HealthBeat News

Category: Mental Health

  • The Scientifically Proven Benefits of an Attitude Of Gratitude

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    Thanksgiving isn’t the only time of year when we should take stock of all the positive things in our lives.

    While it might sound like so much New Age woo-woo, there is plenty of scientific proof that cultivating an “Attitude of Gratitude” is healthy in many ways.

    Here are the proven benefits of being thankful for what we’ve got:

    Proven benefits of an Attitude of Gratitude

    •    Increased sense of happiness and well-being
    •    Improved mood and decreased depression
    •    Improved mood and decreased depression in patients with chronic disease
    •    Decreased fear of recurrence in cancer survivors
    •    Improved recovery from heart attack
    •    Improved sleep
    •    Lower blood pressure
    •    Reduced stress

    Here’s what happens when we are NOT thankful for what we’ve got

    A study from Stanford University shows that stress, such as is created when someone complains, causes shrinking of neurons in an area of the brain called the hippocampus – an area vital to memory. The hippocampus is the same area that is damaged in Alzheimer’s Disease. Researchers found that stress released hormones called glucocorticoids which caused the shrinkage effects.

    One of those glucocorticoid hormones that is released with the stress that results from complaining is cortisol – a fight-or-flight hormone that directs oxygen, blood, and energy away from everything that isn’t essential to your immediate survival.  One of the effects of cortisol is to increase both blood pressure and blood sugar so that your body is ready to run or fight – and chronic stress can lead to chronically increased blood pressure and increased risk of stroke, and chronically high blood sugars, leading to an increased risk of diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and heart disease. Cortisol also impairs immunity.

    Think your life is miserable? The more you think that, the more miserable you will become.

    Think your life is O.K. and count all the ways it is O.K.? You’ll be fine. Your life will become increasingly better.

    The more you think a thought, the easier it becomes to think that thought. It’s how the brain works, something we call “habit.” Keep rehearsing a negative thought and it gets easier to think it over time. Fortunately, it’s the same with positive thoughts.  As one researcher said: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” Or, in layman’s terms, “ruts long traveled grow deep.”

    If your habit is to count all the ways you are hard-done-by, you will feel miserable and your health will suffer and your brain may shrink. If you count all the ways in which your life is pretty darned good, you will feel happy and content with your life and your health will be a whole lot better for it..

    So Stop Your Pissing and Moaning!

    Unless you are in serious pain from a disease (your doctor should be able to help with this), stop the complaining would you! You are hurting yourself and those around you who have to endure all your negative energy.

    Count your blessings, drop the “counting negatives” and experience the physical and mental health benefits of gratitude all year long.

     

    References: 

    Increased sense of happiness and well-being

    Emmons RA, McCullough ME. Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Feb;84(2):377-89.

    Proyer RT, Gander F, Wellenzohn S, Ruch W. Positive psychology interventions in people aged 50-79 years: long-term effects of placebo-controlled online interventions on well-being and depression. Aging Ment Health. 2014;18(8):997-1005

    Wood AM1, Froh JJ, Geraghty AW. Gratitude and well-being: a review and theoretical integration. Clin Psychol Rev. 2010 Nov;30(7):890-905.

    Hill PL, Allemand M, Roberts BW. Examining the Pathways between Gratitude and Self-Rated Physical Health across Adulthood. Pers Individ Dif. 2013 Jan;54(1):92-96.

    Improved mood and decreased depression

    ibid Cheng

    Improved mood and decreased depression in patients with chronic disease

    Eaton RJ, Bradley G, Morrissey S. Positive predispositions, quality of life and chronic illness. Psychol Health Med. 2014;19(4):473-89.

    Sirois FM, Wood AM. Gratitude Uniquely Predicts Lower Depression in Chronic Illness Populations: A Longitudinal Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Arthritis. Health Psychol. 2016 Oct 27. [Epub ahead of print]

    Ng MY, Wong WS. The differential effects of gratitude and sleep on psychological distress in patients with chronic pain. J Health Psychol. 2013 Feb;18(2):263-71.

