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It's the second time for her — she underwent the surgical procedure 19 months ago when her twins were born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time Danielle wants to try something different, something that might sound strange. As soon as her daughter is born, a doctor will wipe bacteria fluid from Danielle's birth canal all over her baby's body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I haven't told many people about this yet,\" Vukadinovich says, laughing. \"I understand why people would be like, 'Oh my gosh. That's so weird.' But I don't think it's yucky. It's normal. It's natural really.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The procedure, known as \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/expert-answers/vaginal-seeding/faq-20380881\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vaginal seeding\u003c/a>,\" is designed to help babies develop healthy microbiomes — the collection of friendly bacteria that inhabit every person's body. Some people call it a \"bacterial baptism.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a little bit like that baby's first dunk,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.inova.org/indirectory/clinicaltrials.aspx?design=true&dirId=1&LoadCategory=ITMI&LoadSubCategory=Microbiome&memberID=280\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shira Levy\u003c/a>, the microbiome research manager at the Inova hospital. \"That's their first religious experience. You know, they get the water and that changes their spirituality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"In this case, they get the bacteria and that changes their microbiome,\" Levy says. \"This is their first microbiome experience.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The procedure was developed in response to the sharp rise in C-section births in recent years. That increase has been accompanied by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/30/444746094/missing-microbes-provide-clues-about-asthma-risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more cases of asthma\u003c/a>, allergies, eczema, obesity, and other diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The theory is that the rise in these diseases might be happening, in part, because babies aren't getting exposed to their mother's microbes the way they would if they were passing naturally through the birth canal.[contextly_sidebar id=\"0AllfLEduBOKAavkhBROexZnBFbtKljt\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We think that one of the reasons that babies born by C-section are at increased risk for these diseases is because they don't receive that first beneficial exposure to their mother's vaginal microbiome,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.inova.org/Physician_Directory/Suchitra-K-Hourigan-MD/824530\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Suchitra Hourigan\u003c/a>, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Inova.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One very small study \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/01/464905786/researchers-test-microbe-wipe-to-promote-babies-health-after-c-sections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">indicated \u003c/a>that swabbing C-section babies with their mother's microbes immediately after birth could make their microbiomes develop more like those of babies born vaginally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the appeal of vaginal seeding has outpaced evidence that it is safe and effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some couples have started trying vaginal seeding on their own. Vukadinovich jokes that she considered doing it herself. After all, she says, she's a nurse and her husband is a high school biology teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I even told my mom: 'Nobody has to know. My husband would help me out,' \" she says, laughing. \"But I try not to take unnecessary risks.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vukadinovich knows the procedure could be risky. Babies could be inadvertently exposed to disease-causing microbes, such as herpes virus or streptococcus bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, medical groups such as the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology \u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/Clinical-Guidance-and-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Obstetric-Practice/Vaginal-Seeding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warn\u003c/a> women against doing this. \"While there are data to suggest that there may be some scientific plausibility to the concept, it is not without significant risks,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://newsroom.ucla.edu/experts/preview/578561302cfac209100154a4/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Neil Silverman\u003c/a>, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UCLA School of Medicine, who represents ACOG. The group notes that mothers also transfer microbes to their newborns through skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Vukadinovich was thrilled when she found out she could be part of the first \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03298334?term=vaginal+seeding&rank=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> the Food and Drug Administration is allowing to rigorously test whether the procedure is safe and helps improve babies' health.[contextly_sidebar id=\"kMHzgUs0dutTuVHV7G0EJpefrLt2hB8h\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Who knows what's going to happen with the results? But if it does show something positive, I just think that would be great for kids and parents,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hourigan, who's helping lead the study, agrees. \"Just to be able to reduce one risk factor for obesity, especially when there are such high [C-section rates] in the U.S., would be huge,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the study, half of the babies will get swabbed with their mother's microbes; half will get swabbed with a sterile solution. All of the mothers will be carefully screened for dangerous infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the babies will then be followed for three years to see if they become obese or develop other health problems. A \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03567707?term=vaginal+seeding&rank=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">similar study\u003c/a> is starting at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vukadinovich agreed to let an NPR reporter and photographer observe her baby's birth and the swabbing. It's the first time journalists have been allowed to watch a baby go through the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Evelyn Marie is Born\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the nurses wheel Vukadinovich into the operating room, Hourigan, Levy and Dr. Varsha Deopujari follow. Deopujari, the study's clinical manager, will do the actual swabbing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside the OR, everyone quickly takes their places. As the surgeon starts, Hourigan explains what's happening. It goes very fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"An incision is being made into mom, and they are getting ready to take out the baby,\" Hourigan says. \"They can see the head. And the head is now coming out of the C-section incision. Baby's head is out.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In less than a minute after the surgery starts, the baby girl is completely out. A nurse rushes the newborn to a nearby table to clear her breathing. After the baby is breathing smoothly, Deopujari starts swabbing with a gauze pad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, she swabs the baby's mouth, cheeks and face. After turning the gauze over to expose more bacteria, Deopujari wipes the baby's hands and arms. Next, she wipes down her chest, goes over her abdomen, up the other arm and then over her back.[contextly_sidebar id=\"umm131VoK2OKqBWygztDrKkMjOgsaGeH\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"And the swabbing is now over,\" Hourigan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deopujari hands the baby back to a nurse. Hourigan and her team quickly head out of the OR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That went perfectly,\" she says. \"Baby came out and was crying. We waited until baby was stable, and the swabbing went just as planned.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hourigan and her colleagues will swab 50 babies to make sure their procedure is safe. If it is, they plan to expand the study to 800 babies, who would randomly receive either the bacterial swab or a placebo, throughout the Inova hospital system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results could prove important. \"We need more data and we need better data,\" says Silverman, of ACOG. \"If it shows that there is a clear benefit, then this process can be re-evaluated.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, Vukadinovich, her husband, Nick, 41, and their new daughter are together in a hospital room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'm good — feeling good today,\" she says, cradling her baby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple doesn't know if their new daughter, who they would later name Evelyn Marie, was exposed to her mother's microbes or a sterile placebo solution. But they have their fingers crossed she was swabbed with bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I really hope that she was,\" Vukadinovich says. \"If there's a decreased chance of her having any health issues, that would be awesome.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her husband, Nick, agrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're not terribly religious so we won't baptize with water — holy water,\" Nick says. \"But since we're scientists, we like the idea of a bacterial baptism instead of a holy baptism — because now she's been initiated with bacteria, friendly bacteria, that should protect her down the road.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Doctors+Test+Bacterial+Smear+After+Cesarean+Sections+To+Bolster+Babies%27+Microbiomes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"After a C-section, does swabbing a baby with the mother's microbes reduce the risk of obesity and other health problems later in life? An ambitious study to help answer the question is underway.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1540921365,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":42,"wordCount":1252},"headData":{"title":"Doctors Test Bacterial Smear After C-sections To Bolster Babies' Health | KQED","description":"After a C-section, does swabbing a baby with the mother's microbes reduce the risk of obesity and other health problems later in life? An ambitious study to help answer the question is underway.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Doctors Test Bacterial Smear After C-sections To Bolster Babies' Health","datePublished":"2018-10-30T17:42:45.000Z","dateModified":"2018-10-30T17:42:45.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"445306 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=445306","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2018/10/30/doctors-test-bacterial-smear-after-c-sections-to-bolster-babies-health/","disqusTitle":"Doctors Test Bacterial Smear After C-sections To Bolster Babies' Health","source":"DIY Health","nprByline":"Rob Stein, NPR","nprImageAgency":"Mary Mathis/NPR","nprStoryId":"658254175","nprApiLink":"http://api.npr.org/query?id=658254175&apiKey=MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004","nprHtmlLink":"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/10/30/658254175/doctors-test-bacterial-smear-after-cesarean-sections-to-bolster-babies-microbiom?ft=nprml&f=658254175","nprRetrievedStory":"1","nprPubDate":"Tue, 30 Oct 2018 09:58:00 -0400","nprStoryDate":"Tue, 30 Oct 2018 05:03:00 -0400","nprLastModifiedDate":"Tue, 30 Oct 2018 12:45:06 -0400","nprAudio":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2018/10/20181030_me_doctors_test_bacterial_smear_after_cesarean_sections_to_bolster_babies_microbiomes.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=421&p=3&story=658254175&ft=nprml&f=658254175","nprAudioM3u":"http://api.npr.org/m3u/1662009687-72e5e0.m3u?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=421&p=3&story=658254175&ft=nprml&f=658254175","audioTrackLength":422,"path":"/futureofyou/445306/doctors-test-bacterial-smear-after-c-sections-to-bolster-babies-health","audioUrl":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2018/10/20181030_me_doctors_test_bacterial_smear_after_cesarean_sections_to_bolster_babies_microbiomes.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=421&p=3&story=658254175&ft=nprml&f=658254175","parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Danielle Vukadinovich is sitting up in a hospital bed at the Inova Women's Hospital in Falls Church, Va., waiting to give birth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I feel good, I'm excited!\" says Vukadinovich, 35, of Annandale, Va., \"Nervous, but good!\"\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vukadinovich is getting a \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/cesareansection.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cesarean section\u003c/a> today. It's the second time for her — she underwent the surgical procedure 19 months ago when her twins were born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time Danielle wants to try something different, something that might sound strange. As soon as her daughter is born, a doctor will wipe bacteria fluid from Danielle's birth canal all over her baby's body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I haven't told many people about this yet,\" Vukadinovich says, laughing. \"I understand why people would be like, 'Oh my gosh. That's so weird.' But I don't think it's yucky. It's normal. It's natural really.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The procedure, known as \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/expert-answers/vaginal-seeding/faq-20380881\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vaginal seeding\u003c/a>,\" is designed to help babies develop healthy microbiomes — the collection of friendly bacteria that inhabit every person's body. Some people call it a \"bacterial baptism.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a little bit like that baby's first dunk,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.inova.org/indirectory/clinicaltrials.aspx?design=true&dirId=1&LoadCategory=ITMI&LoadSubCategory=Microbiome&memberID=280\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shira Levy\u003c/a>, the microbiome research manager at the Inova hospital. \"That's their first religious experience. You know, they get the water and that changes their spirituality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"In this case, they get the bacteria and that changes their microbiome,\" Levy says. \"This is their first microbiome experience.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The procedure was developed in response to the sharp rise in C-section births in recent years. That increase has been accompanied by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/30/444746094/missing-microbes-provide-clues-about-asthma-risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more cases of asthma\u003c/a>, allergies, eczema, obesity, and other diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The theory is that the rise in these diseases might be happening, in part, because babies aren't getting exposed to their mother's microbes the way they would if they were passing naturally through the birth canal.\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We think that one of the reasons that babies born by C-section are at increased risk for these diseases is because they don't receive that first beneficial exposure to their mother's vaginal microbiome,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.inova.org/Physician_Directory/Suchitra-K-Hourigan-MD/824530\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Suchitra Hourigan\u003c/a>, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Inova.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One very small study \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/01/464905786/researchers-test-microbe-wipe-to-promote-babies-health-after-c-sections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">indicated \u003c/a>that swabbing C-section babies with their mother's microbes immediately after birth could make their microbiomes develop more like those of babies born vaginally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the appeal of vaginal seeding has outpaced evidence that it is safe and effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some couples have started trying vaginal seeding on their own. Vukadinovich jokes that she considered doing it herself. After all, she says, she's a nurse and her husband is a high school biology teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I even told my mom: 'Nobody has to know. My husband would help me out,' \" she says, laughing. \"But I try not to take unnecessary risks.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vukadinovich knows the procedure could be risky. Babies could be inadvertently exposed to disease-causing microbes, such as herpes virus or streptococcus bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, medical groups such as the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology \u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/Clinical-Guidance-and-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Obstetric-Practice/Vaginal-Seeding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warn\u003c/a> women against doing this. \"While there are data to suggest that there may be some scientific plausibility to the concept, it is not without significant risks,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://newsroom.ucla.edu/experts/preview/578561302cfac209100154a4/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Neil Silverman\u003c/a>, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UCLA School of Medicine, who represents ACOG. The group notes that mothers also transfer microbes to their newborns through skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Vukadinovich was thrilled when she found out she could be part of the first \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03298334?term=vaginal+seeding&rank=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> the Food and Drug Administration is allowing to rigorously test whether the procedure is safe and helps improve babies' health.\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Who knows what's going to happen with the results? But if it does show something positive, I just think that would be great for kids and parents,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hourigan, who's helping lead the study, agrees. \"Just to be able to reduce one risk factor for obesity, especially when there are such high [C-section rates] in the U.S., would be huge,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the study, half of the babies will get swabbed with their mother's microbes; half will get swabbed with a sterile solution. All of the mothers will be carefully screened for dangerous infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the babies will then be followed for three years to see if they become obese or develop other health problems. A \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03567707?term=vaginal+seeding&rank=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">similar study\u003c/a> is starting at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vukadinovich agreed to let an NPR reporter and photographer observe her baby's birth and the swabbing. It's the first time journalists have been allowed to watch a baby go through the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Evelyn Marie is Born\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the nurses wheel Vukadinovich into the operating room, Hourigan, Levy and Dr. Varsha Deopujari follow. Deopujari, the study's clinical manager, will do the actual swabbing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside the OR, everyone quickly takes their places. As the surgeon starts, Hourigan explains what's happening. It goes very fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"An incision is being made into mom, and they are getting ready to take out the baby,\" Hourigan says. \"They can see the head. And the head is now coming out of the C-section incision. Baby's head is out.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In less than a minute after the surgery starts, the baby girl is completely out. A nurse rushes the newborn to a nearby table to clear her breathing. After the baby is breathing smoothly, Deopujari starts swabbing with a gauze pad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, she swabs the baby's mouth, cheeks and face. After turning the gauze over to expose more bacteria, Deopujari wipes the baby's hands and arms. Next, she wipes down her chest, goes over her abdomen, up the other arm and then over her back.\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"And the swabbing is now over,\" Hourigan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deopujari hands the baby back to a nurse. Hourigan and her team quickly head out of the OR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That went perfectly,\" she says. \"Baby came out and was crying. We waited until baby was stable, and the swabbing went just as planned.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hourigan and her colleagues will swab 50 babies to make sure their procedure is safe. If it is, they plan to expand the study to 800 babies, who would randomly receive either the bacterial swab or a placebo, throughout the Inova hospital system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results could prove important. \"We need more data and we need better data,\" says Silverman, of ACOG. \"If it shows that there is a clear benefit, then this process can be re-evaluated.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next morning, Vukadinovich, her husband, Nick, 41, and their new daughter are together in a hospital room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'm good — feeling good today,\" she says, cradling her baby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple doesn't know if their new daughter, who they would later name Evelyn Marie, was exposed to her mother's microbes or a sterile placebo solution. But they have their fingers crossed she was swabbed with bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I really hope that she was,\" Vukadinovich says. \"If there's a decreased chance of her having any health issues, that would be awesome.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her husband, Nick, agrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're not terribly religious so we won't baptize with water — holy water,\" Nick says. \"But since we're scientists, we like the idea of a bacterial baptism instead of a holy baptism — because now she's been initiated with bacteria, friendly bacteria, that should protect her down the road.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Doctors+Test+Bacterial+Smear+After+Cesarean+Sections+To+Bolster+Babies%27+Microbiomes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/445306/doctors-test-bacterial-smear-after-c-sections-to-bolster-babies-health","authors":["byline_futureofyou_445306"],"categories":["futureofyou_1060","futureofyou_1062","futureofyou_1","futureofyou_73"],"tags":["futureofyou_631","futureofyou_1635","futureofyou_61","futureofyou_68","futureofyou_520"],"collections":["futureofyou_1093","futureofyou_1097"],"featImg":"futureofyou_445307","label":"source_futureofyou_445306"},"futureofyou_437589":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_437589","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"437589","score":null,"sort":[1513012642000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"research-looks-at-probiotic-for-diarrhea-in-kids","title":"Research Looks at Probiotic for Diarrhea in Kids","publishDate":1513012642,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{"site":"futureofyou"},"content":"\u003cp>It's a typical hectic morning at Michele Comisky's house in Vienna, Va., when she gets a knock on her front door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Hi, how are you?\" Comisky says as she greets Keisha Herbin Smith, a research assistant at Georgetown University. \"Come on in.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comisky, 39, leads Herbin Smith into her kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Which one isn't feeling good?\" asks Herbin Smith, glancing at Comisky's children. \"That one,\" Comisky says, pointing to her 8-year-old son, Jackson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jackson has an ear infection. So he just started 10 days of antibiotics to kill the strain of bacteria that's giving him an earache. That's why Herbin Smith's here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What time did he take his antibiotic?\" Herbin Smith asks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She asks because the antibiotics won't just wipe out the bad bacteria. They could also disrupt the good bacteria in Jackson's body, which can lead to stomach problems, including severe diarrhea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herbin Smith had rushed to Comisky's house to deliver a special yogurt drink that scientists are testing in hopes of preventing those serious problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We want him to take the first yogurt within 24 hours of taking his first antibiotic,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The yogurt contains a \u003ca href=\"https://nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics/introduction.htm\">probiotic\u003c/a> — a living strain of bacteria that researchers think could help prevent diarrhea and other complications of the antibiotic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some previous research has hinted that probiotics could help, and some doctors already are recommending probiotics to parents of children taking antibiotics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But researchers hope the new yogurt study will provide clearer evidence as to whether that's a good idea. It's the first large, carefully designed test of a probiotic to get reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration, says \u003ca href=\"https://ctc.georgetown.edu/merenstein\">Dr. Daniel Merenstein,\u003c/a> who is leading the study. He's the director of research programs in the department of family medicine at Georgetown University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The problem with a lot of probiotic research is that they haven't always been the best of studies,\" Merenstein says. \"Many are done by industry. Many were done in other countries. We're looking to see if it actually prevents diarrhea in kids.