Popular Antibacterial Ingredient Has Been Linked to Cancer

The chemical triclosan began to appear in a multitude of products in the early 1970s. From soaps and toothpastes to cleaning supplies and pesticides, this chemical was reportedly an effective antibacterial and antifungal compound. After it started to appear in household products, the FDA began to investigate the chemical's safety profile. However, it wasn't until 2016 that it established a final, clear regulation.

It was at this time that the FDA had effectively banned triclosan and 18 other compounds from consumer antiseptic wash products such as hand soap. However, the regulation was limited as it still allowed the chemical to be used in hand wipes or sanitizers and toothpastes. However, Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said, "Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water." 

Over the years, a growing body of evidence has come to suggest that triclosan is harmful to humans and to the environment. Initial studies pointed to concerns over the chemical acting as an endocrine disrupter in humans and also increasing the prominence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

However, the direct effect that the chemical has on human health has been controversially debated. According to a review by the government of Canada, it was recently concluded that when used in low concentrations triclosan is not harmful to human health. This includes the current levels found in cosmetics, shampoos, and toothpaste. The Canadian review does note, however, that the chemical can pose a hazard to the environment, and it has been seen to be very toxic and disruptive when found in river ecosystems. In fact, it has been noted as one of the top 10 pollutants found in rivers in the United States. Even more concerning is the result of a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey which found traces of triclosan in 75% of urine samples from participants in the United States. 

In a new study which was led by a team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, it set out to explore if triclosan had any relationship with gut inflammation, which has been reported to be an increasingly diagnosed problem. The study fed mice amounts of the chemical relative to concentrations that have been identified in human blood samples. After three weeks of administration in healthy mice, a low-grade of colonic inflammation was identified. 

 The study then administered the same regime to mice that were genetically engineered to develop inflammatory bowel disease. But after three weeks, the development of symptoms relating to irritable bowel syndrome had significantly accelerated, as did the development of colitis-associated colon cancer cell growth. It was noted that one group of mice, in particular, displayed significantly reduced lifespan.

Researchers hypothesized that triclosan could be affecting the gut microbiome which could be the fundamental mechanism resulting in inflammatory effects. In order to look deeper into this mechanism, the study subsequently found that when fed to germ-free mice (those with no gut microbiome), they found that the harmful effects of triclosan disappeared. Furthermore, they discovered that triclosan did indeed lower the diversity of an animal's gut flora. 

It's worth noting that this study is only demonstrated in a small mouse cohort and so far, it has not been validated in humans. But researchers do suggest the results indicate that the effects of this chemical on human health do indeed need urgent and close inspection.

Haixia Yang says "Little is known about the impact of this chemical on human health or other species. Our study indicates there is an urgent need to further evaluate the impact of triclosan exposure and update the potential regulatory policies." 

For now, it seems that regulators may be dragging their heels on working out whether this chemical is harmful or not. But, in a statement released last year and co-signed by over 200 scientists and medical professionals suggests that we should probably just avoid it altogether. Within the Florida Statement report, it was found that despite the lack of definitive evidence of its harmful effects, there is no conclusive evidence of its efficacy as an anti-microbial agent. 

Barbara Sattler, an environmental health professor at the University of San Francisco says "People think antimicrobial hand soaps offer better protection against illness, but generally, antimicrobial soaps perform no better than plain soap and water." Furthermore, an earlier study conducted at the University of Massachusetts Amherst team found that the chemical can build up to concerning levels of toxicity in the bristles of a toothbrush. What's worse, when a non-triclosan containing toothpaste was applied to the brush, the accumulated triclosan could be released in potentially harmful amounts. 

Ultimately, this all leads to a scenario where we have a chemical compound in a variety of household products that is, at best, relatively ineffective, and at worst, cancer-causing and toxic to the environment. Still, further work needs to be done to establish, for certain, whether there is an inflammatory connection in humans. However, at this point, triclosan can be easily avoided by simply paying attention to the ingredient list of purchased products.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for food, medicines, exercises and so on.   

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High Fat Diet With Antibiotic Use May Result In Gut Inflammation

It has been emphasised time and again that your diet plays a key role in managing the health of your gut. Gut, for the uninitiated, is a micro biome of a certain bacteria present in our body that tend to impact our overall health. Gut micro biome comprises of both 'good' and 'bad' bacteria. According to experts a healthy diet filled with pre and probiotics could help feed good bacteria.

According to a recent study, a high fat western diet in combination with antibiotics may become a pre-irritable bowel syndrome (IBD) risk factor.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common digestive disorder that affects over 11% of people worldwide. Some of the symptoms include recurring episodes of abdominal pain, bloating and changes in bowel habits. IBS patients with mucosal inflammation and changes in the gut's microbial composition are considered pre-IBD.

The study included 43 healthy adults and 49 adult patients diagnosed with IBS. The researchers measured faecal calprotectin, a biomarker for intestinal inflammation, of participants. Elevated levels of faecal calprotectin indicated a pre-IBD condition. The study identified 19 patients with IBS as pre-IBD.

