Gut by Giulia Enders
This Book is filed under Nutrition and is a part of Gut Health
The Gateway to the Gut
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SUBLINGUAL PAPILLAE, those two constant suppliers of saliva, are situated right behind our lower front teeth, which are particularly susceptible to the buildup of tartar. This is because there are substances in our saliva that contain calcium whose sole function it is to make our teeth harder. But if a tooth is constantly bombarded with calcium, it can be a case of too much of a good thing. Tiny molecules floating innocently by are caught up and “fossilized” without so much as a by-your-leave. The problem is not the tartar itself, but the fact that it has such a rough surface, affording a much better foothold for bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease than smooth, clean tooth enamel
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But what are fossilizing, calcium-containing substances doing in our saliva? Saliva is basically filtered blood. The salivary glands sieve the blood, keeping back the red blood cells, which are needed in our arteries, not in our mouth. But calcium, hormones, and some products of our immune system enter the saliva from the blood. That explains why each person’s saliva is slightly different. In fact, saliva analysis can be used to test for diseases of the immune system or for certain hormones. The salivary glands can also add extra substances, including those calcium-containing compounds, and even natural painkillers.
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Our saliva contains one painkiller that is stronger than morphine. It is called opiorphin and was only discovered in 2006. Of course, we produce only small amounts of this compound, otherwise we would be spaced out on our own spit all the time! But even a small amount has a noticeable effect, since our mouth is such a sensitive thing.
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The fact that we produce so little saliva at night explains why many people have bad breath or a sore throat in the morning. Eight hours of scarce salivation means one thing for the microbes in our mouth—party time! Brazen bacteria are no longer kept in check, and the mucus membranes in our mouth and throat miss their sprinkler system.
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That is why brushing your teeth before you go to bed at night and after you get up in the morning is such a clever idea. Brushing at bedtime reduces the number of bacteria in your mouth, leaving fewer partygoers for the all-night bash. Brushing in the morning is like cleaning up after the party the night before. Luckily, our salivary glands wake up at the same time we do in the morning and start production straight away.
The Structure of the Gut
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OUR STOMACH SITS much higher in our abdomen than we think. It begins just below the left nipple and ends below the bottom of the ribcage on the right.
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The heart and the lungs sit on top of the stomach. This explains why we find it more difficult to breathe deeply after eating a lot.
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Most people do not realize that only the final three feet or so (about the last meter) of our large intestine has anything to do with feces—
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By preferring cooked food, the body outsources the first part of the digestive process.
What We Really Eat
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However, maintaining a healthy meat-free diet that does not lead to nutritional deficiencies is more difficult than most people think. Plants construct different proteins than animals, and they often use so little of a given amino acid that the proteins they produce are known as incomplete. When our body tries to use these to make the amino acids it needs, it can continue to build the chain only until one of the amino acids runs out. Half-finished proteins are then simply broken down again, and we excrete the tiny acids in our urine or recycle them in our body. Beans lack the amino acid methionine; rice and wheat (and its derivative meat substitute, seitan) lack lysine; and sweetcorn is, in fact, deficient in two amino acids: lysine and tryptophan. But this does not spell the final triumph of the meat eaters over the meat-avoiders. Vegetarians and vegans simply have to be cleverer in combining their foods. Beans may be lacking in methionine, but they are packed with lysine. A wheat tortilla with refried beans and a yummy filling will provide all the amino acids the body needs for healthy protein production.
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Vegetarians who eat cheese and eggs can compensate for incomplete proteins that way.
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centuries in many countries around the world, people have intuitively eaten meals made up of foodstuffs that complement each other: rice and beans, pasta with cheese, pita bread and hummus, or peanut butter on toast. In theory, combining does not even have to take place within one meal. It is enough to take in the right combination over the course of a day. (Thinking about these combinations can often inspire even the most uninventive of cooks when they are trying to decide what to make for dinner.) There are plants that do contain all the necessary amino acids in the necessary quantities. Two of these are soy and quinoa, but others include amaranth, spirulina, buckwheat, and chia seeds. Tofu has a well-deserved reputation as an alternative to meat—with the caveat that increasing numbers of people are developing allergic reactions
Allergies and Intolerances
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the more danger a plant senses, the more poisonous it will make its seeds. Wheat, in particular, is such a worrier because it has only a very short window of opportunity for its seeds to grow and carry on the family line. With such a tight schedule, nothing must be allowed to go wrong. In insects, gluten has the effect of inhibiting an important digestive enzyme. A greedy grasshopper might be put off by a little stomachache after eating too much wheat, and that is to the benefit of both plant and animal.
