Posted on 08/05/2019 6:57:02 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
They found that healthy mice have plenty of bacteria from a genus called Clostridia, but few from Desulfovibrio, and that their guts let most fat pass right through. Those with an altered immune system had fewer Clostridia and more Desulfovibrio, and this microbial balance helped the gut absorb more fats from food. These mice gained more weight and exhibited signs of type 2 diabetes.
“Whether this applies in humans, we don't know,” Hooper says, “but this is a tantalizing clue.”
The role of the immune system in the gut is to maintain balance. Changes to the body’s defenses, which can happen as a result of age or illness, can cause certain species to flourish at the expense of others.
The very ideas of “nutritional value” and “calorie content” of food seem to vary based on the microbial population of the person eating it and, potentially, her immune status. A person’s own microbes—and those contained in any given food—would have to be considered as another component of the already flimsy calories-in, calories-out equation. This would also compound the challenges already facing nutrition labels.
If all this uncertainty makes nutrition guidelines and nutrition even more inscrutable, it also stands to do some good by undermining the moralizing and simplistic character judgments often associated with body weight. Seeing obesity as a manifestation of the interplay between many systems—genetic, microbial, environmental—invites the understanding that human physiology has changed along with our relationship to the species in and around us. As these new scientific models unfold, they impugn the idea of weight as an individual character flaw, revealing it for the self-destructive myth it has always been.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
People experience pain in different ways, but that is why I didn't think that I had appendicitis... everyone I had seen professionally was complaining of severe pain. But a year after my bout I had a probationary firefighter who told me his father had died a few months before, after he had ignored his abdominal pain. His infection couldn't be cleared up and he was dead a couple days after he went into the hospital.
My wife who is a nurse recognized my symptoms as being very serious. She nagged me for several days and finally told me that I could either go in to get it checked out or she would shoot me in the head. She seemed pretty serious so I took her “advice”. She probably saved my life.
Here is the original article
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6451/eaat9351
This give a background:
Immunoglobulin A (IgA) promotes health by regulating the composition and function of gut microbiota, but the molecular requirements for such homeostatic IgA function remain unknown. We found that a heavily glycosylated monoclonal IgA recognizing ovalbumin coats Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (B. theta), a prominent gut symbiont of the phylum Bacteroidetes. In vivo, IgA alters the expression of polysaccharide utilization loci (PUL), including a functionally uncharacterized molecular family provisionally named Mucus-Associated Functional Factor (MAFF). In both mice and humans, MAFF is detected predominantly in mucus-resident bacteria, and its expression requires the presence of complex microbiota. Expression of the MAFF system facilitates symbiosis with other members of the phylum Firmicutes and promotes protection from a chemically induced model of colitis. Our data reveal a novel mechanism by which IgA promotes symbiosis and colonic homeostasis.
http://jem.rupress.org/content/215/8/2019
It is good to have the right bugs in the intestines
Interesting. My career had been much more clinically oriented (almost exclusively) but even though “n=1” clinical observations have some validity and science is the tool a practitioner of the Art utilizes to verify clinical observations when possible. My observation is that people over time physiologically DO change and a number of diseases are the result of change. People do become suddenly much more Lactose Intolerant or Gluten Sensitive. We now for certain that many malignancies are associated with “para” phenomenon, Sweet’s Disease, photosensitivity, endocrine disorders. I suspect that aging is associated with the gradual loss or impairment of many systems. My own FIL succumbed to a bone marrow that seemingly after 80 years of functioning flawlessly just “quit”.
The more we seem to learn about the intricacies of “how it all works” the more we learn we still don’t know. But I used to often wonder about 60 year olds who suddenly discover they are gluten sensitive or lactose intolerant. They had these symptoms for decades but didn’t notice?
In my surgical internship I saw a number of cases of “appendicitis”. They are all different. While most of the “hot” ones I personally removed were obviously “acutely” inflamed I have seen some, more so in older folks, that were fairly obviously “inflamed” chronically as there was reactive scar tissue, etc. We used to have spirited discussions about the presentation of “perityphilitis” and what the appropriate treatment might be if one could make the diagnosis. Since it was largely the old guys with gray hair that were at the middle of the debate it seemed to me it was worth listening to, at least so I have remembered those debates about “perityphylitis”.
After having said all that, I’ll say this: the location of the appendix is well known to make a big difference in the presentation and there is a well known percentage of them that are “anatomically retroperitoneal” and it is pretty well known that is a more chronic presentation as the infection is not “in the abdomen”. One would think a disease as simple and well understood for so long as “appendicitis” would be pretty well hammered out by now but “even gravity is just a theory”.
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”
Albert Einstein
As I wrote, it will be 50 years before modern medicine has a comprehensive understanding of the gut (since they’ve ignored it wholesale for over half a century). The citation is one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever read on the gut and there is conflicting citations within.
“The depletion of the microbiota through antibiotic treatment rescued this weight gain.”
If these so-called “scientists” would enter their research without bias, perhaps they wouldn’t pervert their own observations.
IgA deficiency are the “wild card” since they disturb the composition of the gut microbiota, leading to allergies, autoimmunity, and other inflammatory diseases in mice and humans. (IgA) deficiency (SIgAD) is a genetic immunodeficiency, a type of hypogamma globulinemia.
People with this deficiency lack immunoglobulin A (IgA), a type of antibody that protects against infections of the mucous membranes lining the mouth, airways, and digestive tract along with other problems. It is estimated that 1 in 500 people have selective IgA deficiency. ... Some affected byIgA deficiency face serious health issues such as chronic infections or common autoimmune conditions found with IgA deficiency that include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and celiac disease, all of which can be very serious if not life threatening.
rwood
That is interesting and enlightening. I was told that mine was leaking within the abdominal cavity. But the surgeon said that the leakage was unusual in that it had been largely contained within some sort of strange structure that had formed. From what you wrote I think that might have indicated some type of chronic situation. He had been a surgeon for many years and said that he had not seen anything quite like it previously but that I was very lucky. Even so it took hours for them to clean up the mess and my family was very concerned about the length of time that had passed.
Despite having an incision that went almost from one hip bone to the other I experienced what I would consider no pain after the surgery and did not have to use the on demand morphine drip at all. My wife was initially told that I would have to stay in the hospital for about a week, but since she was a nurse the doctor let me go home with her after just two nights in the hospital. I came back a few days later to have my abdominal drainage tube pulled out.
At that time I had been bicycling a couple hundred miles a week and was able to get back on the bike the day after the tube came out. My battalion chief had told me that abdominal surgery would keep me home for a couple of months but I went back to work in a “light duty” position two weeks after surgery. Initially my wife said that I was an honorary woman because it looked like I had what looked like a large cesarean “bikini cut” scar. But it all healed beautifully and was barely visible within a few years.
Interesting that you should mention this. The original part of our house was built 120 years ago. The people who originally lived here tended to the long gone orchards. 40 years ago when I first got the house there was still an ancient cherry tree in the back yard; it died 20 years ago. But there was also a very old Apple tree, I don't know how old it is, but it is a remnant from the old orchards. It still produces a lot of apples. Unfortunately we have a lot of difficulty with Apple maggots in this area, but we have been working on getting them under control for this tree. I have never considered them to be the greatest tasting Apples, but some of that has to do with pollination from other nearby trees, so I planted a new Apple tree in our yard this year that might help in the next couple years.
I think the fruit growers have to plant trees that produce fruit that does not rot right away and packages and travels well....
why else would they have developed the red delicious apple, with that wonderful cardboard taste...yuck..
If I’m reading slide 30 correctly of your interesting PPT, it lists blocking methods and mechanisms.
It lists E Coli blocking???
“sort of gatekeeper “???
THE FOOD HABITS AND NUTRITION OF THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEES WHO HAVE BEEN RESETTLED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
247 pages!!! And still, I plowed through it.
No wonder there are so many Ph.D. ABD’s roaming around!
Having had lunch at an Indian buffet I did find parts of interest.
“Many Indians believe that using the fingers brings one closer to the texture of the food and gives greater enjoyment to eating (Kalra and Fowler, 1976a). In Britain this is still the accepted method for eating in the privacy of one!s home and Indian restaurants, catering for ethnic group members, do not provide eating utensils on tables. Generally, Hindus specialize in dry curried vegetarian dishes called bhajees, ...”
Also having spent a couple of years in RVN there was good reading for me, but nothing on the topic at hand???
“the TRUE gatekeeper of the gut.”
Being the son of a Scotsman, I’m very proud of my Great Uncle the TRUE SCOTSMAN!
Someone you should meet.
I.e., “leaky gut” (a non-medical term) may not be fully recoverable due to damaged colon. Same goes for Crohn’s and Celiac disease.
—-————————————
Not true. They have done significant amounts of research in mice and humans with fecal transplants for people suffering from Crohn’s disease. Some have been cured in as little as 3 days after suffering for years.
“Cured” seems to be a relative term these days. I go for a couple weeks with great bowel movements and I always believe that I am cured. But a little stress, eating certain foods, or not eating certain foods and things are back to not so great again. Part of it seems to be related to advancing years, but there do seem to be associations with what I put in my mouth and my activity levels.
Crohn’s is a progressive disease. Once it gets past a certain point colon damage is irreversible.
But you are correct (with early intervention).
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.