Dr Ray Peat

My emails with Dr Peat

I will continue with Chapter 4 of Ling’s “In Search of the Physical Basis of Life” next week.

This week I wanted to share my email exchanges with Dr Peat.

First, some history of how I found out about Ray.

I first heard of Dr Peat from Matt Stone back in 2012. Basically, I had spent much of my college years attempting to lose weight and epically failing. I only made myself more hypothyroid, my dislocations became worse, and I had more frequent subluxations from hEDS; I started having POTs-like symptoms (later to be diagnosed), histamine-related issues, and the list goes on. Anyways, I had enough insight to know my swinging back and forth between very low calorie/ fasting and overeating (no one overeats on only steak…), as well as jumping between different “fad” diets that removed food groups (and the micronutrients that come with them), were making me worse. So I started following ladies who were basically going “all in” before it was “cool.” This then led to Matt’s book, “Eat for Heat” and Dr Peat’s work. Amazon still shows my 2013 purchase dates of their books.

I immediately dove into the articles posted on Dr Peat’s website and read them all that weekend. I also started listening to all of his discussions with the Herb Doctor, etc. As a physicist, while I was not as familiar with biochemistry, physiology, etc, as I am now, I took solace in his brief mentions of physics and how he saw its relationship to health. Much of what he discussed contradicted what my professors were teaching me. I already had some doubts based on physic’s move to theory and mathematics with an ever decreasing emphasis on experiment - especially by experimental physicists. This led to my now ten-year adventure of actually reading primary works and research - versus textbooks that I have realized make many leaps and are a poor summary of actual research. Also, in many ways textbooks directly contradict what these greats actually saw and noted. If anything, this and “Perceive. Think. Act.” were the most important thing I learned from Ray.

The following are the emails I sent with his replies. I hope they are as instructive to you as they were for me.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

You talk a lot about the importance of Na.  Drs Hodgkin and Huxley showed how neuron cell “membrane potentials” require intracellular K+.  Similar research shows the same for other cell types.  And Ling shows this with the relative c-values.  Also, looking at hydrated vs unhydrated ion sizes, you can see why Na substitutes for K in a low ATP/CO2 state - because of the cytoplasm structure changes.  

https://electrobionics.org/ionic_radii.pdf

Is there a reason you don’t discuss K much?  Are you assuming most are in a low ATP/CO2 state and need the Na more to restore some of the potential?  Obviously the tie between K and B1 is crucial here.  

This is an awesome paper showing Fe comes in through the “VGCCs” - the “selective channels” probably more having to do with the local proteins and cytoplasm at that point.  Given the link I posted above about the ionic diameters, I guarantee the “VGCC” is also a Mn+2, Fe+2, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sn, and possibly Pb+2 channel.  And this paper seems to indicate that theory is correct. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/nm920

Have you looked into non-linear dynamics and biochemical oscillator effects on things like glycolysis?  

I know you rightfully speak out against radiation.  What are your thoughts on cyclotron/ particle accelerator physics?  If the electric universe is closer to the physics we actually see then obviously our search for new particles is questionable and changes.  Though that seems to be the case for much of Physics.  A few years back I asked my profs some more “intuitive” questions about maxwells equations and wasn’t given a sufficient answer.  Then when I asked about his original papers and tried to discuss them, I was told not to bother they aren’t concise, just solve the math, etc.  That really made me question what we were being taught.  

Fractal woman has some videos on YouTube that you might find interesting - specifically her magnetism ones.  

Dr Peat:

My emphasis on sodium was because of the widespread mistaken beliefs about its functions that have been harming people. Historically, the Hodgkin-Huxley model coincided with the medical mania for diuretics, and the medical world has been very slow to move back somewhat toward reality. Part of the problem is metaphysical—biology teaching persists with frozen models of cells and organisms. That’s part of why I think it’s important to take Heraclitus and Aristotle seriously, allowing the perceptual process to continually modify the assumptions. A propaganda experiment in physiology involves drinking a quart of plain water and measuring your urine output over the next hour or so, and then drinking a quart of isotonic saline, and noticing that it’s retained in the body for a longer time. The implication is that salt causes water retention, and that leads to thoughts of increased blood volume and pressure. I knew women who regularly gained about 5 liters of water premenstrually, while strictly limiting their salt intake as they had been advised. I had experimented on myself and seen studies of the effects of different quantities of salt during pregnancy, so I suggested that they salt their food to taste, and they found that they felt better and didn’t gain any premenstrual weight. It turns out that a calcium deficiency, rather than a sodium excess, is usually responsible for hypertension and a variety of other symptoms. Aldosterone interacts with parathyroid hormone, and both lower oxidative energy production, contributing to degenerative processes. When people restrict sodium (or calcium) intake, their aldosterone and parathyroid hormone increase; when they eat an excess of it, those hormones decrease. Eating more calcium tends to lower serum calcium content, while protecting against soft tissue calcium uptake, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and the degenerative processes. Lowering aldosterone and PTH by increasing sodium and calcium intake contributes to increasing oxidative metabolism, and a higher mitochondrial oxygen consumption lowers random oxidative damage, with multiple health benefits. Seen as an energetic, flowing phenomenon, eveything in the organism is the opposite of the standard assumptions that have shaped medicine.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Thanks for your response.  

