Men who eat two portions of yoghurt are less likely to develop bowel cancer, major study finds

Men who have two portions of yoghurt a week could cut the risk of precancerous growths by a fifth, a study suggests.

• Laura Donnelly, health editor

18 JUNE 2019 • 10:30PM

Scientists said that two bacteria commonly found in live yogurt, may lower the number of cancer causing chemicals in the gut

 CREDIT: GETTY

Research by the University of Washington found those eating plenty of it had a significantly lower chance of developing adenoma which can lead to bowel cancer.

The study, published in Gut, which tracked more than 32,000 men for 25 years, found that those consuming at least two portions of yoghurt a week had 19 per cent fewer growths - and 26 per cent fewer of the most high-risk type.

The study was observational, and could not demonstrate why the foodstuff might have such an impact.

But scientists said that Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, two bacteria commonly found in live yogurt, may lower the number of cancer causing chemicals in the gut.

The anti-inflammatory properties might also reduce gut leakiness, which could also protect against disease, they said. The study tracked a total of 32,606 men and 55,743 women, all of whom had a lower bowel endoscopy, which enables medics to view the inside of their gut.

Every four years they provided detailed information on lifestyle and diet - including how much yoghurt they ate. During the study period, 5,811 pre-cancerous growths developed in the men, and 8,116 in the women.

While men who ate yoghurt had a far lower risk of developing the growths, called adenoma, no association was seen in women.

Katie Patrick, health information officer, from Cancer Research UK, said: “The colon is home to trillions of microbes and how the bacteria in our gut might affect bowel cancer risk is a fascinating area of research. Lots of things affect the types of bugs in our gut and our overall gut health, including the foods we eat.

“But men don’t need to fill their shopping trolleys with yoghurt because it’s too early to say from this study whether eating more yoghurt could reduce the risk of bowel cancer. However, there is good evidence that you can reduce your risk by eating more foods high in fibre, like wholegrain bread or brown rice, and cutting down on processed and red meat.”

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with almost 42,000 diagnoses annually.

Related Topics

• Colon and Rectal Cancer
 
• Cancer
 
• Scientific research
 
• Health

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/18/men-eat-two-portions-yoghurt-less-likely-develop-bowel-cancer/

Curious Cook: A time for gut feelings – Part 2

Scientists now think that human gastrointestinal microbiota should be classified as a human organ after discovering hormones that it produces can affect the body, brain and the enteric nervous system.

February 25, 2018 Food, Food News

By CHRIS CHAN

Overindulging in food can distress your human gastrointestinal microbiota. Photo: VisualHunt

People are not just people. They are an awful lot of microbes too.

This quote from The Economist (2012) reflects the realisation that human gastrointestinal microbiota (HGM) is not just a collection of icky bugs lounging around in our guts. In fact, scientists now think that HGM should be classified as a human organ – many endocrinologists (specialists in hormonal disorders) certainly view the HGM as an organ in its own right after discovering hormones produced by HGM can affect the body, brain and the enteric nervous system (ENS, our body’s second brain).

Influential HGM-produced hormones include serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, gamma-aminobutyric acid, acetylcholine, histamine, etc. The hormones are not produced by single strains of bacteria either – as an illustration, dopamine is output by bacteria such as Bacillus cereus, B. mycoides, B. subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Serratia marcescens, S. aureus, etc.

Not all kinds of bacteria can survive in the HGM, being restricted to four specialised groups called Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. A recent revision indicates there are about 100 billion (instead of the oft-quoted 100 trillion) bacteria in adult human guts and there are probably over a thousand species and sub-species of bacteria.

Investigating HGM bacteria is difficult as many are so specialised that they survive only in intestines and cannot be cultured. They are crucial for various digestive processes – without HGM, many foods are simply indigestible. For example, humans have no enzymes for digesting most complex carbohydrates – these can only be processed by HGM. The outputs from HGM include vitamins, minerals, short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and other nutrients which are passed through the gut walls into the bloodstream – it also supplies between 10% and 15% of the energy for adults.

HGM also enhances the immune system; intestinal bacteria produce antimicrobial compounds which help attack and destroy pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) present in the intestines and these compounds can be adopted by the body – an example is anti-inflammatory compounds produced by Faecalibacterium prausnitzii.

Cohabiting bacteria within HGM do not attack each other – they manage themselves via a fascinating mechanism called quorum sensing.

How quickly things change

The microbial balance of HGM can change quickly, within a day or less, and this is a direct result of what the body has ingested. Problem foods are not always obvious and can mutate over time – what is easily tolerated before may trigger severe issues later, and nobody is really certain why. Idiosyncratic human differences mean that problem foods are not always the same between people, even if they share the same diet.

In Taiwan, my intestinal cramps were so severe that I thought I had developed gluten intolerance. Later, it seemed the Taiwanese buns and noodles made from heavily-processed white flour were a more likely cause – and I never had problems with flour before.

