratio acceptable does not mean that you will. The optimal doses for us will differ from yours. You must make an assessment based upon your own values and physiology. It is not possible in a short column to include a comprehensive description of all possible risks that may be associated with a particular drug or nutrient. Whole books have been written on the subject. No one should embark upon a course of taking substances without investigating carefully, preferably by referring to primary scientific literature. The Physician's

Desk Reference is very useful (and was recently the third-best-selling hardback book in the country). It is important to have regular clinical laboratory tests for basic functions, such as those of blood, liver, and kidneys. You should consult with your physician (if you're not satisfied with yours, get another), who can order tests and prescribe drugs. In medicine today there is a large gray area of illicit (not FDA-licensed) but not illegal technology. A good example is that of the gout medicine Anturane®, which was recently found in a human clinical trial to reduce by 74 percent the risk in males of death from a second or subsequent heart attack. The FDA has not approved Anturane® for this purpose, yet prescription drug usage surveys have shown that over 90 percent of new prescriptions written for Anturane® are for heart patients, not for gout victims. It is perfectly legal for a doctor to prescribe a drug (except for "controlled substances," such as amphetamines and narcotics) for any purpose he chooses, whether or not the drug is approved by the FDA for that purpose. Since the FDA approves drugs only for the prevention or treatment of specific diseases, finding a doctor who will prescribe drugs for nonapproved uses is very helpful to anyone wishing to experiment with approved drugs that may have wider utility than supposed by the FDA or that may even improve a normal human function. We now see offered a wide range of nutrients in health food and vitamin stores. The public buys an immense number of health-oriented books and periodicals that purport to advise them on the use of these substances. Much of the advice found in popular books and magazines is incorrect. The point we want to make here, however, is that it is possible to sell nutrients without even making claims for them because books are making such strong claims for some of them. Although the Proxmire vitamin bill of the early 1970s prevents the FDA from regulating the sale of nutrients (unless they can prove them to be hazardous), including vitamins A and D, the FDA still prohibits purveyors from making health claims on the label. As we have all seen, many small firms are making claims for their nutrient products in advertising (other than the label) and are becoming ever more bold in doing so. Even unapproved substances such as thymosin (a thymus hormone showing great promise as an anticancer drug, as well as being a powerful immune-system stimulant) may be legally manufactured and sold intrastate. When people catch on to this, there will be even more freedom of choice in the medical marketplace. Medical organizations are changing, too. The American Medical Association once claimed to represent essentially all American doctors, with about 90 percent joining. A majority of new doctors now choose not to join the AMA. Where the medical profession once spoke with nearly a single voice, that is no longer true. Medical philosophy used to be a monopoly of doctors and regulators who were able to impose their values on everybody else at the point of a policeman's gun. This is changing. The availability of more and more options in medicine—not just for the prevention and cure of disease, but for the improvement of normal human function—means that personal medical

decisions will become ever more frequent and complex. The key to evaluating these opportunities rationally is good information, particularly primary scientific literature, and inexpensive literature searches, such as MEDLARS, offered by many large medical school and university life-science libraries. In the final analysis, the central moral and philosophical question is freedom of choice. Do you choose your own combination of risks and benefits based on personal values, or does some authority choose for you and enforce that choice with the apparatus of police, courts, guns, and prisons? Whose life is it, anyway?

Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists and authors. A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, May. Copyright © 1982 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Conflicting Medical Worldviews".

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Health & Welfare: Preservatives Fresh facts DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE JUNE 1982 ISSUE

      "Preservatives may be preserving you…I think that's something you missed." —from "Eat Starch, Mom," lyrics by Grace Slick Preservatives may be preserving you, says the rock-and-roll singer. Others believe just as vehemently that food preservatives should be avoided like the plague. What are the facts? Food ages, just as living organisms do, and by similar chemical processes. One of the most important of the food-aging processes is the oxidation of fats and oils. Fats and oils contained in foods are subject to spontaneous, self-catalyzed oxidation (autoxidation) reactions when exposed to air. Both the creation and the breakdown of the oxidized fats result in the formation of chemically reactive and highly promiscuous entities called free radicals. Free radicals are mutagens (mutation causers), carcinogens (cancer causers), and a major cause of aging, both in food and in living organisms. In living plants and animals, special enzyme systems and antioxidants (substances that block uncontrolled oxidation reactions) control free-radical reactions. Uncontrolled free radicals can do serious harm (they are implicated as causative factors in aging, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, as well as a host of less deadly but still unpleasant conditions). Free radicals are necessary, however, in some normal metabolic reactions, such as the burning of food for energy. Without the free-radical-control enzymes (such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase) and antioxidants (like vitamins C, E, B-1, B-5, B-6, the amino acid cysteine, the minerals zinc and selenium), all air-breathing organisms on this planet would quickly die. Foods are tissues of dead animals or plants. The fats and oils in these tissues are still susceptible to oxidation. (Polyunsaturated fats are particularly easy to oxidize.) Since the organism is no longer actively synthesizing the control enzymes and antioxidants, the fats and oils in these foods are especially vulnerable to oxidation (becoming rancid). Manufacturers of foods such as potato chips and cooking oils used to add antioxidants such as BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) to protect the fats from oxidative degradation. But now, in response to misinformed public clamor for removal of preservatives, most such foods contain no antioxidant additives. The sad fact is that such foods are much more dangerous to eat without added antioxidants than with them. An experiment in which oils were fed to rabbits showed that even oil that is only slightly oxidized, in which a rancid smell cannot yet be detected, contained enough oxidized fats to inhibit the rabbit alveolar macrophages (lung white blood cells, part of the immune system) from ingesting bacteria. If our white blood cells were as sensitive as a rabbit's (fortunately, they are not), it would take only a few teaspoons of these slightly oxidized oils to reduce the activity of these white blood cells by 50 percent! Our alveolar marcrophages are an important defense against lung cancer; healthy, active alveolar macrophages seek out, identify, kill, and eat cancer cells. Manufacturers of foods have turned to other means of protecting foods containing fats and oils. One successful method is to package the food in an airtight container such as a tin can, bottle, or plastic bag lined with aluminum foil. Of course, once the container is opened and the food exposed to air, it should be eaten immediately—or you can add your own antioxidants. Leftovers such as meats develop off-flavors that are a reflection of the level of oxidized (rancid) fats they contain. Whenever we want to save these foods for later eating, we coat them with one of several antioxidants. Ascorbyl palmitate, a fat-soluble form of vitamin C, is particularly good for this because it is a powerful antioxidant and excellent synergist with other antioxidants and has little or no flavor of its own. The food is placed in a self-closing plastic bag, ascorbyl palmitate powder is sprinkled generously over the food, the bag is shaken to disperse the powder, the excess air is squeezed out, the bag is zipped closed, and then the food is refrigerated. You can do a simple experiment comparing food stored in this manner to food stored without added antioxidant that will demonstrate how much longer it takes the treated food to develop a rancid odor. Autoxidation of fats and oils takes place in the bodies of living plants and animals such as ourselves. The brain is particularly susceptible to autoxidation because it contains a higher content of polyunsaturated fats than any other organ in the body. In one experiment with Sprague-Dawley rats, animals fed semisynthetic diets (which did not significantly affect the death rate) made more errors on a maze test when larger amounts of polyunsaturated fats were fed in place of saturated fats. Free-radical damage resulting from the autoxidation of the excess polyunsaturated fats is a likely explanation.

Many people have strong negative feelings about food preservatives, especially synthetic ones. BHT, which has long been accused of causing cancer, is a good example. Yet the fact is that numerous experiments in both animals and cell cultures have demonstrated that BHT inhibits the development of many different types of cancers. It reduced the number of chromosome breaks in cells exposed to benzoalphapyrene, a powerful carcinogen and a product of almost any type of combustion. In another study, nude mice exposed to ultraviolet light but fed antioxidants (including BHT, which was later found to provide most of the protection) developed far fewer skin tumors than control mice. In the Soviet Union, BHT is sometimes used as part of cancer therapy. Some scientists believe that the drop in stomach cancer in the United States since World War II is largely due to antioxidants such as BHT added to the food supply. BHT has also increased the lifespans of several species of experimental animals. Cancer-resistant strains of mice lived about 25 percent longer when given BHT, while a cancer-prone strain lived about 50 percent longer than normal. BHT given to pregnant mice, in one study, increased the lifespan of their offspring by about 20 percent, even though the young mice received no BHT after weaning. This is thought to be due to BHT's ability to prevent mutations. So the next time you see a package of food in your supermarket bragging that it contains no preservatives, remember that preservatives may be preserving you and that unpreserved fats and oils spontaneously turn into immune-system suppressive carcinogens when exposed to air. We hope that widespread public knowledge of these facts will lead to the return of routine antioxidant preservative use and to the development of even more effective new antioxidants.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, June. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Preservatives".

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Health & Welfare: Sex Play DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE JULY 1982 ISSUE

