Autointoxication theory

“If, he reasoned, the large intestine serves as the principal site of entry of the body’s microbes, if the microbes secrete toxins that alter the higher cells of the body, and if senescence results from the destruction of altered cells by phagocytes, then a direct negative correlation should exist between the size of a species’ members’ large intestines and their average life span. . . . Thus was his autointoxication theory couched in terms of the fundamental disharmonious living organism” (Podolsky, 5). M’s cure for autotoxemia, to offset this disharmony and prevent premature death, was to transform the intestinal flora: via ingestion of B. bulgaricus, which produced the most lactic acid (whose microbes sour milk and inhibited growth of milk’s own putrefactive flora), the senescence-producing putrefactive organisms in intestine would be replaced by harmless B. bulgaricus and premature senility would be prevented (5-7). In 1920s/30s, in American, M’s theory morphed into Rettger and Chepin’s (Yale bacteriologists) Lactobacillus acidophilus therapy, which replaced M’s bacillus of choice with its close evolutionary relation, and replaced M’s philosophical rationale for his therapy (evolutionary disharmony, alleviated by B. bulgaricus) with 19th c. notion of bodily harmony and normality. L. acidophilus, native to the intestinal flora, helped reestablishing bodily balance owing to individual diet; M’s evolutionary rationale for the retirement (preventing premature senility owing to disharmonies resulting in autointoxication) was subverted 12-13).