microbiome

We are more microbes than we are human. Human body is made from about 30 trillion cells, but there are about 100 trillion microbes including: fungi, protozoa, bacteria, viruses, and archaea.

Humans can encounter its infection from contaminated food and water, uncooked meat, contact with faeces contaminated with bacterium and not washing hands before eating. Symptoms associated with infection: diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps. It produces distending cytolethal toxin (CDT). CDT comprises of three protein subunits, Cdt-B, Cdt-A, Cdt-C. Subunit Cdt-A and Cdt-C are supporting unit for active unit Cdt-B and bind to cellular membrane receptor. 

Body protects itself and makes antibodies against CDT. In some case (one in nine; 11%) body starts to produce antibodies against its own protein, Vinculin.     Vinculin is structurally very similar to CDT and body makes a mistake of substitution. Vinculin is part of intestinal wall and one of its functions is to regulate intestinal motility. 

Consequently, migrating motility complex (MMC) starts not to function properly and person (one in nine) will develop small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).


We as humans have about 25,000 genes, but our little friends have all up 9 million genes, and YES inside of us!

  • There are good bugs, I like to call them friendly buddies, which work for us, making postbiotics. You can think of it as a waste product of microbial metabolism, which has health benefits to its host. Vitamin B groups, vitamin K, amino acids, polyamides, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). All of those are examples of postbiotics.

  • Then there are pathobionts. Those guys behave good in small amounts, but if they are overgrown, they act bad. In this group it is: Bacteriodes species, Archea namely Methanobrevibacter smithii and proteobacteria. Proteobacteria and Bactericides are both gram-negative bacteria which contain LPS in their wall structure. If someone’s intestinal wall structure is damaged, LPS can pass through into a circulation and cause so called endotoxemia. LPS of proteobacteria is more damaging to the body, than LPS from Bacteriodes spp, research support that.

Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella; all gram-negative bacteria:

  • The last group of microbes are pathogens. Pathogens produce toxins, hurting our intestinal lining. Example is: 


Spore forming gram-positive bacillus producing toxin A and B. C difficile is part of healthy microbiome, and its amount is very low. Overuse of antibiotics, mainly after surgery in elderly population, can cause C. difficile to overgrow and then it is causing life threatening post-antibiotic diarrhoea. Very effective treatment for damaged microbiome to treat C. difficile symptoms is faecal transplant.

BOTTOM LINE IS…

We need to feed the good guys to keep the bad guys away.

Restricting our food intake of prebiotic rich food for too long will eventually lead to the extinction of the healthy microbiome. The right way to keep yourself from IBS symptoms is this: eliminate offensive food for up to 6 weeks, introduce herbal antimicrobial if needed and slowly institute prebiotic rich food to shift the balance of your microbiome to a healthy state. 

FACTS

Did you know that BUTYRATE produced by our friendly buddies heals you damaged gut lining, so called… leaky gut, and if butyrate is produced in a large amount it starts to heal the rest of our body?

Our whole digestive tract, starting from the mouth to anus is outside of our body. Only singular intestinal enterocyte (IECs) lining separates us from the outside. Disfunction of the IECs can lead to diseases like ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and leaky gut.

MMC keeps your small intestine clean from harmful bacteria, and keeps bloating, distention, cramps of your small bowel at bay. If your gastrointestinal issues are caused by food poisoning, after you managed clear up your symptoms, usually with help of natural medicine practitioner, you also need to restore MMC to its proper function. Not doing so will cause symptoms relapse, unfortunately.

There is still so much unknown in the field of human microbiome, we are just scratching a surface, so much research needs to be done here! What we know now is, that every person is different, and everybody has a different nutritional need to support their health!

What are my belifes: eat seasonally, look at the diet of your ancestors, tune in with your body and discover what diet gives you energy and strength and which food leaves you energy deprived and sluggish.

It might be just a digestive insufficiency which needs to be addressed or pathogen which needs to be removed. If you are not feeling well and need a bit of help, I am here to help you to feel HEALTHY AND HAPPY again.

Costridium difficile: