- Regular consumption of the probiotic strain Bifidobacterium bifidum R0071 is associated with more ‘healthy days’ and a lower reporting of cold or flu, [Article]
- “Considering that some people with IBD have mutations in genes that are part of a MyD88-controlled pathway, fecal transplantation – which involves collecting and processing stool from a healthy donor, and delivering it into a recipient’s gut – might help to ameliorate disease in these people, according to Round. Loss of MyD88 disturbs the microbial community because it disrupts production of IgA. This class of antibody works like a gatekeeper that controls which types of bacteria, and how many, are allowed to inhabit the gut. By performing inventories of total gut bacteria compared to species that bind IgA, the scientists determined that without MyD88, IgA failed to recognize species that it can otherwise.”[Article]
- “Genes are important, but diet may be even more important in determining the relative abundance of the hundreds of health-shaping bacterial species comprising an individual’s gut microbiota, according to UC San Francisco scientists whose latest mouse experiments to probe this nature-versus-nurture balance were published online in Cell Host and Microbe. Gut bacteria vastly outnumber our own cells, and the microbial species normally dwelling within us throughout our lives can affect our health by influencing our metabolism and perhaps even our behavior… The gut microbiota was influenced by the imprint of past diets as well as by present diet. “Repeated dietary shifts demonstrated that most changes to the gut microbiota are reversible,” Turnbaugh said. “But we also identified bacterial species whose abundance depends on prior consumption.”.[Article]
- “Evolving over the 7,000 years that we have been eating fermented food and drink, the ability of a common gut bacterium called Bacteroides thetaiotomicron to degrade yeasts is almost exclusively found in the human gut. Publishing their findings today in Nature, the international research team said the discovery of this process could accelerate the development of prebiotic medicines to help people suffering from bowel problems and autoimmune diseases.”[Article]
- “A new study has linked the microbiome of the human gut with immunity against malaria infections. Gut probiotics represent innovative tools for malaria prevention and lead the way to novel types of vaccination strategies.”[Article]
- “Consuming Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086 (GanedenBC30) in combination with protein may blunt muscle damage after intense exercise and boost recovery, according to findings from a pilot study [Article]
- “Here, we report that the gut microbiota of healthy Koreans are clustered into two enterotypes, dominated by either Bacteroides (enterotype 1) or Prevotella (enterotype 2). More than 72% of the paired fecal samples from monozygotic twin pairs were assigned to the same enterotype. Our longitudinal analysis of these twins indicated that more than 80% of the individuals belonged to the same enterotype after about a 2-year interval.”[Article]
Author Archives: lassesen
GcMAF – Bravo Probiotic – an Update
Recently I have seen a number of comments from a person whose email begins with “homeBiz..” on my Sept,2013 post on Bravo Probiotic, implying that this was a promoter of Bravo Probiotics. I am sure that dealers get a very good margin on sales given that the species in this probiotic are common ones in most probiotics.
See 2017’s Update #2 also. In 2017, the discoverer has invented a new magic, Rerum, and in videos has trashed this product, see this post.
I thought that I should revisit what is on PubMed. There have been 10 articles on GcMAF since my last review. None dealing with CFS.
- “commercially available formula of GcMAF… may significantly contribute to neutralizing the neurotoxicity “[2015]
- “Oleic Acid with GcMAF.. with significant effects on immune system stimulation [2014] – Oleic Acid is very high in Olive Oil.
- “The use of the Gc protein-derived Macrophage Activating Factor (GcMAF), an endogenous glycosylated vitamin D binding protein responsible for macrophage cell activation has demonstrated positive effects in the treatment of autistic children.”[2014]
- “The administration of GC protein-derived macrophage-activating factor (GcMAF) to cancer patients with elevated levels of nagalase has been associated with a decrease of serum nagalase activity and with significant clinical benefits.”[2013]
What I found very interesting in the studies is that there was no controlling for Vitamin D levels in patients. GcMAF may increase vitamin D levels AND we know that cancers, FM and CFS are more likely to occur with low Vitamin D levels. In the case of FM and CFS, symptoms are less severe with higher levels of Vitamin D.
Bottle line, unless you are already at the very top of Vitamin D levels, supplementing with Vitamin D3 is likely the best. I am in the early 60’s and find that I need 20,000 IU/day of Vitamin D3 to maintain my levels. The ability to absorb decreases with age and likely also decreases with the shift of gut bacteria seen with CFS/FM.
