A Gut Feeling about Genetics, Health, and Adaptation to various diets

For the last year or so I've had this persistent thought about how flora, our intestinal flora, is very important in our ability to adapt to different diets and how healthy we are. It might explain why some people have celiac, why some people have IBS, why some people are obese, and so forth. And, perhaps why some people are not as healthy on this or that diet.

This was just an intuition. However, today I found this study in Scientific American and I've excerpted the interesting points below:

Genetics in the Gut: Intestinal Microbes Could Drive Obesity and Other Health Issues:
The diversity of germs in the human gut suggests microbiota play a greater role in health than previously thought, even driving obesity and other metabolic conditions

More here: Uncovering the genetic secrets of intestinal bacteria


Excerpts:

Stomach survey
The number of microbes in the human gut was known to be vast, but the 3.3 million microbial genes located in it were a good deal "more than what we originally expected," says Jun Wang, of BGI and co-author of the Nature study. The number was especially surprising given that the microbiota tended to be very similar across the 124 individuals they sampled in Denmark and Spain.

Previous work had scanned for these microbial genes in the past. The largest had created about three gigabases (billion base pairs) of microbial sequences that was trumped by Wang's team, which assembled more than 576 gigabases.

The hefty catalogue is a "big advance" in the field, says Andrew Gewirtz of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University who was not involved in this study. "It really sets in place a framework for defining—in detail—the microbiome," he says. And as Wang and his colleagues noted in their study, "To understand and exploit the impact of the gut microbes on human health and well-being it is necessary to decipher the content, diversity and functioning of the microbial gut community."

More than 99 percent of the genes the group found were from bacteria. "These bacteria have functions, which are essential to our health: They synthesize vitamins, break down certain compounds—which cannot be assimilated by our body—[and] play an important role in our immune system," Wang points out.

Inflammatory mutations
As the prevalence of metabolic diseases continues to increase across the U.S. and many other countries, a growing body of research has suggested that some of these physiological changes might have their roots deep in the gut—not in the human cells but some of the many microbes there.

Emory's Gewirtz and his team tracked the gut microbiota in mice as the rodents experienced different kinds of metabolic disorders, such as obesity and insulin resistance. They bred mice with a genetic deficiency (specifically, the absence of Toll-like receptor 5, or TLR5, which has a hand in immune response) to see how it might change their microbial gut communities and metabolic health—and try to understand the order in which the changes were happening. "It's very much appreciated that obesity is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes," Gewirtz says. But "which comes first is not entirely clear."

Next genetic steps
Although a fuller grasp of microbial genetics promises to boost wellness even further, plenty of big unknowns remain. Scientists are still unsure just how and when these communities of microbes establish themselves in each person's gut. "Everyone is born sterile," Gewirtz says, noting that colonization starts during birth but that they do not know when it reaches relative stability. Regardless of timing, it means that, "the environment is a big, big factor in determining what someone's microbiota will be like," he adds.

If gut microbiota do play a large role in diseases such as obesity and metabolic syndrome, then a recent past change in these communities might help to explain the expansion of patients—and waistlines—in developed countries. "The genetics of humans have not changed appreciably in the last several hundred years," Gewirtz says. "But several changes in the environment have made it so that the gut microbiota is likely considerably different than it was 50 years ago."

Wang and his colleagues are already attempting to track the composition of human gut microbiota back in time to see if this might be the case. But they have their sights set on even bigger collections of genetic data. "Our dream is to build a library" of reference genomes, Wang notes. He hopes to have 10,000 genomes for bacteria within two years. And, he estimated, as soon as more definitive data about these gut genetics emerge, microbial-targeted therapeutics will likely be quick to follow.

More studies on depression and cholesterol

Fatty acid composition in major depression: decreased ω3 fractions in cholesteryl esters and increased C20:4ω6/C20:5ω3 ratio in cholesteryl esters and phospholipids

Lowered ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in serum phospholipids and cholesteryl esters of depressed patients

Depression and adipose polyunsaturated fatty acids in an adolescent group

Macrobiotic Vegan / Vegetarian Diets Usually Fail

Too many grains equals not enough Lysine.

Deficiency States and Symptoms Signs and symptoms of lysine deficiency include fatigue, nausea, dizziness, anorexia, irritability, slow growth, anemia, and reproductive disorders. Inci-dence of marked lysine deficiency in the diet is rare in developed countries like the United States. However, certain individuals, such as vegetarians following a strict macrobiotic diet or athletes undergoing frequent vigorous exercise, are at risk for lysine deficiency. Legumes are a good source of lysine for vegetarians.' Alternative Medicine Review Voiume 12, Number 2 2007

Alternative Medicine Review Voiume 12, Number 2 2007

VeganHealth.org has updated the protein recommendations for vegans. We need to pay attention to the legume category, because that's where the Lysine is. You can type in your ideal weight, not how much you weigh, and the chart 3 will give you a good idea of what you need to get. You'll have to scroll down. I suggest taking one Sunday, or whenever, and reading all you can on the proteins page. It is really extensive, because he's detailed, but it's not complicated.

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/protein#lys

I emailed the makers of Red Star Nutritional Yeast and am waiting on a profile of the amino acids. I had a gut feeling that Nutritional Yeast has a really good profile with more Lysine to Arginine ratio. If this brand below is similar to Red Star, then I was correct.


Quantum Brand Nutritional Flakes
http://www.totalhealthsecrets.com/ENGLISH/catalog/Nutritional-Flakes_875.html

Servings (2 tbsp - 16g) per container: 14
Each 2 tablespoon serving contains:
Primary Nutritional Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Calories 70
Total fat 1g
Saturated fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 5mg
Total Carbohydrates 7g
Dietary Fiber 4g
Protein 8g

Percent daily values based on 2,000 calorie diet:
Vitamin B1 640%, Vitamin B2 565%, VitaminB3 280%, Vitamin B6 480%, Folic Acid 60%, Vitamin B12 150%, Iron 4%, Zinc 21%, Selenium 32%

Amino Acid Profile Per Serving (from Protein Content):
Alanine - 275mg, Arginine - 330mg, Aspartic Acid - 682mg, Cystine - 55mg, Glutamic Acid - 840mg, Glycine - 242mg, Histidine - 99mg, Isoleucine - 264mg, Leucine - 385mg, Lysine - 440mg, Methionine - 77mg, Phenylalanine - 242mg, Proline - 429mg, Serine - 308mg, Threonine - 253mg, Tryptophan - 66mg, Tyrosine - 165mg, Valine - 264mg.