Fertilize the garden called “bowel flora”

I like to think of bowel flora, the thousand or so species of microorganisms that inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract, as a garden. Probiotics, i.e., anything that provides microorganisms believed to be among the desired inhabitants such as the various Lactobacillus or Bifidobacteria species, are like planting seeds for peppers and zucchini in your garden in spring time. But what if you planted your seeds, then neglected to water and fertilize your garden? If you’re lucky, you might have a few peppers and zucchini after a few weeks, but you’re more likely to have a few stunted vegetables or nothing except a few shriveled vines. A successful garden requires water and fertilizer. So it goes with bowel flora. You eliminate the extraordinary bowel-disruptive effects of grains–gliadin, gliadin-derived peptides, wheat germ agglutinin, indigestible D-amino acids, trypsin inhibitors, and others–then “plant” some desired species from a probiotic preparation or fermented food, but then fail to nourish them. It means that desired species may not proliferate, they may not outnumber and overpower unhealthy species such as E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile, and Firmicutes. Unhealthy species are allowed to proliferate, thereby increasing intestinal permeability and resulting in higher blood levels of the bacterial byproduct, lipopolysaccharide, that is highly inflammatory. It also means that healthy bacteria fail to produce fatty ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle butyrate microbiota prebiotic resistant starch Source Type: blogs