Archive for the 'Omega-3' Category

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Published on October 22, 2008 in Allergy, Allopathic Treatments, Auto-Immune Disease, Drug Side Effects, Omega-3 and Rheumatoid Arthritis. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

My wife has pretty severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and has tried many different treatments. She was started off on daily doses of methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug) and prednisone (a corticosteroid). This worked well until she started losing all of her hair, felt weak and tired, and decided we needed to try something else.

She had started a new job which had good health insurance, so her Rheumatologist decided to put her on Humira, a monthly injection which, according to their website:

HUMIRA is a medicine called a TNF blocker, a type of protein that blocks the action of TNF-α, a substance made by your body’s immune system. People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have too much TNF-α in their bodies. The extra TNF-α can attack normal healthy body tissue and cause inflammation especially in the tissues of your bones, cartilage, and joints. HUMIRA can help block the damage that too much TNF-α can cause. HUMIRA may prevent further damage to the bones and joints of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis patients, and may help the ability to perform daily activities.

Humira worked GREAT for her, She felt fantastic just days after her first injection. However, one warning which states you should call your physician immediately is “warm, red, or painful skin.” After her second injection she developed a serious skin rash which was a reaction to the drug and use was discontinued.

So now she was not taking any medication while waiting for insurance to approve a different treatment of Remicade. Her RA got so bad she had trouble with normal activities of daily living. She was in serious pain and absolutely miserable. Remicade is another (in fact one of the first) TNF blockers and according to their website:

REMICADE targets specific proteins in the body’s immune system to help control the development of inflammation, significantly reducing painful symptoms in diseases such as plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, adult Crohn’s disease, pediatric Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and ankylosing spondylitis.

Remicade worked well for awhile. It wasn’t as effective as Humira was and instead of a monthly injection that you could do at home required a trip to the hospital for a monthly IV infusion. It did work well enough to continue using until her body began to develop anti-bodies against the drug. Her rheumatologist stated she had only heard about a couple of other patients that this happened with so once again treatment stopped.

We increased her Omega-3 supplementation to help keep the inflammation down until insurance approved yet another drug: Orencia.

Orencia is also a monthly infusion at the hospital but instead of blocking TNF, “works in a fundamentally different way than any other rheumatoid arthritis treatment. ORENCIA works early in the RA inflammatory process at the T-cell level and can reduce the activation of T cells, which reduces the activation of other cells in the RA inflammatory process.”

T-Cells are an important white blood cell that are crucial to your bodies immune system. They help fight viral and bacterial infections. And that is the power (and the problem) behind Orencia: it lowers your immune system so that it can not attack your own body (as is seen in auto-immune diseases). In fact, that is how ALL RA treatments work. They don’t fix or heal or cure RA, they lower your immune system so that it can’t damage your own body as much.

This is great if you are in serious pain and having trouble simply walking or cutting your food or sleeping because the pain is so intense. But there are serious side effects that come along with this. This list is from the Orencia Website:

Possible Side Effects of ORENCIA® (abatacept)
ORENCIA can cause serious side effects including:

Serious infections. Patients receiving ORENCIA have a higher chance of getting infections including pneumonia, and other infections caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungi. Call your doctor immediately if you feel sick or get any of the following signs of infection: fever, feel very tired, cough, feel flu-like, or warm, red or painful skin.

Allergic reactions. Allergic reactions can happen on the day of treatment or the day after receiving ORENCIA. Tell your doctor or get emergency medical help right away if you have hives, swollen face, eyelids, lips, tongue, throat or trouble breathing.

Cancer (malignancies). Certain kinds of cancer have been reported in patients receiving ORENCIA. It is not known if ORENCIA increases your chance of getting certain kinds of cancer.

Vaccinations. You should not receive ORENCIA with certain types of vaccines. ORENCIA may cause some vaccinations to be less effective.

Respiratory problems in patients with COPD. You may get certain respiratory problems more often if you receive ORENCIA and have COPD, including: worsened COPD, pneumonia, cough, or trouble breathing.

