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D-Lactic Acid and SIBO

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Have you or someone you know been diagnosed with Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth?

Have you ever felt worse after taking probiotics?

Have you ever been told you are “too acidic” or that you have “acidosis”?

Or did you take a test like the one from Metametrix that showed high levels of D-Lactate?

D-Lactic acid in the blood can lead to acidosis because it can be hard for us to clear.

As we talked about in the video there are many bacteria that produce D-Lactic acid.

Here is a list of some of the most common types that you might find in supplements, green powders, smoothie mixes etc.:

Lactobacillus Acidophilus
Lactobacillus Plantarum
Lactobacillus Reuteri

Lactobacillus Delbrueckii subspecies Bulgaricus (also known as Lactobacillus Bulgaricus) which is found in Greek yogurt, in fact MUST be in greek yogurt

D-lactic acid forming bacteria are also present in Kefir, Jun and Kombucha.

Did these bacteria cause the problem? No, likely not. Chances are that it was a more opportunistic bacteria (staph/strep/enterococcus…) and not one of the Lactobacillus strains however if you are working through this and don’t really want to throw fuel on the fire you may consider avoiding these for a while.

There are also bacteria that consume the D-lactic acid so can really help out here. There are many many strains of bacteria that do this and are found in soils among other places. One of the most common is Eubacterium Hallii.  Never heard of it?  Not surprised.  I had not heard of it either before I began this research into bacterial cultures that degrade D lactic acid.

So why is D-Lactate a problem for some people and not others?  It has a little to do with leaky gut, a little to do with diet and undigested carbohydrates and a lot to do with small intestinal environment and motility.

If you are looking for D-lactate free probiotics check out Custom Probiotics at www.customprobiotics.com.

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Help, My Probiotics are Making me Feel Worse

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What an awesome question, I loved answering this one and had some serious fun with Sandy behind the camera because he couldn’t stop making faces when I was talking about bacteria. Check out the video and let me know what you think or if anyone you know has run into the same problem.

Just a reminder that this is not medical advice or advice on eating anything unearthed and unwashed but a sharing of my knowledge base to yours. I would love you to take this information, learn more and take it to your chosen health professional and work together for a solution. I assure you there is a solution for everything but you must choose it for yourself based on everything you know. When you learn more please share it because it will take all of us forward.

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D3 for the Gut and Immune System

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Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol) is a vitamin that is actually a hormone-like compound.  It is produced in the skin of animals (including us) when exposed to sunlight.  The RDA recommended daily allowance is 400 iu per day for infants, 600 for children, pregnant women and adults and 800 iu for the elderly (University of Maryland).

These recommended intakes along with normal blood levels are surrounded by much controversy particularly in the fields of holistic health and functional medicine.  It is possible to be deficient in vitamin D through insufficient exposure to sunlight and inadequate dietary intakes.  There are two main forms in which vitamin D is ingested: cholecalciferol and ergocalciferol.  Cholecalciferol is also known as D3 and is found in animal foods and made by us through sunlight.  If you, like me, have chosen to eat a completely plant based diet AND if you live somewhere more than a little rainy or spend less than a few hours daily outside you may ask “am I getting enough D?”

It is very likely impossible to get enough vitamin D if you live north of Atlanta, Georgia in the winter.  Even being outside for the available sunlight hours.  This definitely includes where I live off the coast of Vancouver, BC.

Dairy and cereals are generally fortified with D2, ergocalciferol and do not naturally contain any vitamin D.  There is much debate as to whether D2 is useful for the human body and some sources suggest that it is harmful to ingest.  It is difficult to obtain adequate vitamin D levels if you are living far away from the equator, for example in the northern part of North America or Europe.  It is useful to have vitamin D levels tested and to have an awareness of the optimal range so you can be the judge of what works best for you and what will compliment your current health goals.  Remember the lab normal is the mean average of the levels for people who get tested at that lab.  You and I don’t want to settle for normal.

Regarding our topic of brain health as it relates to gut health and probiotics it is necessary to have adequate D to rebuild a leaky gut and repopulate healthy flora and immune system.

How your body uses Vitamin D

  • Many immune cells have vitamin D receptors and low D levels have been associated with autoimmunity
  • Vitamin D stimulates calcium reabsorption in the GI tract and mineralization in the bones
  • Many other cells in the brain, colon, breast tissue and immune system among others have D receptors and the uses of vitamin D in these receptors is being studied

Deficiencies and excesses

Extreme deficiencies in children can cause Rickets, a softening of the bones and in adults Osteomalacia, a similar condition. Symptoms of excess include thirst, weight loss, diarrhea, constipation and excess urination.  The following conditions are being studied either for their connection to low D levels or their improvement with D supplementation:

  • Respiratory Infections
  • Autoimmunity
  • Psoriasis
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Diabetes Types 1 and 2
  • Asthma
  • Periodontal diseases
  • Depression, Postpartum Depression, Schizophrenia and other neurological conditions
  • Cancer, many types
  • Sleep disorders

Interestingly human studies on Vitamin D2 supplementation do not have the same results as the D3 supplementation studies.  For instance D2 does not seem to have the same effect as D3 on cancer which may be because it does not have the same effect on our immune systems.

Are you getting enough?

How much is enough and how much is too much? It is theoretically possible to take in too much from food sources but it is unheard of from sunlight even though we can make 20000 IU vitamin D per hour of sunlight exposure depending on our skin tone.  Melanin in our skin prevents us from making too much D, getting burnt, or being overexposed to sunlight.  This does mean the darker each of our skin is the less D we will make when exposed to sun.  This may not present a problem in the summer but in the winter it certainly can.

Vitamin D is fat soluble so it is stored in the body. While the “normal” ranges of D in blood tests are usually defined as 30-74 nmol/L studies show that levels at least over 75 nmol/L and ideally within 90 and 100 nmol/L are advantageous for bone density, immunological function and colorectal cancer among other conditions (NCBI2).  So the jury is out.  I have personally found vitamin D to be very helpful for my digestive health and rebuilding.  In fact it is essential for digestive integrity.

Contributing Factors

  • As we age our kidneys can become less efficient in converting vitamin D2, ergocalciferol, to its active form and that is why the elderly are recommended to increase supplementation
  • Conditions of the digestive tract can inhibit absorption of vitamin D, particularly for anyone with a history of IBD or IBS including Celiac
  • Prednisone and other corticosteroids can deplete vitamin D
  • Antacids and some cholesterol lowering medications can lower D levels in the body
  • Melanin in darker skin colours absorb UVB rays, making less available for D synthesis
  • Low cholesterol levels in the body reduce the amount of D that can be synthesized in the skin, it is a cholesterol dependent process

Supplementation

It is recommended to supplement with D3 rather than the D2 that is added to fortified foods because the results of human studies using these two forms have been so different.  D3 supplements have traditionally been produced from sheep lanolin, genetically modified yeasts, mushrooms and lichens which are actually symbioses between fungi and algaes.  Vegan D3 supplements are now made from lichens.  It is great to know that there are many vegan D3 supplements now available so you can have adequate D levels without having to compromise anything.  There are liposomal, encapsulated, micronized, whatever is the best absorbed for you.  It is important to monitor vitamin D levels in the body when supplementing to find the right balance for you.

References

Aranow, Cynthia. Vitamin D and the Immune System. J Investig Med. Aug 2011; 59(6): 881–886. doi: 10.231/JIM.0b013e31821b8755. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406

Bischoff-Ferrari HA1, Giovannucci E, Willett WC, Dietrich T, Dawson-Hughes B. Estimation of optimal serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D for multiple health outcomes. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2006 Jul;84(1):18-28. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16825677

National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved fromhttp://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-Consumer/

University of Maryland. University of Maryland Medical Centre.

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Put Down the Peanut Butter Sandwich

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A letter from a friend…

Hey Hun,

Loved your newsletter this week.
A couple of questions for you on emotional eating, I think this is a powerful topic that everyone needs to know.

Is it true that if our body is craving something, it needs it?
ie chocolate?

This is a really good question that is fraught with misunderstanding and confusion.  I have come to see cravings as associations in the body between foods and particular states of being. Perhaps we remember feeling happy and eating chocolate cake.  This association can lead us to feel happy when we eat chocolate cake, use chocolate cake to feel happy in the future or crave chocolate cake when we are feeling or want to feel happy.

When we are craving a thing I believe that it is not that thing that we necessarily need but something that we did receive from that thing.  This could be a nutrient, a mouthfeel or texture, an associated benefit, a nutritional component or something else entirely.

What can we do about this? When we have a craving it is great to step back and ask three questions

  • What is happening right now and is there anything similar to other times when I have craved this food?
  • How am I feeling emotionally right now?
  • What might this food be giving me nutritionally that I might need today?

The answers to this last question might simply be salt or healthy fat or magnesium. The first two questions can bring to light patterns that may have been sabotaging us for ages.

I recently had a large mirror fall on my hand when doing a handstand and went into shock. When my body experienced shock, and an overwhelming amount of adrenaline release, I uncharacteristically craved a peanut butter sandwich. I had just eaten a full lunch and I don’t even eat bread. I wondered if it was the pain my body was in that was making me crave food I wouldn’t normally eat. Is that possible?

This is absolutely possible. There are three very likely possibilities here:

Possibility 1: Your body thinks that there are giant mirrors falling from the sky (and it’s right) and it has to get ready to run away, therefor it is craving carbs so that it can get the job done fast. Your body is trying to save you.

