Part 1 of 2 (Part 2)

Yoshitaka Ohno, M.D., Ph.D., and Howard Reminick, Ph.D.

Explore Magazine

Modern medicine has developed rapidly over the past 100 years, thanks to the science of antibiotics and high-tech surgical procedures. We can all feel secure that a plague or epidemic will not wipe out large populations.

Most diseases that were common years ago are under control. Since modern medicine is driven by pharmacology, new drugs will always be discovered that will deal with any new outbreak.

Yet, when we take a closer look, the incidence in diseases that do not respond to modern medicine continues to rise. There is a steady increase in diseases such as Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, hypertension and diabetes.

According to the World Health Organization, diabetes will affect 300 million people by the year 2025. The rate is tripling in developing countries with access to modern medicine. Alzheimer's disease, which currently is at 2 or 3 million, is expected to rise to over 12 million by 2025.

Due to the increase in the aged population, multiple diseases are becoming common. This accounts for the huge pharmaceutical industry. Although new drugs have been effective for most acute diseases, more drugs are being prescribed for chronic diseases attributed to aging without any significant results. The aged are rapidly becoming a multi-drug culture.

What are we missing in trying to discover the causes of chronic diseases, which start us aging sooner while we live longer? A new population has now been identified -- the chronically old and sick. It is very likely that most of us will be a part of this group.

Even more alarming is the increase in colon cancer and other intestinal disorders. Radiation treatment and chemotherapy are commonly prescribed for cancer patients. However, the statistics show that life expectancy is no greater for those undergoing these treatments than for those who refuse them. It seems that surgery and drugs are not really the answer.

The rate of colon cancer is rapidly increasing in Japan. Before World War II, Japan enjoyed one of the best health records in the world. Their diet consisted mostly of rice, fish and vegetables. The incidence of colon cancer was very low. After the war, their diet changed dramatically.

Western influence provided new foods such as beef, milk, and cheese. More dramatically was the rise in fast food restaurants, exposing the Japanese people to high intake of fats. Previously, fat consumption was 20 grams per day. This rose to 70 grams. Colon cancer began to rise in Japan to where it now equals the rate found in America.

One factor attributed to the sharp increase in colon cancer is a breakdown of the bile that is secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. The chemistry of bile has been found to have changed drastically.

The change in quality of bile as it is transferred from the liver to the gall bladder to the colon has resulted in contaminated and toxic bile. Secondary bile acid, such as deoxycholic acid, is a major contributor to cancer. This, along with water toxicity and the high fat content of junk foods, has created an increase in colon and liver cancers in Japan.

The key to production of secondary bile acid is seen in analyzing the fermentation process in intestinal flora. Secondary bile acid is a major factor in the breakdown of fermentation in the intestines. As it builds up in the blood, chronic diseases that are related to the deterioration of intestinal flora and difficult to treat occur. The accumulation of calcium in the gall bladder, resulting in gallstones, is attributed to secondary bile acid.

How the Nature of Bacteria is Explained in Fermentation

Much of our work in research has involved the relationship and influence of the breakdown of intestinal flora and cancer. Flora exists in a healthy, productive state and is produced when fermentation in the body follows a normal pattern.

Fermentation is responsible for hormone production, immune system effectiveness, vitamin production and assimilation, cholesterol metabolism and synthesis, control of glucose levels and normal bowel functioning. Without healthy intestinal flora, protein synthesis cannot take place; thus effectiveness of vital amino acids is lost.

Fermentation is necessary in the production of many consumable products. Bacteria in fermentation make cheese, yogurt and buttermilk. Fermentation is responsible for the production of wine. In fact, it was because the grape crop in France was in danger of destruction that the wine industry commissioned Louis Pasteur to discover the cause. As a result, the application of Pasteur's theory of fermentation saved the day, making him the most respected scientist of his time.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, different schools of thought regarding fermentation developed. Pasteur, who had the attention of the scientific community based on his discoveries, strongly supported Theodore Schwann, who concluded that fermentation was based on a biological theory. Fermentation, according to Schwann and Pasteur, must occur within living cells.

Basically, Schwann believed that the growth of yeast could only be determined if living cells are involved in the process. When glucose ferments, it allows yeast bacteria to be continually produced. Pasteur added that this applied not only to alcohol fermentation but also lactic fermentation, caused by lactic bacteria, and vinegar fermentation, caused by vinegar acid fermentation. Since, according to Pasteur's thinking, the fermentation process could not take place outside of living cells it was called the Biological Theory.

