Immunity

The immune system is an amazingly complex group of cells, organs and tissues that work in tandem to keep the body's defenses intact and protected against harm.

The immune system consists of primary and secondary lymphoid organs. Primary lymphoid organs; comprised of bone marrow and thymus, produce immune cells (B and T lymphocytes or white blood cells) which migrate through the bloodstream to reach secondary lymphoid organs. Secondary lymphoid organs; comprised of the lymph nodes, lymphoid tissue, spleen, tonsils, Peyer's patches and the appendix, all play a distinct role in maintaining an effective immune response.

MALT the body's first line of defense

Mucosa-associated lymphatic tissue (MALT) is a system of small concentrations of lymphoid tissue located in various sites of the body and can be found in the gastrointestinal tract, thyroid, lungs, eyes and skin. MALT plays a large role in regulating mucosal immunity as these surfaces provide a barrier between our bodies and the external environment.

Take for instance one of the biggest mucosal sites - the gut. It has the ability to transport many foreign antibodies through the ingestion of food. The immune system inherently has a vigorous response to kill off any pathogenic organisms gaining entry through the gut while retaining food antigens that foster a positive or negative immune response. The gut flora and MALT communicate through cytokine activity to harmonize the appropriate immune response for pathogenic organisms versus friendly organisms.



GALT building good bacteria

Consisting of both isolated and aggregated lymphoid follicles, gut associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) contains up to 70% of the body's immunocytes. Aggregated lymphoid follicles surrounded by follicle associated epithelium (FAE) form the interface between the GALT and the microenvironment. FAE contains M-cells that transport antigens and bacteria toward underlying immune cells that either activate or inhibit an immune response.

GALT is the largest lymphoid tissue of the human body. Beginning at birth, GALT is exposed to microbial antigens occurring in the initial intestinal colonization from vaginal delivery's. This is why it is highly valuable to have normal delivery versus C-section.

A stable colonization of bacteria is typically reached in children at approximately 4 years of age. These bacteria are essential for the development and functionality of a fully functioning and healthy immune system and promotes tolerance towards safe food and microbial antigens.

Photo by Nature Reviews : Immunology

What actions need to be taken to improve MALT & GALT response? What we can do to help your MALT & GALT: 

1. Identify and remove offending agents (i.e. sensitivities, toxins, pathogens)

2. Remove source(s) of inflammation

3. Promote mucosal health throughout your gut

• Intestinal microflora weighs about 1.5 kgs
• Approximately 50% of fecal mass is bacterial biomass
• Microflora produces about 2 liters of 'gas' per day
• Acquisition of resistance to antibiotics occurs in the intestine  

Enhancing Immune Function with Probiotics

The best way to prevent infections and disease is to ensure that the body's defense mechanisms are functioning optimally and are able to protect against foreign bodies (pathogens). Much research has been reviewed lately in the quest to quantify the benefits of probiotics and studies have shown promising results.

The use of probiotics stimulates gut reaction by pro ducting vitamins, synthesizing amino acids and carrying out biotransformation of bile. Probiotics help to create a defensive barrier within the host as they compete with other microorganisms for attachment sites in epithelial cells.

At any given point, there are anywhere from 100 trillion viable microbes in the human intestine. Specifically, the gut micro biome provides vital biochemical pathways that allow the body to metabolize indigestible foods like starches, gum, cellulose, pectin's, sugars and alcohol. Once the body is able to metabolize and release toxins from the system, absorption of nutrients will be increased resulting in improved cellular function.



Make sure you have a good Probiotic:

• Must be considered totally non-pathogenic
• Contain species indigenous to the target host
• Able to survive intestinal transit and stomach acid
• Capable of immunomodulation in-vitro
• Possess clinically documented health properties validated by a thorough Quality Assurance program
• Colony forming units (CFU) or viable cells are listed on label
• Formulation should keep well during processing and storage

Balance: A Good Place to Stay

Keep yourself balanced!

How do you know what you are doing in your daily life is the right thing for you? Are you getting enough exercise? Are you eating the right diet? How do you know?

Since I started working I have had people asking me over and over, what should I eat to stay healthy? How many miles should I walk/jog/run to stay fit? On and on. My answer is simple let me check you out!

I have told patients in my 3 years of practice not to exercise more than 20 minutes at a time. Has your jaw dropped yet? I have told patients that they should not eat salads. It all depends on their bodies status. For people with an unstable sacro-iliac joint (tailbone region) they should avoid activities that involve impact including intercourse. This is the real deal for some people. No one thinks that it can happen to them but keep an open mind health costs are going up while health status across the country is declining. As I have said in multiple newsletters, “YOU HAVE THE POWER TO STAY HEALTHY!”

Healthy Habits for Life:

Below is a simplified list that you can start using to protect you and your loved ones.

What to Avoid or Restrict

1. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and oils. The process used to make these oils, makes liquid oils more solid. This destroys the nutritional value of the oil and results in the formation of what is called CIS - and trans-fatty acids that become oxidized when exposed to heat and can clog the arteries leading to atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular disease. Use sesame oil, olive oil or coconut oil when cooking. These oils help minimize inflammation.
   
