News
Tocotrienols, Probiotics and PhosphoGlycolipids: A Perfect Prescription for the Liver?
By Michael Ash, BSc, DO, ND, F.DipIOn
One of my primary areas of research and expertise is the gut microbiota and its diverse impact on our health. Your liver receives nearly 70% of its blood supply from the intestine, and represents a first line of defence against gut-derived antigens. Intestinal bacteria—and the antigens they produce—play a key role in the maintenance of gut-liver axis health. Modulation of the gut microbiota to achieve and maintain symbiosis represents a new way to treat or prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Along with the concomitant use of tocotrienols and glycophospholipids, we may be starting to see the emergence of a truly profound intervention for a complex metabolic disease, using safe,natural compounds.
Read the rest of this page »
Functional Medicine Vs Multiple Sclerosis.
Read the rest of this page »
The role of food in health is sometimes seen as an abstract process, and many clinicians prefer to sink into the banal balanced food concept to avoid any detailed analysis or change of their patients food intake. Functional medicine trains clinicians and practitioners to reject the model of one diet fits all and to use the research materials available to construct healthy focussed food programmes. An example of just how effective this can be is found in the story of Dr Wahls, extracted from her web site http://www.terrywahls.com/ the following is her introduction. I encourage you to watch her videos and bath yourself in the unexpected joy that her outcomes promote.
A New Form of Food Reactivity
Food Protein Enterocolitis (FPIES) may be a new term to you, but as with a number of emerging subsets of food reactivity it appears to be a little over half as common as IgE food responses (0.34% by 1 year of age; immunoglobulin E-mediated cow’s milk allergy was 0.5%.). So whilst you may not see a case directly in practice, understanding its process and symptoms as well as treatments will prepare you for those cases that seem to fail to respond to normal approaches.
Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES) is an allergic reaction in the gastrointestinal system. The most common triggers are milk and soy, but any food (even those thought to be hypoallergenic e.g. rice, oat) can cause an FPIES reaction. FPIES typically starts within the first year of life.[1]
Read the rest of this page »
Dietary Treatment of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) or Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
The condition – Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is increasing in prevalence, in tandem with the obesity epidemic, in both children and adults. Identifying specific dietary components that drive NASH is important for successful management of this disease.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) encompasses a range of liver diseases. Simple steatosis, or fatty liver, is now found in up to 31% of adults[1] and 16% of children.[2] Of those with steatosis, approximately 5% will develop nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), in which steatosis is accompanied by inflammation and fibrosis.[3] Up to 25% of NASH patients will progress to cirrhosis. NASH is the third leading indication for liver transplantation in the United States and will become the most common if current trends continue.[4] Therefore, understanding its pathogenesis and treatment is of utmost importance.
Read the rest of this page »
Antibiotic Exposure in Infancy Linked to Food Allergies
Long implicated in numerous adverse events linked to intestinal immunity and associated mucosal tolerance a recent presentation at the American Academy of Allergy Asthma &Immunology annual meeting has shown a credible causation link between antibiotics and allergy.[1]
In their retrospective case–control study, presented as a late-breaking abstract at the meeting, Dr. Love and colleagues found an almost 2-fold increase in food allergy in children exposed to 3 or more courses of antibiotics between the ages of 7 and 12 months.
Read the rest of this page »
Animation: Immunology in the Gut Mucosa
The gut mucosa is the largest and most dynamic immunological environment of the body. It’s often the first point of pathogen exposure and many microbes use it as a beachhead into the rest of the body. The gut immune system therefore needs to be ready to respond to pathogens but at the same time it is constantly exposed to innocuous environmental antigens, food particles and commensal microflora which need to be tolerated. Misdirected immune responses to harmless antigens are the underlying cause of food allergies and debilitating conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease. This animation introduces the key cells and molecular players involved in gut immunohomeostasis and disease.
