So scientists realized that PEA not only lessens inflammation - our own bodies and brains also produce it as an internal regulator of inflammation.īut it wasn’t until the 1970s that the first serious clinical trials emerged, and these happened in Czechoslovakia, a nation that no longer exists. Udenfriend discovered that PEA naturally occurs in a number of mammalian organs, and at high levels. And in an important turn of events, a team led by Dr. During the 1960s, some papers in animal models were published confirming the anti-inflammatory effects of PEA. He also found the same molecule in soybeans and peanuts, two other anti-inflammatory foods.īut scientists struggled to understand the mechanisms that caused this intriguing lipid to influence inflammation. Kuehl identified the active anti-inflammatory ingredient in egg yolks to be palmitoylethanolamide. The first big breakthrough occurred in the 1950s when a team led by Dr. But how do these fatty components of eggs work to maintain homeostasis? Lipid Mechanisms While scientists used to think of lipids as just the foodstuff of cells, now we know them to be a finely tuned cellular system primed to find homeostasis and balance. Lipids act in a more analog manner. Our cells are adept at sensing even minute changes in lipid levels and responding accordingly. Proteins may be the workhorses, but they’re more binary usually they are either on or off. But in this case, as the researchers separated the various classes of molecules involved, they realized that it was the lipids – the fatty molecules - that caused the positive health effects. And usually these are proteins because proteins are the workhorses of the cell. Usually, when a plant or food is found to have unique health properties, scientists dig in to find the specific molecules responsible for the beneficial effect. They also discovered that egg yolks are an anti-inflammatory food. Two NYC doctors named Coburn and Moore found that if they gave dried eggs to the poor children of the tenements, this helped to prevent rheumatic fever and other ills related to poor nutrition. Because of the war effort, we find it a prosperous time for the new-ish field known as “public health.” A healthy population of workers was essential to support the production of war materiel. We begin during World War 2 – and indeed, geopolitics plays a significant role in our tale. The PEA story begins with a mystery, which leads to another mystery - and ends with the next great wave of the cannabinoid revolution. In our neural ocean metaphor, PEA weighs in as the “ most venerable of the leviathans,” the grinning Right Whale, a stalwart fighter in our constant battle against inflammation and pain. And, again like CBD, a constant theme in the scientific literature about PEA is its incredibly strong safety profile. Like CBD, PEA increases the levels of endocannabinoids and strengthens the endocannabinoid system. Sometimes referred to as “the endogenous version of CBD,” PEA is a powerhouse against inflammation and pain. Inflammation is like a bloom of red algae, harming everything around it and upsetting the homeostasis of the environment.Įnter our hero, Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) – a lipid messenger kindred to the endocannabinoid system and a close cousin of anandamide (AEA), the famous endocannabinoid neurotransmitter. Think of your brain as an ocean, an ecosystem inhabited by numerous species of fish-like neurotransmitters and their receptors, with currents of electricity connecting and delicately balancing all the different components.
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