Ray Peat on Digestion

Serotonin Production and the Body's Defense Mechanisms

"The vast majority of the body's own serotonin is produced in the gut, where the tissue is constantly exposed to foreign substances like endotoxins. However, all cells in the body can produce serotonin and histamine under stress, and platelets are one of the body's defense mechanisms against serotonin; they can bind it and transport it to the lungs, where it is broken down. The lungs have a large capacity to oxidize it."

September 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Harmful Substances in Leaves That Impair Nutrient Digestion

"Leaves contain many substances that can be harmful and impair the digestion of proteins and other nutrients, such as tannins and polyunsaturated fatty acids."

September 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Buffer Function of Blood and Liver in Nutrient Transport

"The blood and liver act as buffers between the gut and the various specialized tissues and organs, with serum albumin playing an important role in binding and transporting a variety of nutrients and potential toxins."

September 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Digestive Benefits and Protective Components of Milk

"Their functions begin in the digestive system with a guiding and supportive effect by preparing the gut's defense mechanisms against the environment. The plant substances destroyed in the rumen – tannins, lignin, and polyunsaturated fatty acids – are cumulatively toxic to the gut. Apart from milk being almost free of these substances, it contains compounds that promote the absorption of essential nutrients; however, it can also be seen as providing nutrients without containing substances that damage the gut and impair nutrient absorption."

September 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Slow Food Digestion Promotes the Growth of Gut Bacteria

"If a food is not quickly digested by the body, it promotes the growth of bacteria in the gut."

September 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stress and Endotoxin: Inflammatory Reactions and Activation of Aromatase

"Endotoxin absorbed from the gut during stress promotes many inflammatory reactions and activates aromatase."

November 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Protective Role of Glucose for Gut Health Under Stress

"Intense or prolonged stress damages the gut, impairs its barrier function, and allows bacterial toxins – especially endotoxin – to enter the bloodstream. Glucose is the crucial factor for protecting the gut epithelium during stress."

March 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The Role of Endotoxin in Activating Inflammatory Processes

"Endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide, has a generally excitatory effect that activates inflammatory cell processes and damages energy production, mediated by cell products such as nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, serotonin, histamine, prostaglandins, estrogens, and various cytokines (interleukins and tumor necrosis factor, TNF). Some of these substances enter the bloodstream from the gut, others are produced elsewhere in the body, and some are generated in the brain itself when endotoxin is taken up into the brain."

March 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Progesterone Protects Organs

"All organs affected by brain injury – kidneys, lungs, gut, heart, liver, blood vessels, thymus, bones and bone marrow, as well as endocrine glands – are protected by progesterone."

March 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Overlooked Effects of Stress on the Gut

"While the effects of stress on the gut have been known since Hans Selye's description of the general adaptation syndrome (with gut bleeding as an early stress sign), they were not considered in any of the major studies on brain trauma or strokes."

March 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Connection Between Brain Inflammation and Organs

"The inflammatory, degenerative processes in the brain take several hours to develop, and during these hours, stress signals from the brain cause changes in the gut that lead to a systemic inflammatory state."

March 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Oral Progesterone: Appropriate Response to Severe Stress

"Oral administration of progesterone seems appropriate in any serious stress situation, as the gut quickly becomes an amplifier of inflammatory responses."

March 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The Path of Serotonin: Effects from the Gut on the Brain

"Events in the gut, where most serotonin is produced, in the blood, where it is transported, and in the lungs, where much of it is detoxified, influence the brain. Toxins produced by gut bacteria cause the release of serotonin into the bloodstream, and if platelets cannot tightly bind it until it is broken down in the lungs, some of it reaches the brain, where it impairs sleep and other brain functions."

July 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Therapeutic potential of carbon dioxide application

"The direct application of carbon dioxide is likely helpful in all those situations where acetazolamide is also beneficial – but without the risk of an allergy to this drug. These include traumatic brain edema, altitude sickness, osteoporosis, epilepsy, glaucoma, hyperactivity (ADHD), inflammation, intestinal polyps, and arthritis. Diabetes, cardiomyopathy (Torella et al., 2014), obesity (Arechederra et al., 2013), cancer, dementia, and psychoses could also benefit."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Julien de la Mettrie's physiology based on organ function

"Based on various biological facts – including the intrinsic mobility or irritability of the gut and heart as well as the regeneration of the hydra from small fragments – Julien de la Mettrie proposed a new kind of physiology based on the idea of organization. He believed that thinking was as natural for an organ with the structure of the brain as beating was for the heart. He considered thinking fully compatible with organized matter."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Gut irritation as a cause of tinnitus through endotoxin

"Anything that irritates the gut can cause tinnitus by increasing the absorption of endotoxin."

Email response from Ray Peat

Mechnikov's theories on aging, phagocytes, and bacterial toxins

"Although Mechnikov believed that phagocytes were responsible for the atrophy of aging, he also thought that bacterial toxins from the gut dominated the aging process."

August–September 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Increasing the organism's adaptability to toxins

"Aging, stress, and heavy alcohol consumption increase gut permeability and lead to increased absorption of microbial toxins. Laxatives, carrot fibers (not carrot juice), activated charcoal, and a small amount of sodium thiosulfate reduce the formation and absorption of toxins and increase the organism's adaptability. Belladonna can improve gut function if spasms occur during drug withdrawal."

June 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Aging, hormonal changes, and the balance of gut flora

"The altered hormonal environment and weakened digestion of an aging organism create a new balance between the animal and the gut flora, which sometimes favors the proliferation of more toxic flora."

February–March 1991 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Toxic effects of unsaturated oils on health and metabolism

"Research showing the toxic effects of unsaturated oils goes back more than 60 years. An article published in my 1985 newsletter lists some of the most important references. These substances inhibit many enzymes (e.g., those involved in digestion, immune function, clot breakdown, and thyroid function), disrupt mitochondrial energy production, and impair communication between cells. Very little is heard about these toxic effects, and hardly any funding is available for further research in these areas."

February–March 1989 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Destructive effect of excess cortisol on the gut mucosa and allergies

"Although a physiologically balanced amount of cortisol induces detoxifying enzymes, for example in the gut, an unchecked excess leads to the destruction of these enzymes, causing a large part of the gut's barrier function to be lost and allergies to develop. This effect of cortisol on the thymus and on the gut's detoxifying enzymes very likely explains the frequent connection between allergies and viral infections. Since cortisol also has a destabilizing, spasm-promoting effect on the nervous system, psychological symptoms – from compulsive behavior to depression or seizures – are also associated with these chronic conditions."

August–September 1988 – Ray Peat's Newsletter
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Supplements according to Ray Peat

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