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researchers observed that they produced lower  nutritionally-oriented doctor I follow says he uses 12,500 IU of vitamin
            secretory IgA. We don’t want babies born to  A daily to treat allergies and autoimmune disease. I think that is a good
            mothers who are deficient in vitamin A and  amount. Of course, the vitamin A should never be given alone but with
            certainly, we want to encourage breastfeeding.  sources of vitamin D and zinc.
            We want the mothers to have plenty of vitamin A     You also need to think about having a healthy gut microbiome, as
            so their breast milk can support good immunity  this works in conjunction with secretory IgA. If you’ve got vitamin A
            and gut health for their babies.          deficiency, you’ll have a higher propensity for autoimmune disease, partly
                Speaking of gestational vitamin A deficien-  because you don’t have as many T-regulatory cells.
            cy, when mice were made vitamin A-deficient,     What else happens in your gut when you don’t have enough vitamin
            their offspring were born with smaller lymph  A? Physical changes occur. The villi become shorter and thicker. You
            nodes. That is where all the T- and B-cells are  have reduced enzyme activity, such as the disaccharidases. Do you have
            made. As adults, the mice had impaired immune  problems digesting carbohydrates? We need disaccharidases to digest
            response, indicating that vitamin A deficiency  carbohydrates so they don’t ferment, and we need vitamin A to produce
            effects are persistent into adulthood. It is hard  disaccharidases. And with inadequate vitamin A, we make fewer goblet
            to measure this type of thing in humans as   cells that secrete “mucins” essential in forming the mucus layer that
            there are so many different factors at play, but  protects our gut.
            we certainly know this is happening in animals     In studies of vitamin A-deficient animals, scientists have observed
            because of animal studies.                inflammation in the large intestine that looks like colitis, accompanied
                Besides keeping our immune system pre-  by an altered gut microbiome. Ulcerative colitis is limited to the colon
            pared to deal with pathogens, vitamin A allows  but Crohn’s disease can be anywhere throughout the digestive tract,
            our immune system to be tolerant. We want a  even up into the mouth. Eventually you get the transportation of toxins
            tolerant immune system that doesn’t overreact  through the gut—the so-called leaky gut. If you have inflammatory bowel
            to things. We want it to know when it should  disease—either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease—you don’t want to
            do its job and when it should lie low. We want  be vitamin A-deficient.
            it to recognize ourselves as ourselves, so we     In one study patients with ulcerative colitis received 25,000 IU of
            don’t develop autoimmune diseases. We want it  vitamin A per day. They had started with a Mayo Clinic score of six to
            to know when something is a non-threatening  twelve, indicating moderate to severe disease progression based on the
            outsider because if we don’t, we get allergies.  number and degree of their symptoms. There were significant decreases
            Vitamin A helps us do that by keeping our  in symptoms in one out of three patients, and one in five had complete
            immune system from overreacting. It does the  mucosal healing. I would not suggest that vitamin A supplementation is
            majority of this work in the gut because the gut  all a patient with ulcerative colitis should do, but it would be an important
            is one of the first places where our bodies make  part of the protocol.
            these decisions.                              Unfortunately, these conditions are becoming more and more
                Without adequate vitamin A, the body  common these days. Have you noticed how many immuno-suppressive
            makes fewer T-reg cells and more Th17 cells,  medications, often injectables, are advertised for these conditions? It
            which  has  a  proinflammatory  effect.  One  is outrageous and scary. These are serious diseases; people’s lives are



                           THE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM: THREE LINES OF DEFENSE

                                 INNATE  (non-specific)                                    ADAPTIVE
                FIRST LINE: BARRIER           SECOND LINE: SURVEILLANCE               THIRD LINE: TRAINED
                 “Castle and Moat”                  “Patrol Officers”                     “Special Ops”

            •   Skin                     •   Natural Killer Cells             •   Lymphocytes
            •   Tight Cell-to-Cell Junctions  •   Macrophages, Neutrophils, Etc.     •  T Cells, “Direct Kill”
            •   Cilia                        •  Phagocytosis                      •  B Cells, “Mark with Antibodies”
            •   Mucus                        •  Antimicrobials                •   Memory Cells
            •   Secretions               •   Dendritic Cells
                                             •  Antigen Presenting
                                             •  Inflammatory Response, Cytokines


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