Author Topic: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome  (Read 3308 times)

Gattopardo

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Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« on: 25 October, 2019, 11:30:05 pm »
Is there anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome by eating fermented food or other ways.  Or is anyone fermenting their own foods?

After listening to this BBC podcast - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b08hltw6 and reading https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jan/29/magical-microbes-how-to-feed-your-gut

Was thinking of trying to make proper sauerkraut, and maybe some live kefir.  Was thinking that as I am taking quite a few different medications so thinking of taking a shot of kefir with the tablets in the morning and maybe kombucha (sp) with evening statins.

Was wondering if anyone was thinking of trying to improve their gut bacteria, or thinking about it.

nicknack

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T42

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #2 on: 26 October, 2019, 11:30:40 am »
I'm partial to a good choucroute garnie, but you might not want the salt belly, Strasbourg sausages, pork chops & other gubbins that turn it into a feast.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Gattopardo

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #3 on: 26 October, 2019, 01:31:02 pm »
I'm partial to a good choucroute garnie, but you might not want the salt belly, Strasbourg sausages, pork chops & other gubbins that turn it into a feast.

Have a few tins of that as an 'emergency' cant be bothered to cook sort of thing.  But do quite like it so have to buy it often.

mattc

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #4 on: 26 October, 2019, 01:35:12 pm »
Was wondering if anyone was thinking of trying to improve their gut bacteria, or thinking about it.
Kinda ... I was impressed by a recent TV Pop Science thing where they counted different varieties of gut bacteria - Presenter A had 20 times Presenter B. Or something. And they came up with reasons that a wide variety was a good thing [which I have sadly now forgotten].

They briefly covered how to improve your bacteria diversity, which included transplants from a donor's gut  :o

It's on the backburner, but I'm very much interested in the concept  :thumbsup:
Has never ridden RAAM
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Gattopardo

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hellymedic

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #6 on: 26 October, 2019, 02:57:31 pm »
No.
I reckon my microbiome is fine without any construed input.
I've not had antibiotics for over a decade.
My last MoviPrep encounter was 6 years ago and it was several months for 'normality' to emerge.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #7 on: 26 October, 2019, 03:19:22 pm »
I'm partial to a good choucroute garnie, but you might not want the salt belly, Strasbourg sausages, pork chops & other gubbins that turn it into a feast.

Have a few tins of that as an 'emergency' cant be bothered to cook sort of thing.  But do quite like it so have to buy it often.

We buy plain sauerkraut from the butcher and tart it up ourselves. It supposedly has myriad virtues but I can't say I've ever noticed any apart from the taste.

I've just been looking a rather nice fish sauerkraut recipe with cod, smoked haddock, salmon, king prawns, mussels & scallops...
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Gattopardo

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #8 on: 26 October, 2019, 04:00:31 pm »
No.
I reckon my microbiome is fine without any construed input.
I've not had antibiotics for over a decade.
My last MoviPrep encounter was 6 years ago and it was several months for 'normality' to emerge.

Was wondering if anyone was thinking of trying to improve their gut bacteria, or thinking about it.
Kinda ... I was impressed by a recent TV Pop Science thing where they counted different varieties of gut bacteria - Presenter A had 20 times Presenter B. Or something. And they came up with reasons that a wide variety was a good thing [which I have sadly now forgotten].

They briefly covered how to improve your bacteria diversity, which included transplants from a donor's gut  :o

It's on the backburner, but I'm very much interested in the concept  :thumbsup:

Or crapsules ;)

Was thinking of doing it the 'normal' way of fermented food such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir and kombucha

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #9 on: 26 October, 2019, 04:02:08 pm »
Interested. My poos haven't been the same since I went to Egypt this time last year  :'(
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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #10 on: 26 October, 2019, 05:55:04 pm »
yes, I make milk and water kefir, Kombucha and fermented veg. These are slowly creeping into the shops but they will be pasturised, homemade is far better. Did I notice a big difference when I started taking these foods? No but when was the last time I had a cold, I don't know. Gut health is also being linked to some mental health conditions, check out the gut-brain axis.

Gattopardo

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #11 on: 26 October, 2019, 07:10:43 pm »
yes, I make milk and water kefir, Kombucha and fermented veg. These are slowly creeping into the shops but they will be pasturised, homemade is far better. Did I notice a big difference when I started taking these foods? No but when was the last time I had a cold, I don't know. Gut health is also being linked to some mental health conditions, check out the gut-brain axis.

Yeah shop stuff is pasturised or sugared to improve the flavour so not as much live bacteria.