The Gut and Food Supplements
The following commentary is extracted and modified from:
Russian Scientists To Do Live GMO Trial
You may recall that in Sept 2012 a group of French Scientists wrote about the deleterious effects on the health of study rats fed a diet of corn derived from Monsantos GMO variety. Researchers from the University of Caen found that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 – a seed variety made tolerant to amounts of Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer – or given water mixed with the product, at levels permitted in the United States – died earlier than those on a standard diet.
The research conducted by Gilles-Eric Seralini and his colleagues, said the rats suffered mammary tumours, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. The study was published in the journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology and presented at a news conference in London.[1]
Read the rest of this page »
Identification Of Causative Foods In Children With Eosinophilic Oesophagitis Treated With An Elimination Diet
In previous posts I have discussed the progressive emergence of a subset of patients with problems induced by foods driving immune changes in their oesophagus. Eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory disease with isolated eosinophils in the oesophagus predominantly triggered by foods.
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is characterised by an isolated infiltration of the oesophagus with eosinophil’s without infiltration in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract. The symptoms of EoE are similar to those of gastrointestinal reflux disease and include vomiting, abdominal pain, regurgitation, and dysphagia. The number of oesophageal eosinophils per high-power field (hpf) is required as part of the clinicopathologic diagnosis, which is defined as 15 or more eosinophils per hpf in a patient receiving a proton pump inhibitor.
Read the rest of this page »
Gastro Intestinal Functionality and Health Workshop
Nutri-Link and Doctors Data are professional health care companies providing services and product to meet the needs of clinicians, practitioners and their patients. Dedicated to the role of nutrition and functional medicine in the restoration of health disturbances they appreciate and recognise the role the gastrointestinal tract plays in the determination of health, metabolism and wellbeing.
| Presenters: | See Below |
| Topic: | Gastro Intestinal Functionality and Health |
| Date and Time: | Saturday 23rd March 2013. Registration from 8.30am. Workshop begins at 9.30am, 5.30pm finish |
| Price: | Practitioners: £49 + VAT(£58.80 VAT Inclusive)Students: £36.75 + VAT (£44.10 VAT Inclusive) |
| Location: | Royal Society of Medicine 1 Wimpole Street London, W1G 0AE |
| CPD Approval | BANT: 5.5 hours NNA: 6 Hours |
Register
To Register contact Claire on 08450 760402 
Overview
The last few years have seen a significant growth in the interest of the mucosal immune system and its relationship to the commensal bacteria, viruses and other organisms. In part, driven largely by the human microbiome project, and also because the incidence of functional gastrointestinal problems is increasing in the population; with often indifferent results from conventional pharmaceutical focussed strategies.
Villi in the small intestine
3D reconstruction of villi in the small intestine of the mouse. Villi are small finger like projection that cover the internal surface of the small intestine to increase the surface area and assist in digestion. This images was created from a wholemount that had a fluorescent stain applied to mark different cellular components. The tips of the villi have been cropped away to show the internal morphology. The red shows the F-actin (stained with rhodamine phalloidin), which cover the surface of each villus. Cell nuclei are labelled blue (stained with DAPI).
For many years the concept of the GI tract as a primary organ of health was dismissed by conventional researchers and clinicians as being folklorist. Proposals such as dysbiosis and leaky gut were dismissed as fanciful or inaccurate explanations. The manipulation of the microbiome and in turn communicating meaningful immune messages to the myriad receptors present in the GI tract was seen as the primary role of drugs, not food, food concentrates or probiotics.
Today, whilst by no means mainstream, practitioners find their long held beliefs being reinforced and expanded through prestigious journals such as Science and Nature. Clinicians find their primary care journals are taking seriously the role of symbiosis and that food accordingly may actually be one of the most significant first and on-going treatment strategies. Behaviourally induced and maintained, chronic diseases are increasingly understood to be related not simply to quantity of food but also quality of food and food combinations.
This one day event is designed to explore some of the evolving events in microbiology, mucosal immunity and functional medicine. The presenters are well known for their many years of work in research, analysis, practice and lecturing. They will present substantive evidence of these evolving trends and how they impact on clinical decisions, describing where evidence is preliminary, novel, or of greater substantiation. The day will have a strong clinical bias and provide a welcome opportunity for questions and answers.
