It's that time of the year when the ebb and flow of Bunker information can vary tremendously, so with that, I thought I would tell the story of battle of Thermopylae and how it relates to our intestinal bacteria Lactobacillus. Many of you may be familiar with the Spartans and their battle against the Persians at Thermopylae. The movie 300 was about this battle and how 300 Spartans fought a million Persians to keep them from invading Greece. There were actually about 7000 Greek fighters and 100,000 Persians, but either way, the 300 Spartans stood shoulder to shoulder and thwarted the Persian invasion for 3 days. The bottleneck where they fought slowed the Persian advance and allowed the Spartans to win at the point of attack. The Persians paid a tribesman in gold to show them a 9 mile route through the mountains that allowed the Persians to out flank the Greeks, it caused the Spartans to retreat and the Persians barrage of arrows finally sealed the fate of the Greeks and the Spartans.
I know many of you read that and immediately saw the connection to Lactobacillus, but for the others, I'll spell it out for you. The inner wall of our intestines are lined with villi. These are finger like projections that stick out from the intestinal wall. On the tip of each finger resides one of our most important intestinal bacteria, Lactobacillus. These fingerlike projections, villi, are rather close together and form a line similar to the Spartans at Thermopylae. The Lactobacillus is charged and only lets the nutrients that we need through so they can get absorbed in the tight junctions. It repulses and kills the unwanted bacteria that we eat. But that is in a perfect world. In the real world, there is a tribesman paid in gold that allows our immune system to get out flanked. That tribesman is the higher pH foods that we eat, This eventually causes the luminal pH to drop and Lactobacillus can't thrive. To save itself, it covers its outer surface with mucus and that makes it six times larger than it used to be. It can no longer produce bactericidal substances that keep out bacterial ratios in check. It reduces available surface area to absorb nutrients but worse than that, it loses its charge and ability to prevent bacteria to enter into our tight junctions. These bacteria can be absorbed so the immune system fights the ultimate battle to prevent that from happening. This is why so much of our immune response is located in our GI tract.
Ultimately, there is an availability issue when it comes to compounds needed to fight pathogens. This used to only happen to the elderly, but it is now happening to younger individuals because of restrictive diets or fewer nutrient dense foods. Things that are reduced are often copper, magnesium, selenium, zinc, and other polyvalent cations. Important molecules like fucose and B-Vitamins are also in short supply. I've often said that people's blood was "too thick" and by that, I mean they have too many proteins, immunoglobulins, and cholesterol in their blood. This happens because of a lack of Lactobacillus. It is no longer standing shoulder to shoulder like the Spartans. The moral of this story.................................we all need to eat a variety of lower pH foods, or at least eat a fiber rich food with each meal. Or we could just take drugs.
I know many of you read that and immediately saw the connection to Lactobacillus, but for the others, I'll spell it out for you. The inner wall of our intestines are lined with villi. These are finger like projections that stick out from the intestinal wall. On the tip of each finger resides one of our most important intestinal bacteria, Lactobacillus. These fingerlike projections, villi, are rather close together and form a line similar to the Spartans at Thermopylae. The Lactobacillus is charged and only lets the nutrients that we need through so they can get absorbed in the tight junctions. It repulses and kills the unwanted bacteria that we eat. But that is in a perfect world. In the real world, there is a tribesman paid in gold that allows our immune system to get out flanked. That tribesman is the higher pH foods that we eat, This eventually causes the luminal pH to drop and Lactobacillus can't thrive. To save itself, it covers its outer surface with mucus and that makes it six times larger than it used to be. It can no longer produce bactericidal substances that keep out bacterial ratios in check. It reduces available surface area to absorb nutrients but worse than that, it loses its charge and ability to prevent bacteria to enter into our tight junctions. These bacteria can be absorbed so the immune system fights the ultimate battle to prevent that from happening. This is why so much of our immune response is located in our GI tract.
Ultimately, there is an availability issue when it comes to compounds needed to fight pathogens. This used to only happen to the elderly, but it is now happening to younger individuals because of restrictive diets or fewer nutrient dense foods. Things that are reduced are often copper, magnesium, selenium, zinc, and other polyvalent cations. Important molecules like fucose and B-Vitamins are also in short supply. I've often said that people's blood was "too thick" and by that, I mean they have too many proteins, immunoglobulins, and cholesterol in their blood. This happens because of a lack of Lactobacillus. It is no longer standing shoulder to shoulder like the Spartans. The moral of this story.................................we all need to eat a variety of lower pH foods, or at least eat a fiber rich food with each meal. Or we could just take drugs.
