Do dietary lectins in Wheat cause disease? | BMJ
Lectins stimulate class II HLA antigens on cells that do not normally display them, such as pancreatic islet and thyroid cells.9 The islet cell determinant to which cytotoxic autoantibodies bind in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is the disaccharide N-acetyl lactosamine,10 which must bind tomato lectin if present and probably also the lectins of wheat, potato, and peanuts. This would result in islet cells expressing both class II HLA antigens and foreign antigen together—a sitting duck for autoimmune attack. Certain foods (wheat, soya) are indeed diabetogenic in genetically susceptible mice.11 Insulin dependent diabetes therefore is another potential lectin disease and could possibly be prevented by prophylactic oligosaccharides.
Another suspect lectin disease is rheumatoid arthritis. The normal human IgG molecule possesses carbohydrate side chains, which terminate with galactose. In rheumatoid arthritis much of the galactose is missing, so that the subterminal sugar—N-acetyl glucosamine—is exposed instead. These deficient IgG molecules feature strongly in the circulating immune complexes that cause fever and symptoms.12 In diet responsive rheumatoid arthritis one of the commonest trigger foods is wheat, and wheat lectin is specific for N-acetyl glucosamine—the sugar that is normally hidden but exposed in rheumatoid arthritis. This suggests that N-acetyl glucosamine oligomers such as chitotetraose (derived from the chitin that forms crustacean shells) might be an effective treatment for diet associated rheumatoid arthritis. Interestingly, the health food trade has already siezed on N-acetyl glucosamine as an antiarthritic supplement.
Among the effects observed in the small intestine of lectin fed rodents is stripping away of the mucous coat to expose naked mucosa and overgrowth of the mucosa by abnormal bacteria and protozoa.14 Lectins also cause discharge of histamine from gastric mast cells,15 which stimulates acid secretion. So the three main pathogenic factors for peptic ulcer—acid stimulation, failure of the mucous defence layer, and abnormal bacterial proliferation (Helicobacter pylori) are all theoretically linked to lectins.
CHRONIC LYME DISEASE
there is a tremendous misunderstanding regarding the vector (carrier) that transmits Lyme disease. Again, the familiar tick vectors called the deer tick (Ixodes dammini) and black-legged tick (also commonly called deer ticks) (Ixodes scapularis) are more prevalent and spread wider than reported. These ticks are not the only vector able to transmit Borrelia species. Several other tick species including the Lone Star ticks (Ammblyoma americanum), western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus), wood ticks or American dog ticks (Dermacentor variabilis) and the Brown dog tick (dogs are the only host for these ticks) can transmit it, too. Unfortunately, health officials are not reporting this critical information and thus, the public and medical community are not informed about this.
The standard therapy of 4 -6 weeks of antibiotic treatment is not sufficient to treat chronic Lyme disease. Chronic Lyme disease is often a life-long illness. Months, years, and often indefinite antibiotic therapy may be necessary to manage the disease. Ignorant physicians often use the standard treatment and consider the patient cleared of Lyme disease afterwards. Often these patients are not treated long enough to clear the stubborn Borrelia from the body. So, when the standard regimen of antibiotics is finished, the patients relapse with Lyme symptoms soon after the residual Borrelia reemerges. Unfortunately, the relapse is often not recognized by doctors and the patients are misdiagnosed with a different disorder. Not only does treatment be directed at the infection; it must also manage inflammation, help eliminate the BLPs produced, support the immune system, and many other associated problems such as hormone deficiencies.
Wrong diagnosis leads to wrong treatment. Another critical point that needs to be highlighted is that Lyme ignorant physicians often administer medication that is contraindicated in patients with Lyme disease. The therapy most often prescribed that is extremely contraindicated is the use of steroidal anti-inflammatories; usually the glucocorticosteroids (such as prednisone). Lyme patients suffer with many painful inflammatory symptoms. MDs, not knowing that the patient has Lyme disease, think it is appropriate to treat these patients with steroids to reduce the pain and inflammation. Unfortunately, steroidal therapy is very deleterious to Lyme patients because it suppresses the patient’s immune system causing it to tolerate the presence of Borrelia instead of attacking and killing it. This harmful treatment significantly diminishes the prognosis of Lyme patients; it prolongs the course of the disease and makes it more severe in the long run.
Pesticides are linked to multiple problems : Parkinson's, diabetes & lung cancer.
IN 2009, researchers at UCLA linked Parkinson’s Disease (PD) to two chemicals commonly sprayed on crops to fight pests. The study didn’t examine farmers, but rather focused on people living near the farm fields where the chemicals maneb and paraquat were sprayed. They found that, for those residents, the risk for PD increased 75%.