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merenstein's study is part of an explosion of interest in research on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/series/218987212/microbiome\">microbiome\u003c/a> — the billions of friendly bacteria, yeast and other microorganisms that live in the human body. There's mounting evidence these microbes play important roles in human health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to helping prevent diarrhea in children taking antibiotics, there is some evidence that probiotics could help prevent complications from antibiotics in adults as well, and might help prevent \u003ca href=\"https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/travelers-diarrhea\">gastrointestinal infections\u003c/a> that sometimes occur when people travel to other countries. Other people have suggested probiotics might help treat vaginal infections in women, or possibly alleviate colic in infants or perhaps prevent eczema in some babies. Probiotics are also being looked at as a possibility to prevent a serious condition in newborn babies — \u003ca href=\"https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/977956-overview\">necrotizing enterocolitis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some researchers even argue there's enough evidence to recommend that healthy adults take a probiotic regularly to help maintain their health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think there's a generic benefit in ingesting high numbers of safe, live bacteria every day,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://publish.ucc.ie/researchprofiles/D010/chill\">Colin Hill,\u003c/a> a professor of microbiology at University College Cork in Ireland. \"If I had my way, there would be a recommended daily allowance of bacteria.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/490432969/eating-yogurt-is-not-enough-rebalancing-the-ecosystem-of-the-microbes-within-us\">question whether there's enough evidence\u003c/a> to support that suggestion or the many claims some companies are making about the alleged benefits probiotics. Some products are being promoted to help prevent obesity, heart disease and even alleviate mental health conditions such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/14/422623067/prozac-in-the-yogurt-aisle-can-good-bacteria-chill-us-out\">anxiety and depression\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The marketing of every claim under the sun with every product under the sun is definitely questionable,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://nccih.nih.gov/grants/contact/lduffy\">Linda Duffy\u003c/a>, a program director at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. \"There's not much in the way a magic bullet anywhere.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The net benefit of probiotic use with certain conditions \"is looking very, very promising,\" she says. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While probiotics are probably safe for most otherwise healthy people, Duffy and others note that the products could pose some risk for people with weakened immune systems, such as those infected with the AIDS virus or for people undergoing cancer chemotherapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another caution is that probiotics are not regulated as closely as prescription and over-the-counter medications. So there's no guarantee that what's on the label is actually in the bottle — or that whatever organisms were originally in the bottle are still alive. There are also concerns about potentially dangerous contaminants in products that could pose a risk even to healthy people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Are there contaminants out there? Are there adulterated products? Are there marketed products without the appropriate claims? Absolutely,\" Duffy says. \"Like anything, you have to be a wise consumer.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Merenstein hopes his study will provide strong new evidence that probiotics provide benefits for children taking antibiotics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03181516?term=merenstein&cond=bb12&rank=1\">study\u003c/a>, 300 children will drink specially made strawberry yogurt. Half will drink yogurt that contains a probiotic called \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/natural/891.html\">bifidobacteria\u003c/a>. The researchers will then compare the incidence of diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems in the two groups of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, the researchers are gathering fecal samples from the children to try to determine exactly how probiotics might work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"One of our goals is to show that taking a probiotic will get your microbiome back to what it was before you started the antibiotic — and/or protect you from the changes,\" Merenstein says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, back at Comisky's house, Jackson takes his first gulp of Merenstein's special yogurt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All right, here you go — you can drink it right out of here,\" Comisky says as she takes a bottle out of the refrigerator, opens the cap and hands it to her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Is it good?\" she asks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Yeah,\" says Jackson, as he gulps down the yogurt and declares: \"Done!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will take years for Merenstein's team to gather and analyze the results of the study. So it will be a while before they can say for sure whether this particular probiotic treatment works or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Could+Probiotics+Protect+Kids+From+A+Downside+Of+Antibiotics%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Many marketing claims about the potential benefits of probiotics have raced ahead of the science, say researchers who are now trying to catch up. One NIH study is investigating kids' gut microbes.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1513012716,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":34,"wordCount":1028},"headData":{"title":"Research Looks at Probiotic for Diarrhea in Kids | KQED","description":"Many marketing claims about the potential benefits of probiotics have raced ahead of the science, say researchers who are now trying to catch up. One NIH study is investigating kids' gut microbes.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Research Looks at Probiotic for Diarrhea in Kids","datePublished":"2017-12-11T17:17:22.000Z","dateModified":"2017-12-11T17:18:36.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"437589 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=437589","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2017/12/11/research-looks-at-probiotic-for-diarrhea-in-kids/","disqusTitle":"Research Looks at Probiotic for Diarrhea in Kids","nprByline":"Rob Stein\u003cbr />NPR Shots","nprImageAgency":"Rob Stein/NPR","nprStoryId":"567746569","nprApiLink":"http://api.npr.org/query?id=567746569&apiKey=MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004","nprHtmlLink":"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/12/11/567746569/could-probiotics-protect-kids-from-a-downside-of-antibiotics?ft=nprml&f=567746569","nprRetrievedStory":"1","nprPubDate":"Mon, 11 Dec 2017 11:34:00 -0500","nprStoryDate":"Mon, 11 Dec 2017 05:16:00 -0500","nprLastModifiedDate":"Mon, 11 Dec 2017 11:35:13 -0500","nprAudio":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2017/12/20171211_me_could_probiotics_protect_kids_from_a_downside_of_antibiotics.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=383&p=3&story=567746569&ft=nprml&f=567746569","nprAudioM3u":"http://api.npr.org/m3u/1569815415-110b69.m3u?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=383&p=3&story=567746569&ft=nprml&f=567746569","path":"/futureofyou/437589/research-looks-at-probiotic-for-diarrhea-in-kids","audioUrl":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2017/12/20171211_me_could_probiotics_protect_kids_from_a_downside_of_antibiotics.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=383&p=3&story=567746569&ft=nprml&f=567746569","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It's a typical hectic morning at Michele Comisky's house in Vienna, Va., when she gets a knock on her front door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Hi, how are you?\" Comisky says as she greets Keisha Herbin Smith, a research assistant at Georgetown University. \"Come on in.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comisky, 39, leads Herbin Smith into her kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Which one isn't feeling good?\" asks Herbin Smith, glancing at Comisky's children. \"That one,\" Comisky says, pointing to her 8-year-old son, Jackson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jackson has an ear infection. So he just started 10 days of antibiotics to kill the strain of bacteria that's giving him an earache. That's why Herbin Smith's here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What time did he take his antibiotic?\" Herbin Smith asks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She asks because the antibiotics won't just wipe out the bad bacteria. They could also disrupt the good bacteria in Jackson's body, which can lead to stomach problems, including severe diarrhea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herbin Smith had rushed to Comisky's house to deliver a special yogurt drink that scientists are testing in hopes of preventing those serious problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We want him to take the first yogurt within 24 hours of taking his first antibiotic,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The yogurt contains a \u003ca href=\"https://nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics/introduction.htm\">probiotic\u003c/a> — a living strain of bacteria that researchers think could help prevent diarrhea and other complications of the antibiotic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some previous research has hinted that probiotics could help, and some doctors already are recommending probiotics to parents of children taking antibiotics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But researchers hope the new yogurt study will provide clearer evidence as to whether that's a good idea. It's the first large, carefully designed test of a probiotic to get reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration, says \u003ca href=\"https://ctc.georgetown.edu/merenstein\">Dr. Daniel Merenstein,\u003c/a> who is leading the study. He's the director of research programs in the department of family medicine at Georgetown University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The problem with a lot of probiotic research is that they haven't always been the best of studies,\" Merenstein says. \"Many are done by industry. Many were done in other countries. We're looking to see if it actually prevents diarrhea in kids.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merenstein's study is part of an explosion of interest in research on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/series/218987212/microbiome\">microbiome\u003c/a> — the billions of friendly bacteria, yeast and other microorganisms that live in the human body. There's mounting evidence these microbes play important roles in human health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to helping prevent diarrhea in children taking antibiotics, there is some evidence that probiotics could help prevent complications from antibiotics in adults as well, and might help prevent \u003ca href=\"https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/travelers-diarrhea\">gastrointestinal infections\u003c/a> that sometimes occur when people travel to other countries. Other people have suggested probiotics might help treat vaginal infections in women, or possibly alleviate colic in infants or perhaps prevent eczema in some babies. Probiotics are also being looked at as a possibility to prevent a serious condition in newborn babies — \u003ca href=\"https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/977956-overview\">necrotizing enterocolitis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some researchers even argue there's enough evidence to recommend that healthy adults take a probiotic regularly to help maintain their health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think there's a generic benefit in ingesting high numbers of safe, live bacteria every day,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://publish.ucc.ie/researchprofiles/D010/chill\">Colin Hill,\u003c/a> a professor of microbiology at University College Cork in Ireland. \"If I had my way, there would be a recommended daily allowance of bacteria.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/490432969/eating-yogurt-is-not-enough-rebalancing-the-ecosystem-of-the-microbes-within-us\">question whether there's enough evidence\u003c/a> to support that suggestion or the many claims some companies are making about the alleged benefits probiotics. Some products are being promoted to help prevent obesity, heart disease and even alleviate mental health conditions such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/14/422623067/prozac-in-the-yogurt-aisle-can-good-bacteria-chill-us-out\">anxiety and depression\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The marketing of every claim under the sun with every product under the sun is definitely questionable,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://nccih.nih.gov/grants/contact/lduffy\">Linda Duffy\u003c/a>, a program director at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. \"There's not much in the way a magic bullet anywhere.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The net benefit of probiotic use with certain conditions \"is looking very, very promising,\" she says. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While probiotics are probably safe for most otherwise healthy people, Duffy and others note that the products could pose some risk for people with weakened immune systems, such as those infected with the AIDS virus or for people undergoing cancer chemotherapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another caution is that probiotics are not regulated as closely as prescription and over-the-counter medications. So there's no guarantee that what's on the label is actually in the bottle — or that whatever organisms were originally in the bottle are still alive. There are also concerns about potentially dangerous contaminants in products that could pose a risk even to healthy people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Are there contaminants out there? Are there adulterated products? Are there marketed products without the appropriate claims? Absolutely,\" Duffy says. \"Like anything, you have to be a wise consumer.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Merenstein hopes his study will provide strong new evidence that probiotics provide benefits for children taking antibiotics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03181516?term=merenstein&cond=bb12&rank=1\">study\u003c/a>, 300 children will drink specially made strawberry yogurt. Half will drink yogurt that contains a probiotic called \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/natural/891.html\">bifidobacteria\u003c/a>. The researchers will then compare the incidence of diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems in the two groups of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, the researchers are gathering fecal samples from the children to try to determine exactly how probiotics might work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"One of our goals is to show that taking a probiotic will get your microbiome back to what it was before you started the antibiotic — and/or protect you from the changes,\" Merenstein says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, back at Comisky's house, Jackson takes his first gulp of Merenstein's special yogurt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All right, here you go — you can drink it right out of here,\" Comisky says as she takes a bottle out of the refrigerator, opens the cap and hands it to her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Is it good?\" she asks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Yeah,\" says Jackson, as he gulps down the yogurt and declares: \"Done!\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will take years for Merenstein's team to gather and analyze the results of the study. So it will be a while before they can say for sure whether this particular probiotic treatment works or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Could+Probiotics+Protect+Kids+From+A+Downside+Of+Antibiotics%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/437589/research-looks-at-probiotic-for-diarrhea-in-kids","authors":["byline_futureofyou_437589"],"categories":["futureofyou_1062","futureofyou_1"],"tags":["futureofyou_697","futureofyou_68","futureofyou_688"],"featImg":"futureofyou_437590","label":"futureofyou"},"futureofyou_435634":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_435634","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"435634","score":null,"sort":[1506582092000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"how-many-viruses-can-live-in-semen-more-than-you-might-think","title":"Semen Can Be a Hotbed for Viruses","publishDate":1506582092,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{"site":"futureofyou"},"content":"\u003cp>When it comes to microbes in sexual organs, the vagina and its fluids seem to garner most of the attention. Heck, there is even a \u003ca href=\"http://vmc.vcu.edu/about\">consortium\u003c/a> dedicated specifically to studying which critters live and thrive in its confines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, who can blame scientists? The vagina's microbiome — or all the bacteria and viruses that inhabit it — can influence all sorts of health aspects, including the risk of miscarriage and HIV infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, the gentlemen are getting some attention on this front. And it's not bacteria we're talking about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Semen can be a hotbed for viruses, scientists \u003ca href=\"https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/11/17-1049_article#r1\">report\u003c/a> in the November issue of \u003cem>Emerging Infectious Diseases\u003c/em>. At least 27 viruses can live in the fluid, including Ebola, Marburg, chikungunya and Lassa fever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors at the University of Oxford compiled \u003ca href=\"https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/11/17-1049-techapp1.pdf\">a full list\u003c/a> after analyzing more than 3,800 studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of these viruses appear temporarily in semen after a person catches an infection. Others stick around for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some viruses — like HIV, hepatitis C and several herpes viruses — are already known to spread through sexual contact. But for others, doctors don't have a clue about the possibility of infecting a partner via sex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The virus's presence in the semen doesn't necessarily equate to sexual transmission,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.upmchealthsecurity.org/our-staff/profiles/adalja/\">Dr. Amesh Adalja\u003c/a>, an infectious disease doctor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who wasn't involved with the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The next step would be to see how viable the virus is in the semen,\" he says. Then, if sexual transmission does occur, the question is: How important is that route of transmission?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">In one Ebola patient, the virus was still detectable in his semen more than 1 1/2 years after he had recovered.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the mumps. This virus spreads easily just through a cough, sneeze or a kiss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People are usually going to be kissing when they're engaging in sexual contact,\" Adalja says. \"So when there are multiple modes of transmission, it might be hard to tease out which is most important for spreading the virus.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in some cases, a hidden sexual route — or one that is quickly dismissed — could be disastrous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the vast majority of people catch Zika from a mosquito bite. But the discovery that Zika can also spread through semen has been critical for preventing horrific birth defects by encouraging couples to use condoms or abstain during the epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when the virus lingers in semen for long periods of time, sexual transmission can reignite an outbreak, Adalja says — just as it did with Ebola in West Africa a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the outbreak, doctors began to realize that Ebola could linger in semen much longer than they previously thought. In one patient, the virus was still detectable in his semen more than 1 1/2 years after he had recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"After the outbreak was thought to be over, sexual transmission caused multiple flare-ups,\" Adalja says. \"And to really end the outbreak, public health officials had to stop that route of transmission as well.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"VW5VfeT1aaQcpFyQftVtM6Zr8fGX6mY4\"]Adalja says he is not surprised that viruses can linger in the semen for so long because \"the testicles have privilege,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Privilege?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Seriously, that's the scientific name,\" Adalja says. \"Male genitals have immune privilege.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That means the immune system doesn't police the testicles as well as other organs,\" he adds. \"So the testes kind of serve as this sanctuary site where viruses can kind of steer clear of the immune system.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does the vagina have this privilege?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Oh no, it's actually very immune-activated,\" Adalja says, \"because the vaginal secretions are very different physiologically from the semen.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So male privilege really does start early in life — very, very early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=How+Many+Viruses+Can+Live+In+Semen%3F+More+Than+You+Might+Think+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"At least 27 viruses can live in semen, including Ebola, Marburg, chikungunya and Lassa fever.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1506626471,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":25,"wordCount":650},"headData":{"title":"Semen Can Be a Hotbed for Viruses | KQED","description":"At least 27 viruses can live in semen, including Ebola, Marburg, chikungunya and Lassa fever.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Semen Can Be a Hotbed for Viruses","datePublished":"2017-09-28T07:01:32.000Z","dateModified":"2017-09-28T19:21:11.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"435634 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=435634","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2017/09/28/how-many-viruses-can-live-in-semen-more-than-you-might-think/","disqusTitle":"Semen Can Be a Hotbed for Viruses","nprByline":"Michaeleen Doucleff\u003cbr />NPR Shots","nprImageAgency":"Andrzej Wojcicki/Science Source","nprStoryId":"551261593","nprApiLink":"http://api.npr.org/query?id=551261593&apiKey=MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004","nprHtmlLink":"http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/09/23/551261593/how-many-viruses-can-live-in-semen-more-than-you-might-think?ft=nprml&f=551261593","nprRetrievedStory":"1","nprPubDate":"Sat, 23 Sep 2017 13:45:00 -0400","nprStoryDate":"Sat, 23 Sep 2017 07:00:00 -0400","nprLastModifiedDate":"Sun, 24 Sep 2017 18:59:04 -0400","path":"/futureofyou/435634/how-many-viruses-can-live-in-semen-more-than-you-might-think","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When it comes to microbes in sexual organs, the vagina and its fluids seem to garner most of the attention. Heck, there is even a \u003ca href=\"http://vmc.vcu.edu/about\">consortium\u003c/a> dedicated specifically to studying which critters live and thrive in its confines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, who can blame scientists? The vagina's microbiome — or all the bacteria and viruses that inhabit it — can influence all sorts of health aspects, including the risk of miscarriage and HIV infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, the gentlemen are getting some attention on this front. And it's not bacteria we're talking about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Semen can be a hotbed for viruses, scientists \u003ca href=\"https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/11/17-1049_article#r1\">report\u003c/a> in the November issue of \u003cem>Emerging Infectious Diseases\u003c/em>. At least 27 viruses can live in the fluid, including Ebola, Marburg, chikungunya and Lassa fever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors at the University of Oxford compiled \u003ca href=\"https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/11/17-1049-techapp1.pdf\">a full list\u003c/a> after analyzing more than 3,800 studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of these viruses appear temporarily in semen after a person catches an infection. Others stick around for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some viruses — like HIV, hepatitis C and several herpes viruses — are already known to spread through sexual contact. But for others, doctors don't have a clue about the possibility of infecting a partner via sex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The virus's presence in the semen doesn't necessarily equate to sexual transmission,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.upmchealthsecurity.org/our-staff/profiles/adalja/\">Dr. Amesh Adalja\u003c/a>, an infectious disease doctor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who wasn't involved with the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The next step would be to see how viable the virus is in the semen,\" he says. Then, if sexual transmission does occur, the question is: How important is that route of transmission?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">In one Ebola patient, the virus was still detectable in his semen more than 1 1/2 years after he had recovered.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the mumps. This virus spreads easily just through a cough, sneeze or a kiss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People are usually going to be kissing when they're engaging in sexual contact,\" Adalja says. \"So when there are multiple modes of transmission, it might be hard to tease out which is most important for spreading the virus.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in some cases, a hidden sexual route — or one that is quickly dismissed — could be disastrous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the vast majority of people catch Zika from a mosquito bite. But the discovery that Zika can also spread through semen has been critical for preventing horrific birth defects by encouraging couples to use condoms or abstain during the epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when the virus lingers in semen for long periods of time, sexual transmission can reignite an outbreak, Adalja says — just as it did with Ebola in West Africa a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the outbreak, doctors began to realize that Ebola could linger in semen much longer than they previously thought. In one patient, the virus was still detectable in his semen more than 1 1/2 years after he had recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"After the outbreak was thought to be over, sexual transmission caused multiple flare-ups,\" Adalja says. \"And to really end the outbreak, public health officials had to stop that route of transmission as well.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Adalja says he is not surprised that viruses can linger in the semen for so long because \"the testicles have privilege,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Privilege?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Seriously, that's the scientific name,\" Adalja says. \"Male genitals have immune privilege.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That means the immune system doesn't police the testicles as well as other organs,\" he adds. \"So the testes kind of serve as this sanctuary site where viruses can kind of steer clear of the immune system.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Does the vagina have this privilege?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Oh no, it's actually very immune-activated,\" Adalja says, \"because the vaginal secretions are very different physiologically from the semen.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So male privilege really does start early in life — very, very early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=How+Many+Viruses+Can+Live+In+Semen%3F+More+Than+You+Might+Think+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/435634/how-many-viruses-can-live-in-semen-more-than-you-might-think","authors":["byline_futureofyou_435634"],"categories":["futureofyou_1"],"tags":["futureofyou_122","futureofyou_1275","futureofyou_68","futureofyou_1362","futureofyou_652"],"featImg":"futureofyou_435635","label":"futureofyou"},"futureofyou_435123":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_435123","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"435123","score":null,"sort":[1504249294000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"probiotic-bacteria-could-protect-newborns-from-deadly-infection","title":"Probiotic Bacteria Could Protect Newborns From Deadly Infection","publishDate":1504249294,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{"site":"futureofyou"},"content":"\u003cp>If you're in desperate need for some good news, look no further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists in the U.S. and India have found an inexpensive treatment that could possibly save hundreds of thousands of newborns each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it turns out, the secret weapon was sitting in Asian kitchens all along: probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'Probiotics can be much more powerful than drugs.’\u003ccite>Pascal Lavoie, a neonatologist at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Feeding babies the microbes dramatically reduces the risk newborns will develop \u003ca href=\"http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/news_events/news/2009/19_01/en/\">sepsis\u003c/a>, scientists \u003ca href=\"http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature23480\">report\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sepsis is a top killer of newborns worldwide. Each year more than 600,000 babies die of the blood infections, which can strike very quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All the sudden the baby stops being active. It stops crying and breastfeeding,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth/departments/epidemiology/facultyandstaff/pinaki-panigrahi.html\">Dr. Pinaki Panigrahi\u003c/a>, a pediatrician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, who led the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"By the time the mother has a chance to bring the baby to the hospital, the baby dies,\" he says. \"In hospitals in India, you see so many babies dying of sepsis, it breaks your heart.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the past 20 years, Panigrahi has been working on a way to prevent sepsis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"BJb3ykz6R6SlQqa8p7vXtkscRpap5MvO\"]Early on he thought probiotic bacteria might be the answer because they work well on another infection that affects preemies, called \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001148.htm\">necrotizing enterocolitis\u003c/a>. It damages the intestines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tricky part, Panigrahi says, was figuring out the best strain of bacteria to protect against sepsis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We screened more than 280 strains in preliminary animal and human studies,\" Panigrahi says. \"So it was a very methodical process.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, the one that seemed the most promising was a strain of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4058509/\">Lactobacillus plantarum\u003c/a> isolated from the diaper of a healthy Indian baby. So Panigrahi and his team decided to move forward with a large-scale study on thousands of babies in rural India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were shocked by how well the bacteria worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Babies who ate the microbes for a week — along with some sugars to feed the microbes — had a dramatic reduction in their risk of death and sepsis. They dropped by 40 percent, from 9 percent to 5.4 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that's not all. The probiotic also warded off several other types of infections, including those in the lungs. Respiratory infections dropped by about 30 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That was a big surprise, because we didn't think gut bacteria were going to work in a distant organ like the lung,\" Panigrahi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The treatment worked so well that the safety board for trial stopped the study early. \"We were planning to enroll 8,000 babies, but stopped at just over 4,000 infants,\" Panigrahi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only significant side effect seen in the study was abdominal distension, which occurred in six babies. But there were more cases reported in the placebo group than in the group that got the probiotic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Panigrahi estimates a course of the probiotic costs about $1 per baby. \"It can be manufactured in a very simple setting,\" Panigrahi says, \"which makes it cheap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now if you think about what's going on here, it almost seems counterintuitive. Remember sepsis is a bacterial infection. So the researcher are preventing a bacterial infection with bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How is that possible? \"Essentially these bacteria have a whole number of health benefits that we have just started to understand in the past couple of years, says \u003ca href=\"https://bcchr.ca/our-research/researchers/results/Details/pascal-lavoie\">Dr. Pascal Lavoie\u003c/a>, a neonatologist at BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First off, these beneficial bacteria can push out harmful bacteria in the baby's gut by changing the environment or simply using up resources, Lavoie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The probiotic bacteria also produces a compound that strengthens the wall of the intestine. \"It acts as a barrier to prevent the bad bacteria from going through the wall into the blood,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, the probiotic bacteria can jump-start a baby's immune system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They can promote maturation of the immune system in a healthier way,\" Lavoie says. \"Probiotics can be much more powerful than drugs.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But like drugs, they need to be fully tested before they become routine in maternity wards around the world, Lavoie says. That means testing the probiotic in more locations and on babies who have the highest risk for sepsis — those born prematurely or underweight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Sepsis is such a important problem around the world,\" Lavoie says. \"This study has huge potential.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Probiotic+Bacteria+Could+Protect+Newborns+From+Deadly+Infection&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Each year more than 600,000 babies die of sepsis. Researchers have found a simple way to prevent it: Feed babies probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1504291326,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":29,"wordCount":765},"headData":{"title":"Probiotic Bacteria Could Protect Newborns From Deadly Infection | KQED","description":"Each year more than 600,000 babies die of sepsis. Researchers have found a simple way to prevent it: Feed babies probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Probiotic Bacteria Could Protect Newborns From Deadly Infection","datePublished":"2017-09-01T07:01:34.000Z","dateModified":"2017-09-01T18:42:06.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"435123 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=435123","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2017/09/01/probiotic-bacteria-could-protect-newborns-from-deadly-infection/","disqusTitle":"Probiotic Bacteria Could Protect Newborns From Deadly Infection","nprByline":"Michaeleen Doucleff\u003c/br>NPR Goats and Soda","nprImageAgency":"Matt Twombly for NPR","nprStoryId":"543920822","nprApiLink":"http://api.npr.org/query?id=543920822&apiKey=MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004","nprHtmlLink":"http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/08/16/543920822/probiotic-bacteria-could-protect-newborns-from-deadly-infection?ft=nprml&f=543920822","nprRetrievedStory":"1","nprPubDate":"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:51:00 -0400","nprStoryDate":"Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:09:00 -0400","nprLastModifiedDate":"Sun, 27 Aug 2017 22:14:05 -0400","nprAudio":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2017/08/20170816_atc_saving_newborns_with_bacteria.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1031&d=226&p=2&story=543920822&t=progseg&e=543840412&seg=16&ft=nprml&f=543920822","nprAudioM3u":"http://api.npr.org/m3u/1543973361-2add06.m3u?orgId=1&topicId=1031&d=226&p=2&story=543920822&t=progseg&e=543840412&seg=16&ft=nprml&f=543920822","path":"/futureofyou/435123/probiotic-bacteria-could-protect-newborns-from-deadly-infection","audioUrl":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2017/08/20170816_atc_saving_newborns_with_bacteria.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1031&d=226&p=2&story=543920822&t=progseg&e=543840412&seg=16&ft=nprml&f=543920822","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If you're in desperate need for some good news, look no further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists in the U.S. and India have found an inexpensive treatment that could possibly save hundreds of thousands of newborns each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it turns out, the secret weapon was sitting in Asian kitchens all along: probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'Probiotics can be much more powerful than drugs.’\u003ccite>Pascal Lavoie, a neonatologist at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Feeding babies the microbes dramatically reduces the risk newborns will develop \u003ca href=\"http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/news_events/news/2009/19_01/en/\">sepsis\u003c/a>, scientists \u003ca href=\"http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature23480\">report\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sepsis is a top killer of newborns worldwide. Each year more than 600,000 babies die of the blood infections, which can strike very quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All the sudden the baby stops being active. It stops crying and breastfeeding,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth/departments/epidemiology/facultyandstaff/pinaki-panigrahi.html\">Dr. Pinaki Panigrahi\u003c/a>, a pediatrician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, who led the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"By the time the mother has a chance to bring the baby to the hospital, the baby dies,\" he says. \"In hospitals in India, you see so many babies dying of sepsis, it breaks your heart.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the past 20 years, Panigrahi has been working on a way to prevent sepsis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Early on he thought probiotic bacteria might be the answer because they work well on another infection that affects preemies, called \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001148.htm\">necrotizing enterocolitis\u003c/a>. It damages the intestines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tricky part, Panigrahi says, was figuring out the best strain of bacteria to protect against sepsis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We screened more than 280 strains in preliminary animal and human studies,\" Panigrahi says. \"So it was a very methodical process.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, the one that seemed the most promising was a strain of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4058509/\">Lactobacillus plantarum\u003c/a> isolated from the diaper of a healthy Indian baby. So Panigrahi and his team decided to move forward with a large-scale study on thousands of babies in rural India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were shocked by how well the bacteria worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Babies who ate the microbes for a week — along with some sugars to feed the microbes — had a dramatic reduction in their risk of death and sepsis. They dropped by 40 percent, from 9 percent to 5.4 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that's not all. The probiotic also warded off several other types of infections, including those in the lungs. Respiratory infections dropped by about 30 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That was a big surprise, because we didn't think gut bacteria were going to work in a distant organ like the lung,\" Panigrahi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The treatment worked so well that the safety board for trial stopped the study early. \"We were planning to enroll 8,000 babies, but stopped at just over 4,000 infants,\" Panigrahi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only significant side effect seen in the study was abdominal distension, which occurred in six babies. But there were more cases reported in the placebo group than in the group that got the probiotic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Panigrahi estimates a course of the probiotic costs about $1 per baby. \"It can be manufactured in a very simple setting,\" Panigrahi says, \"which makes it cheap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now if you think about what's going on here, it almost seems counterintuitive. Remember sepsis is a bacterial infection. So the researcher are preventing a bacterial infection with bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How is that possible? \"Essentially these bacteria have a whole number of health benefits that we have just started to understand in the past couple of years, says \u003ca href=\"https://bcchr.ca/our-research/researchers/results/Details/pascal-lavoie\">Dr. Pascal Lavoie\u003c/a>, a neonatologist at BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First off, these beneficial bacteria can push out harmful bacteria in the baby's gut by changing the environment or simply using up resources, Lavoie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The probiotic bacteria also produces a compound that strengthens the wall of the intestine. \"It acts as a barrier to prevent the bad bacteria from going through the wall into the blood,\" he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, the probiotic bacteria can jump-start a baby's immune system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They can promote maturation of the immune system in a healthier way,\" Lavoie says. \"Probiotics can be much more powerful than drugs.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But like drugs, they need to be fully tested before they become routine in maternity wards around the world, Lavoie says. That means testing the probiotic in more locations and on babies who have the highest risk for sepsis — those born prematurely or underweight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Sepsis is such a important problem around the world,\" Lavoie says. \"This study has huge potential.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Probiotic+Bacteria+Could+Protect+Newborns+From+Deadly+Infection&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/435123/probiotic-bacteria-could-protect-newborns-from-deadly-infection","authors":["byline_futureofyou_435123"],"categories":["futureofyou_1"],"tags":["futureofyou_631","futureofyou_68","futureofyou_653"],"featImg":"futureofyou_435124","label":"futureofyou"},"futureofyou_384757":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_384757","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"384757","score":null,"sort":[1494518412000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"a-year-after-ingesting-someone-elses-feces-biohacker-feels-like-a-new-man","title":"After Ingesting Someone Else's Feces, Biohacker Feels Like New Man","publishDate":1494518412,"format":"aside","headTitle":"KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>If you were a former NASA scientist and current biohacker afflicted with severe and irresolvable gastrointestinal woes, what would you do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(a) Live with the problem as best you could\u003cbr>\n(b) Attempt to replace all the bacteria in your body by taking antibiotics then swallowing a capsule of someone else's poop\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">An experiment no one recommends: Killing your bacteria with antibiotics, then performing a fecal transplant on yourself.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The correct answer -- well, it isn't (a). Not if you're Josiah Zayner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zayner's experiment was the subject of a short New York Times \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005015342/gut-hack.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">documentary\u003c/a> last month and it is pretty interesting, to say the least. (Disclosure: Danielle Venton was acquainted with one of the filmmakers in high school.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"361\" src=\"//static01.nyt.com/video/players/offsite/index.html?videoId=100000005015342\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#interview\">See below for our interview with Zayner\u003c/a>, a year after the experiment. Future of You first met the mid-30s, erstwhile NASA Ames bio-researcher, upon the launch of his business, providing \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/02/22/gene-editing-coming-to-a-kitchen-counter-near-you/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in-home CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing kits\u003c/a> to the public. That was\u003ca href=\"https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/the-odin-diy-crispr-kit/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> controversial\u003c/a> enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then last May, Zayner, who has suffered from ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and frequent diarrhea that have not responded well to conventional treatments, decided to take matters into his own hands -- or guts -- in an attempt to replace his microbiome and mitigate his bad GI problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bacteria are \"almost an extension of you that can be helpful or harmful,\" Zayner says. \"It's like this moving cloud that comes with you wherever you go. We and bacteria are like one organism.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watch the video and you'll see him replacing part of that organism by taking antibiotics to eradicate his own bacteria, then ingesting the feces of a friend (\"\u003ca href=\"http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yolo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yolo\u003c/a>,\" he says at the moment of truth, the biohacker equivalent of \"Down the hatch.\") He also swabbed his body and mouth with a saline solution containing the donor's bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2015/06/15/in-future-fecal-transplants-the-tool-wont-be-stool/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fecal transplants\u003c/a> are now an accepted therapy for a certain type of infection. The thing is, Zayner didn't bother to test his donor's sample. That puts him at risk, as the documentary warns, for \"\u003cspan class=\"s1\">transference of parasites and pathogens, and even blood-borne illnesses like hepatitis.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\"S\u003cspan class=\"s1\">ometimes there’s this thin line, you know, between being crazy and being knowledgeable,\" Zayner admits. \"And I can’t tell.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Verge covered the experiment at the time. Writer Arielle Duhaime-Ross thought the process was less than scientifically rigid:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">I couldn’t help but notice Zayner cutting corners. After drying off, he put on a brand-new Hanes white T-shirt to prevent his old microbiome from recolonizing his body, but an old — though freshly laundered — pair of jeans. He sampled his arms, nose, and mouth, but he didn’t bother to take microbial samples from his genitalia, and didn’t plan on applying Michael’s skin bacteria to his penis or testicles. He told me that there just isn’t much scientific value in gathering that information. Over the course of his experiment, Zayner would only take a third of the poop pills that someone undergoing a standard FMT [Fecal Microbiota Transplantation\u003cem>] \u003c/em>procedure would, stretched over a longer period of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Says a podcaster from The Verge: \"T\u003cspan class=\"s1\">his guy is doing something that is legitimately dangerous and probably kind of stupid.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The experiment, according to Zayner, as well as genetic sequencing from an independent lab, was at least a partial success. (But need we say it: Don't try this at home.)\u003ca id=\"interview\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that about a year has passed, we wanted to catch up with Zayner to see how he's feeling about his health, the procedure and his critics. The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>In the video, that did not look too fun.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. The original plan wasn't to have people document it. I was going to document it myself. But other people got involved, including a reporter and the people who made the documentary. So in the hotel room there's like four other people that you can't see who are badgering me with questions, taking pictures, and I'm just like 'Oh my gosh, I just feel sick. Can't you people leave me alone?' \"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How are you feeling now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was really amazed by the results. There's been no blood in my stool since the transplant, which just kind of blows me away; prior to the transplant it had been multiple times a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>While the transfer of the gut microbes seemed to be successful , the bacteria in your skin and nasal passages were unchanged. Why do you think that is? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think I was recolonized by my own bacteria when I got back home to my own apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have you noticed any personality or mood changes? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked people close to me to say if they saw any changes. It doesn't seem like there's anything aside from an addiction-level sugar craving. I've never encountered a craving like this. At first I didn't fight against it. I'd go to the grocery store and find myself buying 50 candy bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Does your donor friend have a sweet-tooth? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked him if he had sugar cravings, too, and he said, \"I could eat a box of Oreos in one sitting.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have any microbiome researchers reached out to you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A ton, but none of them want me to mention their name or talk about them publicly -- people from MIT, UCLA, Harvard, University of Chicago, UC Irvine, UC Davis, the FDA. They might be a little bit critical, but they're mostly interested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have you heard of other people trying this? Is that a concern, or even a hope of yours?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is a little bit of a concern, because what I did was pretty drastic. I wasn't just trying to do a fecal transplant. I was trying to do a whole-body microbiome transplant.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You weren't just trying to supplement, you were trying to wipe out and replace... \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of people focused just on the fecal transplant. And that was the thing that provided the greatest benefit to me and worked. But I was also trying as hard as I could to wipe out all of the bacteria on my body and in my body, which -- most people thought I would either die or end up hospitalized, which is crazy. That didn't happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But were you worried about safety?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based upon my planning, I thought the chances of something bad happening\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>were pretty small. But when you have a lot of people around...mostly the people who were documenting it were really worried about a lot of things. Their attitude rubbed off on me and I got more and more worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The donor's samples -- why didn't you have those tested for things that could be dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I really thought about that. A part of it might have been foolhardy, but part of me was like the whole purpose of this experiment was to create an idea of how somebody could do something like this. A lot of people don't have access to getting donors tested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought the process I went through was pretty stringent. If you go to \u003ca href=\"http://www.openbiome.