Gut Biota Never Recover from Antibiotics: Damages Future Generations

Gut Biota Never Recover from Antibiotics: Damages Future Generations – Waking Times : Waking Times.

June 5, 2013

| By Dylan Charles | Reply

Heidi Stevenson, Gaia Health
Waking Times

Emerging research shows that the harmful effects of antibiotics go much further than the development of drug resistant diseases. The beneficial bacteria lost to antibiotics, along with disease-inducing bacteria, do not fully recover. Worse, flora lost by a mother is also lost to her babies. The missing beneficial gut bacteria are likely a major factor behind much of the chronic disease experienced today. The continuous use of antibiotics is resulting in each generation experiencing worse health than their parents.

Martin Blaser, the author of a report in the prestigious journal Nature writes:

Antibiotics kill the bacteria we do want, as well as those we don’t. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease.Overuse of antibiotics could be fuelling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.

Without even considering the development of superbugs, we’re now seeing clear documentation that the overall long term effects of antibiotics are devastatingly harmful to our health. Speaking to ABC News, Blaser said:

Antibiotics are miraculous. They’ve changed health and medicine over the last 70 years. But when doctors prescribe antibiotics, it is based on the belief that there are no long-term effects. We’ve seen evidence that suggests antibiotics may permanently change the beneficial bacteria that we’re carrying. [Emphasis my own.]

Notice that term, permanent. Without factoring in the potential risks in the casual use of antibiotics, it now looks like conventional medicine is creating several pandemics of some of the worst chronic diseases known.

Mass Use of Antibiotics

By the time a child reaches age 18 in the industrialized world, the chances are he or she has been given 10-20 courses of antibiotics. That misuse continues into adulthood, and they’re casually prescribed to pregnant women.

That’s where the situation grows ever worse. Part of normal childbirth is a baby’s passage through the birth canal—where it’s exposed to its first dose of beneficial bacteria. (This should give pause to anyone considering a caesarian birth that isn’t absolutely necessary.)

When a mother’s microbiota is deficient, her child is born to that deficiency. The evidence now appears to show that, once a probiotic deficiency exists, it is never recovered—and it’s passed down the generations. Therefore, each generation is likely to suffer from poorer health than the parents enjoyed.

Costs of Antibiotic-Induced Chronic Conditions

Healthcare costs rise and rise in treating this chronic ill health. Consider the pandemic status of diabetes and asthma in children today. Those diseases were extremely rare 50 years ago, and now they’re literally routine. Yet, the focus continues to be on treatment—which increasingly lines the pockets of Big Pharma and doctors.

The search for cause has practically been ignored, even in the face of rising rates of chronic illness. Instead, treatment is the touchstone. Ever more toxic methods of suppressing symptoms, while hiding adverse effects, are researched and pushed on conventional medicine’s victims.

Two of the most critical functions in health are drastically compromised in enormous numbers of today’s children. The ability to metabolize food and the ability to breathe are being stolen from this generation. Yet the treatment they’re receiving for this poor health does nothing to make them well. It only masks the symptoms and makes their children even sicker!

On top of those losses, children suffer from allergies, their bodies’ inability to distinguish between disease-inducing agents and harmless substances. They suffer from autoimmune disorders, their bodies’ inability to distinguish between foreign substances and parts of their own bodies.

Has there ever been a generation of children whose inherent health has been so devastated by the very medical system that is supposedly responsible for their health?

Iatrogenic Disease

Iatrogenic disorders are health problems caused by medical errors. They are now officially the third-leading cause of death in the United States. But those numbers do not include early deaths from diabetes, asthma, allergies, chronic bowel disorders, or cancer—all of which have been documented as results of antibiotic use—nor are the miseries suffered by the people burdened with them reckoned in the iatrogenic toll.

Related Research on GreenMedInfo.com: Antibiotics

About the Author

Heidi Stevenson is Allopathy’s Gadfly. She’s an iatrogenic survivor whose prior career in computer science, research, and writing was lost as a result. She has turned her skills towards exposing the modern medical scam and the politics surrounding it, along with providing information about the effectiveness of much alternative medicine, without which she would not be here today acting as Allopathy’s Gadfly. Find her work on GaiaHealth.com

Resources:

• Antibiotics: Killing Off Beneficial Bacteria … for Good?
• Overuse of Antibiotics May Cause Long-Term Harm
• Superbug risk to children given too many antibiotics, killing bacteria that fight disease
• Incomplete recovery and individualized responses of the human distal gut microbiota to repeated antibiotic perturbation
• Short-Term Antibiotic Treatment Has Differing Long-Term Impacts on the Human Throat and Gut Microbiome
• Long-Term Persistence of Resistant Enterococcus Species after Antibiotics To Eradicate Helicobacter pylori

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of WakingTimes or its staff.

Related articles

• Overcoming Infections Without Antibiotics (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Antibiotic resistance – the impact of intensive farming on human health (camel4all.wordpress.com)
• Priobiotic Use Prevents 64% Of Antibiotic-Induced Diarrhea (medicaldaily.com)
• Our Gut is our ‘Second Brain’: It Affects Mood and Health More than You Know (oneradionetwork.com)

Eating probiotic yoghurt relieves anxiety, says study

Eating probiotic yoghurt relieves anxiety, says study – Telegraph.

Eating probiotic yoghurt twice a day could relieve anxiety and stress by reducing activity in the emotional area of the brain, a study has found.

Eating probiotic yoghurt twice a day could relieve anxiety and stress Photo: ROGER TAYLOR

Telegraph

By Melanie Hall

 30 May 2013

Study participants who consumed yoghurt twice daily for a month showed lower levels of activity in the areas of the brain associated with emotion and pain, US researchers found, together with increased activity in areas associated with decision making.

Researchers have suggested that bacteria found in the gut send signals to the brain that can change over time depending on the person’s diet.

Previous studies showed that beneficial gut bacteria affected the brains of rats but no research has confirmed that the same effect happened in human brains.

Scientists had already found that the brain sends signals to the gut, which is why stress and other emotions can contribute to gastrointestinal symptoms. The new study of 36 women show that the signals also travel the opposite way.

The participants, all of healthy weight and aged between 18 and 53, were split into three groups, with one eating a yoghurt with live bacterial cultures twice a day for a month, another group eating a dairy product with no living bacteria, while the third group was given no dairy products at all.

The women all had a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans before and after the one-month study period, which included asking the participants to match a series of faces showing angry or fearful expressions on a computer screen to other faces that appeared, the Daily Mail reported.

The women who ate the probiotic yoghurt had reduced activity in the part of the brain that handles aspects of cognition and emotion, while the women who ate non-probiotic yoghurt or no dairy showed either no change or an increase in activity, the results showed.

Dr Emeran Mayer, who worked on the study, said it is possible that changing the composition of gut bacteria could lead to treatments for chronic pain disorders, as well as symptoms of brain conditions like autism, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s disease, and could help improve mood symptoms over time.

Dr Kirsten Tillisch of UCLA’s School of Medicine, who led the study, said: “Time and time again we hear from patients that they never felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut.

“Our study shows that the gut-brain connection is a two-way street.”

Related articles

• Changing Gut Bacteria Through Diet Affects Brain Function (newswise.com)
• Mood-Altering Yogurt? Probiotics Change Brain Function With Gut Bacteria (medicaldaily.com)
• Changing gut bacteria through diet affects brain function, UCLA study shows (esciencenews.com)
• Changing gut bacteria through diet affects brain function (sciencedaily.com)

Probiotics transform emotional response and affect your brain activity

Probiotics transform emotional response and affect your brain activity.

NaturalNews

March 27, 2013

by: PF Louis

The health effects of our friendly bacteria of our gastrointestinal tract are rarely fully understood by most in the medical field, and even less appreciated by the general public.

The population’s minority of health conscious consumers do understand the intestinal flora’s digestive importance. As important and also under-appreciated as digestion is to our overall health, there is even more to those billions of little critters than digestion alone.

It has often been stated that our gut flora is responsible for at least 60 percent and up to 80 percent of our immune system. More than one study has discovered that “killer cells” are increased, triggered, and unleashed by friendly gut bacteria.

A strong, friendly critter colony also prevents Candida yeast overgrowth and leaky gut syndrome, which leaks digestive toxins into the blood stream before they can be eliminated through the bowels.

Research has shown that a low level of friendly gut bacteria is common among victims of Type II diabetes. (http://www.naturalnews.com)

Just when more are catching on to the importance of friendly gut bacteria for our overall health, along comes a handful of medical mafia renegades discovering that our guts should be considered our second brains. (http://www.naturalnews.com/033094_gut_health_brain.html)

The second brain as gut perspective

A recent early 2013 study conducted in UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine determined that probiotics from fermented milk has positive effects on people’s emotional life.

The study used 36 women of normal health and divided them into three sections. One section was fed probiotic enriched fermented milk, another non-fermented milk, and the control group wasn’t given any milk.

The researchers use MRIs and other emotional stimulus and analysis systems over a four week period with this conclusion: “Four weeks intake of a fermented milk with probiotics by healthy women affected activity of brain regions that control central processing of emotion and sensation.”

The UCLA study involved one of the gut as second brain pioneers, Dr. Emeran Mayer, who is also the Director of the Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress. The probiotics contained in the study’s fermented milk were: Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Bifidobacterium animalis, Lacotcoccus lactis, and Streptococcus thermophiles.

They observed the fermented milk group demonstrating better task related responses, which corresponded to their instrument monitored increased cortex activity and mid-brain instrument neurotransmitter pathway improvements.

Other research has led to discovering a conduit between the enteric nervous system, located in the abdominal region around the gut, and the central nervous system. Neurotransmitters are produced in the enteric nervous system that connect with the brain stem.

The messages go both ways, from the brain to the gut and vice versa. This explains “butterfly” stomachs from anxiety and that sinking cold feeling in the stomach when dreading a situation or that “I know it in my gut” feeling of certainty.

GAPS or gut and psychology syndrome

From the laboratory of applied clinical healing, UK Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride created a successful therapy for autism spectrum afflictions by bringing her son out of full blown autism.

Here’s a quote from an article she wrote to explain GAPS and introduce her book, “Gut and Psychology Syndrome. Natural treatment for autism, ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression and schizophrenia.“

“Gut flora is something we do not think much about. And yet the number of functions the gut flora fulfills is so vital for us that if some day our digestive tract got sterilized we probably would not survive.”

She has successfully improved the mental and emotional conditions as well as overall health and immunity for many using diet to restore an abundant intestinal flora balance of 85 percent probiotic bacteria to 15 percent pathogenic and/or Candida bacteria.

It’s no coincidence that autistic children were brought to gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his staff for treatment of intensely agonizing inflammatory bowel syndromes.

(http://www.naturalnews.com/034629_Andrew_Wakefield_BMJ_Brian_Deer.html)

Sources for this article include:

http://www.drdavidwilliams.com

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23474283

http://www.greenmedinfo.com

http://alsearsmd.com.benchmarkmails26.com

http://www.gaps.me/?page_id=20

Related articles

• Antibiotics, Gut Health Can Affect Behavior, Lead to Depression (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• The Benefits Of Probiotics For Patients With Stress-Associated Gastrointestinal Disorders (medicalnewstoday.com)
• BEST OF THE WEB: The REAL source of cavities and gum disease (sott.net)

Causes for Obesity | 5 Surprising Culprits

There is no doubt that the western diet holds most of the weight regarding the escalating obesity epidemic we are facing today. Ingesting overly large portions of foods containing fat-promoting ingredients coupled with an inactive lifestyle is the perfect recipe for a gigantic disaster. While these obesity contributors are widely known, there are actually some other very surprising factors to consider when analyzing the reason for the nation’s continued growth.

Antibiotics Could be to Blame for Excess Weight

As surprising as it may seem, antibiotics have actually be pinpointed as being a promoter for obesity as well as diabetes and metabolic syndrome. While antibiotics succeed in destroying bad bacteria, which is their intended use, they also destroy good bacteria in the gut known as friendly flora. This lack of bacterial discrimination leads to a shortage in friendly gut bacteria which are responsible for regulating overall health, including weight management.

