Ray Peat on Metabolism

Estrogen's Influence on Tryptophan Metabolism

"Estrogen strongly influences tryptophan metabolism and increases its conversion to serotonin at the expense of niacinamide, which explains the symptoms of pellagra when the diet contains too little tryptophan. When enough protein is present in the diet, promoting serotonin synthesis does not lead to niacinamide deficiency, but conditions that increase estrogen's influence will also amplify serotonin-related dysfunctions."

September 2019 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Aerobic Glycolysis and Lactic Acid in Cancer Metabolism

"Aerobic glycolysis, the cancer-characteristic metabolism where lactic acid is produced from glucose despite the presence of oxygen, is promoted by serotonin."

September 2019 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Connection Between Hypothyroidism and Arteriosclerosis

"Several people demonstrated in the 1930s and 1940s that hypothyroidism caused arteriosclerosis and that thyroid supplementation corrected it. In people whose thyroid was removed, their serum cholesterol rose while their metabolic rate slowed, and when they were given dried thyroid to normalize their metabolic rate, their serum cholesterol normalized immediately accordingly."

September 2018 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Physical Experiences Influence Vitality and Physiology

"Our bodies are constantly experiencing and generalizing in the way they respond; these generalized responses can limit or expand our vitality. These generalizations are expressed in our anatomy, physiology, and ecosystems—with changes in immunity, metabolism, gene expression, and behavior."

September 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Hair Loss as an Indicator of Metabolic Problems

"Hair loss should—like obesity or high blood pressure—be taken seriously as an indication of a systemic metabolic problem. The metabolism of the hair follicle contains clues about aging, tissue regeneration, and cancer."

September 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Structural Changes in the Cytoplasm Related to Energetic and Metabolic Efficiency

"Vital stains show that these energetic changes are accompanied by structural changes in the cytoplasm, so that an energy-efficient metabolism occurs when the cytoplasm has an affinity for oily dyes. When water is on a surface, it is ordered or structured, so it loses much of its wettability; an insect can walk on it; it contains more heat."

Nutrition For Women

Thyroid Hormone and Vitamin A Against the Effects of Estrogen

"Thyroid hormone and vitamin A promote protein metabolism and counteract some effects of estrogen. In fact, it is known that hyperthyroidism can cause estrogen levels to fall below the normal range."

Nutrition For Women

Estrogen's Influence on Oxygen Metabolism and Nervous Systems

"I suspect that estrogen largely acts through its effect on oxygen metabolism – a kind of biochemical breath-holding. For certain nervous systems, one could compare both taking vitamin E and an orgasm to taking a deep, good breath."

Nutrition For Women

Effect of cysteine on thyroid function during stress and hunger

"Cysteine, an amino acid abundant in muscle and liver, accidentally blocks the synthesis of thyroid hormone. When we starve or are under stress, cortisone causes these protein-rich tissues to break down. If metabolism continued at a normal rate, stress or hunger would quickly destroy us. However, the cysteine released from muscle inhibits the thyroid, so metabolism slows down."

Nutrition For Women

Adaptive hypothyroidism due to stress and intense training

"Cortisone also inhibits the thyroid. Any stress, including intense physical exertion, causes this protective slowing of metabolism. The slow heartbeat of runners is largely the result of this adaptive hypothyroidism."

Nutrition For Women

Recovery of the thyroid and function after supplementation

"Contrary to common beliefs about the thyroid, the gland resumes its function after stopping a supplement, even if it was suppressed, and sometimes taking thyroid hormone can restore gland function to normal. Taking thyroid can sometimes help thin people gain weight by improving protein metabolism, and it often helps to sleep more deeply."

Nutrition For Women

Estrogen causes hypoxia at numerous biological sites

"Estrogen causes hypoxia at every conceivable site – from the lungs through vascular fibrin and extracellular collagen and edema to intracellular metabolism."

