Ray Peat on CO2

Hyperventilation, CO₂ loss and serotonin release

"Hyperventilation increases under various stress conditions, and the resulting loss of carbon dioxide increases blood alkalinity, causing platelets to release serotonin. Estrogen stimulation and hypothyroidism are common causes of chronic hyperventilation, with their effect on platelets releasing serotonin and all their harmful consequences."

September 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Tissue response to stimulation and oxygen utilization

"One response to stimulation is the production of more energy, with a proportional increase in oxygen and glucose consumption by the stimulated tissue; this produces more carbon dioxide, which dilates the blood vessels in the area and makes more glucose and oxygen available. If the stimulation becomes destructive, efficiency is lost: oxygen is either wasted, leading to a bluish discoloration of the tissue (provided blood flow is maintained; bluish discoloration can also indicate poor blood flow), or it is not consumed, causing reddening of the tissue. Since more glucose is consumed to compensate, lactic acid also dilates the blood vessels."

Nutrition For Women

Adrenal gland response to inflammation and stress hormones

"When the body senses inflammation or other stress (possibly by detecting changes in blood sugar, lactic acid, carbon dioxide, or all three), the adrenal glands release anti-stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol (provided these glands are not exhausted or deprived). Both adrenaline and cortisol can raise blood sugar to meet the increased demand."

Nutrition For Women

Improving Epsom salt baths with baking soda for better absorption

"Since carbon dioxide dissolves best in fat-soluble material such as skin, it even enters the body against a concentration gradient. Adding baking soda to an Epsom salt bath should make it more effective."

Nutrition For Women

Cancer detection through metabolic changes using radioactive fat tests

“Recently, Dr. GG Costa and others at the Medical College of Virginia developed a cancer diagnostic test that likely incorporates this pregnancy metabolism. The patient is given some radioactive fat, and a person with even very small cancer will exhale about three times as much radioactive carbon dioxide. This shows that metabolism shifts toward fat mobilization at an early stage of cancer development.”

Nutrition For Women

Effects of high body temperature on the reduction of inflammation

"The increased oxygen consumption that occurs at higher body temperatures corresponds to a high production of carbon dioxide and an inhibition of lactate formation, thereby maintaining a more oxidized balance that reduces inflammation."

November 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Prenatal influences on brain development and adaptability

“Experiments over the last 60 years have shown that varying levels of glucose, carbon dioxide, heat, and progesterone during embryonic and fetal development can influence brain growth and the way the brain controls future development and adaptability.”

November 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Minimizing stressors and maximizing protective factors

"It is important to minimize low-level stressors and injuries and to optimize protective factors such as light, carbohydrates, thyroid hormone, carbon dioxide, and a sense of a meaningful future."

November 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Treatment of new diseases with drugs for altitude edema

"The use of calcium channel blockers and acetazolamide to treat the new disease, due to their therapeutic effect in high-altitude pulmonary edema. He didn't mention it, but both drugs can correct the carbon dioxide deficiency in the tissues."

May 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Metabolic effects of carbon dioxide and altitude sickness

“By neglecting the role of carbon dioxide in suppressing lactate production, all its other essential metabolic effects are also overlooked, including its role as the factor whose absence leads to the syndromes of altitude sickness.”

May 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Association between chronic metabolic hyperventilation and degenerative diseases

“By ignoring the fact that 30 years of slightly elevated lactate levels could lead to cancer or other degenerative diseases, those who taught physiological chemistry also showed little interest in the idea of ​​chronic metabolic hyperventilation – that is, the loss of slightly too much carbon dioxide even at sea level.”

May 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Adaptation of breathing and its effects at different altitudes

"The fundamental principles of respiration, the Bohr and Haldane effects, describe the physical equilibria of oxygen and carbon dioxide in humans adapted to life at different altitudes. The Haldane effect describes how increased oxygen pressure reduces the amount of carbon dioxide bound to hemoglobin, while decreased oxygen pressure increases the amount of bound carbon dioxide. In adapting individuals, there is a steady increase in retained carbon dioxide with increasing altitude. Unadapted individuals experience a loss of carbon dioxide with an increase in lactate."

May 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of lactate on oxygen diffusion and hypoxia

"Lactate increases capillary permeability and fluid loss, and reduces the ability of oxygen to diffuse from the alveolus to the erythrocytes. Since carbon dioxide diffuses many times faster than oxygen, this diffusion barrier simultaneously leads to low blood CO₂ and hypoxia. Even at sea level, an increase in lactate immediately raises the diffusion barrier of the lungs."

