Dear Friends,

The collection of human and microbial cells in our body produce a vast milieu of proteins through their collective genomes. These proteins function as 3-D structures that are either neutral, beneficial or harmful to us. As we look into their functioning in our body, how they combine to make the many necessary and beneficial pathways and structures, we will also see ways in which certain pathogenic proteins hamper, inhibit or destroy pathways and structures, causing our body to malfunction — effecting our long term survival—bringing the de-evolutionary hypothesis into reality.

Let’s look at what bugs are presently being sequenced or are targeted to be sequences by the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) as members of the selected group of microbes to be called the reference genomes. They were chosen by a broad consensus of scientists worldwide because they are thought to be the most likely residents of the microbiomes of the gastrointestinal tract, skin, nasal, oral, urogenital and airways. Here are the questions I will address in the coming emails:

1. What are the bugs that have been selected for full genomic sequencing—to be members of the Reference Genome?

2. What is the evidence of their symbiotic relationships with our human cells, tissues and systems—specifically what pathways, receptors, enzymes and structures do they help facilitate?

3. What is the evidence demonstrating that certain pathogens in our microbiome weaken our health and vitality? And how do they lead us down the proverbial de-evolutionary path?

Lets take a look at how the HMP answers these questions.

Reference Genomes of the Human Microbiome Project:

In order to facilitate the phylogenetic and functional analysis of the metagenomic sequences produced from human body sites, the HMP plans to sequence, or collect from publicly available sources, a total of 1000 reference genomes. The organisms included in this collection have all been isolated from a human body site. The information gained from the Reference Genomes will allow 16S RNA sequences and metagenomic sequence from uncharacterized microbiome organisms to be grouped phylogenetically with related organisms from the reference set providing information about the taxonomy of the unknown strains. Likewise, functional characterization of proteins in the reference organisms will aid in the functional annotation of related proteins contained in the sequence fragments derived from metagenomic samples.

I have discussed the issue of taxonomy many times with you individually, in classroom lectures, and in this newsletter. So far, the commercial probiotic industry has not gone through the universal scientific process of nomenclature, as all other biological sciences have done since the age of Aristotle. Almost all companies have named their species, and most certainly their subspecies, with propriety designations, to protect their “intellectual property”. This type of behavior thwarts of whole scientific process of discovery. We don’t know what bugs we are actually buying as consumers, since these organisms are not recognized with the universal scientific name, such as ATCC and other international repositories provide. As of this date, claims about organisms, are just that—in-house claims. The commercial industry needs to join the efforts of HMP and allow their organisms to go through the universal typing procedure—and get universal designations for their organisms. As you know, I have much passion for this field, and strongly believe that science needs to come first, before any commercial venture occurs.

The HMP has developed a detailed set of guidelines for inclusion of a strain in the reference genome group. They also welcome suggestions for inclusion of strains yet under consideration from groups outside their own.

The strain selection criteria that the Genome Centers are proposing to sequence are:

• Phylogeny and uniqueness of the species- It is anticipated that the finishing or improvement of the genomes of species that represent novel lineages will enable broad representation of as many lineages as possible, regardless of other criteria, and will provide improved scaffolding for the metagenomic data that are being produced. These genomes will also provide valuable information to groups beyond those involved in metagenomics studies.
• Established clinical significance- From the initial work with the sub-working groups, as well as from other sources and literature on the individual strains, we do have knowledge on relevance to health or disease states. We believe that any strain that has an established clinical significance to some health or disease condition should be included in the subset proposed to receive some level of improvement.
• Abundance (dominance ) in a body site- Similarly, some strains have accompanying information on abundance and relative abundance in the various body sites. We believe that any strains that have established information on abundance in a body site should be included in the subset proposed to receive some level of improvement. Additional reasoning for these isolates include: (a) the more predominant organisms will contribute the largest number of shotgun read and thus should be sequenced to aid in identifying these reads; (b) the more prevalent organisms will most likely have a bigger impact on metabolic capabilities of the community and thus one would want to know their metabolic pathways. This can only be obtained by complete genome sequences or finished genomes.
• Duplicate species but found in different body sites- For obvious reasons, duplicate species present an interesting data set that might have different metabolic capabilities dependent on which body sites they are found. For example on the strain Master List we currently have isolates of Gardnerella vaginalis that have been collected from vagina as well as skin.
• Opportunity to explore pan-genomes- Again, isolates that have already been closed by other genome sequencing efforts outside of the HMP may be from other environmental niches, and by having additional closed isolates we can obtain more information on the associated pan-genomes. For example, we are all aware of the extra Megabase of DNA obtained when the genome of E. coli 0157 was compared to E. coli K12 as the finished reference genome.
• Poor quality draft assembly that needs some improvement- In situations where a genome did not assemble well.
• Other- In situations where there is some criteria other than those justifications listed above.

