Rational Wellness Podcast 041: The Microbiota and Autoimmune Disease with Dr. David Brady
Podcast Info
Dr. David Brady discusses the microbiota, autoimmune diseases, and stool analysis with Dr. Ben Weitz.
Podcast Highlights
4:53 I mentioned that I had just reread Dr. Brady’s 2013 excellent and important paper clearly laying out some of the connections between the microbiota and autoimmune diseases, Molecular Mimicry, the Hygiene Hypothesis, Stealth Infections and Other Examples of Disconnect between Medical Research and the Practice of Clinical Medicine in Autoimmune Disease. I consider this mandatory reading for anyone in Functional Medicine.
7:10 Functional Medicine doctors might look to the gut and order stool testing for patients with autoimmune disease but this makes no sense to conventional medicine. But Dr. Brady pointed out that medical research is in line with the Functional Medicine approach, as there are many studies linking gut dysbiosis and specific gut pathogens with specific autoimmune diseases. Here is a slide that Dr. Brady provided me on this:
10:10 The Importance of the Microbiota and the Microbiome. Dr. Brady discusses the need to look at ourselves and our state of health in what is called the super organismal context, meaning it’s not just us and our cells, and our biochemistry, and our physiology. It’s also all of those other organisms that share our experience. The organisms that live on us, in us, through the gastrointestinal track. Research is really supporting the importance of the microbiota and the links with chronic diseases, like autoimmune conditions.
13:02 Discussion of Dysbiosis. Dr. Brady explained that dysbiosis is a term that came from EE Metchnikoff and it refers to an imbalance of the bacteria in the gut. You don’t necessarily have a parasite or pathogen. You get an overgrowth of opportunistic organisms, which when overgrown become problematic, referred to as potentially pathogens. It’s aligned more with a state of illness or lack of optimal wellness of the host.
15:58 I asked why we might have a pathogenic bacteria that comes in through our gut and it becomes a permanent resident that we have trouble erradicating, but when we consume healthy probiotics they are only temporary residents? Dr. Brady explained that this is not necessarily the case. Most pathogens fortunately pass through and don’t actually take up residence in our gut. And when you look at beneficial probiotics, like lactobacillus, bifidobacteria, they make up a small minority of the GI microbiota in its totality, which is mainly made up of anaerobic bacteria, not aerobic or facultative organisms. These beneficial organisms have an incredibly beneficial effect even though you are not really reseeding the gut, which a lot of practitioners make the mistake of thinking that they can if they just take enough billions of probiotics. They are more like pixie dust. They change cytokine expression. They are more like messengers than foot soldiers.
20:27 We discussed the link between digestive health and autoimmune diseases, including the hygiene hypothesis. Dr. Brady pointed out that he laid out some of these arguments in his paper in the Open Journal of Rheumatology and Autoimmune Disorders noted above and also in a similar paper that he wrote in the Townsend Letter. Our modern methods of sanitation and hygiene have reduced our exposure to infectious diseases in order to reduce cholera, typhoid, dysentery and and similar serious infections that result from drinking contaminated water. But we have taken it too far by the overuse of antibiotic soaps and wipes and the frequent use of antibiotics and not letting your infants play in the dirt and put things in their mouths. This reduces our exposure to microbes in our environment and prevents us from developing the tolerance that we should have and our immune system may overreact to organisms that are not much of a threat. We’re left instead with an immune system that’s stuck in an overaggressive stance, and more likely to crossover with subtle differences between what it’s trying to actually attack, which would be a microbe, and a host tissue, like a joint, or like a thyroid gland.
23:30 Dr. Brady discussed how helminth therapy (worms) can help with immune system regulation.
28:29 We discussed the best way to test the microbiota with proper stool testing, including using the GI Map test through Diagnostic Solutions that Dr. Brady is has helped to develop. Dr. Brady explained that GI Map uses a more sophisticated quantitative PCR, polymerase chain reaction, method of detecting both pathogenic and also opportunistic microbes that may have overgrown. Dr. Brady explained that this is a clinical test that can enable you to determine if a microbe that is found is clinically relevant and needs to be treated, including if it may result in autoimmune diseases. This should be distinguished from testing that uses next-gen sequencing like a uBiome test, which was not meant for making clinical decisions on patients at the point of clinical care.
Author David M. Brady, ND, DC, CCN, DACBN, IFMCP
Dr. David M. Brady has almost 30-years of experience as an integrative medicine practitioner and over 25 years in health sciences academia. He is a licensed naturopathic medical physician in Connecticut and Vermont, is board certified in functional medicine and clinical nutrition, a fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and completed his initial clinical training as a doctor of chiropractic...