Given Dr Ling based a lot of his work on “correcting” things like the membrane potential equations and even the Hodgkin-Huxley model, do you think his c-value discussion is a less important aspect of his research?  The more important part having to do with the water structure, ATPs real use, and AI hypothesis for the ETC?  

Research has shown that antibiotics can take days to weeks to alter the microbiome.  I know you’ve discussed their use for endotoxin issues, etc.  This seems like it would be a delayed response.  However, many report almost immediate changes in state following an antibiotic.  For example, I had rhabdomyolysis every time I got sick so I had to take an antibiotic for the issue.  Within 20min of swallowing keflex, my rhabdo muscle burning stopped, I stopped smelling like licorice, etc. This clearly shows they probably act on the mitochondria or something else directly.  Do you have any thoughts about that?  

Dr Peat:

I think anyone who pays attention to an antibiotic is likely to notice that quick effect, though I haven’t tried many kinds (only penicillin, erythromycin, tetracycline). The relief usually begins shortly after I smell the chemical in my blood or on my breath. Bacteria can redesign themselves to tolerate antibiotics, so I think it’s reasonable to suppose that they sense and understand the danger as it appears. Everything is cognitive, down to molecules.

I doubt that Ling saw anything correctable in the membrane people. He gave enough examples of complete dishonesty, to give me the impression that he saw the science establishment as a culture of self interest, with no practical interest in objective knowledge for itself.

Kathleen:

I asked Ray about supporting a pre-term birth. I have more to share about this in a future Substack. As a brief overview, I have a full bicornuate uterus as a DES granddaughter. My son was in my left lobe, and I went into labor at 28 weeks and delivered naturally nine days later. He was born breathing room air and was a “grower-feeder” in the NICU for 53 days. He’s almost 4.5 years old and you would never know he was only 1500g at birth. I am truly thankful for Ray for his thoughts below and other talks, etc. he has given on pregnancy.

I asked about progesterone because babies get the most during the third trimester (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180505091803.htm) and the others to support his breast-milk tube feeding.

Dr Peat:

When progesterone is taken orally it's effective in the milk (the form I designed and have always used is Progest-E Complex). Progesterone’s brain-protecting effect is most important during the last 3 months of gestation, but it continues to be effective at any age. B vitamins, iron, iodine and selenium could be provided safely by occasionally adding a little liver and shell fish to his ground beef. It’s important for growing kids to get enough sunlight, supplementing vitamin D when sun is scarce.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Thank you so much.  

Back to the antibiotics.  Looking at the situation from a Bechamp, terrain, point of view, is it that the bacteria are over responding to the environmental assault?  So the antibiotic slows their response?  The benefit being to limit the cytokine/ chemokine production?  Because clearly the bacteria would still need to respond to whatever caused them to go into action in the first place.  And this is why research shows the population doesn’t change for days to weeks? 

And of course the direct effects of antibiotics on mitochondria specifically on their use of thiamine, NAD, etc.  Have you researched phage lytic enzymes to be used instead?  

Dr Peat:

It interacts with thyroid, vitamin D, etc., so temperature, mood, behavior, everything is optimized when it’s right. Bacteriophage technology developed in eastern europe, and continues there. I’ve tried them myself, but you have to know exactly what the problem is, to choose the right phages. It’s similar with bacteria—a few, such as subtilis and licheniformis, are very powerful at correcting some serious conditions; like antibiotics, it’s important to have knowledge of the exact nature of the problem, which is an alien concept in western medicine. I think a choice or combination of three old antibiotics can do almost anything that’s necessary. Two, tetracycline and erythromycin, have valuable other effects, including reducing inflammation and activating the bowel and kidneys. 

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

How could one ever know the exact nature of the problem?  

Dr Peat:

Vitamin D and calcium will affect it, but the basic problem is usually low thyroid, high ratio of estrogen to progesterone, affecting the balance of the autonomic nerves.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

I have true hypoglycemia (blood tests in the 30s with low normal insulin).  Obviously this has to do with hypothyroid and vitamin deficiencies - I’m working on.  

I think I have glucuronidation phase II issues because high salicylate fruits give me reactive hypoglycemia.  I also turn orange from too many carrots, have high normal bilirubin, I don’t metabolize caffeine and pharmaceuticals very well, and seem to have a hard time with fat solubles for example the TTFD form of B1. I also had high betaglucuronidase on a stool test.

I listed what I had tried and my response to them, then asked him for any thoughts and what he would try next.

