Disease Archives

This Diabetes Drug may Benefit your Gut

Digestive Health, Disease / By @drHoberman

In the past, we’ve discussed how some drugs — heartburn meds and antibiotics — harm the delicate balance of gut bacteria, making your body more vulnerable to serious health problems.

However, at least one very common drug used by type 2 diabetes patients to control their blood sugar — metformin (Fortamet and Glumetza are brand names) — may work primarily in the gut and be beneficial for gut health, based on findings of recent studies.

In the gut, not the bloodstream

Scientists at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine discovered the connection between metformin and gut health, erasing some 60 years of assumptions that the type 2 diabetes drug worked primarily in the bloodstream, according to a Diabetes Care study.

This discovery was critical because some type 2 diabetes patients with kidney issues accumulate too much metformin in their blood, which may leave them vulnerable to other serious problems so they can’t take it.

“These findings create an opportunity to develop a new metformin treatment option for the 40 percent of patients that currently can’t take this first-line drug of choice,” says Dr. John Buse, lead author of the study and director of the Diabetes Care Center at the UNC’s School of Medicine, according to a press release.

Scientists compared the effect of three kinds of metformin — delayed-release (DR), extended-release (XR) and immediate-release (IR) — on healthy patients and those with type 2 diabetes in this two-phase study.

In phase 1 testing on 20 healthy patients, scientists found roughly half as much of the DR version of metformin in their blood compared to IR and XR forms.

Various doses of Metformin DR also performed well in phase 2 testing (comparing it to Metformin XR or a placebo in type 2 diabetes patients), as the potency of the delayed-release version increased by 40 percent.

Improved fatty acid production

A separate study conducted by European and Chinese researchers also observed the positive effects of metformin on the gut health of type 2 diabetics, even over healthy patients, featured in the journal Nature.

The gut microbiomes of type 2 diabetics from Europe and China who took metformin generated more specific kinds of beneficial short-chain fatty acids (butyric acid and propionic acid) that lowered blood sugar levels.

“We weren’t able to show that other types of anti-diabetic drugs had any actual impact on the gut microbiota,” says senior study author Dr. Olaf Borbye Petersen of the University of Copenhagen, according to a press release.

“When studying type 2 diabetes patients not being treated with metformin, we did, however, discover that they — irrespective of whether they were from Denmark, China or Sweden — had fewer of the bacteria which produce the health-promoting short-chain fatty acids.”

But, does this discovery mean the lack of fatty acid-producing bacterial species in the gut contributes to type 2 diabetes? Stay tuned for more research, says Dr. Petersen.

These findings may also explain why metformin patients experience increased flatulence and bloating, as those treated with the drug have more coliform bacteria in their gut.

Could taking a daily probiotic like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic that contains multiple strains of beneficial bacteria also make a difference in the treatment of type 2 diabetes?

Only time will tell…

This Diabetes Drug may Benefit your Gut Read More »

Protect your health from E. coli

Disease, Drug interactions / By @drHoberman

You can’t help but hear about recent problems with foodborne illnesses and wonder when — not if — one bad meal will make you or your family sick… or worse.

Even more distressing are daily news reports that more big box retailers, restaurants and food companies are reporting problems with making, handling and distributing our foods safely.

Escherichia coli, better known as E. coli, has been one of the more recent and popular bacterial invaders hiding in tainted rotisserie chicken salad at Costco Warehouse Club or unknown, sickening ingredients in foods prepared at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants.

Yet, E. coli is one of the most common types of bacteria around, living harmlessly in guts of humans and animals. Moreover, a recent University of Michigan study discovered how a protein in E. coli may be responsible for inhibiting the spread of Parkinson’s disease.

So, you may be wondering how E. coli bacteria can be benign, yet so dangerous.

The Dangers of E. coli

When some forms of E. coli spread into our environment from improper food handling, processing or cooking, contact with contaminated water or working with animals, given our national and international food supply chain and less funding at the federal level for food safety, people get sick.

Some 48 million Americans are sickened by a foodborne illness, and more than 125,000 are hospitalized every year, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s latest Outbreak Alert that analyzed data collected for a decade.

For most who come in contact with E. coli, the uncomfortable symptoms — severe abdominal cramping, watery diarrhea and gas — will pass within 10 days, if not sooner. If these symptoms sound very familiar to you, they’re also associated with traveler’s diarrhea.

