BHT As An Antiviral, Uncoupler, And Anti-lipid Peroxidation

[nullredvector]

So BHT has been given a bad rap. It certainly helps me with neurological symptoms related to a possible chronic viral infection which perpetuates my CFS. Steve fowkes says it's anti lipid coated virus (herpes). It's used industrially to prevent fat oxidation. It's also being studied as an uncoupler and is possibly metabolized to a quinone.

Whatcha think @haidut ?


http://www.projectwellbeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BHTbook-StevenWmFowkes-100903.pdf

 

[haidut]

So BHT has been given a bad rap. It certainly helps me with neurological symptoms related to a possible chronic viral infection which perpetuates my CFS. Steve fowkes says it's anti lipid coated virus (herpes). It's used industrially to prevent fat oxidation. It's also being studied as an uncoupler and is possibly metabolized to a quinone.

Whatcha think @haidut ?


http://www.projectwellbeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BHTbook-StevenWmFowkes-100903.pdf

While it may have the positive effects you mention, it is a known estrogenic endocrine dysruptor targeting the testes and thyroid. Very similar in activity to BPA - i.e. estrogen agonist and thyroid antagonist.
Estrogenic alkylphenols induce cell death by inhibiting testis endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) pumps. - PubMed - NCBI

So, not sure why you would want to take it. As far as viral infections go, nothing can beat plain inosine, which also has a host of other beneficial effects. And combining inosine with methylene blue, aspirin, niacinamide, etc can probably protect from any virus that humans are routinely exposed to.
In Europe, inosine is a prescription anti-viral drug and in the early 1980s FDA found it effective for HIV. Why it is not being used for that purpose I don't know but the research with it goes back to the 1960s and I don't knw of any safety issues or viruses against which it failed to show activity.

 

[nullredvector]

Ok thanks a lot Haidut! I was starting to worry it might be estrogenic. I'll give the inosine a try.

It seems like anything that is antiviral (caffeine, MB, lysine, copper, selenium, vitamin D, vitC, niacinamide, aspirin, etc) all help my regularity. They are also all antiNO which is interesting because IIRC there is a relationship between viruses and NO. They are all antiserotonin too I guess, that surely plays a role.

 

[jaguar43]

So BHT has been given a bad rap. It certainly helps me with neurological symptoms related to a possible chronic viral infection which perpetuates my CFS. Steve fowkes says it's anti lipid coated virus (herpes). It's used industrially to prevent fat oxidation. It's also being studied as an uncoupler and is possibly metabolized to a quinone.

Whatcha think @haidut ?


http://www.projectwellbeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BHTbook-StevenWmFowkes-100903.pdf

According to Ray Peat BHT is a carcinogenic.

Molecules that can easily be oxidized and reduced can function as antioxidants, and vitamin E does function as that kind of antioxidant in many chemical environments. But it is highly misleading to consider that as the explanation for its many beneficial biological effects. That kind of reasoning contributed to the use of the antioxidant carcinogens BHT and BHA as food additives and "antiaging" supplements, and many other chemicals are being promoted on the basis of their abstract antioxidant function

The people who say that vitamin E is nothing but an antioxidant sometimes take other antioxidants, with, or instead of, vitamin E. BHT, BHA, and many natural compounds (derived from industrial and agricultural wastes) are often said to be "better than vitamin E" as antioxidants. Anything that can be oxidized and reduced (melatonin, estrogen, tryptophan, carotene, etc.) will function as an antioxidant in some system, but in other circumstances, it can be a pro-oxidant.

Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory

 

[ecstatichamster]

A lot of people with terrible shingles find BHT prevents and stops it though.

 

[Entropy]

Researching BHT I recently saw it listed with the ingredients in Bugles chips, I was surprised to see the flavored originals are fried with coconut oil..

 

[FredSonoma]

Researching BHT I recently saw it listed with the ingredients in Bugles chips, I was surprised to see the flavored originals are fried with coconut oil..

Yes and they are so good haha. Something about them feels a little weird though, which I was thinking was the BHT.

