The State of Our Health
– As I Know It –

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

February 27, 2022 [printfriendly]

 

Our health is in a state of turmoil and misinformation. It is following a nutritional path to destruction. I’m not being dramatic; I’m being real.

As you may know, I was diagnosed with incurable multiple myeloma in 2018. The truth is, the state of our health system failed me, as it is failing you right now. While I can’t pinpoint exactly why I got sick, my research has led me to several important conclusions.

I want to share some facts and my thoughts with you. This is the state of the world as I know it. And it may be an eye opener if you haven’t considered the facts – the real facts and nothing but the facts. But all is not lost. I also want to share what we can all do to be proactive and help keep ourselves and our loved ones healthy.

 

8 Scary Statistics

  1. The United States is the highest spending country worldwide when it comes to health care.[1]
  2. The U.S. Health System ranks dead last among the 11 high-income countries in the world.[2]
  3. The first and close-second leading causes of death in the US are heart disease and cancer, which are chronic, debilitating, yet preventable diseases. Our population is grossly and glaringly unhealthy.[3]
  4. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) stated that 60% of Americans live with at least one chronic disease, and chronic diseases are responsible for 70% of deaths each year in the United States. In addition, at least 72% of our society is overweight or obese.[4]
  5. In a 2019 issue of the journal, Metabolic Disorders and Related Disorders, a peer-reviewed study showed that 88% of US population is metabolically unhealthy.[5]
  6. In 2010, a published paper demonstrated that 93.9% of adults in the United States had some form of gum inflammation (gingivitis) [6], which frequently has its origin in an unhealthy gut.[7],[8]
  7. In 2015, the CDC published their results in the Journal of Periodontology.[9] It showed the prevalence of severe periodontal disease (periodontitis) was estimated to be 47.2% for American adults. For adults 65 years old and older, the prevalence jumped to 70.1%.
  8. The CDC reported that approximately 91% of U.S. adults aged 20–64 had dental caries in permanent teeth.[10] The prevalence increases to 93% for those above 65 years old.[11]

 

Do I Have a Cure for Chronic Systemic Diseases?

My answer is, “No!”

I do have a carefully researched and tested set of tools and metrics that allowed me to quadruple my life expectancy after being diagnosed with incurable multiple myeloma and given 3-6 months to live in September 2018.

Let me be very clear. I do not have a cure for chronic disease or cancer.

But I have a means to support my immune system, enhance my nutrition, and create a healthy gut. For the most part, my Unconventional Cancer Protocols have assisted me in improving my health.

I’m sharing what I have learned with you in hopes that you’ll take these findings and use them to help yourself and all whom you love and care about. If I can leave one legacy behind, it’s to help people take control of their health and know they can change their circumstances.

When I talk to my medical and dental colleagues, I’m not preaching to the choir. Most of them have no idea what I am talking about. And most biologically oriented healthcare professionals aren’t getting the message completely either.

I believe that biologically oriented healthcare professionals have the ideal platform to address the facts I will describe and could make a considerable difference in the health of their patients. But everyone could take the lead and make substantial changes for himself or herself. You don’t have to be a healthcare professional to understand and implement what I have to say.

 

Healthcare Professionals Must Get Educated

#1. Most chronic diseases start in the gut. For various reasons, the potentially 38 trillion microbes that originally are in a state of balance in the gut can become unhealthy with overgrowing pathogenic species. The one-cell-layer epithelial barrier of the gut becomes breached. Within the gut, there are remnants of cell walls of gram-negative bacteria called LPS (Lipopolysaccharides). They are highly toxic to the body if they get into the circulation. With a breakdown in the gut epithelial barrier, LPS begins to leak into the blood stream through the “leaky gut” allowing the immune system to mount a significant and chronic inflammatory state that eventually can affect all organ systems and lead to most chronic diseases. Periodontal disease is just one of many chronic diseases that emanates from a leaky gut. This article published on 2/8/22 describes the destruction to the entire body via LPS leaking from the gut.

#2. When it comes to periodontal diseases, treatment must include active treatment of gut dysbiosis concurrently with active treatment of oral disease. Diseases in the mouth can become systemic and affect all organ systems throughout the body, just as a leaky gut alone can become the causal factor for chronic disease. The diet must be tweaked, the gut must be made healthy, and definitive periodontal treatment must be instituted.

Definitive Scaling & Root Planing in the early stages of periodontitis should be implemented, while Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure (LANAP) bone regeneration surgery should be the goal in advanced stages. This Laser wavelength also destroys the majority of pathogenic bacteria in the infected tissues.[12] Watch these enlightening animated videos to help you understand both these treatments:

 

#3. Healthcare professionals and proactive individuals need to understand the critical effects of a diverse garden of microbes in the gut and the mouth. Never should the microbiome be indiscriminately destroyed, but the microbiome must be treated effectively and efficiently to bring it back into a state of homeostasis.

#4. We need to realize the vital importance of biologically available, animal-derived nutrients in their natural and balanced ratios with other symbiotic elements. The animal sources must be organically and compassionately raised and humanely slaughtered.

#5. Everyone needs to appreciate the facts about regenerative rotational farming and animal grazing using no chemicals. The facts are that this type of regenerative farming and grazing results in benefits to the world environment and the world population.

#6. Some fruits and a very select number of vegetables can be healthy and included in your lifestyle eating plan. However, many vegetables, processed fats and oils, added sugars, grains, and almost all nuts and seeds contain “antinutrients” that are damaging to the gut, encouraging chronic systemic inflammation, and leading to chronic debilitating diseases later in life – and these include dental diseases. The potentially damaging foods must be eliminated as part of your new way of eating for a lifetime.

#7. And when it comes to supplements, humans are not deficient. Synthetic, processed, unbalanced supplements including other harmful chemical ingredients do overall harm and do not address the real problem. These chemically harmful ingredients accumulate over time.

#8. Our body requires hydrogen and electrolytes in their natural states to allow the many metabolic, mitochondrial, and ionic transfers and pathways to occur seamlessly. We are electrical beings and require discriminating oxidation/reduction processes (i.e., Redox[13]) to occur continuously.

