Author Archives: lassesen

Unknown's avatar lassesen 5:13 pm on February 14, 2015  

Garlic, IBS, CFS, and the Microbiome

A reader wrote “Every time I eat garlic, both cooked and raw, I get a LOT of foul smelling gas… I don’t get this from onions for example…Do you have any idea why this is, what it might indicated as far as the microbiome go? I know garlic is rich in inulin…”

Inulin from garlic is well known, as well as from:

  • artichokes, garlic, beans, oats, onions and asparagus [ref]

I also recall that garlic has anti-biotic characteristics:

“fresh garlic, but not aged garlic, can kill certain bacteria such as E. coli, antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella enteritidis in the laboratory.” [WebMd]

Historically:

“From Roman antiquity through World War I, garlic poultices were used to prevent wound infections. The famous microbiologist Louis Pasteur performed some of the original work showing that garlic could kill bacteria. In 1916, the British government issued a general plea for the public to supply it with garlic in order to meet wartime needs. Garlic was called Russian penicillin during World War II because, after running out of antibiotics, the Russian government turned to this ancient treatment for its soldiers.

After World War II, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals manufactured a garlic compound for intestinal spasms, and the Van Patten Company produced another for lowering blood pressure.” [NYU]

Going over to PubMed

  • Garlic contains sulfur compounds like allicin, ajoene, allylmethyltrisulfide, diallyltrisulfide, diallyldisulphide and others which exhibit various biological properties like antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antiinflammatory, hypoglycemic, and cardiovascular effects.[2014]
  • ReducesInflammatory bowel disease (IBD) [2014]
  • Reduces  free-living (Hexamita inflata), and parasitic (Spironucleus vortens and Giardia intestinalis).[2014] Spironucleus vortens[2014]
  • garlic exhibits antibacterial activity against probiotic bifidobacteria. The aim of the current study was to elucidate the mechanism of action of garlic clove extract (GCE) on Bifidobacterium bifidum LMG 11041, B. longum LMG 13197 and B. lactis Bb12 [2014] – so do not take garlic with bifidobactra probiotics!

For more follow there links: Intestines and garlic and  garlic and antibiotics

Bottom Line

The foul smelling gas is likely release by species of bacteria being killed. Cross referencing species cited above I found that Giardia intestinalis is garlic sensistive and produces foul smelling faeces  [2014] as one possibility. Other possibilities include Aerococcus urinae [2013], Strongyloides stercoralis [2012] and likely many more.

A suggestion to discuss with your medical professional would be whether to try increasing dosage (fresh garlic – not capsules etc)  and see if the foul smell eventually clears (suggesting that the bacteria has been effectively reduced). It should be discussed with whoever lives with you… you could be a challenge to be around!.

Unknown's avatar lassesen 5:38 am on February 3, 2015  

Looking at the current Genova Diagnostics – GI Effects / Stool Profiles

A CFS reader asked me to review his results and provided a  masked copy of their report (Attached).

In looking at the report, I would describe it as better than the ones in the past.

Page 1

Summaries:

  • High IgA levels
  • Imbalance
  • Lower Diversity
  • Signifiant less abundance

Page 2

  • High Triglycerides – the odds of this with CFS is twice that of controls [2010]. It is also associated with some inherited coagulation defects.
    Fecal secretory IgA is in reference range which seems inconsistent with Page 1
  • n-Butyrate is slightly below the normal range, Propionate is higher. – which suggests IBS with CFS
    • “Patients with inflammatory bowel disease have lower numbers of Butyricicoccus bacteria in their stools. Administration of B pullicaecorum attenuates TNBS-induced colitis in rats and supernatant of B pullicaecorum cultures strengthens the epithelial barrier function by increasing the TER.” [2013]
    • ” Elevated levels of amino acids (alanine and pyroglutamic acid) and phenolic compounds (hydroxyphenyl acetate and hydroxyphenyl propionate) were found inIBS” [2011]

Page 3

  • High level of:
  • Low level of:
    •  Bifidobacterium – typical – See my earlier post
    • Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes Ratio – this is almost identical to the results of another CFS patient [Post]
  • Not detectable:
    • Anaerotruncus colihominis – just 3 pub med articles
    • Coprococcus eutactus – IBS marker [2014]
    • faecalibacterium prausnitzii. ” A reduction of enteric microbiota diversity has been observed in UC patients, mainly affecting the butyrate-producing bacteria, such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, which can repress pro-inflammatory cytokines [2014] which may explain the low butyrate levels.
    • Colinsella aerofaciens [ just one article]

Page 4

Gastroinstentinal Microbiome – one issue: Klebsiella pneumonia was high as seen in a prior reader’s lab

Page 5

Microscopic Exam Results – no issues

Page 6

Additional results – no issues

Page 7

Prescriptive Agents:

Only Klebsiella pneumonia was listed and the antibiotics effective against it. This is a histamine producing bacteria and thus over population can result in histamine sensitivity and many CFS like symptoms.

Bottom Line

The results are the same pattern of other CFS patients. The strong IBS indicators suggests that Prescript Assist (which has resulted in IBS remission for a significant percentage) is a logical course of treatment.

Anonomous Report Shared With Me 

Unknown's avatar lassesen 12:55 am on February 1, 2015  

Recent articles on Probiotics

  • Regular consumption of the probiotic strain Bifidobacterium bifidum R0071 is associated with more ‘healthy days’ and a lower reporting of cold or flu, [Article]
  • “Considering that some people with IBD have mutations in genes that are part of a MyD88-controlled pathway, fecal transplantation – which involves collecting and processing stool from a healthy donor, and delivering it into a recipient’s gut – might help to ameliorate disease in these people, according to Round. Loss of MyD88 disturbs the microbial community because it disrupts production of IgA. This class of antibody works like a gatekeeper that controls which types of bacteria, and how many, are allowed to inhabit the gut. By performing inventories of total gut bacteria compared to species that bind IgA, the scientists determined that without MyD88, IgA failed to recognize species that it can otherwise.”[Article]
  • “Genes are important, but diet may be even more important in determining the relative abundance of the hundreds of health-shaping bacterial species comprising an individual’s gut microbiota, according to UC San Francisco scientists whose latest mouse experiments to probe this nature-versus-nurture balance were published online in Cell Host and Microbe. Gut bacteria vastly outnumber our own cells, and the microbial species normally dwelling within us throughout our lives can affect our health by influencing our metabolism and perhaps even our behavior… The gut microbiota was influenced by the imprint of past diets as well as by present diet. “Repeated dietary shifts demonstrated that most changes to the gut microbiota are reversible,” Turnbaugh said. “But we also identified bacterial species whose abundance depends on prior consumption.”.[Article]
  • “Evolving over the 7,000 years that we have been eating fermented food and drink, the ability of a common gut bacterium called Bacteroides thetaiotomicron to degrade yeasts is almost exclusively found in the human gut. Publishing their findings today in Nature, the international research team said the discovery of this process could accelerate the development of prebiotic medicines to help people suffering from bowel problems and autoimmune diseases.”[Article]
  • “A new study has linked the microbiome of the human gut with immunity against malaria infections. Gut probiotics represent innovative tools for malaria prevention and lead the way to novel types of vaccination strategies.”[Article]
  • “Consuming Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086 (GanedenBC30) in combination with protein may blunt muscle damage after intense exercise and boost recovery, according to findings from a pilot study [Article]
  • “Here, we report that the gut microbiota of healthy Koreans are clustered into two enterotypes, dominated by either Bacteroides (enterotype 1) or Prevotella (enterotype 2). More than 72% of the paired fecal samples from monozygotic twin pairs were assigned to the same enterotype. Our longitudinal analysis of these twins indicated that more than 80% of the individuals belonged to the same enterotype after about a 2-year interval.”[Article]
Unknown's avatar lassesen 5:31 pm on January 25, 2015  

GcMAF – Bravo Probiotic – an Update

Recently I have seen a number of comments from a person whose email begins with “homeBiz..” on my Sept,2013 post on Bravo Probiotic, implying that this was a promoter of Bravo Probiotics. I am sure that dealers get a very good margin on sales given that the species in this probiotic are common ones in most probiotics.

See 2017’s Update #2 also. In 2017, the discoverer has invented a new magic, Rerum, and in videos has trashed this product, see this post.

I thought that I should revisit what is on PubMed. There have been 10 articles on GcMAF since my last review. None dealing with CFS.

  • “commercially available formula of GcMAF… may significantly contribute to neutralizing the neurotoxicity “[2015]
  • “Oleic Acid with GcMAF.. with significant effects on immune system stimulation [2014] – Oleic Acid is very high in Olive Oil.
  • “The use of the Gc protein-derived Macrophage Activating Factor (GcMAF), an endogenous glycosylated vitamin D binding protein responsible for macrophage cell activation has demonstrated positive effects in the treatment of autistic children.”[2014]
  • “The administration of GC protein-derived macrophage-activating factor (GcMAF) to cancer patients with elevated levels of nagalase has been associated with a decrease of serum nagalase activity and with significant clinical benefits.”[2013]

What I found very interesting in the studies is that there was no controlling for Vitamin D levels in patients.  GcMAF may increase vitamin D levels AND we know that cancers, FM and CFS are more likely to occur with low Vitamin D levels. In the case of  FM and CFS, symptoms are less severe with higher levels of Vitamin D.

