Sunday, November 2, 2014

The Gut Guardians Podcast: Episode 04 – THE ULTIMATE GUT GUARDIAN...BIFIDOBACTERIA

Episode 04 – The Ultimate Gut Guardian: Bifidobacteria

SBO’s are usually the key probiotics for those experiencing gut troubles. Matt on the other hand, wants to share how Bifido played a key role in his recovery. Grace explains why it was the missing link in his recovery. Bifido wasn’t just helpful for Matt, but as Grace explains, it is truly one our bodies biggest gut guardians. Oh and they LOVE CARBS. You’ll find out all about the wonders Bifido provides for our guts in this episode.

Enjoy!

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Show Notes:

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any comments on this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/opinion/sunday/there-is-no-healthy-microbiome.html

Dr. B G said...

If you're a reader of the 7 steps and my blog, what do you think? I see healthier microbiomes all the time! Health and disease reversals go hand in hand with these changes. Only people who are powerless to affect their microbiomes like Ed Yong say ludicrous things like that article. And other idiots will tell lies about white powder and what it will do for your microbiome, hiding science and studies. Ed is sad because he is truly a smart and funny guy!

Dr. B G said...

(idiots=incl me LOL, so bionic fiber is getting edited soon FYI)

Nathan said...

Dr. BG

Towards the end of the podcast you threw out a reference to vaccine damage and autism.

I'm interested in this because I'm very open to the idea that the whole vaccine protocol that we've developed over the last century or so may well be causing damage to our immune systems (and health overall) that is very underappreciated, to say the least.

And I hypothesize that there may be a much better way of inoculating ourselves against diseases if we take a new look at it with all that we're learning about our gut and it's relationship to our immune system (among other factors). But I am a layman here, to say the least.

With regard to the vaccine/autism issue, it's "well known" that this is false and that the study that established that link was fraudulent, etc. I really don't know whether all that's true or not, as I'm very skeptical of most everything I see that's "established mainstream consensus", etc. But I'm very interested.

And so, with all that said, I'm interested in whether you have some good science/studies/references, etc. that shows a link between vaccines causing damage leading to autism.

Thanks so much for your great work.

Anonymous said...

Great talk,

What about other blood types and type o+, and blood types in general? (Paul @ phd doesn't think
blood types make a difference at least diet wise.)

Foxy said...

Nathan - what I find interesting and warrants much more research is that Cuba apparently has almost the same vaccine schedule as the US, with nearly 100% compliance (no religious or philosophical exemptions there!) and almost no autism (if you can believe their stats, but children with autism are rather hard to hide). I suspect it's because Cuba drastically reined in their antibiotic use in the 90s - they don't dump them on their livestock (where 80% of US antibiotics end up) and only hospitals can prescribe them. Also, Tylenol is very hard to acquire - prescription only. So many tales of regression that I've heard involve a sick toddler visiting the pediatrician and being given a bunch of catch up vaccinations, a prescription for antibiotics and glutathione depleting Tylenol for pain. However, I've also talked to several parents who had children who regressed who had never been vaccinated at all, so clearly vaccinations aren't the sole cause, but rather, I believe, a contributor to the tipping point that kicks off the regressive autism cascade.

Our gut microbiomes are under increasing assault from antibiotics, poor maternal transfer, pesticides (Roundup), EMFs, crappy SAD diets, etc. I suspect the intense vaccination schedule (which has quadrupled since the 80s, back when autism was 1 in 10,000) combined with a broken/breaking gut=disaster.

Anonymous said...

Foxy,

interesting about Cuba. I remember reading something a few years back about how it is the only place in the world where diabetes isn't increasing and the epidemologists don't have a convincing explanation as to why.

Dr. B G said...

Nathan,

you're in lucky -- Keith just wrote a 2-part series for Sayer Ji at greenmed.

http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-critical-role-of-microflora-in.html


Foxy,
Thanks for your thoughts. I concur on every point! We have been in Europe and Asia and able to see the vast differences in health (eg, they have it) and the United States. If we could make the right testing mandatory to illuminate gut health, we would probably get a lot further. Some simple gut and urine testing tells whether a gut is (a) permeable and (b) which vipers/yeasts/microbes are present or missing. Problem no docs are trained to deal.

