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Western science for most of its history has considered the mind and body as separate entities, and it is only in the last 20 to 25 years that science has proven that notion to be false. 

If neurotransmitters, which were once believed to be exclusively brain information chemicals that control mood, are found in the body, and have been discovered to be manufactured by the immune system also, and neuropeptides that are secreted by the immune system and endocrine system have receptors in the brain, it becomes obvious that there is a two-way communication happening.

Candace Pert suggests that it is useful to think of these messenger chemicals as information substances that link the brain to the body and vice-versa.

When we think of the mind, we think of the flow of information and emotion in a non-material sense, but mind can also be viewed as the communication network between the material body and the brain. Therefore, we can acknowledge that mind and body are actually one, and that there is an intelligence to the system – it is not simply mechanical hardware, reflexes and electricity as was once believed.

Mind or consciousness leads to manifestation in the body. According to Candace Pert, emotions are the neuropeptides and receptors that carry information that link the major systems of the body into “one unit that we can call the bodymind”.

In her words, “We can no longer think of the emotions as having less validity than physical, material substance, but instead must see them as cellular signals that are involved in the process of translating information into physical reality, literally transforming mind into matter. Emotions are at the nexus between matter and mind, going back and forth between the two and influencing both.”

An example of this is when we are nervous we often feel butterflies in the stomach. We talk about “gut instincts”. We have tons of neuropeptides and their receptors in the intestinal tract, so it isn’t surprising that we often feel our emotions in our gut.

And when our intestines are not functioning well and can’t digest our food, we often feel short tempered, so the flow of information can go both ways.

Another example is that controlled breathing is often used to reduce pain for women in labour. Women are taught how to alter their breathing on a conscious level, which in turn alters the quantities of endorphins released, which reduces the pain. The physical change of altering the breath, changed the feeling of pain.

Going the other way, if you vividly imagine slicing and then biting into a juicy lemon, you will probably find yourself salivating. Your thought created a physical response in your body.

So, your physical body can change your thought or feeling, and your thought or feeling can change your physical body. And this all happens through peptides being released and binding to receptors as a consequence of your physical actions, your thoughts or your feelings.

Howard Hall in 1992 showed that the immune system, which is filled with peptides, could be trained at a conscious level through biofeedback techniques.

This has huge implications for the major diseases. Studies have shown that cancer patients who controlled their anger or grief did not recover as well as those who expressed their feelings.

This is not to say that it is the individual’s fault that they got cancer. But, a cancer patient can learn to aid the immune system to fight the cancer by refusing to hold back on his/her feelings. Allowing oneself to feel ones feelings is important to keeping the peptides flowing freely and the psychosomatic system functioning effectively.

Thinking happy thoughts that cover up repressed feelings is not helpful. So let out your anger, grief, frustration etc. in a constructive way, and jumpstart your immune system.

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Today I thought we would do a little biochemistry lesson to help you understand how information is communicated within our bodies, and how that information translates into cellular activity.

It is the health of this communication system that determines the health of the cells, and therefore the systems, and therefore the organism which is you and I.  When there is a problem in the communication system and a cell does not get the message to stop self-replicating for example, cancer occurs.

Most of this communication happens below our conscious awareness, although once we understand the mechanism, it is possible for the conscious mind to have some influence on the system.

Our bodies are made up of various kinds of cells – blood cells, nerve cells, muscle cells, bone cells, skin cells etc, and every cell on its surface, has hundreds of thousands to millions of receptors, which are molecules made of proteins that act a bit like keyholes, by providing access to the cell when the proper key is inserted.

Different kinds of receptors need different kinds of keys.   Depending on the kind of cell we are talking about, one cell may have 50,000 receptors of one kind, and 10,000 of another kind, while a different kind of cell may have a different proportion.

Each cell has at least 70 different kinds of receptors on its surface, and more types of receptors may yet be discovered.  

Candace Pert, a neuroscientist who did her PhD at Johns Hopkins, worked at the National Institute for Health in Washington DC for 12 years, and was made famous by her discovery of the opiate receptor in the early ’70s, describes receptors as sensing or scanning molecules that wait to pick up messages from the much smaller chemical "keys" that diffuse through the fluids that surround the cells.

These chemical keys are called ligands, and they selectively bind to their particular receptor on the cell surface.  They come in three forms: neurotransmitters such as histamine, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and they tend to carry information from one nerve cell to the next. 

