Episode 240 — Regulate Brain Mast Cells
Guest: Dr. Theo Theoharides • Date: January 23, 2025
Episode Overview
Dr. Theoharis Theoharides reveals the critical role of mast cells in autism, allergies, and neuroinflammation. He shares breakthroughs in supplement absorption, environmental triggers, and personalized approaches to improve well-being. The secret this week is… Regulate Brain MAST CELLS
About Dr. Theo Theoharides
Dr. Theoharis Theoharides is Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Immunology and Director of the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine-Clearwater, Nova Southeastern University, FL, and Adjunct Professor of Immunology at Tufts School of Medicine, where he was Professor and Director of Molecular Immunopharmacology & Drug Discovery, and Clinical Pharmacologist, Massachusetts Drug Formulary Commission (1983-2022). He served on the Board of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technology (IFET) and the Supreme Health Council of the Ministry of Health in Greece. He received his BA, MS, MPhil, PhD and MD degrees and the Winternitz Price in Pathology from Yale University. He also received a Certificate in Global Leadership from Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He trained in internal medicine at New England Medical Center, which awarded him the Oliver Smith Award, “recognizing excellence, compassion and service.” He received the Tufts Distinguished Faculty Recognition and Excellence in Teaching awards multiple times. He showed that the unique tissue immune cells, mast cells, communicate with the brain microglia and are critical for neuroinflammation. He has 493 publications (49,406 citations; h-index 113 placing him in the world’s top 0.05% of most cited authors and the worldwide expert on mast cells by ScholarGPS and Expertscape. He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society, the Rare Diseases Hall of Fame, and the World Academy of Sciences. He developed novel dietary flavonoid supplements formulated in olive pomace oil to increase absorption. He has received 30 patents and trademarks.
You’ll Discover
The Extensive Track Record of Dr. Theoharides (3:19)
What Exactly Are MAST Cells (7:14)
Critical Concepts To Understand During Pregnancy (10:42)
Why High MMP9 Is An Issue And What Helps To Reduce It (14:43)
A Must-Do Regarding Supplements (27:14)
A Simple Test To See If Mast Cells Are An Issue (28:45)
MTHFR Considerations (33:23)
Ways To Address Hyperactivity (36:28)
Referenced in This Episode
Full Transcript
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 00:00
It's a double whammy because the muscles will open up the blood-brain barrier and will activate the macrobium. So think about the microglia in a second like spiders creating spider webs.
So the spider web is the scaffolding onto which the neurons crawl and make connections. So with the microglia danger, They will do two things. And unfortunately those two things are bad things as concerns to autism.
Cass Arcuri | 00:26
Want to truly be the best parent you can be and help your child thrive after their autism diagnosis? This podcast is for all in parents like you who know more is possible for your child.
Len Arcuri | 00:37
With each episode, we reveal a secret that empowers you to be the parent your child needs now, saving you time, energy, and money, and helping you focus on what truly matters most, your child.
Cass Arcuri | 00:48
I'm Cass. And I'm Len. Welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets.
Len Arcuri | 01:04
Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. It's Len and I'm at the Documenting Hope Conference in Orlando, Florida, 2024. Lots of dynamite speakers and phenomenal thought leaders and I'm excited to be joined by one right now. Dr. Theo Theoharides is here with me, and the topic is mast cells, something that you've heard about before on this podcast, but there's no more preeminent thinker on this topic that I know of than the guest with me today.
So the secret this week is regulate brain mast cells, and Dr. Theo, I'm so excited that you're here with me.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 01:43
My God, it's a real pleasure. I really have to laud you for everything you're doing. I like the word secrets because we many times talk about interventions, but there are secrets in interventions because everybody knows them. I'm so happy to be talking to your audience and especially about brain mast cells. I dare say we were the first to actually talk about brain mast cells in the context of some issues rather than just histology. Yes, they're there. I wrote actually a short review and a call the mast cells, the immune gate to the brain.
Len Arcuri | 02:22
What, in 1990?
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 02:23
1990. So hopefully we'll expand on that.
Len Arcuri | 02:27
Well, clearly your thinking has evolved, but your focus here has been steadfast. And I think even someone like myself and my wife, Cass, who we feel like we're pretty knowledgeable, this particular area is something that I'm still continuing to learn and better understand.
