Fast Mimicking Diet #7: Autoimmune Disease

April 30, 2018

Fast Mimicking Diet #7: Autoimmune Disease

 

 References: Longo in Longevity DietCell RepStem Cell StemCell Reports


 How autoimmune (AI) diseases come about is gradually coming into focus. There is clearly some role to attribute to stimulation of our immune system by foods, lectin foods in particular (of which modern wheat is the champion), lack of sufficient Vitamin D, chemical irritants, leaky membranes in gut and elsewhere and probably some genetic risk factors to boot.   Add aging and some 40% of American women have one autoimmune diagnosis, and where you have one, you find more. Longo quotes 9% of the world has one of the major 29 types, but rising at 19% a year. In autoimmune diseases, we find dysregulation of Th1 and Th17 cells, antigen-presenting cells, and all sorts of other subtle shifts in immune cell populations. And with that, our current intervention-based medical system has developed specific strategies to develop methods to inhibit those populations of abnormal cells. 


These strategies have yielded some impressive gains for MS and RA patients, for which we are grateful. Is there another way? Well, the Fast Mimicking Diet is catching a lot of folks' imagination because it appears to have almost as powerful an effect as anything else we have developed to date. Because there are so many AI diseases (130+) it is difficult to find studies using the FMD on any but just a few. Longo found that his structured fasting caused a significant dip in circulating white blood cells followed by a burst of new stem cells. In yeast, it can be shown that it's the downregulation of the PKA glucose sensing system and the TOR protein sensing system. But he admitted they could not have predicted the surge of new hematopoietic stem cells that lead to a normal balance of TH1 and TH17 that he observed. 


 Longo specifically mentions a study of 20 patients with MS placed on an FMD program. With only twenty subjects, it's hard to state unequivocal success, but the folks who were in the FMD branch reported feeling better, and in that group, there were only 3 relapses in the next 6 months, versus 4 in the control group. Not enough to be statistically significant. What was remarkable to Longo were the people who wrote to him from around the world who had read his mouse research and enacted their own FMD trials. This isn't research because there are no controls, but his inbox had many stories of positive results. Larger studies are in progress and starting. His advice: wait, but the diet has been shown to be harmless. (Wink, wink....) 


 www.What Will Work for me. I'm in. This flood of autoimmune disease I think comes about from the confluence of many factors that are hard to avoid: notably the infiltration of high lectin foods like wheat into every aspect of our diet, the widespread use of NSAIDs, antibiotics, and PPIs making leaky gut, and a sea of chemicals affecting us at every turn. We are all vulnerable to these diseases. Avoiding them is a high priority for me. I'm doing if for my diabetes risk, but this adds to my certainty. If I had MS, I would be all over this. I called as many as remembered in my practice to alert them when I read this. If I neglected anyone, please call!   


 Pop Quiz

  1. Autoimmune diseases have been increasing lately at what rate?                       Answer: 19% a year.
  2. Reasons for autoimmune increase could be?                          Answer: lectin-containing foods like modern wheat, nightshades, antibiotics, PPIs, NSAIDs, and any given chemical you have stored in your basement to spray on whatever.
  3. Folks with autoimmune diseases have dysfunctional balances of their T cells. T or F           Answer: That's a simple but accurate answer. (Lots of nuances)
  4. The FMD diet seems to result in a burst of stem cells that are normal. T or F                 Answer: True, though that is so simply stated, most researchers would grind their teeth but the beauty of it is that it is that simple.
  5. The FMD diet is safe to conduct in folks with AI?                           Answer: As best we know, true, though Longo repeatedly begs you do it under a doctor's supervision. I'm happy to oblige if you want help.
     

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