Curious Cook: The peculiar case of food allergies

No story about allergies would be complete without discussing the peculiarly nasty Texas Lone Star tick. It is an aggressive insect which is aroused by the carbon dioxide in the breaths of mammals and it will vigorously pursue its victims. This tick also has vile cousins such as the Castor Bean tick in Europe and the Paralysis tick in Australia.

March 10, 2019 Food, Food News

By CHRIS CHAN

The Texas Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum) is curious because one bite from this insect can induce a permanent allergy to red meat in humans. This allergy cannot be cured and is spreading rapidly across the USA as warmer temperatures encourage this tick’s migration northwards. The allergy can induce a dangerous reaction called anaphylaxis – untreated, this can lead to death, and many thousands of people are afflicted though actual numbers are unclear as it is not a condition American doctors routinely monitor.

The Alpha-Gal

The interesting aspect of this allergy is that the allergen (or compound causing the allergic reaction) is specific, well-known and therefore easy to research. The allergen is an oligosaccharide (or complex sugar) called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, often shortened to alpha-gal. This sugar is found in the muscles of most mammals, except for monkeys, apes and humans – and alpha-gal is also the reason why organ transplants from animals into humans never work.

In unafflicted people, ingested red meat (including alpha-gal) processes normally through the digestive system with no issues. However, the bite of the Lone Star tick introduces a dose of alpha-gal into the bloodstream and presence of alpha-gal in human blood plasma provokes the production of an antibody called Immunoglobulin M (IgM). The presence of IgM then triggers a robust reaction from a potent antibody called Immunoglobulin E (IgE).

People bitten by the lone star tick can develop an incurable allergy to red meat. Photo: Ronald Sarayudej/Flickr

The danger of being allergic to alpha-gal is the body often reacts only after the digestive system has processed the ingested meat, perhaps hours later. So for years, people were keeling over for unknown reasons, resulting in several mysterious deaths of ostensibly healthy people. IgE is normally utilised to immunise the body against parasitic infections from helminths (parasitic worms) such as Schistosoma mansoni, Trichinella spiralis, Fasciola hepatica, etc. Once activated, such immunity exists for life, which is why alpha-gal allergy is incurable, because it becomes part of the body’s range of auto-immune responses.

People with this allergy may also have reactions to fumes arising from cooking meat or skin contact with animals.

Certainty

So one certainty about allergies is that if an allergen is well-known and universally acknowledged to cause a permanent reaction such as alpha-gal allergy, then it is well worth avoiding the vector of transmission, in this case the Lone Star tick.

Nobody knows why alpha-gal is so fiercely targeted by IgM and then IgE – perhaps it is the shape of the molecule (it has a hydroxyl pair in an odd location). Also, in populations where 20% of people have suffered bites from Lone Star ticks, not everyone bitten actually developed alpha-gal allergy.

The less known

But what if allergens are not well known or established? A classic example would be non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) where it is still unclear whether the gliadins in gluten, fructans or FODMAPs (Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols) are responsible for the condition. This was investigated in my article, The Strange Story of Gluten.

Crossover

At first glance, there would not seem much of a connection between house dust mites (HDM) and crustaceans. But studies have indicated an allergic link between them – probably due to a protein called tropomyosin. This protein is also present in mammals and is explained in my article, A Tender Moment.

However, tropomyosins in invertebrates differ in molecular structure from tropomyosin in vertebrates. A 2016 paper researching an increase in crustacean allergies in Singapore suggested the rise was linked to tropomyosin found in HDM. Large scale studies indicate crustacean allergies now affect over 5% of Singaporean teenagers, over 7% of the population of Taiwan and around 7 million Americans.

Studies have found a link between house mites and an allergy to crustaceans like crabs. Photo: Richard Eriksson/Flickr

How this crossover sensitisation occurs may be explained in an earlier 2007 US paper which suggested that invertebrate tropomyosins are digested/decomposed into larger peptide fragments (such as Pepsin A) than meat-based tropomyosins – a peptide is a short chain of amino acids (which are building blocks of proteins).

For HDM, the tropomyosin may have entered the bloodstream via contaminated food or possibly via the nasal cavity. These large peptide fragments in the bloodstream may be detected as foreign bodies, especially by IgE antibodies, thus provoking an autoimmune reaction to the invertebrate tropomyosins. In Singapore, research found 72.4% of crustacean-sensitised children were also sensitive to HDM. Another small study of 95 Canadians had a 90.5% rate of dual-sensitisation.

The strong link suggests that it does not matter if an allergy to HDM proteins led to crustacean sensitivity or the other way around. If you are interested, some problematic HDM species identified are Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. The allergy to crustacean tropomyosin is the most sensitive allergic reaction known to man – a very tiny amount can trigger deadly anaphylaxis and it is the allergy which sends the most people into hospitals every year.

Gut and general allergens

How the impairment of the human gastrointestinal microbiota (HGM) and a condition called dysbiosis may have an impact on allergies and other even worse conditions is discussed in my article, A Time For Gut Feelings.  Also, a comprehensive review of some environmental/food allergens and the hygiene hypothesis is on The Strange Story of Gluten, Part 2.