So it's easy to throw the term out, mast cells, and I think a lot of parents just don't fully understand them so if you could do the of course i'm sure you're very skilled at this the 101 to provide the context on what mast cells are and again how focusing here might really help with some of the challenges that parents may be having with their child whether it's behavioral or physical so i'll hand it off to you to shed.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 03:12
Light let me give a little preamble I was born in Greece. I came on a scholarship at Yale University. And I have the dubious honor of having five degrees from Yale. Five degrees? And it actually should have been six, but one was a double degree in biology and history of medicine.
So we were called that in the 60 days. In fact, in the history of Yale, it was established in 1701. There are only 11 people that have actually as many degrees as I have, so. But business may. During my doctoral thesis, I was looking for a unique cell that secretes a lot of things, because I wanted to study secretion. And everybody at the time were looking at neurons, which of course is great. Sure. But I happened to hear a lecture of someone talking about mast cells, and I thought, my God. It would be the best thing to study. Because like a soccer ball filled with a thousand ping pong balls, each ping pong ball having about a hundred marbles, And when... The cells react. They literally explode like a hand grenade and release everything. They've done that. Within 24 hours they're ready, restocked, ready to fire again. And yet, out of the 100 monitors that are released, we deal only with histamine and we have anti-histamines.
So we'll be missing the forest for the trees for many years. Especially in complex diseases that we don't quite understand. And you'll see why that interesting notice in a second.
So then from Yale, I moved to Boston. So I created the Department of Pharmacology at Tufts University. And I was there for 40 years.
And then I moved to Nova Southeastern University just about two years ago because I was very interested in integrative medicine. And we don't do much of that, if any. In Boston.
So I'm at the Institute of Neuronegative Medicine at Nova South Eastern for a while And what is really incredible is they allowed me just about a month ago to create a center of excellence for neuroinflammation research And for the first time we created what are called human organoids to mimic basically What might be happening? In the brain. But basically in the laboratory. If we have time, I'll tell you more about this.
Yeah, love to know.
Len Arcuri | 05:34
I'd.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 05:35
So Whatever was... There is a society called the master cyclosis society And now it's changed the name to "Must-Sell Disorder Society" for good reason, because there are many more than just mastocytosis. And many years ago, 15 years ago or so, I was at one of their conferences where the first day would be Sanke's talking about of science, if you wish. The second day we'll bring the crystals down to the families. And many of the families would come with children. And I was stunned how many of the children appeared to be on the autism spectrum to me. It just didn't make sense.
So we did a small epidemiological study where the society sent out basically an email asking how many of the children. That had... Must set disorder like symptoms We're on the spectrum. And that was about 11 years ago or so. And at that time, The statistics said that Odin was one in 100 children. And yet, If those children were actually one in three, And I was stunned. Why would autism They comorbid it. With muscle activation, Which was phenomenal. Because usually when we have comorbidities, we multiply the ratios.
So if it was, let's say, 1 in 100 for autism, mastocytosis is one in two thousands, much rarer. So the possibility of the two coexisting would be multiplying one over 100 times one over 2000, and here we're finding one in three Maybe one in ten of you scratched it.
So then I started looking at what might be the possibility that muscle cells might actually have anything to do Without it. So at the beginning We saw Okay, where are muscles?
So muscles are found everywhere in the body. Especially and junction with the outside world, so I'll be eyes, nose, lungs, skin, gut. Therefore they sense what is happening on the outside. They do not circulate in the blood, but they're found around blood vessels. Okay. Show. A colleague published about five years ago a wonderful article, and it showed with video The muscles put philopodia through the endothelial gaps and they sense what is happening inside the lumen of the blood vessel. Therefore, the muscles can sense anything on the outside world and insiders And we believe, and I wrote a larger year recently, I called it the master plan. Immune conduct of the control of or to train the whole response base in the upper body. What we didn't know until many years ago. Was the muscle solution in the brain.
Some colleagues from Sweden had published early papers showing patients that had died the muscles were basically around the blood vessels in the brain. And then we did a subsequent set of studies, and we showed that the median eminence that connects the hypothalamus Dark pituitary, it's a little stalk. As many mosques as our scheme. Wow. Yet. The main allergic trigger for the MASH cells, which is immunoglobulin E or Ig, does not cross the protective blood-brain barrier.
