Living Better with Autoimmune Disease
Disclaimer: Nothing contained here is medical advice. Viruses are all around us, and we constantly interact with them. We are all carrying around countless microbes, most of which are beneficial. Staying healthy isn’t about avoiding germs, but rather in being well nourished, and supporting the …
When a pregnant mouse (F0) was injected with glyphosate, effects are seen on the children (F1), grandchildren (F2), and great-grand mouse children (F3).
Common knowledge says that autoimmunity is an overactive immune system. In other words, “the body is attacking itself.” Not exactly.
In most cases, the immune system isn’t too strong, it’s actually too weak, and becomes dysfunctional.
The immune system is made up of various components. The first line of defense against infections are our skin, digestive tract, and other barrier membranes. After that, the innate immune system. The innate immune is like a security guard watching the door. It’s looking for anything that’s not supposed to be there. What if the security guards are on strike? What if the door is open, the windows are broken, and the security is overwhelmed? Examples of this include
A weakness in the innate immune system can result in a chronic stimulation of antibody-producing cells. These cells are part of the adaptive immune system. Although this is a natural process, it is designed to take care of an infection quickly. For example, if you have the flu, you’ll feel very sick for a few days until your body is able to produce enough antibodies to fight the infection. Once the infection is resolved, everything should go back to normal.
So how does autoimmunity happen? Let’s consider the case of leaky gut: Injury to the intestinal barrier results in the immune system being activated every time you eat food. Inflammation is the body’s way of cleaning up damage, as if it’s healing from an injury. If you also work a stressful job and don’t get enough sleep, your immune system might be weak, so that you can’t recover as quickly. Your weak and overworked immune system now begins producing antibodies.
The idea that “The immune system attacks the body” is not entirely correct. The immune system is designed to destroy anything that’s not supposed to be there, but can be triggered by toxic metals or infections. Allergies can also be a source of antibodies that can damage tissue.
Drugs used to treat autoimmune disease suppress the immune system. Newer drugs are are more specific to certain immune cell types, and have fewer side effects, but drugs don’t address the root cause of the condition.
Summary: If you are taking coumadin, you may be at risk of heart disease because of vitamin K deficiency. This risk can be reduced by supplementing with certain forms of vitamin K, without adversely affecting your clotting risk. Only change your medication dose under the …
The American Heart Association (AHA) recently issued a “Presidential Advisory” which linked saturated fat with heart disease, and encouraged the increased use of vegetable seed oils. The lead author said, “…coconut oil is a fad right now — but it is actually a saturated fat, …
Coconut oil is healthy, … Coconut oil is bad for you. Saturated fat causes heart disease… now it doesn’t? Sigh. It seems like every few days a report comes out that “proves” that saturated fat causes all kinds of diseases. What do studies really prove?
One way of studying the health impacts of a dietary system is to feed it to rodents in a laboratory environment, and follow the unsuspecting animal over time.
Many thousands of animal studies have been done using mice or rats as models of obesity. Laboratory supply companies have rodent chow that is specifically designed to make them fat. This mouse chow is called DIO (Diet Induced Obesity). This obesity-inducing diet is sometimes referred to as a “High Fat Diet”. These DIO diets also cause the mice (or rats) to have diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic problems. Often, scientific papers are published linking high fat diets to an unfortunate list of health problems. Other papers identify saturated fat as the evil villain that’s making the poor animals sick.
Most laboratory supply companies use lard as their source of saturated fat. Research Diets Inc, a laboratory supplier, explains how their DIO rodent chow induces metabolic diseases in mice, saying, “Many high-fat diets used in laboratory animal research typically contain high saturated fat sources such as lard …. and these diets are quite capable of inducing obesity and metabolic diseases….” So scientists doing research are told up front that their furry subjects are being giving saturated fat to give them a deranged metabolism.
Already we know that:
So, saturated fat causes health problems. Right?
The connection between saturated fat and inflammation isn’t that simple. For example, lard also contains other potentially damaging compounds that could confound the studies. Here are some examples…
A study in the 2010 Journal of NeuroImmunology is entitled Cognitive impairment following high fat diet consumption is associated with brain inflammation. This study used a DIO diet (from Research Diets Inc) based on lard to cause brain inflammation. (ScienceDirect, 2017)
Research Diets Inc. is not the only one using lard to fatten mice. Bio-Serv is another supplier of laboratory rodent food, and they also use lard in their high fat product. (Bio-Serv, 2017) An article in the Journal of Lipid Research was Titled Influence of dietary saturated fat content on adiposity, macrophage behavior, inflammation, and metabolism: composition matters (Enos, et.al. 2012). A study found that the 12% saturated fat diet (12%-SF) caused the greatest amount of insulin resistance. Their conclusion is that inflammation is heavily influenced by saturated fat content. Here’s a clipping of the actual source of fat:
The columns on the right are the high saturated fat diets, the left are the control diets. All of the diets have 40% of calories coming from fat. The saturated fat is increased by adding lard and coconut oil. But, corn oil is known to be high in compounds that can cause inflammation! So why is saturated fat blamed on for insulin resistance? Why not blame rancid corn oil? Both lard and corn oil are also dangerously high in polyunsaturated (which I’ll call PUFA). So if rodents get fat and sick on an amalgamation of saturated fat and PUFA, why are we so quick to blame saturated fat?