      The biochemistry of sex is complex, and much remains to be determined. Discoveries about some aspects of sexual function, however, allow individuals more control of sexual expression and satisfaction. In this column, we discuss a few ways to augment sex experiences. Areas of the brain involved in sex use the primitive neurotransmitters (substances used by nerve cells to communicate with each other) acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. When there are inadequate quantities of these neurotransmitters or the nerve-cell receptors are insensitive or too few in number, there can be a decrease in sexual interest and activity. Depression is usually accompanied by a decline in sexual interest. In several clinical trials, depression often responded to small quantities of the amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine, which are used by the brain to make both dopamine and norepinephrine. In one clinical trial, about 80 percent of depressions of a wide variety of types were completely alleviated by 100–500 milligrams of phenylalanine a day for two weeks. Excess phenylalanine can cause irritability, aggression, and insomnia. For best results, take on an empty stomach (some amino acids compete with each other to enter the brain). Tyrosine has also been found effective in similar doses. A word of caution: persons with high blood pressure should use tyrosine or phenylalanine with care because, at high doses, a small percentage of sensitive persons may experience higher blood pressure. Start at a low dose and increase slowly over a period of days to a few weeks, measuring blood pressure frequently while doing so. Dopaminergic stimulants (substances that activate parts of the brain using dopamine as a neurotransmitter) such as the amino acid prescription drug L-Dopa and the ergot derivative prescription drug bromocriptine frequently cause an increase in libido as a side effect. Medical authorities often consider this a problem in institutionalized patients! Sometimes, depression may be alleviated by increasing brain supplies of acetylcholine (except in the depression of manicdepressive psychosis, which may be worsened). This may increase sexual activity as well; in our limited clinical experience, nobody under the age of 40 has had this experience, but it is common in people in their 50s and 60s. Choline, lecithin, and the prescription drug Deaner® (Ricker Laboratories) increase brain acetylcholine. Effective dosages were 3 grams a day of choline or 80 grams a day of lecithin. Vitamin B-5 is required for the conversion to acetylcholine, so a supplement of this vitamin should also be taken for best results. In some clinical trials involving older persons, only a minority benefited, which we think may be due to inadequate availability of vitamin B-5. Too much cholinergic stimulation results in aching or stiff muscles or headache. The amino acid tryptophan has recently been found to be very effective in alleviating some depressions, especially those involving excessive aggression and sometimes violent suicidal attempts. Tryptophan is converted in the brain to the inhibitory neurotransmitter that decreases nervous activity, serotonin. In some patients given tryptophan, hypersexuality developed. Typical human doses are 1–3 grams taken at bedtime on an empty stomach. Too much tryptophan can cause drowsiness, headache, and stuffy nose. One of the chemical events leading to orgasm is a release of histamine, a substance with many functions. For example, it is a growth promoter required for healing (it causes that itchy sensation in healing wounds). In people and animals having inadequate histamine release, orgasm may be difficult or even impossible to achieve. Histidine is an amino acid that is converted into histamine in the body. It is found in foods such as meats, dairy products, and some wines. In order for the histidine to be made into histamine, vitamin B-6 is required. Niacin is of interest because it causes the release of histamine, producing the flushing and itching some people complain of when they take large doses of niacin and the sex flush described by Masters and Johnson. We often take a dose of niacin a half-hour or so before having sex, because it augments the natural histamine release associated with orgasm. About 20–25 percent of male impotence results from the pituitary gland's excess secretion of the hormone prolactin. Inadequate dopaminergic stimulation, which generally declines with age, is one cause of such excess secretion. The prescription drug bromocriptine (Parlodel®, Sandoz) suppresses prolactin and is very effective in reversing this type of male impotency. Bromocriptine also increases libido in about 80 percent of those who take it, whether male or female. It has other unusual effects, as well. Some postmenopausal women given bromocriptine for excess prolactin begin menstrual cycling again and are warned to use contraceptives to prevent possible pregnancy at advanced ages. This phenomenon has interested us in the possible use of bromocriptine and related compounds for use against aging clocks (of which menopause is one).

Vasopressin is another pituitary hormone that has several functions, including regulation of urine volume. It is also involved in learning and memory. In a study of men in their 50s and 60s, 16 iu a day (about 8 snorts) of the intranasally administered prescription drug Diapid® (Sandoz), a synthetic version of vasopressin, caused a significant increase in memory and learning, as well as a faster reaction time, and did not have any side effects. (Vasopressin should be avoided by those with angina pectoris, however, because it may initiate an attack.) We have been using vasopressin for its intelligence-boosting effects for a few years and also found that it prolongs and intensifies orgasms, an effect not mentioned in the scientific literature! It has a short half-life in vivo, less than two hours, and should therefore be used just before sex if it is to have the orgasm-enhancing effect. A vitamin may be able to increase your sexual stamina. Vitamin B-5 (pantothenic acid or calcium pantothenate) is a part of the co-factor acetyl coenzyme A that is required to produce energy in the body via the Krebs cycle, and also for the manufacture of acetylcholine. B-5 should be taken with choline, lecithin, and, possibly, Deaner®. In one experiment, rats were provided with diets either deficient, adequate, or high in calcium pantothenate. They were then swum to exhaustion in 18 degrees C (64 degrees F) water. Swimming times were: deficient 16 + ? 3 minutes adequate 29 + ? 4 minutes high 62 + ? 12 minutes Human experiments with cold-water stress are in agreement with these findings. A reasonable dose of calcium pantothenate (the most stable form of vitamin B-5) is 1–2 grams a day for a healthy adult. Start at a low dose and work up to the 1–2 grams over a period of a few days or so. Vitamin B-5 is a peristaltic stimulant and can be used as a very effective nonirritating laxative. We have not yet mentioned the classical steroid sex hormones such as the androgens and estrogens. We have written quite a bit on this topic, including instructions for minimal-risk postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy, in our justpublished book, Life Extension: a Practical Scientific Approach.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, July. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Sex Play".

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Health & Welfare: Hope for Herpes DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE AUGUST 1982 ISSUE

      Herpes viruses cause some of the most common of human diseases: herpes type 1 (cold sores) and herpes type 2 (genital herpes). Genital herpes is now an epidemic and is probably the most prevalent form of venereal disease. Unfortunately, herpes viruses have also been implicated as causative factors in several types of human cancers, including Burkitt's Lymphoma, nasopharyngeal cancer, cervical carcinoma, and possibly some forms of breast and liver cancer. Herpes is a slow virus; once a person is infected, he remains infected for life although he may be symptomless most of the time. The herpes virus inserts a few copies of its own genetic information into the DNA of many of the victim's cells. Once this information is inserted, there is no way available as yet to remove it. The herpes information seems to remain inactive until the cell's genetic material is damaged—through ultraviolet light exposure, emotional stress, or illness—when the herpes nucleic acid may become activated. Available approved treatments for herpes virus infections have been highly toxic. The most frequently used is 2′-deoxy-5iodouridine (Idoxuridine), which interferes with normal incorporation of thymidine during DNA synthesis, in normal as well as in infected cells. Idoxuridine is a mutagen (causes mutations) and a carcinogen (can cause cancer). It is used in the treatment of herpes because of the absence of FDA-approved safer systemic treatments and because, left untreated, herpes infections can have serious consequences, such as blindness or death by brain infection or, possibly, cancer. A new, lesshazardous nucleic acid analog, Acyclovir, has just been approved by the FDA, but only for topical treatment of type 1 or initial type 2 herpes. (It is ineffective against recurrent genital herpes.) While safer than Idoxuridine, Acylovir also works by interfering with DNA synthesis in both normal and infected cells. Herpes viruses belong to a class of viruses that have a lipid (fatty) coat surrounding its nucleic acid core. This coat makes it difficult for immune-system antibodies and white blood cells to recognize the virus as foreign, because the coat is made up of fats normally found in our tissues. A new and effective treatment for herpes viruses has recently been discovered. BHT, butylated hydroxytoluene, is a very low toxicity food preservative (antioxidant) that has been found to kill all small nucleic acid core diameter, lipid coated viruses tested, including herpes. Dr. George Rouser at the City of Hope Hospital, a world-renowned expert in fatty acid structures, explained to us that BHT probably works by destabilizing hydrogen bonds in the lipid coat, so that the coat is stripped off. Once it is gone, the white blood cells and antibodies recognize the foreign viral nucleic acid core and accompanying foreign proteins and destroy it. BHT has undergone very extensive tests of toxicity, many conducted by companies selling it as a food preservative. Monkeys have been fed up to 30 grams a day, an immense dose. The only adverse results at these doses was an enlarged liver (BHT induces the synthesis of certain liver detoxification enzymes) that returned to normal after the animals were taken off the BHT. We started taking BHT (two to six grams per day) in 1968 for its free-radical-controlling, life-extension effects, discovered several years earlier by Dr. Denham Harman, the creator of the free-radical theory of aging. When we saw a paper by Snipes on in vitro studies of BHT and herpes in 1975, we calculated that our experimental life-extension dose would be highly effective in treating herpes in man and other animals. Snipes had performed no animal experiments and expressed some doubt that enough BHT would be absorbed orally to be effective. We knew from the mild psychotropic (mind-altering) effects of a large dose of BHT taken on an empty stomach that substantial amounts were absorbed from the gut and that it could penetrate the blood-brain barrier as well. We also knew that, according to our clinical test results, two grams of BHT per day was reasonably safe, at least for us. When, in 1975, a medical cytologist friend with severe, persistent genital herpes was told by her gynecologist to be celibate for six months and hope for improvement, we conducted the first (to our knowledge) human experiment on the effect of BHT on herpes. We supplied copies of the Snipes paper, toxicological data, our own clinical test results, BHT, and instructions. It worked perfectly—the herpes was completely suppressed, and her clinical tests remained normal. BHT has also been used in a doctor's uncontrolled clinical trial involving over 150 patients with herpes (with either or both type 1 and type 2), all of which achieved remission with BHT. The herpes patients used two grams per day in divided doses to control their herpes, BHT use should be maintained (although the dose may be reduced to as little as 1/4 gram per day after about 10 days to two weeks in some cases), because the BHT kills only the free viral particles, not the viral information inserted into otherwise normal cells. So far, we do not have any way to destroy the inserted viral information.

Few doctors know about BHT as a treatment for herpes because this is not an FDA-approved therapy. BHT's patents have long ago expired, so there is no incentive for any company to spend the $56 million (on the average) and 8 to 12 years to get it approved for this purpose. In the meantime, any doctor who uses BHT has to consider possible malpractice suits, which are much more likely when an FDA-unapproved treatment is used. Remember that this FDA-unapproved treatment is experimental, and predrug baseline and postdrug follow-up clinical tests for liver function, serum lipids, and a complete blood count would be prudent. Caution: BHT should not be used with barbiturates, other downers, or alcohol, since it will increase their effects. BHT combined with these substances will not cause respiratory collapse, however, as alcohol and barbiturates and other combinations of downers can. When first using BHT, hypotension may occur, resulting in light-headedness upon standing or arising in the morning. This is not a toxic side effect; but when experiencing this, one should not operate an automobile or other hazardous equipment. This effect tends to go away after a few days.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through Reason. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, August. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors. Their book, Life Extension, was recently published by Warner Books. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Hope for Herpes".

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Health & Welfare: Smart Pills Revolution SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE SEPTEMBER 1982 ISSUE

      Science fiction has had much to say about substances that people could take to make them smarter. In the past few years, several substances, including some nutrients available without a prescription, have been shown to improve some aspects of their user's cognitive performance. Some of these "smart pills" are prescription drugs that have been around for decades and have been safely used by many millions of people throughout the world for medical conditions. Beginning with this column, we will explore some of the most interesting of the extant smart pills. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not approve drugs for the increase of intelligence. They approve drugs only for the treatment or prevention of diseases, not for purposes of improving the normal human condition. Normal intelligence and normal aging are not diseases, and hence, there are no drugs approved for increasing intelligence or retarding aging. Manufacturers of drugs that have the ability to increase human intelligence are forbidden by FDA edict from informing either the public or doctors of this fact. This has inhibited the investment of scarce research and development money in intelligence-increasing drugs. Nevertheless, because there are also international markets for such products, research is being done in this area.

