Cope with stress, both physical and emotional Improve negative mood and ease anxiety Improve memory, learning, and other cognitive functions Cope with attention and behavioral problems (ADD and ADHD), in both children and adults

By Parris M. Kidd, PhD

From the Introduction, by Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.:

One of the biggest problems I see here in America is the rapid increase in the number of people expected to develop Alzheimer's disease in the next 10-15 years. Because of the aging of the population, the number of people who will have this catastrophic mind-robbing and financially-draining illness is predicted to skyrocket from the current 4.5 million to over 16 million by 2015-2020.

There is hope, however. Emerging science, including work done by Dr. Kidd, the Alzheimer's Prevention Foundation, of which I'm president and medical director, and others at the highest level of academic medicine, has shown that it may be possible to prevent Alzheimer's disease or at least to delay its development.

What we now know is that Alzheimer's disease is a problem that doesn't occur overnight. It takes as long as 30 years to manifest. If we can delay the occurrence of symptoms for only five years, current thinking tells us that then we can reduce the incidence of Alzheimer's by 50 percent. And if we delay it by 10 years, which I believe is entirely possible, we can virtually eliminate it.

In my clinical experience, Phosphatidylserine is very effective at reversing signs of memory loss, such as the inability to recall names, numbers, faces and other manifestations of what I call Swiss cheese memory. Swiss cheese memory is when your thoughts seem to vanish; they fall down a hole in your mind. When you take Phosphatidylserine, it's like having a safety net in your head; words, names, and thoughts seem to bounce right back into your brain and onto your tongue. It's actually quite remarkable.

One patient of mine, an attorney from Washington D.C., noticed an improvement in his brain power almost immediately. For others, it may take three months to work. But regardless, if it takes one day or three months, it's worth the wait.

Phosphatidylserine is also effective in helping reverse symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in children without the use of amphetamine-like stimulant drugs such as Ritalin. Beyond that, Phosphatidylserine helps you recover faster when you exercise on a regular basis because it blocks the weakening effects the stress hormone cortisol has on your muscles...

Here is my prescription for you: Relax in your favorite easy chair and enjoy this user friendly monograph about the hows and whys of a very important memory specific nutrient called Phosphatidylserine, or PS. I know you won't be disappointed.

Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.
President/Medical Director
Alzheimer's Prevention Foundation

Plant foods supply very little Phosphatidylserine, and animal foods have only modest amounts, so that the total dietary intake of Phosphatidylserine is in the range of 75-100 milligrams (mg) per day. This may explain why people can experience benefit from supplemental intakes of 100-300 mg per day. This amounts to a doubling of the daily intake of Phosphatidylserine, at a minimum.

Phosphatidylserine is more concentrated in the brain than in any other tissue of the body. The findings from controlled clinical trials suggest that when the dietary intake of Phosphatidylserine is doubled or better still, quadrupled, through taking it as a dietary supplement, a majority of individuals derive measurable brain benefits. The modest supply of Phosphatidylserine coming from the modern diet simply may not be adequate to support optimal brain function.

There are now thousands of research studies available on Phosphatidylserine.

Along with its measurable improvements to cognition, mood, anxiety, and coping with stress, Phosphatidylserine improves many technical measures of brain activity. Take EEG, (ElectroEncephaloGraphy) for instance. From EEG studies it was found that Phosphatidylserine can partially correct abnormal brain electrical activity, as sometimes seen in Parkinson's disease patients5 and in epileptics. These "normalizing" changes under the influence of Phosphatidylserine would sometimes improve the patient's quality of life.

Then there were more modern results from brain imaging. Sophisticated imaging PET (Positron Emission Tomography) has established that Phosphatidylserine can boost energy production throughout the brain. The brain is so dependent on energy production that any means of improving its capacity to make energy offers promise for far-reaching improvements in function.