Dr Peat:

All of those are clear signs of hypothyroidism. When a thyroid product doesn’t clearly increase your temperature and pulse rate, it’s often because it doesn’t contain the thyroid tissue.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

I know you talk a lot about the importance of glycine especially glycine:methionine.  I haven’t found any of your thoughts on the glycine cleavage system.  Impaired GC causes low CO2, sulfation issues, etc.  Some also have issues with glycine because it goes to glyoxyl then to oxalate.  And it can make people anxious, etc.  Lysine, Zn, and B6 seem to be important cofactors for the GCS.  

I ask because every time I take B6 (all forms and I’ve tried low doses, <1mg) I dump oxalate through stool.  And my hands and feet start become very stiff then progress to neuropathy if I don’t stop supplementation.  I eat a fair amount of ground beef and Gruyere cheese so should be getting at least the RDI for lysine and B6.  But I find it strange that I don’t handle supplementation.  Any thoughts? 

Have you tried lysine to lower serotonin?  

Dr Peat:

If thyroid is low, nutrients can’t be metabolized properly, so there are always indicators of malnutrition.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Thanks!  I’m guessing hypothyroid is tied to easy lower leg bruising and skin dryness too right?

I heard you talk about the neutrino sea.  Have you read DL Hotson’s papers on the negative energy solution to Diracs equation?  What about Maxwell, Steinmetz, etc original work?  Seems like Physics has gone down the wrong path, much like medicine.  

I can send Hotsons 3 papers by email if you would like to read them.  

Dr Peat:

Yes, those are very common signs of low thyroid action.

I’ve read too many solutions to the Dirac equation; there’s too little empiricism in physics.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

In this discussion you spoke about chalone from liver.  If you used a desiccated liver would they survive the digestive process?  Or do you have to inject the liver extract?  Is there a go to book or paper you like that discusses the process further? 

Do you have any thoughts on why people get small fiber neuropathy from supplemental B6 but not from eating high B6 foods?  Even low dose supplementation (<1mg) of all forms of B6 seem to cause issues in some.  Is it a lysine problem? Or hypothyroid?  The thing I don’t understand about hypothyroid and vitamins is if you have a vitamin deficiency then you won’t make as much ATP so calling for more with more thyroid doesn’t make much sense to me.  

Dr Peat:

The neurotoxic levels of B6 just aren’t possible from foods. Thyroid hormone’s first action is the creation of ATP. Various nutritional deficiencies accelerate the breakdown of ATP, and so compound the problem of low thyroid. Desiccated liver contains oxidized tryptophan, cysteine, vitamin A, ubiquinone, and many other harmful things. 

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Thank you!  Do you get the same beneficial effects of the chalone from eating cooked liver as you do from injecting it?  What about swallowing raw, frozen, pieces?  

In this video you spoke about the universe’s total entropy decreasing.  As a physicist, obviously the second law is one of the many theories taken as fact.  Are you saying the universe isn’t an isolated system so it’s entropy can decrease over time (obviously fluctuations occur)?  So there is a larger system outside of the universe which is isolated and the second law holds?  Or the second law is wrong?  If the latter are there any books/ articles you recommend discussing this?

In the same talk you said biochemist have always told you to squash and dilute cells to understand biochemistry.  Have you found a method of understanding biochem without needing to do this?  

Dr Peat:

The chalone is produced in very small quantities for maintenance, and so it would have to be concentrated from a very large quantity of liver to have an effect in any situation where it’s needed.

I think the nature of the living substance is ultimately incompatible with an “operating system” based on postulates; no theory, law, or principle should be taken as fact. The organism is an experience accumulator-creator, not a logic machine. N.A. Kozyrev observed that Christian theology formed the context for postulating that the universe, created at a certain moment, was necessarily running down, dissipating available energy that had originated with the creator, who was now absent. He, and Fred Hoyle, and several Indians familiar with hinduism, have considered the implications of alternative assumptions. If time isn’t symmetrical (and our experience says it isn’t), then the passage of time, earlier and later, has physical meaning. Halton Arp didn’t have any particular ideology he was testing, but he photographed what appeared to be connected parts of a single galaxy with very different red shifts. He suggested that it was consistent with the physics of continuing creation, in which the red shift of light was associated with the age of the matter, rather than its velocity of recession.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

I apologize for all of the emails.  I find your view of life and science refreshing and appreciate the discussion.

Theoretically if someone you knew had penile squamous cell carcinoma, other than the aspirin, niacinamide, pregnenolone/ progesterone, and a high ATP diet is there anything else you would suggest they try?  

Thank you!

Dr Peat:

Local application of pure CO2, and systemic use of acetazolamide to increase body content of CO2; angiotensin blockers, topical and systemic lidocaine; progesterone.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr. Peat,

I read your article on learning in childhood, but I was wondering what your thoughts are on learning in adulthood?  I am specifically interested in how you are able to remember exact dates and who proposed what theory, etc.  Do you think that is a result of optimizing thyroid, taking pregnenolone/ progesterone, etc?  Or do have a method for memorizing and learning?

