We Are Human-Microbe Superorganisms

There are two aspects in our health: biology and environment. Choices in diet and other lifestyle aspects can alter things such as gut flora. Although people have been aware of diet’s aspect on health for many, many years, there is groundbreaking details on exactly how this is achieved.

The colon has been difficult to understand until recently. Reproducing that environment in the lab is hard as is getting into the colon itself.

There are trillions of bacteria living inside of us. It took 13 years to first code a bacteria’s DNA, but now it only takes hours.   We need to use these same techniques to understand all the different types of bacteria in our gut.

All living creatures co-exist with bacteria inside their bodies. There are good bacteria that assist in much of our health process. In fact, researchers have referred to good bacteria as a forgotten organ subsystem. In the video Microbiome: The Inside Story, there is a diagram that shows how complex this subsystem is.

If you can change your diet, it only takes a matter of days to change your gut flora. Although, people have known for years that diet plays a large role in health, more and more is coming to light on how that diet interacts with genetics and bacteria to provide these benefits.