There is a doctor named Amy Yasko
Posted By Phyllis on May 28, 2007
Two of my four children have Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism. I’ll call them Shannon, age 19, and Mike, age 14. Over the years I tried one of the remedies at the fringe of medicine, and it it didn’t help, so I just worked with the kids as best I could. Anyway, the claims for these remedies appeared to be improvements for very autistic kids. Mine were already high-functioning, so I figured the remedies wouldn’t take us anywhere.
Just recently I read a Discover Magazine (April 2007) article on autism that favorably mentioned Dr. Amy Yasko, a microbiologist and doctor in Maine who was having quite a lot of success. What struck me was the claim that her patients were actually not autistic any more. This is what I wish for my children more than anything–that they could truly understand what another person is thinking.
So we are embarking on Dr. Amy Yasko’s protocol. I decided to keep a record and share it with you. We’ll see where we end up!
Here is her approach in a nutshell. The cells in the body use cycles of amino acids that combine and recombine, sort of like the water cycle that we see in the weather. The fruit of the key methylation cycle is production of methyl groups, CH3. These are necessary to keep our DNA healthy.
But certain genetic mutations can mess up the methylation cycle or several cycles that are related to the methylation cycle. These mutations cause the methylation cycle to stop, or nearly stop. The result of that is that the body can no longer cleanse itself of heavy metals and viruses. So these accumulate in the body and cause all kinds of problems which add up to autism.
Dr. Amy doesn’t claim to undo the mutations. She seeks to provide a workaround by using supplements, such as SAM-e and lots of others, which try to reverse the specific results of the mutations in question for the individual.
Since Dr. Amy had a six-year waiting list and desired to be as helpful as possible to as many people as possible, she created a do-it-yourself protocol. Parents like me are supposed to get the blood sample taken, read up on all the information, and decide which supplements to give and when based on the information she gives in two books.
In our family, we are going to start with Mike, age 14. We sent his blood in two weeks ago, at a cost of $1100. Now I need to figure out which supplements to order for the “step one” of the protocol. This step offers general support for the methylation cycle, regardless of which mutation might be present.
Amy yasko is a fraud, she has no published studies or data available. Plus her science is wrong. Pick up a biochem or molecular genetics book and see. If we couldn’t destroy viruses in our body we’d be dead, but it’s called T-cells. Please read peer reviewed literature.
I just posted a little information about the successes we’ve experienced with Yasko’s protocol. My son was completely unable to regulate, was in a constant state of overstimulation and defensiveness, and could not socialize properly (dx of PDDNOS). He is now in a mainstream classroom, has friends over or is invited to their house virtually every day, and is a functional little being. This would not have happened without this protocol. I copied and pasted her credentials because I believe to launch an accusation of fraud in this case is not only ill-informed, but flat-out wrong!
I’d like to add that she acknowledges the existence of biofilm, which protects viruses and bacteria in the intestines by using a matrix of iron, calcium, and magnesium to shelter the bacteria/viruses from antibiotics, anti-microbials, and anti-virals. When I (a fully functional adult) independently addressed my own biofilm with Klaire Labs’ Interfase, I ended up in the hospital with strep, shingles, and mono. This was confirmed with blood tests–and I had NO symptoms of any of those illnesses prior to treatment, and obviously needed to have more immune supports in place before starting the treatment. Apparently those organisms were in my body already unless I am the most unlucky human alive and caught 3 illnesses overnight!
Also, when removing biofilm, there needs to be an addition of at least charcoal, if not EDTA (calcium disodium ethylenediaminetraacetate) to pick up those metals. In other words, it is a tremendous undertaking, and one not to take lightly on your own. Only under the direction of a doctor well-versed in biochemistry, since, as we’ve probably all experienced, many doctors are not.
Perhaps this biofilm issue is what the gentleman above is addressing when he states that Yasko has argued our bodies cannot destroy viruses? In that case, the biofilm must be removed in order for our bodies to destroy those organisms…but there are, of course, some viruses our bodies have not been so successful in destroying (think cancer, AIDS). Hopefully this will ease the minds of those considering giving Yasko’s protocol, which is entirely scientific and monitored through testing and in conjunction with your local doctor.
Dr. Amy Yasko, Ph.D., NHD, AMD, HHP, FAAIM
Degrees/Certification
* Doctorate Microbiology/Immunology/Infectious Disease
* Registered Naturopath – Washington D.C.
* Certified Alternative Medical Practitioner
* Certified Holistic Health Practitioner
* Fellow-American Association Integrative Medicine
* College of Physicians-Certified Diplomat
* College of Herbal Medicine-Certified Diplomat
* College of Pharmaceutical Sciences-Certified Diplomat
Education
Albany Medical College of Union University
* Dept. Microbiology/Immunology & Infectious Disease; Ph.D. – graduated Summa Cum Laude
* Research – Antibiotic Resistance and Transport; Dean’s Award foxr Research Excellence
Clayton College of Natural Health
* Doctor Naturopathy; Graduated with Highest Honors
* NHD – Doctor Natural Health; Graduated with Highest honors
Colgate University
* Hamilton, New York
* Double Major – Chemistry and Fine Arts
* B.A. – Graduated Magna Cum Laude
Academic Positions
Yale Medical Center
Department of Hematology
New Haven, Connecticut
Fellow – Eukaryotic/Prokaryotic Drug Resistance
Strong Memorial Hospital
Cancer Center
Rochester, New York
Fellow – Mammalian Retroviruses
Strong Memorial Hospital
Dept. Pediatrics & Infectious Disease
Rochester, New York
Fellow – Bacterial Vaccines
Industrial Positions
Neurological Research Institute, LLC
Director, Registered Naturopath
Complementary & Alternative Health Care
Holistic Health Consultants, LLC
Medical Consultant
Complementary & Alternative Health Care
Serenity Corners
Chief Medical Officer
Complementary & Alternative Health Care
Oligos Etc. Inc.
Cofounder and Vice President
Development of Nucleic Acid based drugs
as anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory agents
Biotix Inc.
