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Posted by: | Posted on: January 4, 2023

Why Does Your Stomach Growl?


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/01/04/stomach-growling.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked       January 04, 2023

stomach growling

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • The rumbling sound in your stomach is the result of muscular contractions of your intestinal wall combined with the presence of liquid and gas
  • Stomach growling is a normal function and one that occurs most of the day, although most of the time you can’t hear it
  • Your intestines tend to quiet down when you’re sleeping but a complete absence of bowel sounds can be a sign of a medical emergency, especially if it’s accompanied by severe abdominal pain

If asked why your stomach growls, many people would answer, “Because I’m hungry!” This is somewhat of a myth, however. Your stomach may make noise when you’re hungry and lacking food in your stomach, but it can also growl when you’re not hungry and your stomach is full.

The growling noise may not even be coming from your stomach at all but rather from your small intestines. Oftentimes, when your stomach (or bowel) makes noise, a phenomenon technically known as “borborygmi,” you may not hear it at all.

The noises are loudest when your stomach is empty, which is why they’re often associated with hunger.

What Causes Stomach Grumbling?

The rumbling sound in your stomach is the result of muscular contractions of your intestinal wall combined with the presence of liquid and gas. It’s a perfectly normal function and one that occurs most of the day.

Your intestines tend to quiet down when you’re sleeping but a complete absence of bowel sounds can actually be a sign of a medical emergency, especially if it’s accompanied by severe abdominal pain.

According to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD), here’s what’s really causing your noisy tummy:1

“Within the intestines, ingested fluids and solids are mixed with the daily secretion of about eight liters (two gallons) of enzyme-rich fluid, most of which is subsequently absorbed. However, fluid moving through a tube is silent – it is only when there is air in the pipes that we hear the plumbing.

In the intestine ever-present gases originate from swallowed air and the release of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and other gases by the bacterial fermentation of undigested food in the lower gut. Even when inaudible to the intestines’ owner, characteristic sounds may be listened to by a doctor or nurse using a stethoscope.

While the noisy movement of fluid and gas occurs at all levels, the most audible sounds originate from the stomach. Whether audible or not, bowel sounds in the absence of other significant symptoms are normal phenomena of no medical significance.”

Growling Is Part of the Migrating Motor Complex (MMC)

If you hear your stomach growling, it’s likely because your stomach and intestines are engaged in a process called the migrating motor complex (MMC). This typically occurs when your stomach and intestines have been empty for about two hours.

Sensing the absence of food, receptors in the walls of your stomach cause waves of electrical activity in your enteric nervous system (which is like a second brain embedded in the wall of your gut).2

This, in turn, triggers hunger contractions that travel the entire length of your gut, helping to clear out stomach contents, mucus, food particles, bacteria and other accumulated debris between your meals. A poorly functioning MMC has been linked to abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and indigestion.3

The hormone motilin is thought to be involved in triggering different phases of the MMC, but little is known about it because it’s not expressed in mice and rats (and therefore hasn’t been widely studied).

What is known is that motilin levels increase cyclically every 90 to 120 minutes between meals and its release is halted after you eat a meal. When motilin levels peak so, too, do contractions of muscles in your stomach and intestines.4

It’s thought motilin may play a role in both obesity and hunger. Dr. Jan Tack, head of clinic in the department of gastroenterology at Belgium’s University of Leuven, told TIME:5

“‘We have shown that motilin-induced hunger signaling is altered in people experiencing unexplained weight loss and obesity,’ he says. Tack says a person’s motilin levels also seem to change after bariatric procedures like gastric bypass surgery.

Motilin may also affect the ways you experience pleasure or a sense of reward after eating, he adds.

All of this research is very new. But manipulating motilin and the resulting MMC response may eventually emerge as a novel way to treat obesity, dyspepsia and other gut-related health issues, Tack’s research suggests.”6

When Are Bowel Sounds a Problem?

Most of the time, a noisy stomach is nothing to be concerned about. However, bowel sounds are known to increase if you have dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, or if you’re having a bout of diarrhea, due to increased muscle contractions and accumulation of fluid and gas (along with water stool in your gut).

Malabsorption conditions, such as celiac disease or lactose intolerance may also lead to what’s known as hyperactive bowel sounds. IFFGD explained:7

“… [R]educed small intestinal levels of the enzyme needed to digest the milk sugar lactose, permits that sugar to reach the colon intact where it is fermented by colon bacteria.

These organisms release hydrogen and products that attract fluids into the gut and stimulate its contractions. These amplify the three conditions that produce abdominal sounds: gut movement, gas, and fluid.”

In the more rare event of a mechanical obstruction of your gut, bowel sounds may also increase. In this case, the contractions in your intestines attempt to move solids, liquids, air, and gas through a narrowed intestine, leading to loud, often high-pitched noises.

If you’re experiencing an obstruction, the noises will be accompanied by severe abdominal pain and illness, and emergency medical attention is needed.

Too Much Sugar Can Cause a Noisy Tummy

If you find your stomach is embarrassingly noisy, it could be because you’re eating too much sugar, particularly fructose and sorbitol (found in fruits and also used as an artificial sweetener in many sugar-free gums and candies).

“Excessive amounts of these sugars… may cause diarrhea, flatus, and increased intestinal noise,” according to IFFGD.8 Not to mention, eating an excess of fructose and other sugars is one of the worst things you can do for overall gut health – a noisy, gurgling stomach is the least of it (or perhaps a symptom of it).

Sugar, for example, is a preferred food source for fungi that produce yeast infections and sinusitis, whereas healthy probiotic-rich foods like fermented vegetables boost populations of health-promoting bacteria, thereby disallowing potentially pathogenic colonies from taking over.

Optimizing your gut flora is actually one of the most important steps you can take for your health. Not only could it help normalize your weight and ward off diabetes, but it’s also a critical component for a well-functioning immune system, which is your primary defense against all sorts of disease.

It’s even essential for your brain health. So, don’t worry if you hear your stomach growling — it’s typically totally normal. However, let it be a reminder of the complex processes going on to keep your gut, and your whole body, healthy. To support these processes and optimize your gut bacteria and microbiome as a whole, keep these recommendations in mind:

Do Avoid
Eat plenty of fermented foods — Healthy choices include lassi, fermented grass-fed organic milk such as kefir, natto (fermented soy), and fermented vegetables.

If you ferment your own, consider using a special starter culture that has been optimized with bacterial strains that produce high levels of vitamin K2.

This is an inexpensive way to optimize your K2, which is particularly important if you’re taking a vitamin D3 supplement.

 Antibiotics, unless absolutely necessary (and when you do, make sure to reseed your gut with fermented foods and/or a probiotic supplement).

And while some researchers are looking into methods that might help ameliorate the destruction of beneficial bacteria by antibiotics, your best bet is likely always going to be reseeding your gut with probiotics from fermented foods and/or a high-quality probiotic supplement.
Take a probiotic supplement — Although I’m not a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe the majority of your nutrients need to come from food), probiotics are an exception if you don’t eat fermented foods on a regular basis. Conventionally raised meats and other animal products, as CAFO animals are routinely fed low-dose antibiotics, plus genetically engineered grains loaded with glyphosate, which is widely known to kill many bacteria.
Boost your soluble and insoluble fiber intake, focusing on vegetables, nuts, and seeds, including sprouted seeds. Chlorinated and/or fluoridated water.
Get your hands dirty in the garden — Germ-free living may not be in your best interest, as the loss of healthy bacteria can have wide-ranging influence on your mental, emotional, and physical health.

According to the hygiene hypothesis, exposure to bacteria and viruses can serve as “natural vaccines” that strengthen your immune system and provide long-lasting immunity against disease.

Getting your hands dirty in the garden can help reacquaint your immune system with beneficial microorganisms on the plants and in the soil.

 Processed foods — Excessive sugars, along with otherwise “dead” nutrients, feed pathogenic bacteria.

Food emulsifiers such as polysorbate 80, lecithin, carrageenan, polyglycerols, and xanthan gum also appear to have an adverse effect on your gut flora.9

Unless 100% organic, they may also contain GMOs that tend to be heavily contaminated with pesticides such as glyphosate.
Open your windows — For the vast majority of human history the outside was always part of the inside, and at no moment during our day were we ever really separated from nature.

Today, we spend 90% of our lives indoors. And, although keeping the outside out does have its advantages, it has also changed the microbiome of your home.

Research shows opening a window and increasing natural airflow can improve the diversity and health of the microbes in your home, which in turn benefit you.10

 Agricultural chemicals, glyphosate (RoundUp) in particular.
Wash your dishes by hand instead of in the dishwasher — Recent research has shown that washing your dishes by hand leaves more bacteria on the dishes than dishwashers do, and that eating off these less-than-sterile dishes may actually decrease your risk of allergies by stimulating your immune system. Antibacterial soap, as they too kill off both good and bad bacteria, and contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistance.

Posted in Food, Gut, Pain, Sugar | No Comments »
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Posted by: | Posted on: December 12, 2022

Is the Cause of Alzheimer’s Connected to Your Mouth?


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/12/10/alzheimers-and-periodontal-disease.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     December 10, 2022<

alzheimers and periodontal disease

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Periodontal disease may be a contributory factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease
  • In 2019, researchers identified Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis), a pathogen involved in chronic periodontitis, in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease
  • Gingipains — toxic proteases from P. gingivalis — were also found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients
  • Levels of gingipains were associated with two markers of the disease, tau protein and another protein called ubiquitin
  • In vivo and invitro studies also showed gingipains were neurotoxic and damaging to tau, which is needed for normal neuronal function
  • The risk of Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment in patients with periodontal disease is significantly higher than in those without periodontal disease, underscoring the importance of maintaining good oral health throughout your life

More than 6 million U.S. adults have Alzheimer’s disease. This number is expected to increase to nearly 13 million by 2050.1 Despite its growing prevalence, the causes of this devastating condition continue to be debated. There’s a growing consensus, however, that multiple factors play a role, from your gut health2 to your oral health.

Periodontitis, or gum disease, has been suggested as a potential risk factor for Alzheimer’s since at least 2015, when researchers with the University of Bristol noted “periodontal pathogens are possible contributors to neural inflammation and SLOAD [sporadic late onset Alzheimer’s disease].”3

Patients with Alzheimer’s disease often have poor oral health, which has commonly been attributed to declining self-care or neglect for oral health by caregivers. Now, however, it’s being recognized that periodontal disease may be a contributory factor in the disease’s development.4

Gum Disease Pathogen Found in the Brain

In 2019, researchers with the University of Louisville identified Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis), a pathogen involved in chronic periodontitis, in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.5 Gingipains — toxic proteases from P. gingivalis — were also found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Levels of gingipains were associated with two markers of the disease, tau protein and another protein called ubiquitin.6

Further, in mice, oral infection with P. gingivalis resulted in brain colonization of the pathogen, along with increased production of Aβ1-42, which is found in amyloid plaques. According to David Reynolds, Ph.D., chief scientific officer from Alzheimer’s Research UK:7

“Previously the P. gingivalis bacteria associated with gum disease has been found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s but it remains unclear what role, if any, it plays in the development of the disease. In this well-conducted study, researchers were able to show that when mice were given P. gingivalis, the bacteria was found in the brain alongside higher levels of the hallmark Alzheimer’s protein, amyloid.”

In vivo and invitro studies also showed gingipains were neurotoxic and damaging to tau, which is needed for normal neuronal function. When the researchers designed small-molecule inhibitors to target gingipains, bacterial load was reduced, as was neuroinflammation. Production of Aβ1-42 was also blocked.

Together, the data suggest that gingipain inhibitors could target P. gingivalis in the brain and treat neurodegeneration from Alzheimer’s disease.8 P. gingivalis was also detected in the brains of people without Alzheimer’s disease, lending support for the theory that’s it’s involved in development of the condition and not simply a byproduct of it. According to the study:9

“Our identification of gingipain antigens in the brains of individuals with AD [Alzheimer’s disease] and also with AD pathology but no diagnosis of dementia argues that brain infection with P. gingivalis is not a result of poor dental care following the onset of dementia or a consequence of late-stage disease, but is an early event that can explain the pathology found in middle-aged individuals before cognitive decline.”

Periodontal Disease Linked to Increased Alzheimer’s Risk

A systematic review and meta-analysis that included 13 studies showed the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment in patients with periodontal disease was significantly higher than in those without periodontal disease.10 This was especially true in people with severe periodontal disease.

A separate study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease, found that among people aged 65 and older, Alzheimer’s disease incidence and mortality were consistently associated with probing pocket depth, a measure of periodontal health, as well as Prevotella melaninogenica (P. melaninogenica) and Campylobacter rectus (C. rectus), bacterial markers of periodontitis.11

According to the researchers, “This study provides evidence for an association between periodontal pathogens and AD, which was stronger for older adults.”12 What’s more, the risk of cognitive decline in older men increases the more teeth are lost, while periodontal disease and caries, both of which contribute to tooth loss, are also linked to cognitive decline.13

How Gum Disease Leads to Alzheimer’s

Periodontal disease likely contributes to Alzheimer’s by increasing pro-inflammatory mediators, including C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α.14 According to researchers with the University of California School of Dentistry, three primary mechanisms have been identified for how periodontal disease may lead to Alzheimer’s:15

  1. Increased peripheral pro-inflammatory cytokines that systemically affect the brain via neural, humoral and cellular mechanisms
  2. Ectopic migration of periodontal bacteria and related molecules directly to the brain via blood and/or cranial nerves
  3. Leptomeninges (tissue covering the brain and spinal cord) that may act as a mode of communication between periodontal pathogens and microglia in the brain

In an editorial published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, it’s further explained:16

“A plethora of studies firmly place P.gingivalis … in the red complex as a risk factor for AD. This is because P.gingivalis is adept at modifying the peripheral and intracerebral immune responses.

Furthermore, this bacterium has a range of enzymes including cathepsin B and gingipains that are, respectively, shown to interact with the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and neuronal tau resulting in the formation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), which are the cardinal hallmarks of AD.

Prospective, retrospective population-based, and nested control studies have shown that the risk of developing the sporadic form of AD doubles when periodontal disease persists for about 10 years.”

Since deposits of amyloid beta in the brain may start one to two decades before cognitive decline and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, and periodontal disease may also be persistent for about 10 years to initiate Alzheimer’s, positive oral health early on may help prevent the disease.17

This is important not just for older adults, but also middle-aged and younger adults, who may be able to protect their brain health by maintaining good oral health. Even in young, otherwise healthy, adults, episodic memory and learning rate are improved among those without good oral health compared to those with aggressive periodontal disease18 — suggesting damage to brain health may start early on.

