There are countless aches and pains that our furry friends encounter in their daily lives, muscle pains, joint pains, toothaches and pathological neurological unexplained...

Many people don’t know how to deal with them when they are suffering from pain, is it to remove the source of pain directly through surgery? Or grab a handful of painkillers to the their "meal"? Today we will introduce a new anti-inflammatory analgesic ingredients - PEA.

Understand PEA 

PEA is a naturally occurring fat-like substance found widely in offal, egg yolks, olive oil, peanuts and soya lecithin, known as palmitoylethanolamide.PEA has a wide range of health benefits as it can alleviate inflammatory responses, reduce pain, and may also promote intestinal health and slow down the ageing process.

Development of PEA

· In 1980, Dr Rita Levi-Montalcini identified PEA as an endogenous regulator of mast cell activity

· In 1998, a team in Naples was studying anandamide (AEA), an endocannabinoid neurotransmitter that is structurally similar to PEA

· PEA has now been shown in more than 600 scientific investigations to have extremely beneficial effects by affecting central control mechanisms within cells, thereby resolving inflammation and cellular stress

· We have made great progress, thanks to Professor Rita Levi-Montalcini, who clarified the general mechanism of action of palmitamide ethanol from 1992 to 1996; Since then, she has continued to study the effects of palmitamide on neuropathic pain and allergies.Among them, the four major health benefits that PEA brings to the body are: relieving pain and inflammatory reactions, reducing mast cell activation (allergy), enhancing the activity of the endocannabinoid system, and activating specific receptors in the body.

Health Benefits of PEA

· Relieve pain and inflammatory reactions

· PEA has been studied for a variety of pain conditions:

· Backache

· Toothache

· Sciatic Nerve Pain

· Osteoarthritis

· Fibromyalgia

· Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

· Peripheral Neuropathy - Diabetic Neuropathy & Chemotherapy-Induced 

· Peripheral Neuropathy

· Neuropathic Pain - Related to Stroke & Multiple Sclerosis

· Chronic pelvic and Vaginal pain

· Post-viral skin problem neuralgia

Inflammation and tissue damage reduce PEA production in the body, and the use of exogenous PEA can counteract this deficiency.

PEA has been shown to bind to cell nuclear receptors (nuclear receptors) and release peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR-alpha) thereby alleviating chronic pain and inflammation.

PEA can also inhibit the activation of mast cells, reduce the release of inflammatory mediators such as histamine, leukotrienes and prostaglandins, and help reduce stress responses.

Simply put, PEA is closely related to“pain”

It is well documented that long-term administration of PEA can significantly reduce neuroinflammation, protect neurons from death, reduce oxygen free radicals, and improve behavioral, motor, and cognitive deficits.

PEA is a useful pain management method and was well tolerated in studies.

PEA has been studied as an analgesic in animal models and clinical trials.

Restoration of CB1 receptor levels in the spinal cord of male mice after UM-PEA treatment appears to be important for pain control and reduced inflammation.

Clinical Trials of PEA In Patients with Migraine, Low Back Pain, Burning Mouth Syndrome, Spinal Cord Injury, or Herpes Zoster Neuropathy, PEA Reduced Pain and Added to Standard Treatment.

In severe cases, such as painful neuropathy associated with multiple myeloma and chemotherapy, safe substances like PEA can significantly restore nerve function.

Taken together, these findings outline the crosstalk between PPARs and cannabinoids and the importance of their mutual regulation in controlling major physiological and pathophysiological functions.

A safe ingredient without side effect

Clinical trials have shown that PEA has no obvious treatment-related side effects, and the use of PEA will not cause common adverse reactions of non-steroidal analgesics(NSAIDs), such as gastrointestinal, liver and kidney damage, etc., and there is no known drug interaction with PEA.

Clinical Application

PEA is also widely used clinically in humans, but its research and popular uses are mainly focused on its anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects in diseases such as low back pain, sciatic pain, and osteoarthritis.

PEA shares many of the properties of cannabidiol (CBD), but its use is better supported by science, which is its advantage.

Clinical research on PEA has focused primarily on the management of pain and inflammation.PEA is administered as an oral tablet in most cases, and the most common pain assessment method is a visual analog scale (VAS).The scale ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 representing no pain and 10 representing the worst pain imaginable, and patients make subjective assessments of their pain levels.

All but one of the clinical trials studied reported significant reductions in pain intensity and an almost complete absence of side effects.

PEA has a unique effect on factors that control cell function and therefore may have broad clinical application prospects.

PEA exerts a so-called cytoprotective effect by protecting cells from damage, not only through the central functions of the cells, but also through the fatty matrix of the cell membrane.

In a landmark study in 1973, fed-PEA showed structural and functional changes in the cell membranes of liver cells as well as the cell membranes of the cells' mitochondria, the cell's energy source.Once added to cell membranes, PEA is better able to protect cells and mitochondria from damage.

The study sparked intense investigation by other researchers, showing that when cells are damaged or lack an adequate supply of oxygen, the body attempts to offset the damage by making more PEA so that it can be incorporated into cell membranes for protection. and optimization functions.

reference：

[1] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2005.05.012

[2] https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22105305

[3] https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12081155

[4] Truini A, Biasiotta A, Di Stefano G, La Cesa S, Leone C, Cartoni C, Federico V, Petrucci MT, Cruccu G. Palmitoylethanolamide restores myelinated-fibre function in patients with chemotherapy-induced painful neuropathy. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets. 2011 Dec;10(8):916-20. doi: 10.2174/187152711799219307. PMID: 22229320.

[5] Artukoglu BB, Beyer C, Zuloff-Shani A, Brener E, Bloch MH. Efficacy of Palmitoylethanolamide for Pain: A Meta-Analysis. Pain Physician. 2017 Jul;20(5):353-362. PMID: 28727699.