Category: nutrition

nutrition

Keep Your Immune System Strong this Winter

britishseabuckthorn

A December message from our nutritionist Lucy Williamson.

As we head into winter it’s important to choose foods which help to keep our immune system strong! What kind of food? Real, minimally processed and from healthy soils meaning it’s packed with nutrients for us.

Organic seabuckthorn berries really tick the box here; let me explain why –

Why Organic?

Crops grown organically have to rely on their own chemical defence mechanisms to fight off bugs. So these ‘phytochemicals’, which we know as ‘antioxidants’ are higher in organically grown plants, compared to crops which may have been sprayed with a fungicide for example. Brightly coloured berries are rich in health-giving antioxidants, none more so than bright orange organic, seabuckthorn berries with over 190 nutrients! Their antioxidants help us to maintain a healthy immune system as well as benefit from all their anti-ageing functions.

What about Gut Health?

Even pre-Covid, we humans have been a little carried away with sterilising our world. Many microbes (tiny, microscopic organisms like bacteria) are actually vital for our health rather than being ‘bad’. Our billions of gut microbes which we each have, are essential for a strong immune system as well as many other benefits to our long-term health. The same goes for healthy, organic soils in which our crops grow; microbes here unlock nutrients for the plants, just as our own gut microbes unlock nutrients in our food. They actually activate antioxidants for us, so eating organic, antioxidant-rich food nurtures our gut health too! The fibre in seabuckthorn also feeds our gut microbes – they get their energy from fermenting this otherwise indigestible fibre for us.

Is Seabuckthorn a good source of healthy vitamins?

Although it varies according to harvest times and conditions, Seabuckthorn berries contain about 10 times as much Vitamin C as an orange! Vitamin C is an antioxidant which is why it’s so important for our immunity. Seabuckthorn berries get their bright orange colour from carotenoids, a type of Vitamin A, which together with Vitamin E, also high in these orange berries of goodness, look after our immune systems too. We also know from research that these nutrients are easier for our body to absorb when in their natural food.

Real food

At the start I mentioned ‘real, minimally processed’ foods. At Devereaux Farm, seabuckthorn berries are frozen immediately on harvesting, locking the nutrients in. Compare this to a preserved fruit purée where nutrients are lost as well as additives put in! You can order seabuckthorn berries directly from the farm – fresh as the day they were picked without long food supply chains draining away nutrients in transit. Enjoy them as you would blueberries or try the dried version in this winter warming red cabbage recipe!

nutrition

Gut Health. A phrase that’s rapidly become part of our every-day language!

britishseabuckthorn

What does it mean, why is it important and how can we all benefit?

My job as a Registered Nutritionist is to guide great food choices for long-term health. So I’m never happier when communicating how the food we eat nurtures our gut bacteria. With more than 3 million genes between them (our gut microbiome), compared to our own 20,000, their potential for influencing the day to day functioning of our body (our metabolism) and therefore our health, is clear.

Even better, this concept starts right back in the soil where are food comes from, reconnecting us with nature, as many of us have found so helpful during Covid19. A handful of soil contains more microbes than the earth’s population of people and many of these bacteria existed long before we did. It makes sense then that we’ve evolved with bacteria to benefit each other.

 

“In our large intestine lives the most densely populated ecosystem on earth”

Billions of gut bacteria help us to get maximum benefit from the food we eat. How do they do this? While most of our food is digested higher up in our digestive system, fibre – that part of carbohydrate which we are unable to digest, passes all the way to our colon (large intestine) where bacterial fermentation extracts energy from it. The ‘post-biotics’ they produce, the products of this fermentation, are vital for our health, reducing inflammation & therefore protecting us from bowel cancer and other inflammatory bowel disease, keeping cholesterol levels in check, providing building blocks for our vitamins and hormones – Serotonin, our happiness hormone, being a good example. That ‘Gut feeling’ that we all know so well, is certainly influenced by this as well as our Gut-Brain axis – connections between nerve endings in the wall of our gut and our brain. Our gut bacteria provide the chemicals required to transmit these messages.

