Ted (Bangkok) on 03/01/2004

One study showed that the brain of an alzheimer's patient is extremely low in hydrogen sulfide, while on the other hand, it was found that baby infants who drink soy milk had high levels of hydrogen sulfide.

Now I am not saying that hydrogen sulfide is good or bad, it is one of the three gaseous molecules the body uses to control, many biological functions. The other two is nitric oxide and carbon monoxide produced in very low amounts to control the body's physiology.

It is quite possible that by taking soy, Alzheimers might be helped, remotely anyway, through the increase in hydrogen sulfide through driking soy milk. The reason being is Alzheimer's brains are low in hydrogen sulfide while soy milk causes increase in hydrogen sulfide. Ted"

Here are the two research studies. By the way, neither soy nor cow's milk is recommended for infants.

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1: J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2001 May;32(5):534-41.

Gas production by feces of infants.

Jiang T, Suarez FL, Levitt MD, Nelson SE, Ziegler EE.

Fomon Infant Nutrition Unit, Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal gas is thought to be the cause abdominal discomfort in infants. Little is known about the type and amount of gas produced by the infant's colonic microflora and whether diet influences gas formation. METHODS: Fresh stool specimens were collected from 10 breast-fed infants, 5 infants fed a soy-based formula, and 3 infants fed a milk-based formula at approximately 1, 2, and 3 months of age. Feces were incubated anaerobically for 4 hours at 37 degrees C followed by quantitation of hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methanethiol (CH3SH), and dimethyl sulfide (CH3SCH3) in the head-space. RESULTS: H2 was produced in greater amounts by breast-fed infants than by infants in either formula group, presumably the consequence of incomplete absorption of breast milk oligosaccharides. CH4 was produced in greater amounts by infants fed soy formula than by infants on other diets. CO2 was produced in similar amounts by infants in all feeding groups. Production of CH3SH was conspicuously low by feces of breast-fed infants and production of H2S was high by soy-formula-fed infants. CH3SCH3 was not detected. Only modest changes with age were observed and there was no relation between gas production and stool consistency, although stools were more likely to be malodorous when concentrations of H2S and/or CH3SH were high. CONCLUSIONS: Gas release by infant feces is strongly influenced by an infant's diet. Of particular interest are differences in production of the highly toxic sulfur gases, H2S and CH3SH, because of the role that these gases may play in certain intestinal disorders of infants.

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Alzheimer is low in hydrogen sulfide: Brain hydrogen sulfide is severely decreased in Alzheimer's disease

Authors: Eto K.1; Asada T.2; Arima K.2; Makifuchi T.3; Kimura H.1

Source: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 293, Number 5, May 2002, pp. 1485-1488(4)

Abstract:

Although hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is generally thought of in terms of a poisonous gas, it is endogenously produced in the brain from cysteine by cystathionine-synthase (CBS). H2S functions as a neuromodulator as well as a smooth muscle relaxant. Here we show that the levels of H2S are severely decreased in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients compared with the brains of the age matched normal individuals. In addition to H2S production CBS also catalyzes another metabolic pathway in which cystathionine is produced from the substrate homocysteine. Previous findings, which showed thatS-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM), a CBS activator, is much reduced in AD brain and that homocysteine accumulates in the serum of AD patients, were confirmed. These observations suggest that CBS activity is reduced in AD brains and the decrease in H2S may be involved in some aspects of the cognitive decline in AD.