Phosphatidylserine has been subjected to at least 21 double-blind clinical trials [not to mention the thousands of research studies]. The consensus from these trials is that Phosphatidylserine benefits practically all of the brain's higher functions. The clinical data accumulated from over twenty years' research substantiates that Phosphatidylserine has the following clinical benefits:

• Phosphatidylserine improves memory, learning and other cognitive functions in people who are substantially impaired compared to others in their age group.
• Phosphatidylserine can improve activities of daily living (ADL), and other qualities of life, for people who suffer more severe memory loss.
• Phosphatidylserine can improve negative mood (depression) and ease anxiety in young people as well as the elderly.
• Phosphatidylserine can help individuals cope with stress, both physical and emotional.
• Phosphatidylserine has the potential to help children with attention and behavior problems.

Its near-ideal benefit-risk profile sets Phosphatidylserine apart from the drugs approved for treating memory decline and from the many herbal extracts often touted as brain panaceas. Without doubt, its decades-old track record of exceptional safety is attributable to Phosphatidylserine being an orthomolecule [an “orthomolecule” is a molecule that is naturally part of your body’s biochemistry] … orthomolecules have proven safer and more effective than herbal extracts and other non-orthomolecules [such as drugs].

In Fact, Phosphatidylserine is an orthomolecule for all life forms, all the way back to the most primitive single cells that already existed more than three billion years ago. This position of Phosphatidylserine is so different from the pharmaceuticals, almost all of which are chemicals foreign to the body and toxic to our tissues in varying degrees.

Biochemically, Phosphatidylserine is a phospholipid (fos-fo-lip-id). These lipid substances are distantly related to fatty lipids (triglycerides), which we know as fats. But in their function and their chemical structure, the phospholipids are very different lipids from fats.

The fat triglycerides are merely storage forms of lipid, the very material that we observe accumulating in our fat pads. The phospholipids are anything but storage fats: they are the main molecular building blocks for cell membranes,

The phospholipids are used also to package up fats and transport them to the tissues. Phospholipids help the body to mobilize and utilize fats. The liver also uses phospholipids to make the bile fluid that aids in the digestion of our foods.

Cells are the most fundamental units of life. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. All cells have elaborate membrane systems, and from life’s beginning Phosphatidylserine and the other phospholipids were building blocks for the cell’s membrane systems.

All cells have Phosphatidylserine in their membranes. Some have more Phosphatidylserine than others, depending on their specialized functions. Nerve cells carry the most Phosphatidylserine. They need ample Phosphatidylserine in their membranes in order to generate electrical impulses and pass these impulses on to other cells. This is the essence of brain activity. Perhaps more than any other known biological molecule, Phosphatidylserine in our nerve cells endows us with sophisticated brain power.

Phosphatidylserine is also used in the body to facilitate other essential functions. Phosphatidylserine, for example, is an essential player in the ongoing disposal of dead and dying cells. … Phosphatidylserine also serves throughout the body as an essential component of the normal clotting processes that help stem blood loss following injury. It is also known to be involved in the "secretion" (release) of tiny membrane-bounded spherules ("vesicles") that bone cells secrete to make new bone.

The availability of Phosphatidylserine, though, as a safe, effective, and affordable brain nutrient comes just in time for a lot of people. Western society is in the grip of an epidemic of severe memory loss. At least two of every five people who reach 55 years of age have memory loss serious enough to be holding them back in their daily lives.

Dr. Tom Crook is one of the world's foremost memory researchers. By the time he got to Phosphatidylserine, he had tested a great number of potential treatments for Age Associated Memory Impairment (AAMI). After he and his international team of colleagues did two double-blind trials on Phosphatidylserine, they concluded that "Phosphatidylserine is by far the best of all the drugs and nutritional supplements we have ever tested for retarding AAMI."

…Dr. Crook and his team succeeded in moving beyond the traditional pencil and paper mental testing, with its burden of poor precision and notorious cultural bias. They developed interactive video testing that more directly measured how people applied their brain power to their daily lives. After years of hard work, the outcome was a series of tests as follows:

• First-Last Names
• Name-Face Recall
• Face Recognition
• Grocery List Selective Reminding
• Telephone Dialing
• Misplaced Objects
• Divided Attention

Typical results of both clinical trials …

After the first three weeks of treatment, the Phosphatidylserine group was scoring significantly better than the placebo group. Benefits of Phosphatidylserine included better performance on memory tests such as name recall, telephone number recall, facial recognition, and object placement (keys and glasses). At the trial’s end, after 12 weeks of treatment, the differences in favor of Phosphatidylserine remained highly statistically significant (the probability of error was less than 1%). Phosphatidylserine was calculated to improve memory performance as much as 30 percent over placebo.

