Vitamin D and vitamin A are essential partners in your immune and digestive health. Vitamin A affects the immune system. Over 70% of your immune cells live in your bowel. Here, antibodies spend their time doing surveillance work. Checking everything that floats by and identifying it as friend or foe. Autoimmune conditions (e.g. IBD, hypothyroidism) are where your immune system attacks your own body.
The availability of vitamin A in your food is a key factor in a tolerant immune system. This is an immune system that leaves harmless substances alone and yet has the capacity to see off threats (infections). Immune tolerance is the essence of good health. Vitamin A is the key to your ability to consume a wide range of food and yet not react adversely.
When I say vitamin A I mean retinol (stored form), retinal and retinoic acid (active forms). BETA CAROTENE IS NOT VITAMIN A. Beta carotene is a precursor to vitamin A found in red/orange fruit and veg. 41% of the UK female population have a genetic variation meaning they can’t convert beta carotene to vitamin A. Anybody who is overweight, taking steroids, on a high grain or low-fat diet, or is hypothyroid will additionally be unable to convert beta carotene to vitamin A.
Vitamin A is critical for the repair and function of your bowel lining, preventing it from becoming leaky. When cells are deprived of vitamin A, energy production declines and you will suffer fatigue.
When you are low in vitamin A, your body makes more inflammatory compounds and your immune system starts to go haywire. You need vitamin A to manufacture an important antibody called secretory IgA to protect you against infections. Particularly infections in your airways and your gut.
What about toxicity?
If you are low in vitamin D (below 100nmol/L) vitamin A supplementation can be counter-productive as they work together. Some people may get enough from their diet if they regularly eat organ meats such as the liver. The Council for Responsible Nutrition in their 2004 report noted a long history of safe use of vitamin A supplementation at a dose of 10,000iu. I would only use this high-level dosing for very particular reasons and for a specific period of time.
Pregnant women are well-advised to avoid supplementing retinol but to eat organ meats at least once a week. This is a whole other area for exploration.
There’s nothing like home-made hummus for flavour. It’s super-easy to do and if you like it, make a big batch and freeze some for the future.
1 mugful of cooked chickpeas (or haricot, cannellini, butter or broad beans) – keep some of the cooking water if you have cooked your own
OR
400g tin of no added sugar chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1½-3 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
Juice of ½ – 1 lemon
1 heaped dessertspoonful tahini (health stores/Asian shops. Raw tahini such as Carly’s brand is best)
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
1 rounded tsp ground coriander
1 rounded tsp ground cumin
Generous pinch or two of Himalayan/Atlantic Sea Salt
Optional extras (see below)
Blitz everything together in your food processor or mini food processor until mixed. You may need a bit more liquid (lemon juice or olive oil) to get everything mixing well.
Add extra lemon juice/olive oil to taste. If the mix is too thick add a a bit of chickpea cooking water or plain water and blitz again.
Blitz in one or two of the following if you like:
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, parsley or chives,
3-4 tomatoes you have roasted or cooked under the grill till soft
A teaspoon of spicy harissa paste (from ethnic shops) or ½ teasp chilli powder
A teaspoon of sun dried tomato paste from the jar
A teaspoon of black olive tapenade
2-3 roasted red peppers (available in jars from ethnic shops)
Tip:
Grinding your own cumin or coriander with a spice grinder gives a dramatically more flavoursome spice. This is because ground spices, when stored, lose some of their health-giving, aromatic oils. Always store your ground spices in an airtight container in a dark place.
Why this is good for you:
Most shop-bought hummus is made using cheap, refined (toxic) oils instead of the traditional extra virgin olive oil which is a superfood. It stands to reason that making your own is head and shoulders above anything else in quality and freshness.
This is one of my favourite tasty things to recommend to clients because it’s quick and easy. And makes a difference. Because of my background in looking at the science of herbs, spices, and their health effects I was excited to see the ingredients.
Every herb and spice contains components that make your gut an unfriendly place for bad bugs. And a friendly place for the good guys! This has enormous repercussions on your overall digestive health and inflammation levels all over your body. Plus the fermentation process amplifies the effects of the ingredients. It’s sweetened with delicious plump sultanas which feed the beneficial gut bug akkermansia mucinophilia. This clever little bacterium is critically important for restoring or maintaining gut health. For information on stockists go to www.spoonfulbotanical.com.
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Autoimmunity includes conditions as diverse as psoriasis, Crohns, ulcerative colitis, hypothyroidism and vasculitis.