Nutrition For Women

The superior efficiency of oxidative metabolism compared to fermentative metabolism

"Sugar can be used for energy production with or without oxygen, but oxidative metabolism is about 15 times more efficient than non-oxidative, glycolytic, or fermentative metabolism; higher organisms rely on this highly efficient oxidation to maintain integration and normal functioning."

Nutrition For Women

Systemic Effects of Inflammation and Fatigue on Blood Sugar and Energy Efficiency

"A strong inflammation or profound exhaustion, however, lowers blood sugar systemically and delivers large amounts of lactic acid to the liver. The liver synthesizes glucose from lactic acid, but at the cost of about six times more energy than is gained from inefficient metabolism – so this tissue becomes 90 times less efficient at the organism level than in its original state. Furthermore, unnecessary destruction of energy molecules (ATP or creatine phosphate) increases the waste even further."

Nutrition For Women

Biochemical similarities of lithium to progesterone and its effects

"Several of the known biochemical effects of lithium resemble those of progesterone, including opposition to aldosterone, alteration of serotonin metabolism, raising nerve thresholds, and facilitating the elimination of ammonia."

Nutrition For Women

Nutritional and nutrient recommendations for managing stress-related mineral imbalances

"Adrenal hormones and mineral metabolism become imbalanced under stress – whether the cause is a disorganized lifestyle or surgical injury. Nutrition should include about 90 grams of protein (in frequent meals), eggs as a sulfur source (needed, for example, for the synthesis of joint lubricants), and maintain a high magnesium to calcium ratio (as found in vegetables, bran, fruit) while keeping phosphate intake low (this includes using green leaves instead of some meat, as well as using cheese). Vitamins C, E, and pantothenic acid are needed in especially large amounts during stress. Vitamins A and B2 are also essential for the production of anti-stress hormones. Inositol is known to protect biological materials from many types of damage and might have this effect in arthritis, but I am not aware of any research on this specific application."

Nutrition For Women

Thyroid as the fundamental anti-stress hormone at the cellular level

"At the cellular level, stress lowers energy charge. Systemically, stress inhibits oxidative metabolism. Both observations suggest that the fundamental anti-stress hormone would be the thyroid."

Nutrition For Women

Magnesium deficiency and its role in impaired fat metabolism and heart disease

"Magnesium deficiency also promotes abnormal fat metabolism and thus contributes to heart disease."

Nutrition For Women

Interaction of stress, immune function, and fat metabolism with phagocytosis

"Stress, the immune system, and fat metabolism interact in complex ways. For example, it is known that a fat, triolein, stimulates phagocytosis – as does magnesium."

Nutrition For Women

The crucial importance of nutrition and avoiding toxins during pregnancy

"Pregnant women should make a special effort to achieve perfect nutrition every day and avoid toxins, including medications, fumes, and smoke. Even medications that do not directly reach the fetus can affect its health by disrupting the mother's metabolism."

Nutrition For Women

Effects of low-level radiation on metabolic efficiency and brain tissue sensitivity

"Many forms of very low-level radiation can reduce metabolic efficiency and increase its energy demand, and brain tissue is the most sensitive tissue to at least some types of radiation."

Nutrition For Women

Importance of muscle mass for metabolic rate and weight management

"Since fat has a very low metabolic rate, people who lose muscle mass through fasting will increasingly have difficulty losing weight because they have less active tissue that consumes fat. Building muscle and lymph tissue for optimal health—even if it initially leads to slight weight gain—makes losing weight easier by increasing the mass of metabolically active tissue."

Nutrition For Women

Influence of vitamin C on tyrosine metabolism and adrenaline levels in tissue

"Tyrosine metabolism, which is involved in brain function, is sensitive to vitamin C; furthermore, vitamin C maintains adrenaline levels in tissue, possibly by inhibiting its oxidation, and adrenaline is necessary for chalones to perform their function of inhibiting cell division."

