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| Mud and Manure Source: PDF |
I've been reading a lot of Graham Rook lately.
He wrote the below in 1998 in a comment in Immunology Today:
Modern vaccinations, fear of germs and obsession with hygiene are depriving the immune system of the information input upon which it is dependent. This fails to maintain the correct cytokine balance and fine-tune T-cell regulation, and may lead to increased incidences of allergies and autoimmune diseases. If humans continue to deprive their immune systems of the input to which evolution has adapted it, it may be necessary to devise ways of replacing it artificially.Like a colonoscopy of donor poop (FMT)?
Antibiotics are Really Really REALLY Messing Us Up
We already were aware for many years that breastmilk isn't sterile.
Here's a new science flash fresh off the press: babies aren't sterile (The Maternal Microbiome: Moms bombard their babies with bugs both before and after they’re born.) And antibiotics are wrecking both breastmilk microbiomes and those of unborn children.
The lack of Lactobacillus levels in the milk that Rodríguez observed offered him an opportunity to test whether bacteria in breast milk originate in the gut. He designed a study in which women took supplements containing the missing bacteria, and found that, sure enough, the same strains of Lactobacillus showed up in their breast milk. Unexpectedly, after about three weeks on the supplements, the women reported that their mastitis had cleared up. “For the first time we said, Maybe this is important for the treatment of mastitis or painful breastfeeding,” said Rodríguez, whose team is now wrapping up subsequent trials to treat mastitis during breastfeeding with bacteria, rather than antibiotics.
Graham Rook writes about how our lack of exposures to 'Old Friends' is leaving us susceptible to disease, inflammation, major depression and a host modern maladies with no cure or truly effective medications. He supports that these microbes, helminths, and saprophytes originate from mud, manure and farm animals. The lack of the them may cause a disturbance in the gut microbiota known as dysbiosis where pathogens can overwhelm and the symbionts, commensals and mutualists are nowhere to be found. Microbial metabolites and inputs no longer 'micromanage' LOL. Diversity plummets and disease can ensue. Obtaining these enteric Old Friends from green and natural environments, pets and farm animals might be key.
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| Defining Dysbiosis and Its Influence on Host Immunity and Disease Round, Petersen, Cell Microbio May 2014 |
Some Old Friends (such as helminths and infections picked up at birth that established carrier states) are almost eliminated from the urban environment. This increases our dependence on Old Friends derived from our mothers, other people, animals, and theenvironment. It is suggested that the requirement for microbial input from the environment to drive immunoregulation is a major component of the beneficial effect of green space, and a neglected ecosystem service that is essential for our well-being. This insight will allow green spaces to be designed to optimize health benefits and will provide impetus from health systems for the preservation of ecosystem biodiversity. (PNAS, 2013)
Where do you get your Old Friends?
Facebook?
From a bottle of SBO probiotics (like me lol)?
Farm-acology by Daphne Miller, MD
I love this book. I'm reading it so slowly so I can never finish it... Dr Miller interviewed a bunch of old school and new school farmers. As a result she uses a farm-based approach to her clinic patients, encouraging gardening and working the dirt at a local CSA instead of pharmaceuticals. Apparently she is seeing wonderful results. Here's some of her dirrrrty thoughts... How dirt heals us (YES magazine).