Brain Repair, Health & Longevity
The Brain Restoration CoEnzyme 1 ~ NAD, The Cellular Repair & Replication Catalyst
“In an experiment in mice, the team found that giving older mice NAD for just one week made 2-year-old-mice tissue resemble that of 6-month-old mice (in human years, that would be akin to a 60-year-old’s cells becoming more like those belonging to a 20-year-old).”
NAD stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, which is the chemical term for a molecule that reacts with oxygen in the mitochondria which is the energy producing “power plant” in every cell of your body. The mitochondria makes the energy your body depends on to move, think, pump blood, digest food, think, and generally, animate life. Lack of this essential cellular fuel is now recognized as a key feature of chronic fatigue, apathy, depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug addiction, weak immune system (infections and cancer), mood disorders, muscle pain and weakness, headaches, memory disturbance, insomnia, focus and concentration defects and other metabolic disorders and chronic diseases. NAD deficiency, in my opinion, is an epidemic cellular disease because each and every disease is fundamentally caused by oxidative stress and an NAD deficiency accelerates the negative effects of oxidative stress – cellular function decline and then death.
NAD plays an essential role in the production of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate), the basic energy molecule in the body, and has more than 100 metabolic functions in our human biochemistry.
NAD is a coenzyme of Niacin – B3. Enzymes are responsible for every biochemical process that supports life. There are two primary classes of enzymes: digestive and metabolic. Metabolic enzymes are responsible for the structuring, repair, and remodelling of every cell.
NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a metabolic co-enzyme which continuously varies between the NAD and NADH compounds in the body. Metabolic enzymes operate in every cell, every organ and every tissue, and they need constant replenishment. Lifeless, enzymatically void diets today tend not to keep up with metabolic demands. NAD levels naturally decline with age. In today’s world, however, NAD is depleted far more quickly as cells today work much harder than even 10 years ago to metabolize toxins, handle stress, and adapt to an unhealthy, over stimulating psychological, emotional, and physically toxic environment. Our environment has changed more in the last 100 years than in the last 20,000 years and the requirements of adapting to those changes, along with the nutritionally void processed foods that people consume in an environment that requires MORE nutrition to function well placesa high demand on our cellular energy performance to keep up with it all. Therefor degenerative and autoimmune disease, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, mental disturbances– essentially all metabolic disorders and diseases will surface early as cells will age more quickly and succumb to the inherent oxidative stress in our lifestyles, diet and environment.
All human activities require energy. Research has indicated that 90% of our physical energy must be made available from the biochemical processes within our cells. Each cell in your body has a particular function that needs energy to do its job. This energy is produced by various chemical processes in the mitochondria. Glucose is the fuel for these power plants and is supposed to be obtained from the food we consume by means of digestion. Today’s processed, GMO, and nutritionally void foods do not supply the required demand to properly deliver and utilize glucose. So it floats around in the blood and becomes food for harmful bacteria, disrupts the neuroendocrine system (insulin resistance) and produces everything from cancer to harmful neurotransmitter analogues. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of glucose derived from dead, processed foods; just not the nutrients and enzymes to deliver it to the mitochondria and burn it. This is why people who eat a lot don’t have a lot of energy!
Without sufficient NAD, the mitochondria simply cannot function and the cell will die. However, first, a cellular slowing of operation will happen which is when various symptoms will manifest such as “fog brain”, inability to focus, general fatigue, losing ambition, aspiration and inspiration for life, laziness, disinterest in things you once loved, etc. After a period of this, actual diseases and metabolic disorders will begin to manifest.
A chronic NAD deficiency results in a metabolic energy deficiency. This metabolic energy deficiency is called a NAD Energy Deficiency (NED). NED is insufficient chemical energy which means the body does not have enough NAD molecules and accompanying energy nutritional and enzymatic cofactors to generate enough metabolic energy on a cellular level to maintain the body in a constant state of health; ergo, produce the energy required to fuel the biochemical processes that sustain and animate life.
