When doctors prescribe antibiotics, it wipes out the friendly e.coli bacteria in the large intestine, causing a chain reaction of worrisome health effects. These same antibiotics may also be destroying friendly bacteria in the esophagus and stomach, disrupting healthy digestion for days or weeks at a time. Patients that are chronic users of antibiotics may suffer serious health effects due to a lack of friendly bacteria. Now, this discovery of bacteria in the esophagus opens the door to the possibility that these bacteria might also play an important role in digestion.
The bottom line? Human beings are not sterile vessels. We harbor billions of microorganisms inside our own bodies. We offer an entire ecosystem for the little critters, and if we want to be healthy, we need to keep the bacteria healthy, too. That means avoiding antibiotics, following sound nutrition, and engaging in regular physical exercise. Taking probiotics as nutritional supplements doesn't hurt, either. Only then can we live in harmony with our microscopic guests who, in turn, help keep us healthy by producing vitamins, among other interesting tasks.
The esophagus isn't merely a tube for food traveling from the mouth to
the stomach, it also provides an environment for bacteria to live,
according to a new study by NYU School of Medicine scientists that
overturns the general belief that the esophagus is free of bacteria.
Bacteria were believed to move through the esophagus, the tube
connecting the mouth to the stomach, as food-borne passengers on route
to the stomach.
The findings may have profound implications for treating diseases of
the esophagus, including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which
afflicts some 10 million people in the United States.
Esophageal adenocarcinoma, a kind of cancer, has been increasing
rapidly in white men, according to the National Cancer Institute, which
sponsored the NYU study.