HERBSPHERE
|
|
|
NAVIGATE |
Drink or Diet? – Schizophrenia Aid There is a new specially-designed ‘amino acids’ drink in the making called ‘Tyrodep’. The hope is that when taken with traditional antipsychotic medication, the drink can increase the effectiveness of schizophrenia and mania treatments and also lessen unwanted side effects from drug treatments.1 An aid for schizophrenia is welcome news because over one million people in the UK are affected by mania or schizophrenia and many control their symptoms with antipsychotic drugs. However, the drugs can cause side effects, including Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms such as stiffness and shakiness, a permanent movement of the mouth and tongue, weight gain and sexual problems.2 The drink ‘Tyrodep’ is high in amino acids and is designed to help control levels of the chemicals in the brain that are thought to be underlying factors of the condition. The amino acids in the drink reduce levels of dopamine, which in excess are thought to cause many of the symptoms of manic conditions.3 Professor Guy Goodwin, leader of the research funded by the Wellcome Trust, said: “Conventional antipsychotics can be used effectively in managing mental illnesses like schizophrenia and mania. However the side effects can understandably cause some patients to become cautious in taking them. The drink we’ve developed, when taken alongside medication, has proven to be a real step forward. It may both be more acceptable to patients and help to reduce the unwanted side effects people get from their treatment. Hopefully it will allow them to get on with their lives.”4 ‘Tyrodep’ is not on the market yet, but earlier research concluded in 2001 that “Tyrosine depletion in healthy volunteers affected baseline dopamine function … (it) would thereby seem valuable as a probe of dopamine function in human volunteers. Ratings of depression and other aspects of cognitive function were unaffected, suggesting that this manipulation may be free of significant side effects when used as a treatment for conditions characterized by dopamine over-activity, such as acute mania and schizophrenia.”5 And in 2002, “a drink containing branch chain amino acids is well tolerated in healthy volulnteers and produces effects consistent with lowered dopamine function.”6 The discovery has social implications, as there have been serious crimes involving those afflicted with the disease when ‘in care’ in the community’. It is paramount that those taking antipsychotic (neuroleptic) medications should not adopt a complementary treatment without first consulting their psychiatrist and physician. It is specifically NOT recommended that anyone ever go off their prescribed medications, or vary the dosage of their medications.7
Research suggests that every time a person relapses additional damage is done and the longer term prognosis is worse than if the relapse was avoided.8 One complementary aid to schizophrenia has not been so trumpeted, which is a deficiency in the diet of EPA (eicosaphentaenoic acid) Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil and the balance in the diet of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, which is too large a subject to go into here, but research indicates that people with schizophrenia may benefit by up to 25% reduction in symptoms when they take the correct EPA Omega-3 fish oil. Not all fish oils are effective, advice from researchers at Sheffield University states that the EPA content of the oil is the important factor.9 Several trials are in process and it is perhaps wise to await the outcomes of further research, but the general picture looks heartening. At the very least, consultation with the appropriate medical carers is again paramount before setting out on a regimen of anything additional or new. However, there is “evidence that omega-3 fatty acids (notably EPA) can be useful in the treatment of schizophrenic illness.”10 Causes of schizophrenia genetic or otherwise are not clear. Schizophrenia has been linked to lead petrol based on a study of blood samples taken from pregnant American women in the 1960s when lead was still widely used in vehicle fuel. The suggested effect being that in the gestation period ‘cells start to commit suicide whey they should not.’11 Other researchers, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, USA, have said: “Faults in the brain’s wiring may cause some cases of schizophrenia in young people.” Using a sophisticated scanning technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI); they found brain abnormalities in children with the condition and believe these changes disrupt the transmission of signals that regulate behaviour. The tissue of the frontal lobes that controls emotions and many thinking processes in schizophrenic subjects had deficiencies in the development of the protective coating around brain cells called myelin, which protects the cells and also enhances their ability to transmit signals.12 Paul Corry of the schizophrenia charity ‘Rethink’ said: “… These findings highlight some of the possibilities that would come with increased research into schizophrenia. However, schizophrenia is about a lot more than ‘faulty wiring’. We have a developing understanding of how many people may be at increased risk of developing schizophrenia … we need to set this research in that social context.”12 COMMENT: Although ‘Tyrodep’ may prove to be a useful aid to mania and schizophrenia, it would appear that our