So obviously the muscles were doing something else there. Then subsequently, We showed that peptides that are released under stress One is called substance B, the other is called neurotensin, that is called corticotropic releasing hormone that we thought exists only in the brain action is stimulate the mast cells in their part of the brain, but outside the brain as well. And we showed that they can reset reactivity of the mast cells.
So in other words, let's say someone had allergic reactions to fall And then it so happens that someone got for being died in the family or they were in a car accident. That stress lowers the BART and the muscles start reacting to everything.
So we've got patients saying I'm allergic to life, literally. So since we started publishing these papers, there have been five very large epidemiological studies by good scientists. One published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for instance, showing that the Only significant comorbidity It's autism. Is allergen enzima. And enzima is a type of allergen anyhow. And both allergen and enzima are 100% dependent on the mast cells.
So, while we had started talking about mast cells being involved potentially in the pathogenesis of whatever autism is, now a lot of people are talking about it. But most of my colleagues Don't really understand what is happening.
I mean, I'm glad they're putting it out there. And it's nice to be able to have. Parents question but he will get us to the secret that we should be talking about so what is the secret So the first thing is we need to know and address If a mother has allergies or eczema, during pregnancy because anything the mother is exposed to will cross the placenta and will affect the baby. There's no question about it. And other colleagues have published numerous papers that if a mother is exposed and she's herself allergic, or has eczema, etc. The baby is more likely to have such problems when the baby is born regardless of autism.
So that is well defined. But the subsequent studies showed that it increased the possibility of a cell being on the spectrum enormously.
Sometimes between five to ten times. Just that alone, we're still not understanding why. Right. Now, going back to gestation, What happens is, as I said anything, mother's exposure will cross the blood-brain barrier But the blood-brain barrier in the developing fetus doesn't start developing until the So that truly is months.
Len Arcuri | 11:50
The critical period, the first three.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 11:53
And that the second critical period is what happens perinatally. So as soon as the baby is born, many children, as you know, have colicipate. The Mayan Russians because they are responding to either the mother's milk or cow's milk or maybe whatever is happening in the House, then is the critical period to intervene so that we don't allow the must-sell to release molecules that one, will open up the blood-brain barrier and allow additional molecules from the blood to get into the brain that shouldn't get into the brain The muscle releases molecules that stimulate the defenders of the brain, the microglia.
So the brain does not have circulating blood cells other than erythrocytes that carry oxygen. So no white blood cells get into the brain. If they cross the blood-brain barrier and get into the brain, they recognize it as foreign as they attack it, and that's how we get multiple sclerosis, for instance. It's a double whammy because the muscles will open up the blood-brain barrier and will activate the macrobium.
So think about the microglia in a second like spiders creating spider webs. So the spider web is the scaffolding onto which the neurons crawl and make connections.
So with that microglia danger, They will do two things. And unfortunately, those two things are bad things as concerns to autism. One, they will stop making the scaffolding And they will actually Attack the invader, whatever that invader might be. Therefore, the neurons don't have the connections anymore now. And the inflammation destroys the connections even more.
So we published a paper with colleagues recently in the journal called "Molecular Psychiatry" and we looked at the brains of children on the spectrum Dad died? Versus normotypic syndrome, they died the same way. Car accidents, drowning, you know, et cetera. And we did what is called RNA sequencing.
So we looked at all the entire genome. And we look what is up, what is down, And it turns out that about 10 genes that are important in connectivity were down. And if atensions are important in neuroinflammation, we're out. This is pretty much what we were saying.
And then we ask the question, What is it that destroys the scaffolding? We talk about cytokines or inflammatory cytokines. These are molecules that have names like interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor. We've known for those for 20 years. And they're up and down depending what kind of tissue you look at, what kind of condition you look at, and some colleagues of mine have published a number of papers showing that certain cytokines are high even in amniotic fluid. But those by themselves don't tell the whole story.
So we ask the question, what are the enzymes that can break down the scaffolding? And as it turns out, these are called matrix methyloproteinases. Abbreviated MMPs. And the most important one is called MMP9.
So we double stay in the brain tissue for mast cells and for microglia, to see if they stay for containing MMP9, and they stay positive. In general, We measured the enzyme NMP9 in brain tissue in only the children of the spectrum and only in two areas, amygdala and which controls behavior and fear, and hippocampus that regulates memory, And then figure out a new story. Hi.
