The bacteria that inhabit our intestines have a huge impact on our health. The most recent revelation is that people with colon cancer have a different mix of bacteria than healthy volunteers, with more nasty strains and fewer beneficial ones. Some of the deleterious microbes, such as Fusobacteria, are associated with inflammation.
[Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Dec. 6, 2013]
The only difficulty with this fascinating information is how to change the ecological pattern of gut bacteria from an unfavorable one to a more favorable profile. Our microbial inhabitants do change depending upon what we feed them, so that might be the first place to start. Feeding them plenty of vegetables and relatively little red meat or highly processed food seems logical, though we have not seen this tested in a clinical trial.
Another possibility that has gotten some attention lately, and even has studies to back it up, might be fecal transplantation. This sounds fairly yucky, but it has saved lives.
