The human gut is home to bacteria that help us digest our food, produce vitamins and perform many other tasks that influence our health.

But while most research focuses on benefits from individual microbial species, new research from Kings College London, published in the journal Nature Communications, shows that gut microbial species work in teams to perform different functions. This takes our understanding of the microbiome into a whole new direction, suggesting that cultivating certain groups of bacteria is more important than single species.

The researchers studied the gut bacteria, blood and stool of over a thousand twins who take part in TwinsUK. This allowed the team to run the first large study on the link between gut bacterial species, their functions and the metabolism in the gut and blood of the participants.

The team found that while unrelated people share only 43% of gut bacteria species, they still share 82% of functions carried out by groups of gut bacteria. This is because different bacterial species can contribute to the same function and so different groups can work together to can carry out similar activities.

They then measured hundreds of molecules in the gut and in the bloodstream – representative of microbial and human metabolism – and checked if their abundance was more strongly linked to the presence of particular microbial species or the microbial functions performed by microbial teams.

Again, microbial functions were found to be more important than single microbes, as they showed a larger number of associations with the molecular composition of both gut and blood environments.

A new focus

This research therefore suggests that health treatments designed to target gut bacteria – and our metabolism – should focus on groups of gut bacteria that carry out a particular function, rather than individual bacterial species.

Lead author Dr Mario Falchi, senior lecturer of Bioinformatics at King’s College London, explained:

“We can think of our gut bacteria like Lego bricks – the colour of the bricks doesn’t matter as much compared with how they fit together to make something. With gut bacteria, the individual species don’t matter as much as the group working together to carry out a function.”

“This is the first large study to explore the metabolic potential of the entire gut bacteria ecosystem. Our findings underline the importance of studying groups of bacteria and their functions overall, rather than focusing on specific species. These results add to the growing body of evidence that gut bacteria are intrinsically linked with human health.”

Falchi and colleagues suggest that an extensive dialog goes on between the gut environment and our blood and that 93% of this dialog involves microbial functions. This, they say, which may explain why gut microbes are so strongly linked to our health.

New research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that honey bees exposed to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, lose some of the beneficial bacteria in their guts and are more susceptible to infection and death from harmful bacteria.

Official have long insisted that glyphosate is safe for bees, or that bees are nto exposed to the weedkiller in any significant way, but in 2016 testing by the US Food and Drug Administration found residues of the weed killer glyphosate in samples of US honey suggesting that not only are the bees exposed ot it but that they bring it back to their hives.

Natural Health News — Women who take fish oil supplements and probiotics in later pregnancy may reduce their child’s risk of food allergy and eczema, according to new research.

In one of the largest ever research reports of how a pregnant woman’s diet affects her baby’s allergy and eczema risk, scientists from London’s Imperial College assessed over 400 studies involving 1.5 million people.

As part of the study, they found that when pregnant women took a daily fish oil capsule from 20 weeks pregnant, and during the first three to four months of breastfeeding, risk of egg allergy in the child was reduced by 30%.

The team also found that taking a daily probiotic supplement from 36-38 weeks pregnant, and during the first three to six months of breastfeeding, reduced the risk of a child developing eczema by 22%.

The researchers, who published their meta-analysis in the journal PLOS Medicine, found no evidence that avoiding potentially allergenic foods such as nuts, dairy and eggs during pregnancy made a difference to a child’s allergy or eczema risk.

Dr Robert Boyle, lead author of the research from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, explained: “Food allergies and eczema in children are a growing problem across the world. Although there has been a suggestion that what a woman eats during pregnancy may affect her baby’s risk of developing allergies or eczema, until now there has never been such a comprehensive analysis of the data.”

He added: “Our research suggests probiotic and fish oil supplements may reduce a child’s risk of developing an allergic condition, and these findings need to be considered when guidelines for pregnant women are updated.”

The team also assessed a host of dietary factors during pregnancy including fruit, vegetable and vitamin intake, but found no clear evidence that any of these affected allergy or eczema risk.