Anon--Cuba has great CIGARS TOO and escaping musicians/dancers.


Anon--Blood type is very subtle for gut health (unless they are Type B). What is an even stronger factor for predictive value of health and disease is the secretor status -- non secretors statistically have less bifido and Akkermansia and more disease.

Naturally this is not hard to overcome -- avoiding the SAD diet and antibiotics, plus adding in probiotics and prebiotics (not potato starch) can make up for gut deficits thankfully! Here is a good piece by the first who made a lot of sense of it all.
http://n-equals-one.com/blogs/2011/04/22/enterotypes-and-blood-types2/

If you can do a report at MTHFR.com -- the secretor status for several of the alleles are included. They imho are not entirely accurate or complete but can give some clues. My kids and I are non-secretors for an important Asian FUT2 variant. Your ethnicity and the studies for different ethnic groups also determines some of the merit of the variants. I suspect my ancestors ate abundant plant polysaccharides and thus it didn't make a different what their secretor status was, but enjoyed Norovirus protection against gastroenteritis. Being a non-secretor may confer a benefit such as long term nonprogression of HIV also.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16514298

Nathan said...

Thanks Doc, I'll take a look at that.

Unknown said...

Great topic/show. One really interesting thing about bifidobacteria is production of lactate and acetate which feeds butyrate-belching clostridia. Recently, I've wondered if bifidobacteria explains the French Paradox based on this crossfeeding and not so much about dietary butyrate, i.e., the French consume 5x as much butter as Americans.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3870204&fileId=S0007114508019880
http://aem.asm.org/content/72/5/3593.short
http://aem.asm.org/content/72/12/7835.short
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168160511001395

Nathan, great gut instincts, I felt the same. And, Foxy, that's really interesting about Cuba. It really does appear we can't blame vaccine injury on vaccines alone, but we should be able to guard against them instead of treating infants like livestock. (Gut Guardians might consider a show on antibiotics in meat.)

Foxy said...

Antibiotic use needs to be reined in - NOW. I recently developed a nasty infection from a stubbed toe that had to be treated by my doctor. My doctor said that her practice had just received a letter from the CDC warning that the age of antibiotics was over, so good luck with that! So, unless something is done soon we people may start dying soon from simple infections. Not only because antibiotics will be useless, we have been so reckless with antibiotics that we have created some real X-men bacteria (i.e., MRSA).

There has been almost a complete US media blackout about the event due to the third rail that questioning vaccine safety has become, but recently in Europe a version of the swine flu vaccine manufactured by Pandemrix triggered an especially virulent form of narcolepsy, an neuro autoiommune disorder, in children. It started in Finland. Now, many Fins received the shot and were just fine. But the victims all shared a genetic type and were aged 6 - 14. What's interesting is that 1/3 of all Finns have this genetic type, but 1/3 of Finns aren't falling asleep on the road and at the Nokia factory. But something about the combination of the shot given at a certain stage of development of their immune system in a genetically predisposed population triggered an autoimmune disease.


Vaccines have been known to trigger autoimmune diseases - my neighbor was in a wheelchair from Guillain-Barre for three years following the Swine Flu vaccine back in '76. (She's lucky - 30 people died from the vaccine).

Many children with 'autism' have a family history rife with autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, Diabetes 1, Celiac, Crohn's), which suggests a genetic vulnerability to an immune system malfunction.

So, if a child has a family history of autoimmunity, and if the child has received antibiotics (due to the developing information about gut flora and vaccine interaction), I would hold off or do a much more modified schedule. But that would admit that the vaccine schedule is not inviolate and that hundred of thousands of children were tragically, irreparably damaged by it. The crisis in credibility would be so immense that the medical community might never recover. Meanwhile, scores of new vaccines pharmaceutical companies (who are immune from liability) are eager to throw on the already overloaded schedule are in the pipeline.

