How much do you know about brain health? More specifically, do you know how a tiny peptide called GHK could be the difference between a healthy brain and body and an unhealthy one? The research is starting to consolidate on GHK and it’s good news. GHK has “multiple biological actions, all of which, according to our current knowledge, appear to be health positive.” Here is the current evidence that shows how GHK and GHK-Cu may be positively impacting on your brain health.
But first, you need to understand the basics of the field of epigenetics.
EPIGENTICS
Epigenetics is the study of how cells control gene activity without changing the DNA sequence. The easiest way to understand it is that your genes stay the same, but the epigenetic changes are modifications that determine whether a gene is turned on or off.
The next thing to understand is that genes can be overactive and underactive. If a gene is underactive you want to upregulate it, and if it’s overactive you will want to downregulate it.
Now, consider this. According to the research Pickart et al reports “the number of human genes stimulated or suppressed by GHK with a change greater than or equal to 50% is 31.2%. GHK induced a significant change in the gene expression, UP or DOWN of 50% in 31.8% of the human genes.
In other words, almost 32% of your genes are impacted, significantly, by this one peptide GHK! If you don’t have healthy GHK levels you can be negatively impacting 32% of your genes and in turn health. Sadly, the levels of GHK in a 60 year old is just a fraction of what it is in 20 year olds.
NEURONS
If we look first at the effect on neurons (nerve cells) they found that “408 genes go up and 230 go down.” This was from the study titled Regenerative and Protective Actions of the GHK-Cu Peptide in the Light of the New Gene Data. So a good number of genes are either upregulated or downregulated in a positive direction.
The below chart shows the top 10 genes upregulated by GHK and the top 10 downregulated. Notice the percent change. It’s over 1000% for the top two.
They state that “GHK has a significant effect on neurons, but we don’t know exactly what this means. With time, we will be able to analyze the huge amount of data.”
ANXIETY AND PAIN
We also know that the peptide has “potent anti-pain, anti-anxiety and anti-aggression actions” which are primarily brain regulated. In the chart below you can see the genes identified that help to reduce pain.
COHERENCE
A different study titled Non-Invasive Scanning and Subtle Energy Testing Lab Effect of LifeWave X39 Patches on Brain as Seen with P3 Brain Mapping: Preliminary Results found different results when they looked at the brain.
First a little bit of background on the X39 patch. It’s a non-transdermal skin patch that is worn for 12 hours per day. When studied it “showed a significant increase in the GHK-Cu concentration present in the blood as a result of wearing the LifeWave X39 patch for 1 week in individuals age 40 to 80.”
Getting back to the brain mapping study they found that “according to their coherence maps, the majority of participants started with an over active brain and their brain calmed down significantly after 3 weeks of wearing the X39 patch.
STROKE
Have a look at this study titled Glycine-Histidine-Lysine (GHK) Alleviates Neuronal Apoptosis Due to Intracerebral Hemorrhage via the miR-339-5p/VEGFA Pathway. Fancy talk but here is what you need to know.
“GHK enhances wound healing, exerts neuroprotective effects against neurodegenerative disease, and improves tissue regeneration. This study examined whether GHK can alleviate injury due to intracerebral hemorrhage (stroke).”
They found that “GHK-induced downregulation of miR-339-5p (a gene), and that the miR-339-5p/VEGFA axis plays a role in preventing neuronal apoptosis”
In simple speak, the GHK downregulated a gene, or genes, and this prevented nerve death following a stroke. They concluded that “these findings indicate that GHK may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for stroke.”
ANTI-AGING
One final CRITICAL point to note is that the levels of GHK average “200ng/ml at age 20 but decline to an average of 80ng/ml by age 60.
As we age and need it for brain health, the levels decrease.
However, the following discovery is interesting and very promising.
“Because GHK is absorbed at a high efficiency across the blood brain barrier in to the brains of rodents and nonhuman primates …… testing the effects on the peptide on neurological function is warranted” A study on aging mice found “evidence of decreased inflammation….. suggesting that in addition to an anti-inflammatory effect, GHK may be triggering an epigentic pathway in the amelioration of cognitive impairment in aging mice.”
SUMMARY
It is very likely that there are multiple pathways and genes that are being up and down regulated when it comes to our brain health.
Studies have shown that some age-related changes in gene expression are not permanent and can be reversed. For example we know that as little as 30 minutes of exercise per day can reset mitochondrial DNA to a gene expression more like that of a younger person.
When you put all the information together it’s clear that this peptide can have significant impacts on our brain and overall health.
It’s a safe, inexpensive, and extensively studied peptide that has a huge upside in the brain and many other tissues.
Considering one of the proposed pathways to increase GHK is via photobiomodulation this would make sense as there is a large volume of evidence that shows that photobiomodulation helps with the aging brain in humans.
Lifestyle Integration provides natural solutions for stress and lifestyle-based health issues for men over 50. Raising your GHK levels with the X39 patch and/or with photobiomodulation has been shown to be effective, easy and a go to bio-hack as we age.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Todd Lizon B.P.H.E., D.C.
A renowned educator, Dr. Todd Lizon (B.P.H.E., D.C.) is the founder of Lifestyle Integration. By embracing modern technology and research we bring you the tools and products to help you reshape the assumption you might have on how we lose and rebuild health as we age.
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