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Crab, shrimp and lobster could offer Crohn's disease help

nogutsnoglory

Moderator
Red Lobster Therapeutic Center anyone?

"Our crustacean friends might be able to help with prevention and treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases including Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. Researchers recently discovered the shells of shrimp, crab and lobster contain microparticles with anti-inflammatory properties that could provide new and inexpensive IBD treatment.

Yoshimi Shibata, Ph.D., professor of biomedical science in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University are studying how chitin and shellfish could bring new treatments for IBD, thanks to a grant from the National Institute of Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Seafood shells contain anti-inflammatory compound that could alter gut bacteria
Though the cause of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis isn't known, scientists do known that inflammation underlies most chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and asthma.

Under normal conditions, inflammation is a process that actually protects health and promotes healing by mobilizing the immune system to attack invading bacteria and kill them through the immune system reaction," said Shibata in a June, 2014 press release. "Chronic inflammation on the other hand harms instead of heals because the immune system attack never stops."

The researchers started by removing the calcium and protein in crab, lobster and shrimp shells.
Next they took the carbohydrate that remained in the shellfish and developed it into small particles that are known as mimetic microbes (similar to bacteria) and formulated an oral supplement that has successfully treated allergic asthma, food allergies, colitis and food borne infections in animal models.

Chitin microparticles has also been used to treat seasonal allergies in humans.
The shells of seafood are inexpensive to prepare and readily available as a waste of the seafood industry. The microparticles are also microparticles non-allergenic and biodegradable.

The focus of the research is on intestinal macrophages. Dr. Shibata is an immunologist who focuses on the blood cells that normally seek out and destroy foreign substances in the body to keep inflammatory processes at bay.The scientists are exploring whether chitin microparticles can normalize gut bacteria and act as an anti-inflammatory to treat symptoms of IBD."

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/crab-shrimp-and-lobster-could-offer-crohns-disease-help
 

CrohnsChicago

Super Moderator
Very interesting.....I'm also a victim of seasonal allergies.....I'm curious to see what comes of this. It's definitely worth looking into some more as they make a good point about it being cheap and seeing how the seafood industry produces tons of waste in the form of uncooked shells (as a seafood fan I'm very guilty of contributing to this waste).

I'm also totally ready to volunteer myself as a "lab rat" for this experiment under the following conditions:

(1) They do call it the Red Lobster Therapeutic Center
(2) I get a free seafood meal with every treatment
(3) I get a bag of cheesy garlic lobster biscuits to go

Thanks for sharing.
 

nogutsnoglory

Moderator
Hahaha, it would make for a delicious clinical trial! Sign me up and can I have a second helping of my meds?

In all seriousness though I wonder about the safety of just eating shrimp on its own. The label says it contains fiber and I always found that odd since fiber is in non-animal sources only. I do love shrimp but it always seems a bit hard to digest for me and I wonder if the fibrous content it supposedly has is part of the problem.
 

CrohnsChicago

Super Moderator
Speaking of shrimp, another concern this article makes me wonder about is whether there is a need to take into consideration possible contamination of these bottom-feeder shellfish such as crabs and shrimp.

I think this because we do not always know the true origin of this seafood and some may contain toxic chemicals they have digested over time from things such as oil spills and other waste found on the sea bed. I wonder if this has the potential to hinder the experiment in any way and play a role in the quality of the extractions of calcium and protein they receive.
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
I'm also totally ready to volunteer myself as a "lab rat" for this experiment under the following conditions:

(1) They do call it the Red Lobster Therapeutic Center
(2) I get a free seafood meal with every treatment
(3) I get a bag of cheesy garlic lobster biscuits to go
OMG, finally an alternative therapy I can get behind 100%! I was actually just at Red Lobster last weekend for my grandpa's birthday (it's his favorite restaurant). I was really hungry that day so I had the endless shrimp. Who would have known that, rather than stuffing my face, I was actually totally doing a health treatment! ;) Ha ha.
 
I saw the special regarding this and it sounded pretty interesting. If I recall their aim is to make this in an evonomical pill form and sell as a food supplement.
 

CrohnsChicago

Super Moderator
I saw the special regarding this and it sounded pretty interesting. If I recall their aim is to make this in an evonomical pill form and sell as a food supplement.
Desperatemom do you happen to remember where you saw it/ Is there a link to this special? I would love to learn more about it.
 

Cross-stitch gal

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Vancouver,
Hey, I want in on the Seafood Diet too!!!!! I'd be tempted to print this info off & see if my GI knows about this. I'm sure he'd have a few things to say. In the meantime, more seafood please!!! :chef:
 
Coincidence. Just received following response from Professor Yoshimi:


Thank you for contacting me regarding my project of chitin treatment in IBD. I am sorry for your daughter suffering from IBD.
My group is working very hard to complete my animal studies, followed by FDA approval and moving to clinical studies. Although chitin is not toxic for humans, several key pharmacotoxicological tests should be completed, too.

FYI, PDFs of my previous studies are attached.

Best regards,
Yoshimi
 

hawkeye

Moderator
Staff member
Interesting thread, Atlantic Lobster (and the fishery in general) is a big economic player in our part of the world.
 
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