The Genome Sequencing Centers for the HMP are located at The Broad Institute (of MIT and Harvard, Washington University, Baylor College of Medicine- Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC) and J. Craig Venter Institute.

The percent breakdown of numbers of bacterial species to be sequenced and their respective ecological niches are: GI tract- 27% (count-307), Oral- 23% (count-269), Skin- 19% (count-220), Urogenital tract-18% (210), Airways- 12% (count-138), Blood-1% (count-7), Heart- 0% (count- 1) and Eye- 0% (count-1).

Next week we will zero in on some of the GI tract selected species and the specifics of their genomic ability enabling their proteomic contribution to the overall functioning of our body. Exciting isn’t it!

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

In our two previous newsletters we have been looking at the two grouping of our synbiotic formulas—the American collection of bugs (in Oct. 7th email/newsletter) and their therapeutic food mix, and the last week the Bulgarian collection. All of our probiotics have gone through the toxonomy process.

As you can see in the picture below we have seven products left to discuss—let’s go over the four on the right. I classify these as our Oxidative Stress Reducing therapeutic foods—foods that clearly support the body’s Antioxidant Defense System.

On the far right we have Cruciferous Sprouts, and to their left we have wild blueberries —endogenous antioxidant support and exogenous antioxidant support respectively.

Cruciferous Sprouts Complex (powder) and the Cruciferous Sprouts Complex (capsules) have a slightly different profile of cruciferous sprouts (click on the links to see). The capsuled product was made for those individuals who don’t like the taste of cruciferous.

How to use and remember: Take one teaspoon or four capsules daily to enhance P2P production in every cell in the body. The glucosynolate family of molecules within this product trigger not just liver cells but all cells DNA to transcribe the production of the phase II enzymes (P2Ps) and therefore you are enhancing the body’s own ability to produce certain proteins that counteract inflammation, oxidation and that are crucial for detoxification. This ability we term endogenous Antioxidant Defense System support.

Wild Blueberry Daily and Wild Blueberry Extract were created to bring in the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuro-regenerative power of the blueberry into our bodies to reduce oxidative stress. Clinical trails have clearly demonstrated the blueberry’s ability to enhance brain function—protecting it from oxidation. The same can be said for its protective benefits within our GI tract. The key portion of the blueberry providing these benefits are contain within its polyphenols—found within their purple pigment; and, is the reason we extracted the pigment to create the Wild Blueberry Extract. Additionally, we selected the Nova Scotia Wild Blueberry because it was rated by our USDA as the number one berry in North America for its oxygen radical absorbent capacity (ORAC).

How to use and remember: It takes us ¾ of a cup of blueberry to fill one capsule of the Daily. It’s ORAC score per capsule is 2000. It takes 1 and ¼ cup so to fill one capsule of the Wild Blueberry Extract whose ORAC score is 4000 per capsule. Use the Daily for prevention and the Extract for correction.

The Last Quiz Answer: The inner world of caves—beneath our feet are countless miles of cave passages with caves deep enough to engulf the Empire State Building. They are the least explored passes on earth and life abounds in this subterranian world. Here lives some of the strangest and least known animals on the planet. This amazing creature was filmed by the Planet Earth team. Frankly, I don’t know what it is. Perhaps some sort of blind salamander with radar like antenna. What do you think? Happy Halloween!

The amazing work in molecular biology keeps unfolding: 3-D Structure Of Human Genome: Factal Globule Architecture Packs Two Meters Of DNA Into Each Cell. This comes from the Broad Institute—one of the four sequencing centers used for the Human Microbiome Project.

