New Study Links Heavy Cannabis Use to Lung Disease
A new study from New Zealand shows that heavy cannabis smoking can cause a lung disease called “Bong Lung”. Research from thousands of different people shows that heavy cannabis smokers can experience bronchitis and irreversible lung damage. Research also showed that if a cannabis user quits smoking, bronchitis can improve, but oftentimes the destruction of lung tissue remains.
Photo by Esteban Lopez on Unsplash
The bronchitis that people get, the really nasty bronchitis, does tend to improve if you stop (smoking cannabis). But as lung doctors, what we sometimes see in people who don’t stop smoking cannabis is lots of destruction of the lung tissue, and that is irreversible.
The abstract of the study does point out that there is a difference between the lung conditions of cannabis smokers versus the lungs of tobacco smokers. An author of the study also mentions that smoking cannabis and tobacco would not be advised as those who smoke both are like to “get the worst of both substances”.
Did You Know Your Nose Has Its Own Microbiome
Science has recently found out that your nose is home to many microorganisms, like your gut, like your brain, just like your entire body.
If you breathe through your nose, your nasal cavities are the first line of defense against airborne pathogens. As you breathe in air the molecules swirl around your nasal cavities before going into the lungs. Hairs filter out dust, pollen, spores, viruses, and bacteria. The microbiome of your nasal cavities can protect you from pathogens just like it does throughout your body.
The inspiration for this new study came from the mother of one of the researchers, who was having problems with headaches and chronic rhinosinusitis – a condition that causes pain and swelling in the sinuses and nasal cavity.
“My mother had tried many different treatments, but none worked,” says microbiologist Sarah Lebeer, from the University of Antwerp in Belgium. “I was thinking it’s a pity that I could not advise her some good bacteria or probiotics for the nose. No one had ever really studied it.”
Lebeer and her team analysed nose bacteria from 100 healthy volunteers and 225 people with chronic rhinosinusitis, characterising 30 different families of bacteria in all. One family in particular stood out: lactobacilli.
These bacteria were more abundant in the healthy group of study participants – up to 10 times more abundant in some cases. One particular strain of Lacticaseibacillus identified appeared to have adapted for nasal life, having evolved unique genes to manage the high oxygen levels in the cavity, and using thin tubes called fimbriae to help cling on.
A healthy gut microbiome will eventually result in the entire body having a healthy microbiome. The only way to create and sustain a healthy microbiome is to feed it right. Your microbiome is the most important part of your immune system. For more, check out How To Heal Your Gut.
Collagen Supplements Test Positive for Heavy Metals
The Organic Consumers Association and the Clean Label project recently tested 28 top-selling collagen supplement brands sold through Amazon. The results from testing show that 64% of supplements tested positive for measurable levels of arsenic, 37% tested positive for measurable levels of lead, 34% tested positive for trace levels of mercury, and 17% tested positive for measurable levels of cadmium.
Consumers should be concerned if they are regularly taking collagen supplements, as heavy metals even in low levels can cause organ damage, and some heavy metals are known carcinogens.
Despite labeling claims such as “Pure,” “All-Natural” and “Cleanest Nutrition Possible,” and deceiving images of grazing cows, open pastures and cage-free chickens on packaging and websites, most collagen peptide supplements are derived from industrial factory farms—and many collagen products contain heavy metals.
Consumer Beware: These Popular Collagen Supplements Contain Heavy Metals
Many people begin taking collagen supplements as they get older because lower collagen levels can cause wrinkles stiff joints and other health problems associated with old age. Collagen is made ground up animal byproduct that is turned into gelatin and then broken down into smaller peptides to be more easily absorbed by the body. Animals raised on industrial factory farms frequently come into contact with heavy metals, oftentimes through their food and drinking water.
More specifically, how long do bacteria and viruses live on surfaces at home under normal interior temperatures? It’s complicated. Some microbes could survive on household surfaces like telephones, door handles, countertops, and stair railings for centuries if left undisturbed. But most don’t.
Humid homes are better hosts to most infectious microbes. Bacteria and viruses cannot live on surfaces with a humidity of less than 10 percent.
Bacteria called mesophiles, such as the tuberculosis-causing Mycobacterium tuberculosis, survive best at room temperature and are likely to thrive longer than cold-loving psychrophiles or heat-loving thermophiles. According to Tierno, at room temperature and normal humidity, Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacteria found in ground beef that causes food poisoning, can live for a few hours to a day. The calicivirus, the culprit of the stomach flu, lives for days or weeks, while HIV dies nearly instantly upon exposure to sunlight. Other microbes form exoskeleton-like spores as a defense mechanism, like the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, which is responsible for toxic shock syndrome, food poisoning, and wound infections. In this way, they can withstand temperature and humidity extremes. Tierno says this bacterial spore can survive for weeks on dry clothing using sloughed skin cells for food. The Bacillus anthracis, the anthrax bacteria, can also form spores and survive tens to hundreds of years.
