Probiotic to Help Break through Digestive Plaque Deep within the Gut [Interview][Transcript]
Guest: Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum
Presenter: Neal Howard
Guest Bio: Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum has received international acclaim for his research and discovery on the dual role of healthy fungus. Dr. Ghannoum is a Professor and Director of the Center for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and has published 400 peer-reviewed articles and has been cited 16,000 times by other scientists. Dr. Ghannoum lectures to the National Institute of Health. For the last several decades, Dr. Ghannoum has conducted cutting-edge research on microorganisms in the human body.
Segment overview: In this health supplier segment, Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, a Professor and Director of the Center for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, talks about BIOHM, the first probiotic to treat bad bacteria and fungi with good bacteria and fungi, along with a powerful enzyme that crack through digestive plaque.
Transcription
Health Professional Radio – Digestive Plaque
Neal Howard: Hello and welcome to Health Professional Radio. I’m your host Neal Howard. Thank you for joining us today. Our guest today is Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum. He’s here in this Health Supplier Segment as professor and Director of the Center for Medical Mycology at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospital Cleveland Medical Center. He’s here to talk about ‘BIOHM’. The first probiotic to treat bad bacteria and fungi with good bacteria and fungi. Welcome to Health Professional Radio Dr. Ghannoum.
Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum: Thank you very much for having me.
N: Thank you. What is BIOHM?
G: BIOHM is a new probiotic that we developed recently and launched in the U.S. which really intended to address the total digestive health. What differentiates BIOHM from other probiotics available in the market, is that most of what available in market, in fact all address only the bacterial component of our microbiota. Remember, we need to have a balance in our gut of microorganisms so that we are healthy and we really maintain the cells. The issue, why did we develop BIOHM? Because in our gut, there is both bacteria and fungi. And to try to balance both of them because they are important players in our health and wellness, we developed the BIOHM.
N: How does BIOHM actually enhance our gut function?
G: It does it in two ways. Number one, it is able to maintain the microbiota in our body. For our health, we should have a balance in our microbiota. Sometimes, what happens because for example of the way of our diet, because of stress, because some people use some antibiotics, what happens, you had imbalance in what microorganisms in your gut. BIOHM calms and try to maintain this balance by encouraging the beneficial bacteria and fungus in our gut. In addition, it is able to really inhibit the growth of what we call the ‘Digestive Plaque’. It’s like the plaque in our teeth. We brush our teeth every day to make sure we don’t have any cavities. In the gut, sometimes, bad bacteria and bad fungus come together to form this digestive plaque. Both had been shown to inhibit the formation of this plaque and therefore, maintaining our health through balancing the microbiota, bad bacteria, and fungi which are good for our system.
N: You did some groundbreaking research and actually discovered this dual role of healthy fungus that’s in our gut. What type of reception has your discovery received from colleagues throughout the industry?
G: Thank you very much for asking this question. What we did, we did the study trying to understand what are the microorganisms or bacteria and fungi that are present in our gut that are beneficial. At the same time, what others that are bad for us. We focused on Crohn’s disease patients and we are able to identify the bad bugs as you say it. This work was published in a journal which is a scientific journal peer reviewed this called ‘Embio’. We were delighted to think that our peers as well as people in the scientific field, found this is really a change in the way we think which are not only bad bacteria but also we were addressing the fungi. For many, many years, when people who are looking at what are the organisms in our gut, they just focused on the bacterial component. This is in spite of the fact that, we know for a very long time, in fact from the 70’s when I started to do my doctorate, we looked at people who take antibiotics for example. And what happens, you kill the bad bacteria but also you are killing the good bacteria. And this will give a chance for this fungi to flourish and overgrow. Thereby, calling this imbalance. And this was really not looked into. Then we started publishing our work and following that, this is very important point that needs to be taken into consideration which is think fungus as you may say.
N: As far as educating patients on this dual role of good and bad fungus, what efforts are you involved into get the word out and raise awareness about this new research in this latest discovery?
G: I’m trying to convey this through a multiple channel. One channel is through publishing our scientific papers which are peer reviewed to ensure that the high standard of our work. Also, I’m invited to give lectures and different scientific meetings to try to, again, show our findings and emphasize the point that having fungi in our body is really important for our health and wellness. In addition, I’ve been asked by a number of media like yourself, to try to again, describe our discovery and show how it is important. So I think there are numbers of different ways we are trying to educate the public about it.
N: Where can our listeners go and get more information about BIOHM and a little bit about your background as well?
G: First of all, with respect to the BIOHM, you can go into www.biohmhealth.com. This is a website which can describe what’s the BIOHM. Also, some other studies that were shown that we are able to eliminate the digestive plaque. In addition, as far as my background is concerned, by going to the internet and searching for example, PubMed or Google, put my name, put the microbiome, or put my name and publications, Ghannoum microbiome or Ghannoum fungal infections and you are going to find a lot of my publications there which can show the fact that I’m dealing this area for over 40 years and publishing seminar work.
N: Great. I appreciate you coming in and talking with us today doctor.
G: Thank you very much again and I really appreciate you reaching out to me.
N: Great. You’ve been listening to Health Professional Radio. I’m your host Neal Howard. In studio, with Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum. Transcripts and audio of this program are available at healthprofessionalradio.com.au and also at hpr.fm. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes. Listen in and download at SoundCloud.