Monday, July 30, 2018

Two more anecdotes about molybdenum and migraines

A few days ago at a family get-together, I gave a bottle of molybdenum to a fellow mother so she could have it on hand for any future "stomach bugs." She told me later that in the time since I had given her the bottle of molybdenum, she had an occasion to try it for a headache that over-the-counter pain medications weren't helping her with, and the molybdenum apparently resolved her headache.

Then yesterday I found out that another member of my extended family regularly suffers from migraines. She happily accepted a bottle of molybdenum from me when I told her that it helps many people with migraines. She didn't mention that she had a headache coming on, and she took some molybdenum without telling me at the time; later on before we parted for the night, she told me that she'd already taken it and her headache was lessening.

So there's two more molybdenum anecdotes in which it appears to help with migraines. Of the many women I know who have tried molybdenum for migraines, only one reports that it hasn't helped her significantly. That's a pretty decent performance by an overlooked trace micronutrient! Especially when one considers how much some migraine medications cost.

(Disclaimer: I do not prescribe the use of pharmaceutical drugs in any way. I am not a physician, and I reject out of hand any attempt to hold me liable for what boils down to a discussion of food. Any use of a molybdenum supplement should be prudent and guided by the tested tolerable upper intake levels for its usage (see http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/molybdenum for those limits). Any use of an isolated molybdenum supplement during pregnancy should be under the direction of a medical professional as such supplements have apparently not been tested during pregnancy.)

Friday, July 20, 2018

Sulfate as a temporarily effective laxative

Yesterday, I said at the end of my post on diarrhea and molybdenum that I have had only had one person report that taking molybdenum--which she did for migraines--gave her diarrhea. She says that she changed her diet and no longer gets diarrhea from taking molybdenum glycinate.

What happened initially to cause diarrhea for her? I have a hypothesis to explain it. Remember the molybdenum-using enzyme sulfite oxidase? It catalyzes the transformation of sulfite to sulfate. A sudden increase in molybdenum in her digestive tract would logically bring about a sudden increase of sulfate in her digestive tract. It has been repeatedly noted that a sudden increase in sulfate can bring on faster stool movement and sometimes even diarrhea initially. (See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26582579, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27924798, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9149062http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/wells/waterquality/sulfate.htmlhttps://www.nap.edu/read/10925/chapter/9https://www.lenntech.com/sulfates.htm, and https://sciencing.com/sulfate-5457669.html) Sulfate ions act as osmotic laxatives in the colon. (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/sulfate#section=Top) Sulfate salts are used to clean out the colon in preparation for a colonoscopy: "Sulfate salts provide sulfate anions, which are poorly absorbed. The osmotic effect of the unabsorbed sulfate anions and the associated cations causes water to be retained within the gastrointestinal tract....The osmotic effect of the unabsorbed ions, when ingested with a large volume of water, produces a copious watery diarrhea." (Excerpted from information on "ColPrep Kit" at https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=bd9f13a9-0f13-4809-ad70-8f3cc2bd19bd)

Notice that sulfate ions can cause osmotic diarrhea. In the last post, I talked about molybdenum's beneficial role in the small intestine in preventing secretory diarrhea. Hence molybdenum can have contradictory effects on two different mechanisms--secretion and osmosis--involved in diarrhea.

And I haven't even gone into intestinal sulfate-reducing bacteria, which turn sulfate into H2S, which is a precursor of sulfite; the gut microbiome affects gastrointestinal motility (for example, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27477318). I think the many factors of intestinal environment shifts, liver and biliary tract function, commensal bacteria in the intestines, immune system activity, diet, etc. make the issue of diarrhea quite complex. Molybdenum is an overlooked player in diarrhea-related processes that merits research attention.

(Disclaimer: I do not prescribe the use of pharmaceutical drugs in any way. I am not a physician, and I reject out of hand any attempt to hold me liable for what boils down to a discussion of food. Any use of a molybdenum supplement should be prudent and guided by the tested tolerable upper intake levels for its usage (see http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/molybdenum for those limits). Any use of an isolated molybdenum supplement during pregnancy should be under the direction of a medical professional as such supplements have apparently not been tested during pregnancy.)

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Secretory diarrhea, adenylyl cyclase, and molybdoenzymes

There are several types of diarrhea: osmotic diarrhea, secretory diarrhea, inflammatory diarrhea, and diarrhea resulting from intestinal motility problems. (See http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/diarrhea.html) Cholera, which kills via dehydration from awful diarrhea, has been extensively researched. Partly from the work done on it, we know the following about secretory diarrhea:
Secretory Diarrhea
Large volumes of water are normally secreted into the small intestinal lumen, but a large majority of this water is efficienty absorbed before reaching the large intestine. Diarrhea occurs when secretion of water into the intestinal lumen exceeds absorption.
Many millions of people have died of the secretory diarrhea associated with cholera. The responsible organism, Vibrio cholerae, produces cholera toxin, which strongly activates adenylyl cyclase, causing a prolonged increase in intracellular concentration of cyclic AMP within crypt enterocytes. This change results in prolonged opening of the chloride channels that are instrumental in secretion of water from the crypts, allowing uncontrolled secretion of water. Additionally, cholera toxin affects the enteric nervous system, resulting in an independent stimulus of secretion.
Exposure to toxins from several other types of bacteria (e.g. E. coli heat-labile toxin) induce the same series of steps and massive secretory diarrhea that is often lethal unless the person or animal is aggressively treated to maintain hydration.
In addition to bacterial toxins, a large number of other agents can induce secretory diarrhea by turning on the intestinal secretory machinery, including:
  • some laxatives
  • hormones secreted by certain types of tumors (e.g. vasoactive intestinal peptide)
  • a broad range of drugs (e.g. some types of asthma medications, antidepressants, cardiac drugs)
  • certain metals, organic toxins, and plant products (e.g. arsenic, insecticides, mushroom toxins, caffeine)
In most cases, secretory diarrheas will not resolve during a 2-3 day fast.

(Excerpted from http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/diarrhea.html)


Secretory diarrhea can be caused by many things. In fact, inflammatory diarrhea often ends up stimulating secretory diarrhea:

The immune response to inflammatory conditions in the bowel contributes substantively to development of diarrhea. Activation of white blood cells leads them to secrete inflammatory mediators and cytokines which can stimulate secretion, in effect imposing a secretory component on top of an inflammatory diarrhea. Reactive oxygen species from leukocytes can damage or kill intestinal epithelial cells, which are replaced with immature cells that typically are deficient in the brush border enyzmes and transporters necessary for absorption of nutrients and water. In this way, components of an osmotic (malabsorption) diarrhea are added to the problem.

(Excerpted from http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/diarrhea.html)

Contrary to its public image, cholera often does not cause any noticeable illness. In fact, around 75% of people with cholera are asymptomatic. (https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/laboratory-biosafety-biosecurity/pathogen-safety-data-sheets-risk-assessment/vibrio-cholerae.html) Why the variation in cholera's effects on people? Why does the above chain of events involving adenylyl cyclase not result in diarrhea for so many people?

Based on the number of people who've told me that molybdenum glycinate (a supplement form of the trace micronutrient molybdenum) significantly lessens or ends diarrhea, I think dietary molybdenum helps explain why many people don't get diarrhea despite having cholera. How might it be doing so? Molybdenum is used as a cofactor by five known enzymes in the human body. All five of these enzymes have functions that tend to lessen the total activity of adenylyl cyclase:


Getting enough molybdenum in the small intestine therefore appears to be very important to moderating activity of adenylyl cyclase and in that way alleviating secretory diarrhea.

I've been told of an acquaintance with part of his small intestine removed who was suffering chronic diarrhea, probably because less small intestine surface means less removal of the water secreted into it early on in the digestive process; taking a molybdenum supplement once a week has given him great relief from the chronic diarrhea. I've heard of another man whose medications were giving him diarrhea, so he likely had secretory diarrhea as a drug side effect; molybdenum supplementation ended his diarrhea. And, as posted on this blog several times already, I've observed and been told of many people in whom molybdenum supplements greatly reduced or even eliminated diarrhea from viral gastroenteritis, which is likely secretory diarrhea overlaying inflammatory diarrhea. In over two years of telling people about molybdenum, I have only heard of one person who experienced diarrhea as a result of taking molybdenum; I will write about her experience in my next blog post [Update 7/20/2018: here's a link to that post] and explain the mechanism by which I think molybdenum induced diarrhea for her.

(Disclaimer: I do not prescribe the use of pharmaceutical drugs in any way. I am not a physician, and I reject out of hand any attempt to hold me liable for what boils down to a discussion of food. Any use of a molybdenum supplement should be prudent and guided by the tested tolerable upper intake levels for its usage (see http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/molybdenum for those limits). Any use of an isolated molybdenum supplement during pregnancy should be under the direction of a medical professional as such supplements have apparently not been tested during pregnancy.)

