Epigenetics

Cold Thermogenesis 3

Evolutionary strategy is based upon finding an environmental niche and exploiting it. Evolution is based upon change and the natural adaptations to it. Today, we are going to explore how some environmental triggers might open a “biochemical trap door.” Why is circadian biology critical? For evolution to work, a cell first must adapt to its environment. So the first thing any living cell would see in an earth day is a period of day and night. It also has to find food to make energy (ATP). In addition, it has to control its own cellular division. The epic battle for the cell is the circadian cycle has to “yoke” the metabolic cycle to its growth cycle. Most people know that the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), is the circadian pacemaker that monitors this dance between darkness and light and the seasonal cold and hot temperatures in our environment. Evolution apparently agreed with this assessment, because we now know it to be true. What most people do not know is how leptin plays a massive role in regulating it. Research has revealed that leptin can induce expression of a neuropeptide gene called vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) through the VIP cytokine response element. VIP actually is what sets the circadian pacemaker to light. Leptin yokes metabolism and sleep to the light and dark cycle. When temperature becomes the dominant environmental trigger and not light cycles, leptin induces endothelial nitric oxide synthetase (eNOS), that shuts down the photic effects of VIP on the SCN. This means that leptin forces the SCN not to be able to use light any longer to yoke circadian cycles! Once temperature begins to yoke the circadian rhythms, some very special things happen to our biochemistry that normally does not occur in other environments. These are ancient epigenetic programs that are hardwired into the DNA of every descendant of a eutherian mammal. We are descended from these animals.

By Jack Kruse|February 23rd, 2012|Cancer, Circadian Cycle, Cold Thermogenesis, Colon Cancer, Diabetes, Epi Paleo, Epigenetics, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Mitochondria, Optimal Pillar 1, Optimal Pillar 4, Series: Cold Thermogenesis, The Importance of Sleep, The Leptin Prescription, The Optimal Paleo Diet|234 Comments

Cold Thermogensis 2

Now that you understand that I believe cold environments were how life first evolved, what implications does this hold for all life and humans today? I think with this thought experiment we need to begin to talk about another aspect of evolution to fully conceptualize how cold works for biology. Let’s talk about sleep for 4 short minutes. First, I want you to watch this video before you proceed. Recently, one of my readers pointed out he was confused by Dr. Gamble when she said the normal pattern of sleep in a natural environment had two cycles. He wanted to know why her version and my version for sleep as written in my post “Rx for the Leptin Rx” were not congruent. It was a great question that really opens the discussion to the idea of evolutionary mismatches. These mismatches occur in many modern systems of biology, and they are actually increasing in frequency and severity as time elapses. The reason is quite simple. Evolution is constantly getting faster as time goes on, relative to the current state of our genome. This is really how the “cellular theory of relativity” is currently affecting our own genome today. The speed of evolutionary change has far out stripped the ability of our paleolithic genes to catch up. This mismatch causes major problems for modern humans. When they further exacerbate the system with choices not congruent with our biology, the results are magnified in disease incidence and prevalence. She also mentioned in passing, early in her talk, that people who went deep into the ground have been found to be “very productive” while in a cold dark environment. She did not expand on this concept at all, but I would strongly suggest you remember this as the cold thermogenesis series progresses on. There is a deep biologic reason this occurs. As we use this pathway, lots of things improve that we do not expect.

By Jack Kruse|February 22nd, 2012|Alzheimer’s, Circadian Cycle, Cold Thermogenesis, Diabetes, Epi Paleo, Epigenetics, Heart Disease, Inflammation, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Optimal Pillar 1, Optimal Pillar 4, Series: Cold Thermogenesis, The Importance of Sleep, The Leptin Prescription, The Optimal Paleo Diet|Comments Off

Cold Thermogenesis 1: Theory To Practice Begins

Today, we are going to bend your mind a bit by explaining to you many of the things you might be believe as biologic truths published in biochemistry books today are in fact truths, when certain environmental truths are held within a constant range. Yet, they change tremendously when certain factors are altered. Often the biophysical changes do not even have to affect the thermal coefficients of the biochemistry in the hypothalamus. Just the perception of the environmental change from the brain is enough to alter the chemistry as is the enzyme and proteins existed on the top of Mount Everest or on the ocean floor in the coldest environments on earth. When biochemistry was observed in living cells and described, the scientists rarely considered these effects on our biochemistry and how it may alter the cellular terror. Our hypothalamus rewires too many stimuli, and it appears that temperature is a major factor in the rewiring protocol of our brain. Evolution has clearly needed to use this in the past for some reason. Our job as enquiring primal bio-hackers, is to figure out why and how this might have happened. In essence, they looked at the complex biologic machinery from a standard Newtonian platform. Most scientists know that Newtonian physics explain much of what we observe in the physical sciences here on earth, and that quantum mechanics best describes the physics of subatomic matter of matter in space on a universal scale. When QM theory is adapted to many biologic systems, some puzzling things emerge that are hard to explain. Complicating matters, we have few ways to measure the quantum effects within biologic systems to test how they may affect living cells. This does not imply in any way that quantum mechanics does not apply to biologic systems, because it clearly does. It is often buried in the biochemistry equations that biochemists use to describe how living cells make order from the complete chaos that rules matter. This implies the effects might be difficult to discern or measure with current techniques we have, and this is why we have yet to uncover them in biologic systems. The brain clearly uses quantum mechanics to operate. This is not a controversial point at all in the scientific world.