May 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stress-induced exosome production and protective factors

"The production of exosomes during stress is part of the body's normal regenerative function (Zhang et al., 2017); only when protective factors such as progesterone and carbon dioxide are lacking does their production become counterproductive."

Anti-excitotoxic substances and the importance of the CO₂/lactate ratio

"Anti-excitotoxic substances include progesterone, memantine, minocycline, and agmatine. A high CO₂ to lactate ratio, which lowers the intracellular pH, is important to prevent excessive excitability. In addition to directly increasing energy production and the CO₂/lactate ratio, thyroid hormones also raise brain temperature and the progesterone to estrogen ratio."

May 2018 – Ray Peats Newsletter

The role of maternal physiology in the regulation of the fetal environment

"The physiology of a healthy mother, in interaction with her environment, continuously adapts the intrauterine conditions, regulates the temperature, provides oxygen and sugar, regulates the carbon dioxide level and essential nutrients, while simultaneously excluding important toxins."

March 2021 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Maintaining protective factors after pregnancy through oxidative metabolism

"In childhood and adulthood, a robust oxidative metabolism can maintain some of the essential protective factors of pregnancy, including adequate glucose and carbon dioxide levels, good temperature regulation, and the avoidance of excessive production of superoxide and lactate. Under these conditions, cytokines can contribute to adaptation and ongoing development."

March 2021 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Therapeutic development of carbon dioxide

"Carbon dioxide was once considered a hormone and used medically for ulcers, arthritis, cancer, and mental problems, and the work of Yandell Henderson led to its use as carbogen (5% CO₂, 95% O₂) for resuscitation. However, by the middle of the century, most therapeutic uses had been discontinued, hospitals were instructed to use pure oxygen instead of carbogen, and patients with cerebral swelling were hyperventilated with oxygen to lower the carbon dioxide level in their blood."

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Influence of CO₂ on muscle contraction and blood flow to the brain

"In the 1950s, Gilbert Ling discovered that at elevated carbon dioxide concentrations, a given stimulus elicits less muscle contraction than at lower carbon dioxide concentrations. Around the same time, Russian physiologists found that the CO₂ produced by active brain cells relaxes the brain's blood vessels, including the capillaries, and increases blood flow proportionally to rising metabolic demands."

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Induction principle in Ling's cell theory

"The principle of induction, which is central to Ling's understanding of cell structure and function, is something every chemistry student learns about early in their studies: the transfer of electron-withdrawing properties from different atoms and groups via bonded atoms. Carbon dioxide, a Lewis acid, strongly withdraws electrons from the proteins to which it is adsorbed, thereby increasing their acidity. This affects properties such as contraction and nerve activation, as well as oxygen binding and enzyme activity."

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Carbon dioxide, urea and water regulation

"Besides this fundamental stabilizing and regulating function of carbon dioxide, it combines with ammonia to form urea. Urea, like carbon dioxide, contributes significantly to the regulation of water by altering its properties. The elimination of ammonia protects against its toxic effects, which include the induction of pseudohypoxia."

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The effects of carbonic anhydrase activation

"Stress activates the enzyme carbonic anhydrase, which converts gaseous CO₂ (the form that binds to proteins and favors structured surface or vicinal water) into ionizable carbonic acid or bicarbonate, which leaves the cells. Activation of this enzyme increases the intracellular pH and tends to excite cells, while its inhibition lowers the intracellular pH, calms cells, and conserves energy."

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

A carbon dioxide systems perspective on hormones and drugs

"Viewing hormones and drugs within the framework of the carbon dioxide system, instead of in the reductionist system of receptor cascades and messenger substances, makes the organism understandable as a unified system."

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Oxidative processes and factors of enzyme regulation

"The oxidative processes that support the targeted, creative functioning of the organism optimize carbon dioxide by inhibiting carbonic anhydrase; this enzyme is inhibited by the thyroid hormone T3, progesterone, urea, caffeine, antipsychotics, and aspirin. Substances that tend to revert to primitive anaerobic energy production activate the enzyme—for example, serotonin, tryptophan, cysteine, histamine, estrogen, aldosterone, HIF, SSRIs, angiotensin, and parathyroid hormone."

