Advances in Probiotics

Prevention of heart attacks? Is there a role for synbiotic products? It has been known for some time that heart attacks are the result of a complex cascade of events, starting with the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque on the walls of the arteries and finishing with a rupture of the plaque with subsequent bleeding and the formation of a clot which occludes (blocks) the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle itself. Some time ago it was realised that bacteria with the ability to invade and parasitise human cells play a key role in the aetiology of heart attacks. The main suspect was Chlamydia pneumoniae. In an article published in Microbiology Australia, August 2005, Pauline Ford et al repeated the observation that there is an association between gum disease and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Ford et al reported that Porphyromonas gingivalis (a cause of inflamed gums) was found in 100% of the atherosclerotic lesions of 25 patients. They also found that infections by multiple bacteria were more common that those by single cultures, which reinforces the suggestion by Epstein SE (Circ. Res. 2002;90:2-4) that an aggregate pathogen burden plays a major role in the progression towards heart attack.
The fact that the immune system is winding down as we age suggests that it is beginning to lose the battle against ongoing ingress of pathogens from a variety of sources. C. pneumoniae gets in via the lungs, Helicobacter pylori via the stomach perhaps and others via a leaky intestine. Given that L. acidophilus LAFTI strain L10 has been demonstrated to be able to powerfully stimulate the immune system, perhaps there is a role for it in the prevention of heart disease?

Researchers at the University of Newcastle, NSW showed that L. acidophilus LAFTI strain L10 is a powerful stimulator of the immune system. In a strain of mice which have been bred to sneeze in the presence of inhalant allergens, L10 was found to switch off their sneezing. It appears that the L10 is displacing undesirable bacteria from the Peyer’s patches and down-regulating the production of interleukin 4. At the same time, because the two processes are interlinked, it presumably up-regulates the production of gamma interferon which increases resistance to infection.

A number of years ago I contracted Giardia and had explosive diarrhoea for months. I then found that I could control it with large doses of Lactobacillus acidophilus LAFTI strain L10 and Bifidobacterium lactis LAFTI strain B94. After some months of doing this I decided to seek an official diagnosis and cure. Microscopy showed only one Giardia cell on one field of the slide and then only on the second sample, so numbers of Giardia were at least kept down. The “cure” was a course of Flagyl which left me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome IBS-D (the diarrhoea form). At least it wasn’t explosive any more. I then combined the two cultures with Hi-maize resistant starch and Raftiline (inulin/Fructo-oligosaccharide). This combination had been shown (at CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition in Adelaide) to boost the numbers of probiotic cells by almost 50-fold and meant that an effect control was able to be produced cost-effectively. Two days after commencing the use of this combination, my IBS was under control and has been ever since.

There have been many probiotic products on the market for some years now, and although the principal of using probiotic cultures to "balance" or "re-balance" intestinal microflora is based on sound theories, most products have fallen dismally short of providing sufferers of severe intestinal disorders any real relief. The reasons for this are manifold. One is the strains of culture used. Dr. James Chin, at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute near Camden NSW, has tested more than one hundred different strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus and found that half of them actually stimulated pathogens instead of suppressing them as they are supposed to. In the words of that old Castrol advert "oils ain't oils". LAFTI strain L10 was carefully screened by researchers from CSIRO and The University of NSW to ensure that it (and Bifidobacterium lactis LAFTI strain B94 - both produced by DSM) were effective in this regard.

In a paper called "LEAKY GUT SYNDROMES: BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE"
LEO GALLAND, M.D. says "Leaky Gut Syndromes are clinical disorders associated with increased intestinal permeability. They include inflammatory and infectious bowel diseases [14-19], chronic inflammatory arthritides [9, 20-24], cryptogenic skin conditions like acne, psoriasis and dermatitis herpetiformis [25-28], many diseases triggered by food allergy or specific food intolerance, including eczema, urticaria, and irritable bowel syndrome [29-37], AIDS [38-40], chronic fatigue syndromes [Rigden, Cheney, Lapp, Galland, unpublished results], chronic hepatitis [41], chronic pancreatitis [4, 5], cystic fibrosis [42] and pancreatic carcinoma. ......Compromised intestinal barrier function can also cause disease directly, by immunological mechanisms.[6-9] Increased permeability stimulates classic hypersensitivity responses to foods and to components of the normal gut flora......Most of the damage resulting from bacterial overgrowth is caused by bacterial enzyme activity. Bacterial mucinase destroys the protective mucus coat; proteinases degrade pancreatic and brush border enzymes and attack structural proteins.....The relationship between food sensitivities and the leaky gut is complex and circular. Children and adults with eczema, urticaria or asthma triggered by atopic food allergy have baseline permeability measurements that are higher than control levels [57-59]. Following exposure to allergenic foods, permeability sharply increases. Most of this increase can be averted by pre-treatment with sodium cromoglycate [32, 34, 57-59], indicating that release from mast cells of atopic mediators like histamine and serotonin is responsible for the increase in permeability. It appears that an increase in intestinal permeability is important in the pathogenesis of food allergy and is also a result of food allergy."
Read more at http://www.mdheal.org/leakygut.htm.

From a paper entitled "Bacterial translocation: Impact of probiotics"
{Authors: Bengt Jeppsson1; Peter Mangell1; Diya Adawi1; Göran Molin1
Source: Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition, Volume 48, Number 1, March 2004, pp. 37-41(5)}, comes the following quote...

"Disruption of the balance of intestinal bacterial microflora may increase the incidence of bacterial translocation by modifying intestinal barrier function. Bacterial species such as enteric Gram-negatives and Gram-positive cocci are more prone to translocation, whereas lactobacilli seem to have a protective effect. Administration of live lactobacilli either orally or by enema will reduce translocation. For more information go to
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tandf/ssnu/2004/00000048/00000001/art00008

Researchers at Flinders University in South Australia headed by Dr. Richard Le Leu found that Lactobacillus acidophilus LAFTI strain L10, Bifdobacterium lactis LAFTI strain B94, in combination with Hi-maize resistant starch and Fructo-oligosaccharide actually increased the death rate of cancer cells in the colon of the rat. The experiment was reported in a paper entitled "A Synbiotic Combination of Resistant Starch and Bifidobacterium lactis Facilitates Apoptotic Deletion of Carcinogen-damaged Cells in Rat Colon" the revision of which was accepted by the Journal called "American Society for Nutritional Sciences" in February 2005.

The bacteria of the intestine are many and varied in their properties. There sheer numbers in the colon, in particular, means that the bowel produces more enzymes and other compounds than the liver and can thus have a major impact on health. It is generally accepted that, ideally, the healthy GIT should contain only bacteria, though other organisms can be present. Although it is an over-simplification to catagorise bacteria as either "good" or "bad", it is difficult to avoid those descriptors. More correctly, the "goodness" or otherwise relates to the nett effect of the combination of all the micro-organisms present. However, it is true to say that most disorders of the intestine are caused by the microflora resident therein.
Medical conditions involving the microflora of Gastro-intestinal Tract may be divided into several groups:

• Firstly there are those where there is a preponderance of bacteria, protozoans or even, in some cases, yeasts with undesirable properties. These result in conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) diarrhoea and constipation (all of which are centred on the colon), gastric reflux and bloating (which are more centred on the small intestine) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which may well relate to "imbalances" in either area and also to post-viral conditions. One research paper reported the presence of 200 times the normal level of Clostridia and E. coli in the colons of individuals with constipation. It seems that the production of neurotoxins, by these bacteria, paralyses the rythmic contractions (peristalsis) of the colon.
  
• A second group of conditions involves the auto-immune diseases and food sensitivities, both of which seem to be associated with the presence, in the small intestine, of bacteria that have the ability to open up "pores" or junctions in the intestinal wall, thereby permitting the translocation of both bacteria and large food molecules across into blood and lymph. This provokes an immediate response from the immune system which makes antibodies to the various bacterial components or food molecules in an attempt to throw off the invasion. In individuals who are genetically predisposed to a particular auto-immune disease, these antibodies then "recognise" similar structures in the body and attack those too. For example, it is known that the antibodies that attack human DNA in Systemic Lupus also cross-react with a piece of DNA (the lac 7 gene) of E. coli, suggesting that the latter is the trigger for the disease. In fact lupus sufferers (and those with rheumatoid arthritis) have been shown to have an overgrowth of E. coli from the colon, up into the small intestine.
  
• Another group of disorders is the asthma/hay fever/eczema group. In the small intestine there are myriad receptors called Peyer's patches and these are receptors that are connected into the immune system. Adhesion of the "wrong" bacteria to these receptors switches the immune system towards a more allergic response and reduces our resistance to infection. It is interesting that antibiotics increase the propensity for people to become allergic, presumably by killing off "good" bacteria and replacing them with bacteria that induce an increase in the production of compounds such as interleukin 4 which increase the allergic reaction. New research by U-M Medical School scientists Gary B. Huffnagle, Ph.D., and Mairi C. Noverr (Ph.D. 2002) suggests there’s a direct connection between microbial changes in the GI tract, caused by antibiotics, and how the immune system responds to common allergens in the lungs.
  “We all have a unique microbial fingerprint — a specific mix of bacteria and fungi living in our stomach and intestines,” says Huffnagle, an associate professor of internal medicine and of microbiology and immunology. “Antibiotics knock out bacteria in the gut, allowing fungi to increase temporarily until the bacteria grow back after the antibiotics are stopped. Our research indicates that these alterations in intestinal microflora can lead to changes in the entire immune system.” Read more at http://www.medicineatmichigan.org/magazine/2004/fall/huron/huron01.asp

• Cancer of the GIT can be caused by coliform bacteria converting bile into carcinogens. People who are chronically constipated increase their chances of getting bowel cancer because of increased contact time.

Welcome! This blog will bring you all the latest info from the world of probiotics!

The mammalian intestine is home to a bewildering variety of bacteria and often to some unwanted protozoan parasites too. Given that there are approximately 10 trillion human cells and 90 trillion bacterial cells in us we could be regarded as walking fermenters that have been manipulated by other lifeforms to meet their own needs for food and shelter. There are perhaps as many as 1000 different species of bacteria in our Gastro-intestinal Tract (GIT) weighing as much as 1.5 kg. About 70% of these bacteria have never been grown in laboratory media and have not been identified. Advances in DNA fingerprinting are giving us some insight into what is going on inside us but there is a tremendous amount of variation from individual to individual. This means that treating people with bowel problems can sometimes be problematic. Research has shown that if you take a group of say 10 people, they may all share only one organism in common. Everyone's profile of bacteria is unique and tends to stay with us for our entire life. Our microflora, aided and abetted by our immune system tend to reject invaders and the whole system resists purterbation. That is unless we take antibiotics, which have the capacity to eliminate whole groups of bacteria from our GIT. The result can be an imbalance that can result in an overgrowth situation, not only in the colon, where most of the bacteria live, but in the small intestine also. These overgrowths have been shown to play an integral role in the etiology of autoimmune diseases and food sensitivities. More of which later.