Alcoholism seen as a Nutritional Disease

The popular view of alcoholism us that it is primarily a "mental Illness" that can or must be treated by a change of belief , attitudes and ways of thinking. The more modern view is - backed up by medical Science - that alcoholism is really a physical disease that is related to to consumption of food.

An alcoholic - and for that matter anybody addicted to xenobiotic chemicals - appears to have a problem in producing feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin from food sources such as tryptophan.

This biochemical pathway is complex in itself, requiring a host of nutrients as co-enzymes in the production of feel good brain chemicals, such as zinc, magnesium, Vitamin B complex, B6, B3, B12 and so on and on. Without a high protein diet the person is likely to be deficient in tryptophan.

What is often overlooked is that in order for the body to convert one set of molecules into another set of molecules - as in the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin - the body also needs biological energy to complete this conversion. That energy ultimately derives from glucose in food. When a person has problems absorbing and metabolizing sugars in the diet as a source of biological energy, he cannot produce feel good neurotransmitters and so the alcoholic without his drug of addiction becomes depressed and emotionally unstable. Alcohol, also derived from glucose and manufactured by other than humans (brewer's yeast) is a cheap source of energy, that among others also produces acetaldehyde, toxic to the liver and brain.

When he withdraws from alcohol he often replaces his addiction to Sugar addiction in a vain attempt to produce biological energy. His inability of producing biological energy is usually due to insulin resistance, leading to a hypoglycemic condition marked by wild fluctuations of blood Sugar levels going up and down.

These unstable blood Sugar levels, feeding the brain, trigger the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline. Thus withdrawing from alcohol may lead to erratic behaviour, marked by anxiety, insomnia and perhaps aggression and/or depression.

There are some remedies that can reduce these symptoms. The ultimate solution is the treat the insulin resistance that seems to be at the root of addiction.

Please read:

Drug Addition is a Nutritional Disorder at:

http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/drug_addictions_nutritional_disorder....


for a further explanation.

_______________________________________________
Jurriaan Plesman BA (Psych) Post Grad Dip Clin Nutr
Editor of
The Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia.

Launch in external player or download.

Author of "Getting off the Hook"
Freely available at Google Book Search
Tweet