Page 14 - Spring2009
P. 14

Letters








                 take the advice very seriously. How-  static soil organisms? What soil do they  the dung had to be eaten while warm
                 ever, over the past year, I have become  come from? How are they processed?  and fresh. It did not work if eaten cold.
                 increasingly concerned about advising  Are homeostatic soil organisms from  They had no idea why it worked, but
                 people to take probiotics that contain  one soil region different than another  said the remedy came down from their
                 soil-based organisms, namely Bacillus  region, state, country, etc? How do we  forefathers.
                 subtilis.                          know there are no harmful bacteria,    When the Germans examined the
                    Soil organisms (SO) are spore form-  fungi, or other organisms that could  warm dung, they found it to be teeming
                 ers,  so  they make good competitors  cause long term infection? How do we  with a microorganism that came to be
                 for yeast, fungus and other pathogens.  know homeostatic soil organisms are  called Bacillus subtilis, a microbe that
                 This is why so many people taking soil  any better than regular probiotics or  consumed harmful organisms in the
                 organisms will initially experience very  any other natural treatment with more  gut, particularly the virulent strain that
                 favorable results. However, according  research backing findings? How are  was causing dysentery in the German
                 to certain critics, the fact that these  homeostatic soil organisms sold by one  troops.  The  medical  personnel  then
                 spores are extremely difficult to kill  company different than the ones sold by  began producing B. subtilis on a large
                 is a potential source of problems; they  another?”                    scale for the soldiers and the dysentery
                 survive sterilants, disinfectants, accel-  It concerns me that soil organisms  problem was solved.
                 eration forces, heat, pressure, radiation  may have the capacity to become patho-  It  could  be  said  that  B.  subtilis
                 and many antibiotics. Strong antibiot-  genic in human beings! And from what  was the basis for the first commercial
                 ics, such as Vancomycin, can suppress  I gather, it may well be that the very  probiotic because for many years after
                 certain spores. Spores are so persistent  people who need them the most (those  the war, cultures of B. subtilis were sold
                 in the intestines that another round of  with the most compromised immune  worldwide—in the U. S., for example,
                 germination may occur after the drug is  systems), are exactly the ones who could  they were sold under the brand name
                 stopped. Soil organisms can also adapt  be hurt the most by this pathogenic bac-  Bacti-Subtil—as  a  remedy  for  dys-
                 loose genetic material and incorporate it  teria.                     entery and other intestinal problems.
                 into their cellular structure, the ramifica-          Alana Sugar, CN  The product began losing favor in the
                 tions of which are yet unknown. Various           Alexandria, Virginia  late 1950s and 1960s with the advent
                 soil organisms can also produce harmful                               of synthetic antibiotics. The product
                 peptides, affecting hemoglobin in the   The use of B. subtilis in medicine  is still widely used today in Germany,
                 blood. It’s important to keep in mind  has an interesting history. B. subtilis  France and Israel, where scientists have
                 that virtually all antibiotic drugs were  became part of medical usage due to  discovered that the organism not only
                 initially developed from soil organisms  research  by  German  military  doc-  kills pathogens in the gut but supports
                 and as antibiotics become more potent,  tors during the World War II German  the human immune defense by activat-
                 they cause more damage to the host, not  campaign in North Africa, who were  ing at least three specific antibodies,
                 just in the immediate gut environment,  seeking a treatment for uncontrollable  IgM, IgG and IgA. Cultures of B. subtilis
                 but systematically as well.        dysentery in the German troops. The  also release compounds that kill can-
                    As I dug deeper, I came across the  military’s medical team noted that when  cer cells. It was marketed throughout
                 site of Dr. Ray Sahelian, MD, an integra-  the Arabs got dysentery, they began  America and Europe from 1946 as an
                 tive medical doctor who believes it is not  following a horse or camel until it had  immunostimulatory aid in the treatment
                 proven safe to take these probiotics. He  dropped its dung. Then they would eat  of gut and urinary tract diseases such
                 says, “There is no explanation made as  the warm droppings! This practice ef-  as Rotavirus and Shigella, but declined
                 to the composition of the homeostatic  fectively eliminated the dysentery. When  in popularity after the introduction of
                 soil organisms. What are these homeo-  questioned, the Arabs told them that  cheap  consumer  antibiotics  despite
                 12                                         Wise Traditions                                 SPRING 2009
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