HGM is loosely divided into three enterotypes (effectively a catalogue of the types of bacteria within the HGM), and enterotypes are influenced by diet. The three types are simply classed as Type 1 (where the genus Bacteroides dominate the HGM), Type 2 (where Prevotella is prevalent), and Type 3 (where Ruminococcus is plentiful). Other genera of bacteria always exist within each enterotype – the Types simply indicate the largest bacterial group by proportion.

Problem foods are not always obvious and can mutate over time.

Enterotypes can alter over time, normally due to prolonged dietary changes. Type 1 is associated with digestion of proteins and saturated fats. Type 2 is linked with carbohydrates and simple sugars while Type 3 prefers complex carbohydrates and insoluble fibres – note that these types are only fuzzy classifications which can overlap substantially. A sudden change in diet can promote certain bacteria temporarily (though in general the original enterotype will revert eventually) – but while the enterotype is disrupted, the event may manifest itself as bodily discomfort and/or diarrhoea or constipation.

Other enterotype disruptive agents include tobacco, medications (especially antibiotics), alcohol, stress, pesticides, pollution, bacterial invasion, etc.

Persistent disruption of HGM balance via long-term exposure to problem diets and disruptive agents will simply end up with HGM deterioration.

The effect of a dysfunctional HGM

Dysbiosis (impairment of the HGM) manifests itself in ways which may not appear connected to dietary issues – this is the disconcerting peculiarity: certain health problems do not seem linked to the probable root cause. However it is still too early to confirm direct causal relationships between HGM and disease – but, as an example, some findings about Parkinson’s Disease (PD) are worth noting.

Compared to normal people, patients with PD have much higher concentrations of E. coli bacteria in their guts, along with more bacteria associated with the production of lipopolysaccharides, an endotoxin which aggravates tissue inflammation. PD is also associated with constipation and “leaky gut” syndrome, where intestinal walls are weakened, allowing the dangerous interchange of pathogens and toxins between the intestines and the blood stream – this may be due to degradation of the intestinal mucus lining caused by excessive numbers of bacteria such as Akkermansia muciniphila. An initial major event during the development of PD appears to be damage to the neurons in the ENS which then spreads to the central nervous system and motor neurons in the brain.

Pathologies of other disorders such as autism, kidney disease, liver disease, metabolic syndromes (such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease) and gastrointestinal issues (such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease, Clostridium difficile infection, etc) now also appear traceable to dysbiosis. Whether a malfunctioning HGM is always the prime cause of these conditions is debatable – but regardless of the root cause, it is indisputable that dysbiosis can be a contributing factor in the progression of many diseases.

Oops – now what?

So if a bout of overindulgence or encounter with a disruptive agent distresses your HGM, there are some things to consider. Firstly, chances are good that balance will be restored over time, though recovery is affected by age – older people take longer to restore their normal enterotypes. However, in some cases, the HGM may never recover if the disruptive event is overwhelming – more on this later.

Next is awareness of the symptoms of disruption, and avoiding things which may further aggravate matters. As a personal example, a sense of unease and constipation are signals which prompt abstinence from alcohol and rich foods. It is now time for fructans and dietary oligosaccharides (insoluble fibres used as food by HGM), eg. inulin (found in leeks, okra, etc) and galacto-oligosaccharides (lentils, chickpeas, etc). By weight, the HGM in adults weigh around 500g – and normal daily excretion removes up to 20% of this mass. With this amount of attrition, HGM needs to feed well to propagate itself, especially after some trauma.

Third point is drink lots of water, particularly if suffering from alcoholic dehydration. Insoluble fibre also needs water to progress through the gut better.

Aged cheeses and natural cheese rinds contain lots of good bacteria and can help counter HGM. Photo: The Star/Yap Chee Hong

Yoghurts and drinks fermented with probiotic bacteria are sold in many supermarkets. However, in almost all cases, over 99% of the bacteria (usually from the genera Bifidus and Lactobacillus) are killed by stomach acids before it reaches the intestines – so an alternative may be pills of bacterial spores which can survive stomach acids. Or ingest aged cheeses and natural cheese rinds which contain lots of good bacteria. Whichever option you choose, eat some insoluble fibre beforehand.

Recovering from dysbiosis

Frankly, some people may never recover fully from dysbiosis. Once gut pathogens are firmly established or the intestinal lining is severely compromised, there is no easy return to a harmonious gut environment – for example, treatments such as medications/antibiotics would likely damage the remaining good bacteria as much as the pathogens. Faecal transplants from healthy donors appear thus far the best option to treat dysbiosis-related gastrointestinal problems.

Prevention

As for other diseases now qualitatively linked to faulty HGM, the best preventive options are care and vigilance as reliable diagnostics are presently unavailable. Paying attention to your HGM may really save your life.

