Ray Peat Email Advice Depository

[JayDee]

Me, 2019: I heard from a girl that at age 6 took a big scare from an angry reaction of her dad's. Next day, her neck was so swollen she got breathing problems and was hospitalized. What could physiologically have happened?

Ray: Shock and stress can cause a surge of serotonin in the brain, which stimulates the enlargement of the thyroid gland, and can inhibit secretion of the hormone.
-
Me: How important is it for people with NO thyroid gland to still avoid goitrogenic foods?

Ray: The various tissues have their local thyroid activating enzymes producing T3, and some antithyroid agents can block those.
-
Me, 2017: I found this book. We have no idea if it is worth anything. It/he seems not mentioned in your work?
Henry R. Harrower, MD | Practical Endocrinology (1932)
www.seleneriverpress.com/images/pdfs/0_PRACTICAL_ENDOCRINOLOGY_1932_HARROWER.pdf
I caught it in the first minute of this video from Dr Darren Schmidt:
Diabetes IS Lactic Acidosis (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYoj46ifKHw)

Ray: Thanks. Besides some of the insights that didn’t become part of the medical culture, I think the main value of books like that is to see how an individual took responsibility for creating an integrated view of his subject. Brown-Sequard, Eugen Steinach, Crile, Selye, and Felix Meerson were others with important personal perspectives on endocrinology.
-
[shared this one before in Inclined Bed Therapy - Sleeping With The Head End Of The Bed Elevated]
Me, 2017: Just in case you're familiar with these writings of J.C. Bose too (The Physiology of the Ascent of Sap, 1923; etc.)... I think I've seen ±8 theories for sap flow in trees. There's one in G. Pollack's The Fourth Phase of Water, etc.
Atom Bergstrom has read his share of Bose and feels that Bose probably proved the true workings of sap flow with over 200 experiments... Is that something you would agree with? (~solved long ago, but forgotten?) Or was some percentage still lacking?

Ray: I think Bose was right. The reason people scoffed at his idea was similar to the reason people scoffed at the idea that nerves have a contractile movement during the conduction of an impulse, or that heat generation is continuous, not saltatory, between the nodes of myelinated nerves. The people who explain the movement of sap by transpiration and “capillary attraction” don’t like to think about guttation, which is most obvious at 100% relative humidity when there’s no transpiration. It’s just one place where the ignorance of official biology is very visible, and the funny thing is that biologists aren’t embarrassed by it.

 

[Amazoniac]

- Where Does Ray Stand On The "Ascorbic Acid Is Not Vitamin C" Claim?

"I found that many people are highly allergic to commercial ascorbic acid, reacting intensely to as little as a milligram or two, while they have no reaction to natural foods containing large amounts of ascorbate. When I hadn’t been taking vitamin C supplements for a few months, I analyzed my uring and found that it contained about 1000 milligrams per day. I found that much of the vitamin C in food, for example in meat, is in the form of dehydroascorbate, which isn’t visible to the standard analytic methods that depend on the reducing power of the vitamin. As muscle metabolizes, some of the dehydroascorbate that it contains is reduced to ascorbic acid, and some of that is lost in the urine. When I stopped eating grains, beans, and nuts, the amount of vitamin C in my urine increased considerably. Properly analyzed, a good human daily diet contains 3000 to 4000 mg of vitamin C. Linus Pauling was unaware of the importance of the dehydro- form of the vitamin in food, and he denied that the commercial ascorbic acid could be allergenic. A free radical chemist found that reagent grade ascorbic acid contained enough heavy metals, including iron, to catalyze the formation of an extremely high concentration of free radicals when it’s dissolved in distilled water. Traces of oxidation products, such as those formed when a solution of glucose is heat sterilized, probably account for the allergic reactions. Szent-Gyorgyi recognized the identity of vitamin C as ascorbic acid, though the first names he proposed for it were ignose and godnose.


Photochem Photobiol 1987 Aug;46(2):161-4
ESR detection of endogenous ascorbate free radical in mouse skin: enhancement of
radical production during UV irradiation following application of
chlorpromazine.
Buettner GR, Motten AG, Hall RD, Chignell CF.

Radiat Res 1996 May;145(5):532-41. Catalytic metals, ascorbate and free radicals: combinations to avoid. Buettner GR, Jurkiewicz BA. ESR Facility and Radiation Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 52242-1101, USA. Trace levels of transition metals can participate in the metal-catalyzed Haber-Weiss reaction (superoxide-driven Fenton reaction) as well as catalyze the oxidation of ascorbate. Generally ascorbate is thought of as an excellent reducing agent; it is able to serve as a donor antioxidant in free radical-mediated oxidation processes. However, as a reducing agent it is also able to reduce redox-active metals such as copper and iron, thereby increasing the pro-oxidant chemistry of these metals. Thus ascorbate can serve as both a pro-oxidant and an antioxidant. In general, at low ascorbate concentrations, ascorbate is prone to be a pro-oxidant, and at high concentrations, it will tend to be an antioxidant. Hence there is a crossover effect. We propose that the "position" of this crossover effect is a function of the catalytic metal concentration. In this presentation, we discuss: (1) the role of catalytic metals in free radical-mediated oxidations; (2) ascorbate as both a pro-oxidant and an antioxidant; (3) catalytic metal catalysis of ascorbate oxidation; (4) use of ascorbate to determine adventitious catalytic metal concentrations; (5) use of ascorbate radical as a marker of oxidative stress; and (6) use of ascorbate and iron as free radical pro-oxidants in photodynamic therapy of cancer.

Biochem Mol Med 1995 Feb;54(1):1-11. Proposed role for a combination of citric acid and ascorbic acid in the production of dietary iron overload: a fundamental cause of disease. Crawford RD. "This paper presents a review of the significant body of literature liking dietary iron overload, not only to heart disease, but also to cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and possibly other disorders."

Photochem Photobiol 1988 May;47(5):635-45
Porphyrin-sensitized photoreactions in the presence of ascorbate: oxidation of
cell membrane lipids and hydroxyl radical traps.
Bachowski GJ, Morehouse KM, Girotti AW.

Free Radic Biol Med 1988;5(1):3-6
Light-stimulated formation of hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical in the
presence of uroporphyrin and ascorbate.
Bachowski GJ, Girotti AW.
Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226.
Blue light irradiation of 2-deoxyribose (DOR) in the presence of uroporphyrin I
(UP), ascorbate (AH-), trace iron, and phosphate buffer resulted in a strong
stimulation of hydroxyl radical (OH.)-dependent oxidation of DOR.
Photostimulated generation of H2O2 was monitored after removal of residual AH-
(i) by ascorbate oxidase treatment, or (ii) by anion exchange on mini-columns of
DEAE-Sephadex. Irradiation of the above mixture produced a strong burst of H2O2
which was intensified by desferrioxamine and suppressed by catalase or EDTA. The
mechanism suggested by these observations is one in which photoreduction of UP
to the radical anion initiates the formation of H2O2, which gives rise to OH.
via Fenton chemistry. This is the first known investigation of H2O2 fluxes in a
Type I (free radical) photoreaction involving AH- as the electron donor.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1985 Nov;82(21):7193-6
The role of ascorbic acid in senile cataract.
Bensch KG, Fleming JE, Lohmann W.
The reductone ascorbic acid, present in the crystalline lens in concentrations
higher than those of glucose, is capable of undergoing nonenzymatic "browning"
in the presence of lenticular proteins. We studied the nonenzymatic browning
with ascorbate in model systems employing bovine serum albumin and lens
crystallins. When bovine serum albumin, alpha-crystallin, or gamma-crystallin
was incubated with [14C]ascorbic acid, the formation of yellow and then brown
condensation products appeared to correlate with increasing protein-associated
radioactivity. The fluorescence spectrum of these products was similar to that
of homogenates of human cataractous lenses. We suggest that the nonenzymatic
reaction of lens crystallins with ascorbic acid may contribute, at least in
part, to the color changes of aging lenses and to the physical lenticular
deterioration leading to senile cataract. High dietary intake of ascorbic acid
did not affect the fluorescence spectrum of murine lenses; thus, we assume that
the speed and extent of the lenticular browning reactions must depend on a
deterioration of other factors of the multicomponent antioxidant system of the
eye.

Int J Radiat Biol Relat Stud Phys Chem Med 1981 Jul;40(1):47-61
A study of the peroxidation of fatty acid micelles promoted by ionizing
radiation, hydrogen peroxide and ascorbate.
Yau TM, Mencl J.
The kinetics of peroxidation of fatty acid micelles promoted by ionizing
radiation, hydrogen peroxide and ascorbate were compared. At the dose-rate range
of ionizing radiation studied, the higher the dose-rate, the greater the total
dose required to produce the same effect. With ascorbate, the rate of lipid
peroxidation was dependent on the concentration of the promoter only up to 1 X
10(-4) M, beyond which a decreasing rate of peroxidation induction was observed.
Higher concentration of ascorbate also suppressed the promoting effect of
ionizing radiation. Formate, a hydroxyl radical scavenger, inhibited the
peroxidation process promoted by these three agents. Caesium was found to be
slightly inhibitory. EDTA and deoxycholate were also inhibitory, which may be
attributed to iron-chelating and micelle-disrupting capacity, respectively.
Addition of iron (Fe2+ or Fe3+) to EDTA-chelated fatty acid micelles
re-initiated the peroxidation process. The ease of fatty acid oxidation at pH
7.5 was arochidonic (20:4) greater than linolenic (18:3) greater than linoleic
(18:2). This order was reversed at pH 11.5. Similarities in the kinetics of
peroxidation obtained suggest that certain biological sequelae encountered in
cells treated with these seemingly dissimilar agents might arise through some
common mechanism(s).

Int J Radiat Biol 1994 Jan;65(1):27-33
Free radicals in biology: oxidative stress and the effects of ionizing
radiation.
Riley PA.
Department of Molecular Pathology, UCL Medical School, London, UK.
The most important electron acceptor in the biosphere is molecular oxygen which,
by virtue of its bi-radical nature, readily accepts unpaired electrons to give
rise to a series of partially reduced species collectively known as reduced (or
'reactive') oxygen species (ROS). These include superoxide (O.2-), hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radical (HO.) and peroxyl (ROO.) and alkoxyl (RO.)
radicals which may be involved in the initiation and propagation of free radical
chain reactions and which are potentially highly damaging to cells. Mechanisms
have evolved to restrict and control such processes, partly by compartmentation,
and partly by antioxidant defences such as chain-breaking antioxidant compounds
capable forming stable free radicals (e.g. ascorbate, alpha-tocopherol) and the
evolution of enzyme systems (e.g. superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidases)
that diminish the intracellular concentration of the ROS. Although some ROS
perform useful functions, the production of ROS exceeding the ability of the
organism to mount an antioxidant defence results in oxidative stress and the
ensuing tissue damage may be involved in certain disease processes. Evidence
that ROS are involved in primary pathological mechanisms is a feature mainly of
extraneous physical or chemical perturbations of which radiation is perhaps the
major contributor. One of the important radiation-induced free-radical species
is the hydroxyl radical which indiscriminately attacks neighbouring molecules
often at near diffusion-controlled rates. Hydroxyl radicals are generated by
ionizing radiation either directly by oxidation of water, or indirectly by the
formation of secondary partially ROS. These may be subsequently converted to
hydroxyl radicals by further reduction ('activation') by metabolic processes in
the cell. Secondary radiation injury is therefore influenced by the cellular
antioxidant status and the amount and availability of activating mechanisms. The
biological response to radiation may be modulated by alterations in factors
affecting these secondary mechanisms of cellular injury."​

 

[member 2106]

I asked Ray about a case of severe learned helplessness which doesn't seem to respond to dietary improvements. His suggestions, below, were very interesting:

Diet and hormones interact; magnesium can’t be taken up by nerves and muscles if vitamin D and thyroid T3 are deficient; T3 can’t be produced if selenium and sugar are inadequate. Pregnenolone and progesterone support the T3 effect. Cyproheptadine blocks the mediators of stress that result from the hormonal-nutritional deficiencies. Too much phosphate relative to calcium and magnesium creates tension.

 

[Beastmode]

Uridine Monophosphate:

Me:
Have you experimented with this chemical with any good or bad results?

Ray:
I did experiment with it briefly; I wasn’t satisfied with the purity of the material I had.

 

[theLaw]

Me: A member on the forum recently posted the following quote that he attributed to you:

"Frolkis, et al. (1989, 1984) found that it extended median and average lifespan of rats, beginning in old age (28 months) by 43% and 34%, respectively, when given in large quantities (equivalent to about a cup per day for humans) for ten days of each month."

Would a cup of activated charcoal in a day be useful for a human, or is there a lower dose that would be just as effective?

Peat: The quote is right, but I recommend using a daily carrot salad for the similar purpose. Because of the phenomenon of persorption of particles, and the ease of contamination of charcoal, I don’t recommend its use except in an emergency.

 

[Amazoniac]

Reacting eggshells with acids

Me:

"Do you have an opinion on the consumption of eggshells reacted with citric juices or vinegar?"​

Semi-god:

"Carbonate has many beneficial effects, I think it’s good to limit intake of acetate and citrate."​

Personal question on physical activity

Me:

"If you don't mind me asking, how much physical activity is incorporated in your life that doesn't count as exercise?"​

Semi-god:

"Painting and sculpting involve continuous activity, buying and cooking food, occasionally playing cello, etc., continually interrupt sitting to answer emails or to read. Free movement is essential. It’s stereotyped movement that I think harmfully affects people. For rodents living in little boxes, running in a wheel is a little closer to free living."​

My messages here were shortened to the question, the full versions are posted elsewhere (nothing more from Raj).

 

[Beastmode]

Euphoria after carrot salad thoughts

Me:
If the action of the carrot isn't necessarily providing nutrients that are missing, is the consistency of post euphoria more of a sign of deficiency in your research/experience?

Does the binding of excess estrogen in the gut really create that much of a instant difference or is it something else?

It's one of the most consistent feelings I have every time I have a carrot salad with vinegar and olive oil/salt.

Ray:
The reduction of irritation combined with gentle stimulation has an immediate effect, probably involving an immediate reduction of serotonin, histamine, and endotoxin absorption; the estrogen effect is probably slower.

The immediate effect of reducing the toxins can resolve symptoms and change attitudes.

 

[milk_lover]

Me:
"What is the safety of tattoos ink and if they cause long term risks?"

Ray:
"Infections are always a risk, but the presence of nanoparticles has been found in the tissues of some people with tattoos. Nanoparticles of substances such as aluminum can travel to the brain, causing chronic inflammation.

Tattoo toxins remain in the body's lymph nodes for years, new study shows

ARE TATTOOS SAFE? INK TOXINS REMAIN IN HUMAN BODY FOR YEARS, STUDY SHOWS
BY LIZETTE BORRELI ON 9/13/17 AT 3:38 PM EDT


An international team of researchers have found nanoparticles in tattoo ink travel inside the body and linger in the lymph nodes for long periods of time.

Updated | There are many factors to think about when deciding to get a tattoo. When choosing a tattoo artist and parlor, safety and cleanliness rank top priority to prevent infections from dirty needles. A recent study published in Scientific Reports suggests tattoo aficionados should also take a closer look at the ink.

Tattoo ink is made up of various organic and inorganic pigments, which can be tainted with toxic element impurities. Researchers from Germany and France wanted to know whether, and how, this material affects the body.

The team looked to dead bodies to find out. As Gizmodo reports, the researchers collected tissue samples from six people who had donated their bodies to science upon death. Four of the bodies had tattoos and two did not. Two of the four inked corpses had ink in their lymph nodes. Aluminum, chromium, iron, nickel, copper and titanium were also present in heightened amounts in the tattooed bodies.

Using a high-tech X-ray light, the researchers found lymph nodes tinted with the color of the tattoo. They also found nanoparticles of toxic elements from tattoo pigment. The average size of these particles was 180 nanometers (to put this in perspective, a human hair is around 75,000 nanometers wide).

Finding lymph nodes colored with the tattoo ink was not surprising. Lymph nodes—located in the head and neck region, armpits and groin area—help clean the site where the tattoo needle entered. But finding pigment in nano form was unexpected. This size "implies that they may not have the same behavior as the particles at a micro level," Bernhard Hesse, co-lead author of the study and a visiting scientist at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France, said in the statement. "And that is the problem: we don't know how nanoparticles react." And because the samples were from dead bodies that had been tattooed not immediately before death, the researchers inferred that the nanoparticles had lingered in the lymph nodes for a while.

