antisecretory factor-inducing cereal

A small study has been done showing that "antisecretory factor-inducing cereal" decreased vertigo in Meniere's patients:

"antisecretory factor-inducing cereal may reduce vertigo in patients with Meniere's disease

based on randomized trial
51 adults with Meniere's disease randomized to antisecretory factor-inducing soy protein concentrate (SPC)-flakes vs. control cereal 1 g/kg/day in 2 servings/day for 3 months
decreased vertigo reported in 52% with SPC-flakes vs. 8% with control cereal (p < 0.001, NNT 3)
no consistent change in otoneurological exams in either group
Reference - Acta Otolaryngol 2010 Feb;130(2):223 " (copied from Dynamed)

Has anyone been prescribed this? Anyone know where you can get it? I'm in Calgary, Canada.

 

I can't say I've ever heard of this Anne. It'll be interesting to see if anyone here has had any experience with this.

 

I would like to know more about this.

 

I found a few more pilot (ie small) studies which found that this cereal improved symptoms in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohn's. Another, done on rats, says:

Antisecretory factor (AF) inhibits pathologic fluid secretion and inflammation. AF is expressed in most tissues and is secreted into the blood. Challenge with bacterial enterotoxins increases AF activity. The plasma level of active AF is also increased after intake of certain food constituents, such as specially processed cereals, SPC.

So maybe this ties together some of our food triggers, fluid pressure/salt issues and the vertigo attacks.

I still haven't found where/how to get some, but did find a post at this website:
http://www.mylifeandmenieresdisease.com/2010/06/menieres-disease-and-cereal.html#comment-form

...from someone who gets it prescribed by their doctor. I left a post begging them to share their info here. Fingers crossed!

 

I think I found the original company making the flakes... in Sweden!! Here's the link... can anyone translate?
http://lantmannen.com/sv/Bolag--Varumarken/Lantmannen-AS-Faktor/AS-Faktor/

 

There is an English flag on the upper right and you can get the info in English.There is a Swedish woman here who said she tried it and it did nothing for her.I'm in Sweden but my doctors have never mentioned it.However my doctor did mention once that some people got some relief with steel cut oats.

 

I wonder what other foods have these properties?

 

I have also heard that gluten can be a trigger. Anyone eliminate Gluten in their diets?

 

dipad, do a search on this board. There are several threads on the subject of guten.

 

Hello my friends!
I just read a post on the Meniere's Resources Facebook page from a woman in Sweden who tried these SPC Flakes and a product called Salovum, both of which are supposed to increase AF activity. I did a search on here and found this thread. Wondering if anyone has else has recently had any experience with either of these. James, our resident expert in Sweden , have you heard any more?

I hope you are all doing great. I've missed you all.

 

This is right down my alley! I follow a blood type diet that, among other things, gives good recommendations for secretors as well as non-secretors. Most everyone is a secretor according to the naturopathic physician who has been working on blood type diets for a very long time - took up where his naturopath father left off.

I've gotten good results with a number of physical issues with this blood-type diet recommendations. I'm an A positive secretor, "Warrior" on the SWAMI Xpress software.

According to this doctor, secretors and non-secretors have different health deals. I'm gonna look up all this and see what might help me.

 

Thanks Stephan. Of all the gagillion tests I've had, none have ever measured intracranial pressure. Never had a lumbar puncture, nothing of that sort.

I don't have any history of encephalitis. Did have mono when I was 15. I need to update my signature too. I've been diagnosed with parkinsonism. Treatment for that has made my constant disequilibrium COMPLETELY VANISH. Doc says I should still keep my cane handy but honestly, I haven't used it in a couple of months.

Still have Meniere's, sad to say. Tinnitus screams 24/7. Maxide, Valium, and Robinul help. Maxide gave me back my hearing in my right Meniere's ear.

 

Hey Skye!
I haven't known of anyone who have used them.I have looked at some Swedish menieres forums and it seems to be like most things they help some people but not everyone.
My doctor has never mentioned them to me.
Here is a link where you can buy them.
I think it could be quite expensive,especially when you factor in shipping.

http://www.poapharma.com/index.php/site/products/medical_nutrition_spc_flakes

Here is a list of ingredients,
Cereal flakes of oats.
Nutritional content per 100gKostfiber 7.5 g
sodium 14mg
chloride 86mg
potassium 310mg
calcium 88mg
phosphorus 400mg
magnesium 130mg
Iron 4.5 mg
Zinc 2.4 mg
copper 390μg
Iodine 0.5 microgram
selenium 8μg
Manganese 3.1 mg
chromium 14μg
molybdenum 130μg
Flour 0.08 mg
Vitamin K 1.6 ľg
Thiamin 0.57 mg
Riboflavin 1.3 mg
Vitamin B6 0.08 mg
Niacin 2.7 mg
folic acid 166μg
Vitamin B12 0.28 ľg
Pantothenic acid 1.7 mg
biotin 16μg
Vitamin E 0.74 mg

The usual dose of SPC is 1 g per kg of body weight per day divided 2-3 times. The specially processed cereals can be taken with such as yoghurt. You can also cook porridge flakes.

