Whether to treat goiter
Educational Program Health / / December 19, 2019
Bacteria overgrowth - this is a special diagnosis, which is loved in Russian clinics, but which is actually not in the International Classification of DiseasesICD-10. We tried to find information about it in the manuals for the patients, but we did not succeed. To understand this complex situation, we asked questions to experts who are faced with a diagnosis of non-existent, and with patients who want to treat it.
Elena Motova
Elena reel dietitian, science journalist, author blog nutrition and evidence-based medicine.
- If there is dysbiosis, why it is constantly checked and treated? And most importantly - why this diagnosis is like the patients themselves?
- Indeed, it is in Russia and the CIS, but nowhere else in the world. Let's start with the fact that the micro-organisms used as a human habitat and a food source. These microbes - not only bacteria, there is also viruses and fungi - live on the skin and mucous membranes, including in the gut. Up to thousands of species of intestinal microbes maintain relations with each other and with the host. They perform a lot of tasks: protecting the intestine against pathogenic bacteria synthesize vitamins, digest the fact that people can not digest, train local immunity. They affect the health and necessary for us. Each person has an individual microbial landscape, which depends on the location and living conditions, nutrition, the transferred diseases
FAQ: Human Microbiome.A close study of the human body occupants began more recently, the first phase of the project "microbe man" lasted from 2007 to 2012. In fact, to obtain genetic information of microbes found in healthy volunteers, it took 173 million dollarsHuman Microbiome Project.
The fact that not all microbes grow on nutrient media. That their study requires special techniques fence material and its research, and not just "pass the jar."
The so-called analysis on dysbiosis shows only a couple of dozens of thousands of these microorganisms, with shows each time differently.
If you go to the different laboratories and will hand over a few bottles in one day, get different results. This analysis is badly played and has no diagnostic value.
I do not know why he continued to appoint and take. Maybe, just on the basis of "something must be done"?
- The patient has digestive problems, and the doctor at the reception sent to be tested for bacteria overgrowth. What to do?
- To go to another doctor. The patient came to the reception to complain, you need to look for the cause of sickness, and save time. If, instead, the doctor assigns a test that has no diagnostic value, it is an indicator of poor quality care.
- The doctor makes the diagnosis "goiter", analyzes do not find anything more. I know that this is not a diagnosis, but it can actually be?
- This question must meet the doctor in each individual case, this is the meaning of the diagnosis. For example, a patient comes with nonspecific complaints that occur in different diseases: abdominal pain, flatulence, diarrhea or constipation. Since enzymes may manifest insufficiency, celiac disease - hereditary intolerance cereal proteinsceliac Disease, Irritable bowel syndromeIrritable Bowel SyndromeOr bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, or food intoleranceFood intolerance. Or maybe the patient has eaten dirty hands and is easy intestinal infection. Possible options, so you can not stop on a dysbacteriosis, it is necessary to put a specific diagnosis.
Sometimes parents bring healthy children, they have no complaints there, just something in the chair did not like moms and dads. Here you can not look for anything.
It is necessary to treat the person, not the tests, so do not take them when nothing disturbs.
- Do I need then do probiotics and prebiotics, which love to treat goiter? Maybe that's enough conventional yogurt?
- Probiotics - are live microorganisms that have a positive effect on health if get into the intestine in adequate amountsProbiotics and prebiotics. It is important to all:
- The fact that they are alive.
- The fact that they get to the intestines.
- In sufficient quantities.
Strictly speaking, the probiotic can assume only specific strains of bacteria, which proved the effectiveness in clinical trials. They are used for the treatment and prevention of certain diseases, such as acute infectious diarrhea. The dose and the feasibility of their appointment is determined by the doctor.
Still there Prebiotics - food for intestinal bacteria. Microbes also need nutrients to perform their jobs. Prebiotics are found mostly in plant foods are those nutrients that we do not digest.
fermentation products, such as lactic acid fermentation, also contain beneficial microorganisms. And it does not necessarily dairy products: sauerkraut Mochenov or apples are also here.
But the endless advertisements that say that health and immunity will be added, if you eat something in a beautiful jar, it's just advertising.
You may not like yogurt, but love sauerkraut. Or do not love neither one thing nor the other, but love yogurt. Choose what you like.
- Popularly believed that once upon a time food was better, cleaner, natural (whatever that means) and then did not need supplements. Now, not real products, we do not get the benefit of them, so you need to help yourself. How true is this?
- According to the recommendations, which give the World Health OrganizationVitamin and mineral
requirements in human nutrition nutritional and other expert organizations, if you are healthy, active and diverse eat, you have enough nutrients, vitamins, fiber, phytochemicals, and the rest of food.
Food - is the best option to achieve the desired life.
Position "before the products were better and healthier people" - is misleading about the golden age. Even some hundred years ago, the average life expectancy was less than fifty years. Now we have high-quality water, by which the people in the cities do not get sick with typhoid fever and cholera. No one falsifies products, adding toxic substances, because of lack of food. The quality of food has improved, it has become safer. We do not need to eat a meager set of products throughout their life and suffer from deficiency diseases.
To say that the products are of poor quality steel, it would be a gross exaggeration, which is more advantageous to manufacturers of additives.
There are situations where at some diseases, or at a certain age are useful vitamins, for example. But it is also better align with the doctor. Dietary supplements do not explore as medicines. They are not intended to treat, but it can be toxic and cause side effects.
It is better to invest in a full and varied diet.
It is not so difficult: choose foods from the different food groups, and benefit from, and enjoy.
- Many digestive problems are solved a balanced diet. What should be changed in the diet in the first place to get rid of them?
- Now absolutely everyone knows that it is necessary to have. Much less attention is paid to feeding behavior - the way a person eats on a regular basis. There should be more attentive: focusing on hunger and a feeling of fullness, not on the move, not in a hurry. We have become accustomed automatically throw a meal without meaning and sense, even if it is not needed at the moment. It is therefore important to develop the right eating patterns. This is not done hurriedly, habit formation also takes place according to certain laws.
What is important is the balance between incoming food and energy expenditure, so every day is recommended for at least half an hour traffic. Not necessarily to run or lifting weights, but the activity is needed on a daily basis.
No dietary recommendations call not to give up what you love, in favor of the strange and unappealing 'healthy' foods.
No special "most useful" products that can replace a full a varied diet. A necessary condition for adequate nutrition - the pleasure of eating. It is important for physical health, because it provides a coherent functioning of the digestive, nervous and endocrine systems. So do not forget to enjoy.
Elena Motova writes about nutrition, digestion and feeding behavior in his book "My best friend's stomach. Food for smart people. " The book is based on evidence-based medicine and research power. You will learn that many common principles of nutrition - it's just a myth. Advised to read and eat with pleasure.
Buy the book "My best friend - the stomach"
See also:
- Nutritional science: what to believe and what not →
- What are probiotics and whether we need them →
- 5 common misconceptions about proper nutrition →