Allergies, eczema still not well understood

Allergies to foods, such as nuts, egg, milk or wheat, affect around one in 20 children in the UK. They are caused by the immune system malfunctioning and over-reacting to these harmless foods. This triggers symptoms such as rashes, swelling, vomiting and wheezing.

Eczema affects around one in five children in the UK, and causes dry, cracked and itchy skin. The causes of eczema and allergies are not fully understood, but allergies are more common in people who suffer from eczema.

More research is now needed to understand how probiotics and fish oils may reduce allergy and eczema risk, said Dr Vanessa Garcia-Larsen, co-author of the study from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial: “Despite allergies and eczema being on the rise, and affecting millions of children, we are still hunting for the root causes of these conditions, and how to prevent them.”

Dr Garcia-Larsen added: “This study has provided clues, which we now need to follow with further research.”

Significant benefits

In the current study, the team assessed 28 trials of probiotic supplements during pregnancy, involving around 6,000 women. Probiotics contain live bacteria that may influence the natural balance of bugs in the gut. Previous research has linked a disruption in naturally-occurring bacteria to allergy risk.

In the research, probiotics were taken during pregnancy and breastfeeding as a capsule, powder or drink (most yogurts do not contain enough probiotic). They were found to reduce the risk of a child developing eczema – between the ages of six months to three years – by 22%. This is the equivalent of 44 cases of eczema per 1000 children.

The scientists added that the probiotics, which mostly contained a bacterium called Lactobacillus rhamnosus, were not used in early pregnancy.

The team also assessed around 19 trials of fish oil supplements during pregnancy, involving around 15,000 people. These studies revealed a 30% reduction in risk of egg allergy by age one, which equates to a reduction of 31 cases of egg allergy per 1000 children. Egg allergy was tested with a skin test, where a tiny amount of egg is pricked onto the skin.

In the studies using fish oil supplements, the capsules contained a standard dose of omega-3 fatty acids (another type of fatty acid, called omega-6, was not found to have any effect on allergy risk).

Dr Boyle added that previous research suggests fish oils may help dampen down the immune system, and prevent it from over-reacting.

Most of the trials used supplements, although one involved eating oily fish, and a few others used non-fish oils such as nut oils. The Department of Health advises women to eat no more than two portions of oily fish a week, and to avoid shark, swordfish or marlin as these contain high levels of mercury.

The team also found that taking fish oil supplements during pregnancy reduced the child’s risk of peanut allergy by 38%. However they caution this finding was based only on two studies, and not as reliable as the egg allergy and eczema results.

Breastfeeding gives kids an immune boost too

The study also revealed some evidence for links between longer duration of breast feeding and a reduced risk of eczema, and breastfeeding was also linked with a lower risk of type one diabetes.

The findings of this study, funded by the Food Standards Agency, are being considered by the Government alongside the wider evidence base on infant feeding and the introduction of solids. As part of the cross-government review of complementary feeding, the risks and benefits associated with the timing of introduction of allergenic foods will also be considered.

The UK Food Standards Agency, which funded the study, advises that families should continue to follow the current Government advice to exclusively breastfeed for around the first six months of age, and continue breastfeeding thereafter. Solid foods should be introduced into the infant diet at around six months of age. Pregnant women should also continue to follow government dietary and supplement advice.

With regard to maternal and infant diets the review concludes that “current infant feeding guidance needs revision” and add that “guideline committees will need to carefully consider the key findings together with an evaluation of the safety, acceptability, and cost implications of advising probiotic or fish oil supplementation for pregnant and lactating women”.

In a new study, published in Nature, German researchers with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) report that more than a quarter of the non-antibiotic drugs they tested – including acid-reducing medications, antivirals, blood-pressure medications, anti-psychotics and chemotherapy drugs – inhibited the growth of at least one strain of bacteria commonly found in the gut of healthy humans.

Another worrying finding was that consumption of some non-antibiotics could promote antibiotic resistance.

Collateral Damage

The human gut contains a large number of species of bacteria, collectively referred to as the gut microbiome. In the last decade, it has become clear that the composition of the gut microbiome affects human health. It is well-known that antibiotics have a large impact on this microbiome, for example causing gastrointestinal side effects.

