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I 0 L OG V I W A T C HThe GoodBugson Our TonguesThey live on our tongues, millions of them, And it's a good thing too, Without these friendlybacteria, we might be more vulnerable to some very nasty bugs. BY JOSIE GLAUSIUSZ

P LANrs Us!~ r T() MAKf~ Ran~I~S, tratcs,.when ~)ro,ken own by symbiotic ~O1lgtlesf fi-cshly killed r:\ts, sliced tl1emVegetarians eat plenty of It, bacteria hat live m our moutlls, may pro- Into front and rear ~ectlon~, and thenSalami is preserved in it, rrhe tect us again~t potenti:\lly murderou~ ground each n ~alt water. rl'hcy tllen putcompound in question is nitrate, bugs, such as S'lumonclln,Shigcllll, and the homogenized tonbrucs n petri dishesand ever since the 1970s t has bccn seen Eschcrichin coli 0157:1-17, he bacterium and harvested the bactcria tllat bebran oas a dietary evil. Nitrate-contaminated that sickened thousands of]apanese multiply. They found that while thewell water has been linked to rare cases schoolchildren last year. front sections of tl1e ongtles housed fewof oxygen-starved blue babies, while ni- Lci~"crthasbccn su~picious f tIle pur- bactcria, the hcavil}' pitted back halvestrosamines-nitratc compounds fonncd ported ill effects of nitratcs for ~omc ~upportcd a thriving population oftime. Although the link Stllphylococc11.\.l'cill1'i, rrhese microor-between blue-baby ~yn- gani~m~ grab oxygen ~rom nitratc-adrome and nitrates in compound formed fi-om onc atom ofni-drinking water has bcen trogen and thrcc o~'oxygcn-and use twell establishcd-bacteria to digest carbohydrates. In tllC processin well water convert ni- they form nitrite, which has only two

trate into lutritc, which in- oxygen atoms,tcr~"cresWitll tIle ability of Lcif:crt and Dllncan think tllat whenthe baby's bloodstream to nitrite is swallowed, it rcact~ Witll stom-ferry oxygen-there is no ach acid to form nitric oxide, a g:\S etl1alevidence that such tainted to many bactcria,Altllough it might secmwater posesa hazard to in- that tile hydrochloric acid in rats' stom-fants more than three achs-and in ours-might bc sufficientmonths in age or to chil- to kill any bug that cntcrs, t)le two rc-drcn and adults. Alld whilc searchers havc shown that this simplynitrosamines have been is not so. When food enters the stom-shown to incrca~c tile ri~k ach, it~ acidity decreases or up to twoof stomach c,1ncer, tuJies hours, and many bacteria-from E, colihave Jiled to show tllat ni- 0157:1-17 to SIllm011cllll-can survivetl";lt~ on tllcir own arc car- this weakened acid onslaught and tJ'avelcinogenic. Qllite the re- farther into the intestine, where theyverse, n fact: most dietary multiply and callSC astroenteritis,nitrate~-80 to 90 per- Bllt when Leifcrt anJ Dlmcan aJJcdcent--come from vcgeta- nitrite to varying concentrations of hy-bles, particularly green, Jrochloric acid in a test tube, tlley foundleafy ones; ~ome ~tllJies that the compounds produced killedhavc shown thatvegctari- off SIl11110ncllll, Shigella, and E, coli:ilL"have ower than aver:\ge 0157 :1-17all of which survive mmersionH I f I b ' k I k Jc:lth ratc~ rom cancer. in hYllrochloricacid,Thu~ they hclicveepuactcrlapactlcpOCS Al ' f " I I . . b '. t ' t d . n( I nitrate IS so t lat t lC mtrate-consummg acterla onIn ra s ongues-an In ours, ' L ' f I ]) , I I I . I iOXIC, el crt ant uncan rats tongues 1C p t 1elr 10Sts cstroywondered, why is it a com- pathogenic bacteria,Thc relationship bc-during the digestion of some meats- poncnt o~'ollr saliva?Could it bc that ni- twccnl";\t and bug secms o be synlbiotic:havc been mplicatcd as a causeof stom- trate ha~ some beneficial effect? Now rats, says Lei~"crt, ntllse the saliva-filledach cancer, their cxpcrimcnt~ have shown that bac- pit~ with calcillm carbonate, which pre-But according to microbiologists teria living in pit~ at the back of rats' vents these watery wells ~rom becoming :!2Carlo Lcifert and Callum Duncan of tl1C tongues convert ni tra te into ni tri tc, acidic and killing the bacteria, ~University of Abcrdcen n Scotland,ni- which, when swallowcd, reacts with Many of thc bacteria n our mouths J

