After just one day of increased stretching exercises in addition to my usual hiking my legs are feeling better. The stretching exercises for lymphedema shared in a video link in the last post help move fluid by muscle power. Lymphatic vessels run parallel somewhat to the blood vessels but have no heart pumping action to circulate the fluid to the lymph nodes where it mingles with blood vessels and immune system white blood cells. The movement of the surrounding muscles is needed to help move fluid through the lymphatic vessels. They are near the skin surface so very gentle massage motions towards the areas of drainage can also help. Lymphatic massage is a special type of massage that may be medically recommended after lymph node surgery or for lymphedema. (Read more: How to Perform Lymphatic Drainage Massage.)
Exercise can help reduce inflammation by promoting the movement of the fluid around cells and in the lymphatic vessels to lymph nodes for detoxification and eventual excretion once it is absorbed into the blood vessels. Exercise has also been found helpful for mitochondrial health which help provide the body energy and protect against myelin loss. (1)
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.
The importance of glycine within the Bovine basic myelin protein seemed visually obvious, however I itemized all of the amino acid chain just to double check. Glycine is most prevalent and the other point that became clear is that most amino acids (cysteine is not included) are incorporated so having a good variety of protein foods in the diet including all the essential amino acids would be important:
Gly – glycine – 25 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
Arg – arginine – 18 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
Ser – serine – 18 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
Ala – alanine – 14 (Nonessential, we can make it)
Lys – lysine – 13 (Essential in the diet)
Pro – proline – 12 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
His – histidine – 10 (Essential in the diet)
Leu – leucine – 10 (Essential in the diet)
Asp – aspartic acid – 9 (Nonessential, we can make it)
Gln – Glutamine – 8 (Conditional, may be needed in the diet)
Phe – phenylalanine – 8 (Essential in the diet)
Thr – threonine – 7 (Essential in the diet)
Tyr – tyrosine – 4 (Conditional, may be needed in the diet)
Ile – isoleucine – 3 (Essential in the diet)
Val – valine – 3 (Essential in the diet)
Asn – asparagine – 2 (Nonessential, we can make it)
Glu – glutamic acid – 2 (Nonessential, we can make it)
I call the search engine Fact Checker because it is generally reliable and quick at producing answers to questions. The information needs to be screened for how credible the sources of the information and how prevalent – the weight of evidence – in support of the answer. Odd phrases or terms can be easier to find then words that have a variety of meanings or are also used for businesses. Search results can become to numerous to sort through occasionally.
Research into how having instant answers available to us may affect us suggests that it may leave the user with a better impression of their own intelligence even though it was the quick access to what is essentially an encyclopedia or a dictionary with a search feature. See this article and podcast interview for more information: How Search Engines Make Us Feel Smarter than We Really Are. (2015).
Fact Checker – the search engine provides answers but it is up to the reader to evaluate the sources for accuracy/reliability and it is up to the reader to remember the information for future use or bookmark the source/file the information in a way that can be accessed again if long term learning or ability to use the information in the long term is to occur.
My blog is my personal notebook with a built in search feature. I can store notes with a variety of tags to help me find information that I read years previously. In general it is wonderful compared to older styles of handwritten notes but recording information in some logical way is part of learning – filing the information in the brain in a way that can be accessed again. I have to remember that I read something about such-and-such years ago and that I took notes and filed them under such-and-such a title or with some specific tag.
The search engine is only as useful as the questions you ask it. You have to collate the information for yourself and store it in a way that you will be able to find it again within your own internal memory or in your external memory devices whether handwritten, digitally written, or audio recorded. We all vary somewhat in how well we remember things. I do better with written or visual information then with remembering things I hear while other people may be very good at remembering lectures or lyrics that they hear.
