Many conventional medical providers still pooh-pooh the use of probiotics for their patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease or other gut disorders. The research which is as profuse as viral diarrhea keeps pouring out that targeting dysfunctional GI pathology with various probiotics can make a difference for those suffering. This latest research from a backwoods academic center called Penn State (this is sarcasm) demonstrates that those researchers in the trenches of cutting-edge science recognize the potential for probiotics to alter the course of patient illness. In this case, a specific strain of Bifidobacterium called BB1 clearly improved the leakiness of intestinal mucosa for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
IBD such as Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis impacted millions of patients with a variety of symptoms. Some of those symptoms arise from the fact that the autoimmune inflammation caused by these diseases increases the leakiness of the intestinal lining separating stool from our blood stream. Normally, the cells lining the gut provide a nice barrier keeping both toxins and bad microbes inside the gut lumen with stool, while preventing those noxious things from getting into our blood stream. When inflammation or other pathologic processes occur, that barrier is disrupted and allows bad stuff to enter and hurt us.
The processes by which these changes occur at the molecular and chemical level are quite complex and still being worked out. We do know that immune chemical messengers like tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and Interleukin 1 beta (IL1β) play a key role in this leakiness induction. In the study, not only did the bacteria Bifidobacterium BB1 lower the leakiness, but objectively lowered the levels of TNF-alpha. Other measurable markers of inflammation were also improved through expected inflammatory and anti-inflammatory pathways that we already knew about.
Those of us in functional medicine who have been using such probiotics are excited that more research is proving what we already do. Full disclosure, however, before any of you started searching for this bacteria on the internet or store shelves. I am not aware of a commercially available BB1 product at this time, so if you find something of the sort, you may just be purchasing another Bifidobacterium strain which may or may not have any effect. Medical science is still evaluating which benefits of probiotics are class effects and which are specific to single strains. Basically, some benefits are the same for multiple strains, while other benefits may be restricted to special strains.
Until we have more details on benefits versus strain specificity, we can be sure that healthier gut microbiomes (the collection of bacteria in your GI tract) make for healthier intestinal linings and thus better barriers whether you have IBD or not. Eating low inflammatory diets with adequate fiber to feed good bacteria in your gut will almost never hurt you. Living healthier, more abundant lives depends on healthier guts. Knowing how to maintain or restore healthier guts depends on research like this and clinicians like at Sanctuary who guide you in your daily choices towards health.
Original Article:
Raz Abdulqadir, Rana Al-Sadi, Mohammad Haque, Yash Gupta, Manmeet Rawat, Thomas Y. Ma. Bifidobacterium bifidum Strain BB1 Inhibits Tumor Necrosis Factor-α–Induced Increase in Intestinal Epithelial Tight Junction Permeability via Toll-Like Receptor-2/Toll-Like Receptor-6 Receptor Complex–Dependent Stimulation of Peroxisome P. The American Journal of Pathology, 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2024.05.012
Thanks To Science Daily:
Elsevier. “A potential pathway may guide new therapies for inflammatory bowel disease and other inflammatory diseases.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 August 2024. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240822125837.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