Severe memory impairment in the form of dementia is now epidemic in the industrialized countries. For the United States, as one example, reliable statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association of the United States indicate that more than 7.5 million citizens have some form of dementia.21 The Association has estimated that for Americans aged 65 and over the risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia is about 1 in 10. For those past the age of 85, the risk is as high as 1 in 2. Not good odds for any of us.

[From a financial and social perspective] the Association estimates that Alzheimer's care costs American families close to $19,000 a year and that the total cost to the nation in health care and lost productivity could be more than $100 billion. Also, more than 70 percent of Alzheimer's patients are cared for at home, and the victim's tragic situation often comes to include the persons who have to care for them.

The progression of dementia mercilessly destroys its victim’s humanity. Along with the relentless deterioration of cognitive capacities can come radical change in the personality, as other zones of the brain deteriorate. That previously mild-mannered, friendly, thoughtful relative can become aggressive, irascible, vulgar, the very opposite of what s/he was like as a younger person.

…Currently there are three drugs approved to treat dementia. All are only minimally beneficial and many experts have noticed that their benefits tend to disappear after a year or two. Also, these drugs carry significant risk of bad side effects. Pharmaceuticals are no antidote for dementia.

As with other diseases, dementia is associated with risk factors of various sorts.23 Any of us can reduce or eliminate at least some of our risk factors, once we know what they are.

Here are just a few…

• Environmental Pollutants: Brain tissue is vulnerable to toxins of any kind, because it has a high metabolic rate and also because of its very high content of polyunsaturated fats. Toxins are brain stressors. The massive degree to which mercury and other heavy metals, solvents, and pesticides and herbicides now contaminate the planetary environment makes it virtually certain they are contributing to today’s escalating incidence of dementia.
• Many Pharmaceuticals are Brain Toxins, legally sanctioned and even promoted for consumption by the general population. The toxicity of some can mimic dementia over the short term. As much as 10 percent of all apparent dementia cases may be induced by sleep aids, sedatives, antidepressants, or drugs from other categories. Fortunately these are reversible to some degree, if the responsible physician is sufficiently alert to make the connection. One exceptionally useful reference book for this purpose is Worst Pills, Best Pills, collectively authored by the Public Citizen Health Research Group of Washington, D.C.
• Emotional Stress Kills Brain Cells. A long-term clinical study done at McGill University in Canada tracked two groups of people for five years. These were good stress copers and bad stress copers. After five years, the bad stress copers had statistically greater damage to the brain’s main memory-creating zone, the hippocampus. Other human studies and many animal studies altogether prove that mental stress can kill brain cells in the hippocampus…

Clinical depression, most often termed major depressive disorder, is more than four times as prevalent as dementia. Latest estimates place the number of clinically depressed people in the USA at minimally 40 million. This number does not include patients with the related bipolar disorder or manic depression, who probably number another 5-10 million.

Typically, depression is associated with changes in appetite and sleep patterns, fatigue, difficulty with concentration, poor self¬-image, and feelings of hopelessness, to the extent that productivity and social functioning are impaired. And all too often, depression is accompanied by cognitive impairment of a degree that can mimic dementia.

Phosphatidylserine has been put through a number of double blind and other controlled human studies to combat depression and anxiety. Taken together, the findings from these studies prove it can benefit mood and help lift depression.

As early as 1981, Sengupta and fellow researchers reported that patients with clinical depression had abnormally low amounts of Phosphatidylserine in cells of their blood (platelets and red cells). This study suggested that clinical depression could be linked to Phosphatidylserine deficiency.

In 1990, Rabboni and colleagues published a trial on Phosphatidylserine for depression in elderly patients.36 This was an open trial, in which both the researchers and the patients knew that all the patients were receiving Phosphatidylserine. There were three groups, each of 10 patients, (1) those with Alzheimer's dementia, (2) those with non-Alzheimer's dementia, and (3) those not demented, but clinically depressed. All three groups received Phosphatidylserine at 400 mg per day for 60 days.

By 30 days into the trial, Phosphatidylserine had significantly improved all three groups, and the statistical p-score for the group with depression was the best (p<0.01, meaning less than one chance in 100 that the finding was due to chance). The improvements from Phosphatidylserine were still in place at day 60, and continued to day 90 for all three groups, notably a full 30 days after the Phosphatidylserine dosing was discontinued. Even for an open trial, which is less reliable than a double blind trial, these benefits from Phosphatidylserine are impressive.

Then a double blind trial found that Phosphatidylserine could relieve depression and anxiety, along with improving memory and other cognitive functions. Maggioni and colleagues39 recruited for this trial 10 women ages 70 to 81 (average 73.3 years). All were hospitalized with major depression. Having this diagnosis means they reported being in a depressed mood on the majority of days over a period of two years or more. Along with their depression these elderly women also had abnormal anxiety and their cognitive functions were so bad they mimicked dementia. They were first given a placebo for 15 days to "wash out" previous treatments, then put on 300 mg Phosphatidylserine per day for 45 days.

When evaluated on the 45th day, the patients showed dramatic improvement in their depression, as scored by the well-validated Hamilton Rating Scale. The statistical significance of the finding was very high (p<0.001, meaning less than one chance in 1,000 that the finding was due to chance). Several other well-accepted rating scales were used to assess their mental state. Their anxiety also scored dramatically improved, again at p<0.001. Phosphatidylserine also significantly benefited their memory, attention and concentration. Their irritability improved, along with a wide range of other emotional functions. Their "sociability" also markedly improved.

Advances in the science of depression and other mood disorders suggest that one major underlying abnormality is in signal transduction. This is an array of processes occurring at the level of the cell membrane, whereby signals reaching the cell from the outside are converted by the membrane into signals that reach the cell interior.4' Phosphatidylserine is a key phospholipid for membrane function and is known to be centrally involved in signal transduction in brain cells.

There is also highly suggestive evidence [discussed in a later section] from clinical trials that long chain omega-3 fatty acids (DHA at least, probably EPA as well) are centrally involved in mood control at the level of cell membrane signal transduction.

• Emotional stress, when sustained for long periods, will kill brain cells and increase the risk for dementia. The mechanisms are well-known.
• [In a clinical trial] Taking Phosphatidylserine made it easier for young volunteers to handle the stress of doing mental arithmetic without a calculator.
• Phosphatidylserine can partially rejuvenate the stress-coping mechanisms in older people.

Mental (“emotional”) stress could be the most underrated cause of suffering, lost productivity, and premature death in modern society. Also, solid research has shown it is an awesome destroyer of memory. Stress sustained over a long period causes chronic, abnormal elevation of circulating stress hormones that can kill off brain cells. From this negative effect of emotional stress can come increased risk for dementia.

The classic Stress Response develops as the brain’s hypothalamus region perceives the threat, then stimulates the pituitary master gland to secrete ACTH (AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone), which in turn pushes the adrenals to secrete cortisol into the blood. These glands, acting in coordination, are called the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis, or HPAA for short.

The HPAA helps the body successfully handle a stressful incident or situation, but it was designed to be sustained only for a short time, on the order of minutes or hours or possibly days, not for weeks and months or years. Faced with sustained emotional stress, the human body will successfully adapt at first, but as time goes by, this adaptation can run out of energy. As a consequence, long-term stress of any kind is bad for our bodies, but high cortisol over a long period can have an especially bad impact on our brain cells.

…The human brain is a gas-guzzling organ. With only 3 percent of the body’s mass, the brain at rest consumes more than 20 percent of the body’s energy. With intense mental activity the brain can be using as much as 60 percent of the body’s energy. The nerve cells are the body’s largest cells … motor nerve cells can reach four feet long, for example. They are also our busiest cells … their constant electrical activity demands a lot of energy. This is what makes them so vulnerable to poor circulation or lack of oxygen. High cortisol in the brain from stress has this very effect.

…A number of controlled trials and other human studies have been done with Phosphatidylserine for stress. Their findings suggest that taking Phosphatidylserine can make a real difference in our capacity to manage a stressful challenge while keeping our stress hormones from getting out of control.

Dr. David Benton of the University of Wales is a famous researcher on nutrition and mental performance, and has published many ground-breaking studies on children and other youth. In 2001, together with colleagues, he published a double-blind trial that indicated Phosphatidylserine improved mental performance in some of his male students whom he experimentally subjected to stress.

Forty-eight male university students, average age 20.8 years, were randomly divided into a Phosphatidylserine test group (300 mg/day) and a placebo group. Each student’s “baseline” mood … how he felt over the previous week … was assessed by questionnaire, and a mood score developed from it. They also were scored for “neuroticism” and “extroversion.” Blood pressure, pulse, and heart rate were recorded, then each subject was sent home with a 30-day supply of Phosphatidylserine or placebo at three capsules per day.

After 30 days of supplementation the subjects returned to the laboratory. They reported their mood over the last week of supplementation. They then faced a standard acute stress test: a challenging mental arithmetic calculation to be done within four seconds, and without a calculator. Their heart rates increased during the test and this combined with the student’s self-reports to confirm that they did find the test stressful. After the test was completed, their blood pressure was recorded and their mood assessed again.

The results showed that those students with a more “neurotic” personality experienced significantly less stress from the test if they were on Phosphatidylserine. Those who had been receiving only placebo reported a highly significant level of stress from the test and experience a highly significant worsening of mood.

Individuals who score high on tests for neuroticism are known to respond more poorly to stress, and typically report more distress in daily life. In this trial, the “neurotics” who took Phosphatidylserine were not significantly stressed by the test. Their mood remained stable; they scored significantly better on feeling clear-headed, composed, and confident. Through taking Phosphatidylserine they were better able to deal with the time-limited challenge of doing mental arithmetic the old-fashioned way.

In addition to revitalizing the aging hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, Phosphatidylserine helps “tune up” the body’s 24-hour daily “circadian” rhythms. As we age, these rhythms tend to become less synchronous, resulting in sleep problems and sometimes also hormonal imbalances. This loss of rhythm seems linked to pituitary gland decline, and probably also to decline of the brain’s hypothalamus that supervises the pituitary.

Normally the “master” pituitary gland secretes a variety of hormones that coordinate these cycles by stimulating other glands to release other hormones. One important pituitary product is TSH, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to release thyroxin, which boosts metabolism. Masturzo and collaborators did a randomized, placebo-controlled trial on institutionalized elderly men with abnormally low TSH hormone secretion.

Going into the trial, these 20 elderly male patients (ages 65 to 85, average age 73.7) were secreting TSH but at lower than youthful levels, and they did not have the youthful circadian rhythm. The older they were, the more random was their pattern of TSH release. Ten (10) of these older men received Phosphatidylserine (at 400 mg per day) for 30 days and 10 received a placebo. Another six men, ages 21-31 (average age 22.3), served as youthful controls and received no treatment. After 30 days, the elderly men who received Phosphatidylserine showed a circadian rhythm of TSH secretion. Their circadian rhythm was comparable with the young male adult controls (mean age 22.3 years). Those elderly men who received only placebo showed no improvement of their random secretion.

Masturzo and her colleagues suggested that Phosphatidylserine was working at the level of cell membranes to cause this rather remarkable benefit. As we recognize the benefits of Phosphatidylserine for mental stress, we can recall that being an orthomolecule, Phosphatidylserine naturally has a pro-homeostatic, anti-stress influence. Consider that Phosphatidylserine works from the cell membrane level throughout the entire cell. Because it is naturally present in all our cells, its beneficial actions on single cells are amplified to benefit the body as a whole.

So Phosphatidylserine can be working simultaneously in the hypothalamus, the pituitary, the adrenals, and elsewhere in the organs to keep our life processes within normal limits. Dietary supplementation with Phosphatidylserine can help correct functions that are too low and lower them when they are too high. By these means Phosphatidylserine can boost a weakened stress response in the elderly person and calm the tendency to exaggerated stress response in the young person.

• Being a very safe orthomolecule, Phosphatidylserine is a valid brain nutrient for children
• Preliminary observations by physicians indicate that Phosphatidylserine may help children with attention, behavior and learning problems.

Phosphatidylserine appears to be very helpful for children with behavioral and attention problems, according to observations from preliminary clinical studies in which I had the privilege to participate … Since Phosphatidylserine occurs naturally in the body and is so safe to take, there was no problem to do such studies with kids. The results to date have been pleasantly surprising.

The research with Phosphatidylserine on children actually was started by a grandmother who heard that it was useful for brain functions and very safe as a dietary supplement. She decided to give a little of it to her troublesome grandchild. At a health-food show she search me out and told me of her observations. She felt strongly that Phosphatidylserine had helped her grandchild and urged me to explore this possibility for other children. Assertive grandmothers may be the best allies of problem kids … they don’t stop until they achieve their goals.

In early 1997 I conferred with Richard Kunin, M.D., a pioneering nutritional psychiatrist now internationally renowned fro his leadership in integrative medicine. After more than four decades of practice, Dr. Kunin is highly skilled at using dietary supplements to improve behavior and mental performance. He has made breakthroughs with both children and adults. Still, even for Dr. Kunin true cure of ADD kids had proved elusive. He graciously agreed to donate his time to try Phosphatidylserine on kids with attention and related behavioral problems. We ran a small ad in the local newspaper, inviting parents to allow their children to participate in a pilot clinical study.

A few weeks later, we had five children and their parents in the doctor’s waiting room. On this Saturday morning I was scared. These were the most unmanageable kids I had ever met! They had all come in at the same time, and they were all together in a pretty small space, looking to smash anything they could get their hands on. I found myself praying that no one would get hurt.

…Each family received a supply of Phosphatidylserine capsules sufficient for 200 mg Phosphatidylserine daily (100 mg twice per day) for six weeks, and sent home. The study design required that no new vitamins or medications be prescribed except Phosphatidylserine, and that no dietary changes be recommended. …When the children and their parents returned for evaluation, Dr. Kunin and I noticed the differences right away. Kids who before could not sit still were now playing happily in the office.

In early 1998 I was at a nutritional conference when this friendly person walked up to me and with a really pleasant demeanor, gently asked to talk with me about Phosphatidylserine and kids. She was Carol Ann Ryser, M.D., a physician with a large practice in Kansas City that brings in a lot of kids with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, often called ADD). She wanted to investigate Phosphatidylserine on some of her young patients. Soon we had developed a trial design and eventually recruited 27 children into this study, with the informed consent of their parents.

Dr. Ryser would prescribe Phosphatidylserine at 200 or 300 mg per day, depending on the child’s body size, then follow the child for at least four months. In the beginning she prescribed 100 or 200 mg per day, but soon she observed that by upping the daily intake, she could break through with the kids. Twenty-seven (27) children aged 3-19 years completed the study.

Dr. Ryser found that Phosphatidylserine produced marked, clinically meaningful benefit for 25 of the 27 children. …Phosphatidylserine improved attention, concentration, learning, and behavior, and benefited academic performance. Phosphatidylserine also consistently benefited the depression and anxiety commonly seen in these children. Some of the children did require a full four months to achieve a stable level of benefit from Phosphatidylserine.

In children who were prescribed pharmaceuticals such as Ritalin, Adderall, or Wellbutrin, Phosphatidylserine seemed to have additional clinical benefit. Phosphatidylserine also extended the benefit experience from nutritional supplementation with fish oil or primrose oil. No adverse effects or drug interactions were noted, consistent with Phosphatidylserine’s 20-year record of clinical use.

