Allergy Drugs Fight Obesity and Diabetes in Mice

Nature Medicine via Ivanhoe Newswire ^ | July 29, 2009 | NA

[neverdem]

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Crack open the latest medical textbook to the chapter on type 2 diabetes and you'll be hard pressed to find the term "immunology" anywhere. Metabolic conditions and immunologic conditions are, with a few exceptions, thought to be distant cousins. Recent studies, however, two of which are from Harvard Medical School researchers, have linked type 2 diabetes with immunology in a way that might persuade researchers to start viewing them as siblings.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes both involve abnormalities in the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas, but their root causes are completely different. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the pancreas, destroying its ability to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes is a strictly metabolic condition in which cells grow increasingly deaf to insulin signals and thus lose their ability to metabolize glucose. In both cases, blood glucose levels rise, sometimes to fatal levels.

Researchers used two common over-the-counter allergy medications to reduce both obesity and type 2 diabetes in mice. The medications, called Zaditor and cromolyn, stabilize a population of inflammatory immune cells called mast cells.

The Harvard researchers assert that it is becoming increasingly clear that we should also think of type 2 diabetes in the context of immune function. Guo-Ping Shi, biochemist from the Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, began to suspect such a connection when, in a previous study, he found mast cells present in a variety of inflammatory vascular diseases.

Mast cells are immune cells that facilitate healing in wounded tissue by increasing blood flow to the site. In certain conditions, however, mast cells build up to levels far beyond what the body needs. When this happens, these cells become unstable and eventually, like punctured trash bags, leak molecular "garbage" into the tissue. This results in chronic inflammation that can cause asthma and certain allergies.

As Shi and postdoctoral research fellow Jian Liu discovered, mast cells were far more abundant in fat tissue of obese and diabetic humans and mice than they were in fat tissue from individuals of normal weight. This led to the obvious question, by regulating mast cells, could we then control the obesity and diabetic symptoms?

To find out, Shi and colleagues took a group of obese and diabetic mice and, for a period of two months, treated them with either Zaditor or cromolyn.

The mice were divided into four groups. The first was the control group. The second group was simply switched to a healthy diet. The third was given cromolyn or Zaditor. And the fourth group was given the drug and switched to a healthy diet.

While symptoms of the second “healthy diet” group improved moderately, the third “allergy medicine” group demonstrated dramatic improvements in both body weight and diabetes. The fourth group exhibited nearly 100 percent recovery in all areas.

To bolster these findings, Shi and colleagues then took a group of mice whose ability to produce mast cells was genetically impaired. Despite three months of a diet rich in sugar and fat, these mice neither became obese nor developed diabetes. "The best thing about these drugs is that we know it's safe for people," said Shi. "The remaining question now is: Will this also work for people?" Shi now intends to test both cromolyn and Zaditor on obese and diabetic non-human primates.

SOURCE: Nature Medicine, July 26, 2009

[kmiller1k]

Anecdotal observation. One month ago involved in car accident that had me on the couch laying down taking soma and naproxen sodium or advil for pain. Was worried that this immobility would cause weight gain but no weight gain, loss of muscle tone but no weight gain.

Purchased generic Zantac today to take one tablet per day for 30 days and see if there is a change in weight. Will also watch diet (I eat a good diet anyway). Talked with pharmacist about this study, he didn’t know anything about it but was intrigued.

[metmom]

There’s also this little tidbit that I found fascinating, apparently a connection between Mast Cell Activation Disorder and high cholesterol.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18662284

[metmom]

Activity levels have minimal impact on my weight.

After vigorous walking 45 mins a night, 5 nights a week in addition to taking care of three preschoolers, and watching what I ate, I lost total of four pounds.

It just won’t come off.

The only thing that’s effective for me is cutting wheat out of my diet completely, but right now wheat is one of the half dozen things I can eat with no symptoms, even though I test fairly allergic to it.

My biggest problem is finding a doctor who’s willing to work with me to try to find out what it is.

[Jim Noble]

Crack open the latest medical textbook to the chapter on type 2 diabetes and you'll be hard pressed to find the term "immunology" anywhere. Metabolic conditions and immunologic conditions are, with a few exceptions, thought to be distant cousins.

What a bunch of crap!

The immunology of diabetes has been a subject of intense interest since I enrolled in medical school in 1972, and before.

[metmom]

Mast cells are immune cells that facilitate healing in wounded tissue by increasing blood flow to the site.

More anecdotal observations.

When I have surgery, the wound stays very red for a long time generally 6 months, but I heal with very little scar tissue.

[kmiller1k]

Me too. Had abdominal surgery almost two years ago. Scar is purple and ugly but smooth as any skin around it. Been wondering about thinking it would resolve after a year but still ugly. But smooth.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link.

