Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

scientificamerican.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 122 posts

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#61

Post by stenl »

Nomentatus wrote: post #58
jpster wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kimchi, sauerkraut and yogurt, among other things. https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/probiotic-foods-gut-bacte...

Careful - most of what you buy as "Kimchi", even from Korea, and most "sauerkraut"; is probiotic in no way whatsoever. That's because it isn't fermented as it should be, they've just poured in vinegar to make pickled vegetable matter. That won't help you at all.

On the other hand, making kinchi yourself is super-easy. it takes literally five minutes to set up and a few days to ferment, then just gets better over time (weeks/months).

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#62

Post by [deleted] »

Mz wrote: post #10

the gut immune system has 70– 80% of the body's immune cells. http://m.ajpgi.physiology.org/content/277/5/G922 It seems like a pretty obvious connection once you know that detail. If you have any kind of chronic medical condition, you would likely benefit from improving your gut health. (Hint: Dietary changes are a good place to start.)

[deleted]

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#63

Post by Tharkun »

qarioz wrote: post #59
colordrops wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would be more like, use soft toilet paper and wet it to avoid overwiping. It's a good guideline but not a physical law etched in stone.

Or follow the more enlightened civilization and use bidet.

Or -- to get this back on topic -- add more fibre to your diet and your days of messy wiping will be over [1].

[1] This is not medical advice. Terms and conditions may apply. Consult a physician and toilet paper specialist before stopping to wipe.

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#64

Post by Tharkun »

shanev wrote: post #39
colordrops wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small amounts of animal protein and lots of raw greens and vegetables, tubers and roots. Everything else is extra. Be careful though about making any specific recommendations here or else someone with a different idea will attack you for not backing it up with scientific data. Because you shouldn't try to figure out what to eat until you get a PhD.

What’s the value in raw vs cooked vegetables? I thought cooking makes their nutrients more bio-available. Do you really eat tubers raw? I can't imagine eating a potato raw. Our ancestors even always cooked them.

I used to date a girl who would snack on raw potatoes the way regular folks snack on apples.

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#65

Post by vanderZwan »

vanderZwan wrote: post #27
jryan49 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of changes? I have a hard time searching google about gut health without feeling like none of it's scientific, and all a scam for advertising or selling products.

Well, in terms of general dietary knowledge, NutritionFacts.org[0] is great. When I first visited it I thought it looked a bit sketchy, but turns out to be a treasure trove. Yes, Dr. Michael Greger also sells books and DVDs through the site, but you need neither buy anything nor register to get access to all the material on the site. Most of the videos are basically him summarizing a large number of papers on a speci…

I would like to know why someone would downvote me for linking what is basically a vlog/podcast where each episode cites at least a dozen scientific papers.

If the guy turns out to be a quack after all, I'd like to know why, not just be passive-aggressively told I'm wrong.

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#67

Post by grzm »

vanderZwan wrote: post #65
vanderZwan wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in terms of general dietary knowledge, NutritionFacts.org[0] is great. When I first visited it I thought it looked a bit sketchy, but turns out to be a treasure trove. Yes, Dr. Michael Greger also sells books and DVDs through the site, but you need neither buy anything nor register to get access to all the material on the site. Most of the videos are basically him summarizing a large number of papers on a speci…

I would like to know why someone would downvote me for linking what is basically a vlog/podcast where each episode cites at least a dozen scientific papers. If the guy turns out to be a quack after all, I'd like to know why, not just be passive-aggressively told I'm wrong.

People often have strong opinions regarding diet and nutrition claims. For the shade of gray of your comment, I can't imagine you received more than a couple of downvotes. While I sympathize with your desire for responses, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

From the Wikipedia article on Greger, it looks like he may be cherry-picking his evidence or overstating his claims in some cases. Speculation, but that might be a reason people would disagree that nutritionfacts.org is a good source:

> Retired physician Harriet A. Hall, who is known for applying critical thinking to health claims, has written that, while it is well accepted that it is more healthy to eat a plant-based diet than a western pattern diet, Greger often overstates the known benefits of such a diet as well as the harm caused by eating animal products (for example, in a talk he claimed that a single meal rich in animal products can "cripple" one's arteries), and he sometimes does not discuss evidence that contradicts his strong claims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Greger

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#68

Post by TuringNYC »

Please allow me go offtopic and ramble for a bit. This article feels like a punch in the gut.

So before my tech career, I did a 1.5yr Fellowship at a renowned research lab -- The Rockefeller University. Our entire programme of research was around the possible causes of multiple sclerosis. One of the reasons I decided to pursue Computer Science rather than clinical research was the slow discovery cycle in clinical research. I got so much faster (albiet smaller) victories in Computer Science.

That was 1996. This is 20 years later and sadly we're still trying to determine the etiology of the disease. My research advisor passed away, the other is deep in retirement. We're still trying to figure out the mess of genetic and environmental factors which cause MS (our theory was Human Herpes Virus 6.)

I owe so much respect to individuals who pursue clinical research for a generation despite how slow progress can be. I was pulling my hair out in 1996 when I worked on this, because it was so slow with so little signal to success/failure. ...In the meantime, I get antsy if my build takes longer than two minutes or if a scrum sprint goes over by a day.

PS this is also why I admire Craig Venter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Venter) so much -- he worked so hard to institute the practices of automation into biomedical research. It is also why im so excited by Mousera/Vium

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#69

Post by vanderZwan »

grzm wrote: post #67
vanderZwan wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to know why someone would downvote me for linking what is basically a vlog/podcast where each episode cites at least a dozen scientific papers. If the guy turns out to be a quack after all, I'd like to know why, not just be passive-aggressively told I'm wrong.

People often have strong opinions regarding diet and nutrition claims. For the shade of gray of your comment, I can't imagine you received more than a couple of downvotes. While I sympathize with your desire for responses, I wouldn't worry about it too much. From the Wikipedia article on Greger, it looks like he may be cherry-picking his evidence or overstating his claims in some cases. Speculation, but that might be…

> People often have strong opinions regarding diet and nutrition claims.

Well, I suppose. Ariely has a good video on that people getting irrational as the topic moves closer to the body[0].

It's still pretty ridiculous given that just about everyone else is replying with their unsourced opinions.

And that's basically one guy whose critique is "he's a bit too enthusiastic about the plant-based diet." Given how attached people are to meat, that's hardly a strong counter-argument.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwOmNm9hk6w

Re: Gut Germs Appear to Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis

#70

Post by swuecho »

TuringNYC wrote: post #68

Please allow me go offtopic and ramble for a bit. This article feels like a punch in the gut. So before my tech career, I did a 1.5yr Fellowship at a renowned research lab -- The Rockefeller University. Our entire programme of research was around the possible causes of multiple sclerosis. One of the reasons I decided to pursue Computer Science rather than clinical research was the slow discovery cycle in clinical res…

small world. I just quit my job at UCSF and I was a programmer in the MS group.
Post reply on HN