Hello Everyone!  It's been a while since my last post.  I have noticed that many people have CHRONIC INFLAMMATION!  I just was informed by my MOM that she too may have Lupus, and is suffering from many of the symptoms of her own immune system attacking her good cells and tissues causing CHAOS in her body!  WOW!

After hearing this, I first found out a general description of what Lupus is, and then immediately searched for a solution!  I BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ WILL SOLVE THE INFLAMMATION, OR AT BEST SLOW IT DOWN, COOL IT OFF SO TO SPEAK AND PROVIDE RELIEF!! 

The great thing about the internet and the WORLD WIDE WEB, is the information that is out there! If you know what you are looking for you can and WILL find it!  Below is a great article with plenty of refrences and data to back it up!

Juice, Inflammation and Auto-Immune Diseases

 When foreign substances enter our bodies, we have powerful defense mechanisms involving our immune systems to prevent those substances from causing damage. Our bodies do this through chemical and cellular mechanisms that result in inflammation. However, the inflammation that results is not without its own drawbacks. Think about a mosquito bite, an asthma attack, or Joe’s urticaria. These are reactions that we can directly observe, but there are many others that occur throughout our bodies that contribute to heart disease, stroke, and Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus, to name a few. These inflammatory processes protect us, but cause disease when the response is profound.

Fasting (in the form of total, subtotal and juice fasting) has been studied for over 40 years in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients(1-6). A review of the literature demonstrated that short-duration fasting followed by a vegetarian diet can result in clinically significant long-term improvements in patients with RA(7). In general, the patients that responded the best were those with the least advanced disease. An increase in symptoms was most notably observed with reintroduction of high-fat meats, dairy, and gluten.

The foods we eat play a role in the amount of inflammation in our bodies. Eating a high-fat meal, for example, causes fat, muscle, and white blood cells to release strong inflammatory chemicals like IL-6 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α)(8-10). Increased IL-6 is implicated in diabetes, depression, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis amongst other autoimmune conditions(11-14). TNF-α is involved with many autoimmune diseases as well and in fact there is a whole class of powerful drugs that inhibit TNF-α to treat these diseases(15,16). IL-17 is another of these powerful chemicals that increases inflammation by causing cells to release more pro-inflammatory substances. It also has been shown to play a role in autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disease and it increases in the bloodstream after eating a high-fat meal(17,18). A recent study done in Italy showed that drinking a fruit juice drink (water, 40% pineapple, 18% blackcurrant, 5% plum, and sugar) although processed, but rich in phytochemicals, reduced the high levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-17 after eating a high-fat meal(19). Two other studies demonstrated that drinking orange juice or a strawberry beverage decreased the pro-inflammatory effects of a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal(20,21). Although none of these studies were done with fresh expressed juice, they all showed a decrease in these inflammatory chemicals after eating high-fat meals. I would love to see the same studies done with freshly expressed juice, which has even higher levels of phytochemicals than processed juices.

These studies demonstrate how the addition of juices rich in phytochemicals can decrease the inflammatory responses that result from eating certain foods. While we do not know for certain that these are the mechanisms that can improve disease, this probably comes as no surprise to anyone who has experienced significant improvements in their health during and following a juice fast. We frequently hear people say that their joint pain was significantly improved during a juice fast. It is also not surprising why symptoms can return so quickly after a juice fast if we return to eating a substantial amount of high-fat, processed foods. While these diseases involve complex mechanisms that we do not yet fully understand, this is some early research to suggest how diet can play a role in increasing or decreasing the symptoms from these diseases. The good news is, unless you have a hard to control autoimmune disease, you can decrease the inflammation following a less-than-perfect meal by including freshly expressed juice as part of your diet. Even better, as Joe experienced, juicing and eating greater amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables can have a positive impact on many autoimmune conditions.

This information is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider. Please consult your health care provider for advice about a specific medical condition.

As you can see, there is always a better way to approach disease and sickness in our bodies! I hope this helps my MOM and many other people who read this great piece of information!

Yours in Health!

Jeff Parness M.Ed.