I am thinking this question because we know that we have yeasts in our guts. Have they been characterized? Do yeasts that we ingest become part of our microbiome? Somebody is pretending that assimilating the proper microorganisms will make us stronger. Is there any evidence of this? Please, keep bacteria out of this question.
No, the baker yeasts are killed during baking. Their optimal temperature is 36.6 C, exactly as for human. Exposure to heat, say, at 55 C for 5 min results in full death. There are speculations that Saccharomyces came from foots and hands of ancient people preparing vine from grape, but these yeasts do not come from our gut and will NOT colonize our GI when we consume their live cells (e.g. by drinking beer or 'liquid yeasts). The reason is low competitive power vs indigenous commensal forms. Yeasts always like more 'sweet' habitats open to air: surface of plant roots and foliage, ants exudates, honey etc
Thanks, Nicolai. But we do have yeasts in our guts, don't we? Any genus suggestion? We do have in our mouth and on our skin.
yes, some (like Candida) are pathogenic but there are some commensal species
What about probiotics, those microorganisms that we ingest with yogurt and supposedly contribute to Our well-being. De they survive our stomach acid? There are more and more scientists suggesting that we can incorporate postive microorganisms by eating them.
Yes, some medical people are very serious about so called 'fecal therapy': take commensal microorganisms from healthy individuals and introduce them into digestive tract of sick people. As a rule such an introduction is done in combination with colonoscopy, therefore the beneficial bacteria do not go through acidic stomach. Another way is to encapsulate the intestinal microorganisms and give to patients as a pills. Preliminary bacteria from fecal mass are cleaned from solid particles smaller than 1 um and bigger than 10 um by passing through membrane filters. Thus the pills are not as disgusting as original poop.
As for as probiotics and yogurt are concerned: still some researchers doubt whether the stimulation is statistically significant. Bu majority of people do believe in the power of probiotics. As a reminder, fathers of immunology, Ilia Metchnikoff was first who established the beneficial role of lactobacilli. Still these bacteria show the highest positive effect. Mechanism (most probable) is based on the antioxidant activity of these bacteria.
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