Posted on 09/27/2022 9:29:06 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Diets high in guar gum, a common food additive and dietary fiber, limit inflammation and delayed the onset of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms in mice.
"Dietary fibers are potent modulators of immune responses and can control inflammation in multiple diseases."
Dr. Osborne and colleagues exposed groups of mice to a variety of diets—a control 5% cellulose fiber diet, a diet entirely lacking in dietary fiber, or diets enriched (30%) with fiber in either resistant starch, inulin, pectin, or guar gum. Guar gum was the only fiber type that significantly limited the MS-like symptoms.
Guar gum—guaran—is extracted from guar beans, and is often used as an additive to thicken and stabilize food and animal feed, and in industrial applications. India and Pakistan are major growers of the bean.
"Guar beans aren't that common in western diets, and the gum isn't used at these high levels as an additive in the west," says Naomi Fettig.
"Experts have consistently been saying fiber is good for you—and a variety of fiber sources is important to immune health—but there hasn't been very much critical work into identifying how the body responds to different fiber types. It's fascinating that this particular source has such an impact."
In the US and Canada, the average daily intake of fiber is 15 grams—current recommendations are double that at 30 grams.
After the gum is broken down by microbiota of mice, the resulting molecules appear to reduce the activity and proliferation of a type of CD4+ T cells, Th1 cells, that play a key part in activating the autoimmune response. It's that response that leads to MS-like symptoms in mice. The effects of fiber on Th1 cells were largely unknown prior to this study, and these findings suggest that the biochemical differences in fiber structures can influence diverse immune pathways.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I would like to know how they are instigating MS in mice in order to study it .... since pretty much all the literature to this point has said they don’t know what causes it.
My doctor checks out supplements, etc at webmd. Here’s what they say about guar gum:
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-919/guar-gum
Thankfully I don’t have MS, because guar gum is one of the MSG mimics that give me nasty headaches.
Guar gum is used in most ice cream, so that’s OK with me.
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