Dear Friends,

Check out the YouTube video blog on each of the Therapeutic Foods, found in the Clinical Notes. We created the one to two minute educational videos to help your patients understand the products they are taking. Since we all learn differently, and the visual/auditory being easy and efficient way to learn, we hope you will utilize this function and even enjoy the presentations. And please don’t laugh at me too much, I promise I will get better with time!

Can you define the following: glycan, glycome, N-acetylglucosamine, sialic acid, mannose, glycosylation, glycoprotein, glycolipid…here’s an easy one—glucose? Read on! Today you will learn how your immune cells look and how your blood is typed. Sugars are a fascinating lot!

Yes, they are all part of and related to the carbohydrate family of macromolecules, not so commonly discussed, certainly not in college level nutritional textbooks. But today we are going to dive right into the field of Glycobiology.

Thus far in our discussion over the past month, relative to carbohydrates, we have focused on the traditional topics of digestible and nondigestible carbs (the sugars and fibers), and divided fibers into two catagories—soluble and insoluble fibers. This week we will go further into the science of carbohydrates and take a look at the field of Glycobiology—the study of glycans within the human body.

Glyco is the Greek word for sugar. There are nine essential sugars (monosaccharides) that the body needs for functional health: glucose, galactose, mannose, fucose, xylose, sialic acid, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetyl galactosamine and glucouronic acid.

Even though glucose can be used by our cells to make all of these essential monosaccharides, the synthesis requires extra expenditure of energy and therefore it is important to consume in our diet as many of these sugars as possible. Once absorbed into the cell, these simple sugars are routed to the golgi body and endoplasmic reticulum where they are assembled together to become oligo and polysaccharide chains with a multitude of arrangements, from linear to highly branched. These chains are called glycans.

The glycans are then routed outside the cell to the external surface of the cell’s membrane where, through the glycosylation process, they are attached to either a membrane bound protein or a membrane lipid. If it is a protein, then they are called a glycoprotein, and if a lipid, they are termed as a glycolipid. Cells are literally sugar coated with these dangling chains of essential sugars we call glycans.

The totality of glycans produced by a cell is called the glycome. The glycome is the sugar coating and it is unique to every cell type. For example, a stem cell has one set of glycans and when it differentiates into a specific kind of cell it has another. Elements of the structure of the glycome are highly conserved (that is usually the part that is close to the protein scaffold) so that in vertebrates, the base part of the sugar chain may be similar within a species but the further out part of the branches is different.

The glycome is dynamic, not fixed. So the collection of sugars on a cell when it is in one state is different than the collection of sugars in another state. But because of the highly conserved parts of the glycome, the monosaccharides closer to the membrane can be identified as different cell types by their glycome structure. The immune system cells serve as a good example. Let’s take a closer look.

Immune cells are often characterized by using CD (Cluster of Differentiation) nomenclature. CD refers to the specific glycoprotein expressed on the surface of T helper cells, regulatory T cells, monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. The human species has up to 350 CD designations. A CD4 cell is a Helper T Cell while a CD8 is a Cytotoxic T Cell. This chart gives you an idea of the immune phenotyping (identifying) the glycoproteins provide.

Another example of the importance of glycans to cell identification is in regards to human blood typing. It turns out that our blood type is determined by essential sugars! The diagram below shows the carbohyrate chains that determine the ABO blood group. Notice the essential sugars involved and their arrangement—fucose, galactose, N-actyl-galactosamine and N-acteyl-glucosamine.

It has been demonstrated in controlled studies in humans and animals that saccharides in glyconutrient rich foods accelerate healing, improve immune functioning, help the body to fight cancer and pathogens, slow down aging, improve memory, lower anxiety, and quell autoimmune phenomena without toxic side effects. It is therefore very important to bring foods into our diet that supply these vital sugars. We will continue our discussion next week.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

This week we are highlighting the Supernatant Synbiotic Formula. In the video presentation below I focus of the purpose for our developing this product—to protect against hospital generated infections. The Supernatant is a fantastic general probiotic food that can be used for the task of everyday protection of your gastrointestinal track. The organisms selected are bacteria that have been used over the centuries in fermented foods. They are the friendly, helpful, hard working, and symbiotic bugs our bodies need.

The Last Quiz Answer:

This beautiful creature, that you can’t miss on a reef, thank God, is the Lion Fish—also called the turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish. Anyone whose snorkeled or dove on the reefs in the magnificent waters of the Indo-Pacific knows to stay clear of this enticing creature for they can deliver an extremely painful wound from an array of up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins. Their venom for humans can cause nausea and breathing difficulties but are rarely fatal. They also tend to have an aggressive disposition. Still, they are very exciting to see around the reef, kind of like sharks are exciting.

The USDA has rolled out a new nutritional graphic to replace the Food Pyramid for educating the public on healthy eating. The new food plate icon can be found at ChooseMyPlate.gov. Check out this website. I think its quite good. The interactive tools and information show how to build a healthy meal based on the 2010 dietary guidelines for all Americans. Today the USDA and Big Ag are conspiring to implement a set of rules that favor giant industrial growers while placing small, diversified farms at risk. Here’s a way to get involved Stop Big Ag.

Dear Friends,

The fastest growing segment of the United States population is age 65 years and older. At current rates, demographers forecast that by the year 2025, 65 year olds will out number teenagers by almost 2 to 1. Most diseases associated with the human aging process are known to have a strong oxidative stress component. Therapies that act to lower oxidative stress represent a major approach in treating these diseases as well as intervening with the aging process itself.

Oxidative stress is a general term used to describe steady state level of oxidative damage in a cell, tissue or organ caused by free radicals. Free radicals are reactive molecules (ROS) within our bodies that can attack proteins, lipids, and DNA, causing cell damage, which can lead to cell death, and even the generation of more highly reactive free radicals. An extensive, highly effective group of protective agents and defense mechanisms referred to collectively as the Antioxidant Defense system (ADS) acts to regulate oxidative reactions. These include endogenous antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), to exogenous antioxidants such as Vitamin C, E, lipoic acid, Coenzyme Q10, and powerful groups of phytonutrients derived from vegetables and fruits such as terpenes, phytosterols, polyphenols, thiols, indoles, isoprenoids, tocotrienol and tocopherols.

Evidence shows that plant antioxidants seem to acquire a synergy when they are ingested in combination. It is better to have a whole orchestra of antioxidants in natural proportions as delivered in the matrix of whole foods. This was our rational in putting together the High ORAC Synbiotic Formula—highly researched probiotic organisms, with 250 mg of inulin as a starter food for them, combined with a powerful collection of fruits and berry extracts to provide the exogenous antioxidants.

The government slogan of 5-A-Day is for the consistent consumption of five fruits and vegetables a day supplying an average ORAC value of 2500 ORAC units. The reality is that only 5% of the U.S. population consumes 5 fruits and vegetables a day. The National Cancer Institute found that 42% of the population eats less than 2 servings a day. The average American serving per day can be as low as 300 ORAC units. The High ORAC provides 1500 ORAC units per 500mg capsule.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

In today’s Clinical Notes video blog we are highlighting the High ORAC Synbiotic Formula. Sometimes people just want convenience—they simply want to take a capsule. The Triple Berry Probiotic, which we highlighted last week, and the High ORAC Synbiotic Formula are products that contain good bugs and berries, excellent sources for our five a day. We added to the High ORAC Formula of 25 billion good bacteria (a 50-50 mix of L. acidophilus and B. longum per capsule) a veritable fruit bowel of berry extracts along with 250 mg of inulin (a soluble fiber that’s food for the probiotics). What is extracted from the whole fruits and berries for this product are their pigments—purples from the blueberries and bilberries, reds from the cherries and pomegranates, yellow from the pineapple and so on. It is in the pigment that the anti-inflammatories and the antioxidants reside. For the smaller space of a capsule we use extracts to maximize their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory defensive punch. Per capsule the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity) is 1500.

The Last Quiz Answer:

This is the Butterfly Fish, found mostly on reefs in all oceans of the world. There are around 120 species of this creature ranging in size from five inches to one foot. This particular butterfly species is of the larger size. They have an unusual growth cycle, only one other fish has a similar pattern. First, buoyant eggs are released into the water. They become part of the plankton and drift with the current until hatching. The fry go through a stage where the body is covered in large boney plates extending from the head. They lose these bony plates as they mature. I saw a lot of these in Micronesia. The larger ones were quite delicious.

Don’ forget the check on The Run from time to time. In this link you’ll see the begin this past Sunday of Dr. Godby and friends epic 13,000 mile run. Speaking of running, here an amazing video of an extremely Lucky Penguin.

Dear Friends,

One thing I like about food as medicine, and therefore the Therapeutic Foods line is that it’s very simple and straightforward. For example, the Triple Berry Probiotic Formula has five ingredients: blueberries, raspberries, sweat cherries, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum—good bugs and good berries. The beauty of good food is that it provides exactly what the body needs for nutritional support, repair, and healing dis-ease. Food is simple and straightforward but it is also complex and powerful.

Let me continue with our example of the Triple Berry Probiotic Formula. We selected berries with high actives from regions of the country that favors their growth—raspberries from Washington State, cherries from Michigan, wild blueberries from the barrens of northern Maine and Nova Scotia. We selected two bacteria that are ubiquitous in nature, being found on most plants including berries, and therefore are closely associated with human beings because they are present on fresh produce.

The two bacterial strains we included in the formula are supported by sound medical research. Our intention was to pick two good fermenting bugs that are needed for optimal function of the small and large bowel. The two representative genuses —Lactobacillus being primarily a small intestinal microbe and the Bifidobacterium being a large intestinal anaerobe.

When it comes to drying a fruit or a bacterial culture, the best method that preserves most of the actives over any other method is freeze drying. In freeze drying blueberries, 100% of the anthocyanins are preserved! Drum drying is next best with sparing 70% of the polyphenols from damage, while spray drying destroys 70% and maintains only 30% of the heat sensitive protein actives. The type of technology is very important when we create the Therapeutic Foods formulas: maintaining the actives and the wholeness of the foods is key for efficacy.

Of course, all this comes with a cost. Spray drying is a much cheaper technology,and the use of magnesium stearate (a flowing agent) greatly increases the rate at which a manufacturer can run a machine. Thus more capsule produced per hour enable one to drive down the cost of the product. But, the consequences are that one must eat mag. stearate with every capsule! Not a natural and healthy dosage of healing foods. Many manufacturers also add mag. stearate to a powder such as the Triple Berry because it minimize the atmospheric purple haze in the bottling environment. We eliminated all that because to us food does not need to be adulterated with flowing agents and fast, hot machines. The Triple Berry Probiotic Formula is simply food and probiotic, healthy and powerful.

It all comes down to what one is compelled to produce. It our case it is a magnificent and pure Therapeutic Food. Plants as a food provide carbohydrates, the life sustaining sugars and fibers, we looked at in the last two newsletters—necessary molecules of life that our bodies can’t produce on their own. Next week we will expand on this discussion of carbohydrates as we bring in the topic of the eight essential sugars. But what about other phytonutrients, beyond the carbohydrate category, that are inherent within the Triple Berry Probiotic Formula?

Blueberry

Blueberries do not contain scurvy-banishing amounts of vitamin C or heroic quantities of vitamin A, but they are the undisputed antioxidant champions among fresh fruits and vegetables. In the ORAC tests at Tufts, blueberries beat out about 50 other fresh fruits and vegetables—in other words, every fresh food that the Tufts team tested.

• Pigments: anthocyanins (muitiple forms of cyaniding, delphinidin, malvidin, peonidin, and petunidin), beta-carotene.
• Other phytochemcials: chlorogenic acid, kaempferol, myricetin, p-coumaric acid, quercetin, ferulic acid, condensed tannins (proanthocyanidins), fructooligosaccharides, resveratrol.
• Serving size: one cup
• Vitamins and minerals per serving: C (32% of the Dialy Value), A (6% DV), E (4% DV), potassium (4% DV), folate (4% DV), iron (2% DV), zinc (2% DV) Fiber per serving 8% DV.
• ORAC score: 2400.

Raspberry

Raspberries are one of the top antioxidant foods. They contain large amounts of ellagic acid. They also contain large amounts of fiber. That is because each raspberry is actually a small cluster of 75 to 125 fiber-rich seeds. Rapsberries boast hefty portions of vitamin C and folate.

