More evidence for the health benefits of an alkaline diet.
Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
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Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#12More evidence for the health benefits of an alkaline diet.
Maybe, if the alkaline diet reduces acidity of the brain. However, if the acidity is the result of increased energy production or a failure of the cleaning mechanisms of the brain (as one of the study authors suggests), then the alkaline diet might not be sufficient to reduce brain acidity.
Further, we don't know whether acidity is the cause or the result of the disease. If it is a result of the disease, then reducing acidity may not affect symptoms of schizophrenia, much as eliminating beta amyloid does not guarantee a reduction in symptoms of Alzheimer's
Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#13Wim Hof Method, baby.
Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hard to analyze lots of brains of dead schizoids until we had a methodology to diagnose, permission to analyze them, and then looked closely enough. http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v9/n7/full/4001511a.html?fo... Sometimes lots of theories come out of a minute variation correlation and sometimes it's just a sampling coincidence (like it's just how schizoid brains break down). I'm VERY sure, someone has altered a schi…
I've never heard someone refer to a schizophrenic as "a schizoid". Schizophrenia and schizoid personality disorder are distinct disorders with different symptoms.
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Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#15More evidence for the health benefits of an alkaline diet.
The benefits people colloquially explain as due to an "alkaline" diet are mostly related to consumption of potassium. The thing is that "alkaline" does not accurately describe what is going on with these diets, because eating food is not at all like mixing chemicals in a jar. Furthermore, as any chemist knows, the K+ ion is actually an acid, but because it acts as a counterion for stronger bases, higher potassium leads to higher blood pH. The idea is basically folk wisdom which is transmitting the findings of studies like this one:
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/87/5/2008/2846608
Because consumption of K+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ decreases calcium excretion, whereas consumption of Na+ and sulfur increases it, and because calcium is more soluble in acidic solutions and less soluble in alkaline solutions, there was a tendency to refer to the former as "alkaline" and the latter as "acidic". This is infuriating to people who know enough chemistry to know that Mg2+ is in fact much more acidic than Na+.
I am an amateur, but I've put a decent amount of time towards making sense of this, and it appears to me that it's mostly potassium, and to a lesser extent calcium and magnesium, that explains what is really going on here.
Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#16We know recurrent episodes of apnea, over months and years, may cause an increase in carbon dioxide levels that can change the pH of the blood enough to cause a respiratory acidosis. We also know sleep apnea may be prevalent in patients with bipolar I disorder. It would be great to see a comparison study of patients with OSA versus CSA (specifically REM-related sleep apnea) examining acidosis, mood disorder prevelence, and outcomes in treated versus untreated populations.
Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#17More evidence for the health benefits of an alkaline diet.
Isn't the body very good at maintaining homeostasis? Meaning you could eat an alkaline diet, but if your body composition is such that you have such a given acidic composition then your body has processes to maintain whatever it's 'normal' is.
Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#18Wim Hof Method, baby.
You can easily see ph levels go up to 7.5+ after each breathering session.
Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
IMO one aspect that isn't well understood enough, and not given enough emphasis in research, are the "cleaning" cycles of the brain. In particular, neuronal autophagy, but also cleaning cycles during sleep. If the overall PH is off, something isn't being cleaned correctly. A byproduct isn't being removed. I'd love to know how a ten day water fast affects the mental processing and bio-markers of a group of schizophren…
Weird thing with glutamate though, is that schizphrenics show lowered activation of glutamate which is supposed to be responsible for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Things that increase glutamatergic activity(like cycline) help this.
I think it's a form of bias involving negative feedback loops - since we see mostly patients with symptoms already showing, we see glutamate at the end of the process working to acidize already acidic environment i.e. against the gradient.
Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
That the pH is lower has apparently been known for a while. What's not been clear is the cause of the lower pH and whether the low pH is causing the disorders or if it's just a side effect of an underlying cause or of the medications. This still isn't clear. It could even be a combination of factors, with low pH caused by lactate production stimulating the disorder which increases lactate production... etc.
IMO one aspect that isn't well understood enough, and not given enough emphasis in research, are the "cleaning" cycles of the brain. In particular, neuronal autophagy, but also cleaning cycles during sleep. If the overall PH is off, something isn't being cleaned correctly. A byproduct isn't being removed. I'd love to know how a ten day water fast affects the mental processing and bio-markers of a group of schizophren…
As I understand it the Broad Institute discovered that these 'cleaning' cycles are unchecked and essentially overclocked in schizophrenics