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OpenBiome\u003c/a>, the website that takes fecal transplants from people and they freeze them to give to people, they have a questionnaire you can fill out to see if you qualify as a donor. It's pretty extensive and it's something I mimicked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major things that you're probably worried about are more blood-borne diseases and illnesses. People always say you should be afraid of feces because of hemorrhagic E. coli. Honestly, I don't think there is anybody who has hemorrhagic E. coli colonizing them and doesn't know about it. So I wasn't too concerned about that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe this sounds crazy, but there is a certain amount of trust that you want to be able to place in humanity or other people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The donor was also your \u003cem>friend\u003c/em>. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Totally. It was kind of symbolic in that way. If I can't trust this person, then we're all screwed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You said you want this kind of experiment to be accessible to people. Is that because you want people to be able to understand it easily, or do you see this as a prototype?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kind of a prototype, but you have to understand, I don't recommend this to people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The position I'm in right now is really strange where I've become this \"biohacker\" figure. I get contacted by a ton of people all the time, and a lot of those are people with medical issues. And they have no treatment, no cure, and they're just looking for help. They're looking for some way they can treat themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. unfortunately has decided to not allow doctors to prescribe feces to people for any disease other than Clostridium difficile infections that haven't been able to be treated with antibiotics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To me, that's kind of disturbing. And the fact that people have the opportunity to seek treatment themselves, I think, is empowering. So what I really wanted to do was say, \"Hey look, I tried to do something in a very scientific way. And I'm not saying it works, I'm not saying it'll work for you or your disease or cure your ailments at all. But maybe you can also try to take your health into your own hands. Maybe if there's no hope from the medical community, no hope for cures, you can perhaps figure out something on your own -- through experimentation, through reading scientific papers -- and help yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The podcasters at \u003cem>The Verge \u003c/em>had some pretty harsh words for you. What did you think about that? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, I understand from a professional point of view what they were trying to do. But some of the stuff they said just cracked me up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said that what I was doing was stupid -- which is hilarious when you're talking about a person who is suffering from something. It's like, \"Hey, you're suffering from some problem and I think you trying to help yourself is the stupidest thing you could do.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They don't know what it's like when you have to go to the bathroom five times in an hour and\u003cb> \u003c/b>blood is spewing out of your butt and you're in terrible pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People always bring up this issue about whether what I did was \"scientific\" or not. That critique is very dogmatic about the way that science is or should be done. What's important about what I did was whether it works or not, right? I mean, if this actually worked, why wouldn't people be interested? And look, I'm not trying to publish any of this, I'm not trying to have it peer-reviewed in any normal terms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But you would like it if people took a look at what you did and said, 'Maybe there's something here.'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, but I think they know there is. There are clinics oversees, in the UK and other places that actually will give fecal transplants to people suffering from gastrointestinal illness. It's something interesting that in the U.S. isn't allowed.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>We reached out to a handful of microbiome researchers for their thoughts on Zayner's experiment. One, Owen White from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If I had a molecular biology background and was suffering from problems like Josiah, I would find it irresistible not to want to at least try some type of intervention on myself,\" wrote White in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"(T)here is something inherently deserving about exerting your own agency over things that you cannot ordinarily control,\" White said. \"That being said, I strongly agree with all the criticisms that were shown in the video.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more, see Josiah Zayner's \u003ca href=\"http://www.ifyoudontknownowyaknow.com/2016/05/i-transplanted-someone-elses-microbiome.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog post about the transplant\u003c/a>, his \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4i5euw/im_dr_josiah_zayner_former_scientist_at_nasa/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AmA (Ask me Anything) entry on Reddit\u003c/a> or Arielle Duhaime-Ross's \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/4/11581994/fmt-fecal-matter-transplant-josiah-zayner-microbiome-ibs-c-diff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coverage for The Verge\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Catching up with Josiah Zayner, the biohacker who attempted to replace his microbiome as part of an experiment to help irresolvable gastrointestinal woes. And need we say it: Don't try this at home.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1518201169,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":54,"wordCount":2072},"headData":{"title":"After Ingesting Someone Else's Feces, Biohacker Feels Like New Man | KQED","description":"Catching up with Josiah Zayner, the biohacker who attempted to replace his microbiome as part of an experiment to help irresolvable gastrointestinal woes. And need we say it: Don't try this at home.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"After Ingesting Someone Else's Feces, Biohacker Feels Like New Man","datePublished":"2017-05-11T16:00:12.000Z","dateModified":"2018-02-09T18:32:49.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"384757 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=384757","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2017/05/11/a-year-after-ingesting-someone-elses-feces-biohacker-feels-like-a-new-man/","disqusTitle":"After Ingesting Someone Else's Feces, Biohacker Feels Like New Man","source":"KQED Future of You","path":"/futureofyou/384757/a-year-after-ingesting-someone-elses-feces-biohacker-feels-like-a-new-man","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If you were a former NASA scientist and current biohacker afflicted with severe and irresolvable gastrointestinal woes, what would you do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(a) Live with the problem as best you could\u003cbr>\n(b) Attempt to replace all the bacteria in your body by taking antibiotics then swallowing a capsule of someone else's poop\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">An experiment no one recommends: Killing your bacteria with antibiotics, then performing a fecal transplant on yourself.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The correct answer -- well, it isn't (a). Not if you're Josiah Zayner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zayner's experiment was the subject of a short New York Times \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005015342/gut-hack.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">documentary\u003c/a> last month and it is pretty interesting, to say the least. (Disclosure: Danielle Venton was acquainted with one of the filmmakers in high school.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"640\" height=\"361\" src=\"//static01.nyt.com/video/players/offsite/index.html?videoId=100000005015342\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#interview\">See below for our interview with Zayner\u003c/a>, a year after the experiment. Future of You first met the mid-30s, erstwhile NASA Ames bio-researcher, upon the launch of his business, providing \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/02/22/gene-editing-coming-to-a-kitchen-counter-near-you/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in-home CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing kits\u003c/a> to the public. That was\u003ca href=\"https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/the-odin-diy-crispr-kit/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> controversial\u003c/a> enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then last May, Zayner, who has suffered from ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and frequent diarrhea that have not responded well to conventional treatments, decided to take matters into his own hands -- or guts -- in an attempt to replace his microbiome and mitigate his bad GI problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bacteria are \"almost an extension of you that can be helpful or harmful,\" Zayner says. \"It's like this moving cloud that comes with you wherever you go. We and bacteria are like one organism.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watch the video and you'll see him replacing part of that organism by taking antibiotics to eradicate his own bacteria, then ingesting the feces of a friend (\"\u003ca href=\"http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yolo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yolo\u003c/a>,\" he says at the moment of truth, the biohacker equivalent of \"Down the hatch.\") He also swabbed his body and mouth with a saline solution containing the donor's bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2015/06/15/in-future-fecal-transplants-the-tool-wont-be-stool/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fecal transplants\u003c/a> are now an accepted therapy for a certain type of infection. The thing is, Zayner didn't bother to test his donor's sample. That puts him at risk, as the documentary warns, for \"\u003cspan class=\"s1\">transference of parasites and pathogens, and even blood-borne illnesses like hepatitis.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\"S\u003cspan class=\"s1\">ometimes there’s this thin line, you know, between being crazy and being knowledgeable,\" Zayner admits. \"And I can’t tell.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The Verge covered the experiment at the time. Writer Arielle Duhaime-Ross thought the process was less than scientifically rigid:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">I couldn’t help but notice Zayner cutting corners. After drying off, he put on a brand-new Hanes white T-shirt to prevent his old microbiome from recolonizing his body, but an old — though freshly laundered — pair of jeans. He sampled his arms, nose, and mouth, but he didn’t bother to take microbial samples from his genitalia, and didn’t plan on applying Michael’s skin bacteria to his penis or testicles. He told me that there just isn’t much scientific value in gathering that information. Over the course of his experiment, Zayner would only take a third of the poop pills that someone undergoing a standard FMT [Fecal Microbiota Transplantation\u003cem>] \u003c/em>procedure would, stretched over a longer period of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Says a podcaster from The Verge: \"T\u003cspan class=\"s1\">his guy is doing something that is legitimately dangerous and probably kind of stupid.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The experiment, according to Zayner, as well as genetic sequencing from an independent lab, was at least a partial success. (But need we say it: Don't try this at home.)\u003ca id=\"interview\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that about a year has passed, we wanted to catch up with Zayner to see how he's feeling about his health, the procedure and his critics. The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>In the video, that did not look too fun.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. The original plan wasn't to have people document it. I was going to document it myself. But other people got involved, including a reporter and the people who made the documentary. So in the hotel room there's like four other people that you can't see who are badgering me with questions, taking pictures, and I'm just like 'Oh my gosh, I just feel sick. Can't you people leave me alone?' \"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How are you feeling now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was really amazed by the results. There's been no blood in my stool since the transplant, which just kind of blows me away; prior to the transplant it had been multiple times a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>While the transfer of the gut microbes seemed to be successful , the bacteria in your skin and nasal passages were unchanged. Why do you think that is? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think I was recolonized by my own bacteria when I got back home to my own apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have you noticed any personality or mood changes? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked people close to me to say if they saw any changes. It doesn't seem like there's anything aside from an addiction-level sugar craving. I've never encountered a craving like this. At first I didn't fight against it. I'd go to the grocery store and find myself buying 50 candy bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Does your donor friend have a sweet-tooth? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I asked him if he had sugar cravings, too, and he said, \"I could eat a box of Oreos in one sitting.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have any microbiome researchers reached out to you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A ton, but none of them want me to mention their name or talk about them publicly -- people from MIT, UCLA, Harvard, University of Chicago, UC Irvine, UC Davis, the FDA. They might be a little bit critical, but they're mostly interested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have you heard of other people trying this? Is that a concern, or even a hope of yours?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is a little bit of a concern, because what I did was pretty drastic. I wasn't just trying to do a fecal transplant. I was trying to do a whole-body microbiome transplant.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You weren't just trying to supplement, you were trying to wipe out and replace... \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of people focused just on the fecal transplant. And that was the thing that provided the greatest benefit to me and worked. But I was also trying as hard as I could to wipe out all of the bacteria on my body and in my body, which -- most people thought I would either die or end up hospitalized, which is crazy. That didn't happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But were you worried about safety?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based upon my planning, I thought the chances of something bad happening\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>were pretty small. But when you have a lot of people around...mostly the people who were documenting it were really worried about a lot of things. Their attitude rubbed off on me and I got more and more worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The donor's samples -- why didn't you have those tested for things that could be dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I really thought about that. A part of it might have been foolhardy, but part of me was like the whole purpose of this experiment was to create an idea of how somebody could do something like this. A lot of people don't have access to getting donors tested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought the process I went through was pretty stringent. If you go to \u003ca href=\"http://www.openbiome.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OpenBiome\u003c/a>, the website that takes fecal transplants from people and they freeze them to give to people, they have a questionnaire you can fill out to see if you qualify as a donor. It's pretty extensive and it's something I mimicked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major things that you're probably worried about are more blood-borne diseases and illnesses. People always say you should be afraid of feces because of hemorrhagic E. coli. Honestly, I don't think there is anybody who has hemorrhagic E. coli colonizing them and doesn't know about it. So I wasn't too concerned about that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe this sounds crazy, but there is a certain amount of trust that you want to be able to place in humanity or other people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The donor was also your \u003cem>friend\u003c/em>. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Totally. It was kind of symbolic in that way. If I can't trust this person, then we're all screwed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You said you want this kind of experiment to be accessible to people. Is that because you want people to be able to understand it easily, or do you see this as a prototype?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kind of a prototype, but you have to understand, I don't recommend this to people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The position I'm in right now is really strange where I've become this \"biohacker\" figure. I get contacted by a ton of people all the time, and a lot of those are people with medical issues. And they have no treatment, no cure, and they're just looking for help. They're looking for some way they can treat themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. unfortunately has decided to not allow doctors to prescribe feces to people for any disease other than Clostridium difficile infections that haven't been able to be treated with antibiotics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To me, that's kind of disturbing. And the fact that people have the opportunity to seek treatment themselves, I think, is empowering. So what I really wanted to do was say, \"Hey look, I tried to do something in a very scientific way. And I'm not saying it works, I'm not saying it'll work for you or your disease or cure your ailments at all. But maybe you can also try to take your health into your own hands. Maybe if there's no hope from the medical community, no hope for cures, you can perhaps figure out something on your own -- through experimentation, through reading scientific papers -- and help yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The podcasters at \u003cem>The Verge \u003c/em>had some pretty harsh words for you. What did you think about that? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, I understand from a professional point of view what they were trying to do. But some of the stuff they said just cracked me up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said that what I was doing was stupid -- which is hilarious when you're talking about a person who is suffering from something. It's like, \"Hey, you're suffering from some problem and I think you trying to help yourself is the stupidest thing you could do.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They don't know what it's like when you have to go to the bathroom five times in an hour and\u003cb> \u003c/b>blood is spewing out of your butt and you're in terrible pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People always bring up this issue about whether what I did was \"scientific\" or not. That critique is very dogmatic about the way that science is or should be done. What's important about what I did was whether it works or not, right? I mean, if this actually worked, why wouldn't people be interested? And look, I'm not trying to publish any of this, I'm not trying to have it peer-reviewed in any normal terms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But you would like it if people took a look at what you did and said, 'Maybe there's something here.'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, but I think they know there is. There are clinics oversees, in the UK and other places that actually will give fecal transplants to people suffering from gastrointestinal illness. It's something interesting that in the U.S. isn't allowed.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>We reached out to a handful of microbiome researchers for their thoughts on Zayner's experiment. One, Owen White from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If I had a molecular biology background and was suffering from problems like Josiah, I would find it irresistible not to want to at least try some type of intervention on myself,\" wrote White in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"(T)here is something inherently deserving about exerting your own agency over things that you cannot ordinarily control,\" White said. \"That being said, I strongly agree with all the criticisms that were shown in the video.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more, see Josiah Zayner's \u003ca href=\"http://www.ifyoudontknownowyaknow.com/2016/05/i-transplanted-someone-elses-microbiome.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog post about the transplant\u003c/a>, his \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4i5euw/im_dr_josiah_zayner_former_scientist_at_nasa/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AmA (Ask me Anything) entry on Reddit\u003c/a> or Arielle Duhaime-Ross's \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/4/11581994/fmt-fecal-matter-transplant-josiah-zayner-microbiome-ibs-c-diff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coverage for The Verge\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/384757/a-year-after-ingesting-someone-elses-feces-biohacker-feels-like-a-new-man","authors":["11088","80"],"categories":["futureofyou_1060","futureofyou_452","futureofyou_1062","futureofyou_1","futureofyou_73"],"tags":["futureofyou_1275","futureofyou_439","futureofyou_1265","futureofyou_80","futureofyou_68"],"featImg":"futureofyou_388259","label":"source_futureofyou_384757"},"futureofyou_354521":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_354521","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"354521","score":null,"sort":[1491329123000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"microbiologist-turned-astronaut-confronts-bacteria-in-space","title":"Microbiologist Turned Astronaut Confronts Bacteria In Space","publishDate":1491329123,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{"site":"futureofyou"},"content":"\u003cp>A few months ago, at her office in Houston, Kate Rubins was feeling weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was dizzy, she says — \"staggering around like a 2-year-old who had just learned to walk.\" She was constantly looking at her desk to make sure the objects on top weren't floating away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubins wasn't going nuts. She was just readjusting to Earth after living without gravity for four months, hundreds of miles above the planet's surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Floating around up there, with blood rushing to her head like she was hanging upside-down on monkey bars, had been disorienting at first, though she eventually learned to move around using all four limbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coming back to Earth's gravity at the end of October was even more disorienting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Rubins is used to drastic transitions. Oddly enough, her journey to space had started years before, in central Africa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you put your finger on a map in the middle of Africa, that's about where our field site was located,\" says Rubins, a microbiologist as well as an astronaut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was 2007, and an airplane touching down on a grass runway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had brought Rubins and her colleagues to study a nasty outbreak of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/\">monkey pox\u003c/a> in a remote village. She'd already spent time studying HIV, Ebola and smallpox in the lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time the airplane wouldn't be back for six weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_365534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-365534\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Rubins donned a spacesuit to install equipment on the outside of the International Space Station.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-800x532.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-768x511.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-1180x785.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-960x638.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-520x346.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rubins donned a spacesuit to install equipment on the outside of the International Space Station. \u003ccite>(NASA Johnson/Flickr )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rubins didn't know it at the time, but that remote expedition gave her experience she'd eventually draw on during a much bigger journey — to outer space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the work in Africa, Rubins returned to Cambridge, Mass., and \u003ca href=\"http://wi.mit.edu/news/archive/2007/new-whitehead-fellow-kate-rubins-studies-infectious-disease\">a fellowship\u003c/a> at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where she spent a lot of time writing grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that paperwork was \"mind-numbing,\" Rubins says. Just to get a break, a colleague suggested they try filling out a different sort of application — to become NASA astronauts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"So, I found the application online,\" Rubins says, and filled it out on a lark. \"I'll take this chance,\" she figured, \"and maybe it'll be a good story someday of how I applied to be an astronaut.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later, she got a call from Houston asking her to come down for an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'The world of sequencing and molecular biology has opened up to us on the space station.'\u003ccite>Kate Rubins, NASA astronaut\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Rubins doesn't fit the normal astronaut profile. Many start out as military pilots, engineers or doctors — not microbiologists studying viruses. But she got the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There's been a lot of growth in people's interest in doing biological research on the space station,\" explains \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/julie-robinson-videos\">Julie Robinson\u003c/a>, NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the shuttle program ended in 2011, Robinson says, \"our commanders and our pilots had to be ready to land the shuttle, so that implied a really strong piloting [and] aerospace background, and that isn't as important now.