INTRODUCTION
I’ve been paying much more attention to the human
intestinal microbial landscape because of the red meat-carnitine study, and
more recently, this one. There is a growing body of
compelling evidence linking the types of bacteria that colonize our intestines,
and therefore the types of toxins we are exposed to, and our risk of diseases
that include obesity.
I’ve written about this before, namely with respect to
the gram-negative bacterial toxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), as it relates to
physical attractiveness, as well as the apparent beneficial metabolic effects
of sterilizing the intestines of all microbial life.
I don’t want to dwell on this matter, but I do want to
try to delve further into the intricacies of the topic and the evidence in
which many of the suppositions are based, and towards the end, shed light on
some pathways that open up possibilities for intervention.