 

[miki14]

I just came off a bout of shingles, super painful, big rash on the right side from the back to the solar plexus. I was laying in bed in agony and I remembered that DMSO is a powerful antiviral and analgesic. I applied it and the pain diminished considerably so that I could get along with 3 x 400mg ibuprofen per day instead of 4-6 x 40 mg of procaine per day. The rash dried in a few hours and the inflammation was reduced to very low levels. DMSO worked like magic on shingles for me. Dimethyl sulfoxide blocks herpes simplex virus-1 productive infection in vitro acting at different stages with positive cooperativity. Application of micro-array analysis

 

[TubZy]

While it may have the positive effects you mention, it is a known estrogenic endocrine dysruptor targeting the testes and thyroid. Very similar in activity to BPA - i.e. estrogen agonist and thyroid antagonist.
Estrogenic alkylphenols induce cell death by inhibiting testis endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) pumps. - PubMed - NCBI

So, not sure why you would want to take it. As far as viral infections go, nothing can beat plain inosine, which also has a host of other beneficial effects. And combining inosine with methylene blue, aspirin, niacinamide, etc can probably protect from any virus that humans are routinely exposed to.
In Europe, inosine is a prescription anti-viral drug and in the early 1980s FDA found it effective for HIV. Why it is not being used for that purpose I don't know but the research with it goes back to the 1960s and I don't knw of any safety issues or viruses against which it failed to show activity.

Regarding inosine, isn't this considered a fail? Unless I'm reading it wrong unless they mean it is increasing the attack against EBV

Inosiplex enhances the growth of Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-positive B-cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and infectious mononucleosis. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[No_Energy]

Regarding inosine, isn't this considered a fail? Unless I'm reading it wrong unless they mean it is increasing the attack against EBV

Inosiplex enhances the growth of Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-positive B-cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and infectious mononucleosis. - PubMed - NCBI

Thanks for the contribution. I had plans to try Inosine but this gives me pause. What I understood, unless I have also understood it incorrecly, and this is strange, but, it says there was an augmentation in the B-cells infected by the Epstein virus, and that can't be good. Very strange. from this link we don't have acsses to the full text, only abstract.

 

[No_Energy]

I don't want to use Methylene because of Serotonin effects.
BHT seems very effective, but if it is similar to BPA like @haidut said, having bad effects on testes and thyroid, I can't use that either.
If the above is true about Inosine, that's yeat another one out.
What other options do we have?

 

[Mauritio]

Thanks for the contribution. I had plans to try Inosine but this gives me pause. What I understood, unless I have also understood it incorrecly, and this is strange, but, it says there was an augmentation in the B-cells infected by the Epstein virus, and that can't be good. Very strange. from this link we don't have acsses to the full text, only abstract.

Somebody got some new info on this ?

 

[ecstatichamster]

Regarding inosine, isn't this considered a fail? Unless I'm reading it wrong unless they mean it is increasing the attack against EBV

Inosiplex enhances the growth of Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-positive B-cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and infectious mononucleosis. - PubMed - NCBI

One in vitro study like this is not persuasive.

 

[Momado965]

What about tert-Butylhydroquinone? Is it bad as well?

 

[RealNeat]

AHCC also looks very promising for viruses. But quite expensive at about 1-3gs for 6 months to a year.

 

[S.Seneff]

What about tert-Butylhydroquinone? Is it bad as well?

The Immune Response to Influenza is Suppressed by the Synthetic Food Additive and Nrf2 Activator, tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ)
Robert A Freeborn
,
Allison P Boss
,
Sheng Liu
,
Yining Jin
,
Stephanie Brocke
,
Alexandra E Turley
,
Joseph W Zagorski
,
Rebekah C Kennedy
,
Elizabeth M Gardner
, and
Cheryl E Rockwell
Published Online:1 Apr 2019Abstract Number:505.3

