A couple of years ago I introduced my Super Aminos product at my office.  The research I had done revealed that we could meet our protein needs with very little actual protein if we got the exact ratio of the various component amino acids in exactly right.  The truth is about 80% of the protein we eat gets turned into sugar and burned as fuel instead of being turned into muscles and healthy tissue.  At the same time, we might be eating loads of protein foods, but poor digestion due to stress and decreased stomach and pancreas function could prevent this proper ratio from being absorbed.  The net result is that we might be eating protein but not getting the benefit we need from it.  This is actually really common in older folks.  This also directly applies to anyone on any type of heartburn medication – Tagamet, Pepcid, Prilosec, Nexium, Zantac, and so on.  These all interfere with protein digestion.  Everything you are is made of protein, even your bones.

The Super Aminos product was made from the nine essential amino acids, so-called because theoretically all the rest of the amino acids can be made from these nine basic ones.  Notice I said theoretically.  The reality is there are several amino acids that are termed conditionally essential because basically, the body can not make as much as it needs to be healthy.  I want to tell you about three of these I call support aminos – Taurine, Glycine, and Glutamine.

Taurine is probably one of the most useful nutritional products you can take, probably better than vitamin C even, yet most people have never even heard of it.  Taurine is one of the most abundant amino acids found in the brain, spinal cord, eye, muscle tissue, and organ tissue throughout the body.  Yet taurine is not incorporated into proteins. It works alone.  What does Taurine do?

Taurine:

decreases hypertension (blood pressure)

decreases blood clotting and strokes

decreases blood vessel inflammation

decreases oxidative stress

decreases insulin resistance

reduces atherosclerosis and improves blood vessels

protects brain and nerve cells from excitotoxicity

improves heart function and oxygen use

prevents cardiac arrhythmias and angina

lowers cholesterol

This is just a partial list.  Taurine is, in fact, one of the most essential substances in the body.  Definitely anything heart-related taurine should be first on your list.  Blood vessels, nerves, eyes, kidneys, and pancreas all hugely benefit from taking taurine daily.  Many developmental issues come from a lack of taurine.  This is especially seen in children being raised as vegans – not a good idea for a growing child.  Brain tissue is super high in taurine, and there are no vegetable sources of taurine.  Taurine is the basic substance the bile from your liver is made from.  Bile is essential for breaking down fats in your gut and the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K.  Bile is also what triggers gut movement so your intestines move along properly.  Everyone really needs taurine.  Link

Glycine is the next super nutrient I wish to discuss.  Glycine is the simplest amino acid chemically and is one of the main components of the collagen in your body that gives your body the shape and elasticity it needs.  It is also necessary for our body to create glutathione; the main antioxidant in the body, and creatine which gives your muscles quick strength energy.  Glycine is actually a brain neurotransmitter for calming things down, so it is good before bedtime.  Glycine helps prevent and reverse alcohol-induced liver damage as well as protects the heart from damage through several processes.  

My first interest in glycine began after reading a study about how fat cells release inflammatory chemicals due to the doorways on the cell walls getting stuck open and how glycine repaired this problem.  Glycine helps cells become more sensitive to insulin, so it combats insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.  The last benefit to glycine is that it helps reverse muscle wasting in cancer patients.  Normally the branched-chain amino acids do this, but in cancer, their action is blocked in some way.

One of the nicest things about glycine is that it tastes sweet.  It looks like sugar and it tastes like sugar, yet it is good for you.  I add it to my daily bottle of Pellegrino mineral water along with vitamin C, taurine, and glutamine.  Most of the amino acids are very bitter, hence the taste of the Super Amino Powder.  Glycine is the exception.

The last special amino acid for discussion is glutamine.  I first heard about glutamine because of its benefit in healing leaky gut problems.  Even though glutamine is relatively common in the body, the cells lining the gut need to get it from the digestion directly.  They use glutamine and the ketone butyrate (made by bacterial fermentation of fiber) as energy to repair themselves.  Glutamine also stimulates the nTOR pathway which promotes protein synthesis and growth.This is really necessary because these cells replace themselves every couple of days.  

These qualities of glutamine mean that you do not use it if you are fighting cancer.  Normally cancer only eats sugar.  But if you starve it of sugar to slow it down, it will eat glutamine instead.  Glutamine will not cause cancer, but cancer can use it as a backup fuel.  Likewise, avoid leucine as it also stimulates the mTOR pathway for greater growth.

Glutamine is essential for the immune system, and in times of great immune stress (such as after a major burn), glutamine supplements are usually given.  The same advice goes for during hospital stays for surgery or illness.  Glutamine shortens the hospital stay.  Glutamine is considered a conditional essential amino acid, meaning that under certain circumstances your body can not make enough on its own and therefore needs to get it from the protein foods you eat.  Since I am trying to heal my gut, I take it every day, except when I am doing an autophagy inducing “fast” to tear down and clean out junk proteins in my brain and tissues.

So these are my special Support Amino Acids.  I take these in addition to my Super Aminos in my morning smoothie.  My smoothie is avocado and coconut milk whipped up in reverse osmosis water into which I ad drops of vitamin A, D3, E, and K7 plus some stevia, cacao powder, collagen, Super Aminos, and Support Aminos.  The concoction, unfortunately, has the unpleasant taste of the Super Aminos, but the other ingredients mellow out that taste somewhat.

Amino acids are just one of the basic necessities for health.  When we are young we are able to get all these good guys from the protein foods we eat.  As our guts age and become damaged with time, our ability to get the nutrients we need unfortunately decreases with each passing year.  This is why we age as we do.  Fortunately, we can bypass this limitation by taking nutrients that require no digestion.  That is the benefit of taking amino acids.  They absorb directly into the bloodstream – no digestion necessary.  So we have another tool with which to support our health.

Take care,

David    


New product - Black Ice Face Masks
Thanks to Amber at Elliott's Nutrition I have a handful of these high quality face masks available at the office.  Most of the masks people are using are worst than useless because not only do they not work to protect you, but they give you a false sense of security resulting in you taking unsafe risks.  These masks are full PM2.5 and kN95 rated with an activated charcoal filter, washable and reusable.  They have a one way valve for venting moisture and the charcoal filters are replaceable.  Only $24.95.
Here is their website.


Yea, my zinc arrived last night so I can mix up more of my Immune Booster formula.  I also just learned one of the prime reasons this works so well.  Zinc inactivates the virus inside the cell, but it is hard to get zinc into the cells.  The main value to hydroxychloroquine, the most effective drug to date on covid 19, is that it escorts zinc into the interior of cells.  Quercetin does this as well.    

My first batch of immune booster sold out the first day.  I get tired of taking pills so I like to use powdered supplements.  Most of the ingredients have become unavailable since I started this process.  These are the ingredients I mentioned in last weeks newsletter - quercetin, elderberry, zinc, cardamom, vitamins A, C, and D3 sweetened with a little Dr Dave 8x sweetener.  As a new bonus I will be adding a big dose of vitamin B1 as it seems to be helpful with Covid 19 cases. Just use 1 level teaspoon 1 or 2 times a day in most any beverage.  I put it in my morning smoothie or just plain water.  My test subjects at the office all said "not bad" to the taste.  This is for immune boosting now as well as fighting any bug or virus you may pick up.  The package has 40 servings in it for only $29.