In the course of the study, researchers found that participants who consumed a high-fat diet and used antibiotics were at 8.6 times higher risk for having pre-IBD than those on a low-fat diet and no recent history of antibiotic use. Moreover, participants with the highest fat consumption were found to be about 2.8 times more likely to have pre-IBD as compared to those with the lowest fat intake.

"Our study found that a history of antibiotics in individuals consuming a high-fat diet was associated with the greatest risk for pre-IBD," said Andreas Baumler, professor of medical microbiology and immunology and lead author on the study. "Until now, we didn't appreciate how different environmental risk factors can synergise to drive the disease."

Shutting the cell's powerhouse promotes gut microbial growth. The researchers used mouse models to draw conclusions for the study that also tested the effect of high-fat diet and antibiotics use on the cells in the intestinal lining.

The combination of both tend to disrupt the work of the cell's mitochondria, shutting its ability to burn oxygen. This disruption results in a reduction in the cell's oxygen consumption and leads to oxygen leakage into the gut, and lead to inflammation.

"The best approach to a healthy gut is to get rid of the preferred sustenance of harmful microbes," Lee said. "Our study emphasised the importance of avoiding high-fat food and abuse of antibiotics to avoid gut inflammation."

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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The Connection Between Your Appendix and Parkinson's

Scientists have discovered a new clue that Parkinson's disease may get its start not in the brain, but in the gut - and possibly in the appendix. It was found that people who had their appendix removed early in life had a lower risk of getting the tremor-inducing brain disease decades later.

The appendix, which is often considered to be useless, seems to be a storage depot for an abnormal protein. Which, if it somehow makes its way into the brain, becomes a hallmark of Parkinson's. But, before you do go rushing to a surgeon, Viviane Labrie of Michigan's Van Andel Research Institute, a neuroscientist and geneticist who led the research team, stressed: "we're not saying to go out and get an appendectomy." Furthermore, there are plenty of people who have no appendix yet still develop Parkinson's. In addition, plenty of others harbor the protein but never get sick.

Understanding the gut connection

Doctors and patients have long suspected a connection between the gastrointestinal tract and Parkinson's. It was also noticed that constipation and other GI troubles are very common for a number of years before patients experience tremors and movement difficulty that lead to a Parkinson's diagnosis.

Dr. Allison Willis, a Parkinson's specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, who wasn't part of the study, but has many of her patients ask about the gut link says "This is a great piece of the puzzle. It is a fundamental clue."

James Beck, Parkinson's Foundation chief scientific officer, who too wasn't involved agreed that "there's a lot of tantalizing potential connections." Furthermore, he noted that despite its reputation, the appendix appears to play a role in immunity which may influence gut inflammation. In addition, the type of gut bacteria that live in the gut may also affect Parkinson's. 

However, if it truly is common to harbor that Parkinson's-linked protein, "what we don't know is what starts it, what gets this whole ball rolling," Beck says.

Scientists have for many years hypothesized about what might cause the gut-Parkinson's connection. One main theory included the possibility of bad "alpha-synuclein" protein which can travel from nerve fibers in the GI tract up the vagus nerve. This connects the body's major organs to the brain. Abnormal alpha-synuclein is toxic to brain cells involved with movement. There have also been other clues. Decades ago, people who have had their vagus nerve cut as part of a now-abandoned therapy had a reduced risk of Parkinson's. Smaller studies have suggested appendectomies, too, might be protective - but the results were conflicting.

Consequently, Labrie's team set out to find stronger evidence. Firstly, the researchers analyzed Sweden's national health database. They examined medical records of nearly 1.7 million people tracked since 1964. It was discovered that the risk of Parkinson's was 19% lower among those who had their appendix surgically removed decades earlier. What was found to be puzzling was that people living in rural areas appeared to get the benefit. Labrie said that it is possible that the appendix plays a role in environmental risk factors for Parkinson's, including pesticide exposure. In addition, further analysis suggested that people who developed Parkinson's despite an early-in-life appendectomy tended to have symptoms appear a few years later than similarly aged patients.


A common protein

Dr. Andrew Feigin, executive director of the Parkinson's Institute at NYU Langone Health, who wasn't involved in the research says that kind of study doesn't prove that removing the appendix is what reduces the risk. Consequently, Labrie's team examined tissue from 48 Parkinson's-free people. It was found that in 46 of them, the appendix harbored the abnormal Parkinson's-linked protein. So did some Parkinson's patients. Whether the appendix was inflamed or not also did not affect their findings.

This is a crucial finding because it means merely harboring the protein in the gut isn't enough to trigger Parkinson's, Labrie said. There has to be another step that makes it dangerous only for certain people. She says, "the difference we think is how you manage this pathology," she said, about how the body handles the buildup.

Her team plans additional studies. The findings are compelling, however, another key question is if the abnormal protein collects in healthy people's intestines. In addition, Penn Willis adds another caution: There are other unrelated risks for Parkinson's disease, this includes suffering a traumatic brain injury. "This could be one of many avenues that lead to Parkinson's disease, but it's a very exciting one," she said.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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