Sometimes gluten can appear in strange places; places you’d never expect. When you’re diagnosed with Celiac Disease, or gluten-intolerance, it’s up to you to make sure your toothpaste, the ketchup bottle in your fridge, and even your vitamins don’t contain anything that can make you sick.
Some of these products may surprise you. For example, most people wouldn’t suspect their vitamins contained gluten when in fact gluten is a common ingredient in
Probiotics are friendly bacteria that live in our intestines. When our level of bad bacteria overbalance the good bacteria, we get a condition called dysbiosis. The following video describes three probiotics that decrease inflammation and make…
What Is Vitamin C?Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid or ascorbate, is an essential water soluble vitamin.
Fresh supplies of vitamin C are required every day to perform vital roles throughout the body among which are the production of connective tissue such as skin, blood vessels and bone, anti-inflammatory responses and anti-oxidant performance. See below for all roles.
Vitamin C fights for us! It has an anti-cancer effect stemming from its role as a potent anti-oxidant in blood plasma and within cells. It also protects nucleic acids (DNA) from oxidative damage and inhibits the formation of nitrosamines (carcinogenic compounds formed in the digestive tract).
Importantly, vitamin C can regenerate vitamin E from an oxidized state after vitamin E performs its own anti-oxidant role against free radicals and vitamin C works together with other anti-oxidants, such as beta-carotene and glutathione, to increase their overall anti-oxidant effect.
A study investigating the specific anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant micronutrients that reduce oxidative stress found that in adolescents with metabolic syndrome (MetS) the lower the vitamin C level in blood the worse the MetS status and blood uric acid level. MetS prevalence was estimated at 7% among boys and 3% among girls.1
Vitamin C reverses osteoporosis by reducing or preventing oxidative stress that destroys living bone tissue. Osteoporosis is a disorder of bone inflammation that results in thin, weak bones that may easily fracture. In normal bone structure, vitamin C is required to form collagen, which is living bone tissue.
In humans, vitamin C reduces the duration of common cold symptoms, even if its effect is not clear.2
Vitamin C must be obtained from food daily because our bodies, unlike monkeys and other animals, cannot produce it.
Urinary excretion of vitamin C cannot be detected when vitamin intake is below the required levels. On the other hand, when intake exceeds saturation in the body, the vitamin and/or its metabolites are actively excreted into urine to prevent excessive toxicity of the vitamins.3
Niacin, also called vitamin B3, is required by all the cells of our body making it essential for vitality and life itself.
Niacin is essential for keeping our skin and digestive tract healthy, our brain and nervous system functioning normally, certain key cell processes repaired, our adrenal glands producing steroid hormones at demand levels, sex glands producing the hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone and, most especially, for producing energy to keep our body alive.1
When absorbed from the small intestinal tract, niacin becomes part of a process including more than 200 enzymes involved in metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fatty acids, that is, chemical reactions that maintain life.1 Niacin is stored by the liver.2
Niacin must be digested to release its absorbable forms, nicotinamide and nicotinic acid. These molecules are absorbed across the intestinal lining at low concentrations by sodium-dependent facilitated diffusion, meaning they need help to get into the bloodstream.1
Selenium is a trace mineral required for good health. We should not be complacent about the small amount of this essential nutrient needed because not having enough of it has serious consequences.
Selenium is required for antioxidant protection, DNA repair, thyroid hormone activation, immune system enhancement, production of prostaglandins, muscle function and protection against cancer.
S mall intestinal edema is characterized by fluid accumulation within the intestinal mucosa so that the intestinal wall appears thick and swollen.
Intestinal edema hampers peristalsis that can result in pain and gas build-up. Peristalsis is the normal rhythmic muscular wave-like action that moves residue along the gastrointestinal tract.
Q: What part of the small intestinal lining is swollen?
A: Any part of the small intestine may be affected. Some causes of edema include allergic reactions, enteropathies such as celiac disease, cow milk enteropthy, yeast infection, parasite infection, inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease, and certain medications.
For example, the anti-hypertensive drugs known as Angiotension Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors can cause intestinal angioedema and therefore the patient may present with gastrointestinal complaints.1
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Unexplained weight gain is characterized by increased body mass due to excess fat accumulation that is not desired by the individual.
A body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30 signifies being overweight.
What Is Thiamin?Thiamin, also called vitamin B1, is an essential vitamin that is required to convert foodstuffs into energy and for the health and proper functioning of the nervous, muscular and cardiovascular systems.
In the bloodstream, 90% of active thiamin (TPP) is carried by red blood cells while 10% is transported in the bloodstream as free thiamin and thiamin monophosphate bound mostly to the protein albumin.
In the diet, animal food sources provide active thiamin while plant food sources provide free thiamin.1
Urinary excretion of thiamin cannot be detected when vitamin intake is below the required levels. On the other hand, when intake exceeds saturation in the body, thiamin and/or its metabolites are actively excreted into urine to prevent excessive toxicity of the vitamins.2
In patients who have thiamin deficiency, the most common conditions that bring them to a clinician include neuropathies, depression, myalgia, cardiomyopathies or takes diuretics and/or eat a high carbohydrate diet.3
Niacin is an essential water-soluble B vitamin that is required by all cells of the body.
During digestion of food containing it, niacin (the form in food) is changed in the small intestines to the active form niacinamide (niacin plus an amide group), which is then absorbed into the bloodstream.
Niacinamide is converted by the body into co-enzymes which are present in all cells. These are niacinimide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and NADP. NADP is formed when the body adds a phosphate to NAD.
Q: How do these enzymes work?
A: These enzymes function in oxidation-reduction reactions essential for release of energy from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins and are needed as components for more than 200 enzymes involved in metabolism.
In addition to producing energy, niacinamide is essential for healthy skin and the mucosal lining of the digestive tract, normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and production of steroid hormones in adrenal glands and hormones in sex glands. Functions are more fully described below.
Urinary excretion of niacin cannot be detected when vitamin intake is below the required levels. On the other hand, when intake exceeds saturation in the body, the vitamin and/or its metabolites are actively excreted into urine to prevent excessive toxicity of the vitamins.1
Pyridoxine is an essential vitamin that is required for the health of nerves, bones, blood, arteries, blood sugar, the immune system and metabolism of proteins.
Two important functions of pyridoxine involve coenzymes that are involved in regulating the metabolism of proteins like methionine and tryptophan and their intermediate amino acid building blocks.
In total, the coenzymic form of vitamin B-6, pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), serves as a coenzyme for over 140 enzymes in human metabolism.1 Functions are more fully described below.
Magnesium is required for pyridoxine to actually attach to enzymes dependent on it.
Because pyridoxine is excreted from the body by the kidneys, urinary excretion of it cannot be detected when vitamin intake is below the required levels. On the other hand, when intake exceeds saturation in the body, the vitamin and/or its metabolites are actively excreted into urine to prevent excessive toxicity of the vitamins.2
Smoking blocks use of pyridoxine.