This is a primary reason as to why those that suffer NED will get a disease in the same environment when others will not. The people who do not succumb to a disease, such those caused by contaminated water, have better NAD production and utilization (producing ATP) so cells are able to protect themselves, repair, replicate, efficiently utilize nutrients, and perform the all important task of removing waste- detoxification. This is really important for the brain as waste products can mimic neurotransmitters, and compete for the healthy ones for receptor sites, therefore causing mood issues and even adverse mental health conditions such as schizophrenia in addition to causing actual organic damage resulting in tumors, neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases.
NED can result in a wide spectrum of diseases (probably all). NED mostly manifests itself as chronic fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, substance abuse, depression, stress, anxiety and various other chronic illnesses.
NAD and Longevity – The Anti-Aging Neuron Elixir
In a paper published in the journal Cell, Dr. David Sinclair, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School ,and his colleagues pointed to NAD as the naturally occurring catalyst made by young cells that was able to revive older cells and make them energetic and youthful again. In an experiment in mice, the team found that giving older mice NAD for just one week made 2-year-old-mice tissue resemble that of 6-month-old mice (in human years, that would be akin to a 60-year-old’s cells becoming more like those belonging to a 20-year-old).
As mammals age, says Sinclair, levels of NAD drop by 50%; with less of the compound, the communication between the cell and its mitochondrial energy source also falters, and the cell becomes vulnerable to common aging assaults — vulnerability to toxic assault and oxidative stress, inflammation, muscle wasting and slower metabolism. With improved amounts of NAD, aging can theoretically be reversed. “When we give the molecule, oxygen delivery is enhanced, and everything revs back up again,” Sinclair says.
The NAD pathway may become an important target for cancer researchers as well, since tumors typically grow in low-oxygen conditions and are more common in older patients. And because it improves cellular oxygen, communication, detoxification and metabolism, it only makes sense that it would be a good adjuvant therapy for cancer patients.
Because NAD is a naturally occurring compound that simply declines with age, Sinclair says that “If a body is slowly falling apart and losing the ability to regulate itself effectively, we can get it back on track to what it was in its 20s and 30s using NAD,” he says.
This is how it works. We eat carbohydrates, proteins and fats which provide the chemicals that enter the Citric Acid Cycle, a biochemical pathway that produces NADH. The NAD is now carrying hydrogen (NADH) which in turn enters the electron transport chain in the mitochondria and is “sparked” with oxygen and the outcome is energy (ATP), along with water. ATP, or adenosine triphospate, is the fuel for the heart to beat, the muscles to contract and for every cellular energy requirement within the 100 trillion cells of the body.
It is clear to see how important NADH is for the body as it is involved in every bodily function and catalyzes more than a thousand metabolic reactions in the organs and tissues. The heart uses the most NAD as it beats around 86,000 times daily. The brain consumes about 20 to 35% of the sum total of energy produced by the body. Often an energy deficiency is first detected in the brain with poor concentration, memory loss, short term retention of information, difficulty focusing, and attention deficit. If the energy shortage lasts long enough, brain neurons cannot synthesize neurotransmitters, the molecules of consciousness, such as serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline, and we experience anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and other mood changes.
Vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, proteins and fats come from our diet and provide the building blocks to the citric acid (kreb’s) cycle energy production. If any one of the nutritional factors is low, energy production is diminished. Since oxygen is just as important as hydrogen in cellular energetics, lack of exercise can reduce the amount of oxygen at the cell level. Also, most people simply do not eat live foods anymore which are rich in enzymes, enzymes catalyze the citric acid cycle. The toxic environment and food people eat today inhibit (due to depletion of required nutritional cofactors) and destroy NAD. Chemical or physical toxins that create oxidative, or free radical, damage also accelerates the disease and aging process. Free radical damage comes from cigarette smoke, drugs, radio waves from cell phones and wi-fi, and the myriad chemicals found in all humans at this time on earth, including phalates, parabens, pesticides, styrene, benzene, toluene, and thousands more. For example, medical scientists now widely believe that Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease share the common feature of nerve cell degeneration due to impairment of the ATP producing enzymes with the citric acid cycle and mitochondria.
