In his video on the “Broccoli Receptor” Dr. Michael Greger explores the relationship between the foods we eat and the way our immune system functions. Dr. Greger postulates that the reason our immune cells are primed and upregulated by compounds from green plants when we eat a meal is that “the plants” serve as a signal that “we are ingesting food”. Most of our immune tissue actually resides “in” our GI tract and is distributed throughout the length of our gut. And it is precisely “when we are eating” that we need our GI immune system operating at full strength because of all of the potentially immunogenic and pathogenic compounds and organisms that are normally found in foods. Increased immune surveillance is an energy-intensive process however, and so we should only have this increased surveillance when needed and necessary. When we are not ingesting potentially problematic or harmful material, it makes sense to have our immune system “stand down” to conserve energy and decrease the risk of untoward reactions.
Every day, however, our GI tract sloughs off, digests and recycles the mucosal cells that line its surface (an area = 400 meters squared). These cells are made of “animal protein”, albeit “OUR” animal protein. If our body is only recycling its own proteins, there should be “NO need for increased immune surveillance” since these cells should be “sterile” and only contain compounds our body had already decided to absorb and incorporate into our tissues. This fact helps explain a peculiar tendency of the human GI tract. That is, humans are programmed to “automatically absorb” heme iron. By contrast, our bodies can tightly regulate the absorption of “non-heme” inorganic iron which is found in plant foods. We are able to block the absorption of non-heme iron if we are iron replete, but we can markedly increase its absorption if we need extra iron. Heme iron is a different matter altogether. Our bodies automatically absorb all or most of the heme iron that appears in our GI tract! Why should that be?
Since humans are a plant-based species, the ONLY heme iron our GI tract should “see” is that which comes from the mucosal cells we are auto-digesting every day. And since the body has already gone through the trouble of absorbing this iron and incorporating it into our tissues, it makes sense for our bodies to hold onto this iron and recycle it back into our system. As plant-based organisms, our bodies are not programmed for the possibility of ingesting heme iron from “exogenous” sources! That is why our gut automatically absorbs any heme iron it sees. When however, we eat animal tissue and ingest the heme iron in those organisms, we end up with ABNORMALLY ELEVATED levels of heme iron because our bodies cannot block its absorption. And those abnormally high levels lead to many chronic diseases! Heme iron has been linked to increased risk for infections, cancers, heart disease and diabetes! That is also why when people become vegan/plant-based, their levels of “storage iron” IMMEDIATELY begin to fall, and eventually stabilize at a much lower level. Plant-based individuals DO NOT become “anemic” and are NOT at any increased risk of developing anemia! But partially as a result of the lower levels of storage iron, PB-individuals are at significantly lower risk of developing all of the previously mentioned diseases.
WHAT ABOUT “ANIMAL PROTEIN-MEDIATED” DECREASED IMMUNE SURVEILLANCE?
Again, because our bodies are programmed to auto-digest and recycle our own tissues (animal protein), there should be no need for us to increase immune activity or surveillance during that process. And if in fact, when seeing animal protein our GI tract either “lowers” immune surveillance and/or fails to “upregulate” its immune activity/surveillance, then that would place us at “higher risk” for a number of potential health problems! It could mean that ingesting animal protein places us at higher risk for:
– absorbing infectious organisms from foods;
– we may be more likely to ingest/absorb animal viruses or animal cells infected with zoonotic viruses (such as Covid-19);
– we may be more likely to ingest/absorb antigens or proteins that can cause or exacerbate auto-immune diseases/diabetes/heart disease or cancers!
WHAT ABOUT “DAIRY” PROTEINS?
We know that dairy products are associated a number of allergy syndromes and diseases as well as auto-immune diseases. Why would that be? The ONLY time our bodies should be exposed to dairy proteins/hormones/compounds is when we ARE NURSING INFANTS. It is precisely during that time that the baby’s GI tract SHOULD be absorbing “foreign” proteins — that is, the antibodies contained in its mother’s milk! Therefore nature would NOT want to “upregulate” the baby’s immune system or surveillance so that it can absorb maternal antibodies w/o problems. Thus, IT MAY BE THE “LACTOSE” IN MILK THAT SIGNALS THE BODY THAT THE MOTHER’S PROTEINS ARE PRESENT and therefore “tells” the immune system to “stand down”!
This may be why “lactose” the sugar that is in milk is composed of glucose attached to a “novel” sugar — “galactose”. Galactose is “made” from glucose by mammalian mammary tissue. Galactose generally does NOT appear anywhere else in nature EXCEPT in mammalian milks. Why would our bodies go through the energy-expensive process of converting glucose into galactose? Especially when in order for infants to “utilize” galactose, they must first convert it BACK into glucose! So why create it in the first place? It has to be so that the galactose can serve as a “signal”! I am proposing that the galactose in the lactose in milk “signals” the immune system to “stand down” and allow foreign proteins (i.e. maternal antibodies, etc.) to be absorbed. That makes sense for an infant absorbing its mother’s antibodies, but IT IS COUNTER PRODUCTIVE AND DANGEROUS FOR AN ADULT ANIMAL! This may help explain why dairy products are associated with autoimmune diseases, infections, cancers and other health problems when they are ingested by “adult” humans. Furthermore, ingestion of “galactose” by adults (separate and apart from the other problems associated with dairy products) has also been linked to higher risk for cataracts, ovarian cancer and other diseases. *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvIqa8ko4e0