• Share

Abstract
Influenza virus infections have been a persistent threat to society, causing up to 650,000 respiratory deaths annually world-wide. The United States alone suffered 80,000 influenza-related deaths during the 2017/18 flu season. Although vaccine coverage has increased in the U.S., this has not correlated with a decline in influenza-related infections or deaths. Accordingly, there is significant interest in the identification of environmental factors which may contribute to influenza burden and/or reduce vaccine efficacy. Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated that a widely-used food additive, -tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ), impairs human CD4+ T cell activation and murine TH1 cell polarization (important in anti-viral defense) ex vivo. These effects occurred through activation of the stress-activated transcription factor, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), as evidenced using Nrf2-deficient human and murine models. Under basal conditions, Nrf2 is repressed in the cytosol by its repressor protein, Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1), where it is quickly degraded via the 26S proteasome pathway. Upon the introduction of cell stress, such as the electrophilic stress induced by tBHQ, the interactions between Nrf2 and Keap1 are disrupted such that Nrf2 is no longer degraded, and Nrf2 accumulates in the nucleus where it upregulates cytoprotective genes. Studies from our lab and others have demonstrated immunomodulatory roles for Nrf2, including effects on macrophages, dendritic cells, and T cells. The tBHQ-mediated decrease in Th1 polarization led us to hypothesize that consumption of the Nrf2 activator, tBHQ, would impair the T cell-mediated immune response to acute influenza infection. To test this hypothesis, mice on either a low-dose tBHQ or control diet were infected with influenza A/PR/8/34 (H1N1). tBHQ exposure impaired CD8+ T cell infiltration in the lung, CD4+/CD8+ T cell activation and effector function, the numbers of influenza-specific T cells in the draining lymph nodes, and viral clearance. Interestingly, although we did not observe a decrease in the number of TH1 cells with tBHQ exposure at this timepoint (10 days post-infection), there was an increase in the expression of the immunosuppressive proteins, CTLA-4 and IL-10. Of importance, the impaired immune response during primary infection correlated with more severe weight loss and prolonged infection during subsequent infection with a related strain of influenza (x31), indicating that tBHQ impaired the heterosubtypic memory response. Notably, an impaired heterosubtypic memory response would be expected to reduce vaccine efficacy. Overall, this study shows that tBHQ, at a dose relevant to human diet, impairs the primary and memory immune responses to influenza infection.

Support or Funding Information

This work was supported by NIH grants ES024966 and GM092715.

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

https://www.fasebj.org/doi/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.505.3
Food additive may influence how well flu vaccines work

 

[RealNeat]

Inosine occurs naturally in both brewer's yeast and meat products, such as liver and kidney

What is Inosine? (with pictures)

Inosine is a compound that is essential for the transfer of RNA. Researchers also have high hopes for using inosine to treat...

www.wise-geek.com

 

[craighealth]

While it may have the positive effects you mention, it is a known estrogenic endocrine dysruptor targeting the testes and thyroid. Very similar in activity to BPA - i.e. estrogen agonist and thyroid antagonist.
Estrogenic alkylphenols induce cell death by inhibiting testis endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) pumps. - PubMed - NCBI

So, not sure why you would want to take it. As far as viral infections go, nothing can beat plain inosine, which also has a host of other beneficial effects. And combining inosine with methylene blue, aspirin, niacinamide, etc can probably protect from any virus that humans are routinely exposed to.
In Europe, inosine is a prescription anti-viral drug and in the early 1980s FDA found it effective for HIV. Why it is not being used for that purpose I don't know but the research with it goes back to the 1960s and I don't knw of any safety issues or viruses against which it failed to show activity.

Plain inosine isn't the product tested against HSV. Inosine does not appear to possess the same antiviral properties as isoprinosine. The main function of inosine is as an antioxidant, which is linked to its ability to raise uric acid levels in the blood. It is Inosine Pranobex which is a synthetic product, also known as isoprinosine or inosine dimepranol acedobene, with antiviral properties that are assumed to be related to its effect on T cell-mediated immunity rather than to direct antiviral activity. The supplement Inosine which athletes take is OTC, and you are correct, the Inosine Pranobex is by prescription only.