Raúl Avalos Trejo-Nutriólogo

19/02/2026

No es percepción, es enfermedad mental !!!

15/02/2026

13/02/2026

Metabolism: How pyruvate controls cell size

🔗 eLife Insight Articles delve into the real significance of the latest research. Read here: https://elifesciences.org/articles/109482?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic_insights

13/02/2026

I no longer believe detox symptoms are healthy.

In practice, when someone feels worse, it is not toxins leaving. It is physiology being overwhelmed.

Detox is enzyme driven. Phase I and Phase II pathways rely on cytochrome P450 enzymes, methylation, sulfation, glucuronidation, and glutathione. These systems require riboflavin, niacinamide for NAD, magnesium, protein, glycine, vitamin C, and trace minerals. They require energy.

If you push detox faster than these pathways can process, you create a bottleneck. Mobilized compounds circulate without being properly conjugated and excreted. Oxidative stress rises. Histamine increases. The nervous system becomes overstimulated. Anxiety, insomnia, rashes, fatigue, brain fog, mood swings follow.

That is overload.

Genetically, most people have reduced efficiency somewhere in CYP, COMT, GST, SOD, MTHFR, PEMT and related pathways. Not broken, but slower. Aggressive detox supplements, binders, fasting, or high doses can exceed that capacity.

The body does not need to be forced. It needs nutrients.

When B3 supports NAD, vitamin C restores redox balance, magnesium stabilizes ATP, and protein supports conjugation, detox improves quietly. Bile flows. Elimination normalizes. Symptoms decrease.

If a protocol causes strong reactions, mobilization exceeded processing. Pushing through depletes nutrients further.

Going slowly is strategic. Build capacity first. When capacity improves, detox happens naturally and should feel stabilizing, not destabilizing.

08/02/2026

Every supplement brand sells you magnesium mapped to an organ. Threonate for brain. Glycinate for sleep. Taurate for heart. Malate for energy.

It looks clean. It makes intuitive sense. But almost none of it comes from human tissue-targeting data.

Here's what actually happens when you take any magnesium salt: it dissociates in the GI tract into Mg²⁺ ions and a ligand. The ligand affects absorption rate and bioavailability, not tissue targeting. Once Mg²⁺ is in the blood, there's no address label.
A 2021 systematic review (Pardo et al., Nutrition) confirmed that tissue distribution data exists only in animal models. No human study has ever measured brain or CSF magnesium levels after oral supplementation of any form.

The brain-targeting claim for L-threonate comes from four rodent studies — two on MgT, two on Mg acetyl taurate — all showing increased brain Mg in rats and mice. The human RCTs measured cognitive scores, not brain magnesium. And every positive human trial was industry-funded. The one independent trial (Ni 2023, post-surgical breast cancer patients) found no improvement in pain, mood, sleep, or cognition after 12 weeks.
Here's the part nobody talks about: Mg glycinate delivers ~2-3g of glycine per dose. Glycine has its own human RCT evidence for improving sleep. Mg taurate delivers meaningful taurine, which has independent cardiovascular evidence. People may be experiencing real effects from the ligand and attributing them to "targeted magnesium."

And Mg malate for energy? Zero human clinical trials. Oral malic acid does not upregulate the Krebs cycle. That's biochemistry used as decoration.

Be cautious buying the organ map until it's shown in humans. ~50% of U.S. adults don't meet the RDA for magnesium. The form matters far less than whether you take it at all.

References:
Pardo et al. Nutrition. 2021. PMID: 34111673
Slutsky et al. Neuron. 2010. PMID: 20152124
Li et al. Mol Brain. 2014. PMID: 25213836
Uysal et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2019. PMID: 29679349
Ates et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2019. PMID: 30761462
Lopresti & Smith. Front Nutr. 2026. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1729164
Zhang et al. Nutrients. 2022. PMID: 36558392
Hausenblas et al. Sleep Med X. 2024. PMID: 39252819
Ni et al. Breast Cancer. 2023. PMID: 37520407

04/02/2026

Your mitochondria aren't just "powerhouses," they're master regulators.

TCA cycle intermediates aren't just fuel. They're signaling molecules that directly influence stem cell function, immune responses, tumor development, and even lymphatic vessel formation.

→ Acetyl-CoA exits the mitochondria to drive histone acetylation and lymphangiogenesis
→ α-ketoglutarate and its derivative L-2-HG toggle between stem cell maintenance and immune modulation
→ Itaconate (derived from aconitate) has emerged as a key immunometabolite
→ Succinate and fumarate accumulation can drive tumorigenesis through epigenetic dysregulation

practically speaking, supporting mitochondrial health isn't just about energy.