   
2. Processed foods usually contain undesirable chemicals and additives, which may increase the free radical activity, putting extra demand on antioxidant and detoxification systems in the body. If the processing takes heat, then many natural enzymes and vitamins in the food are destroyed.
   
   
3. REFINED CARBOHYDRATES a.k.a. SUGARS. Sugars will affect the blood sugar stability and off-set male and female hormones, shifting the body to produce more fat, and cause weight gain. These compounds, among other negative health effects, are also known to lower the immune response and increase the risk for yeast growth.
   
   
4. Limit or avoid carbonated soft drinks and sodas. These may have a negative effect on the stomach pH balance due to formation of carbonic acid (H2CO3). Soft drinks with high fructose levels can also alter metabolism causing it to run slower. We recommend drinking soft drinks made outside the U.S. such as the Coca-Cola made in Mexico that uses real cane sugar. Or one of my personal favorites is Blood Orange soda which is made in France or Italy. We still highly recommend drinking water. No additives or food coloring added.

Healthy Exercise Routines

Exercise is vital for a healthy body. Physical activity whether it is four miles or around the block is better than nothing. I also recommend for every person to change up their routine weekly. It is best if you can do aerobic and anaerobic routines, static and dynamic movements.

Start slow and gradually increase the pace/intensity in each session without stressing your system. Do NOT over train! Heavy exercise can trigger the formation of free radicals, increase inflammation, and cause other stresses on the body, which in turn can adversely affect the adrenal response and sugar balance. Avoid over training by reducing the intensity of physical activity and giving you enough recovery time between workouts. If you do not know what a good workout routine is for you ask our staff and we will be happy to assist you.

The last tidbit of information that is an understatement  is breathing exercises such as meditation or yoga. Best time to practice these techniques is in the morning, in an open environment preferably outdoors. Breathing exercises help oxygenate the tissues at an optimum level. Deep breathing exercises help maintain healthy blood oxygenation.

For more healthy tips and recommendations schedule an appointment with Dr. Pauline or Dr. Weber to find out what you can do.

Thyroid - Gut Connection

When was the last time you walked into your doctor’s office and said “I would like my digestive tract assessed because I know my thyroid hormones are out of balance?”

Hippocrates (Image Right) told us 2,000 years ago, “Death begins in the colon.”

How did he know that? 

Did he have like a special antenna that only he could hear or tune into? NO!! He observed the human body and thought logically. When you eat food, it goes in your mouth and down into your gut. Right? (the answer is yes)

What if that salad was not washed right and it still had pesticides on it? What if that steak was improperly cooked and it was infected with E. Coli? I can sit here and write 10,000 what if scenarios but what if you had a properly working digestive system?

Most people don’t, especially those with thyroid issues including hypo- (poor) and hyper- (too much) -thyroidism. All the nutrients, minerals, cofactors, etc. must be digested and absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract. If there is a digestive issue, indigestion, food allergies, diarrhea and/or constipation etc. it means there is an imbalance in the gastrointestinal tract which ultimately causes a loss of stomach acid production, inadequate pH and dysbiosis.

The Thyroid - Gut connection is a very complex an integrated system that should be screened in EVERY thyroid case. The #1 cause worldwide of thyroid hypofunction (hypothyroidism) is iodine deficiency, but it is NOT the #1 cause in the United States. The #1 cause of hypothyroidism in the U.S. is Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroid. (For more information about autoimmune thyroid consult our office)

To support hypothyroidism or regulate an autoimmune thyroid condition like Hashimoto’s, you must address the digestive tract. Gut dysfunctions are the most commonly overlooked health issue in the medical field today (including alternative care).

Healthy Gut = Healthy Thyroid

The thyroid gland is the gas pedal for the body. When the body's metabolism is running slow, more thyroid hormone is produced to speed up metabolism. When the body’s metabolism is on overdrive, the thyroid will diminish the amount of thyroid produced. The body is a reflex machine, constantly trying to maintain homeostasis or equilibrium. In doing this many mechanisms and pathways are cut short or over used. For example, if you eat fried fatty foods 4 days out of the week, your gallbladder will not like you and will become sluggish and make gallstones.

Did you know with a sluggish gallbladder you minimize your body’s ability to clear hormones including estrogen?

FUN FACT:  

When you remove your gallbladder the cystic duct takes over  the storage of bile.

Every cell in the body has a thyroid receptor, even neurons (cells in the brain). Most people are unaware they have a thyroid issue until they start having issues including but not limited too:

- Fatigue / Sluggish

- Thinning of hair

- Loss of the outer ⅓ of eyebrow

- Cold hands and feet, all over

- Dry skin / flaky

- Difficulty losing weight

Summary

The Thyroid - Gut Connection is an invaluable aspect of health that many healthcare providers overlook. The thyroid has a receptor on every cell in the body. The gut digest and absorbs food for every cell in the body. When gastric atrophy occurs, proteins are not properly digested and often become a source of inflammation. With sluggish gallbladder / biliary system the body is not equipped to digest and absorb fats which also affect cholesterol levels, adrenals status, and hormones. The Thyroid - Gut Connection should be assessed on every patient with the above signs and symptoms for preventative health.