Bottle line, unless you are already at the very top of Vitamin D levels, supplementing with Vitamin D3 is likely the best.  I am in the early 60’s and find that I need 20,000 IU/day of Vitamin D3 to maintain my levels. The ability to absorb decreases with age and likely also decreases with the shift of gut bacteria seen with CFS/FM.

In terms of news on the sale of GcMAF

  • 3 July, 2014. Immuno Biotech was shut down. They sell Bravo Probiotic , BBC
  • One of the published GcMAF paper has been retracted and three others are being strongly challenged (i.e. the results reported were not accurate)
  • US safety studies on the use of GcMAF has not yet started.
  • One Israeli company is attempting to scientifically test the impact, their post appears to be a (reasonable) objective view.

“This organization, as well as others, point out that the articles written by Yamamoto have been removed from the websites of the journals in which they appeared, owing to a range of ethical problems, including the listing of names of writers unrelated to the subject, and the presentation of “research bodies” established solely for that purpose, or which never existed.” This has echos of the methods observed by some with the Marshall Protocol.

Bottom Line

GcMAF reduces Nagalase which is a factor for Cancers.

In other words, there is “no scientific, medical, or alternative medical evidence” supporting the use of Bravo Probiotics for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. CFS is very sensitive to placebo effects — believe in a placebo will change the degree of stress in a person and thus the gut bacteria as a result of changing levels of stress chemicals.

Get your Vitamin D3 up and wait for objective studies to be published. The financial cost of this hyped-product is far too high for most CFSers.

News Story BBC: Unlicensed blood drug GcMAF still for sale

Unknown's avatar lassesen 6:49 am on January 20, 2015  

Histamine Producing Bacteria and their treatment

The histamine model for CFS may apply to some. I know two people that had CFS which ?progressed? to histamine intolerance. With the gut model for CFS, a percentage could go down that pathway. My thinking is that a percentage of histamine intolerance patients is caused by overgrowth in the gut some histamine producing species, thus reducing them should reduce symptoms.

Tonight I decided to gather up as much information about known histamine producing species as a start point. A 1991 study found just 55 of 568 examined bacteria produced histamines (about 10%) and of these 55, 51 were Enterobacteriaceae.

  • Proteus morganii, All species. This is a species that is normally in the gut, thus it’s overgrowth is reasonable.
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae, 5/6 of the species
  • Escherichia coli, just 1/3 of the species
  • Enterobacter aerogenes,
  • Enterobacter cloacae ,
  • Proteus sp., (vulgaris, mirabilis.
  • Edwardsiella sp. ,
  • Vibrio spp.
  • Source: [ref] [1991]

The Proteus species were more active at a pH of 5(acid) than pH 7 (Neutral), which may account for severe reaction to lemon and grapefruit juices because they will grow much better in that environment. It also hints that using baking soda (high pH) may reduce the histamine production.

Fish: Many species have high or even extreme level of histamines, these include: saury, tuna, bonito, butterfly kingfish, mackerel and mahi mahi.

What are the convention symptions of histamine excess?

“Onset of the poisoning symptoms ranges from a few minutes to a few hours after eating. Victims generally experience a flushing of the face and neck, a throbbing headache, dizziness, faintness, and an itching, burning sensation in the
mouth and throat. The fish, as consumed, may have a sharp, peppery flavor and invariably contain high levels of free histamine, usually in excess of 100 mg/100 g”. Fresh tuna have been reported to be often at 600 mg/100 g.

Treatment of Morganii

According to Wikipedia, the following have a high success rate, but more and more resistance is reported.

  • Ticarcillin
  • Piperacillin
  • Ciprofloxacin
  • Third-generation and fourth-generation cephalosporins

In terms of herbs, Salvia officinalis (common sage) has a 75% inhibitory rate[2004 Full Text] (versus 90% with the above antibiotics). Clove Oil, lemongrass and sweet basil oils are also reported effective (listed in order of effectiveness)[2013]. Another study found Cinnamon and clove did better(significant effect) than turmeric and cardamon(moderate effect) [1996]

So we do have a set of easy to obtain spices and herbs that would inhibit Morganii (assuming that the histamine issue was cause by an overgrowth of them).