Peppers Trick Your Brain Into Thinking Your Tongue Is Above 109F ... Dopamine?

As a followup to my December 1 post on body temperature (cooling) regulation by dopamine, it occurred to me that this may explain in part why peppers work as well as they do (apart from the nicotine, solanine, and chaconine previously explained).

The following article explains that peppers fool your brain into thinking your tongue is above 109 degrees Fahrenheit.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/24/281978831/sriracha-chemistry-how-hot-sauces-perk-up-your-food-and-your-mood

So I think it likely then that peppers trigger a dopamine release in order to initiate cooling, and that when in reality cooling is not actually demanded (because you're not actually hot) - then there is a dopamine surplus for awhile.

So with peppers you've got:

Nicotine - triggering dopamine
Solanin & Chaconine - inhibiting acetylcholinesterase (thereby sustaining acetylcholine)

-- and --  a false hot signal triggering more surplus dopamine.

And with hot sauce you add acetic acid (vinegar) which can produce more acetylcholine when combined with a dietary choline source (soy lecithin, eggs, shrimp).

I'm still trying to determine how dopamine might help control body heating, since I have a bit more tremor when cold.  I'll post on this when I have that epiphany.

Shrimp Tacos, Corn Tortilla, Hot Sauce

PS - I'm still about the same. 

Cheers,

Glen

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

God Bless

Glen

Special Thanks - My Sister Lisa - +1 If You Want A Paperback Version To Be Made

I'd like to extend special thanks to my sister Lisa who did the cover art for the book and published it for Kindle.  We are steadily working on a paperback version.  Google +1 or comment on this post if you'd be interested in an expanded edition in paperback.

My sister is an artist who does book design, glass art, sculpture, and graphic design.  You can see her work on her website at: http://www.pettibone.co.uk

Special thanks also to her husband Chris who proofed the book.

God Bless.  Happy Holidays

Glen

Tune In To Sunday Connections Tomorrow, December 7, 2014

I'm hosting Sunday Connections Sunday (December 7th) at 2:00 PM Pacific (5 PM Eastern). I will cover topics from my book "Powerful Food And A Walk In The Sun" and my blog.

I will be happy to answer your questions!

Attend by Phone: 
Guest pin code: 200414#
Primary dial in number: (425) 440-5100
Secondary dial in number: (323) 476-3997

Attend by Web: 
http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=62264190

Please also visit www.parkinsonsrecovery.com

Glen

New Winter Food Solution - Spicy Turmeric Hummus With Celery

So I avoided celery in the summer because celery contains furanocoumarins which are chemicals that cause your skin to be more sensitive to sunlight.  But it occurred to me that those might actually be beneficial in the winter. 

Celery has nicotine.  I can't find how much. It also is very low in calories, full of micronutrients, and replete with fiber.  It has a low glycemic index.

But then I also rediscovered garbanzo beans (in hummus).

It turns out that hummus actually manufactures acetic acid in your gut, so when you pair it with a choline source like eggs or shrimp you get acetylcholine.

Hummus also reduces your appetite and tastes great on celery.  I've been mixing hot sauce, turmeric, and Ceylon cinnamon in the hummus for extra punch!

Read about all the micronutrients that garbanzo beans have, including cysteine, phenylalanine, arginine, and tyrosine:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=68

God Bless,

Glen

New Inquiry - Dopamine and Body Temperature Regulation

I cited in the book the circannual rhythm effect for PD sufferers - specifically that L-DOPA uptake slows down in the spring and summer.

Additionally, if you look at my "(Very) Simplified Timeline" graph on my November 5, 2014 blog post, you will note that I had a slight increase in required Levodopa dosage in the late spring and summer of both 2013 and 2014 (and a reduction again in about August).

I am asking "Why?" - and researching.

At minimum I have three initial thoughts.  Perhaps three factors probably play a role:

1) Rapidly increasing day length (total heating and lighting) - as in the spring when the day length is rapidly increasing.
2) Longer day length - as in the spring and summer when the day lengths are overall longer than the fall and winter (even though slowly decreasing after the summer solstice, and slowly increasing after the winter solstice).
3) Perhaps dopamine is occupied or expended (consumed/destroyed) for body temperature regulation.
4) We know that dopamine is consumed to make melanin.

On factor 4, temperature regulation, so far I'm finding that dopamine activates body cooling.  For example, the following paper supports that some dopamine agonists (substances that bind to the dopamine receptors, just like dopamine) have been shown to go so far as to induce hypothermia in primates:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923080800037

So this confirms 3), supports the circannual effects observed, and gives us a clue to factors 1) and 2).

Certainly we know then that dopamine supply in the spring and summer is diminished by preoccupation with cooling, and consumption for pigmentation.

I am looking in to this.  It may be useful for understanding the right season sleep-wake patterns to optimize PD management, the optimal exercise practices, possibly the application of light therapy to mitigate the rate-of-change effects, and maybe even the timing of eating cycles.

More soon,

God Bless,

Glen Pettibone