    Decreased fear of recurrence in cancer survivors

    Otto AK, Szczesny EC, Soriano EC, Laurenceau JP, Siegel SD. Effects of a randomized gratitude intervention on death-related fear of recurrence in breast cancer survivors. Health Psychol. 2016 Dec;35(12):1320-1328. Epub 2016 Aug 11.

    Improved recovery from heart attack

    Millstein RA, Celano CM, Beale EE, et al. The effects of optimism and gratitude on adherence, functioning and mental health following an acute coronary syndrome. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2016 Nov – Dec;43:17-22.

    Improved sleep

    Jackowska M, Brown J, Ronaldson A, Steptoe A.The impact of a brief gratitude intervention on subjective well-being, biology and sleep. J Health Psychol. 2016 Oct;21(10):2207-17.

    ibid Ng

    Lower blood pressure

    ibid Jackowska M,

    Reduced stress

    Cheng, Sheung-Tak; Tsui, Pui Ki; Lam, John H. M. Improving mental health in health care practitioners: Randomized controlled trial of a gratitude intervention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 83(1), Feb 2015, 177-186

    Shrinking brain with stress

    Robert Sapolsky, New studies of human brains show stress may shrink neurons. Stanford University News Service 8/14/96. http://news.stanford.edu/pr/96/960814shrnkgbrain.html

  • Statin Drugs Found To Cause Increased Parkinson’s Risk

    This is Part IX of a multi-part series that discusses the statin drug controversy. Please find links to the rest of this series at the end of this article.

    By Nurse Mark

    StatinWarning

     

    Dr. Myatt and I have been warning of the dangers of statin drugs for many years.

    Are we totally against the use of these drugs? Of course not!

    Like most drugs, there are times when the use of statin drugs can be life-saving – but they are rare.

    For most people, a prescription for a statin drug is more about making the doctor feel good and making the shareholders of the drug companies happy.

    In our previous articles we have alluded to an increased risk of Parkinson’s occurring with decreased cholesterol levels, and that normal to higher cholesterol levels are protective from Parkinson’s. Now, research data from a surprising source is showing that people taking statin drugs are at an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s. This is in direct opposition to earlier studies that had show a weak protective effect from statins against this feared disease.

    So, why is this new data so surprising?

    Well, most medical research studies of this sort rely on the review of medical records, or patient surveys or questionnaires as the source of data. This study relied on a data source far larger and possibly much more accurate.

    Why more accurate? Well, is there anyone more accurate and precise and careful than an actuary for an insurance company? These are the people who use their data to predict, almost eerily sometimes, the life expectancy and causes of death of the people they insure. They are spooky accurate – they have to be – since the profitability of the insurance company relies on their skills at predicting these things.

    Dr. Xuemei Huang, MD, PhD, vice chair for research at Penn State College of Medicine, in Hershey, Pennsylvania decided to mine this mother lode of detailed information in order to do her research. She and her team looked at data from the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database, an incredible 30,343,035 people aged 40 to 65 years between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2012 and found that out of those over 30 million people 21,559 had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

    When they looked at the data for those 21,559 people with Parkinson’s they found the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, including both statins or nonstatins, was associated with a significantly higher prevalence of Parkinson’s disease. As they further refined their analysis they found that both statins and nonstatin cholesterol-lowering drugs were associated with Parkinson’s disease, but over time only statins remained significantly associated with increased Parkinson’s risk.

    Now the question must be asked: Is it the higher cholesterol that protects from Parkinson’s, and that protection is being taken away by the drugs, or is it something about the drugs themselves that is causing this increased risk for Parkinson’s?

    "We know that overall weight of the literature favors that higher cholesterol is associated with beneficial outcomes in Parkinson’s disease, so it’s possible that statins take away that protection by treating the high cholesterol," Dr Huang explained.

    "Another possibility is that statins can block not only the cholesterol synthesis but also synthesis of coenzyme Q10 that is essential for cell function."

    We have warned for years that anyone taking statins must (not just should – must) be supplementing a high quality CoQ10. Even conventional medicine has conceded that statins deplete CoQ10.

