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Celiac.com 12/01/2015 - Lectins are carbohydrate binding proteins which promote inflammatory responses like Crohn's disease, systemic lupus, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis. They were discovered over 100 years ago and cause leaky gut and gastrointestinal dysbiosis yet the push for a plant-based diet focusing on legumes as meat alternatives has overlooked the damage lectins cause to the gut. Legumes offer inferior nutrition compared to animal proteins so toxicity needs to be considered when recommending food choices. As carbohydrate binding proteins, lectins are difficult to digest and irritate the brush border of the small intestine. Consequently, the tight junctions of the microvilli are damaged by prolamin and agglutinins which can lead to numerous disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and autoimmune diseases. Lectins are also a major contributor to leptin resistance which contributes to obesity. As described in The Handbook of Plant Lectins: Properties and Biomedical Applications (John Wiley, 1998), foods that contain these toxic lectins are members of the pea family and include peanuts, pigeon peas, soybeans, kidney beans, mung beans, lima beans, lentils, fava beans, chickpeas, carob, green and yellow peas. Green beans, snow peas and snap peas are usually well tolerated once the gut has been healed since they are immature protein sources with minor amounts of lectins. Lectins are found in other foods including grains and pseudo-grains. Grains are seeds from grasses—barley, oats, rice, rye, millet, wheat, teff, corn, kamut, spelt and possibly wild rice. Many gastroenterologists believe that the detrimental affects of lectins in grains are a factor in the development of celiac disease. Genetics and frequent consumption possibly play a critical role in the severity of sensitivities to these foods. Pseudo-grains are seeds from broadleafed plants—amaranth, buckwheat, chia, and quinoa. These seed products were geographically limited to specific populations and only available on a limited basis seasonally. But modern agriculture has greatly increased the consumption of these pseudo-grains because they can be labeled “gluten-free” because US standards allow any grain with less than 20 ppm gluten to be called gluten-free. Omitting toxic lectins—prolamins and agglutinins—from the diet is critical for gut health. Prolamins are predominately found in the seeds of plants. Gluten is the most widely known source of prolamins. They get their name from the high content of the amino acid proline. Research studies have shown that the prolamins in quinoa, corn and oats can cause damage to the digestive tract in people with celiac disease, yet these grains are frequently included in a gluten-free diet. Aggltinins are named for their ability to cause clumping of red blood cells. The most recent example of how this toxic lectin works is the bioterrorism threat caused from ricin. Ricin is the compound in castor beans that is so toxic that only tiny amounts are needed to cause death. Agglutinins are found on the seed coatings of grains and pseudo-grains and serve to protect the seed from fungus growth. Genetically modified crops—wheat, corn, soybeans—have higher amounts of agglutinins to insure higher yields. A leaky gut is harmful to the innate and adaptive immune systems. Toxic lectins cause inflammation and induce cytokine production. As few as five soaked, uncooked kidney beans can lead to gut distress for the raw foodies while 1 tablespoon of peanut butter leads to peanut agglutinins entering the bloodstream soon after consumption. Paolo Zatto and Pamela Zambenedetti from Padova, Italy studied lectins, microglia and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) as reported in Lectins and Pathology, 2000. The microglia of 10 AD brains stained intensely for agglutinins. Their research concluded that the glycation reaction seen in AD from lectins may serve as a significant factor in amyloid plaque development and disease progression. Bacteria overgrowth in the gut is associated with a wide variety of diseases- septicemia, pulmonary infections, enteropathies. Adhesion of pathogenic bacteria to epithelial cells in the gut can be a critical first stage in the infectious disease process. Michele Mouricout and Bruno Vedrine of Limoges, France described how lectins cause adhesion of numerous bacterial strains to intestines, brain tissues, urinary tract, lung and corneal cells. Their research is reported in Lectins and Pathology, 2000 illustrates the mosiac effect of how agglutinins cause tissue damage. Even though lectins have been identified for decades, little interest has been shown by biological and medical science. Since they are so widely distributed in foods consumed daily, lectins may finally become recognized as partners in the pathogenesis of diseases like cancer. Galectin-3 (gal 3) galactoside-binding lectin is found on the surface of most cancer cells and has been reported to promote angiogenesis. Lectins are not oncogenes but they help in cancer progression once initiated. Some are implicated in adhesion while others cause metatasis. Isn't it about time that nutrition science took a closer look at the lectin levels in foods consumed daily and customize the diet for lectin sensitivity to better manage inflammation and auto immune diseases? The higher intact of GMO food in the diet, the more lectins are consumed. Without food labeling of GMOs, consumers will continue to be misled and many will remain sick.

Celiac.com 10/22/2021 - The iceberg starts by scratching the hull. The captain and crew had early warning signs but it all happened so quickly from there. The destruction continues on and the hull is breached, allowing water to rush in. We are seeing this happen now. People are starting to perish aren‘t they? Next, the boat starts to list to starboard. Passengers are abandoning ship while the crew goes into emergency status. The pumps are started and priorities set. It's a bit chaotic but many are still being hopeful and thinking positively. Those with vision imagine the worst-case scenario and act accordingly. "I think we can patch this thing up if we back away now and try not to drive this rock any deeper." Unfortunately, this is man's ‘M.O.", isn't it? We do have to hit the iceberg before we learn many of the important things in life. Well, we have hit them and hit them hard. As I stated so melodramatically in the opening, you are alive to see the paradigm shift that has resulted from hitting this iceberg. The ship is going down. One drug after another has been placed under "the microscope" and failed the acid test. The cans are all falling off the shelf. For those in medicine, the colon contents have hit the fan. Pick a metaphor and run with it. Thank God there are lifeboats! And there are lots of them—enough to rescue the entire compliment of passengers and crew. It's just that they are small, spread out, and there doesn't appear to be enough of them. But there are adequate provisions if we stay calm, work together, pool our resources, and WANT to survive. We have to want to get better and we have to believe that there are lifeboats that can get us to safety. The lifeboats are people who understand nutrition and how the body works. They are wise doctors who listen to their patients before prescribing medication, whether they are conventional or holistic preparations. I look at the Internet as a set of lifeboats, although some of them have holes in them. What's the expression? Oh yeah "Knowledge is power." That is partly right, for sure. Faith is extremely important, as is courage. You must believe and act upon what you think is true. You must be confident, strong, and persistent. So, we need to cover a few more things to build up your faith in the idea that we are in charge of our health destiny more than we have ever been led to believe. It's not hard to imagine now that you know about the extremely common malabsorption syndrome being induced by the staples of our diet, right? There is more, though—much more. The two biggest killers of human beings are atherosclerosis and cancer. A person every 3.5 seconds dies of a stroke or heart attack in this country. And yet, the dog does not suffer from this as a lethal, clinical entity—yet! Veterinary pathologists are seeing atherosclerotic changes in the vessels of dogs on necropsy. And this is very important for us to understand. Dogs can have atherosclerosis but they don't have it badly enough to cause clinical disease. They develop so many of the conditions that take human life, including a higher incidence of cancer, but dogs don't suffer from this deadly disease process. Why is that? Simply put, they don't get "enough" hydrogenated oils in their diet. I believe down to my socks that trans fats are the single-most important factor in the development of atherosclerosis—the "solvents" that allow things into the walls of the arteries of those that consume them and set the stage for the inflammatory process that follows. Dogs do get some trans fats in their diet, as they are fed French fries, snack foods and bits of human desserts that are loaded with these culprits. But, they clearly do not get enough to lead to a clinical syndrome. (Please read Hydrogenated Oils-The Silent Killers, by David Dewey on the Internet. Whoa! You will clearly see how and why the first recorded myocardial infarction took place only ten years after hydrogenated oils hit the shelves in the form of margarine. You will also see how and why another plague—type 2 diabetes—"adult-onset" diabetes—followed ten years after that. Hey, dogs don‘t get that one either—yet! "20:20".) But cancer??? Oh yeah, dogs have lots and lots of cancer. Why is that? Because they have plenty of the viruses that cause cancer and experience the same immune suppression as humans stemming from their diet, the environment, and the drugs they receive. "Back up for minute. That's the second time you've said viruses cause cancer." Yes, once again, there are medical researchers who have believed for over thirty years that all cancer is viral in origin—not just some, not even most, but all. I personally believe that this is true, especially after spending as much time studying about these guys as I have. And this belief positions all other "carcinogens" where I think they belong: as secondary factors, facilitating the action of the virus by causing immune suppression, chronic tissue damage, and/or damage to our actual DNA, where I believe many of these culprits reside. The "four horsemen" fit right into the clinical picture here by inducing at least two of the three factors- causing immune suppression and inciting chronic tissue inflammation and damage. The immunosuppressive effects of the big four should be easily imagined. Back to the coral reef covered with oil. How can those villi that are coated with the problem glycoproteins manage to absorb optimal levels of B complex, vitamin C, and other nutrients critical to the health of the immune system? How can they do it when they are leveled by the immune response to the glue foods in true celiac disease or the related conditions of true casein, soy, or corn intolerance? This should be a no-brainer—and it is—literally. The brain suffers tremendously from the lack of these nutrients along with a concurrent deficiency in calcium, zinc, iron, iodine, and the pandemic omega three fatty acid deficiencies that exist in humans and pets. Therefore, it shouldn't be a mystery that cancer is rampant among the three species. The fact that viruses cause cancer is a done deal in veterinary medicine and has been for quite some time. I won't bore you with the list of examples. And yet, it was not until March of this year—2005—that the American Cancer Society put viruses on their list of carcinogens. How can that be? Are you as baffled by that as I am? Remember those landers on Mars? Wherever you have immune suppression and chronic inflammation come together then you should look for cancer. Estrogens fit the bill here and therefore should not surprise anyone as leading carcinogens in breast (mammary) cancer. The good news is that the ovaries of the female do not make enough estrogen by themselves to create this dilemma. It is what the individual is consuming (including hormone replacement therapy) or exposed to in the environment (pesticides, environmental toxins, food animal additives, etc) that tips the scales in favor of the cancer (or endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, PMS, catamenial seizures, or other estrogen-related disorders). The "big four" foods fit right in here because the gluten grains, dairy, and soy are loaded with estrogens. Dairy is a huge factor here as it also provides cholesterol precursors to the formation of these hormones. Seeing a pattern here? Yes, the foods that are bad for us are so in a number of ways. So, we should not be surprised to see that Asians have a 15 times lower rate of breast cancer and a 5 times lower rate of prostate cancer—on their native diets. It is NOT because they eat soy. The truth is that they eat very little soy. But they do NOT eat dairy, wheat, or corn in their traditional diets. Just go to any authentic Japanese or Chinese restaurant and look for cheese, bread, or corn chips. Which brings us to "lectins", something I mentioned a while back. Lectin is the term that has been given to the antibody-sized glycoprotein that is derived from the consumption of foods that are part carbohydrate and part protein (thus the term glyco-protein). Once again, the big four foods are glycoproteins by structure. Our antibodies are also glycoproteins, a protein core with a sticky carbohydrate outer covering to facilitate adherence to foreign proteins such a viruses, bacteria, and the like. In fact, viruses have glycoprotein receptors on them. Normally, our antibodies attach to these sites. Hmmm—I wonder if dietary lectins ever do? Could one plausible explanation for food-induced immune-mediated disease episodes be that the chronic latent viruses in situ in our tissue become coated with dietary glycoproteins rather than our antibodies and that when we develop IgE, IgG, and other antibodies to these foods that our immune system starts to react to these "food-coated" viruses in the host tissue and attack that tissue just as it would if it were a viral infection coated with our own antibodies? Could that be how food lectins such as those from wheat, dairy, soy, or corn auto-agglutinate red blood cells. Maybe it is just the glycoprotein itself that does it in most cases but it sure would help to explain why some "autoimmune diseases" are triggered by foods while others follow viral infections, either naturally acquired or through vaccination. It would also help to explain why avoidance of the trouble foods could greatly reduce the incidence or recurrence of these attacks. (For a well-written discussion on lectins, please look up The Lectin Report on the Internet. It goes into great detail about how these tiny glycoproteins "unlock" the cell and allow things to enter it, inciting inflammation and causing cell death. It's all about the same guys. The four horsemen ride again.) The fantastic news is that sooooo much starts going right once the big four are avoided completely and for a long enough time. By avoiding the casein, gluten, soy, and corn, the gut starts to heal and the malabsorption syndrome begins to reverse. How long does it take for the intestine to heal once the offending foods are withdrawn? Well, according to the celiac literature, it takes anywhere from 6 months to 2 years for the duodenum to return to normal. Does that make sense? Not to me, unless you consider the fact that gluten is not the only thing doing the harm to those duodenal villi. This was my first quest, to get on celiac forums and make sure they knew the truth about casein, soy, and corn. I hated reading about celiacs that had struggled so valiantly to be gluten-free only to find that they were shooting themselves in the foot big time by the continued consumption of the other three culprits. Statistically, celiacs have a 50% chance of also being casein intolerant. I have to believe that it is much more common than that. But soy and corn are looming larger and larger as we fall for the myth that soy is a health food, we turn to vegetarianism for various reasons, and we continue to genetically modify corn to death. Assuming that we do enough right, the gut does heal and probably much more quickly than we currently believe. After all, it is one of the fastest healing tissues in the body. Once healed, it starts to take in all of the calcium, iron, iodine, B complex, vitamin C, and trace minerals that it has been starving for over the past years, often from the moment the individual started consuming the big four. The thyroid becomes healthy, the iron deficiency resolves, enzyme systems start operating at peak efficiency, tissue repairs, and the immune system gets back to normal. And that last item is critical. That's when many of the long-term symptoms finally resolve—the allergies, GI signs, skin problems, and in the best case scenario, the immune-mediated diseases. I would love to think that the risk of cancer then plummets, as well. What couldn't our immune system accomplish if it were in optimal condition? I can no longer put limitations of what our body is capable of doing in the