Day: December 11, 2022

• According to recent research, eating 2.25 cups of grape powder per day for two weeks, equal to 60 grapes a day, can help protect your skin against sunburn. After two weeks, one-third of study participants showed increased resistance to UV-induced skin erythema (reddening of the skin)

• Grape skins are rich in polyphenols, which are one of the primary components responsible for improving the resilience of your skin against UV damage

• Other polyphenol-rich foods include herbs like cloves, Mexican oregano, rosemary, spearmint and peppermint, elderberry, black olives, dark chocolate and cocoa powder

• Another powerful skin protector is astaxanthin, a carotenoid antioxidant derived from Haematococcus microalgae. Research has shown 16 weeks of astaxanthin supplementation can improve wrinkles, skin moisture and elasticity. Astaxanthin-rich foods include wild-caught Alaskan salmon, trout, krill (or krill oil), shrimp and crayfish

• Omega-3 fat is also important for skin health, while high omega-6 linoleic acid (LA) intake is a significant contributor to sunburn. To improve your skin and reduce your sunburn risk, strictly limit seed oils in your diet and eat more omega-3-rich fatty fish such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, verified wild-caught sockeye salmon, sardines, anchovies, mackerel and herring. A krill oil supplement will provide you with both astaxanthin and omega-3

According to recent research,1 2 eating what amounts to a little over 60 grapes a day for two weeks can help protect your skin against sunburn. In the study, 29 volunteers were fed 70 grams of grape powder a day for two weeks, or the equivalent of three,126-gram servings of fresh grapes a day, with a three-fourth cup, or about 24 grapes, considered as one serving.3

After the two-week study period, one-third of study subjects (9 of 29) showed increased resistance to ultraviolet (UV)-induced skin erythema (reddening of the skin).

One in 10 retained this benefit for four weeks after they stopped eating the grape powder. Grape skins are rich in polyphenols, which are one of the primary components in grapes responsible for improving the resilience of your skin against UV damage.4 Polyphenols are also anti-inflammatory with antioxidant effects, and play a role in DNA repair mechanisms.5 As noted in a 2010 paper:6

“Chemoprevention refers to the use of agents that can inhibit, reverse, or retard the process of these harmful events in the UV-exposed skin. A wide variety of polyphenols or phytochemicals … have been reported to possess substantial skin photoprotective effects.

This review article summarizes the photoprotective effects of some selected polyphenols, such as green tea polyphenols, grape seed proanthocyanidins, resveratrol, silymarin and genistein, on UV-induced skin inflammation, oxidative stress, and DNA damage …

It is suggested that polyphenols may favorably supplement sunscreens protection, and may be useful for skin diseases associated with solar UV radiation-induced inflammation, oxidative stress and DNA damage.”

Polyphenols are phytochemicals found in natural plant foods. More than 8,000 polyphenols have been identified in foods such as tea, wine, chocolate, fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants such as polyphenols help protect the cells in your body from free radical damage, thereby controlling the rate at which you age, and that includes your skin, where aging becomes quite visible.

If your body does not get adequate protection, free radicals can become rampant, causing impaired cell function that not only can lead to tissue degradation, but also put you at risk of chronic diseases.

Polyphenols are what give fruits, berries and vegetables their vibrant colors, and contribute to the bitterness, astringency, flavor, aroma and oxidative stability of the food. In the plant, they protect against ultraviolet radiation, pathogens, oxidative damage and harsh climatic conditions. In the human body, polyphenols have been shown to have a diverse array of biological properties,7 8 including the following:

• Protecting your skin against ultraviolet radiation, as demonstrated in the featured study9 10

• Fighting cancer cells and inhibiting angiogenesis11 (the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor) — Several studies have demonstrated the usefulness of polyphenols in the prevention of cancer.12 13 14 15 Researchers believe the antioxidant effects of polyphenols help protect DNA from free radical damage, which can trigger cancer development. Polyphenols also reverse epigenetic markers in the DNA believed to reduce tumor growth

• Promoting brain health and protecting against dementia16 17 18

• Fighting free radicals and reducing the appearance of aging

• Reducing inflammation

• Protecting your cardiovascular system,19 in part by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which can cause complications with atherosclerotic plaques20

• Supporting normal blood sugar levels21

• Promoting normal blood pressure

• Reducing your risk of osteoporosis, thanks to its positive effect on bone metabolism22 23

• Improving your gut health — Polyphenols appear to have a prebiotic effect, improving the beneficial bacteria living in your gut. Much of the research has been done on green tea, which plays an important role on balancing your gut flora by increasing good bacteria and reducing the number of bad bacteria.24 25 26 27 Researchers have also found improvements in gut flora with moderate consumption of red wine and chocolate28 29

Aside from grapes — where the polyphenols are found in the skin — many other foods also contain high amounts. In 2010, the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a list30 of the 100 richest dietary sources of polyphenols based on milligrams (mg) per 100 grams. Foods topping that list include:

• Cloves

• Peppermint

• Star anise

• Cocoa powder

• Mexican oregano

• Celery seed

• Dark chocolate

• Flaxseed meal

• Black elderberry

• Chestnut seeds

• Dried sage

• Rosemary

• Spearmint

• Thyme

• Blueberries

• Blackcurrant

• Capers

• Black olives

• Hazel nuts

• Pecans

You can further optimize the health benefits of these foods by eating them with a little bit of fat, as polyphenols are fat soluble.31 How the plant is grown can also influence its healing potential. As noted in 2004 paper,32 agricultural practices and industrial processes can reduce the health effects of the polyphenols in the food.