Dear Friends,

Happy Halloween! I know I am a bit early but I’ve got a great zoological marvel for you to enjoy in our “Can You Identify This Beautiful Creature?” segment. I think this one is an amazing ghoulish creature. What do you think? What is it? Where does it come from? A hint: it is not part of the microbiome (thank God!).

The Microbiome

Our adult bodies harbor ten times more microbial cells than human cells. Their genomes (the microbiotme) endows us with physiological capacities that we have not had to evolve on our own and thus are both a manifestation of who were are genetically and metabolically and a reflection of our state of well being.

Thank you for letting me quote again the above part of the purpose statement from the Human Microbiome Project (HMP). When you think about it, really get into it, as we will, each of us is more than just our collection of human cells. We are a community of a variety of cells; microbial and human cells, surviving together. As Bruce Birren, co-director of the Genomic Sequencing and Analysis Program at HMP says,

We’re not individuals, we’re colonies of creatures.

Another way to grasp the power of the microbiome is to fathom the fact that the 100 trillion microbes in our gut genetically contribute in excess of 100,000 proteins—encoding genes—that may provide essential traits not encoded in our own genome, yet are required for normal development, physiology, immunology and nutrition. We will continue to explore this subject next week as it is very fundamental to our understanding the concept of De-Evolution, and the disruption of the inter-connectedness of life itself.

Needless to say, the human microbiome is incredibly important. The holistic community has recognized for a long time the importance of a healthy GI tract, but this is not anymore a conversation amongst ourselves, but rather, the focus of many scientists at the National Institute of Health, working to map out the microbiome—and illuminate the naturopathic/holistic practice of medicine: take care of the gut! What makes this so exciting is that along with their status comes the necessary money, power and evolving technologies to create and implement the needed research to make possible great strides in our understanding of the microbiome relevance in our health and disease.

The Human Microbiome Project (HMP)

The HMP goals are to:

• Determine whether individuals share a core human microbiome.
• Understand whether changes in the human microbiome can be correlated with changes in human health.
• Develop the new technologies to support these goals—such as bioinformatics.

In other words, the HMP mission is to generate new technologies that enable the comprehensive characterization of the human microbiota and analysis of its role in human health and disease. The areas of interest for microbiome analysis, within the human body, are the skin, the nasal cavity, the oral cavity, the gastrointestinal tract and the urogenital tract.

The first order of business is the complete sequencing of 1000 genomes to serve as reference genomes. These sequences will provide a benchmark against which further sequence data can be compared. There is a fundamental shift in the world of microbiology and that is the study of native microbial communities. Traditional microbiology has only been able to study isolated bacteria that can be cultured outside the body—focusing on the study of individual species as isolated units. However, relative to the human gut, most organisms cannot be successfully cultured outside their preferred habitat. This problem has been overcome by the advent of the analytical methods of metagenomics.

Metagenomics allows comprehensive examination of complete microbial communities harvested from their native habitat—for example, the gastrointestinal tract. Combining the sequenced genome information with the metagenomic analysis will enable us to identify the bacteria and to know the genetic capabilities. This will give us unprecedented information about the complexity of human microbiota communities.

The HIH Roadmap

The Human Microbiome Project is not a single project but an interdisciplinary effort under the NIH Roadmap of Medical Research. They state that to truly revolutionize medicine and improve human health, we need a more detailed understanding of the vast network of molecules that make up our cells and tissues, their interactions and their regulation. We must have a more precise knowledge of the combinations of molecular events leading to disease.

The Roadmap is a series of initiatives designed to pursue major opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single NIH institute could tackle alone, but the agency as a whole can address to make the biggest impact possible on the progress of medical research.

NIH and the NIH Director

HIH includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the US Department of Health and Human Sciences. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases.

The office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy at NIH, which includes the 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. Here is perhaps the most exciting part—the new Director of NIH Francis S. Collins MD/PhD.

Dr. Collins is the former head of the Human Genome Project, and is now responsible for setting a tone and policy of collaboration of research findings with scientists all over the world. There is much that I can say about this great man, but suffice it to say that it is very fortunate for all of us that he is the leader of this project. His book The Language of God (2006) is highly recommended!

