VitaleTherapeutics' Goal

"VitaleTherapeutics" is Latin and Greek for "a search for the true life treatment". As our name implies, VitaleTherapeutics is interested in real, long-lasting solutions for diseases having immunodeficiency, hypersensitivity, and autoimmune components (such as cancer, AIDS, allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes). A better understanding of how environmental toxins, metabolic imbalances, and nutritional deficiencies can affect our immune systems to cause these diseases should help us to accomplish these goals. Our New Mexico based corporation was established to identify, develop, and disseminate information about the causes of disease and about scientifically-documented, non-toxic remedies and has obtained non-profit status with the IRS.

This web site is the premier publication produced by VitaleTherapeutics, Inc. Through the generous contribution of services, time, expertise, supplies, equipment, software, and research funds, and with little to no budget or salary, the directors and collaborators of VitaleTherapeutics have managed to conduct nearly two dozen studies in the past dozen years, including aging and differentiative studies, studies in a murine model for AIDS, and tests of the vitaletheine modulators in several cancer models, including the successful treatment of dogs and horses with melanoma. One of the more interesting studies was helping a major HMO sort out data on lymphedema to determine that successful therapy depends upon very early intervention at the first onset of edema in the affected limb. A dozen more studies are planned and awaiting minimal funding, including long-term follow-up of any survival stemming from immunostimulation in a mouse AIDS model. Making the vitaletheine modulator therapies available for human use is planned for this year.

Part of the purpose of this Web Page is to provide a list of current needs for our organization so that other interested parties can participate in our efforts to solve these troubling problems.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Those of you who have followed the news and literature about the incidence of cancer and other diseases in the general population have seen genetic approaches getting a lot of the press. One genetic researcher quoted by the press even has stated flatly that "All cancers are diseases of genes". This particular characterization of the situation contradicts epidemiological studies and even the work of other doctors and geneticists. For example, in a study of 117,988 women, aged 30 to 55, hereditary factors (a positive family history) were found in only 2.5% of breast cancer patients; that's only 1 in 40 cases. "Familial" sharing of recipes and eating habits, and residences in the same geographical regions with similar "familial" environmental exposures, could contribute even to this small "familial" predisposition. A report that 95% of breast cancer tumors contain viral proteins (RAK) and gene fragments (similar to the proteins and genetic codes associated with another virus, HIV, that causes AIDS) seems to confirm the low incidence of hereditary breast cancer by providing a possible infectious explanation for the disease. The logical consequence of this information is that the causes of most breast cancers are environmental or nutritional, or both. Not long after the original news flash, it was reported that 97% of cervical cancers are infected with the human papilloma virus, another avoidable environmental factor. Similarly, only about 2.9 to 6.9% of ovarian cancers have been liked to hereditary factors. There have also been reports that a genetic alteration of chromosome 1 was detected in only about 3% of all prostate cancer cases. The lifetime risk of prostate cancer historically has been less than 10%, but there is recent evidence that this disease may already be present in 34% of men in the 40 to 49 age group. This statistic alone might be the harbinger of some rather alarming environmental and/or nutritional trends. Other "trees" of evidence in the "forest" of proposed causes suggest that most human diseases (perhaps as high as 95 to 97%) arise from factors that we can control without genetic intervention. There is mounting evidence that viral infections and metabolic imbalances, such as those created by low oxygen concentrations in our air, cause genetic lesions that contribute to the disease, so factors other than heredity, clearly, are very important in the etiology of cancer. Finally, we recently published a summary of our work in the June '04 issue of the Townsend Letter, and have updated it to include the observation that increases in cysteamine and cystamine, a metabolic break-down product of the vitaletheine modulators, can lead to single-strand breaks in DNA which logically would increase the risk for mutations. Thus, correctable imbalances in sulfur biochemistry may occur long before irreversible genetic mutations, and even after genetic mutations, cancer can be destroyed by humoral immunity if the sulfur biochemistry and humoral immunity dependent upon the vitaletheine modulators can be brought back under control.