Research33 has shown organically grown foods contain statistically higher levels of polyphenols compared to conventionally grown varieties. Also, freeze-drying preserves higher phenol content than air-drying does.

Another powerful skin protector is astaxanthin, a carotenoid antioxidant derived from Haematococcus microalgae. The alga produces astaxanthin as a protective mechanism to shield itself from harsh UVs and other environmental stressors, and research has shown astaxanthin provides similar benefits in humans when consumed.34 35 36

As reported by Liver Doctor,37 research38 published in the Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition in 2017 showed 16 weeks of astaxanthin supplementation protected against wrinkles and loss of skin moisture, and improved skin elasticity. It also helps lighten age spots by preventing the accumulation of too much melanin.39

“Additional studies have shown that astaxanthin inhibits the production of inflammatory chemicals by skin cells when they are exposed to UV radiation,” LiverDoctor.com writes.40

“The inflammatory chemicals break down collagen and elastin fibers, and increase the risk of pigmentation changes to the skin. The lead author of the study has stated that ‘Long term astaxanthin supplementation may prophylactically inhibit skin deterioration induced over time by environmental damage and consequently retard the skin aging process via its anti-inflammatory effect.'”

When it comes to UV radiation protection, astaxanthin specifically helps protect against UV-induced cell death. Unlike topical sun block, astaxanthin does not actually block UV rays, so it doesn’t prevent UVB from converting into vitamin D in your skin; it simply protects your skin against damage.

This protective effect is so potent studies even show it helps protect against total body irradiation,41 primarily by scavenging intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reducing cell apoptosis (programmed cell death), and burn-wound progression, by reducing oxidative stress-induced inflammation and mitochondrial-related apoptosis.42 You can learn more about astaxanthin’s skin benefits in “7 Nutrients to Boost Your Skin’s Natural SPF.”

Foods that contain generous amounts of astaxanthin are restricted to seafoods that consume the microalgae, such as:

• Wild-caught Alaskan salmon

• Trout

• Krill (or krill oil)

• Shrimp

• Crayfish

If you rarely eat these foods, an astaxanthin supplement can be used. Just make sure it’s made from the Haematococcus pluvialis microalgae and not petrochemicals. While taking too many antioxidant supplements can be problematic, astaxanthin is far safer in this regard — in fact, it’s safe even in extremely high dosages — thanks to several unique features.

Astaxanthin is related to beta-carotene and lutein, but its unique molecular structure makes it both more potent and more widely usable than other carotenoids.

Importantly, while it donates electrons to neutralize free radicals, astaxanthin is not depleted by this electron donation. It has a massive surplus that allows it to remain active far longer — at least one order of magnitude longer than most other antioxidants.

The astaxanthin also remains intact, meaning there are no chemical reactions to break it down, which is what occurs in most other antioxidants. Another major difference is in the number of free radicals it can handle. Most antioxidants, such as vitamins C, E can typically handle only one free radical at a time.

Astaxanthin can address multiple free radicals simultaneously by forming an electron cloud around the molecule. This is known as the electron dislocation resonance. When free radicals try to steal electrons from the astaxanthin molecule, they’re simply absorbed into and neutralized by this electron cloud, all at once.

Astaxanthin also has the unique ability to protect both water- and fat-soluble parts of the cell. Carotenoids are typically divided into water-soluble or fat-soluble, but astaxanthin belongs to an in-between group that can interface between both water and fat.

This means the astaxanthin molecule can affect and expand the biolipid membrane of all cells. It’s not simply floating around in your bloodstream; it actually integrates into the cellular membrane. It also has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, which is part of its neuroprotective effects.

Another key feature is that it cannot function as a pro-oxidant. Many antioxidants will act as pro-oxidants (meaning they cause rather than combat oxidation) when present in sufficient concentrations. Astaxanthin, on the other hand, does not function as a pro-oxidant, even when present in high amounts, which makes it both safer and more beneficial. Lastly, it acts on at least five different inflammation pathways, making it a very potent anti-inflammatory.

In addition to its skin benefits, astaxanthin can also benefit your eye, brain, lung43 and heart health, and help prevent conditions such as cancer, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, gastrointestinal disease, liver diseases, male infertility and HgCl₂-induced acute renal failure.44

Its potent anti-inflammatory effects also make it useful for inflammatory conditions and joint problems such as rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow. It’s also been shown to improve athletic performance, in part by ameliorating exercise-induced fatigue.

The third dietary factor for optimal skin health that I’ll cover in this article involves fat. Omega-3 fat is important for healthy skin. If your skin is rough, dry and wrinkly, you probably need more omega-3, as it helps regulate oil production in your skin, balance hydration, reduce inflammation and minimize the effects of sun damage and aging in general.45

“High omega-3 intake will help protect your skin against UV damage, whereas high LA intake will INCREASE your risk of sunburn, as LA is highly perishable and readily oxidizes.”

On the other side of this coin is omega-6 linoleic acid (LA). Like omega-3, LA gets integrated into your cell membranes, but unlike omega-3, LA impairs rather than optimizes cellular function. With regard to sun exposure, high omega-3 intake will help protect your skin against UV damage, whereas high LA intake will INCREASE your risk of sunburn, as LA is highly perishable and readily oxidizes.

So, to protect and improve your skin, you’ll want to eliminate as much LA from your diet as possible, and increase your omega-3 intake. This means you’ll need to:

• Avoid all seed oils, found in most processed foods, restaurant foods, condiments, pastries, conventional chicken and pork. Do not cook your food with seed oils; use butter, ghee, beef tallow or coconut oil instead.

• Eat more omega-3-rich fatty fish such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, verified wild-caught sockeye salmon, sardines, anchovies, mackerel and herring. All of these are high in omega-3 while being low in contaminants. Canned Alaskan salmon is a less expensive than salmon steaks. As a general recommendation, try to get two servings of fatty fish per week.46

  Avoid farm-raised salmon. Not only is farmed salmon one of the most contaminated foods on the market, but most are also loaded with harmful LA thanks to being fed genetically engineered (GE) corn and soy. Others are fed fishmeal, which is known to accumulate industrial chemicals like PCBs and dioxins.

  Farmed salmon contain only half the omega-3 of wild salmon47 48 49 and one-fourth the vitamin D,50 while having more than 5.5 times the amount of omega-6.51 52 Farmed salmon are also routinely exposed to antibiotics and pesticides.

  Alaska does not permit aquaculture, so all Alaskan fish are wild-caught. They also have some of the cleanest water and some of the best maintained and most sustainable fisheries. To verify authenticity, look for the state of Alaska’s “Wild Alaska Pure” logo. Sockeye salmon is now being farmed in certain areas of North America,53 so if you opt for sockeye, make sure it’s wild-caught.

Beyond taking care of your skin, other health benefits of omega-3s include but are not limited to:

• Reducing inflammation, which can be helpful for those suffering with rheumatoid arthritis by reducing stiffness and pain.54 Women who suffer from menstrual pain may also experience milder pain55 56

• Optimizing muscle building and bone strength — Omega-3 fats help your body build healthy muscle mass, including people suffering from cancer who may experience cachexia.57 Omega-3 fats can also help improve your bone strength by improving the utilization of calcium in your body. This may lead to a reduction in the development of osteoporosis58

• Improving metabolic syndrome59 and insulin resistance60

• Improving mental health and behavior — Demonstrated benefits have been shown for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including reduced aggression, hyperactivity,61 impulsivity,62 oppositional behavior63 and restlessness.64

  Omega-3 is associated with lowered risk for other neurological/cognitive dysfunction as well, including: memory loss, brain aging, learning disorders and ADHD,65 autism and dyslexia66

• Protecting your vision — DHA is a major structural element in your eye and brain.67 Low levels of DHA may increase your risk for age related macular degeneration68

So, to summarize what we’ve reviewed here, foods that will nourish your skin and provide natural protection against sunburn include polyphenol-rich foods such as grapes, dark chocolate, cocoa, olives, green tea and certain herbs; astaxanthin from wild-caught Alaskan salmon, trout, shrimp and crayfish; and omega-3 fat from fatty fish.

A krill oil supplement will give you both astaxanthin and omega-3. At the same time, you also want to limit omega-6 LA as much as possible, which is done by avoiding the foodstuffs listed above.

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Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked.

The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. The subscription fee being requested is for access to the articles and information posted on this site, and is not being paid for any individual medical advice.

If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

• Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant composed of three amino acids — cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid

• The lack of glutathione in older adults may be a key element driving the oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction that lead to age-related degeneration

• Researchers looked into supplementation with a combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), two glutathione precursors known as GlyNAC when taken together

• In older adults, GlyNAC supplementation for 24 weeks corrected glutathione deficiency and improved multiple measures of health

• By boosting glutathione, supplementation with GlyNAC led to improvements in oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, strength, cognition and more

Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant composed of three amino acids — cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid. In older adults, limited availability of glycine and cysteine may lead to decreased synthesis of glutathione, such that glutathione deficiency is widespread in this population.1

The lack of glutathione in older adults may be a key element driving the oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction that lead to age-related degeneration. Meanwhile, a “practical and effective approach” to lowering oxidative stress as you age may simply involve boosting your glutathione levels.2

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine looked into supplementation with a combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), two glutathione precursors known as GlyNAC when taken together. They had previously shown that young mice deficient in glutathione had mitochondrial dysfunction, and supplementing with GlyNAC in older mice not only improved glutathione deficiency but also mitochondrial impairment, oxidative stress and insulin resistance.3

Additional previous research they conducted in HIV patients4 also found that GlyNAC supplementation improved “deficits associated with premature aging” in this population.5 This included improvements to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, genotoxicity, strength and cognition.6

A subsequent pilot trial in older humans found similar results, with GlyNAC supplementation for 24 weeks correcting glutathione deficiency and improving multiple measures of health, including:7

• Mitochondrial dysfunction

• Oxidative stress

• Inflammation

• Endothelial dysfunction

• Insulin resistance

• Genomic damage

• Cognition

• Strength

• Gait speed

• Exercise capacity

• Body fat levels

• Waist circumference

While the benefits declined after GlyNAC supplementation was discontinued for 12 weeks, the researchers concluded, “Supplementing GlyNAC in aging humans could be a simple and viable method to promote health and warrants additional investigation.”8 In scientific circles, there are nine hallmarks of aging that lead to most age-related disorders. These include:9

• Genomic instability

• Telomere attrition

• Epigenetic alterations

• Loss of proteostasis

• Deregulated nutrient-sensing (including insulin resistance)

• Mitochondrial dysfunction

• Cellular senescence

• Stem cell exhaustion

• Altered intercellular communication (including inflammation)

It’s interesting to note that GlyNAC supplementation improved four of these nine defects — mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, insulin resistance and genomic damage.10

The study authors believe GlyNAC works by the “power of 3,” acting together to bring about beneficial changes, as follows:11

1. Correction of glutathione deficiency, which results in correctio of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.

2. Glycine, an important methyl-group donor. “Methyl groups are abundant in DNA and are important components of multiple cellular reactions,” they noted. “Glycine is also important for normal brain function. Hence providing glycine could improve multiple defects as seen in this trial.”

3. NAC, which acts as a cysteine donor. “Cysteine is critically important in energy metabolism by contributing the sulfhydryl (SH) group needed for energy generation … Cysteine and its donated SH groups also play key roles in multiple additional cellular reactions and function.”

“We call this the ‘Power of 3,’” study author and endocrinologist Dr. Rajagopal Sekhar, associate professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, explained, “because we believe that it takes the combined benefits of glycine, NAC and glutathione to reach this far reaching and widespread improvement.” He believes this also the potential to protect brain and muscle health in aging:12

“I am particularly encouraged by the improvements in cognition and muscle strength. Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are serious medical conditions affecting memory in older people and leading to dementia, and there are no effective solutions for these disorders.

We are exploring the possibility that GlyNAC could help with these conditions by conducting two pilot randomized clinical trials to test whether GlyNAC supplementation could improve defects linked to cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and in MCI, and possibly improve cognitive function.”

Due to the significant oxidative stress it causes, a glutathione deficiency may be at the root of severe illness, including from COVID-19. Dr. Alexey Polonikov, from Kursk State Medical University, explained further:13

“Based on an exhaustive literature analysis and own observations, I proposed a hypothesis that glutathione deficiency is exactly the most plausible explanation for serious manifestation and death in COVID-19 infected patients.

The major risk factors established for severe COVID-19 infection and relative glutathione deficiency found in COVID-19 infected patients with moderate-to-severe illness have converged me to two very important conclusions:

1. oxidative stress contributes to hyper-inflammation of the lung leading to adverse disease outcomes such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiorgan failure and death;

2. poor antioxidant defense due to endogenous glutathione deficiency as a result of decreased biosynthesis and/or increased depletion of GSH [glutathione] is the most probable cause of increased oxidative damage of the lung, regardless which of the factors aging, chronic disease comorbidity, smoking or some others were responsible for this deficit.”

Many of the comorbid risk factors that predict severe COVID-19 disease are also tied to glutathione deficiency. In one evaluation of COVID-19 patients from six hospitals in Atlanta, researchers found independent factors that raised the risk of hospitalization. These included smoking, having Type 2 diabetes, being male, being Black, being of advanced age and being obese.14 Polonikov found evidence that a glutathione deficiency may be implicated in these comorbidities.

In his paper he identified the progressive reduction in endogenous glutathione with aging. This, he believes, makes “the elderly more susceptible to oxidative damage caused by different environmental factors compared to younger individuals.”15 He pointed out that deficiencies in endogenous glutathione are also found in people who have other comorbid conditions.

He proposed these decreased levels with chronic disease could begin a shift toward oxidative stress and exacerbate lung inflammation, ultimately leading “to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiorgan failure and death.”

NAC, a form of the amino acid cysteine, also plays a crucial role in COVID-19. NAC has a long history of use as a remedy for acetaminophen poisoning. It neutralizes the toxic effects of the drug by recharging glutathione, thereby preventing liver damage. But the idea that NAC can also be helpful against viral infections is not new. Previous research16 has found it reduces viral replication of certain viruses, including the influenza virus.

In a study published October 2020 in Clinical Immunology, researchers focused on a specific group of patients, namely those with glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, which has been shown to facilitate human coronavirus infection due to the fact that G6PD depletes glutathione.17

Importantly, NAC may also protect against other problems associated with COVID-19, including the hypercoagulation that can result in stroke and/or blood clots18 that impair the ability to exchange oxygen in the lungs. Considering many COVID-19 cases involve blood clots in addition to excessive oxidative stress, and NAC effectively addresses both, I believe NAC should be included in standard of care for COVID-19. As noted in the FASEB Journal:19

“Based on a broad range of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms … the oral administration of NAC is likely to attenuate the risk of developing COVID-19, as it was previously demonstrated for influenza and influenza-like illnesses.

Moreover, high-dose intravenous NAC may be expected to play an adjuvant role in the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases and in the control of its lethal complications … including pulmonary and cardiovascular adverse events.”

NAC is most well-known to help increase glutathione and reduce the acetaldehyde toxicity20 that causes many hangover symptoms. However, it may also prevent strokes in people with hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy (HCCAA), a rare genetic disorder.21

People with HCCAA have an average life expectancy of just 30 years, and most die within five years of their first stroke,22 so reducing their incidence could prove to be essential to increasing survival.

The finding is even more significant because it was conducted by researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which is notoriously against supplements. NAC appears to work by preventing the formation of amyloid-producing proteins, which promote amyloid deposits linked to strokes.23 NAC is also sometimes prescribed to break up mucus in the lungs.24

NAC is also showing increasing promise as a neuroprotectant. Scientists are investigating NAC as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, which has been linked to glutathione deficiency in the substantia nigra, a region that houses dopamine neurons.25

However, because glutathione is poorly absorbed, in many cases it’s easier to raise your glutathione by taking NAC instead. It could also have potential for Alzheimer’s as, according to the CHOP researchers, the process of protein deposition that occurs in HCCAA is similar to what occurs in Alzheimer’s, although at an accelerated pace in HCCAA compared to Alzheimer’s, which is why dementia occurs later in life with the latter.

“If the underlying mechanisms of protein deposition and pathogenesis are sufficiently similar, similar or identical treatments may be effective,” they said.26 Another area where NAC shows particular promise is in the treatment of mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder,27 depression28 and substance use disorders.29

Food, supplements and exercise can be used to help optimize your glutathione levels. In addition to NAC and GlyNAC, supplementation with cysteine and glycine has been found to improve glutathione deficiency.30

Foods that have a positive impact on glutathione production include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, green tea, curcumin, rosemary and milk thistle.31 Whey protein, which is a rich source of cysteine, may also be beneficial,32 along with getting quality sleep.33 34

Different types of exercise can also influence your levels. In one study researchers enrolled 80 healthy but sedentary volunteers to measure the type of exercise that may have the greatest effect.35 They found aerobic training in combination with circuit weight training showed the greatest benefit.

You can also use molecular hydrogen to increase your glutathione levels naturally as it will cause your ARE (antioxidant response elements) to go directly to your DNA and have it transcribe the genes that not only produce glutathione and dozens of other important antioxidants, like catalase and superoxide dismutase. But it will only cause your body to make them, if and only if, your body has excess oxidative stress, which is precisely what you want.

Finally, a commonly overlooked strategy is to increase your melatonin levels by exposing your skin to near infrared. This is because one of the side effects of melatonin is that it causes your body to produce glutathione. The optimal way to get this near infrared exposure is by sun exposure but that is a challenge during the winter months, so near, not far, infrared saunas will work as will photobiomodulation near IR panels.

Subscribe to Mercola Newsletter

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked.

The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. The subscription fee being requested is for access to the articles and information posted on this site, and is not being paid for any individual medical advice.

If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

• “The Great Reset” is a new “social contract” that ties you to it through an electronic ID linked to your bank account and health records, and a “social credit” ID that will dictate every facet of your life

• While the COVID-19 pandemic is being used as a justification for The Great Reset movement, the agenda has nothing to do with health and everything to do with a long-term plan to monitor and control the world through digital surveillance and artificial intelligence

• The Great Reset and the Fourth Industrial Revolution are rebranded terms for technocracy and the old “New World Order” melded with the transhumanist movement

• Technocracy is an economic system of resource allocation that revolves around technology — in particular artificial intelligence, digital surveillance and Big Data collection — and the digitization of industry and government, which in turn allows for the automation of social engineering and social rule, thereby doing away with the need for democratically elected leadership

• While the real plan is to usher in a tech-driven dystopia free of democratic controls, they speak of this plan as a way to bring us back into harmony with nature

By now, you’ve probably heard world leaders speak of “The Great Reset,”1 “the Fourth Industrial Revolution”2 and the call to “Build Back Better”3 — which also is U.S. President Joe Biden’s plan to rebuild the middle class slogan.4 It was a concept that former President Bill Clinton talked about in 2005 as special envoy to a United Nations Special Convoy.5

Another example among many is this speech by Matt Hancock, British Minister for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, given during an All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting on the Fourth Industrial Revolution in 2017:6

“One of the roles of Parliament is to cast ahead … and tackle the great challenges of our time … The nature of the technologies is materially different to what has come before. In the past, we’ve thought of consumption as a one-off, and capital investment as additive.

