Regain your Health and Vitality - get rid of the Parasites!
Intestinal
bacteria
The human intestine maintains within its inner cavity a complex, crowded environment of food
remnants and microbial organisms (called "the intestinal flora") from which the body
derives nourishment and against which the body must be protected.
The relationship between the human host and her army of microbes is described by the Greek
word, symbiosis, which means, "living together". When symbiosis benefits both parties,
it is called mutualism. When symbiosis becomes harmful, it is called dysbiosis.
The first line of protection against dysbiosis and intestinal toxicity is strict control of
intestinal permeability, the ability of the gut to allow some substances to pass through its
walls while denying access to others. The healthy gut selectively absorbs nutrients and seals
out those components of the normal internal milieu, which are most likely to cause harm, except
for a small sampling, which it uses to educate and strengthen its mechanisms of immunity and
detoxification.
Bacteria form the largest segment of the intestinal flora.
The number of bacteria in the large bowel (about a hundred trillion) exceeds the number of
cells in the human body.
Intestinal bacteria perform some useful functions, so that our relationship with them is normally
one of mutual benefit.
- They synthesize half a dozen vitamins, supplementing those, which are obtained from food.
- They convert dietary fiber--that part of food, which humans cannot digest--into small fatty acids, which nourish the cells of the large intestine.
- They degrade dietary toxins like methyl mercury making them less harmful to the body.
- They crowd out pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, decreasing the risk of food poisoning.
- They stimulate the development of a vigorous immune response.
Four-fifths of the body's immune system is located in the lining of the small intestine.
Bacteria are dangerous tenants however, so that dysbiosis is a common problem.
As powerful chemical factories, bacteria not only make vitamins and destroy toxins, but also
destroy vitamins and make toxins. Bacterial enzymes can inactivate human digestive enzymes
and convert human bile or components of food into chemicals, which promote the development
of cancer.
Some by-products of bacterial enzyme activity, like ammonia, hinder normal brain function.
When absorbed into the body, the liver must remove them. People whose livers fail this task,
because of conditions like cirrhosis, develop progressive neurological dysfunction resulting
in coma and death. For them, the administration of antibiotics which slow the production of
nerve toxins by intestinal bacteria can be life saving.
The immune reactions provoked by normal intestinal bacteria may be harmful rather than helpful.
Inflammatory diseases of the bowel, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (ileitis),
and several types of arthritis have been linked to aberrant immune responses provoked by intestinal
bacteria.
Two types of aberrancy have been described.
First, intestinal bacteria contain proteins, which look to the immune system very much like
human proteins; they confuse the immune system and may fool the body into attacking itself.
Second, fragments of dead bacteria may leak into the wall of the intestine or into the blood
stream due to a breakdown in the mechanisms, which regulate intestinal permeability.
Circulating through the body, bacterial debris is deposited in tissues such as joints, provoking
an attack on those tissues by an immune system trying to remove the foreign material.
Bacterial colonies in the human intestine co-exist with colonies of yeasts, which are no less
dangerous, just far less in number. Bacterial colonization prevents yeasts from expanding their
niche.
Frequent or prolonged use of antibiotics decimates bacterial colonies, removing the natural
brake on yeast growth. The most obvious effects of yeast overgrowth are local infections, like
vaginitis, produced when yeast invade and disrupt cells which line the body's surface. Intestinal
yeast infections can cause chronic diarrhea, although most gastroenterologists fail to recognize
this. Yeast can also provoke allergic reactions, precipitating asthma, hives, psoriasis or
abdominal pain.
The occurrence of allergic symptoms or the aggravation of a pre-existing allergy, which follows
the use of antibiotics, should always prompt an investigation into yeast overgrowth as a potential
trigger. Neglect of this factor by allergists has left countless patients trapped in a spiral
of increasing allergic reactivity, augmented each time antibiotics are prescribed.
Intestinal Parasite Remedy - AIM Para 90
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In addition to bacteria and yeast, most of the world's four billion people are also colonized
by human intestinal parasites, and parasitic infection is not unusual in the U.S. population.