As our ecosystems become more overtaxed by burgeoning human populations, it is essential for us to keep our survival needs in perspective. To prevent "the sun from setting" upon many of this world's "long-overshadowed" ecosystems, including our own, funding will have to be maintained and perhaps even increased in the areas of nutritional and environmental research. For example, vaccines being touted as solutions for a variety of diseases only work if the immune system is functional. Theoretically, this is true whether the vaccine is made from either protein or DNA taken from affected tissues. By themselves, vaccines are of questionable value in established immunodeficiency and cancer, since the hopefully "non-infectious" antigens in the vaccine can divert an already poisoned immune response away from the active infection or cancer. Besides, those who advocate relying more and more heavily upon vaccines to prevent and treat disease fail to recognize that our immune systems have a finite capacity to deal with antigenic challenges. Immunotherapy can sometimes work, even in seemingly terminal disease, if the antigen and adjuvant are able to effectively target and boost a formerly misdirected immune response, thereby offsetting the negative effects of additional antigen burden. For future reference, deficiencies of pantothenic acid, alone, are known to cause failed immunization attempts.

Using our own studies and information referenced on our web site from the scientific literature (http://www.VitaleTherapeutics.org), VitaleTherapeutics, Inc. has attempted to document and explain why various toxic metals and vitamin-, hormone-, and indole-like toxins negatively impact health. Much of this toxicity can be traced to negative effects upon a newly discovered family of immune stimulants, the vitaletheine modulators, or upon their biological enzymic receptors, or both. In support of this approach, unoptimized regimens of the vitaletheine modulators have been shown to produce lifetime cure rates in 70% of laboratory mice with uniformly-fatal melanoma and 100% survival rates in mice with myeloma, all with unoptimized regimens of these compounds that have since been optimized. Immune stimulation in mAIDS and indications of efficacy even in a non-immunogenic breast cancer model also have been observed.

The potency of some of these compounds (attogram to femtogram/kg) indicates that they may be both, the "hair triggers" for our humoral immune response, and its "Achilles heel". It is difficult to avoid the minute amounts of pollutants that chemically block the traces of vitaletheine modulators normally present in our systems. For example, chlorine reacts with any organic material in water to produce alkyl chlorides. Alkyl halides (whether chlorides, bromides, or iodides) are known to chemically modify thiol compounds like the vitaletheine modulators. We drink, and even breathe these alkyl chlorides whenever we take baths and showers. Although efforts are underway to systematically identify and eliminate these and other especially problematic pollutants, the safest strategy for now is to avoid as many non-nutritive environmental chemicals as possible.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST TROUBLING PROBLEMS?

New insights into what constitutes an environmental toxin, especially in relation to the vitaletheine modulators and its receptors, are being disseminated in the hopes that new regulations and remedial efforts will be studied and implemented soon.

Endocrine Disrupters

PCBs and "dioxins" are widely recognized as environmental endocrine disrupters (substances that upset the delicate balance of our hormones and cause disease). "Dioxins" (such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD), PCBs, and the antibiotic, triclosan (in soaps), are examples of chemical look-alikes that can interfer with thyroid hormones, like thyroxine. One of the most dramatic examples of an endocrine disrupter is DES (diethylstilbestrol). The use of this artificial estrogen in women has been associated with increased risks of endometriosis and of cervical, vaginal, and breast cancer. Equol, produced metabolically from soy products, closely resembles DES and has similar estrogenic properties.

Ironically, in men DES is used to help slow the development of prostate cancer, illustrating the sensitivity and specificity of our hormonal systems to these types of compounds. Estriol might be a safer, bioidentical alternative, and many physicians recently have called for the investigation of topical, bioidentical progesterone for health benefits in prostate cancer victims.

Having only one phenolic group, preservatives such as BHA or BHT, used in many commercial foods and packaging, can be thought of as being half of a DES molecule (DES contains two phenolic groups). In fact, BHA, and to a lesser extent BHT, are known to produce estrogen-like responses and to enhance the growth of tumors in laboratory animals. Other problematic chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides (fungicides, insecticides, and nematocides), and phthalate plasticizers round out the field of "known" endocrine disrupters (Ted Schettler, M.D.).

