When Klebsiella oxytoca, a native species found in the gut of healthy fruit flies, was fed to artificially sterilized male flies, their sexual performance was enhanced.

This finding is not only one of the clearest demonstrations to date that the reintroduction of a specific microorganism can improve the overall fitness of a host, but it also demonstrates a direct connection between a gut microbe and host behaviour – specifically, in this case, a first link between a gut microbe and sexual behavior.

The fact that the return of just one bacterium was able to restore the flies’ sexual prowess adds to the growing evidence that bacteria can be effective therapeutic agents.

We already know that, in humans, the gut microbiota affects obesity, heart disease and diabetes, and it is beginning to look like the gut could even emerge as the most important organ for regulating health and disease, mainly through the actions of the bacteria it contains.

Having M.E./Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I desperately needed all the rest I could get and relied on a good sleep at night and two lengthy periods of deep relaxation/meditation during my waking hours in order to get through the day without feeling too dreadful.

But, as my health steadily declined, I began to develop a tendency to become uncontrollably restless just as I was going to sleep, and also after I’d been meditating for 10 or 15 minutes, a situation that threatened to scupper the energetic equilibrium that I was already having to work so hard to maintain.

I reported the problem – which mostly affected my right leg – to my GP, but he didn’t recognise any specific condition and could only suggest that I take sleeping tablets to knock me out at night, and prescribed an …azepam drug, which was fine for one night, but, if I took it for more than two nights, it actually made the problem worse.

When I returned to see the doctor, after doing some homework, I was able to give him detailed information about Restless Leg Syndrome, which was clearly the problem I was experiencing. He admitted that he had not heard of this, but he was willing to learn and, together, we explored several therapeutic approaches. Unfortunately, none proved successful.

I then tried electroacupuncture – again unsuccessfully – and sought, but could not find, an osteopath familiar with the use of the Dalrymple pump technique, which I had heard might help.

The usual nutritional approaches – taking magnesium, calcium and potassium, and avoiding caffeine – didn’t work either, nor did vitamin E or a strong B complex formulation, nor even drinking tonic water (for the quinine). And, as the problem got worse, I began to find that drugs taken for other conditions, such as metoclopramide to treat gastroparesis, could dramatically worsen the symptoms.

It was at this point that I first encountered hookworm, a development that was eventually to transform my health in many ways.

So many of my multifarious symptoms disappeared or were significantly reduced after getting ‘hooked’ that I was overcome by all the remarkable improvements I was enjoying, and didn’t immediately notice the actual moment of cessation of several of these, my restless legs included.

I was looking at a list of autoimmune diseases when I happened to notice that RLS was among the 150-plus diseases included, and the realisation suddenly dawned that this – one of ‘my conditions’ – was no longer a problem for me. I was almost as shocked to acknowledge that I hadn’t noticed its passing as I was relieved that it was finally gone.

I immediately looked up the record I had begun after getting my hookworm, and found that references to RLS began to reduce rapidly from the fifth week post inoculation. There was no record at all of restlessness from weeks 6 to 10, only a few mild episodes between weeks 10 and 19, and then absolutely nothing from then onwards!

It’s now 18 months since I adopted my treasured harem of hookies, and there has been no sign at all of any restlessness in my legs since week 19, a fact about which I am even more relieved, having just read that, in the absence of other effective medical options, doctors have recently begun to use the drug Qualaquin to treat RLS.

Qualaquin is approved for the treatment of a type of malaria, not RLS, and it has the potential to adversely affect almost every body system. The list of its effects includes permanent kidney damage, deafness, blindness, cardiovascular problems, severe nose bleeds, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The FDA have already released a statement alerting consumers to these dangers, after receiving a slew of reports of side effects including serious and life-threatening reactions.

My hookworm initially caused some temporary gastric symptoms, particularly diarrhoea, but the small number I have will never cause any worse effect than this, so I’m hugely relieved that I discovered them before my GP got round to suggesting I try Qualaquin!

Fortunately, the surgical team (at a hospital in Nottingham, UK) were equipped to use a new nerve block technique to numb his whole arm.

My friend was completely fascinated by the whole experience, from the anaesthetist commenting that it was a good thing they were using ultrasound to guide the injection because the nerves in his shoulder were not where they should have been, to hearing, but not feeling, the staples driving into his shoulder.

Best of all, was the fact that the hookworm-induced diarrhoea that he had been experiencing before the operation, continued after it, confirming that the anaesthetic had not put paid to the little guys in his gut. Had he had a general anaesthetic, the nitrous oxide would have killed them outright.

The truth about the importance of diet for health is now at last becoming more widely realised, but only since the advent of the internet and amongst those with the discernment, or luck, to find the nuggets of truth among the boulders of misinformation.

Unfortunately, government agencies still often issue dietary advice that is flawed, or aimed at the wrong target, as in the report recently released by the UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) saying that junk food high in saturated and trans fats and salt is responsible for thousands of unnecessary deaths.

While it is true that processed trans fats are bad news, a far greater problem is created by sugar and refined carbohydrates, which are arguably the most important driver of chronic disease today, but this truth is effectively kept under wraps by the efforts of a very powerful sugar lobby, a situation that is repeated across the entire dietary spectrum.

Fortunately, a new approach has cast fresh light onto all of this confusion by offering an alternative to flawed official information and commercially-driven dietary guidance.

A leading UK nutritionist has carried out a large survey to establish exactly which foods are associated with optimal health, surveying over 55,000 Britons to compare subjective ratings of health with consumption of specific food groups in order to derive a research-based guideline for healthy eating.

Whereas most research into diet and health compares diet intakes with the prevalence of diagnosed diseases, the online ‘100% Health Survey’ – the largest ever comprehensive health and diet survey carried out in Britain – has, uniquely, compared the diets of those in robust health with those who have a plethora of health issues that may reasonably be expected to progress to disease unless the underlying causes are addressed.

The results show how the sub-optimal health that is the lot of so many today is closely related to diet, and reveal exactly which types of food are associated with good and poor health.

Foods most frequently associated with good health

* Nuts and seeds
* Fresh fruit
* Vegetables/salad
* Oily fish
* Water

Foods linked to neither really good nor really bad health

* Red meat
* Restaurant/processed meals
* Refined foods
* Tea, coffee and cola

Foods most frequently associated with poor health

* Dairy products
* Added sugar
* Wheat
* Salt
* Sugar-based snacks

Consumption of sugary snacks and drinks was by far the best predictor of poor health for every measure of health looked at (energy, digestion, immunity, hormonal and mental health), confirming that sugar is the worst of the ‘bad’ foods – much worse than alcohol or salt. In fact, indulging in sweets and sugary snacks more than double one’s chances of being in poor health, while avoiding them will make one six times more likely to enjoy optimal health.

These findings cut across much conventional dietary wisdom. For example, nuts and seeds, which are often avoided today because of their fat and calorie content, come up as excellent predictors of good health, and both wheat and milk, which are considered by many to be staples and are in almost every form of convenience food, are shown to be associated with poor health.

Another surprise was the impact of alcohol. Results showed that those drinking a unit of alcohol a day, eg a small glass of wine, were less likely to be in poor health than abstainers, although this relationship does not hold up for larger amounts of alcohol.

Collating all the data from the survey, the following general dietary recommendations emerged.

* Increase consumption of fresh, raw seeds and nuts to 3 servings per day.

* Increase consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables to a combined total of 8-10 servings a day.

* Increase consumption of oily fish to 3 servings per week.

* Increase consumption of water to 8 glasses per day (approximately 1.5 litres).

* Reduce the consumption of red meat to a maximum of 2 servings per week, particularly those already in poor digestive health.

* Minimise the consumption of restaurant and processed meals.

* Reduce consumption of refined foods (white bread, flour and rice etc.) to a maximum of 1 serving per day.

* Eliminate tea, coffee and cola consumption or limit these to very occasional use.

* Reduce dairy product consumption to a maximum of 1 serving per day.

* Avoid adding sugar to food or drinks.

* Reduce wheat consumption to a maximum of 1 serving per day (bread, pasta, pizza etc.)

* Avoid adding salt to food.

* Eliminate sugar-based snacks (chocolate bars, biscuits, etc.) or limit these products to very occasional use.

Advocates of the Paleolithic Diet will note with interest the fact that the top six food types identified by this study as being most associated with good health are essentially the same as those eaten by our early human ancestors.

One of the reasons why this type of diet is so good for us is likely to be that adopting a diet for which our digestive system is best adapted alters the balance of our indigenous microbes, favouring intestinal bacteria that are most beneficial to us.

Scientists have recently revealed a good example of this phenomenon, which is a much quicker way for an animal to acquire a new defence than having to laboriously mutate its own genes over many generations.

A type of bacterium called Spiroplasma has been found to provide black flies with an effective defence against a parasite that impairs their reproduction, an advantage that is also passed naturally from mother to offspring.

The researchers suggest that this phenomenon may actually be common and that it may have been occurring undetected in many different organisms for ages. It could also, they propose, be employed to help control parasitic worms in humans to prevent such diseases as river blindness and elephantiasis.

Perhaps bacteria could also be used to control, rather than eradicate hookworm in those populations that are over-burdened by these organisms. This approach would obviate an unrecognised disadvantage of hookworm vaccines that arises from their removal of recipients’ ability to host hookworm in the long term, which potentially may set the stage for the development of allergy and autoimmune disease (as a result of the loss of the hookworm’s antiinflammatory benefits) and simultaneously deprive recipients of the opportunity to relieve these conditions by means of helminthic therapy.

The study does not pinpoint the reasons for this rise, but one possible factor may be the changing demographics of the region surveyed, which has seen a significant increase in the proportion of Asian and Hispanic residents. This group’s risk of IBD tends to go up, as a result of westernization, after they leave their home countries – a process also observed in South Asian immigrants to the UK and Mexican immigrants to the U.S.

One of the key elements of westernization which may adversely impact immigrants is the reduction in exposure to commensal organisms, otherwise known as our ‘old friends’.

Remission from colitis can certainly be facilitated by replacing selected ‘old friends’ in the guts of patients, particularly probiotic worms and the the so-called ‘friendly’ bacteria.

Previous studies have indicated an association between a disturbance of intestinal flora and colitis, and beneficial gut bugs are already known to have an important role in balancing the intestinal bacterial population. But past studies looking at the effects on colitis of taking probiotic bacteria were of limited size and offered no definitive conclusion.

Now, however, a Chinese meta-analysis has concluded that probiotics can indeed be of value in maintaining remission in colitis.

Related posts:

New worm whips colitis into shape.

Worm-derived proteins effective against colitis.

A probiotic for IBD.

Breast milk probiotic may help ease gut disorders.

Genetically engineered bacteria effective against IBD.

In a recent study, two strains of Streptococcus salivarius were found to be able to bind to human pharyngeal cells and combat the pathogenic bacterium S. pyogenes, one of the main causes of upper respiratory infection, especially in children between age 5 and 12.

This discovery raises the possibility that some upper respiratory infections may be preventable by administering a common, commensal bacterium such as S. salivarius as a probiotic – perhaps in the form of a lozenge. This would clearly help to avoid the use of antibiotics, the usual therapy employed against these infections.

Previous studies have shown that ingestion of S. salivarius helps to reduce halitosis and also to inhibit systemic inflammatory cytokines, so this bacterium could have a role in lowering inflammation at other sites throughout the body, perhaps extending the domain of probiotics to areas where they have not previously been considered to have a role, such as the stomach, vaginal tract, skin and mouth.

A study being conducted currently in New Zealand is exploring the possibility that sore throats and ear infections may be reduced by having mothers-to-be suck lozenges containing streptococcus salivarius K12 every day during the last month of their pregnancy to colonise their mouths with these bacteria, then to transfer their spit, via kissing, to their offspring, after birth.

This development is reminiscent of the practice of transplanting faecal material from the guts of healthy donors into the guts of patients with Clostridium difficile infection, or ulcerative colitis, as well as its use in horses with idiopathic diarrhoea, in which case the sick horse is inoculated with bacteria from the gut of a healthy animal.

The potential therapeutic use of commensal bacteria that are well adapted to their human host, though not present in all individuals, fills me with hope for a more sane form of medicine in which doctors would be able to heal without inflicting the collateral damage that is so typical today with the synthetic pharmaceutical agents that are essentially all that is on offer to patients of mainstream medicine.

Related posts:

‘Friendly’ bacteria: side-lined healers.

Probiotic lozenges promote oral health.

Already popular as a health food in Eastern and Central Europe, kefir is now gaining fans among Western European consumers because it is easily digested and has probiotic and neutraceutical properties.

After consuming kefir for three weeks, mice injected with an egg allergen during a study in 2006 showed a reduction of 66 and 50 per cent respectively in levels of the allergy-specific Immunoglobin E (IgE) and G1 (IgG1).

Also of potential significance from this study was the finding that the kefir had changed the microflora of the intestines, increasing numbers of the beneficial bacteria Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, while decreasing levels of the potentially harmful bacterium Clostridium.

Furthermore, the researchers reported that kefir prevented food antigens passing through the intestinal wall, and that the fermented milk is also thought to stimulate macrophage (scavenger cell) production, thus improving immunity.

The recently completed research sought to establish the safety and efficacy of BCG vaccination as a therapeutic agent for the prevention and reversal of existing type 1 diabetes and to define the exact dose and timing of administration of the vaccine.

Previous preclinical studies by the same team had established that temporarily elevating levels of an immune modulator called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) can selectively and permanently eliminate the autoimmune T cells found in mice and humans with type 1 diabetes, and thus precipitate the regeneration of insulin-producing islet cells and restore the production of normal levels of insulin.

The BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) vaccine, which contains a live but weakened form of Mycobacterium bovis – the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis (TB) – was used because its administration is known to increase levels of TNF in humans.

Until recently, it had been generally believed that, in humans, beta cells divide only very infrequently after the first year or so of life and that they do not readily proliferate once type 1 diabetes is diagnosed, but recent research has shown that insulin-producing beta cells can proliferate in patients recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and even that different pancreatic cells can change into functional beta cells.

Having now shown that low-dose, multi-dosing regimens of BCG vaccination are safe in individuals with type 1 diabetes and that there were no severe reactions to the vaccine, the Massachusetts team are now planning the next stage of their research.

Not only is the possibility of reversing type 1 diabetes now on the cards, but it looks likely that this may be achieved by administering the already available BCG vaccine, and what works for type 1 diabetes may potentially benefit patients with other types of autoimmune disease, so this work offers a glimmer of real hope to many.

Unfortunately, modern medicine effectively deprives many babies of a significant part of their bacterial birthright by carrying out caesarian births (Babies’ First Bacteria Depend On Birthing Method), a loss which may then be compounded by subsequent bottle feeding (Breast Milk Sugars Give Infants a Protective Coat) and have health implications such as an increased risk of allergies and asthma.

Eighty per cent of the immune system is gut-associated, and maternally-derived probiotics are essential for healthy immune programming. There is also no easy way to belatedly reclaim the benefits lost as a result of c-section births, because no other bacterial source can quite match the donation of a complete microflora from one’s mother.

Only bacteria that have been pre-programmed within one body are fully accepted into the intestines of another, and able to survive there long-term. Probiotics that have been artificially cultured tend not to successfully colonise the gut, and must be taken on a regular basis, often indefinitely.

Nevertheless, there is clear evidence that at least some probiotics can and do offer significant benefits to babies, as is evident from the following recent research.

Probiotics help preemies gain weight

In a recent study, extremely premature infants whose food was supplemented with Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium infantis had better weight gain than infants who were not given the supplements.

Based on their findings, the researchers hypothesize that infants who receive probiotic-supplemented feedings should be able to tolerate a larger volume of food each day, gain weight faster and require fewer days of antimicrobial treatment.

Probiotics reduce crying time in infants with colic

After only one week of supplementation with the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri Protectis, the daily crying time of infants with colic was reduced 74%, compared with only 38% in the placebo group.

At the end of the study, 84% of the supplemented infants had resolved their colic (dropped to less than three hours of crying), a significantly greater number than the 43% of the placebo group who experienced a similar improvement.

