Ladybird Nutrition

14/01/2020

The Gut, the gut, the gut..........it all begins and ends wit the gut.

Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee found bacillus subtilis blocked the formation of alpha-synuclein that starve the brain of dopamine in people with the disease.

25/09/2019

I totally agree with this. If it is suggested that we rinse canned beans and legumes before consuming them, why would we ever chose to use the liquid? BPA is sinister stuff and to be avoided where possible.

Aquafaba has become the darling of the vegan world in the last couple of years because it can replicate egg whites in recipes. For those who don’t (or can’t) eat eggs, aquafaba opens up a much wider array of possibilities...

16/08/2019

Very comprehensive article on a complex subject. No-one should suffer in silence - it can take a while but all these issues are solvable with commitment.

Millions of people suffer from gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and distress each year. Diagnoses of leaky gut syndrome, Crohn’s, coeliac disease, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) continue to grow. Recently, researchers have acknowledged another digestive disorder: small intestinal bacterial overg...

08/03/2019

Mouth ulcers that are persistent and frequent are always a red flag for me to check out gluten sensitivity. I had them for years as a teenager and since I stopped eating gluten, I get one very rarely and only if I've eaten something that contained gluten without my knowledge.

Good oral health is one of the main pillars of general health and well-being and World Oral Health Day (WOHD) is celebrated globally in March every year to promote this message. The World Dental Federation’s definition of oral health is that it is multi-faceted and includes the ability to speak, s...

01/03/2019

12/02/2019

Interesting angle on the extra benefits phytonutrients have beyond their anti-oxidant properties and explains in part why the Mediterranean diet is so good for cardiovascular health.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an umbrella term for all the diseases of the heart and circulation including angina, congenital heart disease, coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that 17.9 million people die each year of cardiovascular diseases...

08/02/2019

Increasingly part of the solution to a whole host of issues. Fasting is a part of all religions for a reason, it allows the body to spring clean and reset. Do a Marie Kondo on your body, try it!!

07/02/2019

You heard it here first ;-)

SheerLuxe.com is an online lifestyle magazine featuring news and views on the latest and most desirable fashion, beauty, wellness and lifestyle products, brands and goods on offer.

03/02/2019

MTHFR explained reasonably simply.........

The MTHFR gene codes for the enzyme (also called MTHFR) which converts 5,10-Methylene folate to Methyl-folate (the, so called, 'active form).

This is the only way the body can make methyl-folate, which is needed to donate the 'methyl' to vitamin B12 an important step in METHYLATION ... so it's quite important 😉

If you are in the approx 33% of people (Caucasians) who have a particular variant called C677T, the gene and enzyme can be up to 65% less efficient, POTENTIALLY resulting in less methyl-folate, and POTENTIALLY impacting Methylation, and POTENTIALLY contributing to heart disease, infertility, autism, dementia, depression and many types of cancer.

Note the word POTENTIAL 😉

There are thousands of facebook, instagram and websites dedicated to explaining the terrible effects of MTHFR SNPs and blaming them for everything.

HOWEVER the good news is that the negative effects of MTHFR can be supported and offset through 🥁🥁🥁

🎉🎉🎉NUTRITION!!! 🍽️If you have an MTHFR C677T SNP you should ensure good intake of folate - ideally from foods such as green leafy veg 🥗, broccoli, citrus 🍋, beans, mushrooms 🍄 - and other B vitamins - B2, B3 and B6 which act as co-factors. And ensure B12 is optimal - otherwise the methyl-folate will go no-where (known as the methyl-trap).

If you have increased needs, such as pregnancy, high mental or physical stress, you MAY benefit from supplementing with methyl-folate directly, for a limited time. Take advice from a qualified nutritional therapist

Key take aways:
Genes are not your destiny
An MTHFR C677T SNP is not the devil
Good nutrition can compensate
Supplementation may help
Work with a nutritional therapist

If you want to learn more come along to Lifecode Gx Methylation Seminar on Sunday 10th February, Royal Society of Medicine in London.
LINK IN BIO or at buff.ly/2WEa8kD

31/01/2019

The research throws up more fascinating facts every day.

Debbie Cotton and myself, Lucy Rothwell recently enjoyed Mind, Mood, Microbes in Amsterdam. This brilliant conference highlighted top research in the field of microbiology and neuroscience. We wanted to share a few of our key take aways with you, which we are very excited about.

Debbie:
1) That the gut bacteria can metabolise L-dopa to dopamine, which has significant impact for patients that are taking L-dopa medication and that they are not responding well to ithttps://www.biorxiv.org/…/…/early/2018/06/27/356246.full.pdf
2) That most cases of Parkinson’s are linked with SIBO
3)That gut bacteria can affect the ‘sociability’ as well as ‘anxiety’, especially when combined with increased gut intestinal permeability http://apc.ucc.ie/the-unsocial-gut/
4) Laura Steenbergen is doing really interesting psychological research on the effects of environment on mood and cognitive performance – inclusive of microbes, as well as doing some interesting work with vagal nerve stimulation in humans http://www.laurasteenbergen.com/
5) That microbial metabolites and Short Chain Fatty Acids play important roles in the maturation of the microglia

Lucy:
1) Constipation, IBS and IBD are risk factors for Parkinson's (PD) and usually occur years before the onset of PD. The vagus nerve spreads gut pathology to the brain (as opposed to the top-down theory).
2) Lactational programming hypothesis - that milk constituents are affected by maternal stress and in turn affects how the microbiome in the infant is colonised = baby adaptive to perceived environment??
3) Butyrate can tag chromatin - direct microbial epigenetic link!
4) Bacterial peptidoglycan (PGN) can translocate from the gut into the blood and affect the maturation of neutrophils via Nod1. In autism, there is increased NOD1 mRNA expression = more susceptible to increased sensitivity of signalling from microbiome
5) Some animals use their microbiota as a means of communication. Oxytocin is mediated by microbiome: L. reuteri --> vagus nerve --> PVN --> oxytocin release --> social behaviour
6) Ketogenic diet rapidly alters microbiome - Akkermansia muciniphila went from 4% relative abundance to over 40% within 4 days. Anti-seizure effects of a ketogenic diet are dependent on the microbiome
7) Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (PBD) = 90% risk factor for PD. 80% differential gut microbes in PD have similar trends in PBD. Mucus foraging bacteria already present in prodromal PD stages. When these get too high e.g. Akkermansia, mucus erosion is too severe = susceptibility to infection/inflammatory response to pathogens/LPS etc. We need the right level of mucus foraging bacteria. Too little, or too many = detrimental to health.