This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

took my vitamin d3 like a good girl for three days now, plus have been getting all the other supplements into me on schedule too. keeping an eye on that one fingernail that always starts to go first, looking for improvements.

so today, i've been getting ready for quite a few days of work straight, and at this point i have all my protein choices and starchy root veg mash and steamed kale and salad veg and hummous snack, veggie sticks etc ready to go.

i forgot to mention this pork shoulder adventure i had almost a couple weeks ago now. didn't roast it long enough, so after the fact had to boil the meat off. that worked fine and then i had this stock in the pot. when it cooled it made a really good jelly which i saved. the last thing on my list today, was to do something with that stock. so i sauteed an onion in a little tamworth bacon fat, added 1c washed split peas and the pork stock, and 2 bay leaves. it's been simmeringly away nicely. almost done.

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

i keep forgetting to add that i have another sign of poor nutrient status - a hangnail. NEVER get these when i'm behaving.

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

hadn't noticed previously, but it appears the problem was showing up on one of my toenails too. being extra super very well-behaved in consequence.

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

this show always plays during my commute.

CBC - The Current
Listen: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/popupaudio ... 2232476515

Here's the article that caught my ear
"Brain-Wasting: Neurodegenerative Diseases
Today we're talking health and science of a different kind … In a lab in the U.K., researchers believe they've unlocked the mystery around the mechanism that kills neurons in the brain. It is research related to Mad Cow disease or Kreutzfeld Jacob disease but what they're learning could eventually affect how we treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzeimer's or Parkinson's."

Related paragraph from UBC's web site
Neil Cashman, professor of neurology at UBC, is in Amsterdam attending the International Prion Conference. He explains the findings of the U.K. study on CBC’s The Current.
“When there is misfolded proteins, when a protein lacks its proper three-dimensional shape, it tends to accumulate and triggers a stress pathway that shuts down the expression of all protein so that the cell can recover from the burden of misfolded protein,” said Cashman. “In neurodegeneration, and especially in the prion diseases, the protein misfolding continues and continues to provide stress.”

of course i was thinking, oh i need to go home and figure out what nutrient supports this protein handling. i hadn't got to it yet, but i was just scouting through the glutathione biosynthetic pathway looking for a zinc-dependent enzyme in the mix, and stumbled on this abstract:

Zinc-dependent protein folding
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 3199000708
"Studies of classic zinc-finger peptides over the past 15 years have offered insights into the coupled processes of metal binding and protein folding. Within the past two years, this insight has been used to increase our understanding of the importance of first and second shell contributions (i.e. contributions from direct and indirect metal ligands) to metal binding and protein-folding stability, and led to advances in de novo protein design and protein redesign."

just listening again and they're talking about "endoplasmic reticulum stress"

this looks interesting but not getting any sense this is peer-reviewed:
http://www.res-medical.com/endocrine-glands/1787
"Zinc intervention can improve myocardial zinc levels, improve cardiac systolic and diastolic function, and reduce the pathological changes of myocardial tissue, inhibiting the genesis of autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress... Zinc intervention can obviously improve renal function and reduce the renal pathological changes, inhibiting the genesis of autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress".

anyway. enough of that for the time being.

may 12 update

DIETARY REFERENCE INTAKES FOR Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_ ... 6&page=443
"The structural role of zinc involves proteins that form domains capable of zinc coordination, which facilitates protein folding to produce biologically active molecules. The vast majority of such proteins form a “zinc finger-like” structure created by chelation centers, including cysteine and histidine residues (Klug and Schwabe, 1995). "

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

i was wistfully hankering after a quick reference guide for the near 100 zinc-dependent enzymes recently. (the number is 100 from certain published sources and 300 from others. but i'm going to go with the 100 number for now).

got a list of 5536 enzymes. now to figure out the search function.. :S yikes
http://www.brenda-enzymes.org/php/resul ... &organism=

i've spent a lot of time looking for levels in healthy controls but that has its own set of problems, such as the general longevity of the population where said study was done. are these controls likely to celebrate their 100th bday?

you know what would be interesting? take glutathione since it's been top of mind this week. take healthy people and measure GPx activity, cysteine, zinc and selenium. then, you keep giving them zinc and selenium and cysteine, and watch what happens to zinc, selenium, cysteine and GPx levels. then watch to see when/if GPx activity plateaus. wonder if that could be a way to assess nutrient repletion, when enzyme activity is optimized???

