Utilizing existing research to create new therapeutics

Musings: Just read an article about the integrated stress response and serine. It is referring to how hair follicle cells respond to stress (if present, such as damage to the hair follicles) and if low serine (from the diet) is present then hair growth slows and ISR increases so that the cells can focus on repair of damaged tissue. What if in an analogy of this model, the maternal body is represented by the normally growing hair and the fetal tissue (the baby) is the ‘new repair’. Particularly early on (the first trimester), you want to shift growing systems from the normal growth to the new growth and perhaps a low serine diet helps this to occur. Interestingly, in some other human mechanisms of stress such as disease or cancer, the body goes into a ‘stress state’ which may be initially protective, although the nutrient deprivation can be damaging in the long run. Perhaps this is the reason for the occasionally severe nausea and vomiting and very specific taste preferences and dislikes. What is a very low serine food that pregnant women often will crave- pickles… Others would include: apples, pears, coffee, strawberries, watermelon and rice.