Nutrition For Women

The Limits of Calorie Counting in Understanding Metabolism

"The idea that a calorie is a calorie, or simple calorie counting, not only overlooks the specific dynamic effect of proteins (the effect of oils is usually referred to as uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation) but also ignores processes at the organism level, such as insulin secretion, which links how food is consumed (composition and timing) with behavior, appetite, and metabolism."

Nutrition For Women

Human chorionic gonadotropin in weight loss clinics: effects on appetite and metabolism

"Many weight loss clinics use injections of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin to facilitate weight loss diets and possibly improve fat distribution. This hormone shifts energy metabolism towards the use of fat instead of sugar, allowing blood sugar levels to rise. This suppresses appetite. The hormone is produced by the placenta to make sugar available for the growing fetus."

Nutrition For Women

Cancer detection through metabolic shifts using radioactive fat tests

"Recently, Dr. G. G. Costa and others at the Medical College of Virginia developed a test for cancer that likely involves this pregnancy metabolism. They give the patient some radioactive fat, and a person even with a very small tumor exhales about three times as much radioactive carbon dioxide. This shows that metabolism already shifts towards fat mobilization at an early stage of cancer development."

Nutrition For Women

Effects of Bright Light on Hormone Production, Energy Metabolism, and Muscle Tone

"Bright light also stimulates hormone production and energy metabolism and increases muscle tone."

Nutrition For Women

Muscle Atrophy Due to Stress and Cortisone During Training

"If training produces too much stress and too little muscle work, muscles will atrophy because cortisone shifts amino acid metabolism toward glucose production."

Nutrition For Women

Relationship Between Basal Metabolic Rate and Lifespan

"John Speakman and Martin Brand have published various examples where basal metabolic rate is proportional to lifespan (e.g., Speakman et al., 2004). They showed that a higher rate of oxidative metabolism reduced the formation of harmful, random oxidation and was simultaneously associated with a longer life."

November 2020 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The Role of the Cholinergic System in Glucose Oxidation

"The cholinergic parasympathetic system tends to reduce glucose oxidation. Excessive activation of this system produces shock, with extreme inhibition of respiratory metabolism, but under normal circumstances, the activity of this system increases at night and decreases during the day."

November 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The Respiratory Pathway: The Central Metabolic Route to Balance

"The field, the integrity of the organism, is maintained by an organized respiratory metabolism, and it can be disrupted by mechanical trauma, excessive stimulation, toxins, etc.—or by the lack of oxygen, glucose, or substances that specifically neutralize inflammatory signals."

November 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Healing and Restoration of Oxidative Metabolism After Injury

"If an injury effectively means hypoxia with activation of estrogenic processes, then we can roughly see that the healing and recovery process will involve various means to restore oxidative metabolism in the tissue."

November 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Possible Therapeutic Use of ATP in Psychoses

"I don't know if ATP has ever been used therapeutically in psychoses, but since it is one of the central points both in energy metabolism and in structure, its application is definitely suggested by the theory."

Mind And Tissue Russian Research Perspectives on the Human Brain

The Role of Energy Metabolism in Cellular Resting State

"A failure of energy metabolism limits the ability of cells to return from an excited active state to a stable resting state."

May 2020 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Adaptation of the Embryo to Intrauterine Disturbances

"Experimental embryology has made it clear that development is a goal-directed process. An embryo can survive extreme disturbances by adjusting its structures and metabolism, but these adaptations to difficult intrauterine conditions can sometimes make later adjustments in childhood problematic."

May 2018 - Ray Peats Newsletter

The tumor microenvironment: a metabolic vortex

"The effects of locally disturbed metabolism create imbalances between stimuli and the ability to respond, so that even healthy cells in the tumor become unable to normalize organization."

May 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Oxidative metabolism to maintain protective factors after pregnancy

"In childhood and adulthood, a strong oxidative metabolism can maintain some of the essential protective factors of pregnancy, including adequate levels of glucose and carbon dioxide, good temperature regulation, and avoiding overproduction of superoxide and lactate. Under these conditions, cytokines can contribute to adaptation and ongoing development."

