Beyond probiotics: medical journalist report: Homeostatic Soil Organisms : a primary aid to intestinal health - HSOs - Advertising Supplement

Better Nutrition, Jan, 2003 by Morton Walker

During 1996, at the age of nineteen, Jordan Rubin of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida had arrived at death's door, suffering from the debilitating symptoms of Crohn's disease. This condition is a chronic, inflammatory, abnormality of the bowel, characterized by overlapping clinical pathology, of which medical science has yet to determine a definitive cause or remedy. It produces numerous, severe discomforts that exhibit four common disease patterns: (a) inflammation with pain and tenderness in the right lower part of the abdomen; (b) recurring acute intestinal obstructions that cause deeply painful spasms of the intestinal wall, swelling of the abdomen, persistent diarrhea, and vomiting; (c) chronic intestinal inflammation causing subtle but serious malnutrition and debility; (d) abnormal channels (fistulas) with many pus-filled pockets of infection (abscesses) that produce fever, painful masses in the abdomen, and severe weight loss. Jordan Rubin showed all four of these disease patterns. (1)

For more than two years the young man experienced between twelve and 30 bloody bowel movements per day. They occurred throughout the night as well, allowing him no more than one-hour's sleep at any given time.

Laboratory tests showed that Jordan had no iron in his blood, and his serum measurement of albumin indicated muscle wasting (cachexia). By laboratory standards, this patient's blood was like that of a dead man. His body was affected by candidiasis, amoebiasis, cryptosporidiosis, extreme intestinal dysbiosis, acute electrolyte imbalance, elevated C-reactive protein, anemia, chronic fatigue, arthritis, diabetes, hair loss, and leukocytosis. The chance for recovery by conventional treatment methods remained discouraging, as Jordan was also exhibiting malabsorption syndrome. He could not assimilate the nutrients in food even if he had an appetite. Jordan had dropped so much weight, from 180 to 104 pounds, that he looked like a survivor of a Nazi death camp (see Photograph 1).

Jordan Rubin's quality of life was nonexistent. To find some viable therapy, he consulted over 70 health practitioners worldwide and tried more than 300 different nutritional products, including several probiotic preparations, to no avail. As he explained it to me, "During the two years of my illness, despite my ongoing search for treatment, I was never granted even one day of reprieve from the symptoms of Crohn's disease. The excessive amounts of emotional, physical, and mental distress caused me to wish I would die. All I could do was pray to a compassionate God that the cure for Crohn's disease would someday be found. "And then," he added with a smile, "My prayers were answered!"

What Jordan Discovered

Most people are unaware of the ground-breaking findings of Nobel laureate Elie Metchnikoff, Ph.D., the Russian bacteriologist who more than 91 years ago, documented a direct link between human longevity, and the necessity of maintaining a healthy balance of the beneficial and pathological microorganisms residing in the human gut. Dr. Metchnikoff's 1908 Nobel Prize in physiology had been awarded for his discovery of phagocytes and other immune system components, but his accurate description of vital elements in the body's intestinal flora is equally notable. (2)

Dr. Metchnikoff came to believe that human beings could live to the age of 150 years if they kept the organisms within their intestines in a state of homeostatic balance, by consuming live, fermented foods. This concept, given by Metchnikoff in 1909, forms the basis for prevention of bowel disease and the maintenance of healthy bowel tissue.

Jordan was able to regain his health by supplementing the small amount that he could eat with Homeostatic Soil Organisms (HSOs[TM]) (3). Through natural metabolic processes these organisms promote repair of the lining of the intestine, and help to establish a healthier colonic environment. The HSOs detoxified Jordan's intestinal tract, increased his ability to absorb nutrients from food, and super boosted his immune system. Moreover, they became really aggressive against the pathological molds, yeasts, fungi, and parasites of all types that permeated his gut. (4)

These strains of Homeostatic Soil Organisms are now available in a product called Primal Defense[TM] (3). This formula is comprised of 14 beneficial probiotics, including, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus delbreukii, Lactobacillus caseii, Lactobacillus caucasicus, Lactobacillus fermenti, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus leichmannii, Lactobacillus lactis, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis, Bifidobacteria bifidus, and Saccharomyces boulardi. These beneficial organisms restore balance to an autointoxicated gastrointestinal tract in a specific manner. (5)

Upon swallowing and subsequent contact with body fluids, the HSOs activate and bring about gut restoration by attaching themselves to the intestinal mucosa. On the gut wall they reproduce and occupy "receptor sites", crowding out harmful bacteria and fungi. When harmful microorganisms are unable to "attach" to the gut wall, they cannot easily drain nutrients. Weakened, they die and are eliminated or consumed in a "Pac-man" fashion by the phagocytes Dr. Metchnikoff discovered. As harmful microorganisms are removed from the system, the "host" experiences fewer and fewer symptoms. Ultimately, the establishment of HSOs in the colon brings about gut regeneration and homeostasis. (6)