Cofounder and Vice President
Development of automated DNA Synthesizer
International Biotechnologies Inc. (now Kodak/IBI)
Director of Research and Development
Development of Molecular Biology Kits
Honors and Associations
2004 CASD Award for RNA Research in Autism
Who’s Who in the World
Who’s Who in American Women
Who’s Who in Science and Engineering
Who’s Who in Young Professionals
Who’s Who in Emerging Leaders
Scientific Advisory Board-National Foundation Alternative Medicine (NFAM)
American College for Advancement in Medicine
Founding Member of National Integrative Medicine Council (NIMC)
American Naturopathic Medical Association
Society for Neuroscience
American Nutraceutical Association
Association of Drugless Practitioners
National Center for Homeopathy
American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists
Marion Foundation
Association of Medical Diagnostics Manufacturers
American Chemical Society – Division of Medicinal Chemistry
American Society for Microbiology
Life Extension Foundation
New York Biotechnology Association
New York Academy of Sciences
American Association for the Advancement of Science
National Association of Female Executives
Sigma XI Research Society
Just because she acknowledges the existence of biofilms and their function doesn’t mean anything. You went along with the therapy just because you believed what she said? Read any papers, studies, research? If you could cite them I’d be delighted.
You really don’t even need to worry about biofilms anyway. Think about it. If someone was trying to kill you, what would you do? You would fight it. Same thing bacteria are doing. Plasmids, antibiotic degrading enzymes, efflux pumps, transduction, transformation, conjugation. There is a growing antibiotic resistance in bacteria anyway. So that point is mute. Just take some Augmetin and you’ll feel better. The clavulanic acid will help. Its FDA certified and scientifically sound.
Viruses and bacteria don’t just hang out in your body and don’t make you sick. Viruses need to destroy your cells to survive and bacteria will cause all kinds of problems because they love warm moist environments and can divide once every hour. So if you have a virus and don’t express any signs of it? Well you’ve hit the jackpot, because it has probably integrated its genome into yours and is in the lysogenic cycle and you probably have HIV.
All those credentials that are naturophathic and hollistic and herbal medicine are all quack certifications. And she isn’t even a medical doctor. Would you let someone who wasn’t a medical doctor perform procedures on you? Pardon rhetorical questions but they’re necessary for effect. I would read up on Dr. Yasko and her studies. Oh wait, you can’t because none are published, or even exist.
You could pay ridiculous amounts of money for her RNA products, which don’t work, aren’t FDA approved, which none of her practices are, and just hope that they work.
Read up on how the body reacts to foreign RNA introduced into the body. It destroys it immediately. Some viruses use RNA as their genetic material. It’s how HIV works. Although researchers have had success with interference mRNA, they package it into lipoproteins so it can cross the interior nonpolar section of the phospholipid bylayer and enter the nucleus and cytoplasm. It is also introduced intervenously.
So surely Dr. Yasko’s RNA is packaged into lipoproteins, with a specific sequence to react with another piece of mRNA, or alter a transcription factor to repress or active a gene?
What do you do with her RNA products, which not to mention are all the same, but have different uses, aka, fraud. You just put the RNA in your mouth, where millions of RNase enzymes are present.
Say it makes it into your blood stream, if it isn’t destroyed there, which it will, how do you think a large, polar molecule will make it past the lipid bylayer. Answer, it won’t. Lets just say it made its way to the nucleus or cytoplasm where it could somehow do something. What are singular nucleotides going to do in your cells. Participate in translation? No, because your body already has made all the tRNA it needs. How does the RNA even know where to go? It doesn’t.
And to properly store RNA, since it is highly reactive due to the two reactive -OH groups on the ribose sugar, it needs to be in formaldehye and -80 degrees. But her RNA is in water at room temperature. RNA will fold on itself, break down and be useless in water. Even if there was a highly organized sequence of RNA bases, they would be broken down in hours.
Eighty dollars for a bottle of useless RNA. I like to argue in the sense of rational thought, not in the stereotypical yelling manner, so if you can explain to me how her RNA products work, by all means do. Because selling something that is scientifically known to not work, and you say it does, is FRAUD.
The real crime is taking advantage of desperate parents trying to help their children, deluding yourself into thinking these pseudosciences actually work, and the real scientific community having to clean up the tarnish she puts on the development of real scientific hypotheses and studies.
It would be helpful to see one of Dr. Yasko’s studies or her data if you could produce one for me.
Just one more thing, there are more than 500 microbial species in your body, that are commensal species, they do not hurt you, but break down food, produce vitamins, etc, for your body. The presence of these species prevent colonization by disease causing microorganisms.
So, you destroyed all the bacterial flora in your body and you became sick with a multitude of afflictions. Wonder why that happened.
I got that information out of my immunology book.
If Dr. Yasko has all these credentials, namely doctorate in immunology, she probably would have mentioned, “Don’t destroy all the bacteria in your body because harmful microorganisms will move in there after.”
Sure, destroy all the “biofilms”, and keep becoming sick. Your choice
Mike is ignorant. I have had great success with all of Dr. Yasko’s products including the RNAs. They truely do work, and I suggest people to consider using them if needed. I broke my foot in 5 places this summer, and used her bone support. I never needed it casted and was 100% in less than 4 weeks. The doctors were amazed at my recovery, and said they had never seen it happen that quickly. I’m not a doctor and don’t know much about these kinds of things but I had great success with all of her products.
Although I understand molecular genetics and organic chemistry interactions along with peer reviewed supported procedures and science, I am the ignorant one.
Please explain how these products work or provide a study on their effects for me?
The ingredients on your bone support are the same on kidney and stress relief.
I’m confused on how that makes any sense. Same ingredients, but different uses?
Clarification of the mechanism of delivery and action/expressiveness would be very helpful Todd, please enlighten me if you are able to do so.
Dear sir:
I did not make arguments for RNA here. I make arguments for Amy Yasko’s protocol which addresses gut dysbiosis in conjunction with methylation mutations in the genetic methylation pathway.
To use an example, biofilm is on our teeth; we call it “plaque.” Bacteria use plaque to stick to our teeth and keep our enzymes and saliva and mere water from removing it off our teeth. It must be disrupted by physically brushing it, and in some cases, being disrupted by Biotene with specific enzymes. Otherwise, we get cavities that can eat straight through our teeth and even destroy our gum health.
I’m a former English teacher and instructor, so I’m not going to dive into a maelstrom of “I know more biochemistry than you because I’m in mainstream medicine!” because it is by no means my specialty. But to say that if bacteria are physically protected in a matrix of metals which renders them impenetrable by antibiotics is inconsequential is nonsensical. Apparently augmentin has not miraculously cured gut dysbiosis (something about killing the balance of good flora we need and still leaving behind those nasty gut bacteria) or we would have heard about it by now. Instead, we hear of these children whose bodies do not respond and become more and more harmed as they get older.
