Tag Archive for: inflammation

Research Update: Gut on a Chip

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In the final research paper I’ll review, the headline that caught my attention was “Probiotics are not always ‘good bacteria’.” That’s something I really hadn’t seen before so I had to check it out.

In this case, I had to learn about a new technology called organ-on-a-chip. Over the past five years or so, researchers have tried to develop a three-dimensional approach to doing research on various organs including the gut. Essentially what they have done is develop what are called chips with living tissue on different sides of a membrane. As it relates to the gut, they have the epithelial layer, the actual absorbable tissue from the gut, on one side and the endothelial layer on the other side. They can then control fluids and nutrients to study what happens in healthy versus diseased conditions.

In the study that resulted in the headlines, the researchers examined what happened when probiotics were introduced into a damaged gut such as we would see in irritable bowel disease or Crohn’s. Using a mouse-model chemical that destroys the gut tissues, what they found was that once the chemical was removed, the inflammation was reduced and the gut was repaired.

If the probiotics were introduced before the gut damage, the destruction was ameliorated, thus preventing some damage. When the probiotic was introduced after the damage, the inflammation was reduced but the repair process was impeded.

Prior research has demonstrated that probiotics are beneficial in human trials for people with damaged epithelial cells or simply stated, the inner portions of the gut. It seems curious that it would slow repair in this gut-on-a-chip model; even so you might feel better because inflammation is reduced.

What should we do? The digestive system, just like any other organ system, is part of a total organism. On a chip, even with more than one component represented, it’s still not the entire organ and certainly is missing the effects of some other organs that may have an impact. The only way to know for sure is to duplicate the study in living beings, whether in rodents or humans.

Based on human trials, there’s no reason to change the use of probiotics if you have inflammatory bowel disease. Talk with your physician, but at this point there’s no reason to stop using probiotics.

The Bottom Line

Probiotic research continues at a rapid pace, and I believe that the ultimate “cure” for any disease or condition will be found there. It doesn’t mean we’ll live forever; it could mean we get to live healthier all the days we’re alive. I continue to take my probiotic as does everyone in the family, including my three-year-old grandson Riley. And don’t forget you can get even more good bacteria from vegetables and fermented foods.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

References:
1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmgh.2017.12.010.
2. www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1810819115/-/DCSupplemental.

 

Research Update on Probiotics and Healthy Skin

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There has been so much research on probiotics published that it’s hard to keep myself informed, and you as well. This week I’ll summarize three recent studies on probiotics. Let’s begin with research on probiotics and skin conditions.

Researchers examined the effects of three strains of probiotics on skin inflammation in mice: two strains of lactobacillus and one strain of bifidobacterium. Three groups of mice were given one of the probiotics for two weeks while two control groups were given a placebo. After two weeks, the skin of four groups of mice was chemically exposed to an irritant to cause inflammation while the fifth group was exposed to a control chemical.

The researchers examined both blood and skin of the mice for indicators of inflammation after seven days of exposure. The markers for inflammation were lower in the groups who took the preventive probiotics than either of the positive or negative controls. While this was a small study on mice, it did demonstrate that probiotics helped reduce the skin response to chemical irritation. This may be the first step in identifying a probiotic that could help conditions such as atopic dermatitis in the future.

Keep taking a wide-spectrum probiotic, especially if your skin has been less healthy than you want it to be. If you have a teen with skin problems, probiotics may make a big difference. Another research update on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: Beneficial Microbes, 2018; 9(2): 299-309.

 

How to Reduce Disease-Related Pain

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The first two memos on pain were relatively easy: joints and nerves. From that point forward, it can get very challenging: Lyme disease, irritable bowel syndrome, shingles—the list of diseases that lead to pain could go on and on. To complicate matters, with the concern over opioid addiction, many people in pain don’t want to even try those medications. What do you do?

The key is to work with your physician and specialists to develop a strategy for pain relief. That will vary by disease. A medication that benefits the nerves for shingles pain may be helped by NSAIDS or other pain relievers, but NSAIDS may not be beneficial for someone with IBS; the absorption of the pain reliever may cause more bowel pain.


Two Strategies to Help

There are two things you can try that may directly or indirectly help with pain. The first is to reduce inflammation and as I mentioned on Tuesday, the supplements that may help are omega-3s, turmeric, and glucosamine. They can help reduce inflammation in more than joints.