Dr Peat:

Thyroid, and the maintenance of brain temperature that it supports, are essential for cognition of all sorts; if I’m writing and can’t remember a name, taking 5 mcg of T3 restores my memory in a few minutes. Avoiding hyperventilation is important too; it vasoconstricts the brain. Have you noticed that lying in bed after waking, your thinking is clear and far ranging, and then when you stand up and move around your style of thinking changes? I think it’s the higher CO2 when you wake up after restorative sleep, being decreased by physical activity.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

In a low metabolic state, there seems to be 2 predominant paths: 1. The person loses a lot of muscle and fat mass; their skin becomes saggy, etc.  2. Someone gains a lot of fat mass (could be losing muscle too).  It seems like many can go from 1. to 2. after an acutely stressful event too.  Do you have any thoughts as to why ones body would take either path; the preconditions?  

Dr Peat:

I think the composition of the diet (essential nutrients, protein/fat balance, calcium/phosphate balance) determines the sympathetic/parasympathetic balance.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Many in the low oxalate world say that glycine becomes oxalate endogenously because of low B6.  They say the low B6 is tied to low B1.  The likely answer seems to make sure you’re getting enough B6 and B1.  And making sure you have enough thyroid.  However, many experience oxalate dumping that have sent them to the ER with very low dose B6 supplementation - the oxalate causing an acute drop in electrolytes.  

Do you have any thoughts on endogenous oxalate production?

Oxalate seems really good at suppressing glucose metabolism.  I wonder if it more has to do with too many fatty acids (especially PUFA).  So the body makes the oxalic acid as part of a joint Randle cycle type effect.  

Dr Peat:

It’s only a problem for vegetarians with deficiencies of calcium, vitamin D, protein, etc.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Other than a bioenergetic lifestyle, what would you do if you have had to get many vaccines? I have many doubts about zeolite, etc. because they would bind similar cations, etc. however, many tout them, do you have an opinion on them? From a Ling standpoint, building the cellular water structure and having open excretion pathways seem the way to go.

Dr Peat:

I think zeolite, in stomach acid, can be a source of toxins itself. Antiinflammatory, oxidative energy-promoting things to repair the damage can help.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

How did you deal with not being able to “ask questions” when in graduate school?  Just push through and get the degree so you can after the fact? 

Dr Peat:

I avoided as far as possible the obviously worst professors, found two that were intelligent. My first year I had a really bad guy for one quarter of comparative physiology, and had an opportunity to see how the department simply tolerates the worst teaching—lectures that were 100% plagiarized, as well as stupid. The founder of the molecular biology institute, professor of biology and dean of the graduate school summed up their view of science nicely when someone asked him "what if a student disagrees with a professor?"—“you flunk'em.” 

Kathleen:

H Dr Peat,

In this video you said if you consume butter and coconut oil that you need to make sure your fatty acid oxidation is working well.  This causes the PUFA to be oxidized immediately so it doesn’t go into storage causing problems down the line.  Because of the Randle cycle would eating these things separate from glucose be preferable?  So only fat+protein or carbs+protein?  Obviously most foods contain some of each, but the relative amounts.   

Other than a good thyroid, what’s needed to ensure proper fatty acid metabolism?  Is there a way to direct the PUFA immediately to glucuronidation to be excreted without oxidizing it?  That seems to be the least damaging to me.  

Also, very true about profs flunking you. If you question the underlying assumptions of the model then you’re wrong, etc.  Chemical engineering still has some room for questions, but not when it comes to “fundamentals” like quantum chemistry. 

Dr Peat:

I think it’s a matter of keeping the fire hot with enough glucose, vitamins, thyroid, etc., and the total calories low enough to prevent storage. Even short exposure to fat without glucose is likely to turn on the ketogenic Randle effect. I think the increase of NADH/NAD ratio by fat oxidation is the source of the harmful effects—it leads to fatty liver, the same as ethanol.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

What are your thoughts on biological transmutation?  Seems like cold fusion could be an explanation.  I know people point to cold fusion because we have isotopes on earth that should have theoretically decayed by now.  But others say they are from periodic solar micronovas.  

Dr Peat:

Around 1971 or 1972 I had corresponded with Horace Dudley about his neutrino sea theory, and I asked him about the possibility of neutrino resonance with crystalline materials. Around that time, I saw a newspaper clipping about John Anderson’s experiment showing nonrandom decay of carbon in a monolayer of a labeled oil on aluminum foil. I looked him up in Nuovo Cimento, and found that Dudley’s article on the implications of his neutrino sea theory for the safety of nuclear reactors had been published in the same issue as Anderson’s experiment. They weren’t aware of each other’s work. I think neutrino-nuclear-crystal interactions offer a possible way to understand both cold fusion and biotransmutation.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Why do you think myxedema/ hypothyroid causes mucopolysaccharides to deposit?  I know the literature says the increased glycosaminoglycan could be from tsh stimulating fibroblasts.  Have you come across any better theories?  

It’s interesting that a similar thing occurs in Graves’ disease too.  Have you seen people who keep themselves hyperthyroid through medication develop similar issues?

This is all made more interesting by the increasing amount of women who are having hypermobility/ hEDS, lipedema, and MCAS issues.  Especially given connective tissue health and tsh levels are tied.  

Is lipedema the new “pretibial myxedema”?  

I think Lyme could be part of the new “beriberi”.  Especially given how much late stage Lyme heart issues look a lot like wet beriberi.  

Dr Peat:

Hyperthyroidism from too much Armour thyroid keeps TSH low, and doesn’t do that. High TSH, with angiotensin and lactate, creates the hypoxia-like stress that increases the deposition. I think a major part of the reason for several of these new syndrome clusters is that the drug companies have reshaped medicine to be blind to the hypothyroid/hyperestrogenic condition.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Do you know why hardly anyone discusses the insulin-like nature of potassium (sodium)?  As you know, GLUT4 is the only known insulin dependent “transporter”.  So many are pointing to insulin resistance as the cause of chronic disease and of course T2D - obviously this is really to do with the Randle effect from catabolic hormones, metabolic dysfunction from hypothyroidism, not enough micros like B1, etc - but my understanding is only about 10% transport occurs with insulin.  Obviously insulin also has other roles too.  But why is hardly anyone discussing cytoplasm structure so the potassium and glucose come back into the cell (Ling’s work)? 

On another note, what do you think about the suspicious observers YouTube channel and what they’re saying about a solar micronova?  The predict our sun will within the next 20-40y based on the other stars micronovas currently going through the galactic current sheet?  

Dr Peat:

The dominant institutions, especially the drug industry and government, have turned the whole culture, including “the sciences," into a marketing tool. Receptors, transporters, pumps, channels, etc., substitute for actual practical organismic effects. I’m more than suspicious of over-precise statistical guesses about the fate of the world.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

What do you think about the deuterium depletion crowd who say FAO is preferred over glucose metabolism?  Their argument is because the supposed relative amount of D in fat vs carbs is lower.  Which then causes the ATPase to make more heavy water, D2O, from glucose oxidation vs FAO.  

If in fact more D2O:H2O is made from glucose is that really a negative thing?  Especially when comparing the benefit of more CO2 from glucose oxidation?  Obviously this will change the structure of the cellular water.  To bad Ling was unable to see what the ratio of D2O:H2O was during his research.  

I’m not sure if you’ve published an article on this topic, but I would greatly enjoy a thorough writeup if you’re interested.  

Dr Peat:

Everything I have seen by L.G. Boros has been evidence-free hot air. The published lists of foods with deuterium content don’t seem to be the result of actual measurement, because the region where the food is grown makes a very big difference. I started to write about deuterium depletion about 10 or 15 years ago, mentioning things such as the much lower deuterium content of beet sugar from the central states of the US compared to cane sugar from Hawaii; I think it’s good to get your water mainly as orange juice and milk, because of its deuterium depletion. I decided to wait until there’s a more economical way to make highly depleted water and more research.

Atherosclerosis. 2017 Sep;264:100-107.

Deuterium-reinforced polyunsaturated fatty acids protect against atherosclerosis by lowering lipid peroxidation and hypercholesterolemia

Jimmy F P Berbée  1 , Isabel M Mol  1 , Ginger L Milne  2 , Erik Pollock  3 , Geerte Hoeke  1 , Dieter Lütjohann  4 , Claudia Monaco  5 , Patrick C N Rensen  1 , Lex H T van der Ploeg  6 , Mikhail S Shchepinov  7

Background and aims: Oxidative modification of lipoproteins is a crucial step in atherosclerosis development. Isotopic-reinforced polyunsaturated fatty acids (D-PUFAs) are more resistant to reactive oxygen species-initiated chain reaction of lipid peroxidation than regular hydrogenated (H-)PUFAs. We aimed at investigating the effect of D-PUFA treatment on lipid peroxidation, hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis development.

Methods: Transgenic APOE*3-Leiden.CETP mice, a well-established model for human-like lipoprotein metabolism, were pre-treated with D-PUFAs or control H-PUFAs-containing diet (1.2%, w/w) for 4 weeks. Thereafter, mice were fed a Western-type diet (containing 0.15% cholesterol, w/w) for another 12 weeks, while continuing the D-/H-PUFA treatment.

Results: D-PUFA treatment markedly decreased hepatic and plasma F2-isoprostanes (approx. -80%) and prostaglandin F2α (approx. -40%) as compared to H-PUFA treatment. Moreover, D-PUFAs reduced body weight gain during the study (-54%) by decreasing body fat mass gain (-87%) without altering lean mass. D-PUFAs consistently reduced plasma total cholesterol levels (approx. -25%), as reflected in reduced plasma non-HDL-cholesterol (-28%). Additional analyses of hepatic cholesterol metabolism indicated that D-PUFAs reduced the hepatic cholesterol content (-21%). Sterol markers of intestinal cholesterol absorption and cholesterol breakdown were decreased. Markers of cholesterol synthesis were increased. Finally, D-PUFAs reduced atherosclerotic lesion area formation throughout the aortic root of the heart (-26%).

