Bacteria of completeness and forgetfulness
Scientists have found the true causes of age-old problems
Yulia Kondratenko, Mednovosti
Gastritis is caused by improper nutrition, excess weight is caused by hormonal disorders, and caries is caused by sweets. These statements have been considered true for years, but recently scientists have found out that everything is wrong, and these and many other of our troubles are to blame... bacteria.
Predisposition to cardiovascular diseasesAmerican scientists have recently found that when bacteria from our intestines (and there are a lot of them there) process red meat, they secrete substances that increase the risk of atherosclerosis.
The most annoying thing is that microorganisms make these harmful substances from L-carnitine, a substance with a lot of useful properties: it protects neurons, helps to digest food, neutralizes foreign toxic substances. It is even more insulting that many beneficial bacteria are engaged in the production of harmful substances from L-carnitine. For example, the microorganism Akkermansia muciniphila, in parallel with the decomposition of meat into harmful components, helps to maintain the correct level of glucose in the blood and reduces inflammatory processes. Therefore, it will be difficult to get rid of bacteria that spoil our vessels without damaging the body. So to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, alas, you will have to give up steaks.
Disorders of the immune systemThe composition of intestinal bacteria affects the immune system.
It recognizes foreign organisms, but with certain pathologies it can start attacking intestinal bacteria, taking them for potential pests. Such diseases are comparable in severity to autoimmune ones: although intestinal bacteria are not cells of our body, they are no less important for its normal functioning. By attacking them by mistake, the immune system causes significant harm to the body.
Scientists have also found less obvious links between the composition of gut bacteria and predisposition to autoimmune diseases. Working with mice, the researchers noticed that female mice are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes than males. Unexpectedly, it turned out that after transplanting bacteria from males, females began to get sick less. In humans, the relationship between the tendency to autoimmune pathologies and the composition of intestinal bacteria has not yet been tested. But, given the huge role of bacteria in the life of Homo sapiens, it is not necessary to exclude such dependence.
OverweightThe presence of extra pounds is explained by anything: hormonal disorders, improper diet, laziness.
But it seems that bacteria could "work" here, too. A Danish researcher has found that the cause of excess weight may be a lack of bacteria from the Christensenelaceae family. It was found that people with a good figure have significantly more of these microorganisms than those suffering from overweight. Mice with Christensenelaceae bacteria gained weight more slowly than rodents from the control group. Interestingly, the number of these microbes in the human stomach significantly depends on genes. Thus, identical twins had approximately the same number of Christensenelaceae – unlike fraternal brothers and sisters. Such data indicate the great role of heredity in the formation of the trait. So people with a better combination of genes will develop more Christensenelaceae bacteria, which means there will be less risk of gaining excess weight.
AnxietyThree independent groups of researchers have shown that mice devoid of intestinal microorganisms are less anxious than their counterparts with normal flora.
To assess the anxiety of the mouse, it is placed in a special container in which there are dark and illuminated parts. The more anxious the mouse is, the less it tends to explore the environment and spends more time in a dark compartment that seems safe to it. Rodents without intestinal bacteria hid less in the dark compartment of the container and explored the surrounding space more actively. However, as in the case of meat, the problem will not be solved by getting rid of intestinal bacteria: nevertheless, the benefits from them are much greater than the harm.
Memory problemsResearchers from Canada have demonstrated that under the influence of bacterial intestinal infection, mice remember information worse.
To test how animals are doing with memory, scientists rely on the tendency of rodents to explore unfamiliar objects. If you give a mouse two subjects, one of which she already knows, and the second one does not, she will study one that she has not met before. If in such a test the mouse studies an object that it has already seen, this is a sure sign of memory problems. It turned out that mice infected with the bacterium Citrobacter rodentium, which disrupts the work of the intestine, remember worse which objects they met earlier, and which ones they did not. Moreover, the negative effect of microorganisms on memory was manifested under the influence of stress, which violates the natural intestinal microflora. In such conditions, pathogenic bacteria displace microorganisms that live in the intestine. Citrobacter rodentium infects rodents, and in humans a similar infection is caused by pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli – Escherichia coli. Whether E.coli infection affects people's memory is not yet known, but there is reason to suspect it.
Gastritis and stomach ulcerGastritis and gastric ulcer are diseases that have long been explained by improper nutrition, increased acidity of the stomach or stress.
As is often the case in science, a person capable of sacrifice managed to refute this belief. In 1984, an Australian doctor Barry Marshall, firmly convinced that bacteria were responsible for the occurrence of stomach ulcers, drank a culture of Helicobacter pylori. Thanks to such a risky act, the doctor earned a real gastritis with all its symptoms – gastric discomfort, nausea and a specific smell from the mouth. To complete the proof, Marshall cured himself by getting rid of the bacteria. He later showed that antibiotics are effective in treating most cases of ulcers and gastritis. For these studies, Barry Marshall was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
However, diseases develop only in 10% of carriers of Helicobacter pylori. Both the state of the human immune system and the specific strain to which the microorganism belongs are important.
CariesThe most common disease in humans is also associated with exposure to bacteria.
Acids, under the influence of which tooth enamel is destroyed, are secreted by both parasitic streptococci and lactobacilli, which are considered beneficial for digestion. Lactobacilli actually secrete substances that inhibit the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, including the aforementioned Helicobacter pylori, which causes gastritis and ulcers. In addition, lactobacilli secrete acids that inhibit the growth of microflora harmful to humans. However, these same acids destroy tooth enamel during the development of caries.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.11.2014