• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Undoctored Blog

Undoctored Can Make You Smarter Than Your Doctor

  • Undoctored Home
  • About
  • Undoctored Inner Circle
  • Home
  • DIY Healthcare
  • Health Information
  • Latest News
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Oxytocin: The Hormone of Love . . . and Youthfulness?

February 8, 2018 By Dr. William Davis

Forget about anti-aging creams. If you want to have a real impact on skin health and slow or reverse myriad aging effects, start thinking about strategies that work on the inside of your body with effects reflected on the skin. The grain-free lifestyle that is the foundation of the Undoctored and Wheat Belly programs is at the top of the list. Just take a look at the dramatic improvements in skin tone, color, texture, health, and reversal of edema that people share in photos.

But there is more you can do. I’ve previously discussed how collagen hydrolysates, or obtaining more collagen by slow-cooking fibrous cuts of meat and consuming the skin of poultry and fish, are ways to increase dietary collagen (and derivatives) that increase skin collagen and joint lubricant and cartilage. But there is another, new addition to our list of powerful youth-preserving, anti-aging strategies: the hormone oxytocin.

Until recently, oxytocin was thought to be a hormone relevant only to childbirth and breastfeeding. It is routinely administered intravenously to pregnant mothers, for example, to induce labor, since it stimulates uterine contraction and cervical relaxation required for delivery of a newborn. This hormone, produced in the brain’s hypothalamus, is known to be an important mediator of mental/emotional effects involved in parenting, social bonding, empathy, affection, and modulating the emotional ebb and flow of long-term relationships. Accordingly, oxytocin administration is under investigation to treat conditions including autism, anxiety disorder, depression, drug abuse, schizophrenia, and even to work through marital difficulties during counseling.

Newer studies, however, are revealing myriad effects of oxytocin that extend far beyond that of emotional bonding and uterine effects. It is also proving to affect body composition, appetite, weight, the status of other hormones, bone health, skin health and other aspects of human physiology.

Oddly, at the center of these new revelations about oxytocin is a probiotic bacterial species, Lactobacillus reuteri. L. reuteri is a known inhabitant of the human gastrointestinal tract that mediates a number of health benefits. Administered to infants, for instance, and it reduces infantile colic and regurgitation. If administered to people taking antibiotics, it reduces the likelihood of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and Clostrium difficile enterocolitis, a serious complication of antibiotic usage. It also helps suppress H. pylori, the organism underlying stomach ulcers, and E. coli-related infections. Oddly, it has also been found to increase blood levels of 25-OH-vitamin D by 25%, yielding an effective intake of 1000 to 2000 units vitamin D per day. When L. reuteri is administered to humans, it colonizes not just the colon, but the stomach and small intestine, as well, which is unusual for a bowel flora inhabitant, suggesting benefits outside of the colon. No adverse effects have been observed in any of these studies.

Some of the newest insights into the potential effects of oxytocin come from an elegant series of experiments in mice conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They have catalogued an impressive list of health effects experienced with increased levels of oxytocin achieved by increasing the intestinal population of L. reuteri. Among the effects observed are:

Greater hair thickness (greater number of hair folllicles) and sebum production
Dramatically greater dermal and overall skin thickness
Dramatically increased collagen deposition in skin
More rapid wound healing (healing time cut in half), a means of assessing skin health and youthfulness
Marked increase in Leydig cells in the testicles of males and resultant several-fold higher serum testosterone levels
Animals remained slender and youthful, even into old age, compared to control animals that became obese and showed the behavioral decline of aging
Reversal of age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia)
100% increase in oxytocin blood levels
The last effect—-doubled oxytocin levels—-can be expected, given what we know about oxytocin’s effects, to increase bone density, increase muscle mass, reduce appetite, improve skin health, facilitate weight loss, as well as improve the quality of personal relationships.

Although these observations were made in mice, the acceleration of wound healing effect has been reproduced in humans, an effect mediated by oxytocin, suggesting that the increased oxytocin phenomenon of L. reuteri applies to humans, as well. Oxytocin exerts a potent anorexigenic effect, i.e., a reduction or loss of interest in food, that can be used to facilitate weight loss or periods of fasting. A separate Chinese study was recently conducted in which volunteers were administered 24 units of oxytocin intranasally over 8 weeks with no change in diet or exercise. Over eight weeks, volunteers taking oxytocin lost 19.8 pounds compared to the placebo group, an unprecedented and powerful effect. There is reduced interest in carbohydrate snacking, in particular. The weight loss effects of oxytocin exceed the drop in calorie intake, suggesting that there are effects on energy usage and other effects that facilitate weight loss.

Put all the effects of increased oxytocin together and it appears that substantial age-reversing or youth-preserving phenomena are possible.

How to accomplish increased oxytocin levels? One way would be to mimic the MIT experience and include the probiotic species, L. reuteri, in your probiotic supplement efforts, using the same strain used in the studies (strain ATCC PTA 6475—the strains chose are crucial, as not all strains share all these effects). The dose used in humans that yielded improved wound healing was 100 million CFUs twice per day with results observed within several days. To amplify the CFUs and thereby the effects of L. reuteri, however, we have been making yogurt using L. reuteri as the starting fermenting agent with added inulin to generate higher bacterial counts (billions to trillions). Anecdotally, consumption of even a modest quantity of this yogurt, e.g., 2-4 tablespoons, is associated with complete lack of appetite, even an aversion to food, that lasts 4-6 hours, an effect that is likely due to the rapid increase in oxytocin.

