Microbiome, What Is That?
Recently, the world is seeing milestone after milestone of achievements in human microbiome research. We are talking from the perspective of microorganisms that live in and on human beings. This community of microorganisms remains largely unstudied before this, therefore the level of influence that they have on the human development, countering the diseases, strengthening the immunity, and improving the healthiness of the person are almost entirely unknown.
Some of the latest researchers that observe the nature of the microbiome are now seeing how different they are and are excited to explore a new possibility to use these types of bacteria in medical treatments. This is a whole new game altogether to the researchers.
For decades, people aren’t comfortable when they hear the word bacteria. It is a ‘bad thing’. They are the cause of infections and diseases. They need to be washed away at all costs in order for us to stay healthy. But now things are different. The researchers have taken a deeper step to study further on bacteria as there are both good and bad variants. The good ones could play a more significant role in improving health and contain or prevent diseases. The researchers also acknowledged that there are 100 trillion good bacterias that live within the human body. Thanks to the 5-year research work called Human Microbiome Project which involved more than 200 scientists, 80 institutions and 250 healthy people who agreed to become research subjects.
Seriously, no one really knew much about the 100 trillion good bacteria before this. Yet, these good bacteria are necessary for human life. We need them to help us digest our food, to enforce certain vitamins and make it work towards our advantage, to form a ‘firewall’ and prevent disease-causing bacteria from damaging us inside.
Quite a number of these beneficial bacteria live in the digestive tract. These bacteria are able to utilize nutrients that the human being is unable to digest. After the bacteria have digested these nutrients, the waste products produced by the bacteria can often be used by us as a source of nutrition. In addition to the nutritional benefits of this microbial digestion, the bacteria that are labelled as beneficial tend to create an acidic environment in the gut by producing compounds such as lactic acid. Many disease-causing bacteria prefer environments that are more basic in nature and will not thrive in an acidic environment.
Similar to the human being, animals also have the same concept when it comes to the subject. Like us, a cat also has its own microbiome, a dog has its own microbiome, and so does a rabbit. These are to name a few. In a healthy ecosystem, the interests of the cat and the bacteria inside are aligned with one another. The cat provides the bacteria with the raw material and shelter, while the bacteria, on the other hand, will offer to further enforce the protection by absorbing the raw material and producing nutrients from it.
I’m on a healthy diet. Does this affect my microbiome?
Since both healthy diet and microbiome are tightly connected, yes it does affect. As you know, your microbiome helps to break down the food eaten, absorb and convert them into nutrients. If the food is a healthy food, the microbiome will then convert those into quality nutrients your body needs. That’s why a nutritious diet will help you to grow your microbiome better and eventually make it more diverse and active.
Steps to an optimal microbiome.
Eat a good diet. Start with vegetables. It will help you to develop a stronger microbiome community within your body. Or, you may also try kimchi, yoghurt and miso. These food contain probiotics; microbes that act as a microbiome power boost. Along the way, you can also opt to eat a variety of other healthy foods as they will supplement your microbiome to become more diverse. And this will turn your body to become more resilient than ever in preventing any incoming diseases or heal your body quicker when you’re down with a fever.
Exercise. Researchers found out that on top of all the other health benefits that exercise brings, it also enhances the quality of your microbiome. This normally complements the healthy food being given to them for producing nutrients needed for the body.
Get enough sleep. Many people are taking this lightly but our body really needs enough rest, and sleep can provide it perfectly. You see, when you sleep your body is rebuilding the damaged cells that happened during the day. That is the reason why you need a healthy diet and a good level of exercise so that it will prepare your body to rest at night.
Avoid stress. When you stress, it will strain many systems within your body including your microbiome. Since your microbiome and immune system are tightly connected with one another, a continuously strained microbiome will eventually make your immune system weaker.
Conclusion
To stay healthy is a matter of choice. When you eat well and get enough level of exercise, your microbiome will improve and you’ll be able to absorb better quality food for them to produce better nutrients your body needs. Hence, you will feel your energy level going up, it feels lighter and you just feel good about yourself.
That’s why you should care about microbiome.
