Just as there are probiotic foods — that encourage digestive bacteria — perhaps there are antibiotic foods that kill them off. Stacy Ashworth writes:
The flip side of the good-bacteria-stimulates-the-immune-system theory must be that bacteria-killing-foods-weaken-the-immune-system theory. Could this be why I come down with a cold within a day or so of indulging junk food cravings, food that is chock full of bacteria-killing preservatives? . . . I’m also looking at food preservatives in a new light: if they are added to food to kill bacteria to keep the food fresher, then I suppose it stands to reason that they are also going to kill off some of the immune-system enhancing bacteria in my body.
Do some popular foods kill a significant amount of internal bacteria? I don’t know.
I’m sure you need to eat lots of bacteria to stimulate your immune system; the ones already in your body are not recognized as new. New bacteria must come from outside. Then the problem with preservatives is not that they kill bacteria in our bodies but that they have made the preserved food unusually low in bacteria.
Then there’s stuff like garlic….it’s shown to be an antiboitic in a test tube and widely claimed to be a natural antibiotic/antivirual. Health gurus encourage taking it raw at the first sign of illness.
Preservatives are also generally equal to antioxidants. Spoilage=oxidation for many foods/fats. Lots of vitamins are added to serve as a preservative cause of the antioxidant value. If antioxidants are really good for health then….this becomes a complex question. Of course, recent studies say that high doses of vitamin E and other antioxidants actually hurt survival.
Turmeric is supposed to be a potent antibiotic, and is commonly used in Indian dishes, especially those with meat.
https://www.oller.net/turmeric.htm
So why does turmeric pickle?
https://www.associatedcontent.com/article/66548/pickling_can_be_a_great_way_to_preserve.html
Chris, that’s a good point.
I’m currently looking into using gum that uses Xylitol as a sweetener. It’s supposed to reduce cavities and prevent ear infections. They say it has something to do with it preventing bacteria from latching on and growing in the mouth.
Re:Chris, I remember reading in a book that the preservatives in cereals were tied to decreases in stomach cancer in the U.S.
But at the same time Americans started eating mass-produced breakfast cereal, we stopped eating so much salted meat.
I think salt is a major issue with fermented foods. Koreans eat tons of fermented foods and have high stomach cancer rates, probably because of the salt.
which leads back to the original subject of this post: it’s interesting that Koreans pickle with tons of spices that are thought to kill bacteria.
@ Autism. I thought I would offer that I have been chewing a nicotine gum for four months now (can’t seem to get off it) that uses Xylitol as a sweetener. I’ve filled 2 new cavities since I quit smoking. I’m just saying, for what it’s worth
You shouldn’t think of bacteria as stimulating the immune system. Where your body senses bacteria, it attempts to kill it, or has learned to ignore it – it’s just a very difficult thing to do within the digestive tract. The bacteria there are symbiotic simply because they eat what we eat (as 60% of our fecal matter tends to be dead bacteria) and prevent more harmful but slow-replicating bacteria (i.e. yeasts) from spreading in their place. Most of our bodies have learned to ignore those bacteria, and the whole ‘probiotic’ craze really has more to do with increasing bacteria, which increase stinky digestive gases like methane, which displace free-radical gases (think Oxygen) that cause genetic damage when left to their whims.
Eating antibiotic foods is actually helpful with sufferers of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, various forms of arthritis – especially rheumatoid and Ankylosing Spondilitis, those with Celiac disease, and possibly other autoimmune diseases simply because it kills of bacteria that certain individuals’ immune systems – with certain genetic predispositions – overreact to, like allergens.
I mentioned those diseases because they are all related to bacteria such as Klebsiella, which when killed the body has less to react to. What kills the bacteria? Starvation – avoiding ingestion of glutens and starches reduces these bacteria’s numbers, leading to prolonged reduction of symptoms in people with IBS and AS. Just google “IBS diet”.
Eating probiotics to displace free radicals is not as proactive a means at preventing cancer as consistently ingesting vitamin/phytochemical-antioxidants that make the free radicals disappear and serve your cells in the mean time.
“Fish oil/flax seed/fish + antioxidants/phytochemicals from vegetables/fruits + starch-free/gluten-free/lactose-free/low-salt/low-sugar” as a generalization is a fairly similar diet to the people of the Ryukyu islands – those with the longest average life expectancy on earth, albeit they ate many sweet potatoes.
free radicals are dangerous because they can cause cancer.’`,