Immune system

Year One of Changing to a youthful phenotype with broccoli sprouts

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Stress

1. My subjective experiences these past 52 weeks are that noticeable changes keep happening due to combinations of:

  • Eating clinically-relevant, twice-daily doses of microwaved 3-day-old broccoli sprouts, and taking nothing else an hour before or an hour after;
  • Eating 3-day-old oat sprouts twice a day;
  • Exercising every day;
  • Taking yeast cell wall β-glucan and other supplements twice a day;
  • Eating AGE-less chicken vegetable soup twice a day;
  • Eating 81+ grams (dry weight before soaking 16+ hours) of Avena nuda oats for breakfast;
  • Working from home 40 hours a week.

I look forward to more evidence on youthening during Year Two.

2. The three previous blog posts concerned yeast cell wall β-glucan. I haven’t received expected results from my New Year’s resolution to be prepared for Spring’s allergy onslaught. Actions included:

  • Changing diet to be more gut-friendly;
  • Taking WellImmune β-glucan in a morning dose of 500 mg for over two months;
  • Continuing with another company’s β-glucan in an evening 400 mg dose.

Consider this graphic from a third competitor regarding their Glucan 300 β-glucan:

dosage

My weight is probably 150-ish. I’d take three or four 500 mg capsules daily if I used Glucan 300. β-glucan comparisons evaluated it as the most active of five dozen commercially available products.

My lack of expected 2021 allergy results may be due to both insufficient dose and less-active products. Glucan 300 discloses its active content in specific percentages of 1,3/1,6 terminal-linked glucose molecules:

  1. Yeast cell wall β-glucan’s effects depend on biologically active content.
  2. Companies with evidence-based competitive products will disclose these contents.
  3. Neither β-glucan product I currently take does that.

I’ll use Glucan 300 exclusively when I receive it later this week. Can’t grow a fire by piling on more wet green wood if I’m serious about improving my innate and adaptive immune systems. Allergy season continues another few weeks, so it shouldn’t take long to find out if this change makes a difference.

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Evaluating a company-sponsored β-glucan paper

gettingwell4 0-1 star Wasted resources, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress

This 2020 review subject was yeast cell wall β-glucan effects in humans:

“The first aim of this review is to collate and interpret the existing pre‐clinical research on β‐1,3/1,6‐glucan with regard to immunity in order to clarify its molecular mechanism of immunomodulatory action.

mnfr3715-fig-0001-m

The second aim of this review is to collate and evaluate the literature in order to provide a comprehensive overview of human studies assessing the effect of supplementation with high quality, well‐characterized β‐1,3/1,6‐glucan from commercially available sources on immunity across multiple populations. Inclusion criteria consist of randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled human studies that investigated efficacy of orally administered β‐glucan with a purity of over 75%.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mnfr.201901071 “β‐1,3/1,6‐Glucans and Immunity: State of the Art and Future Directions”

I don’t usually curate company-sponsored research, aka puff pieces. I wondered why, after taking WellImmune β-glucan 500 mg daily for over two months, I didn’t have expected results.

There are always several possible explanations for experimental failures. I didn’t see applicable items in this paper.

There was much information regarding things their sponsor’s customers don’t need to know. Just like their sponsor’s product label, there was little about what customers need to know, such as:

What was each product’s content, in specific percentages, of 1,3/1,6 terminal-linked glucose molecules? That makes a difference.

The sponsor knows, but doesn’t disclose it on their product’s label. These researchers could have found out and presented that information on their sponsor’s and other companies’ products for each study reviewed.

Not doing so deprived readers of an important evaluation criteria that could possibly explain variable results and provide a better measure for comparability. Stopping at “a purity of over 75%” instead of investigating and disclosing exact information was evasive.

Choosing your future with β-glucan

gettingwell4 5+ stars Premium, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Stress

This 2020 rodent study investigated yeast cell wall β-glucan effects on bacterial infections:

“β-glucan is a potent inducer of epigenetic and functional reprogramming of innate immune cells, a process called trained immunity, resulting in an enhanced host response against secondary infections. We investigate whether β-glucan exposure confers protection against pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection.

