(Not so) mysterious pneumonia outbreak in China

And some good and interesting news

To avoid a shorter, lack of-substance e-mail/article, this one will cover 3 specific topics. First, the “mysterious” outbreak in China, with my thoughts on it, second Coffee inhibition of SARS-CoV-2, which is something I proposed a couple of years back, third and significant, Colitis and fiber, as in how fiber worsens Colitis, also something me and other warned for years.

I am still in the housekeeping process, since I am manually backing up every single thing I ever published here, be patient, I will do my best to get the Index out by the weekend. To the news.

Time indeed is a flat circle, as one of my favorite TV series once said (True Detective, worth every second of your time), and so we hear a similar history. A sudden outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origins, right at the end of November. It all started with this news article in Chinese. For context, the image below gives you a perspective of what is going on. Another source in English.

To demystify the possible origins. Months ago there were multiple outbreaks of “unknown” pneumonia around the world, also aggressive, hospitalizing many (I covered these twice), at the end of the day, they found it was a forgotten disease. Legionnaires, which experienced a few outbreaks here, and there, but nothing at epidemic levels.

A few months ago, China stopped its Covid 0 policy, and life went back to normal, following similar trends as the West, respiratory viruses ran rampant, and at the time, months in advance I warned about letting Omicron run amok, without control or proper immunity would lead to cascade effects and the outbreak of multiple times of diseases, especially influenza and bacterial infections/pneumonia.

In case you need a reminder, Omicron displaces a few microbes in our gut, but specifically and most affected is Akkermansia M. one of the microbes responsible both for the control of sugar levels in our blood and our entire immune response against influenza.

The Germ Plaguing China’s First Post-Lockdown Wint

China is heading for its first full winter since giving up on Covid Zero. Whereas the coronavirus, flu and respiratory syncytial virus were a triple threat in many nations a year ago, China is instead battling a different lurgy: Mycoplasma pneumonia.

Influenza infections can modulate how your body “produces” Toll-Like Receptors (the little antennas inside and especially outside the cell that pick up signals and start many important functions in the body) leading to bacterial infections. Influenza and Mycoplasma coinfections are very common, especially at younger ages (5-10 years old).

For a long time, I’ve chosen to consciously avoid “doom and gloom”, so, for now, I will just expect it is another cascade effect of Covid that, well, nobody is testing, and nobody cares to test because “Omicron is mild bro, insert asinine opinions that I don’t care to reply here Ad nauseam”. The simplified feedback loop:

Omicron > Influenza > secondary bacterial infection > tertiary “anything” infection > immune paralysis > repeat step one

God forbid it is my dreaded H10N3 pandemic. Moving on.

Back in 2021, I consistently “joked” that consuming caffeine (the large amounts are just me high on hopium hehe) would mitigate and perhaps inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection. The study referred to in the tweet below is this one, which basically says Coffeebew and pyrocatechol (a byproduct of brewing coffee) limit the “waste” of glutathione and ascorbic acid, both of the most important antioxidants in the body.

Coke Zero is an integral part of my “Brain stack”, and this isn’t a joke

And since misfolded proteins have been a talking point in my Substack recently, the moderate consumption of coffee may be sufficient to act as an inhibitor of misfolded protein aggregation and toxicity.

Espresso Coffee Mitigates the Aggregation and Condensation of Alzheimer′s Associated Tau Protein

Coffee as a dietary strategy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection

Results

Here, we identified that coffee can inhibit multiple variants of the SARS-CoV-2 infection by restraining the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and reducing transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) and cathepsin L (CTSL) activity. Then, we used the method of "Here" (HRMS-exploring-recombination-examining) and found that isochlorogenic acid A, B, and C of coffee ingredients showed their potential to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection (inhibitory efficiency 43–54%). In addition, decaffeinated coffee still preserves inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2. Finally, in a human trial of 64 subjects, we identified that coffee consumption (approximately 1–2 cups/day) is sufficient to inhibit infection of multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 entry, suggesting coffee could be a dietary strategy to prevent SARS-CoV2 infection.

Conclusions

This study verified moderate coffee consumption, including decaffeination, can provide a new guideline for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2. Based on the results, we also suggest a coffee-drinking plan for people to prevent infection in the post-COVID-19 era.

Consuming 1 to 2 cups of coffee, including decaffeinated (bleh, you have a bad taste bro) can block SARS-CoV-2 from infecting cells, by directly suppressing the binding of the Spike protein with ACE2 and decreasing the host activity of TMPRSS2 thus avoiding cleavage of the Spike protein, this is one of the preferred methods of Omicron variants to infect cells.

There is another angle on how coffee can also limit inflammatory responses of the Spike Protein, and limit protein aggregation by other mechanisms among other positive effects, in regards to SARS-CoV-2 or not is by suppressing LPS-induced inflammatory responses by inhibiting NF-kB and activating Nfr2 (the master orchestrators of antioxidation in the body).

Now to the Colitis and fiber.

Fiber-deficient diet inhibits colitis through the regulation of the niche and metabolism of a gut pathobiont

Highlights

• Dietary fiber exclusion is beneficial in a spontaneous Crohn’s disease-like colitis model

• Fiber exclusion alters the localization of a mucus-dwelling pathobiont, Mucispirillum

• Fiber deprivation impairs a critical Mucispirillum metabolic pathway

• Pathobiont localization in the intestinal mucus layer is critical for causing disease

Summary

Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) with fiber-free diets is an effective steroid-sparing treatment to induce clinical remission in children with Crohn’s disease (CD). However, the mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of EEN remains obscure. Using a model of microbiota-dependent colitis with the hallmarks of CD, we find that the administration of a fiber-free diet prevents the development of colitis and inhibits intestinal inflammation in colitic animals. Remarkably, fiber-free diet alters the intestinal localization of Mucispirillum schaedleri, a mucus-dwelling pathobiont, which is required for triggering disease. Mechanistically, the absence of dietary fiber reduces nutrient availability and impairs the dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA) metabolic pathway of Mucispirillum, leading to its exclusion from the mucus layer and disease remission. Thus, appropriate localization of the specific pathobiont in the mucus layer is critical for disease development, which is disrupted by fiber exclusion. These results suggest strategies to treat CD by targeting the intestinal niche and metabolism of disease-causing microbes.

Years ago there was a lot of debate among the specialized medical community on fiber-free vs fiber/fiber-heavy diets, and one of the arguments was that any patient suffering from gut inflammation had to eat “more fiber”, by personal experience and overall observation and time I knew this was a lie on many cases. What was elusive was the mechanism.

Here we have it. By abstaining fiber, there is an alteration in the mucus layer and a specific metabolic pathway, basically “starving” one of the disease inducers and leading to disease remission. To be objective I have argued multiple times for fiber supplementation as a viable alternative to “clean” your gut from SARS-CoV-2, and stick by it, but this is a short-term method (If you are curious, wheat bran, is disgusting, but effective).

We need balanced diets, and healthy lifestyles, but some people will do much better short to medium term by eliminating fiber, rather than the opposite, after the tissue healed and the inflammation subsided, reintroduction of fiber is possible, but most fiber-free people just go live their merry lives like that.


Thanks to everyone who supports my work or donated to Kofi at any time. =)