– Supplement Highlights –

A Discussion of Dr. Hans Nieper's Work

With most all creative works you build upon the teachings of those who go before you. No one has been more important to our knowledge base than Dr. Hans Nieper. Nieper, a German scientist and medical doctor died just a few years ago. His pre-eminent idea is that modern medicine fails to follow the laws of physics. His understanding of cellular membrane capitance (electrical charge) opened the door to getting higher doses of medicines to the right delivery address.

To understand the importance of this look at the way lithium is administered in this country. It is given in either a carbonate, citrate, or acetate form. Should high doses be used for bi-polar disorder, the blood must be monitored to prevent levels from rising too high and causing side effects. Lithium is a positively charged ion and cellular membranes are also positively charged, therefore lithium in the pharmaceutical forms are largely repulsed at the site of the cell membrane and consequently blood levels rise. Now with lithium orotate, Nieper and his fellow travelers combined lithium with orotic acid which is negatively charged to create a neutrally charged substance that passes through the cell membrane. Not only does it lack side effects as blood levels stay low, but it is stronger as more lithium reaches its intended destination. In further refinements these German researchers learned how to target different cellular destinations and tissue groups by what ion carriers they used.

Nieper treated HepC successfully by using calcium and lithium orotates on what was called Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis. He would use this treatment for periods of 12 months and more. The orotates are effective as they directly deal with the auto-immune mechanism that results in oxidative damage to the liver. This virus is not directly cyto-toxic. We have patients whose viral loads top 15 million and they have no symptoms and their biopsies are mild to moderate. At the same time we see patients whose viral loads are under 500,000 and they are at death's door. Matthew Dolan in the Hep C Handbook illustrates some of these points in his very fine book. The auto-immune response in Hep C is because the lysosomes produces a ROS (reactive oxygen species) and it attacks HCV with it causing oxidative damage to the liver. The lysosomes are like cellular chemical factories much like mitochondria are cellular power stations. Calcium and lithium orotates quiet down lysosomal membranes, turning off the direct link to liver inflammation. For patients with cirrhosis the orotates are our most prized assets. Now for people with minimal liver damage and normal enzyme levels we will use zinc orotate to activate the lysosomes to create a stronger anti-viral effect. Again viral load is important, yet it is not a linear cause of liver inflammation.