Diet & MS Research

[jimmylegs]

Blood Plasma Levels of Microelements in Patients with History of Optic Neuritis (2013)
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10. ... 8516642315

Purpose: To determine the concentration of microelements in the blood of patients with a history of retrobulbar optic neuritis (ON).
Materials and methods: We examined 36 patients (18–63 years of age) – 11 with demyelinating ON (Group 1) and 25 with isolated ON (Group 2) – all of whom had been treated for retrobulbar ON. The control group comprised 38 healthy volunteers. Using atomic absorption spectroscopy, blood levels of zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) were evaluated.
Results: Compared with the control group, concentrations of Cd were elevated in Groups 1 and 2 (p = 0.003 and p = 0.003, respectively); Group 1 had higher levels of Cu (p = 0.02). Patients from both groups had significantly lower levels of Fe (p = 0.0003) compared with controls. No difference in the concentration of any of the microelements was found between Groups 1 and 2.
Conclusion: Disturbances in Cd, Cu and Fe homeostasis may be associated with the inflammatory process of ON.

bummer, no full text for me. who's got a subscription to this article?
at least what we can draw from this abstract is that the patients had a higher copper zinc ratio than controls.
re high cadmium, that is so similar to zinc that it is toxic by virtue of occupying (effectively blocking) zinc receptors in your body.
i'm so curious about the serum levels
take home message from the abstract, even though this is a small n single study, if optic neuritis is part of your world, could be wise to optimize your ferritin, copper, and copper zinc ratio
and stop or moderate whatever you're doing to increase cadmium retention.

excellent sentence:

Nutritional optic neuropathies
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 0X07004595
"Nutritional deficits are often associated with toxic effects from alcohol and tobacco; therefore, the separation of the nutritional and toxic components is often illusory and artificial."

[jimmylegs]

still have a long way to go with study design, i see:

Anti-inflammatory nutritional intervention in patients with RR and PP multiple sclerosis: A pilot study (2016)
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10 ... 0215618462

...All patients had insufficient levels of vitamin D at baseline, but their values did not ameliorate following a weekly administration of 5000  IU, and rather decreased over time. ...

... After six months nutritional treatment, no significant changes in neurological signs were observed in any group.

...The disease worsening observed in eight out of the 29 patients with dietary prescription, might be a matter of both the short treatment duration and inter-individual differences of gut dysbiotic microbiota to change in response to dietary intervention.

Pop quiz - what's missing? (hint, top main vit d3 cofactors...):

Dietary supplements, daily dosage, and duration of administration

Dibase Abiogen Pharma, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), 714 IU/day (5000 IU, once the week, for five months) + 200 IU with a multivitamin complex (Vit M O.T.I.) (daily administration for four months).

SeaLife O.T.I., fish oil pearls containing omega-3 (n-3) PUFA. Daily intake: 5 g EPA + DHA, 60 mg vit. E and 300 mg lipoic acid (for six months);

Resvital O.T.I., Resveratrol. daily intake: 150 mg, for three months;

Vit M O.T.I., multivitamin complex (including oligoelements), per day, for four months: vitamins: C (120 mg), PP (36 mg), E (20 mg), B6 (4 mg), B2 (3.2 mg), B1 (2.8 mg), B12 (2 mcg), A (1.6 mg), D3 (5 mcg); biotin (0.3 mg), pantothenic acid (12 mg), folic acid (0.4 mg); oligoelements: zinc (30 mg), iron (28 mg), copper (3 mg), manganese (3 mg), selenium (120 mcg), fluorine (3 mg), iodine (0.3 mg).

