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How a hot dog can kill off dangerous bugs
7th November 2008
* How a hot dog can kill off dangerous bugs
* Why scientists get my goat
* How the nation's favourite food could keep
your brain alive!
The Health and Safety Nazis would have had a
field day if they'd seen me on Wednesday night...
There's a park at the end of our road that's used a
lot by the local community... picnics, kickarounds,
sunbathing (on the 3 days of summer we get)...
you name it, it happens.
And Wednesday being bonfire night, a fair few
households chipped in for fireworks, shared the
food and drink duties, before hotfooting it into the
park to enjoy a DIY firework display.
And not a barrier or warden insisting we stay
101.56 metres back or angrymanwith
loudspeaker in sight.
I played my part... mainly ignoring cries of 'Ray!
Get back!' from Lara before I'd even lit the rockets,
and everyone had a thoroughly good time.
As one of my neighbours said, 'It's a triumph of
good sense'.
'Arrruuuooooeeee!' I responded, round a
mouthful of hot dog.
'Absolutely,' Lara translated. She's a dab hand at
understanding me when I've got a mouthful of
food, which is about 50% of the time.
Or 51.4% of the time, if foodconsumption officials
where monitoring me.
In fact, I enjoyed two hot dogs that night. I mean,
fireworks just aren't the same without hot dogs are
they? But without knowing it, I may have actually
been doing myself some unexpected good...
How a hot dog can kill off dangerous bugs
According to a new study from Sweden a certain
probiotic bacteria called Lactobacillus plantarum
299 (what were its parents thinking when they
named him? Imagine the Hell he must have gone
through at Probiotic School) could help prevent
pneumonia in seriously ill people who are often
susceptible to the illness.
These probiotics act as your body's internal policy,
breaking up gangs of nasty bugs that have a habit
of congregating in the airways of patients who are
on ventilation machines.
In the study, the probiotics dealt with the
dangerous bugs as efficiently as prescribed
antiseptics. In fact, there could be a chance that
they deal with the bugs MORE efficiently, since the
body can develop resistance to antiseptics and
lessen their clout.
And because probiotics are natural, these less
chance of side effects occurring.
And that's not all...
Probiotics tend to cling to the lining of the mouth
(which is a usual meeting place for the bugs),
allowing the 'policing' effect of the probiotics to
work far longer than an antiseptic, which tends to
do its job then disappear after a few hours.
And guess what...
With every bite of hotdog I took on Wednesday, I
ate a tasty mouthful of Lactobacillus plantarum
299.
Of course, you don't see a squeezy bottle of
Lactobacillus plantarum 299 standing next to the
ketchup and mustard.
But it just happens to be present sauerkraut and
I LOVE sauerkraut with my hot dogs. In fact this
helpful bacteria is present is all sorts of fermented
foods like pickles and gherkins.
So three cheers for probiotics then. And if they get
three cheers, then four cheers for hot dogs with
sauerkraut.
But there was one thing about this study, or a
reaction to this study, that made me groan...
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Why scientists get my goat (sometimes)...
Actually, I have to temper my natural grumpiness
when it comes to officialdom here, because this
comment wasn't as bad as some that can crop up.
You know the sort... 1001 people say they feel
better when they eat a certain herb, only for Dr
Clipboard to cover his ears and shout 'LA-LA-LA-
LA-LA - I'm not listening... this hasn't been
PROVED in a lab in a series of 4,000 tests over a
course of ten years... LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!'
But this response to the probiotic study still had the
same feel about it...
Bob Marsterton, chair of the British Society for
Antimicrobial Chemotherapy's working party on
hospital acquired pneumonia, said:
'This is a plausible idea. But we need much larger
trials that focus on clinical outcomes to prove it is
an effective and affordable treatment.'
Now then, because this study was looking at the
effects of probiotics on illness picked up in hospital,
I think there's a least the glimmer of a good reason
why this study needs to be backed up with more
research.
But when scientists write off a natural remedy
that's got people queuing up round the block to say
how much it's helped them, just because there's no
scientific proof that it works...
Well, it's enough to drive a man to a third or fourth
hot dog.
I mean, if we waited for the authorities to rubber
stamp every single natural remedy, including foods
and herbs, before we dared to try them, we'd be
missing out on powerful tonics like this one...
How the nation's favourite food could keep
your brain alive!
Hmmmm... maybe I should adjust this to 'the
nation's favourite food after a few drinks in your
local'...because the tonic I'm referring to is a curry.
According to a recent study, people who eat curry
were found to have sharper brains and better
cognitive performance than people who rarely eat
it.
The 'brain' ingredient is probably curcumin, which
delivers a heavy shot of antioxidants. And
antioxidants have been proved (yes, really proved
- even by people with clipboards) to protect the
brain cells.
So if I want to keep my remaining two safe, it looks
like a need a curry this weekend.
Oh it's a hard life, staying healthy.
That's all from me today. I'll be back again on
Sunday with my views, research and common-
sense tips to help keep you alive and kicking!
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