Has anyone’s heard of the Krebs Cycle, also known as the Citric Acid Cycle? It’s a series of biochemical reactions that happen in the mitochondria and is critical for the formation of energy. Krebs has a book called “The Principles and Applications of Ozone Therapy”. The cycle converts NADH to NAD. The article also talks about Oxaloacetate. There is a supplement called benaGene that you can purchase from Amazon. It contains oxaloacetate and vitamin C.
I found an article in my pile of things that are Parkinson’s related and it just sounds like it could be something that could do some good if I understood it, but this is way over my head.
Let me know if you have heard of it and if you know anything about it. Thanks! 🥊
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LagLag37
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Dr. Richard Veech worked in Dr. Hans Krebs's lab when Krebs was developing his research. Veech wrote the seminal article in 2001 about the potential of ketone bodies to stop dopamine neuron cell death. The link is here if you want to investigate further iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.c.... Many researchers have built on Veech's work. Dr. Dominic D'Agostino at U-South Florida has some really interesting stuff on ketones. My partner was diagnosed with PD in 2011 (tremor began in 2009) and was able to significantly slow progression until 2020. Your mileage may vary so do your homework.
Basic physiology. We have to support the Krebs cycle for energy.
Great quality food with NO grains, animal dairy (except butter), caffeine, sugars or additives, plus some basic supplements of vitamin C, magnesium, B complex and D3 will do the trick. But keep active.
Re my partner's PD journey: we heard about the ketogenic diet and nutritional ketosis in 2011 and still feel it's scientifically sound. He started with MCT oil at that time and saw a significant difference in his handwriting. MCT is a great way to experiment cheaply to see if ketones help your symptoms.
Back then you couldn't buy exogenous ketones so he practiced strict carb restriction and settled on AAKG to induce ketosis (note, NOT ketoacidosis, which is a medical emergency experienced by diabetics). In 2012 he started taking 16 mg per day (4 scoops) of the Primaforce brand which is cheap and he still takes it today. D'Agostino developed a protocol for ALS patients using AAKG that slows progression but doesn't stop it - see "Deanna Protocol." She's still alive 12 years later although not doing great. ALS patients typically live no more than 5 years after diagnosis.
Veech's theory is that whatever causes the neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimers, Parkinson's, MS, ALS, and Huntington's) injures the mitochondria in the brain's dopamine receptor cells. Injured brain cells can no longer use glucose for energy but they can still tap ketones, mainly betahydroxybutyrate. Nowadays you can buy ketone drinks as salts or esters. My partner tried the ester in 2018 but found it intoxicating so he stuck to the AAKG which induces ketosis because alpha ketoglutarate is an intermediary in the Krebs Cycle. The arginine is a buffer to reduce stomach upset.
If you go this route, you should read the literature on the nitric oxide AAKG produces. There's a rather old paper that says the NO produced by arginine triggers dopamine neuron cell death ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/160... but other papers say it's also neuroprotective: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/156... and ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/174.... NO seems to be a modulator, not a villain. My partner decided to trust D'Agostino's scientific creds since neither of us have degrees in biochemistry.
My partner is atypical in that he's refused carbidopa/levodopa from diagnosis to this day and relied on nutritional ketosis. He takes Vyvanse for his ADHD, which is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor and probably somewhat replaces CD/LD. He was great about exercise all those years and had only tremor, but COVID and staying home interrupted his routine and he never quite got it back. Until April 2020 I would say his quality of life was pretty good without CD/LD. Now not so much. Whether he would have had the same QOL without AAKG and he was just lucky to draw a long honeymoon period, we do not know.
After reading about micronized 600 mg Palmitoylethanolamide with Luteolin on this board, he started taking it a few weeks ago. He feels his posture and balance have already improved - time will tell. Our theory is that ketones treat the symptoms, but PEA-Lut treats the cause (possibly a latent viral infection) if the research is correct.
If you're supplementing Oxaloacetate you should read this first: marksdailyapple.com/the-def.... It would seem to defeat ketosis.
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