Good for Your Body Study Connects Fiber With Biology
November 23, 2009
Natural News
By S.L. Baker
You probably know that getting enough fiber in your diet can keep constipation at bay and it can lower high cholesterol levels, too. Now Australian researchers have found another reason why the indigestible part of plant-based foods, known as roughage, is good for you — it plays an important role in keeping your immune system healthy and in preventing specific diseases.
When fiber moves through the digestive tract it remains mostly unchanged, working as a type of internal broom. Then, in the colon, bacteria interact with roughage. Fermentation takes place, producing compounds called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) which are known to help soothe ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory gut condition. Probiotics and prebiotics, beneficial bacteria found in kefir, yogurt and nutritional supplements, affect the healthy balance of gut bacteria and have been documented to help the symptoms of two other inflammatory diseases, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.
But what is the connection between fiber, “good” intestinal bacteria and the healing of disorders marked by inflammation? In a study just published in the science journal Nature, Sydney-based scientists say they’ve found the answer to that question. They’ve discovered a mechanism that explains how a plant-based diet rich in fiber works with beneficial gut bacteria and the immune system to promote health and potentially prevent a host of diseases.
Kendle Maslowski, a PhD student, and Professor Charles Mackay from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, working in collaboration with the Co-operative Research Center for Asthma and Airways, have demonstrated that a molecule dubbed GPR43 expressed by immune cells and previously shown to bind SCFAs reduces inflammation. They found that mice lacking the GPR43 gene have increased, unresolved inflammation in their bodies because their immune cells can’t bind to and use SCFAs.
So how does this information translate into helping human health? “We’re now beginning to understand that from the moment you’re born, it’s incredibly important to be colonized by the right kinds of gut bacteria. The kinds of foods you eat directly determine the levels of certain bacteria in your gut,” Maslowski explained in a statement to the press. “Changing diets are changing the kinds of gut bacteria we have, as well as their by-products, particularly short-chain fatty acids. If we have low amounts of dietary fiber, then we’re going to have low levels of short chain fatty acids, which we have demonstrated are very important in the immune systems of mice.”
Professor Mackay pointed out in the press statement that the notion what you eat might have profound effects on immune responses and inflammatory diseases has never been taken seriously enough. “We believe that changes in diet, associated with western lifestyles, contribute to the increasing incidences of asthma, Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. Now we have a new molecular mechanism that might explain how diet is affecting our immune systems,” he stated.
The scientists conclude that their current research provides compelling reasons to eat a diet rich in unprocessed whole foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds. “The role of nutrition and gut intestinal bacteria in immune responses is an exciting new topic in immunology, and recent findings including our own open up new possibilities to explore causes as well as new treatments for inflammatory diseases such as asthma,” said Professor Mackay.
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Autoimmune Disease May be coming from Home Insecticides
October 27, 2009
USA Today
New research suggests a link between women’s exposure to household insecticides — including roach and mosquito killers — and the autoimmune disorders rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
The scientist did not find a direct cause-and-effect relationship between insecticide exposure and the illnesses, and it’s possible that the women have something else in common that accounts for their higher risk. But epidemiologist Christine Parks, lead investigator of the study, said the findings do raise a red flag.
“It’s hard to envision what other factors might explain this association,” said Parks, an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences who was to present the study over the weekend at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Philadelphia.
Previous research has linked agricultural pesticides to higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, two diseases in which the immune system goes haywire and begins to attack the body. Farmers, among others, appear to be vulnerable.
Parks and her colleagues wanted to find out whether smaller doses of insecticides, such as those people might encounter at home from either personal or commercial residential use, might have a similar effect.
The researchers examined data from a previous study of almost 77,000 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79. Their findings were to be released Monday at the American College of Rheumatology’s annual scientific meeting in Philadelphia.
Women who reported applying insecticides or mixing them — about half — had a higher risk of developing the two autoimmune disorders than women who reported no insecticide use. This was the case whether or not they had lived on a farm. Those who used or mixed the insecticides the most — judged by frequency or duration — had double the risk.
Even so, the risk of developing the diseases remained very low. Overall, Parks said, about 2% of older adults develop the conditions.
Parks said the insecticides that the women used included insect killers, such as those designed to eradicate ants, wasps, termites, mosquitoes and roaches. They didn’t include insect repellents.
There are some caveats to the research. For one, it’s not clear exactly what products the women used or when. “Over time, there have been major changes in what products were available for home use,” Parks said.
And while researchers tried to take into account the influence of factors like age that may boost a woman’s risk of getting autoimmune diseases, it’s possible they missed something that boosted the risk of illness.
Could gardening, which often entails insecticide use, be a contributing factor? That’s possible. But Parks said a lot of insecticide use takes place inside the home, not outside in the garden.
For now, she said, the findings indicate the need for “more research on environmental risk factors and better understanding of what factors might explain these findings, what chemicals might be associated with these risks.”
She declined to speculate on how insecticides might cause problems in the body.
“I would recommend that people read the labels and take precautions to minimize their personal exposure” to insecticides, she said. “This is the case regardless of whether these results are implicating a chemical that’s on the market now or was before.”
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