way of healing or prevention when I think about that last statement. However, I know that our environment—with its staggering levels of serious pollution—is a HUGE limiting factor. I would love to dive into that topic but time constraints prevent that. The really cool thing is that some "completely unexpected" things can happen when individuals go GFCFSFCF (gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, corn-free). In retrospect, they were "unexpected" only because we had not fully grasped the impact of what we had learned. The most notable—the most amazing—the coolest of the cool—the "hook" as I now call it—was the response of epileptics to this elimination diet. I find it just so utterly fascinating that something we stumble upon can wind up being the glaring example of everything we know—AND end up leading us into realms that we could only dream about in the past. Epilepsy is just that condition. Man, I could talk about epilepsy for the full two hours- how it all comes about and what the study of this condition has done to my knowledge base. Thankfully, I have chronicled the entire journey on my Website (www.dogtorj.com), starting with how I read the captivating fact that celiac children with epilepsy who went gluten-free often had major reductions in—if not total cessation of—their seizures. "Wow. I wonder why that happens?" I asked myself. "Epilepsy is considered idiopathic in veterinary medicine. There has to be something about wheat that leads to seizures." Elementary thinking, I know. But, this was novel stuff to me. How about you? It did not take long at all to find that MSG (monosodium glutamate) could trigger seizures and that wheat gluten was an incredible 25% glutamic acid by weight. "Eureka! Is it that simple? I then found that soy had even more glutamate, almost twice as much as wheat. "Oh, oh." Casein is 20% glutamic acid by structure. Yep, three of the four horsemen are packing glutamate in their saddlebags. Do the food sources of these neurostimulating—potentially neurotoxic—non-essential amino acids (glutamate and aspartate), really do the same thing to our brain that the "crack cocaine" versions (MSG and aspartame, respectively) do?" I assumed so and started putting my epileptic canine patients on gluten-free diets and, son-of-a-gun, they became vastly improved. Some stopped having seizures completely within 24 hours of the diet change and never seized again. We were onto something—and it was big—really big. As the significance of these findings sunk in, I threw myself into the study of neurological, psychiatric, and other "idiopathic" neurodegenerative conditions that affect us all. The "excitotoxins" ( MSG and aspartame), as Dr. Russell Blaylock termed them, were well-known culprits and played roles in epilepsy, ADHD, bipolar disease, and more. It wasn't until later that I would finally start reading about their involvement in the other "big 4": MS, ALS, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. But still, no one was talking about the FOOD sources of these non-essential amino acids. But it was so simple, and a little something called "insomnia" illustrated the point I was trying to make. These neuroactive amino acids were clearly responsible for waking people up like a shot at 1-2 AM, 5-6 hours after eating dinner and dessert and I was a living example. And that was the exact time interval I was finding between meals and seizures in my un-medicated dogs. Once I published my work on the Web and contacted over 500 breeders in the process (oh, how I love the passion of breeders), the testimonies to these finding were flowing in on a regular basis. And, the pieces to this puzzle started fitting together—phenomenally well. And here is where it all comes together. I had written a totally different summary for the end of this discussion, but upon proofreading the pages, I realized that the discussion of epilepsy—the condition that grabbed my attention and pulled me into this epic battle at Helm's Deep—would serve that purpose. It would illustrate all of the principles that I "preach" every day in the exam room and will attempt to enlighten people with (hopefully not bore to death) in lectures like this for the rest of my days. Principle number one: The foods that are bad for us are bad in numerous ways. The "four horsemen"—gluten (from the grains wheat, barley, rye), casein, soy, and corn terrorize us in more ways than simply inducing villous atrophy, which results in the chronic malabsorption of the essential nutrients that we have covered. These foods provide staggering levels of glutamate (and aspartate), estrogens, allergens, and lectins, and when prepared for consumption, act as carriers of many of man's worst creations in the form of GMO's, hormones, and chemical additives. So these foods damage our gut, cause malnutrition of our entire body, and provide many of the ingredients necessary to generate symptoms including pain, sleeplessness, high blood pressure, behavioral disturbances, and seizures. Applying this to epilepsy, the brain suffers from the malnutrition, the immune system going down, and the rise of chronic latent viruses. The war begins. Add the vaccination with modified live virus vaccines made with viruses that love the central nervous system. These viruses naturally take up residence in the glial cells of the brain, those cells that control the level of the normal neurotransmitter—our friend glutamate—at the synapse. We have seen vaccine-induced disease in the past, right? How hard is it to believe that this is happening "sub-clinically"? These top allergy-producing foods are also stimulating histamine production, the release of which causes the blood brain barrier to become more permeable to glutamate, a normal occurrence that serves to counteract the depressing effects of histamine. These same foods contain estrogens, both naturally occurring and those from pesticide residues, which are neurostimulating, irritating, and immunosuppressive. P.M.S. anyone? How about catamenial seizures? I hear about them all of the time. The malnutrition that we have discussed then starts to compromise enzyme systems in the liver, kidneys, and elsewhere in the body, some of which are responsible for controlling the blood levels of the evil twins, glutamate and aspartate. No wonder some of us have seizures. The way I see things now, it's a bigger wonder that more of us don't have epilepsy. Are you seeing "Pandora's Box" opening yet? Have you grasped what these foods- the damage they do and the ingredients they contain- are capable of? Thank Goodness our body knows what to do with all of this mess we put it through, eh? And it does. Therefore, principle number two: Our body never makes mistakes—ever. Only we make bad choices about what we do to this vessel of ours. "What about birth defects?" is always the first challenge. Certainly, this degenerative process sometimes begins prenatally, leading to premature births and birth defects, but we are ultimately responsible for these occurrences. The more you learn about this topic (and study celiac disease as a model), the less you will simply write off to "genetics" or Providence. Fevers, heartburn, sore throats, nasal congestion, bronchoconstriction, diarrhea, hives, headaches, and even "autoimmune" attacks have a purpose. Some clinical signs are warning signs that we have made a mistake while others are therapeutic measures on our body's part. Others are both. "But autoimmune disorders?" you might question. Yes, I believe down to my socks that viruses are vitally involved in most (if not all) immune-mediated diseases. I believe that the immune-mediated diseases are our immune system's valiant attempt to wipe out these viruses before they have the opportunity to do what they really "want" to do—cause cancer. This would help to explain why people with chronic active hepatitis have such a high incidence of liver cancer. But it might also help to explain why the same breeds of dogs that develop panosteitis—the ones with all of the allergies and other juvenile bone diseases—are the guys that go on to develop bone cancer at age six and a half. So, is eosinophilic panosteitis our body's attempt to rid the bone of viruses that might later go on to cause cancer? What are eosinophils involved in other than allergic reactions? "But get back to seizures. I can't wait to hear how a seizure is a good thing", the skeptics are saying. Yes, I am convinced that even seizures serve a vital purpose; that being to burn up the excessive glutamate in the brain. As you may know, no matter what the cause of our bodily death may be, the brain dies as a result of the "glutamate cascade"—the sudden rise of glutamate in the brain resulting from the dying glial cells and increased permeability of the blood brain barrier. Glutamate is potentially—and eventually—neurolethal. How hard is it to believe that seizures are designed to keep the death of vital neurons from happening? The sufferers of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) sure wish a peripheral neuron could have a seizure. But because they can't, the neurons eventually die as a result of the excess glutamate in the synapse. But guess what. ALS sufferers have also reported benefits from what I now call "The G.A.R.D"—.the glutamate-aspartate restricted diet. So have people with ADHD, chronic pain, insomnia, MS, and other conditions that have the "excitotoxins" as part of their pathophysiology. This is all on my site. Seizures may even serve to limit viral infections, if through no other mode of action other than to encourage a rise in body temperature, something that viruses hate. We know that viral infections of the central nervous system are usually accompanied by high fever, right? Remember: That's a good thing. (I wonder how many people who died of West Nile Virus might have survived if we didn't treat them so aggressively? Its a parallel to that cancer thing we talked about earlier.) So, do you see why I got so excited about the role epilepsy would play in bringing people into the fold? It has all of the elements we have discussed—all of the necessary cast, plot, and scenery to make a great and epic tale of how the four horsemen rode into town and stole our health. But we really did it to ourselves, didn't we? We made these bad choices. The fact is man created the wheat we now eat in about 400 AD, introducing lethal quantities of gluten into our diet. A millennium later, we changed milk sources from goats to cows, adding casein to the mix. Now, five hundred years later, we want to start eating soy—"the third plague"—something that has been previously relegated to the lowly positions of a nitrogen-fixing, rotational crop and a mere condiment on the table of our Oriental restaurants. Did we really just get smart enough to see the health benefits of consuming the soybeans themselves? Do we really think that loading our bodies up with plant estrogens, goitrogens, anti-nutrients, villous atrophy inducing "glues", and staggering levels of the non-essential, epileptogenic amino acid glutamate is going to improve our health. How many trips to Mars are we gonna take, anyway? We do reap what we sow. Through the eyes of food intolerance, medicine becomes so simple that even* the layperson can understand it. (* I say "even" because I know a growing number of lay people who understand these things much more than the doctors who look down their noses at the "untrained".) Isn't that the way it should be? Shouldn't we all be able to comprehend our medical lives? It is, after all, one of the most important aspects of our existence, isn‘t it? The way I look at it now, our medical lives are divided into three phases: the acquisition of viruses, the progressive malfunction of our body and immune system, and the failure of our immune system. I think you now have a very good idea why that occurs - In a word, malnutrition. Symptomatically, it usually also breaks down into three phases: allergies, immune-mediated diseases, and cancer. We see this so clearly in certain breeds of dogs but I have also heard this sort of history from many, many people I have interviewed about their own health. Hopefully how and why these three phases occur is much clearer now. The allergies—phase one.. are the warning signs that you are making mistakes. The immune system is throwing warning signs at us while closing the doors to further invasion. Phase two—the immune-mediated diseases—is the first set of conditions that these allergies were warning you of. They are also a second set of warning signs of increased severity because we didn't act upon the first set. We usually still have time to get things right owing to the fact that our organs can take a beating and still survive and repair—usually we still have time. Unfortunately, some are lost in phase two due to overwhelming lupus, glomerulonephritis, or the chronic active hepatitis that finally raised its ugly head. As I have mentioned, the last condition in that list is a glaring example of the type of condition that has led me to make some bold statements concerning the role of viruses in immune-mediated diseases AND why phase three—immune failure—often manifests as cancer. I spoke of bone cancer occurring in problem breeds at 6.5 years of age. What else happens at six to seven years of age in the dog? Better put, what doesn't happen at that age: tons of immune-mediated diseases, cruciate ruptures, spinal disorders, heart murmurs, worsening allergies, numerous benign skin tumors, and more. It's a crisis period, isn't it? Just like 40-50 years of age is in the person. If these conditions are all "genetic", why do they wait so long to show up? Hmmm—great question. Something is waiting, right? What??? Can we think of anything that we have in our bodies that might be "waiting"? I can. They're called viruses. We have been acquiring them our entire lives. Our parents even gave some to us. "What?" Can't viruses be transmitted vertically? How about genetically? Others we acquired "naturally" during our lifetime and still others we acquired through vaccination. (Most of our pets and us are too unhealthy to take on any more modified live vaccines, aren't we?) And as I have mentioned , we invited many in to stay by killing the fever that was designed to limit the infection. We have become walking virus hotels—"mobile homes" for these guys, if you will. The startling fact is that we are riddled with ‘em. And they are waiting for their chance. They are the ultimate opportunist—the consummate terrorist. Sure, there are others: bacteria, mycoplasms, fungi, and more. But the virus is the guy who incorporates his genetic material into our cells and then bosses them around. He's the guy who our immune system hates enough to risk killing our own tissue to root him out. He's the guy that can go anywhere in our body and do anything he wants ONCE we get to that point of immune suppression that we are destined to reach once we have done enough wrong to this body of ours. In my mind, he wasn't designed to be. Viruses are ubiquitous in nature and critical to its development, variety, and adaptation. So why did they turn on us? "Shoot—look at the time. We'll have to go down that rabbit hole after this presentation." I think you can figure it out, anyway. Yes, we DO have our health destiny more in our own hands than we ever believed. Yes, we DO reap what we sow. We just didn't realize that we were sowing such bad seed all of these years did we? We have had glimpses of our wrongdoing and our conscience has told us not to overindulge and to try to eat properly. That's just common sense, right? But whodathunk that the staples of our diet were killing us? Who would believe that cow's milk, wheat, and the "newest health food"—soy (errrrrh)—were plagues on mankind, brought on by our own doing? And who would believe that the "simple" elimination of the big four would lead to the vast improvements in our health that I have personally experienced. (I cannot overstate the phenomenal changes that have taken place in my body over the past 5 years) I'll tell you who would believe such things: those that know that our body does not make mistakes—ever. (Only we make mistakes in our choices of what to put into our bodies.); those that can still remember why our body does what it does instead of just covering up the symptoms should believe this (Who would believe that heartburn might be a symptom that we ate something wrong? Wow!); and those that have eyes to see and ears to hear and can still be taught something. They are fewer in number than I ever thought existed. BUT, there have been enough wise people over the years to carry this torch. There have been a select number of doctors, researchers, and lay people that have been beating this drum for years and years and stood their ground against the onslaught of drugs and misinformation—the "magic" (pharmakeia) and slight of hand—that has taken away the motivation of the masses to find real answers to their health problems. Is the white tiger really gone or does he lurk off stage, sometimes even attacking his master? Yes, celiac researchers, holistic health advocates, naturopaths, and the like have finally been vindicated. They rode out to meet the enemy years ago and are finally being joined by an ever-growing cavalry. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, the message has survived—"We are what we eat. You do have control of your health's destiny." It is through the valiant efforts of this Brotherhood—and the prevailing nature of Truth—that we have won at Helm's Deep. Now, it's on to the final battle. Go to Part 1: Food Intolerance—Man and Animals versus Gluten, Casein, Soy, and Corn or How We Won the Battle of “Helm’s Deep” (Part 1 of 2)

