brain and amino acids

[Guest guest]

(taken from another list)

 

NEUROTRANSMITTERS, BRAIN LANGUAGE

 

Amino Acids and brain function go hand in hand. Understanding your

brain

function gives you a more comprehensive picture of how to use various

amino

acids to effectively treat pain, stress, anxiety and depression. Your

body

needs and uses basic nutrients every day. These include vitamins,

minerals,

proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. If you were to take the water and

fat

out of your body, 75% of the remainder would be protein. Muscles, cell

membranes, enyzmes, and the neurotransmitters are all proteins.

 

The brain controls every cell in the human body. Its commanding

presence is

responsible for all sensation, movement, thought, behavior, and a

lifetime

of memories and dreams. The importance of a healthy, well-nourished,

efficiently functioning brain cannot be overstated. This three-pound

powerpack comprises less than 2% of your total body weight. Your

brain

regulates your breathing, heartbeat, body temperature and hormone

balance.

Speech at any level would be impossible without needed nutrients for

proper

brain function.

 

Yet, in spite of the absolute importance of a smoothly functioning

brain, it

is the most poorly nourished organ in the human body. Ten billion

neurons

(brain cells) cry to be fed constantly. They need amino acids,

vitamins,

minerals, oxygen, and fatty acids. The neurons' needs must be

satisfied

every minute of every day of your entire life. All these nturients

are

supplied to the brain via the bloodstream. If blood-flow to the brain

is

interrupted even for 20 seconds, unconsciousness will result. If this

mighty powerpack is deprived of blood or oxygen for more than 7-10

minutes,

it will die. The brain feeds on energy in the form of the chemical

ATP,

adenosine triphosphate. This energy fuels the neurotransmitters, the

chemical language of the brain, conducts electrical impulses,

transports

proteins throughout the cells, extends new nerve connections to other

brain

cells, and rebuilds worn-out cell membranes. The brain must create its

own

energy for the billions of neurons that it must feed, and cannot

borrow or

steal this energy from other parts of the body.

 

How does the brain make this energy? Inside each neuron resides

hundreds of

little structures called " mitochondria " . These function as power

plants for

the cells. These little power plants burn fuel to generate the

crucial ATP

energy. The brain's very life depends on it. While virtually all

organs

and tissues of the human body can burn either fat or sugar for fuel,

the

brain can burn only sugar (glucose) under normal, nonfasting

conditions.

The glucose requirement creates potential problems for the brain. The

brain

cannot store sugar in its cells, so it totally depends on a

second-by-second

fuel delivery by the blood circulating through the brain. Brain cells

use

50% of all glucose in the bloodstream for fuel and 20% of all inhaled

oxygen. The brain's ability to claim this large amount of glucose

depends

upon a bloodstream relatively free of the blood-sugar-lowering

hormone,

insulin; thus, the importance of chromium picolinate in the diet, as

it

inhibits the release of insulin.

 

The way to ensure adequate glucose to the brain is to avoid simple

sugar

foods such as candy, pastries, drinks, etc.. These high-sugar foods

easily

and powerfully trigger insulin release. Complex carbohydrate foods

such as

whole grains, vegetables, nuts, peas, beans and seeds are much more

desirable and a " brain-friendly " source of sugar. They are nature's

" timed-release " sugar supplements.

 

Each of the brain's billions of neurons functions as a micro-computer.

Inside each neuron, nerve impulses are conducted electrically.

However,

when information exchanges from one neuron to another, the brain uses

chemicals called neurotransmitters to allow brain cells to communicate

with

each other (chemical language).

 

There are approximately 50 different neurotransmitters, but the

communication conducted between brain cells uses only about 10 major

neurotransmitters. Certain neurotransmitters carry pain sensations,

while

others order voluntary muscle movement; some cause excitatory

emotional

responses, others are inhibitory. The neurotransmitters that govern

our

excitatory emotional responses are called catecholamines,

noradrenaline

(norepinephrine) and adrenaline (epinephrine), derive from the amino

acids

phenylalanine and tyrosine. Our reactions to everything we encounter,

the

way we are stirred by a song or an old picture, angered by an argument

or

emotional pain inflicted by someone we love, or amused by something we

see

on television - all depend on the chemical language of the brain;

specifically, neurotransmitters. Too much or too little of any of

these

substances will make us under or overreact according to the stimulus.

 

How we feed the brain directly affects our production of

neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters determine our mental and emotional state of

well-being.

Proper nutrition and supplementation can correct or enhance mind,

mood,

memory and behavior.

 

No drug currently in wide use, medical or recreational, addresses the

root

of neurotransmitter problems. Drugs merely stimulate temporary

excessive

release of pre-existing neurotransmitter stores. They do not increase

production of neurotransmitters. This fact explains why drugs often

lose

their effect over time with chronic use. Once pre-existing

neurotransmitter

stores are exhausted, the drug is unable to stimulate further

neurotransmitter release into the synapses between neurons. Hence, the

phenomenon known as drug-abuse " crash " frequently occurs.

 

Greater transport into the brain of the relevant amino acids, vitamins

and

minerals augment nourishment of the brain when there are

less-than-adequate

neurotransmitter levels. And this, in turn, requires higher levels of

amino

acids, vitamins and minerals. If levels of these nutrients in the

typical

American junk-food diet truly and adequately promoted optimal

neurotransmitter levels in the brain, we would not be seeing the

epidemic

level in the U.S. of ANTIDEPRESSANT, ANTI-ANXIETY, ANTI-MANIC,

ANTI-SCHIZOPHRENIC and recreational drug use. Virtually all these

drugs act

either by increasing the synaptic release of brain cell

neurotransmitters,

without increasing their production, or by " pinch-hitting " for

neurotransmitters whose synaptic levels are chronically low.

 

All substances of abuse either raise or lower consciousness, and

deplete the

available neurotransmitters needed to prevent or alleviate depressed

moods.

When you use drugs escape is the primary goal, you cannot escape

stress,

anxiety, depression or grief. You merely prolong the healing process.

Prescription drugs for stress do not restore or resolve, they MERELY

USE

AVAILABLE NEUROTRANSMITTERS.

 

All major neurotransmitters are made from amino acids and from dietary

protein. One of the dangers of a low-protein diet includes not

producing

enough amino acids to make adequate brain neurotransmitters. Apathy,

lethargy, difficulty concentrating, loss of interest, and insomnia all

result from not enough amino acids in the diet. ADD and hyperactive

children, as well as adults, have low levels of neurotransmitters.

Drug use

does not produce or increase production of neurotransmitters. Drugs

ONLY

address symptoms.

 

Children as well as adults, on prolonged drug use or alcohol, have

dangerously low levels of neurotransmitters. They display panic and

anxiety

because of the deficiency of neurotransmitters. Once proper

supplementation

is achieved, the symptoms of panic and anxiety decrease noticeably.

You

cannot restore the brain chemistry overnight by megadosing.

Deficiencies

must be established, then adequate amounts of amino acids, vitamins

and

minerals must be implemented. All this is part of the healing

process.

 

THIS IS FROM AN EXCELLENT BOOK CALLED: " HEAL WITH AMINO ACIDS and

Nutrients " by Billie Jay Sahley, Ph.D. and Katherine M. Birkner, CRNA,

Ph.D.