This installment will not be an idea, but rather some musings on a very important subject, e. Coli, a sybiotic organism that lives in the intestines. It is a bacterium which is present in the colon, hence the Coli. e. stands for escherichia, which I believe is the name of the scientist that discovered it. I'm not sure, but I don't think it matters in this context. Did you know that feces is about 50% e. Coli, by mass? In other words, it is 50% bacteria.
The other day, I read a couple of articles on the internet which I found interesting. The first was about a study which suggested that the type and amount of different bacteria in the colon may have an impact on body weight. It said that people get their colon bacteria from their families in early life, and that antibiotics and other factors can serve to change the bacterial over time. The implication was that these modifications to the composition of ones colon bacteria could make one get fat.
As an aside, I have read in several places that yogurt, which contains active bacterial cultures, can help people who are dieting lose weight. They surmised that the reason was that yogurt contained a lot of calcium. I'm beginning to wonder if it might be the yogurt cultures. Yogurt was originally created when nomadic peoples carried milk in pouches made from camel stomachs, thousands of years ago. That means that yogurt bacteria are originally intestinal bacteria.
The other article I read was one that explored the very real possibility that mitochondria can cause an immune response, resulting in symptoms of sepsis. A doctor found that injured cells split open, releasing their mitochondria into the bloodstream, causing symptoms of infection. Mitochondria are tiny organelles inside most plant and animal cells, which the cells use to produce energy from glucose. Mitochondria were discovered to be remarkably similar to bacteria, so much that they actually are bacteria, but living inside of cells, as part of them.
An interesting fact about mitochondria is that they are passed along from mother to child, and so they can be traced back as far as you want along the line of your mother. They are part of the egg, but never a part of the sperm, so you can't get them from Daddy. There are tests for mitochondrial DNA now, which can be used to determine the origin of ancestral lines much further back than most genealogies can provide. Mitochondrial DNA is used to trace migrations since ancient times, because it changes very little.
This brings me to an important question, one which I have never heard asked: Where does a person's original e Coli bacterium come from? Is it true that it comes from the environment in the first few days of life? If so, is it bad to wash your hands before feeding your baby? Is it possible that the baby is actually born with the first e. Coli in its intestines? If so, how did it get there? Okay, so that is more than one question.
Here is my theory: I believe that babies are born with the first e. Coli inside their gut, and that it comes from the baby's mitochondria. One form of supporting evidence of this would be if women of successive generations were either fat like their mothers, or thin like their mothers. A lot of factors would contribute, but a propensity should show through in statistics.
I propose an experiment. Someone should take samples of different babies' merconium, which is the name for a baby's first poo, and see if they can culture e. Coli from it. It would be interesting to see the results. Maybe someone else thought of this already. If so, I would love to know. If the merconium proved to have e. Coli in it, it would be interesting to see if it is the same as their mitochondria. Another experiment on the mitochondrial DNA of the same child, compared to the theoreticl e. Coli would be in order, to see if there is a genetic similarity.
Well, there is my latest brainstorm. It isn't a big money maker, but someone could at least become noteworthy for publishing the results of a study. If you happen to do this, please let me know. I always like to see if my ideas are any good.
No comments:
Post a Comment