Imagine that you are planning to plant a garden in springtime. You clear the soil of grass and weeds, sift out the rocks, fold in some manure or composted material to enrich the soil. You then plant seeds for squash, peppers, maybe some heirloom carrots. You water the garden and then wait for the seeds to sprout, hoping for a glorious bounty of veggies in a couple of months.
But you forgot that there are raccoons, rabbits, and deer in the neighborhood, creatures eager to eat your work. Sprouts come up, leaves, then young vegetables—only to disappear overnight after a raccoon or rabbit feast.
So it goes with the garden you call bowel flora: you prepare the “soil,” plant the seeds (probiotics and fermented foods), then “water” and “fertilize” the garden (prebiotic fibers). You don’t have raccoons or rabbits in your intestinal tract, of course, but you have many other factors that, in effect, wreak havoc on your intestinal garden of microorganisms that protect you and your health. The factors that disrupt intestinal microorganisms are not herbivorous creatures but take the form of:
- Chlorinated/fluoridated drinking water—Municipal drinking water is chlorinated (and, more commonly today, chlorinated with the more persistent chloramine, not chlorine, that cannot be boiled off) to prevent bacterial and protozoal diseases, fluoridated on the (faulty) assumption that it prevents tooth decay, but these two potent halogenated antimicrobials also disrupt the microorganisms in your bowels.
- Prescription antibiotics—The oodles of antibiotics most of us have taken over the years leave a virtually indelible mark on bowel flora species sufficient, for instance, to increase potential for adult type 2 diabetes and obesity from antibiotics taken as children.
- Herbicides/pesticides—Herbicide/pesticide residues have consequences and are present at concentrations greater than agribusiness and the farming industry are willing to admit. Tylosin, oxytetracycline, and chlortetracycline, for example, are adding to livestock feed to hasten growth, while other antiobiotics are administered to treat common infections such as mastitis and skin infections from living in manure-filled paddocks, all part of modern dairy and livestock high-volume commercial production.
- Wheat and grains—Those of you who have said goodbye to all wheat and grains and then re-experienced a re-exposure (intentional or inadvertent) understand the gastrointestinal havoc that results from gliadin, gliadin-derived opiate peptides, wheat germ agglutinin, D-amino acids, phytates, and myriad other bowel toxins that are present in the seeds of grasses that are largely indigestible by non-ruminant humans. Dysbiosis (disruptions of bowel flora) is therefore the rule with grain consumption, as they are so incredibly disruptive on the mucous lining of the intestinal tract, bowel flora (e.g., wheat germ agglutinin that blocks the digestive hormone cholecystokinin and thereby inhibits gallbladder and pancreatic digestive functions), and cause gastrointestinal inflammation. Conventional advice to eat more “healthy whole grains” coupled with food manufacturers’ enthusiasm for the cheap filler of grains have amplified this effect.
- Soft drinks and other sugary foods—Sugar overload, aspartame, acesulfame, sucralose, and saccharine all lead to changes in bowel flora composition that encourage obesity, type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune conditions.
- Prescription drugs—We know that drugs that increase stomach pH, i.e., block stomach acid, such as Prilosec and Protonix, also disrupt bowel flora—dysbiosis is virtually guaranteed over time. There are probably many other drugs that alter bowel flora, but the drug industry releases drugs but almost never tests whether bowel flora is impacted by these drugs. So we are largely in the dark on this issue. But it is probably a lot worse than we know.
- Emulsifying agents—Emulsifying agents are added to processed foods to cause fats and other components, such as proteins or water, to stay mixed or suspended. You therefore find emulsifiers in ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate, and many other processed, especially low-fat, foods. Emulsifiers not only emulsify food, but also emulsify your protective mucous lining in the gastrointestinal tract. The mucous lining modulates bacterial movement and bacterial composition and can play a role in having or not having abnormal intestinal permeability of the sort that can lead to autoimmune conditions. This issue seems to be one of potency with more potent synthetic emulsifiers being the most offensive: polysorbate 80, carageenan, lecithin.