I enjoy overindulging occasionally with family and friends, and I do not intend to stop – however I am aware of the obligation to my HGM afterwards and this is something I then manage fastidiously via a temperate diet, or else risk damage and dysbiosis.

https://www.star2.com/food/2018/02/25/curious-cook-time-for-gut-feelings-part-2/

" Why I believe that giving up milk is the key to beating breast cancer..."

By Prof. Jane Plant, PhD, CBE 

Extracted from Your Life in Your Hands, by Professor Jane Plant. 

I had no alternative but to die or to try to find a cure for myself. I am a scientist - surely there was a rational explanation for this cruel illness that affects one in 12 women in the UK?  



I had suffered the loss of one breast, and undergone radiotherapy. I was now receiving painful chemotherapy, and had been seen by some of the country's most eminent specialists. But, deep down, I felt certain I was facing death. I had a loving husband, a beautiful home and two young children to care for. I desperately wanted to live. 

Fortunately, this desire drove me to unearth the facts, some of which were known only to a handful of scientists at the time.

Anyone who has come into contact with breast cancer will know that certain risk factors - such as increasing age, early onset of womanhood, late onset of menopause and a family history of breast cancer - are completely out of our control. But there are many risk factors, which we can control easily. 

These "controllable" risk factors readily translate into simple changes that we can all make in our day-to-day lives to help prevent or treat breast cancer. My message is that even advanced breast cancer can be overcome because I have done it. 

The first clue to understanding what was promoting my breast cancer came when my husband Peter, who was also a scientist, arrived back from working in China while I was being plugged in for a chemotherapy session. 

He had brought with him cards and letters, as well as some amazing herbal suppositories, sent by my friends and science colleagues in China.

The suppositories were sent to me as a cure for breast cancer. Despite the awfulness of the situation, we both had a good belly laugh, and I remember saying that this was the treatment for breast cancer in China, then it was little wonder that Chinese women avoided getting the disease.

Those words echoed in my mind. Why didn't Chinese women in China get breast cancer? I had collaborated once with Chinese colleagues on a study of links between soil chemistry and disease, and I remembered some of the statistics.

The disease was virtually non-existent throughout the whole country. Only one in 10,000 women in China will die from it, compared to that terrible figure of one in 12 in Britain and the even grimmer average of one in 10 across most Western countries. It is not just a matter of China being a more rural country, with less urban pollution. In highly urbanized Hong Kong, the rate rises to 34 women in every 10,000 but still puts the West to shame. 

The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have similar rates. And remember, both cities were attacked with nuclear weapons, so in addition to the usual pollution-related cancers, one would also expect to find some radiation-related cases, too. 

The conclusion we can draw from these statistics strikes you with some force. If a Western woman were to move to industrialized, irradiated Hiroshima, she would slash her risk of contracting breast cancer by half. 

Obviously this is absurd. It seemed obvious to me that some lifestyle factor not related to pollution, urbanization or the environment is seriously increasing the Western woman's chance of contracting breast cancer. 

I then discovered that whatever causes the huge differences in breast cancer rates between oriental and Western countries, it isn't genetic.

Scientific research showed that when Chinese or Japanese people move to the West, within one or two generations their rates of breast cancer approach those of their host community. 

The same thing happens when oriental people adopt a completely Western lifestyle in Hong Kong. In fact, the slang name for breast cancer in China translates as 'Rich Woman's Disease'. This is because, in China, only the better off can afford to eat what is termed 'Hong Kong food'. 

The Chinese describe all Western food, including everything from ice cream and chocolate bars to spaghetti and feta cheese, as "Hong Kong food", because of its availability in the former British colony and its scarcity, in the past, in mainland China. 

So it made perfect sense to me that whatever was causing my breast cancer and the shockingly high incidence in this country generally, it was almost certainly something to do with our better-off, middle-class, Western lifestyle. 

There is an important point for men here, too. I have observed in my research that much of the data about prostate cancer leads to similar conclusions.

According to figures from the World Health Organization, the number of men contracting prostate cancer in rural China is negligible, only 0.5 men in every 100,000. In England, Scotland and Wales, however, this figure is 70 times higher. Like breast cancer, it is a middle-class disease that primarily attacks the wealthier and higher socio-economic groups ¨C those that can afford to eat rich foods. 

I remember saying to my husband, "Come on Peter, you have just come back from China. What is it about the Chinese way of life that is so different?"

Why don't they get breast cancer?' 

We decided to utilize our joint scientific backgrounds and approach it logically.

We examined scientific data that pointed us in the general direction of fats in diets. Researchers had discovered in the 1980s that only l4% of calories in the average Chinese diet were from fat, compared to almost 36% in the West.   

But the diet I had been living on for years before I contracted breast cancer was very low in fat and high in fibre. Besides, I knew as a scientist that fat intake in adults has not been shown to increase risk for breast cancer in most investigations that have followed large groups of women for up to a dozen years. 

Then one day something rather special happened. Peter and I have worked together so closely over the years that I am not sure which one of us first said: "The Chinese don't eat dairy produce!"

It is hard to explain to a non-scientist the sudden mental and emotional 'buzz' you get when you know you have had an important insight. It's as if you have had a lot of pieces of a jigsaw in your mind, and suddenly, in a few seconds, they all fall into place and the whole picture is clear. 

Suddenly I recalled how many Chinese people were physically unable to tolerate milk, how the Chinese people I had worked with had always said that milk was only for babies, and how one of my close friends, who is of Chinese origin, always politely turned down the cheese course at dinner parties. 

I knew of no Chinese people who lived a traditional Chinese life who ever used cow or other dairy food to feed their babies. The tradition was to use a wet nurse but never, ever, dairy products.

Culturally, the Chinese find our Western preoccupation with milk and milk products very   strange. I remember entertaining a large delegation of Chinese scientists shortly after the ending of the Cultural Revolution in the 1980s. 

On advice from the Foreign Office, we had asked the caterer to provide a pudding that contained a lot of ice cream. After inquiring what the pudding consisted of, all of the Chinese, including their interpreter, politely but firmly refused to eat it, and they could not be persuaded to change their minds. 

At the time we were all delighted and ate extra portions!

Milk, I discovered, is one of the most common causes of food allergies . Over 70% of the world's population are unable to digest the milk sugar, lactose, which has led nutritionists to believe that this is the normal condition for adults, not some sort of deficiency. 

Perhaps nature is trying to tell us that we are eating the wrong food.

Before I had breast cancer for the first time, I had eaten a lot of dairy produce, such as skimmed milk, low-fat cheese and yoghurt. I had used it as my main source of protein. I also ate cheap but lean minced beef, which I now realized was probably often ground-up dairy cow. 

In order to cope with the chemotherapy I received for my fifth case of cancer, I had been eating organic yoghurts as a way of helping my digestive tract to recover and repopulate my gut with 'good' bacteria. 

Recently, I discovered that way back in 1989 yoghurt had been implicated in ovarian cancer . Dr Daniel Cramer of Harvard University studied hundreds of women with ovarian cancer, and had them record in detail what they normally ate. wish I'd been made aware of his findings when he had first discovered them.   

Following Peter's and my insight into the Chinese diet, I decided to give up not just yoghurt but all dairy produce immediately. Cheese, butter, milk and yoghurt and anything else that contained dairy produce - it went down the sink or in the rubbish. 

It is surprising how many products, including commercial soups, biscuits and cakes, contain some form of dairy produce. Even many proprietary brands of margarine marketed as soya, sunflower or olive oil spreads can contain dairy produce . 

I therefore became an avid reader of the small print on food labels.

Up to this point, I had been steadfastly measuring the progress of my fifth cancerous lump with callipers and plotting the results. Despite all the encouraging comments and positive feedback from my doctors and nurses, my own precise observations told me the bitter truth. 

My first chemotherapy sessions had produced no effect - the lump was still the same size.

Then I eliminated dairy products. Within days, the lump started to shrink . 

About two weeks after my second chemotherapy session and one week after giving up dairy produce, the lump in my neck started to itch. Then it began to soften and to reduce in size. The line on the graph, which had shown no change, was now pointing downwards as the tumour got smaller and smaller. 

And, very significantly, I noted that instead of declining exponentially (a graceful curve) as cancer is meant to do, the tumour's decrease in size was plotted on a straight line heading off the bottom of the graph, indicating a cure, not suppression (or remission) of the tumour. 

One Saturday afternoon after about six weeks of excluding all dairy produce from my diet, I practised an hour of meditation then felt for what was left of the lump. I couldn't find it. Yet I was very experienced at detecting cancerous lumps - I had discovered all five cancers on my own. I went downstairs and asked my husband to feel my neck. He could not find any trace of the lump either. 

On the following Thursday I was due to be seen by my cancer specialist at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He examined me thoroughly, especially my neck where the tumour had been. He was initially bemused and then delighted as he said, "I cannot find it."

None of my doctors, it appeared, had expected someone with my type and stage of cancer (which had clearly spread to the lymph system) to survive, let alone be so hale and hearty. 

My specialist was as overjoyed as I was. When I first discussed my ideas with him he was understandably skeptical. But I understand that he now uses maps showing cancer portality in China in his lectures, and recommends a non-dairy diet to his cancer patients. 

I now believe that the link between dairy produce and breast cancer is similar to the link between smoking and lung cancer. I believe that identifying the link between breast cancer and dairy produce, and then developing a diet specifically targeted at maintaining the health of my breast and hormone system, cured me. 

It was difficult for me, as it may be for you, to accept that a substance as 'natural' as milk might have such ominous health implications. But I am a living proof that it works and, starting from tomorrow, I shall reveal the secrets of my revolutionary action plan. 

Extracted from Your Life in Your Hands, by Professor Jane Plant.

