Dysregulated calcium can clog your arteries and calcify your soft tissues. What you eat determines how your body regulates calcium and whether you have strong bones or calcified tissues.

Most people are doing all the wrong things. 🧵 > Calcinosis is abnormal calcium deposition in soft tissue.
> Calciphylaxis is the calcification of blood vessels.
> Hans Selye showed that calcinosis could be triggered by parathyroid hormone.
> Adding a “calciphylactic challenger” like serotonin to the mix caused calciphylaxis.

Testing for hypothyroidism is an art and a science. Blood tests reveal part of the story, but they don't show whether thyroid hormone reaches and activates cells. And that's what really matters.

Let's take a look at some thyroid tests and what they can tell us.🧵 TSH is the most common thyroid lab test, but it does not test thyroid hormones directly. TSH is a pituitary hormone usually secreted in response to low thyroid hormones.

Higher TSH means the body is asking for more thyroid. The normal range is usually around 0.4 to 4.0.

But this is arbitrary, and the upper cutoff is too high. It started with a higher cutoff of 10.0 and has been creeping downward over the decades as the medical establishment slowly and incrementally fixes its mistake.

A more reasonable upper cutoff is around 2.0.

TSH below 0.4 can indicate hyperthyroidism when the thyroid hormones are too high. However, even the low cutoff is not reliable when people are taking thyroid hormones. Then, the TSH will often need to be completely suppressed to relieve symptoms, something many doctors are not aware of. In that case, blood tests of thyroid hormones are more reliable.

The linked post explains how the TSH range was set incorrectly and the problems with having an upper range for normal at 4.0.

TSH is an unreliable marker of thyroid hormone levels in many contexts, even when the errors in setting the range are accounted for. It should never be taken as a gold standard for thyroid function.

Oranges lower depression risk by modulating gut bacteria, decreasing endotoxin.

“We found that eating one medium orange a day may lower the risk of developing depression by about 20 percent. And the effect seems to be specific to citrus.” PMID: 39543781

https://twitter.com/1744031563187150848/status/1881765597190771171

https://x.com/lowmegatron/status/1881384588691259619

How to protect yourself from seed oils and other polyunsaturated fats. 🧵

1] Minimize Lipid Peroxidation:
> Benfotiamine
> Vitamins E and C
> Progesterone
> Boswellia
> Coconut oil
> Vitamin D3
> Vitamin A (retinol)
> Aspirin
> Ginger
> Coffee
> Zinc
> Taurine
> DHEA (no more than 15 mg/day)
> L-theanine
> Optimize thyroid (TSH elevates COX)

2] Minimize Free Fatty Acids:
> Eat regularly
> Eat carbohydrates regularly
> High-carb meals/diet
> Eat a little coconut oil
> Get adequate sleep
> Minimize psychological stress
> Ginger
> Glycine
> Pyrucet (Idealabs)
> Niacinamide
> Magnesium
> Aspirin
> Vitamin E

3] Support Glucuronidation and Sulfation:
> Limit PUFA intake
> Consume carbohydrate
> Consume fruits - they contain glucarate
> Calcium d-glucarate does the same thing but is more concentrated
> Vitamin C supports glucuronidation
> Coffee
> Caffeine
> Rosemary
> Dietary sulfur
> Niacinamide (increasing NAD+ helps sulfation)
> Vitamin A (retinol)

4] Eat mostly saturated fats:
> Coconut oil
> Cocoa butter
> Butter/ghee
> Cream and cheese
> Beef fat/tallow

Most importantly!

5] Avoid highly polyunsaturated fats:
> Soybean oil
> Rapeseed/canola oil
> Sunflower seed oil
> Peanut oil
> Cottonseed oil
> Corn oil
> Safflower oil
> Grapeseed oil
> Flaxseed soil
> Hemp oil
> Chia seed oil
> Evening primrose oil
> Fish oil

Read the more detailed explanation below.
[PUFA=Polyunsaturated fatty acid.] Problem 1: PUFA consumption.

The first problem is diet. Reducing consumption is the most important thing in the long term.

Although some PUFAs can stay in fat tissue for years, symptomatic improvement can be seen in weeks.

Saturated fats, in addition to replacing PUFAs, also have some protective effects, including lowering the lipid peroxidation of PUFAs; more on that later.

Prolactin is a cause of persistent headaches, migraine, and cluster headaches.

🧵👇
"Objective: To systemically review preclinical studies investigating the implication of prolactin signaling in headache and migraine pathophysiology."

> EXCESS serotonin causes a wide array of health problems.
> Reducing serotonin is beneficial for most people.
> HIGH serotonin causes
↑ Anxiety/Depression
↑ Fat gain
↑ IBS/IBD
↓ Body temp
↓ Blood sugar regulation
[Thread🧵] Peripheral serotonin (5-HT) promotes energy absorption and storage, meaning weight and fat gain.

"Serotonin also enters the bloodstream and interacts with multiple organs, priming the body for energy storage. Disturbed serotonin signaling is associated with obesity."

Here are some lesser-known histamine hacks. 🧵
𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘉𝘚, 𝘐𝘉𝘋, 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦, 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘮𝘢, 𝘶𝘭𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘢, 𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘴, 𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘴, 𝘧𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. The tocotrienol form of vitamin E (T3) reduces dermatitis by stabilizing mast cells and decreasing histamine release.

Tocotrienol and other forms of vitamin E reduce lipid peroxidation - the oxidative conversion of polyunsaturated fatty acids into more inflammatory byproducts. Lipid peroxidation byproducts like 4-HNE cause mast cell degranulation, releasing histamine and serotonin.

Learn more about free fatty acids and lipid peroxidation in this thread:

Reducing excess histamine can improve migraines, heart health, breathing, and skin conditions.

One way to solve histamine issues is to maximize histamine detox.

Here is what you need to know: 🧵 The most significant histamine reducers are the enzymes DAO and HNMT.

DAO is the most important of the two, as histamine issues often center around gut production, where DAO destroys histamine.

Choosing the right types of fat is key to getting lean and staying lean. 🧵 Feed efficiency measures how effectively an animal converts feed body mass. Seed oils increase feed efficiency by 20% in rats, compared to coconut oil.

Seed oil-fed rats ate less but gained more weight. Coconut oil is mostly saturated fat, while seed oils are polyunsaturated.

> Low carb diet + exercise
> Free testostesone to cortisol ratio drops 40%
> 30% vs 60% carb diets
> Low carb+stress ↑↑↑ lipolysis
> Lipolysis frees fats from fat stores
> Lipolysis is initiated by cortisol
> Cortisol lowers testosterone
PMID: 35254136

Low-carb diets alter cortisol metabolism

https://twitter.com/1744031563187150848/status/1884330773299294307

Releasing/burning more fat can
> Cause insulin resistance
> Ruin metabolism
> Ruin thyroid function
> Slow fat loss

Elevated free fatty acids, caused by “fat loss” diets, are also seen in cancer, T2D, obesity, and fatty liver.

Is this a good idea for long-term health?🧵 > Triglycerides are key
> Nearly all fat is stored in trigs
> Trigs = 3 fatty acids + glycerol
> Lipolysis breaks them apart
> Releases fatty acids + glycerol
> The main enzymes involved are ATGL, HSL, MGL

> Hypothyroidism lowers metabolism
> Causes weight gain and chronic disease
> Thyroid supplements often don't work
> You need adequate T3 activating receptors
> The thyroid is a whole body system
> Understanding the entire system is crucial
> Here is how it works 🧵 > The hypothalamus releases TRH
> TRH stimulates the pituitary gland to release TSH
Regulators:
> Thyroid hormones decrease - normal feedback
> Cortisol decreases - can cause hypothyroidism

Dysregulated calcium can clog your arteries and calcify your soft tissues. What you eat determines how your body regulates calcium and whether you have strong bones or calcified tissues.

Most people are doing all the wrong things. 🧵 > Calcinosis is abnormal calcium deposition in soft tissue.
> Calciphylaxis is the calcification of blood vessels.
> Hans Selye showed that calcinosis could be triggered by parathyroid hormone.
> Adding a “calciphylactic challenger” like serotonin to the mix caused calciphylaxis.

“One of the special problems of fasting, if you've been eating polyunsaturated fats in the past, is that it gives you a pure diet of polyunsaturated fat with a terrific amount of oxidation byproducts that go into a starvation state. Yeah. Okay. That's the whole point of it. You're going to metabolize the fats that you have rather than the sugars during fasting. And all those free fatty acids that are liberated are going to be very damaging. Yeah. They specifically spoil the ability of the enzymes to produce energy from anything, especially from sugar. And the failure to produce energy is almost exactly the definition of stress. Anything that makes you lack energy is stress. It turns on the whole system of responses to stress. Okay.

[Doesn't the body go into stress after eight hours of not eating?]

If you've got a tremendously efficient liver, some people can go much longer than that. But as your liver gets less efficient, many people can only go an hour or even less without suffering the symptoms of starvation. Some people wake up every one or two hours during the night with nightmares or a pounding heart, which happens when the liver runs out of its sugar supply.” Ray Peat

The first part of that quote is about the problem of free fatty acids: “One day of fasting, the body stores several ounces of glucose in the form of glycogen. And you can go, if you're healthy, you can go up to 24 hours on your stored glycogen. And as the body senses stress, lowering the T3 slows the rate of fuel use. So when your glycogen has gone away, that means you have to start using your tissue to make glucose out of your muscles. And if your thyroid didn't slow down, when you have this prolonged stress or fasting situation, if your thyroid didn't drastically shut down your oxygen requirement, you would eat your whole body up in just a few days. But since the depressive process turns off the metabolism and makes you want to hibernate, that slows the rate of degeneration of all of your organs. If you at least give a little bit of glucose and minerals, just some sodium chloride and/or calcium, magnesium, and potassium during the fasting or low-calorie period, you can greatly reduce your tissue loss on a low-calorie diet. For example, a person on just a water fast for 10 days, they found that 80% or more of their weight loss came from destruction of their muscle and skin mass. But if they had a 500-600 calorie diet with adequate minerals, almost all of the weight loss was in the form of fat loss rather than muscle. So a complete fast is very destructive to the body.” Ray Peat

🦠 Endotoxin causes:
Low Testosterone and Erectile Dysfunction
Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
Depression and Anxiety
Lack of Empathy
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
Cardiovascular Disease
Here is how the fat-soluble vitamins can help. 🧵 Vitamin D deficiency causes “leaky gut”.

The symptoms of leaky gut syndrome are caused by endotoxin-induced inflammation and energy down-regulation.

High prolactin can lower testosterone and trigger a cascade of other health issues, including infertility, loss of libido, depression, and migraines. 🧵

Let’s look at what elevated prolactin does to your body and some things that can help... Most prolactin comes from the pituitary gland, but the brain and some sexual organs also produce it. Dopamine and some other minor "prolactin inhibiting factors" suppress production and release. The heavy-hitting anti-prolactin drugs, like cabergoline, are dopaminergic.

https://twitter.com/1744031563187150848/status/1857372296404504734

"A serotonin deficiency for depression has not been found."

Joseph Glenmullen, clinical instructor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. "I spent the first several years of my career doing full-time research on brain serotonin metabolism, but I never saw any convincing evidence that any psychiatric disorder, including depression, results from a deficiency of brain serotonin."

David Burns (Lacasse & Gomory, 2003), winner of the A. E. Bennett Award given by the Society for Biological Psychiatry for his research on serotonin metabolism.

Serotonin has been marketed as the happy hormone, but this is far from the full story. Excess serotonin causes a wide array of health problems. Reducing serotonin is beneficial for most people.

Let’s look at a small sample of health problems caused by high serotonin. [Thread🧵] Peripheral serotonin (outside the brain) promotes energy absorption and storage, meaning weight and fat gain.

“𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦."

“𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺.”

CO2 and Cancer - Ray Peat

Baking soda, interestingly, very often does provide what the tumor lacks to be able to heal, but carbon dioxide is what the baking soda is providing, sodium plus carbon dioxide. And in the 18th century, people were already experimenting.... ...The discovery of carbonated water, partly it was closely related to the observation that carbon dioxide helps with cancer, and people were already seeing great improvement, for example, in breast cancer just by exposing it to carbon dioxide.

Reducing excess histamine can improve migraines, heart health, breathing, and skin conditions.

One way to solve histamine issues is to maximize histamine detox.

Here is what you need to know: 🧵 The most significant histamine reducers are the enzymes DAO and HNMT.

DAO is the most important of the two, as histamine issues often center around gut production, where DAO destroys histamine.

Here are some lesser-known histamine hacks. 🧵
𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘉𝘚, 𝘐𝘉𝘋, 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦, 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘮𝘢, 𝘶𝘭𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘢, 𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘴, 𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘴, 𝘧𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. The tocotrienol form of vitamin E (T3) reduces dermatitis by stabilizing mast cells and decreasing histamine release.

Tocotrienol and other forms of vitamin E reduce lipid peroxidation - the oxidative conversion of polyunsaturated fatty acids into more inflammatory byproducts. Lipid peroxidation byproducts like 4-HNE cause mast cell degranulation, releasing histamine and serotonin.

Learn more about free fatty acids and lipid peroxidation in this thread: