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Serotonin Boosts Learning Speed |
| By Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum |
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This is an excellent article on serotonin. Aspartame depletes serotonin and this article explains serotonin enhances learning, not just mood. There has been in my city of Atlanta discussions of why students can't learn. Governor Nathan Deal has for years discussed the problems of children learning. At one time he said maybe teachers should be paid by how well they teach. How do you teach children using aspartame and are depleted in serotonin. It's gotten so bad that here in Georgia several teachers were sent to prison for cheating. They were falsifying test scores: / www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/ 10/20/495806074/educators- went-to-jail-for-cheating- what-happened-to-the-students Here is the timeline: https://www.ajc.com/news/ timeline-how-the-atlanta- school-cheating-scandal- unfolded/ jn4vTk7GZUQoQRJTVR7UHK/ I've even seen articles about eliminating tests. http://www.debate.org/ opinions/should-schools- eliminate-testing The 9/99 Parent's Magazine asked "WHAT'S WRONG WITH OUR CHILDREN?" It said: "Four mothers lingered after the PTA meeting at a private school in New York City whispering about their third grade children, each of whom had been diagnosed with a different psychological problem. The first had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and had also been prescribed Prozac for his mood swings. The second was seeing a therapist for depression after his parents were divorced. The third was being assessed for a conduct disorder, due to his continued rowdiness in class. The fourth was taking St. John's Wort, an alternative herbal remedy for dysthymia, a milder form of depression, under a doctor's supervision. One mom commented that out of 40 students in the grade, she could count three or four more who had been similarly diagnosed. "that makes nearly twenty percent of our class,"she said stunned. "We're good parents," the first mother lamented. "Why aren't our children normal?" Parents Magazine continues: "Even before the tragic school shootings in Jonesboro and Littleton, parents were waking up to the reality that something is desperately wrong. their children - and their children's classmates - are being diagnosed with mental health problems at an alarming rate. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that there are 12 million children under 18 with mental disorders. At least 3 to 5 percent of American school age children suffer from ADHD, for example, and 5 percent show signs of depression. by the end of high school, one in four teems will have seriously considered suicide." Dr. H. J. Roberts says in "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic", page 292, "Decreased brain serotonin has been associated with insomnia, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, hallucinations, suicidal attempts, hostility and psychopathic states." He says further, "Aspartame and its components can lower brain serotonin levels through several mechanisms. Dr. Richard Wurtman demonstrated that aspartame inhibits the carbohydrate-induced synthesis of serotonin (Congressional Record - Senate 1985a, p.S 5511). Serotonin is an important component of the feedback system that helps limit one's consumption of carbohydrate to appropriate levels by blunting the carbohydrate craving. The amino acid tyrosine, derived from phenylalanine, reduces the amount of tryptophan that can cross the blood-brain barrier for utilization in serotonin production." Dr. Roberts on page 515 gives some case histories: "A grandmother visited her 12 year old grandson only once or twice a year. Having been "a very bright child when three or four years old," she was shocked to discover his learning disability. The response of his parents was even more disturbing. "They shrugged at my reprimand for allowing him to drink diet colas all through the day - even for breakfast! I can't help but believe these sodas are the cause of his problem." "The dismay over grandchildren with congenital deformities and other disorders is great. For example, a man wrote concerning his grandson born with spina bifida. "We give him food and drinks with aspartame to help keep his weight down. Our family doctor says your ideas are wrong. Who do we believe." In the most horrible scandal, the FDA made a deal with G. D. Searle, to seal their teratology studies which showed spina bifida, cleft palate and neural tube defects for starters. FDA Jerome Bressler who did the famous Bressler Report exposing Searle's studies told me FDA had removed the information from his report and it had to be added back, pregnant women were consuming this poison. I had called him and thanked him when he retired. It took me 8 years to find the studies. The sealed information was then added back to the Bressler Report: http://www.mpwhi.com/complete_ bressler_report.pdf Today the FDA protects industry and lies to the public when it was their FDA scientist who told the Senate on August 1, 1985 that aspartame was on the market illegally because it violated the Delaney Amendment. Aspartame caused brain tumors and brain cancer. Dr. Gross said the FDA should not have been able to even set an allowable daily intake but his last words will never be forgotten: "If the FDA violates its own laws who is left to protect the public?" MIT says by 2025 one out of two babies born will be autistic. Here is Dr. Woodrow Monte's chapter on autism from his book, "While Science Sleeps: A Sweetener Kills" - https://rense.com//general96/ asparautism.html He discusses the FDA deal with the manufacturer. Can you even imagine an FDA who knew aspartame would cause horrible birth defects and refused to add a pregnancy warning and allowed this teratogen in children's drugs to destroy their health. Dr. Monte and Dr. Ralph Walton also