Butyrate Improves Bowel Transit
Problems such as poor transit or constipation are common, and can produce significant misery for the individual compromised in this manner. Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid, manufactured in the gut by the anaerobic fermentation of dietary fibres by resident microbiota. It is proposed that apart from its already well understood properties that it has another remarkable effect – the ability to increase the neuronal concentration of the Enteric Nervous System.[1]
Butyrate-generating foods and supplements might become an effective and simple option to prevent or treat functional gut disorders via modulation of enteric neuroplasticity.
Science Connects Diet And Intestinal Bacteria With Healthier Immune Systems
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Whilst to nutritionists and most people who understand the role of nutrients in health, the idea that the bacteria in our gut impacts on disease risk seems almost common knowledge, there is still a shortage of hard science to back this up. In the international journal Nature, periodic examples of how science is catching up appear. In the Oct 29th edition an article out of Australia really adds some substance to the role of food and bacteria in health and disease.
The immune system is prone to the same grave misfortunes as any defense system handling weapons: collateral damage that comes with the destruction of the enemy on one’s own territory and friendly fire due to mistaken identity. Whereas the collateral damage is the price we pay for clearance of infections, autoimmunity is a pathological process. Nevertheless, the effector mechanisms involved in both processes are the same. Whether environment can be a cause, a trigger or an amplifier of an autoimmune disease are questions that are being intensively investigated.
