Ray Peat Email Advice Depository

[allblues]

Ray's answer to follow-up question on the practical value of hair (or toenail) mineral analysis;

I think they are only rarely useful, for example when someone discovers unsuspected poisoning by a heavy metal.

 

[Wagner83]

Wagner: "Hey , I'd like to know what do you think about 11-keto-dht, does the addition of the ketone group makes it more toxic? Half life is longer which sounds like a good idea, it is naturally present in the body and a strong androgen. By the way there is this paper ( Feed-forward control of prostate growth: dihydrotestosterone induces expression of its own biosynthetic enzyme), on how dht stimulates its own synthesis.."

Spoiler: references

References:
2016 New Investigator: Karl Storbeck | Bioanalysis Zone
"...We have discovered a novel pathway for the metabolism of the steroid 11β-hydroxyandrostenedione (11OHA4), a major product of human steroidogenesis which has been ignored for decades. We showed that 11OHA4 is the precursor to the potent androgens 11-ketotestosterone (11KT) and 11-ketodihydrotestosterone (11KDHT). Using a combination of UPLC–MS and UPLC–MS/MS techniques we confirmed the existence of a number of novel steroids in this pathway. We have since shown that 11KDHT is as potent as DHT, previously considered to be most potent natural androgen, a finding which has significant implications for our understanding of androgen dependent diseases such as castration-resistant prostate cancer and diseases of androgen excess, such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia and polycystic ovary syndrome."

11β-Hydroxydihydrotestosterone and 11-ketodihydrotestosterone, novel C19 steroids with androgenic activity: a putative role in castration resistant... - PubMed - NCBI
"...The pathway was validated in the androgen-dependent prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP. Androgen receptor (AR) transactivation studies showed that while 11KT and 11OHDHT act as a partial AR agonists, 11KDHT is a full AR agonist exhibiting similar activity to DHT at 1nM. Our data demonstrates that, while 11OHA4 has negligible androgenic activity, its metabolism to 11KT and 11KDHT yields androgenic compounds which may be implicated, together with A4 and DHEA(S), in driving CRPC in the absence of testicular T."

An investigation into the androgenic activity of 11-ketotestosterone and 11-ketodihydrotestosterone
"...This study is the first to show that 11KT and 11KDHT are metabolized at a significantly lower rate in both cell lines when compared to T and DHT, respectively, thus likely accounting for their apparent increased activity. The data clearly shows that 11KT and 11KDHT are potent and efficacious androgens, comparable to T and DHT. Most importantly, the findings highlight the fact that not only can 11KT and 11KDHT activate the androgen axis, and in so doing drive cell growth, but that these steroids have the potential to remain active for longer than T and DHT due to a reduced rate of metabolism. Collectively, the data demonstrates that 11KT and 11KDHT likely play a vital, but overlooked, role in the development and progression of CRPC."

"...A slower metabolic rate was observed in the VCaP cells. For example, DHT and T substrates were depleted in 24 hours in LNCaP cells, while complete metabolism of DHT and T substrates in VCaP cells was only achieved after 48 hours (Fig. 3.16). Nevertheless, the same trend was observed between the respective steroids. DHT was metabolised signicantly faster (63% in 12 hours) than the same concentration of 11KDHT (17% in 12 hours). After 24 hours, only 9% of DHT remained, compared to 60% of 11KDHT. While DHT was completely metabolised after 48 hours, 21% of the 11KDHT remained detectable after 72 hours."

Ray: "I think it’s risky to supplement hormonally active intermediates in steroid metabolism, since it can have widespread unexpected effects.

W: "Ok thanks, I thought dht and 11-keto-dht were end point steroids (Hans selye work on combining upstream and end point steroids is interesting) , does that mean you would not supplement with androsterone either?"

R: "I think I might use DHT, but not androsterone or the ketos."

W: "Androsterone combined with small amounts of dhea and preg felt very positive * but perhaps too potent for daily use, the steroids pathways made me think it would be safe, however safety has been mostly studied in women."