 

What about our Immune system?

Perhaps most important of all however, is the effect of our microbiome on our immunity. 80% of the cells which form our immune system lie in the wall of our gut. From birth, our gut bacteria ensure these cells develop correctly so that they respond to infection, but don’t over-respond and attack our own body cells, as happens with auto-immune disease like IBD, inflammatory bowel disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Of course, there are other non-dietary factors here too, but research is now showing links between these long-term health issues and a favourable microbiome. It makes sense then that researchers at King’s College in London are currently studying our biological response to Covid19 and our microbiome.

 

Back to the soil …

When we farm with nature, soil health thrives. Pasture-fed cows for example trample carbon-rich dry matter into the ground for worms to decompose so soil microbes can multiply. This biodiversity ensures that our food, grown in these ‘healthy’ soils, is nutrient-rich; the bacteria in the soil enabling crops to absorb maximum nutrients. Just the same as our own gut bacteria, our own food and our own health.

 

And what about Seabuckthorn?

Foraged in the wild in Scotland, farmed with nature in Cornwall and grown organically in Essex by the Eagle family on their diversified arable farm, this is a nutrient-rich berry like no other! With at least 40 times the Vitamin C of oranges as well as an abundance of Antioxidants, A, E and B Vitamins as well as a unique blend of Omega oils and a fabulous source of fruit-fibre, a daily dose of this functional food will certainly keep gut bacteria happy! Our bacteria not only enjoy fibre in our food, but they also benefit from activating antioxidants for us too.

This then is what Gut Health is all about – eating to nurture our gut bacteria for our very best health.

So, as our British farmers move to farming with nature and we all reconnect with our land, nurture your gut health with great food choices. Make sure to get plenty of rest and enjoy our countryside for exercise too; happy gut microbes need this as well as great food – why not enjoy bright orange seabuckthorn berries from (link) delivered straight to your door!

 

Lucy Williamson DVM MSc ANutr

 

Refs:

  1. Valdes, A.M., Walter, J., Segal, F., Spector, T (2018) Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health British Medical Journal:361 K2179
  2. Sender, S., Fuschs, S., Milo, R (2016) Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/036103v1
  3. Asnicar, F., Berry, S.E., Valdes, A.M. et al.(2021) Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals. Nat Med . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01183-8
  4. Attri S, Goel G. (2018) Influence of polyphenol rich seabuckthorn berries juice on release of polyphenols and colonic microbiota on exposure to simulated human digestion model. Food Res Int. 2018 Sep;111:314-323. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.05.045. Epub 2018 May 21. PMID: 3000769

 

Extra interest Spector 2021 KCL – https://www.kcl.ac.uk/coronavirus-how-to-keep-your-gut-microbiome-healthy-to-fight-covid-19

 

 

 

nutrition

Vitamin C and Gut Health for strong Immune systems – two more reasons why British Sea Buckthorn is worth shouting about!

britishseabuckthorn

Latest post by BSC’s registered nutritionist, Dr Lucy Williamson

At this time of year in the UK our immune systems are really in need of a boost. Starved of sunlight hours over the winter and more time spent indoors means we really need to choose foods which help us to develop a strong immune system. I had planned this blog on Vitamin C for exactly that reason… not knowing that 2020 would also bring along COVID-19, a new Coronavirus.

In his last blog post, David, Director at British Sea Buckthorn, mentions the importance of food for our overall health but also our Gut Health. As a Registered Nutritionist with a keen interest in gut health and with a family of my own to keep as healthy as I can over the winter, I feel well qualified to really shout out about a daily dose of British Sea Buckthorn to help keep the bugs at bay! And, David is quite right in saying “The concept (of gut health) is of such importance that it is becoming a subject we all need to understand”

So, in addition to focussing on Vitamin C for the second in this blog series, I’m also going to give the 101 on Gut bacteria for immune health, helping our immune systems be the best they can be.

