Horse-high, Bull-strong and Pig-tight

Nutrition for gut immunity

The gut is continually deciding what food to absorb and discard. The gut’s immune system is highly specialized to serve as the first line of de-fence. Think of the gut as exactly that, a 10-meter-long fence. When it comes to building fences, take advice from Wyoming ranchers. Make your fences bull-strong, horse-high and pig-tight.

Bull-strong? As a rodeo bull-rider can tell you from personal experience, “When you are down, look out!” Similarly, when the gut is weakened by one condition, it becomes susceptible to others. Nutrition can be used to strategically keep the gut bull-strong despite illness.

• Lysine 1 gram 3 times a day, at the first sign of sniffles, prevents cold sores.

• The human gut is home to 100 trillion helpful microorganisms! Probiotics such as yogurt and probiotic supplements are healthy bacteria taken to replace bacteria lost during antibiotic use.

• Stomach acid protects the gut by digesting food and weakening unwanted bacteria. The elderly and people taking acid blocking medications should consider adding vinegar to meals, to help digest food.

• B complex vitamins help prevent athlete’s foot, jock itch, diaper rash and yeast vaginitis. These are fungal yeast infections often associated with yeast in the gut.

• Intestinal pockets called diverticuli are susceptible to painful infections. Fiber and magnesium prevent flare-ups.

Horse-high? You only need a horse-high fence to keep out horses. Similarly, the gut only needs to protect against food-borne illnesses such as hepatitis A, typhoid and polio, now rare in the U.S., if exposure is a possibility. Health-care workers, plumbers and foreign travelers are among those who should mend the immunologic fences. Mend the fences carefully, since exposing the gut to infections to build immunity has side effects. Hydrate and supplement with vitamin C, magnesium and antioxidants a few days prior to and after immunizations.

Pig-tight? Bits of food wiggle between cells in the small intestine and irritate the immune system. Celiac disease results when a protein from wheat, rye and barley called gluten sneaks between the gut’s fence posts. In contrast to immediate often life-threatening food allergies such as to peanuts and shellfish, celiac disease may lie undiagnosed for decades. Sometimes it is diagnosed because of nutrient deficiencies resulting from poor absorption. For example, poor absorption of calcium and other minerals may be why 1 in 30 persons with osteoporosis have celiac disease compared to 1 in 500 adults in the general population. A blood test called transglutaminase autoantibodies (IgA tTG) screens for celiac disease. Additionally, some people with normal IgA tTG tests also report health improvements when they avoid gluten-containing foods. I am often asked if celiac disease is genetic? Partly, yes. However, the newborn’s environment may be the bigger cause. Infants fed wheat by 3 months of age are 5 times more likely to develop celiac disease than infants introduced to foods between 4-6 months, when the gut’s fence has matured.

Regardless of the condition of your fence, always drink upstream from the herd ?