Lactoferrin for healthy aging via improved iron metabolism

I havent seen anyone ever say this, but if you have gut issues that you are actively trying to solve, you gotta stop travelling for a while.

Gm

Gm

There are no words

Magical things happen when you replete all micronutrient and microwavelength deficiencies. Bottlenecks get resolved, optimal pathways are liberated and the flux of vitality that modernity and its environmental mismatches stole from you starts to flow once again.

As you get older there is a progressive micronutrient malabsorption issue creating downstream dysfunction. All of teh systems responsible for absorbing those micronutrients deteriorate with age. Stomach acid declines (↓ HCl → ↓ B12, iron, zinc, magnesium liberation from food). Parietal cells atrophy → intrinsic factor drops → B12 absorption tanks. Bile production slows → fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K2) aren't absorbed properly. Pancreatic enzyme output drops → protein-bound minerals stay bound. But the energy side is also really interesting to me becauase nutrient absorption is an active process. Your enterocytes need ATP to run transport proteins like DMT1 for iron, calbindin-dependent transport for calcium, sodium-dependent carriers for B vitamins. As mitochondrial function declines with age (heteroplasmy accumulation, ↓ ETC efficiency), even with "adequate" intake your gut cells can't physically grab the nutrients. ↓ mito function → ↓ absorption → ↓ cofactors (B2, B3, CoQ10, iron, copper) → ↓ mito function further. Probably this explains a lot of the "unexplained" deterioration people experience after 50. So functional testing becomes WAY more important as you age. Metabolomix+, comprehensive bloods, functional markers like methylmalonic acid for B12 status. And delivery route matters too in many cases. Sublingual B12 might bypass the intrinsic factor problem. Dermal magnesium bypasses the gut. Interesting stuff to keep into account.

Pull-up day nonetheless

Over a third of commonly prescribed drugs are known mitotoxins. Statins, PPIs, certain antibiotics, metformin, fluoroquinolones, etc... They impair electron transport, uncouple membranes, or deplete cofactors like CoQ10. So you show up with fatigue, muscle pain, brain fog but nobody connects it to the prescription. You end up gettng more drugs for those symptoms = another vicious cycle. I also believe the real number is prob higher than a third btw. Most drugs just haven't been tested for mitotoxicity. But is what it is. This is a great website for checking the mitochondrial effects of drugs btw: mitotox.org

Butyrate is the primary fuel source for colonocytes (not glucose). If you lose your butyrate producers (faecalibacterium, roseburia) → colonocytes lose their preferred fuel → ↓ mito function → ↓ decreased oxygen utilization → ↑ luminal oxygen → obligate anaerobes die off & facultative anaerobes like e. coli expand = dysbiosis BUT those were the bacteria making the butyrate in the first place so its actually a vicious cycle once this self-regulating system loses its tensegrity. So in order to fix the microbiome you gotta fix colonocyte energy production and O2 utilization.

The difference between people with SIBO that relapse and those who never relapse is quite simple actually. The former had a label treated and the latter had their physiological dysfunctions identified & fixed. One treated their illness, the other aimed at optimizing their health.