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Positive effects of various substances in healthcare

“Like intracellular ATP, adequate amounts of progesterone, T3, urea, and carbon dioxide each have a multitude of beneficial effects, both individually and in combination. Together with their synergistic nutritional, herbal, and pharmaceutical counterparts, their use could fundamentally change the nature of healthcare.”

March 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Lipolysis intensity and disruption of restful sleep

"The intensity of lipolysis decreases during the most restorative deep sleep, but the free fatty acids themselves tend to increase lactate by blocking the oxidation of glucose to carbon dioxide and dampen glucose metabolism. This creates an inflammatory and excitatory state that disrupts deep sleep."

March 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of the lungs in the detoxification of serotonin by CO₂

"Although the liver has a significantly greater capacity to detoxify serotonin than the lungs, the lungs detoxify several times the amount of circulating serotonin compared to the liver. This is because carbon dioxide is lost from the blood in the oxygen-rich environment of the lungs, and carbon dioxide is required for serotonin to bind to platelets. With the loss of CO₂, the platelets release their serotonin very quickly, so it is immediately detoxified by the local MAO."

July 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Ideology and distortion of the understanding of stress physiology

"The ideology surrounding stress physiology, which distorts the importance of serotonin, estrogen, unsaturated fatty acids, sugar, lactate, carbon dioxide and various other biological molecules, has hidden the simple cures for most inflammatory and degenerative diseases."

July 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of carbon dioxide in stimulating respiration

"Every type of cell releases carbon dioxide into the blood in proportion to its metabolic rate, and its best-known effect is to stimulate respiration and increase oxygen uptake by the lungs in proportion to the metabolic rate."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of CO₂ in stabilizing energy production

"Between its formation and its release, carbon dioxide is involved in many essential processes, including the stabilization of the energy-producing system."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of CO₂ in the relaxation of smooth muscles and oxygen supply

"Since carbon dioxide relaxes smooth muscle, cells that are working and consuming oxygen and glucose (producing CO₂ proportionally to their activity) cause neighboring blood vessels to relax and dilate, thus providing more oxygen and glucose in accordance with the increased demand."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Reductive stress activates regenerative cellular processes.

“Reductive stress activates multiple levels of regenerative processes (as alternatives to the protective functions of carbon dioxide) to stimulate respiration, increase blood flow, and provide energy and materials for the renewal of cellular structures. Prostaglandins, cytokines, estrogen, and nitric oxide are produced in a coordinated manner, and cellular behavior changes defensively. The structures of the cytoskeleton are modified as reductive chemistry converts protein disulfides into sulfhydryls, thereby altering the shapes and—most importantly—the solubility properties of the cellular material.”

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stabilizing effects of carbon dioxide in the brain

"Since carbon dioxide has stabilizing effects in the brain, including the relaxation of blood vessels, the loss of carbon dioxide leads to vasoconstriction, an insufficient supply of oxygen and glucose to the brain, and thus to a reduced metabolic rate."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Stress-related changes in breathing and their consequences

"Stress alters our breathing and causes a vicious cycle in which lactate and ammonia, which are produced when stimulation exceeds our oxidative capacity, trigger more intensive breathing. This leads to more carbon dioxide loss, oxidative efficiency decreases, and the formation of ammonia and lactate increases further."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Therapeutic potential of CO₂

"Given the crucial role of carbon dioxide in maintaining cell integrity, more attention should be paid to its therapeutic use."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Therapeutic potential of carbon dioxide application

"The direct application of carbon dioxide should be helpful in all situations known to benefit from acetazolamide, but without the risk of an allergy to this drug – including traumatic cerebral edema, altitude sickness, osteoporosis, epilepsy, glaucoma, ADHD, inflammation, intestinal polyps, and arthritis. Diabetes, cardiomyopathy (Torella et al., 2014), obesity (Arechederra et al., 2013), cancer, dementia, and psychoses may also benefit."

July 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Cell-calming effect of sugar oxidation through carbon dioxide production

"The cell-calming effect of sugar oxidation is probably due to the increased production of carbon dioxide and a shift in the electronic equilibrium towards a more oxidized and coherent state."

July 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Lactate in cancer: disruptive factor or energy saver?

"When cancer metabolism increases the amount of lactate in the blood, increased respiration lowers the carbon dioxide level in the blood (Gargaglioni et al., 2003), and the loss of CO₂ affects metabolism and physiology at all levels."

