Importance of Protein Health

Protein Health and Body Weight

"Impairments in protein health may result in serious disease states, including overweight disorders, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, Type II diabetes, characterized by numerous risk factors and symptoms of premature aging." - Dr. Scheele

Healthy cells contain proteins that span the entire charge spectrum, from negative-charged proteins to positive-charged proteins. This may be easily demonstrated by spreading the proteins out on a 2-dimension (2D) gel as seen in the following diagram.

The Importance of Power Amino Acids™ in Protein Health

A: Protein Health Normal Protein Pattern
B: Protein Deficiency Positive Charged Proteins Reduced by 90%
C: CORRECTION with Factor4 Weight Control™ Return to Normal Protein Pattern

The yellow and red triangles shown at the top of the gels show the gradients of positive (red) and negative (yellow) charges that reside in the proteins. Thus, proteins at the far right in the 2D gel contain mostly positive-charged amino acids and very few negative-charged amino acids. In contrast, proteins at the far left in the 2D gel contain mostly negative-charged amino acids and very few positive charged amino acids.

Figure A shows a 2D gel demonstrating 10 proteins (round black spots) separated according to charge (horizontal axis) and size (vertical axis). Each protein has a distinct specific function that is necessary to ensure the health of cell, organ or tissue. Because the functions of proteins are complementary, the entire set of proteins are required to ensure ìprotein healthî in a given organ or tissue. The pattern of protein health shown in Figure A represents a ìhealthy tissue.î

Under conditions of protein deficiency or partial protein deficient states, positive-charged proteins suffer at the expense of negative-charged proteins as seen in Figure B. The synthesis of negative-charged proteins continue but the synthesis of positive-charged proteins is greatly diminished to levels that are more than 90% diminished from levels observed in health. Thus positive-charged proteins show up at levels that are less than 10% of the levels observed in health. These changes in protein health result in serious impairments in cellular function. In fact the impairments in protein health may result in serious disease states, including overweight disorders, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, Type II diabetes, characterized by numerous risk factors and symptoms of premature aging.

The Power Amino Acids™ contained in Factor4 Weight Control™ provide the critical nutritional elements that correct the protein deficiency observed in Figure B. When corrected by Factor4 Weight Control™ the pattern of protein health returns to that seen in Figure C (compare Figure C to A).

How Does Protein Deficiency Lead to Fat Storage & Weight Gain?

Poor nutrition leads to protein deficiency states that result in unwanted weight gain through the four nutritional traps associated with obesity.

Protein deficiency leads to an imbalance between fat storage (deposition) and fat metabolism (breakdown). Under these conditions, fat storage exceeds fat metabolism and fat pads increase without restraint. Protein deficiency also leads to poor nutritional health and accelerated aging.

How Does Factor4 Weight Control™ Correct Protein Deficiency, Poor Nutritional Health & Overweight Conditions?

Factor4 Weight Control™ corrects protein deficiency by supplementing Power Amino Acids™, Health-Plus Proteins™ and other essential nutrients. In the presence of Power Amino Acids™ and proteins, the body manufacturers the full complement of cellular proteins, including both positive-charged and negative-charged proteins. In the presence of the full complement of proteins, the cell returns to a state of nutritional or protein health.

The beneficial effects of Factor4 Weight Control™ on Metabolic Health may be seen in the table below. Note how Power Amino Acids™ decrease body fat, increase lean body mass and achieve weight and size control.

1 Demonstrated in published clinical trials
2 Demonstrated in testimonials
3 Predicted with supporting evidence in literature
4 Predicted

George A. Scheele, M.D.
President & CEO
NovaLife Nutrition
Inventor of 2D Gel Electrophoresis,
applied to Higher Organisms and Humans
April 1, 2006

Role of Positive-Charged and Negative-Charged Proteins in Nutritional Health, Protein Health & Disease

Under conditions of health with adequate protein substrates in the diet, each cell in the body is capable of synthesizing the full spectrum of proteins, including negative-charged and positive-charged proteins. Since each protein has a distinct function, the entire set of proteins allows the cells to function at peak performance, which we recognize as the optimal state of nutritional and protein health.

Under conditions of protein deficiency, when power amino acids (essential, branched and positive-charged) are limiting, the cells cannot produce the entire spectrum of proteins in adequate quantities. Positive-charged proteins decrease the most. The greater decrease observed in positive-charged proteins over negative-charged proteins can be explained by the dangerously low levels of positive-charged amino acids in the body. Positive charged amino acids suffer the most in the early stages of protein deficiency because mammals are incapable of synthesizing essential amino acids including Lysine, one of the two positive-charged amino acids.

In the absence of positive-charged proteins, or under circumstances where positive-charged proteins are scarce and therefore deficient, the body may continue to function but under greatly compromised circumstances. Under these conditions we can survive but our level of function (nutritional and protein health) is significantly compromised, so much so that each of our physiological systems (think cardiovascular, pulmonary, central nervous, immune, nutritional and other systems) are sub-par, unable to provide all of the ìworking protein unitsî that the cells in each of these organs need to function efficiently in a state of good health. When viewed in this perspective it is easy to see that, during periods of protein deficiency, serious dysfunctions, including disease, may arise in inflammation, blood pressure, cholesterol metabolism, glucose metabolism, resistance to infectious organisms, weight control and the like.

How to Analyze "Proteins" on 2D Gels

Each 2D gel shows the protein health pattern observed for the sample studied. The investigator may determine three important pieces of information from proteins separated on 2D gels. These three pieces of information may be described as follows:

• First, since each spot (colored black) represents a different protein the number of proteins analyzed may be easily counted. For example, Figure 1A shows the separation of ten (10) proteins. Thus, ten proteins are analyzed in this gel.

• Each protein has a unique position (set of coordinates) in 2D gels. The coordinates (protein charge and size) allow the investigator to identify individual proteins from one gel to another.

• Finally, the size of each spot may vary according to the amount of the individual protein in the sample analyzed. If the amount of an individual protein increases, the corresponding protein spot becomes larger. Conversely, if the amount of protein decreases, the corresponding spot becomes smaller. Note in Figure 1B that positive-charged proteins are significantly decreased in spot size, which indicates protein amount. Note in Figure 1C that spot sizes for positive-charged proteins have been restored to that observed in ìhealthî as indicated in Figure 1A.

The protein health patterns shown in the "Protein Health" tab demonstrate schematically the pattern of proteins observed in health (Figure A), during protein deficiency (Figure B) and after correction of protein deficiency with Power Amino Acids™ contained in Factor4 Weight Control™ (Figure C).

Consequently, NovaLife Nutrition refers to negative-charged proteins as ìBaseî proteins, necessary for survival of the cell, and refers to positive-charged proteins as ìHealth-regulatedî or, more simply, ìHealthî proteins.

Background & History on 2D Gel Electrophoresis

In 1975 Dr. Scheele invented the Two Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis technique (2D gel) that separates proteins according to their surface charges in the first dimension and according to their molecular size in the second dimension (see Figure 1). The invention of this new method, enabled, for the first time, the complete separation of cellular proteins, including the digestive enzymes. This also allowed the first detailed comparison of pancreatic digestive enzymes, including iso-enzymes, that digest protein, carbohydrate and fat in the diet. It was an enormous scientific breakthrough, which allowed Dr. Scheeleís laboratory at the Rockefeller University and collaborators in Europe to make numerous seminal discoveries in pancreatic physiology, molecular biology and cell biology over the ensuing 30 years. This method has been so successful that it is now used in numerous scientific and medical laboratories throughout the world!