In terms of news on the sale of GcMAF
- 3 July, 2014. Immuno Biotech was shut down. They sell Bravo Probiotic , BBC
- One of the published GcMAF paper has been retracted and three others are being strongly challenged (i.e. the results reported were not accurate)
- US safety studies on the use of GcMAF has not yet started.
- One Israeli company is attempting to scientifically test the impact, their post appears to be a (reasonable) objective view.
“This organization, as well as others, point out that the articles written by Yamamoto have been removed from the websites of the journals in which they appeared, owing to a range of ethical problems, including the listing of names of writers unrelated to the subject, and the presentation of “research bodies” established solely for that purpose, or which never existed.” This has echos of the methods observed by some with the Marshall Protocol.
Bottom Line
GcMAF reduces Nagalase which is a factor for Cancers.
- I am unable to find a single article on PubMed indicating that this is abnormal for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
- I am unable to find a single article on PubMed that indicates abnormal levels of GcMAF in CFS patients.
In other words, there is “no scientific, medical, or alternative medical evidence” supporting the use of Bravo Probiotics for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. CFS is very sensitive to placebo effects — believe in a placebo will change the degree of stress in a person and thus the gut bacteria as a result of changing levels of stress chemicals.
Get your Vitamin D3 up and wait for objective studies to be published. The financial cost of this hyped-product is far too high for most CFSers.
News Story BBC: Unlicensed blood drug GcMAF still for sale
Histamine Producing Bacteria and their treatment
The histamine model for CFS may apply to some. I know two people that had CFS which ?progressed? to histamine intolerance. With the gut model for CFS, a percentage could go down that pathway. My thinking is that a percentage of histamine intolerance patients is caused by overgrowth in the gut some histamine producing species, thus reducing them should reduce symptoms.
Tonight I decided to gather up as much information about known histamine producing species as a start point. A 1991 study found just 55 of 568 examined bacteria produced histamines (about 10%) and of these 55, 51 were Enterobacteriaceae.
- Proteus morganii, All species. This is a species that is normally in the gut, thus it’s overgrowth is reasonable.
- Klebsiella pneumoniae, 5/6 of the species
- Escherichia coli, just 1/3 of the species
- Enterobacter aerogenes,
- Enterobacter cloacae ,
- Proteus sp., (vulgaris, mirabilis.
- Edwardsiella sp. ,
- Vibrio spp.
- Source: [ref] [1991]
The Proteus species were more active at a pH of 5(acid) than pH 7 (Neutral), which may account for severe reaction to lemon and grapefruit juices because they will grow much better in that environment. It also hints that using baking soda (high pH) may reduce the histamine production.
Fish: Many species have high or even extreme level of histamines, these include: saury, tuna, bonito, butterfly kingfish, mackerel and mahi mahi.
What are the convention symptions of histamine excess?
“Onset of the poisoning symptoms ranges from a few minutes to a few hours after eating. Victims generally experience a flushing of the face and neck, a throbbing headache, dizziness, faintness, and an itching, burning sensation in the
mouth and throat. The fish, as consumed, may have a sharp, peppery flavor and invariably contain high levels of free histamine, usually in excess of 100 mg/100 g”. Fresh tuna have been reported to be often at 600 mg/100 g.
Treatment of Morganii
According to Wikipedia, the following have a high success rate, but more and more resistance is reported.
- Ticarcillin
- Piperacillin
- Ciprofloxacin
- Third-generation and fourth-generation cephalosporins
In terms of herbs, Salvia officinalis (common sage) has a 75% inhibitory rate[2004 Full Text] (versus 90% with the above antibiotics). Clove Oil, lemongrass and sweet basil oils are also reported effective (listed in order of effectiveness)[2013]. Another study found Cinnamon and clove did better(significant effect) than turmeric and cardamon(moderate effect) [1996]
So we do have a set of easy to obtain spices and herbs that would inhibit Morganii (assuming that the histamine issue was cause by an overgrowth of them).
How to find treatment for a DNA Mutation: Treating GSTP1 as an example
A reader wrote ” I was surprised at how many reds and yellows I have [on Yasko and other panels]. But I’m not sure what the next step is to try and find info about and treatments relating to all of this info? I’m not well and maybe this could help.”