Spoiler: References

*
The influence of mixtures of androsterone and dehydroisoandrosterone on biological response. - PubMed - NCBI

"...The order of response was determined by the least amount of androsterone in the mixture of the daily dose that reached the given ratio (Table 1). From this chart, it may be seen that the biologically most active mixture of these androgens is 25% androsterone +75% dehydroisoandrosterone and that the least active is that of 95% androsterone +5% dehydroisaondrosterone. The other mixtures fall in progression so that as the dehyroisoandrosterone is increased, at the expense of the androsterone, the mixtures become increasingly more potent."

"...It was observed in all of our work, as evidenced by the curves, that the responsiveness of the chicks' comb to androgenic stimulation reaches a maximum point at a dose between 30 and 40 gamma, after which it declines. This was not the case when a mixture of equal parts (50% + 50%) of the two androgens were employed in an oily solution (Figure 8). At the 40 gamma dose, the chick comb weight response was still rising. This mixture was repeated on another "run" of chicks and was found to be correct...The 50% androsterone +50% dehydroisoandrosterone in oily solution is seen to be irregular due to its peculiar activity. The interpretation of this response is not clear."

R: "The immediate feeling is so good that people usually overdose, risking long term imbalance in metabolism."

W: "I see, I understand your caution , do you have any idea what kind of imbalances this could create (besides T suppression)? As for androsterone , do you have any idea what doses would be well below the threshold of an overdose?
Regarding dht, andractim is the only bioidentical dht gel I found but the one source available online (allsaintsclinic) is temporarily unable to supply it. From what I saw the gel delivers 25mg of dht per dose and only 2.5 mg make it through the skin."

R: "In general, one milligram/day of the strong androgens is safe. 2.5 mg wouldn’t be dangerous, but the absorbed percentage can vary a lot.
For a young person, 5 mg DHEA orally is a very effective amount, very old people could use 10 to 15 mg. For a year I took an average of 3000 mg of pregnenolone daily, with nothing but good effects, but when I tried different brands (that was from Syntex), even 20 mg caused intestinal inflammation symptoms.
I haven’t used androsterone, but if it functions as a pheromone, as some people have said, I think that could activate the pituitary in possibly harmful ways."

W: "Thanks. About DHEA, if used topically would you use a different dose or expect different effects?
I can confirm androsterone functions as a pheromone. Can you share more information on pheromones negatively interacting with the pituitary?
Here is what I found on androsterone and the pituitary:

Spoiler: references

The Combined Effect of Prolactin and Androsterone on the Growth of Rat Seminal Vesicle in vitro
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/01485017908987305

Finally, this study shows that androsterone suppressed pituitary directly. More notably, while steroids like DHEA has estrogenic effects androsterone did not.
The effect of high doses of androgenic substances on the weights of the testes' accessory reproductive organs and endocrine glands of young male guinea-pigs - Bottomley - 1938 - The Journal of Physiology - Wiley Online Library
"...As far as it is possible from our results to draw conclusions as to the relative pituitary suppression potencies of any of the substances used by us, it may be said that the power of causing pituitary suppression appears to be correlated with androgenic potency rather than with gynaecogenic properties. Thus in these experiments, administration both of A5-tr-androstendiol and of cis-androsterone caused pituitary suppression as evidenced by testicular atrophy, while A6-tr-dehydroandrosterone had no effect. With regard to gynaecogenic properties on the other hand, cis-androsterone has little or no activity [Warren, 1935; Deanesly & Parkes, 1936], while A5-tr-androstendiol and A5-tr-dehydroandrosterone are active [D e a ne s ly & Parkes, 1936; see also Koch, 1937]."

"...On the other hand, it is noteworthy that with respect to the power of producing pituitary suppression, the two male hormones found in male urine fall into the order of potency, cis-androsterone > A5-tr-dehydroandrosterone which is the same as their relative order of potency on the basis of the capon comb test [see Koch, 1937]."

R: "It takes a larger dose on the skin than orally. Male pheromones cause a surge of estrogen in females. For example, a young woman who hadn’t menstruated in many months visited on a spring afternoon to ask my advice, and she stayed until it was getting cold so she borrowed my sweater. She returned it the next day, and said her period had started. That has been called the “male mouse effect,” a surge of estrogen that will cause a pregnant female to abort if it smells a new male, but it seems to be very strong in humans and mammals generally."

