A story about obese mice and probiotics
Sometimes, as one explores the world of functional and integrative medicine, one may stop and ask if the mainstream medical establishment is right. Are we so desperate for healing and restoration that we will latch on to any theory or any promise? Should we just treat symptoms and stop looking for root causes?
I have asked myself that question many times.
Some promises are too good to be true.
There are no silver bullets or cure-alls or panaceas. This is true.
However, I keep running across articles from the research world indicating that many things in the “non-conventional medicine” world have more truth to them than they are given credit for.
A story about obese mice and probiotics at Vanderbilt is one of those stories.
In the Summer 2014 edition of my Vanderbilt Alumni magazine (Medical School class of ’99), three paragraphs describe how investigators discovered that manipulating gut bacteria in mice fed the exact same diet could determine which mice became obese and which maintained a “normal” mouse weight. The actual study was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Maybe the 100 trillion (yes, trillion) bacteria that live in our intestines play a larger role in our health and illness than we have realized. We just need to learn how to care for our little gut “pets” so they care for us.
God did make us from the dust of the earth after all.
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.