Major Breakthroughs on Gut Function

The National Institutes of Health¹ is devoting $100 million in grants over the next five years to study how the trillions of bacteria and yeasts in your gut actually affect your health and risk for disease.  After decades of denial, mainstream researchers now have the molecular tools to actually evaluate gut contents, and are sounding the alarm with proclamations like this “Due to their overwhelming numbers, the fact that their byproducts can be found in most human fluids, and the evidence of their potential role in health and disease, it is quite possible that mapping and understanding the human microbiome may be as important or more important to understanding human health than mapping and understanding the human genome.”

I guess such research is better late than never, though millions of Americans have suffered miserably at the hands of an ignorant medical profession.  It has been obvious to those in the filed of alternative health that gut contents play a significant role in digestive disorders, skin diseases, sinus problems, gum disease, asthma, allergies, autoimmune problems, arthritis, and obesity.

Let me give researchers some clues so they don’t waste too much money trying to figure out what is already known:

1) The rampant overuse of antibiotics for the past 30 years has fueled an epidemic overgrowth of Candida albicans and hostile bacteria within the digestive tracts of millions of Americans – in many cases compromising health for a lifetime.
2) Gut imbalance problems are directly related to the asthma epidemic, as Candida albicans in particular sends out inflammatory messages that communicate directly to the human immune system – inducing asthma.
3) The widespread overuse of acid-suppressing medication in children and elderly is seriously compromising the healthy balance of the gut, and setting the stage for horrific health (all in the name of symptom suppression).
4) Gut imbalance is a major cause or contributing factor, when it exists, to heart disease and almost all forms of cancer (not just colon cancer).

The most exciting discoveries in this field have to do with quorum-sensing molecules – the language that bacteria and Candida use to communicate to one another so as to band together in hostile gangs.  Like a bell tolling in a town square, friendly farmers come in from their fields, pick up weapons, and go off to war.  While you can dump toxic antibiotics on the problem as a temporary “solution,” learning the quorum-sensing language and mastering the art of negotiation will be the hallmark of solutions in the 21st century.  Real solutions will be centered on convincing the warriors to go back to being farmers (something our politicians might consider for some of our world’s issues).

Don’t miss my upcoming class on Candida, when I fully explain the nature of quorum-sensing molecules and how you can use nutrition to address this issue and significantly bolster your digestive health.