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Bad Reactions to Prebiotics in ME/CFS: Due to Direct Immune Activation Rather Than The Microbiota?

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Quite a few ME/CFS patients experience bad reactions from taking prebiotics — reactions such as significant gut pain, stomach bloating, diarrhea, constipation, or a worsening of ME/CFS symptoms.

A poll showed that 48% of ME/CFS patients cannot tolerate prebiotic supplements like inulin or FOS (although 52% are fine with prebiotics).

Patients have often assumed that these bad reactions are caused by the effect of prebiotics on the gut microbiota.

However, in addition to their effects on the microbiota, prebiotics exert a direct stimulating effect on the immune system, and specifically the complement system, a part of the innate immune system. This post explores whether this direct activation of the immune system by prebiotics might explain (at least in part) the prebiotic sensitivity that occurs in many ME/CFS patients, and considers an approach that may mitigate prebiotic sensitivity.



Inulin And FOS Directly Activate The Immune System

Prebiotics inulin and fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS, aka oligofructose) have direct effects on the immune system, independent of their action on gut bacteria:
Inulin and oligofructose: review of experimental data on immune modulation (full text here).

The mechanisms of inulin/FOS include indirect effects such as a shift in the composition of the intestinal flora and the enhanced production of immunoregulatory SCFA and perhaps other bacterial metabolites. Few data suggest direct effects of inulin/FOS via carbohydrate receptors on intestinal epithelial cells and immune cells.
. . .

Another mechanism points to interactions of prebiotic carbohydrates with carbohydrate receptors on immune cells. Phagocytic cells, minor subsets of T and B lymphocytes, and NK cells express the complement receptor 3 (CD11b / CD18). This receptor mediates cellular cytotoxic reactions against target cells bearing specific carbohydrate structures.
. . .

To bind to such carbohydrate receptors outside the intestinal tract, prebiotic carbohydrates have to be bioavailable. Data from human studies suggest that human milk oligosaccharides are partially absorbed intact in the infant's intestine and excreted in the urine of breast-fed infants. This indirectly proves that these prebiotic carbohydrates were systemically available.
More info on complement receptor 3 can be found here: Macrophage-1 antigen

So inulin and FOS may be directly modulating immune function by their effects on the carbohydrate receptors.

And in the book Atlas of Immunology, it says that inulin is known to activate the alternative pathway of the complement system.

Interestingly, inulin-derived adjuvants (immune stimulants) have been examined as possible replacements for the standard aluminum hydroxide vaccine adjuvant:
Inulin-derived adjuvants efficiently promote both Th1 and Th2 immune responses (full text here).

Inulin-derived adjuvants that principally stimulate the innate immune system through their ability to activate the alternative complement pathway have proven ability to induce both cellular and humoral immunity.


It may also be of relevance that coxsackievirus B, a virus strongly associated with ME/CFS, is known to activate the alternative pathway (but not the classical pathway) of the complement system (ref: here). So the presence of a chronic coxsackievirus B / enterovirus infection in the stomach or intestines (which Dr Chia found in 82% of ME/CFS patients) may be constantly activating the alternative complement pathway, and then when prebiotics are consumed, this activation may be further increased.



Reducing the Activation of The Alternative Complement Pathway

As we have seen, possibly the bad reactions that some ME/CFS experience with prebiotic supplements like inulin and FOS may arise through the direct effect that these prebiotics have on the immune system, and specifically their activation of the alternative pathway of the complement system.

If activation of the alternative pathway is the cause of the bad reactions some ME/CFS patients experience when taking prebiotics, then possibly inhibitors of the alternative pathway might prevent or mitigate these bad reactions.

Alternative pathway inhibitors include: rosmarinic acid, which is found in Melissa officinalis (lemon balm) essential oil and Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) essential oil (ref: here), the herb Ephedra sinica (ref: here), heparin (ref: here), and fucans (sulfated polysaccharides) from brown seaweed such as Ecklonia cava (ref: here).

See also page 74 of this paper: Therapeutic Inhibition of the Complement System.

Note that olive leaf extract is a potent inhibitor of the classical pathway of the complement system, but not the alternative pathway.

So possibly taking say Ecklonia cava, or several drops of lemon balm essential oil (diluted in 15 ml of cooking oil) might mitigate the bad reactions from prebiotics, and might even be generally helpful for gut health in ME/CFS patients with such prebiotic sensitivities.



Prebiotics In Foods: A Paradox

An intrigue about ME/CFS patients' intolerance to prebiotic supplements is that, as far as I am aware, prebiotic-sensitive ME/CFS patients do not generally experience problems with high-prebiotic foods like onions, leeks, garlic, asparagus, chicory, wheat flour and Jerusalem artichoke (ref: here).