The second ligand category are steroids, which include estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and cortisol, and they are made from cholesterol.  (See, we NEED cholesterol!) 

The third and by far the largest category of ligand are the peptides, made from amino acids (proteins), which form most of the hormones like insulin, glucagon, melatonin, growth hormone, and prolactin for example. This huge category of ligands is responsible for regulating almost all cell function and therefore system function in the body.

So, how does it all work?  Candace Pert describes it this way in her most interesting book Molecules of Emotion  “If the cell is the engine that drives all life, then the receptors are the buttons on the control panel of that engine, and a specific peptide (or other kind of ligand) is the finger that pushes the button and gets things started.” 

The ligand key fits into the keyhole of the receptor and delivers its message, and the receptor then transmits the message to the interior of the cell, and the cell carries out the action requested by the ligand. 

What the cell does depends on what type of cell it is, and which type of receptor was bound.  For example, when insulin binds to the insulin receptor on a fat cell, sugar is turned into fat.  When insulin binds to the insulin receptor on a liver cell, sugar is converted to glycogen. 

In addition to the nervous system, this chemical communication system of receptor and ligand can be accurately viewed as a basic network for communication, that connects every part of the body to every other part of the body, similar in nature to the internet.

Because our cells are constantly replacing themselves to keep us new and young, can you understand how critical it is to this communication system that the raw material from which our cells, receptors and ligands are made, is of the best quality possible?

When we consume trans-fats, the body is tricked into thinking that we have eaten saturated fat, and it integrates the trans-fats into the cell membrane.  But trans-fats are not saturated fats, (see, we NEED saturated fat!) and the cell messaging critical to our health doesn’t work. 

When we eat meats that are laden with antibiotics and hormones, those antibiotics and hormones interact with our receptors making our cells do things they shouldn’t. 

Many toxins in our environment create havoc in our cells by 1) either binding to our receptors, like the xeno-estrogens found in plastics that bind to our estrogen receptors, or 2) becoming suspended in the cell membranes causing the receptors to change shape resulting in sloppier messaging, like what happens when the heavy metals and dioxins found in herbicides and pesticides enter our system when we breathe them or when we consume them with our food.

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Pert, Candace PhD, Molecules Of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine Scribner, New York, NY, 1997.

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If your family’s health and the health of the environment is important to you, you may wish to dispose of those Teflon pots and pans and use stainless steel or ceramic-coated pans instead. The US Environmental Protection Agency just put out the notice in February of 2006, that the chemical, perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA) which is used to make the non-stick coating Teflon used on pots and pans and food packaging like microwave popcorn bags, is known to be linked to birth defects in animal studies and is likely to be a carcinogen.  PFOA seems to be in the blood of most Americans, as found in studies that examined blood from American blood banks, and is likely to be in the blood of most of the rest of us as well.  PFOA enters into our bodies very easily through the cooked food when the non-stick pan is either scratched, or when it is heated, (which is what we do with pans and popcorn bags!) Heated Teflon also releases toxic fumes which we inhale.  These chemicals seem to have a very long half-life (1.5 years for males) and they remain in our bodies because our livers cannot find a way to get rid of them. And other chemical classes break down into PFOA, so even if PFOA were banned, we will be stuck with its effects for a very long time.

Not only are the chemicals released by heating Teflon toxic to humans, but research has shown that they also break down the ozone layer of our planet thereby contributing to global warming.  Their persistence in the environment is a big problem. And other chemical classes break down into PFOA, so banning PFOA would not resolve this issue.

DuPont was fined many millions of dollars by the EPA a few months ago for hiding the toxicity of PFOA from the US government for 20 years. And they are currently taking out full page newspaper ads stating that Teflon pans are safe!  Please understand that most companies are usually more interested in their bottom line than in your health.  Don’t be duped into thinking otherwise. For more on the extremes some companies will go to to protect their bottom line despite serious health or environmental concerns, see the DVD The Corporation.

Now, I’m no cook, but my understanding is that the way to stop food from sticking in stainless steel or ceramic cookware is to heat the fat first, and then put in the food you are cooking. (Remember to use a stable fat for cooking, such as organic coconut oil, organic butter, organic ghee, or organic beef or chicken fat, as opposed to vegetable oils that are unstable and go rancid when heated.)

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Saturated fat – the misunderstood nutrient

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