July 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of increased CO₂ levels on cellular redox balance and metabolism

"When the CO₂ level is increased, the redox balance of the cell shifts towards oxidation (Melnychuk et al., 1977), the use of glucose for growth and fat synthesis is inhibited, and the Krebs cycle is activated (Melnychuk et al., 1978)."

July 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of reductive equilibrium in cell-organizing factors

"The reductive equilibrium is an important cell-organizing factor that, for example, controls the conversion of the relatively inactive estrone into the potent estradiol. (This often begins a vicious cycle of excitation, exhaustion, and degeneration, requiring the intervention of stabilizing substances such as carbon dioxide, thyroid hormone, sugar, and progesterone.)"

January 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of progesterone in energy processes in the brain

"It seems likely that a fundamental part of progesterone's ability to protect the brain from stress lies in its support of the energy-intensive mitochondrial oxidation of glucose to carbon dioxide."

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Progesterone stabilizes cells and improves metabolic functions

"Besides directly stabilizing internal cell structures, progesterone increases ATP concentration and oxygen consumption, reduces excitatory systems and numerous inflammatory processes, lowers intracellular calcium concentration, and increases glucose utilization. This leads to increased carbon dioxide production as well as adjustments in respiration and pH."

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Lactic acid in the brain: more than a waste product

"While lactic acid and a more reductive equilibrium in cells activate the excitatory glutamatergic system, an increased concentration of carbon dioxide inhibits this system."

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The dual role of carbon dioxide in oxidative energy production

"Carbon dioxide is both a product and an activator of oxidative energy production."

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Protective substances against the consequences of impaired glucose oxidation

“Other substances that protect against the effects of hypoglycemia or impaired glucose oxidation include progesterone, caffeine, certain anesthetics including xenon, niacinamide, agmatine and carbon dioxide.”

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The effect of acetazolamide on respiration

"Acetazolamide stimulates respiration by changing carbon dioxide levels and pH."

Email Response by Ray Peat

Adaptation effects on lactic acid production and muscle efficiency

"Adaptation to hypoxia or increased carbon dioxide limits the formation of lactic acid. Muscles are about 50% more efficient in this adapted state; glucose, which produces more carbon dioxide than fat during oxidation, is metabolized more efficiently than fats and requires less oxygen."

July 2000

The role of carbon dioxide in the existence of mitochondria

"Could carbon dioxide, a major product of mitochondria, help to bring mitochondria into existence in the first place? My answer to that is: yes."

July 2000

Exercise, free fatty acids and lactate

"Exercise increases – similar to aging, obesity and diabetes – the levels of circulating free fatty acids and lactate. Ordinary, holistic activity, on the other hand, activates the systems in an organized way, increases carbon dioxide production and improves blood circulation."

July 2000

Carbon dioxide and lactate dynamics in cellular processes

"While the flow of carbon dioxide from the mitochondrion into the cytoplasm and beyond tends to remove calcium from the mitochondrion and the cell, the flow of lactate and other organic ions into the mitochondrion can cause calcium accumulation in the mitochondrion. This occurs under conditions where carbon dioxide synthesis—and thus urea synthesis—is suppressed and other synthetic processes are altered."

July 2000

Glycolysis, pyruvate and mitochondrial function in cells

“Glycolysis produces both pyruvate and lactate, and an excess of pyruvate produces almost the same inhibitory effect as lactate. Since the Crabtree effect involves nitric oxide, fatty acids, and calcium, I think it makes sense to look for the simplest kind of explanation rather than trying to experimentally trace all possible interactions of these substances. A simple physical competition between the products of glycolysis and carbon dioxide for binding sites, such as lysine, would amount to a phase change in the mitochondrion.”

July 2000

Glucose, glycolysis and energy production in cells

“Glucose, and apparently glycolysis as well, are required for the production of nitric oxide and for the accumulation of calcium—at least in certain cell types—and these coordinated changes, which reduce energy production, could be caused by a reduction in carbon dioxide. This would represent a physical state change even more fundamental than the energy level represented by ATP. The use of Krebs cycle substances for the synthesis of amino acids and other products would reduce CO₂ formation and create a situation in which the system has two possible states: the glycolytic stress state and the carbon dioxide-producing, energy-efficient state.”