Proper oral hygiene, including regular brushing, flossing and tongue scraping, and getting regular cleanings with a mercury-free biological dentist, will go a long way toward keeping your teeth and gums healthy. A lifestyle that includes a diet based on fresh, whole foods is also essential to a naturally clean mouth and good oral health.

What Else Contributes to Alzheimer’s?

With a complex condition like Alzheimer’s, oral health is only one contributing factor. Gut health is another. A team of Swiss and Italian researchers found a connection between imbalanced gut microbiota and the development of amyloid plaques in the brain.19

The researchers used PET imaging to measure amyloid deposition in their brains, then measured markers of inflammation and proteins produced by intestinal bacteria, such as lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), in their blood.

The study revealed that high blood levels of LPSs and SCFAs acetate and valerate were associated with large amyloid deposits in the brain. Other SCFAs, namely butyrate, appeared to have a protective effect; high levels of butyrate were associated with less amyloid.

“Our results are indisputable: certain bacterial products of the intestinal microbiota are correlated with the quantity of amyloid plaques in the brain,” explains Moira Marizzoni, a study author with the Fatebenefratelli Center in Brescia, Italy.20 It’s not surprising, then, that probiotics have been shown to be protective.

A 2016 study of 60 Alzheimer’s patients found those who drank milk containing probiotics experienced significant improvements in cognitive function.21 Probiotics, by the way, are also useful for managing periodontal disease.22

Electromagnetic exposures from wireless technologies are another crucial component that need to be addressed. This type of radiation activates the voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) in your cells, and the greatest density of VGCCs are in your brain, the pacemaker of your heart and male testes.

A 2022 study that summarized 18 different findings found they “collectively provide powerful evidence for EMF causation of AD.” Further, “The author is concerned that smarter, more highly pulsed ‘smart’ wireless communication may cause widespread very, very early onset AD in human populations.”23

It is my belief that excessive microwave exposure and mitochondrial dysfunction are among the most significant factors contributing to Alzheimer’s, along with exposure to the herbicide glyphosate, which also has negative neurological effects.24

Tips for Alzheimer’s Prevention

Overall, nourishing your brain health is best done with a comprehensively healthy lifestyle, including healthy diet. Not only does what you eat affect your oral and gut health, but it also impacts cholesterol, and cholesterol also plays an important role in the formation of memories and is vital for healthy neurological function.

As noted by senior research scientist Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., insufficient fat and cholesterol in your brain play a crucial role in the Alzheimer’s disease process, detailed in her 2009 paper “APOE-4: The Clue to Why Low Fat Diet and Statins May Cause Alzheimer’s.”25

Time-restricted eating is another important strategy, as is reducing your intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids, also called PUFAs, found in vegetable oils, edible oils, seed oils, trans fat and plant oils. For a more targeted approach, natural options are available.

Animal and laboratory studies demonstrate that the spice saffron is neuroprotective, for instance. Data also show it’s as effective as the drug memantine to treat moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease.26 One of the most comprehensive assessments of Alzheimer’s risk is Dr. Dale Bredesen’s ReCODE protocol, which evaluates 150 factors, including biochemistry, genetics and historical imaging, known to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.

In his book, “The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline,”27 which describes the complete protocol, you will also find a list of suggested screening tests and the recommended ranges for each test, along with some of Bredesen’s treatment suggestions. By leveraging 36 healthy lifestyle parameters, Bredesen was able to reverse Alzheimer’s in 9 out of 10 patients.

This included the use of exercise, ketogenic diet, optimizing vitamin D and other hormones, increasing sleep, meditation, detoxification and eliminating gluten and processed food. For more details, you can download Bredesen’s full-text case paper online, which details the full program.28

– Sources and References

Posted in Alzheimer's, Food, Gut, Nutrition, Oral, Probiotics | One Comment »

Posted by: | Posted on: November 22, 2022

Pomegranates Fuel Tumor-Fighting Cells


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/11/21/pomegranates-fuel-tumor-fighting-cells.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     November 21, 2022

pomegranates fuel tumor-fighting cells

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Urolithin A (UA) has emerged as a powerhouse player in the fight against cancer, as it may naturally boost tumor-fighting immune cells
  • UA is a metabolite of ellagitannins in pomegranates that has anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects
  • UA “recycles and renews mitochondria” by inducing a biological pathway known as mitophagy — the process of cleaning out your mitochondria, allowing them to function at their best
  • This changes T cells’ genetic program, making them more able to fight tumors
  • In an upcoming clinical trial, UA will be used in people with colorectal cancer to determine its effectiveness

Globally, colorectal cancer is the third most-diagnosed cancer, with a high mortality rate in its advanced stages. One reason for its lethal effects is the ability of tissue around the tumor — or the tumor microenvironment — to suppress tumor-fighting immune cells. With the body’s immune T cells restricted, the tumor is able to grow and spread.1

A compound produced from substances in pomegranates, known as urolithin A, has emerged as a powerhouse player in the fight against cancer, however, as it may naturally boost tumor-fighting immune cells to help combat the disease.2

Pomegranate Compound Improves Immune Cells’ Cancer-Fighting

Urolithin A (UA) is a metabolite of ellagitannins in pomegranates.3 Researchers from the Georg-Speyer-Haus in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, revealed that UA “recycles and renews mitochondria” by inducing a certain biological pathway.

Your mitochondria are often called the powerhouse of cells due to their roll in energy production. UA induces a process known as mitophagy, by which old, damaged mitochondria in T cells are replaced with new ones. Mitophagy refers to “a cytoprotective process that limits both the production of ROS and the release of toxic intramitochondrial proteins.”4

In other words, mitophagy is the process of cleaning out your mitochondria, allowing them to function at their best, which is crucial for normal cellular functioning and homeostasis,5 and thus for health and longevity. The process changes the T cells’ genetic program, making them more able to fight the tumor. According to a Georg-Speyer-Haus news release:6

“The researchers demonstrated the therapeutic potential of urolithin A in two ways: On the one hand, urolithin A can be used as a food in the preclinical model, which limits tumor growth and even acts synergistically with existing immunotherapy.

On the other hand, the benefits of urolithin A were also observed on human T cells. In vitro treatment with urolithin A ‘rejuvenates’ human T cells, producing memory T memory stem cells in the laboratory.”

In an upcoming clinical trial, UA will be used in people with colorectal cancer to determine its effectiveness. Study author Dr. Dominic Denk of Frankfurt University Hospital noted, “Our findings are particularly exciting because the focus is not on the tumor cell but on the immune system, the natural defense against cancer … We hope to use this to sustainably improve the therapy of colorectal cancer, but also of other cancers.”7

Is UA Pomegranate’s Antiaging Secret?

UA not only may play a role in cancer but also other age-related diseases, which are often the result of a buildup of dysfunctional mitochondria. “It’s the only known molecule that can relaunch the mitochondrial clean-up process, otherwise known as mitophagy,” Patrick Aebischer, who co-authored a 2016 study on UA’s ability to induce mitophagy,8 explained. “It’s a completely natural substance, and its effect is powerful and measurable.”9

In a study involving nematode C. elegans (roundworms), lifespan increased by more than 45% when the worms were exposed to UA. In rodent studies, older mice also experienced antiaging benefits from UA, including 42% better endurance than control mice of the same age.10

One caveat: Gut microbes are required to metabolize ellagitannins, which are found in pomegranate, into UA. But with age, alterations in the microbiome leads to reduced production of UA. According to the Immunity study, older adults produce less than half the UA as younger people.11

Studies involving concentrated forms of UA have shown that dietary supplementation may also be capable of inducing mitophagy and slowing the progression of aging-related diseases.12 Human clinical trials have also been promising. When healthy but sedentary older adults were given UA over a four-week period, it induced a molecular signature that suggested improved mitochondrial and cellular health.13

Interestingly, in a study of healthy adults, only 12% had detectable levels of UA at the start of the study, but about 40% were able to convert ellagitannins into UA following the intake of pomegranate juice.14 Those who produced UA had significantly higher diversity in their gut microbiome, along with a higher ratio of the bacteria Firmicutes to Bacteroides. However, supplementation with UA led to a more than six-fold exposure to UA compared to drinking pomegranate juice.

Pomegranate, Urolithin A for Cancer Treatment and Prevention

UA has anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects, making it a promising compound for cancer treatment and prevention. The substance has proven beneficial in models of pancreatic cancer, and it’s suggested that it may be useful for preventing immune suppression that’s associated with chronic inflammation in cancer.15 Further, as noted in a study published in OncoTargets and Therapy:16

“Growing studies have found that urolithin A downregulates multiple tumor pathways in colon, prostate, and bladder cancer through downregulating several oncogenes such as mTOR and K-Ras, upregulating tumor suppressor genes such as p53 and EGFR.”

That study referred to UA as a “natural anticancer drug” that “can be used as a first-line chemotherapeutic drug combination candidate to prevent drug resistance.”17 The researchers found UA inhibited the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which plays a fundamental role in tumor progression.18

Previous research has also shown the antioxidants in pomegranate can inhibit cell proliferation and invasion, and promote apoptosis (programmed cell death) in various cancer cells, including breast19 and prostate cancer cells.20 According to the authors of a 2012 study on prostate cancer:21

“The results of apoptotic analyses implicated that fruit juice might trigger the apoptosis in DU145 cells via death receptor signaling and mitochondrial damage pathway … 11 proteins were deregulated in affected DU145 cells with three upregulated and eight downregulated proteins.

These dys-regulated proteins participated in cytoskeletal functions, antiapoptosis, proteasome activity, NF-κB signaling, cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis …

The analytical results of this study help to provide insight into the molecular mechanism of inducing prostate cancer cell apoptosis by pomegranate fruit juice and to develop a novel mechanism-based chemopreventive strategy for prostate cancer.”

In another study,22 men with prostate cancer who drank 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily significantly lengthened the time it took for their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels to double — from about 15 months to 54 months. Men whose PSA levels double in a short time are at an increased risk of death from prostate cancer, so the results suggest that pomegranate had a powerfully protective effect. Another study, published in PLOS Biology, explained:23

“Among urolithins, UA shows anticancer, anti-inflammation, and antiaging effects and has demonstrated compelling biological activities. The direct effects of UA have been studied in different types of cells in vitro, including human prostate and colorectal cancer cells and B16 melanoma cells. In these experiments, UA consistently prevented cancer cell proliferation and metastasis, arguing for a potential anticancer effect of UA.”

More UA Benefits: Muscle Endurance, Antiobesity

UA has benefits beyond cancer control, including improving skeletal muscle performance and mitochondrial health in older adults. In a trial of 66 people who received either 1,000 milligrams of UA or a placebo daily for four months, the UA group had a significant improvement in muscle endurance, based on the number of muscle contractions to fatigue — in both hand and leg skeletal muscles.24

C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation, also decreased after UA supplementation. Researchers concluded, “Long-term urolithin A supplementation was beneficial for muscle endurance and plasma biomarkers, suggesting that urolithin A may counteract age-associated muscle decline.”25

UA’s antiobesity effects are also worth noting. The compound prevents diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunctions in rodent models, without causing any adverse effects. It also enhances thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue, increasing energy expenditure, and induces browning of white adipose tissue.26

This is a good thing, as brown fat is a beneficial form of fat that may generate heat and burn glucose and fats through a mitochondrial reaction mediated by mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1).27

Taken together, not only did researchers describe UA as “a potent antiobesity agent with potential for human clinical applications,” but they also detailed additional benefits beyond weight loss:28

“Besides the antiobesity effect, UA causes a series of beneficial metabolic effects, including improved insulin sensitivity and reduced systemic inflammation and fatty liver, which are at least partially due to weight loss … UA enhances adipose tissue production of T3, which subsequently activates transcription and translation of the thermogenic genes PGC1a and UCP-1, leading to higher EE [energy expenditure] and lower body weight.”

Beyond UA, the antioxidants in pomegranates also help quench inflammation that contributes to the destruction of cartilage in your joints, a key reason for the pain and stiffness felt by many osteoarthritis sufferers. One study even found that pomegranate juice blocked the production of a cartilage-destroying enzyme.29

How to Eat Pomegranate

Many of pomegranate’s — known as “the jewel of autumn” — beneficial polyphenols are stored in the peel, which is why pomegranate peel powder is one of my favorite supplements.

Research shows pomegranate peel contains more than twice the amounts of antioxidants — specifically phenolics, flavonoids and proanythocyanidins — than the pulp, for instance, and has been shown to protect low-density lipoprotein against oxidation to a far greater degree than pulp.30,31

Pomegranate peel powder, pomegranate peel extract and UA supplements are different ways to get more concentrated effects of this superfood. However, many people enjoy eating pomegranates as a snack.

You can also sprinkle the arils (the juice-filled seed sacs) over salads or cooked dishes. Inside each aril is a crunchy fiber-rich seed. While some people spit the seeds out, you can eat the aril whole, seed and all. To get the arils out, following this simple three-step process described by the POM Council:32

  1. Cut off the crown, then cut the pomegranate into sections
  2. Place the section in a bowl of water, then roll out the arils with your fingers (discard everything else)
  3. Strain out the water and enjoy the arils whole, seeds and all

Posted in Age, Cancer, Food, Gut, Immunity, Mitochondria, Nutrition | One Comment »

Posted by: | Posted on: November 10, 2022

Fixing This Vitamin Deficiency Can Help You Sleep Better


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/11/08/gominak-vitamin-d.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     November 08, 2022

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Vitamin D deficiency has become epidemic in many parts of the world as we’ve been taught to avoid the sun. Lower vitamin D levels have produced two unexpected consequences: poor sleep and a dangerous change in the intestinal microbiome
  • Vitamin D is needed to produce acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that helps you get into the deeper, healing phases of sleep, and controls your normal paralysis during deep sleep
  • Certain B vitamins also play an important role in sleep. For example, B5 — pantothenic acid — makes coenzyme A, which you use to make acetylcholine
  • If you’re healthy you have four types of gut bacteria living inside you. Those bacteria need your vitamin D to grow properly, and in return they make eight B vitamins that you need. Without enough vitamin D the healthy bacteria are replaced by others that don’t require vitamin D but are unable to make the B vitamins that you need to sleep normally
  • Ideally, you need to normalize your gut microbiome so that your gut bacteria make all the B vitamins your body and brain need
  • To normalize your gut microbiome, maintain a vitamin D level over 40 ng/mL and take B50 or B100 (all eight B’s at 100 mg each) for three months

In this interview, Dr. Stasha Gominak,1 a neurologist and sleep coach, explains the curious synergy between vitamin D deficiency, a changed microbiome and poor sleep.