Intelligence is a broad term referring to various types of cognitive processes—most commonly, learning and memory. Different smart pills affect different aspects of intelligence and affect them differently at high and low dose levels. There is an optimal dose level for each individual (sometimes dependent on other conditions, as well) that must be determined by the individual performing careful, systematic self-experiments. At the optimal dose, the greatest improvement in the cognitive process is obtained; at any other dose level, less improvement and possibly even a decrement is the result. In the past few years, much has been learned about how intelligence works, that is, the underlying biochemical structure in our brains that allows us to think, remember, dream, have emotions, and so on. Even though our level of understanding is still crude, it has resulted in a recent explosion of new drugs that increase human intelligence in clinical trials and animal intelligence in experiments. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that brain cells use to communicate with each other. As we age, the levels of many neurotransmitters decrease, and sometimes the receptor sites for these chemicals become fewer in number or less sensitive to the neurotransmitter. Acetylcholine is one of these neurotransmitters. It is used by the brain in areas that are involved in long-term planning, concentration and focus, controlling the rate of stimuli entering the brain, motor activity, learning and memory, stimuli input during sleep, sex, and other functions. It is a very primitive neurotransmitter. Frogs and even insects have it, too. Acetylcholine is made by the brain from nutrients you get in your food (or from a dietary supplement). Choline (found in fish, for example) and lecithin (contains phosphatidyl choline) are the usual dietary starting materials from which acetylcholine supplies in the brain are derived. Deaner®, a prescription drug made by Riker Laboratories, increases brain levels of acetylcholine, but it is not known yet how it does so. All three of these—choline, lecithin, and Deaner® (or deanol) —have been shown in a number of separate human clinical trials to increase intelligence, especially in tasks involving concentration and focus. In one double-blind study, MIT students given 3 grams of choline a day had improved memory performance: they learned longer lists of words than control students receiving a placebo (inactive substance). "Double-blind" means that neither the person administering the drug nor the students knew whether any particular subject was receiving placebo or active material. This helps to prevent expectations, hopes, and wishes from altering how people perceive the drug effects. In another study, a single 10-gram dose of choline improved learning lists of words. Similar results were obtained in a human study in which subjects were given 80 grams of lecithin. Deaner® has been shown, in animals, to increase brain levels of acetylcholine and can be expected to have the same effects in people. In studies in older people, Deaner® has sometimes improved memory and sometimes not. We think these inconsistent results occurred because there are non-acetylcholine-dependent memory problems and because there are nutrient factors required by the brain to convert the choline and possibly Deaner® to acetylcholine, namely vitamins B-1 and B-5. These experiments ought to be tried again, this time with supplements of these vitamins. Even in studies where there was no significant improvement in memory of older people with Deaner®, there were some reports of an improved mood and better motivation to remain active, rather than just rolling over and dying.

Possible side effects of these cholinergic (acetylcholine-increasing) substances include stiff muscles or headache, occasional fishy body odor (due to the bacterial breakdown of choline in the gut). Yogurt or fiber can often take care of the fishy smell. Reducing the dose will rapidly relieve headache or stiffness. These are annoying, not dangerous, side effects. There are many over-the-counter and prescription drugs that affect cholinergic tracts in the brain. One of the most common is nicotine, which acts to stimulate certain types of cholinergic receptors. It is not widely realized that nicotine is a stimulus barrier—a substance that enhances the brain's ability to control stimulus input from the environment. We all have special filters in our brains to preview incoming data because if all the details our senses actually detect were to be made available to our conscious minds, we would be overwhelmed by a torrent of mostly unimportant data. (This effect is dramatic with LSD.) There is a certain threshold level of stimulation to which our brains pay attention; this differs from individual to individual. In animal studies, nicotine increases the response to electrical stimulation set at just above the threshold in those animals who respond at a low rate and decreases the response in those animals who respond at a high rate, thereby acting as a modulator of sensory input. In overstimulating environments that are commonly found in modern cities, it is not surprising that many people use nicotine to help them cope. If you do smoke tobacco, though, we suggest you try choline as a much safer replacement. In future columns, we will be telling you about other smart pills that you can buy right now to increase your intelligence. We will also give you a little preview of some astounding new smart pills that are not yet available but that hold out the promise of even more remarkable increases in human intelligence. The world will never be the same!

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, September. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors. Their book, Life Extension, was recently published by Warner Books. Copyright © 1982 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Smart Pills Revolution".

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Sandy Shaw Durk Pearson

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Health & Welfare: More Smart Pills DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE OCTOBER 1982 ISSUE

      There are over a dozen substances, including both nutrients and certain prescription drugs, that have been shown to increase intelligence in animals and man. When we refer to intelligence, we are talking about a wide range of cognitive abilities, including information processing of various types and memory. A particular intelligence-increasing substance does not increase the entire range of intelligence but only certain specific aspects of it. Increasing human intelligence is no longer simply science fiction. It is fact. In last month's column, we discussed choline, lecithin, and Deanol. At the proper dosages, these substances have all been shown to increase human intelligence, particularly memory. In this column, we discuss the amino acid nutrients

phenylalanine and tyrosine. Norepinephrine is an important brain chemical used by many brain cells to stimulate each other. It appears to play an important role in learning and memory. Learning can be blocked in experimental animals by administering drugs that selectively deplete norepinephrine in the brain. In one study, a drug was given to rats to prevent their brains from making norepinephrine. (Norepinephrine is also called noradrenaline, the brain's version of adrenaline.) These rats were able to retain a newly learned response for only a short time. Injection of norepinephrine into their brains restored the long-term retention of the learned response. Phenylalanine and tyrosine, amino acids, are used by the brain to manufacture norepinephrine. Many popular stimulant drugs—including cocaine, amphetamines, Ritalin®, and magnesium pemoline—initially increase norepinephrine levels but prevent the brain cells that secrete norepinephrine from recycling it, resulting eventually in the depletion of norepinephrine. Depression and difficulties in learning and memory then occur. Depression is a common life event that has serious side effects both on mental function and survival itself. For example, in a study of 4,500 British widowers 55 years of age or older, 213 died during the first six months after the death of their wife. This is 40 percent higher than would be expected in this age group. After the initial six-month surge, the death rate returned to normal. In another study, investigators found a higher level of cervical cancer developing in women who had experienced a significant emotional loss in the previous six months. Two thousand years ago, the father of modern medicine, the Greek physician Galen, observed that habitually melancholy women had a higher incidence of breast cancer than women who were emotionally "up." Biological research scientists have found that the body's immune system—the mechanisms that identify and kill invaders such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells and destroy atherosclerotic plaques—decreases in effectiveness during periods of depression. Thus, depressed persons are more likely to contract serious illnesses, including cancer, or even to die. The perception of helplessness or being out of control of one's life can lead to serious depression and an inability to act in both animals and humans. Experimental animals can be made "helpless" (unable to act) by subjecting them to inescapable, mild electric shock. Helpless animals subsequently exposed to escapable shock often are unable to simply move away a short distance to escape the shock. An important finding of scientists has been an association of helpless depressed behavior and mental performance in animals with a decrease in brain norepinephrine. Treatment of such animals with nutrients that stimulate the brain to make norepinephrine can prevent the helplessness, depression, and inability to act that normally follows norepinephrine depletion. When you feel drained of energy by long, hard, stressful mental work, you may well be suffering from norepinephrine depletion. Phenylalanine, an amino acid found in such foods as cheese, milk, eggs, and meats, is used by the brain to make norepinephrine. It is effective in blocking the development of helplessness in the type of animal experiments described. In humans, phenylalanine has been used to significantly improve motivation (ability to act) and subsequent intellectual performance. In addition, phenylalanine is an extremely powerful antidepressive nutrient that has been used successfully to treat people for a variety of depression problems, such as that which might result from cocaine or amphetamine abuse (these drugs deplete norepinephrine), schizophrenic depression, etc. Effective doses were in the 100-500 milligram per day range for a period of two weeks. Since phenylalanine in large dosages (usually larger than that recommended here) can increase blood pressure, it is wise for those with hypertension to use this nutrient under the supervision of their physician and to take their own blood pressure on a daily basis for a period of time to ascertain any changes. (We recommend such a procedure regardless of whether or not you have a problem or you use phenylalanine, since blood pressure is often a barometer of biochemical changes in the body that can then be determined and corrected.)

Tyrosine is also a nutrient precursor to norepinephrine and has also been shown to be an effective antidepressant in humans at similar doses to that of phenylalanine. In preliminary experiments, tyrosine appears to have a normalizing effect on blood pressure, reducing it when too high and increasing it when too low. Nevertheless, hypertension patients should follow the same precautions as for phenylalanine. Warning: Do not use either phenylalanine or tyrosine with MAO (monamine oxidase) inhibitor antidepressants, since this combination can cause extreme hypertension! For best results, the psychoactive amino acids should be taken on an empty stomach to avoid the competition for transport sites that carry amino acids across the blood-brain barrier into the brain. Start with a small initial dose, such as 50 milligrams per day. Vitamins B-6 and C are required for the conversion of these nutrient precursors to norepinephrine. While norepinephrine precursors such as phenylalanine and tyrosine are well suited to anergic depression, agitated or violent depression is better dealt with by supplements of tryptophan (see a forthcoming column for more about this). You no longer have to be helpless when you feel drained of mental energy resulting from emotional stresses or overwork. Your solution may simply be improved nutrition.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, October. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors. Their book, Life Extension, was recently published by Warner Books. Copyright © 1982 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: More Smart Pills".

