Mastering Nutrition
For a long time, most people believed that when we exercise, our muscles make lactic acid, this acidifies the muscles, and the acidity contributes to contractile failure, fatigue, and delayed-onset muscle soreness. Some people still believe this. You may have heard the argument against it from well-known figures like Andy Galpin, or, if you’re deep into the science, you may have read the work of George Brooks. In this lesson, we are going to cover the biochemistry of lactate production. We will see that we never make lactic acid, ever. We make lactate. Making lactate is fundamentally...
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D-lactate is commonly stated to be exclusively a microbial metabolite. This is found in assumptions within the medical literature for decades even when it was long-known to be false. While D-lactate is indeed made by bacteria, D-lactate is also inarguably and irrefutably produced by human enzymes. In this podcast, moreover, I will argue the following: Microbial contribution to D-lactate in humans under normal circumstances is negligible. I coin the term “the D-lactate shuttle” to describe a role for D-lactate that should eventually make its way into biochemistry textbooks...
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In this podcast we cover elevated creatinine, insomnia, cramps constipation, water retention, hair loss, irritation and anger, lightheadedness during lifting, bloating, aggravation of restless leg syndrome, irritation of asthma, bloody noses, anxiety, headaches, heart palpitations, twitching, and fast or slow heartbeat. The full podcast and article can be found here:
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Creatine is like your second mitochondria. Or, the mitochondria’s chief of staff. Or its co-pilot. Your mitochondria make ATP so you can see clearly, hear accurately, digest your food, power your brain, show off your your shiny skin, lift heavy things, and perform your best at the challenges you face. They do that all with the help of creatine. Creatine is responsible for spreading the impact of mitochondrial ATP production into the general area of the cell known as the cytosol, and into every organelle outside the mitochondria. While it is more important in cells with high ATP...
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Question: Is whole food vitamin C superior to natural because it is part of a tyrosinase complex? Short Answer: Vitamin C is nearly ubiquitously distributed in plant tissues, and is never bound to any enzyme as a structural complex. Vitamin C promotes absorption of iron from plant foods, inhibits copper absorption, and de-loads copper from ceruloplasmin, which may play a role in distributing copper to tissues. Vitamin C is not capable of destroying ceruloplasmin. These functions follow directly from vitamin C as an electron donor and there is no evidence whatsoever that whole food vitamin C...
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Question: What Is the Real Issue With Seed Oils? Short Answer: The main issue with seed oils is that they present an oxidative liability. They do not acutely cause oxidative stress, but their polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are more vulnerable than any other macronutrient to oxidative damage. Oxidative stress can increase because of nutrient deficiencies, toxins, infections, other sources of inflammation, alcohol, or smoking, and it will inevitably increase as a function of aging. As oxidative stress increases, more PUFAs in the tissues mean more damage. At least 0.6 milligrams of vitamin...
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Question: How useful is hair trace mineral analysis (HTMA) for nutritional testing? Short Answer: Hair trace mineral analysis is included as an optional add-on in the comprehensive nutritional screening from Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet, because it can capture data for some ultra-trace minerals for which there are no better-validated tests, and it might capture a pattern that might not be picked up as quickly with blood work, such as a mineral transport issue. However, its utility is limited by the fact that hair mineral content is not well validated as a test for any...
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Nutrition is far more powerful than drugs to improve cognitive performance. We start by looking at cocaine, Adderall, and Ritalin, and show why these drugs cannot possibly hold a candle to nutrition. Optimal nutrition can definitely optimize the function of dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, histamine, creatine, and the methylation system, and in doing so can simultaneously optimize focus, motivation, sustained attention, and mental flexibility, and methylation, all while eliminating anxiety, depression, and distraction. Yet, popular nutritional cognitive stacks in the nootropic space do...
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Debunking the myth that vitamin C in plants is found in a special "tyrosinase complex." For the written article with references, see here: For issues of vitamin C dosing and balancing with other nutrients, see these two links:
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Watch or listen to the full critique here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMPvCiOkEtQ
info_outlineFor a long time, most people believed that when we exercise, our muscles make lactic acid, this acidifies the muscles, and the acidity contributes to contractile failure, fatigue, and delayed-onset muscle soreness. Some people still believe this.
You may have heard the argument against it from well-known figures like Andy Galpin, or, if you’re deep into the science, you may have read the work of George Brooks.
In this lesson, we are going to cover the biochemistry of lactate production. We will see that we never make lactic acid, ever. We make lactate. Making lactate is fundamentally alkalinizing.
We will take a look at the presentation of glycolysis in the Berg and Lehninger biochemistry textbooks to see that, on the one hand, they give us everything we need to know to understand that the human body never makes lactic acid, but, on the other hand, they really do not equip us well to understand where acidity does comes from during exercise. This is because they do not consider acid-base balance important enough to completely present the proton balances of the chemical reactions.
Finally, we will cover what does cause muscular fatigue, take a look at the research on lactate supplements, and come to some conclusions about the best way to manage acidity during exercise to maximize performance.
This is part of a larger course on the biochemistry of how we derive energy from food and use it to fuel our wellness, performance, and longevity. Take the full course here:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/masterclass-with-masterjohn-energy
To see the slides, watch this lesson on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrpbLllsSHQ
To obtain the written version with timestamped slides for better studying, see here:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/how-lactate-alkalinizes-your-muscles
This lesson is free for one week. After that it will be reserved for Masterpass members. You can learn more about the Masterpass here:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/about
You can subscribe to the Masterpass here:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/subscribe
2:52 How textbooks present glycolysis
3:36 What is acidity?
4:32 The acidfying and alkalinizing phases of glycolysis
7:09 Glycolysis: A brief review
10:08 The Principles
29:33 The Reactions -- and Where the Textbooks Go Wrong
38:59 Human beings do not make lactic acid
42:13 Lactate transport is even more alkalinizing to muscle
47:44 Robert Robergs Fights an Uphill Battle in Clarifying the Sources of Acidity and the Alkalinizing Effect of Lactate
1:01:08 What causes fatigue?
1:05:15 Does CO2 contribute to acidity?
1:13:45 Where is Glycolysis Getting Backed Up?
1:23:10 Conclusiuons: What's realy going on with exercise-induced acidosis.
1:26:34 Lactate supplements
1:30:53 How to use this information in training for optimal performance.