Illnesses like colds and the flu come and go but rarely does someone wake up one day with a life threatening disease or some type of cancer that has just been formed overnight. As the mechanism for suicide becomes better understood, it is apparent that it too is not an instantaneous happening, although for most of us it may have seemed that way the very moment we heard of someone having ended their life.

“Suicide is NEVER the consequence of a single cause” as stated by Kees van Heeingen, Phd from Ghent University (my capital emphasis).  As with disease and cancer, there are various factors that are contributory to suicide like growing up in a negative environment encountered early in life such as violence, abuse or neglect; exposure to a multitude of environmental toxins (poisons) that exist in our world today such as in our diet and in the air we breathe; to undergoing stressful events especially during midlife; as well as the expression of our genes. It has never been fully understood in the past as to why or how these factors and others could contribute to someone wanting to end their life but now we finally have a link.

For the first time in history, research has finally found proof that a chemical in the brain called “glutamate” is connected to suicidal behavior. For nearly 40 years, serotonin has been the main focus for this behavior and although it still may be involved, it has never been proven to be the main culprit. A study done by Michigan State University and an international team of co-investigators examined glutamate activity by means of testing another chemical called quinolinic acid. They found that suicide attempters had more than twice as much of this chemical in their spinal fluid as compared to healthy people. It was also reported that the suicide attempters with the strongest desire to kill themselves correlated with having the highest level of this acid. Increased glutamate levels have also been shown in other studies on humans experiencing aggression, impulsivity, pathological gambling, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, hallucinatory behavior, psychosis, bi-polar, depression, postpartum depression, anxiety, acute and chronic stress. It is interesting that when a subset of patients from the recent study came back six months later, after their suicidal behavior had ended, results showed a decrease in their levels of glutamate. Their levels had returned to normal.

Today, glutamate is the hottest topic in the world of neuroscience and in the study of the brain. It is the most common and abundant excitatory chemical neurotransmitter within the brain and is essential in sending signals from one nerve cell to another. It is important for neural communication, memory formation, learning and regulation of bodily functions. But God made no mistakes when he created us and this is most especially true when referring to glutamate. The human brain is packed with this substance which needs to be treated like a “handle-with-care” explosive. God designed within us a very delicate and intricate system in which only a minute amount of glutamate is to be released when a transmission is needed. Then it must immediately be removed. If it is not removed quickly enough, the glutamate which is highly toxic to surrounding cells will overexcite them until they become exhausted & die. This is why glutamate is also known as an “excitotoxin.”

Researchers and scientists have known how toxic excess glutamate is to our nervous system and are very aware of its involvement in neurodegenerative disorders and diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS, MS, migraines, seizures, diabetes, stroke, brain injuries, glaucoma, HIV-associated dementia, autism and cancer. Now they recognize its connection with suicide.

Depression often precedes suicide and is its greatest risk factor. This recent new finding showing high glutamate as a major risk factor for suicide also explains why research has previously pointed to inflammation in the brain as the cause of depression. The body produces quinolinic acid which increases glutamate as part of the immune response to various involved factors. It is this response which creates inflammation. “The findings are important because they show a mechanism of disease in patients,” per Lena Brundin, associate professor of translational science and molecular medicine at Michigan State University.

What is important to note is that all of the previously mentioned contributing factors create long-term inflammation within our bodies whether it is low grade, chronic or acute. It is that accumulative inflammatory response that over a long period of time wears down our body’s only God-given protective system, the only natural defense that we have to protect our genes and keep our cellular system healthy. When this protective system also known as our body’s “antioxidant system” becomes depleted; chronic illness, disease, cancer, and even anxiety, depression and symptoms of suicide appear. Two people can suffer from the exact same disease, cancer or psychiatric condition and the one with the lowest antioxidant system will be the one who has a more difficult time recovering if they recover at all.

The response to this finding is that the pharmaceutical industry needs to continue developing anti-glutamate medications. This is said to be the great hope for suicidal and depressive patients.  But is this the answer? It was also once thought that anti-depressants (SSRI’s) were the answer; but they do not help everyone, and they were actually found to increase suicide and violence. This is why antidepressants are now labeled with the FDA Black Box Warning. Anti-glutamate drugs may be needed to help people suffering from certain brain injuries, stroke, and certain epileptic seizures as well as with other conditions on a short term basis. But we have trillions of glutamate receptors throughout our brain and body which have a purpose – a specific job to do. These receptors use glutamate to make the communication needed between cells. Blocking that communication would not seem to be the most prudent thing do unless we are prepared to have a society of people who cannot function, learn, remember or think at all for themselves anymore.

So what is the answer?  Since the beginning of time, there has always been illness, disease and even tumors with the first cancerous tumor being recognized at least 1600 years BC. There were even suicides, six of which took place before Christ was born and one after his birth, as written in the Bible. Suffering and death have been and will always be a part of life while living on earth. We need to ask what allows some of us to suffer considerably less and to live many years longer than someone else. Why is suicide which was once a rare occurrence now the only cause of death including heart disease and cancer that is significantly increasing each year? The above study has now provided one of the most significant factors involved not only in suicide but also in most all of the health problems that we are facing today.

Together, let’s make a difference in saving lives by learning more about “glutamate” and what we can do to decrease our glutamate levels thus protecting ourselves and our families.

“Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the Lord and been disappointed?”  (Sirach 2:10)