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Hyperbole-filled post

"Big Pharma is going to hate this post."

"Here is a secret your doctor doesn't know."

"Heal yourself from nausea and vomiting and diarrhea with this one simple trick."

You know how internet webpages and spam email often say obnoxious things like the three sentences above? These hyperbole-filled claims almost always waste time and can hurt gullible people. I despise them.

How did I find myself in a situation where those statements are actually true? For that is where I find myself with molybdenum. Molybdenum glycinate supplements are "one simple trick" that treats nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Doctors by and large are ignorant of its desirable effects; if one is lucky, one has a doctor who even knows that molybdenum is an essential trace micronutrient for human health. And, lastly, pharmaceutical companies have sunk a lot of money into antiemetic and norovirus vaccine research, and here a couple housewives in Colorado have stumbled upon a highly effective treatment for viral gastroenteritis symptoms, a treatment that costs them $6.25 per bottle of 100 pills--it's absurd, and it's enough to make one want to go short certain pharmaceutical stocks. (Don't worry, I haven't done that. I don't play the stock market.) If I weren't living this story, I'd never believe it.

Please, prove my claims yourself. Go buy an inexpensive bottle of molybdenum glycinate (Amazon has a few brands) and test it the next time you have a norovirus infection. The doses that typically work are usually about 20 times the RDA and yet still less than the upper tolerable intake limit for molybdenum supplementation. People typically need just one or two doses. To my knowledge, I have no financial interest in any company that mines or sells molybdenum. I have nothing to gain from all these blog posts about molybdenum except for the satisfaction of helping many people suffer less.

If you are in the medical field or know someone in the medical field, once you've seen how dramatically molybdenum helps with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, for the love of all that is good, don't keep it to yourself. With great knowledge comes great responsibility.

(Disclaimer: I do not prescribe the use of pharmaceutical drugs in any way. I am not a physician, and I reject out of hand any attempt to hold me liable for what boils down to a discussion of food. Any use of a molybdenum supplement should be prudent and guided by the tested tolerable upper intake levels for its usage (see http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/molybdenum for those limits). Any use of an isolated molybdenum supplement during pregnancy should be under the direction of a medical professional as such supplements have apparently not been tested during pregnancy.)

Friday, July 13, 2018

Questions about molybdenum storage in the liver and its delivery to the digestive tract

For some time, I've been wondering why young children under 5 years of age tend to be more severely afflicted by gastroenteritis. Per the Medscape website:

Acute gastroenteritis is a common cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Conservative estimates put diarrhea in the top 5 causes of deaths worldwide, with most occurring in young children in nonindustrialized countries. 

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/176515-overview

As I and several others have observed, molybdenum (given in the form molybdenum glycinate) successfully treats the nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea of viral gastroenteritis. (See https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2018/01/molybdenum-for-gastroenteritis-nausea.html, https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2018/01/molybdenum-and-diarrhea.html) The relatively high level of molybdenum in legumes--generally considered "poor man's food"--appears to be a plausible explanation for why travelers from wealthier countries often suffer to a much greater degree from viral gastroenteritis when visiting poorer countries than do the local people who eat a lot of legumes.

But children in these poorer, nonindustrialized countries are also being fed legumes....why are they dying from diarrhea in such large numbers even when their usual diet is relatively high in molybdenum? I think the tendency to avoid eating beans when feeling nauseated helps explain to some degree why people, including young children, continue to feel nauseated after they are already vomiting and starting to have diarrhea. But why doesn't molybdenum ingested earlier and stored in the body have more of an ameliorative effect in very young children? We store molybdenum in many parts of the body, especially in the liver. (See references at https://www.imoa.info/HSE/environmental_data/human_health/molybdenum_uptake.php.) Because the liver, via the biliary tract, is well-situated to deliver molybdenum to the part of the digestive tract where the action of vomiting starts (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroperistalsis), the liver is the most logical source of stored molybdenum that could have an impact on emesis.