Recently, a few commonly used non-antibiotic drugs have been shown to cause changes in gut microbiome composition, but the full extent of this phenomenon was unknown until now.

“The number of unrelated drugs that hit gut microbes as collateral damage was surprising,” said corresponding author and EMBL senior scientist Peer Bork, PhD. “This shift in the composition of our gut bacteria contributes to drug side-effects, but might also be part of the drugs’ beneficial action.”

Common drugs, unexpected impacts

The research team screened 1,079 drugs (156 of which had known antibacterial activity) on 40 representative bacteria from the human gut and monitored effects on bacterial growth. These non-antibiotic drugs tested were intended to target human cells rather than microbial cells, yet the scientists found that more than a quarter of the non-antibiotics (250 out of 923) affect the growth of at least one species in the gut microbiome of healthy individuals, including Escherichia coli, Bacteroides fragilis, and Clostridium difficile.

The non-antibiotic drugs tested included drugs like omeprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor sold under the brand-name Prilosec; loxapine, which is used to treat schizophrenia; and metformin, an antidiabetic drug. The researchers suspect that the antimicrobial effects of some of these drugs, like metformin, could be directly related to their mechanism of action.

Chemotherapy drugs, calcium-channel blockers (used to treat high blood pressure), and antipsychotics inhibited more gut bacteria than other medications. With some drugs, such as antipsychotics, the impact on gut bacteria could possibly enhance their therapeutic effect, the researchers say.

Although the bacterial species’ susceptibility to the drugs varied, the researchers report that the species that are most abundant in the gut of healthy individuals were more susceptible, including species like Roseburia intestinalis, Eubacterium rectale, and Bacteroides vulgaris.

“This suggests that human-targeted drugs have an even larger impact to the gut microbiome with key species related to healthy status,” the authors write.

Promoting antibiotic resistance

The researchers also uncovered a previously unnoticed risk; that consumption of non-antibiotic drugs may promote antibiotic resistance, in part because the general resistance mechanisms of microbes to human-targeted drugs and to antibiotics seem to overlap.

Finding that there was a strong correlation between the bacteria that were resistant to antibiotics and those that were resistant human-targeted drugs, the researchers experimented with a strain of E coli that carries the antibiotic-resistance gene tolC, which produces a protein that flushes antibiotics and other chemicals out of bacterial cells.

Strains of E coli in which this gene was active were resistant both to antibiotics and six of seven non-antibiotics tested, while E coli lacking the gene were more sensitive to both.

This is a serious and worrying finding given that as a population we take many non-antibiotic drugs – for example acid-reducing medications or blood-pressure drugs – often for long periods of time. Doing so, say the researchers could promote antibiotic resistance by inhibiting susceptible strains of bacteria and allowing drug-resistant strains to flourish.

Underestimating the damage

“Taking into account that abundant members of the human gut microbiome are impacted more by drugs, one could speculate that pharmaceuticals, used regularly in our times, may be contributing to the decrease in the diversity of microbiomes of modern western societies,” the researchers conclude.

Since only a fraction of the hundreds of bacterial species in the human gut were tested, the authors say the number of non-antibiotic drugs that inhibit bacterial growth is likely higher, which highlights the urgent need to examine the role that these drugs are potentially playing in microbiome-related diseases and in the global rise of antibiotic resistance.

While we all need salt to live, this study in both animals and humans found that common salt reduces the number of certain lactic acid bacteria in the gut, and that this, in turn, has an impact on immune cells which are partly responsible for autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and for hypertension.

But according to head of the study Professor Dominik Müller of the Berlin Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), “so far, nobody had studied how salt affects the bacteria in the gut.”

Offsetting the effects of excess salt

Writing recently in the journal Nature, Müller and his team have demonstrated that excess salt decimates the lactobacilli in the gut and at the same time blood pressure rises and the number of what are known as Th17 helper cells is increased. High levels of these immune cells are associated with hypertension and autoimmune diseases like MS.

However, when the animals were given probiotic lactobacilli in addition to the high-salt diet, the number of TH17 helper cells decreased once again and blood pressure dropped. The probiotics also alleviated the clinical symptoms of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (a type of induced brain inflammation, similar to that in MS), in the animals.