Celiac.com 05/28/2021 - In my search for medical answers, the study of lectins did explain so much. (e.g. The “Lectin Report. Once we see that these harmful glycoproteins, especially those from gluten, dairy, soy and corn, can cause tissue damage/inflammation all by themselves, without an immune response, things really start making sense. The immune response is secondary to that damage, which helps to explain why we see such variation in the measurable response by different individuals. Some will respond with an outpouring of antibodies yielding positive tests while others will not, thus helping to explain the negative tests in individuals who end up responding quite well to the elimination diet when employ it despite those negative tests. These dietary glycoproteins are also a big part of what we love to call “autoimmune disease”. Personally, I do not like nor do I use that term anymore, unless I put it in quotes. That term implies that the immune system is attacking its own body’s tissues for no good reason. I contend that this does not happen...ever. The immune system always responds appropriately. We do not always fully understand why it does what it does. The inflammation being incited by lectins is a prime example of this. Lectins are antibody-sized proteins/glycoproteins. That, of course, makes them very tiny. How would we know they are there when they are that small? We can’t see them in a routine tissue sample. It would take biochemical analysis or, again, antibody testing to determine whether they are involved. Therein lies the rub. Once again, not everyone responds with what we might consider an “appropriate” response- one that we can detect readily. We just have to know that these lectins can and do cause changes in the individual cells of the body (from neurons to nephrons to blood cells, etc.) of susceptible individuals. I contend that the “big 4” (gluten, dairy, soy and corn) are not healthy for anyone. They are simply better tolerated by some than others. This is the nature of “spectrum disorders” which range in severity from the “best of the best” to the “worst of the worst” when it comes to the afflicted individual. I tell people to think “peanut allergy” when thinking about the worst of the worst. Whoa, now that’s a sensitivity! So, does gluten affect neurons? Definitely. Can it kill neurons? Yes! Run an Internet search for “gluten, neurons” and you’ll find some interesting things. How it damages and kills neurons is fascinating, and the clue is in the link above about lectins. A concurrent study of viruses helps to complete the big picture and that is why I write so much about this on my site now. It is logical that the viruses inside that cell are the things that determine the response of that cell to the challenge by lectins, carcinogens, and other chemicals/pollutants/preservatives, etc. Reading “The Lectin Report,” one might ask what really determines how a cell decides which of the ten different responses it will manifest once challenged by the lectin (ranging from cell death to tumor formation). I believe the answer lies in the adaptive viruses found inside that cell. That’s what viruses do in nature. They facilitate adaptation (as well as cause variation in nature). The cool thing is that our very DNA contains these adaptive viruses. Researchers now estimate that up to 45% of the genetic codes in our double stranded DNA are actually viral information. This is what retroviruses, in particular, do. They infect the cell and incorporate their genetic information into our DNA. That is why these particular viruses are involved in cancer and why cancer can be “genetic” (inherited). This information can be transmitted vertically to offspring. The other cool thing to understand is that cancer itself is an adaptive process. The viruses that “cause” cancer are simply adapting to the challenges (e.g. carcinogens) that we keep throwing at them. When all else fails, they cause the cell they are designed to protect to start growing out of control in order to ensure the survival of that virus and the cell itself. Thus, I now look at a tumor as a “protective cocoon”. Is this a radical idea? Yes. Does it make sense when you understand the good and vital work that viruses do? It certainly does to me. So why don’t we all have cancer and develop it early in our lives? Once again, because there is another part of the “syndrome” that is necessary- a weakened immune system. That’s right. We are all killing cancer cells right now (hopefully). The immune system recognizes when a cell is trying to do something inappropriate or harmful and sends in the cavalry. This could be just what we (incorrectly) label as an “autoimmune response”. The body does know exactly what it is doing each and every time it does something. I believe that down to my socks. Again, we just don’t understand what it is doing sometimes and I believe that this is one of those times. How does this apply to epilepsy and other neurodegenerative diseases such as MS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS? As stated above, some viruses love the central nervous system. The two most common brain tumors in veterinary medicine are the astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma, both of which are viral and of those cells that control many of the supportive functions of the neuron, including the production of the myelin sheath and the control of neurotransmitter levels (glutamate). If there are viruses in there causing tumors, then through “reverse engineering”, we can see that there are going to be the processes (e.g. “autoimmune diseases”) taking place that precede the formation of these tumors because these are the means by which the immune system controls the tumor production…until it is overwhelmed by all the toxins we are throwing at it.

Celiac.com 11/05/2021 - This is going to be a bit different from most of your medical lectures, I think. I hope you are up for “different”. If nothing else, the hard copy in your conference notes will give you something to read on the plane home. “Hmmm—which metaphor do I use to best illustrate the fate of conventional medicine as we now know it? Which one will give the clearest vision of the dramatic paradigm shift that is now taking place, one that will change the way we practice the art of healing for the rest of man’s days? Which will they grasp, take to heart, and run with to share with their clients, patients, and loved ones, to give them the good news—the fabulous news—this ‘gospel’ of medicine: That we are in sooooooo much more control of our health destinies than we have ever believed, certainly more than we have ever been told? This is awesome news. But how do I take them from the deception that we are “genetically-flawed organisms at the mercy of man’s mechanical and pharmaceutical creations” to the truth that we reap what we sow? Yes, even in medicine, that timeless principle applies. But once again, this is GOOD news.” Melodrama??? Is this opening statement simply a gimmick to get the attention of the audience? I personally don’t think so—but I hope it worked. It is the truth. We are all witnessing, at this very moment, the most important shift in medicine of all time as far as I can see. We should be extremely excited to be alive to observe this phenomenal event firsthand, especially those who have been waiting for years to see this transition occur as many of you have. Certainly, there have been many who have known the folly of long-term symptomatic medication: taking aspirin for fevers caused by viruses, stopping intestinal symptoms at all costs, and “relieving” the airway obstructions of nasal congestion and bronchoconstriction that were designed to limit the offending agents that caused the symptoms in the first place. “Oh, now you’re sounding like one of those holistic nuts!” Yup. And their wisdom has been suppressed long enough. The approach that the body never makes mistakes and that all symptoms serve a purpose has been buried long enough—too long—and it is time for it to be resurrected. So, on to our first metaphor. Man, I love Tolkien. What a phenomenally wise guy, his epic tales overflowing with truth and wisdom about man’s struggle with himself and the forces-at-be. And the conflict for the possession of Middle Earth serves as a fantastic parallel to the one that we face everyday, with every bite and every breath—and every pill—in the battle for our health. There are many foes and there are huge towers that loom over the battlefield, housing those that create the enemy and direct them into our fields. One of these towers was constructed by men and the forces that drive them in what will be seen as a vain attempt to control man’s medical plight through the use of “magic”, potions as they were once called, to reverse symptoms that came upon the unfortunate victims of illness. “Do you have fever? Not any more. We have a pill for that. Do you have heartburn? Not anymore. We have a bunch of pills for that. Do you have fibromyalgia? Well, we have lots of pills for that one. And, they work ‘OK’, but you will still suffer a bit—as your bank account dwindles. Do you have cancer? Well, we have soooo much that we can do, but it is a bit of a crap-shoot. You may survive your particular form of this disease with therapy or you may die actually sooner if we treat you. On the other hand, you may conquer this one but die of a different cancer. We won’t really know ‘til we try.” Folks, we are in the year 2005 as I write this piece. We have now placed man-made landers on the moon, Mars, and Titan—one of the moons of Saturn, on the other side of the asteroid belt and Jupiter (Wow!)—but we still don’t know that it is total folly to artificially kill a fever that our body produces solely to control the virus that caused it. Yes, we are still in the Dark Ages of medicine, so the Lord of the Rings analogy is very appropriate. We might as well be wearing animal skins to work instead of lab coats. If we don’t know that it is totally insane to stop a vital fever then we certainly can’t see that acid blockers unleash Helicobacter pylori, (who has been cultured from atherosclerotic plaques of coronary and carotid arteries) or that some of the immunosuppressive elements of cancer “therapy” are counterproductive when it comes to fighting all of the viruses that caused the cancer to begin with. (Just thought I’d quickly throw in a little actual medicine at this point.) But—BUT—here’s the cool thing. We have just been through the battle at Helm’s Deep. For you Tolkien fans, you know that this was a huge turning point in J. R. R. Tolkien’s portrayal of the battle for Middle Earth. The forces that were bent on the destruction of mankind were coming against the remnants of man, who were hold-up in a fortress built into a mountain. It was a seemingly solid foundation from which to defend against the oncoming hordes, but the numbers and armaments of the enemy were potentially devastating. As the evil forces approached and the battle ensued, it appeared hopeless for man, battling side by side with elves (angels) and dwarfs. The leaders of those in the fortress decided to ride out to meet the enemy, a valiant move but one that seemed certain to seal their doom. But then, over the hill—in a flash of light—came Gandalf and a tremendous army on horseback, who divided the enemy, slaying many and sending the remainder running back to their towers to recover and regroup. Victory was man’s, for the moment. We dodged a bullet as they say today. But shortly, the real battle was to begin—the final battle for Middle Earth and the ultimate survival of mankind. Oh, how myth puts things in perspective, eh? As a wise author named John Eldridge just wrote in his book Waking the Dead, myths are not simply fictional stories made up to entertain us. They are poignant tales that illustrate timeless truths. They paint mental pictures of these truths that we can draw upon to visualize things that we know to be true in our hearts. They give us faith, hope, and strength to go against what often seem like insurmountable odds to accomplish vitally important tasks and reach our goals. In those myths, we win Helm’s Deep against all odds; Cinderella rises from the ashes to marry the Prince; the Lion King grows up, remembers who he is, and takes his rightful place in the Kingdom; Fiona finds out that she would rather be an ogre and live happily ever after with Shrek than take her “rightful” place in her previous world. They all illustrate how man’s undying spirit can help conquer those circumstances that would hold him back. In my mind, nothing illustrates our struggle to learn the truth about medicine (and other life lessons) better than Tolkien’s trilogy. All of the elements are there, including things “seen” and “unseen”. It is the classic struggle involving good and “evil”, with man and his knowledge, beliefs, and shortcomings all working together and in opposition to produce the battle of—and for—our lifetime. All of the players are there: the wise masters; those that were seduced by “the dark side”; elements of greed, ignorance, and lust for power; and the undercurrent in which man searching desperately for truth, wisdom, and justice and the reason that all of this is taking place. “So, enough of the stage-setting.” you might be saying. “How in the world did you get Helm’s Deep out of the current medical situation in which we find ourselves and why all of the ‘prophetic’ references?” Well then, let’s get to it. We’ll start with a news flash. A relatively small band of men have finally understood the vital importance of—this is so cool—FOOD in our health. Wow! What year is it again? How long have we been saying, “You are what you eat?” But, how many have understood this and grasped the full meaning of that statement and what has unfortunately become a worn out cliché’? Many think in limited terms, I’m afraid, supposing that this expression means things like “eat your broccoli” or “don’t eat too much saturated fat”. Little do they know that the actual staples of their diet are harming them with every bite and setting the stage for most of the plagues that will befall them. When we add in the man-made chemicals, preservatives, colorings, and flavor enhancers, the self-induced nature of our suffering should become readily apparent. A whopping 75% of the calories in the Standard American Diet (appropriately abbreviated the S.A.D.) come from the number one and number two human, dog, and cat food allergens: cow’s milk and wheat. Why they are the top allergens and why soy and corn join them to round out the top four will be the main topics of this discussion. But as if this is not bad enough, 90% of prepared human foods have hydrogenated oils in them and 60% have MSG (monosodium glutamate), which we will be talking about very shortly. Throw in things like aspartame (a known neurotoxin and MSG’s evil twin), tons of sugar and salt, preservatives, chemicals, estrogens, pesticide residues, and more and you have a pretty good start on how we arrived at Helm’s Deep. When we see that the vast majority of pet foods are made with their main allergens, then we can understand why these little angels (elves) and dwarves are fighting right along side of us. Oh, and we can’t forget the horses. They are vitally involved in this battle. But, the real question (and this is huge) is “Why are cow milk and wheat the number one and two human, dog, and cat food allergens?” The answer is so simple that it is literally stupefying. There are substances in these “foods” and the other primary food allergens (soy and corn) that do physical harm to the intestinal tract, thereby eliciting an immune response. Part of this response is intended to go off to distant locations (skin, ears, lungs, brain, etc) to warn us that the damage is taking place. Yes, the enemy is sneaky and their initial attack on the headquarters of our camp is cloaked in secrecy. But, those with their eyes open should see the smoke rising from that assault. In cow’s milk the culprit is casein, a very powerful glycoprotein, from which they make waterproof industrial adhesives. “What?” Yes, they make GLUE from casein. Who’s picture is on the bottle of a very popular brand of household glue, one that the kids could eat in elementary school if they had a craving for it (which we will also cover)? Yep, a well-known dairy company makes that glue and the cow is on the label. It is made from casein. And, it DOES stick to your (and your pet’s) gut, primarily that first stretch of the intestinal tract known as the duodenum, keeping this vital section of bowel from functioning optimally. Its adhesive properties are advertised in the form of a moustache in the ever-popular “Got glue?” ads. Stick out your tongue after drinking milk. Yuck! Is it really a stretch to think that it sticks to our intestinal tracts? The thinking person is saying, “But the stomach breaks it down, doesn’t it?” The bad news is that, even with the tons of acid it produces—and the heartburn and chronic gastritis that follows—the glue still survives to reach the duodenum. (Only the fermentation process that takes place in the fore stomachs of the