The above article is from an email i received on Dec 17, 2007 8:39 AM which I have just come across again.

Also:

'Give up dairy products to beat cancer’

Is This ‘Nature’s Perfect Food’?

Milk: It doesn’t do a body good

Drinking full-fat milk could protect against strokes, study suggests

Drinking full-fat milk could lead to a longer life by protecting against strokes, scientists have suggested.

While conventional diet advice has for decades dictated that skimmed and semi-skimmed milk is much healthier for us than full-fat milk, a study suggests that the opposite may be true.

•  Isolde Walters

16 JULY 2018 • 9:47AM

The study suggests the conventional diet advice that skimmed and semi-skimmed milk is healthier that full-fat varieties might be wrong CREDIT: SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG

Researchers found no significant link between dairy fats and heart disease and stroke, two of the biggest killers associated with a diet high in saturated fat. In fact, certain types of dairy fat might actually help guard against having a severe stroke, researchers reported.

It will be welcome news to people who prefer full-fat varieties of milk, butter, cheese and yogurt to those with lower quantities of fat.

Professor Marcia Otto, of the University of Texas, who led the study, said: "Our findings not only support but also significantly strengthen the growing body of evidence which suggests that dairy fat, contrary to popular belief, does not increase risk of heart disease or overall mortality in older adults.

"In addition to not contributing to death, the results suggest that one fatty acid present in dairy may lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, particularly from stroke."

Whole fat dairy foods... are essential for health, not only during childhood but throughout lifeProf Marcia Otto

The study evaluated how multiple biomarkers of fatty acid present in dairy fat related to heart disease and mortality over a 22-year period.

The method, as opposed to the more commonly used self-reported consumption, gave greater and more objective insight into the impact of long-term exposure to these fatty acids, according to the report.

Nearly 3,000 men and women aged 65 and older were included in the study, which measured blood levels of three different fatty acids found in dairy products in 1992, and again six and 13 years later.

None of the fatty acid types were significantly associated with total mortality and one type was linked to lower cardiovascular disease deaths.

People with higher fatty acid levels, suggesting a higher consumption of whole-fat dairy products, had a 42 per cent lower risk of dying from a stroke.

While health experts often recommend a diet rich in fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, cheese and yogurt, the researchers said that low-fat dairy foods such as chocolate milk and low calorie yogurt often include high amounts of added sugars which may lead to poor heart health.

Health officials warned that a single pot of yogurt can contain the entirety of a child's daily sugar allowance earlier this year after a number of major brands were found by Public Health Liverpool to contain the equivalent of almost five sugar cubes.

Clarissa Lenherr, a registered nutritionist, pointed out that by stripping fat out of dairy products, the food is not as filling and vitamins are lost.

She said: "The fat in dairy products is what makes them satiating, and by stripping dairy products of their fat, you are also reducing the amount of Vitamin A and D that they contain. Both are crucial vitamins and both are fatsoluble, which means that they need fat to be absorbed.

"So even when you choose low-fat dairy products that have been fortified with these vitamins, you may not even be absorbing them, due to the fact that the product has little fat left in it."

Professor Otto added that whole-fat dairy products are rich sources of nutrients including calcium and potassium. She said: "Our results highlight the need to revisit current dietary guidance on whole fat dairy foods, which are rich sources of nutrients such as calcium and potassium.

"These are essential for health, not only during childhood but throughout life, particularly also in later years when undernourishment and conditions like osteoporosis are more common."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/07/16/drinking-full-fat-milk-could-protect-against-strokes-study-suggests/

The Right Way to Take Probiotics

You’ve decided to be good to your stomach, so you start taking probiotic supplements. Maybe you’ve been prescribed an antibiotic and want to protect yourself from stomach upset.

September 28, 2015

Maria L. Marco, PhD, University of California, Davis

You’ve decided to be good to your stomach, so you start taking probiotic supplements. Maybe you’ve been prescribed an antibiotic and want to protect yourself from stomach upset. Perhaps you’ve already experienced a bout of diarrhea from a stomach “bug” and want to get right again. Or you just want to give your gastrointestinal tract a healthy new start.

So you buy a 30-day supply of probiotic supplements, and start to take them each day with a glass of water. So far, so good. But what if there were a way for the probiotic to work better…and faster?

The trick isn’t to change the probiotic itself but to wash it down with something else—milk. The research is new, and the study was done on animals rather than humans, but it suggests that we should not only choose our probiotic supplements wisely, but also pay careful attention to how our diets affect their ability to help us. Here’s how…

WHAT HEALTHY GERMS LIKE TO EAT

Researchers at the University of California, Davis examined one of the most studied probiotic species, Lactobacillus casei (L. casei), often used to ferment dairy products such as yogurt and kefir. Strains of L. casei in supplements have been shown to help with many gastrointestinal conditions including constipation, antibiotic-caused diarrhea and even more serious inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel disease (IBD). Popular brands that contain L. casei include Yakult and DanActive.

