We cannot survive without bacteria. They provide immune stimulation

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I got this from the Medical Conspiracies...

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Misty L. Trepke

http://health.

 

We cannot survive without bacteria. They provide " immune stimulation

Posted by: " Jagannath Chatterjee " jagchat01 jagchat01

Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:17 pm (PST)

http://www.latimes. com/news/ printedition/ opinion/la- oe-

zuk10feb10, 1,1916907. story?coll= la-news-comment

 

Our friend the bacterium

Recent bad press for microbes shouldn't obscure that, sometimes,

germs are good for us.

By Marlene Zuk

MARLENE ZUK's book " Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex

and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are " is due out in April. She

is a professor of biology at UC Riverside.

 

February 10, 2007

 

WE ALL KNOW that bacteria and other microbes can make us sick. Now,

it turns out, they might also make us fat. Recent research comparing

the " gut flora " of overweight and slender mice — as well as people —

showed that the microorganism count varied consistently in the two

groups. Plump individuals have more of one kind, leaner types have

more of another. The cause-and-effect relationship, if one exists,

is not at all clear. Maybe the bacteria are an indicator of fatness

but not its cause (like owning a lot of elastic-waist pants), or

maybe having those microbes means obese people metabolize food

differently than lean people, giving them distressingly more bang

for their caloric buck.

 

Either way, these findings don't do much to improve the reputation

of microbes. Just saying " bacteria " and " fat " in the same sentence

is enough to reinforce a million toothpaste commercials: Bacteria

are bad. . In fact, humans and microbes have a deep, seamless

relationship — for good and ill, but mostly for good.

 

For starters, we are not just occasionally dusted or doused in

bacteria; we wallow in them, with more than 2,000 different kinds

swarming in our insides, on our skin and hair, inside our noses and

mouths. Most cause us no harm — fewer than 100 types of bacteria

cause disease — and rather than fighting them off tooth and nail, we

can wallow at will.

 

The key research isn't about fat or even E. coli but basic health.

Exposure to bacteria appears to calibrate our immune systems to

distinguish harmless (or beneficial) co-inhabitants of the planet

from threatening pathogens.

 

Scientists are increasingly convinced that the lack of " immune

stimulation " — a lack of exposure to microbes — in childhood can

cause problems with allergies and asthma later in life, turning

innocuous substances such as pollen or peanuts into deadly killers.

 

The need for immune stimulation starts early. A group of Norwegian

researchers looked for a connection between children's sensitivities

to eggs, fish or nuts and whether they had been born vaginally or

via cesarean section.

 

Childbirth, in case you hadn't noticed, is a rather messy process,

and along with an introduction to air, light and exclamations of

joy, a newborn receives a hearty dose of bacteria to colonize his or

her intestinal tract during the passage through the birth canal.

Babies removed surgically from their mothers miss out on this germ-

laden opportunity; they acquire their intestinal menagerie more

slowly than vaginally delivered children.

 

The research found that when a mother was allergic to eggs, fish or

nuts, her child was seven times more likely to share that allergy if

he or she had been born by C-section.

 

Other work has found that exposure to microorganisms via pets,

siblings and a rural lifestyle can mean a lower incidence of

allergies and asthma in older children. Such ailments are much more

rare in less-developed countries, even when pollution levels are

high. And although parents may fret about colds their children catch

in day care, having more colds as a youngster seems to mean less

asthma later in life. This is not to say that sickness is good but

that a life without microbes — even the ones that cause disease —

can cause more problems than it solves.

 

Other research indicates even deeper connections between our health

and our microbes. Margaret McFall-Ngai of the University of

Wisconsin suggests that the complex immune system of vertebrates,

including humans, may owe its ability to remember previous

encounters with diseases — and therefore trigger antibodies to fight

them — to the need for dealing with the vast array of microbes we

live with. She theorizes that such " memory " is important primarily

in developing a way to manage the masses of microbes that can

inhabit our bodies and that the immune benefits are just gravy.

 

The moral of the story is that our bodies and our lives are so

enmeshed with microbes that it's futile, and potentially even

harmful, to try to get rid of them with soaps and wipes and

purifiers. So get over all those scare stories about the number of

bacteria on your telephone or toilet seat. They belong there, for

the most part, and you would miss them if they were gone.

 

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In , " readmlst "

<readmlst wrote:

>

> Hello group,

>

My prime interest, however, at the moment is in specific

> nutritional issues, namely: the role played by bacteria (and other

> organisms) in the human host and in the gastro-intestinal tract in

> particular

>

> Sergey

>