So now we know a bit about the structure next week we will dive into the organisms to be researched.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

There are many wonderful organisms that work within our microbiome to help us maintain health. Last week we focused on understanding the features and benefits of the American collection of pedigreed lactic acid bacteria we use in the four synbiotic formulas pictured on the right—see the discussion in the October 14th Newsletter on our website. This week we will focus on the three on the left—the Bulgarian collection of pedigreed lactic acid bacteria.

The Supernatant Synbiotic Formula as the name implies contains good bacteria (Bulgarian bacteria) and fiber (organic inulin—a soluble fiber from chicory root). Good bugs and fiber (food for the good bugs) is defined as a synbiotic product. The Supernatant part of the name refers to the freeze dried metabolites—the enzymes, peptides, lactic acid, bacterocins, biosurfactants—the metabolic byproducts produced by these good bugs. The supernatant is isolated and freeze dried and included in the product.

This product contains L. acidophillus, L. bulgaricus, L. helveticus, L. casei, S. thermophilus, B. longum and B. infantis—all Bulgarian strains, inulin and supernatant. There are 15 billion cfu per capsule. 60 capsules in a bottle.

How to use and remember: Think of the name—Supernatant Synbiotic Formula- powerful metabolites ready to act immediately upon consumption, good bugs and fiber—food for the good bugs—pretty easy.

We designed this product to protect against hospital generated infections, such as C. diff and MRSA. It took our Bulgarian scientists one year of bench scientific trials to develop this product, testing different strains for their effectiveness towards inhibiting C. diff and Staph aureus growth. This product also can be used very effectively everyday as a general probiotic.

Cranberry Pomegranate Synbiotic Formula contains three pedigreed Bulgarian lactic acid organisms— L. acidophilus, L. casei and B. longum, supernatant, organic cranberry extract, pomegranate extract, d-mannose and inulin. Each capsule contains a 15 billion cfu.

How to use and remember: Besides being an excellent general everyday probiotic the Cranberry Pomegranate Formula was designed to support the healthy functioning of the urinary tract and bladder.

The No. 7 Systemic Booster- is a powerful combination of therapeutic foods to boost our bodies systemically. We included cranberry and pomegranate extracts and whole fruit, Supernatant and its metabolites, plus whole tart cherry and whole pineapple. The No. 7 Systemic Booster also contain our patented fructo borate for bone health, Vitamin D3, Folate, carnatine and carnicine for energy and cellular longevity, the nucleotides of barley sprouts for lowering blood sugar and inulin for fiber (there is no gluten in this product). Each teaspoon provide 10 billion cfu and 4 grams of fiber.

How to use and remember: As the name implies the No. 7 Systemic Booster is designed to boost many of the body’s systems—the gastrointestinal (the bugs and the supernatant), the urogenital—the cranberry and pomegranate; the osteoskeletal-the fructoborate; the cardiovascular-the pomegranate, Vitamin D and Folate; the immunological system with the defensive support of the good bugs and the supernatant. As we age, all of our body’s systems loose their vitality and optimal functioning. The older one is—the more important No. 7 becomes for regular systemic support.

The Last Quiz Answer: This is a blood pheasant. This species’ name comes from the fact that the males have vivid red coloring on the feathers of their breast, throat and forehead. They live in the mountains of Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet, northern Burma and the northwest areas of China. It is the state bird of the Indian state of Sikkim.

Key To How Bacteria Clear Mercury Pollution Revealed.

Dear Friends,

What is the microbiome? Can you define it?

The National Institute of Health defines it as the full collection of microbes (bacteria, fungi, virus, etc) that naturally exist within the human body.

The Human Microbiome Project describes it this way – Our adult bodies harbor ten times more microbial cells than human cells. Their genomes (the microbiotme) endows us with physiological capacities that we have not had to evolve on our own and thus are both a manifestation of who were are genetically and metabolically and a reflection of our state of well being.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt’s three-day medical conference entitled, Lyme Disease And Other Chronic Infections As The Underlying Cause Of Chronic Illness. It was a very important event with presentations given by many experts in this field. The bottom-line consensus is that the mounting crisis that we are seeing in chronic illnesses is caused by not only emerging pathogens such as the Lyme bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi but by a host of co-infections as well-Mycoplasma, Chlamydia, Ehrlichia, etc. This infectious load in our bodies stimulates oxidative damage, which results in the increase in the all too familiar chronic illness patterns that cause much suffering in today’s world. The ecological issues we have been discussing in the last year under the rubric of De-Evolution connects the reasons for the wide spread of Lyme and other co-infection: Our calloused disregard for sound ecological practices with the consequential systematic destruction of our environment. Remember, we have been dealing with increasing amount of chemicals, toxins and poor life style habits since the beginning of the industrial age. We have been treating our earth and water as a toxic dumping ground and therefore have thrown-off the balance of all creatures, large and small, including the microbial world, of friends and foes, that must be in-balance with our own body’s cells and systems.

