Cool Food site -- what vitamins are in my food?

Searchable Food listing Click on the food name, and you can see its nutritional values.

Leaky Gut/Intestinal Permability -- Hows, Whys, Stages

Hows and Whys of "Leaky Gut" The purpose of the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract, or gut, is multi-fold. Basically, it: i) Digests foods. ii) Absorbs small food particles to be converted into energy. iii) Carries nutrients like vitamins and minerals attached to carrier proteins across the gut lining into the bloodstream. iv) Contains a major part of the chemical detoxification system of the body, and v) Contains immunoglobulins or antibodies that act as the first line of defence against infection. Leaky gut syndrome (LGS) is a poorly recognised but extremely common problem. It is rarely tested for. Essentially, it represents a hyper-permeable intestinal lining. In other words, spaces develop between the cells of the gut wall, and bacteria, toxins and food leak through. The official definition is an increase in permeability of the intestinal mucosa to luminal macromolecules, antigens and toxins associated with inflammatory degenerative and/or atrophic mucosal damage. The Mucosal Barrier The barrier posed by the intestinal mucosa is, even in normal subjects, an incomplete one. Small quantities of molecules of different sizes and characteristics cross the intact epithelium by both active and passive mechanisms. The route by which such transfer occurs is, at least in part, dependent on molecular size. Molecules up to about 5000 Daltons in size cross the epithelial membrane of the microvilli. Larger molecules may utilise an intercellular pathway or depend on being taken up by endocytosis entering the cell at the base of the microvilli. How Does The Gut Become Leaky? Once the gut lining becomes inflamed or damaged, this disrupts the functioning of the system. The spaces open up and allow large food antigens, for example, to be absorbed into the body. Normally the body sees only tiny food antigens. When it sees these new, larger ones, they are foreign to the body's defence system. So the attack results in the production of antibodies against once harmless, innocuous foods. Isn't Leakier Better? It might sound good that the gut can become leaky, because it would seem that the body would be better able to absorb more amino acids, essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. For the body to absorb a mineral it does not just slowly diffuse across the gut membrane it must be attached to a carrier protein. This protein hooks onto the mineral and actually carries it across the gut wall into the bloodstream. However, when the intestinal lining is damaged through inflammation these carrier proteins get damaged as well, so now the victim is vulnerable to developing mineral and vitamin deficiencies. The 7 stages of the 'inflamed’ gut. 1 . When the gut is inflamed, it does not absorb nutrients and foods properly and so fatigue and bloating can occur. 2. As mentioned previously, when large food particles are absorbed there is the creation of food allergies and new symptoms. 3. When the gut is inflamed the carrier proteins are damaged so nutrient deficiencies can occur. 4. Likewise when the detoxification pathways that line the gut are compromised, chemical sensitivity can arise. Furthermore the leakage of toxins overburdens the liver so that the body is less able to handle everyday chemicals. 5. When the gut lining is inflamed the protective coating of lgA (immunoglobulin A) is adversely affected and the body is not able to ward off protozoa, bacteria, viruses and yeasts. 6. When the intestinal lining is inflamed, bacteria and yeasts are able to trans-locate. This means that they are able to pass from the gut lumen or cavity, into the bloodstream and set up infection anywhere else in the body. 7. The worst symptom is the formation of antibodies. Sometimes these leak across and look similar to antigens on our own tissues. Consequently, when an antibody is made to attack it, it also attacks our tissue. This is probably how autoimmune disease start.

Can vitamins, omega fats improve behavior?