The podcast interview included a brief description of the research study format – participants were told that a more active brain is more intelligent – however that is not what actual brain scans suggest. The person with a more intelligent brain seems to have learned how to conserve energy possibly by having more organized pathways to quickly find information and there is less electrical activity. (The Neuroscience of Intelligence, Richard J. Haier, a book mentioned in a previous post Intelligence and the Weight of Evidence)
The participants (How Search Engines make Us Feel Smarter) took part in several variations of the research design. The experimental group were asked to look up answers to somewhat obscure questions using the internet and the control group were given the answers. In some variations of the basic experimental design the experimental group obtained search results that included accurate answers to the questions, in other sessions they obtained not very helpful results for the questions, and in other sessions they obtained results that provided inaccurate answers to the questions. In all variations the experimental group afterwards rated their intelligence/ability to answer other questions more positively than the control group who had been given answers. The research author made clear that this doesn’t mean the internet is making us stupider, just that it may give us a false impression of our intelligence.
To me the results suggest that we feel more intelligent when we try to solve problems for ourselves rather than when we are provided answers, and having asked questions and read answers, we may have learned something if we remember the answer and have improved our ability to evaluate information for accuracy.
My blog is my notebook, I share a few pages publicly in case the information or ideas or experiences might help someone with their own health or with their research or business. (currently: 197 public/1374 total posts – I love my blog.) Sharing helpful resources and saving the links an ideas for my own use in the future are goals. Putting together information that I learn today with information that I learned years ago often requires finding the link from years ago to review for more detail.
Evaluating project goals and improving how we learn as individuals or as teams includes reviewing how we do things – or learning and trying methods used by others.
A software design consultant has shared a series of posts on strategies to help small groups evaluate project goals and team communication issues. The series might be helpful for individuals and teams in other industries in addition to software development: Design Thinking Toolkit, Introduction What is Design Thinking?; Activity 13 – Hopes & Fears, by Kimberly Wolting, spin.atomicobject.com.
This book, mentioned in a previous post, is also helpful for improving decision making strategies:
For more information on thinking creatively and effectively working towards a better solution to difficult decisions rather than feeling forced to choose one of two less preferred choices I recommend the book Creating Great Choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative Thinking, by Jennifer Riel and Roger L. Martin (2017, HBR) (hbr.org/Creating Great Choices)
Digital toolkits can contain a variety of software apps and services to help make organizing and sharing information easier, a variety are shared in this helpful list: Resources – Digital Discovery.
Remembering where you filed something in your memory or in a digital or physical filing system can require labeling the items with a tag or variety of tags that you are likely to remember. This post about my nickname for search engines – Fact Checker – was based on a conversation I had online about a trivia fact shared by a space oriented social media comment. The trivia fact – It would take us only an hour to reach space if we were able to drive a car straight up. There were a few questions in response along the lines of “How fast would you have to drive?” or “Really?“
The account hadn’t provided more information and a simple check of the search engine confirmed the factoid – the atmosphere is considered to be about 62 miles/100 kilometers thick, (space.com/Karmin Line), so a car driving 62 miles per hour could reach the edge of outer space – if that was possible, which it isn’t, however as a visual image it does make it easy for me to remember the trivia fact. Our atmosphere is like the thin peel of an orange or apple around the more solid earth. Am I stupid for not having known a basic fact about our planet’s atmosphere? Or am I smart for having access to a search engine in order to look up the fact? Or am I smarter now because I was curious and took the time to find more details about the topic and the visual image (driving a car straight up) linked with the more detailed information (62 miles per hour) turned the fact into something that I am now likely to remember even if I don’t need to know it?
The search engine doesn’t make us smarter or more stupid but using it and storing the information in some sort of memorable way can make us more knowledgeable. Putting information together in useful ways is applying knowledge. Air pollution and weather is part of our atmosphere – our thin peel of life-giving oxygen and blanket of radiation-protecting ozone – and we need our atmosphere for our survival so we should protect it.
These are facts that I am trusting the source to provide accurately. It is not information that I obtained through direct measurements of my own – that would be a type of direct research that is independent, and which might provide results that agree or disagree with the information other researchers found by their methods of measurement or mathematical analysis. Fact Checker found a fact for me and I evaluated the source as being fairly trustworthy but I didn’t do any independent research to confirm the reliability of the fact. The Internet can be a very fast encyclopedia and dictionary but the results may vary in reliability. Science also varies somewhat though as our methods of measurement and mathematical analysis improve we may get slightly or very different results from past answers, aka “facts.”
The concept of “weight of evidence” brought up by Haier in his book The Neuroscience of Intelligence is the important point to remember when looking up information online. I tend to skim through all of the results on the first page, and occasionally the first few pages, of search results in order to get a rough overview – what does the consensus of results suggest?
(More trivia about our planet – the planet is about 8000 miles wide (12,800 kilometers) if we could dig a hole from one side straight through to the other side. The crust, the solid part made of rock and soil, is about 1802 miles/2900 kilometers wide, and the interior molten core is 4349 miles/7000 kilometers wide – visual, picture a Tootsie Pop type lollipop with a crunchy exterior around a soft caramel interior. (livescience.com) (1 mile = 1.60934 kilometers, 1 kilometer = .62 miles))
Learning is fun – in my opinion.
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health carepurposes.
Update, 8/18/2018, for anyone interested in phytonutrient biochemistry or herbal medicinal foods: Wintergreen and wintergreen berries are also a natural source of a painkiller in the NSAID group – aspirin. The plant can also be a source of phytonutrients that activate TRPA1 channels which can affect fluid balance and other symptoms. Winterberries are in the cranberry family and have a minty flavor. They are in season currently and eating more of them seems to increase my symptoms of inflammation and swelling more than the pomegranate extract or pomegranate seeds. Having too many variables in an experiment makes it unclear which factor might be a cause or if both may be involved. Experimental method tries to narrow variables to one factor at a time. Stopping both pomegranate products and wintergreen berries helped but other symptoms got worse, adding pomegranate back to my diet didn’t make the inflammation/swelling symptoms much different but more recently adding the wintergreen berries back into my diet did make the symptoms of lower leg inflammation/swelling and pain worse.
An excerpt from one of my other websites, G3.6.1.5: People with overactive TRPA1 channels may be sensitive to:
“(Winter-green),” (G3.67); Wintergreen is a natural flavoring herb in the mint family. It is typically used as an essential oil as a flavoring in many foods and other types of products. It has medicinal benefits related to it containing the chemical that acts as the pain killing ingredient of aspirin.(G3.73) (effectivecare.info, G3)
My ongoing self study of pomegranate extract for my mental and physical health symptoms has led me to use a fairly small dose, daily though is still best. Missing even a few days seems to increase mood and anxiety problems but using a very large serving has some side effects. Lower leg and foot swelling is associated with some physical health problems but it can also be a side effect of NSAIDs pain killers such as ibuprofen. (7) Pomegranate extract has been shown to reduce pain and inflammation by the same mechanism as NSAIDS – inhibition of cyclooxygenase enzymes (COX1 and COX2, with more inhibition of COX2 than COX1). It also may have an anti-inflammatory effect by reducing inflammatory cytokines that signal increase in production of Nitric Oxide (NO) and Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). (1) Prostaglandin E2 is made from arachidonic acid and is involved in the inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. (2) Nitric oxide can be beneficial but it can also transform into reactive oxidative species and add to the antioxidant burden of metabolism. (5) (9) Other studies including an animal study on obesity found pomegranate extract reduced inflammatory biomarkers and increased nitric oxide, which might make it helpful for Metabolic Syndrome. (6)
Pomegranate extract was found helpful in a dose related level against mammary tumerogenesis in an animal study, (0.2-5 gram/Kg body weight was used). Reducing COX2, heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathways, and increasing Nrf2 pathways were found to be part of the mechanism for benefit. (4) That amount could be quite a lot. Equivalent amounts for a 75 kilogram/165 pound human would be 15-375 grams per day or roughly one tablespoon (15 grams approximately)-13.4 ounces/27 tablespoons per day. (Mammary tumerogenesis means the initial onset of breast cancer tumors.)
It helps to prop my feet when sitting or even lay down with my feet above my heart. I’m getting better at typing while laying down. Better mood and having feeling in my fingertips is worth it. There may some other health or diet issues affecting the leg swelling. Heart or kidney or vein problems can be a cause. (7) I do have vein problems and may have heart issues, which can be an increased risk with hyperthyroidism. Cutting back on salt, daily exercise, and elevating the lower legs above the level of the heart several times per day for a half an hour is recommended, wearing compression socks is also a recommendation and that makes me feel old. (7) Maybe 52 is old.
Lymphedema – lower leg swelling due to reduced drainage from vein problems may be the best fit for my personal history, and lack of stretching exercises lately may be part of the reason the problem has become worse lately. Physical therapists explain the problem and provide exercise, massage and compression wrapping suggestions in a free video available online. (8) The exercise routine is similar to what I generally do when I do stretching exercises – so that seems like a good habit to return to my daily schedule.
Lower leg swelling has been a symptom for me at various stages of previous ill health and with some other medications I’ve used in the past, but currently it does seem worse when I use larger amounts of the pomegranate extract. One teaspoon a day helps with the stable mood and I haven’t had numbness in my fingertips in months with the ongoing daily use of pomegranate extract in larger amounts, 2-3 tablespoons was typical. I stopped use of it altogether when the leg swelling became a problem to see if the swelling would get better but the mood symptoms got worse again after having seemed fine for quite a while – quite a while while using pomegranate extract daily and the leg swelling didn’t get a lot better. Being not well is unpleasant and some side effects can be better than being unwell.
Breast cancer treatments currently may cause hair loss, severe vomiting and may leave the patient with cognitive decline afterwards, and pomegranate extract doesn’t cause any of those symptoms in the amounts that I’ve tried. It is a diuretic and causes increased urination which I cope with by drinking extra fluids and using the pomegranate extract early in the day rather than at night. I may be preventing breast cancer tumor development (4) while drinking extra fluid and urinating in increased amounts – getting old isn’t great but the alternative isn’t better. I may go buy my first pair of compression socks and feel young at heart if not in body.
Industry math – one pomegranate peel makes about six cups of extract by my method which would provide 288 teaspoons/96 tablespoons. It may have improved somewhat but the worsening in mood was more obvious. From an industry perspective getting 288 servings of a mood and nerve treatment from one pomegranate peel seems like it could be profitable. Dehydrating one teaspoon into a capsule serving also seems possible. Side effects with psychiatric medications are unfortunately common and can include swelling/edema of the lower legs or more severe edema including facial edema.
/Disclaimer: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes./
Shukla, Meenakshi & Gupta, Kalpana & Rasheed, Zafar & A Khan, Khursheed & Haqqi, Tariq. (2008). Bioavailable constituents/metabolites of pomegranate (Punica granatum L) preferentially inhibit COX-II activity ex vivo and IL-1beta-induced PGE2 production in human chondrocytes in vitro. Journal of inflammation (London, England). 5. 9. 10.1186/1476-9255-5-9.
