Cytochrome P450: One Tablet or Two?

July 4, 2011 By Mountaintop Blog

cyp450_imageJust as we all don’t wear the same sized sweater, so too are medication dosages not meant to be one-size-fits-all proposition. Physiologically, a 100-pound woman and a 200-pound man process the same dosage differently, so it’s important to follow medication directions, for both over-the-counter and prescription drugs.

The liver takes in raw materials and produces all sorts of products we need to live. It is also a purification plant that takes in toxic waste for elimination while cleaning some substances and sending them out for further use. This article is about the medications we take and the toxic components built into them by science, knowing that a particular enzyme system in the liver, cytochrome P450 (CYP450), will clear them in the liver.

Pharmacology is the study of the actions of drugs on biological systems. These drugs either activate (agonists) or inhibit (antagonists) normal physiological processes. For example, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s), one kind of anti-depressant drugs, are designed to affect biological activity through inhibition.

When developing a drug, scientists ascertain its therapeutic use measuring pharmacokinetics-dosage and the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion in and through the body, and pharmacodynamics- how the drug acts on the body.

By the time a drug makes it to the market, it has been well-tested to make it safe for public consumption. Very basically, the measure known as the Area Under the Curve (AUC), measures the movement of a substance into and through the body, depicting the time of its greatest concentration.

This copious testing takes into account how long it takes for the body to eliminate one-half life of the drug from the body and then how much is left in the body after five half-lives. For example, if 100 mg has a half-life of 50 mg, then its subsequent half-lives will be 25 mg, 12.5 mg, 6.25 mg, and 3.125 mg, respectively. This is why some drugs you may take require several weeks of regular dosage before achieving correct concentration in the blood, body fluids, or tissue for a therapeutic effect, and others go directly to the targeted area and have an immediate effect.

Cytochrome P450 is the generic name for a group of enzymes clustered in the liver and small intestines that breaks down anything the body doesn’t want hanging around in active form, including things eaten such as food and herbs. Two major points to remember regarding the CYP450 enzyme system are:

1) More is NOT better- CYP450 can process only so much at a time, and
2) Herbs and prescription drug should be taken two hours apart to minimize interaction

Here’s why:
As mentioned above, certain drugs are designed to increase the activity of CYP450 and others inhibit it so that the drug can stay in the body longer.
1) Some chemical reactions in the body are additive: for example, substance A combines with substance B, or 2 + 2 = 4.
2) Some chemical reactions in the body are synergistic: for example, substance A combines with substance B to produce a stronger effect by staying in the body longer, so that 2 + 2 = 10.
3) And, some chemical reactions in the body inhibit each other or cancel each other out: for example, substance A combines with substance B, or 2 + 2 = .05 or 2 + 2 =. These include certain foods and herbs, which can interact with certain drugs and get in the way of CYP450 either additively, synergistically, or by inhibiting ts functions.

Therefore, it is important to take follow dosage recommendations, and to not overtax the liver by asking it to process too many medically-intended substances at once: think twice next time you reach for something, asking yourself if you really need it. If you say “yes,” remember what else you ate or  in the past hour, and maybe wait a bit, or take a lesser dosage and see how that works.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/cytochrome-p450-one-tablet-or-two

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice in two New York City locations: Flatiron & Greenwich Village.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

 

Filed Under: Health Tips, Integrative Medicine, Stress Busters, You Are What You Eat Tagged With: , ,

Functions of the Liver

July 4, 2011 By Mountaintop Blog
your liver is a tireless marathoner

your liver is a tireless marathoner

The liver is a multi-tasker: it produces, purifies, and converts many substances essential to life. It plays a role in the digestion, hematology (blood), immune and inflammatory response, and endocrine systems.

1) The liver’s digestive function is simple: it manufactures bile, which is stored in the gallbladder. The gallbladder then secretes the bile as needed into the small and large intestines to emulsify and absorb the fats we eat.

2) The liver also transforms excess simple sugars and converts them into glycogen or fats for storage. When you need that extra boost of energy, the liver can take that stored fat and glycogen and converts it into the energy you need. It can also transform proteins into energy as a last resort.

3) The liver stores fat-soluble vitamins and minerals and distributes them where and when they are needed.

4) The liver is also an organ of detoxification: it takes toxins and poisons from medications, alcohol, and metabolic waste and transforms them into less harmful substances. It also stores toxins that can’t be broken down and eliminated, including some chemicals and other poisons.

5) The liver synthesizes the proteins that regulate blood clotting and molecule transporters in the blood.

6) The liver makes the cholesterol that is used in hormone production.

7) The liver produces proteins that affect the inflammatory response and manufactures some antigens for immunity.