And dear sir, I do not have HIV. How presumptuous. The condescension is palpable here! To insist that my labs were all wrong because there is just no way I could have these bacteria and viruses in my body waiting to attack when they were either a) exposed by biofilm disruption through the enzymes in Interfase, or b) given the opportunity to attack when my immunity was low is to defy other disorders related to gut dysbiosis we know of. Are you acquainted with PANDAS, a disorder where strep is ever-present in the body, attacks when immunity is low, and attacks the basal ganglia in the brains of children? Check it out. At the National Institutes of Health. At the CDC. Not a theory. Not dreamed up by “quacks.” This disorder causes autistic behaviors, OCD behaviors, tics, and even is suspect in Tourette’s. How, then, did the augmentin not clear it up when dosed?
I respect doctors and researchers. But I also respect naturopaths and those researchers who acknowledge a simple truth: that kids with autism have gut dysbiosis; treat the dysbiosis and you are treating the autism. Period.
I am a member of a group whose children have gone from full-blown autism diagnoses to fully functional, “un-diagnosed” kids. Actually, the medical community and psychiatric communities like to say they were “initially wrongly diagnosed” kids, since to say they healed would lend credence to the fact they were genetically susceptible to injury, and consequently, injured. Because to heal, you must first have an injury. So yes, I would trust the naturopaths who are healing my child’s autistic disorder. Wasn’t it, after all, M.D.s who prescribed Vioxx and Thalidomide (we know how that went), and told us not to go outside without slathering our skin with sunblock because it’s so bad for us? Now we find we have severe vitamin D deficiencies…what about all those years of insisting we shun butter for margarine? Hmmm. “Eat trans fats” didn’t prove to be the greatest of advice, either, did it?
And they were M.D.s who told me to “just take my kid to counseling” when he was showing every sign, from his first vaccination as a premie on his second day, of having a vaccine injury and intestinal problems. They even looked at my husband and me and said, “Some babies have a bad reaction to the vaccine.” Take him to counseling because there is no treatment for PDDNOS besides counseling and applied behavioral analysis. I call BS. The longer mainstream medicine denies these treatments are working, the worse they look, and the less trust the public will have in them. Already teachers, parents, politicians are looking at these recovered kids and saying, “What did you do?!” The more people see these kids go from the nightmare that is autism to more functional little beings, the more doubt is cast on the denying medical community.
Read up on Hannah Poling and Bailey Banks? Please do.
There really is no point in my wasting time beating my chest to tell you that watching my child go from a flapping, fit-throwing, escape artist due to overstimulation to a calm, laughing, friendly, well-mannered kid when we used this protocol is worth a million published “studies” (which are oh-so-often funded by our dear pharmaceuticals who are oh-so-often cozy with their researchers). You are going to err on the side of those studies and ignore parents and children whose bodies have healed using these therapies. I am interested in helping other parents heal their kids, so I don’t have more time to offer.
You don’t have HIV, jeez. Just an example of a virus that uses the lysogenic cycle.
“How presumptuous. The condescension is palpable here! ” Flexing our English muscles I see.
Read carefully. If you destroy bacteria in your gut, opportunistic pathogens will move in. Some bacteria secrete peptides called defensins that are antimicrobials. they prevent the colonization of other bacteria in your body.
Why aren’t more people sick when exposed to increased or prolonged stress and cortisol/cortisone which suppresses immune response?
PANDAS is an autoimmune complication of strep. The immunoglobulins to strep mimic the surface cell receptors of targeted cells by the immune system. Yeah, and when you type that into pubmed, results appear because real researchers have investigated it. Again, although I repeat myself, type in yasko, and see if any studies appear with A_Yasko. None will appear.
You won’t die from eating transfats and let your child have some sun so it will activate the vitamin D precursor in his or her skin so he or she can absorb calcium from the gut. Yeah, no one has ever been wrong in the history of man, so persecute someone for suggesting not to eat margarine?
Bottom line, you cannot replicate or reproduce the atypical results achieved by Yasko’s so called “work”. Wonder why it’s a protocol. Euphemism for “this may or may not work, there’s no evidence supporting that it will work except forum posts from other parents saying it will”. Treatments are studies, replicated in controlled settings and documented.
It is great that your child has experienced success.
But, in layman’s terms, you cannot chalk up the success of any one individual to anything. It might as well be magic dust you are giving him or her.
A person who doesn’t have a MD, “treating” children. QUACK.
I repeat, please produce a study by her???
Mike, I’m sure you’re a lovely person trying to prevent parents from experiencing disappointment or wasting their money on something that doesn’t work. Calling the condescension palpable was not me trying to be pretentious, that’s just how I would say, “Don’t be so condescending!” And I wasn’t saying we shouldn’t get sun or eat butter–I’m saying the opposite. We were told to do neither by our doctors to our detriment. No point in being belligerent–let’s face it, if we actually care enough to write something here, we care about this subject immensely. Are you in the autism community?
I would never “hawk” something I had neither tried with success nor seen work with other children. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that treating these children according to their medical labs (which are required to monitor pathogens, minerals, etc.) and genetics is healing their neurological inflammation, gut dysbiosis, and their “autistic symptoms.” To boot, I believe autism should be moved from a psychological diagnosis in the DSM IV to a medical diagnosis. Considering it has been acknowledged in the medical community that mitochondrial disease and demyelination of nerves (ADEM) are underlying susceptibilities resulting in autism when the immune system is overtaxed, it seems only logical.
Of all the people in my group who use Yasko’s protocol, we have all seen success with our children that is backed up by reports from schools, MDs who treat our kids, and other professionals who monitor their progress. Yasko’s protocol calls for all children to be treated by an MD in conjunction with her recommedations.
We run urine toxic metals, urine amino acids, organic acids, essential elements, comprehensive stool, and stool pathogens tests (among others), so this is not an unmonitored process outside of an MD’s care. We are not guessing if we have high arabinose, we know because we tested for it. Neither are we guessing if our kids are dumping out heavy metals, we know they are because we tested for them. While you may disagree with the treatment, it is not outside of solid science. Before Semmelweiss was proven right with published studies, many regarded him as a kook, a quack. Is the only way we can accept valid treatment to have a published work? My kid doesn’t have that kind of time to twist in the wind waiting for mainstream medicine to accept or objectively study this science. It could take another 20 years–is that what you would do if you were told there’s no treatment for your child by MDs? Wait for the mainstream to act? Or would you research what might be spearheading the mainstream? I wouldn’t know my child if I’d made that mistake.