July 2000

The role of carbon dioxide in mitochondrial stability

"Just as carbon dioxide alters the shapes and electrical affinities of hemoglobin and other proteins, I propose that it increases the stability of the mitochondrial coacervate. This causes it to recruit additional proteins from its external environment as well as from its own synthetic machinery to enlarge both its structure and its functions."

July 2000

Involvement of lactic acid in mitochondrial degeneration

"In the case of a relative lack of carbon dioxide or an excess of alternative solutes and adsorbents such as lactic acid, the stability of the mitochondrial phase would decrease, and the mitochondria would degrade in both their structure and function. As a counterpoint to the idea that carbon dioxide stabilizes and activates mitochondria, the assumption that lactic acid is involved in mitochondrial degeneration can also be tested experimentally and is already supported by a considerable amount of indirect evidence."

July 2000

High carbon dioxide levels prevent the formation of toxic lactic acid.

"When background carbon dioxide levels are high, blood flow and oxygenation tend to inhibit anaerobic glycolysis, which produces toxic lactic acid. Therefore, a certain activity level can be harmful or beneficial, depending on the level of carbon dioxide produced at rest."

July 2000

Non-toxic therapies for the treatment of lactic acidosis

"Therapeutically, even potent toxins that block glycolytic enzymes can improve function in a variety of organic disorders associated with (or caused by) excessive lactic acid production. Unfortunately, the toxin that has become the standard treatment for lactic acidosis—dichloroacetic acid—is carcinogenic and causes long-term liver damage and acidosis. However, several non-toxic therapies can achieve the same effects, for example, palmitate (formed from sugar under the influence of thyroid hormones and found in coconut oil), vitamin B1, biotin, lipoic acid, carbon dioxide, thyroid hormones, naloxone, and acetazolamide."

July 2000

The essence of oxidative metabolism: carbon dioxide and metabolic water

"The formation of carbon dioxide, together with the formation of metabolic water, is the essence of oxidative metabolism, arising from the interactions of carbon fuel, electrons, and oxygen. Even before carbon dioxide reacts covalently with water to form carbonic acid, it possesses a high affinity for electrons. This affinity, which favors its reaction with water and amines, determines its non-covalent adsorptive properties, which, however, are overlooked by most physiologists."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of carbon dioxide in cellular respiration and ion balance

"Both spontaneously and enzymatically, carbon dioxide combines with water. Formed inside the respiring cell, it continuously leaves the cell as carbonic acid, bicarbonate, and carbonate. As it flows out of the cell, any positively charged group, such as a calcium ion, that it carries with it will enter the extracellular fluids along with the carbonate or bicarbonate ion, approximately as a pair with equal positive and negative charges. However, the removal of the alkaline metal ion tends to restore the acidic character of the proteins."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of carbon dioxide in cellular ion regulation

"The adsorptive effects of carbon dioxide, as well as a wide variety of other chemical effects, modulate the structure and function of the cell so that it retains significantly more potassium than sodium and is able to excrete calcium while binding magnesium."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Blood pH and the influence of carbon dioxide on cellular alkalinity

“This simplified picture of the effects of carbon dioxide on minerals makes it possible to understand the fact that the pH of blood is higher than that of cells, as well as many other puzzles, without having to resort to special hypothetical constructs. The alkaline metals mobilized from respiring cells in conjunction with carbonic acid remain in the blood alone when the carbonic acid transforms into gaseous carbon dioxide and this leaves the blood in the lungs. Protons—if one can call them that—remain in the cells and are removed from the blood by the reactions of carbon dioxide. However, the common descriptions of the higher alkalinity of blood compared to cells neglect the background conditions: the intrinsic acidity of the cell material and the forces that the cell material exerts on the solutes.”