March 2021 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Active transport and the role of ATP in cells

"The membrane theory states that the process of concentrating a substance against its gradient is active transport and requires the use of ATP. Experiments by Ling and others showed that the energy metabolism of cells could be poisoned so that no ATP was produced, yet the cells could still maintain their ion gradient, even though sodium could freely diffuse through the membrane into the cell. All ATP has to do is be present and passively occupy its place in the cell."

March 2020 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Lactate paradox in altitude physiology

"For several decades, altitude physiologists have been puzzled by what they call the lactate paradox: the fact that exercise at high altitude – with less oxygen – produces a smaller increase in lactic acid in the blood than at sea level, allowing faster recovery, since it is assumed that oxidative metabolism prevents the formation of lactic acid. The lower oxygen availability at high altitude should lead to higher lactate levels and slower recovery."

March 2020 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Protein interactions and the influence of cardinal adsorbents

"Everything that binds to a protein, such as potassium or ammonium, has an inductive effect on the structure of the protein and its interactions with the environment, and substances that strongly adsorb – especially ATP and steroids – have a strong influence on the properties of the system. Molecules that bind strongly to proteins change the way proteins affect the properties of water, and the properties of water control the metabolism of cells and their interactions with each other as well as with the environment. Ling called these influential binding molecules cardinal adsorbents."

March 2020 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Metabolic changes during sleep in the organism

"The whole organism sleeps, although the brain regulates the process. In some aspects of its metabolism, especially phospholipid turnover, the brain is very active during sleep, but its energy consumption decreases, and it allows the skeletal muscles to relax, reducing their glucose consumption."

March 2018 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Rise of Free Fatty Acids

"Although free fatty acids normally increase at night, their rise is much greater with insufficient sleep, resulting in a diabetes-like metabolism, with a shift toward fat oxidation instead of glucose."

March 2018 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Impact of Hypothyroidism on Sleep and Cellular Activity

"Since thyroid hormone is required throughout the body for oxidative metabolism, its deficiency causes brain cells to relax slowly, delaying sleep onset, and it can even prevent the deepest, most restorative sleep. Because all cells are regulated by excitatory and inhibitory processes, hypothyroidism can create a tendency toward excited states, which can lead, for example, to abnormal secretion and proliferation."

March 2018 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Intensity of Lipolysis and Disruption of Restorative Deep Sleep

"The intensity of lipolysis at night decreases during the most restorative deep sleep, but the free fatty acids themselves tend to increase lactate and suppress glucose metabolism by blocking the oxidation of glucose to carbon dioxide, creating an inflammatory and excited state that disrupts deep sleep."

March 2018 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Metabolic Patterns of Individual Organs and Interactions with the Environment

"Each organ has its own metabolic pattern and is therefore susceptible to certain variations in a person's history of interactions with their environment."

March 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stress-induced metabolic shift and formation of reactive toxins

"When stress shifts metabolism toward reduction, producing lactic acid, iron atoms cyclically react with oxygen and reducing agents, generating hydroxyl radicals and other highly reactive toxins."

March 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Toxicity of Free Fatty Acids

"Free fatty acids, especially when they are polyunsaturated, are toxic to the brain: they increase inflammation and block energy metabolism."

March 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Relevance of Metabolism in Diagnostics

"Metabolism, an organized process of chemical changes, is always relevant, but the tradition of disease diagnosis has developed abstraction methods that too often omit the most relevant processes and patterns."

July 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The Symphony of Life: Embracing Its Complexity

"The organism's metabolism is a single, integrated process in which every part must adapt to the conditions in the other parts. Our nerves contain chemical receptors that detect changes in the metabolic chemicals in the blood and enable the organism to make adaptive changes."

July 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Connection between hypothyroidism, chronic stress, and metabolic problems

"In hypothyroidism, with reduced oxidative metabolism, the organism is never far from stress and hyperventilation – with chronic production of lactate and ammonia. The inefficient metabolism in diabetes has similar effects."

July 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Hypothyroidism and the Risk of Reductive Stress

"The weak oxidative metabolism in hypothyroidism makes it easy to enter a state of reductive stress, with a shift toward higher concentrations of NADH and lactate."

July 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Complex Mechanisms in Maintaining a Pseudohypoxic State

"There are several key mechanisms involved in maintaining a pseudohypoxic state, and they can act within a single tissue or organ, as well as more generally throughout the organism. What is often overlooked is the coherent, overlapping interaction of the structural sulfhydryl redox system (-SH, -SS-), redox regulation of gene expression, glycolytic and oxidative energy metabolism, regulation of pH and ion selectivity, osmolarity, and solvent properties, especially the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance."

July 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Role of ACE and Carbonic Anhydrase in Metabolism

"Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and carbonic anhydrase play fundamental roles in shaping metabolism. Angiotensin II, the peptide produced by ACE, raises blood pressure and water retention and activates stress hormones of the pituitary and adrenal glands, especially aldosterone. Both angiotensin and aldosterone activate carbonic anhydrase. It appears that any chemical causing blood vessel contraction also activates carbonic anhydrase."

July 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Metabolic shifts under extreme stress and learned helplessness

"When the organism as a whole is overloaded and stress physiology shifts into states of learned helplessness™ or shock, its metabolism shifts toward a reductive, pseudohypoxic metabolism, where the nervous system suppresses oxidative metabolism."

July 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

How Cellular Starvation Drives Cancer Metabolism

"Cellular starvation, starting with the tumor focus of metabolic inefficiency, increases inflammation, shifts fuel metabolism, and generates pseudohypoxia – in a vicious cycle."

July 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Aging, Metabolic Shifts, and the Tendency Toward Cancer-like Metabolism

"Aging itself involves a metabolic shift toward cancer metabolism – with a relative inability to reduce energy consumption in the basal fasting state, along with increased fat oxidation and decreased glucose oxidation."

July 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Lactate in cancer: Disruptor or energy saver?

"When cancer metabolism increases the amount of lactate in the blood, increased breathing lowers the carbon dioxide content in the blood (Gargaglioni et al., 2003), and the loss of CO₂ affects metabolism and physiology at all levels."

July 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Shift of cellular excitation toward cancer-like metabolism

"Inevitable cellular excitation shifts cells into the characteristic cancer-like metabolism."

July 2016 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Cancer symptoms and anticholinergics: A possible approach

Anticholinergic drugs can alleviate some cancer symptoms while also contributing to the restoration of normal metabolism.

July 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Estrogen versus progesterone: Opposing metabolic effects

Estrogen acts as a stimulant, comparable to excessive temperature increase, shifting energy production toward glycolysis and cellular functions toward dedifferentiation and cancer metabolism. Progesterone, on the other hand, has opposite effects: it reduces excitation and thus lowers energy demand, while shifting energy production away from inefficient glycolysis; it can restore normal differentiation and simultaneously reverse cancer characteristics.

January 2021 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Heat balance to support metabolism and sleep

Before going to sleep, a mildly warm bath can offset a small internal heat production, stimulate metabolism, and help increase glycogen stores as well as progesterone levels, enabling deep, restorative sleep. However, if the bath is too hot or too long, or if the influence of estrogen is too strong, the increased metabolic rate can further intensify inefficient metabolism, deplete energy reserves, and lead to elevated stress hormones. Additional carbohydrate intake before and during the warm bath improves its therapeutic effect and reduces the risk of heat shock.

January 2021 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Glucose metabolism: A direct pathway

One of my professors, Sidney Bernhard, counted the molecules very precisely and found that glucose metabolism involved a direct transfer of substrate molecules from one enzyme to the next – th

January 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Progesterone: Antagonism against other steroid hormones

The effects of progesterone contrast with those of the other major steroid hormones, especially estrogen, cortisol, and aldosterone. These hormones disrupt energy metabolism, particularly the oxidation of glucose.

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Influence of Metabolism on Time Perception and Behavior

The experience of time determines how we behave, and our metabolism determines how we perceive time. Progesterone, as a central neurosteroid, is a crucial part of our metabolism that shapes our consciousness as it projects itself into time.

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Organism’s State Influences the Representation of Reality

As the representation of the world develops in the flowing metabolism and physiology of an organism, the properties of the model change as the organism’s state changes. Norbert Wiener and P.K. Anokhin both considered some of the effects of finely tuned, continuous modeling of reality.

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Adaptability of the Organism in Rich versus Poor Environments

Under all circumstances, an adaptive metabolism takes place in the organism, and if the environment is unfavorable, the organism can protect itself by limiting its needs and range of action. In a rich environment that easily satisfies needs, however, the organism tends to expand its range of action and capabilities.

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Role of the Exploratory Reflex in Functional and Energetic Expansion

The orienting or exploratory curiosity reflex, the need to discover and understand, becomes strong once other needs are met. The ability to exercise the exploratory reflex not only expands the organism’s functional scope but also that of the cells and tissues activated during exploration and discovery, as well as their energetic metabolism. By discovering something about the world, the organism creates something new within itself.

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stress Generation through Reductive State and Unbalanced Metabolism

Stress arises to the extent that cells are pushed into a reductive, pseudo-hypoxic state caused by an imbalance between stimulation and the rate of restorative oxidative metabolism.

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Energy at a Turning Point: Metabolic Reactions to Lactate and Beta-Hydroxybutyrate

The use of lactate or beta-hydroxybutyrate as metabolic fuel shifts the balance toward reduction, similar to what ethanol metabolism does.

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Estrogen, Injury, and Energy Metabolism

The remarkable fact that both estrogen and nitric oxide are produced in virtually every injury is rarely mentioned, and their closely related effects on energy metabolism have largely been ignored.

January 2016 – Ray Peat’s Newsletter

Influence of Estrogen on Cellular Metabolism and Differentiation

I interpreted the role of estrogen in reproduction and cell proliferation in terms of an idea discussed by Otto Warburg and others. According to this view, proliferation is the fundamental, simplest function of every cell, supported by inefficient non-oxidative metabolism, while differentiation of cells to form a stable multicellular organism requires highly efficient oxidative metabolism.

January 2016 – Ray Peat’s Newsletter

Estrogen Disrupts Oxidative Metabolism for Reproduction and Tissue Repair

A substance like estrogen can interrupt oxidative metabolism to initiate reproduction of the organism or stimulate tissue repair in response to a local injury.

January 2016 – Ray Peat’s Newsletter

Nitric Oxide: The Double-Edged Sword of Metabolic Regulation

Nitric oxide blocks the ability to use sugar but slows metabolism, so it can serve to adjust the size of developing organs and enable survival when fuel is scarce.

January 2016 – Ray Peat’s Newsletter

Recognizing Reductive Stress through Metabolic Ratios

With aging and during stress, the metabolism of animals shifts toward reduction, with a higher ratio of lactate to pyruvate, NADH to NAD, ascorbate to dehydroascorbate, etc., a state of reductive stress.

January 2016 – Ray Peat’s Newsletter

Dietary Restriction and Protein Metabolism in Aging

One of the fundamental metabolic changes with age is the slowing of the protein turnover rate in cells, and it appears that dietary restriction increases protein turnover rate in aging animals. I consider it likely that both unsaturated fats and the amino acid cysteine contribute to the age-related slowing of protein metabolism.

Generative Energy: Restoring the Wholeness of Life

Optimizing Energy Production for Regenerative Abilities

If we optimize the known factors that improve energy production (for example red light, short-chain and medium-chain saturated fats, as well as pregnenolone) so that our metabolism resembles that of a ten-year-old child, I see no reason to assume that we would not possess the regenerative and healing abilities typical at that age. I suspect that both growth and remodeling of the brain could continue indefinitely.