 

[Wilfrid]

I asked Dr Peat about a safe way of making a topical T3 from cynomel tablet, how to test the potential of commercial liquid T3 products and about propolis:

RP: " I know people who crushed a cytomel tablet in about 3 ounces of water, and used it to treat styes or rashes, with good results.
I haven’t tried the liquid thyroid products, but it’s easy to test the effectiveness of a T3 solution, since it’s fast acting. 5 or 10 mcg will speed and strengthen the pulse, starting in a few minutes, and persisting for a few hours. I think propolis is safe."

Edit: Last year, I was asking him about the T3 eyes drop that he mentioned in one of his article. He said that he knows a doctor who used such kind of eyes drop by crushing a cynomel tablet into a very fine powder in a saline.

 

[raypeatclips]

Q. Do you have any opinions on ideas as the cause of diffuse thinning hair in a young male? The sides of my hair are thick, and my hairline is unchanged, but there is just an overall general thinning on the top of my head.

Too much phosphate, too little vitamin D, are common causes.

 

[milk_lover]

Q. Theoretically, if the solvent is pretty safe, would applying DHEA on the testicles (less than 5 mg) be a good idea given that they are the primary site of estrogen conversion?

As a regulator of brain function and connective tissue strength and fat metabolism, it seems odd that it would occur to someone to apply DHEA to the testicles. (The same applies to solvents of any kind other than water.)

 

[milk_lover]

Q. Where is the best place to apply topical DHEA to get maximum benefits for brain function and fat metabolism?

I’ve normally used it orally, but sometimes use it on arms or legs or elsewhere if there’s an injury.

 

[DaveFoster]

You mention that you keep your pulse averaging over 90. Why not 95 or 100, and are there deleterious effects with going that high?

RP: "With it that high I easily get out of breath and over-heat with moderate work intensity."

 

[paymanz]

I asked him about beetroots , either cooked or juice , and if its good idea to consume them regularly?

Cooked beets are pleasant food, but the high carotene content could become a problem if thyroid function isn’t too good.

Then I mailed him back that according to databases I check,they are not high in carotenes, and he replied,

Thanks. Maybe their reputation for being antagonistic to thyroid comes from other carotenoids such as xanthophylls, and the other pigments.

 

[milk_lover]

Q. Would taking a maximum of 2 mg of androsterone a day be safe for a man who is trying to raise his DHT levels? DHT is illegal in my country.

It probably is, but I haven’t had any personal experience with it. DHEA usually helps.

 

[meatbag]

Ray Peat:

"I connect Schwarz’s electron behavior to my view of cell function. Polanyi’s energy behavior in metals, Luca Turin’s resonance responses, PK Anokhin’s axonal conduction of complex signals (not all-or-none), and Alexander Rothen’s complex long-range action, Deryagin’s long-range influences, are all compatible with, supportive of, the idea that the functional integration of macromolecules, cells, and organisms, is an “electronic” state analogous to the delocalized electronic state of metals, a tunable gel in which there are no identifiable separate electrons—but able to interact with the discrete valence electrons of molecules and ions, and with appropriate fields, possibly including the fields of nuclear spin and unpaired electron spin."

For reference:
H Schwarz

 

[blob69]

Q: Lately I've been hearing a lot about how awful ocean acidification is for marine life. What are your thoughts about this - could CO2 be detrimental in this context?

A: I think the nuclear industry is promoting most of the propaganda on climate change, and deflecting attention away from solar cycles, and the roles of deforestation, desertification, CO2 emission from melting tundra, increased phytoplankton growth, and the decreased solubility of CO2 in warming oceans. It was just after the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island when people were turning against nuclear power, that the public’s attention was diverted from cooling of the planet and a predicted new ice age, that had been discussed for decades, to the new warming supposedly caused by use of fossil fuels.

