Lupus Patients Respond Well to Yogurt Bacteria

The future of lupus treatments may be related to the effect of certain bacteria in bodies with lupus.

It is really easy to picture the landscape of a dozen yogurt containers at the bottom of the fridge, perfectly placed, ready to be eaten at any given time of the day. Yogurt is surely one of the most popular products sold in markets, and it is quite versatile; it can be served as part of a breakfast, be made into a sauce for a light dinner or eaten as a light snack during the afternoon.

Many people say yogurt is good for the digestive process, others say it helps to clean the stomach, and the truth is that yogurt is believed to be beneficial as well as a great source of nutritive content. However, what are the true benefits offered by yogurt?

Yogurt comes from the fermentation of milk, but some people who are intolerant to lactose can consume yogurt without any problems because it is quite easier to digest. Actually, a small cup of yogurt, which can look so "simple" at first, has more than 100 million bacteria with a large amount of vitamin B prepared to help fight infections.

It has been demonstrated that yogurt also helps to stabilize intestinal flora and the microorganisms of the digestive system (since its bacteria produces milk sugar in lactic acid),  which makes the development of harmful bacteria in the intestine from the decomposition of food an impossible process.

Likewise, yogurt facilitates the assimilation of nutrients, favors the absorption of fats, combats diarrhea and constipation, reduces cholesterol as well as the negative effects of antibiotics. It also contains calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, which are indispensable minerals to keep bones healthy.

More advantages

Yogurt, in addition to its nutritional benefits, helps to improve skin since it can be used as the main ingredient of various homemade creams and natural masks that can be applied on all skin types, especially on dry skin. Its high content of lactic acid offers exfoliating properties and calms skin eczemas, regenerating skin and helping cleaning it.

Along with its many benefits already mentioned, it has also shown to be beneficial to combat vaginal fungi. Studies conducted on women who had at least five vaginal infections assure that, after eating a daily cup of yogurt for six months, this problem had been reduced to a third. Another remedy is to apply one or two tablespoons of natural yogurt on the area where the candidiasis is and leave it for 15 minutes and then remove with plenty of water.

In short, yogurt is a food that can be included in any type of diet and that is suitable for all people, whatever their age. Natural remedies, beauty and culinary recipes are based on this healthy product for the wide array of benefits it offers.

Studying the effect of yogurt in lupus kidney disease

When a specific type of food displays such a wide array of benefits, healthcare communities dedicated to research and development of new treatments start to evaluate its use in different situations. The latest discovery surrounding yogurt is that it may be able to reduce kidney inflammation in systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Although this has only been proved to work in mice, it can be translated to humans as well.

The study held by a group of researchers at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine focused on mice with lupus. It consisted of making mice eat lactobacillus bacteria (a type of bacteria found in yogurt) and see how it affected their body. Surprisingly, mice who ate the bacteria had stronger anti-inflammatory immune reactions.

The study was published in the journal Microbiome under the name of “Control of lupus nephritis by changes of gut microbiota,” and it may be the first time a yogurt bacteria displays the possibility of being a source of treatment for a chronic disease. In order to determine bacteria actually had improved the symptoms, researchers treated young mice with antibiotics two days before the study and then fed them with 5 types of lactobacillus strains.

Benefits provided by the use of yogurt bacteria

Along with the anti-inflammatory immune reaction that came as a result of lactobacillus consumption, mice showed other positive reactions to the bacteria:

• Lactobacillus reduced considerably the levels of autoantibodies caused by lupus, improving mice’s kidney disease.
• Tests showed that the bacteria helped reduce the possibility of mice having a “leaky gut,” which is a condition characterized by bacterial components being able to access the bloodstream.
• A greater amount of T-cells was found in treated mice while inflammatory cells allocated in the kidneys reduced considerably. These were able to live longer than the untreated mice.

Although lactobacillus was found to be way more effective before mice had developed signs of lupus, it also reduced lupus symptoms in mice that had already developed the disease. The study cannot be considered statistically significant, but it suggests that this yogurt bacteria called lactobacillus can potentially slow the progression of lupus-related symptoms.

Yogurt and dairy supplements with lactobacillus bacteria are considered safe and may be added to people with lupus’ dietary habits as a great nutritive complement. However, it does not showed the same results in all mice.

Differences between female mice and male mice

It was a curious result, but the study showed that not all mice reacted in the same way. Apparently, male sex hormones may prevent the bacteria from working since it had no effect in male mice unless they had been castrated. The bacteria worked perfectly on female mice, which can reveal a relation between lupus being a disease that mainly affects women.

The assistant professor of immunology in charge of the study says that the study may address the participation of testosterone in the effect of supressing healthy bacteria, an idea that had never been spotted before. This can subsequently make the following studies focus more on the relation between testosterone and the development and evolution of lupus disease.

Nevertheless, the idea of this lactobacillus bacteria having an important effect in lupus-related problems came a few years ago when the team members noted that the amount of microbes in mice which were prone to developing lupus was lower.

The future of the investigation

This results showing that mice with lower levels of lactobacillus were more prone to develop lupus is fascinating. Not only did it help prove that bacteria was able to ameliorate symptoms related to the disease, but it also showed that bacteria may have positive effects when trying to control the disease.

Upcoming researches carried out by the team will focus in finding bacteria that can be detrimental for the disease and using it to extract bad/inflammatory cells and antibodies derived from lupus.