I’ll be speaking at the Common Ground Fair in Unity at noon on Saturday (health and healing tent).
The topic is on your internal garden, all the quadrillion bacteria we walk around within us. It’s a really hot topic because of fecal transplants, which are sort of the equivalent of giving you a new head if you’ve got a cold. There are so many other options. I’m putting my Internal Garden notes below, which are very long and very dense (also very cool). I’ll have the shortened version at the fair.
Your Internal Garden: Tending the Flora
Christopher Maloney, N.D. www.lifelonghealthplanning.com
The effects of the bacteria in the gut, both aerobic and anaerbic, and their effects on human health. Dr. Maloney goes over common weed growth like MRSA and Clostridium, and discusses Norovirus and other garden pests. Learn about the garden inside of you, and learn to tend it so that it flowers and returns a bountiful harvest.
What is it?
gut microbiota is not a tissue nor an organ, but a supra-organism (Ann Pharm Fr. 2014 Sep;72(5):325-9)
commensal flora that lives in the human gut is a unique ecosystem that has evolved over millennia (Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2014 Oct;14(10):492)
20% of oral, 50% of gut “biological dark matter” Nathan Wolfe, PhD (http://www.ted.com/talks/nathan_wolfe_what_s_left_to_explore?)
cyanobacteria discovered “genome reconstruction of human fecal” (Elife. 2013 Oct 1;2:e01102)
Why Should We Care?
Fecal transplants for: “Clostridium difficile infection, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel diseases, insulin resistance, multiple sclerosis, and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. There has been increasing focus on the interaction between the intestinal microbiome, obesity, and cardiometabolic diseases” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24018052)
20 Hours off childhood diarrhea (Pediatrics. 2014 Jul;134(1):e176-91.)
bacterial communities in the gut were highly associated with obesity (Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:906168. doi: 10.1155/2014/906168.)
colonization of germ-free mice with an “obese-gut-derived” microflora results in a much greater increase in total body fat and leads to obesity (J Clin Gastroenterol. 2010;44 Suppl 1:S16)
In Crohn’s disease the mucosa-associated microbiota diversity is reduced (J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 Aug 4. doi: 10.1111/jgh.12694.)
evidence indicates that bacteria within the gut can influence brain neurochemistry (Mod Trends Pharmacopsychiatri. 2013;28:90-9. doi: 10.1159/000343971.)
Probiotic therapies can reduce liver aminotransferases, total-cholesterol, TNF-α and improve insulin resistance (World J Gastroenterol. 2013 Oct 28;19(40):6911-8.)
What are we talking about?
Prebiotics (inulin) undigestible fibers that act as a basis for non-specific growth (fertilizer). dietary consumption of certain food products can result in statistically significant changes in the composition of the gut microbiota (Br J Nutr. 2010 Aug;104 Suppl 2:S1-63.)
infants and children 0-24 months of age, …statistically significant decrease in the number of infectious episodes (Nutr Rev. 2014 Aug;72(8):523-31. doi: 10.1111/nure.12117.)
galacto-oligosaccharide and polydextrose mixture prebiotics (J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014 Feb;133(2):405-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2013.08.020.)
Probiotics – bacteria that form a symbiotic relationship with humans. (plants)
Probiotics are effective treatments for IBS (Am J Gastroenterol. 2014 Jul 29. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2014.202.)
Synbiotics- combinations of prebiotics and probiotics. (plants and fertilizer)
Weeds:
MRSA
Of the 51 ambulances tested, 25 (49%) had at least one area positive for MRSA contamination (Prehosp Emerg Care. 2010 Apr-Jun;14(2):176-81. doi: 10.3109/10903120903564480.)
Lactobacillus reuteri, significantly inhibited all of the clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). (Anaerobe. 2006 Oct-Dec;12(5-6):221-6.)
enteral vancomycin and probiotics successfully eradicated MRSA infection (BMJ Case Rep. 2012 Jul 27;2012.)
Difficile
difficile toxins A and B can produce a rapid quiet death, the cause of which is undetectable at necropsy, a situation pathologically reminiscent of crib death in human infants (J Pediatr. 1984 Jan;104(1):34-40.)
motor neuron toxin produced by a clostridial species causes sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in susceptible individuals (Med Hypotheses. 2005;64(6):1153-6.)
the protective effects of S. boulardii on C. difficile-induced inflammatory diarrhea in humans (Infect Immun. 1999 Jan;67(1):302-7.)
Norovirus
clearly demonstrates the relative ineffectiveness of common active disinfectant ingredients against HuNoV (J Food Prot. 2013 Jul;76(7):1210-7)
Favorite fertilizer: dark leafy green vegetables. Traditional diets (fermented foods).
Favorite plant: Sacchromyces boulardii (468 medical studies) Kombuchu tea. Or local blends.
Frontiers:
in preterm neonates in the first week of life was low but increased significantly over two months. The gut microbiota was dominated by facultative anaerobic bacteria (Staphylococcus spp. and Enterobacteriaceae) and lacked colonization with bacteria known to provide resistance against pathogens (Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, and Lactobacillus) (Gut Microbes. 2014 May 1;5(3):304-12.)
In mice: “Amp-r E. coli peaked on day 3 post-inoculation and was competed out after 1 week, as evidenced by the recovery of commensals, such as Escherichia, Bacteroides, Lachnospiraceae, Clostridium, and Lactobacillus. Mucosal penetration and extraintestinal dissemination of exogenous and endogenous enterobacteria were correlated with abnormal epithelial transcytosis (Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2014 Jul 24.)
a core of 47 L. casei genes necessary for its establishment in the gut. They are involved in housekeeping functions, metabolism (sugar, amino acids), cell wall biogenesis, and adaptation to environment. Hence we provide what is, to our knowledge, the first global functional genomics analysis of L. casei symbiosis. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jul 29;111(30):E3101-9)
In rats: animals administered (Lactobacillus rhamnosus) GR-1 exhibited a significant attenuation of left ventricular hypertrophy based on tissue weight assessment and gene expression of atrial natriuretic peptide (Circ Heart Fail. 2014 May;7(3):491-9)
Infants exclusively breast fed have three aerobes: Intestinal persistence occurred in volunteers who received L. rhamnosus (PLoS One. 2013 Oct 28;8(10):e78111)
Microbial communities vary by location within the vagina and can depend on the sampling methods used (e.g., swab, lavage, or pap smear). Interindividual differences also exist, and while this variation is not completely understood, evidence points more to differences in estrogen levels, rather than differences in external physical environment (Am J Phys Anthropol. 2013 Dec;152 Suppl 57:119-34)
While given to all, “The probiotic L. plantarum TENSIA was present in variable amounts (529.6 ± 232.5 gene copies) in 16/25 (64%) study subjects. Body mass index (BMI) was significantly reduced (p = 0.031) in the probiotic cheese group versus the control cheese group” (Nutr J. 2013 Oct 12;12:138)
We confirmed (colon) tumor over-representation of Fusobacterium species and observed significant co-occurrence within individual tumors of Fusobacterium, Leptotrichia and Campylobacter species. (http://www.microbiomejournal.com/content/1/1/16)
anaerobic genera or genera that include anaerobic members found in the oral cavity are Actinomyces, Arachnia, Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Eubacterium, Fusobacterium, Lactobacillus, Leptotrichia, Peptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, Propionibacterium, Selenomonas, Treponema, and Veillonella. The incidence of anaerobes varies with age of the individual and with specific sites sampled. In edentulous infants, the incidence of anaerobes is relatively low. In adults, anaerobes are invariably present but are more prevalent in samples from the gingival sulcus than they are in samples from the gingival margin, tooth surfaces, buccal mucosa, tongue, or saliva. In samples from the healthy gingival sulcus, anaerobic, gram-positive bacilli are found in the range of 5%-14%; gram-negative bacilli in the range of 13%-29%; Veillonella in the range of 2%-8%; and gram-positive cocci in the range of 1%-15% of the cultivable flora. From marginal plaque and plaque from the tooth surface, gram-positive bacilli, gram-positive cocci, and Veillonella appear to be the predominant anaerobes. In saliva, Veillonella are the most numerous anaerobes. (Rev Infect Dis. 1984;6 Suppl 1:S62.) From uptodate anaerobic bacteria citation.
Quantitative and qualitative examination of the fecal flora of 20 clinically healthy Japanese-Hawaiian males was carried out by using anaerobic tube culture techniques. Cultural counts were 93% of the microscopic clump counts. Isolated colonies were selected in a randomized manner to give an unbiased sampling of the viable bacterial types. Each isolate was characterized for species identification. From a total of 1,147 isolates, 113 distinct types of organisms were observed. Statistical estimates indicate that these types account for 94% of the viable cells in the feces. The quantitative composition of the flora of this group of people, together with differential characteristics of previously unreported species, is presented for those kinds of bacteria which each represented at least 0.05% of the flora. (Appl Microbiol. 1974;27(5):961.)