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Hypothyroidism, hyperventilation and a vicious cycle of energy loss

"Hypothyroidism suppresses respiration as an energy source, resulting in low carbon dioxide production and lactic acid buildup, even in the absence of obvious stress. This is similar to hyperventilation, as carbon dioxide loss is the defining characteristic of hyperventilation. However, the presence of abnormally elevated adrenergic activity and free fatty acids stimulates further hyperventilation and exacerbates carbon dioxide loss. Decreasing carbon dioxide further impairs respiration, leading to increased lactic acid production; this, in turn, stimulates further adrenergic activity, and so on – in a vicious cycle."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Estrogen-induced tissue swelling and non-genomic effects

"Since these effects of estrogen on tissue water are considered non-genomic and to some extent independent of normal estrogen receptors and response elements, presumably any tissue is susceptible to estrogen-induced swelling – as well as swelling caused by unsaturated fatty acids and a lack of carbon dioxide."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Intracellular acidosis and its cell-protective effects

"Inhibition of carbonic anhydrase leads to the retention of carbon dioxide, which can cause acidosis. Intracellular acidosis has many important cell-protective effects. By reducing the ionization of the cell's macromolecules, their affinity for water is decreased."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Influence of carbon dioxide on cellular energy and heat production

"The concentration of carbon dioxide influences the structural energy content of the protein-water system, and this effect can well explain many of the mysteries of cellular heat production, including the negative heat observed during certain phases of nerve and muscle activity."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of CO₂ loss on cerebral blood flow and effects of hyperventilation

"The loss of carbon dioxide reduces blood flow to the brain and produces complex paresthesias as well as stroke symptoms. Hyperventilation is a relative term and refers to the amount of carbon dioxide lost from the blood. Heavy, rapid breathing at high altitude or in a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere does not necessarily constitute hyperventilation."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The crucial role of carbon dioxide in the regulation of water, proteins and minerals

"Water, proteins, oxygen, and minerals are all crucially regulated by carbon dioxide. The enzyme carbonic anhydrase, which is regulated by hormones (including parathyroid hormone) and nerves, accelerates the exchange between carbon dioxide and bicarbonate, each of which has specific functions. Bicarbonate is more soluble in water, while carbon dioxide is more soluble in living matter and fats."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Limiting effect of carbon dioxide on the overexcitation of nerves and muscles

"Carbon dioxide limits the electrical depolarization of nerves and muscles – a phenomenon first described by Gilbert Ling. This prevents overexcitation and exhaustion of brain and muscle cells, including the heart. The presence of carbon dioxide also limits the formation of lactic acid. This explains the lactate paradox during physical exertion at high altitude."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Hyperventilation experiment: muscle cramps and altered blood pH

"Simple hyperventilation causes muscle cramps and paresthesia (tingling of the skin) – an experiment anyone can perform in a few minutes. When a large amount of carbon dioxide is exhaled, the pH of the blood rises only very slightly due to systemic adaptations."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Excitotoxic damage and the protective role of carbon dioxide

"Histamine release, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide are extensively involved in excitotoxic damage, and carbon dioxide also has a protective effect against these processes."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of carbon dioxide in degenerative diseases

"Besides the simple excitotoxic killing of nerve cells, the processes that impair carbon dioxide production trigger a long-lasting degenerative process ranging from diabetic lactic acidemia to dementia."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Alzheimer's disease: respiratory brain metabolism and CO₂ deficiency

"In Alzheimer's disease, the respiratory metabolism of the brain is inhibited, resulting in a deficiency of carbon dioxide with an excess of lactic acid and ammonia."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Koch's findings on coagulation and carbon dioxide

"WF Koch also noted that excessive coagulation occurred in the toxic antirespiratory state. Carbon dioxide is – probably by controlling calcium availability – an important protective factor against abnormal blood coagulation."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The relationship between lactic acid, CO₂ and degenerative brain diseases

"If an excess of lactic acid in brain tissue is characteristic of Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis, then the lactate paradox suggests that a slightly higher retention of carbon dioxide in the brains of Kashmir's inhabitants would counteract chronic excitotoxic effects. This would suppress the stress metabolism that leads to degenerative brain diseases."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Neuroprotection against excitotoxicity and excess intracellular calcium

"The neuroprotective steroids progesterone and pregnenolone, as well as magnesium and carbon dioxide, all protect against excitotoxicity and the associated excess of intracellular calcium, while at the same time promoting normal calcification."

December 1999 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of carbon dioxide in regulation and energy production

"Carbon dioxide is heavily involved in the regulation of both sodium and calcium, as well as respiration and energy production. It tends to relax both nerves and muscles. Obviously, it is one of the key factors in preventing edema."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 4

ATP and the role of CO₂ in the regulation of hemoglobin and proteins

“ATP and CO₂ both bind to hemoglobin and thereby regulate its affinity for oxygen. The way they bind to this protein suggests that they also bind to many other intracellular proteins and regulate their functions in a similar way.”