ruminant destroys this glue.) Who knows this and how do we know? Most doctors both know and don’t understand this. (“Huh?”) It’s a conundrum to me, too. How can they know to tell you not to take certain medications with milk because it will block the absorption of that drug and not know that milk physically blocks other things at the same time? How can some pediatricians tell new moms not to give cow milk products until the baby is on an iron-rich diet and not see that this same milk blocks iron absorption in adults, contributing to the fact that iron-deficiency anemia is the number one nutritional deficiency in the world, including in these United States—the red-meat-consumption capital of the world. How can that be? Simply stated, we are not absorbing what we consume. And now we know EXACTLY why, don’t we? But, cow’s milk and casein are only the beginning. (Note: Why do I keep specifying cow’s milk? Here is the neat thing: goat milk is nearly devoid of casein, which is real reason why goat milk is considered the “universal foster milk”—and why the Greeks elevated the goat into the heavens—for the milk it gave. All mammals could be successfully raised on goat milk. BUT, feed those same infant mammals cow‘s milk and watch how many come apart at the seams. The casein is the culprit, NOT the lactose. Goat‘s milk has plenty of lactose. So much for that deception.) Here is the important thing. The other “foods’ that coat (and subsequently damage) the intestinal villi—and the ONLY ones that do this along with casein—are gluten, soy, and corn. These are the big four or the “four horsemen of the apocalypse” as I now like to call them. And it is man and animals against casein, gluten, soy, and corn as the title implies. The strongest evidence of their potential harm is found in the fact that all of these food elements are used to make adhesives—powerful adhesives. Casein, gluten and soy are the strongest, stickiest, and most powerfully antigenic glycoproteins while corn is a slightly less powerful but nonetheless very significant player (especially the corn that we have recently created). They put cars together with the super-glues manufactured from soy protein. They make waterproof industrial adhesives from casein and gluten that are used for numerous purposes ranging from the glue on stamps and envelopes to putting metal together. But, the “best” they can do with corn glues is to put cardboard boxes together. So, we see why the FDA and veterinary lists of food allergens are what they are: in order, the (primary) food allergens are cow’s milk, wheat, soy, and corn. (We will discuss “secondary” allergens in a moment.) Soy could become number one—if that were possible. Fortunately, there are too many soy opponents who will keep this from happening. Now, here is what should really grab attention of veterinarians and (hopefully) not let go. Talk about hindsight being 20:20. When I graduated from vet school 26 years ago, dog foods were corn-based. (Keep in mind that corn has been modified to “death” over the past 25 years. Ever hear the term “hybrid corn”? Do you remember the Starlink /CRY9C corn scare a while back and how Taco Bell took the fall for that one? You only heard the beginning of that story.) The bottom line is that corn was bad enough and was, in retrospect, causing so many of the problems that we saw back then, especially in the “trouble breeds”: the German shepherd, Poodle, Cocker, Shar Pei, some giant breeds, and the Irish setter. (Remember when there were Irish setters around? We’ll be getting to that soon.) But—BUT—when we started adding wheat to the diet of pets about ten years later, we effectively landed the single-most devastating blow to veterinary health that we had struck since adding a milk coating to the puppy and kitten chows. Don’t let that last part slip past you, either. The cow’s milk coating we had on the growth formulas was a HUGE problem that we are just now seeing the vital importance of. In a recent medical study, researchers in human medicine found that our children that ingested cow’s milk in the first five days of life had a staggering 40-50 times higher rate of asthma, type-1 diabetes, and juvenile-onset rheumatoid arthritis when compared to the general population. Oh, no! How could that be? You need to remember what is going on in the gut and immune system of the newborn during the first five days of life as well as understand the concept of “lectins”—antibody-sized glycoproteins derived from the big four—to really grasp the importance of this cataclysmic mistake. Much of this particular issue is outside of the time restraints of this presentation but I think you will find that this “fun fact” fits right into the grand scheme of things. We will discuss lectins a bit later, however. So, we added wheat to the pet foods about 16 years ago. Why? Did we not know better? Yes, we did. Veterinary texts in print at that time boldly listed cow milk and wheat as the leading food allergens. So, why did we do it? (Hmmm—Remember those powers and principalities I alluded to in the opening comments. Their two most formidable manifestations are greed and ignorance.) Actually, there was a geopolitical phenomenon that occurred at that time. We had a “wheat glut” develop in this country as a result of numerous factors, including the fact that China became the number one grower of wheat in the world and thereby stopped importing it from us (an amazing transition in their diet which has its own prophetic implications). We had more wheat in this country than we knew what to do with (and we are repeating history with SOY right now. There is no new thing under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9). Therefore, wheat became cheaper than corn and the pet food companies started making kibble from wheat instead of corn. So easy to see—in retrospect. The fact is that I remember that time now like it was yesterday. I was practicing in California and suddenly my colleagues and I were talking about how sick dogs and cats were rather than our golf games when we went to lunch. It is now a well-defined moment of time in my memory that still shocks me when I think about it. Man, talk again about 20:20 hindsight. Suddenly, every dog had allergies, immune-mediated diseases, and cancer, not just the usual suspects. When I went to school the subject of allergies (atopy) was just another lecture, not the lecture. In an instant, the mutts from the pound were just as riddled with allergies as the pure-breeds. The old adage of “Heinz 57” dogs being healthier than pure breeds was becoming less and less true. Breeds like the Golden retriever were turning into money pits and their owners were saying things like “I love this breed but I can’t afford to have another one.” You as veterinarians remember this all happening, don’t you? If not, you may be too young or just need your memory jogged—or your glasses adjusted—as did some of my educators. I was at an orthopedic seminar recently put on by the guys who taught me at Auburn University. They were concentrating on the topic of juvenile bone diseases and the same breeds kept popping up on the slides: the Rottweiler, the Lab, the German shepherd, the Rottie again, another Lab, another Lab, and yet another Lab. You get the picture. They also mentioned how they had learned through experience that the puppy chows were harming these dogs more than the adult foods. They weren’t sure exactly why that was so but they no longer recommended the “high-powered” puppy foods for rapidly growing breeds that were prone to these conditions. I was squirming in my chair like a four year old that needed to go to the restroom. After the lecture, I approached one of the instructors (one of my favorites of all time—still is) and asked him a question. “Where are all of the Irish setters these days? I noticed that you don’t have them up there in your slides anymore,” and I smiled a really big, leading smile. He said, “I don’t know. Now that you mention it, we don’t see that breed much anymore, do we? Why do you ask? Do you know why we don’t see them?” (Chuckle, chuckle.) I said “As a matter of fact, I do know why they’re not around much anymore. That’s what happens when you feed a celiac lots and lots of wheat.” (Blank stare). I asked, “Do you remember what celiac disease is?” He thought for a pretty long moment and said that he didn’t. It sounded familiar but he couldn’t recall. I reminded him that celiac disease was gluten intolerance, an immune-mediated reaction to gluten in wheat, and that the Irish setter was the only breed KNOWN to be afflicted with this condition in the veterinary literature. I went on to explain how we transitioned from corn to wheat after I graduated and that once we did, the Irish setter became nearly “extinct”—end of story. He was truly amazed at my insight. As people were starting to crowd around him, I told him that this was just the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg and that I would talk to him more about it later. I went on to compose a five-page letter on my laptop that day and give it to all of the lecturers at the end of the session, explaining how this had become my “mission” (and that this was going to be the contribution that the Upjohn representative was “expecting” when he handed me the Upjohn Award for outstanding senior student in small animal medicine—twenty-some-odd years late). I never heard from any of those instructors again, despite follow-up Emails. Why didn’t they see the vital importance of what I was trying to share with them? Why didn’t they see the link between celiac disease, the demise of certain breeds, and the fact that puppy chows were worsening juvenile bone diseases? It was right in front of their faces. Are we all that blind? Have we all had the brains washed right out of us in medical schools? Do we really think we know everything when, in fact, we understand very little and are confounded by the knowledge that we do have? Here is the key!!! As lecturers (and preachers) are fond of saying, “If you get one thing from what I say today then please get this.” The duodenum is “Pandora’s Box”. There. Got it? You can go home now. LOL. What? You don’t understand? I’ll say it more slowly. “The duodenum—is—Pandora’s—Box.” Of course you don’t understand—yet! But you will and this little gimmick will help to keep it in your frontal lobe, I hope. Why do I call the duodenum “Pandora’s Box”? Because, once you “open” it (damage it), you unleash the plagues—and potentially all of the plagues—that can befall man and animals. “Now wait a minute”, you might say. “I have been following this up to now but you are waaaay over the top now.” Hold on. This is going to be good—really good. The sad and startling fact is that I have yet to meet a health professional (MD, DVM, or nurse) that has been able to tell me what the duodenum ABSORBS. In fact, I have had numerous casual conversations with members of all of these professions during which they looked me in the eye and boldly stated that the duodenum absorbs “nothing”. Then, once I remove the dagger from my heart (not throwing stones, of course, because before five years ago, I didn’t know either), I go on to explain that the duodenum does nothing less than absorb the vast majority of our calcium, iron, iodine, B complex, vitamin C, zinc, boron, lithium, chromium, magnesium, manganese, blah, blah, and blah. In fact, it absorbs just about everything but our calories, proteins, fats, and fat-soluble vitamins (which is a lot of course). The amazing fact is that 95% of our vitamin D activity takes place in the proximal one-third of our duodenum, where the initial and majority of damage caused by the “big four” glue-foods take place. Yes, the “glue foods” (as I like to refer to them) leave the stomach—glug, glug, glug—and coat the villi of the duodenum (and jejunum), especially the first one-third of the duodenum. Then, those glycoproteins from the gluten grains (wheat, barley, and rye), casein, soy, and corn induce an immune response in susceptible individuals. Certainly, not all people or pets have an immune response to these glues, but according to recent studies, the incidence is so much higher than once thought that anyone who understands this should have the same medical “revelation” that I have had—that we have found the “mother lode”. When I was diagnosed as a celiac 5 years ago, it was considered a “rare disorder occurring in less than 1:5,000 people”. No wonder doctors (and veterinarians) had forgotten about it. But, in the first week of study about my new-found condition—the one that explained everything that was currently plaguing me and all that had been wrong with me since I could remember—I found that they were diagnosing people on the other side of the Atlantic at the rate of over 1:100. “Say what??? How could it be rare over here, when most of us came from those people—Anglo-Saxons, Italians, Scandinavians, French and Germans?” Yes, there was something amiss. So, I jumped into the study of celiac disease with both feet, discovering that casein, soy, and corn all did the same thing as gluten. I also found out the truth about hydrogenated oils, MSG, aspartame, sugar, the lactose myth, air pollution, and much, much more. (It was so profound that I started a parallel study in religion and prophecy. But that’s a whole ‘nother sermon. Smile.) I began writing to one of my best friends from high school, an internist at one of our biggest local hospitals. He casually stated that he was glad to see that I was feeling well but that celiac disease was “rare” and that I was simply doing what many do that finally get properly diagnosed with a chronic condition—projecting my illness upon others. At the time, that upset me and I started writing to him like an angry prophet, advising him that if he wanted to get way ahead of the pack, he would start learning all that he could about celiac disease. I even asked him if he believed in God, “because this revelation was Biblical in proportion”. That settled it—I was “nuts”. But, he was the one who sent me the New England Journal of Medicine article about eight months later that boldly labeled celiac disease as the most under-diagnosed (and misdiagnosed) condition in the country and stated that it was occurring in at least 1:250 Americans without their knowledge. “Na, na, na, na, na,!” (LOL). Actually, I did not call him and rub it in. By then, I had experienced a few of what I call “Jonah experiences”, learning that you catch more flies with honey. Plus, I had received a pretty good glimpse of how and why something this important could be so unknown and misunderstood—and why things were sooooo upside down. The fact is that the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins University published their incidence studies last year and found celiac disease to afflict 1:122 Americans. Yes, that is the new “official” number. However, the unofficial number published by celiac authorities is 1:33. Whoa! But here’s the “bad news”. (Actually, you will come to see that this, again, is good news.) We are only talking about celiac disease here. And wheat is the number two food allergen. What is number one again? Cow’s milk (with casein). I wonder what the true incidence of casein-intolerance is? Is it more frequent than gluten intolerance? I would have to believe so. While wheat-containing foods (the targets of Dr. Atkins’ partial truth) make up nearly 25% of the calories of the S.A.D., cow milk products make up a whopping 40% of our overall caloric intake. Errrh!!! What about soy—the “third plague” as I like to call it.. Errrh, again!!! How about corn, the fourth horseman? Here’s a scary thought: What about a mix and match of the four—some or all of the “big four”? Think that happens? Of course it does. These guys can ride separately or they can form a gang. We all know a gang is harder to control, don’t we? Now for the pathophysiology that you have been waiting for. The food allergies are just the indicators. During the time that the body is reacting to the “glue” from these foods, the IgE antibody—the allergy antibody—is formed to go out and warn us of the damage that is taking place in the duodenum. Otherwise, this is a stealth condition in most cases, with only one-fourth of celiacs and related food intolerants having gastrointestinal symptoms. Get that? That is very important. In fact, this is CRITICAL for all to understand, as it explains much and opens a door through which all truth-seekers must pass. (“There he goes, getting all melodramatic again.”) Individuals—whether they are humans, dogs, cats, or horses—can go years and years before the bottom drops out of this condition. And it takes the bottom dropping out for most of us to wake up to what’s going on, doesn’t it? We are the masters of denial as well as the patsies of deception. “I’ll do it ‘til I have problems. Then, I‘ll quit.” (e.g. cigarette smoking, drugs, alcohol, or over-eating). The bad news is that by the time you have obvious problems with your lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, brain, immune system or duodenum, then you are waaaay down the wrong road. It is a consistent pattern that we can live on about 25% of our organ function—one half of one kidney, a fourth of our liver, multiple coronary arteries occluded, numerous neurons destroyed, etc. before (BEFORE) we even start having symptoms. That’s a good news/bad news thing isn’t it? As vets, we know that most of