Lutein/zeaxanthin
To date the primary immune triggering pigmented
foods identified in our research are those that contain lutein/zeaxanthin.
Foods highest in lutein/zeaxanthin are: kale, spinach, mustard greens, yellow
corn, broccoli, green peas, pumpkin, collard greens, summer (yellow) squash,
carrot, brussels sprouts, currants, green olive, green peppers, green bean
(pod), chicken fat, egg yolk, plums, peach, orange, tangerine, avocado, kiwi
fruit, rhubarb. In many foods, the peel contains the majority of that food’s
lutein content: cucumber, pear, pineapple. In other foods the dark outer leaves
contain lutein: cabbage, lettuce, leek. Strawberry contains a red form
of lutein: vitellorubin. The lutein or carotenoid content of the food depends
on many factors including exposure to light, season, soil and type. Many
foods contain multiple pigments such as oranges which have been identified
to contain at least 5 pigments including lutein/zeaxanthin.
Some foods which do not contain lutein
or beta-carotene such as tomato contain another pigment called lycopene which
can be converted to lutein or beta-carotene in the body. It appears that for
some these non-lutein foods can safely enter the body and the lycopene can
reach systems which benefit from lutein and the lycopene conversion will occur
away from the immune system interference resulting in bio-available lutein.
Some foods contain lutein only at some stages such as green pepper which
does not contain lutein as the pepper matures to its ripe red form, or olives
which do not contain lutein in the black stage. Animals consume foods which
contain lutein such as grass. These animals may then have lutein in their
blood products or stored in their fat. The highest lutein content in the
animal foods will come from blood products and meat fats, especially chicken
fat. Some foods have not been adequately studied for their pigment content
such as grains, nuts and legumes.
Beta-cryptoxanthin
It is most often that those who do not tolerate
lutein/zeaxanthin foods also do not tolerate the foods containing beta-cryptoxanthin.
Foods highest in beta-cryptoxanthin are: Orange juice, tangerine, papaya,
peach, mango, apple juice. It is common among those who have behavioral and
allergic response to beta-cryptoxanthin-containing foods that most fish and
shell fish are also not tolerated. Reactions as severe as seizure has been
observed when fish was ingested.
Beta-carotene
The second most common intolerance is to beta-carotene
containing foods and supplements. Foods highest in beta-carotene are: Apricot,
cantaloupe, kale, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot. It is common that those who
are intolerant to beta-carotene also cannot tolerate alpha-carotene foods.
The highest food sources of alpha-carotene so far identified are: carrots,
oranges, pumpkin, and winter squash.
Bixen (Annatto)
Used as a food coloring in commercial dairy
products and dairy replacers such as custard, butter, margarine, ice cream.
“Micronutrients, essential for approximately
65% of all known enzymes, have during this century been considerably reduced
in modern Western diets, due to food refinement, canning, refrigeration and
additives. This reduction coincided with a phenomenal increase of Western
and industrial diseases, many of them with genetic associations. Different
basic diets in genetic races over thousands of years have led to a high percentage
of enzyme polymorphisms, suggesting different basic diets necessary for different
genetic races. These basic diets, with or without micronutrient supplementation,
should be a necessary component of Western diseases prevention and therapy.”
In general physicians are not required
to understand the complicated material associated with nutrition and digestion.
Indeed it would not serve their profession as each of their clients is a unique
individual. Nutritionists and dieticians learn about the normal metabolism
and some well-understood medical conditions and how these are affected by
diet. Since autism has not been well-understood there are few who understand
the complicated nutritional needs of the autist.
We now have a very large population
of individuals who have been raised within the past three decades when carotenoids
were selected as the ideal source for dietary vitamin A precursor by WHO (World
Health Organization) and FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations) in 1967. Is it possible there has been an error, and that the natural
sources for vitamin A, i.e. cod-liver oil, dairy fats, liver and fish are
not only wiser but safer? As the recent studies on beta-carotene are reported
and the results are reviewed, will some of the experts change their view
from ‘carotenoids enhance the immune system’ to ‘carotenoids excite the immune
system’ or even something as realistic as ‘carotenoids are antioxidant in
some and free-radical producers in others!’ The World Health Organization
is going to produce recommendations which result in a positive outcome for
the majority. A minority, e.g. those with mis-sense genetic make-up, autism
and immune system fragility are not considered in the outcome of the general
recommendations.
“Is beta-carotene an antioxidant? An
hypothesis is presented that is opposed to the conventional viewpoint that
beta-carotene is an in vivo free-radical scavenger. It is suggested that there
are biochemical reasons why beta-carotene, other carotenoids, and especially
their metabolites may be harmful to mammalian systems. Finally, the hypothesis
that the macular pigment carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, are free-radical
scavengers is challenged.”
“There is little evidence to support
the general assumption that dietary carotenoids can improve vitamin A status.
Results suggest that the approach to combating vitamin A deficiency by increases
in the consumption of provitamin A carotenoids from vegetables should be re-examined.”.
“Evidence has accumulated from observational
studies that people eating more fruits and vegetables, which are rich in beta-carotene
(a violet to yellow plant pigment that acts as an antioxidant and can be
converted to vitamin A by enzymes in the intestinal wall and liver) and retinol
(an alcohol chemical form of vitamin A), and people having higher serum beta-carotene
concentrations had lower rates of lung cancer. The Beta-Carotene and Retinol
Efficacy Trial (CARET) tested the combination of 30 mg beta-carotene and
25,000 IU retinyl palmitate (vitamin A) taken daily against placebo in 18,314
men and women at high risk of developing lung cancer. The CARET intervention
was stopped 21 months early because of clear evidence of no benefit and substantial
evidence of possible harm; there were 28% more lung cancers and 17% more deaths
in the active intervention group (active = the daily combination of 30 mg
beta-carotene and 25,000 IU retinyl palmitate). Promptly after the January
18, 1996, announcement that the CARET active intervention had been stopped,
we published preliminary findings from CARET regarding cancer, heart disease,
and total mortality. CONCLUSIONS: CARET participants receiving the combination
of beta-carotene and vitamin A had no chemopreventive benefit and had excess
lung cancer incidence and mortality. The results are highly consistent with
those found for beta-carotene in the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer
Prevention Study in 29,133 male smokers in Finland.”
More than three decades have passed since the
WHO and FAO recommendations to get vitamin A from the precursor carotenoids.
In this same time period autism has risen at lightening speed. There is raging
debate on the vaccine contribution to this rate of increase but few who are
looking at additional factors which are contributing to the cause of the vaccine
reactions and rise in autism.