I met Gominak at the American College for the Advancement in Medicine’s annual meeting in 2019 in Nashville. Her lecture was about ways to improve your sleep. I thought I was aware of most of them, but the connection between vitamin D and sleep surprised me.

Gominak’s research suggests lack of vitamin D causes impairment in your brain stem’s ability to produce normal sleep. So far, she’s treated more than 7,000 patients with her innovative “sleep repair” approach. She’s also published scientific papers on her theories.

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Sleep Disorders

Gominak had no interest in vitamin D, initially. She was fascinated by sleep, and was trying to figure out why so many young and otherwise healthy patients were having such trouble sleeping. Many also had sleep apnea. Over time, it became clear that most of them didn’t have enough rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, yet there was no medical hypothesis to explain why.

“I did a lot of sleep studies in teenagers and kids, the great majority of them relatively healthy people,” Gominak says. “They didn’t have terrible sleep apnea, but they all had much less deep sleep than normal, and it’s deep sleep that allows us to heal and feel rested.

They’re complaining of being tired. They have epilepsy. They have daily headache. They have things that are linked to our ability to repair our brain every night.’

Once finding that they had no deep sleep, I wanted to fix their sleep AND their neurologic problem. Unfortunately, I was pretty much stuck with using what we had at the time: continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices for those who had apnea and sleeping pills for those with insomnia.

That was very unsatisfying for myself and the patients. Then, pretty much by accident, I found that one of my young headache patients who was extremely tired and had absolutely no deep sleep in her sleep study … had a B12 deficiency.

I began to check B12 levels in all the patients who had abnormal sleep. Eventually I measured vitamin D levels also. Over a period of time, it became clear that everybody’s vitamin D was low. That, by itself, was not enough to get excited about, but what was exciting was that there were numerous articles showing vitamin D receptors in the brain stem areas that control our ability to flip in and out of the phases of sleep.

The part of the brain called the brainstem contains our sleep clock and the cells that paralyze us so we can heal. These areas are covered with vitamin D receptors. That was published in the 1980s, but no one paid attention.”

Vitamin D has also been shown to modulate hibernation in animals, Gominak notes, yet vitamin D is not recognized for its impact on human sleep.

Adding to the work of Walter Stumpf, the scientist who published the original articles on vitamin D’s impact on hibernation, sleep and metabolism, Gominak performed a two-year study, concluding that sleep disorders of many kinds, not just sleep apnea, are linked to vitamin D deficiency and can be improved by careful supplementation. She explains that we track sleep at home by measuring paralysis in sleep:

“What we’re using now to measure sleep with sleep trackers is, ‘When are we paralyzed?’ Because the only time we get paralyzed is when we’re in deep sleep, slow-wave sleep or REM sleep.

The most important part of using vitamin D is vitamin D and other components come together to make acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter that allows us to get paralyzed correctly.”

Using a Fitness Tracker to Track Your Sleep Cycle

Today, many of her patients will use fitness trackers that track sleep, such as Fitbit or the Oura ring, both of which can measure slow-wave deep sleep, which is one of the sleep phases during which your body is paralyzed.

“As far as I can tell, the movement measurements used in most of those tracking devices are pretty accurate,” she says. That said, I discourage the use of Fitbit for two primary reasons.

First of all, it emits a green light, which can interfere with your sleep quality. Second, Fitbit was bought by Google, which is siphoning your personal health and fitness data from these devices for their own gain. I think the Oura ring is a superior device overall, and it won’t steal your personal data.

B Vitamins and Sleep

Vitamin D and B12 aren’t the only nutrients capable of influencing your sleep, however. Toward the end of the two-year study Gominak led, in which vitamin D and B12 were used, most patients began getting worse again. Their sleep started deteriorating, and they were experiencing more pain.

A patient gave her a book detailing the use of vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) for rheumatoid arthritis pain. “I was not very interested in vitamins,” Gominak admits, but she eventually read the book. What finally caught her interest was the fact that B5 supplementation helped improve rheumatic patients’ sleep.

Research has shown that when B5 is blocked, patients will develop four distinct symptoms within two weeks: burning in the hands and feet, an odd puppet-like gait, gastrointestinal issues and insomnia. However, as Gominak and dozens of her patients discovered, too much can also cause problems.

When taking 400 milligrams (mg) of pantothenic acid and one daily capsule of B100 (a B supplement that contains all eight B vitamins), pain scores and sleep disturbances skyrocketed. Many complained of feeling “revved” up and unable to fall asleep again.

“I realized that I had just made everything about my sleep worse, taking the recommended dose of pantothenic acid,” Gominak says, “so I stopped the 400 mg [of B5] and [took] just B100, which has 100 mg pantothenic acid.”

Overnight, she noticed a distinct change. Her pain disappeared and her sleep improved. Patients that made the same switch reported similar results. All of this suggests there’s a lot we don’t know about the proper dosage of many vitamins. What’s more, further research led her to form the hypothesis that B vitamins really should be produced in your gut, by intestinal bacteria.

“If you think about animals that lie in the ground for four or six months, like bears, clearly … they’re not eating every day, [yet] they need a source of B [vitamins] every day. That implies the microbiome [is] an important … source of Bs …

Before the 1980s, there was very good science about the B vitamins … It turns out there are body stores of B’s. There are body sources of B6, B5, thiamin and vitamin C.

I was struggling to explain why we got better then worse again. Maybe when giving vitamin D, I made their sleep better and helped them make more repairs. But as they made more repairs, they used up their stores of the B vitamins.”

The All-Important Role of Gut Bacteria

Part of the problem, Gominak surmised, was that, for some reason, her patients’ gut bacteria were not properly making B vitamins, resulting in a deficiency. Merely adding vitamin D doesn’t fix that. “I had assumed vitamin D was a growth factor for the bacteria, and when I gave it, they would come back,” she said, “but they didn’t.”

As explained by Gominak, there are four species of intestinal bacteria that make the eight B vitamins, and they appear to work symbiotically, feeding each other these B vitamins back and forth. When they work optimally, you’re getting all the B vitamins your body needs, and when you have just the right dose, your sleep will be optimized as well.

Unfortunately, while we now know that a blood level of vitamin D between 60 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) and 80 ng/mL is ideal, we still do not know what an ideal level of B5 is. Blood measurements also appear to be rather inaccurate, as they do not reflect your stores.

“There’s also something extremely peculiar and interesting about B5,” Gominak says. “We now have a huge amount of knowledge about the absorption of B5. There is a pump, [which] pumps in alpha lipoic acid, biotin and pantothenic acid from the gut. The exact same pump is used to pump B5 into the cerebrospinal fluid.

The interesting part about that [when] it goes into the head, it becomes coenzyme A, which then helps to make acetylcholine. One of the things that was mysterious to me was, ‘Why would my patients need 100 mg when … every publication says 400 mg is the right dose of pantothenic acid?’

Clearly, I and my clients are in a different place. Now, that would suggest that having vitamin D around in the brain somehow changes what happens [to the B5 vitamin].”

The Importance of Acetylcholine

As explained by Gominak, in the adrenal, B5 makes cortisol. In the brain, it makes acetylcholine — first by being incorporated into coenzyme A, which is the donor for the acetyl group that makes “acetyl” choline. When the enzyme choline acetyl transferase is added to the mix, you get acetylcholine, and this is where vitamin D comes in.

There are vitamin D receptors in the reticular nucleus of the thalamus and vitamin D is related to the reticular activation — the sleep-wake portion of your brain. When vitamin D enters the nucleus, it expresses choline acetyl transferase. In other words, vitamin D is one of three components that must come together to make acetylcholine.

You will also need the raw material, choline, to produce sufficient amounts of acetylcholine. Choline is typically obtained from animal foods. The highest concentration is in egg yolks, which is one of the reasons I eat five eggs a day. It is important to obtain the eggs from high-quality organically raised chickens. I raise my own chickens but if you don’t, get them from someone locally who does.

Acetylcholine has many important functions. For starters, your parasympathetic nervous system runs on it, and many publications have shown that people with sleep disorders, or who are otherwise ill, have excessive sympathetic tone, which in turn results in elevated epinephrine and norepinephrine, which are indicative of stress.

According to Gominak, having an elevated sympathetic tone may actually be the result of an acetylcholine deficiency. What’s more, acetylcholine is instrumental in maintaining alertness during the day and allowing you to fall asleep and transition through the various sleep stages at night. It’s also part of what allows your body to be paralyzed during deep sleep. Yet no one ever takes acetylcholine into account when investigating sleep disturbances.

“It turns out that we don’t have any drugs for acetylcholine. There aren’t any, except nicotine,” she says. “Acetylcholine has nicotinic receptors or muscarinic receptors [and] there are a lot of connections between the acetylcholine nicotinic receptors and neurologic illness.”

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have become epidemic in the past decade, and research shows that acetylcholine nicotinic receptors in the frontal lobes are responsible for directing our attention and focus during the day.

Then, at night, a “switch” flips and we fall asleep. Interestingly, this switch into paralyzed sleep involves the same chemical that allows us to remain awake and focused, namely acetylcholine. According to Gominak, once your vitamin D and B levels normalize, your brain is finally able to start repairing damage that has been incurred during years of poor sleep.

As a result of increased repairs, patients will often find themselves sleeping longer than eight hours, and remain in deep REM sleep longer than normal, as this is the phase during which cellular repair and regeneration is done.

Without deep sleep, your body simply cannot perform the needed cellular repair to maintain health, which is part of why sleep dysfunction can have such wide-ranging health effects.

What Constitutes a Healthy Microbiome?

Interestingly, Gominak discovered that as you sleep more, you need more B vitamins. Which brings us back to the microbiome in your gut. Gominak cites one 2015 paper that postulates that having a healthy microbiome is all about having a microbiome that produces the eight B vitamins.

To optimize your gut microbiome, Gominak recommends having a vitamin D level above 40 ng/mL, and taking a B50 or B100 supplement for three months. This will help your microbiome “grow back” so that it’s producing the ideal amount of B vitamins on its own.

“If you never let your D fall below 40, you’ll never lose them again. That’s my belief,” she says. What’s more, normalizing your microbiome will also allow your body to protect itself against foreign invaders by producing natural antibiotics. Gominak explains:

“One of the really important concepts of having a normal microbiome is, it is not just in your small intestine and your colon. I actually smell different since my microbiome came back. It covers all parts in your body. The literature is really strong to make the argument that we are actually like the Charles Schultz character “Pig-Pen”.

We walk around in this cloud of bacteria, viruses and fungi that cover us — in our nose, in our mouth, in our skin, in our hair, all over us — and that those organisms are the ones that protect us from infections. They make chemicals that kill their competitors. They keep the clostridium difficile under control in our body.

One of the things that I’ve been able to see happen is my clients can still take antibiotics. They actually will reconstitute their microbiome normally as long as they keep their [vitamin] D over 40 ng/mL, they will grow back. I personally believe the appendix is designed the way it is to be a little library of all the bacteria.

It’s not that I don’t believe that antibiotics change what’s going on in there. They absolutely do. However, I don’t think we have to be as afraid of them. There are two things that are being proposed now to improve the microbiome:

One is probiotics. I personally have used them … I think they’re kind of worthless. If they would work, you would eat them for one month, and then you’d be self-sustaining for the rest of your life.

[The second is] about feeding your bacteria … Once you have a normal foursome [the four types of bacteria that produce the eight B vitamins], what we’re really doing is feeding the bacteria.

We feed the bacteria, and then the bacteria feed us. That’s not the way we’ve been looking at it. I would say all the literature that’s talking about the effect diet has on what lives inside us is absolutely pivotal. It’s not like, ‘You just take these vitamins and everything gets fixed.’ It’s not that simple by a long shot.”

The Case for Organic Food

With respect to your diet, it’s important to eat organic for two primary reasons. One is that most of the antibiotics are not given to humans. They’re given to animals, and the use of antibiotics in food production is a primary driver of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Most nonorganic food is also contaminated with glyphosate, which can decimate your gut bacteria and impact your mitochondrial function. There’s emerging evidence that mitochondrial function is really the core of health and chronic degenerative disease.

Mitochondria are primitive bacteria inside your cells that are affected by antibiotics, and glyphosate has antibiotic activity too. While there are many strategies you can use to upregulate mitochondrial biogenesis, it’s important to minimize the damage to begin with.

An interesting paper2 published online January 16, 2020 in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology also sheds light on how vitamin D and melatonin work synergistically to protect mitochondrial health and ensure proper function. As noted in this paper:

“The biosynthetic pathways of vitamin D and melatonin are inversely related relative to sun exposure. A deficiency of these molecules has been associated with the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, including arterial hypertension, neurodegenerative diseases, sleep disorders, kidney diseases, cancer, psychiatric disorders, bone diseases, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes, among others.

During aging, the intake and cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D, as well as the endogenous synthesis of melatonin are remarkably depleted, therefore, producing a state characterized by an increase of oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Both molecules are involved in the homeostatic functioning of the mitochondria. Given the presence of specific receptors in the organelle, the antagonism of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), the decrease of reactive species of oxygen (ROS), in conjunction with modifications in autophagy and apoptosis, anti-inflammatory properties inter alia, mitochondria emerge as the final common target for melatonin and vitamin D.”

Optimize Your Sleep to Improve Your Health

Let’s be clear: We’re not saying vitamin D and B supplements are magic bullets that will fix any sleep problem you may have. Your sleep hygiene is dependent on several other basic factors as well, such as limiting blue light exposure at night and making sure you get sunlight exposure during the brightest part of the day.

That said, vitamin D and pantothenic acid insufficiency can play significant roles if you’re still having trouble sleeping after addressing more foundational factors.

“The stuff that I have on my site are things that were overlooked … There are hundreds of sites that will tell you about circadian rhythms, taking away the electromagnetic forces in your bedroom and the blue light.

It’s not that what I have is the be all, end all. It’s that it’s a really important little piece that you need to set in there. I also happen to think that it connects the epidemics of sleep disorders to the weight gain and the IBS.”

In her practice, Gominak has seen patients recover from a variety of problems, from gastrointestinal problems to anemia, once their gut microbiome was normalized with the help of vitamin D and the temporary use of B vitamins.

