Dr. Clark's Brain Based Blog

Coffee and Gluten Sensitivity - Surprising News

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Dr. David Clark, DC  reveals exciting and surprising news about gluten sensitivity and coffee.

I'm going share with you some surprising information that you’re probably not going to like about why coffee is bad for people who are gluten sensitive. 

So if you've taken some of the advice I've given out before, you've either cut out gluten or you've been tested appropriately to find out if you have a problem with gluten.

Now if you’re new to this whole issue let me just give you the 20 second explanation... 

Gluten is one protein that’s found in wheat (barley and rye) and wheat products. 

(Truth be known,  there's a lot more stuff in wheat you can be sensitive to besides gluten. For example, wheat germ agglutinin, glutenin... But gluten--aka alpha gliadin--is the main one that most doctors have heard about.)

 I don't even like to use the word "gluten sensitive," because it makes people think that it’s not a big deal, ...like maybe you just burp and have gas or diarrhea and that’s it. 

Gastrointestinal symptoms are the least common presentation of gluten sensitivity.

The most common presentation (according to the research) of gluten sensitivity are neurological symptoms such as--

• migraine
• vertigo
  
• seizure
• epilepsy
• neuropathy
• ataxia and cerebellum signs
• ADD, ADHD
  

The third most common presentation of gluten sensitivity are endocrine/hormone symptoms.

Basically your immune system thinks gluten is an invader and it mounts an attack on it, which is inflammatory.  The inflammation caused by this reaction can affect your body in many negative ways.

The most dangerous way is once your immune system attacks the gluten,  it can then move on and start to attack the enzymes that process gluten in your small intestine. 

Then, the immune system starts attacking your actual small intestine tissue. 

And once this "self tolerance" is broken, your whole body is on the menu. 

Your brain can be attacked...

...nerve tissue can be attacked. 

...your ovaries, thyroid, adrenal glands....

I mean the list goes on and on. 

There's not a disease or health condition you can think of that does not have an association - in the research literature - with gluten sensitivity.

Okay, so that’s the short introduction.

In February 2011, new information from internal laboratory research was released...   And here’s the problem you've got to be aware of if you’re on a gluten-free diet and you drink coffee.

Listen up, because I know you might think you’re doing well, but maybe you’re not doing as well as you should be, or could be.

Coffee cross-reacts with gluten antibodies.

Let me tell you what that means... 

When you have a gluten problem you make antibodies to it.  Antibodies are like little strobe lights that your immune system makes for a specific invader.

So you put out these strobe lights for gluten, right?  And they attach to a gluten molecule and they sit there and they flash so that your T cells --your SWAT team-- can come in and kill the gluten. 

Gluten antibodies - those little strobe lights - can attach to other foods that are not gluten.

Your immune system thinks those non-gluten things ARE gluten ---and you can still have a gluten response. 

The most common cross-reactor is coffee. 

Now before you freak out and send me videos and e-mails saying, "Oh, how could coffee do that?" 

Ten percent of coffee is a protein that cross-reacts with gluten antibodies.

Does cross reaction happen 100% of the time?  No. 

There's some lab testing you can do to confirm that cross reaction is happening...you need a doctor's order to get it (www.cyrexlabs.com) AND you'll need a doctor who understands what I'm talking about.

That’s a bummer for a lot of you because a lot of you drink coffee - (you shouldn’t because there's nothing good in coffe except maybe some antioxidants).

So,  if you're on a gluten free diet and you feel a little bit better but maybe not as well as you thought you should ---kind of hit a plateau---you need to get rid of coffee.

You could get some lab testing to confirm, but ---

My suggestion is to just save your money and don't drink the coffee. 

If you’re gluten sensitive, don't drink coffee.   

Cross-reaction, keep your eyes out for some other posts on this, okay?  It’s a big deal.

In my practice, many patients who were already on a gluten-free diet... and then eliminated coffe....enjoyed a major improvement in their overall health. (specifics varied from person to person)

Why? Because you body thought coffee was gluten.  It wasn’t; but your immune system thought that it was.

A gluten-free diet is not enough.. 

To enjoy even better health, follow a gluten free and gluten cross-reaction free diet.

(There's lots more to come on this topic).

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© 2011 Dr. David Clark, DC.  All Rights Reserved.

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition
Functional Endocrinology
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
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How to Prevent ADHD-Exposure to Toxic Metal Lead

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Here's part two in how to prevent ADHD.... 

How_to_Prevent_ ADHD_2

Part one was mom's avoiding prenatal tobacco exposure.

Number two is avoiding lead exposure. 

Now, lead and the toxic effects of lead are fairly well-known...but you might not know that lead is highly associated with kids developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders. 

Many people incorrectly assume that only "poor kids" are at risk for lead poisoning.  Well, that's not true because in houses built before the 1970s – there's a really good chance they might have lead paint.  That's really the number one source for lead exposure still today---old paint and paint dust. 

Something you might want to consider is getting one of those lead paint test kits.  If you haven't done that, you need to do it.  If you're planning on having a child, just go have that done.  It's not expensive at all.  Lead paint is a primary source of exposure for lead. 

"What does lead do to your child's body? "

Lead competes with minerals for spots in enzymes (molecules in your child's body that make chemical reactions happen) . 

Well, what lead does, lead comes in and goes, "Hey, I'll be there now."  And blocks minerals like zinc or calcium or iron. This is bad.