A follow-up study adds two new twists. Funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences and Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the U.S. Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program, and the American Parkinson’s Disease Association, researchers have now implicated a third pesticide, ziram.
This time, the population tested also included people who worked near sprayed fields- including firefighters, teachers, and clerks. They found that the combined exposure to ziram, maneb and paraquat near any workplace increased the risk of PD threefold, while combined exposure to ziram and paraquat alone was associated with an 80 percent increase in risk. The results appear in the current online edition of the European Journal of Epidemiology.http://www.neurology.org/content/50/5/1346.abstract
When adjusted for these variables and smoking status, there was a significant association of occupational exposure to herbicides (odds ratio [OR], 4.10; 95% CI, 1.37, 12.24) and insecticides (OR, 3.55; 95% CI, 1.75, 7.18) with PD, but no relation was found with fungicide exposure. Farming as an occupation was significantly associated with PD (OR, 2.79; 95% CI, 1.03, 7.55), but there was no increased risk of the disease with rural or farm residence or well water use
Both insecticides and herbicides — most notably organochlorines, organophosphorus compounds, chlorophenoxy acids/esters, and botanicals — significantly increased the risk of Parkinson’s disease, the researchers report in the online journal BioMedCentral (BMC) Neurology.http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/167/10/1235
Using logistic regression, the authors considered two primary measures of pesticide exposure: ever use and cumulative lifetime days of use. They found seven specific pesticides (aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, dichlorvos, trichlorfon, alachlor, and cyanazine) for which the odds of diabetes incidence increased with both ever use and cumulative days of use. Applicators who had used the organochlorine insecticides aldrin, chlordane, and heptachlor more than 100 lifetime days had 51%, 63%, and 94% increased odds of diabetes, respectively
http://newswise.com/articles/view/541427/
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-pesticides-parkinsons-20110526,0,4772737.story
California researchers who first established a link between two commonly used pesticides and Parkinson’s disease have found a third crop-enhancing chemical — ziram — that appears to raise the risk of developing the movement disorder.And they have found that people whose workplaces were close to fields sprayed with these chemicals — not just those who live nearby — are at higher risk of developing Parkinson’s.
http://peer.ccsd.cnrs.fr/docs/00/57/38/99/PDF/PEER_stage2_10.1080%252F02652030903031171.pdf
In animal studies conducted as part of the research on agricultural chemicals and Parkinson’s disease, the researchers found that ziram was powerfully destructive to neurons that use the transmitter chemical dopamine to send messages. These brain cells are the ones that die off in regions of the brain that govern motor function, causing the tremors, unsteady gait and difficulty initiating movement that are the hallmarks of Parkinson’s.
When compared to applicators who had never used these chemicals, those who had used metolachlor over 457 lifetime days had a four-fold risk of lung cancer. For those who had usedpendimethalin more than 225 days, their risk was 3.5 times greater for developing lung cancer.
Microwave oven health risk
In intervals of two to five days, the volunteers in the study received one of the following food variants on an empty stomach: (1) raw milk; (2) the same milk conventionally cooked; (3) pasteurized milk; (4) the same raw milks cooked in a microwave oven; (5) raw vegetables from an organic farm; (6) the same vegetables cooked conventionally; (7) the same vegetables frozen and defrosted in a microwave oven; and (8) the same vegetables cooked in the microwave oven. Once the volunteers were isolated, blood samples were taken from every volunteer immediately before eating. Then, blood samples were taken at defined intervals after eating from the above milk or vegetable preparations.
Leukocytes are often signs of pathogenic effects on the living system, such as poisoning and cell damage. The increase of leukocytes with the microwaved foods were more pronounced than with all the other variants. It appears that these marked increases were caused entirely by ingesting the microwaved substances.
- Microwaving prepared meats sufficiently to insure sanitary ingestion caused formation of d-Nitrosodienthanolamines, a well-known carcinogen.
- Microwaving milk and cereal grains converted some of their amino acids into carcinogens.
- Thawing frozen fruits converted their glucoside and galactoside containing fractions into carcinogenic substances.
- Extremely short exposure of raw, cooked or frozen vegetables converted their plant alkaloids into carcinogens.
- Carcinogenic free radicals were formed in microwaved plants, especially root vegetables.
- Decrease in nutritional value
So the first set of studies suggests that the microwave oven creates new substances that our immune system needs to fight against. It sufficiently changes food from something our body is familiar with to something that’s a threat. Chronic inflammation taxes our body and is linked to heart disease, cancer, and a variety of other diseases.
The second set of studies are self-explanatory, detailing some of the changes that take place and how microwaves transform foods into carcinogens.
What Your Nails Say About Your Health
Summary:
Very white nails could mean
- Anemia
- Congestive heart failure
- Liver disease
- Malnutrition
Yellow nails: fungal infection
Bluish nails - not enough oxygen - could signal a lung problem or diabetes
Rippled nails-inflammation or psoriasis
Cracked or split nails-thyroid problems.
Puffy nail fold - lupus - or another connective tissue disorder
Dark lines beneath a nail - could be skin cancer
Overly bitten nails- OCD
Vitamin K2 revisited
The big idea with K2 is that it’s important in having your calcium get deposited in the right places (bones/teeth) and not the wrong places (blood vessels etc.) It also helps with other types of mineral deposition.
K2 is found in low concentration in meats and eggs :
FOODVITAMIN K2(MCG/100G)
Egg Yolk (United States)15.5(100% MK-4)Ground Beef (Medium Fat)8.1(100% MK-4)Calf Liver5.0(100% MK-4)Salmon0.5(100% MK-4)Mackerel0.4(100% MK-4)Egg White0.4(100% MK-4)
Here is a more complete table. It’s also found in dairy products and chicken. Note that 1 egg yolk is 17 grams, so you’d need to eat about 6 egg yolks to get the amount listed above. K2 is found in higher concentrations in organ meats
The brain contains one of the highest concentrations of vitamin K2 in the body; only the pancreas, salivary glands, and the cartilaginous tissue of the sternum contain more.
It’s interesting to note that K2 is found in cartilage.
Some theorize that vitamin k2 is one of many quinones that perform important functions but are not well studied,
As this site says:
Vitamin K2 is further sub-divided into several forms but the most understood are menaquinone-4 (menatretrenone-MK4)
The MK-4 version of K2 is exclusively made by animal tissues and is found in foods like butter, cheeses, liver and liver pate [especially so if those animals are mostly pastured/grass fed and not fed loads of soy/corn]. MK-7 on the other hand is made by our intestinal bacteria (about 10% of total dietary K1 is converted in this manner, although most experts agree that it contributes minimally to vitamin K2 status in humans due to the minimal amount of absorption that occurs), and fermented foods such as natto [photo in the top, left hand corner] and sauerkraut.
vitamin K2 activates a type of protein called matrix gla protein (MGP) where it helps to keep calcium out of the blood vessels. Calcification of arteries is a strong (some argue the best) predictor heart disease. In a large epidemiological study, those with higher intakes of vitamin K2 were found to be 52 per cent less likely to have vascular calcification, 41 per cent less likely to develop heart disease and 57 per cent less like to die from it.
K2 has been found to improved dental health as the salivary glands excrete vitamin K2 provided there is an adequate dietary supply. In fact the salivary glands have the second highest concentration of K2, second only to the pancreas.
I view this as an additional argument that one should eat grass fed meat in addition to fish.
Heart Disease and Chlorine
Interesting article on the link between the two.
For me, this is obvious. I avoid municipal water when possible, because it often has chlorine in it. Even for showers, a shower filter can make sense to reduce the amount of chlorine absorbed through your skin.
The difference between Arteriosclerosis and Atherosclerosis is: Arteriosclerosis has a higher level of calcium than cholesterol. Atherosclerosis has a higher level of cholesterol than calcium.
Ha, they are easily confused.
Maybe one way to remember might be that calcium has and “i” like “arterio” and cholesterol has an “h” like “athero.” The only letters not present in one word that present in the other are “i” and “h.”
Statins Actually Harm Heart Function
this study in Clinical Cardiology found that heart muscle function was “significantly better” in the control group than in those taking statin drugs
it’s widely known that statins lower your CoQ10 levels by blocking the pathway involved in cholesterol production — the same pathway by which Q10 is produced. Statins also reduce the blood cholesterol that transports CoQ10 and other fat-soluble antioxidants.
The loss of CoQ10 leads to loss of cell energy and increased free radicals which, in turn, can further damage your mitochondrial DNA, effectively setting into motion an evil circle of increasing free radicals and mitochondrial damage.