did a study on aspartame and autism. Here is the Aspartame Resource Guide for more information: http://www.mpwhi.com/ aspartame_resource_guide.pdf Dr. Roberts also says on page 293: "Dr. Ralph G. Walton (1986) urged physicians to bear in mind "the possible impact of aspartame on catecholamine and indolamine metabolism, and inquire about the use of this artificial sweetener when assessing patients with affective disorders." "The brain edema and vascular stasis due to chronic methanol intake could contribute to the neuropsychiatric manifestations of aspartame reactors. The observation of tryptophan depletion in nonalcoholic young men can induce behavioral changes is pertinent in view of the depletion of tryptophan by aspartame consumption." Dr. Russell Blaylock says depression drugs don't work: https://www.newsmax.com/ health/dr-blaylock/depression- ssris-neurotransmitter- antipsychotic/2016/07/19/id/ 739472/ Dr. Blaylock is author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills", an excellent medical text which discusses aspartame and MSG. Dr. Roberts says while aspartame triggers psychiatric and behavioral problems it interacts with all anti-depressant drugs. In his medical text is a chapter on aspartame and drug interactions. It damages the mitochondria and interacts with not only drugs but also vaccines. The FDA has always known that aspartame is an excitoneurotoxic drug and not an additive. Dr. Miguel Baret of the Dominican Republic cow's milk from 360 children's diets as it has specific protein that can cause diabetes, especially in children. Instead they drank juice laced with aspartame, and many developed "abnormal restlessness, lack of concentration, irritability and depression." When Dr. Baret removed it "The results were astonishing. Their symptoms disappeared in 4-6 days in ALL of them! Thank you, Dr. Baret, for showing what aspartame does to the brains of our kids! Since then aspartame experts provided information for a "Report For Schools": http://www.mpwhi.com/report_ on_aspartame_and_children.htm It can be sent to Boards of Education, teachers, PTA, principals and other educators to save the children. It was taken out of Chicago grammar and middle schools because of this report. Play it forward! What has been done to the children of the world is no supposition. This is the bitter reality of Aspartame/NutraSweet/Equal/ Canderel/Benevia/ E951, the FDA/Coca Cola/Pepsi, and the hundreds of food, drink and drug makers who add to their products a known poison conceived in fraud and dedicated to the proposition that profit is ALL that matters! Here is the FDA's own report of 92 symptoms including death. http://www.mpwhi.com/92_ aspartame_symptoms.pdf Aspartame destroys young minds! More and more educators rely on Ritalin, Prozac, and other psychoactive drugs to bring order to the classrooms. So education is becoming medication. The generic for Ritalin even has aspartame in it. Do firemen fight smoke? Aspartame is the fire, attention deficit discover (ADD) is the smoke from a raging atrocity consuming the brains and lives of our children! As this blazing conflagration spreads throughout the world the FDA even ignores the harm to babies and children. After once asking for the indictment of the manufacturer and revoking the petition for approval on my web site, www.mpwhi.com they now lie to the public and say its safe. While products like Coke and Pepsi are labeled "Diet" with consumers getting fatter and fatter from the obesity triggered by aspartame six class actions have been filed for deceptive advertising. The National Health Federation published the indepth story in "Health Freedom News", Winter 2017/Volume 35. In "Sweet Remedy" a documentary on aspartame the ADD people were interviewed and admitted that before aspartame was approved they hardly used the term "ADD". https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=na9k53G3zds Also, see the documentary on how aspartame has poisoned the world - "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World" - https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ZI7_8FDzuJE With this understanding read on for the article on serotonin from Medical News Today below. Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder Mission Possible World Health Intl www.mpwhi.com More information on aspartame on www.wnho.net , www.holisticmed.com/aspartame , www.rense.com - search aspartame. The www.dorway.com files are now on www.mpwhi.com Also www.aspartamekills.com " https://www.medicalnewstoday. com/privacy-policy " Serotonin Enhances Learning, Not just Mood By Maria Cohut Fact checked by Jasmin Collier 6-28-18 The neurotransmitter serotonin is linked to the control of mood, though it also helps to regulate various other functions, such as sleep and sexual desire. New research has uncovered another role played by serotonin: boosting learning speed. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is key to the regulation of emotions, also plays a role in learning processes. Though variations in serotonin levels are linked to mood disorders such as depression , we still do not know that much about all the roles played by this neurotransmitter. Some previous study papers have linked it with memory and neuroplasticity , or the brain's ability to continuously adapt throughout a person's life so as to preserve health and cognitive function. Now, scientists spanning two institutions the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown (CCU) in Lisbon, Portugal, and University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom have delved deeper and found that serotonin is involved in learning processes, too. More specifically, it appears to contribute to the speed at which we learn new information, as the researchers explain in a paper now published in the journal Nature Communications . The study, conducted in a mouse model, tested how quickly the animals would be able to adapt their behavior to a given situation. Serotonin seemed to play a role in this process. "The study found that serotonin enhances the speed of learning," explains study co-author Zachary Mainen, from the CCU. "When serotonin neurons were activated artificially, using light, it made mice quicker to adapt their behavior in a situation that required such flexibility," he adds. "That is, they gave more weight to new information and therefore changed their minds more rapidly when these neurons were active.” — Zachary Mainen Two Learning StrategiesIn order to study the animals' learning processes and speed, the researchers exposed the mice to a learning task, in which the aim was to find water."Animals were placed in a chamber where they had to poke either a water-dispenser on their left side or one on their right which, with a certain probability, would then dispense water, or not," says study author Madalena Fonseca, of the CCU, explaining the experiment template.  Do our digestive tracts have a say in our spatial memory? Learn how gut bacteria might influence our spatial learning. The mice kept trying to get water from the dispensers, and they learned how they were more likely to find it based on trial and error. But, the team observed, how long the animals waited between attempts tended to vary. Sometimes, the animals made another attempt at getting water immediately after having already tried, and sometimes they waited longer before another trial. The scientists also saw that the mice tended wait longer between attempts at the beginning and end of a day's experimental session. This led the researchers to hypothesize that, at the start of a session, the animals might still be quite distracted and uninterested in the task at hand, "perhaps hoping to get out from the experimental chamber," as the study authors write. Then again, at the end of a session, the mice may lack motivation to keep on searching for water because, by that time, they may already have had their fill. The variability thus observed eventually led the team to understand how serotonin might affect learning and decision-making. Depending on the waiting time preferred by mice between their attempts to find water, they also employed one of two kinds of strategies in order to maximize the likelihood of success in their trials. Working Memory vs Long-Term MemoryWith short intervals of waiting time between the animals' attempts, the scientists noticed that the mice tended to base their strategy on the outcome successful or unsuccessful of the preceding trial.That is, if the mice had just succeeded in retrieving water from one dispenser, they would try the same one again. If this one now failed, they would then move on to the other dispenser. This approach is referred to as the "win-stay-lose-switch" strategy. In the case of longer intervals of waiting time between trials, the mice were more likely to make a choice based on accumulated past experiences. What this means, the researchers explain, is that in the former case, the mice employed their working memory, or the type of short-term memory that leads to adaptive decision-making based on immediate experience. In the latter case, however, the animals used their long-term memory, accessing already stored knowledge that had been built over time. Serotonin Makes Mearning More EfficientUsing optogenetics a technique that employs light to manipulate molecules in living cells the CCU researchers stimulated the serotonin-producing cells in the mice's brains to see how raised levels of this neurotransmitter might affect the animals' behavior in the learning task.When they analyzed the accumulated data, taking into account waiting time intervals between the mice's trials, they concluded that higher serotonin levels amplified how effectively the animals learned from previous experiences. This, however, only applied to choices made following longer waiting intervals. "Serotonin is always enhancing learning from reward, but this effect is only apparent on a subset of the animals' choices," notes study co-author Masayoshi Murakami, of the CCU. "On most trials," adds UCL researcher Kiyohito Iigaya, "choice was driven by a 'fast system,' where the animals followed a win-stay-lose-switch strategy. But on a small number of the trials, we found that this simple strategy didn't explain the animals' choices at all." "On these trials," he says, "we instead found that animals followed their 'slow system,' in which it was the reward history over many trials, and not only the most recent trials, that affected their choices." "Moreover," Iigaya adds, "serotonin affected only these latter choices, in which the animal was following the slow system." Links With Mood And BehaviorThe authors also believe that the findings may explain why selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) a drug type that boosts serotonin levels and that is used in the treatment of depression are most effective when used in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).While SSRIs tackle depression by addressing chemical imbalances in the brain, CBT's objective is to change behavioral responses to improve symptoms of depression. "Our results suggest that serotonin boosts [brain] plasticity by influencing the rate of learning," the study authors write in the conclusion to their published paper. They add, "This resonates, for instance, with the fact that treatment with an SSRI can be more effective when combined with so-called cognitive behavioral therapy, which encourages the breaking of habits in patients." What is serotonin and what does it do?Serotonin is a chemical that transmits messages between nerve cells. Known as the happy chemical, serotonin plays a major role in the body by contributing to well-being, good mood, appetite, memory, and sleep. This article looks at what happens when a person is deficient in serotonin, and whether it can aid depression.Read now
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