Resilience, Hormesis, Xenohormesis & Adaptation

Resilience

Ever wondered how to navigate the numerous challenges that we face as humans with greater strength, resilience, and knowledge? Here we explore the back story on important scientific terms that we apply all of the time in clinical practice, such as recommending diversity of phytochemicals in the diet and how to balance safe dosing for unique constitutional needs. Resilience is the ability of a biological organism on a micro or macro scale, such as an animal or interdependent ecosystem like wetlands, to defend and recover from an environmental disturbance or change. To what degree the process of resilience can be strengthened or weakened depends on a multitude of factors influencing the overall functioning of the organism. For example, you can increase resilience by intaking herbal medicine like adaptogens to help your entire body more effectively resist stress.

Hormesis

Hormesis is a complex scientific concept relating to how exposure to a chemical or biological substance and whether it has the effect of being beneficial or detrimental depends on its quantity. This idea reflects a nuanced complexity of how the amount and context of a substance can have either a medicinal or poisonous effect, while not inherently defined as having only one of these actions. For example, a smaller amount of a vitamin such as fat-soluble D could be healing toward an organism, though if given in a larger amount could be dangerous and toxic. The concept of hermetic properties extends to lifestyle choices on physiology, such as in reference to moderate exercise or calorie restriction “being harmful at high doses yet beneficial at relevantly low doses” (Son et al., 2009).

An example of hormesis is in choosing the dosage of a medicinal plant and how it impacts a human toward healing or disease. For example, the renowned turmeric root from oral accounts of my Ayurvedic teachers is very normal to intake daily in India and a major reason that Indians exhibit less neurological problems. The medicinal application of turmeric when given up to approximately 15,000 mg contains zero contraindications or negative side effects with amazing benefits to human health and increased phytochemical intake (Pole, 2012).

Xenohormesis

Xenohormesis is specific hormetic concept relates to the external sensory perception and communication between organisms impacting them biologically when there is a change in one of these interdependent relationships (Tims, n.d.). For example, Baur et al. (2008) describes how “polyphenols such as resveratrol and quercetin, which are produced by stressed plants, activate sirtuin enzymes and extend the lifespan of fungi and animals.” Botanical chemical changes that fluctuate under stress are an inherent protective mechanism that may be either beneficial or harmful depending on the context, such as in the latter case of increasing longevity for animals and fungi dependent on specific plants to survive within the same ecosystem. Xenohormesis is an adaptive response “in the physiology of an organism to molecular cues that are neither nutritive nor direct stressors” and give us fascinating insight into the ever-changing dynamics between life forms.

Adaptation

Adaptation is the capability of a species, culture, or ecological system to change to meet evolving characteristics that influence survival such as environment, food sources, gene mutations, and exposure to the elements to sustain life and endure. The changes necessitate flexibility and result in new and ever-evolving expressions as needed to survive.

One example of adaptation is in the growing research and observations on the impact of human health related to the modern treatment of agrochemicals such as commercial Roundup. Human beings that are exposed to these toxins can experience negative biological reactions, such as increasing the risk of infertility, which is changing the livelihood and cellular makeup of both plants and humans. The growing organic and wild harvested movements seem to be a culturally adaptive protection of healthy food sources that can create a different trajectory for human health amidst the explosion of agrochemicals very recently in modern history. Also, cross-pollination of organic foods by GMO crops is forcing plants to adapt to exposure as well as inspiring human actions to protect and create native seed banks.

By increasing consumption of wild plants or local organic seasonal foods and herbs, one’s diet would be diversified with more phytochemicals (Tims, n.d.). The benefit of increasing one’s exposure to phytochemicals would increase the chances of resistance to disease, stress, and environmental fluctuations because the person would literally have a wider span of potential to activate hormetic pathways and effect positive, small cellular stress responses (Son et al., 2009). The plethora of specific phytochemicals that have been extensively researched demonstrate greater resilience through preventive medicine, decreasing the chances of illness such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and autoimmune disease. Examples include the benefits of consuming green tea’s polyphenolic compounds to reduce inflammation and the risk of coronary artery disease, as well as sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts and cruciferous vegetables which “protect cultured neurons against oxidative stress and dopaminergic neurons against mitochondrial toxins” (Son et al., 2009).

-Whitney Erwin, MSc, MEd, LMT, owner of Four Seasons Harmony

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References

Baur, J.A. & Sinclair, D. A. (2008). What is Xenohormesis? Am J Pharmacol Toxicol. 3(1):152-159. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26949380/

Pole, S. (2012). Ayurvedic medicine: The principles of traditional medicine (1st ed.). Singing Dragon.

Son, T.G., Camandola, S., & Mattson, M. (2009). Hormetic Dietary Phytochemicals. Neuromolecular Med. 2008; 10(4): 236-246. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2635914/

Tims, M. (n.d.). Co-evolution of humans and plants [Online Lecture]. Retrieved from Maryland University of Integrative Health graduate course materials.