[Nik Naym]

“It was also dismissed as psychological by the medical community, as was PMS.”

I can attest that PMS is VERY real. As a married man, I suffered from PMS for many years.

[metmom]

Basically everyone knew it, but the professionals.

[metmom]

From everything I’ve read and heard recently, it would be cromolyn sodium that would do the trick.

I found out it’s a mast cell stabilizer.

[kmiller1k]

Okay I bought the generic Zantac...wish I knew how much the mice were given so I could take equivalent dose. Cromolyn sodium I find as Nasalcrom—is that the only method of dosage? I worry about a nasal spray (thinking of Dristan) and being addicted.

[metmom]

I tried either Zantac or Tagament at one time and believed I had side-effects from it. Now that I think back, I’m not so sure. I’d have to try again.

If you google up Nasalcrom, it’s supposed to be good for nasal symptoms but not supposed to get into the blood stream.

I don’t know how to get other forms of it without a prescription.

I think I tried Nasalcrom once and the smell was so bad I passed on it. It was like spraying my nose with a liquid plastic bag. It didn’t feel that way, it smelled that way.
However, I’m to the point that I’ll give it a try.

My symptoms came back with a vengeance yesterday which landed me in the doctor’s office for breathing treatment. It was very windy out and I’m very allergic to whatever blooms at this time of year. Add the food to that and there can be cross reactions. I feel like cr@p right now and am wondering if I’ll need ANOTHER trip to the doctor today.

Anti-histamines are not the same as mast cell stabilizers, although they may help for someone where allergies is the trigger for mast cell activation as opposed to irritable mast cells.

I hope it works out for you.

[hennie pennie]

[quote]When I eat most foods, especially vegetables and fruits, grains not so much, I get a great many of those symptoms.[/quote]

Hello metmom,

I had to register when I read your posting about your intolerance to so many fruits and vegetables.

Please do some online research on FRUCTOSE - almost all fruits, except berries, have huge amounts of fructose, and many vegetables, such as carrots, for instance, also have VERY high levels of fructose.

It is possible that you have what is called: Fructose Intolerance.

This condition used to be termed Dietary Fructose Intolerance, to separate it from an inherited condition called Hereditary Fructose Intolerance.

Some experts suspect that at least 45 percent of all persons of white European descent have difficulty digesting fructose. However, they have no idea whether other races are similarly affected, as the only real research done thus far was in Europe.

There are a number of low fructose vegetables such spinach & red leaf lettuce & celery, but there are not many.

I strongly encourage you to research the exact phrase, ‘FRUCTOSE INTOLERANCE’ on google.

And to get advice about what foods to avoid, you’d also want to check out all the online resources for the genetic variety, too - referred to as HFI for Hereditary Fructose Intolerance.

I’ve dealt with Celiac Disease for decades, but within four days of going on a total ZERO-Fructose “fast” I was pain free for the first time in memory, and had a total complete cessation of any/all digestive problems and peculiar “allergic-type” reactions to food. It all vanished in mere days.

Two American researchers concerned with the impact of fructose upon human health are John LUSTIG, M.D., and Richard J. JOHNSON, M.D.

Also, the European Journal of Nutrition recently had an article suggesting that in order to successfully combat obesity there should be a Fructose-Index of all foods, to replace the current Glucose-Index, as much recent research suggests that the massive fructose consumption of modern times could be behind the obesity epidemic, and could also contribute to the drastic rise in type 2 diabetes.

In past times, most humans consumed diets based upon STARCH - such as rice or potatoes or cornmeal - all of which are exceptionally low in fructose. And before agriculture, most hunter gatherer societies had a diet based primarily on meat & fish.

I had NO idea that all those “healthy” fruits & vegetables, of which we are “supposed” to be eating NINE servings of each day, were making me so ill, and for many years! It is really unfortunate that so few nutritionists are aware of how great a percentage of people have severe problems with fructose — and perhaps ??? you are one of them?

Well, I am not a doctor, nor a nutritionist, but you might want to try a NON-veggie, NON-fruit diet and see how you feel in a week or two.

And you might try going on a strict gluten-free diet which Freepers muawiyah and blam are so knowledgable about.

Also, you might get a copy of the book entitled, “THE SUGAR FIX: The High-Fructose Fallout that is Making You Fat and Sick,” by Richard J. Johnson, M.D.

Good luck to you!

[metmom]

Thanks. I’ll look into that. I can’t eat berries, they really bother me, so I’m not so sure about that. But I will check it out.

I think I may be histamine intolerant, as the foods listed are the list of ones I can’t eat, about in the order they dropped out of my diet. Likewise with histamine intolerance, what I’ve found on the internet seems to come mostly from Europe and some from NZ.

What’s with the American medical community that is doesn’t want to deal with out of the ordinary, not easily fixable conditions?

I was checked for Celiac disease and came back negative. I wish it were something so simple.

I have an appointment with an allergist in NYC at a major allergy center there.

Right now, I’m down to pork and oatmeal and Loratadine. The goal is to find something, anything, that I don’t react to and eat that for survival purposes and try something new every day and hope for the best.

It is very difficult to get the medical community to work with you on this. Unless you’re more obviously close to dying than I appear, you just can’t seem to get any help dealing with this.

I’m going in for testing on my digestive tract in the nest few days and a couple weeks later. Not going to be fun as I am apprehensive about how I might react to the stuff I have to ingest for them.

Thanks for your concern.

And welcome to FR.

[metmom]

I just did a quick google search on fructose intolerance.

I don’t think that’s it. The symptoms don’t fit for one thing, and the foods listed don’t fit what I can’t eat.

I tend to break out and itch with this, even though I don’t test allergic to a lot of what I react to.

The histamine intolerance fits better with my symptoms and connects the dots better for my health history than anything else I’ve come across so far.

Now the problem is trying to find a doctor who will take it seriously and look into it. There’s got to be SOME way for testing for it since they know it exists and what causes it, just like they can test for other intolerances.

[hennie pennie]

Okay, thanks for your quick response; when you specifically mentioned in that one posting that both fruits & veggies gave you problems, I simply ‘had’ to say something.

I stayed off all fructose for half a year, and then went all-out CARB, simply because I was curious what would happen. It took six weeks to replicate my initial symptoms, which started around age 14 and lasted for decades until last year when I came across comments from the Mayo Clinic about fructose intolerance being pervasive in America, but nobody knowing much about it.

I was quite amazed in reintroducing carbs to learn that EVERY time I had any Tabasco Sauce, that I’d get sevreal bright red raised itchy hives about 36 hours later — something all brand new, as I never had hives ever before in my life.

I hope you have more success with the docs accurately determining what is the exact nature of your problem.

I wonder if there are any medical bulletin boards where you could post all your symptoms and their triggers, and see what medical professionals advise?

Or make an appointment with the Mayo Clinic or with some doctor whose research specialty is histamine?

Please come back to this thread when you get the results of your tests, okay?

Thanks!

[metmom]

The nurse at my PCP sort of jokingly suggested I try for the Mystery Diagnosis show. Considering that every doctor I’ve seen so far says they’ve never seen the symptom set I display before, it’s a thought......

I think there’s probably a lot of things that they don’t know about because it’s usually written off under a generic diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

[metmom]

I was quite amazed in reintroducing carbs to learn that EVERY time I had any Tabasco Sauce, that I’d get sevreal bright red raised itchy hives about 36 hours later — something all brand new, as I never had hives ever before in my life.

Food allergy reactions can be delayed like that, which is what makes tracking down the offending food so difficult. You could be reacting to something you ate days ago and not know it. Instead, you'd be thinking that you're reacting to something you just ate.

You ought to get a list of the ingredients in that Tabasco sauce and keep it on hand in case you react to something else. You might be able to figure out the offending substance. Problem is, the best way to do that is keep a detailed food log (pain in the butt).

If you're dealing with a real allergy there, you can pretty much be assured that as you eat the Tabasco sauce, you'll react sooner and stronger every time unless you avoid it for months to a year or more.

My advice to anyone who thinks they're having an allergic reaction to any food, is to stay away from it because in my experience, it will get worse with repeated exposure. And keep liquid (dye free) Benedryl and maybe an Epi-Pen on hand.

A hives reaction to food is about the last step before possible anaphylaxis. It's a more serious warning sign than most people realize. Most people take it far to lightly.

Be careful.

[hennie pennie]

Thanks for the suggestions and cautionary advice. I know nothing about hives, and my online searches were not terribly helpful — until I restricted the google search to site:freerepublic.com

It will be easy to avoid Tabasco, as I’ve never generally used it.

The only reason I have Tabasco in my house is that last month somewhere online I read a personal account by someone that whenever they ‘felt’ that were coming down with influenza, that they’d take a tablespoon (or what it 2 Tbsp.?) of red pepper and plop it in a cup and stir in boiling water, and then drink the concoction — and consequently they never came down with the flu.

I decided to try a version of this while I was WELL, to see what would happen, but didn’t want to take red pepper, and decided upon purchasing a small bottle of Tabasco Sauce and trying it out in boiling water — “just” a couple teaspoons.

It was much easier to get down than I’d imagined, but I’m glad that I know NOW that I’d better not play around with any hot pepper in attempt to avoid influenza, because I’d probably recover from the flu, but were I to have a dangerous allergic reaction, who knows what might ensue?

Thanks for your expertise.

I do not like taking Benedryl by mouth, but I have a tube of the cream, and am treating what little tiny bumps remain of the intitial hives.