It is a common occurrence, even among those who have never left the country.
Unlike bacteria, parasites appear to serve no useful function. The part of the immune system,
which they stimulate, does not strengthen the organism to resist serious infection; instead
it contributes to allergic reactions, so that parasitic infection increases allergic tendencies.
There are two general groups of parasites.
The first consists of worms--tapeworms and roundworms--that attach themselves to the lining
of the small intestine, causing internal bleeding and loss of nutrients. People infested with
worms may have no symptoms or may slowly become anemic.
The second category is the protozoa, one-celled organisms like the amoeba, which caused John
Gerard's colitis.
Antoine van Leeuwenhoek, the most famous of the early microscopists, discovered the first protozoa
over three hundred years ago. When the inquisitive Dutchman set about to examine everything
in the world that would fit under the lens of a microscope, he found organisms in his own stool
that closely match the description later given to Giardia lamblia.
Giardia is the major cause of day-care diarrhea. Twenty to thirty per cent of workers in day
care centers harbor Giardia. Most have no symptoms; they are merely carriers.
A study at Johns Hopkins medical school a few years ago demonstrated antibodies against Giardia
in twenty per cent of randomly chosen blood samples from patients in the hospital. This means
that at least twenty per cent of these patients had been infected with Giardia at some time
in their lives and had mounted an immune response against the parasite.
Giardia contaminates streams and lakes throughout North America and has caused epidemics
of diarrheal disease and chronic constipation in
several small cities by contaminating their drinking water. One epidemic, in Placerville, California,
was followed by an epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which swept through the town's residents
at the time of the Giardia epidemic. Possibly, this epidemic was due to failure of some people
to eradicate the parasite. In 1991, my colleagues and I published a study of 96 patients with
chronic fatigue and demonstrated active Giardia infection in 46 per cent.
Sometimes, the intestinal damage produced by giardiasis persists for months after the parasite
has been successfully treated. The impairment of digestion and absorption, which results from
this damage, may cause fatigue and other symptoms.
The present decade has witnessed an increased awareness of parasitic infection as a common
public health problem in the United States, thanks largely to Cryptosporidium, which recently
achieved notoriety for contaminating Milwaukee's water supply, causing the largest epidemic
of diarrhea in U.S. history, infecting 400,000 people and causing over one hundred deaths.
Most municipal water supplies in the U.S. today are home to protozoa like Giardia and Cryptosporidium
and one in five Americans drinks water that violates federal health standards.
Every year, almost a million North Americans become sick from water-borne diseases; about one
per cent dies. Further epidemics are inevitable. A recent epidemic occurred in Clark County,
Nevada, despite state-of-the-art municipal water treatment.
If this is the case in a well-developed First World Country like America, one wonders at the
state of water supplies of ‘lesser-developed’ countries.
Intestinal permeability
How protozoa make people sick is not clear. Some directly invade the lining of the intestine;
others provoke an allergic reaction that causes the damage. It appears certain that humans
can coexist quite readily with their parasites as long as the barrier formed by the intestinal
lining remains fully intact, so that the parasites cannot attach to the wall of the bowel.
Millions of people throughout the world are carriers of E. histolytica; the organism can be
found in stool samples but it does not seem to make them ill. The variability of pathogenic
potential recalls Pasteur's challenge to the French Academy: do the causes of disease lie within
the microbe or do they lie within the host?
When the attachment of a parasite initiates a series of injuries to the intestinal wall that
increase its permeability, it generates a cascade of reactions that can shatter a person's
health in many different ways.
Excessive permeability permits excess absorption of antigens and microbial fragments from the
gut, over-stimulating the immune response, fostering allergy and auto-immunity.