Alkylating Agents and Toxic Metals in Drinking Water

The occurrence of alkyl chlorides in our water makes the use of water filters and purifiers attractive, but this practice of water purification, itself, can be dangerous. Years ago, adhesives for plastics and acrylics used in the construction of some water purifiers added more carcinogenic alkyl chlorides (methylene chloride) to the water than the filters removed. Just recently, the May 1997 issue of Consumer Reports lists the recall of a Sears water filter made by WaterWorks (Chemical Contaminant/Taste and Odor Filter Cartridge Premium Grade Granular Activated Carbon) that releases enough nickel into the water to turn it green and to cause stomach cramps, nausea, and diarrhea in those individuals consuming the nickel-contaminated" water. Nickel may be particularly problematic in our environment since it is already pervasive (present in coins, jewelry, eyeglass frames, and many types of stainless steel). Nickel is also a known contact carcinogen and allergen (NIOSH handbook). Ironically, at the same time that nickel presumably uncouples our protective mechanism against cancer, it overstimulates at least one immune response (cytolytic antibody production) linked to cancer-negating activities. Thus, a misdirecting and uncoupling of our normal immune surveillance for cancer, while compensating with an over-escalation of an immune responses that can produce hypersensitivity and perhaps even auto-immunity, essentially describes the carcinogenic immunopathology of nickel poisoning.

"All That Glitters Isn't Gold"

Nickel is far from being our only toxic metal problem. Recently, exposures to other toxic metals and different combinations (mercury, manganese, copper, lead and copper, lead and iron, and iron and copper) have been associated with a higher incidence of Parkinson's disease. Two carcinogenic metals, nickel and cadmium, are the main components of NiCad batteries. Cadmium, mercury (extremely toxic), silver (irritant), and bismuth are commonly used in dental amalgams (fillings). Even gold jewelry is suspect since it is seldom pure (24K), being alloyed with up to 14K of other often unspecified metals, and gold has been listed in toxicology texts as needing the same antidote as nickel and mercury. Finally, according to a DOE report cited in the Albuquerque Tribune, enough carcinogenic plutonium to produce 46,600 counts per square meter per minute is found in some soils in Albuquerque. Nearly all of these metals are known to bind oxygen (hydroxide) and sulfur (thiols) very tightly to produce the corresponding metal oxides or sulfides. No data was found in the "accessible literature" for plutonium sulfides, but it is reasonable to expect a very tight binding of plutonium to thiols since plutonium binds oxygen much more tightly than any other metal considered and since nearly all of these other metals (the exception being tin) bind sulfur even more tightly than oxygen. This means that toxic metals tie up the cysteine in our food and, when the protective endogenous thiols (metallothionine and glutathione) are saturated, they also trap vitaletheine, lipoic acid, proteins, peptides, enzymes, and other thiols critical to the proper functioning of our bodies. It is still not clear if the city of Albuquerque is checking carcinogenic plutonium levels, before and after treatment, in the Rio Grande river water before it injects it into our pristine aquifer as a strategic recharging effort.

It's An Indole Jungle Out There!

A group of chemicals known as indoles are less widely recognized as environmental toxins, but are just as problematic. There have been dramatic instances of indole poisoning. An outbreak years ago of eosinophilia myalgia, a painful and life-threatening inflammation of muscle tissues, was traced to a bad batch of the supplementary essential amino acid, tryptophan. In addition to the essential amino acid and indole, tryptophan, this preparation contained non-nutritive indoles that trigger the tell-tale inappropriate immune response in laboratory animals. However, tryptophan itself can probably poison vitaletheine's sulfenic acid if it breaks down to kynurenine, which can be prevented by consuming daily apple pectin with the protein in our diets.

Other environmental indoles can be categorized as microbial or mycotoxins such as psilocybin (psychedelic mushrooms), teleocidins, and a variety of alkaloids from ergot, including LSD. Indoles are also found in antidepressant drugs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs) in coal tars, creosotes, and roofing tars. The EPA has been trying to phase out the use of creosote for wood preservation (railroad ties, telephone poles, etc.) since about 1986. Strychnine, and vincristine and vinblastine of chemotherapy fame, also fall into this category of poisonous indole alkaloids. Another non-nutritive indole-like compound, ethoxyquin, is used as a preservative in tire rubber and in some dog and cat foods. It is not known if breathing particles from tires affects our ability to fight off lung cancer, respiratory, and other diseases, but "immune disruption" does seem to be consistent i) with our preliminary observations of animals treated with the vitaletheine modulators when maintained on ethoxyquin-containing diets and ii) with the EPA's attempts to instigate new measures restricting particulate emissions from automobiles and power plants.

Mechanisms of Endocrine and Metabolic Disrupters

Interference with the desirable effects of melatonin and serotonin may explain at least some of the immune suppression and resulting disease caused by environmental indoles. For example, teleocidins, known to promote skin cancer, are very similar in structure to the beneficial hormone, melatonin. Non-nutritive indoles can block serotonin and melatonin since the enzymic receptors for these natural hormones like to bind indole structures. Activities of serotonin that may be blocked include smooth muscle contractions, gastric secretions that digest food and that when excessive have been linked to ulcer formation, and "neurotransmission" or "sending signals through our nervous system". Melatonin is made from serotonin and although it is known to help control the pigmentation of our skin, it is better known as the "sleep hormone" produced in the dark by the pineal gland (or "third eye") to lull us to sleep. It may be pf no small coincidence that a widely recognized side effect of LSD's use is insomnia (sleeplessness) or that Timothy Leary (long-time LSD advocate) died of prostate cancer.

These indole- and hormone-look-alikes apparently create health problems by binding to the receptor and transport proteins for such natural hormones as serotonin, melatonin, estrogen, testosterone, and thyroxine. In so doing, they interfere with reproductive systems, with the induction of important protein and enzymes in the body, and ultimately with important pathways and processes, such as our temperature regulation, immune surveillance, fat metabolism, nerve function, and psychology. Vitamin look-alikes, such as nicotine and phenarsazine, are similarly problematic, antagonizing the actions of their respective essential vitamins, niacin and riboflavin.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Avoid Known Environmental Toxins

Obviously, one way of maintaining good health and avoiding exposure to the toxic, non-nutritive compounds resembling our natural hormones, vitamins, and minerals is by simply READING PRODUCT LABELS, LITERATURE, AND RECALLS!!The plastic housing on the Sears water filter that should be replaced immediately is white with a 1.5-inch-wide "green" end cap. We also wonder if underwires in bras are made from nickel-containing alloys, and if these contribute to the risk of connective tissue disease and breast cancer, especially in women who have undergone breast augmentation and who use antipersperants to prevent nickel from sweating out of the arm pits. Avoiding moldy foods and agricultural products treated with various pesticides and herbicides, and even eating less rancid and corn, cottonseed, and peanut oils from the southeastern US (that are more likely to be contaminated with carcinogenic aflatoxins than other vegetable oils) should help us to minimize other environmental exposures.

Light Pollution and Other Radiation

Since melatonin appears to be present with vitalethine on its probable receptor, a flavin-containing monooxygenase, simply turning out our lights and not staying up late (watching our big-screen TV or working on our computer) is an effective way to deal with radiation and "light" pollution. This may be of particular concern to members of the nursing profession, interns, and residents, and others who literally have to work through the night shift. As much darkness as possible is needed during the sleep cycle to generate adequate melatonin. In other words, a nap (in light) is nice, but sleep (in dark) is healthy and sustaining. In addition to the use of melatonin supplements for insomnia or sleeplessness, there is cautious interest in using melatonin for the seemingly diverse diseases of schizophrenia, various forms of cancer, and with avoidance of toxic metals to treat Parkinson's disease. In a similar fashion, vitamin B₂ supplements (riboflavin) should help to replace flavin destroyed by other unavoidable forms of radiation. Dietary and supplementary antioxidants, such as Eleutherococcus senticosus (sic., Siberian ginseng), sulforaphane found in Daikon (Japanese) radish, melatonin and vitamin E, can "reduce" deleterious effects of radiation-caused lipid epoxides. Epoxides are known to chemically modify thiol-containing substances, like the vitaletheine modulators.

Exercise

Native Americans (of sweat-lodge fame) will find it interesting that one way our body gets rid of nickel and other toxic metals is through sweating. Scandinavians use saunas and even Americans have been known to use to use sweat boxes to help with weight reduction. The old entreaty "get the lead out" (sic., get out there and sweat) has literal wisdom in addition to the fat reduction and "cardiovascular benefit" attributed to exercise by Western medicine.

