A comprehensive approach to autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune diseases develop when our body's immune system attacks our own tissues. (Ankylosing spondylitis, coeliac disease, Crohn's disease, Graves' disease, thyroiditis, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, Sjogren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosis, ulcerative colitis, vitiligo). The current medical approach is to suppress the immune system to reduce the damage to the tissues, usually with very powerful drugs (steroids, immunosuppressives, cytotoxics). In addition to the significant side-effects, these simply attempt to control the symptoms and play little part in preventing the underlying disease and damage.
By adding simple complimentary therapies designed to assist in the immune process, we can make an enormous difference to the outlook for these patients.

To understand why these treatments work, a very basic understanding of the immune response is necessary, I will try and make this a simple as possible and it is worth persisting if you can.
1. When we are exposed to any form of outside threat (virus, bacteria, toxin etc.)  the 1st reaction of the body is to create heat (fever), swelling with an increase in blood supply and white blood cells rush to the area. At the same time APCs (antigen presenting cells) detect the invader and rushed to the immune system around the body.
2. The APCs instruct the immune system to create 2 types of cells – T helper cells, and T reg cells. There are a number of types of T helper cells (cytotoxic, suppressor, killer,) and all of these attack the invader and hopefully destroy it.
The T reg cells are a bit like the brakes on a car to tell the T helper cells to slow down. Many autoimmune diseases are caused by insufficient T reg and the T helper cells start attacking the cells of our body.
3. The gut plays a crucial role in our immune response. Almost 70% of our immune system is in the gut (the gut associated lymphoid tissue GALT) and thus the majority of immune interactions occur in the gut.

By approaching all 3 of these immune responses (the T helper cells, the T reg cells and the GALT) we can fight immune diseases very much more comprehensively and with a much higher chance of success with less toxicity.
1. Suppressing the T helper cells is what modern medicine does with its powerful drugs. It would be much better for the natural brakes to be put on by the T reg cells.
2. A number of natural products are known to increase the T regs and thus should reduce the T helper cells production. These products include curcumin, botswellia, vitamin D, zinc).
3. Changes in the bacteria in the gut  affects the gut immune system (GALT), and can affect the balance between the T helper cells and the T reg cell production.  Probiotics (especially lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG) have been shown to increase the production of T reg cells and thus dampen down the excessive immune response.

Conclusion – I apologise that this may be somewhat complicated but I think it's worth sharing this information. It also makes for a much better and holistic therapy approach to patients with autoimmune disease:

• Regularly take a probiotic containing LGG.
• Regularly take tumeric (curcumin) and possibly boswellia
• Take other natural products which can reduce inflammation – omega-3 fish oil, vitamin D and zinc.
• Medical drugs as recommended by your doctor, but ask for the minimal dose necessary as the above therapies start to take an effect.

Resveretrol may reduce heart disease via the gut bacteria

Resveratrol and red wine resveratrol and red wine may prevent disease by changing the bacteria in the gut (the microbiome).

Moderate amounts of red wine, probably acting through resveratrol is known to have significant health benefits reducing the incidence of heart disease, cancer and other conditions. In a recent paper (attached but it is virtually unintelligible unless you have a PhD in biochemistry), scientists from a Chinese University have shown that resveratrol reduces the amount of TMAO (trimethyl n oxide) which is a known risk factor for artery disease.

The resveratrol increases the levels of a number of bacteria in the gut (Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium) which seems to inhibit the production of TMAO.

It does seem that the bacteria in the gut (microbiome) is incredibly important, and something we are only just beginning to understand. It also suggests that food, nutrients, drugs which are not even absorbed into the body may well have a major effect, simply by changing the bacteria in the gut.

If you would like to read the article (I would not recommend this for the faint hearted), it can be found here

Vitamin D helps treat heart failure

Vitamin D improves heart function in people with chronic heart failure.

Heart failure is an extremely serious condition, causing unpleasant symptoms of breathlessness tiredness weakness and swelling, but also has a very significant mortality. Medical treatment consists of drugs (ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers and diuretics) but these have limited effectiveness in some patients, and complimentary therapies such as coenzyme Q 10 l-carnitine and D ribose have also been suggested.

