Vegas, Pregnancy, Immunity and Allergy Prevention!
The saying is ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’, or if you are English ‘what happens in Blackpool….’ but the same cannot be said about what happens in utero, as increasing evidence supports the understanding that the maternal nutritional environment and early feeding affects the health of the foetus beyond infancy and into adulthood.[1],[2] An article in Nature’s Mucosal Immunology this month explores some of the key events in foetal and neonatal immune management.[3] It stimulated a revisit to the area of what to consider for parents to be and mums of young children when they ask ‘is there anything I can do to prevent or reduce the risk of allergy or atopy in my child’.
The first moments, weeks and months of life can determine the health outcomes of an individual over the duration of their lifetime and this knowledge represents a significant choice for prospective parents. Fortunately the remarkable adaptability of the immune and central nervous system means that there are numerous opportunities in the early years of life to positively influence health outcomes even if the early stages were less than optimal.
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Fat – I’m Not To Blame Its My Bugs!
A trial to see if the ingestion of a probiotic bacterium enriched drink might have a beneficial impact on central obesity was funded by Snow Brand Milk Products company in Japan and the results were published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition this June 2010. [i]
Whilst it may seem a stretch that bacteria can influence our body mass, (I have written a previous review) it is an area of growing interest and investigation as bacteria have previously been implicated in the metabolic storage of fat. Studies in mice have shown up to 30% greater fat storage in mice with gastrointestinal colonies of commensals rather than their skinnier counterparts operating with sterile guts.
One proposal for this is that certain bacteria (Bacteroides Thetaiotaomicron is one likely contender) are able to manipulate energy to be stored in adipocytes through a pathway that involves microbial regulation of the intestinal epithelial expression of fasting-induced adipocyte protein (Fiaf), a circulating inhibitor of lipoprotein lipase (LPL).[ii]
The microbiota can then, based on this and other studies be viewed as a metabolic “organ” exquisitely tuned to our physiology and performing functions that we have not had to evolve on our own.
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Neurological/Dietary Control Over the Immune System – The Role of Fats
The immune system in humans and animal is complex, all the more so because it crosses over all tissues. The traditional view has been that the immune system keeps itself in check, and that is mostly the case. However, for some years there has been a development of a neural feedback loop comprehension that helps to answer some of the complex mechanisms and remarkably ties in the role of a nutritional strategy for immune management. This is known as the inflammatory reflex.
The inflammatory reflex, a prototypical neural circuit that modulates innate immunity, is activated by the presence of cytokines or other inflammatory products in tissues that triggers afferent (a nerve that passes impulses from receptors toward or to the central nervous system) action potentials travelling in the vagus nerve. The ascending information is relayed to brainstem nuclei that control efferent (nerves that convey nervous stimulus from the brain to other parts) neural signals in the form of action potentials transmitted back to the periphery via the vagus nerve.
Whilst this may sound complex – few subjects that combine neurology and immunology aren’t… the outcome suggested meets simple strategies, based on complex mechanisms.
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Butyrate Improves Bowel Transit
Problems such as poor transit or constipation are common, and can produce significant misery for the individual compromised in this manner. Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid, manufactured in the gut by the anaerobic fermentation of dietary fibres by resident microbiota. It is proposed that apart from its already well understood properties that it has another remarkable effect – the ability to increase the neuronal concentration of the Enteric Nervous System.[1]
Butyrate-generating foods and supplements might become an effective and simple option to prevent or treat functional gut disorders via modulation of enteric neuroplasticity.
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If Genes Are Protected By Nutrients – How Much Should We Eat?
Prof Bruce Ames has developed the concept of Triage consumption, where micronutrient needs and availability may not always be in synchronicity and has recommended that a larger overall consumption of micronutrients on a daily basis be considered a judicious way to limit DNA damage associated with aging and disease.
I have proposed that the expensive urine criticism is perhaps one of the most damaging of slights, and that Victor Herberts slur on the use of increased exogenous nutrients via supplementation has created more damage to human health than it has saved. A paper out in the American Journal of Nutrition, May 2010 has added some further clarity to this discussion.[1]
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Dr’s Make Blood Pressure Soar!
In the ever increasing fight against vascular disease and related health problems the role of the silent marker – Blood Pressure has always been regarded as a sentinel sign. The levels determined to be safe have been adjusted over the years to try and develop a public and medical policy towards compression of risk. Therefore nurses and Dr’s perform clinic blood pressure tests to look for indications of different states of hypertension. This study from the BMJ indicates who and how, has significant effects on results/intervention.[1]
Clinic blood pressure measurements taken by doctors were considerably higher than those taken by trained staff and therefore gave inappropriate estimates of ambulatory thresholds.1
It is already known that ambulatory blood pressure observed over 24 hours is significantly lower than clinic blood pressure, measured at a one off event, even in patients with moderate and severe hypertension. The disparity between both methods also increases with increasing clinic blood pressure values raising questions about the validity of relying on clinical evaluation alone.[2]
There are a number of factors that affect blood pressure, from Vit D status to menopause but what if one of the most dramatic is simply from white coat hypertension – magnified by the Dr actually taking the test. What if the effect of this is so great that many patients may well have been prescribed anti-hypertensive medication incorrectly?
It is already recognised that the adverse effects of NSAID’s can include hypertension, leading to adverse drug related prescription therapy, rather than physiological prescription.[3] Yet single spikes in systolic blood pressure previously thought to be a benign event if overall BP was within normal bounds has now been identified as an increased risk for stroke development.[4]
This further implies that a progressive ambulatory approach will provide a more accurate blood pressure analysis than a single clinical reading as the risk for over prescription will now rise in light of the implications for stroke management.1
Current Leels of Blood Pressure as of 2010 for determination of risk
Comment
The risks of untreated hypertension are well established and treatment recommendations have undergone significant periods of review and reflection over the last 10 years. The use of medications can be lifesaving and at times provide dramatic benefits. Many patients however, do not respond well to the medication either in terms of limited BP reduction benefit, or reaction to the medication and others simply wish to explore alternative strategies.
Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Blood pressure measurements taken in the clinic or office provide limited information about the true blood pressure load, and measurements taken elsewhere are often needed to best guide the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension.1
Lifestyle changes can have significant effects of hypertension and are low risk interventions, albeit difficult to manage complete compliance in many cases. Dr Marc Houston a cardiologist has published a paper on the effects of a supplement programme on the resolution of hyperlipidemia a condition often found in coexistance with hypertension and presents some early data with a compelling outcome for clinical strategy where medication is unsuited or unwanted. This paper and other relevant information can be found in the lecture pack provided by Michael Ash from his presentation at the 2010 CAM conference on a Nutritional Therpaist approach to CVD using evidence based strategies and treatments.
Other lifestyle strategies have demonstrated improvement in blood pressure levels and represent a practical long term strategy.[5]
References
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Anti-Aging – Look & Function Years 12 years Younger
The idea we can live forever is still a fantasy, but living with reduced rates of mortality and morbidity are very achievable and represent perfectly reasonable aims. Outside of aesthetic objectives remaining a viable member of society and family through continued avoidance of disease and management of overall productive energy are perfectly fair aims.
The Journal Archives of Internal Medicine published a compelling study in April, looking at the effects of lifestyle habits on the risks for future mortality in the British population.[1]
The key elements – smoking, exercise, diet and alcohol were tracked in a prospective cohort study design. Just under 5000 people with an average age of 44 were followed for 20 years.
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Leaky Gut & Food Reactivity – What’s the Mechanism?
Michael Ash looks at leaky gut with a contemporary approach to investigation, relevance and restoration. It is quite clear that in order to extract nutrients and other sentinel information carrying agents the barrier that divides the contents of the gastric lumen from the host must be permeable. The question that has interested clinicians for many years is – when is it too permeable and what does that mean in terms of health and illness.
A paper in the March edition of Mucosal Immunology explores this concept in some detail and delivers some much needed information and potential direction in terms of dietary management and risk.[1]
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Alzheimers Postponed by Diet!
If Alzheimer’s is a disease related to adverse inflammatory responses over time, could one of the largest and most regular antigenic burden – our foods have a significant impact on risk of development. What level of conviction would we as humans looking at a future of declining cognitive function require to moderate our food selection.
The journal Archives of Neurology in April 2010 published a paper looking at the role of a protective diet over time on the risk of Alzheimer’s development in northern Manhattan, New York.[1]
As humans we are prone to wide food selection and isolated or synergistic combination become complex. To try and resolve a methodological error risk, this group used an alternative strategy called dietary pattern analysis.[2] Instead of looking at individual nutrients or foods, pattern analysis examines the effects of overall diet.
A group of 2,148 older adults (age 65 and older) without dementia living in New York were selected. They provided information about their diets and were assessed for the development of dementia every 1.5 years for an average of four years. Several dietary patterns were identified with varying levels of seven nutrients previously shown to be associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk:
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Could a ‘Bacterial Thali’ Resolve Inflammation? – A Novel Strategy
Michael Ash BSc(Hons) DO, ND, DipION reviews the possibility that strategically selected foods and food concentrates represent a valid therapy for inflammatory illnesses.
There is substantive interest in the potential translation from bench to bedside of simple safe strategies to modify the adverse effects of inflammation. Approaching from a preventative and restorative angle the numbers of papers being published on the role of orally ingested bacteria (probiotics) and in this article – the herb Tumeric (active ingredient of which is curcumin) is presenting increasingly supportive evidence for their reasonable and safe clinical use.
Modern analytical techniques are helping to reveal novel opportunities for inflammation control in the gut and the systemic tissues in new ways that even a few years ago would have been thought of as very alternative!
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