Helicobacter pylori is a stomach resident who can turn into a fire-breathing monster and quite literally “burn” a hole in your stomach and/or duodenum.

Note :  Bacteria are not the only things that can burn holes in your stomach, many pain relieving meds also do this. 

The pharmacological approach to treating an ulcer typically involves a course of antibiotics to kill HP, along with an agent which decreases acid secretion, to minimize the damage caused by acid.

Unfortunately, the antibiotic often fails to put the fire out because HP is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

Bifidobacterium are capable fire-fighters

Bifidobacterium is a type of bacteria which is often packaged as a probiotic.

Probiotics a.k.a ”good” bacteria help to keep the microflora in the gut  in check preventing gastoinstestinal infections and problems.

Spanish researchers have found one Bifidobacterium strain that is the super HP fire fighter.

The strain which they have named Bifidobacterium bifidum CECT 7366 (the name doesn’t exactly roll of your tongue),  prevented mice infected with HP from developing ulcers.

The anti-HP package

The researchers plan to conduct clinical trials on their bacteria i.e. studies in humans and intend to package “it” as a way to overcome  the Helicobacter burn.

But the “special” bifodobacterium strain was actually isolated from faeces of a breast-fed infant, so it is not especially exotic.  Healthy gut flora will include strains of bacteria capable of keeping HP in check.

Cultivate your microflora

The secret to preventing an invasion by Helicobacter is to cultivate the good guys in your gut.

The easiest way to do this is to eat “real” food, not processed foods, which are full of chemicals which kill bacteria – the good, the bad and the ugly.  Yoghurt often includes live cultures and several brands are produced by Bifidobacterium species.

So if you are dealing with the constant burning sensation brought on by the unwelcome activity of Helicobacter,  send some “good” fire-fighting bacteria down the hole to “extinguish” the problem.

Novel Probiotic Bifidobacterium bifidum CECT 7366 Strain Active against the Pathogenic Bacterium Helicobacter pylori. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2010; 77 (4): 1335. E. Chenoll, B. Casinos, E. Bataller, P. Astals, J. Echevarria, J. R. Iglesias, P. Balbarie, D. Ramon, S. Genoves.

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Further reading

Salt stokes the fires of the belly	Colon cancer fat busting yoghurt coming to a supermarket shelf near you	Eating a tub of yogurt or two does change the gut zoo