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  • The Amazing Brain Nutrient You Don’t Know About

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Citicoline: The Amazing Brain Health Nutrient You’ve Probably Never Heard Of.

    You know about vitamin C, you’ve heard about vitamin D, you know that CoQ10 is important – but it’s a good bet that you’ve never heard about citicoline. This little-known substance – a member of the vitamin B family  -may just be one of the most important supplements for brain health that we know about.

    How important? It turns out that citicoline is sold in over 70 countries as a drug for cognitive impairment (memory loss) (1) and is approved for treatment in cases of head trauma, stroke, and neurodegenerative disease in Japan and Europe – researchers have found improved clinical outcomes following ischemic strokes. (2)

    So, what else is is good for?

    Clinical and laboratory research show citicoline supports memory function and healthy cognition and there is clinical evidence suggesting that citicoline can improve memory problems associated with aging. (3, 4)

    Citicoline is being studied and found to be very useful in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, allowing significantly reduced doses of levodopa to be used to greater effect.(5) Citicoline enhances brain and nerve cell communication by increasing the availability of neurotransmitters, including dopamine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine.

    Our eyes can benefit from citicoline: it improves visual function in patients with glaucoma, amblyopia (lazy eye), and optic neuropathy. (6, 7)

    Given the powerful effect citicoline has on brain chemistry and health it is no surprise that scientists and researchers are exploring other uses for this supplement. Cocaine addicts found their cravings were reduced and mood improved with the use of citicoline. (8)

    Cocaine addicts aren’t the only ones to benefit however – obesity is a huge problem in America and researchers are finding that citicoline has positive effects on the parts of the brain that tell us that we are satisfied and can stop eating – the so-called satiety centers of our brain. High-tech imaging showed that subjects using high dose citicoline (2000mg per day) had much greater responses in the areas of the brain related to satiety and they further reported significant reductions in appetite and hunger. (9)

    Those suffering from depression and even schizophrenia may benefit from citicoline according to two different small but impressive studies. Both studies showed positive improvements occurring within a few weeks of beginning treatment with citicoline. (10, 11)

    And it’s not just brain function, or eye health – citicoline has been investigated and found helpful in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. (Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD is increasing in scope as Americans become more and more obese – it may soon be called an “epidemic, the way Type II diabetes is now.) (12)

    So, in summary:

    • Citicoline is essential to the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine which is a major constituent of brain tissue.
    • Citicoline helps to maintain normal levels of acetylcholine, an important brain chemical that regulates memory and cognitive function.
    • Citicoline supports and enhances brain metabolism and healthy brain activity by sustaining the health of mitochondria – the energy generators inside the brain cells.
    • Citicoline helps brain cells communicate by keeping cell membranes in good condition and protecting neural structures from free radical damage.

    Perhaps the best summary can be found in the abstract from the research paper “Citicoline: pharmacological and clinical review, 2006 update.” (13)

