|
CR III Conference talk summary Summary by Dean Pommerleau |
 |
Speaker 7: Michael Rae: The Art and Science of Supplementation: Priorities, Pitfalls and PracticeWorks in R&D and product development at AOR - Advanced Orthomolecular Research. Leading provider of cutting edge supplements. Caveat: Michael's company sells supplements. CR practitioners are all over the map wrt to supplements, some take 1/2 a centrum multi-vitamin, and others take fistfuls of supps. Neither is very wise, according to Michael. Drive of "magic pill" isn't working out very well. Eg. CoQ10 doesn't seem to extend lifespan. CR still only "proven" strategy. Pills have no proof. Anything beyond CR is a gamble. The question is risk vs. potential reward. Michael's strategy - Tier approach. Early tier is no-brainer. Further tiers more speculative. You CAN do yourself harm with the wrong supplements, or too much of the right supplements. Low quality supplements can even have nasty toxins in them. We don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot... Too much reliance on test tube studies to justify supplements. Easy to kill cancer cells in a test tube. The challenge is to avoid killing the normal cells! Too much thinking that "if is useful for correcting disease, it should also enhance normal people". Michael's Basic No-nos - Don't take / do the following supplements:
Encouraged people to read section in Walford's 120 Year Diet on "The Nature of Evidence". Great way to learn about how to treat evidence, for supplements and other scientific findings. Now strong evidence that tomatoes, and specifically lycopene, prevents prostate cancer. Tier system: Tier 1: Essential SupplementsOrthomolecules only - basic vitamins and mineralsAvoid deficiency - Stuff you'll die or get really sick without in long run Specific disease / risk factors - Niacin if you have genetically bad cholesterol
1a) Avoid frank deficiencies
Unrecognized Essentials:
Tier 1 Targets - here is where to look:
His recommendation - Start w/ diet, and then supplement basics to get to 1.5x RDA of minerals. See above caveats for fat soluble. Strong evidence for vitamin K2 for osteoporosis avoidance. Balance is important!
1b) "Pharmacologic" supplements for specific disease/Risk factorsIf you have these risk factors, you might take these supplements:
Bone heath - Age, low DXA, very slim, dramatic weight loss - take strontium,
K2 Tier 2 - "Good-Diet-in-a-Pill"Dietary supplementsSmall number of specific nutrients with safety & efficacy from combination of of prospective epidemiology, with independent variables, and experimental studies. Evidence-based phytochemicals:
Observation that unless we're retarding aging, there is only so much more mortality curve squaring we can do. We already have a pretty darn square curve. Showed very cool graph of human mortality data where each curve represents a different year, ranging from 10000 BC to present. Curve has successively gotten very close to square. Not much room for improvement. If we eliminate all cancer tomorrow and you are 50 years old, you would only Tier 3: "Sensible" "Megadose" supplementationDietary Supplements; Large human clinical trials showing safety
Signs of selenium toxicity - fingernail ridges and garlic breath. Good idea to take Selenium as SeMC - much more effective at lower doses than standard selenomethionine. AOR selenium is SeMC - shameless plug... Stuff Michael takes himself, but a bit further down in tier system:
Tier 4 - Life extension LevelNO CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE!!!!Things keep failing.
But w/o rodent studies, what have we got? We're up a creek w/o a paddle. Need cancer resistant mice strains to probe further. CoQ10 - poster child for failure of initially promising supplement to extend rodent lifespan. Stop taking CoQ10 - some evidence of "crap" in hearts, livers and kidney in mice in CoQ10 group. May be why there was a hint of *decreased* lifespan from CoQ10 in mice. Resveratrol:
Case Study 1: Judy Dunn:
What she is doing:
OrthoCore 9 x
Calcium citrate 400 mg
Magnesium citrate 200 mg
B12 shot 1cc once a month
Folic Acid 5 mg
Flax oil 1 g
[Iron 10 mg]
Fish oil 1 g
EGCG 3 x day
CoQ10 30 mg
R(+)-Lipoic Acid 3 x
[SeMC] _
Benfotiamin 2 x
Carnosine 2 x
OrthoMind 3 x
MSM 1000 mg
l-Tyrosine 500 mg
Kyolic garlic extract 600 mg
What she should do:
Tier1:
50% of well-designed multi
All Bs
E complex, Cu, Zn, Fe
227 mg Sr; 5-15 mg menatetrenone?
Tier 2:
75% OrthoCore as basic multi
EgCG, Limonene
Tier 3:
Network Synergy
200-600 mcg Se (as SeMC)
Tier 4:
R(+)-LA: Top up to 500-600 mg, + extra biotin
Benfotiamine: 300 mg
Trans-resveratrol, when available?
Metformin (1500 mg)??
Case study #2: April Smith:What she's doing now: OrthoCore 9 x Calcium citrate 400 mg Magnesium citrate 200 mg B12 shot 1cc once a month Folic Acid 5 mg Flax oil 1 g [Iron 10 mg] Fish oil 1 g EGCG 3 x day CoQ10 30 mg R(+)-Lipoic Acid 3 x [SeMC] _ Benfotiamin 2 x Carnosine 2 x OrthoMind 3 x MSM 1000 mg l-Tyrosine 500 mg Kyolic garlic extract 600 mg Whatshe should do: Tier 1: 50% of well-designed multi, incl. retinol Calcium (63-80%) + D, Iron (89-149% - non-heme; woman, but ), Zinc (76-82%) -- & Copper 146-163% Fiber Nearly vegetarian: taurine (250 mg), creatine (5 g), carnitine (ALCAR pref) (500 mg), carnosine (500 mg), choline (200-500 mg). 227 mg Sr; 5-15 mg menatetrenone Tier 2 50% OrthoCore as basic multi EgCG, Limonene Tier 3 Network Synergy 200-600 mcg Se (as SeMC) Tier 4: R(+)-LA: Top up to 500-600 mg, + extra biotin Benfotiamine: 300 mg Trans-resveratrol, when available? Metformin (1500 mg)?? Case study #3: Dean PomerleauWhat he's doing now: OrthoCore 9 x Ortho-Bone 5 x L-Methionine (LIVD) 500mg Flax seed oil 3x1g gelcaps Iron Niferex 150 - Prescription 150mg (elem) DHA 400mg/wk Strontium 227mg Carnosine (LIVD) 500mg ALCAR (Lower Lp(a) + LIVD) 500mg R+ Lipoic Acid (balance ALCAR) 300mg Tier 1: 50% of well-designed multi, incl. retinol Iron (history of anemia) Small dose of flax oil (Omega-3 (g) 3.14; Omega-6 (g) 7.28. Shorts (vegan)). Vegan: taurine (250 mg), creatine (5 g), carnitine (ALCAR pref) (500 mg), carnosine (500 mg), choline (500 mg). ALCAR (1500 mg total): Lp(a), in which case 600 mg R(+)-LA Niacin (2000-4000 mg, niacin or inositol hexanicotinate) if Lp(a) doesn't normalize. 227-545 mg Sr; 15 mg menatetrenone (weight loss; known low DEXA; Fosamax use). Low-dose Ca before sleep Tier 2 50% OrthoCore as basic multi (+ extra choline) EgCG .? Tier 3 Network Synergy 200-600 mcg Se (as SeMC) Tier 4: R(+)-LA: Top up to 500-600 mg, + extra biotin Benfotiamine: 300 mg Trans-resveratrol, when available? Metformin (1500 mg)?? Michael's Bottom line, take home message:
|