I think a clue to why very young children tend to be more severely affected by viral gastroenteritis symptoms might lie in the absence of CD10 in the liver bile capillaries (canaliculi) of infants and children under 2 years of age. (See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5805126/ and https://www.nature.com/articles/3700677.) CD10 is also absent in the liver bile capillaries of people with Alagille syndrome (https://www.nature.com/articles/3700677), a major feature of which is liver bile ducts which are narrow, malformed, and reduced in number (https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/804/alagille-syndrome). Perhaps the tiny bile capillaries of small children, due to being without CD10 for the first two years of life, are malformed in such a way as to decrease the ability to mobilize molybdenum out of its liver-located storage; then after the bile capillaries start to have CD10 at about age 24 months, the livers continue to grow and liver cells undergo normal turnover, allowing substantial bypassing and repair of the earlier bile capillary defects by around age 5 years.

If insufficient delivery of molybdenum from the liver tissue to the proximal small intestine (duodenum) in very young children helps explain their greater mortality from gastroenteritis symptoms, then we should expect to see that obstructive jaundice--generally caused by an obstruction between the liver and the duodenum--is associated with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It looks like that could indeed be the case, for nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are noted as symptoms that have been observed to occur together with jaundice. (https://www.medicinenet.com/jaundice_in_adults/article.htm#what_are_the_signs_and_symptoms_of_jaundice_in_adultshttps://www.merckmanuals.com/home/liver-and-gallbladder-disorders/manifestations-of-liver-disease/jaundice-in-adults). It would be interesting to investigate whether people with gallstones or other bile duct obstructions are more severely affected by norovirus than people without. It is already accepted that it is a bad thing to obstruct the biliary tract; maybe an impaired ability quickly to utilize molybdenum stores in the liver is an additional negative result of biliary obstruction. Due to the prevalence of parasites in many developing countries, it would also be interesting to investigate the effects of parasites on the transport of molybdenum within the biliary tract.

There is much new space opened up for inquiry into diseases of the gastrointestinal tract by the discovery of molybdenum's ameliorative effect on the viral gastroenteritis symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Despite notifying many researchers and public health officials at the beginning of 2018, I have no knowledge to date of any researchers or medical practitioners following up on my reports of molybdenum glycinate's effectiveness in preventing/treating those symptoms. Molybdenum keeps working as I've been reporting, and the number of successes I hear about keeps ticking upward. I'm disappointed in the medical world. A housewife in Colorado shouldn't be the only one trying to fit all this together.

(Disclaimer: I do not prescribe the use of pharmaceutical drugs in any way. I am not a physician, and I reject out of hand any attempt to hold me liable for what boils down to a discussion of food. Any use of a molybdenum supplement should be prudent and guided by the tested tolerable upper intake levels for its usage (see http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/minerals/molybdenum for those limits). Any use of an isolated molybdenum supplement during pregnancy should be under the direction of a medical professional as such supplements have apparently not been tested during pregnancy.)

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Chondroitin sulfate for vocal flexibility in singers

I've been hesitant to post about this because only two people, my sister and myself, have tried it. But she is a voice teacher, so she's generally reliable on issues of vocal performance. Around the beginning of 2018, she asked me whether there was anything she could do to help her lungs not hyper-react to the grooming products used by a student. So I looked into it for her and suggested that she try chondroitin sulfate since it seems important to building healthy support structures for the surfaces of the trachea and bronchi.

She took chondroitin sulfate for a couple of weeks, and the bronchial hyperreactivity to her student's products went away. But even better--at least for a singer--her vocal range extended noticeably. So I tried chondroitin sulfate, too, and noticed that it helped me sing more easily and with a clearer tone. I find I get a noticeable result in my singing voice even if I take it only once in a while; the effect seems to kick in within a couple of hours.

The vocal cords (or folds) are supported by cartilage, and chondroitin sulfate is an important component of cartilage. Also, chondroitin sulfate has been found in the cover, ligament, and interstitial cells of the vocal folds (see http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000348949610500102 and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1808869416301045). One or both of these things could contribute to the mechanism by which she and I are finding that chondroitin sulfate helps us sing better. I'd love to hear if anyone else has noticed similar vocal performance effects in themselves after taking chondroitin sulfate.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Video posted: "Hypothesis: Zika virus-caused microcephaly connected to chondroitin sulfate in Brazilian feijoada?"

I just posted a short video about the possible connection between high cartilage content in the Brazilian national dish feijoada and the high occurrence of microcephaly subsequent to Zika virus infection in pregnant women in Brazil.


I blogged about this possible cuisine connection over a year ago: https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2017/05/zika-virus-placental-entry-and-feijoada.html.