The evolving theory of the “hygiene hypothesis” is receiving increasing attention by public health professionals, including epidemiologists who study patterns of health and disease in the population. The hygiene hypothesis contends that by early exposure to a wide variety of microbiological challenges (bacterial, viral, etc.) the immune system develops far more efficiently, thereby lessening the possibilities of numerous allergic, immunological and infectious disease problems throughout our lives. Proponents of the hygiene hypothesis contend that there is an inverse relationship between the incidence of infectious microorganisms encountered during the formative years and the later development of a wide variety of allergic and immunological disorders. Through increased exposure to a variety of microorganisms the immune system becomes more balanced in its response to the outside world and more efficient in maintaining our health.
Our compulsion as a society to avoid dirt and germs at almost any cost, spraying our living environment with a myriad of disinfectant soaps, antibacterial sprays and viricidal washes, may in large part be responsible for the growing incidence of asthma, autoimmune diseases such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s Disease, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, and other ailments. The prevalence of asthma alone has almost doubled in the past 20 years. The National Institutes of Health estimates that autoimmune disorders affect between 14 to 22 million Americans.
The natural world we are born into is teeming with microbiological agents of all sorts. Our ancestors for millions of years were virtually bathed in these microscopic neighbors on a daily basis, and in doing so, became resistant to them. Primitive man ate foods directly from the soil, thereby ingesting millions of soil-based microorganisms on a daily basis.
According to gastroenterologist Joseph Brasco, MD, “Eating vegetables directly out of the soil as part of food was good for primitive man. The organisms living in that soil caused primal man to thrive. But today it’s different. Given the paranoia that modern men and women in western society feel against ingesting soil of any kind, these ancient soil-based organisms no longer are part of our food supply. So fastidious are residents of western industrialized nations that too much cleanliness has become somewhat detrimental to one’s gastrointestinal tract. We have to eat dirt once in awhile.”
Modern man, woman and child have in effect cut themselves off from their traditional contact with the earth, spending most of their lives isolated from the elements in air conditioned buildings and automobiles, eating sterilized foods and drinking chlorinated water. This isolated lifestyle has brought about dramatic decreases in the incidence of problems such as cholera, which was a major source of mortality in the United State in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This isolation from nature has at the same time, however, made us prone to the chronic degenerative conditions of western society.
Public health epidemiology has found that there is an important connection between exposure to the earth and its soil based microorganisms and many chronic disease problems.
Epidemiologist Dr. David Strachan of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine noted, in 1989, that children from large families, particularly the younger children, were less likely to develop a host of disease problems including asthma, hay fever and eczema. Strachan hypothesized that exposure to the dirt brought into the homes by their older siblings improved the younger children’s immune function and protected them from the development of allergic and asthmatic problems.
All of this is in line with the thoughts of pioneers in chiropractic, naturopathy and natural hygiene, who have long advocated a natural life lived in accordance with natural laws and in synchrony with nature. All of these groups have also supported the notion that the body becomes stronger through natural contact with the elements, not by constantly hiding from them or by overuse of drugs and vaccines that inhibit the body’s own self defense mechanisms.
The problems with attempts at making “too clean” an environment are exemplified by today’s modern hospitals, where the massive usage of antibiotics and antiseptics have led to mutant bacterial strains that are antibiotic resistant and cause both significant mortality and morbidity each year. In our vigorous attempts to destroy microorganisms we have created new strains of “superbugs” which our bodies do not have the ability to resist.
There is a place for cleanliness, even for sterile techniques in circumstances such as surgical procedures. In surgery, internal tissues not meant to be exposed to the outside world are put at risk and need vigilant protection.
The Austrian physician and hospital administrator Ignaz Semmelweiss saved the lives of countless women in the 19th century and thereafter. Semmelweiss required that physicians doing cadaver dissections wash their hands prior to coming into intimate contact with mothers in the process of childbirth. By instituting hand washing, the maternal mortality rate dropped sharply overnight. This makes sense; excessive and repeated usage of powerful antibacterial soaps on our hands, disinfectants on our countertops and floors, etc., on a daily basis under normal circumstances does not. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported on ongoing studies being done at several research institutions in Rome. The researchers said their findings suggest that “exposure to pathogens that stimulate gut-associated lymphoid tissue may be necessary to prevent atopy (skin disorders) and allergies.”
The intestine is loaded with bacteria, as is the surface of our body. These beneficial bacteria inhabit our guts and protect us from disease by creating a healthy microbiological balance. Without healthy populations of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and elsewhere a vacuum is created that can be easily invaded by pathogens creating disturbances leading to digestive disturbances, asthma, allergies, autoimmune and dermatological conditions.
I have often marveled over the years at my dogs and cats who spend a good part of the day outside rolling playing in the dirt and ingesting a great deal of “foreign” materials on a daily basis. One of my dogs (who at seven years old has never been ill), could write a 10 volume book series on places his nose and tongue have been and the disgusting things he has sampled over the years, yet he has remained free of infectious, allergic and autoimmune disorders unlike so many “super clean” western humans.
