From: abulsari@abo.fi (Abhay Bulsari VT)
Subject: Detoxification
Organization: Abo Akademi University
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 06:38:29 GMT

This too comes from Michael Traub, and may have originated from
Ferrell Wheeler, like some other postings have.

Every  other  popular  health  book  these  days  seems to contain the word
"detoxification".  We  are  urged  to  change  our  diet, fast or purge our
systems to facilitate internal "cleansing".

In  fact,  recent  scientific  research  suggests that many old ideas about
the  relationship  between nutrition, the digestive system and disease, may
be at least partly true.

The  research  centres  on  the  role  of the bowel flora - the "bugs" that
live  in  the  large  bowel  or  colon  in  all  of us. In a healthy bowel,
billions  of  bacteria  - averaging a total of around four pounds in weight
-  act  as  a  kind  of  living  sewage  disposal system, breaking down the
remnants  of  our  food,  and  producing immune secretions and nutrients as
by-products  of  the  process.  In  a healthy bowel, most of these bacteria
are  "good  guys"  -  such  as those of the family known as "lactobacilli",
holding  the  "bad  guys"  including pathogenic bacteria, virus and fungi -
in check.

The  theory  has it that if the balance of bugs in the bowel is knocked out
for  some  reason,  the  "bad"  guys can get the upper hand, leading to the
production  of  harmful  toxins  in the bowel, and possible invasion of the
body  from  an  infectious  "pool" of viruses and hostile bacteria resident
in  the  gut  -  all of which adds up to what could reasonably be described
as immune deficiency.

Conventional  concepts  of  immunity  start  at  the  bowel  wall, and work
inwards,  not  recognizing  the contents of the bowel as part of the immune
system.

Nevertheless,  Dr  Alan  Ebringer  at the Middlesex Hospital has discovered
that  ankylosing  spondylitis  -  a  painful arthritic disease resulting in
progressive   stiffening  of  the  joints  -  is  caused  by  a  particular
bacterium  which  lives in the bowel and feeds  off carbohydrate  residues.
The  bacterium  resembles  a  particular  type  of  body tissue, so when it
enters  the  bloodstream  an  "auto  immune"  reeaction - in which the body
attacks   itself   -  is  triggered,  causing  inflammation  and  symptoms.
Patients  with  this  condition  improve  dramatically  when  put  on a low
carbohydrate  diet.  Some  doctors  now  believe  that  other "auto-immune"
diseases,  such  as  motor  neurone  disease, myasthenia gravis, rheumatoid
arthritis and some forms of diabetes, could be triggered in a similar way.

The  example  of  ankylosing  spondylitis  lends  powerful  support  of the
notion  that  what goes on in the bowel can cause symptoms elsewhere in the
body - one which many doctors still find hard to accept.

Doctors  at  Addenbrooke's  Hospital, Cambridge, have taken the first steps
in  redefining  the  term  "food  allergy" in terms of changes in the bowel
flora.  True  food  allergy  is  caused  by a usually rapid immune-mediated
response   to   and  offending  food  and  is  probably  quite  rare.  Food
intolerance,  on  the  other  hand,  tends  to  be a much slower reaction -
hours  or  even  days = and may involve a food which is eaten regularly and
in quite large amounts, like wheat or dairy products.

At   Cambridge,   a   relationship   has   been  established  between  food
intolerance  and  the bowel flora - particularly in patients with irritable
bowel syndrome.

It  is  thought that symptoms may be brought on by shifts in the population
of  bacteria  in the bowel, as particular foods favour the proliferation of
particular bacteria.

The  implications  of this work are that if the reason for these imbalances
in  the  bowel  flora  can  be found, and the imbalances corrected, a whole
range  of  chronic  diseases  previously  thought  to be unconnected may be
successfully treated.

Practitioners  of  natural  medicine, including some today who use "fringe"
methods  such  as  colonic  irrigation  and enemas to wash out the bowel as
part  of  the  treatment  of  any  chronic illness, believe that imbalances
occur  because  the bowel quite simply becomes "clogged up" with mucous and
old  faecal  debris  and  is  unable to elminate efficiently. As one famous
naturopath put it: "death begins in the colon".

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