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humans, gluten can pass into the cells of the gut in a partially undigested state. There, it can slacken the connections between individual cells. This allows wheat proteins to enter areas they have no business being in. That, in turn, raises the alarm in our immune system. One person in a hundred has a genetic intolerance to gluten (celiac disease), but a considerably higher proportion suffer from gluten sensitivity.
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The gut can also become porous for a short time after a course of antibiotics, after a heavy bout of drinking alcohol, or as a result of stress. Sensitivity to gluten resulting from these temporary causes can sometimes look the same as the symptoms of true gluten intolerance.
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In such cases, it can be helpful to avoid gluten for a time.
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LACTOSE INTOLERANCE is not an allergy or a real intolerance at all, but a deficiency.
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Lactose is found in milk. It is derived from two sugar molecules that are linked together by chemical bonds. The body requires a digestive enzyme to break that bond, but, unlike other enzymes, this one does not come from the papilla. The cells of the small intestine secrete it themselves on the tips of their tiny little villi. Lactose breaks down when it comes into contact with the enzyme on the gut wall, and the resulting single sugars can then be absorbed. If the enzyme is missing, similar problems arise to those caused by gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity, including bellyache, diarrhea, and flatulence.
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Unlike in celiac disease, however, no undigested lactose particles pass through the gut wall. They simply move on down the line, into the large intestine, where they become food for the gas-producing bacteria there. Consider the resulting flatulence and other unpleasant symptoms as votes of thanks from extremely satisfied, overfed microbes.
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Every human being has the genes needed to digest lactose. In extremely rare cases, problems with lactose digestion can occur from birth. Such newborns are unable to digest their mother’s milk, and drinking it causes severe diarrhea. In 75 percent of the world’s population, the gene for digesting lactose slowly begins to switch off as they get older. This is not surprising, as by then we are no longer reliant on our mothers’ milk, or formula milk, to nourish us. Outside of Western Europe, Australia, and the United States, adults who are tolerant to dairy products are a rarity. Even in our parts of the world, supermarket shelves are increasingly full of lactose-free products. Recent estimates say about 25 percent of people in the United States lose their ability to break down lactose after weaning. The older a person, the greater the probability that she will be unable to break down lactose—
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However, lactose intolerance does not mean you must cut out milk products altogether. Most people have enough lactose-splitting enzymes in their gut. It is just that their activity is somewhat reduced—down to about 10 to 15 percent of their initial level,
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most common food intolerance in the Western hemisphere is trouble digesting the fruit sugar fructose, with about 40 percent of the population affected. Fructose intolerance can be the result of a severe hereditary inability to metabolize fruit sugar, which causes patients’ digestive systems to react to even the tiniest amounts of the substance. But most people affected by fructose intolerance actually have a condition more accurately described as fructose malabsorption, and they experience problems only when they are exposed to large amounts of the sugar. When fructose is described on food packages as “fruit sugar,” consumers often assume it is a healthier, more natural option. This explains why food manufacturers choose to sweeten their products with pure fructose, and consequently why our digestive system is exposed to more of this type of sugar than ever before.
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Fructose intolerance can also affect our mood. Sugar helps the body absorb many other nutrients into the bloodstream. The amino acid tryptophan likes to latch on to fructose during digestion, for example. When there is so much fructose in our gut that most of it cannot be absorbed into the blood and we lose that sugar, we also lose the tryptophan attached to it. Tryptophan, for its part, is needed by the body to produce serotonin—a neurotransmitter that gained fame as the happiness hormone after it was discovered that a lack of it can cause depression. Thus, a long-unrecognized fructose intolerance can lead to depressive disorders.
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Serotonin not only puts us in a good mood, it is also responsible for making us feel pleasantly full after a meal. Snack attacks or constant grazing on snacks may be a side effect of fructose intolerance if they are accompanied by other symptoms, such as stomachaches. This is also an interesting hint for all diet-conscious salad eaters, since many salad dressings found on our supermarket shelves or at fast-food outlets now contain fructose-glucose syrup (often known as high-fructose corn syrup).
