What's Tylenol Doing to Our Minds?- The Atlantic

As you know I am very concerned about mental symptoms and emotional matters and how they pertain to our metabolic processes especially when those metabolic processes are affected by external factors. Most external factors are easy and cheap to avoid there by preventing mental illness of any degree. Gluten and grain toxic polypeptides produce strong negative effects especially to those who are gluten sensitive and can be avoided.

I caution strongly those with gluten sensitivity to avoid chemical exposure because they are more likely to get a worse side effect. You will still get some, but you will lower the toxic load and be more able to tolerate what you do get exposed to. Avoid chemicals: on skin (like chemical washing detergents and commercial makeup and moisturizers), eating, drinking, even medication unless there is a life threatening situation. There are safe natural alternatives for most.  

Here is an interesting article at The Atlantic, reviewing scientific studies showing how acetaminophen causes changes in our perceptions of important life events.
Acetaminophen appears to blunt the same pathways that help with pain and those that seem to moderate existential distress.  Dumbing us down. Scary.

If you are interested in keeping mentally sharp and having good judgement, if you are an artist trying to make a statement, you should know of these possible effects of acetaminophen on your mind. 

To Your Health.
Dr. Barbara

Call for a Standardized Report Scheme for Pathologists Reading Small Bowell Biopsies

Small intestinal biopsy is the "Gold standard" diagnostic test for celiac disease within the medical community.

There are lots of controversies in the diagnosis and classification of the observations found in a sample of small bowel. To aid in more accurate diagnosis, there is a call for a standardized report scheme for pathologists.(1)

Dr. Marsh made such an attempt back in 1995 or so and the March protocol was adopted by some. It was updated and simplified. This protocol looks not just for whether the villi are absent or shortened or normal length, but also for the condition of the intraepithelial area. And the criteria are different for the different parts of the bowel. I have never seen a Marsh scale on any SB biopsy report.


I recommend that if you have had a small bowel biopsy, that you get a copy of the pathologists report. It may state how many samples were taken. The American Gastroenterological Association recommends at least four samples are taken because that has proven to double the diagnostic rate for celiac disease.

The report may state the condition of the villi and should state something about the condition of the intraepithelial area and what kinds of white blood cells are found in this area if any at all. The picture above is of a biopsy sample viewed under the microscope, and it has a lot of white blood cells in the intraepithelial area of the broken down villi. They show up as black dots.


The following report from Stanford on Celiac disease: surgical pathological criterion, shows you how complicated it is for the pathologist to make a report and an impression which will help the treating doctor make a diagnosis.

Celiac Disease
Definition
Chronic enteritis secondary to gluten sensitivity
Alternate/Historical Names
Celiac sprue
Coeliac disease
Gluten sensitive enteropathy
Non-tropical sprue
Diagnostic Criteria
Villous atrophy in small intestine
     May be variable and patchy
     Most symptomatic patients have total villous atrophy
     Defined as completely flattened villi
     Partial atrophy more common in pre-symptomatic or post-treatment patients or in relatives          being screened
Increased intraepithelial lymphocytes in small intestine may be seen with or without atrophy
Cutoff varies by location
     Duodenum >30 / 100 enterocytes
     Alternative proposed is 6-12 / 20 enterocytes at the tips of villi
     Jejunum >40 / 100 enterocytes
     Occasionally seen in stomach and large intestine
T cell phenotype
     CD2+, CD3+, CD8 70-90%
     Gamma delta T cell receptor
     CD3 stain is useful for identification and counting
Intraepithelial lymphocytes evenly distributed from bottom to top of crypts or increased at tops
      Normal distribution is decreasing from bottom to top
      Villi must be well oriented to be certain that what appears to be the top is not a semi-           tangentially cut section of mid-villus
      Identification of an abnormal distribution or of more than rare lymphocytes on H&E is a clue that it may be worth staining and counting cells
Increased intraepithelial lymphocytes in the absence of villus atrophy is suggestive of latent or partially treated celiac disease but not specific, as it can be seen in:
       Infections (Giardia, Helicobacter, Cryptosporidium, viruses)
      Food allergy
      Drug reactions (NSAIDS)
      Immune system abnormalities

There is a lot of good information in the whole report here,


Of note, I disagree the the serum anti tissue transglutaminase IgG is 95% sensitive and 98% specific. Dr. J. Abram from Columbia showed that the test, when used in real life was closer to 51%-71% sensitive and 69%-100% specific.

1.
Ensari A. Gluten-sensitive enteropathy (celiac disease): controversies in diagnosis and classification. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2010 Jun;134(6):826-36.

To Your Health
Dr. Barbara

GAPS Nutrition Counselling Available In Ottawa, Certified by Dr. Campbell-McBride

It is with great pleasure that I share Diane Trumbles' GAPS web site with you. She has training and certification from Dr. Campbell- McBride, the author of The Gut and Psychology Syndrome. With an appointment, Diane can guide you through the GAPS diet and protocol.

To Your Health
Dr. Barbara

I'll be away for a week attending the international ISNN 2013 conference about Nutrigenomics and Epigenetics in Quebec city. It should be a really exciting time. My particular interest is in a common genetic problem which is even more common in gluten sensitive persons called methylation or one carbon metabolism (above 76%). 


