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Sometimes a bit of bacteria can be just what the doctor ordered. If you prize yogurt for its “active cultures,” you know what I’m talking about. Now a new study, published in the September 21st online issue of Nature, suggests that good bugs might even hold diabetes at bay. Type I diabetes is caused by an immune system malfunction. Basically, the immune cells that usually chase after bacteria instead attack the pancreas, wiping out the cells that produce insulin. So researchers decided to see what would happen if they reigned in the immune response in mice that are prone to diabetes.
As expected, they found that the animals were less likely to develop the disease. But the effect depended entirely on the critters having a normal complement of friendly bacteria in their intestine. Mice that were raised in a totally sterile, germ-free environment were rampant diabetics. But simply treating those mice with a cocktail of bugs found in most mammals’ bellies cured the disease. How bacteria in the intestine can stave off diabetes is not yet clear. But the finding could lead to some interesting new treatments. In the meantime, remember that we can't live without the stuff that lives in us.
—Karen Hopkin
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12 Comments
Add CommentThis is all very interesting, and consistent with other studies regarding the benefits of probiotic bacteria. I would just like to know which species of bacteria in particular were used in this study. Some further elucidation on this topic would be appreciated.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEr, it is definitely a interesting topic as you mentioned. Nevertheless, what do you mean by probiotic bacteria? Are you trying to say that probiotic bacteria can be applied to medical treatment?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisto yanghuansailing...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisprobiotic bacteria literally means "healthy" bacteria. Several forms of probiotics are used in the USA by folks with chronic stomach issues; ie me, and many folks who regular digestive discomfort. Although most, if not all, are over the counter products, my doctor instructed me to experiment with several different ones on the market to find the one that that fewest side effects such as bloating and gas. I did, and have been using one for almost 2 years now on a regular basis.
Even before I've had these issues, for the last few years, I was always told to eat yogurt, which is full of probiotics of many different varieties, while on any anti-biotic, since those drugs kill the good ones along with the bad in your body.
So, in short, the answer is that probiotics have been perscribed for at least 25 years(I'm older than that) at least in the New York City area where I am from.
So this is saying that it's not so bad to have certain germs. I would agree with that. But the question is: who needs them? It has already been declared that every body does not respond the same way to drugs. Some people are treated by certain drugs, while others have allergic reactions to them. When viewed primarily, there is the natural health imbalance which is caused by the person's activity or inactivity. What happens when we feel we are doing too much? Do we rest? What happens when we feel like we aren't doing enough? Do we do something? Is it not until another is aware of our habit, that we tend to change how we go about our routine? Vaccines are the only drugs that have permanent healing effects. Pharmaceuticals only correct the imbalance temporarily; hopefully buying time for the vaccine. Taking germs directly could just as well cause regurgitation. So unless this means that the germs are leaving the body, we could be doing just as much harm as good. But I guess we wouldn't know that until we've tried, right?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI love the last line in this article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo Art C,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll bacteria is not bad. Do you eat cheese? It's bacteria that turns it from milk to cheese. Bacteria, yeast to be specific, is what makes bread rise and gives sourdough's their taste. Yeast also makes beer; for it's the yeast that does the fermentation.
That being said, we know that some bacteria are helpful, and some are not. In the case of people who would benefit from probiotics, their bodies kill, for a variety of reasons, the good bacteria that is otherwise quite helpful to other people. Either way, when the bacteria, good or bad, in your gut dies, it passes out the same way that food does. Taking probiotics will not cause vomiting, but it will cause discomfort(solved temporarily with gasx or immodium) as the new bacteria replaces the old bacteria in your gut. After a week or two, then your body gets used to the new bacteria, and you end up much better than you were before. The truth is that you were probably feeling discomfort in the first place if you are going to take probiotics. There's no reason to take them if you aren't! All taking those supplements do is to restore the normal balance.
By the way, you are wrong about vaccines. Vaccines help the body by triggering an immune response that enables your body to create anti-bodies. It's the same thing that happens to you when you get a cold, but don't die from it.
The use of bacterial agents to help with intestinal and stomach disorders goes back a long way..much longer than 25 years. My father was a pharmacist and I recall when I was no more than 12 ( fity-five years ago) tablets could be prescribed that were essentially bacterial colonies to reinfect a person after a bout of antibiotics. I suspect it goes back at least to the nineteen thirties when sulfa drugs first came on the scene and people started suffering the loss of bacteria due to such necessary treatments for disease.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's good to hear. I can only speak to what I know; a humble engineer with a bad stomach, who's been told to eat probiotics after every course of antibiotics that I can remember. My memory only goes back 25 years...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are about 10X as many bacteria as human cells in your body; the interaction is deep, essential, and profound. It has recently been determined, e.g., that those 2 useless organs, the appendix and tonsils, are probacteria holding tanks the body uses to redress imbalances.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the meantime, remember that we can't live without the stuff that lives in us . It remembers me the poem of Edgar Allan Poe, THE CONQUEROR WORM, that end in this way: " ...the angels...affirm That the play is the tragedy, "Man," And its hero the Conqueror Worm. " However even though in the final they prevail the brave scientists are trying tame and utilize that sort of stuff for the health of our bodies! It is a estrange think that even in the apex of our lives we are formed in such disproportion in relation with that stuff which live in us cohabiting with our own cells. Putting aside lugubrious thoughts, I have pleasure in a yogurt for example end other numerous meals end drinks constructed for the action of good bacteria.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisArt C,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article stated that the sterile environment mice were "cured" of their diabetes. I believe this is an inaccurate statement, since Type 1 Diabetes is not "curable" nor reversible. I believe the intended statement was that the bacteria introduced to this study group worked as a preventative measure. This has huge implications in helping to prevent most childhood Type 1 diabetes.
Also, inactivity "habits" are not the cause of Type 1 diabetes.
Art C,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article stated that the sterile environment mice were "cured" of their diabetes. I believe this is an inaccurate statement, since Type 1 Diabetes is not "curable" nor reversible. I believe the intended statement was that the bacteria introduced to this study group worked as a preventative measure. This has huge implications in helping to prevent most childhood Type 1 diabetes.
Also, inactivity "habits" are not the cause of Type 1 diabetes.