So then what we did, I said, okay, Can we actually prove that mast cell-semicroglia really is antipneumatic because so far there were associations. So we grew in the laboratory human mast cells and human microglia. And we stimulate them with different potential triggers.
So here's the peptide substance B that I mentioned, the peptide de-reptenzy that I mentioned, Did I see our rates that I mentioned? As well as recombinant ochratoxinase from mold or recombinant spike protein from coronavirus or a prominent EBV from the virus that causes monocleosis. All of them cause release of MFU9 in addition to the other cytokines, such as N2Q1, etc., for both mast cells and microglia.
So here comes the secret. Not only we showed now that at least there is some basis to explain that we're losing connectivity. It's like the spark plugs got rusty in that area and the neurons just don't communicate anymore.
So we pre-treated the cultures of either mast cells or microglia in the laboratory with various molecules to see if we can actually undo this release of the detritolino molecules. And it showed that one of the molecules that we had been using Any help? Because we're Bob, you said he has anti-allergic activity? Broke the release of MMP9 100% and that was Lutioli. Okay. I want to stress, not lutein. Lutein is found in carrots. It's a carotenoid, luteolin. Now, luteolin belongs to flavonoids. And there are 3,000 flavonoid genetics. And unfortunately many companies sell soy flavonoids, bioflavonoids, what have you. The flower noise. I was thought to be anti-Yorkshire. And in fact they are antioxidant. And the more As some of your listeners may know, phenolic a molecule is, the more antioxidant it is. But, about 40% of the children on the spectrum have phenol intolerance. These are children that become very hyper when they eat chocolate, strawberries, berries, etc.
Len Arcuri | 17:46
Which is why you have a low phenol. Correct.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 17:48
So we have to actually walk a very tight line To have enough can only compound to help us but not too much that might cause hyperactivity. So at the beginning I helped the company Algorand to make NeuroProTech that at that point have both luteolym again Corsodin, which is a little more phenolic, and the Corsodin glycoside routine And the reason why we did that is because many children, as you know, have got problems.
So rooting by being the glycoside is cleaved in the gut and therefore stays a little longer in the gut to shut down inflammation in the gut. Worshipping is broken down by the liver enzymes as it should faster and allows the young to escape and get into the brain.
So that was the idea. Once we realized that About 20% of the kids were getting hyper because they were phenol intolerant. Reduce the amount of course it needs and rooting, and allowed the luteolium to stay the same, and we call that Low phenol. And up to that point, Families had to open the salt-gel capsules because many children could not swallow and literally squeezed the content, which was yellow liquid, and I'll explain the importance of the liquid, but that doesn't go into water, so they had to put in a little honey, hummus, applesauce, etc. Now, why liquid? Because the powders, any flavonoid, whether it's pycnogenol, curcumin, luteolin, epigenin, any of those, In powder form, they get absorbed less than 10% from the gut. And what my colleagues many times say, well, does it get absorbed? I'll give you 2,000 milligrams. And it's exactly what they do. Many companies out there that sell this product They say 500 milligrams twice or three times a day. But what happens is, let's say I give you 2,000 milligrams. You observed only 200 milligrams. 800 milligrams stays in the gut, shuts down your gut, and now you end up with SIBO. Meaning inappropriate growth of other bacteria, etc.
So too much of something is not necessarily more problems than correcting any.
Len Arcuri | 19:57
Good. So the excess dosing actually creates... Creates.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 20:03
So what we did from the very beginning is we tried various oils To see which oil is the healthiest, first of all. And what might give us the best absorption. Because what happens is if you take oil and you put powder, and you shake it and you give it energy, the oil becomes little spheres. We call them liposomes. And it traps the soul with the powder inside. That is observed three to five times easier from the gut. And we use poma soil for two reasons. First of all, because it's cheaper than olive oil. It used to be cheaper. Now it's about the same price. This is olive oil. - Hummus oil.
Len Arcuri | 20:39
-.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 20:40
Hummus. - So olive hummus oil is olive seed oil, basically.