Vitamin C – Our immune system, bones, skin & hair, blood vessels, teeth and nervous system are all dependent on it for their normal functioning and each cell in our body requires it to convert our fat stores into energy. We can’t build up stores of Vitamin C and unlike animals and plants, we’ve lost the ability to make our own. So, we’re totally dependent on our food to provide this water-soluble vitamin.

So why is Vitamin C needed by so many systems in our body?

Its properties are based on its ability to assist in many chemical reactions essential in our metabolism. It activates the enzymes required to make collagen – the basic building block of our skin, bones, teeth and hair. Enzyme activation by Vitamin C is also required to make hormones, particularly those which help us to respond to stress and to make neurotransmitters, the chemicals which send signals between nerve cells.

Vitamin C is well known for helping us resist infections like the common cold, but how?

Our immune system has a high demand for energy due to constant cell multiplication and their movement to wounds & cuts or to potential infection sites around the body. Vitamin C is pivotal here in providing this energy source through activating the enzyme, Carnitine, required in this process. Research has also demonstrated its essential role in enabling immune cells to kill bacteria and recover afterwards and also in the chemical signalling pathway which attracts immune system cells to the area in the body that needs them. In my last blog on Antioxidants I also mentioned how Vitamin C is required to make our own antioxidants to protect us against cell damage and therefore ensure our cells function correctly – especially important for the cells of our immune system.

100g of British Sea Buckthorn berries give 10 times the Vitamin C of an orange! Over the winter, I’ve been fuelling my family with British Sea Buckthorn smoothies made from the frozen berries. A zingy way to start the day!

The team at British Sea Buckthorn know that I’m passionate about Gut Health too.

How do our gut bacteria benefit our immune system?

British Sea Buckthorn is a source of Fibre – a type of carbohydrate that can’t be digested in the small intestine. Instead, it passes to the colon (large intestine) where it’s fermented by billions of gut bacteria to produce many compounds essential for our metabolism. Collectively, the genetic make-up of these bacteria is known as our ‘Microbiome’. With 150x our own genetic makeup, our microbiome is to be nurtured; in fact, our ratio of human cells to bacterial cells is 1:1 so we’re just as much bacteria as we are human! We now know these gut bacteria to be essential in the correct functioning of our immune system – over 80% of the cells which make up our immune system are located in the wall of our intestine. Gut bacteria here provide ‘exercise’ for our immune system cells, ensuring it develops correctly, almost working like a vaccine in fact. In 2016, The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), who report the findings of research studies to Public Health England, advised increasing the recommended intake of fibre for children (18g/day) and adults (30g/day), as a result of firm evidence for its health benefits, including its effect on our Microbiome. Sea Buckthorn is a good way to increase fibre intake.

Our gut bacteria also have an important role activating some of the antioxidants in British Sea Buckthorn, which as mentioned above, are also beneficial in boosting our immunity.

So, a daily dose of Sea Buckthorn certainly has the beneficial nutrients for a strong immune system. And, for anyone who missed the recent BBC episode of Countryfile, it’s also fabulous to know that by enjoying British Sea Buckthorn you’re also doing your bit for the environment by supporting their projects to enhance nature, biodiversity and wellbeing!

Next time – all you need to know about the products of Sea Buckthorn fibre fermentation by our gut bacteria, for our longer-term health and wellbeing.

References:

Sender, S., Fuschs, S., Milo, R (2016) Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/036103v1

Valdes, A.M., Walter, J., Segal, F., Spector, T (2018) Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health British Medical Journal: 361 K2179

nutrition

British Sea Buckthorn – Natural Antioxidants to boost your every-day detox – a simple solution to staying healthy this winter

britishseabuckthorn

2020 sees the start of our new blog series by our registered Nutritionist Dr Lucy Williamson. Here Lucy talks about the important role of antioxidants in combating the stress of busy lives and how using British Sea Buckthorn can provide an answer.