As a zoologist, I have noted many beloved creatures suffer the disruption of climate change, and the horrific effect of environmental toxins we use daily in our industrialized lives. We talked about habitats vanishing and ecosystems crashing. The growing consensus is that we have reached a critical moment in our history, where the toxic load and our life style practices have finally broken the balance of the necessary symbiotic relationships we must have in our biosphere for a healthy life.

Combining my zoological background with many years of experience as an educator (I have a Fifth Year graduate degree in education), I have taught and discussed parts of the subject I have titled De-Evolution: The Disintegration of the Biosphere and its effect on the Human Microbiome. I would like to share with you in the coming weeks key thoughts from this lecture.

Food is an integral part of our failing world. We spray it, over process it, add more chemicals to it, pack it to last years, and destroy every nutritional aspect of what used to be food. And somehow we think our body can exist without real food. So we eat well “most of the time” but often enough utilize our fast food industry to be “efficient” with our time, and suppress our hunger. It is really, why we created the Therapeutic Foods line. Hearing the alarm sound from our ecological system, and seeing the mismanagement of our food supply system and dietary habits—propelled us to create a pure, and powerful food line to “eat” and nourish our weakened bodies. But it is not easy to understand this ancient way of using foods, and you have been right in requesting a comprehensive, systemic way (and elegantly simply, as Dohrea likes to say), to understand how to incorporate these foods into your protocols to heal people. So we are going to educate how food can be once again our healer and supplier of life.

As you can see in the photograph above there are 14 Therapeutic Foods Formulas. Liz Ashley is the artist who painted this beautiful picture. Check her website—she is an incredible human being, and a friend to Dohrea and I for several years. I have arranged the Therapeutic Foods into five groups. Looking at them from the right to the left: group number one on the far right contains four synbiotic formulas derived from our collaborative work with American scientists. Group number two contain three synbiotic formulas resulting from our work with Bulgarian scientists. Group number three contains four product designed to reduce oxidative stress in our body. Group number four has two patented mineral formula resulting from our work with East European and American scientists and group five contains pure unadulterated extremely potent freeze dried garlic.

Each formula represents the life work of many dedicated people, and are backed up by laboratory bench tests and patient years of development. It this email we will focus on the synbiotic formulas.

We have seven synbiotic formulas. Let’s focus first on the four to the right. As you know the word synbiotic means a product that has good bacteria and food for the bacteria such as fiber. We combine our good bacteria with powerful therapeutic foods. In many parts of the world, the healthy traditions of fermented foods are very much alive, but not anymore in America. We have forgotten how important it is to eat fermented food, and often forget that probiotic are in fact also a part of the food chain and crucial to our diet. The question I have heard many times is whether probiotics are important to take as a supplement, and of course the answer is yes, but do remember that it is not just a supplement—but also an integral part of our food.

The probiotic organisms we use in all of our synbiotic formulas are lactic acid bacteria. What we call the original collection of organisms include-Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus plantarum and Streptococcus thermophillus. Each of these organisms has been identified according to their ATCC strain designation.

The Original Synbiotic Formula contains five lactic acid bacteria plus inulin, a soluble fiber derived from organic chicory root. I call this product good bugs and fiber. One teaspoon contains 20 billion cfu and 4 grams of fiber. We need 25 grams of fiber daily!

How to use and remember: This is your foundational fermented food product. Use it daily. One teaspoon for daily food requirement. One teaspoon three times daily for therapeutic dosage, after antibiotic therapy, for intestinal disruption of any sort, and to support normal bowel function.

The Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula contains the same five bugs and inulin as the Original plus we have added a patented Oat Bran Beta Glucan soluble fiber and red beetroot fiber. The Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula is also bugs and fibers (two different root-fibers). Two tablespoons contain 25 billion cfu and 10 grams of fiber.

How to use and remember: The Beta Glucan Formula is used for cardio-vascular support. Because of the level of beta glucan fibers in a two tablespoon recommended daily dosage, we are able to put on the label the “Healthy Heart” FDA approved statement, that the Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease because of the reduction of cholesterol. It actually lowers LDLs (bad cholesterol) and raises HDLs (good cholesterol) because of the betalein molecules in the red beet root.

Many of you have sent to me effective protocols, you have developed using these synbiotic formulas, that I would like to share. As you discover other protocols, please email me them so that I can continue to share with everyone in the clinical note section of the weekly emails, and within the shopping cart. For Syndrome X (Metabolic Syndrome) – take a tablespoon with each meal. Due to the low glycemic index of the Beta Glucan Formula, it slows down the absorption of sugars. It also suppresses the appetite, stimulating satiety, and therefore is helpful in weight loss programs.

The Triple Berry Probiotic Formula and the High ORAC Synbiotic Formula are both concentrated fruit and berry products, a part of the 5-9 fruit and vegetable foods we need to eat daily. The Triple Berry contains the whole berries of wild blueberry, sweet cherry and raspberry with two lactic acid organisms-Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum (the same strains as used in the Original). This is in a powdered form and taste really good. One teaspoon contains 7 billion cfu and 4 grams of freeze dried berries for a 1000 ORAC per teaspoon.

The High ORAC contains bugs, fruits, berries and fiber. It has the Original strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum plus Wild Blueberry extract, Wild Bilberry extract, Grape and Grape Seed extract, Raspberry and Raspberry Seed extract, whole Tart Cherry, Cranberry and Prune, plus organic inulin. There is 25 billion cfu and a 1500 ORAC per capsule.

How to use and remember: The Triple Berry Probiotic Formula has a triple usage—As a probiotic for children, a brain protector (Blueberry), and a GI tract supporter. The raspberry’s elegiac acid has broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, which imparts an important microbial balance for children and adults.

The High ORAC Synbiotic Formula is used as a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuro-regenerative, and anti-microbial. It provides your fruit and berries that you normally do not get in your diet. All the nourishing elements of our orchards and vineyards are in this High ORAC product. One capsule a day for preventative measures, and two-four capsules for therapeutic measures. Can be used with “after antibiotic therapy”, and with any other of the fermented products. We like to see it combined with the Original for extra fiber and bugs, or the No 7 Systemic Booster (from the Bulgarian collection) for complete phyto-nutrient protection.

Consider: The formulas offer therapeutic foods and fiber, fermenting bugs, and the various medicinal aspects of foods. Help your patient understand the power of food by going into the website and learning from the library. This information sounds simple, yet we all have forgotten to think of real food as medicine. So more information helps the patient to synergize this knowledge with therapeutic foods strategies.

Other uses: Use as a part of your family’s daily fruit and fermented food intake. For kids, many of you have used it to untangle candida and other yeast overgrowth. One doctor used a half-teaspoon of the Triple Berry to un-do years of candida battles. The TB is a powerful food that offers the antioxidant and antimicrobial as both fruit and bugs work synergistically—as it has for eons. For very sensitive kids, starts with the Original and then add the Triple Berry as they get stronger. We need fruit in our bodies—it has a very important function and purpose. For kids that can swallow pills, you can alternate with the High ORAC Synbiotic Formula.

I call this group the American Collection.

Next week we shall talk about the Bulgarian organisms as a collection of fermented food products; as well as general discussion—moving us deeper into the world of the microbiome.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note: The Freeze Dried Organic Garlic is one of the best immunizations against bacterial and viral imbalance in our bodies. Use one capsule a day with the High ORAC Synbiotic Formula for added boost for the immune system. Take more when you feel under the weather.

The Last Quiz Answer: The giant panda is perhaps the most powerful symbol in the world when it comes to species conservation. In China it is a national treasure, and for the World Wildlife Federation the panda has been the organizations symbol since 1961 when WWF was formed.

Food Democracy Now! is a grassroots movement initiated by farmers, writers, chefs, eaters and policy advocates who recognize the profound sense of urgency in creating a new food system that is capable of meeting the changing needs of American society as it relates to food, health, animal welfare and the environment.