BAD (1. duh, 2. cofactors jeez):

From a practical point of view, data are supporting the idea that the assessment of the nutritional status of vitamin D3 should be made on a routine basis in MS patients and dosage of vitamin D3 should be much higher than that used in this study to counteract the sub-optimal vitamin D3 status. In this respect, it is also evident the need to standardize 25(OH)D3 measurements towards a specific method.

for all those serum tests run, would have been nice if a few more were tracking specific essential nutrients

[jimmylegs]

knowing in a very general way that mushrooms are a source of vit D2, i've always wondered about the related claims on cans of soup etc. today i just happened to follow up on the lingering question, with these interesting results:

Vitamin D4 in mushrooms and yeast (2013)
http://open.bu.edu/bitstream/handle/214 ... r_2013.pdf

De Luca, Weller, Blunt, & Neville, (1968) reported that the biological activity of vitamin D4 in rats with rickets was approximately 60% as effective in the treatment of the disease as compared to treatment using vitamin D3.
Previously, it was assumed that mushrooms could only produce vitamin D2 . The results of this study confirms recent research that has previously identified provitamin D4 and vitamin D4 in various edible mushroom species including white button, crimini, portabella, enoki, shiitake, maitake, oyster, morel, and chanterelle (Phillips, Horst, Koszewski, & Simon, 2012).

Vitamin D4 in Mushrooms (2012)
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/articl ... ne.0040702

An unknown vitamin D compound was observed in the HPLC-UV chromatogram of edible mushrooms in the course of analyzing vitamin D2 as part of a food composition study and confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to be vitamin D4 (22-dihydroergocalciferol). Vitamin D4 was quantified by HPLC with UV detection .... White button, crimini, portabella, enoki, shiitake, maitake, oyster, morel, chanterelle, and UV-treated portabella mushrooms were analyzed, as four composites each of a total of 71 samples from U.S. retail suppliers and producers. Vitamin D4 was present (>0.1 µg/100 g) in a total of 18 composites and in at least one composite of each mushroom type except white button. The level was highest in samples with known UV exposure: vitamin D enhanced portabella, and maitake mushrooms from one supplier (0.2–7.0 and 22.5–35.4 µg/100 g, respectively). Other mushrooms had detectable vitamin D4 in some but not all samples. In one composite of oyster mushrooms the vitamin D4 content was more than twice that of D2 (6.29 vs. 2.59 µg/100 g). Vitamin D4 exceeded 2 µg/100 g in the morel and chanterelle mushroom samples that contained D4, but was undetectable in two morel samples. The vitamin D4 precursor 22,23-dihydroergosterol was found in all composites (4.49–16.5 mg/100 g). Vitamin D4 should be expected to occur in mushrooms exposed to UV light, such as commercially produced vitamin D enhanced products, wild grown mushrooms or other mushrooms receiving incidental exposure. Because vitamin D4 coeluted with D3 in the routine HPLC analysis of vitamin D2 and an alternate mobile phase was necessary for resolution, researchers analyzing vitamin D2 in mushrooms and using D3 as an internal standard should verify that the system will resolve vitamins D3 and D4.

Vitamin D and sterol composition of ten types of mushrooms from retail suppliers in the United States (2011)
https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publi ... 115=260850