If I’m understanding your main gripe, it’s that she is not an MD. Wouldn’t she have to be an MD to have medical studies peer reviewed? She obviously has published work but not in your domain, which is going to fall short of your criteria for credibility, true? Her publications are on her page at http://www.dramyyasko.com
If this is the case, that you consider any practitioner outside of those with MDs to be quacks, does this mean you trust only MDs, not homeopaths (all of Europe seems to–and all you’d have to do is walk down a street there and look ahead at their narrow arses to see they’re healthier than we are), not naturopaths, not Asian medicine–no treatment outside of the mainsteam medical community?
Here’s where our paths diverge. Even the Mayo Clinic uses what you would probably consider “quackery” because they use alternative treatments. I think medicine today is tragically incurious, in part because much of their energies are put into medicating symptoms rather than treating causes. I don’t know that there will ever be an admission that SOME of these kids were physically harmed for that reason. The liability is too great, and even if there was a scientifically ethical impetus to concede (as has been conceded in NVIC) these children have been harmed, the enormity of the injuries and lives ruined would land virtually anyone in a hard case of denial.
I’m not sure how familiar you are with this protocol or if you just dismissed it wholly upon hearing of it, but it is important for those who may be interested to understand that there is evidence in the experiences of those who have recovered their kids. And there is hope beyond shuffling your kid back and forth to ABA therapy but leaving the underlying causes of the behaviors unaddressed. This therapy is one avenue that may help and deserves consideration–watching children go from autistic, requiring extreme supports to mild ADD requiring minimal support is no fluke. Watching children so severe they were non-verbal and violent go to a regular classroom with no aide, no support is no fluke.
I just wanted to chime in here. I heartily agree that Yasko has uncovered a path for treatment of autism that worked for my son. Our mainstream medical doctors were empty-handed–they told us to wait for research. Well, for how long? My son is 17. I don’t have time left.
Western medicine relies too heavily on expensive studies, funded of course by partisan interests, so you can’t really trust the results.
Now, here’s another thought: if Western medicine represents the apex of medical care, how come the largest population in the world has been in China? Chinese civilization got started AFTER the West. Eastern medicine must work, for the population to grow so big.
How can you heartily believe Yasko has “uncovered” a path for treatment with no documented results of her studies or “patients”. Please provide a study of her procedures or results and conclusions.
Scientists rely on studies to draw conclusions from results in order to supply other members of the scientific community with best information about the subject of interest they are studying.
“So you really can’t trust the results” Please listen to yourself. Scientific studies are funded by grants, and in some cases, yes, the private sector. This is only in an instance to provide you, the consumer with the effects of the drug. What are the effects, if any of Yasko’s “medicine”. You wouldn’t know because she has no studies. Medical studies are in the interests of persons who use the drugs. It is very difficult to have a study published in a peer reviewed journal as it is under the highest scrutiny of the scientific community.
Saying that eastern medicine must work for the population to grow so big is like saying, i can’t see that the horizon is curved, so the world must be flat. There are a multitude of factors including advancements in medical technology along with a large rural population and the fact that the government encouraged reproduction to supply an army pre world war II. What you have said is a fallacy.
It is difficult to convey the measure of detail and accuracy that scientists hold themselves to, to the non-science community. Not EVERY study is funded by corporations. Most studies are for the advancement of humankind’s understanding of living organisms and their mechanisms, along with how the universe works, ie, physics, chemistry. Can you produce some support saying that medical studies are skewed because of corporations? There are still scientists who are true to their craft carrying out the studies. The US isn’t the black market.
Please produce a study by Amy Yasko. I ask a simple question. How can you believe her protocol without a study of its effects or efficacy?
All she can provide is anecdotes. Please, a study from her. All I receive in subsequent posts is scientific studies are skewed, her medicines work and western medicine has no answer when I would just like to see a study from her.
I have to give my 2 cents worth here. I’m an MD at a leading univeristy institution in the US. We have a vast experience with several research protocols in severeal different fields. Our research budget is second to only a few other institutions suchs as Hopkins, Harvard. It is true that several studies are funded by the private sector. This is something that I always look for when evaluating data presented in a peer-reviewed journal. Still, the results are valid scientific data. It would be unethical to publish false data, and that RARELY happens. Oh wait, didn’t that just happen? Yeah, it was that quack who published is extremely flawed MMR and autism study. Lancet probably doesn’t feel to good about that study. However, the vast amount of funding for our research comes from, dare I say, the US govt through grants. This is true with many other institutions performing ground-breaking medical research. Publishing in a high-profile peer-reviewed journal requires a solid study with strict attention to experimental design, along with results that can lead to the advancement of scientific and medical knowledge. It would not be that difficult at all for Ms. Yasko to organize a database of, say, a few hundred patients that she has treated. Then do followup at monthly or yearly intervals using a second non-biased party to do an object neurological battery to assess function on her treatment. To be optimal, this would need to be compared to a placebo group, but hey, let’s start small. She’s a PhD, she should, of all of us, know how to design an experiment.
I would also like to address comments on Western vs. Eastern medicine. First, the comment regarding population is the most un-logical comment, I’m not sure how to even respond. Heck, I’m not sure what the point of it is. Are you suggesting that b/c the population of china is more than the US, that eastern medicine is more successful? That’s a non sequiter if I’ve ever heard one. The statistic you would be looking forward would be life expectancy, not population.
Second, western medicine is held in total control by the FDA. We are fortunate that we have many treatments with allow us to preform technically complex treatments with excellent results. However, in cases such as autism, we are limited. If a treatment is not FDA approved, good luck. It is very difficult to treat patients with alternative treatments. Meanwhile, ms. yasko can use whatever the hell she wants because she is not regulated by any governing organization. Someone in her profession could just say “hey, you know what, i think dog feces is that natural way to fix skin wrinkles” and there’s someone out there who would pay for some special dog crap to just get rid of wrinkles. Actually, that guy might become a millionaire. Wait a minute, let me add a few more quack abbrev behind my MD, start marketing my dog crap product and I can retire early.
Third, we know autism is horrible illness, with no recognized “cure” or “treatments” currently offered by western medicine. Therefore, I cannot disagreeing with seeking other opinions. Hey, for some people , yasko’s therapies may be successful. that’s great. The science behind her treatments is week. Some of it is biologically correct, most of it is not. My guess is that for every success story listed above there’s a few hundred that see nothing. Also, some of here drugs are dangerous. Namely, EDTA. I’ve used this in the lab, and it is quite a powerful drug. Interestingly, she is given B12 injections. The B12 molecule has a cobalt atom in the center of the chemical structure. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t EDTA chelate cobalt (and thus B12), along with several other minerals essential for homeostasis and proper organ function. Also, Vit B12 is water soluble. Your body does store a large amounts (years worth), but when stores are full, you pee it out. Bottom line is that if this treatment really worked on all her patients, that data would be publishable, and she would be more aggressive in persuing this. She would be on the cover of TIME and be a millionaire. Wait, she already is b/c she’s selling B12 injections and unstable RNA for a ridiculous price. If it works, good for her. But I can tell you if everytime I wrote a script I got paid for it in any way, shape, or form, I’d be without a job for ethical violations. Total double standard here, but I should stop digressing.
Chris–if you told me that dog crap got rid of your wrinkles (and you were being truthful about your experience), and my wrinkles were debilitating me to the point of not being able to live a normal life, then heck yes, I’d try the dog crap. And if the dog feces didn’t work for my wrinkles, I wouldn’t begrudge you–I would be disappointed, I would recognize that it works for some people but not everybody, and then I would cross dog feces off my list of things that might cure my wrinkle problem and keep searching–actively searching, not sitting idly by waiting for a perfectly designed study.
Mike–I would know that the dog crap didn’t cure my wrinkle problem because I will have actually tried it. I wouldn’t have relied on some study, which by the way, would certainly declare in the footnotes and small print that not every participant in the study reacted the same nor had the same success with the dog feces.
I have used Yasko’s protocol for my child. I learned a lot from her and her discussion forum. I took pieces of what I learned there and coupled it with pieces I learned from my other research (yes, the University of Google), and in the end, healed my child. I relied on parental testimonies, my intuition, MD’s to run lab tests, as well as folks you would probably call quacks, but to whom I refer as healers, including homeopaths, a chiropractor, an osteopath, an acupuncturist, a muscle tester (kinesiologist of sorts), and–now buckle your seat belts for this one–medical intuitives. Like Amy Yasko, each of these practitioners promised hope but not a cure, because each and every one of them knows that healing is multi-faceted, just as complex illness is multi-factorial, and recovery requires leaps of faith along the way.
BTW, I highly recommend you spend a few days with a child using and reacting to Dr. Yasko’s RNA formulas before you patently discredit them. Had you been in my house while my daughter was using them, you might be spending your time right now researching how they actually work instead of theorizing why they don’t.
Tracy,
Say the dog feces wrinkle cream works. You could not say why or worked, or how it worked, or attribute any of it’s success to anything, without research. It could be that the cascade system in your body spontaneously triggered gene expression and increased collagen to your skin. Studies are not even the bigger focus here. The thing that gets me about Yasko, and other “homeopathic/naturopathic” “doctors” , is that they are committing, I’ll say alleged, alleged fraud. I won’t generalize, let’s just keep it to Yasko And taking advantage of desperate parents. $85 for a bottle of yeast RNA?!?! Woman lives in a mansion. She should be giving the stuff away. But RNA I’ll get to later.
Please don’t call research from Google. Academic texts along with articles and studies from peer reviewed journals is research. Research and studies allow one to project that someone’s expected results are representative of a group that has undergone the same treatment.
If you’re committing fraud, then you’re a quack. You decide what that means. “Hope” is a quack term for, if this works for your child, then great and give me all the credit, and if it doesn’t , well, this treatment isn’t approved by the FDA to treat or cure any illness, and there’s not studies, clinical trials or research, so you can’t blame me. Some of the claims of Yasko, turning kids around 180 degrees, she would be on the cover of Time and every medical/peer reviewed scientific journal. But why isn’t she. Why is she so controversial?
By the way, I’d recommend picking up a molecular biology book, or even a general bio book. And then send a letter to yasko telling her to, stop selling rna drops, or drop the price, at least she could do that much.
1. How they are intended to work. Interference RNA and or antisense RNA.
The RNA in the bottle is supposed to bind to the single stranded mRNA strand in the cytoplasm of the cell, inhibiting gene expression by not allowing the ribosome to translate the mRNA into an amino acid sequence and an eventual protein. This is how they are supposed to work. Not a theory, this is how protein assembly works and how antisense RNA works.
2. Why they don’t work.
The mRNA in the bottle is from yeast. Probably Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In order to remove the mRNA (messenger RNA) from the yeast, it has to be treated with chemicals or sonication. This will break up the cell membrane, organelles, DNA and RNA.
This will degrade the RNA in the yeast and it will lose its sequence. The mRNA is very reactive due to its two hydroxyl groups on the ribose sugar. The two lone pairs of electrons present on each hydroxyl group will react will become protonated and react with other molecules, breaking the carbon sugar backbone.
So you have short sequences and single nucleotide RNA. Although we are both eukaryotes, yeast and humans, we have nuclei in our cells, unlike prokaryotes, and we have similar genes. But not that similar. I know there’s RNA kidney support. Kidney support? Yeast don’t have kidneys. Let’s list some others.
Advanced Joint
Aggression Support-Angry yeast
Ammonia support
Anxiety Balancing-Anxious yeast
Apraxia support-catatonic yeast
Attention support-daydreamer yeast
Bone support
Bowel support
CCK Support-a hormone secreted by the small intestine to convert trypsinogen to trypsin to digest proteins. Yeast have small intestines, right??
Sorry, I had too much fun with that, but I did it to support my position. Yeast do not make the proteins that affect the organs or tissues or pathways the RNA is labeled for. If they don’t make these proteins or have these organs, why would they have the RNA for them?
I mean, there’s just so many 4 plus web pages of them.
http://www.holisticheal.com/rna-products/rna?p=1
How could you match the exact or even slightly similar sequence of human mRNA with yeast mRNA that has been physically broken and battered by chemicals and sonication, with proteins that yeast don’t even make! Some afflictions would need more expression, not less. But I digress.
The back of the bottle say proprietary blend of RNA nucleotides
Proprietary Blend of Nucleotides(Saccharomyces cerevisiae, cytidine-5′-monophosphate, adenosine-5′-monophosphate, guanosine-5′-monophosphate, uridine-5′-monophosphate) 5 mcg
Okay, so that means a nitrogen base, a phosphate and ribose sugar: nucleotide.
Here’s a picture of a nucleotide
http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/images/transcription/chembase.gif
Let me emphasize again, there’s no code, just single monomers.