Pollution has been Connected with Weight Gain

 

Not many people would point their finger at pollution when searching for a cause for obesity. And while poor air quality certainly isn’t a primary reason for extra weight, it does indeed have a link to extra weight. Research has shown that ingesting toxic chemicals found in both food and the air leads to increased fat storage in babies. A defense mechanism is triggered in unborn babies when mother’s take in these toxic chemicals which is supposed to protect the baby. It just so happens that this defense mechanism is the formation of fat.

Shampoo, Plastic, and Pesticides

There is growing concern regarding various chemicals used in products today and their impact on our health. Chemicals like bisphenol-A, phthalates, PCB’s, POP’s, and pesticides, which are all endocrine disruptors, have been tied to many health ailments such as infertility, asthma, diabetes, and obesity. Paula Baillie-Hamilton, an expert on metabolism and environmental toxins at Stirling University in Scotland, was one of the first to point out the connection between environmental toxins and obesity. She noted that:

Overlooked in the obesity debate is that the earth’s environment has changed significantly during the last few decades because of the exponential production and usage of synthetic organic and inorganic chemicals

Environmental toxins are lesser known evils when it comes to health complications, but it may be time people started seriously considering these toxins when evaluating their health.

via Causes for Obesity | 5 Surprising Culprits | Natural Society.

Related articles

• Antibiotics Promote Obesity, Diabetes, and Mental Illness (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)

Antibiotics can lead to crippling side effects and mental disorders

Image via Wikipedia

(NaturalNews) A close friend was put into a long term antibiotic regimen for a very unusual and difficult bacterial chronic lung infection. She started noticing nerve pains, arthritic symptoms and insomnia after a few months despite dosing up heavily with probiotics. After visiting an amoxicillin forum, she discovered that many others had similar side effects.

Antibiotics, probiotics, and the medical monopoly paradigm

Almost everyone who knows anything about gut flora knows it’s wise to take probiotic dense foods and supplements during and after antibiotic use. But when is the last time an MD gave that recommendation when he or she wrote up an antibiotic prescription for you, a family member or close friend?

The same person mentioned earlier told various MDs in the clinic her problems; they all frowned and shrugged. They had never heard of her side effects, which were corroborated by several amoxicillin users on a forum. Still, not one doctor asked if she was taking probiotics. In all likelihood, her case is not an unusual one.

A big bugaboo in medical circles is antibiotic resistant microbes and MRSA, the virulent staph resistant bacteria that has become a bit of an epidemic. The medicos blame frequent and overused antibiotics that bacteria have evolved to overcome. But they keep prescribing antibiotics, even for long term dosage.

Antibiotics are everywhere

Meat and dairy consumers who don’t bother to select organic dairy or meat from grass fed livestock are taking in antibiotics constantly. Antibiotics are injected into livestock and also put into their food.

Subsequently, humans who consume those animal-products are taking in the same antibiotics. Despite pressure, The FDA has thus far refused to ban antibiotics from animal feed. http://www.naturalnews.com/034148_a…

The ostensible use of antibiotics for preventing disease in overcrowded factory farms has concealed a secret that is even worse: the antibiotics make the livestock fatter more quickly by destroying their probiotic intestinal flora. But the factory farmers love that! http://www.naturalnews.com/030938_a…

Human intestinal flora destruction invites physical and mental issues

Getting fat faster happens with humans on antibiotics too, for the same reason it happens with farm animals, gut flora destruction. Besides being important for digestion, probiotic intestinal flora have more than one immunity function.

The first is to prevent the bad bacteria or fungal microbes from getting out of hand. Too much Candida yeast and not enough friendly bacteria create Candida overgrowth, which is a quality of life damper and potentially a symbiotic haven for cancer cells.

Though probiotic bacteria do go after pathogens, the obvious good guy bad guy game goes beyond direct conflict.

Even from the gut, probiotic bacteria plays a role in triggering disease-killing cells in the blood as well as serving other immune regulating functions in both blood and organ cells. Digestion is very important, but gut probiotic microbes go beyond digestion and make up to 80% of our immune system.

