Links and articles below - on the human gut flora ; this study says that antibiotics kills off one-third of the 5700 strains of them, and that some of them do not recover for weeks or months.
Our health, digestion, and ability to avoid cancers etc. may largely depend on the state of our gut flora. Yet, these bacterial populations have never been completely studied, they are simply not known [but this research is going to do that job now].
Some of the preliminary results are being published today [Nov 19th 2008]
"The diversity in bacterial types was cut by about one-third after the volunteers took the antibiotics." .
["About 30 per cent of all of the strains and species that we could see were either knocked out or knocked down.”]
"By four weeks post-treatment, most of the bacterial populations seemed to have recovered, though some were still at depressed levels. And some were not evident at all."
'The things that we see getting knocked out or knocked down are typically associated with [good] health.'— Dr. David Relman
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My own thoughts:
So much of our health has to do with bacteria. Good ones for good health, bad ones are the pathogens. Duh!!
This has largely been ignored in modern medical science, probably something to do with religion and believing that humans are purely god given and therefore do not depend on such low forms of life as bacteria. Too bad, we have suffered from that!!
Interesting is that the variations on the natural flora vary greatly from individual to individual based upon diet, lifestyle, and environment.
In addition, there seems to be a correlation between gut bacteria and weight as well. Not the be all end all mind you... as it affects efficiency in digestion, absorption, utilization and the manufacture of vitamins, enzymes, etc. etc.
In general, we should be able to produce what we need by eating a whole foods, natural diet. However the current state of food, and the indiscriminate use of antibiotics and medicines in general has thrown a huge curve ball into all of that.
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