SUMMARY: SCD yogurt is lactose-free due to its processing. It can be grassfed if you choose to make it using grassfed milk. You can also use a milk from A2 casein cows to make the casein less inflammatory. Some use a milk alternative such as goat, coconut, or almond milk. Last, there is growing concerns about the MAP suriviving dairy processing. [Grant et al 2017] is study that published Dec, 2017 that raises growing concerns about MAP and the safety of dairy products. To ensure 100% kill of MAP, heat the milk to 194F (90C) for 60 seconds according to the author of the study. The classic SCD yogurt recipe required heating to 180F with a two minute hold. I’ve revised the recipe to require heating to 194F for two minutes to ensure MAP and other bacteria are killed. Below the recipe find details for: MAP implications for SCD yogurt processing temperature, What is the probiotic load of SCD yogurt, what probiotics can be in the starter and Lets talk about milk options, can I reuse my SCD yogurt as starter for another batch, and RECENT STUDIES FINDING PROBIOTIC YOGURT BENEFITS AND IT’S ANTI-INFLAMMATORY IMMUNE MODULATING PROPERTIES! It is no wonder that SCD yogurt is the foundation of the healing diets: SCD/GAPS and some PALEO camps, if tolerated.
NEWBORN GUT MICROBIOME BEGINS DURING BIRTH
How and When does the newborn gut microbiome begin? What constitutes an “ideal” microbiome is not yet clear: it is not simply a matter of diversity, stability or even function. This summary report (dated Sept 2013 and written by the Program Director of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP)), Lita M. Proctor, describes that the microbiome is:
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- Dynamic over lifetime changing with respect to both the numbers of microbes and their membership (see below slide),
- Composed of a collection of bacteria/fungi/viruses unique to each individual,
- Unique at each region of our body as it has its own distinct community of microbes living on or in it,
- Impacted by our daily activities (bathing/washing hands/eating probiotics),
- Susceptible to disturbances resulting from use of antibiotics at sublethal dosages.
http://www.actionbioscience.org/genomics/the_human_microbiome.html. Slide: biomeonboardawareness.com Studies have shown that our microbiota can be modified — perhaps irreversibly in some instances — by medical, dietary and hygienic practices. Infant microbial colonization is affected by delivery mode, dietary exposures, antibiotic exposure, and environmental toxicants, many of which can be eliminated or moderated.
Arthritis Microbiome & Gut Health: Diet
Summary: Arthritis… Newly diagnosed with arthritis have an arthritis microbiome that is skewed having greater abundance of the intestinal bacteria Prevotella copri than people without the inflammatory disease, or those who have had the disease for a while but were managing it with treatment. Also found: nutrient deficiencies. Diet can change up that microbiome. Read on and learn.
One of the first insightful articles that expanded my understanding of the connection between gut microbiome, dietary impact, and arthritis, was “The Boy With a Thorn in His Joints,” New York Times Magazine, February 2001. Anywhere from 0.5 to 1 percent of the general population is estimated to have the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you are a reader of my work, you now know however, it isn’t just arthritis that the gut biome affects; literally all health and disease is affected by the gut microbiome, specifically the community of species present.
HOW TO BUY 100% RAW ALMONDS
SUMMARY: Starting on September 1, 2007, it became illegal for 100% raw almonds to be manufactured and sold in the United States, with two exceptions (discussed below). Eating SCD/GAPS/PALEO (some camps) can mean eating nuts if tolerated, properly processed, and traditionally prepared thereby making them more easily digested. Understanding what this legislation means for your sourcing almonds is simple. Learn in this post where to source raw almonds, and alternatives to raw (that would be pasteurized almonds ⇒ You want to source steam pasteurized, NOT PPO)!
Digestive Enzymes & Disease w/Focus on Autism
Digestion: we all do it though most take it for granted unaware that improper digestive enzymes and subsequent digestion is the root cause of most disease which is epidemic at the moment:
Those with digestive dysfunctional symptoms (GERD, heartburn, bloat, gas, bowel Bristol Chart type issues…) don’t take it for granted. Neither should you.
Any blimp in the digestion trek, from brain to elimination, has upstream and downstream ramifications particularly affecting the microbiome community bacterial species balance. Most, if not all disease, is now being connected to microbiome community shifts.
This post focuses on autism specifically only because there are many current studies documenting the autism digestion dysfunction. The overall message however applies to all of us.
FEED YOUR MICROBIOME TO MANAGE AUTISM
Microbiome and autism… Feeding your gut microbiome could exacerbate, or modulate, autism symptoms. That understanding is incredibly empowering to those that must manage autism!