Now we arrive at ingestion of said RNA. There’s two pathways. Under the tongue or into the stomach. Supposedly under the tongue will facilitate the RNA going directly to the bloodstream. Let’s focus on the stomach pathway first.
In your saliva, there are enzymes, namely RNase. The RNA degrading enzyme. Breaks down RNA. That’s it. Next stop, the stomach. Parietal cells secrete HCl, which creates an environment with pH 2 in the stomach. If the RNA isn’t degraded by RNase, it’s obliterated by HCl and pepsin in the stomach. Next stop, small intestine. More protein digesting enzymes are there, in pH 8. Another fluctuation in pH and more enzymes. Then into the blood stream and to cells. RNA has to traverse the lipid bilayer, which doesn’t let everything and anything cross it. Once inside the cell there are enzyme that degrade mRNA so we don’t continually express any one gene.
So that’s a plethora of enzymes and pH 2 and pH 8 to get past along with the lipid bilayer and enzymes and lyzosomes(membrane bound sacs of proteolytic enzymes, pH 2 again) that are all looking to destroy the foreign RNA. Why would your body do this? For one it’s foreign, and reminds the body of viruses, who use RNA and DNA to hijack cellular machinery to replicate themselves. So the body wants to get rid of them.
Second path, under the tongue, RNase in the mouth will go to work, macrophages in the blood, enzymes in the blood, lipid bilayer, and enzymes in the cytoplasm.
A lot of obstacles to get pass.
But back to the main point, they’re still just monomers, with no inherent antisense or small interfering RNA (siRNA) capabilities. There needs to be a specific sequence. When used in a lab setting, antisense RNA is packaged into hydrophobic lipoproteins to protect rna from enzymes and to get by the hydrophobic interior of the lipid bilayer that surrounds cells. Also it is injected directly into the blood. And it’s a specific sequence of mRNA. Not yeast RNA, synthetically made RNA of a specific sequence.
pH balancing and stress formula are really funny. I’m sorry. It’s ridiculous.
After taking into consideration the following mechanisms that the body uses to digest and degrade, more importantly wanting to keep foreign RNA and DNA out of the body, I have concluded that RNA drops are fraudulent and are representative of the fraudulent nature that is amy yasko. She has a Ph D in microbiology, she would know this. But somewhere along the way something happened. Yes, make all the money you want, the american dream, but not fraud.
Theory, I don’t think so, this is fact. The “hope” that yasko sells is theory. And theories are supported by experimentation and evidence. Anecdotes from internet forums do not count as either, so I suggest you select your scientific terminology carefully before proceeding.
Her discussion forum may as well be the biggest propagation of pseudoscience this side of the western hemisphere. More of those who do not understand molecular biology and are motivated by their want to treat their children being wooed by someone with a degree saying that her treatment works, although there is no evidence or scientific support that it does work, but she believes it does, so you should too. And shell out tons of money for genetic testing and worthless RNA drops.
Yasko’s RNA is stored in water. Recommended storage, -80 degrees in formaldehyde. Your RNA is already useless by the time it arrives at your house. Don’t touch the dropper to your mouth, skin or hair. RNase.
I don’t want to get fired up about this, but taking advantage of parents and children while profiting yourself if unethical. It’s fraud. Here’s RNA from yeast. It’ll treat your joints and your mood. More or less, a miracle cure all. How does this not sound like fraud.
Hypothetically, let’s say RNA drops, worked. One class of them, kidney support. And the rest didn’t. It’s still FRAUD. But it’s not regulated or FDA approved, so it’s all kosher in the huckster world that is homeopath.
Placebo effect is the world you are looking for.
In summary, RNA monomers have no intrinsic capability to inhibit gene expression in the body. How does kidney support know how to go to the kidneys? It wouldn’t.
I can’t discredit her degrees, perhaps the ND ones, and I do believe she is brilliant, but this is fraud. And it doesn’t work.
Chris,
I neither agree nor disagree with what you said – but your lack of basic writing skill is suspect and makes me doubt your credentials.
Although writing skills are not everything, the lack of them certainly casts doubt on your authenticity. I highly doubt that you could have made it through medical school without at least a fundamental knowledge of how to write. (Don’t give us the “I hired someone to do my papers” bullsh*t. What you posted here was barely readable and if you were a medical doctor you’d know enough to have a proofreader check your writing before posting.)
Mike, is there any potential harm from undergoing Amy’s protocol? Aside form wasting thousands of dollars.
I’m not giving any sort of medical advice. Yasko’s theories in no way resemble medicine or rationale thought, so let’s just call it advice. I don’t believe they’d do harm, assuming this is a legitimate question. Sushi with raw fish still has mRNA in the cells, and I don’t get sick when I eat it.
I just don’t understand how people are amazed by genetic testing. And then shell out thousands for a snake oil that “supports” “heavy metal detox” and kidney function, and a tons of other organs and biochemical pathways. One non-FDA approved substance that is able to interact with many pathways. A “cure-all” if you will.
Dr. Yasko sells hope. There’s no mechanism of function, no function in test tubes, no animal model trial, and no clinical trial. She doesn’t even know how it works. Are you kidding me??? She even says it herself.
http://www.dramyyasko.com/Publications/C5647DE5-E26B-482C-BFA3-0C1C16BEDB84_files/TheRoleofRNAinAddressingMultifactorialDisease..pdf
After she says it has therapeutic effects and cites three articles. The articles aren’t even peer reviewed papers, and they’re by her business partner. I don’t even know how they relate to the statement. Ridiculous.
Pure scam. Any anecdotal evidence or success won’t hold up to a statistical test with an experimental group. You’ll waste thousands of dollars if you’re lucky.
My wife is currently reading: “The False Prophets of Autism”.
We have a 6yr old son with autism, and are always looking for good information.
I think this book is *required* reading for parents in order not to be manipulated and given anecdotal “hope” rather than treatment. EVERYTHING we have looked up in this book is backed up with science, studies and peer review.
Please read it for yourself, and don’t take my word for it.
Cheers, Mike, for taking the time repeatedly to explain the complex workings of the body and how bodies would instantly reject Dr. Yasko’s “treatment”.
Her work is indeed without a foundation, and she should go to jail for fraud, knowing the facts and being complicit in a huge fabrication like so many “false prophets” before her, like Mark Geier. Look it up, there’s a great Wikipedia page!
Bill, I have carefully read and reviewed Paul Offit’s book, “The False Prophets of Autism.”
I do accept two of his main points:
* that thimerosal, a mercury vaccine additive, does not cause autism, and
* that the measles virus in the MMR shot does not cause autism.