Genes

A 2015 study claimed that human eczema involves only as few as 21 genes in our genome of around 20,000 genes. This is followed by a 2018 paper claiming that hay fever is due to the expression of only up to 41 genes. Hay fever is interesting because it was only first documented in the 19th century. A physician called John Bostock searched the whole of Britain at the time for patients but could only come up with 28 sufferers.

Hay fever is more common now even though the air is supposed to be cleaner. Photo: Lee Wright/Flickr

Nowadays, hay fever is an epidemic – and the multitude of hay fever medications on chemist shelves prove it. The oddity is air in most places has been getting cleaner, not dirtier, since the 19th century – this should logically reduce incidences of hay fever. Therefore, even if hay fever has a genetic basis, other factors must be involved as humans have had the same genes for many thousands of years.

Energy requirement

The human immune system is a powerful system which prevents infections arising from breaches of the skin, respiratory system or from ingestion of tainted foods. It requires a surprising amount of energy. Battling an infection can raise body temperatures by, say, around 1°C and this will draw 150% of the energy used by a highly energetic organ such as the heart.

In addition, energy is required to produce new antibodies, macrophages and other defensive cells/structures and transport them to the required destinations.

Early avoidance

The UK-based Learn Early About Peanut allergy study involved 600+ infants between 4 to 11 months old with severe eczema and/or egg allergy – these subjects are normally prone to also develop an allergy to peanuts in later life.

From 11 months, randomly-selected infants were fed peanuts and overall results collated when they reached age 5. The data was startling. Of the children fed with peanuts, only 3% developed an allergy to peanuts while 17% of the children who had avoided peanuts acquired an allergy to peanuts. The conclusion was therefore: Early avoidance of an allergen is likely to later cause an allergy to the allergen.

An allergy to peanuts can be avoided if children are exposed to them earlier in life. Photo: Andrew Malone/Flickr

Avoidance of allergens may explain the exponential rise in hay fever cases in the modern world. Even in the 19th century, the people most likely to develop allergies were the wealthy, who insulated their homes from the dust and pollen outside. Studies into genetically-related people living in different environments (e.g. urban Finnish and rural Russians of Karelia) also established that urban communities with less exposure to environmental allergens are more likely to develop allergies.

Possibility

Allergies can occur any time in life and it is curious why immune systems suddenly choose to attack previously benign substances for seemingly no reason. One explanation might be the inherent strength of our immune system, which had evolved to protect humans against challenging environments.

Our Palaeolithic ancestors were nomads, continually encountering wildly-different foods along with bacterial, fungal and parasitic fauna in different locations. Survival relied on strong immune systems capable of constantly countering a broad spectrum of hazards.

It is therefore feasible modern allergen-free environments can result in autoimmune responses being misled and over-sensitised towards compounds which would normally not be threats. The full capacity of an under-utilised immune system can get misdirected towards anything arbitrarily considered foreign or anomalous, even if it is harmless.

The sun

A joint US/Australian study into geographic patterns of food allergies has found a link to non-exposure to sunlight (and possibly a deficit of Vitamin D). A lack of sunlight, especially in heavily urbanised areas, causes infants to triple the risk of getting an egg allergy and up to 11 times more risk of a peanut allergy.

Conclusion

Our immune system had evolved in natural environments which were vastly different from the modern, urban conditions most humans now live in. A lack of contact/access to natural allergens/conditions/sunlight is probably a significant driver in the epidemic of modern-day allergies. This is supported by strong links between rising numbers of allergies and urbanisation, though there are still other factors involved.

https://www.star2.com/food/2019/03/10/curious-cook-allergies/

Curious Cook: The strange story of gluten, part 2

Negative reactions to food elements or environmental factors are known generically as allergies – which is technically a range of responses to allergens, which are the natural or synthetic compounds which provoke such reactions.

May 27, 2018 Food, Food News

By CHRIS CHAN

READ Part 1

All allergies are inflammatory reactions against allergens – and the immune system responses may be very mild (such as a little itch from an insect bite) or very severe and life-threatening (such as anaphylaxis, a dangerous whole-body reaction to ingesting certain proteins).

As non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is very probably an allergic response of some kind, it would help to explore the nature of allergies.

Increasing incidence of allergies

The World Allergy Organisation (WAO) reported the incidence of human allergies has been growing for some decades and estimated in 2011 that 30% to 40% of the world’s population is affected, especially in countries such as the United States, with more expected each year.

An immediate question is: WHY are modern humans seemingly so prone to developing allergies?

Simple explanations such as the widespread availability of junk food or presence of environmental contaminants (eg. pesticides) do not explain the 60% of the human population not affected by allergies.

Please do not misunderstand – lousy food and polluted environments will almost certainly end peoples’ lives prematurely, but the salient points are: (i) 60% of people do NOT suffer any reactions even while eating crap food or mucking around in polluted areas; and (ii) the number of people with allergies is increasing each year.

How come such a significant (60% but dwindling) percentage of the population can avoid being affected by the allergens that affect the other (40% and increasing) proportion of humans? It is impossible that such large segments of the population do not encounter the same allergens on a daily basis.

No simple answers

There are several plausible explanations for this odd pattern – and they are somewhat convoluted and probably interlinked in various ways.

For a start, despite the discomfort, research suggests that allergies conferred certain evolutionary advantages in our distant past – uncontrollable reactions to insect bites, animal fur, vegetation or other allergens ensured that Palaeolithic humans did not choose to inhabit dangerous places or eat too much harmful food, even if they wanted to.

An allergic reaction is a visceral, non-negotiable signal to stop doing whatever is invoking the response.

Non-fatal allergic reactions may also help prepare the immune system against a greater attack – a response to the toxins in a wasp sting can prime the body to produce more defence helper cells that can combat a larger attack by more wasps (and instil caution against stinging insects in general).

It is therefore feasible that the immune systems of most modern humans are still more attuned to natural factors in the environment, and not yet wholly sensitised to compounds such as modern food additives and pollutants which have been around for less than two centuries.

Note again that not being allergic to such compounds does not mean that the stuff is good for health at all – it just means that people do not react badly to them.

Too hygienic?

Yet the number of people with allergies is growing each year, and the inescapable conclusion is that more and more people are indeed becoming sensitised to their food and/or environments.

This phenomenon may be partly explained by the Hygiene Hypothesis (HH). Modern sanitation habits have prevented human immune systems from encountering allergens such as pathogens (germs, fungi, viruses) and noxious compounds – which is an unnatural state of affairs in evolutionary history.

Over-sanitation in itself may not be problematic but the HH contends that the human body’s innate (and powerful) ability to counter allergens means that such energy, in the absence of any genuine pathogens, can be misdirected into developing strong reactions to substances which are normally harmless.

The problem with the HH is that there is currently no real explanation as to why this misdirection happens; i.e. why normally harmless compounds get targeted by the immune system and become severe allergens.

To be honest, there may never be a definitive answer. This is because of the extremely complex matrix of possible allergens (which may be individual or combinational) and types of allergic responses (which may also be individual or combinational) which needs to be investigated and explained in a rational manner.

It’s the gunk too

It is indisputable that many people are also reacting negatively to modern additives and food treatments.

These range from fertilisers, pesticides, hormones, artificial flavours, food texturisers, antibiotics, preservatives, chemical residues, etc – all available on your dinner plate, and undoubted contributors to the increase in global allergies. There are no reliable statistics on the actual impact due to the huge variety of such compounds.

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RELATED: Read the six-part Curious Cook series on food additives: How to count on food

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Worms and bacteria

There are studies which suggest certain intestinal parasites can temper allergic responses in mammals.

Research with mice using helminths (parasitic worms) known as Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri indicated that the worms can perturb the host immune system and prevent it from reacting to the parasites and also other allergens.

This is possibly also a factor in the growth in the number of allergies as human intestinal parasites are almost unheard-of in modern societies.

Other studies have identified that imbalances in the human gastrointestinal microbiota (HGM, or bacteria in human guts) adversely affect the body’s immune system. It is undeniable that the HGM significantly affects inflammatory responses to ingested food.

An experiment which introduced different strains of gut bacteria into mice demonstrated that segmented filamentous bacteria provoked inflammatory responses in their guts while strains of Clostridial bacteria induced anti-inflammatory reactions to the same diet.

An interesting 2006 paper from Maastricht University also identified a tangible link between the disproportionate presence of the bacterium Escherichia coli and/or Clostridium difficile in the guts of human infants and subsequent childhood eczema and other skin allergies.

In short, an unbalanced HGM or even worse, dysbiosis (impairment of the HGM) can manifest itself in many unusual ways, including allergies – if you are interested, please read: A time for gut feelings – Part 2.

Other factors

Nobody understands exactly why – but anyone can develop new allergies at any point in life.

It may be linked to changes in the HGM, possibly after it has been perturbed by disruptive agents such as tobacco, medications (especially antibiotics), alcohol, stress, pesticides, pollution, bacterial invasion, etc – this disruption may trigger a profound adjustment of the immune system.

Having a sudden or long-term stressful lifestyle, with an excessive aggregation of stress-related hormones may also be a factor as such hormones can affect the enteric nervous system which oversees the autonomous functions of the gastrointestinal organs and indirectly the HGM.

Last but not least, some people have convinced themselves that they have an allergy when in fact there are no genuine physiological issues.

Someone who despises offal might feel extremely ill or even throw up when encountering liver in a meal but that does not mean there is any biological reason for the reaction. One extreme example is anorexia, though you would be pleased to hear that it was very easy for me to overcome urges to starve myself.

A short, fascinating 2013 paper in the British Medical Journal, “Implausible results in human nutrition research” by John Ioannidis, noted that, “Almost every single nutrient imaginable has peer reviewed publications associating it with almost any outcome” – in short, many foods which have been studied are often presented with divergent conclusions depending on the research teams.

And it is difficult for ordinary folks to ascertain which outcomes are relevant, questionable or downright implausible without access to the data and technical statistical tools.

Just because some people wrote a “research paper” does not automatically confer credibility to the conclusions reached – this applies especially to relative risk and benefits assessments arising from small studies, a common tactic used to promote (generally useless) supplements.

One might suggest that such confusion, often sponsored by interested parties, is what keeps people buying all kinds of products for the wrong reasons. This is one reason large-scale double-blind trials are preferable as they are usually the most unbiased.

After exploring allergies, the next part summarises an investigation specifically into NCGS. This, as mentioned, is mostly a self-diagnosed syndrome – and in a moment of abdominal distress, I had made the same diagnosis.