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But once NASA's \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/07/21/138564226/atlantis-on-schedule-for-landing-in-florida\">shuttle program ended\u003c/a> and U.S. astronauts started hitching rides to space on Russian rockets, the focus for the American personnel shifted away from piloting skills — they no longer have to be counted on to land the shuttle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What's more important now is the time they spend in orbit, when they're carrying out a variety of experiments,\" says Robinson. \"We can take what we learn in space to help us understand aging, disease processes, and even the basic biology of cells.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's another reason it's useful to have molecular biologists and microbiologists in space: While there aren't viruses like Ebola or monkeypox on the space station (astronauts get quarantined before liftoff to make sure of that), space travel has never been sterile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take this moment from the Apollo 10 mission in 1969, for example, when three astronauts on board notice a loose turd floating through their spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"https://www.npr.org/player/embed/511891419/519751684\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"NPR embedded audio player\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, a few astronauts were sealed in a small capsule for a few days. But now there's the space station — \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/facts-and-figures\">a habitat\u003c/a> the size of a six-bedroom house that circles the Earth, about 200 miles above our heads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The station may have started out pristine, but its astronaut crews didn't.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We cannot send up a sterile crew,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.spacefoundation.org/media/space-watch/new-gen-spotlight-not-your-typical-space-careers\">Sarah Castro-Wallace\u003c/a>, a microbiologist at NASA Johnson Space Center. Astronauts need their gut bacteria and other \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/series/218987212/microbiome\">friendly microbes\u003c/a> to help keep them healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for 16 years straight, crew after crew has been sweating, pooping and puking inside the space station. The microbes they release tend to stick around, because the station is essentially sealed — like an airplane that never gets opened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, it's teeming with non-human life. It has its own \u003ca href=\"http://www.jcvi.org/cms/research/projects/astronaut-microbiome/overview/\">unique microbiome\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"\u003cem>Staphylococcus aureus\u003c/em> we'll find once in a while; \u003cem>Staphylococcus epidermidis\u003c/em> all the time,\" says Castro-Wallace, running down a list of resident space station microorganisms. There's also \u003cem>Staphylococcus hominis \u003c/em>(usually harmless)\u003cem>, Micrococcus luteus \u003c/em>(lives in the mouth and throat)\u003cem>, Burkholderia \u003c/em>(common in soil; some types can cause lung infection)\u003cem>, Sphingomonas \u003c/em>(common in water, and rarely harmful)\u003cem>, Penicillium\u003c/em> (the fungus we find in bread mold) and \u003cem>Aspergillus\u003c/em> (more mold), just to name a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, an entire wall panel of the station turned green with mold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Imagine your shower curtain at its worst,\" says Castro-Wallace, pointing out that the wall of mold happened on the Russian side of the space station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She's particularly interested in \u003cem>Staph. aureus; \u003c/em>a strain of the bacterium that's resistant to multiple drugs is \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/healthcare/\">a particular problem in hospitals,\u003c/a> and can turn something as simple as a paper cut dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If it got into a cut, it could be life threatening,\" Castro-Wallace says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's become clear that scientists need to know what else is living up there, she says — particularly because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4524529/\">research suggests\u003c/a> that microgravity can change gene expression in certain bacteria and make them \u003ca href=\"http://aem.asm.org/content/68/11/5408.full\">more virulent\u003c/a>. (Castro-Wallace has found that \u003cem>Staph. aureus\u003c/em> changes color in simulated microgravity, an indicator that the bacterium might act differently in space than on Earth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, astronauts swab surfaces of the station and send samples back to Houston for identification. But that can take weeks or months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a big reason why NASA hired Kate Rubins — and shot her into the sky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_365539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-365539\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Rubins works on an experiment inside the station's glovebox. Prior research has suggested that the microgravity of space can change gene expression in certain bacteria and make them more virulent. \" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-520x346.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rubins works on an experiment inside the station's glovebox. Prior research has suggested that the microgravity of space can change gene expression in certain bacteria and make them more virulent. \u003ccite>(NASA Johnson/Flickr )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last July, after seven years of training at NASA — working at Mission Control, doing mock space expeditions underwater and flying supersonic fighter jets to keep her reflexes sharp — Rubins blasted off from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian rocket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had 115 days to help set up a microbiology lab on the station. She drew on her earlier experience studying viruses — working quickly in a remote place, with minimal equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There's actually an incredible amount of parallels between working in central Congo in a remote, isolated village and doing research aboard the space station,\" Rubins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I called her in space, while she was on the station last fall, Rubins had just gotten the lab up and running and was really excited about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's absolutely a working laboratory,\" she told me, as she floated around, describing the scene. \"We have experiments all over the place.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks before, Rubins had \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/dna_sequencing\">sequenced DNA \u003c/a>in space — the first time anyone had ever done that. The fact that the technology worked in microgravity showed that, in the near future, it should be possible to swab a moldy wall, for example, and immediately determine the type of mold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She'd also grown stem cells into heart cells without gravity, and — peering through a microscope that she'd set up — watched them beat in unison.[contextly_sidebar id=\"muVELSNI1O0wS0Y6K8AgzoKVvZe3SIUx\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubins has proved that it's possible to do molecular biology at least 200 miles beyond Earth — and maybe 200 million miles away, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The world of sequencing and molecular biology has opened up to us on the space station,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and NASA's Julie Robinson are the kind of people who start sentences with the words \"When we go to Mars,\" as if the journey to that planet is as inevitable as their next trip to the grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's the plan,\" says Robinson. \"Absolutely,\" says Rubins, who is now Deputy Director of Human Health and Performance at Johnson Space Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When \u003cstrong>--\u003c/strong> or if \u003cstrong>--\u003c/strong> that expedition happens, Mars-based biology labs will be crucial resources for astronauts there. They'll need the tools of molecular biology to identify non-human life, so these emissaries from Earth can make sure that they aren't contaminating Mars with their own microbes, and to be able to detect any new life forms they might encounter. They'll also need the labs to diagnose sick space travelers, so they don't waste precious antibiotics or antivirals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, of course, they'll need the technology to figure out what's growing on their walls. Because one thing is for sure: Any human-built Mars habitat will soon become at least as gross as the International Space Station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Microbe+Hunter+Plies+Her+Trade+In+Space&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Meet Kate Rubins, a virus-hunter turned astronaut. When she sequenced DNA in space for the first time, she opened the door to a new era in space biology.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1491341599,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":50,"wordCount":1588},"headData":{"title":"Microbiologist Turned Astronaut Confronts Bacteria In Space | KQED","description":"Meet Kate Rubins, a virus-hunter turned astronaut. When she sequenced DNA in space for the first time, she opened the door to a new era in space biology.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Microbiologist Turned Astronaut Confronts Bacteria In Space","datePublished":"2017-04-04T18:05:23.000Z","dateModified":"2017-04-04T21:33:19.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"354521 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=354521","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2017/04/04/microbiologist-turned-astronaut-confronts-bacteria-in-space/","disqusTitle":"Microbiologist Turned Astronaut Confronts Bacteria In Space","nprByline":"\u003cstrong>Rae Ellen Bichell\u003cBR />NPR Shots\u003c/strong>","nprStoryId":"511891419","nprApiLink":"http://api.npr.org/query?id=511891419&apiKey=MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004","nprHtmlLink":"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/14/511891419/a-microbe-hunter-plies-her-trade-in-space?ft=nprml&f=511891419","nprRetrievedStory":"1","nprPubDate":"Tue, 14 Mar 2017 08:42:00 -0400","nprStoryDate":"Tue, 14 Mar 2017 05:00:00 -0400","nprLastModifiedDate":"Tue, 14 Mar 2017 05:24:46 -0400","nprAudio":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2017/03/20170314_me_a_microbe_hunter_plies_her_trade_in_space.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=293&p=3&story=511891419&t=progseg&e=520080638&seg=10&ft=nprml&f=511891419","nprAudioM3u":"http://api.npr.org/m3u/1520087965-7f1e25.m3u?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=293&p=3&story=511891419&t=progseg&e=520080638&seg=10&ft=nprml&f=511891419","path":"/futureofyou/354521/microbiologist-turned-astronaut-confronts-bacteria-in-space","audioUrl":"https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2017/03/20170314_me_a_microbe_hunter_plies_her_trade_in_space.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1128&d=293&p=3&story=511891419&t=progseg&e=520080638&seg=10&ft=nprml&f=511891419","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A few months ago, at her office in Houston, Kate Rubins was feeling weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was dizzy, she says — \"staggering around like a 2-year-old who had just learned to walk.\" She was constantly looking at her desk to make sure the objects on top weren't floating away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubins wasn't going nuts. She was just readjusting to Earth after living without gravity for four months, hundreds of miles above the planet's surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Floating around up there, with blood rushing to her head like she was hanging upside-down on monkey bars, had been disorienting at first, though she eventually learned to move around using all four limbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coming back to Earth's gravity at the end of October was even more disorienting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Rubins is used to drastic transitions. Oddly enough, her journey to space had started years before, in central Africa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If you put your finger on a map in the middle of Africa, that's about where our field site was located,\" says Rubins, a microbiologist as well as an astronaut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was 2007, and an airplane touching down on a grass runway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had brought Rubins and her colleagues to study a nasty outbreak of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/\">monkey pox\u003c/a> in a remote village. She'd already spent time studying HIV, Ebola and smallpox in the lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time the airplane wouldn't be back for six weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_365534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-365534\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Rubins donned a spacesuit to install equipment on the outside of the International Space Station.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-800x532.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-768x511.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-1180x785.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-960x638.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4-520x346.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins4.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rubins donned a spacesuit to install equipment on the outside of the International Space Station. \u003ccite>(NASA Johnson/Flickr )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rubins didn't know it at the time, but that remote expedition gave her experience she'd eventually draw on during a much bigger journey — to outer space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the work in Africa, Rubins returned to Cambridge, Mass., and \u003ca href=\"http://wi.mit.edu/news/archive/2007/new-whitehead-fellow-kate-rubins-studies-infectious-disease\">a fellowship\u003c/a> at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where she spent a lot of time writing grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that paperwork was \"mind-numbing,\" Rubins says. Just to get a break, a colleague suggested they try filling out a different sort of application — to become NASA astronauts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"So, I found the application online,\" Rubins says, and filled it out on a lark. \"I'll take this chance,\" she figured, \"and maybe it'll be a good story someday of how I applied to be an astronaut.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later, she got a call from Houston asking her to come down for an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'The world of sequencing and molecular biology has opened up to us on the space station.'\u003ccite>Kate Rubins, NASA astronaut\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Rubins doesn't fit the normal astronaut profile. Many start out as military pilots, engineers or doctors — not microbiologists studying viruses. But she got the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There's been a lot of growth in people's interest in doing biological research on the space station,\" explains \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/julie-robinson-videos\">Julie Robinson\u003c/a>, NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the shuttle program ended in 2011, Robinson says, \"our commanders and our pilots had to be ready to land the shuttle, so that implied a really strong piloting [and] aerospace background, and that isn't as important now.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But once NASA's \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/07/21/138564226/atlantis-on-schedule-for-landing-in-florida\">shuttle program ended\u003c/a> and U.S. astronauts started hitching rides to space on Russian rockets, the focus for the American personnel shifted away from piloting skills — they no longer have to be counted on to land the shuttle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What's more important now is the time they spend in orbit, when they're carrying out a variety of experiments,\" says Robinson. \"We can take what we learn in space to help us understand aging, disease processes, and even the basic biology of cells.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's another reason it's useful to have molecular biologists and microbiologists in space: While there aren't viruses like Ebola or monkeypox on the space station (astronauts get quarantined before liftoff to make sure of that), space travel has never been sterile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take this moment from the Apollo 10 mission in 1969, for example, when three astronauts on board notice a loose turd floating through their spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe src=\"https://www.npr.org/player/embed/511891419/519751684\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"NPR embedded audio player\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, a few astronauts were sealed in a small capsule for a few days. But now there's the space station — \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/facts-and-figures\">a habitat\u003c/a> the size of a six-bedroom house that circles the Earth, about 200 miles above our heads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The station may have started out pristine, but its astronaut crews didn't.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We cannot send up a sterile crew,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.spacefoundation.org/media/space-watch/new-gen-spotlight-not-your-typical-space-careers\">Sarah Castro-Wallace\u003c/a>, a microbiologist at NASA Johnson Space Center. Astronauts need their gut bacteria and other \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/series/218987212/microbiome\">friendly microbes\u003c/a> to help keep them healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for 16 years straight, crew after crew has been sweating, pooping and puking inside the space station. The microbes they release tend to stick around, because the station is essentially sealed — like an airplane that never gets opened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, it's teeming with non-human life. It has its own \u003ca href=\"http://www.jcvi.org/cms/research/projects/astronaut-microbiome/overview/\">unique microbiome\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"\u003cem>Staphylococcus aureus\u003c/em> we'll find once in a while; \u003cem>Staphylococcus epidermidis\u003c/em> all the time,\" says Castro-Wallace, running down a list of resident space station microorganisms. There's also \u003cem>Staphylococcus hominis \u003c/em>(usually harmless)\u003cem>, Micrococcus luteus \u003c/em>(lives in the mouth and throat)\u003cem>, Burkholderia \u003c/em>(common in soil; some types can cause lung infection)\u003cem>, Sphingomonas \u003c/em>(common in water, and rarely harmful)\u003cem>, Penicillium\u003c/em> (the fungus we find in bread mold) and \u003cem>Aspergillus\u003c/em> (more mold), just to name a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, an entire wall panel of the station turned green with mold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Imagine your shower curtain at its worst,\" says Castro-Wallace, pointing out that the wall of mold happened on the Russian side of the space station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She's particularly interested in \u003cem>Staph. aureus; \u003c/em>a strain of the bacterium that's resistant to multiple drugs is \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/healthcare/\">a particular problem in hospitals,\u003c/a> and can turn something as simple as a paper cut dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"If it got into a cut, it could be life threatening,\" Castro-Wallace says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's become clear that scientists need to know what else is living up there, she says — particularly because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4524529/\">research suggests\u003c/a> that microgravity can change gene expression in certain bacteria and make them \u003ca href=\"http://aem.asm.org/content/68/11/5408.full\">more virulent\u003c/a>. (Castro-Wallace has found that \u003cem>Staph. aureus\u003c/em> changes color in simulated microgravity, an indicator that the bacterium might act differently in space than on Earth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, astronauts swab surfaces of the station and send samples back to Houston for identification. But that can take weeks or months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's a big reason why NASA hired Kate Rubins — and shot her into the sky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_365539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-365539\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Rubins works on an experiment inside the station's glovebox. Prior research has suggested that the microgravity of space can change gene expression in certain bacteria and make them more virulent. \" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-160x106.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-240x160.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-375x249.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Rubins2-520x346.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rubins works on an experiment inside the station's glovebox. Prior research has suggested that the microgravity of space can change gene expression in certain bacteria and make them more virulent. \u003ccite>(NASA Johnson/Flickr )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last July, after seven years of training at NASA — working at Mission Control, doing mock space expeditions underwater and flying supersonic fighter jets to keep her reflexes sharp — Rubins blasted off from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian rocket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had 115 days to help set up a microbiology lab on the station. She drew on her earlier experience studying viruses — working quickly in a remote place, with minimal equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There's actually an incredible amount of parallels between working in central Congo in a remote, isolated village and doing research aboard the space station,\" Rubins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I called her in space, while she was on the station last fall, Rubins had just gotten the lab up and running and was really excited about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's absolutely a working laboratory,\" she told me, as she floated around, describing the scene. \"We have experiments all over the place.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks before, Rubins had \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/dna_sequencing\">sequenced DNA \u003c/a>in space — the first time anyone had ever done that. The fact that the technology worked in microgravity showed that, in the near future, it should be possible to swab a moldy wall, for example, and immediately determine the type of mold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She'd also grown stem cells into heart cells without gravity, and — peering through a microscope that she'd set up — watched them beat in unison.\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubins has proved that it's possible to do molecular biology at least 200 miles beyond Earth — and maybe 200 million miles away, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The world of sequencing and molecular biology has opened up to us on the space station,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and NASA's Julie Robinson are the kind of people who start sentences with the words \"When we go to Mars,\" as if the journey to that planet is as inevitable as their next trip to the grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's the plan,\" says Robinson. \"Absolutely,\" says Rubins, who is now Deputy Director of Human Health and Performance at Johnson Space Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When \u003cstrong>--\u003c/strong> or if \u003cstrong>--\u003c/strong> that expedition happens, Mars-based biology labs will be crucial resources for astronauts there. They'll need the tools of molecular biology to identify non-human life, so these emissaries from Earth can make sure that they aren't contaminating Mars with their own microbes, and to be able to detect any new life forms they might encounter. They'll also need the labs to diagnose sick space travelers, so they don't waste precious antibiotics or antivirals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, of course, they'll need the technology to figure out what's growing on their walls. Because one thing is for sure: Any human-built Mars habitat will soon become at least as gross as the International Space Station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Microbe+Hunter+Plies+Her+Trade+In+Space&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/354521/microbiologist-turned-astronaut-confronts-bacteria-in-space","authors":["byline_futureofyou_354521"],"categories":["futureofyou_1"],"tags":["futureofyou_1229","futureofyou_1231","futureofyou_1228","futureofyou_1232","futureofyou_1230","futureofyou_68","futureofyou_810","futureofyou_271"],"featImg":"futureofyou_365532","label":"futureofyou"},"futureofyou_352304":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_352304","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"352304","score":null,"sort":[1489429548000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"can-probiotics-help-your-depression-what-we-know-what-we-dont","title":"Can Probiotics Help Your Depression? What We Know, What We Don’t","publishDate":1489429548,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>What if your psychiatrist prescribed yogurt and vegetables as an antidepressant?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'It’s the first controlled experiment, to our knowledge, to show that dietary intervention can curb mood disorders.'\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>It may sound like alternative medicine, but researchers at the intersection of psychiatry and biochemistry think that adding certain beneficial bacteria to a person's intestines could be the future for treating anxiety and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Diet and Depression\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Studies have found that a diet high in vegetables and low in processed foods correlates with \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265517050_Relationship_Between_Diet_and_Mental_Health_in_Children_and_Adolescents_A_Systematic_Review\" target=\"_blank\">lower\u003c/a> rates of depression.