our conditions in the pet are “acute-on-chronic”—acute manifestations of chronic problems. I used to think that this was due to unobservant owners or the laid-back lifestyle of the pet. But when I started seeing friends and loved ones dropping dead of heart attacks and strokes without warning and I found out that atherosclerosis starts as early as 5 years old, I knew that we were missing something. Yep, we are made to take a licking and keep on ticking as the old Timex ads used to say. The bad news is that we are beating our poor bodies (and those of our pets) to death and don’t know it or, at least we don’t fully understand the magnitude of what we are doing with every bite—and breath. Imagine now that over 1:30 humans have celiac disease or are afflicted with the other related food intolerances (casein, soy, and/or corn)—food induced villous atrophy of the duodenum. It can affect the jejunum as well. We know that this also occurs in the dog, with our old “extinct” friend the Irish setter being the glaring example. (I was absolutely ecstatic to hear that there was a pathologist in a major university in the northeast who has reopened the book on celiac disease.) Now, combine that fact with the consequences of the chronic malabsorption of calcium, iron, iodine, B complex, C, and numerous trace minerals, all of which are vital in the development and normal functioning of our bodies and immune systems. Do you have it in your mind yet? Let it sink in for a second. (Pause) Which symptoms or clinical signs are likely to show up first? If you said gastrointestinal signs, you would be wrong (unfortunately). If you said signs associated with chronic calcium malabsorption or allergies you would be right. In some it is the former while in others the latter. The “worst of the worst”—those that have the earliest immune reaction to the glue foods—will have the IgE and IgG related symptoms first. These are your infants, human or pets, with congestion, itching, rashes, irritability, chronically sore throats, and ear problems. Some of them do have colic and diarrhea but these should not be required signs to make one suspicious of food problems. The “best of the worst” (and I rarely use the term the “best of the best” anymore) have the signs of calcium malabsorption first if they have any signs at all. Remember: the proximal one-third of the duodenum is greatly responsible for calcium metabolism and absorption. In the best-case scenario, these glue foods form a coating on these villi and keep them from performing optimally. (Here you go. Think of a beautiful coral reef with gorgeous sea anemones and multi-colored sponges. Got it? The “villi” of the anemones are swaying back and forth in the crystal clear water, absorbing small particles of food floating in the water. So serene, so perfect. NOW, imagine that same reef after the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez. Got that? How well do those anemones do when they are coated with oil? Some will survive but many, many will die. I think you have the picture.) This is what the glycoproteins from gluten, casein, soy, and corn do. They coat the villi—at best—and “kill” the villi at worst, with the first and most severe damage taking place in the proximal third of the duodenum. No wonder I had flat feet, short legs, rib abnormalities and painful joint laxity—and bad teeth—as a child and later developed rotator cuff problems, bilateral inguinal hernias, and premature disc ruptures of my neck and back. I’m a classic celiac. But now YOU know why the most food allergic dogs have the worst orthopedic problems. How cool is that??? Think about them: the Labs, Rottweilers, German shepherds, the Labs, the Rotties, the Labs, the Labs. Hmmm—I’ve heard that before. (smile). Why is it that they can’t nail down the genetics of hip dysplasia? Hmmm—again. AND, now you know why two of the most food allergic small breeds—the Cocker and Shi Tzu—hold the age record for when they start blowing intervertebral discs. Yep, they do it as early as ONE YEAR OF AGE, don’t they? Why again? They have been malabsorbing the building blocks of their skeletal system (calcium and vitamin C) since they were first put on the grain-infested puppy chows. What makes up collagen, again? So, you also know why the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (and I have yet to see one that wasn’t severely food allergic) dies of acute mitral valve prolapse at 5 years of age. What is that valve made of again? How did we create the chondrodysplastic breeds like the food allergy afflicted, Demodex-encrusted, cherry-eyed, respiratory challenged, squatty body English bulldog, anyway? Shall I continue? I could give countless examples that would keep us into the wee hours of the morning. I think you are seeing the pattern here, right? The allergies are there to warn us that the damage is taking place in the gut. Again, the allergies are things “seen” to help us understand the things “unseen”. Watch for this pattern. It will come up again and again. This is only the beginning, unfortunately and fortunately. (Please keep in the very front of your mind that the malabsorption syndrome leads to chronic deficiencies in so many vital nutrients. This is paramount in importance. Keep chanting, “Pandora’s Box, Pandora’s Box.”) We are still on the tip of the tip of the iceberg. And perhaps this is a good time to throw in the other analogy with which I was considering opening this dissertation. Try this one on for size: Conventional medicine is steaming headlong into an enormous obstacle that is titanic in importance and yet has only a small piece of its mass protruding from the surface right now. The medical establishment (including both human and veterinary) has built a mighty vessel that many would deem unsinkable. “We have made such great gains in extending life” comes the announcement from the captain. “And one day, we will find the cures for cancer and the diseases that plague us all.” And the passengers all say “Hooray!!! It will be clear sailing from there!” The applause dies down and the captain exclaims, “And we are working on better ways to make these necessary drugs more available, more well-known by the public, and more affordable to you. Very soon, many of these drugs will be available over-the-counter and you will no longer need to even consult with your physician about them. Simply choose what is right for you by watching your television and then going to your local drugstore, supermarket, or gas station food mart to pick them up. You will be wise enough to choose for yourself.” Again, the crowd roars with approval. But, there is something looming in the waters, just off the port bow. Some call it an iceberg. Others call it a “rock”. I call it the Truth. This treatise so far has mapped out the tip of the tip of this iceberg. With the binoculars you now have, you can see it. Do you see it??? If your eyes are good enough, you can see much of what is below the surface, too. The water is a lot clearer out in the ocean than you may think. And this “unsinkable” vessel that man has created is heading straight for it. Why? They are not looking for it. Many are happy, quite content with the cruise they are on. Others don’t really know any other way to behave on a cruise like this. Others are desperately trying to keep those who would worry about icebergs distracted so that they don’t spoil the cruise for the others. Ignorance and greed are at the controls—our two biggest nemeses—with contentment being a first mate. Suddenly—WHAM—the mighty craft hits “the rock”. It starts to take on water. People are dying from drugs they have taken for years: HRT, NSAIDS, nasal decongestants, and what will be the next group- the cholesterol statin drugs. The epilepsy drugs don’t work anymore and the pets on board are being put to sleep for “non-responsive epilepsy”. The vaccines that were meant to protect us “turn on us”, making us question their role in everything from producing the full clinical disease to hard-to-detect/prove sub-total entities of that disease, such as epilepsy, chronic liver disease, immune glomerulonephritis, cardiomyopathy, or worse. The captain is shouting, “Don’t panic. We will figure out what to do. Calmly man the lifeboats.” But some do panic as they had so much faith in this indestructible piece of man’s technology, the same technology that put landers on the moon, Mars, and Titan. But, it is this same technology that does not seem to understand that taking an NSAID for a fever caused by a viral infection is not a wise thing to do. It is the same captain’s mates that don’t see that Helicobacter pylori—the opportunistic bacteria that causes deep stomach ulcers—hates an acid stomach and that heartburn is designed partly to control his growth. If they don’t know that, then they certainly can’t see how this beast that they have been feeding with antacids and problem foods leaves the stomach when the individual’s immune system takes a nose dive (after a lifetime of malabsorbing nutrients vital to its health) and takes up residence in a cholesterol plaque (that is safe-guarding a weakened artery) and causes it to break off, inducing a stroke or a myocardial infarction. How can they see that? They have their eyes on the moon and the stars. (And yet, a study done by a group of cardiologists found that a shocking 85% of atherosclerotic plaques that were cultured for H. pylori were positive for this critter. Think about that for a second. Sinking in?). Go to Part 2: Food Intolerance—Man and Animals versus Gluten, Casein, Soy, and Corn or How We Won the Battle of "Helm's Deep" (Part 2 of 2)

Celiac.com 09/24/2021 - Dogs generally rupture cruciate ligaments during a certain stage of their lives. This is about the same time that other dogs are blowing discs, developing heart murmurs, and suffering from immune mediated diseases and that first big wave of cancer. Some patterns beg answers, like why do the same old breeds have this happen and even the same time of year? I don’t think this is a coincidence. We see a pattern in almost all immune-mediated diseases of tissue, whether it be the eyes, neurological system, or even the kidneys. They rupture ligaments in one leg and then six months or a year later, sometimes to the day, they blow the other. One kidney of the cat with immune glomerulonephritis is almost always smaller than the other. It’s the breeds that are the most affected which are those that are most food allergic (Labs, Cockers, Poodles, Rotties, Labs again, English bulldogs, Bichons, Cavaliers...the usual suspects). I have seen English bulldogs and Labs do it before two years of age. How did we create the chondrodysplastic breeds of dogs, anyway? The answer lies in the study of collagen. Now, I’m not going to bore you with a big, long lecture on how collagen forms. Then read a little about one of my new found friends, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. An internet search is very useful here. Some things appear to be here on earth to help us understand how things work, and go wrong (like peanut allergy). When we look at Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, we see some interesting things like the extremes of what goes wrong when collagen gets screwed up. Genetics and mutated genes hold the key if we have accepted the tenet that our DNA contains more viral information than it does genes. I can easily believe that viruses mutate. That’s what they do. I have a harder time grasping how and why our basic genes mutate without the presence of these guys wedging themselves in there somewhere. Again, the patterns we see as veterinarians should tell us so much. We ought to be working with epidemiologists to solve the world’s health woes. We can help sort out the cause-and-effect relationships that we so often get completely wrong, with our tendency to latch onto the first thing that surfaces and makes sense to us. Years later, we dig a little deeper and see that our original assumption is wrong because we didn’t dig deeply enough. Right now, as this paradigm shift in medicine is taking place, drugs are coming off the shelf and true causes are being found. Meanwhile, ideas like ‘sunlight causes cancer’ just don’t hold up. Even my least medically inclined client has said “Hey, we’d all be dead if that was the case.” We have the obviously chondrodysplastic dogs like Dachshunds, Shih Tzu, Bassets, and Pekingese. Then we have the intermediate breeds like Cockers, Schnauzers, Cavaliers, Bichons, and Poodles. And then we have the normal breeds like Labs, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Irish setters (Well, we used to have Irish setters, before we added all of the wheat to their diets). Which of these groups have the worst cruciate ligament ruptures, back problems, and heart valve problems? Which develop gastric volvulus which results from the combination of gastric motility disorders and weakened supportive ligaments? Which one dies of acute mitral valve prolapse at just about the same time the discs are blowing in other breeds? The interesting thing to see is that it is not just the fact that a breed is chondrodysplastic that sets them up for weakened ligaments in their knees, back, or abdomen. All of the three groups above are affected by one or more of these collagen-related disorders. Some are just affected more than others. Part of the problem is that their collagen never formed properly. We’ll talk about that in a second. But, the timing of these things is one of the keys, as are the unilateral nature and even the seasonal aspects I have observed. I believe that the common denominator is food allergy. These food allergies are simply warning signs that food intolerance is taking place in the gut. The IgE is formed at the time the damage to the villi is taking place and the main culprits are the “Big 4”...gluten (wheat, barley, rye), casein (dairy products), soy, and corn. These are the top four human, dog and cat allergens. They are also the primary allergens. I believe that most other food allergies are secondary to this damage, which is the known pathomechanism in the “leaky gut syndrome” in people. Celiacs are notorious for developing multiple secondary food allergies. This villous damage and atrophy leads to the malabsorption of calcium, iron, iodine, B complex, C, and multiple trace minerals, nutrients essential in the formation and maintenance of our entire body, including the enzyme systems that are so vital to its function. So, why doesn’t the collagen form properly? Why do the Lab, Rottie and German shepherd have the worst juvenile bone diseases? They will be shown to be among the most food intolerant when enough interest is generated in this topic. Hill’s Science Diet now has potato-based diets and they cite “food intolerance” and food allergy as the indications. I wonder if any pathologists are dusting off their microslides of celiac disease in the Irish setter and re-familiarizing themselves with that lesion? Human pathologists have overlooked this lesion for years and years. We went from “a rare disorder occurring in less that 1:5000 people” to 1:100 almost overnight. The lesion has always been there. It was just missed for a number of reasons. Those with food intolerances such as celiac disease have staggering rates of immune-mediated disorders. This includes whopping amounts of Hashimoto’s and Graves disease, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, lupus, and other immune-mediated diseases. Could it be that collagen is just another tissue type that the immune system decides to attack at some point, just as it does blood cells, kidneys, eyes, the pancreas, and the peripheral nerves? Could some of these spontaneous (and even some of the not-so-spontaneous) cruciate ruptures be immune-mediated? The timing is right. To understand that all we really have to understand is the concept of lectins. Lectins go everywhere they enter the body. They might be seen as an immune-mediated house-cleaning party, with the immune assaults wiping out the lectins and the viruses that the lectins released by changing the cell wall’s physiology. This would cause those viruses embedded in the cell’s cytoplasm and those in our very DNA, to adapt to the challenge. I wonder why some viral information makes it to the DNA while that from other viruses remains in the cytoplasm. We ought to look into that. What happens when we become sensitized to these lectins? At what stage does that take place in an individual’s life? Are there degrees of sensitivity? Are we sensitive to one, two, or all four of the Big 4? Is there such thing as a mild case of gluten intolerance? Are some people eating much worse diets than others? Are there good things in nature that help block the effects of the bad lectins? Do pollution, lifestyle, lack of sleep, and other bad habits play big roles in who is most afflicted? I think most of you know the answers these very important questions. They help establish the spectrum of illness we see among individuals. Ehlers Danlos is an interesting condition. When you read about it, you see everything from being double jointed to mitral valve prolapse, excessive bleeding, and aortic aneurysms. It’s a “who’s who” of connective tissue diseases and another good example of a spectrum disorder. But if you put “acquired Ehlers Danlos” in the search, you get some really interesting stuff. As a friend and mentor used to say to me: “You might wanna look that one up.”

Celiac.com 08/11/2021 - It takes a well-trained CIA operative to decipher some of this stuff. If the consumption of fat is thought to contribute to fatty liver (which it doesn’t), then why is it found in the context of starvation? Why is alcoholism the leading cause of fatty liver disease in people? And why does gastric bypass surgery, which involves a dramatic reduction in calories, trigger fatty liver disease? This same surgery is also associated with the precipitous development of iron deficiency anemia, bone density issues (osteoporosis) and immune failure in many cases. The morbidity rate following this harmful surgical invention is staggeringly high, and totally explainable. They’re making acute surgical celiacs out of these people. The symptoms they show could be the direct result of malabsorption of vital nutrients that would normally be picked up by the duodenum (calcium, iron, iodine, B complex, vitamin C, and trace minerals). This kind of physiological stress could trigger just about anything, including a subclinical viral infection (or viral adaptation) of the liver. But why do I get so upset over seemingly insignificant news items claiming that fatty liver disease is the result of eating fat? Because the low fat diet is one of man’s worst dietary inventions! Fat is crucial to a healthy diet, serving as a vehicle for certain vitamins to enter our body (the fat soluble A,D,E,K) the source of essential fatty acids (omegas), and the provider of protection against things trying to affect and invade our body, including these pesky lectins I keep writing so much about. Yes, dietary fat (animal fat not man-made trans fats) helps to block the attachment of certain dietary glycoproteins (e.g. the harmful ones from gluten, dairy, soy, etc.) to the villi of our intestinal tract. Other things that help in this regard are good carbs and glycoproteins from fruits and veggies such as pectin from apples. Pectins actually bind lectins. Fats more or less coat the GI tract and prevent the attachment of lectins. That is why whole milk is less harmful than skim milk, as I have discussed before. About five years ago I started seeing more and more chicken allergies in dogs. I wondered if it was because dogs were eating more chicken and that it was a secondary food allergen due to the damage being done by the “big 4” (gluten, casein, soy, and corn) like so many other food allergies, or whether there was something in the chicken that was inducing the problems.   I decided to check out what they were feeding poultry on the hunch that they were loading them up with gluten grains and corn. Five minutes into an Internet search yielded my answer. As of about 10 years ago now, they have been pouring the wheat to chickens and turkeys. If they fed them too much wheat, do you know what happened? They died of fatty liver syndrome. Until now, fatty liver syndrome has been considered “idiopathic: in veterinary medicine. Cats die from fatty liver syndrome. Fatty liver disease is the leading cause of liver disease and failure in the cat.   And what is the leading cause of fatty liver disease in people? Alcohol—grain alcohol. Most alcohols are made from grains, including beer. Could it really be the lectins in the grains that are inducing the fatty liver disease more than the alcohol itself? That makes sense when you think about the number of people who drink (excessively) versus the number who develop fatty liver disease. There has to be something special about those people. Either they have gluten sensitivity or a resident virus or both.   We are making great strides in expanding our understanding of lectins (e.g. those in the “big four”, legumes, grains, corn and dairy), environmental pollutants, trans fats, and the damage done by some drugs. Celiac awareness has opened a number of doors and will lead to improved understanding of dairy, soy and corn intolerance as well. I can’t wait for cow milk to finally be publicly convicted for what it has done to human and veterinary health. That time is coming soon.   We have had this wrong for years and the evidence has pointed us in a better direction for a number of years as well. Fat is not the enemy. You don’t get fat from eating fat. Dr. Atkin’s helped prove this. Similarly, your cholesterol does not go up primarily from eating dietary cholesterol. Further, an unusually low cholesterol diet is not healthful. Cholesterol, for example, is the building block for all of our hormones, including sex hormones and cortisones. It is an essential component in immune responses and in the protection of individual cells from invasion by harmful substances and organisms. The anti-cholesterol and anti-fat campaigns are ill-conceived, misguided, and harmful to our health, thus my passion on this topic.

Celiac.com 04/02/2021 - On a gluten-free outing with nursing students, they presented an array of snacks that were listed as "gluten-free". After careful review and sampling, we came to the conclusion that fancy packaging costs more than the product inside! That means sampling is costly so healthy meals are better for a healthy bank account. Here is a summation of the gluten-free snacks sampled (GF labels mean it contains less than 20 ppm gluten). Organic Crunchy Rice Rollers = various flavors and all the GF ingredients you could want BUT they were so dry that extra liquid was needed to eat just 1/2 roll. Banana Vital " Simply Bananas" and "Simply Bananas + Guava" tasted good and was a good source of potassium, folate and magnesium for 90 calories and 17 grams sugar. Real Fruit Yo Yo Mango 100% fruit rolls labeled " absolutely nothing else" were a blend of apples, pears, and mango rolled into 2 chewy fruit swirls at 8 grams sugar, 60 calories. In the same snack aisle were: Keto Crisps 100% artisan cheese "from family farm cows that are ethically cared for by local farmers" which made us think that the package message was more important than ingredients, taste or cost. Ingredients were pastuerized milk, salt, microbial congulant cheese cultures but I could not determine if with the label was accurate indicating 2 servings because they disappeared so fast . 7 crisps = 160 calories. Skinny Jimmy "clean protein bars" in chocolate peanut butter and "wake & focus" cookies 'N cream. The "wake & focus" bars featured guarana as a caffeine source + omega 3 fatty acids and MCT oil. The 21 g "clean protein" bar consisted of soy protein isolate and pea protein GF cookies which is a highly processed protein source. These snacks led to a discussion of what other ingredients in processed foods should people with celiac disease and gluten-sensitivity need to consider. Maltodextrin is a thickener produced from corn, rice, wheat or potato starch for use in shakes, sugar-free sweeteners and diet products. It has been shown to increase blood glucose and suppresses antimicrobial defenses in the gut. Guar Gum is from guar beans in India and Pakistan. It is called galactomannan on labels and is used widely throughout the food industry - ice cream, yogurt, sauces, kefir, almond milk, coconut milk. As a thickener and stabilizer, it is used as a binding agent in making tablets as well as a thickener in lotions and creams. Guar can cause increased abdominal discomfort and gas. Lectins are another carbohydrate binding protein that promotes inflammation in the gut. Foods that commonly contain toxic lectins are: pea family (peanuts, pigeon peas, soybeams, kidney beans, mung beans, lima beans, lentils, chick peas, carob, green and yellow peas). Green beans and snow peas can be tolerated since they are immature proteins with minor amounts of lectins. Grains are seeds from grasses- barley, oats, kamut, spelt, teff, wheat, millet, rye- all have detrimental effects of lectins and are a factor in the development of celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Celiac.com 05/16/2020 - Yes, I’m “just a vet,” but I have realized something very important. If MDs studied veterinary medicine like I have studied human medicine, we would be a lot further down the road toward solving many medical puzzles. For instance, dogs get multiple sclerosis (MS). We call it degenerative myelopathy. It occurs primarily in large breed dogs, with German Shepherds being the number one victim. In fact, the condition in the dog is so similar to that in people that it was once thought that humans may have contracted it from dogs. (As canine distemper virus is a paramyxovirus, and with measles and mumps being paramyxoviruses, such transmission may be possible, especially when we see that many viruses that afflict humans are harbored in animals). If the distemper virus is causing it, why do such a small, select number of dogs get it? Why don’t we see it across the board in all breeds? If it were a parasite (which is highly unlikely), then the same would be true... it should not select the specific breeds. Thus, since genetic traits are specific to breeds, we have to look at “genetics”. But what are “genetics”? They are basically two things- Gene sequences that determine traits and body functions and sequences derived from viruses. Yes, approximately 45% of the genetic information in our DNA is from viruses. This is a very important “fun fact”. The DNA IS “command central.” It contains both the information for normal development and the potential for things to go wrong. Researchers have tried to nail down the “genetics” of MS for a long time but it just doesn’t seem to be working out for them. That’s because MS is complicated and multiple factors have to come together to make it happen. What do we know, other than it happens in select breeds of dogs and that MDs think there is a hereditary link but can’t seem to prove it? M.S. occurs most prevalently in northern climates, above the 33rd parallel. Why? Relative lack of vitamin D, with the consequent lack of sunlight exposure being the main culprit, is the accepted theory. I think they are right. Vitamin D is crucial for the immune system to function properly. A recent medical study boldly proclaimed that if all Americans took an effective vitamin D supplement, we would cut the cancer risks by over a 1/3. Air pollution, which is horribly neurotoxic and immune suppressive, also has a major detrimental effect on MS patients. It does sound like an immune system problem (weakness) doesn’t it? So, what is being unleashed by this weakened immune system? A parasite? (Not likely...we would have SEEN that microscopically long ago. Also, parasites would not be nearly so selective.). A bacteria? ( For the same reasons, this isn’t likely either. A virus? Ahhh...maybe. But why haven’t researchers been able to culture it or at least identify it yet? Perhaps because it is already in the DNA, as is suggested by the limited number of breeds of dogs that are afflicted? We know this happens in the case of retroviruses and cancer. What we also know is that there are some viruses that require “helper” viruses that provide essential amino acid sequences that are missing in the genetic make-up of the primary virus or segment already in place in the DNA. This is well established. Imagine someone who has that incomplete sequence in their DNA then contracts a virus that supplies the missing information. It is like someone putting the right code into a stalled computer....suddenly it starts running. This would help explain the relatively uncommon incidence of MS in both species as well as the “genetic” tendency that investigators just can’t seem to find. It would also explain the demise of the immune system, nutrition, the northern climate prevalence (the vitamin D connection), and just about every other loose end that we have before us right now. With this kind of “idiopathic condition” (MS, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc.) we should be looking for a “syndrome”...a number of factors that come together that produce a particular range of results. The really cool thing to see is the role that the big “4” foods play in all of this. Just add the potentially cataclysmic effects of the malabsorption syndrome that goes along with the intolerance (to gluten, casein, soy, corn, which dominate our diet) the direct effect of lectins on cellular function, and the role of viruses, both overt and those whose information is already embedded in our very genome. We need to study all we can about these three things: food intolerance; lectins, and; viruses. If we do, the world of medicine will open up before us. It becomes readily apparent that bacteria, parasites, and fungi/yeast are secondary players. They are opportunists that arise and cause problems as this process unfolds. In fact, I look at them as the clues that can help us understand what is missing - our immune system and microscopic damage done to our tissues. Once we examine them in this way, then we can see them as warning signs to go along with the other signs that preceded their arrival, such as heartburn, IBS, allergies, asthma, chronic fatigue, insomnia, etc. etc.

Celiac.com 04/07/2020 - In the past few years, clinicians have begun to use of specific sugar residue seeking dietary proteins, called lectins, to topographically map the small intestinal cell surface and goblet cell secretory mucins to reveal the tissue's structure and function. Better understanding of the gut microbiome may be crucial to discovering the origins and modes of development of celiac disease and other sprue-like intestinal disorders. Researcher Hugh James Freeman of the Department of Medicine, Gastroenterology, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada recently set out to examine the relationship between topographic lectin mapping of the epithelial cell surface in normal intestine and celiac disease. Researchers are still in the dark about the exact origins and modes of development of celiac disease, though they generally agree that the culprit is likely an immune-mediated small intestinal mucosal disorder that can cause diarrhea, impaired nutrient assimilation and weight loss. An important part of this process takes place at the surface of the intestinal epithelial cell, which is closely associated with the luminal intestinal microbiome. On that surface, epithelial membrane glycoproteins and glycolipids occur alongside adsorbed molecules that allow interaction with the intestinal microbiome. In recent years, use of specific sugar residue seeking proteins, lectins, that can be found in the diet have been employed topographically to map the small intestinal cell surface and goblet cell secretory mucins to further elucidate the structure and function of this tissue. A growing body of evidence suggests that this microenvironment may have an important role to play in helping researchers understand the origins and development path of celiac disease and other sprue-like conditions. Further study might help to shed more light on the role played by this microenvironment, especially in people who suffer from these disorders. Read more in the International Journal of Celiac Disease. 2019, 7(3), 69-73

Celiac.com 09/21/2019 (Originally published 04/05/2010) - I am a veterinarian who is doing research on the origins of disease. This came about after my miraculous recovery from multiple ailments following my diagnosis of food intolerance, particularly celiac disease. I have chronicled my recovery and findings on my website, www.dogtorj.com. I’ve come to the conclusion that most of what we call “diseases” are long-term symptoms arising from the “civil war” taking place in our bodies, between its residents—our cells and those entities designed to help and protect those residents (e.g. viruses and bacteria) and the constant barrage of immune challenges that we throw at them (e.g. food lectins, carcinogens, chemicals/preservatives, trans fats, fluoride (an “antibiotic” and carcinogen) air pollution, etc., etc. These, coupled with our horrific fast-food diets, inadequate sleep/exercise/sunlight, and self-induced misery through alcohol/drug abuse and our penchant for sugar have brought all of the plagues of Pandora’s Box on humankind. Yet we keep pointing the finger at microorganisms like viruses and bacteria, including L-forms and mollicutes, as the enemy. Granted, most don’t know or fully understand the true nature of viruses and bacteria - that they are crucial for our survival, being important instruments in our adaptation to this ever-changing environment in which we live. But shouldn’t intelligent people be asking why these guys are so ubiquitous yet a relative few people are suffering from the “diseases” caused by these “culprits? The fact is that viruses and L forms do what they do because they need to survive because they are crucial to our survival. Would you disagree that if we could snap our fingers and make all viruses and bacteria disappear from the planet that the entire ecosystem would collapse? Certainly, we know that the vast majority of these bacteria are not pathogenic? What really distinguishes a pathogen from a saprophyte—or a helper? When huge numbers of the population are infected with various “pathogenic” bacteria and yet remain asymptomatic, shouldn’t it give us pause? Why do they become such culprits of disease in the “unfortunate” few? Are they just unfortunate or have they done something—or lived somewhere, in the case of pollution—that has brought this plague on themselves? We know that the number one risk of developing legionnaire’s disease was/is cigarette smoking. Now there’s a surprise. I believe down to my core that viruses and bacteria work in concert to help us all, especially when it comes to adaptation and survival. Bacteria form L-forms and viruses mutate because they need to survive - they are critical to our survival and only become pathogens when we have forced them into doing so with the laundry list of abuses given above. Cancer is little more than a virus (and/or an intracellular bacteria) forcing that cell to duplicate out of control in a desperate attempt to protect itself, and the cell it was designed to protect, as well as escaping those noxious elements (we call them “carcinogens”) that have forced them into this final phase of adaptation. Our immune systems tried valiantly to deal with this during the preceding “autoimmune” phase, a term I no longer use because the thought of our immune system attacking itself for no reason is preposterous, especially in light of research on L-forms. And, we can’t say we weren’t warned by the broad array of symptoms we were given: the heartburn; IBS; allergies; hives; cough; migraines; seizures; fatigue/depression; etc.; etc. Certainly, there are those who have become so afflicted and immune challenged that they need some pharmaceutical aid to deal with these helper-turned-“culprit” bacteria but to become dependent upon antibiotics for any significant length of time is both potentially dangerous and unnecessary. If we stop the assault we are visiting on these misunderstood and reactionary residents, we can come off the drugs (like I did) and re-establish the status quo, and long before the two or three year mark in most cases, I believe. People simply need to know that we are the culprit, not these microorganisms at which we keep pointing our scientific fingers. Why? Because these organisms—the viruses, bacteria, L-forms and mollicutes—are here to stay! It is we who are the transient visitors. And if we want to enjoy our stay, we’re going to have to learn how to treat ourselves, and those who reside within us, a whole lot better.

