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  #1   ^
Old Tue, Dec-04-18, 13:18
Demi's Avatar
Demi Demi is offline
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Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160 Female 5'10"
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Location: UK
Default The new navel gazing? Your gut

Quote:
From The Times
London, UK
4 December, 2018

The new navel gazing? Your gut

The make-up of our microbiome has become a health obsession. Anna Maxted sorts facts from fad


It sounds like the newest obsession of the middle-class worried well, bored with blaming their ailments on gluten. However, “gut microbiome” — the micro-organisms in our gastrointestinal tract and their genetic material — is the health industry’s latest buzz phrase.

And it’s heralding many new concerns. Is our bacterial balance healthy? Is the wrong composition contributing to weight gain, autoimmune diseases or allergies? (Maybe.) Is drinking probiotics the answer? (Depends.) Should you have yours profiled? (Probably not.)

Fretting about the bacteria in your gut certainly takes the concept of navel-gazing to an extreme level. And as with any notion that gains fad status, there’s confusion about what it means and how we should amend diet and behaviour.

Yet hype aside, scientists are hugely excited about this new frontier of human biology (new in research terms — these microbes co-evolved with us over millions of years).

Dr Rangan Chatterjee, a GP and the author of The 4 Pillar Plan: How to Relax, Eat, Move and Sleep Your Way to a Longer, Healthier Life, says: “We’re realising that the health of the gut microbiome doesn’t just determine the health of our gut — digestion, bloating — it’s related to the health of many other organs and systems in the body.”

Julian Marchesi, a professor of clinical microbiome research and deputy director of the Centre for Digestive and Gut Health at Imperial College London, says that for a long time scientists believed our gut bacteria were just passengers. However, in the past 15 years, “We realised there’s this collection of organisms that contain more genetic information than the host, has all these functions, make all these chemicals and proteins — and maybe they’re important. We’ve come to understand that these bacteria play a significant role in how the host works.”

This realisation is critical, because the belief that risk of disease is dictated by genes, environment and habits is now recognised as simplistic. Marchesi, also professor of human microbiome research at Cardiff University, says: “In autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, we can only explain 15 per cent of the disease based on your genes. It’s a recurring feature in behavioural diseases, Alzheimer’s, liver diseases, cancer and non-infectious diseases like heart diseases, diabetes.”

Understanding our microbiome could help in the treatment of many health conditions, Marchesi says. The question is, “Once we’ve identified the chemical or the function these bacteria bring to the host, how do we either reduce it, if we think it’s a risk for disease, or increase it, if we think it promotes health?”

However, experts don’t yet know what constitutes an ideal microbiome (so if you have yours profiled, it’s unlikely to mean much — unless you have it done before and after a change of diet). “Our best guess is that it’s diverse,” Chatterjee says. And in the past 50 years, the diversity of gut bacteria in the urbanised western world has drastically reduced.

What’s definite, Marchesi says, is our gut microbiome can be a liability or an asset. “There’s a link between the gut and the whole body, via the chemicals these bacteria make,” he adds. “We know that some of them can have an influence on the brain, the liver function, on the immune system.”

This year, the BMJ noted: “Lower bacterial diversity has been reproducibly observed in people with inflammatory bowel disease, psoriatic arthritis, type 1 diabetes, atopic eczema, coeliac disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and arterial stiffness, than in healthy controls.”

Marchesi points out that we need more long-term data to be sure, but says: “We’ve started noticing that certain collections of bacteria seem to be associated with certain disease states. We’re not at the point where we can say strong cause and effect, but we have very strong associations.”

Should I take prebiotic supplements?

A prebiotic is, essentially, food that feeds the microbiome. “A lot of the plant material and fibre we eat we don’t utilise. It becomes food for the bacteria in our large intestine. They break it down and make a wide range of very active and potent chemicals,” Marchesi says.

“Given the right plant material they make short-chain fatty acids. One is called butyrate. It has the ability to be anti-inflammatory. It also stops cancer cells from growing. You can live without bacteria, but you don’t tend to work as well. Animal models, reared in a sterile environment, are much more stressed, their hearts and livers are smaller, their gut doesn’t work.”

It’s best to increase fibre intake from vegetables and fruits — eg onions, chicory, bananas, potato salad (full of resistant starch), leeks and broccoli — because in supplement form not enough fibre may be tolerated by your gut to be effective (and you may experience flatulence and bloating).

Are antibiotics terrible for gut bacteria?

“Overuse of antibiotics is a big one,” Chatterjee says. “They can be life-saving, but they can also decimate your microbiome. A little like bleach, particularly if they’re strong, they can kill a lot of our gut bugs.” Some of us are resilient. “Within weeks we’ve returned our microbiome to its previous state. In others, it might take two years. Other people may never fully recover.”

Could my gut bacteria exacerbate my anxiety?

Transplanting bacteria from an anxious mouse to a stress-free mouse turns the stress-free mouse anxious, and vice versa, Marchesi says. He adds: “We know the gut bacteria can affect the host’s ability to make serotonin. The bacteria utilise the amino acid tryptophan and start modifying it into serotonin-like molecules, so what bacteria are in your gut can influence how much tryptophan is available to make serotonin.”

Chatterjee cites a randomised controlled trial last year that put patients with moderate to severe depression, already on treatment, on a modified Mediterranean diet. Others received social support. After 12 weeks, the Mediterranean dieters had a statistically significant remission rate for depression. “I suspect the diversity of that diet promoted diversity in the gut bug population, which contributed to the positive mental health outcome,” he says.

Are my gut bugs making me fat?

“The gut microbiome is part of the picture when talking about obesity,” Chatterjee says. “People with obesity have a less diverse gut microbiome.” Marchesi adds: “We know there’s potential for the gut bacteria to influence fat metabolism, so you can get fatter.” This hypothesis is partly based on animal models. When bacteria are transplanted from a lean mouse to an obese mouse, Marchesi says, the obese mouse becomes lean.

Is my microbiome affecting my immune system?

“Our gut bugs are instrumental in how our immune system operates,” Chatterjee says. “We know unresolved chronic inflammation is a root cause of diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes, arthritis. That inflammation comes from the immune system. Around 70 per cent of immune system activity is in and around our gut.”

Flourishing gut bacteria produce more short-chain fatty acids, which calm the immune system, he says. “They also produce regulatory T-cells, very important white blood cells, which regulate the response of the immune system, making sure it doesn’t overreact.”

Should I take probiotics?

Probiotics work mostly by supporting existing bacteria, rather than by introducing wriggling new ones — although Marchesi says, “if you’re healthy, probiotics don’t do much for you”. He adds: “Probiotics do have value. But people think it’s a panacea. A probiotic is a very specific strain of an organism that has to be tested to show it works.” For instance, lactobacillus has been shown to be good for antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. “But that probiotic will not help you if you’ve got IBS and feel bloated.”

Professor Simon Gaisford, the head of pharmaceutics at University College London, has another perspective. His interest is in the formulation of probiotics. In a recent study, he says, “We used lactobacillus — which produces lactic acid — which lowers the pH. We think your beneficial gut flora are relatively resistant to changes in the pH, but pathogens, such as MRSA or Clostridium difficile, are less tolerant. So by lowering the pH, we think you effectively start to poison the environment for the bad bacteria. The lactic acid is then used as a food supplement by some of your good gut bacteria. They then flourish.”

Ensure your probiotic has an effective delivery system. Gaisford believes that in solid form (tablet, powder) probiotics are “quite ineffective”, because the bacteria are dried. “A very small number survive. Then you’re asking them to rehydrate in stomach acid. We’d recommend a liquid product. The majority are yoghurt-based, which provides a degree of protection against stomach acid. The best probiotic we tested is a water-based product called Symprove.” He believes it to be effective against gut infections.

Can “leaky gut” cause autoimmune issues?

Leaky gut is a colloquial term for increased intestinal permeability. Chatterjee says: “The barrier between our gut and bloodstream has a normal amount of intestinal permeability, so we can absorb nutrients. However, when this intestinal permeability becomes excessive then it can potentially lead to problems — though it’s hard to know how common this is. (NB, boozing temporarily increases intestinal permeability.)

“Could increased intestinal permeability play a role in certain conditions? There’s no doubt. LPS, lipopolysaccharide, is a sugar that coats certain gut bugs. It’s very toxic if it gets into your bloodstream. If you have IIP [isolated intestinal perforation], LPS can start to get into the bloodstream. It’s been associated with rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegenerative disease and depression.”

How to nurture your gut

Eating in a way beneficial to the microbiome is likely to improve the functioning of the gut barrier, Chatterjee says. It will help the production of butyrate, which is key. “Anything people do to encourage a diverse, resilient microbiome, I’m in favour of, whether that’s eating different coloured vegetables, fresh whole foods, live yoghurt, kimchi or sauerkraut.” He advises avoiding highly processed foods, drinking too much alcohol and smoking, which can damage the microbiome.

Marchesi adds: “Eat lots of fibre and plant material. It may have an impact thirty years down the line. It could reduce your risk of colorectal cancer, fatty liver disease, getting fat. It could help control your anxiety and stress levels.”



https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...r-gut-8sbh23pks
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  #2   ^
Old Tue, Dec-04-18, 16:05
Meme#1's Avatar
Meme#1 Meme#1 is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 12,456
 
Plan: Atkins DANDR
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Default

Bio-K is the best liquid pro-biotic, made in a lab in Canada.
I highly recommend it.

Contains
50 billion
100% probiotic
bacteria per
3.5oz. bottle.
Original

Supports digestive health and immune system
No added flavours or sweeteners
White fermented milk with creamy consistency
Slightly tart taste that becomes more pronounced over its shelf life (it’s a living food).

Bio-K+® products are suitable for everyday consumption by both children and adults!
Ingredients :

Water, skim milk powder, whey protein concentrate, active cultures of L. acidophilus CL1285®, L. casei LBC80R® and L. rhamnosus CLR2®.
Allergen :

Milk
Nutritional value
Calories 45 cal. Fat 0 g
Cholesterol Less than 5 mg 2% Sodium 65 mg 3%
Carbohydrates 6 g 2% Fibres 0 g
Sugar 1 g Protein 4 g
Calcium 15% Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0% Iron 0%

Per 3.5oz. bottle. % of daily values in USA.


https://www.biokplus.com/en_us/products/original
(lots of educational info at their web-site)

Last edited by Meme#1 : Tue, Dec-04-18 at 17:07.
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