There are actually over 900 studies showing the risks of statin drugs, which include:
Cognitive loss Neuropathy AnemiaAcidosis Frequent fevers Cataracts
Sexual dysfunction An increase in cancer risk Pancreatic dysfunction
Immune system suppression Serious degenerative muscle tissue condition (rhabdomyolysis) Hepatic dysfunction. (Due to the potential increase in liver enzymes, patients must be monitored for normal liver function)
A deadly new reason to avoid deer ticks
babesiosis
Move over, Lyme disease: Another tick-borne illness is on the rise in various parts of the country, and this one can kill.
many people with babesiosis have no symptoms and never know they’re harboring the parasite. For others, symptoms can include high fever, severe headache, fatigue, chills, and muscle aches and pains. It is treated with antimicrobial drugs, such as antibiotics.
CDC adds
Some people develop nonspecific flu-like symptoms, such as fever, chills, sweats, headache, body aches, loss of appetite, nausea, or fatigue.
Because Babesia parasites infect and destroy red blood cells, babesiosis can cause a special type of anemia called hemolytic anemia. This type of anemia can lead to jaundice and dark urine.
These diseases are scary. Lyme disease has transformed the outdoors. Chronic is even worse, with all its neurological symptoms. It used to be that you could spend time outdoors without worrying. With the spread of lyme and now this, one has to be a bit more careful.
Can Eating Wheat Cause Psychiatric Problems?
Wheat contains high amounts of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA); a glycoprotein classified as a lectin, which is largely responsible for many of wheat’s ill effects. Other grains high in lectins include rice, spelt, and rye.
“WGA can pass through the blood brain barrier (BBB) through a process called ‘adsorptive endocytosis’ … WGA may attach to the protective coating on the nerves known as the myelin sheathand is capable of inhibiting nerve growth factor which is important for the growth, maintenance, and survival of certain target neurons. WGA binds to N-Acetylglucosamine which is believed to function as an atypical neurotransmitter functioning in nocioceptive (pain) pathways.”
The traditional ways of addressing many of these anti-nutrients is by sprouting, fermenting and cooking. However, lectins are designed to withstand degradation through a wide range of pH and temperatures. WGA lectin is particularly tough because it’s actually formed by the same disulfide bonds that give strength and resilience to vulcanized rubber and human hair.
Furthermore, because lectins are so small, and hard to digest, they tend to bioaccumulate in your body, where they can interfere with biological processes. WGA is particularly troublesome in this regard. Studies indicate it has a number of health-harming characteristics and activities:
Pro-inflammatory—WGA stimulates the synthesis of pro-inflammatory chemical messengers (cytokines) in intestinal and immune cells, and has been shown to play a causative role in chronic thin gut inflammation.
Immunotoxicity—WGA induces thymus atrophy in rats , and anti-WGA antibodies in human blood have been shown to cross-react with other proteins, indicating that they may contribute to autoimmunity . In fact, WGA appears to play a role in celiac disease (CD) that is entirely distinct from that of gluten, due to significantly higher levels of IgG and IgA antibodies against WGA found in patients with CD, when compared with patients with other intestinal disorders.
Neurotoxicity— WGA can cross your blood brain barrier through a process called “adsorptive endocytosis,” pulling other substances with it. WGA may attach to your myelin sheath and is capable of inhibiting nerve growth factor, which is important for the growth, maintenance, and survival of certain target neurons.
Excitotoxicity— Wheat, dairy, and soy contain exceptionally high levels of glutamic and aspartic acid, which makes them all potentially excitotoxic. Excitotoxicity is a pathological process where glutamic and aspartic acid cause an over-activation of your nerve cell receptors, which can lead to calcium-induced nerve and brain injury. These two amino acids may contribute to neurodegenerative conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Alzhemier’s, Huntington’s disease, and other nervous system disorders such as epilepsy, ADD/ADHD and migraines.
Cytotoxicity—WGA has been demonstrated to be cytotoxic to both normal and cancerous cell lines, capable of inducing either cell cycle arrest or programmed cell death (apoptosis).
Disrupts Endocrine Function—WGA may contribute to weight gain, insulin resistance, and leptin resistance by blocking the leptin receptor in your hypothalamus. It also binds to both benign and malignant thyroid nodules , and interferes with the production of secretin from your pancreas, which can lead to digestive problems and pancreatic hypertrophy.
Cardiotoxicity—WGA has a potent, disruptive effect on platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1, which plays a key role in tissue regeneration and safely removing neutrophils from your blood vessels.
Adversely effects gastrointestinal function by causing increased shedding of the intestinal brush border membrane, reducing the surface area, and accelerating cell loss and shortening of villi. It also causes cytoskeleton degradation in intestinal cells, contributing to cell death and increased turnover, and decreases levels of heat shock proteins in gut epithelial cells, leaving them more vulnerable to damage.
