Fish taking a ketone ester
Lonesome fish
Baylor College of Medicine in the US have a patent on the combination of glycine and the anti-oxidant NAC to promote healthy aging, which they licensed to Nestle. You can easily make it yourself - just buy both separately.
One of the intriguing questions from this trial is why so many improvements occur toward promoting health. We believe that this is due to the combined effort of three separate components – glycine, cysteine (from NAC) and glutathione, and not just due to glutathione itself. Glycine and cysteine are both very important for cellular health on their own, and GlyNAC provides both.
We believe that the improvements in this trial
and in our previous studies are the result of the combined effects of glycine and NAC and glutathione,
and we refer to this combination as the "Power of 3" said Sekhar.
You need cysteine and glycine to make the body's key antioxidant, glutathione (GSH). Older people and people with autism are likely to lack GSH.
If you add the precursors via supplementation, you will hopefully increase the production of GSH.
GlyNAC
(Glycine and N-Acetylcysteine) Supplementation in Mice Increases Length of Life
by Correcting Glutathione Deficiency, Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial
Dysfunction, Abnormalities in Mitophagy and Nutrient Sensing, and Genomic
Damage
Determinants of length of life are not well understood, and therefore increasing lifespan is a challenge. Cardinal theories of aging suggest that oxidative stress (OxS) and mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to the aging process, but it is unclear if they could also impact lifespan. Glutathione (GSH), the most abundant intracellular antioxidant, protects cells from OxS and is necessary for maintaining mitochondrial health, but GSH levels decline with aging. Based on published human studies where we found that supplementing glycine and N-acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) improved/corrected GSH deficiency, OxS and mitochondrial dysfunction, we hypothesized that GlyNAC supplementation could increase longevity. We tested our hypothesis by evaluating the effect of supplementing GlyNAC vs. placebo in C57BL/6J mice on (a) length of life; and (b) age-associated GSH deficiency, OxS, mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal mitophagy and nutrient-sensing, and genomic-damage in the heart, liver and kidneys. Results showed that mice receiving GlyNAC supplementation (1) lived 24% longer than control mice; (2) improved/corrected impaired GSH synthesis, GSH deficiency, OxS, mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal mitophagy and nutrient-sensing, and genomic-damage. These studies provide proof-of-concept that GlyNAC supplementation can increase lifespan and improve multiple age-associated defects. GlyNAC could be a novel and simple nutritional supplement to improve lifespan and healthspan, and warrants additional investigation.
GlyNAC
supplementation for 24‐weeks in OA was well tolerated and lowered OxS,
corrected intracellular GSH deficiency and mitochondrial dysfunction, decreased
inflammation, insulin‐resistance and endothelial dysfunction, and
genomic‐damage, and improved strength, gait‐speed, cognition, and body
composition. Supplementing GlyNAC in aging humans could be a simple and viable
method to promote health and warrants additional investigation.
Multifarious
Beneficial Effect of Nonessential Amino Acid, Glycine: A Review
Glycine is most important and simple, nonessential amino acid in humans, animals, and many mammals. Generally, glycine is synthesized from choline, serine, hydroxyproline, and threonine through interorgan metabolism in which kidneys and liver are the primarily involved. Generally in common feeding conditions, glycine is not sufficiently synthesized in humans, animals, and birds. Glycine acts as precursor for several key metabolites of low molecular weight such as creatine, glutathione, haem, purines, and porphyrins. Glycine is very effective in improving the health and supports the growth and well-being of humans and animals. There are overwhelming reports supporting the role of supplementary glycine in prevention of many diseases and disorders including cancer. Dietary supplementation of proper dose of glycine is effectual in treating metabolic disorders in patients with cardiovascular diseases, several inflammatory diseases, obesity, cancers, and diabetes. Glycine also has the property to enhance the quality of sleep and neurological functions. In this review we will focus on the metabolism of glycine in humans and animals and the recent findings and advances about the beneficial effects and protection of glycine in different disease states.