Yet put resources into the networks that now connect half the world, or into AI, and the effects are exponential … I’m delighted to speak alongside so many impressive colleagues who really understand this, and alongside Professor Klaus Schwab who literally ‘wrote the book’ on the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Your work, bringing together as you do all the best minds on the planet, has informed what we are doing … Our Digital Strategy, embedded within the wider Industrial Strategy, sets out the seven pillars on which we can build our success.

And inside that fits our 5G strategy, like a set of Russian Dolls. Our Strategy covers infrastructure, skills, rules and ethics of big data use, cyber security, supporting the tech sector, the digitization of industry, and digitization of government.”

But what do the terms “Great Reset,” “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and “Build Back Better” actually mean? What do they refer to? In the October 16, 2020, Corbett Report7 above, journalist James Corbett breaks down the new social contract planned for the world, otherwise known as “the great reset.”

“The Great Reset not only ties you to it through an electronic ID linked to your bank account and health records, but even gives you a “social credit” ID that can run every facet of your life.”

While the current pandemic is being used as a justification for the movement, the agenda has nothing to do with health and everything to do with a long-term plan to monitor and control the world through technical surveillance. In other words, the world will be reset to depend on digital technocracy run by self-appointed elitists.

It’s a power grab of unprecedented magnitude, and involves the restructuring of social classes to dismantle democracy, erase national borders and allow for the governing of communities from a distance by a group of unelected leaders. What was in the past referred to as the “New World Order” is now known as “The Great Reset.”

This Great Reset not only ties you to it through an electronic ID linked to your bank account and health records, but even gives you a “social credit” ID that can run every facet of your life. This isn’t a lofty conspiracy theory — it’s real. It’s happening now. And you need to know how to fight it before it’s too late.

Ultimately, it’s a technocratic agenda that seeks to integrate mankind into a technological surveillance apparatus overseen by powerful artificial intelligence. Ironically, while the real plan is to usher in a tech-driven dystopia free of democratic controls, they speak of this plan as a way to bring us back into harmony with Nature.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “technocracy,” be sure to go back and listen to my interview with Patrick Wood, author of “Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation” and “Technocracy: The Hard Road to World Order.” You can also learn more on Wood’s website, Technocracy.news.

In a nutshell, technocracy is an economic system of resource allocation that revolves around technology — in particular artificial intelligence, digital surveillance and Big Data collection — and the digitization of industry (which includes banking) and government, which in turn allows for the automation of social engineering and social rule, thereby doing away with the need for elected government leaders.

According to the World Economic Forum,8 The Great Reset “will address the need for a more fair, sustainable and resilient future, and a new social contract centered on human dignity, social justice and where societal progress does not fall behind economic development.”

And what is the World Economic Forum? It’s an international organization for public-private cooperation that “engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”9

The founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum is professor Klaus Schwab, who, as mentioned by Hancock in his 2017 speech, wrote the book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Schwab announced the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset Initiative in June 2020. In his report, Corbett summarizes the Great Reset thus:

“At base, the Great Reset is nothing more, and nothing less, than a great propaganda, marketing rollout campaign for a new brand that the would-be global elite are trying to shove down the public’s throats … It’s just a fresh coat of lipstick on a very old pig. This is The New World Order, just redefined. It’s just a new label for it.”

And, as explained by Corbett, for those who forgot about what the New World Order was/is all about, it was all about “centralization of control into fewer hands, globalization [and] transformation of society through Orwellian surveillance technologies.”

In other words, it’s technocracy, where we the people know nothing about the ruling elite while every aspect of our lives is surveilled, tracked and manipulated for their gain. Four key take-aways from Corbett’s research into the Great Reset are:

1. The Great Reset has NOTHING to do with a virus, the COVID-19 pandemic or anything else related to public health.

2. The Great Reset is a coordinated agenda that has been years in the making — The pandemic is simply being used as a convenient “cover” for an elitist, globalist agenda that has been planned for decades.

3. The Great Reset is NOT the end of globalization — On the contrary, it is globalization turbocharged. As noted by Schwab in the policy book, “COVID-19: The Great Reset,” co-written with Thierry Malleret and cited in Corbett’s report:

   “If no one power can enforce order, our world will suffer from a ‘global order deficit.’ Unless individual nations and international organizations succeed in finding solutions to better collaborate at the global level, we risk entering an ‘age of entropy’ in which retrenchment, fragmentation, anger and parochialism will increasingly define our global landscape, making it less intelligible and more disorderly.”

   In other words, there’s no room for the spontaneously arising social order that occurs when people are allowed to freely interact. Instead, there must be “one power” to enforce whatever the desired social-environmental-economic-geopolitical order is.

4. This process is not meant to end — The end of the pandemic will not be the end of this totalitarian, digital enslavement agenda. The plan is not to “reset” the world back to some earlier state that will allow us all to start over with a cleaner environment and more equitable social structures. The plan is to circumvent democracy and shift global governance into the hands of the few. As noted by Schwab in “COVID-19: The Great Reset”:

   “When confronted with it, some industry leaders and senior executives may be tempted to equate reset with restart, hoping to go back to the old normal and restore what worked in the past: traditions, tested procedures and familiar ways of doing things — in short, a return to business as usual.