But Offit has some big holes in his logic.
One of the big problems with this whole debate is acrimony, which Offit is guilty of. If we can have some civil discourse, we might get somewhere.
The review is on this blog at
http://phylliswheeler.com/CuringAutismBlog/?p=142
I just want to thank Mike and Chris for taking the time to educate parents. I, for one, (an English and education major) never took microbiology or any advanced science, for that matter, which is why Amy Yasko and others like her infuriate me. She takes advantage of those of us who don’t understand the science, but who want to help their children. It’s sickening.
All along, we have had people recommend alternative treatments for our son’s high-functioning autism, but I have never felt good about them, mostly because of lack of evidence. Still, these people make compelling arguments, because they capitalize on our love for our kids.
I, for one, will be sticking with what I know has worked (for my kid and many, many others): occupational and speech therapy, along with cognitive behavior therapy.
Mike seems to have no understanding of biochemistry himself or immunology. Dr. Yasko has taken the time to acknowledge the chemical reactions that happen in our body and put a lot of pieces together. Regular MD’s get no education in this matter whatsoever, none at all. And she never tell anyone to destroy the good bacteria in their gut. Where are Earth is he even getting that idea? It sounds like he’s just making up accusations to destroy her reputation and keep kids sick. And sure T-cells help kill viruses, but you’re missing the very important point that viruses never leave our body!! If you ever caught chickenpox then you still have it, it’s controlled by your immune system, that’s why you still have antibodies to it when you get a blood test done. Go do the same thing for strep antibodies and if you don’t have strep right now then you don’t have strep antibodies, because our body can get rid of bacterial infection completely. There is practically nothing factual about what he’s said and it sounds like he’s a PR rep or marketing exec trying to piece together a way to make someone sound bad. But there’s no science in anything he’s said.
Interesting.
It is true that certain pathogens are kept under constant control through our innate immune system via complement proteins, and acute phase proteins like mannose binding lectin and c-reactive proteins to lyse the membranes of invading bacterial pathogens.
But, I can’t remember which one, IgM or IgG antibodies are persistent throughout the body for sometime after clonal selection and expansion. That’s what booster shots are for. To make sure the body keeps producing antibodies in case a secondary response is needed to a pathogen.
Jon, if you actually knew anything about biochemistry or immunology, you would know that when a B cell is clonally selected and becomes an effector cell, an antibody secreting plasma cell, a subset of selected B cells also becomes memory cells to recognize a reoccurring pathogen much more quickly and conducting a swift and efficient secondary response to a pathogen.
You still have antibodies circulating in your blood because your body has since mounted a primary response, and is now ready to put up an even more efficient and deadly secondary response to a pathogen.
“But there’s no science in anything he’s said” – specific examples?
I’m pretty sure you didn’t bother mentioning any in your post because you lack the knowledge to actually back up your claims. Please enlighten us all with the plethora of evidence that you can assert.
Yasko stated she doesn’t know how her therapeutic rna works, but is convinced it does, while referencing RNAi and antisense RNA to support something that does not have a similar mechanism, but no known mechanism whatsoever. Sounds a little sketchy to me. But sure, blindly believe anything you want, you’re your own person.
Destroying commensal bacteria in the gi tract is a side effect of antibiotics. Please excuse modern medicine for that small inconvenience to you.
And your rebuttal? Please no anecdotal evidence. It doesn’t count. Like Todd’s.
Let the evidence speak for itself; many parents have children that are living proof the Dr. Yasko has helped them when medical doctors were clueless.
So where is the evidence?
Hi All,
Just a thought. I have a 6yr old autistic child. We have been treating him for the last 2 years with a very famous autism doctor without much success. Dr. Yasko’s treatment is not just RNAs, it includes basic nutrients and supplements. May be the nutrients and supplements work well for some autistic kids and there are lot of parents using that. I know a few other parents who treated their kids with nutrients, supplements and enzymes and saw some improvements.
This RNA, as far I researched with little of my knowledge, is a placebo. The explanation Dr. Yasko gives how it works is inferior to the explanation I get from other scientists who explains how it does not work.
So my conclusion is that the other supplements and nutirents and medicines in her list work to reduce the severity of autism and the RNA products are a money maker.
Appreciate the help of all the posters here.
-George
Hello George,
It was our experience that the RNA did not help our son, but the other supplements did (when the right ones for him were chosen by a chiropractor).
However, when I went to the local Yasko support group meeting, I was surprised to find people who thought the RNA drops helped a lot.
So maybe it depends on the child!
Hello,
I would like to know if anybody tried the product Chelorex for heavy metal chelation. It was developed by Dr. Alan Greenberg M.D. It costs very little for the full course and support compared to whatever we are paying for treatment now. He has some test results posted on the web site too. It is all natural and I give my son most of the ingredients in that formula already. Please post here if anybody has tried this.
Thanks,
George
I obtained Dr. Yasko’s genetic test for myself via heartfixers.com and I have received the results yesterday along with a list of possible supplements. I sent in for this test BECAUSE the biochemistry is in any standard biochemistry text, including at expasy.com (Roche biochemical database). It also makes PERFECT sense to do what Dr. Yasko is doing — that is to choose supplements to make the biochemical pathways work despire your mutations (where alternate paths exist to make the best use of them). What I find dismaying in studies, and I have accessed about a million online, is how our researchers persist in looking for a SINGEL “magic bullet” when our biochemistry, which is well known, is obviously complicated and contains MANY points where a failure could occur. In fact, looking at the actual biochemistry, it appears extremely UNLIKELY that there woudl be ONLY ONE point of failure. I, myself have 18 mutations out of 30 tested).
That said, I know some parts of her protocol will work and others may not…she is a pioneer — instead of standing back and wringing her hands doing nothing in the face of suffering, she is saying this is her best guess, KNOWING THE BIOCHEMISTRY, of what will work, and she tries it, observes the results, adjusts, until something is found to work in each individual case. So the entire protocol may not work but many of the things in it would. Anyway, many of the things she lists are on standard methylation improvement protocols.
This does not mean that people should not read up on the buiochemistry and make their own decisions. For instance, I am a COMT +/+, which means I have high dopamine (actually, I already knew this via a neurotramsmitter test), and she recommends hydroxyB12, to avoid “too many methyls” since COMT +/+ spares methyls. However, I do not think there is ever a good reason not to use METHYLB12, and METHYLfolate, because IMHO the ability to methylate DNA and avoid genetic demise trumps any concerns about COMT status. This is a value judgement and these types of judgements need to be made by each person.
