salt deficiency Archives - Hormones Matter

Sweet Death by Sugar

Published on January 19, 2015

6139 views

We all know that sugar is bad for us but we cannot resist it. Why not? Expert Robert Lustig MD, reasoned on 60-Minutes that for humans in nature all sweet tasting things are edible and not poisonous. There are no toxins in nature that taste sweet, and thus, evolutionarily speaking, favoring sweet things is predetermined in our genes; we are born liking sweets. All of this is true with one major exception: sugar, the natural substance, can become poisonous when modified.

Sugar and Ethanol

Consider the simple modification of squeezing a fruit for its juice. The modification is not chemical: we merely separated the sugary liquid from the insoluble fiber in the fruit–some soluble fibers may remain. This little change makes no difference for most fruits or our taste buds, but it modifies how our body metabolizes sugar in it. According to Lustig’s book Fat Chance (a must read!), when we eat the fruit with insoluble fiber attached (typically the skin), the fructose in the fruit (most sugar in fruit is fructose) bypasses our metabolic digestive process (insoluble fibers are not digestible) and heads straight to the gut where the good bacteria digest the fructose as their food from the fibers, thereby producing more nutrients for us. But if we drink the juice alone without any insoluble fiber, the same amount of fructose now gets into the metabolic cycle and by a complicated process turns into ethanol and gets stuck in the liver. Ethanol is a toxin. Ethanol is an alcohol we also use to improve car mileage. Ethanol causes non-alcoholic “alcoholic” liver disease. In fact, ethanol is alcohol and those drinking apple juice (thinking of kids now) are in fact drinking alcohol in terms of the likely outcome of the metabolic process, as per Dr. Lustig.

So we all thought that feeding our kids fresh fruit juices is a good thing but we also knew that they should not be getting too much sugar because their behavior changes from it. Now it is clear why their behavior changes: the part of sugar that turns into ethanol is alcohol. The other parts of the fruit juice that do turn into digestible sugars (glucose and sucrose) do something else to the body.

What is Glucose?

Glucose is “blood sugar” meaning the sugar our body can use. Sucrose converts to glucose as well. What happens to the glucose?

Some stores sell glucose in a liquid gooey form—thicker than honey—that I recommend you taste. Take a small teaspoon, fill it with glucose and swallow. The first thing you will notice (yes, I did the tasting test) is that it is not that sweet. The second thing you will notice is that the moment you swallow it, you cannot count till 5 and you are hot. So you take your sweater off. Then you have the urge to do something—paint the house? Mow the grass? If you are a kid: bounce off the walls and drive the people around you nuts. This is normal. This is what glucose feels like.

Note, however, that when you eat a teaspoon of table sugar, you will neither feel so hot, nor will you have so much energy. What is the difference? What happens when you drink a diet drink or eat sugar substitutes? You will neither be hot nor have any energy. The difference in feeling hot and having energy versus not feeling hot and not having energy represents the difference in the metabolism of glucose versus fructose and the fake sugar stuff.

The Metabolism of Glucose versus Fructose

I will not get into deep chemical equations or models; for that please watch the video below by Dr. Lustig. Rather, I will reduce all complexity and simply tell you the end of the story with as minimal of the underlying process as possible.

When food arrives into the body, insulin is released to convert the food into fat and deposit it for later use as glucose. Glucose is used by our brain and muscles for energy. After insulin has done its conversion, all insulin is used up. When the brain is hungry, it fetches the hormone leptin to get some energy. Thus, leptin grabs a hold of the available glucose and serves it to the brain (this is highly simplified!). The brain is happy and full of energy.

Now consider the situation when the only food we eat is glucose. Insulin is released but it has nothing to convert. It is already in the final form (glucose for the brain) and so the glucose goes straight to the brain, the kids are popping off the wall, and you suddenly find yourself painting the house. Note, however, that the insulin is in the blood and it is waiting for the food to arrive so it can work and convert it to fat. But there is no food; we only ate glucose and it is already being used by the brain! So what is insulin in the blood to do? Insulin stays in the blood, circles around looking for food. It finds none. By staying in the blood, over time this is a “cry wolf” scenario and the body starts ignoring insulin announcing the arrival of food that isn’t there. This is how insulin resistance starts.

Now consider that instead of glucose, you drink a glass of apple juice. It has natural sugar in it, some vitamins (very little), no fiber, no protein. The sugar of fruit is mostly fructose but a small part of it is also sucrose. So insulin releases again to match the size of the apple juice drink we just had, but again, it faces a problem. While sucrose becomes glucose in our body and can be converted and stored as fat, fructose is not seen as sugar. So once again, insulin is looking for food but finds none; it keeps on circling in our blood looking for food. It is ignored and insulin resistance begins.

The Metabolism of Glucose versus Sugar Substitutes & “Natural” Sugars like Stevia

Now consider you eat a diet something—by diet I mean sugar substitutes with reduced or zero calories. It certainly tastes sweet (very sweet indeed) but again, there is no glucose or sucrose in it and while it does not become alcohol in the liver, it certainly makes insulin run around in circles looking for food to convert to fat and deposit. Cry wolf again and the insulin is ignored. Insulin resistance begins. Why is this important? Because insulin resistance is type II diabetes!

The Famine

Now let’s continue about the peril of our non-toxic sweets. The fact that insulin is out looking for glucose also signals leptin that energy is incoming! Leptin is a hormone that is in charge of messaging the brain that glucose is available. In the case when insulin is running around in our blood in search of food it can convert to fat for later use as glucose but there is no food to be found, leptin finds no glucose. Thus, leptin tells the brain that famine is here.

Famine for the Brain is Obesity for Your Body!

The famine message to the brain means one thing: conserve energy. It reduces all non-essential activities, and literally, will not let you get up from that couch! This is highly simplified of course, but pay attention to the outcome. You are actually eating and drinking and at the same time your brain is getting the message of famine. What will that lead to? When the brain thinks it is famine time, it is famine time. The fact that you are eating and drinking sugar or sugar substitutes with lots of calories is not noticed by the brain. As far as it is concerned, there is no glucose available so it must slow your metabolism. A slow metabolism leads to obesity.

Sugar Anyone?

So, while there are many people who think nothing of having sweets or a soda, consider what it does to your body! Consider that it slows down your activity and forces you into famine state even though you are well fed! Consider that it makes you obese and sets you up for type 2 diabetes.

Now tell me if you still think that sweets are not toxic poisons for us! They are. And there is one more thing to add to the story that no one talks about. I mention this because I deal with a group of migraineurs—I was one of them until I figured things out and wrote a book about it and several articles about it on Hormones Matter.

Consider this quote from the Harrison’s Manual of Medicine:

…serum Na+ falls by 1.4 mM for every 100-mg/dL increase in glucose, due to glucose-induced H2O efflux from cells. (page 4)

Na+ is sodium ion. Sodium is part of sodium-chloride, which is salt. Glucose-induced H2O efflux from cells represents water exiting the cells as a result of an increase of glucose. Why is that, you may ask? The answer is very simple: sugar is an amazing water soak-up device. It pulls water from everywhere it can. It holds onto water like its life depended upon it. Unfortunately for the body, sugar pulls the water from the cells leaving the cells empty on the inside and a lot of fluid tied to sugar on the outside. As long as that sugar is there, the cells are not able to hydrate in any fashion until the level of Na+ is increased beyond a threshold level where Na+ can take water away from the glucose. Na+ also attracts water. In fact, all saline electrolyte liquids provided by IV or for drinking in hospitals are Na+ heavy to rehydrate the cells.

Thus, sugar not only starts and enhances diabetes II and obesity; it also shuts down cell hydration. This may cause headaches or migraines depending on your propensity.

In conclusion, if someone asks you if you would prefer to eat a teaspoon of sugar or a teaspoon of salt, while your taste buds will undoubtedly scream for sugar, you should know better!

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References

Sugar: The Bitter Truth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Longo et al., Harrison’s Manual of Medicine. 18^th edition. McGraw Hill. 2013.
Artificial sweeteners could cause spikes in blood sugar by By Brady Dennis September 17, 2014
Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/study-suggests-sweeteners-could-contribute-to-obesity-and-diabetes/2014/09/17/c3c04ea6-3dc2-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html
Artificial sweeteners could lead to obesity, diabetes. By Michelle Castillo CBS NEWS July 10, 2013, 4:28 PM
CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-sweeteners-could-lead-to-obesity-diabetes/
Artificial sweeteners may promote diabetes, claim scientists
The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/17/artificial-sweeteners-diabetes-saccharin-blood-sugar
Do Artificial Sweeteners Really Cause Diabetes? By Published: June 7, 2013 By Jessica Chia
Women’s Health Magazine: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/artificial-sweeteners-cause-diabetes
Could artificial sweetener CAUSE diabetes? Splenda ‘modifies way the body handles sugar’, increasing insulin production by 20% by Rachel Reilly Published: 12:27 Est, 30 May 2013 | Updated: 12:27 Est, 30 May 2013
The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2333336/Could-artificial-sweetener-CAUSE-diabetes-Splenda-modifies-way-body-handles-sugar-increasing-insulin-production-20.html
How To Starve Cancer To Death By Removing This One Thing From Your Diet
Organic Health: http://organichealth.co/starve-cancer-to-death-by-removing-this/
Is sugar a toxin? Experts debate the role of fructose in our obesity epidemic By Tamar Haspel, September 2, 2013
Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/is-sugar-a-toxin-experts-debate-the-role-of-fructose-in-our-obesity-epidemic/2013/08/30/58a906d6-f952-11e2-afc1-c850c6ee5af8_story.html
Scientific team sounds the alarm on sugar as a source of disease. By Barbara Sadick Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/sc-health-1210-sugar-metabolic-syndrome-20141205-story.html#page=1