Speaking of spores, some types of mold can grow on almost any surface in the home. Mold grows best when there is a lot of moisture, but there is no way to rid your home of all molds. Even if you could, mold spores are practically indestructible, though lower humidity will help keep spores from growing into mold.
Experts recommend home humidity be less than 60, but we recommend below 40 for a home that’s already moldy and potentially causing or exacerbating illness.
Candida albicans as the most important nosocomial fungal pathogen can survive up to 4 months on surfaces. Persistence of other yeasts, such as Torulopsis glabrata, was described to be similar (5 months) or shorter (Candida parapsilosis, 14 days).
Researchers are only beginning to understand how SARS-CoV-2 (the cause of COVID-19) survives on surfaces. Lab results don’t guarantee similar real-world results, but recent research shows the virus’s survival depends on what it lands on and the humidity in the room or on the surface. The live virus is said to be able to survive on various common surfaces from three hours to seven days.
Glass – 5 days
Wood – 4 days
Plastic & stainless-steel – 3 days
Cardboard – 24 hours
Copper surfaces – 4 hours
Paper and cardboard are very porous. The virus doesn’t like surfaces like that. It likes smooth, even things.
There’s no research yet showing if the virus can survive on cloth textiles (like clothing or rags).
How Long Do Other Viruses Last on Surfaces?
Most viruses from the respiratory tract, such as corona, coxsackie, influenza, SARS or rhino virus, can persist on surfaces for a few days. Viruses from the gastrointestinal tract, such as astrovirus, HAV, polio- or rota virus, persist for approximately 2 months. Blood-borne viruses, such as HBV or HIV, can persist for more than one week. Herpes viruses, such as CMV or HSV type 1 and 2, have been shown to persist from only a few hours up to 7 days.
HIV is said to live outside of the body for only a few seconds, but under certain conditions may last for up to a week – though surface-contraction infection is very nearly impossible. Hepatitis C can survive on surfaces without a host for up to 3 weeks at room temperature on common household surfaces. HepatitisA can survive on surfaces for months.
Noroviruscan live on hard or soft surfaces for about two weeks. In still water, it can live for months and maybe even years. Influenza (flu) viruses can survive on the skin for many hours, and on hard surfaces they are able to infect another person for up to 48 hours.
Viruses that cause the common cold include some of the previously known coronaviruses, rhinoviruses, RSV, and parainfluenza. Each of these viruses has many iterations of the virus, so life-longevity on surfaces varies. RSV lasts for a few hours on hard surfaces and up to 30 minutes on the skin. Parainfluenza lives on surfaces for up to 10 hours. Rhinoviruses can survive for 3 hours on skin and hard surfaces. Other coronaviruses are known to last a few hours on most surfaces, which is likely similar to the current, novel coronavirus.
How Long Do Bacteria Last on Surfaces?
Just like there are many types of coronaviruses, flu viruses, rhinoviruses, etc. there are also many types of staph, E. coli, salmonella, etc. Generally, viruses are more likely to survive longer on solid surfaces than on fabrics. But some bacteria seem to prefer fabric.
Most gram-positive bacteria, such as Enterococcus spp. (including VRE), Staphylococcus aureus(including MRSA), or Streptococcus pyogenes, survive for months on dry surfaces. Many gram-negative species, such as Acinetobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens, or Shigella spp., can also survive for months. A few others, such as Bordetella pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae, Proteus vulgaris, or Vibrio cholerae, however, only persist for days. Mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and spore-forming bacteria, including Clostridium difficile, can also survive for months on surfaces.
On that note, if you own a microwave, we don’t recommend using it except to nuke your sponges. Saturate the sponge with water and heat on high for one to two minutes.
Most salmonella lives on dry hard surfaces for up to four hours depending on its species, but a 2003 study found that Salmonella enteritidis can survive for four days and still infect.
E.coli, often found in ground beef, can live for a few hours to a day on kitchen surfaces.
Listeria infections are responsible for the highest hospitalization rates (91%) amongst known food-borne pathogens. Listeria can last for months on many surfaces, can proliferate inside your refrigerator, and has a very slow incubation period lasting days, weeks, or even months, which can make it difficult to know that contamination has occurred.
Botulism is a disease caused by Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that produces botulinum toxins under low-oxygen and low-acid conditions. Botulinum toxins are one of the most lethal substances known. Spores produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum are heat-resistant and exist widely in the environment. In the absence of oxygen, they germinate, grow, and then excrete toxins. Botulinum toxins are ingested through improperly processed food in which the bacteria or the spores survive, then grow and produce the toxins. But the good news is that botulism is rare, botulinum spores will not proliferate, and the bacterium will not survive on household surfaces. Homemade canned and fermented foods are a common source of foodborne botulism.
