As a gastroenterologist, I see remarkable improvements in my patients’ skin once they’ve healed their gut issues – which in most cases involve an increase in prebiotic and probiotic foods and a robust probiotic supplement. A gut-skin connection is strongly supported in scientific studies – more than half of all acne sufferers have significant […]
1. Could our ability to feed both the world and our gut microbes lie in the very place where all food begins…the soil? The Guardian 2. Curcumin is HOT (where health media is concerned). Is all the hype true? A recent review of the use of curcumin in cancer therapy suggests yes Frontiers in […]
The hypothesis began in the early 1900’s with psychiatrist Henry Cotton, whose first line of therapy for mental illness was the removal of decaying teeth. If unsuccessful, Cotton moved on to removing other potentially infected body parts – including the colon – to relieve psychiatric disorders. Fast-forward 100 years and it turns out Dr. Cotton […]
Washing dishes by hand, instead of by dishwasher, decreases food allergies in children, and the benefits increase when families eat food directly from the farm. Pediatrics Scientists request international efforts for microbiome research. Yet some scientists are skeptical, including University of Michigan microbiologist, Pat Schloss, who tweeted, “We have a global effort. It’s […]
“Drop a bunch of kale into your cart and you’re more likely to head next to the ice cream or beer section. The more “virtuous” products you have in your basket, the stronger your temptation to succumb to vice,” says Alex Hutchinson in his New York Times Op-ed, How Salad Can Make Us Fat, which […]
1). “I don’t think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet.” (Steven Hawking) But will our microbes survive beyond earth? A NASA study hopes to shed light on this very important question CNET 2). A Fitbit for your digestive tract? Sensors that spend time in your digestive tract and […]
A fascinating study published in Microbial Ecology took a close look at the bacteria in the feces of 19 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and 20 healthy controls. They found remarkable differences between the two groups: fecal samples in people with CRC showed signs of an imbalanced microbiome, with higher levels of pathogens and lower […]
1. Colon cancer linked to specific gut bacteria. Altering the specific gut bacteria associated with cancers may be a viable strategy for treatment and prevention American Society of Human Genetics 2015 Meeting 2. Bank your stool and preserve your health. This cutting-edge medical therapy could be a real fix for microbial depletion and a plausible way to achieve […]
In his October 9th New York Times Op-ed, Moises Velasquez-Manoff asks the question: “Why [aren’t] doctors [working] harder to prevent [the collateral damage of antibiotics], not with store-bought probiotics, but with ‘microbial restoration’?” The microbial restoration he’s referring to is the process of using your own stool (autologous fecal transplant) to recolonize your gut when […]
When I was pregnant with my daughter I planned for a natural birth. But as luck would have it, I tested positive for group B strep (GBS) and was told I would need IV antibiotics before delivery to protect my daughter from the risk of serious infection. Like most people, I was unaware that antibiotics […]