GUT HEALTH AND INFLAMMATION
MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU EVER DREAMED
- INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE (Crohn’s and others)
Stop for a moment and think about this list. Not only are all these considered to be “Inflammatory Conditions,” I have shown you that they can frequently be dealt with by restoring Gut Health. This is why “Alternative Healers” have been telling their patients for decades (probably centuries) “Heal the Gut, Heal the Body“. The doubly cool thing is that when you look at this list, you quickly realize that the phrase, “and Heal the Mind” could have easily been tacked on to the end of the phrase as well. It is always refreshing to see a true scientist tackling these topics, as opposed to a “half-cocked, dimwitted, back cracker” like myself (a description from an email I received awhile back).
I want to leave you with a few quotes from the posts that were found in various articles on his homepage at the time I wrote this. Below is from a post about EPIGENETICS. “The health of your gut flora (the interacting trillions of bacteria of a couple of hundred different species that make up the pound of bacteria that you carry primarily in your large intestines) is more important than your genetics to your overall health. Thus, your health is a result of diet, gut flora adapted to your diet and exercise. Everything else, your genetic risks, environmental toxins, etc. are of only minor impact. I am trying to paint the big picture of how the food that you eat and your gut flora interact to determine your health, by which I mean whether you get sick, become obese and/or bloat with gas.” In other words, there are factors that can turn genes on or off. Diet, Inflammation, and Gut Health are three of the biggest. This means that you are not as controlled by your genes as you have always been led to believe.
A number of years ago, I told you that 80% OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM IS FOUND IN THE GUT. Furthermore, I showed you that the Gut is responsible for a wide variety of functions that up until recently, no one knew much about (HERE). I even showed you how things like SEX DRIVE and Obesity are intimately linked to your Gut Flora (OR LACK THEREOF). Listen to what Dr. Ayers says about the relationship between something called DYSBIOSIS (too many bad bacteria, not enough good bacteria) and a wide range of different health problems. “Recent studies have demonstrated the role of gut bacteria in producing nutrients, vitamins and neurotransmitters…. Chronic change of gut flora in this way leads to obesity. Other types of dysbiosis contribute to infections, cancer, autoimmune disease, allergies, food intolerances, gas and bloating.” Trust me when I tell you that his short list is the tip of the iceberg.
This quote is cherrypicked from a post that Dr. Ayers did on SUPERBUGS — bacteria that become resistant to ANTIBIOTICS. “Persistent use of an antibiotic will spread resistance to a particular antibiotic through the gut flora, facilitated by antibiotic resistant plasmids….. Hospital staff would be expected to be natural repositories for multiple resistance genes, especially if they are exposed to any antibiotic (or pharmaceutical.) Mixing megatons of bacteria in the guts of billions of people with tons of antibiotics, and still more in sewage treatment plants and agriculture, is bound to produce bacteria with every type of multiple antibiotic resistance plasmid imaginable. But that is not the biggest problem, since fingering the commercial use and misuse of antibiotics ignores biggest exposure of bacteria to antibiotics. It ignores the fact that most popular pharmaceuticals, NSAIDs, statins, anti-depressants, anti-diabetics, etc., also have substantial antibiotic activity. Most of these pharmaceuticals started out as phytoalexins and then were found to also have pharmaceutical activity. Pharmaceuticals are just repurposed natural antibiotics. When you take an aspirin or Metformin or a statin, you are taking an antibiotic. When you take a pharmaceutical, you are selecting for multiple antibiotic resistance plasmids in your gut flora and you may be making the next superbug.” Did you catch that? Not only do Antibiotics cause Antibiotic Resistance, but so do NSAIDS, STATINS, ANTIDEPRESSANTS, ASPIRIN, and DIABETIC DRUGS, not to mention others.
Dr. Ayers is a true believer in natural health. His three daughters were DELIVERED AT HOME, and his wife (a nurse) was a La Leche League leader and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant for well over two decades. Listen to what he not only says about mother’s milk, but the importance of BACTERIAL TRANSFER IN DELIVERY. “Milk is a baby’s first prebiotic and a major function of mother’s milk is to prevent adult gut bacteria from inflaming a newborn’s gut, before the gut is sealed up and a new immune system is developed. Formula companies scurry to get parents hooked on their expensive substitutes that promise ease of use and nutritional equivalence, but the sad truth is that these artificial milk substitutes undermine baby gut flora with tragic results. Even in the rare cases where mothers are not able to breastfeed their babies, there is a safe alternative, donor milk banks…. Breast milk is nutritive for the newborn, but it also establishes the baby’s gut flora. It is the quality of the gut flora, which species of bacteria, that determines if a newborn will thrive or die. If the baby is delivered by Caesarian, then her first gut flora will resemble the nursery staff. If she forces her way out the old fashioned way, her first flora will resemble her mother’s vaginal flora.” When I think of how far off this track modern medicine has gotten, it frankly ticks me off — especially when it comes to our babies and children.