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Use of nitrites for food preservation has been highly regulated since the 1980s, due to concerns about possible negative effects on human health. In the United States, sausage and cold meat products must contain no more than 156 parts per million of nitrite salt, approximately one-fifth of the level allowed twenty-five years ago. Rates of stomach cancer have fallen considerably since these regulations were introduced. This shows that what had once been a very sensible meat-preserving technique was in drastic need of correction. Today, canny butchers mix large amounts of vitamin C with small amounts of nitrite to cure their meats safely.
Reflux
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Practical tips to help with heartburn and reflux are based on trying to get those two nervous systems back on the right path. Chewing gum or sipping tea can help the digestive tract because small, repeated swallows help nudge the nerves in the right direction—down toward the stomach, not back up. Relaxation techniques can help persuade the brain not to send out such hectic instructions via the nerves. In a best-case scenario, that should result in constant closure of the sphincter, leading to less acid production.
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esophagus. Suddenly, they are no longer sure where they are, thinking, “Am I really an esophagus cell? I keep sensing bile! Perhaps I’ve really been a small intestine cell all these years without realizing it … Silly me!” Anxious to do the right thing, they change from esophagus cells into gastrointestinal cells. That can cause problems. Mutating cells can make mistakes in their own programing and no longer grow in a controlled way like other cells.
Vomiting
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There are now quite a few studies proving that ginger has a beneficial effect. Substances contained in root ginger block the vomit center of the brain and the feeling of nausea along with it. Many ginger candies, however, contain only ginger flavoring, so make sure anything you take contains the genuine stuff.
The Brain and the Gut
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Movement is the most extraordinary thing ever developed by living creatures. There is no other reason for having muscles, no other reason for having nerves in those muscles, and probably no other reason for having a brain. Everything that has ever been done in the history of humankind was only possible because we are able to move. Movement is not just walking or throwing a ball. It is also pulling faces, uttering words, and putting plans into action. Our brain coordinates its senses and creates experience in order to produce movement: movement of the mouth or the hands, movement over many miles or over just a few inches. Sometimes, we can also influence the world around us by suppressing movement. But if you’re a tree and can’t choose whether you move or not, you don’t need a brain.
The Adult Gut Population
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know that babies contain more active genes for digesting breast milk than adults do. The guts of obese people are often found to contain more bacterial genes involved in breaking down carbohydrates. Older people have fewer bacterial genes for dealing with stress. In Tokyo, gut bacteria can help digest seaweed, and in Toronto, they probably can’t. Our gut bacteria paint a rough portrait of who we are: young, chubby, or Asian, perhaps. The genes of our gut bacteria also inform us about our body’s abilities. The pain-relief drug acetaminophen can be more toxic for some people than others: some gut bacteria produce a substance that influences the liver’s ability to detoxify the drug. Whether you can pop a pill to cure your headache without a second thought is decided partially in your
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Bacteroides ARE THE best-known family of gut bacteria and often form the dominant population. They are experts in breaking down carbohydrates, and they possess a huge collection of genetic blueprints, which allows them to manufacture any enzyme they need to accomplish that task.
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This enterotype is also notable, among other things, for its ability to produce particularly large amounts of biotin. Other terms for biotin include vitamin B7 and vitamin H. It was given the name vitamin H in the 1930s because of its ability to heal a certain skin condition caused by consuming too much raw egg white. “H is for healing” might not be the most creative mnemonic, but it is a useful one nonetheless. Vitamin H neutralizes avidin, a toxin found in raw eggs. It causes the skin disease in question by binding strongly with vitamin H, leaving the body deficient in that substance. So, eating raw eggs causes vitamin H deficiency, which in turn can lead to skin disease.
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However, some people in higher-risk groups may well consider the possibility of a biotin deficiency. That includes anyone who takes antibiotics for an extended period, heavy drinkers, anyone who has had part of their small intestine removed, anyone reliant on dialysis, and people on certain kinds of medication. These people require more biotin than they can get from a normal diet. One healthy higher-risk group is pregnant women: developing babies use up biotin like aging refrigerators gobble up electricity.
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Prevotella family is the opposite of Bacteroides. Studies have shown that they are more common in the guts of vegetarians, but they also appear in moderate meat eaters and in convinced carnivores
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Another substance that contains sulfur and has an interesting smell is the vitamin associated with this enterotype: thiamine. Also known as vitamin B1, this is one of the most widely recognized and important vitamins. Our brains require it not only to keep the nerves well nourished, but also to coat them in an electrically insulating layer of fat. This explains why a thiamine deficiency may be the cause of muscle tremors and forgetfulness.