Vitamin D has been well established as critical for bone health, and more recently its potential role in immune function, prevention of some types of cancer, and in other diseases has received increasing attention. Vitamin D in foods occurs naturally primarily in animal products. Milk, fortified cereals, and an increasing number of other foods, including juices, processed cheese, yogurt, margarine, and ice cream, are fortified with vitamin D. Mushrooms are probably the richest natural non-animal food source of vitamin D, which occurs as vitamin D2. Analogous to the photochemical reactions taking place in skin exposed to sunlight, where exposure to ultra-violet (UV) light converts 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) to vitamin D3, in mushrooms vitamin D2 is produced from ergosterol present on the surface of the mushroom upon exposure to sunlight or other sources of UV light. Recently, some mushroom producers have taken advantage of this fact and have produced vitamin D-enhanced mushrooms by processing with intentional exposure to UV light; these mushrooms are now available in some U.S. retail markets. The content of vitamin D in mushrooms can vary due to conditions of UV exposure, and to loss of vitamin D over time in UV-exposed mushrooms. The vitamin D content of different types of mushrooms in the U.S. retail market had not been determined prior to this work. To provide vitamin D and sterol composition data for the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (SR), ten types of mushrooms, including commercially produced UV-treated portabella, were sampled as part of the National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP) in cooperation with the Mushroom Council (San Jose, CA) and analyzed for vitamin D2, ergosterol and ergosterol metabolites, and phytosterols. Sterols were analyzed by GC-FID with mass spectrometric confirmation of components. Vitamin D was assayed using HPLC with a [3H]-vitamin D3 internal standard. Ergosterol was highest in shiitake and maitake (mean, 79-85 mg/100g) and lowest in morel and enoki (26-36 mg/100g); the range was <10 mg/100g among white button composites but 20-50 mg/100g for samples of other types. Only morel contained brassicasterol (28-29 mg/100g) and campesterol (<1-5.7 mg/100g). Vitamin D was low (0.1-0.3 µg/100g) in Agaricus bisporus (white button, crimini, portabella) and enoki, moderate in shiitake and oyster (0.5-0.9 µg/100g), and high in morel, chanterelle, maitake (5.3-29.5 µg/100g), and UV-treated portabella (3.4-20.9 µg/100g), with significant variability among composites for some types. A unique finding was the presence of another vitamer, possibly D4, which would be the product of UV irradiation of ergosta-5,7-dienol that is present in mushrooms. The level of this vitamer was correlated with the D2 concentration and was highest in the UV-treated mushrooms (up to up to 35.4 µg/100g). Further work is underway to identify this component. SR is the primary source of U.S. food composition data for estimation of nutrient intake from food consumption data, and the vitamin D data from this study were incorporated in Release 22 of SR (USDA, 2009). These values will be added to the Food and Nutrient Dataset for Dietary Surveys, used in the What We Eat in America component of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (USDA, 2010), facilitating research requiring knowledge of the vitamin D content of the U.S. diet.

i always 'sunbathe' mushrooms on the windowsill before putting them into meals. but i also nearly always go with crimini. guess i'll be choosing portabella more often!

[jimmylegs]

results excerpt from abstract. i reordered the sentences, so not purely verbatim:

Ramsaransing, G. S., Mellema, S. A., & De Keyser, J. (2009). Dietary patterns in clinical subtypes of multiple sclerosis: an exploratory study. Nutrition journal, 8(1), 36.
https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/ar ... -2891-8-36

"Compared to the daily recommended allowance, the MS patients had a lower than recommended intake of folic acid, magnesium, zinc and selenium.

Compared to the other MS groups, the secondary progressive MS patients had a lower intake of magnesium, calcium and iron.

The total group of MS patients had, compared to the Dutch population, a lower intake of folate, magnesium and copper and a lower energy intake."

[jimmylegs]

Choi, I. Y., Lee, C., & Longo, V. D. (2017). Nutrition and fasting mimicking diets in the prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases and immunosenescence. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 0717300552
Complex and coordinated signals are necessary to initiate and sustain the activation, proliferation, and differentiation of lymphocytes. These signals, which are known to determine T-cell fate and function, also depend on the metabolic state of the organism. Recent studies indicate that both the type and levels of nutrients can influence the generation, survival and function of lymphocytes and therefore can affect several autoimmune diseases. Here, we review the dysregulation of lymphocytes during autoimmunity and aging, the mechanisms associated with loss of immune function, and how fasting mimicking diets and other dietary interventions affect autoimmunity and immunosenescence.

i'll be interested to check out the details herein, once i can get into full text

[jimmylegs]

oh man am i looking forward to checking out the full text on this one

Raiten, D. J., & Aimone, A. M. (2017). The intersection of climate/environment, food, nutrition and health: crisis and opportunity. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 44, 52-62.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 6916302336

Climate/environmental change (C-E-C) is affecting human health and quality of life. Significant attention has been given to the impact of C-E-C on food supply, and food as a vehicle for exposure. However, C-E-C has been superimposed on prevalent malnutrition, infectious and non-communicable diseases. We discuss why nutrition is not synonymous with food and must be viewed as a biological variable that affects and is affected by both C-E-C as well as the current global health challenges. The nexus of C-E-C, food, nutrition and health must be considered in the development of safe and efficacious interventions. A case is presented for how the convergence of C-E-C, food/nutrition and health, presents an opportunity for more integrated approaches to achieve global health goals.

[jimmylegs]

recap. cadmium is nearly identical structurally to zinc. so much so that you have to watch out for cd contamination in zn supplements. cadmium ties up your zinc receptors; cadmium toxicity symptoms are a good match for symptoms of zinc depletion. fun fun fun.

Toxicity of cadmium and its health risks from leafy vegetable consumption
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlel ... ivAbstract
Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal and has spread widely in the environment in recent decades. This review summarizes current knowledge about Cd contamination of leafy vegetables, its toxicity, exposure, health risks, and approaches to reducing its toxicity in humans. Leafy vegetable consumption has been identified as a dominant exposure pathway of Cd in the human body. An overview of Cd pollution in leafy vegetables as well as the main sources of Cd is given. Notable estimated daily intakes and health risks of Cd exposure through vegetable consumption for humans are revealed in occupational exposure areas and even in some reference areas. Vegetable consumption is one of the most significant sources of exposure to Cd, particularly in occupational exposure regions. Therefore, numerous approaches have been developed to minimize the accumulation of Cd in leafy vegetables, among which the breeding of Cd pollution-safe cultivars is one of the most effective tools. Furthermore, dietary supplements from leafy vegetables perform positive roles in alleviating Cd toxicity in humans with regard to the effects of essential mineral elements, vitamins and phytochemicals taken into the human body via leafy vegetable consumption.

another interesting link

Magnesium deficiency in plants: An urgent problem
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 411500121X

urgent, but invisible?

Low magnesium status in plants enhances tolerance to cadmium exposure
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 3814.x/pdf

[ElliotB]

Found this article recently which some may find of interest, an interesting article titled "Do You Really Need to Eat Vegetables to Be Healthy?


http://www.marksdailyapple.com/do-you-r ... e-healthy/

[jimmylegs]

i've probably read it lol. as long as you get your essential nutrient needs met somewhere, the answer is not so much afaict. i try to eat local and seasonal so the fruit and veg pickings are on the slim side this time of year. still, i do use frozen spinach like it's a prescription.

i was just wondering what a far north traditional diet would do in the way of fibre and went to the sami first to inquire. interestingly, fibre is noted as one of the main things either lower, or lacking. wonder if inner bark is still in the mix there, that sounds pretty fibre-y.. (next will have to look at a routine north of the tree line tho)

The nutrient density of present-day and traditional diets and their health aspects: the Sami- and lumberjack families living in rural areas of Northern Sweden
http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/10208068
in this one they say fibre differs in that it is not 'well above' recommendations but i can't get full text to see whether fibre intake is 'a little above' 'at' or 'below' recommendations.

Adherence to a traditional lifestyle affects food and nutrient intake among modern swedish sami
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3 ... 68i4.17371

so fibre does crop up more than once, but i'm not going to spend the time to dig in on how much fibre is 'enough' vs how much they get.
i'll still be eating my steel cut oats in the morning regardless oh wait it's the weekend though.. time for eggs

[jimmylegs]

