Originally published May 4 2004
Friendly bacteria found to thrive in the human esophagus
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A new study by medical researchers at the NYU School of Medicine has
found that friendly bacteria live in the esophagus. That's the tube
connecting the back of your throat to the top of your stomach, and until
now, virtually all doctors and medical researchers believed the
esophagus could not harbor life. The study focused on the idea that
esophageal bacteria might be responsible for causing diseases like
esophageal cancer, for example, but I think they've missed the mark:
these are friendly bacteria, and achieving a high state of health means
living in harmony with the bacteria naturally present throughout the
body. 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.
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