Comment · Mon, October 5, 2020 · ND Owner
Removing magnesium stearate from capsules?
Original post in this thread
lambdaba · 1 points
I've purchased piracetam capsules when powder became unavailable. From estimates they have something like 100-150mg magnesium stearate, which I'd like to remove for many reasons (potential harm + reduction of absorption)
Is there a reliable way to do so? I've noticed part of the powder foams on top when mixing with water. I suppose this is mostly the magnesium stearate, is that enough or is there some more reliable procedure?
What they were answering
umbrella_term · 1 points
Speaking of bloggers, Youtube keeps showing me videos by Dr Brad Stanfield. Have you seen anything of his? He seems to stick to basing his videos on good studies, but it's hard for me to judge the overall quality. For example, he talks a lot about the benefits of NMN, but he also has this video where he mentions (at 3:45) a mechanism through which high levels of NAD+ could be boosting existing tumor growth.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
No, I have not heard of him or seen anything from him. The concept he is talking about is the same argument we have with NGF or BDNF. Sure, some cancers propagate faster in the presence of NGF or BDNF. That doesn't mean increasing is is bad. NAD+ is a metabolic coenzyme found in almost every cell of your body. It would stand to reason that some cancers would have higher levels of it. If it is part of the cancer cell's metabolic process to replicate, it makes sense that evolution would lead to it creating higher levels of NAD+ through an increase in expression of NAMPT. It's kind of like saying breathing in oxygen is bad, since most of your cells are damaged through oxidative stress. I mean that is a very loose and exaggerated analogy, but you get the idea. If we are increasing something that is part of a cellular metabolic or growth process, then there is the possibility that certain cancer cells might propagate more with those higher levels. They key to preventing cancer is to have a functioning immune system. You get cancer cells every day. Every single day your body is fighting cancerous cells. It's just how it works. Cells have their DNA damaged through various thing, like UV rays or carcinogens in your diet, and some of those cells mutate. Your body takes care of them, though. It seeks out and destroys them before they can get out of control. If you were to happen to have a cell damaged and mutate to a cancerous cell that had NGF receptors expressed on it, taking something that increased NGF might make that spread faster than it would if you were not taking it. However, your body's immune system is really the main line of defense there. We can't just not take things that might lead to any increase in cancer cell propagation, as many things might. If say NMN prevented the body's immune system from detecting and destroying the cancerous cells, then maybe I would be more concerned. However, merely increasing a compound that some cancer cells use for their metabolism, which also is what most of the healthy cells use for metabolism too, isn't enough for me to be concerned. If I was currently fighting cancer, would I take things that increase NGF or NAD+? Probably not.