Method of Defining Equol-Producer Status and Its Frequency among Vegetarians
This is yet another example of how much we miss the point in mainstream medicine. We are so caught up in the idea of “antibiotic resistance” as it relates to antibiotic overuse that we miss the forest for the trees. While antibiotic resistance is a scary phenomena (we are now finding antibiotic resistant bacteria in infants who have never had antibiotics), the real problem is what happens when we destroy normal, healthy bacterial flora.
As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve spent hundreds of thousands of years developing a symbiotic relationship w/ the bugs in our guts, and in the last 20 yrs or so we wipe them out indiscriminately. Key word here is “symbiotic,” meaning benefit to both parties.
Getting back to this study, we find that, over time, the bacteria in our gut adapt to our diets, with the possibility of producing even more beneficial compounds out of the foods we eat, in this case soy.