This apparent high degree of clinical benefit to children is consistent with the adult benefits from Phosphatidylserine for memory conservation, brain revitalization, and stress management. These interesting findings suggest a need for further, more controlled research to establish just how much Phosphatidylserine really can do to help kids. Society really needs alternative for Ritalin and all the other drugs that sometimes hurt our kids.

As I worked with Dr. Ryser on my second study of Phosphatidylserine for children, I was learning more about Ritalin. Millions of children in the U.S. and other countries are being fed this potent methamphetamine-like drug. Though officially classified a narcotic, it is being prescribed for 70 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). It acts on the brain with slower onset but almost identically to cocaine and amphetamines.

In my in-depth published review of ADHD, I listed some of the severe adverse side effects of Ritalin.52 These include nervousness, agitation, anxiety, panic; paranoid delusions, psychosis, hallucinations; withdrawal, disorganization; aggressiveness, tendency to assault others. Also, findings that Ritalin caused cancer in mice generated considerable controversy. In a letter to the U.S. Government, the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said, “It is critical that a potentially carcinogenic drug (Ritalin) that is used by a large number of Children over many months or even years be well tested and found to be appropriately safe …” Prominent cancer researchers and dietary experts have joined with CSPI to demand exploration of alternative to Ritalin.

ADHD has multiple contributory factors … risk factors, as with dementia. There is a genetic component to ADHD, but this on its own is not sufficient to trigger the symptoms. Adverse responses to foods and food additives are often involved as well as sensitivities to environmental chemicals, molds, and fungi. Exposures to toxins that damage the nervous system, such as the heavy metals mercury and lead and/or pollutant chemicals, are also suspected in ADHD. Even over-consumption of refined carbohydrates (sucrose and other simple sugars) can trigger ADHD-type symptoms in children.

Physicians with wholistic/integrative practices say that pretty much all the ADHD cases they see benefit to some degree when these factors are treated. Dr. Kunin, Dr. Ryser, Drs. Harding, Judah and Gant and many other integrative physicians are getting good to excellent results with ADHD children without having to use Ritalin.

One stirring and understandable, yet technically comprehensive source for help, is the book Our Toxic World … A Wake Up Call. This is the most recent of many informational works by Dr. Doris Rapp, the foremost physician expert on children’s environmental sensitivities.

Many nutrients can help with ADHD and the pilot clinical studies done to date seem to strongly suggest that Phosphatidylserine is one of them. Another nutrient class likely to be helpful for ADHD is the omega-3 fatty acids. These are nutritionally synergistic with Phosphatidylserine in the brain, as will be discussed in the next chapter.

The protein kinases are a large family of proteins involved in memory formation, among their many functions. Phosphatidylserine is required for their actions and for other signaling proteins as well.

…. the brain is unique for its diverse chemical transmitters systems, almost all of which operate through cell membrane networks. Phosphatidylserine is more abundant in those membranes that make, package, release, and respond to transmitters. Animal and “test tube” experiments prove that Phosphatidylserine specifically supports the actions of acetylcholine, dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline, serotonin, GABA, endorphins, and other transmitters.

The long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are vitamin-like nutrients that, like Phosphatidylserine, are found in cell membranes. Like Phosphatidylserine, they are building blocks for the membranes. Also similar to Phosphatidylserine, they are key nutrients supporting fundamental cell functions. Most fascinating for our discussion is that they are intimately associated with each other in the membranes.

Both EPA and DHA have been heavily researched and both are proven to be lifesaving dietary constituents. It is clearly confirmed that raising our dietary intakes of EPA and DHA dramatically reduces our risk for death from heart attack or other circulatory catastrophes, indeed against death from all causes.

The most omega-3 research has been done in the circulation field. The long-chain omega-3 fuo EPA-DHA protects our blood vessels against inflammatory damage linked to coronary heart disease, heart attack, heart arrhythmia, and stroke. They also protect against arthritis, diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases and inflammatory conditions in general. Evidence is accumulating that they may lower the risk for catastrophic memory decline. No doubt about it, EPA and DHA have lifesaving importance for the entire body.

