Red wine and chocolate on the menu!

Welcome to My Bugs And I!

Thank you very much to all new readers for subscribing during the Summer Break Giveaway, I hope you find my articles interesting; they are all amazing stories about what our microbiota (microscopic world living on and in us) do for us to keep us safe and sane.

Our Summer Break Giveaway Winners are:

Melissa Lee, Melissa Crowe, and Adrian Bold

Congratulations!

As a new school year begins all over the world, let's look at an academic study that showed that red wine and chocolate are good for you. Oh yes, let's...

Something that we've discussed in previous posts is that the more diverse your gut flora is (higher number of different species), the lesser your risk of developing various diseases. Another thing is that everyone's composition of species is unique, and it makes it very difficult to say this or that species is essential to be healthy!!

Now, a large study on thousands of people, and their poo (where our gut species end up eventually), came up with what influences our gut flora's diversity: 31 intrinsic factors, 12 diseases, 19 drug groups, 4 smoking categories, and 60 dietary factors that can explain 18.7% of the variation seen in the interindividuality of microbial composition.

Among those factors, we'll be happy to know that drinking coffee, tea, red wine was associated with increased diversity. Drinking buttermilk was also shown to be good as it was associated with abundance of two species commonly used in fermentation.

As expected, no need to stress that sweetened drinks and other alcohols are definitely not good.

I was surprised to see, however, that whole fat milk is contributing to lower microbial diversity: whole milk is recommended for infants between the ages of 1 and 2, so I guess there's a bit of risk-benefit balance to play there.

Another good news is that the absence of calprotectin in people's poo (a good thing), was associated with consumption of veggies, plant proteins, chocolate, and bread; while its presence was associated with high BMI, diabetes, use of statins and metformin (again, let's weigh the risk-benefit balance), and systolic blood pressure.

As for everything, all in good measures!

Want to know the basics on how to promote a healthy gut, follow me here and here!

What do you do to influence your high gut flora diversity?

See you next Monday!

The importance of a diverse gut flora

Over the past few weeks, the key message from my latest posts has been that it's become absolutely essential to look after our gut microbiota to feed our most beneficial species!
My essential guide to a healthy microbiota pointed to a few things we could all easily do such as eat more fibres, sleep well, exercise, cut down on alcohol, and give up smoking!
Oh yeah, oh well, I hear you think, another miracle and fashionable diet!
And in part I guess it is true that it has become popular, but - in my honest, scientific opinion - for good reason! Scientists have only realised these past 10 years or so how influential our inhabitants are on our health, and certainly since the Human Microbiome Project started in 2008 (follow me here to read about this).

On thing that has become apparent is how important our microbial diversity is.
Broadly speaking:

• High count of different species = healthy microbiota
• Low count of different species = increased risk of diseases such as obesity, diabetes, allergies, cancers, asthma, gastronintestinal diseases to name but a few (More on the risk of developing these diseases)

Two topics I would like to address very soon are the difference in species count between countries, and the correlation of a low count with consumption of soda (coming soon on MBAI, further reading here and here).
While we may think it's our personal problem if we are not looking after your microbiota, recent research has shown that our worsening low count of species is being passed down to younger generations with irreversible consequences (check it out over here).
Looking after our microbiota truly is for the greater good because what we are doing right now will impact on future generations.
My last note will be about the big C. That's what we are more scared of developing, right? Well, now it's pretty clear that a diverse microbiota helps our body escape cancer, helps treatment work, and helps us bear the side effects of heavy treatments (more on this here).

I've definitely upped my fibre intake, and been taking my probiotics, have you?

Let me know in the comment section,

See you next Monday!

So that's why we have an appendix!

When I was a child, almost everyone was having their appendix removed. My friends were staying in hospital for like a week and got loads of toys and stuff from people visiting! No wonder that having appendicitis was like a rite of passage, and it was considered a good thing!

For many years, people thought that  the appendix was an obsolete organ that can become infected and be dangerous. But like everything else it seems, appendicitis is actually a modern phenomenon that only became common from the late 19th century. Suggested reasons for this include sanitation and hygienic conditions, lower consumption of fibers, our sugary and fatty diet, etc.

But what is this appendix anyway? And how come we are seemingly OK without it?

The appendix is this little tube of about 8cm that protrudes from the caecum, which is the pouch that connects the small to the large intestine. The real function of the appendix is largely unknown but hypotheses have emerged these past few years including a critical role in the education, development, and maturation of the immune system.

