Neonatal colonization of gut microbiota influences

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Lilja
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Neonatal colonization of gut microbiota influences

Post by Lilja »

... generalize autoimmunity in adult life.

Hi,

I saw these articles, but I'm not sure if I understand the contents fully. The bacteria in neonatal life can result in autoimmunity in adult life?

http://emboj.embopress.org/content/earl ... .201489966

http://www.embo.org/news/research-news/ ... fe-in-mice

If I understand the article correctly, we have to find and fight the bacteria?

Lilia
Collagenous Colitis diagnosis in 2010
Psoriasis in 1973, symptom free in 2014
GF, CF and SF free since April, 2013
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tex
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Post by tex »

Hi Lilia,

This issue appears to me to actually be centered on the cause of selective IgA deficiency, but the researchers seem to get off on other tangents. Scientific American Magazine had a good article on this a while back. Here's a quote to highlight what I'm referring to:
Scientists have long speculated that a mother can transfer beneficial bacteria to her offspring through the birthing process and then through breast-feeding and kissing. These myriad bacteria species quickly spread and cover an infant's skin, mouth and digestive tract.

This new finding, however, is the first identification of a specific trait that an offspring can inherit — in this case, a deficiency of a blood protein called immunoglobulin A, or IgA, which is the source of the bowel condition — caused by a specific bacterium that can be transferred from the mother to her offspring. IgA helps the body fight infection.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Transmitted by Maternal Bacteria

The thing is, researchers/physicians have long known that babies receive their first "inoculation" of gut bacteria from their mother, during the baby's trip through the birth canal. And doctors have lauded this as the best way to get the infant's immune system off to a good start, by exposing them to a good spectrum of so-called "beneficial" gut bacteria immediately in life.

So frankly I don't see any reason why anyone should be surprised that this is a 2-way street. IOW, the baby will also be exposed to any "bad" (pathogenic) bacteria that might be present during birth. Duh!

Approximately 1 in 500 people in the general population have selective IgA deficiency. The articles imply that selective IgA deficiency virtually guarantees the development of an IBD. But that's simply not true. It probably significantly increases the odds, but certainly not all people who have selective IgA deficiency go on to develop IBDs (or other AI diseases). Most people who have selective IgA deficiency are not even aware of it, unless it's discovered in a testing program.

And while the phenomenon described in this research appears to define why this occurs, statistically, this is not exactly a high probability event, at approximately 0.2% of the population. Presumably, researchers will eventually figure out a way to eliminate (or at least minimize) populations of Sutterella bacteria in the mother's gut microbiome, and thereby significantly reduce the prevalence of selective IgA deficiency in the future.

The main point is, selective IgA deficiency does not cause autoimmunity. It might increase the risk that autoimmunity may develop (by lowering the effectiveness of the immune system), but it most certainly does not directly cause autoimmunity (contrary to what some of these articles imply). IMO, the primary cause of autoimmunity is vitamin D deficiency (the process is described in detail in the book).

Tex
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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.
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