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CHAPTER 4
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Germanium - The Health & Life Enhancer

PREFACE    |   INTRODUCTION   |   CHAPTER 1   |   CHAPTER 2   |   CHAPTER 3   |   CHAPTER 4   |   CHAPTER 5   |   CHAPTER 6   |   CHAPTER 7   |   CHAPTER 8   |   CHAPTER 9   |   CHAPTER 10   |   CHAPTER 11   |   CHAPTER 12   |   CHAPTER 13   |   CHAPTER 14   |   CHAPTER 15   |   REFERENCES

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Chapter 4:
Organic Germanium - Oxygen Enricher And Antioxidant

Oxygen - The Vital Link

Oxygen - breath of life, prana, universal life energy and fuel. Without oxygen we die. Pollution of the atmosphere with toxic chemicals, degradation of the ozone layer by fluorocarbons, destruction of the tropical rain forests with its plethora of life forms, all ultimately affect that which we breathe in which fuels life. In addition to food, raw materials, splendour and spiritual enrichment derived from the many forms of plant life, our lives depend on our green co-inhabitors of this planet for oxygen which is evolved from photosynthesis.

A person can live for perhaps months without food, perhaps several days to a week without water, but within about five minutes of stopping breathing, irreversible damage occurs to brain cells. Many health-enhancing practices are centred around increasing our supply of oxygen. Aerobic exercise is known to benefit the immune system as well as the heart; hence today's emphasis on fitness, in activities ranging from walking and swimming to dancing and running. The breath is used in meditation practices as a means of focusing one's concentration, in rebirthing to help people re-live and more positively integrate experiences which they may have blocked from consciousness. Breathing deeply is an effective way of easing pain and fear, and in certain clinical practices, hyperbaric oxygenation is used therapeutically to increase the body's oxygen supply. Life saving emergency procedures of rescusitation stress the importance of starting and maintaining a person's breathing, and hence their oxygen connection. From the most ancient to the most modern practices, the breath and oxygen perform vital roles.

Oxygen is a vital as well as a precious substance; oxygen supports our life; it is the substance which is required to drive our cellular metabolism. Cells deprived of oxygen simply cannot sustain normal metabolic functions. A condition known as hypoxia (low oxygen) invites cellular vulnerability which may lead to cellular degeneration, ageing and cancer. Our primary mode of metabolism is oxygen-driven. The nutrients we ingest are digested via biochemical pathways, in which complex molecules are broken down into simpler substances, and energy is generated and stored as molecules of Adenosine Tri-phosphate (ATP). Oxygen is required to provide to fuel this process. If there is not an adequate supply of oxygen, non-oxygen (anaerobic) biochemical pathways go into operation. An anaerobic environment in our bodies encourages the proliferation of pathogenic microflora, such as candida; it also supports cancer cells, which are thought to revert to an anaerobic form of metabolism.

Oxygen is literally a life-sustaining substance to our bodies.

A few of the oxygen-requiring processes that are constantly going on are: digestion and absorption of nutrients we ingest; detoxification of poisonous substances we inhale from the air we breathe, ingest in the food we eat, and absorb from toxic heavy metals such as mercury which are placed in our mouths as dental fillings. When we stress our bodies through consumption of caffeine, excess sugar, meat, alcohol, drugs, lack of sleep, mental and emotional pressure, oxygen is needed to repair the damage done to our cells, tissues and organs. The immune system requires oxygen to protect the body from foreign attack; the phagocytic white cells which engulf and destroy foreign invaders, actually "zap" their targets with a dose of toxic superoxide (63,64).

Reactive Oxygen Toxic Species (ROTS)

For all of oxygen's vital, life-giving properties, there is also a negative side: this is in the form of certain toxic oxygen species generated during metabolic process, which are extremely reactive and are now thought to be the primary cause of cellular degeneration, ageing and many diseases including cancer. These reactive oxygen toxic species (ROTS) include superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen. These oxygen species are toxic because they have acquired an extra electron which makes them extremely unstable. They are "free radicals", are incomplete by themselves, and are extremely reactive and damaging to cells. (Hydrogen peroxide is not, strictly speaking a free radical, but is an incompletely reduced form of molecular oxygen). A more comprehensive discussion of ROTS and their role in many diseases is outlined in an elegant and articulate book entitled "Oxidology", by Bradford, Allen and Culbert, published by The Robert W. Bradford Foundation, 1985 (10).

