After I posted about Prescript-Assist probiotic, a local CFS friend dug into some of the bacteria listed [I have not had time] and discovered that one of them was used commercially to product B12.

The pseudomonas denitrificans (P.Dent) “produces Vitamin B12 in great quantities….This
particular microbe is the main commercial producer of the vitamin. Without
vitamin B12 in one’s diet, a person may develop pernicious anemia.” [Source]

The other known B12 producer is Lactobacillus Reuteri which I covered in a prior post.

P.Dent has been known since at least 1969 to produce B12. Over 30 articles on P.Dent and B12 are on PubMed..

Another benefit of P.Dent. is that it does denitrification which may benefit the reactive nitrogen species reported in CFS.

Bottom line: Both Lactobacillus Reuteri and Prescript-Assist should be used by any person with low B-12 levels.

About a month ago, Nature published Genomic variation landscape of the human gut microbiome (Dec 5th, 2012). There are a few findings that are interesting:

“There were 88 individuals from the US cohort that were sampled at different time periods (~1 year) with no antibiotics in between. Looking at the composition and genomic variation of these gut microbiomes, the authors found that while species abundance changed over time within an individual, the variation patterns were remarkably stable. In other words, healthy individuals retained (for a long term) specific strains of microbiota. Also, there were no clear geographical differences between European and U.S. cohorts. All of this suggests that every human has a unique metagenomic profile that’s stable over time. Almost like a fingerprint…  Further, the low pN/pS ratio observed for genes related to type IV secretion systems suggests that interaction with the host’s immune system is under purifying selection, and maintaining genome plasticity (as well as antibiotic resistance) is essential for gut species..” Source, I recall reading elsewhere that gut bacteria was inherited/influenced by DNA…. the complexity of autoimmune disease thickens…

The interesting aspect is that over 929 species were identified in common…

There are several exciting projects/studies that have started which may result in a clear understanding of gut bacteria and the human over the next decades. A quick review of these and results to date is warranted. Our lack of knowledge about gut bacteria is shocking, and may explain why many autoimmune diseases are not understood.

Washington University in St. Louis: Project: Human Gut Microbiome

“The total number of genes in the various species represented in our internal microbial communities (microbiome) likely exceeds the number of our human genes by at least two orders of magnitude… Our microbiome is largely unexplored… The HGMI seeks to deliver a more comprehensive view of our biology by providing deep draft whole genome sequences for 100 species representing the bacterial divisions known to reside in the distal gut. Fifteen of these genomes will be selected for finishing…” White Paper

National Institute of Health: Human Microbiome Project

“Within the body of a healthy adult, microbial cells are estimated to outnumber human cells ten to one. This community, however, remains largely unstudied, leaving their influence upon human development, physiology, immunity, and nutrition almost entirely unknown… the vast majority of microbial species have never been successfully isolated as viable specimens for analysis, presumably because their growth is dependent upon a specific microenvironment that has not been, or cannot be, reproduced experimentally.”

The have a nice news page and publication page worth reviewing

“They found that the gut microbial communities are species-specific, and have tracked with their hosts over evolutionary timescales. This evolutionary signal appears to be discernable even when gut communities are disturbed by such factors as disease…Host phylogeny is the overriding factor determining the microbial composition of the great ape gut microbiota,” Ochman and his colleagues concluded in their study, adding that the finding “contrasts with previous notions that diet is the most important factor governing the gut microbiotae within primates.” “

Recently, there have seen several interesting articles finding that life expectancy increases  for a while as you BMI increase beyond the ideal, and then decrease.  This is very old news for me, as a statistician, I have seen this in actuary tables since the 1980’s  (tables used to determine insurance premiums — an industry where statistics trumps beliefs, usually).

Body mass index is defined as the individual’s body mass divided by the square of his or her height. As a physicist, I can’t help but notice that we happen to live in at least a three dimensional world (adding time, makes it four dimensional). Additionally, politics have had it impact by changing the levels of overweight based on belief or corporate agenda (i.e. if more people are overweight or obese, then there is more opportunity to prescribe or sell items to fix what may be a non-existent issue). For more back ground, see this Wikipedia article:

The problem of the non-actuary approach is that while you may find increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes; decreased risks of other diseases are not considered. In other words — a blinkered view.

If we assume that BMI 25.is ideal for a 1.6 meter individual, we find a weight of 72 kg. If we instead use BMI-3 or Mass/ (height x height x height), the equivalent number would be 14.655. For a 1.5 m person, the same BMI-3 suggests a weight of 49kg. For a 2 m person, BMI-3 suggests 136 kg.

BMI 25

In other words, shorter people can carry 16% more weight, and tall people must be 20% leaner. So on BMI, I would come in as 30, but with BMI-3, it’s 15.8. Or  30/25 = 20% above with BMI versus 8% above with BMI-3.

The term “evidence based science” is often tossed around, the unfortunate termed that is missing is “biased”, i.e. “biased evidence based science”. The majority of studies are not reviewed by hard-core independent statisticians.

In terms of studies for CFS and chronic lyme, studies that found no benefit from antibiotics often suffer from this type of bias. Antibiotics are part of a complex regime when remission has been reported — taking them in isolation does not “prove” they do not work — it shows only that they do not work when applied in a naive manner.

It is almost a year since I had flu that cascaded into a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome relapsed. As the symptoms appeared, I proceeded with the full range of items (as I then understood the syndrome) with success in delaying having to stop working for 3 months. When I stopped heavy dosages of anticoagulants due to excessive bruising, my cognitive ability collapsed very quickly.

Since then, I am nearing a remission of all symptoms except the neurological ones, which are waning (but still there according to the Neurologist). Since CFS can appear in SPECT scan as brain trauma, recovering from brain trauma takes time.

The vast majority of improvement have come from addressing gut bacteria issues aggressively and with a host of a-typical items such as:

• Mutaflor (E.Coli Nissle 1917)
• Lactobacillus Reuteri
• Some other very unusual probiotics that most people do not know exists
• Tulsi, Haritaki, Neem
• Goat Cheese, 85% Chocolate, 100% Rye Bread (made in Germany)

There have been massive headaches from some of the above, but I accept Herx as a harsh, but positive sign.

The Flu Connection

I decided to see what we know about Flu and gut bacteria on PubMed.

• ” Aquatic birds are the evolutionary hosts of influenza viruses; they harbour many distinct forms or subtypes of influenza A, which are usually present as harmless gut infections.” The influenza viruses.
• ” many humans infected with H5N1 present with gastrointestinal tract symptoms, … In this study, we demonstrated that the human gut expresses abundant avian H5N1 receptors, is readily infected… Our results provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, that H5N1 can directly target human gut tissues.”  Avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses can directly infect and replicate in human gut tissues.
• “These results demonstrate that oral administration of selected lactobacilli might protect host animals from Flu infection by interactions with gut immunity.” Oral administration of lactobacilli from human intestinal tract protects mice against influenza virus infection
• ” Our findings have demonstrated a unique pattern of host responses in human gut in response to H9N2 subtype influenza viruses, which will broaden our understanding of the pathogenesis of AIV infection in both humans and animals.” Human intestinal epithelial cells are susceptible to influenza virus subtype H9N2

So studies seems to suggest that the gut bacteria are a significant factor for flu. Probiotics may protect someone from getting the flu, and the gut is a “petri dish” for the influenza virus to grow in.

The many reports of getting CFS after a “flu like disease”, may need to be updated to, “after the flu”.