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YOUR HEALTH IS THE RESULT OF A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH 100 TRILLION BACTERIA By Dr. Mercola The truth of the old adage that “you are what you eat” is becoming increasingly clear, the more we learn about the microbiome—the colonies of microbes living in your gut, and indeed all over your body. It is well established that your gut is your second brain providing more input to your brain than the brain provides to it. This is why your gut health is largely reflected in your gut bacteria, including your mental health and emotional well-being. Your microbiome is essentially a historical accumulative composition of where you’ve been, who your parents are, who you spend intimate time with, what you eat, how you live, whether or not you’re interacting with the earth (gardening, for example), and much more. As noted by Pat Schloss (a microbiologist with The Human Microbiome Project) in the video above, your microbiome is much like a fingerprint—it’s unique to you. Researcher Jeroen Raes has also suggested we might belong to one of a few “microflora types,” which are similar to blood types. Your gut microbiome activity influences your immune responses, nervous system functioning, and plays a role in the development of any number of diseases, including obesity, cancer, and multiple sclerosis, just to name a few that I’ll address in this article. How Intestinal Bacteria Can Induce Food Cravings The bacteria in your body outnumber your cells by 100 to 1, and different bacteria have different nutritional needs. According to recent research,1, 2 the nutritional preferences of your gut bacteria can influence your food cravings by releasing chemical signals through the vagus nerve, which connects your gut to your brain. According to one of the study’s co-authors, Carlo Maley, PhD:3 “Bacteria within the gut are manipulative... There is a diversity of interests represented in the microbiome, some aligned with our own dietary goals, and others not... Our diets have a huge impact on microbial populations in the gut. It’s a whole ecosystem, and it’s evolving on the time scale of minutes.” It’s already been well-documented that obese individuals have different bacteria dominating their microbiome than leaner individuals. Research4 also suggests that as much as 20 percent of the substantial weight loss achieved from gastric bypass, a popular weight loss surgery, is due to shifts in the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract. With regards to the featured research, Forbes5 reports: “‘Microbes have the capacity to manipulate behavior and mood through altering the neural signals in the vagus nerve, changing taste receptors, producing toxins to make us feel bad, and releasing chemical rewards to make us feel good,’ said study co-author Athena Aktipis, PhD. The good news, the researchers tell us, is that we can influence changes in our gut dwellers through dietary choices. ‘Because microbiota are easily manipulatable by prebiotics, probiotics, antibiotics…and dietary changes, altering our microbiota offers a tractable approach to otherwise intractable problems of obesity and unhealthy eating.’” Diet Can Rapidly Alter Gut Bacteria Indeed, another recent study6, 7 highlights the speed with which you can alter the balance of your gut bacteria. Here, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) monitored two people over the course of one year; collecting daily stool samples and correlating the gut bacteria from day to day with diet and other lifestyle factors such as sleep, mood, and exercise. One of the participants developed diarrhea during a two-week trip to another country, which resulted in significant changes in the balance of gut bacteria. A case of Salmonella food poisoning struck the other participant, which resulted in a drastic change in gut bacteria. Salmonella bacteria rose from 10 percent to nearly 30 percent, and the colonies of beneficial bacteria were nearly wiped out. Once the individual recovered, beneficial bacteria quickly rebounded to about 40 percent of the total microbiome, but most of the strains were different from the original strains. According to senior author Eric Alm:8 "On any given day, the amount of one species could change manyfold, but after a year, that species would still be at the same median level. To a large extent, the main factor we found that explained a lot of that variance was the diet.” The most prominent changes correlated with the individuals’ fiber intake. Greater amounts of fiber affected about 15 percent of the gut bacteria, resulting in greater proliferation of them. Gut Bacteria May Reveal Colon Cancer, and Might Play a Role in MS Your microbiome may even reveal your risk for, or presence of, colon cancer. A total of 90 people participated in this study;9, 10 thirty were healthy; 30 had precancerous intestinal polyps; and 30 had been diagnosed with advanced colon or rectal cancer. After assessing the composition of each person’s microbiome, it became apparent that microbiome analysis (using a fecal test) might be a viable way to screen for precancerous polyps and colorectal cancer. According to their findings, adding microbiome analysis to other known risk factors for precancerous polyps resulted in a 4.5-fold improved prediction for the condition. Adding microbiome analysis to risk factors for invasive colorectal cancer resulted in a five-fold improvement in their ability to predict cancer. In related news, researchers have also linked certain gut microbes to the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), and/or improvement of the condition. The paper, published in the Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research,11 describes three immunological factors associated with the gut microbiome that relates to inflammatory responses in MS patients: T helper cell polarization T regulatory cell function B cell activity Previous research has suggested that altering the gut microbiome by adding bacteria such as Lactobacillus, and/or worm-type organisms like Schistosoma and Trichura, can be helpful in reducing MS symptoms. Apparently, these microorganisms have a beneficial effect on cytokine production throughout the body, thereby reducing systemic inflammation. Cytokines are cellular messengers that regulate inflammatory responses. According to the authors: "Whether future therapeutic approaches to MS will employ commensal-based products depends on nuanced understanding of these underlying mechanisms.” When It Comes to Inflammation, Your Microbiome Rules MS certainly is not the only disease caused by chronic inflammation in your body. In fact, most chronic disease has inflammation as an underlying factor. It’s important to realize that your gut is the starting point for inflammation—it’s actually the gatekeeper for your inflammatory response. As suggested above, various gut microorganisms can either trigger or subdue the production of inflammatory cytokines. Most of the signals between your gut and your brain travel along your vagus nerve—about 90 percent of them.12 (Vagus is Latin for “wandering,” aptly named as this long nerve travels from your skull down through your chest and abdomen, branching to multiple organs.13) Cytokine messengers produced in your gut cruise up to your brain along the “vagus nerve highway.” Once in your brain, the cytokines tell your microglia (the immune cells in your brain) to perform certain functions, such as producing neurochemicals. Besides influencing your hunger and cravings for certain foods, as discussed earlier, these chemical messages can also affect your mitochondria, impacting energy production and apoptosis (cell death). They can also affect the very sensitive feedback system that controls your stress hormones, including cortisol, for better or worse. So, an inflammatory response can begin in your gut, travel to your brain, which then builds on it and sends signals to the rest of your body in a complex feedback loop. It isn’t important that you understand all of the physiology here, but the take-away is that your gut flora significantly affects and controls the health of your entire body. Your Gut Flora Is Perpetually Under Attack Your microbiome—and therefore your physical and mental health—are continuously affected by your environment, and by your diet and lifestyle choices. If your gut bacteria are harmed and thrown out of balance (dysbiosis), all sorts of illnesses can result, both acute and chronic. Unfortunately, your fragile internal ecosystem is under nearly constant assault today. Some of the factors posing the gravest dangers to your microbiome are outlined in the following table. Refined sugar, especially processed high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) Genetically engineered (GE) foods (extremely abundant in processed foods and beverages) Agricultural chemicals, such as herbicides and pesticides. Glyphosate appears to be among the worst Conventionally-raised meats and other animal products; CAFO animals are routinely fed low-dose antibiotics and GE livestock feed Gluten Antibiotics (use only if absolutely necessary, and make sure to reseed your gut with fermented foods and/or a good probiotic supplement) NSAIDS (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) damage cell membranes and disrupt energy production by mitochondria Proton pump inhibitors (drugs that block the production of acid in your stomach, typically prescribed for GERD, such as Prilosec, Prevacid, and Nexium) Antibacterial soap Chlorinated and/or fluoridated water Stress Pollution Your Diet Is the Most Effective Way to Alter Your Microbiome The best way to optimize your gut flora is through your diet. A good place to start is by drastically reducing grains and sugar, and avoiding genetically engineered ingredients, processed foods, pasteurized foods, and chlorinated tap water. Pasteurized foods can harm your good bacteria, and sugar promotes the growth of pathogenic yeast and other fungi. Grains containing gluten are particularly damaging to your microflora and overall health.14, 15 A gut-healthy diet is one rich in whole, unprocessed, unsweetened foods, along with traditionally fermented or cultured foods. Chlorine in your tap water not only kills pathogenic bacteria in the water but also beneficial bacteria in your gut. Fermented foods are also a key component of the GAPS protocol, a diet designed to heal and seal your gut. Your goal should be to consume one-quarter to one-half cup of fermented veggies with each meal, but you may need to work up to it. Consider starting with just a teaspoon or two a few times a day, and increase as tolerated. If that is too much (perhaps your body is severely compromised), you can even begin by drinking a teaspoon of the brine from the fermented veggies, which is rich in the same beneficial microbes. You may also want to consider a high-potency probiotic supplement, but realize that there is no substitute for the real food. A previous article in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology16 makes the case that properly controlled fermentation amplifies the specific nutrient and phytochemical content of foods, thereby improving brain health, both physical and mental. According to the authors: “The consumption of fermented foods may be particularly relevant to the emerging research linking traditional dietary practices and positive mental health. The extent to which traditional dietary items may mitigate inflammation and oxidative stress may be controlled, at least to some degree, by microbiota.” They go on to say that the microbes associated with fermented foods (for example, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria species) may also influence your brain health via direct and indirect pathways, which paves the way for new scientific investigations in the area of “nutritional psychiatry.” Your Body Is a Conglomerate of Bacterial Colonies You’re not only surrounded by bacteria in your environment; in a very real way, you are them. Your body is in fact a complex ecosystem made up of more than 100 trillion microbes that must be properly balanced and cared for if you are to be healthy. Pamela Weintraub skillfully describes the symbiotic relationship between humans and microorganisms in her June 2013 article in Experience Life magazine.17 This system of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa living on your skin and in your mouth, nose, throat, lungs, gut, and urogenital tract, is unique to you. It varies from person to person based on factors such as diet, lifestyle, health history, geographic location, and even ancestry. Your microbiome is one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet as for every bacteria you have, there are 10 bacteriophages or viruses. So not only do you have 100 trillion bacteria, you have one quadrillion bacteriophages. All of these organisms perform a multitude of functions in key biological systems, from supplying critical vitamins to fighting pathogens, modulating weight and metabolism, and much more, and when your microbiome falls out of balance, you can become ill. Your microbiome also helps control how your genes express themselves. So by optimizing your native flora, you are actually controlling your genes! All of this is great news, because while your microbiome may control your health, you can control which bacteria have the upper hand—health-promoting ones, or disease-causing ones—through your diet and lifestyle

