Candida & Villi

[Emme999]

I just went to the local health food store and picked up some new probiotics. On one of the boxes (Primadophilus Reuteri - Nature's Way) I noticed that there were two little pictures on the back of some intestinal villi (No Reuteri - little villi / With Reuteri - big villi). So, since it was only $11 and one of my friends had recently cut out an article in the paper on how L. Reuteri improves health (New York Times wrote about a study where subjects who received L. Reuteri in a study reduced reports of illness by 60% in an 80 study) and told me she'd found a lot on the internet about it's effects against resistant yeast infections - I thought "What the hell" and bought it.

(Wow, that was a long sentence, eh?)

Anyway - I came home and started checking out credible medical journals to see if there's any documented research on the stuff. I came across some interesting information. One of the first things that caught my attention in an article titled: The intestine and its microflora are partners for the protection of the host: report on the Danone Symposium "The Intelligent Intestine," held in Paris, June 14, 2002 from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition was this:

Bacterial adhesion occurs first and foremost at the mucin sites that act as soluble or insoluble layers. Under normal conditions, adhesion to cells does not occur. This has been confirmed by a whole series of experiments that show that the normal flora always remain on the surface of the mucus, at the entrances of the villi, but never inside the crypts.

Is this why abnormal bacteria were able to overtake my intestinal tract and lead to a Candida infection? When I had my biopsy, the villi were flat. According to this - *normal* flora remain at the entrances of the villi - but never inside the crypts. All I had left were crypts! Maybe that's why I didn't have enough healthy bacteria to protect me.

Any thoughts?

- Michelle

p.s. I wasn't able to find much (understandable) info regarding L. reuteri & villous heightening. I'll let you know if I do!

[RiceGuy]

Sounds like something many here could benefit from, if it helps to regenerate the villi. I'm gonna look into this for sure!

Thank you!

[dlp252]

I take a probiotic every day anyway since I've been on soooooo many rounds of antibiotics in the last 3.5 to 4 years....I'll check this one out too. Thanks.

[Emme999]

Okay - well I went to the website of the company with rights to l. reuteri (Biogaia) and found this:

Open Original Shared Link

With its exceptional and documented health benefits, L. reuteri is an example of a superior probiotic from BioGaia.

Did you know?

• L. reuteri is the only Lactobacillus to produce and secrete reuterin – a beneficial anti-microbial agent that directly counteracts the growth of and even the survival of a wide variety of harmful bacteria.

• L. reuteri helps strengthen the body’s natural defenses against harmful bacteria and maintain equilibrium in the gastrointestinal tract. It does this partly also by creating an acid local environment that is unfriendly for harmful microorganisms.

• In a study of 47 different lactobacilli (Jacobsen 1999), L. reuteri was found to be the best at inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria, fungi and protozoa.

• L. reuteri occurs naturally in the human intestine and is therefore one of very few Lactobacillus species uniquely adapted to reside in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of man. It can live naturally in the stomach’s harsh environment. It is robust and withstands exposure to the acid gastric juice and bile salts in the upper small intestine and adheres easily to the intestinal wall.

• While other lactobacilli die in high numbers in the stomach and only few survive the transport to the small intestine, L. reuteri thrives everywhere in the "assault course" of the human digestive tract.

• L. reuteri is the only Lactobacillus that has no negative effects on organisms that naturally belong in the ecosystems of human gastrointestinal tracts, i.e. the good and healthy bacteria.

• 100 million L. reuteri Protectis a day is sufficient for powerful efficacy.

• It is safe to use in both healthy and sick people and is proven to promote human health.

Hmm..! So then I went to PubMed and found the study (Jacobsen, 1999) and found this info:

( Open Original Shared Link )

The ability to inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria varied broadly among the strains too, and together with adhesion to Caco-2 cells, this character was used to select potentially probiotic bacteria for the in vivo trial. L. reuteri DSM 12246 showed strong inhibition of all of the pathogenic bacteria tested. This strain is a known producer of reuterin, which could account for this antimicrobial activity.

So... it is antimicrobial (according to this study done on 12 healthy people given 10(exponent)10 twice a day for 18 days). From other research literature I've read, it also populates the intestinal tract fairly quickly (I think it's something like ... after 28 of daily supplementation?). This is good! My intestines definitely need to be repopulated

I was glutened yesterday in a bad way and this morning my tongue was a nasty shade of white. I wonder if being glutened increases the power of the yeast..?

As always - thoughts are welcome

- Michelle

[Rachel--24]

I was glutened yesterday in a bad way and this morning my tongue was a nasty shade of white. I wonder if being glutened increases the power of the yeast..?

- Michelle

I've been thinking that same thing for awhile now. If I get glutened (badly) my tongue turns white, I become incredibly sensitive to chemicals, perfumes and just about everything I eat. It takes weeks to get back on track. Its not so bad with tiny accidents but I still get those same reactions to a lesser degree. When I start feeling better I can tolerate alot more foods, the chemicals dont bother me nearly as much and my tongue looks normal. I start thinking I dont have problems with yeast but after gluten...and I'm thinking dairy now too...the yeast seem to really make themselves known.

[Emme999]

Okay, found some more (from Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy: Open Original Shared Link

(This is part of the abstract)

Lactobacillus reuteri converts glycerol into a potent cell growth inhibitor. This substance, termed reuterin, inhibits the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as yeasts, fungi, and protozoa.

After that it gets all technical

Anyway - that's a specific "yeast, fungi" quote though! I wasn't sure if yeast/fungi were covered with the blanket "antimicrobial." But, there you go, they are.

Hopefully I will finally have found something to help me!

- Michelle