    Abstract

    Cytidine 5′-diphosphocholine, CDP-choline, or citicoline is an essential intermediate in the biosynthetic pathway of structural phospholipids in cell membranes, particularly phosphatidylcholine. Following administration by both the oral and parenteral routes, citicoline releases its two main components, cytidine and choline. Absorption by the oral route is virtually complete, and bioavailability by the oral route is therefore approximately the same as by the intravenous route. Once absorbed, citicoline is widely distributed throughout the body, crosses the blood-brain barrier and reaches the central nervous system (CNS), where it is incorporated into the membrane and microsomal phospholipid fraction. Citicoline activates biosynthesis of structural phospholipids of neuronal membranes, increases brain metabolism, and acts upon the levels of different neurotransmitters. Thus,citicoline has been experimentally shown to increase norepinephrine and dopamine levels in the CNS. Owing to these pharmacological mechanisms,citicoline has a neuroprotective effect in hypoxic and ischemic conditions, decreasing the volume of ischemic lesion, and also improves learning and memory performance in animal models of brain aging. In addition, citicoline has been shown to restore the activity of mitochondrial ATPase and membrane Na+/K+ATPase, to inhibit activation of certain phospholipases, and to accelerate reabsorption of cerebral edema in various experimental models. Citicoline has also been shown to be able to inhibit mechanisms of apoptosis associated to cerebral ischemia and in certain neurodegeneration models, and to potentiate neuroplasticity mechanisms. Citicoline is a safe drug, as shown by the toxicological tests conducted, that has no significant systemic cholinergic effects and is a well tolerated product. These pharmacological characteristics and the action mechanisms of citicoline suggest that this product may be indicated for treatment of cerebral vascular disease, head trauma (HT) of varying severity, and cognitive disorders of different causes. In studies conducted in the treatment of patients with HT, citicoline was able to accelerate recovery from post-traumatic coma and neurological deficits, achieving an improved final functional outcome, and to shorten hospital stay in these patients. Citicoline also improved the mnesic and cognitive disorders seen after HT of minor severity that constitute the so-called post-concussional syndrome. In the treatment of patients with acute ischemic cerebral vascular disease, citicoline accelerates recovery of consciousness and motor deficit, achieves a better final outcome, and facilitates rehabilitation of these patients. The other major indication of citicoline is for treatment of senile cognitive impairment, either secondary to degenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer disease) or to chronic cerebral vascular disease. In patients with chronic cerebral ischemia,citicoline improves scores in cognitive rating scales, while in patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type it stops the course of disease, and neuroendocrine, neuroimmunomodulatory, and neurophysiological benefits have been reported. Citicoline has also been shown to be effective in Parkinson disease, drug addictions, and alcoholism, as well as in amblyopia and glaucoma. No serious side effects have occurred in any series of patients treated with citicoline, which attests to the safety of treatment with citicoline.

    Usual doses of this supplement range from 500 mg to 2000 mg per day – it is extremely safe with no known toxicity and very minimal side effects at even the highest doses – usually mild G.I. upset that resolves with continued use.

    I predict you’ll be hearing a lot more about this important supplement – and yes, Dr. Myatt and I  are both using it!

     

    References:

    1.) Citicoline (Cognizin) in the treatment of cognitive impairment. Fioravanti M., Buckley A.E. Clin Interv Aging. Sep 2006; 1(3): 247–251. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695184/

    2.) Warach, S; Pettigrew, LC; Dashe, JF; Pullicino, P; Lefkowitz, DM; Sabounjian, L; Harnett, K; Schwiderski, U; Gammans, R (November 2000). "Effect of citicoline on ischemic lesions as measured by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Citicoline 010 Investigators.". Annals of neurology 48 (5): 713–22. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11079534

    3.) Spiers PA et al. Citicoline improves verbal memory in aging. Arch Neurol. 996;53:441-48.

    4.) Alvarez XA et al. Citicoline improves memory performance in elderly subjects. Meth Find Exp Clin Pharmacol. 1997;19(3):201-10.

    5.) Citicoline in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Eberhardt R1, Birbamer G, Gerstenbrand F, Rainer E, Traegner H. Clin Ther. 1990 Nov-Dec;12(6):489-95.
    It is concluded that the levodopa-saving effect of citicoline could be used to decrease the incidence of side effects and retard the loss of efficacy of levodopa in long-term treatment. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2289218

    6.) Parisi, V; Coppola, G; Centofanti, M; Oddone, F; Angrisani, AM; Ziccardi, L; Ricci, B; Quaranta, L; Manni, G (2008). "Evidence of the neuroprotective role of citicoline in glaucoma patients.". Progress in brain research 173: 541–4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18929133

    7.) Parisi, V.; Coppola, G.; Ziccardi, L.; Gallinaro, G.; Falsini, B. (1 May 2008). "Cytidine-5′-diphosphocholine (Citicoline): a pilot study in patients with non-arteritic ischaemic optic neuropathy". European Journal of Neurology 15 (5): 465–474. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-1331.2008.02099.x/abstract;jsessionid=FA96263B2BE6D0726B206E970BF6AF45.f03t01

    8.) Renshaw PF1, Daniels S, Lundahl LH, Rogers V, Lukas SE.
    Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1999 Feb;142(2):132-8. Short-term treatment with citicoline (CDP-choline) attenuates some measures of craving in cocaine-dependent subjects: a preliminary report. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10102764

    9.) William D. S. Killgore, Amy J. Ross, […], and Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd. Citicoline Affects Appetite and Cortico-Limbic Responses to Images of High Calorie Foods. Int J Eat Disord. Jan 2010; 43(1): 6–13. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3378241/#!po=4.16667

    10.) Salvadorini F, Galeone F, Nicotera M, Ombrato M, Saba P. Clinical evaluation of CDP-choline (Nicholin): efficacy As antidepressant treatment. Curr Ther Res Clin Exp. 1975 Sep;18(3):513-20.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/810312

    11.) Deutsch SI, Schwartz BL, Schooler NR, et al. First administration of cytidine diphosphocholine and galantamine in schizophrenia: a sustained alpha7 nicotinic agonist strategy. Clin Neuropharmacol. 2008;31(1):34-39.

    12.) Guerrerio AL, et al.Choline intake in a large cohort of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Apr;95(4):892-900. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3302364/

    13.) Secades JJ1, Lorenzo JL.. Citicoline: pharmacological and clinical review, 2006 update. Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Sep;28 Suppl B:1-56. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17171187

  • Flu? Or Cold? How To Know.

    By Nurse Mark

     

    It seems there is nothing that can make folks feel more miserable than the common cold.

    Most folks feel so awful when they have a cold that they become convinced that they are suffering from “the flu.”

    This is so common that many people tend to use the terms interchangeably – to most folks, “cold” and “flu” are one and the same.

    That’s too bad, because the differences are really very important – influenza (the flu) can be a life-threatening illness. A cold is not.

    That is not to minimize the suffering that accompanies the common cold – it is a truly miserable experience – but it is called the “common cold” for a good reason – it affects people frequently and commonly – old and young, rich and poor, no one is spared.

    How to know the difference between a “flu” and a “cold”? Here’s a chart that will help.

    Symptoms

    Cold

    Flu
     
    Fever Rare Characteristic high fever
    (100-102 degrees F); lasts three to four days
     
    Headache Rare Prominent
     
    General Aches, Pains Slight Usual; often severe
     
    Fatigue, Weakness Quite mild Can last up to two or even three weeks
     
    Extreme Exhaustion Never Early and prominent
     
    Stuffy Nose Common Sometimes
     
    Sneezing Usual Sometimes
     
    Sore Throat Common Sometimes
     
    Chest Discomfort,
    Cough    		 Mild to moderate;
    hacking cough    		 Common; can become severe
     

    Complications

    		 Sinus congestion
    or earache    		 Bronchitis, pneumonia

     

    Here’s another look at colds and flu, and at whether or not an antibiotic is something that you really need: Hurry – Get An Antibiotic Before You Don’t Need It!

    And for those of you who just want to know “What can I do about it?” here’s the short course:

    1.) Eat an Immune-Boosting Diet. The two major dietary causes of immune suppression are sugar intake and food allergies.

    2.) Practice simple home and hygiene techniques.

    • Wash your hands frequently. You don’t need expensive "hand sanitizers" – simple, pure soap is fine and silver gel like ASAP 365 – 24 ppm Silver Gel is a highly effective, safe, everyday, natural healing alternative to chemical-laced hand sanitizers.
    • Cover your mouth and nose — preferably with a tissue — when you sneeze or cough.
    • If you are sick take the day off!
    • Keep your house humid.
    • Get regular exercise – it stimulates the immune system.

    3.) Strengthen your immune system with supplements.

    • Take an optimal potency vitamin/mineral supplement every day.
      Here are the nutrients of particular immune-enhancing importance, and they should all be found in a good multiple nutrient formula:
      * vitamin C
      * vitamin E
      * beta carotene
      * vitamin A
      * vitamin D
      * zinc
      * selenium
      (Please Note: These nutrients and more are found in optimal amounts in Dr. Myatt’s Maxi Multi vitamins)
    • Supplement with additional immune-boosting herbs including Echinacea, astragalus, medicinal mushrooms (Maitake, Shiitake, Reishi), Ligustrum, Goldenseal and Garlic. Learn more about Dr. Myatt’s Immune Support formula .

    If you do catch something, start Dr. Myatt’s Acute Immune Protocol right away.

  • Poisoned With Good Intentions ?

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Antibiotic-Resistant bacteria: MERS, Ebola, MRSA, streptococcus, enterococcus, psuedomona, C-difficile, salmonella, e-coli, T.B,  the list goes on… “Superbugs” are a part of our modern world now, and there is little we can do about this unintended consequence of our over-use of antibiotics.

    Even our companion animals have been found to carry “superbugs.” Pets Can Carry Same ‘Superbug’ Strains as Owners cries a headline from the online health news organization WebMD.

    People are getting sick. Some are dying. Everyone is far more aware of the need to avoid these diseases than ever before.

    Hand washing is preached like a religion – and rightly so. It is becoming commonplace to see people out in public wearing surgical masks. Hand sanitizer dispensers are ubiquitous – they are in grocery stores, restaurants, schools, workplaces. Personal hand sanitizers are commonly carried and used when hand washing might be impractical.

    But how safe and effective are those “hand sanitizers”?

    Most commonly available hand sanitizers contain alcohol – and alcohol is indeed quite effective at killing both bacteria and viruses. It is also harsh on the skin – remember how it stung when mom would “disinfect” our cuts and scrapes with alcohol?

    Not only is alcohol harsh on healthy skin, it is also flammable.That’s right, it can catch fire and burn – as one Florida man discovered. That man spent 3 weeks in hospital receiving skin grafts for burns suffered after he spilled hand sanitizer on himself and it ignited.

    Most hand sanitizers also contain perfumes  – which many people can be sensitive to.

    Other hand sanitizers may be alcohol-free, but they contain the chemical triclosan – which was first registered with the EPA as a pesticide in 1969. While it might be marginally effective as an antimicrobial, it is being found to have thyroid and hormone-disruptive effects.

    That might be an acceptable trade-off (to some people – not to us!) if the stuff actually worked – but it turns out that triclosan is not really very effective. Even the FDA is questioning the use of the antimicrobial chemical triclosan and warning of it’s dangers, as is explained in the recent Reuters news article FDA Questions The Use Of Antibacterial Soaps.

    So – your choices; you can slather yourself with alcohol and hope you don’t have any little paper cuts (ouch!) and hope no one lights a cigarette or strikes a spark near you, and hope you are not sensitive to the perfumes, or you can use a pesticide that really doesn’t work all that well but can harm your thyroid and mess with your hormone balance. What a choice!

    Or, you can use Mother Nature’s antimicrobial – silver.

    Colloidal silver has long been recognized as a first class antibacterial – up until the advent of “modern” synthetic antibiotics it was the “go-to” treatment of choice for ancient healers dealing with difficult infections. Even today it is still the first choice as a topical treatment for burns.

    We have written about the use of silver before – Silver – The Antibiotic Of Our Ancestors.

    We are so impressed with the usefulness of silver that we carry tubes of silver gel with us when we travel – we use it as hand sanitizer, without the harsh alcohol or dangerous chemicals.

    ASAP 365 – 24 ppm Silver Gel is a highly effective, safe, everyday, natural healing alternative to chemical-laced hand sanitizers.

