Tuesday, March 18, 2014

GLYCOPROTEINS AND THE CASE FOR RAW VEGANISM



I found out from Ajit Varki at the Salk Institute that all animal products are bad for humans even if they are raw and not cooked. For the sugars on the cell surface of all other animal foods are different from humans, and when they get incorporated into our tissues we create antibodies against them and mount an immune reaction, which constitutes the inflammation that underlies all degenerative disease. If the sugars on the cell membranes constitute the body's inter-cellular communication system, then if we put the communication codes for other animals into our body, we are invariably going to have a lot of discommunication and disharmony going on at the molecular level…our “self” creation system is going to be on constant alert and permanent warfare for as long as we eat animal products.

Glyconutrients are eight monosaccharides (simple sugars) that combine with proteins (glycoproteins) and fats (glycolipids) to form a code that is the basis for the body's internal communication system. These special molecules are found on the surface of every cell and allow the immune system to distinguish between self and non-self. In the fight against cancer, distinguishing self from non-self is an important first step. Supplementing the diet with all 8 simple sugars helps restore the body's internal communication system and promote healing.

It is said that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. The current pandemic of degenerative disease is due to the mismatch between our evolutionary biology and our current cultural lifestyle. Until we get an interdisciplinary science of origins we cannot really say we have entered the scientific age. The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny, at Salk Inst. is a center for interdisciplinary study of Anthropogeny...the study of the origins of humans. This is going to contribute enormously to medicine and understanding of our present circumstances. I was watching a youtube vid of the director Ajit Varki cmm.ucsd.edu/varki/

Body cells are covered with complex chains of sugars.  These "glycans" (sugar chains) are known to facilitate many biological processes including sub-cellular and cellular trafficking, intercellular adhesion, signaling, and microbial attachment.  Ajit Varki studies a class of these sugars called sialic acids that tend to be the targets for many pathogens like malaria, or influenza. This can explain why the strain of malaria that infects a chimpanzee does not infect humans, and the malaria that infects humans does not infect chimpanzees. These changes that occurred in the immune system of humans may explain why chimps get infected with HIV, but they don’t get AIDS, whereas humans do get AIDS.

Varki is intent on understanding how these changes in sialic acids occurred during human evolution, and what is the impact on not only the process by which humans emerge, but also, how it affected our susceptibility to certain diseases. Humans are missing one form of sialic acid that other mammals including chimpanzes have. This sialic acid change occurred around 2-3 million years ago.  Ajit Varki’s team have shown a new mechanism for how human consumption of red meat and milk products could contribute to the increased risk of cancerous tumors. Neu5Gc is a type of glycan, or sugar molecule, that humans don’t naturally produce, but that can be incorporated into human tissues as a result of eating red meat.  The body then develops anti-Neu5Gc antibodies in immune response that could potentially lead to chronic inflammation.

They also found that tumor tissues contain much more Neu5Gc than is usually found in normal human tissues, so Neu5Gc must somehow benefit tumors. It has been known for some time that some time that chronic inflammation can actually stimulate cancer.  Suggesting that a low-grade, chronic inflammation actually facilitated the tumor growth, even in the presence of Neu5Gc antibodies. So in humans anti-Neu5Gc antibodies induce inflammation which stimulates tumor growth…suggesting that the regular eating of animal products may directly induce cancer. Currently there are experiments being undertaken to assess the effects of cooking on the glycans in animal foods.

VIDEO:  Look for videos by Ajit Varki on glycoproteins and sialic acid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU3yVbDpA_4