alled benign
MS. A diet high in excitotoxins, such as aspartame, can convert this benign,
subclinical condition into full-blown clinical MS. The amount of excitotoxins
consumed in the average American diet is considerable, as shown by several
studies. In addition, the toxin methanol is also in the aspartame molecule.
Methanol is a axon poison. Combined toxicity of the aspartate and the methanol
adds up to considerable brain toxicity and can convert benign, subclinical
MS into full-blown MS. Once the MS becomes full-blown, further consumption
of excitotoxins magnifies the toxicity, increasing disability and death.
- Recent studies have also shown that even single exposures
to these food-based excitotoxins can produce prolonged worsening of neurological
lesions. In addition, it has been demonstrated that autoimmune reactions
(as occurs with MS) greatly magnifies the toxicity of aspartate and glutamate
(the excitotoxins). We also know liquid forms of excitotoxins are significantly
more toxic because of rapid absorption and higher blood levels. In the
face of this connection between excitotoxicity and the pathophysiology
of MS, it would be ludicrous to allow further use of this excitotoxin containing
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each mediate excitotoxicity in oligodendroglial cultures. Neurobiology
of Disease 6:475-485, 1999
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excitotoxicity, J Neuroscience Research 46: 427-437, 1996.
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mediators of excitotoxin death in mature oligodendrocytes. Neurobiology
of Disease 14:336-348, 2003.
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death through glutamate excitotoxicity. Annal Neurology 53: 588-595, 2003.
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alter visual evoked potentials. Neuroscience 123: 441-449, 2004.
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and reactive nitrogen and oxygen species in autism spectrum disorders.
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- TREATMENT FOR MS:
- It is now known the cause for the destruction of the
myelin in the lesions is overactivation of the microglia in the region
of the myelin. An enzyme that converts glutamine to glutamate called glutaminase
increases tremendously, thereby greatly increasing excitotoxicity. Mercury
also activates microglia, even in subtoxic doses.
- Any dietary excitotoxin can activate the microglia, thereby
greatly aggravating the injury. This includes the aspartate in aspartame.
The methanol adds to this toxicity as well. Now, the secret to treatment
appears to be shutting down, or at least calming down, the microglia. It
has been found that the antibiotic minocycline powerfully shuts down the
microglia. I tried this treatment on a friend of mine who just came down
with fulmanant MS. He was confined to a wheelchair. I had him placed on
minocycline and now, just a few weeks later, he is walking.
- The good news is that other things also calm the microglia-the
most potent are: silymarin, curcumin and ibuprophen. Phosphatidylcholine
helps re-myelinate the nerve sheaths that are damaged, as does B12, B6,
B1, vitamin D, folate, vitamin C, natural vitamin E (mixed tocopherols)
and L-carnitine. DHA plays a major role in repairing the myelin sheath.
Vitamin D may even prevent MS, but it acts as an immune modulator, preventing
further damage - the dose is 2000 IU a day. Magnesium, as magnesium malate,
is needed in a dose of 500 mg 2X a day. They must av