Recently, a small number of medical pioneers have come across evidence that the rising numbers of mental disorders can be traced to intestinal flora imbalances. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has based her pediatric practice in the UK on fixing all kinds of behavioral and eating disorders by using diet and probiotics to restore gut health.

She had discovered what she calls GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) by curing her son of autism. That’s way beyond the medical monopoly paradigm! You can find more on her work here. http://www.gaps.me/

Antibiotics may have their place and time but it’s not everywhere or all of the time. Many consider it wise to opt for herbal antibiotics as an alternative.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/2…

http://mic.sgmjournals.org/content/…

http://naturalsociety.com/antibioti…

via Antibiotics can lead to crippling side effects and mental disorders.

Related articles

• Report: Antibiotics can permanently destroy gut flora balance, leading to lifelong illness (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Antibiotics Could be to Blame for Skyrocketing Mental Illness Rates (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Antibiotics Promote Obesity, Diabetes, and Mental Illness (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Probiotics help offset some of the negative effects of antibiotics (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Second Brain – Manage your gut and gut flora (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)

Gut Bacteria and Your Emotions

Image via Wikipedia

Gut Bacteria and Your Emotions | Psychology Today.

It is well known that there are relationships between gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome and psychiatric disorders including anxiety disorders.  Another aspect of these relationships was highlighted recently in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that demonstrated that bacteria in the gut are likely to affect the brain and may influence psychiatric symptoms including anxiety and depression.

This study investigated the effects of a strain of Lactobacillus on mouse models of behaviors that correlate with human conditions such as anxiety and depression.  Lactobacillus is a “good” type of bacteria that lives normally in our GI system.  These bacteria, or similar bacteria, are found in certain foods, including yogurt.  Mice who received chronic feedings of these good bacteria exhibited behaviors in various testing procedures that correlate with fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression in humans.

How is this possible?

The GI system interacts with the brain via several mechanisms.  One mechanism involves the vagus nerve.  The vagus nerve plays a number of critical roles including conveying information from various body regions to the brain and vice versa.  This nerve and its brain connections have become increasingly important in psychiatry and are targets for a novel form of treatment called “vagus nerve stimulation” (VNS), which may be helpful for patients with depression who have not responded to other treatment approaches.  In VNS, a form of electrical pacemaker is used to activate the nerve.  VNS is also used to treat patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy.

GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) is the major fast inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and is involved in many aspects of brain function.  The GABA system in specific brain regions can be involved in the regulation of anxiety and stress and is the primary target for benzodiazepine-type anti-anxiety medications such as Valium (diazepam), Xanax (alprazolam), and Ativan (lorazepam).

The PNAS study found changes in the GABA system of several brain regions in the mice fed the good bacteria.  In addition, when the vagus nerve was cut in these animals, the anti-anxiety and antidepressant effects of the GI bacteria were eliminated.  The influence of the gut bacteria on the brain’s GABA system was also eliminated.  These results indicate that something related to good bacteria in the GI system influences the vagus nerve and that the vagus nerve then interacts with the GABA system and changes behavior.

In our opinion, it is likely that other neurotransmitter systems, possibly including the serotonin system, are influenced by various GI bacteria.

The take home message from this study is that our GI system can influence our brain and our behaviors.  In turn, our brain influences our gut.  The strong possibility that the foods we eat influence how we feel and how we act via effects on the GI system opens up new avenues of research that may lead to creative ways to treat people who suffer from various psychiatric disorders.

This type of research gives new meaning to the phrase “gut feeling.”

This column was written by Eugene Rubin MD, PhD and Charles Zorumski MD.

Related articles

• Antibiotics Promote Obesity, Diabetes, and Mental Illness (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Can probiotic yogurt cure your psychiatric ills? (blogs.scientificamerican.com)
• Yoghurt lowers stress in the brain. (mindblog.dericbownds.net)
• A healthy gut leads to a healthy brain (earthbornbeauty.wordpress.com)

Antibiotics Promote Obesity, Diabetes, and Mental Illness

Image by crossn81 via Flickr

Anthony Gucciardi

NaturalSociety

November 9, 2011

 SyndromeAntibiotics, recently linked to skyrocketing mental illness rates, are now being identified as a player in the soaring obesity rates around the globe. Previously, it was revealed that excessive antibiotic usage may also be responsible for spawning drug-resistant superbugs that continue to emerge worldwide.

The reason that antibiotics are potentially making you fat, mentally unhealthy, and suffer from gut problems has to do with the way it affects bacteria within your gut. While antibiotics do kill harmful ‘bad’ bacteria as intended, they also destroy ‘good’ bacteria in the gut which help to regulate more than just gut health. In fact, studies are finding that gut bacteria may be responsible for regulating overall health, including mental health and stability.

In one study regarding the depletion of ‘good’ bacteria in the gut, researchers explained how antibiotics administered to mice ultimately resulted in altered behaviors far beyond diarrhea and pain:

“It may be that those changes in gut bacteria not only contribute to the generation of gut symptoms, like diarrhea or pain, but may also contribute to this altered behavior that we see in those patients,” said researcher Stephen Collins, of the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Experts are now drawing a conclusion between depleted beneficial bacteria and obesity, as more information comes out over the dangers and repercussions of antibiotic use. Dr. Martin Blaser of New York University Langone Medical Center is one such expert, who has been actively studying the effects of antibiotics on gut bacteria.

Dr. Blaser summarized his findings on the subject, revealing how antibiotics actually have a number of long-term side effects that the medial establishment has previously failed to recognize – or at least report:

“They’ve changed health and medicine over the last 70 years. But when doctors prescribe antibiotics, it is based on the belief that there are no long-term effects. We’ve seen evidence that suggests antibiotics may permanently change the beneficial bacteria that we’re carrying.”

Honing in on the obesity connection, a studyconducted in April 2011 involving Dr. Blaser found that people treated with antibiotics had a 6-fold increase in post-meal ghrelin, a 20 percent increase in leptin levels, and a 5 percent increase in body mass index 18 months after completing the course of antibiotics. Ghrelin, of course, stimulates the brain in such a manner that leads to not only increased appetite, but also particularly leads to the accumulation of fat in abdominal fat tissue. This type of fat is associated with metabolic syndrome and an increased risk of diabetes.

Dr. Blaser explains:

“…antibiotics for H. pylori trick the body into eating more by disrupting hunger hormone levels. Indeed, mice given antibiotics get fatter than their untreated counterparts despite having the same diet.”

It is very likely that further research will come out exposing a number of other adverse health effects from antibiotic usage, just as with BPA and antipsychotic drugs. Of course, antibiotics are potentially creating the mental illnesses through gut bacteria depletion which the suicide-linked antipsychotics aim to ‘treat’, playing into the pharmaceutical food chain.

Thankfully, a number of powerful natural antibiotics exist that do not come with such harsh side effects. Concerned over the destructive effects of antibiotics, research has concluded that various amino acids are actually preferable to antibiotics when it comes to treating infection. Other natural options for combating bacteria and infections include:

Garlic

Echinacea

Goldenseal

Wild Indigo

Explore More:

Study | Resveratrol Halts Metabolic Syndrome, Diabetes

Antibiotics Could be to Blame for Skyrocketing Mental Illness Rates

Antibiotics Prescriptions Declining – But Not Enough

Internal Bacteria May Alter Brain Chemistry

Groups Sue FDA Over Use of Antibiotics in Animal Feed

via Antibiotics Promote Obesity, Cause 6-Fold Appetite Increase | Natural Society.

Related articles

• Report: Antibiotics can permanently destroy gut flora balance, leading to lifelong illness (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)

Report: Antibiotics can permanently destroy gut flora balance, leading to lifelong illness

 

Image via Wikipedia

(NaturalNews) Overuse and overprescription of antibiotic drugs has become a widely known culprit in causing the emergence of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” as well as the onset of digestive and other health problems, caused by the elimination of beneficial gut flora. But a new review published in the journal Nature suggests that such gut flora alterations could be permanent.

Professor Martin Blaser from New York University’s (NYU) Langone Medical Center has been studying the long-term effects of antibiotics on gut flora, which has already confirmed a definitive link between antibiotics and the disruption of beneficial bacteria in the digestive system. But what his research also seems to confirm is the possibility that such disruption might be permanent, at least in some individuals, and thus carry with it lifelong health consequences.

“Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover,” writes Blaser in his shocking editorial. “These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease. Overuse of antibiotics could be fueling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.”

Blaser suggests that, even at this preliminary stage, restrictions be put in place to clamp down on the rampant overprescription of antibiotics to young children and pregnant women, a misguided practice that is likely responsible for causing each new generation to “[begin] life with a smaller endowment of ancient microbes than the last.”

If antibiotics truly are responsible for causing a permanent imbalance of gut microbiome in some people, then supplementation with probiotics may also be necessary throughout such individuals’ entire lives in order to simply maintain a normal, healthy balance.

At this point in time, vastly reducing the prescription rates of antibiotics to people of all ages — and particularly to young children and pregnant mothers — is of first priority. Along with this is a much-needed ban on the use of growth hormones and antibiotics in conventional cattle-raising operations, which end up in the food products eaten by millions of Americans every single day.

Report: Antibiotics can permanently destroy gut flora balance, leading to lifelong illness.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033901_antibiotics_gut_flora.html#ixzz1b9ZigKJ4

Related articles

• Antibiotics Could be to Blame for Skyrocketing Mental Illness Rates (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Second Brain – Manage your gut and gut flora (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Antibiotics: Killing Off Beneficial Bacteria… For Good? (wired.com)

Antibiotics Could be to Blame for Skyrocketing Mental Illness Rates

Anthony Gucciardi

Activist Post

A new report published in the popular journal Nature has revealed that antibiotics are permanently destroying beneficial bacteria within the gut, a condition scientists link to mental illness. While it has been known for some time that antibiotics contribute to the development of drug-resistant superbugs and certain gut problems, the link between antibiotic use and mental illness through the permanent destruction of beneficial bacteria only further tops the pharmaceutical paradigm. In fact, the pharmaceutical paradigm set in place by drug makers is so vast that it actually offers drug-based ‘solutions’ to the very problems that drugs originally created!

After kids are given excessive amounts of antibiotics that lead to the destruction of their gut health and the subsequent onset of mental illness, they are then given deadly antipsychotics and other psychiatric drugs to ‘treat’ the condition that originated from pharmaceutical drug use. It is a system that, whether purposeful or not, generates large profits for many prescription-happy doctors and drug manufacturers alike.

Perhaps the most troubling part of this system is the massive fraud committed by financially-invested corporations to stop the truth about these drugs and other mainstream medical ‘treatments’ from getting to the general public.

The pharmaceutical paradigm

The general public has the right to know that dangerous antipsychotics are not going to ‘cure’ anything, and researchers have found that simply improving gut health and bacteria through probiotic supplementation or consumption will make a profound difference in your mental health and clarity:

‘It may be that those changes in gut bacteria not only contribute to the generation of gut symptoms, like diarrhea or pain, but may also contribute to this altered behavior that we see in those patients,’ said researcher Stephen Collins.

It seems that many large corporations act as gatekeepers, doctoring study results and attempting to discredit any research that endangers profits. Unfortunately, there will always be greedy individuals willing to go along with the scam. Such is the case with Dr. Scott Reuben, a well-respected anesthesiologist who was the former chief of acute pain of the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield Massachusetts. Dr. Reuben altered the results of 21 studies to deceive customers into thinking that Vioxx and Celebrex were safe. Of course this is not an isolated incident, simply one that received mainstream attention.

Rejuvenating gut health

While the damage to beneficial bacteria may be permanent, you can still utilize natural strategies to put that good bacteria back into the gut. Through the consumption of probiotics, you can restore beneficial bacteria that has been damaged through use of antibiotics. It is possible to do this through either supplementation or probiotic-rich foods, though you may find consuming such foods to be a challenge. Fermented food items such as sauerkraut, tempeh, miso or kefir are all rich sources of probiotic bacteria.

In addition to restoring beneficial bacteria into the gut through the use of probiotics, eliminating or severely reducing sugar intake will also be instrumental in restoring gut health and eliminating mental illness. Not only will you be improving your digestion and mental performance, you will be drastically slashing your risk of cancer, inflammation, and countless other diseases.

via Activist Post: Antibiotics Could be to Blame for Skyrocketing Mental Illness Rates.

