Page 27 - Summer2011

Thus, many of these conditions/diseases Stephanie Seneff, PhD received her Bachelor’s Many
that lead to muscle wasting may do so because degree in Biology with a minor in Food and
cholesterol (and therefore cholesterol sulfate) is Nutrition in 1968 from MIT. She received her conditions and
depleted from the blood serum. This results in Master's and PhD degrees in Electrical En- diseases that
the same feedback loop between the liver and the gineering and Computer Science in 1979 and lead to muscle
muscles that I discussed with regard to crohn’s 1985, respectively, also from MIT. Since then,
disease. I think it’s plausible that the muscle she has been a researcher at MIT, where she wasting may
wasting associated with all of these conditions is currently a Senior Research Scientist in the do so because
is caused by this same feedback mechanism. Department of Electrical Engineering and cholesterol
I have discussed the role cysteine plays in Computer Science, and a Principal Investigator
providing sulfate to the liver. But what is the role in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intel- (and therefore
of glutathione, the other sulfur-containing pro- ligence Laboratory. Throughout her career, Dr. cholesterol
tein that’s depleted in low Gc syndrome? Muscle Seneff has conducted research in diverse areas sulfate) is
cells ordinarily contain significant levels of glu- including human auditory modeling, spoken
tathione, and its depletion leads to mitochondrial dialogue systems, natural language process- depleted from
damage. Patients undergoing surgical trauma ing, human language acquisition, information the blood
23
have been found to exhibit reduced glutathione retrieval and summarization, computational serum.
levels in their skeletal muscles. It is tempting biology, and marine mammal socialization. She
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to speculate that cholesterol sulfate provides the has published over one hundred fifty refereed
sulfur needed for glutathione synthesis, so that articles on these subjects, and has been invited
the deficiency would be explained by the reduced to give keynote speeches at several international
availability of cholesterol following the immune conferences. She has also supervised numer-
system’s heightened response to surgical trauma. ous Master's and PhD theses at MIT. She has
Glutathione is a potent antioxidant, so its defi- recently become interested in the effect of drugs
ciency will further contribute to dysfunction of and diet on health and nutrition, and she has
the muscle cell’s mitochondria, therefore greatly written several essays on the web articulating
impairing its energy supply. her view on these topics. She is the first author of
There is a growing awareness that glutathi- two recently published nutrition-related journal
one deficiency may play a role in many diseases. papers, one on the metabolic syndrome and one
Whether the problems that arise are just due to on Alzheimer's disease. Two papers on theories
insufficient supply of the glutathione molecule related to cholesterol sulfate are currently under
itself, or whether a more general sulfur deficiency review. Stephanie will give an all-day workshop
is the root cause, is perhaps hard to say, but pro- on metabolism at Wise Traditions 2011.
vocative nonetheless.
RefeRences
In cOncLUsIOn 1. Magnus Axelson, “25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 3-sulphate is a
Modern lifestyle practices conspire to in- major circulating form of vitamin D in man,” feBs Let-
ters (1985), Volume 191, Issue 2, 28 October, pp 171-175;
duce major deficiencies in cholesterol sulfate and doi:10.1016/0014-5793(85)80002-8.
vitamin D sulfate. We are encouraged to actively 2. T. crawford and Margaret D. crawford, “Prevalence and
Pathological changes of Ischaemic Heart-Disease in a
3
avoid sun exposure and to minimize dietary Hard-water and in a soft-water Area,” The Lancet (1967)
4 february.
intake of cholesterol-containing foods. We are 3. Biorck, G., Bostrom, H., Widstrom, A. “Trace elements
encouraged to consume a high-carbohydrate, and cardiovascular Diseases” Acta Med. Scand. (1965)
178, 239.
lowfat diet which, as I have argued previously, 4. Brownlee M, cerami A and Vlassara H. “Advanced glyco-
34
leads to impaired cholesterol uptake in cells. sylation end products in tissue and the biochemical basis
fortunately, correcting these deficiencies at of diabetic complications.” N Engl J Med (1988) 318: pp.
1315-1321.
the individual level is easy and straightforward. If 5. W. R. Brown, "The hydrolysis of starch by hydrogen
you just throw away the sunscreen and eat more peroxide and ferrous sulfate.” J. Biol. Chem. (1936) 113:
417-425.
eggs, those two steps alone may greatly increase 6. n Le Boulch, L. cancela and L. Miravet, “cholecal-
your chances of living a long and healthy life. ciferol sulfate identification in human milk by HPLc,”
Steroids (1982) Volume 39, Issue 4, April, pp 391-398;
doi:10.1016/0039-128X(82)90063-0

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