However, one serious and infectious complication with E. coli — hemolytic uremic syndrome — destroys red blood cells and may lead to kidney failure and dialysis treatments.

Follow These Steps to Avoid E. coli

Fortunately, the steps you can take to avoid being sickened by E. coli are very easy to follow.

Wash your hands before preparing foods and after contact with barnyard animals (sheep, goats and cows) with plain soap (no antibacterial substances) and clean water.
Also, wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before cooking or eating them.
Cook meats at the proper minimum internal temperature.
The same “keep it clean” mantra also applies to cutting boards, plates, countertops, cooking surfaces and utensils.

Taking a daily probiotic, ideally containing with multiple species of beneficial bacteria — like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Junior — strengthens the immune system that protects your health from nasty foodborne problems like E. coli.

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Your gut health balance affects chemo treatments

Digestive Health, Disease, Drug interactions / By @drHoberman

Your ability to maintain a diverse, thriving gut microbiome by eating the right foods, using antibiotics only when you must and taking a multi-species probiotic ensures it is capable of protecting your overall health even when the worst case scenarios happen.

Like cancer.

A growing number of studies are showing how gut health is an important part in helping chemotherapy and anti-tumor drugs do their job to eradicate cancer.

No gut bacteria, no luck

A pair of studies cited in a 2014 American Cancer Society report compared the effect of specific kinds of cancer therapies — drugs, immunotherapy and platinum chemotherapy — based on its effect on germ-free mice lacking gut bacteria or animals treated with antibiotics.

No surprise, in both studies, these cancer-fighting weapons were much more effective with mice that had good gut health.

The results were most apparent in a study conducted by the French Institute of Health and Medical Research in testing the cancer drug cyclophosphamide.

In this study, researchers discovered cyclophosphamide worked best in healthier bodies because the drug affected the composition of their microbiomes that generates more immune cells and eliminates tumors.

The importance of gut health diversity before chemo

A more recent study, a collaboration by researchers at M.D. Anderson’s Infectious Diseases department and the Alkek Center for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, shows how gut diversity can be so vital to the health of cancer patients even before they begin induction chemotherapy.

Scientists examined stool and oral samples taken from 34 patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) at three-day intervals during a 26-day course of chemotherapy.

Also, all patients were given antibiotics, no friend to good gut health, at least five times over more than six days. The concern: Physicians treat neutropenic fever, a common problem among AML patients on chemotherapy when body temperatures rise above 100˚, with antibiotics.

Interestingly, a third of the patients who maintained the diversity of their gut health or improved it experienced no infections over a 90-day span. However, 23 of the 34 patients experienced a drop in diversity over the same time and nine suffered from infections.

In fact, lead researcher Dr. Jessica Galloway-Pena of M.D. Anderson says she wants to use the human gut microbiome “as a tool” to spot which patients need extra treatments, or be prescribed a special diet, fecal transplant or probiotics, according to Medscape Medical News.

“I really think it’s not just one (species). I think it’s the community (of species) that strikes a balance. That’s why I’m not that big a proponent of probiotics with one species. I really think it’s going to be a cocktail of species that’s going to improve your outcome,” says Dr. Galloway-Pena in a recent YouTube video about her study.

This provides more evidence that taking a probiotic containing just one species of beneficial bacteria can do some good, but not nearly as much as one that contains multiple strains of beneficial bacteria, like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Junior.

Your gut health balance affects chemo treatments Read More »

Ready for your flu shot?

Disease, Drug interactions / By @drHoberman

As the fall colors come and the temperatures get cooler, you realize it’s time to start thinking about getting that annual flu shot.

All the reminders — signs galore along with being asked many times at your neighborhood grocery store, local pharmacy and even your workplace — are already in place. But you just say, “No, not today,” as politely and quickly as you can, then change the subject (or walk away quickly).

There are good reasons why some people shouldn’t get a flu shot (or a nasal spray vaccine). The most popular ones are linked to severe allergies to vaccine ingredients, age restrictions, problems with Guillain-Barre Syndrome and the current state of your health (review the full list on the CDC website).

Still, we know what you’re probably thinking…

The last time I had a flu shot, it made me sick.
The last time I had a flu shot, I caught it anyway.
I never get sick, so I can’t spread the flu around.
I take a probiotic… Isn’t that enough to keep the flu away?

