Tag Archives: Candida Treatment

Questions & Answers

Why Eating Too Much Fruit Isn’t Good For Your Gut

Some patients I see eat way too much fruit. Some people eat ten pieces of fruit per day. I think that’s far too much.

Eating anything in excess is not good for the body. I’ve always maintained that consuming particular foods is fine, like vegetable consumption or meat consumption, but it should be in balance with other kinds of foods.

I’m not here to argue the different merits of diets, you know, whether you are a vegan or whether you are a paleo person. This article is about the downsides of eating too much fruit.
If you eat excessive amounts of fruit, you’re going to be overloaded with fructose. Fructose consumed in abundance can upset intestinal permeability and encourage the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut.

Some studies have shown that large amounts of fructose can cause liver damage. Further, people who eat far too much fruit tend to have lower Bacteroides levels. At the same time, proteobacteria levels tend to go up.

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The microbiome often reflects the type of food a person east. For example, Prevotella bacteria thrive in the gut when a person eats a lot of fiber, particularly vegetable fiber.

Bacteroides bacteria prefer a mixed kind of a diet, especially if there’s a bit of meat in the diet. A healthy person will have a balance of different classes of bacteria.

If a person starts overeating one particular food, the result can be a bacterial imbalance in the gut. That’s why my motto is “Everything in moderation, nothing in excess” when it comes to healthy foods.

Of course, this motto doesn’t apply to unhealthy foods like high-fructose corn syrup. Up to 60% of foods now in US supermarkets contain high-fructose corn syrup. Avoid that substance as much as you can.

I am in favor of fruit, but I’m definitely not in favor of ten pieces of fruit a day. Definitely not.

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Questions & Answers

High Fat Diets And Your Gut: What You Need To Know

Is a high-fat diet bad for your gut?

That’s an interesting question, and I think this question came in response to a published study from China.

The research put 200 people onto a variety of diets. There was a relatively low-fat diet, with about 20% of the calories from fat. There was an intermediate fat diet with about 30% of calories from fat. Lastly, there was a high-fat diet, with about 40% of calories from fat. The protein and fiber content were the same for each diet. It was just the percentage of fat calories that increased.

What they found was very interesting. After some time, stool and blood samples were taken from all study participants.

The results should that for mainly people ages 18-35, the bowel flora differed based on diet. Subjects eating more fat had higher levels of Bacteroides, a bacteria associated with fat and meat consumption. Thes same subjects had lower levels of Bifidobacteria and Blautia. Long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) were higher in the bowels of people eating higher fat diets. LCFA are byproducts of fermentation in the bowel. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are good for the bowel, but LCFAs can be problematic.

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LCFA can lead to more inflammation and conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
In this study, the predominant source of fat was soybean oil. Keep in mind that soybean oil isn’t a great oil to include in your diet.

In other words, this study did not use healthy fats from salmon, avocado, nuts, or seeds. (Although, keep in mind that not all seed oils are good).

Because the fat provided in this study wasn’t monounsaturated from what I can gather, and the possibility of deep-fried foods being ingested, these factors may explain some of the findings.
In other words, don’t automatically assume that a high-fat diet is going to create a big problem. It depends on how much fat you’re eating in relation to protein, carbs, and fiber. It also depends on the type of fat you are eating. And, of course, lifestyle factors like alcohol intake, stress, and physical activity will influence your gut flora.

I wouldn’t assume that a high-fat diet is bad for you based on this study. But, if you’re eating the wrong kinds of fat, you could run into problems. Deep-fried chicken nuggets and French fries aren’t going to help your gut any.

Monounsaturated fats like olive oil and foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids (e.g., salmon) are going to be way better for your gut than these saturated fats.
What I take from this study is that take-away food made with low-quality fats is bad for your gut.

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Questions & Answers

What You Can Do If You Have Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a bacteria that lives in the gut.

Some people can get a very serious C. diff infection after using antibiotics such as clindamycin. In one study, clindamycin was shown to wipe the gut almost entirely for two years. One dose.

Most cases of C. diff occur in hospital. One of the biggest causes of this infection is antibiotic use.

Conventional medical websites will say that the cause of C. diff is antibiotics and the cure is antibiotics.

