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we might need to start rethinking an entire industry of probiotics and the like that suggest we need a certain set of bugs in this drink or that slimy yogurt. And since we are on the subject of probiotics, some significant and dominant players on the market today include characters with names like bifidobacterium and lactobacillus. Interestingly, while the Hadza harbor bifidobacterium and lactobacillus while still breast-feeding, these bugs are essentially absent in Hadza post-weaning (i.e., more or less absent after age 5).
This begs the question: should we really consider these groups of bacteria as essential and necessary to human health despite what a multi-billion dollar industry tells us? Clearly, mountains of research suggest these lactic acid bacteria are good for us, but are there other – more ancestral – groups of bugs that may be more in tune with our seasonal gut post-weaning? More importantly, does the persistence of bifidobacterium and similar bugs in our western gut – mainly due to continued consumption of cow’s milk, ingestion of some probiotic/prebiotic foods, and so on into adult life – nudge out or blunt down other members of our gut ecosystem that would otherwise flourish and provide important ecosystem services? We are currently trying to understand this as we perform various co-occurrence analyses of the Hadza data. Stay tuned.
It’s also interesting to note that while the most dominant group of bacteria in the American Gut is the genus Bacteroides – by a country mile – this group of bacteria is a minor, minor player in the Hadza gut. Almost non-existent. The prevailing wisdom is that these bacteria are driven by our high protein-fat and sugary diet. However, I think it has a lot more to do with our absence of dietary fiber and resulting alkaline guts (see Going Feral). As my own self-experiments have shown, I can turn my Bacteroides up or down with the amount of fiber in my diet irrespective of the amount of other macronutrients like fat. To me at least, I think the dominance of Bacteroides in the western gut has to do with pH levels, which is “mainly” driven by fermentation of dietary fiber (fermentation of fiber equals more SCFAs and thus a more acidic colonic environment which strains of Bacteroides don’t like). So with the average American eating less than 20g of fiber a day – pitiful – we are likely lugging around the most alkaline guts in human history which in turn is allowing certain species of Bacteroides (and some opportunistic pathogens) to flourish. Again, if we squint for a moment and lean on the gut of the Hadza, then maybe we shouldn’t let Bacteroides dominant our gut – and by doing so, who else is getting nudged out or down and potentially dragging us closer to ill health? I suspect the Hadza keep Bacteroides levels low with their high, daily levels of dietary fiber which keeps their colonic environment very acidic. In addition the high protein-fat and sugary argument doesn’t hold with the Hadza either as they will often gorge on meat-fat and eat piles of sugary honey for weeks on end during the wet season – and we see no blooms in Bacteroides when we sample during these periods. It’s the Fiber Stupid!
Interesting, but gut bacteria evolve or devolve to match one's diet. Unless we eat a hunter-gatherer diet, hunter-gatherer gut bacteria will not only be inappropriate, but will not be able to survive in the long run in a modern gut, eating modern food (IMO).
And his sales pitch includes that old BS about why we should be eating more fiber. We're not ruminants/ungulates, and we didn't evolve to eat a lot of fiber. The statement, "It’s the Fiber Stupid!", is just plain stupid. The pancreas closely regulates the pH of the intestines. That's one of it's primary functions. Apparently he doesn't realize that humans have a pancreas.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Dr. Ayers posted about Celiac Disease today. Says it's not caused by gluten, it's "caused by trypsin inhibitors (ATI) that were increased in wheat fifty years ago to combat pests."
If that's the case, then why has celiac disease been reported in the literature for at least 2,000 years?
And why did he ignore lectins (which are more of a problem), and focus on trypsin instead?
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
We're not ruminants/ungulates, and we didn't evolve to eat a lot of fiber. The statement, "It’s the Fiber Stupid!", is just plain stupid. The pancreas closely regulates the pH of the intestines. That's one of it's primary functions. Apparently he doesn't realize that humans have a pancreas.