The body has managed to put some of these ROTS to practical uses in bodily processes, for example, the use of superoxide by phagocytes to kill their target cells as mentioned above. The body also has developed natural ways of neutralising or destroying these ROTS; substances which can detoxify ROTS are called anti-oxidants, free radical scavengers or oxidative scavengers. For example, a natural anti-oxidant of superoxide issuper-oxide dismutase (SOD); catalase and glutathione (GSH) are anti-oxidants of hydrogen peroxide. Certain nutrients, including vitamins C and E, are dietary anti-oxidants of hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen respectively, while the trace mineral selenium, is an anti-oxidant of hydrogen peroxide, through its intimate association with the glutathione enzyme system.

Organic Germanium - Oxygen Enricher And Antioxidant

Organic Germanium enriches the body's oxygen supply and is also a potent antioxidant, properties which contribute to this trace element's widespread beneficial effects upon many inter-related metabolic process in the body (63,64). Although organic Germanium's properties of oxygen modulation are not yet precisely elucidated, there is sufficient clinical research evidence to lay the groundwork for more detailed cellular investigation.

Organic Germanium Enriches Oxygen Supply

1. Organic Germanium lowers the requirement for oxygen consumption by organs in culture and increases the life span of animals under oxygen stress.

Experiments conducted with mice in a biochemical laboratory of Tohoku University, investigating the effects of organic Germanium upon oxygen consumption in the liver and diaphram, indicated a decline in oxygen consumption. Dr. Asai has postulated that organic Germanium plays the same role as oxygen in the body, thereby increasing the body's oxygen supply. There is a relationship between oxygen supply, blood viscosity and blood flow. When more oxygen is available, blood viscosity decreases, thereby increasing blood flow to all organs.

2. Organic Germanium protects against carbon monoxide asphyxiation, stroke and Raynaud's disease, conditions linked with oxygen starvation.

Upon taking therapeutic doses of organic Germanium, there is often a warm, glowing, even a tingling feeling, that has been attributed by Dr. Asai to its oxygenation effect. Individuals suffering from diseases of the circulatory system, such as Raynaud's disease, which may lead to gangrene and limb amputation, have shown significant improvement to their condition taking organic Germanium.

3. Organic Germanium is beneficial in treating eye diseases and wounds, especially burns.

Organic Germanium has been successfully used to treat various eye diseases, including glaucoma, black cataracts, detached retinas, retinal inflammation, and burns. It is not yet known which therapeutic properties of organic Germanium effected these improvements; however, it is a reasonable supposition that the oxygenation effects of organic Germanium contributed to the healing of these conditions.

4. Organic Germanium, in conjunction with hyperbaric oxygen treatment (66), can bring about significant improvement in cases of multiple sclerosis and other degenerative conditions.

The naturopath Jan de Vries writes about the beneficial effects of increased oxygenation in treating cases of multiple sclerosis in his book "By Appointment Only" (18). Dr. de Vries actually met Dr. Asai in 1975 (17), and has been using organic Germanium in his practice. He is currently compiling many of his case histories of Germanium treatment in cancer and leukemia, to include in a book. He writes ...."hyperbaric oxygen treatment, in combination with Germanium, can improve the condition of a patient beyond belief... Eyesight often improves when a Multiple Sclerosis patient has hyperbaric oxygen treatment, because good eyesight depends on a good supply of oxygen in the blood".

5. The structure of organic Germanium, a crystalline lattice network extensively bonded with negative oxygen ions, is said to actually substitute for oxygen, and to enable the attraction and elimination of acidifying hydrogen ions, which detoxifies the blood.