As for the elevated levels of titanium found in all the inked-up bodies, that likely came from titanium dioxide, the second-most common ingredient in tattoo inks. This white pigment is used to create certain shades when mixed with colorants. The compound is also used in food additives, sunscreens and paints, all of which could theoretically contribute to the elevated body levels. But as the researchers note, prior work has shown that respiratory exposure to titanium dioxide leaves the element only in the lung and hilar lymph nodes. In these bodies, the nanoparticles were not confined to those specific regions, suggesting the effects of tattoos are more than skin deep.

There's also a concern that the black pigment in tattoo ink may contain nanoparticles that are carcinogenic. A study in the British Journal of Dermatology found some nanoparticles may cause toxic effects in the brain and nerve damage. This finding suggests ink particles are capable of leaving the surface of the skin and traveling throughout the body, possibly entering organs and other tissues.

There's still a lot to be learned about how these pigments interact with the body, but clearly there's good reason to think before you ink."

 

[Ponylover]

Here are a few email exchanges I've had with Dr. Peat. I've left out the email formalities (greeting/thanks) from my end.

Me: I find it difficult to focus when drinking milk, and also seem to experience a drop in motivation. I've read that milk proteins have an opiate effect, leading to brain fog, difficulty concentrating, lack of motivation, etc. What do you think?

Peat: "Those experiments involves chemically altering the casein (producing peptides), and then injecting it into rats’ brains. It doesn’t occur when casein is digested."

Me: Does practicing backbending cause damage to the body? Is contortion damaging to the body? Why are some people more "naturally" flexible than others?

Peat: "When it hurts it is causing some damage. The balance of hormones affects the flexibility of the tissues."

Me: Why do I feel excessive sleepiness after consuming dairy products? It feels like a fog comes over me and I just have to go to sleep in the middle of the day, even if I do get enough sleep at night. This does not happen for products like butter where there is no dairy protein.

Peat: "Calcium, although it can increase the metabolic rate, can have a relaxing, antistress effect. Thyroid hormone sometimes has a similar effect."

Me: I appear to have Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, where I cannot fall asleep until about 5 or 6 in the morning and then wake up at around 1 in the afternoon. I wonder what the cause of this could be, and how I can regulate my sleep cycle so that it is more "normal". Any thoughts?

Peat: "
Pantothenic acid, vitamin D, a high ratio of calcium to phosphate in your diet, a daily carrot for fiber to protect the intestine, thyroid hormone, progesterone, and, when intestinal inflammation is involved, an antihistamine such as cyproheptadine can help to restore the normal pattern."

 

[RealNeat]

Me (I'm a male) : And if its not too much to ask do you have any insight on how to take care of BV for females?

RP: Topical antibiotics are effective, but some of them can be toxic systemically. I think topical use of flowers of sulfur, mixed with a little water, can be helpful, and it’s safe. Oral vitamin D, vitamin A, and thyroid improve immune function.

 

[lampofred]

Me:

I have been hearing you recommend vitamin D very often recently, so I have been trying to learn how it interacts with thyroid and C02 since it seems like things that are very broadly helpful always have some interaction with C02.

I have read vitamin D lowers iron in the blood and puts it into organs, so I am guessing it is lowering iron usage for producing neurotransmitters. With lowered neurotransmission, there is more GABA_B tone and the brain is quieted, and breathing rate is lowered. As breathing rate is lowered, C02 levels go up, and with higher C02 there are broad health-protective effects.

Vitamin A seems to have the opposite effect by removing iron from organs and increasing its usage (maybe that can be bad for people with high iron stores, which might explain at least partially the current anti-vitamin A trend I keep hearing about).

Do you think this hypothesis could be on the right track and if so, does this mean that eating lots of vitamin A from calf liver to get the iron into your bloodstream and then donating blood, by drastically lowering the body's iron stores, could make vitamin D supplementation unnecessary? Or does vitamin D have deeper effects that go beyond iron, neurotransmitters, breathing rate?