The British Sea Buckthorn Company are starting 2020 fully organically certified and with hopes of a juiced berry product to add to those already available here.  Having enjoyed frozen berries directly from the British Sea Buckthorn Company in Essex this winter, my family have so far had the healthiest winter on record! Juicing the berry will produce a concentrated source of all its nutrients – read on to find out why its antioxidants are a fabulous and natural way to boost your health this winter…

‘Detox’ – a familiar word in January!

After a little over-indulgence over the festive season there’s often a desire for a ‘detox’ to get the year off to a healthy start…  In fact, our everyday metabolism, in using oxygen, is constantly producing potentially toxic by-products known as free radicals, unstable compounds which if not removed from the body, lead to cell damage, a process known as Oxidative Stress. External stressors such as lack of sleep, illness, medications, poor diet and lifestyle and even hard workouts at the gym are also known to increase oxidative stress.  Research is now showing this potential cell damage, which is basically the ageing process, to be both a cause and a consequence of chronic illness – oxidation of cholesterol ‘packages’ within the blood stream causing damage to blood vessel walls leading to heart disease and oxidation of cell DNA being a precursor to Cancer. Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and Cancer also result in a higher level of oxidative stress in the body. Detoxification is the process by which antioxidants remove these potential toxins from the body and so optimise our long-term health.1, 2

The Good News?

Our body is actually detoxifying all the time! This is a key role of our liver and kidneys with our skin, digestive system and lungs also playing their part. It’s essential that we eat foods that provide our bodies with the nutrients it needs to manufacture antioxidants for this process, such as Vitamins E (tocopherols) and A (Carotenoids). Unlike other nutrients, we can’t store antioxidants, so continuous manufacture is really important. Many foods, mainly of plant origin, also supply ‘ready-made’ antioxidants (also known as phytonutrients or bioactives). British Sea Buckthorn may be a small berry but it’s packed full of polyphenols and many other types of antioxidants!

How do Antioxidants protect against cell damage?

Many of the antioxidants in Sea Buckthorn produce their effect at the cellular level by altering how genes within the cell’s DNA are expressed, favouring the production of proteins required to make antioxidant enzymes. This process by which our gene expression can be altered by nutrition or other external environmental factors is known as Epigenetics and is currently the subject of exciting and rapidly growing research.

Generally, our body produces enough antioxidants to keep Oxidative Stress under control but if we’re exposed to stressors for a longer period of time which can happen for example during illness, with prolonged medicines, during intense physical exercise or from a lack of sleep, our antioxidant need is higher, therefore additional antioxidants from our food are beneficial. Boosting our antioxidants at this time of year especially, with antioxidant-rich food, is a great idea.

From a strong Immune system to help against ageing, Type 2 Diabetes and other chronic disease and a healthy glow, why not detox the natural way!

There are many types of antioxidants in our food, coming mainly from plants, giving them their colour to attract insects for pollination and protect them from stressors like UV light and disease. Berries, citrus fruit, brightly coloured vegetables, cocoa, coffee, tea, chocolate and red wine are all well-known (and rather tasty!) sources.

Sea Buckthorn antioxidants include Flavanoid polyphenols, Carotenoids (used to make Vitamin A) including Lycopene (also in tomatoes and thought to be key to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet), exceptionally high levels of Tocopherols (Vitamin E) and Superoxide Dismutase. Vitamins E, A and C in sea buckthorn are also used by our body cells to make our own antioxidants as well as their own roles as Vitamins. In preventing cell damage from oxidative stress mentioned above, these antioxidants ensure the many cells that make up our different body systems, function correctly. Of particular importance are the cells which line our blood vessels known as endothelial cells. These have an essential role in keeping blood pressure down and maintaining healthy blood vessel membranes; cell damage here increasing the risk of blood clots, heart disease and stroke in later life. Vitamin E is particularly important in the correct functioning of these cells and also our skin cells. The cells of our immune system have many different functions in fighting infection and controlling inflammation. Exposure to oxidative stress greatly reduces their ability to do this; antioxidants however ensure cell damage here is kept to a minimum and therefore promote best possible functioning of our immune system.  Superoxide Dismutase is a powerful enzyme antioxidant required and made by nearly by all living cells to protect them against cell damage from superoxide, a toxic, free radical produced in many metabolic reactions. British Sea Buckthorn provides a fabulous source to boost our supplies!