#9. Manmade and processed indiscriminate antioxidants can be ultimately destructive to the intricate biology of our system. These indiscriminate supplements may destroy all free radicals. In contrast, high-dose molecular hydrogen (16 PPM) dissolved in drinking water neutralizes only the harmful, excessive free radicals but allows healthy free radicals to function in the body as they are supposed to do. Molecular hydrogen also is a potent and discriminating anti-inflammatory agent.

 

My Wife Thinks I’m a Fanatic

I am not a fanatic; I am a realist. Eventually, I will die from the complications of multiple myeloma, but it will be on my terms as I live the best quality of life I can muster for my body’s metabolism, mitochondrial function, and immune system.

My multiple myeloma was a result of poor nutrition throughout most of my life, unhealthy lifestyle choices, and a significantly toxic chemical environment during my 6 years of dental and specialty training. In addition, the advice propagated by the USDA Food Pyramid and its many updates, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Cancer Society contributed to the misinformation I followed. All professed a diet and lifestyle which are contrary to our human species’ evolution and DNA Blueprint. I have changed my way of living and am making enormous strides to heal my body.

 

Do Your Due Diligence

  • Read the seminal paper published in 2021 about the evolution of the human species over 2.5 million years which got us where we are today. Humans are the most intellectual and dominant animal on earth, and the authors’ story is both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary.
  • Watch this 15-minute video by Brian Sanders about meat, regenerative farming & grazing, the benefits to the environment, and feeding the world. This short talk about how we got where we are today will be the basis of his soon-to-be released documentary film, Food Lies.

 

  • Investigate some the human studies (HERE, HERE) that clearly prove that healthy red meat does not cause cardiovascular disease or cancer. On the contrary, consumption of healthy meat and organs is inversely correlated with these chronic diseases.
  • Read this controlled study of Kenyan children who excelled in school when they ate animal-based foods and did poorly when they ate predominantly plant-based foods.
  • Read the results of this study, which showed that total meat intake is positively associated with increased life expectancy. The study included an analysis of 175 contemporary populations.
  • Peruse the case reports from the Paleomedicina Clinic in Budapest, Hungary where over 5,000 patients with severe and sometimes “incurable” chronic diseases and cancers have been treated and sometimes cured using a strict animal-based diet with no supplements and no prescription drugs. Go to their website and then click on “Scientific Work and Articles”.
  • Read and understand the critical importance of a healthy gut.

 

My Legacy

The legacy I want to leave calls for all proactive individuals to take a hard look at the way our primal ancestors evolved into the intellectual and nutritionally healthy beings we can be today and appreciate the requirements of our DNA Blueprint which have genetically evolved very little during the last 10,000 years.

I intend to help my body as best as I can fight the fight it was designed to fight by providing all that it needs and avoiding everything that it doesn’t need.

You can do the same thing for yourself and for all others whom you love and care about. Be proactive! Start today!

I can help you if you want some guidance. Here’s a link to schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me to discuss.

 

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/236541/per-capita-health-expenditure-by-country/

[2] https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/news/20210804/us-health-system-ranks-last-among-11-high-income-countries

[3] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm

[4] https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/center/index.htm

[5] https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/met.2018.0105

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=20437720

[7] https://aap.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/JPER.21-0374

[8] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.752708/full

[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4460825/

[10] http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/FindDataByTopic/DentalCaries/DentalCariesAdults20to64.htm

[11] http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/FindDataByTopic/DentalCaries/DentalCariesSeniors65older.htm

[12] https://jpis.org/DOIx.php?id=10.5051/jpis.2100900045

[13] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1097276521006857

 

Schedule a ”30-Minute Free Consult” with me to answer some of your questions and determine if we are a good fit for a coaching program! CLICK HERE.

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my Free “Belly Bites” Newsletter and receive your free copy of Dr Al’s “5 Things That Could Be Impacting Your Health Right Now” HERE.

 

Create a Robust Immune System
– Beware of Gimmicks, Pills, & Potions –  

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

February 6, 2022 [printfriendly]

The Pandemic has brought about an awareness. The awareness is that our immune system is a critical factor for disease prevention, healing, and overall wellness. Hungry companies looking to monetize this awareness have sprung up. Many existing supplement companies have realized there is an enormous financial gain to be had if they market their gimmicks, pills, and potions toward that end. And this marketing campaign is in full force today.

If you googled “immune system”, you would find about 79 million links to articles and references on the Internet as of 2/6/22.[1]

I am not against supplements and medicines that are used therapeutically but then discontinued when the desired result is achieved. Very specific medical problems often require specific medicaments.

But a potential problem is that many supplements and medicines are synthetic and processed with “other ingredients” that are damaging to the gut microbiome.[2] If you were to consume many supplements daily, then those “other ingredients” would be compounded in your gut and make you prone to additional gut damage.

And many times, these supplements and medicines only treat the symptoms of the disease. The underlying causes must be uncovered and treated correctly and permanently.

A strong and efficient immune system is one of the mainstays for healing the body. But it takes time to build up the immune system if it has become weakened or damaged. So, beware! The idea that gimmicks, pills, and potions alone will improve a person’s immune system is medically and biologically implausible.

 

Our Population is Unhealthy

Question 1: What country in the world spends the most money per capita on healthcare?

The United States is the highest spending country worldwide when it comes to health care. In 2020, total health expenditure in the U.S. exceeded four trillion dollars. Expenditure as a percentage of GDP is projected to increase to 19 percent by the year 2025.

Question 2: Then why are over 88% of the US adult population metabolic unhealthy?.

This growing statistic is because the underlying causes of chronic disease are not addressed, not understood, and not taught to the public.

Question 3: What are the first and second causes of death in the US today?

The first and close-second leading causes of death in the US are heart disease and cancer, which are chronic, debilitating, yet preventable diseases. Our population is grossly and glaringly unhealthy.

Question 4: Why is this happening in one of the most medically advanced countries in the world?

