Ever wonder how cows can digest grass or how termites can digest wood? The short answer is that they can’t; but fortunately for them, they have special bacteria in their digestive systems that can break down cellulose, thus saving them from starvation. You’re probably at least vaguely aware that we too have bacteria in our digestive system. Although bacteria usually get a bad rap as disease causers, many of the bacteria inhabiting your large intestine are actually crucial to your health – they help break down food, facilitate the absorption of nutrients, and even produce some vitamins. These “good” bacteria also help ward off “bad”, or pathogenic, bacteria by outcompeting them.
Interestingly, bacteria aren’t the only microbes found in the large intestine. The gut microbiome, as it is known, contains about 100 trillion bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi and viruses, meaning that the microbes within us outnumber our own cells by 10 to 1. To put this another way, we’re technically gigantic walking aggregates of microbial colonies with a sprinkle of human cells. In fact, we were only ever truly human inside our mothers’ wombs; we ingested our first microbes as we passed through the birth canal and continue to add to our gut microbiome with every bite, sip, and breath. Some of the microbes that end up in our gut microbiome are helpful, others have the potential to make us sick, and a third group neither harms nor helps us.
Every one of us has a unique gut microbiome composition that remains more or less constant throughout our lives, but can be altered due to migration, disease, or dietary changes. Disrupting the fine balance between the different populations of microbes has been linked to obesity and various neurological diseases, suggesting that these microbes play roles in mechanisms far transcending the digestive system. Microbes are also found in other organs, such as the lungs, skin, eyes, mouth, nose, urogenital tract, and navel, with the average navel containing around 50 microbial species!
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