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You all know about intestinal permeability, or “leaky gut.” The job of the gut lining is to be selectively permeable, allowing helpful things passage into the body and preventing harmful things from getting in. Nutrients get through, toxins and pathogens do not. Leaky gut describes the failure of this vetting process. But what about “leaky brain”?

A similarly dynamic barrier lies between the brain and the rest of the body: the blood-brain barrier. Since the brain is the seat of all the conscious machinations and subconscious processes that comprise human existence, anything attempting entry receives severe scrutiny. We want to admit glucose, amino acids, fat-soluble nutrients, and ketones. We want to reject toxins, pathogens, and errant immune cells. Think of the blood-brain barrier like the cordon of guards keeping the drunken rabble from spilling over into the VIP room in a nightclub.

The blood-brain barrier (or BBB) can get leaky, just like the gut lining. This is bad.

A compromised BBB has been implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and vascular dementia.

More generally, the BBB regulates passage of inflammatory cytokines into the brain, prevents fluctuations in serum composition from affecting brain levels, and protects against environmental toxins and infectious pathogens from reaching the brain. A leaky BBB means the floodgates are open for all manner of unpleasantries to enter the brain.

Some pathogens even wield chemical weaponry that blasts open the blood-brain barrier, giving them—and anything else in the vicinity—access to the brain. To prepare for that, you must support the integrity of your blood-brain barrier.

How? 

Optimize your B vitamin intake

In adults with normal B vitamin levels, mild cognitive impairment, high homocysteine levels, and a leaky BBB, taking vitamins B12, B6, and B9 (folate) restored the integrity of the blood-brain barrier.

Review this post and make sure you’re getting the B vitamins you need. Primal folks tend to overlook them.

Nourish your gut

A leaky gut accompanies, and maybe causes, a leaky brain. Funny how that works, eh?

It’s a rodent study, but it’s quite illustrative: a fecal transplant from healthy mice with pristine BBB integrity to unhealthy mice with leaky BBB and pathogen-filled guts restored the integrity of the blood-brain barrier.

DIY fecal transplants are an extreme intervention. Until that becomes more feasible, simply eating more prebiotic fiber, experimenting with resistant starch, taking a quality probiotic, and eating fermented foods on a regular basis will get you most of the way there.

Eat plenty of magnesium

Okay, Sisson. Enough already with the magnesium. We get it! But magnesium can attenuate BBB permeability, even if you inject an agent explicitly designed to induce leaky blood-brain barriers.

This is yet another reason to eat enough magnesium-rich foods (like spinach, almonds, blackstrap molasses, winter squash), drink magnesium-rich mineral water (I love Gerolsteiner, but you can also just go down to the local Euro food market and check the labels for high-Mg waters), or take a good magnesium supplement (anything ending in “-ate” like magnesium glycinate or citrate).

Don’t eat a 40% cocoa butter diet

Rodents given a 40% saturated fat (from cocoa butter) diet experienced elevated BBB permeability.

Except wait: The remaining 60% of calories was split up between white sugar, wheat starch, casein, and dextrin (PDF). So this isn’t the type of 40% SFA diet you folks are eating.

Except wait again: Adding in either aged garlic extract, alpha lipoic acid (ALA), niacin, or nicotinamide completely abolished the increase in permeability.

It looks like a refined diet high in saturated fat and sugar/starch and absent any phytonutrient-rich plant foods like garlic or antioxidant supplements like ALA will cause elevated BBB permeability (in rodents). I’m not sure I’d recommend a 40% SFA diet either way, however. Balance is probably better.

Use phytonutrient-rich plants and spices

Recall the study from the last section where some garlic extract was enough to eliminate the bad BBB effects of a refined lab diet. That’s because aged garlic extract is particularly rich in phytonutrients with strong antioxidant effects. What about other fruits, vegetables, and spices with different phytonutrients—do those also help BBB function?

Curcumin (from turmeric) certainly helps. Astragalus root, used in many ancient medical traditions, can help. Sulforaphane, from cruciferous veggies like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage, shows promise.