Again, keep in mind that once your gut microbiome has been restored, taking high doses of B vitamins can backfire and trigger insomnia, as your body is now making the appropriate amount by itself. At that point, the excess ends up having an amphetamine-like effect that keeps you awake.

“I personally think that getting the microbiome back in most people who are pretty sick is [step] one. And then they need to have some supplementation, not huge doses, but some supplementation for a year or two after that. And then keep an open mind about the fact that eventually, you’ll get to a place where you don’t need to supplement most things, unless you have a particular genetic weakness.”

More Information

To learn more, see Gominak’s website, drgominak.com. Under “Quick Start Basics,” you’ll find the general outline of her RightSleep protocol. Also on the homepage you can purchase a workbook that helps you to work through her protocol during the course of a year.

“The website is dedicated to the why,” she says. “I’m very invested in the why. I saw these things happen to my patients. They can’t be making it up. They don’t know each other. They don’t even have the same disease, yet they all tell me the same thing.

That means the basic truth is always what the patient says about their body. And then it’s my job to see if I can find a scientific explanation for that, in animals and other humans.

I have lots of written material. I have free videos … I have a workbook you can buy. I also offer one-on-one sessions … I think many people who are not really very sick and just want to add this to their health regimen can do it easily with the workbook. That’s the intention anyway.

I also have to comment that once you get better from this D-microbiome point of view, what we all want is to be healthy and have long lives. Sleep is one of the four basic pillars: Sleep, diet, exercise and spirituality.

You can’t really short any of those and be a happy, fully healthy, content person. I don’t spend a lot of time talking about the other parts, but they’re very important as well.”

Posted in Gut, Sleep, Vitamins | One Comment »

Posted by: | Posted on: October 24, 2022

Randomized Double-Blind Study Shows Saffron Can Help ADHD


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/10/24/saffron-can-help-adhd.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     October 24, 2022

saffron can help adhd

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • The herb saffron may be a safe and effective treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), rivaling Ritalin in effectiveness
  • Children with ADHD were randomly assigned to receive either 20 to 30 milligrams a day (mg/d) of methylphenidate (Ritalin) or 20 to 30 mg/d of saffron capsules
  • The treatments worked equally well, with changes in Teacher and Parent ADHD Rating Scale scores statistically the same, which suggests both methylphenidate and saffron had the same effect on ADHD symptoms
  • Therapeutically, saffron has been shown to enhance memory while also possessing antidepressant, antianxiety and neuroprotective effects that may be valuable in the treatment of ADHD

The herb saffron may be a safe and effective treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).1 This common neuropsychiatric disorder affects up to 7% of school-age children, causing a mix of symptoms including difficulty concentrating and hyperactivity to mood swings and short attention span.

In up to 60% of cases, symptoms persist into adulthood,2 where the disorder is linked to social problems, low self-esteem and low quality of life. It’s also known to affect academic achievement.

The standard, first-line approach to treating ADHD is medication, typically central nervous system stimulants such as methylphenidate (Ritalin). However, such drugs may cause side effects such as difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite and nausea. In some cases, the side effects, such as sleep loss, may be so severe that they undermine any benefits of the drug.3

What’s more, an estimated 30% of children do not respond to Ritalin,4 and others give up the medication due to its side effects. Oftentimes, the drug treatment does not even lead to meaningful improvements.

In a study that analyzed the effects of drug versus behavioral treatment on homework performance in children with ADHD, the drug treatment led to no significant improvements in homework completion or accuracy compared to placebo.5

“So far, the outcome with these approved medications for ADHD are often unsatisfactory and there is an empty place to be filled by alternative medications, in particular herbal medicines,” researchers wrote in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.6

They noted that herbal medicine is still used for health care for upward of 80% of the world’s population, making saffron a reasonable choice for ADHD treatment.

Saffron Works as Well as Ritalin for Treating ADHD

In a six-week, randomized double-blind study, 54 children between the ages of 6 and 17 years were randomly assigned to receive either 20 to 30 milligrams a day (mg/d) of methylphenidate or 20 to 30 mg/d of saffron capsules.7

The treatments worked equally well, with changes in Teacher and Parent ADHD Rating Scale scores statistically the same, which suggests both methylphenidate and saffron had the same effect on ADHD symptoms.

“Short-term therapy with saffron capsule showed the same efficacy compared with methylphenidate,” the researchers noted, adding that the frequency of adverse effects was also similar between the two groups.

Saffron, known as the world’s most expensive spice by weight, has traditionally been valued for its antispasmodic, antiseptic, antidepressant, anticancer and anticonvulsant effects, and the researchers noted that saffron’s active compounds are known to “increase the reuptake inhibition of dopamine and norepinephrine and are N-methyl D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonists and GABA-α agonists.”

Therapeutically, they add, saffron has been shown to enhance memory while also possessing antidepressant, antianxiety and neuroprotective effects that may be valuable in the treatment of ADHD.

“Taken together, since saffron is a ‘putative’ antidepressant and antidepressant agents are acceptable for treatment of ADHD, we hypothesized that saffron intake would be of benefit in these patients,” the researchers wrote. “In addition, having the ability to affect both monoaminergic and glutamatergic systems also qualify saffron as a possible candidate for the treatment of ADHD due to malfunction of these circuits in this disorder.”8

What Else Is Saffron Good For?

Saffron (Crocus sativus), a spice that resembles orange threads, is perhaps most widely known for adding a unique, pungent flavor to everything from risotto to meat and vegetable dishes and desserts. However, it’s been valued for its medicinal properties since ancient times, which we now know are due to at least four active ingredients, which include crocin, crocetin, picrocrocin and safranal.9

Crocetin, in particular, is known to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and reach the central nervous system, suggesting it can be effective in neurodegenerative disorders.10 Further, as mentioned, saffron has antidepressant properties, which are similar to those of antidepressant drugs, but with fewer reported side effects.11

Saffron also benefits cognitive function, with a 2010 study involving patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease founding those taking 15 mg of saffron twice a day for 16 weeks demonstrated “significantly better outcomes on cognitive function” than those receiving a placebo.12

Saffron also shows benefits in preventing high blood pressure,13 reducing the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome14 and treating metabolic syndrome.15 According to a study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture:16

“Saffron is an extensively used food additive for its colour and taste and has been widely used in traditional as well as modern medicine to treat several illnesses including cardiovascular diseases …

It has been proved that saffron has an important role in the management of metabolic syndrome because of its marvelous activities including antidiabetic, antiobesity, hypotensive and hypolipidemic properties.”

Environmental Factors Known to Influence ADHD

Saffron is just one natural treatment that shows promise for treating ADHD — there are many others as well. It’s important to understand that ADHD does appear to lead to changes in the brain, with children with the disorder having smaller overall brains, as well as reduced volume in five specific brain regions: the nucleus, putamen, nucleus accumbens, amygdala and hippocampus.17

The differences in volume were slight and seemed to become less magnified by adulthood, which suggests ADHD may be characterized by delayed development in certain brain regions. The biggest size difference occurred in the amygdala, which is associated with emotions and hasn’t previously been widely linked to ADHD.18

That being said, there are many factors involved, including nutrition and exposure to toxins in the environment. Environmental and lifestyle factors likely influence both the diagnosis of this disease (as well as trigger ADHD-like symptoms) and its progression or healing. For instance:

Children with higher levels of the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD19
Children exposed to higher levels of organophosphate pesticides may have a twofold to threefold increased risk of being diagnosed with ADHD20
Exposure to tobacco smoke in utero is associated with ADHD21
Eating an unhealthy diet during pregnancy may increase ADHD symptoms in youth22
Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages like soda is associated with ADHD23
Gluten sensitivity may be common in children with ADHD, and a gluten-free diet has been shown to significantly improve behavior in kids24
Artificial food coloring and other food additives, such as preservatives, are associated with increased hyperactivity in children25

Vetiver Oil and Other Natural Treatments for ADHD

Beyond saffron, what else may work to reduce the symptoms of ADHD? Chamomile, another medicinal plant, has been shown to improve both hyperactivity and inattention in youth with ADHD.26 In addition, essential oils have repeatedly been shown to do so, particularly vetiver oil (vetiver is a type of Indian grass).

In one study, when children inhaled the oil three times a day for 30 days they had improved brain wave patterns and behavior and did better in school.27 Eighty percent of the children also improved when using cedarwood essential oil similarly.

Improvements in brain activity were revealed via electro-encephalograph (EEG), which measures electrical impulses moving through the brain. This allowed researchers to determine whether the children’s brains were functioning primarily in a beta (i.e., alert) state or a theta state (i.e., lack of focus).

Improvements in beta-theta ratios were noted following the use of vetiver essential oil, while parents also noted improvements in symptoms. Another study, published in the Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology, also showed vetiver essential oil to have particular promise for ADHD.

The animal study revealed changes in brain activity suggestive of increased alertness,28 while research on human subjects revealed faster reaction times and stimulation of sympathetic nerve activity following inhalation.29 Inhalation via a diffuser or applying the diluted oils topically to the skin are two effective ways to use essential oils for ADHD.

Exercise and Diet Must Be Addressed in ADHD

If your child is struggling with ADHD or ADHD-like symptoms, I recommend consulting with a holistic physician who is experienced in treating ADHD using natural methods. Toward this end, addressing both exercise and diet will be essential.

Exercise enhances cognitive performance and brain function, especially during tasks requiring greater executive control.30 Executive control is the ability to maintain focus, working memory and cognitive flexibility (or switching between tasks), and is often impaired in children with ADHD.31

Exercise appears to benefit cognitive, behavioral and socio-emotional functions in children and adults with ADHD.32 As for diet, I recommend addressing the following factors:

• Too much sugar — High-sugar foods and starchy carbohydrates lead to excessive insulin release, which can cause falling blood sugar levels, or hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia, in turn, causes your brain to secrete glutamate in levels that can cause agitation, depression, anger, anxiety and panic attacks.

Besides that, sugar promotes chronic inflammation in your body, and many studies have demonstrated the connection between a high-sugar diet and worsened mental health.

• Gluten sensitivity — The evidence suggesting that gluten sensitivity may be at the root of a number of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including ADHD, is quite compelling. One study went so far as to suggest celiac disease should be added to the ADHD symptom checklist.33

• An unhealthy gut — As explained by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a medical doctor with a postgraduate degree in neurology, toxicity in your gut can flow throughout your body and into your brain, where it can cause symptoms of autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, schizophrenia and other mental disorders.34

Reducing gut inflammation is imperative when addressing mental health issues, so optimizing your child’s gut flora is a critical step. This includes not only avoiding processed, refined foods but also eating traditionally fermented foods, such as fermented vegetables.

If you cannot get your child to eat fermented foods on a regular basis, a high-quality probiotic supplement may be highly beneficial in correcting abnormal gut flora that may contribute to brain dysfunction.

• Animal-based omega-3 fat deficiency — Kids low in omega-3 fats may be significantly more likely to be hyperactive, struggle with learning disorders and display behavioral problems. A clinical study published in 2007 also examined the effects of krill oil on adults diagnosed with ADHD.35

In that study, patients improved their ability to concentrate by an average of over 60% after taking a daily 500-milligram (mg) dose of krill oil for six months. They also reported a 50% improvement in planning skills and a close to 49% improvement in social skills.

• Food additives and GE ingredients — A number of food additives are thought to worsen ADHD, and many have subsequently been banned in Europe. Potential culprits to avoid include Blue #1 and #2 food coloring; Green #3; Orange B; Red #3 and #40; Yellow #5 and #6; and sodium benzoate, a preservative.

Research also shows that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, limits your body’s ability to detoxify foreign chemical compounds. As a result, the damaging effects of those chemicals and environmental toxins are magnified, and may result in a wide variety of diseases, including brain disorders that can affect behavior.

Getting back to saffron, more research is needed to confirm its effects on ADHD, but so far the results look promising. If you have a child with ADHD who has not responded to other treatments and lifestyle changes, talk to your holistic practitioner about whether this herbal remedy could be helpful for your child.

Posted in ADHD, Brain, Celiac, Exercise, GE, Gut, Omega-3, Sugar, Supplements | One Comment »

Posted by: | Posted on: October 23, 2022

Antibiotics Linked to Fatal Heart Condition


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/10/22/antibiotics-trigger-heart-disease.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     October 22, 2022

antibiotics trigger heart disease

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Fluoroquinolones, long associated with Achilles tendonitis and rupture, have been demonstrated to increase your risk of aortic dissection (a tear in the wall of the major artery, allowing blood to flow between the layers) or aortic rupture, which can lead to death
  • Even though “black-box” warnings are now attached to them, fluoroquinolones are still often prescribed for upper respiratory infections or urinary tract infections
  • Antibiotic use can trigger a permanent change in your gut microbiome, which accounts for nearly 80% of your immune system function, so it is important to use antibiotics only when absolutely necessary
  • You may reduce your risk of bacterial and viral infections by supporting your immune system through simple lifestyle measures, such as quality sleep, fermented foods, regular exercise and optimizing your vitamin D level

Research shows your body’s microbiome has nearly 39 trillion bacteria.1 During early years, your family, dietary intake and environmental exposure contribute to the variety in your microbiome, influencing your lifelong health. Everyday activities such as brushing your teeth, eating, kissing someone or handling a family pet also affect your microbiome.

This composition may be as distinct to you as a fingerprint and plays an enormous role in disease prevention, and influences the function of your skin, lungs, breast and liver.2 Harmful bacteria can trigger illness and disease, which is frequently treated with antibiotics. Of the 10 most commonly prescribed, two are from the antibiotic class of fluoroquinolones.3

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first added a boxed warning to fluoroquinolones in 2008, due to the increased risk for tendinitis and tendon rupture.4 Boxed warnings, also referred to as black box warnings, appear on prescription drug labels designed to call attention to serious or life-threatening risks.5

An additional warning was added in 2011 for those suffering from myasthenia gravis, and updates were included in 2013 describing irreversible peripheral neuropathy.6 In 2018, the FDA warned fluoroquinolone antibiotics may increase the occurrence of ruptures or tears in the aorta.7 And, in January 2022, the FDA decided:8

“We have determined that fluoroquinolones should be reserved for use in patients with no other treatment options for acute bacterial sinusitis, or ABS, acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis (ABECB), and uncomplicated UTI because the risks generally outweighs the benefits.