    Dr. Huang went on to explain:

    "The increased risk of Parkinson’s is more likely when statins are first used, so we think it could be that the statins ‘unmasked’ Parkinson’s," Dr. Huang said. "Namely, people may be already on the way to Parkinson’s and when they use statins to control the high cholesterol, it gives Parkinson’s a push to reveal its clinical symptoms.

    "Based on this data, we think caution should be taken before advancing statins to be protective of Parkinson’s disease," she added. "The data are not clear yet."

    While Dr. Huang, in her abundance of scholarly and scientific caution, says the data are not clear yet, it is clear enough for us here at the Wellness Club.

    In our opinion, statins certainly may have a place in the treatment of some people with certain high cholesterol conditions. We also believe that conventional medicine, at the urging of Big Pharma, has set unhealthy low levels for cholesterol, leading doctors to vastly over-prescribe this potentially dangerous drug.

    Until more is known about the statin / Parkinson’s relationship we would urge anyone with Parkinson’s disease, or with a family history of PD to think very, very carefully about using a statin drug.

    And of course, no one should ever use a statin drug without supplementing with CoQ10.

     

    Part VIII can be found here: Statin Drugs: The Evil Of A 20 Billion Dollar Industry

    Part VII can be found here: Statin Drugs Proven To Increase Risk Of Cataracts

    Part VI can be found here: Statins Proven To Cause Increased Injuries

    Part V can be found here: Saturated Fats Are NOT Bad For You – Here’s PROOF

    Part IV can be found here: Cholesterol: Life-Giving Or Life-Threatening?

    Part III can be found here: New Research Into Statin Drug Memory Loss

    Part II can be found here: Trade Your High Cholesterol For Diabetes!

    Part I can be found here: Lower Your Cholesterol – Lose Your Marbles?

    References:

    Medscape Medical News, Statin Use Linked to Increased Parkinson’s Risk, Nancy A. Melville, October 26, 2016
    http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/870996

  • How Dirty Sleep Leads To A Dirty Mind

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    Like breathing, sleep is an “essential” human requirement. “Essential” means that your body must have it and you would die without it.

    How long can a person go without sleep before death ensues? The jury is still out on this. But death isn’t the biggest problem of sleep deprivation because the body will eventually take “microsleeps.”  Microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you’re normally awake.

    You can’t control microsleep, and you might not even be aware of it. For example, have you ever driven somewhere and then not remembered part of the trip? If so, you may have experienced microsleep.

    Even if you’re not driving, microsleep can affect how you function. If you’re listening to a lecture for example, you might miss some of the information or feel like you don’t understand the point. In reality though you may have slept through part of the lecture and not been aware of it.

    Exactly how long a person can go without sleep isn’t fully known, but we do know that extreme sleep deprivation causes hallucinations, automobile accidents, job injuries and memory impairment.

    Why does the body need sleep?

    Researchers have found that the brain clears out waste material accumulated throughout the day as we sleep at night. But like many things the brain does, it does this “housekeeping” a little differently than the rest of your body.

    Other parts of the body have the lymphatic system to clear out waste products but the brain does not have lymphatic channels. Instead, the brain relies on astrocytes – specialized star-shaped nerve cells that are bathed in cerebrospinal fluid. The astrocytes have many other jobs, but a big responsibility for them is to express a substance called astrocytic aquaporin-4 which lets the cells “gather up the trash” and pass it to the cerebrospinal fluid, allowing it to carry daytime debris away. When we sleep, neurons temporarily shrink and allow for more cerebrospinal fluid to wash over our brains. In other words, sleep is when our brains clean out daytime garbage.

    “This study shows that the brain has different functional states when asleep and when awake,” said U of R researcher Maiken Nedergaard. “In fact, the restorative nature of sleep appears to be the result of the active clearance of the by-products of neural activity that accumulate during wakefulness.”

    “Clean sleep” results in a more complete clearing of waste proteins from the brain, but “dirty sleep” has the opposite effect. Some of the debris cleared from the brain during sleep includes beta amyloid, the junk that accumulates in the brain and may be the cause of Alzheimer’s.