If you consider leeks for example, these contain 3 to 10% inulin (ref: here). A couple of large leeks weighs around 400 grams, so if you were to eat two large leeks, you would be getting 12 to 40 grams of inulin.

That's quite a bit of inulin, probably more than you would take if you were supplementing with pure inulin power. (One heaped teaspoon of pure inulin power weighs around 5 grams).


So this is something of a conundrum: why should prebiotics in food cause no issues, but when the same prebiotics are taken in pure supplement form, they trigger bad reactions in quite a few ME/CFS patients?

One possible speculative explanation is that pure prebiotic powders like inulin may be more immediately accessible or bioavailable than the inulin naturally found in food items (the prebiotics in foods may be released more slowly).

This may mean that the inulin and FOS naturally found within foods do not activate the complement system as much as when these prebiotics are taken in purified supplement form, and this might perhaps explain why foods high in prebiotics are tolerated by ME/CFS patients, but pure prebiotics often cause bad reactions. However, this is just a guess.

Though if high prebiotic foods are not causing any problems for prebiotic-sensitive ME/CFS patients, this suggests that eating more of these foods may be a good way to increase prebiotic intake for such patients — and thereby feed their friendly bacteria — but without precipitating the bad reactions that prebiotic supplements can create.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
So possibly taking say Ecklonia cava, or several drops of lemon balm essential oil (diluted in 15 ml of cooking oil) might mitigate the bad reactions from prebiotics, and might even be generally helpful for gut health in ME/CFS patients with such prebiotic sensitivities.

ANYONE NEED LEMON BALM? MY LEMON BALM SUPPLY = INFINITY. Plant one plant sometime and yours will equal infinity, too!

Mint family = the glitter of the plant world.

-J
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Dandelion root is also high in prebiotics. Roasted dandelion and chicory root makes a drink much like coffee. Well, something like coffee, anyway.

Note: do not just yank it out of your pesticide-sprayed lawns...
 

alicec

Senior Member
Messages
1,572
Location
Australia
So possibly taking say Ecklonia cava, or several drops of lemon balm essential oil (diluted in 15 ml of cooking oil) might mitigate the bad reactions from prebiotics

I have tried E. cava - at the time was interested in its antioxidant properties. I found I was fairly sensitive to it and put it aside to try again later at a small dose. Of course I haven't got back to it.

As a seaweed it of course has prebiotic properties all of its own so could give mixed results for the use you are imagining. Still this is a very interesting idea and I thank you for bringing it to our attention.

As I recall @Sidereal was trying it for its prebiotic properties and found it helpful, though she could tolerate it in only tiny doses.
 

trails

Senior Member
Messages
114
Location
New Hampshire
@Hip, I've read so many of your posts with such intense interest that I just feel the need to tell you how much I admire your persistent willingness and ability to think outside the box; working methodically to explore possible solutions/explanations. The fact that most of your hypotheses, research, and conclusions are so firmly rooted in the realm of practical application makes them all the more impressive. Thank you for all you contribute to this forum. I'm not one to dole out praise (or criticism) with abandon but just wanted to let you know how much you are appreciated.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Thanks @trails, very pleased you find the posts useful.

I am always motivated to delve into areas of ME/CFS biochemistry that may lead to some practical treatment ideas, because that of course is what I think most of us are looking for: some interesting new treatments to try that may improve our condition. So the practical application aspect of my research is down to me having vested interests in the subject!
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
ANYONE NEED LEMON BALM? MY LEMON BALM SUPPLY = INFINITY. Plant one plant sometime and yours will equal infinity, too!
What do you do with your lemon balm? Do you preserve any of it for winter use? If so, how?
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
What do you do with your lemon balm? Do you preserve any of it for winter use? If so, how?

You can wash it, pat it dry, and freeze it. :)

You can tincture it. Fresh, it's a 1:2 ratio of grams of plant matter to pure drinking alcohol (there is a lot of water in the fresh plant.) Dried, it's a 1:5 ratio of plant matter to 75% drinking alcohol, 25% water. In fresh, pack the plant matter close; in dried, no need. Fill the jar with the liquid. Shake at least once a day and strain in a few weeks (2-4). This will be very strong for about a year, but will be able to be used for years and years.

You can make a salve. I do! :) Melissa is antiviral. For most salves, you make a tea and incorporate that into a mixture with a fat such as cocoa butter, a little bit of beeswax to make it stick. There are many recipes. If you shove this to the back of your fridge and don't open it, it will last quite some time (1-2 yrs) especially if you add some vitamin C to prevent spoilage / oxidation.

-J