Deutenomics

Interview with Dr. Petra Davelaar

Deutenomics is based on the foundational concept that when a deuteron is part of a molecule, it changes its properties. Deuterium largely enters our bodies through the food we eat and the water we drink…The accumulation of deuterium in the body is an important disease-causing factor and deuterium regulation may well be the most important preventive and therapeutic medical intervention. – Dr. Petra Davelaar

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I was first introduced to deuterium in my interview with Stephanie Seneff.

So, when I came across Petra with her expertise in the subject, I was interested in delving deeper.

Deuterium disrupts our cells' ability to produce energy, leading to a variety of health problems, so it’s a subject that needs more light shed on it, and more foundational work.

It feels to me like it’s another one of those meta health subjects in our blind spot.

With thanks to Dr. Petra Davelaar.

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Background and Journey:

1. Petra, can you please tell us about your background and what led you to pursue naturopathic medicine and specialize in Deutenomics?

I became fascinated with how our bodies work, after the incredible privilege of becoming a mother, 25 years ago. Encountering pediatric medical care and being responsible for this perfect little human, made me want to understand all that influences health and, especially, how we can prevent the imbalances that trigger chronic health challenges.

This search for knowledge and a strong desire to change how health is approached led to completing the naturopathic doctorate graduate program at Bastyr University, as well as certifications in functional medicine and nutrition.

In 2018, when my mother was diagnosed with cancer, my focus shifted completely. I had lost my dad when I was 22 from glioblastoma. Convinced that there were fundamental principles missing in cancer management, I turned to something that I had come across in medical school but did not have the bandwidth for to explore at that time, the effects of deuterium in cancer metabolism. In 2019, Dr. László G. Boros named this new interdisciplinarian rapidly evolving science Deutenomics.

2. Your journey has taken you from the Netherlands to New York, California, and now consulting patients globally. How have these experiences shaped your approach to healthcare?

Realizing that fundamental knowledge and principles have been omitted from biochemistry, as well as the physical, colloidal, and surface chemistry disciplines – has changed my approach entirely.

Understanding that medical education and practice is largely based on incomplete information, meant I had to reassess everything that I learned. I am really an investigative clinician, spending much of my time researching and learning that what directly pertains to and effects my clients’ health.

Understanding Deutenomics:

3. For readers who are new to the concept, can you explain what Deutenomics is and why it's important in understanding human health?

Deutenomics is the science that involves deuterium, which is a stable isotope of hydrogen. An isotope is a different form of the element with the same atomic number (protons) but with different atomic mass (neutrons) and properties. A hydrogen atom contains a proton and an electron. In addition to a proton, the deuterium atom contains a neutron, making it twice as heavy and the nucleus twice the size of that in a hydrogen atom. This is the largest difference in isotope chemistry as it doubles the weight by 100%.

Deutenomics is based on the foundational concept that when a deuteron is part of a molecule, it changes its properties. Deuterium largely enters our bodies through the food we eat and the water we drink. Water consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H₂O), semi heavy (HDO) and heavy water (D₂O) carry a deuterium atom instead of hydrogen.

The accumulation of deuterium in the body is an important disease-causing factor and deuterium regulation may well be the most important preventive and therapeutic medical intervention.

4. How does the ratio of hydrogen to deuterium in the body affect cellular processes and overall well-being?

The ratio of the two stable hydrogen isotopes (hydrogen/deuterium) is a key signal influencing cellular processes at the submolecular level. For the body to function efficiently, this ratio is critical to mitochondrial function, as deuterium excess causes mitochondrial dysfunction.

The difference in size and weight of the deuterium atom, changes the reaction rate of any biochemical process it participates in when one of the hydrogens is replaced by its stable isotope. Deuterium is also chemically very hard to remove from a molecule instead of hydrogen, you need 8 to 15 times more energy to remove it. Therefore, deuterium strengthens structural proteins but is detrimental for moving or functional proteins.

Deuterium is also a growth- and transforming factor for all microbes, including virus hosting cells and viruses, while deuterium is an oncoisotope in mammalian cells with mitochondria.

These properties are some the kinetic isotope effects (KIE) of deuterium. Understanding these, and deuterpretating existing science from this perspective or foundation, is one of the central keys to metabolism.

5. In your opinion, why has the role of deuterium in biology been largely overlooked until recently?

The kinetic isotope effects of deuterium have been known for close to a century, but because water has long been assumed to be an inert biological solvent, the role of water in reactions has been ignored. However, water is the most frequent and dominant chemical actor in metabolism and has been described as the chemical cornerstone of biological processes.¹ It has been a complete oversight.

Submolecular Dysregulation and Disease:

6. Can you explain the concept of submolecular dysregulation caused by deuterium accumulation and how it contributes to the development of chronic diseases like cancer?

Many of the biochemical reactions in our body function to keep deuterium out of the matrix of mitochondria. When deuterium does get inside of mitochondria it will eventually try to exit through the nanomotors of complex V, also known as ATPase, which are very delicate structures that rotate at 9000 rpm and due to its size, deuterium will break those. If enough of the nanomotors breakdown, the mitochondria become dysfunctional. This causes a lack of TCA cycle metabolism which leads to a failure of complete biological oxidation of the foods we consume. Lack of this function to burn of molecules entirely causes molecular crowding. Protons cannot be harvested by NAD+ and pile up. The TCA cycle slows down. Citrate can no longer synthesize deuterium-depleted fatty acids. Pyruvate piles up outside the mitochondria and is forced to go down the lactic acid pathway. Organic acids pile up and start branching. All this creates an acidic environment. This is metabolic crowding. This is the Warburg Effect.

It is this lack of complete biological oxidation on a submolecular level that leads to metabolic crowding triggering all known chronic disease processes. The expression of the dysregulation depends on the substance that our body stores and at what tissue location. Eighty five percent of all chronic disease is due to this mitochondrial dysfunction including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurocognitive disorder, all of it.

Many factors alter deuterium kinetics and accumulation of deuterium in cell organelles and tissues.

7. How does the health of mitochondria determine the fate of a cell, and what factors can compromise the deuterium-depleting functions of mitochondria?

Mitochondria are dynamic, biosynthetic, energy-transforming, signalling organelles essential for cellular metabolism. Dysfunctional mitochondria will not be able to supply the energy nor metabolic water it needs to function efficiently thereby impacting cell fate triggering pathways to necrosis and apoptosis.

It is a little-known fact that mitochondria produce deuterium-depleted metabolic water, also known as matrix water. Not only does the synthesis of this water produce 10x the energy as compared to ATP synthesis², but it also is this water that surrounds our cells and tissues. The quantity and quality of this water depends on the kind of foods (quality and quantity of macromolecules) you consume and the level of oxidative stress in mitochondria.

The health of mitochondria depends on its ability to produce deuterium-depleted metabolic water and the efficiency of the TCA cycle to keep deuterium out of the mitochondrial matrix.

It is the health of mitochondria that determines the health of the cell and its fate. If the deupleting (deuterium-depleting) functions of mitochondria are defective, or overburdened by any number or combination of factors, submolecular dysregulation and cancer are the result.

This figure illustrates beautifully how due to deuterium accumulation, mitochondria become enlarged, misshapen, and lose their cristae. This is when submolecular dysregulation sets in causing cancerous transformation, regardless of the status of the nucleus. After restoring deuterium-depleting water producing and recycling functions of the cancer cell, it differentiates into a healthy cell.

Many factors alter deuterium kinetics and accumulation of deuterium in cell organelles and tissues. The flow chart below shows what key factors tend to accumulate deuterium levels in our bodies and the effects that they have. Water quality and quantity, fat quality and quantity, and light spectra are the primary inputs that determine deuterium levels.

Omnipresent glyphosate, electromagnetic frequencies, inorganic metals and trace minerals all affect submolecular regulation. When deuterium levels exceed the physiological threshold, metabolic crowding, genome transformation, microbiome imbalance, viral and microbial hosting –– deuterium is a growth factor for these organisms, causes inflammation, alters vitamin D and A metabolism, and changes the integrity and function of the endothelial surface layer – glycocalyx complex (ESL-GC), ultimately causing decreased deuterium-depleted metabolic water synthesis.

8. In your research, you mention that restoring metabolic water recycling functions can reverse cancerous transformation processes. Can you elaborate on this fascinating finding?

Deregulating cellular energetics is THE hallmark of cancer.³ This is the submolecular dysregulation I described above. In 2011, original data published in Cancer Cell, described the glycolytic shift that takes place when fumarate dehydratase, one of the three key mitochondrial enzymes responsible for the water exchange reactions in the TCA cycle, is deficient. This leads to deuterium accumulation inside of mitochondria. They also demonstrated how restoration of the enzyme activity reversed glycolytic and tumorigenic features of the fumarate hydratase deficient cells.⁴

What is the function of fumarate hydratase you may ask? There are 8 enzymatic reactions in the TCA cycle. Three of these reactions add deuterium-free water to TCA cycle intermediates from water that is produced in the mitochondrial matrix, also known as metabolic water. Citrate synthase is the first of the three enzymes involved in these water reactions as it adds one water molecule to form citrate from oxaloacetate and acetyl CoA.

