Article: Watch out for Excitotoxins!
Watch out for Excitotoxins!
by: Dr. Janet Starr Hull, Ph.D., CN
http://www.sweetpoison.com/newsletter/
Excitotoxins are biochemical substances (usually amino acids, amino acid analogs, or amino acid derivatives) that can react with specialized neuronal receptors in the brain or spinal cord in such a way as to cause injury or death to a wide variety of neurons.
Acute diseases and medical conditions such as stroke, brain damage, reduced blood flow to the brain, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, headaches, prolonged epileptic seizures, hypoglycemic brain damage, head trauma brain damage, and low oxygen to no oxygen brain damage (e.g. from carbon monoxide or cyanide poisoning, near-drowning, etc.) are also believed to be caused, at least in part, by excitotoxicity.
Physically, brain damage can be triggered from acute conditions such as stroke, ischemia/hypoxia/anoxia, severe hypoglycemia, spinal cord injury and head trauma. Chemically, brain damage can be triggered by chemical excitotoxins such as MSG and aspartame, resulting in the physical trauma above. Excitotoxicity can occur in both acute and chronic (slowly developing) forms.
It is interesting to note that Alzheimer's disease is in
large part an excitotoxicity disease. Excitotoxins in liquid forms
are much more toxic than solid forms because they are rapidly
absorbed and attain high concentration in the blood. This means
that many of the commercial soups, sauces and gravies containing
MSG are very dangerous to nervous system health, and should especially
be avoided by those with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease and
those who are at a high risk of developing one of them. They should
also be avoided by cancer patients and those at high risk for
cancer, because of the associated generation of free radicals
and lipid peroxidation.
As a general rule, it is suggested that persons with either of
these diseases avoid MSG containing foods as well as red meats,
cheeses and pureed tomatoes, all of which are known to have higher
levels of glutamate.
Taken from research on excitotoxins by Dr Russell L. Blaylock,
MD.,
"Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills."
