20 Apr 09 THE EXORPHIN PUZZLE: ENDORPHINS — BUILT-IN PAINKILLERS

A good half of patients with food intolerance have cravings for the food or foods that make them ill, and eat such foods to excess. Addictive eating is an aspect of food intolerance that does nothing to improve its medical credibility – yet it cannot be ignored. Within the last few years, a possible mechanism for this strange behaviour has emerged, in the form of chemicals called ex-orphins. To understand what exorphins do (or might do) we must first look at the endorphins.

Endorphins — built-in painkillers

Pain is all about survival. We have specialized nerves, known as pain-receptors, to help us avoid damaging ourselves – on sharp objects, for example, or by overextending our joints. But there has to be a way of turning pain off, when it no longer serves a useful purpose. For that reason we have endorphins or natural opioids.

Endorphins are natural painkillers, released during intense pain, or strenuous exercise, or when some stressful event evokes our ‘flight or fight’ response (see pl44). There are receptors for these molecules on cells in the brain and when the endorphins bind to these, feelings of pain are reduced, and a sensation of well-being ensues. (In fact, there are about four or five different types of endorphin receptor, and they have different effects – although pain-blocking is the main one, there are others as well.)

Morphine, heroin and other opiates happen to mimic the endorphins and they bind to the same receptors – hence their use as drugs. They are addictive because they suppress the body’s natural ability to produce endorphins – so when they are stopped, the addict suffers agonizing withdrawal symptoms.

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