• Pigments: anthocyanins (four forms of cyaniding and two of pelargonidin).
• Other phytochemicals: ellagic acid, caffeic acid, quercetin, kaempferol, benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, farnesol, geraniol, salicylic acid.
• Serving size : one cup.
• Vitamins and minerals per serving: C (52% of the Daily Value), A (3% DV), folate (8% DV, potassium (5% DV), iron (4% DV), calcium (4%).
• Fiber per serving: 34% DV.
• ORAC score: 1,220.

Sweet Cherry

In folk medicine fresh cherry juice has a rich history of anecdotal evidence for providing pain relief, particularly with arthritic pain.

• Pigments: anthocyanins (various forms of cyaniding).
• Other phytochemicals: quercetin, kaempferol, chlorogenic acid, p-coumaric acid, gallic acid, perillyl alcohol, D-glucaric acid.
• Serving size: 10 cherries
• Vitamins and minerals per serving: A (17% of the Daily Value), C (12% DV), potassium (3% DV), calcium (2% DV), iron (2% DV).
• ORAC score: 670

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

In today’s Clinical Notes video blog we are highlighting the Triple Berry Probiotic Formula. Our gastrointestinal mucous membrane is our largest surface area of exposure to the outside world. This membrane needs powerful protection. The Triple Berry Probiotic Formula not only bring into the gut health enhancing lactic acid bacteria but also three potent berries that provide powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial support.

The Last Quiz Answer:

This amazing creature is a Wombat. Wombats are marsupial mammals, like kangeroos and koalas. They are nocturnal , emerging from their burrows to feed at night on grasses, roots and bark. Their habit is the open grasslands and eucalyptus forests. I’d like to see and smell a eucalyptus forest, wouldn’t you? Wombats are strong, sturdy and built close to the ground, and can mover most things in their way (like farmers fences), hence their nick name of the Bull Dozers of the Bush. Here is a clip for you of a real live wombat up close.

Dr. Dennis Godby ND and friends are just 10 days away from the beginning of their 13,000 mile epic run from San Francisco to Washington DC to open the door for spreading the message of health and wellness far and wide.

Dear Friends,

After decades upon decades of focused, dedicated effort by mainstream medical science to reduce the modern plagues of the big three—Diabetes, Cancer and Heart Disease, the results are disappointing. In the US, coronary heart disease is still the leading cause of death for both men and women, diabetes is rising amongst our population at a rate that threatens to bankrupt our healthcare system, and cancer, after billions upon billions of dollars spent on medical research, has grown to statistically affect 1 in 3 of us before we die.

What is one of the foods that when consumed on a regular basis can dramatically reduce the incidence of all three? It is a nutritional component that the average American only consumes one-half of the daily requirement—15 grams instead of the recommended 30 to 35 grams a day. What’s this nutrient? Fiber of course—get more fiber in your diet!

What can high fiber foods do for you?

Soluble fibers, such as the type found in oat bran, are known to reduce blood cholesterol levels and normalize blood sugar levels. On the other hand insoluble fibers such as the type found in wheat are known to promote bowel regularity. A high intake of viscous fibers play a role in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. In addition, by slowing the rate at which food leaves the stomach, viscous fibers promote a sense of satiety or fullness, after a meal, which helps to prevent overeating and weight gain.

Soluble fibers are fermentable fibers, and help maintain healthy populations of friendly bacteria. In addition to producing necessary short-chain fatty acids, these bacteria play an important role in the immune system by preventing pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria from surviving in the intestinal tract.

Insoluble fibers, fibers that are not fermentable in the large intestine, help maintain bowel regularity by increasing the bulk of the feces and decreasing the transit time of fecal matter through the intestines. Bowel regularity is associated with a decreased risk for colon cancer and hemorrhoids (when the hemorrhoids are related to straining and constipation).

A diet high in fiber may play a role in the prevention and treatment of the following health conditions: breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, constipation, diabetes, diverticulitis, gallstones, high cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity and metabolic syndrome.

What exactly is fiber?

Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that the body can’t digest. Ok, what is carbohydrate?