In the electron transport scheme during oxidative metabolism, electrons are transferred along a set of electron acceptors, ending up, ultimately with the combination of hydrogen and oxygen to form water. However, when there is an oxygen deficiency, the loss of electrons can result in the accumulation of positive hydrogen ions, which lead to blood acidification. Ge-132 has negatively charged oxygen ions, which can clear away these hydrogen ions, and thus detoxify the blood.

6. Organic Germanium's ability to fascilely transfer electrons permits it to act as an electron sink during oxidative metabolism, thus enhancing the body's generation of energy without the intake of extra oxygen.

The electron transport system can be likened to a fire bucket brigade. If there is a shortage of electron acceptors, the entire process can grind to a halt, just as if one person is not in position, the bucket of water cannot get passed to put out the fire. Organic Germanium has been shown to be an excellent electron conductor, and thus can significantly contribute to the efficiency of the entire process of oxidative metabolism, which, ultimately generates energy for the body.

Organic Germanium Is An Antioxidant

1. Organic Germanium (Ge-132) protects against the accumulation of amyloid, a free-radical oxidative endproduct, in mice (98).

A disease called amyloidosis results from an imbalance in the process of protein breakdown, resulting in the accumulation of amyloid. Amyloidosis may be associated with chronic inflammatory diseases, immune amyloidosis with plasma cell disorders, localized amyloid deposition in neuroendocrine organs, or congenital deficiency of enzymes which break down amyloid precursors. Reports in the clinical literature report that amyloidosis can be induced by immunosuppressive agents. In a laboratory study in Japan, organic Germanium significantly inhibited (50% of the untreated group) the induction of amyloidosis in mice. The mechanisms of this suppression remain to be elucidated.

2. Organic Germanium (Ge-132) protects cystein, a sulfhydryl amino acid, from becoming oxidized in solution (105).

Cystein is a sulfur-containing amino acid. Solutions of cysteine have been found to have favourable effects upon eye conditions, notably corneal ulcers, corneal burns and sicca syndrome. However, water solutions of cysteine are rather rapidly oxidized to form an insoluble product, necessitating the constant preparation of new solutions. Germanium was found to stabilize solutions of cysteine and inhibit its oxidation; preparations remained water soluble for up to one week. This demonstrates one therapeutic application of Germanium's anti-oxidant properties.

3. Organic Germanium (Sanumgerman) has significant activating effects upon superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione-related enzyme systems in rats (38). The dose-related dynamics of activation are different for the two enzyme systems.

Several doctoral dissertations from the Institute of Physiological Chemistry in Hanover (23) deal with the effects of organic Germanium compounds (Sanumgerman and variants of the formulation) upon glutathione-related enzyme systems as well as superoxide dismutase in rats. These results are herein consolidated:

i. Cytoplasmic and microsomal glutathione-S-transferase were activated.

ii. Glutathione peroxidases (GSH-Px) were activated, the concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH) increased, whereas total glutathione (TG) levels were affected according to the particular organic ligand of Germanium used.

iii. Activation of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was biphasic, dose-dependent, as well as affected by the particular type of Germanium organic ligand used.

iv. Catalase activity of liver mitochondria and peroxisomes is modulated according to dose and Germanium substance used.

The ability of organic Germanium to modulate the activities of known anti-oxidants Glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and possibly catalase, provides solid evidence of organic Germanium's anti-oxidant properties.

Can Structure Be The Key?

Central to organic Germanium's oxidizing and anti-oxidant properties lie in its structure, which is noted in Chapter 2, is a crystalline lattice network, extensively oxygen bonded. Germanium has 4 electrons, three of which, in Ge-132, are bonded to oxygen, the other being a free radical, able to interact in diverse reactions, which has implications for properties in addition to oxygen modulating, including protection from radiation and analgesia. Sanumgerman (Germanium citrate lactate), has a different structure, but similar oxygen-enriching properties and rigorously documented anti-oxidant effects. Therefore, it may be this electronic fascileness which enables organic Germanium to give and take so freely, electronically speaking, which is central to its oxygenation and antioxidant properties.

 

 

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