Folate and the Exploding Pen – Book Excerpt of the Week

For the Book Excerpt of the Week we talk about what FOLATE DOES. Folate’s job is to move a single Carbon atom from point A to point B. It SOUNDS boring like how Boring Basic Biotin moves a Carbon Dioxide molecule from A to B. However the stakes are MUCH HIGHER with Folate.

Regardless of whether it came into your body as folate (the natural form from food) or folic acid (the synthetic kind from fortified food) this vitamin becomes the coenzyme tetrahydrofolate, THF.

THF is a key player in DNA synthesis, amino acid metabolism, and the formation and maturation of red and white blood cells.

<<THF = BFD>>

The cells along your GI tract are so constantly used they go through a lot of wear and tear. They need constant supplies of DNA so they can keep growing and multiplying fast enough to keep us healthy. Without THF, the cells can’t divide and conquer. Instead, they grow larger and larger until they explode and die!

Folate is added to energy drinks, but it doesn’t “give you energy”, its job is so much more important than that!

LEARN MORE about the science behind energy drink ingredients on my Insta page (@greeneyedguide) and at Facebook.com/GreenEyedGuide. You can get your copy of my book “Are You a Monster or a Rock Star: A Guide to Energy Drinks – How They Work, Why They Work, How to Use Them Safely” on Amazon and Audible and wherever books are sold!!!

http://www.audible.com/offers/30free?asin=B074R1GR94

❓Does your favorite energy drink have folate❓

STAY TUNED every Monday/Tuesday for more book excerpts and the science behind energy drink ingredients as we continue our page-by-page exploration through the Energy Drink Guide.

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What Niacin Does – Book Excerpt of the Week 

Niacin is my FAVORITE vitamin! Niacin doesn’t “give you energy” like caffeine, but if caffeine is the Iron Man of Energy Drink Ingredient Avengers then Niacin is Captain America.

Niacin is like that person everyone wants at their party. It participates in hundreds of reactions and thus is welcome all over the body.

The body loves niacin so much it creates a little bit on its own, just in case you don’t get enough from the diet.

Corn loves niacin so much, there’s a protein in corn that has niacin on lockdown.

In previous book excerpt posts, we proposed that if B-vitamins were all superheroes and you were assembling your dream squad for an energy drink, you’d want riboflavin and thiamin in the mix.

Thiamin is a crucial part of how the body turns glucose into energy.

Riboflavin feeds a giant beast of a reaction in the body which leads to the release of huge amounts of energy.

Thiamin and riboflavin are great, but niacin is even better. Here are two strong reasons why:

1.Niacin is even better than thiamin and riboflavin because of the sheer number of reactions in which it participates. Niacin is part of over 200 reactions in the body, most of them involving the production of ENERGY.

2.Niacin helps with the first step of alcohol metabolism. This is the step where ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde via the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. Niacin is a coenzyme, which means it’s a key part of the enzyme or machine that completes this reaction. This reaction/conversion is partly why booze depletes your B-vitamin stores and thus why energy drinks with caffeine, milk thistle and NIACIN are good HANGOVER REMEDIES! [For more info, see this post I wrote about energy drinks and hangovers on BroBible for more]

To learn more about niacin and the other B-vitamins, stay tuned for next week’s book excerpt as we continue our page-by-page exploration through the Energy Drink Guide.

 

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