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New series on the condition known as SAM (severe acute malnutrition) and how common chronic malnutrition syndromes impact health starting with B vitamin deficiencies, the first in the series being B12.

B12 is crucial for neuro development and neuro health. It is also closely associated with SIBO due to its ability to mitigate the effects of H2S (hydrogen sulfide). B12 is also crucial for parasite, pathogen control and energy.

Milk is a superfood, time tested and the gold standard for treatment of kwashiorkor, it helps increase levels of B vitamins and absorption and transport of other nutrients. Whole fat mammal milk is one of the best and easiest ways to help combat malnutrition syndromes.

Learn how you can increase B vitamin content in dairy foods with the addition of specific probiotics and by using other fermentation techniques. All of this info can be found throughout the site and in Immune For Life.

Commentary:

Throughout history vitamin deficiencies are often over looked and in many cases misdiagnosed as other conditions. Malnutrition can’t be alleviated with drugs, can be caused by any chronic drug use and nutrition science isn’t generally taught therefore most remain ignorant of the dangerous effects of malnutrition and consider it to be a thing of the past when in reality malnutrition syndromes are prevalent and present in numerous populations worldwide. These chronic malnutrition syndromes, especially in children have long lasting effects that can be devastating to future health outcomes.

I also think many people are confused about malnutrition symptoms therefore missing the chance to correct the underlying problem. Most are also not aware of the effects of malnutrition on embryonic development, this includes the effects of birth control induced malnutrition syndromes.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency

B12 is an essential vitamin. It’s found naturally in animal products, is an additive in certain foods and available as an oral supplement or injection.

Vitamin B12 supports the normal function of your nerve cells and is needed for red blood cell formation and DNA synthesis.

Benefits of B12:

  • Prevents anemia. Vitamin B12 plays a vital role in helping your body produce red blood cells low B12 prevents them from developing properly. Healthy red blood cells are small and round, whereas they become larger and typically oval in cases of vitamin B12 deficiency. Folic acid, also called folate, is another B vitamin. Anemias caused by a lack of vitamin B12 or a lack of folate are 2 types of megaloblastic anemia. Another type of B12 deficiency anemia is called pernicious anemia. This Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia is more common in people whose families come from northern Europe. It is caused by one of the following: Lack of intrinsic factor. Intrinsic factor is a protein made in the stomach. It is needed to absorb vitamin B12. 
  • Prevents birth defects
  • Supports bone health
  • Reduces macular degeneration
  • Improves mood prevents depression
  • Prevents neuron loss
  • Increases energy
  • Prevent heart disease
  • Supports healthy hair, skin and nails

Who Is at Risk of Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

It is estimated that at least 6% of people aged 60 or older have vitamin B12 deficiency, while about 20% have low to normal or borderline deficient levels.

Older adults
People with gastrointestinal disorders, such as Crohn’s disease or celiac disease
Those who have had gastrointestinal surgeries, such as bariatric surgery or bowel resection surgery
People on a strict vegan diet
Those who take metformin for blood sugar control
Those taking proton pump inhibitors for chronic heartburn
In many older adults, the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach is reduced, causing a reduction in the absorption of vitamin B12.
Extreme dieters. Even though some plant-based milks or grains may have been fortified with vitamin B12, vegan diets are often limited in this vitamin, putting people at risk of deficiency.

Who is at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency anemia?

Risk factors for vitamin B12 deficiency anemia include:

  • A family history of the disease
    Having part or all of your stomach or intestine removed.
  • Autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes
  • Crohn’s disease
  • HIV
  • Some medicines

Symptoms:

  • Weak muscles
  • Numb or tingling feeling in hands and feet
  • Trouble walking
  • Nausea
  • Decreased appetite
  • Weight loss
  • Irritability
  • Lack of energy or tiring easily (fatigue)
  • Diarrhea
  • Smooth and tender tongue
  • Fast heart rate

 

The symptoms of megaloblastic anemia may look like other blood conditions or health problems.

What do minor and extreme malnutrition syndromes look like?

A few videos showing the effects of various malnutrition syndromes including B12.

VEGANS: THE EPITOME OF MALNOURISHMENT

Increase B Vitamins Naturally

LAB and bifidobacteria provide an effective way to increase vitamin levels in milk. Some bacterial strains in the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium provide an additional source of B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, cobalamin, folate, and biotin) during dairy fermentation.

Folate (vitamin B9) deficiency is linked to neural tube defects, some cancers, poor cognitive performance and heart disease. Instead of synthetic folate, foods can be naturally fortified with folate synthesized by LAB and bifidobacteria. Streptococcus thermophilus and L. bulgaricus are suitable for yogurt naturally enriched in this vitamin. High folate concentration can be reached in yogurt as a result of the ability of S. thermophilus to produce this vitamin.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is common, particularly in vegetarians. Animals, plants and fungi cannot produce B12, it is exclusively produced by microorganisms. Cobalamin can be synthesized by bacteria such as L. reuteri, Propionibacterium freudenreichii and B. animalis Bb12.

Biotin (vitamin B7) deficiency can be caused by poor diet or genetic disorders that affect its metabolism. Biotin can be made by some LAB in dairy products. L. helveticus increased biotin content in fermented milks.

Alternavita: All you need to know (critical info in a nutshell)..... by focusing exclusively on these foundational health and immune development issues up to 90% of chronic conditions can be eliminated.