A weakened or damaged immune system is manifesting itself in the stats of the ill-health of our population. This is a powerful causal relationship.

 

Who Is At Fault?

Some of the answers for our country’s poor health are owned by the the food and drug companies who push products that are not nutritious, not efficacious, and even harmful. Many of the “doctors” who push their “quick fix” remedies are frequently metabolically unhealthy themselves. They are not ideal role models.

But there is another problem, and it has to do with mainstream media. In a 2020 paper published in BMJ Open, the authors stated in their introduction, “the concept of immune boosting is misleading and scientifically inaccurate.”[3]

Amazing! Who really wants the facts to get out to the pubic?

I remember about 5 years ago when I went to a highly respected convention for functional medicine practitioners. It was a 3-day event with many prominent speakers. The kickoff for the meeting was a keynote speaker who also was the president of the organization. I had never met him personally. He walked up to the podium to begin his motivational introduction of all the speakers who would follow him. Then he told a little joke and commented on how important it was to be proactive and take control of your health.

But I was taken aback. He was at least 50 pounds overweight! How could I believe anything he was going to tell me about getting and staying healthy when he presented himself as a health disaster waiting to happen? He was a poor example of a mentor for health.

 

14 Steps to Regain a Robust Immune System

To achieve a robust immune system takes time and may require significant changes in food and lifestyle. People don’t know what they don’t know. If people are “fed” incorrect information long enough, the narrative sounds plausible and true. I am here to tell you, “That narrative just ain’t so!”

So, what’s an intelligent, proactive, discerning person to do?

I suggest you start here.

Let me summarize a biologically healthy way to improve your immune system to make it as robust as possible based on your personal situation.

  1. Follow guidelines to maintain a healthy garden of bacteria in your gut
  2. Efficiently and effectively take care of your mouth knowing that it also has a healthy garden of bacteria that must be maintained and not be disturbed or killed off indiscriminately
  3. Chose a biologically oriented dentist to evaluate the health of your mouth and initiate any required treatment to halt the spread of inflammation and infection throughout your body
  4. Eat nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods and avoid foods that might damage your body
  5. Drink natural spring water replete with trace minerals
  6. Learn what it means to be “metabolically flexible” so that your body cycles back and forth between a “carbohydrate burning mode” and a “fat burning mode”.
  7. Determine your 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D3 blood level and maintain that level between 50-80 ng/mL
  8. Instead of taking a “multivitamin/mineral supplement”, consume nose-to-tail bovine sources in capsules (i.e., liver, heart, spleen, kidney, pancreas, bone marrow, colostrum, animal fat) where nothing is added or removed except the water
  9. Move your body – walk at least a mile outdoors daily, do body-weight exercises 2-3 times a week; perform high intensity interval training once every 7-10 days
  10. Sleep restoratively – approximately 6-8 hours every night
  11. Reduce emotional stress
  12. Get out in the sun; walk barefoot on the earth
  13. Disconnect from daily news broadcasts and other digital devices whenever possible
  14. Avoid chemicals in personal care and household products

I write about, lecture on, and coach my clients to follow these steps. These are the methods I personally incorporate into my 10 Unconventional Cancer Protocols.

 

How Do I Know They Work?

Most of you know that I was diagnosed with incurable bone marrow cancer in 2018 and given 3-6 months to live. Quality of life was my critical goal. I rejected chemotherapy. With the consent and constant monitoring from my oncologist, I embarked on a self-designed program to heal my body as best as I could without damaging my already compromised immune system. I assembled my Protocols incorporating various modalities to recreate an immune system as robust as my medical condition would allow. And I succeeded with flying colors. Again, my goal was to live as high a quality of life I could. Longevity was never my priority.

To be clear, I do not have a cure for cancer or any other chronic disease.

I had significant setbacks along the way. I even ended up in Hospice in August 2019 and was ready to die. But obviously I didn’t. I returned to my 10 Unconventional Cancer Protocols and began to thrive again. My support of my immune system was one means that helped me heal.

In late June 2021, I contracted COVID-19. And because of my self-improved immune system, it helped me defeat the virus without medication or going to the hospital.

Sadly, if a person contracted COVID-19 and already had bone marrow cancer with its inherently weakened immune system from the cancer, he or she would have an increased risk of dying compared to one without a compromised immune system. But I survived and went on to thrive today.

As I’ve said, I don’t have a cure for cancer, other chronic diseases, or the COVID-19 infection. However, I know that a robust immune system can help the body fight infection. I am convinced that my recovery was at least partially due to my efforts to enhance my immune system. It served me well and proved to me that my body had the biological tools to fight the fight which it was dealt.

 

Your Takeaway

Don’t depend on a quick fix for a weakened or damaged immune system. Implement the 14 Steps I discussed above. They’ll take time, but it will be well worth it. Gimmicks, pills, and potions are not the answers. I hope you can see my rationale when I say that.

And to deny that the immune system is responsible for health and wellness is the height of medical ignorance and the spread of misinformation.

I wrote a paper that describes 5 practical tools to give you an idea how healthy your immune system is. It’s called, 5 Important Tools for a Robust Immune System. It’s free. You can download it and share it with everyone you love and care about.

The best and least expensive insurance against metabolic dysfunction and chronic disease is the time and effort you spend to rebuild your immune system to the best it can be.

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=”immune+system”

[2] https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-020-00996-6

[3] https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e040989

 

Schedule a ”30-Minute Free Consult” with me to answer some of your questions and determine if we are a good fit for a coaching program! CLICK HERE.

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my Free “Belly Bites” Newsletter and receive your free copy of Dr Al’s “5 Things That Could Be Impacting Your Health Right Now” HERE.

 

My Cancer Journey
COVID-19
And My Gut

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

March 23, 2020 [printfriendly]

 

COVID-19

 

First, an update about Coronavirus (COVID-19) and me. I am in the high-risk group because I’ll be 73 years old in April, and I’m challenged with incurable bone marrow cancer. So, I am staying away from people and washing my hands more than ever. Also, I’m adhering strictly to my Unconventional Cancer Protocols to support my immune system. Remember, the immune system is the body’s “armed force” to protect us from harmful invaders including COVID-19. And the gut is the center of our immune system.

 

 

Chronic Diseases

Chronic diseases start in the gut. And cancer is one of those chronic diseases. Do you know the method of action starting from the gut leading to chronic disease?

 

Think about the gut like the hub of a bicycle wheel. Consider the pathways from the gut leading to the rest of the body like the spokes of the wheel spreading out from the hub to its rim.

 

 

If the hub of the wheel were broken, then the spokes connecting the hub to the bike’s rim would become weakened. If enough spokes became weakened, then the outer rim could collapse. If the rim broke down, then the wheel would cave in. The entire bicycle would no longer function.

 

 

And so, if the gut were to become damaged, then the pathways leading to all the body’s structures would be affected. Ultimately, all organ systems could suffer.

 

 

The Gut

Based on my analogy, the gut is like the hub of the wheel. The circulatory and nerve pathways (like the spokes of the wheel) lead from the gut to all cellular structures in the body. These pathways feed the body’s ability to function properly. If the gut becomes compromised, then anything and everything along the paths can break down. The ultimate result could be the development of chronic diseases.

 

The nutrients we consume and the toxic substances we avoid determine the health of our gut. The gut can become compromised from non-nutritious and harmful foods as well as from environmental irritants. Also, sleep, exercise, and psychological stress affect gut health. Once the inside of the gut breaks down (including its garden of bacteria and the mucus layer), the outer epithelial barrier could fail.

 

The outer epithelial barrier is only one cell layer thick. It separates the contents of the gut from the rest of the body. Importantly, the gut is the most highly regenerative organ in the human body. And the gut regenerates its barrier epithelium every five to seven days. It has amazing self-healing potential. This is critical to understand.

 

However, continued failure of the integrity of this barrier allows junk to enter the circulation (i.e. Leaky Gut) along with cascading inflammatory events stemming from our immune system. The immune cells are just outside the epithelial barrier. The circulatory and nerve tissue complexes are the pathways for the immune system’s inflammatory chemicals. These biologically active chemicals spread out in all directions to anatomical structures. Over time and with continued disturbances in the gut, chronic diseases can emerge.

 

 

Your Health

Who will take responsibility for your health and welfare? No one but you!  Certainly during this time of COVID-19, all of us must take the charge. We have to be proactive as well as reactive:

 

  • We must be sure that our diet is nutrient-dense and anti-inflammatory. If not, we will suffer the consequences.
  • We must be effective in removing and avoiding toxic elements as best as we can. If not, we will suffer the consequences.
  • We must take measures to assure that the garden of gut bacteria and the internal workings of the gut are in balance. If not, we will suffer the consequences.

 

If we do our part, then the gut barrier should function and regenerate properly. If there is leakage, it can repair itself.

 

In my recent blogs, I wrote about how I discovered the Carnivore Diet, which is a healthy diet based on our body’s physiology and ancestral evolution. (For detailed references, I refer you to the recently released book by Dr. Paul Saladino titled, The Carnivore Code. It is a treasure trove of information.) I’ve also written about the large number of toxic elements that can harm our gut. (Check out my Blog Page to read more.)

 

If we’re doing the right things for our body, we may want to determine if our gut barrier is functioning properly. To do this, we need to know if we have a leaky gut and to what extent it might be “leaky”.

 

 

Gut Permeability Test

There are several biological tests that claim to detect a “leaky gut”, or more specifically “increased and abnormal intestinal permeability”. All of these tests have their problems and are not 100% reliable. One test that is used in Europe is the “PEG 400 Gut Permeability Test”. The test consists of drinking a tasteless liquid made up of various molecular sizes of polyethylene glycol (PEG) that is mixed into 250 ml of filtered water.

 

The test is available from BioLab Ltd[1] in England and from Paleomedicini[2] in Budapest, Hungary.

 

The PEG 400 Gut Permeability Test is a 6-hour test. To perform the test, you fast for 3 hours before starting the test. Probably the best time to start the test is immediately after waking up in the morning. Prior to starting the test, you urinate. Then, mix the PEG liquid into 250 ml of filtered water and drink it. For the next 2 hours, don’t eat or drink. Thereafter, you can. Just after drinking the PEG/water concoction, you begin collecting all urine until exactly the 6-hour mark. At the completion of the test, record the total volume of urine, and then pour a small sample into the 20 ml collection bottle, which is included in the test kit. That’s it. You’ll pack up your urine specimen with the necessary paperwork and send it off to the lab by FedEx.

 

The rationale for the PEG test is that the consumed liquid contains a mixture of inert, water-soluble molecules of different sizes, which may or may not pass through any “holes” in the gut barrier. There is a range of normal permeability of the gut barrier. Those molecules of the PEG that are large should not pass through an intact barrier. The test determines which molecules of the PEG get through the damaged barrier – all of which are reported in the test results. The bottom line is that the PEG Test reportedly helps to determine if you have a “leaky gut” and the extent that your gut is “leaky”.

 

 

Results of My PEG 400 Test

Unfortunately, I was not aware of this test until recently. So, I didn’t have a baseline when I started my Cancer Protocols in September 2018. But, better late than never.

 

I submitted my first urine sample on 3/1/20. That is 2 months after I started the Carnivore Diet. But it was only 5 days after I received both of my regularly scheduled immunotherapies at the Cancer Clinic. I sent the sample to BioLab Ltd.; the turnaround was 16 days.

 

My report clearly suggested that I have increased intestinal permeability. (Here is the PDF of my test results.) However, I have no way to know if I had more severe permeability at the time I was diagnosed in 2018 or when I started the Carnivore Diet at the beginning of 2020.

 

Clearly, I was hoping that I would not have a leaky gut. After I received more detailed evaluation and interpretation of my results, I learned that my limited permeability was not severe but was of concern although I was cautioned that I should not rely completely on this test. However, I will use this result as my “baseline” to compare with future tests.

 

So, after I got over the disappointment, I reevaluated my diet. I was using MCT Oil and eating zero-carb, high-fat, low-protein cheese – both to improve my fat consumption. As of this writing, I gave them up completely. Hopefully, eliminating these potential irritants to my gut will improve my gut barrier.

 

My goal is to have an intact gut barrier as best as I can. However, I realize that my immunotherapies could be the culprits for any increased intestinal permeability. Because my blood chemistries are improving and my cancer cells are decreasing, I’m not going to make any changes with my immunotherapies or my other cancer protocols. As I have mentioned many times, my Unconventional Cancer Protocols support healthy repair by my body. Why would I want to change them?

 

I’ll give my gut about a month to respond to my dietary changes, and then I’ll retest. Once I get the new results back from the lab, I’ll be writing about them.

 

Wish me luck!

[1] https://www.biolab.co.uk/docs/peginst.pdf

[2] https://c.nutriintervention.com/order?fbclid=IwAR1gPG1I18rVFJTAJoghXyGjb4BxXjCAYiVe0z8XTtWaiaJnIc10mx_P5ug

 

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my email alert list here.

Periodontal Disease
Could Be Killing You

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist

December 30, 2019 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

Periodontal Disease Could be Killing You

 

Periodontal disease could be killing you. It is often considered a causal factor for many chronic diseases. But you need to know the complete story – not just part of it. While periodontal disease could be a nidus for chronic systemic inflammation and spread of infection, this is only part of the story. The story has a Beginning, a Middle, and an Ending. Let’s start in The Middle.

 

 

The Middle

Dental plaque is healthy until it’s not healthy.[1]

 

Periodontal disease develops from unhealthy dental plaque. Unhealthy plaque results when healthy plaque is transformed into unhealthy dental plaque because of an underlying compromised immune system and unhealthy food choices. It’s fundamental for you to appreciate that a compromised immune system has its roots in unhealthy changes in the gut (i.e. gut dysbiosis) [2],[3], which causes chronic systemic inflammation.

 

A compromised immune system and unhealthy food choices could allow the hundreds of bacteria in dental plaque to get out of balance and become unhealthy.[4],[5] Then, unhealthy bacteria could proliferate and cause the progression of advanced gum disease[6].

 

One of the most virulent bacteria in periodontal disease is Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis).[7],[8] Among other self-protective measures, this bacterium produces a biofilm, which is resistant to the body’s immune defenses.[9] As the body continues to fight the resistant P. gingivalis, additional chronic inflammation results. This chronic inflammation can cause the tissues surrounding the infected gum spaces to break down allowing their toxic elements to leak into the general circulation. Additionally, autoimmunity may play a role in the progression of periodontal disease.[10]

 

It is important to remove unhealthy plaque through an efficient personal oral hygiene protocol performed daily. However, it is also critical to understand that gut dysbiosis leads to pathological changes in the healthy community of bacteria in the mouth. Therefore, gut dysbiosis must be treated to restore oral health, along with removing unhealthy dental plaque. I must emphasize that it is unhealthy to indiscriminately kill bad bacteria as well as good bacteria in the mouth by using antimicrobial mouthwashes or antibiotics on a daily basis.[11]

 

It also is vital to be aware of periodontal disease because its prevalence is at epidemic proportions. In 2010, a published paper demonstrated that 93.9% of adults in the United States had some form of gingivitis.[12] And in 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published their results in the Journal of Dental Research. The report was recently updated in 2015 in the Journal of Periodontology.[13] It showed the prevalence of periodontitis was estimated to be 47.2% for American adults (approximately 64.7 million people). For adults 65 years old and older, the prevalence jumped to 70.1%. These findings were the result of the most comprehensive periodontal evaluation performed ever in the US.

 

So, statically you most likely have some form of periodontal disease, and it must be treated completely. Otherwise, once periodontal disease is established in the mouth, its pathological byproducts can seep into the bloodstream, lymph fluid, and bone structures to cause spread of infection and inflammation to all areas of the body. This mechanism of seeping into the body’s circulation is similar to the way that an unhealthy gut causes leakage of toxic elements into the bloodstream (i.e. leaky gut) – both creating chronic systemic inflammation.

 

The eventual result of chronic systemic inflammation is chronic disease.[14],[15],[16] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that 60% of Americans live with at least one chronic disease, and chronic diseases are responsible for 70% of deaths each year in the United States.[17] Therefore, periodontal disease could be a source of degenerative chronic diseases originating from chronic systemic inflammation.

 

 

 

The Beginning

Interestingly, there are three human research studies that showed a healthy diet alone can improve the health of the mouth. These studies also determined that removing dental plaque by brushing and flossing was not essential to improve oral health as long as diet was corrected. Specifically, the investigators demonstrated that changing from a diet abundant in high-processed-carbohydrate and inflammatory foods to a diet excluding high-processed-carbohydrate and inflammatory foods will decrease signs of gum inflammation.[18],[19],[20] However, active periodontal treatment will be necessary if gum inflammation progresses into periodontitis, which destroys the jawbone surrounding the teeth.

 

In February 2019, a medical research article was published in Biomedical Journal[21] entitled, “Association between periodontal pathogens and systemic disease”. The authors describe the correlation between periodontal disease and various chronic diseases and outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal and colorectal cancer, diabetes and insulin resistance, Alzheimer’s disease, respiratory tract infections, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The authors go on to state that there are conflicting studies, which try to prove causal relationships. However, there is significant research to show a strong correlation.

 

In another article published in August 2019 by Hashioka et al[22], the authors reviewed medical research that indicates a causal relationship between periodontal disease and various neuropsychiatric disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, major depression, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, as well as the neurological event of ischemic stroke. The initiating cause of these neurological diseases is neuroinflammation, which is induced by chronic systemic inflammation. Periodontal disease causes chronic systemic inflammation by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the invasion of periodontitis bacteria (specifically P. gingivalis) along with their inflammatory components (lipopolysaccharide or LPS) into the systemic circulation. Chronic systemic inflammation will activate the microglia, the immune cells in the brain, creating neuroinflammation.

 

But I want to emphasize again that systemic chronic inflammation is the result of a leaky gut from gut dysbiosis in most cases.

 

In essence, my research suggests that periodontal disease is not the seed of all systemic disease. As I suggested above, periodontal disease is just one of many chronic diseases occurring on the continuum of the spread of chronic systemic inflammation that starts in the gut. Since the mouth is visible and easy to examine, the mouth may be the first clinical area where disease is diagnosed. And as I mentioned earlier, the prevalence of periodontal disease is at epidemic proportions.

 

Once systemic disease spreads, a vicious cycle begins because all tissues affect all other tissues in the human body. All mucosal tissues use “crosstalk” to communicate with other tissues.[23],[24],[25]

 

I should point out that unhealthy bacteria in the mouth in turn can interact further with unhealthy bacteria in the gut, and vice versa.[26]  In the case of periodontal disease, treatment for cascading chronic diseases must include healing both the unhealthy gut and the unhealthy mouth. But for the most part, the origination of mouth disease is in the gut before becoming visible in the mouth and other areas of the body.

 

 

The Ending

To stop periodontal disease and prevent this infection from entering the systemic circulation, the infection must be treated efficiently. Treatment may often consist of a dentist, hygienist, or periodontist removing irritants that have become lodged under the gum tissues and initiating inflammation and infection. Removing these irritants will assist the body in healing.[27] In more advanced stages, surgical procedures may be necessary to arrest this disease. Whatever treatment is necessary, an effective oral hygiene program should be instituted at a frequency based on the patient’s ability to take care of his or her mouth. The individual also must have a personal oral hygiene protocol to maintain a healthy mouth.

 

But whatever periodontal treatment is required, complete treatment must include repairing the gut, restoring the healthy balance of bacteria in the gut, and avoiding unhealthy processed foods and inflammatory foods.

 

 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4132376/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5892391/

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5937375/

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28476771

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5126660/

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3653317/

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4744328/

[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276050/

[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4925967/

[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1016%2Fj.autrev.2016.09.013

[11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28353075

[12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=20437720

[13] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4460825/

[14] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5520251/

[15] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5359961/

[16] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28835673

[17] https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/center/index.htm

[18] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19405829

[19] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4962497/pdf/12903_2016_Article_257.pdf

[20] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1111%2Fjcpe.13094

[21] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2319417018302634?via%3Dihub

[22] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6695849/

[23] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cea.12723

[24] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1016%2Fj.cyto.2017.01.016

[25] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6266996/

[26] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028810/

[27] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31849397

 

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my email alert list here.

Buy My Book

Crazy-Good Living

 

Dr. Michael Ruscio
Interviews
Dr. Al Danenberg

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist
July 4, 2018 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

Dr. Michael Ruscio Interviews Dr. Al DanenbergI met Dr. Michael Ruscio at the Paleo f(x) meeting in Austin in April 2018. Michael suggested we do a Podcast together. So, we made it happen.

 

Dr. Michael Ruscio is a chiropractor, clinical researcher, and author whose practical ideas on healing chronic illness have made him an influential voice in functional and alternative medicine. Michael also provides post-doctoral continuing education. His research has been published in peer reviewed medical journals, and he speaks at integrative medical conferences across the globe. Currently, he is a lead researcher in a pending IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) study.

 

In this interview, Dr. Ruscio and I discuss the profound connections between the gut, the mouth, mitochondria, and chronic disease. I talk about my Periodontal Disease Clinical Study that will be implemented following approval by the Institutional Review Board. We also discuss how improper flossing could lead to receding gums, new testing showing that mouth tissue is a window into your mitochondrial health, and how mouthwashes could lead to high blood pressure.

 

Tooth decay and periodontal diseases are chronic diseases. My research suggests that the gut could be the initial source for chronic disease to manifest. But, once oral diseases take hold, then both the gut and the mouth must be treated in order to gain control of chronic inflammation and further manifestation of chronic disease.

 

Listen to the Podcast. It lasts a little more than an hour, but I think you’ll find it loaded with “pearls” to take home and act upon immediately.

 

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my email alert list here.

Buy My Book

Crazy-Good Living

Leaky Gut & Periodontal Disease
And All That Jazz

Dr. Al Danenberg ● Nutritional Periodontist
June 18, 2018 [printfriendly]

 

 

 

Leaky Gut and Periodontal DiseaseLeaky gut, periodontal disease, and all that jazz (meaning all those bacteria) play an important role in chronic disease. The tube that courses through the body (called the digestive tract, gastrointestinal (GI) tract, or the alimentary canal) is the initial setting for many chronic diseases that could manifest over time.

 

The GI tract starts with your lips and mouth and finally ends at the anus. Interestingly, all of the tissues that line this tube are affected in similar ways. What happens in the small and large intestines will affect the mouth, and what damages the mouth will affect the tissues of the small and large intestines.

 

The living inhabitants on the surface of the digestive tract are bacteria and other microbes that outnumber the quantity of human cells. These microbes are critical for human survival and affect human metabolism, nutrition, physiology, and immune function. When the microbiome is disturbed and when unhealthy microbes take control, then all Hell could break loose resulting in various chronic diseases.

 

One portal of entry for toxic elements to move into the systemic system is a leaky gut (increased intestinal permeability). Eventually, chronic inflammation and chronic disease can result. Periodontal disease is just one of those chronic diseases that can manifest once the gut becomes unhealthy. However, once periodontal disease exists, then it provides another major portal of entry for toxic elements to move into the systemic system – a “leaky periodontal pocket”.

 

Both a leaky gut and a leaky periodontal pocket must be treated.

 

 

Current Medical Research

Recently published medical papers provide an increased understanding about the interplay between a leaky gut, periodontal disease, and all those bacteria inhabiting the mucosal tissues of the GI tract.

 

Read these papers, which offer important medical outcomes. I believe we can connect these “dots” of knowledge and develop a clinical protocol for adjunctive treatment of periodontal disease and more.

 

This 2015 paper pointed out that damage to the gut actually would decrease the body’s ability to maintain a healthy immune system causing potential for various chronic diseases to manifest.

 

This 2018 review described intestinal permeability and resulting multiple sclerosis as well as other chronic diseases.

 

Figueredo, et al. in 2017 demonstrated that inflammatory bowel disease can cause periodontal disease, which is a chronic disease.

 

Bale, et al. in 2017 reviewed the evidence that periodontal disease contributes to atherosclerosis.

 

McFarlin, et al. in 2017 performed a double-blind study where individuals significantly improved intestinal permeability by taking a spore-based probiotic for only 30 days without changing their unhealthy lifestyles.

 

Li, et al. in 2016 showed how periodontal disease is a disease of mitochondrial dysfunction within the gingival fibroblasts.

 

In 2012, Vos, et al. reported that vitamin K2 could rescue damaged mitochondria in fruit flies. 

 

This 2018 review described how vitamin K2 transports out of the liver and then disseminates throughout the body to assist in various biological functions including the prevention of mitochondrial dysfunction.

 

 

My Thoughts

I believe we can connect these “dots” of knowledge.

 

Apparently, there is a relationship between gut issues and periodontal disease. It appears there is a progression from dysbiosis to leaky gut, then to decreased host resistance, and finally to mitochondrial dysfunction and the development of various chronic diseases including periodontal disease.

 

Research suggests that there might be an adjunctive treatment for periodontal disease by treating dysbiosis, repairing the gut membrane with spore-based probiotics, and utilizing vitamin K2 to prevent and repair mitochondrial dysfunction.

 

My goal is to investigate this possible causal relationship. To that end, Andrew Campbell MD, John Abernethy MD, and I wrote a protocol to study my theory. We submitted our Periodontal Disease Clinical Study to the “Institutional Review Board” (IRB) on 5/31/18.

 

If our study is approved by the IRB, Microbiome Labs will sponsor our research, which will be double-blind involving approximately 50 individuals with active periodontal disease. Participants will take a placebo or a supplement for 6 weeks. The daily supplement will consist of spore-based probiotics and vitamin K2.

 

To determine the potential benefits of this supplement, we will measure the depths of infected gum pockets, bleeding in these pockets, and the status of the participants’ mitochondria. At the end of the study, we will repeat these three measurements.

 

I project that there will be a reduction in pocket depth and bleeding as well as an improvement in the health of the mitochondria.

 

If our work demonstrates significant benefits, then other investigators could repeat and elaborate on this research. There might be far-reaching inferences that could be considered if our results are positive.

 

I’m excited to see where this study might go.

 

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my email alert list here.

Buy My Book

Crazy-Good Living

Getting Older Doesn’t Mean Getting Old

      Alvin H. Danenberg, DDS     March 24, 2016   [printfriendly]
 
 
     

Getting Older doesn't mean Getting OldGetting older is just a numbers thing. Chronological age is just a way of telling how many years are behind you. Obviously, bodily changes occur with normal aging. Changes occur in our physical and mental abilities. That is part of a healthy process of getting older. We can gracefully get older.

 

In contrast to getting older, getting old is a decline in the quality of life.

 

Many of us may be sick or may get sick with debilitating illnesses. Chronic disease has never been a part of getting older – only getting old. The history of human evolution suggests that developing chronic disease is not part of the normal human life cycle.

 

Our options to deal with the complications of getting old with these illnesses compromise our quality of life. There are in-home nursing care, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes. There are numerous medications we must take, doctor’s appointments we must keep, and life goals we must change. But, all this is not inevitable. If triggers of chronic disease were addressed in a timely fashion, we could prevent or improve this decline in the quality of our life.

 

Even as far back as 1980, James F. Fries, M.D. published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine that discussed his concept of compression of morbidity. In his article, Dr. Fries explained that chronic disease affects the quality of life. The amount of years that are affected depends on the onset of disease. He suggested that the years of decreased quality of life could be shortened and possibly reduced completely if only we controlled the environmental causes of chronic disease early on.

 

I have written about how we can manage as much as 90% of the causes of chronic disease. That includes the chronic infection of gum disease.

 

Some people have suggested that as we age, we will eventually lose our teeth and require false teeth to replace our natural teeth. That is not true. A healthy mouth reflects a healthy body – a body that has been nourished with both nutrient-dense foods and an effective lifestyle.

 

Here are two photos of a man and a woman. These pictures may be disturbing to some readers because they may look unnatural. However, the photography was done with the lips pulled back to show the teeth and gums for better viewing. Both have healthy mouths; both have healthy bodies:
 
 

Healthy Mouth 76 MaleThis is a 76-year-old man.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Healthy Mouth 83 FemaleThis is an 83-year-old woman.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Getting older is what I strive for; getting old is not in my vocabulary.

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my email alert list here.

We All Wear Shoes:
But Not The Same Size

      Alvin H. Danenberg, DDS     February 29, 2016   [printfriendly]
 
 

We all wear shoesIt may sound like I am going off the deep end again. Not really. This is a metaphor.

 

We all live in homes, but not the same ones. We all talk, but not with the same voice. We all eat, but not the same food.

 

Even if we all were to eat a Paleo-type diet, it would not be, and it should not be, the same for everyone. One size does not fit all.

 

The facts are that nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods are the healthiest foods for our individual cells to function, as they should. Eating these foods is also the major means to prevent tooth decay, gum disease, and other chronic diseases. A Paleo-type diet is a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory diet, but there is a huge variety of foods that can be eaten.

 

Some “experts” say that you must eat a low-carb, high-fat Paleo diet. That may be good for some.

 

Other “experts” say that you can never have milk products. That may be good for most.

 

Still, other “experts” say that you can never have beans if you say you are on a Paleo-type type. That also may be true for most.

 

However, there is no specific way that you must eat to be on a Paleo-type diet. The natural foods that are available in the immediate environment and prepared properly are the foods that become part of a Paleo-type diet.

 

Primal societies around the world, who have never experienced chronic diseases or tooth decay or gum disease, eat differently. They still eat a Paleo-type diet.

 

But, here is where diversity ends: No healthy primal societies today (or over millennia) eat (or have eaten) processed grains, processed sugars, processed seed oils, or pasteurized and homogenized milk products. No healthy primal societies today (or over millennia) have allowed their food supply to be tainted with antibiotics, hormones, preservatives, genetically modified organisms and foods, insecticides, and other toxic chemicals and heavy metals.

 

Put nutrient-dense foods into your body, and remove or avoid anything that is toxic to your body, and you will be eating a Paleo-type diet. There is no one size to fit all.

 

If you don’t want to miss out on new posts, sign up for my email alert list here.

If You Did Nothing Else, Do These 3 Things to Reduce Inflammation

        Alvin H. Danenberg, DDS       November 18, 2015

 

evolution rInflammation is a major problem.

 

If you read my blogs, you know I personally follow a primal diet and lifestyle. Also, if you read my blogs, you probably are concerned about your overall health as well as the health of your mouth. But, unlike me, you may not be as passionate as I. Yet, you still may want to do the best you can do within your personal limitations.

 

If you did nothing else for your overall health, do these 3 things to reduce chronic systemic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is the most incipient factor leading to chronic disease. These 3 steps will put you on the right track for a healthier body and a healthier mouth.

 

1. Eliminate processed seed and vegetable oils from your diet.
These oils contain large amounts of Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Examples are soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil. Although omega-6 fatty acids are one of the essential fatty acids that we must consume, they should come from whole foods and be consumed in moderation. These processed oils are inflammatory. In addition, they generally are damaged from the industrial processing and frequently come to us in an oxidized state, which adds an additional unhealthy problem for our bodies.

 

2. Eliminate processed grains from your diet.
Processed grains come in the form of bread, crackers, cereals, pasta, muffins, bagels, pretzels, cookies, cakes, and the list goes on and on. These are made from wheat, rye, barley, rice, oats and other grains that have a high carbohydrate density with little nutritional value. Many of their proteins cannot be digested properly and may irritate the intestinal lining. Irritation of the intestinal lining creates inflammation in the gut and leads to leaky gut, which is a breakdown in the gut lining. From there, other food particles and bacterial remnants can invade the blood system through a breakdown in the gut lining creating serious chronic inflammation and immune responses that may damage other organs of the body.

 

3. Eliminate processed sugars added to foods.
Processed sugars are inflammatory, spike insulin, and have little nutritional value. These refined sugars are contained in candy, soda, syrups, and table sugar to name a few foods. They contribute to weight gain, tooth decay, and disruptions in various hormones. They also promote unhealthy growth of bad bacteria and yeast in the gut that can threaten overall health from irritable bowel syndrome to brain disorders.

 

If you effectively eliminated these processed foods from your diet, within 30 days you would notice significant positive changes in your health.

 

For example, in a paper published in 2009 in the Journal of Periodontology, researchers studied a group of 10 people who lived for 30 days in a replicated Stone Age environment near the Rhine River in Switzerland. The design of this research required a diet that was devoid of these types of processed foods. In addition, during the 4-week course of the study, these individuals were not allowed to brush or floss their teeth. At the beginning of the study, any existing gum problems were recorded and the types of bacteria present in their mouths were determined.

 

At the completion of the 4-week experiment, the quantity of bacteria at the gum line around the teeth increased as expected. However, researchers were surprised by a reduction in gum infection. Bleeding from the gum pockets also decreased significantly. Although good bacteria increased, bad bacteria decreased. As I stated, these 10 individuals could not perform any oral hygiene for the entire 30 days – the researchers were shocked by the results! Eliminating these processed foods made a huge health difference.

The Connection is Impressive

evolution rPeriodontitis and Metabolic Syndrome are manifestations of chronic inflammation. Could there be a causal relationship between the chronic inflammation of gum disease and the chronic inflammation of metabolic syndrome? The answer lies in the fact that practically all chronic diseases start with inflammation on the cellular level. If chronic inflammation could be brought under control, cells might have the potential to heal.
 
Periodontitis is an advanced stage of gum disease where the gums are infected and the bone surrounding the teeth is breaking down leading to loss of teeth and spread of infection. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of disorders including high blood pressure, increased belly fat, high blood triglyceride, low blood HDL cholesterol, and increased blood sugar. These disorders lead to type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
 
Current research has shown that there is a definite association between metabolic syndrome and periodontitis (Here and Here). A review paper published in April 2015 discussed the relationships between autoimmunity and various chronic diseases, and a paper published in May 2014 described the role of autoimmune responses in periodontal disease.
 
Possibly reducing the markers for metabolic syndrome will also reduce the prevalence of periodontitis.

  • In a paper published in 2009, a Paleo-type diet reduced gingival inflammation, virulent bacteria around the gum tissues, and the depth of gum pockets.
  • In 2012, Ian Spreadbury described how acellular carbohydrates (processed grains and sugars) as well as remnants of harmful bacteria (lipopolysaccharides or LPS) could pass through the intestinal lining to create chronic inflammation.
  • In 2014, a Paleo-type diet was shown to improve the markers of metabolic syndrome.

 
Skeptics, and those who strictly adhere to the proof of randomized clinical trials, will argue that currently there is not sufficient long-term evidence to unequivocally verify a causal relationship between a Paleo-type diet and health. There is much research to be done and to be published in peer-reviewed journals before defined causation could be proven.
 
I don’t know how many years it will take for the scientific community to pronounce, “Now it is proven!” Personally, the current published research is enough to convince me. I believe a Paleo-type diet is part of the lifestyle to choose if you want to become and stay the healthiest your genetic code has designed for you. Embracing a Paleo lifestyle will not only help promote a healthy mouth but also assist in maintaining a healthy body. Heal one cell at a time, and your body will thank you. The backdrop for my conviction is the two-and-a-half million years of our species’ evolution.