Posted on 26. Sep, 2010 by Kerry D Friesen, M.D..

Supports Healthy Dopamine Levels in the Brain
GLOBAL OBESITY
“Globesity”—it’s how the World Health Organization describes the current global obesity epidemic.
Worldwide, one billion overweight people now outnumber the starving.
Here in America, with sixty-six percent of adults and thirty-percent of children overweight, scientists predict that for the first time parents may outlive their children.
ASK YOURSELF WHY
After twenty years of practicing medicine and hearing the plight of thousands of struggling overweight patients, I have often asked myself, “Why would someone continue to knowingly overeat with the threat of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, stroke or cancer looming on the horizon?”
Years later I would discover that this is the hallmark of addiction.
THE BRAIN EXPLAINS IT ALL
While obesity may be a complex and confusing disease and scientists continue to look for other explanations, one factor has emerged above all others. There is a striking similarity in the use and abuse of highly refined and processed foods–sugar, fat, salt and the drugs of abuse.
For example, everyone has heard of the tendency for people to gain weight once they stop smoking or drinking. In essence, they have replaced one addiction with another. This observation has led neuroscientists to ask the question: “could it be that, food and drugs of abuse compete for the same brain pathways?”
OXYCOTTON CANDY©
As it turns out, highly processed foods, including sugar•fat•salt, trigger the same reward system of the brain as addictive drugs.
In fact, in the rat brain, table sugar is powerful enough to produce a pain-killing effect by binding to opiate receptors as a kind of “OXYCOTTON CANDY.”©
For some, just seeing certain foods can increase dopamine levels in the brain. Once the addictive food is eaten however, dopamine levels drop, leading to despair, disappointment and craving for more food.
“Dieting” only perpetuates the cycle of deprivation, desire and bingeing, all the while depleting dopamine levels and strengthening the addiction.
DOPAMINE AND THE REWARD CIRCUITRY OF THE BRAIN
Mood, motivation, memory, sleep, sexual arousal, reward, punishment and the regulation of appetite, are all the work of the brain chemical dopamine.
Dopamine is so important to proper brain health, it has it’s own eight-lane
superhighway of neural networks!
This superhighway however, now has competition.
Never before have so many high fat, high sugar, high salt foods, been so readily available.
Scientists now know from animal studies that, that bingeing on sugar every day elevates dopamine levels in the brain and ultimately leads to symptoms of withdrawal if bingeing is prohibited.
THE LEPTIN-DOPAMINE LINK
Just as a household thermostat regulates temperature, leptin, (from the Greek word leptos meaning thin), is a protein synthesized by fat cells that signals the brain when we are full. Dialing down the “appestat” turns down appetite and encourages careful eating.
But, leptin can only work if sufficient dopamine is present in the brain to communicate the sensation of fullness.
According to the most recent brain imaging studies, if you are overweight, then you are already dopamine deficient!
NEURO•MEND for a Balanced Brain and a Balanced Body
Two NEURO•MEND capsules per day, contain the essential amino acid dl-phenylalanine and the amino acid tyrosine, required to produce the brain energizing benefits of dopamine.
Siberian Rhodiola rosea is a potent neuroadaptogen, neutralizing brain stress and relieving symptoms of depression. As a mild Monoamine-Oxidase inhibitor it naturally elevates serotonin, dopamine and beta-endorphins in the brain.
L-methionine actively regenerates critical dopamine receptors, while octacosanol enhances oxygen utilization throughout the brain.
DL-Phenylalanine ……………………………….. 300 mg
L-Tyrosine …………………………………………. 200 mg
Rhodiola rosea extract …………………………… 75 mg
(standardized to contain 1% rosavins)
L-Methionine ……………………………………….. 60 mg
Octacosanol …………………………………………… 2 mg
©Many thanks to Dr. Farrago for the irreverent analogy