Possibility 2: Your arm hurts and you are craving comfort food. Fair enough! Try almond butter with chocolate or straight out of the jar in a pinch. It’ll do the trick.

Possibility 3: Your body is craving the opiates from the Gluten peptides to literally numb the pain. This might not be so likely for you if you’ve been off the bread for a while but then again…

[if anyone else can think of a possibility here please post something in the comments]

Should I then give in to the craving to numb the pain? or what should I do?

Focus on other methods to calm your body down such as deep breathing (seriously) and going to your happy place… but before you do that maybe you can go to the hospital and make sure your arm is ok. Ice…

Would emotional pain have the same effect?

Chronic emotional pain and chronic physical pain can be very similar in the body. Blunt trauma to the wrist, maybe a bit different. Definitely the chronic emotional pain can cause cravings for carbohydrates because the stress will have an effect on blood sugar regulation. Yes, stress does make you fat (not you personally) and it needs carbs to fuel the fire of dysregulated hormones.

If someone was an emotional eater what should they do to curb it?

I think the first thing to do is to witness what is happening.  I think we are all emotional eaters to some extent, to deny this would make you a robot.  Keep a journal of what happened each time you craved a peanut butter sandwich.  Is there a person or situation in your life that is not serving you?  Is there a person that is serving you too many sandwiches?  Just because we are craving something doesn’t make it good for us.

Seriously… There is a still, small voice within each of us that speaks the truth quietly and can only be heard when we are tuned in to the radio station of our authentic selves. It is not the voice screaming for popcorn, ice cream and chips.  It is not the voice urging us to check our emails every five minutes.  It is not screaming anything top-of-mind but it is there when we listen.  Familiar, this voice has been there all along.  The more we can get to know this authentic self the less we will fall prey to the chocolate cake or peanut butter sandwiches and the more we will feel safe.

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Food For Peace

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Peace in the heart…

Sometimes I find it easy to take in other people’s aggression and difficult to let it go.  There was much anger in my family and I always thought they didn’t like me… It turns out we were all just a bunch of celiacs suffering from the symptoms of delayed food allergies.

I love to joke about this but in reality many people are dealing with aggressive impulses that are perpetuated if not caused by food.

Inflammation can cause pain. Pain can cause… people to yell at each other.  Sometimes it really is that simple.  Sometimes it is a deeper imbalance with methylation or neurotransmitters or LPS from the gut that directly affect our mood without any other symptoms.

What causes inflammation?

In short inflammatory foods, triggers and intestinal dysbiosis cause inflammation.

What are some inflammatory foods?

Some of the most common are sugar, meat and dairy products, coffee, peanuts, chocolate (sorry), gluten and trans-fats. There are more of course.

What can we do about this? Well I know this is unpopular but we are not going to get anywhere by drinking coffee with kale added to it or having a cookie with kale on top or having a kale salad with a dressing loaded with sugar and rancid fats or even trans fats on it. We can replace these foods with foods that are less inflammatory to the body. It is worth it.

Something else to consider is the acid/alkaline forming foods and working toward eating 80% foods that are alkaline forming. This is a great start.

What are some triggers?

Anything could be a trigger. This could be a toxin such as a heavy metal or infection in the body, it could be an environmental allergen like pollen or mould or it could be a food as well. This is specific to each person and environmental triggers including foods are the most common here. It could be a hepatitis B shot too just saying… (one of these days I’m going to get in trouble)

What can we do about this? Identifying the triggers that affect you would be the first step for sure and then eradicating those that are within your control. We are exposed to many toxins and triggers that are outside of our control but even so knowledge is power. The good old food journal or just plain journal is an excellent tool here. If something makes you feel sick/angry/yucky then absolutely avoid it.

What is intestinal dysbiosis?

Dysbiosis is an imbalance in the bacteria in the small and large intestines. There are many types of gut infections that are common that are overlooked or are not tested for effectively so many people are not aware that this may be an underlying cause of their inflammation. Underneath an overt gut infection there are some “bad” bacteria that can grow out of balance and others that are just kind of neutral but opportunistic and will get out of control when they have the opportunity. The bad news about this is that most people do not realize this is going on for many years. The good news is there is something you can do about it.

For a start make the Pomegranate Masala Parfait (or even just the yogurt from this parfait) and start to get some good bacteria back in. This will be more effective than buying store bought yogurts because you can control the quality of the bacteria and you will be consuming it while the bacteria are still live whereas after they sit on the shelf for some time they do die off. You can get waaaaaay more bacteria in a yogurt like this than in capsules as well if you are eating 2/3 of a cup.

Is food the only way to peace in the heart? No absolutely not but it is one gateway that we can control and it is one element that can stand in our way. Do I believe that food can make a difference in building peace in the world? Yes I absolutely do. That is what gets me up every day

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