Integrating dietitians into primary health care: benefits for patients, dietitians and the general practice team
http://www.publish.csiro.au/HC/pdf/HC16018
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Dietetic service delivery in primary health care is an emerging area of dietetic practice in New Zealand.
AIM: This paper aims to describe the dietetic services being delivered in this setting and dietitians’ perceptions of the factors that have an effect on their ability to deliver an optimal service.
METHODS: Individual, qualitative, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 primary healthcare dietitians from a range of age, ethnicity and professional backgrounds. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Participants were delivering a range of services including: providing nutrition care directly to patients, helping to upskill other primary health care professionals in nutrition, and delivering health promotion initiatives to their local community. Three key factors were identified that participants perceived as having an effect on their ability to deliver effective dietetic services in primary health care: being part of a multidisciplinary general practice team, having flexible service delivery contracts appropriate for the setting and that supported integration, and having an adequate level of dietetic experience.
DISCUSSION: Dietitians working in primary health care recognise the importance of being well integrated into a multidisciplinary general practice team. This enables them to deliver more collaborative and coordinated nutrition care alongside their colleagues, to benefit patient care. Establishing flexible dietetic service delivery contracts, which support integration and take into account funding and workforce capacity requirements, may help ensure that the unique skill set of a dietitian is utilised to best effect

imaginary media clip:
"ms. beckingsale, why is the integration of nutrition care into primary practice so important to you?"
"because it's 2016"

good on yas NZ!! important stuff.

[jimmylegs]

Who Is Food Insecure? Implications for Targeted Recruitment and Outreach, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005–2010
full text link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5063607/
"... Food insecurity affected 19.3% of US adults (95% confidence interval, 17.9%–20.7%). People who were food insecure reported poorer health and less health care access than those who were food secure (P < .001 for all). Among those who were food insecure, 58.0% received no assistance, 20.3% received only Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, 9.7% received only food bank assistance, and 12.0% received both SNAP and food bank assistance. We observed an inverse relationship between receipt of food assistance and health and health behaviors among the food insecure. Receipt of both (SNAP and food bank assistance) was associated with the poorest health; receiving no assistance was associated with the best health. For example, functional limitations were twice as prevalent among people receiving both types of food assistance than among those receiving none.
Conclusion
Receipt of food assistance is an overlooked factor associated with health and has the potential to shape future chronic disease prevention efforts among the food insecure."

makes sense to me; did a food drive once upon a time, and for this one in particular, a wish list of healthful food items was circulated to potential donors. the amount of junk food that ended up in that collection was sad :S -junk foods are often the most accessible items in poorer areas; that people helped was appreciated ... sadly the recipients had the junk part (and its consequences) dialed in already...

[jimmylegs]

Whole grain oats, more than just a fiber: Role of unique phytochemicals
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 00715/full
Oats are a good source of soluble dietary fiber, especially β-glucan, which has outstanding functional and nutritional properties. β-Glucan is considered to be the major active component of oats because of its cholesterol-lowering and antidiabetic effects. However, the nutritional benefits of oats appear to go beyond fiber to bioactive phytochemicals with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on the chemistry, stability, bioavailability, and health effects of two unique phytochemicals in oats, avenanthramides, and avenacosides A and B. We conclude that studies on the beneficial effects of avenanthramides and avenacosides A and B are still in their infancy, and additional health benefits of these unique oat components may yet be identified.

feelin kinda good about the weekday steel cut oats & fruit routine

[jimmylegs]

The role of diet in multiple sclerosis: A review
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1 ... 17.1303016
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a multifactorial, inflammatory, and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system, where environmental factors interact with genetic susceptibility. The role of diet on MS has not been comprehensively elucidated; therefore, through an extensive search of relevant literature, this review reports the most significant evidence regarding nutrition as a possible co-factor influencing the inflammatory cascade by acting on both its molecular pathways and gut microbiota. Since nutritional status and dietary habits in MS patients have not been extensively reported, the lack of a scientific-based consensus on dietary recommendation in MS could encourage many patients to experiment alternative dietetic regimens, increasing the risk of malnutrition. This work investigates the health implications of an unbalanced diet in MS, and collects recent findings on nutrients of great interest among MS patients and physicians. The aim of this review is to elucidate the role of an accurate nutritional counseling in MS to move toward a multidisciplinary management of the disease and to encourage future studies demonstrating the role of a healthy diet on the onset and course of MS.

