Once Again, The Culprit is Bacteria!

Crohn’s Disease, a debilitating digestive disease, has been found to be associated with a strain of E. Coli that is unusually good at adhering to the gut walls, and causing inflammation. Not surprisingly, the research will be looking at ways of interrupting the bacteria’s life cycle, in an effort to heal the gut.

So, following other similar discoveries (ulcers and many of the autoimmune diseases), medical researchers have determined that:

  • Gut health – that is, the population of a digestive with GOOD bacteria – is critical to a well-functioning body.
  • Many diseases are caused by changes in the organisms that co-exist with humans. That is, either the organism has mutated into a harmful version, or the relative populations have shifted away from the healthy ‘bugs’.
  • Good health means maintaining a BALANCE in the co-existing organisms.

So, why are so many organisms – harmful to humans – getting a foothold in our populations?

I would be very surprised if the big precursors weren’t

  • Artificial sweeteners – Equal, sucralose, Stevia, and all of the other non-nutritive additions to many people’s diets. Many of them are not mentioned, except in the fine print at the grocery store. Restaurants don’t even list them on the menu. They are added to many other products – chewing gum, cough syrup, and candies, for example.
  • High-Fructose Corn Syrup. By adding so much readily-available food to the micro-organisms diet, the bacteria explode into reproduction. Fighting other organisms for survival, it would be a short step to carving out a niche to improve survival odds – such as sticking more easily to the gut, and therefore surviving longer, to increase offspring.
  • Other drugs that alter the digestive system – any TV ad for the next miracle drug is filled with warnings about the side effects – which can includes digestive problems (and, usually, death – I always love that one – “Get your mild symptoms completely cured! Only a very few of you will DIE!”). I’m not trying to diss those who have a serious disease or condition – sometimes, meds ARE the answer. But, long-term use of medications almost always involves a trade-off – sometimes side effects, sometimes creating another problem that has to be treated with medications. If the initial disease is painful enough, or life-threatening, then the trade-off may be worth it. Just keep in mind, TANSTAAFL.

4 comments

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    • Kenny Carmichael on February 8, 2021 at 12:06 PM

    I remember a set of “Rules” that least involved resisters would apply to most involved resisters would apply 
    to them in their households. Providing food, comfort…etc. I cannot find it, can you help

    • TRX on February 8, 2021 at 3:59 PM

    Many of them are not mentioned,

    For soft drinks, the FDA allows substitution of artificial sweeteners for sugars without changing the label.  The substitution can be anywhere from 0% to 100%.  Bottlers love it, because the artificial sweeteners are cheaper and save them money.  That’s why your regular Dr. Pepper tastes more like Diet Dr. Pepper than it should.  Everyone wins, unles you’re one of the people to whom the “sweeteners” taste bad, or you get “gastric distress” from them.
     
    How many other ingredients in those nutrition labels are false?  Who knows.  There’s no checking, enforcement, or fines for lying.

    • 21st Century Cassandra on February 8, 2021 at 10:37 PM

    There is very little money to be made by CURING disease. There are billions to be made by MANAGING disease.

  1. — But, long-term use of medications almost always involves a trade-off  —

    And it is so. But some of us have no better choices. And some doctors are getting rather blase about it all.

    I’ve been on powerful drugs for the regulation of my blood pressure for more than twenty years. The side effects are considerable, but without those drugs, I’d have gone to my grave long before I published my first novel. (Yes, a lot of people would deem that a net gain to society, but then, I don’t think much of them, either.) When my doctor first prescribed those drugs, he was heartbreakingly apologetic about it. He lamented “sentencing you to a lifetime of medication,” but he sincerely believed that there was no alternative that would keep me alive.

    Time has added other drugs to my personal pharmacopoeia: for type 2 diabetes, prostatitis, and cholesterol regulation. The doctors who prescribed those medicines were almost casual about it. I sensed that there was a trend in motion – and it’s not just about my health. We’re becoming far too accepting of such things. The potential consequences are ominous, especially as regards the shiny new vaccines against the Wuhan Virus.

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