So after you take the olive oil, you're left with a bit, you squeeze that. And there's less oil in that, but you can get it. And the reason we did it other than it was cheaper is that it still contains all the good things that olive does, like the Mediterranean diet, especially oleic acid, which is polyunsaturated. As compared to butter that is saturated and we don't like it. But it is less phenolic than the olive oil. And we were worried about the phenols that I explained earlier. Now the price is about the same. For reasons that have to do with wars all over the world, etc. In the next few months we'll be switching to pure olive oil for that reason. And just because my colleagues don't know and sometimes, you know, obviously, your listeners might not know, when we say extra virgin olive oil The more virgin it is, the more polyphenolic it is. And the reason why many companies say that the extra virgin oil is good is because polyphenolic is good antioxidant. But as I said, for some of our kids who don't want it to be. Polyphenolic and the pure oil before it starts becoming You know. Extra virgin, extra virgin, doesn't have that many polyphenols.
So we're having the benefit of Mediterranean diet basically in a capsule. And about a year ago we created liquid So that one proper food is equivalent to about half a the shell gel capsule But the good thing is if you can put it under the tongue, about 30 seconds, it becomes sublingual. You avoid the stomach that can destroy it, etc. I got it.
So, getting back to the brain cells. If there's any indication that there are allergies or sensitivities, we have to address those. And who do I need my address to? First of all, you try to eliminate the triggers. And the triggers could be in the environment, like pollen for instance, or it could be dust, or it could be mold that releases mycotoxins that are volatile. So. " For IGE, against the potential triggers. And when we ask for IgE, we ask for specific IgE or immune IgE, but you have to indicate what you're looking for. They can all do it for everything.
So what I usually do is ask for that is found in milk products for gluten I ask for something that is not very well known but it's becoming very important an antigen called Alpha-Gal. Alpha like the Greek, and then G-A-L it's an abbreviation Alphagal is found only in red meat, not in chicken or fish, but it's found in pork and beef. And many individuals now are becoming very sensitive to that. And hardly anybody knows about it. And it becomes even a worse problem if someone has been bitten by a tick versus Lyme disease, or maybe Pants or Pantas? Because what happens is the ticks would bite, let's say, a deer or a squirrel. They carry the alpha-gal, then you're bitten by the tick, now you become super sensitized to alpha-gal. And I've had patients all ages where they might turn red around the face, for instance. And it will be lipstick or chopstick Because... But every cosmetic has actually gelatin in it, which comes, of course, from those.
So we really have to... So that's the first secret to you is make sure that your children Are our notes sensitive to certain things as early as possible? Or do the testing. She will be either a new night jeep, Or you can do what we call food intolerance test. Many of my colleagues and I don't like to do it and you'll see why. Because that is immunoglobulin G subclass 4. It's a different antibody that triggers the mast cells. But if you eat something every day, it turns out to be false positives.
So I usually tell families If you or the children who are very finicky with foods can tolerate it, don't give them anything that might be offensive about three days before doing it. Blah So I usually say boiled chicken, organic chicken, and maybe quinoa. Quinoa doesn't have any gluten in it.
So that way the kids are not going to starve for a few days. But otherwise, they come back to the community. Anything at all and we're starting with kids that than you could begin with.
So that takes care of the potential triggers. Then if we know that a child responds adversely, meaning the behavioral changes, to future contain history. Because the many children that have histamine intolerance, which is not an allergy, that means they're missing an enzyme, there are actually two enzymes, diamine oxidase is the best well-known enzyme, the other is called histamine methyl transferase. Both of these can be actually assayed. But if you're lacking these enzymes, and by lacking them you have mutations that don't work well, the gene is there, so you're not really missing the gene, then you can not break down histamines. And Hislamin was shown in a wonderful paper published in the journal Nature, And the New England Journal of Medicine had an editorial on it that Release of histamine, and God knows what else of the 100 molecules that I told you myself released, in the intestine stimulates sensory nerve endings and the presentation is quality pain. And it's not because I'm trying to be nice. And the history of rich foods are tomato, Avocado, spinach, eggplant, sardines, and spices. Right.
Len Arcuri | 26:29
Even avocados a little.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 26:30
Bit, right? The more... The right difficulty is the worst it is, actually. Usually, if we boil them, The system is oxidised and it's destroyed. That rocked. Tomato, ripe avocado are the worst basically. And unfortunately, There's... A supplement out there, I'm not going to mention it because I don't want to come back-mouth about anybody. But it's supposed to be for allergic problems, and it's got cumin in it. And cumin is loaded with histamine.