The more common side effects with ORENCIA in both adults and children are headache, upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, and nausea. Other side effects in children may include diarrhea, cough, fever, and abdominal pain.

This list is pretty standard for Remicade, Humira, Enbrel, and other RA drug treatments.

So we decided to do something different. She is still on Orencia which is working decent, but we recently went to a Chiropractor that talked at my school who specializes in internal medicine as well. He stated that he treats RA almost exclusively as an allergic reaction to something we eat. He draws blood for a test called ELISA/ACT which is an allergy test for over 450 different things including common things we eat, preservatives, food coloring, and environmental factors.

He got the results back the other day and called to tell her to immediately cease and desist the eating of all dairy, peanuts, ginseng, bakers yeast and of all things: chicken.

We are going in tonight to talk to him in person and get the details about the test and put together a game plan to try to make her better. The beautiful thing about this, is that instead of just minimizing the progression of the disease like the chemotheraputic approach, it actually removes the cause of the disease and hence… the disease itself!

We are hoping that this works well enough to get her off all drug treatments and back to normal, healthy, pain free living. We are really excited about this and will post from time to time about her progress and how things are working. Until then, Live Happy Live Healthy!

Fatty Acids Part Three: Omega-3s and Antioxidants

Published on October 3, 2008 in Antioxidant, Nutrition, Omega-3 and vitamin E. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I stated in part two, that you are what you eat. This is literally true. Once ingested and absorbed, fatty acids of all types are taken up by cells and embedded within the cell membrane. Every cell in your body has a phospholipid bi-layer which basically means that each cell’s membrane is made up of two layers each made up of fatty acids and phosphorous molecules. So when you eat lots of foods containing omega-6 fatty acids, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids contained within your cell membrane increases. This literally makes every cell in your body more inflamed and makes you feel worse.

cell_membrane.jpg

But I’ve already talked about that in previous posts. What I want to talk about today is the dangers of oxidative stress and the importance of taking anti-oxidant supplements if you are not getting enough from your diet.

Oxidative (or peroxidative) damage occurs when free radicals “steal electrons” from lipids (or fatty acids). The free-radical reaction happens in three different steps:

1.) Initiation – is the formation of a free radical. Most often this is an oxygen molecule. We use oxygen every second of our life to make energy called ATP. And our body is pretty good at it. However, nothing is 100% effective and every so often something goes wrong and the result is an oxygen free radical. These free radicals entire purpose in life is to find an electron in order to make themselves a stable molecule. They often accomplish this by stealing it from the nearest molecule it can get it from.

2.) Propagation is the second step. Once an Oxygen free radical steals an electron from a fatty acid, the oxygen molecule is stable but the fatty acid then becomes unstable and becomes a free radical itself. This reaction continues over and over again.

3.) The third and final step in free radical reactions is Termination. This is where propagation ends due two every cell being satisfied with a stable number of electrons. This happens one of two ways. Either another free radical (of the same species ie. two oxygen free radicals) meets up with the original free radical and share an electron making both free radical molecules stable (this is unlikely to happen due to the distance between free radicals in comparison to other cells). Or, an anti-oxidant donates an electron to a free radical making it stable.

The beautiful thing about anti-oxidants is that they have the ability to donate an electron without becoming unstable. This allows free radicals to become stable, and keep anti-oxidants stable, there by putting an end to the propagation step of the free radical reaction.

One of the most important anti-oxidant is Vitamin E which is a fat soluble vitamin and is also embedded in cell membranes. When free radicals come along, Vitamin E donates a hydrogen molecule to it which turns it into a harmless metabolite. This is such an important reaction that some research suggests that:

…vitamin E and related nutrients may collectively be important in protecting the body against and treating conditions related to oxidative stress such as aging, arthritis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, cataracts, diabetes, infection, and some cases of Alzheimer’s disease (Mahan 79).

For this reason, increasing the amount of anti-oxidants in your diet is important if you are also increasing the amount of Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet. While some doctors believe that supplementing with Omega-3 is worth it even if you are not supplementing with anti-oxidants, in my humble opinion, the importance of free radical scavenging by anti-oxidants is hard to over-emphasize and should probably be done with or without supplementing with fatty acids.