A mouse study from 2012 compared mice eating a 10% fat diet to mice eating 60% fat. The study was entitled “Increased Gut Permeability and Microbiota Change Associate with Mesenteric Fat Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction in Diet-Induced Obese Mice”. Their conclusion was that “High saturated fat diet induced weight gain, systemic insulin resistance and inflammation”. However, they don’t disclose the supplier of the mouse chow, and there’s no mention of the type of fat in the chow.
The “high fat” diet was 38% saturated. If the researchers had used simple algebra, they would have seen that proportions of non-saturated fats must be a lot higher than the control diet also. Aside from that, 38% is similar to the USDA’s reported saturated content of lard. Assuming lard was used in this study, the actual amount of fats in lard can differ greatly from the USDA’s estimates. Pigs that are fed grains will have a high amount of PUFA in their fat. Again, why do we assume that saturated fat is responsible for all the metabolic effects?
In almost all of these studies, lard (and other fats) are used to fatten mice and cause inflammation and obesity. They then conclude that saturated fat is bad. Why don’t we conclude that lard is not healthy? If lard is bad for us, can we blame the saturated fat? We could just as easily point to the PUFA, or any other component in lard as the culprit. Vegetable seed oils contain high levels of PUFAs, and should receive at least some of the blame here.
Studies clearly show that
Perhaps lard and seed oils could be part of the problem? Let’s continue…
Lard is a type of animal fat, and animals can store toxins in fats. Pesticide residues end up in the fat of animals. Animals higher 
on the food chain have more dissolved toxins. In the United States, most pigs are fed diets that are high in corn and soy. Some states allow food waste to be fed to pigs. Studies have found animal fat to be high in dioxin, DDT, veterinary residues, and chlorinated pesticides. Lard, which comes from pigs, can accumulate these toxins (Muntean et.al, 2003) (Kovacs et.al, 2009). So if a scientific study finds higher rates of inflammatory diseases in rodents that eat lard, can we blame the fat content, or could accumulated toxins be to blame? This variable is usually not controlled, nor is it accounted for in any of these studies, but could influence the outcomes.
If lard causes heart disease, it reinforces the idea that saturated fat is the culprit. What if we consider the null hypothesis that polyunsaturated fat causes heart disease? It turns out that this this might also be a logical conclusion. The fatty acid profile of pig fat depends strongly on what the pigs are being fed. Modern pigs are eating grains, and food scraps. Grain-fed pigs have a lot more polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) in their own fat. In other words, the actual fatty acid profile used in scientific studies might be much higher in PUFA’s than is accounted for.
If lard-fed mice are getting sick, why not use coconut oil instead? It has the advantages of being
Very little research has been done comparing the health benefits of coconut oil to lard, or other popular cooking oils. Coconut oil, being high in saturated fat, is assumed guilty by association.
Very few scientific studies have been done comparing coconut oil to other types of fats. A few studies found fats from coconut oil to be helpful in reducing LDL oxidation and lipoprotein (a) (Nevin, Rajamohan, 2004). This suggests that coconut oil might actually protect against …
By Terry Stephens Perhaps you have read the recent headlines: “Coconut oil isn’t healthy. It’s never been healthy” – USA Today. “Nutrition experts warn coconut oil is on par with beef fat, butter” – Chicago Tribune “This popular health food is worse for you than …
PCOS is the most common cause of infertility in women. Poly-cystic Ovary Syndrome is associated with cysts on the ovaries, but isn’t always the case. Women with PCOS often have irregular periods, or no periods at all, and often do not ovulate. High insulin, or insulin resistance is usually present.
PCOS is not an autoimmune disease, but is rather a sign of imbalanced metabolism. PCOS usually (but not always) comes from a combination of factors that lead to a lack of ovulation. These factors include
Ovulation is a miraculous process that requires a very delicate symphony of hormones, working in careful balance. An imbalance of one of these hormones can derail this process. If ovulation does not occur, the egg will not be released, and the corpus luteum will not be formed. The corpus luteum is supposed to make progesterone, to balance the production of estrogen and testosterone (and to prepare the uterus for possible pregnancy).
The most common offender is insulin. If insulin is too high, it will cause increased luteinizing hormone (LH), stimulating excess hormones production, including testosterone and DHEA, and cause the ovaries to be excessively stimulated, resulting in abnormal follicle growth.
What if you eat healthy? You have normal blood sugar? You’re not overweight? Being a normal weight doesn’t mean your metabolism is healthy. If you feel healthy but were diagnosed with PCOS, you should seek help from a qualified practitioner. Other factors should be considered, including genetics, toxic exposures, sleep, and stress management.
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (non-classic) is sometimes misdiagnosed as PCOS, and is treatable. So ask your doctor to check for this. This condition can be easily ruled out with a genetic test.
Frequently, women are prescribed hormonal birth control to manage the symptoms of this condition. This is symptom management, and can exacerbate nutrient deficiencies.
In a future blog post I will discuss natural treatments options.
If you were diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, you’re probably aware of the unrelenting pain, soreness, and fatigue that this disease causes. Pain and fatigue are the most significant symptoms of fibromyalgia. People with fibromyalgia often have difficulty sleeping, and might have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) Medications …