Tag Archives: Dientamoeba fragilis

Questions & Answers

What You Should Know About Garlic and Your Gut

Let’s talk about garlic and bacteria.

Many websites are good at bashing garlic, and saying that it indiscriminately kills good and bad bacteria. They suggest avoiding garlic in your diet. Some sites claim that garlic is too pungent and contains chemicals that have an overly powerful effect on the body. A lot of these websites are Ayurvedic websites that don’t like onions or garlic in the diet in general. But, there are generally no scientific links to support the negative opinions of garlic.

Instead, some studies demonstrate garlic having beneficial properties when it comes to GI health. Garlic has not been shown to destroy beneficial gut bacteria. It turns out that various strains of Lactobacillus are resistant to fresh, raw garlic. There is also evidence from studies that garlic is a prebiotic.

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Of course, everything in moderation. If you eat a pound of raw garlic daily, you’re going to wipe everything out, including your relationships. No one is going to come near you. But, if you eat one or two cloves of garlic per day mixed into your food, you’ll be fine.

Garlic can help keep the blood thin, regulate blood pressure, and increase resistance to viruses in the blood. It’s a superb food but should be used carefully.

It’s not uncommon to read studies that completely contradict each other. When it comes to garlic, I think it helps to look at how it was used for hundreds of years by many different populations. It was used so extensively because of the benefits it generated. This is one of the reasons garlic is still around today.

In my opinion, science has validated garlic as a superfood in terms of its positive effects on the body. I put garlic in the same category as fresh salmon, avocados, blueberries, black currents, and 90% dark chocolate. Regularly consuming small amounts of these superfoods will have a profound effect on your health. Eaten in moderation, I have no concerns about garlic killing beneficial gut bacteria.

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Questions & Answers

What You Need To Know About Dientamoeba Fragilis And Blastocystis Hominis

Parasites are one of my favorite topics. I think it’s worth knowing something about both Dientamoeba fragilis and Blastocystis hominis.

Blastocystis is very common. With air travel being so cheap, it’s probably one of the most common parasites in the Western world. Up to 23% of people in the USA have got Blastocystis.
Where does the “hominis” part come from? Several years ago, it was discovered that this protozoan was found a lot in humans, hence the term “hominis.”

However, since that time, they found similar Blastocystis in the intestines of snacks, amphibians, rats, and gorillas. All sorts of creatures can have Blastocystis. In fact, there are over ten RNA variants of Blastocystis.

One of the reasons Blasto is so hard to treat effectively is because of the number of strains. Interestingly, in some people, Blasto causes significant problems, and in others, it’s basically benign. In other words, some people who are infected by Blasto, don’t get sick at all, others get mildly ill, and others get quite sick. People who are immunocompromised are the most likely to be severely impacted by Blasto.

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That’s why if you have an impaired immune system, it’s not a great idea to handle animals or travel widely. You also need to be much more careful with handwashing because the main route of Blastocystis transmission is fecal-oral.

There is a high chance that you have Blasto if you have irritable bowel syndrome that you can’t shake. The possibility of a Blastocystis infection is one of the main reasons I so strongly recommend having a comprehensive stool analysis.

As for Dientamoeba fragilis, note the word “fragilis” on the end, which refers to the organism’s inability to last very long outside of the body. Dientamoeba dies very quickly, which is one reason I find it much easier to treat than Blasto. Dientamoeba is also linked to irritable bowel syndrome, but it is nowhere near as prevalent as Blastocystis.

Dientamoeba tends to be more common in affluent communities for some reason. It also impacts younger people most commonly, particularly those under the age of 8.

I have seen Dientamoeba in adults, and nearly every time, it disappears in four to six weeks while the Blasto persists.

In both cases, you don’t have to fear these parasites. Improve your health and gut, and over time, your parasite levels should drop.

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