Probiotics…Remember them?

I always heard of the word antibiotics. I rarely or in fact, never heard of probiotics. Maybe I have but don’t remember. Anyway, reading this article I have new insight on the live microorganisms that benefit and are beneficial to their human host, probiotics.

http://nitsfitnessmantra.blogspot.com/2014/03/probiotics-your-healthiest-friend.html

Jeannie Gazzaniga-Molooo, who is a registered dietitian says, “Probiotics seems to enhance the intestinal flora and promote a healthier gut environment.” Some foods such as yogurt and other dairy products have probiotics naturally but probiotics have been added to other foods like juice and cookies.  Adding microbes to foods sounds kind of crazy if you put it like that, but adding “beneficial” microbes can have a whole other meaning. According to Dana Kilroy, who is the author of this article, some studies suggest that probiotics can possibly help prevent vaginal yeast infections and urinary tract infections. Probiotics may also reduce the severity of colds and flu and may prevent eczema in children. According to Kilroy, a 2009 study published in Pediatrics, compared two groups of kids ages 3 to 5. The groups drank milk with either Lactobacillus acidophilus or Bifidobacterium animalis or plain milk twice a day. The study found that the kids who drank the “probiotics-infused milk ultimately got half as many fevers and fewer runny noses than the kids who drank plain milk.” A key thing to note that I felt was interesting was that the U.S Food and Drug Administration have not approved any health claims for probiotics.

I really like the way this authors’ article is organized. To me it seems clear with great detail, but not too much to the point where when you read it, it becomes confusing. The dietitians’ insight in this article also lets the reader know that these facts or statements are pretty reliable. It seems to me that Kilroy wrote an article that was unbiased and straight to the point; probiotics have been seen to actually help and benefit people! One of the rhetorical elements I felt Kilroy used extremely well was ethos. The authors’ writing seemed backed up with claims from people with experience of probiotics and scientific facts. Only one question actually arises from my view; if you are exposed to too much probiotics, can it be harmful? This is a question I definitely want to get the answer too!

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-probiotics-primer-20121006,0,6432911.story#axzz309UGvUlS

Bottled Water vs. Tap Water

I am always fascinated to hear about how microbes actually affect us, but what I’m probably more fascinated by is the fact that microorganisms are just in about everything we eat, breathe, and DRINK! In this blog I’m going to be analyzing an article about water bottles. Are we really getting a cleaner water source from buying that $3 bottled water or is that unnoticed tap water, cleaner?

http://www.filtersfast.com/articles/ArticleImages/bottled-water-vs-tap-water.jpg

Researchers from Ccrest Laboratories in Canada might have found something that will question your water bottle purchase. 70 scientists found that 70% of popular water bottle brands available in shops had high levels of bacteria. A microbiologist from Ccrest Laboratories said that the levels of bacteria in the bottled water were “surprisingly high.” Of course we all know that bottled water is not going to be totally free of bacteria, but to have more bacteria than tap water is pretty shocking. Dr. Azam, from Ccrest, said that, “bacteria in bottled water is unlikely to cause disease… but high levels of bacteria in bottled water could pose a risk for vulnerable population such as pregnant women, infants, immunocompromised patients and the elderly.” According to microbiologist Azam, “bottled water did not live up to its claims or purity.”

I really liked this articles topic, but I felt the way this article was written kind of downplayed the topic. This article did include some researchers and microbiologist’s insight, but I felt it should have included more researched facts. The article only included one number, (70%) and I feel in an article like this, many numbers should be talked about. How much bacteria is in the bottled waters? How many bottles were tested? I felt the article left a lot of blank spots where there should have been more researched information.  This article also doesn’t really have any “ethos” in it. The credibility kind of seems off in this article, so this wouldn’t be a source I would actually use for a research paper. It also doesn’t include an author or “written by” name, which I feel, should definitely be included. The topic is very interesting, but I think more microbes should have been mentioned. Like, what bacteria were found in the water? After reading this article I still feel kind of the same about bottled water and tap water. I drink bottled when I can, but I don’t mind tap water. (I’m drinking bottled water as I type this.) $3 Fiji water or tap water? Your choice!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7763038/Bottled-water-contains-more-bacteria-than-tap-water.html

Antibiotic-Free Meat?

Have you ever heard of antibiotic-free meat? Assuming your answer is no, I haven’t either! Antibiotic-free meat, at first, sounds kind of dangerous because “antibiotic-free,” possibly means that there weren’t any precautions to kill harmful microorganisms. Can this be true? Well, after reading an article by Eryn Brown from the La Times about UCLA hospitals now serving “antibiotic-free meat,” I kind of have a different perspective.

https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/images/f/f7/Antibiotics-for-agriculture.gif

Enhancing the growth of cows has many ways, but feeding antibiotics to cows, chickens, and pigs not only enhances there growth; but it can also be a problem of microbes becoming resistant to antibiotics. “Bacteria that are susceptible to treatment die off in the presence of antimicrobial medication, allowing other bacteria that are resistant to drugs to thrive and endanger patients.” It’s only logical that the more the drugs are used the more opportunities arise for resistant bacteria to show up. This can take place both in the human’s life of improper use of antibiotic drugs and in the U.S agricultures’ for overuse of antibiotics in farm animals. According to a report by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than 2 million people in the U.S suffer antibiotic-resistant infections every year and 23,000 of those people die from their illnesses.

UCLA is now starting to put antibiotic-free ground beef, chicken breasts, and ground beef patties on the menus at the university’s hospitals, which include UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center; hospital officials hoping to get rid of “so-called superbugs.” Uslan, director of the UCLA Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, says it’s just a small step toward solving the problem of antibiotic resistance but a very important one.

This article is probably one on the most well written articles I blogged about this semester. The research and knowledge seem to be all backed up by scientific claims and well analyzed. Most of this information was already known but it seemed to be talked about in a different perspective; which I feel is always nice because of the different insight you get. The main point, antibiotic-free meat, was also well addressed in this article and I feel like I now know a reasonable amount about this topic. Only one question arises from my perspective, and that is, is this antibiotic-free meat really going to help in the long run? I guess we will just have to wait and see!

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ucla-antibiotic-free-meat-20140401,0,129974.story#axzz2z6mSFKeB

Super Resistant Bacteria! (Anti - Antibiotics)

When I think of antibiotics, I think of something that helps “kill” whatever is making you sick. But did you know some antibiotics might make some bacteria thrive? Probably not! Antibiotics are supposed to stop killer bacteria, not make bacteria stronger, right?

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bug.jpg

A research group at Harvard, led by George M. Church, studied bacteria. What they found was quite astonishing. The researchers found hundreds of bacteria that can subsist (maintain or support oneself) on antibiotics “as their sole source of carbon.” What the researchers did was isolate strains from soils in 11 locations, which involved alfalfa fields in Minnesota and urban plots in Boston, and fed them 18 natural and synthetic antibiotics, including penicillin. “Bacteria growth was seen with almost all of them.” The researchers say these microbes could be considered super resistant, “since then can tolerate antibiotic concentrations that are 50 times the levels used to define bacteria as resistant.”

This research and knowledge is pretty astonishing in my view. Not only does the research seem well analyzed, but also the way the article introduces the topic is well written.  All of the “facts” in the text are backed up by scientific claims or by the researcher’s findings. I also like the fact the author puts in facts relating to the topic discussed. “None of the microbes studied by the team cause illness in people.” “And no human pathogens are known to have the ability to eat antibiotics,” are just a few of the interesting facts the author puts in the article.

To make this article even more interesting, the one question that arises when I read this article, can bacteria in our body be “super resistant?” was answered. “Since bacterial resistance can be acquired through gene transfer, the possibility exists that human pathogens could pick up resistance from one of these relatives in the soil.” What would happen if bacteria in our bodies became super resistant to antibiotics and thrived off of them? Pretty crazy to think about, I guess we will just have to wait for more research!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/science/08obmicr.html