
Self Experiments In the Biochemically Unoptimized State
Mastering Nutrition
Biotin and the Biochemically Unoptimized State
Chris Master John will be looking for evidence that loading 10 milligrams per day is optimized by biotin status. He'll also be looking for normalization of his blood levels of aspartate and pyruvate carboxylase activity. The MTHFR protocol is free to anyone who subscribes to my sub stack, whether free or paid. Use Chris Master John PhD dot com slash MTHFR or use the first link in the description. If you can go over there and leave a comment if you found this useful, I'll leave the link to the sub stack article self experiments in the biochemically unoptimized state too.
Finally, the long-awaited results of my self-experiments conducted from September through January are released!
First, make sure you get my MTHFR Protocol, my free 7-page quick guide to optimizing and personalizing your methylation status, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/blog/2019/03/01/start-here-for-mthfr-and-methylation
The primary abnormalities in my metabolism during this pre-biotin period were 1) 15 minutes of paradoxical rise in ketones after eating rice, 2) paradoxical rise in lactate during fasting that is suppressed by my meals, and 3) a massively outsized lactate response to alcohol. The first two were provoked by an 18-hour fast and the last by undereating prior to the alcohol.
These support a deficiency in the biotin-dependent, manganese-dependent, oxalate-poisoned enzyme pyruvate carboxylase.
This is long, and if your time is limited, you may want to skip to “The Bottom Line” in this link: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/self-experiments-in-the-biochemically
However, there are some major reasons to commit some time to reading the whole report: It serves as a crash course on the most relevant biochemistry of glucose, ketones, lactate, and ethanol across contexts that include general health, diabetes, infancy, and pregnancy. It includes a literature review of all of the relevant “normal” data.
For example, what usually happens to lactate during fasting?
What is the normal response of ketones to a glucose tolerance test at the 15-minute mark?
How high should you expect your lactate to go up when you drink vodka, bourbon, or beer?
I have laid out a model of self-experimentation that you can borrow from for your own experiments.
There are many thought-provoking nuggets in here.
For example: Is it possible that two pounds of extra body fat prevents peripheral neuropathy in me and perhaps others? I make the case that it may.
Has your fasting glucose gone up on low-carb? See why mine went down after doing repeated glucose tolerance tests on myself (which I don’t recommend at home!)
And, learn why I can fast my way to a glucose of 70 or eat my way to a glucose of 70 and I would choose eating my way there every time.
The full written version with linked references is found here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/self-experiments-in-the-biochemically
And don't forget to get my MTHFR Protocol, my free 7-page quick guide to optimizing and personalizing your methylation status, here:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/blog/2019/03/01/start-here-for-mthfr-and-methylation