- Genetically-modified foods—The most common genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), glyphosate-resistant and Bt toxin-containing, both exert antimicrobial effects in addition to their intended effects. The full bowel flora-implications of GMOs are still under investigation, but understand that Big Agribusiness makes it their business to downplay, not test, even conceal such data, as billions of dollars in seed and farm chemicals sales are at stake.
This is a partial list, as we swim in a virtual sea of industrial chemicals, herbicides, antibiotic residues, and tainted foods, but these are the biggies.
What steps can you take to remove these “raccoons” messing up your precious garden? Let’s take them logically, one by one:
- Filter drinking water—preferably with a reverse-osmosis and/or charcoal filter, while avoiding chlorinated/fluoridated drinking water as often as possible.
- Only take antibiotics when you must—and avoid taking them for trivial reasons
- Select organic foods whenever possible—This avoids GMOs, as well as most herbicides and pesticides.
- Eat no wheat nor grains—Wheat Belly followers already knew this!
- No soft drinks or other sugary foods, nor those sweetened with the synthetic sweeteners aspartame, sucralose, or saccharine
- Get off prescription drugs—The Wheat Belly lifestyle is incredibly effective in helping you accomplish this. (You may need, of course, to work with a willing healthcare practitioner to get off the drugs in a safe manner.)
- Minimize synthetic emulsifiers—Those of you who avoid most processed foods already do so. Rely on real, single-ingredient foods that do not require such additives.
Once you’ve eliminated or minimized these dietary “raccoons,” efforts to cultivate your garden of bowel flora will yield better results and maintain them, all part of our effort to generate better health and control over weight.
Bob Niland
December 3, 2016 at 8:14 pm► Water
I’ve stopped drinking tap water anywhere, unless I know where it came from and how it was treated. This means not drinking water, coffee or tea served in restaurants, nor any dishes that have much water in the recipe. I recently violated that rule with some restaurant coffee, and may have paid for it several days later.
One exception on coffee so far is Starbucks, who filter their water extensively at every store. At any other coffee house, you’ll need to ask the senior barista. Don’t just ask them “if”; also ask them “how”. Expect an unsatisfactory response.
It may be necessary to pack some bottled spring water along when dining, if you’re not sure the establishment can serve you any.
Bottled water is not just a hipster fad, I’m afraid. If you drink a lot that way, the brand and source really matter. Some are just incompletely filtered municipal water. Others have pH problems, not to mention adverse additives of one sort or another.
► Antibiotics
When I have an unavoidable course of antibiotics, I take a high-potency probiotic during and for a month afterward.
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These “raccoons” are potentially serious business. Some specialists are convinced that dysbiosis is the major enabler of the alarming ASD trend, starting with dysbiotic parents, adverse birth scenarios, going downhill from there with excess prescribed antibiotics, low-prebiotic/no-probiotic standard diets, and aggravated by anti-microbials in typical food-like substances. But even these experts don’t seem to be aware of the microbiome hazards posed by non-native halogens in the tap water, esp. the highly persistent emergent agent chloramine.
Municipal water authorities are in a tough spot (e.g. Flint, MI). They must eliminate and prevent pathogens in the water. Even if they wake up to the unintended side effects of these agents, it’s not clear what they can do about it in the near term that would end up harmless at the tap. So it’s up to us to beware and take precautions.
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DM
December 4, 2016 at 12:27 am“Some specialists are convinced that dysbiosis is the major enabler of the alarming ASD trend, starting with dysbiotic parents, adverse birth scenarios…”
I was just thinking about that before I scrolled down and saw your reply. The majority of people’s microbiome is likely in terrible shape, and mothers particularly, passing on their microbes to their children. Then those children grow up and pass on an even worse gut profile to their children. With that trend (obviously of many others), it looks like ASD and serious impairments will increase in the coming years. I remember Perlmutter talking about this and I’ve seen one small-scale study showing Ketogenic diets improved ASD markedly in certain people.
