THE WESTERN DIET KILLS US YET AGAIN…Inflammatory bowel disease is when your body attacks its own gut. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s are the biggies. Not only are these diseases bad enough all on their own, but these conditions are associated with much higher rates of colorectal cancer. This particular study implicates the Western Diet (high in processed foods, animal saturated fats, artificial stuff, low in fruits and veggies, healthy oils, phytonutrients) in this progression from IBD to cancer. Adding more doom to the picture, it seems that the rates of IBD are going up in our children. This is likely a result of messing with the immune system too early with wanton use of antibiotics and vaccination (both of which skew the immune system towards autoimmunity). This makes it even more important to avoid antibiotics in children except in the most dire of circumstances, view each immunization with a magnifying glass and make sure they grow up knowing what fruits and veggies and olive oil look like and have no idea that you’re supposed to eat that brilliantly colored food looking product that comes in a box or plastic wrap.
Liver Disease
Taking Vitamin D? You Need to Add This Vitamin as Well
Prediabetes is arguably more dangerous to your health than is cigarette smoking. For the smoker who is prediabetic, life insurance is a must.
This danger to your health stems from the fact that prediabetes and diabetes attack pretty much every organ in your body. The blood vessels get destroyed (heart attack and stroke), the DNA of your cells gets damaged (cancer), your kidneys and your brain (Alzheimer’s dementia, cognitive loss and Parkinson’s disease). One organ that many doctors are not aware of in the line of diabetic fire is the liver.
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are two liver conditions that are very strongly linked to being prediabetic (NASH is the more progressive of the two conditions).
The principal tool for management of prediabetes and diabetes is diet. While exercise is important, it is not as important as diet. Avoiding environmental chemicals like plastics, styrofoam, pesticides, Teflon and flame retardants is another pillar of diabetes prevention.
That being said, there are a handful of nutrients and supplements that have a good track record for singlehandely fighting off diabetes. The short list includes:
- Magnesium
- Vitamin D
- Fish oils and monounsaturated fats (think olive oil)
- Alpha lipoic acid
- Folic acid
Vitamin D is a supplement that I have written about extensively over the years. What I haven’t been as outspoken about has been it’s related vitamin, vitamin A. Both vitamins function as hormones, not vitamins. They do this by acting on your DNA to change what a cell is doing. Contrast this with a true vitamin, which will act as a cofactor to help an enzyme do its job. The receptor for vitamin D and the receptor for vitamin A work together to change the way a cell behaves.
It is for this reason that some researchers feel that vitamin D toxicity is really a relative deficiency of vitamin A. Kind of like how taking too much calcium without magnesium can cause heart rhythym problems. This doesn’t happen because of too much calcium, but rather because there is not enough magnesium to counterbalance the higher levels of calcium.
There has been some controversy in the past about mixing vitamin D and vitamin A, with some experts recommending the use of beta carotene (the precursor to vitamin A) rather than preformed vitamin A. But I have looked into this concern and just really haven’t found any solid research suggesting that we need to be that concerned (although I do reserve the right to change my opinion based on future research).
With all of this out of the way, we can talk about the results of this particular study. In it, researchers looked at the relationship between blood levels of vitamin A and the likelihood of developing diabetes-related liver problems (NASH or NAFLD). Here’s what they found:
- Blood levels of vitamin A were 47% lower in patients with NAFLD (1.42 ng/mL) and 58% lower in NASH (1.14 ng/mL) versus those without these conditions (2.70 ng/mL).
- In those without liver disease, when compared with non-prediabetic patients, vitamin A levels were 19% lower in those with “controlled” type 2 diabetes (2.87 vs. 2.32 ng/mL).
- In those with NAFLD who were prediabetic, vitamin A levels were 20% lower when compared to those with NAFLD who were not prediabetic (1.61 vs. 1.28 ng/mL).
- In those with NASH who were prediabetic, vitamin A levels were 21% lower when compared to those with NASH who were not prediabetic (1.35 vs. 1.07 ng/mL).
- Under special testing done on the liver tissue, flare ups were lower in those who had higher activation of the vitamin A : vitamin D receptor complex (RXRα mRNA expression).
- Both blood vitamin A levels and greater activation of the combined vitamin A : vitamin D receptor complex (RXRα mRNA levels) were linked to lower levels of triglyceride accumulation in the liver.
Based on this study, it is clear that vitamin A plays some type of role in protecting against both prediabetes as well as liver damage associated with prediabetes. Given how inexpensive vitamin A is as well as how easy it is to take (much like vitamin D, vitamin A can be taken weekly). Biotics vitamin A-Emulsion forte is the product that we use in the office. I generally try to dose in a 1:1 ration, keeping in mind that this vitamin A has 12,500 per drop, so you’ll have to do the math depending upon how much vitamin D you are taking.
