Posted on 07/13/2013 5:53:23 PM PDT by neverdem
Common compounds produced by gut microbes quench colitis in mice
Common molecules made by bacteria in the gut may act as chill pills for the immune system. Molecules secreted by intestinal bacteria work to prevent misplaced immune attacks in inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis, a new study finds.
“It is a huge advance,” says Sarkis Mazmanian of Caltech. “This opens up the notion that a very easy and potentially very safe therapy for inflammatory bowel disease could exist.”
Decades of research have hinted that microbes play a role in immune-related diseases such as obesity, allergy, inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer. But scientists have had difficulty pinpointing direct links between the bacteria in the gut and the army of immune cells that live there.
Some researchers have focused on individual microbial species among the gut’s teeming hordes to see how they affect the immune system. But Wendy Garrett’s team at Harvard University decided to look instead for possible immune tamers among the various molecules that many different bacteria make. The team chose to investigate short-chain fatty acids because bacterial species that make large amounts are in short supply in some people with inflammatory bowel disease.
To see whether the microbial molecules play a role in quieting the immune system, the researchers added them to mice’s drinking water. The animals developed elevated levels of inflammation-dousing regulatory T cells in their colons, the team reports July 4 in Science. The cells work like wet blankets, dampening autoimmune flare-ups before they burn out of control.
The team also found that those short-chain fatty acids protected the mice from an experimental form of colitis, an immune disease that destroys the colon.
Garrett hopes that the acids play the same role in tamping down inflammation in people. Many bacterial species that inhabit the guts of...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
One word...sauerkraut.
Two words...Kefir grains.
Three words: “handful of dirt”.
I’ll try it. :{)
Diatomaceous earth.
wheat beer
You guys can laugh but your stomach bacteria can affect your well being in big ways. I have arrived at this conclusion after a regime of experimentation carried out by my wife...on me.
Many years I heard a dr say to have a bit of sauerkraut every day.
Ping
yup
I suffer from fecalphelia
Probiotics, and the good stuff!
An extreme infatuation with feces?
I take a daily capsule of probiotics, which has been beneficial for me. Basically, the idea is that the good bacteria crowd out the bad ones.
This report seems to be along those lines, although it’s a more specific kind of treatment.
Why is this “news”?
article below from some years ago -
excerpt: “According to Dr. Campbell-McBride, 84 percent of your immunity is located in your gut wall. And if you don't have healthy gut flora, your immune system simply can't function optimally.”
And it wasn't ‘news’ then. People just jumping on the bandwagon to get a slice of the ‘research’ pie?
It was a South Park joke from years ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.