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Health & Welfare: Enhancing Intelligence DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE NOVEMBER 1982 ISSUE

      In recent columns, we have been discussing nutrients and prescription drugs that, within a certain dose range, increase animal and human intelligence. In September and October, we described the learning- and memory-improving abilities of the nutrients choline, lecithin, phenylalanine, and the prescription drug Deaner® (Riker). Here we discuss the cognitive benefits, revealed in animal experiments and human clinical trials, of the nutrient RNA and the prescription drug Diapid® (Sandoz), a synthetic version of the natural pituitary-gland hormone vasopressin. Ribonucleic acid, more commonly known as RNA, is a natural substance important for learning and memory. This large molecule and its precursors (substances chemically converted to RNA in the brain), such as orotic and inosinic acids, can improve these two functions in animals. Current scientific evidence suggests that learning and the production of new memories involves the creation of RNA, which then directs the synthesis of protein molecules, on which the actual information is coded. This is supported by the fact that when ribonuclease, an enzyme which destroys RNA, is injected into the brain of experimental animals, they are unable to learn. Protein synthesis blockers also prevent memory consolidation. RNA also protects the brain against a common type of damage caused by exposure to oxidizing substances, such as autoxidized (rancid) fat. This autoxidation occurs when unsaturated fats come in contact with oxygen and free radicals in the body. The oxygen chemically combines with the fat, changing it to a rancid fat in a free-radical chain reaction, with a release of free radicals that can be very damaging to the cell structure. One visible sign of such damage is the development of age spots in the skin. This same brownish pigment (called lipofuscin) also accumulates in many of the brain's nerve cells, where it is believed to interfere with cellular metabolism, destroying neurites (fibers that connect nerve cells, allowing them to communicate with each other) in the process. RNA is a member of an important class of protective substances called antioxidants (vitamins A, C, E, B-1, B-5, B-6, and the minerals zinc and selenium are antioxidants), which at proper dosages can help prevent the build-up of oxidation damage and, by so doing, slow down the aging process. In one experiment, RNA extended the average lifespan of white mice by 16 percent. Some individuals should be careful in their use of supplemental RNA, particularly those who have gout or a tendency thereto. Gout is often portrayed in movies as a humorous condition—the cantankerous old gentleman sitting down with his leg elevated and foot bandaged, trying hard to prevent anyone or anything from bumping into the foot. However, gout is not funny. It occurs when uric acid, produced in the body as nucleic acids are oxidized, is not excreted sufficiently rapidly to prevent the formation of crystals in joints and kidneys, causing extreme pain and tissue damage. Since RNA is a nucleic acid, its use by gout-prone individuals (of which 95 percent are men) may produce the classic symptoms. It should be emphasized that by far the vast majority of individuals can handle RNA without any trouble, since few people have the genes that make them subject to gout. But if you wish to use RNA, it would be wise to have your doctor test your serum uric acid level, even if you do not have a family history of gout.

Vitamin B-12 increases RNA synthesis in brain cells (neurons), resulting in faster learning in one rat study. The use of B-12 does not seem to pose a problem for gout patients. When you go to your health food store to buy RNA, check the label. Unprocessed yeast (which contains 6 to 12 percent RNA) is not the best source of RNA because the yeast cell walls are difficult to digest—you have to break these walls down to get at the RNA inside. Look for RNA that has been extracted from yeast. Much of what is labeled "RNA" or "RNA plus DNA" in health food stores is really just grossly overpriced yeast. Vasopressin (also known as antidiuretic hormone) is released by the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland in your brain. It has recently been discovered that vasopressin has powerful positive effects on human memory and learning. It also regulates urine volume in the body. Some people whose pituitary glands do not release enough vasopressin urinate frequently and in much larger volumes than other people. This condition is called diabetes insipidus (it has nothing to do with sugar-insulin diabetes) and can be successfully treated with a vasopressin nasal spray (Diapid®, a prescription drug made by Sandoz). Oiveros and associates found that giving vasopressin to human amnesia victims restored their memories. Legros and coworkers found that a dose of 16 IU per day of the vasopressin nasal spray Diapid® improved learning in tasks requiring attention, concentration, fast reactions, and memory in a group of men in their 50s and 60s. No side effects were found in the men at the dosage of 16 IU per day. At this dosage, there was no elevation of blood pressure or alteration of blood electrolytes. Sometimes angina pains are increased temporarily in angina patients. It is advisable for these patients to avoid use of Diapid®; consult your physician.

The clinical studies on vasopressin's effects on memory and learning that we have reviewed have involved the pure hormone administered by nasal spray or injection. Some popular drugs affect brain vasopressin levels. Cocaine, for example, stimulates the pituitary gland to release it, eventually depleting the supply. This may explain the altered levels of consciousness reported by some individuals using cocaine. (The danger here is that after the unusual stimulation provided by the drug to release vasopressin, a deficit of vasopressin may exist later when you need it.) An effect of vasopressin that we did not see mentioned in the scientific literature is an intensification and prolongation of orgasm. Since discovering this by our own observations, we have found scientific literature references to vasopressin release during orgasm in laboratory mammals. The release of vasopressin by cocaine is probably responsible for at least part of cocaine's reputation as an enhancer of sex. On the other hand, alcohol inhibits the brain's release of vasopressin, thus resulting in impairment of memory, concentration, reaction time, and attention. Taking the vasopressin can partially compensate for the mental and physical deficits created by alcohol. Unless you are drinking to forget, vasopressin does not interfere with the relaxation and euphoria induced by alcohol. Cannabis (marijuana), well known for causing a decrement in short-term memory (especially in novice users), also inhibits vasopressin release. One of the brain's messengers that stimulates the release of vasopressin is acetylcholine. The action of this substance contributes to our understanding of the effects of such nutrients as choline and lecithin, which are chemically converted by the brain into acetylcholine and have also been reported to improve memory and learning, as we discussed in our September column.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, November. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors of the current bestseller Life Extension (Warner Books). Copyright © 1982 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Enhancing Intelligence".

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Health & Welfare: Boosting Brain Power DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE DECEMBER 1982 ISSUE

      In the last few columns we've been discussing nutrients and certain prescription drugs that have been shown to increase animal and human intelligence. This month we cover the importance to brain function of the oxidation of fats in the brain. We also describe the safe and effective use of the intelligence booster prescription drug Hydergine® (Sandoz). Normal metabolism involves the oxidation of foodstuffs to produce energy. These oxidation reactions are all enzymecontrolled, however; otherwise, we could not survive the oxidation damage that would result. The improvement in brain functioning that sometimes results from short bouts of exposure to higher-than-atmospheric concentrations of oxygen are probably at least partially due to the stimulation (induction) of the body's production of more of these control enzymes (such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalases). The brain is composed largely of polyunsaturated fats, which are very susceptible to undesired uncontrolled oxidation reactions. These are called autoxidation and are caused by chain reactions of free radicals. The same type of reaction occurs when polyunsaturated oils are exposed to oxygen in the air and become rancid. The presence of autoxidized, or rancid, fats in the brain has many undesirable effects: • Autoxidized fats are carcinogenic (can cause cancer). • They inhibit the activity of immune system T-cells and macrophages (special white blood cells that prevent disease by attacking and eating viruses, bacteria, cancer cells, and atherosclerotic plaques). • They cause mutations in the DNA blueprints in brain cells (which can lead to abnormal brain cells not capable of performing their original function or, rarely, to brain tumors). • Autoxidized fats make up part of brown, cell-clogging, aging pigments called lipofuscin, both in the skin (colloquially known as "age spots" or "liver spots") and in the brain. Created in part by free-radical chain reactions, lipofuscin pigment buildup in brain cells can result in the destruction of fine branches (neurites) connecting these cells and allowing them to communicate with each other. The lipofuscin is believed to damage these neurites by blocking the flow of nutrients within the nerve cells. • In general, autoxidized fats contribute to a chain reaction of deterioration and aging in the brain. • They are atherogenic (atherosclerosis-causing). • Autoxidized fats inhibit the production of prostacyclin, a hormone that lines all normal arteries and prevents abnormal blood clotting. They can also promote cell membrane damage and the production of thromboxanes, both of which promote clotting. Blood clots in the brain are the cause of about 85 percent of all strokes. In one feeding experiment performed on rats, safflower oil containing polyunsaturated fatty acids resulted in a performance decrease—the rats were less intelligent—than when fed an equal number of calories of butter, a saturated fat. It is very likely that this result was due to damage from free-radical autoxidation. Other scientists have found that damaging freeradical autoxidation reactions in the body and brain can be inhibited by feeding animals and humans antioxidant nutrients, which include vitamins C, E, A, B-1, B-5, B-6, and choline; the amino acid cysteine; and minerals zinc and selenium. It is advisable, therefore, to avoid excessive consumption of polyunsaturated oils and to take adequate quantities of the freeradical controlling antioxidant nutrients. The prescription drug Hydergine® is a very interesting substance that increases intelligence in normal humans, as well as improving mental function in older persons with mild to moderate symptoms of senility. In a group of normal persons, a dose of 12 milligrams of Hydergine® per day for two weeks resulted in reported improvements in tested cognitive abilities, including memory and abstract reasoning (the ability to find a pattern hidden in a series of abstract line drawings). Neurotransmitters are chemicals that particular nerve cells use to communicate with each other. But inside the cell membrane of the receiving cell, a special "second messenger" called cyclic AMP delivers the message to the nucleus (where the message interacts with the DNA control system). Hydergine® regulates the levels of cyclic AMP by partially inhibiting the enzymes that degrade it and by protecting the free-radical-sensitive enzyme that manufactures it, thereby preventing the cyclic AMP from becoming either too high or too low. Hydergine® provides substantial protection to the brain against nonenzymatically controlled autoxidation reactions. It slows lipofuscin buildup in brain cells by a factor of four. Because of its powerful antioxidant effects, it protects the brain from free-radical damage that runs rampant under conditions of low oxygen availability. In Europe, but not in the United States,

Hydergine® is routinely given surgery patients so that, if complications arise (such as cardiac arrest), there is more time to correct the situation before brain damage occurs. During open heart surgery (such as coronary bypass) in the United States, patients frequently suffer brain damage, sometimes severe. The use of Hydergine® preoperatively would be a wise precaution to prevent this damage; it can also help recovery to some extent when damage has already occurred. Evidence suggests that Hydergine® acts in a similar way to the natural hormone nerve growth factor (NGF) to stimulate the growth of the neurites that connect nerve cells and allow their intercommunication. Neurites are essential for learning and memory. One reason you can't teach an old dog new tricks is that his brain is less able to make neurites. It may take six months to two years for benefits from neurite growth to manifest themselves in humans. Hydergine® also increases protein synthesis in the brain, which is required for learning. We consider the FDA recommended dose of 3 milligrams per day inadequate to provide the intelligence- and neuritepromoting effects. In Europe, 9 milligrams a day is typically used, and some physicians there believe 12 milligrams a day is a reasonable dose. Hydergine® is very nontoxic. At the dosages mentioned, nausea and headaches may occasionally occur; these are annoying but not dangerous. We ourselves use about 20 milligrams a day of the 1-milligram sublingual tablets. These are allowed to dissolve in the mouth (we hold them between our upper lips and gums) and deliver more Hydergine® directly to the brain than the oral tablets do (when taken orally, 20 percent of the Hydergine® is lost in the feces and another 40 percent is destroyed by the liver). Since Hydergine® provides substantial protection to the liver against free-radical-caused alcohol damage, frequent alcohol drinkers should consider using both oral and sublingual forms.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, December. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors of the current bestseller Life Extension. Copyright © 1982 by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Boosting Brain Power".