However, about the same time Justus von Liebig argued against Pasteur's theory. He believed that fermentation was caused by changes in the molecular structure of bacteria, not the bacteria, per se, as Pasteur believed.

Von Liebig's argument was that fermentation was caused by the transfer of movement of bacteria, creating a chemical change in yeast, not in the bacteria itself. Fermentation took place during this activity.

Since fermentation is an anaerobic process, the electrons generated in the breakdown of glucose are donated to an oxidized organic molecule (oxidation). This stresses the importance of electron transfer, which becomes a catalyst in fermentation. Since this creates a change in the chemistry in a substance (such as yeast) and is responsible for its fermentation, his theory was known as the Chemical Fermentation Theory.

A Bitter Debate Continued Between Whom Was Right Until Pasteur Died.

However, as a result of the attention it drew from the scientific world, Eduard and Hans Buchner found what is now the most accepted cause of fermentation. (An important fact to remember, however, is that Pasteur changed his mind and recanted his "Germ Theory" before his death. However, medicine was too committed to acknowledge this and continued to move ahead with Pasteur's theory. The result is seen today in the huge, lucrative pharmaceutical industry.)

Like most discoveries that make history, the Buchners' was accidentally caused during an experiment in which they attempted to make cell-free extracts of yeast to be used as a pharmaceutical. Because these extracts could not be preserved with antiseptics, they added sucrose, (a commonly used food preservative) to the yeast. Then they left their lab for the night.

The next morning they were astonished to find that the yeast fluid had become alcohol during fermentation. As a result, they were able to prove that alcohol fermentation does not need living cells and therefore, it is not created by the grape itself but by a chemical catalyzing reaction.

They also suggested what has become widely accepted, that an enzyme can be produced without originating from a living cell -- enzymes are in themselves a life element. This changed what was almost universal thinking up to that time, as well as refuting Pasteur's theory. As a result of this discovery, the Buchners received the Nobel Prize in 1907.

As a footnote, there is still much resistance from the scientific community as to the acceptance of the Buchners' findings -- how bacteria change in the body. Because of this resistance, we believe that medical science is losing an opportunity in understanding the role of bacteria in the disease and aging processes.

Since bacteria do not require oxygen to create an enzyme in fermentation, more than a dozen fermentation processes have evolved among bacteria, each using a different organic molecule as the hydrogen receptor. Each becomes a different acid.

To add even more credibility to what the Buchners discovered over 100 years ago, we now know through the results of numerous studies that many of the reactions of lactic fermentation are the same as those of alcohol fermentation. This brings into focus even more powerfully their biochemical similarity.

Bacteria, Fermentation and Putrefaction

We have been led to believe that all bacteria are harmful and must be destroyed. We believe bacteria are the enemy. We have come to rely on antibiotics to kill bacteria, thus killing disease in our body. This sells a lot of antibiotics.

Unfortunately, in the process of killing bacteria that become unstable and pathogenic, antibiotics also kill bacteria that keep us alive. The survival power of bacteria is so great that they have learned to adjust and flourish, rendering antibiotics ineffective. No wonder the incidence of chronic diseases continues to rise. In the process of killing the enemy we are destroying that which is necessary to keep us healthy.

Bacteria have been around almost since the earth's beginning. Bacteria have also lived in our body since man's beginning. There are over 100 trillion of these organisms living in our colons.

Most are necessary for digestion and elimination of waste products and play an important role in natural processing of foods. When toxins that enter our body in our food and drinking water invade bacteria, new harmful bacteria are formed. These create disease.

Historically, especially in primitive societies, man respected nature and was nurtured by it. Also, historically, man and bacteria have always had a healthy relationship. Bacteria supported all forms of life. But our search for scientific knowledge turned to arrogance and this relationship changed. Since that time, man and bacteria have been at war, and the spoils of this war have been increased -- incurable diseases.

When we became sophisticated in scientific thought and discovery, it was decided that bacteria were no longer needed. Rational, scientific theory and medical science propagated Pasteur's Germ Theory -- that disease was caused by bacteria and had to be destroyed. This theory was developed into standard practice, which is still driving modern medicine. The tools -- antibiotics -- were now available for man to conquer his or her own destiny.

Through all this, bacteria responded, "Why are you destroying us? We're your friends. You owe your lives to us." Man continued to find new weapons -- antibiotics -- the state of the art defense system. The war with bacteria was going to be won. But the foe became a superior enemy.

Part 2