It is now undisputed that the gut microbiome differs in autism compared to healthy controls:
“At the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology held in May in Boston, researchers at Arizona State University reported the results of an experiment in which they measured the levels of various microbial by-products in the feces of children with autism and compared them with those found in healthy children. The levels of 50 of these substances, they found, significantly differed between the two groups. And in a 2013 study published in PLOS ONE, Italian researchers reported that, compared with healthy kids, those with autism had altered levels of several intestinal bacterial species, including fewer Bifidobacterium, a group known to promote good intestinal health.” “Gut Bacteria May Play a Role in Autism”, Scientific American, Aug 2014.
SCD Managing IBD, RUSH Medical Center
SCD managing IBD is nothing new. RUSH University Medical Center, Chicago is one facility that extensively studies SCD and IBD.
I am now aware of two studies RUSH intends to publish by the end of 2014. The first is to identify “characteristics common for those for whom SCD works to manage IBD.” My contact was not allowed to share at this time what the second study’s content will be.
RUSH is not alone however in the study of SCD and IBD; I have written extensively on the science of SCD success here:
Digestion: You & Your Microbiome Eats
You eat to feed your microbiome, which in turn, feeds you, or not.
YOU CAN BE WELL FED… BUT MALNOURISHED!
You are NOT what you eat which is contrary to what we hear time and again.
- Rather, you are what you feed your microbiome.
- You are what you digest.
- You are what you absorb.
We will discuss lots of practical digestion strategies beginning at the brain and ending at… yep, the commode.
Arguably, poor digestion is the leading cause of disease in the US. A dsyfunctional gut:
- Impairs absorption of vitamins and minerals,
- Increases the risk of infections in the gut as well as systemically since immunity is reduced (80 to 85% of our immunity is in the gut),
- Increases the risk of abnormal bacterial overgrowth as well as yeast overgrowth in the gut since a pathogenic microbiota can flourish at the expense of beneficial microbiota,
- Down regulates our immune system since the gut is unable to perform it’s role of digestion of vitamins and minerals, manufacture of vitamins and antibiotics, and maintenance of a homeostasis balanced microbiome ecosystem,
- Conditions that can result from poor digestion include:
- SIBO
- FODMAPS intolerance
- Fructose malabsorption
- IBS
- Gluten sensitivity
- Other food sensitivities
- Increased intestinal permeability
- Autoimmunity
- Systemic inflammation: In addition to gliaden crossing the gut wall, LPS (end-products of certain microbiota strains) crosses the gut wall). LPS can then cross the blood/brain barrier and impact brain health. LPS is in fact used in research to induce inflammation in animals as noted in this Medical News Today article, “Newly created turmeric-based formulation releases anti-inflammatory power throughout body “: “The researchers injected mice with lipopolysaccharide, a bacteria cell wall extract that stimulates an immune reaction in animals. Curcumin can target many molecules, but the research team zeroed in on NF-kB, a protein that is known to play an important role in the immune response.”
- An antibiotic impacted gut can decrease microbiome diversity which is associated with reduced immune system functioning.
To begin, understand enzymes and deficiencies which are a root cause of microbiome disruption having disease consequences by reading the post: “Digestive Enzymes & Disease w/Focus On Autism”.
And for more on microbiome impact from eating nutrient dense, anti-inflammatory whole foods, check out:
“Some of My Best Friends Are Germs”, NY Times article, Michael Pollan, May 2013.
Microbiome Changes from Diet & Enviro Affect Health_Alm
Summary: Eric Alm’s MIT lab gene sequencing shows microbiome changes from diet & environment (antibiotics and international travel.) Changes to microbiome due to antibiotic was permanent.
I am the ninth viewer of this Microbiome Manipulation via Diet and Environment (YouTube), Eric Alm, PhD, MIT. It doesn’t get much more current than that! The study Dr. Alm discusses (daily stool sequencing for one year for several participants) can be read at Host lifestyle affects human microbiota on daily timescales.
Dr. Eric Alm is one of my favorite researchers; our paths first crossed with Eric Alm: A year in the life of my gut microbiome (2012 GET Conference) (YouTube) which is re-discussed in the second section of his most recently published YouTube. The 2012 GET Conference provides more insight though, if desired, into the second Pearl listed below.
MICROBIOME RESOURCES: Podcasts & Books
For more awesome microbiome resources and podcasts such as this, drop down the menu “THE SCIENCE BEHIND FOOD AND DISEASE“ located over on the top right sidebar and link to “Blog: Resources – Podcasts, Books…“. You can also head on over to the Page “USEFUL MICROBIOME LINKS.”
Awesome microbiome resources: Dr Peter Attia, MD:
“I dream of the day when our patients can shed their excess pounds and cure themselves of insulin resistance because as medical professionals we’ve shed our excess medical baggage and cured ourselves of new idea resistance sufficiently to go back to our original ideals: open minds, the courage to throw out yesterday’s ideas when they don’t appear to be working, and the understanding that scientific truth isn’t final but constantly evolving.”