Celiac.com 11/02/2019 - Now that celiac disease has been allowed official entry into the pantheon of established medical conditions, and gluten intolerance is no longer entirely a fringe medical concept, the time has come to draw attention to the powerful little chemical in wheat known as ‘wheat germ agglutinin’ (WGA) which is largely responsible for many of wheat’s pervasive, and difficult to diagnose, ill effects. Not only does WGA throw a monkey wrench into our assumptions about the primary causes of wheat intolerance, but due to the fact that WGA is found in highest concentrations in “whole wheat,” including its supposedly superior sprouted form, it also pulls the rug out from under one of the health food industry’s favorite poster children. Below the radar of conventional serological testing for antibodies against the various gluten proteins and genetic testing for disease susceptibility, the WGA “lectin problem” remains almost entirely obscured. Lectins, though found in all grains, seeds, legumes, dairy and our beloved nightshades: the tomato and potato, are rarely discussed in connection with health or illness, even when their presence in our diet may greatly reduce both the quality and length of our lives. Although significant progress has been made in exposing the dark side of wheat over the past decade, gluten receives a disproportionate share of the attention. Given that modern bread wheat (Triticum Aestivum) is a hexaploid species containing three distinct sets of chromosomes capable of producing well over 23,000 unique proteins, it is not surprising that we are only now beginning to unravel the complexities of this plant’s many secrets. [1] What is unique about the WGA glycoprotein is that it can do direct damage to the majority of tissues in the human body without requiring a specific set of genetic susceptibilities and/or immune-mediated articulations. This may explain why chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions are endemic to wheat-consuming populations even when overt allergies or intolerances to wheat gluten appear to be exceedingly rare. The future fate of wheat consumption, and by implication our health, may depend largely on whether or not the toxic qualities of WGA come to light in the general population. Nature engineers, within all species, a set of defenses against predation, though not all are as obvious as the thorns on a rose or the horns on a rhinoceros. Plants do not have the cell-mediated immunity of higher life forms, like ants, nor do they have the antibody driven, secondary immune systems of vertebrates with jaws. They must rely on a much simpler, innate immunity. It is for this reason that seeds of the grass family, e.g. rice, wheat, spelt, rye, have exceptionally high levels of defensive glycoproteins known as lectins. Cooking, sprouting, fermentation and digestion are the traditional ways in which man, for instance, deals with the various anti-nutrients found within this family of plants, but lectins are, by design, particularly resistant to degradation through a wide range of pH and temperatures. WGA lectin is an exceptionally tough adversary as it is formed by the same disulfide bonds that make vulcanized rubber and human hair so strong, flexible and durable. Like man-made pesticides, lectins are extremely small, resistant to break-down by living systems, and tend to accumulate and become incorporated into tissues where they interfere with normal biological processes. Indeed, WGA lectin is so powerful as an insecticide that biotech firms have used recombinant DNA technology to create genetically modified WGA-enhanced plants. We can only hope that these virtually unregulated biotech companies, who are in the business of playing God with the genetic infrastructure of Life, will realize the potential harm to humans that such genetic modifications can cause. Lectins are glycoproteins, and through thousands of years of selectively breeding wheat for increasingly larger quantities of protein, the concentration of WGA lectin has increased proportionately. This, no doubt, has contributed to wheat’s global dominance as one of the world’s favored monocultures, offering additional “built-in” pest resistance. The word lectin comes from the same etymological root as the word select, and literally means “to choose.” Lectins are designed “to choose” specific carbohydrates that project off the surface of cells and upon which they attach. In the case of WGA the two glycoproteins it selects for, in order of greatest affinity, are N-Acetyl Glucosamine and N-Acetylneuraminic acid (sialic acid). WGA is Nature’s ingenious solution for protecting the wheat plant from the entire gamut of its natural enemies. Fungi have cell walls composed of a polymer of N-Acetylglucosamine. The cellular walls of bacteria are made from a layered structure called the peptidoglycan, a biopolymer of N-Acetylglucosamine. N-acetylglucosamine is the basic unit of the biopolymer chitin, which forms the outer coverings of insects and crustaceans (shrimp, crab, etc.). All animals, including worms, fish, birds and humans, use N-Acetyglucosamine as a foundational substance for building the various tissues in their bodies, including the bones. The production of cartilage, tendons, and joints depend on the structural integrity of N-Acetylglucosamine. The mucous known as the glycocalyx, or literally, “sugar coat” is secreted in humans by the epithelial cells which line all the mucous membranes, from nasal cavities to the top to the bottom of the alimentary tube, as well as the protective and slippery lining of our blood vessels. The glycocalyx is composed largely of N-Acetylglucosamine and N-Acetylneuraminic acid (also known as sialic acid), with carbohydrate end of N-Acetylneuraminic acid of this protective glycoprotein forming the terminal sugar that is exposed to the contents of both the gut and the arterial lumen (opening). WGA’s unique binding specificity to these exact two glycoproteins is not accidental. Nature has designed WGA perfectly to attach to, disrupt, and gain entry through these mucosal surfaces. It may strike some readers as highly suspect that wheat—the “staff of life”—which has garnered a reputation for “wholesome goodness” the world over, could contain a powerful health-disrupting anti-nutrient, which is only now coming to public attention. WGA has been overshadowed by the other proteins in wheat. Humans—not Nature—have spent thousands of years cultivating and selecting for larger and larger quantities of these proteins. These pharmacologically active, opiate-like proteins in gluten are known as gluten exorphins (A5, B4, B5, C) and gliadorphins. They may effectively anesthetize us, in the short term, to the long term, adverse effects of WGA. Gluten also contains exceptionally high levels of the excitotoxic l-aspartic and l-glutamic amino acids, which can also be highly addictive, not unlike their synthetic shadow molecules aspartame and monosodium glutamate.[1] In a previous article on the topic, The Dark Side of Wheat: New Perspectives on Celiac Disease and Wheat Intolerance[2], we explored the role that these psychotropic qualities in grains played in ushering in civilization at the advent of the Neolithic transition 10,000 BC. No doubt the narcotic properties of wheat are the primary reason why suspicions about its toxicity have remained merely speculation for thousands upon thousands of years. WGA is most concentrated in the seed of the wheat plant, likely due to the fact that the seeds are the “babies” of these plants and are invested with the entire hope for continuance of their species. Protecting the seed against predation is necessarily a first priority. WGA is an exceedingly small glycoprotein (36 kilodaltons) and is concentrated deep within the embryo of the wheat berry (approximately 1 microgram per grain). WGA migrates during germination to the roots and tips of leaves, as the developing plant begins to project itself into the world and outside the safety of its seed. In its quest for nourishment from the soil, its roots are challenged with fungi and bacteria that seek to invade the plant. In its quest for sunlight and other nourishment from the heavens the plant’s leaves become prey to insects, birds, mammals, etc. Even after the plant has developed beyond the germination and sprouting stages it contains almost 50% of the levels of lectin found in the dry seeds. Approximately one third of this WGA is in the roots and two thirds is in the shoot, for at least 34 days [3] Each grain contains about 1 microgram of WGA. That seems hardly enough to do any harm to animals our size. Lectins, however, are notoriously dangerous even in minute doses and can be fatal when inhaled or injected directly into the bloodstream. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control it takes only 500 micrograms (about half a grain of sand) of ricin (a lectin extracted from castor bean casings) to kill a human. A single, one ounce slice of wheat bread contains approximately 500 micrograms of WGA, which if it were refined to its pure form and injected directly into the blood, could, in theory, have platelet aggregating and erythrocyte agglutinizing effects strong enough to create an obstructive clot such as occurs in myocardial infarction and stroke. This, however, is not a likely route of exposure and in reality the immediate pathologies associated with lectins like ricin and WGA are largely restricted to the gastrointestinal tract where they cause mucosal injuries. The point is that WGA, even in small quantities, could have profoundly adverse effects, given suitable conditions. Ironically, WGA is exceptionally small, at 36 kilodaltons (approximately the mass of 36,000 hydrogen atoms) and it can pass through the cell membranes of the intestine with ease. The intestines will allow passage of molecules up to 1,000 kilodaltons in size. Moreover, one wheat kernel contains 16.7 trillion individual molecules of WGA, with each molecule of WGA having four N-Acetylglucosamine binding sites. The disruptive and damaging effects of whole wheat bread consumption are formidable in someone whose protective mucosal barrier has been compromised by something as simple as Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) use, or a recent viral or bacterial infection. The common consumption of both wheat and NSAIDs may suggest the frequency of the WGA vicious cycle. Anti-inflammatory medications, such as ibuprofen and aspirin, increase intestinal permeabilty and may cause absorption of even larger than normal quantities of pro-inflammatory WGA. Conversely, the inflammation caused by the absorption of WGA lectin is the very reason there is a great need for the inflammation-reducing effects of NSAIDs. One way to gauge just how pervasive the adverse effects of WGA are among wheat-consuming populations is the popularity of the dietary supplement glucosamine. In the USA, a quarter billion dollars’ worth of the glucosamine is sold annually. The main source of glucosamine on the market is from the N-Acetylglucosamine rich chitin exoskelotons of crustaceans, like shrimp and crab. Glucosamine is used for reducing pain and inflammation. We do not have a dietary deficiency of the pulverized shells of dead sea critters, just as our use of NSAIDs is not caused by a deficiency of these synthetic chemicals in our diet. When we consume glucosamine supplements, the WGA, instead of binding to our tissues, binds to the pulverized chitin in the glucosamine supplements, sparing us from the full impact of WGA. Many millions of Americans who have greatly reduced their pain and suffering by ingesting glucosamine and NSAIDs may be better served by removing wheat, the underlying cause of their malaise, from their diets. This would result in even greater relief from pain and inflammation along with far less dependency on palliative supplements and medicines alike. To further underscore this point, the following are several ways that WGA depletes our health while glucosamine works against it: WGA may be Pro-inflammatory At exceedingly small concentrations (nanomolar) WGA stimulates the synthesis of pro-inflammatory chemical messengers (cytokines) including Interleukin 1, Interleukin 6 and Interleukin 8 in intestinal and immune cells.[4] WGA has been shown to induce NADPH-Oxidase in human neutrophils associated with the “respiratory burst” that results in the release of inflammatory free radicals called reactive oxygen species[5] WGA has been shown to play a causative role in patients with chronic thin gut inflammation.[6] WGA may be Immunotoxic WGA induces thymus atrophy in rats [7] and may directly bind to, and activate, leukocytes [8]. Anti-WGA antibodies in human sera have been shown to cross-react with other proteins, indicating that they may contribute to autoimmunity [9]. Indeed, WGA appears to play a role in the pathogenesis of celiac disease (CD) that is entirely distinct from that of gluten, due to significantly higher levels of IgG and IgA antibodies against WGA found in patients with CD, when compared with patients with other intestinal disorders. These antibodies have also shown not to cross-react with gluten antigens [10] [11] WGA may be Neurotoxic WGA can pass through the blood brain barrier (BBB) through a process called “adsorptive endocytosis”[12] and is able to travel freely among the tissues of the brain which is why it is used as a marker for tracing neural circuits [13]. WGA’s ability to pass through the BBB, pulling bound substances with it, has piqued the interest of pharmaceutical developers who are looking to find ways of delivering drugs to the brain. WGA has a unique binding affinity for N-Acetylneuraminic acid, a crucial component of neuronal membranes found in the brain, such as gangliosides which have diverse roles such as cell-to-cell contact, ion conductance, as receptors, and whose dysfunction has been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders. WGA may attach to the protective coating on the nerves known as the myelin sheath [14] and is capable of inhibiting nerve growth factor [15] which is important for the growth, maintenance, and survival of certain target neurons. WGA binds to N-Acetylglucosamine which is believed to function as an atypical neurotransmitter functioning in nocioceptive (pain) pathways. WGA may be Cytotoxic WGA has been demonstrated to be cytotoxic to both normal and cancerous cell lines, capable of inducing either cell cycle arrest or programmed cell death (apoptosis). [16] WGA may interfere with Gene Expression WGA demonstrates both mitogenic and anti-mitogenic [17] activities. WGA may prevent DNA replication[18] WGA binds to polysialic acid (involved in posttranslational modifications) and blocks chick tail bud development in embryogenesis, indicating that it may influence both genetic and epigenetic factors. WGA may disrupt Endocrine Function WGA has also been shown to have an insulin-mimetic action, potentially contributing to weight gain and insulin resistance [19]. WGA has been implicated in obesity and “leptin resistance” by blocking the receptor in the hypothalamus for the appetite satiating hormone leptin. WGA stimulates epidermal growth factor which when upregulated is associated with increased risk of cancer. WGA has a particular affinity for thyroid tissue and has been shown to bind to both benign and malignant thyroid nodules [20] WGA interferes with the production of secretin from the pancreas, which can interfere with digestion and can cause pancreatic hypertrophy. WGA attaches to sperm and ovary cells, indicating it may adversely influence fertility. WGA may be Cardiotoxic WGA induces platelet activation and aggregration [21]. WGA has a potent, disruptive effect on platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1, which plays a key role in tissue regeneration and safely removing neutrophils from our blood vessels [22]. WGA may adversely effect Gastrointestinal Function WGA causes increased shedding of the intestinal brush border membrane, reduction in surface area, acceleration of cell losses and shortening of villi, via binding to the surface of the villi. WGA can mimic the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) at the cellular level, indicating that the crypt hyperplasia seen in celiac disease may be due to the growth-promoting effects of WGA. WGA causes cytoskeleton degradation in intestinal cells, contributing to cell death and increased turnover. WGA decreases levels of heat shock proteins in gut epithelial cells leaving these cells less well protected against the potentially harmful content of the gut lumen.