Bacteria-Stocked Beverage Clears Pathogens from Nose

[Guest guest]

Bacteria-Stocked Beverage Clears Pathogens from Nose JoAnn Guest Apr 14,

2005 11:28 PDT

 

Ben Harder

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20030301/food.asp

 

Dangerous bacteria often take refuge deep inside people’s noses, where

they can remain dormant until they find an opportunity to invade other

parts of the body.

 

Perhaps the most important of these stowaway nasal microbes is

Staphylococcus aureus, which can spread to wounds and surgical incisions

and cause life-threatening blood infections. As many as a quarter of

U.S. residents may harbor S. aureus in their noses, say epidemiologists.

 

 

Fortunately, help could be on the way in the form of an improbable

tactic:

 

Taking a daily swig of a beverage that’s swimming with live, friendly

bacteria. For about 1 in 5 people who try it, this approach delivers a

punch in the nose to the lurking pathogens, a new Swiss study suggests.

 

Considerable evidence indicates that ingesting certain bacteria, called

probiotics, can maintain or improve intestinal health. Some researchers

have also examined whether these bacteria could aid health in other

parts of the body (SN: 2/2/02, p. 72:

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/20020202/bob9.asp.).

 

Some of the benefits of probiotics could be explained through their

direct aggression toward pathogens or their competition with these nasty

bugs for resources within the body.

 

Probiotic bacteria also seem capable of stimulating the immune system,

which could have broad health benefits.

 

To see whether a probiotic could help tackle the problem of bacteria

hiding in the nose, Jan-Olaf Gebbers of the Institute of Pathology and

Environmental Medicine in Lucerne, Switzerland, and his colleague Ulrich

Glück recruited 209 healthy volunteers and tested their nasal cavities

for numerous bacteria. Almost half of the volunteers’ noses carried at

least one potential pathogen.

 

The researchers also divided the subjects into two groups and gave half

of them a daily serving of a yogurtlike drink that contained probiotic

bacteria called Lactobacillus GG. The other volunteers got yogurt that

lacked live bacteria.

 

After 3 weeks, Gebbers and Glück stopped serving the dairy products to

the volunteers and again probed their noses in search of pathogenic

bacteria.

The researchers did a third round of nasal inspections a week later.

 

None of the 51 pathogen-carrying plain-yogurt drinkers gained or lost

any species of potential pathogens from their noses during the study.

 

In the group that consumed Lactobacillus GG, however, 13 of 68 people

carrying pathogenic bacteria had eliminated them after 3 weeks of

treatment.

 

In those people, the bacteria hadn't returned a week later, the

researchers report in the February American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition.

 

 

Although the study didn't address how the beneficial bacteria swallowed

by the volunteers could have affected their respiratory tract, Gebbers

and Glück hypothesize that ingesting Lactobacillus GG stimulates

intestinal immune cells and causes them to migrate to other parts of the

body.

 

In the nose, these cells could increase production of proteins that are

typically abundant only in the intestines and that are particularly

effective against pathogens such as S. aureus.

The researchers are now conducting further studies to test that

hypothesis.

 

The novel finding is “remarkable” because it suggests that a probiotic

can produce a general stimulation of the immune system, says nutritional

epidemiologist Martijn B. Katan of the Wageningen Centre for Food

Sciences in the Netherlands.

 

Nevertheless, he says, until independent researchers can reproduce the

result, the evidence isn’t strong enough to justify taking Lactobacillus

GG to fight bacteria outside the intestine.

 

Katan notes that by chance fewer of the volunteers getting plain yogurt

initially had nasal pathogens than did the probiotic-treated group, and

also that the researchers didn't disguise who was receiving probiotic

bacteria and who wasn't. Both of these aspects of the study could have

thrown off the results, says Katan.

 

However, if further research supports the use of Lactobacillus GG

against nasal bacteria, it could find applications in hospital settings,

where dangerous blood and wound infections often arise from bacteria

previously established in the nose.

 

The study’s 19 percent success rate for eliminating nasal pathogens “is

not an overwhelming result,” Gebbers admits. He says that so far it has

been difficult for him to convince doctors and patients to employ the

tactic, but he notes that Lactobacillus GG is inexpensive and considered

safe. People who want to try it against nasal pathogens can obtain

yogurt containing the bacterium, and they don't need a prescription, he

adds.

 

 

Moderator's Note: For best results obtain only Plain Unsweetened Organic

Yogurt which is totally antibiotic and hormone free!

These healthier varieties are available at the following websites:

 

www.horizonorganic.com

www.stonyfield.com

 

 

 

References:

 

Glück, U., and J.-O. Gebbers. 2003. Ingested probiotics reduce nasal

colonization with pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus,

Streptococcus pneumoniae, and b-hemolytic streptococci). American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition 77(February):517-520. Abstract available

at http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/77/2/517.

 

Further Readings:

 

Harder, B. 2002. Germs that do a body good. Science News 161(Feb.

2):72-74. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/20020202/bob9.asp.

 

Raloff, J. 2001. 'Bug' spray cuts risk of ear infection. Science News

159(Feb. 3):68. Available to rs at

http://www.sciencenews.org/20010203/fob2.asp.

 

Sources:

 

Jan-Olaf Gebbers

Institute of Pathology and Environmental Medicine

Kantonsspital Luzern

Lucerne

Switzerland

 

Ulrich Glück

Suva Luzern

Fluhmattstrasse 1

CH-6002 Luzern

Lucerne

Switzerland

E-mail: u_gl-

 

Martijn B. Katan

Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences

Nutrition and Health Program

Wageningen University

Bomenweg 2

6703 HD Wageningen

The Netherlands

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets.html