    So, in addition to many other necessities of sleep — physical restoration and healing of muscles, endocrine (hormonal) balancing, R.E.M. or “dream sleep” for mental health — the brain needs sleep in order to take out the garbage.

    Are You Getting Dirty Sleep?

    Dirty sleep happens when we fail to get enough sleep, or fail to get sufficient deep sleep. Fortunately, most of the causes of poor sleep are within an individual’s control.

    1.) Bedtime/wake time. The body manufactures melatonin during sleep unless light interferes with its production. Melatonin functions as an antioxidant in the brain and central nervous system and its production begins as the setting of the sun stimulates the pineal gland. This normally occurs in most people around 9:00 PM, with sleep usually occurring around an hour later by 10:00 PM. Solution? Set a regular bedtime, and stick with it.

    2.) Light after sundown. The pineal gland, a tiny gland deep in our brains that is connected to the eyes, is responsible for producing the sleep and antioxidant hormone melatonin. It begins to churn our this important substance in response to the ”dimming of the lights” as the sun sets. If the light doesn’t dim, the pineal gland doesn’t know to produce melatonin. And, once the light does dim and it begins its work any amount of white light promptly shuts it off – by making it think it is dawn.

    Since humans evolved over millions of years sleeping in the safety of the flickering subdued orange light of a cozy fire, we tolerate low levels of this color of light after dark. But exposure to white light (or, more specifically, light that contains specific frequencies of blue light – like daylight or televisions, or computer monitors, or full-spectrum light bulbs)  during the hours before bedtime will seriously disrupt melatonin production, making natural sleep very difficult.

    Solution? When the sun goes down you need to start lowering the light levels in your environment as well – not an easy task in our modern world, but possible if you remember that it is the harsher blue-white lights that disrupt melatonin production. Try candle light or soft incandescent lights, limit your TV watching  for the hour or so before bed, and limit exposure to bright phone, tablet, and computer screens before bed.

    If you must get up at night try to avoid turning on bright lights – consider using low-wattage incandescent nightlights.

    3.) Related to white light in the evening is the twinkling of myriad electrical and electronic devices that seem to litter our sleep spaces. Little red lights, green lights, blue lights, all glowing and twinkling and blinking… Not only are the lights distracting, many of these devices also emit occasional noises – beeps, chirps, hums, whirs…

    The solution? Do yourself a favor and banish all the electronics from your sleep space. Unless you are a surgeon on call, or have some equally important reason  to receive calls after bedtime, turn the phone off. Shut the tablet and computer down for the night.

    Many people also believe that there may be a sleep-disturbing effect from all the EMF (electromagnetic fields) created by these devices in proximity to your sleep area.

    4.) What you eat and drink in the evening matters: That nice sweet dessert may help you feel satisfied and sleepy when it raises your blood sugar, but when your blood sugar crashes a few hours later and your body responds with a shot of adrenalin you are going to find yourself wide awake with the jitters.

    Try a little snack bite of protein instead, if you really must have a before bed snack.

    5.) What you see before you sleep matters too: Upsetting or stressful imagery  immediately before sleep can be unsettling and make it difficult to get to sleep, and can give your brain plenty of unpleasant material to craft its dreams from. The 10:00 news with horrific images of war-torn countries, detective shows with nasty people doing ugly things to each other, zombie horror shows dripping with gore…  are these really the sights that you want to try to fall asleep to?

    A better bet might be something uplifting or soothing. Pleasant short stories, or poetry, or spiritual reading or meditation. And remember, like I said in point 2, that TV screen, with its bright light, is preventing the normal production of melatonin.

    6.) Oversleeping. Those who insist on sleeping in late in the morning are setting themselves up to seriously disturb their circadian rhythms. Further, late waking combined with daytime napping can leave you feeling wakeful in the evening, and wanting to stay up beyond a healthy bedtime. It can easily become a vicious circle.

    So, you are retired with not much to do and feel like there is no reason to get up in the morning? Make a reason! Get up and get moving – the physical activity throughout the day will also contribute better sleep at night.

    7.) Drugs and medications: Many prescription drugs can cause insomnia and poor sleep here are some of the more common offenders:

    • Alpha-blockers
    • Beta-blockers
    • Corticosteroids
    • SSRI antidepressants
    • ACE inhibitors
    • ARBs (Angiotensin II-receptor blockers)
    • Cholinesterase inhibitors
    • Antihistamines and H1 antagonists
    • Glucosamine/chondroitin (if taken late in the day)
    • Statins (cholesterol drugs)

    Non-prescription drugs can do the same. And recreational drugs can too: even alcohol can cause problems – in smaller amounts alcohol has a stimulating effect and more than a few drinks, while sedating for sure, can cause a rebound insomnia when the effect wears off. A pre-dinner drink? Sounds good. A glass of wine with dinner? Also good. A few drinks “to put you to sleep”? Not so good…

    8.) Sleep medications: You really aren’t taking a sleeping pill are you? If you are then you obviously haven’t read our previous HealthBeat News articles describing the dangers of these drugs. Do yourself a favor and drop the sleeping pills.

    9.) Many people complain that muscle cramps at night disturb their sleep.  Something as simple as some extra magnesium can prevent cramps and can be relaxing overall. Magnesium oil, actually a thick brine of magnesium salts, can provide nearly instant relief for many muscle cramps when rubbed over the affected area.

    So it turns out that when we sleep our brain takes that time to clean out the build-up of brain junk we accumulate during our waking hours. Sleep is pretty much necessary for our body’s mental street-cleaners to come out and do their work. When cells do their daily cell-type work, they produce waste products. The rest of the body has this waste cleared out by the lymphatic system, but the brain is not connected to that, so it needs another way to clear out the waste.

    The brain has it’s own garbage men, carried on the waves of cerebrospinal fluid, who surf the leftovers straight down to your liver for elimination. As it turns out, the brain’s garbage men move twice as fast when you’re sleeping, because your neurons shrink by half, making the fluid channels wider.

    You’re not going to have a “Dirty Mind” now, are you?

    References and further reading:

    Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain
    Lulu Xie et. al.,Science  18 Oct 2013:, Vol. 342, Issue 6156, pp. 373-377, DOI: 10.1126/science.1241224
    http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/373.long

    10 Types of Meds That Can Cause Insomnia, AARP
    http://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-04-2013/medications-that-can-cause-insomnia.html

  • This Is Your Brain On…

    By Nurse Mark

     

    We all remember the ads; the egg, the frying pan… the very serious voice saying This is your brain (the egg,) this is drugs (the frying pan,) this is your brain on drugs (the egg sizzling in the frying pan.) No sensible person today doubts the damage that methamphetamine, crack, heroin, or any of the other “recreational drugs” cause to the brain or body – this is serious business.

    Most street drugs alter the way that brain cells communicate or they flood the brain cells with chemicals that artificially create various “feel-good” states. By doing this to excess they also cause habituation and addiction. Bad stuff…

    But there is an even nastier compound out there – and not only does this molecule cause artificial and addictive releases of massive amounts of “feel-good” neurochemicals, it actually alters and damages the DNA of our brains!

    Scientists at the University of California have recently released research showing that this surprisingly common substance  “alters hundreds of genes that may be linked to many diseases” and that “A range of diseases — from diabetes to cardiovascular disease, and from Alzheimer’s disease to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — are linked to changes to genes in the brain.”

    So, are we seeing legislation that would ban this damaging substance?

    Are we seeing action by the US Drug Enforcement Agency or the FDA to protect people from this stuff?

    No.

    You see, this stuff is so pervasive, so common, so addictive, that The Department of Agriculture estimates Americans consumed an average of about 27 pounds of it in 2014.

    27 pounds.

    27 gene-damaging, mind-altering, disease-causing POUNDS of it.

    So, what is “IT”?

    Fructose.

    A form of sugar.

    A form of sugar that is in so many foods and drinks in America (and all around the world) that avoiding it can be almost impossible.

    We know it best in it’s industrial form: High-Fructose Corn Syrup. And it is everywhere.