For some serious bacterial infections the benefits of fluoroquinolones outweigh the risks, and it is appropriate for them to remain available as a therapeutic option.”

Yet, despite these warnings, researchers found in April 2022 that fluoroquinolones are still among the most-prescribed antibiotics around the world.9 They concluded that some health care workers may have an “unsatisfactory knowledge” of the safety profiles and risks of these drugs, and that more education on adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones may be needed.

FDA Warning Links Fluoroquinolones With Aortic Damage

The aorta is the main artery in your body supplying oxygenated blood to your circulatory system. The artery comes from the left side of your heart and runs down the front of your backbone. The review by the FDA found fluoroquinolone antibiotics increase the risk of tears in the aorta, also called aortic dissections, or ruptures of an aortic aneurysm, leading to excessive bleeding and death.

The findings occurred when antibiotics were given by mouth or through an injection. This led the FDA to caution against the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics in those at risk, unless there are no other treatment options available.

Specifically, the antibiotic should not be used in those who are at risk for, or have a current, aortic aneurysm, such as those suffering peripheral atherosclerotic vascular disease, hypertension and specific genetic conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or Marfan syndrome.10

Findings were pulled from four published observational studies, which taken together demonstrated a consistent association between aortic dissection or rupture and fluoroquinolone use. The underlying mechanism could not be determined from those studies.

Some of the commonly used fluoroquinolones include ciprofloxacin (Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), gemifloxacin (Factive) and moxifloxacin (Avelox). These are prescribed to treat upper respiratory and urinary tract infections. In a statement, the FDA warns:11

“Fluoroquinolones should not be used in patients at increased risk unless there are no other treatment options available.

Health care professionals should avoid prescribing fluoroquinolone antibiotics to patients who have an aortic aneurysm or are at risk for an aortic aneurysm, such as patients with peripheral atherosclerotic vascular diseases, hypertension, certain genetic conditions such as Marfan syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and elderly patients.”

Upper Respiratory Infections Are Often Viral

Viruses commonly trigger upper respiratory infections (URIs) with symptoms of runny nose, cough, low grade fever, sore throat and difficulty sleeping. URIs represent the most common acute illness in the outpatient setting, often related to the common cold, which is typically a mild, self-limited inflammation of the mucous membranes in the airways.12

Bacterial illness may follow a viral illness as a secondary infection, and commonly includes symptoms persisting longer than 14 days with a fever higher than one might typically expect from a virus. Oftentimes, the fever gets worse a few days into the illness rather than improving.13

Unfortunately, one of the more common reasons fluoroquinolones are prescribed is for upper respiratory infections, ordinarily triggered by a virus. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),14 the highest number of community antibiotic prescriptions are written in the southeastern states.

Fluoroquinolones ranked No. 4 in the highest number of prescriptions written per 1,000 people in the CDC’s outpatient antibiotic prescription index in 2016. Because providers were still opting for fluoroquinolones more than they should for respiratory infections such as pneumonia, the CDC reported in 2021 that an expert panel had recommended the use of these drugs for this purpose be lowered by 90%.15

Bacterial and viral infections are dissimilar in important respects related to the organism’s structure and the way they respond to medications. Although both are too small to be seen with the naked eye, the largest virus is actually smaller than the smallest bacteria.16 Unlike the more complex bacteria, viruses cannot survive without a host and only reproduce by attaching themselves to other cells. Also, unlike bacteria, most viruses are specific in the cells they attack.

The differences in the structure and complexity of the organism have an impact on the type of medication that may be effective against it. Viral infections are not affected by antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones. In fact, using antibiotics for viral infections only contributes to the rising number of antibiotic-resistant infections.

Fluoroquinolones Linked to Multiple Health Concerns

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have been associated with Achilles tendon ruptures and damage for over a decade. Other severe adverse events, such as retinal detachments as well as aortic aneurysms, may also be associated with other systems requiring collagen formation.17 This may also explain, at least in part, how the drug increases your risk of aortic rupture or dissection, as collagen18 lines your arteries and veins to allow for stretch as the heart pumps blood.19

Subsequently, in July 2022 the FDA mandated another warning, “alerting physicians to the increased risk of tendonitis and tendon rupture associated with their use.”20 According to Dr. Renata Albrecht, who heads the FDA’s Division of Special Pathogen and Transplant Products, ‘Achilles’ ruptures associated with fluoroquinolones are three to four times more frequent than ruptures among people not taking these drugs.21

So, if you are taking these antibiotics, you should seek immediate medical care if you experience soreness or inflammation in muscles or tendons. You should also not exercise while your joints are affected.

The drugs are also powerful iron chelating agents that may trigger epigenetic changes through the loss of agents requiring iron as a cofactor. As noted in one study, this may also explain the classic renal toxicity associated with the antibiotics:22

“At sub-millimolar concentrations, these antibiotics inhibited jumonji domain histone demethylases, TET DNA demethylases and collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases, leading to accumulation of methylated histones and DNA and inhibition of proline hydroxylation in collagen, respectively. These effects may explain fluoroquinolone-induced nephrotoxicity and tendinopathy.”

A recent study23 has linked the use of fluoroquinolones to the rising number of children and adults affected by kidney stones. The odds of stones increased 1.5 times with the use of fluoroquinolones and exposure within 3 to 12 months was associated with greater risk. It appeared children and adolescents were particularly susceptible.

Reactions can be bodywide, impacting your central nervous system and musculoskeletal, visual and renal systems, sometimes simultaneously. Among the serious reactions reported are:24

Memory impairment Delirium Agitation
Disorientation Retinal detachment25 Hearing loss and/or tinnitus26
Disturbance in attention Kidney stones Kidney failure27
Hypoglycemia leading to coma Aortic rupture or dissection Tendon rupture or dissection

More Psychiatric Side Effects Than You Might Imagine

Researchers recommend further study to understand the pathogenesis caused by antibiotics in order to treat antibiotic-associated diseases through the mitigation of the intestinal environment — restoring it to its original state.28

Further research has demonstrated an imbalance in gut microbiome caused by antibiotics can negatively affect health in a number of ways and for long periods of time.29 If your physician prescribes one of these dangerous antibiotics, ask to use another one. It would be unusual a fluoroquinolone would be the only antibiotic that could be used to treat your infection.

Remember, these dangerous antibiotics should be used as a last resort only. If it is necessary, be sure to carefully read the package insert and all the warnings, and seek medical attention the moment you notice a side effect.

The late Dr. David Flockhart, who served as professor of medicine and chief of clinical pharmacology at Indiana University School of Medicine, and who before his death was considered one of the leading experts in fluoroquinolone side effects, said in 2012 that “as many as one-third of patients taking a fluoroquinolone will experience some sort of psychiatric side effect.”30

But the thing is, Flockhart had tried to call attention to these drugs over 10 years earlier, in 2001, when he decried Ciprio specifically, as he tried to stress just how dangerous fluoroquinolones are:31

“Cipro is basically a big gun whose benefits outweigh its risks in certain circumstances. But the bigger the gun you use, the more damage you can expect as collateral.”

Antibiotics Trigger Permanent Changes to Your Gut Microbiome

The health of your gut microbiome is a game changer. It has become increasingly apparent in recent years that the composition of your gut microbiome plays an enormous role in your health and disease prevention. Cancer and many other health conditions have been traced back to the influence of gut microbes, including obesity, depression, Parkinson’s and allergies, just to name a few.

Since your gut is the main residence of your immune system,32 disrupting your gut microbiome automatically disrupt your immune function, which can have far-reaching consequences. One way antibiotics can promote disease is by creating an oxygen-rich environment in your intestines, favoring the growth of pathogenic bacteria.

Beneficial microbes grow in an anaerobic (no oxygen) environment, while pathogenic bacteria need oxygen to survive.33 Data suggest even one course of antibiotics can negatively alter your microbiome for up to one year, which is why it’s crucial to use antibiotics only when it is absolutely necessary.34

However, Dr. Martin Blaser with the Langone Medical Center at New York University argues the impact of antibiotics on gut bacteria may be permanent. In an editorial in Nature he writes:35

“Early evidence from my lab and others hint that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease.

Overuse of antibiotics could be fueling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.”

Support Your Health and Your Gut

The stronger your immune system, the less chance any microbe will have of gaining a foothold in your body. Below are some basic strategies for supporting your immune system and preventing illness.

Optimize your diet — Avoid foods that tax your immune system, such as trans fats, fried foods, processed foods, sugars and grains. Seek to reduce your net carbohydrate (sugar, grains, fructose) and protein intake, replacing them with high-quality healthy fats.
Balance your gut flora — One of the best ways to support your gut is by incorporating naturally fermented foods into your diet, working up to 4 to 6 ounces per day. You may take a high-quality probiotic supplement, but fermented foods tend to offer the greatest benefit.
Exercise regularly — Exercise improves the circulation of immune cells in your blood, creating a more efficient system at locating and eliminating pathogens in your body. Make sure your fitness plan incorporates weight training, high-intensity exercises, stretching and core work.
Get plenty of restorative sleep — Research shows sleep deprivation has the same effect on your immune system as physical stress or disease, which is why you may feel ill after a sleepless night.
Reduce stress — High levels of stress hormones can diminish your immunity, so be sure you’re implementing some sort of stress management. Meditation, prayer, yoga and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) are all excellent strategies for managing stress, but you’ll have to find what works best for you.
Optimize vitamin D levels — Studies show inadequate vitamin D can increase your risk for MRSA and other infections. Your best source of vitamin D is through sensible sun exposure. Monitor your vitamin D level to confirm they’re in a therapeutic range of 60 to 80 ng/mL. If you can’t get UV exposure, consider taking an oral vitamin D3 supplement, in conjunction with magnesium and vitamin K2 (MK-7).

In addition to the lifestyle measures listed above, there are natural agents that are naturally antibacterial, including the following:

Vitamin C — Vitamin C’s role in preventing and treating infectious disease is well established. Intravenous vitamin C is an option, but if you don’t have access to a practitioner who can administer it, liposomal vitamin C is the most potent oral form. For more information on vitamin C, listen to my interview with Dr. Ronald Hunninghake (hyperlinked above), an internationally recognized vitamin C expert.
Garlic — Garlic is a powerful antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal. It can stimulate your immune system, help wounds heal and kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. For highest potency, the garlic should be eaten fresh and raw (chopped or smashed).
Olive leaf extract — In vitro studies show olive leaf extract is effective against Klebsiella, a gram-negative bacteria, inhibiting its replication, in addition to being toxic to other pathogenic microbes.
Manuka honey — Manuka honey, made from the flowers and pollen of the Manuka bush, has been shown to be more effective than antibiotics in the treatment of serious, hard-to-heal skin infections. Clinical trials have found Manuka honey can effectively eradicate more than 250 clinical strains of bacteria, including resistant varieties such as MRSA.
Tea tree oil — Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic proven to kill many bacterial strains.36
Colloidal silver — Colloidal silver has been regarded as an effective natural antibiotic for centuries, and recent research shows it can even help eradicate antibiotic-resistant pathogens. If you are interested in this treatment, make sure you read the latest guidelines for safe usage of colloidal silver as there are risks with using it improperly.

Posted in Antibiotics, Bacteria, Cardiovascular, Exercise, Gut, Heart, Immunity, Prescription Medication, Supplements, Vitamins | One Comment »

Posted by: | Posted on: September 20, 2022

What You Must Know About Gluten


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/09/19/what-you-must-know-about-gluten.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate, and will not be bullied into removing it.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     September 19, 2022

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Before you decide if a gluten-free diet is right for you, it’s important to understand how gluten and wheat may be affecting your health
  • Although gluten-free foods were once reserved for people with a wheat allergy or celiac disease, this style of eating has become increasingly popular among people who have no medical reason to avoid gluten
  • If you notice unpleasant physical symptoms such as headaches, joint pain or nausea after eating glutinous foods, you may want to consider if the consumption of gluten could be a factor in your symptoms
  • Switching to a gluten-free diet, especially if you tend to eat a lot of gluten-free processed foods that contain rice, may increase your exposure to arsenic
  • Due to the reality of cross-contamination, not all foods labeled as gluten-free actually test out as being free of gluten

A few years ago, the term “gluten free” was mostly associated with wheat allergy and celiac disease. Those afflicted with either condition who adopted a gluten-free diet often reported a resurgence of health and well-being.

Today, gluten-free eating continues to attract attention, and there are likely more wheat-tolerant people eating gluten-free food than those who medically need it. Eating trends aside, here’s what you need to know about gluten.

What Is Gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in wheat and cereal grains that is made up of glutenin and gliadin molecules. In the presence of water, these substances form an elastic bond that gives bread and other baked goods a springy, stretchy and spongy consistency. Because gluten gives dough elasticity, comparable gluten-free items are often dense and tend to crumble easily.

Gluten is found not only in wheat, but also other grains like barley, oats, rye and spelt. Beyond the whole grains known to be glutinous, gluten can hide in processed foods under a variety of names, including, but not limited to:1

  • Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
  • Malts
  • Natural flavoring
  • Starches
  • Texturized vegetable protein (TVP)

While many foods such as whole fruits and vegetables are naturally gluten free, as are most dairy and meat products, grocery stores are full of gluten-containing products. Many of them fall into the category of ultraprocessed foods. Some of the most common gluten-laced foods include:

Beer Cookies Processed broth

Bouillon

 Crackers and other snack foods Sausages and hot dogs
Bread (white and wheat) Lunch meat Seasoning mixes
Cereal Pasta Soy sauce

Obviously, wheat-containing foods like wheat bran, wheat flour, wheat germ and wheat starch also contain gluten. Even though many think otherwise, white bread is also a source of wheat because it is made from wheat flour after the bran and germ are removed. Furthermore, because wheat is often used as a thickening agent, gluten is commonly found in canned soups and bottled sauces, as well as salad dressings.

How Gluten Can Negatively Impact Your Health

Gluten is known for its tendency to impede proper nutrient breakdown and absorption of foods, regardless of whether they do or do not contain gluten. Proper digestion can be impeded in the presence of gluten because in excess amounts it forms a glued-together constipating lump in your gut.

Some people react negatively to even small amounts of gluten because their body identifies it as a toxin, which causes their immune cells to overreact and attack it. In this scenario, the continued consumption of gluten will create inflammation and damage to the lining of the small intestine that may trigger more serious health issues over time, particularly if you have celiac disease.

