Thursday, October 30, 2008

Will Eating Red Meat make us more susceptible to E-Coli?

According to a breakthrough study, e-coli survives and thrives on a sugar molecule contained in red meat and unpasteurized dairy and not naturally produced by the human body. When humans consume red meat and dairy they ingest the sugar Neu5Gc, and store it in the intestines and kidneys (kidney failure is an extreme reaction to e-coli infection). This non human sugar molecule is exactly what the E-coli organism/toxin seeks out and needs to survive, and if it is found, infection to the host will result. Humans that do not consume red meat and unpasteurised dairy lack the sugar and are seemingly, immune.
One of the most remarkeable parts of the study, the food is the carrier of the catalyst for the toxin that is also carried by the same food.....very trippy
The study has not explored how long the sugar is stored or how the body breaks it down and how long that would take.

Study:Dr Travis Beddoe from Monash University in Melbourn and reported in Nature

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Red meat primes body for intestinal germ: study

PARIS (AFP) — A steady diet of red meat makes the body more susceptible to a virulent form of intestinal bug that can cause bloody diarrhoea and even death, according to a study to be published on Thursday.
Researchers in the United States and Australia said persistently eating red meat appears to prime the body for exposure to this potent form of Escherichia coli (E. coli).
The meat naturally contains sugar molecules called Neu5Gc that accumulate in cells lining the intestines and blood vessels.
These molecules also act as a sort of magnet for the toxins exuded by the E. coli strain, thus making it easier for the poisons to enter the blood stream, they said.
"Prior meat eating would set one up for the toxin to bind when it shows up," explained Ajit Varki, a researcher at the University of California at San Diego, one of the study's co-authors.
The Neu5Gc molecule is virtually absent in other foods such as fish, poultry and vegetables and fruits, Varki told AFP in an email exchange.
The investigation, published in the London-based journal Nature, is led by Travis Beddoe of Monash University in Melbourne.
In experiments, the team first tested the affinity of the E. coli bacteria for Neu5Gc using cultured human cells in a lab dish...........more

Sunday, October 26, 2008