That is not to say any self-diagnosis of NCGS is problematic – but it took a long while to figure things out, as you will see.

https://www.star2.com/food/2018/05/27/curious-cook-the-strange-story-of-gluten-part-2/

Curious Cook: Vegetarianism and other dietary tales, Part 1

Do vegetarians live longer, healthier lives? This series of five stories on vegetarianism under the Curious Cook column checks out the claim.

October 23, 2017 

By CHRIS CHAN

My sons and their girlfriends recently came to stay at our place in France. The girls are genuinely nice people, and one of them is very strictly vegetarian. As someone with always a few slabs of emergency steaks in the freezer, vegetarianism posed a few logistical issues during mealtimes but nothing we could not manage, especially as she very kindly conjured up a very delicious vegetarian dinner for everyone one evening.

It did, however, provoke an interest in what happens when people diligently decline to eat meat (I had not met a single vegetarian in France before) – and research highlighted some interesting wide-ranging findings which may also help non-vegetarians like me.

So this series of articles – in five parts – is not only about vegetarianism, it basically ended up as a review of human dietary tracts along with some biochemical, industrial and ecological factors that affect our food and well-being in the modern world.

The Fake News

But first, let us debunk a few common fallacies that swirl around the media. One common fallacy is that humans are by nature not meat eaters – it is claimed that we do not have the jaw and teeth structure of carnivores.

It is true that humans are not designed to eat raw meat but that is because our jaws have evolved to eat cooked meat, which is considerably softer and much easier to chew.

And there is evidence that humans have been cooking meat for at least 450,000 years, probably even longer – a sign is the overbite in human teeth (our upper teeth are slightly in front of our lower teeth in the jaw) which indicates the preponderance of soft cooked meats in the diet.

True carnivores need much stronger jaws, perfectly aligned teeth and big cutting incisors precisely because they cannot cook meat and must therefore cut and chew tough raw flesh with their teeth.

They also spend a much longer time chewing and eating to obtain the same calories from their food.

Another fallacy is that meat is somehow acidic and difficult to process through the long human intestinal system. In fact, the pre-digestion of food in the acidic cavity of the stomach results in a lumpy mush called chyme – this acidic chyme is then treated by pancreatic juices as it passes through the duodenum.

The strong bicarbonate ions in the pancreatic juices render the chyme alkaline as it enters the intestines – and the reason is because digestive enzymes in the small intestines work better in a mildly alkaline environment.

Yet another common piece of misinformation is that humans are not really designed to digest meat in any case – and this is the reason for many dietary disorders.

However, humans produce several pancreatic enzymes specifically to digest fats and proteins, such as pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, lipase, et cetera.

Perhaps the most telling indicator is probably human bile, which contains salts such as bilirubin and biliverdin which break down and emulsify animal fats so that the pancreatic enzymes can process chyme more efficiently. The composition of human bile is therefore significantly different from the bile of animals that eat only greens, such as ruminants.

What is more true is that during most of human evolution, the supply of meat was very variable – it would have been extremely unlikely that Palaeolithic man ate meat (or ate at all) every day whereas it is now possible for ordinary people to have substantial amounts of fresh meat every day of the year, and for every meal as well if they so desired.

This has been true for only less than a century due to modern production, refrigeration and transport logistics. Whether this possible over-consumption of meat is a significant factor for various modern dietary-induced issues will be discussed later.

No matter what has been said, all the evidence points clearly to humans being omnivores, which are capable of eating and digesting both animal and plant foods efficiently.

There are other dubious claims about meat consumption; for example, meat has been blamed for the increase of human allergies.

The fact is that 90% of all human allergies can be traced to just seven foods: milk, eggs, nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy bean products – please note that none of these are animal-based meats.

An allergic reaction to pork, lamb or beef is actually quite rare, unless humans have been bitten by certain insects such as the Lone Star tick (or possibly the Castor Bean tick), in which case the huge overproduction of an antibody called immunoglobulin E (or IgE) caused by the bite can render humans allergic to mammalian meat – the antibody IgE is basically the human body’s defence against an alien carbohydrate called alpha-gal generally found in most mammalian flesh, apart from primates.

How this allergy to meat is induced by an insect is fascinating – nobody really knows, though there are several theories currently undergoing validation.

Meat has also been blamed for causing other diseases, especially since processed meats had been classified in late 2015 as a Group 1 carcinogen by the WHO, citing an 18% increased risk of bowel cancer.

This sounds dramatic but in the context of an overall incidence rate of 6% for bowel cancer (in the United Kingdom), an 18% increase of risk raises that overall risk up from 6% to 7%.

This of course is not good news, but it is also not nearly so alarming. If you wish to know more, please look up an earlier article on http://www.star2.com/living/viewpoints/2015/11/13/processed-meats-who-says-its-bad/ where it is explained that the problem issues are actually the nitrates, nitrites and other chemicals added into processed meats.

As for meat causing other diseases, please note that most common serious allergies are not caused by eating meat, as mentioned earlier. If meat is a consistent disease-causing agent, one would have expected many more allergies and reactions among the general population.

