Fibromyalgia: It's the food, again! (probably).

From http://stickmancommunications.co.uk/Keyring-Card-Fibromyalgia

Serendipity strikes again! On Facebook, I saw https://www.facebook.com/PaleoDietNewZealand/posts/763653980371516 . That linked to Fibromyalgia and non‑celiac gluten sensitivity: a description with remission of fibromyalgia.

For people unfamiliar with scientific terms, here are some definitions:-
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity: A reaction to gluten, not due to Celiac (Coeliac in the U.K.) Disease.
Remission: (medicine) An abatement or lessening of the manifestations of a disease.

So, is Gliadorphin-7 (formed during the digestion of gluten) to blame?

Probably.

Could Beta CasoMorphin-7 (formed during the digestion of A1 cow's milk) also be a problem?

Possibly.

Is Increased/Excessive Intestinal Permeability allowing the above large molecules to pass through insufficiently tight junctions?

Definitely, maybe.

Is there really no cure for Fibromyalgia? It's possible to tighten-up insufficiently tight junctions. Insufficiently tight junctions can be caused by:-

1. Insufficient sun exposure, causing hypovitaminosis D. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22Vitamin+D%22[All+Fields]+AND+%22tight%20junction%22+AND+hasabstract[text]

2. Excessive consumption of oils high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. See Dietary Fat Can Modulate Intestinal Tight Junction Integrity.

3. Excessive consumption of Wheat. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22Wheat%22[All%20Fields]%20AND%20%22tight%20junction%22[All%20Fields]%20AND%20hasabstract[text]%20AND%20%22humans%22[MeSH%20Terms]

4. Excessive exercise. See Shedding Some Light on the Leaky Gut <> Exercise Connection. Plus: 20+ Things You Should or Shouldn't Do to Protect and Restore the Integrity of Your Intestinal Wall.

5. Lack of dietary Sulphur. See Sulphation and Autism: What are the links? A good source of sulphate is Epsom Salts.

See also Physiology and Immunology of Digestion.

And finally...
If a science person ever tells you "Increased/Excessive Intestinal Permeability a.k.a. "Leaky gut" just doesn't exist because, you know, I'm a scientist.", point out that it's an Appeal from authority fallacy, and demand that they provide high quality evidence to support their statement.

Because, you know, I'm a retired Electronic Engineer! :-)

Rheumatoid Arthritis: It's the food!

I had an email query about Rheumatoid Arthritis, so off to PubMed I went.

From http://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/ss/slideshow-ra-overview

I found Controlled trial of fasting and one-year vegetarian diet in rheumatoid arthritis.

"Fasting is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, but most patients relapse on reintroduction of food."
This suggests that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an ongoing process, triggered by something that's consumed.

"After an initial 7-10 day subtotal fast, they were put on an individually adjusted gluten-free vegan diet for 3.5 months. The food was then gradually changed to a lactovegetarian diet for the remainder of the study."
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I'm thinking Gliadorphin-7, as per Wheat, Constipation, Ischaemic Heart Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Schizophrenia and Autism.

This suggests that RA is caused by peptide chains passing through loose "tight junctions" in the gut, triggering an (inappropriate) autoimmune response. For ways to improve gut integrity, see Cow's milk, Schizophrenia and Autism.

BCM-7 can be avoided by drinking A2 milk. Most cheeses are made from A1 milk, so should be avoided. Swiss cheeses like Gruyère and Emmental are probably made from A2 milk, so suck 'em and see.

To reduce inflammation in joints, consuming oily fish may help, as an adjunct to prescribed anti-inflammatory medications.

Continued on Fibromyalgia: It's the food, again! (probably).

Wheat, Constipation, Ischaemic Heart Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Schizophrenia and Autism.

Did you see this coming?

Gliadorphin 7, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliadorphin

The above 7-peptide chain contains 3 molecules of proline (the pentagon with a "N" at one corner), just like:-

Bovine β-casomorphin 7, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casomorphin

From Further research for consideration in 'the A2 milk case'.
"Prior to discussion it must be clarified that the hypothetical link between A1 consumption with autistic spectral disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia relates not to the cause of the condition but to the aggravation of symptoms associated with these neurological conditions. More specifically, the hypothesis states that the absorption of food-derived exomorphins such as beta casomorphin 7 (BCM 7) may aggravate symptoms associated with ASD or schizophrenia.