Dehydration and Salt Deficiency Trigger Migraines

by Angela A Stanton, PhD

Published on November 4, 2014

48516 views

I had migraines for well over 20 years. I am not alone; about 12% of the US population has migraines. Initially, I thought I had headaches but my “headaches” were accompanied by symptoms that are not normally part of headaches: anxiety, IBS, RLS, nausea, sensitivity to darkness, light, smells, and everything seemed irritating. I learned later that these symptoms are part of prodome; a sort of early warning that a migraine is coming.

I have a PhD in NeuroEconomics. My work had less to do with the economics side of this degree and more to do with the neuroscience. As I was working through my PhD, I had migraines, but with the demands of school, two kids and a husband, I neither had the time nor the understanding to attempt a scientific study for finding the cause of migraines. I did what everyone else with migraines does: I took pain killers. When the pain killers didn’t work, I took triptans (serotonin medications). When those medications didn’t work, I went to the emergency room (ER) to get an IV with electrolytes and injections of heavy narcotic medications.

Eventually, nothing worked and I had to find something to help with my migraines. I applied the knowledge I gained from my education to find a cause for my migraines. What I learned was that the cause was right in front of me all along. Migraines could be triggered by dehydration and sodium or salt deficits. Although this is not a theory that has been tested yet, consider the first treatment a migraineur receives in the ER – IV fluids with electrolytes. This is an important clue that in hindsight should have tipped me off. Let me explain.

Neuron Activity and Migraines

In order to understand the connection of electrolytes to migraines, looking at an individual brain cell (neuron) is critical. The image and the function of cells is in every biology 101 book. I realized though, that the basic necessity of the neuron’s survival itself had not been examined by scientists in the context of migraines. Most migraine research begins with the pain of migraine. Scientists often consider that pain to be the cause, so they look for pain relief as their solution. But pain is a symptom rather than the cause. In fact, migraine itself is a symptom of something out of balance in the brain. The real cause is a biochemical imbalance in and around the neurons. Amazingly, ER nurses who use IV electrolyte treatments for migraine have been trained to do the right thing without realizing the importance of what they were doing. Why exactly do nurses start migraine treatment with electrolytes? I asked one nurse and she said: “you are dehydrated.” Interesting, I thought, since I drink plenty of water. How can I be dehydrated?

What is Hydration?

Being hydrated and drinking water are only partially connected. “Hydrate, a term used to indicate that a substance contains water” implies that water is only part of hydration. Electrolytes that I received for my migraines were not just water but brine containing many essential micro nutrients, minerals, and, most importantly, salt. If you look at a cell, it has a membrane that separates it from the external environment with bumps and pores on it. Anything that wants to go into the cell or come out of it must do so on the demand of the cell or by osmosis via channels. This indicates that drinking only water can dehydrate since it can enter the cells via osmotic channels through the membrane but larger elements cannot. However, there are many elements inside the cell, such as sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) among other things. Via osmosis, K+ may leave the cell if the K+ concentration outside of the cells is smaller than on the inside, thereby dehydrating the cells but NA+ is too large to leave or to enter. This can lead to a very dangerous health condition called water toxicity in which all nutrients leak through the osmotic gradient leaving too much water behind.

Salt Deficiency, Hydration and the Neuron

NaCl (salt) breaks up into ions and separate based on polarity in the body. Na+ (sodium) is inside the cells and its job is to attract and hold onto water, thereby hydrate. The job of Cl- is to maintain optimal hydration fluid levels outside of the cell. Note that Na is positively charged (+) and Cl is negatively charged (–) and these polarity differences result in voltage differences. Cells without proper quantity of Na+ and Cl- are not capable of voltage generation of the right magnitude. One of the functions of this specific voltage magnitude is the enabling of the sodium-potassium pumps that are located on the membrane of the neuron. Without proper voltage for the pumps, they may not be able to open to the outside or to the inside of the neuron. When a cell cannot open to the outside or to the inside, no exchange of nutrition can take place. Cells without sodium cannot retain water and remain dehydrated. Could malfunctioning pumps, brought on by low salt concentrations, be one of the triggers of migraine?