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Health & Welfare: Pollution Eye Opener DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE JANUARY 1983 ISSUE

      One fascinating thing about science is that you are sometimes confronted with surprises—data that don't fit earlier thinking or that even appear to contradict what you think you already know. Consider, for example, these recent findings about radiation and pollution: • The average lifespans of rats were increased when they were continually exposed to levels of radiation about three times normal background. (At higher levels, average lifespans are decreased.) • There was no detectable increase in genetic defects or cancer levels in multigeneration studies of rats exposed to radiation at levels about three times normal background. • In one region of China (as recently reported in Science), the population lives at a level of natural background radiation three times that of populations in surrounding areas. No significant difference in cancer rates or birth defects has been found in this large-scale study. • Which city do you think has the highest cancer rate? Birmingham, Alabama; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Newark, New Jersey; Los Angeles, California; or San Francisco, California? Curiously, the city with the lowest level of air pollution by far —San Francisco—has the highest cancer incidence, adjusted for the population's age distribution. Newark, New Jersey, which 20 miles downwind still smells like an oil refinery, has the same incidence of cancer as the United States as a whole. These are data that do not fit the popular media theories of radiation and pollution effects—namely, that every level of radiation is unsafe and causes cancer and that we have to control air pollution because it causes cancer. But these seemingly confusing results do fit into an emerging understanding of the interaction between living organisms and radiation and other pollutants. Damage from ionizing radiation such as x-rays is an example of a free-radical disease. Radiation kills by creating free radicals—molecules or atoms with an unpaired electron, which are extremely chemically reactive and dangerous. These free radicals are mutagens (cause mutations) and carcinogens (cause cancer) when they damage DNA. They attack fats in the body, causing them to become peroxidized (rancid) fat. Besides being mutagens, carcinogens, atherogens (atherosclerosiscausing), thrombogens (clot-promoting), and immune suppressants, peroxidized fats can break down to form more free radicals, causing a chain reaction of further damage. But external radiation is not usually an important source of free-radical damage to organisms. Free-radical reactions are a necessary part of normal metabolism. For example, the manufacture of ATP (the universal energy storage molecule) requires free-radical reactions. Thus, free radicals are constantly created in the body and, as suggested by Dr. Denham Harman (the originator of the free-radical theory of aging), can be considered internal radiation. In fact, all air-breathing organisms on this planet have elaborate defense and control systems for free radicals. The body's free-radical control systems are not perfect, however, and damage occurs throughout life. Free radicals are now considered by scientists studying them to be major causative factors in aging, cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, immune-system incompetence, and other less serious conditions including bruises and even dandruff. Our sophisticated free-radical control system includes special antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, catalase, compounds such as reduced glutathione, and antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A, C, E, B-1, B-3, B-5, B-6, PABA, the amino acid cysteine, and the minerals zinc and selenium. One important feature of the antioxidant enzymes is that they are substrate-inducible. That means that when there are more free radicals in your body, these enzymes are manufactured in greater quantities. Thus, when radiation levels are increased (up to the limit of inducibility), more protective enzymes are produced. The maximum lifespan of individuals of several mammalian species is directly proportional to their concentrations of SOD and glutathione peroxidase divided by the level of metabolic free-radical-generating activity. The research findings mentioned above probably reflect a lifespan-increasing effect of that increase in the levels of protective enzymes. In other words, zero radiation may not be optimal from the point of view of longevity. The principal eye irritants in the type of photochemical smog found in Los Angeles are organic peroxides called PAN (peroxyacetylnitrile and peroxyacetylnitrate). Again, the increase in pollutants increases production of protective enzymes. You've probably noticed that when you are first exposed to a heavy smog, your eyes burn and your lungs feel uncomfortable. But after you've been in heavy smog for a few days or so, the smog no longer produces these physical symptoms. This is not a result of your "getting used" to the smog or becoming insensitive to the discomfort. It is caused by an increased production of glutathione peroxidase (detectable in one's tears) which destroys the PAN. Other protective

enzymes may be involved as well. Ozone, a principal damaging chemical found in air pollution, also causes the creation of free radicals as its primary method of damaging lungs. This probably leads to the increased production of protective enzymes in the lungs. In addition, it was reported very recently in Science that ozone in the concentration range of ordinary to severe smog (0.3 to 0.8 ppm) is more toxic to cancer cells than it is to normal cells. It may be protecting some people against the development of lung cancer. This remarkable finding brings up the question whether, aside from aesthetic considerations, it is truly advisable to eliminate all air pollution! In our opinion, studies of pollution should consider the relative biological effects of (1) potentially "desirable" pollutants that have relatively low damage potential but are inducers of protective enzymes, (2) pollutants that have a relatively high damage potential but induce protective enzymes, and (3) particularly dangerous damaging pollutants that are relatively ineffective at inducing protective enzymes. All pollutants are not equally undesirable.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, January. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors of Life Extension. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Pollution Eye Opener".

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Durk Pearson Sandy Shaw

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Health & Welfare: Gourmet Chemistry SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE FEBRUARY 1983 ISSUE

      A knowledge of biochemistry can enable you to improve the quality of your life in many ways. The enjoyment of food is an important goal in itself, as well as being an important consideration in nutrition. Indeed, loss of flavor perception with age is a major factor in malnutrition of the elderly. We explain here the sources of a significant flavor contribution to foods like meats, fish, and vegetables and how to markedly enhance their flavor in your own diet. Have you ever shot a pheasant or caught a fish and cooked and eaten it within a few hours? If so, you have probably noticed an ineffable freshness and an intensity of flavor that is sorely lacking even in finest gourmet cuisine. This splendid taste experience is not due to awakening at 5:00 A.M., hiking through frozen fields, or shooting the bird yourself; it still tastes special if a friend bags it and promptly brings it home to you. The ineffable is now quite effable due to advances in modern flavor science. Two important flavor components of this "fresh" taste, IMP and GMP, degrade very rapidly after the animal's death, even if the carcass is quickly frozen. In 1908, a Japanese scientist discovered a flavor quality called "umami" that provides the basic flavors to meats, poultry, fish, dairy products, and vegetables. The "umami" taste is attributed mainly to MSG (monosodium glutamate) and nucleotides (basic chemical building blocks of nucleic acids, RNA and DNA). These two entities are the basis of, but do not necessarily constitute all of "umami," which is the overall result of a mixture of amino acids, peptides, nucleotides, organic acids, and inorganic ions. In addition to its contribution to taste, "umami" also adds flavor characteristics such as mouth fullness, impact, and thickness. The MSG and nucleotides affect how we perceive the basic tastes sour and bitter. The threshold concentrations of sour and bitter are increased (it takes more of either before we notice it) but there is no detectable effect on the threshold concentrations of salt and sweet tastes. The MSG and nucleotides together are synergistic; that is, their combined flavor effect is greater than additive. As people age, they tend to develop taste deficits. A major problem is a decrease in sensitivity to salt and sweet, with a resulting predominance of sour and bitter flavor notes. By modulating sour and bitter tastes, the MSG and nucleotides may be of particular benefit to older people. In meat, for example, major flavor elements include MSG, IMP (inosine monophosphate), succinic acid, lactic acid, phosphoric acid, and pyrrolidone-carboxylic acid. In potatoes and other plant tissues, RNA is broken down by enzymes during heat processing, resulting in the formation of nucleotides such as IMP and GMP (guanosine monophosphate), important flavor elements. Glutamate is another important source of flavor in fresh vegetables. This natural glutamate content declines by up to 50 percent during the first 24 hours after harvest, depending on handling and storage conditions. Replacing the lost glutamate improves the flavor, as demonstrated in taste tests. In freshly killed fish muscle, IMP is accumulated as a degradation product of ATP (adenosine triphosphate, the primary energy-storage molecule). The IMP is then slowly degraded to hypoxanthine, a strongly bitter substance. This bitter taste, sometimes found in stored frozen fish, may be a result of bacterial interaction with hypoxanthine rather than hypoxanthine alone. Several Japanese firms produce a yeast that makes large quantities of MSG and the nucleotides IMP and GMP and from which these substances are extracted. When they are combined in the ratio of 90 percent MSG to 10 percent nucleotides (5 percent each of IMP and GMP) and sprinkled on foods like salt, the effect is a dramatic enhancement of the taste of meats, fish, poultry, dairy products, and vegetables. We carry containers of it in our cars so that when we eat at a restaurant, we'll be able to increase our enjoyment. It is particularly effective on bacon and other meats, gravies, soups, casseroles, and vegetables. This flavor enhancer is used at a level similar to that of salt, but it enhances flavors over a far wider range of concentrations than salt does and is much less likely to "ruin" the taste of the food through overuse. Although a product containing MSG and IMP and GMP in this ratio is available in the marketplace (such as in some Japanese specialty gourmet stores under the trade name Flave®), it is not commonly found. A few prepared dry-food mixes (to which meat or fish are added) commonly found on supermarket shelves do use these remarkable flavor enhancers. The nucleotides are usually listed on the label as disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate. Most such products that we have tried, however, have been remarkably bland and unimaginative, something that can't be corrected with the flavor enhancers alone. Enhancement works best on high-quality, well-prepared and well-seasoned food. We consider it a gourmet's delight! One final note: Individuals with a sensitivity to MSG should avoid large doses of it, particularly on an empty stomach; usually this response (the so-called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, caused by dilation of the blood vessels and a release of tissue histamines) is triggered by several grams of MSG on an empty stomach, not the several milligrams (one gram equals 1,000 milligrams) used for food flavor enhancement. Few people realize that MSG is a major constituent of the human body.

