Fibromyalgia Mystery Finally Solved!
Forage Identification: Timothy
Department of Plant Sciences Timothy (Phleum pratense L.)
Adaptation:Timothy grass thrives in cool, moist areas. It is tolerant of acidity, wetness, and some flooding. This grass has its origin in Europe and has good winter hardiness. It is not however, tolerant of drought or salinity. The best soil for this grass will have a pH between 5.4 and 6.2. Sandy soils should be avoided.
Growth Habitat:Cool season, perennial bunch grass. Widely established on mountain ranges with more than 16 inches of precipitation. It is relatively easy to seed and establish, although it is relatively short-lived.
Plant Characteristics: This grass is a leafy, tall-growing grass. Two to four feet in height, but is not able to vegetatively propagate. The spike-like panicle is cylindrical and compact. The panicle is two to six inches in length. Florets are bristly. The leaves are flat and taper to a thin point. Plants have a shallow, compact, fibrous roots that grow corms at the stem base.
Seed Characteristics:Light tan color, wedge shaped but are round with a thin silvery lemma. The best time for planting is between February 1st to May 1st or August 1st and September 1st.
Important Identifying Characteristics: Bulblike or swollen base that form corms. A corm is a solid, swollen stem base that acts as storage tissue. Corms occur underground in the top layer of soil.
Primary Uses:Hay, silage and pasture.
New Study Links Food Allergies To Increased Risk Of Heart Disease Death
Sensitivity to common food allergens such as cow's milk and peanuts could be an important and previously unappreciated cause of heart disease, new research suggests – and the increased risk for cardiovascular death includes people without obvious food allergies.
In a paper published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that describes analyses led by Corinne Keet, M.D., Ph.D., pediatric allergy and immunology professor in the UNC Department of Pediatrics of two longitudinal studies, the authors show that the people who produced IgE antibodies to cow's milk and other foods were at significantly increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. This was true even when traditional risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, high blood pressure, and diabetes were accounted for. The strongest link was for cow's milk, but IgE to other allergens such as peanut and shrimp were also significant among those who eat the foods.
This troubling finding represents the first time that IgE antibodies to common foods have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, the researchers report. The findings do not conclusively prove that food antibodies are causing the increased risk, but the work builds on previous studies connecting allergic inflammation and heart disease.
People who had an antibody called IgE to foods that they regularly eat seemed to be at increased risk for dying from heart disease."
Corinne Keet, M.D., Ph.D., corresponding author of the paper, pediatric allergy and immunology professor in the UNC Department of Pediatrics
"We were surprised by these findings because it is very common to have IgE to foods (about 15% of American adults have IgE to common food allergens), and most people don't have any symptoms when they eat the food. As allergists, our thinking has been that it is not important if people have IgE to foods, as long as they don't have symptoms when they eat the food," she said.
Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and an AAAAI Faculty Development Award to her collaborator Jeff Wilson at the University of Virginia, this research used two methods to examine the association between IgE sensitization to foods and cardiovascular mortality. Data from 4,414 adults who participated in The National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) and 960 participants in the Wake Forest site of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort were used. Participants were enrolled in MESA from 2000-2002 and followed for up to 19 years. Participants were enrolled in NHANES from 2005 to 2006 and data on mortality up to 14 years were tracked. Total and specific IgE was measured to cow's milk, egg, peanut, shrimp, and a panel of aeroallergens for the NHANES group. IgE to cow's milk, alpha-gal, peanut, dust mite and timothy grass were measured in the MESA group. In NHANES, 229 cardiovascular deaths were recorded and 960 deaths from MESA were also reported. Milk sensitization was particularly associated in both NHANES & MESA. Researchers also discovered that food sensitization to shrimp and peanut were both additional risk factors for heart disease.
It is also important to note that associations in the findings related to food sensitization rather than clinical allergy. Although researchers did not have access to information about clinical food allergy in either cohort, they expect that individuals who report regularly eating a food allergen on food frequency questionnaires were not showing symptoms of a food allergy. Thus, the findings that showed how associations were strengthened when researchers excluded those who avoided the food suggest that these findings were most relevant to those who have not been diagnosed with food allergy. Keet says the results raise questions about whether these apparently non-allergic individuals may have long-term consequences from consuming foods to which they are sensitized.
The study states that aside from two recent reports linking IgE to the unusual carbohydrate allergen alpha-gal to coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease had not previously been identified as a long-term complication of food sensitization. However, there is now substantial evidence for the importance of allergic-type immune pathways in normal cardiac physiology and heart disease. Because discovering the link between milk sensitization with cardiovascular mortality is new, Keet says there's more to explore as far as the relevance of food sensitization and diet in cardiovascular disease development.
"More research needs to be done about how sensitization to common food allergens is related to cardiovascular disease," she said. "While this study provides good evidence of an association between sensitization to these allergens and death from cardiovascular disease, there is much work to be done to understand if this is a causal relationship."
Source:
Journal reference:
Keet, C., et al. (2023) IgE to common food allergens is associated with cardiovascular mortality in the National Health and Examination Survey and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Doi.Org/10.1016/j.Jaci.2023.09.038.
Food Sensitivity May Significantly Increase Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease
In a new study, researchers report that people with a food sensitivity to cow's milk (lactose intolerance) and other common food allergens may have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
They published their findings today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The researchers used information from the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) to reach their conclusions.
A total of 5,374 participants – 4,414 from NHANES and 960 from MESA – were followed by researchers for over a decade to determine if food sensitivities could contribute to cardiovascular disease.
Previous studies have shown some food allergies are associated with higher risks of heart disease, but food sensitivities (food intolerance) have not previously been identified as contributing factors to cardiovascular disease.
The NHANES study was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention using questionnaires and laboratory tests. Participants were 20 years and older and tested for IgE antibodies at baseline.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored the MESA study to look for cardiovascular disease risk factors. Participants were 45 to 84 years of age and did not have cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. The study included evaluating the presence of IgE and its relationship to heart disease.
IgE measures food sensitivities and allergies to cow's milk as well as eggs, peanuts, shrimp, alpha-gal, dust mite, and timothy grass.
During the study period, there were 285 cardiovascular-related deaths – 229 in NHANES and 56 in MESA.
Sensitivity to at least one food was significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality.
Researchers reported that cow's milk had the most significant association. One reason may be that most people consume cow's milk in larger quantities in their daily diet.
The researchers noted that the increased risk from food sensitivity could be comparable to the risks from smoking, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Scientists don't yet fully understand a lot about how the different organ systems in our body overlap and how dysfunction in one might cause dysfunction in another.
Research on how the gut microbiome affects heart health has been published only in recent years.
A review of research published in 2022 states that the interplay between the intestinal microbiome and the human host occurs through the interaction of dietary intake (a type of environmental exposure) with the intestinal microbiota, leading to the production of metabolites that may serve as cardiac disease boosters.
"We know that food allergies can prompt inflammatory reactions in the gut, which increases heart disease," Dr. Nicole Weinberg, a cardiologist at Providence Saint John's Health Center in California who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today. "It is possible that food sensitivities also prompt inflammation but at a lower level."
"There is a whole spectrum of diseases that smolder in our bodies. They may not have profound disease processes, but they can cause problems with other bodily systems," Weinberg added. "We often look at whatever part of our body is louder and address symptoms. But we do not always look at the whole body and consider that the organ systems overlap and see if we can quiet the loud noise by addressing other areas in our body."
The authors of the study examined this as well.
"What we looked at here was the presence of IgE antibodies to food that were detected in blood samples," Dr. Jeffrey Wilson, a study author and an allergy and immunology expert at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, said in a press statement. "We don't think most of these subjects actually had an overt food allergy; thus, our story is more about an otherwise silent immune response to food. While these responses may not be strong enough to cause acute allergic reactions to food, they might nonetheless cause inflammation and over time lead to problems like heart disease."
Weinberg suggests that people with food intolerances see their primary practitioner and specialists regularly to monitor symptoms and treat them when necessary. They might also benefit from seeing a nutritionist or dietician.
Food sensitivity or food intolerance is often confused with food allergy.
The critical difference is that an allergy involves the immune system. In contrast, sensitivities involve the digestive system, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Another important distinction is that allergies can be life-threatening if the person has a reaction called anaphylaxis. Sensitivities are typically not life-threatening but can cause discomfort.
A food intolerance is when the body cannot properly break down and digest the food. Some symptoms include:
Some of the common foods that cause intolerance include:
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