WHO STATEMENTS: 2017 Millennium Goal

  1. Breastfeeding,
  2. food (security)
  3. and water security (sanitation)

are major protective factors against malnutrition and critical factors in the maturation of healthy gut microbiota, characterized by a transient bifidobacterial bloom before a global rise in anaerobes. Early depletion in gut Bifidobacterium longum, a typical maternal probiotic, known to inhibit pathogens, represents the first step in gut microbiota alteration associated with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Later, the absence of the Healthy Mature Anaerobic Gut Microbiota (HMAGM) leads to deficient energy harvest, vitamin biosynthesis and immune protection, and is associated with diarrhea, malabsorption and systemic invasion by microbial pathogens. A therapeutic diet and infection treatment may be unable to restore bifidobacteria and HMAGM.

 

Researchers found that malnourished children’s microbiota failed to follow the healthy pattern they identified in healthy children. The microbiota of malnourished children is immature, lagging in development behind that of their healthy peers. Supplementing these children’s meals with widely used therapeutic foods that increase calories and nutrient density reduces deaths from malnutrition, but it does not fix their persistent microbiota immaturity.

“Perhaps more insidious than slowing growth is malnutrition’s effect on less visible aspects of health, including impaired brain development and dysfunctional immunity, which follow these children throughout their lives”.

The Father of The Microbiome

Dr. Jeffrey Gordon

SIBO

SIBO can cause severe malabsorption, serious malnutrition and immune deficiency syndromes in children (non breastfed) and adults. 

Prognosis is usually serious, determined mostly by the underlying disease that led to SIBO.

 

Immunizations

The WHO recommends that immunization or treatment be orally administered due to economic, logistical and security reasons. Furthermore, this route offers important advantages over systemic administration, such as reducing side effects, as the molecules are administered locally and have the ability to stimulate the GALT immune responses  (Levine and Dougan, 1998Neutra and Kozlowski, 2006Bermúdez-Humarán et al., 2011).

 

Infections

For ANY infectious or parasitic disease to start, it is ALWAYS a requisite that the host suffer IMMUNODEFICIENCY. At the same time, infectious and parasitic diseases themselves cause additional IMMUNE SUPPRESSION and more MALNUTRITION. This immune suppression is SECONDARY to the accumulation of free radicals, especially oxidizing species, that occurs during and after infectious and parasitic diseases.

Clinical Aspects of Immunology and Biochem J.

 

Current IBD Research 2016

Currently available treatments for IBD, which target the systemic immune system, induce immunosuppression, thereby exposing the patient to the risk of infections and malignancy. The interplay between the gut and the systemic immune system determines the final effect on target organs, including the bowel mucosa. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are associated with an altered systemic immune response leading to inflammation-mediated damage to the gut and other organs.

Clinical & Translational Immunology (2016)
Gastroenterology and Liver Units, Department of Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

Most importantly, the immune modulatory agents used today for IBD do not achieve remission in many patients.

Not all IBD patients benefit from currently available drugs. Young people with IBD do not want to be on long-term drug therapy. Oral immune therapy, while not yet studied in large cohorts of patients, may provide an answer to this unmet need.

Clinical & Translational Immunology (2016)
Gastroenterology and Liver Units, Department of Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

Tolerance

Tolerance is the ability of the immune system to ‘see’ and respond appropriately. Without galactose (a necessary sugar) the immune system can not 'see'. Your immune system would not be able to function without galactose Your body wouldn’t know which cells are “good” and what cells are “bad.” Your body wouldn’t know who the invaders were and which ones should be attacked by antibodies. As you will learn the importance of these ‘sugars’ in gut microbiota health is a rapidly expanding field of research, only recently discovered, including HMO's (human milk oligosaccharides).

Why galactose? Milk sugar aka lactose has been shown to be very beneficial for the human body though unlike sucrose, lactose is made up of glucose and galactose. There is no fructose in lactose. It is a healthy disaccharide sugar. Galactose is known as the “brain sugar” and supports brain development of babies and children. Galactose helps triggers long-term memory formation. Galactose has been shown to inhibit tumor growth and stop its spread, particularly to the liver. This beneficial sugar can also enhance wound healing, decrease inflammation, enhances cellular communication, and increases calcium absorption.
What does immune ‘tolerance’ mean in simple language?
Immune tolerance, or immunological tolerance, or immunotolerance, is a state of unresponsiveness of the immune system to substances or tissue that have the capacity to elicit an immune response in a given organism. The Th1 cytokine profile is vital for clearance of certain organisms and ancillary immune activity, and a limiting effect on this cytokine profile may result in reduced chances for overcoming infections especially intra-cellular organisms residing within macrophages. Effective clearance will depend on appropriate macrophage activation (which occurs through IFN≥ release by Th1 and NK cells) and production of nitric oxide. If this pathway is disrupted IFN≥ secretion is blocked, impairing macrophage activation. Persistent blockade of these inhibitory receptors has lead to the breakdown in immune self tolerance, thereby increasing susceptibility to autoimmune or auto-inflammatory side effects, including rash, colitis, hepatitis and endocrinopathies. Many drugs may cause checkpoint blockade toxicity including pharmaceutical drugs termed ‘immuno therapy’ by pharmaceutical companies, these include Mab drugs and cancer treatments. Checkpoint Inhibitor–Induced Colitis: A New Type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease? Madeline Bertha, MD MS, corresponding author1 Emanuelle Bellaguara, MD, Timothy Kuzel, MD, and Stephen Hanauer, MD ACG Case Rep J. 2017; 4: e112. Published online 2017 Oct 11. doi: 10.14309/crj.2017.112 PMCID: PMC5636906 PMID: 29043290

The Elderly

Mammal milk is required for enhanced phagocytosis as shown by research, especially in the elderly. Whole fat mammal milk can actually restore phagocytosis in senescent cells in the elderly. Phagocytosis, by which immune cells ‘eat’ bacteria or infected cells, is one of the mechanisms that help to resist infections. Lactic acid bacteria strains like acidophilus also increases phagocytosis.