Strategies like calorie restriction, aerobic exercise, and targeted nutrients (B vitamins, magnesium, CoQ10, alpha-lipoic acid) help maintain TCA cycle flux, which means better cellular signaling, not just better ATP production.

if someone asks you why mitochondrial support matters beyond "feeling more energetic," this is why.

Figure from Martínez-Reyes & Chandel, Nature Communications (2020)

02/02/2026

Amino acids are quite literally the alphabet of life

Proteins are the body’s vocabulary. Every enzyme, hormone, receptor, and muscle fiber is a “word.” But the alphabet they’re written in is made of a common 20 amino acids. This chart is your dictionary key:

1️⃣ The Basics

Each amino acid has:

A chemical structure (the side chain makes each unique).

A 3-letter code (e.g., Ala for alanine).

A 1-letter code (A for alanine) — the “shorthand” your DNA uses.

🟢 Example: Hemoglobin’s sequence is written in this one-letter code, like a long word spelling out life.

2️⃣ Chemical Classes (Color-Coded Here)

Aliphatic (red): Alanine, glycine, valine, leucine, isoleucine → hydrophobic, important for protein cores.

Aromatic (green): Phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine → absorb UV light, help fold proteins.

Acidic (orange): Aspartic acid, glutamic acid → negatively charged, used in enzyme active sites.

Basic (blue): Lysine, arginine, histidine → positively charged, often bind DNA or other molecules.

Hydroxyl-containing (pink): Serine, threonine → sites for phosphorylation (cell signaling).

Sulfur-containing (yellow): Cysteine, methionine → cysteine makes disulfide bridges, methionine often starts protein synthesis.

Amidic (dark blue): Asparagine, glutamine → neutral but polar, good at hydrogen bonding.

🟢 Example: Cysteine (yellow) is like “Velcro” — it can link different parts of a protein together.

3️⃣ Essential vs. Non-Essential (Dashed vs. Solid Circles)
Essential (dashed): Must come from food (e.g., leucine, lysine, tryptophan).

Non-essential (solid): Body can synthesize (e.g., alanine, glutamate).

🟢 Example: Tryptophan is essential because you need it to make serotonin — but you can’t make it yourself.

4️⃣ Why This Matters

Protein folding: Side chains dictate 3D structure.
Enzyme activity: Active sites are built from specific side chain chemistries.

Signaling: Phosphorylation often happens on serine, threonine, tyrosine.

Stability: Sulfur bonds (cysteine) keep proteins locked in place.
🟢 Example: A single amino acid swap in hemoglobin (glutamic acid → valine) causes sickle cell disease.

With just 20 letters, nature writes the language of life. Each amino acid has its own “accent” - i.e., acidic, basic, aromatic, or sulfur-linked; and together they form the entire vocabulary of proteins that keep you alive

28/01/2026

26/01/2026

Zinc + Serine + BCAAs: A Nutrient Trio Supporting Cognitive Function

Cognitive performance depends on tightly regulated synaptic signaling, balanced excitatory neurotransmission, and sufficient metabolic support for active neurons. This nutrient trio operates across these layers, influencing how neural signals are generated, modulated, and sustained.

Zinc plays a regulatory role at excitatory synapses, where it modulates synaptic proteins involved in neurotransmission and supports normal neuronal firing patterns and plasticity. Adequate zinc status is essential for maintaining signal precision within cortical and limbic circuits.

Serine contributes to neurotransmitter balance through its role as a precursor to D-serine, a co-agonist at NMDA receptors. This pathway is central to learning, memory formation, and signal integration, particularly in networks involved in higher-order cognition.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) support neuronal energy demands and protein turnover. By contributing substrates for protein synthesis and influencing amino acid competition at the blood–brain barrier, BCAAs help sustain synaptic structure and neurotransmitter availability during periods of cognitive demand.

Suggested Protocol

Zinc
- Target intake: ~5–15 mg/day
-Sources: Shellfish, red meat, pumpkin seeds, legumes

Notes: Avoid chronic high-dose supplementation unless medically indicated.

Serine
- Target intake: Typically met through diet; supplemental use often ranges ~500–2,000 mg/day
- Sources: Eggs, soy foods, dairy, nuts, seeds

Notes: Dietary intake is usually sufficient for most individuals.

BCAAs
- Preferred source: Whole foods
- Primary foods: Animal proteins (meat, fish, dairy, eggs) and high-quality mixed protein sources

Food-derived BCAAs provide a balanced amino acid matrix, supporting physiological uptake and reducing the risk of disproportionate amino acid competition seen with isolated, high-dose BCAA supplements.

This trio is best approached as a diet-first strategy, using supplementation only to correct gaps. In particular, prioritizing BCAAs from complete protein foods aligns more closely with normal amino acid metabolism and supports cognitive function without unnecessary imbalance.