Table of Contents:
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Gluten-free
- Celiac
Can a gluten free diet help those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
The anecdotal health benefits of a gluten-free diet have long been touted by those who believe that staying away from gluten is the key to a healthy life. Despite the prevailing medical opinion that going gluten-free only benefits those with a condition called celiac disease, a number of studies are surprisingly supportive of the contrary.
In a recent study published in the International Journal of Colorectal Diseases, researchers sought to find whether certain individuals with gastrointestinal problems could benefit from avoiding gluten in the absence of a celiac disease diagnosis.
In the study spanning a 1 year period of gluten abstinence covering 35 participants with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, it was shown that 34 percent were, in fact, sensitive to the presence of wheat in the diet and benefited from eliminating gluten from their diet.
This small scale but long term study further supports the belief that other medical conditions can reap the benefits of a gluten-free lifestyle as long as strict adherence is followed.
Long-term response to gluten-free diet as evidence for non-celiac wheat sensitivity in one third of patients with diarrhea-dominant and mixed-type irritable bowel syndrome.
Table of Contents:
- Gluten-free
- Proteins
- Autoimmune
Can Gluten make autoimmune conditions worse?
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is slowly gaining momentum as a legitimate health concern at par with celiac disease. At first, the research findings point out how substances seen in food products containing gluten contribute to those without celiac disease in developing fatigue and bloating. But now with the recent developments in research, it may be much more serious than we first thought.
In a research report presented at the recently concluded United European Gastroenterology Week in Vienna, researchers were able to show that certain proteins found in wheat can activate inflammation in the body which possibly triggers the development of asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. These proteins, called Amylase Trypsin Inhibitors, are naturally occurring enzymes that prevent parasites from destroying wheat. Unfortunately, it triggers an inflammation cascade that directly affects multiple organs in the body and thus exacerbating the previously mentioned diseases.
The findings of this study further strengthen the already numerous studies pointing out the benefits of a wheat-free diet. With further studies, the role of wheat-free diet may soon expand to that of other autoimmune conditions beyond celiac disease.
Over 13,300 delegates, presenters, faculty and industry partners made UEG Week Vienna 2016 another successful meeting.
https://live.ueg.eu/week/
Table of Contents:
- Anxiety
- Mental Health
- Gut Flora
Can anxiety be caused by gut problems?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting an estimated 18 percent of the American population. Given its wide distribution as a disease, the interest in figuring out the exact root cause of the problem is certainly high.
Over the years, there is a lot of progress in our understanding of how anxiety works and because of these discoveries, we are now able to treat anxiety in a much more therapeutic way than before. Despite these milestones, there is still many questions not yet answered.
One of these questions may now have a possible solution. In a study conducted by McMaster University, researchers found an explanation on why anxiety affects certain individuals while others are spared – a link between the occurrence of anxiety and the disruption of normal gut flora. This shifts the common belief that anxiety is a problem with brain function into a more holistic concern.
To test this hypothesis researchers administered antibiotics known to disrupt the normal bacterial flora of the gut in mice and then observed their behavior. Surprisingly, the subjects given the medication manifested with signs of anxiety. When the drugs were discontinued, the behavior reverted to normal.
Researchers explained that in those mice given the antibiotic, the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF were significantly increased. This factor is known to be associated with depression and anxiety. This could explain why behavior changes are seen in the group given antibiotics.
The researchers involved in the study are optimistic that their work could possibly be a foundation for future treatments that explores the use of probiotic bacteria to safely treat anxiety disorders.
National Institute of Mental Health
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/any-anxiety-disorder-among-adults.shtml
Gut bacteria linked to behavior: That anxiety may be in your gut, not in your head.
Table of Contents:
Diet
Memory
Mood
Study
Can eating a sugary and fatty diet affect your mind?
The extent of how your diet affects your body has been the subject of numerous studies throughout time. Now, there is a new study stating that eating a fatty, sugary diet can negatively affect your memory, attention, and mood in as little as four days.
According to the study published in the journal The Lancet, if you eat an unhealthy diet and avoid exercise, whether you have a small body frame or not, you are still at risk of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. In a study published in the journal Neurology and as stated above, memory, mood, and attention span can also be affected negatively in a much more acute measure of just four days.
Another study mirroring the same results was conducted by the University of Oxford showing that those eating a high-fat diet for five days experienced impaired attention span, memory function, and mood swings.
This study is supported by another research finding from Macquarie University in Sydney in which small framed participants who ate a sugary and fatty breakfast for four days showed similar cognitive problems as seen in people who are obese or overweight.
These studies show that, in a short span of time, the negative effects of a bad diet can set in causing the same damage as those seen in a poor long-term diet.
Obesity
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673605674831?via%3Dihub
Relation between body mass index and cognitive function in healthy middle-aged men and women
http://n.neurology.org/content/67/7/1208.long
A high-fat diet impairs cardiac high-energy phosphate metabolism and cognitive function in healthy human subjects
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/93/4/748/4716920
Table of Contents:
- Antibiotics
- Vaccination
- Microbes
- Sanitatize
Are antibiotics more harmful when given earlier in life?
If you were asked whether babies and germs should be mixed, you would probably answer by reflex with a resounding no. These two life forms are not exactly meant to go hand and hand, at least in a traditional sense. Yet, this exact concept is what the book “Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World” is trying to challenge. Written by doctors Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta, this book takes a controversial stand against the over-sanitation of the baby’s environment.
Until recently, it has been the norm that a baby’s environment should be as clean as possible. To quote the book, the belief was “the only good microbe is a dead one.” It is undeniable that we are now here today because of the milestones in medicine that aimed to control microbes which include vaccines, sterilization, pasteurization of food, and antibiotics. Still, with today’s emerging slew of autoimmune diseases, it has become clearer that this old-time-tested strategy might not work anymore.
In the book, the authors cite the phenomenon in which countries that tend to over-sanitize have significantly higher rates of non-infectious diseases like asthma, diabetes, and autoimmune conditions. While those who are located in environments that have a richer microbial profile tend to report lower numbers of these diseases.
To support this position, the authors pointed out an article published by Dr. David Strachan almost 25 years earlier. In the article, Dr.Strachan states that the absence of exposure to bacteria in early childhood contributed to the development of allergies and that without bacterial exposure, our immune system will not fully mature. These propositions would later become known as the hygiene hypothesis.
With the recent emergence of studies supporting the hygiene hypothesis, the authors of the book enumerated the possible culprits hindering the development of the immune system.
One culprit is the misuse of antibiotics. It is stressed in the book that antibiotics are truly lifesavers. In the past, 90 percent of children would eventually die due to bacterial meningitis, but now a full recovery is the standard. Sadly, the world is experiencing a trend in antibiotic overuse. It has been estimated that between 2000 and 2010, the use of antibiotics has increased by 36 percent worldwide. Even more alarming is that the use increases during flu season, when the drugs are virtually useless because influenza is caused by viruses that do not respond to antibiotics. The true harm is not that it is useless but the damage it causes to the normal flora.
Even if we use antibiotics properly for the correct indications, there is still the problem of antibiotics used in our food. Antibiotics are widely used as supplements given to livestock which increase the meat yield. This practice has been banned in Europe but is still in action in the United States. Parallel to the growth induced in animals, antibiotics seem to have a similar effect in children. According to the CDC, the states with the highest rates of antibiotic usage also have higher rates associated with obesity.
At first, this was just a matter of statistics, but after recreating the observation in the lab, the concern is definitely valid. When mice with sterile guts were given bacteria from obese mice, the test subjects became obese too. This further supports the notion that bacterial composition affects weight gain.
The effect does not end with weight alone. It would appear even allergies are deeply rooted in the way bacterial flora is set up. In a study published in the British Medical Journal, it was shown that antibiotic exposure during early life was associated with an increased likelihood of developing asthma in the future. Still, remarkably, antibiotics given later in life did not produce the same effect. This brings to light that timing is also an important factor to consider when talking about antibiotics. One thing remains clear: modifying the bacteria in our body has a greater impact than we first thought.
The importance of antibiotics in our survival over the past hundreds of years cannot be stated enough. What books like these are urging us not to discredit antibiotics but to revolutionize the way we look at microbes. Over the past decades, it seems like the focus of making antibiotics has been to increase their strength, not to mention their profitability through their widespread use. What the authors of Let Them Eat Dirt are wisely asking us is to be respectful of our body’s natural defenses and to harness its full potential through the judicious use of medications.
Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World
Blaser Explores Link Between Obesity, Antibiotic Use
https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2014/11_21_2014/story1.htm
Antibiotics in fetal and early life and subsequent childhood asthma: nationwide population-based study with sibling analysis
The death rate in patients with multiple comorbid conditions of metabolic dysfunction is vastly greater than the general population.
Less than 12.2% of the US population does not have severe metabolic inflammation or metabolic dysfunction.
Profoundly, the very drug class that is the preferred for blood pressure management in metabolic syndrome, may dramatically increase Coronavirus attachment to the lung alveolar cells [by upregulating surface ACE receptors number] increasing attachment of the virus to the cell. You have to have sufficient attachment for the virus to be internalized into the cell and the protease to allow the RNA transmission.
Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers in COVID-19
I think hospital workers may be getting more infected because of the design of the ventilators. They are an open loop.
They are not like an anesthesia ventilator which is a closed-loop. This virus is airborne and exhaled.
There is no scavenger in the normal ICU ventilator.
Diabetes isn’t just about bloods sugar, it’s systemic inflammation, incessant cravings-driven eating. It’s obesity.
And it’s impacting our nation in ways most are completely unaware of.
From our children’s exposure to the US dietary regulations in our public schools and the rise in ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), to behavioural issues in the prison system where most inmates emerge severely diabetic.
We are generating a massive problem of staggering social dysfunction most clearly evident in our nation’s urban areas. As a nation, we are failing.
And Dr. Gurpreet Padda is right in the middle of it. Based in St. Louis, MO, The Padda Institute is highly regarded as one of the best pain centers in St. Louis.
Vegetable oils have been studied for their potential medicinal properties, including their use in pain management. Some research suggests that certain vegetable oils, such as peppermint and lavender oil, may have analgesic effects and could be used as alternative therapies for pain relief. However, more research is needed to fully understand the efficacy and safety of vegetable oils in medicine and pain management.