To me, that’s like saying, “Watch out for handguns. They kill people.

By the way, if you carry a handgun, it’ll help you not get killed.”

If you’ve got a clostridium difficile infection, the concern is that you’ve got a 20% chance or recurrent C. diff infections.

If you have C. diff, my recommendation is to get a comprehensive stool analysis. The stool test will tell you if you also have problems with yeast, parasites, or other harmful bacteria. It will also indicate your levels of beneficial bacteria.

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I highly recommend you use a proper lab like Genova Diagnostics or Doctor’s Data for your stool test.

Some people recover quite quickly from C.diff. For others, it becomes a chronic infection. Some will have relapses and recurrences. Unfortunately, some people have a very poor recovery from C. diff.

Fecal microbial transplants are recommended in some cases. Some people have to be hospitalized and have surgery for C. diff.

As far as diet goes, if you have C. diff, you should avoid aggravating foods.

To keep a long story short, with C. diff, it’s definitely an advantage to be alcohol, coffee, and caffeine-free for at least three to six months.

I would recommend including steamed vegetables and other easy to eat foods in your diet. You’ll have to monitor what does and does not agree with your GI system. For example, some people with C. diff have quite bad diarrhea and abdominal pain when eating salads. Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar may also be poorly tolerated on the presence of C. diff.

Yogurt is often fine, but be cautious with kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

For protein, emphasize lean protein without too much fat. Fish and eggs are usually perfectly fine.

Proceed with caution when it comes to fruit. I don’t think bananas or oranges are great foods for people with gut problems. I think the same about white bread.

Drinking water is essential because C. diff causes diarrhea.

As far as supplements go, grapefruit seed extract works quite well for C. diff.

Try not to take antibiotics if you want to prevent clostridium difficile infection, especially if you’re older. I suggest avoiding antibiotics unless it’s a matter of life and death.

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Questions & Answers

Sleep And Gut Flora: What’s The Connection?

Recent research conducted on mice has demonstrated a significant effect on gut flora in response to sleep deprivation. The impact was particularly strong with circadian rhythm disruption, which would be similar to shift work.

In the same study, intestinal permeability increased in response to sleep deprivation. The take-home message is that if you want a healthy bowel flora, you need to have a good sleep.
Sleep, or the lack thereof, is linked with several different health problems. So, it’s no surprise that sleep deprivation has also been linked to alterations in the gut flora and intestinal permeability.

My recommendation for people who do shift work is always, try and get out of that crazy situation. If you can’t avoid doing shift work, you find a way to ensure that you get sufficient sleep on a daily basis.

Further readings:

For those people working irregular hours for the long-term, I recommend having periodic stool analyses. The stool tests will document changes to gut flora over time.
Genova diagnostic offers a good stool test, which shows all the different types of classes of gut bacteria.

The answer to the question of whether sleep deprivation has an effect on the gut micro biodynamic is a resounding, “Yes!”.

No doubt, over time, there will be even more studies that validate this finding. Hopefully, research will be able to tell us which strains of bacteria are being affected and the subsequent impact on human health.

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Questions & Answers

How Your Gut Flora Can Improve Your Health

The Gut Health World Summit is a conference that highlights the latest in microbiota research.
This conference always highlights interesting findings. One of the recent presentations was about a new glycoprotein called P-glycoprotein.

P-glycoprotein helps stop the infiltration of neutrophils (white blood cells) into the gut. Certain antibiotics destroy the bacteria that produce glycoprotein, opening the door for increased gut inflammation.

This is an example of the research that validates my concerns about antibiotic use. I suspect that research like this will help experts design antibiotics that are better than the loose cannons that are currently available. We need to get a lot better at placing antibiotics exactly where they need to be, so they cause minimal collateral damage to beneficial bacteria.

Further readings:

Other interesting research from this conference focused on the gut health of mice. When mice are given prebiotics, it stops their gut from being damaged by radiation exposure. Mice given prebiotics had better bowel flora and suffered a lot less damage than mice who not given prebiotics. This research again demonstrates how important it is to have good numbers of beneficial gut flora.

It’s essential to keep an eye on the research about gut flora as it helps inform decisions about diet, supplements, and lifestyle choices that are gut-healthy.

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