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Diet Choices for Your Best Health

Organ-Specific Autoantibodies and Celiac Disease Patients – (10-16-00)

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Organ-Specific Autoantibodies and Celiac Disease Patients

This is yet another example of how important it is to determine food allergies and avoid those foods we’re allergic to. Wheat is high on the list of common allergies, along with corn and milk. This article also brings to light the systemic affects of food allergies; effects are not always what a person would normally think of. No hives, no stomach upset. In this study, children allergic to gluten (a protein found in wheat) had evidence of autoimmunity to cells in the thyroid and pancreas. Would this not lead to strong evidence for every patient with suspected hypothyroidism to have a trial of wheat elimination?

J Pediatr 2000;137:263-265 Patients with celiac disease have high levels of diabetes- and thyroid-related autoantibodies that “disappear” when the patients are placed on a gluten-free diet. The finding confirms the high prevalence of organ-specific autoantibodies in patients with celiac disease, and supports the theory that these antibodies are gluten-dependent, Dr. Alessandro Ventura, of the Universita di Trieste, Italy, and colleagues say in the August issue of the Journal of Pediatrics. The investigators tested 90 children with celiac disease for serum antibodies to islet cells, glutamic acid decarboxylase, insulin, and thyroperoxidase. The overall prevalence of diabetes- and thyroid-related autoantibodies was 11.1% and 14.4%, respectively.

Diet of US Adolescents Has Deteriorated Since 1965 – (08-14-00)

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Diet of US Adolescents Has Deteriorated Since 1965

I hope we didn’t spend too much money on this study… We are slowly destroying the health of our country by focusing on fast, processed food as the main staple in our diets.

Arch Dis Child 2000;83:18-24 “These results show food consumption trends that are compromising the nutritional and health status of US adolescents and may contribute to important increases in nutrition-related chronic diseases,” Dr. Siega-Riz and colleagues write. “Given our increased understanding of the role that diet and body composition play in preventing disease and promoting a higher quality of life, these results provide a clearer basis for intervention during adolescence to instill proper dietary habits.”

Very Delayed Reactions in Cow’s Milk-Intolerant Children – (08-14-00)

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Very Delayed Reactions in Cow’s Milk-Intolerant Children

Until we get away from the idea of getting an immediate allergic skin reaction as evidence of food allergy, we will never come to fully appreciate how prevalent and important food allergies really are. This study noted effects TWO WEEKS after exposure.

Allergy 2000;55:574-579 In the initial challenge, no children showed very delayed reactions (i.e., by more than 72 hours) to cow’s milk, the results indicate. However, there were three cases of very delayed reactions at the year 1 “cure challenge,” six cases after 2 years, and eight cases after 3 years. Among the ten patients with very delayed reactions, the investigators note, the mean time between the initiation of the challenge and the onset of any clinical symptom was 13.3 days. All symptoms disappeared after reinstitution of a cow’s milk-free diet.

Duodenal ulcer: Evidence for the possible role of dietary lipids – (08-10-00)

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Duodenal ulcer: Evidence for the possible role of dietary lipids

There are many substances in nature that can help with ulcers. Licorice, cabbage. This study suggests that specific lipids can protect against ulcers.

Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 15 (6), 610-616 The experiments confirm the presence of a lipid in certain staple foods that have protective and healing properties in experimental peptic ulcer animal models. The differences in the prevalence of duodenal ulceration between different regions in some developing countries with a high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection might be explained by the presence or absence of protective lipids or ulcerogenic factors in the staple diet.

Ear infections and allergy – (06-26-00)

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Ear infections and allergy

The relationship between ear infections and food allergy is a very important one, and should be evaluated in EVERY child with ear infections.

Allergy 55 (5), 435-441 The inflammatory response by eosinophils, neutrophils, and mast cells in the middle ear was distinctly different between atopic and nonatopic patients (P<0.001). This study provides evidence that eosinophils and mast cells, both essential to a Th–2 driven immune response, are present in the majority of ears with chronic OME, and supports the hypothesis that middle–ear mucosa, like that of the rest of the upper respiratory tract, is capable of an allergic response.

Increased leukotriene production by food additives in atopic dermatitis – (03-26-01)

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Increased leukotriene production by food additives in atopic dermatitis

Think the dermatologists are talking to the gastroenterologists on this one? Or would that be the allergists? In reality–neither group believes very heavily in food allergies causing seemingly unrelated systemic symptoms. Nonetheless, this is an excellent article stressing the importance of a food coloring/preservative free diet in the management of many diseases. Dr. Feingold many years back had proposed and had good results in the use of a non-processed diet for children with ADD/ADHD type disorders.

Synergy : Clinical & Experimental Allergy 31 (2), 265-273

Read entire article here

The “Soy is Evil” Saga Continues: 7 Effects on Prediabetes

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For those of you that read my blog post on soy a few weeks ago and still think I’m off my rocker and being paid under the table by the soy growers association, I present exhibit B.

With the usual caveats of non-processed and non-GMO soy, the research is overwhelmingly in support of soy as part of a healthy lifestyle.  I’ve read the arguments stating that soy was only recently introduced into the human diet maybe 75 years ago, but much like all the other misconceptions about soy, this is untrue and, in this case, the authors are only maybe 5,000 years off (and, in the timeframes of the universe as well as carbon dating techniques, this is merely a rounding error).

In this particular study, authors looked at the ability of genistein (the protective isoflavone found in soy) to help improve prediabetes.  120 women with prediabetes were given 54 mg genistein (about the amount found in a serving of soy) for 1 year.  Here’s what they found:

  1. With genistein use, fasting glucose and fasting insulin dropped.
  2. HDL-C increased an average of 10 mg/dL.
  3. Increased adiponectin levels (an anti-diabetic hormone produced by the fat cells).
  4. Decreased total cholesterol, LDL-C down 30 points, triglycerides and visfatin (another fat derived hormone that drives inflammation and chronic disease).
  5. Homocysteine levels dropped as well (an amino acid linked to heart disease and stroke).
  6. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was also reduced.

To top it all off, genistein users complained of no more side adverse effects than the non-users in the study and did not discontinue the study at any different rate.

Looking at the drop in LDL cholesterol and triglycerides coupled with the increase in HDL, the risk of heart disease is going to plummet with this as well.

Compare this to statins, the wonder drug that I love so much, which ONLY effects one single blood marker (LDL) and will actually LOWER HDL.  So, a drug with loads of side effects (which can be perused ad nauseam in my eBook, which can be found on the eBooks page by clicking here) that has almost no effects on heart disease or stroke rates is not even in the same ballpark as a serving of soy at protecting your heart.

Much life the proverbial death match between the HR Block accountant and the ninja warrior.  Too bad the accountant has billions of dollars backing him up.