Now, that reminds me of something, I thought our microbiota was doing just that - I hear you say, if you have followed this blog and received your weekly update.

Well, apart from being full of immune cells, our appendix is also a reservoir of the most amazing varieties of micro-organisms. A lot of people even call the appendix a safe-house for those millions of microbial inhabitants.

What those microbes do is being there on standby for when we need them, for example, after an epidose of food poisoning or a gastrointestinal infection, which may involve bouts of diarrhoea. This way, our gut can be quickly re-populated with its normal inhabitants.

It is now believed that our appendix was most useful when, 'in the old days', people were suffering from cholera and other diseases involving serious diarrhoea; those days, people rarely suffered from appendicitis. This made scientists hypothesize that one of the reasons for increased appendicitis incidence is sanitation thanks to water-treatment plants and sewage systems. This means that our appendix doesn't get to help out as much anymore (and the reason why people thought that we don't need it!). [The safest way to cure appendicitis is simply to remove the appendix. The alternative is antibiotics but it's not as fail-safe as surgery.]

My story

When I read this the first time, it downed on me that when I was young, I was never ill - if I had something, it was always minor. But since having my appendix removed at 22, I've been increasingly suffering from stomach bugs that pin me down in bed for, typically, 3 days. At some point, I even thought I might be suffering from IBS and my 'viral' episodes might be stress-related IBS flares. Now, I believe that my immune system is not as efficient as it used to be and my gut under attack by naughty bacterial species simply doesn't get replenished by the most beneficial microbiota that used to live there.

As I shared in my last post, I've been taking my Bio-Kult probiotics every day for the past 6 months. Apart from curing cold sores, I'm also happy to report I've had ZERO episodes of stomach bugs or upset (last year I was ill betwen Dec 2014 and April 2015 with 3 viruses, 2 stomach bugs, a 2-month nasty cough, and had 2 courses of useless antibiotics). And although there are a lot of variables entering this equation such as my son not bringing so many bugs home from nursery as last year, he still has AND I have managed to escape all the nasty ones from my colleagues! 2016 is definitely [FLU 1 - 0 HUMANS] so I'm tempted to think that my probiotics are helping me big time to restore my gut flora and fight various pathogens the way my appendix used to when I still had it!

Although it is essential for an infected appendix to be removed because if left untreated, it can cause serious complications and even lead to death, in my case it wasn't infected: I was misdiagnosed. The surgeon later gave me my diagnosis and added as a side note 'Oh BTW, we removed your appendix as well'. At the time, I thought 'Oh well, good riddance'... Little did I know, I was talking about my perfect health!!

R.I.P. my appendix, June 2002.

Have you had your appendix removed? Have you noticed any change in your health or immunity afterwards?

See you next Monday,

What is the Human Microbiome?

This is the most comprehensive video I've watched so far that explains what microbiota and microbiome are and how, us humans, benefit from them. 

Please watch, it's amazing, and fun

I wish you all a very good week, see you next Monday for MBAI next article!

The impact of antibiotics on a newborn's microbiota

When baby is born, his mum has prepared the best microbial starter pack for him to be colonized with on his way out (if you'd like to read more about this, follow here).

However, in some cases when infections can occur during or after birth (especially after C-sections and in pre-term births), baby may be administered vital antibiotics to combat opportunistic infections. It has been estimated that 1.4 million of babies die at birth because of invasive infections; therefore, we can all agree that there are no questions over whether antibiotics are essential or not, they just ARE!!

But what happens to the first microbial colonies of baby when under attack by antibiotics.

A study looking at the microbiota of pre-term babies who received antibiotics showed that these babies had in their gut an unusual amount of a family species called enterobacteriaceae.

It might not mean anything on its own, but because our microbes have established a balance between themselves, if you tip that balance, their carefully attributed functions are all messed up and it can take up to two years to re-establish a  correct balance between the species.

Today we are recognizing the effects of a tipped balance on our health. Unfortunately, consequences linked to the administration of antibiotics to babies are, for example, an increased risk of developing auto-immune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's, colitis), Type I diabetes, and allergies.

Unfortunately, there is as yet no alternatives to antibiotics that are as effective in delicate situations such as to ensure baby's survival.

Recently, some scientists have found a way to combat bacterial infections using a different mechanism of action. Although it will take years before we can see the alternatives being applied to clinical practice, I'm hopeful that the incidence of some of these diseases will decrease thanks to, once again, progress in our understanding as to how nature works.

Do you know children with allergies that you think may be linked to having been given antibiotics at birth?

Don't hesitate to share your stories in the comments below, I'd love to read them.

See you next Monday!

Is water birth bad for baby's microbiota?

Ever since I read my first book on microbiota, I've been wondering if a baby born in a water birth pool still gets his mummy's best microbial starter pack!

Previous articles here on MBAI have covered how important it is for babies to be colonized by mum's vaginal and rectal microbes on their way out of their cozy womb where they were virtually germ-free (although this is now debatable). This early bug population is indeed essential in immunity development as well as a digestive help. And knowing that a lot of research data shows the link between increased disease risk and C-section due to baby being colonized by skin rather than vaginal bugs, I started to wonder about water birth!

Water birth (photo borrowed from here)

So, what happens when babies are born in a 'wet' environment? Here are the natural questions one could ask oneself:

• How is the water treated? Does it kill or affect in any way mum's vaginal and rectal environments?
• How is the pool treated? If it's a mild treatment to avoid the above, is it strong anti-microbial to kill off previous mums' inhabitants (pathogenic or not)?
• When baby travels the birth canal, does he meet enough of mum's essential microbes to be colonized, or are they diluted?
• When baby is taken out of the pool, is he patted dry more vigorously, cleaning off his microbes?

I don't know the definite answers to these questions. I couldn't find any scientific articles on the outcome but I found that:
- In terms of anti-microbial treatment, off-gas chlorine is usually used and can then be eliminated by adding Vitamin C powder to the water. Filtered water is also used as well as ozonated water!
- Baby's vernix is also thick enough not to be affected by any treatment!
- We can imagine that as baby passes through the birth canal, he will have swallowed copious amount of microbes already and will be colonized as if he had been born on 'dry' grounds!

I could however find a couple of blog posts asking the same question but speculating that yes water birth does have a negative influence on baby's microbiota.
(Note: It was also suggested that water pool should be used during labour only to ease the pain but to give birth on 'dry' grounds so the issues raised above are not too much of a worry!)

Needless to say, following each of these articles (here and here) were comments of diverse opinions:

A gastroenterology-focused naturopath and nutrigenomic specialist 'wrote' that she herself analyzed the microbiota of many infants and that there was no difference between babies born on 'dry' land and babies born in water pool. Many midwives also refuted the claim.

Have you given birth to your child in a water pool? Or at home?

If you'd like to share your thoughts or stories, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment, I'd love to read them.

See you next Monday!

Introducing our remarkable best friends

Welcome to My Bugs And I, I'm very excited to finally unveil this new blog focused on our friendly micro-organisms that live and work with us.

Our fantastic giveaway is not over yet, you still have until Monday 18th to enter it for a chance to win a  beautiful and sleek Kindle Fire.

I would like to introduce to you our very best friends, the ones that help us stay safe and sane: our friendly bacteria, our collection of body micro-organisms: our microbiota.

We all know that we have friendly bacteria that populate certain regions of our body, but did you know there are ten times more microbial cells than there are human cells?

We may have thought so far that we were the clever ones, the ones dictating the rules, but more and more research reveals that the real brains governing our being may not be in our cranium but populating our gut instead.

It's time we treat ourselves and our inhabitants with respect - Do you want to tweet this?

If you have kids, you are probably familiar with Julia Donaldson. She taught us a lesson in her famous 'Room on the broom': we are stronger together! In this blog, I will share the latest news on our fantastic companions and everything they do for us.

Happy and healthy, our holy grail?

As we are quickly learning, our creepy crawlies can do wonders for us but only if we treat them well. We are only understanding now what we can do to help them to preserve us and make us happy and healthy.

With the so-called 20th century diseases worrying us endlessly (obesity, type 2 diabetes, autism, eczema, asthma,...) and their direct link with microbiota imbalance, it's about time we treat ourselves and our inhabitants with respect.

So, what if the answer was in our gut? Stay tuned today, I will be publishing more articles throughout the day to celebrate My Bugs And I (MBAI) launch.

Would you like me to cover a specific topic related to a disease and its possible link to our friendly bacteria? Do you believe our gut may have the answers to health questions? 

Let me know your thoughts in the comment box, I'd love to read them. 

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