Minimizing Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Flashcards
What three foods contribute most to inflammation?
Gluten
Industrial seed oils
Refined sugar
What is a toxin? Are the three foods that contribute most to inflammation toxins?
A toxin is a substance produced by a living organism that causes disease or antibody
production in other living organisms.
● Sugar and industrial plant oils are manufactured in an industrial process and are
not produced by living organisms.
● Gluten is produced by plants, which are living organisms, and it can cause both disease
and antibody production in humans. However, not all people are intolerant of gluten. It’s not a universal toxin.
What is non-celiac gluten sensitivity?
● Significantly underdiagnosed
● Gluten intolerance—not just celiac disease—is associated with:
○ IBS-like symptoms, including abdominal pain, bloating, changes in stool frequency, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, joint pain, dermatitis, depression, and anemia
○ conditions such as diabetes, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, autism, and multiple sclerosis
● Poor conventional testing for gluten intolerance:
○ Most clinicians only test for celiac disease (antibodies to alpha-gliadin and
transglutaminase 2) and might test for endomysial and deamidated gliadin
antibodies.
○ However, wheat is a complex protein. An accurate test should screen for
antibody production to all its components. *Consider Cyrex Array 3 ○ *Note: no food intolerance test is 100 percent accurate
● Follow-up test results with elimination/provocation protocol.
○ Completely remove wheat and other gluten-containing foods from the diet for at
least 60 days followed by reintroduction.
○ If the client feels better during the elimination phase and worse after
reintroducing gluten, then that is enough to diagnose him with gluten
intolerance—regardless of the test results.
○ If a client has a positive test result but doesn’t notice a difference in symptoms
eliminating and reintroducing gluten, still suggest that he doesn’t consume gluten, as it may be affecting him in ways that he can’t perceive (such as antibody production to the cells that produce insulin, which could lead to type 1.5 diabetes, or to the thyroid gland, leading to Hashimoto’s).
What are industrial plant oils?
Industrial plant oils are highly refined seed and vegetable oils like corn, sunflower, safflower, and soybean oil.
● These oils are almost completely devoid of beneficial nutrients
● They contain high amounts of linoleic acid (LA), which some research suggests can be
harmful when consumed in excess
● They are likely to be rancid or oxidized because they contain unstable fats that are easily
damaged when heated
● In addition, some recent studies have suggested that industrial plant oils disrupt the gut
microbiome, possibly provoking inflammation and causing harm.
What is refined sugar?
Refined sugar is completely devoid of beneficial nutrients and can contribute to problems like inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance when consumed in excess. But when eaten in small amounts in the context of a nutrient-dense, real-food diet, there’s no evidence to suggest that it is “toxic.”
What is result of one randomized clinical trial (RCTs) for gluten intolerance?
This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, and it had the additional benefit of a crossover design
The researchers enrolled 61 participants without celiac disease or wheat allergy, but with self-identified gluten intolerance. Subjects were then randomly assigned to two groups; one was given a capsule with 4.4 grams per day of gluten (roughly the amount in two slices of white bread), and the other was given a placebo capsule containing only rice starch.
After one week of a gluten-free diet, participants then “crossed over” into the other group (those that received the gluten capsules during the first round got rice starch, and vice versa). Crossover studies are advantageous because each crossover participant serves as his or her own control, which reduces the likelihood of confounding variables influencing the results.
The researchers found that intake of gluten significantly increased symptoms—both intestinal symptoms like bloating and abdominal pain, and extra-intestinal symptoms like depression, brain fog, and canker sores—compared to placebo.
Name 5 symptoms and conditions have been associated with gluten, based on observational studies?
Irritable bowel syndrome (6) Fibromyalgia (7) Dermatitis and other skin conditions (8) Multiple sclerosis (9) Peripheral neuropathy, myopathy, and other neurological disorders (10) Schizophrenia (11) Depression (12) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (13) Ataxia (14) Type 1 diabetes (15) Autism spectrum disorders (16) Meniere disease (17) Endometriosis (18) Insulin resistance and inflammation (19)
