By Dr. Michael Tsuei, April 27, 2017 — [The] Microbiome is the missing link of why people are not getting better. Dr. Ralph Kellman MD is a functional medicine practitioner specializing in intestinal health. In his article, he states that feeding the “microbiome” is important because even the good bacteria can turn against you if you don’t have the right kinds of food and nutrition to feed them. Bacteria love fiber and nuts. If you don’t [eat the right kinds of food] the bad bacteria actually chews up the inner wall of the intestine (so-called “guts”).
Food no supers to me almost 15 years ago, while I was busy practicing between the hospital and semi [my] own clinical office. We had a variety of physicians and medical scientists from Japan. I remember they were very interested [ed] in our hospital and all the facilities with high tech equipment and advanced technology we had. After all, the most important change they told me, they [were] able to reduce that total hospital stay for premature babies. From 42 days average to 19 days with preventative products such as cheese, sauerkrauts, pickles, yogurt. They [were] experiencing great success in their digestive systems. Most of Japan today [in their] children hospitals use the probiotic products as standard picture of diet for patients. Also, Tokyo Medical University engaged [in] department reports. They had found the use of probiotic products into their hospital diet [made] the recovery much faster after operations. In one instance, [for an] open body operation, the inflammation due to bleeding and bacterial infections after surgery reduced to 45% also shortening the hospital stays.
So now fifteen years later, I just read Dr. Kellman’s work and his studies, and I was very interested. It’s exciting [that] finally America is able to catch up that great benefit of [what the] microbiome can do.
Do you know at that time I did make recommendations to my supervisor and talk to the administration in charge of the pulse of hospital operations? [I said] “We could use the experience the Japanese doctor and hospital had done.” My boss answered “No. There is no money in it, and lots of risk factors involved. Everything [would] have to be FDA approved and no insurance company is willing to take the chance if a complaint arrived by lowest at the horizon. Just forget about it. You could tell your patient if they like nutritious food [to] get their own, [but] not in the hospital. We can’t get involved.”
This is the reason I like to bring my own experiences, thoughts, [to] the medical care in the U.S. They’re so much [want] at every level. Insurance companies and hospitals operate on one thing only — to make more money, [that’s] the bottom line. Saving and benefits to patients [is] always secondary. We are the number 1 richest country in the world, but our health care in general ranks #18 in [a list] of industrial countries. You can figure out why.