Excess permeability also allows excessive absorption of toxins derived from the chemical activity
of intestinal bacteria, stressing the liver. All materials absorbed from the intestine must
pass through the liver before entering the body's general circulation. Here, in the cells of
the liver, toxic chemicals are destroyed or else prepared for excretion out of the body. The
cost of detoxification is high; free radicals are generated and the liver's stores of anti-oxidants
are depleted. The products of its own attempts at detoxification may damage the liver. Damage
may extend to the pancreas. Free radicals are excreted into bile; this "toxic" bile
flows into the small intestine and can ascend into the ducts, which carry pancreatic juices,
damaging the pancreas, aggravating malnutrition.
The symptoms produced by excessive intestinal permeability may be limited to the abdomen or
may involve the entire body. They may include fatigue and malaise, joint and muscle pain, headache
and skin eruptions. The clinical disorders associated with increased intestinal permeability
include any inflammation of the large or small intestine (colitis and enteritis), chronic arthritis,
skin conditions like acne, eczema, hives or psoriasis, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue,
deficient pancreatic function and AIDS. In most cases, it is incorrect to think of excessive
permeability as the cause of these disorders. Instead, excess permeability occurs as part of
the chain of events, which causes disease and aggravates existing symptoms or produces new
ones.
Just as excessive permeability may have many different effects, it may also have many different
causes, each of which may add to the effects of the other. These causes include intestinal
infection of any type (viral, bacterial or protozoan), alcohol, and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs), which increase permeability by decreasing the body's synthesis of beneficial prostaglandins.
Allergic reactions to foods also produce an increase in intestinal permeability.
Arthritis
The fate of people treated for chronic arthritis exemplifies the spiral of problems caused
by excessive intestinal permeability. Arthritis (inflammation of the joints) is the leading
cause of physical disability in industrialized countries.
Some forms of arthritis are preceded by increased intestinal permeability. People with inflammation
of the intestine are prone to develop inflammatory arthritis, which may continue for many years
after the intestinal inflammation is healed. Fragments of intestinal bacteria have been identified
in the joints in some cases. In others, antibodies directed against intestinal bacteria may
attack the person's own joint tissue, causing an autoimmune reaction.
For most people with chronic arthritis, however, excessive intestinal permeability develops
as a result of arthritis and its treatment and may aggravate the arthritis, creating a vicious
cycle. People with any type of severe arthritis usually take large doses of NSAIDs on a daily
basis to control the pain, stiffness and swelling in their joints; they rapidly develop increased
intestinal permeability. Excessive permeability allows bacteria or bacterial antigen to penetrate
the wall of the intestine, creating a smoldering inflammation in the intestinal wall (called
enteritis), which in turn further increases intestinal permeability. Enteritis develops in
seventy per cent of people taking NSAIDs daily for two weeks. The excessive permeability caused
by drug-induced enteritis allows fragments of bacteria to enter the circulation, where they
cause or aggravate more arthritis.
Much of the research on intestinal permeability and NSAIDs has been conducted with people who
suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammation that affects many joints at the same time
and is especially noticeable in the hands. It typically strikes women in their twenties or
thirties and lasts for life, crippling thirty per cent of its victims with severe deformities
of the affected joints and shortening their life expectancy by ten to fifteen years. Patients
with rheumatoid arthritis taking NSAIDs develop antibodies against components of the normal
intestinal bacteria. Development of an abnormal or excessive immune response is called sensitization.
Sensitization to intestinal bacteria may cause or aggravate arthritis. When patients with rheumatoid
arthritis take antibiotics, which reduce the numbers of intestinal bacteria, not only does
their enteritis clear up, but their arthritis also improves. NSAIDs, the standard treatment
for arthritis, by increasing intestinal permeability, create a new problem, which aggravates
the old one. Increased intestinal permeability explains the beneficial effects of diet for
the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Fasting and vegetarian diets benefit patients with rheumatoid
arthritis. Fasting reduces the excessive intestinal permeability of patients with rheumatoid
arthritis while at the same time dramatically improving symptoms. Vegetarian diets alter the
bacterial growth in the intestine, acting in a sense like natural, highly selective antibiotics.
Those people who respond to vegetarianism with a change in the intestinal bacteria are the
ones that benefit. Those people who do not change their intestinal bacteria as a result of
changing their diets do not improve their arthritis by becoming vegetarians.