Unknown said...

Right on, Foxy, though "family history rife with autoimmune disorders" may also suggest microbial predisposition. Focus on genes such as the new Dravet study where genes are blamed for vaccine induced epilepsy may be misleading as Dravet Syndrome accounts for only "2.5% of reported seizures following vaccinations in the first year of life." http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0065758
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/09/09/peds.2014-0690.abstract

I recently heard gluten-free helps narcolepsy.

Unknown said...

Similar with Celiac genes:
"Not everyone who carries celiac disease genes ultimately will develop celiac disease — in fact, while up to 40% of the population has one or both of the necessary genes, only 1% of the population actually has celiac disease."
http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/diagnosingceliacdisease/a/Celiac-Disease-Genetic-Testing.htm

Doggerms said...

Dr. Grace

Your updates on potato starch and the message to constantly strive against powerlessness by using science and testing is such a great healing experience. You are so aptly named I hope you keep developing on the theme of hope grounded in science.

Nathan said...

And not that it's directly on topic here, but I just had to say it:

We're ruining our beloved dogs/cats health in all the same ways with terrible diet (processed crap with sprayed on "nutrients" and full of crappy grain) and vaccination practices that are out of control (yearly "boosters" is a very common practice).

God knows what their gut microbiomes look like after this assault. I know that their health has been on a slide similar to humans' over the last several decades.

Vets have largely sold out their customers for the profits from hawking food and pushing drugs (and providing all the "healthcare" required after the damage is done). Sounds familiar, eh?

I won't go on about this, and it's secondary to human health, for sure. But it's a further reflection of all that's gone wrong with nutrition and healthcare in this country/world. And it's largely ignored as people put their trust in their vets' advice and follow blindly.

Dr. B G said...

Doggerms,

I just try to evolve with shifting data! Thank you for your kind thoughts. It was encouraging for me to hear 'theme of hope grounded in science'. We have so much hope. Theories may be limited, but hope endless.


Nathan,
Personally I've lost 3 cats to diseases of modernity. No antibiotics and little vaccines but cat kibble really rapidly did them in -- 2 Graves and one severe T2 diabetes requiring insulin. Seafood, soft canned food (mercury, BPA, etc), after years of grain/soy fillers. I hear you!! Like hosts, like pets!! All of our foster kitties in the recent years have been beacons of wild type health -- shiny coats, happy animals -- eating probiotics and grain free, primal, native kibble (Orijens).

Foxy said...

I am so tired of the billions being thrown down the 'genetic cause' research rat hole, since, from what we're learning, it's all about epigenetics - the staggeringly complicated interplay among hundreds of different genes, the gut microbiome and environmental triggers. Claiming something is 'genetic' causes a fatalistic attitude, because hey - it's your destiny, it's written in your genes! Shut up and take your pharmaceutical and live your new reality and don't ask questions. It also blames the victim, because what are you going to do? They are genetically defective. I have seen these comments directed at parents of children with autism on the 'science blogs' - you're just looking for someone to blame but it's just your defective genes. Absolutely vile. It also lets the culprits off the hook - why go after polluters or whatever's triggering the conditions when it's all about the written-in-stone genes.

Foundations like Susan Komen (when only 10% of breast cancer has genetic ties!) and Autism Speaks love researching genetic causes because they can sit in their lab in sinecures and never have to worry about alienating corporate sponsors or causing controversy or changing the status quo.

Keith Bell - I believe you're so right about familial history of autoimmunity and a microbial predisposition, since I suspect that autoimmunity begins with a bad gut and intestinal permeability.

As far as our pets and vaccine damage, my vet mentioned vaccinosis about a decade ago, and how she liked to check titers. Is it still considered a 'quack' diagnosis?

Dr. B G said...

