Gut Bacteria and Probiotics (September 23, 2014)
One of the subjects from which conventional medicine has always delicately averted its eyes has been what were traditionally referred to as “commensal bacteria”. These are the extremely numerous and widespread colonies of microbes of various sorts that live all sorts of different places on our bodies but mostly in the digestive system, with most of THOSE microbes living in the intestines/gut (also called the microbiome).
“Commensal” is a biological term meaning a close relationship between two organisms wherein one of those organisms (in this case, the bacteria) derives benefit and the other is unaffected, sort of like the opossum living in your crawlspace. For some decades now there has been some growing awareness that some of these microbes were helpful to us and therefore the term “commensal” was sort of quietly dropped. But despite this, until fairly recently medical interest in these little bugs chiefly arose when a patient's normal population of them was decimated by disease or infection, resulting in too few of them to perform their one admittedl function of keeping yeast and other possibly harmful microbes in check.
Now it is finally being forced into our awareness that there is a good deal more to these little critters than we have traditionally given them credit for. The microbiome is responsible for a horde of useful functions necessary for health THAT ARE NOT OTHERWISE PERFORMED BY OUR BODIES THEMSELVES. They do things for us that we can't otherwise do. There is something faintly un-American about this, but it is a truth to which we must yield. Our health is at the very least strongly influenced by this multitude of bacteria living in our guts, which are NOT technically "us", yet if we behave in ways that are detrimental to them our own health can be affected -- even if those actions wouldn't affect us directly. Like artificial sweeteners. The body itself doesn't recognize them at all. But they seriously disrupt the aforementioned microbes.
“Probiotics” are the particular varieties of these organisms that are normally present in fermented foods and are now available as well in supplements of various types AND on prescription. Considering that in the healthy gut about 500 different types of gut bacteria are present and these supplements provide at most just a few varieties, at first glance it seems like it would be rather pointless to try to supplement them. Nevertheless, despite the diversity in population, the vast majority of microbes present in the healthy human gut are of just a few types. So if your friendly microbes have taken a hit either from infection, damage to the intestinal lining, antibiotic use or simply longtime poor diet, they could probably use a little help and a course of probiotics might be worthwhile.
What evidence exists have found probiotics to be “generally safe and well tolerated” and has established that they can help prevent and/or treat many digestive problems, help regulate the immune system, and even protect against respiratory infection. The microbiome, its influence on normal physiology and disease, and its manipulation with probiotics and diet is a big subject that is still in its infancy. I will continue this next week.
--dr. diane holmes, D.C., L.Ac., M.A.O.M.
Copyright © 2014
One of the subjects from which conventional medicine has always delicately averted its eyes has been what were traditionally referred to as “commensal bacteria”. These are the extremely numerous and widespread colonies of microbes of various sorts that live all sorts of different places on our bodies but mostly in the digestive system, with most of THOSE microbes living in the intestines/gut (also called the microbiome).
“Commensal” is a biological term meaning a close relationship between two organisms wherein one of those organisms (in this case, the bacteria) derives benefit and the other is unaffected, sort of like the opossum living in your crawlspace. For some decades now there has been some growing awareness that some of these microbes were helpful to us and therefore the term “commensal” was sort of quietly dropped. But despite this, until fairly recently medical interest in these little bugs chiefly arose when a patient's normal population of them was decimated by disease or infection, resulting in too few of them to perform their one admittedl function of keeping yeast and other possibly harmful microbes in check.
Now it is finally being forced into our awareness that there is a good deal more to these little critters than we have traditionally given them credit for. The microbiome is responsible for a horde of useful functions necessary for health THAT ARE NOT OTHERWISE PERFORMED BY OUR BODIES THEMSELVES. They do things for us that we can't otherwise do. There is something faintly un-American about this, but it is a truth to which we must yield. Our health is at the very least strongly influenced by this multitude of bacteria living in our guts, which are NOT technically "us", yet if we behave in ways that are detrimental to them our own health can be affected -- even if those actions wouldn't affect us directly. Like artificial sweeteners. The body itself doesn't recognize them at all. But they seriously disrupt the aforementioned microbes.
“Probiotics” are the particular varieties of these organisms that are normally present in fermented foods and are now available as well in supplements of various types AND on prescription. Considering that in the healthy gut about 500 different types of gut bacteria are present and these supplements provide at most just a few varieties, at first glance it seems like it would be rather pointless to try to supplement them. Nevertheless, despite the diversity in population, the vast majority of microbes present in the healthy human gut are of just a few types. So if your friendly microbes have taken a hit either from infection, damage to the intestinal lining, antibiotic use or simply longtime poor diet, they could probably use a little help and a course of probiotics might be worthwhile.
What evidence exists have found probiotics to be “generally safe and well tolerated” and has established that they can help prevent and/or treat many digestive problems, help regulate the immune system, and even protect against respiratory infection. The microbiome, its influence on normal physiology and disease, and its manipulation with probiotics and diet is a big subject that is still in its infancy. I will continue this next week.
--dr. diane holmes, D.C., L.Ac., M.A.O.M.
Copyright © 2014