Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,

I am planning to do a project on Natural Remedies vs Modern medicines for common ailments like stomach acidity/stomach upset. Can you please suggest what bacteria would I choose for my research purpose.

Thanking you in advance for your help and support.

Regards

Hi vineetha10.

Welcome to Science Buddies!

Your project topic is fascinating and very challenging.

E. coli K12 from Carolina Science Supply is probably the best bacterium to use for a science project:

http://www.carolina.com/bacteriophage-h ... =E%2C+coli

For this project, I recommend that you check out the microorganisms safety guide and the information on microbiology techniques from this website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... nces.shtml

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Donna

Thank you for your reply.

Can I substitute E.Coli bacteria with a bacteria found from trash bin /dirt from the shoe or door handle and experiment these bacteria with over the counter antacid medicines.

Hi vineetha10,

If you use bacteria found in trash or dirt you run into the problem of having so many different strains with variable resistance.

I'd take Donna's advice and use E.coli first, and then if you want to challenge yourself you can swab something.

Thanks,
Peter S.

So can I do an experiment with E.coli bacteria with over the counter antacid medicines for common ailments ?

Hi vineetha10.

Peter has given you some good advice about using unknown bacteria. This is definitely not recommended.

Can you clarify the purpose of your science project? What type of stomach ache to you plan to study?

If you are testing antacids, you probably want to measure the pH before and after treatment with the antacid. The sample would be dilute hydrochloric acid to match the pH of stomach acid. You would not need to use E. coli.

If you are working on stomach aches caused by bacterial infection, then the experiment with E. coli would make sense. Perhaps your teacher would have a culture of the K-12 E. coli, as it is commonly used in classrooms.

There are other types of stomach aches also.

Please let us know what you want to do. We can help with the details of an experiment that would meet your objectives. For a science project, you just need to do one perfectly controlled experiment on one topic.

Donna

Hi, vineetha10! I just wanted to add that E. coli is usually a good choice of bacteria for science fair projects for it's ease of growth, but it doesn't grow in your stomach. So I'm not sure E. coli would be appropriate for what you're trying to do, since it's usually found in the intestines. The optimal pH for bacteria in the intestines is much higher than for a bacterium found in the stomach.

Best regards,
Jen

Hi,

Jen has made an excellent point about the location of the "stomach ache" that you will be researching. You do need to focus on one specific ailment to work on. Here are 3 ideas for stomach ache science projects:

1. Here is a project idea from this website on using calcium carbonate to neutralize stomach acid. This would be a good investigation for heartburn stomach aches. This would make an excellent project without using any E. coli.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... eityourown

2. Here is a news article from this website about sewage contaminated coastal waters. You might be able to develop a unique project based on this news article, or perhaps find a local news article that would inspire anther project that you could do. This project would probably require using the E. coli K12, and would be a lower intestinal problem project..

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases ... 071515.php

3. Here is a description from the University of Maryland Medical Center website of the stomach problems that peppermint can be used for, primarily for indigestion, bloating, and irritable bowel syndrome. Maybe you could do a project on peppermint, or find out what causes people to overeat. This again would be a unique project; you would need to do more background reading and design the details of the experiment.

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/peppermint

I hope this helps Let us know if you have any other questions.

Donna

Thank you Dona, Peter and Jen for your replies.

I found the project on peppermint to be interesting and shall read further on that.

Coming to the antacid test - "If you are testing antacids, you probably want to measure the pH before and after treatment with the antacid. The sample would be dilute hydrochloric acid to match the pH of stomach acid". -

Is dilute hydrochloric acid readily available? Where can I get this?

Regards

Hi,

What is a good substitute for hydrochloric acid for testing antacids. Is lemon or vinegar a good alternate for HCL . Planning to experiment Natural Antacids vs Chemical Antacids.

Hi,
Hydrochloric acid is also known as muriatic acid and is available from swimming pool supply stores. This is the best acid to use because stomach acid is HCl. If necessary, you could match the concentration of stomach acid with vinegar. Other possibilities are phosphoric acid, which is included in rust /calcium removal products or sulfuric acid, which is sold by automotive supply stores as battery acid.

If you do the peppermint project, you need to make sure the project is based on scientific research. Read as much information as you can, preferably using published research papers. Look for an idea for an experiment that you could do. You would have to get prior approval from your local scientific review committee to do any experiments with humans, so I don’t recommend this.

For example, here are abstracts from a couple of research papers on peppermint: Go to Google Scholar and search for additional scientific papers.

https://nccih.nih.gov/health/peppermintoil
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2313.short

Here is an example of a website that is not based on scientific research.

http://naturalsociety.com/mint-scent-im ... on-memory/

Donna