Awry gut microbiota thwarts dietary measures in ulcerative colitis

Great article Mike. I know there are numerous things that destroy our good bacteria and promote better living accommodation for our "bad hosts" but in my case my UC symptoms developed after a very high protein/high fat diet with few carbs plus a ton of emotional stress. I also took a short course of antibiotics for a chest infection, which may just have put me over the edge.

I do think there's a lot of mileage in the Briggs protocol - 1. Control inflammation, 2. Do the necessary to starve out the bad, bring in lots of the good, 3. Some preventative medicine to keep things ticking over. Plus we have reports from people who did well of FMT but often with very specific protocols (like using Wellbutrin, the potent anti-TNF before, during and after). Perhaps one of the reasons results vary is that the conditions in the colon mean that some people are dealing with pathogens that are much more stubborn, such as MAP, which can hide in layers even deeper than the mucosa. In all likelihood it's one of the biggest factors keeping IBD active. I hope that creating more favourable conditions in the gut would be enough to eventually kill them off but in some cases, perhaps the triple antibiotic and antimicrobial therapy would also be necessary.

I also like this video http://keybiotics.com/main_video.php even though it's more a promo for their supplement. I think permanent mucosal wall repair is very possible, which would mean an effective cure for all kinds of IBD. IBD treatments are expected to be worth $6bn dollars by 2025 though so sadly most of the research money doesn't go where it ought to. It tends to go on new types of anti-inflammatories and TNF-inhibitors, which never cure the patient. I think if someone wrote Barody a blank cheque, we'd be an awful lot closer by now!

Kev

Old Mike said...
Well well well,our gut bacteria at it again.One possible reason we cant recover easily.
I also suspect that UC might be easier to control early on before major dysbiosis.
Old Mike
http://www.gihealthfoundation.org/reuters/article.cfm?article=20140811clin1312232337&cat=clin&dstate=GI


here is the actual abstract don't have full paper
http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2014/07/18/gutjnl-2014-307198

Kevin:
Were you one of the people who had the strong smelling sulfur farts that could clear a room.
If so SRB's sulfate reducing bacteria got out of control with all the protein in the diet.
Old Mike

Mike:
Yep, that was me! I noticed VERY gradually a change in bowel habits and frankly, the sour farts, but the lads at the gym said it was to be expected with all the food I was putting in.

Thanks for the info, was led to this article by a Google search, which has a few ideas I might put into practice...
http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Fermentation_in_the_gut_and_CFS

Hey OM to comments:

One, I like Imagardner's comment. I would throw in that it seems like yet another paper that shows once again that the lack in Clostridium strains are important. Without these the fiber isn't broken down into SCFA's and such.

Two: I was going to post on the sulfur fart thing: The problem I have come across is that there's a bazillion body builders that don't have UC, yet they have the worst smelling sulfur farts on the planet. Go to a mr. Olympia competition and you probably have to walk around with a gas mask, haha. They all discuss this in detail. Yet none of them have UC or Crohn's. So this throws a big kink in the thought or contribution to IBD.

Goggle "protein farts" and you'll start to get the picture.

Reason I mention this I over the last few days I made a change and had clear the room protein farts so bad my cat left and went to sit by the window.... haha. No joke, they were awful. And for hours at a time.

I thought it was because it was the lactose from the protein powder I recently tried, so I switched to another isolate (pretty much lactose free) type - same result, then just today I tried what I have always used and so far no problems but will know a little later on tonight.

Anyway, there's something up with this - a specific protein and not lactose that in my case (and I suspect many others) is causing the problem. I'm just trying to isolate it via torturing myself switching things back and forth.

In the interim even though I had nasty, clear the room, killer sulfur farts I really had perfect poop. No mucus, no D and no inflammation. This surprised me.

Is it a contradiction to cite Briggs paper and the recommended healing of mucosa with fiber and resistant starch when this paper seems to clearly state that supplementation of fiber and RS yielded no marked change in UC patients? Or is it implied that this only applies to Uc patients *while flaring*?

@Kevin Watson- the TNF blocking action of wellbutrin is not terribly clear cut. The few studies that show it, as OM pointed out, aren't great studies, and "profoundly" is not generally used in scientific papers. Usually "statistically" is how changes are denoted… Im just saying I dont know what "profoundly" lowered TNF means there, and the jury is still out on whether it really blocks TNF. I recently got on 150 mg of wellbutrin, and can't say its doing much… Im also recently on remi which seems to be helping though not breakneck speed.

I did ask my GI about the wellbutrin thing, and he sort of dismissed/acknowledged it at the same time, saying they don't really know the mechanism by which it blocks TNF alpha, but that it apparently has some activity. Id love to hear what others GIs say when pressed about this.

I also asked my GI about bacteria testing, citing the known differences between UC and normal people. He really had no interest there, which seems pretty odd to me. If they can quantify that there are notable differences between UC and healthy patients floras, why not use that as a starting point for therapy/research?

I was under the impression that the ones we are really deficient in are very hard to culture in probiotics, I even phoned a close by maker and they didnt carry any of the ones I asked about.