~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excipients Reloaded - Immunity Destroying Supplements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few days ago I sent out the article: Are Your Health Supplements Destroying Your Immune System http://www.radicalhealth.com/issues/2006-06-30:excipients.txt Many email have come in about people finding all manner of excipients listed on their bottle supplements and also many unlisted excipients they've been told about by calling their supplement companies. Last Saturday, Bob Marshall and I had an impromptu excipient discussion after our monthly 100% Vegan Raw Food Feast in Austin. The Raw mp3 files for Bob's two talks are here: http://RadicalHealth.com/av/bob-marshall/ Here are some articles and further thoughts about excipients... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Administrivia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Articles : join@RadicalHealth.com Austin Events: austin@RadicalHealth.com Unsubscribe : leave@RadicalHealth.com Super Foods : http://RadicalHealth.com/order/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excipients Reloaded ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excipients are substances which ease the process of packaging. For example, putting product in a capsule cost twice what pressing a caplet costs. Using a low quality, solvent rich Vege capsule costs twice what a gelatin capsule costs. Using a high quality, clean Vege capsule cost twice what a solvent rich Vege capsule costs. Then there's the process of actually flowing product into capsules. This is incredibly complex, as many products will jam up encapsulators unless some form of flowing agent is used. Most companies use dangerous, low quality substances like Stearates. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T-cells and B-cells ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In very simple terms, T-cells have two functions: 1) Seek out and kill cells hijacked by viruses 2) Programmatically activate B-cells to produce antigens A very simplified version of the viral cycle is: 1) Virons (viral particles) enter bodies through air, food or fluids 2) Virons circulate, probing cells in an attempt to attach and inject their viral payload into cells 3) Cells "sticky" enough (related to many poor health choices) where Virons attach may be compromised and injected with viral payload 4) For some cells viral payload hijacks the cell, so the cell no longer divides to produce other health cells, instead these hijacked cells churn out masses of virons B-cells produce antigens, each of which is specifically targeted to a particular viron signature. T-cells seek out and destroy cells which are already hijacked, which in turn may dump a considerable load of virons into the system. As you can see, the quantity and quality of our T-cells and B-cells determines strength and speed of our immune function. Any substance which interferes with or destroys T-cells is very bad business. Enter Magnesium Stearate... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Study #1: Magnesium Stearate Destroys T-cells ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the clearest statements about Magnesium Stearate comes from the article: "Molecular basis for the immunosuppressive action of steric acid (magnesium stearate) on T-cells" in "Immunology", July 1990: "The ultimate effect of the observed changes in the membrane composition of the steric acid (18:0) treated T-cells lead to the T-cell membrane collapse and cell death." This study used the same form of Magnesium Stearate which is commonly used in nutritional supplements. Also the study cites: "The collapse of membrane integrity was found to be time and dose dependent." There are several contributing factors here: 1) How much magnesium stearate is ingested at once, which increases when multiple supplements are taken together. 2) How frequently supplements are taken. (Time between doses.) 3) How rapidly a body can expel magnesium stearate. This seems to indicate, least effects when supplement quantities and frequency of ingestion is reduced. So taking as few pills as possible, as infrequently as possible seems to be best. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Study #2: Inhibition of Primary Antibody Responses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the article: "Identification of T-helper cells as the target of stearic acid inhibition in primary antibody responses in vitro" in "International Journal of Immunopharmacol" here's another gem: "Collectively, these findings implicate T-helper cells as the principle target of 18:0-inhibition of primary antibody responses in vitro, possibly as a result of the inability of T-helper cells to avoid an over accumulation of stearic acid in their membrane phospholipids." It appears steric acid loads or accumulates in T-cell membranes and eventually build to a point where the membrane will no longer hold and collapses, killing the cell. Somewhat like using the wrong type of glue to hold two surfaces together. This may work in the short run and eventually, the glue shears away and the two surfaces separate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Study #3: DNA Integrity Dependent ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the article: "Inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation by free fatty acids. II. Toxicity of stearic acid towards phytohaemagglutinin activated cells." in "Immunology" Nov 1984: "...inhibitory effects of stearic acid (18:0) on [3H] thymidine uptake can be correlated with changes in cellular DNA content. There's some background info on this type of testing here: http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/marijim.html In essence, 3H thymidine uptake is one way to gage effects of a substance on immunity. The Immunology article about magnesium stearate suggests initial DNA integrity plays a role in T-cell destruction and DNA integrity worsens if magnesium stearate begins to load, is unable to be eliminated before the next dose is taken. In other words, daily ingestion of synthetic B-12 can aggravate T-cell destruction. As B-12 is the primary raw material DNA is synthesized from, synthetic B-12 may tend to create a DNA structure which compromises (is destroyed) faster by magnesium stearate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Summarizing Excipient Effects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excipients are bad enough by themselves. Adding in synthetic, non live-source nutrients like B-12 and the effects of excipients seem to accelerate and amplify. Unfortunately, one of the main reasons may be mass-action absorption. In other words, when pristine, high quality nutrients required by cells are uptaken, excipients are uptaken too. This is similar to pouring gasoline on skin. The body's immediate action is to close up pores and block absorption. Small amounts of gasoline in air, water and food can be carried into cells. So the worst case scenario is high quality nutrients packaged with excipients, where cells uptake both the nutrients and the excipients, somewhat like injecting a street drug, where all physical guards and protection mechanisms are defeated or circumvented. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wrapping Up For Now ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you've yet to experience cold processed Guarana or Tomato Powder you can pick them up here: http://RadicalHealth.com/order/ Enjoy your best day ever! - David -- Can you feel like $1,000,000 all day, every day? Yes you can! Your simple secrets are here - http://RadicalHealth.com/peak/ This article is for entertainment purposes only. No medical advice is intended or implied. Consult your health practitioner before changing your health practices. Copyright (c) 2006 by David Favor You may reprint all or part of this content so long as credit is given the author(s).