  • β-glucan induces trained immunity via histone modifications. β-glucan-induced trained immunity confers protection against virulent Mtb via the IL-1 signaling pathway.
  • β-glucan-induced trained immunity enhances production of proinflammatory cytokines in human monocytes challenged with heat-killed Mtb. Increase in cytokine production capacity was the result of epigenetic reprogramming and mediated via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.

Most important, β-glucan-treated mice infected with Mtb demonstrated remarkably enhanced survival, which was dependent on IL-1 signaling.

survival Mtb

β-glucan epigenetically reprograms human monocytes, leading to a phenotype characterized by a unique IL-1 signature and anti-mycobacterial properties. β-glucan-treated mice were protected against pulmonary Mtb infection.

While both β-glucan and BCG [Bacillus Calmette-Guerin tuberculosis vaccine] reprogram HSCs to induce trained immunity, BCG reprogramming of HSCs was dependent on IFNγ signaling. β-glucan reprogramming of HSCs was mediated via IL-1 signaling, which was also required for protection against Mtb infection.

Considering safety of β-glucan in a human clinical trial, our results strongly suggest potential clinical implications of β-glucan for both prophylactic and therapeutic use in TB.”

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(20)30587-8 “β-Glucan Induces Protective Trained Immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection: A Key Role for IL-1″

My comment “many of these findings also apply to yeast cell wall β-glucan treatments” in Long-lasting benefits of a common vaccine lacked clarity. This post provides part of that evidence.

So where do you choose to be? In an 80% survival group who were administered β-glucan before they encountered a serious infection? Or in a < 20% survival group who didn’t take β-glucan?

Which is better for resolving a health situation before it becomes a problem?

  • Roll the dice, and hope for luck / providence?
  • Do nothing constructive, and depend on interventions after a problem occurs?
  • Take responsibility for your own one precious life?

PXL_20210327_111214712

β-glucan comparisons

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Stress

This 2018 rodent study compared and contrasted commercially available β-glucans:

“β-glucans are natural biologically-active compounds called ‘biological response modifiers.’ This study is a follow-up of our three previous studies that tested 43 different glucans.

We used 16 different glucans isolated from yeasts, mushrooms, algae, and oats. We compared their effects on phagocytosis, IL-2 production, antibody secretion, and inhibition of three experimental cancer models.

16 beta glucans

Our results showed significant differences among tested glucans, despite the fact that glucans in general have strong stimulating effects on most aspects of the immune system. Differences between activities of commercially available glucans might be an explanation for the sometimes confusing results found in the literature. In all tests employed, Glucan #300 was the most active.

Highly purified and active glucans have significant pleiotropic effects.”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323523231_Glucans_and_Cancer_Comparison_of_Commercially_Available_b-glucans_-_Part_IV “Glucans and Cancer: Comparison of Commercially Available β-glucans – Part IV” (registration required)

PXL_20210327_103105655.NIGHT

Oat digestibility

gettingwell4 2-3 stars Required further work, Epigenetics, Immune system

A reader questioned one part of Oat species comparisons of the good stuff regarding Avena nuda hull digestibility. This 2019 study partially investigated that aspect:

“We investigated effects of proteins, lipids, and β-glucan in naked oat flour on in vitro digestibility of starch. Content of rapidly digested starch increased, and content of resistant starch decreased after removing non-starch constituents.

There are three categories of starch in accordance with the rate and degree of starch digestion, namely, rapidly digested starch, slowly digested starch, and resistant starch. Resistant starch cannot be digested. Instead, it promotes growth of beneficial colonic flora.

Digestibility of starch is influenced by size and shape of starch granules, food processing method, physical and chemical modifications, viscosity, and food matrix components. Physicochemical properties of naked oat starch and naked oat flour after removing non-starch constituents were compared to study relationships between starch digestibility and intrinsic factors:


Oats contain more proteins and lipids than other common grains. Proteins can effectively reduce starch digestibility by several mechanisms:

  • Proteins can form a protection around starch granules, restricting entry of enzymes into substrates.
  • Surface proteins can block catalytic binding of enzymes on starch granule exterior.
  • α-amylase can partially bind to proteins, reducing enzyme utilization.