There is a common belief that avoiding specific foods can benefit people with arthritis. One
effect of the increased permeability produced by NSAIDs is to increase the absorption of antigens
coming from food. People with rheumatoid arthritis frequently become sensitized to food proteins.
Their arthritis often improves when they avoid specific foods and then flares up when they
consume those foods. I have treated enough patients with rheumatoid arthritis to know that
food allergy is not the cause of rheumatoid arthritis. It is part of the cycle of immunologic
sensitization, inflammation and increased intestinal permeability that occurs in most patients
with severe arthritis. The treatments that are used for chronic arthritis may temporarily relieve
pain but they help to maintain the vicious cycle. Perhaps this explains why the long-term outlook
for patients with rheumatoid arthritis is so bleak and has not been improved by any of the
drug therapies developed over the past thirty years. Professor Ann Parke, of the University
of Connecticut, voiced an opinion not often heard from rheumatologists, "...maybe NSAIDs
have had their day. We should, instead, be striving to maintain the integrity of the gastrointestinal
tract in an attempt to prevent the disease at a potential source, rather than treating the
complaints and risking perpetuating the disease."
Auto intoxication – AIM AIMEGA Omega 3, 6, and 9 essential fatty acids
If medicine is to regain its Hippocratic roots, preserving and restoring health, then physicians
must learn the science of preserving and restoring normal intestinal permeability. This is
not an attempt to "cleanse" the colon with laxatives or enemas or to correct constipation.
In the early years of the twentieth century, "auto-intoxication" was a fashionable
concept. It was considered to be the cause of chronic fatigue, stomach ulcers, rheumatoid arthritis,
high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, breast cancer and ovarian cysts. The complex
regulation of intestinal permeability was not understood and autointoxication was attributed
to "intestinal stasis", a fancy term for constipation. In keeping with the spirit
of the times, it was treated invasively: enemas for mild cases, colectomy (surgical removal
of the large intestine) in severe cases. Even institutions as august as the Mayo Clinic sanctioned
colectomies for autointoxication during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
The preservation and restoration of normal intestinal permeability rests on two
principles: building resistance and reducing risk. A diet of high nutrient density
is the cornerstone for maintenance of intestinal health. The intestinal lining has the fastest
growth rate of any tissue in the body. Old cells slough off and a completely new lining is
generated every three to six days. The metabolic demands of this normally rapid cell turnover
must be met if excess permeability is to be prevented or if healing is to occur. Thorough chewing
of food may be important. Saliva contains a substance called epidermal growth factor (EGF),
which stimulates growth and repair of tissue. EGF has been used therapeutically to heal the
intestine when injured or inflamed.
Essential fatty acids play an important role in maintenance of intestinal integrity. Fish oils
limit the intestinal injury caused by toxic drugs and GLA (found in primrose, borage or black
currant oils) stimulates production of prostaglandins, which help to maintain normal permeability.
The principles for EFA supplementation should be followed. Merely consuming large quantities
of vegetable oils, however, is likely to be harmful to the intestinal lining. High intake of
polyunsaturated oils increases the free radical content of bile, producing toxic bile that
may damage intestinal integrity.
In addition to a nutrient dense diet, there are several specific dietary resistance factors,
which warrant careful attention for their ability to preserve normal intestinal integrity and
should be part of any program for intestinal detoxification.
(1) Fiber – AIM Herbal Fiberblend natural
herbal fiber.
Fiber is the term that describes remnants of plant cells that are resistant to human digestion.
The usual sources are vegetables, cereals, bread, nuts, seeds and fruits. Eating a fiber deficient
diet increases intestinal permeability. Although medical researchers have been recommending
high fiber diets for about twenty years, and sales of Metamucil and other bulk laxatives have
gone up, there has been no significant increase in fiber consumption from food and the fiber
intake of Americans is far below recommended levels. This is unfortunate, because the fiber
found in food is far more complex than the purified powders sold in drug stores.
