We are 90% microbe and 10% human: Can we lose weight by boosting good bacteria with probiotics and prebiotics? PT4

Did you read the previous post, read it HERE:

Can I lose weight by manipulating the gut microbiome?

In terms of treating the gut microbiota to lose weight, long-term human trials are needed before we can make any extravagant claims, but there is still a lot to go one from the available data on probiotics, prebiotics, diet, and other ways of altering the gut microbiota. Here’s what some of the studies show:

• Fermented kimchi reduces body weight and improves metabolic parameters in overweight and obese patients (40).
• A recent review of 61 studies show that prebiotics and probiotics usually promote increases in bifidobacteria, weight loss, and enhancement of parameters related to obesity (41).
• Anti-obesity effects of gut microbiota are associated with lactic acid bacteria (42,43,44).
• Supplementing with prebiotics such as oligofructose has the potential to promote weight loss and improve glucose regulation in overweight adults (45,46,47).

However, not all studies find an association between probiotic consumption and changes in body weight, and the primary problem seems to be that a lot of the clinical trials investigate the effects of a single probiotic supplement on inflammation, glucose tolerance, and weight loss. Since we know that the gut microbiota consists of hundreds of species of bacteria and that probiotics often lack the ability to colonize the gut, just ingesting a handful of species of lactic acid bacteria from a supplement will usually have little impact on body weight. We also know that only some species of bacteria seem to be effective and that a lot of the probiotic supplements on the market don’t contain the quantity of colony-forming units claimed on the label.

This doesn’t mean that all probiotics are a waste of money, as some strains of probiotics have been shown to increase the number of beneficial bacteria in the gut and promote a more diverse microbiota (48,49).

The same principles apply for the typical store-bought yogurt – It contains only a handful of species of bacteria that won’t have any long-lasting impact on the gut microbiota.

The human microbiome is one of the hottest research subjects in the scientific community at the moment, and we’re slowly learning more and more about the complex interaction between microbes and the human host. This has also led to increased interest from the corporate health industry, and some companies have already begun financing the production of advanced “microbiome modulators“. It’s possible that we’ll soon see a whole new spectrum of probiotics and drugs that are directed at the trillions of microbes that inhabit the human body. Could the microbes that live in and on our bodies be one of the biggest blind spots in the history of medicine?

Bottom line

Just taking a probiotic supplement or eating some yogurt from the supermarket will have little, if any, benefit. Rather it seems that a diet that contains nutrient-rich whole foods, prebiotic fiber such as resistant starch and oligofructose, and traditionally fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir is optimal for people who want a healthy and diverse gut microbiome.

There are also several other factors besides diet that impact the microbiome, such as antibiotics, c-section vs. natural birth, and breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding. It also seems that modern hygiene often is to the detriment of our microbiome, and that triple-washing organic produce from the garden or farmer’s market probably isn’t a good idea if you want to increase bacterial diversity (50).

Liberation from self

The primary takeaway is that we have to stop looking at the human body as a single organism, and rather acknowledge that diet and lifestyle have to be tailored to a complex ecosystem made up of trillions of microbes living symbiotically with the human host. We also have to realize that the microbes that inhabit our body are passed on to the children we bring to life through birth, breastfeeding, and other types of close contact. It’s therefore highly likely that part of the genetic component of obesity and other health disorders has to do with transferring microbes and their DNA onto the child.

It’s also important to note that although this article has focused on the role microbes play in overweight and obesity, we are now learning that the microbiome has an essential role in both our mental and physiological health, and it’s therefore no doubt that paying attention to the old friends that inhabit your body is important even if you are perfectly happy with your physical appearance.

Going back to the quote from Albert Einstein, it’s clear that the expanding view on the human body is one that certainly leads to liberation from self.

@myHFjhourney

We are 90% microbe and 10% human: Can we lose weight by boosting good bacteria with probiotics and prebiotics? PT2

Read the previous post HERE:

Western lifestyle perturbs the microbiome

The microbes in our gut don’t provide us with a great immune system and various metabolic functions for free. To maintain a healthy symbiotic relationship we have to feed the metabolic powerhouse in our guts with fermentable food ingredients – prebiotics – that these microbes are able to utilize. The fact is that the human host only produces the needed enzymes to digest starch, monosaccharides, and some disaccharides, and that the rest of the carbohydrate we eat are either passed through undigested or broken down by bacteria in the colon.

One of the problems with the typical western diet – with plenty of refined food high in fat and/or sugar – is that it’s primarily absorbed in the small intestine and contains little prebiotic fiber for our old friends in the colon. We’re virtually starving 90% of the cells in our body, and on top of that we’re probably changing the balance of bacteria in the upper gastrointestinal tract by eating massive amounts of refined carbohydrates and fats (10).

There are now plenty of studies showing that the typical western diet – that is certainly without evolutionary precedent – alters the balance of microbes in the gut (11,12,13,14). It’s also been shown that a single high-fat meal, low in dietary fiber, can initiate endotoxemia in just a few hours, and that levels of C-reactive protein shoot up quickly after consuming a typical McDonald’s breakfast (15,16). When we lived as hunter-gatherers in the wild, this response to a high-fat meal would have benefitted us in the sense that low-grade inflammation initiated increased fat storage and therefore better survival when food was scarce. However, in the industrialized world we have virtually unlimited access to calories, and refined junk foods are especially cheap. This daily influx of hyper-palatable food certainly drives weight gain through several mechanisms, and changes to the gut microbiota and increased translocation of bacterial toxins seem to be very important in that regard.

So, diet can change the composition of bacteria in our bodies. What else? We know that antibiotics dramatically alters the microbiome and that antibiotic exposure in early life is associated with consistent increases in body mass during the next years of life (17,18). Other factors that seem to play an important role are the increased rates of c-sections, bottle-feeding in infancy, reduced exposure to soil microbes, modern hygiene, and limited consumption of fermented food.