As glycine
is a very successful immunomodulator that suppresses the inflammation,
its action on arthritis is investigated in vivo through PG-PS model of
arthritis. PG-PS is a very crucial structural component of Gram-positive
bacterial cell walls and it causes rheumatoid like arthritis in rats. In rats
injected with PG-PS which suffer from infiltration of inflammatory cells,
synovial hyperplasia, edema, and ankle swelling, these effects of PG-PS model
of arthritis can be reduced by glycine supplementation [66].
Glycine has a wide spectrum of defending
characteristics against different injuries and diseases. Similar to many other
nutritionally nonessential amino acids, glycine plays a very crucial role in
controlling epigenetics. Glycine has much important physiological function in
humans and animals. Glycine is precursor for a variety of important metabolites
such as glutathione, porphyrins, purines, haem, and creatine. Glycine acts as
neurotransmitter in central nervous system and it has many roles such as antioxidant,
anti-inflammatory, cryoprotective, and immunomodulatory in peripheral and
nervous tissues. Oral supplementation of glycine with proper dose is very
successful in decreasing several metabolic disorders in individuals with
cardiovascular disease, various inflammatory diseases, cancers, diabetes, and
obesity. More research investigations are needed to explore the role of glycine
in diseases where proinflammatory cytokines, reperfusion or ischemia, and free
radicals are involved. Mechanisms of glycine protection are to be completely
explained and necessary precautions should be taken for safe intake and dose.
Glycine holds an enormous potential in enhancing health, growth, and well-being
of both humans and animals.
Ketogenic Fish – rebuilding social affinity
Regular readers will have noted that
some people with autism, but normal IQ, are deeply troubled by their lack of
social affinity and seek out ways to improve it.
Perhaps we can learn something on that
subject from Masato Yoshizawa, an
evolutionary developmental biologist and neurobiologist at the University of
Hawaii. Yes, that’s right, an evolutionary developmental biologist – they exist! Back in 2018 he published a paper called
“The evolution of a series of behavioral traits is associated with autism-risk
genes in cavefish”.
“Many people first doubted that the fish have an
autism-like state; I also doubted it at first,” said Yoshizawa. But as he soon
found out, even patterns of gene regulation resembled autistic patients.
His recent paper uses his cavefish to look at how the ketogenic diet affects behaviour.
In the experiment,
cavefish where fed the same ketogenic milk provided to human patients, albeit
with a few modifications for fish consumption, and their behavior was
monitored. As a comparison, a type of A. mexicanus fish that lives in rivers and not
caves were also tested.
The surface fish do not display the same autism like behaviors as their cave dwelling relatives. In the presence of other surface fish, individuals will begin to follow each other and swim together, something rarely seen in cavefish, Yoshizawa said. The surface fish also do not do the repetitive behavior of swimming in circles.
Using these fish as a
comparison, Yoshizawa and his students watched and waited. Amazingly, after a month of the
ketogenic diet, the cavefish began to act like the more social surface fish.
They would follow each other in groups and ceased going round in circles. There
were some other behaviors, such as attention to a specific task and sleeping,
that were unaffected, but overall the results were promising and according to
Yoshizawa, suggest dopamine could be key to how the diet affects behavior.
According to
Yoshizawa, there are two plausible ideas as to how the ketones produced by a
ketogenic diet are acting on behavior. The first involves the mitochondria,
which use either carbs or fat to produce energy in our cells, and the other
involves epigenetics, which simple refers to any non-genetic influence which
turns genes on and off.
Ketones are known to create detectable increases in
gene expression in cells. Pulling apart exactly how things like, diet,
environment, genes and neurotransmitters are linked is incredibly difficult but
could reveal which pathways are best to target for autism treatments or could
identify a specific ketone which works more efficiently than others.
Cavefish
provide clues to the keto diet's effect on autism-like behavior
Metabolic shift toward ketosis in asocial cavefish
increases social-like affinity
Background
Social affinity and collective behavior are nearly ubiquitous in
the animal kingdom, but many lineages feature evolutionarily asocial species.
These solitary species may have evolved to conserve energy in food-sparse
environments. However, the mechanism by which metabolic shifts regulate social
affinity is not well investigated.