By contrast, effects of lipids on starch digestibility is primarily due to forming complexes with amylose, which is better able to resist amylase.

β-glucan, particularly the extracted water-soluble fraction, can lower digestion rate of starch by increasing viscosity. β-glucan can create a complex of adjacent proteins to form a robust structure that resists amylase, resulting in a decrease in starch digestibility.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814619310556 “Non-starch constituents influence the in vitro digestibility of naked oat (Avena nuda L.) starch” (not freely available)

When viewing the above graphic, keep in mind that its order wasn’t sequential. So “degreased” oat flour (lipids removed, DG-NOF) wasn’t included in “deproteinized” oat flour (DP-NOF).

This in vitro study missed an opportunity to investigate human-practical aspects. Nobody eats oats without preparing them with water. But effects on digestibility from minutes and hours of soaking, boiling, microwaving, etc. weren’t analyzed.

Gut microbiota outnumber human cells. Treat them well with both Avena nuda resistant oat starch and indigestible hulls, and expect reciprocity.

Oat species comparisons of the good stuff

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system

This 2020 study compared and contrasted distributional compositions of two oat species’ seeds:

“Oat grains of one hulless variety (Lamont) with low avenanthramide (AVA) contents and one hulled variety (Reins) with high AVA contents were sequentially abraded. Contents of nutrients (protein, oil, starch, β-glucan, ash, and other carbohydrates) and AVAs were measured.

A relationship between content of a constituent in the surface layer abraded off (termed pearling fine, or PF) at each cycle of pearling and the cumulative level of surface removal could be established. This relationship essentially describes true distribution or localization of individual constituents across an oat kernel.

AVAs provide health benefits in mammals, including anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-atherosclerosis, and anti-cancer properties. Relationships between contents of four AVAs and total AVAs in pearling fines (A) and corresponding pearled kernels (B) of hulless Lamont oat [top] and hulled Rein [bottom] with cumulative surface removal levels achieved by sequential pearling:

For Lamont oat, AVAs 2c, 2f, 2p, 5p, and total AVAs all showed decreasing concentrations with increasing levels of surface removal. The first PF (4% surface removal) contained the highest amounts for all four AVAs, with 2p near ten times higher than in whole grain.

Hulled Reins oat differed significantly from hulless Lamont oat in not only amounts of AVAs but also their distribution patterns within kernels. Dehulling caused reduction in total AVA content.

Pearled oats contained less protein, oil, ash, and other carbohydrates and AVAs, but more starch than whole grain. In contrast, oat bran contained more AVAs, protein, oil, ash and other carbohydrates but less β-glucan and starch as compared to whole grain.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814620315302 “Distributions of nutrients and avenanthramides within oat grain and effects on pearled kernel composition” (not freely available)

There were higher AVA contents in hulls of the top graphic’s species (Avena nuda) compared with its next ten seed layers. Humans require the bottom graphic’s oat species’ (Avena sativa) hull, which is “about 25% total grain mass,” to be milled off before we eat it. So AVA data points on the bottom graph A start around 25% surface removal.

As mentioned in Eat oats to prevent diabetes, I replaced steel-cut Avena sativa oats with whole Avena nuda oats for breakfast. I don’t know how well Avena nuda hulls are digested, but gut microbiota ferment similar indigestibles into beneficial compounds.

The first study of Eat oat sprouts for AVAs found “up to 25-fold increase” in AVAs with 7-day-old Avena sativa sprouts. I expect 3-day-old hulled Avena sativa sprouts I eat also increase AVAs as they germinate.

Long-lasting benefits of a common vaccine

gettingwell4 2-3 stars Required further work, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Stress , ,

This 2021 review subject was effects of the 100-year-old tuberculosis vaccine:

“Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is one of the most widely used vaccines. It protects against many non-mycobacterial infections secondary to its nonspecific immune effects.