    Derived from corn starch that is treated to convert some of it’s glucose to fructose, it is a major industry in the US and the Corn Growers Association and their lobbying groups in Washington are very protective of this “goose that lays golden eggs.” Protective tariffs keep the price of  imported sugars artificially high, and financial subsidies to sugar growers make this a lucrative industry indeed.

    I won’t go deeper into the nasty effects that fructose has on the brain – you can read more in this excellent article by Science Daily here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160422091900.htm

    We have written about the effects of sugar on brain function back in 2012 – this is not news to us: Common Food Ingredient Makes You Stupid?

    There is good news however – there is a substance that can go a long way to reversing the damages.

    DHA, a major component of fish oil, was found by the same researchers to be protective and was actually able to undo some of the damage done by fructose.

    So, what is the “bottom line” for you and me?

    • Avoid fructose – read the ingredient labels on everything when you are shopping. You’ll be amazed at where fructose hides.
    • Don’t be fooled into believing that there are “good” or “healthy” sugars – please re-read our article But I Only Use Organic Natural Sugars!
    • Protect yourself by using a top-quality, high potency Omega 3 fish oil every day. Please read more about our Maxi Marine O-3, an ultra-pure, ultra-high potency fish oil. Beware of cheap brands – their processing methods can damage the fragile oils, and they can be contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants if they have not been molecularly distilled.
    • Summer is here! Yes, you need to hydrate. Yes, it is important for your kids to hydrate. Yes, it is tough to get them to drink “plain water” – kids want sweet “sports drinks” or sodas. But most “sports drinks” and almost all sodas contain either high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, or toxic artificial sweeteners – to say nothing of the slew of other common and toxic preservatives, colorants, artificial flavors and more.  What to do? Try Zip Fizz – a truly healthy (and really tasty) alternative to the “makes ya sweat green” sports drinks or sodas.

     

    References and further reading:

    Systems Nutrigenomics Reveals Brain Gene Networks Linking Metabolic and Brain Disorders
    http://www.ebiomedicine.com/article/S2352-3964(16)30143-8/abstract

    Fructose alters hundreds of brain genes, which can lead to a wide range of diseases: Scientists report that diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can reverse the damage
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160422091900.htm

    Poor fetal, maternal outcomes linked to high-fructose diet in pregnancy: Consuming too much fructose has previously been linked to diabetes and obesity, but for expectant mothers, it could also lead to placental and fetal defects. This is according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/309976.php

  • Two Foods That Make You Stoopid ("False Dementia")

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    A brief survey of my Ketone Zone book reviewers revealed that cancer is not their most-feared disease. It ranks second. The biggest fear is dementia. No one wants to lose their marbles to Alzheimer’s or some other non-Alzheimer’s brain fog.

    So let’s talk about two foods that can dumb you down just as surely as opium and related compounds. [NOTE: in very specific pain situations, such as post-surgery or advanced cancer pain, opium and related opioid compounds are good drugs. But for those who are not in pain, these drugs just make you stupid.]

    All simple carbohydrate foods can be stupid-making. High blood sugars, whether high enough to be outright diabetes or just high-normal "borderline diabetes,” increases the risk of dementia.

    High blood sugars also increase the risk of many cancers by as much as 200%.

    Eating simple carbohydrates increases blood sugar levels; higher blood sugar levels increase the risk of the two most common health concerns, dementia and cancer. Why risk it? Just decreasing simple carbohydrate intake drops these risks dramatically. I’ve warned about the dangers of carbs for a long time. Here’s a good summary of these dangers: 10 Dangers Of Carbohydrates

    However, the two foods I’m talking about right now are not just simple carbohydrates. These two foods act like opium in the body. Opium is a natural narcotic. Drugs in this class – opioids – are used to treat moderate to severe pain. Medications in the opioid class include hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), morphine (Kadian, Avinza) and codeine. Heroin is also in this class.

    One of the side effects of drugs in this class is confusion. That’s why a person using such drugs for pain is advised to exercise extreme caution when driving. I’d say better yet, if you are taking drugs in this class, you should not be driving at all. In children, these effects can manifest as autism. In both children and adults, schizophrenia is also a possible result.

