Article on gut ecology and possible disease treatment

Interesting read.  The thought is that the human genome is only part of the picture and to study how we metabolize or rather the chemical byproducts and relating it to various diseases.  So gut bacteria no doubt is the big factor in the process in its relation to particular persons and there is some mention of IBD and probiotic effects.  We'll see what becomes of this.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=jeremy-nicholsons-gut-instincts

On a similar note, I finally read the paper on fecal flora and UC.  Wow.  I would like to pursue this.  Only six people in the study, but all got better and years later all were in complete remission and begging the question of "is this, dare we say, a cure?" (i.e. no sign of UC, though some had scar remains, others not). There might be particular probiotics, and varieties of them that are so far only found in other "healthy" humans. Seems fairly safe if the proper precautions are taken.

There were some posts a while back on the Human Probiotic Infusion (try a search... might also be under fecal flora bacteriotherapy) and I don't recall anyone trying it first hand.  To be less gross might require isolating which strains are needed and growing their numbers to be taken in a capsule or something.  Maybe some day this will happen.  This method has shown effective with C. Difficle primarily and usually people get the infusion from a member of their family. I might try it someday and even had it suggested by my GI.  He recently stopped taking my insurance group, so I'll have to see if there is some work around to see him and see if he is still interested.  I didn't see any importance of this therapy if we are taking probiotics, but the particular types of probiotics not yet characterized and found in healthy individuals may be the answer, or at least part of the equation.  I suppose I'll do more research on the matter.

The article I posted isn't exactly the same as the above, to be clear, but it does seem inline with the other.  It also highlights the importance of genetics and the body's response to the environment, including various microbe activity.