Bob Niland
December 4, 2016 at 11:38 amDM wrote: «…it looks like ASD and serious impairments will increase in the coming years.»
In the video user wrotek linked recently
https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2016/11/never-cheat-wheat-belly-lifestyle/#comment-66186
Dr. Campbell-McBride indicated that the ASD trend implies that by 2025 one out of two children will be diagnosed with ASD:
☞ half; 50%; every other kid;
and a huge proportion of them incapable of fully independent living.
The unaffected will be unable to care for all of them. This planet will become utterly dysfunctional. This problem will either be solved, or it will solve itself, catastrophically. The solution is not pharmacological. This is not an epidemic of Ritalin deficiency. Some of the meds currently tossed at the problem quite likely interfere with recovery (where possible).
«…and I’ve seen one small-scale study showing Ketogenic diets improved ASD markedly in certain people.»
I can see where a ketogenic diet (KD) could be helpful. So why would that be?
§ reduced glucose in brain
A full-time moderate to high glycemic diet is probably a major enabler of ASD. A KD obviously corrects that. Having the brain run to a greater extent on ketone bodies might be less important here than just lowering the amount of sugar in the brain. I’m also wondering if ATP generation from ketones produces less waste product per ATP than glycolysis.
§ implicitly low grain
A KD is going to be inherently low in grains, and their direct gut-antagonist and micronutrient-depleting effects. The zonulin triggered by wheat doesn’t just open the gut tight junctions. It also opens the blood-brain-barrier (BBB).
§ implicitly low processed
A KD also going to be low in processed foods generally, and their load of gut bombs, immune provokers and CNS toxicants (preservatives, emulsifiers, adverse fats, colorants). Many ASD parents are tuned into food coloring, for example, but I see that as a secondary sensitivity resulting from a bigger problem upstream.
§ the opposite of low fat
Standard full-time glycemic diets are dangerously low in needed fats, which is unsupportive of normal brain development. Parents implementing a KD for a child are probably doing it quite deliberately, and following menus that might well increase beneficial fats (Omega 3 DHA&EPA) as well as avoid adverse fats (like excess Omega 6 linoleic acid).
§ wider micronutrient awareness
Parents poking around on dietary tweaks for ASD are quite likely to discover things that may need supplementing, like the Vitamin D, iodine and magnesium we emphasize here for everyone, as well as things we consider non-core but which may well be valuable, like CoQ10, MSM, NAC, L-carnitine, L-carnosine and Vitamin C.
§ breast feeding
Parents clued into KD are probably also aware of the benefits of breast feeding, and not just favoring it, but doing it longer. This also implies that they are reducing, if not avoiding, commercial baby formula products, of which approximately 100% appear to be metabolic disasters.
§ brain lymph system role?
It’s only been discovered in the last few years that, contrary to dogma, the brain does have a lymph system, but it appears to be a very low-capacity structure. What happens when a diet full of both junk and BBB-opening zonulins exceeds the capacity of that system? I’m thinking brain inflammation at the very least. A KD is helpful in multiple ways here.
§ serendipitously thyroid-friendly?
The deliberate choices made to implement a KD probably result in reduced exposure to non-native halogen compounds (which can out-compete iodine at the thyroid). If the diet is higher in seafood, it might well also increase iodine intake. Both can help avoid the hypothyroidism that often correlates with ASD.
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KD is helpful but probably not the whole fix for ASDs because it’s not addressing all the causes. A microbiome-attentive diet like GAPS is also helpful but probably not the whole fix. There are other factors in play, for example, additional micronutrient deficiencies and circadian disruptions. Some factors will eventually turn out to be more important than others, but until we have unconfounded science to rank them, cautious parents need to attend to all of them (starting with themselves, and ideally well before conception).
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