Bacillus cereus is one of the most common causes of food poisoning, though fortunately, it is not typically life-threatening. Bacillus cereus readily forms biofilms on a variety of surfaces, including plastic, soil, glass wool, and stainless steel, thus can last indefinitely.
Germs Aren’t Bad Guys
Microbes, of course, are everywhere. Each square centimeter of skin alone harbors about 100,000 bacteria. The human body contains trillions of microorganisms. Trillions upon trillions of viruses rain from the sky every day. A 2002 report in the Southern Medical Journal found pathogens, including staphylococcus, on 94% of paper money tested. Money is said to possibly carry more germs than a household toilet.
And yet, we don’t get a staph infection 94% of the time we touch money. Why?
Understanding Health – How To Have A Strong Immune System
A lot has to happen in order for us to contract an infection. For viruses, bacteria, amebas, fungi, parasites, and other pathogens, the environment needs to be conducive to proliferation, and the pathogen needs to be of sufficient quantity to infect. The likelihood of infection under the most infection-likely conditions is also contingent upon the number of microbes that are able to make it into the body. Statistically, one microbe is very unlikely to cause infection and then disease, whereas thousands of the same pathogen contaminating a person is more likely to infect and eventually cause disease.
There is no healthy way to avoid pathogens. For instance, you’re not going to catch Lyme disease from your kitchen counter. You might contract it from ticks and other insects, but getting out in nature is crucial for good health. Also, our antimicrobial lifestyles are leading to superbugs and more fungal-based auto-immune diseases (nearly all autoimmune disease is fungal based or exasperated by fungal infection).
To make things even more complicated, many of the bacteria in our bodies that are part of our healthy microbiome can become pathogenic under the right (or wrong) circumstances. E. coli is a perfect example. We all have this bacterium in our gut, but without a healthy gut colony, E. coli can take over and cause infections in the gut and urinary tract. Candida is another one that just about everyone has in their gut. The spores and small amounts of yeast do not cause infection and are a necessary part of our body’s microbial, but without enough of a variety of bacteria to keep fungi in check, Candida becomes a pathogenic fungus that causes or exacerbates many illnesses.
Pathogens inflict damage to us by secreting toxic waste byproducts throughout their lifecycle and death that inhibit normal, healthy cellular functions. A healthy microbiome has thousands of different kinds of bacteria (and other microbes) that can absorb and use these waste byproducts. Basically, to put it in the least scientific terms possible, one bacteria’s poop is another bacteria’s food source. Also, a body full of healthy bacteria leaves little room for infection. The more bacteria you have, both in variety and numbers, the less susceptible a host you are to pathogenic infection.
What doctors and most scientists still fail to understand is this: cells are made up of fats, starches, and sugars. Weak, decaying, and dead cells feed microorganisms. Pathogens, as they feed, produce toxic waste that causes more cellular damage, creating a feedback loop that feeds the infection. Beneficial microbes also feed off of our dead and decaying cells the same way, but their existence, due to their diversity, does not damage the surrounding human cells and does not allow room for pathogenic activity. To be clear, the difference between a bacterial infection and healthy bacteria doing their job is usually all about the variety.
Related:
In order to be healthy, perhaps it is even more important to understand that our gut bacteria resides not just in our gut, but all over our bodies. Our microbiome is everywhere, on our skin and in our hearts, and in our brains. Our gut, when healthy, is a microbiome-producing machine that supplies our entire body with beneficial bacteria. Unhealthy guts deliver pathogens into the body (and undigested foods and other toxins) while a healthy gut provides healthy bacteria to the entire body, bacteria that defend against pathogenic activity.
Now picture yourself as not so healthy. Maybe you smoke. Maybe you drink soda. Maybe both. Your throat feels rough. Your sinuses feel overly-sensitive. You can imagine that these rough surfaces are more likely to “catch” a few pathogens. On your tonsils and in your sinus cavities, where a healthy person has lots of diverse, healthy microbes to keep pathogens from proliferating, an unhealthy body instead has weak, poorly functioning cells that are ready to feed an incoming infection.
This is why we recommend healing the gut first and foremost for virtually any illness. Even a knee injury needs a healthy gut in order to properly heal as quickly and as well as possible. A nagging injury that never seems to heal almost always contains infectious activity. In other words, that nagging elbow pain you have may be from an old injury, from your back being out of alignment, from arthritis, or from something else, but infection will set in sooner or later as cellular degradation accelerates if your gut isn’t well enough to defend your whole body.
Is going vegan the best thing for the environment?
Animal agriculture is the second-largest contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gases, making up 42% of all emissions after fossil fuels. More people than ever before are cutting back on their meat and dairy consumption, advocating for things like “Meatless Monday” and “Veganuary”, while vegan and vegetarian diets are becoming more and more popular.
This begs the question, what would happen if the entire world went vegan? What does that mean not only for the environment but for our health?
The Case For Going Vegan
On average, producing a pound of beef requires upwards of 1,800 gallons of water. Similarly, a gallon of milk requires 2000 gallons of water to produce. However, only around 900 gallons of water are used during the production process for a gallon of almond milk. Studies show that anywhere from 40-50% of the water used in the United States is used for animal agriculture. A vegan diet, on average, requires 300 gallons of water a day compared to a meat-eating diet requiring 4,000 gallons of water a day. In addition to the massive amounts of water, studies show than anywhere between 30 and 50% of Earth’s habitable land is used for animal agriculture (this includes crops grown to feed livestock). Research shows that if everyone went vegan we could reduce global farmland by as much as 75%, and on an individual level, going vegan could reduce your carbon footprint by 73%.
There are several problems with the animal agriculture industry. Animals are commonly packed together in tight spaces without room to move around. Due to their close living quarters, animals are sick or prone to sickness and are often preemptively pumped full of antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance is an epidemic in our country currently with 80% of all our antibiotics being given to animals. CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations) Animals are usually injected with animal growth hormones and fed diets designed to increase their size, so they produce as much meat as possible. For years “cage-free” or “free-range” products have been marketed as a better, more humane alternative but in reality, these terms have little to no regulation and oftentimes these animals are still stored in inhumane environments.
Problems With Going Vegan
Many popular vegan foods are not as healthy as advertised. Take the “Impossible burger” for example. The Impossible Burger is a processed “veggie burger” well known for its’s meat-like texture, however, the burger is made with GMO’s and has tested positive for Glyphosate, “…levels of glyphosate were 11x that of the Beyond Meat burger.”
Being vegan doesn’t necessarily mean you’re eating healthily. You can chow down on junk food – and miss out on vital nutrients – whether you eat meat or not. For example, vegan diets are naturally low in calcium, vitamin D, iron, vitamin B12, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids.
It’s a common misconception that going vegan is healthier than eating meat; there are lots of “junk food vegans.” But a vegan who eats processed foods daily would benefit from switching to a diet of unprocessed foods with locally sourced grass-fed organic beef.
Some studies indicate that we could improve the environment by going vegan, but that human health would suffer. Vegans are often nutrient deficient in B12’s, Iron, Omega-3’s a and other nutrients found in meat and dairy products.
Fair Trade Issues
You may be surprised to know that many of your favorite vegan foods are leaving behind a larger negative impact than originally thought. Foods such as cashews, avocados, bananas, and chocolate have many fair trade issues associated with them. Additionally, many popular vegan foods leave behind a significant carbon footprint during manufacturing and transit. In fact, in some cases, foods shipped across the world leaves behind a larger carbon footprint than buying meat locally and sustainably.
Avocado imports have doubled over the last decade, with more than 2.2 billion pounds of avocados imported in 2018. The U.S gets 87% of avocado imports from Mexico, however many of the people in Mexico can’t afford to buy avocados because of the high demand in the U.S. Producing one pound of avocados uses 72 gallons of water. Over 20,000 hectares of land are converted into avocado farmland each year, including land which is designated for the Monarch Butterfly biosphere reserve. In addition to all the environmental impacts, criminal gangs have taken to stealing avocados and taking over farms when things slow down in the drug trafficking business.
Cashews are one of the most popular nuts in America and are popular amongst vegans due to their texture, flavor, and protein content. Cashews are commonly made into vegan cheese and other similar vegan dairy alternatives. India produces 60% of the Cashews the world consumes, however in India they are considered a luxury, so much so that workers are often checked to make sure they are not smuggling cashews outside of factories. Factory workers often suffer back and joint pain and have a difficult time-saving money due to low wages and were only recently allowed restroom breaks while working. Additionally, during the deshelling process workers suffer chemical burns to the skin and often are not provided with proper supplies to protect their skin and often times cannot afford to buy supplies themselves.
The Case For Omnivores Eating
Instead of getting rid of meat altogether, studies show that alternative practices such as regenerative agriculture may actually be the key to fixing the problem. The goal of regenerative agriculture is achieving a carbon negative footprint, through carbon sequestration by a variety of different methods such as no-tilling, or minimum tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, composting, and providing their pasture-raised animals with healthy and diverse diets. In some studies, regenerative agriculture is shown to leave less of a carbon footprint than meatless alternatives such as the impossible burger.
Regenerative Agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services.
Studies show that cows can help with carbon sequestration through proper grazing. Plants absorb CO2, and then CO2 is pushed through the roots into the ground and stored there. When animals (mainly cows) are able to graze on the land enough to promote healthy plant growth but not so much that they kill the plants, more carbon is sequestered through the earth thus making cattle that are raised in regenerative agriculture settings, carbon-neutral and in some cases carbon negative.
Look for meat that is “Pastured” or “pasture-raised”, this is meat that has been raised in a pasture, and best emulates natural behaviors. Pasture-raised animals can also help contribute to healthy soil, through animal waste and regenerative agriculture. When buying meat look for antibiotic-free meat labeled Organic, or raised without antibiotics. These are the only labels promising antibiotic-free meat. Shop for beef that is grass-fed and avoid beef that is grass-fed grain-finished. Grain finished beef is beef that is fed a lot of grain in a short amount of time to fatten them up. Animals that are fed proper diets are better for your health. Buy meat that is sourced locally from smaller-scale farms. You’ll find that the animals are generally treated better promoting natural habits and behaviors in the animals, your carbon footprint will be lessened, and you’ll have the opportunity to support small and local businesses.
Just like in humans, grain-fed animals have an extremely high amount of inflammation. This inflammation leads to a high amount of inflammatory omega-6 fats in the tissues of the animals, and these fats are transferred to us when we eat them. When animals eat the things they are supposed to, like grass, clovers, shrubs, and other colorful things, (how many colorful grains can you think of?) they end up with a much higher level and density of nutrients.
Can going vegan help reduce your carbon footprint? The simple answer is, yes, it can. To do it right, eat unprocessed whole foods, and reap the biggest benefit both for your health and for the climate. On a global scale, many studies show that the best thing we can do right now is to grow our own food if possible, shop for local food, radically reduce meat intake, and eat sustainable meat.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an intestinal disorder that causes pain in the belly, gas, diarrhea, and constipation. Sometimes the condition goes away without treatment, and for some, it ends up being a lifelong affliction. IBS is often associated with stress, depression, anxiety, or a previous intestinal infection. IBS is often referred to as spastic colon or spastic bowel.
What’s the Difference between IBS, IBD, CD, and UC?
IBS: irritable bowel syndrome
IBD: inflammatory bowel disease
CD: Crohn’s disease
UC: ulcerative colitis
Dysbiosis: gut microbial imbalance
With irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), there is an autoimmune reaction to foods, bacteria, or other substances in the intestinal tract. Most conventional medical professionals do not believe that IBS causes inflammation, ulcers, or other damage to the intestinal tract. The digestive system looks normal under x-ray, but it doesn’t function properly. Conventional medical professionals believe IBS has a physiological basis. It is associated with stress, depression, and anxiety. But today, newer technologies are now being used with older methods to reveal specific abnormalities associated with IBS. For doctors keeping up with research, it’s no longer thought of as primarily psychosomatic.
Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are both inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). IBD is not believed to have a physiological basis (it’s not associated with stress, depression, anxiety). IBD can be debilitating and can cause life-threatening complications.
How to Know if You Have Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Doctors call IBS a “functional disease.” A person with IBS will have many or all of the following symptoms, but current medical testing won’t show any physical explanation for these symptoms. IBS is also sometimes called spastic colon or spastic bowel. Symptoms will often fade or even become nonexistent for a period of time.
Symptoms of IBS can include:
Abdominal pain
Cramping
Gas
Diarrhea
Constipation
Alternating diarrhea and constipation
Bloating
The feeling that a bowel movement may be incomplete
Stools that contain mucus, which may be white in color
Nausea after eating
For women, symptoms tend to flare up during their menstrual period
There is no test to definitively diagnose IBS. Doctors generally look at medical history and perform a physical exam along with other tests to rule out other conditions. If you have IBS with chronic diarrhea, the doctor should also test for celiac disease.
How to Know if You Have Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Inflammatory bowel disease is an umbrella term for disorders that involve chronic inflammation in the digestive tract. Types of IBD include ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD).
UC is characterized by chronic inflammation and ulcers in the innermost lining of the large intestine and rectum.
CD is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. Crohn’s can affect any part of the digestive tract, from the mouth to the rectum, but it usually affects the small intestine near the connection to the large intestine.
IBD is considered a “structural disease.” This means there is underlying physical damage that causes the symptoms. With IBD, doctors can see physical signs of chronic inflammation or ulcers when they examine the gut.
IBD can cause serious longterm damage to the digestive system, and it will increase one’s risk of colorectal cancer.
New research shows that IBD may be the body’s way of compensating for a “leaky gut.”
“Both have significant overlap in terms of symptoms, pathophysiology, and treatment, suggesting the possibility of IBS and IBD being a single disease entity albeit at opposite ends of the spectrum.”
Symptoms of IBD can include the previously mentioned symptoms of IBS and the following:
Blood in your stools
Black stools
Weight loss
Loss of appetite
Fatigue
Severe, frequent diarrhea
Progressively worsening symptoms
Fever
Inflammation throughout the body
The Difference Between a Healthy Gut and an Unhealthy Gut
Scientists estimate that there are 100 trillion or so microorganisms in the human body, and they say approximately half of these microbes live in the gut.
“…the number of microbial cells we carry can be as much as 10 times greater than the total cell number in the human body, and their genetic information is at least 150-fold greater than that of our human genome.”
Dysbiosis (also called dysbacteriosis) is a gut flora imbalance. We now know that such an imbalance profoundly affects our wellbeing. We know that it can lead to neuropsychiatric symptoms and conditions, autoimmune disorders, allergies, cancer, bowel diseases, obesity, diabetes, and more. We know that a gut imbalance can exacerbate every chronic disease. On that note, I surmise that a gut imbalance is the cause of more than 99% of modern chronic diseases.
Allow me to take some liberties to explain what’s really going on in the gut.
The Gut Microbiome
For a long time, we’ve had this idea that the gut lets certain items pass into the rest of the body and blocks certain items, end of story. Supple, permeable living tissue doesn’t work that way; it’s not so black and white.
A healthy gut has a healthy gut microbiome. A healthy gut microbiome is a gut lining of bacterial biofilm that covers the entire intestinal tract.
We are on the verge of a health revolution. In fact, we’re in the middle of one. Gut microbes are being discovered in various glands and organs and all over the human body. We also have recently come to find that there are not merely hundreds of different kinds of bacteria on our gut, but thousands. This number will keep growing for some time.
Gut bacteria does so much more than just digest food. A healthy microbiome breaks down and removes toxins from the body like heavy metals, glyphosates, and BPAs. Healthy bacteria can also cause an anti-inflammatory response in the gut and throughout the entire body. Our beneficial gut bacteria also produce enzymes we need for good health. The microbiome acts as a shield that lines the intestinal wall and breaks down particles before they pass through the intestinal wall into the body. This process not only allows for nutrient assimilation, but gut bacteria also synthesize vitamin K and B vitamins including cobalamin, folates, pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamine. And that’s merely what we now know. There could be many more necessary nutrients that our bacteria produce for us.
Let’s look at B12. It’s been said that B12 is only created in the lower intestine where we don’t absorb the nutrients. I suspect there may be a mechanism for which the nutrients can move up into the lower part of the upper intestine, but there’s no evidence of this. So the consensus has been that humans need to either eat meat, supplement with B12, or eat our own feces. But, a study found that there is actually some bacteria in the small intestine that can produce B12 in some people. This bacteria is less common in people who adhere to the Western diet, and this makes sense because the Western diet and lifestyle stifle bacterial diversity in the gut.
The gut microbiome also houses gastrointestinal immune cells, known as “Peyer’s patches.” These immune cells protect the intestinal tract against infection by releasing white blood cells.
In other words, our gut bacteria contains white blood cells (a healthy gut microbiome contains more white blood cells) and these cells and the gut bacteria together act as a barrier to keep undigested particles (and toxins) out of the rest of our body, and they synthesize nutrients we need. Our gut bacteria also suppresses cancer, helps regulate our hormones, and even affects our DNA! We need a lot of different kinds of bacteria to do right by us. Chronically ill people have less diversity in the gut microbiome. The diversity of gut bacteria helps keep each and every potential pathogen in check.
The Most Interesting Part – THE GUT ALWAYS LEAKS
In my mind, the most important and interesting job of our gut bacteria is how it affects our immune system throughout our whole body. As mentioned previously, there was this belief that our gut bacteria pretty much stayed in the gut, only leaking out of the gut if the gut is “leaky.” This is wholly inaccurate.
The gut “leaks” our beneficial bacteria into our entire body. A healthy gut is a factory that produces a vast array of, and massive quantities of, beneficial bacteria. This bacteria seeps into and all over the body to provide protection from pathogenic activity. But most people in our modern world do not have healthy gut microbiomes.
If you have an ache from an old injury that never seems to heal all the way, you have pathogenic activity infecting that injury, causing inflammation and pain. Damaged or dead cells in the body feed microbes. If the body is full of beneficial bacteria the damaged and dead cells will be feeding beneficial bacteria, and the dead and damaged cells will be broken down and cleaned up by enzymes and beneficial bacteria.
The “bad” bacteria and other pathogenic microbes attack the body, as we all know, and their lifecycle causes off-gassing that damages the surrounding cells while they feed off of the damage they create. With more pathogenic activity in the body, the immune system becomes overwhelmed and begins reacting to allergens.
Have you ever walked by the perfume aisle in a department store, or walked through the cleaning products in your grocery store and suddenly noticed a bad taste in the back of your mouth? This is post nasal drip caused by chemicals damaging the cells in your nasal cavities. Bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other pathogens feed off of or otherwise benefit from damaged cells. Damaged cells release sugars, starches, and fats that feed pathogens, and they allow the proliferation of viruses. If your body contains lots of pathogens, breathing in chemicals will cause an immediate proliferation of pathogenic activity, which can lead to illness.
A body with massive amounts of a wide variety of healthy bacteria will have a different reaction. The beneficial bacteria will still feed off of the damage like pathogens do, but the vast variety of healthy microflora eliminates the possibility of infection by any one type of microbe. If you have only a few kinds of bacteria in such a situation, one or more are likely to proliferate and become pathogenic, or yeast or other pathogens can take over. Many of the beneficial bacteria within us are capable of causing infection. It is the variety of bacteria that keeps everything in check.
This is a very simplistic way of explaining this concept. Many kinds of beneficial bacteria strains will not ever infect us. Some will only cause problems under very unusual circumstances, and many will cause problems if left to flourish without enough beneficial microbe diversity to keep them in check. Plus, there are also autoimmune reactions and allergy issues that can come into play in this scenario. But the point of this section is to provide an understanding of how important a healthy microbiome is to our immune system. Earlier I wrote, “allow me to take some liberties” because I do not yet see that science has discovered this function of our microflora. So, feel free to take my conclusions here with a grain of salt, but we do know that the gut bacteria work this way (warding off infection) in the gut, and we know how and why variety is paramount to good health (keeps bacteria and yeast in check), and we now know that gut bacteria also is found in the brain and the liver (it’s all over the body, we’ll discover this soon enough). And we know that gut bacteria evolves based on its environment. To understand how to achieve optimum health you just need to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Dysbiosis Causes IBS and IBD and Other Autoimmune Diseases
As mentioned, dysbiosis is an impaired or unbalanced microbiota. An unbalanced microbiome causes poor digestion of food, poor nutrient uptake, a “leaky gut” that leaks food particles and toxins into the bloodstream allowing pathogenic activity. Typically, with our modern, antibacterial world and our limited gut bacteria, virulent bacteria (often antibiotic resistant), viruses, parasites, and lots of fungi are able to flourish in our bodies.
Consider the examples above (the perfume aisle, aches, and pains that don’t heal). It’s easy to understand how chronic inflammation and autoimmune disease works.
Celiac Disease May Be Causing Dysbiosis
If diarrhea is a predominant IBS symptom, celiac disease or another gluten intolerance is a likely cause. Celiac disease is characterized by gluten causing chronic inflammation of the small intestinal mucosa. This causes the intestinal villi (small finger-like projections of tissue called villi which increase the surface area of the intestine) to atrophy (waste away), which leads to malabsorption (nutrition is not absorbed properly). Dysbiosis can cause these symptoms too, so it’s a bit of a chicken-egg issue. Gluten allergies and wheat allergies are also common with gut issues and may be precursors to celiac disease.
Research suggests that many people with IBS and IBD have celiac disease. Medical professionals are starting to see that wheat can trigger IBS and lead to IBD and celiac disease. Research also suggests that many more people have celiac disease than originally thought.
Celiac disease can be diagnosed using simple blood tests, but even if tests come back negative, other gluten intolerances are still likely.
Like almost everything else in conventional medicine, treatments for IBS and IBD focus on relieving symptoms, not on curing the disease. Conventional treatments don’t work because they don’t address the actual cause. Conventional treatments include a wide variety of drugs to manage inflammation (which will make the health problems worse in the long run), minimal (insufficient) diet changes, and a few supplements (often of dubious quality) like fiber and probiotics. For IBS, many doctors also recommend therapy.
In order to manage dysbiosis, one needs to manage their diet. Cut out refined foods, wheat, dairy, and chemicals such as artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, soy, GMOs, and MSG.
How To Cure IBS, IBD, Dysbiosis
Managing disease is for suckers. Ridding the body of disease is a much better option. It takes patience and time, but it will likely take a lot less time than how long it took to develop the autoimmune issues.
Most prescription drugs cause or at least exacerbate gut problems. One can still make the gut much healthier and elevate many chronic conditions while on prescription drugs, but as long as prescription drugs are consumed the gut will not be fully well.
This is also true for over-the-counter medications, recreational drugs, and alcohol. And if you smoke, you’ll have to quit. Smoking wreaks havoc on the gut in a variety of ways. You will never have a healthy gut if you smoke.
One of my favorite quotes:
‘There is only one disease: cellular malfunction. And there are only two causes of disease: deficiency and toxicity.”
Raymond Francis
The key to better gut health is eliminating toxins and getting the proper nutrition. You might be thinking, “If only it were that simple…” And in a way, it is. But in other ways, our modern world complicates things.
Diet for Dysbiosis – How To Build Healthy Gut Microbiota
The best bacteria love the best foods. Nature wouldn’t work right if it were any other way. The healthiest foods are raw vegetables and herbs. A wide variety of healthy bacteria is essential for optimum health. Different bacteria like different foods at different stages of digestion. This means that if you blend your vegetables in a blender before you consume them you’re missing out on feeding some of the bacteria that would have broken down the vegetables to that state. Unprocessed, unadulterated vegetables and herbs are essential for building incredibly diverse, strong, and healthy gut flora. Salads are the key. And not just any salad. I’m talking about huge salads with 15 different vegetables and five different herbs. All fresh. Here’s the salad recipe: Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included. The cranberry lemonade recipe in that article will also help detoxify and bring the body into homeostasis.