To make all this extremely simple: The brain is a condensed and very sophisticated network of information signals and relays that process environmental and informational messages in the form of biochemicals and “energy”. It depends entirely on a good energy source to do everything from read and breath to responding to messages from the environment in order to adjust metabolism and keep you alive while sleeping. It is also the body’s “alarm” system and expresses moods from the heart when it is healthy and when it is not will adulterate those authentic moods with chemicals and dying circuits that produce depression, anxiety, insomnia, fear as well as the inability to focus (can’t fire sufficient neurotransmitters to keep your attention), addictive biochemistry (trying to mediate the symptoms), lack of follow through, and a generally uninspired life. Mental health symptoms are usually your first sign that you are suffering an NAD deficiency and that it’s time to take change in diet and lifestyle seriously. Treatment is also available for those with the financial resources, however, it can be expensive so it is a good idea to heed the non negotiable laws of health and live as you were designed to; with organic clean food and exercise while closing off all routes of toxic exposures in your food, air (home air cleaners), food containers, hygiene products, water (as well as shower), OTC drugs, and “medicine”. The road to recovery can be much slower for some over others, and in the case of psychiatric drug damage, alcohol abuse or illicit drugs, it is a good idea to seek treatment to minimize the likelihood of not being able to get through the time it takes to heal and relapse, or resume (or never stop) taking a sleeping, antipsychotic, or psychiatric “mood” drug that is destroying your brain many times more aggressively than even illegal drugs.
Key Neuro/Biochemical Functions of NAD
• Protects and repairs DNA, reducing DNA mutations which are caused from chronic bioaccumulation of biotoxins, age, drug/alcohol abuse, improper diet, stress, etc.
• Increases energy in heart cells
• Increases energy in brain cells
• Improves communication between the mitochondria (energy producing organelle in every cell) and the nucleus which enhances all cellular communication.
• Enhances the utilization of nutrients and removal of waste within the cell.
• Reverses cerebral aging as well as protects the brain from aging by adding mitochondria organelles within the cell
• Proven clinical record for dramatically improving neurodegenerative disease such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
• Improves general metabolism
• The “most powerful antioxidant” in the body according to Dr. Richard Passwater in his book NADH-The Energizing Coenzyme
• Lowers cholesterol
• Lowers blood pressure
• Strengthens the immune system
• Stimulates production of dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline, thereby improving neurochemical communication, moods, concentration, and memory
• Stimulates nitric oxide production, thereby improving blood flow in the body – this is essential for healthy brain function as the brain is a very dense network of capillaries charged with the responsibility to get blood flow to the brain
• Reverses insulin resistance quickly when diet is corrected
• Quickly establishes healthy blood sugar regulation
• Reduces and when diet is corrected, entirely eliminates brain inflammation
Medical research has shown the following medical conditions to improve with NAD therapy:
• Chronic fatigue
• Muscle pain and weakness
• Joint pain and stiffness
• Headaches
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Alcohol and drug addiction
• Diabetes
• Sleep disturbance
• Memory loss (forgetfulness)
• Attention deficit
• Fevers, sore throats and swollen
• Lymph glands
• Parkinson’s disease
• Cancer
Research has shown that NAD provides the following benefits in “healthy” people:
• Increased physical energy
• Improved mental performance
• Improved response to short term
• Sleep deprivation
• Reduce the effects of jet lag
• Enhance libido
• Anti-aging
Genita M. Mason H.H.P., N.C., F.E.
Medical Director, The Biosanctuary Alternative Medicine Clinic & Retreats
Los Angeles & Mexico
877.285.9266
www.thebiosanctuary.com