8) The liver has cells that specifically destroy bacteria and breakdown old worn-out red blood cells.

With so much activity to accomplish, you can imagine the liver is prone to diseases such as viral infections, inflammatory diseases, toxicity, vascular disorders, metabolic diseases, and cancers.

In order to keep your liver healthy, choose pesticide-free foods and wash your vegetables, consume plenty of antioxidants , avoid taking medications you don’t really need, and limit alcohol consumption. Ways to nourish your liver include having lemon juice regularly, and engaging in some form(s) of exercise.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/functions-of-the-liver

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice in two New York City locations: Flatiron & Greenwich Village.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

 

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Integrative Medicine, Stress Busters, Uncategorized, You Are What You Eat Tagged With: , , , ,

The Nuts and Bolts of Carbohydrates

June 23, 2011 By Mountaintop Blog
complex carbs: grains, seeds, nuts, and vegetables

complex carbs: grains, seeds, nuts, and vegetables

Carbohydrates are our primary source of energy and dietary fiber. Carbohydrates are also intrinsically involved in many biologic processes.

It’s no accident that when we are hungry, we reach for carbohydrates, for carbohydrates are the form of energy our bodies prefer and digest first:

-Our cells prefer using carbohydrates to enter into the KREBS cycle, a complicated metabolic process that yields THE energy molecule, ATP

-Our bodies prefer carbohydrates as the energy source because those calories are structurally easier to get to than fats or protein

-Amylase is the enzyme in saliva that begins the breakdown process of carbohydrates into its usable units as sugars

In the context of nutrition, carbohydrates are referred to as simple or complex
-Simple carbohydrates
—monosaccharides = 1 sugar molecule; glucose and fructose are monosaccharides
—disaccharides = 2 sugar molecules = 1 glucose and 1 fructose; lactose and sucrose are disaccharides

-Complex carbohydrates
—polysaccharides = many monosaccharides joined by chemical bonds into chains and branches
—oligosaccharides = 2-10 monosaccharides joined by chemical bonds into chains and branches

Complex carbohydrates provide a higher quality source of energy with a longer breakdown process, which slows the onset of hunger and stabilizes blood sugar levels.

The plant sources of complex carbohydrates provide dietary fiber:
-The cellulose in the plant wall has polysaccharides and oligosaccharides
—The polysaccharides portion is made of insoluble fibers, and because humans lack the enzyme to digest cellulose, this material passes through the digestive tract nearly intact, helping to eliminate other toxins from the body with it

—The oligosaccharides can break down; they are the food source for the micro- flora in our digestive tract

-Compounds from plants are used in our cellular functioning and systemically
— Lower cholesterol, anti-cancer, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral; bind to specific hormones that are in excess to clear the body of them and eliminate with solid waste; reduce hunger cravings
-Compounds from plants are commonly used in industry
—As thickening and binding agents for a multitude of products, from ice cream to pharmaceutical gels

Carbohydrate Digestion, Assimilation, and Synthesis
The storage carbohydrate in animals is glycogen. When not utilized by the body, carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in the liver and in the muscles. Leftover leftovers are stored as fat.

Recommended Amounts
Age, gender, general constitution, and activity levels vary from person to person, so recommending the proportions of protein, fat, and carbohydrate in the diet isn’t possible.

For every gram of carbohydrate you consume, you get 4 calories of energy- this is true for any type of carbohydrate. Here’s a link that gives you a general guideline of amounts for you, including vitamins and minerals for you, based on age, gender, and activity level.

At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we will review of your diet to figure out what your dietary needs are, and offer feedback and suggestions after assessing your condition, health history, and general constitution.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/the-nuts-and-bolts-of-carbohydrates

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice in two New York City locations: Flatiron & Greenwich Village.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

 

Filed Under: All Things Food, Health Tips, Integrative Medicine, You Are What You Eat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Limbic System: Emotions, Learning, & Memory

June 22, 2011 By Mountaintop Blog
skull_1

Neural Connections Grow and Change

While we experience emotions and memories as ephemeral and therefore not concrete, the fact is they are processed in a distinct region of the brain named the Limbic System, and they are made up of molecules that interact with nerves.

The Limbic System (LS) is a network of neurons that links the hypothalamus and pituitary gland to the cerebrum. The LS has a direct effect on the Nervous and Endocrine Systems.

Memory and memorization is reinforced through repetition, which strengthens the connections into neural pathways. Emotions and sensory components (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) enhance memory; the input of more than one sensory component and/or the stronger the emotion experienced, the greater our ability with be to recall that memory.

The LS could be called the conscience, because it processes the emotional aspects of behavior. In a perfect world, behavior and emotions that accompany it are rational and are in sync with each other, for example, eating when hungry, working for money, and resting in the evening.