Left unchecked, excessive gluten consumption and the inflammation that results may predispose you to malabsorption, nutrient deficiencies, osteoporosis and neurological and psychological conditions, as well as its potentially negative effects on your joints, liver, nervous system, skin and more.2

Beyond this, the Celiac Disease Foundation asserts undiagnosed celiac disease may contribute to the development of “autoimmune disorders like Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis (MS), dermatitis herpetiformis (an itchy skin rash), anemia, osteoporosis, infertility and miscarriage … epilepsy and migraines, short stature and intestinal cancers.”3

Signs of Gluten Intolerance

Signs of gluten intolerance include bloating, belly pain, diarrhea, fatigue and a general feeling of being unwell. Beyond this, other noticeable warning signs of your body’s inability to handle gluten may include:

  • Anxiety
  • Confusion
  • Headache
  • Joint or muscle pain
  • Nausea

While just 1 in 100 people worldwide have celiac disease, countless others may simply be undiagnosed, including an estimated 2.5 million Americans.4 Lack of a proper diagnosis may put you at risk of long-term health complications, some of which were mentioned above.

If you think you might have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, it’s best to talk to your health practitioner before you go gluten free. Once you have avoided gluten for a while, it becomes difficult to establish a conclusive relationship between gluten and your health problems.

You have a better chance for an accurate diagnosis of gluten-related illness if you are actively eating gluten at the time of the testing. Blood tests are usually the first step toward confirming celiac disease.5 If the blood tests and your symptoms indicate celiac, your doctor will likely suggest a biopsy of the lining of your small intestine to confirm the diagnosis.

If you suspect your body may not be able to tolerate gluten, pay attention to how you feel immediately after eating it. Feeling poorly after eating glutinous food may be a signal your body cannot handle gluten. For best results, you may want to keep a food diary, and you will definitely want to discuss your symptoms with your health practitioner.

Most Packaged Gluten-Free Food Is Glorified Junk Food

While the availability of gluten-free food options can be perceived as a help for those affected by a wheat allergy or celiac disease, I advise you approach a gluten-free diet and lifestyle cautiously. The reason: Most processed, packaged gluten-free food is glorified junk food.

I say that because packaged gluten-free foods are some of the most ultraprocessed foods on the planet. They lack fiber and are often loaded with toxic amounts of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, which increase the number of empty calories derived from these foods. About this aspect of gluten-free foods, U.S. News and World Report states:6

“[G]luten-free packaged foods have one important thing in common with their glutinous counterparts: The majority of them are absolute junk.

These include empty-calorie chips, crackers and bars that are high in starchy carbs and sugar, while low in fiber; breads made from the least nutritious starches on the planet and held together by food gums; and high-glycemic cereals made from white rice flour or refined corn that’s been sprinkled with vitamin dust.”

You Might Gain Weight on a Conventional Gluten-Free Diet

Given the higher amounts of sugar in many packaged gluten-free foods, it’s common for people to gain weight after going on a gluten-free diet. With respect to eating gluten-free and weight gain, nutrition communications expert Rachel Begun, a scientific/medical advisory council member for Beyond Celiac, said:7

“Now that we have an ample supply of gluten-free foods on the market, we’re seeing extended weight gain. Many gluten-free products are high in … sugar, while also being low in nutrients. When people go gluten free and eat too much of these highly processed, low-nutrient foods they’re likely to gain weight.

There’s also a ‘health halo’ surrounding gluten-free right now. It’s important that consumers understand that just because something is gluten free doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthful or is a good option for weight loss.”

Watch Out: Arsenic Often Found in Rice-Based Gluten-Free Food

If you decide to go gluten free, but are not doing so in response to a diagnosed medical condition such as a wheat allergy or celiac disease, proceed carefully to avoid unintentionally damaging your health.

Registered dietitian Laura Moore, who is on the nutrition faculty at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, warns, “If you go completely gluten-free without the guidance of a nutritionist, you can develop deficiencies pretty quickly.”8

Part of how that can happen, especially if you eat a mostly processed food diet, relates to the enrichment and fortification of foods, which is a common practice in the food industry. The simple fact is fewer gluten-free foods are enriched or fortified with nutrients like folic acid and iron, as compared to products containing wheat.9,10

Rather than depend on processed foods for these and other vital nutrients, I recommend you eat a whole-food diet and take a high-quality supplement as needed. Beyond that, Consumer Reports says eating gluten free may increase your exposure to arsenic.

This is the case mainly due to the use of rice flour in many gluten-free foods and the uptake of arsenic in most of the world’s rice crops.11 As such, you may want to think twice before choosing rice-based gluten-free products and risking exposure to a known cancer-causer like arsenic.12 About this, Consumer Reports stated:13

“About half of the gluten-free products Consumer Reports purchased contained rice flour or rice in another form. In 2012, we reported on our tests of more than 60 rices and packaged foods with rice (such as pasta, crackers and infant cereal).

We found measurable levels of arsenic in almost every product tested. Many of them contained worrisome levels of inorganic arsenic, a carcinogen.”

In your attempts to avoid rice-containing gluten-free foods, you’ll also want to steer clear of nonorganic products containing corn starch, corn flour, potato starch, potato flour and soy. That’s because most conventional corn and soy crops are genetically engineered, while conventional potato crops are heavily sprayed with toxic herbicides and pesticides.

Not All Packaged Food Labeled Gluten-Free Is Free of Gluten

Another potential obstacle to gluten-free eating is the unfortunate reality that many packaged gluten-free foods have been found to be tainted with gluten.

“Cross-contamination can occur,” Andrea Levario, senior public policy advocate for the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., explains. “Gluten-free products may be manufactured on the same equipment used for wheat or other gluten-containing products.”14

The potential for cross-contamination is also of concern in instances where wheat is grown next to other grains, such as oats. Even though some suggest oats are a gluten-free food, you have to be careful to ensure the brand you purchase is certified gluten free.

Otherwise, it is very likely the oats were grown in or near wheat fields, in which case the product may be contaminated. A 2014 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition15 evaluated 158 food products labeled as gluten-free over a three-year time frame.

When testing for the presence of gluten, the researchers discovered 5% of the packaged items they tested — including some certified gluten-free — failed to meet the limit set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for less than 20 parts per million of gluten. If you have questions about foods labeled as gluten-free, I encourage you to contact the manufacturer.

“They should be transparent about what tests they use to determine whether a product is gluten-free,” said study author and registered dietitian Tricia Thompson, founder of Gluten Free Watchdog and creator of the Gluten-Free Dietitian website. “If they insist that it’s proprietary information, that should set off an alarm.”16

Finally, take care when purchasing food items labeled “wheat free,” because being wheat-free doesn’t automatically make a food gluten-free. That’s because barley, rye and spelt-based ingredients, all of which contain gluten, may be used in products labeled wheat free.

Is a Gluten-Free Diet Right for You?

Whether or not you have a medical reason for choosing a gluten-free diet, nearly everyone can benefit from this style of eating. Grains, even whole sprouted varieties, tend to cause problems not only because of the presence of gluten, but also due to concerns around fructans, glyphosate contamination and wheat hybridization.

Furthermore, grains may damage your skin. Grains also have high net carbs and many people eat too many carbs. A healthier approach would be to reduce your consumption of grain-based carbs and increase your intake of healthy fats, thereby training your body to burn fat for fuel. (Be sure to moderate your protein intake, too.)

Becoming a fat burner will free you from the cycle of energy highs and lows that often result from overindulging in carbs.

While reducing your carb consumption may be a challenge, eating a gluten-free diet is relatively easy to do. You can accomplish this by focusing on whole, unprocessed foods that are naturally wheat- and gluten-free. As always, I recommend eating foods as close to their natural state as possible.

For that reason, I advise you forego the packaged gluten-free foods found online and in grocery stores. Below are a few of the foods you may enjoy on a naturally gluten-free diet:

Avocados MCT oil Organic fruits and vegetables
Coconut oil Nuts (macadamias, pecans and walnuts) Organic, grass fed meat
Fish (anchovies, herring, sardines and wild-caught Alaskan salmon) Olives and olive oil Organic, raw, grass fed dairy products (kefir and yogurt)
Grass-fed butter Organic pastured eggs Seeds (chia, pumpkin and sunflower)

Posted in Anxiety, Bones, Celiac, Food, Gut, Joints, Muscle, Pain | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: September 12, 2022

Broccoli Compound May Boost Cognitive Function


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/09/12/broccoli-sprouts-sulforaphane.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate, and will not be bullied into removing it.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     September 12, 2022

broccoli sprouts sulforaphane

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • After just 12 weeks of supplementing with sulforaphane, which is just one of broccoli’s claims to fame, older adults experienced better cognitive function
  • Sulforaphane also helps protect the heart, catalyzes a healthy balance of gut bacteria, and may be a weight management tool
  • A superior choice to supplements is broccoli sprouts; they contain up to 50 times the amount of chemoprotective compounds and are easily grown indoors

Food has a profound effect on your health — whether to prevent disease or reverse the negative effects of disease and illness. For example, decades of research have revealed the powerful effect that broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables have on several common health issues. Research1 has found that sulforaphane, one of broccoli’s claims to fame, is responsible for improving cognitive function and mood in older adults.

Other cruciferous vegetables include Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, collards, kale and Bok choy. Broccoli has decades of research behind it that show it’s a valuable health-promoting food. While several compounds have demonstrated positive effects on health, one of the most widely studied is sulforaphane. The compound may be best known for its cancer-fighting properties.

For example, studies have shown that sulforaphane supports normal cell function and division while triggering apoptosis in colon,2 liver,3 prostate,4 breast5 and tobacco-induced lung cancer.6 While it is helpful in the prevention of cancer, data7 also shows it may also help in the treatment of breast cancer.

Sulforaphane also increases enzymes in your liver8 that help destroy cancer-causing chemicals you may consume or be exposed to in your environment. This compound has even been called “one of the most powerful anticarcinogens found in food.”9

Research has also shown it boosts detoxification of environmental toxins,10 helps prevent or treat high blood pressure,11 heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease,12 autism13 and even schizophrenia.14

Older Adults Experience Better Cognitive Function and Mood

The featured Japanese study15 was published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. The researchers used 12 weeks of supplementation and found that the participants experienced greater processing speed and a reduction in negative mood as compared to the group who received the placebo.

Researchers began with the premise from past studies showing sulforaphane with cognitive training had a positive effect on cognitive function. They sought to investigate whether consuming sulforaphane could improve cognitive performance and mood in older adults.

They used a 12-week, double-blind, randomized controlled trial in which 144 adults — 73 men and 71 women — with an average age of 66.82 years were assigned to either a placebo group or a group that received sulforaphane supplementation.

The intervention group took 30 mg of glucoraphanin daily, which is converted to sulforaphane in the body. The researchers measured cognitive function, mood states, and serum and urine biomarkers at baseline and the conclusion of the intervention.

The group that took the sulforaphane supplementation exhibited an improvement in cognitive processing speed and a reduction in negative mood. Additionally, the intervention group had a higher sulforaphane N-acetyl L-cysteine (SFN-NAC) urine level, indicating they had consumed the glucoraphanin capsules. There were no other significant biomarkers of oxidative stress, neuroplasticity or inflammation.

The health benefits from eating cruciferous vegetables are linked to glucosinolates,16 which are plant chemicals that are metabolized into isothiocyanates, including sulforaphane. Broccoli contains an enzyme called myrosinase that helps to break down glucosinolates into erucin or sulforaphane. The researchers concluded:17

“Although we did not find any significant changes in antioxidant response, neural plasticity, or the neuroinflammation blood parameter, these results indicate that nutrition interventions using SFN can have positive effects on cognitive functioning and mood in healthy older adults.”

Sulforaphane’s Effect on the Heart, Leaky Gut and Obesity

Research data have shown that sulforaphane can help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease18 and reduce high blood pressure in an animal model.19 In one animal study,20 researchers sought to evaluate the efficacy of sulforaphane in the lab. Past data using exogenous antioxidants were not conclusive, which led the researchers to theorize that inducing endogenous antioxidant activities could have a promising cardioprotective effect.

Their theory was confirmed in the lab by demonstrating a reduction in intracellular reactive oxygen species production, which has a pathogenic response on the myocardium21 triggering damage and dysfunction. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of sulforaphane may be related to the activation of the Nrf2 pathway that acts as a defense mechanism against oxidative stress.

Another animal study22,23 identified yet another benefit from broccoli — a healthy gut. Researchers from Penn State demonstrated that broccoli may help in the treatment of colitis and leaky gut syndrome when they discovered broccoli contains a compound called indolocarbazole (ICZ). This compound helps catalyze a healthy balance of bacteria and supports your immune system.

Researchers swapped out 15% of the animal’s diet for raw broccoli,24 which is equal to about 3.5 cups of broccoli each day for a human. While that is quite a bit of broccoli, researchers say you can get an equivalent amount from one cup of Brussel sprouts as these vegetables contain three times the amount of ICZ as broccoli.

Animal research25,26 has also suggested that sulforaphane can be used as a weight management tool. Mice that were fed a high fat diet with sulforaphane gained weight 15% slower than those getting the same diet without sulforaphane supplementation.

They also gain 20% less visceral fat. This fat collects around your internal organs and is particularly hazardous to your health. The researchers believe two different mechanisms were behind the results:27

  • Sulforaphane was found to speed up tissue browning. Brown fat is a beneficial type of body fat that helps you stay slim. It’s a heat-generating type of fat that burns energy rather than storing it.
  • Sulforaphane also decreased gut bacteria in the Desulfobivrionaceae family. These bacteria are known to produce toxins that contribute to metabolic endotoxemia and obesity.

Easy to Grow Sprouts Are a Concentrated Form of Nutrients

It has been my experience that it’s always better to get your nutrients from food as opposed to supplements when it’s possible. However, there are times when it’s impractical or nearly impossible to achieve a therapeutic dose from food alone. You can get meaningful amounts of sulforaphane and DIM from eating broccoli, but it could be difficult to consistently eat enough to reach a therapeutic dose.

A superior choice to a supplement is broccoli sprouts, which are far more potent than whole broccoli and allow you to eat less in terms of quantity. According to the late Dr. Paul Talalay,28 then professor of pharmacology at Johns Hopkins and researcher who launched the field of chemoprotection:29

“Three-day-old broccoli sprouts consistently contain 20 to 50 times the amount of chemoprotective compounds found in mature broccoli heads, and may offer a simple, dietary means of chemically reducing cancer risk.”