    Dr. Myatt recommends colloidal silver gel both for it’s valuable effects in soothing and healing damaged skin and for daily use as a non-toxic hand sanitizer. This gel rubs in quickly and easily, is non-greasy, and contains no perfumes or dangerous chemicals. It is a valuable addition to a natural first-aid kit for treating minor burns, wounds, fungal and bacterial infections – there are even those who swear by colloidal silver fir the treatment of “Cold Sores” and “Fever Blisters”, and scientific research supports their belief in it’s effectiveness!

    ASAP 365 Silver Gel, with it’s non-prescription strength of 24 ppm (parts per million) is gentle enough for everyday use and safe even when used multiple times daily, while being potent enough to be highly effective as an antimicrobial hand sanitizer. This 1.5 fl oz tube is perfect for purse or pocket and is a must-have for your natural first aid kit.

    ASAP 365 – 24 ppm Silver Gel can be found here.

     

    References:

    http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm

    Robin E. Dodson, Marcia Nishioka, Laurel J. Standley, Laura J. Perovich, Julia Green Brody, and Ruthann A. Rudel, Endocrine Disruptors and Asthma-Associated Chemicals in Consumer Products, Environ Health Perspect. 2012 July; 120(7): 935–943. Published online 2012 March 8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404651/

    Galdiero S, Falanga A, Vitiello M, Cantisani M, Marra V, Galdiero M., Department of Experimental Medicine, II University of Naples, Via De Crecchio 7, 80138, Naples, Italy. sgaldier@unina.it, Silver nanoparticles as potential antiviral agents. Molecules. 2011 Oct 24;16(10):8894-918.

  • Sleeping Pills: It Just Gets Worse

    By Nurse Mark

     

    New Study Shows Doubled Risk Of Death With Sleeping Pill Use

     

    We have been preaching the dangers of sleeping pills for years – long enough now that many readers probably just “tune out” our warnings – “Oh no, it’s just Dr. Myatt or Nurse Mark ranting about sleeping pills again – won’t they ever leave it alone?”

    No, we won’t leave it alone – we feel that these drugs are some of the most dangerous, addictive, deadly poisons that have ever been pushed on people by our legalized drug pushers, the big pharmaceutical companies.

    I’m not going to bore or annoy you by repeating everything we’ve written before – those of you who want to refresh your memory can do so with our previous articles:

  • Kavinace Or The Lunesta Moth? You Decide!
  • Dying For A Good Night’s Sleep?
  • Popular Sleeping Pill Sends Thousands to Emergency Rooms
  • Got PTSD? Want To Make It Worse? Just Take This Drug!

    •  

    I will, however, share with you a very brief quote from a study published in the British Medical Journal in March 2014 regarding sleeping pills:

    In patients who were prescribed these drugs, there was an estimated overall statistically significant doubling of the hazard of death

     

    Any questions? A doubling of death risk sounds very “statistically significant” to me…

    Freebies – From Dr. Myatt ?!?

    In recent HealthBeat articles we’ve discussed using natural supplements to reduce stress and promote sleep: Kavinace, Cortisol Manager, and Lavela.

    We have free samples of both Cortisol Manager and Lavela available.

    Now there really isn’t any excuse left for you to not try something different from the dangerous sleeping pills that Big Pharma pushes.

    References:

    BMJ 2014; 348 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g1996 (Published 19 March 2014)
    Effect of anxiolytic and hypnotic drug prescriptions on mortality hazards: retrospective cohort study
    http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g1996

  • I’m Pregnant! Now What?

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Many of our readers know that Dr. Myatt has been working closely with a an infertility specialist in New York city. Dr. Jeff Braverman is a Reproductive Immunologist and In Vitro Fertilization specialist who sought Dr. Myatt’s collaboration several years ago as he looked for ways to improve his already impressive success rate with the difficult cases.

    More recently, a prominent doctor in the San Francisco area, Dr. Christo Zouves, has been corresponding with Dr. Myatt and is recommending natural supplementation to his IVF and fertility enhancement patients as well.