Gut health is being linked to many things not just mental health.  But it is something that intrigues me, some of the meds I am taking as well as trying to improve my diet and eat less processed food and more veg.  Looks like I am going to be taking strong antibiotics for a few months.


Also I like sauerkraut, miso and kimchi.  So excuse to try and be better.

Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #12 on: 26 October, 2019, 07:30:03 pm »
I have made several types of sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha and kefir. I generally have a couple on the go at any one time. I love them. My wife tolerates them.

I have them for taste not for health benefit.

Jaded

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #13 on: 27 October, 2019, 12:01:20 am »
After numerous endoscopies I miss not being able to emit sulphurous room-clearing, eye-watering micro gas-emissions.

Instead I’ve been blessed with chic-pea fuelled zeppelin-filling trumpets of delight.

A simple procedural choice between quantity and quality.
It is simpler than it looks.

hellymedic

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #14 on: 27 October, 2019, 01:05:27 am »
Aaaah SBDs... (silent but deadly)

Gattopardo

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #15 on: 27 October, 2019, 08:26:35 pm »
From a serious question to flatulence..... ::-)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ann7vpyifFM

ian

Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #16 on: 28 October, 2019, 08:20:52 pm »
The bacteria and yeast in these products are very unlikely to influence your gut microbiome, which is an immensely complex ecology, in most cases anything alive in them won't survive the stomach.

Eating a balanced diet and avoiding antibiotics unless you genuinely need them is the best plan really.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #17 on: 28 October, 2019, 08:34:20 pm »
Ian states my thinking perfectly.

There is normally enough hydrochloric acid in the stomach to kill all bacteria DEDD.

The microbiome thrives in whatever feeds it so sensible foods will help sensible bugs do well, while antibiotic will kill some, but not all, bugs.

This might reduce the 'good' bug population.

ian

Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #18 on: 28 October, 2019, 09:31:10 pm »
I believe there's been some modestly successful research done on faecal transplants, particularly people who have been on long term antibiotics (also interestingly as a potential treatment for allergies), that's really the only way you'll get gut bacteria up there, sadly not through drinking a little yoghurt via the top end.

Any course of antibiotics will generally do a number on your guts, mostly I suspect the microbiome mostly recovers eventually. It's exceedingly complex, they've only recently through metagenomics really started to understand a little of the complexity and how it varies along the gut, changes over time, and depends on diet and other factors. What that means to health remains mostly undefined. There's far more bacteria in us and on us than there are actual cells.

Gattopardo

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #19 on: 29 October, 2019, 10:11:11 am »

There is normally enough hydrochloric acid in the stomach to kill all bacteria DEDD.


You would think that, but stuff survives!!!! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1151822/


ian

Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #20 on: 29 October, 2019, 10:29:47 am »
Given lactobacillus pumps out protons (it sours by turning lactate into lactic acid after all), that's not much of a surprise. But generally the stomach is a harsh environment and likely to kill most living things you ingest.

That said, there's little to no high-quality evidence that 'probiotics' have measurable health effects.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #21 on: 29 October, 2019, 10:52:47 am »
Yeah. The array of quackery our pharmacy purveys would rot the mind.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #22 on: 29 October, 2019, 11:51:02 am »
That said, there's little to no high-quality evidence that 'probiotics' have measurable health effects.

If you mean those ones in the little bottle, then I agree.

Yeah. The array of quackery our pharmacy purveys would rot the mind.

Is there a homeopathic solution ;)

Maybe I am clutching at straws...better than doing nothing I suppose.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #23 on: 02 November, 2019, 06:59:05 pm »
Fatal E. Coli from faecal transplant.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/920649?nlid=132355_5403&src=wnl_dne_191101_mscpedit&uac=306497SY&impID=2151386&faf=1

{I don't know if linky worky for other folk.)

mattc

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Re: Is anyone trying to improve their gut microbiome
« Reply #24 on: 03 November, 2019, 05:53:19 pm »
FDA recommend fecal transplants for certain patients:
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/892813

[Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in adults.
fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT)]

Quote
The new guidelines support use of FMT for patients who have had two or more episodes of CDI and have not responded to antibiotics. The FDA issued a guidance document in 2013 for FMT, but has not tested it in a standard clinical trial. Studies have shown that FMT is about 70% to 80% effective in treating CDI. Antibiotics have been shown to be 45% to 50% effective, although in one randomized trial, the results were mixed.

Probiotics are mentioned in the new guideline but are not recommended. "We tell patients that for the most part they won't hurt, but at this point we can't make a recommendation for which ones to use and specifically how to use them," McDonald said.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles