Notebook


Here’s looking for the good bacteria By Mary Wilson


I


t is not just plants that benefit from good bacteria in soil. The human digestive system could not operate


without these tiny life forms. Good health relies on a balanced inter-


nal system. If you were brought up in a “germ-a-phobic” household, chances are the flora balance in your gut is out of whack, causing you a host of prob- lems, many of them to do with your auto immune system. Some of the symptoms of this imbal-


ance include fatigue, “spaciness” and mental fogginess, confusion and irritabil- ity, memory loss, depression, dizziness, headache, mood swings, nausea, and burning, numbing and tingling sensa- tions. You may also suffer from eczema,


bowel diseases, bladder infections, food and skin allergies and a host of other auto immune syndromes and conditions, especially inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Currently, many health practitioners


are recommending a diet that encour- ages the population of probiotic or good bacteria and discourages the growth of bad bacteria, yeasts and fungi. A 2009 European study reported, “Our results support the hypothesis that probiotics promote gut health through stimulation, rather than suppression, of


the innate


immune system. . . The best stimulants were lactobacillus strains obtained from fermented food in Africa followed by Lactobacillus plantarum.” Lactobacillus strains are found in


fermented foods such as yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, pickles, beer, wine,


cider,


cocoa and so on. Other probiotics include a long list of bifidobacteria (also found in fermented foods), plus


some


yeast, enzymes and others. To give you an idea of how important


our symbiotic relationship with these microbes is, consider that our intes- tines contain about 100 trillion bacte- ria or about ten times the number of cells needed to make up in the human body. Collectively, these bacteria weigh about three pounds. These microorgan- isms perform a host of useful activities, producing


generating hormones and


vitamins such as biotin and vitamin K and “training” your immune system. Every individual hosts between 300


www.localgardener.net YELLOW DOOR BISTRO | RAW BAR BY DUNCAN LY | HOTELARTS.CA Summer 2014 • 5


also sterile beings in uterine, picking up our initial population of bacteria from our mothers’ the birth canal. We acquire additional populations through breast milk, helping to trigger our immune system. Traditionally, people with a


family


and 1,000 different species of gut micro- biota,


including bacteria, yeasts, fungi


and viruses, among other microorgan- isms, but the average number of species is about 500. A certain number of species are shared by all humans, a fact that was discovered as part of the Human Microbi- ome Project undertaken by the National Institute of Health in the United States. This is a five year project to determine how the human microbiome is associated with human health. While you and I may have vastly different populations in our systems, the animals in our own little microbe farm generally remain fairly consistent over time, although variations can occur with age and with changes in our diets and lifestyles. The profile of your personal bio-farm


will depend to a large degree on your diet: vegetarians and protein eaters will have very different populations. We are


history of peanut allergies have been told to avoid peanuts during pregnancy; now, this theory is being reversed as more is being understood about how the immune system is “trained” or triggered by early exposure to certain antigens. The study of probiotics is still in its


infancy but they have been used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disor- der (ADHD). Probiotics are also being used to treat Crohn’s disease and ulcer- ative colitis. A 2013 study found that women fed a diet of probiotic yogurt for two months had a positive change in brain function. We have also recently learned that exposure to the earth results in


the inhalation of Mycobacterium


vaccae, a natural soil bacterium that stim- ulate serotonin production in the gut. Serotonin helps you feel good, relieves anxiety and affects learning ability. There’s an old saying that you have to


eat a peck of dirt before you die. There may be more to this than we thought.


bold strokes CALGARY’S DESIGNER BOUTIQUE-STYLE HOTEL


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40