Pollution and Gut Bacteria: A Different Take

Our planet is becoming increasingly toxic, as we add more chemicals to its  air, rivers, lakes and ocean every day. While laws designed to curb pollution have probably helped, they don’t prevent things like massive oil spills or the release of antibiotic or hormone residues from farm animals and humans. You see, all of those pharmaceutical products used to produce a steak from an overcrowded, stressed and diseased animal, almost all of those substances get passed by the animal, and run downstream-eventually to lakes and oceans. Toxic materials such as arsenic and mercury are common. The yellow water in the image above is from a mine leak in Colorado (image from The Durango Herald). The water debacle in Flint, Michigan is just one example of how toxins are present. With those admittedly grim thoughts in mind, what are the most adaptable organisms on the planet? Yes, bacteria. With the ability to share DNA in horizontal transfer and a gene pool replete with ways to break down poisons, bacteria have been at the toxin-vs-detoxify game for over a billion years. What if the bacteria that live inside our bodies could help us to detoxify? Perhaps a different way to ask the same question would be to ask why, given a somewhat consistent toxin exposure in a given neighborhood or community, do some people develop toxicity while others do not? As it turns out, some of our beneficial symbionts (Lactobacillus) can do exactly that. A study found that these bacteria can break down pesticides, and reduced the accumulation of arsenic and mercury in pregnant women and children. That should be pretty good news, right? It is if you make efforts to keep these organisms present. They are often reduced or absent due to antibiotic use/abuse and poor nutritional choices. Ironically, the poor people that are often exposed to these toxins also tend not to buy organic produce or have the educational background required to make the right choices. Instead, they are the victims of our capitalistic dark side, believing that it’s normal to eat McDonalds or Wendy’s on a regular basis and consume Pepsi or Coke instead of water. Elective C-section births are very common, and many new mothers are not taught the benefits or techniques of breastfeeding. The combination of c-section and bottle feeding robs a newborn of the microbiome needed for optimal brain and immune system development. Now we can also say it leaves this child more vulnerable to the effects of pesticides and toxins. This affects all of us in one way or another, and it is simply wrong on many levels to allow it to continue.

One long-term result of the intergenerational demise of the microbiome is that while our planet is accumulating toxins and poisons, our microbiome which could help us to detoxify those substances is on the way down. As the “modern” world infects virginal areas and their indigenous people, bringing them antibiotics and Coca-Cola, the core ancestral microbiome becomes an endangered entity.

It is vitally important that more people understand how the microbiome is necessary for so many aspects of life. It is also important to put in place limitations on drug and chemical releases into the environment, as the current system is not a bucket but a sieve, giving the illusion of containment from a distance but constantly leaking in many directions. Even our nuclear power plants in the USA have joined Fukushima in leaking radioactive waste into the ocean (Indian Point in NY has been leaking).

If mankind does not change the trajectory that our species has been on for some time, it is only a matter of time before our health is so fragile and our planet is so toxic that life will no longer be possible the way it is now. Even if that were to take 500 years, it is still the path we’re on. Perhaps, when the Bible stated that “the meek shall inherit the earth,” it was really a microbial prophecy, as bacteria were the first organisms here and will likely be the last. It’s probably a good time to make sure that your microbiome is fully operational, as it helps you cope with toxic exposures. Perhaps it’s time to coin the term “microbiome survivalist?”

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