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But showing that what you eat actually \u003cem>affects\u003c/em> your mental health has been more complicated, because people who are depressed may be less likely to eat healthier, as opposed to the other way around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But now, in a recent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-017-0791-y\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">study \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">out of Australia’s Deakin University\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> scientists \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">say they\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">have used food to effectively treat depression.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s the first controlled experiment, to our knowledge, to show that dietary intervention can curb mood disorders,” says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Felice Jacka\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a psychiatrist at Deakin and the study’s lead researcher.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"BR5La0DO2Pz0qD1n57PZ49OO77mTxy8A\"]Deakin and colleagues recruited 56 people, all of whom met two criteria: They were clinically diagnosed with moderate to severe depression, and they had consumed a lot of sweets and processed meats at the expense of healthier foods like fruit, vegetables and fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The participants were then randomly assigned to one of two treatments: diet counseling or “\u003ca href=\"https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-friendship-doctor/201002/is-befriending-treatment-depression\" target=\"_blank\">befriending\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Despite heavy marketing of probiotics, we still don't know which bacteria interact with which foods to help boost neurotransmitters that can help our mood.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the 12-week study, subjects in the diet intervention group regularly met with nutritionists who counseled them to increase their consumption of vegetables, whole grains and fish, and to decrease their intake of junk food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patients who were subject to befriending met \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">with trained research assistants to discuss topics like hobbies or board games; they did not receive any psychological therapy. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This group served as a control to ensure that any improvement in the diet intervention group would not be due to positive social interaction with the nutritionist.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the 12 weeks, all of the participants were re-evaluated, using the same depression measures as at the study's start. The results? While both groups showed fewer symptoms of depression, those who had received the diet intervention were significantly less depressed than those in the control group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, the more healthy changes that the subjects made to their diet, the less depressed they were at the end of the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It was pretty remarkable,” Jacka says. “Their level of improvement correlated closely with the level of improvement to their diet.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How Can Food Affect Our Mood?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the end of the study, the researchers found similar levels of biomarkers like glucose and cholesterol in the diet and control groups. The groups did not differ in the overall amount of exercise they had engaged in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So what happened to the group with the improved diet to make them less depressed? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While many people intuit that they are what they eat when it comes to mental health, Jacka and other researchers believe there is another factor at work: our \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">intestines\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and the signals they send to our brain\u003ci>s.\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are still only starting to tease all of this out,” says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Melanie Gareau, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a physiologist at UC Davis who specializes in understanding interactions between our brain and our gut. Given all that we know about that link, the Australian study results make sense, she says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ve known for quite a while that over 95 percent of the serotonin in our bodies is produced in the intestines,” says Gareau. As serotonin is one of the primary neurotransmitters mediating depression, she thinks it's no surprise that what goes into our intestines can affect our emotions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But it’s not just about the food we are eating, she says. It's how that food interacts with the trillions of bacterial cells that live in our guts, collectively called our microbiome.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gareau points to\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3839572/\" target=\"_blank\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a small study \u003c/span>\u003c/a>out of \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">UCLA that shows \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the effect of probiotics — micro-organisms believed to be beneficial to humans — on brain activity. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the study, 12 women over the course of a month were given yogurt containing Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Both of these have been associated with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lieve_Desbonnet/publication/45582675_Desbonnet_L_Garrett_L_Clarke_G_Kiely_B_Cryan_JF_Dinan_TG_Effects_of_the_probiotic_Bifidobacterium_infantis_in_the_maternal_separation_model_of_depression_Neuroscience_170_1179-1188/links/552ce5fa0cf21acb09210214.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">decreased depression in rodents\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and there have been suggestive \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">links between those types of bacteria and mood in \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20974015\" target=\"_blank\">human studies\u003c/a> as well.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Although it’s not clear whether taking probiotics with these particular bacteria changes the overall profile of our microbiome for any extended length of time, ingesting them does increase their levels for shorter periods. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the UCLA study, after four weeks of consuming these probiotics, the women completed an emotional response task in which they viewed pictures of angry and fearful faces, while their brain activity was recorded through functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. The procedure, which measures changes in blood flow within the brain, showed which areas were activated while the subjects viewed the images\u003c/span>\u003cb>.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The faces [we used] can trigger threat responses in people,” explains\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Kirsten Tillisch\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the study's lead researcher and a gastroenterologist at UCLA. “And we know that people with anxiety show increased responses to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As it turned out, the women who took the probiotics showed less brain activity when viewing the emotional images than women who took a placebo. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Emeran Mayer\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a co-researcher in the study and the author of \"\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mind-Gut Connection\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\" explains that this kind of dampened response resembles the pattern you might expect to see in someone who isn’t hyper-reactive to the environment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The brain’s reactivity to threatening stimuli is reduced. So you could speculate that these people might be less prone to anxiety,” Mayer says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is it the Food or the Bacteria?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if our microbiome affects our mood, how so? Researchers think the process might occur \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041311400463X\" target=\"_blank\">through metabolites\u003c/a>, a byproduct released by bacteria that feeds on food our bodies cannot fully break down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These metabolites can enter into the bloodstream or nervous system, travel up to our brain, and influence how neurons talk to one another. Metabolites may also serve as messengers, signaling cells in the intestines to increase or decrease compounds like serotonin.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">C\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">rlito Lebrilla\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine at UC Davis, says you have to look at both the bacteria \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the food to understand what’s happening. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although there has been an increase in the marketing of probiotic supplements in recent years, especially for improving physical health, \"probiotics are not doing all of the work here,” Lebrilla explains. Ingesting probiotics, whether through supplements or a food like yogurt, lays down some of that “good” intestinal bacteria, so that they are poised and ready to give off the right kind of metabolites. However, whether or not your gut bacteria produce those metabolites depends on the food you eat afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So you can eat a probiotic food like yogurt all day and still not experience the potentially positive effects, Lebrilla says. That's because we still don't know which metabolites make our brains feel better, which bacteria give off those metabolites, and which kinds of foods \u003ci>feed\u003c/i> those bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That's what we are trying to do right now,” Lebrilla says. He says that while scientists have identified a few types of bacteria that are likely to give off good metabolites, there are hundreds and possibly thousands of bacterial strains in our intestines. If we could map out the specific bacteria-metabolite combinations that reduce anxiety and depression, we would be a step closer to creating customized diets for our brains. It’s something that could take a couple of decades to accomplish, Lebrilla says, “but it’s not that far-fetched.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"x_gmail-m_-2829810840648309428gmail-m_-7153094449839385370MsoListParagraph\">In the meantime, both Jacka and Mayer point out that over tens of thousands of years, our bodies have evolved in concert with the microbiota in our intestines to function optimally with the foods we have been eating\u003cb>. \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.5\">For millennia we fed off of a mostly plant-based and lean-meat diet. But in recent years there have been “profound changes to the kinds of foods we eat,” Jacka says, particularly in the reduced amount of vegetables and increased amount of sugar.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It's wildly different from what we were eating even a generation ago.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taking that into consideration, what the findings from her study might really show is not a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">new\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> diet to curb mood disorders, but rather how we might look back to the foods our ancestors ate in order to restore balance to our bodies and brains.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Researchers at the intersection of psychiatry and biochemistry think adding beneficial bacteria to our diet could be a treatment for anxiety and depression. But there are still many unknowns about which foods can help.\r\n","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1489895733,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":37,"wordCount":1555},"headData":{"title":"Can Probiotics Help Your Depression? What We Know, What We Don’t | KQED","description":"Researchers at the intersection of psychiatry and biochemistry think adding beneficial bacteria to our diet could be a treatment for anxiety and depression. But there are still many unknowns about which foods can help.\r\n","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Can Probiotics Help Your Depression? What We Know, What We Don’t","datePublished":"2017-03-13T18:25:48.000Z","dateModified":"2017-03-19T03:55:33.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"352304 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=352304","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2017/03/13/can-probiotics-help-your-depression-what-we-know-what-we-dont/","disqusTitle":"Can Probiotics Help Your Depression? What We Know, What We Don’t","source":"KQED Future of You","customPermalink":"2017/03/13/probiotics-depression/","nprByline":"Lisa Cantrell","path":"/futureofyou/352304/can-probiotics-help-your-depression-what-we-know-what-we-dont","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>What if your psychiatrist prescribed yogurt and vegetables as an antidepressant?\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'It’s the first controlled experiment, to our knowledge, to show that dietary intervention can curb mood disorders.'\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>It may sound like alternative medicine, but researchers at the intersection of psychiatry and biochemistry think that adding certain beneficial bacteria to a person's intestines could be the future for treating anxiety and depression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Diet and Depression\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Studies have found that a diet high in vegetables and low in processed foods correlates with \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265517050_Relationship_Between_Diet_and_Mental_Health_in_Children_and_Adolescents_A_Systematic_Review\" target=\"_blank\">lower\u003c/a> rates of depression.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But showing that what you eat actually \u003cem>affects\u003c/em> your mental health has been more complicated, because people who are depressed may be less likely to eat healthier, as opposed to the other way around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But now, in a recent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-017-0791-y\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">study \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">out of Australia’s Deakin University\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> scientists \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">say they\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">have used food to effectively treat depression.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s the first controlled experiment, to our knowledge, to show that dietary intervention can curb mood disorders,” says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Felice Jacka\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a psychiatrist at Deakin and the study’s lead researcher.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Deakin and colleagues recruited 56 people, all of whom met two criteria: They were clinically diagnosed with moderate to severe depression, and they had consumed a lot of sweets and processed meats at the expense of healthier foods like fruit, vegetables and fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The participants were then randomly assigned to one of two treatments: diet counseling or “\u003ca href=\"https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-friendship-doctor/201002/is-befriending-treatment-depression\" target=\"_blank\">befriending\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Despite heavy marketing of probiotics, we still don't know which bacteria interact with which foods to help boost neurotransmitters that can help our mood.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the 12-week study, subjects in the diet intervention group regularly met with nutritionists who counseled them to increase their consumption of vegetables, whole grains and fish, and to decrease their intake of junk food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patients who were subject to befriending met \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">with trained research assistants to discuss topics like hobbies or board games; they did not receive any psychological therapy. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This group served as a control to ensure that any improvement in the diet intervention group would not be due to positive social interaction with the nutritionist.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the 12 weeks, all of the participants were re-evaluated, using the same depression measures as at the study's start. The results? While both groups showed fewer symptoms of depression, those who had received the diet intervention were significantly less depressed than those in the control group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, the more healthy changes that the subjects made to their diet, the less depressed they were at the end of the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It was pretty remarkable,” Jacka says. “Their level of improvement correlated closely with the level of improvement to their diet.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How Can Food Affect Our Mood?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the end of the study, the researchers found similar levels of biomarkers like glucose and cholesterol in the diet and control groups. The groups did not differ in the overall amount of exercise they had engaged in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So what happened to the group with the improved diet to make them less depressed? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While many people intuit that they are what they eat when it comes to mental health, Jacka and other researchers believe there is another factor at work: our \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">intestines\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and the signals they send to our brain\u003ci>s.\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are still only starting to tease all of this out,” says \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Melanie Gareau, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a physiologist at UC Davis who specializes in understanding interactions between our brain and our gut. Given all that we know about that link, the Australian study results make sense, she says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ve known for quite a while that over 95 percent of the serotonin in our bodies is produced in the intestines,” says Gareau. As serotonin is one of the primary neurotransmitters mediating depression, she thinks it's no surprise that what goes into our intestines can affect our emotions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But it’s not just about the food we are eating, she says. It's how that food interacts with the trillions of bacterial cells that live in our guts, collectively called our microbiome.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gareau points to\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3839572/\" target=\"_blank\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a small study \u003c/span>\u003c/a>out of \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">UCLA that shows \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the effect of probiotics — micro-organisms believed to be beneficial to humans — on brain activity. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the study, 12 women over the course of a month were given yogurt containing Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Both of these have been associated with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lieve_Desbonnet/publication/45582675_Desbonnet_L_Garrett_L_Clarke_G_Kiely_B_Cryan_JF_Dinan_TG_Effects_of_the_probiotic_Bifidobacterium_infantis_in_the_maternal_separation_model_of_depression_Neuroscience_170_1179-1188/links/552ce5fa0cf21acb09210214.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">decreased depression in rodents\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and there have been suggestive \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">links between those types of bacteria and mood in \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20974015\" target=\"_blank\">human studies\u003c/a> as well.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Although it’s not clear whether taking probiotics with these particular bacteria changes the overall profile of our microbiome for any extended length of time, ingesting them does increase their levels for shorter periods. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the UCLA study, after four weeks of consuming these probiotics, the women completed an emotional response task in which they viewed pictures of angry and fearful faces, while their brain activity was recorded through functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. The procedure, which measures changes in blood flow within the brain, showed which areas were activated while the subjects viewed the images\u003c/span>\u003cb>.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The faces [we used] can trigger threat responses in people,” explains\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Kirsten Tillisch\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the study's lead researcher and a gastroenterologist at UCLA. “And we know that people with anxiety show increased responses to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As it turned out, the women who took the probiotics showed less brain activity when viewing the emotional images than women who took a placebo. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Emeran Mayer\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a co-researcher in the study and the author of \"\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mind-Gut Connection\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\" explains that this kind of dampened response resembles the pattern you might expect to see in someone who isn’t hyper-reactive to the environment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The brain’s reactivity to threatening stimuli is reduced. So you could speculate that these people might be less prone to anxiety,” Mayer says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is it the Food or the Bacteria?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if our microbiome affects our mood, how so? Researchers think the process might occur \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041311400463X\" target=\"_blank\">through metabolites\u003c/a>, a byproduct released by bacteria that feeds on food our bodies cannot fully break down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These metabolites can enter into the bloodstream or nervous system, travel up to our brain, and influence how neurons talk to one another. Metabolites may also serve as messengers, signaling cells in the intestines to increase or decrease compounds like serotonin.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">C\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">rlito Lebrilla\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine at UC Davis, says you have to look at both the bacteria \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the food to understand what’s happening. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although there has been an increase in the marketing of probiotic supplements in recent years, especially for improving physical health, \"probiotics are not doing all of the work here,” Lebrilla explains. Ingesting probiotics, whether through supplements or a food like yogurt, lays down some of that “good” intestinal bacteria, so that they are poised and ready to give off the right kind of metabolites. However, whether or not your gut bacteria produce those metabolites depends on the food you eat afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So you can eat a probiotic food like yogurt all day and still not experience the potentially positive effects, Lebrilla says. That's because we still don't know which metabolites make our brains feel better, which bacteria give off those metabolites, and which kinds of foods \u003ci>feed\u003c/i> those bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That's what we are trying to do right now,” Lebrilla says. He says that while scientists have identified a few types of bacteria that are likely to give off good metabolites, there are hundreds and possibly thousands of bacterial strains in our intestines. If we could map out the specific bacteria-metabolite combinations that reduce anxiety and depression, we would be a step closer to creating customized diets for our brains. It’s something that could take a couple of decades to accomplish, Lebrilla says, “but it’s not that far-fetched.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"x_gmail-m_-2829810840648309428gmail-m_-7153094449839385370MsoListParagraph\">In the meantime, both Jacka and Mayer point out that over tens of thousands of years, our bodies have evolved in concert with the microbiota in our intestines to function optimally with the foods we have been eating\u003cb>. \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"line-height: 1.5\">For millennia we fed off of a mostly plant-based and lean-meat diet. But in recent years there have been “profound changes to the kinds of foods we eat,” Jacka says, particularly in the reduced amount of vegetables and increased amount of sugar.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It's wildly different from what we were eating even a generation ago.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taking that into consideration, what the findings from her study might really show is not a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">new\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> diet to curb mood disorders, but rather how we might look back to the foods our ancestors ate in order to restore balance to our bodies and brains.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/352304/can-probiotics-help-your-depression-what-we-know-what-we-dont","authors":["byline_futureofyou_352304"],"categories":["futureofyou_1062","futureofyou_1","futureofyou_73"],"tags":["futureofyou_592","futureofyou_80","futureofyou_204","futureofyou_68"],"featImg":"futureofyou_353891","label":"source_futureofyou_352304"},"futureofyou_341833":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_341833","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"341833","score":null,"sort":[1488822921000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"reseach-looks-at-autoimmune-diseases-and-the-microbiome","title":"Research Looks at Autoimmune Diseases and the Microbiome","publishDate":1488822921,"format":"standard","headTitle":"KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{"site":"futureofyou"},"content":"\u003cp>I was worried that I might not be able to stick to an intermittent fasting schedule during my vacation in Mexico. It turns out, it was a breeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because I was sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It started on the plane ride to Cozumel, a tingle in my throat and then the telltale sign that illness was imminent: three sneezes in a row. A clogged nose, a slight fever and a general feeling of malaise came over me after my third dive into the electric blue waters of the Caribbean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm participating in a preliminary study at Johns Hopkins Medicine on the effects of intermittent fasting on the microbiome and inflammation in people with multiple sclerosis. For the six-month study, I'm restricted to eating during an eight-hour period, usually from noon until 8 p.m. That meant that the first day of vacation, my first meal was pretzels on a plane, my second was ceviche and nachos in the late afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn't a great combination, but I had a feeling that as my nose continued to clog, I wouldn't be able to taste much, so I went for variety. As the week went on, I tried not to let my inability to taste hamper the experience, but it was hard. Tacos tasted like rubber, plantains like Elmer's glue. And though I squealed in delight when I saw a churros cart, the deep-fried, buttery, cinnamon-sugary treats tasted more like cardboard covered in sawdust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My vacation was headed toward gastronomic disaster, but at least the study data would not be compromised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the six months, researchers will be looking at the state of my microbiome, via a stool sample, to determine how it may have changed. Or to be precise, my microbiota, according to Jorge Cervantes, an assistant professor of microbiology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso who has studied the microbiome in relation to several diseases, including MS. I called him to get up to speed on my microbiota.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The microbiota is all the microorganisms living in a specific niche,\" he says. That niche being my gut. \"We talk about bacteria, mainly, but there are also viruses and fungi.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The microbiome is the whole ecosystem — the bacteria, viruses, fungi, as well as the environmental conditions they inhabit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our resident bacteria serve us in three basic ways, says Cervantes, who is not involved in the study I'm doing. They occupy space and help restrict the overgrowth of bad bacteria. And they can help our metabolism by facilitating the breakdown of certain molecules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gut bacteria are of special interest to people with autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/irritablebowelsyndrome.html\">irritable bowel syndrome\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/crohnsdisease.html\">Crohn's disease\u003c/a>, because they help in the training and development of our immune systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's so that your immune system can sample a molecule and tell, \" 'Oh this is bacteria,' or 'Oh, this is a virus,' \" Cervantes explains. If the molecule might cause harm, an immune response is triggered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once an immune cell locates a potentially harmful molecule — say, from the bacteria \u003cem>Streptococcus\u003c/em>, or whatever I caught on the plane to Mexico — it sends out a call to other immune cells so they can help control the invasion, Cervantes says. That process creates inflammation, which can involve pain, stinging, swelling or a host of other unpleasant symptoms that ordinarily mean your body is fighting the good fight to help you heal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Sometimes,\" Cervantes said, \"the immune cells get confused.\" And here's where our microbes can affect autoimmune diseases such as MS, in which the body's immune system fires up at the wrong times: Bacteria can be the trigger for this confusion. An immune cell can mistake good bacteria for bad bacteria, and that confusion can lead to an immune response when there's no real threat to a person's health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are not only studying microbiota and their relationship to autoimmune diseases; they're studying their roles in \u003ca href=\"https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-016-0222-x\">hypertension\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2017/01/16/1940-6207.CAPR-16-0249\">cancer\u003c/a>, even \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27793225\">mental health disorders\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research in many of these areas is new and exciting and full of potential — and faces challenges, one being the difficulty of teasing out cause and effect. Does a change in the volume and/or variety of a microbiota lead to disease? Does the disease change the microbiota, leading to other health changes?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The thing is, no one knows what is first, the egg or the chicken,\" Cervantes says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To answer that question, scientists have been turning to mice. Not just any mice, these rodents are squeaky-clean, entirely germ-free. According to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.microbecolhealthdis.net/index.php/mehd/article/view/26191\">review\u003c/a> published in 2015 in \u003cem>Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease,\u003c/em> germ-free mice are less likely to have inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune arthritis, Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. And when they do have them, the symptoms are less severe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This, the authors say, is consistent with the idea that the microbiota could be a trigger for these diseases. Good news, right? But they go on to say that attempts to identify exactly which organisms could be causing these diseases have failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even if we can agree that we want a \"healthy\" gut microbiome, what does that mean? \"There is no ideal,\" Cervantes says. \"The point is that the microbiome is not a fixed entity.\" It changes over time and is different from person to person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so it seems we've added a third variable to the already complex interplay of genetics and the environment when considering health and disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm pleased to report that my immune system, while it may be overactive, also does its job once in a while, fighting back the infection as I hunkered down in my hotel room in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While I recuperated, I read through comments on the \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/08/508037481/im-fasting-for-science-will-it-help-tame-my-multiple-sclerosis\">first article I wrote\u003c/a> about my experiences with this study. People shared their own attempts to tweak their diets as means to ease suffering from a host of diseases. I also read a lot of criticism about my diet:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cem>However, what she is eating are not anti-inflammatory foods at all! Why not start there and give the body more of a fighting chance than to eat the SAD (standard American diet)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>less ice cream & tacos, more #fruit, #veg, #wholegrains, #beans etc & this could be a real winner for #multiplesclerosis\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Darlin try cannabis its amazing for MS\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\"Who do these people think they are?\" I thought. I mean, ramen is delicious, tacos are a mainstay of my diet, and ice cream is pretty much perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many people with MS do have foods that they know don't sit well with them; for me, one is pizza. Delicious pizza. After a few slices my hands and feet burn and I typically fall asleep within the hour. To be honest, my body isn't a fan of ice cream, either. And I can't say I felt great after that ramen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Halfway into the study, and I haven't felt much better overall. The first thing I do when I get home from work every day is still nap. I still grab my trusty ice pack from the freezer about once a week and clutch it for the soothing effect it has on my hands, and occasionally my feet. Don't worry; I wash it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So OK, maybe the commenters are on to something. It stands to reason that if \u003cem>when\u003c/em> you eat can have a drastic impact on the microorganisms in your gut, then certainly \u003cem>what\u003c/em> you eat must be important, too, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"By all means,\" Cervantes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My study isn't looking at the effect of particular foods on MS symptoms. But I must admit I've been eating much worse since the study began. Come noon, I am so focused on food that I inhale everything in sight, then forage for more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One co-worker frequently reminds us via email that he has Hershey's Kisses in his office. Another introduced me to Peanut Chews — she kindly always has a pack waiting for me in her desk drawer. The convenience store downstairs has granola bars for 75 cents! (And french fries for $1.50.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most days I eat my typically healthy lunch (some haphazard mix of vegetables topped with last night's dinner protein) and before I've finished chewing the last bite, before I can rationally asses the state of my hunger, I'm out of my office looking for another food fix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's another reason I've continued to eat like a madwoman during these past three months. Over the past year, I've deliberately lost a good amount of weight. Let's call it 35 pounds. Despite my unhealthy recent eating habits, believe it or not, I did it through an overhaul in my diet, cutting out most simple carbs and eating more vegetables and trading fat for muscle mass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And like so many women, I do still reflexively judge how healthy I am in part by how much I weigh. I lost a few pounds when I began the study, and no matter how much ice cream I shovel into my face, I haven't gained any of it back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm no doctor, but I'm fairly certain that just because my weight is stable, that doesn't mean I'm on a path to perfect health or a flourishing microbiome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so for the second half of the study, I have resigned myself to a crazy idea, getting back to eating like a responsible human being. A person who cares about the well-being of the ecosystem I'm hosting: the bacteria, viruses and other little guys who call my gut home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farewell, Peanut Chews. 🙂\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Brandie Michelle Jefferson is a communications manager and freelance reporter who loves a good science story. She's on Twitter, too: @b_m_jefferson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Can+Changing+When+And+What+We+Eat+Help+Outwit+Disease%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"I'm fasting intermittently as part of a research study, to see if changing my gut microbiome affects my multiple sclerosis. But maybe living on Peanut Chews isn't the best strategy.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1488827140,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":42,"wordCount":1662},"headData":{"title":"Research Looks at Autoimmune Diseases and the Microbiome | KQED","description":"I'm fasting intermittently as part of a research study, to see if changing my gut microbiome affects my multiple sclerosis. But maybe living on Peanut Chews isn't the best strategy.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Research Looks at Autoimmune Diseases and the Microbiome","datePublished":"2017-03-06T17:55:21.000Z","dateModified":"2017-03-06T19:05:40.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"341833 https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=341833","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2017/03/06/reseach-looks-at-autoimmune-diseases-and-the-microbiome/","disqusTitle":"Research Looks at Autoimmune Diseases and the Microbiome","nprByline":"Brandie Jefferson\u003cbr />NPR Shots","nprImageAgency":"Courtesy of Brandie Jefferson","nprStoryId":"514179856","nprApiLink":"http://api.npr.org/query?id=514179856&apiKey=MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004","nprHtmlLink":"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/19/514179856/can-changing-when-and-what-we-eat-help-outwit-disease?ft=nprml&f=514179856","nprRetrievedStory":"1","nprPubDate":"Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:15:00 -0500","nprStoryDate":"Sun, 19 Feb 2017 05:00:00 -0500","nprLastModifiedDate":"Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:14:59 -0500","path":"/futureofyou/341833/reseach-looks-at-autoimmune-diseases-and-the-microbiome","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>I was worried that I might not be able to stick to an intermittent fasting schedule during my vacation in Mexico. It turns out, it was a breeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because I was sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It started on the plane ride to Cozumel, a tingle in my throat and then the telltale sign that illness was imminent: three sneezes in a row. A clogged nose, a slight fever and a general feeling of malaise came over me after my third dive into the electric blue waters of the Caribbean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm participating in a preliminary study at Johns Hopkins Medicine on the effects of intermittent fasting on the microbiome and inflammation in people with multiple sclerosis. For the six-month study, I'm restricted to eating during an eight-hour period, usually from noon until 8 p.m. That meant that the first day of vacation, my first meal was pretzels on a plane, my second was ceviche and nachos in the late afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn't a great combination, but I had a feeling that as my nose continued to clog, I wouldn't be able to taste much, so I went for variety. As the week went on, I tried not to let my inability to taste hamper the experience, but it was hard. Tacos tasted like rubber, plantains like Elmer's glue. And though I squealed in delight when I saw a churros cart, the deep-fried, buttery, cinnamon-sugary treats tasted more like cardboard covered in sawdust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My vacation was headed toward gastronomic disaster, but at least the study data would not be compromised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the six months, researchers will be looking at the state of my microbiome, via a stool sample, to determine how it may have changed. Or to be precise, my microbiota, according to Jorge Cervantes, an assistant professor of microbiology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso who has studied the microbiome in relation to several diseases, including MS. I called him to get up to speed on my microbiota.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The microbiota is all the microorganisms living in a specific niche,\" he says. That niche being my gut. \"We talk about bacteria, mainly, but there are also viruses and fungi.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The microbiome is the whole ecosystem — the bacteria, viruses, fungi, as well as the environmental conditions they inhabit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our resident bacteria serve us in three basic ways, says Cervantes, who is not involved in the study I'm doing. They occupy space and help restrict the overgrowth of bad bacteria. And they can help our metabolism by facilitating the breakdown of certain molecules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gut bacteria are of special interest to people with autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/irritablebowelsyndrome.html\">irritable bowel syndrome\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/crohnsdisease.html\">Crohn's disease\u003c/a>, because they help in the training and development of our immune systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's so that your immune system can sample a molecule and tell, \" 'Oh this is bacteria,' or 'Oh, this is a virus,' \" Cervantes explains. If the molecule might cause harm, an immune response is triggered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once an immune cell locates a potentially harmful molecule — say, from the bacteria \u003cem>Streptococcus\u003c/em>, or whatever I caught on the plane to Mexico — it sends out a call to other immune cells so they can help control the invasion, Cervantes says. That process creates inflammation, which can involve pain, stinging, swelling or a host of other unpleasant symptoms that ordinarily mean your body is fighting the good fight to help you heal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Sometimes,\" Cervantes said, \"the immune cells get confused.\" And here's where our microbes can affect autoimmune diseases such as MS, in which the body's immune system fires up at the wrong times: Bacteria can be the trigger for this confusion. An immune cell can mistake good bacteria for bad bacteria, and that confusion can lead to an immune response when there's no real threat to a person's health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are not only studying microbiota and their relationship to autoimmune diseases; they're studying their roles in \u003ca href=\"https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-016-0222-x\">hypertension\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2017/01/16/1940-6207.CAPR-16-0249\">cancer\u003c/a>, even \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27793225\">mental health disorders\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research in many of these areas is new and exciting and full of potential — and faces challenges, one being the difficulty of teasing out cause and effect. Does a change in the volume and/or variety of a microbiota lead to disease? Does the disease change the microbiota, leading to other health changes?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The thing is, no one knows what is first, the egg or the chicken,\" Cervantes says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To answer that question, scientists have been turning to mice. Not just any mice, these rodents are squeaky-clean, entirely germ-free. According to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.microbecolhealthdis.net/index.php/mehd/article/view/26191\">review\u003c/a> published in 2015 in \u003cem>Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease,\u003c/em> germ-free mice are less likely to have inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune arthritis, Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. And when they do have them, the symptoms are less severe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This, the authors say, is consistent with the idea that the microbiota could be a trigger for these diseases. Good news, right? But they go on to say that attempts to identify exactly which organisms could be causing these diseases have failed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even if we can agree that we want a \"healthy\" gut microbiome, what does that mean? \"There is no ideal,\" Cervantes says. \"The point is that the microbiome is not a fixed entity.\" It changes over time and is different from person to person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so it seems we've added a third variable to the already complex interplay of genetics and the environment when considering health and disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm pleased to report that my immune system, while it may be overactive, also does its job once in a while, fighting back the infection as I hunkered down in my hotel room in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While I recuperated, I read through comments on the \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/08/508037481/im-fasting-for-science-will-it-help-tame-my-multiple-sclerosis\">first article I wrote\u003c/a> about my experiences with this study. People shared their own attempts to tweak their diets as means to ease suffering from a host of diseases. I also read a lot of criticism about my diet:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cem>However, what she is eating are not anti-inflammatory foods at all! Why not start there and give the body more of a fighting chance than to eat the SAD (standard American diet)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>less ice cream & tacos, more #fruit, #veg, #wholegrains, #beans etc & this could be a real winner for #multiplesclerosis\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Darlin try cannabis its amazing for MS\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\"Who do these people think they are?\" I thought. I mean, ramen is delicious, tacos are a mainstay of my diet, and ice cream is pretty much perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many people with MS do have foods that they know don't sit well with them; for me, one is pizza. Delicious pizza. After a few slices my hands and feet burn and I typically fall asleep within the hour. To be honest, my body isn't a fan of ice cream, either. And I can't say I felt great after that ramen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Halfway into the study, and I haven't felt much better overall. The first thing I do when I get home from work every day is still nap. I still grab my trusty ice pack from the freezer about once a week and clutch it for the soothing effect it has on my hands, and occasionally my feet. Don't worry; I wash it!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So OK, maybe the commenters are on to something. It stands to reason that if \u003cem>when\u003c/em> you eat can have a drastic impact on the microorganisms in your gut, then certainly \u003cem>what\u003c/em> you eat must be important, too, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"By all means,\" Cervantes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My study isn't looking at the effect of particular foods on MS symptoms. But I must admit I've been eating much worse since the study began. Come noon, I am so focused on food that I inhale everything in sight, then forage for more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One co-worker frequently reminds us via email that he has Hershey's Kisses in his office. Another introduced me to Peanut Chews — she kindly always has a pack waiting for me in her desk drawer. The convenience store downstairs has granola bars for 75 cents! (And french fries for $1.50.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most days I eat my typically healthy lunch (some haphazard mix of vegetables topped with last night's dinner protein) and before I've finished chewing the last bite, before I can rationally asses the state of my hunger, I'm out of my office looking for another food fix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's another reason I've continued to eat like a madwoman during these past three months. Over the past year, I've deliberately lost a good amount of weight. Let's call it 35 pounds. Despite my unhealthy recent eating habits, believe it or not, I did it through an overhaul in my diet, cutting out most simple carbs and eating more vegetables and trading fat for muscle mass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And like so many women, I do still reflexively judge how healthy I am in part by how much I weigh. I lost a few pounds when I began the study, and no matter how much ice cream I shovel into my face, I haven't gained any of it back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm no doctor, but I'm fairly certain that just because my weight is stable, that doesn't mean I'm on a path to perfect health or a flourishing microbiome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so for the second half of the study, I have resigned myself to a crazy idea, getting back to eating like a responsible human being. A person who cares about the well-being of the ecosystem I'm hosting: the bacteria, viruses and other little guys who call my gut home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farewell, Peanut Chews. 🙂\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Brandie Michelle Jefferson is a communications manager and freelance reporter who loves a good science story. She's on Twitter, too: @b_m_jefferson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Can+Changing+When+And+What+We+Eat+Help+Outwit+Disease%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/341833/reseach-looks-at-autoimmune-diseases-and-the-microbiome","authors":["byline_futureofyou_341833"],"categories":["futureofyou_1062","futureofyou_1"],"tags":["futureofyou_1198","futureofyou_68","futureofyou_949"],"featImg":"futureofyou_341834","label":"futureofyou"},"futureofyou_245794":{"type":"posts","id":"futureofyou_245794","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"futureofyou","id":"245794","score":null,"sort":[1475600416000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"researchers-hunt-for-the-microbiome-of-autism","title":"Researchers Hunt for a Link Between Microbiome and Autism","publishDate":1475600416,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Future of You | KQED Future of You | KQED Science","labelTerm":{"term":54,"site":"futureofyou"},"content":"\u003cp>Maude Magali David and Christine Tataru work in a neat and clean office. Sitting on bright pink exercise balls, the research duo analyzes data, occasionally standing to write on a whiteboard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tidy setting belies the nature of the less-than-sanitary subject of their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">For now, research into a link between the microbiome and autism is 'at a stage where more questions than answers are being generated.'\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>David and Tataru are interested in poop. Specifically, they’re interested in the microbial life living in the poop of children. If they learn enough about those microbes, they hope, they will find similarities and differences between the gut-life of kids who have autism and those who don’t. And that could change therapeutic approaches to treating autism spectrum disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David runs the \u003ca href=\"https://microbiome.stanford.