Drink coffee and/or tea

As phytonutrient-rich plants, they technically belong in the previous section, but coffee and tea are so special that they deserve their own space. Both are sources of caffeine, a noted protector of BBB integrity.

Supplements can help

Supplement forms of the aforementioned nutrients are worth a look. Also:

Alpha-GPC (a type of choline that readily crosses the blood-brain barrier) has been shown to reduce BBB permeability in hypertensive rats.

Inositol (which you can get from foods like egg yolks but not in very large amounts) improves BBB integrity. Another option is to consume phytate-containing foods; if you’ve got the right gut bacteria, you can convert phytate into inositol.

Berberine, noted anti-diabetic compound, reduces BBB permeability and increases resistance to brain damage following head trauma.

Control your blood pressure

Both acute and chronic hypertension increase BBB permeability. This means you’ll have to control your sleep and stress. You’ll need to reduce insulin resistance. Eat dark chocolate (the horror). Figure out if you’re salt-sensitive (you may even have to increase salt intake if it’s too low). Get enough magnesium (yes, again) and potassium.

Sleep

Sleep really is everything. You can’t avoid it, and if you skimp on it, things fall apart. The blood-brain barrier is no exception: sleep restriction impairs BBB function and increases permeability.

If you can’t stick to the bedtime you know is ideal, a little (0.25-0.5mg) melatonin can help set your circadian rhythm. Plus, supplementary melatonin may also preserve BBB integrity.

Don’t drink too much alcohol

Alcohol is a tough one. While I just wrote a big post explaining the merits of wine consumption, ethanol is undoubtedly a poison in high doses, and I derived real benefits when I gave it up for a few months. One way alcohol exerts its negative effects is by inducing BBB dysfunction. This allows both the pleasant effects of alcohol (low-dose ethanol migrating across the BBB and directly interacting with neurons, triggering endorphins and interacting with GABA receptors) and the negative effects (high-dose ethanol migrating across the BBB to damage the neurons, leaving the door open long enough for immune cells to sneak in and cause all sorts of trouble).

Stimulate your vagal nerve

After a traumatic brain injury or stroke, the resultant increase in BBB permeability floods the brain with inflammatory cytokines, causes swelling and neuronal death, and worsens the prognosis. Stimulating the vagal nerve after such an injury decreases the BBB permeability and improves the prognosis.

One treatment for epilepsy is to wear vagal nerve stimulators which send light electronic pulses to the nerve, akin to a pacemaker for the brain. Easier options include humming, cold water exposure (even just splashing the face can help), singing, chanting, meditating, deep breathing, coughing, moving your bowels (or summoning the same abdominal pressure required for said movement; girding your core for a heavy squat or deadlift should also work along the same lines), and many more.

Perhaps an entire post on the vagal nerve is in order. It’s an interesting area that impacts more than just the BBB.

Stop eating so often

Ghrelin is the hunger hormone. When you haven’t eaten in a while, ghrelin tells you that it’s time to eat. It also increases blood-brain barrier stability after (again) a traumatic brain injury.

So, never eat? No. But make sure to feel actual hunger. It’s the best spice, and it confers a whole host of other benefits, including better blood-brain barrier function. Heck, try intermittent fasting for the ultimate boost to ghrelin.

You might notice that a lot of the studies I cite involve traumatic brain injuries to rodents. Dropping a weight on a rat’s head or triggering a stroke in a mouse are two of the most reliable ways to induce BBB permeability. Brain injuries are also quite common in humans, and the BBB permeability that results is a major therapeutic target, but we can’t study it so easily in people. While acute and chronic BBB permeability are different beasts, and mice are not men, they operate along the same rough pathway.

That’s about it for today, folks. I hope you feel encouraged and able to fortify your blood-brain barrier. Don’t wait for cognitive decline to set in. Get started now.

How do you improve the integrity of your blood-brain barrier? Have you even considered it prior to today?

Thanks for reading!

The post Why the Blood-Brain Barrier Is So Critical (and How to Maintain It) appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Cabbage is having a bit of a moment. People are finally getting behind all this brassica can do. We know it can make a crowd-pleasing slaw and a tangy batch of kraut, but we’re not stopping there. From a quick weeknight stir-fry, to a spiced curry, to a deep-dish casserole, here are 20 ways to get more cabbage on the dinner table.