Dear Friends,

I was pouring over Howard Yana-Shapiro’s and John Harrison’s tremendous book, Gardening For The Future Of The Earth (2000), learning how to build, nurture and prepare the soil of our little condo garden plot for next year’s Spring planting, and came across the following quote:

In 1905 Nathaniel Southgate Shaler described in his book Man and Earth how soil, air, and water provide a fragile “placenta” that envelops the planet, sustaining all life. The key to survival is maintaining a healthy “placenta” and soil quality is as important an environmental factor as air and water quality. We have damage our “placenta”. (p. 76)

I love this metaphor. Doesn’t it encapsulate what we must ultimately change—the quality of our air, water and soil?

Over the last year we have been discussing, the human caused demise of the biosphere—caused by the poisoning of the “placenta”. Beginning in Sept 08 with our first email, we describe the resulting process, I have labeled as the De-Evolution of the biosphere, that has been set in motion since the industrial revolution (as Dohrea tells me, London was a filthy city, with soot permeating air, water and earth, the great River Thames doomed, and that was just the beginning), and is now escalating at an alarming rate.

No documentary captures better the magnificent beauty and diversity of the biosphere than the BBC natural history series—Planet Earth. It is stunning! The series producer, Alastair Fothergill, called their years of filming wild places all over the globe, and their interviews with impassioned individuals who are doing a great deal on the ground to save the species, as “a bitter sweet experience.”

The situation in the Asian region is extremely serious. Nearly all the natural rain forests are gone from Thailand and the Philippians, and what remain in Indonesia are extremely stressed. (Tony Juniper- Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, Planet Earth).

We have one in four mammals on the threatened list. We have one-third of all amphibians on the threatened list. We know we are pushing more and more species to the edge of extinction. We have lost one-half of the world’s forests, one-half of the world’s wetlands, one-half of the world’s grasslands. We are systematically eradicating many of the world’s habitats. (James Leape, Director General, World Wildlife Federation International, Planet Earth).

In our ignorance (and later greed and arrogance), in our faulty philosophy—viewing ourselves as separate from nature, somehow untouchable when it comes to our polluting of the air, poisoning of the water, and carelessly destroying the precious soil—we find ourselves in a world of increasing environmental collapse and chronic illnesses, the very process of De-Evolution unfolding in front of our eyes. We need a new way of thinking about life and our relationship to it. Scientific studies have incontrovertibly established that human gluttony and pollution are causing the greatest mass extinction since dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago. If present trends continue, half of all higher species, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals will be extinct within this century—that is the essence of De-Evolution.

Over the past year we have examined the biosphere and the relationships of all of life’s forms—both from a macro scale of habitats and ecosystems to microscopic world of microbes. We viewed the biosphere from a Planet Earth perspective to that of the genetic worlds of the Human Genome and Microbiome Project. In this email I am summarizing and setting the stage for our re-entry into the world of cellular biology and the world and relationship of the microbiome to our human body.

Needing a new way of thinking about life and our relationship to it, we have proposed the importance of embracing a systems theory view of life and this we have explored through looking at the work of many systems luminaries. Fritjof Capra articulates a systemic perspective on life beautifully his book—The Hidden Connections (2002):

We are an open system, and all organisms in an ecosystem produce wastes, but what is waste for one species is food for another. So wastes are continually recycled and ecosystems as a whole generally remain without waste.

By blending water and minerals from below with sunlight and CO2 from above, green plants link the earth and the sky. We tend to believe that plants grow out of the soil, but in fact most of their substance comes from the air. The bulk of the cellulose and the other organic compounds produced through photosynthesis consists of heavy carbon and oxygen atoms, which plants take directly from the air in the form of CO2. Thus the weight of a wooden log comes almost entirely from the air. When we burn a log in a fireplace, oxygen and carbon combine once more into CO2, and in the light and heat of the fire we recover part of the solar energy that went into making the wood.