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Autism Microbiome \u003c/a>project at the Stanford University School of Medicine's \u003ca href=\"http://wall-lab.stanford.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Wall Lab\u003c/a>, along with the lab's principal investigator, Dennis Wall. In the past several years, interest in the microbiome—bacteria, fungi and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500141/\" target=\"_blank\"> other single-celled organisms \u003c/a>living on and within our bodies—has surged. These microbes were once considered either benign or dangerous\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>causing illness and disease\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong>But we now know they also play a huge role in maintaining our health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gut Bugs Are Hot\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_256705\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-256705\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-450x600.jpg\" alt=\"Kim and her son Jake, who has autism spectrum disorder, in a family photo. The family is participating in a study searching for links between microbiomes and autism spectrum disorder.\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-450x600.jpg 450w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-400x533.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-885x1180.jpg 885w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kim and her son Jake, who has autism spectrum disorder, in a family photo. The family is participating in a study searching for links between microbiomes and autism spectrum disorder.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The shift in perspective has been dramatic. Gut bugs are now \u003ca href=\"http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/microbiome/friends/\" target=\"_blank\">credited as being instrumental\u003c/a> in a host of critical processes: extracting food nutrients, developing organ systems, producing vitamins and training the immune system to behave properly. They have even been found to help regulate blood pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring the White House announced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/05/13/announcing-national-microbiome-initiative\" target=\"_blank\">major new initiative \u003c/a>to coordinate the study of these all-important bugs, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/12/fact-sheet-announcing-national-microbiome-initiative\" target=\"_blank\">funding \u003c/a>of about a half-billion dollars from the federal government and scores of universities, nonprofits and business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The microbiome is the hot thing to study now,\" says Kevin Becker, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. \"But I think that's exciting; the research is very robust.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Link to Autism\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, Becker was the first researcher to suggest that the microbiome \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2048743/\" target=\"_blank\">might be connected \u003c/a>to symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. In the decade since, researchers have \u003ca href=\"http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/133/5/872.short\" target=\"_blank\">accumulated more evidence\u003c/a> that the gastrointestinal tracts of children with ASD are \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3564498/\" target=\"_blank\">often different\u003c/a>. Depending on the survey, 60 to 90 percent have irritable bowel syndrome or have complained of diarrhea, stomachaches or gluten intolerance, which inflames the gut. For example, a \u003ca href=\"http://journals.lww.com/jrnldbp/Abstract/2006/04002/Frequency_of_Gastrointestinal_Symptoms_in_Children.11.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"> study of 150 children\u003c/a> published in 2006 found that 70 percent of kids with ASD suffered from gastrointestinal woes, compared to 42 percent of developmentally disabled children and 28 percent of children with no developmental disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3897394/\" target=\"_blank\">study published in \u003c/a>\u003cem>Cell \u003c/em>in 2013 studied lab mice with ASD-like symptoms, such as avoiding social interaction and compulsive and repetitive behavior\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Remarkably, after subjecting the mice to the human \u003cem>Bacteroides fragilis, \u003c/em>the researchers noted the mice became less anxious and more social. The findings, wrote the authors, \"support a gut-microbiome-brain connection in ASD and identify a potential probiotic therapy for GI and behavioral symptoms of autism.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I read that and thought, 'OK there is something going on here!'\" says David. \"We just need a study with sufficient power to figure out what's going on in humans.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later she began working with Wall, an autism and bioinformatics expert, on a project that would answer a key question: What is the connection between bacteria in the gut and autism in children?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers reached out through social media for families with at least two children under eight who eat the same things but who differ in that at least one is free of ASD. The families—280 have signed up thus far—send in a two- to three-minute video of their kids, saliva and stool samples, and answers to a questionnaire about behavior and diet. In return, the families will receive the results (which the team cautions should not be used for diagnosis).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By sampling kids from the same families, the researchers are able to control for some of the factors that contribute to differences in children's gut flora\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>such as diet and home environment. Because the study allows for participation by subjects who never have to leave their homes, it has attracted more participants than is typical of such studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>At Home With Autism\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One family in the study lives in Pittsburgh. Kim is a busy mother whose days pass in a whirl. She has three five-year-olds: triplets Allie, Hunter and Jake. The kids love playing hide-and-seek. Allie likes dolls and princesses. If anything happens to upset her brothers, she becomes protective. Hunter likes superheroes, and Jake is into cars and trains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Jake is the wild man,\" says Kim. \"He just wants to run and see what trouble he can get into.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jake is the only one of the siblings with autism. And practically since birth, his mom says, he's had more stomachaches and gastrointestinal problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before participating in the autism study, Kim took steps to improve Jake's diet and gut health, which she believes have helped his symptoms. With fewer intestinal woes, Jake became calmer, less aggressive and more cheerful, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she came across a notice for the \u003ca href=\"https://microbiome.stanford.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Autism Microbiome \u003c/a>project on Facebook, she was immediately intrigued. She appreciated the change in focus from most of the research on the disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think it's really ahead of the times,\" she says. \"A lot of people look at autism and think of it as a psychological disease, and I think of it as more medical. So anything that supports the medical community looking at autism research in a different way, I want to be part of.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After she signed up, filled out the questionnaire and sent in the requested videos, a sampling kit arrived at her door a few weeks later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My hope is that this is going to be a way to help children in the future,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'A Bit More Complex'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that enough samples have been returned from families like Kim's, researchers at the Wall lab have started looking at the early results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the first phase of their work, David, Tataru, Wall and a fourth member of the team, clinical coordinator Jena Daniels, are analyzing sequences from the stool samples and looking for similarities and differences in what bacteria are present, how abundant they are and what the community of gut bacteria look like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We were hoping to find something clear and simple, such as \u003cem>this\u003c/em> bacteria signals autism\" says Tataru. \"Turns out, it's a bit more complex than we were expecting.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are no immediately clear distinctions by type or number between the microbiomes of children with autism and those without. The researchers are, however, detecting some subtle differences. Kids within families are the most similar to each other. But kids with ASD in different families have microbiomes that are more alike than the microbiomes of non-autistic children in different families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's an interesting finding, even if the researchers are not sure what to make of it yet. As a 2014 review of the emerging data on the subject said, “The field is at a stage where more questions than answers are being generated.” And even some leading scientists involved in microbiome research have \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/magazine/can-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-explain-your-mood.html\" target=\"_blank\">cautioned\u003c/a> patients and their families not to get ahead of the research in looking for easy answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for scientists like Kevin Becker at the NIH, who is not involved in the project, the turn toward the microbiome in researching ASD is a positive development. \"Genetics has been the focus for a long time and it often dominates the discussion,\" he says. \"Most autistic cases have no known genetic cause. Looking into these other paths is a welcome change.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Autism Microbiome project plans to submit its first research paper for publication next month.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Some research has found a correlation between autism spectrum disorder and gastrointestinal symptoms, leading researchers to look for clues in the microbiome.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1476457020,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":34,"wordCount":1431},"headData":{"title":"Researchers Hunt for a Link Between Microbiome and Autism | KQED","description":"Some research has found a correlation between autism spectrum disorder and gastrointestinal symptoms, leading researchers to look for clues in the microbiome.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Researchers Hunt for a Link Between Microbiome and Autism","datePublished":"2016-10-04T17:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2016-10-14T14:57:00.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"245794 http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/?p=245794","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/10/04/researchers-hunt-for-the-microbiome-of-autism/","disqusTitle":"Researchers Hunt for a Link Between Microbiome and Autism","customPermalink":"2016/10/04/microbiome_autism/","path":"/futureofyou/245794/researchers-hunt-for-the-microbiome-of-autism","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Maude Magali David and Christine Tataru work in a neat and clean office. Sitting on bright pink exercise balls, the research duo analyzes data, occasionally standing to write on a whiteboard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tidy setting belies the nature of the less-than-sanitary subject of their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">For now, research into a link between the microbiome and autism is 'at a stage where more questions than answers are being generated.'\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>David and Tataru are interested in poop. Specifically, they’re interested in the microbial life living in the poop of children. If they learn enough about those microbes, they hope, they will find similarities and differences between the gut-life of kids who have autism and those who don’t. And that could change therapeutic approaches to treating autism spectrum disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David runs the \u003ca href=\"https://microbiome.stanford.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Autism Microbiome \u003c/a>project at the Stanford University School of Medicine's \u003ca href=\"http://wall-lab.stanford.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Wall Lab\u003c/a>, along with the lab's principal investigator, Dennis Wall. In the past several years, interest in the microbiome—bacteria, fungi and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500141/\" target=\"_blank\"> other single-celled organisms \u003c/a>living on and within our bodies—has surged. These microbes were once considered either benign or dangerous\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>causing illness and disease\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong>But we now know they also play a huge role in maintaining our health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gut Bugs Are Hot\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_256705\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-256705\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-450x600.jpg\" alt=\"Kim and her son Jake, who has autism spectrum disorder, in a family photo. The family is participating in a study searching for links between microbiomes and autism spectrum disorder.\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-450x600.jpg 450w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-400x533.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids-885x1180.jpg 885w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/10/kids.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kim and her son Jake, who has autism spectrum disorder, in a family photo. The family is participating in a study searching for links between microbiomes and autism spectrum disorder.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The shift in perspective has been dramatic. Gut bugs are now \u003ca href=\"http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/microbiome/friends/\" target=\"_blank\">credited as being instrumental\u003c/a> in a host of critical processes: extracting food nutrients, developing organ systems, producing vitamins and training the immune system to behave properly. They have even been found to help regulate blood pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This spring the White House announced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/05/13/announcing-national-microbiome-initiative\" target=\"_blank\">major new initiative \u003c/a>to coordinate the study of these all-important bugs, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/12/fact-sheet-announcing-national-microbiome-initiative\" target=\"_blank\">funding \u003c/a>of about a half-billion dollars from the federal government and scores of universities, nonprofits and business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The microbiome is the hot thing to study now,\" says Kevin Becker, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. \"But I think that's exciting; the research is very robust.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Link to Autism\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2007, Becker was the first researcher to suggest that the microbiome \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2048743/\" target=\"_blank\">might be connected \u003c/a>to symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. In the decade since, researchers have \u003ca href=\"http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/133/5/872.short\" target=\"_blank\">accumulated more evidence\u003c/a> that the gastrointestinal tracts of children with ASD are \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3564498/\" target=\"_blank\">often different\u003c/a>. Depending on the survey, 60 to 90 percent have irritable bowel syndrome or have complained of diarrhea, stomachaches or gluten intolerance, which inflames the gut. For example, a \u003ca href=\"http://journals.lww.com/jrnldbp/Abstract/2006/04002/Frequency_of_Gastrointestinal_Symptoms_in_Children.11.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"> study of 150 children\u003c/a> published in 2006 found that 70 percent of kids with ASD suffered from gastrointestinal woes, compared to 42 percent of developmentally disabled children and 28 percent of children with no developmental disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3897394/\" target=\"_blank\">study published in \u003c/a>\u003cem>Cell \u003c/em>in 2013 studied lab mice with ASD-like symptoms, such as avoiding social interaction and compulsive and repetitive behavior\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Remarkably, after subjecting the mice to the human \u003cem>Bacteroides fragilis, \u003c/em>the researchers noted the mice became less anxious and more social. The findings, wrote the authors, \"support a gut-microbiome-brain connection in ASD and identify a potential probiotic therapy for GI and behavioral symptoms of autism.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I read that and thought, 'OK there is something going on here!'\" says David. \"We just need a study with sufficient power to figure out what's going on in humans.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later she began working with Wall, an autism and bioinformatics expert, on a project that would answer a key question: What is the connection between bacteria in the gut and autism in children?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers reached out through social media for families with at least two children under eight who eat the same things but who differ in that at least one is free of ASD. The families—280 have signed up thus far—send in a two- to three-minute video of their kids, saliva and stool samples, and answers to a questionnaire about behavior and diet. In return, the families will receive the results (which the team cautions should not be used for diagnosis).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By sampling kids from the same families, the researchers are able to control for some of the factors that contribute to differences in children's gut flora\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>such as diet and home environment. Because the study allows for participation by subjects who never have to leave their homes, it has attracted more participants than is typical of such studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>At Home With Autism\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One family in the study lives in Pittsburgh. Kim is a busy mother whose days pass in a whirl. She has three five-year-olds: triplets Allie, Hunter and Jake. The kids love playing hide-and-seek. Allie likes dolls and princesses. If anything happens to upset her brothers, she becomes protective. Hunter likes superheroes, and Jake is into cars and trains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Jake is the wild man,\" says Kim. \"He just wants to run and see what trouble he can get into.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jake is the only one of the siblings with autism. And practically since birth, his mom says, he's had more stomachaches and gastrointestinal problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before participating in the autism study, Kim took steps to improve Jake's diet and gut health, which she believes have helped his symptoms. With fewer intestinal woes, Jake became calmer, less aggressive and more cheerful, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she came across a notice for the \u003ca href=\"https://microbiome.stanford.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Autism Microbiome \u003c/a>project on Facebook, she was immediately intrigued. She appreciated the change in focus from most of the research on the disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think it's really ahead of the times,\" she says. \"A lot of people look at autism and think of it as a psychological disease, and I think of it as more medical. So anything that supports the medical community looking at autism research in a different way, I want to be part of.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After she signed up, filled out the questionnaire and sent in the requested videos, a sampling kit arrived at her door a few weeks later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My hope is that this is going to be a way to help children in the future,\" she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'A Bit More Complex'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that enough samples have been returned from families like Kim's, researchers at the Wall lab have started looking at the early results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the first phase of their work, David, Tataru, Wall and a fourth member of the team, clinical coordinator Jena Daniels, are analyzing sequences from the stool samples and looking for similarities and differences in what bacteria are present, how abundant they are and what the community of gut bacteria look like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We were hoping to find something clear and simple, such as \u003cem>this\u003c/em> bacteria signals autism\" says Tataru. \"Turns out, it's a bit more complex than we were expecting.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are no immediately clear distinctions by type or number between the microbiomes of children with autism and those without. The researchers are, however, detecting some subtle differences. Kids within families are the most similar to each other. But kids with ASD in different families have microbiomes that are more alike than the microbiomes of non-autistic children in different families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's an interesting finding, even if the researchers are not sure what to make of it yet. As a 2014 review of the emerging data on the subject said, “The field is at a stage where more questions than answers are being generated.” And even some leading scientists involved in microbiome research have \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/magazine/can-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-explain-your-mood.html\" target=\"_blank\">cautioned\u003c/a> patients and their families not to get ahead of the research in looking for easy answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for scientists like Kevin Becker at the NIH, who is not involved in the project, the turn toward the microbiome in researching ASD is a positive development. \"Genetics has been the focus for a long time and it often dominates the discussion,\" he says. \"Most autistic cases have no known genetic cause. Looking into these other paths is a welcome change.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Autism Microbiome project plans to submit its first research paper for publication next month.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/futureofyou/245794/researchers-hunt-for-the-microbiome-of-autism","authors":["11088"],"programs":["futureofyou_54"],"categories":["futureofyou_452","futureofyou_1062","futureofyou_1","futureofyou_73"],"tags":["futureofyou_555","futureofyou_80","futureofyou_68"],"featImg":"futureofyou_245795","label":"futureofyou_54"}},"programsReducer":{"possible":{"id":"possible","title":"Possible","info":"Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. 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Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.","airtime":"SUN 2pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.possible.fm/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"Possible"},"link":"/radio/program/possible","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/possible/id1677184070","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"}},"1a":{"id":"1a","title":"1A","info":"1A is home to the national conversation. 1A brings on great guests and frames the best debate in ways that make you think, share and engage.","airtime":"MON-THU 11pm-12am","imageSrc":"https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/1a.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://the1a.org/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/1a","subscribe":{"npr":"https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/RBrW","apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=1188724250&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/1A-p947376/","rss":"https://feeds.npr.org/510316/podcast.xml"}},"all-things-considered":{"id":"all-things-considered","title":"All Things Considered","info":"Every weekday, \u003cem>All Things Considered\u003c/em> hosts Robert Siegel, Audie Cornish, Ari Shapiro, and Kelly McEvers present the program's trademark mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features. 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You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"\"KQED Bay Curious","officialWebsiteLink":"/news/series/baycurious","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"4"},"link":"/podcasts/baycurious","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406","npr":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious","rss":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/category/bay-curious-podcast/feed/podcast","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvbmV3cy9jYXRlZ29yeS9iYXktY3VyaW91cy1wb2RjYXN0L2ZlZWQvcG9kY2FzdA","stitcher":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/bay-curious","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/6O76IdmhixfijmhTZLIJ8k"}},"bbc-world-service":{"id":"bbc-world-service","title":"BBC World Service","info":"The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.","airtime":"MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service","meta":{"site":"news","source":"BBC World Service"},"link":"/radio/program/bbc-world-service","subscribe":{"apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/","rss":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"}},"code-switch-life-kit":{"id":"code-switch-life-kit","title":"Code Switch / Life Kit","info":"\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />","airtime":"SUN 9pm-10pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","meta":{"site":"radio","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/1112190608?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/3bExJ9JQpkwNhoHvaIIuyV","rss":"https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"}},"commonwealth-club":{"id":"commonwealth-club","title":"Commonwealth Club of California Podcast","info":"The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. 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