Generative Energy: Restoring the Wholeness of Life

Role of Estrogen in Cortisol Production and Cell Damage

Elevated cortisol is a normal response to the cell-damaging effects of stress or inflammation, but cortisol itself causes the death of nerve cells and immune cells through excitotoxicity by blocking glucose metabolism. Estrogen increases cortisol production in multiple ways, both via the pituitary gland and directly on the adrenal glands.

February 2001

Intense Training Impairs Metabolism Through Lactate Effects

Intense training damages cells in a way that cumulatively impairs metabolism. There is clear evidence that glycolysis, where lactic acid is produced from glucose, has toxic effects that suppress cellular respiration and kill cells. Within five minutes, exercise lowers the activity of enzymes that oxidize glucose. Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and general aging are associated with increased lactic acid production and accumulated metabolic (mitochondrial) damage.

July 2000

Mitochondrial Metabolism as a Core Issue in Aging and Disease

Mitochondrial metabolism is today considered a fundamental problem in aging and several degenerative diseases.

July 2000

Essence of Oxidative Metabolism: Carbon Dioxide and Metabolic Water

The formation of carbon dioxide is the essence of oxidative metabolism, along with the formation of metabolic water from the interactions of carbon fuel, electrons, and oxygen. Even before carbon dioxide reacts covalently with water to form carbonic acid, it has a high affinity for electrons. This affinity, which predisposes it to react with water and amines, determines its non-covalent adsorption properties, which are, however, overlooked by most physiologists.

January 2000 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Adaptive Responsiveness of the Organism and Homeostasis in Cellular Metabolism

It is the subtle reactivity of the living system that maintains the adaptive organization of energy and structure. Part of the organism's reactivity is the flexibly interactive metabolism that adaptively distributes substance and energy. Ordinary metabolism can explain the processes called homeostatic more rationally by adjusting the affinities of cellular substances than the hypothetical system of pumps and channels proposed in biology as a "Deus ex Machina" whenever needed.

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Role of Calcium in Mitochondrial Damage and Cellular Excitotoxicity

Calcium released into the cytoplasm by excitotoxins triggers the release of fatty acids, the activation of nerve and muscle cells, as well as the release of various transmitter substances in a cascade of excitatory processes. At the same time, however, it tends to impair mitochondrial metabolism and progressively accumulate in the mitochondria, leading to their calcification and cell death. This is further promoted by the anti-respiratory effects of unsaturated fatty acids and the lipid peroxidation they induce.

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Alzheimer’s disease: brain respiratory metabolism and CO2 deficiency

In Alzheimer’s disease, brain respiratory metabolism is inhibited, resulting in a carbon dioxide deficiency with an excess of lactic acid and ammonia.

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Metabolic and inflammatory processes in Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis

Both Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis are associated with reduced brain metabolism combined with an inflammatory process.

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Lactic acid, CO2, and connection to degenerative brain diseases

If an excess of lactic acid in brain tissue is characteristic of Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis, the lactate paradox suggests that a slightly increased CO2 retention in the brains of Kashmir residents would offset the chronic excitotoxic effects and suppress the stress metabolism that leads to degenerative brain diseases.

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

High altitude and lactic acid metabolism in stress and cancer

Under all studied conditions, the characteristic lactic acid metabolism of stress and cancer at high altitude is suppressed because respiration becomes more efficient. The Haldane effect shows that CO2 retention is increased at high altitude.

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

Free fatty acids and interactions with estrogen in metabolism

Estrogens cause an increase in free fatty acids, and there are many interactions between unsaturated fatty acids and estrogen, including their metabolism to prostaglandins and their peroxidation.

May 1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Interaction of estrogen with porphyrin metabolism

The heme group (for example from hemoglobin and respiratory enzymes) is the iron-binding, fat-soluble molecule that reacts with oxygen and is called porphyrin. There is a long research history on the interactions of porphyrin metabolism with estrogen.

