PHYTIC ACID: Disable phytic acid with phytase and decrease whole grain toxicity (Opinion), Lou Gehrig disease LOVED grains!

Disable phytic acid with phytase and decrease whole grain toxicity (Opinion)

by Rami Nagel

A large body of evidence exists that shows that eating the entire grain rich in phytic acid may lead to losses in zinc, iron, vitamin C and fat-soluble vitamin D. Part of the solution to this plant toxin is to disable phytic acid with the enzyme phytase.

Phytase is the enzyme that neutralizes phytic acid and liberates the phosphorus. This enzyme co-exists in plant foods that contain phytic acid. Ruminant animals such as cows, sheep and goats have no trouble with phytic acid because phytase is produced by rumen microorganisms. Mice produce thirty times more phytase than humans,(F-1) so they can be quite happy eating a raw whole grain diet. But data from experiments on phytic acid using mice and other rodents cannot be applied to humans.
In general, humans do not produce enough phytase to safely consume large quantities of high-phytate foods on a regular basis. However, probiotic lactobacilli, and other species of digestive microflora, can produce phytase. Increased production of phytase by the gut microflora explains why some people can adjust to a high-phytate diet.

Sprouting activates phytase, thus reducing phytic acid.(F-2) The use of sprouted grains will reduce the quantity of phytic acids in animal feed, with no significant reduction of nutritional value.(F-3) But that does not mean that sprouting is sufficient to make whole grains safe for human consumption.
Soaking grains and flour in an acid medium at very warm temperatures (between 75-95 degrees Fahrenheit), as in the sourdough process, also activates phytase and reduces or even eliminates phytic acid.

Before the advent of industrial agriculture, farmers typically soaked crushed grain in hot water before feeding it to poultry and hogs. Today, feed manufacturers add phytase to grain mixes to get better growth in animals.

Not all grains contain enough phytase to eliminate the phytic acid, even when properly prepared. For example, corn, millet, oats and brown rice do not contain sufficient phytase to eliminate all the phytic acid they contain even when you soak, sour or sprout them. On the other hand, wheat and rye contain high levels of phytase. Wheat contains fourteen times more phytase than rice, and rye contains over twice as much phytase as wheat.(F-4) Soaking or souring these grains, when freshly ground, in a warm environment will destroy all of the phytic acid. The high levels of phytase in rye explain why this grain is preferred as a starter for sourdough breads. Phytase is destroyed by steam heat at about 176 degrees Fahrenheit in ten minutes or less. In a wet solution, phytase is destroyed at 131-149 degrees Fahrenheit. (F-5) Thus heat processing, as in extrusion, will completely destroy phytase - think of extruded all-bran cereal, very high in phytic acid and all of its phytase destroyed by processing. Extruded cereals made of bran and whole grains are a recipe for digestive problems and mineral deficiencies!

Phytase is present in small amounts in oats, but heat treating to produce commercial oatmeal renders it inactive. Even grinding a grain too quickly or at too high a temperature could destroy phytase, as will freezing and long storage times. Fresh flour has a higher content of phytase than does flour that has been stored.(F-6) Traditional cultures generally grind their grain fresh before preparation. Weston Price found that mice fed whole grain flours that were not freshly ground did not grow properly.(F-7)

[Editor`s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and wellbeing of all living creatures.]

References
1. Iqbal TH and others. Phytase activity in the human and rat small intestine. Gut. 1994 September 35(9):1233-1236. .
2 Malleshi NG. Nutritive value of malted millet flours. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 1986
3. Whole Grains and Tooth Decay
4. Egli I and others. The Influence of Soaking and Germination on the Phytase Activity and Phytic
Acid Content of Grains and Seeds Potentially Useful for Complementary Feeding. Journal of Food
Science 2002 Vol. 67, Nr. 9.
5. Peers FG. Phytase of Wheat. The Biochemical Journal 1953 53(1):102-110.
6. Campbell J and others. Nutritional Characteristics of Organic, Freshly stone-ground sourdough
and conventional breads. http://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/EAP35.htm.
7. Weston Price
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. 8th edition,
page 249

About the author

Ramiel Nagel is the internationally published author of Cure Tooth Decay and Healing Our Children In "Cure Tooth Decay" Nagel, reveals how your teeth can heal naturally because they were never designed to decay in the first place! Now there is a natural way to take control of your dental health by changing the food that you eat. Receive 19 free lessons on how to stop cavities
"Healing Our Children" explains the true causes of disease conditions of pregnancy and childhood so that you can avoid and prevent them. It provides essential natural health programs so that mothers and their new babies can optimize their health during the times of preconception, pregnancy, lactation and early childhood. Receive a free chapter of Healing Our Children
Free health information is also available on the topics of:
A Program for preconception health based on indigenous wisdom.
The cause of disease and the end of suffering of humanity. 

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Autism Diet: Donna Gates & Dr. Campbell-McBride (1 of 6)

Issues that contribute to Miscarriage: #1 BPA exposure during pregnancy raises miscarriage risk

Many issues contribute to Miscarriage: BPA exposure during pregnancy raises miscarriage risk

Many issues contributing to miscarriage:

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2.   Antidepressants during pregnancy cause alarming 68 percent increased risk of miscarriage

3.   Vaccines and Pregnancy Do Not Mix

4.   Drinking Caffeine During Pregnancy Doubles Risk of Miscarriage

5.   Eating fruits and vegetables cuts risk of miscarriage, says study

6.   Chocolate found to reduce risk of miscarriage

The adverse reproductive effects of the plastics chemical bisphenol A (BPA) have once again been demonstrated in the scientific literature. Researchers from Stanford University in California found that the more BPA circulating in a pregnant woman's bloodstream, the greater her chances of having a miscarriage.

Among 115 pregnant women tested as part of the research, 68 had miscarriages, a percentage roughly three times higher than that of the general population. Upon further investigation, a direct correlation between BPA levels and miscarriage rates was observed, substantiating a growing consensus that BPA directly interferes with human reproduction.

According to Environmental Health News (EHN), all of the women had been admitted to Stanford's fertility clinic within four weeks of fertilization, and each was tested for BPA levels prior to treatment. The women were then divided into four groups based on their BPA measurements to evaluate the miscarriage rate.

Leading the pack was the group of women with the highest levels of BPA, who were found to be 83 percent more likely than the others to have a miscarriage. Women in the second- and third-highest exposure groups also bore high risks at 58 percent and 30 percent, respectively. At the bottom with the lowest miscarriage risk were women with low circulating BPA levels.

Though a causal link between BPA and miscarriage was not established by this particular study, the correlative findings are strongly suggestive of one. They also back earlier research tying BPA exposure to general infertility, including a 2013 study out of Massachusetts that identified increased difficulties getting pregnant among couples where BPA exposure was high.

"Couples suffering from infertility or recurrent miscarriages would be best advised to reduce BPA exposure because it has the potential to adversely affect fetal development," wrote the authors of the new study.

FDA ignores science, insists BPA is safe

With more than 90 percent of the general public now believed to be contaminated with BPA, these findings are definitely disheartening. Cases of infertility, miscarriage and birth defects are already on the rise due to other sources of environmental pollution, and adding BPA into the mix only makes the problem worse.

Data gathered last summer by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that BPA directly inhibits the normal development of human eggs. Providing further details as to how BPA obstructs normal human reproduction, the research, which was published in the journal Human Reproduction, showed that BPA decreases the likelihood that eggs will fully mature.

"Our data show that BPA exposure can dramatically inhibit egg maturation and adds to a growing body of evidence about the impact of BPA on human health," wrote Dr. Catherine Racowsky, one of the authors of this earlier study. "I would encourage further research to gain a greater understanding of the role BPA plays in infertility."

Further research has been conducted all across the globe, and much of it has come to similar conclusions. And yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in complete denial of science, remains insistent that BPA at current exposure levels is perfectly safe, a lie that continues to harm the public.

When the FDA recently issued its own study that claimed to prove BPA's safety for humans, many academic scientists were outraged to find that the controls used in the study were deliberately contaminated. As it turns out, both the controls and the subjects had been exposed to BPA, completely invalidating the FDA study.

"It's basic science," stated Gail S. Prins, a professor of physiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago to Mother Jones. "If your controls are contaminated, you've got a failed experiment and the data should be discarded. I'm baffled that any journal would even publish this."

ACNE It's in the food, its in the GUT.

By Dr. Mercola Nearly 85 percent of people have acne at some point in their lives, making acne the most common skin disorder in the US.1 While acne typically begins during puberty, it's not restricted to adolescents and may impact any age group – even into your 50s and beyond. While not physically dangerous, acne can take a considerable psychological toll. Some sufferers become so self-conscious and embarrassed that their professional and personal lives suffer, leading to increasing feelings of alienation, depression, and social withdrawal. Many mistakenly believe acne is mostly an aesthetic problem, but it is actually a sign of deeper imbalance in your system, often in your gut. Most physicians miss this connection entirely, instead prescribing acne drugs and other topical treatments. Americans spend more than $2.2 billion every year on acne treatments, including prescription and over-the-counter products,2 but many will turn out to be useless if you ignore the foundational cause of most acne – improper diet. Desperate to Clear Your Skin? Stop Eating Gluten and Grains Full-blown celiac disease, which is an extreme form of gluten sensitivity causing both the adaptive and innate immune system to attack your small intestine, affects an estimated 1.8 percent of people in Western cultures. But non-celiac gluten sensitivity may actually affect as many as 30 to 40 percent of the population, and according to Dr. Alessio Fasano at Massachusetts General Hospital, virtually all of us are affected to some degree.3 This is because we all create a substance called zonulin in the intestine in response to gluten. Glutinous proteins, found in wheat, barley, and rye, known as prolamines can make your gut more permeable, which allows partially digested proteins to get into your bloodstream that would otherwise have been excluded, any of which can sensitize your immune system and promote inflammation, which can contribute to worsening acne. Once gluten sensitizes your gut, it then becomes more permeable and all manner of gut bacterial components and previously excluded dietary proteins—including casein and other dairy proteins—have direct access to your bloodstream, thereby further challenging your immune system. If you have acne, you should try eliminating gluten and other lectin-containing foods, although I actually recommend that everyone following my beginner nutrition plan eliminate all gluten from their diets. Among the most important to avoid are those grains that contain the sticky, hard to digest prolamine proteins, such as wheat, barley, rye, and yes, even oats, rice, and corn. However, I don't recommend you stop there… Avoid All Grains (and Sugar) If You Have Acne While glutinous grains should certainly be eliminated if you struggle with acne, I recommend you avoid all manner of refined carbohydrates as well. Acne is much less of a problem in non-Westernized societies, where refined carbohydrates and sugar are consumed in much lower amounts.4 Diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates are one of the primary causes of acne. When you eat grain carbohydrates and sugar/fructose, it causes a surge of insulin and insulin-like growth factor called IGF-1 in your body. This can lead to an excess of male hormones, like testosterone, which cause your pores to secrete sebum, a greasy substance that attracts acne-promoting bacteria. Additionally, IGF-1 causes skin cells known as keratinocytes to multiply, a process that is also associated with acne. Additionally, these very same foods -- refined carbs, such as fructose, sugar, and grains -- will also increase inflammation in your body, which may trigger acne, and at the same time they will also wreak havoc on the makeup of your intestinal bacteria, as mentioned above. In fact, in 2007 a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutritionfound that young men (ages 15 to 25) with acne problems who were placed on low-glycemic diets for 12 weeks showed significant improvements in acne and insulin sensitivity.5 Research published last year also found that a high-glycemic diet and frequent dairy consumption are linked to acne.6 Indulge in Vegetables, Limit Processed Foods to Control Acne Flare-Ups Any meal or snack high in refined carbohydrates (i.e. grains and sugars) will generate a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rapid rise, your pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into your bloodstream. High blood sugar levels cause repeated surges in insulin and this causes your cells to become "insulin-resistant," which leads to the production of even higher levels of insulin, and, eventually insulin resistance, another key factor linked to acne. Prolonged excessive insulin secretion can also eventually burn out your pancreatic beta cells which produce it, leading to "double diabetes," a mixture of type 2 and type 1. This is why, if you struggle with acne, you want to avoid all foods that contribute to insulin resistance (namely sugar and grains), not just the gluten-containing grains. The best way to know if you are insulin/leptin resistant is to measure your fasting insulin level. If it is below 3, you are not likely resistant. However, if you are overweight, have high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, or abnormal cholesterol levels, it is likely that you have some element of insulin/leptin resistance and you would likely benefit from restricting your intake of sugars and grains until the conditions resolve. You'll be happy to know that simply eliminating grains, sugars (particularly fructose), cereals, potatoes, corn, rice, pasta, processed foods, etc., radically improves acne for most people. Fruit contains a fair amount of fructose, so it should be consumed in limited quantities if you are predisposed to acne. Or, at least focus on the low-sugar, high-nutrient-dense fruits like berries. And fruit juices should be strictly avoided since the sugar is very concentrated in them, without the buffering effect of fiber, pectin, and other food cofactors present in whole, raw, organic fruit. Fresh vegetable juices are great, though, especially green juices, as are most vegetables, which are slow to break down into simple sugars, with minimal insulin impact. Why Optimizing Your Gut Health May Help with Acne When you clean up your diet as described above, your gut health will naturally improve. You can further support it by consumingfermented foods regularly, to encourage the growth of beneficial microorganisms, which will benefit your skin health in multiple ways. For starters, signals from your gut microorganisms are sent throughout your body and interact with organisms in your skin and gut mucosa. Researchers are looking into how these interactions can help with skin conditions like dryness, improve collagen, or stabilize the microflora on your skin to help with irritations. As noted by researchers in Gut Pathogens:7 "The lines of communication, as mediated by gut microbes, may be direct and indirect -- ultimately influencing the degree of acne by a systemic effect on inflammation, oxidative stress, glycemic control, tissue lipid levels, pathogenic bacteria, as well as levels of neuropeptides and mood-regulating neurotransmitters. …there appears to be more than enough supportive evidence to suggest that gut microbes, and the integrity of the gastrointestinal tract itself, are contributing factors in the acne process." Another interesting connection is via your emotional health, as stress may, too, cause acne via your gut-brain connection. Research by dermatologists John Stokes and Donald Pillsbury conducted more than 70 years posited that your emotions could alter the microflora in your intestines, which could therefore contribute to systemic inflammation that could exacerbate acne and other skin conditions. In 2011, researchers validated this connection, noting:8 "Experimental studies show that psychological stress stagnates normal small intestinal transit time, encourages overgrowth of bacteria, and compromises the intestinal barrier. SIBO [small intestinal bacterial over growth] is strongly associated with depression and anxiety, while eradication of SIBO improves emotional symptoms. Although the frequency of SIBO in acne vulgaris has not yet been investigated, a recent report indicates that SIBO is 10 times more prevalent in those with acne rosacea vs. healthy controls. Correction of SIBO leads to marked clinical improvement in patients with rosacea." Controlling Acne Takes a Whole-Body Approach Your skin is your body's largest organ, and an organ of elimination (e.g. sweating), which is why problems on its surface are often a sign of underlying issues. Your complexion is a reflection of your overall health, which is why topical (or worse, systemic) acne drugs will not heal the problem (and may result in serious side effects). Treating acne takes a whole-body approach that will nourish and heal your skin from the inside out, so don't forget to incorporate these essential factors into your acne-busting plan: • Avoid starchy carbs, sugars/fructose, and grains: This is probably the single most important step you can take to improve your skin health. If you eliminate all sugars, fructose, and grains for a few weeks there is a major likelihood you will notice rapid improvement in your complexion. Replace these foods with healthy fats, like avocados, olives, olive oil, coconut oil, and butter. Be sure to check out my nutrition plan for a simple guide on how to eat right for healthy skin and overall health. • Water: Drink plenty of fresh, pure water every day. Hydrating your body facilitates cell growth and regeneration, elimination of wastes, and sloughing away dead skin cells. Hydration will also improve your skin tone. Every day, drink enough water so that your urine is a pale yellow color. If your urine is bright yellow, you probably need to drink more water (unless you take B vitamins, which themselves turn urine bright yellow). • Exercise: Getting plenty of high-intensity exercise helps your body flush out toxins, including those in your skin's pores. Plus, exercise is vitally important to all other aspects of your heath. If you happen to have access to an infrared sauna, this can be helpful too, because the more you sweat, the more you flush unwanted debris and contaminants out of your pores. • Sleep: Did you know that a good night's sleep can decrease your stress and lead to clearer skin? Your body's main time for healing and rebuilding is at night while you sleep, and this applies to your skin. • Proper balance of bacteria: You can reestablish your bacterial balance by incorporating naturally fermented/cultured foods and raw foods (which contain living beneficial bacteria) into your diet and/or taking a high-quality probiotic supplement. This is especially important if you have been on antibiotics, because these drugs indiscriminately kill off the beneficial bacteria in your gut, without which you cannot have a strong immune system. • Vitamin D: This important nutrient is crucial for maintaining a healthy immune response, and most people are deficient in it. Without adequate vitamin D, your body cannot fight infection, in your skin or elsewhere. Exposing large areas of your skin to appropriate amounts of sunshine is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels, or alternatively use a safe tanning bed. • Animal-based omega-3 fats: Omega-3 fats help to normalize skin lipids and prevent dehydration in the cells. This keeps skin cells strong and full of moisture, which can help to decrease the appearance of fine lines. Fatty acid deficiency can manifest in a variety of ways, but skin problems such as eczema, thick patches of skin, and cracked heels are common. Plus, omega-3 fats may have an anti-inflammatory effect that can help to calm irritated skin, giving you a clear, smooth complexion. • Address your stress: My favorite tool is the Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. EFT involves tapping your body's energy meridians with the tips of your fingers to clear emotional blocks, thus restoring balance to your mind and body. EFT is a powerful de-stressing technique that is easy for adults and children to learn. You can also add in other proven stress-busters, such as yoga and meditation. • All-natural acne fighter: Rubbing just a drop of oregano oil on a breakout can speed up the healing and prevent unsightly scarring without resorting to harsh commercial acne medication (remember to wash your hands thoroughly afterward).

