If you have kept up with my “microbes in the news” posts, you’ll probably notice a theme at this point. I’m very interested in the gut microbiome. I think this is largely just because I’m a health geek and strive to fuel my body as efficiently as possible. But with that said, also how junk food and preservatives affect the gut biome, because trust me, I still get my fair share.
“UH Maui College research finds that food preservatives kill beneficial bacteria found in humans” UHM Nov 2017
Summary:
The study began out of interest for the increased number of those with food allergies, obesity, and metabolic disorders. Trying to understand what in our environment is causing this was the driver for the study. The article talks about how there is a correlation between gut microbe disturbance and consumption of common preservatives. The study showed that the gut microbes are killed or inhibited after inoculated with common preservatives in the same concentration regarded as safe by the FDA.
Connections: This is exactly what we learned about when talking of the human microbiome.
Critical analysis: Being that this study came from a university, I feel it is fairly dependable. This article seems to have been published before the publication of a primary literature paper, but otherwise interesting to know the correlations. I also feel the article did a good job of giving the information to the public, as it did not draw any conclusions.
Question: Can we expect to gut microbes to evolve to process preservatives?
1 Comment for “Gut microbiome and preservatives”
sjpershing
says:This is a really interesting article. I also feel that it is a very dependable because it was done through a university. I found it really interesting to note though that they have a picture of a woman working under the hood in a lab, but one of her hands does not have a glove on. As someone who works in a lab with a hood, I internally grimaced. Otherwise, I think that that this was a really good article which had some interesting ideas about the gut microbiome.