I’ve discussed the primary progenitor in the development of autoimmunity as being intestinal hyperpermeability (or Leaky-gut) in many previous articles, so here I would like to cover some other players that are strongly involved in the processes of autoimmunity, as well as in the natural expression of health in general. As a quick refresher, because of the strong ties existing within the gut-brain axis, inflammation present within the GI tract can lead to hyperactivity of the immune system and a leaky gut can flood the body with toxic material that perpetuates immune-hyperactivity and cellular inflammation.
Exposure to genetically-modified foods, herbicides and other pesticides, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, discordant electromagnetic radiation, artificial preservatives, and industrial pollutants can all alter the fashion in which facets of our genetic blueprint are expressed. Contrary to the “Central Dogma” B.S. that still pervades conventional medicine, our first layer of DNA (the aggregate double-helix) largely serves as a blueprint and factory, but the foreman reading the blueprint and directing construction is the collective environment (including our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions). Thus, one’s genetic blueprint is not a “health fabric” that simply unfolds in a predestined manner, it is a toolkit that the body’s consciousness uses to build the body’s composition and adapt to an ever-changing environment. So it is our environment that determines how our genetic blueprint is expressed, which quite simply provides the biochemical and biophysical basis through which you have broad dictation over the health of your physical body. Along similar lines, the human genome was patterned after the natural elements constituting this planet, and what the human organism would normally be confronted with in the environment. This is one of the main reasons why the body is designed to respond to and cooperate with naturally-occurring substances, not synthetic creations (such as pharmaceuticals) which obstruct information pathways and hinder the mechanisms used by the body to heal and sustain itself. It is organic foods and herbs that provide beneficial, epigenetic instruction and influence to the body. It is organic foods and herbs that assist histones in the correct folding of DNA helices so that appropriate operations may be expressed. And it is organic foods and herbs that assist in the repairing of chromosomal damage invoked by the plethora of toxins we are now exposed to on a daily basis. Now, without delving too deep, much of the biochemical, healing assistance facilitated by organic foods and herbs is mediated in part by methylation processes. Methyl groups might be viewed as pervasive switches which play a huge role in regulating a large number of cellular activities by adding themselves or removing themselves from RNA, DNA, proteins, toxins, and other molecules [1]. A deficiency of methyl donors (due to a lack of dietary folate, choline, betaine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, or depletion from oxidative stress) can give rise to a large number of issues, but perhaps of chief interest is the fact that one can become locked into a persistent activation of the stress response [2] [3]. This locking into activation of the stress response not only steals needed methyl groups from other bodily processes, but also perpetuates cellular inflammation and can facilitate the development of autoimmunity through invocation of the “no/onoo” cycle (a vicious cycle of elevations in nitric oxide and peroxynitrite) [4]. Sustainment of the no/onoo cycle can also lead to chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, heart failure, and a host of other inflammatory diseases. Accordingly, because there are few diseases or conditions of ill-health which do not stem from chronic inflammation or chronic activation of the stress response, ensuring the body maintains an adequate supply of methyl donors can be extremely important in the correcting of physiological imbalances and the healing of disease states. References:
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AuthorDenton Coleman is an Exercise Physiologist and Medical Researcher. Archives
October 2023
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