Conclusions: D-PUFAs reduce body weight gain, improve cholesterol handling and reduce atherosclerosis development by reducing lipid peroxidation and plasma cholesterol levels. D-PUFAs, therefore, represent a promising new strategy to broadly reduce rates of lipid peroxidation, and combat hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis; Cholesterol metabolism; Hypercholesterolemia; Lipid peroxidation; Polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comment in Combating atherosclerosis with heavy PUFAs: Deuteron not proton is the first.

Tsikas D. Atherosclerosis. 2017 Sep;264:79-82. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2017.07.018. Epub 2017 Jul 18. 

Mol Cell Proteomics. 2020 Aug 7; mcp.RA120.002231.

Slight deuterium enrichment in water acts as an antioxidant: is deuterium a cell growth regulator?

Xuepei Zhang  1 , Jin Wang  2 , Roman A Zubarev  3

Small admixtures in water, e.g. of metal ions, often act as cell growth regulators. Here we report that enrichment of deuterium content in water, normally found at 8 mM concentration, two-three folds increases cell proliferation and lowers the oxidative stress level as well. Acting as an anti-oxidant, deuterium-enriched water prevents the toxic effect of such oxidative agents as hydrogen peroxide and auranofin. This action is opposite to that of deuterium depletion that is known to suppress cell growth and induce oxidative stress in mitochondria. We thus hypothesize that deuterium may be a natural cell growth regulator that controls mitochondrial oxidation-reduction balance. Since growth acceleration is reduced approximately by half by addition to water a minute amount (0.15%) of 18O isotope, at least part of the deuterium effect on cell growth can be explained by the isotopic resonance phenomenon.

Published under license by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Nutrients. 2019 Aug 15;11(8):1903.

Deuterium-Depleted Water Influence on the Isotope 2 H/ 1 H Regulation in Body and Individual Adaptation

Alexander Basov  1   2 , Liliia Fedulova  3 , Mikhail Baryshev  2 , Stepan Dzhimak  456

This review article presents data about the influence of deuterium-depleted water (DDW) on biological systems. It is known that the isotope abundances of natural and bottled waters are variable worldwide. That is why different drinking rations lead to changes of stable isotopes content in body water fluxes in human and animal organisms. Also, intracellular water isotope ratios in living systems depends on metabolic activity and food consumption. We found the 2H/1H gradient in human fluids (δ2H saliva >> δ2H blood plasma > δ2Hbreast milk), which decreases significantly during DDW intake. Moreover, DDW induces several important biological effects in organism (antioxidant, metabolic detoxification, anticancer, rejuvenation, behavior, etc.). Changing the isotope 2H/1H gradient from "2H blood plasma > δ2H visceral organs" to "δ2H blood plasma << δ2H visceral organs" via DDW drinking increases individual adaptation by isotopic shock. The other possible mechanisms of long-term adaptation is DDW influence on the growth rate of cells, enzyme activity and cellular energetics (e.g., stimulation of the mitochondrion activity). In addition, DDW reduces the number of single-stranded DNA breaks and modifies the miRNA profile.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr. Peat,

Cancer cells have higher gsh:gssg.  Also, clearly we don’t want excessive DNA methylation because it leads to cancer, etc so B12 needs to be within reason.  However, many seem to have high levels of serum B12 with high MMA in urine indicating a functional B12 deficiency.  

Do you have thoughts on managing gsh while allowing for enough cytoplasm gsh to handle cobalamin processing?  Gsh is also needed to transport Cu in the cell, etc. 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891584918319774?fbclid=IwAR0l4v_Tfmutn-_R0BVQ0YSGyrm2SDdcCtejctsj3Pqi6axaH5JBNJ0RGMY

Obviously thyroid, B2, Se, glycine, etc are important to this as well.  Is it really as simple as the cell doesn’t have enough Se for glutathione peroxidase?  Do you think it’s necessary to sometimes supplement adenosylcobalamin, hydroxycobalamin, or even methylB12?  Same for folinic or methylB9?  Or do you think diet provides sufficient amounts?  There is a theory going around social media that B12 needs to be given IM or transdermal because of the “transporters” in the GI (including saliva).  And the high serum B12 is really cyanoB12 “taking up space” on haptocorrin.  Some say this is “unusable” because it takes too many steps to convert it to adeno or methyl.  Any thoughts on this?  

Dr Peat:

Older people, sometimes following excessive antibiotics, can sometimes have symptom relief from a B12 supplement, but I think the problems are unusual in omnivores.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Where do you think fundamental physics started to diverge from the truth?  After Maxwell?  Steinmetz?  Heaviside?  In your discussion with Georgi and Danny last night you mentioned more modern scientists like Dudley, Velikovsky, etc. contributing good work outside the current dogma.  Who would you read to recover the “more correct” physical truth?  

