NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/sci/bio/2755

Text File | 1992-07-26 | 1.3 KB | 28 lines

Newsgroups: sci.bio
Path: sparky!uunet!munnari.oz.au!manuel!sserve!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au!rim
From: [e-mail] (Bob McKay)
Subject: Intestinal Flora
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Summary: Normal intestinal flora constituents other than Lactobacillus?
Sender: [e-mail]
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 03:06:08 GMT
Lines: 16


There's been a lot of hype recently about the importance of Lactobacillus
acidophilus as a constituent of the intestinal flora. I'm a little sceptical,
since I gather that lactose is essential for the survival of this species, yet
the vast majority of people from non-European cultures do not drink milk, and
lack the gene for lactase (which is likely of recent origin even in European
populations). I find it hard to believe that digestive equilibrium is one of
Europe's great contributions to humanity, so I'm interested to find out what
the major constituents of the healthy human gut flora consist of in non-milk-
drinking societies. Can anyone help?

--
Bob McKay           Phone:    [phone]        fax: [phone]
Dept. Computer Science        Internet:    [e-mail]
ADFA, Northcott Dve         UUCP:...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au!rim
Campbell ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA    ARPA:    [e-mail]