Appendix for gut health

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I think there was an article posted here about this a whileago, but either there's more research about it now, or thesame research is getting more widespread:http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090824/sc_livescience/theappendixusefulandinfactpromisingThe vermiform appendix is a slimy dead-end sac that hangs between the small and large intestines. No less than Darwin first suggested that the appendix was a vestigial organ from an ancestor that ate leaves, theorizing that it was the evolutionary remains of a larger structure, called a cecum, which once was used by now-extinct predecessors for digesting food."Everybody likely knows at least one person who had to get their appendix taken out - slightly more than 1 in 20 people do - and they see there are no ill effects, and this suggests that you don't need it," said.However, and his colleagues recently suggested that the appendix still served as a vital safehouse where good bacteria could lie in wait until they were needed to repopulate the gut after a nasty case of diarrhea. Past studies had also found the appendix can help make, direct and train white blood cells.Now, in the first investigation of the appendix over the ages, explained they discovered that it has been around much longer than anyone had suspected, hinting that it plays a critical function....also further down:Darwin was also not aware that appendicitis, or a potentially deadly inflammation of the appendix, is not due to a faulty appendix, but rather to cultural changes associated with industrialized society and improved sanitation, said."Those changes left our immune systems with too little work and too much time their hands - a recipe for trouble," he said. "Darwin had no way of knowing that the function of the appendix could be rendered obsolete by cultural changes that included widespread use of sewer systems and clean drinking water."Now that scientists are uncovering the normal function of the appendix, notes a critical question to ask is whether anything can be done to prevent appendicitis. He suggests it might be possible to devise ways to incite our immune systems today in much the same manner that they were challenged back in the Stone Age."If modern medicine could figure out a way to do that, we would see far fewer cases of allergies, autoimmune disease, and appendicitis," said.*****************Mara