Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
8.10.5 Synbiotics in Inflammatory Bowel Disease...................................... 180
8.10.6 Synbiotics in Short Bowel Syndrome ............................................... 181
8.10.7 Synbiotics in Irritable Bowel Syndrome........................................... 181
8.10.8 Synbiotics in
Helicobacter pylori
Infections.................................... 182
8.10.9 Synbiotics in Allergy ........................................................................ 182
8.10.10 Synbiotics in Prevention of Cancer................................................... 182
8.11 Treatment-Resistant Conditions.................................................................... 183
8.11.1 Crohn's Disease ................................................................................ 183
8.11.2 General Intensive Care Patients........................................................ 183
8.12 Choice of Lactic Acid Bacteria as Probiotics ............................................... 184
8.13 Conclusions................................................................................................... 185
References .............................................................................................................. 185
8.1 WEsTErN FooD—ThE ThrEAT To huMAN hEAlTh
The modern Western diet is based on nutrients received from only a small num-
ber of plants; 80 percent of the nutrients come from 17 plants and 50 percent of the
calories from 8 grains. Furthermore, the most Western food is extensively processed,
which not only reduces the nutritional value of the food, but also increases the level
of systemic inflammation in the body. Many nutrients and antioxidants do not sustain
heating and drying; among them are the important amino acid glutamine and the
master antioxidant glutathione. Furthermore, manipulation of food, especially heat-
ing, increases the content of unwanted proinflammatory ingredients. These include
mutagens, oxidized fatty acids—trans-fatty acids—and dysfunctional and highly
proinflammatory proteins, or Maillard products, which are most often advanced gly-
cation and advanced lipoxidation end products; they are referred to as AGEs and
ALEs (see Chapter 7). Among foods rich in AGEs and ALEs are dairy products
especially powdered milk (frequently used in enteral nutrition and baby formulas, and
in numerous foods such as ice cream), cheese, bakery products (bread crusts, crisp
breads, pretzels, biscotti) and cereals (crisp rice), overheated (especially deep-fried
and oven-fried) meat and poultry, as well as fish, drinks like coffee and cola, Chinese
soy, balsamic products, and smoked foods in general (for further information, see
Goldberg et al.
1,2
). The consumption of such foods, often the main constituents in
fast foods, has increased dramatically in recent decades, much in parallel with the
endemic of chronic diseases. The antiinflammatory effects of plant fibers and pro-
biotic bacteria might not be strong enough to control chronically enhanced systemic
inflammation, strongly associated with the global epidemic of chronic diseases.
8.2 DErANgED AND DysFuNCTIoNAl IMMuNE sysTEM
Numerous chemical substances, additives to foods and pharmaceutical drugs,
seem to derange the immune system. In the past, priority was not given to investiga-
tion of the eventual negative effects on the innate immune systems of consumed food