RP:

Yes, vitamin D has very basic effects, including the klotho system, adrenals and parathyroid, renin-angiotensins system, and thyroid function. I read the anti-vitamin A book, and found no evidence in it to support his ideas.

 

[RealNeat]

Me:
What is your view on what's happening in China with the CoV? Should we be concerned and would nebulizing or taking colloidal silver be a good preventative? MB, niacinamide, iron avoidance also come to mind.

Dr. RP:
I think keeping serum vitamin D around 50 ng/ml, and getting adequate vitamin A, calcium, trace minerals, and other nutrients, avoiding polyunsaturated fats, greatly reduce the risk of viral infections.

 

[Beastmode]

I wanted Ray's opinion on the this article:
Trends in Premature Deaths Among Adults in the United States and Latin America

The title is Trends in Premature Deaths Among Adults in the United States and Latin America

Ray's response:
I think it’s useful. I think a big factor in health has been the surge in vaccination rates in the 1970s and 80s:

"We observed increases in mortality rates among US white individuals aged 20 to 34 years after 2010,…"

 

[milk_lover]

Me: What do you think of this wide spread epidemic of corona virus? What is the best way to protect ourselves from it? And if someone has it, what can he do to heal himself?

Ray Peat: There are flu epidemics every winter, this one is helping to sell more vaccines. Young people and well nourished people (especially vitamin D) are safe.

 

[Beastmode]

CORONAVIRUS

Me:
You've mentioned microvesicles in regards to "viruses' I believe.

It got me thinking about "stress signaling" and how we can remove them safely.

Can you expand on how that relates too what's going on now using the coronavirus as an example?

Ray:
The virus inactivates the enzyme that protects against angiotensin, and one of the effects of angiotensin is to increase shedding of microparticles.

 

[meatbag]

Ray:
The virus uses ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) as receptor and enters cells by the angiotensin receptor. Losartan (recommended in China), an angiotensin blocker, is effective protection, and has many other antiinflammatory effects. The Chinese also have good results with cinanserin, a serotonin blocker. I think cyproheptadine might help, too. Progesterone lowers the angiotensin receptor, but doesn’t act immediately as losartan does.
-Most Likely Cure To Coronavirus Seems To Revolve Around Angiotensin

 

[Beastmode]

Ray:
The virus uses ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) as receptor and enters cells by the angiotensin receptor. Losartan (recommended in China), an angiotensin blocker, is effective protection, and has many other antiinflammatory effects. The Chinese also have good results with cinanserin, a serotonin blocker. I think cyproheptadine might help, too. Progesterone lowers the angiotensin receptor, but doesn’t act immediately as losartan does.
-Most Likely Cure To Coronavirus Seems To Revolve Around Angiotensin

I was just looking at Losartan ia the mexican drugstore. Might be worth having a stash.

 

[blob69]

I asked Ray about therapies for COVID-19 killing patients.

Me: "I recall you mentioning oxygen use as highly problematic. Today I heard a renowned pulmonology specialist explaining that in his opinion, patients with COVID-19 in Italy are dying due to excessive use of oxygen respirators. He cited some studies that showed a larger percentage of patients survive if not put on respirators.

The fact is that a large part of COVID-19 patients die in the most modern hospitals in Europe using the most modern equipment (i.e. Bergamo and Madrid). This video shows how they are being treated:

There is also this Italian nurse's tale - she explains that patients arrive to the hospital in a relatively stable state, but after an hour "look like zombies": Coronavirus, racconto choc dell'infermiera: "In un'ora precipita tutto..."

Do you think that the use of respirators could indeed be killing a large percentage of patients so quickly? Maybe combined with other toxic therapies like antivirals, antibiotics, antifungals, chloroquine etc.?"


Ray: "I think that’s exactly what’s happening, irrational use of oxygen and immunosuppressive drugs like chloroquine."

 

[Diokine]

.

Wrong thread please delete!

 

[Lejeboca]

.

Wrong thread please delete!

Why "wrong thread"? @blob69 has shown what s/he wrote to Ray including the clip s/he has shown to him. In fact, Ray referred to this clip in his today's interview on Politics and Science.