Intro to human microbiome
- Humans (and all other animals) have evolved to depend on their microbiome, which helps develop and maintain our immune, mental, cognitive, and physical health.
- The microbiome consists mostly of bacteria, but also includes viruses, bacteriophages, fungi (yeasts, molds...), and parasites. There are ~40 trillion microbial cells in a human body (equal to the number of our cells), represented by ~1150 species in the gut and ~450 species in saliva. Vaginal, skin, and other microbiomes have far fewer species and cells, but they also play an important role in our health.
- The vast majority of the species in the human microbiome support our health. One of the main reasons for the chronic disease epidemic in the developed countries is that we have been systematically destroying our microbiome (antibiotics, food preservatives, sterile life, sterile food, no playing in nature...). Being "dirty" used to be the norm for 1000s of years, but has become bad in the last ~100 years.
- There is a growing number of human microbiome species that we label as pathobionts. They are normally found in our bodies, even in healthy people, but under certain circumstances can cause disease. Some of the examples are P. gingivalis, T. denticola, F. nucleatum, B. fragilis, certain E. coli strains, and even A. muciniphila.
- The healthy aspect of the microbiome comes from its biochemical activities (for example, cholesterol degradation) and biochemicals it produces, such as vitamins (Bs, Ks, C, etc.), short-chain fatty acids (acetate, propionate, butyrate, etc.), neurotransmitters, and many others. These biochemicals activities by the microbes regulate fundamental physiological functions of humans, such as immunity, inflammation, digestion, mental health, physical health, longevity, etc.
- Re-wilding the microbiome refers to a lifestyle that can help increase the number of microbial species in your gut that have been lost due to overuse of antibiotics, being too clean, and consuming foods with preservatives.
Re-wilding the microbiome
- This is an emerging concept that has already demonstrated its benefits via probiotics and fecal transplants. By re-wilding your gut, you could reintroduce the lost biochemical functions of the gut microbiome that are needed for healthy human physiology.
These are the actions I have taken that significantly re-wilded my gut microbiome:
- Maintain an organic garden and consume the veggies, even the root ones, without washing or peeling. For example, I simply pull out a carrot from the soil, shake off the big chunks of soil, then eat it.
- Eat organic veggies purchased at the stores/markets without washing or peeling them.
- Spend a lot of time outside, playing in nature. I let dirt go under my nails and touch my skin.
- Eat with my hands (not utensils or chopsticks) as much as possible. When people look at me funny, I just tell them I am re-wilding my gut – a great conversation starter.
- We eat many different kinds of vegetables and fruits. This is important to feed a lot of different microbes.
- We consume fermented foods: sour kraut, kimchi, kombucha...
- I take S. boulardii probiotic every day. It replaces the Saccharomyces that we would normally be exposed to from natural fruits and veggies (which are sterilized these days). It likely helps suppress pathogenic fungi (including molds).
- We eat mostly organic food. Many chemicals are hidden in non-organic foods and are not reported. These include antibiotics, pesticides, and more sinister ones like ractopamine.
- I do not consume any foods or drinks that contain synthetic chemicals (the ones with chemical names). These can be called preservatives in the ingredients list, but can also be labeled differently to hide them. For example, labels will often say “to preserve freshness”.
- I do not wash hands unnecessarily. Being overly hygienic is not as great as we once thought. The exception is when I visit a public place, especially public restrooms.
- I do not take antibiotics, unless a dangerous bacterial infection is diagnosed. We’ve been overusing antibiotics and it’s not good for our microbiomes. The main reason my gut microbiome was depleted several years ago was overuse of antibiotics during my extensive foreign travels (to prevent malaria).
- I do not eat foods that have emulsifiers, such as carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80. They have been shown to have negative effects on the microbiome.
- I avoid foods with any artificial sweeteners. They also have been shown to have a negative effect on our microbiome.
- I don't use antibacterial soaps, body washes, or toothpaste.
- I never use mouth washes. Regardless of their ingredients, their purpose is to kill bacteria.
References:
https://fatburningman.com/dr-robynne-chutkan-rewilding-your-microbiome-how-to-recover-from-antibiotics-high-octane-poop/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5535818/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12476-z
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7402/abs/nature11053.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19898491/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26229982/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24736369/
http://gut.bmj.com/content/54/3/317.1?ijkey=7350e1c1304837fa80992479aa7f1ee6b12c9c3d&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1665579615000605
http://www.nature.com/nrgastro/journal/v9/n2/abs/nrgastro.2011.244.html
https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+7441%20
http://lymphosign.com/doi/abs/10.14785/lymphosign-2016-0012
http://aacijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1710-1492-9-15
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841828/
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0009836
http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4114?WT.ec_id=NCOMMS-20140122
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14232
Comments
Post a Comment