Michael L. Love: Parsley odyssey continues
I don't know if I am the first person to eat a cup of parsley flakes every day. I doubt it, but there are not many reports. It is definitely a learning experience. For example, my eyes are a little dry, certainly due the CFTR inhibition by apigenin. It is only a little bothersome, and not severe. I have never had dry eyes in my life, and it is an interesting experience. I don't plan to resort to an eye wash. I may reduce my dose somewhat, but not yet, I am having too much fun. As noted below, this program easily puts gram levels of flavonoids into your body, and as a plus, you will enjoy the marvellous parsley flavor as never before. Due to the high flavonoid content, there is a possible increased likelihood of intestinal blockage with prolonged use, again because of the CFTR blockade. If you are like me, you will merely experience more regularity, but as noted before, those who might have intestinal problems, such as cryptitis, should probably not use this much parsley.
It is remarkable how widespread the effects of CFTR blockade are in the body. My heartburn is much diminished since starting the parsley regimen, which would also be a consistent effect, since CFTR function is a key component of acid secretion in the stomach, as well as acid quenching in the duodenum. In fact, this is a key reason why cystic fibrosis patients require special diets, and enzyme supplementation. I would suspect that this is one reason why enzymes are so popular in the supplement community.
Another thing that I am noticing is a prolonged and enhanced effect of dextromorphan. This is confirmational of the finding that apigenin, like several other flavoniods, inhibits a p450 enzyme that is involved in dextromorphan metabolism, among several other drugs. A reduced dose may be indicated, and I will be getting my scheduled liver and kidney tests promptly. My experience is that this enhanced effect is profound, and my coughing symptoms have improved vastly. It should be noted at this point that this much parsley is quite diuretic as well.
These effects are not limited to parsley or apigenin, and there are quite a few polyphenols that are capable of producing a CFTR blockade, notably resveratrol. If you get very far above gram level dosing, you are also likely to experience similar effects with quercetin. The same is true for the p450 inhibition.
I am learning more about the parsley plant. For example, the root and seeds have much more of the other interesting parsley molecule, apiol, also known as parsley extract, parsley oil, or parsley camphor. There is much to say about apiol, but I will only give it a cursory treatment. There is much information about this molecule elsewhere on the web. The apiol extract is an anciently known preparation with many uses, including regularization of menstruation and an abortitive property. It is also somewhat dangerous, and there are even reported fatalities from ingesting too much apiol. Perhaps some young women, eager to restore their menstruation, unfortunately abused this chemical in the camphor form.
Apiol can have other unhealthful effects, and it has even been demonstrated to form DNA adducts, due to its extended reactive end-group. This is a commonplace problem associated with the 1-allyl side chain, which is found in many flavonoid producing plants. Unlike some other compounds, apiol forms weak adducts, which are apparently easily rectified in the cell, and there is much less apiol in the leaves, which is unlikely to present a problem.
I would be interested in hearing if any women are experiencing regularization of menstruation while on this parsley regimen. The effect may be small to nil, due to the comparitively low apiol content of the parsley flakes.
Well, this turned out to be rather exhuastive after all. Cheers!
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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on Google BuzzPublished Monday, January 25, 2010 08:42 PM by proclus
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Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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