New in the world of autoimmune... Do germs cause type 1 diabetes?

From the full study abstract itself at the end "Together, these data highlight how T cell cross-reactivity with pathogen-derived antigens might break self-tolerance to induce autoimmune disease."

Link to the news article write up: /www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160516212653.htm
Summary "Germs could play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes by triggering the body's immune system to destroy the cells that produce insulin, new research suggests."

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Just thought this might interest some.

I think it's very important to explore and look down this pathway. Many have suggested such things with IBD as well as a few other conditions. Will be interesting to see where this line of research goes in the future.

Eucalyptus said...
It is interesting reading about diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Trying to figure out what is going on can be confusing, to me at least. I have read some interesting ideas on yeast and fungal infection for bringing about diabetes. Don't know how accurate they are.

The article isn't on infection, but I found this an interesting write up on Dr Kendrick's sight on some of the mystery of type 1 and 2 diabetes.

"Thinking about diabetes again"

/drmalcolmkendrick.org/2015/01/31/thinking-about-diabetes-again/

"...This is a paradigm with only two variables. Blood sugar*, and insulin. Type I diabetes is due to a lack of insulin, Type II is due to a relative lack of insulin caused by ‘insulin resistance’ whereby enough insulin is produced, but its effects are blocked. Insulin sugar, sugar insulin. End of.

I think of this as the super-simplistic model of diabetes. Of course insulin and blood sugar are connected, but this model is inadequate. A violin with only one string, playing a hopelessly restricted tune. For those who did watch Professor Unger’s YouTube lecture, you will be aware that this ‘insulino-centric’ model of diabetes is, in many ways, just plain wrong.

He has, for example, done experiments on mice whereby he completely destroyed the beta cells in the pancreas, conducted a glucose tolerance test, and found that the resulting glucose levels followed almost exactly the same pattern as in mice with intact beta cells. In short, insulin is not required to keep blood sugar levels under control after a glucose meal.

For those who have watched the video, you will be aware that this statement is true, but I have left out something rather critical. However, the main part of the statement is still correct. Despite what we are repeatedly told, you don’t need insulin to keep your blood sugar levels under control – the body can do this almost as well using other systems. Shock, horror, the body does not need insulin to absorb and store sugar...."

except NOT ...

this is total bull. the insulting does not directly convert the sugar, but it does turn the absorption of sugar on and off. it is essential. possibly if you ate a very consistent low sugar food on a continuous basis you could do without insulin and not get too much ot too little sugar in the blood. But almost impossible except with IV.

there is no medical or scientific basis for what you are posting. None.

nutritionwonderland.com/2010/05/understanding-our-bodies-insulin/

it's very interesting, i've never heard about this Kempner before (here's an interesting article:https://www.drmcdougall.com/2013/12/31/walter-kempner-md-founder-of-the-rice-diet/). It's so incredible that he could have successes with treating diabetic patients with carbohydrates and sugar, seems that everything in medicine is so unstable and relevant

I know, it was unexpected when I came across his work! I read that before too, whipping patients. One of the books I read on Dr. Kempner, written by a former employee said the patient that made the sexual allegation had mental issues. Who knows.

I had a chuckle when the doctor was approached by a group of wealthy investors. They wanted to franchise the rice diet out. The owner of Dunkin Donuts, a patient and friend, in particular wanted to create rice houses across America to cure diabetes. Dr. Kempner turned them all down. In my opinion he made his rice diet and program to complicated, probably to keep control. Just a guess.

I know what you mean. I began eating more rice and fresh fruit also. I also made another change to my diet in that I began eating foods high in animal vitamin A.

Below is another write up on Dr. Kempner's rice diet and diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease work. It's a long read but has some additional clues to why the diet looks to have worked for some of his patients.

https://rawfoodsos.com/2015/10/06/in-defense-of-low-fat-a-call-for-some-evolution-of-thought-part-1/

A mention in the article is made that vitamin A was given to Dr. Kempner's diabetes patients. No mention made on the type of vitamin A given.

It is a little more complicated than this explanation but basically there are two types of vitamin A. There is the plant form of vitamin A. One of the more common plant forms of vitamin A is called beta carotene. Then were is the animal form of vitamin A. The animal form of vitamin A is found in liver, butter, cheese, cod liver oil, etc. Both types of vitamin As have their different usefulness in the body. The US government allows both plant and animal forms of these compounds to be called vitamin A.

Many people are able to convert plant beta carotene vitamin A into the animal form of vitamin A. Not everyone is able to make the conversion though. Diabetics reportedly have difficulties or are not able to convert the plant form of vitamin A into the animal form of vitamin A. A little bit on this can be read here.

