Dr. Dan Sperling:At the time when I was born, not even the majority of people knew about the microbiome, but today, it appears that the word is used in the mass media almost every day. It refers to the group of small living organisms (microorganisms or microbes) like bacteria, fungi, viruses etc. usually found in a living body. The fact is all living things such as plants and animals are a kind of living environment to these organisms that are so tiny that it is necessary to use a microscope to unveil them.
It is nice to keep them within our bodies. Our relationship is a mutually beneficial partnership. The host provides a favorable environment and life sustaining resources and we can sustain our own wellness with the action of the microorganisms. One of the microbiomes of interest currently is the gut microbiome. The human gut carries an extremely crude calculation of 100 trillion microorganisms! These animals are so active like bees in a hive that assists in various functions inside the body. They start to enter our bodies after our birth.
As proof, you probably heard the suggestion to eat yogurt in order to be healthy in digestion. It is because yogurt is full of bacteria that aid in digestion. These organisms come in the form of bacteria culture (cultured) in a laboratory, and are fortified into milk. They convert the sugar in milk (which is known as lactose) to ferment the milk that results in the thickening of the milk and this makes the milk flavor sour. Of course, you would take cultured yogurt and when they are still in existence, the varieties are known to be healthy. Thus, one of the sources of a healthier ratio of the gut biome can be yogurt.
The gut biome and your health
One of the ways through which your gut microbiome helps your well being is as follows:
It helps your body to produce the needed nutrients; minerals and vitamins.
It helps in the breakdown of the complex foodstuffs so that your body is in a position to absorb them and use them as energy.
It assists in increasing your immune system, not only by preventing bad microbes but also by leading to tolerance towards good microbes.
Thus, trillions of tiny organisms are your wellbeing partners and they live in your bowels.
On the other hand, we are learning more about problems that can occur when the gut biome is disproportionate and has no power to fulfill its half of the bargain. This is known as dysbiosis and the various possible disease states are the following:
Continuous malfunctioning of the digestive system (irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulitis, Crohn disease, inflammation, diarrhea etc.).
New studies are implicating dysbiosis in the cause of Parkinson disease and other disorders of the brain conditions.
As mentioned in an article published in the journal Frontiers of Microbiology in 2022, it has been reported that disruption of microbiomes has been associated with various forms of diseases including: anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart diseases, obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer.
What about cancer?
As a doctor majoring in prostate cancer, I am always interested in new research concerning how prostate cancer or any kind of cancer can develop, and preventive measures that can be undertaken to lower prostate cancer or cancer risk. I also came to know that an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association/JAMA as normally known has been published recently. The title of the article, The Microbiome and Cancer, by three authors of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, appealed to me because of three reasons.
The text presented in the authors states that microbes that were found in the gut and other regions of the body at the time of the body might have led to the growth and further advancement of cancer and might also react to adverse impacts of cancer therapy. This means that the gut biome can be attributed to the development of cancer but it can also contribute largely to the success of cancer treatments in that it makes sure that any reaction to them occurs.
Gut Health, Immunotherapy and Antibiotics.
Among the clues which they provide to establish the relationship between the gut bacteria and cancer is that in the days before the cancer patients receive immunotherapy they are put on broad spectrum antibiotics to ensure that they are not infected in the process of receiving the treatment. On the one hand, however, since bad bacteria are also destroyed by antibiotics, this means that the good bacteria are also destroyed and therefore its gut flora is injured. The apparent effect is that the immunotherapy will be capable of shrinking the size of the cancer tumours but the patients will have more side effects and generally less survival owing to other diseases.
That is not good but on the other side there is something that can be encouraging. The methods of increasing the healthy balance of the gut biome can be increased by means, some of which are medical, whereas the simplest is diet and nutrition since it is universal. According to such authors, gut biome recovery with the help of the specified measures such as dietary intervention (egg, high-fiber diet intervention) has proved to be effective in small-scale research in the context of cancer immunotherapy in patients.
Eating, Preventive and Proactive Health.
In such a manner, the microbiome could be a friend or a foe. This in my case raises the question of how to build and sustain the most healthy gut microbiome possible. I used the information given by a reputed Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. They also conclude it as follows: You can enrich your microbiota with a healthy diet. This includes taking large quantities of fruits, vegetables, and fibers in the diet. Fiber aids in the growth of many useful species within the intestine. This is confirming the message I am trying to convey to all the people including my prostate cancer patients that a whole foods/ plant forward diet is worthwhile. These diets like the Mediterranean diet and others are rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and vegetable fats like olive oil; they contain little animal protein but encourage that the food should replace red meat and processed meat with poultry meat and fish.
Incorporating my own experience working with prostate cancer as the foundation, I would add one thing to the world and that is the following: eat and be well and make your gut biome work in your favor! Host yourself; be aware that microbes in your gut can help to prevent cancer and other diseases.
Conclusion
The gut microbiome is both the potential companion and the risk factor in the development and treatment of cancer. People can decrease the possibility of cancer by enhancing the formation of a healthy gut owing to highly nutritional diets that are rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and fiber to boost the effectiveness of therapies. Whereas additional research is needed to understand the complex relationship between gut bacteria and cancer in totality, a healthy gut is a preventive measure that may aid in enhancing overall health, and may prevent and cure cancer.
Note:It is necessary to mention that this information is merely informational and cannot be substituted with a diagnostic or medical opinion. Speak with your physician about health concerns, issues that you may have that are personal medical in nature.
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