The average human body contains about 4½ pounds of the amino acid glutamate. Persons who must restrict the sodium in their diet should not use monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, or disodium guanylate except with the advice of their physician. When we were attending a restaurant trade show not too long ago, we were amazed to find that nobody we spoke to had any knowledge of these important flavor components other than a superficial awareness of MSG, and nobody was using them to enhance the flavor of their restaurant foods. While great cooking is an art, science has much to offer the fine chef. A chef with excellent intuition about what will taste good will not be able to compete with a chef having similar intuition and also understanding some of the biochemistry that explains why food tastes good.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, February. Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists and authors of Life Extension. Copyright © 1983 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Gourmet Chemistry".

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Health & Welfare: The Latest Dope on Opiates SANDY SHAW AND DURK PEARSON | FROM THE MARCH 1983 ISSUE

      Before 1914 and the passage of the Harrison Act, Americans were free to purchase any drug, including heroin and other opiates. (By 1914, heroin had been available for about 16 years.) Because sale and purchase of heroin was legal before 1914, there was no black market and no reason to hide importation and sales figures. Approximately 1–2 percent of the US population was addicted to heroin and other opiates at that time. Nowadays, it is much more difficult to gauge the extent of opiate addiction because of opiates' universal illegality, but the best estimates are probably around 1–2 percent. It is ironic that the immense burden of opiate controls has succeeded only in greatly increasing the cost to society of opiate addiction—especially to many victims of crime—while failing to clearly reduce the percentage of the population that is addicted. Most people given opiates have no interest in repeating the experience. In fact, heroin was originally developed by the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company as a nonaddictive cure for morphine addiction. The team of scientists and physicians who developed heroin at Bayer took it every day for a month, then suddenly stopped. None of them had any desire to continue using the narcotic. Nor is heroin as physiologically hazardous as most people think. Even with unclean needles and contaminated and unknown doses of heroin, the death rate for heroin addicts is about 1 percent per year. By comparison, at least 5 percent of alcohol addicts die every year! What is known about opiates and addiction to them? How can an addict kick the habit without unpleasant withdrawal symptoms? Methadone, an alternative to heroin, is promoted in the United States. Unfortunately, methadone is also addicting and is much more difficult to stop using than is heroin. This is a factor in the reluctance of many heroin addicts to embark on methadone "therapy." It is not surprising, however, that methadone clinics receiving thousands of dollars of government money for each addict "treated" are loathe to discontinue its use or admit its deficiencies. Dr. Irwin Stone, the man who first interested Linus Pauling in vitamin C, has found a way to withdraw addicts from heroin without withdrawal symptoms. He gives addicts 30 grams a day of sodium ascorbate, a nonacidic form of vitamin C, tapering the dose to a maintenance dose of 10 grams a day. (These large doses do not cause diarrhea in heroin withdrawal but do in methadone withdrawal.) One plausible explanation for this withdrawal therapy: vitamin C has been shown experimentally to inhibit the breakdown of natural opiates—the endorphins—by specific enzymes in the brain; so it may prevent the desire for a fix (to increase brain opiate levels). Another treatment recently discovered is a combination of naloxone (which blocks opiate receptors in the brain) and clonidine (a medication for high blood pressure). If naloxone alone is given to an addict, withdrawal symptoms are immediately precipitated, but the addition of clonidine results in the absence of symptoms. It is not yet well understood how clonidine is able to do this. It is thought to mimic certain of the actions of the opiates, occupying brain receptors that would otherwise be occupied by opiates. Clonidine itself is nonaddictive. Also effective in greatly reducing opiate withdrawal symptoms is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana. Opiate addicts have claimed for years that marijuana aids withdrawal, ironically acting as a stepping stone away from rather than to heroin, as conventional wisdom would have it. There are natural opiate-like compounds, the endorphins and enkephalins, in all of our brains. In a real sense, we all use opiates daily. The effects of some of these natural opiates are sometimes very similar to those of heroin, including the need for regular "fixes" and the occurrence of withdrawal symptoms. Some people seem to be more susceptible than others. For example, animals and people can be induced to eat by putting them under stress. In one study, stress-induced eating in rats was blocked by administering the opiate antagonist naloxone. In another study, it was found that some obese humans released much more endorphin in response to eating than do normal-weight persons. Naloxone also reduced food intake in experiments with rats, cats, and rabbits. Thus, some overweight people may be addicted to their own endorphins. Jogging has been shown to release endorphins in the brain. Many regular joggers describe a high typical of opiates. The development of tolerance, typical of opiates, also occurs; joggers report the need to run longer and longer distances in order to get the high. Withdrawal symptoms (nervousness, agitation, and even diarrhea, insomnia, and cold sweat shakes) may occur when regular heavy jogging is prevented by bad weather or injury.

The apparent role of opiate-like compounds in our lives has been expanded by the finding recently reported in Science that human mother's milk contains morphine. The quantity is enough to have a drug effect on the infant. Possibly it is there to keep the infant calm and euphoric. It is known that endorphins are involved in the bond between mother and infant; separation distress in infant monkeys has been precipitated by naloxone (which blocks the effects of endorphins). Cow's milk, alfalfa, and lettuce also contain heroin. During the Civil War, when opium was unavailable, lettuce was boiled down into a gum called "lettuce opium" that was used like opium. We used to think this was a fanciful case of the placebo effect. But, these are not mere trace amounts; an adult milk drinker may get as much morphine in a day as 10 percent of the dose prescribed for severe pain. We recently learned at the Symposium on Stress, Immunity, and Aging (October 27–29, 1982, at UCLA) that endorphins, which can be released from the adrenal glands in very large quantities during stress and trauma, depress the immune system (particularly the T-cells, responsible for locating, killing, and eating bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells). This could be one reason why chronic stress is a health hazard. Endorphins released during traumatic accidents decrease blood pressure (presumably as a defense against bleeding to death), which seriously exacerbates the damage done in injuries to the brain and spinal cord. Under these conditions, blood flow to these organs is reduced, resulting in a tremendous increase in the creation of free radicals (which are partially controlled by oxygen itself). It was recently reported that injecting massive doses of naloxone into the damaged area of the spinal cord of cats very soon after severe injuries (within an hour or two) could help prevent such serious consequences as paraplegia. Evidence is growing that endorphins and other opiate-like compounds play an important role in our health and behavior— even social behavior. Eventually, we'll know enough about how they work to control their effects. And we'll understand why some people become addicts, while most of us don't.

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, March. Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson are consulting scientists and authors of Life Extension (Warner Books). Copyright © 1983 by Sandy Shaw and Durk Pearson. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: The Latest Dope on Opiates".

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Health & Welfare: The New Drug Market DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE APRIL 1983 ISSUE

      There are three usual sources of drugs (defined as any substance that alters the body's biological function): (1) prescription, (2) over-the-counter (for example, aspirin), and (3) under-the-counter (for example, cannabis). In recent years, a growing alternative to these traditional sources has developed in the health food trade, in which vitamins and other nutrients plus other drugs are offered without seeking approval of the Food and Drug Administration. Any vitamins sold at levels higher than can be obtained in a good diet may qualify technically as drugs, because the quantities required to catalyze certain metabolic reactions are quite small. Above these amounts, vitamins act as drugs. The same is true of other nutrients offered in health food stores; the doses may be high enough to permit unusual functions that ordinarily, because of limited dietary supply, are not possible. Cysteine, for example, is a relatively scarce dietary amino acid. The best dietary source is eggs (each egg contains about a quarter gram). This amino acid is useful in a number of ways. It is required in many proteins, such as insulin; it acts as a potent antioxidant in the body; it also constitutes about 8 percent of human hair. Since cysteine is in such limited quantity in typical human diets, it is used by the body for the most important functions first. Hair is probably the very last to get its share. However, if a person supplements his or her diet with cysteine (see our Life Extension: A Practical Scientific

Approach), it is possible for hair to have an abundance of cysteine. A person's head of hair may even be doubled in density. The Proxmire Act of the early 1970s spared the vendors of vitamins and other nutrients the requirement that they obtain FDA approval before making these products available to consumers. Thus, drugs that are also nutrients are not necessarily subject to tight FDA restrictions that result in an average new drug taking 8–10 years and about $70 million to achieve approval and reach the marketplace. There are other substances offered in health food stores, however, that constitute yet another category of drug: nonnutrient chemicals that never received FDA approval but seem to be offered with impunity nevertheless. A good example is DMSO. DMSO is not a nutrient. It was offered in health food and drug stores long before it received limited approval as a pharmaceutical (RIMSO-50® is listed in the 1982 Physician's Desk Reference and is FDA-approved only for "symptomatic relief of interstitial cystitis"). It continues to be offered without a prescription at the same type of stores. Although the FDA has declared it illegal to continue to sell DMSO for drug use without a prescription, it has made no attempt to enforce its rule. In fact, it could not do so because it would never be able to shut down the small fly-by-night firms offering the material by mail order. And the cost of any attempt to sweep DMSO out of stores would be astronomical. In a similar fashion, starch blockers were recently declared illegal (as an unapproved drug) by the FDA but continue to be offered widely. Canthaxanthin, which is a natural carotenoid nutrient, is only approved in this country as a food-coloring agent but is sold, mostly by mail order, as a sun-tanning pill. Although the FDA alleges that this is illegal, it has not halted these sales. Yet another example is BHT, a synthetic antioxidant approved as a food additive but being sold all over the country for use against herpes infections (see our August 1982 column, "Hope for Herpes"). The marketing strategies of two would-be vendors of "sober up" products are discussed in the December 20, 1982,

Advertising Age. One is proceeding with an application for FDA drug approval, while the other is redesigning the label and advertising to position it as a health food store nutrient supplement. Guess which product will be the first to reach the market? As long as no claims are made on the label, it is possible to market these unapproved drugs. Books, other media, and health food store personnel make the claims that motivate consumers to buy these substances. The FDA's powers are limited. We recently saw DMSO that had been packaged in a deodorant roll-on style bottle. The marketers told us that the FDA required that they remove from the label the designation that the DMSO is 99.996 percent pure and that it had been purchased from a French pharmaceutical company, but the FDA couldn't make them change the dispensing bottle! What did the FDA accomplish? It is simply easier now for vendors of potentially hazardous industrial-grade DMSO to compete against the high-purity product that is no longer identifiable as such. The FDA claims that it is "protecting the consumer" by doing this. What about future offerings? A prime substance to be sold in this fashion is a CCK nasal spray for weight control. CCK is cholecystokinin, a natural hypothalamic and gut hormone that is released after a meal to signal satiation. A rat given enough CCK will never eat, even with food piled up around it, and will eventually starve to death. On the other hand, preventing the release of CCK in a rat will result in the rat eating and eating until its gut explodes and it dies. Although it is known that CCK works as the satiation signal in humans, as well, more animal experiments and double-blind, placebo-

controlled human clinical trials must be conducted to determine proper dose levels and safety factors for weight control. For people who are not eating enough, such as anorexia nervosa victims during the starvation phase, monoclonal antibodies against CCK might be an effective treatment. We see, therefore, that a fourth source of drugs is rapidly emerging: new health food store offerings packaged without therapeutic label claims or package inserts, the labels merely stating the contents. This new development is not an unmixed blessing. Many such new products are worthless, and a few could even be hazardous (for example, vitamin E acetate capsules diluted with easily peroxidized polyunsaturated filler oils). Nevertheless, the FDA's approach to drug regulation is so bad that, in many respects, no regulation at all is preferable. Thanks to the FDA and the excessively stringent Kefauver drug approval amendments of 1962, we now find ourselves in the bizarre situation of new drugs being developed, manufactured, prescribed, and sold entirely outside of the health profession. We do not welcome the absence of health professionals in this new market. But this is a logical result of the FDA's brand of "consumer protection."

