There’s a nutrient in meat that can help stop Alzheimer’s disease in its tracks.
It’s a peptide called L-carnosine. Your body uses carnosine to repair tissues and clear away toxins.
And here’s something carnosine can do that even I didn’t know until recently…
It increases the energy output of your mitochondria.
I’ve written to you a lot lately on how to create new mitochondria, those tiny power plants inside your cells.
In my research I’ve found that PQQ is the only nutrient that can grow new mitochondria … BUT … carnosine can revive mitochondria. It can even rescue your brain cells if their mitochondria have stopped functioning.
This is important because of what we now know about Alzheimer’s. One of the ways the disease begins and progresses is through mitochondrial failure.
But researchers from the Molecular Neurology Unit at the University G. d’Annunzio in Italy were shocked to discover that carnosine can reverse mitochondrial failure.
When they tested carnosine in mice, to look at its effect on aging mitochondria, they saw something incredible.
The brains of carnosine-fed mice with Alzheimer’s had a complete recovery of all their mitochondrial dysfunction. What’s more, the energy and activity of their mitochondria was even higher than mice with no Alzheimer’s.1
And in my research I found another overlooked study where carnosine prevented formation of amyloid by as much as 60%. Even better, carnosine stops amyloid peptides that have already formed from sticking together.
Why is that important? Because when they clump together, they form the “plaque” that suffocates the brain during Alzheimer’s.2
It makes sense. A characteristic of aging is that proteins, altered by chemical reactions with oxygen, nitrogen, and glucose, collect in the body. This contributes powerfully to inflammation and an older-acting body.
Carnosine stops the creation and buildup of those proteins. One of them is amyloid.
Some of the studies I’ve seen use high doses of carnosine. Fortunately, you can get the benefits of carnosine for your body at a much lower dose. Here’s how:
1) Carnosine is stored in a few places in your body. Your muscles and brain get the most of it. But when it comes to your blood, carnosine doesn’t stick around for very long. I recommend 1000 milligrams of carnosine every day to have enough to make a difference.
2) Grass-fed, pasture-raised meat is the best way to get carnosine from food. A typical 7-ounce serving of beef has about 250 milligrams of carnosine. When you eat red meat, carnosine stays in your blood for about five hours.
You can find out more about how to get pasture-raised meat delivered right to your house, and where to buy it online, by visiting these websites:
- American Grassfed Association (americangrassfed .org) – Certifies farms and ranches around the country, works with the USDA to standardize what pasture-raised means, and has news and even recipes.
- US Wellness Meats (grasslandbeef .com) – A resource for naturally produced meat, with videos and insight from experts.
- Local Harvest (localharvest .org) – A complete index of farms near you.
When you cook your meat, try not to use high heat or a lengthy slow-cooking method. Overcooking denatures protein, breaks down vitamins and removes nutrients, including carnosine. That’s another reason I like to eat my steak rare and recommend that my patients do, too.
3) If you can’t get enough by eating red meat, I recommend you supplement. Take 500 mg twice a day instead of all at once. That way your body always has some on hand to use for protecting your brain and mitochondria, supporting your muscles, and encouraging brain repair.
Remember to get the natural L-carnosine form. Some manufacturers will try and fool you by calling their synthetic carnosine natural-sounding names like “nature-identical.” But lab-created nutrients are not the real thing. They’re not as bioavailable, and in some cases can interfere with your absorption of the real thing.
1. Corona C, et. al. “Effects of dietary supplementation of carnosine on mitochondrial dysfunction, amyloid pathology, and cognitive deficits in 3xTg-AD mice.” PLoS One. 2011;6(3):e17971.
2. Aloisi A, Barca A, Romano A, Guerrieri S, Storelli C, Rinaldi R, Verri T. “Anti-aggregating effect of the naturally occurring dipeptide carnosine on aβ1-42 fibril formation.” PLoS One. 2013;8(7):e68159.