Jan
27
2018

Bacterial Toxins Threatening The Brain

By | Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune disease, depression, Inflammation, mitochondria, Nutrition, omega-3 fatty acids, Parkinson’s disease

Dr. Robert G. Silverman gave a talk about bacterial toxins threatening the brain. He spoke at the 25th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2017. First of all, he pointed out how changes in the gut flora can affect the integrity of the gut wall. In addition this can eventually this lead to a leaky gut syndrome. But it does not end here. As a result the toxins enter the blood stream and affect the blood/brain barrier. Consequently in the end various neurological diseases can develop from this.

Here I am giving a brief overview of the talk by Dr. Silverman. But he was not the only one speaking to this subject. Several other speakers also brought up this subject throughout the conference. They stressed the importance of rectifying any gut dysbiosis to stop leaky gut syndrome and a leaking blood/brain barrier.

Leaky gut syndrome

When the gut flora changes there are often enteropathogenic E. coli strains, Shigella and Salmonella that invade the lining of the gut causing leaky gut syndrome. When toxins enter the blood stream, the body is starting to form antibodies against various proteins. Antibodies are acting against various targets: bacterial cytotoxins, cytoskeletal proteins, tight junction proteins and food antigens. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from toxins of gram-negative gut bacteria can also leak into the blood. This affects key organs like the liver, the heart, lungs, the joints, the immune system and the thyroid. When this process has gone on for some time, the blood/brain barrier is breaking down next. The intestinal inflammation causes the release of inflammatory cytokines that circulate in the blood stream. The cytokines cross the blood/brain barrier and activate the support cells in the brain, called microglia. This in turn causes inflammatory degenerative changes in the brain.

Blood/brain barrier

LPS circulating in the blood from gut bacteria endotoxins increase the permeability of the blood/brain barrier. This is bad news for the brain as it becomes vulnerable to attacks from the antibodies mentioned and from food particles. Dr. Silverman cited papers showing that circulating antibodies that cause inflammation in the brain can be the starting point for early Parkinson’s disease. Autoimmune antibodies can cause even depression.

Intestinal permeability can be assessed by various antibody constellations. For instance IgA antibodies point to an ongoing issue/early leaky gut syndrome. IgM antibodies indicate early onset and IgG antibodies chronic issues of leaky gut syndrome. If you add various antigens like LPS, zonulin and actomyosin you can pinpoint which structure of the gut wall is affected by leaky gut syndrome, and the antibody type adds more information about the timing of the onset of leaky gut syndrome.

Bacterial toxins threatening the brain when BBB damaged

As I already mentioned the blood/brain barrier (BBB) is often simultaneously affected when there has been leaky gut syndrome. There may be a delay, but eventually the BBB breaks down also, and the brain will be in jeopardy. Dr. Silverman gave an example of how depression can develop as result of a breakdown of the BBB. Chronic intestinal inflammation can suppress the sensitive hippocampus cells from regenerating. Physicians call that impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis. Inflammatory cytokines damage the neuronal cell progenitors. As a result patients with inflammatory bowel disease can have mood disorders and cognitive impairment. Sophisticated BBB blood tests can pinpoint whether the BBB is intact or establish whether there is impairment. The important thing to remember: there is a gut brain connection.

Fixing the gut to stop bacterial toxins threatening the brain

In order to fix the BBB, you must first concentrate on fixing leaky gut syndrome.

  • Avoid gluten, as gluten is causing inflammation of the gut wall.
  • Start taking probiotics that contain more than 30 Billion lactobacillus plantarum, lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis per daily dose.
  • Do a heavy metal detox involving phytonutrients, hops, turmeric, Andrographis, zinc, polyphenols, omega-3 fatty acids, and watercress plant extract. Andrographis, also known as the “King of Bitters”, is an Ayurvedic medicine used to promote digestion and stimulate appetite.

Nutrients to fix the blood/brain barrier

Dr. Silverman uses the following nutrients to repair the blood brain barrier.

  • Acetyl L-Carnitine: this helps to protect the mitochondria from oxidative damage
  • Berberine: reduces inflammation in brain injuries
  • Alpha-lipoic acid: preserves the integrity of the BBB by controlling oxidative stress
  • Curcumin: decreases brain swelling, preserves the BBB and increases tight junction protein in brain cells
  • Vitamin D3 (5000 IU or more): protects the BBB by various mechanisms
  • Omega-3 fatty acids: they increase cell membrane fluidity and protect the BBB
  • Resveratrol: reduces inflammation and restores the BBB

Neuroplasticity

In order for the brain to adapt to changes, it must be flexible, which means on a cellular level that nerve cells form new synapses, neurological pathways etc. This is what neuroplasticity means. Here are the factors that Dr. Silverman listed as facilitating neuroplasticity.

