[reverett123]

Has anyone had experience with weight-loss products of the type promoted as cortisol blockers? Supposedly, these herbal combinations suppress appetite by blocking cortisol. They do seem to work for that purpose, but I wondered if any PWP had tried them.

[GregD]

I'm not so sure the work as well as they lead you to believe.

However, many of these so-called cortisol reducers / blockers in all reality do not do what they claim. First off, the whole link between cortisol and fat gain originates from a study done back in 1980 in where the researchers made a connection between high levels of cortisol in the subjects urine and the percentage of body fat gain on them.

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Truth-...ers!&id=940574


GregD

[reverett123]

What I should have said is that they (or at least the one my wife tried) seem to reduce cortisol. Whether they do anything for weight loss or not, I have no idea.

For my wife, it reduces anxiety, presumably from cortisol reduction. But there are a dozen different ingredients and I don't trust such combinations. Too many possible problems. So I thought I'd ask about it.

BTW, the link Greg posted seems to have a lot of info on curcumin that might be worth a look.

Originally Posted by GregD

I'm not so sure the work as well as they lead you to believe.

However, many of these so-called cortisol reducers / blockers in all reality do not do what they claim. First off, the whole link between cortisol and fat gain originates from a study done back in 1980 in where the researchers made a connection between high levels of cortisol in the subjects urine and the percentage of body fat gain on them.

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Truth-...ers!&id=940574


GregD

[rosebud]

The link between cortisol and weight gain could be as simple as when we are stressed we eat for comfort....we tend to go for the big time comfort foods, which are also the big time fat foods. I've never heard of anyone dying for a cucumber, or a good bunch of carrots when the were stressed. But a bag of cookies, well thats another thing altogether.

[reverett123]

For the last two days I have been experimenting with one called Relacore, chosen solely because my wife had a bottle.

There has undeniably been an effect as I seem to be overmedicated and am working on reducing my meds.

I began with a single capsule at dinner two nights ago and another at bedtime (label says six per day). Slept ten hours! Usually five.

Day one felt unusually peceful inside. So much so that I grew careless with my med schedule and ended up off in the afternoon. But still an improvement over the last few weeks.

Last night I skipped the bedtime dose and had a more usual sleep pattern. Thus far today (6:00 PM) have not had a "real" off but some dyskinesia from too much meds?

This brings up some interesting questions. Among them, does cortisol really play that big a role in our day-to-day symptoms?

[reverett123]

What if levodopa's action comes, not from recharging dopamine stores but from a short term lowering of cortisol? Read on....

1: J Neural Transm. 2006 Aug 24; [Epub ahead of print]

Acute levodopa administration reduces cortisol release in patients with
Parkinson's disease.

Muller T, Welnic J, Muhlack S.

Department of Neurology, St. Josef Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum,
Germany.

Levodopa (LD) application improves motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's
disease (PD) patients. Little is known on further effects of LD, which induced
lower plasma levels of cortisol and lower serotonergic activity in certain brain
areas of fish. Objectives of this trial were to analyse levels of cortisol, LD
and 3-O-methyldopa (3-OMD) after administration of LD/benserazide in long term
treated PD patients. 12 PD patients, taken off their regular treatment for at
least 12 hours, received soluble 200 mg LD/50 mg benserazide under stress free
conditions. Motor symptoms improved, LD and 3-OMD levels increased, whereas
cortisol concentrations started to decrease significantly 30 minutes after LD
intake. This reduced cortisol release may result from an overflow of exogenous
LD in the brainstem. This hypothetically causes an reduced 5-HT content in
neurons projecting to the hypothalamic structures, which are involved in the
partial 5-HT dependent central regulation of peripheral cortisol release.

PMID: 16932991 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]