So that enzyme can't work the way that it's supposed to-- and that can have far-reaching negative effects depending on what enzyme we're talking about.  Lead exposure is known to cause reduced intelligence and anemias, just to name a few negative effects.

Lead exposure is something you definitely need to concerned about.  It's not something from 10-20 years ago and a thing of the past. 

Lead is a very real concern because paint, crumbling paint – paint dust is the number one source. 

Another source is dust (dirt) containing lead.  Lead Dust contaminating soil.  There are lead test kits you can get for soil.

The second largest source of lead exposure is plumbing. 

Many cities still use lead pipes as connector pipes.  Here's what you need to do-- just buy yourself a water filter.  I like to tell people...

either buy a filter or be a filter...

because you're asking your liver amd your body to take that stuff out if you don't take it out before it gets in.  I don't have a specific recommendation.  I certainly don't have a financial interest in anything, but get one pronto.  Get one that's tested and proven to take lead out because it's just too easy to get around it, to take it out of the pool. 

I don't recommend you use water in plastic bottles as an alternative.  I know a lot of people say, "Well, I'm not getting a water filter.  I'm just gonna use these  plastic water bottles."  Don't use those. 

Plastics have their own set of "badness" that can affect your developing child.  Not to mention there are endocrine disruptors, there's BPAs, phthalates.

{ In fact, there's a study that just came out of Europe that shows that certain ones, those little ones on the bottom of the bottles, those one plastic bottles can leach antimony, which is a heavy metal. So don't even go to the plastic thing.} 

Definitely avoid lead. That's the best thing I can tell you to do when you're trying to prevent ADHD.

Think about old paint,  contaminated soil and lead plumbing. 

Those are all things that you have a pretty good control over, and you can take measures.  You can get lead abatement.  You can buy a water filter.  You can not drink out of plastics.  Those are factors that are well-known and that are correlated and connected to a child developing Attention Deficit Disorder. 

Remember the enzyme issue?  Lead disrupts your child's entire biochemistry. Lead is a real threat. Lead is something you should be concerned about if you want to decrease the chance of your child ever developing that label of ADHD.  (dont' get me started on labels)

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© 2010 Dr. David Clark

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Dr. David Clark
Functional Neurologist
Functional Endocrinologist
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

How to Prevent ADHD-Tobacco and Nicotine

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I'm starting a new series today called How to Prevent ADHD.

You may be familiar with my other series called "How to Prevent Autism."  Well, I decided to start one on ADHD too because there's just as many of those kids as there is autism.

Just so you know, ADHD is part of what we call the "autistic spectrum." Meaning those are all really the same problem.  They all involve the right side of the brain-- 99% of the time.  The only difference, really, between autism and ADHD is severity of the problem and what specific par to of the brain is involved, anatomically speaking. 

Number one way to prevent ADHD-- don't smoke when you're pregnant. 

Now, it's 2010, and I hope that most of us are aware of how bad nicotine and tobacco are for us, but especially when we're talking about a developing baby.

One of the studies that recently wa published found that 8 to 15 year olds that were born to mothers that smoked during pregnancy, had a 2.4 times more likely to get diagnosed with ADHD.   That's a big deal.

Why is that?  Well, not that I expect you to have to memorize this because you obviously know smoking is gonna be bad for the fetus anyway because of oxygen deprivation, but-- nicotine is an adrenal gland stimulant. 

Now, just a quick thing, adrenal glands are on top of the kidneys.  Their main job, I guess you could say, is to regulate blood sugar delivery.  If you remember, there's two things that a nerve cell and brain's gotta have to be healthy, and that is fuel and activation. Fuel is oxygen and glucose.

Don't get exposed to tobacco at all because what nicotine will do is over-stimulate your adrenal glands, number one.  That can actually have a lot of very bad consequences because when we're disturbing blood sugar regulation, we're gonna be disturbing that child's normal developing brain.  I didn't wanna go too heavy to the biochemistry because I thought this one was fairly – a fairly straightforward tip, right?  Don't smoke.

Now, the paper that I pulled this from, one of the interesting things that is says is – they kind of wish-wash h a little bit at the end of this.  At the end of the paper, they say, "Well, ADHD is thought to be a strongly genetic condition."  That is partly true, but --for me--this brings up this whole issue (and you should know this) that, yes, genetics are involved in... everything.  But genetics do not predetermine your fate.  

You have to understand the difference between what we call a genotype and a phenotype. Or the genes you're born with versus then genes that get turned on and actually do things. 

Yes, ADHD is genetic.  So is your hair color.  So is how how tall you are. 

The thing I want you to know is that you can have genes that don't turn on.  For many chronic conditions, especially neurological conditions and ADHD, when genes get turned on, that can be a very bad thing. 

What I'm telling you is when you control and limit the amount of environmental triggers in your child's world, a lot of these (quote) "genes" don't get turned on. And then therefore don't cause problems.  You don't develop ADHD.  You don't develop distractibility.  You don't develop hyperactivity. 

So, tip number one on how to prevent ADHD is simply don't smoke because it's an adrenal stimulant.  It can disturb your developing baby's chemistry in so many ways--not the least of which is just the fact that it will overdrive their developing system. 

Genetics do not predetermine your  child's fate.  What happens to your child both in the womb and outside that has the biggest influence on whether they do or do not develop the symptoms that will get them labeled ( I don't like labels because they don't tell you want to do about it) – labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. 

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© 2010 Dr. David Clark

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Dr. David Clark
Functional Neurologist
Functional Endocrinologist
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182