Bust The Rust

The ABC’S of Health

By Dr. Jo Gjelsten

Bust The Rust

So I’m waiting for something to happen this month to inspire me to write something I myself might want to read, or maybe I just like to share, but here it is.  Rust.   What is it and why do we care. It is oxidation, and I care. This is the month (Nov. as I write this) that I find out the frame of my beloved Toyota Tacoma is so badly rusted it’s time to let it go. Then I go online and find out that it was recalled for such things; I never got the memo so off the hospital it goes for a transplant. 

So what does oxidation have to do with health Dr. Jo I ask myself, and you, my students? We rust, yes we do, and it’s ALSO called oxidation which you’d think would be good, considering oxygen is a necessary thing for we who enjoy taking breathers.

But, in chemical terms…ok not in those terms, get back here and read, oxidation makes us old. Well, you anyway, not me. I’m still a kid of 63 who likes to play on her bike, hike, ski, and muscle test big strong patients, but in fact we ALL need antioxidants, like glutathione…(gloot- ah- ‘THIGH- own...sounds very “hiney like, but that’s how it’s said),  or gludathyone, should you wish to mispronounce it.

How to get more of that stuff? We make it from cysteine, an amino acid, which we get in our diet from many things we like; garlic, onions, meat, eggs, red pepper; an omelet sounds nice now that I made you hungry. So? This very important cysteine absorption  is inhibited by dairy (casein) and gluten, so a lotta dairy may mean for SOME PEOPLE, not everyone, that you don’t get enough cysteine  to make  gloot-ahTHIGH-own , and the result can mean high oxidant levels which we’ll come back to. Glutathione is also selenium dependant, and adversely affected by environmental toxins and infections.  Who hasn’t had infections? Or is without environmental toxins?? My patients will tell you, if you ask, that I recommend 2 Brazil nuts, organic of course, a day to get a fun source of selenium, unless it’s in their multi-vitamin. Don’t overdose on it. Why selenium? Among other things, you need it as an antioxidant for glutathione itself; it is abundant in your sperm Martha, and your eggs contain glutathione so you see how important that first kiss is, in the wooom, b.  These two start the whole ball rolling, and because all that growth causes oxidation, it must be quenched with ANTI-oxidants or you would come out of the womb looking like Andy Rooney, God Rest His Eyebrows. Why? Because low levels of glutathione, in other words high levels of oxidation (rust) is linked in Linked-In to aging. In fact, and I quote Richard Deth, PhthD,  “Aging is essentially a process of gradual oxidation” . Thank you Dr. Deth  (hey, that’s his name)  for that, and other information seen here sourced in part from your excellent article.  Other oxidative processes are linked with inflammatory diseases, chronic fatigue, autoimmune diseases, and possibly autism to name a few.  So, we need our glutathione. What else? We also need B-12 to make things that regulate glutathione, and folate.  Dr. Deth:  “recognition of the important role of methylfolate and vitamin  B12 in supporting D4 dopamine receptor methylation links their deficiency to impaired attention such as ADHD”.   Translation: we need METHYL folate and B12, but not just any B12, we need methyl B-12 and adenosyl B-12.  Memory problems can be an undiscovered B-12 deficiency. Can’t get B-12 from veggies, and us baby boomers can’t absorb it from food like we useta’ when we were young and hip.  We also could use the active form of B6, which is called P5P.  For some with Autism, this conversion (from B6 to P5P) isn’t easy.  This P5P form is also used to convert homocysteine to cysteine, the above mentioned all important if you were awake factor in making glutathione, you’ll remember helps us stay young and good lookin’!  What else?  There’s more?  Folic acid is the synthetic  form of folate. So what? Not the best, not the active form. What to do?  Use METHYL folate. We at the Dr. Jo & Paula abode take a lot of supplemental nutrition. This  includes the kitchen sink, and  P5P and  NAC which I get from my trusted supplement companies.  Think about the fact that it’s all about absorption and conversion, something we all do less of as we get older, so when we can get good supplements from the best manufacturers who use science to guide their product line, I’m a fan, which is why I use and recommend the already converted and best absorbed forms.  Ok let’s wrap it up because I’m up for a bike ride; the sun is out.    Good, is the following:  NAC to make glutathione, the P5P form of B-6, methyl B-12 (methylcobalamin), methylfolate, which is kind enough to donate it’s methyl to B-12, at times.  So Ethyl we need our methyl.   Those active B forms aforementioned have amazing effects on lots of conditions. See those on my website at www.GoDrJo.com Copyright November 12, 2011

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