So you really have to watch it. And If we don't know In the medical community, why would we expect, unfortunately, many of the consumers to know the details?
So the second, if you want, secret is whatever supplement you decide to get, Make sure, number one, that you know the source and unfortunately some people don't use the source. The cheaper source, for instance, of quercetin, is peanut shells, but they don't tell you.
So you're allergic to peanuts, you know, you're.
Len Arcuri | 27:31
Doomed. That's really important to know.
I mean, as you're talking, of course, I'm thinking about my son who's got a life-threatening peanut allergy. There you go. All kind of allergies, by the way.
So when you talked about the testing, like the IgE testing and the IgG testing, which we've done I'm sure you did. Keep doing over and over, hoping those levels come down. And those are, by the way, blood tests that you could do and panels that can be done. And you touched on the idea that if you're eating the same thing every day, then you're likely to develop an issue like an IDG issue.
So, yeah, it's useful getting that information, but it can be very confusing what to do about it and how to report.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 28:11
So I know many families do elimination diets. Which is, of course, okay, but sometimes you don't have to eliminate anything if the problem is not there.
So, you know, you can... And additional stress to the children when you might not need to. And stress is a biggie. As I said earlier, the main hormone reduced under stress is peptide CRH. And they reset the reactivity of the muscles.
So the muscle will go crazy. Like a scratch. And we publish numerous papers, eczema gets worse with scratch, for instance, etc., So the first secret is identify what might be potential triggers and do this as early as possible. Even if you say that my child is fine, It never really is fine.
Something is happening if the child is having issues. And one of the things I usually ask families to do, you can probably do it, I can do it in here because I'm wearing a jacket.
Yeah. If you can... Go on the underside of the arm and I'll use my fingernail or you can use a dull object if I scratch like this just a continuous line and wait about a minute if that line turns red That means there's possible underlying problems with mast cells that have to be actually identified. And why are they still red? In certain individuals because the pressure alone Not any allergen, not any fruit. Will actually stimulate the mast cells, they will release histamine, they will make the blood vessels basically leaky blood will come out and that's why you get redness. Wow. That is telling me that I've got to search for something. Search quick, it's fast, You know, you could do it as a play with Tudor, you could do it on the back. I like to do it on the arm because then the patient can see themselves.
Len Arcuri | 29:57
Yeah, I remember hearing about that years ago. We tried it on my son and, of course, immediately the red mark. And he's here, so I'll do it again.
So So is that a decent, not a perfect, but a decent sense of like if parents are wondering, is histamine an issue for my child?
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 30:05
We call that, from the Greek, dermatographia, meaning you can write on the skin.
Len Arcuri | 30:19
Well.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 30:19
It's mostly a must solution, not necessarily a histamine issue, because as I said, the histamine can come from foods as well. But it's a quick solution. Way to at least get on the board that I've got to search more. Right.
So the second of your one secret is once you've identified what may or might not be triggering the mast cells, you have to calm the mast cells down. And there's no drug or supplement other than what I'll repeat in a few minutes that can do that. The only drug that's been available, and it's called the muscle blocker, it's called promolin. And yet... Chlamylin is absorbed less than 5% from the gut. The body gets used to it very quickly.
So within four months, we have to quadruple the dose that we give. And by that time, you start getting diarrhea and your hair falls off.
So we published a paper, which is accessible on Google. It's a free publication in a good journal, where we actually pre-treated human mast cells in the laboratory with the same amount of either chromolyt Pollution. And we trigger the muscle with different triggers, both an allergic trigger and a peptide trigger. And we measure the release of 10 of the molecules we've been talking about. Luteolin was by far It better be a heated urban problem. And it's entirely natural. We can introduce either just with Yoli And the company Algonquin has pure lute, just luteonide? Or luteolin with quercetin, which as we said is neuroprotect low phenol, as early as possible.
I mean, we've been using it in children as one years old, for instance. Obviously, having the liquid, it's easier because you can use a dropper. You can use like a quarter of a dropper full and, you know, slowly.
So the The neuroprotect low phenol is in a liquid form.
Len Arcuri | 32:05
Neuroprotect comes in a dropper as well as a capsule? Yes.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 32:12
And as I said earlier, one proper food, which is one milliliter, is equivalent to half a capsule But if you put it under the tongue, it's equivalent to one capsule because it gets absorbed sublingually. And Correct.