I have developed my own supplement list as of a lifetime of struggling with these issues (I am 52) and I am only starting to sort through her list and see what changes I will make to mine. I am pseudo vegetarian and find many of her glandular supplements, which she relies on heavily, offensive, so I know right away we will diverge widely on protocol. When my adrenal function started to be a problem, I looked for a non-glandular product and settled on Rhodiola, which increases glycogen stores. It works quite well for me. I read that ginseng is the strongest help for the adrenal gland, and I have never tried that, but maybe I will. I got no results from ashwagandha and schizandra. It is quite possible to read between the lines and not check your brain at the door. If she thinks you need adrenal help, there are many ways to get it, not just the one she uses, for instance.
I am CBS C699T +/+, does that mean I am autistic? I have had horrible lifelong health problems, but my intelligence is in the 97th percentile. I have taken large doses of vitamins all my life and am now up to 42 pills a day. (Dr. Yasko recoomens for me 117 things — some of them must be combinations, but still-!). I have every respect for what she is doing. Shproceeding just as any intelligent person determined to actually help people would.
I should also add that I think EDTA therapy should only be undertaken under a doctor’s care and a hair analysis at traceelements.com showed I don’t need it. Dr. Yasko isn’t the only one who does EDTA chelation, I know a guy who had to have it done due to mercury from his dental work. I have my doubts that heavy metals are the reason for the rising rate of autisn — I would bet it has more to do with processed wheat with the B vitamins processed right out of it. I have a wheat allergy and did you know at least 40% of the American diet is wheat or gluten (processed!) which appears everywhere as a stabilizer, thickener, or even just to keep two sticks of gum from sticking together. When I was a kid, my mother made homemade bread from stone ground whole wheat flower and I took a B100 vitamin my whole life (not good enough because it was not active B’s, like P5P, methlyB12, and methylfolate, but way better than nothing). When I was a kid people prmuch didn’t eat junk food. I think junk and processed food is the reason for the rising problems with autism and depression in this country.
Oops – typo. (Flower). I really should proofread. Sorry!
Hi Anthony,
I welcome your contributions to this discussion. Thanks!
I am taking a lot of B vitamins myself–I am a little bit older than you. These are saving my sanity I believe. But they don’t seem to help young Mike. He has a heck of a set of mutations. His biggest problem is that his body is generating too much ammonia, I believe.
The key to the cause of the autism epidemic will be found by examining things in our environment that changed a lot in about 1990, give or take three or four years. That’s when the autism caseload started going way up. White flour has been around a long time, and so couldn’t be the cause, in my opinion. So, what changed around 1990??
Two things I am aware of: the number of required vaccines started going up, and a variety of chemicals started being added to everyday plastics to make them more usable. There could be many others. Any ideas?
I do not dispurte that metals and poisons in the environment fit in, but I think B vitamins are the solution. You say they do not help your son, but maybe you should look at this protocol (read only): http://forums.wrongdiagnosis.com/showthread.php?p=191131&posted=1#post191131
post at: http://forums.wrongdiagnosis.com/showthread.php?t=9948&highlight=Vitamin+B12&page=1447
Did you use exactly this protocol?
Jarrow sublingual B12 2/day, not at the same time
Soldar METHYLfolate 1/day
Country Life P5P 1/day
Jarrow B Right (Active B’s), 2/day, not at the same time
possibly TMG 2g/day if needed
Dibencozide sublingual 1/day (Can’t remember if this is CountryLife or Solgar)
And if so, your son may need other support items, like carnitine etc. as listed in the protocol. This protocol is very helpful. I don’t know why, but I had elevated homocysteine despite having CBS C699T +/+ and CBS A360A +/- genes, and despite having taken B100’s every day of my life. The ACTIVE B protocol above brought my homocysteine down to 6.1. However, it uncovered thyroid trouble for me that I am working on now. It takes MB12 to make FREE T3, and once it is supplied, it can cure a hypothyroid condition and then uncover a hypERthyroid problem (due to low copper). So, in other words, it is possible to remyelinate nerves, however damaged, and some of the people at the site above have done it. Talk to Fredd.
Phyllis, fyi, I am female so might as well call me Mad. Here’s a thought — I am experiencing thyrod problems right now and they are causing me brain fog — “ammonia”. Ok, I have just received my genetic results so I can only assume it is ammonia, I do not yet have a way to test. However, I had these things beat with the METHYL B12 protocol above until my thyriod whacked out (I take 42 pills, and one of them was Iodoral, which woulnd up being too much iodine for me). So, I can attest that thyroid problems bring these symptoms back even if they were solved with a proper methyl cycle protocol. IMHO, the ONLY proper methyl protocol is the one stated above because the body uses METHYLB12, NOT hydroxy or cyanoB12. I am COMT +/+ and – so what! The body still needs methyls for thousands of other critical reactions. I do not know what forms of B12 or folate you are giving your son, but if it’s not the METHYL forms (and an effective product which takes a lo-o-o-o-ong time to dissolve like Jarrow) then I think your son will have problems. If he does not have METHYLB12, or METHYLS and the genetic machinery to make his own METHYLB12, then he will not make enough T3, and if you supplement with thyroid medication and ignore a functional MB12 deficiency (which no test can detect because the tests measure B12, NOT methyB12, which is the only form the body can use), then he will have neurological problems and possibly other problems. The ammonia could be from thyroid imbalance. To be sure, I do not know for sure if it is high or low thyroid that causes that because mine is bouncing down at the moment as I try to adjust my iodine dose.
I am not sure what protocol you are following – I only read the one you said you’d try at startup and it did not contain any B vitamins. METHYLB12 is absolutely key to any problem with the methyl cycle, as is methylfolate and P5P. W/o them, I do not believe anyone without fully functional genetics can be healthy.
Mad
Phylis,
I am an RNA researcher at the University of Toronto and I can tell you that Dr. Yasko is in the business of selling you an elaborate placebo. In the process she’s making a large profit off of you and many unsuspecting parents.
I mainly know Dr. Yasko through her “RNA” treatments. I won’t go into details here, but follow this link to a blog posting of mine from back in 2006:
http://scienceblogs.com/transcript/2006/11/rna_body_fluids_the_results_ar.php
Talk to any 3rd year Biochem undergrad and they should be able to tell you why RNA would never work as an oral treatment.
If you (or anyone out there) have any questions feel free to email me (my contact info is on the blog site).