From: hounddog23x@gmail.com   
      
   Vitality    
      
   Man's Best Friend Also Man's Best Medicine? Dogs May Have Probiotic Effect On   
   Gut Bacteria    
      
      
   Mar 23, 2015 01:10 PM    
   By    
   Lizette Borreli    
   @lizcelineb    
   Man playing with dog in park    
   Dog owners may reap more health benefits, such as good gut bacteria, from   
   playing with their furry friends. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock    
      
      
   Dogs are known for a sense of smell so powerful it can detect danger and   
   diseases in humans. Often guard dogs and companions, we consider them our best   
   friend. But as an upcoming study from the University of Arizona (UA) aims to   
   prove, dogs may also be    
   man's best medicine.    
      
   UA researchers hypothesize dogs have a probiotic effect on human gut bacteria.   
   The human digestive system is home to more than 500 types of both good and bad   
   bacteria. Probiotics are often called "good" or "helpful" bacteria because   
   they keep the    
   intestines healthy and also assist in the digestion of food, says the Mayo   
   Clinic. It is also believed they enhance immune system functioning.    
      
   Typically, hundreds of probiotic species can be found in yogurt, dairy   
   products, and pills. Certain species have been shown to help childhood   
   diarrhea, irritable bowel disease, and bowel infections like Clostridium   
   difficile. Probiotics' special    
   characteristics allow them to withstand the harsh conditions of the GI tract   
   and allows them to survive with other enteric microorganisms.    
      
      
   For the upcoming study, Kim Kelly, a study investigator and anthropology   
   doctoral student at UA and other researchers will test whether living with a   
   dog encourages the growth of positive microorganisms in the human gut enough   
   to improve physical and    
   mental health in older adults.    
      
   "We've co-evolved with dogs over the millennia, but nobody really understands   
   what it is about this dog-human relationship that makes us feel good about   
   being around dogs," Kelly said in the press release. "The question really is:   
   Has the relationship    
   between dogs and humans gotten under the skin? And we believe it has."    
      
   The researchers say a dog's microbiota could act as yogurt and yield probiotic   
   effects on human gut bacteria. The researchers plan to study human-animal   
   interactions between dogs and participants aged over 50, who have not lived   
   with a dog for at least    
   six months.    
      
      
   At the start of the study, they will non-invasively evaluate the participants'   
   gut bacteria, diet, physical activity levels, and immune function. They will   
   also monitor the dogs' gut bacteria and physical activity levels via   
   non-invasive means. These    
   tests will be conducted after one, two, and three months to evaluate whether   
   there have been any positive impacts on gut bacteria in either humans or dogs.   
   Moreover, they will look for any changes in both the participants' and dogs'   
   health and emotional    
   well-being.    
      
   "We think dogs might work as probiotics to enhance the health of the bacteria   
   that live in our guts. These bacteria, or 'microbiota,' are increasingly   
   recognized as playing an essential role in our mental and physical health,   
   especially as we age," said    
   Dr. Charles Raison, principal investigator for the study and a UA professor of   
   psychiatry in the College of Medicine, in the press release.    
      
   This study sheds light on the dog-human relationship after existing studies   
   show that dogs and their owners share much of the same gut bacteria over time.   
   A 2013 study published in the journal eLIFE found parents may actually have   
   more in common with    
   their dogs than their kids when it comes to microbial life. Parents and their   
   household pets can greatly influence the microbes that live in the body. In   
   the study, sharing surfaces and breathing the same indoor air were found to   
   make it much easier for    
   families to exchange skin microbes than tongue or gut bacteria at home.   
   Moreover, couples who had a dog shared more skin bacteria with each other than   
   non-dog owner couples.    
      
      
   The effect of dogs' influence on human health has yet to be vastly explored,   
   but it spurs the age-old family discussion: "Should we get a dog?"    
      
   Sources: Blue A. "Could Man's Best Friend Be Man's Best Medicine?" UA News.   
   2015.    
      
   Caporaso JG, Clemente JC, Costello EK et al. Cohabiting family members share   
   microbiota with one another and with their dogs. eLIFE. 2013.    
      
      
      
   http://www.medicaldaily.com/mans-best-friend-also-mans-best-medi   
   ine-dogs-may-have-probiotic-effect-gut-bacteria-326632   
      
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