Probiotics may prevent allergy in infants

When a probiotic E. coli strain was administered to infants of allergic mothers within 48 hours of birth, and then 3 times each week for 4 weeks, allergy symptoms developed in only 2 of the treated babies, compared with 14 in the untreated group.

The probiotic employed in this study may therefore be an effective means of allergy prevention in infants of allergic mothers.

Infancy is not the only stage of development in which beneficial bacteria have a valuable role to play in promoting child health. Giving microbes to pregnant women may benefit their offspring, and probiotics continue to be of value to children as they grow past infancy.

Probiotic drink reduces infections in children in daycare

Studies in other countries have already established that probiotics can produce positive health benefits in children, including a reduction in the number of school days missed due to infections.

In a recent US study, which was funded by The Dannon Company, Inc., makers of the functional food tested in the trial, a 19 percent decrease of common infections was found among the children who took the drink.

Consumption of the strawberry yogurt-like drink DanActive (containing the probiotic strain L. casei DN-114 001) produced a 24% reduction in gastrointestinal infections, resulting in less diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, and 18% fewer upper respiratory tract infections (such as ear infections, sinusitis and strep), although, in this trial, the reduction in infections did not result in fewer missed school days or activities.

Related posts:

Breast milk probiotic may help ease gut disorders.

Kefir benefits the sickest young children on antibiotics.

Good bugs prevent colds and flu.

‘Friendly’ bacteria: side-lined healers.

Getting real about antibiotics.

What happens when the good guys disappear?

In ground-breaking research, molecules on the surface of bacterial spores have been observed binding to molecules on the surfaces of B lymphocytes – key components of the immune system that produce antibodies which fight harmful viruses and bacteria. This union then resulted in the B cells dividing and multiplying.

This discovery could potentially lead to the use of bacterial spores to treat people with weak or undeveloped immune systems, and perhaps even to fight cancers.

Researchers studying the parasitic nematode Trichuris muris in mice have concluded that gut parasites have an essential role to play in developing immunity, as part of a complex and subtle interaction that has developed between helminths, intestinal bacteria and their hosts to provide an efficient and beneficial ecosystem for all concerned.

For further comment on this research, see: New gut ecosystem model?

Earlier studies have shown that populations of gut bacteria in the obese are different from those in lean people, and that, when obese people lose weight, their microflora reverts to what is seen in lean people. Previous studies have also demonstrated that the bacterium, Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 (LG2055), may reduce the level of fat in animals.

Now it has been shown that daily supplements of the same strain of Lactobacillus may help weight loss in obese humans.

In this latest study, subjects consumed a fermented milk product containing LG2055 for twelve weeks, at which point they showed a 4.6 per cent reduction in abdominal fat, a 3.3 per cent reduction in subcutaneous fat, an overall drop in body weight of 1.4 per cent and a waist size decrease of 1.8 per cent.

Some people are using the eggs of the pig whipworm, Trichuris suis, to treat colitis but, as this organism only survives in humans for a couple of weeks, regular dosing is required, and the cost of this continued treatment is considerable. By comparison, the human whipworm survives in humans for approximately two years, representing much greater convenience and much lower cost.

The only side effects of human whipworm treatment are very minor, temporary symptoms in the first few weeks after taking a dose of the eggs (in a drink), and there are no long-term adverse effects, which puts this treatment in an entirely different league from the current therapies offered by mainstream medicine in the form of pharmaceutical drugs, the majority of which carry serious risks from long-term use, and some of which may prove fatal.

Both hookworm and whipworm can be obtained, for self-administration, from Autoimmune Therapies.

The bacterium decreased the force of muscle contractions within minutes of exposure.

This discovery suggests that increasing the intake of this bacterium may help alleviate symptoms in a wide range of gut disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, functional bowel disorders, and constipation.

There is already considerable evidence for the beneficial effects of L. Reuteri, which has been shown to possess pronounced anti-inflammatory properties. Strains of this bacterium are known to be helpful in warding off genitourinary infections, promoting oral health, preventing eczema and reducing fever, stomach infections and common colds in children.

A strain of L. reuteri (L. reuteri Protectis) has, for a number of years, been included in an over-the-counter treatment for infant colic called Infacol Probiotic Drops.