By Samuel Barrett
Believe it or not, you’re not completely you. That’s right. While the concept of “you” is widely debatable, biologically, it’s quite clear. The body that you inhabit right now, does not belong to you completely. You are also inhabited by trillions upon trillions of tiny little microorganisms, from bacteria to viruses to fungi. These outnumber the cells in your body by a factor of ten.
But don’t feel creeped out by the tiny little aliens in your body; they are actually very beneficial to you! This group of microorganisms, or as they are correctly termed, the human microbiome, have a symbiotic relationship with us. We provide them with shelter and food, and in return they help us in a substantial amount of ways. Without them, we would not be able to survive.
So, how did all these microorganisms get inside us in the first place?
In our mothers’ wombs, we are free of these microbes. As we are born, billions of our mothers’ bacteria cover us completely. This is essential for our health and explains why children born via C-section have higher rates of asthma, immune diseases and leukaemia – they have less microbes to protect them and build up their immunity. Our microbiome steadily grows, as we drink our mothers’ milk and grow. It takes about two years to build a healthy microbe community and it stabilises at the age of three.
So, what are the ways in which our microbiome helps us?
There are numerous ways, but a few of their main contributions include digesting our food, regulating our immune system and protecting us against harmful bacteria. The food we eat also serves as food for the bacteria themselves; this microbiome is primarily situated in our gut. There are roughly five thousand different species of microbes that live there, digesting food that we cannot and repairing gut cells.
Evidence over the last few years shows that our gut microbiome may talk directly to our brain. The technical term for their medium of communication is the brain-gut-microbiome axis. Since our brain decides what we eat, our microbiome is greatly interested in its decision-making. The different types of microbes prefer different types of food: some like vegetables, some prefer greasy foods and some crave sweets. Therefore, the more healthy foods we eat, the more healthy food-loving bacteria are bred. The more fast food we eat, the more fast food-loving bacteria are bred and the more the fast-food-loving bacteria send signals to our brain, telling it to eat more fast food. So, our brain instructs our body to eat more fast food, which, in turn, breeds more fast-food-loving bacteria.
Many of us are trapped in this cycle and therefore lead unhealthy lifestyles, and it surprises many people when they learn that this is the reason. Now that we know the reason, it is important to know that this cycle can be broken quite easily. By eating healthy, good bacteria are bred. And that, my friends, is the solution. All you have to do is take the first step, eat some healthy food and your body will do the rest for you.
Our microbiome is responsible for a lot more of our health than just food. But whatever it is, the bottom line remains this: if we are good to our microbiome, our microbiome is good to us.
Now that we know about the creatures that live in us, can we say that we are ourselves? Our bodies will never be completely ours, and we should be glad about that, because if it was left to us, we wouldn’t be able to be ourselves. Maybe you are not actually “you”, but an “us”!
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