Sodium Potassium Pump

Low Salt Initiates a Cascade of Problems

We have several other issues without the proper electrolyte fluids inside the cells. Electrolytes carry magnesium, for example. Magnesium is used by the cells like a key to open the pumps. If there is no magnesium inside the cells, even if there is plenty of water and salt, the pumps cannot open. Phosphates provide the energy for the magnesium to open the pumps and so phosphates are also needed inside the cell. There are high voltage calcium channels in neuron membranes as well. Without high voltage, the calcium channels cannot work. Thus, even if there is enough voltage to hydrate the neuron and to create neurotransmitters, they are stuck without functioning high voltage calcium channels. Lack of calcium is not a serious problem since our bones are calcium storage sites from which calcium can always be drawn. Of course, osteoporosis is the outcome of low calcium availability to the cells. The brain also often swells in response to neural biochemical imbalance. The swelling itself has a variety of explanations, but not yet a coherent scientifically proven reason.

Migraines and Dehydration Triggers

Let me connect dehydration, lack of voltage, lack of sodium-potassium pump functioning, osmotic leakage, calcium channels, and migraines all together into one picture so you can see the connection.

Neurons without electrolytes in their environment cannot function. They are idle, dying, or dead—this is defined by new research just published in the Journal of Neuroscience as “brain depression”. Neurons are connected to communicate with each other. When neurons in a region don’t function, neighboring neurons try to awaken them—this is referred to as the spreading of electricity in the parts of the brain that are not in depression in the same scientific article. This is seen as aura in those with migraines in the occipital lobe of the brain. For migraines in other regions, the healthy neurons signal pain sensing nerves located in the meninges, a tissue separating the brain from the skull (there is no pain sensing nerve inside the brain). Migraine is pain signaled by pain-sensor neurons in the meninges and so the location of where we feel pain is not necessarily connected to the location that causes pain. If migraines occur seldom, they are not concern for alarm. If migraines are frequent, over 15 a month for several months, they are considered to be chronic. Chronic migraines may change the shape and function of the brain as well as make it more prone to strokes.

Salt Deficient Migraines

Currently, there are no published studies linking low salt to migraine onset and to my knowledge, there are no studies underway to investigate the effect of salt deficient diets on migraine. The evidence I have supporting this hypothesis first evolved by connecting the common clinical practice of IV electrolytes for migraineurs to the physiology of sodium-potassium pumps on the neurons. Next, I tested it on myself. It worked. Subsequently, others who have applied electrolyte hydration protocol have found that they can prevent or treat their migraines without medicines. After 20 years of migraines, I have been migraine free for four years now as a result of proper and regulated hydration, assisted by apps on my smart phone.

There is nothing like migraine free and medicine free life. While this may not be the only cause of migraines, it is physiologically likely that salt deficiency and dehydration can initiate a migraine. Together, with the theory and applied evidence by the many who use the hydration protocol, it is my belief that salt deficiency and dehydration ought to be considered as a possible cause and the hydration protocol be applied as the first line of treatment for migraine pain instead of medicines. Clinical trials with salt and hydration versus placebo may be an option albeit giving placebo to a person with migraine may not pass ethical committees’ scrutiny for experimenting.

About the author. Dr. Stanton received her BSc at UCLA in mathematics, MBA at UCR, MS in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford, PhD in NeuroEconomics at Claremont Graduate University, and fMRI certification at Harvard University. Follow her on Twitter at: @MigraineBook.

Additional References

Altered Hypothalamic Functional Connectivity with Autonomic Circuits and the Locus Coeruleus in Migraine, Eric A. Moulton et al. PLOSOne; April 17, 2014
MRI shows brain abnormalities in migraine patients, March 26, 2013, Radiological Society of North America
The Cerebellum and Migraine, Maurice Vincent, MD, PhD and Nouchine Hadjikhani, MD,
Headache. Jun 2007; 47(6): 820-833.doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2006.00715.x
Parenchymal spin-lock fMRI signals associated with cortical spreading depression
Joonas A Autio et al., Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism 34, 768-775 (May 2014) | doi:10.1038/jcbfm.2014.16

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