The Davis scientists looked at the effectiveness of a specific strain of L.casei called BL23, which has been shown to improve ulcerative colitis in animal studies and is almost identical to the kind used in the manufacture of many fermented dairy foods. Ulcerative colitis is a disease that causes disabling pain and increases risk for colon cancer for more than 500,000 people in the US.

In the study, one group of mice got L.casei in milk, while a second got it in water and a third, just milk (no L. casei). The amount of milk or water was equivalent to about six ounces for humans—what’s in a typical juice glass. Then the mice were given a solution that impaired the lining of their colons, induced inflammation and mimicked ulcerative colitis.

The mice that got the probiotic in milk did best, showing…

• Superior survival of the L. casei bacteria in the intestines—five times greater than the mice that got the probiotic in water

• Less diarrhea and rectal bleeding than the other two groups

• Less weight loss (a good outcome in this context)

• The lowest disease score. On a scale of 0 (no disease) to 18 (the worst disease), the milk/probiotic group scored 6, while the water/probiotic group scored 11 and the milk-only group scored 9. That means much less inflammation in the intestines.

In short, taking the probiotic in milk rather than water led to more beneficial bacteria surviving and thus greater protection of the lining of the intestines against the inflammatory disease. It didn’t cure the disease, but it did protect the mice from its worst effects.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR PROBIOTIC’S EFFECTIVENESS

It makes sense that a beneficial bacteria that thrives in dairy foods would do better in your gut when you take it as a supplement along with dairy. That doesn’t mean that all probiotics would do better with a glass of milk. We need more studies—this is one of the very first to look at the dietary “matrix” in which probiotics are consumed.

But it’s smart to hedge your bets. If you’re generally healthy, choose your probiotic wisely. If you have a specific medical condition, such as IBD or Crohn’s disease, be sure to work with an educated health-care provider to select the right probiotic for your needs and to make any changes in your diet.

And here’s good general advice for ways to make your probiotic work better…

• Even though you are taking a supplement, make sure you are eating probiotic-rich foods such as yogurt and kefir as well as sauerkraut, miso and kimchi. That way, you’ll be working to improve your population of healthy gut bacteria from several directions.

• Eat plenty of prebiotics, too—fiber compounds that “good bugs” thrive on. These include onions, leeks, garlic, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, bananas, whole wheat, yams and sweet potatoes. (Again, these foods may not agree with you if you have IBD or even the less severe irritable bowel syndrome/IBS.)

If the probiotic you’re taking with water every day doesn’t seem to be helping you, try taking it with a small glass of milk to see if that makes a difference. If milk doesn’t agree with you, try cheese, yogurt or kefir. You may even want to add your probiotic supplement to a fermented dairy food, such as yogurt or kefir.

Source: Maria L. Marco, PhD, associate professor and microbiologist, department of food science and technology, University of California, Davis. Her study was published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

http://bottomlinehealth.com/the-right-way-to-take-probiotics

This post is on Healthwise

MUST WATCH - The Yogurt you are eating

This post is on Healthwise

Have You Been Deceived?

Most commercial yogurts are chockfull of artificial colors, flavors, additives, and sugar, typically as fructose (high fructose corn syrup), which actually nourishes disease-causing bacteria, yeast, and fungi in your gut. Since your gut has limited real estate, this smothers your beneficial bacteria and gets you sick.

Sugar also promotes insulin resistance, which is a driving factor of most chronic disease. Virtually all commercially available yogurts use pasteurized milk (heated high temperature) even before it is reheated to make the yogurt itself, and this has its own drawbacks.

For the complete article, see:

• The Wildly Popular "Health" Food That Is Mostly a ...

Go to Healthwise for more articles

The Wildly Popular "Health" Food That Is Mostly a Fraud

This post is on Healthwise

20 October 2014

Millions think of it as a health food, but it's mostly a fraud. If you aren't careful, you can wind up promoting the downfall of your gut flora, brain health, and insulin sensitivity. New study reveals the top leading healthy brands, so you add benefits instead of subtracting them.

New Report Reveals Which Yogurts Are Healthy, and Which Are Best Avoided

Story at-a-glance

• The Cornucopia Institute’s new Yogurt Report includes a handy scorecard to help you find truly healthy yogurt—a cultured food that can help you optimize your gut health
• Most commercial yogurts are chockfull of sugar, processed fructose (high fructose corn syrup), and/or artificial sweeteners and flavors, which nourishes disease-causing microbes in your gut
• A healthy microbiome is not only important for optimal digestion of food and absorption of nutrients, these bacteria also help your body produce vitamins, absorb minerals, and even aid in the elimination of toxins
• Recent research suggests yogurt containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus can help protect children and pregnant women against heavy metal poisoning
• Your absolute best bet, when it comes to yogurt, is to make your own using a starter culture and raw, organic grass-fed milk. However, there are high-quality USDA 100% organic yogurts on the market; the Yogurt Report reveals the top brands

MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO:

By Dr. Mercola

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Kastel, co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute, about their long-awaited and much-needed Yogurt Report. The interview took place at the recent Heirloom Seed Festival in Santa Rosa, CA, where we both had the honor of speaking.