The second would be to strengthen the immune system. Lyme disease is bacterial, shingles is a virus, and IBS is an attack on the lining of the intestines. While strengthening the immune system is not directly involved, it may assist the body in dealing with the cause and reduce the pain. To me, that means using probiotics, antioxidants such as vitamin C and E, and using herbs such as echinacea and garlic. As I said, it may not directly affect pain but may indirectly help the body cope with the condition.


The Bottom Line

The two strategies won’t work for every disease. Every form of cancer can result in different pain. Some diseases such as type 2 diabetes can impact the extremities and eyes in ways that require professional guidance. But in general, strengthening the immune system may help over the long term. That also means increasing the intake of vegetables and fruit and getting some exercise within the limitations of the condition. That’s a topic for another time.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Immune Boost 1-2-3: Garlic

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The second part of our immune boost supplements is garlic. Garlic has been noted to have beneficial properties for over 5,000 years. Garlic thins the blood, thereby benefiting blood pressure, and helps lower cholesterol. Garlic does many things, but what benefits our immunity is its ability to boost the immune system while reducing inflammation.

There is little question that garlic helps the immune system. It’s been used as a dietary treatment to help the immune system recover from chemotherapy; it’s also been used in supplement form to help the immune system get and stay stronger. That’s an obvious way it helps with viruses and allergies, but it also acts as an anti-inflammatory. It’s important to remember that inflammation occurs whenever our body is under attack—not broken-leg inflammation but the release of negative hormones. Garlic helps reduce that type of inflammation.

Just as with echinacea, it’s important to begin as soon as the first tickle occurs. The quantity would be 600 mg taken three times a day. That gets our immune system starting to work better, but there’s one more thing we need. I’ll cover that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Power Up with Vitamin B12

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The final supplement I’ll cover this week is vitamin B12, sometimes called the energy vitamin. Many vitamins are involved with energy production, but a lack of B12 can certainly cause problems with energy and other issues.

Vitamin B12 is also known as cobalamin and if you’re wondering, yes, this vitamin does include the mineral cobalt. There are two primary functions of B12 in the body. The first is to help reduce the chemical homocysteine to methionine while helping folate be converted into a usable form in the same reaction. Without enough B12, homocysteine increases inflammation in the body . . .

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Sports Nutrition After Your Workout

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The objective of post-workout sports nutrition is to recover as quickly as possible; that means providing nutrients that will replace fuel, help the repair process, and reduce inflammation. These are natural by-products of exercise, especially intense exercise. Nutrition can help the recovery process, and we’re learning more about it all the time.

The first priority is to replace muscle glycogen; that helps the muscle, but it also seems to help the immune system as well. Second is to provide protein for any repair that needs to take place, especially after a hard weight-training workout. Whether from . . .

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Curcumin: Question 1

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In April, I wrote about curcumin, the latest popular supplement proclaimed to fix what ails us; it’s an antioxidant, reduces inflammation, and may have other beneficial properties in treating cancer and improving memory. But over the holiday weekend, I thought about the questions that still need to be answered. The questions apply to just about any nutrient that’s purported to be the latest and greatest—juices such as açai or noni or powders such as moringa.

Let’s begin with antioxidant properties. Could the amounts used in supplements be too much? Curcumin is poorly absorbed; that’s . . .

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PQQ: Miracle in a Bottle

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The latest cure for your health problems has arrived. I know—I just watched the online infomercial. Or do they call it advertainment now?

It was presented by a cardiologist who is well respected in his field. The topic was arterial inflammation, AKA the cardiac killer, and what you could do about it. I was in.

What I saw were the “facts” about heart disease. Using an artist printing and drawing on a whiteboard with a voice over, I learned:

  • Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the number one killer.
  • The Framingham Study gave . . .

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Supplements for Low Back Pain

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To cope with pain in the lower back, we’ve looked at solutions that deal with mechanics: trying to increase the fluid levels of the discs as well as stretching and strengthening the core muscles. The next logical step is to cover some supplements that can help with low back pain.

Where there’s pain, there’s inflammation. Two nutrients can help reduce inflammation in bones and joints: omega-3 . . .

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