This is going to sound ridiculous, I know — but my Achilles’ heel is my stomach!

(Kind of makes you think of that old song, “The leg bone’s connected to the … shin bone,” etc., doesn’t it.)

What I mean is, it doesn’t take much to upset my stomach, unfortunately; I have to be somewhat cautious about what I eat. Potato salad that’s been sitting on a picnic table a wee bit too long? Forget it!

But I’ve always been thankful that I’ve been spared what’s called “inflammatory bowel disease,” known as IBD. From what I’ve read and heard, that’s pretty close to sheer torture, and those who suffer from it have my deepest sympathies.

There’s some good news for those folks, though, and it comes from — of all places — an agricultural laboratory!

Here’s the story: An Agricultural Research Service microbiologist has teamed up with a group of British scientists to use a benign bacterium that lives in the human intestines to develop a microbe that someday could help treat not only IBD, but a whole raft of other chronic intestinal diseases.

IBD actually erodes the delicate lining of the intestine, and its symptoms — often severe — include cramping, abdominal pain and other gastrointestinal discomfort.

Unfortunately, there’s no cure for IBD, and some of the current treatments can have adverse side effects. Doctors and patients alike would love to see the development of more effective therapies, especially methods that deliver the drugs directly to the intestines.

That’s why the ARS microbiologist and his British colleagues — one at the Institute of Food Research and the University of East Anglia in Norwich, Great Britain, the other at the University of Leeds and St. James University Hospital, also in Leeds — began looking for a solution.

The group zeroed in on a bacterium called Bacteroides ovatus, which is one of an assortment of bacteria that naturally live in the human intestine. B. ovatus thrives in the oxygen-free atmosphere of the large intestine, where it breaks down xylan — which is a fiber found in plants — and other sugars for energy and growth.

The research team created a strain of B. ovatus that uses xylan to stimulate secretion of a substance called human keratinocyte growth factor. This is a “good guy” protein that helps repair and restore the intestine’s delicate lining, and boosts the intestine’s ability to repair the damage inflicted by IBD.

In tests, the researchers found that mice suffering from IBD who received treatments of oral doses of xylan and the engineered strain of B. ovatus had intestinal tissues that healed more rapidly.

That group of mice also lost less weight and had lower levels of rectal bleeding. Also, dosing mice with B. ovatus protected them against induced IBD and limited the development of subsequent intestinal inflammation.

This isn’t ARS’s first foray into the field of human healing. ARS scientists also are testing specially treated cotton fabrics that could be made into military uniforms and gauze pads that could help staunch bleeding, prevent infections and even promote healing. These same special fabrics could be made into hospital sheets that are highly absorbent, smooth, soft and antibacterial, and could help prevent bed sores.

The secret to the fabric’s antibacterial and blood-clotting properties is a natural substance called chitosan, which is a carbohydrate found in shrimp shells. The ARS scientists have found a way to more uniformly distribute chitosan throughout the material, compared with chitosan-treated cotton gauze pads that are now on the market.

The special fabrics are a way to counter the body’s tendency toward “too much of a good thing” in the healing process. When there’s a wound, the body rushes protease enzymes to the wound site to promote healing. But if the body sends too many of those enzymes, that can cause excess inflammation and actually prevent healing.

The ARS scientists have gotten around this by treating gauze pads with negatively charged phosphoric acid, which pulls the positively charged excess proteases out of the wound. These dressings also might attract protein-building macrophages necessary for skin to heal. A Virginia company has the licensing rights to the technology and has sublicensed it to a manufacturer and marketer.

It just goes to show: Agricultural research isn’t all about sows, cows and plows!

The Agricultural Research Service is the chief in-house scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

You can read more about ARS discoveries at www.ars.usda.gov/news.