The mechanism for these effects includes modification of innate and adaptive immunity. BCG vaccine is known to not only boost immune responses to many vaccines when they are co-administered, but also decreases severity of these infections when used alone.

Alteration in innate immunity is through histone modifications and epigenetic reprogramming of monocytes to develop an inflammatory phenotype, a process called trained immunity. Memory T cells of adaptive immunity are also responsible for resistance against secondary infections after administration of BCG vaccine, a process called heterologous immunity.

The PI3K/AKT pathway, another pathway for mediating immunity, was upregulated. This was supported by recent studies demonstrating its involvement in induction of trained immunity by both BCG and β-glucan.

BCG vaccine can modify both innate and adaptive immunity, and provide immunity not only against Mycobacterium tuberculosis but also other pathogens. Heterologous immunity and trained immunity contribute to pathophysiologic mechanisms which explain how a vaccine protects against unrelated pathogens.”

https://www.amjmedsci.org/article/S0002-9629(21)00092-6/fulltext “Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Vaccine and Nonspecific Immunity”

As inferred by “induction of trained immunity by both BCG and β-glucan” many of these findings also apply to yeast cell wall β-glucan treatments. See Choosing your future with β-glucan for a representative study.

Week 50 of Changing to a youthful phenotype with broccoli sprouts

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Stress

1. Effects of broccoli sprouts that seemed personally astounding at Week 10 became a part of day-to-day life. What will happen next?

Day 350 of eating a clinically relevant amount of broccoli sprouts every day seems like a large number. Yet in comparison, for 6,000+ days I’ve taken a clinically relevant dose of 1/3, 1/6 yeast cell wall β-glucan to train my innate immune system.

Both of their main actions are similar in mildly stimulating my body’s stronger defenses. Switch on your Nrf2 signaling pathway described sulforaphane’s effects as a “weak pro-oxidant signal that you use to activate Nrf2.” Take responsibility for your one precious life – β glucan described yeast cell wall β-glucan as “a potent immune response potentiator and modulator.”

2. I work a full-time job, in my 24th year of being paid to develop software. It’s a young-person’s field, contingent on learning new aspects of new languages, then performing every hour of every day up to what’s known or should be known.

I enjoy working with a group of talented individuals, especially when it involves creative problem solving. I’ll tolerate admin, limited meetings, and other things I don’t like when there’s a path toward doing what I enjoy.

My experiences since coming out of retirement to take this job four years ago have been analogous to Part 3 of Rejuvenation therapy and sulforaphane, i.e. old treated subjects learned and remembered significantly better than old untreated subjects, but not as well as untreated young subjects. I’m not a lab rat, though, and I’ve often had better performance since Week 10 than decades-younger coworkers.

All part of Surfacing Your Real Self.

3. Looking back on this week and month last year, there was worldwide herding of the population using a disease as a cover story. I wondered when it would end, and I’m still wondering because it’s still going on.

This pretext for surrendering human rights is easily derailed. I won’t enumerate fallacies, misrepresentations, frauds, assertions that lack evidence.

It’s a valuable skill for us to know when we’re being herded. Are you willing and able to develop that skill?

4. I didn’t disturb this heron, and was rewarded with a lightning-fast snatch-and-swallow of its breakfast. I wasn’t quick enough to get that photo, though.

Flailing with probiotics?

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory

This 2021 review subject was probiotic bacteria survival and colonization:

“Health benefits of probiotics are diminished due to substantial reduction of viable probiotic bacteria under harsh conditions in the gastrointestinal tract and colonization resistance caused by commensal bacteria. This review illustrates the journey of probiotics from oral administration to the gastrointestinal tract, followed by colonization of the gut, with a particular focus on the adhesion process of probiotics on mucosa or intestinal epithelial cells.

  • Mouth – influence of saliva on survival rates of probiotics seems to be minimal.
  • Stomach – transit takes between 5 min and 2 h. Prolonged exposure to the acidic environment is a huge challenge for probiotics.

