The importance of a well balanced intestinal flora is becoming clearer in the last decade. A host of disease can be prevented or cured by using targeted floral infusions, or assumption of oral supplements that contain friendly bacteria.
Recently however, the role of intestinal flora in the prevention of bowel tumors is coming into clearer focus. Although most bowel cancer was once thought to be generated by genetically inherited genotypes, it is now becoming evident that diet and exercise and bacterial flora are the major factors in the development of tumors of the intestine.
A series of genetic changes is the beginning, or seed activity, that ultimately results in a tumor. However, the development of the actual tumor can be slowed down or stopped if the proper flora is present. The mutations that occur in damaged cells can be stopped in their tracks if the right balance exists in the gut's bacterial composition.
What is interesting is that 'bad' bacteria can actually cause intestinal tumors. therefore, it is of paramount importance to both identify the good and the bad types, and to supplement those who have imbalances in the gut flora to prevent such tumors.
The importance of bacterial compositions in the gut came to light when scientists studied the reason for the tumor's recurring in specific locations. Certain polyps and tumors tend to appear in certain areas of the gut. The fact that these locations recur with certain type of tumors shows that the genetic factor alone cannot explain their genesis.
The laboratory study on mice was done by the Icahn Shcool of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. In mice, the researchers noticed that the tumors also happened in certain segments of the intestine. That limited portion of the gut, however, is not the only tract with cell abnormalities, but other areas did not go on to develop tumors.
What the researchers found was that if they treated the mice with antibiotics to disrupt the intestinal flora, they also prevented the development of gut tumors in those specific areas. What this research implies, then, is that bacterial flora of a certain type can cross the cellular barrier and penetrate the gut wall, where it then produces inflammation and the premise for tumor generation.
The type of bad bacteria the antibiotics are hampering is still unknown in its spectrum. What need to be done now, is to identify the range and type of bad bacteria that contribute to tumor growth.
One way to diminish bad bacteria is also to augment or revive the balance of bacterial growth in the intestine by supplementing with good bacteria, which then restore the proper, or healthy balance in the intestine.
This is also where the diet/exercise connection could come in. Certain diets promote the growth of bad bacteria by providing both a good medium for their growth, and a bad medium for growth of the good bacteria that keep the intestine healthy.
Source : Science Daily/Rockefeller University Press: 3.4.14
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