Doing Away with Depriving Diets

Since receptor and transport proteins unavoidably blocked by look-alike toxins often are resistant to being broken down into amino acids and reused, amino acids and vitamins for rebuilding these contaminated proteins must be supplied by our diet. For example, niacin is being used to ease withdrawal from nicotine and to lower cholesterol, a strategy applicable to poisonings with other vitamin and mineral look-alikes. Essential fats and fat-soluble vitamins are dietary as well, so good nutrition is one of the best ways of bolstering our overall defenses against environmental toxins. Using starvation diets, fat substitutes, and fat-free foods for dramatic weight loss is not only counterproductive to good health, it can be dangerous. For example, rapid metabolism of fat stores in the body can leave behind years of accumulated, fat-soluble carcinogens that concentrate in any remaining fatty tissue such as the breasts, particularly in women. Besides, the newest "rapid-" or, should we say, "rabid-weight-reduction" drugs alter our serotonin-controlled equilibria. The recent ban on certain combinations of rapid-weight-loss drugs because of the permanent damage to the heart that they cause only reinforces our concerns about this approach to losing weight. Similarly, new concerns have arisen about the use of phytoestrogens in roasted soybeans and flax seed as alternatives to pharmaceutical hormonal replacement therapies even though they have been reported to lower, not raise, the risks of cancer. Although L-cysteine or L-cystine can help to controlling cholesterol, that can contribute to heart disease, by raising HDL, lowering LDL, lowering triglycerides, and lowering cholesterol, proteins containing these amino acids must be digestible and the amino acids must be assimilatable to have these beneficial effects. Soy protein apparently does not meet this standard, and instead creates additional health risks:

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/FDASoyHeartLetterFinal.pdf

Focus on Food QUALITY not Quantity

It also is important to realize i) that many of the foods available to us today are produced on soils that have been depleted of nutrients by intense farming, and ii) that much of the food available in the grocery store has been extensively processed, which depletes even more of the vitamins, minerals, and perhaps other nutrients that have not yet been discovered. One must also consider that foods picked green and chemically ripened "to look as good on the shelf as fresh food" are probably less nutritious than vine-ripened foods. Local produce, organic produce, and "Victory Gardens" can usually provide better and safer nutrition than imported and chemically-treated produce, simply because we can discover and control how this food is processed and limit its (and consequently our) exposure to chemicals, herbicides, and pesticides.

Good Nutrition and Dietary Supplements

In addition to the usual vitamin and mineral supplements, other considerations can help to fortify our defenses against unavoidable toxins. Since the vitamin, pantothenic acid, and the amino acid, cysteine, are the probable building blocks for the vitaletheine modulators, these nutritional factors are very important in providing protection. Pantothenic acid is readily available in supplements and is particularly rich in commercially-available royal jelly. Royal jelly is fed to the fertile queen bee her entire life, but not to the sterile worker bees

(Would we but a sterile worker bee, if we were made pantothenate-free?)

The disulfide, cystine, cannot bind and carry toxic metals into the body and is probably safer than either cysteine-HCl or N-acetyl-cysteine for additional reasons. People with cystinosis, cystinuria, or cystinemia or a history of kidney stones should consult with their doctor before taking cystine or cysteine. Even in these conditions, a B-vitamin complex containing pantothenic acid, folic acid, and vitamins B₆ and B₁₂ should help to metabolize and utilize not only available cystine, but other amino acids, like methionine, as well. However, there is growing evidence that these three B vitamins should always be supplemented when adequate levels of L-cystine and pantothenic acid (B₅) are also available. These steps can help to offset any depletion of the vitaletheine modulators and of the dietary cystine needed for rebuilding proteins, cofactors, and enzymes. Dietary cystine should be particularly helpful in offsetting problems caused by a variety of environmental toxins, including the following:

Mycotoxins (toxins such as aflatoxin from microbes contaminating our food and environment)
Chemical Warfare Agents (nearly all, including tear gas such as Mace and HN1)
Chemotherapies, many of which are alkylating agents and/or carcinogenic. Mustargen is a close structural analogue of HN1 and a chemical warfare agent known as HN2. It is used as aggressive therapy by many allopathic practitioners by itself and in a combination therapy, known as MOPP, with vincristine, prednisone, and procarbazine (an indole analogue, an immune suppressant, and an oxidative substance that can cause cancer, birth defects, and mutations, respectively). Some allopathic practitioners have even advocated giving lethal doses of chemotherapeutic agents to cancer patients while trying to keep them alive long enough with other drugs for the poisons to clear their systems.
Plant Toxins (phorbol esters and related compounds capable of producing epoxides or enol tautomers)
Too Much Vitamin C Intake (anything over 200 mg/day for otherwise healthy people)
Rancid Fat (polyunsaturated fats poorly stored or contaminated with peroxidizing metal catalysts)
Toxic Metals (Nickel being one of the more common and insidious in our environment)

Eating fresh foods rich in cysteine is another way of bolstering this nutrient. We should be eating more whey than curds, since the majority of the cysteine in milk winds up in the whey, not in casein used to make cheeses. The protein in human milk contains more than twice the cysteine and far less glutamic acid than cows milk, contributing to suspicions that unfermented cows' milk, processed cheese, and glutathione may not be the best dietary sources of cysteine-containing proteins and peptides for humans. Aged cheeses, on the other hand, may be quite beneficial if one doesn't suffer from tyramine sensitivities. Winged beans, whole grains (including oat meal and bran, barley and even barley greens), eggs, fish like north atlantic wine vinegar pickled herring, bison round, and nuts (but not ground nuts like peanuts) are good sources of dietary cysteine. Roasted soy beans, although appearing to be a particularly good source of protein and vitamins that contribute to the effective use of amino acids, do not provide as much protection against heart disease and cancer as claimed, since soy protein is poorly digested and difficult to assimilate. Concern about the protease inhibitors and phytic acids in roasted soy beans may be exaggerated, since there is some evidence that the proteases in primates are more resistant to inhibition than those in rodents and since phytic acids may help us excrete toxic metals, but soy protein and other components reportedly poison the thyroid, thymus, and hormonal status of people consuming the unfermented versions. Similarly, consuming defatted (processed) soy flour may not be a good idea, since the removal of the fat probably removes the fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants and the essential fatty acids, leaving behind only the binding proteins. These denuded binding proteins, until digested, would tend to absorb fat-soluble nutrients from the body instead of nourishing it.

Unfortunately, fish is often contaminated with the counter-productive toxic metals that tie up both the cysteine and the vitaletheine modulators, so watch the source. Open ocean fish may be somewhat safer than those from tidal or estuary waters simply because the man-made pollutants may be diluted somewhat by the time they reach open ocean, assuming perhaps naively that our oceans are not already largely contaminated. Realize also that predatory fish on top of the food chain typically concentrate toxins from their prey at a rate that is compounded by each link moved up the food chain. Prey fish or very young predatory fish, like wine vinegar pickled herring, are safer choices than that trophy swordfish with its long lifetime of heavily-compounded accumulations of toxic metals and other toxins.

The RDA for cystine is about a gram. However, exceeding about 0.5% cystine in the protein of ones diet (such as that provided by a corn/soy diet) may lead to a decrease in the benefit of any cystine supplementation. Consequently, one wants to error on the supplement side and not try to totally replace ones dietary requirement for cysteine, e.g., without other nutritional amino acids in dietary protein. Supplemental ranges of 400 mg cystine or less are probably most effective, especially when taken with dietary protein. Adjustments may have to be made for individual variations in diet.

Since iodine and metabolites of cysteine are involved in the synthesis and utilization of thyroid hormone and in the regulation of other hormonal and metabolic pathways, iodine and cysteine probably complement each other nutritionally. Iodized salt is the primary source of this nutrient for many, so iodine must be supplemented in salt-free diets designed to control high blood pressure. This prevents the onset of problems linked to hypothyroidism, including goiter, weight gain, and neurological problems. Kelp is a good dietary source of iodine.

Antioxidants, such as vitamin E, prevent the undesirable oxidation of fat to form lipid epoxides. Nickel accelerates the formation of epoxides, so failure by "food manufacturers" to completely remove the nickel catalyst from margarine ("partially hydrogenated" vegetable oils) can result in serious health problems. Both nickel and lipid epoxides are known to react with thiols, so avoiding these two substances helps to prevent the destruction of vitaletheine and dietary cysteine. Unsaturated fats tend to oxidize spontaneously under ambient conditions. Consequently, it is a very good idea to consume, primarily, fats that are well-protected with natural antioxidants and that have neither a high degree of saturation nor a high degree of unsaturation. This means we should i) use centrifuged coconut oil for a cooking oil at low temperatures and ii) get our fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids from natural, mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, such as olive oil or even the more stable olives. Nuts are a good source of cysteine as well, especially Brazil nuts, but Brazil nuts may have too much barium. Great care (refrigeration or storage under inert gases) must be taken to ensure that any polyunsaturated oils do not oxidize (go rancid). Rancid fats (e.g., nuts) "taste bad" and "are bad" for our immune and other systems. If these dietary fat guidelines cannot be followed for any reason, then limiting dietary fat intake to nine ("just say nein") grams or less per serving is a very good idea.

In addition to reducing dangerous epoxides, antioxidants are useful in diminishing background oxidations. This "oxidative noise" can be confused with a true regulatory "signal" such as the "oxidation of vitaletheine" to its sulfenic acid. Vitamin E appears to reduce background oxidation without interfering with monooxygenase activities. At the same time, too much of an antioxidant (vitamin C and possibly the 20 to 50 times more potent proanthocyanidins found in grape seed extracts) or the wrong type of antioxidant (carcinogenic quercetin from roasted soy beans instead of apigenin from oranges) can reduce these "true" regulatory signals, thereby leading to high cholesterol and an improper immune response to cancer. For example, we cannot, at this time, advocate that people with cancer start supplements of more than about 100 mg natural vitamin C/day. This concern is reinforced i) by vitamin C's observed uncoupling of an activity of the monooxygenase that down-regulates cholesterol production and blocks oncogene (cancer) expression and ii) by the fact that when neither re-reduced nor protected by other, more potent antioxidants, vitamin C can be become oxidized to dehydroascorbate, which is diabetogenic. Those healthy individuals taking synthetic vitamin C, or natural vitamin C over 200 mg/day and consuming adequate levels of other more potent antioxidants, might want to consider slowly diminishing their vitamin C intake over a period of weeks or months, i.e., by no more than a quarter of the previous dose per day until their natural vitamin C intake can be maintained at about 100 mg/day. It is well-known that individuals acclimated (addicted) to megadoses of synthetic vitamin C will develop scurvy-like "drug withdrawal" symptoms (including sore gums) if their artificially high vitamin C supplementation is diminished too quickly.

A WAIST is a terrible thing to MIND!!

More body fat means more antioxidants are needed to control its autooxidation. Without them, the theoretical risk of "spontaneous combustion" (uncontrolled "oxidation" of accumulated fat) becomes greater, especially when helped along with oxygen administered by anesthesiologists and sparks from surgical electrocauterization. The problems that many Americans have with metabolizing fat are probably the result of both, poor nutrition and a poisoning of the thiols found in our fat-metabolizing cofactors and enzymes. Coenzyme A, Acyl Carrier Protein, Lipoate Acetyl Transferase, and R-dihydrolipoic acid are among the more obvious targets for toxic metals and fat-soluble, environmental toxins such as alkyl halides (from chlorinated drinking water) and lipid epoxides. Coenzyme A is needed, for example, to metabolize the three major forms of energy (fat, carbohydrates, and protein). If fat is the energy source that can't be metabolized (say, for want of Coenzyme A, acyl-carrier protein, and R-lipoic acid) it simply accumulates. Consequently, weight gain is not something that anyone should feel guilty about, since in many cases it is probably just an indication of how extensively we have been malnourished and poisoned. A change in diet and environment may be needed to deal with the problem.