You can have a ready supply of cancer-fighting nutrients by growing sprouts at home. It’s quite easy, it can be done indoors, and you don’t need a lot of space. Although sprouts are small, they are packed with enzymes, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that protect against free radical damage. When I first started sprouting seeds I used Ball jars, but I’ve since switched to growing them in potting soil.

Sprouts grown in Ball jars need to be rinsed several times a day to prevent mold growth and it’s a hassle to keep them draining in the sink and taking up space. You would also need dozens of jars to get the same amount as in just one flat tray. When sprouts are grown in soil they can be harvested in about a week and one pound of seeds will produce over 10 pounds of sprouts.

Sprouts can be added to salads, sandwiches or vegetable juice or smoothies. You can also boost the benefits of sulforaphane in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables by pairing them with a myrosinase-containing food.30 This is the enzyme that converts the precursor glucoraphanin to sulforaphane. Foods that contain myrosinase include Dakin radishes, arugula, and mustard seed.31

Ideally, broccoli should be steamed for no more than four minutes to increase the available sulforaphane content. This eliminates a heat-sensitive sulfur-grabbing protein that inactivates sulforaphane,32 while retaining the myrosinase in the broccoli. Without myrosinase, your body cannot absorb sulforaphane.

If you opt for boiling, blanch the broccoli for no more than 30 seconds and then immerse it immediately in cold water to stop the cooking process. If you prefer raw food, you’ll get the most sulforaphane and nutrients from broccoli sprouts rather than mature broccoli.

Posted in Brain, Gut, Heart, Nutrition, Obesity | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: September 11, 2022

Warning: Biodegradable Bowls Contain Toxic Chemicals


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/09/10/biodegradable-bowls-with-pfas-health-effects.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate, and will not be bullied into removing it.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     September 10, 2022

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), widely used chemicals that make products water-, oil-, grease- and stain-resistant, are associated with significant health hazards
  • PFAS chemicals take thousands of years to degrade, which is why many refer to them as “forever chemicals.” Disturbingly, these toxic chemicals have become ubiquitous in our environment
  • One source of environmental contamination is PFAS-treated food wrappers and containers. Testing reveals all so-called “biodegradable” food containers contain PFAS, making them unsuitable for composting
  • Using toxic nondegradable chemicals in a biodegradable product is a tremendous oversight that has led to a PR nightmare
  • Research confirms that compost in which food packaging was included had a toxic load ranging from 28.7 micrograms per kilo to 75.9 mcg/kg. Compost samples that did not include food packaging had a PFOA contamination level ranging between 2.38 and 7.6 mcg/kg

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances1,2 (PFAS) are widely used chemicals that make products water-, oil-, grease- and stain-resistant. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) are associated with a wide array of health problems — even at very low exposure levels — including:

Immune dysfunction3 Low birth weight4
Thyroid dysfunction5 High cholesterol6
Ulcerative colitis7 Pregnancy-induced hypertension8
Testicular cancer9 Kidney cancer10

In May 2015, 200 scientists from 38 countries signed the so-called Madrid Statement on PFASs,11,12 which warns about the harms of all PFAS chemicals, both old and new. According to the Madrid Statement, health effects associated with the older, long-chain PFAS’s such as PFOA, include:13

Liver toxicity Disruption of lipid metabolism, and the immune- and endocrine systems
Adverse neurobehavioral effects Neonatal toxicity and death
Tumors in multiple organ systems Testicular and kidney cancers
Liver malfunction Hypothyroidism
High cholesterol Ulcerative colitis
Reduced birth weight and size Obesity
Decreased immune response to vaccines Reduced hormone levels and delayed puberty

PFAS Are ‘Everywhere’

PFAS chemicals take thousands of years to degrade, which is why many refer to them as “forever chemicals.” Disturbingly, these toxic chemicals have become ubiquitous in our environment, including groundwater.14,15

PFAS are also found in the U.S. food supply — and at levels far exceeding the advisory limit for PFOA and PFAS in drinking water (there’s currently no limits in food).

Of the 91 foods tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017 as part of its Total Diet Study16 (presented17 at the 2019 meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry), 10 were found to contain PFAS.18,19,20,21 How do they get there?

Food Wrappers — A Significant Source of PFAS

Industrial production is just one route by which PFAS enter our environment and food supply. Another is through everyday waste, such as fast food wrappers and containers that end up in landfills, from where they continue to contaminate soil and water.

Disturbingly, findings reveal that even so-called “biodegradable” food containers contain these “forever chemicals,” which may create an even greater problem.

Thinking the containers are biodegradable and safe, people will place them in their compost, creating a vicious circle where the chemicals contaminate and ruin the compost, which is then mixed into the soil, where they contaminate the food grown in it. Ultimately, the chemicals end up on your plate again, now inside the food.

Research22 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in 2007 found PFAS chemicals in the blood of more than 98% of Americans tested. Considering their current prevalence in our food supply, it seems reasonable to assume everyone is exposed to some degree, and that blood levels have likely increased in the years since the CDC’s testing.

Biodegradable Bowls Contain PFAS

Concerns over mounting plastic waste pushed fast food companies to invest in safer wrappers and containers, but recent findings reveal a truly remarkable lack of understanding on behalf of some manufacturers. Writing for New Food Economy, Joe Fassler reports the disappointing news:23

“The biggest culinary star of the past five years isn’t a chef, or a restaurant group, or the author of a cookbook. It’s a bowl, a humble piece of take-out packaging that’s taken the world of commercial foodservice by storm, rising so quickly that few have noted its troubling secret …

If molded fiber bowls have become a kind of status symbol in the restaurant world … it’s probably because they’ve been positioned as an antidote to the industry’s alarming take-out waste problem.

Many varieties are explicitly pitched to food-service buyers as compostable, certified by third-party assessors like the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). Unlike styrofoam clamshells or wax-lined soup cups, fiber products feel like they’d turn into mush on a leaf pile …

But these products … are instead contributing to a growing environmental crisis. According to experts consulted for this story, all molded fiber bowls contain PFAS …

This means that the bowls used at restaurants like Chipotle and Sweetgreen aren’t truly compostable, as has been claimed. Instead, they are likely making compost more toxic, adding to the chemical load of the very soil and water they were supposed to help improve.”

All Compostable Bowls Found to Contain PFAS

For its report, New Food Economy tested 18 biodegradable fiber bowls from eight restaurants at 14 locations in New York City, including Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Dig — three restaurants that claim to compost its waste.

All were found to contain high levels of fluorine,24 which is indicative of PFAS being used. The inside (food contact side) of the bowls averaged 1,599 parts per million (ppm) of fluorine, a level far higher than what you’d find in an accidentally contaminated sample.

Now, the test used only measures total fluorine, not individual PFAS chemicals, and the total level of any given PFAS is likely to be higher than the total fluorine level. Fassler explains:25

“… [A] bowl containing 1,670 ppm fluorine will contain more total PFAS, since every molecule of the chemical compound contains multiple atoms — not just of fluorine, but of carbon, and other elements.

Though it’s impossible to say for sure due to the wide variety of PFAS chemicals … according to a rough calculation, a bowl with 1,670 ppm fluorine would likely contain about 2,000 ppm total PFAS.

Put another way: A bowl with 2,000 ppm total PFAS might be mostly made from sugarcane fiber, but 0.2 percent of its total material would be made from fluorinated chemicals …

That might not sound like very much. But due to the unique properties of fluorinated chemicals, it turns out to be a significant number, and an alarming one. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintain that drinking water can only contain infinitesimal amounts of fluorinated chemicals before health concerns arise.”

Do Not Compost ‘Biodegradable’ Bowls

Research26,27 published in 2017 found fluorine in 46% of the fast food wrappers and takeout containers tested, and studies28,29,30 have confirmed fluorinated chemicals can migrate from the packaging into the food.

If it’s true that 100% of so-called “biodegradable” fiber bowls contain PFAS, then they would actually be a far more hazardous choice than other “standard” wrappers and containers — at least as far as PFAS exposure is concerned. As noted by Fassler, it is the surface treatment with PFAS that prevents the fiber bowls from falling apart when filled with hot, wet or greasy food.

Using toxic nondegradable chemicals in a biodegradable product is a tremendous oversight. Clearly, restaurants should not advertise these containers as compostable, yet many do just that. It’s not surprising then that the revelation has become a PR nightmare. As noted by Fassler:31

“… [A]ny product that contains PFAS can’t really be compostable, let alone biodegradable, despite restaurants’ claims to the contrary. Though fiber products have benefits from a greenhouse gas emissions standpoint, the bowls we tested are likely making soil and water quality worse.”

Indeed, recent research confirms this warning. Tipped off about the presence of PFAS in compostable containers, the authors of a 2019 paper32,33 decided to assess the presence of these chemicals in municipal compost. In all, samples from nine commercial compost stations and one backyard compost pile were tested for 17 different PFAS.

Confirming suspicions, compost in which food packaging was included had a toxic load ranging from 28.7 micrograms per kilo to 75.9 mcg/kg. Compost samples that did not include food packaging, on the other hand, had a contamination level ranging between just 2.38 and 7.6 mcg/kg.

While it’s disturbing that all compost samples contained PFOA and PFOS — the older, long-chained PFAS that are no longer in use — compost with food packaging was clearly more heavily contaminated with a variety of PFAS. If there’s any good news here, it’s that some states are starting to take action against PFAS.

As noted by Fassler,34 San Francisco is banning bowls manufactured with PFAS as of January 1, 2020, and Washington’s Healthy Food Packaging Act35 — enacted in 2018 — bans all PFAS in paper food packaging, effective 2022.36 A drawback of the Act is that the ban will not take effect until or unless a safer alternative is commercially available.

Sewage Sludge — A Major Source of PFAS on Farms

As reported by The Intercept37 in June 2019, sewage sludge appears to be a major source of PFAS. Documents38 obtained by The Intercept reveal 44 samples of sewage sludge tested by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection all contained at least one PFAS chemical, and “In all but two of the samples, the chemicals exceeded safety thresholds for sludge that Maine set early last year.”

Maine’s tolerance levels for PFAS are set at 2.5 parts per billion (ppb) for PFOA, 5.2 ppb for PFOS, and 1,900 ppb for PFBS. Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center in Portland, told The Intercept these levels are “probably about 10 times weaker than they should be,” adding that “Even low parts-per-billion levels of PFAS in sludge can threaten the health of the food supply.”

You can learn more about the hazards of sewage sludge in the featured documentary, “Biosludged,”39 and the scientific fraud perpetrated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that legalizes the pollution of agricultural soils through the usage of contaminated industrial and human waste as fertilizer.

DuPont Shirks Cleanup Duty

In related news, DuPont, a longtime maker of PFAS chemicals stands accused of creating a fraudulent spinoff, Chemours, in an effort to shirk environmental liabilities caused by its chemical manufacturing. (Chemours is the name of the spinoff company created through DuPont’s merger with Dow Chemical Inc. in 2015.40) Chemours lawyers told Bloomberg:41

“The separation agreement was the product of a one-sided process that lacked any of the hallmarks of arm’s-length bargaining. DuPont unilaterally dictated the terms of the separation agreement and imposed them on Chemours.”

One of DuPont’s environmental liabilities is the cleanup of Pompton Lakes in New Jersey. As reported by NorthJersey.com July 15, 2019:42

“The new claims by the state attorney general’s office were quietly added as amendments to a lawsuit filed against DuPont and Chemours seeking financial damages for widespread pollution in Pompton Lakes.

This includes a neighborhood where residents have had to endure cancer-causing solvents that migrated for decades beneath their homes from a now-shuttered DuPont explosives factory.

Like dozens of sites across the U.S., the cleanup in Pompton Lakes had long been DuPont’s responsibility. That changed in July 2015, when DuPont created Chemours as a spinoff company that took over the bulk of the DuPont’s environmental liabilities.

But two separate lawsuits against DuPont — one by New Jersey officials and another by Chemours itself — allege what many in Pompton Lakes feared at the time of the spinoff:

DuPont created Chemours to insulate itself from future cleanup and natural resource damage claims, and left Chemours vulnerable to financial problems that could put cleanup efforts at risk in New Jersey and across the country.”

Indeed, Chemours’ lawsuit against DuPont claims DuPont set up the company to fail from the start, allowing DuPont to simply walk away from all of its cleanup responsibilities.

Chemours is now asking the court to deny DuPont’s request for unlimited indemnity for its environmental liabilities.43 (Chemours, meanwhile, claims it has now stopped making three PFAS products used in the making of grease-resistant packaging.44)

North Jersey reports that, according to Chemours, the company received only 19% of DuPont’s business lines at the company’s inception, while taking on two-thirds of the environmental liabilities and 90% of all pending litigation against DuPont.

In all, Chemours liabilities exceeded earnings by 5.5-to-1 right from the get-go, yet its management team was not fully informed about the company’s financial situation. Chemours also claims DuPont systematically underestimated the legal and environmental cleanup costs.

“For instance, DuPont estimated that three lawsuits against it over contamination from the toxic chemical PFOA would cost no more than $128 million. They were settled by Chemours for $671 million less than two years later,” North Jersey reports.45

Lawmakers Promise to Pursue Corporate Accountability

As attention on PFAS pollution increases, PFAS manufacturers such as DuPont and 3M are ramping up lobbying efforts to prevent tighter regulations. Several recent hearings46,47,48 have been held on PFAS, however, and Democratic lawmakers have promised to “continue pursuing corporate accountability,” Think Progress reports.49 As noted by the Union of Concerned Scientists in a May 15, 2019, press release:50

“Today, the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a widely-used family of chemicals that contaminate the drinking water of millions of Americans.

Representatives also introduced a number of bills to manage the threat of PFAS pollution, including legislation that would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to designate PFAS as hazardous chemicals, as well as bills to expand water testing, improve water infrastructure, assist communities facing PFAS contamination issues and limit the use of these chemicals in the future. This effort to tackle a common and dangerous class of pollutant is long overdue …”

Certain states are also taking matters into their own hands. Michigan, for example, where PFAS is a common water contaminant, says it’s planning to start regulating certain PFAS to protect residents rather than waiting for the EPA to take action.51

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection also has its sights on corporate accountability. Commissioner Catherine McCabe told Think Progress,52 “New Jersey believes that the manufacturers … should be held responsible to the public for the costs and damages of the drinking water contamination and other harmful consequences of their actions and negligence.”