Outdoor animals in their daily foraging ingest large numbers of soil microorganisms. These bacteria referred to as homeostatic soil organisms (HSOs) play numerous recognized functions. The bacteria found in the soil, when ingested, adhere to the intestinal tract and compete with pathogens. Furthermore, according to veterinarian Dr. Michael Lemmon (D.V.M.) the HSOs “have a strong anti-viral effect by stimulating the body to produce alpha interferon. Alpha interferon strongly strengthens the immune system in its fight against viruses. Soil based organisms also have the unique ability to stimulate the body to produce what have been called ‘unprogrammed’ antibodies. This large reserve of antibodies can be used by the immune system to help protect the body against infection by encoding against any invading microbes.”
How many different ailments might be avoided were we to have greater exposure to HSOs? This question is difficult to estimate, but with our immune systems so intimately involved with so many issues of health and disease and HSOs having such a positive effect in promoting a balanced immune system, the number of problems that could benefit from such exposure is certainly extensive.
At the Goldberg Clinic we are involved with several ongoing studies using HSOs with a variety of disease problems including inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatoid ailments, chronic allergies, asthma, persistent dermatological conditions and other chronic conditions. Measuring results with clients both through observation as well as before and after laboratory testing, we have been favorably impressed, as have our clients, with the application of HSOs to some very difficult health problems. We have administered the HSOs in a standardized caplet form containing a wide variety of soil-based organisms (as opposed to just a couple of types of bacteria that many popular probiotics contain) to patients, thereby avoiding the safety hazards that can be incurred by simply going out in the backyard and munching on a handful of dirt.
Particularly impressive in our usage of HSOs have been the results we have seen with asthmatic and allergic patients, whose medications have been dropped or reduced and who have seen dramatic improvements in terms of reduction of symptomotology and improvements in overall health and vitality.
It should be noted that we do not view HSOs as a “cure,” but rather a way of supplying the body with soil organisms that were previously obtained, on a daily basis, in a natural environment, by our hunting and gathering ancestors for hundreds of thousands of years. It is our contention that these bacteria are meant by nature to be ingested on a regular basis as part of a natural, protective lifestyle and public health studies and clinical research support this. In this way the ingestion of HSOs should be viewed no differently than the importance of getting sunlight, adequate rest and sleep, a natural whole foods dietary, exercise and other essentials of health. The following case study exemplifies one of many patients we have found to benefit from HSOs when combined with a well planned biological health program.
HSOs and Asthma
A 31-year-old female came to our clinic referred by her doctor of chiropractic. She complained of severe asthma, which had gotten increasingly worse over an eight-year period, accompanied by fatigue. She was on daily prescription inhalant therapy, requiring a significant dosage of inhalant medication two to five times per day.
The patient was modestly overweight and had a depressed appearance. She had in the past been a swimmer and bicyclist but was unable to engage in activities due to her asthmatic condition.
The physical examination revealed significant wheezing upon auscultation. Standard blood work, including a blood chemistry, blood count and lipid profile were normal except for an elevated eosinophil count (a white blood cell often elevated in cases of allergy). Food allergy testing exhibited several significant food allergies including milk and eggs.
The patient underwent two days of fasting (water only) with additional days on a limited dietary to afford her system the opportunity to rest. This was followed by dietary reform that included exclusion of refined carbohydrates, the elimination of food allergens, and the inclusion of fresh foods with an emphasis on good quality proteins, vegetables and limited starches.
During this period the patient’s symptoms decreased. Further improvement occurred during the period of dietary reform. Within 90 days the patient was able to reduce her inhalant medication to a half dose two times per day and she dropped 18 pounds of excess weight. The patient commented that her energy levels had improved significantly and that she received compliments of looking younger and more vital. During the fourth month of health reform the patient continued to lose weight reaching her goal of a 25-pound weight loss. The improvement in her asthma continued for the four months but after that did not improve any further.
At this point HSOs were added to the patient’s regimen. After four weeks the patient was able to decrease her asthma medication further to the point she was could limit her usage of the inhalant to a half dose one time per day. Her energy improved further and she was able to resume the swimming and cycling activities that she had not engaged in for over eight years.
The patient has maintained these improvements along with the dramatic reduction in inhalant usage for an additional six months.
Conclusion
HSOs cannot substitute for nutritional reform. With nutritional reform, however, I have found HSOs to be an important adjunctive step that allows many patients, as in the above case, to make significant additional improvements that otherwise seem unlikely to occur.
As per recent scientific (epidemiological) findings referred to as the hygiene hypothesis, persons exposed to a greater level of bacteria as children have less asthma and allergic problems as adults. I have had several patients with asthma for whom the addition of HSOs as adults has resulted in a significant decrease in their asthmatic symptoms and a general improvement in health and vitality. Likewise many of our patients with gastrointestinal, allergic and autoimmune disorders have also been found to benefit greatly when HSOs have been added to their protocols.
By Dr. Paul Goldberg