Digestion Rules #6
By Janelle Klein MSN, FNP-BC
By the time you reach adulthood it is estimated that your intestines house one half to three pounds of microbes (bacteria and fungal cells). While this might sound horrifying, it is actually good.
Intestinal microbes do many beneficial things.
1. They help develop effective immune systems and digestive tracts
2. They breakdown undigested food.
3. They produce K and B vitamins.
4. According to a research conducted at Washington University of Medicine in 2001, they increase nutrient absorption.
5. They can prevent heavy metal toxicity according to a study by Indian researcher Upreti published in 2004.
As surprising as it may sound many people carry potentially deadly pathogens, such hemolytic E. coli, in their intestines and are unharmed. Why? Because they have other competing organisms which keep the harmful bacteria under control. Even H-pylori, a bacteria which has long been fought against as a cause for stomach ulcers, has been the subject of debate because researchers have found it to be beneficial in the presence of adequate competing microbes.[1] This highlights how our body is designed to perform amazing wonders.
Armed with this information, industry offers the quick fix of probiotic supplements. Microbes are packaged into powders and pills and come with claims to increase good microbes in our gut. But rather than paying money to pour microbes into your stomach day after day it is important to prevent damage to your intestinal microbes in the first place. While probiotics are strongly promoted and beneficial in certain situations, they are not without risks having been found to cause harmful infections in multiple cases.[2]
A seemingly benign microbe can overpopulate and cause serious problems. One 61 year old man experienced this first hand. He had what is called, Auto Brewery Syndrome. He would become intoxicated although he had not had any alcohol. No one believed his claims of abstinence. But, finally after being brought to the ER with an excessively high alcohol level a doctor took the time to investigate further. They searched his belongings and isolated him for 24 hours. They fed him a high carbohydrate diet and monitored his blood alcohol levels. True to the man's claim, despite no alcohol intake, his alcohol levels rose.
What was happening? This man had an overgrowth of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) otherwise known as bread (alive), nutritional (dead) or brewer's yeast, in his intestines. The yeast caused fermentation of the sugar that he ate creating enough alcohol to cause him to become legally intoxicated. A course of antifungal medication ended his problem.[3]
Ellen White expressed concern about introducing the same alcohol producing yeast, into the stomach, while it was still alive. "Bread should be light and sweet... The loaves should be small and so thoroughly baked that, so far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed. When hot or new, raised bread of any kind is difficult of digestion. It should never appear on the table. This rule does not, however, apply to unleavened bread. Ministry of Healing P. 301.2
So here are some simple, non-pharmaceutical habits that will help your body develop and maintain a healthy mix of microbes without resorting to a daily dose of supplements.
1) Feed your gut foods that contain prebiotics.
A prebiotic is non-digestible fiber that assists and stimulates the growth of healthy microbes. Eating 5-8 servings of fruits and vegetables every day gives you a good base of prebiotics. One word of caution is that if you are not used to eating that many fruits and vegetables, work into it slowly over a couple weeks. Your resident microbes may not appreciate the positive change so you can expect a bit intestinal "complaining" (gas, diarrhea or temporary constipation) as your suppressed good bacteria begin to be better fed and fight against the less helpful and even harmful bacteria.
2) Avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.
Antibiotics upset the balance of intestinal microbes killing good bacteria and allowing yeast to grow unchecked. If antibiotics are absolutely necessary, eating a few doses of a cultured food item such as Amande (a cultured almond yogurt) may prevent you from having to take yet another medication (antifungal) to control the resultant yeast infection. Be wary of allowing or encouraging your health care provider to "cover you" with unnecessary antibiotics "just in case".
3) Avoid food additives which actively destroy your gut bacteria.
An example of this is a common food additive, sucralose, a chlorinated sugar put in Splenda as an artificial sweetener. In 2008, a study conducted at Duke University demonstrated that feeding rats small amounts of sucralose for 12 weeks caused a 50% reduction of beneficial bacteria as compared to the rats who received no sucralose. After giving the rats 12 additional weeks to recover, without eating sucralose, they found beneficial bacteria continued to be reduced.
When the FDA printed its review and approval of sucralose in 1998, the reviewers stated "...alterations of the gut microflora [of rats] occur as physiologic adaptive responses to changes in osmolality in the gut that lead to cecal [a portion of the large intestine] enlargement..."[4] Apparently the reviewers were unconcerned by these results because they were normal responses. However, just because it is "normal" for gut microflora to be reduced in the presence of sucralose, doesn't mean it is good. For example, it is normal for a gasoline engine to stop running if given diesel, but it certainly isn't recommended!
In conclusion, be kind to the colonies of microbes your gut houses. If you take care of them, they will take care of you!
[1] http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/1/5/308.full.pdf Retrieved 2/12/2015
[2] Boyle, R.J. Robins-Browne, R.M. Tang, MLK. (2006). Am J Clin Nutr 2006;83:1256–64.
[3] http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/09/17/223345977/auto-brewery-syndrome-apparently-you-can-make-beer-in-your-gut Retrieved 2/10/2015.
[4] Page 16429 of the Federal Register, Vol. 63, No. 64, 1998 Rules and Regulations. Full text at http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/98fr/040398a.pdf Retrieved on 2/12/2015.
Congratulations! You just finished Digestion Rules #6
If you didn't already read Rule #1-5 you will want to click on the link below to start back at the mouth, where digestion all starts for more facinating and helpful info about how your digestion works.
Have you ever wondered what all the hype about excitotoxins was about? Click here to go to a page where you can watch a great free online video, Toxic Gourmet, that gives you the facts.