Foxy,

Yes I get so angered too when people attribute genes for diseases because our genes haven't changed in the last couple of thousand years, but the introduction of gut disruption has in only the last 50 yrs (antibiotics, C sections, sanitation, mercury, vaccinations, etc).

You said 'autoimmunity begins with a bad gut and intestinal permeability'.

What my stance is now is that we get autoimmunity as a result of permeability but the triggers for that may be a consequence of ultimately only 2 things:
1-- missing gut allies (the 7 core ancestral gut straints)
2 -- too many renegades in the gut

The renegades are parasites, enterobacter and yeasts, which start taking up higher real estate in the gut as a result of all the above factors you mentioned and even the genetic factors that you dismissed (celiac gene variants, FUT2, compromised detox genes like MTHFR GSTM GSTT GSTP COMT etc).

Unknown said...

Speaking of Mr. Yong, here's his latest piece about the new study making waves in the news re: genes regulating microbial populations:
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/11/06/the-most-heritable-gut-bacterium-is-wait-what-is-that-2/

Lead study author, Ruth Ley, is busy driving egoistic, apathetic treatment of gut dysbiosis, including continued disregard of environmental issues skewing microbial balance. In the recent past, she could barely admit possibility the womb isn't sterile.

When will diabetes and obesity be seen as an environmental health issues?

Of course, genes are important. But they're mutated and turned on and off like light switches by microbes.

The heritable microbe in question in Ley's study on which everything supposedly hinges is a member of the clostridia family. In contradiction to previous studies, it was found slightly more similar in identical vs. non-identical twins.

Meanwhile, this recent study found clostridia the third bacterial community to flourish in fetal GI tracts (in the womb!). Preterm infants have more gammaproteobacteria, i.e. E. coli. Did Ley's study factor gestation period? Of course not.
http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/27198.aspx
"Earliest in life, a group of bacteria called Bacilli dominated. Then, a class known as Gammaproteobacteria became abundant. Third, the class identified as Clostridia flourished."

Two more articles about the new gene-promoting study:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/11/genes-influence-types-microbes-human-gut
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29904132
"However, Dr Ley pointed out that the overarching factor contributing to obesity was a sedentary lifestyle."
I disagree and believe children are relegated to lives of obesity (and anorexia) based on microbial predisposition.

Foxy said...

I talked to a mom whose child has a life-threatening peanut allergy (and there is at least one in every class at my kids' school)and she had been beating herself up because she felt she passed along 'bad' genes to her child. I also have a friend who has Diabetes 1 and his attitude is c'est la vie! It's my bad genes. He's not interested in trying to reverse it at all. I have several friends whose children have Crohn's and giving up wheat is not a possibility, but taking scary immunosuppressive drugs is just fine. Standard of care of treatment of pediatric Crohn's doesn't even include diet.
I've been noting how our new reality of sick children is reflected in popular culture - I.e., the kid who's having an asthma attack who forgot their inhaler at a very inconvenient time (World War Z, The Strain) is almost becoming a trope. And The Simpsons, when Mr. Burns comments, "I don't like to go outdoors these days - too many fat children."
Keith - have you seen the documentary The Autism Enigma? Unless you're in Canada, you can't stream it, unfortunately, but I got the DVD at my library. http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/autism-enigma
It implicates a particularly nasty strain of neurotoxin-producing clostridia in certain cases. of regressive autism. It features a mother and her son with regressive autism who responded very promisingly to the antibiotic Vancomycin. There were problems with the Clostridia going into protective spore form, and there were political reasons against using antibiotics as a standard treatment of care since Vancomycin is an antibiotic of last resort against resistant strains, so the medical community is understandably very possessive of it.
http://cogentbenger.com/autism/interviews/finegold-interview/

Unknown said...

Foxy, I would love to see that film and have searched for it a few times, catching only segments. Hard to believe it's not available on the net. I'll check my local library, thanks for the tip. It seems like we're mowing down protective bifidobacteria in a toxic environment leading to pathogenic strains of clostridia overgrowing. Chronic botulism in the environment is associated with the biogas industry, for example.