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Bacteria balance in the gut

Location
China
I've been wondering how exactly can crohn's patients rebalance gut flora. It's been reported that people with IBD in general have much reduced diversity of gut bacteria, so can we restore the balance only by eating a wide range of healthy foods? If, for example, 20% of the species in my gut have completely died out, I don't think eating healthy would bring them back alive, or are there many "good" bacteria living in plants that when we eat them, it gets introduced back to our intestines? what do you think?
 
Welcome. It has always been told to me to take probiotics to balance the good bacteria with the bad bacteria in your gut.
 

cmack

Moderator
Staff member
My Doctor told me the same thing. Most foods don't add any new probiotics, but there are some veggies that do sauerkraut is one. I take VSL#3 probiotics at the advice of my same doctor, made a big difference for me. :ysmile:
That is what my doctor prescribed for me.
 
Location
China
Restoring a favorable balance of gut bacteria is what the whole FMT line of research and treatment is about. See this other thread: http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=52400
I feel like this microbial imbalance contributes more to CD, UC(IBD in generel) than abnormal immune response. I think we have normal immune system just like everybody else(it is said in China CD has increased over 1500% in the last decade), but overtime some of us develop certain kind of microbial pattern which leads to CD, others develop a slightly different imbalance pattern which leads to UC, etc. So could it be possible that whether it's probiotics or yogurt, sauerkraut etc are not enough in helping our gut reach that specific pattern to heal completely?

I mentioned "breast milk" in my first post the same reason as to what fecal transplant could potentially achieve: introduce hundreds of strains back into our body, although it doesn't seem like many people had tried it.

Also, found this "https://www.mpg.de/5932942/bacterial_community_plant_root" that says plants basically can choose favorable bacteria from the soil to help with their survival, do we take them in when we eat the plants?? I hope so.
 
Ibeleive in the whole microbial imbalance theory my diet was horrible in my late teens early adult hood I believe this contributed to my severe crohn's
 
Big issue and great points. There's a lot of important research that's just come out in the last couple of years, but there's still many unknowns. The role of butyrate in helping to restore gut microbiome is becoming more and more appreciated. Other short chain fatty acids like acetic acids and proprionitic acid are also believed to play a healing role. Some very specific probiotic strains have been studied.

A good primer which has a section on the subject can be found here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4670985/
 
The bacteria in your gut can be one of your strongest allies in getting healthy…or it can be one of your worst enemies. Most people don’t realize it, but what they eat and how they live are changing the makeup of their gut bacteria.
 
I've always eaten home cooked food made from scratch. I lived in the country, and drank well water. I got Crohn's anyway. I've been reading about our antiseptic modern society, and maybe we kill off all the good bacteria in our bodies and our homes. They've done studies on primitive tribes, and they have way more gut bacteria than we do.
 
Location
China
I've always eaten home cooked food made from scratch. I lived in the country, and drank well water. I got Crohn's anyway. I've been reading about our antiseptic modern society, and maybe we kill off all the good bacteria in our bodies and our homes. They've done studies on primitive tribes, and they have way more gut bacteria than we do.
Interesting, what kind of foods do you consume most often? and what do you think are the reasons for your condition besides personal hygiene? I also grow up in a very clean home environment, but still, so does almost everyone else.

I googled the african tribe study, it does say they have drastically different microbial makeup compared to modern human, maybe we need to be "in touch" with nature, literally.
 
I was raised on the Scandinavian diet. Grains, veg, dairy, berries. Very little meat. I've been vegetarian for a few years, and trying to go vegan, but it's not working out too well.
From what I've read, antibacterial chemicals are in a lot of products, and they enter the blood stream on contact. So they could be destroying the good bacteria along with the bad. I haven't found any major studies on it though.
 
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