Power Up Your Brain (20 page)

Deficiencies in the function of this enzyme are linked to medical problems that include melanoma, diabetes, asthma, breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, glaucoma, lung cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s, and migraine headaches, to name a few. These deficiencies are inherited as subtle variations of DNA called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, pronounced “snips”). Various laboratories now offer a simple blood test to determine an individual’s SNPs status for glutathione S-transferase and for other gene variations that may indicate an increased risk to disease.

Thirty years ago, Thomas L. Perry published a postmortem analysis of the brains of Parkinson’s patients that demonstrated a significant reduction of glutathione.
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Multiple other studies have since confirmed this deficiency, which further lends support to the idea that brain degeneration is a consequence of impaired antioxidant function. More recent studies show a strong relationship between Parkinson’s and pesticide exposure, a situation that is exacerbated among individuals who are genetically disadvantaged due to reduced brain glutathione activity.

With this understanding of the roles of glutathione in detoxification and as a very powerful antioxidant, as we will explore in the next chapter, it makes sense to do everything possible to maintain and even enhance glutathione levels.

David:
Outdated Machinery

When I was 16 years old, I became concerned about the mismatch between our inherited genetic endowment and the toxic environment that so characterizes our modern world, and I wrote the following letter, which
The Miami News
published 40 years ago:

“After spending three days and two nights at the Sebring car races, I found myself to be in question: Can we adapt ourselves to this future environment? Perhaps our bodies are more suited to the lush forest bed or soft sandy beaches where former humans lived in duration. I don’t believe that the two weeks in the mountains or a Saturday at the beach will be enough to keep this body, which has evolved under less strenuous conditions, content. Perhaps the human will change rapidly in the next centuries to adapt himself to beer cans, concrete, and shattering noise. Our generations are each contributing to pollution-resistant lungs. But what about the people of today who are stuck with the outdated machinery?”

When I look at my writing since, I see that I am still challenged by this idea of helping people not be stuck with “outdated machinery.” Take, for example, this short passage from the
Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients
titled “Parkinson’s Disease—New Perspectives,” in which I expressed my concern for Parkinsonians whose physical machinery was not able to process and excrete environmental toxins: “. . . individuals with specific genetic defects causing hepatic detoxification enzyme dysfunction may develop Parkinson’s disease as a result of exposure to certain environmental xenobiotic chemicals proving neurotoxic.”
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Fortunately, we now have the tools to override our genetic inadequacies and powerfully enhance our ability to deal with the many toxins to which we are exposed.

CHAPTER 10

CUTTING-EDGE
THERAPIES FOR
ENHANCED ENERGY
PRODUCTION

It is the unfortunate activation of the process of apoptosis, or cell suicide, due to faulty mitochondrial function that ultimately leads to the loss of brain neurons in such common diseases as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Ultimately, these and every other “neurodegenerative disease” are really just variations on a theme. All of these conditions are manifestations of deficiencies of mitochondrial function, which leads to increased free radical production, which in turn activates the process of apoptosis. This is why so many leading-edge neuroscience institutions are so involved in studying how to protect and even enhance the function of mitochondria. Studies evaluating the clinical effectiveness of various interventions like turmeric and DHA, which enhance mitochondrial function, are now appearing regularly in mainstream medical journals.

Because mitochondria are involved in energy production, the science of enhancing the life-supporting energy production of mitochondria has been termed bioenergetic therapeutics. It’s certainly a pleasant paradox that, after so many years, the seemingly infinite chasm between mainstream and so-called alternative medicine is at least partially bridged by the unifying concept that both recognize the fundamental role of energy in the equation of health and longevity.

HYPERBARIC OXYGEN:
A KEY TO MITOCHONDRIAL FUNCTION

In Chapter 4 we described the chemical process through which mitochondria extract energy from food sources and store it in adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Oxygen is a key component in this function that powers each cell, every tissue, every organ, and every system in your body.

Because of oxygen’s life-sustaining role for cells and indeed all life, scientists began to explore the use of oxygen as a therapeutic tool in the late 1700s. In 1798, Thomas Beddoes, an English physician, founded the Pneumatic Institution, where inhaled oxygen was offered as a treatment for a variety of diseases. But not until 150 years later did researchers realize that the real gift of oxygen therapy occurs when it is administered in a closed environment in which the pressure can be increased.

Administering oxygen in this fashion is called hyperbaric oxygen, and it first found its way into clinical medicine in 1956 when hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) began to be used quite effectively after heart surgery. Soon thereafter, the Western medical community explored the application of HBOT in a wide variety of clinical areas. They extolled the virtues of this new therapy, stating that it worked, fundamentally, by enhancing mitochondrial function.

