I think everyone is a germophobe on some scale. We're taught at a young age that bacteria is bad, deadly, blah blah. While this concern is certainly valid (like washing your hands after using the restroom, especially if you're finishing your last shift at the restaurant), bacteria can be extremely helpful, such as in potentially combating food allergies.
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| Peanut allergies affect more than 3 million people (according to AAAI, photo courtesy of Atoz) |
A recent article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has offered some insight into the rise of allergy ocurrences, and has shown that a gut bacteria (Clostridia-type) found in both rodents and humans is important for providing allergen protection*. Researchers induced a "peanut-like" allergic reaction in mice and found a higher immune response in bacteria-free or antibiotic-treated mice, compared to control mice. The authors show that the bacteria help prevent the uptake of allergen into the bloodstream through switching immune responses within the gut. In addition, treating mice with antibiotics caused a change in the bacterial gut environment, increasing the response to a food allergen. This finding suggests a new role for bacteria in curbing allergens and also serves to potentially explain the increase in food allergy incidences - with the advent of better medical advances such as the use of antibiotics early in development, our gut micro-environment (our whole body, actually) has drastically changed from what it used to be way, WAY back in the day.
Nonetheless, this interesting finding provides a link between bacteria and food allergens, and provides a promising way to potentially eliminate food allergies. Think of a magical pill that could alleviate your allergies. In an ideal world, you'd treat allergies like how people with lactose intolerance safely venture eating cheesy pizzas. Want to eat peanut brittle? Easy - just pop in your magic pill of bacteria, and voila, crunch down on that candy like no tomorrow.
Hopefully everyone's enjoying this beautiful Sunday, whether it's watching football on the TV, sun bathing at the beach, or lazily hanging at home. Whatever way you spend your day, have a great one.
Until next time, happy eating.
*
Clostridia helps to induce the innate immune response system in the gut, triggering IL-22 production, a cytokine important for reducing uptake of food antigen into the bloodstream.
Nonetheless, this interesting finding provides a link between bacteria and food allergens, and provides a promising way to potentially eliminate food allergies. Think of a magical pill that could alleviate your allergies. In an ideal world, you'd treat allergies like how people with lactose intolerance safely venture eating cheesy pizzas. Want to eat peanut brittle? Easy - just pop in your magic pill of bacteria, and voila, crunch down on that candy like no tomorrow.
Hopefully everyone's enjoying this beautiful Sunday, whether it's watching football on the TV, sun bathing at the beach, or lazily hanging at home. Whatever way you spend your day, have a great one.
Until next time, happy eating.
*
Clostridia helps to induce the innate immune response system in the gut, triggering IL-22 production, a cytokine important for reducing uptake of food antigen into the bloodstream.
References:
Stefka AT et al., 2014. Commensal bacteria protect against food allergen sensitization. PNAS.
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