Nobel Prize for gut instinct

Two Australian scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for their discovery of the cause of most stomach ulcers. But there's a wider lesson to be learned about how illness is explained.

In 1982, a bacterium called Helicobacter Pylori was discovered by Robin Warren and Barry Marshall. Until their discovery, the idea that a bacterium could be responsible for peptic and duodenal ulcers had been dismissed. Instead, it was assumed that the root causes were stress and spicy food. Now, around 90 per cent of duodenal ulcers and up to 80 per cent of peptic ulcers are thought to be caused by the bacterium. In a throwback to the early pioneers of science and medicine, Marshall even went so far as to infect himself with Helicobacter Pylori, inducing gastritis, then successfully treating himself with antibiotics.

We live in an era in which most forms of ill-health seem to be explained in terms of our lifestyles. Promoting good health through changing our behaviour has become a modern alternative to old-fashioned moralising. But there may be a serious medical problem with this outlook. Government and health authorities have been only too keen to promote behavioural change and fund research into its effectiveness. However, the benefits of eating fruit and veg, taking more exercise and banning smoking in public places are at best limited. Meanwhile, important alternative explanations for illness may be getting overlooked.

If we were to find in years to come that the obsession with lifestyle had caused unnecessary worry, and led research up a blind alley, it would be pretty difficult to stomach.

Nobel for stomach ulcer discovery, BBC News, 3 October 2005