Understanding something about one carbon metabolism explains some of the issues around why some people get sick and why quite a few people don't get better on a gluten free diet, let alone a grain free diet. This problems leads to hundreds of medical problems and it can be remediated with proper food and nutritional supplements! 

I have witnesses some incredible reversals of  bad health to good health just with the right food and the right supplements. 

I can't wait to share what I learn.
To Your Health
Dr. Barbara

The Connection Between Pain and Grains: The Gluten Free Warrior

A lot of people have pain, don't know they are gluten sensitive and are unwittingly eating foods that cause pain. 
And a lot of people eating a gluten free diet which includes grains, don't know the connection of pain with all the grains. 
Here the Gluten Free Warrior writes about this connection. Good article. 


To Your Health
Dr. Barbara

GRAIN BRAIN By Dr. David Perlmutter: Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar - Your Brain's Silent Killers

The gluten brain/chronic disease connection is very strong, as I have been teaching since 2005. I wish to congratulate Dr. David Perlmutter, one of my favourite neurologists, for putting together his cutting edge health promoting  thoughts it into a book, "Grain Brain", a New York Times bestseller. It is sure it empower you to take charge of your health. 

This is what he says about Alzheimer's: My bold

“This is a disease that is highly revenue-producing for mega factories of various so-called Alzheimer’s drugs,” Dr. Perlmutter says. “The point is there is no meaningful treatment in 2013. It is a disease predicated on lifestyle choices primarily, because of the high amount of carbohydrates/sugar that we now, as Western-culture individuals, are consuming.It’s a preventable disease. It surprises me at my core that no one’s talking about the fact that so many of these devastating neurological problems are, in fact, modifiable based upon lifestyle choices.”(like diet, exercise and caloric restriction)


“They've been talking about it for years and years (which is now just gaining traction in mainstream medicine) that our health really depends on maintaining a barrier of the intestine from the bloodstream,” Dr. Perlmutter says.


“We now understand that the so-called blood-brain barrier, or that barrier that keeps things out of the brain where they don’t belong, is also affected by gluten, according to new research. It’s a very exciting time when we recognize that our biggest exposure to the environment is actually the lining of our intestines – not our lungs, not our skin. We are in fact very much dependent on the microbiota, the bacteria living in the gut, to maintain our health.”

Food, including the microbiota, is information to our cells. It tells them what to do. You can change your genetic destiny with the food choices that you make. Even the brain can get more healthy, because of something called neuroplasticity. See what Dr. Perlmutter has to say about neuroplasticity.  I see it in my practice everyday.

If you would like to know more about Dr. Perlmutter here is his Facebook page.

Time to cut back on the grains for all people. Find out if you are gluten sensitive because this will tell you how strict you have to be, because if you are GS, even eating small amounts of gluten, even once a month will increase your risk of dying by 6% a year.
Also increase your consumption of good fats like butter and real olive oil, eat traditionally fermented foods like sauerkraut, and get out side and exercise... these are the fundamentals of a GAPS diet and protocol. And it works.

To Your Health

Dr. Barbara

Latest Cold and Flu News- Garlic

Cold and flu symptoms are a sign of vitamin D deficiency, but once you think you have these symptoms, what do you do? Besides taking extra vitamin D3, take garlic.

Garlic, raw garlic, is an all round health promoting herb.It can be very powerful at preventing and treating colds and flu symptoms. Because it is anti-viral, it can be used against warts. 

See what Cochrane Summaries, ( a newsletter that is part of Cochrane Library, a source of "Independent high-quality evidence for health care decision making") says about garlic.

Read what Dr. Mercola writes about garlic and about commonly offered medical management: ( my comments are in bold)

Cochrane Database—which has repeatedly reported that the science does not support the use of flu vaccine as a first-line defense for those persons over 65 years of age—has also reviewed studies on the alternatives, such as the use of garlic.15

They found that those who took garlic daily for three months had fewer colds than those who took a placebo, and, when they did come down with a cold, the duration of illness was shorter—an average of 4.5 days compared to 5.5 days for the placebo group.

While this may not seem overly impressive, it’s still better than the results achieved by the much-advertised flu drug Tamiflu. If taken within 48 hours of onset of illness, Tamiflu might reduce the duration of flu symptoms by about a day to a day and a half. That's the extent of what this $100-plus treatment will get you. It’s virtually identical to just taking garlic on a regular basis!

However, some patients with influenza are at increased risk for secondary bacterial infections when on Tamiflu—a risk you won’t take by eating garlic... Other adverse events of Tamiflu include pediatric deaths, serious skin reactions, and neuropsychiatric events, including suicide committed while delirious.



Read the whole article to find out the best way to take garlic and why. And what lifestyle issues lower your immune system and how to make changes for better health.

I can't forget to mention the finding, by Canadian scientists, in 2010, reported by the Vancouver Sun, that getting the seasonal flu shot appeared to increase the seriousness of a future flu illness. A new study by US government investigators reported in Science Translational Medicine August 28,2013, may have found the explanation. They did confirm the finding by the Canadian researchers, lead by Dr. Danuta Skowronski.


Get ready for flu season by building up your immune system.


To Your Health
Dr. Barbara