With breast cancer a leading cause of death among woman globally, it’s no surprise that billions of dollars are spent searching for better outcomes. Much of the largess is poured into cancer drugs and other treatments. Relatively little is spent exploring a microbiome connection. That’s a shame because breast microbiota may be fertile ground for intervention. […]
microbes
In Melanoma, Microbes Show Game in the Skin
Skin: We ignore it, tattoo it and burn it on beaches and tanning beds. Besides its brutish name, skin also gets little respect for its crucial job of protecting the human body from toxins and dehydration. Skin is the largest organ we have, beating out big hearts and hungry stomachs by a long shot. It […]
Bowel Prep for Colonoscopies Disrupts Microbes
Colonoscopy is the gold standard for finding and removing polyps which could cause colon cancer. Prepping for the test requires imbibing volumes of laxative solutions to cleanse (via diarrhea) the bowel for better viewing. Not fun, but the doctor needs to see a clear picture. One interesting question which rarely comes up is how do […]
Fiber Gives Microbes Much to Chew On
Lentils, black beans, broccoli, mango, raspberries— slivers of the fibrous firmament—taste better than chips or fries and work for us instead of against. A high-fiber diet helps prevent a litany of diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Scientists have teased out many clues for how it works; only recently however have they targeted […]
Exercise Improves Microbe Mix in Lean People
Baby, we were born to run. Despite that innate need to move, few of us do enough exercise for optimum health. Even our microbes will vary depending on movement. For example, endurance athletes harbor different microbes than sedentary people. A new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tracked changes in the guts of […]
Can Probiotics Clear Human Papillomavirus?
Imagine a virus that most people harbor at some point in their lives, usually unaware of it because our fine-tuned immune systems clear them, yet for an unlucky number–usually women—it can be a death sentence. The pathogen is called human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer. A German virologist named Harald zur Hausen […]