In an ideal world, you would take the panels into your MD and s/he would know exactly how to treat each mutation. The reality is that the vast majority of MDs would not know what to do with the panels, or how to treat different mutations. My own experience recently was with a recent graduate in Internal medicine and apart from a mutation(where she had a cookbook recipe to follow), she wanted to ship all of these issues to specialist (usually 20 years out of medical school and even less aware of DNA panels!).
With CFS, brain fog is common so I am going to write it out as a checklist.
- Got through all of the panels and list them from highest percentage of RED to lowest risk
- From the list above, write down in the same order all reds that have a named mutation for them (far left column)
- You will now start the search for information. Say that the mutation is “GSTP1“, which I used in my prior post on MCS.
- First, a mutation may cause many conditions — any thing that helps the condition for those with mutation is GOOD.
- If it helps a male with prostate cancer with this mutation, do not dismiss it because you are a woman. We want to treat the mutation and NOT the condition.
- For treatment, you will find a small number of actual professional studies, a few speculations from professionals on what could help, many suggestions from people trying to infer what will help from limited knowledge. Ideally, we want reliable proven treatments, but if such information is not available then we need to tread carefully and make sure that there are no known negative effects from speculations.
- First, a mutation may cause many conditions — any thing that helps the condition for those with mutation is GOOD.
- How to search for the most authoritative information, the best source is PubMed.
- GSTP1 Herb – 7+ articles
- GSTP1 Supplement – 19+ article
- GSTP1 Vitamin – 93+ articles
- GSTP1 Treatment -1399+ articles
- The next step is to work thru these articles, at least to scan them looking for gems. The sequence above is what I found produces the best results in the least articles… with luck I may only need to scan the first 26 articles.
- If the above fails to find gems, then I take the same phrases and add a “MD” to filter to more authoritative pages.
What did I find for treating GSTP1?
First, for some mutations you can be really lucky, for others you may not find a single bit of useful information. In the latter case, just smile and move on to the next red mutation. In a year, research may have found something.
- roots of licorice (Glycyrrhiza species) [2014]
- Indigofera suffruticosa Mill [2013]
- Andrographis paniculata [2011] [2010][2008][2008]
- tomato and broccoli.[2013] [2011]
- the ability of α-tocopherol (vitamin-E) to affect IL-6 production was influenced by the GSTP1 313 polymorphism [2012]
- supplement of recombinant GSTP1 [2009]
- curcumin (turmeric) [2008]
- “However, in multivariable conditional logistic regression models, we identified a significant interaction between GSTP1 and GSTT1 in relation to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” [2014] – having a MCS parent seems to increase the odds of a ASD child greatly
- “Herbicide exposure modifies GSTP1 haplotype association to Parkinson onset age” [2013] [2006]
- alpha lipoic acid [2010] [2004] – but the 2004 study suggested a very narrow range of action.
- Lycopene [2008][2002]
While there were many people suggesting Glutathione supplementation (for example Amy Myers MD “Taking glutathione or the precursors (NAC, alpha lipoic acid, milk thistle) often help my patients dramatically with fatigue.”), I was unable to find any PubMed studies on the effectiveness of glutathione supplementation.
So this is my approach, typically it takes 1-2 hours to do a reasonable treatment of a single mutation.
Stress impact: case study
Over the last month, there have been significant stress in my life from health concerns for someone close to me. The stress has resolved and my stress response is dropping. Since I had a Thryve report before the stress and another one during the stress, I thought that it would be nice to see if my changes matched any of the changes reported in the literature. The literature tend to be from long term stress, hence the results of cascading changes. Nevertheless, I thought it would be interesting to see what changed against what was reported in the study.
The process is simple, go to the Samples page and click the compare (you will be comparing against yourself).
The next page is just selecting the sample and any reference literature you want to compare against. In this case, stress
This takes you to the comparison page. I am only interested in items with Direction where my before values as between 25-75%ile and the value shifted to match the literature. There were three genus as shown below
I then went and checked these 4 genus to create a hand-pick sample to get suggestions for.
The suggestions actually included many things that I had started taking due to a gut feeling (bad pun).
Bottom Line
Stress is something that can rarely be avoided. If you have an unstressed reference sample then when stress happens, you may be able to identify critical shifts and counteract the stress impact on the microbiome..
Of course, this is all theoretical.
CFS Remission 