Nothing to Sneeze About - Fiber Fights Allergies

By Alex White, MD

Image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net

You know the symptoms, wheezing, runny nose and itchy eyes that herald the onset of an attack.  The causes can be everything from pollen and dust to pet dander.  Regardless, all you know when an allergy rears its ugly head is that you can’t reach for the antihistamines fast enough.

Or, you might be one of countless individuals who are afflicted with potentially deadly food allergies, where contact with nuts, dairy products, soy, or shellfish could put you into anaphylactic shock.  While no pill can cure a food allergy, many people who have them carry epinephrine pens that can be used to counteract the worst of the symptoms in a crisis. 

The sad fact of the matter is that allergies have been on the rise for decades.  Some researchers believe that this is a sign of the times, since humans routinely come into contact with all kinds of chemicals that are part and parcel of living in the modern age.  However, there are other scientists who suspect that our digestive tracts play a large part in switching on allergic response.

Allergies in and of themselves are by no means inevitable.  They are caused by a misfire in the body’s defense mechanisms that are used to eliminate invading organisms.  When it comes to food allergies that more than 15 million Americans currently suffer from, there is a body of evidence that suggests that they are caused when food that remains undigested enters the bloodstream.  Misidentified as pathogens, they can then become targeted by antibodies. 

Did Cavemen Have Allergies?

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

While we have come a long way since the caveman, our physiology has not changed all that much in the past 50,000 years.  Neolithic hunter/gatherers were a hardy bunch.  They literally ate anything that didn’t eat them first.  As such, their digestive tracts were designed to break down all kinds of “food”, some of which we would consider downright unpalatable today. 

Fast forward through the millennia and while homo sapiens hasn’t changed all that much, our diet certainly has.  Today’s modern diet is chock full of sugar, fat and refined carbohydrates that no self-respecting caveman would think of eating.  As a result, the food we now eat tends to promote the development of different types of bacteria than the paleo diet did.  This could prove to be the root not only of our digestive problems, but the trigger for allergic response as well.

A study posted in 2011 in the journal Nature postulated that a class of bacteria common to our ancestors called Clostridia produced short-chain fatty acids that helped break down fiber.  These same fatty acids also support the immune system by binding onto specific receptors on immune cells known to regulate inflammation in the gut. 

Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org

This finding was reiterated again in 2014 when Cathryn Nagler, a food allergy researcher at the University of Chicago, found that implanting Clostridia into the guts of mice could prevent the onset of peanut allergies.  Another researcher, immunologist Charles Mackay found that by feeding a high-fiber diet to mice bred to have a peanut allergy, they showed a less-severe response when exposed to peanuts. 

Other environmental factors can also come into play when it comes to promoting allergies, such as antibiotics and a low-fiber diet, both of which can be detrimental to the development of beneficial bacteria.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that there is evidence that it is possible to reduce the severity or even prevent the onset of many allergies.

While it isn’t necessary to revert back to our ancestor’s hunter/gatherer ways, one of the best ways to avoid allergies is to help your body produce more beneficial bacteria.  Laurence Macia, co-author of the study with Charles Mackay, points out that,

“Most researchers in this field look at excess fat as the problem.  We were one of the first researchers looking specifically at fiber deficiency in the gut. My theory is that the beneficial bacteria that predominate under consumption of fiber promotes the development of regulatory T cells, which ensures the bacteria have a healthy, anti-inflammatory system to thrive in. So, it's a win-win for everybody."

http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/blogs/food-beverage-perspectives/2016/06/study-suggests-high-fiber-diets-may-alleviate-foo.aspx

 

Image courtesy of Microbe-Fiber.com

Furthermore, other allergy studies have indicated that a high-fiber diet can also defend us against airborne allergens by reducing inflammation in the lungs.  A Swiss study revealed that mice fed a low-fiber diet had an increased susceptibility to lung inflammation in response to exposure to dust mites.  They also found that mice fed a high-fiber diet had a higher tolerance to dust mites.

While all these studies were conducted on mice, researchers believe that the digestive and respiratory systems of mice and humans are nearly identical.  (The Swiss researchers are planning on conducting human studies to confirm their results with mice in the near future.) Besides, if consuming more fiber helps to ward off allergies, or at least reduce their severity, what’s not to like.  Then it’s simply a matter of how to increase your daily fiber intake.

While consuming more fruit, vegetables and grains that are known to have a high fiber content is one way to go, adding a fiber supplement to your diet is an even simpler solution.  Just make sure that the supplement you choose is free from additives and artificial sweeteners.

Whether it's aspartame, fillers or flavoring, many fiber supplements have additives. Microbefiber™ has NO additives! The contents of our product is designated by the FDA as GRAS, which is the FDA designation that a substance added to food is considered safe by experts and so is exempted from the usual Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). Try Microbefiber™ and you will see the difference!

 

If you suffer from allergies, I strongly suggest you make every effort to add fiber to your diet.  Because being able to breathe easy during allergy season is nothing to sneeze at.

Alex White, MD is the Clinical Research Director of MicrobeFiber™