I have a super important message for you about inflammation.
We all know inflammation is bad. Advertisements for medicines on the TV talk about it all the time, blaming it for everything from heart disease to arthritis.
Inflammation is bad. It is so bad that we include decreasing inflammation as a part of treating every condition in our Gluten Free Works Treatment Guide.
But, what is inflammation and how do we stop it?
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…
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]agnesium is an essential mineral predominantly found in the body within cells, where it is vital for their functions.
Here is a summary of what magnesium does in our body:
Only 1% of magnesium is found in blood, but the body must keep blood levels of magnesium constant.
What Is Vitamin C?[dropcap]V[/dropcap]itamin 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
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that is characterized by involvement of multiple organs due to the production of antibodies to components of the cell nucleus.1 SLE has an unpredictable course of acute flare-ups and remissions.
Severity depends on the extent of organs affected with skin and nail involvement, called discoid lupus, being the least serious and inflammmation of the kidney, called lupus nephritis, being the worst.
Nevetheless, a classic presentation is development of a rash over the cheeks and nose that resembles a butterfy with wings spread hence the name “butterfly rash.”
Symptoms are many and varied depending on the tissues affected and are often not specific, for example hair loss has a variety of causes. Symptoms can be confused by co-existence with other autoimmune disease such as Sjogren’s syndrome.
Systemic lupus erythematosus should be managed by a specialist. Symptoms can be controlled with steroid therapy, but this disease can be a cause of premature death mainly from active disease, organ failure (e.g., kidneys), infection, or cardiovascular disease from accelerated atherosclerosis.
Certain common medicines known to cause drug-induced lupus are:
Other less common drugs may also cause the condition. These may include:
Symptoms tend to occur after taking the drug for at least 3 to 6 months.2
Although there is a strong familial aggregation, the disease is relatively uncommon and most cases are sporadic.1 According to the Center for Diseases (CDC), lupus most commonly affects women of childbearing age but also occurs in infants, children, adolescents, and men with peak occurrence between ages 15 and 40. Blacks (and possibly Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans) are affected more than Whites.
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]jögren’s syndrome is a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease with a chronic, progressive course that primarily attacks the lacrimal glands of the eye and the salivary glands of the mouth, which are exocrine glands. Exocrine glands secrete the substances they produce through a duct.
Sjögren’s syndrome is ordinarily characterized by dysfunction of the lacrimal glands to produce tears causing dry eye and the salivary glands to produce saliva causing dry mouth, but is not limited by or to these features.
Besides involvement of these exocrine glands, there may be involvement of other parts of the body, termed extraglandular, which may be more severe than eye or mouth features.
There is not yet agreement on classifying Sjögren’s syndrome. Primary and secondary are the two forms generally accepted.1 Both forms can cause mild to severe disease, called the spectrum:
Diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome is made by most doctors based on Schimer’s test for tears and unstimulated whole salivary flow to assess objective eye and oral involvement, since these are the tests most physicians use in clinical practice.4 Specific antibody tests would be positive for anti-Ro (SSA)/anti-La (SSB) autoantibodies. Sjögren’s syndrome should also be considered when extraglandular manifestations such as vasculitis, polyneuropathy or arthritis occur, even when the patients do not complain of dry eyes and mouth.5
There is no cure for Sjögren’s syndrome. Treatment is aimed to diminish symptoms. For example, steroids and Ibupropen are used to decrease inflammation and pain in joints. Artificial tears and ointments are used for dry eye.
Most people who develop Sjogren’s syndrome are older than 40 years. Nine of ten people with Sjögren’s syndrome are women.2
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]rohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease characterized by patchy inflamed areas involving the full thickness of the intestinal wall that can occur anywhere in the intestinal tract, in addition to, mucosal disease.
In Crohn’s disease there is ongoing immune activation which produces inflammation and ulceration but the cause is not known and the severity varies among patients. At diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, factors predictive of subsequent 5-year aggressive disease are an age below 40 years, the presence of perianal disease, and the initial requirement for steroids.1
Dysbiosis is a factor that develops in and worsens Crohn’s disease and stress is a factor in both of these conditions. Psychological stress activates multiple physiological processes aimed at maintaining balance within the body. These physiological processes also have the capacity to influence the composition of microbial communities in the digestive tract, and research now indicates that exposure to stressful stimuli leads to gut microbiota dysbiosis.2
While the relative abundance of many different bacterial types can be altered during stressor exposure, findings in nonhuman primates and laboratory rodents, as well as humans, indicate that bacteria in the genus Lactobacillus are consistently reduced in the gut during stress.2
Q: Is there a cure for Crohn’s disease?
A: Presently, Crohn’s disease cannot be cured. This condition has a course of remissions, when symptoms subside, and flares, when symtpoms get worse. Treatment is aimed to reduce flares and promote remission.
What Is Intestinal Dysbiosis? [dropcap]I[/dropcap]ntestinal dysbiosis is an imbalance of the composition and quantity of microbe populations (called the microbiota), that naturally inhabit our human gut. Dysbiosis causes altered gut immunity, abnormal fermentation of undigested foodstuffs,…
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ortic vasculitis is an inflammatory disease of the aorta that causes dilation of the aorta wall with narrowing of the inside passageway and results in widespread impairment of blood flow to tissues served by the aorta.
Q: What is the result of inflammatory disease of the aorta?
A: The aorta is the largest artery in the body. It extends from the left ventricle (lower chamber) of the heart and carries blood out of the heart with each beat to rest of the body. Narrowing of the aorta’s inside diameter due to swelling from inflammation causes elevated blood pressure and enlarged heart because of back pressure of blood unable to be fully pumped out of the heart with each beat. The heart enlarges because the difficulty of pumping blood out makes it work harder than normal.
Vasculitis that causes midaortic syndrome is a variety of aortic coarctation (narrowing) located in the lower thoracic aorta, the abdominal aorta or both, involving the intestinal and renal vessels (kidney). It usually presents with arterial hypertension.1
[dropcap]D[/dropcap]ermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is an autoimmune extremely itchy, painful bullous skin rash (blistering eruptions) arising from the underlying dermis layer of skin as a consequence of gluten sensitivity.
Dermatitis herpetiformis is characterized by multiple intensely itchy, red blisters appearing on the elbows which can extend down the forearm to the wrist and the knees. Less usual areas involve the back, buttocks, scalp, and abdomen.
Q: Do the blisters leave a mark when healed?
A: Crops of skin eruptions begin with itching or a burning sensation in reddened papules. There are grouped vesicles and tense blisters. The blister contents may be serous or bloody, with symmetrical distribution (eg, both knees or both elbows). Fluid filled elements rupture leaving denuded areas of sore skin and crust. Subsequently, there is residual hypopigmentation (a white area) or hyperpigmentation (dark area).1
Rupture of blisters begins relief from intense burning and itching.
Primary care providers should be aware of this skin condition, as they are more likely than a gastroenterologist to be confronted with this type of presentation of celiac disease.2
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