Old Mike,
Thank you for following this so closely. It's extremely promising, and I think our best bet yet. I have been following the issue of ROS (reactive oxygen species) in UC for years, but it's been challenging to know what to do about
it. However, I can at least shed some light on root causes for you, they are mainly genetic. Almost every UC patient I know who has had their genetics done, and then checked out their detoxing SNPs, shows mutations in superoxide dis mutase (SOD) or glutathione transferase p (GTSP). These are the genes that relate to the synthesis or transport of SOD and gluthatione. When these are mutated severely, people have a reduced capacity to handle oxidative stress in the body. In UC patients, this manifests in the distal colon because that is where there is the highest ROS burden but the least ROS reducing capacity. ANYTHING that increases ROS in the bowel, like emotional stress, excess exercise, bad diet (which feeds bacterial overgrowths that cause ROS release), etc... will run the risk of hydrogen peroxide and other oxygen radicals leaking into the bowel, compromising bowel lining. Then once the inflammatory cascade starts, you're stuck in a vicious cycle.
Here is a video by Dr. Pravada, very informative:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuFiH4vFJjY
I have been experimenting for years with what to do about
the increased ROS issue, and I've done many things: low toxin (pesticide, chemical diet), living in a less polluted part of the world, taking lots of antioxidants, etc. I'm so sensitive to ROS that when there are forest fires here in the pacific northwest, the smoke makes me flare!
A few of your past threads come to mind... like when you took grape seed extract, and the combo zinc/vitamin C supplement. Those are high in a specific kind of reductive ROS factor.
As far as I can tell, these are the best things UC patients can do to counter ROS and H2O2 until a better method is developed:
1) Most important... increasing butyrate production in the bowel along with other short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Some people are taking butyrate enemas, but in my opinion the best way is to feed the gut flora that produce these. That means more soluble fiber in the diet, like from things like legumes, whole grains, etc. Psyllium seed powder (note: NOT psyllium husk) is another good one. A google search will yield many foods that increase SCFAs, then people can tailor their diets according to tolerances.
2) Reducing red meat. Meat in general is probably OK in moderation, but red meat creates ROS like crazy, and is why it's so correlated to bowel cancers.
3) Citrus fruit juices, like orange, grapefruit (if tolerated with medications)
4) Grape products, as long as they have no sugar or alcohol, so no wine unfortunately! This could infer that resveratrol is an important factor.
5) Products that naturally increase glutathione and SOD production in the body, like milkthistle, curcumin (phytosomal is best). Taking glutathione directly does nothing... the body breaks it down immediately. However, you can try NAC and glycine, which are the precursors.
6) I have read that sulforaphane is excellent at mopping up hydrogen peroxide, but I have no product recommendations.
7) Other antioxidants might be useful, and there are many candidates... but it's hard to know which ones promote reduction of ROS in the bowel, or the proper route of administration (oral or rectal). But at least this research helps us narrow the field to: ANTIOXIDANTS.
7) Avoiding unnecessary stress as much as possible, and compensating for stress with the above methods.
I don't think these methods are enough because if they were, people would be better already. A SOD2 or GSTP mutation means that there is a specific step missing in the cellular environment, and getting something from outside of the body to that direct step inside of a cell in the colon is difficult. So the cure is going to be something extremely targeted.
Until then, the above methods are a damage control measure until a drug is created. Dr. Pravada says that a "combination" therapy is necessary, although he hasn't released his findings yet. This implies that some combo of antioxidants is necessary, and I'm assuming this would mean multiple routes of administration... probably oral AND rectal. I read a similar study not long ago that used budesonide, sodium cromoglicate, and sodium butyrate rectally in cominbination with oral ALA, which showed promise. However, I find it very telling that Dr. Pravada has zero interest in exploring the inflammatory pathway as a treatment method. That's been done to death, and millions of people worldwide are languishing from that failed research pathway.
It may also involve pharmaceutical antioxidants that are either particular stereoisomers or they have been conjugated in such a way that there's NO way the medication could be used by the body to produce ROS. That's the problem with a lot of "antioxidants" on the market, like ALA, quercetin, other vitamins, etc... they are marketed as antioxidants because of what they do in one particular pathway in the body, but the reality is that oral administration can lead to anti-ROS or pro-ROS effects.
The research is extremely promising! Probably the most promising thing I've read in the 7+ years of CONSTANT research since I developed UC. I have read all the available data with a fine toothed comb and it makes so much sense. I think people should really be paying attention to this one.
Post Edited (VanJordan) : 2/8/2022 4:52:14 PM (GMT-7)