[HN Gopher] A type of bacteria that causes dental plaque was fou...
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       A type of bacteria that causes dental plaque was found in 50% of
       colon cancers
        
       Author : _xerces_
       Score  : 60 points
       Date   : 2024-03-21 20:43 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nbcnews.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nbcnews.com)
        
       | Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote:
       | > it was unclear how it could withstand the journey through the
       | gut
       | 
       | Boy do I have great news for them about a group of people with a
       | proclivity of putting their mouths where they shouldn't.
        
         | swatcoder wrote:
         | I assume I saw this downvoted because people get defensive
         | about intimacies they enjoy or because of the snarky tone, but
         | this is actually a very astute insight into a recent cultural
         | change that might legitimately play some role.
         | 
         | It wasn't a very common practice in earlier generations, it
         | became an increasingly common practice in newer generations,
         | and the shift could very easily produce unstudied consequences
         | to health at scale (whether this or other things).
        
           | situationista wrote:
           | Do you have any reliable evidence to back up your assertion
           | that the activity in question "wasn't a very common practice
           | in earlier generations"? The fact that something isn't openly
           | discussed rarely means it's not happening...
        
             | iammjm wrote:
             | Considering the popularity of porn and its obvious impact
             | on sexual practices (monkey see, monkey do) plus the higher
             | hygiene standards I would imagine butt-eating is more
             | widespread now then ever. I'd also imagine cleaning the
             | soon to be eaten butt would lower the risk
        
               | nick__m wrote:
               | You got the infection route backwards, the cancer causing
               | plaque bacteria migrate from mouth to butt !
               | 
               | But more seriously it's a gram negative bacteria so it
               | has a polysaccharide armor that could resist a passage
               | through the digestive system.
        
             | swatcoder wrote:
             | I mean, I can't speak for what was unmentionably hot in the
             | 19th century or whatever, but there are many many living
             | people who were plenty free-spirited during the 20th
             | century and are quite open about what they did and do get
             | up to, and many graphic literary and media accounts of the
             | same.
             | 
             | There are also many _much_ older literary sources on
             | practice and technique that are quite rich and detailed but
             | don 't really give it much attention.
             | 
             | You're correct that none of that can provide
             | _authoritative_ counter-evidence to the claim that it 's
             | always been as popular and widespread as it is today, but
             | given that many practices do come in and out of fashion,
             | it's easier for most to assume that the particular quiet of
             | the oral and literary historical record about this is
             | because it wasn't popular than that it is the one secret
             | thing that nobody blabbed about in topical literature or
             | ran across much in their own experience. I didn't even
             | think it's recent, dramatic rise in popularity was
             | contentious until you pushed back on it just now.
             | 
             | I'd personally put the burden of proof on demonstrating
             | that it _was_ similarly common rather than that it _wasn
             | 't_. But I would understand those determined to disagree.
             | 
             | There are cultural trends and fashions in intimate
             | practice, though, whether or not you accept that this is
             | one of them.
        
               | wewtyflakes wrote:
               | > It wasn't a very common practice in earlier
               | generations, it became an increasingly common practice in
               | newer generations
               | 
               | ...followed by...
               | 
               | > I mean, I can't speak for what was unmentionably hot in
               | the 19th century or whatever
               | 
               | ...seems to indicate you should not have been so
               | confident in your initial assertion. A great number of
               | things were likely less mention-able in prior
               | generations, including the act of hetero-normative sex; I
               | suspect people had plenty of sex then, considering we
               | exist at all.
        
             | karaterobot wrote:
             | > The fact that something isn't openly discussed rarely
             | means it's not happening...
             | 
             | Surely not being openly discussed isn't evidence of it
             | being extremely prevalent either. And given that, it's
             | really hard to imagine reliable evidence one way or the
             | other. But the person you're responding to did not make an
             | obviously ridiculous statement. We all know it's not
             | provable, but I'll happily give them the benefit of the
             | doubt here.
        
           | mathgeek wrote:
           | I assume the reason for the downvoting is because gp called
           | out the people rather than just stating what the activity is.
           | This is leading to us assuming what each responder considers
           | the most likely activity.
        
           | elwebmaster wrote:
           | I don't know about that but what I can tell you was a very
           | common practice in all earlier generations was drinking hard
           | liquor. What does it do to bacteria?
        
           | ZunarJ5 wrote:
           | This is not what the historical record says at all, actually
           | hilariously quite the opposite and this assumption is quite
           | modern and common especially in the West.
           | 
           | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/young-
           | ad...
           | 
           | For one, quite famous historical example see the Kama Sutra.
           | It does not take more than a quick Google search to find a
           | million other examples, eg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Er
           | otic_art_in_Pompeii_and_He...
           | 
           | Check out this AskHistorians thread. https://www.reddit.com/r
           | /AskHistorians/comments/17zztg/how_c...
        
         | playerm1 wrote:
         | I prefer syrup
        
         | wewtyflakes wrote:
         | What group of people?
        
           | jfrbfbreudh wrote:
           | people
        
         | xen2xen1 wrote:
         | Toddlers? That was my first thought..
        
       | jjk166 wrote:
       | So you're saying it is now scientifically proven that butt-
       | chugging mouthwash both prevents and cures cancer, and that young
       | people especially benefit?
        
         | sva_ wrote:
         | I don't think mouthwash is selective like that
        
         | culopatin wrote:
         | The only thing you could extrapolate is that using mouth wash
         | may reduce the activity of that bacteria. Anything else would
         | have to be proven.
        
           | wstrange wrote:
           | Which might have other unintended side effects!
           | 
           | See [0] where mouthwash use is correlated with increased risk
           | of hypertension
           | 
           | [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31709856/
        
             | culopatin wrote:
             | Also bacteria communities are very hard to study because
             | one dying might make another one that was under control
             | grow out of control and cause its own set of issues.
        
         | blipvert wrote:
         | Given the high alcohol content of mouthwash, this seems like a
         | good way to get very drunk very quickly
        
           | metadat wrote:
           | Reputable mouthwash products no longer include alcohol, it's
           | been deemed undesirable because it dries out your mouth.
        
             | ProfessorLayton wrote:
             | I tried Crest's alcohol-free mouthwash:
             | 
             | Pros:
             | 
             | - It worked _really well_ , fresh breath for hours.
             | 
             | Cons:
             | 
             | - It nuked my taste buds for just a long.
             | 
             | I'm back on the boozy mouth wash (Listerine og formula)
        
               | zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
               | I like xylitol mouthwash. Xyloburst is good
        
         | ggm wrote:
         | Read up on throat and mouth cancer from mouthwash
        
           | bugbuddy wrote:
           | Mouthwash containing alcohol to be exact
        
             | Grimblewald wrote:
             | The problem with proving something is bad is it takes
             | generations. What they replaced alcohol with is likely no
             | better, like BPA substitites.
        
           | NegativeLatency wrote:
           | Seems to be pretty low risk, do you know of some better
           | sources that I couldn't find?
           | 
           | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10681539/
           | 
           | > We found evidence that a high frequency of mouthwash use
           | may be associated with an increased risk of oral cancer.
           | However, despite the biological plausibility for this
           | association, we suggest caution upon interpretation of our
           | findings due to the few number of studies that have
           | investigated the mouthwash use frequency, which should be
           | considered.
        
       | basisword wrote:
       | There's a lot of positivity in this article about how this
       | knowledge could help develop new drugs. But it seems the current
       | reality is that this bacteria is becoming more common and blocks
       | current cancer drugs. Can anyone with more knowledge on this
       | explain further? Are outlooks getting worse until we find
       | something that can deal with the bacteria discussed in the
       | article?
        
       | A_D_E_P_T wrote:
       | That the F.nucleatum bacterium is associated with colon cancer
       | has been known for some time, e.g.:
       | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27876571/
       | 
       | It is also associated with "poor rates of both overall survival
       | and progression-free survival" in cervical cancer:
       | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33197886/
       | 
       | And it is "associated with shorter survival" when found in
       | esophageal cancer: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27769987/
       | 
       | It is also linked to gastric cancer:
       | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-18596-0
       | 
       | All in all, it's obviously a pretty nasty little customer. It
       | might be worth screening for it, and attempting to eliminate it
       | if possible.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | Vaccine candidate?
        
           | j-bos wrote:
           | There's a benign bacteria being sold to outcompete it.
        
             | NegativeLatency wrote:
             | What's that?
        
               | isk517 wrote:
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37634713
        
       | rain_iwakura wrote:
       | Have there been any studies that show that people treated with
       | antibiotics against F. Nucleatum showed improved outcomes in any
       | of comorbid diseases? I'm not saying it would actually improve
       | anything but would be interesting to see. I assume there isn't
       | enough momentum to run a study like that.
        
       | boring-alterego wrote:
       | Maybe with this we can combine teeth into normal insurance.
        
       | nrau wrote:
       | My dentist has been on me for years that flossing is important
       | for your health for more than just teeth. He explained to me
       | recently the role it plays in toughening up your gums
       | (essentially callusing your gums from the repeated abrasion of
       | the dental floss) so that bacteria cannot thrive in there, which
       | they otherwise easily do. And that this bacteria can cause you
       | all kinds of health issues, including cancer.
       | 
       | If you search around you'll find a lot of articles from the
       | dental community that talk about similar benefits from flossing.
       | 
       | After years of being lazy and ignoring their advice, this finally
       | got me into regularly flossing!
        
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       (page generated 2024-03-21 23:00 UTC)