Channelopathies - The Most Common Cause of Disease?

A channel is exactly what it sounds like, a passage from one area to the next. Within the body this is interpreted as the ability to move from one compartment to the next and this involves passing through a membrane. Imagine what would happen in your body if you were unable to effectively move nutrients in and toxins out? Sound far-fetched? This is what happens when we have channelopathies and according to the scientists that won the Nobel prize in the 90's might be the most common cause of disease in the modern world.

Let's look at our gut and the need of the body to get the nutrients from our food into our cells. There are two very significant hurdles that the body must conquer. The first is the passage from the gut to the bloodstream and there are many factors related to this but glutamine in particular is helpful here. Secondly, we must get the nutrient into the target cell and this is accomplished successfully when taurine levels are ample.

There is a spanner in the works at play though in the modern day environment and that is the toxic metals and the vast array of chemicals we are exposed to. A common problem with one of the "pumps" in the channel is the presence of organophosphate pesticides as it blocks the ability of the critical Na/K pump to work. Have a look at your sodium to potassium ratio on your hair analysis for more insight into your function. If it's low there may be an issue. Organochlorines as another example affect the copper to potassium pumps and the copper to molybdenum pumps helping to explain why we are seeing such high levels of copper in so many people.

Another interesting component of these channelopathies is that the channels are all embedded in the membranes of our cells which have a very high fatty acid component. If our modern day diet gets the balance of these fats wrong (which it often does by not having enough of the omega 3's because of grain fed animals for example) then our membranes don't work properly along with our channels. This is why fish oil is recommended for almost everyone or an appropriate substitute.

Here is a little story to illustrate how this all works. Let's say you are having a busy day. As a result you will need some thyroid hormone to give you the energy to keep you going. So at some point a cell in your body places an order for thyroid hormone. The body responds in kind and produced the hormone which is then put into the blood and delivered to the cell that ordered it. All is good. As the delivery man rings the bell to the door however (which is the channel into the cell) to announce that the thyroid hormone is here a great big dog runs up chasing the delivery man and the thyroid hormone away. In this example you can see how a substance like the pesticides, or metals (the equivalent to the dog) will prevent your cell from getting the nutrient it needs. The blood will then show normal levels but your cells will be screaming with symptoms. This is very common and very detrimental to our health and wellbeing and I tend to concur that this may be one of our greatest challenges in the 21st century.

The solution for this lies within a nutritional balancing program and is actually quite simple when you know what to do. First of all eliminate or reduce your exposure to these chemicals and metals. Second get them out of your body at a faster rate than they are coming in. This is what a nutritional balancing program does and why I recommend it for not just unwell people but anyone looking to maximise their health from a holistic, safe perspective.

Dr. Todd Lizon D.C.