A typical food cycle: plants are eaten by animals, which in turn are eaten by other animals, the plants’ nutrients are passed on through the food web, while energy is dissipated as heat through respiration and as waste through excretion. The wastes, as well as dead animals and plants, are decomposed by so-called decomposer organisms (insects and bacteria), which break them down into basic nutrients, to be taken up once more by green plants. In this way, nutrients and other basic elements continually cycle through the ecosystem, while energy is dissipated at each stage—matter circulates, energy dissipates. The only waste generated by the ecosystem as a whole is the heat energy of respiration, which is radiated into the atmosphere and is replenished continually by the sun through photosynthesis.

The “placenta” of our planet has birthed the biodiversity that eventually, according to evolutionary theorists, led to our emergence as a species. Today, human progress is at a turning point where an old paradigm and a challenging new awareness are uneasily trying to coexist. We are wedded by habit and tradition to an outmoded view of the Universe and yet civilization is pregnant with ancient and wise indigenous philosophies, new scientific discoveries, and exciting and optimistic understanding of life.

Epigenetics

Traditional thinking has taught us that the nucleus of a cell is the cell’s brain. But the brain is actually the cell’s membrane, the equivalent to the cell’s skin. Built into the membrane are protein switches that respond to the environmental signals by relaying their information to internal protein pathways. A different membrane switch exists for almost every environmental signal recognized by a cell. Some switches respond to estrogen, some to adrenaline, some to calcium, some to light waves and so on. These membrane proteins have been called receptors and effectors. The tissues in the body with the most receptors and effectors are the immune system cells and the cells of the nervous system—both with between 200,000 to 2,000,000 receptors per cellular membrane.

Each membrane switch is a unit of perception, comprised of two fundamental parts, a receptor protein and an effector protein. The receptor protein, receives signals from the environment. Upon receiving its primary complementary signal the now activated receptor moves to and is thus able to bind to the effector protein. When activated by a receptor, the effector protein sends a secondary signal through the cytoplasm activating a metabolic pathway (protein pathway) and/or stimulating the genome to produce certain proteins. Read more about Epigenetics in Spontaneous Evolution— Our Positive Future (and a way to get there from here). Written by Bruce H. Lipton, PhD., and Steve Bhaerman, and published this year.

Recognizing that we are, as human beings, a collection of 10 trillion human cells and 100 trillion microbial cells in our microbiome, cohabitating as a functional unit—is important, and the foundation for our up and coming conversations. With further recognition that our gastrointestinal tract is our most exposed surface to the outside world, it is no wonder that 70 % of our immune system resides in the gut, and that the enteric nervous system is second only to the brain in terms of number of nerve cells. It is also no coincidence that the Human Genome Group of scientists after their successful typing of the complete human genetic code, have now taken on the mapping of the human microbiome in the gut.

So friends, in the ensuing weeks we will move back into looking at the exciting current stage of this work with the human microbiome, in particular the world of the Human Microbiome Project.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note: Here is a powerful, highly effective protocol for dealing with “coming-on” sore throats—take 2 capsules of our Freeze Dried Organic Garlic and open up the capsules up poring the powder in a large glass of water. Let it sit for about 15 minutes so that the alliin and alliinase fully react to form allicin. At this point add a full heaping tablespoon of the Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula to the water. Allicin is a very strong antimicrobial, but for sensitive stomach it may cause a burning sensation, the Beta Glucan will buffer that response. In addition, the synbiotic combination adds antimicrobial power with 5 effective probiotic organisms, while the beta glucan fibers prime the immune system. Most of the time this protocol stops the sore throat in its track. Try it. Of course, for those of you (like Dohrea) who dislike the garlic smell, take the capsules whole. Any question, give a call!

The Last Quiz Answer: This amazing creature is a musk deer. There are perhaps six species of musk deer found in 13 countries, including Russia, China, India, Nepal and other Asian nations. Musk deer are relatively small and antlerless, save a pair of protruding tusklike teeth, as you can see in the picture. A strong smelling secretion by the glands of Asian musk deer has been used in perfumes and the traditional medicine of China and its neighboors for 5000 years or more. It is estimated that musk is currently being used in as many as 400 Chinese and Korean traditional remedies. It is used to treat complaints of the nervous, cardiovascular and respiratory systems and is worth its weight in gold. In fact, gram for gram, musk can be worth three times more than its weight in gold.

“Fertility of the soil is the future of civilization.” Sir Albert Howard, 19th Century Agriculturist.