Another bacteria in the gut thread

[glatt]

Rather than throw this in some existing thread that isn't a good fit and that may go off on an undesirable tangent, I thought I'd start a new one.

Just read in the paper today how a new study published in Nature shows that consuming sugar substitutes instead of sugar can actually make blood sugar levels spike much more than the real sugar would have. The really interesting thing to me is that the researchers then speculated about why the results were what they were.

They theorize that the saccharin is changing the bacteria in the gut.

In a series of experiments, researchers found that several of the most widely used types of non-calorie sweeteners in food and drinks — saccharin, sucra*lose and aspartame — caused mice to experience increased risk of glucose intolerance, a condition that can lead to diabetes.

“We are talking about very dramatic increases,” said one of the study’s co-authors, Eran Segal, a computational biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

The same scientists also monitored what happened to seven human volunteers who did not typically use artificial sweeteners but were given regular doses of saccharin over the course of a week. Four developed significant glucose intolerance. Separately, the researchers analyzed nearly 400 people and found that the gut bacteria of those who used artificial sweeteners were noticeably different from people who did not.

It seems like everywhere we turn, there is new evidence coming out that problems with bacteria in the gut are causing a wide range diseases.

We've discussed at length the relationship between the gut and autism, and studies are now supporting that more than ever. This new study show the relationship between diabetes and the gut. And I even posted way back in 2006 a study about obesity caused by gut bacteria.

I think it's time for research money to be focused heavily on studying gut bacteria instead of other areas of health. I think there is a lot to learn there and the potential payback on those research dollars is greater than in other areas of research.

[lumberjim]

where can you get GOOD gut bacteria? that's what I want to know

[Undertoad]

i got some if you want some of mine

[glatt]

I think you feed your bacteria different foods and stop eating the foods that the bad bacteria thrive on and eat instead the foods that the good bacteria thrive on.

I don't know what those foods are, but I bet all the diets out there like Atkins and the Paleo diet and the cabbage diet, or whatever, are taking advantage of the exact same phenomenon.

We even talked a while back about drinking apple cider vinegar and how that lowers blood sugar and does other good stuff. I bet it's fucking with the bad bacteria and rewarding the good.

[Clodfobble]

The entire basis of my kids' (and now my) diet is to forbid foods that feed bad bacteria. That's the whole point. It's called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and while it ends up being similar to Atkins and Paleo, there are key differences because if you eat even one bite of the wrong food, you've fed the bad bacteria for several days. Paleo is good for maintaining blood sugar, and it's true you might lower the overall numbers of bad bacteria by restricting their food supply, but you will never get rid of them unless you truly starve them, which means not eating certain Paleo-legal foods like sweet potatoes or maple syrup.

What's more, many pathogenic species can go into hibernation when the food disappears, and there's a well-documented phenomenon for people on SCD where suddenly they'll get sick again for a week or two, at extremely predictable 3-month intervals. The theory is that this is the maximum length of hibernation for one or more pathogens, then they wake up and start dying in large numbers, releasing toxins that give you fatigue, diarrhea, etc. But then some of the bacteria feed on their dead buddies, and hunker down for another three months. The waves of illness get less intense each time, but people have reported the cycle going predictably for years.

There are competing theories as to whether different diseases are actually caused by different (hopefully someday identifiable) species, or whether it is simply different immune system reactions to pathogens in general. But anecdotally, remission from Crohn's on SCD tends to take 1-2 years, ulcerative colitis is usually 2-3 years, autism is 3-4. Maybe that's due to the severity of the immune response that needs correcting, or maybe it's because the specific species involved take that long to die.

There was another study recently that showed that exposure to antibiotics didn't just kill a lot of the good bacteria, it fundamentally altered the metabolism of the good bacteria that survived, and they never recovered.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

where can you get GOOD gut bacteria? that's what I want to know

Fermented foods. Yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, beet kvass, pickles... Except not the pasteurized store-bought versions of any of these. Dirty hippie versions only.

Initially you get them from your mom's vaginal canal on the way out (c-section babies being at greater risk,) and then breastmilk (formula fed babies being at greater risk.) But neither of those help much if, say, your mom already has screwed up colonies.

[lumberjim]

where do you get dirty hippie yogurt? or pickles....

[Clodfobble]

Dirty hippie places like farmers' markets. Dirty hippie yogurt is very different from store yogurt, it's very thin and very sour. It's an acquired taste. But there is a brand of pickles with live cultures that is sold at most Whole Foods called Bubbie's, that tastes pretty much like you'd expect regular pickles to taste, just a tad more powerful.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

where can you get GOOD gut bacteria? that's what I want to know

I have dirty hippie kombucha fermenting on my kitchen counter right now.

Get The Art of Fermentation by Katz.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Dirty hippie places like farmers' markets. Dirty hippie yogurt is very different from store yogurt, it's very thin and very sour. It's an acquired taste. But there is a brand of pickles with live cultures that is sold at most Whole Foods called Bubbie's, that tastes pretty much like you'd expect regular pickles to taste, just a tad more powerful.

I've had Bubbies. jinx liked them.

I have a whole foods nearby too. thanks! i'm on it

[Lola Bunny]

Dirty hippie yogurt. ..that's how Vietnamese like to eat yougurt. My friend's husband like to make it and occasionally he'd give us some.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

where can you get GOOD gut bacteria? that's what I want to know

Gut Bugs R Us?

[lumberjim]

Got the pickles. They are the yum. Also got a burrito for lunch tomorrow, a pack of chicken nibblers and a turkey wrap for today's lunch. With a drink..... $27. Not a bargain. But the burrito was a nostalgia purchase. Jinx used to make us shop there, and I would always get one. The kids got the nibblers. They have half sized carts that still cost $300 to fill. I can overload a big cart at Wegmans or shop rite for $225.

[Clodfobble]

Yeah, Whole Foods is not the place to be saving cash. Except, for some reason, on bulk cashews. We go through a lot of them, and they are $7.29 per pound at Whole Foods, compared to $10.99 per pound at my grocery store. No clue why.

[Griff]

It's not a traditional loss/leader but maybe for targeting upper-middle class households it makes sense? I guess its more likely they have a different relationship with the producers which might mean risking a poor crop at some point.