People in modernized cultures are facing a health catastrophe due to collapse of microbial diversity in gut microbiomes. There is growing evidence that autoimmune diseases, including allergies, asthma, inflammatory bowel disorders, diabetes, etc... may be related to changes occurring in the gut microbiome. Recent generations are seeing epidemics of these disorders. An argument made by Martin Blazer in his book 'Missing Microbes' is that at the root of this crisis is that we are losing the diversity of species in our gut microbiomes. In fact, since Louis Pasteur's experiments supporting the germ theory of disease people have waged war on microbes. At first this was through surface applications of antimicrobials to kill microbes to prevent their spread; later (1930s) sulfonamide drugs were developed to kill bacteria within the human body. In the 1940s penicillin was developed to kill bacteria, and since then antibiotics have been the primary weapons used by people to kill bacteria in the human body.
Most children born in the years after development of antibiotics were provided series after series of antibiotics during childhood to control sore throats, ear infections and various childhood maladies. With each series of antibiotic treatments bacterial diversity in the gut microbiome was lost. The loss of diversity in the human gut microbiome should be inconsequential if the human gut functions only as a food digestive organ. It now appears that this view of the human gut is not correct or only partially correct. In fact, we now have evidence that the human gut, the largest organ in the body, may be viewed as a 'symbio-organ', where symbiosis with microbes is a critical element in its functioning. The symbio-organ gut functions to digest food, provide unique vitamin nutrients, detoxify phytochemicals, suppress pathogen virulence, modulate the nervous system, and equally important is its function to prime the immune system with constant exposure to potential pathogens, keeping the immune system focused on microbes rather than the body itself. The human gut symbio-organ is actually a complex organ with multiple functions that impact the body in many ways-and not at all the simple digestive tract that we first envisioned.
What consequences stem from loss of microbial diversity in the symbio-organ gut? In terms of immune response, loss of diversity of microbes means that the body is not primed with antigens from a full compliment of gut microbes-and rather than focusing immune response on keeping the gut microbes in check in the symbio-organ, the body develops auto-immune disorders, allergies, asthma, Crohn's disease, etc... Loss of microbial diversity also means that potential disease agents such as Clostridium difficile that inhabit the gut may incite disease. It seems clear that diverse gut microbial communities have the capacity to suppress virulence of potential pathogens in the gut. Precisely how microbes suppress virulence of other microbes is not clear-although some evidence points to organic acids (e.g., lactic acid, butyric acid, propionic acid) as likely virulence suppressors in the gut. Alterations in organic acid composition are often seen concurrent with cases of intestinal inflammation in irritable bowel disorders (IBD). Butyric acid has been shown to suppress inflammation in active outbreaks, and butyric acid producing bacteria are being examined as potential probiotics to control IBD and comparable disorders. As a provider of vitamins the gut bacteria appear to be the principle source of biotin and vitamin K, both essential nutrients in our bodies.
Where does the gut microbiome come from? Generally, it is believed that humans inherit our microbiomes from our mothers. This is only partially true-but we know that we can reestablish a microbiome once it is damaged using fecal transplants and probiotics of specific microbes. It is also true that plants contain large populations of microbes on their surfaces (as epiphytes) and embedded within their tissues (as endophytes). Some of the plant microbes are identical to those found in human gut communities. Endophytic and epiphytic microbes colonize all parts of plant leaves, stems, flowers and seeds-but the most diverse communities are found on plant roots. The plant root is essentially another symbio-organ that associates with microbes in a narrow zone (rhizosphere) around roots in the process of absorption of nutrients from soils. The plant root is the equivalent to the gut in terms of its absorptive function and close association with a diverse community of microbes. Much of the plant foods the majority of us consume in our diets are from root crops-sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, radishes, cassava, etc... A huge diversity of microbes could enter our gut microbiomes on these plant foods, especially root crops. However, modern humans cook most plants and our processed foods are largely sterilized and free of potential microbiome inhabitants. Because of this processing of plant foods our intake of microbes from plants is extremely restricted. Only highly resistant endopore formers (like Bacillus or Clostridium) that may survive the cooking or sterilization process might enter our gut microbiomes.
How do we heal the human microbiome? The solution for humanity is to radically alter what we eat and how we prepare it for consumption. Wherever possible we should consume plant foods (leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, roots, tubers) uncooked and unpeeled to conserve diverse populations of living microbes on them and within them. We should consume plants grown organically to maximize microbe diversity. We need to alter, not only what we eat, but also, what we feed our babies. Baby foods currently come in perfectly sterile aliquots-but for 'microbiome building' baby foods may need to be made up from fresh plants with bacteria intact, or freeze dried with preserved microbes. Currently, we also count on cooking plants to soften and break down toxins-in the future new varieties of crops selected for their raw edibility and high healthy diverse populations of microbes could be developed. Consumption of these new 'probiotic crops' could make it convenient for people to redevelop and maintain healthy microbiomes. The great battle on our microbes will need to end. Once we reacquire our diverse gut microbiomes-our symbio-organ guts will begin to function properly again and the epidemics of allergies, asthmas, intestinal disorders and other autoimmune problems may simply vanish.
James F. White, Jr., Department of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; 4/6/2015
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Francis_White
Home
Post a Comment