Study links diet to mental health San Francisco Chronicle Carol Ness Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Nutritional Epidemic?: Studies on animal and human brains... When your parents told you to take your vitamins, they wanted you to grow up big and strong. They weren't thinking it might keep you out of trouble. But listen to this: In a recent study from England, inmates given daily vitamins, minerals and omega fatty acids drastically reduced their bad behavior. Compared to inmates who didn't get the nutritional supplements, they didn't fight as often, break as many rules, mouth off or act out as much. The study, done at an Aylesbury juvenile jail by Oxford University physiology researcher Bernard Gesch, is far from conclusive. But it suggests that the connection between what we eat and how we behave goes much deeper than "too much sugar makes my kids crazy." The logical extension of its findings could reach far beyond prison walls. If good nutrition can keep an inmate in line, think what it could do for road rage and violent crime. "This data is very interesting, although it raises as many questions as it answers," says James Gilligan, an expert on violence at New York University and consultant to the San Francisco jail's anti-violence education program. He adds that the Gesch study, along with a couple of other recent studies of omega 3 fatty acids' effects on mental illness, "at least suggest the possibility that ordinary foodstuffs like fatty fish may decrease impulsive behavior -- which includes a variety of antisocial behaviors." The study isn't the first to connect nutrition and behavior. Small studies have shown that vitamin supplements may raise kids' grades and improve their behavior at school. But Gilligan says the protocol for the new studies is far more rigorous. Most nutrition research looks at the body. We all know how saturated fats strangle our hearts, and studiously track the ways substances like lycopene in tomatoes might prevent cancer. But when it comes to behavior and mental health, the role of nutrition in general and fatty acids in particular is just emerging. Gesch, a former probation officer, runs a nonprofit called Natural Justice, which researches the causes of criminal behavior. His study involved 231 juvenile offenders. Half got a daily multivitamin and four pills containing essential fatty acids. The other half got five pills containing only vegetable oil. Their diets and behavior were monitored both before and during the study, which ranged from weeks up to 9 months. Results appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry last year. Antisocial incidents -- everything from assault and hostage taking to insolence and rule- breaking -- dropped at least one-third among prisoners who got the supplements, but insignificantly among the ones taking the placebo. Gesch says he's not saying nutrition is the only cause of antisocial behavior, but that the results "could not be explained by ethnic or social factors." He cautions that the results need to be replicated -- and then more studies done to explain them. But they show the potential for reducing violence in prisons, and in the community, he says. His study stirred up enough interest that Gesch will present his work at the American Psychiatric Association's annual conference in San Francisco in May. The study drew the interest of Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a researcher on nutrition and behavior at the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. For Hibbeln, who has labored in relative obscurity for 15 years on the effects of omega fatty acids on humans, Gesch's study is like gold. The human brain is made up largely of fat, Hibbeln says. And his theory is that American brains have changed over the last century as Americans have eaten less seafood and vastly more soybean oil, the ubiquitous "vegetable oil" that's in most processed foods. The shift means Americans now consume far more omega 6 fatty acids (present in the oil) than omega 3s (present in seafood) -- and the two affect the brain very differently, Hibbeln says. Omega 6 fats compete with omega 3s, and omega 3s are losing the battle in the American diet, Hibbeln said. And studies on animal and human brains have shown that without enough omega 3s, serotonin levels plummet. Low serotonin can lead to depression and impulsive behavior, and Hibbeln is convinced that our dietary changes are one reason American levels of depression and violence have risen. Gesch's study and new ones underway build on ongoing work by California State University at Turlock researcher Stephen Schoenthaler, who also has run tests on both offenders and schoolchildren that suggest improving nutrition affects behavior. In some of the new studies just coming out, omega 3 supplements helped reverse depression and bipolar disorder. Gesch says his study doesn't prove anything about why the inmates who got supplements acted better -- and much more research is needed. Gilligan cautions against thinking that finding one biological key to bad behavior is the answer to violence, which has deeply complicated social, psychological and cultural causes. And, he says, making sweeping policy changes would be wrong until more is known. But at the same time, adding a nutritional component to RSVP, the San Francisco jail's successful anti-violence program, might make sense. "It's hard to see where it would do any harm," he says. In California, however, the new research is unlikely to affect what prisoners are fed, let alone get them daily vitamins. State law says prisoners' meals must meet government nutrition guidelines, but in fact the regulations only address protein and a couple of the major vitamins like C and A. In San Francisco jails, inmates get 2,900 calories a day, at 99 cents per meal -- which means a lot of starch. Jan Wyatt-Lucha, food director in the Marin County Jail and consultant to the state Board of Corrections, says inmates' minimum diets are updated every few years. But vitamin supplements? "They are not going to do it because it costs too much," she says. Money aside, improving the diet of a captive population is one thing. People in jail already eat better than a lot of people on the street, Wyatt- Lucha says. "Getting the nutrients into people is matter for social policy," says Gesch. And parents. Carol Ness is a Chronicle staff writer. E-mail her at cness@sfchronicle.com. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/01/15/FD182842.DTL This article appeared on page FD - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle