Healthy Bacteria? It is not an oxymoron anymore!

Healthy Bacteria? It is not an oxymoron anymore!

90% of what we call human is actually microbial cells that are part of what scientist call our Microbiome. Our bodies are more bacteria than anything else. These bacteria actually play a hugely underestimated part in almost everything from digestion and immune health, to detoxification of chemicals and production of nutrients. They even influence the expression of genes. One of the most significant realizations that this must bring about is that as a society we consume antibiotics like they are candy, and this drastically alters the health of our Microbiome and therefore our current and future health.

In an article by Kelly Brogan, MD, “Holobiont: Does your obstetrician know this word” ; it is made extremely clear that we need to take a closer look at our societies out dated view of bacteria as bad and our obsession with over sanitization of everything, and start to understand more the beneficial relationship that our bodies have with our environment. The main reason to do so is because we can’t live a healthy life with bacteria. One example that demonstrates what can happen to our health if we ignore and alter our microbiome through over use of medications is a 5 year old body that was brought to my office because the parents wanted to see if there was an alternative to surgery for tubes being put in their child’s ears. What I discovered in my investigation into this child history is that there was a lot more than just fluid in his ears. And without a full history you would miss completely why this child’s immune system is not normal. From day one there was constant medical intervention and attack on this child’s microbiome. He was a “emergency c-section”, so he did not receive his first dose of probiotics from his mother’s birth canal. The mother had to go back to work after 3 weeks and her son did not breast feed well (I suspect likely problems from the c-section), so he was formula feed. This forced him to miss daily doses of probiotics from breast feeding. His mother stated that at almost every well baby check her son was diagnosed with and ear infection and treated with antibiotics every time to the tune of about 16 rounds of antibiotics over the first 4 years of life. Hopefully you are aware that this is NOT evidence base care, and it happened because our medical protocols for treatment tend to be 17 years behind the research. As a result of this tremendous assault on the child’s microbiome, which again is 90% of who we are, he has never had normal bowels and has been on miraLAX every day for his entire life. Please make yourself aware of the dangerous effects of miraLAX on children. Obviously his digestive health is “poop” if you catch my drift. It is important to realize that 70+% of our immunity is found in our digestive tract. Therefore if our digestive health is poor, it is a good indicator that our immune system’s health is likely poor. Now the child’s teacher notices he is having hearing difficulties in class, and the ENT specialist tells the parents their child cannot hear because he has fluid in his ears. I don’t’ think that the ENT understands the entire history of this child. What these parents failed to realize is that their pediatrician failed them in helping to raise a healthy child. What this child really needed was to get on a nutritional protocol to help heal his microbiome and heal his body. No drug can do that. For that matter no drug can ever bring health. As a side not and a topic for future blog post, our love affair with chemicals is getting complicated. We eat them, breathe them, slather them on our skin. And when we get sick, we take more of them.

If this sounds anything like your experience or that of someone you love, then I hope that this blog and the referenced article form Kelly Brogan, MD helps point you in a better direction to health.