By Jack Kruse|February 21st, 2012|Cold Thermogenesis, Epigenetics, Optimal Pillar 2, Optimal Pillar 4, Series: Cold Thermogenesis, The Importance of Sleep|68 Comments

Rewiring The Leptin Rx Reset

Evolutionary strategy is based upon finding an environmental niche and exploiting it. Evolution is based upon change and the natural adaptations to it. Today, we are going to explore how some environmental triggers might open a “biochemical trap door” that will allow me to add a new recommendation for you to consider adding to the Leptin Rx reset protocol for those who are LR. I am beginning a series on circadian biology to show you how this all ties in together. Today, I will give you a very cursory review of why circadian biology, leptin, and environment are critical to using the Quilt to obtain your Optimal life. Why is circadian biology critical to humans? For evolution to work Optimally, a cell first must adapt to its environment. The first situation any living cell would be subjected to in an earth day is a period of day and night. Over time it would also be subject to the seasons in our environment because of the earth’s revolution, tilt, and angulations of the sun. As time continued on, further life would have been subjected to solar variations and would have had to account for it. It also has to find food to make energy (ATP) to survive, and it also has to control its own cellular division. The epic battle for the cell is to have the regularly expected circadian cycles found in our environment and ”yoke” those signals to its metabolic cycle and to its growth cycle. Most people know that the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain is where the circadian pacemaker lies in humans. It monitors this dance between darkness and light, and the seasonal cold and hot temperatures in our environment to help control and monitor our own growth and development. Evolution apparently agreed to use these signals in all living things because this is what it uses for all life on earth today. What most people do not know is how leptin plays a massive role in regulating it. Many people and physicians think it plays a small role. Recent research has revealed that leptin can induce expression of a neuropeptide called vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) through the VIP cytokine response element. This is an epigenetic modification from our environment directly signaling the master hormone in our body. So what does VIP actually do?

WHY PERSPECTIVE MATTERS?

READERS SUMMARY: 1. CIRCADIAN BIOLOGY NEEDS TO BE YOUR BIGGEST CONCERN AND NOT YOUR FOOD 2. WHY HAVING AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANCED BRAIN MAYBE A DETRIMENT AT TIMES 3. THINK ABOUT WHY YOU FEEL AND THINK THE WAY YOU DO BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING 4. THINK ABOUT WHAT IS SAFE BEFORE YOU EAT IT 5. CHANGING YOUR PERSPECTIVE MAY OPEN [...]

By Jack Kruse|January 20th, 2012|Circadian Cycle, EMF, Epi Paleo, Epigenetics, Inflammation, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Optimal Pillar 1, Optimal Pillar 3, Optimal Pillar 4, Series: Miscellaneous, The Importance of Sleep, The Optimal Paleo Diet, Thyroid|Comments Off

Do You Have a Grain Brain?

READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHO IS DR. PETER UNGAR AND WHY ARE OUR TEETH A BIG DEAL? 2. WHAT DID GRAINS DO TO OUR BRAIN AND SKULL? 3. WHAT IS A CHIARI MALFORMATION AND HOW MIGHT IT BE TEETH RELATED? 4.. WHAT MIGHT BE THE REAL CURE OF SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)? 5. WHY PHYSICIANS [...]

By Jack Kruse|January 13th, 2012|Epi Paleo, Epigenetics, Inflammation, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Optimal Pillar 5, Series: Leaky Gut, The Importance of Sleep, The Optimal Paleo Diet|Comments Off

So You Completed The Leptin Rx? What’s Next?