So many people think of the gluten interaction with mm and other diseases.So maybe there is something to it.This is also used for people who have digestive problems.
I have been feeling ok,but maybe I will get some and try them out.
If you want I can mail them to you.

 

Very interesting from 2010, pdf link:

Antisecretory Factor –experimental studies on cellular effects and mechanism of
action
Antisecretory Factor (AF, also named S5a/rpn 10) is a 43 kDa ubiquitously expressed protein
which acts as a regulator of water and electrolyte transport and counteracts inflammation. AF
was identified and cloned in our group 1995. We have since then studied properties, functions
and clinical use of AF.

Exposure to enterotoxins or intake of specific food component increases AF-activity. Clinical
studied have shown that intake of an AF-inducing diet can decrease symptoms in diseases
where inflammation and/or secretory disturbances are involved, e.g. inflammatory bowel
disease (IBD), endocrine diarrhoea and Menieres disease.

The antisecretory and anti-inflammatory active part of AF is an 8 amino acids long sequence
in the N-terminal part of the protein. A somewhat longer peptide called AF-16 has better
stability and is more suitable for experimental work. Our present work aims at clarifying the
mechanism of action for AF and AF derived peptides in order to get a better foundation for
further experimental and clinical studies.

In experimental encephalitis induced by herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) treatment with AF-16
abolished the mortality. PCR and immunohistochemistry showed no effect on virus
replication of the AF treatment. However, AF-16 was found to normalize the raised
intracranial pressure caused by the infection.

This study indicates that AF-16 does not affect the replication of the infectious agent but
diminishes the secondary damage caused by the inflammation. The key effect of AF thus
appears to be anti-inflammation. In order to identify the cellular target mediating the antiinflammatory effect we are combining a number of in vivo and in vitro methods including
histology and histochemistry, autoradiography, thin layer chromatography, TOF-SIMS,
animal experiments and cell culture.

www.gu.se/digitalAssets/1307/1307901_stefan-lange---webb.pdf

 

Here is a more recent publication on AF and Meniere's (October 2013). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24294684

"Antisecretory factor-inducing therapy improves patient-reported functional levels in Meniere's disease." Just wondering if anyone on this board ordered the cereal and experimented with it?

 

Product info here:
http://www.poapharma.com/index.php/site/products/medical_nutrition_spc_flakes

(No, I'm not trying to sell or promote this product. But it seems worthy of investigation, as but another, unique Meniere's treatment approach.)

--John of Ohio

 

And more, similar (but more detailed) info here:
http://menieresjourney.blogspot.com/2012/05/salovum-spc-flakes-how-antisecretory.html

--John of Ohio

 

And on the site above, I discovered the author's interesting proposed connection between a herpes virus connection (the discovery of which she attributes to me---others did that before me) and with stress and other mental state matters: Ménière’s Disease: Is Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) & Herpes the Cause? Here:
http://menieresjourney.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/menieres-disease-is-psychoneuroimmunolo.html

--John of Ohio

 

Here is a link to some information written by the company that develops and sells the cereal commenting on the latest October 2013 double-blinded study :

http://www.poapharma.com/index.php/news/view/new_study_from_liverpool_on_antisecretory_factor_in_regards_to_menieres_dis

"New study on Antisecretory Factor in regards to Menière’s Disease 6 out of 10 significantly improved

The Liverpool study is the second randomized double blind study with significant results that confirm an initial pilot study, which also had significant results.
Consistent results are now available from two university hospitals in two different cities in two different countries; Antisecretory Factor effectively reduces pain, vertigo and other problems associated with Menière’s disease."

 

And from the same Swedish company is the product "Salovum," derived from the eggs of specially-fed chickens, which contain the AF factor, said to treat Meniere's:
http://www.poapharma.com/index.php/site/products/head_neck_salovum

--John of Ohio