Jean Y. Park, Michael H. Pillinger, Steven B. Abramson, Prostaglandin E2 synthesis and secretion: The role of PGE2 synthases, Clinical Immunology, Vol 119, Iss 3, 2006, pp 229-240, ISSN 1521-6616, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clim.2006.01.016. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1521661606000453 (2)
Mandal A, Bhatia D, Bishayee A. Anti-Inflammatory Mechanism Involved in Pomegranate-Mediated Prevention of Breast Cancer: the Role of NF-κB and Nrf2 Signaling Pathways. Nutrients. 2017;9(5):436. doi:10.3390/nu9050436. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452166/ (4) From Abstract: “Mammary tumor samples were harvested from our previous chemopreventive study in which PE (0.2–5.0 g/kg) was found to reduce mammary tumorigenesis in a dose-dependent manner. The expressions of COX-2, HSP90, NF-κB, inhibitory κBα (IκBα) and Nrf2 were detected by immunohistochemical techniques. PE decreased the expression of COX-2 and HSP90, prevented the degradation of IκBα, hindered the translocation of NF-κB from cytosol to nucleus and increased the expression and nuclear translocation of Nrf2 during DMBA-induced mammary tumorigenesis.” From Introduction:”During the last decade, pomegranate fruit has been gaining a widespread reputation as a dietary supplement as well as a functional food due to emerging scientific evidence on potential health benefits, including prevention and/or treatment of cardiovascular ailments, neurological disorders, oncologic diseases, dental problems, inflammation, ulcer, arthritis, microbial infection, obesity, diabetes, acquired immune deficiency syndrome and erectile dysfunction [4,5,6,7,8,9]. Pomegranate fruit contains phytochemicals, including flavonoids (e.g., anthocyanins and catechins), flavonols (e.g., kaempferol and quercetin), flavones (e.g., apigenin and luteolin), conjugated fatty acids, hydrolyzable tannins and related compounds which are thought to be responsible for various biological and pharmacological activities [4,10,11,12,13,14]. Based on preclinical and clinical studies conducted by various laboratories worldwide, pomegranate-derived substances, such as juice, extracts and phytoconstituents exhibited cancer preventive and therapeutic effects against colon, liver, lung, prostate and skin cancer [4,15,16,17,18]. Various extracts, fractions and phytochemicals from pomegranate fruit, peel, seed and flower demonstrated cytotoxic, antiproliferative, proapoptotic, antiangiogenic, anti-invasive, and antimetastatic properties against estrogen receptor-positive and ‑negative breast cancer cells [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32]” (4)
Matsubara K, Higaki T, Matsubara Y, Nawa A. Nitric Oxide and Reactive Oxygen Species in the Pathogenesis of Preeclampsia. Miller FJ, ed. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2015;16(3):4600-4614. doi:10.3390/ijms16034600. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4394437/ (5)
Filomena de Nigris, Maria Luisa Balestrieri, Sharon Williams-Ignarro, Francesco P. D’Armiento, Carmela Fiorito, Louis J. Ignarro, Claudio Napoli, The influence of pomegranate fruit extract in comparison to regular pomegranate juice and seed oil on nitric oxide and arterial function in obese Zucker rats, Nitric Oxide, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2007, pp 50-54, ISSN 1089-8603, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.niox.2007.04.005.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1089860307000432) (6)
Aouache R, Biquard L, Vaiman D, Miralles F. Oxidative Stress in Preeclampsia and Placental Diseases. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2018;19(5):1496. doi:10.3390/ijms19051496. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5983711/ (9)
We need to care about demyelination as a society because it may be a factor underlying many conditions that have been occurring at increasing rates. The high cost of health care is not just due to the cost of individual medications or the price of hospitalization but is due to the additive cost of increased numbers of individuals needing care. Autism care alone is estimated to likely reach $500 billion by 2025 for care in the U.S. alone, (link), demyelination or disordered myelin formation is thought to be involved. Our food supply may provide calories but it may no longer be supporting health due to imbalance in some nutrients and lack of sufficient amounts of other nutrients – in addition to personal choices for some people leaning toward convenient and tasty foods that provide very few nutrients besides calories.
The other reason to care about demyelination as a society is because the early symptoms can occur for years without clear reasons and may disrupt relationships or the ability to hold a job – personality changes including anxiety and anger, paranoia and a short temper – problems with impulse control and the ability to follow through on planned actions or with communication and the ability to tell the truth instead of substituting other statements that may seem illogical and obviously far from the truth. Problems with impulse control and a tendency toward mood problems may also include an increased risk for suicide or self injury or violence towards others.
The medical research is complex and I haven’t seen all the loose threads together yet, so I will summarize my summary points in a more concise list here and am working on a more organized document elsewhere. This list combines my tips from the previous post with the work of the other summary article (22) — I was also given the link to another summary article which also has tips which I have not incorporated here. It provides an excellent overview about myelin production and function –selfhacked/myelin – what I and the authors of (22) and {selfhacked} have in common is that we all got sick and sought information about regaining our health for ourselves and are sharing the information in case it might help others.