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Histamine intolerance has become a popular term in the natural health community.  Characterized by symptoms that appear to worsen with the intake of foods that are high in histamine or that stimulate the release of histamine, histamine intolerance is not really a diagnosis as much as it is a description of symptoms.

Most clinicians, including myself, now believe that Mast Cell Activation Disorder is a more accurate description of what patients with so-called “histamine intolerance” are suffering from. There are a number of factors that can contribute to, or cause, histamine intolerance, including excess histamine production, diamine oxidase (DAO) enzyme deficiency, HMNT mutation, and poor methylation in the liver; however, my experience has been that MCAD is responsible for a large number of cases of histamine intolerance. This article will serve as an introduction to MCAD – what it is, what causes it, and how to treat it.

Mast cells: sentinels of the immune system

Mast cells are white blood cells found in all human tissues, especially at places where the body interfaces with the environment, like the gut and skin. Though best known for their role in allergies, mast cells are also involved in the formation of new blood cells, wound healing, the development of immune tolerance, defense against pathogens, and the maintenance of blood-brain barrier function (1, 2).

Mast cells are the sentinels of the innate immune system, on the lookout for environmental changes or insults to the body. They respond by releasing mediator molecules that influence the behavior of other cells and tissues in an effort to maintain normalcy, or “homeostasis.” There are over 200 of these mediators stored within the granules of mast cells, including tryptase, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and histamine (3).

Histamine often gets a particularly bad rap, but it has many important physiological functions in the body: acting as a neurotransmitter, regulating stomach acid secretion, and playing a role in the local and systemic immune response (4). The key takeaway here is that we need mast cells and their mediators for normal body function. The issue arises when these cells become overactive, as they do in individuals with MCAD.

Mast cell activation disorder: the hidden diagnosis

Mast cell activation disorder is characterized by the accumulation of mast cells that are genetically altered (mastocytosis) and/or the abnormal release of mast cell mediators (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome). Because mast cells are found in all human tissues, and mast cell mediator receptors are found on almost every cell in the body, MCAD has the potential to affect every organ system (5).

MCAD presents clinically as a chronic, multisystem pathology of a generally allergic and inflammatory theme, and has been associated with obesity, diabetes, skin conditions, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), depression, and more (6). MCAD does have a genetic component, and tends to cluster in families (10), though related individuals may present with very different symptoms (11).

Trouble with histamines? Get to the root of the problem.

MCAD is estimated to be more prevalent (7) than other diseases of mast cell dysfunction, but also more difficult to recognize. This is at least in part due to the fact that it often does not cause abnormalities in routine lab testing. MCAD was not named as a condition until 2007 (8) and diagnostic criteria weren’t proposed until 2010 (9).

Finding the root cause of MCAD

In the functional medicine model, we always seek to address the root cause of disease, as opposed to just treating symptoms. We still have a lot to learn about MCAD, but I believe it is likely the result of deeper pathologies, including:

Heavy metal toxicity: Heavy metals like aluminum and mercury have been shown to destabilize mast cells. This makes sense, as the very purpose of using these as vaccine adjuvants is to elicit a heightened inflammatory immune response. Lead, cadmium, and bismuth have also been found to activate mast cells and cause mast cell mediator release (12).

Infections or gut dysbiosis: The gut is home to 70% of the immune system (13), including a large number of mast cells. Parasitic infections, bacterial/viral infections, or bacterial/fungal overgrowth activate mast cells (14). Helminth parasites and Candida have been shown to be potent stimulators of mast cell activation (15, 16). Mast cells regularly interact with microbes, and gut dysbiosis itself may lead to MCAD (17).

CIRS: Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome could also play a role. Those who are particularly susceptible to mold and have a reduced ability to clear mycotoxins from the body, which leads to a constant activation of mast cells.

Treatment for MCAD

Conventional treatments for MCAD are pharmacological agents that block the action of mast cell mediators. While these may provide much-needed relief to patients, they are not a long-term solution and can have unwanted side effects. Safer short-term action steps that you can take to provide some relief include:

• Adopting a low-histamine diet: For some people with MCAD, a low-histamine diet provides significant relief. Supplemental diamine oxidase can also help by increasing histamine breakdown.  But, it’s important to keep in mind that this is only reducing exogenous (outside) histamine, and not altering the amount produced by your mast cells endogenously (within the body). Histamine is also only one of many mediators produced during mast cell degranulation.
• Focus on nutrients and foods known to stabilize mast cells: Many nutrients, including selenium (18) and vitamin C (19), have been shown to stabilize mast cells. A number of herbs and spices, like holy basil (20), peppermint (21), ginger (22), thyme (23), and turmeric (24) also have this effect. I have also seen good results with supplemental forms of quercetin (25), bromelain, nigella sativa (26), nettle (27), and butterbur (28).
• Reducing stress: Corticotropin hormone, released in response to physical or psychological stress, destabilizes mast cells and causes them to release their mediators (26).
• Entraining circadian rhythms: Mast cell activity closely mirrors circadian rhythms (27), so getting enough sleep and avoiding blue light at night is crucial.

Ultimately though, we need to address the root cause:

• Remove heavy metals from your system: Chelating agents can help to remove heavy metals from your system. This is best done under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner. Removal of old mercury fillings by a trained professional can also reduce the burden of heavy metals in the body.
• Treat infections: A comprehensive stool test can help identify parasites and other infections that could be contributing to mast cell activation.
• Heal your gut: Remove inflammatory foods and focus on nutrient density. Include plenty of probiotic, prebiotic, and healing foods in your diet.

Now I’d like to hear from you.  Do you experience symptoms of histamine intolerance? Had you ever heard of Mast Cell Activation Disorder? Let us know in the comments!

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(Image credit: LaTonya Yvette)

Almost every year since I moved out of my mother’s house, we plan the holidays through a family texting thread that dings and buzzes all day long:

“Who’s hosting this year? You?”

“Who’s in charge of the pies?”

“Where’s the best place to buy a turkey? Should I get it now?”

I am one of five children, and between us, there are six grandchildren, all under the age of 9. What’s more, we all live in apartments, rather than houses. Needless to say, rallying our big and boisterous family into a barely 600-square-foot space takes a bit of finagling.

But, like with almost anything to do with living in the city, you just need to be able to overlook the mess and confusion and see the beauty. This is why I usually tap my fingers across the screen and respond, “Yes, I’ll host this year.”

Here’s how I make sure we all have a fun and relaxed time without spending a hefty amount.

<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/10-tips-for-hosting-thanksgiving-in-a-tiny-apartment-on-a-tiny-budget-237459′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>

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Open Slideshow

Have you ever received a salad garnished with perfect, fanned-out slices of avocado and wondered how the chef managed to do it without making a squashed mess? Slicing an avocado is a simple technique that requires minimal knife skills and just a few seconds of your time.

<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-slice-an-avocado-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-200500′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>

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From Apartment Therapy → Top 10 Manual Coffee Makers: Bodum, Bonavita, ROK & 7 More

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Any dish that falls into the make-ahead category for Thanksgiving deserves an extra gold star, which is exactly the case for this vegetarian beans and greens gratin. You can assemble this side dish up to two days in advance and tuck it away in the fridge until Thursday rolls around.

This dish also brings a lighter touch when it comes to the cream and cheese — although not at the sacrifice of flavor. It’s rich enough to stand as a main dish before or beyond Thanksgiving, but it won’t weigh you down.

<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-broccoli-rabe-and-white-bean-gratin-237083′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>

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(Image credit: Camille Styles)

Pita bread is super versatile. You can cut it into triangles and bake it to make chips; you can split it open and stuff it with hummus, cucumber, eggs, and tomatoes for breakfast; or you can toast pieces for a fattoush salad.

Today we’re using pitas as a stand-in for corn tortillas for pita tostadas.

<p><a href=’http://www.thekitchn.com/make-easy-tostadas-at-home-with-pita-pockets-237971′><strong>READ MORE »</strong></a></p>

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It’s been ten years since I began my love affair with iron, and I find myself looking back on our affair, reminiscing about how much I’ve grown and the lessons I’ve learned.

As with all love affairs, we’ve had our ups and downs. There have been times when I hated the iron, and times when it seemed to hate me. And there have been more times still when iron loved me in a way I never knew was possible—and I loved it right back.

Iron and me—we have a very deep, meaningful relationship.

The relationship has been going on so long that I sometimes forget that there was ever time when I didn’t absolutely love the feeling of cold iron in my hands, the feel of it hoisted on my back or over my head, the thrill of picking it up from the ground in a seemingly impossible fashion.

The truth is, however, that we didn’t start this love affair with these feelings. We didn’t embark on our tryst with the idea that we would come to expect each other’s regular presence with enthusiasm and warmth.

It started off as just a fling. A little curious and misguided hanky-panky, if you will.

In fact, when we first met, there wasn’t much love, affection, or even respect; instead, there was quite a bit of frustration, unworthiness, and desperation.

There were feelings of comparison and jealousy, based on what iron had done for other women. And of course, there was that ever-lingering thought that if I could only change my body, maybe, just maybe, I could finally feel free in my body and happy in my skin.

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I had just given birth to my son, Isaac—a pregnancy during which I had gained 50 pounds. For the first time in my life, I felt like a complete stranger in my own body. I wanted to feel in control again—and more than anything, I wanted that ever-elusive “pre-baby body” back.

I didn’t know where else to turn, so I turned, in desperation, to iron.

What happened next was a combination of satisfaction and surprise. I indeed lost weight. In fact, my post-baby body became stronger and more athletic than my pre-baby body had ever been. But I gained more than I lost—and that’s what this story is really about.

A love affair with iron bears many tangible gifts.

There’s the whole metabolism thing— lifting weights promotes the growth of lean mass (muscle), which helps cultivate a healthier metabolism. The more muscle your body has, the more calories it will burn at rest, which means more fat loss and a more athletic physique.

Then there’s bone density and physiological health. Lifting weights promotes healthier bones and insides. It’s common knowledge that exercise is important for a healthy body—this isn’t news to us, right?

But I don’t want to talk about those things today. Instead, I want to talk to you about the unexpected side effects of a love affair such as this one—the things that we don’t think about when we seek out this relationship, but that surprise us, inspire us, and ultimately keep us coming back for more.

Protecting Your Time

You can maximize your time by weight training for 20, 15, or even just 10 minutes, by speeding up the rate at which you lift, or by ramping up the intensity. Training methods such as Metabolic Resistance Training, Complexes, Density Training, and what my good friend Jen Sinkler calls “Lifting Weights Faster” can help you burn fat and build strength, even when time is of the essence.

You don’t have to spend an hour doing cardio, 30 minutes on machines, and another 30 minutes stretching. Weight training is efficient. You will never again utter the words “I don’t have time to exercise.” Whether it’s 30 minutes or 10 minutes, set a timer and do as much as possible in that time frame.

Using the right training program, you can build a strong, athletic, lean physique—provided that your nutrition is on par with your fitness intentions. You’ll want a good mix of strength training and metabolic resistance, paired with a nourishing diet packed with protein, fresh produce, and healthy fats. When done correctly, lifting weights will help turn your body into a strong, fat-burning machine—making the weight room one of the most important stops on your fitness journey.

Self-Confidence

I remember the first time I performed an unassisted pull-up.

It was early 2008, and I was (unfortunately) awaiting knee surgery for an old sports injury. The extent of my injury kept me from doing any lower body training, which, although frustrating, encouraged me to focus on strengthening my upper body. So, strengthen my upper body I did, paying special attention to pull-ups, pushups, and overhead pressing.

One day I had an “I wonder if I can do that” moment. I decided to forgo the resistance band, and try my hand (or my lats) at an unassisted, neutral grip pull-up. Astonished at my body’s ability to get my chin over the bar, I hopped down and looked around the crowded gym. “Did anyone see that?!” I wondered. To this day, it remains one of my proudest moments.

Every single time I work out, I get better. I lift heavier, or faster, or even more efficiently. I might be able to stick a handstand more easily, manage a heavier squat, or do one extra pull-up. Sometimes it’s not a matter of more, but simply better. Other times, my progress is more intrinsic, lying in my ability to give my body a break when it needs one. Regardless of the exactitudes, I find myself consistently improving in some way, shape, or form. This is what my friends at The Movement Minneapolis have termed “PR every day.”

Breaking records, or setting PRs, is incredibly mentally rewarding. It keeps you coming back for more, and creates a sense of purpose in the weight room. While aesthetic goals, such as losing a few inches on your waist, are certainly worth pursuing, performance goals are notably more sustainable. It really wasn’t until I shifted my intentions towards performance, and away from aesthetics, that I was actually able to change my physique significantly.

What I didn’t realize completely the moment I performed my first pull-up, was how profoundly that simple act would affect the rest of my life.

That single pull-up, as benign as it seems, sparked a great sense of self worth, an escape from feeling defined by what my body looked like, and instead taking pride in what it could do. If I can pull myself up over a bar, without any assistance, what else can I do? Feats of strength in the gym began to translate to strength outside of the gym—the intrinsic strength needed to thrive and excel. When I crushed it at the gym, I felt more capable of crushing it at life; and without stressing out over my weight or my body composition, my body changed as a result.

Lifting weights helps boost confidence like nothing else I have ever seen. I’ve helped women who were initially timid, overweight, and unsure of themselves go on to crush feats of strength and then start their own personal training businesses. I’ve seen beginners afraid of lifting a kettlebell break out of their comfort zones and move on to chasing a double-bodyweight deadlift. Physical strength contributes to strength of character, which in turn, boosts confidence—and there’s just no downside to that.

Independence

Moving furniture? Carrying multiple bags of groceries? Hoisting a heavy carry-on into an overhead compartment? Keeping up with your kids? All of these things are not a problem when you’ve got strength on your side.

When my son was in kindergarten, I visited his class to speak about the importance of exercise and proper nutrition. I’ll never forget an adorable little kindergartener named Lizzie, with her long locks and her matter of fact demeanor. I asked the class why they thought exercise and strength were important, and Lizzie said, “because it makes everything easier.”

Lizzie was one smart little six-year-old. Exercising to be strong, mobile, and fast makes everyday tasks less cumbersome.

I spent many years as a single mom, unable to rely on another adult in the house to accomplish household tasks. Thanks to the strength I’ve gained from lifting, I was able to carry a sleeping child from the car with minimal effort, and move a twin sized bed into the apartment with no help whatsoever.

Community

It’s no coincidence that some of my closest friends are people I’ve met through fitness. In fact, my husband and I actually met through our mutual involvement in the fitness industry.

Lifting weights promotes a sense of camaraderie that, prior to becoming a meathead in my own right, I’d only ever experienced during my time in the Air Force. Whether it’s in person or online, women all over the world are bonding over their mutual love of iron and creating a safe and supportive community.

The best part about the community-building aspect of lifting weights? It brings strong, empowered women together, which is something this world really needs more of.

Character

Greater strength of character is one of the most surprising side effects of lifting weights. Your body gets stronger, of course, but with that you find that you’re more committed, responsible, aware, and understanding. Your work ethic is significantly elevated, as is your willingness to step beyond your comfort zone.

Learning new lifts and skills and dealing with the inevitable failures that often come with this process teach us how to navigate challenges—which directly impacts how we live our lives, day to day.

When I think of how lifting weights and building character are intertwined, the old adage, “how you do one thing is how you do everything” comes to mind.

Note from GGS: As Neghar shares in this article, the benefits of building your strength and being a strong woman extend far beyond physical prowess, and when you surround yourself by an entire community of strong, supportive women, there’s no telling what you can all do. We invite you to join us below!

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The post Five Unexpected Side Effects of My Love Affair With Iron appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

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If you’re going to go through the trouble of baking your Thanksgiving pie from scratch, then you might as well bake it — and serve it — in something that will get noticed. It’s not like you want to put out some disposable aluminum pan and run the risk of someone thinking it’s a store-bought treat (could you even?!).

Pick up one of these adorable pie pans and your guests will take notice.

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