There are many different chemical types of fiber, but the most important distinction is between
soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water, forming a thick gel. Fruit pectin,
for example, is a highly soluble fiber. Psyllium seed, the commonest source of bulk laxatives,
contains fiber that is moderately soluble. Wheat bran consists of relatively insoluble fiber
that is most readily evident as "roughage". Although all fiber adds bulk to bowel
movements, the chemical effects of the different types of fiber can be opposite.
Soluble fiber feeds the intestinal bacteria, which ferment it to produce chemicals called short
chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs have a number of positive effects on the body: they nourish
the cells of the large intestine, stimulating healing and reducing the development of cancer.
When absorbed from the intestine, they travel to the liver and decrease the liver's production
of cholesterol, lowering blood cholesterol levels. Oat bran, for example, contains fibers of
moderate solubility; eating oat bran can lower cholesterol levels. Within the intestinal canal,
SCFAs inhibit the growth of yeasts and disease-causing bacteria. The effects of soluble fiber
are not always beneficial, however. Feeding high levels of soluble fiber supplements like guar
gum encourages an overgrowth of the normal intestinal bacteria, which deprives the body of
vitamin B12 and produces an increase in the concentration of bacterial toxins. Although low
fiber diets increase gut permeability, excessive consumption of soluble fiber from supplements
can also cause excessive permeability and may create changes in the intestinal milieu that
actually enhance the development of stomach or bowel cancer.
Insoluble fiber does not feed bacteria well and is not readily fermented to SCFAs. Eating wheat
bran, which is largely insoluble fiber, has no effect on blood cholesterol levels. Insoluble
fiber inactivates intestinal toxins, however, and high intake of insoluble fiber is associated
with a decreased risk of colon and breast cancer. Supplements of insoluble fiber as wheat bran
or pure cellulose appear to decrease the risk of bowel cancer. Insoluble fibers also inhibit
the ability of disease-causing bacteria and parasites to attach themselves to the intestinal
wall. Insoluble fiber plays an important role in preventing excess intestinal permeability.
It should be obvious that humans need a mixture of soluble and insoluble fibers in the diet
and that food, not supplements, is the best source. Eating high fiber foods protects against
the development of the major degenerative diseases of the modern world--heart disease and cancer--increases
longevity and protects against the development of parasitic infection. The best sources of
mixed fibers are unrefined cereal grains (oats, brown rice, whole wheat), peas, beans and squash.
Among fruits, one gets the most fiber per serving from apples and berries.
Some high fiber foods contain natural chemicals, which help to maintain normal intestinal permeability
by unique mechanisms. Carrots, carob, blueberries and raspberries contain complex sugars (oligosaccharides),
which interfere with the binding of pathogenic bacteria to the intestinal lining. These have
been used in Europe for centuries for the treatment or prevention of diarrhea. Synthetic oligosaccharides
are presently being developed as drugs for treating infection. Brown rice is the source of
gamma-oryzanol, a group of powerful antioxidants, which have been tested extensively in Japan
for their ability to heal intestinal and stomach ulcers and alleviate a variety of chronic
gastrointestinal complaints. Gamma-oryzanol can be consumed in rice bran or rice bran oil or
in pill form. The therapeutic dose is 100 mg three times a day.
If you become constipated when increasing dietary fiber, you may need more fluid. Drink eight
glasses of liquid a day, between meals, not with meals.
(2) Friendly flora – AIM Florafood. L.
plantarum and L. salivarius
A large body of research over the past ninety years has demonstrated the preventive value of
eating foods fermented with Lactobacilli or their cousins, Bifidobacteria. Eating these friendly
bacteria prevents intestinal infection due to viruses or pathogenic bacteria and preserves
intestinal permeability in the face of infection or other types of injury can prevent antibiotic-induced
diarrhea and traveler’s diarrhea and can lower serum cholesterol levels. Lactobacilli
and Bifidobacteria also show anti-cancer activity, by two mechanisms: they inhibit the growth
or activity of cancer-promoting bacteria and some strains actually produce chemicals, which
inhibit tumor growth.
There are numerous species of Lactobacilli and many strains for each species. Some, like Lactobacillus
acidophilus, are normal inhabitants of the human digestive tract. Others, like L. bulgaricus,
which is a common starter for making yogurt, are not. L. bulgaricus disappears from the intestine
within two weeks after yogurt consumption is stopped. Sauerkraut is sour because of L. plantarum,
a beneficial organism that is normally found in the human intestine and that stays for a long
time after being introduced. Commercially available fermented foods are, unfortunately, unreliable
as sources of Lactobacilli, because the lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide, which Lactobacilli
naturally produce, may kill the producers themselves if their concentration becomes excessive.
A few years ago, the Annals of Internal Medicine published a study, which proved what many
women have known for years, that eating yogurt daily can prevent vaginal yeast infections.
The researchers were lucky. The batch of yogurt they gave their patients was loaded with living
Lactobacillus acidophilus. These organisms not only took up residence in the intestines of
the women who ate it, but also colonized the vagina, preventing yeast infection. When the scientists
attempted to perform the same experiment a year later, they found that the same brand of yogurt
contained no living bacteria.
The most reliable way to supplement your diet with Lactobacilli is to make your own yogurt
or sauerkraut, or to buy nutritional supplements which have been tested by an independent outside
laboratory and which list the concentration of viable bacteria found on culture. Lactobacilli
are killed by heat, moisture and sunlight. The making of tablets generates heat, which lowers
the number of viable organisms. Lactobacilli should be freeze-dried, in powder or capsules,
in opaque moisture-proof containers, stored in the refrigerator. They should be consumed with
meals. The strains, which have been most extensively tested for their viability in the human
intestine, are L.acidophilus strain NCFM-2 and L.plantarum. L. acidophilus is well suited to
growing in the small intestine, where it is normally one of the dominant bacterial species.
L. plantarum has growth characteristics, which lead it to grow especially well in the large
intestine. The daily dose should be between one billion and ten billion viable bacteria. More
may cause gastrointestinal irritation.
(3) Spices – AIM Bearpaw Garlic and AIM
Para 90
Before they were used as seasoning, culinary herbs and spices were probably used for food preservation.
Many varieties have natural antimicrobial activity and can retard spoilage. They are also used
to mask the flavor of spoiled food, so I suggest using them at home, where you know the food
they flavor is fresh to begin with.
The world's most extensively studied spice is garlic. Its medicinal use predates recorded history.
Garlic is mentioned in the earliest Vedic medical documents, written in India over five thousand
years ago. During an epidemic of plague in Marseilles, in 1721, four condemned criminals were
enlisted to bury the dead. None of them contracted plague. It seems that they sustained themselves
by drinking a cocktail of crushed garlic in cheap wine, which came to be called vinaigre des
quatre voleurs (vinegar of the four thieves). In 1858, Louis Pasteur demonstrated garlic's
antibiotic activity. Albert Schweitzer used the herb for the treatment of amoebic dysentery
at his clinic in Africa. Antimicrobial activity of garlic has been repeatedly demonstrated
against many species of bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. In addition, garlic lowers
cholesterol and blood pressure and may protect against cancer. The dose of garlic needed to
obtain significant benefit is at least ten grams (about three small cloves) per day.
Onion, garlic's closest edible relative, has also been widely used for medicinal purposes.
Although it lacks the potency of garlic, it can be consumed it much larger quantity, so that
its antimicrobial benefits may be equal to those of garlic if consumed regularly.
Turmeric, a major ingredient in curry powder, is a natural antibiotic that relieves intestinal
gas by lowering the numbers of gas forming bacteria, has antifungal activity and has been traditionally
used for relieving inflammation. The effective dose is about one gram per day.
Ginger, which contains over four hundred chemically active ingredients, has long been used
for the treatment of digestive complaints. It protects the intestinal lining against ulceration
and has a wide range of actions against intestinal parasites. Cinnamon, which I recommend for
sweetening the taste of ginger tea, has anti-fungal activity.
Sage and rosemary contain the essential oil, eucalyptol, which kills Candida albicans, bacteria,
and worms. Oregano contains over thirty biologically active ingredients of which twelve have
antibiotic, anti-viral, anti-parasitic or anti-fungal effects. As mentioned earlier, thyme
has anti-parasitic activity.
Meals seasoned with these pungent, aromatic herbs, consumed regularly, help protect against
intestinal infection. However, heating at 200 degrees (Fahrenheit) for twenty minutes destroys
the antibacterial activity of most of these spices. They should be added to food at the end
of cooking, just before being eaten.
NOTE: If high fiber diets, friendly flora, or spicy food give you diarrhea, gas or abdominal
bloating, instead of improving digestive function, you may be changing your diet too rapidly,
or you may have an allergy to one specific component of the regimen described here. Slow down
and try again. Be methodical, making one change at a time. First, cut down on sugar and fat,
then switch to whole grains, then add more vegetables. Give yourself a chance to know how each
new food you try affects your body. It may take a few days. Then add nutritional supplements,
one at a time, allowing yourself three or four days between each change. Experiment with different
brands. For some people, one preparation of Lactobacillus will cause diarrhea, but another
will not. If you still find that you cannot increase your consumption of fiber or flora without
feeling worse, rather than better, you may have an overgrowth of bacteria or yeast in the small
intestine, which have adapted to using the fiber you are taking to expand their niche, rather
than to limit their growth. Bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine is far more common
than doctors suspect and most commonly results from a lack of stomach acid or from prior surgery.
Yeast overgrowth usually results from taking antibiotics.
Risk reduction of intestinal permeability
The most common, preventable causes of increased intestinal permeability are drugs and infections.
Aspirin and NSAIDs should not be taken on a daily basis. Most people using NSAIDs daily are
trying to relieve chronic headache or joint and muscle pain. Alternative strategies for pain
relief are often available. The likelihood of benefit depends upon the location of the pain
and the presence or absence of inflammation
After NSAIDs, alcohol is the drug most likely to destroy normal intestinal permeability. More
than one glass of wine or beer is likely to be detrimental.
The body's first line of defense against intestinal infection is the acid produced by a healthy
stomach. Stomach acid kills most of the bacteria and parasites that are swallowed along with
meals. Strong suppression of stomach acid increases the risk of intestinal infection. The widespread
use of antacids is, therefore, a reason for concern, and the FDA's recent decision to make
the acid-lowering drugs Tagamet and Pepcid available without a doctor's prescription is a terrible
disservice to the American people. Most people who take treatments to buffer or reduce stomach
acid do not need acid reduction and should avoid it. Tagamet and Pepcid are called H-2 blockers
because they block certain effects of histamine in the body. (Conventional "anti-histamines" used
for treating symptoms of allergy are called H-1 blockers). They were originally developed for
the treatment of ulcers and they made huge profits for the companies, which owned them. Doctors
soon began using H-2 blockers for relieving stomach pain, which was not caused by ulcers (this
pain is called "non-ulcer dyspepsia"), even though their efficacy for non-ulcer pain
was disputed. The most common cause of non-ulcer dyspepsia, by the way, is taking NSAIDs. If
NSAID use were markedly reduced, the frequency of stomach pain and the need for H-2 blockers
would also be reduced. Recently, it has become quite clear that most ulcers are triggered by
a bacterial infection of the stomach and that antibiotics are superior to H-2 blockers for
treating ulcers. As the need for H-2 blockers in the treatment of ulcers just about vanished,
the FDA suddenly approved their non-prescription use for the treatment of heartburn. The truth
is that H-2 blockers are rarely needed to treat heartburn, because heartburn is not caused
by excess stomach acid. It is caused by reflux of normal amounts of stomach acid into the esophagus,
which occurs when the valve responsible for preventing acid reflux is not working properly.
The usual reason for valvular incompetence is dietary. Coffee, alcohol, chocolate and high
fat meals prevent the valve from closing properly. Calcium, in contrast, makes it close more
tightly.
Almost all people with frequent heartburn can get relief by eating small, low fat meals, chewing
a calcium tablet after each, and not eating for four hours before bedtime. Temporary avoidance
of coffee, alcohol, and spicy or irritating foods until the heartburn stops is also a good
idea. Were these measures followed, the use of H-2 blockers and antacids could be cut by ninety
per cent.
AIM - Florafood -
probiotics
A second line of defense against intestinal infection is the normal intestinal bacteria, especially
Lactobacilli residing in the small intestine. Antibiotics decimate Lactobacilli. In so doing,
they may increase the risk of subsequent intestinal infection. Although antibiotics, when appropriately
used, are the most important therapeutic discovery of modern Western medicine, they are often
used inappropriately and the effects can be devastating. Whenever I prescribe an antibiotic,
I always consider its possible effect on the beneficial intestinal flora. An antibiotic that
is rapidly and completely absorbed in the stomach, reaching high levels in the tissues of the
body and low levels in the small or large intestine, is least likely to harm intestinal ecology.
I also administer Lactobacilli along with the antibiotics. L. plantarum is the only Lactobacillus
not harmed by antibiotics and can be taken simultaneously with them.
Ulcerative colitis
Ulcerative colitis is considered to be a distinct disease entity, which must be separated from
other disease entities, especially infectious colitis. Intestinal infections with amebic parasites
or certain species of bacteria can produce symptoms and signs indistinguishable from those
of ulcerative colitis. The main difference is that antibiotics may cure infectious colitis
but have a rather inconsistent effect in ulcerative colitis. Actually, the role of infection
in ulcerative colitis, although obscure, is not inconsequential. People with a diagnosis of
ulcerative colitis have an increased susceptibility to infections of the large intestine, which
aggravate their colitis. Many people who develop the disease in adulthood only acquire ulcerative
colitis after contracting a parasitic or bacterial infection. Antibodies directed against the
cells which line the large intestine occur in patients with ulcerative colitis, and may also
be found in people with chronic forms of infectious colitis. One theory holds that ulcerative
colitis is an autoimmune disease provoked by an allergic reaction to microorganisms in the
intestinal tract. Another theory holds that ulcerative colitis may result from toxins produced
by intestinal bacteria. Both theories make the boundary between infectious colitis and ulcerative
colitis very fuzzy. In addition to the possibility of multiple infectious triggers in ulcerative
colitis, the condition may be aggravated by allergic reactions to foods or to the very drugs
used to treat mild cases of the disease. Twenty per cent of patients with ulcerative colitis
improve by eliminating all milk protein from their diets. Low fat diets may be useful in decreasing
the risk of colon cancer, because there is a direct correlation between the development of
cancer in ulcerative colitis and the secretion of bile from the liver; the liver secretes bile
in response to eating fatty foods.
Ulcerative colitis is a complex illness that demands a flexible therapeutic approach. Like
all chronic diseases, it is far more clearly understood through its mediators, triggers and
antecedents in individual patients than as an abstract disease entity. Conventional drug therapy
of ulcerative colitis has as its goal the suppression of the mediators of inflammation. Little
attention has been paid to the divergent triggers of different patients. Over the past twenty
years I have found some patients in whom ulcerative diet, or the composition of the intestinal
bacterial flora, or allergic reactions to intestinal yeast, or emotional distress, or the smoking
of cigarettes profoundly affected colitis. Each has responded differently to therapies, which
included diet change, antibiotics or the administration of friendly bacteria like Lactobacilli,
but almost all have responded, sometimes with complete remission of symptoms. There are even
some patients who develop colitis when they stop smoking cigarettes and who experience a complete
remission of colitis when they resume smoking.
| Shopping Cart - To order Para 90 select your Country. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Para90 90caps | ||||||
| 1 unit | US$17.00 | - |
- |
R121.00 | $29.00 |
- |
| 2 pack | US$34.00 | €50.50 | €50.50 | R228.00 | $58.00 |
€50.50 |
The information contained herein is strictly for informational purposes only.