  • Small intestine – bile acids and digestive enzymes (including lipases, proteases, and amylases) can impact probiotic viability through cell membrane disruption and DNA damage.
  • Colon – probiotics compete with host microbiota for nutrients and adhesion sites to colonize colonic mucosa and proliferate. Due to colonization resistance, most probiotics are excreted so that they cannot be detected.

Composition of gut microbiota is highly variable. Microbial composition is considerably different between people in different geographic locations and with different diets.

Probiotics cannot change intestinal microbiota community structure or diversity.

How probiotics communicate with commensal bacteria and some are successfully introduced to gut microbiota is of great interest. Understanding these factors will facilitate employment of effective delivery strategies designed for probiotics to overcome colonization resistance and achieve health benefits.”

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.609722/full “Probiotic Gastrointestinal Transit and Colonization After Oral Administration: A Long Journey”

This review provided details supporting points 2 and 6 of Harnessing endogenous defenses with broccoli sprouts:

“Even though probiotics as food or supplements demonstrate favourable clinical outcomes, they typically don’t colonise the gut. How do we expect them to restore diversity and lost species to the gut microbiome after antibiotics? If no trace of an administered probiotic organism can be found a few weeks later, is there any sustained benefit?

If the gut can harbour around 1,000 different species, why do we expect a probiotic supplement harbouring just a few species to favourably modify a human microbiome?”

That paper’s emphasis was reflected in its title, “Restoring Gut Ecology: Harnessing the Inbuilt Defence Mechanisms of the Gut Epithelium.”

I stopped taking probiotics earlier this year after 16 years of twice-daily intake. I’ve increased prebiotic intake. Pretty soon I’ll find out whether my innate and adaptive immune systems have changed enough to ward off spring allergy-season effects.

Sand sculptures

Rhythmicity

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brainstem, Cerebellum, Cortisol, Epigenetics, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Lower brain, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress , ,

This 2021 review subject was circadian signaling in the digestive system:

“The circadian system controls diurnal rhythms in gastrointestinal digestion, absorption, motility, hormones, barrier function, and gut microbiota. The master clock, located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) region of the hypothalamus, is synchronized or entrained by the light–dark cycle and, in turn, synchronizes clocks present in peripheral tissues and organs.

Rhythmic clock gene expression can be observed in almost every cell outside the SCN. These rhythms persist in culture, indicating that these cells also contain an endogenous circadian clock system.

Processes in the gastrointestinal tract and its accessory digestive organs display 24-hour rhythmicity:

Clock disruption has been associated with disturbances in gut motility. In an 8-day randomized crossover study, in which 14 healthy young adults were subjected to simulated day-shift or night-shift sleeping schedules, circadian misalignment increased postprandial hunger hormone ghrelin levels by 10.4%.

Leptin, a satiety hormone produced by white adipose tissue, peaks at night in human plasma. A volunteer ate and slept at all phases of the circadian cycle by scheduling seven recurring 28-hour ‘days’ in dim light and eating four isocaloric meals every ‘day’. Plasma leptin levels followed the forced 28-hour behavioural cycle, while their endogenous 24-hour rhythm was lost. However, since meal timing can entrain the circadian system, this forced desynchrony study could not exclude a potential role of the circadian system.

Another constant routine protocol study with 20 healthy participants showed that rhythms in plasma lipids differed substantially between individuals, suggesting the existence of different circadian metabolic phenotypes.

Composition, function, and absolute abundance of gut microbiota oscillate diurnally. For example, microbial pathways involved in cell growth, DNA repair and energy metabolism peaked during the dark phase, while detoxification, environmental sensing and motility peaked during the day.

It is unclear how phase information is communicated to gut microbiota. However, human commensal bacterium Enterobacter aerogenes showed an endogenous, temperature-compensated 24-hour pattern of swarming and motility in response to melatonin, suggesting that the host circadian system might regulate microbiota by entraining bacterial clocks.

With increasing popularity of time-restricted eating as a dietary intervention, which entrains peripheral clocks of the gastrointestinal tract, studies investigating circadian clocks in the human digestive system are highly needed. Additionally, further research is needed to comprehend shifts in temporal relationships between different gut hormones during chronodisruption.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41575-020-00401-5 “Circadian clocks in the digestive system” (not freely available). Thanks to Dr. Inge Depoortere for providing a copy.

