the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

For those questions and discussions on the McDougall program that don’t seem to fit in any other forum.

Moderators: JeffN, f1jim, John McDougall, carolve, Heather McDougall

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby flabingo » Sat Mar 28, 2015 1:12 pm

Are you familiar with Barry Marshall and Robin Warren from Austrilai who won the Nobel Prize 20 years after they developed a anti bacteria treatment to eliminate the need for Tagamet, which only dealt with the effect of having an ulcer. Marshall swallowed the bacteria with the hope that the would get ill. LUCKILY he got very ill.
flabingo
 
Posts: 233
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:58 am

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:41 pm

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... r-health1/

March 23, 2015 |By Katherine Harmon Courage |

[b]Fiber-Famished Gut Microbes Linked to Poor Health
While probiotics receive more attention, key fibers remain the workhorses in maintaining a healthy gut microbiom
[/b]e
March 23, 2015 |By Katherine Harmon Courage


Another recent study shows that when microbes are starved of fiber, they can start to feed on the protective mucus lining of the gut, possibly triggering inflammation and disease.

Diet is one of the most powerful tools we have for changing the microbiota," Justin Sonnenburg, a biologist at Stanford University, said earlier this month at a Keystone Symposia conference on the gut microbiome. "Dietary fiber and diversity of the microbiota complement each other for better health outcomes." In particular, beneficial microbes feast on fermentable fibers—which can come from various vegetables, whole grains and other foods—that resist digestion by human-made enzymes as they travel down the digestive tract. These fibers arrive in the large intestine relatively intact, ready to be devoured by our microbial multitudes. Microbes can extract the fiber's extra energy, nutrients, vitamins and other compounds for us. Short-chain fatty acids obtained from fiber are of particular interest, as they have been linked to improved immune function, decreased inflammation and protection against obesity.

Today's Western diet, however, is exceedingly fiber-poor by historical standards. It contains roughly 15 grams of fiber daily, Sonnenburg noted. For most of our early history as hunter-gatherers, we were likely eating close to 10 times that amount of fiber each day. "Imagine the effect that has on our microbiota over the course of our evolution," he said.



As fiber consumption increased, the activity of genes associated with protein metabolism declined, a finding that researchers hope will help them understand the complicated puzzle of diet and weight loss. "We're getting closer to what is actually cause and effect," Swanson says.
What does that mean?

A third group of mice received high-fiber chow and fiber-free chow on alternating days—"like what we would do if we were being bad and eating McDonald's one day and eating our whole grains the next," Martens joked. Even the part-time high-fiber diet was not enough to keep guts healthy: these mice had a mucus layer about half the thickness of mice on the consistently high-fiber diet. If we can extend these results to humans, he said, it "tells us that even eating your whole fiber foods every other day is still not enough to protect you. You need to eat a high-fiber diet every day to keep a healthy gut."


This article says eating high fiber one day and not the next day, alternating your diet, is not enough. And that is why these health tips don't work. You know, all the magazine columns that say if you just eat more fiber here and there it will help.
This reminds me of how I was always trying to make these small changes that are supposed to add up to big results. In the past, I was buying whole wheat bread for more fiber, cutting out fried foods, gave up french fries, fried chicken and cheese, adding in more veggies but those small changes never added up because what is needed is a big radical change. I think people get frustrated because they are eating less meat, eating more fiber, but it's not enough. So they think they are doing positive things and they aren't working.

soul food


---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/842705

Gut Bacteria May Influence Parkinson's Risk, Phenotype
Pauline Anderson
April 06, 2015
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue Apr 07, 2015 1:21 pm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2 ... d-sources/

PHARMA & HEALTHCARE 4/01/2015

Antibiotic Resistance From Unexpected Sources--Herbicides, Dust And Metals

by Judy Stone

Comment Now Follow Comments

More disturbing news was revealed this week on new sources of antibiotic resistance in the environment. First, in a troublesome report in mBio⁠, the journal of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers showed that three commercial herbicides—Monsanto’s dicamba (Kamba) and glyphosate (Roundup), and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)—could make strains of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium less sensitive to antibiotics. (The response varied with different combinations of antibiotic, herbicide, and bacterial strain).

This is hugely important for several reasons: Herbicides are fairly ubiquitous in the environment. Glyphosate (Roundup) has been found in the milk and meat of cows⁠, and in human urine. According to German researchers⁠, “Glyphosate residues cannot be removed by washing and they are not broken down by cooking. Glyphosate residues can remain stable in foods for a year or more, even if the foods are frozen, dried or processed.” Thus, there is great chance for interaction of herbicides with antibiotics. Interestingly, Roundup alone had once been considered as an antibiotic, but resistance was found to develop rapidly.⁠ Dr. Jack Heinemann, the study’s lead author and professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand explains that while a bacteria alone might have been killed by an antibiotic, when exposed to an herbicide, a resistance gene is turned on, in effect “‘immunizing’ the bacteria to the antibiotic.”


n additional problem is that some weeds have become resistant to Roundup. New genetically modified soybeans and corn have been engineered by Dow⁠ to resist the “Enlist Duo” herbicide, which is a combination of glyphosate and 2, 4-D. Monsanto also is looking to sell soybean and cotton GMO varieties resistant to both herbicides.


Another study showed that heavy metals, added to feed as growth promoters, ⁠ can also select for antibiotic resistance. Pollution with heavy metals—even at very low levels— can promote bacteria with multiresistance plasmids (small bits of extrachromosomal DNA). This combination can fuel resistance, as the antibiotics can act synergistically with the heavy metals⁠ in selecting for resistance. In this Swedish study⁠, investigators examined an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) plasmid from a hospital outbreak of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. This plasmid carried resistance not only to beta-lactam and other antibiotics, but also to quaternary ammonium compounds, copper, silver, and arsenic. This is important as copper and silver are being explored for their properties that might treat infections without antibiotics and “quats” are a commonly used hospital disinfectant. Resistance to these metals has not yet been a problem.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/04/2 ... -bacteria/

11,000 years of isolation: Remote village has unusual gut bacteria

LiveScience
By Laura Geggel
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:20 am

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/04/so ... teria.html

April 23, 2015
The Scientists Who Want to Fix America’s Intestines Started With Their Own

By John Swansburg


http://sonnenburglab.stanford.edu/

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/ ... biome.html
To be healthy, take care of your microbiome


http://nutritionfacts.org/video/bowel-w ... -butyrate/

Volume 24 · April 27th 2015 · Michael Greger, M.D.
Bowel Wars: Hydrogen Sulfide vs. Butyrate

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2 ... t-microbes

How Modern Life Depletes Our Gut Microbes
MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF
APRIL 21, 2015

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/are-org ... utritious/
Volume 24 · April 29th 2015 · Michael Greger, M.D.
Are Organic Foods More Nutritious?

I want to save this here and get back to it as far as are organic foods healthier.
Last edited by soul food on Tue May 12, 2015 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue May 05, 2015 12:54 pm

https://www.coursera.org/learn/microbiome/

class on gut mircbiome which I think is free.

soul food
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby GeoffreyLevens » Tue May 05, 2015 1:24 pm

http://lifespa.com/intuition-explained/#.VUj7hiPdzMA.email
Intuition Explained

by John Douillard on May 5, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Average Reading Time: 3 minutes and 24 seconds

A recent study has linked gut feelings and intuitive decision-making to newly-discovered neurobiological gut-brain pathways. (1) A gut-brain pathway carries gut-based, emotionally-charged signals carried by microbes from your gut to the brain where they can affect brain function.

While “gut feelings” and “intuition” seem like terms better suited for the metaphysical rather than neurobiology, the new science linking our microbiome to higher brain functions like intuition is emerging.

According to research, intuition and gut feelings are built on a series of both positive and negative gut-brain signals beginning at birth. These include gut-brain emotions such as reward hormones (dopamine), and hunger and craving hormones (ghrelin) which train the central nervous system. (1)

Years of repetitive gut-based brain signals form memories of emotional states that, according to the research, are used for complex social emotions, including predictions about the future and intuitive decision-making. (1) In Ayurveda, predictions and intuition are similar concepts; both based on the extension of logic.

According to Ayurveda, Intuition Is Not Magic.

In 1986, during my studies in India, I would follow my Ayurvedic teacher around each day as he performed his medical rounds. Dr. Raju was a pulse diagnosis and herbal expert, and I would be wowed on a regular basis by some of his pulse readings.