    You may not be using any of these opium drugs, but many people eat foods on a daily basis that acts like opium because it binds to the opium receptor in the body, stimulating similar effects. Are you a drug addict and don’t know it? Could that be the cause of your memory problems?

    The two "offender foods" are wheat (gluten) and dairy (casein). Specifically, an inability to completely digest gluten (found in wheat, rye barley and oats) and/or casein found in milk can result in the production of neuropeptides that are chemically similar to morphine. A neuropeptide is a small protein molecule that acts as a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are "brain hormones." Other neurotransmitters that are more familiar to most include serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline).

    These peptides, called gliadorphin and casomorphin, can have effects similar to opium in the body and brain. Notice the "orphin/morphin" in their names. They are so named because they bind to the same receptor as morphine. They stimulate the morphine receptors, causing morphine effects.

    How does this happen?

    Gliadin and casein are proteins that are often not completely broken down by the human digestive tract. Instead, they are only partly broken down into peptides, or protein fragments. That might not be such a bad thing, except that the peptides from these particular proteins are opioids. Opioids are morphine-like substances with effects on the brain and other organs.

    Gliadorphin (also known as gluteomorphin) and casomorphin are known to have opiate effects and are ingested when one eats grain or dairy products.

    It’s not just the obvious foods like bread or pasta or that healthy breakfast cereal or milk or yoghurt or cheese – but foods that you might never suspect to contain wheat or dairy products.

    French fries or potato chips should be OK for someone with a gluten / gliadin sensitivity, right? Wrong – many commercial fries are dusted with wheat flour during manufacture to prevent them from sticking together. And casein is a common food additive that is often found in imitation sausages, infant formula, processed meats, soups, energy bars, drinks, and many other packaged foods – even toothpaste!

    Not Everyone Is Sensitive

    Some people digest these foods past the "opioid peptide" stage and do not suffer opioid effects. This is similar to "lactose intolerance" where some people can digest the sugar in milk and some cannot, based on what enzymes we naturally produce.

    At this point, however, it appears that a surprising number of people are gluten and/or casein sensitive, meaning they cannot fully digest these substances and will therefore suffer the opioid effects of these foods.

    How Can You Know If These Foods Are Affecting Your Memory?

    If you have ANY symptoms that are similar to opium/morphine/heroine, including memory problems, there are several ways to find out if gluten or casein (wheat or dairy) is a contributing factor:

    1. avoid these foods entirely and see if it helps (this can be difficult because there are many "hidden" sources)
    2. get tested for the enzymes and find out if you are lacking in either. The Gluten/Casein Peptides Test  requires a small amount of first morning urine to evaluate for both gluten and casein peptides.
    3. At the very least, take digestive enzymes as a replacement for what you might be missing.

    Since both wheat and dairy (especially milk) are high in carbohydrates which causes a host of other health problems, there is good reason to avoid these foods. That is the least expensive and overall healthiest option.

    Avoid gluten-containing foods and dairy, save your health, save your brain. Isn’t it great when those two get "saved" together?!

    References

    Crane P.K., Walker R., Hubbard R.A, et al. Glucose Levels and Risk of Dementia. N Engl J Med. 2013 Aug 8;369(6):540-8.

    Crawley DJ, Holmberg L, Melvin JC, Loda M, Chowdhury S, Rudman SM, Van Hemelrijck M. Serum glucose and risk of cancer: a meta-analysis. BMC Cancer. 2014 Dec 19;14:985.

    B.Windham (Ed), Autism and Schizophrenia subgroup related to blockage by toxic exposures of enzymes processing gluten and casein. 2008. http://www.flcv.com/autismgc.html

    Review of the potential health impact of β-casomorphins and related peptides. Report of the DATEX Working Group on β-casomorphins. Issued on 29 January 2009
    [Nurse Mark Comment: This European government paper is working very, very hard to find that these casomorphins are not worth following up on – "don’t worry, be happy…" But there is a vast amount of information within the paper that contradicts that position – and all well referenced.] http://www.bezpecnostpotravin.cz