Francine Mendoza – Microbial Influences on Human Health (BHS 323)

The choices we make in foods and products we consume have a large effect on our gut health. This should be unsurprising as this foods we eat go to our gut to be digested and thus what we choose to send there can easily influence our microbial communities. Therefore, while our choice may be intentional or unintentional, it is beneficial to be aware of the different effects our nutritional choices have on our gut.

I am fairly intentional about which foods I am consuming to try and eat healthy as well as get a good balance in my nutrition. For example, I try to get a good balance of meat and vegetables and I try to eat leafy greens when I can to get in more fiber in my diet or eat fruits like blueberries. I also like to make sure I am eating enough carbohydrates and healthy fats for energy throughout the day. Within balancing meat, vegetables, and carbs, I try to vary the source of each of these to promote a diverse diet and variety of nutrients. This helps promote a healthier and more diverse gut microbiota. For example, red meat can be potentially harmful to our gut because it promotes the proliferation of bad bacteria, so I try to balance this out with fish and chicken in my diet.

As for choices that I make that unintentionally benefit my gut, there are some foods which I consume a lot of for my personal taste and not for nutritional value. Fruit makes up a large part of my diet simply because I love fruit. However, after conducting some research I found that many fruits that are good for maintaining health in the gut. For example, apples increase SCFA content, which is one of bacteria’s favorite nutrients. Another ingredient that I found is actually very beneficial for our gut is garlic; garlic increases bifidobacteria in our gut, which we have found decreases the risk of gastrointestinal disease.

I do not use supplements, prebiotics, or probiotics besides those which are already present in my food. If I were to use these, however, I could potentially have a healthier gut and it would stimulate the colonization of healthy bacteria and decrease the presence of harmful ones.

(1) Eero Mattila from Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland in his clinical study titled “Fecal Transplantation, Through Colonoscopy, Is Effective Therapy for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection” (2012) discusses that fecal transplants are effective treatments for C. difficile infections. (2) Mattila describes the methods for his clinical study done with 70 patients with C. difficile infections and provides each patient’s results of the treatments as evidence for the successful therapy method. (3) The purpose of Mattila’s study was to determine the short- and long-term effects of fecal transplants using colonoscopies in order to determine if it was a safe and effective treatment method for gastrointestinal diseases. (4) Throughout the article, Mattila describes his research, creating a scholarly and transparent discussion with doctors and microbial researchers.

 

Mattila E, Uusitalo-Seppala R, Wuorela M, Lehtola L, Nurmi H, Ristikankare M, Moilanen V, Salminen K, Seppala M, Mattila PS, Anttila V-J, Arkkila P. 2012. Fecal Transplantation, Through Colonoscopy, Is Effective Therapy for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection. Gastroenterology 142:490–496.

When we are born, our body begins with a basal gut microbial community, and this microbiome can change and fluctuate as we grow based on a variety of factors. While we may not realize it all the time, our behaviors and habits affect our gut microbiome and thus we have more control over it than we know.

There are some behaviors such as taking antibiotics or probiotics that have a more obvious effect on the microbiome. Antibiotics destroy different bacteria in your gut, therefore should only be used if prescribed so that one does not destroy their natural healthy microbiota. Therefore, they are beneficial if used correctly, but could otherwise be potentially dangerous.

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts which are beneficial for your health and can be used either as a supplement in your diet, or for some specific cases. For example, if you use antibiotics, probiotics are helpful to replace the good bacteria in your gut. They are also helpful to simply maintain the balance of good and bad bacteria. Many doctors prescribe this if you will be travelling out of country to a place which may disrupt your gut microbiome. 

However, besides the obvious ways to affect your gut microbiome, there are also more subtle behaviors which affect it such as your diet such as the food your consume. Different foods contain different nutrients and thus render different metabolic responses when you consume them. This can affect the different enzymes present and produced within your gut. Bacteria benefit from different nutrients and thus in general, a more diverse diet will lead to a more diverse gut microbiome. Thus in general, having a healthy, nutritious and diverse diet can be beneficial, while having a poor diet can be detrimental.

Growing up, the yearly doctor’s visit was dreaded by many because of the knowledge that they might have to get a shot that day. However, these shots are extremely important to get because they prevent acquiring diseases that can be extremely dangerous or affect patients throughout their life. One example of such vaccine is for human papillomavirus (HPV), which cannot be cured.

Based on the 2011 article written by Sarid and Gao, there are several strains of HPV which can be dangerous. While HPV is known as a sexually transmitted infection (STI), it can also lead to cancers in both men and women, making it even more important to protect against. Although there are several different strains of HPV, HPVs 16, 18, 31, and 45 should be prioritized to be covered in a new treatment. It can become expensive to develop vaccinations for each strain, and thus while it would be ideal to cover all strains, it would be more cost effective and quicker to finish developing and offer to patients to only cover the high risk strains. The aforementioned strains (16, 18, 31, 45) are the highest risk, causing about 80% of cervical cancer.

Because HPV is sexually transmitted, it is important to administer the vaccination before patients become sexually active. It is commonly recommended to be administered at age 11 or 12 and because it cannot be cured, only treated, it is best to vaccinate young adults earlier to make sure all patients are protected.

When someone sneezes or coughs, everyone’s immediate response is to move out of range. We are familiar with germs that can get us sick, causing infectious diseases such as the flu or a cold. However, what is less commonly known is that non-infectious diseases such as some cancers as well as Alzheimer’s disease are actually caused by similar microbes.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one such example, associated with parasites and noroviruses, and similarly inflammatory bowel disease. Additionally, while genetics and environmental factors are still significant impactors, recent studies have also shown growing evidence that the gut microbiota plays a role in influencing obesity. Two other examples, among likely a long list of diseases, include asthma and diabetes.

For those of us entering healthcare and medical fields, understanding how microbes interact with the human body is crucial to understanding disease pathology. I initially did not actually know that microbes influenced diseases like Alzheimer’s, and only thought of diseases such as IBS and inflammatory bowel disease where the presence of microbes is obvious. With this in mind, I am extremely excited to learn more about microbial influences in different diseases so that I can develop a better understanding of how we are able to treat and ideally cure these diseases.