[23] WGA may share pathogenic similarities with certain Viruses There are a number of interesting similarities between WGA lectin and viruses. Both viral particles and WGA lectin are several orders of magnitude smaller than the cells they enter, and subsequent to their attachment to the cell membrane, are taken into the cell through a process of endocytosis. Both influenza and WGA gain entry through the sialic acid coatings of our mucous membranes (glycocalyx) each with a sialic acid specific substance, the neuriminidase enzyme for viruses and the sialic acid binding sites on the WGA lectin. Once the influenza virus and WGA lectin have made their way into wider circulation in the host body they are both capable of blurring the line in the host between self-and non-self. Influenza accomplishes this by incorporating itself into the genetic material of our cells and taking over the protein production machinery to make copies of itself, with the result that our immune system must attack its own virally transformed cell, in order to clear the infection. Studies done with herpes simplex virus have shown that WGA has the capacity to block viral infectivity through competitively binding to the same cell surface receptors, indicating that they may affect cells through very similar pathways. WGA has the capability of influencing the gene expression of certain cells, e.g. mitogenic/anti-mitogenic action, and like other lectins associated with autoimmunity, e.g. soy lectin, and viruses like Epstein-Barr Virus, WGA may be capable of causing certain cells to exhibit class 2 human leukocyte antigens (HLA-II), which mark them for autoimmune destruction by white blood cells. Since human antibodies to WGA have been shown to cross react with other proteins, even if WGA does not directly transform the phenotype of our cells into “other,” the resulting cross-reactivity of antibodies to WGA with our own cells would result in autoimmunity nonetheless. Given the multitude of ways in which WGA may disrupt our health, gain easy entry through our intestinal mucosa into systemic circulation, and remain refractory to traditional antibody-based clinical diagnoses, it is altogether possible that the consumption of wheat is detracting from the general health of the wheat-consuming world and that we have been, for all these years, “digging our graves with our teeth.” This perspective may come as a great surprise to the health food industry whose particular love affair for whole wheat products has begun to go mass market. The increasingly hyped-up marketing of “whole wheat,” “sprouted grain,” and “wheat germ” enriched products, all of which may have considerably higher levels of WGA than their processed, fractionized, non-germinated and supposedly “less healthy” equivalents, may contribute to making us all significantly less healthy. It is my belief that a careful study of the wheat plant will reveal that, despite claims to the contrary, man does not have dominion over nature. All that he deems fit for his consumption may not be his inborn right. Though the wheat plant’s apparently defenseless disposition would seem to make it suitable for mass human consumption, it has been imbued with a multitude of invisible “thorns,” with WGA being its smallest and perhaps most potent defense against predation. While WGA may be an uninvited guest at our table, wheat is equally inhospitable to us. Perhaps the courteous thing to do, having realized our mistaken intrusion, is to lick our wounds and simply go our separate ways. Perhaps as the distance between man and his infatuation with wheat grows, he will grow closer to himself and will discover far more suitable forms of nourishment that Nature has not impregnated with such high levels of addictive and potentially debilitating proteins. Sources: Desmond S. T. Nicholl, An Introduction to Genetic Engineering, 3rd Edition ISBN-13: 9780521615211 Ji, Sayer “The Dark Side of Wheat—New Perspectives on Celiac Disease & Wheat Intolerance.” Winter, 08’, Journal of Gluten Sensitivity Distribution of Wheat Germ Agglutinin in Young Wheat Plants. Plant Physiol. 1980 Nov;66(5):950-955. PMID: 16661559 Effects of wheat germ agglutinin on human gastrointestinal epithelium: insights from an experimental model of immune/epithelial cell interaction. Toxicol and Applied Pharmacology 2009 Jun 1;237(2):146-53. Epub 2009 Mar 28. PMID 19332085 Wheat germ agglutinin induces NADPH-oxidase activity in human neutrophils by interaction with mobilizable receptors. Infection and Immunity. 1999 Jul;67(7):3461-8. PMID 10377127 Lectin glycosylation as a marker of thin gut inflammation. The FASEB Journal. 2008;22:898.3 Antinutritive effects of wheat-germ agglutinin and other N-acetylglucosamine-specific lectins.The British Journal of Nutrition 1993 Jul;70(1):313-21. PMID: 8399111 Lectinlike properties of pertussis toxin. . Infection and Immunity 1989 Jun;57(6):1854-7. PMID: 2722243 Natural human antibodies to dietary lectins. FEBS Lett. 1996 Nov 18;397(2-3):139-42. PMID: 8955334 Antibodies to wheat germ agglutinin in coeliac disease. Clin Exp Immunol. 1986 January; 63(1): 95–100. PMID: 3754186 Elevated levels of serum antibodies to the lectin wheat germ agglutinin in celiac children lend support to the gluten-lectin theory of celiac disease. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 1995 May;6(2):98-102. PMID: 7581728 Transcytotic pathway for blood-borne protein through the blood-brain barrier. Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences U S A. 1988 Jan;85(2):632-6. PMID: 2448779 Transsynaptic transport of wheat germ agglutinin expressed in a subset of type II taste cells of transgenic mice. BMC Neuroscience. 2008 Oct 2;9:96. PMID: 18831764 Distribution of concanavalin A and wheat germ agglutinin binding sites in the rat peripheral nerve fibres revealed by lectin/glycoprotein-gold histochemistry. The Histochem Journal. 1996 Jan;28(1):7-12. PMID: 8866643 Wheat germ agglutinin, concanavalin A, and lens culinalis agglutinin block the inhibitory effect of nerve growth factor on cell-free phosphorylation of Nsp100 in PC12h cells. Cell Struct and Function 1989 Feb;14(1):87-93. PMID:2720800 Wheat germ lectin induces G2/M arrest in mouse L929 fibroblasts. J Cell Biochem. 2004 Apr 15;91(6):1159-73. PMID: 15048871 Wheat germ agglutinin and concanavalin A inhibit the response of human fibroblasts to peptide growth factors by a post-receptor mechanism. J Cell Physiol. 1985 Sep;124(3):474-80. PMID: 2995421 DNA replication in cell-free extracts from Xenopus eggs is prevented by disrupting nuclear envelope function. J Cell Sci. 1992 Jan;101 ( Pt 1):43-53. PMID: 1569128 Effects of wheat germ agglutinin and concanavalin A on the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans in pericellular matrix of human dermal fibroblasts. A comparison with insulin. Acta Biochim Pol. 2001;48(2):563-72. PMID: 11732625 Analysis of lectin binding in benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1989 Feb;113(2):186-9. PMID: 2916907 Further characterization of wheat germ agglutinin interaction with human platelets: exposure of fibrinogen receptors. Thromb Haemost. 1986 Dec 15;56(3):323-7. PMID: 3105108 Wheat germ agglutinin-induced platelet activation via platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1: involvement of rapid phospholipase C gamma 2 activation by Src family kinases. Biochemistry. 2001 Oct 30;40(43):12992-3001. PMID: 11669637 Decreased levels of heat shock proteins in gut epithelial cells after exposure to plant lectins. Gut. 2000 May;46(5):679-87. PMID: 10764712

Celiac.com 05/31/2019 (originally published 10/08/2010) - Hello. My name is Gerald Cooper. My wife was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia at the age of three. She’s 38 now and we are seeking the cure for this disease. I get on website after website and find cures for cancers and just about everything else. I am so thankful that people are getting cured from their problems, for I hate all diseases. I just get frustrated now and then because I have not found ANYONE saying that they have the cure for sickle cell anemia. I am seeking to find right now and we are desperate. We are desperate. My wife had a hip replacement due to the sickle cell anemia causing a vascular necrosis. She was also scheduled to have both shoulders replaced and her other hip. The doctors are also saying that the sickle cell anemia is eating at her spine as well. We need help now. We need help right now. WE NEED HELP RIGHT NOW. PLEASE **************************************** Hi Mr. Cooper, I am so sorry that you wife is having this problem and that more help has not been afforded her. You are experiencing the frustration that many, including myself, have experienced when it comes to getting REAL answers to their medical woes. I hope that I can be of some help in getting you and your wife headed in the right direction. As I state in my welcome message, I am NOT an MD (“just a veterinarian”) BUT I can point you to some of the right rocks to look under. When it comes to sickle cell disease, the texts imply that they really don’t understand the syndrome very well. And, I guess that statement is true if they are stating that. However, there are some very critical observations to be made that I believe shed abundant light on the disease process. First of all, the sickle cell gene is/was ESSENTIAL to have in those living in Africa and along the Mediterranean where malaria is an issue. Without the sickle cell gene, people would die from malaria. If the sickle cell gene was present, when the malaria organism infected a blood cell, the cell would form a sickle cell, which would not support the malaria organism, thus protecting the individual from the disease. Again, it was ESSENTIAL that this gene be present to PROTECT that individual. SO, what happened??? What in the world would turn an essential trait into a lethal one? You need look no further than the diets of those individuals and the catastrophic change that took place when they came to America and started eating the standard American diet. In Africa, they ate NO gluten grains, consumed NO cow milk products, NO soy and NO corn...the four damaging foods that I write so much about. These “Big 4” (or the “four horsemen of the apocalypse” as I now call them) are doing so much harm to susceptible individuals. And who are they doing the most harm to? Those who have had the least amount of time to adapt to those foods, namely Black Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. This should be no surprise whatsoever when viewed through the eyes of food intolerance, supported by a little stroll through history, which I do in my main paper The Answer. What you and your wife need to fully understand is the concept of food intolerance and how the “big 4” damage the gut and block absorption of essential nutrients such as calcium, iron, iodine, B complex vitamins, vitamin C, and trace minerals and how these proteins (lectins) are capable of doing phenomenal amounts of harm to all tissues, including the walls of arteries, blood cells themselves, and every other tissue including the brain. I’m sure that your wife’s medical history will make perfect sense to you when viewed through these eyes, including concurrent and pre-existing symptoms like headaches/migraines, heartburn/IBS, allergies, etc etc. that may have been occurring for years before the serious things started occurring. One huge piece of the puzzle lies in the work of Dr. Adamo who has written a number of books concerning eating for your blood type, based on lectins and how individuals with certain blood types are more susceptible to these food issues than others. If sickle cell disease were my medical problem, the very first thing I would do would be to begin the elimination diet that I already eat right now...it requires strict avoidance of all gluten (wheat, barley, rye), cow milk products, soy, and corn. This is easier than you may think. I would also avoid all trans fats/hydrogenated oils, which is also getting easier as they are being taken out of prepared foods right and left. I would also consider avoiding the entire legume family (soy, beans except green beans, and peas) as these lectins are problematic for many people, as Dr. D’Adamo and that lectin link above point out. The other thing to consider is having her blood tested, which will show secondary foods to which she may now be intolerant. You simply need to see how these dietary proteins are wreaking havoc on our bodies and how they can cause ALL of the symptoms seen in sickle cell disease. As I wrote in The Answer, I called my brother up one night after reading about Sickle Cell in the human Merck manual, a sort of medical encyclopedia of disease. I said “What does this sound like to you?” He said “That sounds like celiac disease”, the wheat/gluten intolerance that he and I suffer from. And it did sound just like it. Why? Because the common link is these dietary proteins and the damage they can do to our bodies. Ultimately, I am convinced that the sickle cell gene is a viral adaptation, just as most of our adaptations are. That is what viruses do for us in our bodies... they allow for adaptation. And, the presence of the malaria organism stimulates the cell to become a sickle cell, as we stated above. And it is the protein in that organism that the cells (and our immune systems) respond to. However, when this same cell is challenged by other proteins (e.g. lectins in sensitized individuals) long enough and in high enough doses, a multitude of other responses by the viruses in our cells can take place, including the development of cancers. The process that is supposed to be governing/over-seeing this whole dynamic is the (healthy) immune system. But, as the process of food intolerance continues, the immune system fails. As I have stated many times in my writing, the immune system becomes over-worked and under-paid. And when the immune system weakens and ultimately fails, that is when the serious things occur. That is why one could carry the sickle cell gene for years and not be afflicted until later in life. I would also expect post-menopausal women with sickle cell disease to get much worse. I hope this helps and at least gives you some insight into this horrible condition. I think you will find plenty of supportive evidence if you start looking for answers along these lines. Again, understanding lectins and Dr. D’Adamo’s work should really help. You may even attempt to contact him through the site mentioned above. Please keep in touch. I will try to help as much as I can.