Before you risk going it alone during the upcoming flu season, let’s address those aforementioned reasons/excuses with some solid health information.

The last time I had a flu shot, it made me sick. If a flu vaccine made you slightly sick, that’s not uncommon. Most people develop temporary soreness or swelling where the flu shot is delivered. Some reactions may include a low-grade fever and aches, and can last up to two days.

The last time I had a flu shot, I caught it anyway. Flu vaccines are made from an inactive or weakened virus that doesn’t make you sick. Also, the flu shot may take up to 14 days to create a protective effect in your body.

I never get sick, so I can’t spread the flu around. You may eat a healthy diet and wash your hands regularly, but you can pass the flu to others without showing any symptoms.

I take a probiotic… Isn’t that enough to keep the flu away? By itself, protecting your gut health helps. However, a recent study showed how good gut health may increase the beneficial effect of vaccines, and exposure to antibiotics diminishes it.

Taking a probiotic filled with multiple species of beneficial bacteria — like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Junior — along with a flu shot, can provide the extra boost you need to stay healthy during this flu season.

Ready for your flu shot? Read More »

Could one molecule affect your immune health?

Disease, Drug interactions / By @drHoberman

Since the development and wide use of penicillin during World War II, and a long time afterward, antibiotics were considered the Holy Grail of modern medicine.

That was true until our bodies became exposed too often to antibiotics and anti-microbial substances in the foods and soaps we use, cancelling out any benefits, crippling our immune systems and creating more serious diseases and conditions in their wake.

Researchers at the University of Chicago may have discovered a missing link on white blood cells that tie our immune system to higher amounts of good bacteria, according to a study appearing in the journal Immunity.

In tests on mice, scientists learned intestinal immune cells — type 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) — were crippled in responding to bacterial infections when lacking a single, binding ID2 protein.

Without this protein, ILC3 cells were unable to produce IL-22 molecules that spur other intestinal cells to create antimicrobial peptides, which protect our bodies from infections.

Researchers confirmed these results after transplanting ILC3 cells with or without the ID2 protein into germ-free mice. Animals not receiving the ID2-enriched immune cells were unable to fight off infections when exposed to bad bacteria, while those given protein-enriched cells resisted them.

“Given the rapid rise of harmful bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, it is paramount that scientists find methods of limiting harmful bacterial infections without the use of antibiotics,” says Dr. Yang-Xin Fu, senior author of the study in a press release.

“For future patients who are infected with harmful bacteria, it might be beneficial to promote the development of good gut microbiota to indirectly kill harmful bacteria, instead of using antibiotics.”

Back to penicillin, Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered the wonder drug in 1928 and was one of three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for its development 17 years later.

During his acceptance speech 70 years ago, Dr. Fleming warned people that overuse of penicillin to fight disease might be linked to the very same bacterial resistance problems we face today.

However, there are very natural and safe ways to maintain the balance of good bacteria in your gut that antibiotics deplete, with the help of probiotics.

A rule of thumb about taking probiotics: Waiting about two hours after taking an antibiotic to take a probiotic will lessen the risk of the drug diminishing the billions of live, beneficial bacteria that protect your health.

Also, you’ll want to take a probiotic that contains multiple strains of beneficial bacteria, like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic and EndoMune Junior.

Could one molecule affect your immune health? Read More »

The Western lifestyle is harming your gut health

Diet, Disease / By @drHoberman

There’s no denying the typical Western lifestyle — consuming diets high in processed foods, red meat, refined sugars, carbohydrates and saturated fats — has fueled the current obesity epidemic plaguing much of the industrialized world.

Part of the damage done to our bodies is how our health has changed drastically to compensate for eating these calorie-rich, nutrient-poor diets, doing great harm to our gut microbiota.

A trio of 2015 studies show how the human gut health varies according to lifestyle and geography, and, in one case, how quickly one’s gut health can change.

Native populations have more diverse gut microbiomes

Two studies compared the gut microbiomes of natives in various non-industrialized communities around the world to those U.S. residents.

In one study comparing the gut microbiomes of people living in the U.S. to those in non-industrialized Papau New Guinea (published in Cell Reports), scientists discovered Americans lacked some 50 different species of gut bacteria.

Why? Western lifestyles that reduce the ability of bacteria to move from person-to-person (bacterial dispersion) via drinking water or sanitation may have contributed to these differences in gut bacteria, says study co-author Dr. Jens Walter of the University of Alberta Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science.

This discovery implies a connection to the hygiene hypothesis, in which the body’s immunities and gut health are harmed by constant exposure to antibacterial soaps, bottled water, antibiotics and disinfectants.

The real challenge posed by this study is developing methods to reduce the damage done to human gut health without jeopardizing the benefits, says study co-author Dr. Andrew Greenhill of Federation University Australia.

The same lack of gut bacteria was also discovered in another study, appearing in Nature Communications. This study compares Americans living in Norman, Okla., to native farmers and hunter-gatherers living in Peru and the Amazon.

In this study, the genus Treponema, a family of bacteria that has co-existed for millions of years in humans and primates, was missing in industrialized populations.

“In our study, we show that these lost bacteria are in fact multiple species that are likely capable of fermenting fiber and generating short chain fatty acids in the gut. Short chain fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties,” says Cecil Lewis, co-director of the Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research at the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences, in a press release.

“This raises an important question: could these lost Treponema be keystone species that explain the increased risk for autoimmune disorders in industrialized people?”

Multi-national diet changes quickly alter colon cancer risks

Western diets were blamed for rapid gut health changes that raised the risks of colon cancer in a third study appearing in Nature Communications, comparing the health of African-Americans in the U.S. to native Africans living in rural South Africa.

Twenty African-Americans swapped diets with a similar number of native South Africans for two weeks. Before and after the change in diets, all patients were given colonoscopies. Also, researchers examined biological markers that measured a patient’s risks of colon cancer, along with bacterial samples taken from the colon.

At the beginning, nearly half of the Americans participating in the study had polyps (growths in the colon that can evolve into colon cancer). Americans who followed the African diet experienced a reduction in biomarkers for cancer, significantly lessening the inflammation in their colons and an increase in butyrate, a byproduct of metabolizing fiber linked to key anti-cancer benefits.

Conversely, the cancer risk for African patients following a westernized diet, one low in fiber but high in protein and fat, increased dramatically too.

Both sets of findings underscore how a change in diet can quickly and dramatically alter one’s health for better or worse. The obvious difference in the Western diet was the lack of dietary fiber, according to Dr. Jeremy Nicholson, of Imperial College London in a press release.

“This is not new in itself but what is really surprising is how quickly and dramatically the risk markers can switch in both groups following [a] diet change. These findings also raise serious concerns that the progressive westernization of African communities may lead to the emergence of colon cancer as a major health issue.”

Increasing your daily intake of dietary fiber by 30 grams (about 1 ounce) can also help you lose weight and help reduce cardiovascular problems.

Boosting your intake of dietary fiber, along with taking a quality probiotic like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic, provides even greater benefits.

Eating more fiber feeds your gut bacteria the starches it needs to jump-start the fermentation process to provide nourishment to the cells lining the colon. As a result, the intestinal tract becomes much healthier and functions more effectively.

Adding a probiotic containing multiple strains of beneficial bacteria like EndoMune, not only increases the fermentation process of fiber in the gut, it reduces the impact of various diseases.

The Western lifestyle is harming your gut health Read More »

Could probiotics be the answer for allergies?

Disease, Probiotics / By @drHoberman

As physicians steer patients away from drugs that can do more harm than good, like antibiotics, probiotics have attracted much attention as a safer way to treat allergies.

For example, giving patients a drink containing a proprietary strain of Lactobacillus casei was shown to boost the immune systems of patients, according to a 2013 PLOS One study we featured in a previous blog post.

Nevertheless, up to 30 percent of all American adults and 40 percent of children suffer from nasal allergies, leading to more than 13 million visits to the doctor, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

These numbers could explain why allergies are considered the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in America with an estimated annual price tag of more than $18 billion in healthcare costs, according to the CDC.

The latest study giving probiotics a four-star review was featured in the International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology. It took a look at 23 studies and all but six demonstrated some improvements in at least one aspect of a patient’s health after starting a probiotic regimen.

“When you look at all the studies combined, there was a statistically significant improvement in both the rhinitis-specific quality of life of those patients and in their nasal specific quality of life,” said lead author Dr. Justin Turner, an associate professor of otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University.

Here’s where the results get tricky. The studies that the researchers examined featured probiotics with very different mixes of bacteria and durations of treatments. Some probiotic bacteria were found in foods like yogurt or in supplements like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic.

Is it seasonal allergies or a cold?

Another potential complicating factor, based on a recent survey conducted by Doctor on Demand and Harris Interactive, is not knowing whether the symptoms experienced are derived from allergies or the common cold.

Some symptoms, such as a runny or stuffy nose and sneezing, are shared by colds and allergies. However, more than half of the Americans polled in the Doctor on Demand survey attributed some symptoms (itchy ears and watery and itchy eyes) to colds.

The obvious difference between colds and allergies is the duration. Allergies can go on for months while colds have an expiration date of up to 14 days.

No matter which sets of symptoms you’re experiencing, probiotics can help with allergies and colds by strengthening your immune system to prevent bad bugs and allergens from slowing you down.

Multi-species probiotics like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic or EndoMune Junior contains multiple strains of beneficial bacteria that can be a healthy improvement for your gut and body.

Could probiotics be the answer for allergies? Read More »

Heartburn meds can harm your heart

Disease, Drug interactions / By @drHoberman

According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death among American men and women, claiming more than 600,000 lives every year.

Of the 735,000 Americans who have a heart attack every year, more than 70 percent (525,000) are experiencing one for the first time. Nearly half of Americans have at least one of these risk factors for heart disease:

High LDL cholesterol
Smoking
High blood pressure

A new risk factor for heart attacks is Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs), which are drugs that work by decreasing the amount of acid in the lining of the stomach, based on a recent study appearing in PLOS One.

Accounting for an estimated $13 billion in annual sales, PPIs are one of the most popular classes of drugs that Americans take. (One out of 14 Americans have taken PPIs, according to the FDA.)

Although patients use PPIs to treat heartburn, these drugs are prescribed to treat other health problems too, including Barrett’s esophagus, ulcer-inducing H. pylori infections and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.

The most popular PPIs are available over-the-counter, including Zegerid (a combination of omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate), Nexium (esomeprazole magnesium), Prilosec (omeprazole magnesium) and Prevacid (lansoprazole).

A recent review of some 2.9 million patient records by researchers at Houston Methodist and Stanford University concluded that those with no prior history of heart disease, who took PPIs increased their risk of heart attack by as much as 21 percent.

On the other hand, patients who took another type of over-the-counter drug used to reduce stomach acid — Histamine antagonists (H2 antagonists or H2 blockers) — experienced no extra risk of heart attack. (Zantac, Pepcid and Tagamet are popular H2 blockers sold over-the-counter.)

What made the difference between these sets of drugs? A 2013 study that examined the ability of PPIs to damage the endothelium led to some answers, says Dr. John Cooke of Houston Methodist and senior author of the PLOS One study, according to a press release.

“Our earlier work identified that the PPIs can adversely affect the endothelium, the Teflon-like lining of the blood vessels. That observation led us to hypothesize that anyone taking PPIs may be at greater risk for heart attack.”

The risk of heart attack isn’t the only reason why you should think twice before taking a PPI drug. Another recent study found omeprazole disrupted the gut health of every patient so severely, that they were vulnerable to Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections.

Before taking a PPI, you may want to consider these non-drug solutions first:

Delay your bedtime about two hours after eating a nighttime meal.
Avoid heartburn triggers like high-acidic foods, alcohol and smoking.
Consume smaller meals with less fat.
Consider losing a few pounds.
Take a probiotic with multiple strains of beneficial bacteria, like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic or EndoMune Advanced Junior (for kids) that protects your gut health too.

Heartburn meds can harm your heart Read More »

Changes in gut health diversity may be a warning of type 1 diabetes

Digestive Health, Disease / By @drHoberman

Recently, we discussed how being “too clean” with antibacterial soaps, disinfectants and antibiotics may leave young people more vulnerable to type 1 diabetes.

Unlike type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes typically affects young people, but may also develop in adults. Once known as juvenile diabetes, type 1 diabetes occurs when the body stops producing insulin. This happens when the immune system has attacked the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, according to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse.

Researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the European Union funded Diabimmune Study Group and Massachusetts General Hospital, identified another marker for type 1 diabetes: Decreases in gut microbial diversity, including species of gut bacteria that promote good health, among infants.

Their findings were published in Cell Host & Microbe.

Gut health and inflammation

Scientists analyzed the stool samples of 33 infants from birth to age 3 to find who was more genetically prone to type 1 diabetes.

The few children who developed type 1 diabetes experienced a 25 percent decrease in the number of distinct species of gut microbes a year prior to be diagnosed with the disease.

Additionally, the reduction of bacteria that regulate the children’s guts worsened overall gut health, while increasing the amount of harmful gut bacteria that caused inflammation.

Good gut health remains stable

An interesting aspect of this research stems from what scientists learned over the course of the study about young children whose microbiomes developed normally and did not have type 1 diabetes. The key factor here is stability.

For one, although the species of bacteria in the human gut vary greatly between people, generally the composition of individual microbiomes remains stable over the course of time. Despite this diversity, these species functioned very consistently in the human gut over time and in each person too.

“Whether the bacterial community is very small, as it is in early infancy, or if it’s larger as it is later in life, the community is always serving the same major functions regardless of its composition. No matter which species are present, they encode the same major metabolic pathways, indicating that they’re doing the same jobs,” Dr. Aleksandar Kostic, one of the authors of the study said in a press release.

Understanding which bacterial species are present and absent in the gut microbiomes of young children with type 1 diabetes may help scientists figure out how to slow down the progression of the disease, according to Dr. Ramnik Xavier, who led the study.

“The next progression,” Dr. Xavier said, “is to expand the pool of patients, particularly among Finnish folks who are predisposed to type 1 diabetes than other ethnicities, in order to determine if their environments and the hygiene hypothesis are real factors in the development of this disease.”

As mentioned before, one goal of the Diabimmune project is to identify preventative therapies via probiotics or vaccines, if bacteria can be treated. Certainly, a probiotic like EndoMune Advanced Junior (for kids) with 10 billion colonies of four primary strains of good gut bacteria would be helpful in protecting the diversity of your child’s gut health.

Changes in gut health diversity may be a warning of type 1 diabetes Read More »

One more reason why you don’t need a fecal transplant

Diet, Disease, Drug interactions / By @drHoberman

As medical science looks for new ways to conquer tough-to-treat health problems like Clostridium difficile (C. diff), fecal transplants — the transferal of gut flora from healthy donors to sick patients via tubes or pills — are attracting more attention than ever.

Due to the growing amounts of successful research, the FDA has been pushed to regulate fecal transplants as experimental drugs, yet continues to struggle on how to do so.

A recent case study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases illustrates the conundrum the FDA and patients face when deciding if the “cure” is really worth the true price.

Unintended Consequences

This study could be defined as a case of unintended consequences, a term coined by American sociologist Robert K. Merton. Unintended consequences defines unexpected outcomes — benefits, drawbacks or perverse results — that occur from a purposeful action.

One such case was a 32-year-old woman who was successfully treated for a recurring C. diff infection with a fecal transplant from an overweight donor (her teenage daughter) in 2011. She then gained 20 percent of her body weight (34 pounds) over the following 16 months, jumping to 170 pounds.

Unfortunately, despite a medically supervised exercise program and liquid protein diet, the woman, who had never been overweight before the fecal transplant, has gained 7 more pounds since then and remains obese today.

“We’re questioning whether there was something in the fecal transplant, and whether some of those ‘good’ bacteria we transferred may have had an impact on her metabolism in a negative way,” said Dr. Colleen R. Kelly of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University via a press release. The case report was a joint effort with Dr. Neha Alang, of Newport Hospital in Rhode Island.

The unintended consequences of sharing bad traits thanks to fecal transplants is supported in other published studies, in which fecal samples transferred from obese mice to those of a normal weight may lead to a marked increase in fat. This explains why scientists urge patients to find fecal transplant donors who aren’t obese.

What’s more, scientists speculate the fecal transplant may not be the sole reason why the woman became obese, citing several antibiotics prescribed to treat H. pylori, illness-related stress, aging, genetic factors and the resolution of her C. diff infection as other contributing factors.

One way to have counteracted those side effects: Her doctor should have prescribed a probiotic, such as EndoMune Advanced Probiotic, that would have helped her treat the H. Pylori to protect her overall gut health.

One more reason why you don’t need a fecal transplant Read More »