Do you think quantum mechanics and the particle view of nature are synergistic with the aether and not needing to conserve energy, etc theories?  If not, like my above question, what line of thought would you go back to and resume off of?  

Dr Peat:

At the time Einstein created his explanation of the photoelctric effect, the understanding of the solid state was itself quantized; this led him, about ten years later, to say that Michael Polanyi’s adsorption study was wrong, because his particles apparently weren’t obeying the local-only interactions that were acceptable for the solid state dogma. Going backward from the more factual understanding of multilayer adsorption, and the multitude of new views of the condensed state of matter, I think it would be more reasonable to interpret the photoelectric phenomenon as a result of electrons’ tendency to group themselves into structures of different dimensions, which react as antennas tuned, according to their size, to light of different frequencies. Helmut Schwarz’s experiments in the 1970s showed intrinsic tunable resonant properties in electrons.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Do you think a fluids approach, so the Cauchy momentum equation, is a good starting point for a model to test what would be expected in an aether universe?  And more locally, the cell and extracellular fluid?  Or is the CME too much of a conservation equation? 

Obviously we could look at the Navies-Stokes equations but they seem to make too many assumptions.  

The NS equations in their incompressible form give conservation of mass and basically Newton’s second law.  Given your remarks (and others) on the conservation of mass and energy also the second law of thermodynamics, these don’t seem to be good starting points.  

The PDE requires too much processing power for 3D and can only be solved given many assumptions.  Is this a reason in itself to not start with the CM or NS equations?

Dr Peat:

I think it would be more useful to start with an empirical approach, building up an idea of its physical properties. For example, a more definite idea of the neutrino’s rest mass, and other measurable properties, including the forces involved in their association with matter, implied by Miller’s altitude measurements. The association with charged matter suggests that the ether is a dielectric, with inducible polarity. For more than 100 years, nearly all the effort has gone into ether denial, so those hints that it exists and has physical properties have been treated as a nasty heresy.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

What do you think about using philosophy as the foundation for empiricism and understanding physical properties?  I ask because many science, fall into basic fallacies for example the fallacy of single cause, anecdotal fallacies, etc.  Do you think fallacies should be allowed when trying to understand the physical world?  

Those in the alternative health crowd seem particularly prone to using fallacies.  

Dr Peat:

I think reading William James on radical empiricism, and the phenomenologists, and having the courage and flexibility to examine assumptions, and to honestly consider alternative assumptions, would improve science. Trying to talk to a science professor about philosophy is enough to make a person question the whole science establishment.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

When you talk about electrons, for example in relation to Lewis’ acids and basis, oxidation/ reduction, flow through the ETC, etc, what do you mean by an electron?  Do you mean the conventional, point particle view?  Or how Thomson originally described it as the terminal end of one unit of dielectric induction?  Or something else? 

Dr Peat:

Occasionally, experimenters have suggested ideas similar to Thomson’s, and I think it’s good to think of the particulate electron as an ad hoc metaphor, part of our unsatisfactory tentative model of reality. The culture in which “science” developed was extremely ideological and reductionist-mechanistic, with a powerful urge to quantize everything, expressed in logic and epistemology, as well as in biology and physics. The work on “ideal languages” and the reduction of meaning to computability have served to make it hard to question the particulate nature of matter.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you think the positives of gelatin and collagen (Great Lakes for example) outweigh the negatives?  Specifically endotoxin contamination?  

Dr Peat:

A person can tell whether it agrees with them; some people with very sensitive digestive systems get diarrhea or gas from it.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr. Peat,

Really great conversation with Danny and Georgi last night!  

I know you have written about La Mettrie and Ukhtomskii as antithetical to Descartes.  Lyndon LaRouche grouped Plato, Cusa, Fermat, Huygens, Kepler, Leibniz, Gauss, Bach, and Riemann together vs Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Maxwell, Brahe, Newton, Galileo, and Descartes.  He classified the latter as those who led science, philosophy, etc astray.  

Do you agree with Larouche’s list for the most part?  Or do you think they all have some truth and error.  And the more important idea is to have an overarching view, like process theology, Bioenergetics, etc that allows one to create a coherent metaphysics, etc? 

Dr Peat:

I think Aristotle and Leibniz were basically on the right track, but everyone has some errors and inconsistencies; many forces have deformed science and philosophy.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

I hope you’re doing well!  

Do you have any thoughts on low platelets, and very easy knee to ankle leg bruising because of it?  I don’t bruise anywhere else, just my lower legs and knees.  2 salads (romaine) a week keep the bruising away (K1 and folate maybe?).  However, if I stop, the bruises come back pretty within 1wk.  I have tried grassfed liver instead, but that did not work.  I have also tried vit K2 mk4, but that also did not work.

Dr Peat:

Green salads, because of their indigestibility, can act as a fiber, helping to lower systemic estrogen and cortisol (which weaken blood vessels). There are safer food fibers.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Thank you so much!  I’ll add a second carrot salad each day and see if that clears them.  

On another note, I am one who has really bad adrenaline, aldosterone, etc responses to T3 only (even 1ug on my navel).  However, my waking temp is now 98.2F from using vit D3 topically - arguably still stress hormones keeping it up as my resting pulse is still in the 60s.  Also, I have other hypothyroid symptoms like cold hands, feet, high tsh, etc.  I can dilute the T3 more (0.25ug) and use it on thicker skin, but I was wondering if you have any other suggestions on tolerating it?  I already drink at least a quart of milk a day, plenty of OJ, salt, some liver, oysters, etc and use progesterone.  

I also wanted to thank you, I used to have recurring rhabdomyolysis that did a pretty big number on my kidneys (my GFR was in the 30s in my early 20s).  My GFR is now 84 and continues to slowly increase, among many other positive health improvements.

Dr Peat:

How much progesterone are you taking? Do you take it orally? How high is your TSH? Low thyroid was probably a factor in the rhabdomyolysis, and can contribute to the high estrogen/cortisol that weakens blood vessels. Skin absorption of T3 isn’t effective for hypothyroidism. Have you tried Armour thyroid or Cynoplus, in small amounts? The combination of T4 and T3 is more effective at lowering TSH, reducing inflammation. Do you use any product containing MCT?

Hans Selye discovered that progesterone can substitute for adrenal steroids; when he supplemented progesterone to animals after removing their adrenal glands, he found that they lived full, stress-resistant lives.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

I am trying to use progesterone for that reason.  DHEA causes too much androgen increase for me (fine hairs, etc).  I haven’t tried 7-keto-dhea, but I know some recommend that too.  Do you have any thoughts on a dose and if you would cycle 7-keto-dhea?  

Pregnenolone doesn’t seem to help at all. 

Do you think increasing my progesterone dose and only stopping maybe 3d out of the month is sufficient for the liver enzymes that help to excrete progesterone?  Or do something like 5d on 2d off, regardless of where I am in my cycle?  

Do you think if I run the higher, more frequent dose of progesterone, and try the thyroid again in a few months, the reserve insufficiency and adrenaline issue should be in a more tolerable spot?  

Dr Peat:

Progesterone intrinsically contains the effects of the adrenal steroids, protecting against both a deficiency and an excess. There’s a possibility the 7-keto-DHEA would lower cortisol. When thyroid function is low, I think the progesterone vacation might have to be longer to let the liver adapt; it’s most effective when it reinforces the natural cycle, and temperature can be a helpful indicator.

J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2007 May;104(3-5):326-33.

Dehydroepiandrosterone 7alpha-hydroxylation in human tissues: possible interference with type 1 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-mediated processes

Olivier Hennebert  1 , Sonia Chalbot, Severine Alran, Robert Morfin

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is 7alpha-hydroxylated by the cytochome P450 7B1 (CYP7B1) in the human brain and liver. This produces 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA that is a substrate for 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1) which exists in the same tissues and carries out the inter-conversion of 7alpha- and 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA through a 7-oxo-intermediary. Since the role of 11beta-HSD1 is to transform the inactive cortisone into active cortisol, its competitive inhibition by 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA may support the paradigm of native anti-glucocorticoid arising from DHEA. Therefore, our objective was to use human tissues to assess the presences of both CYP7B1 and 11beta-HSD1. Human skin was selected then and used to test its ability to produce 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA, and to test the interference of 7alpha- and 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA and 7-oxo-DHEA with the 11beta-HSD1-mediated oxidoreduction of cortisol and cortisone. Immuno-histochemical studies showed the presence of both CYP7B1 and 11beta-HSD1 in the liver, skin and tonsils. DHEA was readily 7alpha-hydroxylated when incubated using skin slices. A S9 fraction of dermal homogenates containing the 11beta-HSD1 carried out the oxidoreduction of cortisol and cortisone. Inhibition of the cortisol oxidation by 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA and 7beta-hydroxy-DHEA was competitive with a Ki at 1.85+/-0.495 and 0.255+/-0.005 microM, respectively. Inhibition of cortisone reduction by 7-oxo-DHEA was of a mixed type with a Ki at 1.13+/-0.15 microM. These findings may support the previously proposed native anti-glucocorticoid paradigm and suggest that the 7alpha-hydroxy-DHEA production is a key for the fine tuning of glucocorticoid levels in tissues.

Kathleen:

Hi Dr Peat,

Thank you for the information on 7-keto-dhea. 

I really wish I could say more, but you have literally changed my health, and life, for the better, so thank you! 

Dr Peat:

The ideal ratio of carbohydrate to protein for a mature person, for stress resistance, is probably about 8 or 10 to one; less protein can sometimes help with adapting to thyroid, supporting the anti-stress effect of progesterone..