Hm. >Your gut acts as a huge immune >organ, your first line of defense against infection, so you need an ample >supply of probiotics - beneficial bacteria that live in the >intestinal tract and >help guard it.
As they naturally do, until it all gets upset. Aristotle said "worms are the intestines of the earth", but I think the living soil itself is an intestine, the worms are just a part of it. The soil's just the same as an intestine, only sort of inside-out (or maybe intestines are outside-in). It has the same beneficial microorganisms as a healthy gut, and the same solution when the healthy balance is upset and the pathogens take over: feeding sick soil well-made thermophilic compost is much the same as feeding probiotics to an ailing gut - but then you have to stop feeding it junk-food too (for the soil read chemicals). Healthy food is grown in healthy soil, and if that's what you eat you shouldn't need probiotics, and you shouldn't need vitamin and mineral supplements either. But we live in a toxic soup these days, we probably need all the help we can get, and probiotics, vitamins and mineral supplements definitely have their uses. Anyway, I think your gut isn't only the first line of defence, it's also the first line of attack. It's not really part of the immune system, essentially it's outside the body - it's a big hole that goes right through you, without the immune system's protection that your organs and internal systems get. The whole lining of the alimentary canal is a sort of inner skin. Medically the whole thing is a huge vulnerability. The gut contains something like 2 oz of bacteria, busily digesting your food for you, and indeed providing your body with the building blocks a healthy immune system needs, but the bacteria aren't an integral part of the body's immune system. Nor is your outer skin ever faced with such a massive bacterial overload to contend with, along with a daily supply of decomposing food. All goes well nonetheless, just as long as you're living right and eating real food, which will greatly strengthen your resistance to the environmental toxic overload as well as to pathogens and disease. >The body's defenses are centered in the digestive tract where immune cells >and probiotic bacteria team up to resist infection. Whenever we are >exposed to >harmful bacteria, yeast or parasites, our immune cells in the digestive >tract can shield us. Probiotics aid this process by boosting the >effectiveness >and activity of these immune warriors. There are immune cells in the digestive tract? What sort of immune cells? We're constantly exposed to harmful bacteria, yeast and parasites, pathogens are a normal component of a healthy gut microflora, and many of them are ubiquitous in the environment anyway. The "kill the pathogens" attitude just isn't the right approach, IMHO (and trying to kill pathogenic yeast might not be such a good idea, Herxheimer's resulting revenge is something to be feared). That's what antibiotics do, probiotics aren't just "safe" antibiotics (ie pesticides), they don't just kill stuff, they help to restore a healthy balance, which includes the pathogens. Best Keith >Probiotics & Immunity: A Beautiful Partnership >by Dr. Brenda Watson, ND* >March 3, 2009 >_http://www.prohealth.com/ME-CFS/library/showArticle.cfm?libid=14361&B1=EM0311 >09C_ >(http://www.prohealth.com/ME-CFS/library/showArticle.cfm?libid=14361&B1=EM031109C) > > >**When you keep the gut well supplied with probiotics, you make an >invaluable contribution to your present and future health.** > >If you want to stay well, you need a strong immune system to protect you >against disease and keep you from getting sick. Your gut acts as a >huge immune >organ, your first line of defense against infection, so you need an ample >supply of probiotics - beneficial bacteria that live in the >intestinal tract and >help guard it. > >Your immune cells depend on their partnership with probiotics to help them >shield the body from harm. > >Billions of Immune Helpers > >While your body consists of about ten trillion cells, the bacteria that live >within us add up to close to a hundred trillion cells. The vast majority of >these bacteria live in the digestive tract. Accompanying them are most of >your immune receptors, which patrol the digestive tract, destroying invaders >that could make you ill. > >Along with probiotics and immune cells, the mucous membrane lining in the >digestive tract protects the body from invaders. When bacteria or other >microbes contact this wall, immune cells determine whether it is a desirable >probiotic - or an undesirable intruder. > >-- If accredited as friendly, the immune cells leave them alone. In fact, >friendly bacteria even get fed - your sticky mucous membranes incorporate >sugars that probiotics use for nutrition. > >-- But if the bacteria or microbes are seen as potential sources of trouble, >the mucous ensnares them, and passes them through the intestines where they >are eventually excreted. > >Barrier Defense > >Research on probiotics demonstrates that they have multiple functions that >help mucous membranes and immune cells protect against infection. > >For example, a study in France found that strains of Bifidobacterium: > >-- Helped decrease harmful bacteria, > >-- Kept them from invading cells > >-- And killed off some types of Salmonella, a bacteria that frequently >causes food poisoning (Gut, Nov 2000; pp 646-652). > >In Germany, when scientists gave a group of people a probiotic supplement >for three months, they found that they suffered colds that were, on >average, 2 >days shorter than those caught by other folks (Clinical Nutrition, Aug 2005, >pp 481-491). These researchers found that after only two weeks of >supplements, the probiotics helped activate defense cells in the >immune system. > >Wiping Out Infection > >Probiotics can help immune systems fend off invaders, but new research >[also] shows their potential in keeping wounds free from infection. >Applied to >wounds infected with Staphylococcus aureus, probiotics seem to keep >the bacteria >from binding to the human cells. > >More studies are necessary, but current results show how probiotics may be >used against antibiotic-resistant infections. [See for example _a recent >Swedish study involving Clostridium difficile incidence in ICU patients_ >(http://www.prohealth.com//library/showarticle.cfm?libid=14084) .] > > >Probiotics Deficitis > >Because the immune system depends so heavily on the help of its probiotic >partners, anything that threatens these helpful little friends also threatens >our health. > >Changes in the American diet and lifestyle during the past few decades have >not made life easy for beneficial bacteria, and may be one important reason >our health overall has suffered. > >As Gary B. Huffnagle, PhD, points out in _The Probiotics Revolution_ >(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553804928?ie=UTF8&tag=prohealth-20&linkCode=as2&cam >p=1789) (Bantam): > >**During the past forty or fifty years, Americans have inadvertently >performed a massive experiment by making two significant lifestyle >modifications: > >-- Greatly increasing our use of antibiotics > >-- And substantially changing our diet. > >Together these changes have produced an invisible epidemic of insufficient >probiotics.*** * > >Fifty years ago, Americans used to eat plenty of whole grains with fresh >fruits and vegetables. But our more recent reliance on processed foods, which >contain little of the fiber that probiotics need to feed on, has favored the >growth of yeast and harmful bacteria, and gradually starved out many of our >beneficial organisms. > >Meanwhile, our use of antibiotics has also wiped out much of the probiotic >bacteria in the gut. > >Promoting Immunity > >The beneficial probiotic bacteria in our digestive system have several >crucial functions that help prevent pathogenic microbes from making us sick. > >-- Probiotics take food from pathogens. By consuming nutrients available in >the gut, probiotics deprive disease-causing organisms the fuel they may use >for reproduction. A fiber-rich diet helps those probiotics thrive. > >-- Probiotics occupy prime real estate. By attaching to cells in the walls >of the digestive tract, probiotics deny pathogens access to important >gastrointestinal property. Deprived of a place to live, they are >more easily passed >through the digestive tract for excretion. > >-- Probiotics make their own antibiotics. Probiotics can make natural >substances that hinder the spread of disease-causing organisms. >Plus, probiotic >byproducts can make the digestive tract more acidic, which disrupts >pathogenic >reproduction. > >Fermentation Benefits > >In the colon, probiotic bacteria make important fatty acids from the cell >walls of fruits and vegetables. Vadivel Ganapathy, a professor at the Medical >College of Georgia, believes that eating dietary fiber provides >necessary food >for the bacteria to survive. > >Research shows the fatty acids made by probiotics help keep immune cells >vigilant. If the probiotics decline, so does the supply of the >fatty acids, and >possibly your overall health. > >The body*s defenses are centered in the digestive tract where immune cells >and probiotic bacteria team up to resist infection. Whenever we are >exposed to >harmful bacteria, yeast or parasites, our immune cells in the digestive >tract can shield us. Probiotics aid this process by boosting the >effectiveness >and activity of these immune warriors. > >That*s why, when you keep the gut well supplied with probiotics, you make an >invaluable contribution to your present and future health. >____ > >* Dr. Brenda Watson is a much-published world authority on nutrition and >healthy digestive function. The founder of Renew Life, Inc., she is a >Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and Certified Nutritional Consultant (CNC). >The information >presented here is reproduced with kind permission of the author from the >February 2008 issue of Dr. Watson's free e-newsletter, Healthy Living. > >* * See also ** Probiotics - Our Silent Partners for Good Health ** >_http://www.prohealth.com//library/showArticle.cfm?libid=13107_ >(http://www.prohealth.com//library/showArticle.cfm?libid=13107 ) >an excerpt from Dr. Huffnagle*s book. > >Note: This information has not been evaluated by the FDA. It is generic and >is not intended to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any illness, condition or >disease. It is very important that you make no change in your healthcare >plan or health support regimen without researching and discussing it in >collaboration with your professional healthcare team. _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
