Microbiome
Microbiome
The microbiome refers to all the microbes that live in or on the human body including bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and all their genes. There are more microbes in the gut alone than cells in your entire body. In fact, your bacterial cells outnumber your human cells ten to one. The vast majority of these microbes are not germs that make us sick, but actually quite the opposite. These microbes are an essential part of our ecosystem and vitally important for protecting us agains germs, breaking down food to release energy and producing essential vitamins like B1 which our brains require to keep nerves well nourished and coated in an electrically insulating layer of fat.
Development of the gut flora
As unborn babies, our environment (the womb) is normally completely germ-free. Our mother’slungs and gut filter everything before it can reach us, and her immune system keeps our food and oxygen supply free of germs.
Microorganisms begin colonizing in our bodies as soon as there is any breach in the amniotic sac, and before long, microorganisms account for 90 percent of the cells within our body–though they are much smaller than our human cells. (Enders)
The first gut flora we come in to contact with are those of the mother’s vaginal microbes, about half of which are from one genus: Lactobacillus. These bacteria produce lactic acid, a protective mechanism which limits the types of bacteria that can take up residence in the birth canal. (Enders). C-Sections, which account for one in three births in the US, bypasses that critical early step in the maturation of our infant immune systems. That simple act of traveling through the birth canal and swallowing a mouthful of microbes is an incredibly important event.
Some of these bacteria take less than twenty minutes to reproduce, but development and stabilization of our gut flora will take about three years.
Live Dirty, Eat Clean
Dr. Robynne Chutkan coined this phrase when she concluded that
Member Voices
Join Us
Deeper Study