Know the best way to keep your autoimmune condition going? Or to set up an autoimmune condition? Eat gluten. Often. Yes, even in non-coeliacs and people who are NOT sensitive to gluten at all, regular consumption of gluten is a risk factor. Numerous peer-reviewed studies published in prestigious scientific journals confirm this finding. And yet it is little known.
Part of the reason gluten can trigger autoimmunity is that it damages YOUR gut. You must have a damaged gut in order to have an autoimmune condition.
And yet this isn’t common knowledge. Why? In my opinion, there are three reasons:
On average it takes the latest, proven scientific findings 25 years to percolate into medical practice
Medical schools teach only half-day nutrition during a student’s 6 years of study.
Medical schools do not include modules on how to critically assess scientific research.
Rakhimova, Esslinger et al. In vitro differentiation of human monocytes into dendritic cells by a peptic-tryptic digest of gliadin is independent of genetic predisposition and the presence of celiac disease. J Clin Immunol 2009 Jan;29(1):29-37.
Sensitive to gluten or not, this common protein damages you. This groundbreaking 2015 study was done on normal healthy people as well as people with gluten sensitivity.
EVERYBODY, not just the gluten-sensitive folk, experienced damage to their gut lining. If your gut lining is damaged it opens the door to all chronic health conditions.
Hollon et al. Effect of gliadin on permeability of intestinal biopsy explants from celiac disease patients and patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Nutrients 2015, 7, 1565-1576.
You just might be coeliac. For every patient with digestive symptoms, there are 8 patients with coeliac disease and NO gastrointestinal symptoms according to research published in the Journal of Gastroenterology. Coeliac disease dramatically increases your risk of autoimmune hepatitis, hypothyroidism, psoriasis, Sjogren’s, arthritis, and other autoimmune disorders. As well as a constellation of inexplicable ailments.
The number one symptom of coeliac disease is fatigue, with cognitive issues coming a close second. That was certainly the case in my situation. In order for your standard GP blood tests to show anything, you have to have reached the end stage of coeliac disease, where there is severe destruction in your small intestine. But if your immune system is struggling, you may still get a negative blood test even if the damage is severe. Biopsy only shows coeliac disease when it is end-stage. There ARE better ways to get answers. If you want to have a conversation, get in touch.
Fasano and Catassi. Current approaches to diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease: an evolving spectrum. Gastroenterology. 2001 Feb;120(3):636-51.
A clinical trial with IBS patients showed that implementing a gluten-free diet for 12 weeks resulted in significant improvement in symptoms.
Might YOU be gluten-sensitive and not know it? Find out the latest techniques and tests.
Makharia et al. The Overlap between Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity: A Clinical Dilemma. Nutrients. 2015 Dec; 7(12): 10417–10426.
Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity is on the rise. This is where your immune system over-reacts to a class of proteins collectively called gluten and causes symptoms anywhere in your body.
But is implementing a gluten-free diet really the best thing? Yes and No. If you replace your previously brown bread with a gluten-free sliced pan you may feel better for a little while. But what happens next?
You’ve now lost an important source of fibre. Fibre that fed bacteria critical for digestive health as well as the health of your immune system, your brain, your skin, and more.
You’re now eating more chemical emulsifiers like carboxymethylcellulose added to free-from foods to improve texture. These emulsifiers cause damage to your gut. This damage affects every system in your body.
You are now eating more ultra-processed grains and sugars like cornflour, dextrose, and modified starches. These feed pro-inflammatory and disease-causing bacteria in your gut.
Over time you may develop new, additional food sensitivities because the underlying causes of your initial sensitivity have not been resolved.
Sometimes the underlying causes of food sensitivity are very simple. With the right knowledge, you can learn to support your body’s journey back to magnificent health.
Plants contain biological toxins called polyphenols or bioflavonoids. Polyphenols are natural substances in fruit, vegetable herbs, and spices. Polyphenols help the plant deter infections (bacteria, viruses, moulds) and deter predators (insects, animals, and us!). Many plants with high polyphenol content have strong flavours that insects don’t like.
Examples of polyphenols include quercetin in apple skins and red onions, curcumin in turmeric, gingerol in ginger, and carotenoids in red/orange fruit and vegetables.
When you eat polyphenols they stimulate your body to strengthen its own defences and upregulate healing activities. A polyphenol-rich eating style helps calm and heal your whole gut. This is critically important if you want to get to grips with any digestive, skin, or immune issues including food sensitivities. Amazingly, many spices people with gut issues are afraid to eat are supremely anti-inflammatory and healing!