Aside from high amounts of WGA, wheat also contains a number of other potentially health-harming components, including:
- Gliadin (an alcohol soluble protein component)
- Gliadomorpin (exorphins, or group of opioid peptides that form during digestion of the gluten protein)
- Enzyme inhibitors
One recent study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology last year, found that even those who do not present symptoms of celiac disease may have antigliadin antibodies, which was found to increase the risk of depression in elderly individuals.
“Individuals with recent-onset psychosis and with multi-episode schizophrenia who have increased antibodies to gliadin may share some immunologic features of celiac disease, but their immune response to gliadin differs from that of celiac disease.”
A bit more on Gliadorphin
Gliadorphin (also known as gluteomorphin) is an opioid peptide that is formed during digestion of the gliadin component of the gluten protein. It is usually broken down into amino acids by digestion enzymes. It has been hypothesized that children with autism have abnormal leakage from the gut of this compound, which then passes into the brain and disrupts brain function. This is partly the basis for the gluten-free, casein-free diet. Studies of this diet have had important methodological flaws, and the scientific evidence is not adequate to make treatment recommendations.
showering or bathing daily… wreaks havoc on something hilariously called the horny layer. … damaging this protective layer of skin makes us more susceptible to disease. … Studies have shown that there are no measurable differences in the number of microorganism colonies a person is host to regardless of how frequently that person showers. … There’s no magic number of showers each week, though it’s generally agreed that the number would fall somewhat shy of seven. Skipping showers, or, if you’d like a fancy French term, celebrating sans douche days, gives your skin time to repair some of the damage that the last shower caused.
American Cancer Society Does Very Little to Prevent Cancer...irony
Wow, this is kind of an eye opener.
The basic premise is that the ACS gets huge donations from the mammography industry and the cancer drug industry, so this tends to focus the ACS on cancer curing. In other words the ACS focuses on dealing with cancer after you’ve already gotten it.
It makes very little effort to focus on prevention.
“The ACS … [has] long continued to devote virtually exclusive priority to research on diagnosis and treatment of cancer, with indifference to prevention, other than faulty personal lifestyle, commonly known as ‘blame the victim,’ … Not surprisingly, the incidence of cancer over past decades has escalated”.
Ulcer bacteria may contribute to development of Parkinson's disease
In Guam, a study of why some populations had a high risk of developing a Parkinson’s-like disease discovered that a specific compound in cycad seeds eaten by these populations was neurotoxic. The compound, which resembles a cholesterol with an attached sugar group, is almost identical to a compound produced by H. pylori.
interesting.
via @mocost
Aging and Longevity – Methylation
Methylation enables the body to:
- Detoxify toxins within the cell
- Repair damaged DNA
- Create new cells
If the cycle of methylation is not working well a dangerous substance called homocysteine accumulates in the blood. High homocysteine levels cause serious damage to the cells and the DNA. This leads to premature aging – and premature death.
High homocysteine is closely involved in:
- Heart and artery disease
- Diabetes
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Various types of cancer
- Depression
- Parkinson’s disease
- Low thyroid function
- IBS (inflammatory bowel syndrome)
- ME (Myalgic encephalitis)
and other serious degenerative diseases.
For example a raised homocysteine level can easily double or even quadruple the chances of atherosclerosis and other artery problems, leading to serious illness or death.
To improve methylation and thus reduce homocysteine there are two approaches:
To increase the elements in the blood, which supply the necessary methyl groups – primarily TMG (trimethylglycine) and SAM-e (S-adenosyl-methionine), and:
To make sure the nutrients, which enable methylation to take place all present in sufficient quantities – these are primarily vitamin B12, folic acid and zinc.
The target level of homocysteine in the blood is 6.3 µmol per liter of blood or less. If as high as 15 µmol per liter – and this level is not rare – the risk of coronary artery disease is quadrupled. A simple blood test will show the level of homocysteine present.
I’ve always taken very few vitamins, together with a multi-mineral - but never supplements. I currently take vitamin D, dessicated liver for b12, and then calcium (because I don’t feel like gnawing on bones or grinding egg shells - although perhaps they might be better sources) and a multi-mineral (to be safe). I get tons of folic acid from the food I eat. Zinc? Well that’s a reason to eat more oysters. Dunno. Somewhat skeptical of supplements. Beef liver actually contains folate as well - even though it’s not listed on my supplement data, so I’m not sure about the extent to which it survives in pill form. Anyway, this to me is a very interesting angle on eating healthily.
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