What this means is that the microbiome could be an important factor in salt-sensitive diseases, such as MS. Lead author and ECRC scientist Dr Nicola Wilck says, “Gut bacteria influence the host organism, and the immune system is also very active in the gut.”

Same results in humans

Apart from the experiments on mice, the researchers also investigated the bacterial community in the digestive tract of twelve healthy men who were given six extra grams of salt every day for a fortnight. As the men otherwise maintained their usual eating habits, they thus roughly doubled their daily intake of salt.

Here, too, the lactobacilli proved to be sensitive to the extra salt with most of them no longer detectable after 14 days of increased salt intake. Once again the scientists found that as salt intake increased blood pressure rose and the number of Th17 helper cells in the blood increased.

A potential therapy

The role played by bacteria in diverse diseases is becoming an ever more important focus of research.

Just how the body interacts with gut flora is, however, still largely unknown and the researchers say they can’t exclude the possibility that there are other salt-sensitive bacteria that are just as important as lactobacilli.

Lactic acid bacteria are found in fermented food such as pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, yogurt and cheese. While the study was no designed to show if eating these foods protected against hypertension or autoimmune disease, it is known that including more of these in the diet can help maintain communities of these bacteria in the gut. What is more, lactobacillus probiotics of this kind have been shown to have therapeutic potential.

Neuroimmunologist Professor Ralf Linker another of the study’s authors, notes, “Multiple sclerosis may be one of the salt-sensitive diseases which we might be able to treat in the future with individually-tailored probiotics as add-on to standard immune therapies.”

Both trials were conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana.

The first trial, published in the journal Gut Microbes,​used an animal model to test the hypothesis that exercise could modify the gut bacteria profile, even when dietary intake remained unchanged.

Healthy mice given faecal transplants from other mice that had been put on an exercise regimen, showed significant differences in gut bacteria composition, metabolic parameters, colon inflammation and weight compared with a group of sedentary mice that acted as controls.

“That proved to us that the transplant worked,”​said co-lead researcher Professor Jeffrey Woods.

Additionally, exercise-trained mice showed reduced symptoms when the researchers tried to induce colitis.  The animals that had been exercising showed a reduction in inflammation and an increase in the regenerative molecules that promote a faster recovery.

Applicable in humans too​

The researchers then went on to see if the same effect could be seen in humans.

After six weeks of progressively more intense cardiovascular exercise, participants showed an increase in diversity of gut bacteria, and faecal concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), particularly butyrate.

This is likely due to an increase in the numbers of beneficial species capable of SCFA production. Short chain fatty acids produced when the ‘good’ bacteria in the gut ferment fibre in the colon, and are the main source of energy for the cells lining the colon.

However, these increases were only statistically significant in lean participants. Those who were overweight showed much less dramatic changes.

Participants’ gut microbiota composition gradually reverted to baseline levels after six weeks of sedentary behaviour following the end of the exercise regime.

The team observed differences in the gut microbial response of lean and obese subjects throughout the study, during which time the trial participants maintained their usual dietary patterns.

“The bottom line is that there are clear differences in how the microbiome of somebody who is obese versus somebody who is lean responds to exercise,” Woods said of the study in the journal in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.​

“These are the first studies to show that exercise can have an effect on your gut independent of diet or other factors,”​he added.  ​

The team concludes that the findings increase our understanding of how the body responds to exercise.

The açaí palm is a species of palm tree cultivated for its fruit and hearts of palm. There’s growing interest in the health benefits of açai, which is sometimes called an Amazonian ‘superfruit.’ Scientists from the University of Reading and University of Roehampton suggest that its rich anthocyanin content means the fruit could help reduce the risk of age related diseases.

“We hypothesize that both fibre and plant polyphenols present in açai​ (Euterpe oleracea​) provide prebiotic and anti-genotoxic benefits in the colon,”​ they wrote in their report, published​​ in the journal Food Chemistry​.

This means that açai may have a prebiotic effect — which means it acts as food for beneficial bacteria living in the digestive system. Fermentation that comes from the bacteria’s digestion of prebiotics in turn provide health benefits to its hosts, such as anti-inflammatory activities, as well as influencing metabolism and satiety.

