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All of us don’t want to live with pain, no matter how slight. Is pain relief always relegated to pills? Are there other solutions that don’t involve detrimental side effects? Take a moment and learn how pain is produced in your body and what non-pill options you might have.

The process of inflammation in the body is seen as normal to your body. Your immune system, with the exception of the lymph and thymus glands, work at the cellular and sub-cellular level. The regulation of your immune system is done chemically. All the body’s cells have thousands of receptors on their surfaces which serve as docking points for chemical messengers – inflammatory cytokines. These messengers, when docked at a receptor, signal a cell to act, or not to act to a specific condition. A single receptor has no impact in the big scheme of things. But, when you are injured, such as a sprained ankle, the receptor cells in that part of your body receive the message to stimulate an appropriate response to that injury.

Aspirin predecessors (willow bark salicylates) have been used for over 2500 years to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions. At the end of 19th century the German chemist, Felix Hoffmann, working for Friedrich Bayer & Co., created what we know today as aspirin. Aspirin is the most commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Other NSAIDs include acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.

The inflammation response mechanism of NSAIDs in the body was determined in the early 1970’s. Aspirin, and other NSAIDs, block the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme which is responsible for initiating the inflammatory process. The COX enzyme controls the production of prostaglandins from arachidonic acid. The prostaglandins are messengers that signal the immune system to initiate the inflammation process. Blood flow and pressure are increased to that site, blood vessels expand, tissues swell, heat and redness sets in, endothelial cells that line the capillaries shrink causing spaces between the walls for white blood cells to enter, and pain becomes noticeable. This is the body’s response to injury and it protects itself from further infection or damage that might be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. Aspirin (NSAIDs) inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandins and thereby reduce both pain and inflammation.

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Daniel Simmons (Brigham Young University) discovered that there are two kinds of COX enzymes inhibited by NSAIDs – the COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. The COX-1 enzyme reacts with arachidonic acid to produce basal prostaglandins which support kidney function, blood clotting and stomach functioning. The COX-2 enzyme reacts with arachidonic acid to produce prostaglandin E2, which is responsible for the symptoms associated with inflammation. NSAIDs treat both pain and inflammation, but also potentially allow kidney damage, bleeding problems, ulcers and stomach irritation.

In the late 1990’s scientists studied the effects of various drugs on both the COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes and targeted a product that was a ‘COX-2’ selective inhibitor – Vioxx, Celebrex, Bextra. Early NSAIDs were equipotent at inhibiting both COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. The COX-2 selective inhibitors were 30 to 300 times more potent in inhibiting COX-2 than COX-1 without having the same degree of gastrointestinal irritation. These COX-2 selective inhibitors’ effectiveness is similar to the earlier NSAIDs.

Celebrex and Vioxx were introduced in 1999, and rapidly became the most frequently prescribed drug in the United States. However, additional side effects have been catalogued regarding the COX-2 inhibitors – primarily Vioxx, which was withdrawn voluntarily from the market place due to an increased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke. The prescription medicines did inhibit the COX-2 enzyme more than the COX-1, but it still inhibited the COX-1 enzyme and caused additional and potentially more hazardous side affects.

Scientific research takes place in many forms – ‘in vitro’ (laboratory dishes), ‘in-vivo’ (laboratory animals), and clinical studies involving human subjects. Both ‘in vitro’ and ‘in vivo’ studies have been done on a variety of natural products that might inhibit COX-2 and not inhibit COX-1. Several were found. In the mangosteen fruit there is a class of compounds called xanthones. One particular xanthone, gamma-mangostin, showed surprising results.

Dr. K. Nakatani and others working at the Department of Pharmaceutical Molecular Biology at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan determined that when gamma-mangostin was present in your body, the production of prostaglandin E2 was blocked – effectively shutting down the inflammatory response of the COX-2 enzyme, while having zero effect on the COX-1 enzyme. This was the first study which demonstrated that gamma-mangostin directly and selectively inhibited only the COX-2 enzyme.

Dr. James Duke, world-famous ethno-botanist, lists many of Garcinia mangostana’s benefits and scientific proof can be found in almost 150 independent published scientific articles. Physicians are starting to replace prescription drugs with whole-fruit mangosteen juice. Dr. Sam Walters and Dr. J. Fredric Templeman are two which offer there opinions as to the efficacy of the whole-fruit mangosteen juice to be equal or outperform the prescription drugs Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, Percocet, Celebrex, Vioxx, Bextra, Ultram, Talwin, Midrin, Fioricent, etc.

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Choices have consequences. Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin