University of Ottawa biochemistry professor Zemin Yao believes a single key to curing chronic diseases does exist, and involves correcting impaired energy and waste-disposal processes in liver cells. “The cause of all these diseases is the same and starts in the liver,” he says. “Once you repair that problem, the rest will follow.”
Tests on numerous cell cultures have produced exciting results, with the abnormal protein deposits that cause Parkinson’s, for example, disappearing within two days.
“We still need to do a lot of research to prove our liver-centric view,” Yao says. “But so far, so good.”
Nowadays, eating too much and exercising too little has thrown our cellular energy system out of balance, he says. “And just as we don’t move as much when we get older, lysosomes in our cells also become lazy.”
Lysosomes are a scavenging mechanism designed to remove waste throughout the body. They move around in healthy cells, but become sluggish in diseased ones. An energy imbalance causes these cellular garbage trucks to stop moving, allowing proteins, fats and other substances to clog up our organs and cause disease.