"Vitamin A Saga"

http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/vitamin-a-saga/

from the article:

...Under optimal conditions, humans can indeed convert carotenes to vitamin A. This occurs in the upper intestinal tract by the action of bile salts and fat-splitting enzymes. Of the entire family of carotenes, beta-carotene is most easily converted to vitamin A. Early studies indicated an equivalency of 4:1 of beta-carotene to retinol. In other words, four units of beta-carotene were needed to produce one unit of vitamin A. This ratio was later revised to 6:1 and recent research suggests an even higher ratio.5 This means that you have to eat an awful lot of vegetables and fruits to obtain even the daily minimal requirements of vitamin A, assuming optimal conversion.
But the transformation of carotene to retinol is rarely optimal. Diabetics and those with poor thyroid function, a group that could well include at least half the adult US population, cannot make the conversion. Children make the conversion very poorly and infants not at all — they must obtain their precious stores of vitamin A from animal fats6— yet the low-fat diet is often recommended for children. Strenuous physical exercise, excessive consumption of alcohol, excessive consumption of iron (especially from “fortified” white flour and breakfast cereal), use of a number of popular drugs, excessive consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, zinc deficiency and even cold weather can hinder the conversion of carotenes to vitamin A,7 as does the lowfat diet....

- See more at: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/vitamin-a-saga/#sthash.lMXQAfqV.dpuf

I mention because I have seen one study where either animal vitamin A or plant vitamin A were given to diabetics. Diabetics given the plant form of vitamin A still had poor eye sight. (Blindness is a problem that can occur in diabetes.) Diabetics given animal vitamin A saw their eye sight improve over time. It was a small older study, but thought it interesting.

There was also this mice study published last year. Not exactly proof of animal vitamin A helping with human diabetes but thought interesting. I wish the type of vitamin A given had been mentioned.

"Could vitamin A deficiency be a cause of type 2 diabetes?"

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/288199.php

excerpt:

"....According to senior author Dr. Lorraine Gudas - chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell - and colleagues, vitamin A boosts beta cell activity, meaning lack of the vitamin may play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes.

There are two types of vitamin A. Preformed vitamin A, referred to as retinol, is present in meat, poultry, fish and dairy products, while pro-vitamin A, or beta-carotene, is found in many fruits and vegetables. Vitamin A aids cell growth and contributes to a healthy immune system and vision.

Past studies have shown that, during fetal development, vitamin A is key for beta cell production. But Dr. Gudas and colleagues say it was unclear as to whether vitamin A played such a role in adulthood.

Removal of dietary vitamin A led to beta cell loss in adult mice
To find out, the team analyzed the beta cell development among two groups of adult mice; one group of mice had been genetically modified to be unable to store dietary vitamin A, while the other group was able to store the vitamin from foods as normal.

The researchers found that the mice unable to store vitamin A experienced beta cell death, meaning these mice were unable to produce insulin.

What is more, when the researchers removed vitamin A from the diets of healthy mice, they found this led to significant beta cell loss, resulting in reduced insulin production and increased blood glucose levels - key factors involved in development of type 2 diabetes. When the researchers restored vitamin A to the rodents' diets, beta cell production rose, insulin production increased and blood glucose levels returned to normal.

The researchers say their findings indicate that vitamin A deficiency may be involved in the development of type 2 diabetes. Dr. Gudas says:

"How the removal of vitamin A causes the death of the beta cells that make insulin in the pancreas is an important question we want to answer.

These beta cells in the pancreas are exquisitely sensitive to the dietary removal of vitamin A. No one has found that before. Our study sets the platform to take these studies further into preclinical and clinical settings."

The team says their findings also suggest a synthetic form of vitamin A may have the potential to reverse type 2 diabetes - something they plan to address in future research.

In November 2014, Medical News Today reported on a study suggesting verapamil - a common drug used to treat high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and migraine headaches - has the potential to reverse diabetes.

Written by Honor Whiteman"

Thanks! I was curious about the animal vitamin A verses plant vitamin A myself. Over the winter I took cod liver oil for awhile. It didn't improve my colitis. I had high hopes! but no luck with the animal vitamin A. It did make my hair nice and shinny though.

I was looking for a nice Irish butter the other day at the store. Didn't find it, and even if I had I'm not sure I would have bought it though. Butter sounds delicious is my mind at the moment!

I have a diet that is working wonderfully for my stomach. It's all Gi system are go it seems. Hopefully I'll keep healing, and with that reframe from adding new foods to the diet for awhile. It would be nice to sort things out once and for all with the gut.

Good news! If you are American, nutritional gurus have spoken this past year. Saturated fat we are now told no longer effect cholesterol testing levels. Eggs, butter and other fats are officially safe to consume. A little on that can be read here and elsewhere on the net.

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2015/05/20/sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word/

Personally I solved my cholesterol problem years ago. I stopped believing in the cholesterol theory of heart disease, but that is my own personal belief.