Ankylosing Spondylitis Diary and Diet Research

Welcome to my blog,
This site is intended to provide lots of useful information and quotes regarding the autoimmune disorder Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). Make sure you check out the categories bar on the right hand side of the page to help you find the topics most relevant to you.

2005.08.03 : Another period of remission. I have not figured what has caused this remission of symptoms. For some reason I am now able to eat most starchy foods and only have very modest increase in inflammation. Also, the inflammation dies down after about 12 hours whereas such a reaction used to last 2 to 3 days.

2005.05.16 : I was having great success treating my AS with UVB radiation. Later I became quite convinced that excess UVB had weakened my immune system and that it was this which caused a temporary remission in symptoms. You can read about this here: http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=198690

If you do suffer from Ankylosing Spondylitis then please read some of the info on Reiter's Syndrome (reactive arthritis) as I find that many people with AS suffer from one or two symptoms of reiter's syndrome whilst not being aware of the disorder or its relationship to AS. See the following link:
http://zarkas.blog.com/Research+%3A+Reiters+Syndrome/

Also, if you are interested in treating AS with dietary means then please check out my other blog: http://zarkme.blog.com/

The following are related to the No Starch Diet

• PaulS is doing well on the NSD. He started in June 2002
  I'm still here. Still NSD
• knyghtmist doing well on NSD
  http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=192261
• Leigh01 on the NSD
  http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=195008
• Jcwinnie said he improved but later gave up / changed his mind :
  "People, including yours truly, feel better when they reduce or eliminate starch from their diet."
  http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=64561
  

The following are not diet related (I will stick them here anyway)

• Krishna found that regular exposure to sunlight stopped his inflammation. He takes a walk outside almost every day for about 20 minutes. The assumption is that the body needs Vitamin D in order for the immune system to function properly. Although I disagree with his views on diet, I still respect his persistent efforts to find a solution to this disease.
  Note that the most recent info appears last in this list and is certainly worth reading.
  
• • cod liver oil is helping me
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=152996
  • Vitamin D Lowers Inflammation
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=153451
  • Krishna
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=3801
  • Sunlight burns my ankylosing spondylitis
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=166140
  • I KICKED AS!!! vit D deficiency is the best clue
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=169749
  • Britons suffering from lack of sunshine
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=173366
  • Victory against Ankylosing Spondylitis
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=180536
  • Interesting piece of info about sunlight
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=188368
  • Vitamin D?
    http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=192487
  • Krishna's website. Has lots of good info on UVB, sun lamps, Vitamin D, etc.
    http://spondylitis.homestead.com/files/index.htm
    
• heronblu had great results from pamidronate / bisphosphonate
  http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=115160
  

I have had several periods of temporary remission in Ankylosing Spondylitis. Remission has occurred for reasons such as:
* Antibiotics - these were perscribed for a chest infection whilst in Malaysia
* Fever - sometimes a high fever will cause the inflammation to die down completely. Does not happen every time.
* Fasting
* No Starch Diet
* Fruit Fast - a monodiet consisting of either apples, pears, or some other fruit that is not starchy.

2005.08.04

Having Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) seems to predispose a person to a multitude of other autoimmune disorders such as: iritis, psoriasis, IBS, etc. Not only that but the disease process and the drugs end up doing harm to some organs eg: liver, gallbladder, kidneys. This post will list some of the health problems and what ways I have found of coping with or resolving them.

Key:

