Potentially harmful chemical elements affect human gut bacteria

By Jessica Rodriguez

Chemical elements that affect human gut health have been discovered in groundwater sources, soil composts, and biosolids. These elements include (As) arsenic, (Pb) lead, (Hg) mercury, (Cd) cadmium, (Cu) copper, and (Zn). Contamination in the drinking water and food are from the chemical elements found in groundwater sources and soils from mining activities. There are three bacteria's found in the human gut that are identified as Escherichia coli (E. coli-break down of food and prevent harmful microbes), two probitoic species, Lactobacillus rhamnosus (maintain digestive health), and Lactobacillus acidophilus (prevents bad bacteria). When humans consume water and food containing harmful chemical elements, the pH may be disrupted and cause gut imbalance. Research showed that E. coli may become resistant to antibiotics in high levels of pH and Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotics may be affected in the gut at low pH levels. Further research is necessary to understand how the presence of these harmful chemical elements in contaminated food and drinking water sources may worsen the affects on the human gut. 

The figure shows the harmful chemical elements that affect the three human gut bacteria's. The figure is from Bolan et al. (2022)

Original article:

Bolan, Shiv, et al. "Differential toxicity of potentially toxic elements to human gut microbes." Elsevier-Chemosphere (2022). https://doi.org/q0.q016/j.chemosphere.2022.134958.