TRUTH. once again, no thanks, blanket dietary recommendations. there's a reason they don't work for everyone. keep moving, and work hard to achieve optimal intakes of essential macro and micro nutrients from healthful sources. increase healthy intakes in lockstep with increased physical activity and/or antinutrient influences.

can't get into full text by the looks of things. not yet at least. bummer.

[jimmylegs]

i googled 'ms is a hoax' and this came up

http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topic ... et-fact-or

hahaha! dr swank has a fan (one of many obvi). i had to look up this committee. learned about their jousting with the AMA etc.

anyhoo, being as focused as i am on micronutrients i am appallingly uninformed in the macronutrient department. but what i do know is that in my case i had to work my way UP to an appropriate level of fat in diet. and there were some terrible, terrible nutritional gaps in my fifteen year negligible-fat-strict-vegan diet (probably markedly worse than terry wahls' 20 year vegetarian routine would have been).

we don't all take the same route to our health problems; makes sense that we can't all travel the same route to good health either.

sometimes i wonder how different the various diets actually are from each other - but then i don't check. if anyone's made a comparison spreadsheet or web page or something i'd check that out...

[jimmylegs]

Effect of Consuming Zinc-Fortified Bread on Serum Zinc and Iron Status of Zinc-Deficient Women: A Double Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial (Badii et al, 2011)
http://search.proquest.com/openview/d40 ... bl=1566339

ABSTRACT
After iron deficiency, zinc deficiency is the major micronutrient deficiency in developing countries, and staple food fortification is an effective strategy to prevent and improve it among at-risk-populations. No action has been taken to reduce zinc deficiency via flour fortification so far in Iran, and little is known about the influence of zinc fortification of flour on serum zinc and the iron status, and also about the optimum and effective amount of zinc compound that is used in food fortification. The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of consuming zinc-fortified breads on the zinc and iron status in the blood serum.

In this study, three types of bread were prepared from non-fortified and fortified flours, with 50 and 100 ppm elemental zinc in the form of sulfate. Eighty zinc-deficient women aged 19 to 49 years were randomly assigned to three groups; The volunteers received, daily, (1) a nonfortified bread, (2) a high-zinc bread, and (3) a low-zinc bread for one month.

Serum zinc and iron were measured by Atomic Absorption before and after the study. Results showed a significant increase in serum zinc and iron levels in all groups (p < 0.001) except in the control (p > 0.05). Absorption of zinc and iron in the group that consumed high-zinc bread was significantly greater than that in the group that received low-zinc bread (p < 0.01).

It was concluded that fortification of flour with 50–100 ppm zinc was an effective way to achieve adequate zinc intake and absorption in zinc-deficient people. It also appeared that consuming zinc-fortified bread improved iron absorption.

Keywords: Bread fortification, serum iron, serum zinc, zinc deficiency, zinc sulfate.

related:

Effect of iron-fortified foods on hematologic and biological outcomes: systematic review of randomized controlled trial (Gera et al, 2012)
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/96/2/309.short

Results: Data from 60 trials showed that iron fortification of foods resulted in a significant increase in hemoglobin (0.42 g/dL; 95% CI: 0.28, 0.56; P < 0.001) and serum ferritin (1.36 μg/L; 95% CI: 1.23, 1.52; P < 0.001), a reduced risk of anemia (RR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.48, 0.71; P < 0.001) and iron deficiency (RR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.38, 0.62; P < 0.001), improvement in other indicators of iron nutriture, and no effect on serum zinc concentrations, infections, physical growth, and mental and motor development.

that last nuance has been on my mind lately. think i'll take a look at the studies included, specifically individual studies' serum zinc measurements, and whether or not the intake of iron from fortified bread is equivalent to your typical iron supplement pill.