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 4

Carbon dioxide as a protective factor in cerebral hypoxia

"In many situations, including brain hypoxia, carbon dioxide is the crucial protective factor."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 4

Sodium retention and carbon dioxide in hypothyroidism

"Low thyroid function is associated with reduced carbon dioxide production, and body fluids do not retain as much sodium as in healthy individuals. Both urine and sweat tend to contain abnormally high sodium concentrations in hypothyroidism. Since CO₂ plays a central role in pH regulation and the excretion of hydrogen ions (acidic urine) is a mechanism of sodium retention, the CO₂ deficiency in hypothyroidism is likely closely related to the inability to retain sufficient sodium."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 4

The influence of carbon dioxide on biological structures and pH value

"Carbonated water is so commonplace that chemists are almost embarrassed to talk about it. All water in respiring organisms contains a significant amount of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide binds to proteins and other amine-containing polymers and dissolves in the water, lowering the pH, so the interactions between polymers and water are strongly influenced by the CO₂ concentration. Carbon dioxide alters biological materials and structures in and around our cells."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The protective role of carbon dioxide in efficient respiration

"Whenever respiration takes place, carbon dioxide is produced. By maintaining the effective concentration of Krebs cycle material, it protects the efficiency of respiration."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The solubility of carbon dioxide and its movement into living tissue

"Carbon dioxide is very soluble in water, but it is even more soluble in living tissue – so much so that it moves from a low concentration in the bathwater into the body, where its concentration is already significantly higher."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The reaction of carbon dioxide and ammonia in urea formation

"Carbon dioxide reacts spontaneously with ammonia as well as with other amines. The reaction of ammonia with carbon dioxide is the first step in the formation of urea and protects against the potential toxicity of ammonia."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The binding of carbon dioxide to insulin and the effects of thyroid hormones

"Although carbon dioxide is likely associated with most amino groups in the body, only a few of these reactions have been studied. For example, it is known to bind to insulin and influence its conformation. I think this probably explains some of the effects of thyroid hormone in diabetes, since the thyroid gland increases carbon dioxide production."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

Carbon dioxide as an expectorant with an effect on mucopolysaccharides

"The simplest way to think about the effect of carbon dioxide on mucopolysaccharides is to consider its action as an expectorant, reducing the viscosity of bronchial mucus so that it can be reabsorbed or expelled. Since iodide also has a long history of use as an expectorant, we should compare the effects of carbon dioxide and carbonic acid with the effects of iodide in other situations."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The role of carbon dioxide in eye health and the prevention of cataracts

"The transparent structures of the eye are interesting areas to consider the effects of carbon dioxide. I think that carbon dioxide plays a role in maintaining the clarity of the lens, as I explained in the newsletter on cataracts, by preventing swelling."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The contribution of hypothyroidism to the development of glaucoma

"That hypothyroidism, which leads to a replacement of carbon dioxide by lactic acid, could contribute to the development of glaucoma by increasing the viscosity of the aqueous humor."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The decongestant effect of carbon dioxide on the cornea

"In experimenters wearing gas-tight protective goggles, as well as in scraped corneas kept in tissue culture, carbon dioxide was found to have a decongestant effect on the cornea."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

Inhibition of connective tissue aging by carbon dioxide

"As we age, connective tissue hardens through chemical cross-linking of large molecules. If amino groups are well saturated with carbon dioxide, this type of reaction should be inhibited."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

The role of carbon dioxide in preventing edema and water retention

"The water-saturated state observed in blood vessels, lungs, and other organs during shock or stress, as well as cerebral edema and lens cataracts following various metabolic disorders, appear to be associated with the uptake of free water while simultaneously losing bound (non-freezable) water. Carbon dioxide appears to promote the retention of bound water and protect against edematous conditions."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

Thyroid hormone as a promoter of carbon dioxide production

"The thyroid hormone is the most important promoter of carbon dioxide production."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 3

Macromolecular charge and the influence of pH and CO₂ on proteins

"The overall charge of proteins and other macromolecules generally depends on the pH of their environment. Cellular proteins typically carry a negative charge above a pH of 5. The ionization of chemical groups such as hydroxyl, amino, and sulfhydryl groups is responsible for the overall charge. The degree of oxidation or reduction affects the number of sulfhydryl groups, and the protein's structural state also influences the charge. At high pH, ​​the charge is high, and the number and arrangement of sulfhydryl groups can affect it. The presence of small ions, carbon dioxide, and oxygen also influences protein charge. When the entire living system is considered, bioelectricity interacts with other electron-related phenomena, including oxidation-reduction processes, pH, donor-acceptor reactions, and free radical reactions."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

