Category: Defeating Asthma Series

Posted on

Can we replace missing microbes? – Rodney Dietert Ph.D.

Defeating Asthma Series uncovers New Hope for Asthma Managementant

In this fourth in a series of interviews with Rodney Dietert, PhD Cornell University Professor Emeritus, Health Scientist Head of Translational Science + Education for SEED and the Author of the Human Super-Organism How the Microbiome is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life we learn about:

* Replacing replacing missing microbes

World Asthma Foundation: Dr. Dietert can we replace missing microbes?

Dr. Dietert: There are products available and we have used a product that is a missing skin microbe. It’s very important in certain metabolic pathways that actually help provide health benefits that are beyond the skin.

Video: Can we replace missing microbes? – Rodney Dietert Ph.D.

That was one that basically was recovered in a very interesting way that involved essentially marriages between some indigenous people and others that were westernized and the microbe being able to not necessarily be removed from a remote location but being able to be a part of what we would call genetically an F1.

There are opportunities to retrieve some missing microbes. I think Dr. Blaser and his wife have done incredible work by the way as well, very much attuned and will have a lot to offer on what’s missing and where is it and can it be retrieved. I think the answer is yes. There are commercial products and we’ve actually used some of them that are the missing microbes.

It’s important to recognize that some of the indigenous peoples that have not had the same environmental experiences that we’ve had, and the same contact with modernization have microbes that are exceptionally important for health are helping prevent obesity and asthma and diabetes in those populations. Those microbes are really the protectors.

Yes, I think that reintroducing those to the extent it is possible is an extremely worthwhile effort.

I would point out that it’s a fragile situation because I think from Dr. Blaser and his wife’s work, you will learn that the indigenous populations in South America if they go into the urban areas, if their children go into the urban areas, start adopting the diet and lifestyle there, it takes no time at all for them to acquire the same set of diseases that we see so prevalent here.

World Asthma Foundation: With that, Dr. Dietert, we certainly thank you for your time, all that you do for the microbiome and the community. Good afternoon, and thanks again.

Dr. Dietert: Well, and thank you for all you do with the World Asthma foundation, Bill. Pleasure.

Posted on

Can we test for whats in the Microbiome? – Justin L. Sonnenburg PhD

Defeating Asthma Series uncovers New Hope for Asthma Management

In this interview with Justin L. Sonnenburg PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University, we learn about:

* Testing for Microbes within the Microbiome

* That we’re in the early stages of our understanding of the Microbiome

* Research that still needs to be done

Our understanding of Asthma and the way we treat it may soon be radically different from what currently exists, due to new research on the human microbiome and how the microbiome affects asthma.

“Diseases largely driven by inflammation and an altered immune system. If we start to take our gut microbiota into account, as we live our life, as we make medical decisions, eat different foods and potentially even eventually reintroduce some of these lost microbes, how profound can the impact be on our health?” Justin L. Sonnenburg Ph.D

Interview

World Asthma Foundation:  Dr. Sonnenburg, can we test for what’s in the microbiome?

Video Interview Can we test for whats in the Microbiome? – Justin L. Sonnenburg PhD

Dr. Justin L. Sonnenburg: On an individual level, there are companies that offer testing for the different species to give you the composition of what’s in your microbiome. I can’t speak to the validity of any of these companies, but there are commercial entities out there that will provide a profile for individuals.

World Asthma Foundation:  Thanks. Do you know if it’s specific? For example, research reflects that Bifidobacterium breve and Lactobacillus specifically have been targeted. I’m not a hundred percent sure if it’s inflammation or infection or both, it seems to be successful. The question is, can we test for those specific bacteria?

Dr. Justin L. Sonnenburg: There are targeted tests out there for specific bacteria that where we think given the species may be of interest. Of course, this is most famous for infectious agents. If you want to go in and see if you have Clostridium difficile or salmonella or something like that, there are specific targeted tests. These are less common for the good guys in our gut. I think part of the reason is we still don’t have a great understanding of what the good guys are.

There are studies out there that indicate certain associated with health States are associated with being able to fight off specific problems.

In general, quite often what’s found for one population when surveyed in an independent population doesn’t necessarily hold up.

There’s just extreme variability in the gut microbiome. I think as much as we know about the field is still how fundamental this community is to our health, we’re still at a really early stage of understanding what is healthy and also coming to grips with the fact that there is no single definition of healthy, that healthy really depends on the individual, the context, and many other factors.

World Asthma Foundation: It’s a complex issue and relatively emerging, right?

Dr. Justin L. Sonnenburg:  Exactly. A lot of research still needs to be done.

World Asthma Foundation: Thank you everything that you do on a daily basis for the gut microbiome, certainly for your teachings and your writings and for your time today. Appreciate it.

Dr. Justin L. Sonnenburg: Wonderful being with you. Thanks so much.

Posted on

Microbes and Inflammatory Disease Justin L. Sonnenburg PhD

Defeating Asthma Series uncovers New Hope for Asthma Management

In this interview with Justin L. Sonnenburg PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University, we learn diseases largely driven by inflammation and an altered immune system may benefit from taking our microbiome into account.

Our understanding of Asthma and the way we treat it may soon be radically different from what currently exists, due to new research on the human microbiome and how the microbiome affects asthma.

“Diseases largely driven by inflammation and an altered immune system. If we start to take our gut microbiota into account, as we live our life, as we make medical decisions, eat different foods and potentially even eventually reintroduce some of these lost microbes, how profound can the impact be on our health?” Justin L. Sonnenburg Ph.D

Interview

World Asthma Foundation: Can you talk about the link between microbes and Western inflammatory diseases? We know there are billions of microbes good and bad in our body and research links some to wellness and some to disease. The big question is can we test for whether we are populated with these microbes or not?

Video: Microbes and Inflammatory Disease Justin L. Sonnenburg PhD

Dr. Justin L. Sonnenburg:  On a population level, it’s very clear that some of the microbes that have been associated with humans over the course of our evolution for probably hundreds of thousands of years.

The reason that we know that is if we go to different traditional populations like Hunter-gatherers in different parts of the planet, like Africa, South America, Papua new Guinea all over the place.

We see microbes associated with these populations and many of these populations are completely healthy except for maybe increased incidents of infectious disease. They certainly don’t have many chronic inflammatory diseases.

These microbes are present in all of these populations but missing from industrialized populations were incredibly rare or reduced abundance. At a population level, we can see that for instance, all Americans are missing specific groups of bacteria that we know were- we harbored for hundreds of thousands of years as we migrated around the planets in our past around the planet to different parts of the world.

On an individual level, there still is a lot of variability. The microbiome is highly individualized. That means some people’s microbiome appears to be more westernized, maybe more deteriorated, maybe more lower diversity.

Quite often that more deteriorated state of the gut microbiome is associated with chronic diseases, with obesity, with metabolic syndrome and things like that. On an individual level, there are companies that offer testing for the different species to give you the composition of what’s in your microbiome.

I can’t speak to the validity of any of these companies, but there are commercial entities out there that will provide a profile for individuals.

World Asthma Foundation: Thank you everything that you do on a daily basis for the gut microbiome, certainly for your teachings and your writings and for your time today. Appreciate it.

Dr. Justin L. Sonnenburg: Wonderful being with you. Thanks so much.

Posted on

Missing Microbes and Asthma Link Say Multiple Studies – Martin J Blaser MD

Defeating Asthma Series uncovers New Hope for Asthma Management

In this third interview with Martin J Blaser MD, Director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and the Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome and Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey and the Author of the “Missing Microbes – How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.” we learn:

  • About the H. pylori and Asthma connection
  • Additional reserach looking into the connection between H. pylori and Asthma
  • Whether the Microbes can reintroduced
Video: Missing Microbes and Asthma Link Say Multiple Studies – Martin J Blaser MD

Asthma Foundation: Dr. Blaser, we’ve talked about the asthma connection and the H. pylori topic. Can you identify these missing microbes also with tests? 

Dr. Blaser: Yes. The paper with Jakob Stokholm in Nature Communications looked at this– We saw that there was a difference in the microbiome in the kids that were one year old. That was the age at which their microbiome made a difference, whether they’d have a risk of asthma or not. Then we asked, “Okay, what’s the difference in the specific microbes at age one between the positives and the negatives?” We identified about 20 microbes that were significantly different, mostly lost, mostly missing.

What was interesting is that a group from British Columbia, led by Dr. Brett Finlay and colleagues had published about this also. They had found, I think, four or five organisms and we matched on four of the five. Again, two independent studies finding the same relationship makes it stronger

World Asthma Foundation: If I understand correctly, your research is determining whether or not you can repopulate the H. pylori. Is that independent of the intestinal microbes? 

Dr. Blaser: In theory, yes. What’s interesting is that people have been interested in microbes and asthma for quite some time, and most of the concentration was in the large intestine, in the colon. We were interested in the stomach first, but then we got more involved in the colon also. I think that both compartments in the body are important. Both of them are important. They’re both subject to this terrible pressure of the disappearance of microbes because of such things as antibiotics and cesarean sections and the like. They’re both. All of these microbes are potentially replaceable. That’s the hope.

World Asthma Foundation: Fantastic, that’s the hope.

 

Posted on

The Effects of Chemicals on Asthma – with Rodney Dietert, Phd

Defeating Asthma Series uncovers New Hope for Asthma Management

In this third interview with Rodney Dietert, PhD Cornell University Professor Emeritus, Health Scientist Head of Translational Science + Education for SEED and the Author of the Human Super-Organism How the Microbiome is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life we learn about:

* Chemicals and disease such as Asthma

Video: The Effects of Chemicals on Asthma – with Rodney Dietert, Phd

World Asthma Foundation: Can you explain the relationship between chemicals and disease?

Dr. Dietert: We’re under attack really from a variety of chemicals. Research reflects disruption of the microbiome, and we know a lot more today.

World Asthma Foundation: It’s obvious that that phthalates, petrochemicals, cosmetics, pesticides, fungicides that can disrupt the gut, correct?

Dr. Dietert: Absolutely. Look at glyphosate. Glyphosate is an antimicrobial. It has antibacterial properties inherent in it, and we’ve distributed widely across the earth. It’s exposing us through the food systems in soil, plants, our food, animals, and us and yet, it’s essentially an antimicrobial. Knowing what we know now, you wouldn’t do that, would never do that. I think that that’s an example of the kind of changes. Ironically, I once was asked to give an educational lecture at a national conference on bisphenol A and the immune system as the target for bisphenol A, particularly in early development.

I presented evidence and suggested that it was an immunotoxic compound. We now know it operates both directly on the immune system but through the microbiome as well. It was ironic because when I finished, I had a very irate pediatrician who told me I really shouldn’t be saying things that I was saying because someone from The New York Times could be there and they might even write about it. My reaction was, “Oh, wow, would that be wonderful? I hope they are.” He was very irate. He thought I was being very irresponsible. You don’t have to go back very many years to where people were really challenging the risk that was present in certain foods and certain chemicals. There’s a lot of things embedded in processed foods that are absolutely disastrous for the microbiome and that’s a huge problem, obviously to weed those out.

World Asthma Foundation: And a very big list. We don’t know all of them right?

Dr. Dietert: We know some of the important ones that are very prevalent, and we know exactly what they target and exactly what diseases are the likely outcomes of that targeting. That should be sufficient for us to make some changes.

World Asthma Foundation: With that, Dr. Dietert, we certainly thank you for your time, all that you do for the microbiome and the community. Good afternoon, and thanks again.

Dr. Dietert: Well, and thank you for all you do with the World Asthma foundation, Bill. Pleasure.