Your Brain and Chronic Illness

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What the Body Needs

Most tissues can use fatty acids as their primary if not sole source of metabolic energy. There are some notable exceptions to this:

• Brain and other nervous tissue require glucose as a sole energy source and even in long-term fasting require significant amounts of glucose.
• Red blood cells, since they do not contain mitochondria (power plants of cells), they can only obtain energy by anaerobic glycolysis (break down of sugars without the presence of oxygen).
• Skeletal muscle at rest uses predominantly lipid (fat) as the energy source, but in heavy exercise also draws upon muscle glycogen and blood glucose. Because brain and red blood cells depend almost exclusively upon glucose as their source of energy, it is essential that it always be available.

Free glucose is present in the blood plasma at a concentration of approximately 80 mg per 100 ml..

It should be noted here again, that the normal adult, under most circumstances, is fully able to synthesize all of the carbohydrates that are needed from non-carbohydrate sources, i.e. proteins and fats.

Insulin and Blood Sugar

After a high carbohydrate meal there is an immediate rise in blood sugar levels. Some of the blood sugar is utilized for immediate needs. The excess glucose is stored in the form of fatty acids (triglycerides) in the adipose tissue (fat) and as glycogen in the liver and muscles. The pancreas responds to rising blood sugar levels by producing the hormone insulin in its islands of Langerhans. Insulin is in effect a storage hormone for glucose. Its job is to prevent high levels of blood sugar by removing excess glucose from the blood and storing it as fat. A high carbohydrate diet leads to obesity, a high protein and high fat diet does not!

With little or no insulin we have a condition known as Diabetes (persistent high blood sugar levels). With too much insulin secretion, or if insulin is to effective, too much glucose is removed too fast from the circulating blood, a condition called hypoglycemia results. The primary tissues affected by this condition are the brain and nervous system. The body will at all times attempt to maintain homeostasis, that means state of balance.

The Adrenals, the Pancreas, the Liver and Blood Sugar

The adrenal glands respond to stress and/or low blood sugar by producing adrenaline and releasing it into the bloodstream. Adrenaline produces symptoms of anxiety, trembling and or panic attacks. Adrenaline triggers the liver to release Glycogen (the stored form of sugar). This in turn raises the blood sugar levels. The raised blood sugar levels stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin. A high output of insulin by the pancreas induces new low blood sugar episodes (hypoglycemia). This state of hypoglycemia again induces the Adrenals to release adrenaline into the bloodstream. The cycle starts again.

• Chronic stress leads to adrenal exhaustion, liver stress, pancreatic over-stimulation and hypoglycemia.
• The typical American diet, high in carbohydrates, leads to adrenal exhaustion, liver stress, pancreatic over-stimulation and hypoglycemia.

Most people in the United States of America and the western industrialized world live with chronic stress and a diet similar to the typical American diet. My clinical experience shows that large percentage of my clients suffer from the typical signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia, impaired brain function, adrenal exhaustion and fatigue.

Hyperinsulinism

A diet high in carbohydrates requires the production high levels of insulin. High insulin levels cause a high a storage rate of glucose, which leads to obesity. High insulin levels can also induce what we call insulin resistance. The insulin receptors on the cell walls become blocked and non-responsive to insulin. Only little glucose can enter the cells for energy production. Very little energy is produced in the cells, and the patients with this condition typically complain of lack of energy and fatigue.

Hypoglycemia is Dangerous for your Brain

Chronic stress, hypoglycemia and ischemia(decreased blood flow) are dangerous for the health of the brain. Sophisticated cortex cells have a size of approximately 70 micrometers. Red blood cells are 8 micrometers in size.. Motor neurons of a whale can be up to 60 feet long. In man they can be 3 to 4 feet long. Large cells are expensive to operate. They have a high metabolism, and so need a lot of sugar and oxygen. Hypoglycemia can and will starve a nerve cell to death. So will ischemia (lack of blood supply and consequently lack of oxygen), and acute and chronic stress.

• It should be noted here that the normal adult, under most circumstances, is fully able to synthesize all of the glucose and triglycerides needed from non-carbohydrate sources.

Hypoglycemia is dangerous and must be taken seriously!

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