Is Your Appendix Really a Useless Organ?
Your appendix, long touted by doctors to have no apparent purpose, turns out to be good for something after all. Surgeons and immunologists from Duke University Medical School believe your appendix produces and protects the good bacteria in your gut.
There are more bacteria in your body than cells, and much of it is used to help you digest food. However, if your good bacteria dies, as the result of cholera or dysentery for instance, your appendix appears to restore good bacteria to your gut.
Your appendix acts like a "bacteria factory" that "cultivates good germs," according to the study's authors.
They pointed out that this function is not needed in industrialized society, because if your gut flora dies you can easily repopulate it with germs from other people. In the past, however, the appendix came in handy when disease epidemics affected entire regions, and the good bacteria was not easy to repopulate.
In modern times, appendixes may still be useful in less developed countries.
If your appendix becomes infected, it can lead to death, which is why surgeons have removed them routinely for generations. Even with the new theory for your appendix's purpose, the researchers said you should have yours removed if it becomes inflamed.
About 300 to 400 Americans die, and about 321,000 are hospitalized, due to appendicitis each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Journal of Theoretical Biology September 7, 2007
MSNBC.com October 5, 2007
 | Dr. Mercola's Comments: |
| It is shocking to me that anyone ever believed your appendix has no purpose. Rest assured, there is a purpose for every organ in your body, even the ones that modern medicine can't figure out. So please don't ever fall for the advice to have an organ removed "because it has no purpose." There are times when it is necessary to do so, because if you fail to remove it you will die from massive infection. This can be true for appendicitis or an infected gallbladder. But there just isn't ever ANY reason to remove an appendix just because an abdominal surgery is being performed. It makes perfect sense that your appendix may help regulate your intestinal good bacteria. For every cell in your body you have about ten bacteria in your intestine, or about 60 trillion bacteria. This bacteria has a very profound influence on your digestive health, your weight, and your overall health. Hopefully, now that a function for the appendix has been formally recognized, surgeons will stop removing healthy appendixes for no reason. The notion that your appendix is useless has been so widely held for so long that many surgeons actually will remove your appendix when performing abdominal surgeries for other reasons! However, I do not agree with the researchers conclusions that your appendix is unnecessary in the modern world because, as they say, you can easily repopulate the good bacteria in your gut. Why? Because your good bacteria is constantly being assaulted by antibiotics, chlorinated water, birth control pills, stress, sugar, and a host of other environmental factors. Ideally, your gut should contain a ratio of 85 percent good bacteria to 15 percent non-beneficial bacteria, but the factors I listed above have actually caused this ratio to reverse in many people. So there is clearly a shortage of good bacteria in many people, which is why I often recommend that you use a high-quality probiotic as an "insurance policy" that your body is balanced with good strains of bacteria, particularly if you don't lead a perfectly healthy lifestyle. So there is just no way to know what far-reaching and subtle effects your appendix has on the way your body functions. At least one negative side effect has already been uncovered from having your appendix removed (called an appendectomy) -- an increased risk of Crohn's disease. Appendectomy has long been a controversial surgery when done electively. It's possible, in fact, that 30 percent of controversial surgeries such as appendectomy are unnecessary. Other often-unnecessary surgeries include: Don't Make the Same Mistake I Made I was at an event in LA earlier this month for a full week, and I picked up a serious case of the runs (I was having 10-20 bowel movements a day). I had picked up a food infection and I neglected to follow my own advice to always take probiotics with you when you travel. Surprisingly, the natural grocery store, which was the only one convenient to me, had absolutely no probiotics other than yogurt. So as soon as I got home I took a full bottle of my Complete Probiotics, and the four days of misery on the toilet stopped in a few hours. So don't make the same mistake I made. Both you and I should never leave home without a bottle of Complete Probiotics; they don't have to be refrigerated because they are in the bacterial spore form. They could save you lots of misery in the future and help you avoid the pure hassle of seeking to find a high-quality probiotic while you're on the road. Until it happened to me I had no idea how hard they were to find in a big city. So learn your lesson and ... Always Take Good Bacteria When You Are Traveling!! When Might Your Appendix Need to be Removed? It's important to point out, as I said earlier, that there are cases when an appendectomy can save your life, because once your appendix becomes infected or inflamed, it is life threatening. Here are some major warning signs that your appendix might be a problem:
If you are a woman, you may benefit from receiving a CT scan or ultrasound prior to having an appendectomy. A study published in the journal Radiology found that in women who had this done prior to surgery, a healthy appendix was removed 7 percent of the time, compared with 28 percent of the time when no scan was done. Of course, it's always best to avoid surgery whenever possible, so while an appendectomy can be life-saving if your appendix is inflamed, it shouldn't be considered a routine, or elective, procedure. | |
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Appendectomy May Increase Risk of Crohn's Disease How You Can Avoid Needless Surgeries Avoid the Tonsillectomy!
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