Once you have added the Leptin Rx to your paleo/primal template and you have successfully experienced all the "small wins" that I mentioned in the Leptin FAQ's blog, what should you do next? If you recall reading the blog on how the leptin Rx works, it basically is a plan to make your gastrointestinal tract perform visceral exercises that it is not accustomed to performing, in order to cause neuroplastic changes in your hypothalamus' arcuate nucleus. It uses the vagus nerve as the "stimulator" to send these new messages to the brain. After a period of time, the inflammation will slowly dissipate at the median eminence, and these afferent signals will force expression of certain genes that have been repressed since we were in utero. These genes and pathways are hardwired into our DNA at conception, and used until the child is 12-24 months old. After this time, they are not expressed any longer, because transgenerational epigenetics favors instead the use of the leptin receptor from an evolutionary perspective. This occurs because the leptin receptor in the arcuate nucleus is far more sensitive and accurate in accounting for electrons from food than was using older circadian and ultradian cycles that we used in uteri during morphogenesis. The human brain learns "what neural circuits" to use by repetitive firing. We have a saying in brain surgery, nerves that fire together wire together. This is the basis of the theory of Hebbian learning. These exercises I told you about in the Leptin Rx signal hypothalamic neurons to adapt to these visceral responses to food in a new way, to sensitize the leptin receptor in order to account for electrons from food in precisely how it was designed to do by evolution. In essence, we are altering the genetic expression of the genes in our arcuate nucleus. I describe it to my patients as "performing brain surgery on them without using a blade." The visceral responses to the Leptin Rx are transcribed by the vagus nerve, and this information is sent to the brain. This message is dramatically different than the one the patient is used to giving the leptin receptor, and the new message induces changes to the neuropeptides in the brainstem. After some time, (6-8 weeks for most) changes will be induced. These can be followed by the clinician or the patient. Those clinical signs are outlined in the Leptin FAQ blog post. In doing this, we force the neurons to see neurochemical signals that radically confuse the leptin receptor and the brain. The brain's response to a signal it does not understand is to revert to an older known pathway or to learn a new way to tackle on old problem. I would suggest you watch How your brain re-learns from 2007 by Dr. VS Ramachandran in a TED talk. He exquisitely explains how this type of learning is stimulated in the brain for phantom limb pain and its treatment. One need not use expensive technology to induce gene expression. It is possible to do without an NIH grant too. It requires some synthesis of thought and experience. When you understand the essence of how the brain works, you just need to design a program and force it upon the brain to decipher what to do. That is the essence of the Leptin Rx reset.

TO B OR NOT TOO B……..OR IS IT PROTEIN?

READERS SUMMARY: 1. WHY IS PALEO PROTEIN CRITICAL TO CARTILAGE AND TENDON REPAIR? 2. HOW DOES PROTEIN HELP REPAIR CARTILAGE IN INJURY AND DEGENERATION? 3. WHY ARE B VITAMINS CRITICAL TO THE PALEO TEMPLATE? 4. WHY A PALEO TEMPLATE IS BEST FOR A PREGNANT MOM OR A YOUNG CHILD? Today, we are going to go [...]

By Jack Kruse|October 5th, 2011|Autism, Cancer, Depression, Diabetes, Epi Paleo, Epigenetics, HIIT - Heavy Weights, MS - Multiple Sclerosis, Nutrients and Supplements, Optimal Pillar 4, Optimal Pillar 5, Series: Miscellaneous, The Optimal Paleo Diet|45 Comments

Central Leptin Dominance: Part 2

Continuing on in the Central leptin series we will resume in Orlando, Florida. In Orlando, Dr. Myers, went on to say, "In addition to examining the molecular details and importance of specific LRb signals, we are dissecting the regulation and function of individual populations of LRb-expressing neurons and examining the role of leptin in the development of neural circuits. By understanding the totality of leptin action in this way we hope to decipher the mechanisms by which leptin regulates the predisposition to diabetes and other aspects of the metabolic syndrome." This statement carries huge implications. He has found that not only is leptin neurons somatotopically organized in the brain, but the leptin receptor also appears to be somatotopically organized into certain regions that wire and select certain neurons in the brain that modulate all parts of the obesity physiologic response. It also appears that this organization is different in men and women at the parvo-cellular nucleus in the hypothalamus. Certain parts of the receptor control total body glycemic control, others body weight and size, and others power the para-mammillary neurons to directly control fecundity, placental growth and oocyte maturation. The receptor even codes for gender differences! Men and women really are from Mars and Venus when it comes to obesity and fat deposition, and this explains why the endocrine response is different in men and women. We have known men and women have different leptin levels as adults but did not know how or why this happens. Now we do. We now are beginning to understand why it is the case as well. It helps explain why we see can see PCOS and stubborn weight gain together and why fat is distributed differently in both sexes.

By Jack Kruse|August 28th, 2011|Anorexia and Bulimia, Autism, Diabetes, Dyslexia, Endometriosis and PCOS, Epi Paleo, Epigenetics, Hormones & Methylation, Leaky Gut / Grain Brain, Live your Optimal Weight, Optimal Pillar 2, Series: Leptin, The Leptin Prescription|Comments Off

Your Gut, Neurotransmitters, and Hormones

READERS SUMMARY: 1. HOW YOUR GUT BRAIN AND RESPONSE OF YOUR BRAIN ARE ALL TIED TOGETHER? 2. WHAT ARE THE 4 MAIN NEUROTRANSMITTERS? 3. WHAT DO THEY DO AND MEAN? 4. WHAT AFFECTS THEIR PRODUCTION? 5. HORMONES ARE THE BRAINS ENDOCRINE SECRETION THAT TELLS YOU HOW YOUR EPIGENETIC SWITCHES ARE SET. 6. HOW WE USE [...]