… Previously it was thought that humans could synthesize them from the shorter-chain ALA (alpha linolenic acid), but now it is clear that this process is very inefficient, if it can occur at all.64 For all practical purposes, EPA and DHA are vitamins.

Human populations that cannot effectively make EPA or DHA from ALA include newborns, the aged, alcoholics, diabetics, hypertensives, the obese, or people with chronic viral infections. High blood cholesterol and high trans-fat intakes also are likely to interfere with the bio-transformation process, which happens on membranes. Healthy people actually have very little ALA in their cell membranes and it is unclear what role (if any) this omega-3 fatty acid has in human nutrition.

A study at the University of Edinburgh has been tracking people born back in 1936. Their mental performance was first tested in 1947. In 2001 their mental performance was again assessed and their red blood cells were analyzed for DHA+EPA content. Those who had the highest DHA+EPA in their red cells also showed the best performance on mental tests.

... Again, in parallel with what we know about Phosphatidylserine, DHA+EPA supplements can benefit mood control. Several double blind and other controlled trials indicate that they benefit clinical depression, manic depression (bipolar disorder), and ADHD and learning disorders in children.

Much of DHA's action in the brain is wrapped up with Phosphatidylserine molecules. DHA is found preferentially attached to Phosphatidylserine as its tail 2. Since DHA has many double electron bonds (6), it has a great fluidizing effect in cell membranes. Having a DHA tail gives the Phosphatidylserine molecule great fluidizing capacity. This has great functional implications because certain key proteins of the nerve cell membranes seem to require Phosphatidylserine-DHA. One such is protein kinase C, a sophisticated protein and member of the large family of protein kinases that regulate membrane signal transduction.

Protein kinase C is known to be crucial for initiating and consolidating memories. It must have Phosphatidylserine and a highly fluidized membrane in order to work (interestingly, much of it is missing from Alzheimer's disease brain tissue). No wonder Dr. Norman Salem, the accomplished brain biochemist working at the U.S. National Institute for Mental Health, suggested, together with others of his team, that Phosphatidylserine with DHA is one of the most important molecules for the brain.

To summarize this section: the Phosphatidylserine in our brain cells needs DHA, and the DHA needs Phosphatidylserine. This is an example of biochemical synergy between two important orthomolecules. Both are fundamentally essential to the total performance of the brain. Both work best to help the brain when the other is fully available. To make them available, we have to generously supplement them in our diet.

Being a "fat-soluble" nutrient and having to build up in the cell membranes, Phosphatidylserine works best if taken at a high intake from the outset. Therefore I recommend 300 mg per day (taken with meals) for at least the first month. After that, depending on how much help is needed and how fast, 100 to 200 mg per day may be a reasonable maintenance intake.

Since Phosphatidylserine is so safe, the more severe the person's problems, the more aggressive can be the supplementation strategy. Intakes up to 500 mg per day are proven effective and safe. For depression and anxiety I recommend a person start at 400 mg per day for a month or longer until s/he notices improvement in their mood. Then they can lower Phosphatidylserine to the basal intake of 100 mg per day. Tip: DHA and EPA are also very helpful for mood.

And, since Phosphatidylserine is so compatible with drugs and with other nutrients, people with challenging memory loss or other cognitive problems can simply add Phosphatidylserine to all their other supplements and medications.

60 Capsules: $35.99

$28.79 when you buy two or more

We believe that a guarantee should be simple, and we genuinely hope that all our products will benefit your family's health and help you live a more abundant life. If for any reason one of our products does not meet your expectations, simply return the unused portion at any time for a full refund of the purchase price - minus shipping and handling. Limit one opened bottle per product.

Thank you, The Staff at BIOS/LIDTKE

At the biochemical level, Phosphatidylserine is found to improve numerous nerve transmitter systems in the human brain. Phosphatidylserine is required for the packaging, release, and receptor actions of acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, GABA, and other transmitters. Rather than simply raising transmitter levels in the brain tissue, Phosphatidylserine improves their effectiveness fundamentally at the cell membrane level.

60 Capsules: $35.99

$28.79 when you buy two or more