Foundation for Integrated Medicine - Intestinal Parasites: "INTESTINAL PARASITES, BACTERIAL DYSBIOSIS AND LEAKY GUT EXCERPTS FROM POWER HEALING (RANDOM HOUSE, 1998)
BY LEO GALLAND, M.D.
The human intestine maintains within its inner cavity a complex, crowded environment of food remnants and microbial organisms (called 'the intestinal flora') from which the body derives nourishment and against which the body must be protected. The relationship between the human host and her army of microbes is described by the Greek word, symbiosis, which means 'living together'.
When symbiosis benefits both parties, it is called mutualism. When symbiosis becomes harmful, it is called dysbiosis. The first line of protection against dysbiosis and intestinal toxicity is strict control of intestinal permeability, the ability of the gut to allow some substances to pass through its walls while denying access to others. The healthy gut selectively absorbs nutrients and seals out those components of the normal internal milieu which are most likely to cause harm, except for a small sampling which it uses to educate and strengthen its mechanisms of immunity and detoxification.Bacteria form the largest segment of the intestinal flora.
The number of bacteria in the large bowel (about a hundred trillion) exceeds the number of cells in the human body. Intestinal bacteria perform some useful functions, so that our relationship with them is normally one of mutual benefit. They synthesize half a dozen vitamins, supplementing those which are obtained from food. They convert dietary fibre--that part of food which humans cannot digest--into small fatty acids which nourish the cells of the large intestine. They degrade dietary toxins like methyl mercury making them less harmful to the body. They crowd out pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, decreasing the risk of food poisoning.
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