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

just started a quick search to find out if any researchers had made a start on optimal Gpx levels. stumbled on this:

Mercury toxicity and antioxidants: Part 1: role of glutathione and alpha-lipoic acid in the treatment of mercury toxicity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12495372

it says free full text, but the text string is not functioning as a link so i just went looking for it elsewhere: http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/7/6/456.pdf

"glutathione-mercury complexes have been found in the liver, kidney, and brain, and appear to be the primary form in which mercury is transported and eliminated from the body."

fyi that statement references this other article:
Zalups RK. Molecular interactions with mercury in the kidney. Pharmacol Rev 2000;52:113-143

so, looks like if you were to optimize glutathione status with zinc and selenium, you'd be helping optimize chelation of mercury out of your system.

and since the article mentions ALA, fyi zinc is also likely to improve endogenous ALA biosynthesis... refer back to this study i've posted a couple times previously:

"alpha-Lipoic acid and N-acetyl cysteine prevent zinc deficiency-induced activation of NF-kappaB and AP-1 transcription factors in human neuroblastoma"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16298762

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

is it just me, or does this look like each individual's seed zinc fund for project life. environment/diet determines whether the account is accruing interest or being depleted, and when a given individual drains the account, that's when their personal wheels start to come off all the zinc-dependent enzymes, with consequences for regulation of genetic expression. may i say, bam.

Zinc content and distribution in the newborn liver
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8856577
The mean zinc concentration in the newborn liver was 639 micrograms/g of dry tissue (dt). A striking interindividual variability in zinc liver stores was observed; the hepatic concentration of the metal ranged from 300 to 1,400 micrograms/g dt.

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

okay so going back to GPx, i found this study of lambs and a GPx plateau, but i'm going to have to sit down with it for a while to figure out exactly what the number might be. for lambs at least..

GLUTATHIONE PEROXIDASE RESPONSE TO SELENIUM INTAKE IN LAMBS FED A TORULA YEAST-BASED, ARTIFICIAL MILK
http://jas.fass.org/content/42/4/977.full.pdf
An 8-week experiment was conducted with 16 newborn lambs fed a Torula yeast-based, low selenium (Se), liquid diet (~01 ppm Se) supplemented on the basis of air-dried solids with 0, .05, .10 or .50 ppm Se supplied as Na2SeO3. The objective was to determine the effect of dietary Se intake on tissue glutathione peroxidase activity and Se concentration. Since glutathione peroxidase is a selenoenzyme, it was postulated that activity of this enzyme in tissues might be an index of Se adequacy.
Dietary Se supplementation increased Se concentration and glutathione peroxidase activity in 10 different tissues analyzed, but some tissues responded more dramatically than others. In all tissues analyzed except pancreas and erythrocytes, glutathione peroxidase activity reached a plateau at approximately .11 ppm Se, but Se content of the tissues increased with each increment of dietary Se.

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

AGREE! ... balancing diet to manage inflammatory factors is soooo key!

Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/24251 ... rt-Disease

"There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.

One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.

Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labelled polyunsaturated. Forget the "science" that has been drummed into your head for decades. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.

The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.

What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet. "

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

awesome update. my friend was feeling really bad for a long time and suffering amenorrhea. got some tests and put her on a regimen. she's doing well with the changes. bloodwork confirmed my suspicions so we have an easy action plan AND, as of today i found out the amenorrhea is reversed!

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

well i just fried up some of my local farm fresh heritage bacon, sauteed some sliced local crimini mushrooms, roasted some slabs of ontario red pepper, broiled up a couple of all-beef patties and topped them with old cheddar, warmed up some leftover kale, sliced a dill pickle, and toasted two thin multigrain buns, one with a layer of pesto, the other with some ketchup.
voila, a pesto/roasted-red-pep/kale bacon mushroom cheeseburger. mmm!!! ate it with the rest of the salad i wasn't able to finish at lunch.
saved half of everything so i can make the same for lunch tomorrow. soooo tasty

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

pondering how to get supplements into a puker, and considering the cutaneous route. remembering how quickly my face healed with application of topical zinc ointment.

found this:

A Study of the Percutaneous Absorption from Topically Applied Zinc Oxide Ointment
http://pen.sagepub.com/content/7/2/131.abstract
in apparently health controls "There was a mean increase in serum zinc from 107.3 ± 5.32 to 116.1 ± 5.02 μg/dL 1 hr after application of 40% zinc oxide ointment (p > 0.05)."

that's starting at around 16.4 umol/L on average, and finishing up around 17.75 umol/L. but it was considered a non-significant finding. results appear to be somewhat inconclusive so far, but i haven't read in detail to learn how much was applied.

i know from lab work that 1,25dihydroxycholecalciferol ointment gets into the bloodwork through the skin, and i know magnesium can get in that way too (although from more anecdotal sources).

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

boiling up some mint and hemlock (tsuga canadensis) tea. to be served with a splash of maple syrup. considering the sublingual possibilities. what if someone were to just hold it in the mouth for a while and then spit..

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

HEY maybe you could even just dissolve regular supplements in water, soak a cloth in the solution, and put it on the forehead. i'll never find a study on the efficacy of that delivery route :S

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

hmm i could make supplement ointment...

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com