Microbes can rejuvenate, heal and reduce weight

They solved the problem of obesity without the Kremlin and in general any exotic diets, even without disabling genes. Scientists transplanted bacteria from the intestines of thin mice to "fat men", and they began to lose weight quickly. But further – more. The thin ones were quickly covered with fat, having received microflora from fat men. This research immediately became a worldwide sensation, gave rise to a new direction of science. Figuratively speaking, man discovered the planet of bacteria, as Columbus discovered America. (Most likely, we are talking about an article that was briefly retold two and a half years ago in the note "Intestinal bacteria helped mice lose weight" – VM.)

– Bacteria are the first creatures that inhabited the Earth billions of years ago, – says Dmitry Alekseev, Candidate of Biological Sciences, head of the Bioinformatics Laboratory of the Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Medicine of the FMBA of the Russian Federation. – Not people, not animals, not plants, but microbes make up 90-95 percent of the biodiversity on the planet.

That is, in fact, not a person, but these microorganisms are the most important inhabitants of it. A number of scientists generally consider bacteria to be the crown of creation. And, indeed, their abilities are amazing. For example, extreme bacteria are not afraid of high radiation. They live both in permafrost and at temperatures plus 120 ° C, withstand enormous pressures at the bottom of the oceans and fly in space in almost absolute vacuum. A real revelation for science was the recently established fact that 10 trillion bacterial cells live in each person. And most of it is in the intestines. There are 15 times more of them than human cells. In fact, we are walking colonies of bacteria. This giant community is called the microbiome.

– Previously, only a few dozen species of bacteria inhabiting the intestine were known to science. Now the bill is already in the thousands, – says Alekseev. – They were identified thanks to new methods of gene research.

We can say that these bacteria are completely indifferent to us, they live their own lives. But for us they are extremely important. Thanks to them, we survive, because "our" microorganisms protect us from strangers, including deadly ones. Our immunity is formed with the most direct participation of bacteria. Parents are outraged when, in early childhood, a child drags everything into his mouth and tries to taste it. But evolution is at work here. Through the stomach and intestines, the child learns about the outside world. And the immune system learns to distinguish its own from someone else's. It learns thanks to the bacteria that are engaged in such rejection.

– Now there is a new theory of hygiene, which is fundamentally different from the traditional one, – says Dmitry Alekseev. – For example, our desire for sterility has led to the fact that many modern children are not ready to face the real world. Their immunity in early childhood did not undergo rigorous training. To put it quite simply, a little dirt will not hurt the child, even useful.

By the way, this is proved by the example of peoples living far from civilization. For example, their skin is in much better condition than that of modern people, useful bacteria have been preserved on it, but they have been completely washed away. New settlers come to take their place every day. And the more often we wash them off, the more new ones are started.

– Of course, thanks to modern hygiene, the number of dangerous epidemics from infectious diseases has significantly decreased, but a sharp increase in various ailments has begun due to the fact that the immune system has been trained, – says Alekseev. – In short, in the pursuit of purity, a golden mean is needed.

Although people on the planet live in a variety of conditions, eat a variety of foods, but, nevertheless, they have about the same set of bacterial species in their intestines. The difference is only in their ratio. By the way, a group of Russian scientists, led by Dmitry Alekseev, came to the same conclusion. Their project became a resident of Skolkovo. Scientists studied the microflora of rural residents of Russia, as well as citizens of our country, the USA and Europe. The research results are published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Communications (Human gut microbiota community structures in urban and rural populations in Russia, 2013 – VM).

– It became a revelation for us that it is impossible to distinguish a citizen of a Russian city, American and European by microflora, – says Alekseev. – In fact, they are twin brothers. Of course, we assumed that they were similar, but not to this extent. In fact, at the level of the intestine, we see the globalization that has engulfed the world today. People in different parts of the world consume the same synthetic, highly processed food, use antibiotics, etc. As a result, the ratio of bacterial species is greatly distorted, some clearly prevail, others are "crushed". And the picture of Russian villagers is completely different. Unlike the townspeople, they have widely and massively represented a variety of types of bacteria. This picture is close to normal.

Why the citizens have such an abnormal team of bacteria is, in principle, understandable. Antibiotics and preservatives, which are used in large quantities in agriculture and the food industry, knock out certain types of bacteria from the metabolic chain, and the remaining ones get freedom of action. For example, more calories are produced from the same amount of food. Hence the excess weight. It is already obvious to scientists that there is a relationship between the human microbiome and its ailments. And already a number of diseases, for example, diabetes, the appearance of polyps, autoimmune diseases began to be checked for the composition of the microflora.

– It is unclear what is the cause and what is the effect, but the correlation is obvious, – says Alekseev. – Science cannot yet say unequivocally that with such and such a composition of the microflora, a person will necessarily have such and such a disease. After all, each person is very specific, we all eat differently. Therefore, there is a lot of work to be done, and, first of all, statistics on a large number of people are needed. And in the future, everyone should have a passport of their bacteria. This will allow you to detect at the earliest stage, when there are no harbingers of the disease, that your microflora has begun to shift towards, for example, diabetes. And advise at least to change the diet.

Ideally, scientists will be able to control bacteria by changing their proportions in the human body. In fact, we are talking about their transplantation. Such experiments are already underway, but so far there are a lot of problems. One of the main ones is rejection. After all, "aksakals" already live in our intestines, our immune system has recognized them. And naturally, she is very reluctant to let strangers in. A person's temperature rises, other undesirable reactions appear. The task of scientists is to unravel the code of the immune system in order to understand which types of bacteria can be launched into a given organism, how, in what quantity, etc. And which types are strictly prohibited for it.

Today, a boom in microbiota research is beginning in the world. This is a completely new way to maintain human health. Much safer compared to courses of antibiotics. For some diseases, the associated composition of the microflora has already been described, for example, ulcerative colitis. Atherosclerosis risk bacteria have been identified. A number of clinics transplant bacteria to rejuvenate the body. After all, along with a person, his microflora also ages. Transplantation of young "individuals" spurs the metabolism, activates the immune system.

In Russia, similar studies are also being conducted, for example, the addiction of bacteria to alcohol is being studied. Having tasted this drink, they get hooked on it. For them, this is a "high-octane fuel", an opportunity to get huge energy very simply. Scientists are trying to influence bacteria to change their preferences. This is not even a transplant of "teetotallers", but various probiotics, which are encouraged by the Ministry of Health.

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09.09.2015