Love smoothies?

Me, too!

Smoothies are an awesome vehicle for nutrition and natural medicine (and of course cacao or other unprocessed form of chocolate, if you're a chocoholic like me). But if your smoothies contain one of these four ingredients, you might not be getting everything you bargained for in your smoothies. Then again, you might need one of these four ingredients in your smoothies to protect you. Bio-individuality rules.

Polyphenol Oxidase (PPO)

Bananas, collard greens, beets, and chard can provide many nutrients to smoothies but they also destroy other nutrients you might have been expecting to obtain from your smoothies. That's because they are high in polyphenol oxidase (PPO), an enzyme that degrades polyphenols.

Polyphenols constitute many of the brightly-colored pigments that make fruits and vegetables colorful. Berries are an example of a polyphenol-rich food that many of us like to put in our smoothies. They taste great, and their polyphenols benefit our microbiome, mitochondria, brain, and more.

But if you also have bananas (or collard greens, beets, or chard) in the same smoothie, the amount of polyphenols that get into your body declines dramatically. So if you want to get all of the power of polyphenols, eat them separately from bananas, beets, collard greens, and chard.

The Power and Peril of Polyphenols

While polyphenols are "darlings" of the nutritional world because of their far-reaching health benefits, some people can't process polyphenols very well and actually need to limit polyphenols in their diet and supplements.

A subset of polyphenols called salicylates can damage mitochondrial function if they accumulate in excess. The most well-known salicylate is salicin from white willow bark, which can be isolated as salicylic acid, also known as aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid).

In general, phenols are "good" for you because they are "bad" for you. They seem to be hormetic stressors that in the right dosage range (for the individual) produce adaptive responses like increased production of endogenous antioxidants.

When a person does not tolerate phenols well, it is usually because they cannot sulfate the phenols quickly enough to keep them from accumulating to a toxic level. This can occur for various reasons:

• Genetic polymorphisms in the genes for sulfation enzymes that attach sulfate to phenolic compounds in order to elimate them from the body
• Deficiency of sulfate caused by genetic polymorphisms in the sulfite oxidase (SUOX) enzyme that converts sulfite to sulfate
• Deficiency in molybdenum, the cofactor for the SUOX enzyme
• Genetic polymorphism in genes that contribute to molybdenum cofactor deficiency (GPHN, MOCS1, MOCS2, or MOCS3 genes) that can develop in adulthood as a result of an infection (e.g. Lyme disease)
• Deficiency of sulfate caused by inadequate sun exposure, if Stephanie Seneff is correct that the skin can harness sunlight to convert oxidize hydrogen sulfide to make sulfate
• High phenol load resulting from an overgrowth (usually in the small intestine) of certain bacteria that produce a lot of phenolic compounds

If you are somebody that has trouble with polyphenols or salicylates, then perhaps you would want to reduce the polyphenols in smoothies from berries or other high-polyphenol foods. In this case, perhaps you would want to add bananas, collard greens, beets, and/or chard to your smoothies.

Also realize that if you have trouble with polyphenols or salicylates, this affects what botanicals (i.e. herbs) you can safely use. There are many reasons that a person can respond negatively to botanicals, and one such reason is sensitivity to phenols or salicylates.

If the problem is a deficiency of sulfate or molybdenum, then restoring molybdenum sufficiency or increasing your body's sulfate could solve the problem. Ways of increasing your body's sulfate supply include supplementing with glucosamine sulfate or chondroitin sulfate, taking Epsom salt baths, and possibly getting more sun exposure. 

As always, use caution with sun exposure. Fair skin, sun-sensitizing drugs, and other factors can contraindicate sun exposure. 

A Case Study: Me

I have genetic SNPs in the SUOX enzyme and previously was also deficient in molybdenum, the cofactor for the SUOX enzyme. So it was a double whammy for me because the combination of my SUOX enzyme SNP and my molybdenum deficiency was impairing my ability to convert sulfites to sulfate. Restoring molybdenum sufficiency made a huge difference in my ability to tolerate high-sulfur foods, which my body was craving (e.g. garlic, onions, and crucierous veggetables).

More recently, after experimenting with high doses of aspirin for a while, I started to get stomach pain (a potential symptom of salicylate sensitivity), So I started taking glucosmaine sulfate, and the stomach pain disappeared within a week while still taking high doses of aspirin.

NOTE: I am not advising experimentation with high doses of aspirin, or any doses of aspirin. It might not be useful or safe for you. 

Bio-Individuality Rules

Variance in the ability to metabolize phenols illustrates the importance of understanding how bio-individuality affects a person's response to various foods and supplements. Bio-individuality sets up some of the "rules" for what works and does not work for you. And bio-individuality "rules" the landscape of your health journey. One-size-fits-all solutions often just don't work for some people and can even cause harm.

This is why I created the Bio-Individual Blueprint approach to health. You can learn more about it here.