Three Mile Island, Global Warming and the CIA

Increased carbon dioxide enhances plankton growth
January 16, 2016 Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
Summary:
Coccolithophores--tiny calcifying plants that are part of the foundation of the marine food web--have been increasing in relative abundance in the North Atlantic over the last 45 years, as carbon input into ocean waters has increased. Their relative abundance has increased 10 times, or by an order of magnitude, during this sampling period, report researchers.
Coccolithophores -- tiny calcifying plants that are part of the foundation of the marine food web -- have been increasing in relative abundance in the North Atlantic over the last 45 years, as carbon input into ocean waters has increased. Their relative abundance has increased 10 times, or by an order of magnitude, during this sampling period. This finding was diametrically opposed to what scientists had expected since coccolithophores make their plates out of calcium carbonate, which is becoming more difficult as the ocean becomes more acidic and pH is reduced.
These findings were reported in the November 26th edition of Science and based on analysis of nearly a half century of data collected by the long-running Sir Alister Hardy Foundation (SAHFOS) Continuous Plankton Recorder sampling program.
"The results show both the power of long-term time-series of ocean observations for deciphering how marine microbial communities are responding to climate change and offer evidence that the ocean garden is changing," said Dr. William Balch, senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and a co-author of the paper. "We never expected to see the relative abundance of coccolithophores to increase 10 times in the North Atlantic over barely half a century. If anything, we expected that these sensitive calcifying algae would have decreased in the face of increasing ocean acidification (associated with increasing carbon dioxide entering the ocean from the burning of fossil-fuels). Instead, we see how these carbon-limited organisms appear to be using the extra carbon from CO2 to increase their relative abundance by an order of magnitude.
"This provides one example on how marine communities across an entire ocean basin are responding to increasing carbon dioxide levels. Such real-life examples of the impact of increasing CO2 on marine food webs are important to point out as the world comes together in Paris next week at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change," Balch added.
"Something strange is happening here, and it's happening much more quickly than we thought it should," said Anand Gnanadesikan, associate professor in the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins and one of the study's five authors.
Gnanadesikan said the Science report certainly is good news for creatures that eat coccolithophores, but it's not clear what those are. "What is worrisome," he said, "is that our result points out how little we know about how complex ecosystems function." The result highlights the possibility of rapid ecosystem change, suggesting that prevalent models of how these systems respond to climate change may be too conservative, he said.
Coccolithophores are often referred to as "canaries in the coal mine." Some of the key coccolithophore species can outcompete other classes of phytoplankton in warmer, more stratified and nutrient-poor waters (such as one might see in a warming ocean). Until this data proved otherwise, scientists thought that they would have more difficulties forming their calcite plates in a more acidic ocean. These results show that coccolithophores are able to use the higher concentration of carbon derived from CO2, combined with warmer temperatures, to increase their growth rate.
When the percentage of coccolithophores in the community goes up, the relative abundance of other groups will go down. The authors found that at local scales, the relative abundance of another important algal class, diatoms, had decreased over the 45 years of sampling.
The team's analysis was of data taken from the North Atlantic Ocean and North Sea since the mid-1960s compiled by the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey. The CPR survey was launched by British marine biologist Sir Alister Hardy in the early 1930s. Today it is carried on by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Sciences and is conducted by commercial ships trailing mechanical plankton-gathering gear through the water as they sail their regular routes. Dr. Willie Wilson, formerly a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory, is now director of SAHFOS.
"In the geological record, coccolithophores have been typically more abundant during Earth's warm interglacial and high CO2 periods. The results presented here are consistent with this and may portend, like the "canary in the coal mine," where we are headed climatologically," said Balch.

Journal Reference:
• S. Rivero-Calle, A. Gnanadesikan, C. E. Del Castillo, W. M. Balch, S. D. Guikema. Multidecadal increase in North Atlantic coccolithophores and the potential role of rising CO2. Science, 2015; 350 (6267): 1533 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa8026

 

[meatbag]

Originally posted by the scholar @Kartoffel here:Thunderstorms Can Trigger Nuclear Reactions; Are A Source Of "cosmic" Rays

"
I asked Peat a few things about his view on the laws of thermodynamics a while ago and one of his replies might be interesting in this context.