    We are pleased to see increasing numbers of otherwise conventional allopathic specialists taking advantage of the powerful synergy that natural supplementation can bring to their treatment protocols – and we just love it when these women are able to tell us “I’m pregnant !”

    Along with becoming pregnant comes fear however: “What if I do something wrong and hurt or even lose my baby?”

    After all the hard work and often great expense of achieving conception, it’s no surprise that our new moms-to-be are leery of almost everything: there is so much misinformation out there and most of it consists of dire warnings about what can harm their precious new child.

    Indeed, if a mom-to be were to follow all the advice available to her from “friends,” family, acquaintances, and most especially the internet there would be very little she would be allowed to do for the next nine months but breathe – very carefully, of course!

    Everywhere she looks – anything she might wish to do – it all carries a risk; at least according to one self-proclaimed expert or another.

    It is especially so when it comes to vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other natural substances. There is a very large segment of the conventional, allopathic medical and nutritional community that is adamantly opposed to the use of anything non-prescription at any time, and the occasion of pregnancy gives them the opportunity to double down on their dire warnings about the evils of vitamins and herbs. Standard conventional advice with regards to natural supplements is always to “use with caution” and to immediately “discontinue all use” during pregnancy because “not enough is known about the safety of these substances during pregnancy”.

    Not enough is known by whom I wonder? By the conventional practitioners who had to turn simple, inexpensive fish oil into a hundreds of dollars per bottle Big Pharma prescription drug before cardiologists would prescribe it to their patients?

    Plenty is known about these natural supplements by the practitioners of natural medicine who rely on the experience and wisdom of thousands of years of use of these things and our readers and customers know that they can depend on Dr. Myatt and The Wellness Club to give them straight, well-researched answers to their questions.

    And so, Michele recently wrote to ask:

    I am interested in finding an alternative to Maxi Flavone during pregnancy since I’m concerned about using green tea (which I understand affects folic absorption) and ginkgo (which I understand may not good for pregnancy).

    If you recommend Maxi Flavone during pregnancy, can you give me some background?

     

    Maxi Flavone is one of our most requested supplements by our fertility patients. Dr. Myatt and Dr. Braverman worked extensively together to ensure that this would be an optimal broad-spectrum herbal antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and TNF inhibiting formula that would be safe for use during pre and post conception. It has proved to be highly effective.

    However, I had a niggle about Michele’s question – I remembered hearing something about this a number of years ago, so I set about refreshing my memory. Here’s what I found:

    The caution with green tea centers around the ability of green tea to block the absorption of folate / folic acid – which of course is essential to fetal development.

    More specifically, it is the tannins in green tea that have this blocking effect.

    Those same tannins are also found in black tea, and  wine (horrors – not wine!). Nuts that can be consumed raw, such as hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans, contain high amounts of tannins. Almonds have a lower content but it’s there. Herbs and spices such as Cloves, tarragon, cumin, thyme, vanilla, and cinnamon, and most legumes contain tannins. In other words, tannins are ubiquitous.

    It appears that massive  amounts of tea or other tannin-containing substances must be consumed, and consumed at the same time as folate-containing foods for this effect to be problematic or even apparent. According to an article fro 2009 published in the Journal of Physiologic Pharmacology: (1)

    Greeen tea extracts lower serum folates in rats at very high dietary concentrations only and do not affect plasma folates in a human pilot study.

     

    The worry about Ginkgo relates to single study / report that suggested that women who take ginkgo during pregnancy may be putting their fetuses at risk of abnormal development and warned that all pregnant women should avoid using ginkgo.

    It turns out that the authors of the study claimed to have found excessive colchicine levels in the blood of the women studied, and inferred that the ginkgo must have been adulterated with colchicine to cause this.

