The post, ANTIBACTERIALS: DEMO SAFETY OR REMOVE PER FDA, first told you about the FDA proposed rule on Dec. 16, 2013 that gave soap manufacturers one year to demonstrate that antibacterial additives are safe or to take them out of the products altogether. The FDA rule required manufacturers to provide more “substantial data” to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of antibacterial soaps, but it is limited since it only covers those consumer antibacterial soaps and body washes that are used with water.
Category Archives: Pillar: Toxins
1st Study: Low Dose BPA Perinatal Exposure & Food Intolerance
There has been a lot of recent discussion about BPA, especially as it affects infants. Now we see for the first time, that low dose BPA perinatal exposure is associated with food intolerance, specifically the egg white protein, at least for rats. Remember the alternative, BPS, is even less studied and some say it is worse than BPA.
This January 2014 study, showed that BPA is in both breast milk and newborn and infant urines regardless if breastfed or formula fed. “RESULTS: Total BPA was detected in 93 % of urine samples in this healthy infant population aged 3-15 months who were without known environmental exposure to BPA . Similarly, 75 % of the mothers’ breast milk samples had detectable concentrations of total BPA.”
MICROBIOME, WHAT DISRUPTS IT?
SUMMARY: We now understand that disease management requires understanding of: what is the microbiome, what disrupts it, and what positively affects it. This post discusses: What is the microbiome, implications of reduced diversity, long term therapeutic diet impact on microbiome, the IBD annual meeting is starting to consider the microbiome, some anecdotal microbiome stories, and why you want microbiome balance & diversity.
FIRST A RECAP (if you already are versed on this information, skip right on down to the Microbiome, What Disrupts It and How to Optimize sections of this post):
What is the Microbiome?
It is estimated that the human microbiota contains as many as 1014 bacterial cells, a number that is 10 times greater than the number of human cells present in our bodies. It is more accurate to say we are hosts of our microbiome rather then that we are human. The human body is permanently colonized by microbial organisms on virtually every surface that is exposed to the external environment and each such surface has a different microbiome: skin, mouth, genitalia, genitourinary, respiratory tracts, and the largest colonize, the gut (aka gastrointestinal). The trillions of organisms live on and in us are collectively called the microbiome: a balanced ecosystem. –“Gut Microbiota in Health and Disease,”
Antibacterials and microbiome: SHOW SAFETY or REMOVE per FDA
Antibacterials and microbiome — real cause for concern:
FINALLY, the FDA has given soap manufacturers one year to demonstrate that antibacterial additives are safe or to take them out of the products altogether. This is great considering it has been found in the urine of 3/4 of Americans, and it is detected in 97% of breast-milk tested. The FDA issued the proposed rule on Dec. 16, 2013 requiring manufacturers to provide more “substantial data” to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of antibacterial soaps. The proposed rule is limited however and covers only those consumer antibacterial soaps and body washes that are used with water.
NEWBORN GUT MICROBIOME BEGINS DURING BIRTH
How and When does the newborn gut microbiome begin? What constitutes an “ideal” microbiome is not yet clear: it is not simply a matter of diversity, stability or even function. This summary report (dated Sept 2013 and written by the Program Director of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP)), Lita M. Proctor, describes that the microbiome is:
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- Dynamic over lifetime changing with respect to both the numbers of microbes and their membership (see below slide),
- Composed of a collection of bacteria/fungi/viruses unique to each individual,
- Unique at each region of our body as it has its own distinct community of microbes living on or in it,
- Impacted by our daily activities (bathing/washing hands/eating probiotics),
- Susceptible to disturbances resulting from use of antibiotics at sublethal dosages.
http://www.actionbioscience.org/genomics/the_human_microbiome.html. Slide: biomeonboardawareness.com Studies have shown that our microbiota can be modified — perhaps irreversibly in some instances — by medical, dietary and hygienic practices. Infant microbial colonization is affected by delivery mode, dietary exposures, antibiotic exposure, and environmental toxicants, many of which can be eliminated or moderated.
HOW TO BUY 100% RAW ALMONDS
SUMMARY: Starting on September 1, 2007, it became illegal for 100% raw almonds to be manufactured and sold in the United States, with two exceptions (discussed below). Eating SCD/GAPS/PALEO (some camps) can mean eating nuts if tolerated, properly processed, and traditionally prepared thereby making them more easily digested. Understanding what this legislation means for your sourcing almonds is simple. Learn in this post where to source raw almonds, and alternatives to raw (that would be pasteurized almonds ⇒ You want to source steam pasteurized, NOT PPO)!
Digestive Enzymes & Disease w/Focus on Autism
Digestion: we all do it though most take it for granted unaware that improper digestive enzymes and subsequent digestion is the root cause of most disease which is epidemic at the moment:
Those with digestive dysfunctional symptoms (GERD, heartburn, bloat, gas, bowel Bristol Chart type issues…) don’t take it for granted. Neither should you.
Any blimp in the digestion trek, from brain to elimination, has upstream and downstream ramifications particularly affecting the microbiome community bacterial species balance. Most, if not all disease, is now being connected to microbiome community shifts.
This post focuses on autism specifically only because there are many current studies documenting the autism digestion dysfunction. The overall message however applies to all of us.
TOTAL BODY TOXIN BURDEN AND DETOX
TOTAL BODY TOXIN BURDEN AND DETOX
First, for clarity, understand, I hate the work “detox” for this topic. That term renders visions of things I’d rather not see, and if not that, then of rehab from substance abuse. Detox of the body as I speak is from total toxin loads taken into the body simply living the lifestyle we live. Our body takes on a total body toxin load from the air, water, food, and topicals we put into it. Studies now show increased risk of many diseases due to toxin load. A GREAT webinare that summarizes our bodfy burden is at Support for Environmental Toxin Exposure, Dr Jill, 2015. Accordingly, we must do what we can to help the body function optimally given the toxin load (some unavoidable) it must deal with and process. The Detox Summit led by Deanna Minich, PhD can be summarized in a “Punch List” for “How To Stay In a Toxic World” and the relevant heath and disease implications for not, can be found near the bottom of this post.