Preserving and Protecting the Brain and Spinal Column

“Make an informed decision based on comparing all the evidence to remain healthy and not dependent on pharmaceutical drugs.”

The central nervous system, comprised of the brain and spinal cord, is integral to our daily functions. It orchestrates voluntary actions such as walking and talking, as well as involuntary processes like breathing and digestion. Additionally, this sophisticated system plays a crucial role in processing sensory experiences—vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell—and in managing our emotions, thoughts, and memories.

Aging Related Issues

It is important to understand the aging related changes in the brain since the process affects everyone. It can include mild deterioration or may involve atrophy of the tissues—this means that the spinal cord loses nerve cells and weight, which means that nerve cells may begin to pass messages more slowly than before. It also involves alteration in neurotransmitters and damage accumulation at the cellular level from the bioaccumulations of environment toxins[1]—waste products or other chemicals e.g. beta amyloid can collect in the brain tissue as nerve cells break down.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis—the condition when bones become weak and brittle—is one of the most common secondary complications of a spinal cord injury (SCI), actually it affects about 80% of people who have SCI. “Osteoporosis is estimated to affect 200 million people worldwide, and 82% of bone specialists believe it is a silent epidemic.”[2] According to the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System Report from 2020 “in 2015–2016, approximately 2.2 million (or 11.9%) Canadians aged 40 years and older were living with diagnosed osteoporosis; about 80% were women.”[3] Bone density loss usually occurs below the level of injury, it can start as early as six months after the injury.

Research continues to point to calcium deficiency as the primary cause of osteoporosis, the demineralization of bones. Osteoporosis occurs mostly in postmenopausal women. This condition seems to be the result of a diet deficient in calcium over a period of years, compounded by a lower absorption of this essential element due to aging digestive organs.

Supplements help prevent bone loss by affecting the balance between bone formation and resorption. The right form of calcium is very important in order to preserve the bones without plaquing the arteries. Calcium orotate has multiple advantages when compared with other calcium forms. According to the studies from Dr. Hans Neiper[4], calcium orotate has a special affinity for certain tissue types, cartilage for example, where it is metabolized into its usable form; for the liver, calcium orotate liberates calcium ion at the membrane level, and been shown to have an anti-inflammatory effects on the mesenchymal stroma system in the liver.

A randomized double blind prospective study showed that “2 months of calcium orotate therapy in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis significantly increased serum calcium levels and reduced the symptoms of osteoporosis with no side effects. These results suggest that calcium orotate is an important therapeutic option in the treatment of women with postmenopausal osteoporosis when compared to calcium carbonate + vit D3 treatment.”[5]

Opti-Cal/Mag Complex taken with Boron and Vitamin D are your safest options for prevention and for recovery of injuries and reducing bone loss.

The Benefits of Glycine

The brain and spinal cord rely on nutrients to function at optimal levels, one such important amino acid is L-Glycine. As an amino acid, glycine works as a protein builder in the body: it enables the production of collagen (an essential component of muscles, tendon, skin, and bones). As a neurotransmitter[6], glycine both stimulates and inhibits cells in the brain and central nervous system, affecting cognition, mood, sleep, appetite, immune function and pain perception.

Studies have found that taking glycine before bed improved the quality of sleep in people with sleep complaints. According to Dr. Bannai, a Japanese researcher, “this amino acid has an affinity for the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is the brain’s master circadian switchboard. By maintaining the low core body temperature during sleep, glycine increases sleep stability, and improves sleep quality. The sleep-restorative effects appear as a tertiary benefit.”[7] Glycine may help to improve memory and cognitive function.

According to the studies, supplemental glycine seems to deliver benefits for daytime cognitive function due to its activity in the hippocampus, an area of the brain important for memory and learning. Changes to glycine levels in the brain correspond with improved attention, emotional memory, and intellectual learning memory.

For a few decades now, there has been an understanding that glycine therapy is also useful to treat negative symptoms of schizophrenia (depression, apathy etc.) as well as positive symptoms (such as hallucinations and delusions). Since negative symptoms usually have a larger impact on real-world function and impact of the illness, the finding about glycine supplementation’s benefits could be highly important in treating schizophrenia.

Besides schizophrenia, glycine could be beneficial for other psychiatric, mood, and cognitive disorders, ranging from psychosis and depression through neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and could be effectively used in treating brain injury or stroke.