    It appears that the “researchers” fell victim to a basic chemistry mis-identification error because Ginkgo leaves contain a naturally occurring, nontoxic substance that is almost identical in structure to colchicine. The researchers who published the original report did not perform the test needed to differentiate these two compounds even though the blood levels of “colchicine” they claimed to have found should have set off alarms for them. If it really were colchicine these would be quite toxic levels and the women would have been very sick indeed. In other words, this was a seriously flawed study.

    Here is the original (flawed) study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11559040

    Bastyr University published and article explaining the faults and flaws of the study in detail: http://www.bastyrcenter.org/content/view/610/

    The Council For Responsible Nutrition issued a report refuting the claims of the study: http://www.crnusa.org/Shellnr082901gingko.html

    And other industry bodies have also weighed in with their rebuttals, such as The American Botanical Council http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/pdfs/100511-211.pdf.

    So, the bottom line:

    There is no solid evidence that either green tea or ginko (when used sensibly) have a negative effect on fetal development or pregnancy.

    “All things in moderation!”

    And Michele is right – she knows that it’s possible, even likely, that the stressors that were causing her to experience inflammation and high TNF levels have not suddenly disappeared now that she is pregnant. So why discontinue a supplement that has been helping to keep inflammation and THF levels under control?

    There is one caution that may apply – ginko may have a mild antiplatelet effect and so there have been cautions to be careful with its use around the time of delivery – in order to minimize any risk of prolonged bleeding – according to an article in the Canadian Journal of  Clinical Pharmacology from  2006: (2)

    Ginkgo should be used with caution during pregnancy, particularly around labour where its anti-platelet properties could prolong bleeding time.

     

    These “anti-platelet” concerns could indeed be real, especially to a woman who is Vitamin K deficient – so, the solution? Ensure that Vitamin K levels are optimized by either enjoying a diet rich in Vitamin K containing foods or by supplementing to make up any shortfall. There is no “hyper coagulability”  associated with even high doses of Vitamin K and Vitamin K is important to fetal development.

     

    References:

     

    1.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=19826188

    J Physiol Pharmacol. 2009 Sep;60(3):103-8.

    Greeen tea extracts lower serum folates in rats at very high dietary concentrations only and do not affect plasma folates in a human pilot study.

    Augustin K, Frank J, Augustin S, Langguth P, Ohrvik V, Witthoft CM, Rimbach G, Wolffram S.

    Abstract

    Green tea catechins (GTC) have been shown to inhibit the activities of enzymes involved in folate uptake. Hence, regular green tea drinkers may be at risk of impaired folate status. The present experiments aimed at studying the impact of dietary GTC on folate concentrations and metabolism. In a human pilot study (parallel design) healthy men consumed for 3 weeks 6 capsules (approximately 670 mg GTC) per day (2 capsules with each principal meal) containing aqueous extracts of the leaves of Camellia sinensis (n=17) or placebo (n=16). No differences in plasma folate concentrations were observed between treatments. We further fed groups of 10 male rats diets fortified with 0, 0.05, 0.5, 1, or 5 g GTC/kg for 6 weeks. Only at the highest intake, GTC significantly decreased serum 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate concentrations in rats, while mRNA concentrations of reduced folate carrier, proton-coupled folate transporter/heme carrier protein 1, and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) remained unchanged in intestinal mucosa. Using an in vitro enzyme activity assay, we observed a time- and dose-dependent inhibition of DHFR activity by epigallocatechin gallate and a green tea extract. Our data suggest that regular green tea consumption is unlikely to impair folate status in healthy males, despite the DHFR inhibitory activity of GTC.

     

    2.) Can J Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Fall;13(3):e277-84. Epub 2006 Nov 3.

    Safety and efficacy of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) during pregnancy and lactation.

    Dugoua JJ1, Mills E, Perri D, Koren G.

    CONCLUSIONS:

    Ginkgo should be used with caution during pregnancy, particularly around labour where its anti-platelet properties could prolong bleeding time. During lactation the safety of ginkgo leaf is unknown and should be avoided until high quality human studies are conducted to prove its safety.

    PMID: 17085776 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]