A nest of fried mashed taro is filled with a vegetarian treasure chest. Many plant-based foods such as soy, oats, peanuts, lentils, squash, courgettes, kale, et cetera, are excellent alternate sources of protein. – Filepic

Meat Isn’t Always Necessary

On the other hand, despite what the meat industry may say about the importance of proteins, there is really no requirement for the superfluous consumption of animal proteins, especially by adults.

Many plant-based foods such as soy, oats, peanuts, lentils, squash, courgettes, kale, et cetera, are excellent alternate sources of protein. It is practically impossible to suffer protein deficiency if a varied vegetarian diet is followed.

However, there may be some slight issues with totally excluding animal proteins – more on this later.

Omnivores

So no matter what has been said, all the evidence points clearly to humans being omnivores, which are capable of eating and digesting both animal and plant foods efficiently. And this was clearly a huge evolutionary advantage for humans as it opened up a much wider supply of food.

Cooking and agriculture (including meat farming) were the two major foundation developments that allowed humans to become the dominant species on our planet. A little explanation is on http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/food/features/2014/05/11/what-you-probably-didnt-know-about-cooking/

Now The Real Research

It has often been claimed – and there is good credible evidence to support the claim – that vegetarianism generally leads to better longevity and a lower incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cancers in humans.

Perhaps the most relevant study is an American investigation published as the “Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Mortality in Adventist Health Study 2” (also known as AHS-2) where the dietary habits of 73,308 participants (all US-based Seventh Day Adventists) were studied in depth, even breaking down diets into categories like non-vegetarian (general meat eaters), semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, and vegan.

If you are interested, for the purposes of this study, a semi-vegetarian is someone who consumes meat and fish once a week, a pesco-vegetarian is a fish-eater but who can also eat meat once a month, a lacto-ovo vegetarian eats eggs and dairy but restricts consumption of fish and meat to once a month, and vegans are those who eat eggs, dairy, fish and meat only up to once a month.

Without dabbling into the detailed statistics, one of the major overall conclusions was that mortality was found to be 12% lower for subjects who are NOT general meat-eaters – statistically-speaking, this is quite a big deal.

There is good credible evidence to support the claim – that a vegetarian diet generally leads to better longevity and a lower incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cancers in humans.

Interestingly, the study also found that the incidence of strokes was higher for female subjects who were NOT meat-eaters though this item was not originally presented as a research outcome.

Also, there was no hugely conclusive evidence that incidence of cancers was altered by diets though it does seem that female vegetarians have a lower risk of female-specific and gastrointestinal cancers.

However, the AHS-2 findings contrasted somewhat with another comprehensive study done in the United Kingdom: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Oxford University (EPIC-Oxford) called “Mortality in vegetarians and comparable non-vegetarians in the United Kingdom” covering 60,310 subjects.

The categories are a little different too, being more simply divided into regular meat eaters, low meat eaters, fish eaters and then vegetarians, including vegans.

In the EPIC-Oxford study, no statistically significant differences were found in the overall mortality rates for all categories, though there was some concurrence with AHS-2 in terms of lower death rates from CHD for vegetarians.

Due to the significant variance in the findings between AHS-2 and EPIC-Oxford, especially regarding mortality rates, further analysis was done on the discrepancies and some probable explanations for the differences between AHS-2 and EPIC-Oxford have been noted.

One is that the dietary patterns of AHS-2 and EPIC-Oxford subjects are themselves subject to wide differences; for example, the amount of fibre consumed by AHS-2 subjects averaged over 46g per day compared to around 27g per day for the UK subjects.

The amount of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) consumed by the UK subjects was also around only half the amount consumed by the US subjects.

Other statistical elements which may skew results are the age of the research participants and how long they have maintained their dietary choices – the US Seventh Day Adventists have generally adopted healthy eating as a lifestyle choice since birth based on their beliefs.

However, in the UK, being a vegetarian is a dietary choice that started only around 1972 before gaining mainstream popularity much later. Therefore the UK vegetarians have not been life-long vegetarians in general.

It should be noted that before the 1990s, people who did not eat meat in the UK were often considered strange, super-religious, a little ill or possibly all three.

Another factor may be the lifestyle choices of meat eaters, who may consume more unhealthy fried foods or perhaps also indulge in tobacco and/or alcohol as they would be less restricted by a desire for healthy foods – meat eaters in the US also eat significantly more meat than other countries.

Vegetarians were known as Pythagoreans until the mid-19th century – this name was derived from the famous 6th century BC Greek mathematician who was probably one of the earliest ethical vegetarians. Filepic

As an aside, vegetarians were known as Pythagoreans until the mid-19th century – this name was derived from the famous 6th century BC Greek mathematician who was probably one of the earliest ethical vegetarians.

Oddly, people who were strictly Pythagoreans were also forbidden to eat beans and Pythagoras himself was allegedly killed when he refused to escape from his enemies by walking across and damaging a bean field.

Till today, no one really knows why he was so extraordinarily considerate to beans.

There is now a constant barrage of blogs, glossy magazines and fanciful articles into the pros and cons of vegetarianism – much of it is rather biased towards the pros, which on closer inspection also do not amount to much more than fads, anecdotes and opinions, such as the various “clean eating” movements.

One recent odd item of research indicated that the type of vegetarian diet can also affect human health, particularly CHD.