• * = safe
  
• ** = helpful
  
• *** = very beneficial
• --- = detrimental
  

Symptom	Resolution
Anxiety	(reactions seem similar to that of brain fog) *** fasting ** greens ** tofu ** fruit fasting ** eating heaps of green vegetables * meat -- Some sugary foods
Ankylosing Spondylitis	*** No Starch Diet. See http://www.kickas.org/ *** fruit fasting. Use only fruits that are low in starch eg: apples, pears, grapes *** ? Raw Wheatgerm. Probably works due to laxative effect. *** infrared lamp treatment ** eating heaps of green vegetables eg: cabbage, spinach, lettuce, brocoli * low starch fruits * low starch vegetables eg: cauliflower, cucumber, etc * meat, fish, eggs, mushrooms, etc * fat, mayonnaise, oils, etc --- grains --- legumes, beans, lentils. Most beans, peas, etc are starchy --- root vegetables
Candida	*** coconut fibre *** yoghurt ** dietary fibre * greens * fresh fruit (not when juiced) -- refined sugar --- rice
Cystitis	see: UTI
Eczema	*** Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's) such as those found in evening primrose oil (EPO), flaxseed oil, fish oils, cod liver oil, etc. I hear that flaxseed and evening primrose oils are particularly effective. *** infrared lamp treatment *** ? Raw Wheatgerm. Seems to work better than apple cider vinegar. *** (?) Live apple cider vinegar seems to work very well. Others have sung its praise on forums (ref-a, ref-b, ref-c). Make sure it is live apple cider vinegar (unpasteurised) with that weird slimy sediment which they call 'the mother' of vinegar. ** salt. Adding salt to sweet / starchy foods helps a little to reduce the reaction. ** green vegetables ** fat, mayonnaise, oils, etc * meat, fish, eggs, etc * yoghurt --- sweet foods --- winter --- scratching
Enthesitis	Symptoms: hand, knee or foot pain. Caused by inflammation at the point where the tendons connect to bones. *** No Starch Diet * rice - oats. Only a mild problem, have to eat quite a lot of oats for a reaction. -- Dairy. Yoghurt, cheese, etc are all problems. --- Wheat. Perhaps other grains are an issue. Rice is safe. --- Sugar mixed with butter / dairy fat / coconut.. a big problem when it is hot or liquid. So the worst reactions are things like hot chocolate, hot caramel, hot chocolate syrup. Give it a test one day and see if you react to one of these. See also iritis entry as there is a great deal of similarity.
Hand pain	If you have AS and hand pain then it is probably caused by 'enthesitis' (see: enthesitis)
Iritis	Symptom: painful inflammation inside the eye Some similarities with enthesitis in terms of what foods trigger it (see: enthesitis) *** oral prednisolone *** No Starch Diet * yoghurt * rice * corn ? (I think this is safe) - banana. This suggests that Inulin or FOS are a problem for iritis. - oats. Only a mild problem, have to eat quite a lot of oats for a reaction. -- milk. --- sugar mixed with butter / dairy fat / coconut. eg: Hot chocolate, chocolate, caramel, ice cream, etc. A bigger problem when it is hot or liquid. So the worst reactions are things like hot chocolate, hot caramel, hot chocolate syrup. Give it a test one day and see if you react to one of these. --- wheat. Perhaps other grains are a problem too?. Wheat is really bad when deep fried or fluffy eg: donuts, tempura, battered fish, sponge cake, etc. --- echinacea
Tendonitis	see: enthesitis
UTI	Urinary Tract Infection, aka: cystitis *** Bearberry leaf tea (aka: Uva Ursa, Uva Ursi). Must follow a diet that has a low Renal Acid Load in order for this herb to be effective. *** Juniper Berry tea. Use this in conjunction with the Bearberry leaves in a tea. Stick it in a thermos and have a little drink from it regularly. Make sure you don't eat too much protein or it wont help. *** Low Renal Acid Load diet. Greens, fruit, and vegetables. *?? Sandalwood oil. I hear that this is good for cystitis, but I am not certain. --- High Renal Acid Load Diet. --- High protein intake. Meat, nuts, etc. (protein foods give a high renal acid load)
Uveitis	see: iritis

Urethritis is a condition that causes painful urination and frequent urination. This condition is associated with Ankylosing Spondylitis and Reiter's Syndrome.

see also:
http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=233908
http://zarkas.blog.com/Research+%3A+Reiters+Syndrome/

 

A group of symptoms known as Reiter's Syndrome may also lead to AS. These include iritis (or uveitis) which is inflammation of part of the iris; and conjunctivitis which causes red, gritty and painful eyes. People with Reiter's Syndrome also suffer from urethritis. This is inflammation of the urethra, the tube that conveys urine from the bladder out of the body. This results in pain on passing urine, discharge on the end of the penis (especially on waking up in the morning) and an increased frequency of passing urine. Women may get the pain but won't notice a discharge from the urethra. Reiter's Syndrome also results in arthritis, affecting the large joints, especially in the legs, together with pain in the joints of the lower back particularly at night or on waking. -- from http://www.nass.co.uk/questions.htm

 

---

Ankylosing spondylitis and infections of the female urogenital tract.
Rheumatol Int. 1998;17(5):181-4.

Lange U, Berliner M, Ludwig M, Schiefer HG, Teichmann J, Weidner W, Schmidt KL.
Department of Rheumatology/University Giessen, Bad Nauheim, Germany.

Thirty-two female patients with confirmed ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and 33 women of similar age with pure ileitis terminalis Crohn were examined for genitourinary infection. Urethral syndrome was found in 15 out of 32 patients with AS: 11 of them had urethritis and 4 urethritis associated with vaginitis. Five women of the control group suffered from urethritis. In all cases with genitourinary infection, Chlamydia trachomatis was isolated. By comparing the AS-patients (urogenital infection group and the non-infected group) with regard to other present clinical parameters, it was found, as expected, that the erythrocyte sedimentation rate in the 1st hour was significantly higher in the infected group. In addition, the infected patients had a significantly higher incidence of enthesopathy, involvement of the spinal column, and higher C-reactive protein values (CRP > or = 5 mg/l). A family history of AS was equally present. Other clinical parameters, such as inflammatory involvement of the joints and HLA-B27 correlation, did not differ significantly between infected and non-infected patients.

PMID: 9542778 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
quoted from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9542778&dopt=Abstract

 

I have a non-infectious form of urethritis.

This is what helps me manage the problem:
* Alkaline renal load. Eating lots of greens and fruit help.
* B Vitamins. Pretty sure this works. eg: Take a half a berocca.

 

quoted from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=3572523

New diet spells end to life of suffering

15.06.2004

By REBECCA WALSH

Carol Sinclair still has the nightmare. It's not the usual sort: her nightmare is about bread.

"I'm making sandwiches and I absent-mindedly put a crust in my mouth. In the dream I think, 'Oh my god, I've eaten a crust', I've eaten a crust, and I'm waiting for the pains to begin, waiting and waiting.

"And they don't begin, of course, because it's only a dream and I wake up and think, 'Oh, it was just a dream, thank goodness'."

Sinclair hasn't eaten bread for more than 20 years.

It was one of the first things she ditched from her diet as she struggled to overcome the gut pains that left her bloated and in agony night after night. Sometimes the pain was so bad she could only crawl up the stairs to bed.

Soon after, rice, potatoes and pasta disappeared from the menu, as did cakes and most cooked vegetables. Now, at 66, Sinclair has never felt better.

After years of pain, doctor's visits, time in hospital and self-help remedies she stumbled across something that would change her life forever. By removing starch from her diet, the irritable bowel syndrome that had consumed her since childhood was virtually gone.

New Zealand-born Sinclair is among the 15 per cent of people who will suffer from irritable bowel syndrome at some time in their lives.

The term simply means what it sounds like - a person's bowel becomes irritated or upset, causing bloating, discomfort and pain. Many sufferers experience constipation or diarrhoea, some have nausea or loss of appetite. Two-thirds of sufferers are women.

Sinclair, a slim, delicate-looking woman with bobbed blonde hair, can trace the first tummy pain and discomfort back to childhood, before she started school.

It wasn't appallingly bad, "just enough to whinge about". But her mother wasn't terribly sympathetic about whingeing, and doctors told her she had a low pain threshold so she just got on with it - and the pain got worse.

As a teenager "out with boys at parties", she often felt like escaping home to lie down.

She can't remember the number of meetings, while working as a copywriter in ad agencies, where she tried to blank the pain from her mind. "It got to the stage where every night it would be so bad, lying in bed with waves of pain like labour pain."

For years Sinclair went from doctor to doctor. She tried self-hypnosis, naturopaths and gastroenterologists. At one point she nearly had part of her bowel removed.

There were also mysterious joint pains. Sometimes the back and shoulder pain was so bad she had difficulty getting dressed.

Constipation was a problem and soon she was popping up to 35 laxatives a night.

"The more you take the more you need. I felt dreadful. I felt like death warmed up." In desperation, Sinclair asked a doctor for a referral to a nutritionist and was told she should just go home and relax. She was, the doctor said, emotionally uptight. "I was so angry, I had been told that for years."

At the same time, the explanation simply didn't make sense. Sinclair was happier than she had been in years after marrying artist Raymond Ching.

The couple, both previously married, had been introduced by a mutual friend. Sinclair had thought Ching was a "wonderful Chinese" artist. She soon found out that Ching was a Cornish name and that his family had emigrated from Britain in the 1800s.

The pair kept in touch and in 1979 Sinclair moved to England to be with Ching. They now live in the English town of Bradford on Avon, near Bath. Sinclair describes herself as a "kept woman" and Ching as a "darling person who is quite mad". He collects comics and she collects medical models of human body parts.

Still, the kept woman has not been idle. She has published a biography of her husband and a "scary" children's book about an undercover organisation monitoring trade in endangered species and is now working on a biography of the Victorian sexologist Havelock Ellis - "a strange man who inadvertently married a lesbian".

The other thing that jarred with Sinclair was the fact that her pain was not triggered by stress. In fact, it had disappeared after her first marriage broke down and she stopped eating. On every level she could not accept the doctor's verdict that it was all in her mind.

"That night I went home in tears. I was so angry and at the point I decided I was going to take matters into my own hands." A week later she saw a TV documentary about people suffering from the syndrome giving up wheat flour. She stopped eating bread. "It was fantastic. For the first time I could remember, I started to feel well."

But 18 months later the symptoms were back, so she gave up potatoes, rice and pasta. This time the reprieve lasted two years. By then she had discovered that many vegetables released starch when they were cooked; even peas and beans were a problem.

She also found that many processed foods contained modified starch as do some medicines to bind ingredients. And her body reacted - badly.

The big question was how to identify starch in a food before she ate it, when it wasn't listed as an ingredient. A pharmacist suggested a simple iodine test: a drop of iodine on a starchy food changes colour from orange to inky-blue to black.

"I immediately bought some iodine and an eye dropper and had great fun testing all sorts of things. I tested food cooked and raw.

"I had all these little jars and bowls in my kitchen - it was like a laboratory. I did this for a long time and then thought, 'I'm going to write a book about this because now I know I can tell people how to test for starch it makes it so much easier'."

So she did.

In the early 1990s The Sinclair Diet System was published, sold well and was then updated as The IBS Starch-Free Diet.

While Sinclair had found a way to eliminate the symptoms of the syndrome, it wasn't until 1999 that she discovered the science behind how the diet worked. That year her book was found on the internet by Texan George McCaffery, who had a debilitating form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis, which involves the spine and large joints.

An auto-immune disease, it is triggered by a microbe called klebsiella, which live in the gut, feeding on undigested starch. One of the symptoms includes irritable bowel syndrome.

The Texan was being treated by Alan Ebringer, a professor of immunology at King's College in London. Part of his treatment was a low-starch diet. McCaffery's story got Sinclair thinking that maybe she had been suffering from ankylosing spondylitis all along.

Years before, she had suffered terrible back pain, especially in the mornings. Despite cortisone injections, the pains in her shoulders, elbows and arms prevented her even lifting a pot from the cupboard - and they disappeared about the time she eliminated starch from her diet.

After consulting Professor Ebringer a blood test proved Sinclair did indeed carry the HLA-B27 gene - a key to diagnosing ankylosing spondylitis.

About 8 per cent of the population carry the gene but not all go on to develop ankylosing spondylitis.

Professor Ebringer says the fact foods such as potatoes and wheat are cheap means they have become a huge component of our diet, but our bodies are not geared to break down starch quickly.

He has worked with about 500 people who have tried the low-starch diet - "the hunter-gatherer diet of our ancestors of a few thousand years ago" - and most have improved.

But he says many doctors are unaware of the significant role diet can play.

For Sinclair, the revelation that she had been treating a condition she didn't know she had prompted her to publish her most recent book.

The IBS Low-Starch Diet follows her story and includes information on conditions such as Crohn's and coeliac disease. It also contains an extensive collection of recipes, proving that despite her slight appearance, the grandmother of three still indulges in cakes and biscuits by replacing flour with ground almonds.

Sinclair regularly starts the day with bacon, eggs and maple syrup. Lunch and dinner are usually meat and salad, although she can eat some cooked vegetables, including asparagus, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms and fennel.

If it all sounds remarkably similar to the Atkins diet - much loved by American film stars - it is. But unlike Atkins, Sinclair's diet targets starch rather than carbohydrate - and while all starches are carbohydrates, not all carbohydrates (including honey and grapes) are starch.

Sinclair's theory is gaining ground with those in the medical profession. Auckland Hospital gastroenterologist associate professor Alan Fraser says excluding foods from the diet is "top of the list" when it comes to managing irritable bowel syndrome.

But he believes doctors do not have the training or time to work through the process properly with their patients.

"You don't hear people within my specialty talking diets to a great extent. We tend to make the diagnosis, make sure it's nothing else and don't go much further."

Professor Fraser says there is no reason a person with irritable bowel syndrome should not try a starch-free diet but he warns that what offers a radical improvement for one might not for another. "Different people find different solutions."

For Sinclair the long road to the low-starch diet was forged out of a desperate determination.

She doesn't feel bitter towards the doctors who told her to relax; rather, she believes the average GP has "a very tough time" coping with mountains of information. Still, she feels an obligation to let others know what works for her, in the hope it might make the difference for them.

And no, she doesn't think she is missing out. She can still drink coffee, tea and alcohol. She can also eat chocolate. "All I am giving up is pain - and I am so relieved."

 

originally posted by phil : http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=231695

I personally use a few, the most common one I make is just using a 2litre clamp jar. I enough cabbages by estimations to fill the jar to almost 80% full. Then I use a food blender for ease and use the shredding disc to shred the cabbages, sometimes I mix in about 4oz water. I add the contents to a bowl and mix in about 3tbls of celtic salt. I then put the mixture into the 2lt jar, clamp the lid on. I leave that for 3-7 days, just till it looks ready then transfer to jam jars. Sometimes I then leave the jam jars out for longer if not I put them all the in fridge and it keeps forever. Other recipes are using whey from kefir or yogurt strained, less salt or using a veg starter culture. It can turn bad in the first few attempts, it may take a few times to get things right just try and keep things fairly clean. Usually though the salt keeps bad things at bay until the good guys take over.

 

posted by kiwi here: http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=230801

The Skinny on Fats,

Quoted from : http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html

And what about cholesterol? Here, too, the public has been misinformed. Our blood vessels can become damaged in a number of ways-through irritations caused by free radicals or viruses, or because they are structurally weak-and when this happens, the body's natural healing substance steps in to repair the damage. That substance is cholesterol. Cholesterol is a high-molecular-weight alcohol that is manufactured in the liver and in most human cells. Like saturated fats, the cholesterol we make and consume plays many vital roles:

Along with saturated fats, cholesterol in the cell membrane gives our cells necessary stiffness and stability. When the diet contains an excess of polyunsaturated fatty acids, these replace saturated fatty acids in the cell membrane, so that the cell walls actually become flabby. When this happens, cholesterol from the blood is "driven" into the tissues to give them structural integrity. This is why serum cholesterol levels may go down temporarily when we replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated oils in the diet.

Cholesterol acts as a precursor to vital corticosteroids, hormones that help us deal with stress and protect the body against heart disease and cancer; and to the sex hormones like androgen, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone.

Cholesterol is a precursor to vitamin D, a very important fat-soluble vitamin needed for healthy bones and nervous system, proper growth, mineral metabolism, muscle tone, insulin production, reproduction and immune system function.

The bile salts are made from cholesterol. Bile is vital for digestion and assimilation of fats in the diet.

Recent research shows that cholesterol acts as an antioxidant. This is the likely explanation for the fact that cholesterol levels go up with age. As an antioxidant, cholesterol protects us against free radical damage that leads to heart disease and cancer.

Cholesterol is needed for proper function of serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is the body's natural "feel-good" chemical. Low cholesterol levels have been linked to aggressive and violent behavior, depression and suicidal tendencies.

Mother's milk is especially rich in cholesterol and contains a special enzyme that helps the baby utilize this nutrient. Babies and children need cholesterol-rich foods throughout their growing years to ensure proper development of the brain and nervous system.

Dietary cholesterol plays an important role in maintaining the health of the intestinal wall. This is why low-cholesterol vegetarian diets can lead to leaky gut syndrome and other intestinal disorders.
Cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease but rather a potent antioxidant weapon against free radicals in the blood, and a repair substance that helps heal arterial damage (although the arterial plaques themselves contain very little cholesterol.) However, like fats, cholesterol may be damaged by exposure to heat and oxygen. This damaged or oxidized cholesterol seems to promote both injury to the arterial cells as well as a pathological buildup of plaque in the arteries. Damaged cholesterol is found in powdered eggs, in powdered milk (added to reduced-fat milks to give them body) and in meats and fats that have been heated to high temperatures in frying and other high-temperature processes.

High serum cholesterol levels often indicate that the body needs cholesterol to protect itself from high levels of altered, free-radical-containing fats. Just as a large police force is needed in a locality where crime occurs frequently, so cholesterol is needed in a poorly nourished body to protect the individual from a tendency to heart disease and cancer. Blaming coronary heart disease on cholesterol is like blaming the police for murder and theft in a high crime area.

Poor thyroid function (hypothyroidism) will often result in high cholesterol levels. When thyroid function is poor, usually due to a diet high in sugar and low in usable iodine, fat-soluble vitamins and other nutrients, the body floods the blood with cholesterol as an adaptive and protective mechanism, providing a superabundance of materials needed to heal tissues and produce protective steroids. Hypothyroid individuals are particularly susceptible to infections, heart disease and cancer.

The cause of heart disease is not animal fats and cholesterol but rather a number of factors inherent in modern diets, including excess consumption of vegetables oils and hydrogenated fats; excess consumption of refined carbohydrates in the form of sugar and white flour; mineral deficiencies, particularly low levels of protective magnesium and iodine; deficiencies of vitamins, particularly of vitamin C, needed for the integrity of the blood vessel walls, and of antioxidants like selenium and vitamin E, which protect us from free radicals; and, finally, the disappearance of antimicrobial fats from the food supply, namely, animal fats and tropical oils. These once protected us against the kinds of viruses and bacteria that have been associated with the onset of pathogenic plaque leading to heart disease.

While serum cholesterol levels provide an inaccurate indication of future heart disease, a high level of a substance called homocysteine in the blood has been positively correlated with pathological buildup of plaque in the arteries and the tendency to form clots-a deadly combination. Folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and choline are nutrients that lower serum homocysteine levels.53 These nutrients are found mostly in animal foods.

The best way to treat heart disease, then, is not to focus on lowering cholesterol-either by drugs or diet-but to consume a diet that provides animal foods rich in vitamins B6 and B12; to bolster thyroid function by daily use of natural sea salt, a good source of usable iodine; to avoid vitamin and mineral deficiencies that make the artery walls more prone to ruptures and the buildup of plaque; to include the antimicrobial fats in the diet; and to eliminate processed foods containing refined carbohydrates, oxidized cholesterol and free-radical-containing vegetable oils that cause the body to need constant repair.

 

Thanks go to bilko on kickas.org for posting about this here: http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=231197

Quoted from : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4938020.stm

Probiotics may ease gut disorders


Probiotics may help ease gut disorders linked to long-term stress such as Crohn's disease, research suggests.
A team at Canada's McMaster University analysed gut tissue taken from rats put in stressful situations.

Animals fed drinking water containing probiotic bacteria showed less signs that harmful bugs were mobilising to cause damage.

The gut study suggests probiotic bacteria literally crowd out their harmful peers.

As we cannot always remove stress, it would be helpful if we could find new ways to ameliorate its effects.

Chronic stress is known to be implicated in the development of irritable bowel syndrome and in the worsening of symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's and ulcerative colitis.
It also sensitises the gut, producing allergies to certain foodstuffs.

The researchers designed their experiements to try to produce psychological stress in rats similar to that seen in humans. This was done by placing the animals on small platforms surrounded by water.

Half the rats were fed drinking water containing probiotic bacteria in the form of Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus rhamnosus for a period of seven days before and during the stress sessions.

Analysis showed that exposure to stress made the animals' guts 'leaky', and increased the amount of potentially harmful bacteria sticking to the cells lining the gut wall.

Harmful bacteria were also detected in the mesenteric lymph nodes, which drain fluid coming from the intestine, indicating that bacteria had entered the body and activated the immune system.

However, probiotic treatment minimised the changes in chemical signalling and prevented bacterial 'stickiness' and movement to the mesenteric lymph nodes.

The researchers believe that probiotics probably compete for space with harmful bacteria, helping to dampen down inflammatory responses.

They say their use offers a potentially promising approach to the management of intestinal problems caused by stress.

Professor Alastair Forbes, medical director of the digestive health charity Core and an expert in gastroenterology at University College Hospital, London, said the study presented a "reasonable hypothesis".

He warned research on rats was a long way from finding a similar effect in humans.

But he said previous work had shown that people who drank probiotics did not have a significantly raised total level of bacteria - suggesting there might be some truth in the theory that good and harmful bacteria might compete for space.

However, he said it was possible that probiotics also exerted some sort of biochemical effect on other bacteria.

"As we cannot always remove stress, it would be helpful if we could find new ways to ameliorate its effects," he said.