Deadly Harvest: The Intimate Relationship Between Our Heath and Our Food (52 page)

Autoimmune Diseases

In autoimmune diseases, the immune system turns against the body’s own organs and tissues. Many of the same processes are at work as for allergen diseases.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is more common in women than in men and usually strikes between the ages of 20 and 40. It is due to an abnormal immune reaction in which the immune system attacks and destroys the lining of the joints. The consequences are pain, inflammation, swelling, and eventually deformity of the joints and disability. Not content with producing these unpleasant symptoms, the immune system then launches a second wave of attack. Its killer T-cells swarm to the area where it has previously created inflammation. In the process, the T-cells produce a substance called OPGL, which cannibalizes and attacks cartilage tissue.
³⁴⁶
Studies over the years point to three main factors causing rheumatoid arthritis.

•
Fatty Acid Connection
—The production of inflammatory chemicals caused by the overconsumption of omega-6 oils is one factor. Omega-6 oils are transformed into chemical messengers that instruct cells to inflame, swell, and secrete mucus. This is the perfect recipe for encouraging rheumatoid arthritis. In contrast, omega-3 oil consumption calms inflammation and swelling. Cutting down on omega-6 oils and boosting omega-3 oil intake is helpful.
³⁴⁷
A second culprit is saturated fat in all of its forms: animal origin, plant origin, and man-made (margarine, trans-fatty acids, and hydrogenated fats). Saturated fats block and interrupt the work of helpful chemical messengers from omega-3 oils, encouraging inflammation.
³⁴⁸
It is essential to eliminate saturated fat.

•
Non-starchy Plant Food Connection
—The body needs antioxidants to quench the aggressive action of free radicals on joint tissue. Studies have found that people with rheumatoid arthritis are much more likely to have lower blood levels of antioxidants such as vitamin A, vitamin E, and beta-carotene in the years before the disorder is diagnosed.
³⁴⁹
There is only one source of the cocktail of antioxidants that works: non-starchy plant food.
³⁵⁰

Allergen Connection—Arthritis is often triggered by an allergic reaction. Some of the most common suspected allergens are grains, especially gluten,
³⁵¹
and milk and dairy.
³⁵²

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) is a disorder of the joints in which the cartilage disintegrates and bone rubs on bone. It is the most common joint disease, affecting more than 80% of those who reach the age of 70. Osteoarthritis is, in part, due to poor bone and cartilage building. As soon as humans took up farming grains, they started to suffer osteoarthritis.
³⁵³
Two factors were at work. First, the presence of wheat antinutrients irritated joint lubrication. Second, the drudgery of grinding the wheat, day in and day out, between two large slabs of stone put an unnatural strain on joints that were not designed for it.

•
Grain Connection
—Grain antinutrients, notably lectins, depress cartilage building.

•
Mechanical Load Connection
—Unusual mechanical wear-and-tear on the joints can lead to osteoarthritis. Today, osteoarthritis is most common in the load-bearing joints of the body, the hips and knees. Hip and knee replacement surgery is growing astronomically. Just in the 13 years from 1990 to 2002, hip replacements increased by 50% and knee replacements by 200%.
³⁵⁴
The main problem? Overweight and obese bodies. Nature never designed the hips and knees to support that kind of weight. This is one factor which is easy to understand and remedy.

•
Essential Fatty Acid Connection
—Omega-6 oils depress the hormones that build bone and cartilage, while omega-3 oils encourage bone and cartilage building.
³⁵⁵
Once again, we need to cut down sharply on omega-6 oil intake and boost omega-3 oil intake to the point where the two are in balance.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune-induced inflammation that destroys the fatty insulation (myelin sheath) surrounding the nerves. Surprisingly, there are strong links between MS and lifestyle.

•
Allergen Connection
—Wheat gluten is the strongest allergen that we know of. It tricks the immune system’s killer T-cells into attacking myelin molecules because of their similarity to virus proteins.
³⁵⁶
There are many reports of complete remission of MS on gluten-free diets.
³⁵⁷
Milk is the second most powerful allergen and studies show that it also causes the immune system to attack myelin.
³⁵⁸

•
Colon Health Connection
—A leaky colon allows vast quantities of milk and gluten allergens to invade the bloodstream and create their mischief throughout the body. In a double whammy, the colon is made leaky, in part, by the allergens themselves.
³⁵⁹

•
Fatty Acid Connection
—For a long time, scientists have suspected that omega-3 essential fatty acids play a vital role in the maintenance of the myelin sheath.
³⁶⁰
The suspicion hardened when studies on Greenland Eskimos (who have a high omega-3 diet) found that they had a complete absence of multiple sclerosis.
³⁶¹
Surprisingly, no one has done a high-quality clinical trial to answer the question once and for all.
³⁶²
Nevertheless, many studies are suggestive of the importance of having a good omega-3 oil intake and avoiding overloading on omega-6 oils.
³⁶³
In other words, get the essential fatty acids in balance.

•
Sunshine Connection
—Multiple sclerosis is less common in sunny climates than in gloomy ones. Kassandra L. Munger, of the Harvard School of Public Health, found that the sunshine vitamin (vitamin D) has a protective effect against MS. In two ongoing studies of 187,500 U.S. nurses, women getting at least 400 IU of vitamin D per day showed only a 60% risk of developing MS compared with women getting less of the vitamin.
³⁶⁴
In confirmation, researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that vitamin D puts a restraining order on the killer T-cells.
³⁶⁵

Ways to Alleviate Immune System Dysfunction

Allergic and autoimmune disorders are primarily a failure of the immune system. Repairing immune function will fix the root of the problem. We looked at the factors that make the immune system have a nervous breakdown. The remedial measures are simply stated: adopt a lifestyle that is close to the way nature intended, the Savanna Model.

1. Eat a strictly low-glycemic diet: eliminate starches and sugars.

2. Have a low-insulinemic diet: eliminate starches, sugars, and certain proteins like yogurt.

3. Eat a diet rich in non-starchy plant food: load up on salads, fruits, and vegetables.

4. Have a conforming fatty acid profile: eliminate saturated fats, sharply reduce or eliminate omega-6 oils, and load up on omega-3 oils.

5. Consume a high amount of plant food micronutrients: load up on salads, fruits, and vegetables.

6. Have a low plant poison intake: avoid grains, legumes, and potato.

7. Have a low antigen (allergen) intake: avoid grains, legumes, and dairy.

8. Be hungry some of the time and have a low percentage of body fat.

9. Maintain good colon health.

10. Get the right amount of physical activity.

11. Get sufficient exposure to sunshine.

Two other points from the Owner’s Manual are relevant: acid/alkali ratio in balance and a low salt to high potassium ratio. In terms of immune function, we do not know if getting those right will make a difference, because no one has done the studies. But in our view, it is only wise to get your lifestyle in tune with the Savanna Model and give yourself the best chance to straighten out the rogue immune system.

BRAIN HEALTH

The brain is an organ of the body just like the heart or liver. It was built from food, is repaired with food, and its fuel is food. The way we nourish the brain deeply affects its health—yet, amazingly, few people think of it like that. Most people readily consume alcohol or coffee to alter their mood, accepting, without acknowledging it, that what we put in our mouths changes something in the brain.

For most of the 20th century, the psychiatric teachings of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung dominated problems of mental malfunctioning. They found that mental problems had grown quickly during the years that they were formulating their ideas. For example, the incidence of schizophrenia increased dramatically during the Industrial Revolution. Researchers are now realizing that our mental state is affected not only by psychological stress but also by nutritional and other lifestyle errors. This insight has opened up an extraordinary revolution in the treatment of mental illness.

The scale of the challenge is enormous. Disorders affecting mental health are very common and affect all societies and all ages. These conditions include depressive disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease. Mental health problems affect more than 25% of all people at some point in their lives. At any one time, about 10% of the adult population is suffering from a mental or behavioral disorder. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that mental or behavioral problems affect one family in four.
³⁶⁶

Presently, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. At current rates, WHO predicts that depression will become the second highest cause of the global disease burden within the next 15 years.
³⁶⁷
Five other mental health conditions figure in the top 20 causes of disability in the world. The San Bushmen did not suffer mental disease in this way, nor did any other forager tribes that we know of. So, what is going wrong? Let us look first at how the brain works.

The brain is partially constructed from billions of nerve cells (neurons). When the brain is “working,” these neurons communicate with each other in highly complex ways, just like a parallel-processing supercomputer. This communication takes the form of electrical or chemical signals shuttling between the billions of neurons. There are over 100 types of chemical signaler or neurotransmitter. Some of them have become household names, such as serotonin and dopamine; other examples are norepinephrine and acetylcholine. The brain makes most of these chemicals from the food we eat. If we don’t eat the right foods, the brain cannot function properly.

The brain is mostly composed of various types of fat and water. About 60% of the brain’s “dry weight” is fat, mostly composed of highly unsaturated fatty acids.
³⁶⁸
Neurons, and especially their outer skin (membrane), are composed mostly of special polyunsaturated fats. The neuron’s membrane plays a vital role in absorbing nutrients and it is also very supple, allowing rapid changes in the membrane’s shape. These qualities (suppleness and nutrient absorption) are vital to the successful communication between the billions of cells in the brain. If the neuron membrane is not supplied with these special fats, it will not work.

What are these special, highly unsaturated fatty acids? None other than the essential fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6. Furthermore, for good brain health, these fatty acids must be present in equal amounts, just like in the Savanna Model.
³⁶⁹
In particular, omega-3 is critical to the growth of brain cell membranes. That is where the all-important neurotransmitters bounce between cells communicating messages, including those related to feelings of well-being.

The brain makes neurotransmitters mostly from amino acids (proteins). A number of amino acids are considered “essential,” meaning the body (and brain) must obtain them from the diet. If the diet is deficient, the brain lacks the neurotransmitters it needs. On the other hand, the brain does make a few neurotransmitters from essential fatty acids. In fact, the brain converts omega-3 and omega-6 fats into a wide range of compounds to regulate many vital brain functions. Copper and vitamin C play a role in the creation of neurotransmitters, and zinc and magnesium stimulate certain neurotransmitters.
³⁷⁰
Antioxidants play a role in protecting brain tissue from oxidation,
³⁷¹
which occurs when free radicals batten onto and destroy the good molecules. Vitamins C and E come to the rescue and extinguish free radicals, and vitamin E also prevents oxidation of polyunsaturated fats.
³⁷²