Those Little Guys Are Everywhere

If you research the question: How many cells does the human body contain, you’ll find a good number of answers. They are, of course, simply estimates. I’ve heard 5 billion, 100 billion, 200 billion.

A reader sent me a great article published in National Geographic. It was written by Carl Zimmer, a distinguished science writer. In the article, he tells of group of scientists who, wanting to come up with a definitive number, decided to scour all of scientific literate that even leaned toward making some kind of count: counts of organ cells, bone cells, and other tissues. They found quite a bit of research on the subject, including a report in which someone had estimated there were 2 billion cells alone in our heart’s muscle.

The number they finally arrived at, still just an estimate, is 37.2 trillion cells. [How Many Cells Are In Your Body?]

Now that’s big. And considering that each cell has a huge number of processes going on inside it at any given time, there are more things going on in your body right now than there are stars in the universe.

I’ve pointed this out previously, so that couldn’t possibly be the reason for this paper. The reason for this paper is:

THERE ARE AT LEAST TEN TIMES THAT NUMBER OF BACTERIA LIVING INSIDE OUR BODIES.

Cool, eh?

Bacteria have had a bad rap over the years. Once they’d been discovered, suddenly they were responsible for every disease and scourge to befall the human animal, when, all along, they’d been living peacefully, for the most part, with us for millions of years.

A team of researchers at NYU discovered 182 different species of bacteria living in the skin alone, 8 of which were unknown. [Human Skin Harbors Completely Unknown Bacteria] The lead researcher, Dr Martin J Blaser now estimates that there could be 500 different species living in our skin.

Research into the variety and extent of bacteria living in our bodies has challenged medicine to look at disease in a different light. Previously, a specific microbe was responsible for a specific disease, whereas as a result of these studies, researchers are currently examining the “shifts” in microbial population, and comparing them between healthy and diseased subjects.

Suddenly “disease” takes on complexities never before considered. Even more stupendous is that the concept of disease has undergone the greatest change in just over one hundred years. [Humans Have Ten Times More Bacteria Than Human Cells: How Do Microbial Communities Affect Human Health?]

However, don’t expect to see any headlines soon. Not only is the research still in its infancy, the rulers of the kingdom of medicine (pharmaceuticals) don’t have anything to sell us … yet.

One conclusion we can come to is that, for the most part, we’re living in a huge, balanced, symbiotic relationship with bacteria, and it is this balanced relationship that keeps us healthy. When one group’s numbers begin to expand while others begin to shrink, then scales start to tip toward the side of illness.

This is often the case with our gut bacteria. Women often report that after taking antibiotics, they acquire yeast infections. Your author has personally come down with an eye infection following a round of antibiotics.

And get this: antibiotics given to livestock cause them to gain weight.

Perhaps this is just one more reason to re-examine our use of antibiotics, for if we are re-examining our take on the cause of illness, it makes sense to re-examine our cures.

Digestion

Of all the processes in the body, digestion is the largest. It uses up the most energy and the most resources, and when it comes to energy and resources, we have a limited amount. Energy going into digestion doesn’t go into your immune system.

This is one reason people fast when ill. We cut the energy to digestion so it can be used by the other systems to fight off an illness.

If you’ve ever owned a dog, you might know that the first symptom of the dog being ill is a loss of appetite. Animals know instinctively to stop eating when ill.

The role of bacteria in the digestive system is often overlooked. We know that probiotics take a beating from antibiotics. We know that livestock gain weight on antibiotics. And now there is research to show why.

Weight Loss

At the Washington University School of Medicine, they discovered something absolutely flabbergasting.

Knowing from previous studies that the digestive systems of obese people harbor less diverse microbes, a tiny study was designed to learn even more about gut bacteria and weight control.

Two groups of young mice were used in an experiment. Both groups had been raised germ-free.

A researcher took gut bacteria from obese (human) individuals and transplanted the microbes into the intestines of one group, and then took gut bacteria from lean twins (humans, again) and transplanted that into the intestines of the other group.

The mice with the transplanted bacteria from the guts of the obese person began gaining weight (along with symptoms of other unhealthy metabolic changes) even though they did not eat more food than the other set of mice with the microbes from the lean twins.

Next, all the mice were then put together into the same cages. Mice are filthy creatures that poop anywhere and then wallow around in it. The researchers knew they’d be exchanging germs. Eventually bacteria from the lean mice invaded the intestines of the fat mice and vice versa.

Now get this: The fatter mice’s metabolism improved, while the thin mice weren’t affected. And the fatter mice also did even better if they were given a high fiber diet with a bit less fat. [Study: The right bacteria might help fight obesity]

The obvious conclusion is we must keep our gut bacteria diverse and healthy.

It's been theorized for some time that probiotics have a beneficial effect on weight loss. One Japanese study concluded that: "The probiotic LG2055 [Lactobacillus gasseri] showed lowering effects on abdominal adiposity, body weight and other measures, suggesting its beneficial influence on metabolic disorders."

Another study, this one out of Canada, showed that Lactobacillus rhamnosus administered over 24 weeks in both obese men and women showed very significant results, but only in the women (over the women in the control group). Men didn't fare better, but in women, the results were quite remarkable in helping hem to "achieve sustainable weight loss."

A French study published in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that probiotics [Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum], in both rats and humans, decreased stress-induced gastrointestinal discomfort, and overall levels of stress and anxiety. What does this have to do with weight loss? It lowered the stress hormone cortisol, which is responsible for stubborn belly fat. 

Incidentally, the only probiotic reviewed by Consumer Lab to have all of the above mentioned probiotics (except Lactobacillus helveticus) is made by Swanson's: Ultimate Probiotic Formula. And the price is, as always, very reasonable.

Replenishing and Feeding Our Gut’s Bacteria

You can always take a probiotic supplement. Simply the Best used to carry iFlora products (but the company was bought out, lots of changes, and suddenly nobody was ordering), so now we have an affiliate program with BioTrust. Their flora product, Pro-X10™ is one of the best we’ve seen (along with their digestive enzymes), though they have not been tested by Consumer Lab. Just remember that if you buy from them, they will fill up your inbox and try to sell you every diet program ever created.

Another method is good old yogurt.

Another is from salt free fermented foods such as kimchee . Kimchee was actually used in the Orient to fight off bird flu.

And surprisingly, there are recent studies that show that red wine also promotes the growth of good bacteria. (Published in the American Journal of Nutrition).

So, to sum it all up: We have ten times more bacteria than cells in our bodies that live symbiotically with us. That balance can get out of whack and our health falls apart, resulting in illness, weight gain, or both.

There is much more research to do in this area, but for now, if we can care for our gut’s bacteria, we will be on the safe side of health and wellness.