  • Regular exercise
  • DHA from fish oil capsule supplements
  • Turmeric
  • Whole coffee extract
  • Alpha-lipoic acid
  • Lactobacillus brevis and Bifidobacterium longum
  • Bifidobacterium animalis Lactis 420 (B420)
  • Probiotics: they feed the healthy gut bacteria (e.g. apple cider vinegar)
  • Elevate magnesium in the brain through L-threonate
Bacterial Toxins Threatening The Brain

Bacterial Toxins Threatening The Brain

Conclusion

In the last few years it has become abundantly clear that leaky gut syndrome is not an isolated matter. It is invariably connected to a breakdown of the blood/brain barrier (BBB). Leaky gut syndrome alone is bad enough as it can lead to a number of autoimmune diseases, like Hashimoto thyroiditis and others. But when the BBB is affected, antibodies can now affect nerve cells, can cause Parkinson’s disease, depression, and even Alzheimer’s disease. There is no reliable database for what can happen to the brain when the BBB breaks down.

Because of these connections it is important to sanitize the gut, re-establish a healthy gut flora and overcome leaky gut syndrome. This will at the same time repair the broken down BBB. It will also prevent further possible damage to the brain in the future. Your gut health is your brain health. Take care of both your gut as well as your brain!

Jan
02
2017

Gut Bacteria Can Protect Your Brain

By | Alzheimer’s disease, Autism, autoimmune disease, breast cancer, Cancer, Dementia, immune system, Infectious Disease, Inflammation, Nutrition, Obesity, organic food, Other neurological conditions, Parkinson’s disease, Prevention

The neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter gave a keynote address where he pointed out that gut bacteria can protect your brain. The topic of his actual talk was “Rewrite your brain’s destiny” and the venue was the 24th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine (Dec. 9-11, 2016) in Las Vegas. Many of the talks centered around the gut microbiome. Specifically, in this talk Dr. Perlmutter stressed the fact that the right mix of gut bacteria will protect your brain, while the wrong mix can make you sick. There were many slides, but too much information to mention all of details of the talk here. With this in mind, I will summarize the broad outline of Dr. Perlmutter’s presentation and certainly emphasize the practical implications this has for everyday life to prevent degenerative brain diseases.

A few facts

Did you know that the brain uses 25% of the body’s energy, but has only a 3% of the body’s weight?

There are trillions of gut bacteria

The gut flora has trillions of gut bacteria with its own DNA material. 99% of the DNA material in our body comes from the gut bacteria and the bacteria on our skin surface; only 1% of the entire DNA in the body is your own DNA. We are eating for 100 trillion bacteria, but it is important to remember that if they are good bacteria they provide us with important vitamins and they produce molecules that stimulate our immune system.

We need healthy gut bacteria

This means we better have bacteria in our guts that are friendly, not the bad bacteria that can cause us problems. An Italian study determined the gut flora of children in central Africa (Burkina Faso) and compared the gut flora to children from developed countries in Europe. There was a significant difference with the African children having a healthy microbiome in the gut and the children from developed Europe having unhealthy gut bacteria. This is important new information. Many other research papers have established that leaky gut syndrome and autoimmune diseases are linked to dysbiosis, which is the name for the unhealthy microbiome in the gut.

Chronic inflammation

Dr. Perlmutter showed several slides where literature was cited showing that chronic inflammation in the civilized world is increasing. He also showed that dysbiosis (unhealthy gut bacteria taking over) is also increasing. On several slides Dr. Perlmutter showed that in civilized countries like Iceland, Denmark, Germany, the US, Japan and others the bacterial diversity of the gut bacteria in people was vastly reduced compared to the diversity of gut bacteria of people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria or rural India.

Diminished gut bacterial diversity causes more Alzheimer’s disease

The same countries that have diminished gut bacterial diversity (dysbiosis) also have the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. On the other hand the same countries with diverse gut bacteria have a low incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. When infestation with parasites was examined there was also a parallel between increased parasitic stress and low Alzheimer’s disease rates, again in countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria or rural India. The same countries where gut dysbiosis was present the parasitic infestation was low.

Further research has established that gut dysbiosis leads to an inflammatory condition of the gut where lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from gut bacteria are absorbed causing inflammatory reactions within the body.

Leaky gut syndrome causes neurological diseases

At the same time this leaky gut syndrome can cause obesity and leakage in the gut/brain barrier as indicated in this link. The result is neuroinflammation, cognitive impairment and vulnerability to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Our most dreaded brain diseases come from inflammation: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, autism, multiple sclerosis etc. These are degenerative brain disorders due to chronic inflammation. If you eat a lot of red meat, sausages and processed foods your gut microbiome will undergo negative changes. If you eat healthy food with lots of vegetables, fruit and you cut out sugar and too many starches, you have a healthy microbiome, which develops a robust immune system. We have to rethink the gut/brain connection and learn how to prevent these chronic illnesses.

Obesity and gut dysbiosis

The link above showed that obesity has a connection to inflammation. It was also shown with MRI scans that the part in the brain, called hippocampus was shrivelled up (atrophied). This is a typical sign of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The investigators also confirmed with mental health functional tests that these patients had cognitive decline.

Another study also noticed that in a group of obese patients the hippocampus part of the brain was shriveled up the more obese people were. Obesity and dysbiosis of the gut flora are part of the same problem.

Practical application: the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet are both healthy, balanced diets, strikingly different from the Standard American diet. In a study the hypothesis was tested whether the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet would postpone dementia in a group of elderly patients. The answer was: yes, the hypothesis is true.

What does gut dysbiosis do?

It was shown in mice that chronic inflammation of the gut through ingestion of an irritant (dextran sodium sulfate) led to reduced new nerve growth in the hippocampus compared to control animals. It only took 29 days to show a marked difference between experimental and control animals in terms of reduced growth in the nerve cells of the hippocampus, the center of cognitive control.

The gut wall released inflammatory kinins, which were the negative mediators affecting the brain.

Antibiotic residue and Roundup in food causes gut dysbiosis

Antibiotic treatments and antibiotic residues in milk, milk products, meat, but also in all GMO foods are the irritants of the gut wall in humans. The antibiotics change the gut flora and lead to dysbiosis, which then causes gut wall inflammation and the cascade of events described above. The new finding is that GMO food contains RoundUp (they are “Roundup ready” crops). The herbicide Roundup was originally patented as an antibiotic and still leads to significant dysbiosis. Dr. Perlmutter urged the audience to buy organic food as the only method to reduce our exposure to Roundup. Roundup contributes to causing celiac disease and gluten intolerance in addition to exposure to the modern wheat (Clearfield wheat). The FDA is starting to do testing on foods for Roundup (glyphosate).

Roundup linked to cancer

If things are sounding bad for Roundup, it only gets worse: Roundup has now been linked to causing cancer. In medicine it usually takes some time before the effect becomes obvious is. The agriculture industry has embraced the use of Roundup; I suspect that denial will be the first line of defense. My first line of defense in turn is to stick to organic food.

To sum up: Roundup and the Standard American diet lead to dysbiosis in the gut, which causes leaky gut syndrome. This causes inflammation with the release of cytokines and LPS from the gut wall to the blood. These substances cross the blood/brain barrier and lead to inflammation in the brain. This affects the hippocampus with the classical sign of shrinkage.

Chronic inflammation and neurological disease

But Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism in children and Alzheimer’s disease in older people are all caused by chronic inflammation. There are three more brain-related diseases that are related to gut inflammation: stroke, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dr. Perlmutter spent some time explaining that antibiotic overuse even leads to an increase of breast cancer as a Danish study has shown. Antibiotic use showed a linear increase of breast cancer as a result of increased antibiotic amounts used. The highest group had a twofold risk compared to a control group with no antibiotic use. Dr. Perlmutter interpreted this to indicate that chronic gut inflammation can even cause a disease like breast cancer.

What can we do to diversify our gut bacteria?

  1. Exercise: A recent study has shown that regular exercise is associated with a diversified gut flora. The reason seems to be the production of butyrate with exercise, which leads to a diversified gut flora. LPS levels (lipopolysaccharides from gut bacteria) are lower in people with a higher fitness score.
  2. Eat a DASH diet or the Mediterranean diet as indicated above.
  3. Avoid GMO foods because of the presence of Roundup, which functions like an antibiotic and leads to gut bacteria dysbiosis.
  4. Remember “Antibiotics are weapons of mass microbial destruction”. If you need to take them be careful that you rebuild your gut flora with probiotics. Use of antibiotics increases the risk of type-2 diabetes by 1.53-fold. It also causes a quadrupling of Alzheimer’s disease.
  5. A woman should consider natural childbirth whenever possible, as with a vaginal birth the child gets into contact with gut bacteria. Vaginally delivered children remain healthier than children delivered by Cesarean section for several years.
  6. Acid-suppressing medications and NSAIDs (anti-inflammatory medication for arthritis) can also lead to dysbiosis. Proton pump inhibitors increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 44%.
  7. Prebiotic fiber can prevent Alzheimer’s. Probiotics do the same.
  8. Avoid sugar: even the Oompa Loompa knew that “If you eat sugar, you get fat”. Obesity and gut dysbiosis cause a higher risk of degenerative brain diseases.
  9. Take magnesium supplements (250 mg twice per day) and DHA from fish oil capsules. It stabilizes your brain metabolism.
  10. In severe, persistent cases of gut dysbiosis a fecal transplant can be considered by your gastroenterologist. This procedure takes place in more than 500 hospitals in the US.
Gut Bacteria Can Protect Your Brain

Gut Bacteria Can Protect Your Brain

Conclusion

The diversity of gut bacteria is immensely important. As discussed, in rural areas of the world there is gut bacteria diversity. In civilized parts of the world dysbiosis of the gut flora frequently occurs. This can lead to gut inflammation and the inflammation eventually becomes internal and can even reach the brain. These are the points to remember: exercise; avoid GMO foods, use prebiotics and probiotics. Avoid antibiotics; also avoid meat from animals that were fed antibiotics for faster growth. Don’t eat processed foods and avoid sugar. A healthy gut creates a healthy body, and this includes a healthy brain as well.