Organizations formed to help clinicians study the new technology and share experiences. Divers benefitted substantially from HBOT because it alleviates injuries caused by a buildup of nitrogen in the blood after ascending from deep water too quickly. Soon, clinicians founded the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, which, in 1967, developed HBOT protocols for the treatment of numerous diseases from radiation injury to infected bones to diabetic skin ulcers.

But it has only been in the last decade that the depth of the potential for HBOT in enhancing brain function has started to become apparent. With the understanding that brain function is so highly dependent upon optimal mitochondrial function, the idea of implementing HBOT in protocols has been seized upon by many forward-looking neuroscientists. Delivering life-sustaining and energy-producing oxygen under pressure has been described as “potentially the most powerful brain enhancing technology of the 21st century.”
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I recall the late Richard Neubauer, who pioneered the use of hyperbaric medicine in brain disorders, stating on many occasions that the future of neurology is hyperbaric medicine, and the future of hyperbaric medicine is neurology.

Clearly, Dr. Neubauer was prescient. Studies from around the globe demonstrate that indeed the brain responds favorably to HBOT: benefits are now documented for patients with Parkinson’s, stroke, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, carbon monoxide poisoning, traumatic brain injuries, and many more brain disorders.

HBOT is on the leading edge of 21st-century medical technology. And, yet, it provides the perfect complement to ancient spiritual practices developed by shamans centuries ago. To emphasize again, hyperbaric oxygen therapy empowers mitochondria to energize the brain. It is as if a light switch inside the brain is suddenly flipped to the on position. This is why we employ HBOT, along with specific neuronutrients and fasting, as an integral part of our intensive prevention and recovery programs—with great success.

When mitochondrial function is enhanced, the brain immediately transforms itself into a far more perceptive system, opening the door for you to benefit from a far deeper experience when you immerse yourself in spiritual practices.

Alberto:
20 Feet Under

When I was young, I used to go diving frequently. Having been born and raised on a Caribbean island (Cuba), I was often in the ocean and felt as comfortable in the weightless underwater environment as I did on dry land. So when David first invited me to try out the HBOT chamber, I was certain I would feel at ease in the pressurized environment. I knew that under 1.5 atmospheres of pressure (equivalent to being 17 feet under water) cells receive as much as 20 times more oxygen than is normally available to them. This is because the normal oxygen transport system in the blood, hemoglobin, is easily saturated. But under 1.5 atmospheres, blood plasma becomes an oxygen transporter.

David’s invitation came at a perfect time because I had been under a tremendous amount of stress. In the last seven weeks, I had been lecturing in Australia, Germany, and several U.S. cities. My body wasn’t sure anymore whether it wanted to eat or sleep, and I could literally use a “breath of fresh air.”

The HBOT chamber is an acrylic plastic tube with a narrow bed inside. As the nurse helped me onto the gurney and pushed me into the chamber, the thought crossed my mind that I was entering a fishbowl. Soon, with a whoosh, oxygen filled the chamber, and along with it came the familiar feeling of descending into the depths. Yet unlike scuba diving, where you breathe compressed air, I would be breathing 100 percent oxygen for the next hour. I focused on taking deep, rhythmic breaths, even though my system demanded very little oxygen because I was at rest. I wanted to make sure to get as much oxygen into every one of my brain cells as I could!

While David had a thriving practice and an international reputation for his work with patients suffering from degenerative brain disorders, I was interested in exploring optimal brain function. I knew that David had a strong interest in prevention and that a number of his patients with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s in their families actually came once or twice yearly for HBOT as a preventive measure.

After a few minutes, I began to practice mental gymnastics. I have never been very good at math and tried to do some complex arithmetic, to no avail. Definitely the “math centers” in my brain were not getting any benefit from the enriched atmosphere. But after a few more minutes, I noticed that I was able to recall the telephone numbers my family had when I was six years old, as well as our street address, even though I had not thought of these facts in many years. Long-term memory recall seemed great. I could imagine neurons that had lain dormant for decades beginning to fire, awash in life-sustaining oxygen. Yet, long-term memory is not lost as a result of aging. What is lost most commonly is short-term recall.

I have a notoriously bad memory for names, but I never forget a face or the stories that people tell me. Yet, with all my recent traveling, I was having a difficult time sorting out whom I had met in which of the cities I had been in over the last few weeks. So I began to reconstruct my itinerary city by city, meeting by meeting, talk by talk, and I found that I recalled them effortlessly, picturing them in great detail that even included the smell of rain in London. This was beginning to get interesting.