Impoverished intestinal flora Western lifestyle causes disease

Experts have long warned that our Western lifestyle plays an important role in disease development. For example, hypertension or metabolic disorders are widespread in the industrial nations. Researchers have now studied the intestinal flora of people from different cultures and found amazing.

Causes of civilization diseases on the trail
Several studies have shown in recent years that bacteria in the digestive tract have a major impact on the health and well-being of humans. Above all, it is about the intestinal flora. As the news agency dpa reports, biologists have begun to compare the bacteria that live in the bellies of people in different parts of the world. This should help to find out the causes of lifestyle diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity (obesity) or allergies. Apparently people in the so-called "Western" world have fewer bacteria in their stomach. As two studies show, Western lifestyle reduces the diversity of microorganisms in the gut.

Largest known microbiological intestinal diversity
In one study, the intestinal flora of isolated live groups in Papua New Guinea and the Amazon was investigated. The researchers found in the bellies of people from New Guinea, a significantly greater biodiversity than in those of young people who study in the United States. In the second study, the scientists report on the Yanomami Indians living in the Amazon region of Venezuela. It is said that these people probably have the largest microbiological intestinal diversity known so far.

Stool samples analyzed and compared
An international team of researchers, led by Andrew Greenhill of the Federation University Australia and Jens Walter of the Canadian University of Alberta, studied in Papua New Guinea the intestinal flora of 40 people belonging to the two Asaro and Sausi groups. These live in the interior of the country of agriculture, without central water or electricity supply. Fecal samples from 20 different groups of both groups analyzed for the genome of various organisms were compared with the gut flora of 22 students from US universities from different countries. The researchers found 47 microbes, which were found in every gut in New Guinea, but were never found in the US students. However, as the scientists report in the journal "Cell Reports", they only had four major bacterial strains exclusively. The differences between Papua New Guinea people were significantly lower than those between Americans, despite the greater bacterial diversity.

Not only the different diets play a role
The biologists assume that not only the different diets of the investigated groups play a role. Because of the way of life, the intestinal bacteria in New Guinea could spread better from person to person, as they are in closer contact with each other and live in an environment that is not germ-free. "The results suggest that the life practice of reducing the spread of bacteria - especially through hygiene and drinking water treatment - is an important reason for the differences in the microbiome," explained study leader Jens Walter.

Lower biodiversity of microorganisms
Researchers led by Gloria Dominguez-Bello of the New York University School of Medicine reported in the journal "Science Advances" on a similar result in the Yanomami in Venezuela. The Yanomami, who live as hunter-gatherers, reportedly had no known contact with Western civilization until 2009. Physicians collected saliva, skin or stool samples from 34 Yanomami at the first encounter. The scientists found in the evaluation that these Indians harbored a particularly large variety of microorganisms even compared to other isolated groups in South America and Africa. US citizens have a 40 percent lower biodiversity of microorganisms on the skin and in the gut compared to them. The intestinal flora apparently also varies depending on the climatic zone. This was the conclusion reached last year by Taichi Suzuki from the University of California at Berkeley and Michael Worobey from the University of Arizona at Tucson, who took into account data from six previous studies. According to this, on average, in colder regions, there would be more bacteria causing a higher weight.

Fecal transplantation against intestinal diseases
For years, the importance of gut bacteria for health has been well documented. For example, a study in 2014 showed that certain bacteria can help with allergies. Clostridia bacteria reduced sensitivity to allergenic agents in mice. From the realization that a greater variety of bacteria can be a health benefit, a medical therapy has now been developed, the so-called fecal transplantation. In the process, patients receive stool from the gut of healthy people in the form of fecal capsules. The bacteria contained therein are supposed to calm the intestinal flora out of balance. Some physicians use this stool graft for intestinal bowel disease rather than antibiotics, as treatment with the drugs often causes symptoms such as stinging abdominal pain, diarrhea and fever. In naturopathy, various methods such as Schüssler salts can be used for colon cleansing and intestinal flora. Even a balanced, basic diet plays an important role. (Ad)
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Picture credits: Martin Büdenbender