My personal goal is to not become paralyzed (post: ALS & CBD receptors), number of clicks on a website is not something I pay attention to. The loose threads that I’ve woven together in this series of posts which are not included in the excellent selfhacked article are that a) many of the herbs or phytonutrients found helpful for myelin regeneration are Nrf2 promoting which is also important for myelin regeneration and/or reducing oxidative stress that may lead to more degeneration of myelin. b) Foods that are good for promoting Nrf2 often are also good sources of cannabinoids or phospholipids which can be protective. c) And preventing excessive cell death or excess intracellular calcium may decrease the excess production of cytokines by decreasing release of cannabinoids from cell membrane storage and their breakdown into arachidonic acid and eventual transformation into cytokines and other inflammatory chemicals.}:
Strategies to help prevent the breakdown of myelin or help promote regeneration of myelin:
{In the past at different points in time, I personally have experienced and improved with supplementation or diet changes physical and mental symptoms of vitamin B1, B5, B6, folate and B12 deficiencies; iodine, magnesium, calcium and zinc deficiencies; vitamin/hormone D and calcium excess at a different stage of health; cannabinoid/phospholipid deficiency; inadequate protein and general malnutrition due to the zinc deficiency which can greatly reduce appetite at one stage and due to severe bowel mal-absorption more recently; omega 3 fatty acid/omega 6 fatty acid imbalance; and also lack of sleep/melatonin and lack of oxygen/excess toxins in the air; health requires all of the nutrients and adequate oxygen, exercise, sleep and stress coping.}
Vitamin B1, thiamin deficiency, chronic, severe – Wernicke’s encephalopathy may be more of a risk for severe alcoholics and people with anorexia – severe lack of appetite or the eating disorder anorexia nervosa.
Vitamin B12 deficiency – may be more of a risk for people with low stomach acidity, due to older age or chronic use of calcium type antacids; or due to genetic reasons limiting production of Intrinsic Factor; or due to a vegan diet without supplementation of vitamin B12 or inclusion of Nutritional yeast flakes in the diet.
Adequate but not excessive lithium may increase myelin production. (22)
Adequate but not excessive iron intake is needed for production of myelin.
Magnesium deficiency or poor intestinal absorption of magnesium, or lack of adequate protein and phospholipids in the diet for the body to be able to store magnesium in the normal manner within the intracellular fluid.
Inadequate calcium or vitamin D can be a factor but excessive intake of either can also be a factor in cell breakdown and risk of demyelination. If taking vitamin D as a supplement the vitamin D3 form may be most bioactive and taking vitamin K2 with it may help with myelin production (22) and protect against osteoporosis. Green leafy vegetables are good sources of vitamin K.
Adequate intake of cholesterol is needed as a building block for our own production of vitamin D and other steroid hormones and as a building block for myelin. (22) Pregnenolone is a steroid hormone precursor that may benefit some people when used as a supplement. It and other steroid hormones are involved in signaling increased production of myelin. Testosterone insufficiency may also negatively affect myelin production. (22)
Excessive intake of free glutamate or aspartate – excitatory amino acids that are commonly used as flavoring or sweetening agents in foods or may occur naturally in fermented foods or alcoholic beverages.
Adequate protein is needed to support a variety of body functions in addition to supporting magnesium levels. Uridine is a nucleotide base (part of DNA that is a combination of a type of sugar and an amino acid) that is also is involved in energy metabolism, fasting occasionally may increase our own production (more info). Insufficient amounts may negatively affect myelin production and use as a supplement may help some people. (22)
Insufficient calories to provide the body enough glucose to support mitochondrial health. They can use protein or fats for energy but it shifts the metabolism more towards oxidative stress.
Occasional fasting and/or a low carbohydrate diet may help promote autophagy due to increased use of ketones for energy (22) but may cause health problems due to excess oxidative stress or an increased burden of nitrogen waste removal for the kidneys when followed long term.
Lack of antioxidants due to lack of Nrf2 within the body to promote our own production of antioxidants internally; and/or lack of antioxidants within the diet, including vitamin C, (22), would decrease our ability to detoxify the reactive oxidative chemicals produced during normal metabolism or which are produced at increased rates when protein or fats are being used for energy instead of glucose.