Many people can’t digest salads well enough. This may cause discomfort. I recommend starting off with smaller salads and building up while snacking on small amounts of random vegetables throughout the day. But any doctor who tells you that salads are bad for you because your body is different, or because you need more “heat producing” foods, or whatever, is wrong! Most people will benefit from ingesting huge salads right away, and a select few need to work their way up to them, but this is the most important step to building a healthy gut colony in the gut.
Other meals should only include whole foods and these meals should be prepared by you. Do not let a company prepare your meals. Don’t even buy nut milk. Make it yourself. It’s easy and much cheaper, here’s how.
I do recommend grains (brown rice, wild rice, amaranth, montina, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, and sorghum. But avoid oats until the gut is well.), legumes (when soaked and/or sprouted properly), and nuts and seeds (seeds are typically easier to digest than nuts). But these foods will need to be brought into the diet slowly if digestive troubles occur when they are consumed. Once the right kind of bacteria is flourishing in the gut, whole healthy foods are much easier to digest.
Cooked vegetables are also wonderful for you. I eat an 11 cup salad for breakfast and I also usually put tons of vegetables and herbs in my dinner. Dinner at my house usually consists of a grain, a legume, lots of veggies, and lots of herbs.
Meat from a healthy free-range animal is typically fine for people who are healing the gut. So are eggs when they’re from healthy chickens. Like with the aforementioned, these may need to be introduced slowly if stomach troubles occur.
Avoid sweet fruits at first and slowly introduce them later as the gut gets better and better. Most of the fruit that we eat is not what we would have found in nature. We’ve evolved to eat fruit seasonally, and most of the fruit we did eat was not nearly as sweet before hybridization.
The benefits of eating like this also include not having to take a bunch of vitamins and minerals. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies will normalize and the body will take what it needs and discard what it doesn’t. But if you still feel you need vitamins and minerals I recommend Total Nutrition and Liquid Light.
The SF722 kills all fungi better than anything else I know of. Abzorb supplies vitamin D, Magnesium, systemic enzymes, and a probiotic. Take Abzorb without food to heal the gut and with meals to help digest the food. Berberine is an anti-microbial pre-biotic with tons of other health benefits, read more here. The MycoCeutics is an anti-microbial fungal complex, and MicroDefense kills non-beneficial microbes including parasites.
Shillington’s Intestinal Detox is a clay, fiber, and charcoal intestinal detoxifier. It can slow down bowel movements. Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse kills parasites and restores gut function. It can make bowel movements easier. The two work very well together. Shillington’s Total Healing Poultice Powder is good for ulcers. Syntol AMD is another probiotic enzyme blend. Total Nutrition is a good multivitamin that contains algae, astragalus, alfalfa, seaweed, lots of vitamin C and some B vitamins. Liquid Light is a multi-mineral formula.
Pesticides and herbicides get absorbed by the crops they’re sprayed on but most of the chemicals are left on the outer most part of the produce. Organic is better than conventional but organic certification does allow some pesticide and herbicide usage. Produce usually looks clean at the store but there’s plenty of pesticide residue on them.
The apples you buy in grocery stores are already washed, usually in a bleach solution, and rinsed before they’re sold, says study author Lili He, Ph.D., assistant professor of food science at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The purpose of this, however, is to remove dirt and kill any harmful microbes that may be on the fruit. “It’s not intended to wash away pesticides,” He says.
Many people are buying designed to wash produce, or scrubbing foods in running water, or using bleach, but according to new research, these options don’t do much good. But baking soda does.
Surface pesticide residues were most effectively removed by sodium bicarbonate (baking soda, NaHCO3) solution…”
The study used thiabendazole and phosmet as the pesticides. Apples were exposed to the pesticides for 24 hours, “applied at a concentration of 125 ng/cm2.”
The authors say that a baking soda washing solution can completely remove thiabendazole and phosmet surface residues of apples in about 15 minutes. That’s a lot of washing! The study authors are not clear if the produce needs to be scrubbed or just left to soak or what, but we suspect just letting them soak in a solution of water and baking soda for fifteen minutes should work. We’re attempted contact with a couple of the authors and are awaiting clarification on this. We’ll update if we hear back.
Their results showed that 20% of the thiabendazole and 4.4% of the phosmet penetrated into the apples following the exposure. So it’s not practically possible to remove all of the chemicals from the produce.
In practical application, washing apples with NaHCO3 solution can reduce pesticides mostly from the surface. Peeling is more effective to remove the penetrated pesticides; however, bioactive compounds in the peels will become lost too.
It should also be noted that different fruits and vegetables will absorb chemicals at different rates and some will have better results from baking soda washing than others.