We have been discussing all these issues in our Undoctored Inner Circle Virtual Meetups and have just released a detailed Oxytocin Advanced Topic on why and how to accomplish all this, complete with a video overview. Come join the Inner Circle conversation if you’d like to join these discussions.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Filed Under: DIY Healthcare, Health Information Tagged With: anti-aging, blood sugar, bone density, bone thinning, diy health, diy healthcare, diyhealth, dr william davis, inflammation, muscle, osteopenia, osteoporosis, oxytocin, testosterone, undoctored, weight loss, wheat belly, youth

About Dr. William Davis

William Davis, MD, FACC is cardiologist and author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wheat Belly series of books. He is also author of the new Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cheryl R Davis

    February 8, 2018

    Is there an alternative method to yogurt? I really don’t like yogurt.

    • Bob Niland

      February 8, 2018

      Cheryl R Davis wrote: «Is there an alternative method to yogurt? I really don’t like yogurt.»

      Insofar as the Undoctored program has considered L.reuteri so far, that has not been explored.

      What’s happening of course, is just normal bacterial fermentation — bacteria consuming a substrate (principally lactose and inulin in the recipe tried so far). It might work with other fermentation substrates, like veggies, but you’d be on your own in testing that.
      ________
      Blog Associate (click my user name for details)

    • Brian

      February 11, 2018

      Yes, they grow fine in MRS broth.

      • Bob Niland

        February 11, 2018

        Brian wrote: «…they grow fine in MRS broth.»

        Thanks for the report.

        It’s new to me, but I take that to be a broth made with De Man, Rogosa and Sharpe agar, for which a wide variety of product appears to be available.

        Have you a specific recommendation for one that is food grade? Much of what turns up in search appears to be intended for lab use.

        Is all of the agar consumed during fermentation? (if not, it might pose an emulsifier concern)

        Also, anyone looking at MRS agars needs to mind the ingredients list. Just looking at what Wiki considers to be a typical formulation, I see polysorbate 80, which would be a disqualifier.
        ________
        Blog Associate (click my user name for details)

        • Brian

          February 12, 2018

          MRS is pretty much the standard medium to grow these bacteria in.
          I don’t recommend using lab grade media. They aren’t meant for consumption and are expensive. You can make you own broth from food grade ingredients. Basically doing what probiotic manufacturers do. It may require some modifications as some ingredients are not available or are undesirable.

          Broth does not require agar. Agar is for agar plates. The point of using agar is that it is not consumed by the bacteria and remains solid.

          Patents show that polysorbate 80 can be replaced with lecithin.

          • Cheryl Davis

            February 12, 2018

            Brian, I believe I will let this go at this time. Thanks so much for your input.

          • Bob Niland

            February 12, 2018

            Brian wrote: «MRS is pretty much the standard medium to grow these bacteria in.»

            Thanks. As it’s never come up on this blog or the Wheat Belly blog before, most readers won’t know that, or have any idea what formulation to presume.

            re: «You can make you own broth from food grade ingredients.»

            The recipe would be important, keeping in mind that the intent is to consume the entire final result.

            re: «The point of using agar is that it is not consumed by the bacteria and remains solid.»

            So it’s basically insoluble fiber? Now that’s interesting. I would have guessed that agar is to some extent prebiotic (being a galactose polymer), and consumed by at least some gut flora (if not L.reuteri in particular). Agar has not really been addressed specifically in the program.

            re: «Patents show that polysorbate 80 can be replaced with lecithin.»

            And lecithin, alas, being primarily an emulsifier, is an ingredient we avoid (as an added ingredient), due to suspected adverse effects on gut mucosa. Yeah, it’s FDA GRAS, but that turns out to not be as reassuring as people might assume.
            ________
            Blog Associate (click my user name for details)

  2. Deb Miller

    February 8, 2018

    Google is not giving me very many choices of where to purchase this specific strain. What is your source?

    • Bob Niland

      February 8, 2018

      Deb Miller wrote: «Google is not giving me very many choices of where to purchase this specific strain. What is your source?»

      people have been using the BioGaia® Gastrus® (tablet) product for strain ATCC PTA 6475. It’s widely available. The BioGaia® ProTectis® product is strain DSM 17938, on which the jury is still out insofar as the effects list.
      ________
      Blog Associate (click my user name for details)

  3. SL

    February 8, 2018

    I just got out of a relationship with a long term partner. I’m interested in making this yogurt with the strain but would it be inadvisable to try and increase oxytocin levels while being heartbroken? Would that make my process of recovery better or worse?

    • Bob Niland

      February 8, 2018

      SL wrote: «…would it be inadvisable to try and increase oxytocin levels while being heartbroken?»

      That’s a sound question. Program discussions of psychological effects have so far considered possible undesired effects, but not fully characterized them, including no exploration of that scenario.

      I’d suggest doing some oxytocin effects investigation on the wider internet. Exogenous oxytocin has a long use history, and oxytocin metabolized from L.reuteri may have some to look at as well. Keyword “crisis” seems to get a lot of results.

      I might add that the upside of this substance may also not be fully characterized. Given the striking effect on appetite, it may well be found beneficial in various addiction/craving/withdrawal syndromes.
      ________
      Blog Associate (click my user name for details)

Primary Sidebar

Sign Up For News and Events from Dr. Davis
Sign up now and get access to a special bonus video from Dr. Davis: “7 Things Your Doctor Doesn’t Want You To Know.”

7 Things Video


Get The Book

Undoctored Book

Amazon Barnes & Noble Books a Million

Undoctored Inner Circle AD

Grain-Free Low-Carb Foods

Wheat Free Market

Follow Undoctored On Facebook

Follow Dr. Davis On Twitter

Follow @WilliamDavis Tweets by William Davis

Copyright © 2022 · Undoctored

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.