If you’re struggling to get your gut microbiome imbalance under control, you might’ve been thinking about getting your hands on some IgY antibodies – but perhaps you’re unsure if they’ll actually work.
Today, we’ll take a look an IgY dysbiosis study on IgY Max. Participants took IgY Max for 8 weeks. Their levels of beneficial flora, gut barrier integrity, and inflammation markers were measured before and after. Let’s take a look at the results!
Recap: Why Take IgY Antibodies for Gut Dysbiosis?
You might already know a bit of microbiome science, but here’s a quick recap.
The microbiome is an ecosystem of millions of microbes – like bacteria, yeasts, and even fungi – living within or on the human body. The term “gut microbiome” refers to the microbes inhabiting the GI tract.
At first glance, microbes living in the body might sound pretty gross – but it turns out they’re necessary for our survival. Many of the microorganisms living within us benefit our bodies by regulating our metabolism, helping us absorb vitamins from food, supporting our immune system, and much more.
The thing is, not all of the microorganisms in our microbiomes are helpful. Some are harmful. These harmful microbes can damage the gut barrier, increase inflammation, and wreak havoc on our metabolisms, hormone production, immune systems, and mental health.
Plus, they can cause uncomfortable digestive issues like gas, bloating, and stool irregularity – no fun.
To minimize the gut damage and annoying symptoms the harmful microbes cause and maximize the benefits helpful microbes confer, we want many beneficial microbes and very few harmful microbes to live in our guts.
To overcome dysbiosis, you’ll want to:
- Eliminate the harmful pathogens living in your gut microbiome
- Keep the helpful microbes already living in your gut microbiome
- Increase populations of helpful microbes living in your gut microbiome
Traditional treatment for dysbiosis typically involves antibiotics to clear the “bad” bacteria. The goal is to get rid of the bad bacteria that cause symptoms.
Antibiotics are the first-line treatment for dysbiosis, but they are often ineffective. In fact, studies have shown that antibiotics only work in about 50% of dysbiosis cases.
This may be due to the fact that antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria, leading to an imbalance in gut flora. As a result, other treatment options, such as probiotics or herbals, may be more effective in treating dysbiosis.
Probiotics and other natural therapies, such as herbs, may be as or more effective in restoring the balance of gut bacteria and treating dysbiosis, but there are a few caveats (1).
They may be less risky, but some studies show that they are not much more effective than antibiotics. They are also prohibitively expensive for many patients. More research is needed to evaluate their level of efficacy.
Many scientists argue that one of the main reasons dysbiosis is so difficult to treat is that it can be caused by a variety of different bacteria. Perhaps herbal treatments work well for one strain but not another.
IgY antibodies serve as another option. They have been proven to kill and remove several harmful pathogens from consumers’ guts.
Scientists at IgY nutrition realized that IgY antibodies could be used to address dysbiosis by killing well-known bad actors in gut microbiomes. So, they created IgY Max.
IgY Max is a specifically immunized egg-based supplement containing antigen-specific antibodies that target and neutralize 29 dysbiotic pathogens commonly found in the human gut microbiome, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella, various strains of Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, and other strains associated with SIBO.
In non-science speak: IgY Max is a supplement (made of only egg yolk) containing antibodies that kill off pathogens living in the gut. These pathogens could contribute to your digestive symptoms if you have them.
Upon consumption, IgY Max antibodies exert their anti-pathogenic activity throughout the entire length of the gastrointestinal tract. They have a high pathogen-antibody affinity and inhibit bacterial adhesion, suppress colonization, and neutralize each targeted pathogen thoroughly. Neutralized pathogens are expelled from the gut through the stool (your poop!).
The product’s elimination of pathogens allows beneficial microbes to flourish, which may help to restore microbial diversity to the microbiome and rebalance it. This positive shift in microbiome composition reduces dysbiotic pathogens’ initiation of gastrointestinal damage and amplifies healthy flora’s conferral of gastrointestinal benefits.
So does it actually work? Let’s take a look!
IgY Dysbiosis Study Results
A university-led study of IgY Max measured participants’ beneficial flora, gut barrier integrity, and inflammation marker levels before and after consuming IgY Max for eight weeks.
The study found that IgY Max consumers’ beneficial flora, gut barrier integrity, and inflammation levels improved significantly over eight weeks of use. More specifically, participants’ levels of inflammatory cytokines, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, helpful bacteria counts in the stool, zonulin, histamine, and diamine oxidase improved substantially. What are these?
Zonulin is a regulator of intestinal permeability and can therefore be a biomarker of impaired gut barrier function. Histamine, produced by mucosal mast cells, acts as a proinflammatory mediator in the intestine and modulates intestinal permeability. DAO, diamine oxidase, is the enzyme made by microvilli that degrades histamine. Low levels of DAO and elevated levels of histamine have been implicated in chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.
Improvement of these markers is associated with improved GI function, intestinal wall integrity, and levels of inflammation. The study found that “IgY 26, given to subjects, resulted in improvement of markers of gut distress such as Zonulin, DAO, and Histamine… beneficial flora including Bactoroides fragilis, Bifidobacterium species, E. coli, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, Clostridium were tracked. When the quantitative value of the flora was summed, there was an increase overall.”
Perhaps most importantly, participants’ symptoms improved upon use. Consumers report a decrease in symptoms of dysbiosis following consistent consumption, including:
- improved stool regularity and composition
- decreased bloating and gas
- higher energy levels
Though unofficial, the abundance of positive Amazon reviews describing users’ alleviation of symptoms is a telling indicator of IgY Max®’s power to benefit consumers.
Have you tried IgY Max for your digestive symptoms? Let us know in the comments on Instagram @igynutrition. Thank you for reading our IgY dysbiosis study. See you next time!