It seems that ingesting lots of “unhealthful” plant foods such as refined grains, sugary (plant-based) drinks, potato fries, et cetera, can be bad for health compared to eating unprocessed fibre-rich vegetables, less sugar and foods which are not deep-fried in oil. If you are now thinking that news about this subject has gone silly, then I have to agree.

However, the large-scale research results are overall reasonably compelling, especially when applied to diseases such as CHD.

Additionally, it is important to stress that research definitions of the vegetarian (or “non-meat eating”) categories did NOT actually mean a total abstinence of meat, dairy or fish, even though true vegans are also included in these categories.

Coming up: So the next part will deal with some dietary realities – and also include a few more thoughts about AHS-2 and EPIC-Oxford. In any case, you will see that dietary issues are not always as simple as they seem.

https://www.star2.com/food/food-news/2017/10/23/vegetarianism-and-other-dietary-tales-1/

Gluten-Free Diets Are Beneficial for Many — Not Just Those With Celiac Disease

In recent years, the benefits of a gluten-free diet have become widely recognized and, according to recent research, people are embracing gluten-free in ever-growing numbers ...

21 September 2016

Story at-a-glance

• The number of Americans following a gluten-free diet has tripled since 2009, even though the number of people diagnosed with celiac disease has not increased
• Studies are now confirming that many people do indeed experience adverse reactions to gluten even if they test negative for celiac disease. Those who react to gluten despite not having celiac tend to have leaky gut
• Gluten-containing grains have been linked to more than 200 adverse health effects, with 20 adverse modes of toxicity, including neurotoxicity

By Dr. Mercola

In recent years, the benefits of a gluten-free diet have become widely recognized and, according to recent research, people are embracing gluten-free in ever-growing numbers, even though the number of Americans diagnosed with celiac disease has not increased since 2009.1,2,3,4

In 2009, an estimated 0.5 percent of Americans were on a gluten-free diet. By 2014, that number had more than tripled, to 1.69 percent. Meanwhile, the number of people diagnosed with celiac disease remained fairly steady, declining only slightly, from 0.7 percent to 0.58 percent.

Gluten-free diets are particularly popular among Caucasian women and younger adults between the ages of 20 and 39 — many of whom do it simply because it makes them feel better.

It's well worth noting though that while gluten-free has many advantages, just because a food is gluten-free does not automatically make it healthy. There are plenty of gluten-free junk foods out there.

Just because a food is gluten free doesn't make it a health food, just as a food sold at Whole Foods does not make it a health food. There are plenty of lousy fake foods in both categories.

For most people, drastically cutting down on your net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) is the key to optimal health. This includes but is not limited to grains (not just wheat, as all grains will spike your insulin levels and contribute to insulin and leptin resistance).

Doing this will help your body burn fat rather than carbs as its primary fuel, which helps optimize your mitochondrial function and boost weight loss.

Is Going Gluten-Free a Pointless Fad?

Some doctors dismiss gluten-free as a mere fad,5 fueled by celebrity endorsements and an increasing number of books linking wheat and gluten to a wide range of health problems, from gut dysfunction and allergies to neurological diseases and autoimmune problems.

This includes The New York Times Best Seller, "Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar; Your Brain's Silent Killer," written by Dr. David Perlmutter, a neurologist, in which he reveals how processed grains contribute to dementia.

My own book on this subject, "The No-Grain Diet," was published in 2003. While still in medical practice, I recommended eliminating gluten as a first line intervention before I would further fine-tune a patient's diet to address their specific health problems.

As the title of my now 13-year-old book indicates, I believe most everyone would benefit from avoiding all grains, not just gluten, as doing so well help you burn fat much better. Plus, healthy fat is a far cleaner and more efficient fuel for your body.

Despite the prevailing skepticism, studies are now confirming that many people do indeed experience adverse reactions to gluten even if they test negative for celiac disease. This suggests gluten-sensitivity is a real problem,6 and that gluten-free diets may benefit many — not just those with celiac.

Celica Disease Versus Wheat Allergy and Gluten-Intolerance

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder. People with celiac suffer severe gastrointestinal (GI) reactions and malabsorption of nutrients in response to gluten found in wheat and other grains, and a strict 100 percent gluten-free diet is critical for these people.

Celiac disease is typically diagnosed by measuring the presence of autoantibodies such as transglutaminase 2 (TG2), which is thought to be the most sensitive marker for celiac.

Many others have wheat allergy or some level of gluten intolerance or sensitivity, and fare better on a gluten-free diet even if they don't have celiac disease. If you're allergic to wheat, consuming it will result in an immune reaction that can be diagnosed by measuring antibodies called IgE and/or other immune system markers.

Food intolerances, on the other hand, are typically related to a lack of a specific enzyme to break down the food in question. Food intolerances tend to generate fewer symptoms that are slower in onset, and can therefore be more difficult to diagnose.

Diarrhea or constipation, bloating, headache, anxiety and fatigue are common symptoms of a food intolerance, but may not appear until hours or even days afterward. Gluten sensitivity IS real though, researchers say, and may affect up to 6 percent of the population.

Gluten Sensitivity Is Real

As reported by WebMD:7

"Some people suffer changes within their bodies after eating gluten that are separate and distinct from those that accompany either celiac disease or wheat allergy …

'We don't know what is triggering this response, but this study is the first to show that there are clear biological changes in these individuals,' said senior researcher Armin Alaedini … an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University in New York City.