Once, after taking the pulse of a middle-aged man from England, Dr. Raju asked the Englishman, “Did you fall off a ladder when you were young and break a few vertebrae in your back?” The man confirmed that he had, in fact, fallen off a ladder and broken his back. Dr. Raju then contended that it was his back injury some 30 years earlier that was causing his current condition of anxiety and insomnia.

After hearing Dr. Raju make similar diagnoses on a regular basis, I asked him how he could make such predictions. I asked him if he was psychic. He gave me a strange look as if he didn’t know what psychic was. I asked him if he used intuition. He said, “No.”

He told me that intuition is nothing more than the extension of logic. He said, “When I take the pulse, it is logic, not magic. When you are a child, adding 2 + 2 is a challenge but soon, with practice, the answer comes without having to think about it. Soon, with the extension of logic, more difficult problems also come easy without having to think about them. It is just a ‘knowing.’ Taking the pulse is the same. Over time and with practice, it becomes natural to know things that seem unknowable by simply extending logic.”

Ayurvedic Intuition

According to Ayurveda, there are many explanations for intuition, higher cognitive function, and higher states of consciousness. Intuition starts with the emotional state of mind during the process of eating food. One of my favorite concepts is how food becomes ‘emotionally-charged’ as a result of the state of mind during the process of eating. Eating while angry or stressed is considered a no-no in Ayurveda. Of course, now we know that it is in fact the microbes carried by food that can be emotionally-charged that carry these emotional messages. (1) Additionally, lifestyle, stress levels, and emotions can alter the gut-to-brain signals carried by the microbes. (2,3)

Other research in support of the intuitive process has shown that the gut feelings of one person (as measured by electrogastrogram activity) increase in response to the emotions of a distant person beyond the influence of ordinary sensory interactions. (4) Interestingly, research has shown that intuition seems to be enhanced in conjunction with positive emotions, as opposed to negative emotions. (5-7)

Ayurveda suggests living a positive, loving, giving, caring, lifestyle, called a sattvic lifestyle. A sattvic lifestyle is a prerequisite for the development of intuition and higher states of consciousness. A positive, loving lifestyle also supports the proliferation of beneficial microbes, inhibition of harmful bacteria and the production of a health promoting hormone called oxytocin. (2,3,8)

According to Ayurveda, the subtle digestive nutrient fluid is called rasa and it carries the emotional charge, possibly via the microbiology, into every cell of the body. If the charge is positive or sattvic, then the nutrient fluid positively affects all the tissues of the body. The final product of digesting this nutrient fluid, which can take up to 30 days to complete, is a substance called ojas. Ojas is not only responsible for immunity and vitality; it is an essential substance required for intuition, gut feelings and the development of higher states of consciousness.

While much more research is needed to confirm the relationship between lifestyle, stress, emotionally-charged microbes, the production of ojas through digestion, and higher cognitive functions like intuition and gut feelings, there is emerging evidence that suggests that there is an intimate relationship between digestion, gut microbes, the brain, emotions and intuition. (1)

References
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21750565
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC414848/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18227772
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15750366
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20515252
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12930470
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19203169
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3537144/
GeoffreyLevens
 
Posts: 5871
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 6:52 pm
Location: Paonia, CO

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue May 05, 2015 3:47 pm

GeoffreyLevens,
that's pretty cool.
Which reminds me of a book title, I was going to read but never did, something like the brain in our gut



here
http://philipshepherd.com/the-sun/

Out Of Our heads

Philip Shepherd On The Brain In Our Belly


by Amnon Buchbinder

New Self, New World explores the implications of the little-known fact that we have two brains: in addition to the familiar cranial brain in the head, there is a “second brain” in the gut. This is not a metaphor. Scientists recognize the web of neurons lining the gastrointestinal tract as an independent brain, and a new field of medicine — neurogastroenterology — has been created to study it.

According to Shepherd, there is a good reason that we talk about “gut instinct.” If cranial thinking sets us apart from the world, the thinking in the belly joins us to it. If the cranial brain believes itself surrounded by a knowable world that can be controlled, the brain in our belly is in touch with the world’s mystery. The fact that the second brain has been discovered, forgotten, and rediscovered by medicine three times in the past century suggests how complicated our relationship with our bodily intelligence is.


soul food


-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32687313

Seasons affect 'how genes and immune system work'
By Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online


Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, said: "Another dimension that could be as important are our gut microbes, which also change between seasons and could be driving these changes because of seasonal changes in diet."