Related articles

• 4 Ways to Improve Mental Health and Clarity (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Second Brain – Manage your gut and gut flora (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)

Second Brain – Manage your gut and gut flora

Image via Wikipedia

Second Brain – Manage your gut and gut flora.

(NaturalNews) Your mind is your most important asset, but it can become your worst enemy. And your gut may be your most important organ when it comes to mental health. The awareness of intestinal flora deficiencies as the root causes of a wide spectrum of mental problems is constantly expanding. The gut is often called the “second brain”. This is something you can easily manage.

Gut flora is the term for micro-organisms that live in the gastrointestinal tract. There are 100 trillion of them compared to our 10 trillion cells. If the intestines were opened and spread out to expose their inner linings, they would cover a tennis court.

We have a symbiotic relationship with all these friendly bacteria that cover so much territory. Not only do they deter invading pathogens or kill some of the bad guys, but they also signal other aspects of our immune system in other parts of our bodies. That colony of helpful bacteria is sometimes called our “forgotten organ.”

The relationship of friendly gut flora to pathogenic bacteria needs to be rather lopsided, around 85% good guys to 15% bad guys. When it goes the other way, all sorts of physical and mental problems arise.

Mentally, disorders ranging from ADD to autism in children and depression to mental fogginess in adults have been connected to intestinal flora imbalances that create inflammation of the gut and elsewhere. This is known as the “gut-brain axis”.

Physically, a gut flora imbalance allows pathogenic bacteria and fungi to infect our bodies. Candida yeast overgrowth occurs, and guess what, people with Candida suffer from fatigue and depression. It’s established: there is at least a symbiotic relationship between Candida and cancer.

Gut inflammation, even Crohn’s Disease, has been connected to depression in adults and autistic symptoms with children. Dr. Andrew Wakefield and others have pioneered research in those areas.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has gone a step further and has actually cured autism and other mental and physical problems by restoring the intestinal flora balance through mostly dietary changes.

There are many environmental and dietary issues that kill our friendly bacteria. The whole idea of killing bacteria has been overdone in our culture. Pasteurization, irradiation, processed foods and sugar are the main culprits.

Obviously, eliminating those affected foods and engaging in a daily habit of whole, organic foods is vital. This dietary and lifestyle change takes progressively steady effort and vigilance, which is assisted by following Natural News and other real health sites.

Medications, especially antidepressants and antibiotics, are the enemies of your friendly bacteria. GMOs wreak havoc on friendly bacteria too. Even if you don’t take medications and antibiotics or eat GMO food overtly, they have all surreptitiously invaded our food chain through other sources.

So it’s important to maintain a steady supply of probiotics in your kitchen. Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, kim-chi, or miso, are good to have around. Water or milk kefirs are great. It’s much better to make your own of either or both to consume daily. Commercially sold kefirs and yogurts don’t cut it, really. (Source below)

But there are several good probiotic supplements on the market. They’re important to add if you’ve been through serious stress, are struggling with Candida, or forced into medications, especially antibiotics. Try the ones with the highest amount of bacteria and the most strains.

Intensely probiotic foods and occasional probiotic supplements should be an essential part of our health regimen. Our kill all bacteria culture can’t differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys. We have to do it ourselves.

Sources for this article include:

Making your own probiotic kefirs http://www.naturalnews.com/027554_k… AND http://www.yourkefirsource.com/how-…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_flora

http://www.naturalnews.com/033094_g…

About the author:
Paul Fassa is dedicated to warning others about the current corruption of food and medicine and guiding others toward a direction for better health with no restrictions on health freedom. You can visit his blog at http://healthmaven.blogspot.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033826_second_brain_gut.html#ixzz1aTm4NsCw

Related articles

• 4 Ways to Improve Mental Health and Clarity (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Considering a winter flu shot? Here’s a better way to ‘winterize’ your immune system (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Interesting research (mycrankygut.wordpress.com)
• The Direct link between Autism and Abnormal Gut Flora – Must see Videos (lachicaorganica.wordpress.com)