The gut microbiota and regulation of body fat

Microorganisms are found in most parts of the human body, and each location has a unique composition of bacteria that are able to live in symbiotically with the human host in that specific environment. The large intestine is where most of the microbes live, and this collection of gut microbes – gut microbiota – is also the part of the microbiome that is most important in terms of weight regulation.

In 2004, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis were some of the first to document a link between the gut microbiome and host energy homeostasis. They noticed that mice raised without a microbiome ñ germ-free mice ñ had 40% less total body fat than conventionally raised mice, while at the same time eating 29% more energy. Even more surprisingly; when these germ-free mice were colonized with normal microbiota, they experienced a 60% increase in body fat content within 14 days (3).

It’s important to note that we can’t live without the microbiome and that the complete absence of microbes – as seen in this trial – is not something to aim for.

In the decade that has passed since this first glimpse into the connection between the gut microbiota and weight regulation, the research in this field has exploded, and these are some of the things we now know:

• Both studies in animals and humans show that obesity is characterized by an “obese microbiota” that is quite different than the microbiota of a lean person (19,20,21).
• Germ-free animals who are inoculated with microbiota from an obese person gain more weight than animals who receive microbiota from a lean person (22).
• Changes in the gut microbiota contribute to reduced host weight after gastric bypass surgery (23,24).
• Changes in the bacterial communities can cause weight gain (25,26,27).
• Transfer of intestinal microbiota from lean donors increases insulin sensitivity in individuals with metabolic syndrome (28).

How can microbes affect whether we gain or lose weight?

While most of the studies have focused on the gut microbiota in obesity, it’s apparent that the critters within play an essential role in weight regulation for everyone. But how is it that microorganisms are able to influence our body weight?

Since we know that the microbiome constitutes most of our cells and DNA, and that the gut microbiota provides so many important metabolic functions in our body, it’s no surprise that disruption of healthy gut microbiota can promote weight gain through several different mechanisms. While a lot of the early animal studies focused on the role microbes play in energy harvesting, it’s now becoming clear that this enhanced energy extraction from food only is a small part of a much bigger picture.

READ PART 3 HERE: 

@myHFjourney

Researchers have identified that at a cellular level we are indeed only 10% HUMAN. PT2

Read part one of this post HERE:

From “theory” to accepted truth (and back again)

Cleanliness coupled with the germ theory, has indeed since saved many lives and prevented the spread of infection and disease in hospitals, in homes, in communities, and in agriculture. I share this history with you about Pasteur, Beauchamp, Bernard, and Semmelweis’ however because I believe it is important to realize that what seems like a “unsubstantiated” or “unscientific” thinking in one day and age, is often proved correct only a few short decades later.

On his deathbed Pasteur, who once said that germs created illness and that the human body is sterile – basically a blank slate free of germs, then made his final statements admitting and condemning his “Germ Theory” and said, “Bernard was right. The microbe is nothing; the milieu is everything.”

Where does this leave us?

Up until just a few years ago a condition known as ‘leaky gut’ (where intestinal imbalance weakens the gut wall allows particles to pass through the wall into the blood stream) was scoffed at by many within the medical industry. Similarly, despite hundreds of research journal publications on the gut-brain-axis, some still consider it simply “a notion” that intestinal microbiota can influence brain function and state of mind.

It is therefore vitally important we all seek our own understanding of the facets of health. One of these, perhaps the most fundamental of all health principles is good digestive balance, and while cleanliness and avoiding major pathogens is important, most of us have taken the “hygiene hypothesis” too far. Theories such as “too clean for our own good” were ridiculed 10 years ago are now supported by irrefutable research that the body requires constant exposure to milder microbes for power and strength.

There’s much more to consider, and in the next few posts we will discuss which lifestyle factors effect gut balance and increase the passage of foreign particles across the gut wall (including introducing solid foods before this barrier is adequately formed), allergenic foods, a number of drugs (including NSAIDs, antibiotics, chemotherapeutic agents, cocaine) and how bacterial overgrowth can all cause increased permeability.9

Free Download: “7 Ways To Look After Your Micro-Organisms”Infosheet (PDF)

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A few points to consider in the meantime…

1. In our own homes, among our own family, we want to build up our immune systems. That’s why letting children crawl on the floor is fine, having family pets is encouraged and sharing a spoon with your sister is, again, fine.
2. Cleaning away visible dirt or grime on any surface — sinks, floors, or door handles with thorough washing and cleaning products that are free of harsh chemicals — is usually enough without constant sterilizing and using disinfectants such as bleach (which probably kills everything in the air around it, too!).
3. Washing our hands with simple soap dislodges and removes surface particles without stripping everything on the skin. Antibacterial soaps kill both good and bad bacteria, and strip the skin of the environment it needs to sustain good bacteria.
4. Be less concerned about germs but instead focus more on considering how strong is your terrain. How strong is your digestive balance, digestive power?
5. Learn how to strengthen your digestive power through decreasing your reliance on antibiotics and other types of drugs, through decreasing the stress in your life and your sugar intake.
6. Learn how you may be able to strengthen your digestive power through eating wholesome organic fruits and vegetables and probiotic rich foods (including fermented and cultured foods) and supplementing with probiotics, glutamine, fish oil, quercetin, ginkgo and other flavonoid antioxidants.10
7. Discover the health benefits that regular chiropractic adjustments may offer your digestive and immune system and the support and guidance holistic practitioners can offer you and your family.

…And keep your own terrain strong.

Yours in Health,

Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani
B.App.Clin.Sci, B.Chiropractic

@myHFjourney