Results
In this study, we used the Mexican tetra (Astyanax
mexicanus), which features riverine sighted surface (surface fish) and
cave-dwelling populations (cavefish), to address the impact of metabolic shifts
on asociality and other cave-associated behaviors in cavefish, including
repetitive turning, sleeplessness, swimming longer distances, and enhanced
foraging behavior. After 1
month of ketosis-inducing ketogenic diet feeding, asocial cavefish exhibited
significantly higher social affinity, whereas social affinity regressed in
cavefish fed the standard diet. The ketogenic diet also reduced repetitive
turning and swimming in cavefish. No major behavioral shifts were found
regarding sleeplessness and foraging behavior, suggesting that other evolved
behaviors are not largely regulated by ketosis. We further examined the effects
of the ketogenic diet via supplementation with exogenous ketone bodies,
revealing that ketone
bodies are pivotal molecules positively associated with social affinity.
Conclusions
Our study indicated that fish that evolved to be asocial remain capable of
exhibiting social affinity under ketosis, possibly linking the seasonal
food availability and sociality.
Are these behavioral and growth changes induced by
ketosis? The KD contains high amounts of fat, sufficient levels of proteins,
and a minimum amount of carbohydrates. This question motivated us to test the
molecular basis of the effects of KD feeding by supplementing major ketosis
metabolites, ketone bodies, to the standard diet.
In humans, KD feeding
induces ketosis, in which the liver releases beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and
acetoacetate via beta-oxidation of fat [63].
Instead of supplying a massive amount of fat using
the KD, BHB might be
responsible for the majority of effects observed after KD feeding. With
this idea, the ketone ester (D-b-hydroxybutyrate-R 1,3-Butanediol Monoester;
delta-G® [64])
was provided as a supplement to both surface fish and cavefish for 5 weeks. The
ketone ester (KE) was expected to undergo complete hydrolysis by the gut
esterases, resulting in two BHB molecules (and acetoacetate) [64].
It does not contain any salt ions, unlike the sodium or potassium salt forms of
BHB, nor does it has the racemic L-form, where only the D-form is considered to
be biologically active [65].
Since we were unsure whether gut esterases were available in
juvenile-adolescent fish at 3 months old, we used 6–7-month-old fish that have
a mature gut system but are in the young adult stage. The results indicated that the KE supplementation
significantly reduced the serum GKI (Additional file 2:
Fig. S8), while promoting nearby interactions in cavefish (Fig. 7A, B). Swimming distance was slightly reduced
in cavefish (Fig. 7C). Turning bias was not reduced by KE
supplementation in cavefish (Fig. 7D). There was no detectable difference
between CD and KE supplemental diets in sleep duration or VAB (Additional file 2:
Fig. S9A and B, respectively).
We also tested the supplemental feeding of the BHB
salt form (sodium salt form of racemic BHB: 50% L-form and 50% D-form). We used
11–12-month-old fish in this study since the younger fish seemed to suffer from
the high-salt-containing diet. The 4-week feeding result was essentially the
same as the KE-supplemented diet feeding: the BHB salt supplemental diet
significantly reduced GKI in the serum of surface and cavefish (Additional file 2:
Fig. S10), while promoting nearby interactions in cavefish but reduced the
duration of nearby interactions in surface fish (Additional file 2:
Fig. S11A, B). No major change in response to the BHB feeding was detected in
swimming distance (Additional file 2:
Fig. S11C), turning bias (Additional file 2:
Fig. S11D), sleep (Additional file 2:
Fig. S12A), and VAB (Additional file 2:
Fig. S12B) in cavefish, while the BHB salt reduced growth (standard length and
weight) in surface fish (Additional file 2:
Fig. S12C, D). In contrast, cavefish did not show any detectable negative
effects on growth under the BHB salt supplemental feeding (Additional file 2:
Fig. S12C, D).
In summary,
BHB (KE and BHB salt) treatment encompassed the effect of the KD
treatment—promoting social interactions. BHB, particularly KE, had a
no-detectable negative effect on growth. These facts suggest that ketone bodies
can be responsible factors for the positive effects on social behaviors of KD
feeding. BHB treatment also indicated that older-age cavefish (6–7
months or 11–12 months old) were still capable of responding to ketone bodies,
not only younger age groups (3–4 months old).
You can treat an old-fish new tricks!
Indeed, some of our adult readers are treating
themselves with ketone esters.
Both ketone esters and ketone salts
were trialed in the fish. In humans ketone esters are the clear winner because
they provide a much longer lasting effect.
There is no reason why they have to be so
expensive, the bulk chemical is not expensive.
Conclusion
For longevity and, more importantly, healthy life expectancy it has long been clear that high doses of anti-oxidants are
beneficial.
The question is how best to get this effect.
The most potent way is via intravenous
infusion of something like ALA (alpha lipoic acid). In some countries intravenous ALA is a mainstream therapy
for people with diabetes, not surprisingly thanks to the ALA some of these
people also overcome their other health conditions, like heart disease, and
increase their healthy lifespan.
Most people
will not have this option and probably do not want intravenous therapy anyway.
Oral
supplementation with NAC is cheap, effective and available.
Is adding glycine going to have any incremental effect? Quite possibly it will. If you are lacking glycine, this will hold back your production of GSH (glutathione). Glycine itself might well provide a health benefit.
Dr
Sekhar, over at Baylor College in Houston, refers to the “power of three” (NAC,
glycine and glutathione/GSH). The immediate, short-lived, beneficial
effect is directly from the anti-oxidant effect of NAC itself.
If,
like me, you have chosen to take NAC you are experiencing the “power of two”
(NAC and Glutathione/GSH). Glycine is
really cheap and so why not take the extra step and add it? You may increase Glutathione/GSH
and glycine has its own direct antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
When it
comes to young people with autism who take NAC, is the benefit from the
immediate antioxidant effect of NAC, or
is it from the increase in GSH? Here I
think we know the answer. The behavioral
effect of NAC is quite short-lived and it matches the short half-life of
NAC. Is there a secondary effect from
NAC releasing cysteine that gradually increases GSH (glutathione)? Quite possibly,
but in autism you really do need to give NAC 3-4 times a day, so the direct
effect of NAC itself looks to be key.
Is Glycine
NAC going to be better than NAC for young people with autism? Glycine has its
own interesting properties and glycine is cheap. It even can help some of those
with sleep problems (3g one hour before bed time).
There are plenty of anecdotal reports on the internet of Aspies finding glycine supplementation helpful - some find it makes them more social.
There is a potential problem for bumetanide-responders. In these people if GABA is operating "in reverse", due to high intracellular chloride, the same may be true of glycine. You would then expect a negative reaction
GABA and glycine in the developing brain
GABA and glycine are major inhibitory neurotransmitters in the CNS and act on receptors coupled to chloride channels. During early developmental periods, both GABA and glycine depolarize membrane potentials due to the relatively high intracellular Cl− concentration. Therefore, they can act as excitatory neurotransmitters. GABA and glycine are involved in spontaneous neural network activities in the immature CNS such as giant depolarizing potentials (GDPs) in neonatal hippocampal neurons, which are generated by the synchronous activity of GABAergic interneurons and glutamatergic principal neurons. GDPs and GDP-like activities in the developing brains are thought to be important for the activity-dependent functiogenesis through Ca 2+ and/or other intracellular signaling pathways activated by depolarization or stimulation of metabotropic receptors. However, if GABA and glycine do not shift from excitatory to inhibitory neurotransmitters at the birth and in maturation, it may result in neural disorders including autism spectrum disorders.
And those
ketone esters (KE)?
Well they
are really expensive, when packaged up for humans, but they should be helpful
to a sub-group within autism.
Will ketone
esters (KE) make our reader Stefan feel more social? Quite possibly, but they
are likely too expensive to take every day. Glycine is cheap and worth a try for social affinity, based on the anecdotes from other Aspies.
Some readers
are already big fans of ketone esters.
They do not need any further proof from those cavefish in Hawaii.