Abstract
A study, made in a series of our researches on the relation between hot spring bathing or drinking and the functions of digestive organs, on the effect of hot spring drinking on aerobe bacteria in the digestive tract has led to the following conclusion:
1) Effect of various hot spring waters on faecal bacteria in vitro.
Strongly acid hot spring in vitro showed powerful sterilizing power on faecal bacteria. First it rapidly inhibits the growth of coli group and then gradually inhibits the growth of gram positive bacilli. It is clear that its sterilizing power lies in the strong acidity of hot spring water, but other components of hot spring are considered to play some part in it.
Unagi-Yu, alkaline hot spring, instead of inhibiting the growth of coli group, rather tends to promote their growth. In this case, not only pH of hot spring water but also its components are considered to take part in its action.
2) Effect of hot spring drinking on the bacteria in the stomach and the other digestive tract.
pH in the stomach is at first (20 to 40 minutes) subject to influence of pH of hot spring water that the patients take in, regardless of whether it is strongly acid or strongly alkaline, but it will soon return to the individually peculiar pH of the gastric juice.
The number of bacteria in the stomach decreases at first in most cases, and it also increases or decreases in parallel with pH in the stomach.
Neither strongly acid nor strongly alkaline hot spring is greatly effective on pH and bacteria in the intestines. That is to say, they cannot disturb physiological intestinal bacteria.
3) Effect of hot spring drinking on coli group orally brought in
Successive intakes (or drinking) of strongly acid hot spring inhibit the settlement or the growth in the intestines of coli group brought in orally, whereas successive intakes of alkaline hot spring tend to promote, at least temporarily, their settlement or growth in the intestines.
