Ray Peat

Ray Peat addresses the science better than anyone I've read. He's a biology phd from University of Oregon with a specialization in biochemistry, physiology, and endocrinology. Many of his ideas are not the mainstream but everything he writes about is extensively researched and cited.

He has a number of articles on sugar but a good one to start with is Sugar Issues[0]. It can get a bit technical so I would recommend keeping wikipedia and google handy. It looks to have around 50-100 references for further investigation. Here's also one of his many radio interviews where he discuses sugar (starts in earnest with respect to sugar at around 14:35, but whole talk is great)[1].

Basically, sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose) are healthy and protective for a wide variety of reasons - as long as they are able to be fully oxidized by the mitochondria, to produce carbon dioxide and a greater number of ATP. Many of the alleged "evils" of sugar are actually due to the polyunsaturated fats, which inhibit proper metabolism of sugar and damage cells in a variety of ways. One well established mechanism is by competing with glucose for oxidation, resulting in higher blood sugar levels. This is known as the Randall cycle (or glucose fatty acid cycle) and actually serves as the foundation for an as-of-yet unchallenged theory of type 2 diabetes.

I highly recommend reading ray peat, and listening to his interviews. His intelligence, recall, and ability to synthesize information to…

It's more complicated but he's saying for example [1] that stress elevates serotonin (ie. in hibernating animals stress from declining food supply elevates serotonin production, which decreases body temperature by lowering metabolic rate; similar effect is in non-hibernating animals, like humans, in winter).

Interesting idea somewhere in the middle of this article, about "generations" of anti-depression drugs. He's basically saying that when drug patent is close to expire, they "invent" new generation of drugs, which patent holders claim is better than previous one (he's saying that 3rd gen (SRI - Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are actually not better than 1st gen (MAO - MonoAmine Oxidase)).

He's saying that Lilly makes over $2 billion per year on Prozac for example.

From what he's saying it also seems that "playing" with serotonin increases suicide rate in people who didn't have suicidal thoughts (but were depressed).

Also that the clearest effect from studies of serotonin is that it's causing "learned helplessness" in subjects.

I'm not sure how accurate this is, just skimmed over [1] - please read the source if you want more info. There are other articles on that site as well related to serotonin.

[1] http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/serotonin-depression-aggression.shtml

To me the article is very helpful. I aim to be in the global top 10-20% for the following areas: engineering, movement (functional capabilities of my body), martial arts (BJJ, maybe later MMA), nutrition, inner practice & discovering the nature of consciousness, art of learning and presenting. Combining engineering with one or two areas might be an interesting opportunity. The pool of software engineers who e.g. also do martial arts, or are interested in meditation or the process of learning seems globally large enough to support possible well-executed business.

Regarding marketing, I start to gravitate more towards experts who provide long-form content. For example, Ray Peat in nutrition [1] or John Danaher in BJJ [2]. This might be another marketing approach - no marketing at all, just providing high-quality long-form content, with no social media. It might attract people who think in a similar way as me.

[1] http://raypeat.com/

[2] https://bjjfanatics.com/products/back-attacks-enter-the-system-by-john-danaher

Devil of a time digging up the original source, but here it is.

> People who take aspirin, drink coffee, and use tobacco, have a much lower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease than people who don’t use those things. Caffeine inhibits brain phospholipase, making it neuroprotective in a wide spectrum of conditions. In recent tests, aspirin has been found to prevent the misfolding of the prion protein, and even to reverse the misfolded beta sheet conformation, restoring it to the harmless normal conformation. Nicotine might have a similar effect, preventing deposition of amyloid fibrils and disrupting those already formed (Ono, et al., 2002). Vitamin E, aspirin, progesterone, and nicotine also inhibit phospholipase, which contributes to their antiinflammatory action. Each of the amyloid-forming proteins probably has molecules that interfere with its toxic accumulation.

https://raypeat.com/articles/aging/madcow.shtml

Pretty sure cognition is biological. I am of the opinion though various programs and college admissions accelerate a large portion of capable and able people to the top, they are not likely the best out of the entire population. I have frequently met (mostly young males) working in restaurants or supermarkets who would do exceedingly well if they had the right circumstances. Though personality (in terms of choosing to fight for an education) is important too: of those I offered to sit down and chat with (because their media landscape is mostly bad social media/conspiracies), none have taken me up on the offer. Whether due to their personality or my approach I do not know.

https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/intelligence.shtml

https://kaiwenwang.com/writing/hypothetical-foldy-ears-as-an-indicator-of-intelligence

There's a niche online health community which follows the work of a late Dr. Ray Peat, who have been touting the benefits of aspirin for a long time:

https://raypeat.com/articles/aging/aspirin-brain-cancer.shtml

Some of Dr. Peat's disciples have even begun their own independent cancer research (in mice) trying to prove efficacy of far more basic interventions:

https://x.com/haidut/status/1751716166387597730

I've been an observer of this sphere since ~2017, have implemented various Peat-related concepts towards my own health and fitness, to overall positive results. What's interesting is seeing more and more of these theories - under the theme of 'bioenergetics' - starting to be proven out even in conventional research.