Sea Buckthorn vs Supplements?    

 

Research shows us that nutrients often work together to benefit each other. British Sea Buckthorn is a fabulous example with its multitude of nutrients all working together to enhance their overall effect. Vitamins E and A in particular are well known to work in synergy with each other increasing their protective function. Bioactives in whole food containing Polyphenol antioxidants are currently thought to increase the polyphenol antioxidant ability. Taking these nutrients out of their natural food and using as supplements may not be how nature intended. Research in mice has shown that too high a dose of a single antioxidant can lead to heart muscle damage.3

Polyphenol Antioxidants – Gut Health, Obesity and beyond

Our gut microbes – beneficial bacteria present in our large intestine, are known to be essential in the activation and absorption of polyphenol antioxidants. Current research is studying the products of this microbial polyphenol digestion (fermentation), which appear to promote further beneficial bacteria in our gut. A healthy gut microbiome is now known to have many long-term health benefits including reducing the risk of inflammatory disease, allergy, some types of cancer including bowel cancer, Type 2 Diabetes, overweight and obesity. Epidemiology, the study of population groups over a period of time, shows us that those with a higher intake of polyphenols have a reduced risk of obesity. Of course this may in part be due to a diet rich in polyphenol antioxidants being healthier overall, but some types of polyphenol antioxidants are known to reduce our ability to absorb sugars and store fat.4

Nutrient-rich and protecting biodiversity too…

The best food choices not only nurture human health but support the biodiversity of our ecosystems, from healthy soils to thriving flora and fauna with essential roles to play in maintaining nature as it should be. The British Seabuckthorn company nurture these principles and over the next few months we’ll be sharing with you all the need-to knows about this fabulous novel food. Busy, active lifestyles require nutrient-rich foods – there may be little spare time in the day to discover new natural, sustainable & functional food. As a registered Nutritionist, I’m happy to be on this journey working with the British Sea buckthorn Company to share the good news on this nutrient-rich crop with all its potential health benefits, responsibly farmed in Essex! Add these bright orange berries of happiness into your breakfast bowl, as dried berries into your nutty mix, drizzle rays of golden sea buckthorn oil over winter salads or with yogurt as a warm porridge topper and enjoy a cup of sea buckthorn tea too!

References:

  1. Williamson G (2017) The role of polyphenols in modern nutrition. Nutr Bulletin 42: 226-235
  2. Croy C et al (2018) The Role of Polyphenols in Human Health and Food Systems: A Mini-Review Frontiers in Nutrition 5, 87
  3. Rajasekaran NS et al. (2007) Human aB-Crystallin Mutation Causes Oxido-Reductive Stress and Protein Aggregation Cariomyopathy in Mice Cell; 130:427–439
  4. Williamson G (2013) Possible effects of dietary polyphenols on sugar absorption and digestion. Mol Nutr and Food Research 57: 48-57
nutrition

British Seabuckthorn – a small berry with a big story to tell for Millennials!

britishseabuckthorn

To explain all about the benefits of our sea buckthorn, we’ve teamed up with Registered Nutritionist Dr Lucy Williamson –

Busy, active lifestyles require nutrient-rich foods especially when combined with the stress of professional careers and demands of family life. There may be little spare time in the day to discover new natural, sustainable & functional food, planetary-health values which are becoming key in making great food choices. As a registered Nutritionist, I’m happy to be on this journey working with the British Seabuckthorn Company to share the good news on this nutrient-rich crop with all its potential health benefits, responsibly farmed in Essex!