Genotoxicity, on the other hand, describes a substance that damages the genetic information within a cell causing mutations.

It is widely believed that antioxidants, such as polyphenols, can help protect against genotoxic stress, which has a role to play in aging and age-related diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Antioxidants are also prebiotics​

In this laboratory study the scientists traced the journey of polyphenols through the digestive process, to see if and how well they survived to reach the colon intact.

The researchers used açai pulp that had been freeze-dried and ground to a powder. Then, they simulated intestinal digestion using a standardised method that mimics the human digestive system. This was done to “look at the potential bioavailability and bioactivity of açai polyphenols,” they wrote.

From the process, they found that 49.8% of the total initial polyphenols were available post digestion. “Our work demonstrates that polyphenols present in açai may be degraded during the digestion process, but importantly, that they are not fully destroyed and a significant percentage of these compounds may therefore reach the colon,”​ according to the report.

Reaching the colon intact means they become a useful food source for good bacteria there.

Multiple studies have emerged in recent years to study how anthocyanin-rich fruits interact with bacteria in the gut, and whether or not this interaction offers health benefits.

For instance, a systematic review​​ by Brazilian researchers recently shed more light on the prebiotic properties of anthocyanins. It also found that this type of antioxidant does actually feed beneficial bacteria in the gut, offering potential health benefits to the host.

Natural Health News — As the rate of caesarean operations increases, so does the risk of urinary tract infections after birth. But a natural remedy, derived from rosehips could help keep infection in check.

Caesareans raise the risk of urinary tract infections because they require the mother to be catheterised post-surgery. As bacteria become more resistant to treatment with conventional medications a urinary tract infection can be hard to treat.

Some natural remedies like cranberries have produced good results in human tests. But while laboratory ​studies demonstrate that rose hips -or fruits of the Rosa canina ​plant -prevent the growth of UTI-causing bacteria Escherichia coli​, the researchers said that no clinical trials have been done yet looking specifically at the plant’s role in reducing post-partum UTIs, especially among women who have undergone caesareans.

A human trial

The triple-blind study, published in the journal Phytotherapy Research, involved 400 women recruited from two hospitals in Tabriz, in Iran who underwent a caesarean between August 2016 and March 2017. The women were divided into two groups of 200 women each taking either a rose hip supplement or placebo.

To be included, the women had to have had a caesarean in the 48 hours before they begin the intervention period, and to only have had a maximum of three doses of antibiotics post operation.

The doctors were looking for the incidence of any type of UTI during the 20-day follow-up.

Rich in vitamin C, flavonoids​

The capsules were made out of Rosa canina ​fruits procured from an herbalist in Tabriz and milled into a powder. For the placebo, starch powder was used.

A separate analysis of the capsules revealed that each contained 880 mg/100 mL of vitamin C, as well as flavonoids such as quercetin, which has been studied for its antibacterial effect.

The women took the rosehip or placebo capsules twice daily half an hour after meals with a glass of water. This period lasted from 48 hours after the caesarean and continued for 18 more days. The women were followed up with telephone calls to ascertain compliance with the regimen.

Significantly fewer UTIs​

After all women from both groups completed their intervention period, the researchers found that the total risk of UTI on the 7th​ to 10th​ days of the trial was significantly lower in the rose hip group compared to the placebo group.

For instance, only 4 women from the rose hip group had positive asymptomatic urine cultures, which means asymptomatic UTI, compared to 13 in the placebo group. After the 20^th ​day, just 3 women from the rose hip group had a UTI compared to 19 in the placebo group.

The results led the researchers to conclude that rose hip “can be used in post caesarean post-partum as an inexpensive and cost-effective substance for promoting maternal health.”​

It is also likely to be effective for the general treatment of UTIs as an alternative to conventional medications and as a natural therapy to stand alongside cranberries.

The positive effect of the herbal remedy, say the researchers from the University of Medical Sciences in Tabriz, could be due to the high vitamin C levels which can help prevent UTI through its antioxidant properties.