For more information on the Thyroid - Gut Connection contact our office through our website Weber Chiropractic or call 916.616.1595.

The Gluten Connection to Disease

Who’s the baseball player below?

It is Henry Lou Gehrig. In case you don’t know who he was, he was an American baseball first baseman who played for 17 seasons in MLB for the New York Yankees (1923-1939).

Do you know who the first athlete was to appear on a Wheaties box? That’s right, Lou Gehrig! In the second half of the 1938 season Gehrig reported physical changes in his game at the midway point. At the end of the season, he said, “I am tired ... I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t get going again.” By the beginning of the 1939 spring training, Gehrig lost his power. At the age of 36 Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).

Enormous amounts of research have looked at the connection of gluten and nerve damage in the brain. 1, 2

In the 1920s, the US government found that animals fed a diet of white flour developed serious neurological diseases and died. Instead of banning this deadly product like they should have, the FDA declared that most white flour products must be "enriched" with iron and a few vitamins to "correct" the problem. Unfortunately, this decision has helped create an even more insidious situation that results in diabetes, heart disease and cancer for millions of people.

Gluten sensitivity

Gluten sensitivity is becoming a raging epidemic today. Gluten sensitivity is not a disease and therefore has no cure. Gluten sensitivity is triggered by eating products containing gluten. The only way to avoid its complications is to stay away from food products containing gluten. The average person who has a gluten sensitivity and eats a source of gluten can set off an inflammatory response that may last up to 8 months. A simple mnemonic for avoiding gluten is B.R.O.W.

Barley - most barley is contaminated via cross-contamination because it is packaged at a gluten containing facility

Rye

Oats

Wheat

There are 35 diseases that can be caused by eating gluten listed in a review in the New England Journal of Medicine. Some of these symptoms are: arthritis, ADHD, depression, anxiety, IBS, lupus, frequent headaches, fatigue, eczema, loss of muscle coordination, osteoporosis, a weakened immune system, fungal overgrowth, organ inflammation, weight loss/weight gain, and malnutrition.

Gluten sensitivity increases your risk for type 1 diabetes, obesity, gastrointestinal cancers, brain disorders, autism and thyroid disease.

Gluten evils and woes

Gluten is purposefully put in some products because it increases hunger signals to make you eat more of a product by increasing the ghrelin in the digestive tract to enhance feelings of hunger - leaving you hungry for more of that product. Gluten also interferes with leptin which tells your brain you're full and signals fat to break down. Leptin also normalizes pain sensations in the spinal cord.

• Gluten sensitivity causes inflammation that harms the body tissues by causing an autoimmune response where the immune system ends up attacking the body

• C-reactive proteins rise in response to inflammation; causing cholesterol levels to shoot up and calcium deposits to harden the arteries and blood pressure rise

• Sugar cannot fuel cancer cells by itself. Gluten and the amino acid glutamine have been studied and found to play a critical role in the cancer process.

• Gluten is an excitatory toxin; which agitates and kills neurons which like glutamate (think MSG), accelerates, activates, irritates and damages brain cells. A 2006 study took 131 children with ADHD and removed gluten from their diets and all 131 children were reported to have significant improvements.

• Gluten can be broken down into strange proteins that are a lot like psychedelic drugs. These are opium-like proteins are called gluteomorophins (think Autism and Manic Depressive Disorder).

• With gluten, the N Methyl D Aspartate receptors cause spinal cord neurons to become hyper to touch. Leptin in the spinal cord normalizes pain perception and gluten interferes with that process (think fibromyalgia).

• University of California put people on a "Paleolithic" diet, their blood pressure dropped along with blood insulin levels. Good cholesterol went up and bad cholesterol went down - in just 10 days!

• Gluten sensitivity causes you to miss out on your fat soluble vitamins like vitamin D and K

• Eating gluten has now been related to bone density problems (think osteoporosis)

Solution: STOP EATING GLUTEN!

Gluten affects everyone negatively, some effects are very evident now but most of them are sub-clinical and will not show up for years. When disease does finally manifest, the connection to gluten will be overlooked or denied. Gluten-free is a lifestyle choice for health of body and mind. If we choose a gluten-free lifestyle for obvious health reasons, we are intentionally avoiding trouble both now and in the future.

For more information on Gluten Free check out these websites:

1. Gluten Free and Beyond

2. Celiac Disease and Gluten

3. Gluten Free Speciality Market - Sacramento, CA

Majority of this article was presented in Natural News.

References:

1. Gluten and Motor Neurone Disease (ALS). http://www.naturostudy.org/naturopathy-articles/gluten-motor-neurone-disease-als/

2. White matter lesions suggestive of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis attributed to celiac disease.AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2010 May;31(5):880-1. Epub 2009 Nov 12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19910450