References:

Gropper, Sareen S., Jack L. Smith, and James L. Groff. Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism. Belmont: Brooks/Cole, 2004.
Mahan, L. Kathleen, and Sylvia Escott-Stump. Krause’s Food and Nutrition Therapy. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2007.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Part 2: Sources

Published on September 22, 2008 in Nutrition, Omega-3 and Vitamins: General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

I bet you think the best source of omega-3 fatty acids is fish oil. You’d be right… well sort of.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in a variety of sources including leafy greens, flaxseed oil and grasses which give you an omega-3 called Alpha-linolenic Acid. The problem is that alpha-linolenic acid must first go through a 3-step process of being converted to EPA before it can be used by our bodies as an anti-inflammatory agent. To complicate the issue, our bodies are not very good at transforming alpha-linolenic acid to EPA. So, much of the omega-3 that is ingested from vegetable and flaxseed sources is wasted due to the low conversion rates.

The benefit of getting your omega-3 from fish sources, is that they have already been converted to EPA by the fish. So, upon eating fish, you are getting a pure dose of EPA ready to be absorbed and used by your body. Simple, right? Fish really is the best source of omega-3 fatty acids, but, I’m afraid to say that it isn’t quite that easy.

What the “experts” on the Today show haven’t told you, is that the type of fish you are eating matters. For example, Floyd H. Chilton, Ph.D., in his book “Win the War Within,” explains that farmed salmon, which is available in every supermarket in the country, contains 700 milligrams of the beneficial anti-inflammatory omega-3 EPA. The bad news is, it also contains 1,306 milligrams of the inflammatory omega-6: arachidonic acid. Let me remind you that arachidonic acid isn’t bad for you, it is the ratio of arachidonic acid to EPA that is the difference. By eating farmed salmon you are actually eating twice as many omega-6 fatty acids as omega-3 fatty acids.

On the other hand, wild caught salmon contains only 303 mg of arachidonic acid which reverses the ratio to one omega-6 for every 2 omega-3 you are eating. He goes on to explain that the difference is what the fish are fed. Wild Salmon have a diet of omega-3 rich plankton while farm raised salmon eat mostly cheap corn feed rich in omega-6. Remember, you are what you eat. Fish eat omega-6, you eat fish, you get omega-6. Fish eat omega-3, you eat fish, you get omega-3.

Chilton also explains that buying only wild caught fish isn’t the solution either. Farmed rainbow trout contains 260 mg of EPA and only 25 mg of AA (arachidonic acid) while wild trout contains only 167 mg of EPA and 109 mg of AA. Science Daily magazine also discovered fish with high amounts of AA. Their story reads:

The researchers found that farmed tilapia contained only modest amounts of omega-3 fatty acids — less than half a gram per 100 grams of fish, similar to flounder and swordfish. Farmed salmon and trout, by contrast, had nearly 3 and 4 grams, respectively.

At the same time, the tilapia had much higher amounts of omega-6 acids generally and AA specifically than both salmon and trout. Ratios of long-chain omega-6 to long-chain omega-3, AA to EPA respectively, in tilapia averaged about 11:1, compared to much less than 1:1 (indicating more EPA than AA) in both salmon and trout.

So here you are, trying to eat right and feed your family healthy fish, and you end up making the problem worse by feeding them a ratio of AA to EPA of 11:1!!! So what do you do?

Chilton’s book is great if you are seriously interested in reducing inflammation in you or a family member. He explains in depth what foods to eat and what to stay away from. He provides menus, explanations, resources and a ton of other information.

Dr. David Seaman is a chiropractor that is serious about inflammation. For a more in-depth and technical read, try his article called “The Diet-induced Proinflammatory State: A Cause of Chronic Pain and Other Degenerative Diseases?” published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.

And of course, you can always use Omega-3 supplements, stay away from peanut butter (4400mg of omega-6, trace amount of omega-3 in just 2 tbsp), high fructose corn syrup, vegetable oil (3264mg of omega-6 in one tbsp)and, well, pretty much anything made from corn. And let me know if you have any questions. Leave a comment or send me an email and I will respond as soon as possible. In part 3 i am going to explain the importance of taking your omega-3 with antioxidants. Until then, Live Happy. Live Healthy!

Fatty Acids: Part 1

Published on September 17, 2008 in Nutrition, Omega-3 and Vitamins: General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

We have all heard of the importance of Omega-3 Fatty Acids and that we should all be eating two servings of fish every week in order to obtain those all important Omega-3s. But do you know what an omega-3 fatty acid is or why you are supposed to include them in your diet? You’ve probably also heard of the bad Omega-6 fatty acids that you are supposed to stay away from. What I bet you haven’t heard is that Omega-6 fatty acids also play a very important role in our bodies and immune system. While it is true that too many omega-6 fatty acids can be bad for you, what is more important is the ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids. In part one, I am going to cover that basics of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids… starting with what exactly an omega acid is.

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are named after their chemical structure. Below are two diagrams of fatty acids:

omega_acids.gif

While they look similar, there are huge differences both in structure and function. Both Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids are named for where the first double bond is located on the carbon chain. For example, on the left (arachidonic acid) the first double bond is located after the 6th carbon from the end. On the Right (EPA) the first double bond is located after the 3rd carbon from the end. Hence, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. The real big difference, however, is what happens once these fatty acids are in your body.

You may have heard in the past that Omega-6 fatty acids are bad for you. Well, that isn’t really true. In fact, they are considered an essential fatty acid (meaning your body can not produce it and must be obtained through diet), play an important part in our bodies immune response, and a deficiency can cause “growth retardation, skin lesions, reproductive failure, fatty liver, and polydipsia” (Mahan 55).

We obtain omega-6 fatty acids in our diet by eating grains, vegetable oils, grain fed meats and dairy products. Once in our body, the omega-6 acids are transformed through a series of chemical reactions into a group of substances called eicosanoids which includes the sub groups: prostaglandins, thromboxanes and leukotrtienes. Together, these substances work in a variety of ways to promote blood clotting, vasodilatation and constriction which are important in an inflammatory response, and even are involved in ovarian and uterine function, bone metabolism, nerve and brain function and smooth muscle regulation (Champe 211-12). The reason Omega-6 acids have gotten a bad name is because the typical North American diet consumes way too many omega-6 acids and way too few omega-3 which acts almost as a counter to the omega-6 effects.

Omega-3 acids are natural anti-inflammatory substances. Also an essential fatty acid, some of the best sources are fish which provide us with the omega-3 acids EPA and DHA. These omega-3 fatty acids help counter act the omega-6 effects and help lower heart disease, thrombosis and inflammation. This is such an important concept, that the pharmaceutical industry has made billions of dollars and an enormous amount of drugs to do the exact same thing.

Over the counter drugs such as aspirin and Tylenol, and prescription drugs such as Celebrex and Vioxx (now off the market) inhibit the production of eicosanoids and their inflammatory effects. The problem with Vioxx was that it also inhibited the good effects of the omega-6 acids and caused people to have massive heart attacks. Possibly by blocking the smooth muscle regulation functions of eicosanoids which helps moderate heart function. A much safer and natural way to reduce inflammation in your body is to stay away from foods that contain omega-6 fatty acids and eat more foods with omega-3 fatty acids. There are also some great omega-3 fatty acid supplements out there. A ratio of one omega-3 for every one omega-6 you ingest is ideal, however, realistically if you can keep it to a ratio of one omega-3 for every 3 omega-6, you will be ahead of the game and feeling much better. In part 2 I am going to talk about sources of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. I think what you see might surprise you, so be sure to come back. Your heart will thank you.

References:

Champe, Pamela C., Richard A. Harvey, and Denise R. Ferrier. Biochemistry. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004.

Mahan, L. Kathleen, and Sylvia Escott-Stump. Krause’s Food and Nutrition Therapy. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2007.

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