Endotoxemia (specifically lipopolysacharide from gram negative bacteria) is a constant, even normal process. It's part of what actually "tunes" the immune system to recognize self from non self (very important from an autoimmunity perspective). Our collective problem is too much LPS as a consequence of "bad" bacterial overgrowth and leaky gut (intestinal permeability). Bacterial overgrowth tends to occur from highly refined carbs, suppressed immune function and a host of medications. Intestinal permeability can be caused by toxicants like gluten, glyphosphate (Roundup!!) and again, a host of over the counter and prescription drugs. Other factors in this story: Sleep, stress, exercise…it becomes very challenging IMO to pin down exactly what is the causative factor in all this. Here is a good example: Shift work takes a low level gluten intolerance and brings it up to a serious problem due to disruptions in gut function (down regulation of secretory IGA). Now that the gut is damaged, LPS causes a constant low grade inflammatory process which causes the adrenals to ramp up…which ultimately depletes serotonin (in both the gut and the brain) which further deranges sleep and exacerbates the gut permeability. I work a lot within the police, military and fire scene…the above scenario is endemic in theses populations and is common to a lessor extent in the general population. It almost becomes inconsequential what the causative factor is because we will need to tackle ALL of these issues to really fix the problem of systemic inflammation.
Chris-
A possibly interesting bit of medical history: In 2004 if one searched Pubmed for the term "intestinal permeability" one might get about 200 search terms. Most of these painted the topic as pseudoscience. It was nearly career suicide to even ask questions about this topic. As of today, if one enters "intestinal" into Pubmed, the 2nd suggested search term is "intestinal permeability" right before "intestinal epithelial." There are over 10K citations on the topic and it's one of the hottest areas of immunology:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=intestinal+permeability
It's a great question and I do not have a concrete answer after nearly 15 years of tinkering with all this. Here are a few thoughts:1-Current production is clearly NOT sustainable, either ecologically, nor economically. The whole CAFO system relies on gov subsidies to exist. I'd like to see that go away and then see what the market can actually sustain. This will largely answer how much animal protein there is to eat. These ideas should not be controversial: take advantage of the efficiency of photosynthesis, feed critters the diet they evolved to eat, reduce the non-renewable energy inputs to food production:
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/8-steps-sustainable-meat-and-milk#fqCMDoKBQWVzJbrk.01
2-I am a big fan and supporter of the Saovry Institute. If you have not seen Allan's TED talk I highly recommend it (I'll link below). In talking to Allan it mirrors most everything I've seen here at Peak Prosperity. Perhaps that's confirmation bias that I'm searching for to support a broken world view I have! Or, perhaps some folks are looking at things a bit differently and seeing both similar problems and prospective solutions. The Holistic Management approach developed by these folks holds huge promise in food production, reversing desertification, carbon sequestration…important stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI
I would also highly recommend reading the book 1491. It looks at the pre-columbian societies of the Americas and it's worth noting they were likely 2/3 of our CURRENT population. I think we can do a lot with decentralization, permaculture and shifts away from such energy intensive production methods. Our food will cost more, travel less far, but we will likely all benefit from that.
[quote=robbwolf]Chris-
A possibly interesting bit of medical history: In 2004 if one searched Pubmed for the term "intestinal permeability" one might get about 200 search terms. Most of these painted the topic as pseudoscience. It was nearly career suicide to even ask questions about this topic. As of today, if one enters "intestinal" into Pubmed, the 2nd suggested search term is "intestinal permeability" right before "intestinal epithelial." There are over 10K citations on the topic and it's one of the hottest areas of immunology:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=intestinal+permeability
[/quote]
Thanks Robb.
It just goes to show that the things that science scoffs at today might be the important findings of tomorrow. I think every age is egocentric and believes that it pretty much knows how the world works.
I encounter this belief structure all the time. For myself, I prefer to keep an open mind, and if there are any observations that are out of alignment with current orthodoxy, I tend to weight the observations as still having something to teach us. A thread to follow, if you will.
One of the tricks when reading blog posts is to figure out where the author is coming from and how educated a viewpoint he is exposing.
