THE BIOME BUZZ
BUGS AND WORMS AND OTHER GREAT STUFF
Category: Human Biome
Microbiome Testing and Personalized Nutrition: My Experience with Thryve
Many of you may remember that early this year, I did a little survey to find out what topics in particular you might be interested in hearing more about. One of the top requests was to hear more about companies doing microbiome testing. I…
Antibiotics Early in Life: More on Their Detrimental Effects
Because I know how to have a good time, I spent a lot of time yesterday reading incredibly depressing articles, one after another, about the gut: paper after paper about the differences in the gut microbiota of those on the autism spectrum, subsequent differences…
Glyphosate, Gut Bugs and Autism
A controversy I have been following: what do we REALLY know about glyphosate (the chemical found in the herbicide, Roundup) and its effects on health. As you all know, I like to look at the actual science, not the sensationalist media headlines. Back last…
Two New Papers on Parkinson’s: More Connections to the Microbiome
Two new Parkinson’s disease (PD) studies to report to you, both on the involvement of the gut bacteria. (It amazes me how rapidly the research on this seems to be progressing.) The first was published in the Annals of Neurology by German researchers.[i] They…
Your Gut Bacteria…or Who’s Your Daddy?
Yet another topic of particular interest to me (yes, I know…I am interested in pretty much everything!) is the gut-brain axis. I’m always looking for the latest on how one affects the other, as I reckon that this line of research is eventually going…
Propionic Acid and Autism: A Mechanistic Study
Many times now, I have written about propionic acid (PPA) and its likely role in causing autism (here and here, to give you just a couple of many examples). In fact, one of the earliest posts on this blog was an introduction to you…
Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes: Helminths May Hold the Answers
I found a bunch of new research on helminths and will, over the next month or so, make my way through the papers. I wanted to share first an article just published by researchers in Australia (where some of the best hookworm (Necator americanus)…
Don’t Worry, Be Happy…You’ll Make Your Gut Biome Happy Too!
University of Texas Southwestern scientists looked at how serotonin – one of the “feel good” hormones (90% of which is actually produced in the gastrointestinal tract) – can reduce fatal intestinal infections.[i] As serotonin is such a major player in the GI system, it…
The Bacterial Microbiome and Vascular Brain Disease
A big leap ahead for science this week: for the first time ever, scientists from a variety of major universities (University of Chicago, the University of California San Diego, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia/University of Pennsylvania, etc.) have directly connected specific alterations in gut bacteria…
Inflammation, Ketones and the Microbiome
Last week, an interesting biome story came out about research out of the University of California, San Francisco, in which scientists looked at the specific microbiome effects of a ketogenic diet.[i] As many of you may know, this diet – very low in carbohydrates…
