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PS (PhosphatidylSerine), Premier Brain Booster For All Ages |
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PS (PhosphatidylSerine), Premier Brain Booster
For All Ages
by Parris M. Kidd, Ph.D.
The brain is our most sophisticated organ
but often the most vulnerable. It is
easily damaged by dietary deficiencies,
emotional challenges, toxic exposures and
numerous other stresses of modern life. One
of the kindest things we can do for our brain is
to feed it PS (PhosphatidylSerine).
PhosphatidylSerine (pronounced
fos-fa-tie-dil-ser-een) is a neuroceutical, a
nutrient natural to the brain’s biochemistry. PS
is also an orthomolecule, a molecule integral
to life since the beginning. Its synthesis in the
body is complicated and it is limited in the
food supply. No wonder, then, that PS has
such salutary benefits as a dietary supplement.
PS is extensively documented for its
neuroceutical benefits, through more than
20 double-blind trials, many other human
studies and thousands of scientific papers. PS
offers a variety of benefits for people of all
ages and in the over-50 population can sometimes
even reverse memory decline—an
effect unmatched by other brain nutrients.
For middle-aged people (ages 50–65), PS
can produce meaningful improvement in
memory, learning, concentration and word
recall. Three controlled trials were conducted
in the United States by renowned memory
expert Dr. Thomas Crook and his colleagues.
Among their findings was that PS could
restore up to 14 years’ worth of memory
function in subjects with abnormally accelerated
memory decline. Dr. Crook recommended
PS as the best option for those
seeking to rebuild their circuits before their
memory loss might become unmanageable.
PS can mildly improve personality, sociability
and the activities of daily living in
some persons with severe cognitive breakdown.
Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., at his
Alzheimer’s Prevention Foundation in
Arizona, has used PS in combination with
other potent brain nutrients in his wholistic
brain regeneration program. He prescribes
dietary improvements, stress reduction,
dietary supplements, mind-body exercises,
and where necessary, even pharmacologic
(prescription drug) therapy.
For those people over 65 still clinically
healthy but with age-associated brain decline,
PS offers partial revitalization of a variety of
mental functions. In addition to its cognitive
benefits, PS offers these individuals improved
mood control and adaptability to stress.
PS Benefits The Healthy Young
Professor David Benton is internationally
recognized for his research on brain function.
In 2001 his team published a doubleblind
trial that demonstrated PS can benefit
young, clinically healthy people. Male university
students in their early twenties who
were prone to neuroticism benefited from PS
(300 mg/day) with improved tolerance to a
mental stress test, administered as a challenging
time trial with mental arithmetic.
Benton’s group did another double-blind
trial on PS and stress management in his
students, this time using demanding
physical exercise. In this trial the students
experienced better heart rate recovery folby
Years’ worth of improvement in cognitive functions
from PS. Courtesy Dr. T. Crook. 13
lowing strenuous exercise on an ergonomic
bicycle. PS also improved mood and self-confidence
during both these stress trials.
The Benton findings are consistent with
two other double-blind trials in which PS
lowered stress hormone production from
exercise exertion. Although young women
were not included in these trials, there is
good reason to expect they would benefit
similarly. In an earlier double-blind trial, elderly
women experienced lessened anxiety and
improved mood from PS.
Dr. C. A. Ryser, a physician who routinely
sees children with attention deficit, hyperactivity
and learning problems, conducted a
preliminary open study with PS. With parents’
informed consent, each child received
optimal individualized treatment as per her
usual protocols, then she added PS into their
treatment plans (at 200 or 300 mg per day,
depending on body size). Twenty-seven (27)
children aged 3–19 years completed the fourmonth
study.
Dr. Ryser found that PS gave marked,
clinically meaningful benefit to 25 of the 27
children. PS improved attention, concentration,
learning and behavior, benefited school
performance, and benefited the depression
and anxiety commonly seen in these children.
Dr. Ryser judged that children initially
prescribed with pharmaceuticals still had
additional clinical benefit from PS, which
also enhanced the benefits from essential
fatty acids and other nutrients. She noted no
adverse effects or drug interactions.
Additional study is needed, but the
apparent benefits to children from PS in the
Ryser study are consistent with its other
benefits to memory conservation, brain revitalization
and stress management.
PS Presents Unique Neuroceutical Benefits
Being orthomolecular—deeply integrated
into human biochemistry—endows PS with
exceptional efficacy, tolerability and safety.
This helps explain its superiority over herbal
preparations like Ginkgo biloba extract, vinpocetine
and huperzine, none of which has
substantial orthomolecular character.
PS is present in all our cells, tissues and
organs and it has profound roles in energetics,
repair and renewal. But it is in the
brain that PS most shines. PS is a key cell
membrane phospholipid, important for the
brain cells to make energy via their mitochondrial
membrane systems. PS also is
essential to the packaging of the nerve transmitters
into membrane vesicles, to transmitter
release via membrane fusion and to
transmitter actions on receptors embedded
in the nerve cell membranes. Altogether,
these activities translate into whole-brain
effects that explain the documented clinical
benefits of PS.
Recently it was discovered that the brain
can produce new nerve cells under the
influence of growth factors. In animal experiments
PS protected the receptors for nerve
growth factor (NGF) against age-related loss,
while conserving the existing circuits. This is
consistent with its clinical brain revitalization
effects.
A good dosing strategy with PS is to
preload the body’s cell membrane systems
with the clinically verified dose of 300 mg per
day for a minimum of one month, or for
longer depending on need. Most people
experience benefit within three weeks to
three months. Then depending on need, a
maintenance dose can be implemented, minimally
100 mg up to 300 mg per day.
The premier status of PS as a neuroceutical
grows out of decades of controlled clinical
application. Its unique biochemistry, metabolism
and range of proven benefits take it
beyond the drugs and other nutrients that
target the brain. For people of all ages, taking
PS offers hope for a level of brain sharpness
that defies the passing of the years. TH
Parris M. Kidd, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized
nutrition consultant and educator.
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