The Role of the Gut Flora
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Bacteria can also perform this service outside the gut. Yogurt is nothing other than milk that has been predigested by bacteria. Much of the sugar in the milk (lactose) has already been broken down and transformed into lactic acid (lactate) and smaller sugar molecules. That is why yogurt is both sweeter and sourer than milk. The newly formed acid has another effect on the milk. It causes the milk protein to curdle, giving the yogurt its characteristic thick consistency. Predigested milk (yogurt) saves our body some work—we just have to finish off what the bacteria started.
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our food that manufacture healthy end products. Mindful yogurt manufacturers often use bacteria that produce more dextrorotatory (right-turning) than levorotatory (left-turning) lactic acids. Molecules of the two kinds of lactic acid are mirror images of each other. Feeding the human digestive system with levorotatory lactic acid molecules is like giving a left-handed pair of scissors to a right-handed person: they’re hard to handle. That is why it is a good idea to pick yogurt from the supermarket shelves that states on the container: “Contains mainly dextrorotatory [or right-turning] lactic acid
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Really valuable studies began about twenty years ago. For one experiment in 2011, 114 Canadians ate specially produced yogurt twice a day. The bacterium added to the yogurt was Lactobacillus reuteri—in a form particularly resistant to digestion. Within six weeks, their levels of bad LDL cholesterol sank by 8.91 percent. That’s about half the improvement attained by taking a mild anti-cholesterol drug—but without the side effects. Studies using other types of bacteria lowered cholesterol levels by as much as 11 to 30 percent. Follow-up research still needs to be carried out to verify these promising indications.
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in future. To sift out the less likely ones, we have to ask the following kinds of questions. What abilities does such a bacterium need to have? Or rather, “What genes does it need to have?” The most likely candidates we know of today are BSH genes. BSH stands for bile salt hydrolase. Bacteria with these genes can convert bile salts. But what do bile salts have to do with cholesterol? The answer is in the name. Cholesterol comes from the Greek words chole (bile) and stereos (solid). Cholesterol was first discovered in gall stones. Bile, which is stored in the gall bladder, is the body’s transport medium for fats and cholesterol. BSH allows bacteria to alter bile to make it work less efficiently. The cholesterol and fat dissolved in bile can then no longer be absorbed by the body and they end up, to put it bluntly, down the toilet. This mechanism is useful for bacteria because it weakens the effect of bile, which can attack their cell membranes. This protects the bacteria on their long journey to their final destination—the large intestine. Bacteria also have a few other mechanisms for dealing with cholesterol: they can absorb it directly and incorporate it in their cell walls, they can convert it into a new substance, or they can manipulate organs that produce cholesterol. Most cholesterol is produced in the liver and the gut, where tiny messenger substances manufactured by the bacteria can partly control those processes. But we need to take a step back and ask cautiously: does the body always want to get rid of its cholesterol? It produces between 75 and 90 percent of our cholesterol itself. And that takes a lot of work! One-sided media reporting has given cholesterol a bad name, making people believe it is only evil
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much cholesterol is not such a good thing, but neither is too little. If it weren’t for cholesterol, we would have unstable cells and no sex hormones or vitamin D. Fat and cholesterol are not only an issue for Granny and her weakness for cream cakes or sausages. They are an issue for every one of us. Studies have shown a connection between too little cholesterol and memory problems, depression, and aggressive behavior.
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produce their own substances. Some scientists now support the theory that our gut microbiota can be considered an organ. Just like the other organs in our body, this organ has an origin, develops along with us, is made up of a load of cells, and is in constant contact with its fellow organs.
The Bad Guys—Harmful Bacteria and Parasites
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If our Sunday roast chicken is not roasted enough, we can end up eating not just chicken muscle cells but a few Salmonella cells, too. It takes between ten thousand and one million of these single-celled creatures to put us out of action. A million of these bacteria take up about one-fifth as much space as a grain of salt. So, how does an army of such tiny soldiers manage to move a colossus like us—with the volume of about 600,000,000 grains of salt—inexorably toward the toilet? It’s as if one hair of the American president’s head were to rule over the entire population of the United States.
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Rule number one: Always use plastic chopping boards because they are easier to clean properly and provide fewer grooves and ridges for bacteria to hide in.
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THIRTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD WOMAN cuts her wrists with a razor blade from the discount drugstore. It’s the thrill that makes her do it. A fifteen-year-old racing-car fan crashes into a tree at full tilt. And dies.
weird and uncomfortable anecdotes
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Fear is associated with a part of the brain called the amygdala. Certain fibers run directly from the eyes to the amygdala, so the mere sight of a spider can trigger an immediate reaction of fear. This connection exists even in blind people whose visual cortex has been damaged by an injury to the back of the head. They no longer see the spider, but they still feel it emotionally. So, our amygdala plays a major role in the development of fear. If the amygdala gets damaged, a person can become fearless.
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Strangely, we can dream all sensory experiences except smells. Our dreams are always odorless.
Of Cleanliness and Good Bacteria
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Bathing as a way of keeping the body clean was a privilege of the rich even up to the beginning of the twentieth century. It was around that time that dermatologists in Germany began to call for “a bath a week for every German!” Large companies built bathhouses for their employees and encouraged personal hygiene by issuing them with free towels and soap. The tradition of the weekly bath did not really take hold until the 1950s.
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Then, typical families took their bath on a Saturday evening, one after another in the same bathwater, and hard-working Dad often got to go in the tub first.
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Fear-driven hygiene involves attempting to clean everything away or kill it off. We don’t know what it might be, but we assume the worst. When we clean obsessively, we do indeed get rid of everything—both bad and good. This cannot be a good kind of cleanliness. The higher the hygiene standards in a country, the higher that nation’s incidence of allergies and autoimmune diseases. The more sterile a household is, the more its members will suffer from allergies and autoimmune diseases. Thirty years ago, about one person in ten had an allergy. Today that figure is one in three. At the same time, the number of infections has not fallen significantly. This is not smart hygiene. Research into Nature’s huge range of bacteria has led to a new understanding of what cleanliness should mean. It is no longer defined as the attempt to kill off potential dangers.
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BACTERIA CANNOT BREED on dry surfaces. Some cannot survive there at all. A freshly mopped floor is at its cleanest after it has dried.
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CLEANING MEANS REMOVING a film of fats and proteins from surfaces. Any
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Antibiotics can be problematic for children and old people. Their gut flora is already less stable and less able to recover after treatment with antibiotics. Research in Sweden showed that the gut bacteria of children were still significantly altered two months after taking antibiotics. Their guts contained more potentially harmful bacteria and fewer beneficial types like Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli. The antibiotics used were ampicillin and gentamicin. The study involved only nine children, which means it is not particularly meaningful in scientific terms, but it remains the only study of its kind so far.
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A more recent study of pensioners in Ireland revealed a clear dichotomy. Some gut landscapes recovered very well after a course of antibiotics, while others remained permanently altered. The reasons for this are still completely unclear. The ability to return quickly to a stable state following an extreme experience is described with same word by gut researchers and psychologists: resilience.
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PLANTS PRODUCE ANTIBIOTICS that have functioned for centuries without causing resistances. (Fungi, such as the penicillin fungus, are not plants but opisthokonts, like animals.) When parts of plants snap off or become perforated, they need to produce antimicrobial substances at the location of the damage. If they did not do this, they would immediately become a feast for any bacteria in the vicinity. Pharmacies sell concentrated plant antibiotics to treat developing cold symptoms, urinary infections, and inflammations in the mouth and throat. Some products contain mustard seed or radish seed oil, for example, or chamomile and sage extract. Some can reduce the numbers of viruses as well as bacteria. That leaves our immune system with less to contend with, giving it a better chance of dealing with pathogens.
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People have been eating probiotic bacteria since time immemorial. Without them, we would not exist. A group of South Americans had to learn that through bitter experience. They had the clever idea of taking pregnant women to the South Pole to have their babies. The plan was that the babies born there could stake a claim to any oil future reserves as natives of the region. The babies did not survive. They died soon after birth or on the way back to South America. The South Pole is so cold and germ-free that the infants simply did not get the bacteria they needed to survive. The normal temperatures and bacteria the babies encountered after leaving the Antarctic were enough to kill them.
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Every culture in the world includes traditional dishes that rely on the help of microbes for their preparation. Germany has its sauerkraut, pickled gherkins, and sourdough pretzels; the French love their crème fraîche; the Swiss have their hole-riddled cheese; salami and preserved olives come from Italy; Turks swear by a salty yogurt drink called ayran. None of these delicacies would exist if it weren’t for microbes. There are many, many examples from Asian cuisine: soy sauce, kombucha drinks, miso soup, Korean kimchi. Indians have lassi and Africans have fufu … the list is endless. All these foods rely on bacteria for a process we call fermentation. The process often results in the production of acid, which makes the yogurt or vegetables taste sour. This acid, along with the many good bacteria, protects the food from dangerous microbes. Fermentation is the oldest and healthiest way of preserving food.
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observing Bulgarian mountain peasants. He realized they often lived to be a hundred years old or more, and they were unusually contented. Metchnikoff suspected the key to their longevity lay in the leather bags they used to transport the milk from their cows. The peasants had to walk long distances, and their milk often turned sour or transformed into yogurt in the bags before they reached home. Metchnikoff became convinced that the secret to their long lives was their regular consumption of this bacterial product. In his book The Prolongation of Life, he asserted the claim that good bacteria can help us live longer, better lives. From then on, bacteria were no longer just anonymous components of yogurt, but important promoters of health. However, Metchnikoff’s timing could hardly have been worse. Shortly before, it had been discovered that bacteria cause disease. Although the microbiologist Stamen Grigorov identified the bacterium described by Metchnikoff as Lactobacillus bulgaricus in 1905, he soon turned his efforts to the fight against tuberculosis. The successful use of antibiotics in fighting disease from around 1940 meant that the idea was fixed in most people’s minds: the fewer bacteria, the better.
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The fact that almost all the probiotics we know—give or take a yeast or two—are lactic-acid bacteria shows how little we have yet discovered in this area. Lactobacilli are normally less common residents in the guts of adults, and Bifidobacteria are unlikely to be the only health-promoting microbes present in the large intestine. At the time of writing, there is only one other probiotic bacteria species that is as well researched as the two mentioned above: E. coli Nissle 1917. This strain of E. coli was first isolated from the feces of a soldier returning from the Balkan War. All the soldier’s comrades had suffered severe diarrhea in the Balkans, but he had not. Since then, many studies have been carried out to show that this bacterium can help with diarrhea, gastrointestinal disease, and a compromised immune system. Although the soldier died many years ago, scientists continue to breed his talented E. coli in medical laboratories and package it up for sale in pharmacies so it can work its wonders in other people’s guts.
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There is one limitation to the efficacy of all current probiotics we take: they are isolated species of bacteria bred in the lab. As soon as we stop taking them, they mostly disappear from our gut. Every gut is different and contains regular teams that help each other or wage war on each other. When somebody new turns up, they are at the back of the line when it comes to allocating places. So, currently, probiotics work like hair conditioner for the gut. When you stop taking them, the regular flora folk have to continue their work. To achieve longer-lasting results, researchers are now looking at the possibilities of a mixed-team strategy: taking several bacteria together, so that they can help each other to gain a foothold in unknown territory. They clear away each other’s waste and produce food for their colleagues.
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Those are just a few dishes that Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli love to eat. We now know that they prefer vegetables from the lily family (Liliaceae), which includes leeks and asparagus, onions, and garlic. They also like Compositae plants, which are those from the sunflower family, including endives, salsify, artichokes, and Jerusalem artichokes. Resistant starches are also on their list of favorites. Resistant starches form, for example, when potatoes or rice are boiled and then left to cool. This allows the starches to crystalize, making them more resistant to digestion. This means that more of your potato salad or cold sushi rice reaches your microbes untouched. If you don’t already have a favorite prebiotic dish, give them a try. Eating these dishes regularly has an interesting side effect—it causes regular cravings for just such foods.
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People who eat mainly low-fiber foods like pasta, white bread, or pizza should not suddenly switch to eating large portions of high-fiber foods. That will only overwhelm their underfed bacterial community. The sudden change will freak the bacteria out, and they will metabolize everything they can in a fit of euphoria. The result is a never-ending trumpet concerto from down below. So, the best strategy is to gradually increase the amount of dietary fiber and not to feed your bacteria with massive, unmanageable amounts. After all, the food we eat is still first and foremost for us, and only secondarily for the inhabitants of our large intestine.
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People who never need to break wind are starving their gut bacteria and are not good hosts for their microbe guests.
Clever Cravings for Fermented Foods
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FERMENTING MEANS GETTING bacteria to pre-digest your food. Bad bacteria and molds do not ferment your food nicely, but spoil it and render it inedible. Good bacteria, however, process our food to make it easier for us to digest. They are better than our digestive enzymes at splitting open cabbage cells (or other plant cells). In this way, they make the work of the gut much easier and even produce additional vitamins in the process. They also produce acids that kill off any dangerous bacteria, thus preserving the food for longer.
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