Monkeys with no memories and the marijuana munchies

Endocannabinoids are chemicals we make that are important in many functions, including cognitive thought, and memory. When our internal endocannabinoid levels are low, we also start to crave sugar. (THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is also a cannabinoid, and using it messes with our cannabinoid system, giving us the munchies).

In this study, endocannabinoid levels were evaluated in the prefrontal cortex area of 23 pairs of brain cadavers of people with schizophrenia and normal age and gender matched comparisons. Messenger RNA levels for endocannabinoid production were lower in the schizophrenic brains.

Eighteen brains of macaque monkeys who had been exposed long-term to one of two antipsychotics, haloperidol (Haldol) or olanzapine (Zyprexa), were compared to brains that had never been exposed to these medications. There was no significant difference in their endocannabinoid levels. So even though the medication was helping some aspect of the schizophrenia, it was not correcting the endocannabinoid imbalance.

That might provide one reason why it might be hard for schizophrenics to stay compliant with their medication--they're not being given a medication that helps their brains remember to take it.

As a nutritionist, I also see an important "next study". Knowing that omega-3 fatty acids DO improve cognition and memory, I wonder what would happen if that supplementation was added to the protocol?

It also explains why these clients have such an appetite for sweets, and the kind of foods that further degrade the brain. It's coming from a pretty entrenched biological mechanism.

Eggan SM, Hashimoto T, Lewis DA. Reduced cortical cannabinoid 1 receptor messenger RNA and protein expression in schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;65(7):772-84.

OK, I managed to keep a straight face until now, which I wanted to do since schizophrenia is an entirely serious topic and people with the disease deserve my respect. Completely. But do you know how hard it was to word this study without using the distracting phrase "monkey brain"? I figured this guy must have been a subject, given his predilection for popsicles.

Fish and dementia

I've talked a lot about how fish develops brain power. It also helps you hang onto the brain power you have! In a French study, 1214 seniors without dementia were followed for 4 years. During that time, 65 of them developed dementia. It was found that the higher the person's eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) level, the lower the risk of dementia. Factors that could have explained this trend that were factored out included: age, education, diabetes, and vitamin E levels. EPA appeared to be a more significant determinant in this population than did the "other" fish oil, docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA.

When individuals also had depression, it appears as total fatty acid ratios also became important. High ratios of the omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids were also important in risk determination.

One thing to take away from this study: Omega-3's are important for preserving brain integrity. Secondly, balancing the right kind of fats and limiting the potentially destructive ones (omega-6's, if you've been reading this blog that means the "S" and "C" oils), is important for managing mood and preventing depression.

Samieri C, Féart C, Letenneur L, Dartigues JF, Pérès K, Auriacombe S, Peuchant E, Delcourt C, Barberger-Gateau P. Low plasma eicosapentaenoic acid and depressive symptomatology are independent predictors of dementia risk. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Sep;88(3):714-21.

Trans fat information

Yes, I've been a little quiet lately. I've been traveling, and also ramping up to re-launch my newsletter, After the Diet. This next issue is about food policy, which I really want to get out before the election.

Don't fret, I did my best to be nonpartisan! The goal was mainly to illustrate how the things we believe about food and the foods that show up in our food supply are related to deals cut on Capitol Hill. I do my best to stay right down the middle. My obligation is to help anyone who can benefit from my expertise, since diabetes, infertility, depression, you name it, affect Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents.

It matters not to me HOW you vote, it matters THAT you vote, and that when you do, your vote is informed.

So I researched some issues related to foods and put them together in a newsletter.

The graphic you see is a handout, included in that newsletter, that I developed on trans-fats, since they've recently been making a lot of news and I see clients misusing this information since they don't understand it.

If you're interested in any of the following:
--why wild salmon isn't really wild
--why the United States sued Mexico to import high-fructose corn syrup
--how flooding in Iowa may be raising the price of shrimp
--why catfish is not so easy to find in your grocery store
--what food-related legislation was actually co-sponsored by (!) John McCain and
John Kerry
--what FDA warning is potentially reducing the IQ of babies
--what one simple change Americans could make to collectively save $18,630,000,000
then you might be interested in subscribing to my newsletter.

I'm already working on the next edition, which will cover the following topics:

Melatonin: The Ultimate Antioxidant?

Dietary Aspects of Melatonin Balance

Sleep, Weight, Insulin Resistance, and Aging

Why Do Pilots Have Shortened Lifespans?

Is It Attention Deficit Disorder? Or Is It Sleep Deprivation?

It's a really fun publication and I'd love to have you subscribe!

I promise, once I get this issue out, there's lots and lots to blog about.

Stay tuned!

The effects of omega-3 fatty acids monotherapy in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment:

In my last post, I suggested that despite the findings of one study, it was still a good idea to supplement omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. Here is one study supporting my argument.

Forty-six seniors with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease were given either a dose of omega-3's of 1.8 grams per day (roughly equivalent to what was provided in the previously mentioned study) or placebo. A 24-week, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study was carried out to test the feasibility of using omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) monotherapy in people with cognitive impairment and to explore its effects on cognitive function and general clinical condition in these participants. Seventy-six participants completed the study. Those who received the omega-3's showed better improvement on a clinician-based assessment of symptoms. The change was more significant in those individuals with mild cognitive impairment than it was in those diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

The changes were more significant, also, in persons with higher concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in their red blood cells.

And, as I suggested, study design is an important determinant of outcome. In the words of the researchers, "Further studies should be considered with a larger-sample size, diet registration, higher dosages, comparisons between different combinations of PUFAs, and greater homogeneity of participants, especially those with mild Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment."

I am excited to see what studies like this teach us about minimizing the devastating effects of diseases of aging, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease!

Chiu CC, Su KP, Cheng TC, Liu HC, Chang CJ, Dewey ME, Stewart R, Huang SY. The effects of omega-3 fatty acids monotherapy in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment: a preliminary randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Aug 1;32(6):1538-44. Epub 2008 May 25.

Effect of fish-oil supplementation on mental well-being in older subjects: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

We hear all the time that fish oil is good for mood. So why did this study here not come to that conclusion?

302 seniors (independently living) were divided into 3 groups. The first group was dosed 1800 daily milligrams of EPA and DHA, the second group 400 milligrams, and the third group received placebo capsules. Before being given the capsules, and 13 and 26 weeks into the study, plasma concentrations of EPA and DHA as well as responses to several psychological tests were measured. Even though the fish oil significantly increased EPA and DHA concentration in the two dosed groups (by 238% in the high dose and 51% in the low dose), responses to the questionnaires were not significantly different. Why is that? There are probably several reasons.

1. Brain function is about a lot more than just omega-3 balance. Independently living seniors are likely to be eating an overall diet that is deficient in several nutrients. It would have been interesting to see a baseline blood test of other nutrient levels to see if overall nutritional status was correlated with test scores and EPA/DHA response.
2. The background diet of these seniors was not measured, or if it was, it was not reported. If, which is common because of convenience, the group as a whole was eating a lot of pre-prepared and packaged food, the ratio of pro-inflammatory oils to dietary omega-3 content may affect the outcome of the study.

It doesn't mean that just because there was not a mood-based response to these oils that they weren't beneficial. If levels of omega-3's increased dramatically, they most certainly were reducing cardiovascular risk, preventing the development of dementia and Alzheimer's, and improving bone health, to mention a few.

I just wish these researchers would understand the importance of controlling diet in any study that investigates the usefulness of an isolated supplement. Not only will it provide more significant results, it will keep people from mistakenly assuming that a certain nutrient is not of benefit when it actually is.

van de Rest O, Geleijnse JM, Kok FJ, van Staveren WA, Hoefnagels WH, Beekman AT, de Groot LC. Effect of fish-oil supplementation on mental well-being in older subjects: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Sep;88(3):706-13.

What happens in your brain when you have bipolar disorder

I love studies like this. They help substantiate that diagnoses such as bipolar disorder are not just "behavioral problems." They come with true biochemical imbalances, that sometimes even affect the tissue structure of the brain. Hopefully, the more studies like this are done, the less people with bipolar disorder will be looked down upon by society, and will be able to get the care they need that truly corrects these imbalances.

In this study, the fatty acid composition of the orbitofrontal cortex was studied in 10 patients with bipolar disorder. Compared to 19 cortices in individuals who did not have bipolar disorder. (This was performed in post-mortem, or after all the patients had died.)

Those individuals who had had bipolar disorder had higher concentrations of arachidonic acid and lower concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) than those who had not. In both populations, there was also a trend toward higher arachidonic acid concentration and lower DHA concentration that was related to the degree of alcohol consumption.

A little visit over to Wikipedia gave me this information about the orbitofrontal cortex: Destruction...typically leads to a pattern of disinhibited behaviour. Examples include swearing excessively, hypersexuality, poor social interaction, compulsive gambling, excessive alcohol / smoking / drug use, and poor empathising ability. Disinhibited behaviour by patients with some forms of frontotemporal dementia is thought to be caused by degeneration of the OFC[8]. Patients with damage to the OFC tend to make rash decisions, and typically manage their finances poorly.

Sometimes it's easy to make judgments about a person's behavior and assume the person can just change them if they want to. It's reality that sometimes the problem is truly biological and that changing the nutritional status and/or the biochemistry of the brain is what is needed in order to help change behaviors.

McNamara RK, Jandacek R, Rider T, Tso P, Stanford KE, Hahn CG, Richtand NM. Deficits in docosahexaenoic acid and associated elevations in the metabolism of arachidonic acid and saturated fatty acids in the postmortem orbitofrontal cortex of patients with bipolar disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2008 Sep 30;160(3):285-99. Epub 2008 Aug 20.

Omega-3's for schizophrenia

DHA is commonly the omega-3 of the fish oils that gets the most attention for use in mental health conditions. However, EPA is gaining quite a reputation of its own. In this study, 24 patients presenting with their first episode of psychosis were treated with EPA for 12 weeks. Just before and at the end of this interval, brain scans were done to look for changes. Increases in glutathione and decreases in negative symptoms were observed as a result of EPA treatment.

Glutathione is a chemical that helps to prevent cell death, so its increase means EPA helps to preserve brain tissue. Because glutathione is not something that is easily administed via diet or supplementation, it's good to know there are other avenues for increasing its concentrations in populations at risk for greater rates of cell death, such as people with schizophrenia.

Berger GE, Wood SJ, Wellard RM, Proffitt TM, McConchie M, Amminger GP, Jackson GD, Velakoulis D, Pantelis C, McGorry PD. Ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid in first-episode psychosis. A 1H-MRS study. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2008 Sep;33(10):2467-73. Epub 2008 Jan 16.