This review included many more human examples. I mainly quoted gut interactions.

A long time ago I was successively stationed on four submarines. An 18-hour schedule while underwater for weeks and months wiped out my circadian rhythms.

The U.S. Navy got around to studying 18-hour schedule effects this century. In 2014, submarine Commanding Officers were reportedly authorized to switch their crews to a 24-hour schedule.

Surface! Surface! Surface!

Eat oats to prevent diabetes

gettingwell4 2-3 stars Required further work, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress

This 2020 rodent study investigated Type 2 diabetics eating oats along with a bad diet:

“Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a metabolic disease which is characterized by a state of chronic low-grade inflammation with abnormal expression and production of multiple inflammatory mediators. Insulin resistance (IR), a condition where higher-than-normal concentration of insulin is needed to maintain a normal glycemia and adequate glucose utilization in insulin target tissues, has been clinically recognized as the best indicator for diagnosis of T2D.

Increased proportion of whole grain foods in daily diet are associated with reduced prevalence of IR, which is mainly attributed to abundant non-digestible carbohydrates.”

Oat species was Avena nuda, analyzed as:

Left to right, diet compositions for basic chow diet, high-fat diet (HFD), and 49% HFD with 51% whole oat flour:

“An inflammation state characterized by high plasma TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β level was induced by HFD in T2D rats. Whole oats had anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting production of proinflammatory cytokines. Our data supports a positive relationship between increased adipose proinflammatory cytokines and increased insulin resistance.

A drop in water and food intake indicated an improvement in typical clinical symptoms of T2D. Results of this study provide information about differences between individual oat products in improving T2D-related symptoms, and the role of gut microbiota.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464620301638 “Effects of oat β-glucan, oat resistant starch, and the whole oat flour on insulin resistance, inflammation, and gut microbiota in high-fat-diet-induced type 2 diabetic rats”

This study’s design wasn’t influenced by It’s the fiber, not the fat evidence. A more thorough analysis of each diet’s fiber contents may have better explained this study’s results.

100% insoluble fiber (cellulose) in “It’s the fiber” didn’t help subjects’ health. Removing 2-5% soluble fiber from subjects’ diets in that study had negative effects.

Although β-glucan isn’t the sole soluble fiber in Avena nuda oats, let’s use this study’s 51% whole-oat flour diet β-glucan of 2.62% as a proxy for soluble fiber:

  • Basic chow diet removed 1.73% (2.62 – 0.89) soluble fiber, and HFD removed 2.29% (2.62 – 0.33) soluble fiber.
  • Using its oat analysis, 51% whole-oat flour diet insoluble fiber due to oats was 4.31% ((13.53 – 5.08) * .51). The diet’s unanalyzed insoluble fiber of 3.31% (7.62 – 4.31) was roughly equivalent to HFD unanalyzed insoluble fiber of 3.44% (3.77 – 0.33).
  • Because composition of insoluble fiber matters to this study’s measurements – especially to gut microbiota – I won’t calculate estimates to compare basic chow diet’s unanalyzed insoluble fiber with the other diets’ unanalyzed insoluble fiber.

These researchers could have analyzed all this for soluble and insoluble fiber. They could have isolated resistant starch effects since its content was equivalent to β-glucan in the 51% whole-oat flour diet.

I’ve replaced Avena sativa steel-cut oats for breakfast with the Avena nuda cultivar used in Sprouting hulless oats. They’re chewier when prepared the same way – 1/2 cup soaked overnight in 2 cups water, then microwaved 20 minutes in a 1000W microwave at 80% power.

This Avena nuda cultivar is healthier because of oat bran’s contributions. Per Oat species comparisons of the good stuff, up to 25% of Avena sativa oat seeds are removed by dehulling before the steel-cut process.

I prefer 3-day-old oat sprouts of the hulled Avena sativa cultivar used in Sprouting hulled oats because of their 97% germination rate and taste. The Avena nuda cultivar didn’t sprout as well or taste as good.

Eat broccoli sprouts for arthritis

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory

This 2021 rodent study investigated sulforaphane’s adaptive immune system effects on arthritis:

“Sulforaphane reduced clinical and histologic scores of collagen-induced arthritis mice. Anti-arthritic and anti-inflammatory effects of sulforaphane were due to suppression of differentiation of naïve cells into plasma cells and GC [germinal center] B cells.

This is the first report that sulforaphane exerts an anti-arthritic effect by regulating B-cell differentiation. Because plasma cells are not affected by conventional immunosuppressive drugs such as steroids, cyclophosphamide, and B-cell-depleting agents, our finding that sulforaphane suppresses their differentiation into plasma cells is encouraging and suggests that plasma cell-targeted treatment strategies for rheumatoid arthritis may be effective.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7886167/ “The anti-arthritis effect of sulforaphane, an activator of Nrf2, is associated with inhibition of both B cell differentiation and the production of inflammatory cytokines”

Although not directly stated, it appeared that this study had 15 sulforaphane treatment subjects from the same experiments being run 3 times on 5 subjects. The above graphic was repeated with the other two less-significant findings in supplementary data.

Adaptive and innate immunity

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Stress, Telomeres ,

Two 2021 reviews presented aspects of human immune systems:

“The adaptive immune system’s challenge is to protect the host through generation and differentiation of pathogen‐specific short‐lived effector T cells, while in parallel developing long‐lived memory cells to control future encounters with the same pathogen.

The system highly relies on self‐renewal of naïve and memory T cells, which is robust, but eventually fails. Genetic and epigenetic modifications contribute to functional differences in responsiveness and differentiation potential.

Less than 20% of nascent T cells are produced from the thymus in young adults, which dwindles to less than 1% after the age of 50 years. Even in young adults, the majority of T cells are produced in the periphery. A pickup in proliferation has been described in late life, possibly as a consequence of increased cell death and evolving lymphopenia.

One challenge of the aging process is to replenish cells while keeping integrity of the organ. The dynamic lymphoid system employs a vast number of T cells (>1011) and maintains a balance between cell production, death, and differentiation.

Enormous TCR ( T cell receptor) diversity is required to be able to respond to the universe of possible peptides (>209). Only T cell generation in the thymus can add new TCR specificities. Homoeostatic proliferation at best maintains diversity, >108 unique TCRs in a given adult.

Antigen-specific memory T cells adopt several fates with age:

  • Decrease in stem-like memory T cells;
  • Increase in NK (natural killer) cell-like TEMRA (terminally differentiated effector T cells);
  • Increase in exhausted T cells;
  • Increase in short-lived effector memory T cells; and
  • Decrease in tissue-residing T memory cells.

Virtual memory T cells without prior experience of antigen encounter also increase with age.”

https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/febs.15770 “Hallmarks of the aging T cell system”

“Trained immunity is characterized by long‐term functional reprogramming of innate immune cells following challenge with pathogens or microbial ligands during infection or vaccination. This cellular reprogramming leads to increased responsiveness upon re‐stimulation, and is mediated through epigenetic and metabolic modifications.

Trained immunity has been shown to last for at least 3 months and up to 1 year, while heterologous protection against infections can last for at least 5 years. These long-term effects are mediated through reprogramming of myeloid progenitor cells in bone marrow, which in turn generate myeloid cells with a trained immunity phenotype.

Molecular mechanisms underlying trained immunity, for example induced by β-glucan or Bacille Calmette‐Guérin (BCG) vaccination, can be investigated by using and integrating different layers of information, including genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, microbiome, immune cell phenotyping and function. Interplay between epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming is necessary for induction of trained immunity, as certain metabolites have a direct effect on enzymes involved in epigenetic remodeling.

High-throughput methods allow researchers to use an unbiased approach examining many potential genes or markers in relation to health and disease, rather than examining a limited number of candidate genes or markers.

One strength of integrating multiple levels of data is an increased power to identify key regulatory molecular networks driving trained immunity. For example, results obtained from one level (i.e. genes) can be used to reduce the number of traits to test in a second level (i.e. proteins), thereby increasing power.

