You can have my gut flora why you pry it from my cold, dead ... er ... gut.
Posted on 05/25/2011 9:29:04 AM PDT by decimon
Poor gut flora is believed to trigger obesity. In the same way, healthy gut flora could reduce the risk. This has shown to be the case in tests on rats.
Daily intake of a lactic acid bacteria, which has been given the name Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL19, appears to be able to prevent obesity and reduce the body's low-level inflammation.
"Rats who were given this specific lactic acid bacterium from their time in the uterus up to adult age put on significantly less weight than other rats. Both groups ate the same amount of high-energy food", explains Caroline Karlsson, a researcher in food hygiene at Lund University.
Ms Karlsson also observed that the rats which were given lactobacilli had a richer and better composition of the bacteria which occur naturally in the intestines. A healthy gut flora should contain a large proportion of 'good bacteria', such as lactic acid bacteria, in order to keep the inflammation-causing bacteria in check.
A third group of rats were given the inflammation-causing Escherichia coli bacteria in their drinking water, in addition to the same high-energy food as the other rats. The E. coli supplement led to changes in gut flora and increased body fat. The findings were published recently in the British Journal of Nutrition and form part of the doctoral thesis that Caroline Karlsson recently presented.
In another study, Caroline Karlsson has studied the first faeces of 79 children born vaginally. A foetus lives in a sterile environment and therefore has no micro-organisms in its intestines, but during birth the baby swallows the lactobacilli that are naturally present in its mother's vagina.
"It had not previously been shown that all newborn babies born vaginally have lactobacilli in their gut flora as early as two days after birth. Thanks to the application of a gene-based technique, we have been able to show in our study that this is in fact the case", says Caroline Karlsson, who also found that babies with high birth weight had more inflammation-causing bacteria, such as E. coli, in their intestines than babies of normal weight.
A healthy gut flora at an early stage appears to play a part in children's wellbeing later in life. This is a conclusion in a further study, where Caroline Karlsson showed that children with allergic eczema at the age of 18 months had a lower diversity in the gut flora when they were just one week old compared with the children who did not develop allergic eczema.
In the aforementioned study on rats, it emerged that the mother's diet and bacteria consumption affect the development and health of her young.
"A number of female rats were given food with high energy content during pregnancy and while they were suckling their young. We saw that, at two weeks of age, the young whose mothers were given high-energy food had higher body weight and more fat in their bodies, as well as higher levels of inflammation, than young whose mothers were given a more balanced diet", explains Caroline Karlsson.
The research was financed by Formas.
Caroline Karlsson defended her thesis, The Gut Bacterial Flora - Focus on Early Life and Physiological Traits on Friday, 6 May at Kemicentrum, Lund University. Read a summary (PDF in English available near the top of the linked page. Scroll down the linked page for English abstract summary). For more information
Professor Siv Ahrné, Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, +46 46 222 83 27, +46 703 484 516, Siv.Ahrne@appliednutrition.lth.se, or Professor Göran Molin, Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, +46 46 222 83 27 (same telephone number as Siv Ahrné), Goran.Molin@appliednutrition.lth.se.
Caroline Karlsson can be contacted on caroline.karlsson@appliednutrition.lth.se, +46 46 222 83 26.
High-definition photographs of Caroline Karlsson are available in the Lund University image bank. Enter "Caroline Karlsson" in the search field. About probiotics
Probiotics is an umbrella term for bacteria with proven health benefits. They are important for the prevention of various stomach and intestinal problems. Research findings also indicate that probiotics could affect the immune system, relieve eczema and help fight viral infections.
"Certain foods, for example olives, yoghurt and cheese, naturally contain lactobacilli - the type of bacteria most often used as probiotics. Such bacteria were more common in the past, when food was fermented to extend its shelf life. Today, when fridges and heat treatment of food kill off both harmful and beneficial bacteria, we ingest too little of the "friendly bacteria", explains Göran Molin.
The lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL19 has been isolated from healthy intestinal mucous membranes in humans. It is patented but is not used as an additive in any food products. Examples of probiotic bacteria used by the food industry are: L. plantarum 299v, L. plantarum HEAL9, L. paracasei 8700:2, L. paracasei F19. These all belong to the same bacterial genus.
Ping
bttt
Finally, an obesity epidemic theory that makes some sense.
As a side issue, this study also points to how important it is to have natural (vaginal) birth whenever possible.
As more and more women scheduled c-sections simply for their convenience — being told it made no difference to their baby’s health — fewer babies got the gene-specific gut flora dose they would have had they been born vaginally.
Every time man tries to equate what he dreams up with the processes that God created, he dorks it up on some level.
You can have my gut flora why you pry it from my cold, dead ... er ... gut.
Wonder who paid for this research? Still, this probiotic yogurt tastes good and doesn't hurt you, so why not? I get it in cartons of 32 at a wholesale store.
The corn syrup theory makes no sense.
Placemarker ... Lactobacilli are important when treating yeast infections and when taking massive doses of antibiotics orally. I used to have a family practice intern whose wife got yeast infections every other month. He woud ask for the gynelotrimin seven day treatment each time. One time I recommended that he look into having her douche with thinned out buttermilk and see if she could avoid the yeast infections. Five months later he thanked me for the suggestion because she was no longer getting the yeast infections based upon which ovary was ovulating.
Personal experiment: replacing calories with a high quality active culture plain yogurt has not resulted in weight loss for me. Your mileage may vary.
Why do you say that?
Do you notice any less inflammation, such as less allergy symptoms or less puffy hands, or anything? My son had asthma as a toddler. Now, I notice he naturally gravitates to foods that are inflammation fighters, and we haven’t had asthma problems in several years. I want to know if this could be helpful to him.
Same here, but I do feel better when I have yogurt daily. I just avoid the one with high fructose corn syrup, like Yoplait. High fructose corn syrup has an extra molecule. This molecule makes it harder to digest. Because it is harder to digest it stays in the system longer. Staying the system longer allows it to raise blood glucose levels for a longer period of time, and allows it to get store as fat more easily.
Don't believe the commercials telling you that the body can't tell the difference. It certainly can. About a month ago I was fortunate enough to chat with a nutritionist about this exact thing.
kinky......
I eat plain yogurt and fruit - no sugar or corn syrup. You get used to less sweetness after a while - you can add a little honey and taper down. It doesn’t seem to make a difference in how I feel but it’s probably healthier than what I used to eat.
"Shut up and eat your damned yogurt!"
bookmark
Physiology
That picture of Jamie reminds me of a set of twins who are now in their early sixties. One lady smoked most of her adult life, while the other lady stopped smoking at twenty-two when she married a guy who didn’t smoke. Side-by-side now, the lady who smoked/smokes is more wrinkled and looks ten years older than her non-smoking sister. Both have active outdoor lifestyles, too.
If I miss a couple of days, my stomach doesn’t feel right. It hurts, a dull ache. We have both dannon with fruit and the regular no sugar added then add our own fruit. I don’t like having all the artificial sweeteners, but some in the family don’t care for the regular and add your own fruit.
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.