Microbes may play crucial role in human health, researchers discovering Consider this: The average person’s body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only maybe one in 10 is human. This isn’t the latest Hollywood horror flick, or some secret genetic engineering...
About one hundred trillion bacteria live inside you - Up to a 1000 species and more than TEN TIMES the number of cells you have in your body! These indigenous bacteria are referred to as the body’s flora and live in many areas of your body, including the skin,...
Scientists have long known that many organisms evolved with humans and perform vital functions, digesting food, extracting crucial nutrients and fighting off disease-causing entities. “We feed them and house them, and they perform certain metabolic functions for us...
Investigators are trying to identify which organisms may truly be beneficial “probiotics” that people could take to help their health. Others are finding substances that people might ingest to nurture the good bugs. Drugs may mimic the helpful compounds that these...
Other benefits of Microbes The microbes that normally live in association with humans on the various surfaces of the body (called the normal flora), such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, are known to protect their hosts from infections and otherwise promote...
Because of the presence of microbes in all walks of human life, there is constant interaction between microbes and humans. The vast majority of the bacteria in the body are rendered harmless by the protective effects of the immune system, and a few are...
By Rob Stein Health & Science Clues also are emerging about how microbes may affect the brain. Manipulating gut microbiomes of mice influences their anxiety and activity, Swedish researchers reported in January in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...
Similarly, studies indicate that gut dwellers secrete messengers to cells lining the digestive tract to modulate key hormones, such as leptin and ghrelin, which are players in regulating metabolism, hunger and a sense of fullness. Pregnant women often take...
The most important thing to do is to avoid anything that reduces the body’s beneficial flora. The following factors reduce the presence of beneficial flora in favour of pathogenic organisms – such as pathogenic bacteria, and fungi (e.g. the yeast Candida...
In the same manner that we harness the benefits of microbes, where appropriate, we fight micro-organisms where they can do harm. There are many ways to combat microbial growth, and most involve simple measures that we can employ at home or in the workplace. For...
“The birth canal is very heavily colonized by bacteria,” said Maria Dominguez-Bello, a University of Puerto Rico biologist who has been studying microbiota around the world, including among isolated tribes in the Amazon. “We think that is not by chance.” The...
