The senior study author Kiran Patil, a member of the MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Cambridge, told The Epoch Times that this finding uncovers a new beneficial role of gut bacteria for the human health—to help removing toxic PFAS from our body.
The Cambridge University study, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, identified nine bacterial species normally present in our gut that can absorb up to 75 percent of toxic PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—from their surroundings.
What Are PFAS?
PFAS are synthetic chemicals used in thousands of consumer products, from nonstick pans and waterproof clothing to cosmetics and food packaging. Dubbed “forever chemicals” because they resist breaking down in the environment, PFAS accumulate in human bodies and have been linked to various cancers, liver damage, and immune system disorders.
Currently, there are no approved treatments to remove PFAS from the human body, making this discovery potentially significant for public health.
What Did Researchers Find?
The research team identified nine bacterial species - including six in the Bacteroides family - that can absorb two common types of PFAS: perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
When these bacteria were introduced into mice, they quickly absorbed the chemicals. When they were excreted through the gut, the forever chemicals were removed with them in waste. Within minutes of exposure, the bacteria absorbed between 25 and 74 percent of PFAS chemicals at various concentration levels.
The researchers believe the way bacteria collect PFAS into protective clumps inside their cells is a survival mechanism that prevents the chemicals from causing cellular damage.
As the mice were exposed to increasing PFAS levels, the bacteria kept removing a steady percentage of the toxins, suggesting they could act as a natural filter in the gut.
The effectiveness of this approach depends on the specific type of PFAS compound.
Short-chain PFAS leave the body quickly through urine. However, long-chain PFAS stay in the body for years and are mostly removed through feces. Therefore, using bacteria works best for PFAS compounds that are primarily eliminated through fecal excretion.
The bacteria proved effective even at very low exposure levels similar to those found in European and U.S. water samples, suggesting potential real-world applications.
How Can We "Convince" Bacteria to Remove Even More PFAS?
At first glance, a good strategy could be to simply boost these helpful bacteria, offering a new and easy way to reduce PFAS levels in humans.
However, simply scaling up these specific microbes could easily throw off our microbiome with consequent overall gut imbalance and potential unintended consequences, such as disrupting other beneficial bacteria or affecting how the body processes food and medicine.
Therefore, the only strategy that we can safely and effectively pursuit is to keep our microbiome fully balanced and healthy thus providing the eating-PFAS bacteria with a good environment where they can thrive and perform their job.
Bravo, with its extremely wide range of live microbes, prebiotics and fermented postbiotics reconstitutes the gut microbiome strengthening the viability of the other commensal species.
Yours truly,
Marco Ruggiero