The External Gut and

The External Gut and Lungs

Humans use external containers to break down complex molecules into simple molecules that can easily be absorbed or further digested (with low energy cost) by the human gut .

The processes used are
1.Cutting or grinding (knives , grinders , else to be done by teeth)
2.Heat ( boiling , frying , roasting , baking)
3.Fermentation ( enzymes) . Bacteria and fungi act as external symbiotes in special containers in a similar fashion as in the human gut .
4. Combinations of above .

Note that all require technology of some sort : fire or manufactured containers , as well as a definite recipe .

The effects of heat are well known , except for sub-chronic acrylamide poisoning
(See previous  “Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy and Acrylamide 2” in
http://andreswhy.blogspot.com )

Fermentation is widely used , but its consequences are not always fully realised .

Pure Fermentation (without heat ).
The best known one is  , of course , bread rising and wine  .

The intriguing thing is that some foods prepared by fermentation should be lethal , but are not . For example , raw fish is kept in a container for up to a year and is still edible , whilst biological activity (fermentation) is taking place .

Examples of salted fish :
Nam Pla : Thai fish sauce ( similar to Roman Garum ) , padek (Laos) , bagoong (Philippines) , lutefish ( Norway) .

Examples of salted vegetables :
Sauerkraut (Europe ) , Kimchi (Korea)

In the above examples , the saline concentration is not high enough to inhibit all biological activity . Fermentation takes place , but it seems that  no lethal toxins are produced in an essentially anaerobic environment . But it smells bad (especially the sulfur rich fish ) .
This means a relatively high H2S concentration . ( Anaerobic fermentation should produce H2S) .
Protein breakdown continues , but the H2S slows down production-tempo of quorum signaling messengers for pathogenic producers below the threshold where the lethality-genes will switch-on .  ( The messenger molecules must have a limited lifespan , else the organism will soon be in permanent quorum : ie be dismantled pdq .)

See Training the Immune System.    http://andreswhy.blogspot.com

Additionally , anaerobic organisms originally evolved in a low-salt environment (before the seas became salty ) . While they might have evolved tolerance for higher saline concentration , a sudden jump to a higher level of salinity requires new mechanisms , while a jump to a lower level of salinity simply means activating old , existing mechanisms .

A high initial saline concentration thus provides a bias against initial pathogens in the external gut container . The ratio of good vs bad cannot remain stable . The good fermentation organisms out-compete the pathogenic ones , as the pathogenic ones are inhibited by H2S induced slowdown . (Eg why is human blood salty?)

The recipe then seems to be:
Salt (not too much) + food with some sulfur content + covered with water -> edible by human food a year plus on .
No starter cultures are normally used , but of course they would speed the process .

A different recipe is for yoghurt , cheese , etc . Here the initial bias is given by the antibiotics inherent in mammalian milk . Starter cultures are used , as the bias effect is not as strong as with salt .

Note that sulfur is the critical element .

The advantages of an External Gut

Acidity , materials input , temperature , etc can be precisely controlled . The whole food industry can be described  as an external gut , and the whole human race hanging from its teats like 6.5 billion mewling rats . Efficiency can be optimized on the known factors . Large numbers can eat well .

The disadvantages of an External Gut

But the unknown factors…
Quick poisons  (like arsenic in the water , etc) can be handled quickly .
Slow poisons like lead might have an impact , but not too big .
The leveraged  unrecognized poisons in the external gut can have consequences difficult to reverse .

The systems the body has where this is of concern is the learning systems : ie where a small input can make a big difference .

The human body has three : the spiritual (not considered here) , the nervous system and the immune system .

The immune system:
One of the main methods by which the immune systems kills deviant cells is by an injection of hypochlorous acid ( bleach ) . The fragments of hypochlorous acid mark the fragments of target cells as enemies to the immune system .

Containers of the external gut (pots pans ,etc) washed with dishwashers usually contain traces of bleach (since the 1950’s).  These few million molecules kill many cells previously recognized as good by the immune system  and a few bad cells . But the good cells have already been recognized as good . (The system does not work in serial processing fashion : the millions of good cells are not even seen (latched on ) by the immune system , but the few bad ones are . This sharpens the immune response .

The problem is immature immune systems-like babies and small infants . The immune system has not learned that many good guys . It is inclined to learn the wrong lesson . It treats exactly those dirt molecules marked by the bleach derivatives as targets .

Hence the growth of asthma and similar immune diseases .

Can the immune system unlearn ?
Evolutionary speaking , it does not look too rosy . Change in the environment is usually slow , so there is no evolutionary pressure to unlearn mistakes . It is cheaper to let the organism die and let the descendants adapt .

So we must look at epigenetic factors . These are the only ones that can cause a rapid enough change within an organism’s lifetime .

The mechanisms might be there , but they will have to be driven ( ie they will not occur naturally .) Somebody will have to deliberately set up the system .

Resetting the immune system molecule by molecule is one way , but seems awfully tedious .

The logic is : “if A , then B” , but we want “if A then C” .
We can’t unlearn “if A , then B” , but we can slow it down and substitute  , speed up and emphasise   “if A then C”. The occurrences of  “if A , then B” then decreases to the vanishing point in the dynamic system . Note that speed here is important .

We know how to slow things up (80 ppm H2S) .
We know how to speed things up (80 ppm CH4).
We know that the body system  is anabolic .( ie few suicides , many cancers . Cancer can be seen as an unsuccessful attempt to live forever , in a rather unstructured way .)

So we know that the system has sophisticated feedback systems regarding differential metabolic rates . Even gross drivers like fluctuating  H2S and CH4 concentrations will cause first-order adaptations in anabolism .

In other words , just breathing H2S-CH4 in succession will sharpen responses at a cellular level .

The system will be sensitive to neural effects . Wishing or willing will cause physiological cascades that the process will pick up and amplify .

Have fun
Andre