It's unclear to me how to interpret the result. It makes sense to test the influence of drugs on gut microbes, but to put the effect into context I'd be interested in the effect of, for example, normal food. How many species of gut microbes are affected by apples or coffee or whole grain bread? I also imagine that eating fermented foods causes a slaughter in your gut as the different microbes battle for dominance.
> to put the effect into context I'd be interested in the effect of, for example, normal food.
I bet that it's also gonna depend alot on the person, and their history. This has always stuck with me:
> After he was fired for incompetence, he took it on himself to sue the restaurant, claiming that his gastrointestinal problem, caused apparently by amoebas, was a result of his work there. Management took this litigation seriously enough to engage the services of an epidemiologist, who obtained stool samples from every employee. The results-which I was privy to-were enlightening to say the least. The waiter's strain of amoebas, it was concluded, was common to persons of his lifestyle, and to many others. What was interesting were the results of our Mexican and South American prep cooks. These guys were teeming wWh numerous varieties of critters, none of which, in their cases, caused illness or discomfort. It was explained that the results in our restaurant were no different from results at any other restaurant and that, particularly amongst my recently arrived Latino brethren, this sort of thing is normal-that their systems are used to it, and it causes them no difficulties at all.
"All organisms, plants, fungi and animals/humans produce chemicals that kill bacteria, i.e. antibiotics. ... The flavoring chemicals in herbs and spices have a far more important use in food preparation than titillation of taste buds, since those chemicals kill common food pathogens. More profoundly, it is important to realize that the selective advantage of phytochemicals/polyphenols/alkaloids/essential oils to the plants that make them, is as natural antibiotics. Plants kill bacteria, as well as fungi and insects, for a living."
Yes and no? I'm sure it's a fierce fight, but AFAIK a diet of fermented foods is considered healthy, and good for digestion. So presumably a diet of fermented foods can result in some beneficial equilibrium
I don't know the answer but I wonder the same thing.
One intriguing view of it is: "... most popular pharmaceuticals, NSAIDs, statins, anti-depressants, anti-diabetics, etc., also have substantial antibiotic activity. Most of these pharmaceuticals started out as phytoalexins and then were found to also have pharmaceutical activity. Pharmaceuticals are just repurposed natural antibiotics. When you take an aspirin or Metformin or a statin, you are taking an antibiotic. When you take a pharmaceutical, you are selecting for multiple antibiotic resistance plasmids in your gut flora and you may be making the next superbug."
Yes, a battle too horrible to contemplate! Imagine the slaughter consequent on ingesting coffee,chocolate,tea,sourdough bread,cheese,buttermilk,crème fraîche,yogurt,kefir,salami,wine,beer,sauerkraut,dill pickles,kimchi,kombucha,fish sauce,vinegar,miso or tempeh.