How to Avoid PFAS Chemicals

The Madrid Statement recommends avoiding any and all products manufactured using PFASs, noting they include products that are stain-resistant, waterproof or nonstick. Helpful tips can also be found in the EWG’s “Guide to Avoiding PFCS.”53 Other suggestions that will help you avoid these dangerous chemicals include avoiding:

Items that have been pretreated with stain repellants, and opt out of such treatments when buying new furniture and carpets
Water- and/or stain-repellant clothing — One tipoff is when an item made with artificial fibers is described as “breathable.” These are typically treated with polytetrafluoroethylene, a synthetic fluoropolymer
Items treated with flame retardant chemicals54 — This includes a wide variety of baby items, padded furniture, mattresses and pillows. Instead, opt for naturally less flammable materials such as leather, wool and cotton
Fast food and carry out foods — The wrappers are typically treated with PFCs
Microwave popcorn — PFCs may not only present in the inner coating of the bag, it also may migrate to the oil from the packaging during heating. Instead, use “old-fashioned” stovetop popcorn
Nonstick cookware and other treated kitchen utensils — Healthier options include ceramic and enameled cast iron cookware, both of which are durable, easy to clean and completely inert, which means they won’t release any harmful chemicals into your home.

A newer type of nonstick cookware called Duralon uses a nonfluoridated nylon polymer for its nonstick coating. While this appears to be safe, your safest bet is still ceramic and enameled cast iron.

While some recommend using aluminum, stainless steel and copper cookware, I don’t for the following reasons: Aluminum is a strongly suspected causal factor in Alzheimer’s disease, and stainless steel has alloys containing nickel, chromium, molybdenum and carbon.

For those with nickel allergies, this may be a particularly important consideration. Copper cookware is also not recommended because most copper pans come lined with other metals, creating the same concerns noted above. (Copper cookware must be lined due to the possibility of copper poisoning)
Oral-B Glide floss and any other personal care products containing PTFE or “fluoro” or “perfluoro” ingredients — The EWG has an excellent database called Skin Deep55 you can peruse to find healthier options
Unfiltered tap water — Unfortunately, your choices are limited when it comes to avoiding PFASs in drinking water. Either you must filter your water or obtain water from a clean source. Both solutions can be problematic and/or costly.

While many opt for bottled water, it’s important to realize that PFASs are not regulated in bottled water, so there’s absolutely no guarantee that it’ll be free of these or other chemicals. Bottled water also increases your risk of exposure to hazardous plastic chemicals such as bisphenol-A, which has its own set of health risks.

Most common water filters available in supermarkets will not remove PFASs. You really need a high-quality carbon filtration system. The New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute recommends using granulated activated carbon “or an equally efficient technology” to remove PFC chemicals such as PFOA and PFOS from your drinking water.56 Activated carbon has been shown to remove about 90% of these chemicals

 

– Sources and References

Posted in Cancer, Cholesterol, EPA, Gut, Immunity, Kidney, Liver, Obesity, Pregnancy, Thyroid, Toxins | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: August 6, 2022

How Gut Bacteria Influence Your Metabolism


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/08/06/gut-bacteria-and-metabolism.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate, and will not be bullied into removing it.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     August 06, 2022

gut bacteria and metabolism

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Any given individual will have around 160 different species of bacteria colonizing their gut. This individual combination is known as your gut microbiome, and can have a tremendous influence on health and well-being
  • Obesity is associated with as much as a 40% decrease in bacterial diversity. Improving diversity through probiotic supplementation can help resolve metabolic defects, resulting in fat loss
  • Research has demonstrated that probiotics — beneficial bacteria found in fermented and cultured foods such as yogurt — have a measurable effect on several metabolic pathways
  • A link has also been found between bowel movements and obesity; 8.5% of obese and 11.5% of severely obese individuals reported chronic diarrhea, compared to 4.5% of those with normal weight
  • One hypothesis is that chronic low-grade inflammation is at play. Not only is chronic inflammation a factor in obesity, but it can also contribute to diarrhea

This article was previously published September 30, 2019, and has been updated with new information.

Before we review the evidence that your gut flora plays a role in regulating your metabolism and likely is a factor in the development of obesity, please understand that there is beyond overwhelming evidence that excess seed oils and an increase in linoleic acid is likely the primary factor contributing to the obesity epidemic as discussed in my interview with Tucker Goodrich.

Hippocrates once said that “all disease begins in the gut,”1 and the more we learn, the more accurate that statement proves to be. As noted in a 2018 paper:2

“While often-quoted figures suggest that the microbes that live in and on the human body outnumber human cells by 10:1, a more recent estimate suggests that we are essentially one part human to one part microbe in terms of cell number.3

These commensal microorganisms have a vital role in human health. They break down otherwise indigestible dietary fibers and other components of food, produce vitamins, promote the development and maturation of the immune system, and prevent pathogenic bacterial species from colonizing the gut.”

According to evidence cited in this paper, of the 1,000 or so gut bacteria we know of, any given individual will have around 160 different species of bacteria colonizing their gut. This individual combination is known as your gut microbiome, and can have a tremendous influence on health and well-being.

The diversity of your gut microbiome begins to be established when you are an infant, and is affected by genetics, whether you are breast- or bottle-fed, and your immediate environment. Later in life your microbiome is significantly affected by your food choices.4

Diets high in sugar and processed foods may reduce the diversity and your overall health, while diets high in whole foods high in fiber tend to have a beneficial impact. For example, a number of studies have found obese individuals tend to have a less diverse gut microbiome,5 in addition to having greater numbers of certain harmful bacteria and fewer beneficial ones.

Studies have shown obesity is associated with as much as a 40% decrease in diversity,6 and that improving that diversity through probiotic supplementation can help resolve metabolic defects, resulting in fat loss.7

Obesity Associated With Frequent Diarrhea

There’s also a link between abnormal bowel movements and obesity, according to research8 published in September 2019. As reported by Medical Xpress:9

“In the most comprehensive analysis of the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and bowel habits to date, published today in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, a team of physician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) found a strong association between obesity and chronic diarrhea independent of an individual’s dietary, lifestyle, psychological factors or medical conditions …

‘While several previous studies have pointed to an association between obesity and bowel habits, all lacked data on whether dietary or other factors drive the connection,’ said corresponding author Sarah Ballou, Ph.D., a health psychologist in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at BIDMC.

‘Our research confirms a positive association between obesity and chronic diarrhea and reveals for the first time that this relationship is not driven by confounding factors such as diet or physical activity level.'”

Looking at data from the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the researchers found 8.5% of obese and 11.5% of severely obese individuals reported chronic diarrhea, compared to 4.5% of those with normal weight. “Stepwise regression revealed that severe obesity was independently associated with increased risk of diarrhea,” the authors say.

Unfortunately, this study cannot shed light on why this is happening. One hypothesis is that chronic low-grade inflammation is at play. Not only is chronic inflammation a factor in obesity,10 but it can also contribute to diarrhea.

Systemic inflammation is also believed to be one of the leading triggers for other serious diseases, including neurological degeneration,11 Type 2 diabetes12 and cardiovascular disease13 — all of which, by the way, are also associated with obesity.

Committing to making changes to your gut microbiome can do far more than improve your bowel habits. Your gut health is important to most aspects of your health, including reducing your risk for cancer, metabolic syndrome and depression.

Probiotics Shown to Alter Metabolism

Improving your microbiome can be as simple as increasing your intake of fermented foods or taking a quality probiotic supplement. Previous research has demonstrated that probiotics — beneficial bacteria found in fermented and cultured foods such as yogurt — have a measurable effect on your metabolism.

One such study,14 published in 2008, found the bacterial strains Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactobacillus rhamnosus affected a number of different metabolic pathways, including the metabolism of:

  • Hepatic lipids
  • Amino-acids
  • Methylamines
  • Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)

As reported by Science Daily:15

“Adding ‘friendly’ bacteria changed the makeup of the bugs in the gut, not only because this increased the number of such bacteria, but also because the ‘friendly’ bacteria worked with other bacteria in the gut, amplifying their effects.

One of the many biochemical changes observed by the researchers was a change in how mice treated with probiotics metabolized bile acids. These acids are made by the liver and their primary function is to emulsify fats in the upper gut. If probiotics can influence the way in which bile acids are metabolized, this means they could change how much fat the body is able to absorb.”

While some claim taking probiotic supplements or eating fermented foods won’t have a significant impact on your microbiome, this particular study found otherwise. As noted by corresponding author Jeremy Nicholson with the department of biomolecular medicine at Imperial College:16

“Some argue that probiotics can’t change your gut microflora — whilst there are at least a billion bacteria in a pot of yoghurt, there are a hundred trillion in the gut, so you’re just whistling in the wind.

Our study shows that probiotics can have an effect and they interact with the local ecology and talk to other bacteria. We’re still trying to understand what the changes they bring about might mean, in terms of overall health, but we have established that introducing ‘friendly’ bacteria can change the dynamics of the whole population of microbes in the gut.”

Can Probiotics Effectively Aid in Fighting Obesity?

So, can probiotics actually have a beneficial impact on obesity? A number of studies suggest the answer is yes. Among them is a 2013 animal study,17 which found the probiotics Lactobacillus gasseri BNR17, found in human breast milk, act as an obesity inhibitor and antidiabetic.

According to the authors, “The administration of L. gasseri BNR17 significantly reduced the body weight and white adipose tissue weight regardless of the dose administered.” Such findings jibe well with studies18 showing breastfed babies have a significantly lower risk of childhood obesity.

In another study19 published that same year, obese participants with a fasting blood sugar level above 100 mg/dL were given either BNR17 or a placebo for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, the treatment group had shed more body fat than the controls. As reported by the authors, “Despite there being no change in behavior or diet, administration of only the supplement of BNR17 reduced weight and waist and hip circumference.”

Lactobacillus gasseri has also been shown to ease symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis,20 thanks to its anti-inflammatory effects. L. gasseri is also one of four bacterial strains shown to help eradicate Helicobacter pylori,21 a primary cause of stomach ulcers.

A more recent review,22 published in the journal Nutrients in February 2019, sought to “present evidence … demonstrating the effects of various probiotic strains and their potential efficacy in improving obesity and associated metabolic dysfunctions.” As noted in this paper:23

“A large body of evidence has described several possible mechanisms by which the gut microbiota can contribute to, and/or influence, obesity.

Although so much is still unknown and debatable, thus far there is a general consensus that the gut microbiota is implicated in obesity through dietary carbohydrate fermentation, lipogenesis, excess energy storage, and several other pathways including a vast array of metabolites, hormones and neurotransmitters, some of which are known to control food intake and the regulation of energy balance.”

How Gut Bacteria Can Influence Your Fat Stores

Three main phyla or groups of gut microbes make up the human microbiome and serve diverse structural, protective and metabolic functions:24

  • Bacteroidetes — Porphyromonas, Prevotella and Bacteroides
  • Firmicutes — Ruminococcus, Clostridium, Lactobacillus and Eubacteria
  • Actinobacteria — Bifidobacteria (the most prevalent type)

As explained in the 2019 Nutrients review,25 in your gut, these bacteria protect your health by “displacing harmful bacteria, competing with pathogens for nutrients and producing antimicrobial factors.”

Structural functions provided by them include “developing the immune system, inducing immunoglobulin A (IgA), and reinforcing the mucosal barrier,” while metabolic functions “benefit the host by synthesizing vitamin K, folate and biotin” and play a role in the absorption of minerals such as magnesium, calcium and iron.

Importantly, gut bacteria also help break down the foods you eat and ferment digestive-resistant starches, turning them into beneficial SCFAs, which help modulate your immune response and inflammation.26 As explained in the 2019 Nutrients review:27

“Degradation of dietary polysaccharides and fiber by Bacteroides and Firmicutes in the gut results in the production of SCFAs, such as propionate, acetate, and butyrate.

Propionate is an important energy source for the host via de novo synthesis of lipids and glucose in the liver. Acetate is used in peripheral tissues as a substrate for cholesterol synthesis while butyrate represents a rich energy source for the epithelial cells that line the colon.

Furthermore, microbiota is involved in the control of energy balance, food intake, and satiety via gut peptide signaling, through hormonal effects in the blood or by modulating the nervous system directly. The appropriate balance of these regulatory peptides may be disrupted if the microbiota composition is altered …

SCFAs … also serve as signaling molecules that can activate G-protein coupled receptors (GPRs), including GPR43 (also known as free fatty acid receptor 2) in adipose and intestinal tissues.

In adipose tissue, SCFAs bind to GPR43, thus promoting adipogenesis and increasing energy expenditure. In intestinal tissue, SCFAs bind to GPR43 leading to secretion of anorexigenic peptides … resulting in improved glucose tolerance and increased energy utilization.”

Since SCFAs play such an important role in fat accumulation, the two phyla that produce SCFAs, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, may be used as markers for obesity. As noted in the 2019 review, obese individuals tend to have higher proportions of Firmicutes and Lactobacillus and lower proportion of Bacteroidetes and Bifidobacterium compared to normal weight individuals.28

Studies have also linked specific strains to specific health problems. For example, high levels of Bacteroides vulgatus (which is abundant in the human gut) appear strongly associated with inflammation, insulin resistance and altered metabolism.

Low levels of certain bacteria in the Firmicutes phylum, including Blautia and Faecalibacterium, have been linked to the accumulation of trunk-fat specifically.29

How Probiotics Can Benefit Your Health and Weight

The 2019 Nutrients review also details the mechanisms by which supplementation with probiotics can improve your health and weight. Key areas of influence include:30

  • Enhancing the integrity of your intestinal epithelial barrier
  • Enhancing the adhesion of bacteria to your intestinal mucosa, thereby facilitating colonization
  • Producing antimicrobial and other health promoting substances
  • Inhibiting pathogenic microbes by competitive exclusion
  • Modulating your immune system

While individual strains of bacteria have been linked to specific health effects such as reductions in trunk fat or lowered inflammation, several studies have demonstrated that multi-strain probiotics may be more beneficial than single-strain ones, as they tend to create synergistic effects.31

An Easy, Inexpensive Way to Improve Your Gut Microbiome

While probiotic supplements are widely available, few can compete with traditionally fermented foods, in terms of the diversity and sheer number of probiotics.

Fermented foods are also your least expensive alternative, as you can easily make them at home. Using a starter culture will speed the process and ensure you’ll end up with a consistent, high-quality product.

Remember, your diet is one of the easiest, fastest and most effective ways to improve and optimize your microbiome, so the good news is you have a great degree of control over your health destiny.

– Sources and References

Posted in Gut, Obesity, Probiotics, Sugar, Supplements | One Comment »

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