An ancient medicinal clay whose use stretches back at least 2,500 years has yielded insights that could help improve gut health in the modern age, a study reports.
The clay in question—known as Lemnian Earth (LE)—was long "highly prized" as a therapeutic. Found on the Greek island of Lemnos, the clay was shaped into small pellets or tablets and taken orally, either on its own, as a powder, drunk with wine or mixed with botanicals.
There is a documented record of near-continuous medicinal use of the clay for more than two millennia. Medicinal literature spanning from the fifth century B.C. to the late 19th century reveals that it was prescribed to treat a number of ailments over time.
For example, it was used as an "antidote" to poisons or venoms, as a preventive against plague and as a treatment for bowel problems.
Despite its long tradition of use, a comprehensive understanding of what made LE, a seemingly ordinary clay, therapeutic has eluded researchers. (The actual effectiveness of the clay may have varied significantly, depending on the condition in question, and remains unclear.)
Over the past few years, a team of researchers has been evaluating the existing evidence associated with LE. This led them to develop a hypothesis that its potential healing properties were not necessarily inherent to the clay but instead may have been the result of an interaction between the material and certain fungi.
These fungi may have been added to the clay accidentally, and subsequently, deliberately, in different ways at different times, according to the researchers.
In the latest study, published in the online journal PLOS One, the team set out to test this hypothesis. To do this, the authors grew their own fungus in the lab, combined with two different clays.
The clays chosen had mineralogical compositions similar to those found in historical LE samples. The fungus chosen was Penicillium purpurogenum, a member of the genera (groups of species) identified in the historical samples.
These experiments resulted in the creation of certain bioactive compounds that were subsequently fed to mice to determine their effect on the microbiome—a collection of microorganisms—of the rodents' intestines. In this case, mice were used as a model animal to study biological processes that may be relevant to humans.
The results indicate that combining some clays with certain beneficial fungi produced compounds that had antibacterial properties and also a positive effect on the gut microbiome of the mice. In humans, a healthy microbiome is strongly associated with good gut health, not to mention overall health, and influences immunity, metabolism and even mental well-being.
The findings of the latest study lend support to the argument that the therapeutic properties of LE may have been based on the potential for regulating the gut microbiome. The study could pave the way for future research aimed at promoting gut health in humans, according to the researchers.
"Our reconfigured 21st century Lemnian Earth shows that this ancient remedy has the potential to support good gut health for people living today," study author Simon Milling, a professor of immunology at the U.K.'s University of Glasgow, said in a press release.
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Reference
Milling, S., Ijaz, U. Z., Venieri, D., Christidis, G. E., Rattray, N. J. W., Gounaki, I., Andrusaite, A., Hareendran, A., Knapp, C. W., Jones, A. X., & Photos-Jones, E. (2024). Beneficial modulation of the gut microbiome by leachates of Penicillium purpurogenum in the presence of clays: A model for the preparation and efficacy of historical Lemnian Earth. PLOS One, 19(12), e0313090. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313090
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