Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) supplement: Success with Pain & Sleep?

Posted by akalsas @akalsas, Oct 23, 2023

Anyone using PEA supplement for pain inflammation sleep? Success. Failures

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Chronic Pain Support Group.

@romans8 I didn’t make that post. New to me also.

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@sueinmn

@akalsas - Every day I hear or learn something new on Connect! Until you post, I had never heard of PEA (full name Palmitoylethanolamide)
This paper explained a lot:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8157570/#B166-ijms-22-05305
It states u=in the summary. "(PEA) is an endocannabinoid-like lipid mediator with extensively documented anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and neuroprotective effects. It is well tolerated and devoid of side effects in animals and humans. PEA’s actions on multiple molecular targets while modulating multiple inflammatory mediators provide therapeutic benefits in many applications, including immunity, brain health, allergy, pain modulation, joint health, sleep and recovery. PEA’s poor oral bioavailability, a major obstacle in early research, has been overcome by advanced delivery systems now licensed as food supplements. This review summarizes the functionality of PEA, supporting its use as an important dietary supplement for lifestyle management."

There are over 300 studies of the benefits and safety of PEA - I have only read bits of a few so far, but the news is almost universally positive.

But....as always, the devil is in the details. It has proven difficult to achieve and maintain a therapeutic level due to its nature. From the same article, "PEA is lipophilic in nature and almost insoluble in water [9], and its poor solubility and bioavailability has limited the development of nutraceutical applications."
There is one promising method, "The novel crystalline dispersion technology (LipiSperse® [Pharmako Biotechnologies Pty Ltd., Frenchs Forest, Australia]) uses a combination of surfactants, polar lipids and solvents to increase the wettability of lipophilic substances in aqueous environments [210]. By embedding amphiphiles into the surface of lipophilic molecules, LipiSperse® decreases the contact angle with water, reduces the surface tension between particles and acts as a dispersing agent. The prevention of agglomeration increases the specific surface area of the lipophilic substance in the GIT, thus enhancing absorption." (The authors of this paper are just reviewing other studies, so I don't think there is any conflict in promoting this method.)

They stress the need to understand that the benefits are short-term (a few hours) compared to longer term (all night or all day)

PEA is also found in egg yolks, meat soybeans, peanuts and some other lugumes. So any decision to use a PEA supplement must be accompanied by a diligent search to find a quality product. I do not know if any on the market use the patented LipiSperse technology.
What does anyone else know about this interesting topic?

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You can get PEA with LipiSperse technology from Levagen

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