Dear Readers,
This post is a discussion on Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) between Dr. Betty Wedman, a Licensed Nutritionist & Environmental Health Specialist. In his response, Dr. Cordain refers to the paper "A model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in C57BL/6 mice for the characterisation of intervention therapies," which is available for download from our web site.
Dr. Cordain,
As a nutrition instructor at 2 Tampa Bay universities, I include the Paleo Diet in my lesson plans frequently and even considering a Nutrition & Anthropology class option. I would like to have more information about the EAE disease study you mentioned at the American Nutraceutical Association Conference 2009.
Thank you.
Betty Wedman
Hi Betty,
Many thanks for your support of my work. I'm sorry that we didn't get to speak to one another directly at the conference. I'm not completely clear on which study I may have mentioned, but I believe it is a study in which EAE (the animal model of MS) was elicited via vaccination with MOG (myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein; a known autoantigen in MS) and Quil A as the adjuvant. Quil A is derived from Quillaja, a saponin derived from the bark of a S. American tree and which is a commonly used additive in root beer and soft drinks to make them foam. My point was that the concentration of Quil A used in the mouse study can be achieved via consumption of root beer and that resident E. Coli contain an epitope similar in structure to MOG. Hence it may be possible to elicit autoimmune diseases via unintentionally mucosal vaccination via certain dietary adjuvants (saponins) in naturally occurring foods along with mimicking epitopes derived from resident gut flora. Attached is the EAE paper.
Cordially,
Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Professor
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