Another Barry Sears question

[FreeIndeed]

I got sick this morning and went home. Think I got food poisoning somewhere. It came over me so fast. I feel a little better now after getting violently ill. I will spare you the gross disgusting details. Anyway, I am home with my book so I can quote Barry Sears.

In his book, "The Zone", he talks about how Upjohn published definitive research confirming some isolated reports that heart disease could be eliminated by injecting phospholipids into animals.

In essence, heart disease could be reduced, if not eradicated, through a simple injection of the natural lipids that are the basis of every cell in the body.

He goes on to explain that although the Upjon scientists published their research, it should have been big news and one would think the drug companies would have entered a race to see which company could develop and market phospholipids as a treatment for heart disease in humans. Problem is phospholipids are natural substances, and it's impossible to get a patent for something that occurs in nature. (My bolding).

Since there was no possibility of getting exclusive rights a patent confers, the drug companies just weren't interested.

So here's my question. What are the natural lipids that are the basis of every cell in the body??

I understand he believes his Zone diet (by keeping insulin, etc. under control) encourages us to use food to manipulate eicosanoid balance, but I still wonder What are the natural lipids that are the basis of every cell in the body or how can I find out the answer to that question in spite of the fact that it is not likely to profit any large corporations (or Barry Sears) to make that knowlege available to the general public?

I'll get out of bed and crawl over to the computer periodically to see if any of the nutrionists have answered this question. I hope someone has the answer.

[Atkins_Nutritionist]

Hi FreeInDeed. I hope that you are feeling better!

I’ll answer to your specific question first and then discuss the other things you mentioned in your post.

All cells have an outer lining called the plasma membrane, which protects the machinary inside the cell from what is outside in the extracelluliar fluid that bathes the cell. Cell membranes are built from lipids (fats) and proteins. The lipids in the plasma membrane are chiefly phospholipids. Phospholipids are amphiphilic, meaning they have parts that are attracted to water and parts that are not. This is because the hydrocarbon tail of the phospolipid makes it hydrophobic (water-fearing) and its polar head is hydrophilic (water-loving). As the plasma membrane faces watery solutions on both sides, its phospholipids accommodate this by forming a phospholipid bilayer with the hydrophobic tails facing each other.

I have never heard of the research that Sears mentions, but I can see why pharmaceutical companies would not be interested in this. First, the study was only done in animals and this does not translate that the same would be seen in humans. And it was only one study that showed this. I’m sure there are hundreds of single studies that showed that a certain substance did something that was statistically significant, which would allow the researcher to conclude that the substance could be the ‘cure’. But unless there is an interest in investigating the substance further and more research was done that supports what the original study showed, pharmaceutical companies would not be interested. There are also different ethical standards for studies on animals and humans and the fact that the phospholipids were injected may have been approved in an animal trial but not necessarily in a human trial.

Hope this helps to answer your question. Get well soon!

[FreeIndeed]

Thank you. I'm feeling better.

I do realize that the studies were done on animals, but there was no interest (read just the forward of The Zone) in doing any more studies because a patent can't be obtained on a natural substance.

Sears makes it pretty clear that the lack of interest in additional research (eventually including humans) was due to the fact that that it was a natural substance that Upjohn and other drug companies could not patent which would prevent them from eventually not only recovering the money for their research and development but ultimately profiting from.

I'm not faulting Upjohn or other drug companies. They are in business to make money. I do think it is a crying shame that so much promising research is not continued because there are not enough altruistic funds available for the research and one doesn't have to be a pessimist to acknowledge this fact. One just has to realize that we live in an imperfect world.

But back to the question, I realize that the cells are made of protein and lipids and the lipids are phospholipids, but what is a phospholipid? What is a natural source of a phospholipid?

Is lecithin one phospholipid? Monosaturated fatty acids? Saturated fatty acids.

Like in plain layperson English, if you could give me some kind of clue?

[Atkins_Nutritionist]

Glad to hear you are feeling better.

I really do not think that the reason why this is not researched further is simply because it is a natural substance. Insulin is a natural substance that is produced by the pancreas and there was credible and substantial research behind it which caused interest in studying it more and going further to develop it, and yes it is patented and companies make a lot of money off of it. I haven’t read the whole doc, only the paragraphs you provided, but it seems like Sears is just trying to make an argument and I’m not sure why. There was only one animal study which he said showed this effect and without even me knowing the methods or results of this study, I cannot confirm or contradict his conclusions. Did he reference this study? If you can provide me with the reference, I’ll take a look. I honestly can’t see the rationale of why phospholipids would have such a dramatic effect on heart disease, and I am not even sure what biomarkers of heart disease he is referring to.

I’ll try to be a little less technical in my definition of phospholipids, but it is difficult since it is a molecular compound. Phospolipids are one type of lipids. Other types are triglycerides, and sterols (of which cholesterol is one type). As I mentioned, phospholipids have a ‘head’ which is water-loving and a ‘tail’ which is water-hating (picture it looking like a circle with a squiggly line attached). The head (the circle) is always a carbon with one double bond to an oxygen, and one single bond to an oxygen, which is then attached to other carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and phosphate molecules. The tail (the squiggly line) is always a fatty acid, which can be saturated, or unsaturated (poly or mono). Names of phospholipids include phosphatidic acid, phospatidylethanolamine, phosphadidylcholine (lecithin), and phosphatidylglycerol.

Hope this helps clarify.

[FreeIndeed]

Names of phospholipids include phosphatidic acid, phospatidylethanolamine, phosphadidylcholine (lecithin), and phosphatidylglycerol.

That's what I was looking for. No point in debating whether or not further research was warranted or not. I think you and I can just agree to disagree about that.

Barry Sears is obviously a brilliant man witnessed by the fact that for one he holds most of the major patents for AIDS medications. He just doesn't always talk in plain layperson english, and since I truly believe that paranoia is sometimes the highest form of consciousness (quote from the book - Lights Out) and am less than enthused about the volumes of information that was totally ignored by the medical "establishment" regarding the benefits of low carbohyrdrate diets, I quite frankly am prone to distrusting many medical authorities.

If I listened to the majority of medical authorities in this country, I would ditch the low carb lifestyle in spite of the fact that my health always improves dramatically when I am on it and go on a low fat diet and load up on "complex carbohydrates" until I became a Type II diabetic instead of borderline diabetic. So much for listening the the "established" supposedly credible medical authorities or trusting them for that matter.

I watched my brother die of systemic schleraderma while doctors threw up their hands and said they didn't have any idea how to help him and everyone if my family (including my brother before he died) has had heart problems so I'm thinking taking lecithin wouldn't hurt a bit. I'll read up on those other philosophids too.

Which is one reason why I read all the Sears stuff. I'm currently reading his book The Anti-Aging Zone.

Thanks for the info. I do appreciate the time you nutritionists take to answer our questions.

[FreeIndeed]

I just noticed that the time I am posting is way different than the time that shows up as the time I posted. Right now for instance it is 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday 9/29/04 but it would appear that I posted it tomorrow 9/30/04 in the middle of the workday.

On another board, I posted a letter to an editor after 9:00 pm on a wednesday and they showed received during the WORKday on a Friday which was noooooot good since I told someone I work with they posted it and selected it to print in the local newspaper before I realized their time was off and it looks like I did it at work on a Wednesday which I didn't. Of course the date and time received could have been the date and time the editor opened his e-mail.

Don't expect you do do anything about this. I know the times and even days are frequently off on various bulletin boards. I'm really just posting this in case someone in my office thinks I posted during the day.

Someone told me yesterday some office gossip was going around about that letter to the local newspaper editor and the fact that they say I e-mailed it on company time.

Maybe I'll end my posts with a note about the actual time since I have no intention of staying off the internet or one of my favorite boards on my personal time off just to prevent rumors.

[Emily-D]

I can't solve the problem with the letter to the editor, but maybe this will help with the time on your posts.

Go to:
my controls
edit options
time offset

Then set it for your local time Eastern time is GMT -5 hours, for instance.

I hope this helps!