----------------------------------
INVESTIGATORS SHOW HOW IMMUNE CELLS ARE "EDUCATED" NOT TO ATTACK BENEFICIAL BACTERIA

http://weill.cornell.edu/news/pr/2015/0 ... e-gut.html



New York (April 23, 2015) — An international research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators has discovered an answer to why the human immune system ignores roughly 100 trillion beneficial bacteria that populate the gastrointestinal tract. The findings, published April 23 in the journal Science, advance investigators' understanding of how humans maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract, and may provoke new ways to treat inflammatory bowel disease — including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis — whose origins have been mysterious and treatment difficult.

The investigators studied T cells — critical components of the adaptive immune system — which have the capacity to recognize, eliminate and remember foreign microbes that invade our bodies. T cells are named after the thymus, an organ where they develop and are taught not to attack normal human tissues and organs, leaving them free to target and eradicate disease-causing foreign invaders. One question that had puzzled scientists until now is how these cells learn to ignore beneficial bacteria in the intestine that are also foreign, but not harmful.

In the study, the research team discovered that once they leave the thymus, T cells are again educated in the gastrointestinal tract, or gut, to leave beneficial bacteria alone. This dual education strategy is vital to supporting healthy immune function, the investigators say. Disruption in the pathway that facilitates this education, they add, causes the immune system to attack beneficial bacteria in the intestine, which is often linked to the development and progression of diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, HIV, viral hepatitis, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer. Therapeutic strategies to promote and boost the activity of this education pathway may be beneficial in treating patients with these chronic inflammatory disorders, the investigators say.

"In many chronic human diseases, the immune system attacks bacteria in the intestine that are normally beneficial.





It seems like the people with the inflammatory bowels diseases never find these threads on gut bacteria and inflammation.
?

soul food
Last edited by soul food on Wed May 13, 2015 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue May 12, 2015 4:56 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... wrong.html



:shock:
What? exercise promotes the richness of gut microbes

Prof. Tim Spector
Be good to your gut — do more exercise
Exercise alone doesn’t lead to significant weight loss, argues Professor Spector. Research also shows it won’t help keep it off.
However, it is good for your heart and brain — and your gut bacteria.
Results from the professor’s studies of 3,000 twins show that the amount of exercise they took is the strongest factor in promoting the richness of their gut microbes.
The findings are supported by a study of elite athletes in the national Irish rugby squad, published last year in the journal Gut.
Nutritionists at University College Cork found that the athletes had much more diverse stomach bacteria than normal, as well as lower levels of inflammation.



So, how does exercise have this effect? One way in which it does this is by stimulating the immune system, which, in turn, sends stimulating chemical signals to the microbes in our guts, according to a 2011 study in the journal Immunology Investigations.
Exercise also benefits our balance of gut bugs directly, according to a 2008 report in the journal Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry.
The study of lab rats showed that those exercising on a wheel produced twice as much of the fatty acid butyrate in their guts compared with sedentary rats.
Butyrate is produced by our gut microbes and has a broad range of beneficial effects on the immune system, says the report. Exercise stimulates microbes to produce more of it.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z3Zy57nsKR
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


soul food


EXERCISE
I am going to add this in here because I wonder if the above article is part of the answer?

http://www.doctorslounge.com/index.php/news/hd/55626

Exercise May Blunt a Woman’s Risk of Lung and Breast Cancer: Studies

Experts say findings make sense, but note they are preliminary.
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

[color=#4000BF]
The Stanford study relied on data from the Women's Health Initiative, a long-term federally funded project that tracked the health of nearly 162,000 women 50 to 79 years of age at 40 U.S. hospitals.

Of those women, the researchers focused on about 132,000 postmenopausal women to see if their exercise levels had any effect on lung cancer risk or death. During nearly 12 years of follow-up, just over 2,200 women developed lung cancer and 1,400 women died from the disease.

But women who spent more minutes per week on the move were less likely to either develop lung cancer or die from it, according to the findings.

The study looked only at minutes spent moving around, not at intensity of movement, Wang said. A minute of walking or mowing the lawn weighed the same as a minute jogging or lifting weights.

"It seems to indicate that you don't have to kill yourself," she said. "It doesn't need to be strenuous. You just have to put the time in."

What's more, Wang and her colleagues found that physical activity seemed to help even smokers. Former heavy smokers and current smokers developed lung cancer and died from the disease less often if they were active, compared with sedentary women who smoked.

The benefits of physical activity were most prominent among women who were not obese, with a BMI -- body mass index, a ratio of weight to height -- under 30, according to findings. A BMI of 30 or greater is considered obese.

However, "it would be the wrong conclusion that women with higher BMI won't benefit from physical activity," Wang added.

It should be noted that the study only revealed an association between exercise and lung cancer risk. It did not prove cause-and-effect.
[/color]

The French study found that physical activity appeared to reduce breast cancer risk.

In that study, researchers reviewed 38 previous studies published between 1987 and 2014 that involved 4.18 million women and more than 116,000 cases of breast cancer.

Women with the highest levels of physical activity experienced an 11 percent to 20 percent reduction in breast cancers, compared to women with the lowest levels of activity, researchers reported.

Overall, a sedentary woman who began engaging in four to seven hours a week of mainly vigorous physical activity seemed to reduce her risk of breast cancer by 31 percent, according to lead author Cecile Pizot, a biostatistician with the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France.

"This reduction occurred irrespective of the type of physical activity, the place of residence, obesity and menopausal status," Pizot said. "Also, breast cancer risk seems to decline with increasing physical activity, and we observed no threshold."

However, that benefit only applied to women who had never used hormone replacement therapy. Taking replacement hormones appeared to wipe out whatever protective benefit that exercise conferred.


edit add

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbiVo4tJhiE

She healed breast cancer with nutrition then won the Iron Man!

Dr. Ruth Heidrich healed stage 4 breast cancer with nutrition in 1982, then became a world class athlete winning more than 900 trophies, 6 Ironman Triathlons, 8 Senior Olympics Gold Medals and 67 marathons!



I can't help but make the connection that Ruth Heidrich was becoming an elite athlete during the time she was fighting cancer.
soul food



edit add


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIAltUyFo5o

a short video that sums up what they know so far about our gut bacteria

speaking of butyrate

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/04/ ... -bacteria/

Fiber's cancer-fighting effect depends on gut bacteria

LiveScience


By Rachael RettnerPublished April 14, 2014



[quoteOur study shows that it's not the high fiber in and of itself that has a protective effect against cancer, but its a combination of the fiber plus having the right types of bacteria," said Scott Bultman, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who presented the research here at the meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The researchers noted that healthy colon cells use butyrate for fuel, but cancer cells do not (instead, they use the sugar glucose). Because cancer cells do not use butyrate, the chemical collects inside the cells, potentially causing them to self-destruct, Bultman said.][/quote]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/mary ... story.html

By Carrie Wells
The Baltimore Sun



[quote][color=#FF0000]The researchers tested 12 healthy people between the ages of 65 and 80, feeding them the bacteria Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, often known as LGG, twice a day for 28 days. They found that in some of the subjects, ingesting LGG appeared to make other microorganisms in the gut better able to reduce inflammation.

Fraser said the LGG appeared to turn on what she described as "outboard motors" on organisms in the gut that produce butyrate, an anti-inflammatory fatty acid. Those motors allow the butyrate-producers to bury themselves more deeply into the mucus lining the gastrointestinal tract.

The finding that LGG changes the way other microbes in the gut works was novel, according to the researchers at University of Maryland School of Medicine, though other research suggests LGG also may have a direct impact on the body.[
/quote][/color]
Last edited by soul food on Mon Jun 15, 2015 5:33 pm, edited 6 times in total.
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Fri May 22, 2015 11:56 am

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles. ... ian-Clock/

Gut Microbes Influence Circadian Clock
Metabolites produced by gut microbes in mice can affect the animals’ circadian rhythm and metabolism.

By Anna Azvolinsky | April 16, 2015

The mammalian gut microbiome is involved in controlling the circadian rhythm of its host, according to a mouse study published today (April 16) in Cell Host & Microbe. In both mice and humans, timing of feeding and diet type can impact the bacterial populations of the gut. Now, Eugene Chang of the University of Chicago Medical Center and his colleagues have found that mouse gut microbiota produce metabolites in diurnal patterns, and these can influence the expression of circadian clock genes in the liver.


[quote The mammalian sleep-wake cycle is known to play a role in metabolism. Rodent studies have shown that such circadian rhythm can be altered by high-fat diets. In humans, perturbed sleep patterns can lead to increased appetite and an increased risk of obesity and diabetes.

Panda and his colleagues recently showed that the gut microbes of mice fed a high-fat diet did not fluctuate diurnally as they did in mice fed control food. Another recent study, led by Weizmann Institute of Science’s Eran Elinav, pointed to similar oscillation of gut bacteria in humans.][/quote]



-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/b ... 23.article

I, Superorganism: Learning to Love Your Inner Ecosystem, by Jon Turney
nviting us to consider what a scaled-up version of this “molecular chatter” might mean, Turney wants us to see our microbiome as engaged in a series of overlapping conversations involving the body’s four “information and control” systems – the genome, endocrine, brain/nervous systems and especially the immune system.

9 APRIL 2015


----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://gizmodo.com/is-your-nervous-syst ... 1707129123

Is Your Nervous System Being Hacked by Bacteria in Your Gut?
24,5953


Gaia Vince

5/27/15 6:30am

[quote]But how do gut microbes have this mind-altering affect? Bacteria that inhabit the intestines secrete waste products that can cause inflammation. They can also produce neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine. This generates electrochemical signals that travel up the vagus nerve, triggering chemical changes in the brain that affect behaviour. The vagus even appears to differentiate between non-pathogenic and potentially pathogenic bacteria and induce feelings of anxiety or calm depending on the stimulus, scientists believe.[/quote]

------------------------------------------------------------------
Bacteria may cause Type 2 diabetes: study
Press Trust of India | Washington June 2, 2015 Last Updated at 16:22 IST

Researchers found that prolonged exposure to a toxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria causes rabbits to develop the hallmark symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, including insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and systemic inflammation.


Obesity is a known risk factor for developing Type 2 diabetes, but obesity also alters a person's microbiome - the ecosystem of bacteria that colonise our bodies and affect our health.

"What we are finding is that as people gain weight, they are increasingly likely to be colonised by staph bacteria - to have large numbers of these bacteria living on the surface of their skin," Schlievert said.

"People who are colonised by staph bacteria are being chronically exposed to the superantigens the bacteria are producing," Schlievert said.

The study shows that superantigens - toxins produced by all strains of staph bacteria - interact with fat cells and the immune system to cause chronic systemic inflammation, and this inflammation leads to insulin resistance and other symptoms characteristic of Type 2 diabetes.
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue Jun 02, 2015 11:44 pm

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/typ ... une-system

Typical American diet can damage immune system

Inflammation, autoimmune problems and even cancer can result

BY LAURA BEIL 1:00PM, MAY 18, 2015

Among their long list of tasks, gut bacteria may help train the immune system to distinguish between human and microbe so that it can confront what’s bad, tolerate what’s not, and recruit a diverse army of cellular foot soldiers to stop invading germs. Writing in Nutrition Journal in June 2014, one scientist likened gut microbiota to a sparring partner, providing a regular workout that strengthens the contender for a true opponent.

To function at their best, though, gut microbes, like most living things, need to be well fed. And many of the species responsible for immune equilibrium don’t seem to care for junk food. In a study reported in Nature Communications in April, African-American volunteers who shifted from an American diet to high-fiber, low-fat African cuisine experienced a drop in inflammation in just two weeks.


I've added some articles into previous posts.

soul food
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:27 pm

http://fortune.com/2015/05/21/danone-yogurt-bacteria/


capitalists discover microbiome :eek: :twisted: :nod:

fantasy food and smart toilets coming your way


These are the kinds of compounds that TIM digests all day, and the hope is that more of them will reach our supermarkets and kitchens, in products better targeted to help our bodies and even our minds. Fantasy foods like juices that can ward off autoimmune diseases or cereals that can encourage fat reduction now seem like attainable goals to some scientists. Other researchers think the microbiota could launch an era of personalized nutrition, in which a thorough analysis of your unique gut ecosystem could guide the way to a customized diet, optimized for your health.


The plummeting cost of microbial genome sequencing has triggered an avalanche of research that’s prompting optimism about potential benefits—more than 6,000 studies of the microbiome have been published since 2006. The attendant publicity hasn’t gone unnoticed by consumers: In a recent survey by market-research firm NPD Group, 31% of Americans said they wanted to ingest more probiotics. Seeing an opportunity, foodmakers, from corporate giants like Nestlé and General Mills to fledgling startups, are pouring money into research. “Drug companies, food companies, academics, federal scientists, food scientists, neuroscientists, institutes,” says George Fahey, professor emeritus of nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois. “Everybody wants a piece of it.”


In this crowded race, Danone, the world’s leading dairy producer, has a pronounced headstart. Yogurt, one of the best-known gut-friendly foods, is Danone’s bestselling product globally (including under the Dannon brand in the U.S.). Danone was one of the first food companies to fund microbiota research; it’s currently staging some 100 clinical trials and collaborating with more than 40 academic or commercial partners in the field. Gérard Denariaz, director of strategic R&D partnerships at Danone, describing the company’s scatter-the-seeds philosophy, says: “Who knows who will come up with the next breakthrough?”




If companies do crack the microbiome, the rewards could be huge: Global sales of “fortified/functional foods” reached $275 billion in 2014, according to Euromonitor, and foods that could tout themselves with scientific precision as suppressing obesity or fostering childhood development could be enormously lucrative.



nol’s observation reflects a reality that makes food executives queasy—the chance that big food won’t be the industry that profits first, or most, from microbiome research. A number of pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson JNJ 0.11% , Pfizer PFE -0.23% , and Sanofi, have research initiatives focusing on the gut microbiome. The tech sector could also capitalize on the trend: Just about everyone in microbiome research describes a not-far-off future when some kind of diagnostic tool (most have their bets on smart toilets) will analyze your gut bacteria and steer you to the foods you need most—a point of connection between the Internet of things and a new normal of personalized nutrition.


[quoteDanone's big bet on tiny bacteria

by Erika Fry @ErikaFry MAY 21, 2015, 8:30 AM EDT][/quote]





----------------------------------------------------------

I haven't heard much mention of chronic fatigue. Seems like years ago it was talked about more.

http://www.prohealth.com/library/showar ... ibid=19501

Gut Infection Could Underlie Symptoms in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Last edited by soul food on Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue Jun 16, 2015 2:28 pm

http://phys.org/news/2015-05-complex-bl ... ation.html

Complex signaling between blood and stem cells controls regeneration in fly gut

May 25, 2015
Having a healthy gut may well depend on maintaining a complex signaling dance between immune cells and the stem cells that line the intestine. Scientists at the Buck Institute are now reporting significant new insight into how these complex interactions control intestinal regeneration after a bacterial infection. It's a dance that ensures repair after a challenge, but that also goes awry in aging fruit flies—the work thus offers important new clues into the potential causes of age-related human maladies, such as irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut and colorectal cancer.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-05-complex-bl ... n.html#jCp

Jasper says aging makes it harder for the stem cells to switch gears between proliferation and quiescence and that flies suffer from age-related intestinal dysfunctions similar to those experienced by humans. Jasper says when the flies are young they are able to fend off infection and repair tissues, but that the cumulative effect of damage over a lifetime takes a toll - signaling goes awry, and stem cells get chronically activated, causing inflammation and dysplasia, which makes the animal more prone to infection and dysfunction. "This is another classic example of 'what is good for us in youth, turns against us with age'," said Jasper. "When we think of interventions, we need to find the sweet spot. We want to promote stem cell repair and regeneration without having those responses become chronically activated."




---------------------------------------------------
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 182034.htm

Fat, sugar cause bacterial changes that may relate to loss of cognitive function
Date:

June 22, 2015
Source:
Oregon State University
Summary:
A study indicates that both a high-fat and a high-sugar diet, compared to a normal diet, cause changes in gut bacteria that appear related to a significant loss of 'cognitive flexibility,' or the power to adapt and adjust to changing situations. This effect was most serious on the high-sugar diet, which also showed an impairment of early learning for both long-term and short-term memory.
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:15 pm

http://www.livescience.com/51493-severe ... teria.html

Severe Burns May Let 'Bad Bacteria' Take Over the Gut
Gillian Mohney, Live Science Contributor | July 08, 2015 05:21pm ET

People who have gotten severe burns are known to be at risk for a host of complications, but there may be other consequences lurking deeper within the body: A new study finds that a burn may change the community of bacteria within a person's gut, and possibly lead to an increased risk of infection.

