A Natural Treatment That Shows Promise - Beetroot

[tex]

Hi All,

A recent research report shows that drinking beetroot juice, (which is a source of nitrates), can significantly lower blood pressure. While that is certainly an admirable effect, in itself, I'm more interested in what happens in the digestive system, when beetroot juice is ingested. According to the report, the research showed that the inorganic nitrate content in beetroot is converted into nitric oxide gas, when beetroot juice is ingested.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10433877.stm

Hmmmmmm. It just so happens that nitric oxide is involved with the inflammatory bowel diseases. In fact, research shows that the production of nitric oxide synthase, (the enzyme that converts arginine to nitric oxide), is increased in both ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease, and presumably, also in microscopic colitis, (though I'm not aware of any research that has specifically been conducted to confirm this with MC). It has been demonstrated that treatment with corticosteroids does not seem to attenuate the increased expression of nitric oxide synthase, in IBD patients, and it has been suggested that this may be the reason why many IBD patients are refractive to corticosteroid treatment, (IOW, this may explain why treatment with corticosteroids doesn't resolve their IBD symptoms). However, note that the following article reaches the wrong conclusion, by suggesting that inhibiting the production of nitric oxide would be beneficial for treatment. IOW, they interpret the increased presence of nitric oxide synthase, as a sign that this is a cause of inflammation, when in fact, it is probably a sign that the immune system is trying to produce more nitric oxide, as a defensive mechanism, in an attempt to try to suppress the inflammation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC500929/

The reason why I am suggesting that the above-referenced research article reached an incorrect conclusion, is because subsequent research has shown that treatment with nitric oxide, on mice with drug-induced colitis, results in a suppression of their inflammation. If the proposed reasoning in the previous article were correct, this action should have resulted in an exacerbation of symptoms, instead.

http://www.nature.com/labinvest/journal ... 0454a.html

Soooooooooo, I'm suggesting that someday, research may show that drinking beetroot juice is an effective treatment to help suppress the inflammation of IBDs, including MC. That is, I believe that it can be demonstrated, if researchers ever get around to it.

Wouldn't that be interesting?

Tex

[Joefnh]

Tex that is interesting. I have read similar articles discussing the effects of NO2 on inflammation in the body. Where you able to determine if there was a quantity which appeared to have an effect?

-Joe

[tex]

Joe,

You may need to reread my post. I apologize, but it virtually always takes me quite a while to edit my posts for accuracy, and before I get halfway through, someone, (or some two or three ), almost always read it before I'm finished. Sometimes, by the time I finish, the post doesn't even resemble the first draft. There was an incorrect reference, when you read it, (the last reference was listed twice, and the correct one was missing), and there was some missing commentary, that's sort of vital for accurately assessing the research conclusions.

I'm pretty sure that some, (possibly informal), treatment experiments with human colitis patients have probably been done with NO, but I haven't seen any conclusive results, to date, (research takes forever). Therefore, I have no idea how much quantity would be necessary, to show a therapeutic effect. I was simply forecasting a possible future use for a natural treatment, namely beetroot juice.

Tex

[Joefnh]

That's ok Tex thanks for the pointer to the research

Joe

[takef586]

My wife has bought me a bottle of biological beetroot juice in a health store. However, this juice comes with an additive : "natural latic acid". Is it going to defeat the purpose?

[tex]

That's a tough question. Here's why. I don't know what the labeling laws are in your country, but here in the U. S., pharmaceuticals are exempt from the food labeling laws. They are required to list the active ingredients, but they are not required to list any or all of the inactive ingredients, nor are they required to list any of the allergens that must be reported on food labels. Therefore, whereas a food that contains a milk derivative would require a statement that the product contains milk or dairy ingredients, a pharmaceutical product does not have to even mention it on the label.

So, the question is, what do they mean by natural lactic acid, (I'm assuming you meant lactic acid, not "latic" acid)? They might mean that it is made from potatoes, molasses, sugar beets, cane, grapes, corn, or alfalfa, for example. Or, they might mean that it is made from whey, which is a dairy product, of course. It's impossible to say. Lactic acid is found naturally in sour milk, but it's also commercially produced from whey, or any of the items listed above. If there's an 800 number on the bottle, you can call the manufacturer, to find out for sure. Otherwise, I would be afraid that it contains a dairy product.

Tex

[grannyh]

Now for a really dumb question... what is beetroot juice? I can't stand beets... does the juice come from actual roots of beets?
grannyh

[tex]

The answer is yes, it's the juice of the ordinary garden variety of what we all call "beets".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetroot

Tex

[collagastritis84]

Hey Tex, I was doing some research on Nitric Oxide to see if its safe to supplement L arginine(amino acid that converts to NO) into my diet. I saw you had a post on the subject, I also found this study suggesting that NOS deficiency may play a role in IDB. I just wanted to know if you have any other info on arginine supplementation for IDB?

Increased disease activity in eNOS-deficient mice in experimental colitis

Abstract
Oral dextran sodium sulfate (DSS, 3%) produces experimental colitis with many features of human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), (leukocyte extravasation, cachexia, and histopathology). Previous studies suggest that the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in blood cells or in the endothelium contribute to this injury. However, until now no study has been performed to directly evaluate the role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in IBD. We compared disease activity in wild-type (eNOS+/+) and eNOS-deficient (eNOS−/−) mice in the DSS model of colitis. Administration of DSS induced weight loss, stool blood, and overt histopathology in both mouse strains. Disease activity was dramatically increased in eNOS−/− mice compared to wild types. Histologically, eNOS-deficient mice had greater leukocyte infiltration, gut injury, and expressed higher levels of the mucosal addressin, MAdCAM-1. These results demonstrate that eNOS plays an important role in limiting injury to the intestine during experimental colitis and altered eNOS content and/or activity may contribute to human IBD.
Author Keywords: Nitric oxide; eNOS; Inflammatory bowel disease; Free radicals

[tex]

There seems to be a fair amount of research concerning the role of NO and NOS in IBDs, (some of it conflicting), but to be honest, I'm not very well acquainted with it, and I know nothing about the use of arginine supplementation as a possible treatment.

Sorry,
Tex