trateshavc eceivedoo much badpress, stomachacid to forln a potent antimi- arc not so beneficial.Ille acids heypro- iModerateamounts rc not dangcrouso crobialagent hat kills pathogenic acte- duce dissolve tooth enamel. Leifcrt ~ad~lts, he rcscarchcrsay.Morcover, ria that nfiltrate Ile ntcstinc~, thinks hat nitrite-prodllcingbacteria, ~Lelfert and Duncan have found that ni- Leifcrt and J)llncan cut out the which hc has also follnd living in the gII CII:'I'I'"I'." I'j"r ;;c,:i':':! :_~c"~,

7/30/2019 The Good Bugs on Our Tongues

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~.~~~ ~mouths of humans, pigs, pigeons, rab-bits, and goats, may playa defensive roleagainst bacteria that cause tooth decay.These bacteria are resistant to tlleir ownacids, but an acid-nitrite combinationkills them.More evidence that the nitrite-pro-ducing bacteria may protect against oothdecay and stomach cancer may comefrom a study that Leifert is working onwith Hong Li, of Yunnan Normal Uni-versity in China. They are studying therl!ral Yi, Bai, and Tai peoples living inYumlan, a province near Laos, who suf-fer almost no tooth decay or stomachcancer.Their diet consistsalmost entirelyof vegetables,many cured in nitrite, andsmall amounts of preserved ll1eats.Leifert and Li plan to compare the healtllof tlle rural populace Witll that of urbanYi, Bai, and Tai to find what effect achange of diet has on the incidence ofdisease. t may be, says Leifert, that ni-noitesn tlleir diet ll1ay even protect tIlell1againstHclicobactcrpylori, the bacteriumthat has been linked to bOtIl stoll1ach ul-cers and stomach cancer. Just recentlyLeifert has founa tIlat a combination ofnitrite, hydrochloric acid, and vitamin Ccan rapidly kill the fungus tIlat causes ralcandidiasis, which in many pcople withAIDSs antibiotic-resistant nd a chronic If you'd ike o knowmoreabolJt owwe makewhiskey ere nTennessee,ropus a ineprobl~m. YOU'RE LOOKING AT the difference between

Lelfcrt IS not tI1Conly rcsearcher tohave etectednantibacterialffectrom Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey and anitrites in saliva. A teall1 of medical re- K ck b bearchersed by Nigel Benjamin f St. entu your on.Bartholomew'sospital n London e-cently tested the ~10tion ~hat li~kil~g At our distille1Y n the Tennessee ills, wewoundsm;lY elpkIll bacteria. enjamm . . Iasked4healtllYolunteerso ickboth burn ncks of hard maple until they become jsides of tlleir hands and tOW10llat nin"ic h 1 Th . kl h. k dxideevelsn he kin hot pdramati- C arcoa. en we rnc e our w 1S ey, rapca!ly. He suspects l~a~ o!ncth~nl? n.tIle by drop through that charcoal o mellow - Iskinhelps onvertUn1te11to1ltncOXidc.. ' . ,While eifcrtanduncanelievet's 1tS flavor. Some folks call Jack Darnel stime to reassesshecffects of nitrates on b b " b h U S G iour ealtll,hey on't ismissllC azards a our on, ut t eo. overnment !posedy water"co,~taminatcdyhi.gh says our charcoal mellowin g makesus a ' :

,evels of IUn"atc ertilIzers. Such pollution ( .",.can riggerhegrowth f toxicalgal (Tennessee Whiskey. If you re lookmg :bloomsandsubsequentish kills. But r d~~ . b 1, itheywould ike o changeheperception lOr a iller ence, we e 1eve one Slp ,tIlat run.ates n vegettbl~ are bad. .At tIle will tell YOUall YOUneed to know. fmoment, people arc tryll1g to m;tke ower iand lower limits for vegetable nitrate iiiconccntration," says Lcifcrt. "And with S MOO T H SIP PIN' 'Irespect to human consull1ption, I would T EN N ESSEE W H SK EY 'ithink that tllere's a rethinking that's go- I

Ing to happen." ~ Yi'ltr ri1:I"L,l]!JkDanicl'"cmil1dC)IIudril1kcspcll1,ilny,Tcnncsscc Whiskey . 0,43% alcohol by volume (80-86 proof) . istillcd and Bottled by

IackDaniel istillery,emMotiow, roprietor, outc, LynchburgPop 61),Tennesscc7352 ::l'kl.cdil1lhcNa(i""," .II