The carbohydrate family includes sugar, starch, and fiber. Most forms of carbohydrates are composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Plants are the main source of carbohydrates. During photosynthesis, plants produce glucose by using carbon and oxygen from carbon dioxide in the air, hydrogen from water and energy from the sun. Plants either store the glucose or transform it into starch, fiber, fat or protein.

The simpler forms of carbohydrates are called monosaccharides and disaccharides. The common monosaccharides are glucose, fructose and galactose. The sugar alcohols, which are derivatives of monosaccharides, include sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol. Additional monosaccharides found in nature are ribose and deoxyribose. Then there are the eight essential saccharides: glucose, galactose, mannose, xylose, fucose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid—to be discussed at another time.

Carbohydrates containing two monosaccharides are called disaccharides: maltose is made up of two glucose molecules, Sucrose is made up of glucose and fructose and lactose is made up of glucose and galactose.

Oligosaccharides are complex carbohydrates that contain 3 to 10 single sugar units. Oligosaccharides can not be broken down by our digestive enzymes. But bacteria in the colon can metabolize them into gas and metabolites.

Polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates that often contain hundreds to thousands of glucose molecules. The polysaccharides include some that are digestible, such as starch, and some that are largely indigestible, such as fiber. The digestibility of these polysaccharides is mainly determined by whether the glucose units are linked together by alpha or beta bonds. Our bodies have the enzymes to break apart the alpha bonds but not the beta bonds.

Starch is the storage form of glucose in plants. Glycogen is the storage form of glucose in humans.

So let’s get back to fiber. Fiber is indigestible polysaccharides. Total fiber or just the term fiber refers to the dietary fiber that occurs naturally in foods as well as the functional fiber (fiber that provides health benefits) that may be added to food. Currently, Nutrition Facts on labels mostly include only dietary fiber and do not reflect any added functional fiber.

Fiber, as the indigestible portion of plant foods, has two main components:

• Soluble fiber that is readily fermented into gases and physiologically active byproducts by good GI tract microflora. Soluble fiber partially dissolves in water, to form a gel-like material. It can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels. Soluble fiber is found in oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, carrots, barley and psyllium.
• Insoluble fiber that is metabolically inert, absorbs water as it moves through the digestive system, easing defecation. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water. Whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts, and many vegetables are good sources of insoluble fiber.

Fibers are composed primarily of non-starch polsaccharides cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectins, gums, and mucilages. The lignins are the only non-carbohydrate components of dietary fibers. Unlike the digestible polysaccharides that contain alpha bonds, the monosaccharide units in fibers are linked by beta bonds. These are not broken down by human digestive enzymes. Pectins, gums and mucilages are most readily digested by the intestinal bacteria. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignins are more resistant to being broken down by bacteria.

Cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignins form the structural part of the plant cell wall in vegetables and whole grains. Bran layers form the outer covering of all seeds; thus, whole grains (those in which the bran has not been removed ) are good sources of fibers. These fibers do not dissolve in water.

In contrast to the insoluble fibers, pectins, gums, mucilages and some hemicelluloses dissolve easily in water and are classified as soluble fibers. They occur naturally inside and around plant cells in oat bran, many fruits, legumes and psyllium.

The best sources for fiber are whole grain foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts. Like we say with all foods, eat a wide variety of high-fiber foods.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

In today’s Clinical Notes we are highlighting the Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula. The Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula combines the five powerful probiotic organisms that were highlighted in last week’s Forward Thinking plus the added multidimensional health benefits of adding oat beta glucan fibers, red beet root fiber, and inulin (soluble fiber from chicory root).

The Last Quiz Answer:

Kind of looks like a turkey … kind of looks like a vulture … what is it? Native American cultures from both hemispheres worship this amazing bird. They are the largest flying bird in North America and second only to the Wandering Albatross in South America. Have you guessed its identity yet? It is a carrion eater, preferring large animal carcasses like deer or cattle. They are the New World vultures … the ultimate gliding machine … this marvelous creature is the majestic Condor.

Dr. Dennis Godby ND and friends are just 10 days away from the beginning of their 13,000 mile epic run from San Francisco to Washington DC to open the door for spreading the message of health and wellness far and wide.