Add these bright orange berries of happiness into your breakfast bowl, as dried berries into your nutty mix, drizzle rays of golden sea buckthorn oil over winter salads or with yoghurt as a warm porridge topper and enjoy a cup of seabuckthorn tea too!oxygen

Nutrient-rich and protecting biodiversity too…

The best food choices not only nurture human health but support the biodiversity of our ecosystems, from healthy soils to thriving flora and fauna with essential roles to play in maintaining nature as it should be. The British Seabuckthorn company nurture these principles and over the next few months we’ll be sharing with you all the need-to knows about this fabulous novel food.

The berries of sea buckthorn are a powerhouse of more than 190 nutrients, packed with antioxidants, vitamins & minerals, Omega oils, plant sterols and there’s plenty of fibre too. These nutrients all work in synergy with each other ensuring we get the maximum benefit to our health from this functional, natural food. And there’s potential for little waste in farming sea buckthorn – these nutrients are found in the berry, peel, pulp and seed – take a look here to search the different products available from different parts of the plant.

Top 5 Nutrients to talk about…

We want to share the good news on 5 sea buckthorn nutrients not only essential for every-day health and wellbeing & busy lifestyles but great for sports and longer-term health too. Stay tuned to this blog series over the coming months for further details on each.

Antioxidants

A brief bit of science! Our body is detoxifying all the time; our every-day metabolism involves each body system using Oxygen to function. This constantly produces a by-product called Reactive Oxygen Species, or ROS – toxic, unstable chemicals which have the potential to cause cell damage if not removed or detoxified. Cleverly we make our own antioxidants to do this but stress, lack of sleep, exercising muscles, pollutants, medications and many more factors often increase our demand for antioxidants. Cell damage is the start of the ageing process and the forerunner to many types of chronic disease so making sure we have plenty of antioxidants in our food is a priority! Sea buckthorn is packed with a wide range of antioxidants including flavanoids and beta carotene, a type of Vitamin A. On top of this, its exceptionally high levels of Vitamin E and C ensure we can make enough of our own antioxidants, like superoxide dismutase, great for healthy skin and hair but vital in protecting us from longer term health risks like heart disease. Sea buckthorn contains high levels of this antioxidant too – one of the reasons why it’s not only fabulous for our own health but is widely used for racehorses to counter the negative effects of strenuous racing. They develop a fabulous shiny coat too; the Greeks noticing this effect in horses grazing ancient sea buckthorn, named it Hippophae Rhamnoides, or ‘shiny horse’.

Vitamin C

When life is busy & active (with the added sleepless nights of parenting perhaps!) we use a lot of Vitamin C in our food to make antioxidants which can mean there’s less available for a strong immune system. Going into winter especially, we need a Vitamin C boost – 100g of sea buckthorn berries have 10 times the Vitamin C of an orange! Plenty of Vitamin C in our diet also ensures Iron in plants is bioavailable for us – without Vitamin C we can’t absorb plant-based Iron; unlike ‘haem’ iron from animals which is readily absorbed. A great, natural way to help protect against iron deficiency in teenage years, and beyond into pregnancy.

Omega 3

Sea buckthorn is a fabulous source of several Omegas; finding a good source of plant Omega 3, ALA, is always a winner as it’s generally low in our UK diet and we need a lot of it from plants to begin to get near the health benefits that come from the types of Omega 3 in fish, DHA and EPA. More on this in 2020…

What about Gut Health?

Don’t forget being a source of fibre, sea buckthorn helps nurture our microbiome to optimise Gut Health. These beneficial bacteria have many other longer-term benefits for our health too!

British Seabuckthorn is an exciting story of a nutrient-rich, sustainable food, and the British Seabuckthorn team are more than a little excited to share this with you! Follow us to find out more over the next few months, try our recipes and products and please fire feedback, ideas and questions our way!