Appendix Increases The Immunity Power: Research Study Surprises All

New discoveries in the arena of medical science always surprise all. One such revelation regarding the appendix surprises every individual.  A new research has revealed that the appendix serves an important purpose in the body.

Heather F. Smith, the associate professor at the Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, recently discovered the beneficial role of the appendix. She has studied the evolutionary fact of the cecal appendix and the cecum. The research study is published in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol. The online version of this research study is available at Science Direct.

She has studied the presence and the absence of appendix in 533 different mammalian species. She observed that appendix evolved independently. The key fact is once the organ appeared; it will stay in the body. This fact suggests that the organ remains in the body to serve a purpose.

Smith and her co-authors clearly reject some previous hypotheses regarding appendix. They rejected the theory that the appendix may be linked to the environmental and dietary factors. They have made an interesting discovery.

They have explored that the presence of appendix creates a higher concentration of lymphoid tissue in the cecum. The cecum is an important part that connects the small and the large intestine. They discovered this while searching the 533 different mammalian species.

Lymphoid tissue plays a key role to enhance the growth of essential gut bacteria, and also increases the immunity of the body. In a word, appendix serves the purpose of a "safe house" for the essential gut bacteria. This fact is truly very interesting.

In 2007 a study regarding the function of the appendix was published by the Duke University Medical Center. The "safe house" idea was first mentioned there by William Parker, one of the lead scientists of the team. This fact actually inspired Smith to know the key function of this organ in the human body and other mammals.

Previously other different studies have shown that the presence of appendix in the body decreases the rate of infection in the body. Smith opines that people without this organ will take slightly longer time to recover from illness. Actually, the absence of the essential and beneficial gut bacteria is responsible for this.

Smith has also opined that one of the key causes of appendicitis is the poorly developed immunity in the body. Exposure to infectious agents is an essential part of the growth of immunity in the body. Now, the key fact is more research can reveal the way to treat appendicitis.