What a coincidence! I stumbled upon this
article as I was searching in livescience and thought I'd take a peak since we
just had a talk from Dr. Callahan about how the gut microbiome can regulate
autoimmunity, overall health, and even behavior!
A chemical engineer, David Whitlock, has not
showered in 12 years! Can you believe that?! Well, it's true (and I suppose unsanitary)!!
Whitlock is trying to prove that you don't need to shower in order to be
healthy and that the bacteria on our skin may actually be good for us. He
says that soap washes away the bacteria important for our health. But
still...wow! I can't grasp the idea of not showering! Bet he smells really bad!
Turns out, he designed a bacterial spray
called AO+ which removes the bacteria that causes bad order but does not remove
the bacteria important to our skin. So
Whitlock was interested in this experiment when he came across a horse rolling
in the soil. He found that this bacteria
Nitrosomonas is found in the
soil. Nitrosomonas breaks down ammonia and produce nitrite and nitric
oxide. There are tons of nitric oxide
receptors throughout our body and it is thought that this bacteria when it
produces NO and binds to NO receptors, it can relax blood vessels and regulate
control between brain cells. But what
benefit is this to us if humans don’t have Nitrosomonas
on our skin? I suppose we would have to
go rolling in soil and stop taking a shower too?
Whitlock says Nitrosomonas, if it were living
on our skin, would remove ammonia produced by sweat, which causes that sticky,
smelly secretion thereby reducing body odor as well. To replicate an ammonia oxidizing bacteria, he cultured his own bacteria and put it on himself to conduct the study. According to a co-worker of Whitlock, he does not smell bad...that is highly debatable in my opinion)!
Perhaps there is not enough evidence to confirm that
skin microbiome can affect health in a positive manner. But
you can suggest that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria like Nitrosomonas is doing something.
http://www.livescience.com/52719-do-we-need-showers.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=most-popular
I can't go without showering for 3 days, let alone 12 years, but I can see some benefits with not showering. There would be a decrease in water usage (although he says it's not for any sort of water conservation), and with his bacterial spray, body odor would be eliminated. However, the article does raises some concern about having the ammonia oxidizing bacteria on your skin and whether or not that could have some risks. More research would need to be done to determine if that bacteria is potentially harmful. Also, I can't help but wonder if he looks dirty or greasy. Showering seems necessary to remove dirt and sweat, not just the stench associated with it. Nonetheless, I think most people will stick to showering.
ReplyDeleteI guess he decided to take this experiment into his own hands like the guy who discovered stomach ulcers aren't only caused by stress. It seems unreasonable to not shower for 12 years. I think the best thing would be to create a formula that doesn't kill all bacteria, just the ones that may cause odor or those that are harmful to humans. Then again, to pick and choose which bacteria to kill and which ones should be kept is a whole other can of worms. I definitely see how nitrosomonas could be beneficial to humans.
ReplyDeleteI think the greatest problem humans are facing is bacteria that are very resistant to antibiotics and other medications. I know there has been lots of debate over the overuse of hand sanitizer and antibiotics. I think the idea that not all bacteria are bad is slowly becoming more popular. While this is an extreme case, I think that studies like this one may help the general population realize that it's okay to have some bacteria and that it is in fact healthy to have some bacteria on you or inside of you for that matter.