A recent study performed in Leeds hospital (the Vindicate trial) offers hope from an unexpected source, namely vitamin D.
In the study 160 patients on full medical treatment were either given vitamin D or dummy tablets for one year.  At the end of the year those taking the dummy tablets had no benefit on heart function as measured by a cardiac ultrasound scan, but in the 80 patients who took vitamin D 3 the heart function improved from 26 to 34%.

This is a very major improvement in heart function, probably greater than that achieved by any of the modern medical drugs. One wonders why this has not been trumpeted around the world, possibly because it is a supplement and not a drug. Considering there are more than 900,000 people in the United Kingdom, and over 23 million worldwide suffering from heart failure, this therapy could be an extremely cheap and efficient way of helping many people.

It was presented at the American College of cardiology, 65th annual scientific sessions in Chicago in April.

Anybody suffering from heart failure should undoubtedly be taking additional

Genetic diseases can be changed

You can change your genes

While genetic coding and therapies are being investigated by pharmaceutical firms to try and treat disease, scientists have also discovered that we can change the effects of our genes. This is a whole new science called epigenetic's and I believe gives hope to so many people.
If you have a family history of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and even some of the inherited diseases (Huntington's chorea, Down's syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy etc.) – the effects of these can be changed by the way we live, the toxins we are exposed to or can avoid, and the nutrition we put in our bodies.
A quite neat and witty presentation of this can be seen here.

It seems that the genes make the major decisions, but their effect can be changed to some extent by the world we live in. For example identical twins who are brought up by different parents are often very different in their susceptibility to illness. Some genes work by affecting the metabolism, and optimal nutrition can frequently change the actions of the genes to make them less damaging, or even beneficial. Because many of these changes gradually develop over life, any treatment or approach which is likely to be effective should be a lifelong therapy.
Therefore people with inherited diseases or their children, should avoid the obvious toxins as much is possible, eat a diet which is healthy and nutritious, and make certain that the body has a surfeit of all the nutrients it requires. My recommendation would be to take an optimal dose of a good multivitamin and multi mineral, omega-3 fish oils (make certain it contains no mercury), additional calcium and magnesium, coenzyme Q 10 and probably a powerful antioxidant such as grapeseed extract. For people with neurological illnesses, there is a suspicion that may be coconut oil is beneficial for brain function, and it should probably be the cooking oil of choice.

Fish oil and baby brain development

High fish consumption during pregnancy gives brain benefits to the child.

Yet another study showing the benefits of taking supplements during pregnancy. In the Spanish study 2000 mothers were questioned, and their babies were assessed at 14 months and 5 years. Click here
On average the women consumed about 500 g (3 servings) of seafood per week while pregnant, but for every additional 10 g per week above that amount the children's test scores improved up to about 600 g.   The improvement in brain development and neuropsychological testing was most evident at 5 years, and there was also a consistent reduction in autism.

This is a population with a fairly high fish intake, they did not separate between small and large fish.   The larger fish tend to have higher mercury levels. Even despite this, the babies benefited consistently.

The omega-3 oils found in fish are obviously very important for the foetus's brain development and studies like this make it mandatory for doctors and midwives to encourage pregnant women, especially in the 1st trimester, to eat plenty of omega-3 oils. At the same time the possibility of mercury toxicity causing damage to the developing fetus is a worry, and it is recommended that the larger fish with longer life spans which concentrate the mercury more in the tissues (shark, swordfish, giant mackerel, tuna) should be avoided.
However the safest way of making certain that the baby receives the omega-3 oil and zero mercury is to take a quality supplement which is guaranteed to be mercury free.

The fact that we can create a more intelligent, better adapted child with a lower risk of autism by simply taking a quality omega-3 supplement during pregnancy and eating regular fish meals is something that should be shared with all mothers and potential mothers.

Calcium supplements are safe

Calcium supplements do not increase the risk of heart disease.

Until recently the only side-effect of calcium supplementation was a very small increase in kidney stones, but in recent years there has been a suggestion from a small number of researchers that calcium supplementation may increase the risk of heart attacks.

Because calcium and vitamin D are extremely important in bone health and many other bodily functions, people have been encouraged to stop taking supplements and rely on their diet for calcium. In most cases this is usually insufficient, particularly in the elderly.

A study recently presented at the world Congress of Osteoporosis and Musculoskeletal medicine, (April 2016) the authors reviewed the effect of both calcium and vitamin D supplements in over 500,000 people over 7 years in the United Kingdom. This showed no effect of calcium supplements or vitamin D on the incidence of heart disease in either men or women.

The UK Biobank is a large study of men and women (502,664) with a mean age of 58 years, they recorded the baseline intake of calcium and vitamin D supplements and link this to hospital admissions for any cardiovascular event and death through the 7 years of follow-up. 34,890 participants were taking calcium supplements and 20,004 vitamin D. The incidence of heart disease and death were no different from those people taking no supplements.

Hopefully, this will put to bed any suggestion that taking these supplements which are essential particularly as we age does anything other than good. Osteoporosis and falls (particularly hip fractures) are a major cause of both morbidity and death in the older population, and these people can now confidently take the supplements knowing it will do them no harm.

Medicine in 2016 - a Happy New Year?

2016 looks like becoming a very important year in the development of medicine. Over the last few years people have been looking more critically at the direction of modern medicine, at the way in which it has been driven by procedures and drugs, and questioning whether the cost of modern medicine is sustainable and is providing the benefits that are claimed.

 I can see huge changes in the two major killers in today's world – cancer and heart disease.

Cancer – in the past chemotherapy has been blunderbuss essentially damaging the most rapidly dividing cells which are assumed to be the cancer cells but at the same time knocking off any rapidly dividing normal cells in the body as well – giving the well-known side-effects. In recent years however much more selective chemotherapies have been developed which target the cancer cells specifically, giving much fewer side-effects, but more importantly a much better outlook. Unfortunately because the selective drugs are only applicable to selective cancers, the number of patients receiving them are relatively small, and thus it is difficult for the drug firms to recoup their research costs. This makes them extremely expensive, and insurance companies and Governments are going to have to decide which ones to fund, and for how long. While this is a real problem, it does give a real opportunity for quality and increased duration of life for many cancer patients. Example of these drugs include treatments for melanoma, myeloma, lung cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and others.
Thus the diagnosis of even widespread cancer no longer needs be seen as a death sentence as it has in the past.

Heart disease – this has tended to be the pinup boy of medicine over the last couple of decades, as doctors have discovered bypass surgery, angioplasty and stenting. The same time the pharmaceutical industry has come up with a variety of drugs both to treat symptoms and to try and reduce the incidence of heart disease.  .

There has been a very strong emphasis on lowering cholesterol, and even though only one of the cholesterol-lowering drugs that have ever been shown to reduce heart disease (the statins),
The emphasis on cholesterol has continued, but more and more conventional doctors are looking critically at the evidence and the advice we have been giving to our patients in the past. By telling people not to eat fat, we have forced them into eating food containing lots of carbohydrates, which is led to an obesity epidemic. Doctors are now looking at whether we should be giving statins as frequently as we are recommending -for most doctors there is no debate - patients with definite heart disease should be on statins, their value in other situations is very debatable, in fact dubious.
People are also looking at the benefits of angioplasty which is being done every time doctors see what appears to be a significant lesion in a coronary artery. The evidence appears that only lesions that are symptomatic should be treated, and there is very little evidence that stenting any
lesion actually reduces the risk of heart attack or death. Over the forthcoming years, I suspect the number of angioplasty procedures will drop significantly.

Because of the increased cost of effective cancer treatments, I suspect that governments and insurance bodies may well be looking more closely at all other procedures, and confirm that they are value before funding them.

But perhaps the most frightening aspect of health which has the prospects of returning us to the Middle Ages is the development of drug resistant bacteria which could render most of our antibiotics impotent. Because of the speed of development of resistance, and the cost of developing new forms of antibiotics, the drug industry is unlikely to be spending a great deal of money on this problem.