INSPIRATIONAL STORY 

Heroic family

I met A. during a flight to SF about one year ago. I am not particularly talkative during my travels, I actually try to avoid talking about my job as a doctor. When the meal was served, my neighbor paid particular attention to its composition, asking the flight attendant to confirm that the meal didn’t have specific ingredients like gluten, diary and a few more that I’ve forgotten :). Although I wasn’t surprised (I was actually admiring her rigor), at some point, she turned to me and, almost embarrassed, said: “I know it might look weird, I am really intolerant to all those foods and I get really sick if I eat them.” Starting from there, our conversation was open and we ended up exchanging emails.

A few months later, A. wrote me an email to have an extensive checkup like we had previously discussed as a way to more deeply explore her food intolerances, allergies, and gut flora. But quite soon after that, she mentioned that actually she would really need more help for her 8-year-old son, who has been diagnosed with ADHD and also has multiple food intolerances and allergies. I was amazed by the tremendous effort that A. (and no doubt all in the family) put into getting involved in her son’s health programme. We were mainly working on the gut-brain connection and its balance, but it was a particularly challenging task because the boy tolerated a limited number of foods (i.e. he couldn’t eat any citrus, nor apples, not even ice cream). But the most difficult aspect to manage was behavioural, since he had a hard time at school, was moody, tired and pretty addicted to his iPad. With a lot of patience and love, A. helped her son to make amazing progress. She paid attention to every one of his reactions with the eye of en expert - she was actually reading many medical articles on the topic and accumulated a huge understanding of biology and human behaviour. I promised her a job of “health coach” if one day she wants to make a change in her career.

I was moved to tears when one day I saw a photo on social media of her son enjoying his first apple and sorbet in years! And although the treatments were certainly part of the reason, nothing would have worked without the love and extraordinary commitment of the entire family. They deserve a big round of applause and our profound admiration. If you have similar experiences or want to discuss more with A., I will gladly put you in touch.

HUMAN MILK MICROBIOME & BREASTFEEDING

The breast milk microbiome was considered sterile until recently. But it is now known that it contains a complex community of bacteria that help establish the infant’s gut microbiome. If this process is impaired, the infant can present a dysbiosis (unbalanced gut microbiota) that can increase the risk for some chronic diseases like allergies, asthma, or obesity. While it's unclear how the breast milk microbiome develops, there are two main hypotheses: one theory posits that it originates in the maternal mammary gland, while the other theory suggests it is due to retrograde inoculation by the infant's oral microbiome.

This recent study considerably expands the understanding of the human milk microbiota and the factors that might influence it, such as mode of feeding, number of siblings, sex, mother’s health, mode of delivery, antibiotics, etc. The diversity of milk microbiome is evidently greater if the infant was directly fed breast milk compared to indirect breastfeeding such as using a breast pump. Greater diversity in the microbiome is generally associated with a better health. In contrast, potential opportunistic pathogens like Stenotrophomonas and Pseudomonadaceae were mostly found among indirect breastfeeding samples.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

This week I did my second cycle of FMD (you’ll remember that the first was at the beginning of January, if you’re out there following along with me). I again tracked my glucose continuously with the FreeStyle Libre and my ketone levels with urinary strips and/or finger prick blood tests (if you are following me on Instagram, you might see few pictures about).

In addition, as I chase down endocrine disruptors, I am checking my environmental toxins, namely heavy metals, pesticides, parabens, phtalates, etc. (using urine tests). I am checking pollution levels using Plume Lab app (if you want go deeper, they also have a device, Flow, that measures pollution in real time wherever you are). Although I am trying to spend more time out in nature, like most people I spend the majority of the day indoors, and you might be surprised at how many pollutants we can have in our houses and/or offices. Nota Bene: You can use a homekit like www.kudzuscience.com or HomeAirCheck etc., especially if anyone of your family/colleagues experience itchy eyes, respiratory symptoms improved when going outside, recent new decoration and/or refurbishment etc.

Moreover, I am aware of some of my genetic variants (i.e. CYPA12F*, GSTP1, NAT2*5A) that would slightly  increase my risk to toxic exposure (aromatic hydrocarbures, pesticide, tabac, fried food, some medications etc.) compared to the general population, even if the genetics of my liver detoxification are acceptably good overall.