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ARE YOU EATING TOXIC FOOD DYES ?

Food dyes are one of the most widely used and dangerous additives. While the European Union has recently placed regulations on labeling food dyes to inform consumers of the health risks, the United States has no such requirement.
Here are some of the most common food dyes used today, according to the Food Freedom Network:

• Blue #1 (Brilliant Blue)
  
  An unpublished study suggested the possibility that Blue 1 caused kidney tumors in mice. What it's in: Baked goods, beverages, desert powders, candies, cereal, drugs, and other products.
• Blue #2 (Indigo Carmine)
  
  Causes a statistically significant incidence of tumors, particularly brain gliomas, in male rats. What it's in: Colored beverages, candies, pet food, & other food and drugs.
• Citrus Red #2
  It's toxic to rodents at modest levels and caused tumors of the urinary bladder and possibly other organs. What it's in: Skins of Florida oranges.
• Green #3 (Fast Green)
  
  Caused significant increases in bladder and testes tumors in male rats. What it's in: Drugs, personal care products, cosmetic products except in eye area, candies, beverages, ice cream, sorbet, ingested drugs, lipsticks, and externally applied cosmetics.
• Red #3 (Erythrosine)
  
  Recognized in 1990 by the FDA as a thyroid carcinogen in animals and is banned in cosmetics and externally applied drugs. What it's in: Sausage casings, oral medication, maraschino cherries, baked goods, and candies.
• Red #40 (Allura Red)
  
  This is the most-widely used and consumed dye. It may accelerate the appearance of immune system tumors in mice. It also causes hypersensitivity (allergy-like) reactions in some consumers and might trigger hyperactivity in children. What it's in: Beverages, bakery goods, dessert powders, candies, cereals, foods, drugs, and cosmetics.
• Yellow #5 (Tartrazine)
  
  Yellow 5 causes sometimes-severe hypersensitivity reactions and might trigger hyperactivity and other behavioral effects in children. What it's in: Pet foods, numerous bakery goods, beverages, dessert powders, candies, cereals, gelatin desserts, and many other foods, as well as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
• Yellow #6 (Sunset Yellow)
  
  Caused adrenal tumors in animals and occasionally causes severe hypersensitivity reactions. What it's in: Color bakery goods, cereals, beverages, dessert powders, candies, gelatin deserts, sausage, cosmetics, and drugs.

Every year, food manufacturers pour 15 million pounds of artificial food dyes into U.S. foods -- and that amount only factors in eight different varieties, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
These dyes are so common in U.S. foods -- especially kids' foods -- that parents don't think twice about giving their children rainbow-colored cereal or fluorescent blue "juice," and adults don't consider bright orange cheese puffs out of the ordinary, either.
But you might do a double take if these food packages contained warnings detailing what these artificial food colorings may really be doing to your health, and that of your children.
Well, in the European Union at least, they do. As of July 2010, most foods in the EU that contain artificial food dyes were labeled with warning labels¹ stating the food "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." The British government also asked that food manufacturers remove most artificial colors from foods back in 2009.
In the United States, however, consumers are still snatching up artificially colored foods with fervor, as most are completely unaware of the risks involved … and let me just say, hyperactivity in children is only the tip of the iceberg.

Cancer and Other Serious Risks from Food Dyes Revealed

In CSPI's summary of studies on food dyes², you can see that some of the most commonly used food dyes may be linked to numerous forms of cancer. CSPI reported³:

"The three most widely used dyes, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6, are contaminated with known carcinogens … Another dye, Red 3, has been acknowledged for years by the Food and Drug Administration to be a carcinogen, yet is still in the food supply."

In their 58-page report, "Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks," CSPI revealed that nine of the food dyes currently approved for use in the United States are linked to health issues ranging from cancer and hyperactivity to allergy-like reactions -- and these results were from studies conducted by the chemical industry itself.
For instance, Red # 40, which is the most widely used dye, may accelerate the appearance of immune system tumors in mice, while also triggering hyperactivity in children.
Blue # 2, used in candies, beverages, pet foods and more, was linked to brain tumors. And Yellow 5, used in baked goods, candies, cereal and more, may not only be contaminated with several cancer-causing chemicals, but it's also linked to hyperactivity, hypersensitivity and other behavioral effects in children.
As CSPI reported:⁴

"Almost all the toxicological studies on dyes were commissioned, conducted, and analyzed by the chemical industry and academic consultants. Ideally, dyes (and other regulated chemicals) would be tested by independent researchers.
Furthermore, virtually all the studies tested individual dyes, whereas many foods and diets contain mixtures of dyes (and other ingredients) that might lead to additive or synergistic effects.
In addition to considerations of organ damage, cancer, birth defects, and allergic reactions, mixtures of dyes (and Yellow 5 tested alone) cause hyperactivity and other behavioral problems in some children.
… Because of those toxicological considerations, including carcinogenicity, hypersensitivity reactions, and behavioral effects, food dyes cannot be considered safe. The FDA should ban food dyes, which serve no purpose other than a cosmetic effect, though quirks in the law make it difficult to do so (the law should be amended to make it no more difficult to ban food colorings than other food additives).
In the meantime, companies voluntarily should replace dyes with safer, natural colorings."

Remember Why Food Colorings Are Added to Foods in the First Place …

If you need further incentive to ditch artificially colored foods from your diet, remember the reason they're added to processed foods in the first place: to make a food that would otherwise be an off-colored mess look appealing.
When foods are processed not only are valuable nutrients lost and fibers removed, but the texture, natural variation and flavors are lost also. After processing, what's actually left behind is a bland, uninteresting "pseudo-food" that most people would find entirely unappetizing.
So at this point, food manufacturers must add back in the nutrients, flavor, color and texture in order to make them desirable, and this is why they become loaded with food additives.
Most commonly, additives are included to:

• Slow spoilage
• Prevent fats and oils from becoming rancid or developing an off-flavor
• Prevent cut fruits from turning brown
• Fortify or enrich the food with synthetic vitamins and minerals (which are lost during processing)
• Improve taste, texture, and appearance

In the case of kids' foods, bright colors are also added to attract kids' attention and make the foods appear "fun." But in most cases, if a food comes in an outrageous color that is not found in nature, consuming it is not a good idea.
Take one carefully designed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the journal The Lancet⁵. It concluded that a variety of common food dyes, and the preservative sodium benzoate -- found in many soft drinks, fruit juices and salad dressings -- do in fact cause some children to become measurably more hyperactive and distractible.
The study also found that the E-numbered food dyes do as much damage to children's brains as lead in gasoline, resulting in a significant reduction in IQ.
The results of this study were what prompted the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) to issue an immediate advisory to parents⁶, warning them to limit their children's intake of additives if they notice an effect on behavior. As mentioned earlier, they also advised the food industry to voluntarily remove the six food dyes named in the study back in 2009, and replace them with natural alternatives if possible.
The United States, however, has not followed suit in issuing any similar warnings to American parents, even now two years later.

Stick to Naturally Colored Foods for Your Health

Let me make it clear that your diet should include a range of vibrantly colored foods … but these foods should be the ones that are naturally rich in color. Red bell peppers, purple eggplant, green spinach, blueberries and rainbow chard are all examples of healthy foods whose bright colors are signs of the important nutrients they contain.
These are the food colors you need in your diet … not the man-made varieties found in most processed foods. The good news is avoiding artificial food dyes is incredibly easy -- just stick to whole fresh foods and avoid the processed ones. If you need help breaking an addiction to processed foods, these seven steps will help you wean off of them in favor of healthier, unprocessed, natural alternatives.

