Brain Health connected to Gut Health
 

I have been closely following the gut microbiome for a few years. The gut microbiome is the colony of hundreds of thousands of types of bacteria that lives in your large intestine. A lot of research is going on showing that shows a direct connection between your got microbiome and your health.

There are studies showing transplanting fecal matter from skinny rats to fat rats and the fat rats get skinny with NO change in diet. (in rats no studies in people)

There are studies showing connections between the gut microbiome and IBS.

And now a study, very preliminary, showing a connection between the gut microbiome and brain condition as we age.

Again this is all very preliminary and not enough evidence yet to go try and do anything.

But there is more and more evidence from around the world showing many connections. One I have always been interested in is antibiotics and weight gain. I don't know how many of you are aware but one of the early uses that antibiotics were (and still are) sold for, was to farmers. It was found that livestock put on weight faster if the livestock were given antibiotics.

A known side effect of antibiotics is it thoroughly disrupts your gut microbiome. And many people put on weight which they find very hard to loos after major surgery - where they get a follow regimen of antibiotics. Not all but some people.

Now this study:

Nature Microbiota from young mice counteracts age-associated behavioral definicts

Interesting times we are living in.

Sorry, Your Gut Bacteria Are Not the Answer to All Your Health Problems – Mother Jones

uBiome Co-Founders Charged With Federal Securities, Health Care Fraud Conspiracies | USAO-NDCA | Department of Justice

A few things to know about "gut health:"

Bacteria is good. Your body grows lots of it. It requires it, it's one natural symbiotic defense mechanism for your system. It grows in you, feeds off your waste, and in turn you get to have good health.

Your colon is not supposed to be "clean." Don't fall for that nonsense. Colons are filthy tubes that exist to carry waste from your digestive system to the toilet. If you keep it clean, then you're risking permanent colon damage. Consistently clean colon = dangerous. Don't do that.

Being "regular" means taking a dump anywhere between three times a day to three times a week, depending on a whole bunch of factors, age being one of them.

If you're not usually constipated AND you don't usually have the runs AND you eat like a normal American AND take a dump once a day, you don't need a cleansing diet or cleansing supplements.

Most people don't need to worry about "gut health." According to the data in the links above, there are over 400 million possible variations of microbiomes, and anyone can have any of them and still be 100% healthy. There is no "standard" of healthy microbiomes in humans.

Also remember Danon had to pay a few million bucks in penalties for that Jamie Lee Curtis Activia yogurt commercial where she told everyone that it kept her regular. Yogurt company making medical claims about yogurt = bad. Supplement companies making medical claims about supplements also = bad. They are not allowed to make medical claims. "Supports a healthy gut" is not a medical claim, so they can get away with saying it even if there's no way to prove that it does that at all.

Hmm, well, I don't recall promoting any of those, I promoted Science. There are valid peer reviewed studies that work in mice. Under no circumstances did I promote probiotics, yogurt or any other supplement. I am simply passing on actually science not the nonsense out there from companies profiting off it.

Just because you are pooping regularly has only marginal connection to a healthy gut microbiome.

BTW: FMT is approved for treatment of C-Diff. So, that is the first that I can think of that is proven to be beneficial.

Stool transplants are now standard of care for recurrent C. difficile infections - Harvard Health

My gut must be in some state, as my wife says I am brain dead!

A course of Florastor can do wonders.