Robb Wolf is the author of The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet, and a host of other books and blog articles. His work is widely quoted in the functional medicine courses I have been taking. He is a national and international star in this emerging field of how to live healthy and in accordance with our genetic design.
I want to enthusiastically recommend Robb's writing and comments to other pp'ers with a special note to others in medical and scientific fields. Rob is a biochemist and backs up his words with sound science.
When new ideas are in the earlier portions of their several-decade-long march of diffusing into the consensus understanding, they can appear "flaky," "new-aged", "hippy-dippy", "completely unproven" and (the ultimate insult in medicine) "purely anecdotal." Often we experience a visceral rejection of novel viewpoints initially. (I certainly do.) But when solid scientists articulate the viewpoint well and provide references, they make an "on-ramp" for the rest of us to explore the new viewpoint and come on board. And Robb is one of these "on-ramp" builders. So listen up!
(Functional Medicine is a newly coined term, also described as "science based naturopathy." A newly forming movement of MDs, DOs, NDs, DCs, Ph.Ds., RDs, psychologists and exercise physiologists endeavoring to find out how to normalize human biochemistry so that we don't get "diseases." Diet, exercise, stress reduction, modifying gut microbiome and permeability, nutrient supplementation and avoiding environmental toxicants are some main modalities. This is the same kind of approach that Naturopaths have been doing for decades. What is new now is that a sufficient number of scientific underpinnings have been elucidated so that this approach has moved into legitimacy in the more intelligent and independent thinkers.)
Where I am personally coming from: I am an emergency physician in late middle age who got diagnosed with pre-diabetes, mild hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and insulin resistance syndrome. I KNEW that I did not want to go down the path of the patients I see all day long in the ER and began to explore why these diseases have become endemic and what I could do to learn to live healthy. I am now 100% convinced of the value of focusing on normalizing and optimizing physiology so we don't get these clusters of symptoms and lab abnormalities we call "diseases."
For more on Robb Wolf, listen to our podcast with him from 4 months ago:
As sandpuppy says, he's a very knowledgeable guy oriented on helping people make behavior changes towards better fitness and health.
We're honored to have him as an active member here within the PP.com community.
I am an I2a (P37.2), the same as Lincoln. We were in the first wave of humans out of Africa into Europe. We were there before the last Ice Age. The Ice Age trapped us in the Balkans for ten thousand years with Neanderthal. We have more Neanderthal in our genes than other humans.
Other humans, the Celts etc, arrived after the ice retreated again. So let us examine the assumption that all humans have the same intestines. (Or the same blood, or the same skin or the same any other organ.)
I experiment with my intestines- These days I am feeding my micro-biome sauerkraut mostly because it is alive, (Unaffected by heat) and because it works for me. How can I insist that it will work for you?
We who still carry the genes, are a lot less sociable. And a lot tougher.
As a Neanderthal, I celebrate whenever I find another red haired child. We are still amongst you humans. We are not gone.
Once Monsanto gets its GMO wheat on the market (will be soon) you should not eat any grain or processed food since the chances of GMO being there will be close to 100%. Also do not drink beer anymore!!!
That was good. Added some more to my understanding of this puzzle that is understanding metabolic syndrome.
Inflammation. LDL "Pattern B" particles, gut microbiotics (endotoxins), simple carbs, hormones – they all play a part, but what I wonder if there's a single causal actor.
Am looking forward to listening to your next interview w/ David Seaman, Chris. If you're interested in diving deeper into the issues here examined, consider reading:
Can The Right Gut Bacteria Fight Obesity and Slay Metabolic Syndrome: http://bit.ly/1hce94h
Yep.
-Joe
Finally more news stories are coming out that see what sugar does to your health and at the same time they stop putting so much blame on the fats:
Regularly file all the reports about best doctor green valley the investigation as an alternative to enter them in the blog for reference. Always carry a copy of the ECG (electrocardiogram), because they tend to disappear from the post time. Similarly reports CT / MRI blog. Consultations have been easy after that weight loss tips for women.