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Teenagers Addicted To Computer Games - Advice for Parents

1. For now, computer game addiction is not an official psychological disorder. The possibility of including computer game addiction in future editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is being debated, but currently it just a way to describe someone whose life appears to be negatively impacted by excessive gaming - and is not a recognized addiction.


2. Common sense suggests that the more a teen plays computer games, the more likely his play has crossed over into the "unhealthy levels of play" category. However, because computer game addiction is not an official diagnosis there is no set number of hours per day signifying an addiction. Therefore, in addition to measuring the average number of hours he/she plays per day, it is perhaps more important to examine how computer gaming is interfering with a teen's social relationships, school performance, mood, and development of interpersonal skills.


3. Parents who are worried that their teenager is spending too much time playing computer games and neglecting other activities should not assume that their child will eventually get bored of video games and that gaming is simply a phase. True, some teenagers addicted to computer games do eventually develop other interests and their gaming subsides…but there are also those who develop even more extreme gaming habits as they get older. Parents should not depend on the problem taking care of itself.  Computer game addiction needs to be attended to as soon as parents recognize that it is causing significant impairment in other important areas of the teens's life.


4. Most kids and teenagers can and do play computer games without developing an addiction. However, for some teens there is no question that their computer use is unhealthy and excessive by anyone's standards. For these teens, computer games take priority over all other activities, and development in other areas (for example, school, relationships, clubs, sports) is sacrificed so that more time can be spent in front of the computer screen. It really does not matter if this is called an "addiction" or not. If he continues to play despite experiencing significant negative consequences in other areas of his life (e.g., ignoring school or friends) his computer gaming is a problem and it needs attention.

5. For parents, one of the most concerning things about teenagers addicted to computer games is the effect it has on their child's academic performance. If a student regularly achieved As and Bs prior to becoming hooked on computer games but is now only bringing home Cs and Ds, parents should establish very clear rules around gaming (including the possibility of a ban) until marks have improved. Furthermore, it is critical that any rules around gaming are not only set, but consistently enforced. Setting limitations on computer games but not following through by enforcing the new rules is potentially more harmful than having no limitations at all.


6. In general, treating teenagers addicted to computer games requires that all computers and/or game consoles are removed from his or her room. Of course, this is certainly not the only intervention, but it is almost impossible for a parent to successfully place limits on gaming if the child can still access the game in the privacy of a bedroom.


7. The most popular treatment approach for computer game addiction is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT for gaming addiction involves challenging and replacing unhealthy thoughts (cognitions) about computer games (e.g., "my gaming doesn't hurt anyone") and introducing gradual behavioral changes to reduce the time spent playing video games (e.g., rewards for following new rules, appropriate consequences for time limit violations, planned reminders to stop playing, software solutions, involvement in other activities, identifying and reducing enabling behaviors, avoiding environmental triggers, etc.).


8. Parents seeking assistance from a therapist or psychologist should consider meeting with him or her prior to the first appointment with their child. Although the issue of teenagers addicted to computer games is being taken more seriously by mental health professionals, there are those who dismiss the possibility of video game addition entirely and focus only on discovering the "root cause" of the problem. The therapist should at least consider the possibility that computer game addiction is the primary problem and offer direct treatment for this issue if necessary. Related to this point…


9. At times, computer game addiction is a symptom of another psychological, emotional, or interpersonal problem. True, computer game addiction can be the primary presenting problem…but there is considerable evidence that excessive computer use also can be triggered or exacerbated by difficulties such as depression, anxiety, and poor social skills. For example, a teenager who is struggling with depression may embrace computer games because he does not feel capable of dealing with real world problems. Of course, turning to online games is very unlikely to make the challenges he faces in the real world go away, and potentially makes them even worse. In this example, the therapist must not only treat the unhealthy gaming, but also the depression which may be feeding the addiction.


10. Despite the challenges and inevitable frustrations of dealing with teen computer game addiction, parents must remember never to give up teenagers addicted to computer games. Although changing unhealthy video game habits is not always easy, teenage computer game addiction can be treated especially if parents have the critical information and strategies they need for planning a successful video game addiction intervention.

No Need To Wait - Help Your Addicted Teen Today

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