The idea for the Yogurt Report was seeded about two years ago. I was out of town and a friend requested yogurt, so I went out looking for some in a local grocery store. 

To my dismay, I couldn't find a single healthy yogurt... They were all junk food disguised as "health food." Previous to this experience, I was unaware of how truly degenerated most commercial yogurts had become.

I believe this is really a strong case of deception, so I turned to The Cornucopia Institute. It required two years of investigation, but they've now released theirYogurt Buyer's Guide and scorecard.1

If you're eating yogurt to help optimize your gut flora, you need to review this report. Chances are you're currently eating yogurt that has more similarities with candy than anything else...

Have You Been Deceived?

Most commercial yogurts are chockfull of artificial colors, flavors, additives, andsugar, typically as fructose (high fructose corn syrup), which actually nourishes disease-causing bacteria, yeast, and fungi in your gut. Since your gut has limited real estate, this smothers your beneficial bacteria and gets you sick.

Sugar also promotes insulin resistance, which is a driving factor of most chronic disease. Virtually all commercially available yogurts use pasteurized milk (heated high temperature) even before it is reheated to make the yogurt itself, and this has its own drawbacks.

The top-rated yogurts are generally VAT pasteurized at relatively low temperatures, and are made from raw milk rather than previously pasteurized milk. While not as advantageous as making yogurt from raw milk in your own home, it's certainly better than most commercial yogurt.

The report also took a look at the food industry's labeling campaign, Live and Active Cultures, which is supposed to help consumers select products with high levels of healthy probiotics.

To assess probiotic content, Cornucopia tested yogurt purchased directly from the grocery stores instead of following the industry's practice of testing levels at the factory. As it turns out, many of the brands bearing the Live and Active Cultures label contain LOWER levels of probiotics than the top-rated organic brands in Cornucopia's scorecard that are not part of the Live and Activecampaign.

The report also includes a comparative cost analysis of commercial yogurt brands. The good news is that many organic yogurts are actually less expensive, on a price-per-ounce basis, than conventional, heavily-processed yogurts.

Cornucopia Files Complaint; Requests FDA Investigation

As noted in their press release:

“Based on its industry investigation, The Cornucopia Institute has filed a formal complaint with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking them to investigate whether or not certain yogurt on the market, manufactured by such companies as Yoplait, Dannon, and many store brands including Walmart’s Great Value, violate the legal standard of identity for products labeled as yogurt.

The Cornucopia Institute requests that the legal definition of “yogurt” be enforced for product labeling, just as it is for products labeled “cheese.”

“The reason that Kraft has to call Velveeta® ‘processed cheese-food’ is that some of the ingredients used, like vegetable oil, cannot legally be in a product marketed as ‘cheese’,” Kastel added.

Cornucopia alleges that some of the ingredients that manufactures are using in yogurt, like milk protein concentrate (MPC), typically imported from countries like India, do not meet yogurt’s current legal standard of identity.“

Why You Need Probiotics

Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria, mostly in your gut, which is more than 10 times the number of cells you have in your entire body. It's now quite clear that the type and quantity of micro-organisms in your gut interact with your body in ways that can either prevent or encourage the development of many diseases.

A healthy microbiome is not only important for optimal digestion of food and absorption of nutrients, these bacteria also help your body produce vitamins, absorb minerals, aid in the elimination of toxins, and are responsible for a good part of your immune system and mental health, including your ability to resist anxiety, stress, and depression.

One recent study2, 3 discovered that yogurt containing Lactobacillus rhamnosuscan help protect children and pregnant women against heavy metal poisoning.

As shown in earlier research, certain microorganisms are particularly efficient at binding to certain toxins and/or chemicals, including pesticides. Here, they found that L. rhamnosus had a preference for binding (and eliminating) mercury and arsenic.