first bastion against disease that has been so depleted of its value i.e. Food Medicine, is at the bottom of all our ills. It’s true that genes being ‘environmental’ in development and being subject to change (mutation), certain illnesses will be harder to address with a proper balanced diet than others, but the argument for organic and sustainable farming of food crops again comes to the fore. The lead amino acid13 researched regarding ‘Tyrodep’ appears to be Tyrosine. Tyrosine is a ‘non-essential’ amino acid that is synthesized in the body from phenylalanine. As a building block for several important brain chemicals, tyrosine is needed to make ephephrine, norepinephrin, serotonin, and dopamine, all of which work to regulate mood. Deficiencies in tyrosine, therefore, have been associated with depression. It also aids in the production of melanin (pigment responsible for hair and skin colour) and in the function of organs in the body responsible for making and regulating hormones, including the adrenal, thyroid, and pituitary glands. Tyrosine is also involved in the synthesis of enkephalins, substances that have pain-relieving effects in the body.14 Essential amino acids are normally obtained from protein-rich foods in the diet, such as liver, eggs, and dairy products. Tyrosine, which is produced in the body from phenylalanine, is found in almonds, avocados, bananas, milk, cheese, chicken, cottage cheese, fish, lima beans, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds, soy products, turkey and yogurt. The more remedial research pops up, the more obvious it becomes in the main that if the quality and content of our foodstuffs had not been so altered and adulterated since the 1950s the majority of prevalent diseases and sickness would not be ‘alive and healthy’ in our sophisticated society today. The immune systems of people of the western world would be strong and not so vulnerable to the old ‘disease invaders’ once more rearing their ugly heads. Nor would they, in time, be inadvertently passing on defective genes that contribute to the ill-health of future generations. We heard a lot about longevity a couple of decades ago, not so much now, when the major diseases claim so many victims in our society. Many die of the ‘killer diseases’ in middle age or earlier. The real survivors and healthy people with strong constitutions belong to the era when they ate natural good food, before the term ‘organic’ had a need to be cited, because their diets were organic and they thrived on the ‘balanced’ healthy contents within it. However boring it may sound, the mantra to remedy most ills is ‘Diet, diet, diet!’ References: 1. http://www9.medica.de 11.6.2004. 2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3791409.stm 19.6.2004. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid. 5. ‘A dose-finding study on the effects of branch chain amino acids on surrogate markers of brain dopamine function.’ Gijsman HJ, Scarna A, Harmer CJ, McTavish SB, Odontiadis J, Cowen PJ, Goodwin GM. Uv. Dept. of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2002 Mar; 160(2):192-7. Epub 2002 6. ‘Tyrosine depletion attenuates dopamine function in healthy volunteers.’ Harmer CJ, McTavish SF, Clark L, Goodwin GM, Cowen PJ. Uv. Dept. of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2001 Feb;154(1):105-11. 7. ‘Schizophrenia Treatment (to be used in addition to medication)’ – Information, Support & Education. www.schizophrenia.com/treatments.htm 8. Ibid. 9. ‘Clinical potential of Omega-3 fatty acids in the treatment of schizophrenia’. Emsley R, et al. Dept. of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Uv. of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. Case Reports, Review, Review Tutorial. 10. ‘Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acid concentrations in red blood cell membranes relate to sthizotypal traits in healthy adults.’ Richardson A J et al. U. Lab. of Physiology, Oxford, UK. Prostaglanins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 2003 Dec;69(6):461-6. ‘Supplementation with a combination of Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants (vitamins E and C) improves the outcome of schizophrenia.’ Arvindaksham M, et al. Division of Biochemical Sciences, National Chemical Lab., Pune, India. Schizophr. Res. 2003 Aug 1;62(3):195-204. 11. ‘Schizophrenia link to lead petrol’. By Richard Black, BBC Science Correspondent in Seattle, USA. 14th February, 2004. http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/I/lopw/sci/tech/3489037.stm 12. ‘Brain wiring schizophrenia link’ 24th December 2003.http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/I/low/health/3343339.stm 13. Amino acids are fundamental constituents of all proteins: alanine, arginine, asparagines, aspartic acid, cysteine, cystine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, histidine, isleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, praline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and valine. Some of these amino acids can be synthesized by the body; others, the ‘essential amino acids’, must be obtained from protein in the diet. Essential amino acids, an amino acid that is essential for normal growth and development but cannot be synthesized by the body. There are nine Essential amino acids: trytophan, lysine, phenylalanine, histidine, threonine, valine, methionine, leucine, and isoleucine.
|
LINKS
|
|
PLEASE NOTE: Disclaimers and Copyrights can and must be read by clicking here.
|
