687 Gut Bacteria

Gut Bacteria

Newsletter published on 9 October 2014

Australian TV stations SBS and ABC have recently broadcast documentaries
which show that the bacteria in our gut are much more important than was
realized. They influence our weight, our physical health and even our
mental health.

The two programs are "Life On Us" (SBS DVD, available through Dymocks)
and ABC Catalyst's program "Gut Bacteria".

Bacteria in our gut play a similar role to those in soil – which are
critical to the health of plants.

Healthy people have different bacteria in their gut than unhealthy
people; and they also have a much bigger range of bacteria.

This arises largely through the food they eat. The rule is, "Eat good
food, you end up with good bacteria".

If you feed junk food or refined foods (white bread, white flour, sugar)
to your bacteria, the bad bacteria will multiply in your gut, and the
good bacteria die off. These bad bacteria will make you overweight and
unhealthy.

"Our low-fibre diets, antibiotics and Western ways have left us with
very low diversity in our gut bacteria."

There's an epidemic of type-2 diabetes. Bad bacteria from eating too
much processed food could play a key role.

Some people are now having fecal transplants, ie tranplants of poo from
the guts of healthy people into their own bowels, to improve the bowel
flora there.These operations have cured diseases.

Bacteria in the Gut control much of our immune system. And they directly
affect the brain – being a cause of e.g. Autism. This is good news,
because it means that such conditions can be reversed.

The Western diet is contributing to obesity, heart disease, cancer,
asthma, allergies, arthritis, autism, ADHD, depression, multiple
sclerosis, and diabetes.

Babies in the womb are shielded from bacteria; they get their first dose
from Mum during birth, when vaginal microbes and also fecal microbes
coat the baby. Contrary to what we used to think, these microbes are
necessary – they get into the newborn's gut and do good work there.
Babies born by cesarean lack such microbes in their guts, and are worse
off. Bottle feeding is also likely to result in different gut bacteria
from breast feeding.

Over-use of antibiotics, in medicines, is a grave threat to our good
microbes. Livestock reared in "anmimal factories" – chickens, pigs and
feedlot cattle – are commonly fed lots of antibiotics, which affect
their health and ours too.

Alison Thorburn suffered bad childhood asthma. Now she's an asthma
researcher, and "she's found a new treatment for asthma - well, in mice
at least - which is incredibly simple. She just puts them on a
high-fibre diet."

You can watch "Gut Bacteria" and read the transcript, at the ABC website:
Part 1: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4067184.htm
Part 2: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4070977.htm

I don't know if these videos will play in other countries. If not, other
documentaries may be available with a similar theme.