Len Arcuri | 32:24
That's basically liposomal delivery. Correct. Okay.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 32:27
So that... Takes care of the potential allergies or sensitivities and it reduces the inflammation of the brain. And as I said earlier, we and others have shown that there is inflammation in that part of the brain. There's no question about it. And in about 50% of the children, The inflammation is Enough to spill out in the blood. Because we can measure those same molecules in the blood, but only about 50% of the children. But if we were to measure those molecules in the blood and their height, Then you have to be a little more aggressive.
So instead of one and Mel Lachey Pardue. I will go one twice a day. And they keep increasing up to Two twice a day.
Yeah, depending on the age of the drop two, yes.
Len Arcuri | 33:12
Child. To drop two. To.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 33:15
Now, that takes care of the inflammation and to some extent allergies. But about 40% of the children and mutations on an enzyme called MTHFR that makes basically active form folic acid. And the brain cells need folic acid.
So there are three things one can do. One is The foley calcium needs to bind on the surface of the cells to what we call a receptor. It's like a lock. Unlock the lock to get inside. About 50% of the children have antibodies that block that. There is a company in New York called Iliad, L-I-A-D, that can actually measure those antibodies because if they're present, We need to know and we need to bypass that. Once the folic acid gets inside, it has to be actually performed by the NTHFR. To make the active form I'm sure Dr. Fry has already spoken about this. And both she and I, like for Leenie Kasich, because for Leaning Cassi it doesn't need the lock, it goes into a pump, And it's used by the enzyme more efficiently. It's like giving high-octane gas, if you wish. I know she uses quite a bit. I like to start a little slow. Because if you get Too much, many of the children become a little hyper.
So I usually recommend about two to five milligrams a day. Then slowly you can go up to whatever. His publicist gave 50 millibers a day, for instance. It is not only very helpful for brain health, But there are additional publications from him and one from another group Good. Basically allows language to develop a little faster.
So I always recommend either the pure lute or the neuroprotectile or phenol together with Loramon, Felinic Acid. Until we have the gene analysis, because if the gene is actually mutated, that will increase the amount, obviously, to overcome that problem. Now the thing that the third of you wants to create is that In my experience, most of the children I've ever dealt with alone or through colleagues Aha, correct. And hyperactivity is not part of the diagnosis of autism.
So the question is why are they hyperactive? And unless we bring down the hyperactivity, Everything is that I've told you takes much longer to take or create a benefit.
Len Arcuri | 35:47
And if it's not hyperactivity, these kids are so often in a sympathetic state.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 35:51
Correct. I've always said that whatever happens in the part of the brain that I told you. As inflammation which called amygdala That is the center of fear. It's like resetting the center of fear.
So the kids are basically in a fight or flight reaction all the time, and the higher functions So why should I bother here? I need to survive, let alone get anything else.
So unless we reset that fear threshold, We're not going to be helping the children, at least not as fast as we would like to. So I recommend two things, basically. The neurotransmitters et cetera. Excitatory, as we call it. By the way, did he turn red? No.
So you're fine. Yeah. Okay. But he disappears in about three minutes. Got to look at it fairly quickly.
Len Arcuri | 36:42
My son's arm would not be fine right.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 36:43
Now. Yeah.
Well, there you go. So... The neurotransmitters that are excitatory would be epinephrine, in Europe we call it, in Canada we call it adrenaline, same thing, and dopamine. And serotonin is the one that counts primarily.
So if someone is jumping up and down and they're going crazy, I've got to measure neurotransmitters. So we call them catecholamines.
So you can ask political fractionating plasma catecholamines. They will tell you the level. We have twins and you break them down. One is called MAO, monamine oxidase, and the other is COMT, catecholamine orthomethyl transferase. Just like we said we can measure MTHFR Wicked National Toys as well. Because we separate individuals in slow metabolizers and fast metabolizers.