When symptoms arise that elude diagnostic testing and are classified “psychosomatic,” medical science has suggested these disorders may originate in the Limbic System. Because the LS influences the nervous and endocrine systems, emotions of stress (fear, anxiety, anger) could affect the delicate balance in those systems and manifest as an identifiable symptom.

On a purely physical level, when we learn and practice a new task, these new neural connections become permanently part of us. First they are stored in the motor cortex region of the brain (receives and sends signals pertaining to voluntary movement), later they dropped down to the basal nuclei (deeper in the brain), and eventually they are stored in the spinal cord once the task no longer requires conscious effort. Neural memory exists in physical space and can be built upon.

This explains how, after a lapse of many years, a skill can be re-learned quickly, based on that stored knowledge. For example, if you took ballet or piano lessons in grade school and decided twenty years later to take classes, the stored memory would help you come up to speed more quickly than if you had to learn from scratch.

Similarly, emotional memory is thought to first to be stored first in a specific area of the LS, the amygdala, and then moved to the pre-frontal cortex. These neural connections have nutrient substances that make them up – proteins and minerals. They exist in physical space as distinct components, like physical memory, perhaps as malleable, to be built upon and changed.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/the-limbic-system-emotions-learning-memory

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice in two New York City locations: Flatiron & Greenwich Village.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

 

Filed Under: Integrative Medicine, Stress Busters, Uncategorized, You Are What You Eat Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Endocrine System Overview

June 21, 2011 By Mountaintop Blog
The seat of the pituitary gland

The seat of the pituitary gland

The body’s metabolic functions are set in motion by a series of electrical and chemical reactions that keep its systems running smoothly. In order for us to have a good quality of life, each body system must work efficiently and harmoniously with the other systems. Therefore, it is critical that there be a communication network for this to occur. We have already touched upon one of the communication systems, the nervous system, now here is an overview of the endocrine system.

The endocrine system (ES) and the nervous system (NS) are intrinsically connected, regulating all the body’s activities. The NS uses electrical conduction along nerves to communicate, whereas the ES uses chemical messengers, via the bloodstream, to signal for a physical reaction to occur.

 

The ES uses two types of glands to deliver its chemical messages as hormones: the endocrine and exocrine glands.

  1. Exocrine glands secrete hormones or other substances into body cavities and onto the body surface using ducts
  2. Endocrine glands are ductless and secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream

 

Hormones are made up of amino acids or lipids and act as messengers that reach its target cell. Practically every cell has the ability to secrete and receive a hormone or hormone-like chemical, to elicit the desired changes needed to create balance.

 

The communication between the nervous system and the endocrine system happens between the hypothalamus, located in the brain, and the pituitary gland. This relationship is called the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and is key to how we deal with any kind of stress. The autonomic nervous system recognizes a stressor and commands the release of hormones from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland, in order to stimulate or inhibit the secretion of regulatory hormones. This series of events creates a cascade of reactions in the body, depending upon the stressor.

 

The hypothalamus is a powerhouse, with many diverse functions. In addition to working with the pituitary gland to release and stimulate many hormones, the hypothalamus is a relay center for autonomic functions associated with digestion and plays a role in the alerting system, body temperature control, our sleep, our sense of pleasure and other emotional behavior, and hunger and satiety.

 

The pituitary gland is known as the “master gland” because of its regulatory affect on the other endocrine glands that control many metabolic activities. The pituitary gland lies below hypothalamus and sits in the center of the sphenoid bone on the sella turcica (Turkish Saddle). The sphenoid bone is the floor of the cranium, and connects with all the bones of the skull, with the exception of the mandible.

 

Another close connection between the NS and the ES are the messenger substances, the neurotransmitters and hormones. These two chemicals are the same, except that neurotransmitters are chemicals released at the end of the nerve’s axon, and hormones, as previously mentioned, are released from glands.

 

Hormones can either stimulate or inhibit a reaction. The endocrine system’s hormones can have a long-lasting effect on the body, from hours to weeks. Excessive and sustained stress and anxiety can affect the NS, keeping the body’s natural balance from correcting itself, potentially creating future problems. Some of the diseases of the ES are the result of hyper-secretion (hormone excess), hypo-secretion (hormone deficiency), or tumors (malignant or benign).

 

Acupuncture and Chinese herbs have been shown to have a regulating effect on the nervous system, and so by extension, the endocrine system. It is recommended to get a yearly physical that includes blood tests of hormone levels. Early detection can manage and in some cases eradicate a problem, using western medicine protocols in conjunction with acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/endocrine-system-overview

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice in two New York City locations: Flatiron & Greenwich Village.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: Conditions Treated, Health Tips, Research, Stress Busters, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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