As internet voices and a few leading medical figures promote Ketogenic diets for autoimmune diseases, we can appreciate those behind the scenes doing the lab science that reveals the pathways connecting the dots. Recently, University of California – San Francisco researchers reported their mouse study’s findings regarding Beta-hydroxybutyrate and how this metabolic product reduced findings of autoimmune disease. This shines some light on why so many are promoting these diets and so many are finding benefits from them for a variety of autoimmune conditions.
Autoimmune conditions arise when the normal immune functions of our bodies go awry. Whether triggered by a toxin, an infection, or an overzealous inflammatory response, these attacks on our cells and tissues cause a lot of damage. Depending on the location of the damage, autoimmune conditions can appear practically anywhere in the body. Conventional therapy usually focuses on either anti-inflammatory medications or therapies to turn off the immune response. These do help, but do not get at root causes or employ all the tools we have available.
Functional medicine goes further by searching for triggers we can modify. Sometimes toxins are found to be setting off the autoimmune cascade. Removing exposure to these toxins and augmenting our body’s natural detoxification mechanisms often dampens the severity and sometimes resolves the disease. Sometimes infections set off the disease cascade. In these cases, if the infection is ongoing, therapy can likewise reduce or resolve the condition. In some cases, however, the infection is long gone while the autoimmune process has taken a life of its own on.
For those with continuing autoimmune processes and symptoms, we want options besides life-long prescriptions, especially when many of those drugs have concerning side effects. Prescription immune suppressants often increase the risk of other infections or even cancers. They may be necessary to hinder the initial severe inflammation, but other options are needed that are less risky.
This study by UCSF researchers provides some evidence to back up the internet hype for ketogenic diets. In a mouse model, they found that the ketogenic diet increased the amount of beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) produced. This chemical is a ketone, one of the intended metabolic products of a keto diet. The increased BHB led to an improvement in mice with experimental multiple sclerosis. Through further experiments and investigation, they found that increased BHB induced a particular bacterium in the mouse gut to produce another chemical called indole lactic acid (ILA). This chemical then suppressed an immune cell called Th17 which plays a major role in immune control. Ultimately the mice with Multiple sclerosis would improve with either treatment with BHB, ILA, or the bacteria which produced ILA.
While this study needs to be tested in human models to confirm that we can see similar benefits there, this encourages those of us in functional medicine to continue guiding our autoimmune patients towards ketogenic diets. Helping our patients achieve healthier, more abundant lives requires keeping an eye on this research while employing what we see works for our patients in the clinic today. We can all look forward to the day when these natural alternatives become the norm even in conventional medicine.
Original Article:
Margaret Alexander, Vaibhav Upadhyay, Rachel Rock, Lorenzo Ramirez, Kai Trepka, Patrycja Puchalska, Diego Orellana, Qi Yan Ang, Caroline Whitty, Jessie A. Turnbaugh, Yuan Tian, Darren Dumlao, Renuka Nayak, Andrew Patterson, John C. Newman, Peter A. Crawford, Peter J. Turnbaugh. A diet-dependent host metabolite shapes the gut microbiota to protect from autoimmunity. Cell Reports, 2024; 114891 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114891
Thanks to Science Daily:
University of California – San Francisco. “How the keto diet could one day treat autoimmune disorders.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 November 2024. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241104112030.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.