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PS (PhosphatidylSericne) for Energy, Stress and Mood |
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PS (PhosphatidylSerine) for Energy, Stress and Mood
by Parris M. Kidd, Ph.D.
PhosphatidylSerine (PS) is a brain
nutrient proven to benefit memory
and learning through many doubleblind
clinical trials. But PS contributes to
many other features of brain vitality. A major
category of brain vitality that benefits from
PS is energy, mood and coping with stress.
ENERGY
PS is a phospholipid, one of a class of nutrients
called “life’s building blocks” because
they go to make the membrane systems of
cells. Membranes are thin, flexible, extended
molecular matrices that house most of the
enzymes responsible for generating life
energy and otherwise transacting the
business of life. All the cells in all living
things—from the simplest to the most
sophisticated—have such membrane systems,
all assembled from PS and other phospholipids.
In humans, the brain is richer in
PS than any other organ. PS has membrane
properties which seemingly are most valuable
to the nerve cells of the brain.
The brain’s approximately 100 billion
nerve cells are energy guzzlers. They’re our
largest, longest, most metabolically active
cells. They generate, propagate and integrate
electrical signals all through the brain and
spinal cord and out into the limbs. Their
membrane systems are literally their electrical
transmission grids, along as many as 100 trillion
pathways. And for all this they need PS.
The bulk of the nerve cell’s energy comes
from the mitochondria, the “powerhouses”
of the cell. These subcellular units must have
PS to do their job. The mitochondria import
PS from elsewhere in the cell and use it to
make another phospholipid, PE (phosphatidylethanolamine)
that is very important for their energy efficiency.
PS has numerous membrane functions. It
supports the membrane transport enzyme
that regulates sodium and potassium movement
into and out of the cell. This “Na/K
ATPase” uses most of the cell’s energy and PS
support for its efficient action is crucial to
the cell’s survival. PS also facilitates membrane-
to-membrane fusion processes that
release chemical transmitters at the synaptic
junctions. PS also optimizes membrane
receptor proteins that sense the transmitters;
at least nine transmitter systems are supported
by PS.
STRESS
Through these and other higher-level mechanisms
PS helps the brain manage stress.
Sustained emotional stress is known to cause
shrinkage of the hippocampus brain zone
and accelerate memory decline. This effect is
mediated by long-term blood cortisol elevation.
Strenuous physical exercise also can elevate
cortisol.
In two double-blind trials conducted in
Italy, bicyclists given PS prior to strenuous
exercising pedaling experienced significantly
less cortisol elevation. Professional bodybuilders
develop elevated cortisol when they
become “overtrained”; in a U.S. double-blind
trial PS lowered cortisol levels and their dayto-
day soreness was relieved.
PS benefits acute mental challenge. In a
double-blind trial coordinated by noted UK
researcher Prof. David Benton, 21-year-old
male university students were randomly
assigned to take either PS or a placebo. After 30
days the subjects were given a test that created
acute stress: tough mental arithmetic calculations
without a calculator and on a time limit.
As the study began, the students filled out
a questionnaire on “neuroticism.” People
who tend toward neuroticism typically
respond poorly to stress and have more difficulty
dealing with daily life. Those students
who scored more “neurotic” experienced little stress when they took PS, their mood
was stable and they reported negligible anxiety.
Those who got placebo and not PS
reported a highly significant level of stress
from the test and a significant worsening of
mood. Therefore PS can help “nervous” types
stay clear-headed, composed and confident
as they take on challenging mental tasks.
Dr. Benton did a second double-blind
trial with young male students, this one
assessing PS against the heart rate response to
the stress of physical exercise. During
demanding aerobic physical exercise the
heart rate will tend to increase; the faster the
heart rate can return to normal, the more
healthy is that subject’s stress response.
As before, male university students were
randomly divided into a PS group and a
placebo group. Each took PS (300 mg per
day) or placebo for 30 days. Then each subject
was fitted with a continuous heart rate
monitor and made to ride an ergonomic
bicycle vigorously for 20 minutes, followed
by rest for 40 minutes.
During the second 10-minute exercise
period, the PS subjects’ heart rates increased
significantly less than did those on placebo.
After the rest period the PS subjects were significantly
more confident and composed
than were the placebo subjects.
Professor Benton’s two double-blind
trials with PS for stress are consistent with
the two double-blind trials conducted with
bicyclists in Italy. These four trials confirm
PS empowers young people to confront the
stressful challenges of living in today’s world.
MOOD
In a double-blind trial on elderly women
hospitalized with chronic depression, PS
lifted the depression and eased their anxiety.
Their memory problems, often linked to
depression, also improved. So did their irritability,
social interests and cooperativeness.
Similar results were obtained for men in
other trials. Laboratory testing suggested PS
could be deficient in subjects with clinical
depression.
PS benefits for stress and depression are
probably based in its revitalization of the
pituitary, the “master gland.” This gland
works in tandem with the brain’s hypothalamus
zone and the adrenal glands, as the
HPAA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis),
the body’s central system for coping with
stress. Studies with elderly men and women
found that PS improved dexamethasone suppression,
a biochemical measure of adaptability
to stress and could partially restore
sleep cycles to a more youthful pattern.
Some of the researchers suggested PS has that
rare attribute: to influence complex interrelationships
between the nervous system and the hormonal system.
Revitalization of the brain by PS has been
directly demonstrated in human subjects.
The imaging technique PET (Positron
Emission Tomography) produces a color map
of the brain, with the different colors representing
levels of blood glucose consumption.
The higher the glucose use, the higher the
energy level and the redder the color on the
PET scans. In patients with advanced cognitive
decline PET shows very little glucose consumption;
after a period of PS intake the brain
literally lights up on the PET scans.
PS can benefit people of all ages,
including children. Pilot studies indicate PS
can benefit attention, behavior and learning
in children diagnosed with such problems.
PS is especially suitable for children because
it is safe over a wide dosage range (100–500
mg per day). The exceptional safety and tolerability
of PS is related to its being an orthomolecule,
intrinsic to cell form and
function. PS is the safest and most effective
nutraceutical for the human brain, enabling
its energetics and supporting its vitality and
adaptability from birth through old age. TH
For more information visit
www.enzymotec.com
www.PhospholipidsOnline.com
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