Enteroimmunology

Book excerpt: Enteroimmunology is the emerging field of medicine that studies the enteric immune system and microbial biome of the digestive system, and their interaction with diet, digestion, the enteric and central nervous systems and endocrine functions. It explores and elucidates how these systems affect each other, impacting health and disease. Enteroimmune disease is not limited to diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases but also cause systemic and neurological diseases. Neurological diseases discussed include autism, migraine, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, bipolar and rage disorders. The gastrointestinal mucosa is predominantly lined with enterocytes that form a continuous barrier throughout the digestive path. These cells absorb nutrients while excluding the trillions of bacteria and other microbes that inhabit the gut. Just below the enterocytes, the mucosa contains over half of the body’s immune cells. These cells effect immune activity that protect the body from infection. However, they can also promote chronic inflammation, not just in the intestines, but in any organ system of the body. This book details the physiologic functions of the digestive and immune cells; their reactions to proteins, antigens and nutrients in the diet; the role of bacterial toxins and immune mediators; and the hormones that mediate appetite, GI motility and digestion. It explores the mechanisms occurring in immune dysfunction; when the immune response, rather than protect health, promotes chronic inflammation, responsible for depression, obesity, diabetes, acne, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, migraines, fibromyalgia, IBS, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, and many other chronic inflammatory diseases. Understanding the immune system of the gut, provides insight to how these mechanisms impact both the enteric and central nervous systems. Dr. Lewis elucidates the physiology and pathophysiology of the intestinal and immune cells with clarity and humor that makes reading this book a pleasure. Enteroimmunology describes how various types of food sensitivities, including IgG antergies, which are analogous to IgE allergies, cause a wide array of chronic disease. This book explains mast cell activation syndrome, leaky gut syndrome, small bowel overgrowth, dysbiosis, metabolic syndrome and describes how to achieve long-term effective resolution of these conditions through diet. The book provides examples of a variety of conditions and the pathological processes that underlie them and then acts a guide to the tertiary treatment for the condition. There are chapters on obesity and metabolic syndrome, mood and thought disorders, fibromyalgia, autoimmune diseases, interstitial cystitis, sexual dysfunction, acne and other diseases. A chapter is dedicated to traumatic brain injury and its secondary prevention. Another chapter focuses on cancer prevention and explains the dietary factors responsible for the majority of human cancers, and provides practical, evidenced-based advice for cancer prevention. There is a chapter explaining how the mitochondria and aging, detailing of how individuals can maintain vibrant, healthy, mitochondria. There are chapters on the role of sleep disorders in enteroimmune disease, explaining the role osteoimmunity in osteoporosis and on prevention of hearing loss. Enteroimmunology is a guide to the prevention and the reversal of chronic disease by first understanding, and then using diet and nutrition to reverse the underlying causation of these diseases. Enteroimmunology explains the emerging understanding of the ecology of the gut and its relationship with diet, food and nutrition. This highly acclaimed book, now in its 3rd edition, has been extensively updated and expanded. It provides citations to National Library of Medicine PMID numbers that link to over a thousand free, full-length scientific