While trying to understand some things about how allergens in the digestive system can cause disruption on the skin I ran across this regarding dermatitis herpetiformis which is almost always specific to celiacs. It does make me wonder though how similarly some other allergies may function or not:

"
What happens when a DH patient ingests gluten? In the intestine the
body's immune system mounts a response to the gluten. Part of that
response is the production...

from sciencenews.org

Late nights and disease
By Tina Hesman Saey
October 11th, 2008; Vol.174 #8 (p. 14)
It took only one night of too little sleep to change blood levels of an inflammation-causing protein in women volunteers
Staying up late makes for a swell time, but not in a good way.
A finding appearing in the Sept. 15 Biological Psychiatry offers more evidence that lack of sleep can lead to inflammation and disease.
...

alright alright! I get it now!

Gut. 2006 Jul;55(7):954-60. Epub 2006 Jan 19.
Gastrointestinal Candida colonisation promotes sensitisation against food antigens by affecting the mucosal barrier in mice.

Yamaguchi N, Sugita R, Miki A, Takemura N, Kawabata J, Watanabe J, Sonoyama K.
Laboratory of Food Biochemistry, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita-9, Nishi-9, Kita-ku, Sapporo-shi, 060-8589, Japan.
BACKGROUNDS AND...

WTH?!?!?!?
Does this mean what I think it means? That gut flora imbalance may throw our hunger/satiety response out of balance too?
wow. i really like france's scientists.


"Nutrition. 2008 Apr;24(4):348-59. Epub 2008 Feb 8. Autoantibodies against appetite-regulating peptide hormones and neuropeptides: putative modulation by gut microflora.

Fetissov SO, Hamze Sinno M, Coëffier M, Bole-Feysot C, Ducrotté P, Hökfelt T, Déchelotte P.
...

Look at the date on this research, it's brand new!

"Candida albicans produces different allergenic components that can induce allergic reactions and may be pathogenetically important in patients with AE and AS."

Mycoses. 2008 Aug 13.
Evaluation of Candida albicans allergens reactive with specific IgE in asthma and atopic eczema patients.

Khosravi AR, Bandghorai AN, Moazzeni M, Shokri H, Mansouri P, Mahmoudi M.
Mycology Research...

As you may know, I'm not onboard the anti-candida program per se but I do want to understand what is up with it.

"Since, as shown here in vitro, production of neutrophil chemotaxins by C. albicans is independent of glucose-feeding, a possible role of Candida-chemotaxins in the pathophysiology of cutaneous candidosis can no longer be excluded."

I believe this translates into the idea that Candida biproducts of its growth include things (chemotaxins) that are active...

FYI for anyone doing the anti-candida diet - certain probiotic formulas contain Saccharomyces boulardii. Read the labels to see if yours does. I think that garden of life ULTRA has it. there are even more references to Saccharomyces boulardii in pubmed if you're curious.

Saccharomyces boulardii decreases inflammation and...[Med Mycol. 2007] - PubMed Result

1: Med Mycol. 2007 Dec;45(8):691-700.
Saccharomyces boulardii decreases inflammation and intestinal colonization...

Silymarin is extracted from Milk Thistle.
Note the reference to "dust mite extract (DPE)-induced atopic dermatitis".
One can buy milk thistle and/or silymarin from health food/supplements stores. is that part of that pill that tmmdej (or whatever her name is) is hawking?

1: Int Immunopharmacol. 2008 Jun 28.
Inhibition of atopic dermatitis by topical application of silymarin in NC/Nga mice.

Kang JS, Yoon WK, Han MH, Lee H, Lee CW, Lee...

New results supporting both low-carb and mediterranean diets as health beneficial, even more so than low-fat diets at controlling blood-glucose levels and improving LDL to HDL ratio.

"Conclusions Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets may be effective alternatives to low-fat diets. The more favorable effects on lipids (with the low-carbohydrate diet) and on glycemic control (with the Mediterranean diet) suggest that personal preferences and metabolic considerations might inform...

"high intakes of high-fat dairy foods and CLA may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer" not to mention give us plenty of that delicious vitamin A and D. This is a study on women in Sweden.

"Each increment of 2 servings of high-fat dairy foods/d corresponded to a 13% reduction in the risk of colorectal cancer (multivariate rate ratio: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.96). For CLA, the multivariate rate ratio of colorectal cancer in a comparison of the 2 extreme quartiles of intake...

I'm not fully on the raw milk boat BUT I find the raw milk movement interesting and the news about it provocative.

from a recent article:

"The revolution will not be pasteurized: Inside the raw-milk underground" by Nathanael Johnson (Harper's Magazine)

"In a 2006 study of thousands of children living on farms in Shropshire, England, Strachan and another scientist, Michael Perkin, found that raw-milk drinkers were unlikely to have eczema or to...

A study and Review from Denmark. "To assess the effect of antioxidant supplements on mortality in randomized primary and secondary prevention trials."

"Because we examined only the influence of synthetic antioxidants, our findings should not be translated to potential effects of fruits and vegetables."

"Conclusions Treatment with beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase mortality. The potential roles of vitamin C and selenium on mortality...

Anti-inflammatories, antidepressants, birth-control pills - theres a bundle of meds that can cause some nutritional deficiencies.

For more info, go to U of Maryland's Med School Complementary Med Database:

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/

Click on "Depletions" then you can click on the type of med and see what is possible.

For example Birth Control Pills can cause depletions of:
Magnesium

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)...

"...results indicate that Spirulina can modulate the Th profile in patients with allergic rhinitis by suppressing the differentiation of Th2 cells mediated, in part, by inhibiting the production of IL-4. To our knowledge, this is the first human feeding study that demonstrates the protective effects of Spirulina towards allergic rhinitis."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...&dopt=Citation

Note: this is...

I found this to be an interesting and, imho, balanced article about vinegar. It helps to make some sense of the hype that we sometimes see regarding apple cider vinegar. It covers both misconceptions and known benefits of taking in vinegar.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/the-...of-vinegar.htm

For those that are skeptical, this is the summary:

"Obviously, much more research needs to be done to investigate all of vinegar's healing potential....