So if a child is a slow metabolizer and is putting out a lot of the skeletal They're going to be worried all day long. In that case, there are ways to handle it. There are two medications. They're not psychotropic medications. One of these medications is a very well-known antihypertensive medication. We give it to people that have hyperthyroidism to bring the heart rate down a bit. For Pranolol, one of the trade names is Interal. The beauty of it is It works within 30 minutes, and it's out of the body in about 3 hours. You don't get used to it, you can go cold turkey. I've had graduate medical students take it before exams. Because it's extremely good anti-anxiety without plodding your mental ability. The only time we do not use it is if someone has asthma. And if you use an oximeter that measures your pulse, for example, a smart watch for instance, You can watch it. Because if you're at 100 bits per minute, it should drop it by at least 5 to 10 bits. If it doesn't, you've got to increase the dose.
So you can do it yourself pretty much. It's not, you know, a brainer. The other medication called Cronidate inhibits the release of the galgolamines. Propranol stops the action after they've been released. And it's a little sedating, so we can give it at night, for instance. And many people use Chloridine. One of the trade names is Cattle Press, but there are many different names.
So, all I'm saying is we have to address those symptoms that we can understand, like allergies, sensitivities, hypertension, And the last secret for now is that many children become hyperactive because something else is happening in their body. And I'll give you two examples. One that may... Many of you have obviously encountered, is constipation. Constipation is very painful, very frustrating.
So I was talking to a company from abroad recently on a Zoom call, And The child was so... All over the place and I said, "Please, don't even think about just using something to move the bowels. Just do a flat x-ray of the stomach and the gut basically.
So I was compacted. No matter what we use, whether it's elements or anything else, it's not going to work.
And then we're wasting our time because it keeps on getting even more compacted. The other example was a child who was doing otherwise very well and then for some reason started doing crazy stuff. Which kind of flabbergasted all of us. And after questioning and questioning, I said, there's got to be something that was different. We always should look for something that is different. And the family says, you know what? I was circumcised actually about four months ago, okay? And how is she doing since then?
Well, we really don't know. I said what do you mean you don't know? He says the child doesn't allow us to touch his genitals. I was like, can you just take a picture? It was all inflamed. It was black and blue and swollen. Was it an infection? Was it maybe they left some speeches in that was inclement? But sometimes there's such obvious problems and we think it's all autism. And it's not autism.
So the last secret is don't put all the eggs in one basket. Allow a few months of what we've discussed. See what symptoms remain. And maybe those symptoms that remain could be addressed differently. And that basically helped us understand what is going on and helps you basically follow through. The reason is single treatment that fits every child, period. I've never seen a child that did extremely well with everything else that worked with another child. But certain things clearly do help. And I'm absolutely convinced that in most children, autism, whatever it is irreversible. And I'll finish by saying the first child I dealt with was actually a nine-year-old in Florida 13 years ago. And nine, his job was not working. And all counter-public behaviors Within a year of what we pretty much discussed today, he sent me a wonderful video with Christmas caroling. And last June, he graduated from Texas Polytechnic University. - Okay. This is not reversible. We've got to hope.
That's why we're here documenting hope. And I'm so grateful for you to allow me to share some things that might be helpful to feminists out there.
Len Arcuri | 42:08
Well, it's been my honor to have you here. And we could talk for hours for sure. But I think you've shared so many great perspectives for parents to consider, again, as they're working with practitioners, trying to discern what's going to help their child. And I know the products that you mentioned with Algonaut, those are all available.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 42:27
They're available on Amazon. They're available on the site, algonaut.com. The site was redone recently and would like to hear your comments because it was fairly dry before. I was operating the site while I was in Boston. It doesn't work anyway.
So now I'm down here in Sarasota and I work, as I said, for Lauderdale and Nova Southeastern. But there's a lot of information now. There's a history why olive oil has been used. There's a lot of science there and it connects basically... DrTheaHarides.com. There are a lot of videos, publications you can download for free. There are many questions and answers, many of which, of course, I get from you and all kind of feminists, and then I try to address them. Many times we're kind of buried in science, and we kind of lose the sight of what is actually helpful. For families out there. And any comments and any questions, please send them either through the host or directly To me, if you wish, it's drtheoharides at gmail.com. Eventually, I answer. I'm months behind. I don't have anybody helping me. But eventually, I do answer.
So don't lose hope there either.
Len Arcuri | 43:45
Great. Well, again, it's been totally, I'm just so excited to be able to have your voice on our podcast. And it was just an honor to finally get to meet you.
So thank you, Dr. Piaf.
Dr. Theo Theoharides | 43:53
Thank you very much.
Len Arcuri | 43:55
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