The second enzyme is Aconitate hydratase or Aconitase. This is a two-step reversible reaction and involves dehydration followed by hydration. This is a water exchange reaction; one water molecule is removed and replaced with a deuterium-depleted water molecule from the matrix.

The 3^rd enzyme involved in adding water is fumarate hydratase, which catalyzes the reversible hydration of fumarate to malate. If fumarate hydratase is deficient, submolecular dysregulation sets in causing cancerous transformation

A 2014 PLOS publication further details how fumarate hydratase-deficient kidney cancer cells undergo metabolic remodeling, with changes in mitochondrial respiration, glucose, and glutamine metabolism. These changes represent multiple biochemical adaptations in glucose and fatty acid metabolism that supports malignant proliferation.

The authors again demonstrated that the restoration of fumarate hydratase function leads towards a normal metabolic phenotype, rather than a lactic fermentation driven “Warburg”-like phenotype, without additional changes. What this data tells us is that by restoring metabolic water recycling pathways we can reprogram and reverse the cancerous phenotype of transformed cells.⁵

Restoring Health through Deuterium Depletion:

9. What are some of the key strategies you recommend to your patients for depleting excess deuterium levels and restoring submolecular regulation?

Key strategies include consuming foods low in deuterium and glyphosate. This means a seasonal and local low-carbohydrate well-raised meat-based or ketogenic-type diet that matches your heritage and preferences. Choose the best available sources for all food you consume; fats should be as unprocessed as possible, proteins ideally come from animals that were grown slowly and respectfully and fed the best possible diet. Vegetables are ideally pesticide and herbicide free. Optimizing sleep, slow breathing facilitates the depleting process because with low oxygen tension, the peroxisomal-mitochondrial cross-talk is activated producing more metabolic water. Addressing the light environment and technology use is another area to address.

10. Can you discuss the importance of diet, particularly the consumption of low-deuterium foods, in maintaining optimal health?

This is the number one strategy to regulate deuterium and the significance is clear when you realize that to achieve complete biological oxidation of foods you consume, they have to be low in deuterium, thereby preventing metabolic chaos and support mitochondrial function.

11. How can deuterium-depleted water be used as a wellness tool or therapy, and what are some of the potential benefits based on peer-reviewed studies?

Deuterium-depleted water can be used at different concentrations and by cycling these depending on your goals, health challenge, weight, and amount of water consumed.

Mechanisms of benefit of deuterium-depleted water (DDW) include:

• Inhibits cell proliferation (Somlyai et al., 1993; Boros et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2019)

• Prevents the D/H ratio from increasing to the threshold required for cell division (Kovács et al., 2022)

• Induces cell cycle arrest (Yavari & Kooshesh, 2019)

• Induces apoptosis (Somlyai et al., 1998 [in vitro]; Somlyai et al., 1998 [in vivo] Somlyai et al., 2010;)

• Increases autophagy (Basov et al., 2019)

• Can selectively stress tumor cells and not healthy tissue (Wang et al., 2012)

• Decrease in tumor growth and metastasis rate (Basov et al., 2019)

• Restores activity of SOD (Basov et al., 2019)

• Restores mitochondrial fumarate hydratase activity (Tong et al., 2011)

• Prevents the expression of cancer-related genes, tumor development, and tumor recurrence (Kovacs et al., 2022)

See my website for the citations: www.drpetrad.com/deutenomics

The Future of Deutenomics:

12. As the field of Deutenomics continues to evolve, what new mechanisms or pathways do you think will be uncovered to improve cellular energy metabolism and protein integrity?

Key mechanisms to uncover are those that can explain deuterium concentration in specific tissues that are in some cases way above natural abundance, which has been shown in the bones of grey seals for instance.⁶

Neutron flux by low energy nuclear reactions (LENS) between elements is another layer to uncover. What are the conditions under which this quantum phenomenon can happen and with what frequency may this occur? Does this mean we can produce endogenous isotopes including deuterium?

I also wonder what other role, besides structural integrity, does deuterium have in the body? It has been hypothesized that deuterium may generate UVC light, this is very interesting, but so far I have not been able to find support for that.

13. How do you envision the integration of Deutenomics into mainstream medical practice, and what challenges might need to be overcome?

A paradigm shift is needed. A revolution in science and medicine is required.  An overarching all-inclusive approach that will revolutionize medicine for human benefit is what I envision. We may have to re-establish the foundation first. Acknowledge the omissions and start over, a house cannot be built on a shaky foundation.