   This won’t happen because it can’t happen. For the most part, ‘business as usual’ died from (or at the very least was infected by) COVID-19.”

What might The Great Reset transformation look like? As noted by Corbett, the following illustration, created and released by the World Economic Forum, shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various aspects of life, and how pandemic responses are transforming these areas.

If you go to the original site for the illustration,10 you’ll also find listings of publications, videos and data relating to all of these facets. Around the 25-minute mark, Corbett explains how you can use this map to get a feel for the scope of the transformation being prepared — everything from finance, business and education to health care, human rights and global governance.

Importantly, the pandemic is being used to destroy the local economies around the world, which will then allow the World Economic Forum to come in and “rescue” debt-ridden countries.

However, the price for this salvation is your personal freedom and liberty. The World Economic Forum and the central banks will, through their facilitated financial bailouts, be able to effectively control most countries in the world. And, again, one of the aspects of the technocratic plan is to eliminate nation borders and nationalism in general.

A related term to the Great Reset is “the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” This refers to the merging of digital, physical and biological systems. As noted by Schwab, “It will be like a tsunami and actually it’s not just a digital revolution. It’s digital; of course, physical. It is nanotechnology. But it’s also biological.11

What they’re talking about is the creation of a new economic system built around the merger of the human body and mind with machines and artificial intelligence. In other words, technocracy — a resource-based economic system with centralized control by a technocratic elite who have the know-how to program the computer systems will ultimately dictate the lives of everyone.

Of course, it’s sold to us as a means to harness and elevate human potential, when in fact it will do the complete opposite. Ultimately, they’re not just trying to change the definition of what it means to be human — they’re openly conspiring to alter humanity through technological means.

In addition to the sources cited earlier, Corbett also fleshed out the history of technocracy in his December 28, 2015, report,12 “How Big Oil Conquered the World.” In short, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is nothing but a rebranding of technocracy, melded with the transhumanist movement.

You can also learn more about Schwab, the figurehead of modern technocracy, by reading the June 29, 2020, Technocracy.news article13 “The Elite Technocrats Behind the Global ‘Great Reset,'” and the October 12, 2020, Off-Guardian article,14 “Klaus Schwab & His Great Fascist Reset.”

According to Off-Guardian,15 Schwab ensures us that “smart” Big Data technologies will “‘deliver new and innovative ways to service citizens and customers’ and we will have to stop objecting to businesses profiting from harnessing and selling information about every aspect of our personal lives.”

In that article, Schwab is also quoted as saying, “Establishing trust in the data and algorithms used to make decisions will be vital” — which about sums up the technocratic view of “government.”

By October 2020 in some parts of the world, a second wave of COVID-19 was16 emerging, and according to some researchers, the best way to combat it was to implement another round of more stringent lockdown measures — a so-called “circuit breaker” strategy to bring the infection rate under control.

Meanwhile, other reports17 warned that while COVID-19 can be deadly for a small minority of people, so are lockdowns, thanks to the poverty, famine and mental health challenges they bring about.

According to an October 13, 2020, article18 in The Sun, COVID-19 restrictions “could hurl 90 million into ‘extreme poverty,'” with the poorest nations bearing the brunt of the economic collapse. The New York Post also recently reported19 that “COVID-19 lockdowns were a risky experiment” that failed, and have proven deadlier than the virus itself.

“No ethical scientist would conduct such a risky experiment without carefully considering the dangers and monitoring the results, which have turned out to be dismal,” the New York Post writes.20

“While the economic and social harms have been enormous, it isn’t clear that the lockdowns have brought significant health benefits beyond what was achieved by people’s voluntary social distancing and other actions.

In a comparison of 50 countries, a team led by Rabail Chaudhry of the University of ­Toronto found that COVID-19 was deadlier in places with older populations and higher rates of obesity (like the United States), but the mortality rate was no lower in countries that closed their borders or enforced full lockdowns.

After analyzing 23 countries and 25 U.S. states with widely varying policies, Andrew Atkeson of UCLA and fellow economists found that the mortality trend was similar everywhere once the disease took hold: The number of daily deaths rose rapidly for 20 to 30 days, then fell rapidly …

The cost-benefit rationale becomes even bleaker if you use the standard metric for determining whether a drug or other intervention is worthwhile: How much money will society spend for each year of life being saved?

By that metric, the lockdowns must be the most cost-ineffective intervention in the history of public health, because so many of the intended beneficiaries are near the end of life. In America, nearly 80 percent of COVID-19 victims have been over 65, and more than 40 percent were living in nursing homes, where the median life expectancy after admission is just five months …

No one wants to hasten the demise of the elderly, but they and other vulnerable people can be shielded without shutting down the rest of the society, as Sweden and other countries have demonstrated …

Early in the pandemic, Scott Atlas at the Hoover Institution and researchers at Swansea University independently calculated that the lockdowns would ultimately cost more years of life than COVID-19 in the United States and Britain, and the toll seems certain to be worse in poor countries.

The World Bank estimates that the coronavirus recession could push 60 million people into extreme poverty, which inevitably means more disease and death.”

Also by October 2020, we were seeing reports21 that “unexplained excess deaths at home” were outpacing COVID-19 deaths by nearly 900%, likely due to people with chronic illnesses avoiding medical care. Unfortunately, physicians and scientists continued to butt heads when it came to the sanest path forward.

As noted in an October 6, 2020, article22 in The Conversation, whether or not the coronavirus cure is worse than the disease has become “the most divisive question of 2020,” with dozens of doctors signing on to one side or the other.

A Kaiser Health News story23 also highlighted the impact of “pandemic stress” on public health, as more and more people are reporting problems ranging from insomnia and excruciating headaches to hair loss and cracked teeth:

“Throughout the pandemic, people who never had the coronavirus have been reporting a host of seemingly unrelated symptoms: excruciating headaches, episodes of hair loss, upset stomach for weeks on end, sudden outbreaks of shingles and flare-ups of autoimmune disorders.

The disparate symptoms, often in otherwise healthy individuals, have puzzled doctors and patients alike, sometimes resulting in a series of visits to specialists with few answers. But it turns out there’s a common thread among many of these conditions, one that has been months in the making: chronic stress.

Although people often underestimate the influence of the mind on the body, a growing catalog of research shows that high levels of stress over an extended time can drastically alter physical function and affect nearly every organ system.

Now, at least eight months into the pandemic, alongside a divisive election cycle and racial unrest, those effects are showing up in a variety of symptoms. ‘The mental health component of COVID is starting to come like a tsunami,’ said Dr. Jennifer Love, a California-based psychiatrist.”

As detailed in “Coronavirus Fraud Scandal — The Biggest Fight Has Just Begun,” an international network of legal experts and health professionals are preparing to launch the largest class-action lawsuit in history, against all those responsible for the global lockdowns, from local policy makers to the World Health Organization and everyone in between.

According to the four attorneys who founded the German Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, which is leading the tort case, the COVID-19 pandemic is “probably the greatest crime against humanity ever committed.” Pandemic measures were intended to sow panic in order to allow for a massive transfer of wealth, and fraudulent testing has been used to keep the ruse going.

In reality, mortality statistics reveal COVID-19 has not led to an excess of deaths above the annual norm, the proposed action says, and there’s no evidence lockdowns and economic shutdowns have produced favorable results.

While the Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee hasn’t specifically addressed the pandemic as a vehicle for a technocratic revolution, it highlights that it has been fraudulently used as a means for wealth transfer and elimination of basic human rights.

As noted in the June 29, 2020, Technocracy.news article,24 “The Elite Technocrats Behind the Global ‘Great Reset”:25

“The UN Agenda 2030 with its Sustainable Development Goals is claimed to ‘ensure peace and prosperity for people and the planet.’ The actions are said to tackle poverty and hunger, bring better health and education, reduce inequalities, and save the oceans, forests and the climate. Who can argue against such benevolent goals?

But the promised Utopia comes with a price — it sets shackles on our personal freedom … The leading partners of the United Nations Global Goals project reveal the real technocratic agenda that lies behind the polished feel-good façade — it involves a plan to fully integrate mankind into a technological surveillance apparatus overseen by a powerful AI.

The current pandemic scare has been a perfect trigger to kickstart this nefarious agenda … The current COVID-19 crisis is seen by the World Economic Forum and its chairman Klaus Schwab as the perfect trigger to implement their grandiose technocratic plan. Big Tech will come to ‘rescue’ the world …

This techno-fascist recipe will then, in an utmost non-democratic fashion without any public debate or skeptic inquiry, soon be integrated into the agenda of G20 and the European Union — relabeled as the Great Green Deal …

Unsurprisingly, Klaus Schwab fails to mention his own and his cronies’ role in creating this global economic mess in the first place — as it was ‘foreseen’ with stunning accuracy in World Economic Forum’s and Bill Gate’s Event 201 (October 2019) and in the Rockefeller Foundation report26 Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development (2010).”

As I discuss in “The Global Takeover Is Underway,”technocracy is inherently a technological society run through social engineering, and Big Tech censorship is part and parcel of this. In other words, the medical tyranny and censorship of anti-groupthink that has emerged during this pandemic are an unavoidable element of The Great Reset, and if you think it’s bad now, just wait until the whole system is brought fully online.

The mere idea of dissent will become a thought of the past, because your life — your health, educational and work opportunities, your finances and your very identity — will be so meshed with the automated technological infrastructure that any attempt to break free will result in you being locked out or erased from the system, leaving you with no ability to learn, work, travel or purchase anything.

It sounds far-fetched, I know, but when you follow the technocratic plan to its inevitable end, that’s basically what you end up with. The warning signs are all around us, if we’re willing to see them for what they actually are. The only question now is whether enough people are willing to resist it to make a difference.

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