According to the authors: "Probiotic food produced locally represents a nutritious and affordable means for people in some developing countries to counter exposures to toxic metals." Probiotics also have dozens of other beneficial pharmacological actions,4 including:

Anti-bacterial	Anti-allergenic	Anti-viral	Immunomodulatory
Anti-infective	Antioxidant	Antiproliferative	Apoptopic (cellular self-destruction)
Antidepressive	Antifungal	Cardioprotective	Gastroprotective
Radio- and chemo protective	Upregulates glutathione and certain glycoproteins that help regulate immune responses, including interleukin-4, interleukin-10, and interleukin-12	Downregulates interleukin-6 (a cytokine involved in chronic inflammation and age-related diseases)	Inhibits tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha inhibitor, NF-kappaB, epidermal growth factor receptor, and more

It's also important to realize that your gut bacteria are very vulnerable to lifestyle and environmental factors. Some of the top offenders known to decimate your microbiome include the following—all of which are best avoided:

Sugar/fructose	Refined grains	Processed foods	Antibiotics (including antibiotics given to livestock for food production)
Chlorinated and fluoridated water	Antibacterial soaps, etc.	Agricultural chemicals and pesticides	Pollution

Brain Health Is Strongly Tied to Gut Health

While many think of their brain as the organ in charge of their mental health, your gut may actually play a far more significant role. Mounting research indicates that problems in your gut can directly impact your mental health, leading to issues likeanxiety and depression.5 For example:

• One proof-of-concept study6, 7 conducted by researchers at UCLA found that yogurt containing several strains of probiotics thought to have a beneficial impact on intestinal health also had a beneficial impact on participants' brain function; decreasing activity in brain regions that control central processing of emotion and sensation such as anxiety.
• The Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility8 reported the probiotic known as Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001normalized anxiety-like behavior in mice with infectious colitis by modulating the vagal pathways within the gut-brain.
• Other research9 found that the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus had a marked effect on GABA levels—an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is significantly involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes—in certain brain regions and lowered the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced anxiety- and depression-related behavior.

Previous studies have confirmed that what you eat can quickly alter the composition of your gut flora. Specifically, eating a high-vegetable, fiber-based diet produces a profoundly different composition of microbiota than a more typical Western diet high in carbs and processed fats.

This is part and parcel of the problem with most commercially available yogurts—they're widely promoted as healthy because they contain (added) probiotics, but then they're so loaded with ingredients that will counteract all the good that they're basically useless... The negative effects of the sugar far outweigh any marginal benefits of the minimal beneficial bacteria they have. Remember, the most important step in building healthy gut flora is avoiding sugar as that will cause disease-causing microbes to crowd out your beneficial flora.

Surprisingly, Mark Kastel notes that some of the organic brands of yogurt actually contained some of the highest amounts of sugar! It's important to realize that some yogurt can contain as much sugar as candy or cookies, which most responsible parents would not feed their children for breakfast. Artificial flavors are also commonly used.

Top Rated Yogurt Brands

That said, the good news is that there are healthy ready-made yogurts available. Listed below are five of the highest-scoring USDA 100% organic brands, according to the Cornucopia Institute's Yogurt Scorecard. For other high ranking brands, and/or to compare brands, please see Cornucopia's Yogurt Buyer's Guide and scorecard.10

1. Traders Point Creamery
2. Butterworks
3. Cedar Summit Farm
4. Maple Hill Creamery
5. Seven Stars Farm

You Can Easily and Inexpensively Make Your Own Yogurt

Your absolute best bet, when it comes to yogurt, is to make your own using a starter culture and raw grass-fed milk. Raw organic milk from grass-fed cows not only contains beneficial bacteria that prime your immune system and can help reduce allergies, it's also an outstanding source of vitamins (especially vitamin A), zinc, enzymes, and healthy fats. Raw organic milk is not associated with any of the health problems of pasteurized milk such as rheumatoid arthritis, skin rashes, diarrhea, and cramps.

To find a local source of raw grass-fed milk, see RealMilk.com.

While delicious as is, you could add a natural sweetener to it. Mark suggests whole food sweeteners  such as raw organic honey or maple syrup, for example. You can also add flavor without sweetening it up by adding some vanilla extract, or a squirt of lime or lemon juice. Whole berries or fruits are another obvious alternative. Just be mindful not to overdo it, especially if you're insulin or leptin resistant—and about 80 percent of Americans are.

Nourish Your Microbiome with Organic Yogurt for Optimal Health

Cultured foods like yogurt are good sources of natural, healthy bacteria, provided they're traditionally fermented and unpasteurized. One of the best and least expensive ways to get healthy bacteria through your diet is to obtain raw milk and convert it to yogurt or kefir. It's really easy to make at home. All you need is some starter granules in a quart of raw milk, which you leave at room temperature overnight.

By the time you wake up in the morning you will likely have kefir. If it hasn't obtained the consistency of yogurt, you might want to set it out a bit longer and then store it in the fridge.

A quart of kefir has far more active bacteria than you'd obtain from a probiotic supplement, and it's very economical as you can reuse the kefir from the original quart of milk about 10 times before you need to start a new culture pack. Just one starter package of kefir granules can convert about 50 gallons of milk to kefir! Cultured foods should be a regular part of your diet, and if you eat enough of them you will keep your digestive tract well supplied with good bacteria.

There may still be times when a probiotic supplement is necessary, but for day-to-day gut health maintenance, yogurt and other traditionally cultured or fermented foods are truly ideal choices.

[+] Sources and References

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/20/yogurt-gut-health.aspx?

Go to Healthwise for more articles