Is it worth treating dysbiosis

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Why it is not necessary to be tested for dysbiosis, is it necessary to drink kefir and what is missing in the guidelines for proper nutrition, says nutritionist Elena Motova.

Dysbacteriosis is a special diagnosis that is loved in Russian polyclinics, but which in fact is not in the international classification of diseases. We tried to find information about him in the patient manuals, but nothing came of it. To understand this difficult situation, we asked questions to an expert who has to deal with a non-existent diagnosis, and with patients who want to cure it.

If there is no dysbiosis, then why is it constantly treated and checked? And most importantly, why do patients themselves like this diagnosis?

- Indeed, this is happening in Russia and the CIS, but nowhere else in the world. To begin with, microorganisms use humans as a habitat and food source. These microbes - not only bacteria, there are also viruses and fungi - live on the skin and mucous membranes, including the intestines. Up to a thousand species of gut microbes maintain relationships with each other and with the host. They perform a lot of tasks: they protect the intestines from pathogenic bacteria, synthesize vitamins, digest what a person cannot digest, train local immunity. They affect health and are necessary for us. Each person has an individual microbial landscape, which depends on the place and living conditions, nutrition, diseases suffered.

A close study of the inhabitants of the human body began quite recently, the first phase of the Human Microbiome project lasted from 2007 to 2012. It took $ 173 million to obtain the genetic information for all the microbes found in healthy volunteers.

The fact is that not all microbes grow on nutrient media. To study them, you need special methods of taking the material and its research, and not just "hand over the jar."

The so-called analysis for dysbiosis shows only a couple of dozen of these microorganisms out of a thousand, and it shows differently each time.

If you go to different laboratories and turn in several jars on the same day, you will get different results. This analysis is poorly reproducible and has no diagnostic value.

I do not know why they continue to appoint and pass him. Maybe just according to the principle "something needs to be done"?

The patient has problems with digestion, and the doctor at the reception sends him to be tested for dysbiosis. What to do?

- Go to another doctor. The patient came to the appointment with complaints, you need to look for the cause of the ailment, and not waste time. If, instead, the doctor prescribes an analysis that has no diagnostic value, then this is an indicator of poor quality of care.

The doctor diagnoses "dysbiosis", the analyzes do not find anything else. I know that there is no such diagnosis, but what could it really be?

- This question must be answered by the doctor in each individual case, this is the meaning of the diagnosis. For example, a patient comes with nonspecific complaints that occur with various diseases: abdominal pain, increased gas production, diarrhea or constipation. So enzyme deficiency can manifest, celiac disease - hereditary intolerance to cereal proteins, irritable bowel syndrome, or bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, or food intolerance. Or maybe the patient ate with dirty hands and this is a mild intestinal infection. Variants are possible, therefore, it is impossible to dwell on dysbiosis, it is necessary to make a specific diagnosis.

Sometimes parents bring healthy children, they have no complaints, just something in the chair did not like moms and dads. You don't have to look for anything here.

It is necessary to treat a person, not tests, so you should not take them when nothing bothers you.

Are probiotics and prebiotics needed then, with which they like to treat dysbiosis? Maybe ordinary kefir will be enough?

- Probiotics are living microorganisms that have a positive effect on health if they enter the intestines in adequate quantities. Everything is important here:

1. That they are alive.
2. That they get to the intestines.
3. In sufficient quantity.

Strictly speaking, probiotics can only be considered specific strains of bacteria, the effectiveness of which has been proven in clinical studies. They are used to treat and prevent certain diseases, such as acute infectious diarrhea. The dose and appropriateness of their appointment is determined by the doctor.

Then there are prebiotics - food for intestinal bacteria. Microbes also need nutrients to do their job. Prebiotics are found mainly in plant foods, these are nutrients that we ourselves cannot digest.

Fermentation products, in particular lactic acid fermentation, also contain beneficial microorganisms. Moreover, these are not necessarily dairy products: sauerkraut or pickled apples also belong here.

But endless advertising, which says that health and immunity will be increased if you eat something in a beautiful jar, this is just an advertisement.

You may not like kefir, but love sauerkraut. Or not love either one or the other, but love yogurt. Choose what you like.

There is a popular opinion that once upon a time the products were better, cleaner, more natural (whatever that means) and then additives were not needed. And now the products are not real, we do not get any benefit from them, so we need to help ourselves. How true is this?

- According to the recommendations given by the World Health Organization and other expert nutritional organizations, if you are healthy, active and have a varied diet, you will have enough nutrients, vitamins, fiber, phytochemicals and everything else from food.

Food is the best way to get the necessities of life.

The attitude that "food used to be better and people were healthier" is a golden age misconception. Even a hundred years ago, the average life expectancy was less than fifty years. Now we have high-quality water, from which people in cities do not get sick with typhoid fever and cholera. No one falsifies food by adding toxic substances due to lack of food. The quality of the food has improved and it has become safer. We do not need to eat a meager set of foods throughout our lives and suffer from vitamin deficiency.

It would be a gross exaggeration to say that the products have become substandard, and rather to the benefit of supplement manufacturers.

There are situations when vitamins are useful for certain diseases or at a certain age, for example. But it is also better to agree with the doctor. Nutritional supplements are not researched in the same way as medications. They are not intended to be cured, but they can be toxic and cause side effects.

Better to invest in a nutritious and varied diet.

It's not that hard: choose foods from different food groups and get benefits and pleasure from them.

Many digestive problems are solved by a balanced diet. What should be changed in the diet in the first place to get rid of them?

- Now absolutely everyone knows what to eat. Much less attention is paid to eating behavior - how a person eats on a regular basis. You need to eat more carefully: focusing on the feeling of hunger and the feeling of satiety, not on the go, not in a hurry. We get used to eating automatically, throwing food into ourselves without meaning and sense, even if it is not needed at the moment. Therefore, it is important to develop correct eating patterns. This is not done at a jump, the formation of habits also occurs according to certain laws.

The balance between food intake and energy expenditure is important, so a minimum of half an hour of movement is recommended every day. You don't have to run or lift a barbell, but activity is needed every day.

No nutritional advice is about giving up what you love in favor of weird and unattractive "healthy" foods.

There are no special “healthiest” foods that can replace a complete varied diet. A prerequisite for adequate nutrition is the pleasure of eating. This is important for physical health, as it ensures the coordinated work of the digestive, nervous, and endocrine systems. So don't forget to enjoy.

Elena Motova writes about nutrition, digestion and eating behavior in her book My Best Friend Stomach. Food for smart people. The book draws on evidence-based medicine and nutritional research. You will learn that many of the accepted nutritional principles are just myths. We advise you to read and eat with pleasure.