In the study, researchers analyzed fecal bacteria from four patients with severe burns over at least 30 percent of their body, and compared these bacteria with fecal bacteria of people with minor burns. They found that the severely burned patients had higher levels of a potentially dangerous group of bacteria called Enterobacteriaceae, which includes E. coli and Salmonella.

In fact, Enterobacteriaceae made up 31.9 percent of the gut bacteria in the people with severe burns, compared with just 0.5 percent in those with minor burns, according to the study, published July 8 in the journal PLOS ONE.


This increase in "bad bacteria" may explain why burn patients are at increased risk for sepsis, a dangerous inflammatory response that can lead to organ failure, Choudhry said. It's possible that the severe burns compromise the defense mechanism in the gut, thus allowing the harmful bacteria to leave the gut and trigger inflammation in the body, Choudhry noted.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com ... -microbes/

How to Program One of the Gut’s Most Common Microbes
by Ed Yong

:shock:


-------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.medicaldaily.com/high-fat-di ... ria-341806

The Grapevine

High-Fat Diet May Convince Us To Overeat By Wreaking Havoc On Our Gut Bacteria

Jul 7, 2015 10:01 PM By Ed Cara

A new animal study lends support to the idea that high fat diets make it harder for our brains to tell us we're full by changing the bacterial environment of the


The authors treated the rats in their study to one of two meal plans: a regular diet with a daily fat content of about six percent and a sinful smorgasbord fit for a whiskered king that clocked in at a whopping 35 percent fat. They then, apparently without a hint of guilt, dissected the rats and examined their guts and brain, finding that there were distinctive differences between the two groups.


They also found that there was noticeable changes along certain neural pathways in the rats made obese by the high fat diet, changes that may explain why obesity is notoriously difficult to combat. "When we switch the rats to a high fat diet, it reorganizes brain circuits," Czaja said. "The brain is changed by eating unbalanced foods. It induces inflammation in the brain regions responsible for feeding behavior. Those reorganized circuits and inflammation may alter satiety signaling."
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Tue Jul 14, 2015 5:16 pm

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1010&sid=35484488

The disgusting bacteria your shoes are bringing into your home


By Tracie SnowderJuly 14th, 2015 @ 10:58am

ALT LAKE CITY — The easiest way to stop germs from getting in your house is to leave your shoes at the door. A new study found 40 percent of shoe soles contain the bacteria C. difficile.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted by researchers from the University of Houston. They looked at samples from 30 houses in Houston and found C. diff on 40 percent of shoe soles and 33 percent of bathrooms and toilets.
soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

Re: the importance of bacteria (gut, food, health)

Postby soul food » Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:04 pm

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/19/medicine ... biome.html

Medicine's next frontier: The microbiome

Meg Tirrell |

Companies are also mining the microbiome for uses beyond therapeutic ones. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based AOBiome is pursuing a consumer route, having developed a live bacterial spray it says can help users cut back on deodorant and soap. The product, AO+ Mist, contains ammonia oxidizing bacteria that the company calls AOBs.

"They convert ammonia to nitrate and nitric oxide," CEO Spiros Jamas said in an interview at AOBiome's offices, which are decked out in gear touting the benefits of bacteria, including shirts that say "bacteria is the new black; wear it every day."

"The company's hypothesis is that humans evolved with AOBs as a natural component of our skin," Jamas said. "And really only in the last 50 years, with the advent of cleaning and hygiene routines and antibacterial products, we've lost AOBs from our skin and also lost a key regulatory element from our skin microbiome."



--------------------------------------------------------------
http://mag.uchicago.edu/science-medicine/microbial-me

Microbial me

BY LYDIALYLE GIBSON | THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MAGAZINE—JULY–AUG/15

Scientists are discovering how microbes not only make us sick but also keep our bodies working.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://phys.org/news/2015-07-insights-p ... teria.html

New insights into the production of antibiotics by bacteria

Bacteria use antibiotics as a weapon and even produce more antibiotics if there are competing strains nearby. This is a fundamental insight that can help find new antibiotics. Leiden scientists Daniel Rozen and Gilles van Wezel published their research results in the authoritative Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA on 28 July 2015.


soul food
 
Posts: 1669
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:45 pm

PreviousNext

Return to The Lounge

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests



Welcome!

Sign up to receive our regular articles, recipes, and news about upcoming events.