Comments on Psychic Lunch: So, should I take Emergen-C, then?

Aspartate is like glutamate, only not as strong: ...

2010-05-04T07:17:26.000-05:00

Aspartate is like glutamate, only not as strong:

Aspartate (the conjugate base of aspartic acid) stimulates NMDA receptors, though not as strongly as the amino acid neurotransmitter glutamate does. It serves as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and is an excitotoxin.

- Chen, Philip E.; Geballe, Matthew T.; Stansfeld, Phillip J.; Johnston, Alexander R.; Yuan, Hongjie; Jacob, Amanda L.; Snyder, James P.; Traynelis, Stephen F. et al. (2005). "Structural Features of the Glutamate Binding Site in Recombinant NR1/NR2A N-Methyl-D-aspartate Receptors Determined by Site-Directed Mutagenesis and Molecular Modeling". Mol. Pharmacol. 67 (5): 1470–84. doi:10.1124/mol.104.008185. PMID 15703381.

aspartate is not like glutamate. human brain cell...

2010-05-03T13:01:36.000-05:00

aspartate is not like glutamate. human brain cells, or neurons, have glutamate receptors which are excitatory, but we do not have aspartate receptors. we do have NMDA receptors which require a methylated version of aspartate but that's not aspartic acid.

I didn't realize just how pervasive ascorbic a...

2009-11-26T00:39:52.289-06:00

I didn't realize just how pervasive ascorbic acid is, either! I went to check my brand of liquid vitamins that I have in the fridge (it's Buried Treasure) and I found that I'm going to have to look for something new. It's got ascorbic acid as well as other poor or synthetic vitamins like cyanocobalamin for B12, and so on.

SIGH!

OH - and I'll edit the post to add a comment about the packaging, too - with all the individual packets, it's really not a very green product.

Caroline, I do not have an answer for you (other than, yes, coconut water ;) However, I will look into that and put up post about it when I'm done!

What about Emergen-C substitutes for the electroly...

2009-11-25T19:15:12.318-06:00

What about Emergen-C substitutes for the electrolytes? I try to get all my nutrients from foods, but I do sometimes use emergen-c for the electrolytes. I know, I know that you can use coconut water, but dang it, the stuff isn't cheap! and it takes up a lot more space (No way could I store even a 12pack of coconut waters, in my tiny kitchen for the occasional but vital times I supplement electrolytes.) And its a lot of bulk and weight to ship so far.

Any advice other than coconut water?

Excellent! I think I'm going to point a number...

2009-11-25T18:04:49.373-06:00

Excellent! I think I'm going to point a number of friends towards this post in the next day or two. I have always been pretty against Emergen-C just based on the fact that it is so highly processed.

I have a jar of powdered acerola berries which is sold as a whole food vitamin C supplement. I add that to tea as my Emergen-C like cold fighting formula. I like peppermint or yogi tea (a warm spice mix), but rose hip tea is really high in vit C as well. Sometimes I just use the powdered acerola, lemon juice and a chunk of ginger to make a hot, healing beverage. A little honey if there's a sore thoat.

Thanks again! Great post!