Use of the herb ashwagandha or Gingko biloba (22) may help protect against oxidative stress and protect against demyelination by promoting Nrf2. (ashwagandha & Nrf2) (an overview of Nrf2 metabolism, its potential benefits for conditions such as Multiple sclerosis, and Gingko biloba and pomegranate are mentioned as promoters of Nrf2: nutricology/newsletter, see first article) (other Nrf2 promoting phytonutrients/foods and menu ideas: G10: Nrf2 Promoting Foods.) Flavonoids are one of the groups of phytonutrients that helps promote Nrf2; and also may help protect myelin production. (22) Medicinal mushrooms, including Hericium Erinaceus, Lion’s Mane Mushroom,(22), may also help protect myelin production and prevent breakdown by reducing oxidative stress (link) and promoting Nrf2. (link)
Having a healthy balance of omega 3 fatty acids and omega 6 fatty acids in the diet helps reduce risk of inflammation/oxidative stress and also helps us build healthy membranes which are necessary to control flow of minerals and other chemicals from the exterior to interior of cells and organelles such as the mitochondria.
Inadequate iodine for healthy thyroid hormone production, (22); may be a combined problem of excess presence of bromide, fluoride and perchlorate in the diet or environment.
Lack of oxygen due to poor air quality, or smoking, or health problems causing inadequate breathing function. Emotional or physical stress may also increase the need for oxygen or increase the tendency to hold our breath; Take ten deep breaths and think before you speak is good advice for any emotionally stressful situation because oxygen is needed to think rationally and we tend to hold our breath when we are upset.
Avoid extreme physical and emotional stress.
Avoid toxins.
Get adequate sleep at night, and a brief nap during the day may be beneficial for some people. Melatonin helps promote myelin production and inadequate sleep and having lights on at night can disrupt our production of melatonin. (22)
Adequate exercise (22) and stretching regularly helps move nutrients throughout the body and remove toxins in the lymphatic fluid for further detoxification and eventual removal from the body.
Wear a helmet for any activity that may cause head trauma and avoid sports which may cause frequent closed head trauma and especially when helmets are not used (sorry soccer, football, hockey, (link), and boxing fans).
Adequate phospholipid and other phosphonutrients or cannabinoids may be necessary to include from external sources if genetic differences or other health problems or age interferes with the body’s internal production capability. Dark cocoa products, cardamom powder, pomegranate and pumpkin seeds are a few legal dietary sources.
Use of ibuprofen and/or ginger (approximately 1/2 teaspoon per day) may help prevent breakdown of our body’s supply of cannabinoids, breakdown of which may then lead to increased breakdown of cells and may then lead to increased degeneration of myelin.
Lack of any B vitamins or genetic differences in the ability to remethylate folate and vitamin B12 may disrupt the ability of mitochondria to generate usable energy from glucose or proteins and fats, and may reduce production of myelin. (22) Inositol and choline may be particularly important for myelin production. They are considered to be in the B vitamin group but was discovered more recently than the numbered series of B vitamins. (22)
Low Level Laser Therapy – I am not familiar with this, see #10: (22), but I have read elsewhere that certain types of light can stimulate activity levels. (Haier)
Practice, practice, practice – new things. (22) Myelin is produced in response to learning [45] so remaining mentally stimulated with new experiences and learning new topics or techniques keeps signalling the body to produce myelin.
Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor, (BDNF), the brain’s growth factor, may help increase production of myelin by increasing production of brain cells, which include oligodendrocytes. (22) Ways to promote BDNF (link, from within 22) fortunately overlap with the strategies for protecting against demyelination already mentioned above or included in the list of Nrf2 promoting foods.
Reducing exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) – energy leakage from laptops, smartphones, WiFi, televisions, and other strong sources of electicity may help protect against myelin degeneration. (22)
References and more details for some of this information were included in the last two posts:
Good News/Bad News about Multiple sclerosis Research (7/26/2018)
/Disclosure: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes./