Research[8] also suggests that high levels of glycine are linked with reduced muscle tone after injury (spinal shock) and that glycine or similar chemicals might be helpful in treating conditions with excessive muscle tone. Using a method called epidural spinal cord stimulation, doctors can reduce unusually high muscle tone, a condition called spasticity. This treatment increases the levels of certain chemicals in the spinal cord that help control muscle activity, especially glycine.

Life Choice L-Glycine is fermented which is different from the chemically extracted version due to the amount of enzymes. Fermented glycine is also vegan (from sugar cane or sugar beets), whereas the chemical extraction is from sewage sludge, duck feathers, human or horse hair.

  • essential in the manufacturing of muscle tissue
  • required by the body for maintaining the central nervous system
  • muscle spasticity; glycine is reduced by 30% in the spinal cord affecting nerve impulses, may be beneficial for Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Dietary Supplements and Mitochondrial Dysfunction

As we age, our mental clarity becomes shadowed, memories easily recalled now become a struggle, and with it, our independence is jeopardized. Studies have shown that with age, the brain suffers from oxidative stress and the activity and renewal of brain cells tends to slow down (mitochondrial dysfunction), also inflammation, deep rooted stress and chronic pain could be other contributing factors. Finding the right ingredients (and also the right combination of them) could give new possibilities for managing brain health.

A team of researchers led by Bruce N. Ames, professor of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley, fed older rats two chemicals normally found in the body’s cells and available as dietary supplements: acetyl-L-carnitine and an antioxidant, alpha-lipoic acid.”[9] The experiment was proved to be successful. “The acetyl-L-carnitine is protecting the protein and the higher levels are enabling the protein to work, while alpha-lipoic acid knocks down oxygen radicals,” Ames said. “Each chemical solves a different problem – the two together are better than either one alone.”[10] The combination “improved mitochondrial activity and thus cellular metabolism, and increased levels of various chemicals known to decline with age.”[11] As we age, the proteins in mitochondria are oxidizing and they lose activity but with binding the right ingredients some of that lost activity can be reversed.

Life Choice Neurotransmitter Support

  • protects and restores healthy brain function
  • supports short and long term memory
  • helps with cognitive impairments, for conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), MS (multiple sclerosis), MD (muscular dystrophy), as  all conditions inhibit cell function and hinder the brain’s responsiveness to stimuli.
  • reduces the biomarkers of oxidative brain damage
  • may help reverse age-associated mitochondrial structural decay

We have come to the place and time when connecting the dots is seen as confrontational rather than creating dialogue in order to make an informed decision based on comparing all the evidence to remain healthy and not dependent on pharmaceutical drugs. If we consider that each year the USA uses approximately 12 trillion kilograms of chemicals, produced or imported and Canada is no better with little or no research within the food chain or accountability for how they affect our health and well-being. We must do our part since no one else will, chose food as close to nature as possible—non-GMO or organic foods—and learn to garden or be a part of a community garden. Drink plenty of pure water, 2 liters per day, start your day with a squeezed lemon in water before eating breakfast to set your digestion for the day. Exercise daily, and take high quality vitamins to compensate for what is lost from the diet and the environmental toxins.  At Life Choice, this has been our mission all along, producing products that work in a toxic world. We have done the research and proudly stand behind the professional products made; to offer genuine therapeutic value to match pharmaceutical drugs but without the side effects or dependency.

Additional Reading:

References:

[1] Lee, Jiseon and Hee-Jin Kim. 2022.

[2] Libanati, Cesar. 2020.

[3] Public Health Agency of Canada. 2020.

[4] Nieper, Hans. 1969.

[5] Yasmeen, Nazia et al. 2013.

[6] Neurotransmitters are located in a neuron’s axon terminal and stored within small sacs called synaptic vesicles, each containing thousands of molecules. When an electrical signal travels down a neuron, it causes these vesicles to merge with the membrane at the axon terminal, releasing neurotransmitters into the fluid-filled gap between the nerve cell and its target cell, which may be another nerve, a muscle, or a gland. This gap, the synaptic junction, is less than 40 nanometers wide. Here, neurotransmitters quickly cross, binding to specific receptors on the target cell like a key in a lock, triggering responses such as electrical signals, muscle contractions, or hormone release.

[7] Goldman, Erik. 2011.

[8] Simpson, R K Jr et al. 1996.

[9] Sanders, Robert. 2002.

[10] ibid.

[11] ibid.