Regenerate by Sayer Ji

5 out of 5

TL:DR Challenging the standard of practice, pill-for-every-ill approach to healthcare, Sayer Ji dives into the history of how the modern medical establishment came to be, as well as explores the alternative to the “sickcare” system by looking into ways of optimizing health through holistic practices and functional medicine tactics, rather than managing illness. 

What is the fundamental theory about how to “Regenerate”?

People always compare the human body to a machine that is subject to wear and eventually breaks down over time, but we are not machines. We have the unique ability to continuously rebuild and regenerate ourselves if given the right input. Mastering our health comes down to understanding the fundamental principle that your DNA does not control your destiny. Instead, environmental factors, or those elements of our lifestyle (such as diet, movement, sleep hygiene, stress, mindset, and toxic exposures) almost exclusively determine your lifespan and quality of life. Ji refer’s to a concept called the “Paleo-deficit disorder” illustrating the environmental burden on our health by saying there is: “no coincidence that our career stress, our sedentary desk jobs, our sleep deficit, our processed and adulterated food, our exposure to industrial chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs, our lack of social support, and our minimal contact with nature all constitute the primary risk factors for disease… [all of which] are largely under our control, [and have the power to] determine whether our genetic blueprints express health or disease.” Ultimately, we hold the power to steer our lives towards vibrancy or disorder, and we make small course corrections with literally every decision we make. 

Top 3 Interesting Take-a-ways:

Traditional taxonomy differentiates plants as autotrophs (which produces their own food) from animals as heterotrophs (which eat other living things for food). Generally, these classifications don’t overlap, but there is an exception with something called photoheterotrophs, which can use light for energy but cannot use carbon dioxide as plants typically do. Examples of photoheterotrophy can be found in rodents and pigs (one of the closest animal to humans physiologically) “which have been found to be capable of taking up chlorophyll metabolites into their mitochondria, enabling them to use sunlight energy to supercharge the rate  (up to 35% faster) and quantity (up to 16x increase) of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production within their mitochondria.” 1 This is made possible by a by-product of chlorophyll named pyropheophorbide a (or Ppa) which is taken into the animal mitochondria. In the presence of Ppa and light from the environment, researchers observed an increase in the amount of ATP produced by the mitochondria. Animals given Ppa but not exposed to light did not show this effect, nor did a control group. It was found that feeding animals Ppa with concomitant light exposure significantly increased it’s lifespan, whereas those that didn’t saw shorter lifespan from light exposure. It’s interesting to think that eating plants may provide a protective mechanism outside of phytonutrients. Additionally, this raises questions regarding the increased ambivalence to sunlight exposure, as sun is viewed as a vector for skin cancer so much that people slather petrochemical-based sunscreen to block all exposure. Ji posits, “one crucial question that remains unexplored is whether sunlight is only toxic when chlorophyll is absent from our diet and tissues or if it is healthy when it appears in optimal doses alongside appropriate chlorophyll consumption. 

‎(1. Nancy A. Moran and Tyler Jarvik, “Lateral Transfer of Genes from Fungi Underlies Carotenoid Production in Aphids, “ Science 328, no. 5978 (April 30, 2010): 624–27, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1187113.))

‎‎The continued research on the microbiome is challenging the genome-centric story of human evolution, namely that extremely gradual changes in the protein-coding nucleotide sequences of our DNA are primarily responsible for the survival of our species over the ages. Exemplified by a study in Nature that found Japanese subject had a strain of bacteria in their gut that were composed of both genes and enzymes required to digest sugars found in sea vegetables, which are normally indigestible to humans.2 The implication is that when a population eats a food like seaweed long enough, the useful genes from marine bacteria residing on seaweed can be absorbed and assimilated into already-existing bacterial strains in their guts. The bacteria in our guts have the ability to shift or compensate for deficits in our “hardwired” genetic capabilities. In other words, continued environmental exposure to our microbiome can change our physiology and adapt to changes and challenges we face. As a result, our microbiome grants us with an immense plasticity allowing us to improve our ability to survive and remain in harmony with our the environment we find ourselves in. 

‎(2. Jan-Hendrik Hehemann et al., “Transfer of Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes from Marine Bacteria to Japanese Gut Microbiota,” Nature 464 (2010): 908–12, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08937.)

‎Ginkgo is the world’s oldest living plant, with the ability to live well over 1,000 years. It is believed to have originated around a quarter of a billion years ago, and has appropriately gained the nickname “living fossil.” It has survived Earth’s five mass extinction events, and was the only species of plant to survive the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 with six trees still standing at the epicenter of the blast. Gingko’s hardiness and cellular longevity transfer to humans. At the “cellular level, it works as an antioxidant, reducing the oxidative stress that can lead to diseases we associate with aging, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease. It also enhances mitochondrial respiration.” It elicits anti-aging effects within the different cell types of neurons, blood platelets and fibroblasts (which help in collagen production), as well as liver, heart, and endothelial cells.3

‎(3. Sayer Ji, “Gingko Biloba: A ‘Living Fossil’ with Life-Extending Properties,” GreenMedInfo.com, June 10, 2019, www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/gingko-biloba-living-fossil-life-extending-properties.)