The role of oxygen in cellular acidification and the regulation of edema

"Oxygen, which produces carbon dioxide, acidifies the cell, and carbon dioxide affects the cell's handling of water. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors are frequently used to regulate conditions associated with edema, including adaptation to high altitudes."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

Increased pH in muscles due to the formation of lactic acid

"During intense contraction, especially when oxygen and carbon dioxide are limited, muscles produce lactic acid, and the specific reaction in which lactic acid is formed leads to the consumption of protons, that is, the pH level rises."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

The cellular acidifying effects of carbon dioxide and ATP

"Carbon dioxide produced during respiration and the hydrolysis of ATP are two strong acidifiers of the cell; with sufficient stimulation, both can probably act simultaneously, and in this situation the pH drop tends to counteract the excitatory stimulus."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

The role of CO₂ in calcium distribution

"Sufficient CO₂ is closely involved in the distribution of calcium."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

High altitude and lactic acid metabolism in stress and cancer

"Under all conditions studied, the lactic acid metabolism typical of stress and cancer is suppressed at high altitude because respiration becomes more efficient. The Haldane effect shows that carbon dioxide retention is increased at high altitude."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

The Haldane effect and the lactate paradox

"The Haldane effect describes the fact that hemoglobin releases oxygen in the presence of carbon dioxide and releases carbon dioxide in the presence of oxygen. The increased retention of carbon dioxide is responsible for the lactate paradox."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

Sodium and carbon dioxide loss during stress

“Sodium and carbon dioxide are essential for maintaining normal fields, and these substances interact in a way that leads to both being lost during stress. In hypothyroidism, sodium is permanently lost because carbon dioxide is chronically replaced by lactic acid. Both sodium (Veech et al.; Garrahan and Glynn) and carbon dioxide—by stimulating the Krebs cycle and keeping respiratory enzymes active—help maintain normal ATP levels and thus protect against stress and shock.”

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

Supportive interventions for fundamental organizational areas

"The safest and most effective interventions will be those that support our basic organizational fields (for example, sodium, carbon dioxide, balanced proteins, fruits, thyroid, pregnenolone) and do not introduce distortions, as some drugs, foods, hormones and supplements do."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 2

The influence of hyperventilation on tissue respiration

"During hyperventilation, so much carbon dioxide is lost with breathing that tissue respiration is impaired and partial tissue suffocation occurs."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Oxygen consumption without sufficient carbon dioxide production

"When cells consume oxygen without producing enough carbon dioxide, a situation arises that resembles hyperventilation or tissue suffocation."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Low blood sugar and respiratory quotient in hypothyroidism

“Low blood sugar, most often caused by hypothyroidism, and diabetes – which involves poor uptake of sugar by the cells – both tend to lower the respiratory quotient, which is the amount of carbon dioxide produced relative to the amount of oxygen consumed.”

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Carbon dioxide inhalation in psychiatry and metabolism

"The use of carbon dioxide inhalation in psychiatry has many metabolic justifications, one of which could be the importance of carbon dioxide for glucose regeneration. It is also essential for ammonia detoxification."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Treatment of scleroderma with thyroid, magnesium and progesterone

“Men diagnosed with scleroderma have reported to me that their symptoms improved with the use of thyroid and magnesium supplements, Epsom salt baths, and topical progesterone and vitamin E. I suspect that the carbon dioxide produced in the mitochondria is the main factor in the removal of calcium from them.”

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Carbon dioxide supplements reduce remaining lactate production.

"Experimental studies have shown that carbon dioxide supplements reduce remaining lactate production."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Schmitt's theory on the extinction of the dinosaurs and CO₂ emissions

"Roman Schmitt has suggested that 66 million years ago, when the dinosaurs became extinct and mammals began their rapid evolution, hydrothermal degassing got out of control and released enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and other substances into the atmosphere."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Internal carbon dioxide production and brain development

"During periods of lower atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, our Krebs cycle continues to produce it internally, and the rapid development of the brain during pregnancy utilizes the high concentration of carbon dioxide in the uterus."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter