Page 28 - Summer2010

foods from the diet does not solve the problem. largely L. crispatus and L. jensenii. This flora
14
We have to look deeper and find the cause of the produces hydrogen peroxide, reducing the pH in
patient’s malady. In order to do that we have to the area. In these acidic conditions, pathogens
examine Stephanie’s health history. cannot adhere. When the urethra and bladder
15
are unprotected by good flora and a low pH, they
INFANCY fall prey to pathogenic microbes, causing urinary
Stephanie was born from a mother with tract infections (UTI). The most common patho-
digestive problems and Stephanie was not breat gens that cause UTIs, are E.coli, Pseudomonas
fed. What does that tell us? We know that unborn aeruginosa and Staphylococcus saprophyticus
babies have a sterile gut. At the time of birth, coming from the bowel and the groin.
15
7
the baby swallows mouthfuls of microbes, which Urine is one of the venues of toxin elimi-
live in the mother’s birth canal. These microbes nation from the body. In gut dysbiosis, large
16
8
take about twenty days to establish themselves in amounts of various toxins are produced by
the baby’s virgin digestive system and become pathogens in the gut and then absorbed into the
the baby’s gut flora. bloodstream through the damaged gut wall. 16,17
7,8
Where does the vaginal flora come from? Many of these toxins leave the body in urine;
Medical science shows that the flora in the vagina accumulating in the bladder, this toxic urine
largely comes from the gut. What lives in the comes into contact with the bladder lining. The
woman’s bowel will live in her vagina. 9,10 Stepha- beneficial bacteria in the bladder and urethra
nie’s mother suffered from digestive problems, maintain what is called a GAG layer—a protec-
which indicates that she had abnormal gut flora tive mucous barrier, largely made from sulphated
as well, which she passed to her daughter at birth. glucosaminoglycans, produced by the cells of
Baby Stephanie was not breast fed. Breast the bladder lining. As the GAG layer gets dam-
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milk, particularly colostrum in the first days after aged, toxic substances in urine get through to the
birth, is vital for appropriate population of the bladder wall causing inflammation and leading
baby’s digestive system with healthy microbial to chronic cystitis.
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In the first flora. 9,10,11 We know that bottle-fed babies develop And that is what happened to Stephanie: at
few weeks of completely different gut flora than breast fed ba- the age of three months she got her first urinary
bies. That flora later on predisposes bottle-fed infection. As her gut flora, vaginal flora and the
11
life, in babies to asthma, eczema, other allergies and flora of urethra and the bladder were not cor-
addition to other health problems. But the most important rected, she suffered from urinary infections all
12
the gut lining, abnormalities develop in the digestive system, her life and eventually developed chronic cystitis.
of course, as that is where these microbes make
other mucous their home. Having acquired abnormal gut flora FURTHER DAMAGE TO GUT FLORA
membranes from her mother at birth, Stephanie’s was com- Because of regular urinary tract infections,

and baby’s promised further by bottle feeding. Stephanie had regular courses of antibiotics

through her entire life, starting from infancy.
skin get CHRONIC CYSTITIS Every course of antibiotics damages the ben-
populated In the first few weeks of life, in addition to eficial species of bacteria in the gut, leaving it
by their own the gut lining, other mucous membranes and open to invasion by pathogens that are increas-
baby’s skin get populated by their own flora, ingly resistant to antibiotics.
Even when the
10,19
flora, which which play a crucial role in protecting those course of antibiotic is short and the dose is low,
play a crucial surfaces from pathogens and toxins. As baby it takes the various beneficial bacteria in the gut
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role in pro- Stephanie acquired abnormal flora in her gut, a long time to recover: physiological E.coli takes
her groin and vagina got abnormal flora too, as one to two weeks; bifidobacteria and veillonelli
tecting those this flora normally comes from the gut. At the take two to three weeks; lactobacilli, bacteroids,
10
surfaces from same time, the urethra and the urinary bladder peptostreptococci take one month. 10,20 During
pathogens get populated with flora similar to that of the this period, if the gut flora is subjected to another
vagina. In a normal situation, the uretha and damaging factor, then gut dysbiosis may well
and toxins. bladder should be predominated by lactobacteria, start in earnest. 21
28 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2010