Benefits Of Beetroot

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Introducing beetroot, a superfood to my daily drink to gauge if I notice any claimed benefits even though I do not have high blood pressure. While it is expensive as an organic juice not made from concentrate I have found that beetroot powder is actually pretty affordable and it is an easy way to provide extra nutrition that is bio available independently of gut or health status.

Try it and let me know what you think.

One of the top benefits that intrigued me regarding beet root is the ability to increase nitric oxide, the combination of nitric oxide and interferon is crucial for intracellular health in more ways than one. Regarding current ‘toxicity’ it is an anti oxidant capable of maintaining redox balance while increasing vasodilation; this might be helpful in increasing oxygen levels throughout the body. Nitric oxide is also part of other cellular defense mechanisms.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the biological activity of red beetroot (Beta vulgaris rubra) and its potential utility as a health promoting and disease preventing functional food. As a source of nitrate, beetroot ingestion provides a natural means of increasing in vivo nitric oxide (NO) availability and has emerged as a potential strategy to prevent and manage pathologies associated with diminished NO bioavailability, notably hypertension and endothelial function. Beetroot is also being considered as a promising therapeutic treatment in a range of clinical pathologies associated with oxidative stress and inflammation. Its constituents, most notably the betalain pigments, display potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and chemo-preventive activity in vitro and in vivo. The purpose of this review is to discuss beetroot’s biological activity and to evaluate evidence from studies that specifically investigated the effect of beetroot supplementation on inflammation, oxidative stress, cognition and endothelial function.

A previous estimate suggested that oxidative stress plays a role in the pathophysiology of over 200 clinical conditions. It is therefore unsurprising that many antioxidant food sources have been evaluated for their ability to scavenge free radicals and avert oxidative stress.

Reducing oxidative stress while maintaining redox balance.
Increase nitric oxide levels for optimal immune function.
Potent anti inflammatory with high safety profile.
Increased blood flow and nitric oxide to the brain resulting in improved cognition, executive function, task switching and working memory.
Preserves endothelial/lymphatic function and attenuates damage due to inflammation and oxidative stress.
Vasodilation
Rich source of vitamins and minerals.
Ensures normal functioning of the immune and cognitive system
Reduces fatigue and exhaustion
Contributes to normal red blood cell production and hemoglobin
Ensures normal oxygen transport in the body
Ensures the normal metabolism of creating energy

Based on the available data, beetroot appears to be a powerful dietary source of health promoting agents that holds potential as therapeutic treatment for several pathological disorders. The powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and vascular-protective effects offered by beetroot and its constituents have been clearly demonstrated by several in vitro and in vivo human and animal studies; hence its increasing popularity as a nutritional approach to help manage cardiovascular disease and cancer. In the human studies to date, beetroot supplementation has been reported to reduce blood pressure, attenuate inflammation, avert oxidative stress, preserve endothelial function and restore cerebrovascular haemodynamics. Furthermore, although beyond the scope of this review, several studies have now established beetroot supplementation as an effective means of enhancing athletic performance.

Source:

The Potential Benefits of Red Beetroot Supplementation in Health and Disease

Beetroot Smoothie

4 tablespoons yogurt
4 Tbs. mixed merry kefir
1 Tbs. heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1 Tsp. beetroot powder

Mix yogurt and beetroot powder with a whisk or spoon and blend well. Add other ingredients, stir and enjoy.

Beetroot powder does not have the same flavor of beets and makes a healthy addition to your daily alternavita drink.

Refrigerator ferment if desired.

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

Breastfeeding,
food (security)
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, 1998; Neutra and Kozlowski, 2006; Bermúdez-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