These insights have some far ranging consequences. When Coenzyme A is blocked, we cannot generate energy from the usual sources and may suffer from conditions known by such medical terms as "chronic fatigue syndrome". This, in turn, leads to less activity and eventually more weight gain. In addition, intermediates that accumulate (when Coenzyme A is blocked) poison other systems and lead to manifestations of other diseases. For example, the body makes Coenzyme A from pantothenic acid and cysteine, the latter being produced through the metabolic intermediate, homocysteine. Homocysteine accumulates in cancer and heart disease. Half of the heart disease incidence has been attributed to a deficiency of the vitamins (folic acid and B6) that help to convert other amino acids into cysteine. A B6 deficiency alone can prevent homocysteine's conversion into cysteine. Without cysteine, Coenzyme A cannot be made. This problem is exacerbated further by any pathological accumulation of homocysteine that, through its "like" but not quite "cysteine" chemistry, probably interferes with the utilization of cysteine in producing both, Coenzyme A and vitalethine. Thus, we have a ready explanation for "chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome" (CFIDS).

Dimerization of homocysteine by self-lactonylation presents even more serious consequences, since the homocysteine- thiolactonylated homocysteine and its tautomers resemble vitaletheine and its tautomers just a little too closely:
Homocysteine vs. Vitaletheine

Carrying this argument further, poisoned individuals cannot convert dietary lipids from animals and plants into human fat compositions. In essence, we would be trying to build and maintain our human lipid-containing myelin sheaths that surround and protect our nerve fibers with, say, cow "parts". This probably contributes to pathological situations in which there is an established autoimmune component, such as in multiple sclerosis. An environmental poisoning of the the vitaletheine modulators (immune dysregulation) while "cow parts" (antigens) are being used in human structures clearly can contribute to autoimmunity. In other words, a confused and poorly targeted immune system, especially when one's lipid membranes are in disrepair or of an improper composition, may be the underlying, or at least contributing, cause for some autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. Again, obesity could be a harbinger of dangerous metabolic imbalances (brought on by malnutrition and environmental poisonings) that can lead to rheumatoid conditions, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other autoimmune, immunodeficiency, and infectious diseases.

Having a lot of accumulated fat deposits to process to find or create the right "parts" for nerve maintenance, certainly does not help the body to cope with these diseases, so weight control should help obese individuals with any signs of these diseases. At the same time, too little quality fat in ones diet, such as quality fat NOT provided by reduced-fat and fat-free foods, may be similarly problematic in neurodegenerative diseases. When fat is taken out of our food, what happens to the essential fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble antioxidants, and other known but as yet unidentified fat-soluble nutritional factor(s)? They're either gone or, hopefully, at least some of them are put back into capsules to sell to us, separately, and at greatly inflated prices. On an unsupplemented, fat-free diet, it is not a matter of the "right parts" being available for nerve maintenance; there are no "parts".

Muscular dystrophy (MD) has a tentative link to obesity since it has been associated with deficiencies of vitamin E and of selenium, both of which are implicated metabolically in protecting lipids and therefore thiol compounds, such as the vitaletheine modulators, from undesirable oxidations and chemical modifications. Since vitamin E is fat-soluble, dietary intakes may be inadequate, i.e., "spread to thin", to prevent the detrimental effects of lipid epoxidation, especially in those obese individuals on fat-free or starvation diets. Dietary supplements including a good antioxidant mix are indicated under these circumstances. Hence, moderation in both exercise and nutritional supplementation are essential for any safe weight "control" program; we must supplement with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, eat well (focus on "quality" not quantity), exercise, and avoid environmental toxins to lose weight safely.

In summary, these "steps" to avoid toxins, to improve nutrition, and to exercise (or at least sweat) should help to fortify our defenses against both, environmental and infectious assaults. In fact, a growing awareness of endocrine disruption of our hormonal and immune systems has led several researchers to call for the development of immunological treatments for endometriosis. There are probably safer nutritional (chasteberry) and bioidentical hormone (progesterone and estriol) alternatives to phytoestrogens from roasted soybeans and flax seeds, and these may be, in turn, safer than more aggressive conventional therapies with synthetic hormone replacement (HRTs or metabolic poisons) for estrogen- or testosterone-linked disorders. In any case, good nutrition, vitamin and mineral supplementation, exercise, and environmental awareness and activism may be our best defenses for proactively i) restoring proper immune responses, ii) for minimizing health costs, and iii) for providing the best "health insurance" against pollution and for long life. With associated insights, the vitaletheine modulators may even prove to be an important component of our Achilles "heal".

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