1997 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Consequences of an excess of heme/porphyrin in metabolism

Many serious long-term consequences of excessive heme/porphyrin production and metabolism are currently being studied. This suggests that the recently proposed criterion by a government agency, which sets double the upper normal excretion as a benchmark for detecting a problem, could allow far more serious issues over time that may not initially appear to be related to porphyria.

1997 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Calming Effect of Thyroid Hormone in Hypermetabolism

Although I tended to be hypermetabolic and had wondered for years about the simultaneous occurrence of signs of both hyper- and hypothyroidism, I finally tried thyroid hormone. Immediately, I was able to sleep easily and deeply, and my food requirement decreased. It was obvious that the thyroid hormone had a calming effect on my entire metabolism. I slept more efficiently, woke refreshed, had plenty of energy during the day, and began looking for tasks around the house just for fun. Before taking thyroid hormone, I drank two or three cups of coffee first thing every morning, but a few days after starting, I noticed I hardly thought about coffee and drank about 90% less without experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

April 1994 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Brain Adaptation and Mechanisms of Stress Resistance

Our brains are the newest and most powerful organs for adaptation and stress resistance, enabling the simpler systems of circulation and metabolism to orient themselves appropriately to achieve the greatest benefit with the least harm. Just as there are pro- and anti-catabolic hormones and circulatory patterns, the brain has stress-promoting and stress-limiting systems.

June 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Severe Stress and Deterioration of Liver Function

When stress is severe and prolonged, the liver loses enzymes of the detoxification system as well as the system for bile acid formation, leading to a tendency toward abnormal lipid metabolism, including hypercholesterolemia.

June 1992 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Role of Energy in Brain Function and Behavioral Patterns

The availability of energy is central to our stable functioning, and energy demand strongly changes our behavior. For example, the brain alters its interpretation system with increasing hunger so that increasingly unfamiliar things are considered possible food. The spreading arousal that leads to this extended search likely also occurs in connection with other needs besides hunger and could lead to experiments with drugs and other activities that satisfy indirectly. Compulsive and obsessive patterns can sometimes be resolved by supporting the brain's energy metabolism, for example through supplementation with magnesium and thyroid hormone.

June 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Ammonia and its metabolic relatives in biological regulation

For several years I have been interested in the biological effects of ammonia and compounds metabolically closely related to it. There is clear evidence of ammonia’s antiviral effect, which prompted extensive research by pharmaceutical companies seeking patentable antiviral amines. Most simple substances have their own regulatory functions in addition to involvement in other systems. Besides viral immunity, I believe ammonia is involved in regeneration and nerve modulation. Urea, inosine, GABA, the polyamines, and betaine derivatives (e.g., gamma-butyrobetaine) are closely linked to ammonia metabolism, and combinations of these will likely have many useful biological effects.

July 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Estrogen’s contribution to hypercoagulable states and cardiovascular risk

There are many ways in which estrogen can contribute to a hypercoagulable state that leads to cardiovascular disease. Some of these involve altered liver function, including disrupted production or metabolism of eight different coagulation-controlling factors.

April 1991 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Convergence of interests in the oxidative metabolism of the uterus

Although I had studied the connection between estrogen and cancer and knew from personal experience with migraines that stress, diet, and hormones interact powerfully, I did not realize at the start of my investigation into the oxidative metabolism of the uterus that it would involve a convergence of several of my main interests.

October 1990 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Possible risks of orotic acid in metabolism and liver health

It was known that orotic acid alters pyrimidine and ammonia metabolism, which is why I considered it unwise to use supplements with large amounts of it. A few years ago, orotic acid was described as an excellent liver carcinogen based on experiments with rats.

May 1990 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Metabolic intensification as a stimulant for the immune system

Anything that intensifies metabolism tends to stimulate the immune system, all other factors being equal.

November 1989 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Achilles tendon reflex to indicate thyroid-related metabolism

The Achilles tendon reflex test uses the slow relaxation of the calf muscles to demonstrate the low metabolism in hypothyroidism. In a person with high energy, the relaxation is immediate.

February 1986
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Supplements according to Ray Peat

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