GOOD BACTERIA

• Good bacteria


  Also known as beneficial bacteria to the body and enhance health
• Good bacteria make up 85% of total bacteria, bad bacteria make up 15%
• Scientists estimate that only 1-10% of total bacteria have even been discovered
• Around 100 trillion good bacteria live in and on our bodies, residing in our gut
• Types of microbes


  • Necessary for our survival
  • Good for us
  • Can be used for our benefit in industry
• Friendly Intestinal Bacteria


  Also called Probiotics, they help break down toxins and help build immunity
• Mutualism


  Relationship between friendly intestinal bacteria and host
• Probiotic


  Live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host
• Probiotic term coined by Lily And Stillwell


  1965
• Probiotic treatments


  • Diarrhea
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease
  • Tooth decay, gingivitis and periodontitis
  • Eczema
• Probiotics can help with diarrhea by restoring the balance of bacteria in your gut
• Elie Metchnikoff


  Russian scientist who worked at the Pasteur Institute and suggested Lactic Acid Bacteria were beneficial to the intestinal
• Minoru Shirota


  Japanese microbiologist who developed a new strain of bacteria called Lactobacillus casei Shirota
• Types of Good Bacteria

  • Lactobacillus (Lactic acid bacteria)
  • Bifidobacteria
• Lactobacillus (Lactic acid bacteria)


  • Produces lactase to break down lactose, produces lactic acid to control bad bacteria
  • Found naturally in the mouth, small intestine, vagina
• Lactobacillus (group)


  • Breaks down food, absorbs nutrients, makes vitamins, helps prevent bad bacteria
  • Can inhibit growth of cancer cells in colon and mammary glands
• Bifidobacteria


  • Another probiotic with same benefits as Lactobacillus
  • Normally live in the intestines
  • First isolated from breast-fed infant feces in 1899 by Henri Tissier
• Uses of Bifidobacteria


  • Digest dietary fiber
  • Support the immune system
  • Help prevent infection
  • Prevent common cold or flu
  • Produce vitamins and other important chemicals
• Side effects of Bifidobacteria


  Likely safe for healthy adults, may upset stomach and intestine causing diarrhea, bloating and gas
• Staphlococcus hominis


  • Just 1 of 180 species of friendly skin bacteria
  • Helps prevent bad Staph from attaching to skin cells
  • Produces thioalcohol compounds that contribute to body odor
• Thiols


  Used as odorants to detect natural gas, sometimes referred to as mercaptans
• Staphlococcus hominis may occasionally cause infection in patients with compromised immune systems
• Streptococcus thermophilus


  • Probiotic that produces the enzyme lactase
  • Located mainly in the colon, has strong effects on GI tract, immune system and other health factors
• Streptococcus thermophilus benefits


  • Improves digestion
  • Reduces diarrhea after antibiotics
  • Decreases ulcerative colitis symptoms
  • Reduces leaky bowel symptoms
  • Breaks down lactose
  • Reduces IBS symptoms
  • Reduces acute diarrhea
  • Boosts immunity
  • Prevents/fights respiratory infections
  • Prevents Helicobacter pylori ulcers
  • Reduces AIDS symptoms
• Some people may be at higher risk for adverse events from Streptococcus thermophilus
• Saccharomyces boulardii


  • A type of yeast that acts as a probiotic
  • Helpful for preventing and treating traveler's diarrhea, including rotaviral diarrhea in children and antibiotic-associated diarrhea in adults
  • Useful for treating acne and reducing H. pylori antibiotic side effects
• Cyanobacteria


  • Also called 'blue-green algae', produce oxygen and nutrients other organisms need to live
  • Get their name from the bluish pigment phycocyanin used for photosynthesis
• Rhizobia Bacteria


  • Convert nitrogen into forms that plants can use to make proteins, required for many crops to grow
  • First known species Rhizobium leguminosarum identified in 1889
• Benefits of Helpful Microorganisms

  • Produce medicine like penicillin
  • Key components of vaccines that prevent deadly diseases
• Penicillin


  Antibiotic discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, produced by the fungus Penicillium notatum
• Vaccines


  Discovered by Edward Jenner in 1796, usually made from weak or inactive versions of the same microbes that make us ill
• Fermentation


  • Process where bacteria break down complex sugars into simple compounds like carbon dioxide and alcohol
  • The science of fermentation is known as "Zymology"
  • Fermentation changes one food into another
• Antibiotics can cure diseases caused by bacteria but not those caused by fungi or viruses, and can kill both good and bad bacteria
• Eating yogurt puts back good bacteria in your body