Posted on 03/13/2025 10:16:31 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Scientists have suspected gut bacteria may influence a person's risk of developing multiple sclerosis.
In our research, we found that the ratio of two bacteria in the gut can predict multiple sclerosis severity in patients.
Specifically, we showed that a group of bacteria called Blautia was more common in multiple sclerosis patients, while Prevotella, a bacterial species consistently linked to a healthy gut, was found in lower amounts.
In a separate experiment, we observed the balance between two gut bacteria, Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia, was critical in distinguishing mice with or without multiple sclerosis-like disease. Mice with multiple sclerosis-like symptoms had increased levels of Akkermansia and decreased levels of Bifidobacterium in their stool or gut lining.
Even before symptoms appeared, these mice had low levels of Bifidobacterium and high levels of Akkermansia.
Patients with multiple sclerosis had a lower ratio of Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia. This imbalance was not only linked to having multiple sclerosis but also with worse disability, making it a stronger predictor of disease severity than any single type of bacteria alone.
A previous study in mice showed a similar pattern: Mice with severe disease had a lower Bifidobacterium-to-Akkermansia ratio. In that study, mice fed a diet rich in phytoestrogens—chemicals structurally similar to human estrogen that need to be broken down by bacteria for beneficial health effects—developed milder disease than those on a diet without phytoestrogens. Previously, we have shown that people with multiple sclerosis lack gut bacteria that can metabolize phytoestrogen.
Both types of bacteria consume mucin, a substance that protects the gut lining. However, Bifidobacterium both eats and produces mucin, while Akkermansia only consumes it. When Bifidobacterium levels drop, such as during inflammation, Akkermansia overconsumes mucin and weakens the gut lining. This process can trigger more inflammation and potentially contribute to the progression of multiple sclerosis.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Increasing Prevotella comes down to eating more soluble fiber to grow their populations.
More here:
Prevotella
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevotella
Bifidobacterium
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifidobacterium
It MAY be... in mice. Science!
Excellent study. Thank you for sharing.
You have been on target with your medical posts these past few days.
Several were so good that they led me down the proverbial rabbit hole for the rest of the day, to research further on the topic.
Many thanks for posting medical articles.
🙏🙏🙏
Quite a few years ago they were sure bee stings would ameliorate MS symptoms.
That was medical navel gazing too.
In the 1980s, my female cousin suddenly developed MS symptoms in her mid 30s.
She went from completely healthy to completely dead in less than five years.
Her sister worked at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, which was recognized in that time period as the best clinic in the world for MS. Every treatment they tried was a failure.
Today, the early fatality rate is near zero, and severe symptoms can be postponed for decades.
There is a similar link being studied between gut bacteria and other neurological diseases like Parkinson’s. The life in the intestines affects proteins in the brain apparently.
Too late for my wife, unfortunately.
Nope. Not in the face of ignorance. Grammar school math.
…starting with samples from patients with multiple sclerosis, conducting lab experiments on these samples, then confirming our findings in patients.
First, we analyzed the chemical and bacterial gut composition of patients with multiple sclerosis, confirming that they had gut inflammation and different types of gut bacteria compared with people without multiple sclerosis.
Specifically, we showed that a group of bacteria called Blautia was more common in multiple sclerosis patients, while Prevotella, a bacterial species consistently linked to a healthy gut, was found in lower amounts.
We then examined whether this same imbalance appeared in people. We measured the ratio of Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Akkermansia muciniphila in samples from multiple sclerosis patients in Iowa and participants in a study spanning the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
Our findings were consistent: Patients with multiple sclerosis had a lower ratio of Bifidobacterium to Akkermansia. This imbalance was not only linked to having multiple sclerosis but also with worse disability, making it a stronger predictor of disease severity than any single type of bacteria alone.
Previously, we have shown that people with multiple sclerosis lack gut bacteria that can metabolize phytoestrogen.
Thanks
BKMK
More summaries of this junk science, in case you still miss its content:
1) There is a LINK between gut bacteria imbalance and MS, meaning MS may cause that imbalance (see, anybody can play this moronic game of association-causation guesswork).
2) Probiotics, milk, and soluble fiber CAN help... in mice
3) Jumping from a flimsy association to making nutrition recommendations, especially for supplements, no problem here. It’s nutrition ‘science’, right?
Given how difficult and uncertain it is to assess gut bacteria, I don’t even need to look at the study’s numbers to know in advance they support in no way the authors’ wild claims. But you feel that their methodology and data are robust, please, post them. Enquiring minds would like to know more.
Anyway, if there must be a nugget of truth to be taken from this propaganda dressed up as “science”, it’s that phyto-oestrogens are bad (which is breaking news, NOT) since the study recognized they must be “metabolized” (whatever it means). But it doesn’t seem occur to the authors that the best way to avoid phyto-oestrogens is simply to avoid eating ... plants. I wonder why.
Is it harmful or expensive to try out milk or soluble fiber sources to see if they can help? Must people wait years or decades to get a Cochrane review before risking having more soluble fiber or milk products?
In your world, that answer must be “yes.”
Breaking news study information is what it is. Everyone already understands that.
I want them to know so they can decide.
You misrepresent what little you do offer. For instance, it is known soluble fiber and milk help grow those bacterial families IN HUMANS. You are incorrect in saying that it only helps mice. Also, the study proved that the imbalance in favor of Blautia caused more MS symptoms.
I can do this all day long, as well.
‘Also, the study proved that the imbalance in favor of Blautia caused more MS symptoms’
———’
The study ‘proved’ no such thing, stop repeating or worse making false claims.
And since you asked, of course it’s harmfull to try out milk or soluble fibers or any latest nutrition fad to see if it can help on MS.
First, there is no proof that they can help, NONE. No physiological mecanism, no dose-response data, no protocol, no clinical study, nothing. Even if you want to try, you won’t know what to try precisely and jow to assess any improvement because your recommendations are just empty platitudes like ‘eat healthy’, ‘vegetables are good’...
Second, milk and dairy products can cause a host of problems like intolerance, allergy, inflammation (casein is among the worst offenders), all bad things for MS.
Third, you can’t give false hope to people and expect no harm. It’s unethical and irresponsible.
I can list all the same the ill effects of ‘soluble fibers’ but I suppose you know already some of them unless you are delusional. Or lying.
You can wait for the Cochrane review, the rest of us will try what we want from the latest studies.
“You can wait for the Cochrane review, the rest of us will try what we want from the latest studies”
You are making speculations, projecting and attributing motives, typical of a gullibleMind. No wonder you are so easily suckered by any latest junk science claim.
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