Personal Insights and Advice:

14. As a naturopathic doctor who integrates the latest scientific understanding of metabolism into personalized treatment plans, what advice would you give to individuals seeking to prevent or reverse disease?

1. Drink the best quality water (spring, glacier, distilled, RO, etc), according to thirst (not bodyweight in ounces)

2. Consume Foods Low in Deuterium 

• Best quality natural fats (this is why keto works)

• Best quality natural animal proteins 

• Green and above ground-grown vegetables (photosynthesis lowers D)

• Consume foods that are local and seasonal 

3. Avoid Foods High in Deuterium

• Vegetable Oils (canola, corn, soy, sunflower etc)

• Sugar  

• Grains

• Starchy Vegetables  

• Modernized Fruits (These are completely different than fruits of 100+ years ago)

4. Know that we are electrical Beings of water regulated and fueled by (sun)light and therefore require full spectrum sunlight for optimal health (go outside, be in nature, etc).

5. Optimize your sleep environment, no light, have access to fresh air, and ensure adequate duration for restorative sleep 

6. Slow down your breathing rate to optimize gas exchange (meditate, breath work, walk, natural movement exercise, etc)

7. Mineralize your body with unrefined salts and key trace minerals when deficient

8. Avoid disabling agents, such as glyphosate, industrial oils, processed foods, excess electromagnetic frequencies and radiation, etc. 

9. Use temperature flux to increase energy, heat (sauna, mineral baths) and cold (water, air), increase resilience to be able to tolerate a greater spread of temperature

10. Create Prosperity zones. These are precious local networks in your community that support one another in living according to these foundational principles, pulling together resources, delegate shared responsibilities, making policy change, establishing independent food sources based on regenerative farming practices that restore soils

Current Focus and Staying Connected:

15. What are you currently focusing on in your work, and how can interested readers stay informed about your research and insights into Deutenomics and naturopathic medicine?

Deutenomics IS naturopathic medicine. The first principle is The Healing Power of Nature and states that naturopathic medicine recognizes an inherent self-healing process in people that is ordered and intelligent. Naturopathic physicians act to identify and remove obstacles to healing and recovery, and to facilitate and augment this inherent self-healing process. Deuterium in the wrong places is that obstacle.

I am currently focusing on other omissions in medicine that are critical to understanding health and disease. I refer to the work of Barry Ninham and his collaborators who have published remarkable papers on the endothelial surface layer glycocalyx complex (ESL-GC) and nanobubbles. These demonstrate how the current understanding of medicine is incomplete.

Furthermore, I am working on a cookbook with my daughter Sophia Dorfsman. It will present meals that are created based on deutenomics principles.

The best place to stay updated with my research www.drpetrad.com

Images by https://sophiadorfsman.info/

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1. Frenkel-Pinter, M., Rajaei, V., Glass, J.B. et al. Water and Life: The Medium is the Message. J Mol Evol 89, 2–11 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-020-09978-6

2. László G. Boros, Stephanie Seneff, James C. Lech, Marianna Túri, Zoltán Répás, Summiting Mount Everest in deuterium depleting nutritional ketosis without supplemental oxygen, Medical Hypotheses, Volume 185, 2024, 111290, ISSN 0306-9877, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2024.111290.

3. Townsend Letter. (2023, January 28). Submolecular dysregulation due to deuterium accumulation is the cause of cancer - Townsend letter. https://www.townsendletter.com/1b-deuterium-in-water-and-cancer-risk/

4. Tong, W. H., Sourbier, C., Kovtunovych, G., Jeong, S. Y., Vira, M., Ghosh, M., Romero, V. V., Sougrat, R., Vaulont, S., Viollet, B., Kim, Y. S., Lee, S., Trepel, J., Srinivasan, R., Bratslavsky, G., Yang, Y., Linehan, W. M., & Rouault, T. A. (2011). The glycolytic shift in fumarate-hydratasedeficient kidney cancer lowers AMPK levels, increases anabolic propensities and lowers cellular iron levels. Cancer cell, 20(3), 315–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2011.07.018

5. Yang, Y., Lane, A. N., Ricketts, C. J., Sourbier, C., Wei, M. H., Shuch, B., Pike, L., Wu, M., Rouault, T. A., Boros, L. G., Fan, T. W., & Linehan, W. M. (2013). Metabolic reprogramming for producing energy and reducing power in fumarate hydratase null cells from hereditary leiomyomatosis renal cell carcinoma. PloS one, 8(8), e72179.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072179

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