It ’s normally take on that the highly acidic surroundings of the stomach develop to break down an animal ’s food , aiding the process of digestion . Butnew researchseems to show that the modest pH might have a second part , helping protect the body from gut infection .
Researchers get a oecumenical pattern in which birds and mammal that are scavengers and feed on decaying flesh , or carrion , had the most acidic stomach acid . They suggest that potent belly dose might facilitate to protect these animals from harmful bacteria and disease , act as an ecological filter and keep them from progress to the gut where they could cause unwellness .
“ We started this project because we want to better understand the relationship between abdomen acidity , diet and the microbes that dwell in the guts of birdie and mammals,”saysDeAnna Beasley , cobalt - author ofthe paperpublished inPLoS One . “ Our thought was that this could offer some linguistic context for look at the role of the human stomach in influencing gut microbes , and what that may mean for human health . ”
The researchers fromNorth Carolina State Universityfirst examined all the survive literature on the venter acidulousness of fowl and mammalian , finally amass a listing of 68 species . Working off this , they then collected data on the alimentation habits of the animals , and eventually ran an analysis to see how these are related to tummy acidity .
The results showed that the scavengers ' venter acid had a much lower pH when compare to carnivore and herbivore – exactly as the research worker had predict . However , their investigation raised some interesting motion about the eating behavior of humans . The solution showed that the belly acidity of humans was much low-toned than would be expected when looking at other primates . They say that this evidence suggests that carrion feeding might have been more important to other humans than previously thought , though the want of datum on the stomach pH of other apes make it unmanageable to anticipate when low pH stomach acid evolved .
“ This raise pregnant questions about how humans have evolved , our metal money ' relationship with solid food over clock time , and how innovative change in diet and medicine are affecting our stomachs , our intestine germ and – finally – our health,”saidBeasley . “ Those are doubt the inquiry biotic community is already exploring , and the answers should be interesting . ”
They suggest that some aesculapian intervention of the abdomen , such as gastric bypass surgery in which 60 % of a individual ’s stomach is move out , could have dramatic implications in get patients more susceptible to gastrointestinal infections . In fact , recent work corroborate a form between those who have go under the tongue and an increase chance of microbial overgrowth . They also predict that people who have altered their stomach pH scale , through the use of antacids for instance , are also at a higher risk .
“ The next step will be for scientists to examine the microbial ecosystem in the sand of these animals to see how these ecosystem have evolved,”saysBeasley . “ Do animals with high stomach acidity have smaller or less diverse populations of gut microbes ? Or do they just host microbes that can survive in acid surround ? ”