'Based on our findings, we hope there would be greater recognition of this condition. This is a real condition. There are individuals who may not have celiac disease or wheat allergy, but still have a sensitivity to wheat,' Alaedini said."

The study, published in the journal Gut, found that:8,9

"Individuals with wheat sensitivity had significantly increased serum levels of soluble CD14 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein, as well as antibody reactivity to bacterial LPS and flagellin.

Circulating levels of … a marker of intestinal epithelial cell damage, were significantly elevated in the affected individuals and correlated with the immune responses to microbial products …

These findings reveal a state of systemic immune activation in conjunction with a compromised intestinal epithelium affecting a subset of individuals who experience sensitivity to wheat in the absence of [celiac] disease."

In short, people who reacted to gluten despite not having celiac disease were found to have leaky gut, which is likely what caused the immune activation.

CD14 and LPS-binding protein are microbial markers, so elevated levels suggest microorganisms from the gut are leaking into the blood stream. The presence of microbes in the blood is what causes your immune system to ramp up an inflammatory response.

Gluten Sensitivity and FODMAP Reactions

While wheat allergy is a reaction to certain proteins in the wheat, non-celiac gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance can be related either to a reaction to the proteins, or to poor absorption of carbohydrates called fermentable oligo-di-mono-saccharides and polyols (FODMAPs).10

FODMAPs (which include fructose, lactose, galactans and polyols) are sugars that are either poorly absorbed in your small intestine or completely indigestible. They can cause symptoms very similar to those of gluten sensitivity, and FODMAPs are often found in things that contain gluten, making the two problems a bit tricky to separate.

While FODMAPs are typically beneficial for your gut microbes, in those who are sensitive to them, such as those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), FODMAPs can cause severe GI distress, and many who are diagnosed with IBS are urged to follow a low-FODMAP diet to manage their condition.

Gluten Sensitivity May Affect a Majority of People

Gluten is a protein made up of glutenin and gliadin molecules, which in the presence of water form an elastic bond. Gluten can be found in grains other than wheat, including rye, barley, oats and spelt. Gluten can also hide in processed foods under a variety of names, including but not limited to11 malts, starches, hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), texturized vegetable protein (TVP) and natural flavoring.

If you do a search of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, you will find that gluten-containing grains have been linked to dozens of adverse health effects12 and adverse modes of toxicity. Topping this list is neurotoxicity, and in his book, "Grain Brain," Perlmutter specifically looked at the neurological impact of gluten (wheat) and casein (dairy) on both our brain and autoimmune diseases. He also believes gluten sensitivity may be involved in most chronic diseases, because of how gluten affects your immune system.

According to Dr. Alessio Fasano, director for Celiac Research and the chief of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at Massachusetts General Hospital, gluten sensitivity may be far more prevalent than previously suspected.13 He estimates virtually all of us are affected to some degree, because we all create something called zonulin in the intestine in response to gluten.

This protein, found in wheat, barley and rye, makes your gut more permeable, which allows proteins to get into your bloodstream. This sensitizes your immune system and promotes inflammation and autoimmunity. In the press release announcing the publication of his new book, "Gluten Freedom," Fasano said:14

"We've shown now that gluten sensitivity actually exists. It's moved from a nebulous condition that many physicians dismissed to a distinctly identifiable condition that's quite different than celiac disease. Gluten sensitivity affects six to seven times more people than celiac disease."

How Wheat Affects Your Health

Wheat is one of the most widely grown crops in the Western world. But the wheat of today is vastly different from the wheat our ancestors grew and ate, and these differences help explain the rise in gluten intolerance:

•Hybridization has increased the proportion of gluten protein in wheat. Until the 19th century, wheat was also typically mixed with other grains, beans and nuts; pure wheat flour has been milled into refined white flour only during the last 200 years. The resulting high-gluten, refined grain diet most of you have eaten since infancy was simply not part of the diet of previous generations.

•Glyphosate contamination may also play a distinct role in the development of celiac disease, wheat allergies and wheat sensitivity. The use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup, has dramatically risen over the past 15 years.

According to Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., a research professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), glyphosate use on genetically engineered (GE) corn, soy and conventional wheat is strongly correlated with the rise in celiac disease.

Her initial findings were published in the journal Entropy15 in 2013, which was followed by a second paper16 linking glyphosate to celiac disease specifically. Glyphosate destroys the villi in your gut, which reduces your ability to absorb vitamins and minerals. Also, wheat contains gliadin, which is difficult to break down.

Normally, a reaction takes place that builds connections between different proteins in the wheat, but glyphosate gets right in the middle of that process, resulting in wheat that is highly indigestible. The end result is gut dysbiosis, (a condition of microbial imbalance in your intestines that can lead to gut inflammation and leaky gut) and an overgrowth of pathogens.

Additionally, your gut produces serotonin in response to tryptophan. Wheat is a good source of tryptophan, but when the wheat is contaminated with glyphosate, your gut cells go into overdrive and begin producing too much serotonin, which in turn produces many of the common symptoms of celiac disease, such as diarrhea.

•Wheat proteins can cause leaky gut and associated health problems. Glutinous proteins called prolamines increase the permeability of your intestinal tract, thereby sensitizing your immune system.

As gaps develop between the cells that make up the lining of your intestines, undigested food, bacteria and metabolic waste products can leak into your blood stream, hence the term "leaky gut." These foreign substances challenge your immune system and increase inflammation in your body.17

Gluten can also contribute to health problems you might not immediately associate with gut dysfunction, such as acne,18,19,20 atopic dermatitis,21 recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS — a type of mouth sore)22 and vitiligo, a skin condition that results in the loss of pigment.23

Gliadins Are Responsible for Many Adverse Health Effects

Two of the substances found in wheat responsible for many of the associated cellular problems you face are gliadin and lectins. Gliadin is the primary immunotoxic protein found in gluten and is among the most damaging. In celiac disease, gliadin triggers a genetically mediated immune process that ultimately causes an inflammatory reaction that results in the destruction of the intestinal villi.

Gliadin gives wheat bread its doughy texture and is capable of increasing the production of the intestinal protein zonulin, which in turn opens up gaps in the normally tight junctures between intestinal cells (enterocytes).

Elevated gliadin antibody levels have been linked to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. In one such study,24 the blood work of 950 schizophrenics was compared to that of 1,000 healthy controls. The odds ratio of having anti-gliadin IgG antibodies was 2.13 times higher in schizophrenics. The discovery of antibodies to gliadin in the blood of both celiac disease patients and schizophrenics implies that undigested gliadin can act as antigens, provoking an antibody-mediated immune response.

The presence of gliadin in the blood also indicates intestinal permeability, and gliadin has been shown to up-regulate zonulin in the gut regardless of whether the person has celiac disease or not.

Gliadin may also provoke your immune system to attack your nervous system, thereby contributing to neurological problems such as neuropathy, seizures and neurobehavioral changes.25 Besides schizophrenia, gliadin may also play a role in autism. A 2004 study found that autistic children tend to have elevated antibodies against gliadin.26

Many children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) also do not respond well to most grains, especially wheat. The psychological and behavioral symptoms of ADHD are similar enough to those of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity that researchers suggest celiac disease should be included in the ADHD symptom checklist.

This suggestion was prompted by a 2011 study,27 which found people with ADHD who tested positive for celiac disease improved significantly after following a gluten-free diet for six months.

Psoriasis has also been linked to gliadin. In a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, participants with psoriasis who tested positive for antibodies to gliadin improved when they were placed on a gluten free diet.28 The National Psoriasis Foundation also recommends those with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity adhere to a gluten-free diet to reduce or eliminate their symptoms.29

How Lectins Affect Your Health

Lectins are a key mechanism plants use to protect themselves and perpetuate the plant species. They are found in highest concentration in their seed form, and are known to cause digestive irritation. Lectins can withstand degradation through a wide range of pH and temperatures, so neither sprouting, fermenting nor cooking will negate its ill effects.

Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), which is not eliminated through sprouting and found in higher concentrations in whole wheat, is particularly tough, as it's formed by the same disulfide bonds that give strength and resilience to human hair. Because lectins are so hard to digest, they can bioaccumulate in your body and interfere with biological processes. WGA is particularly troublesome, and studies have shown it has a number of health-harming characteristics and activities, including the following:

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 gut inflammation.30	Immunotoxicity: WGA induces thymus atrophy in rats,31and anti-WGA antibodies in human blood have been shown to cross-react with other proteins, indicating that they may contribute to autoimmunity.32
Neurotoxicity: WGA can cross your blood-brain barrier33through a process called "adsorptive endocytosis," pulling other substances with it. WGA may attach to your myelin sheath34 and is capable of inhibiting nerve growth factor,35 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, Alzheimer'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).36	Endocrine disruption: WGA may contribute to weight gain, insulin resistance and leptin resistance by blocking the leptin receptor in your hypothalamus.
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.37	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.38

How to Treat Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease

The treatment for celiac disease and gluten intolerance is a gluten-free diet, which means abstaining from any food that contains gluten. In August 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a standard for gluten-free labeling. According to the rule, in order for a food to bear the label "gluten-free" it must be:

• Naturally gluten-free. Naturally gluten-free grains include rice, corn, quinoa, sorghum, flax and amaranth seed.
• Any gluten-containing grains must have been refined in such a way to remove the gluten. The final product may not contain more than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten.

A blood test can verify whether or not you actually have celiac disease. If you do, you'll need to be extremely vigilant, as exposure to gluten could make you severely ill and threaten your long-term health and longevity. If you're gluten intolerant, you do not need to be as strict with your diet and you may eventually discover your own tolerance level to gluten.

For example, one piece of bread may not result in any discomfort, but two pieces, or bread two days in a row, might. Typically, avoiding gluten for a week or two is enough to see significant improvement. Considering the many potential culprits at play, be it wheat hybridization, gluten, other wheat proteins, FODMAPs or glyphosate contamination, it's not surprising that wheat and other grains cause such problems for so many.

In my experience, nearly everyone benefits from avoiding grains, even whole sprouted grains, whether you have a gluten intolerance or not, and that's because grains have high net carbs and avoiding them will help improve your mitochondrial function. Impairing mitochondrial function can exacerbate health problems related to insulin resistance, such as overweight, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and more serious problems like heart disease and cancer.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/09/21/gluten-sensitivity-celiac-disease.aspx?