A list of scientific literature on this topic is available through REASON. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and ask for H&W references, April. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and the authors of Life Extension. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: The New Drug Market".

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Health & Welfare: Put This in Your Tailpipe! DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE JUNE 1983 ISSUE

      September had come before we reached the Salt Lake, which we struck at its northern extremity.…Indian fires obscured mountains and valleys in a dense smoky atmosphere so that we could not see for any considerable distance. —John Bidwell, pioneer on the first covered-wagon train to California, 1841 Considerable controversy surrounds the question how to cost-effectively control pollutants that may be hazardous to a small fraction of the population. Airborne lead, for example, might be a problem for some children. On the other hand, the expensive burden of regulation to control the lead content of gasoline has had a seriously negative effect on the automobile industry, and nearly a million barrels per day of extra oil must be imported to make up for substantial inefficiencies in the refining and use of un-leaded and low-lead gas. Less-expensive alternatives have not been explored in the United States, even though lead in gasoline is generally unrestricted in Europe. Inner-city whites have much lower lead levels than do inner-city blacks. Yet both groups breathe the same air, and rural blacks and whites have roughly comparable lead levels. So we must conclude that the principal lead hazard to inner-city blacks is not airborne lead from gasoline. In our opinion, much more concentrated sources of lead—the lead paint and lead water pipes found in many old buildings—are the most likely causes of the large difference in inner-city white versus black lead burdens. Figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control do show a roughly 20 percent decrease in inner-city black lead levels over the past decade while the change for inner-city whites is considerably smaller. The CDC has concluded that the decrease for blacks is due to gasoline-lead restrictions, but this conclusion is not supported by the CDC's own data on inner-city whites. Improved housing (which may be as simple as painting over old lead paint) of inner-city blacks is a more plausible, though unproved, explanation. Vitamin C is quite effective, at doses of over a gram a day, in keeping lead and other heavy metals in solution in the bloodstream so they can be excreted in the urine rather than being deposited in the bones and brain. Distributing vitamin C to all inner-city schoolchildren would be effective whatever the real source of lead and would be far more cost-effective than the present approach of restricting lead in gasoline. Vitamin C and EDTA (a powerful chelating agent) make a potent combination that is much more effective than EDTA alone in removing lead from the brain. Those who have already been harmed by exposure to high lead levels can be effectively treated for it. (CAUTION: EDTA should be administered only by a physician experienced in its use.) Although the government may never adopt the nutritional approach of preventing lead accumulation with vitamin C, this is something you can do for yourself! Control of automobile hydrocarbon emissions is another example of a regulatory disaster. Again, the costs are immense and the pollution problem is not solved. A recent study found that the largest potentially controllable source of hydrocarbons in Los Angeles basin is not cars but asphalt road paving and patching! The Environmental Protection Agency does not even control this source of hydrocarbons. It would cost less overall to use more-expensive concrete paving or epoxy composition patches to reduce hydrocarbons than to try to control automobile emissions or other sources. Present EPA standards require that hydrocarbons emitted by autos be less than those arising from a typical suburban lawn or even those produced by a typical cow in digestion! EPA acceptable ozone levels are exceeded in many places that do not have an air pollution problem—for example, the top of Mt. Whitney, where the ozone is created by solar ultraviolet radiation. Another example: during airline flights, exposure to ozone can be hazardous, especially to persons with pulmonary problems such as emphysema. At lower altitudes, high levels of ozone can be caused by the interaction of ultraviolet radiation with hydrocarbons produced by plants. Indeed, Los Angeles could not meet the EPA's ambient air standards even if all use of fossil fuels were prohibited; the destruction of most of its plant life would also be required. Must we destroy the environment to protect it? The EPA's automotive carbon-monoxide standards cost a great deal of gasoline, money, and performance, but they help only a very few inner-city people who have serious (generally smoking-induced) lung diseases, particularly those who continue to overload themselves with carbon monoxide by further smoking. These stringent carbon-monoxide standards also benefit some vehicular tunnel guards who work in a few of the older, poorly ventilated tunnels. Thus, billions of dollars are spent every year to subsidize the largely voluntary health problems (the risks to the lungs of smoking have been known for decades) of a relatively few people. Pollution controls, of course, have more to do with political considerations than with science—that is, what people believe rather than what is true. It has been proposed, for example, that Congress pass a law requiring the addition of "consumer" and "labor" members to the "scientific advisory" board of the EPA.

One result of the EPA's hydrocarbon and other auto-emission controls is widespread flouting of the regulations. Mass magazines for car enthusiasts openly explain how to get around these laws, even telling drivers frankly how to break them by switching engines and other techniques. We ourselves have put lead additives into our gas tanks to overcome the problem of low performance by high-performance engines fueled by low-octane unleaded gasoline. There has been a resurgence of sales of late '60s and early '70s "muscle cars," which give much higher performance and much greater collision protection than the present joyless "econoboxes." Although sales of the econoboxes have been poor, auto manufacturers make them in large numbers to meet a federally mandated average mileage figure for the total production run of their vehicles. One hopeful sign is the return of auto makers to racing. Some of the Chrysler Corp. ads (such as those for the Dodge Charger) emphasize acceleration. In other ads, speeds above 55 miles per hour are described with relish. "You're doing 110, and you have one gear to go!" says one of Ford's Mustang commercials. The EPA's budget is now over $1 billion, despite efforts by the Reagan administration and ex-administrator Anne Burford to put a damper on its expansion. There is, however, nothing for which "money is no object." Money is always limited, while the uses to which it can be put are virtually unlimited. The EPA might be useful if its funds were used strictly to conduct research into the causes of pollution. Politicians find it notoriously easy to spend other people's money on their pet theories, regardless of whether they are supported by the facts. In our opinion, the 1974 automotive emission standards are more than adequate, having reduced hydrocarbon emissions by a factor of 10 from uncontrolled cars, along with very large reductions in nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. Indeed, a good case could be made that even the 1974 carbon-monoxide limit is too stringent. The currently required further factor-of10 reduction (for emissions cut to 100 times less than from uncontrolled cars) is not a cost-effective way to protect health. Far greater health benefits could be purchased with these resources—for example, by spending this money on biomedical records or even providing "free" tune-ups for motorists; Society of Automotive Engineers Paper No. 710069 shows that a single fouled spark plug increases emissions six times. There are many ways to reduce pollution and its health hazards. But not every way is cost-effective, and in the regulatory approach favored by the government and by many environmental groups, this fact has been ignored.

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors of Life Extension (Warner Books). This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: Put This in Your Tailpipe!".

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Health & Welfare: New Wave Cooking DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE AUGUST 1983 ISSUE

      Man is the only animal that cooks its food. Over 400,000 years ago, our ancestors were using fire for cooking. In the process, humans created a new ecological niche. Man can eat vastly more different types of foods than any other animal. Even very primitive tribes in arid environments have a minimum of a few hundred different foods to eat. More typically, tribal people might have a few thousand foods, about 100 times the variety available to a typical animal. About 98 percent of the vegetable matter in a lush tropical jungle falls to the ground uneaten, even by insects, because of contained toxins— most of which can be destroyed by cooking. Cooking food accomplishes five different things. 1. Inedible components in foods become edible after being cooked. An example is potatoes. Raw potatoes cannot be digested by humans because their tough cell walls are composed of cellulose, a polysaccharide straight-chain polymer of glucose (the glucose molecules are linked to each other). When potatoes are cooked, however, the polysaccharide is broken down into monosaccharides and disaccharides, which we can digest. (Undigested polysaccharides can be of value in the diet as fiber but not as a source of energy.) 2. Cooking releases or creates flavor elements in foods. When vegetables are cooked, for example, some of the RNA (ribonucleic acid) they contain is broken down into the nucleotides inosinate and guanylate, which are important flavor elements in vegetables, as well as in meats and dairy products. 3. Cooking denatures (destroys the chemical structure of) both protein toxins and proteins in microbes required for their survival. That's the good news. The bad news is that cooking can also do the following: 4. It destroys nutrients in the food, either by oxidation, heat, or leaching. An example of all three is the loss of vitamins that takes place when vegetables are boiled in water. 5. Cooking can create carcinogens (cancer-causing agents). That delicious-tasting scorched exterior on your charbroiled steak contains potent carcinogens called polynuclear aromatichydrocarbons, also found in cigarette smoke and smog. In addition to the carcinogens in the food itself, the use of a gas range or oven releases large amounts of carcinogenic nitrogen oxides and other harmful gases (such as carbon monoxide) into the air of your home. In fact, enough nitrogen oxides are released during typical home use of gas ovens to surpass the five-minute maximum exposure limit per day allowed in chemical manufacturing plants by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Microwave cookery offers a number of advantages in terms of the discussion above: It is fast and convenient. More nutrients are retained because of the fast cooking, relatively low peak temperatures, and lack of leaching. Far fewer carcinogens are created in the food, and carcinogens are not released into the air. Microwave cookery does have some dangers (nothing is perfectly safe): 1. Some foods, such as poultry, may be inadequately cooked, especially in older microwave ovens that do not mix the microwaves well or when the cook does not rotate the food properly. Salmonella bacteria and parasites such as trichinella (found in pork) are a particular hazard in such undercooked foods. This danger applies to any method of cooking. 2. A person might be injured by thermal (heat) effects of microwaves leaking out of a badly damaged microwave oven and cooking part of you instead of the food. In microwave ovens manufactured during the past 10 years, this is not a problem. A gas or electric oven is far more dangerous in this respect. In fact, microwave ovens offer by far the safest means of cooking for persons with mental or physical impairment. For example, microwave ovens cannot burn your house down. With the exception of browning-dishes, the food is the hottest part of the oven. Many people confuse microwave radiation with nuclear radiation (such as gamma rays or x-rays). Sunlight (solar radiation) is closer to x-rays in its properties than it is to microwave radiation. Radiation comes in discrete chunks called quanta. Energy per quanta of x-rays is very high and can break any chemical bond and can alter any molecule. This is why highenergy radiation can damage our DNA and cause cancer. Quanta of sunlight contain less energy and can break some chemical bonds but not others. (It can damage DNA in skin, for example, producing skin cancer.) Microwaves, however, contain very low energy and can break no chemical bonds. All the chemical changes produced by microwaves are due to heating.