The presenters will:
- Stimulate new ideas
- Reinforce current best practice methods
- Challenge entrenched beliefs with evolving comprehension
- Offer new and substantive clinical ideas
- Support the functional medicine approach to patient care
- Diminish the temptation to be protocol driven in treatment plans
- Provoke discussion and review
- Provide networking opportunities
- Make you feel positive about the opportunities for helping more people recover their health safely.
About the Workshop
Gastrointestinal issues are one of the most common reasons that patients seek medical care and it is estimated that about 40% of people in the EU self-medicate with over the counter products instead of objectively identifying the root cause(s) of their problems. Further, gastrointestinal problems may be associated with chronic extra-intestinal problems that may not be further resolved without appropriate intervention of the more obvious intestinal issue.
This one-day workshop will provide physicians a thorough review of stool testing and its role in targeting treatments for GI disorders. Leaders in the field of laboratory assessment will review the complexity of valid microbiological methodology, when it is appropriate to order a stool test and how to proceed with treatment based upon the entirety of the comprehensive training. Faculty will provide treatment options to address bacterial imbalances, pathogenic bacteria, yeast, parasites, digestive inadequacies and inflammation.
This workshop will provide practitioners with an opportunity to apply or strengthen their clinical practice in the treatment of GI disorders.
Who should attend?
This course is designed for physicians and health care providers who seek to improve GI health in their patient population
Speakers and Timings
- Opening Speaker TBA -
- David Quig – Laboratory Assessment of the Gastrointestinal (GI) Microbiome, Susceptibility Testing and GI Integrity
- Michael Ash – Evolving Relationships: Dysbiosis in Infectious and Non Infectious Chronic Disease, and the impact of loss of symbiosis on energy generating systems via induction of the inflammasome.
- David Quig – State of the Science: Current and Future Methodologies in Clinical Microbiology & why you need to know this for clinical life.
- Antony Haynes – Compelling Cases, a review of clinical outcomes from a gastro-centric perspective, real life experiences explored and explained.
- Panel – Q&A Chaired by Michael Ash
At the conclusion of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Describe the current state-of-the-art standards of practice in clinical microbiology.
- Recognise the signs and symptoms associated with GI disorders.
- Debate the need for stool testing in order to validate a GI disorder differential diagnosis.
- Summarise the effects of pathogenic and beneficial bacteria.
- Interpret laboratory results to construct safe and effective treatment plans.
- Incorporate supporting treatments to reduce or eliminate pathogenic bacteria, yeast and parasites.
Suggested review papers
- Mowat AM, Bain CC. Mucosal macrophages in intestinal homeostasis and inflammation. J Innate Immun. 2011;3(6):550-64. doi: 10.1159/000329099. Epub 2011 Sep 19. View Full Paper
- Monk JM, Hou TY, Chapkin RS. Recent advances in the field of nutritional immunology. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2011 Nov;7(6):747-9. doi: 10.1586/eci.11.69. Review. View Full Paper
- Bevins CL, Salzman NH. The potter’s wheel: the host’s role in sculpting its microbiota. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2011 Nov;68(22):3675-85. doi: 10.1007/s00018-011-0830-3. Epub 2011 Oct 4. View Full Paper
- Reis BS, Mucida D. The role of the intestinal context in the generation of tolerance and inflammation. Clin Dev Immunol. 2012;2012:157948. doi: 10.1155/2012/157948. Epub 2011 Sep 22. View Full Paper
- Hirota SA, Ng J, Lueng A, Khajah M, Parhar K, Li Y, Lam V, Potentier MS, Ng K, Bawa M, McCafferty DM, Rioux KP, Ghosh S, Xavier RJ, Colgan SP, Tschopp J, Muruve D, MacDonald JA, Beck PL. NLRP3 inflammasome plays a key role in the regulation of intestinal homeostasis. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2011 Jun;17(6):1359-72. View Full Paper