One important pitfall when it comes to designing effective omics studies, is sample size. With a large number of markers measured, and the relatively small contributing effect size of individual analytes, the risks of both type 1 and 2 errors are high without sufficient sample sizes for both discovery and validation cohorts.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eji.202048882 “Resolving trained immunity with systems biology”

Eat broccoli sprouts to prevent lung infections

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress ,

A 2021 rodent study investigated lung infections:

“Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is the most common cause of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria disease worldwide. It is thought that both environmental exposure and host susceptibility are required for the establishment of pulmonary MAC disease, because pulmonary MAC diseases are most commonly observed in slender, postmenopausal women without a clearly recognized immunodeficiency.

Host factors that regulate MAC susceptibility have not been elucidated until now. The Nrf2 system is activated in alveolar macrophages, the most important cells during MAC infection, as both the main reservoir of infection and bacillus-killing cells.

Treatment with sulforaphane (SFN) decreases Mycobacterium growth upregulating the expression of Nramp1 (natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1, a susceptibility gene for pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria disease) and HO-1 (heme oxygenase 1). Mycobacterial counts in the lung, liver, and spleen were reduced after SFN treatment.

These results indicate that Nramp1 and HO-1, regulated by Nrf2, are essential in defending against MAC infection due to the promotion of phagolysosome fusion and granuloma formation, respectively. Nrf2 is thought to be a critical determinant of host resistance to MAC infection.”

https://mbio.asm.org/content/12/1/e01947-20 “Nrf2 Regulates Granuloma Formation and Macrophage Activation during Mycobacterium avium Infection via Mediating Nramp1 and HO-1 Expressions”

One step short of greatness

gettingwell4 2-3 stars Required further work, Cortisol, Epigenetics, Immune system, Neurochemicals, Stress, Testosterone

A 2021 rodent study investigated dietary effects of organic and conventional farming practices:

“We report results from a two-generation, dietary intervention study with male Wistar rats to identify the effects of feeds made from organic and conventional crops on growth, hormonal, and immune system parameters that are known to affect the risk of a number of chronic, non-communicable diseases in animals and humans.

Conventional, pesticide-based crop protection resulted in significantly lower fiber, polyphenol, flavonoid, and lutein, but higher lipid, aldicarb [a pesticide], and diquat [a herbicide] concentrations in animal feeds.

Conventional, mineral nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK)-based fertilization resulted in significantly lower polyphenol, but higher cadmium and protein concentrations in feeds.

Growth and other physiological parameters were only monitored for 9 weeks after weaning. It was therefore not possible to determine whether and to what extent:

  1. Differences in feed composition;
  2. Dietary intakes of compounds previously linked to obesity and chronic diseases; and/or
  3. Changes in endocrine and immune parameters in rats raised on feed crops treated with mineral fertilizers and/or pesticides,

would have resulted in higher levels of weight gain and/or diseases linked to obesity, endocrine disruption and/or changes in immune system activity/responsiveness.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/2/377/htm “Feed Composition Differences Resulting from Organic and Conventional Farming Practices Affect Physiological Parameters in Wistar Rats—Results from a Factorial, Two-Generation Dietary Intervention Trial”

I’m always fascinated when researchers intentionally stop one step short of greatness.

It seems a main purpose of this study was to justify a 2013 study by these researchers on pretty much the same subject. The current study had a defined F0 generation, and four different F1 generations and F2 generations.

This study stopped without continuing to any F3 generations.

  • The F1 F2 OPOF line in the above graphic’s first column didn’t eat chow produced with either synthetic chemical pesticides or conventional fertilizers.
  • This line could have continued on to transgenerational great-grand offspring who would have had no direct exposure to the F0 generation’s conventionally fertilized and “protected” crop diet.
  • By continuing, these researchers could have found out what transgenerationally inherited effects on the F3 generation there may be from the F0 generation eating a conventionally-produced diet.
  • Anything found in this line’s F3 great-grand offspring may have applied to humans.

Do we ever consider our great-grandchildren?