"N.A. Kozyrev, an astrophysicist, looked at the issue historically, and concluded that the 19th century people who promulgated the first and second laws were just mathematizing their fairly fundamentalist Christian beliefs, building on the preceding Deists, who saw the world as a big clock set in motion in The Beginning by the Big Watchmaker. Realizing that there was, and is, simply no evidence for the way they formulated the laws, asserting that time could just as well run in either direction. Kozyrev worked out the implications of considering that time works the way it seems to, moving only in one direction. With that assumption, the passage of time introduces negative entropy constantly into the system. Kozyrev’s calculation from that assumption showed that any mass, existing through time, converts negentropy into energy, and it works out to predict that the amount of energy coming out of the sun and stars is consistent with the observed energy, but is derived from the asymmetry of time, rather than from nuclear reactions. He then scaled the figures to the planets, and predicted the amount of heat coming from Jupiter and Saturn; his figures were confirmed decades later when the space probes made measurements at close range. The internal heat of the earth was on the same scale, so he estimated the amount of heat that should be produced by the mass of the moon, and predicted that there would be volcanic activity there. Since he was an astronomer, he aimed a telescope at the dark side of the moon, with infrared sensitive film, and showed periodic hot eruptions. A little earlier, Fred Soddy (famous for work in nuclear fission and isotopes) proposed continuing creation, and suggested that cosmic rays are newly formed atoms, and if this creation is happening everywhere, there should be a certain amount of “background” microwave radiation coming from all directions. Years later when radiation of that sort was detected, the Deisitic Fundamentalists proclaimed that they had discovered evidence of The Big Bang at the Time of Creation, and ignored Soddy’s prediction."
"

 

[Braveheart]

Am very interested in progesterone, so wrote to Dr. Peat, as I sensed he values it.
From several recent emails...the parts pertaining to progest/dhea...

"I use my progesterone and DHEA dissolved in vitamin E, rubbed into my skin, so I’m not sure how much I’m absorbing, but I adjust the amount according to how I feel, and I think the absorbed amount is around 5 mg of DHEA and 15 mg of progesterone.
When I was 60, that much progesterone had a slight cold-shower effect, but now it doesn’t—I have as many erotic dreams as when I was 30."

"A few times when I took 100 mg or more of progesterone the antitestosterone effect was very noticeable for a day or two, but it quickly passed. A teenage male makes only about 12 mg of DHEA per day; when older men take 25 mg, they usually get very high estrogen."

"I rub some of the oil into my legs and arms every day, but some days it’s probably less than that. About 20 years ago I tended to use equal amounts of those, about 5 or 10 mg of each, now the extra progesterone doesn’t cause noticeable interference with the testosterone effect."
Hope this helps...

 

[Snowdrop]

In regards to the dangers of using Gadolinium contrast media during an MRI. I was specifically asking in relation to the brain.

Ray Peat:

From the animal studies, it damages all the essential organs. Competent workers can make fine MRI images without it. It’s a holdover from x-ray times, by people who don’t understand the principle of MRI.

 

[allblues]

Asked Ray about malocclusions, orthodontics - causes and what helps;

I think there’s good evidence that the habitual position of the tongue is the decisive thing, exerting a constant outward pressure on the palate and teeth; breathing through the mouth at night interferes with that habit. Nocturnal inflammation tends to cause nasal congestion, forcing mouth breathing. Thyroid and vitamin D deficiencies are major causes of chronic inflammation and sleep breathing problems.

On removing corrective braces after orthodontic treatment;

The relation of the teeth to the jaw bone is an active process, and I doubt that it’s possible to predict the effects of removing a brace that has been there for a long time. Either way, it’s good to be sure that the hormonal-nutritional situation is good, especially vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, prolactin, and cortisol.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

"Transdermal Na"

"Ray,

Why do we not become dehydrated when we go into the ocean? Do we not absorb much sodium transdermally?"

RE: "Contemporary medicine and “official physiology” believe that cells are osmometers; they aren’t. When I was a kid I read about someone who spent many weeks on the ocean without fresh water, and he said he started taking sips of sea water before their supplies of water ran out, and while the others on the boat were dying of dehydration, he was able to subsist on the seawater. Another later book described survival in a similar situation, after a nurse administered seawater enemas, knowing that the colon is able to extract water from a “hyperosmotic" solution. When a person is swimming for many hours, even in seawater, some water is absorbed through the skin. The way to understand it is to think of cell water as a solute, rather than a solvent—sodium is less soluble in cells than water is. Carbon dioxide, cholesterol, magnesium, progesterone, and urea are things that, by regulating the structure of the cytoplasm, affect its solubility properties."

"You've mentioned that beans have a low quality of protein. Is an amino acid in a bean not the same chemical structure of an amino acid in milk or eggs? If the amino acids from the beans are absorbed, aren't they used in the same way that the amino acids from milk and eggs are used once in the bloodstream? This is assuming that the person has no negative reactions from the beans and that they are properly prepared."

RE: "One factor is the balance of the amino acids, but other factors are the indigestible fiber and the unsaturated fats."

 

[Westside PUFAs]

"Carnosine, carnitine, creatine, and taurine"

"Ray,

Do you think the body can still produce enough of the so called "amino acids" carnosine, carnitine, creatine and taurine, none of which are made by any plant food, when a person does well eating a potato and mushroom based diet that leaves out any muscle meats and other foods that have those 4 preformed amino acids?"

RE:"I think so."

 

[DaveFoster]

I've been reading your writings, and you mention that you keep your pulse averaging over 90. Why not 95 or 100, and are there deleterious effects with going that high?

"With it that high I easily get out of breath and over-heat with moderate work intensity."

Your Progest-E complex rubbed into the gums relieves most of my symptoms in the winter, and do you think a higher amount (say 800 IU vitamin E in Progest-E) would be harmful for a few months as I continue to work on thyroid (if vitamin K2 is adequate)?

"I think it’s o.k. if you’re watching your temperature, pulse rate, symptoms, etc."

I know you promote GABA a lot in your articles as protective, and I wanted to know what you thought of pregabalin and gabapentin for people who suffer from fibromyalgia and anxiety like myself. I'm working on hormones, but my anxiety has been pretty high lately from school. What do you think? Gabapentin raises blood serotonin but pregabalin seems not to have an effect.

"Have you checked your vitamin D and thyroid blood levels?"

I've been doing quite a bit of writing, and as a young student, I often find the things I wrote previously need to be reviewed and edited after a period of time of reflection.

How do you strike the balance between writing and reading, as in would it be reasonable to dedicate years to consuming the written works of others followed by a "capstone" of your own work, or do you think it's beneficial to do things piecemeal and more spontaneously, reading, writing, and revising as time goes on, as if this helps the learning process?

"Learning is always a revising process, and writing helps to understand what you know at a particular time."

I've been reading your writings, and you mention that you keep your pulse averaging over 90. Why not 95 or 100, and are there deleterious effects with going that high?

"With it that high I easily get out of breath and over-heat with moderate work intensity."

I heard you mention of a 1:3 or even 1:2 T3 to T4 ratio as more optimal than a 1 to 4 ratio. When would the 1:2 be preferred to 1:3; is it only in a particular type of person (older for example), or would it also be preferred in a younger person?

"Women and older people generally have reduced conversion of T4 to T3, but anyone with liver malfunction is similar."

 

[John Frusciante]

On Christianity:

"Wilhelm Reich’s Murder of Christ, Teilhard de Chardin, Ivan Illich, liberation theology, and monseñor Sergio Méndez Arceo, “obispo rojo” of Cuernavaca, showed me some good points of christianity. In the US, some of the civil rights activists were christians, but generally US christians have been some of the worst people in the world. Amish, Quakers, Unitarians, and Methodists are often better than average US people."

 

[John Frusciante]

"Hello Ray. If you had to go to Europe, would you go by ship?" (I know he doesn't consider the airplanes tolerable)

RP: "Yes, ships are the pleasant way to travel."

"Even if it would take several days? The quickest from America to Europe seems to be a week, but generally takes 8-10 days. Would you tolerate that?"

RP: "When I went it took 9 days each way, and I would have enjoyed more."

--

On Elon Musk projects:

RP: "They might be reasonable as part of a plan to destroy life on earth."

"Is there any modern/futurist technology project that captured your attention, and you think it can actually improve the condition of humanity?"

RP: "Solar, wind, and ocean (tidal, wave, and thermoelectric) electric power production; dirigible and good rail transportation."