Microwave radiation is very similar to the infrared heat radiation given off by a heat lamp or a hot-steam radiator and is about as hazardous as these infrared radiations. It is much easier, however, to accidentally burn yourself by contact with a hot, exposed steam radiator or heat lamp than with a cool microwave oven door, which, in all such units made within the past 10 years, is equipped with several built-in safety devices to automatically shut off the oven when the door is opened. Cooking was a giant step forward in the evolutionary history of man. Done with proper care, microwave cookery makes it possible to avoid or minimize traditional cooking's "bad news."

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are consulting scientists and authors of Life Extension. This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Health & Welfare: New Wave Cooking".

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FDA Watch: To Tell the Truth DURK PEARSON AND SANDY SHAW | FROM THE APRIL 1993 ISSUE

      Critics of the Food and Drug Administration have long noted that people die while awaiting government approval for medicine that might save their lives. In recent years AIDS activists in particular have insisted that the FDA take this cost into account when reviewing a drug for safety and efficacy. But another FDA policy that results in many deaths—censorship of information about legal products—is less widely recognized. The FDA prohibits unapproved health claims about the products it regulates, including foods, nutrients, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and medical devices. Instead of disseminating important health information, the agency actively suppresses it, causing hundreds of thousands of premature deaths every year. For example, more than a dozen clinical trials since the late '40s have shown that low-dose aspirin can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack. The most definitive evidence comes from the government-funded Physicians' Health Study, conducted by scientists at Harvard University. More than 22,000 physicians took either low-dose aspirin (one tablet every other day) or a placebo over a period of about five years. In 1989 the researchers reported that the incidence of first heart attacks among men over 50 was 44 percent lower in the aspirin group than in the control group. The study, originally planned for 10 years, was cut short by its overseeing committee, which deemed it unethical not to give subjects in the control group the opportunity to take aspirin. These results are widely accepted among doctors and scientists. Even so, the FDA has specifically prohibited aspirin companies from mentioning this study in their advertising because prevention of first heart attacks is not an FDA-approved claim. Yet no pharmaceutical company is going to undergo the huge expense of obtaining FDA approval for a health claim about an unpatentable substance (aspirin was introduced in 1899). Each year in the United States, some 500,000 people die of heart attacks. About 40 percent of those deaths are sudden and unexpected; those people do not know they have cardiovascular disease. Surveys indicate that most people at risk of heart attack, especially those not under the regular care of a physician, are not taking preventive aspirin. Similarly, the FDA does not permit a health claim on foods or nutrient supplements that "folic acid can reduce the risk of neural-tube defects, such as spina bifida." Yet this is a widely held scientific view. In September the U.S. Public Health Service (the agency that oversees the FDA) began to recommend that all women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily, about twice what most American women get in their diets (mostly from green vegetables). Godfrey Oakley, head of the division on birth defects and developmental disabilities at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, says of folic-acid protection: "You work all your professional career for something like this." The British National Health Service has been recommending folic acid to women of childbearing age for a few years and even supplies them with the nutrient. Neural-tube defects are the number-one reason for induced abortions in women who want to have children. Some 2,500 babies are bom every year in the United States with such defects, and unknown thousands of others are aborted. Yet the FDA seizes as "mislabeled" any folic-acid supplements bearing the claim that the nutrient can help prevent this problem. In defense of the agency's position following the Public Health Service announcement, FDA Commissioner David Kessler noted that folic acid can mask the symptoms of a vitamin B-12 deficiency, which if untreated can lead to serious consequences. But folic acid itself has low toxicity, and the possible anemia problem can be avoided by adding small and safe amounts of vitamin B-12 to any folic-acid supplement or folic-acid-fortified food. (This will eliminate the possibility of pernicious anemia in all except a small fraction of individuals, mostly elderly, who do not have enough "intrinsic factor" in their gastrointestinal tracts to absorb vitamin B-12.) The FDA also censors claims based on the extensive scientific evidence that certain nutrients—most notably, the antioxidant nutrients C, E, and beta carotene—help prevent disease, including cardiovascular problems and cancer. For example, a recently published epidemiological study by UCLA scientists looked at 11,000 subjects over a 10-year period. The men who got about 800 milligrams of vitamin C a day (mostly from supplements) lived six years longer, on average, than men who received only the "recommended daily allowance" of vitamin C from food. (The RDA of vitamin C, set at the level that prevents scurvy in most people, is 60 mg.) Mortality among the men getting 800 mg of vitamin C a day was 30 percent lower than among men getting 50 mg or so in their diets. The women who got the high dose of vitamin C lived a year longer, on average, than those who received average amounts of vitamin C. These lifespan increases were largely due to reductions in mortality from cardiovascular disease. The researchers concluded: "The inverse relation of total mortality to vitamin C intake is stronger and more consistent in this population than the relation of total mortality to serum cholesterol and dietary fat intake, two variables on which strong public health guidelines

have been issued over the years." The study was published in the May 1992 issue of Epidemiology, a highly respected, peerreviewed scientific journal. Despite this and many other vitamin C studies demonstrating health benefits from amounts higher than the RDA, the FDA permits no health claims for vitamin C other than prevention of scurvy. Indeed, with few exceptions, the agency considers any health claims for nutrients to be mislabeling, justifying seizure of the product. The FDA is thus obstructing a major means of controlling health-care costs: reducing the incidence of costly medical conditions, especially cardiovascular disease and cancer, through the use of preventive measures such as taking low-dose aspirin or antioxidant vitamins. Fortunately, the FDA's control of information about health products is not as strong as it once was. Biomedical information is becoming widely available to the public through a variety of sources, including better press coverage of health issues and direct access to scientific journals and data bases. Although Kessler wants the FDA to be the "sole authority on health and nutrition information," the agency can no longer act as if it has a monopoly on the truth. The FDA is dealing with a public that is much better informed than ever before, and its claims of exclusive information or expertise are no longer credible. If the FDA wants to regain its credibility, it should provide information rather than restricting it. One way to do this is a split-label system, which we first suggested in 1982. Under this proposal, the government would permit truthful health claims about FDA-regulated products, but manufacturers making a claim not approved by the FDA would have to include a prominent statement to that effect on their labels. The product could bear an easily recognizable symbol, such as the letters

FDA in a circle with a slash through it, to alert consumers. The manufacturer would provide equal space on its label or literature for the FDA to say whatever it wishes. Both the manufacturer and the FDA could cite research (which nutrient companies are not permitted to do now) and any other information they deemed appropriate. Consumers who wanted to make health choices based entirely on the FDA's advice would be free to do so; in fact, through the split-label approach, the FDA's advice on nutrients, right or wrong, would reach far more people than it does now. Consumers would thereby be warned that they, not the government, are responsible for choosing information sources and making their own decisions. The FDA would not be able to get away with providing false, misleading, and sometimes harmful advice that is out of touch with scientific findings. Restrictions on advertising should also be lifted. The Federal Trade Commission is legally empowered to regulate advertising claims, while the FDA has legal authority to regulate only label content. But under the "extension of labeling" doctrine, the FDA deems any advertising literature, even (under some circumstances) books written by authors with no connection to the regulated product, to be a part of the label and thus within the agency's purview. The FDA therefore regulates advertising by the food, nutrient, drug, and medical-device industries. The FTC has a fairly good record of allowing claims when consumers have reasonable ability to judge the results (for example, a claim that a product grows hair on bald heads), where the product appears to be reasonably safe in the intended usage, and where the product has a money-back guarantee. The FDA, in contrast, has a poor record of allowing truthful health claims, and the agency's approval, if you can get it, is generally extremely expensive, thus increasing the costs of health-enhancing products. We propose that the "extension of labeling" doctrine be renounced, leaving the FTC to regulate health claims in advertising. Companies accused of making fraudulent claims should be allowed to defend themselves before a jury in federal court, where they would have the right to be represented by an attorney, to call witnesses, and to cross-examine government witnesses. Under the current administrative process, those accused of false health claims appear in an FDA "court," where the agency is judge, jury, and executioner. Defenders of the current policy might argue that using the federal courts to regulate fraudulent health claims is slow and expensive. But as we have seen, the current system, which allows the FDA to ban health claims by decree, entails far greater costs, in terms of both money and preventable disability and death. Far from moving toward more openness, the FDA has announced its intention to ban or regulate out of existence most nutrient supplements and herb formulations. Fortunately, members of Congress have responded to this threat. Last year Sen. Orrin Hatch (R–Utah) introduced the Health Freedom Act of 1992, and Rep. Elton Gallegly (R–Calif.) introduced a similar measure in the House. These bills would prohibit the FDA from arbitrarily regulating or banning the sale of nutrient supplements. The Hatch bill would also allow health claims for which there is significant scientific evidence (not necessarily a scientific consensus as defined by the FDA) and would permit nutrient-supplement companies to challenge the FDA's ban of a health claim in federal court. Congress should heed the warning of Nobel laureate Milton Friedman: "The FDA has already done enormous harm to the health of the American public by greatly increasing the costs of pharmaceutical research, thereby reducing the supply of new and effective drugs, and by delaying the approval of such drugs as survive the tortuous FDA process. Any increase in the FDA's authority over anything is a clear and present danger to the nation's health."

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw are the authors of Life Extension: A Practical, Scientific Approach (Warner) and Freedom of Informed Choice (Common Sense Press).

This article originally appeared in print under the headline "FDA Watch: To Tell the Truth".

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