This hypothesis is the basis of 'dietary intervention' that excludes gluten and casein (Knivsberg et al., 2002) from the diet of ASD patients. The former, gluten, has been shown to release gliadamorphin, an exomorphin comparable in opioid activity to BCM-7. A number of laboratories in the United States and Europe offer urine tests, which determine the level of peptides including BCM 7 and other beta casomorphins to serve as an indication of the potential usefulness of dietary intervention in the treatment of ASD patients. One published study reports that a casein- and gluten-free diet was accompanied by improvement in 81% of autistic children within 3 months (Cade et al., 2000)."


According to What is gliadorphin?
"What is gliadorphin? Gliadorphin (also called alpha-gliadin or gluteomorphin) is a substance that resembles morphine. Ordinarily, this is a short-lived by-product from the digestion of gluten molecules (found in wheat, barley, rye, oats, and several other grains). Gliadorphin is very similar to casomorphin. Gliadorphin has been verified by mass spectrometry techniques to be present in unusual quantities in urine samples of children with autism, and are believed by many to be a central part of the system of causes and effects that cause autistic development. The most probable reasons for the presence of these molecules are:
* One or more errors in the breakdown (digestion) process caused by enzyme deficiency and/or
* Abnormal permeability of the gut wall (that would allow these relatively large molecules to enter the bloodstream from the intestine in abnormal quantities)."

Continued on Rheumatoid Arthritis: It's the food!

Cow's milk, Schizophrenia and Autism.

As a result of comments to my previous blog post, I did a bit of digging. I dug up something.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk

Stella Barbone linked to The A2 milk case: a critical review.

This was refuted by A critique of Truswell's A2 milk review.

That referenced Autism and schizophrenia: Intestinal disorders , Can the pathophysiology of autism be explained by the nature of discovered urine peptides? , Enzymatic release of neocasomorphin and beta-casomorphin from bovine beta-casein. & Opioid activities of human b-casomorphin.

Babies have naturally-high gut permeability, so wrong milk proteins may cause damage. Human breast milk contains only A2 casein.

In older humans, gut permeability is modulated by several factors.

1. Insufficient sun exposure, causing hypovitaminosis D. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22Vitamin+D%22[All+Fields]+AND+%22tight%20junction%22+AND+hasabstract[text]

2. Excessive consumption of oils high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. See Dietary Fat Can Modulate Intestinal Tight Junction Integrity.

3. Excessive consumption of Wheat. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22Wheat%22[All+Fields]+AND+%22tight+junction%22+AND+hasabstract[text]

4. Excessive exercise. See Shedding Some Light on the Leaky Gut <> Exercise Connection. Plus: 20+ Things You Should or Shouldn't Do to Protect and Restore the Integrity of Your Intestinal Wall.

5. Lack of dietary Sulphur. See Sulphation and Autism: What are the links? A good source of sulphate is Epsom Salts.

See also Physiology and Immunology of Digestion.

Continued on Wheat, Constipation, Ischaemic Heart Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Schizophrenia and Autism.

Cow's milk, Constipation, Ischaemic Heart Disease & Type 1 Diabetes.

Hat-tip to Jamie Scott and https://twitter.com/_Jamie_Scott/status/503383804686262272 , which led to A1 threat to NZ dairy.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk

There are a few problems with feeding cow's milk to baby humans.

1. It contains bovine beta casein A1. During digestion, this is broken down into a 7-amino acid peptide chain beta-casomorphin7 (BCM7), which appears to cause issues (e.g. increased gut permeability) increasing the RR of diseases like Type 1 Diabetes and Ischaemic Heart Disease. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=A1[All%20Fields]%20AND%20%22beta-casein%22[All%20Fields]%20AND%20%22humans%22[MeSH%20Terms]%20AND%20%28hasabstract[text]%20AND%20%22humans%22[MeSH%20Terms]%29 A solution is to use A2 milk, or goat's milk which is apparently naturally A2. See also Further research for consideration in 'the A2 milk case'.


2. It's much higher in protein (4g/100mL) than human breast milk (1.1g/100mL), as baby cows are supposed to grow very rapidly, unlike baby humans. As 80% of the protein in milk is casein, and casein is joined to calcium as calcium caseinate, this increases the calcium intake, and too much calcium relative to magnesium is constipating. A solution is to increase magnesium intake, or dilute 1 part cow's milk with ~3 parts water & add some coconut oil, to get the fat content back up to 4.4g/100mL.

Continued on Cow's milk, Schizophrenia and Autism.