August 11, 2004 Research Update

James Bogash, D.C. Mesa, AZ
info@lifecarechiropractic.com
www.lifecarechiropractic.com

Small bowel bacterial overgrowth is a common cause of chronic diarrhea

What I find interesting about this is that small bowel bacterial overgrowth has also been linked to increased risk of non-alcoholic steatohepatits and elevated TNF alpha levels as well. "So what?" you say? Acid suppressive therapy has been linked to bacteria growing where they are not supposed to (stomach acid is definately a sterilizing agent for most bacteria). We really need to re-evaluate just what side effects we can expect with chronic use of this class of medications. Funny--I don't remember seeing anyone in the commercials for the "purple pill" running to the bathroom in the middle of the commercial...

Small bowel bacterial overgrowth is a common cause of chronic diarrhea - J Gastroenterol Hepatol, Vol 19, Issue 8, pp. 904-90..

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Fatality of Future Coronary Events Is Related to Inflammation-Sensitive Plasma Proteins

Does anyone out there need any more research linking inflammation and heart disease? In this article, men having elevated markers of inflammation were more likely to die of their first heart attack. Not good. This is exactly why an approach to lowering cardiovascular risk needs to be about lifestyle changes and not targeted towards individual abnormal findings like hypertension and elevated cholesterol. Healthy fats, exercise, whole grains instead of refined, lots of fruits and veggies--all these things can lower the body's overall burden of inflammation effectively and safely.

Circulation -- Abstracts: Engström et al. 110 (1): 27

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Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Response and Recovery from High-Intensity Exercise in Women: Effects of Aging and Fitness

If most people were asked to list the benefits of exercise, I doubt many would reply that exercise can make the adrenal glands more responsive to hypothalamic control. This just illustrates that exercise's beneficial effects cut accros an incredibly wide range of physiological systems. In English, this study found that elderly women who exercise on a regular basis had adrenal glands that responded better than their sedentary cohorts. So, after exercise, cortisol levels are increased but should fall relatively quickly. But this response is slowed as we age. This can lead to abnormally elevated cortisol levels. However, exercise in the elderly women in this study restored a more normal response.

JCEM -- Abstracts: Traustadóttir et al. 89 (7): 3248

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Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Once again, American Family Physician does a nice job evaluating a natural approach. Omega-3-fatty acids effect such a basic level of physiology--by modulating the ability of our enzymes to produce (or rather, NOT produce) chemicals associated with inflammation. There are many drugs that inhibit enzymes that work on fats to produce inflammation. But what if these fats that the body uses to make inflammation were not even there in the first place? Basically less inflammation. And since inflammation plays a role in so many chronic conditions, lowering inflammation will help many of these conditions. This is why omeag-3-fatty acids supplementation seems to help with so many different conditions.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids - July 1, 2004 - American Family Physician

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Evidence for defective energy homeostasis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Benefit of a high-energy diet

ALS is one of those very scary conditions because, as of our current state of knowledge, it is a progressively fatal condition where the body fails but the mind retains all faculty. We are starting the to see that, even this disease, one that is much feared by all, may be related to oxidative stress and inflammation leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. Stay tuned...

Evidence for defective energy homeostasis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Benefit of a high-energy diet in a transgenic mou..

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No evidence for heritability of Parkinson disease in Swedish twins

I know when I speak in the community on neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, there is usually surprise and quite a bit of resistance when I describe them as diseases of lifestyle. However, the research is pointing more and more towards (sound familiar??) oxidative stress and inflammation leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. Ultimately the cells cannot keep up with the damage being done to themselves and they commit suicide (a process called apoptosis). Lose too many cells this way and you start losing function.

No evidence for heritability of Parkinson disease in Swedish twins -- Wirdefeldt et al. 63 (2): 305 -- Neurology

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Does the Glucose-Dependent Insulin Secretion Mechanism Itself Cause Oxidative Stress in Pancreatic beta-Cells?

This is not a new concept, the but idea is very disconcerting. Basically, certain diabetic medications (insulin secretagogues like glucophage) may actually promote the diabetes in the long run. Basically, the process of forcing the beta cells of the pancreas to produce more insulin causes oxidative stress. And, as noted before, to much oxidative stress can lead to apoptosis. Apoptosis of the beta cells of the pancreas lowers the body's ability to produce insulin at all. Just to make the story more bleaker, consider this--there is no longer any question that oxidative stress can lower insulin production in the first place. Quite a viscous circle. Like I mentioned, this information is not new, but the evidence continues to be ignored. This again points to the fact that the ONLY way to safely manage diabetes is through agressive lifestyle changes.

Diabetes -- Abstracts: Fridlyand and Philipson 53 (8): 1942

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Why is measles still endemic in Japan?

At first glance, this article would seem to support widespread vaccination of all infants. However, looking at the statistics, 88 out of 200,000 children died of the measles in Japan in 2000. That is 0.044%. Now, I am sure if we examined these 88 children that did succumb to the virus we would find that many, if not all, were immunocomprimised or otherwise did not seek proper medical attention when the disease did not resolve as expected. This is exactly what we saw this past year with the "deadly" flu epidemic. So I would suggest that this percentage could be drastically reduced lower than it already is with proper education. The point of all this? If we focused 1/10 the energy on getting patients to avoid refined carbs as we do vaccinating them, the impact on the health of our country would be staggering when compared to the measles virus.

The Journal : Back Issues

No difference in body weight decrease between a low-glycemic-index and a high-glycemic-index diet but reduced LDL cholesterol after 10-wk ad libitum intake of the low-glycemic-index diet

Here's the gist of this one. A low glycemic index diet (the preferred, healthier diet with whole grains and avoidance of refined carbs) did not show any benefit over a high glycemic index diet. So, most would look at this and say, "Hah--they don't know what they're talking about!!! Hand me that donut.... However, the study was 10 weeks long. 10 weeks. 2 1/2 months. No wonder people are confused about what they should eat. Women subjects in this study ranged from 20-40 years of age. I would bet most of them have spent AT LEAST 1 decade bombarding their genes with refined carbs. That would be approx 520 weeks. This study evaluated 10 weeks of healthier lifestyle changes versus 520 weeks of preprogrammed genetic expression. Is it any wonder there was no change? Give the study AT LEAST 6 months to a year.

AJCN -- Abstracts: Sloth et al. 80 (2): 337

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Hormonal and lifestyle determinants of appendicular skeletal muscle mass in men

Sacropenia is the medial term for abnormal muscle loss. This occurs as we get older and much effort has been focused on why this occurs. (stay tuned--some research is pointing towards the type of meal such as all protein vs all carb and how our muscle building capacity changes as we get older...) This article found several risk factors, but one that caught my eye was 25 (OH) Vitamin D. This compound has been getting more and more press and I'm strongly considering making this a standard recommendation for my senior patients as well as some good sun exposure for 15 mins per day.

AJCN -- Abstracts: Szulc et al. 80 (2): 496

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