Thanks to Casey Manion and Bryan Castañeda.
Thanks to Bryan Castañeda.
Thanks to Dave Lull and Ashish Mukharji.
People like complex flavors. I suppose this is why I prefer black tea to green tea. My evolutionary explanation is that this preference caused our ancestors to eat more bacteria-laden food. Bacteria make food taste more complex and bacteria-laden food are healthier than bacteria-free food.
Phil Alexander sent me a story from this book that illustrates this preference:
We entered the saloon. Not a customer was there — a very surprising fact, considering that it was New Year’s Eve. The only person in sight was the bartender who paced back and forth in front of the bar like a caged beast.
“Well, whatta you want?” he asked savagely.
“Why, we just want a little New Year’s drink,” I returned. Winterbill was too surprised to say anything.
“Mix ‘em yourself,” the bartender replied. “I’m through with the saloon business.”
“If you feel that way about it,” I said, “why don’t you sell out?”
“Well, the first guy who offers me $300 can have the works.”
Somewhat amused and thinking he must be joking, I retorted, “I’ll give you $300 — provided it includes all your stock, the cash register, and other equipment.”
“Mister, you’ve bought yourself a saloon!” he snapped. “I’ll not only include all the stock and equipment — I’ll throw in a full barrel of whiskey I’ve got in the basement.”
Winterbill now joined in the fun and began to take an inventory.
The owner took off his apron and handed it to me. “Gimme the three hundred bucks.”
I gave him the money, still believing it was a joke. He put the money into his pocket, got his hat and coat and departed. To our complete bewilderment, we found ourselves in the saloon business.
A few minutes later, our first customer came in. He evidently had not made our place his first stop. I hurriedly put the apron over my evening clothes and asked for his order.
“Martini,” he said in a thick voice.
“Martini,” I repeated to Winterbill.
“Stall him!” Winterbill whispered.
“Coming right up,” I told the customer. He didn’t mind waiting. He was at the stage where he wanted to talk and so proceeded to do.
Meanwhile Winterbill racked his brain, for he had only the vaguest idea how to mix a Martini. He finally settled upon a recipe. He put a dash of everything from the numerous bottles behind the bar into one drink. I stirred it up and handed it to the customer. We watched anxiously while he drank it down.
“That was good!” he exclaimed. “Best Martini I ever tasted. Mix me another.”
Again Winterbill started to mix.
“How do you feel?” I inquired, none too sure of the consequences.
“Me?” asked the customer. “Fine. Never felt better in my life.”
He didn’t show any bad results after the second drink, and we both were relieved. As time went on more customers came in. They ordered whiskey sours, Manhattans, and Martinis. Winterbill had just one formula and that’s what he gave them all. Nobody complained.
. . . By the time we closed that night we had taken in more than the whole outfit cost us!
Thanks to Peter McLeod, John Batzel and Joseph Sinatra.
I think this actually happened:
A man came to the [University of Pittsburgh] clinic with a chronic infection in his left ear. He told doctors that other doctors had tried everything: anti-fungal drops, antibiotics, and many other treatments. The Pittsburgh doctors gave him additional antibiotics. The patient came back to the clinic a week later and said he was cured. The clinic doctors told him they were glad they had helped him. He said: “You didn’t. I suffered so much after your drugs I took some earwax from my right ear and put it in my diseased left. In two days I was fine, infection cured.” . . . The good ear contained good bacteria that killed off the bad in the bad ear.
I predict that people will eventually realize that the 2005 Nobel Prize for “ulcers are caused by bacteria” was a big mistake.
Thanks to Mark Griffith.
Thanks to Paul Nash and Adam Clemens.
A new paper in Nature Genetics describes research into the bacteria in ancient teeth plaque. When modern food came along, the bacteria became less diverse. One of the researchers said:
The composition of oral bacteria changed markedly with the introduction of farming, and again around 150 years ago. With the introduction of processed sugar and flour in the Industrial Revolution, we can see a dramatically decreased diversity in our oral bacteria, allowing domination by caries-causing strains.
Whether the decrease in diversity was due to (a) more sugar and flour or (b) less bacteria-laden foods is hard to say.
Again, data suggest we need bacteria to protect us against bacteria. You’d never know this from food safety laws or how freely pediatricians prescribe antibiotics. Again, it is hard to know without more research what caused this or that historical change in health (e.g., more tooth decay when sugar and flour became popular). The obvious answer (e.g., sugar causes tooth decay) might be wrong. If you believe that cavities are caused by too much sugar, the solution is to eat less sugar. What if cavities are caused by not enough bacterial diversity? Then other solutions might work better, such as eating more fermented food.
Thanks to Vic Sarjoo.
Thanks to Amish Mukharji.
A new study has found that fecal transplants work better than antibiotics for clearing up a common and dangerous infection:
Such transplants cured 15 of 16 people who had recurring [= difficult-to-get-rid-of] infections with Clostridium difficile bacteria, whereas antibiotics cured only 3 of 13 and 4 of 13 patients in two comparison groups.
Clostridium difficile infections often result from antibiotic treatment. It is a big step forward for modern medicine to manage to grasp that the bacteria in our bodies protect us from infection. Here is a blog about the value of fecal transplants; here is another blog.
The comments contain many interesting details:
I spent Thanksgiving of 2012 in ICU and almost died from C-Diff. It was a harrowing experience for both me and my family. It required two months of care, recuperation and doses of vancomycin. My hospital bills are outrageous. [Fecal transplants are much cheaper — Seth] I am praying it doesn’t return, having just finished my last dose of vancomycin. I had a dental implant and was on clyndamycin for two weeks and that was the culprit. Dentists should be required to inform patients that C-Diff could be a reaction to that specific antibiotic. I was not warned about this being a possible side effect.
Our mother was hospitalized at a major university hospital and came down with C. diff. The antibiotics they gave her to fight the infection finally destroyed her kidneys and hearing and she decided that life was not worth living in that condition.
We have using this “treatment” for years and years in horses with difficult intestinal issues which didn’t respond to other medications. We pass a slurry of fecal material from a heathy horse ( often mixed with electrolytes and baking soda) directly into the stomach of the sick horse. It works in almost all cases.
After my gut microflora was destroyed by 9 months of antibiotics for Lyme disease, I got C. diff this past June. Was flabbergasted that NONE of my doctors, ALL of whom prescribe antibiotics, ( & hopefully read the NYT or the INTERNET) [knew] about fecal transplants! I ditched my Lyme doctor (who said along with my GI & GP): “Take Flagyll” (which didn’t work) and then Vancomycin. No thanks. Wasn’t going to wait around for the C. diff to corrode my guts or till I was almost dead, so I went right to Dr. Brandt for a transplant and in ONE day the symptoms were gone.
I had recurring c diff for 12 months.Tried a myriad of antibiotics and a colon cleanse.Nothing worked. I was getting sicker and weaker by the day, not to mention very depressed. I was “beyond” desperate. My husband (an internist) performed a fecal transplant (using my brothers stool–close DNA donor) at home (hanging the saline/stool bag from the ceiling fan!) 3+ years ago. I have been healthy ever since.
[A doctor:] This important study . . . is a big step in the right direction, however the study is quite small. [A doctor who doesn’t understand statistics even after it is explained in plain English. The evidence from this “small” study is very strong. In case you didn’t understand the numbers, the article says it in words: “the antibiotic groups were faring so poorly compared with the transplant patients that it was considered unethical to continue”. — Seth] A larger RCT is needed before this becomes standard of care [implying that his or her lack of understanding of statistics is the norm — Seth]. Since no one is currently in position to reap monopoly profits from this treatment, I predict the study will be a long time coming. [Which, if true, implies that doctors’ lack of understanding of statistics will kill a lot of people.–Seth]The majority of cases of C. difficile infection occur in the hospital where they were usually brought on by use of broad-spectrum antibiotics destroying the natural balance of intestinal flora in the gut. A great many people outside the hospital setting walk around healthy colonized by C. difficile without becoming infected. Others become colonized while in the hospital, a virtual surety if you stay long enough. Broad-spectrum antibiotics wipe out bacteria that normally out-compete C. difficile at different niches within the intestinal ecosystem. [In other words, gross overuse of antibiotics has created a new ecosystem — modern hospitals — where C. difficile thrives. — Seth]
After a reaction to an antibiotic caused C Diff which lasted almost a year, was treated with multiple antibiotics of which Vancomycin was the only one that kept it at bay, having had a number of courses without success, meanwhile weight was down 25 lbs and health was deteriorating as in my opinion Vancomycin also presented some problems of its own, teeth browning, lethargy etc. C Diff ruins body and soul. After a lot of research was lucky to have found a doctor who checked out the fecal transplant history/procedure and performed the transplant. The feces donor was my brother having first had blood & feces testing. The transplant was a success, after suffering C Diff for almost a year my quality of life is great – normal.
The [squeamish] tone of this article is enraging. [It begins “The treatment may sound appalling”. The headline calls it “This, er, Option”. — Seth] I contracted ulcerative colitis when I was fifteen, and the squeamishness of my parents and doctors in my small town prevented me from accessing real care. More concerned with being grossed out than dealing with the problem at hand, I was allowed to go a year without receiving proper care. As a result, I ended up with such extreme internal bleeding that I was sent unconscious to the intensive care unit at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, three hours away from home, where a surgeon removed my entire colon. He chided my parents and local doctors for not seeking help from a specialist sooner; had they done so, I would not have been in such dire condition. I spent the next year of my childhood in the hospital. All this is to say: get over feeling grossed out by the human body and consider any possible treatments that might work. If this one does, great. Ditch the whole “ew” reaction because it stands in the way of saving lives.
I was plagued for decades with room-clearing gas and stomach cramps. Yogurt and probiotics didn’t stand a chance against the established bad bugs. Then I went for my first colonoscopy (which gave me a whistle-clean gut.) I was told I could have anything I wanted. First thing, I drank a full quart of organic kefir. I haven’t had a problem since. [Very interesting. Before a colonoscopy, you take something special to clean out your gut.–Seth]
Thanks to Alex Blackwood and Karen Goeders.