Leaderboard

Good question. I'd assumed gramine (not DMT) to be the toxic alkaloid, as gramine can be lethal in mammals. I'm more intrigued by the use of cobalt to counteract its effects?

This intrigues me, there's interest in saffron, be good to see some solid measure of Positive/Negative symptom outcomes, cognitive domains, alongside metabolic parameters in further studies, hope they go to some depth. " Medicinal plants are among the adjunct alternatives that could reduce the clinical complications and adverse effects of current treatments especially for people with schizophrenia. Saffron, a well known spice, has several potential therapeutic properties including antioxidant, antihyperglycaemic and anti-obesity effects. In addition, saffron has demonstrated tolerability and few adverse effects in human and animal studies (Kianbakht 2011; Mashmoul 2013; Fadai 2014; Kianbakht 2015). With these pharmacological properties, saffron and its bioactive constituents could be considered as an adjunct treatment for reducing metabolic syndrome symptoms. There is currently no evidence on the clinical efficacy of saffron for people with schizophrenia, and this review will evaluate the evidence available for using herbal supplements in managing prevalent adverse effects of current treatments for schizophrenia." [1] Not only does saffron have established efficacy and good safety for treating mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, OCD and high potential in neurodegenerative conditions but it may be helpful for more serious mental illness and induced metabolic disorders. Constituents of saffron are potential agents for the treatment of schizophrenia Added to satiety enhancing and beneficial metabolic effects, it may target comorbid symptoms and impacted domains including addressing anxiety, depressive, OCS, cognition/memory, target negative symptoms (including social withdrawal) and provide neuroprotection against further declines. Added to this, crocins have the ability to attenuate psychotic-like behaviours in animal models, potentially alleviating positive symptoms. - crocins displayed pronounced antidepressant and anxiolytic-like effects - these compounds attenuate HPA axis reactivity after traumatic stress - Saffron constituents were able to attenuate the social isolation induced by sub-chronic treatment with ketamine - crocins were found to reduce compulsive behaviour - Acute administration of crocins reversed recognition memory deficits produced by the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine in rats eliciting, thus, the effects of this active constituent of C. sativus in schizophrenia-related cognitive deficits. Crocins attenuated ketamine-induced psychotomimetic effects (hypermotility, stereotypies and ataxia) Saffron extracts and crocin administered at 15 mg twice daily were safe and well tolerated in schizophrenic patients. My life has been exploring the pharmacopeia, and the phytocopeia. Definitely got better results with the phytocopeia. Another recommendation was grabbing some seaweed to make salads with. I bought a "50% fucoxanthin extract" but I wasn't convinced it was what it said it was. Likewise I've bought 'pure lutein', wasn't convinced it was what it said, even visually. I prefer my plant sources to many extracts, at least I can munch some marigold flowers, chew down kale, buy some saffron, make a seaweed salad, get stuck into some colourful veggies. Seaweed I'm keen to find some cheap sources of. More on carotenoids: Lutein, a carotenoid found in fruits and vegetables, has long been associated with eye health. Recent studies have found that this nutrient may also help slow cognitive decline. This pigment or carotenoid may play an important role in the development and maintenance of brain function while improving memory and learning. Accumulating evidence has shown that lutein may influence various aspects of brain function ranging from visual-motor to executive functions. Being lipid-soluble, lutein easily passes the blood-brain and blood-retinal barriers and tends to deposit within central nervous system tissues with high specificity. Research indicates it likely reduces inflammatory and oxidative stress while simultaneously stimulating regenerative processes. Recent research found the level of lutein in children relates to how efficiently and accurately their brain works, marking a significant step forward in our understanding of the impact of lutein on children's cognition. It allows us to better understand the impact nutrition, and specifically lutein, has on learning, memory and even academic performance. In younger individuals, supplementing lutein increased systemic levels of BDNF. A number of clinical trials have shown, mostly in the young, that supplementation increases visual processing speed and reaction times. Although there is no direct data on mechanism, it has been speculate that this influence on processing speed is due to direct effects on brain connectivity, perhaps by enhancing gap junctions between neurons. A past study has shown that brain concentrations of lutein associate with higher cognitive test scores in the elderly prompting the possibility that increasing intake could lead to benefit. Lutein appears appears to benefit neurocognitive function by enhancing cerebral perfusion, even if consumed for a discrete period of time in late life. A fMRI study found lutein appeared to buffer cognitive decline on the verbal learning task. Significant interactions during learning were observed in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. Participants receiving the active lutein supplement had significant improvements in complex attention and cognitive flexibility domains, relative to participants taking the placebo. Seaweed for fucoxanthin etc: Phytochemical research reports exhibit a plethora of chemical compounds from brown seaweeds, including sulfated polysaccharides and fucoxanthins. Fucoxanthin is abundant in seaweed and is considered as a powerful antioxidant. It has been proposed to possess anti-cancer, anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects. It is neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory, decreasing the pro-inflammatory factor production. Fucoxanthin isolated from the brown seaweeds reduces TNFα, inducible nitric oxide synthase and COX-2 which are important inflammatory cytokines responsible for eliciting depression. Fucoxanthin regulates Nrf2-autophagy pathways and increases neuroprotective molecule expression in models of neurodegenerative diseases. Extracts acted as antidepressants on 5-HT, DA and NE systems. Nice sustainable functional food option. "Fucoxanthin is a brown seaweed pigment that is found in most brown seaweeds, as well as a few other marine sources. It is a xanthophyll, which is a molecule structurally similar to beta-carotene and vitamin A; yet fucoxanthin does not possess vitamin-like activity in the body. Fucoxanthin, via its metabolites, seems to be stored in fat cells for a prolonged period of time and can induce fat loss while inhibiting fat cell differentiation and proliferation. Although only one human study has been published, it appears to be a promising non-stimulatory fat loss agent but requires time to work (5-16 weeks). It also possesses other health benefits, such as correcting abnormalities in glucose metabolism in muscle tissue which can help diabetics and might reduce cholesterol levels and triglycerides by currently unverified mechanisms. Reductions in blood pressure and reductions in both liver fat stores and liver enzyme values have been noted with fucoxanthin supplementation in humans. Fucoxanthin, although usage as a supplement is preliminary, appears to be a very promising joint fat loss and health boosting agent." Some studies suggest that a daily dosage of 2.4-8mg fucoxanthin has shown benefit in some human studies over a prolonged period of time but that's mainly weight benefits and peripheral stuff. That said, the bioavailability is low (but may be improved by consuming in oil)