DEGENERATIVE DISORDERS

“Science is not about being right or wrong, it’s about being willing to ask the right questions and follow the evidence wherever it leads.”

Neil deGrasse tyson

Substantially all physiological disorders are caused by an accumulation of damage interfering with the effective functioning of an organ or biological system. Frequently, as in the case of external trauma or infectious disease, the source of the damage is apparent. In those cases, damage “accumulates” because an external agent inflicts so much damage so quickly that, for a period of time, the countervailing process — the healing process or the immune system, as the case may be — is overwhelmed.

The New Paradigm addresses situations where the link between the environmental agent and the accumulation of damage is not apparent. It’s not apparent why a lack of sunlight would cause damage to accumulate in our skeletal system. It’s not apparent why a diet that does not include vitamin C would cause the accumulation of damage that results in the symptoms of scurvy. The New Paradigm posits that these deficiency disorders are a subset of degenerative disorders. In the case of all degenerative disorders, the source of the damage is the intrinsic damage that is inevitable because biological components have limited lifespans. The human maintenance system is designed to prevent the accumulation of that intrinsic damage. A degenerative disorder occurs when an environmental agent (or lack thereof) disrupts one or more of the human maintenance processes that would otherwise remove and replace the components that are constantly dying on their own.

Defining Degenerative Disorders

The New Paradigm establishes a conceptual framework for all degenerative disorders. Degenerative disorders are characterized by the progressive deterioration of the function and structure of an organ or system. If uncorrected, deteriorating functionality ultimately manifests itself as a clinical problem. A hypothesis inherent in the New Paradigm is that degenerative disorders are caused by some agent or factor interfering with the effective functioning of the human maintenance system. Disruption of the maintenance system results in the accumulation of intrinsic damage that compromises functionality. No pathogen or other extrinsic agent inflicts that damage. Instead, the deterioration is the result of the maintenance system failing to remove and replace biological components that are constantly deteriorating as a result of intrinsic damage.

In some cases, the failures of the maintenance system are the result of damage to the system itself. For example, one’s maintenance system could be flawed as a result of heredity. A virus, poison or other chemical can also inflict damage on the maintenance system. Since intrinsic damage is an inexorable force, damaging the maintenance system necessarily results in the accumulation of intrinsic damage. When that accumulation becomes significant enough to materially impair function in the affected organ or system, it is recognized as a degenerative disorder.

The primary focus of the New Paradigm is on a different class of degenerative disorders. There is a large class of disorders (many of which are not labeled “degenerative”) that are the result of extrinsic factors disrupting the effective operation of the maintenance system without damaging the system itself.

Examples of Degenerative Disorders

Nutritional Deficiency Disorders. Although not typically labeled as such, nutritional deficiency disorders comprise one set of degenerative disorders. Nutritional deficiency disorders result from a diet that lacks a nutrient that is essential for the proper functioning of one or more maintenance processes. Nutritional deficiency disorders share certain characteristics with the other degenerative disorders that are caused by an environmental factor (or, in the case of deficiency disorders, the lack thereof) interfering with the proper functioning of one or more maintenance processes.

First, in all cases, there is no obvious source of extrinsic damage. All that is happening is an accumulation of intrinsic damage, caused by the disruption of a maintenance process, that results in the deterioration in the function and structure or an organ or system. Second, in acute cases, the symptoms can be horrific, and if the environmental factor is not corrected, symptoms will worsen until the subject dies. Finally, in all cases, if the environmental factor is neutralized (by correcting the vitamin or mineral deficiency), the prognosis for recovery is excellent.

One well known nutritional deficiency disease is scurvy. Scurvy results from a diet deficient in vitamin C. Scurvy has abhorrent symptoms, and, if the nutritional deficiency is not corrected, the symptoms will progressively worsen until the subject dies. But that’s not because some extrinsic agent is attacking the body. Instead, the acute deficiency of vitamin C interferes with the body’s ability to produce collagen. Since collagen is a necessary ingredient in one or more maintenance processes, the absence of vitamin C interferes with the functioning of those processes, thus resulting in the accumulation of naturally occurring intrinsic damage. That accumulating damage manifests itself in the symptoms of scurvy.

Because disorders like scurvy already fit within the nutritional deficiency box, they are not typically included in conventional lists of degenerative disorders. However, the symptoms of nutritional deficiency diseases are akin to those of other degenerative diseases — the progressive deterioration of the function and structure of an organ or system. And, as is true of other degenerative disorders, the symptoms of scurvy result from a disruption of one or more maintenance processes (and thus the failure to correct intrinsic damage) as opposed to some extrinsic agent attacking the body.

Other Deficiency Disorders. Deficiency disorders can be caused by the absence of environmental factors other than insufficient nutritional elements. One such environmental agent would be sunlight. When exposed to ultraviolet rays, the human body synthesizes vitamin D. Among other things, vitamin D is necessary for calcium absorption, which in turn is necessary for a healthy skeletal system. Vitamin D deficiency can result in bone disorders such as rickets. Rickets results not from an increase in the rate at which the components of bone tissue suffer intrinsic damage, but rather because sufficient quantities of vitamin D and calcium are essential for the effective functioning of the bone remodeling process, impacting both bone resorption (elimination of damaged bone tissue) and bone formation. (1) In the evolutionary environment, regular exposure to sunlight was a given. During the early industrial revolution, smog was so prevalent in certain cities in Great Britain that rickets was widespread. Today, because scientists understand how the environmental factor (sunlight) impacts the body (synthesizing vitamin D), technology can fabricate vitamin D supplements to compensate for a lack of sunlight exposure.

The absence of even a single necessary component of a particular maintenance process can be sufficient to disrupt that process. A deficiency of either calcium or vitamin D is known to cause bone-related degenerative disorders. Since both substances are necessary, an abundance of vitamin D will not correct for a calcium deficiency, and vice versa. And a typical maintenance process involves the interaction of a multitude of substances. For example, a partial list of the substances necessary for the bone remodeling process would include, in addition to minerals such as calcium and phosphorous, “the action of several hormones, including parathyroid hormone (PTH), vitamin D, growth hormone, steroids, and calcitonin, as well as several bone marrow-derived membrane and soluble cytokines and growth factors (ex. M-CSF, RANKL, VEGF, IL-6 family…).” (2)

Zero Gravity Disorder. Extended exposure to a zero gravity environment has a number of deleterious effects on human physiology. Early inhabitants of the space station who spent extended periods of time in a zero gravity environment suffered symptoms that have been described as being akin to greatly accelerated aging. The absence of gravity does not accelerate the rate at which intrinsic damage is inflicted. To the contrary, eliminating gravity would be expected to reduce wear and tear, which is conventionally believed to be the primary cause of the intrinsic damage that results in FDS. So a zero gravity environment should result in a slowing, rather than an acceleration, of FDS. Under the New Paradigm, this anomaly can be explained by positing that gravity is necessary for the effective functioning of the human maintenance system. In other words, the absence of gravity is an environmental agent (actually the lack thereof) that disrupts one or more critical maintenance processes. That disruption will, within a relatively short period of time, cause a degenerative disorder that has all of the symptoms of FDS, because it is, in fact, accelerated FDS.

Muscle Disuse Atrophy. The defining characteristic of an animal is that it can move by activating skeletal muscles. Using one’s muscles to generate movement was a ubiquitous element of the evolutionary environment. But that’s not always the case in the modern environment. Bed rest, limb immobilization and other enforced periods of muscle disuse result in rapid skeletal muscle atrophy, which leads to a loss of functional strength, and can also result in a multitude of related negative health consequences. (3)

Muscle disuse atrophy is an example of how damage to a component of a cell can dramatically lessen the lifespan of that cell. Unlike short-lived cells, skeletal muscle cells are generally believed to have potential lifespans in excess of 10 years. Muscle disuse has an adverse effect on the mitochondria within the muscle cells. The accumulation of damage to the mitochondria that provide the energy to the muscle cells results in damage to the muscle cells. The accumulation of that cellular damage ultimately results in damage to the muscle tissue. Thus, despite the potential longevity of skeletal muscle cells, interference with a lower level maintenance process (mitochondrial turnover) results in significant dysfunctionality at the tissue/organ level in a relatively short period of time.

Mitochondria are believed to have a lifespan of less than 20 days, so even in the absence of any acceleration of intrinsic damage, the acute disruption of mitochondrial turnover results in the accumulation of significant tissue damage within a relatively short period of time. Scientists have long recognized that physical activity enhances mitochondrial health generally, and can facilitate the mitochondrial turnover process. One study reported that untrained subjects can show an increase in mitochondrial content of up to 50% after only 6-8 weeks of regular endurance training. (4) Thus it’s not unreasonable to conclude that the complete absence of muscular activity would disrupt the mitochondrial turnover process. A 2019 article supports the view that disruption of the mitochondrial turnover process is a primary cause of muscle disuse atrophy. (5)

Muscle disuse atrophy illustrates another important aspect of all degenerative disorders that are caused by an environmental factor (muscle disuse) interfering with the functioning of a maintenance process (mitochondrial turnover). Once the environmental factor is identified and neutralized (by renewing physical activity), the affected maintenance process will be restored and the accumulated damage will be repaired.

Functional Decline Syndrome

Where the New Paradigm plows new ground is in positing that FDS – the progressive dysfunctionality that is experienced by a typical human with advancing chronological age (commonly referred to as “biological aging”) – is itself a degenerative disorder. The New Paradigm further posits that the age-associated degenerative diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and most forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease) are not separate diseases, but are simply manifestations or symptoms of that disorder. Since all degenerative disorders are the result of an environmental factor disrupting the effective functioning of the human maintenance system, the same must be true of FDS as well.

FDS is discussed in the next essay in this section — “Functional Decline Syndrome.”

Bell TD, et al., The biology and pathology of vitamin D control in bone, Journal of Biochemistry Cellular ABi (2010).
Hadjidakis DJ, Androulakis II, Bone remodeling, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. (2006).
Wall, BT, et al., Skeletal muscle atrophy during short-term disuse: Implications for age-related sarcopenia, Ageing Research Reviews (2013).
See, e.g., Tarnopolsky, MA, et al., Influence of endurance exercise training and sex on intramyocellular lipid and mitochondrial ultrastructure, substrate use, and mitochondrial enzyme activity, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol (2007).
Ji LL, Yeo D, Mitochondrial dysregulation and muscle disuse atrophy, F1000Res. (2019).