Dr. Mercola Interviews Dr. Huber about Glyphosate

Clinical trials are unhealthy Avoid them

Clinical trials are unhealthy Avoid them

Major Flaw in Clinical Trials Cancer Drugs

Leaky GUT Syndrome the Epidemic Hidden in the Digestive System

Leaky Gut Syndrome: A Modern Epidemic with an Ancient Solution?
Pain Begins and Stops Here!

Douglas A. Wyatt

Center for Nutritional Research

One hundred million Americans suffer from chronic pain[1], which equates to approximately half of the adult population. These are frightening statistics, but what’s even more frightening is that the majority of these same people are suffering from chronic diseases caused by Leaky Gut Syndrome. Taking pain medication, whether over-the-counter NSAIDs or prescription drugs, has unwittingly condemned them to an existence with leaky gut and all of its ramifications. Compounding the problem is the prolific and unnecessary use of antibiotics, which led to the creation of “superbugs,” antibiotic-resistant pathogens populating the gastrointestinal tracts of the naïve.  This deadly combination of pain medications and antibiotic abuse has created a public health crisis, the likes of which physicians are certainly ill-prepared to treat and definitely unable to diagnose responsibly.

That’s the bad news about Leaky Gut Syndrome. The good news is that we do have a solution, one that has been around long before penicillin was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928 and before Felix Hoffmann first synthesized aspirin for Bayer in 1897. In fact, we have neither scientist nor medical doctor nor herbalist, but Mother Nature to thank for this amazing gift. This magical, first food of life for humans and all mammals is colostrum, and it’s been around since the beginning of mammalian life on this planet.

I discovered bovine colostrum for my ailing wife more than two and a half decades ago. My wife suffered with no functional immune system after having her thymus gland irradiated as a child. This was common practice in the 1950’s, and it demonstrated to me just how important the human immune system is to our healthy existence and just how little physicians really understand about it. Thanks to a colleague who was a naturopathic physician, bovine colostrum turned my wife’s life around completely. No longer faced with the absolute certainty of her death, I have vigorously pursued research to reintroduce this biologic neutraceutical back into human use ever since.

Hippocrates said that all disease begins in the gut. Modern medicine is beginning to understand and accept the concept of immune and gastrointestinal health being interdependent, yet the majority of practitioners are still in the dark about colostrum. A million years of evolution has taught us the importance of passive immunity; it’s the reason all mammals, with the exception of humans, can exist at all. This astute conclusion is something my mentor, medical anthropologist Dr. Robert Heinerman taught me. Rather than looking at colostrum as just a substance with a lot of wonderful chemicals in it. Dr. Heinerman gave me a way to view colostrum through the eyes of a sociologist and an anthropologist with all the history of mankind and the origins of the very first mammals.[2]

What is Leaky Gut Syndrome?


The term Leaky Gut Syndrome, or leaky gut identifies an increasingly pervasive health disorder in which the lining of the small intestine is more permeable than it should be and becomes subject to inflammation by various irritants. The abnormally large spaces allow entry of toxic material into the bloodstream that would, in healthier circumstances, be repelled and eliminated. The gut becomes “leaky” in the sense that bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and their toxins, undigested foods such as proteins, nerve and connective tissue, fat and waste normally not absorbed into the bloodstream in the healthy state, pass through a damaged, hyper-permeable, porous or leaky gut. When these foreign substances enter the bloodstream, the immune system goes into reaction mode and begins creating antibodies against its own tissues. Chronic over-stimulation of the immune system leads to chronic inflammation and disease.

All newborn mammals have holes in the stomach and small intestines, by design, so that colostrum can freely enter the bloodstream. Every antibody produced against every pathogen the mother has encountered in her lifetime, and her own mother’s lifetime, is transferred to her offspring. Humans receive some passive immunity in the womb, yet the transfer continues with early and extended breastfeeding. Colostrum also contains the epithelial and epidermal growth factors that close the holes within two days after birth, such that the infant no longer has a leaky gut. Without a doubt, this underscores the importance of breastfeeding, and for me, it was the foundation of my hypothesis that if colostrum can heal leaky gut in a two-day old infant, surely it can do the same for an eighty year old.

To further test my hypothesis, I instituted animal trials with pigs. In a double blind study, we proved that bovine colostrum not only prevented GI damage caused by excess stomach acids, but it healed existing damage. [3] Additionally, the colostrum-fed pigs had a twenty percent increase in the surface area of the small intestine as measured by villi height. This correlated to an improvement in the nutritional absorption of beneficial and critical nutrition. Not only did the pigs growth faster and healthier, they had more lean muscle mass, less fat and there was no need for farmers to use antibiotics. This study was a model for ulcers in humans, and the remarkable results led to the undertaking of human trials. My goal was to pioneer colostrum back into human consumption, and so I needed to introduce colostrum into the research arena with the top GI specialists taking the lead. My call was answered, and Dr. Raymond Playford at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London led his team, first with animal models of NSAID-induced gut damage, and later with humans.[4]^{, [5], [6]} They found that taking colostrum reduced the acute NSAID-induced increase in small intestinal permeability. This research began in the late 1990’s, and interest was high due to increasing use of NSAIDs among arthritis and chronic pain sufferers. Over the next two decades, our research evolved into other areas related to intestinal permeability, most notably utilizing the Proline-rich Polypeptides (PRPs) derived from bovine colostrum to eliminate HIV-associated diarrhea caused by opportunistic infections for which antibiotics had no effect.[7] PRPs are the most powerful modulators of immune response and regulate the cytokine response that causes inflammation in the body. [8]

The Scourge of Pain Medications and Antibiotics


We know that prescription pain medications, not just the OTC variety cause bleeding and holes in the stomach and in the intestinal lining. We know that the risk of death in people taking NSAIDs for more than two months is 1 in 1,200.[9] We also know that abdominal pain is the most common GI symptom that prompts a clinic visit,[10] and in an effort to relieve that pain, physicians prescribe steroids which further exacerbate the destruction of GI tissue. We know that a hundred million people are taking pain medications for extended periods, whether they obtain them through legal or illegal means. That’s half of all adults in the United States, and so I’m confident we can say that a minimum of one-hundred million people have Leaky Gut Syndrome. There’s no consumer warning label on OTC pain relievers that say, extended use causes Leaky Gut Syndrome. Medical schools aren’t teaching physicians about the GI dangers of chronic use of pain medications, so when doctors write a prescription for pain meds, they’re unaware that they’re writing a prescription for Leaky Gut Syndrome. Sadly, it’s a case of a little knowledge being a lot dangerous.

Pain medication is the most utilized drug category in the United States and also the most abused, followed closely by GI drugs. It’s not surprising at all, since the two are interconnected in a vicious cycle of Leaky Gut Syndrome. The first creates the problem, and the second masks and exacerbates the problem. So, what really needs to be done to stop this epidemic is for physicians and medical practitioners to offset the effects of the flawed rational and flawed treatment of the past. The Hippocratic Oath first says, “Do no harm.” How can prescribing drugs that create more harm to the gastrointestinal tract possibly provide no harm?

We also know that nearly eighty percent of all pathogens enter the body through or attached to mucosal surfaces, the largest of which is the gastrointestinal tract. We know that people are bringing infections into hospitals, and others with compromised immune systems are taking them home. We know that many patients are discharged from the hospital sicker than when they entered and often dying later. Approximately 125,000 Americans die annually from hospital-acquired, gut-based infections, of which Clostridium dificile (C. diff.) and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) are the most prevalent and most difficult to treat. I’ve calculated the 125,000 figure based on toxicologist John T. James’ estimate that 440,000 people die annually from hospital infections and medical mistakes,[11] and by taking the couple of states that actually report hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), and extrapolating across the United States. Interestingly, Consumer Reports has been a champion of requiring states and the federal government to make reporting of HAIs a requirement.[12] We’re slowly moving in that direction, but reporting is not readily available to consumers.

Consumers and some physicians are ignorant to the damage that antibiotics cause in the gastrointestinal tract. Prescribing antibiotics for gut-based pathogens creates more problems than it solves; it destroys both good and bad bacteria and leaves the strong and drug-resistant bacteria behind to colonize and exacerbate Leaky Gut Syndrome. The bacterial toxins seep through the permeable gut lining and get into the bloodstream, so what was once a gut infection, now becomes a systemic infection, often with deadly consequences. Leaky gut can also create chronic diarrhea which reduces a patient’s ability to fight infections and depletes the body of essential nutrients and fluids. Similar to what we observe in HIV/AIDS patients, chronic diarrhea leads to a wasting process because the body’s immune system is essentially over-run and unable to do its normal job.

Further complicating the problem is the pervasive use of antibiotics in livestock production, for which there is no justifiable use in healthy animals. The antibiotics enter the food in the animal products we eat and enter water supply from farm run-off and fertilizers applied to crops.[13] Human consumption becomes unintentional and unavoidable. Additionally, with prescription and OTC analgesics being some of the most frequently used drugs, these along with antibiotics, anti-depressants, anti-hypertensives, and others end up in downstream water feeding our local municipalities.[14] Infectious disease experts from the U.S. and around the world agree, “We’ve reached the end of antibiotics, period.” (Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, MD, Associate Director at CDC).[15]

The Causes of Leaky Gut Syndrome and the Development of Autoimmune Diseases


Even if everyone was breastfed as infants, poor lifestyle choices can increase intestinal permeability later in life. Extended use of pain medications and repeated courses of antibiotics are the major self-inflicted insults that cause Leaky Gut Syndrome. Other triggers of Leaky Gut Syndrome include parasites, corticosteroids; birth control pills; GMO’s; pesticide-contaminated foods; molds, yeast, and bacteria; an excessive intake of refined sugars, caffeine, alcohol, or food additives; surgery; and a decrease in blood supply to the bowel. Although the damage may not be obvious at first and take many years to develop, the major health consequences outside of GI pathogens are autoimmune diseases. Doctors and patients have been slow to make the connection. As the incidence of Leaky Gut Syndrome increased, the incidence of autoimmune diseases skyrocketed, and patients with Leaky Gut Syndrome frequently have multiple autoimmune diseases. Five to eight percent of Americans has one of eighty autoimmune diseases recognized by the National Institutes of Health.[16] Yet, Leaky Gut Syndrome as a diagnosis remains overlooked. The current standard of care paradigm is to treat the symptoms of disease, not the cause of disease, but reversing this paradigm and healing Leaky Gut Syndrome would prevent, reverse, or delay disease.

Leaky Gut Syndrome is directly associated with many autoimmune diseases including allergies, Alopecia areata, Alzheimer’s disease,[17] autism,[18] Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,[19] Crohn’s disease,[20] depression,[21] diabetes,[22] fibromyalgia, food allergies and sensitivities,[23] heart disease, HIV/AIDS,[24] Irritable Bowel Syndrome,[25] inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, polymyalgia rheumatic, Reynaud’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis,[26] scleroderma, Sjogren’s syndrome, ulcerative colitis,[27] and vasculitis. The connection between Leaky Gut Syndrome and these autoimmune conditions is the antibodies created by the body in response to the toxic substances and undigested fats and proteins that leak into the bloodstream and attach themselves to various tissues throughout the body, create an allergic response, trigger the destruction of tissues and organs, and create inflammation. As toxicity increases, auto antibodies are created and the destruction and inflammation becomes chronic. There is a tipping point at which the body cannot recover from chronic inflammation, and pathological diagnosis follows. The specific type of autoimmune disease that develops depends on the predominant location of the inflammation. When inflammation occurs in a joint, rheumatoid arthritis can develop; in the brain, chronic fatigue syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitis) may be the result; in the blood vessels, vasculitis may be the resulting condition; within the gums, periodontal disease can result; or in the lungs, asthma may be triggered. If the antibodies attack the lining of the gut itself, the result may be Irritable Bowel Syndrome, ulcerative colitis, or Crohn’s disease. If the bacteria that causes gingivitis enters the bloodstream and attacks the arterial walls, causing inflammation and cholesterol deposition, heart disease and stroke may ensue.

As a secondary consequence, inflammation in the gut damages the body’s ability to produce IgA, and without IgA, pathogens can escape into the bloodstream and infect any part of the body. This leads to an increase in infections, an over-stimulated immune system, and an abundance of pathogens infecting the liver, thereby creating detoxification failure. Eventually, patients suffer from loss of concentration, impaired mental abilities, decreased energy, skin infections and irritations[28], such as hives or acne, as the skin organ attempts to detoxify that which the liver is failing to provide.

Colostrum to the Rescue


The “superbugs” created by decades of antibiotic misuse and our over-reliance and addictions to pain medications need not be our undoing.[29]^{, [30]} Mother Nature’s gift of colostrum is just waiting to be re-discovered. Colostrum was designed to prevent infections originating in the bowel, to close the leaky gut, and to prevent opportunistic infections from taking over and causing or exacerbating Leaky Gut Syndrome. For individuals who already have an autoimmune disease, colostrum is absolutely essential to the healing process. Unless a permeable gut is healed, the body cannot begin to repair the damage caused by inflammation. As healing begins, the amount of toxins dumped into the bloodstream will decline; nutritional uptake will improve; the cells will have better access to the fuel they need to for repair and to replication; organ function will improve; and energy levels will rise.

And unlike the so-called wonder drugs of the pharmaceutical industry, absolutely no harm comes from colostrum.[31] It has no known side effects and has no known interactions with drugs. Colostrum has been proven in both animal and human trials to prevent and heal Leaky Gut Syndrome, and it’s the only substance conclusively proven to provide this kind of result. Food elimination and herbal products can’t do the job because they don’t contain the antibodies, immunoglobulins, and growth factors necessary to heal the gut lining and provide the nutrition and hormones for cell repair, growth and differentiation. According to the Book of Sirach, colostrum is ranked alongside wheat, honey, salt, water, fire and iron as being some of the ancient “necessities of life.”[32] In modern society, bovine colostrum is the “necessity of life” for healing every chronic disease.

Bovine colostrum is effective against a wide range of pathogens, including bacteria[33], viruses,[34] and protozoan parasites,[35] that cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal illnesses.[36] Even in the worst case of AIDS, colostrum could eliminate chronic diarrhea so that nutritional uptake was restored and patients could reverse their wasting disease and regain a significant measure of health. If this is any indicator of how well colostrum could work for the occasional tummy bug someone got at the local eatery to the C. diff they picked up in the hospital, then we have cause to celebrate. And with the CDC reporting that two million Americans become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria annually,[37] then practitioners must advocate strongly for colostrum use.

Colostrum’s antimicrobial and antiviral activity is due to its antibodies, lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, lysozyme, and other immune factors which bind to pathogens and destroy their cell membranes or compete for binding sites on the intestinal wall.[38]^{, [39]} Initially, many researchers believed that in order for colostrum to be effective against specific diarrhea pathogens, the cows needed to be immunized with those specific pathogens a minimum 24 hours prior to colostrum collection. This was termed hyperimmune colostrum. Later, it was discovered that non-hyperimmune colostrum was equally effective in preventing diarrhea.[40] More good news, and the reason is that cows acquire their immunity from pathogens in the grasses they eat and from the infected people they come in contact with, in addition to all the passive immunity they received from their maternal lineage. This broad spectrum defense is what makes colostrum so beneficial for human use.

High Efficacy Colostrum Supplements Yield Health Benefits


In order for colostrum to be effective, it must contain high levels the active components, and it must be able to reach the cells with no compromise in bioactivity. A phospholipid coating, such as Liposomal Delivery,[41] protects the colostrum from digestion and ensures it can deliver the nutrients, growth factors, and anti-pathogenic action of colostrum to the cells. Raw fresh colostrum has a liposomal surrounding of the active, sensitive molecules and so, we know that this is critical for processed supplements. Only one processing plant in the world has been designed to process colostrum in a way that maintains integrity of the active components and verifies bioactivity and the presence of antibodies prior to distribution to consumers. If a colostrum supplement can’t heal Leaky Gut Syndrome, it’s no better than powdered milk.

I’ve been working with physicians for over two decades in leaky gut and gastrointestinal health with phenomenal results. I’ve had some very significant reports from patients and physicians testifying to remission and restoration of damaged tissue in multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, scleroderma, and Alzheimer’s disease. We believe this to be the result of the healing of Leaky Gut Syndrome and the ability of colostrum’s growth factors to help repair damaged tissue and organs. I recommend physicians put their chronically ill patients -- anyone with allergies, food sensitivities, autoimmune diseases, immune problems, cancer, heart disease, etc. on colostrum as a first mode of treatment. I also suggest a gluten-free diet because gluten coats the villi in the small intestine, thereby trapping any pathogens in the infected area of the bowel. Colostrum can’t destroy the pathogens if it can’t reach them. The bowel needs to be re-seeded with probiotics and again, colostrum is needed for the good bacteria to colonize. If leaky gut was the result of parasites, an anti-parasitic cleanse is necessary, as colostrum does not destroy parasites.

Physicians with gluten-sensitive patients are particularly interested in colostrum. A new report from the Institute for Responsible Technology just came out with a report that confirms what I’ve believed for a long time. GMO foods are linked to Leaky Gut Syndrome and may also trigger or exacerbate gluten-related disorders, including celiac disease.[42] Of the nine GMO food crops grown for human consumption containing high levels of Bt-toxin, corn and corn oil are most widely consumed in the United States and Mexico. The Bt-toxin was designed to puncture holes in insects’ digestive tracts, and studies have demonstrated this in human cells as well.[43] Bt-toxin may be related to Leaky Gut Syndrome, and as a whole, GM foods may be contributing to the rise in gluten sensitivity.

 “Colostrum is the ideal solution for Leaky Gut Syndrome. Its components prevent and heal GI damage. Unless the gut is healed, the body cannot begin the process of repair” (Donald Henderson, MD, MPH, UCLA Professor of Medicine).³⁰ If you heal the gut, stop the crossover of toxins, and detoxify the body, then you’re going to see a starting point from which you can begin eliminating multiple symptoms and begin narrowing down a process and a pathway to wellness. Recommended dosing is one teaspoon colostrum mixed with water on an empty stomach thirty minutes before meals and before bedtime. Results are typically achieved within thirty days, and regular use is required to maintain benefits.

Common practice dictates that practitioners perform allergy/food sensitivity tests and recommend a food elimination program to heal leaky gut. Foods are not the cause of leaky gut. They’re the symptom of leaky gut. That is the proof that leaky gut exists, and I believe that every patient who walks through your door with a chronic disease complaint has Leaky Gut Syndrome. If you haven’t put colostrum into your practice, or you if have put colostrum in your practice before and you didn’t get results, you really need to take a look at the fact that not all colostrum on the market is equal. Not all colostrum is processed to ensure the bioactivity of the beneficial components. And if they’re not bioactive, they’re not going to provide the kind of results I’m talking about in this article.

Conclusion


Often misunderstood and nearly always undiagnosed, Leaky Gut Syndrome has become an epidemic in modern times, as evidenced by the epidemic of allergies and chronic diseases. The more public attention given to the overuse and abuse of pain medications and antibiotics is sure to drive home the message that physicians need a paradigm shift in treatment of chronically ill patients. When Hippocrates said that all disease begins in the gut, he was way ahead of his time. After two-thousand years, we are just beginning to understand and accept this premise in modern medicine. If we understand and appreciate colostrum for the true gift it is, we can utilize it for the healing and prevention of gastrointestinal distress and therefore, chronic toxicity and in doing so, we will dramatically increase quality of life and reduce unnecessary death and disability.

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