A systemic phenomenon for oxidative stress in cholestatic liver disease – (11-12-00)
A systemic phenomenon for oxidative stress in cholestatic liver disease
This article appears a little complex, but it basically states that alterations in liver function can damage other areas of the body. This is not really a new concept, and when a physician understands the detoxification process in the liver, he or she can learn to improve or eliminate this damage to the rest of the body.
Physicians practising functional medicine have known for years that the liver, if the two detoxification phases are not working in sinc, can damage itself. The process is called metabolic activation and this article suggests that this process is also creating damage systemically as well. And, normal “liver function tests” will not pick this up. A true liver function tests needs to look at just that…the function of the liver. Unfortunately, many gastroenterologists are unaware that panels exist that check the liver’s detoxification pathways.
Gut — Abstracts: Ljubuncic et al. 47 (5): 710
Japan Issues Health Alert on Common Cold Remedies – (07-10-00)
Japan Issues Health Alert on Common Cold Remedies
Just because something is over the counter does not mean it is safe.
Japan’s Health and Welfare Ministry warned hospitals and physicians on Friday that an ingredient used in some prescriptions to fight the common cold may cause serious liver problems, after the death of two patients. Since 1997, eight patients who took remedies which included loxoprofen sodium have suffered serious liver damage and two of have died, the ministry said in a statement.
Preventive Strategies in Chronic Liver Disease – (11-08-01)
Preventive Strategies in Chronic Liver Disease
This is a review article that touches on the superficial ways to address improper liver function. Of interesting note is the long list of very common drugs that are hepatotoxic. We need to start viewing pharmaceutical drugs for what they are–toxic substances that, while having limited beneficial effects, can have a broad range of side effects that can be worse than the condition originally treated. Although the list of herbs in this same category is also long, the herbs listed are not very common. Also of note is the author grudgingly supporting milk thistle. Research and anecdotal information supporting the use of milk thistle to protect and restore the liver is abundant.
Preventive Strategies in Chronic Liver Disease – November 1, 2001 – American Family Physician
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis – (01-18-01)
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
This research article suggests a link between small bowel bacterial overgrowth and liver disease. The results do suggest an increase in bacteria present in small bowel, but it is not via a change in permeability and subsequent increase in toxins from the bacteria making it into the bloodstream. The small bowel overgrowth may be incidental, or it may be shown in the next few years that there is a less direct route by which the bacteria alters liver function.
Gut — Abstracts: Wigg et al. 48 (2): 206
Soybean Extract Found Protective in Alcoholic Liver Disease – (11-29-00)
Soybean Extract Found Protective in Alcoholic Liver Disease
Liver disease is a disorder that is managed poorly by Western medicine. Many patients who have been diagnosed with liver disease are basically given a “watch and wait” therapy plan. Luckily, the liver is a primary focus of functional/alternative medicine. Milk thistle, B vitamins, SAMe and N-acetyl cysteine are all well known and researched for their hepato-protective properties. Now we have another tool to use–soybeans. And remember, the liver can actually begin to destroy itself if the two phases of detoxification are not in harmony (termed metabolic activation), and a detox liver profile (NOT the supposed “liver function tests” commonly run–these check for actual structural liver damage, NOT function) can help identify areas that need work.
(article) An extract from soybeans has been found to halt, or perhaps even reverse, progression of liver fibrosis in alcoholics in a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial. Eighteen alcoholic patients were randomized to receive either placebo or the extract polyenylphosphatidylcholine (PPC). Five of the nine on placebo showed fibrotic progression on liver biopsies 2 years later. For the nine on PPC, liver histology was unchanged or slightly improved, reported Dr. Charles S. Lieber, of the VA Medical Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Bronx, New York. Dr. Lieber described his group’s study at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. There is a need for an effective therapy in these patients because their current prognosis is dismal. “In patients with alcoholic cirrhosis who are over 60 years old, there is a 50% mortality at 1 year,” Dr. Lieber said. “Much of this toxicity is because alcohol is metabolized preferentially in the liver.” The extract PPC is a 95% pure mixture of polyunsaturated phosphatidylcholines, about half of which is dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC). Dr. Lieber’s earlier work in nonhuman primates suggested that DLPC opposes oxidative stress, one of several mechanisms thought responsible for alcohol’s hepatotoxicity. Patients who were taking PPC had higher plasma levels of DLPC than controls, further suggesting that DLPC may be the active, antioxidant ingredient, he said.
Additional reading: Entrez-PubMed
How are abnormal liver function tests dealt with in primary care? – (02-05-01)
How are abnormal liver function tests dealt with in primary care?
First of all, it is a shame that we still consider standard liver enzyme levels as a “liver function” test. It absolutely is NOT. With these tests, we are looking for liver damage, not function (with exception of bilirubin, which is somewhat of a functional test). True liver function tests involve what the liver DOES, such as detoxification panels. I love to see a patient come in with altered liver function, because I know there is so much that functional medicine can do for these patients.
bmj.com Abstracts: Sherwood et al. 322 (7281): 276